> Long Far Gone
>  by A-P-A
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: Different planet, same sand
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot, Equestria. 4:30pm 21/06/1000 AN

Canterlot. Normally the crown jewel of Equestria, the beautiful city lay dormant. The activity in the streets had all but ceased, what little motion there was could be described as lazy. Shopkeepers closing up their stalls and ponies returning from a hard days work. The magic powered street lamps began to softly glow, like fireflies in the night. The same could be said for the castle, servants moved slowly about the halls, delivering orders to various places while the guards sluggishly shifted themselves from point to point.

Just as the sun began to droop below the horizon, a spark of green light could be seen moving across the space between the mountainside city and its closest neighbouring town, Ponyville. The spark travelled up the side of the castle and through a convenient open window. The light, now visible as a small green flame, made a popping noise and fizzled out. A small scroll materialised. It floated in place for a moment before dropping into the large pile of identical scrolls. Each scroll contained an apology, each phrased slightly differently from the last, each using a new format or font, each completely unnoticed by the supposed receiver of said apology. 

Princess Celestia had stopped reading these apology letters quite some time ago. She knew her student wasn't to blame for what happened, nopony was. Nopony even knew who Nightmare moon used to be, little Luna. Celestia had waited a thousand years for her return, only for the elements to banish her away again, back to the moon. Where she would be stuck for a thousand years more. Celestia let out a long heavy sigh and shifted across from one side of the bed to the other. In truth she wasn't angry, she wasn't even that sad. She was just...lonely. A thousand years of solitude doesn't do much good for the mind. She can only imagine what Luna must be feeling right now, at least she had something to take her mind off the gaping hole that her sisters banishment had left in her heart. Luna's stuck on the moon, all alone, by herself. Tears began to well in the corners of her eyes, why couldn't her life just be easy for once? Her vengeful thoughts were intrupted by the arrival of yet another letter. *Fiiiiiiizz* *POP* Another scroll added to the pile. Another wasted apology. Celestia pulled herself out of bed, as lonely as she was she still had a duty to her kingdom. 

She stepped out on to her chamber balcony and looked out towards the horizon, she remembered when she used to do this with her sister, how they would laugh and flick each others ears while trying to perform spells, how afterwards she and Luna would sit by the fire and discuss the various nobles and highlife stuck ups that had visited day court that morning. How Celestia would often fall asleep by the fire and Luna would have to place her in bed, all the while with a smile on her face. 

"Oh Lu-lu I miss you so much." She mumbled, barely above a whisper.

With that she began the final lowering of the sun, it disappeared over the curve of the planet. From behind her rose the moon, in all its pristine white glory. The crators that made up the shape of a mares head where especially visible tonight, it's a shame she would never be able to appreciate just how beautiful they really were. As Celestia turned to leave the balcony she failed to see the one out of place object in the intirety of the night sky, a small flash of light near the moon, to most it would have gone completely unnoticed, yet it signified the beginning of something much, much bigger.

Meridian bay, Mars. Roughly 1000 years prior.

The sands of Mars were famous for being one of the most inhospitable places known to mankind, not because of the lack of water or the sweltering heat. Not even because of the constant Cabal patrols that made going absolutely anywhere a gamble for your life. No, the sands of Mars were known this way because they are SO GOD DAMN ANNOYING!

"I swear to the Traveler if I have to pick ONE more fucking grain of sand out of my boots, I'm going to find the nearest legionary, and ram my foot so far up his-"

"QUIET! You'll get us spotted." Responed a synthetic voice, more within his head than anything else.

Mathew Ausland and his ghost had been stalking the perimeter of a small Cabal outpost for nearly two hours now and to say that the sand was getting under his skin would be an understatement both literally and figuratively.

"Alright guardian what's the plan, because the sun will be setting soon and I've heard that Mars is less than pleasant at night." The crackling voice of Cayde-6, the hunter vanguard, came through his helmet's transceiver.

"I don't know Cayde, their defences are thinner than usual but they're really dug in." Replied Mathew in a slightly wary tone.

It really didn't help that the briefing for this mission had consisted mostly of Cayde-6 and commander Zavala throwing shade at one another while Ikora Rey rolled her eyes. With little success, She attempted to explain the importance of the recovery of golden age artefacts to Mathew, who quite frankly, didn't really care. When the ramshackle meeting was over, he had been sent away so the vanguard could continue doing whatever it is that they normally do. There was just one problem, he hadn't any idea what the mission would entail, other than 'break into place and steal thing', so preparing was less than enjoyable. Luckily he had substituted for the lack of Intel by bringing a rather large amount of kit with him.

Although apparently the one thing he forgot was the thing that he was needing most right now, his sniper rifle. 

"Mathew, I'm detecting activity in the defences." Chirped his ghost.

Mathew grunted in response and aimed down the sights of his SUROS DIS-43 scout rifle. It had been a gift from one of his close friends at the tower, Banshee-44, after he returned from putting down a particularly rowdy Fallan archon. It had gotten him out of many a stiff situation. Although it didn't quite have the power to crack a centurions shield in one go, which would have helped rather a lot right now. Speaking of the Cabal, it looked like they were changing up their guard. This could be the moment he had been waiting for.

"The Cabal are changing up their legion, this could be my chance, should I take it?"

"If you think you have a chance of getting in there you go guardian." Mathew could hear the excitement in Cayde's voice. 

With that, he checked his surroundings one more time and then leaped over the sand dune and down towards the Cabal fortifications. They were so busy changing that they didn't notice him slide in to one of the side doors on the stucture. Mathew entered a dark passage, the only light was coming from a small lantern placed near the entrance, which snapped shut behind him. His ghost instinctively activated his light function to illuminate the surroundings.

"Can't see a damn thing..." He said, grasping a nearby wall for support. "Ghost can you take a scan of the room and upload it to my hud."

"Already done, the next door appears to be sealed though. Let me get that for you."

Ghost hovered over to a panel on the wall and began to tamper with the lock, now that his eyes where adjusting he could see more of the room around him, it didn't have the standard Cabal military décor, it seemed kind of bare. Just an entrance on one side and an exit on the other.

"I got it!" chirped ghost."The Cabal really need to work on better security software."

"I'd agree with you but I really don't hack them myself that often." Mathew and his ghost shared a laugh as they made their way through the slowly opening door.

They exited into a court yard bordered by high stone walls, the setting sun glistened off their surface, making them seem redder that the actually were. That's not what got Mathews attention though. 

"Cayde, you seeing this?" Asked Mathew

"Seeing is one thing, believing is another, guardian."

In the centre of the court was a large circular platform, it's surface was a deep purple colour and shimmered in the twilight glow. At four points in the ring, adjacent to one another, stood four curved pillars, facing inwards, as if pointing towards the middle of the circle.

"Ghost, any idea what this thing is." Asked Mathew

"I've got nothing." There was a pause. "The Travelers data banks have nothing either."

"From the looks of it the Cabal have been trying to access it." Mathew gestured towards the Cabal terminals set up around the structure.

Ghost whistled in response and moved to access one of the terminals.

"Looks like the Cabal haven't had much luck getting access." Mumbled ghost, talking to himself. "Every time they've made an attempt to get in they've been met with this symbol." 

Ghost flashed a strange symbol on Mathews hud, it was circular and split in two, with a smaller circle domination the top half of the odd shape.

"Any idea what it means?" asked Mathew.

"I am uncertain, it doesn't look like Cabal scripture, or any other races scripture for that matter."

"Could be the Vex, they have a habit of leaving strange symbols around." Said Cayde, his serious vanguard voice on.

"I don't think so, the terminal itself matches no common Vex systems, although the software, if you can even call it that, seems to slightly resemble some of the ancient Vex systems in the vault of glass." Replied ghost. "I could try to hack it myself, although I'm not sure to what end."

"Well I don't see any other options" said Cayde.

Mathew sighed. "Try not to get yourself killed please."

Ghost chirped in response and began work on the device, after a moment he stopped.

"That's odd, I'm reading multiple new systems opening up..."

Ghost was interrupted by a low whining as the pad began to glow. Particles of energy swirled upwards in the air, forming a spiral of blue light.

"That's bizarre, I received the same symbol, but it was green. It's almost as if it was waiting for us." He said, still slightly stunned. 

"This device has some similarity to Fallen warp pad technology, although I can't pinpoint the exact destination of delivery..."

"Cayde, what should we do now?" asked Mathew.

Cayde sighed.

"I'm sending reinforcements to your position, although they aren't going to arrive until morning, I suggest you explore the spooky space portal and see what you can find." 

"Got it."

Mathew stepped up towards the plate, he stood on the edge of the circle. "Do I just, like, step onto it?"

"I think so." Came the reply.

His feet touched the brushed alloy and he was met with an immediate feeling of weightlessness. He began to hover, and then rise, almost  as if there was no gravity holding him down in the first place. Then, without warning, a massive force pushed him upwards, propelling the screaming warrior into the clouds.

"Are you sure this is safe!" He yelled above the rushing wind

Mathew heard Cayde huff through his helmet.

"Stop yelling, I can hear you just fine. Plus you shouldn't even be worried about that guardian, but ghost?"

"Yes Cayde?" 

"Stand by for uh... Resurrection."

Mathew groaned, he hated dying. Some guardians didn't mind it at all, but Mathew made sure to treat every life like it was his last. He felt it was better that way, and took no part in the crucible. Much to Shaxx's dismay.

As he observed the increasingly smaller and smaller landscape below him, he saw just how beautiful Mars really was, he saw the massive city of Freehold in the distance and imagined what it must have looked like during the golden age. Countless ships coming in from places afar, delivering goods and dropping off passengers. He smiled, must have really been a site to see. Didn't change his opinion of sand though. Fuck sand.


 










> Chapter 1: The Long Far Gone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meridian bay, Mars. 1000 years prior to contact.

Mathew had been floating upwards for what seemed like an eternity, he couldn't see anything above him, and it was to dark to see anything below him. Nervousness had begun to creep in. Cayde had been insistent that the device had to be connected to something, but the amount of time spent ascending was beginning to get worrying.

