> Harmony's Champion
>  by Lon35hadow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> To. . . yeah, I'm going to call it hell for now
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So, guess I should start at the beginning, which is where I died.

It was an average day in an unimportant month, and I was walking along the street, going to my job at Gamestop. I wore a Halo shirt and blue jeans, nothing out of the ordinary, which is how i thought my day would go. Boy, was I wrong.

I was almost at Gamestop when some jackass, who I'm assuming was drunk, swerved around the corner of the road, half of the car on the sidewalk. I tried to jump out of the way, but, when I did, I hit the side of a building and bounced back into the full path, which led to me being road kill.

Now, I'm an atheist, so I didn't believe in heaven or hell, but, as I dabbled in science, I knew something would happen. Law of Conservation of Energy due to the electrical impulses in the brain and whatnot. I can honestly say I did not expect to be in some kind of void the second after being hit, nor did I expect to be talking to a woman with gray skin in a white dress with rainbow colored hair. Oh, and she was also an anthro pony. Yay.

"I'm guessing I died?" I said, crossing my arms.

"You're taking it well," the mare said, to which I shrugged.

"Not like I could do anything," I said. "So, it's clear I'm in some kind of after life. What's going to become of me?"

She chuckled. "Not exactly," she said.

"That means what, exactly?" I asked.

"You did die, yes," she said. "But I do have an offer for you:begin a new life, and become a protector."

"How do I know this won't screw me over?" I asked.

"Because I'm not a liar," she said. "If you decide to take up my offer, you'll be able to choose a new form, as well as whatever powers come with it."

"Yea, that isn't really an incentive for me," I said.

"Not even helping kep a world safe?"

"That is," I said. "So, whatever form I want, as well as the powers that go with it?"

"Indeed," the mare said. "And if it has any weapons, you can choose them as well."

In that case, "Then I want the basic Excalibur grade frame from Warframe with the starting bow, pistol, and sword," I said. Note, I am not very lucky, and don't have any but those things in the game. On the other hand, I have become good with them in game. "And will I get the experience for those?"

"Indeed you will," the mare said. "Is that what you wish to become?"

"Yeah, it is," I replied. "But first, can I at least know your name?"

She chuckled. "You'll find out soon enough," she then said. "Until then, at least know that you'll need to start  running once you wake up."

"Why?" I asked, with no reply coming before I blacked out, but not before I felt something growing on me.





When I came to, which was a slow process, mind you, I began to hear voices. "Princess, what is that?" one asked. Is that Tara Strong- wait a minute. Mare in death, Tara Strong's voice? Aw, fuck me. I'm in Equestria.

"I don't know, Twilight," I heard another voice, this one sounding like Celestia, said. "But whatever it is, it has to be destroyed. Nightmare made a futile attempt to make it before you and your friends could defeat her. I'm sure it will try to carry out her will." Well, explains that last line from the mystery mare and gives me the time of the show I arrived in. 

"But it came out of the Rainbow from the Elements," Twilight said. "What if the Elements made it?"

"It is too risky to let it roam free, regardless, Twilight," Celestia said as I came fully to, and I opened my eyes.

Impressive HUD, I thought. Basically, my HUD had a radar that, somehow, had a basic outline of the castle of the royal sisters, along with eight dots, each a light blue. That was on the left side. On the right, there were outlines of my three weapons. Now, I hadn't played the game in a while, so I forget the names of my weapons, but I had the starting bow and arrows, the starting pistol, and the sword. I wonder if my color scheme is that of my in-game one.

"Uh, princess," Twilight said, and I heard worry in her voice. "It's moving. What do we do?"

"Stand back, all of you," Celestia said. "I'll take care of it."

And here we go. The Displaced, as I'm sure I'm some variation of one, cliche of being attacked simply for being different. Though, to be fair, for them, it was uncertain if the Elements or Nightmare made me come here. Still, no way in hell am I going to get stoned or otherwise imprisoned in my first day here.

Just as a warning, one that said Nearby energy build-up detected, I moved fully, rolling to the left onto my chest, which allowed me to get myself onto my feet, just as a beam of magic, one that didn't make a crater, by the way, hit where I was laying. I looked up, and saw Celestia, anthro and wearing a white dress with yellow accents and a golden tiara, horn lit with yellow magic, with the mane six, wearing their EQG outfits, though with Applejack and Rainbow wearing jeans and workout pants, respectively, and an anthro version of season one Luna, wearing a dark blue dress with silver accents, with a fearful look on her eyes. Can't really blame her right now.

By instinct, my right hand went to my right thigh, where the pistol was, but I stopped it just as it hovered over it. "You see, Twilight?" Celestia said. "It reaches for it's device."

And because she's their princess, they go with her. Even a moron back home could see it was in self defense. And besides, which one of us has fired? Anyway, I quickly scanned the room for an exit, and saw the main door. I looked back at them. Okay, two unicorns, only one of which is willing to fight, if I'm right. Two Earth ponies, one of whom is what I dub a ponified version of Deadpool, albeit without the bloody mind and weapons, two pegasai, one of who has pulled off a Sonic Rainboom, and two alicorns, at least one of whom is in any position to fight. 

"See ya," I said before bolting to the main entrance to the room. Before I was even halfway there, a wall made of yellow magic popped up a few feet from the entrance. Okay, going back over Tenno, the actual name for the player race of Warframe, the warframes being a sort of suit, abilities. What do they have? They can hold in air for a time, though that may just be time dilation. Useless here. Got it. Wall run and double jump, with wall jump. That'll do.

I altered my path to take me to the wall on the left side of the room, and I jumped in the air, then double jumped to get me level with the top of Celestia's magic wall. I grasped a ledge for a window frame, and used that to propel myself towards the wall, keeping a hand on the wall so my suit could stay in constant contact with the wall. Best scientific guess for that is that my suit is able to create a magnetic charge that polarizes walls and itself, allowing for this. Fuck it, I'll have time later. Just before I hit the wall, I jumped off the one I was running on, which had me go lower than the top of the yellow, magically created one. But, as I hit it, I pit both hands on it, and made a pulling up motion, as well as a jumping motion, which allowed me to wall jump up to the top of the wall.

As I hit the top, bringing my left leg over it and resting it on the top, I looked back, and saw some surprised faces. I did an off handed salute, then spun, and dropped down the other side. I then turned, and ran out of the castle, and into the woods through a hole in the passage wall. Once I was outside, I made my way to the ravine, feeling an odd sensation and pull to there, and jumped down.

When I landed, falling into a kneeling position, I saw my shield and health bars appear on the upper right. Noted. Okay, shield is at a full of- holy shit, one thousand points, health at half that. I wonder how many magic bolts it can take. Let's hope i don't find that out, huh?

Anyway, I stood up, and went to deeper into the ravine, into the cave where the Tree of Harmony was. Now, before you ask, it was nowhere near as bright as it would be in season four past the premiere, and, from what I could tell, it was quickly weakening. Anyway, I made my way to the Tree, where I assumed the meditative pose that one is in when at the navigation in their ships. That's to say, I got on both knees, hands resting on the lower thighs just above the knees, and my head lowered. I did not know why, but I just thought it felt right for some reason. So imagine my surprise when i heard a voice.

Hello, Tenno, I heard a voice, the same one belonging to the one i had met in the void, say. It is good to see you escaped.

You, i replied mentally. If I had known you were going to send me here at this point in time, I would have said no!

You still would have arrived at some point when the Elements were being used, the voice said. That could not be helped, as those would be the only times I would have the strength to send you there.

What do you mean? I asked. Who are you?

Is it not obvious? she asked. I am Harmony, the creator of this tree and the Elements.
> My mission
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Wait a minute, I said as I sat in front of the Tree of Harmony. You're the maker of the Elements?

And this tree, the voice said. I imagine your curious as to why I gave you a second life?

Hell yes I'm curious, I replied angrily. So can you fucking explain that?

There were a few seconds of silence before Harmony replied. In short, I gave you a second life, and that second life here, because i need someone to act as my direct will. My champion, if you will, she said.

And why not address the Element bearers?

Because they, like all ponies, see things as black and white. You humans, even though you are a Tenno now, see things in the gray, she said. I know what I mean when I say that harmony requires a balance, not just a blind peace. If I were to talk to the Element bearers, they would follow that. That's why I chose you. Though six is greater, one is much more stealthy, and better for what being my champion, should you wish to accept, entails.

And just what may that entail, specifically? I asked.

For the most part, whatever you decide on a snap decision. As for general, it could range from something as simple as an anonymous donation to an assassination, depending on the circumstance, she replied.

So, you decide what my mission is, but I decide the specifics of how i handle it? I asked.

Indeed, Harmony said. And don't worry, you won't need to stay here for that. Once I connect to one's mind, I'm able to talk with them at will, no matter the range, so you will be able to explore and practice your abilities. So, do you accept my offer?

Do I? I mean, regardless, I'm stuck here, but, at the same time, I'm going to be helping the ponies, whether they want it or not. And besides, it would be nice to have a goddess as an ally. Wait a minute. If you're a goddess, which you essentially are, I said, shouldn't you, I don't know, be an alicorn?

I heard a slight chuckle before the reply. A Goddess is not limited to a single form, she said. I honestly prefer an Earth pony form, as they are much more humble than the other races. After all, they have no special attributes, unless you count their strength.

Yeah, fair point, I replied. Okay, back to thinking on her offer. Do I take it, or not. Would I get any benefits from accepting your offer?

Just that if Discord were to return, my power, should you wish to have a shard of it power your suit, would make you immune to his power, and, as you are my champion, the Elements would do nothing against you.

Would I be able to go freelance from time to time? I asked. That's to say, would I be able to do my own missions?

As long as they don't cause too much chaos, Harmony said.

They won't, I said with a small smile under my helmet. I guess I accept, then.

My thanks, Harmony said. But, for the ritual, I will need the name you go by now. Too easy. You see, most Tenno with a frame go by said frame's name.

Excalibur, I said.

A good name, Harmony said. Now, do you, Excalibur, hereby swear to follow my orders as I give them, to protect Equestria and its balance, even if other see you as a monster?

I do, I replied.

Do you swear to not harm innocents? Yeah, we went through those motions, her asking me questions, me replying with some variation of yes, that cliched shit with oath swearing. At the end, she said, There is one last thing, then.

What? I asked.

This. With that, an orb of light encircled me where I sat, blinding me, but it wasn't there for long. When it faded, and i could see, I looked myself over, and found my color scheme had changed. The white had gone to a mix of Rainbow Dash's blue and season two onward Luna's blue, the gray had changed to a brick red, the small, brick lines to a lime green, and the energy, which I could see in the small lights on the suit, were now dark green. I wonder.

I reached to my back, and pulled out the sword. The Skana, I remembered,, and it's color scheme matched the frame's. The blade flat was blue, the edge a brick red, the lines on the hilt a lime green. When I focused energy into it, it glowed a dark green, like my suit. Interesting. I examined my two other weapons, and their color schemes matched. Primary was blue, secondary accent was brick red, tertiary  accent was light green and, where they glowed, dark green. Better, Harmony said. Now, at least, you have some personality to it. And don't worry, there is a spell on it to make it to, unless you draw attention to you, none will see you.

Good, I thought as I stood up and stretched. Because there's a town that'll go to hell without some protection.




A few hours later

I stood on a rooftop in Ponyville as I looked over the official ceremony of Luna's return. Harmony's spell worked, as I hadn't been noticed, even when ponies looked at me, as I didn't do anything to draw attention to my self. The ponies had just put the wreath of flowers around Luna's neck, and Celestia had just assigned Twilight to stay in Ponyville. Well, I guess I'll find out the actual chronological order of seasons one through three, seeing as how that's in the air, for the most part, given they take place in a single year.

I then looked at the mountain where the dragon from "Dragonshy" would be. Going to need to find a way to get him out of there. I wonder. Since this is a high tech suit, does it have a music library? Beep. Okay, so there is. If I get into a fight, never hurts to have some tunes.

With that, I jumped off the roof, doing a small flip as I did so and landing in a crouch on the ground before I made my way to the edge of the town, where I would stay while near the town, avoiding small groups of ponies as I did so. This is going to be a hell of a ride, I just know it.




Canterlot gardens

In the gardens, no guard stood. There wasn't a reason. All they would be guarding were statues. Well, that is, except for the one of a mish-mash of animals, but Celestia believed he wouldn't break out.

As a result, this allowed a gray earth pony mare with a white dress and rainbow hair and tail to appear out of thin air without question, and walk over to Discord's stone prison.

She placed a hand on the pedestal, which allowed for a link between the two. "Hell, Discord," she whispered. "Been a while, hasn't it?"

Hello, Harmony, Discord, quite conscious and already working on weakening his prison, said in reply. I thought you didn't socialize with me?


"That's a lie, and you know it," Harmony said. "This is just the first in a while I've talked with this part of your mind. Listen, I need a favor."

Discord gasped. The spirit of Harmony, asking for a favor from the god of chaos? Oh, what has the world become?

"Discord, I got tired of your antics when we were kids, and I'm still tired of them," Harmony growled. "And besides, they're approaching, and we both know what will happen if they find just one of our embodiments."

Ah, true, true, Discord replied. So, dear sister, what do you want?
> Alteration one-hopefully
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So, it's been about a week since I arrived in Equestria, and I had set up a small camp on the edge of the Everfree. It was nothing special, just a small tent I, ahem, "borrowed" from  a yard sale, and nothing else. Hey, I need the basics if I'm going to live here. Anyway, I had done some hunting over the week for bow training, as well as practicing my swordsman ship. Of course, I also went into town from time to time, making sure not to draw attention to myself with my actions, and, far as I can tell, no show events have occurred yet. Keyword being "yet".

I had just entered the town today to see it was empty. Okay, then. A few possibilities. One of which comes to mind quickly, and it was confirmed when I saw the town square. Okay, with this universe, chronology is Premiere, then Bridle Gossip. I know this as I saw Zecora, cloaked, in the town square, kicking at the dirt. And cue the hypocrisy, which, warning, may or may not come back later as a rant. Just letting you guys know. Anyways, I used my wall jump to get on top of a building overlooking the area just as I saw an anthro Applebloom, wearing her EQG outfit, exit Sugarcube Corner as Zecora left, with her sister and the other bearers following shortly after. Thank you, this will buy me some time to prevent epic stupidity.

I jumped off the building, and made my way to Golden Oaks, an easy task, as none were on the streets. When I arrived, I saw this world's version of Golden oaks was a little more. . . angular, for lack of a better term. Don't get me wrong, it had elements of a tree, but it looked like a normal house with tree inspiration. I checked the door, like you wouldn't in this trusting town, to find it, unsurprisingly, unlocked. With that, I went inside, and to the books. "S. . .S. . . where's S?" I muttered to myself as I looked around the bookshelves. "There we go," I said as I found the S area, and began looking for my target book.

"There you are," I said as I saw the book I wanted, a green book, which I pulled out. "Hello, Supernaturals," I said. "Wow, you have to be dense to not see this thing's a plant book," I said in a deadpan. "There's a fucking plant on the cover." I rolled my eyes, and flipped to the index. I looked for a particular plant, which I found. "Okay, Poison joke: page twenty-seven." I flipped there. "Huh, did not know that. Actually explains that little plot hole." Now, you're wondering what I saw. Basically, it said that the plant activated, for lack of a better term, after a pony did something, and after a day, as the pollen is somewhat sentient, don't ask me how, it actually made the 'joke' happen. It would explain how it knew just what to do to effect the mane six. Now to find some paper.

I went upstairs, where Twilight's room was, and went foraging around for paper, ink, and a quill, the latter two easily found on one of her desks. For paper, it was a little harder, but I found it in one of the drawers, and went back downstairs. I went to where I left the book, on the central podium, and began to write. Go to page twenty-seven. And stop being hypocrites and try to get to know Zecora as an individual and not by fears. Well, now that that's done, one last note. I tore off half of the paper, and wrote Lock your fucking doors next time, and took out an arrow from the quiver on my back, and went out front, paper in my left hand, arrow in my right.

Once outside, I put the paper on the door, and then drove the arrow through the top of it to essentially nail the paper to the door. With that, I made my way back to my camp on the edge of the forest, this time having to avoid ponies, as they had finally come out of their homes and businesses. Again, it was easy, as there were a few back alleys for me to use in that regard.

Now, I had hidden my camp from sight of the town and away from any paths I knew of, so imagine my surprise when I saw Zecora sitting there. In case it was some kind of animal that could impersonate her, or a changeling, I drew my bow and put an arrow on the string, the tip and tail glowing a faint blue. As I walked closer, I stepped through a bush, which made Zecora, who was sitting on a nearby log, jump her head towards me. "If you are the owner of this camp," she said, "you may show, for I am no foe."

Now, I didn't know if she was telling the truth, but I figured that my shields would allow me to survive an attempted backstab. Harmony, can you make it to where I'm visible when I want to be?

That would result in it needing cooldown, she replied.

Good enough for me, I replied.

Then it will be done, she said. A few seconds later, I thought of myself as visible, and saw Zecora jump, indicating that the effect was changed.

"Now, what do you want?" I asked as I pointed the bow and arrow at her.

"You need not bark," she said, temporarily confusing me until she said, "I simply wish to talk."

"Why?

"I am simply curious why you would make a camp this far out. Did you get into a bout?"

"In a way," I replied, keeping my bow pointed at her. To be fair, it was more me escaping, but still. "How'd you find my camp?"

"I simply listened to the animals," Zecora said. "It was not a challenge."

Harmony?

I'll work on it.

"If that's the case," I said to the zebra as I unstrung the arrow, putting it back in the quiver and placing the bow around my back, the string running across my chest, "then do you need anything?"

"Simply one to speak," Zecora said. "I have tried with the residents of Ponyville, but they are quite bleak."

I chuckled. "Yeah, they can be, can't they?" With that, I got into a kneeling position where I stood. "So, what should I call you?"

"Where names are selected, there is a plethora," she said. "I am called Zecora."

"A pleasure to meet you, Zecora," I said. "You can call me Excalibur."

"To meet you is a pleasure, Excalibur," Zecora said as she removed the hood on her cloak, revealing that she had a small mohawk, and small earrings hanging from her ear lobes.

"Thank you," I said. "So, what brought you to Equestria, if I may ask?"

"A war in my homeland," Zecora said. "Between tribes and roving bands. My father was a warrior, and he wished for me to leave, so as to survive." She sighed. "A good thing he did, as my tribe is no longer alive."

"Ah," I said, flinching. "My sympathies, Zecora. I came here because, well, I was needed."

"If you do not mind the intrusion, may I ask a question?"

"Of course," I replied. "What?"

"Why are you present," Zecora said. "I doubt highly it is to present." Clever rhyme. Well, in my opinion.

"No, I am not here for show," I said. "For now, let's just say somepony requested me to watch over Equestria, and I accepted. I won't say who, though. I need some secrets, after all."

"Of course," Zecora said. "After all, sometimes, secrets must be kept to keep something on course."

"Too true," I said. "So, I guess you live in the Everfree, seeing as how the ponies are afraid of you?"

She nodded. "It is close by a bit. Would you like to see it?"

"No, thank you," I said, shaking my head. "I'm good right now. Besides, don't want to risk the ponies thinking anything." There were a few seconds of silence. "You know, you could try whatever you usually do in Ponyville in a few more days. Maybe they just need cooler heads."

"Perhaps," Zecora said. "After all, they are too friendly for traps."

"That's. . . one way of putting it," I said as Zecora got up. "I guess I'll see you later, then."

She nodded, and I saw her walk into the Everfree. Once she was gone, I got u myself, and went to the back of the camp, where I had a campfire going. With the fire going, I had a piece of manticore meat roasting, as i had killed a small one yesterday. Now, you may be wondering how I can eat with this suit on when, by all appearances, it's seamless. That's the thing: it's made using a special material, I know not what it's called, and it reacts to one's mind. In this case, I can think of the helmet retracting enough to reveal my face, which it did, revealing my face, which, if it's the same as from before I left, had a few freckles, was pale, and with green eyes. Anyway, once I was at the flame, I sat down, my legs crossed, and stoked the fire with a stick.

After a minute. I figured it was ready, the piece had been since this morning with the fire at a relatively low temperature, and I liked it medium well, so I took the spit that had it attached out from over the fire, and brought it to my mouth. It was a little bitter, but tender. Maybe I should try to get spices next time I can. Still, not bad for a first time.

You know, I'll never understand why some creatures eat both plants and animals, Harmony said.

It's just how we evolved, I replied. So, anything coming up I need to take care of?

Not any time soon, Harmony replied. Why? Plan on doing what you did earlier. That's to say, interfere as stealthily as possible?

Just until stealth is no longer viable, I replied. Hello, Discord, Sombra, and Changeling invasion. Besides, I need something to keep my attention, or I'd go bat crap crazy. Shame the only one willing to physically speak with me is Zecora. As introverted as I am, I still need more than two individuals to talk to. And I highly doubt the ponies would be willing to speak with me so long as Celestia thinks I'm one of Nightmare's creations. That is, unless they're part of a cult or something, which would mean I'd have to eventually kill them, assuming they get violent enough. I sighed. Be nice if there were other Tenno here to help me in that regard.

Who knows, Harmony said. Maybe those you call Merchants will send more here.

Doubtful, I replied. Unless it's a group displacement, than only one person gets displaced to a new world, and none arrive after. No idea why, though? I didn't get a reply from Harmony, so I just shrugged, and took another bite out of the manticore meant, not noticing the green eyes in the brush to my left.
> Next major event
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So, to spare you all boring details, I'm going to just skip between major events. That's to say, ones where I became involved in to the point where it could be argued I had an impact on how it ended. That's to say, I'm skipping a few weeks after Zecora, which, by the way, passed a few episodes, namely "A dog and pony show", much as I wanted to get involved there, and to the parasprites. How was I directly involved, you may ask?

Well, it was a normal day, as normal as it could be here, and I was on the rooftops of Ponyville, invisible to the ponies' sight, as I watched Twilight run around the town, being Twilight to make sure everything was perfect for a royal visit, even though I remember it being a casual one according to the princess in the epis-oh, right. Twilight. Duh. Actually, before I dive in, I want to point out my intervention with Zecora did actually work, as, a few days after that, Zecora went back, and, though it was a little rough, she was accepted.

Anyway, I was on a building overlooking Sugarcube Corner when I saw Fluttershy walk in. Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me, I said mentally.

You have issues with parasprites? Harmony asked  Actually, never mind, I remember them. What do you plan on doing?

Depends, I said. Do they prefer random music, or any kind?

Honestly, I don't know, Harmony said. All I know is that they love music.

Guess I'd better go through my music data banks, I thought before accessing said system. "Okay, nothing with lyrics," I muttered. Has to be something that could be used for parties, if the actual episode is any indication. Or at least something with a lot of instruments, and a good beat. Or maybe I can use an anime song. God knows those are good and can be used at parties. Okay, so, what anime have I watched with basically no lyrics, or at least enough to where it fits into the song beat?

. . . Yeah, I got nothing. Still, I can make it easier for them once shit hits the fan. I stepped off the roof I was on, and made my way towards the Everfree. More accurately, I began to walk towards Zecora's hut. I knew she didn't know what the parasprites were, but I can hopefully give her the basics so that Twilight and the others will know what to do.

One thing to note that had happened since Zecora and I first met would be that, whenever Fluttershy was gone, I would sometimes go to her cottage, as, well, I needed more than a single zebra and goddess to talk to. Oh, and plan how to make Angel Bunny go "missing" in the Everfree. I don't care if I'm Harmony's champion, I will kill that fucker. Anyway, as a result, I had become friends with most of the animals there, even if I couldn't understand them, verbally. Fortunately, they seemed to know that, and most were quite capable of acting stuff out so I could know what they wanted to communicate. Besides, Harmony can't make me invisible to animals with a great sense of smell.

I passed the place by, with the bear and a few of the larger birds. outside, and gave them a wave I knew they could see, which the bear returned, and continued on my way into the forest.

The few wild animals I encountered were smaller than me, and most sensed either Harmony's power on me, something like that, anyway, or something else entirely. Only the large ones in the forest would try to attack whenever I encountered them. As a result, I made it to Zecora's hut with ease.

I knocked on the door, to which I heard, "I will be there soon, as sure as the sun rises in June." Okay, a weird rhyme, but usually Zecora isn't in an episode just for conversation, so I guess it makes sense. The door opened a few seconds later, and Zecora, wearing her cloak, stood there. "Hello, Excalibur," she said. "A pleasure."

"Zecora," I said with a slight joking tone, can you not rhyme every time you talk?"

"'Tis how I was raised," Zecora said. "I will not give up that base."

"Fair enough," I said. "May I come in? Ponyville's got a bug problem with something from the Everfree, and I'm sure somepony will come by to talk to you about them. Figured I may as well try to help out."

"Yes, you may enter. Tell me, what cause is the sender?"

"Like I said, a bug problem," I said as I walked in. "Ever heard of parasprites?"

"Nay, I have not," Zecora replied as we sat down in a pair of chairs she bought from Ponyville. "What is it that must be sought?"

"The ponies will most likely come for some way to remove them," I said. "If and when that happens, tell them, in your own way, that they need to use music to lure them out of the town."

She nodded. "That message, I will deliver, as if I was the sender."

I nodded. "Thanks, Zecora," I said. "While I'm here, need me to get anything for you?"

She shook her head. "Simply a grand view," she said. "One I doubt can be given, even by you."

I nodded again as I stood up. "Right," I said before heading to the door. "Thanks again."

She nodded, not speaking a word, and i left, going back to my camp on the edge of town. When I arrived, I almost ducked back into the brush before I remembered I was invisible to most, literally thank Harmony for that change to my current stealth generator, when I saw Fluttershy, with ten parasprites flying around her or nesting in her hair, there. Please don't let parasprites have a good sense of smell, pleeeeeeeaaaaasssssse.

"Huh," Fluttershy said in room voice, that's to say our normal inside voice. "I wonder who this could belong to." She explored the camp a little-note to self, nail a note to her door talking about permission to search- and came across where I stored the food I had gathered over my time here that was still fresh.

Harmony, I may need to relocate, I said as Fluttershy gasped.

"What kind of monster would eat an animal?" she asked, shock in her voice. Right of my head, the answer would be manticore, bald eagles, most birds, really, bears, most large cats, wolves, which can say dogs, if their evolution is the same from back home, and a few other animals you have at your house! I don't care if she meant sentient or not, there are carnivores for a reason.

Right, Harmony replied, and i heard her sigh. Sometimes, I wonder if I made the right choice by letting Celestia and Luna, those full on peace lovers, use the Elements. They try to make Equestria a utopia when a utopian would understand that some animals eat meat, and only that, or that some omnivores prefer meat.

Next I see them on friendly terms, I'll relay that, I replied.

"I-I need to tell Twilight so she can tell Princess Celestia," Fluttershy said before she ran away, a single parasprite staying behind.

"Oh no you don't," I said as it sniffed my food. I drew my bow and an arrow, strung said arrow, and let it fly, hitting the bug and sending it flying with the arrow. "Little bitch," I said. Okay, relocate first, then nail that note to Fluttershy's door before or after freeing those parasprites she'll keep in there tomorrow. "Time to get to work."




That night

After relocating most of my camp, having to leave a few parts there as the bearers arrived to see if Fluttershy saw it as it was, to a little further in, I had went and told Zecora about my relocation, and that I was in the same direction as my old one, just a shorter walk. Anyway, I was in a meditative pose, my legs crossed, hands on knees. It allowed me to quickly jump into a combat stance, and I was able to sleep in it. The moon had set, the pattern of the mare in the moon gone, as expected, given the weeks that have passed since Luna's return.

I imagine I fell asleep at some point in the night, as, when I next opened my eyes, all I saw was a black void. To test my theory, I held out my hand, and keep in mind, I was still in the meditative stance, and thought of something. What appeared was the hilt to a halo energy sword. Yep, I'm in a dream. Which does make sense, given what happened next.

"Hello, Excalibur," I said from behind me, which caused me to turn and see Harmony. "You adjusted to the dreamscape quickly."

I shrugged. "I'm a Tenno. We need to have control over our own mind for our abilities. And I don't mean any of my movement abilities, which all Tenno have. So, any particular reason you're here?"

"Simply to guide one here," Harmony said. "You can trust what she says. I asked her why she wished to see you before guiding her here."

"And just who may that be?" I asked.

"Us," a single voice said before a light blue pony wearing an ankle, if that's the right term, length dress appeared. Her mane was baby blue, and she had both a horn and wings.

I reached out, grabbed the energy sword hilt, and ignited the blades, the heat coming off of them felt just barely on my skin. "Why are you here?" I asked.

"She simply wishes to speak with you, Excalibur," Harmony said. "You forget, I asked why she did, and I can tell when one is lying. I would not have let her if she wished harm to you."

"Better safe than sorry," I replied. "Besides, she can control dreams. Who's to say she isn't your equal in them?"

"Me," Harmony said.

"Forgive me if there are no facts for that," I replied. "Now, again:why are you here, Princess?"

"We simply wish to speak with thee," Luna replied. "We know thy are not a creation of Nightmare. In our time of being possessed by her, we became familiar with how her magic felt when she used it. We felt no such thing as thy escaped from our old castle, and the fact Harmony, the true eternal goddess, chose you as her Champion helps to assert that you are not a threat to Equestria."

"That it?" I asked, the sword blades still lit.

"Nay, it is not," Luna said. "Though our sister believes only those with the Elements are Harmony's champions, and will support them at all turns while trying to stop thee if you are seen, we wish to help Harmony, and you by extension, however possible."

Both Harmony and I looked at one another, though I still had my face covered. I did, however, deactivate the blades on my sword. "If that's the case," I said, "what would you be able to help us with?"

"Anything dream related, obviously," she said. "And, though I know ponies look down on it now, if Harmony needs somepony. . . removed and it comes to me, I will do what I can to ensure it does not come back to you."

"Uh, Harmony," I said, "can I talk with you for a moment?"

"Of course," she said as she walked over, and I saw a faint shimmer behind her, which is to say in front of Luna. "What did you wish to talk of?"

"I don't think we should accept her help," I said. "Not because I don't trust her, but because of the risk to her if Celestia were to find out. She may think Luna's still under Nightmare's control, and who knows what may happen there."

"I can mitigate some of the risk," Harmony said. "You see, that prophecy of Nightmare's return? I gave it to Starswirl, and have actually had a vision of the future, so I can easily make one, as it involves you. It may, at least, put some hesitance in Celestia's mind to stop you."

"What did you have in mind?" I asked.

"I'll tell you when I have the wording down," she said. "Simply make sure to not change the colors of your sword."

"Oookaaay," I replied. "So, would it give us some breathing room to get allies?"

"Hopefully," Harmony said.

"Good enough for me, right now," I said. "Can you make Luna hear us again?"

"Of course," Harmony said before there was another shimmer.

"If we may ask, what have thee decided?" Luna asked.

It was Harmony who spoke first. "Princess Luna, we have decided that you may help us. If you wish for specifics, Excalibur will tell you." Wow. Funny. Good thing I'm able to think on my feet here.

"Well, first off," I said, "if you and your sister should face us, you are to impede your sister however possible while making it look as if you were trying to bring me down. That, obviously, is a given. Secondly would be if Harmony wants me to kill someone that's hard to find, you are to try to get me information on where they live. Finally, for now, anyway, would be to tell any in your guard, once you get one if you haven't already, and you are certain they are loyal to you, tell them that I am not to be attacked, and if they do, it is to be by the side of their other guards, and they must try to make it look s if they're trying to capture me, but, well, like you, impede the progress of the others."

"Those, we may be able to follow," Luna said. "Harmony, we thank thee for the chance at redemption for what we did as Nightmare Moon."

"You need not thank me, princess," Harmony said. She then twitched a little. "Great," she muttered. "He's meddling sooner than I thought he would." She then, at a normal voice, said, "I have to go. Something has come up, and I must attend to it."

"Of course," I said. "I suppose it is time I woke up, though. I will see you both next time." With that, they both faded away as I opened my eyes to see the sun coming up. Time sure flies when you sleep. Well, time to get to work.

I got up, stretched, and began to make my way to Fluttershy's cottage. I arrived about ten minutes after waking up to see her just now leaving. I snuck around to the back, passing the bear on the way, and looked inside.

"There you are, you little bugger," I muttered as I saw a green parasprite inside, along with the demon bunny. I looked around, and then opened the window, getting the attention of the animals inside. I pointed at the parasprite, as most of the animals inside were ones who I had gotten to know, and they knew I was there for it. I then knelt down, and made a come here gesture in the direction of the feed bag.

Fortunately, a few understood what I was communicating and a mouse and bird brought some over to the hand, which I held up in front of the bug, who began to sniff my hand, which allowed me to grab it in said hand. With that, and the parasprite struggling to get out, I climbed out of the window, and ran towards the Everfree, where I let the thing go, and it flew back into the forest.

About an hour later, with me sitting in the Everfree camp I had made, I began to hear a band playing. I got up and followed the sound to see that Pinkie Pie was being Pinkie, and leading a parade of parasprites into the forest, with the other Elements clapping along. Well, that's done.

Excalibur.

Harmony? I asked. I thought you were doing something.

I took care of it, Harmony said. But that's irrelevant right now. It's time for your first actual mission.
> Mission 1 P1-Recon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So, a few days have passed since Harmony had given me my first mission, and I was currently in Manehattan. My mission was to remove a cult, gang, something underground that took mares and stallions, broke their minds with some kind of ritual, and turned them into slaves for select others. Now, the only reason Harmony knew of this place is because of a ritual they used to, quote unquote, "extract a pony's will to make them serve who holds it." Needless to say, it used a bit of dark magic. Unfortunately, it didn't have enough of a signature for Harmony to pinpoint it exactly, so we just knew it was in this city.