"Ghost, how long have we been on this thing?"

"About five minutes Mathew." Ghost deadpanned.

Maybe an eternity was a bit of a stretch.

"Relax guardian, everything's fine. Stop being so par*fizz*iod*fizz*uardian, your brea*fizzzz*up on m*fizzzz*" Cayde's 'good natured' mentality speech was broken up by radio static.

"Cayde? CAYDE?!" Shouted Mathew 

"Something nearby is blocking the signal, I'll try and pinpoint the location." Ghost opened up into a ball of swirling light and began to scan for the location of the jammer. He pulsed every few seconds, sending out another barrage of radio waves.

Suddenly everything when dark, ghost stopped scanning and turned to Mathew.

"I found out what's jamming us." He said ominously

"Is it Fallen?"

"No, none of the signals match, it's radio disruption technology beyond the likes of any I've ever seen." Ghost turned on his light and began to examine interior of the chamber they were flying through.

The walls were of the same purple quality as the pad below, shimmering blue lights could be seen behind them, like tiny stars.

"What is this place?" Whispered Mathew 

"I am uncertain, it may be some sort of Vex structure, though the design of these walls are like no Vex architecture ever recorded."

There was a moment of quiet, just the sound the air rushing past them. All of a sudden Mathew felt their ascent slow. A large hatch slid open above them to reveal a huge chamber. They floated up through the hatch and hovered in place as the large door slid over beneath them, locking them in. The humming stopped and Mathew fell to the floor, just managing to stick the landing. He stood up and looked around.

The chamber they were in was enormous, countless blue and pink lights blinked and danced over the shiny purple surface of the walls. It had an almost hypnotic effect. A large holographic display activated on a wall nearby, as if begging to be touched. Mathew stared at it for a few seconds before turning to his ghost.

"I suppose I should probably take a look at that." Quipped ghost as he glided over to the holo display and began to poke at the computer systems. Mathew played with the hilt of the sword strapped to his thigh. It had been a nightmare to collect all that hadium just to forge the blade. The relic void crystals were no easier, but the end result was worth every second of work. His friends at the tower often asked why he named it 'Dark-drinker', if they had ever seen the blade in action they wouldn't have had to ask. A whistle from his ghost snapped him out of his stasis.

"Find anything yet?" Asked Mathew

"Yes but I can't make sense of it, all I can find are more of those peculiar symbols and a lot of mentions to some sort of...flood, I'm not sure, but this structure certainly wasn't built by any known party." There was a short moment of silence as ghost dug deeper into the terminals memory banks. "This information is older than anything I've ever encountered, it's pre golden age, this place must be over a thousand years old. I'll keep searching."

Mathew nodded to his synthetic partner and took another look around the large room they were in. Upon closer inspection he noticed that there was a large blue object sitting off to one side of the entrance passage. He pulled out his fusion rifle and made his way slowly towards it, flicking the safety off with a audible click. As he approached he began to get a better view of the thing in front of him. It was rather dusty but from what he could see it appeared to be some sort of vehicle.

It had a curved front end, almost like a claw, while the rear rose up to a flat... Roof? No, it was almost like a gun position. Now that he looked closer he could definitely see what looked like a retractable cannon. Around where he presumed the pilots seat would be was what looked like a turret swivel, although the weapon had been disconnected. The back of the craft was a similar story, a pair of small rudder like fins were visible on each side of a slowly rotating circular device, a reactor maybe? Whoever designed this thing probably should have put more effort into protecting it. It seemed as though creators of the vehicle had only really one intent with most of the design, and the more he looked at them the more things seemed to add up.

"Is this some sort of... Tank?" He whispered to no one in particular.

"Mathew, You might want to come and take a look at this."

He dragged himself away from inspecting the armoured craft and back across the room to his ghost, who was floating next to the now bright red console. 

"What is it?" Asked Mathew 

His ghost blinked for a moment, as if processing something, then continued.

"This terminal makes reference to a number of things regarding the Vex and the Traveler. It also helped me find out where we're located in regards to the Cabal outpost."

There was a brief hum before a large holographic image of an object appeared, floating in the center of the room. It was long and shaped almost like a large squid, although without the tentacles. There was a blinking light near the base of the wider 'head' part, he could only assume that was where they were located.

"What, is that?" 

Mathew was to stunned to even react. This thing was huge, larger than any single structure in the city, or anywhere else for that matter. Even the Vex citadels on Venus were nothing compared to this.

"That, is a Covenant CSO-Supercarrier, the largest starship ever recorded, and we are currently in the gravity lift bay, about three kilometres off the ground."

"Exactly how large are we talking, because I don't think we could have missed something that big if it was that close to the grou..."

"The ship is exactly 28.96 kilometres long, that's over fifteen miles! It's huge." Ghost interrupted

"But how didn't we notice it when we were on the ground, it would have taken up a huge portion of the sky."

"The reason the ship has gone unnoticed for so long is because it is currently imploying a cloaking technology not unlike the one we used to get aboard Oryx's Dreadnought. Although this one seems far more reliable..."

Mathew shuddered at the memory, he's glad he's never going back to that god forsaken grime pool of a ship, after he and his fireteam killed the Taken King the place really fell apart, the Cabal sky burners retreated and the hive were left to try and cut their losses, it didn't help that the Taken themselves lost most of their power when Oryx was destroyed, they decomposed over time and eventually faded back to the realm which they had crawled from in the first place. Now the ship drifts among the rings of Saturn in a decaying orbit, eventually it'll fall into the planets atmosphere and will be lost forever. Mathew snorted, all the better in his opinion.

"So your telling me that there was a fifteen mile long starship, just floating above Mars for god knows how long and not a single one of our warsats or even the Cabal fleet could detect it." Mathew was extremely confused, how could something so large go completely unnoticed.

"According to the flight patterns I accessed it's been in the system for longer than the Cabal themselves, although it spent a large amount of time in orbit around Europa. The ship's systems are like nothing I've ever seen, so advanced, yet so primitive at the same time. It's like a huge time capsule."

"You said that the ships computers mentioned something to do with the Vex, and the Traveler for that matter. Mind sharing? Or is it above my pay grade?" Mathew raised both his eyebrows under his helmet, not that his partner needed to see of course.

His ghost chuckled. "Well, fine. Since you asked so nicely. The system talks an awful lot about the Vex, not so much of their existence and current intentions, but of their creation.

Mathew felt himself lean in. Now this is interesting.

"From what I could gather the Vex are closely related to a group of ancient machines known as 'Sentinels'. I believe the Vex may have either spawned from them or were created by them originally. To what end I have no clue, but I can say that it means that if the Vex were created, then there must be a way to 'uncreate' them. As for the Traveler, when I was browsing the various symbols in the ships database I came across many images of the Traveler and objects like it, one that particularly caught my attention was of something called 'The Ark', I'm not sure what it means, I'll have to look into that later. On the subject of interesting symbols, I also found this..."

Ghost flashed an image of a shield like design on his hud. In the center there was an image of a star with two equine looking beings swirling around it. They appeared to have both a horn and wings, Mathew remembered from the various history and culture classes he had taken as part of his training that a horse with a horn was named a 'unicorn' while one with wings would be called a 'Pegasus'. What was even more interesting was that neither of these creatures were suppose to be real, just myths and legends. Little is known about what they originally signified, but very little study is put in to find out. Mathew thought for a moment, if these creatures had both wings and a horn then what would they be called. 'Pegacorn'? 'Unisus'? It didn't really matter, the question was, what were they doing in a place like this?

"That's... Odd" remarked Mathew "It seems in stark contrast to the rest of the symbols we've seen."

"That's what confused me as well, none of the other symbols even closely match this one, it's like it was created by a different party entirely. Anyway..."

The Image vanished. "I found a lot more links to this 'flood', I'm still unsure of what it is or whether it's something we should be concerned about." Ghost stopped for a moment. "I'll see what else there...CONTACT!"

Ghosts sudden volume change startled Mathew, but not enough to stop I'm from noticing his tracker going crazy with movement, he whipped around and drew his fusion rifle, directly facing his attacker. He wasn't ready for what he saw.

A huge behemoth of a machine was facing him, larger than a truck, and to make matters worse, it was airborne. It let out a huge metallic roar and charged a previously hidden weapon, Mathew barely had enough time to shade step out of its path before hundreds of razor sharp pink projectiles showered the adjacent wall. 

"What the fuck is this thing!" Yelled Mathew, while dodging another volley of spikes.

"I don't know, I've never seen a Vex model like this before, it must be new!" Ghost was yelling now as well, more out of panic than anything else.

Just as Mathew went to fire a fusion burst into the metal monstrosity, a transparent bubble shield sprung up, effectively immunising one half of its body.

"Oh come on that's just CHEATING!" Yelled Mathew.

"Looks like you're going to have to hit it from behind, if you can tether it in place with your bow you could attack its rear without it rotating."

"Why the hell didn't I think of that earlier, great job sparky!" 

"Have I ever told you just how much I hate that nickname."

"More times than I can remember bud."

Mathew made one last shade step, before leaping five metres into the air and readying his void bow. Just as he was about to lose an arrow, a high pitched screech took him well of guard.

"STOOOOOOOP!"

In his suprise Mathew launched the void projectile off target, it soared across the machines shield before impacting the wall behind it. The void energy danced for a few seconds then fizzled out. The machine froze in place, before speeding down a previously unseen corridor, round a bend and out of sight. Mathew landed in a heap of arms, legs and armour. His head was spinning. He groaned and sat up, taking in the peculiar site before him.

A small object floated just a few feet away from him, it's single pink eye glowing in the darkness. It spoke in a voice so soft that a mere breeze wold have rendered it unheard. 

"Lights, on." 

Instantly, the intire chamber was illuminated, Mathew stumbled backwards and landed against something solid. During the fight he had managed to make his way round the large machine and was now lying slumped against the menacing form of the alien 'tank' from earlier. His ghost was equally stunned. Mathew looked up at the small orb that was floating nearby. It seemed to be watching him with almost eerie fascination, as if he was the single strangest thing it had ever seen.

It began to move towards him, and he instinctively flinched away, it spoke again, it's voice like silk.

"There is no need to be afraid reclaimer, I mean you no harm."

Reclaimer? What did she mean by that, Mathew struggled to control his ragged breathing, it took some time for him to formulate a coherent response.

"Who. *breath* Are you?"

The orb brightened in colour for a moment, before fading back to its regular purple.

"My name is 031 Exuberant-Witness, I am... *sigh* I was the monitor of the Genesis installation."

She paused again, if only for a moment.

"Welcome reclaimer, welcome aboard the Long Far Gone."



















> Chapter 2: The way the world ends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponyville, Equestria. 1:43am 22/06/1000 AN 

Twilight Sparkle was confused, there were plenty of other emotions swirling round her head, like worry, anger, fatigue. But right now she was confused. When she and her new friends confronted Nightmare Moon at the old castle out in the Everfree she thought she would be doing Equestria a great service, but when the Princess arrived all she saw in her eyes was hate. What had she done wrong? She had found the elements of harmony and defeated a great foe, she and her friends had saved Equestria. Why was the Princess so upset.

Twilight had sent countless apology letters, all perfectly formatted, zero spelling mistakes; and yet not a single one was answered.
She was trying to write them from the heart, but that becomes rather tedious when you have no idea what your apologising for.
She sighed and looked down at the now sleeping form of Spike, all those letters must have really tired him out. Twilight put down her quill and parchment and picked up the astronomy book that was sitting on the desk next to her. She may have been confused as to why the Princess was angry with her but she was still thankful for her foresight, this library had books on almost everything she could imagine. Right now she was looking into astronomy, star patterns and the like. When she had been writing on the balcony earlier Twilight had noticed something odd. A small flash of light near the moon. She didn't know what it was or if something like it had been seen before, so she was studying the night sky to try and find out.

Maybe the Princess would answer some of her letters tomorrow. At least Nightmare Moon was gone, for good this time she hoped...


The Long Far Gone, Meridian bay, Mars. 1000 years prior.

Mathew and his ghost were currently having a small chat with 031 Exuberant-Witness, as she called herself. After everyone had calmed down and it was identified that no one was a Vex construct or trying to get the jump on anyone else, Mathew had lowered his guard significantly. The monitor apologised profoundly for the actions of what she called 'an enforcer unit', and said that it wasn't meant to attack them them way it did. A simple situational error, it had obviously thought they were some kind of intruders. Well technically they were intruders, but not the hostile kind. Just the lost kind. 

"So why exactly are you calling me 'reclaimer'." Asked Mathew, a stern look on under his helmet.

"Well your human aren't you?" Replied the monitor seemingly unaware of the guardians lack of knowledge.

Ghost huffed, this monitor wasn't making things easier. "Yes we are aware of that, but how does that relate to why your calling him a reclaimer."

The monitor blinked as she accessed a memory which hadn't been activated in a very long time.

"A reclaimer is a being that is capable of accessing Forerunner technology, in this case humans. It also applies to a being or a group of beings that will be the next inheritors of the mantle of responsibility. That is you reclaimer."

This was a lot to take in, what was the mantle of responsibility? Who were the Forerunners? So many questions. Mathew was about to ask when his ghost cut in front of him.

"Who were the Forerunners?"

The monitor recoiled as though she had been struck.

"Surely you remember them, your species had quite the connection with them before. Could it have vanished back when..."

The monitors voice trailed off into ineligible mumbles.

"So are you going to tell us or what?" Asked Mathew, quite frankly at the end of his tether.

"Um yes, of course reclaimer. The Forerunners were my creators as well as the architects of many large scale structures throughout the galaxy. Things like the Halo array and the Wandering star. Your species has always had a profound fascination with Forerunner artefacts, despite the knowledge you gained of many of their functions. I wish the same could be said about the previous owners of this vessel..."

Ghost thought about this, if the humans had a connection to these Forerunner beings then why hadn't he heard about them before. Just to make sure he wasn't missing anything, he accessed the Travelers massive databank. Nothing. He tried searching for the Halo array. Still nothing. What was the last one she had mentioned.

"I've seen reference to the Halo array in the ships files, but nothing on this 'Wandering star' you mentioned, what was it?" Asked ghost.

Exuberant-Witness looked extremely confused.

"What do you mean, I assumed you would know more about that one than any of the others. It's the one you formed the greatest bond with after all. You came up with a quirky little name as well... What was it? Oh yes, the Traveler."

Mathew sat up in suprise, these beings created the Traveler, one of the biggest mysteries of their time. The vanguard will most definitely want to hear about this.

"Wh-WHAT!" Stammered ghost.

"Yes, quite perplexing. It seems that humanity has lost quite a bit of knowledge regarding its previous exploits. You were lucky retain the same prowess for discovery the first time, unlike your four-legged allies. But I guess luck has to run out eventually."

Four-legged allies? How strange, it didn't matter though. There were bigger fish to fry.

"This must have all been lost in the collapse, I can't find any relevant data anywhere. There is however a large gap in the Traveller's  memory due to sustained damage. Maybe that's the reason." Said ghost.

"I imagine that may be something to do with it." Responded Exuberant. "Your foes down there seem like the type that could cause such damage. Though I have seen worse." 

Ghost sighed, he doesn't remember the great battle that eventually brought about his existence. No one does. 

Mathew spoke up. "What about this ship, did the Forerunners create this to."

Exuberant shifted her eye away from ghost and towards Mathew.

"No actually, while this ship contains many reverse engineered Forerunner designs, it wasn't originally created by them. The ship was built by the Covenant empire." She glanced at the confused looks both Mathew and his ghost were giving her. "It was a unified conglomerate of many races that viewed the Forerunners as some sort of... Deities. They were an old enemy of humanity. This ship was one of only three ever constructed. The 'Long Far Gone', the 'Long Night of Solace' and the 'Sublime Transcendence'. The Long Night of Solace was destroyed during the human-Covenant war. While The Sublime Transcendence was destroyed in a later battle involving one of our shield worlds."

Ghost searched the Traveler for information regarding the Covenant, and, much to his surprise, actually found a file. It was linked to the legend of Sanghelios, which was an old tail told to children about alien warriors that would descend from the sky to save them. Odd.

Mathew was pondering the information received, more so how it would need to be delivered to the vanguard as soon as possible, he tried to access his transceiver, only to remember the radio silence this ship brought about. He turned to Exuberant. There was just one more thing he wanted no know.

"What do you guys call yourselves, like, do you have a name."

The monitor flickered for a second.

"Ah yes, we are the protecters of the various Forerunner Facilities that span the galaxy, more commonly known as 'Sentinels'."

Mathew inhaled, so these machines created the Vex. He didn't want to ask the next question, but it had to be asked.

"What do you know about the the... Vex."

It happened in an instant, the normal pink glow of the monitors eye flickered red and she began to shake, what was even more disturbing was what she said.

"How easy it is to stay up late, when you don't know what's real and don't know what's fake..."

Then it was over, her eye returned to pink and the flickering stopped, she floated still for a moment before speaking.

"I'm sorry reclaimer, we know much about the Vex, but I won't share their history with you. That is..." She paused, processing her next words. "...to painful to recite."

Could machines even feel pain. It didn't matter, he obviously wasn't getting any information out of her. So he decided not to push.

Mathew turned to his ghost. "We need to get in contact with Cayde, have you found the source of the interference."

"No not yet, I think it might be something to do with..."

"Perhaps I could offer some insight." Interjected Exuberant. "The disruption of your radio is most likely due to the gravity lifts activity, many of my Sentinels reported errors in communication systems while they were maintaining the antigravity generators that allow it to function, if your intent is to contact your superiors, then relocating to another part of the ship is most likely the best course of action. The ships bridge perhaps?"

Mathew thought this over. If the monitor was right and the disruption was coming from the lift, then moving seemed like a perfectly acceptable solution. 

"Alright then, uh, lead the way." He said.

Ghost just grumbled to himself. He could have thought of that.

Exuberant turned to leave. "This way." She sang, in an oddly melodic voice.

They moved across the lift bay and towards a small door in the wall, it's blue lights shimmering as they approached. Exuberant closed the distance towards the door, the center began to rotate before the door split into thirds, two disappearing into the top of the frame while the other slid into the floor, revealing what looked like a slightly more mechanical lift. They entered and Mathew immediately slouched against the support bars.

The inside of the lift was a similar story, thousands of sparkling blue dots covered the walls, blinking from behind access panels and grates. One wall was dominated by a large sheet of reinforced glass, giving them a view into the elevator shaft. Exuberant hovered over to a holopanel and shot out a beam to punch in a floor. The elevator began to ascend at an alarming rate. 

"So how long have you been around here exactly, and why show yourself now." Questioned Mathew.

"This ship, as well as the remaining Sentinel force, has been present in the Sol system for approximately five hundred years. Though we couldn't risk revealing ourselves to you in fear of how you may react."

That... Actually made more sense than Mathew wanted it too. Just one more reason to trust the floating purple eyeball. Though he couldn't shake the odd feeling of uncertainty she gave off, almost like that strange character he had met on Venus all that time ago. She never did show up again, probably never intended to. Mathew still had the rifle she gave him, it was in the vault at the tower, next to his old Khvostov 7G. Man that thing needed an upgrade, maybe with a few extra firing modes...

He was snapped off his tangent by the sound of the elevator slowing down, it came to a gentle stop if front of a door much similar to the one downstairs. The door opened up into a dark passageway with shining silver walls, the blue sparks of light reflecting off their surface. What was most fascinating was the texture of the floor, which shimmered beautifully. Waves of energy pulsed along its surface, almost forming the shapes of arrows. Exuberant spoke up. 