Fortunately, there was a way to find at least a small outpost for it, for lack of a better term. That would be a small sensor spell Harmony placed on my Frame that would pick up the ritual signature on who ever was close. At the least, I could interrogate them for what I needed if they didn't lead me there, though nothing had been picked up, yet.

As for where I had set up camp, I hadn't. I stayed on the move, as it would be a lot easier to be detected in a single spot in a city like this. Right now, though, I was on the top of a four story apartment building, which had a small garden there. Get what nature you can in a city, I guess. Harmony, are you sure it's in the city? I asked for the seventh time in the same span of days.

Yes, I am, Excalibur, she replied. But you know that it is hard to pinpoint something at distance. That's why you're there: to find it.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I replied before physically sighing. I may like traveling as much as the next guy, but unless I'm doing it for a reason, one quickly met, I'd rather not do so at all. Right now, this mission was falling into that latter category. Anyway, I made my way to the next roof, on a building the same size as the current one and right next to it, which is when I got a feeling deep in my gut, as well as my head, one that caused me to duck, resulting in an arrow flying overhead from my left. I turned, and nocked an arrow to see a pegasus mare with an elegant bow, one that looked hand carved from an ancient tree, and a quiver full of a dozen minus one arrows. That was the feeling in my gut.

The one in my head was the spell from Harmony, and it lit up as I laid eyes on the mare. I think I have one, Harmony, I said. Oh, and you need to improve the range of the spell.

I'll work on it, Harmony replied in a deadpan.

"So, you're the thing my brother talked about," the pegasus said as she drew and nocked another arrow. "I honestly don't see how you could have escaped the princess." She then shrugged. "I guess that will mean I'll get a good reward for bringing you to the Order. Though the fact you look like a deformed unicorn won't help."

"So," I said as we stared each other down, "I assume you're part of a society or something?"

"Yeah, I am," the mare said. "Not that the name matters to future slaves."

"I'm nobody's slave, bitch," I said before we released the arrows at the same time, and rolled out of each other's aim, resulting in both of us missing. Take her alive?

Yes, Harmony said. We need to know where the main location is. We can give the royal guard subsequent locations later.

No way, I said before nocking and firing another arrow, which was another miss as I caught the second one fired by the mare, spun it, nocked it, and fired it back at her. She's down to ten, while I have seventy. I'm just guessing Orokin, the original race that Tenno are a sub of in Warframe, tech allows that. What if  a guard's a part of this group? They may tip the areas off and allow them to get away. We tell Luna, and have her check the dreams of the guards to see who, if any, are with them, and we'll work from there.

And if it doesn't work?

Then we improvise! I replied as I fired off another arrow at the pegasus mare, who dodged it before doing the same with her own, which I grabbed out of the air, and fired back at her again. She was already tiring, as she just barely avoided this one. I can make this work. I drew three arrows and, using a little bit of enhanced strength, fired them to the mare's right, my left, in a triangle pattern, one after the other before I sprinted to my right, and tackled her, causing both of us to fall to a two story building rooftop. She was struggling still on landing, so I punched her in the face to knock her out. Now to find a loud area to hide the screams.




A few hours later- unknown warehouse-industrial district

I sat on the floor, Skana in my right hand, a stone in the left and being dragged across the blade, with the mare, who, now that adrenaline wasn't in my system, wore a green shirt, a pair of workout pants, and had blue skin with light green hair and tail sitting in a chair with restraints at her wrists and wings, as well as ankles. Those last ones were tight as hell. I do object to this, Harmony said.

You said I can do stir of the moment stuff, I replied. You can only decide what the missions are.

. . . Touche.

Before I could reply, I heard groaning coming from the chair that the mare was restrained in. Tell Luna that she may need to deal with nightmares related to me from others than the bearers. Time to go GTA V.

I don't understand that, but I am quite sure I will, Harmony said. And I will.

Thanks, I said before setting the stone down, and standing up. I walked to where the mare was restrained. "Wake up," I said, kicking her hoof.

"Ugh, where am I?"

"In short, your current hell," I said as her head came up slowly, and her eyes came on me.

"You," she growled. "When the Order finds out you kidnapped me, they'll make you regret it."

"Not likely," I said. "Here's what's going to happen: you tell me what I want, I let you live. If not, then I make you a flightless chicken. Just to start off with," I said, bringing my blade up. "So, first question:what's the full name of your group?"

"Go to Tartarus!"

"Wrong answer."




Later

I walked out of the warehouse, my Skana on my back, bow drawn. She lasted longer than I thought, I said. Good thing she didn't die. However close she came.

I still think you could have went with less bloody methods.

Why? We already knew she was with the group. I just made it to where she told us. now, if you'll excuse me, I need to plan out a rescue for those they have imprisoned.
> Mission 1 P2-Rescue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A few hours have passed since the interrogation. Don't worry, I slipped the authorities a note as to where I left the mare. Anyway, I was overlooking a small building that was bare while kneeling on a three story building. The mare had said that the main holding and indoctrination building was this one, in the business district.

The group was called the Order of Placement. Odd name, but okay. Basically, what they did was take stallions and mares, break their minds, and give them to mares or stallions who had been "wronged" by the former. One of the most popular breaking methods was rape. Reeeallllly wish I had a tank. And a rocket launcher. And a minigun with infinite ammo. And a nuke. Yeah, I really hate people like this, and will take great pleasure in killing them.

Are you sure you can get all of them out without knowing? Harmony asked.

Depends, I replied. If you mean get them out without the main assholes knowing, then to begin with, yes. Will they find out? Well duh, they will, but they won't be able to act on it, because I'm coming for them next. With that, I got up, and stepped off the building, using my double jump to land safely before sprinting towards the building as i drew my bow and nocking an arrow. Once i made it to the building, I turned and put my back on the brick wall. Really wish I knew what was inside. Still, no plan survives contact and all that. Still, I went with the most cliched thing I could think of. I knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" a guard asked.

Okay, mlp names? Got it. "Lone Shadow. I'm a new guy, and the boss sent me here to choose who I wanted first." If it follows the cliche, then three, two, one.

The door opened, and I drove an arrow through the guard's neck, the arrow being from the mare, before I fired the one nocked into his skull to make sure he was dead, and blood seeped through the wounds as I pulled the arrows out, cleaned them as best I could, and renocked the one I fired, keeping the other in hand for quick reload. With that, I moved into the building as quick and silently as I could, always scanning a room as I entered it, encountering only one guard, who took an arrow to the head, which I then retrieved. Want to leave as little clues as possible as to who did this.

It wasn't until ten minutes after that I had cleared the entire main floor. "Must be in a basement," I muttered, and began looking for one. After a few minutes, I found an entrance under a table, and opened it. "Hi," I said before unloading a clip of Lato, the pistol, into a group of guards. They fell down the stairs, me following as I reloaded my gun, put it on my thigh, and drew my sword. As soon as i reached the bottom, I entered a room filled with empty cages, but with three guards.

"Halt," one yelled before they charged with swords of their own. Under my helmet, I rolled my eyes. The first to reach me, a Minotaur, swung downward, which I easily avoided before stabbing his spine, paralyzing him, but not killing him. The next, an Earth pony stallion, tried to slice me horizontally with his sword, but I jumped over it, and sliced his head off. As I landed, I spun, and sliced the last guard in half at the waist before stabbing his heart as his upper half lay on the floor. All of that in less than five seconds. That's why you never mess with a ninja.

Anyway, I walked over to the one I had paralyzed. "Those you were keeping prisoner. Where are they?" I asked, holding the sword to his throat. When he didn't answer, I drew a bit of blood. "Unless you wish to see Tartarus with your own eyes, I suggest you answer."

"Go to tartarus," the Minotaur replied before I rolled my eyes, released my grip on him, and then stomped on one of his horns, breaking it off, and drew my Lato before leveling it at his head.

"Don't test me," I said. "Really, if I wasn't here to rescue your captives, I would have killed you already, because I despise slavers. Now, tell me why they are, or I will make you wish I had killed, if not give you to the princesses. I may not be on the best terms with them, but I am quite sure that we are in the same boat when it comes to slavery. Now, where. Are. The. Captives?"

He was silent for a time before saying, "And if I told you, what would become of me?"

"I will do everything I can to let you walk again. You have my word."

"In that case," he said, "go to room 2A. You'll find them there. That is, if you can get past the others."

"Oh, I will," I said before slitting his throat. "May you walk in Tartarus."

With that, I swung my sword to get the blood off before putting it on my back, and drawing my bow. I then moved deeper into the basement, if that still applied, with each group of guards, anywhere from three to five and a mix of ponies and Minotaurs, each male, tried to stop me, only to get an arrow through the skull, or a broken skull with the bow before being finished with a pistol shot. Eventually, I found the door, and, with my Skana in the right hand, Lato in left, I opened the door to 2A, with some difficulty, and found mares and stallions chained to the wall or in cages. They looked up at me with fear. Understandable, I guess. "Are each of you able to walk?"

"Why?" a stallion asked. "So you can take us to your boss?"

"No," I replied. "So you all can escape. Now, are all of you able to walk?"

"Most of us," a mare replied. "Some of us are new, and they love to break us in." Yeah, with what I know, I don't need anything further.

I nodded. "Right," I said. From there, I proceeded to cut the chains holding them to the wall, or the doors to the cages, just barely large enough to be comfortable to a pony on their knees. "Can any of you carry them out?"

"Yeah," a stallion replied.

"Then those that can, carry them. All of you, stay behind me." With that, I took up a position outside the room, just at the door frame.

"We're ready," I heard from behind me after about ten seconds.

"Follow, and stay quiet," I said before slowly advancing back the way I had come. With that way, we didn't encounter any, as I had cleared that way out. When we got out is when things got. . . interesting. We had just exited the building when I saw a group of stallions and minotaurs, weapons ready.

"Lay your weapons down, and surrender yourself and the slaves," a stallion said. "And we'll give you a reward."

"How about no," I said as the ex-prisoners came up behind me. "All of you, go. I'll hold them off."

"How?" a stallion asked.

"By doing what I do best," I said before putting the arrow I had drawn in the quiver and the bow over my shoulder. "Being a goddamned ninja," I said before i began to walk over to face the large group. "How about this: the princesses want me captured, and I'm sure that they'll be a large bounty. If you all can take me down, you can take me there, and claim the reward. In return, you let them go," I offered, pointing towards those i saved.

One scoffed. "I don't see why not. We could use some fun. You know, other than the fun we have back at the main building."

"I'll be the one to have fun here," I said before placing my hands together, each clenched into a fist.



I pulled my hands apart, a green glow coming from the gap and brightening, with the glow from my right hand extending into a sort of hilt. Once my hands were the length of a Skana blade apart, I opened my left hand, and twirled my Exalted Blade around in a figure eight in front of me before resting it to my right, the blade emitting a green glow. "Let's dance."

"GET HIM!" one yelled, and they all charged at me. Time to go to work.

As the first few reached me, I delivered a quick slice in the air, a diagonal form where the blade was to above my left shoulder, cutting one at the waist, another in the chest, and another in the neck, killing each. "Next," I said before taking a two handed grip with my sword. As they came at me, I went to town on them, easily cutting through them, regardless of where I struck. Not even their blades could survive, and the contact point was vaporized as it touched my Exalted Blade, allowing to to just swing, as my shields were able to take the few hits they landed.

Once they were all dead, I slammed my hands together, the blade not harming my left hand, which caused the blade to vanish.

That was overly bloody, Harmony said. Celestia will most certainly hear of this now.

Right now, I don't care, I replied. Now, I finish this group off.
> Mission 1 P3-Extermination
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A few short minutes have passed since I freed the captives, and right now, I was outside a high rise, where the mare I had "questioned", as well as those I freed, said the main part of the Order, including lists on its various members, was. Hide in plain sight, I guess. I mean, who'd expect a group like this to hidein a swanky high rise.

Now, so none can complain, here's the part of my morality that's relevant: I hate politicians, but it is their job to be aggravating, essentially. Same with the press. But people, or ponies, whichever you choose, like this, those that choose to be rapists, are, in my opinion, more worthy of what I'm about to do. I don't care what your public standing is, if you're a rapist, and choose to be one, which, let's be honest, is pretty much all rapists, I hate you. Even if you helped my family out personally, I would hate you.

Which is why I'm glad these are strangers I'm about to butcher, as I don't know them, and have no qualms. And if they have a family, they deserve better than the pieces of shit I'm going to kill.

Sorry, I tend to rant with stuff I hate or like in the extreme. Anyway, let's get going here.

I was on a two story building, looking at the main entrance, which wasn't guarded. Either they don't know what's going on, or hubris.

I have to agree, Harmony replied. Still, let us hope you finish before Celestia catches wind and teleports here.

You probably just jinxed it, even though it's only been a few minutes since I massacred them, I replied. With that, I jumped off the roof of the building, and made my way to the main door, which was, surprise, locked. Not that it was an issue, as I just sliced through the main lock, and walked into a lobby filled with guards. "What's up," I said before drawing my Lato and shooting each of them, twelve, just short of the Lato's fifteen magazine, total, dead. I then reloaded, and proceeded further into the building.

You're lucky I'm able to duplicate those projectiles with my magic, Harmony said, or you'd run out soon.

That's why I have a sword, I replied. From the lobby, I went and scanned the entire first floor, coming across mostly empty rooms, a gym and, well, a dungeon meant for the not-so-bloody kind of fun for the tormentors, if you know what I mean, as well as a few guards, who I killed with my Skana. From there, I went to the second floor, which is where I found what I was looking for.

More accurately, what I saw, to begin with, was a minotaur beating a mare. I don't know what it was over, but I fired a Lato round into his head. "You okay?" I asked the mare as she looked at the body in horror. When she nodded, I said, "Go downstairs, it's safe. Don't worry about the others here, I'll get them out."

I walked past her, and further into the building, killing guards as I found them. When I came across a master or mistress, guess why I call them that, with a "pet", the former met the same fate as the guards. All in all, when the second floor was cleared, thirty ponies and minotaurs were dead, and fifteen ponies were freed.

The third floor was where things got complicated, and I had to have Harmony help me out. The reason being is that this is when I encountered those, for lack of a better term with what I learned of a ritual, "heartless". They would be those ponies who had gone through the ritual and had a small version of the crystal heart appear out of them, and whoever held it had complete control over them. Every time I came across one, Harmony lent me her power, and severed that part of the link. Their soul was still there, but they no longer had to follow orders from the one who held it. More often than not, those holding them were with them, and, after some questioning, told me where they were so that I could return the souls. Again, for lack of a better term. In total, through the ten floors I went though, I freed about one hundred and fifty ponies, making my rage for the one leading this group grow due to the amount, killed three hundred and fifty guards, and one hundred and fifty masters/mistresses.

It was the top floor where I was now, after my arrows, blade, and gun had tasted blood of so many. I had freed every pony I came across, killed everything else that hadn't been enslaved, and was now outside the office of the leader of this group. Are you sure you wish to take him alive? Harmony asked.

Believe me, I wish him dead a thousand times over, I said, but I think the families of the ponies I rescued want him punished.

You did not seem to follow that when you were killing the rest.

Yeah, but that's because they didn't orchestrate this, they don't pay the guards, they don't pay the bills for this place. This guy is the one who does, the one who enabled this, and I will not give him the easy way out. With that, I kicked the door down, and, upon seeing two minotaurs and two ponies, fired a shot at each, doming them, leaving me pointing my Lato at a yellow unicorn dressed in a business suit, his hair being gray, and with three mares on their knees at his feet, another held in his arms between me and him.

"So," he said in a voice that was like oiled honey, "you're the one who's caused most of my organization to crumble in less than a day? I expected the princesses."

"They're too soft to do this," I replied, holding my Lato two handed at him. "Only reason I haven't killed you yet is because you deserve worse than death, and I'm sure that most of Equestria and i agree, the few being the members of your group I've yet to kill."

"And you won't," he said. "Because I have an offer for you: if you le me live, I'll have my people within the royal guard drug the Elements and the princess, and have them brought here for you. To do with however you please."

"You think I'm another one of your weak followers," I said. "I don't follow my base instincts. I have no desire to have any with me, and if I did, it most certainly wouldn't be by drugging them." I then lowered my Lato before placing it on my thigh. "Then again. . . it would be nice to put Celestia in her place."

"Like I thought," the unicorn said.

"But one thing," I said.

"What?" he replied before I reached for my sword, and then thrust it skyward. Radial blind. There was a small flash, and the unicorn let go of his captive.

"Gah, my eyes!"

I then leapt behind him, and thrust my sword through his spine, paralyzing him, and spinning forward, and cutting his horn off. I cleansed my blade with a flick, and then placed it on my back. From there, I pointed a palm in the direction of the mares, tendrils of rainbow energy coming from it and touching them in the forehead, causing a small flash, before the tendrils vanished. "You three all right, physically speaking?"

"Y-yeah," one, a dark blue unicorn mare with black hair and wearing short shorts and a t-shirt that barely covered anything. "What are you?"

"Just a friend," I replied. "Can you three walk?" They nodded.

"Then head to the first floor," I said. "I'll follow once I make sure he," I said, pointing to the stallion who had passed out from pain, "is secure and can't fight back."

They nodded, and left the room. "Okay, bitch," I said, turning to the unicorn. "Time to go." And, with that, I picked him up, and left the room, went to the ground floor, handed him to those I saved, telling them to hand him to the authorities, and wall jumped up to a two story building, and began to run southwest, towards Ponyville. Going to be a long run.
> Second encounter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		It's been a few weeks since Manheattan, and, far as I could tell, a few episodes occurred, including Trixie's appearance, Dragonshy, and the whole time travel incident. Fun fact, that's one of the few time travel stories done perfectly, as Twilight going back in time is what caused her to eventually go back in time, creating a loop. How did I know? Well, giant bear paw prints, the dragon cave was empty, I checked once a week, and that the Damn didn't have any cracks. Which reminds me.

Harmony? I asked. Did Tirek escape?

Yes, he did, she replied. I do not know where he is, though. But even then, I was planning on having Twilight and her friends fight him.

And if that plan were to fail? I asked. Then Tirek would have the power of every pony in Equestria, and that's including Celestia and Luna. I can fight him, and make sure he isn't a threat now, before he begins to steal power.

There was a bit of a mental sigh before she replied. Fair point. I'll try to find him.

Thanks, I said.

Okay, anyway, I was currently, and in person, watching Lesson Zero play out. It is even more terrifying in person. Right now, the shit was just starting. That's to say, we were at the beach ball scene. You know, I wonder what were to happen if I burned the doll, and kept them all away. Looks like I'm about to find out.

Twilight had just cast the "Want it, need it" spell on her doll, and caused the CMC to lose it. Time to step in.

I jumped off the building I was on, and sprinted toward the grassy area they were on, arriving just as Big Mac ran off with the doll. And here we go.

I altered my path to intercept him, and reached him just before a pegasus mare could get the doll, and yanked it out of his hands, the surprise factor helping me out there. And either it's because of Harmony or the fact my frame's shields are strong as hell that I wasn't being effected. Either way, I'll take it. Now I just need some place hot. An, oven, maybe, but it can't be in town. And, unfortunately, I have no idea if there's a range limit on the spell. By which I mean, I have no idea if the effect will fade after a time with distance. Not going to risk it. Maybe destroying it?

Harmony, I need non-magical ways to counter the "Want it, Need it" spell!

The easiest way would be to destroy the afflicted object, Harmony replied. Twilight Sparkle really used that because of a self imposed deadline?

She thought Celestia put it in, I replied. Now, how to destroy it? I only have my Paris, the bow, my Lato, and my Skana. Not very destructive. Wait a minute.

I placed the doll in my left hand, and drew my Skana. I looked at it, and it began to glow green. With that, I skidded to a stop, and tossed the doll in the air, before slicing it with my sword, and it began to dissolve. Perfect.

After that, I made my way towards the Everfree forest, knowing any pursuers would stop at its edges unless it was the Elements or princesses. As soon as I hit the brush, I ducked into it, and looked around, to see none were pursuing me. Well, now that one crisis is averted, I can prevent another- Philomena. Celestia and the troll bird had not yet arrived, if they had, the town would probably have been talking about it, which meant I had time. Unfortunately, I can't kill the bird, it is a phoenix, after all, but I can at least make sure Fluttershy will know.

So, I made my way to her cottage, where a few animals were outside, including the bear and, seeing as how they can somehow read, I took a piece of paper, after tormenting Angel a little, and wrote down When Princess Celestia visits with a bird, Fluttershy will probably bring it here. Tell her that it's a phoenix, and that it's alright, they always look sickly before being reborn. After that, and after the bear nodded in understanding, I decided to kidnap Angel, something none of the animals made any noise, literally, over, and went into the forest to feed him to a timberwolf. I do believe I just rid the world of an evil greater than Tirek. Believe me, I'm not one for animal abuse, but with Angel, can you really blame me?

Anyway, as the sun began to set, with Celestia arriving in Ponyville then, I made my way to Golden Oaks, making sure to get there a second after the Elements arrived, and, using some paper I took from Fluttershy, as well as an ink quill, and wrote Celestia wasn't going to punish Twilight at all. She's lying simply because she wants to make sure her world remains perfect. I then knocked on the door after nailing the note to the door with an arrow I took from the mare in Manehattan, who is alive, even if she's practically catatonic.

With that, I left, and went back to my camp. So, Harmony, I said, you have that prophecy wording down?

Yes, I do, the goddess replied. Here it is: As the moon covers the sun, a being of shadows will appear. None but a god will be able to stop his emerald sword, and all else will fall before. When Equestria has come close to its fall, it and the shadows at its side shall be either its savior, or its destroyer.

Pretty good, I said. Though it makes me sound kind of Overpowered. I mean, only a god can defeat me? By your account, that would mean just you.

Not exactly, Harmony said. There are some gods who do not live in this world, some who would love to conquer Equestria, and even mortals that can attain the powers of a god.

Fair enough, I said. Still, that fall bit, was that the part of the future you saw?

Indeed it was, she replied. Unfortunately, I can not say if you will win or lose, simply that you will be the one to decide Equestria's fate.

Didn't sound that way, I replied. Sounded like I'd have some allies with me.

She didn't reply, which meant she knew something about those others. Doesn't look like I'll get anything out of her, though.

Anyway, I was about to sleep, when I noticed a light blue glow coming from the brush, withing my view. Wonder what it is.

I hope this'll work. I sat down, and got into a meditative pose, with one difference: my eyes were open, and I could see the blue dots move and get bright, indicating they were getting closer. After a few seconds, a head popped out, but the shadows and darkness prevented me from seeing the details. I could, however tell it was pony-like. After about a minute, it was close enough to be in arms reach, which is when I grabbed its throat, and flipped in onto its back as I stood up and drew my Skana.

After it had been flipped, I channeled into my sword for light as I held it up to where I assumed the face was. What it revealed was the face of a changeling.
> Changes of circumstance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"What are you doing here?" I asked the changeling I held at blade edge, the edge glowing green. When he didn't reply, I pressed the blade closer to his throat. "Answer, or I'll gut you."

As I pressed the blade closed, drawing blood, the changeling spoke. "P-please don't kill me."

"Why not?"

"Because I just wanted some food," the changeling replied. "And I'm not the best at hunting. I heard that there was something living in this forest that was skilled enough to kill a manticore. Please, don't kill me!"

"Why is it just you, here?"

"I was exiled," the changeling said in a panic, making me lessen but not remove the pressure of the blade on his throat. "Please, I just want some food. I'll leave as soon as I eat, or now, if you don't want to!"

"Two things," I said. "One: don't scream, we are still close enough to Ponyville for any pony near the edge of the forest. Two," I said as I released the blade from his throat, and placed it on my back, "eat what you can, and stay for however long you want. Only reason I'm alive are my weapons and some magic bullshit."

I could easily remove the charm keeping the wildlife from attacking you.

Shut it, Harmony. Besides, I'd rather not explain you to anyone right now.

The changeling looked at me in surprise. "B-but I'm a changeling."

"So?" I said. "I'm not a racist like most ponies. Besides, I haven't even been talking with you long enough to say I like you or not. With that, I got up, and offered him a hand up. "So, what's your name?"

He took the hand, still looking slightly surprised, and, as I helped him up, said, "Green Mist. It's a rare name style, most are named after insect related stuff."

"Noted," I said. "Name's Excalibur. My kind is named after the suits we wear."

Mist chuckled. "Weird, but I'm not one to say."

"Yeah, well, can't fix that," I said. "Stay as long as you want. I'm not in a rush."

"Thanks," Mist said. "You, uh, got a fire?"

"Nope," I said. "Helmet allows for enhanced sight in the dark, but I was getting ready to sleep when I saw you. Only get one going for cooking."

"Good thing I know a fire spell, then," he said. "And night vision, too." With that, his horn lit up, and the small fire pit I had made lit up with green flames, revealing both of us without the usual night vision filter, which showed that Green Mist was wearing a ragged, holed shirt, along with uneven shorts, the left going past his knee, the right just above his knee, both sides having holes in various places.

"I'm guessing you were exiled a while ago," I said.

"Yeah," Mist said. "Just before the Manehattan massacre a few weeks back. Got caught bringing my marefriend, one of the few ponies who know changelings are real, most think we're myths, and of the fewer who aren't afraid of us into the Hive."

"Strict rules?" I asked as we sat down on opposite sides of the fire pit.

"Yeah," Mist said. "Our queen, as well as most changeling rulers, see ponies as nothing more than food, something that is impossible to be in a relationship with." He shuddered. "The few times a pony was found, male or female, they were always taken to the cells, and went to be food providers for the hive."

"Well," I said. "Where's your hive at?"

"Near the middle of the Everfree," Mist said, a little confused. "Why?"

"Because," I said as I stood up. "Your kind feeds on love, right? Well, if any ponies captured are turned into food providers, three possibilities: the first is they've been mind fucked. Second: they went there willingly to help the hives to not starve. Third is that they are being raped. I hate the first and last options, so, on my word I won't kill the hive, I will go there, free those that fall under those categories, and leave those under the second, if there are any."

"B-but what about me?"

"You got enough energy to change?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

I nodded. "Go north east from here until you see a hut that looks as if it was a part of a tree. In it lives a zebra. Tell her that the sword sent you, and she'll let you stay there until you want to leave. Alternatively, to the southeast, there's a town of ponies. I have a background for you if you want it so you can live there."

"How?"

I shrugged. "In case I come across some artifact that lets me become a pony," I lied. It was really my OC. "So, which option? And before you ask, the ponies are friendly-" to other ponies and few others- "and, so long as you stay in disguise, you should be alright."

He sighed. "Will you tell my marefriend if I choose the second?"

"Yeah, I will," I said. "Can you give me her name and description so I can get her out?"

"Right," Mist said, sighing again. "But give me that background first, and a look to go with it."
> Freelance-Rescue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was the day after I had met Green Mist, and I was on the outside of his former hive, hidden in the brush. There was a small group of black armored changelings, totaling four, guarding the entrance, meaning that I would have to get creative, as Mist told me about the hive mind. Can't kill them, nor can I knock them out. Damn it, I wish I had chosen to get a Loki frame, that would work for me here. Then again. . .

I looked up at the sky, and saw where the sun was. Perfect. I grabbed my Skana, and raised it. Radial Blind. A flash of light erupted from the blade, and it blinded the four changelings, allowing me to run past them, and into the hive. Hopefully, they'll think it was the sun, as I had put as little intensity into the power as possible.

Once inside the Hive, I stuck to the shadows, easy to begin with, I was in a cave, after all, but it got more difficult as I went further in, having to evade more patrols and with artificial, if that term works here due to it meaning man made, basically, lights lighting the shadows, and, even with lowest intensity to still work, I couldn't use Radial blind forever, which means I need a distraction, something to pull them away from the cells.

An opportunity, fortunately, presented itself about an hour after I entered. I had gone the opposite way from the cells, and towards where Mist said that the queen was, and found a single guard, which is what I was looking for. I drew my Paris bow, as well as an arrow, nocked it, and fired it at the guard's head, the arrow penetrating his skull and killing him. With that, I backtracked, evading and avoiding the guards rushing to where the changeling guard was killed. When I made it to the crossroads that split off onto the path I'm on now and to the cells.

The route to the cells had few guards, ones I easily avoided. Eventually I made it to the dungeons, which had, far as I could tell, no guards. Probably thought that any infiltrators would be caught before hand due to ignorance to the hive mind, or just stupidity. Not me.

I looked around the room, rectangular, three floors, cells, ten each floor, built into the wall with steel doors behind bars, with plenty of shadows for changeling guards to hide. Whatever I do, I'm putting risk on myself. If I go in, I may get caught. If I go back, I could get caught still, and I'd be leaving Mist's marefriend and any other unwilling captives here.

I sighed. Looks like I'm going with the more moral one. I walked into the dungeon proper, if it could be called that, keeping my eyes on the shadows for movement. "Is anypony there?!" I yelled.

"Here," a female voice replied from a first level cell, which is where I went. "Please help. I've been here for days."

"Don'y worry, I'll get you out," I said, drawing my sword and channeling into it before slicing at the door. "What's your name?"

As soon as I sliced through the door, the one inside the cell was revealed. "My name's Thoraxia," the female changeling guard said before multiple changeling guards emerged from the shadows-called it- and surrounded me. "And you just-"

"Walked into a trap, spare me the cliche speech," I said. "So, where are the prisoners?"

"Lay your weapons down, and we'll show you, you deformed pony."

"I'm not a pony, dumbass," I said. "And how do I know you won't kill me? You changelings are, given how you get food, are born deceivers." Mostly.

"Because the queen has heard of you," Thoraxia said. "And she wishes to speak with you." And there's my opportunity.

"Alright, then," I said, taking each of my physical weapons, and dropping each on the floor. "Lead the way." Motherfucker.

From there, the changeling guards took my physical weapons, and, with Thoraxia in the lead, I was led to what I assume is the royal chambers. As I was led out of the prison, I thought I saw a shadow move, as if to avoid being seen. Weird.

Anyway, as we went the route that led to the guard I had killed, as well as passed that area, which was stained with his green blood, I noticed more guards, each with armor that protected every inch of their bodies, razor tipped spears, the shafts made of steel, with sheathed short swords and shields. Either those I saw earlier were fake guards, or these guys are the honor guard, for lack of a better term right now.

After about ten minutes, we came to a gated area of the place. The gates opened, revealing a large, cavernous space, with tons of pods on the ceiling, and a single throne, colored black with accents of green, upon which a single being sat.

She wore a flowing gown made of some kind of black material, this with silver accents. She had green hair that looked as if it belonged, for lack of a better comparison, in ancient China, as it was in a bun, elegantly trimmed nails, and made-for-hoof shoes that reminded me of Luna and Celestia's, albeit made of black steel, a simple crown with three, blue beads on the top upon her head. Around the throne were mares and stallions, some with green eyes, others with none. As she spoke, I knew who I was dealing with.

"So," Queen Chrysalis said as she put a hand on her chin and leaned forward to examine me as her guards brought me closer. "This is the one who escape from Princess Celestia all those weeks ago. I expected less, to be honest."

"Should I take that as an insult, or a compliment?" I asked.

Chrysalis chuckled. "A compliment," she replied. "So, what brings you here? Is it perhaps those we captured?"

"Yeah, it is," I said. "But only those being controlled, of which I can tell there are a few, or those too strong willed to resist, but are being raped anyway. Those willing, I'll let stay. You're holding the others unwillingly and we both know that if Celestia were to find out, she'd vaporize you, then probably your entire hive. So, I offer you something: a deal."

"Oh?" Chrysalis replied. "If so, then what are your terms?"

"The obvious," I said. "Let those who are being mind controlled free-fully free- and the others not here willingly go. If you're worried about food, I'm sure I'll be able to help in that regard. I have a. . . friend high up in Equestria's government who will be able to help." Hey, they may be raping, but I won't eliminate an entire race because of how others force them to get food. I know how I made my moral code sound in Manehattan makes me sound like a hypocrite, but they completely raped and brainwashed when they didn't need to. With the changelings, they do it because, though it's only a few who know they really exist, most of them are not very positive towards them.

"And how do I know you're telling the truth?" Chrysalis asked.

"On my word as a soldier of Harmony, that's with a capitol 'H', by the way, that I am telling the truth."

"You are an agent of Harmony? i thought those bearers were."

"Yes, but they simply wield tools created by Harmony. I am her champion, and take care of what they can not or will not do."

Chrysalis was silent for a time. "And if the ponies were to attack us without provocation?"

Harmony?

Much as I wouldn't, if the changelings are attacked first, then you have permission to kill enough to make the ponies stop, but nothing more. If they don't, then let it play out.

Yeah, no. "I would assist you and your people."

"Then, I suppose," Chrysalis said, "I shall attempt to go with what you have in mind." She then looked at Thoraxia. "Guard, free these prisoners, and remove the spell on the others."

"But, highness," Thorax said, "what if this doesn't work?"

Harmony, cna ya help out here?

Three. . . two. . . one. As she hit one, there was a flash of light, causing everyone to avert their eyes. When the flash died down, I looked at where it had originated from, and saw Harmony standing there.

"The fuck?"

"I can appear when and where I want," Harmony replied. She then looked at Chrysalis. "Hello, Queen Chrysalis."

Chrysalis quickly left her throne and, along with the guards, kneeled. "Harmony," the queen said. "I apologize. If we had known he was your champion-"

"It is alright," Harmony said. "He came here not because I sent him, but because of his morals. Still, I agree that the ponies shouldn't have been kept."

"I know, and I wish we didn't need to," Chrysalis said, with a slight nod from Harmony to me, indicating she was being truthful. "But I had to for my people to survive."

"I understand," Harmony said. "Which is why the terms my champion, Excalibur, laid out, you will follow."

"Of course," Chrysalis said. "Whatever you wish, Harmony. And I apologize for what I did to those ponies years ago."(1)

"There is no need," Harmony said. "And you need not worry. I will tell Celestia you wish for peace, and, if needed, press her to accept one." She then turned to me. "There is still one thing, Excalibur."

"I know," I said. "Azure Shadow, you here?"

A unicorn mare with skin a shade of blue similar to season two Luna with light blue hair and tail, wearing a ragged pair of khakis  and a holed, black shirt, stood up. "Y-yeah."

"You're the reason I came here. Your stallion friend told me, and i came here to get you and the other prisoners."

"Mist's alive?" Azure said in shock. "I-I thought he was dead."

"He's alive," I said. "If you'll follow me, I can show you where."

She nodded as Harmony removed the brainwashing on the ponies afflicted by it. As soon as thta was done, I led them out, but not before one last thing. Harmony stopped me, and said, "Before you go, Excalibur, there is something I'd like you to give Green Mist. You will need support." As she said this, she handed me something resembling a silver potato with orange lining. An Orokin reactor? Or at least something similar. Odd. "Give it ot him. That is all you need do." With that, she vanished, leaving me with a new question.
> New allies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So, it's been a few months since Chrysalis, as well as the Orokin reactor, which I gave to Mist, still no idea why Harmony wanted me to give it to him, and, far as I can tell, season two episodes are now happening, though no Discord, thankfully. Of what I can tell "Mare do Well" happened- by the way, with this one, it was Applejack first, and she told the others of her plan after the first thing, with Rarity having already known- Spike's dragon rampage, "The Cutie Pox", "Sweet and Elite"- can I note that it doesn't make sense for it to exist in season two when the Gala happened during season one- and "Luna eclipsed". Just to name a few.

Anyway, I was out hunting during the night- I've always been a bit of a night owl- when I came across Twilight with a notepad. Now, I was in the tree line, so she couldn't see me, but I imagine she suspected something, as Mist and Zecora visited me from time to time, and most ponies had begun to give me a name. "The Demon of the Everfree." Personally, I like it. Anyway, I'm sure that Twilight and the other bearers knew, or at least strongly suspected, that it was me. I figured because she was looking all over and moving slowly and cautiously, the notepad, as if it'd help, close to her chest.

Now, since, as far as I knew, "Stare Master" hadn't happened yet, I decided to shadow her, just in case, so that I could kill the thing, or make it release Twilight from that curse or whatever the fuck it is. I had my Paris bow drawn, an arrow nocked, as I followed her in the tree tops. After what felt like thirty minutes, we came to a clearing, limiting where I could follow, with Twilight going into the center of it. Well, that's where she got before a damned hydra burst into the area. Fuck. Harmony, give my sword flame, cold, and electricity damage. I need to kill that thing.

Already done, the goddess replied. Take it down.

Copy, I said as I jumped out of the tree line, firing off the nocked arrow as I did so. As I landed, the arrow got the attention of the five other heads, with Twilight turning to look at me. "If you want to live, Twilight Sparkle," I said, putting the bow on my back as I drew my Skana, now with flames held to the blade and an aura of energy coming off it, "get behind me."

She did so, but, with fear in the voice, said, "And what are you going to do? Kill me once you're done with it?"

"If we wanted you dead, I would have left you to the Hydra," I replied before looking at the four heads. "You want some food, jackass!? Come and get me!"

The Hydra roared, and charged at us, but I leapt forward to meet it, spinning in the air as I did so, allowing my blade to cleanly slice through the neck of one of the heads, and the others to roar in pain. As I landed, I stood up and turned around, hoping these things would have the same weakness as the Greek Hydra. You know, fire stopping it from regrowing heads. No such luck, unfortunately, as the stump of a neck was now two necks with a head each. Harmony, just flames.

That'll take too long to do, Harmony said. Easier to add damage types than to remove, Get Twilight out of there. Help's on the way.

Better not be the guard, I said with an eye roll as I sprinted toward the Hydra, sliding under it's body, ending with a roll to keep momentum, and, as i passed Twilight, I grabbed her arm. "You want to live, come on!" I exclaimed as I yanked her arm and, at first dragged her, but she was able to get her footing, and begin running.

"What are you doing?!" she yelled.

"Keeping us alive!" I yelled back as we continued to run. I eventually put my sword on my back, drew my Lato, and spun around, moving backwards, and fired off fifteen shots, which did nothing. "Fuck," I said as I turned back around to continue sprinting.

Really, we had almost hit the edge of the Everfree before I heard the schnik of an arrow hitting scale. And it wasn't one of mine. I turned, and saw that it was an arrow with blue fins, the coloration being black. A Tenno arrow. I turned to my left, where it came from, and saw a Frame colored black, with horns coming form the sides of the helmet, and more armor on its left thigh than the right. It's coloration was black where there should have been white, green where there should have been blue, dark blue where there should have been red, and, from what I could see, the energy was green as well, but a lighter shade than mine. "Loki," I murmured, recognizing the frame. Then it hit me. Harmony, you clever bitch. That has to be Mist, seeing as how he has an Orokin reactor, which, with magic, I assume also had a liquid metal, or something, that turned into the Loki Frame.

He saw us, and gave us a two fingered salute before he went invisible, only for him to reappear a second later, albeit with a Lato in hand an firing at the Hydra. The Hydra charged at him ignoring us. I was about to tell him to run, Twilight did yell at him to run, but remembered his first ability. Decoy.

Which meant that the Hydra ate up nothing just as the real one reappeared on its back and drew its melee weapons, the Fang, which had flames, just flames, licking the blades, and sliced at the neck of one of the heads. This time, it didn't grow back. Harmony, how long?

Until you just do flame damage? It's done, Harmony replied. I looked down at my blade, and saw that flames were licking off of it.

"Nice," I said. I turned to Twilight and said, "Unless you want to ask questions and quite possibly become animal food, I suggest you go back home. If you're still here, I'll answer what I can."

Before she spoke or did anything, I turned back towards the Hydra, and ran towards it, Skana by my side. The few logs in my way, I jumped over. Once I made it to the Hydra, I double jumped up onto its back, and climbed to the base of one of its necks, and sliced it off, without it growing back. That left one head, as Mist had sliced off  three others as I made my way here. I got up into a kneeling position, using my left hand to keep on the Hydra, with Mist coming over next to me. "Nice to see you in combat, Excalibur," he said.

"Talk later," I replied. "Slice the last head off now."

He nodded. "Right." With that, we began to make our way to the last neck, which was trying to bite at us. Fortunately, it didn't breath fire like the Greek one. But its neck, for some reason, was armored to the point one of our blades couldn't get through. By themselves, anyway.

"Hold on," I said as I put my sword on my back, and summoned my Exalted Bade, the full name of which took a while to come to me, and drove it into the neck, creating a wide enough opening for Mist to drive his Fangs in, which he did once I deactivated the blade, and he drove it forward for the cutting edge as I drew my Skana, and did likewise in the opposite direction. This led to the Hydra's last head being cut off, and the body falling to the ground as we jumped off. Both of us cleaned our blades, and stowed them. I looked and, to my honest surprise, still saw Twilight there.

"Come on," I told, Mist. "Need to talk to her."

"Right," he said. "Think it'll be a good idea to reveal what I am?" he asked as we made our way to the lavender unicorn.

"Probably not until everything's finalized with the royals," I said. "I assume you know about Harmony?"

"Yep," he replied. "She told me you needed help. And the reason you haven't heard of me in the past month, or at least like this, is because I keep interference to a minimum, or at least visible intervention."

"Right," I said. Harmony, mind if I ask you something?

What?

Well, out of all the bearers, Twilight's the most level headed-

I know where you're going, Harmony interrupted. I was planning on doing so eventually, so yes. Bring her into the fold. I will have Luna gather you all into a dream tonight for the rest.

Copy that, I said. With that, the two of us reached Twilight.

"You actually stayed?" Twilight asked, skepticism in her voice.

"Yeah," I said. "I said I'd answer some questions if you stayed, and you did. I'm a man of my word."

"Okay, then," she said, keeping the same tone as she opened the notebook. "What's your name?"

"Excalibur," I replied. "My people are named after the suits, called warframes, we wear. My ally here," I said, putting a hand on Mist's shoulder, "is Loki."

"And just what are you two?" Twilight asked.

"Complicated answer, there," Mist said. Yeah, I may switch between calling him Mist and Loki, depending on circumstance. Just letting you guys know. "Excalibur's a full blooded Tenno. I'm more what you could call a. . . I don't know, a hybrid. Part Tenno, part Equestrian." Smart phrasing. And either it's magic, or an illusion spell that makes him look more human, which is to say Tenno. This, unexpectedly, made Twilight's eyes light up.

"What?" she asked, excitement and curiosity in her voice. "How?"

"You mind if we knock yo uout? I ask. "That'll put you to sleep and the one who brought me here and gave Loki here his Frame will be able to talk to you."

"But couldn't I-" she started before I hit her upside the head.

"Consider that payback for the stupid shit you've done so far," I said. "You ready?" I asked Mist, who nodded. "Then let's go." With that, we began to meditate, going into that hover thing. Harmony, get Luna.

Right, she said.

And with that, Mist and I entered the dreamscape, only to reveal a hell fire Twilight. "You-you-you ANIMALS!" she yelled. "I KNEW NIGHTMARE CREATED YOU TWO! AS SOON AS I GET OUT OF HERE, I'LL HAVE CELESTIA IMPRISON BOTH OF YOU!"

"Then I will have to free them," Luna, now with season two appearence, said as she appeared next to Twilight, the surprise removing the hell fire.

"Pr-princess Luna?" Twilight said in surprise.

"Indeed, Twilight Sparkle," Luna said. "And contrary to what my sister believes, Nightmare did not create Excalibur. Harmony, however, did."

"What? But Harmony's an abstract concept."

"Then who made the Elements?" Harmony said as she too appeared. "Because I assure you, Twilight Sparkle, it was not magic by itself." Twilight was just slack jawed at seeing Harmony. "Yes, I am the one who made the Elements, and the one who brought Excalibur here. As for his comrade, well, I simply scanned Excalibur's mind, and saw the various 'frames', and figured he may need help of his caliber in the future, ad decided to begin recruiting."

"Then why not recruit me and my friends?" Twilight asked.

"Because ponies have a black and white moral system," I said. "The shit I do, have done, and will do require a gray one, not seeing everything as pure good, or pure evil. Very rarely do either of those exist, if ever. For instance what would you do if a stallion was trying to get money for his family?"

"Help him, of course," Twilight said with a small, smug smile.

"And if he was a murderer who turned himself around only recently?" I asked, the same smile under my helmet as hers vanished. "See? Nothing is black and white. Hear of the Manehattan massacre? I did that. I'm not proud of it in and of itself, but I am proud of the fact I removed an entire group of rapists from the world." I shrugged. "Sometimes, to do great good, one must do great evil."

"Well said, Excalibur," Harmony said before speaking to Twilight again. "Twilight Sparkle, I asked him and Loki to bring you here, as I wished to bring you into the fold, as they say, of our group. You would be a great asset to us."

"But what could i contribute if I joined?" Twilight asked, which was a fair question. We have Luna, an alicorn who can move the moon, Harmony, a full on goddess, and Mist and me, who are space ninjas, in basics. And here, Harmony gave a small grin.

"When you wake up, you'll see," she said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must see to something else." With that, she just vanished.

"Yeah, she tends to do that," I said. "You get used to it."

"So, um, Princess Luna," Twilight asked the lunar alicorn, "how long have you known about them?"

"Excalibur and Harmony?" Luna replied. "For a few weeks after his arrival. For his ally, this is the first I have seen him. And when we are in the dreamscape, Twilight Sparkle, you may remove titles from our name. And no, I am not speaking in the old tongue."

"Yeah, if we didn't," I said, "you'd have to add 'Master of blades' to my name."(1)

"Or 'The Deceiver' to mine," Mist said.

"So, you want to join, or not?" I asked Twilight. "Keep in mind that whatever you decide, you can't tell Celestia."

"Why?"

"Because my sister," Luna said, "has lost what made her a good protector in times past: a will to do the things others can't or won't. And before you say she gave you and your friends the Elements, she did not; Harmony chose you six as she chose Excalibur, and Celestia could very well have been wrong. What then? If it hadn't been for the Elements to begin with, Nightmare would have won, and Eternal Night would be here." And judging from the season five finale, at least one variation of Equestria got along nicely with it. "Much as I love my sister, she is wrong. Sometimes, one must dive into darkness to save light."

Twilight was silent for a while, I imagine going over the pros and cons in her head. Eventually, by which I mean ten dream minutes- I say dream minutes because, well dreams don't pass at the same speed as real life- she asked, "And what about my friends and Spike?"

"If you mean if you can tell them," Luna said, "think of how they reacted to Excalibur. They most likely still think he is a last ditch creation by Nightmare to bring Eternal night. I mean not to judge them, but what would they think if you were allied with him, and they may believe I am still corrupted. Perhaps after Harmony has brought them in."

"Spike, though," I said, shrugging, "him, I'm sure, will trust you fully."

Again, silence for a time before she sighed and said, "Then I guess it wouldn't hurt."

I nodded. "Then welcome to the club," I said. "Thanks for being here, Luna."

"Of course, Excalibur," Luna said before she vanished and the Everfree returned, indicating we had woken up.

"That always happen?" Mist asked as we went back to standing.

"Mostly," I replied as Twilight groaned. "Looks like she's waking up," I said just before an orange glow began to emit from under her right hand. When it faded, there was another Orokin reactor. "And it looks like Harmony gave her a Frame, too."

"I wonder what'll be."

"No idea," I said. "Which reminds me, when we're in hearing range of others or in combat, I'm going to use frame designates."

"I'll remember," Mist said just as Twilight fully woke up, rubbing her head.

"Ugh, my head," she groaned out as she got up. She then looked at me and said, "Did you really need to do that?"

"Quickest way," I said. "Hey, Loki. What'd you do with your reactor when I gave it to you?"

"You mean that?" he asked as he pointed to the one that had appeared in Twilight's hands, which she was subconsciously holding, as she looked down at it in surprise. "I had a feeling, and put it between my shoulder blades."

"Uh, what is this?" Twilight asked, looking at the reactor.

"Power source for a frame," I said. "May as well do as Loki did, and see what you got."

"Right," she said before placing the reactor on her back, causing a flash of light that was intense enough to where Mist and I had to avert our eyes.

When it was gone, Twilight was still there, but, due to magic bullshit, she now had actual feet and no muzzle, along with no horn. As for the frame, it was Mag. The colors were, in order of Primary, Secondary, tertiary, accents, and energy, were lavender where black would be default, purple along the sides where blue should have been along with on her forearms, fuchsia as stripes running from the top of her body where blue stripes would be, white where small bits of red would be, and purple as the energy swirl on the helmet.

She looked down and examined herself. "That, surprisingly, didn't hurt," she said. "I mean, well, my hooves extended, my muzzle became shorter, and I don't feel my horn."

"Harmony, I'm guessing," I said. "You're taking it better than I thought."

`"Yeah, I'm surprised too," she replied. "I'm guessing some sort of spell that helps remove panic and such. So, given how you nam eyour people, Excalibur, and I'm wearing a suit, what's my new name?"

"A:You're new name is only when we're in public or combat, and B:Your new name is Mag. Title: 'Mistress of Polarity'. That's to say, you now use magnetism. And welcome to the group, Mag."
> First battle. Wait, what episode is this, or are we now in alt u territory now?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So, an interesting week I had. First was that Twilight joined our little group and became the warframe of magnetism, or polarity, which ever you prefer. Turns out, Harmony plucked more than just the warframes from my mind, as the weapons for Mist and Twilight, the latter having the Braton rifle, Viper auto pistol, and plasma sword for her melee. Turns out the reactors had subliminal training in them, as well, seeing as how Twilight was able to use her weapons like she had trained from the youngest age possible with them. Of course, she still had issues with violence, I didn't think that'd be gone in a month, let alone a week, but she is at least beginning to have a more gray moral sight. An improvement, considering.

Anyway, I was on the edge of the Everfree right now, arms folded and weapons stowed. The reason being that Harmony had requested the three of us to meet there. Why, I had no idea. And before you ask, Mist told Twilight of his real identity, while Azure, his marefriend, had known since he got the frame. Far as I know, she actually took it well. Twilight, that is. I guess with the first contact-at least to modern ponies and perhaps a word from Harmony-went well on Celestia's part.

Anyway, I had been waiting on the two for near an hour before I heard," Surprise," from behind me, and I quickly spun, bringing my Skana out, only to stop just shy of Mist's, in his frame, neck. "Jeez, Ex, I thought Tenno were supposed to be aware of their surroundings at all times."

"Go to hell," I said, stowing my sword. "Where's Mag at?"

"Should be here any second," Loki replied. "She's still trying to get the parkour shit down."

"Ah. Right," I replied. "How long did it take you?"

He shrugged. "Not long. When I was a nymph, I used to do a lot of exploring in the Hive caves. I was a little rusty, but I got back into it quickly."

"And she's never done it before," I said. "Fucking joy."

"Still, any second now-" as he said that, Mag, also in frame, crashed into the ground from the treetops.

"Not. A. Word," she said as she sat up from falling on her back. "So, did she say what she wanted us to do?"

"Not yet," I replied as Mag stood up. "So, told Spike?"

"Not yet," she replied as she stood up. "He's still in love with Rarity, and who knows what he could say in that state."

"Yeah, fair point," Loki said. "I wonder when we're going to get our mission."

"How about right now?" we heard from further in the forest. We turned, and saw Harmony. Mag and Loki out of habit with royalty bowed, while I remained standing.

"About time," I said. "I was beginning to think we'd be here for no reason."

"No, I was simply working on something else," Harmony said, getting my slight interest for some reason. "Regardless, the reason why I called you three here is simple: a contact of mine-more ponies than just the princesses have had contact with me- is reporting griffons massing on the western border of Equestria."

"I thought the griffons had their kingdom in shit and pieces," Loki said.

"One, yes," Harmony said. "But this is a different kingdom than Griffonstone. These griffons care nothing for personal wealth, and want more land for their nation. They are willing to take it, and, because of the nobles-annoying as hell they are-they believe Equestria wants war, and with this group, when war is called, the only thing that can stop them is destroying their numbers enough."

"So. . . we need to massacre them?" I asked in the simplest way possible.

"Maybe we can trick them into stopping this before it starts?" Mag asked.

"No," Harmony said. "It doesn't help that the leader of this group hates Equestria for the same reason I brought Excalibur here in the first place. I'll admit, because of that, if it wasn't for you three, he could take Equestria over with ease, seeing as how they somehow found an artifact that puts their king, named King Razor Wind of the High Talons, on par with Celestia and Luna."

"Then what hope do we have?" I asked, to which she chuckled.

"Easy," she said. "That hope is each other. After looking through Excalibur's memories from when I brought him here, I know that a single Tenno is a force unto themselves, but three? That, when it is the right combination, is as powerful as an army, if not more so. And you three are suited, no pun intended, for this task."

"Fair enough, I guess," I said.

"So we'll have to kill them?" Mag asked, worry and fear in her voice. I can see why.

"Mag, what's better, dying for nothing like a robber, or dying with honor and for a cause?" I asked. "The griffons will give us no quarter. The most we can do for the is make their ends as painless and quick as possible."

She sighed. "I guess you're right."

"So, how do we get there?" Loki asked. "Can't exactly teleport with our frames on."

"I'll handle that one," Harmony said. "Just so you know, it'll be like being teleported by Loki." And with that, she snapped her fingers, and the world seemed to go tunnel vision before expanding again, revealing a desert terrain.

"I think I'm gonna barf," Mag groaned before she retracted the face plate, revealing a face similar to her EQG face, by which I mean was her exact EQG face, before running to a nearby bush, and hurling.

"You know, I wondered if the reactors changed more for you guys than just giving you actual feet and removing muzzles, horns, and wings," I said. "Looks like it does."

"Yeah," Loki said before he showed his Tenno face, which was well tanned, but not overtly like these women who go to tanning salons everyday for near an hour, and not too scarred. "Azure actually likes this face better, and I use my magic to have it going when I can."

"Didn't need that info," I said. "You okay, Mag?"

She had stopped barfing as Loki and I talked, and used her left sleeve to get what was on her lips off. "Yeah, just a little disoriented now."

"Good," a voice said from behind us, making us turn to see a mare wearing jeans with those things stereotypical cowboys wear, I don't know what they're called, that had those tassels hanging off the side, over them, a black T-shirt with a leather vest-why in this environment. Her skin was colored brown, she had a yellow bandanna across her forehead, her hair and tail being colored a dark yellow. "Name's Mesa. Before you ask, yeah, I'm Harmony's agent here. She said you three would be coming."

"Nice to meet you, Mesa," I said. "So, you told Harmony there's a Griffon Army near here?"

"Yep," the mare plied before pointing behind us. "There. Far as I can tell, they have something hiding them from view. Best guess being that thing Razor Talon has."

"Any idea what it looks like?" Loki asked.

"Just that it's gold. Other than that, nothing."

"So little to no intel, then," I said, drawing my bow. "Fun," I added sarcastically.

"Yep," Loki added as he hid his face via faceplate, and drew his own Paris bow. "So, did you get a look at how many?"

"I'm going with near a thousand griffons, and half that ponies," Mesa said. And yes, I know it's confusing, as her name is the same as a frame's, so, when and if someone gets that frame, I will put a 'WF' in front to distinguish. "Of what I can tell from a distance, as they just recently cloaked, I'd say the artifact they have allows for mind control, as I saw ponies who fought them, even killed one at least, suddenly fight alongside them in the next town after Razor did something to them with the artifact."

And mind control. An. . . interesting point in my morals there. If it's to help someone, I'm for it, but if it's for something like rape or one's personal gain, I hate. But at the same time, if they use it for personal gain, such as money, but then contribute that money to charity, however unlikely that is, or the fetish of the one being hypnotized is rape-as the old saying goes, you can't rape the willing- and there's a signed document from before the hypnosis that says both parties were consenting, then it gets complicated. Yeah, I'll admit, having a gray moral scale can have downsides.

"So, what do we do?" Mag asked. "I mean, they aren't fighting us in their right mind. There has to be some way we can help them without killing them."

"Take out the artifact, maybe," Loki said.

"No idea if it would work," Mesa said. "But who knows? It may."

"Then we knock the ponies out, and if destroying the artifact does free them, we let them go. If not, then we tell Luna so the guards can come here and get them."

Mag sighed. "Guess I'll have to live with it."

"Still," I said, if you have to, literally disarm them. If they're unicorns, do what you can to make the horn removal painless."

"Right," Loki said. "First, though," he said taking his actual secondary, the Talons, and giving them to Mesa. "Just in case they come after you while we're down there. The ends with the tips detach from the rest, and can be thrown onto something. On the bottom is a trigger that'll cause the tops thrown to detonate. Keep in mind, though, only four tops can be thrown, and eight can be out at a time. I don't know why, has to do with the systems, I think." He then took a pouch on his right thigh, and handed it to her. "Spare ammo. Only twenty in there. Use them smart."

Mesa nodded. "I will," she said, taking the weapons and the spare claws. "Now, how about you three show why Harmony chose you guys?"

"On it," I said. "Okay, people. Let's go." With, I jumped off the cliff we were on, sorry that I forgot to say that, doing a double jump just before landing to land safely. Mag came down next, her hands spread apart, and pulses of energy coming off her palms, which faced the ground.

Before I could ask what she was doing, she was almost instantly swapped with Loki. "She'll explain when she gets down here," he said.

A few seconds later, Mag came down again. "Care to explain?" I asked.

"I just used my powers to change my polarity and the polarity of the ground to opposites, with the materials my suit being made of being able to somewhat resist it," she replied. "It allowed me to hover down. And in my spare time when I could get away from Spike and the others, we've been practicing."

"And you didn't invite me because?"

"We didn't think you needed it," Loki said.

"That's where you're wrong, as I need training to stay sharp," I said. "But we can discuss this later," I added. "Now, we stop an army."

Both nodded, and Mag drew her Braton. "Right."

"Then let's go," I said, putting my bow on my back, and drawing my blade before turning around, and running towards where Mesa had pointed to where the Griffon army was.

After we had gone I'd say thirty feet, magical bolts began to fly at us out of nowhere. "Looks like she called it," I said as I deflected the bolts with my sword.

"Obviously," Loki said as he dodged the bolts, as well as Mag.

After what I can assume was a hundred bolts of magic flew at us, they stopped, and a large blast roared our way from nowhere. "KEEP GOING!" I yelled as I stowed my Skana, and drew my Exalted blade, and held it two handed. "Line up behind me!"

"What are you planning?" Loki asked as they got behind me.

"To absorb that shot."

"What?" Mag asked in surprise. "But that blast is on par with Celestia's magic!"

"Then shut up and let me concentrate!" I yelled, as I rough my sword into a blocking stance and slowing down, stopping just before the blast hit, and began to channel energy into the sword, causing an even quicker drain.

I was stopped in my tracks, and Loki and Mag nearly hit me before they stopped. The energy from the blast was strong enough to where my shields were almost instantly drained, even with the block. I guess heat or kinetic force suddenly hitting. "Guys, I don't know ho wlong I can hold it,"I  strained out. "Mag, how long can they keep this up?"

"I don't know," she said. "With their numbers and the strength, ten to twenty seconds, maybe."

"Yeah, I'm not going to last that long," I said as I saw the blade begin to flicker before it lit up like a star.

Then perhaps I can help, Harmony said. I may not be able to handle this directly, but I can still help you three. I'll be able to keep your sword up, but your energy reserves will be drained until the fight is over.

"Don't care," I said out loud, as I knew Mag and Loki heard her as well. "I don't rely on them, anyway. Give me a sword, and I can kick all kinds of ass."

If you say so, Harmony said, and I began to see the beam of magic be absorbed into my blade. When it had passed, the blade glowed green with a rainbow aura around it. I flipped, the sword into a back handed grip, and then sliced in the direction of the beam, causing an energy wave to make its way toward the area, my Exalted blade disappearing as it traveled. Now, before you yell hypocrite, my plan was to make the griffons take to the air to confirm the area, and, as the wave was chest level, the ponies, if they had fast enough reflexes, would duck below, letting them live.

At the least, the griffon part was true, as I saw a few griffons appear out of thin air. "Bingo," I said. "Looks like Mesa was right."

"Then I guess we'd better get to work," Loki said, and the three of us charged again, with this time, only crossbow bolts flying at us, which we deflected with our respective melee weapons. Eventually, we breached the field, nothing special, really, we just didn't see the army one second, and the next, we did. The ones closes to us, ponies, were on the ground from the energy wave. Loki used his radial disarm to remove the weapons from their hands, while Mag used her powers related of magnetism to make sure the weapons and armor were opposite polarities, ensuring they couldn't use those weapons.

Then came the griffons, and the lead and arrow began to fly, with my sword tasting blood. As we reached the griffon lines, one tried to swipe at me with his sword, but i blocked the downward strike before punching his face with my left hand, and lopping his head off. I then used my foot to pick the sword up with a sweep, and throw it at a charging griffon's torso, making him stop and fall to the ground, blood coming from his chest.

The next one to try and hit me tried to do so with a mace, which I ducked under by bending my back-thank you, training, for flexibility- slicing him in half as I got back up before I drew my Lato, and blew the brains of fifteen griffons out. After that, I saw movement in my peripheral vision to the right, and turned, my sword raised in a blocking manner, which stopped a short sword from cleaving my head in two, but leaving me unprotected from the second that tried to strike my torso.

Which was blocked by my shields. This allowed me to kick the griffon in the chest to send him back before slicing his head off before spinning the Skana around into a back handed grip, and slicing another in half diagonally. I then flipped it back around before putting it on my back and drawing my bow as I spun to avoid a sword slice, drew the arrow back, and let it fly into a griffon's skull. I then used my bow to deflect a sword strike to the ground before spinning myself while twirling  the bow and hitting him in the head with the upper part before getting it back into a normal grip, grabbing an arrow from my quiver, and firing it at another griffon's heart. I drew another, but couldn't fire as another griffon tried to slice me in half, making me dodge, and use the arrow to stab him in the throat.

I spun back, putting the Paris bow on my back and drawing my sword, but before I could attack again, or them, for that matter, a voice yelled, "Cease!"

The griffons stopped attacking, while I stayed on alert. The others are all right, Excalibur, Harmony said. Yeah, for now.

The soldiers parted from around me and the others, creating a space and letting the three of us see each other, and letting me see that Mag had a little blood on her, but no cuts in her frame. The griffons to the cardinal north of us then parted again, revealing two griffons in golden armor, shields strapped to their arms, swords in their scabbards, and spears in hand. Between them was another griffon, his armor golden as well, with gems adorning the breast plate. He didn't have a helmet on, but he did wear a grin. "So, those are the Demons of the Everfree I've heard about," he said. "I'm surprised you three are this far away from your home. Or maybe that's just a ruse Princess Celestia made so none would try to threaten you." He shrugged. "Regardless, you three will bow to my will. I am King Razor Talon of the Western Griffons, soon to be conqueror of Equestria."

"And what makes you think that'll happen?" I asked, to which, he chuckled.

"This," he said, bringing a small orb in his right hand up to view. "This artifact my archaeology teams found allows me to control the minds of who ever I wish, and rumor says that not even an alicorn is immune to it." He chuckled. "Oh, I will enjoy having those two be my personal guard. . . Among other things." And I want to castrate him with a rusty spoon now.

"You want that?" I asked. "You'll have to go through us."

"Oh, you misunderstand," Razor Talon said. "I do not wish just the alicorns under my thrall, but you three as well, seeing as how you decimated my forces. Having you three as my vanguard for taking Equestria over will make it much easier." The orb then brightened, and I fell to the ground clutching my head, which felt as if it was on fire. "Every pony I have used this on before has fallen in a minute, and you three will be no different."

"Then what about us four," I barely heard through the pain before I heard explosions, and the pain cleared. "You guys alright?" Mesa asked.

"Yeah," Loki replied as we stood up. "Head feels like it was just beat with a hammer, though."

"Same," Mag replied. "Thanks, by the way."

"No problem," Mesa said as she drew two more talons into her hands, and Razor Talon regained his bearings and growled.

"Kill them! We'll show what happens when you attempt to stop the griffons!"

"Mag, crush 'em!" I yelled as Razor Talon and his guard retreated.

"On it," Mag said, nodding before she thrust her arms out, and the charging griffons stopped in their tracks before Mag closed her hands, crushing each with their armor. When the power faded, the heaps fell, and Mag was, understandably, horrified. "I-I just killed each of them," she said in shock before looking at her hands. "If I knew I could kill that many at once-" before she could go further, Loki stepped in.

"Mag, snap out of it!" he yelled. "Being a protector isn't about saving everyone, it's about saving who you can. When you took Harmony's offer, that's what you accepted:that you would have to kill, quite possible in large numbers. Now, tell me, is it better that we killed this group and sent their king packing with his artifact, or would you rather have had him reach Ponyville, enslave you and your friends, and then march on Canterlot, and do the same to Celestia and Luna?"

Mag was silent for a while before she glumly said, "I guess out of the two, this is the better," she said. "Barely. At least with the second, nopony would be killed.

"You don't know that," I said. "There would probably be a few killed in the taking of each town and city. I'd rather kill a few to save the many than spare the few and let corruption run rampant. Which reminds me, I need to go to Canterlot. Have something to do there, related to the Manehattan Massacre."

"You'll have to do it on your own, then," Mag said. "I need some time."

I nodded. "Of course," I said. "I was planning on going by myself, anyway. Take however long you need, Mag."

"Thanks," she said, and I could hear the small smile.

"You got it," I said as I saw Mesa go to give Loki his Talons back.

"Here," she said.

"Keep 'em," Loki said. "You may need them, and they generate their own back up ammo."

"Right," she said. "And thanks to you guys. My town was next in their path."

"No problem," I said. "You need help, just let Harmony know, and I imagine she'll get at least one of us."

She nodded. "I'll keep that in mind," Mesa said. "See ya guys later." With that, she walked off.

"You know, put a more noticeable country accent on her," Mesa said, "and she'd sound like Applejack."

"Yeah, I thought that too," Loki said. "So, you guys ready to go back?"

We both nodded. "Then I guess we'd better hold onto our lunches."

That would be best, Harmony said, and we were teleported away from the battle site.
> Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A week has passed since the Griffon thing, and I had just returned from Canterlot and my personal mission. Yeah, the guard's going to have hell trying to find me. Before you ask, the only two nobles that have canon names that were a part of that group were Jet Set and Upper Crust. Yeah, I enjoyed removing that stain. 

Anyway, I was in my camp, the helmet retracted, cooking some food, when Mist, his Loki frame on and helmet retracted, came rushing in. "What's going on?" I asked, certain, something bad was going on, seeing as how he was panting.

"Excalibur, I don't know how, but the royal guard was in town asking about you," he said in a panic. "They asked me something while I was in disguise. They asked if I had seen you coming from the train station in the direction of the forest. I think they know you're here!"

"What?" I asked as I stood up and brought my face plate to cover my face. "How?"