"This plasma based propulsion system is a common feature throughout the ships interior, it must have served to allow the Covenant quicker passage around the various sections of the carrier. Of course it doesn't get much use now, none of us have feet." She let out a small giggle. Mathew stepped onto the floor and began to move forwards, at least there wasn't going to be much walking involved.

"So it's a kind of futuristic travelator, seems kinda lazy if you ask me." Quipped ghost.

"Well I guess even the Covenant had their little desires." Laughed Exuberant. 

"Hang on a minute, bud. I don't see you trudging around a fifteen mile starship, in fact, I'm pretty sure it was me that walked through the fucking desert just to get to that outpost in the first place."

"It's not my fault you didn't link to the transmat array in time."

"That's because you were too busy doing fucking loopty-loops with the jump ship for me to lock a signal, you know how much the Cabal love to block those things."

They all shared a laugh at ghosts antics, he did love a good prank. The thought of his jump ship reminded him of something he had been meaning to ask.

"Exuberant, would it be possible for us to land our ship anywhere on board, the Cabal tend to ambush jump ships while they're in orbit." 

Exuberant let out a small squee. "Of course reclaimer, it would be my pleasure. Here's a set of coordinates for one of the hangers." 

"Got it." Said ghost "Directing the ship now."

Mathew could see a door coming into view in the distance, that must be the bridge. 

"It appears we have arrived at our destination reclaimer, prepare to disembark."

They slowed to a crawl before Mathew stepped off the ride and onto a stationary platform. Exuberant flew over his shoulder and began to zap the controls next to the door.

"Now I must warn you, the bridge can sometimes get a little...busy. Not that your in any danger of course, but just a forewarning."

There was a ping before the entrance slipped open, Mathew entered after Exuberant. Astounding doesn't even describe what he saw.

The bridge was huge, hundreds of panels and screens covering the walls, flashing different colours while rows of text and symbols raced across them. Many Sentinels, of all different varieties, flew about. All performing different and probably confusing tasks. The ceiling was dominated by a large holographic projection of Mars, many red and yellow dots blinked around it, most likely identifying Cabal or Fallen fleet movements. The wall adjacent to the entrance was a tall window, lined with flight consoles. The now empty chairs glistened, the ambiant light from the hologram bouncing off their surface. Through the window, dark stretches of Martian sand could be seen as well as a single Cabal battle cruiser, slinking across the night sky. Ghost was the first to comment. 

"Wow, this place is incredible, it's like a palace." 

"Yes the Covenant certainly were extravagant when it came to interior decorating, even if practicality was occasionally lost."

Over in the far corner of the room, something purple caught Mathews attention, that couldn't be what he thought it was, could it..?

"Is that a servitor." He gestured to the dark sphere, resting within a stand.

"Is that what that device is called, we found it buried in the rubble on Phobos, it seemed undamaged though dormant, almost in a sleep state. We had some of its more... Malicious, programming removed, though it seemed to display a knack for managing some of the flight controls. We hooked it up there a while ago. It hasn't woken up yet."

"It's a Fallen machine, designed to channel ether to their troops or aid with the hacking of computer systems in the field. They're also used as pilots on board Fallen ketches." Said Mathew.

His mind wandered back to his old pal, the late Sepiks Prime. He had had to destroy that thing again after the SIVA outbreak, it was tougher than previously, but they were victorious regardless. If the monitor had wiped it's memory then it could serve as a rather useful tool, the vanguard often considered the acquisition of servitors more than a boon that anything else, in most cases.

Ghost spoke up. "We should probably try and contact the tower, they'll want to hear about all this."

"Yes, that is the reason we came up here after all." Chirped Exuberant

Mathew activated his helmets transponder and was relieved to find it functional. Why hadn't he been contacted already? He opened a secure channel.

"This is guardian Mathew Ausland, reporting in. Cayde, how's things back at the nest."

Silence. 

"I repeat, this is guardian Mathew Ausland, please respond." 

Nothing, there was faint background noise coming through, though Mathew had trouble hearing exactly what it was.

"Ghost, can you increase the volume on the speakers."

Ghost didn't say anything as the volume increased. Mathew could just about here it, the noises were high pitched, but not artificial, it was almost as if they were... Screams?

"Ghost, get me a direct line to Cayde's transceiver, we need to know what's going on." Said Mathew, the panic rising in his voice.

Ghost split into a ball of pure light as he began to search for Cayde's signal, after a short moment, he found it.

"I got it, patching you through."

Mathew nodded and began to listen intently, static filled his helmet, but the signal was there. 

"*static*ardian, is th*static*you." The static began to clear. The noise was deafening now, it sounded like an entire stadium of people. Ghost immediately decreased the volume.

"Cayde can you hear me!" Shouted Mathew.

"Guardian, you have to listen to me very carefully. Something is draining the *cough* Travelers light."

Mathew gasped, this wasn't good. It's not the first time this had happened either. If the light from the Traveler was drained then the guardians that protected the city would fall, as they were only sustained through the light. Usually the hive were responsible for this kind of thing, so if he could find the ritual site then... 

"What's draining it! Give me the coordinates!"

Cayde sounded raspy. "Kid you don't understand, this is a rate of drain we've never seen before. This is no *cough* Hive ritual, all of the light is being directed far out of the system. The only way to stop it would be to cut it off *cough* at the source."

"Ghost track the lights current trajectory." 

Ghost began to to calculate when Exuberant cut him off.

"Here, I'm detecting a large amount of arcane energy leaving the system. Some of it has already arrived at the source."

The holograph of Mars was replaced by that of the Milky Way, a triangular vector showed the destination of the light. It was well outside the galactic rim, on the very edge of deep space. Even with the fastest of jump ship that journey would take hundreds of years. Mathew couldn't believe it. This couldn't be happening. There had to be a way, there was always a way...

Cayde's voice was extremely weak now, almost a whisper. "If it's any consolation Mathew, you were one of the finest guardians I've ever had the honour of working with. Maybe if we meet in the afterlife I'll buy you a drink, though I wouldn't count on it." 

Mathew felt his heard drop. "Likewise Cayde. Likewise."

He slumped against a control panel. So this was it eh. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang or a supernova, but with more of the noise of a vacuum cleaner sucking up a penny. As if on cue he felt the deck rumble, many of the Sentinels had stopped their functions and were gazing out at the night sky above. A huge plum of swirling colour, resembling a large interstellar rainbow was speeding out of the system. He checked his star map and was left unsurprised.

"That was earth, the Traveler it... The strain was too much." Whispered ghost.

Mathew felt his own light weaken, like a spent candle. He thought back to the tower, his friends and allies. His trusty fireteam: 

Maria, the steadfast Titan, the one who would take anything as a challange, yet deep down only cared for her friends. 

Lockjaw-11, his Hunter partner in crime, though he resented crime as much as he resented having to fight. Always wanting to show a little kindness.

Triss, the Warlock that spent more time trying to be creative, rather than ramming knowledge down her neck, she would give up hours of her time just to see the citizens of the city happy.

Kalie, the Titan who only really cared about making her friends smile, even if she had to break an archons neck to do it.

And finally Sam, the friendly neighbourhood bookworm Warlock, he spent more time in the library than Mathew did avoiding it. Always had a plan for every situation. Even if they occasionally failed.

He was going to miss them, all of them. As his light faded so did he, his body twinkled into dust. Leaving a faint residue. Ghost knew that his own light would soon follow, he had barely any power as is, but he wasn't giving up. Ghost turned to Exuberant.

"How long would it take to reach the location of the light, is it a trip this ship can make." He purred

"The travel time would be around a thousand years, give or take an hour. This ship is perfectly capable of making the trip as is."

"Will you take us there?"

Exuberant sighed.

"Your guardian is a reclaimer, the last reclaimer. It would go against everything I stand for not to."

Ghost just dimmed slightly. His voice trailing into static.

"T-thank y-you." 

That was all he got out before he deactivated. The small shell hit the deck of the bridge and flickered off. Exuberant stared at him, the small frame looking like nothing more than a mismatched trinket. Someone was going to be held responsible for this, she would see to that.

Exuberant took control of the ships thrusters and propelled it away from the Martian surface, the ships cloak deactivated, revealing its massive white form, carving through space. They passed by a stunned Cabal battle group as the slip-space drives activated. A portal opened at the ships bow and it journeyed through. Leaving a sea of old memories in its wake.











 
























> Chapter 3: The loon on the moon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Graveyard of stars, Equis's moon. 4:27pm Equestria time 21/06/1000 AN 

Luna just wanted to go home. She didn't know that vile creature would seize her yet again, she didn't know the elements of harmony had been found. She didn't know she would be banished, for another thousand years. She had stopped crying long ago. Crying solved nothing. It would only make her think about the past. Instead of... What? The future? Her thousand year banishment? No, but she couldn't stop these thoughts. She only wished to return home. Back to the castle, where her sister would be waiting. Celestia. Luna's heart ached for her. Not that her actions showed it. She resented herself for her foalish behaviour. How could she be so selfish, getting jealous over such petty things, she had a duty and she threw it away in the name of emotional persuits that benefited nopony, not even herself. Tia probably wouldn't even want to see her, after what she did. 

Her lamenting was interrupted by a loud whoosh. Luna immediately took a defensive stance, years on the battlefield had taught her to expect anything. Almost anything. There's just some things that one couldn't ever expect to see. An enormous space faring whale exiting a portal is one of those things, yet here it was.

"By the sun."

Luna fell on her rump and took in the scene before her, it's white skin glistened in the evening sunlight, casting a great shadow over the lunar surface. Along grooves in its side countless shining stars could be seen, making it look one with the night sky itself. Luna could see lettering emblazoned on the side of its head, she could just about read what it said.

'Long Far Gone'

Long Far Gone, UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN. UNKNOWN/UNKNOWN/4367

The Long Far Gone's bridge was quiet, Exuberant-Witness had wanted it that way. It had been in a state much similar to this for the past thousand years, she didn't know why. She just felt that she should let them rest, let him rest. The reclaimers AI had woken up months ago, the moment they started getting traces of arcana. That's what it was called was it not. At least that's what the forerunners had named the energy that coursed through the Wandering star. She found it shameful, to be created by beings who had to steal to get what they wanted. That energy didn't belong to the forerunners, it didn't belong to the humans either. No it only truly belonged to one type of host. Pity they were all gone, she had always wanted to meet an alicorn. 