"I don't know," Loki said as he brought his face plate on as well. "But we need to leave, now!"

"What about Mag?"

"She's alright, I saw her as I ran here, and slipped a message. You sure you weren't seen?"

"Yeah," I said. "I always go the route of no ponies. And besides, the only ones who know about us being here are you, me, Mag, Harmony, and Spike." Yeah, Twilight told him about us just after the whole griffon thing. And given how he. . .is. . . . . . "Fuck. Spike told Celestia."

"You sure?"

"Who else?" I asked. "He's able to contact Celestia on a whim, Twilight knows we do what we do because no one else will, and Harmony wouldn't exactly reveal me when my location not being known would compromise my ability to do her missions. And besides, you know how Spike gets when he's trying to protect Twilight!"

He was silent, thinking that over, before he said, "That son of a-we never should have let Mag tell him. Now who knows what may happen. Celestia could go after her personally. Twi won't be able to handle that by herself, and the guards will attack us on sight. And the armor shows that they're the actual, competent guard, and not the royal guard. They want us dead, or stoned." Yeah, I told them about Discord and such. "And I am not going to kill guard."

"Then help me pack," I said. "We're going to pack up here, then get Mag, and get the hell out of here. Preferably some place that Celestia can't get us!"

He nodded. "Right," he said, and we went to pack only what was needed, which was really just the food and water, taking less than a minute, when we put the food in packs Loki had brought, and the water, already in canteens, strung behind our backs.

"Now come on, we need to get Twi and get out of here," I said.

"Lead the way," he said, and we began to make our way to Ponyville, going all Naruto and running in the trees until we got to the edge, when we jumped out of the leaves, and onto the ground, and into a circle of guards wearing a mix of solar guard colored armor that covered every inch of their bodies and lunar colored guards wearing the same in all but color. Closest to us, though, were Celestia and Luna, both in battle armor, with Twilight, without her frame on, being held in Celestia's magic. In a V pattern behind the sisters were the other five Element bearers and Spike. Fuck. My. Life right now.

"Regretfully," Celestia said, "it seems you were correct Spike. They were able to corrupt Twilight."

"And what makes you think she's corrupted?" I ask as I stand up, hands clenched and at my side, as Loki stood up and drew his bow, getting into a stance to dodge as soon as possible at an attack.

"The fact she has killed someone," Celestia said. "I was bale to remove the corruption you put on her, however, and she shows regret."

"Wow," I said as I crossed my arms and in a deadpan. "You, Celestia, are a fucking moron. Any normal person shows regret at killing when it's the first time. But you wouldn't know that, would you?" I asked as I tested my guts by walking up to he,r making the guards tense. "It's been too long since you killed. Why? Because you have a squeamish stomach? Or is it because you really aren't willing to do whatever you can to protect your subjects? Would you kill one to free thousands, or let that one live, and let them continue enslavement just so none can die, with no easy choice of knocking him out because he cast a spell to kill those he has enslaved if it were to happen? Face it," I said as i reached her and looked her in the eyes. "You. Are. A," I said, putting a finger on her chest for emphasis on each word. "Terrible. Ruler." Ah, I always wanted to say that to her face.

The rage on her face was both enjoyable for one like me who thinks she is worst princess-not worst pony, that goes to Snips and Snails- but it was also terrifying up close. She had a snarl on her face before she sent me flying back with enough force to drop my shields from one k to one hundred. "LOKI! DISARM!"

"On it," he said before brought his right hand, the left holding the bow, across his chest, charging energy into it before dispersing it, knocking the weapons of the guards out of their hands, and, seeing as how Twilight fell to the ground, disabling magic for some time. I landed feet first on a solar pegasus, and pushed off his face, pushing him to the ground as I went skyward. I did a single double jump which gave me enough height for the Heavy Impact mod to activate upon my landing, sending any near me to the ground. Those still standing were Loki, the sisters, and the bearers. Loki because of some magic bullshit I'm sure Harmony did, and the others due to a shield Celestia and Luna placed in front of their group.

"You really think that can stop me?" I asked. "I have powers you could only dream of, Celestia." Not bragging, given Harmony. "And I know of that prophecy. The one with the emerald sword." I then did what was probably the stupidest thing ever, and that was summon my Exalted Blade. "I'm that one. I'm the shadow in it, and only a god can defeat me. Which means only you two. Oh, and your adoptive niece, Cadence."

Celestia snarled again. "I assume you pried that knowledge out of Twilight?"

"No, I just have my sources," I said. "Now, let Twilight go, and we'll leave without causing bloodshed to you. If I wanted you dead, I would have already struck."

"Please," Celestia said as she summoned an etheric blade colored yellow. "I will not fall for that trick." With that, she lit her horn, and a dome appeared, separating the two of us from the guards, Loki, Luna, and the bearers.

Gah, I have half a mind to just rip her alicorn hood away right now! Harmony exclaimed. She's nearly ruined everything with her black and white view!

Don't, I replied as I got into a ready stance, the blade in front of me and held in both hands. I'll handle this. Just check to see if Twilight's okay. I have some celestial ass to kick.

"Once I take care of you," Celestia said, "Equestria will finally by safe again."

"Safe from what?" I asked. "Someone who is willing to do the hard shit?"

"From a monster who kills without reason," Celestia said. "I know you are the one responsible for the Manehattan massacre."

"You wanna know why I did that?" I asked as I tensed for a strike. "I did it because they were a bunch of rapists who enslaved others simply because said others wronged them. Now, I don't know about you, but I hate individuals, and groups, who do that. They're lucky I gave them quick deaths." In most cases. Yes, both of those ponies survived. Though for the first one, better to have killed her. She ain't flying again soon. "But, you, Celestia, are too weak to admit that your rule has not done away with crime, and would rather have Equestria seen as a utopia."

"Because I ensured to remove crime before Luna returned," Celestia said.

"Well," I said, before I launched myself at her, our blades locking before I could hit, "you did a crappy job, princess. And can I just say that is one of the most cliched reasons to do something."

"I swore I wouldn't let my subjects go through hardships," Celestia said before she spun her blade down, causing mine to go down, and tried to slice my chest, but i jumped back.

"Then what are you going to do? Prevent death? News flash: hardship is a part of life, and it's the only way for it to change. Even I know that and I'm extremely disconnected from society, even before I came here. With what you want, it's a wonder the ponies haven't been conquered yet. Oh, wait. You would have been, if it wasn't for me, Loki, and Mag."

"Impossible," Celestia said before she struck, but I deflected it. "I would know if there was a threat to Equestria."

It was then something neither of us, for different reasons, happened. "He is correct, sister," Luna said, getting looks from each of those on their feet/hooves. "If it weren't for him, we all would be bowing to a griffon king now, kissing his talons, or worse."

"You see, Celestia," I said. "Even you sister sees I'm doing what you can't or won't."

Whether because she was as stubborn as Applejack or something else, Celestia glared at me and said, "So it seems as if the Nightmare's creation was able to influence my sister." She then looked back at Luna. "Worry not, sister, I'll remove what's left from you after I'm done here." And she just gave me ammo.

"And what of the bearers?" I asked. "Are they not capable of curing Luna again? You seemed pretty confident about them earlier."

I grinned under my helmet as I saw her look, one with surprise, and a hint of fear. Before she chuckled, and it turned into a smile. "I suppose i should tell you that I can still use the Elements." And more ammo. Though I wasn't the one to use it.

"Then why not try to free Luna yourself?" Twilight asked as she shakily stood up. "Instead of making me and the others do it for you?"

I saw her friends back away a little, obviously worried she was still "corrupt", but I also saw that they wanted to try and help. Reason why they didn't? Twilight went Mag as she stood up. "Excalibur, we need to leave.

"Once I'm done here," I said. "Or better idea: Loki, switch, then Luna."

He nodded. "Right," he said, and he swapped with me, putting me out of the field, and then did so with Luna.

"Loki, do what you need to do, and come to the camp," I yelled. "Mag, let's go!"

She nodded. "Right," she said, and moved just as Rainbow and Applejack tried to grab her as Loki ran off to his and Azure's house, while Luna cast a spell to destroy the dome.

Mag and I had cleared the town edge just as I heard wing flapping beside me, between the two of us. As I ran, I looked, and saw Luna. "No choice?" I asked.

"Correct," Luna replied. "It was either this, or have Celestia try to fix me."

"Sorry you had to, Luna," Mag said. "If I had known Spike was going to tell her, I would have kept it a secret."

"You can't fix it now, Twilight Sparkle," Luna said. "And besides, it is not your fault."

"Yeah," I said. "Now double time it, people. Need to make sure nothing at the camp can tell her where we're going."
> A new base
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Running. That's all the five of us-me, Mag, Loki, Luna, and Azure-had been doing for the past week, avoiding patrols from the solar guard, as well as a few lunar guards, but a few lunar guard patrols were made up of those Luna had told the truth about me, and gave us supplied. Still, we were deep in the Everfree, with night coming at Celestia's call.

"Looks like she's doing your job again, Luna," I said as we stopped in a clearing to catch our breath.

"At least the cycles can continue," Luna said. "Shame, though, that she is as stubborn as ever once she believes something is a threat to Equestria."

"Apparently," Mag said, her helmet retracted to reveal her face. "You know, knowing what I know now, I can't believe I idolized her."

"Perfection is something everyone wants," I said, my helmet still up. "She advertised it, people came clambering for it, and she tried to maintain that illusion, when I can say from personal experience that she was nowhere near her definition of perfect. Closer to mine, actually."

"Really?" Azure asked. "What constitutes perfect for you, Excalibur?"

"Someone or something that can live with their faults," I said. "They know they aren't perfect, but live with it anyway."

"Noted on that," Loki said. "So, anyone got an idea for a base locale or something? Nearly out of supplies."

"No place would work," Luna said. "My sister can see everything the sun sees, and our sister, the alicorn of the land-she prefers to hide, which is why almost none know of her- keeps her informed of what's underground."

"So the only safe place is in space?" I asked, unintentionally rhyming as I did so. The lunar alicorn nodded. "Great. No way to get up there, even if we had a way to build."

I think this is where I come in, Harmony said, making each of us, even Azure, I noted, jump a little.

"Harmony, what the hell?" I asked. "Nearly scared us shitless."

My apologies, she said. But I have a way to help. Simply continue moving north. You'll know it when you see it, Excalibur.

"Yeah, yeah," I said before looking at the others. "You guys ready for another walk?"

"I think we can manage for a little while longer," Loki said. "Well, I know I can, anyway."

"Same here," Azure said.

"Alicorns are able to run for a long time without stopping, so a little walk shouldn't hurt," Luna said.

"Good thing I was working on my endurance before Celestia forced us to flee," Mag said.

"Then let's go," I said, and we continued walking, this time in the direction Harmony had directed us. After ten minutes, we came to a large clearing, and what I saw surprised me. "What the fuck?" I mouthed to myself as I saw giant, horseshoe crab shaped vehicles, each with a differing color scheme. Still, I knew it well. "Harmony, how the fuck did you get Lisets?"

I have my sources, Harmony said. And don't worry, Azure, Luna, there's more then enough room for you two to ride with another.

"Yeah, she isn't kidding," I said as I walked toward the nearest Liset, the color scheme matching mine exactly, in terms of the primary, secondary, so on-blue, red, purple, yellow, and green, in order of selection, from primary to energy color. One was near entirely black with green engine color and green secondary and accents, so probably Loki's. The last of the three, each of which hovering off the ground, flaps out, was colored lavender with dark purple as the secondary, fuchsia as the tertiary and purple as the engine color. "I'm sure you guys know which one is yours," I said as I went under my Liset, with the under side turning to reveal the slot where the frames deploy from and go in at the end of a mission, which allowed for a gravity field to envelop me, and deposit me in the cylinder, which turned to where the slot was inside the ship.

Inside, there was a large enough space for me to stand up, as well as a small, and I do mean small, passageway, which I followed, which led to me exiting just in front of the door to the somatic link room. Odd that it's still here. Anyway, I made my way to the main area, where the armory, foundry, mod station, and the incubator were. Too bad I don't have a Kubrow egg. Anyway, I checked the foundy to see if Harmony had given anything else with the Lisets. Boy, did she. I saw numerous weapons, melee and ranged, Specter blueprints of each level, and even alternate helmet blueprints for my frame. Jeez, should I look at my supplies? Yeah, fuck it. I used my HUD to look at my components and I had ninety thousand-at least- of each material. "Well, I guess I could use a new blade," I said as I selected a weapon blueprint, and it began to build. "Wouldn't hurt for a new look, either," I muttered, going over to the armory, which activated automatically upon me reaching it, with the usual screen showing up on my HUD.

"Okay, add Edo shoulder and legs plates, as well as chest piece," I muttered, with the armory putting them on from digital storage.(1) What can I say, I like the look of those. Yeah, fuck it, a cape, too. "Imperator."

The cape appeared on my back, the colors matching my frame. "Nice feel," I said, then I made my way to the front, the ramp lowering as I approached it, and made my way to what was the cockpit of the ship, which was a small room with a large window in the front, and an area in the middle for the pilot to sit and choose the destination. I did so, and five orbs showed up, one being this planet, which, by the way, was designated Equis. "Uh, Harmony?"

Points of interest in the system, Harmony replied as one orb began to pulse. Including your new base.

"Okay, then," I said. "The others in their Lisets?"

Luna and Azure are having trouble being in them, but yes, they are all in.

"Then link them to my Liset, and set the thing as a destination," I said.

Why should I, Excalibur? I mean, I'm the one who recruited you.

"Because I need to set some stuff to build, and I have no idea how to pilot this thing," I said. "It's A.I. controlled for the most part, anyway."

There is one, it is simply taking time to activate, Harmony said. Still, I suppose that last one is a fair point. And when you arrive, there will be others there, just so you know.

"Noted," I said. And it was, with that, the Lisets rose above the forest, pointed upwards towards the sky, and took off.




Thirty minutes later

I had just finished setting a cosmic level specter set to build, which  would award just one, but I had also set a force and phase level one to build, giving three and five, respectively, when Harmony said, You're nearing your new base, everyone. Also, the A.I that will be the actual pilots should be coming online in three. . .two. . .one, and-

"Systems operational," a voice said, emanating from all around me. The voice itself was male-it wasn't Ordis, before you ask- with out a discernible accent, but it did have a, and forgive me if this is offensively stereotypical, British butler air to it, like some incarnations of Alfred from Batman, as an example. "Please assign designation."

Huh, Okay, what will I call it. Not Alfred, that'd be a little cliche, I think. . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Got it. "Designation will be Forge." Named after one of my favorite game characters.

"Designation accepted. Hello, Operator. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"You too, Forge," I said. "You connected with the other Lisets?"

"Affimrative," Forge replied. "Cephalon for Tenno Mist has been designated Carapacia, while Cephalon for Tenno Sparkle has been designated Barb."

"I'm guessing they had female voices then," I said. "Fair enough, I guess. So, how much longer until we reach our destination?"

"A minute, Operator," he replied. "I suggest you prepare to board."

"Copy that," I said as i made my way to the deployment cylinder. I call it that because it is a cylinder, plain and simple. I then activated my radio, and said, "Mag, Loki, you guys good?"

"A little confused, considering the talking ship," Mag said, "but good. Luna actually jumped and hit the ceiling when Barb spoke."

"Noted," I said. "Oh, and once we get where we're going, we'll stop using our Tenno names for the time."

"So what are we going to call you, Ex?" Loki asked.

"My previous name," I said. "Josh. Plain and simple."

"Okay, then," Mag said as I set down into the cylinder, and grabbed the handles as a gravity field kept my legs restrained, waiting for it to turn, which it did a few seconds later, showing that I was vertical, and could just step off, and, I swear I'm not kidding, the entrance to a relay. I stepped out, and saw Mist's coming in to my left, Twilight's to my right, as I retracted my helmet.

"I'm not going to ask, and assume magic bullshit," I muttered as Azure and Luna came out of the Lisets, noticeably a little shocked, I imagine because they were in space. "You two okay?" I asked.

"Just at a loss for words," Azure said as the two mares looked at me. "Huh. You know, I wondered what you looked like under that helmet."

"Agreed," Luna said as Twilight and Mist, not with their frames on, I want to point out, came out of the Lisets.

"By the queens," Mist said as Twilight simply stared slackjawed.

"And this is a small one," I noted to myself, as there were only enough Liset docks for twenty eight.(2) Oddly, four were occupied when there are only three Tenno. Okay, then.

"I'm not seeing a directory," Mist said.

"Then perhaps I can help," a voice said that made Luna jump and Twilight go Mag. We all looked toward the ramp that led to the entrance bridge. Yeah. The one we saw was Nightmare Moon, wearing the outfit those people at the relays wear, though the colors being black with purple accents. Yeah, can't say I didn't raise my Lato at her as Twi gathered energy in her palms for crush.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked.

I am the reason she's here, Harmony said. Honestly, Excalibur, I figured you of all would have tried to give her a chance.

Yeah, but this isn't the fucking Nightmare universe!

Yes, well, she is here because this version of her simply wanted recognition, and by helping me in the relay, she's able to do that and not make ponies run in fear of her.

And can she be trusted?

She has no magic but one to allow her to breath in space should a rupture happen, and she shouldn't need that because of her helmet, which allows me to track her, as well as the technical operators.

"You do realize we can hear her too, you know?" Mist asked, one of the few who was calm here.

"Yep," I replied. "And before you guys ask, the Nightmare universe is something I saw during a meditation where Nightmare beat Celestia and the ponies were actually happy with it." With that, I put the Lato on my thigh. "Still, I know I'm not the only one wondering how you're here, Nightmare."

I managed to save a piece of her essence as the Elements, as some like Excalibur would say, made her taste the rainbow. It took a while to calm her down and explain everything to her, but, when I proposed she help me here at the relay, and help ponies, even if indirectly, she took it. That's the short version, I have other things that stop me from telling the long version of it. Now, if you all will excuse me, I need to handle one of said things.

"You know, she's more cryptic than Celestia can be," Twilight said.

"You're telling me," Luna and Nightmare said at the same time, making the two look at each other with a slight glare, getting a chuckle from me.

"Can you two try to argue and have a comical fight later?" I asked before adding in a mutter, "which, if the cliche holds true, will you you two in bed with one another."

Either they didn't hear that, or just didn't care, as Nightmare said, "In that case, I'll show you where the personal quarters are."

"Thanks," I said as she turned, and began to walk, and we followed, with Twilight having her frame go to her back, which is where the reactor had been placed. I definitely saw some anger there, so I decided to slow down and stay back with her as we walked.

"Don't trust Harmony?" I asked.

"No, it's Nightmare I don't trust," she replied. "Don't tell me you do."

"Hey, I've killed an entire group of ponies just for being rapists. I'm not the best judge of character when it comes to this," I said. "But I trust Harmony. She did give me a new life- a second chance-after all."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"Let's juts say I didn't leave my world the way I thought I would, and leave it at that," I said. "What do you say we at least give her a chance because Harmony trusts her?"

"I guess," Twilight said, crossing her arms. "Still gonna keep an eye on her though." A few seconds of silence passed before she spoke again. "So um, did you see that fourth ship?"

"You too? Yeah, I was wondering about that. Wonder who it belongs to."

"If you two are wondering as to who that fourth Liset is owned by," Nightmare said from in front of us, "she's waiting in the sleeping area for you. And we heard your remark, Excalibur."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry," I said. Not. It's my thoughts on what'll happen.

Anyway, it was five more minutes until we reached our destination, and, to our surprise, meaning mine, Twi's, and Mist's, we saw a familiar brown mare with a yellow bandanna, Talons on her thighs and wearing the same outfit we had met her in. "Hey, guys," Mesa. "Been a while, hasn't it?"

"Mesa?" Mist asked. "Wht are you doing here?"

"And just who is she?" Azure asked her lover. Is that a jealous undertone I heard?

"I'm the one the three met when they went to the western border," Mesa said. "And don't worry, I haven't made any moves on him, nor him on me. Hell, haven't seen them since I first met them. As for why I'm here?" She shrugged. "Ever one of Harmony's non-alicorn agents come here from time to time to exchange intel and to relax. Though, I do have another reason," she said before she did an action that caused me to faceplam.

"Of course," I said as Mesa began to climb over Mesa, the color being the default colors. Doesn't look like I'll need the WF after all. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me."

"Yeah, well, can't really say the same for the others," she said, shrugging before taking the Talons, and tossing them to Mist. "Here, Mist. Don't need 'em anymore." Indeed, on her thighs were the Aklex, while, on her back, was a Tigris Shotgun and Redeemer blade/shotgun combo for her melee. Never used that one, myself.  "I like using my own weapons."

"If you say so," Mist replied as he held the Talons, and an alarm began to beep, making me facepalm again. 

"I fucking hate the universe right now," I said. "Let me guess, Ponyville?"

"Yep," Nightmare said as a datapad appeare dout of thin air, and she actually paled. "Oh no."

"What?" Twilight asked, worried for the others.

"It's the dragons," Nightmare said. "They're attacking."
> A duel with dragons
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Why the hell are dragons attacking Ponyville?" I asked as Twilight, Mist, Mesa, and I, all with frames on, made our way to our ships.

"I may have an idea on that," Nightmare said via radio. "There are two types of dragons: wild, which are the ones most ponies think of when the word 'dragon' is said, and noble dragons: they're the rarer of the two, and are civilized enough to where they have a government, and all the problems to come with it. This is most likely a fringe group, as their leader is allies with Celestia. As for why they're attacking, I have an idea."

"And what's that?" Loki asked as we reached the Lisets, and boarded our respective ships.

"The baby dragon there that used to be Twilight Sparkle's assistant. Of what I've seen, more accurately him reverting from his greed induced growth spurt, he's a noble dragon, and let's just say that noble dragons feel that it is an insult to their breed to be raised by ponies. So, most likely, this fringe group is after him to, quote unquote, 'rescue him'."

"They're going after Spike?" Mag asked as our ships turned horizontal, and went to leave the relay. "If they hurt him, I'm gonna kill them."

"That will be complicated," Nightmare said. "Of what I can see, they have a sky fortress on over watch to stop the guard from interfering. Before you ask, the griffons may have the largest military, but the noble dragons have the most devastating. Their Sky Fortresses are rare, and among the most powerful non-magic based weapons on the planet. The last time one was used was when Luna and Celestia were leading a competent military a thousand and five hundred years ago. Just one destroyed three entire cities before it was brought down."

"How was it brought down?" Loki asked

"A combination of the Elements power and two angry alicorns," Nightmare replied. "Of course, if we could get inside, it would have been simpler, but the outer casing has something to weaken spells sent against it."

"She isn't wrong," Luna said over the radio, Nightmare having given her a headset so she could communicate with us without needing a go between. "Even this long after the last one was destroyed, ponies still haven't found out how to replicate the material, nor a way to neutralize it."

And it weakens magic fired at it?" I asked, an Idea coming to my mind.

"Yes. Why?" Nightmare asked.

"Nothing," I said. "Just wondering." I then deactivated my radio. "Forge, are the wings ready?"

"Yes, Operator. Do you wish to use it?"

"Not yet," I replied. "But get it ready for use. Also, rush construction of my new sword."

"Affirmative, Operator," he replied as I made my way to the armory, and stepped into the area. 

"Braton and Stug for my distance weapons, and my blade as melee." Said weapons appeared on me, being swapped with what I had. I looked down at my waist, and saw my new Nikana there, and nodded. "Hate to be the dragons."

I reactivated my comms, and, to my surprise, no one mentioned it. Weird. Anyway, a few minutes later, we were in atmosphere. "Alert," Forge said. "Unknown projectiles inbound. Attempting evasive maneuvers."

Before I could say anything, the Liset jerked to the right, throwing me into the wall. "Doesn't this thing have inertial dampeners!?"

"Negative, Operator. At least, none that can be active while entering atmosphere."

"That's a fucking design flaw if I've seen any," I said as I tried to get on my feet, only to be launched into the ceiling. "Alright, fuck this!" I yelled as i began to crawl my way to the deployment hatch. Easier said then done, I might add, considering I kept getting thrown into the walls, floor, and ceiling about every two seconds. "Forge, how heavy is this shit!?"

"Coverage is in a crisscross weave, with the ships at the edge of each. We're lucky to have made it this far."

"Then it looks like it is time to go smaller," I said, finally making it to the deployment hatch "Tell the other Cephalons to tell the others to go their hatches, and to follow me."

"Yes, Operator," was the response as I entered the hatch, and made my way to the slot. A minute later, Forge said, "Other Operators are in."

"Right," I said, nodding. "Tell them to hold on, and have the cylinders rotate. Make sure they know to follow my lead."

"Yes, Operator," Forge said before the cylinder turned around, revealing silver contrails coming form the front of the ship. "Radio channel open."

"Excalibur, what are you thinking!?" Loki yelled, something the other did soon after.

"Just calm down, and deploy!" I yelled, letting go, and kicking out of the cylinder. "Forge, deploy it!"

"Yes, Operator." With that, my Liset braked, and fell behind the others before a second hatch opened, with four flaps activating with it, and grabbing something. "Deploying Elytron."



The Archwing flew out from under the Liset at its maximum speed, and attached to my back at the waist as it would in game, me doing a small spin simply for the style points, and I drew the default sword. I flew at the maximum allotted speed, flying between blasts of what seemed to be round objects containing dragon fire. I focused entirely on what was in front of me, avoiding what I could. "You guys behind me?"

"No, we don't want to get blown to Tartarus!" Mesa yelled. "And if you take that as an innuendo, I'll kill you myself!"

"Then get back in, and deploy in the town," I said as I went through a cloud bank. "I'll take care of the fortress." As the last word left my mouth, I broke the cloud bank, and descended into hell.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of dragons were in the air, only a few pegasai were fighting them, none had armor, and most were in the claws of the dragons. But what got my attention was the Sky Fortress, which looked like Balor Formorian, the Grineer ship from the end of the Archwing quest, btw, crossed with a human ship from Halo. Sure, why not? Why the fuck not?

Anyway, I looked around, knowing I may as well help a few pegasai on my way to the ship. Unfortunately, there weren't many not surrounded by a cluster of dragons. But there was one. "It's your unlucky day, fuckers."(1:03) I angled my approach, and went to slice and dice some dragons.




Rainbow Dash-1st person

Well, it's official. I hate today. It started out as normal a usual, with me being my awesome self and practicing my flying, as always, and worrying Twilight was okay. I mean, yeah, she may be corrupted, but she's still my friend.

Still, my day went to crap an hour ago when these dragons- with their bucking flying castle!- attacked Ponyville, and took Spike, Flutters, Rarity, and Applejack. For Pinkie, last I saw, she was being Pinkie, and using her party cannon to keep the dragons away from Twilight's old library, where a few ponies had taken shelter.

Me? Well, if you must know, I was facing down twenty dragons with bulging biceps and armor made of steel with nothing but my-

If you keep going this way, Rainbow, I'll make sure you don't tell any part of the story again!

Yeah, yeah, Ex. Okay, so, really, I was being held by a single dragon who wasn't wearing armor, per se, but his scales were still pretty tough. "Let go of me!" I yelled, trying to elbow him, but his scales made it to where I didn't do anything.

"Oh shut up, you stupid pony," the dragon said. "You'll make a good slave for Lord Tharos."

"I'm nopony's slave, you plothole!"

"Oh, you will be," he said.

"Hey, asshole!" we both heard, causing us to look up, and me to stop fighting for a while, and that's when I saw the bastard who corrupted Twilight and Princess Luna flying, somehow, at us with a giant sword in his hand. "Let the pegasus go!"

"You want her?" the dragon yelled as he turned to where I was between the two of them. "Then you can only have half of her!"

The demon didn't slow, but it did put the blade on what I assume was the left turbine of what was letting it fly before the same hand went to its waist, and, out of nowhere, some kind of sword appeared in its hands. As it got closer, I saw that it was a katana, and he drew it from its sheath. I thought he was going to cut the both of us in two, but he turned faster than even I could, and was behind the dragon. Before either of us could turn our heads, though, I felt something warm hit the back of my neck, and the weight on my back disappear. Fortunately, though, I didn't fall, old instincts and all that automatically having my wings go out.

I turned around just as the thing was sheathing its sword, and saw that the thing letting it fly matched its coloring. The sword, scabbard included, then vanished, and it drew the large blade again. "Get to the town, and tell the ponies to stay in shelter, and to fight only if there is no other option. We'll handle the dragons."

I was about to ask what he meant when three horseshoe crab like things flew over us, and I got quick glances of two having the same color as whatever it was Twilight wore and that other one, while the other one was mainly yellow with black highlights. Which led to, "And why should we trust you?"

"Because that thing," it said, gesturing to the giant dragon ship, "is essentially immune to magic, and here to ensure that Celestia and the guard don't get here to stop them. What we use isn't magic, but tech and void power, of which there is a difference, and, as such, we can do shit to them you ponies can't." Before I could say anything else, he flew off, and towards the large fortress. Funny thing? I knew he was right, somehow. Guess it was Harmony a little there. Still, I did what he said, and, well, for the rest, that's for the others to tell.




Celestia-Canterlot-1st

"You're certain we can't get to Ponyville?" I asked Shining Armor.

"Yes, Princess," Shining Armor. "I sent a squad of Pegasai, and they were each killed before they could get within ten miles. The shielding spell we put on them barely did anything. And with what you told me about that Fortress, we can't do anything. Whatever the reason they're attacking Ponyville, we can't stop them."

I sighed. "I could have sworn Luna and I destroyed the last of them. There hadn't been many to begin with." I was about to order Shining to put the guard on alert should the noble dragons attack Canterlot, but a unicorn guard came rushing in before I could.

"Princess," he said, out of breath. "The seers. They have something. . .to show you."

"What?" I asked.

"This," he replied as he caught his breath and lit his horn, and a holographic image appeared, with the image focusing on the demon form the Everfree, now flying.

"It can fly?" I asked in disbelief.

"It seems that way, highness," the guard replied.

I growled, something I rarely did now. "It must be helping the dragons."

"Actually, Princess, as far as the seers know, it's trying to stop them." This made me pause.

"What led them to that?" I asked.

"The fact it saved the Element of Loyalty from a dragon, as well as that three others, two of which are those from Ponyville, including your former student, that are on the ground and fighting the dragons that have landed. As far as we can tell, they haven't actually harmed a civilian. Or a pony at all, really."

"Probably to try and turn public opinion to their side," I said.

"Princess, if i may say," Shining said, "we can't exactly do anything to them right now. The dragons would kill us before we get there, and even if we got there, they have abilities we can't match. Replicate, maybe, but not perfectly."

"Which means we can only watch," I sighed as my attention turned to the projection.




Excalibur

As I neared the fortress, which I will designate Hardscale, dragons wearing armor began to try and intercept me. Yeah, good luck there.

"Fire thumper missile," I said, and the missile fired form the left Archwing wing. "Detonate."

The missile exploded, creating a large field that multiple dragons were caught in, with smaller explosions finishing off those that survived, allowing me to blow through the dragons with ease. Once I passed that, the thing began to fire beams of dragon flame at me, which I avoided with ease, as well as more dragons. "Too easy," I said as I boosted again towards the oncoming flyers.

The first to reach me was sliced in half diagonally, while the next was in the opposite direction, followed by one slice to the left, one to the right, then an upwards slice, with a final one being down diagonally to the left, with a small spin for the style points, before i put the blade in its holder, and pulled out the Imperator gun, the default Archwing gun, which unfolded to its full length as i grabbed the second handle used to to stabilize it. I looked toward the fortress, seeing even more coming towards me, and opened fire, the large rounds meant for fighter combat tearing through the dragons coming for me. "Mag, how are things going down there?"

"Could be worse," she replied as I heard gunfire in the background. "Rainbow and the others that haven't been taken by the dragons, which would be all but her and Pinkie, by the way, are in city hall. Mesa, Loki, and I are outside, making sure the dragons don't get through. But something tells me the only way we're going to win is to take that fortress down!"

"I'm working on it," I said as I continued my progress towards the side of the thing. "How much longer can you guys hold out?"

"I don't know. With our abilities: half an hour, best."

"Then I'll work quick," I said. "Fire bloomer!"

The missile fired from the right thruster, and impacted on the side of the ship. "Detonate!" The explosion did jut what I was hoping, and that was blow a hole I could get through. "Disengage," I said, and the Archwing disengaged from the Frame, providing a small thrust, giving me enough speed to get through the hole as I brought my ground loadout into play, grabbing the Nikana hilt and scabbard as I rolled, ending in a kneeling position. I looked around the room I landed in, and saw none in the room. "Forge, you there?"

"Yes, Operator," the Cephalon replied. "What do you require?"

"I need the location of this thing's energy core so I can blow it to hell," I said.

"Of course. Scanning now." A few seconds later, he said, "Target acquired. Placing waypoint."

The orange symbol that would appear on sabotage missions showed up on the minimap on my HUD, and I made my way to it.

It led through rooms filled with dragons preparing for battle, each of which tried to stop me, all of whom were killed by either puncture from the Braton, corrosive from the Stug, or slash from the Nikana.

After I had cleared the tenth room running into the next hall as i cleaned my sword of red dragon blood, Forge said, "Operator, I'm detecting large magical buildup in the reactor room. Signatures match those of pony magic. I imagine they are somehow using pony magic to power the fortress."

"Noted," I said. "If so, I want you to use my feed and analyze what they're doing, and if there's a safe way to free them."

"Of course, Operator."

From there, I continued to follow the waypoint, coming across only scattered groups of dragons, and killing each before they could alert the rest of the ship, eventually reaching a door, which the waypoint was behind. "Looks like I'm here Forge. Anything on sensors I should know?"