"Exuberant." Said ghost, dragging her out of her thoughts.

"Yes sorry, I was just thinking."

"Anything I should be concerned about."

"No ghost, it's not relevant."

Not yet at least. They were floating in front of the spot where Mathew had vanished, all those years ago. The visible resedue had long since past, but ghost knew where to look. He began to pulse as light erupted from his frame. It danced in the air, swirling around him like like a cloud of mist. He channeled his light into a resurrection. Preparing to bring Mathew back. All of a sudden ghost snapped shut, and a white light blinded both of them. 

There, in the position he was in a thousand years prior, lay Mathew. Ghost approached.

"Guardian, eyes up guardian."

Mathews raised his head to get a better look at what was making the sounds in front of him. To his surprise it was his ghost, did he make it to the afterlife as well, wait why was Exuberant with him. She didn't die, did she. How were they still on the bridge. Unless...

"MATHEW"

Ghosts volume started him.

"Ugh, nice wake up call dude. I think you may have overdone it." 

"Yes well, answer the first time then so I don't have to yell." Replied ghost.

"Well excuse me for being dead for... How long was I out."

Exuberant spoke up. "You've been in stasis for exactly one thousand years, two days and sixteen and a half hours."

Mathew was instantly wide awake, one thousand years! That made home the oldest living human by a long shot. Then he remembered what had happened. He could very well be the last living human. Yet how was his ghost able to resurrect him. The Traveler was destroyed.

"Wait, how am I even alive. I thought the Traveler lost all its light." 

"It did. Just before I shut down I had Exuberant lock the location of the light and follow it. We just arrived." Said ghost

Mathew stepped up and made his way over to the window on the bridge. He could see they were in floating over a moon of sorts, not unlike earth's actually. There was a lush green planet in the distance, the last of a star's rays were just disappearing over the horizon. 

"There's a lot of things going on in this system I don't quite understand, instead of running a standard heliocentric model, like most star systems, it appears to have a geocentric one." Exuberant gestured towards the hologram that was now displayed over the bridge. It showed a planet at the center with both the local star and the planets moon rotating around it. The star was only slightly bigger than the moon. Ghost was tremendously puzzled.

"How can a star of that size even support a fusion reaction, it should have collapsed years ago."

"I can't define." Said Exuberant. "It could be due to Forerunner intervention, though this system is well outside of their known operating grounds. I'll look into it."

"If you guys are done talking about orbital patterns could someone please tell me where my weapons are." 

While guardians were often placed on guard within the city, it was always advised to keep your firearms on you at all times. Just in case. Considering what had happened to earth Mathew wasn't looking forward to meeting the cause of such destruction, and his lack of weapons wasn't helping.

"Ah, your armaments. I placed them in hanger L2, next to your ship. I can retrieve them for you if you'd like, or we could journey down there ourselves. I'm sure the walk would do you some good reclaimer." 

Mathew nodded, this room was getting stuffy anyway. He began to walk towards the door when Exuberant stopped him. 

"There is no need, we can simply use the ships teleportation grid to get there." She said

"Wasn't I suppost to get a walk." Replied Mathew 

Exuberant brightened. "I'm sure the hanger will be far enough."

With that she flicked a nearby switch and a small pad on the floor began to glow. It hummed and a swirling blue portal arose. Dancing in the air. Exuberant glided forwards until she was right in front of the rift, almost touching. Mathew looked hesitant. 

"Come on reclaimer, surely you've been through a slip space portal before."

Mathew had been through portals before. Vex portals. It's not something to take lightly, one wrong move and you could be launched years forwards or backwards in time, maybe even into different realities entirely. Lord Shaxx had faced heavy criticism for his use of the Vex portals on a crucible arena out in the Martian oasis. Many believed that the risk of using these portals was way to great to be considered a sport. Shaxx had denied all claims, saying that the portals had been rigorously tested for 'fluctuations' and that none of the gateways ever had a chance of being volatile. Just another reason to avoid the crucible in Mathews opinion, not that it mattered now. Needless to say this was well out of his comfort zone. 

"I don't know." He said sceptically. "Are you sure this is safe?"

"Of course reclaimer. My units and I have been using this system since we implimented it nearly two thousand years ago, it's never had any errors, why should it now."

She made a good point, it was highly unlikely that there would be any danger, even if the portal did look quite ominous. Mathew looked to his ghost. 

"After you..."

Ghost made a short snark and flew through the portal, disappearing from sight. Mathew stepped forwards, facing the portals rim. 

"Here goes nothing." He said, to no one in particular.

He stepped though and instantly felt a large force, like he was being pushed from behind, and then it was over. Mathew was standing in a dark room, alone. He could see a light round a bend. His ghost had probably gone that way. He walked along the dimly lit hall and round the corner. The bridge was big but, this. This was on a whole new level.

Before him stood hanger L2, in all its glory. This place was massive. You could easily fit the intire city cathedral in here and still have room to fly a Zeppelin around. The hangar was filled with Sentinels milling about, performing a variety of tasks. Some were cleaning the plethora of different aircraft and vehicles. Shining and polishing, replacing parts, you name it. Others were transporting crates or mechanisms around the large space. He spotted an enforcer unit amid the rabble. Shifting a long slender craft with its large rear claws. Several more sizeable ships were suspended from locks on the ceiling, their curved purple forms reflecting the light of the bustle below. Mathew scanned the room for his jump ship, after a moment he spotted the familiar orange sight of his vanguard class ship, rather conspicuously named 'Fatal vision'.

Another one of his older possessions, the ship had been with him ever since he returned from the black garden after destroying the Vex heart. He had been offered many things: weapons, glimmer, rare materials. He'd only really asked for a ship because his old Arcadia was falling apart, otherwise he would have turned down most of the stuff. He'd only asked for something simple, a ship to get him here and there, and that was good at fending off Fallen pirates. What he got instead was a state of the art assault fighter that was equipped with pretty much every system available, as well as more cup holders than he could shake a stick at. He had tried to turn down the most certainly outrageously pricy jumper, but Amanda, the tower shipwright, had said that almost everyone in the city had donated a bit of what little they had to have it build for him. He could see that they really wanted to show there appreciation, and it would be ungrateful to turn it down. So he took it, and here it is a thousand years in the future. Looking just as fine as the day it was constructed. He ran across the hanger to get there, brushing close with a few Sentinels. They didn't seem to mind. He spotted his ghost up ahead, tampering with a panel on the ships side.

"Took you long enough." He said on Mathews approach. "I thought you'd gotten lost."

"Wouldn't be the first time" he replied. "Where's my stuff." 

"It's over there, in that crate." 

Mathew nodded, he headed round the back of the ship and unlocked the purple weapons case that had been placed there. Inside, laid neatly, was his scout rifle and his fusion rifle. His sword was placed inside a smaller capsule sitting next to one of the strange energy batteries he had been seeing around. He strapped it to his belt before picking up his other weapons and heading back round the front of the ship, where his ghost was just finishing up his inspection.

"Well it certainly seems like they've been taking good care of her." Said Mathew 

"Yes well, they have been keeping the Long Far Gone running for an extremely long time, I imagine their rather good at repairs by this point." 

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Exuberant-Witness, who was humming a rather merry number as she flew down from a shipping crate above them. 

"Ah there you are reclaimer, I was just looking for you."

"Yeah, where were you. You were behind me, but you never came through the portal." Asked Mathew 

"I became sidetracked. The ship was picking up some rather perplexing energy readings on the lunar surface, similar to the markings that you give off actually. I was wondering if you would be able to investigate." 

"It could be a base of sorts, you never know. Maybe another guardian made it." Proposed ghost.

That was unlikely, but it was worth a look none the less.

"A couple of interesting things you may want to know about the planets moon. It does in fact have an atmosphere, extremely similar to your home planet might I add. You should be able to breath down there just fine reclaimer. The gravity also fluctuates heavily. Meaning that your weight won't remain constant. I recommend observing caution."

Huh, the more you know.

"You know you can call me Mathew right, that is my name. It's a hell of a lot easier to say than reclaimer." 

"Yes of course, apologies reclaim... Um. Apologies Mathew. It's just my programming, the forerunners were often strange about that sort of thing. I didn't mean to cause offence."

"It's fine." Mathew stuck a thumb at his ghost. "It took him ages to stop calling me 'guardian'."

Ghost huffed, it wasn't that long.

Mathew climbed up on top of his ship and popped open the pilots seat, as he slipped down inside he waved to Exuberant. 

"Shouldn't be long." He said

The engines started up. Mathew pulled his hand through the hatch and it sealed above him, good to be back. He put his hand on the throttle and pulled, the ship began to slowly rise before rotating and blasting forwards out of the shielded bay doors. Exuberant just watched in awe. What an interesting character.

Graveyard of stars, Equis's moon. 5:17 Equestria time, 21/06/1000 AN

Princess Luna had been gazing at the large object dominating the skyline for quite some time now. She had long since come to the conclusion that it wasn't alive, multiple life seeking spells held testimony to that. So that meant it had to be artificial, other than that she had made little progress in identifiying it's nature. It could be a city of sorts, maybe a project of her sisters, though that seemed unlikely. While she hadn't been in Equestria for an exceedingly long time she had been there long enough to know that the technology of pony kind hadn't advanced anywhere near this level. That meant that it had had to be somepony else's work. The Griffins? No, they would have used this to start a war the minute it was ready, yet it had remained peaceful for nearly an hour now. Most of the evidence pointed to one thing. Aliens.

Luna didn't want to believe it, but it all made perfect sense. Maybe there were nice, she hoped so. She couldn't imagine the equestrian army squaring off to something as large as this, at least not without the elements. Her thoughts were interrupted by a huge crack as the sound barrier was broken. She instantly hid behind the closest cover, which just so happened to be the large moon rock she had been resting on, the only outstanding object for miles.

Mathew's P.O.V

Mathew loved breaking the sound barrier, the rush of air, the adrenaline flowing through his veins. It was almost addictive. As much as he wanted to fly his ship around for hours, Mathew had a signal to find. He surveyed the landscape below him, and was surprised by the lack of... Well, anything. It was bare as far as the eye could see.

"The signals down there." Said his ghost, who was hovering over his shoulder in the cockpit.

A flight plan appeared on the ships hud, it lead to a small hill with a stand alone rock resting perfectly on top. He could have sworn he saw a flash of blue move for cover behind it, it was probably just his eyes playing tricks on him. Mathew brought the ship into a bank and flew down to the base of incline. It's twin engines roared, kicking up dust and sediment as the landing gear extended. He shut down the thrusters and unlocked the pressure seal on the hatch. Mathew pulled himself out of the pilots seat and jumped onto he surface. Dust burst up as he landed, making it look a lot more dramatic than it actually was. There was nothing here.

"The signature's coming from behind that boulder, there's also a heat source." Said ghost. Almost warning him.

Mathew took a few strides and began to ascend the small hill. Small stones crumbled beneath him as he climbed. As he reached to top he noticed the lack of anything significant, just a flat hill a rock and a blue tuft of fur sticking out from behind it... Wait, that's not really a moon thing. A light blue appendage shot out and pulled it back in. Mathew began to approach when a small stone sitting nearby was surrounded by a light blue glow. It launched off the ground and towards his head. He caught it with an outstretched arm. There wasn't anything unique about it, just a moon rock in a sea of other moon rocks. He dropped it and moved again towards his target. He could make out muffled whispering from behind it.

"Please don't see me, please don't see me..."

Mathew peered round the back of the rock and saw something that made his heart melt. A small blue equine was huddled at the stones base, obvious tear streaks could be seen running down its fur. It's Aqua mane was visibly matted. It instantly looked up at him, it's large blue eyes meeting his, although his visor covered them. 

"Are you going to kill me..." She said in a weak voice, her voice was way to soft to be male.

Mathew convulsed, why on earth would she think that. Then it all made sense. She must have seen the Long Far Gone jump in, it was huge in the sky. She must have heard the sonic boom of his ship breaking the atmosphere, and the way he jumped out of his ship. She was probably terrified. 

"It's okay little one, I won't hurt you... Are you lost." Asked Mathew

She hid behind her mane, blocking her face. Mathew was getting no where. So he did something he hadn't done for over a thousand years. He took off his helmet. He placed it on the ground next to her causing her to look up in surprise. Their eyes met once again, though this time she could see could see Mathews own brown eyes staring back. He pushed his hand through his short brown hair and smiled, trying to look as non threatening as possible. 

"See, I'm not that scary. Do you have a home?" 

Slowly, she lifted a hoof and gestured off towards the horizon. She was pointing towards the planet. She was lost on the moon.

"Do you have a name?" He asked 

"It's Prin-... Luna, just Luna. She stammered.

"It's nice to meet you Luna, my name's Mathew Ausland." He stuck out his hand, she hesitantly shook it. "How did you get stuck on the moon?" 

"I was banished here by my sister, I attempted to overthrow her, I didn't realise what I had until it was to late." Came a weak response

"How long have you been up here?" 

"A thousand years..."

Mathew was shocked. How could one being stay on the moon for a thousand years. Without food, or anyone to talk to. He thought for a moment, he couldn't just fly her home couldn't he. It would probably brake several vanguard policies (not that it mattered anyway), as well, no doubt, many of the laws of this world. Mathew looked down at the snivelling mess of a creature slumped at his feet, and instantly, didn't give a damn. 

"Would you like a lift back." He asked casually.

Her eyes lit up immediately. 

"You would do that for me? Even after I tried to hurt you?"

She had tried to hurt him? Ah, the stone. I wouldn't have done much damage anyway.

"No harm done, you were just scared. I couldn't possibly judge you for that."

Mathew felt a force plow him in the stomach, knocking the wind out him. He traveled backwards before landing in a heap, a pair of azure hooves wrapped around his chest.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

Mathew propped himself up with his elbow and smiled at the small equine embracing his midsection. 

"I think we should probably wait until dawn, I don't want to wake anyone up down there. We could go back aboard the Long Far Gone, I'm sure Exuberant would love to meet you." He said

"Who's Exuberant?"

"A friend."

With that, Mathew pulled himself up, shaking his new companion off. She stood roughly at chest height, gazing up at him. He picked up his helmet and brushed the dust of it, before slipping it back on his head. They journeyed down the slope and towards the jump ship. Whatever happened tomorrow, it was sure as hell gonna be interesting.











 















> Chapter 4: Fit for a princess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot, Equestria. 5:14am 22/06/1000 AN

On the west wing balcony of Canterlot castle sat Princess Celestia. She had just finished raising the sun, starting a new day for all her little ponies in the land below. They would all be waking up to a calm morning, little responsibility, smiles on their faces. This was, however, not the case for Celestia. She wore a neutral expression, not unlike the one she used at day court. Only it lacked the motherly smile she had practiced for so long. Celestia didn't feel like smiling, she didn't feel like raising the sun. She didn't feel like doing anything, but these things had to be done. She was a princess, and she had to act like one.

Twilight had stopped sending apology letters somewhere around midnight. Celestia had presumed she had fallen asleep, but then the letters had started up again, this time they were about a strange star near the moon. Maybe Luna was coming ho... No! Don't think these thoughts. You'll only be disappointed when nothing comes of it. Her internal war was intrupted by the arrival of one of her guards.

"Princess, shall I inform the nobles that day court is cancelled." He said 

"No need, I will be attending this morning." Came the reply.

"As you wish, your majesty."

Celestia hated that, why couldn't her ponies just call her by her real name. Why must they use these trivial titles. She knew why, but it hurt all the same. They were afraid. Her little ponies were afraid of her, and there was nothing she could do about it. She wasn't Celestia, general lazy mare and lover of baked goods. She was Princess Celestia, diarch of the sun. Ruler of Equestria. That's all she'd ever be to them. That's all she'd ever be to anypony. As Celestia dragged her golden plated hoof shoes to day court, along the maze of expertly painted hallways, she realised just how lonely she actually was.

Long Far Gone, Equestria. In orbit. 5:29am Equestria time, 22/06/1000 AN

Mathew was currently sitting in hangar L2, he was sitting on an odd bike looking thing, resting his eyes. He wasn't really resting though. He was waiting. 

"57, 58,59,60! Alright here I come!" 

How did Mathew's life come to this, playing hide and seek with a pony princess. It didn't help that the we bugger could teleport. Damn it, he's suppost to be a hunter, finding things was in the job title. How was she so damn good at hiding. He scanned the hanger for any sign of his temporary house guest. 

She had settled in nicely actually, the expected 'who are you and where do you come from' conversation occurred hours ago. Mathew had told her about earth, about Venus and even a bit about Mars. He had told her stories of his work as a guardian, how he fought to keep his friends in the city safe. He had introduced her to his hearty crew of Sentinels, Exuberant was intrigued by the workings of her horn and wings, as was his ghost. They had conversed for nearly an hour. Then came the inevitable.

"Why are you here?"

The words had caught in Mathews throat, why was he here. He was here because he had nowhere left to go, because his home had been destroyed. His home, his friends. Now that the adrenaline of his new adventure had worn off, he came to the sudden and shocking realisation that he was, in fact, the last of his kind. Humanity, an endangered species of intelligent primates, a race that were responsible for some of the greatest achievements in the galaxy. Had finally met their end. 

He had cried there. A guardian, a warrior who had killed thousands of foes in the name of his races survival, cried. He was brought into an embrace by the only other creature in the universe that could possibly understand his pain. Princess Luna knew what he was going through. She had been through it herself, knowing that she wouldn't see any of her friends ever again. Though never on this scale. They stayed like that for a long while, as Mathew cried away a lifetime of bottled up emotions. When he was done Luna had suggested that they do something different to take his mind off what had happened, and that lead to what he was currently doing... Badly.

"Where are you?" Mathew teased in an ominous tone. 

He heard a childish giggle coming from a row of crates to his left. Rushing over, he looked behind he crates to see... Nothing. Did she get away? She didn't teleport, he would have heard, so where did she go? A snark from behind made Mathew whip around. Luna was standing there, a very smug expression plastered on her face. 

"Fooled by a simple voice projection spell, one would almost call that sloppy." 

Mathew laughed. "That's not the first time in my life I've been called that, I assure you."

"How old are you, exactly?"

Mathew thought for a moment, how old was he? He had been seventeen when he had died originally, but it's often said that a gurdians age is well beyond their physical appearance. He totalled up some numbers.

"I think I'm around 1500 years old by this point, could be more though. I'm not really sure how long I was dead the first time. What about you?" He asked.

"My sister and I are roughly 5000 years of age, though that too could fluctuate." 

Wow, 5000 years old. He hadn't even existed for half of that time, and he'd been dead for the majority of it.

"As much as I'm enjoying our little escapade, I think it may be time for you to go home, not that I haven't liked your company." Said Mathew.

Luna nodded. "Yes this has been enjoyable, we should do it again sometime."

Mathew looked around, there was plenty of transport here, and his ghost had taken the few micro seconds to learn all the flight controls for every single one of them while they were having their little chat. He looked at Luna.

"I'm going to be quite frank with you, my ships not going to be able to take down both of us and all the equipment Exuberant wants to transport down there." He said

Luna returned his look with a questioning expression.

"Is there any ship in particular you'd like to try?"

Luna was ecstatic, she was getting to choose a spaceship. A spaceship! She scanned the room before her eyes fell on a vehicle near the rear wall. It was large, sleek and a deep purple colour. It's tail was forked and elegant, like a fish. 