"There are ten dragon inside and, judging from the magic signatures in them, they are quite powerful. One of them might be the leader of this group."

"Copy that," I said before drawing my blade, and channeling energy into it, and cutting my way into the room. I cut it in a half oval, the end being at points where the door touched the floor. Once the cut was there, I brought out the Stug, and placed some of the corrosive gel in the cut, allowing it to eat through the rest of the door, causing the cut out portion to fall down, and letting me step in as I put the Stug on my thigh, and drew my Braton.

I looked around the room I was in, and saw near five hundred ponies-my own eyes and Forge doing the estimates- locked up in cages, with wires hooked up to the cages and wrapped around the ponies, with different colors of what I assume to be magic flowing through them, and to the main reactor, which took up the entire center of the room, about four stories, and was shaped like a cylinder. "The fuck?" I whispered.

Before any reply could be made, a new voice, one that was surprisingly rich and flowing, spoke. "Wonderful sight, isn't it?" the voice said from above and behind me, causing me to raise and point my rifle in that direction, allowing me to see a dragon with blood red scales, a black underbelly. Around him were eight other dragons, each wearing armor with spears in claw. Wait, there should be a tenth. So where is it? Unless it's Spike. Damn it. "The ponies as they should be: power sources for the true masters of this planet-"

"Stop right there," I interrupted. "Let me guess: you're doing this because you think dragons, whether noble or wild, should be the rightful masters of this planet, and that ponies should be saves, or something that isn't actually with rights higher than a dog. In other words, the typical racist villain cliche, am I right?" He growled.

"Only a pony would think that!"

"I'll take that as a yes, and I'm not a pony," I replied. "If so, I would have given a shit about killing your soldiers before getting here. Now, I can see where you put the ponies, but where did you put the dragon you took?"

"You mean the hatchling? He's in the growth and habilitation center so that he can join my cause."

"So, am I going to need to kill your leader after this to stop it?" I asked.

"You mean the weakling of a queen? No, myself and the others here do not follow her."

"Then that means I can kill you without incurring another nation hunting my ass," I said before firing at the dragons, killing one of them as the others scattered, the leader flying in front of where a pony, Rarity, by the way, was restrained.

"I wouldn't fire, if I were you," he said. "If one pony hooked up to the reactor would die, it'd cause a chain reaction, killing them all. Of course, they almost never last for more than a week, if the old records are any indication."

"Forge, anything you can connect to?" I asked under my breath, not expecting anything good.

"Surprisingly, yes," he replied. "It's primitive, but advanced enough. Why?"

"Find a way to disconnect the ponies from the grid, but try to land this thing away from the town first."

"I will see what I can do, Operator."

"So," the dragon leader said, "if you surrender, I'll make your death quick."

"You want me dead?" I asked. "You'll need to catch me," I said as I made a break for the door, firing at the one dragon not in front of a pony. "Forge, can you direct me to where they're keeping the dragon?" I asked loud enough to where they heard me. They walked right into it.

"After him! Don't let him reach the hatchling!"

Morons. Still, it's buying Forge time, and gets them away from the captives. Anyway, I ran through the ship, killing any dragons in front of me to keep those behind me interested.

"Turn left, Operator," Forge said as I hit a T hall. "It is a straight shot from there to where Spike is being held."

"Got it," I said as I turned down the hall, and slid under a dragon claw that tried to slice me in half, using the momentum for a jump to get a little more distance. As I neared the door, I brought my Stug, and fired the corrosive gel at the door, the small orbs exploding after a few seconds and weakening the door just enough to where a single Slash Dash was enough to get me through the door, showing a small chamber, with a familiar purple and green dragon in the middle, with multiple magic streams flowing into him.

"Don't even try to free him," the dragon leader said behind me, causing me to turn, Stug in hand, and see a horde of dragons behind him. "The first thing we did was to ensure he saw ponies, and any of their allies as nothing more than tools. Even if you could break him free of what's keeping him there, he'd join us in killing you. And as I know of his infatuation with the Element of Generosity, I'll probably let him have her to do with as he wishes."

A good thing he does not know of me, then, Harmony said. There is one way for us to free Spike from this now, and him not fight for the dragons. But I don't have a guarantee of him not fighting you.

Me no give shit, I replied. Long as he doesn't help these fuckers, I'm okay with it.

If you say so, Harmony said as I felt something grow in my left hand. I looked, and saw another reactor.

Same place as the others?

Yes, between the shoulder blades.

"What the tartarus is that?" the dragon leader asked in a growl.

"This?" I asked before doing a back roll, landing behind Spike. "This is a motherfucking potato. Be afraid of what it can do."(1) With that, I slapped the reactor on Spike's back, causing a flash, and, for some reason, sending me flying towards the nearby wall. "Ow," I groaned as I slid to the floor. "Thank Harmony for the protective systems in frames."

Your welcome.

"It's a saying, Harmony."

I know.

Before I could reply to that, I heard shouting from the doorway, and looked there, seeing a frame that looked like it was wearing a kind of robe, one that was hard to describe. Hello, Chroma. Appropriate, I guess. A dragon frame for a dragon Operator. Anyway, the red was now purple, the black was a light yellow with some green sprinkled in, a swell as a hint of light yellow, with red lights coming off of it.(2) Anyway, I didn't see any ranged weapons, but I did see the Venka claws-think Wolverine claws for those who don't play Warframe- and a few dragons slashed apart, and another one being torn just as I looked. "Note to self, don't piss off a guy with Venka," I muttered, thinking it was just to myself, but, as it seems, it was loud enough for the newest Tenno to hear me and turn around.

"You," he growled. "You'll pay for what you did to Twilight!" Fuck me.

Before I could do anything, Spike rammed into me and grabbed my throat, holding me to the wall. "Let Twilight go! Now!"

Aaaand dragon rage. You know, if she wasn't a female frame, I feel Valkyr'd be perfect for him. Not as much as Chroma, but still.

Before I could do anything, Forge used external speakers on the Frame. "Yeah, um, before you try to kill my Operator-keyword being 'try', I may add-I thought I should let you know that the ponies the dragons took captive, including the one you have feelings for, are free, and this ship is safely on the ground away from your home, with Tennos Mag, Loki, and Mesa enroute. Also, I recommend you remove your hand from Excalibur's neck unless you want an Exalted blade and Nikana through your chest. The Nikana is new, but he took out what was in essence a small army with the Exalted Blade."

"In essence, this goes one of two ways," I said. "You let me go, you go get Rarity-your helmet can retract, as can the entire suit with a thought so she doesn't freak out- and we both live, or I shish kebab you, I walk out of here with a heavy conscience, Twilight quite possible goes on a rage spree destroying who knows what, probably trying to include me, and maybe, if she loses all sense of reason, destroy Equestria, resulting in her having to die. An extreme case, I know, but still a possibility."

"Also, Liset sensors indicate teleportation along the lines of alicorn power level. Most likely Celestia. We had best leave, Operator, before she actually gets here," Forge said.

"Noted," I said. "So, what's it gonna be, Spike?"




A few minutes later

I ran out a hole in the dragon ship, with the others having been there due to Forge placing a waypoint. "How's Spike?" was Mag's question. An expected one.

"He's okay," I replied. "So's everyone else, by the way, but we need to leave."

"Yeah, Celestia's here, we know," Loki said. "We saw her earlier. Lucky she didn't vaporize us. Ships should be here soon." As soon as he said that, the Lisets arrived. "Of course they arrive as I say that."

"Then let's move, Tenno," I said. "I think we earned some R and R."

"I'd say so," Loki muttered, and, with that, the Lisets activated a gravity field to pick us up and put us in the cylinders. As I turned around in it, I got the briefest glimpse of Spike, with the Chroma helmet retracted, and the other bearers, as well as Celestia, glaring at us. Shit just got interesting, didn't it?

Indeed it did, Excalibur, Harmony replied. I won't be able to hide my magical signature from Celestia if she scans Spike with her magic, which I'm sure she'll do, and I'll have to provide the other bearers frames if she asks me.

Why not just reveal we're working for you? Loki asked. Damned mental links, can never have a private conversation when others are involved.

A sigh, and then, Because doing so would cause the ponies, peace loving morons they are, to panic and possibly rebel against Celestia for letting you walk free with nothing trying to arrest or capture you, which would allow quite a few things to happen. None of which I want to test right now. Multiverse is close to hell right now, anyway.

Noted, I replied. You know, I wonder what happened to that dragon leader. Didn't see his remains before I left.

Probably licking his wounds, Mesa replied. Next time we see 'em, I say he dies.

I could not help but agree there, and, from the link, the others, Mag included, had no arguments. Anyway, as I stated before, shit is getting interesting.
> After the Fall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So, a few days have passed since the whole dragon issue, and me, along with the other Tenno who had, for lack of a better term, gone rogue from Celestia, Luna, and Nightmare were in the relay. With her agents on the ground, Harmony had learned and told us that, since Spike had tried to stop me and that she found no evidence of corruption(1), Celestia had officially made him the leader of any operations meant to bring me and the others in, and said she had given frames to a few other ponies. Jeez, Celestia, can you spell hypocrite?

Anyway, I was in what passed for the entertainment section of the relay, mainly a library with a television that, according to Harmony, had most movies from my home before coming here, reading a book, when Harmony contacted me. Excalibur?

Yeah, Harmony? I asked. What's up?

As you know, I have champions in multiple versions of Equestria, with you being the one for this Equestria. One of them requires your abilities as assistance. Have you heard of something Fall of Equestria?

You mean the fan thing that started as a Tumblr thing that had a race called the Caribou take over all of Equestria and degrade any and all females, including Celestia and Luna, into nothing more than sex toys, resulting in something worse that the slave south, which would be something hard to top? I asked. No, I replied sarcastically. Why?

Funny. The reason I ask is because this particular champion is one of the leaders of the only resistance that's actually been able to succeed in their fight. He was badly wounded during his last fight, causing the resistance to want to take Manehattan, where that Discord resides, as revenge.

I face palmed. "Morons," I muttered. I'm guessing he's now waking up, and will need my help to take that Discord down?

Yes, Harmony replied. And keep in mind he's one of the few who touched the tree and I contacted. That may not mean much to you, Ex, but to me, it means they are important.

I sighed as I stood up, closing the book, and letting my frame envelop me. "Noted," I said as I made my way to the arsenal, each room having one for combat reasons, and equipped my Silva and Aegis, Soma, and Aksomati, the flames on the sword and shield matching the energy color of my frame, a pyra sugatra, matching the sword hilt colors, hanging off the end of the hilt. "Will I need the Liset, or you going to teleport me there?"

I'll teleport you there, then your ship when you'll need to get to Manehattan, Harmony said. Get ready. And, with that, my world vanished in a flash of light.




Resistance HQ-Valus Mau'ual-1st POV

My world came back slowly from the darkness that had been a constant since I spoke with Harmony but a week ago. The first thing that I was able to fully see was the white, pink haired alicorn by my side, sitting on a chair next to my hospital bed. "H-hello, Fleur," I managed to croak out, making her jump awake. "Good to see somepony's guarding me to make sure any traitors don't get to me," I said with a small smile and chuckle.

"Mau'ual! I didn't expect you t be up yet?"

"Why?" I said as I sat up, revealing I had on my black under suit, my voice quickly coming back. "Because I faced the forces of Darkness, with a capitol 'D', by the way, and nearly died?" I chuckled again. "Fleur, I have survived explosions to the face, often times multiple at once. It will take a lot to defeat me."

"Noted," she said. "Still, do you think you should be up?"

"I'd rather know how I'm still alive," I said.

"Celestia, Luna, and Nightmare were able to use a spell that kept your skin hydrated," Fleur replied.

"I'll make sure to thank them. Where are they, anyway?" Please don't let them be with the morons.

"With the army in Manehattan." Palm, meet face. "I tried to stop them, but couldn't. They didn't want to leave, but had to in order for them to even have a chance against Discord."

I sighed. "Armor. Where?"

"Just outside," Fleur said. "I figured you'd want it when you woke up. You wear just it about all the time."

I nodded. "My thanks, Fleur. We'll need it."

She looked at me with confusion on her face. "Why?" she asked.

"Because we're going to pull their assess out of the fire," I said as I left the room I was in, and saw my armor hanging by an iron hook. I took each part off as I put it on, my helmet being the last and held under my right shoulder as I walked back into the mad bay, and saw Fleur wearing the ponified Flayer armor that Harmony had given her-and just about every member of her squad and fighter from Ponyville- upon me freeing them from the Caribou. "You prepare quickly," I noted.

"Hours of practice," she replied as she slightly unfurled her wings. "Think we can get there in time?"

By yourselves, a voice I recognize,d but still made me and Fleur jump, said. But I may be able to help.

"Ah, Harmony," I said. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

I said I'd have one of my champions help you with this, and I do not go back on my word, Harmony replied. Plus, it is worse than I thought it would be. With Discord, the Caribou crushed any fight within minutes, and are now having a city wide orgy. I think the only reason why Dainn isn't there is because they're too fuck happy to care right now. Oh, and the champion will arrive in three. . .two. . .one.

As she hit zero, there was a small flash of light, causing Fleur and I to avert our eyes. Whne the glow faded, I looked, and saw what I swear was a deformed unicorn, as it had a horn that was blunt at the top, sprouted at the scalp level just above the forehead, and had actual feet, no hooves. 
Better than last time," I heard him mutter.

"And you are?" I asked, quickly putting my helmet on as I saw the weapons-one looking like a rifle Guardians would use, though with what I assumed to be the magazine being a half circle across the bottom with it all matching his colors, blue with red, yellow, and purple accents, a pair of pistols with similar magazines colored similarly, and armor plating over its left forearm that looked like bone-and prepared my own.

"The name's Excalibur. And no relation to the sword other than me having a preference for those types of weapons," he said. "Before you ask, short version of what I am is that I'm a human operating what's called a Warframe, which essentially allows me to do some crazy shit, and I'm already aware I'm in a universe where the Caribou are winning." He stopped, and looked me over. "Huh. A guy dressed as Valus Mau'ual from the shield brothers strike. Never heard of that before. Or any Cabal displaced, really."

"Can we discuss this later?" I asked. Harmony, get us there now.

Of course, Mau'ual. 

With that, a flash of light occurred, with Excalibur muttering, "Here we go again," and we vanished from the med bay.




Outside Manehattan-Excalibur

We reappeared, the flash in our eyes dissipating quickly. "Just like normal teleportation," Mau'ual remarked.

"Only you get used to it quicker," I replied as I looked over the city. "From a distance, it looks the same from my version of Equestria."

"I'm guessing that you don't have to deal with the Caribou?" Fleur asked.

"Not even at Discord's return, yet," I replied. "Before you ask, I'm going to say dimensional rifts and gods loving to have fun is why  I'm here at this point in time while you guys are where?"

"Three years after the fall, which would be just after season three finale," Mau'ual replied.

"Discord helping them out?" I asked.

"That's why we're here," the Valus replied. "Shall we?"

"Let's," I said as I checked my Soma, making sure it had it's full hundred shot clip, and my HUD showed it had the Primed reserve of eight hundred. Shields were full, and health rating at seven eighty, energy at full with a single streamline-maxed out- for less activation cost. Needless to say, I was a fucking destruction machine. Shame I don't have Iron skin as an ability. Ah well. "But first, I think our entrance needs music."

"Agreed," Mau'ual said. "But wait until we are near the largest part of the Caribou group."

That would be near the city center, Harmony said. Actually, there's a huge building there, most likely Discord's doing, where every Caribou soldier and Resistance member is currently.

"Fun," I said. "Harmony, can you bring my Archwing in?"

Of course, she said before a small orb of light appeared, and the Elytron appeared before it made its way to my back and attached to the frame, and had me begin to hover off the ground.

"You guys able to fly?"

"Yes," Mau'ual said as he activated thrusters placed on his back, and Fleur opened her wings-when did she get those?- and flew up to my level.

"Then let's go," i said, and flew off towards the building, which Harmony highlighted on my HUD. The building itself resembled the Empire state building back home, only larger, and with a giant. . .well, this is a world of male superiority, guess what it is at the top.

"The glass is bound to be reinforced by Discord's magic!" Fleur was able to yell over the wind raging past us, to which I laughed as I pulled out the Imperator.

"Then it's a damned good thing i have a key!" I yelled back as I positioned my self to where the Elytron was still at max thrust, but i could still fire the gun. "Harmony? Care to mod the bullets so they can work against his magic?"

On it.




Inside the building-Celestia-3rd

Today was, without a doubt, one of the worst days in Celestia's life. Not the worst, but in the top five.

It had started out as well as she had expected: she, Luna, Nightmare, and Chrysalis, with Fleur staying behind should Mau'ual wake up, led the attack on Manehattan, which was only an hour ago. It had, quite obviously, gone to Tartarus in a hand basket rather quickly, with Discord using his perverted-literally and figuratively-to stop the Resistance from fighting, and making males lose control of their bodies-they were still themselves, just no control over their limbs, the head being the exception- and removing any and all armor on the mares, does, and griffonesses. And that was before he teleported them all to his penthoue, which ha dhad expanded with his magic, for a huge rape orgy.

Far as Celestia could tell, every female here was black collared, meaning Discord hadn't corrupted any yet, so there was that upside. On the downside, all three alicorns and the changeling queen, with Silver being used by the Caribou governor of the city, were Discord's play toys now. 

She had been the most recently used one by the god of chaos, who was now using her sister. "You know, I did miss these little bonding, or, rather, bondage, sessions," Discord said as he hilted himself in Luna, who was gagged and with a nullifier ring around the base of her horn, as like all the mare unicorns and the few does with horns, to prevent her use of magic. "Then again, you mares always did like to mess things up."

"Oh, please, like you haven't, traitor," Nightmare growled. "You're the god of Chaos. Messing things up is practically your job."

"Oh shut up, Nightmare," Discord said, snapping his fingers and placing a ball gag in Nightmare's mouth. "You know, at least the one good thing to come of that demon was that another alicorn cunt was made to use."

Nightmare tried to roar through the gag, but was unable to. Not that it was heard over all the screaming and moaning, but still. Though, one thing that was heard was the sound of glass breaking, which, out of fear, made everything stop, as none knew where it had come from, but all were afraid of being sucked out of the building due to air pressure. And then, "Sir, look!"

A Caribou soldier pointed out the norther window, making any who could, just about any female not being taken from both ends, look, and see three blurs moving quickly and growing, with one quickly resolving into Mau'ual, the second into Fleur, and the third into something else.

"What the-" Discord started before Mau'ual reached the window, and used his mauler to break it open, allowing him and Fleur in, and the third being to launch off whatever had been carrying him. Mau'ual crushed a Caribou soldier's head in upon his landing, Fleur launched two more out the window with her magic, while the third grabbed what looked like a bone off its left forearm, and pulled it off, causing a fiery blade and shield of green to appear as he spun, cutting even more Caribou in half.

"Miss me, assholes," Mau'ual said to the Caribou. "'Cause I'm back."

"Harmony, mind teleporting the females out of here so we don't kill them in the crossfire?" the third being, which looked like a deformed unicorn said to nopony. "Well, if so, teleport them out and give them some armor and weapons. Is it really that hard?" Celestia wondered if he was crazy, but a flash of light indicated her being teleported, and, when it faded, she was wearing her armor, and was outside near the entrance of the building, a sword in one hand, shield in another.

"That was. . .interesting," Nightmare said, also wearing her armor and with a scythe in both arms.

"Indeed it was," Luna said. "But for now, I think we should clear the lower floors of th ebuilding, and make our wya to where Mau'ual and the other two are."

"Agreed," Celestia said.

"Fighters!" Chrysalis yelled at the Resistance ranks. "Get in there, and cut them to ribbons!"

A cheer rose up from the fighters, and they began to pour into the building, eager to cut the Caribou apart.




Mau'ual-1st

"So, was it you, or another version that talked to me when I first spoke with Harmony?" I asked, Caribou soldiers and their male supporters surrounding us, weapons in hand and nothing for protection. In both terms of the word I mean.

"Probably a weaker version of me who needs to be shown where mares lot in life is," Discord said. "Like you really," he said before snapping our fingers, with nothing happening. "What?" he asked in surprise.

""Harmony kinda shielded us from your bullcrap," Excalibur said as he held the sword in his hand over the shield and ducked behind it in case someone was stupid enough to attack him. "I'm her champion in my Equestria, and Mau'ual's apparently the one here. For Fleur? Yeah, I'm just assuming she has that kind of will."

"Thanks," Fleur said as I heard her use her magic to create an etheric sword. I will assume Celestia and Luna taught her that trick while I was out.

"No problem," Excalibur said. "So, which one of you morons wants to die next?"

"Why let them choose?" I asked. "They're gonna die anyway."

"Fair point," Excalibur said. "Time to kick some ass." And with that, he put the sword into the shield, causing it to collapse, brought his right arm up, a green, glowing blade appearing in a reverse grip, and thrust it into the floor, causing twelve of our future victims to be sent flying into and impaled to the ceiling. Excalibur then ripped the blade out of the floor, and brought it into a two handed grip. "Let's go."



As the music began to play, I activated my thrusters, and charged head first, or, rather, mauler first, into a horde of Caribou soldiers as I saw Excalibur make his way to Discord, and Fleur hold off a group of stallions that charged her. Without their armor, just about everything but Discord fell, whether by mauler or blade, with ease. Only a few actually had on armor, and that didn't cover much, nor where they were hit, thus doing a net protection of nothing for them, putting them in the same boat as the others.

Just as I brought my mauler down on the nth Caribou soldier's head, crushing it with a wet crack, I looked up, and saw Excalibur holding his own against Discord, though having gone back to his shield and sword combo. I saw Discord lunge at him with his griffon talon, but he was able to leap back near the edge of the floor, where numerous soldiers encircled him. He simply swung the sword, killing a few, then threw his shield into the mob, the blazing shield tearing through six enemies before it came back to him, making him jump into the air as he went forward, and put the shield under his feet as it was spinning. He hit the floor and essentially sled through the enemies in front of him and cutting others in half before jumping up, and just slicing any around him. How do you even do that?

Anyway, I also saw Fleur using her magic to blast a few stallions and bucks into ash as they got close, and fended the others off with her sword.

"Alright, that is it!" I heard Discord yell before he snapped his talons, causing-oh, fuck you, universe! He just summoned in a horde of Taken.

"Aw, fuck," I heard Excalibur say, and I agreed entirely as they charged us.
> We'll shake it off
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Excalibur

Why did it have to be fucking Taken? Actually, a better question is how! You know what, I'll look into it later.

Okay, so, Mau'ual, Fleur, and I were charged by the Taken that Discord had summoned, mostly Taken Knights and Acolytes and a few Thrall. No Wizards with tracking shots, fortunately. So, yeah, they charged us, and I used the Aegis part of my sword and shield to block the shots from the Acolytes, and used Silva to slice any that came close enough, Mau'ual was using his mauler to block the larger projectiles, but he couldn't go on the offense as he had no other melee weapons, which is where Fleur took up the slack, and attacked for him with her dual etheric blades.

Still, even then, we were easily surrounded, and I personally found it a miracle we hadn't already been taken down. "Guys, we need to take this outside!" I yelled.

"How do you propose we do that?!" Mau'ual replied with a yell.

"How else?" I yelled back. "Hey, Discord! You call yourself a man? Then why do you hide behind an army like a pussy?!"(1) This had the desired effect, as an expression of rage appeared on the chaos god's face before he snapped his fingers, causing the Taken to vanish, leaving just the four of us. Harmony, get the Raider wings ready for me, will ya?

On it, Ex. They'll be ready.

Thanks.

"You dare insult me!? Discord, the God of Chaos!?" said moron yelled in anger. "I know what you are, Tenno, and I can easily break a machine!"

"Then you're misinformed!" I yelled back. "Now, come and get us! Mau'ual, Fleur, lets fly!"

They nodded, and we made our way to the window we had burst through before jumping out of it, with Mau'ual activating his thrusters and Fleur spreading her wings as a flash of light appeared around me for a second before fading, revealing the Itzal Archwing on my back, the Fluctus in my hand, and Centaur on the wing of the Itzal, each matching my frame's color scheme.

"Nice wings," Mau'ual said just before Discord appeared in front of us.

"Later," I said as I put the Fluctus on the right thruster of the Itzal, and drew the Centaur, causing the blades to expand and the shield to widen.

"You know, Dainn said that if I was able to capture the demon if he was still, alice, I'd be able to switch him and use him for personal use," Discord grolwed. "But I think I'll just kill you, as I like my mares red collared." With that, he snapped his fingers, which caused a shit load of swords to appear before being sent flying towards us.

"I don't think so," I said before activating Cosmic crush, which in essence created a micro black hole which swallowed up all the swords that had been sent flying towards us before it collapsed and created a large shockwave, one which destroyed the glass windows on the building we had come out of. "Lets go, bitch," I said before using blink to teleport behind Discord and try to slice him in half, but, when I did, well, it's Discord, so he survived, but it also made two of him.

Did not expect that to happen, Harmony said. This will be an interesting fight, as you won't be able to cut him at all.

Yeah, I guessed that, I replied. Give me the Knux, then.

If that'll help, she said, and the blade and shield weapon vanished to be replaced with what were essentially large knuckles on each of my hands, each taller than my torso each.

"This'll be fun," I muttered. "Two of him."

"It will be, Discord said. "For us, anyway." And with that, the two Discords attacked, one going for me, the other for Fleur and Mau'ual.

The one that came for me attacked with bolts of lightning and his claws. A few, I were able to deflect using the Knux, while the rest hit my shield, and, half of the time, they were brought down low, as the Itzal was not meant for being a tank of Archwings, they goes to the Elytron, which also does a load of collateral, which we don't need right now. A shockwave can be easily repaired. A mini nuke not easily.

So, yeah, it was a hard pressed fight, to the point one of the Knuxs broke and I had to have Hamrony bring in the Rathbone to replace it. The few hits to get past my shields were repaired with my Rejuvenation Aura mod, though how that works with an Archwing is beyond me.

After ten minutes of bones breaking, only to be repaired by either magic or Aura abilities, the two of us floated in the air, panting heavily. "Why won't you die!?"  Discord yelled at me.

I shrugged. "Because I'm able to constantly heal, an it has no limits i know of," I replied. "Now, I say it's time I bring in support. Drones, deploy." As I said that, attack drones peeled off from the Itzal wings, and hovered around me. "Sick 'm, boys." The drones beeped, and proceeded to swarm this Discord, blasting him with laser beams. As they did so, I channeled into my weapons. Harmony, I need a direct tap into your power, I said.

Excalibur, that may kill you, if the Frame doesn't short circuit, Harmony said. Are you sure?

What's life without a few risks, I replied. Besides, I've died once already, and I'm sure you'll be able to find someone to replace me if this goes south. There was a sigh before she replied.

If you think it'll help, she said before my HUD went over board, with multiple overload warnings, each flashing red, and the glow on my weapons and Archwing glowed as bright as a star.

"Time to die, Discord," I said before gunning the thrusters, the Knux raised back, and the Rathbone having it's thrusters ready to deliver a followup shot, one that wasn't needed, as the punch from the Knux utterly and completely disintegrated that portion of Discord, but the fact I was also tapping Harmony's strength, I think, led to his magic being pulled to me.

Excalibur- Harmony began, but I cut her off.

Don't try to console me, Harmony, I said as I began to see just white. This was my choice. Not your fault. Be sure to tell the others how I went out.

. . .I will, Ex. I was about to reply when all the warnings on my HUD vanished form what little i could see, and something else appeared, though I could only make out one word.

Prime.

Mau'ual-1st

Fleur and my fight with our Discord was just about the same, only, we didn't heal quickly. Fortunately, Harmony had apparently-and I asked her after the whole thing, so it is confirmed-put a paper thin barrier over my under suit and around my head so as to allow my skin to stay hydrated, but still allow my armor to be put on. Still, my armor had gouges and burn marks on it, and parts had broken off, and my right shoulder was dislocated.

"Wow," Discord said. "For being one of my sister's champions, I figured you would have been able to fight better."

Before either of us could reply, there was a flash of light, and Discord screamed in pain, and a voice spoke up. "Maybe because we're meant to work together," Excalibur said as the flash died down, and Discord turned to face it, Fleur and I re positioning for a better look, only to see Excalibur, no longer the color scheme he was when he appeared. Now, he was colored pure white with golden accents, and he had an odd head piece on his helmet that was center with the middle of his face, and his. . .what did he call it, Archwing? His Archwing was colored similarly to that, as well as the weapons he had, which looked like an oversized fist and a hammer. Why not?

Discord had an expression of anger on his face. "Oh, I will enjoy killing you," he said before sending a bolt of lightning at Excalibur, who teleported out of the way and next to Fleur and I.

"Don't move," he quickly said as Discord turned around, looked right at us, and then swiveled as if looking for something.

"Ability of the wings," Excalibur said. "Makes me and any allies close enough invisible as long as we don't move. Before you ask, I asked Harmony if I could directly tap her power, she said yes, I kille dmy duplicate of Discord, his power was attracted to me, and both together put my Warframe in its Prime state, which is far more powerful. Mau'ual, when I give the signal, fire everything you got. Fleur, you do the same."

"What do you have planned, Excalibur?" Fleur asked.

"You'll see," he replied as Discord turned his back. "Now!" he yelled as he brought out a large sword that seemed to glow with the color of each Element gem, and I fired a barrage of rockets, and Fleur unleashed multiple blasts of magic as Discord, making him turn at the sound, but being caught by the projectiles and unable to move as Excalibur gunned towards Discord, his sword raised, before he sliced through Discord, and looking his way before cutting off his head, and creating a black hole to absorb his bits and pieces. "And with that, he is dead," Excalibur said as the sword vanished and he turned to face us. "Been a pleasure guys, but i need to head back. The Celestia there thinks I'm evil, along with those who have frames. Need to go back so we're at full strength."

"My thanks, then," I replied before placing my left arm across my chest. "If you need my help, Excalibur, you shall have it. I am quite certain Harmony will allow that to happen."

"And the same for me," the Tenno replied before he disappeared.

"That was. . .interesting, to say the least," Fleur said.

"Agreed," I said. "Now come on, we need to meet up with the others."
> Tenno Vs. Tenno
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As the flash of light that indicated my travel between dimensions fades, showing I had arrived back, I felt my self grow weaker. Not overtly so, but back to my normal strength level. Uh, Harmony, what's going on?

I cut off your link to my power source, the goddess replied. I didn't want to risk you using it for trivial encounters-not that I don't trust you-but you will be able to access your Prime form if it is needed. All you need to do is ask if you can access it. The others will be able to as well, but I would suggest a little more training for them first.

"Fair enough," I muttered as I saw I was back in the library, my Frame back to standard form and with my custom colors on it. "Still, that little escapade was fun," I said as I made my way to the Arsenal, where the weapons I had on were put into storage, and my frame collapsed to the storage thing, which was essentially a backpack, onto my back. I then made my way back to the chair I was in, and picked up the book I had left there.

Only for Mist to come in a few minutes later. "Hey, Ex, one of Harmony's agents just contacted us. Said it was important!"

Not a fucking moment for relaxation. "Coming," I said, ear marking the book page I was on before closing it and getting up. I left the library, and followed Mist, who had his frame on. "What's up?" I asked.

"No idea," he replied. "Nightmare just said she needed to see the five of us in the main area."

"Five?"

"Yeah, didn't Harmony tell you?" he replied. "Princess Luna's got a frame, too."

"No, she did not tell me," I replied, both physically and mentally.

Oops.

Yeah, no fucking duh.

She tried to reply, but I just ignored her as we made it to the concourse area of our little relay, where I saw Twilight, with Mag on but helmet retracted-same with Mesa-and Luna, who had on Nyx-Seriously, Harmony?

(innocent whistling)

Yeah, fuck you too.

Anyway, the warframe had Luna's skin tone for its main, a light blue similar to her season one mane for the secondary, her light blue eye color for tertiary. The accents were colored the dark blue of the core of her season two onwards hair. I could only guess her energy color was that of her magic.

"So, when did this happen?" I asked Luna as Loki and I walked up behind her. Note, she had her helmet retracted, and her face was that from EQG, minus the coloration.

"While you were off in another Equestria," Luna replied, getting surprised looks from the others. "I've been around her magic before, and can tell when Harmony's done something directly. Care to fill us in, Excalibur?"

"Later, after whatever it is that has us all here," I replied. "Which is what, exactly?"

"Harmony said there's some sort of isolated village that's miles away from civilization," Mesa said. "She wants us to see why, and if there's any threats to Equestria." So, season five premiere town for us, then? Okay, I can work with that. "Though, she did say to lay off our powers. Didn't say why."

"Good thing I rarely use my powers," I said. "No idea about you guys, though."

"We'll try not to use them," Luna said. "Not hat I have much practice with them, or even know what they are."

"I'll explain the basics on the way," I said as my helmet came on over my head. "For now, let's go."

The others nodded, their helmets coming on over them, and I lead the way to the Lisets, of which there were now five, the fifth matching Nyx's color scheme, and we entered them. Once I had gone to my arsenal and equipped my weapons-Soma rifle, Aksomati, and Silva & Aegis, each matching my color scheme, with the two ballistic weapons modded for corrosive and blast damage and an increase to impact that made it higher than the base slash and puncture  while increasing those with mods one could get from Baro, and the melee had the same elemental combo-I contacted Nyx, and described the basics of her abilities.