"Could we take that one?" She asked

Mathew followed her gaze before noticing the craft in question. He turned to his ghost, who had materialised by his side. 

"That's a Type-56 Lich. According to the ships database, the Covenant used them to transport large amounts of troops and weapons to a desired location, extremely quickly. I have all of the necessary flight controls here." He said "I'll inform Exuberant of our departure." 

Ghost blinked as he communicated with the monitor.

"She says she wants some of her Sentinels to come down with us, for research and security purposes. She also wants to stock the ship with some weapons and equipment to study the natural 'arcana' on the surface." 

"What sort of Sentinals, because I don't want one of those enforcer things scaring off the local populace." Replied Mathew.

"Just some constructors and one or two aggressors, they'll be on safe mode so no one is hurt."

Mathew didn't see the problem with that, in fact they might make things slightly easier. As long as they weren't a harm to anyone. 

"Okay princess, let's get you home." He said

"You can just call me Luna thanks." Said his pony companion.

Mathew lowered into a bow. "As you wish... Your majes... GAH!" 

He was cut off by a swift punch to the gut, sending him reeling. Both Luna and his ghost burst into a fit of giggles. 

"Haha very funny you two, let's get going." Mathew picked himself up and began to walk towards the Lich, his troupe close behind. The Sentinels were just finishing stocking the ship. Mathew stepped up the ramp and into the ground floor. There were weapon cases everywhere, scattered around the room. Some of them looked like they were designed to level buildings. There was a few ground based vehicles as well, including a small troop transport.

"Isn't this a bit excessive, its not like we're dropping into a war zone." 

Mathew didn't really pay much attention to his ghost as he began to browse the selection of guns and launchers that were present. He pulled out a short purple weapon with a set of glowing crystals on top, their strange pink glow radiating across his visor.

"Ghost, have you got anything on this." He asked.

"That's a Type-33 Needler, a kinetic weapon created by the Covenant, those crystals are the projectiles." Ghost blinked as he read more of the information on the database. "The crystals are made of a substance called blamite, which is found on one of the massive neutral satellites of the the planet Sanghelios, named Suban. They seem to feature aggressive tracking behaviour, able to not only identify, but actively pursue soft targets. How they do this remains unknown. The crystals are violent, and will detonate when a critical mass is reached."

"I take it you just read all of that straight off of the computer then." Sneered Mathew.

"Well I... Um... Yes I kinda did. It answered the question though didn't it?"

"And then some bud."

Their banter was interrupted by Luna fiddling with a small object across the room from them.

"What is this device, is it some sort of doorstop." She held out the silver cylinder in her telekinesis. Ghost examined it closely. 

"It says here that it's a variant of the Type-1 Energy sword, namely the 'Vorpal Talon'."

Luna snorted, what a pathetic weapon.

"This is no sword, it doesn't even have a blade. What are you suppose to do, hit ponies with it."

Ghost regarded the ships memory.

"It says to activate it, point the spiked end away from you an squeeze the duel triggers on the hilt."

Luna looked at the hilt in her magic, before doing as instructed. The handle glowed and a pair of brilliant gold blades burst to life, startling both Mathew and Luna, who nearly dropped it in her surprise. The golden blades ended in cyan tips that had a translucent quality. The heat was massive.

"What sorcery is this! How can a blade appear from nowhere!" She yelled.

"Ah! Luna, volume." Said Mathew. Luna blushed.

"Sorry."

Ghost shot a beam at the hilt, which was still sparking and emitting the blades excited energy.

"Interesting, it appears that the hilt contains a plasma powered battery and pair of magnetic field generators that give the sword it's shape. The unique colour comes from the inert gasses that the blade is made up from. It's like an energy based version of your sword Mathew."

Luna gave Mathew an interested gaze.

"You have a sword? May I see it?"

Mathew nodded and began to unclasped Dark-drinker from his belt, then he stopped for a moment. Could he trust her with it? It was a pretty devastating weapon, able to shred apart even the tickest of armour like it was tissue paper. He noticed how Luna was watching him with a hard stare. Did she know what he was thinking? 

Mathew relinquished his blade to his indigo comrade, she looked at the short hilt in fascination. 

"It works the same way, just press the button underneath the cross guard." Informed Mathew.

Luna deactivated the Covenant blade and placed it on a shelf nearby, before lifting Dark-drinker and pressing the switch with her magic. The wide hadium blade wafted into existence, it's spiralling design reflecting the light of the hanger outside. Luna's eyes widened. She held it at an angle, facing the textured floor. A long drip of void energy ran down the smooth surface, before falling off the swords edge and spiralling out of their dimension. 

"Unreal, how can it contain such pure magic, such raw power. It shouldn't be possible." She said

Mathew pointed towards the crystal attached to the base of the blade.

"It's to do with that crystal, it creates and stores most of the void energy that powers the sword, kinda like me actually."

Mathew formed a ball of void light in his palm for emphasis. Luna just stared at it, completely silent, stunned. She floated the sword back to Mathew who flicked the switch, expunging the blade. 

"That's an impressive weapon Mathew, I would fear to meet you on the battlefield with it in hand."

"Thanks, I made it myself." Said Mathew, with almost childhood innocence.

Luna lifted the energy sword off the shelf and offered it to Mathew, who just shook his head.

"Keep it, I'm sure Exuberant won't miss it. Besides, it'll remind you of us every time you see it." 

Luna smiled before slipping the hilt into the makeshift saddle bag ghost had constructed for her.

"Right, let's get this show on the road." 

Mathew walked up a ramp to the first floor, which was filled with scientific equipment. He spotted a pair of aggressors moving a box of test vials, they placed it down and looked at him expectantly. Mathew waved awkwardly at them, unsure of what to do. One of the Sentinels, plating golden in colour, tilted sideways in confusion, before slowly raising a manipulator and waving back. Mathew snorted with laughter and continued into the pilots area. Multiple purple holopanels adorned a large semicircular console with a pilots seat in the middle, two smaller seats were placed behind it in a delta pattern. 

Mathew took a seat at the front and gazed out into the hanger beyond. Luna came in behind him. 

"Do you know how to operate this craft?" She asked.

"No but there's a first time for everything, ghost... How do you start the engines?"

"The large red button to your left."

"Ah, of course it is."

The engines whirred to life and the ship began to rise. Mathew gripped the control rods and looked over his shoulder at Luna, who was trying to get her belt to work. She clipped it in and beamed at Mathew, who was suppressing a laugh.

"Alright your majesty may I suggest you hang on tight."



The ships rear thrusters roared and the Lich blitzed out of the hanger, embracing the cold vacuum of space with open arms. Luna was pinned back in her seat with the force of their acceleration. 

"God damn this thing really shifts." Yelled Mathew in excitement. 

The ship banked down towards the atmosphere over Equestria, flames erupted around the nose of the Lich as it passed into the cloud layer. That's when Luna felt it, the familiar cold grasp of Nightmare moon.

"You could take it, take it all. With his help the world could fall before our hooves."

"Why hold back, you could rule. You would be better than her, beyond her. THIS IS YOUR CHANCE. TAKE IT!

"ENOUGH!" Screamed Luna, and instantly she felt a huge weight lifted from her. She was gone.

Mathew looked back. "Too fast?"

Luna couldn't believe it, Nightmare moon was gone. She was free! "No, go faster! I want to see what this things got!"

Mathew pulled of his helmet and grinned. "I thought you'd never ask!" 

He punched the throttle, propelling the ship to blinding speeds. The sound barrier shattered instantly, the crack ringing out across the land below. Mathew pulled the Lich into a huge arc, before shutting down the engines and letting the ship complete its ascent. It reached the crest and slowly flipped over, beginning to dive. He engaged the thrusters to push it to its maximum velocity. The Lich rocketed though the air at two thousand miles per hour, boiling any clouds it passed though immediately. A strange energy began to build up at the nose, shimmering in the morning glow. 

"What is that?" Yelled Mathew

Luna couldn't believe what she was seeing, she thought the rainboom was just a myth.

"Just keep going! You'll see!" 

Mathew kept the ship on course, the lower cloud layer was getting scarily close. 

"Are you sure this is safe!" Shouted ghost.

"Hell (Tarterous) no!" Screamed Mathew and Luna simultaneously.

The ship broke cloud cover and they could see an expansive forest below them, stretching for miles.

"WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!" Screamed Luna as the Lich sped towards the ground.

The energy reached a critical level and exploded passed the back of the ship. Mathew pulled up hard, just scraping the tree line. The noise was deafening, like a gunshot down a megaphone. A rear view camera displayed a large expanding ring of multicoloured light, flowing across the sky like ripples in a pond. The crew of the cockpit let out a breath they didn't know they were holding, before bursting into a fit of uncontrolled laughter. Even ghost laughed a bit.

"That was the most fun I've had in a millennia! Said Luna, still wheezing from the exertion.

"I'll second that." Panted Mathew "Where do we head now." 

"I believe that my sister has taken up residence in the mountain city of canterlot, which is over there." Said Luna, pointing to the massive structure built into the side of a cliff face to their right.

"Alright, one mountain city coming up." 

With that, the ship accelerated off again, to the city that was most certainly, fit for a princess.
















 











> Chapter 5: It's the first impressions that count
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot, Equestria. 6:39 am 25/12/1000 AN

Princess Celestia sat in her throne room, on her throne, with a bowl of oatmeal and a slice of pie. Day court wasn't due to open for another two and a bit hours, so she had some time to herself, and just like always it was spent thinking about her sister. Not in the usual way though, no. Celestia was thinking about one of Twilights letters from last night. It had described a very odd phenomenon she had spotted through a telescope, which had been pointed at the location of the bright star she had seen a few minutes prior. Twilight had said she saw an object, indescribably large, that had taken up an orbit around the moon. The same moon her sister was located. It was obviously an error by her student, a bit of lense flare perhaps. That was the only logical explanation, though part of her wandered to other places. Extraterrestrial places. 