Mind control, which needs no explanation for that effect; psychic bolts, which sends up to six bolts of psi energy up to sixty meters; chaos, which makes any individual in a certain area just randomly attack anything, ally or enemy; and Absorb, which absorbs any and all damage directed toward Nyx, as well as subconsciously makes them target her, which leads to more damage, and friendly fire can be added into it, and then redirecting the full force outwards in a certain range back at them. Needless to say, chaos and mind control did disturb Luna a little, but she was glad not all of her abilities were mind rape-y.

I don't know what weapons she chose, as we didn't discuss loadouts on the way down, but when we arrived on a ridge outside the town out of view, where we deployed, and I saw that Nyx had the Orthos polearm for her melee, the Spira throwing knives for her secondary, and the Rubico sniper as primary, each matching her color scheme like her Liset.

"So, what's the game plan?" Loki asked.

"A little rceon from afar and upclose," I replied. "Mesa, Loki, disengage frames and go in, though Loki, you may want to disguise yourself. Try to find the leader of the town, and, if you can, get them to speak about why the town's here. Leave weapons here. Nyx, take up a position, and scope in and observe."

"And what makes you think you can order me around, Excalibur?" the new Tenno asked.

"The fact that out of everyone here, I have the most experience and you're a newbie," I replied in a deadpan. "Now, everyone, get in position. Mag, you're staying up here with me and Nyx."

Loki, Mesa, and Mag nodded as the first two disengaged their frames and went back to their anthro pony forms, and went down to the town as Nyx laid down, and used the link scope for the Rubico that linked to her HUD. "Well, they're definitely odd in the fact they're dull, in terms of colors. Not to mention creepy smiles."

"You guys got that?" I whispered to Mesa and Mist over the radio.

"Yep," Mesa whispered in reply. "We'll be silent while we're in there, so Nyx will need to keep an eye on us."

"I can't wait until I'm not the new one," Nyx muttered.

"Yeah, well, no telling how long that'll be," I said as I knelt down next to her. "You sure you're alright, given that we may end up going against your sister at some point?"

"Yes, Excalibur," Nyx said. "I chose to do this, and if needed, I can just use my powers to have her know why we did this."

I was silent for a time before saying, "Just. . .don't put any other thoughts into her mind," I said.

"I won't," Nyx said. "Even with Nightmare on our side, I think that is more her angle, using mind control to make ponies do what she wishes."

"I heard that!" Nightmare yelled over the comms.

"You know I'm right, Nightmare," Nyx said. She then leaned forward a little, as if to increase what she saw with the scope. "What the-oh no."

"What?" Nightmare, Mag, and I asked.

"I'm seeing Twilight's friends from Ponyville, Spike included, along with the captain of the guard, and four other ponies, including, if I'm right, my sister's adoptive nephew and niece."

WHAT! THE! FUCK!? "Care to run that by me again?" I asked, and she did.

"So, we have to deal with my brother, my old friends, and my foalsitter?" Mag asked. "Why do I not like this?"

"Well, of what Harmony said," Nightmare said, "they probably have their own frames."

"I don't think they're going to be much issue," Nyx said. "They're more dulled than before, and even Pinkie Pie's hair is straight."

"Yeah, not good," I said. "Mist, Mesa, I don't care how, but find out how this happened, and reverse it!"

"Copy that," Mist said. "Entering the town now."

"I see them," Nyx said. "I'm also seeing another unicorn that's actually brightly colored. I'm guessing whatever's going on, she's the one behind it, and she's heading towards Mist and Mesa now."

Over the radio, we heard Starlight welcome Mist and Mesa, and keep in mind, Mist was disguised, and they began to talk. Excalibur, I believe you know where to go?

Yep, I replied to Harmony. "Mist, Mesa, keep her talking. Harmony just gave me a point of interest."

"They nodded," Nyx replied, still keeping overwatch. "Do what you need to, Excalibur."

I nodded. "Right," I said before I went over the ridge, and slid down to the ground, level with the town. Okay, of what I remember from the season five premiere, that cave should be right. . .there. I was looking at a small hill. That it, Harmony?

Yes, she replied. Make sure to avoid the sight of everyone in that town. Nightmare was right in assuming the ponies Nyx pointed out had frames. I gave the myself. Or rather, told Celestia who to give the reactors to.

Great, I replied. "Eleven hostile Tenno." Can you tell me which frames?

Rhino, Trinity, Valkyr, Equinox, Zephyr, Mirage, Chroma, Saryn, Limbo, Nekros, and Frost. Rhino through Limbo are those you know the names for. Nekros is used by a member of the Night guard who is loyal to Celestia, while Frost is used my a weather pegasus from Cloudsdale.

I rolled my eyes. Well, at least the frames make sense. "Mist, Mesa, when I give the signal, get your frames on."

No verbal reply, but I knew they heard me from the double click I heard that could only be Mist. Changeling, and all that. Before you say anything, he said changelings could do that.

Anyway, I slowly made my way past the town, and up to the cave, where that vault was. Along with the ones for the denizens of the town, I saw the cutie marks for the others as well. "Time to break something," I muttered to myself as I pulled out Silva, igniting its blade and causing Aegis to expand before walking over to the vault. As well as the stick, which I cut in half before I turned, and bashed the vault with Aegis, causing a large crack to appear in it. I pulled back, and struck again, breaking the case. "Mesa, Mist, now! Mag, Nyx, get down and support them. I'm en route."

"Right," was the unanimous answer, and I heard Starlight ask, "What?" to Loki and Mesa before she screamed about her plan not working-I wonder what plan that is- followed quickly by the sound of metal clashing with metal.

i made my way back to the town as quickly as possible, not seeing any unarmed anywhere, but I did see Loki and the others fighting with Celestia's Tenno, with the latter noticeably going for non-lethal strikes, and my allies were quickly getting overwhelmed. Harmony, Lisets?

On their way. Ten minutes.

They won't last that long, I replied. "Guys, get out of here! I'll buy you time! Ships are on their way."

Even with their weapons locked with the others, they managed to look back at me, then each other before nodding, and Loki used Disarm to knock the weapons out of those they were going against, and used that to come my way. "Sure you can handle this?" Loki asked, stopping before he passed me.

"Yeah, I am," I replied. "Go."

"If you're sure," he said before running back to where the ships would be coming in. I looked as the others surrounded me, with Valkyr, being colored mainly yellow and pink, hiding behind Zephyr, who was a mix of colors. Huh. Would have pegged Fluttershy for Trinity. I did a quick glance at Trinity, and saw mainly pink accented with light blue and yellow, along with a hint of white. Hey, Cadence. She stood next to Rhino, who was mostly white with blue and pink accents, mostly blue, though. Best guess is Shining.

The others, I'll have to look at a recording later on, as I put Aegis in front of me, Silva's blade just edging past the shield. "So, I'm guessing you want to take me in? Won't work."

"And what makes you say that?" Shining asked he brought out the Gram heavy sword. Okay, it has heavy slash damage of seventy, but is slow to use unless Valkyr's warcry is going, and judging from how Fluttershy is hiding behind Rainbow, that won't be happening. So, I have the advantage, as my sword and shield allow for offense and defense with both of them, plus I prefer the Final Harbinger stance, which has quick attacks and shield sledding, plus the shield has a high blocking rate, up to eighty five percent, and is modded for corrosive, which will be useful if Iron Skin is used, and blast, which will knock him on his ass if it procs. Only thing it isn't effective against is shields, which is where the attack speed comes in to take up the slack. "You do realize that everytime something like you appears, it's defeated."

"Yet, here I still am," I replied. "So, lets dance." As I spoke that last word, I channeled into my sword and shield, making each glow a brighter shade of green.

He growled at me, and charged before swinging the Gram above his head, and bringing it down on me before I side stepped the strike, resulting in the heavy blade hitting the ground and kicking up a lot of dust, which allowed me to counter with a few sword strokes of my own, the last one proccing blast damage, which sent him flying a few feet, sword in hand, before landing on the ground. "Big doesn't always mean better," I said.

"He still has more at his side than you," I heard Cadence yell, to which I  chuckled.

"Then come and get me," I said, getting into the standard pose Tenno in game are when holding a sword and shield. "That is, unless you're afraid." I heard rustling behind me. "Or you're trying to distract me." As soon as I said that, I leapt to the right, just narrowly avoiding a Rhino charge, said frame also having iron skin on, and swiped at him with my blade, causing a greenish, electric aura to appear around him. Corrosive damage, which effects ferrite armor-which makes up iron skin-very, very negatively, allowing more damage to be caused. It's why any corrosive damage is extremely damaging to Grineer.

As the charge stopped and Shining stumbled, I did a roll as I hit the ground, and came up with the hand holding Silva on the ground, the arm holding Aegis next to my chest, and myself in a kneeling stance. As I got up, I looked back at Shining, who was being helped up by Cadence. "You should know that as long as I have a blade weapon, you stand little chance," I said. And it was here that Shining chuckled.

"Yeah, I figured that, so I just had to distract you. Blueblood, care to finish this?"

Limbo, who was apparently Blueblood-why make him a Tenno?-nodded, before void energy built around his hand. Oh, shit, I think I know what they're going to do. I tried to move, but, when I tried to move my feet, they didn't move. When I looked down, I saw that rocks had grown around them. How- oh. Yeah. Luna and Celestia's shier than Fluttershy sister who is alicorn of the earth. In other words, all I could do was stay there as Blueblood used Limbo's banish ability on me, though it was amped up, as I was knocked out.

I don't know how long I was out, but when I did open my eyes, I saw someone I never thought I'd see with my own eyes. He had the body of an Excalibur, but it was colored black and red, and the helmet? Well, it resembled the Mordred helmet for Excalibur, but it didn't have a crest, and it had a single, red eye in the center.

"Tenno," the Stalker- pre-second dream appearance- said, his voice that of a strangled whisper. "What are you doing here?"
> Looking in the mirror
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I was running. Why? Because it was the goddamned Stalker that found me, and in game, I was never able to beat the Stalker out of when you have to for Second Dream. Hell, I could only make one of the acolytes flee solo during Shadow Debt because they got stuck in the map. At least, running was my plan before an arrow tipped with a half circle sharped to a razor edge came down in front of me from above. I looked above me and saw that, A: I was in a forest of sorts, and B: Stalker was in the trees, and that he had put away Dread, his bow, and brought out Hate, his scythe, and jumped down from the branches, landing in front of me, making me jump back before drawing Silva, causing a blade of green flame to sprout from the hilt, and causing Aegis to expand to its full size.

"Look, I don't want to fight you," I said while putting Aegis in front of my body. "I just want to know where I am, and get home."

"You are Tenno," Stalker said in his trademarked, strangled whisper voice. "Removing you is a service to that country. All you bring is death and destruction."

"Okay, look, I can see why you'd think that, but I'm not an actual-shit!" I said just as he attacked, making me shut up so as to concentrate on blocking an attack from the scythe. I was able to push him back a little, opening a window for me to attack, which I obviously did, but the strike was blocked with Hate's hilt, showing that any weapons used by Tenno, or anything like a Tenno, is able to resist just about anything.

I was about to pull back before he did a leg sweep, making me fall to the ground, and forcing me to roll out of the way of Hate's blade as it came down on where my chest had been located. I got to my feet and brought Aegis to my right side just before a second strike hit that side. I pushed back and retaliated with my own strike, but Stalkers imply rolled out of the way, putting Hate on his back, before drawing Despair, his Kunai, from his thigh pouches, and throwing them at me, making me put my shield in front of me to deflect them away, which allowed him to close in and strike once again with Hate.

This little dance continued for a few minutes, with us only rarely alternating who did what specific actions, until we had closed yet again, my shield catching Hate's blade, and the sword on its hilt. This time, I had made sure my stance was solid, preventing him from making me eat dirt with a leg sweep.

I though we'd be stuck there for a few more minutes until a voice I, and, judging from his reaction, Stalker knew. "Both of you, cease this at once," Harmony said to my left, making both of us turn our heads in that direction, and see her standing there. "Stalker, you should know better than to attack those who haven't yet done wrong. And you, Excalibur, did not need to attack either."

"Why's that?" I asked, my weapons still locked with the Stalker's.

"Because, like you, the Stalker is one of my champions."

Uh, what? "Uh, what?"

Harmony rolled her eyes. "You are in the mirror to your Equestria, Excalibur," she replied. "And you have met with and fought your opposite."

"Harmony," Stalker said, "you can not trust a Tenno."

"Yes, if he was from the actual universe the both of you draw your form and names from," Harmony said. "And stop with the voice. It's getting annoying."

The black and red Pseudo-Tenno cleared his throat before speaking in a more normal voice. "My apologies, but you know as well as I that helps with the hunts you give me, and I assumed this was one when you told me to find him," he said, pointing at me. "You did not tell me that they would be a Displaced as I am, nor that they're a Tenno."

"Because I did not think that it mattered," the goddess replied. "Regardless, do you have any question Excalibur?"

"How long have I been out?" I asked, as the question of, "where I was" was answered already.

"Near a month," Harmony said. "Being banished here by Limbo and not going through the mirror put a strain on both you and your frame, and you were knocked out so as to keep you alive."

"And how are the others?" I asked.

"Well," she replied. "I told them you are alive and here, and that I will help you return when possible. A few others have been made Tenno as well for your group. As for Celestia's group, they've become heroes in the public eye, and have had two added to their ranks via Gaia using her magic to create Atlas and Inaros(1) before giving them to two ponies."

"And just how many Tenno are in his Equestria?" Stalker asked.

"Twenty seven, currently," Harmony said. "Before you ask, Excalibur, the Acolytes are in this Equestria."

"Oh joy," I sarcastically replied before Stalker and I stepped away from one another and sheathed our weapons. "I'm hoping they won't attack me on sight."

"They do not know of what the Tenno did in-game," Stalker said.

I rubbed my forehead, even though I still had the helmet on. "Okay, this is just to make sure I understand everything. "I'm in the mirror Equestria, which is most likely ruled by this world's Sombra; this world's Celestia and Luna are evil, and, if I'm right, the mirror version of the Tenno back home are the Acolytes here?"

"Yes on all three," Harmony replied. "Though, here, the Stalker and the Acolytes are in the public eye as heroes, though, given the morality of it here, they do not need to hide the necessary evil they do."

"You lucky fucks," I muttered.

"Regardless," Harmony said, "this has played out better than I thought."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because my Celestia, Luna, and Cadence have begun to attack Sombra and his allies," Stalker said. "Even with my Acolytes and me helping them, they have had multiple important victories. We need help."

"And I had hoped that more than just you would come," Harmony said, "but with the mirror under Celestia's ownership, we'll have to make do with you for now."

"Gee, thanks," I said. "Though, i do have one other question," I said.

"What?" Harmony asked.

"Why. The. Hell did you make Blueblood Limbo?"

Harmony sighed. "Should have seen that one coming," she said. "I made him a Tenno because the personality he shows in public is just a guise to get in the circles of other nobles so that he can report back to Celestia on them. Otherwise, he is quite a gentlestallion."

"And he is somehow the same here," Stalker said just before an explosion ripped through the forest, causing each of us to jump, and turn in the direction of it. "They're attacking the town," he said in a growl. "I hoped that they wouldn't be so bold after the defeat they had yesterday, but it seems I was wrong."

"Excalibur-"

"I know," I said before drawing my Soma rifle. "Lead the way, Stalker."
> Shadow of the dark
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"So, what exactly is going on here?" I asked the Stalker.

"You already know the basics, fortunately," he replied. "The specifics would be my enemy has discovered a way to turn their soldiers into Sentients, somehow, and use those in small numbers but for great effect. Not even with the Acolytes is taking one of them down easy for me."

"To be fair, you don't have a lot of variety with your weapons," I commented. "My loadout's got magnetic, gas, blast, and corrosive in it, along with the basic three with my Soma and Aksomati. Remember, the fuckers adapt to damage, and take less damage from those types."

"Yes, but even with Harmony, we can not use mods with our weapons effectively," he said. "They always seem to misfire, or do nothing at all. As such, we've abandoned them entirely," he commented as we left the forest, and I saw this world's version of Ponyville, only it was on fire.

"You know, I'm surprised Sombra hasn't called in his lover yet," I remarked.

"You and me both," Stalker said. "Stay nearby, Excalibur, but do not intervene."

"You're kidding, right?" I asked as we began to run.

"Yes," he replied. "Whatever it is, the militia here is trained to help us deal with it, even if it is an alicorn."

"I doubt that highly," I muttered. "Fine, but if there's even a hint of you all getting your assess kicked into hell and the Void, I'm jumping in, regardless of who it is."

Stalker chuckled. "I can see why Harmony chose you."

"Chose us dumbass," I shot back. "Technically, we're the same person."

"Fair enough," he laughed out as we reached the town, and I bullet jumped to the rooftops to follow him, my Aksomati in hands while Stalker had two of his throwing Knives ready for action. As we neared the town center, I slid across the rooftops and bullet jumped close so as to avoid the chances o fbeing seen while Stalker seemed to jump into and out of the shadows.

When we finally arrived, I saw two Sentients along with multiple ponies in crystal armor surrounding ponies in normal, civilian clothes as well as the Acolytes. With those surrounding them was a more goth looking Cadence and Shining Armor, each wearing ornate but functional armor. "Talk about unexpected," I murmured, referring to the fact two of the leaders are here. "You seeing this?" I asked Stalker over comms.

"Yeah, and it's odd, seeing those two here. That makes defeating this group much harder."

"I'll cover you from up here best I can," I told him. "Don't worry, my personal setup for this frame has a maxed rush, so I'm close to a default Loki sprint speed."

"Use it for hit and run, then," Stalker ordered.  "If I fail, run to Canterlot, tell Sombra what happened, and get him to have Celestia bring her part of the Tenno here. We will need as much help as possible."

I hesitated for a second before replying, "Right."

"Then wish me luck," Stalker said as I crouched and took aim, waiting for a good point to provide support as Stalker walked into the square, and threw the two knives, one a piece at a guard's head, resulting in two, silent deaths before he drew his bow, followed by two of those arrows, nocked one, and fired it, beheading another guard, nocked the second, and fired, the second going through a guard's chest to his another and staying there.

Here, they had turned to face him. "So, Harmony's shadow has finally arrived," Cadence said with a noticeable smirk. "I was surprised when you weren't with your Acolytes." She shrugged. "Not that it matters." She motioned with her chin to the guards and two Sentients. "Kill or cpature, I don't care which. Capture's preferable, as we can kill him later to ensure he's dead."

"M'lady," a Sentient said-how?- before they rushed him, causing the black and red Tenno to draw his scythe, and me to fire off two rounds, four thanks to the barrel diffusion mod overall, before moving to avoid being seen. As I did, I saw the first actual guards reach Stalker, only to be cut down by his weapon, often sliced in half, at least. Just as I finished moving, I saw the two Sentients reach him, and he tried to fight, but, well, as I said, Sentients adapt to attacks. After a few strikes, they didn't look like any damage was being done.

As Stalker went to deliver another strike, one of the Sentients swiped the weapon out of his hands, and on the ground before a blue aura wrapped around him, tearing the other weapons off him before making him hover to in front of Cadence. "And here I thought the one who was Harmony's champion was a threat," she sneered. "I will most definitely enjoy breaking you," she said before throwing him into the crowd next to the Acolytes, and I saw the one that had Mesa's body-I forget the specific names for the Acolytes- move and put an arm around his shoulder and leaned him before he nodded.

He then looked up to the roof tops, and scanned them for me before nodding. Again, I hesitated before nodding, and running again, this time away from the fight.

I know this is supposed to help I told Harmony, but these morons could take this Equestria over before any help gets here.

Perhaps, Harmony replied. But this is what he wanted you to do. If it means ensuring both Equestria's are safe, what does it matter?

And people say I care only about results.

You do often say "if it works, it works."

Touche, I muttered mentally as i jumped over a roof top and onto this worlds version of the library Twilight used to live in. Well, more accurately, hit a window sill, and had to use my arms to keep from falling.

"Uh, what was that?" I heard from inside, and the voice sounded like Applejack's.

"I don't know, I'll check it out," a second voice, probably this world's Twilight given the voice, said.

"Just be careful, Twi," a third voice said, confirming my guess. "Cadence and those damned soldiers of hers are out there, and Fluttershy isn't back yet." Oh, yeah, one of the Acolytes had a Valkyr body with the immortal skin. Makes sense this world's Fluttershy would be an Acolyte, then.

Still, I was just barely able to drop down as I heard hoofsteps coming toward the window. "Doesn't look like anything, girls," Twilight said. "Probably just a rock falling down from the roof."

"Must have been a big rock, then, to make that sound," this world's Rarity said.

"Still, I just hope Fluttershy and the others are doing okay, given the lack of sound."

"I'm sure they're doing alright, Rainbow," Twilight said, though there was doubt in her voice.

Oh, fuck it, I thought before I made my way back to where Stalker and the others were being held.

Excalibur-

Shove it, Harmony, I told her. I took your offer to protect civilians, and running right now would only bring more pain to them. This way, I can at least give them a chance to run.

If you fail, you'd better hope Sombra asks your Celestia for help, Harmony said.

I'll keep that in mind, I replied as I entered an alleyway lose to the area I was heading. Can I at least have access to Prime form if I need it?

. . .Yes, but only for thirty seconds.

That's all I need, I said as I leaned around a corner to see my objective. Well, time for an entrance. Now, what song? Oh, I know.



As the song began to play, I grabbed my dual automatic pistols, and walked around the corner to see the confused faces of multiple guards and civilians staring at me, as well as an angry alicorn. I brought my right hand up sideways, and made a come and get me gesture, to which two morins happily obliged, only to be shot down by head shots. "Try again," I said as I reloaded the pistols by twirling them around the trigger finger, ejecting the clips as I moved them to where the spare ammo was stored, and it slid in before I brought it back up, and fired into the guards coming toward me. Once i ran out, I dropped the guns just as the Sentients neared me, and I drew Silva, causing its blade and Aegis to ignite, and rolled out of the way as one took a swipe at me, and i came up with Aegis in front of me, Silva hanging by my side. "Og, this is going to be fun," I muttered before rushing in.

Just as I reached them, I slid under one of their arms as they tried to swipe at me and  spun Silva into a reverse grip before spinning myself around, channeling energy into the blade as it struck, allowing it to tear through the Sentient's armor before going to town on it, using every single Final Harbinger combo on it before jumping back, sheathing the sword as I did so, and drew my Soma, and fired into the glowing heart of the Sentient as I landed, the four damage types-Slash, Puncture, Impact, and Gas- quickly making work of the fighter before it split apart, the heart which held it together as dark as a starless night. The other one charged me in retaliation.

Now, I told Harmony. And a Prime blade weapon, too.

If you think it'll help, she said before there was a small flash, and I was now in my Prime frame, with the Nikana Prime in hand. I did a quick glance, and saw it had corrosive and gas damage on it, in combo with the high slash.

"Let's go," I said as the Sentient fighter reached me and tried to swipe at me, to which I sidestepped, drew the sword out of its sheathe, and sliced off the right arm with a single stroke before replacing the blade into its scabbard "Try again." Good thing they don't know they have ranged weapons.

Again, it silently charged at me, only this time in a tornado fashion, to which I raised the scabbard to block as the blade dropped free. I grabbed it in my right hand, and proceeded to use the Breathless Lunge combo from the Tranquil cleave stance, stabbing and slicing at the core. As it fell, I twirled the blade around before putting it back it is scabbard, which was at my side and, as it is in game, held blade up. I then looked back. "If you two wish to live," I told Cadence and Shining Armor, "leave. I have faced worse than the alicorn of love in this form, and won. You can not hope to best me now."

Cadence growled. "You will pay," Cadence growled before she teleported herself and Shining Armor away. Timely, as I went back to normal Excalibur just after they left.

"Talk about lucky," I said. "They didn't use their guns, and every strike was at their core."

"Not to mention the fact I'm not putting you in the ground," Stalker said as he walked over to me. "I told you to go to Canterlot and tell Sombra about what happened."

"And I remembered why I became a Tenno in the first place," I said as I turned around. "You can beat me into the ground later. Now, we need to make sure Cadence and her allies know they have another enemy, and one that can handle their best fighters. So either we stay here and don't do anything, or we make sure everyone's alright, and you introduce me to the Acolytes, because we'll need to know each other if we'll have a chance here to fight them."
> Abilities of the Shade
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So, a few hours have passed since I defeated the group of soldiers that had attacked Ponyville, and, currently, myself, Stalker, and the Acolytes were in Canterlot, with Stalker taking me to see Sombra. "So, have you encountered him in your world?" talker asked me, to which I shook my head.

"No, not yet," I replied. Neither of us had our weapons on, and I had on none of my usual armor attachments on. I was just wearing the base Excalibur, and both of us had been waiting outside the throne room for half an hour. "You directly encounter Celestia and Luna here?"

"Only Cadence," Stalker replied. "For which I am thankful, as, and this is simply rumors I've heard, those two have the most elite soldiers and Sentients with them. Even with Dispel and my other abilities, I'd be hard pressed to beat them."

"What other abilities do you have, anyway?" I asked. "I mean, we aren't in Warframe."

"Quite a few," he replied. "Though few are those I would have if I were the actual Stalker. Namely, your abilities-to be expected given how close our Frames are in design- but a few new ones i wouldn't be surprised if you can learn."

"Like what?" I asked as I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall.

"Well, the first one is that, as masters of the Void, I am able to manipulate and redirect magical blasts focused against me, as most magic works on the same concept as Void energy, and is similar in base to it. Though it takes either a while to master it, or a shit load of adrenaline, which is how I got it."

"When?" I asked.

"When some of Cadence's forces attacked Appleossa last week and tried to burn it to the ground. I was the only Shade-the collective name the civies came up for us- there, and had to fight them all back. Shining was there leading them, and he tried to blast me with a magical version of a nuclear level unibeam. Of course, I had music going because that makes sequences even more awesome, and I held my hands up to block it, and wa surprised when it went around me. From there, I just went with it, and was able to repel them."

"Think you could train me in that?" I asked. "Later, of course."

"Yeah, but i make no promises of you being able to do it," he replied. "I talked to Harmony about, and she said it's a rare ability, as Earth ponies can do it. It's rare because, more often than not, regardless of the actual way, it requires the user to make a sacrifice, something important, but also not important at the same time-she didn't elaborate on that- for the power to be unlocked, and even then, one would need to be extremely powerful for their race for it to work."

"Then I'd be surprised if I don't have it," I said. "I mean, I fucking died before coming here, am the first and as far as I know only to get to my Prime form."

"Really? Prime form?"

"Yeah," I said, shrugging. "Got it while helping another Displaced in his universe. Had to kill that Discord, but still."

"You killed a god?" Stalker asked in disbelief.

"With the help of Harmony, yeah," I replied just as the doors opened.

"The King will see you now," a guard said from inside.

"'Bout time," Stalker muttered. "Even with me being a hero of Equestria, the damned nobles think they're more important than I am, when they probably wouldn't have their positions now if it weren't for me and the others!"

"Yeah, they're a pain everywhere," I said as we entered the throne room, and I saw this world's version of Sombra- wearing a purple cape along with black pants and a white shirt. Not a very royal look but, hey, whatever works for ya.

"Hello, Sombra," Stalker said.

"Ah, Stalker," Sombra said. "I thank you for saving another town."

"If you are speaking of Ponyville, it was not me," Stalker said, holding a hand up before gesturing to me as my arms were crossed. "It was him, my mirror version. Excalibur."

"Oh," Sombra said before he bowed his head. "Then you have my thanks, Excalibur."

"It was no issue," I said. "Simply doing what I am meant to do as Harmony's champion."

"Still, my thanks," he said. "Tell me, how is Celestia?"

"No idea," I said. "I tend to avoid those trying to kill or imprison me unless I have to or am able to skewer them." The look on his face was priceless.

"Wh-what?" he said in disbelief.

"Yeah," I said. "Harmony happened to summon me there as that Luna was brought back to Celestia, which made her think I was a last ditch effort of Nightmare-Luna's evil form- to take over Equestria. As such, I've been working outside the law there with some help while avoiding her."

"Wow," Stalker said. "She's an idiot."

"I know, right?"

"But she wouldn't do that!" Sombra said.

"And why's that?" I asked. "Because you've only seen her here in your Equestria, which has had no threats outside of the one Stalker, the Acolytes, and myself are now facing, while Celestia views Equestria as a paradise, and refuses to see reason that I do, and declares whoever actually does something about it a villain to be captured for the betterment of Equestria," I said. "She thinks-quite wrongly, I may add- she is protecting her subjects from me, when it is I and the other Tenno who fight alongside me who are the protectors. She tried to imprison me the first time she saw me, and engaged me in sword combat the next when I had done nothing detrimental to Equestria." Pause for dramatic effect. "You can think whatever you want, Sombra, but those are the facts. Only reason I'm helping is because it's the right thing to do, nothing else."

That could have been phrased so much better.

Shut it. "You need me, I'll be outside," I said. Yeah, I get pissed at stupidity easily. Anyways, with that, I left the room, and made my way to the gardens here, where I saw Discord was currently imprisoned. I also saw Malice- the acolyte resembling Frost minus the shoulder pauldrons and having the Stalker helmet along with various pieces of machinery- and Mania- who had the Loki body with the immortal skin with a Daedalus shoulder plate- talking, their helmets retracted. As I neared a bench, they glanced at me, but did nothing else as I sat down, being the only one who gave bright coloring to this place other than white.

There was a flash next to me on the bench, which then faded to reveal Harmony. "You know, you could have been much more tactful."

"And that would have helped get my point across how?" I asked "If I have to choose between tact and people not get my point and being tactless but them get the point, I'm going with the latter."

If I had to guess, I'd say Harmony rolled her eyes. "You know, Excalibur, even though you are one of my champions, it'd be nice if you tried to respect royalty."

"Hey, royalty is respected," I shot back. "Stupidity, not so much."

Harmony scoffed. "As long as you don't go around killing the nobles."

I looked at her. "Do I look like I would?"

"I don't know, you always have your helmet on," Harmony replied wit a small smile. "In all seriousness, though, Ex, no, not really."

"So, other than berating me," I said as I turned my head to again face forward. "why are you here in person. Er, pony. You know what I mean."

She chuckled. "Nothing much," she said as she leaned back, the bench creaking a little. "It's simply that where I usually reside is extremely bleak, the only things there being the dwellings of those who live there. Other than that, nothing, quite literally. Sometimes, I just need to physically see something with my own eyes, no matter how it appears. Makes for a nice contrast, wouldn't you say?"

"I don't know, I've never been wherever it is you live," I said. "Still, I'd imagine so." A silence passed with that answer before I asked another question. "So, that magic manipulation Stalker has, how exactly was it discovered?"

"I don't know the specifics, I wasn't there," she said. "I'm not an omnipotent goddess like many would think. All I know is that it was an Earth pony mare trying to protect her family from unicorn raiders near three thousand years ago that first discovered it, and that not even Celestia and Luna have it. They are powerful enough, yes, but they have not yet made a large enough sacrifice for it. And before you ask, whatever grants that is out of my control. Some magics are unknown, even to me."

"That rare, huh?"

"Yep," she replied. "Ever since it first happened, only three have had that power- Stalker being the most recent- and two were not even my champions at the time."

"Wow," I muttered as I heard footsteps behind us before something hit the back of my head. "The fuck was that for?!" I asked as i turned around to see Stalker.

"For not controlling that mouth of yours earlier," he replied. He then looked to Harmony. "Harmony. Surprised to see you here."

"Hello, Stalker," Harmony replied. "And thank you for trying to reign Ex in."

"Fuck both of you.

"Someone's testy," Stalker chuckled. "So, Harmony, what's the occasion for a physical visit?"

"The sights," she said before she shuddered a little. "And that would be my cue to leave, as i have something else going on," the goddess said before getting up and stretching a bit. "Before I go, though, Ex, you remember your pre-displacement family, right?"

"How could I not?" I asked. "Why?"

"Because, well. . . let's just say you'll be seeing them again soon." And then, following her usual operation procedure, she said, "Until next time, you two," and then vanished in a flash of light.

"I hate it when she does that," Stalker said.

"Same," I said. "So, about that training?"
> Battle of shadows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A week has passed since I first met the mirror Sombra, and Stalker and I were currently at the castle training grounds, him trying to get me to do that technique where I can redirect blasts of magic away from me, with no success so far. "Yeesh, I'm starting to think we'r emore opposite in ability then before," he said. "And that's saying something."

"Oh fuck you," I said as I picked myself off the ground for the umpteenth time for the week from getting hit with magic. "Besides, I don't even know how this is happening. I gave up everything to be a Tenno, after all, and, as to the best of my knowledge, am the only one who can enter their Prime form."

"Might be your ego," Stalker said as he crossed his arms.

"I do not have an ego," I shot back. "Still, maybe I'm just not meant to have it."

"Yeah, maybe, who knows. So, you want to get something to eat?"

"Sure," I said. "Haven't had anything to eat for a few hours."

"Then follow me," he said, and we went inside the castle and towards the guest dining room. Stalker told me that if there was one constant between his world and mine, it was that the nobles are assholes who care only for themselves, or at least a fair majority of them, and they had fought tooth and nail to make sure a nonpony was lower than them. Though it failed for the most part, Sombra was able to get the Stalker and Acolytes their own permanent rooms in the castle.

"So, if I may ask," he said, "what was your family like before Displacement?"

I shrugged. "Nothing special," I replied. "I had a brother and sister-in-law, along with a niece. My sister-in-law died of cancer a month before I became Excalibur, and I was planning on going to Comicon and RTX with the rest of my family as a sort of memorial to my sister-in-law, as she wanted us to still enjoy life. "I was run over before hand though."

"Huh," Stalker said. "No where near me. "So, what were going to dress as?"

"As Excalibur," I replied, thinking the answer obvious. "My brother was going to dress up as Oryx from Destiny, and my niece was going to go to RTX as Ruby from RWBY."

"Well, given what Harmony said last week," Stalker said, "you'll be able to see your brother and niece again."

"And hopefully soon," I said as we reached the guest dining room. The room itself wasn't extravagant-thankfully- but it was still quite large. We went to get some food, and sat down at a table, both of us having a ham sandwich. We retracted our helmets, and I saw that Stalker looked exactly like me, the only difference being his hair was silver to my brown.

We were silent as we ate, neither of us being talkers while eating before we became Tenno and Stalker.

We had just finished eating as this world's Fluutershy rushed into the roo, "Stalker!"

"What is it?" he asked.

"Celestia and Luna! They're outside the city, along with Cadence and their armies. Sombra and the others are on the walls now, observing them." And it was here an explosion was heard. "Scratch that, fighting them!"

"Damn it," Stalker cursed under his breath as him and I brought our helmets on.

"Go, I'll meet you there," I said as we stood up. "Need to get my gear."

He nodded. "Right," he said before turning to Fluttershy. "Lead the way, Angst."

She nodded as her Acolyte frame grew around her. "Right. Come on."

"See you soon," Stalker said before he left the room just behind Angst as I made my way to my guest quarters, meaning I had to weave around many guards. Still, I made my way there, and opened it, which led to me being surprised as i saw Harmony there, Silva and Aegis-collapsed- were in her hand.

"Ah, Excalibur," she said as she looked at me. "I was hoping this would be your first stop on your way to the fight."

"What are you doing here, Harmony?" I asked.

"Just giving you a little more power," she said before tossing my melee weapon to me, which I caught before placing it on my wrist. "And in case you're wondering, a few Tenno back home have discovered their Prime form, including Mag, Nyx, and Loki."

"Noted," I said as I picked up the other parts of my arsenal. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to help kick ass."

"Just let me know if you need help," she said.

"I will," I said before I left the room via jumping out the window, using double jump before hitting the ground to soften the fall, and made my way to the only road that led into the city. "Stalker!" I yelled into my radio. "I'm on my way!"

"Right," he replied. "Get out of the city, and head to the west flank of the group! Celestia's Sentinels are hammering it, and it's just guards there."

"Copy, on my way!" I replied, drawing Silva and causing Aegis to ignite. With the rush mod maxed out and equipped on my frame, I was able to get to the city wall quickly before bullet jumping up and over the wall, landing with a roll before standing up, and seeing ponies fighting ponies, along with the Shades fighting the Sentinels. Still, I made my way to the wast flank, and, upon reaching there, began to tear through the forces of the three alicorns, using every single combo form the Final Harbinger stance I could.

The only difficulty for this I came across was the fact the armor of the enemy was magically enhanced to resist heat. Hello, corrosive damage, which was able to weaken the armor, allowing the blast damage, which is heat plus cold damage, to do increased amounts of damage to those on the receiving end of my strikes.

Eventually, as I was preoccupied with slicing Celestia and Luna's forces into pieces, I was hit in the chest by a war hammer, my shields nearly dropping from seven-eighty to zero with the fit as I was sent flying back, my shields fully breaking from the landing as I rolled across the ground. Once I stopped on my side, I turned to look at where i had been, and was surprised to see Mirror Celestia, with her Egyptian- a personal note, I much prefer that look to the main one(1)- style and two Sentients around her. She wore yellow and black robes with the symbol of her cutie mark at the shoulder pads. There was little actual armor, but her robes looked like a trench coat. As I'm not good at describing, I'm just going to say she looks like a Warlock from Destiny without a helmet. There, you can google that.

"So, this is the second slave Harmony sent against us?" she asked mockingly. "I expected more."

"I'm no one's slave," I said as I shakily got up.

"But you are here instead of home, are you not, at her order?" the mirror Celestia asked. "You may say you are here by some degree of choice, but my sister and I used to follow her before she abandoned us for failing her, and once you fail, she will do the same to you," she said. Well, gotta give her credit, she got right to the point unlike a certain other solar alicorn I know.

"And how do I know you aren't lying to get me to join your side?" I asked. "I'm not an idiot. I know when I'm being manipulated."

"Perhaps, perhaps not," she said, "but Harmony has been alive since before Equis had been fully formed, and has mastered that art. If there is one who can manipulate anyone without them knowing, it is her. After all, it is a part of what she represents. To have harmony, one must lie to get to balance."

"Maybe, but she hasn't told me to do anything I haven't wanted to yet," I said, spinning Silva in my hand before getting into a ready stance.

Mirror Celestia sighed. "If you won't see the truth, I can not blame you, nor do I wish this war," she said before looking at the Sentients. "Kill him, but make it quick and as painless as you can."

"Yes, M'lady," the two Sentients said before charging me, and it seems these two learned, as they were using their guns to keep me off balance and were staying at a distance to prevent me from getting up close. Still, I was able to weave between the shots as I stowed Silva and Aegis and drew the Soma, and began to fire at them, which was difficult in and of itself as they kept moving around, making it difficult to land each hit on their core.

Once I ran out of ammo in the clip, they moved in for a melee, causing me to draw Silva and Aegis, only for Silva to be knocked out of my hand.

"Damn it," I muttered as i grabbed my Aksomati. "Harmony, I need help!"

Of course, she said. Prepare for power surge.

Soon as she said that, my HUD popped up an alert. Power levels increasing. Initiating Prime form.

There was a small flash of light, with me being the center. When it faded, I was in Excalibur Prime. I looked at my arms, and was surprised to see a shining, white and gold sword and shield with blue flames, the hilt looking as if it was made of bones, the  flames more contained in an electrogmanetic field, which would allow for a more focused blade, increasing damage. As I did that, I caught a glance, and saw I had the Akstilleto Prime on my thighs, and I could only assume the Soma Prime was on my back. "Harmony, why is there a Silva and Aegis Prime when it doesn't exist in game?"

I thought you may need the additional power, she said.

"Thanks, then," I said before getting ready again. "Come on, you assholes want to show your leader I'm wrong, don't ya?"

Unfortunately, they did not take the bait and attack me recklessly, but kept at a distance as they blasted me. Alright, that's it, time to fuck shit up in a way only someone with an Excalibur frame can. I raised my blade into the sky, and a bright light suffused the area blinding any and all in the area who looked at it or were unprotected, and then put Silva into Aegis before summoning my Exalted Blade, and began to slice at the Sentients, the blade easily cutting through their armor. As they fell to the ground in pieces, I deactivated the power before drawing out my Soma Prime before looking at mirror Celestia.

"You want to try again?" I asked. "I can easily kill all of your soldiers without breaking a sweat, and I have defeated Discord in this form, the one your mirror counterpart required the Elements of Harmony to win against, and as I am her champion, I am immune to those. So if you want a chance at defeating me, come and get me yourself."

She growled. "If you wish to die, then so be it," she said before teleportting behind me. I was able to sense it in time, and raised my left arm, the one with Silva and Aegis Prime on it, and easily blocked her hammer. I then glared at her, much as I could with a helmet.

"Tsk tsk," I said. "Shouldn't you know it's rude to hit someone when their back is turned?" I mockingly asked before batting the hammer away, spinning, and kicking Mirror Celestia in the chest right into the center of the main forces, and I made my way there, both forces parting as I walked to where the alicorn had landed.

When I stopped, a ring had been formed around us, and the Mirror versions of Cadence and Luna rushing to Mirror Celestia's side as Stalker strode over to mine. "Impressive," he said. "Mind if I steal some of your thunder?"

"Go ahead," I replied, making him nod before shadows gathered around him. They quickly faded, but now he was in his Shadow Stalker form, complete with  a War heavy blade and Broken War sword-the latter being half of War ripped from the hilt. "Nice," I said as I looked it over. "When?"

"Month ago," he replied. "Talk later?"

"Later," I agreed as we both looked at the three mirror alicorns, each wearing armor-if it could be called that- reminiscent of Destiny Warlocks as Stalker put the heavy blade over his right shoulder. "Now, we handle this."

As Mirror Celestia got back up, she looked at us with hatred in her eyes, as well as something else. "If you think we'll surrender and become Harmony's dogs again," she growled as she and the other two were surrounded by  dark clouds, "then I hope you are ready to see Tartarus with your own damned eyes." With that, orbs formed around the three, completely encasing them. A few seconds later, the orbs vanished, and three taller beings stood there. They each had razor sharp fangs, their armor now a mix of a knight's armor and those they had before, their horns now ending in a point, their skin a dark shade of what they represented. For Celestia, she was now dark yellow with a flaming red hair and tail. Cadence was now a deep magenta in skin, her hair and tail mainly dark pink with strands of yellow and blue. For Luna? She was now Nightmare Moon, and I can only assume the other two were Nightmares as well, too.

"That's new," Stalker said as the two of us braced.

"Agreed," I said.

"Then it will be the last new thing you will ever see," Nightmare Star- my name for Nightmare Celestia- growled before the three alicorns charged us, with her attacking me, the other two going after Stalker.

I had just barely rolled out of the way of her attack when she reached me, her war hammer creating a massive crater where I once stood, I dropped my rifle, and drew my flame sword just in time for the shield to ignite and block a blast of magic aimed for my chest, which drained my shields by half. I wasn't able to get a look at Stalker to see how he was doing, so I could only hope he was holding his own.

"Excalibur, you there?" Speak of the devil.

"Yeah," I replied over the radio. "What?"

"What do you say what Tenno can do when they work together?"

"What abilities you got?" I asked as my frame shield began to steadily drop from fifty percent.

"Slash dash, Exalted, Pull, and Dispel in this form."

"Right, what's going on with you?"

"Nightmare Moon and Nightmare Lust-best name I can think of for Nightmare Cadence right now- are trying to slice my hea doff, but I'm able to block their attacks."

"Right. Use Dispel to get me out of my situation, and I'll blind 'em."

"On three. One-"

"-Two," I said.

"THREE!" we yelled before a green glow emanated from Nightmare Star's horn, and the magic assault stopped just as I raised my right hand and energy gathered around it before a bright flash came from it, blinding the three alicorns. "Them center, us opposite sides!" I yelled over the radio just as I kicked Star to the center of the ring, followed soon after by the other Nightmares as I jumped to one side of the ring, Stalker to the other. "Slice 'em!" With that, we activated our Slash Dashs, me tin the center, our etheric blades slicing at the legs of the three alicorns, effectively amputating those limbs. Once we stopped moving, I turned around and yelled, "Pull and Fall!"

"On it!" he yelled back before turning around, and pulling the three alicorns toward him before using Broken War to expertly cut off their horns at the base. He then used pull again as they passed him to fling them back towards the center of the ring, where I made my way, drawing one of my pistols. Upon reaching them, I pointed it at Celestia.

Are you sure this is right? a part of me said. We know she may be right. The best villains are those none suspect. And none would suspect a Goddess named Harmony.

But she gave us a second chance, another part of my mind said. We wouldn't be here if not for her.

And how do we know that isn't just something she can hold over us to ensure our loyalty? the more rebellious side thought. Look at how quickly she dismissed having the Elements as Tenno to begin with, but gladly did so when Celestia asked her. Who's to say she won't cast us off when we fail or something like it?

And why would we fail? We haven't failed once.

Only by pure luck and our allies. If not for them, we would have fallen against the Griffons.

"So, are you going to shoot us?" I heard from Nightmare Star. "Do it, and prove you're just Harmony's most recent dog just putting off the day when she tells someone to put you down. Or are you going to let us live to fight her?" Here, I chuckled.

"Damned if I do. . .," I muttered before delivering three headshots, one for each alicorn. "Damned if I don't."




In the void

Where time has not yet come into existence and yet already passed, a single being wearing light armor equivalent to a medieval scout's- albeit with plates floating just above his shoulders and the armor having an orange glow- saw this, and paused time just as the bullets were fired, but before they hit their targets. "I think not," he said before snapping his fingers, causing three cylinders to appear next to him. One swirled with yellow energy, the second with dark blue, and the final with pink. "You will need to try much harder than that, Harmony."

With that, the being snapped his fingers again, and he-along with his cargo- appeared in a large, white room with golden accents along the edges for the two floors. One end had a large cylinder, while the other had a swirling vortex of energy.(2)

"Now then," he said as a holographic display appeared in front of him, "time to make a call." He pressed a few places on the display before a larger screen came up in front of him.

"What is it?" the other end said in a distorted voice.

"My lord, I was able to retrieve the souls of three more of Harmony's former champions just before the current one from their mirror universe killed them. It will take time, but I will be able to make a body for them. All I need are the Phantoms."

"I will send the Raiders with three new ones, then," the voice said. "When?"

"Just as the bullets were fired and miliseconds before they hit."

"Good. She will not suspect."

"Let us hope so," the figure said. "Or we will be attacked before we are ready."

"I know. Unfortunately, the Raiders made it a current impossibility to recruit the Guardians, and Harmony has her words wrapped around the others. We must wait."

"I will have my eyes on the look out, Lord Plasma."

"See that you do, Shadow of Sands of Time. If we hope to defeat Harmony, we will need as many of her champions as possible.




With Excalibur

As I stowed the pistol, I looked at the three dead bodies before looking at the hand that held the pistol, a thought coming to my mind given what happened. How many have I killed just because she told me to defend Equestria? I was not in my thoughts for long before there was a flash of light next to me. When it faded, I saw Harmony.

"Good work, Excalibur," she said. "It is regrettable they had to die, but there was no other option."

"Yeah," I replied. "No other option. So, anything else, or can I go back now?"

"Yes, actually," she said. "Another group of Displaced I am interested in require assistance, and I figured sending you would help immensely.

Under my helmet, I rolled my eyes. "Long as there's nothing after that to prevent me from going home."

"This is it, for now," she said.

"Then send me."

She nodded. "Of course. Oh, and one thing. When you arrive and see the King, tell him something only you and your brother know of. I know it seems random, but trust me."

Before I could voice a question, I blacked out.

Looking back, Harmony sure was a bitch. Kinda makes me glad what happened did happen.
> Blade brothers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I came to slowly from the blackout Harmony had induced on me, rubbing my head as I did so and I opened my eyes, which showed the scenery to be some kind of sci-fi dungeon, as it had stone walls, but a lot of advanced instruments that looked straight out of a science fiction game, and trust me, I would know. That was my genre before being sent to Equestria.

Anyway, I sat up. "Oh, my head," I muttered before hearing a somewhat robotic voice.

"Ah, Tenno. Good, you're awake. And you aren't just a mind drone." Oh no, I recognize that voice, and it made me jump from the table I was on and summon my Exalted blade, and pointed it at Alad V- the mad scientist from the Warframe universe who would cut open Warframes for research purposes.

"Just where the fuck am I?!" I yelled at him. "And don't think of getting close to me, because I will skewer you."

"I suppose I should have seen that coming," Alad, dressed in the in-game outfit he usually has. "I can understand your reaction, Tenno, but I have no interest in dissecting you. And even if I did, I'm too busy using Griffon physiology against them. And not because I'm the villain, it's because I'm the scientist of the Displaced trio that rules here and is currently at war with the Griffons."

". . .Somehow, I'm not surprised by that," I said as I deactivated my power. "So, you're a Displaced too?"

"Indeed I am," he replied. "My Zanuka- which arrived with me here, by the way- found you and brought you to our castle, where you've been out for near month since we found you."

"A month!?" I yelled in surprise.

"Yes," Alad said before the collar. . .thing around his neck which also allowed him to control Zanuka beeped. "Ah, it seems as if Oryx is on his way here."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Oryx? As in Oryx the Taken King? As in a boss who is incredibly fucking terrifying in the Rain given his health and the mechanics?"

"And in this universe, adoptive father to Celestia, believe it or not," he said. "Yeah, as a brony, I was surprised to and nearly freaked at that little fact."

I shrugged. "Dude, I just got done killing a mirror version of Luna, Celestia, and Cadence who were in Nightmare form dressed as warlocks from Destiny alongside the Shadow Stalker. When it comes to Displaced shit, I've learned to not question stuff like that."

"I suppose that make sense," Alad said. "So, what's your Equestria like?"

"Anthro with twenty plus ponies in Warframes, as these frames are special liquid metal mixed with magic," I replied. "Half of which are allied with Celestia trying to stone my ass, while the other half, including Twilight and Luna, are with me. And just call me by the frame designation. I've gotten used to it."

"Noted, Excalibur," he said as we heard heavy footsteps, making me turn around and see the Taken king approaching us.

"Ah, Oryx. I imagine you can tell our guest is awake?"

"And his name," Oryx replied as he stopped and eyes me. "Hm. Odd. Your colors resemble that my brother preferred on his online avatars."

"Really?" I asked before what Harmony told me hit me in the head. "Hey, uh, quick question."

"Yes?" Oryx asked.

"What do the Gamertags 'Brother Saber' and 'Brother Katana' mean to you?"(1)

"Those were my and my brother's gamertags," Oryx replied. "Why do you ask?"

"'By the light of our blades and the shadows of the cut, all our enemies shall fall'," I replied, making Oryx mouth open slightly.

"Josh? Is that you?"

"Yeah. I'm guessing that's you, Mark?"

"Indeed it is," he replied. "It is good to see you again, brother, but I'm curious as to how you're here given your death."

"A goddess gave me a second life," I replied. "You getting here?"

"Some ass at comicon that gave me wings, Alad his robotic dog, and Didact, the last of our trio, his scattershot."

"So the usual Displaced shit then, huh?"

"Apparently."

"And how's it feel being stuck here?" I asked, knowing he absolutely hated this show.

"Since I am in the leadership and currently changing it to more of my liking, quite well," he said. "If your curious as to where your weapons are, they're in the guest room. If you want, I can show it to you."

"Please," I said. "I've had weapons long enough to where I don't feel right without at least a sword. An actual sword, not my Exalted Blade."

"Then come one," he said. "Then you get to meet your new niece."

"Oh yay," I muttered. With that, Oryx led the way to my room-something which was an average room without anything fancy- where I put the weapons in their respective places. That is to say Silva and Aegis on my left wrist, the Soma across my back, and the Aksomati on the thighs. From there, he led me to the nursery room where Celestia-or Sekana as she's called here- was playing.

"Adopted her a little over a year ago when she was already three," Oryx said.

"Explains why she's already playing with toy swords," I muttered. "Guessing you put a little capital d Darkness in her too?"

"Just before Zanuka found you," he replied as Sekana came over to us.

"Daddy, who is this?" she asked, a wooden sword in her hand.

"This, Sekana is your uncle Excalibur. He only recently arrived."

"Hello, Sekana."

"Hi uncle Sword," she said with a smile. "Are you going to help Daddy beat the Griffons?"

I chuckled before replying. "Yes, Sekana, I am," I said before kneeling down and picking her up. "And if you want to, if I'm able to and when you're old enough, I can show you how to use a sword."

"I don't see why not," Oryx said.

"Yay!" Sekana cheered.

This was unfortunately cut off as a Taken pony-no, I'm not kidding- appeared and bowed.

"Hi, uncle betrayer," Sekana said and I looked at Oryx.

"A traitor to the Griffons who now serves as one of Sekana's caretakers and, eventually, one of her hands," he told me before addressing the Taken. "What is it?"

"My liege, the Guardians and Didact are under attack by a new war machine of the Griffons, and require assistance."

Before i could look at Oryx, he said, "A happy accident I've decided to roll out to all Taken," before addressing the Taken again.

"I and Excalibur-who will have the same authority over you and the others as Sekana and I- will handle it. Take care of my daughter until I return."

Before a reply was heard, I felt my world go upside down and my insides turned inside out before they were righted, and I saw that Oryx and I now stood on a grassy hill overlooking four figures running from a huge tank that was currently firing from a primitive machine gun towards them with a small force of Griffons around it.

"Muskets mixed with world war one era machine guns," I commented. "That's new, not to mention the huge ass tank."

"Indeed," Oryx said. "Alad will want that mostly intact to study." He then looked at me, and I at him. "So, want to show 'em why we were called the Blade Brothers back home on Live?"

Under my helmet, I grinned as I drew Silva. "I'll go in, clear out a path to the tank, then move in and kill it's crew."

"We'll need something fitting for the sword play," Oryx commented.

"Revengeance?" I asked.

"Please," he said, and I could hear the grin in his voice as I turned back to face the battle ground.

"Then let's do this shit."





Cybis' perspective

"Come on, we need to outrun these fuckers!" I heard Josh yell just before I jump back and throw a scatter grenade at the pursuing Griffons, though it did little, as these guys had special armor that was somehow resistant to my grenades.

"No fucking shit, Josh!" Rino yelled back before jumping into the air and using light before turning in the air to face them and fire off a G-horn shot against the new tank- a three story thing with high velocity shells and old machine guns, as in our world's world war one era machine guns for the secondary weapons-, though the armor plating on it was thick.

Now, I know what you're thinking-why not hijack the thing? Because, quite simply, those machine guns, though primitive, could melt through our shields, and Didact can't jump up high enough to reach it.

"Where's the nearest base?!" I yelled as we avoided shots from the foot soldiers. If there's one good thing abou thte tank, it's that is has one slow ass reload time.

"Three kilometers away!" Didact replied.

"Shiiiiiiiit!" Josh yelled at that just before we heard music.

"Okay, who the fuck's playing something from Revengeance!?" Rhino yelled before our radios came on.

"Guardians, Didact, this is Oryx. I am inbound with a new ally to capture the tank. We're already in the area."

"How close?" Didact asked.

"Close enough," was the reply before we heard the air behind us crackling and screams of pain, making us turn our heads and see orbs of Darkness coming into existence over the Griffon footsoldiers before coming down and infecting many of them with Darkness, enough to become Taken, apparently. Literally a second after that, a blue and green blur began to slice those that hadn't been converted on the tank's left side into pieces. It then jumped partway up the tank, and-I'm not kidding here- ran up the side of the tank to the top, flipping up and out of our view.

"The hell?" Josh asked before Oryx teleported next to us.

"I have told you all of my life before coming here, correct?" he asked.

"Yeah," Rhino replied. "Why?"

"Turns out, that blur is another Displaced who just so happens to be my brother," Oryx replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to prove I'm still worthy of my nick name from before coming here." With that, he flew to where the remaining Griffons were, and began to strike at them with his sword.

"Okay, seriously," Josh said, "how is it we have the Taken King;someone who wants to eliminate humanity; a mad scientist; and now a once thought dead man as our allies!?" None of us had a reply.
> Knights of shadow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Josh

Two more years have passed since Oryx's pre-displacement brother, Excalibur, appeared, and, somehow, the griffons tech level has rocketed to where they now have weapons equal to world war two tech minus the nukes. Alad had created an intelligence network, and they were currently looking into that. As for territory the two sides controlled, it was now half of the known civilizations on our side, the other half with the griffons.

Funnily enough, those on our side that were more military minded-something close to a mix of the Cabal and Sangheili in culture- had met with Didact, and decided to make him a leader, meaning he now had his own country, which led to a renaming of the Ecumene to the Fundament. Cybis had commented that was more appropriate give Oryx was born on the Hive homeworld-long since destroyed in Destiny lore- which was called the Fundament. The reason being it was renamed is because the three thought it better for Didact's nation to be known as Ecumene.

Anyways, in the two years since Excalibur's arrival and entrance into this war, him, myself, Rhino, and Cybis had started to be called the knights of the shadows, as we are often the spec ops strike force. Right now, the four of us were in griffon allied Minotaur lands-south of the Fundament- on an assassination-espionage mission. The goal was to kill a Minotaur house leader to make way for his second in command to take control, as he was an ally of ours so we would gain this house as an ally, and we were also to see what we can get as to the sudden tech boom the Griffons went through.

Right now, I was on a cliff as the moon hung above me, a one k stare rifle in my hands and my eye looking down the scope. "Sword, where are you?"

"Approaching the main tent," Excalibur said. "What's it look like there?"

"Dead," Rhino said. "Quick and quiet. None know unless they can sense life forces. You got that dagger ready?" Excalibur was currently using a stolen griffon made dagger to make it look like the griffons had betrayed them. Hey, this is war, deception is a part of the game.

"Yep," Excalibur said.

"Be careful," Cybis said. He filled the role of nerd of the team. "Main squads just north of here report seeing small groups of ponies moving quickly in the night. May be griffon agents."

"Cyb, do you know who you're talking to?" Rhino asked. "Each of us are badassess with superhuman-or robot in my case- abilities that can destroy a small army by ourselves."

"Hubris, Rhino," Cybis said. "We're going to be able to come back from the dead a song as we have ghosts, and what happens if we-namely you or Josh- jump headfirst into a fight and lose them. I'm certain I need not remind you of what happened the two times we've died before."

"He's got you there, Rhino," Excalibur said. "Now, quiet while I slip in the knife."

I was about to shoot a smartass reply at him when I saw a flicker of movement next to the tent. "Make it quick, I just saw something move next to the thing. Too quick to see what it was."

"Saw it too," Rhino said. "Hope they're ready to take buckshot to the face."

"Just make sure that if it's something new, there's enough left of it to analyze and see if it resembles any of the legends in this world," Cybis said.

"If I can," Rhino replied. "Josh, keep an ey eout."

"No shit, what else would I do with a sniper at this range?" I said. "Noland, get the ships ready. May need a quick exit."

"They're already waiting," my Ghost replied. "Warning: unknown contact at six o'clock. Ten meters and closing."

"Copy that," I muttered as I adjusted my body to quickly jump up should I need to. "Get that weapon Ex gave me ready."

"Got it ready, Guardian," Nolandroid said. "And I've alerted the others already."

"Thanks for that," I whispered as I heard footsteps behind me. Glancing into a mirror I placed on the ground next to me while activating my helmet's night vision, and saw nothing, though I saw the grass be depressed. "Ghost, tell 'em it's looking like the Twilight protocol."

"On it."

"Also, new weapon on three."

"Copy that."

"One," I said as I moved my left hand to the corresponding leg and making it look as it I was taking care of an itch. "Two." I made closed my hand to where it looked as if I was holding a gun. "Three." With that, I released the grip on my sniper rifle and rolled onto my back as Noland transmatted the gift weapon into my hands.

The weapon is what Excalibur called a Viper, a fully automatic pistol that had been modified to increase damage against unarmored targets. As I finished rolling, I saw that the one approaching me was a pony wearing a black, hooded cloak that covered most of their body, a dagger in their hand and pointed back. "'Sup," I said before unloading the entire clip-increased from the default to twenty five- into the individual before drawing my Vanity Hand cannon and placing one shot in the heart, and another in the head. "Guys, we need to get out of here. Twilight protocolis confirmed."

"We figured," Rhino said with a grunt over the radio. Just finished caving in a vampony's skull with my rifle. Ex finished with the job, and is on the way to extraction. Same with me and Cyb."

"I'll be waiting," I replied as I went to the body, and began to inspect it.

"No blood," was my first observation. "Or or little enough to not be noticed." I moved one of my hands to open the eye lids. "Pupils are reptile like." I closed the eye lid, and moved the armored hand to the mouth and opened the lips. "Teeth are as expected with sharpened canine teeth." I pulled the hand back, and looked at the hands of the corpse. "Somewhat sharpened finger nails though not enough to be noticeable." I channeled some solar light into my left hand, and held it above an exposed patch of skin on the hand, resulting in some slight burns.

"I'm picking up carbon monoxide levels, Josh," Noland said. "Higher than normal, too. Want me to take a scan of what they're made of?"

"Do it," I said as the skin began to bubble, making me stop the experiment. "You recorded everything?"

"What do you take me for, a computer?" Noland asked as he materialized. "Of course I did. I and the other Ghosts are meant to be the field cameras after all."

"Fair enough," I said as I heard the roar of engines. "Can you contact Forge, see if he can digitize the body?" I asked, referring to the A.I. in Excalibur's ship.

"Yes I can, Guardian," Forge replied over the radio as Excalibur's ship-a horseshoe crab shaped ship called the Liset that was mainly blue with red, purple, and yellow accents with green colored engines, the colors matching Excaibur's Warframe and weapon coloration- came into view and stopped above me before an orange beam came out of the bottom of the ship and hit the dead body, causing it to breakdown into orange cubes which were then absorbed into the ship. "I can also run an analysis of recent memories, should it be needed."

"Right," I said with an unnecessary nod just as Excalibur came up over the cliff face-as a Tenno, he's able to wall jump infinitely and is a space ninja- with his weapons stowed.

"Saw a few on my way up here," he said. "Looked like they had taken some griffon bodies away for something."

"Guess we can have Oryx 'ask' one later, then," I said as my ship-along with Rhino and Cybis'- arrived, followed by Rhino and Cybis soon after.

Once we all got into our ships, we made our way back to the Fundament's capital with the new intel, as well as knowing the new threat.
> Revelation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Excalibur

I walked in the halls of Oryx's castle. Only a few hours had passed since apparently vamponies became real, and Alad was currently analyzing the results of what the Guardians brought back. I wasn't involved mainly because, well, even if it ha been two years for me since, what mirror Celestia said before I offed her still has me thinking. Harmony, far as I know, has existed for as long as Equis, maybe the fucking multiverse, who knows. That's definitely enough time to master manipulation, and, now that I look at some stuff, It's made me doubt.

First was the fact she kept the truth hidden from the average pony in my Equestria, and I just went with it. So what if it caused chaos, she's the fucking goddess of Hamrony. I.E.: Balance, she should know chaos is needed. Yeah, that whole threat thing may be true, but there's who knows how many OP displaced out there who'd be willing to help. Plus her own power.

Then there's the fact the mirror versions were renegade when my world's weren't. Either the exact same or opposite has to happen. There was a drastic change in the mirror-the three alicorns becoming renegade and being outcast by Harmony- but none in mine when Cadence, Luna, and Celestia would have either gotten a huge ass power boost or gone renegade too.

And, personally, who knows, I may have been able to survive that car crash that Harmony used to get me here, and may have just blacked out from the pain.

Finally, the whole controlling magic thing. I've trained for two years, have put my self in the middle of a blade for Oryx and the others, but still nothing. This made me think back to something I read in the library of the mirror world. Magical constructs, regardless of who ever made them, are very limited. If they are made for combat, they can do nothing else. I they are meant to be a swordsman, nothing else. Though true they can branch out an use other skills, they can never do so effectively, and even then, it has to be under their creator's orders.

Though, there have been two cases of a construct breaking free of it's creator's will and mastering something else, including the crystal army used by Sombra to defeat Celestia many centuries ago. Though they remained loyal to him, many left the army to become craftsponies and such.

This made me look down at my left hand as I opened it. I then clenched it and sighing. "Looks like I'll need to open that door," I said before making my way to the training grounds. Now, you're probably asking why I'm heading there. Well, it doubled as the army training grounds and the landing site for my Liset and the Guardians' ships. "Forge?"

"Yes, Operator?" the Cephalon asked.

"Can you open the rear door in the Liset?"

"Not entirely," he replied. "Release the magnetic locks, yes, but you would still need to pry them open, and you are not a Rhino or Atlas."

"Do it regardless, and ensure Harmony doesn't know about it. I need to see something."

"Of course, Operator."

As I made my way to the grounds, the various castle staff and soldiers I passed saluted me, though my mind was too focused on a single question. If I'm supposed to be a pre-Update eighteen- or which ever one brought in the change to the Orbiter- Tenno, why is that door there?

After reaching the grounds, I made my way under my ship, the deployment tube opening up before it enveloped me in a gravity field, and lifted me up and inserted me in the slot before it rotated, and I was now laying down on the floor. I got out of the tube, and made my way to the back hall of the Orbiter, where I saw the Somatic Link room.

"The Magnetic locks are offline, Operator," Forge said. "However, when they were, a magical field flared up, and, as far as I can tell, it is still there."

I smiled under my helmet. "Then it is something important, then, Harmony," I muttered. Then, out loud, I said, "Check the Codex databank, look for something called a 'Nullifier Crewman'. I have an idea. Then get me a plasma sword."

"Done," he said. He did have an immense operating power similar to Halo A.I.s, so it makes sense. "Entry found, and weapon waiting in the arsenal."

"Right," I said, making my way to the arsenal. When I got there, I just walked by as I put my right hand into it, and the plasma sword materialized in it, then made the way back to the door. "Project the bubble the Nullifier uses on the door. If I'm right, this will remove the field."

"Understood," he said, and a large, blue bubble popped into existence around the door, and a shimmer was seen inside. "Field down."

"Make sure it stays down," I said before rushing into the bubble, and stabbing the plasma sword into the door on the right side, and, once it was hilt deep, began to carve a circle out of it.

Excalibur, what are you doing!? Harmony said in my head in a near growl.

"Just seeing if my hypothesis is right," I said as I continued. "I'm not really me, am I? I'm just something in a warframe being controlled. Or am I me controlling the something?"

Harmony was silent for a time before replying. "You do realize I could easily have the others hound you."

"Yeah," I said, turning my head to look behind me and see Harmony standing there. "But they'll need to try their damnedest to make it work, and I won't make it easy on them," I said before pulling an Aksomati and shooting her in the head making the body vanish, and I chuckled. "Looks like you won, Celestia," I muttered. I then holstered the automatic pistol, and sighed before returning to my task. When I completed the circle, two semi circles and two crescents fell, making a hole large enough for me to enter.

What I saw surprised me. I saw, in Cryopods, Excalibur Prime and the Ashen Gray and gold Excalibur Umbra. These were to the left and right of the Somatic link, at the very back of the room. "Forge."

"Yes, Operator?"

"Can you open the link pod?"

"Yes."

"Do it."

"Understood, Operator," he said, and, as I walked to the pod, it opened a sit did in game, and, in there, I saw a figure wearing a jumpsuit of similar coloration to this warframe, but it was the face which got my attention. It had brown hair, glowing green eyes, was pale, and had a few freckles on it's face. Just like mine. Exactly like mine.

"Oh my," Forge said. "Operator, I didn't know."

"No need to apologize, Forge. Can you sever the link?"

"Yes, but I'm not-"

"Do it, then have the Hunter get here."

". . .As you wish, Operator," Forge said before I blacked out, and heard my body hit the floor.
> Waking from the dream
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Will he be okay?" I asked Alad as my brother, who looked as he did as a teenager, lay on a cot with a blue and red jumpsuit with an odd helmet that peeled away from his head, the lining colored yellow.

"He's alive, Oryx," Alad said. "He simply needs time to wake up. What concerns me, however, are the other three Tenno."

"So there were actually four people?" Cybis asked.

"Yes," The Corpus scientist replied. "However, Excalibur; who is the one we've come to physically know, Prime; the gold one, and Umbra; the one with the scarf are all clones of Josh, who, if we are using some variation of Warframe lore, is still a conduit for the Void, which grants a Tenno their power.  A warframe simply focuses it. That is why an Excalibur can not create flames like an Ember can or a Chroma with red or reddish orange colors for energy."

Rhino rubbed the equivalent of his forehead, just under the horn. "So Harmony created three clones of Josh in his adult form, then reverse aged him and put him to sleep after switching him with Excalibur?"

"Yes."

"Someone get me a damned anti-magical nuke."

"Not even sure that would work," Rhino," Josh-the Hunter- said. "Still, I think we should do what we can to destroy the Element of Sacrifice and remove the Darkness abilities in us. I don't know about you guys, but I con't use anything Harmony gave us knowing this."

"I'm more interested about the Excalibur Josh arrived," Didact said. "I'm thinking that was actually him, but when Harmony changed the color, she swapped 'em out, and put Josh into the Second Dream. That's what it's called, right?"

"Bingo," Alad said.

"Right. Given the flash he said occurred when that happened, along with when he first went Prime which led to the switch between Excalibur and Prime," Didact said, "it stands to reason that the same thing has happened with the other Tenno in his Equestria, but that are not aware of it."

"And they're all ponies who are annoyingly loyal to Harmony," The Hunter said. "Well, that and a single changeling, far as we know." He sighed. "Christ, this is going to be a shitstorm, I just know it."

"Fortunately, I've sent messages into the void using some magic and bit of tech," Alad said. "It's keyed to Harmony's magic from the sample you three gave, and will go to any who have been directly touched by it. It'll warn them to not trust her, and even a bit of an invitation to something Oryx and I have been planning."

"What's that?" Cybis asked.

"A Displaced Brotherhood," Alad said. "Not a faction for war. The Brotherhood's supposed to be an alliance of Displaced in positions of power such as all of us who are currently conscious and in this room that will allow them to send an army to support an ally or request our help. Of course, with this, most will probably need to be able to take on an actual goddess."

"Like I said: shitstorm."

"Anyway," I said, ignoring the Hunter, "what have you done with the other three Tenno?"

"In containment bubbles in my lab meant to cut off the flow of magic and, by extension, void energy, making them powerless. No telling what they'll do upon waking up," Alad said. "And they will wake up. My sensors picked up Rapid Eye Movement, an indicator of dreams. Unfortunately, Didact won't allow Balance to see what it is they're dreaming about."

"She may be this Equestia's Luna, but she still hasn't had much training in that magic, and it's a Tenno," Didact said. "True, one that has essentially been asleep for its whole life, but still. I will not risk my daughter's well being on something like that unless the odds are very much in her favor. By which I mean ninety nine point nine percent in her favor."

"Just saying," Alad said as he held his hands up before one of his assistants rushed into the room.

"Your majesties and sirs, it's the three Tenno," He said in a panicked voice. "They're awake and trying to break out!"

"Called it," Alad said. "Follow me everyone," He said as the collar he used to control Zanuka activated. "Zankua, keep them contained."

With that, the three Guardians, Didact, and Alad left the room. I, however, stayed behind to watch over my brother, hoping if he woke oon, he could help keep the three Tenno contained.




Alad-ten minutes later

"FUCK!" Rhino shouted as he was embedded in the wall by a punch from Excalibur. That is to say the one who Josh had been controlling for the most part of his time as a Displaced.

"Someone get him out of the wall!" Didact shouted before he ducked under the slice wave of an Exalted Blade. He then straightened and fired off a few shots from his Scattershot at Prime, who had his Exalted blade out.

"Kinda busy!" Cybis shouted back as he fired a Lance Nova bomb at Umbra, who sliced it in half with a Nikana Prime, and then used Slash Dash to avoid a Razor's edge slice by Josh.

"That's right, bitch! Run from your god!" he yelled before chasing Umbra through my lab. Zankua was now trying to get Rhino out of the wall as I was analyzing the data to see just how the three of them broke out.

"Damn it, those containers were able to hold Oryx's taken, how did they get out?" I muttered as I looked over the recordings using my visor from outside the room. I was looking at the footage for a tenth time when a frame caught my interest. "Hello," I said. "Pause, rewind five seconds, speed at twenty five percent, enhance and zoom next to left most occupied pod." The footage did so, and what I saw was a gray mare in a white dress with rainbow hair and tail with an orb of rainbow magic in her hand. "Play," I said. "Keep at current speed."

The recording played, and I saw Harmony look at the camera and wag a finger to it before releasing her magic, shattering the containers, and ten teleporting. "That bitch!"  I then activated my radio. "Guys, Harmony freed them!"

"Okay, we need to to start planning on how to kill the bitch," Rhino yelled. "Shit!" he yelled as he fell out of the wall.

"Kinda hard to since she's multi-dimensional being!" Cybis replied.

"Working on something right now," I said. "More of a side effect of that Displaced Brotherhood thing, but still, I'll put more focus on it."

"Do it," Oryx said beside me, making me jump as my visor went up. "No need to inform me of the situation, Alad, I know enough to know Harmony has declared war on us."

"Yes, well," I said, "we're still having an issue containing the three Tenno, to the point where they may destroy us more than the other two factions we're facing."

"Then let me try something," I heard another voice say from behind Oryx before Josh walked out from behind him. "Open the door. This is my fight, my problem to fix. Don't try to stop me."

"But how-"

"By being a motherfucking Tenno, that's how," Josh said as the hood of his suit, which looked like a mutated face with two lidless eyes combined over his head, showing he was wearing the full Zariman suit that in game Operators wore by default.

"I hope you know what you're doing," I said as I opened the door, through which he entered the micro war in the lab.




Operator Josh

I walked into the lab to see that it was pretty much in ruin, the three Excaliburs having utterly destroyed their containers and forcing the others into a literal corner. Once I walked into the room everything seemed to stop, and the three Excaliburs looked at me, causing the others to as well. I stood at the entrance with my arms crossed behind my back. "Well," I said. "You want revenge on me for controlling you, right. Here I am. I won't stop you."

"W-why?" Umbra growled out, him being the only one I hadn't controlled.

"Because I'm a Tenno, and a Tenno must pay for his mistakes," I told them. "If you must kill me, so be it, but the others are simply allies of mine, and had nothing to do with this." Here, Excalibur slash dashed over to me, and placed the blade of a Skana at the side of my neck.

"What about our brothers and sisters?"

"Still alive, far as I know," I said. "I can't guarantee, however, that you'll be welcomed back. Harmony, if this is any indication, will do anything to prevent the unfiltered truth from coming out." I then inhaled, then exhaled. "You may kill me if you wish, but if you do, ask yourself this: who made me control you, and what did I do upon finding out? I know you know it, Excalibur. You were the one I was controlling upon finding out."

This made him pull his blade back a little. "Because of her, I unknowingly controlled you for the better part of two years, Prime for not even a day, and Umbra is the only one who hasn't been controlled," I continued. "If you want my head, you can have it, but think about how many others are being controlled by her or will be. Now, what do you consider yourself?"

"Tenno. What else could we be?" Prime said as he pointed a Lato Prime at me.

"Then are you going to kill another Tenno for something he fixed as best he could as soon as possible, or the one manipulating him and you to prevent it from happening again?" I asked before another voice-one I knew well, spoke up from behind me.

"I knew I should have killed you before you opened the door," Harmony said before Oryx and Alad were teleported into the room, and Excalibur and I jumped further into the room, and I saw Harmony at the entrance. "Oh well. Better late than never." With that she unleashed a beam of magic focused on me, but I simply held up my hand, and it stopped as green void energy coursed along my arm.

"I thought you'd know," I said. "As a Tenno, I am a conduit of the void, and have access to every Warframe ability at reduced strength unless specifically focused on it. Right now, I'm using a localized snow globe to stop it." I then snapped my fingers, and a small explosion radiated from me as the world around me became dull and subdued in color, and the snow globe piece vanished, and the beam hit me, only to do nothing. "Rift walk." I then teleported in a cloud of smoke in front of her and left the rift plane, creating a set of green claws on my right hand as I did so before stabbing her in the stomach. "Teleport plus hysteria," I said to her shocked face as I saw blood course down my hand. "So you're just another one, then," I said. "Farce is up," I said before making a green Skana in my left hand. "Gods can't bleed, after all," I said before stabbing the Exalted blade into her head and sending a bolt of lightning into it, frying the brain.

As the body fell to the ground, Oryx walked next to me. "I assume given this you think Harmony is just a pony who found out how to access other dimensions at will, found some sort of longevity potion or the like, and took up the position of Goddess as a power trip when she is just as vulnerable to blade and gun as us?"

"Bingo," I said. "Also, it stands to reason that there is some sort of center point in the Multiverse where all the variations of a person exist, and that's how each Harmony is aware of the others plans in nearly an instant. Two are dead, but more live. Only way to kill 'em all is there."

"I'll get to work on finding a way there one I send the beacons out," Alad said.

I nodded. "Thanks. Also, once this is all over, think you can get a portal to the human variation of my Equestria."

He nodded back. "I'll see what I can do."

I then looked at the three Excaliburs who walked out next. "What about you three? If you don't want a part in this, you won't be forced to."

"She manipulated the four of us and many others," Prime said. "And besides, Excalibur and I do have your memories. Our actions were in a blind rage and perhaps her controlling us."

"If she wants a war," Excalibur said. "She'll get one from the new Tenno order."

"And I know bits and pieces," Umbra said. "Enough to know the four of us are genetic clones, making us brothers. I'd personally be ashamed if I didn't stand next to my brothers."

"I can work on getting you a warframe, Josh," Alad said, to which I shook my head.

"Nah. Right now, I'm good having access to the abilities." I then created an orb of green flame in my left hand, and an Exalted blade in the right. "So then, who's gonna be the first faction we decimate so we can start planning on how to kill the bitch?"
> The purge part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tenno Josh

Ten years. That's how long it took us-with the support of three Guardians, the Shadow Kings and their army, and myself and the Excaliburs- to fight our way to the griffon capitol city-which was located in a desert, and protected by magic nullification wards and glyphs- destroying any city we came across that fought back even if we didn't pass through. As a result, the only griffon population left was in the capital city, and Fundament and Ecumene loyalists who had left their home nation between seven and five years ago.

Why did it take so long? The damned Vamponies harassed us at every step, every corner, and right now, Alad and the science division of the Shadow Kings' forces were going to their lair to kill their king or queen to ensure they didn't hinder any more of my brother's efforts. After learning why they decided to fight us, of course.

Sekana and Balance were now of the age to hold their own in combat with their defensive spells and a compliment of guards for each.

Currently, the three Excaliburs were the advanced party for our forces, with me being the link between them and Oryx, as my time controlling Excalibur had led to a sort of telepathy with him.

I had Alad make modifications to my transference suit to make it look more likethe Koppra suit opposed to the Zariman suit, simply because if I was going to be a part in combat without a warframe-which Alad and I were currently working on a solution for-then I wanted to look good while doing it.

"What's the status of our forces?" Oryx asked me as we stood on a hill, looking over the target city.

"Nearly ready," I replied. "Eager, too, considering the massacre a few weeks back."

"Ah, yes. That sealed the fate of the griffons and vampires," Oryx said with a growl. "They are fortunate Excalibur stopped them before Sekana or Balance were harmed."

"Amen to that one, bro," I muttered. "So, you got your agents in place?"

"Must you ask?" He replied. "Once I give the signal, they will burn the capitol building to the ground, and, at the request of some of the men I gave control over them, bring the females."

"Please-"

"You need not worry about them being enslaved," The Taken King told me. "And I gave explicit instruction any prisoners are to be treated with respect, or the offender will pay with their will."

"Brutal, but hey, if it works," I said. "So, where are the Excalibur's and I going?"

"South entrance, as that is the area with the hidden escape route for the king," Oryx said. "A detachment of Didact's troops will be with you four. . . .Are you sure you don't want to wear armor. You aren't well protected in just robes."

"Oryx, like i told you before: I have access to the Void, which is the basis for all warframe powers, including Inaros' health based abilities and Rhino's Iron skin. Combine with Valkyr's hysteria and what I like to call the universal fuck you move-" Radial Blind plus Exalted blade- "bitch's gonna die tonight."

Oryx chuckled. "Just don't go overboard. We need some parts of their culture not utterly and entirely fucked up."

"I make no promises!" I exclaimed. "I'll be too busy pressing the universal fuck you button!" And with that, I made my way to where the Excalibur's were, laughing like a maniac the entire way, only to have to cough as I reached them. "Fucking desert air," I muttered. "How the hell do desert based villain cackle in this weather?"

"Probably adapted to it," Excalibur said as he examined his Some rifle.

"Plus I can't think of any who do cackle," Umbra said, sharpening his Nikana prime's edge as he spoke. "Maybe just you, and you aren't technically a villain."

"Yeah, yeah, ruin the fun," I said. "You guys ready for this?"

"Yep, just waiting for the signal to leave the camp and move in," Prime said as he floated above the ground in a meditative pose. "What of you?"

"Same. We'll be hitting the south gate with some of Didact's forces to prevent the leaders escaping from the others."

"Well, then, this should be fun," Prime said. "Especially when the four of us unleash hell upon the Griffons."

"Ooh rah to that," I said.

"Brother, move in now," Oryx said over the radio in my ear. "Provide a distraction in the south so I can teleport my Taken in to lower the north gate."

I nodded. "Got it. We're going in, people," I replied and told the others.

"Let's have some fun, then," Umbra said
> The purge pt2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"All units, press the attack!" I shouted before summoning my Golden Gun and firing off three combustion shots at a small group of Griffons. "Don't let them regroup!"

"Heads up!" Cybis yelled from behind me before he jumped up above me, and unleashed a lance Nova bomb on the rest of the group I had attacked, killing the rest.

"Where're Oryx and the others!?"

"The Tenno are pushing in from the south," he replied," Oryx and Didact from the west, and Rhino from the east. Right now, they're still working to get here. Those lanes were much more heavily defended than ours." Cybis' head jerked to the side, and he pulled out a side arm and delivered a three round burst into a griffon that had been approaching from his left. "Best guess is they'll be at their positions in ten minutes at best, thirty at worst. No idea how Alad's doing with the vampires."

"Then we can just hope he's kicking their asses," I said before turning to the ponies that Didact had put under us, each one wearing ponified Forerunner armor. "Set up breaching positions, then get into defensive formation. We need to be ready as soon as the other groups are!"




Oryx

I sliced a Griffon knight in half as my Taken forces overwhelmed the knight's squad in front of me. "Damn these fools," I muttered as i summoned more Taken Griffons. "I should I expected some of their best remaining on these roads instead of hoping Josh got them all off of us." I looked at the highest ranked Taken in the group. "Take a detachment of troops and recon the palace. We must find where their leader is so that a path may be carved to his position." The Taken Changeling-formerly a convict in Zeta's Hive- bowed before it and a few Taken ponies vanished. "The rest of you: form up, and prepare for further engagement. There will be more enemies before we reach our objective, and they will fight to the last!"

The Taken released a large roar, and assumed a protective formation around me, not that I needed against such primitive weapons. "Forward! Leave none alive!"




Didact

"Contact! Three o'clock high!" one of my soldiers yelled before the sound of a Suppressor being fired was heard, followed closely by a body hitting the ground. "Bastards are relentless."

"What did you expect, Captain?" I asked. "For them to bend over for us? This is their last major city and it's under attack by an army that has not been seen before. They will fight to the last to even have a chance at stopping us."

"Not that it'll help," another soldier said, his armor stained with blood. "They're still using spears while our armor's able to take a few hits from the Titan, and considering he's a robot and being a Titan enhanced his strength?"

"They'll be dying with honor, at least. As much as possible, given the circumstances, that is," one of Zeta's changeling's said.

"Group Alpha, this is Cloud overwatch. I got three Griffon flights on their way to you. Permission to engage?"

"Granted," I replied. "Kill those you can."

"Understood, sir."

"All right, each of you!" I shouted at the rest of Alpha. "Stop talking, and march forward. The rest of the Ecumene forces are waiting for us to move up before they secure the area."

"Sir!" they replied before saluting. I rolled my eyes.

"Not in a combat zone, dumbasses. Now, move up!"



 
Rhino

"Come on, fuckers!" I yelled as I delivered another shotgun blast to the chest of a Griffon skirmisher, killing him, then taking the corpse and throwing it at a Griffon Knight, who was then stuck with a magnetic grenade. "I expected a challenge!"

"Oh Rah to that!" one of Oryx's non-Taken enforces shouted by my side before he grabbed a charging Griffon by the throat and threw it back at its comrades. I was surprised when Oryx had beserkers, but hey, at least I don't have to speed up like I do when Josh gets involved with combat. Still, at least he and Cybis brought variety to our fights other than the generic "rip out opponents throat/punch until dead mentality" these guys head. Oh well.

One Griffon was able to land a sword strike on my armor, but it glanced off, allowing me to grab the Griffon's arm. "Come here, bitch!" I yelled before throwing him through a wall. "All units, stop focusing and charge through them! We need to get to our breach point!"

"But sir-" a beserker as sge crushed a Griffon's skull.

"Move it! If you want to keep killing them, save it for the castle! That's where the royal guards will be!"

The beserkers grinned at that. "Sir!" they shouted, and charged headlong into the enemy.

"Suicidal morons," I muttered before summoning my hammer, and following them.




Tenno Josh

"Dumbasses," I said as I unleashed a Void beam at a small group of Griffons. "Prime, how far away are we?"

"Five minutes," the white and gold Excalibur said as he reloaded his Soma Prime rifle. "And that's if they send more after us. Considering the fact we can just universal fuck you each of them, we're blowing through them."(1)

I nodded. "Good. Umbra, what's Alad's status?"

"He is preparing to strike the vampires," the grey and gold Excalibur said as he cut a Griffon in half with his Nikana Prime. "His science group is with him to assist, and the plan has him breaching their home the same time we get to the Griffon castle."

"Then let's get moving!" Excalibur said as he blocked a sword strike with Aegis, and retaliated with Silva, turning the Griffon skirmisher that attacked him into chicken legs and a legless torso. He brought the flaming sword down on the Griffon's head, killing it.

"Agreed," I said before snapping my fingers and activating a less powerful Hall of Mirrors, creating four copies of myself. "Move out, Tenno. No theatrics."




Alad

I let out a sigh as my group-consisting of myself and five combat scientists in a variant of the armor Didact's forces wore with collars not unlike my own- looked over the the cave entrance that led to the vampony home. "Is everything ready?" I asked.

"Yes, sir," one of the scientists-a mare- said. "Simply waiting on your word and the signal from the other Shadow Kings."

I nodded. "Good. Get your units ready," I ordered before my collar jutted out to make a complete circle and a visor came down on my eyes. "Zanuka," I said, my robot activating and my mind taking control of it, "kill!"

The four legged robot unleashed a metallic howl, which was followed by five more, and it rushed into the cave, followed by five other Zanukas, which were manufactured with the Tenno's help. For the most part, the five additional Zanukas were the same as the original, the only deviation being color.

The first vamponies the six came across were armored but quickly mowed down by the rockets fired by one of the trailing Zanukas, and they continued running through the tunnel, killing any in armor while leaving those in civilian clothing alive, keeping on their objective as they did so.

The objective of the Zanukas were to find and kill the leader of the vampires while releasing a special chemical I developed into their air and water supply that was tested on two vampires, both of whom now were a part of my group.

"Sir, the others have breached the Griffon castle and proceeding," a pony said to my right. "Should we assist once we're done here?"

"We aren't close enough to get there quickly," I replied. "At most, we can ensure if they fail, there will be only a single retaliatory strike."

"Of course, sir," was the reply as my visor showed the Zanukas slowing in front of a large, ornate door housed in an alcove carved from the cave walls.

"That it?" I asked one of the vampires that was in my group.

"Yes sir," Dusk Stone-the female vampire- replied. "That is the entrance to the royal chambers, which would include the royal concubine room."

"So his wife?"

"And child, yes."

"Stun those two if they become an issue, kill the king." With that, I mentally ordered my Zanuka to blast the doors open. An energy orb was released from its back and fired at the doors, blowing them off the hinges and allowing the Zanukas to charge into the room. There were five vampires-three vamponies, one Griffon vampire, and one Minotaur vampire. "Kill all five of them."

Rockets released from the shoulder pods on each Zanuke and streaked toward the vampires. The Griffon one tried to dodge them by going airborne, but was tracked by a salvo and died in an explosion leaving little more than a bloody mist, while the Minotaur was hit in the chest by another salvo, leaving a blood colored stain on the floor.

The three ponies (each being a thestral), split to try to divide the attention of our robots and the missiles, but they failed, and became bloody mists. "Deploy chemical three eight six-A," I ordered, and pods attached to the legs of the Zanuka group opened up, and a pink mist began to flow out as the six began to return to our location, the speed allowing the chemical to hit all of the cave system between the throne room and the entrance.

In all, it took only ten minutes from the Zanukas activating. "All right, pack up and return to Oryx's castle!" I shouted as my collar retracted and the visor went up, putting Zanuka in a non-combat state. "We need to get power to the portal!"




Guardian Josh-Griffon throne room, thirty minutes later

"Damn it," I said as I brought up a ward of dawn, causing a beam of magic to spray uselessly against it. "How come we didn't have intel on this!?"

"He must have recently retrieved it!" Didact shouted from behind a pillar. "Lord knows the Griffon's are good at getting what they want!" He ducked as a golden beam hit the pillar.

Before I go further, we had found the Griffon king, but he had an old artifact that A: gave him a shield that was damned near impossible to get through, and B: had utterly devastating attack capabilities in the form of a golden beam of magic and a huge orb of explosive magic.

"Perhaps this will teach you to think your military has a chance against mine," the Griffon king said before another beam struck my Ward of Dawn, shattering it and going through me. I revived in a small explosion of fire as Excalibur charged in under the cover of his shield. I didn't see the result as I had to dive behind a pillar myself, but I heard something crack, so I assumed he had been backhanded into a wall.

"Where the hell is Oryx!?" Umbra asked from an adjacent pillar.

"Working on taking care of that thing from his personal space!" Didact shouted back before firing a few shots from his Scattershot. " just hope he hurries the hell up," he said as he ducked back behind the pillar.

"We may not need him," Tenno Josh said from beside me, nearly making me jump.

"Dude, don't do that," I told him.

"Well it's not like I have the agility of a Warframe clad Tenno to get here, so I kinda have to go invisible," he replied. "Not the point, though. I'm thinking if I use rift walk plus the Tenno void walk ability, I may be able to get that artifact from him so you can kill him."

"That worth the risk?" Prime asked before blind firing a Some Prime burst, and betting fully into cover as a golden beam struck where the arm had been. "Try again!"

"Either we do it, or we wait for this guy to get bored and just walk out to vaporize us," the Tenno said. "Guardian, whichever form of yours gives you the greatest fire power, go for it. Excalibros, get the blades ready. Didact, call in an air strike on my mark. We only have one chance here."

"Roger," each of us said as I shifted to my Darkness form and peered in front of the pillar.

The Griffon king, wearing steel plate armor over chain mail with an ornate helmet, stood in front of his throne, the artifact, a golden orb not unlike the Apple of Eden from Assassin's Creed, in his right paw. He looked at me, and I ducked behind the pillar and crouched as he fired a beam at my cover. "You're simply delaying the inevitable, you know," he said. "I could bring this whole castle down on top of us, and I would be unharmed thanks to the artifact creating that shield around me."

"And what about when the shield comes down?!" Umbra asked. "Either you leave it up for as long as you can, or you release it and get crushed. You'll die here, just not the way we hope!"

"Either way, you'll be dead, and the Griffons will return to our place as the country with the strongest military!"

I rolled my eyes. "Christ he's annoying. Josh, you in position?" I whispered over the radio.

"On three," was the reply. I grinned, and created an orb of Darkness in each hand with lightning crackling in each.

"Copy," Didact said as he made sure his gun had a full clip, or whatever the shotgun equivalent is as the Excaliburs not in the wall created their Exalted blades.

"One," Josh said, which had a beam of golden energy hit my cover, causing me to duck. "Two." Followed by a light whose origin were out of my sight. "Three!" Josh yelled, causing me to turn just in time to see the Tenno phase out of the Griffon King's chest, the artifact in hand. Once he landed, Josh vanished from sight, and the Excaliburs-Prime and Umbra with their ults, base using his Soma- Didact with his Scattershot, and I with my Darkness infused lightning attacked the Griffon King. After a second, a green beam of energy joined in the barrage, and I saw Josh in the edge of my vision attacking with a beam of Void energy from his right hand, the artifact in his off hand. After five seconds, we ceased, and didn't even see a pile of ashes.

"A touch excessive, don't ya think?" Umbra asked.

"Still fun," Prime countered. "But yeah, a second of that was probably overkill as it was."

"Hey, he's dead, and given how thoroughly we destroyed their military the Griffons aren't an issue anymore," Excalibur said. "And if Alad was successful, the vampires will be friendly in a few weeks."

"Not that the latter effects us right now," I said. "I mean, I'm going back to my Equestria, and you three plus Josh are going to the human world of your Equestria. I mean, we'll be ready to help, but unless it's needed, we aren't getting involved with this war again."

"Except perhaps the fallout of the incident with Harmony," Didact said. "Oryx  is the dimensional walker of the three of us, and. . .well, he's made his own pocket dimensions, and he's said that while he's doing it, he gets glimpses into other worlds, some of which involve Harmony riling up armies. She may be preparing an army not yet seen to take us out."

"Can we discuss this later?" Tenno Josh asked. "Preferably back at the castle?" 

"Agreed," Umbra said. "So, who are going to leave to take command of our forces?"

I'll remain," Didact said. "You all should return to your worlds. Or in the Tenno's case, the human version of their Equestria."

Josh nodded. "Thanks."

"Of course. If you see a version of Harmony, put a bullet in her knee caps for me," Didact replied. "I hope to see you all again under better circumstances."

"Agreed," Prime said. "So, do we contact our ships, or wait for Oryx?"

"Ships are already on their way," Nolandroid said as he appeared. "Should be here in an hour, and Alad's on his way back to the castle to get the teleporter online."

"Right," I said. "Guess this is it for now."

"And hopefully, the next time we meet won't be during a war," Didact said.

So, with that, the four Tenno and myself left the Didact to his own devices, and left to wait for our ships, which arrived five minutes ahead of schedule. We got in them, and made our way back to Oryx's castle. When we arrived, Alad had the portal device up and running for me. The portal was large enough for a jumpjet to get through, fortunately, and before I left, he gave me a communicator that would allow me to talk with him, the other shadow kings, and the Tenno. Installed in them were portal generators that would allow us to travel to dimensions we'd been in previously with them. With that, I left that Equestria, and returned to mine. Only it seemed to be in flames. In response, I said the only thing I could think of.

"The fuck happened while I was gone, and why the hell am I not a month later than when I left?"
> Back to humanity (rewrite)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The four of us came out of the portal in an unoccupied warehouse, the only thing inside other than us being metal crates. "Forge, you there?" I asked.

"Affirmative, Operator," Forge said. "I am holding in orbit above the planet, and have access to communication satellites."

"Date, time, and location?" Excalibur asked.

There was a silence that lasted for half a second before Forge replied, "September twenty-seventh, two thousand and seventeen. Wednesday. It is currently twelve twenty P.M., eastern standard. Location is outskirts of Canterlot, capital of Equestria, within the industrial area. The warehouse you are in belonged to a company that has closed, and is not currently in use. It should suffice for a temporary base."

"Not much good it'll do us," Umbra said. "How much cash we got for food, Forge?"

"Accounting for exchange rates of the various gems and precious metals I managed to mine with Oryx's permission, you have approximately three billion local dollars in digital storage. If I may say, if the Equestrian economy was ever introduced here, gold and every gem type would take a nuclear nosedive in price."

"No shit," Prime muttered.

"What houses could that buy us in the city?" Excalibur asked.

"Your thinking too small, dude," Prime said. "We could buy a fucking island, contractors to build a mansion, and probably have enough left over for one, maybe two hostile takeovers of large companies!" he proclaimed. "At least."

". . .Forge? Don't take any suggestions from Prime while looking for a more permanent base."

"Wasn't planning on it, Operator."

"Killjoys," Prime said. "Seriously, though. If Order decides to send people after us, we can't be in the city or near it. Especially, if they're the other Tenno."

I nodded. "Agreed. She knows how to make Warframes and give people Tenno abilities. If it becomes a full on fight between just us and four other Tenno, we may end up destroying a good portion of the city. Not to mention the civilian casualties."

"We'll need contacts in Equestria if we're going to have any actionable intel," Umbra said. "If only to counter the Tenno arriving."

"And considering we don't have a way to get there that they don't know about," I said, "that's something we can't do."

We were silent for a time before Excalibur spoke. "What if it's not us?" he asked, getting our attention. "They don't know our allies," he explained. "Order might tell them about the Guardians and the Shadow Kings, but they haven't had actual contact with one another. If we could get in contact with Oryx, have him Take one of the Equestrian Tenno, and use the altered version of Taking, we'd have a source of intel in the circle there, and one they wouldn't expect."

"Any ideas on just who that should be?" I asked. "Chances are Order will tell the others the moment one gets Taken."

Excalibur winced. "Did not think of that. I'm really hating that this bitch is multi-dimensional and is an embodiment of multi-verse theory."

I let out a small, nasal gasp at that line. "Say that again," I said. 'I'm not sure I heard it clearly."

"That I hate the fact she's multi-dimensional and embodies the multi-verse theory?"

I let a small smirk come to my face as an idea came to me. "Yeah. That. You guys go out and look around. I need to look into something."

The three looked at each other before Umbra said, "What is it?"

"Something that might just give us a one up," I replied. "Something only a Tenno can do." The three lanced at one another, and left, their warframes receding and forming backpacks. Once they were gone, I sat on the floor, legs crossed, and rested my hands on my knees, palms facing skyward, and closed my eyes.




Excalibur

"So what do you guys think Josh is doing?" Prime asked.

"Mental link cut for you, too?"

"Why do you think I was asking, Umbra?"

Umbra sighed as the three of us-wearing jeans and three different shirts-myself wearing a gray one with red lines at the sides of the chest, Prime wearing one of white and gold in the same pattern, and Umbra dark gray shirt with gold lines and a silk scarf around his neck-with our frames on our backs hidden as backpacks-got onto a sidewalk, heading towards the bulk of the city. "Maybe one of us could guess. The link has to be especially strong between him and one of us, given how long he thought we were just warframes."

"If that were the case, it'd probably be Ex," Prime replied, and the two looked at me.

"Nothing," I replied. "The wording didn't make sense, either. If it's something only a Tenno could do, he could have told us what it was.

"Might have something to do with how Order knows everything. I don't remember much about how Josh saw the multi-verse theory," Umbra said, "but I remember just how complicated it can be."

"Same," Prime replied.

I remained silent on that. As the one Josh had spent the most time controlling through the link, I had probably the strongest connection to him, and even with him blocking his thoughts, I could still get a few ideas from the few rogue thoughts that got out.

Prime looked up at they city skyline, and stopped. "Uh, guys, look," he said, pointing. The two of us stopped, turned back to him, then looked at where he was pointing, and saw a skyscraper on fire.

"Oh shit," Umbra said. "Forge, how bad's that fire?"

"Scanning. . . .The flame has is steadily growing in temperature, already approaching one thousand and two hundred degrees Celsius. Whatever caused this fire, it isn't some workplace accident."

"Isn't that past the point steel melts?" Umbra asked.

"Not quite. That is one thousand, three hundred and seventy degrees Celsius. The only it has not collapsed due to strain is this world had something similar to nine-eleven happen, and reinforced steel beams with more temperature resistant alloys," Forge informed us. "If it reaches the melting point of steel, it wont matter. At that point, the supports will fail, and the three hundred left in the building will die."

"How long?" Umbra asked.

"At this rate? Two hours before total collapse. Given many are trapped above the flames, two hundred of the three hundred will still die."

The three of us looked at one another. "You guys thinking what I am?" I asked.

They both nodded, their face, along with mine, becoming serious. "Time to be big damned heroes," Prime said.

"Forge, deploy Archwings at our location. Stealth 'em to avoid attention before we're ready," Umbra said.

"Understood, Tenno. Deploying Odonatas now," Forge replied as our warframes took shape around us. "Along with a little extra something to facilitate the rescue."