It was all mumbo jumbo anyway, Twilight had made a miscalculation or had spotted something that wasn't really there due to how tired she was. That was it. No aliens. No experiments. No wars. Just a moon with a very lonely alicorn in desperate need of her sister. Celestia sighed a sad sigh. Why even bother. It's not like the nobles actually ca- *CRACK*.

The sound of the sound barrier being broken caused her to snap up in surprise. What could even go that speed? Surely not a pegasus, no pegasus was that fast. There was a moment of silence, maybe it was just a thunderclap. There might be a storm rollin- *CRACK* *WHOOSH*.

Celestia jumped out of her throne and ran towards one of the many windows that lined the room. Outside she could here screams and confused shouting, but there was nothing out of the ordinary visible. Unless... 

She ran across to the other side of the hall and looked out of a window, bingo. There, on the slowly brightening horizon a huge circular rainbow could be seen, spreading across the sky. The unmistakeable mark of a sonic rainboom. What frightened her even more though, was the quickly approaching black shape that created it. 

"GUARDS," yelled Celestia. This was no time to dawdle, Equestria could be under threat. Several gold clad solar guards appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "Lock down the castle, there's danger ahoof." 

The guards saluted. "Yes, your majesty."

She snuck a sneak peak out of the window, the shape was gone. There was a frantic clip clop of somepony running behind her, Celestia turned to the out of breath face of her commander, who was attempting to raise his hoof into a salute.

"Princess! I have just received word of a large flying... Thing, over the castle gardens. Should we secure the position."

"No commander, let me handle this."

Before he could object, Celestia teleported to the garden. There was already a small battalion of guards there, all staring up at the huge purple... Creature, that was floating overhead. Was it some kind of dragon? It didn't matter, if it tried anything, she would turn it to ash before you could even utter the words 'sponge cake'. She wasn't in the mood.

"State you intent, creature!" She yelled, above its loud roars.

Mathew's P.O.V

The Lich was currently hovering over the Canterlot castle gardens, where Luna said they would get the most attention. The princess hadn't shown up yet, just a lot of guards clad in golden armour. Then there was a flash of light below them, and a very regal looking pony materialised. Her hair flowed infinitely, in the non existent wind, an aurora of pastel colours glowing in the morning sunlight. He looked over at Luna who was spinning in the co pilots chair. 

"Is that her, she looks quite royal." He said

Luna peered over the control panel and out of the window. Celestia was standing down there, her eyes locked firmly with the window at the front of the ship.

"Yes that's her, that's my sister."

"Okay, let's get down there then." Replied Mathew.

Celestia's P.O.V

The creature had ignored all her warnings, it wasn't responding to anything she asked it. If it didn't adhere to her demands then it was going to learn exactly why you don't mess with the Princess of the sun. She was about to yell again when the metal beasts roars grew more high pitched, and it began to descend. She stepped back to give it room. A small set of mechanical legs unfolded, touching the ground with the upmost precision. It's roars were now whines, slowly fading away, until they were gone completely. There was a pair of long doors on its side, one above the other. The lower one began to open as a ramp descended, hitting the cobbles of the garden path with a dull thunk. 

Heavy steps could be heard echoing inside. Celestia felt the guards around her freeze up, this could be bad. A large bipedal creature exited though the doors, it's blue armour glistened with complex designs and embroidery. It had a helmet under its arm, it's dull claws wrapped firmly around its metallic surface. The creature stopped at the top of the ramp, observing the scene before it. It's eyes fell on her. 

"State your business, beast!" Yelled one of the guards.

The creature glared at him before stepping to the side to reveal... Celestia's knees went weak. Standing at the top of the ramp was her little sister, looking the same as she had all those years ago. Luna smiled weakly.

"Long time no see, sister." 

Celestia didn't answer as she ran at Luna, who met her at the base of the ramp in the largest hug ever seen by another living being. 

Mathew's P.O.V

Mathew exhaled, for a moment he thought they were going to fight, and he was going to have to pick a side. Luckily they were to busy hugging to fight, which works out nicely. His ghost appeared next to him.

"You know, we did a good thing today." He said

"That we did sparky, that we did."

The sisters broke their embrace and stared into each others eyes, neither wanting to apart from the other. Celestia spoke first.

"I've missed you so much, I thought I would never see you again, I thought... You would never come home." 

"Neither did I, Tia." Replied Luna, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks.

"How in Equestria did you get back, did the spell fail?"

Luna didn't answer, she slowly turned around before pointing a hoof in Mathew's direction, all the guards as well as Celestia herself stared straight at him. Mathew stared back, a nervous smile forced onto his lips. He slowly raised a hand and waved awkwardly. Celestia approached, a neutral expression on her face. She ascended the ramp until she was facing Mathew, who was at eye level with her. This was getting tense, her expression was so unplaceable, Mathew had no idea what she was going to do. 

Celestia moved forward and Mathew braced himself, expecting a blow. Instead he found a soft feathery sensation spreading around his body. Celestia broke the hug and smiled at him.

"Thank you. Thank you for bringing my sister home to me." She said, in a smooth voice.

"It's cool princess, I was just doing my job."

Celestia raised her eyebrows. She hadn't expected him to be so informal, and she was glad he was. Maybe this was an opportunity get to know somepony who didn't know her as the ruler of Equestria, somepony she could actually connect with. Then she remembered her rule, he would only be taken away anyway. Could she at least try? At least to find out more about the odd creature that stood before her.

"Just call me Celestia, it's the least I can do."

"Uh, sure. It's lovely to meet you Celestia, I'm Mathew Ausland." He offered his hand, which she shook readily. 

"The pleasures all mine, may I ask that we continue this discussion inside. It's rather crowded, don't you think?" 

Mathew smiled. "That would be nice... Oh and before I forget." 

He rapped on the side of the Lich and one of the Sentinels from earlier appeared. The golden one. 

"Can you guard the ship while I'm gone, we don't want anyone to get hurt." 

The aggressor beeped. "Lethal force unauthorised, correct."

"That is correct. Also, do you two have names. Its going to get confusing eventually."

The Sentinel whirred in confusion. "I am unit #6,789,908. The other unit assigned to this mission is unit #6,956,864. Those are the only identification tags we were given." 

Mathew thought for a minute. "Okay your called Gold, and you mates called silver. Got it?" 

"Inputs accepted, we will guard here until further instructions." Gold floated back inside and the door shut behind him sealing them out

Mathew turned back to a very stunned Celestia and an equally bamboozled battalion of guards. 

"So are we going inside or what? He asked.

Celestia snapped out of her trance. "Yes, let's... Let's go..." She turned to her guards. "You may return to your posts, I will organise a summate to deal with the situation soon."

"Yes, your majesty." They replied in unison.

Mutters of excitement could be heard among their ranks as they filed out of the courtyard and back towards the castle. Celestia descended the ramp and draped a wing over Luna who was standing quietly, stroking the short lawn with her hoof. As they turned to leave Mathew noticed the strange marks on their flanks. Celestia had one of the sun, while Luna had a corresponding moon. He made a mental note to ask about them later as he jogged to catch up. He slowed to a stroll when he was close, walking up to the base of the castle steps.

The place was huge, maybe not as large as hanger L2, but it was extremely elegant. There was a large painted white arch at the top of the stairs, which they passed under and through the massive front doors. The inside was beautiful, crystal chandlers hung from the ceiling, reflecting warped shapes onto the pure white of the walls. Many paintings hung from the walls, showing everything from battles to photos of banquets of cakes. They continued down the long passage until they came to a set of ornate doors. A pair of royal guards stood at attention, but flinched when they saw them approach. Interestingly I wasn't just Mathew they were staring at. The guards eyes darted back and forth between the guardian and Luna, who was still draped under her sisters wing. 

"Tell the nobles that due to an unforeseen turn of events, day court will be closed this morning." Said Celestia, ignoring their fearful expressions.

"Y-yes, y-your highness."

Mathew snorted, he wasn't that terrifying to pastel horses was he? They passed the guards and Celestia pushed open the doors with her magic. They entered a long hallway lined with stain glass windows. Every window displayed a different event, each just as confusing as the last. At the far end of the room was a raised platform with a golden throne on top. Celestia and Luna walked up the steps and onto the platform, while Mathew stood at the base. He felt really uncomfortable, like he was on trial. Celestia stared at him silently, a hard expression etched onto her face.

"Mathew Ausland, I am happy to welcome you to Equestria. She said in an authoritative tone. "I owe you a great debt, and I know that I may never be able to repay it, but there is something I must ask you. It may seem rather silly, seeming as you've pretty much already made your character clear to me." 

Mathew knew what she was going to ask him, and he knew why she had to ask it.

"Are you a danger to my little ponies." Asked Celestia

Luna gasped, how could she ask that. Was her sister really that suspicious.

"No Celestia, I'm not. It would go against everything I stand for." He replied 

She dropped the intense glare, replacing it instead with a warm smile. 

"I'm sorry for that Mathew, but the safety of my ponies comes first."

"Don't worry Celestia, I get it. My people probably would have asked worse."

Celestia smiled, he wasn't intimidated by her. 

"So, where do you come from. I haven't seen anything like you before."

"My species came from the planet earth, which is thousands of light years away. I arrived in a large starship yesterday."

Celestia thought back to the letter Twilight had sent her, about the disturbances near the moon. 

"Did you arrive near the moon?" She asked 

"Yeah actually, did you see it?"

"My student saw your arrival through a telescope last night and informed me, I thought she was seeing things because of how tired she was. Evidently not."

There was a bleep and Mathews ghost materialised. "I just informed Exuberant of our arrival, I didn't receive a response though, weird."

Celestia jumped in surprise. "What is that!" 

Mathew laughed before he explained the concept of his ghost to her. Celestia listened intently, drinking in every detail. He told her all about the Traveler and the many abilities that it brought. The conversation brought them on to the topic of pony abities or 'Magic', as they called it. Unicorns could manipulate the flow of magic better than the other races, who had less direct abilities. The magic could be used to perform a variety of spells, some that both he and his ghost couldn't believe.

"Did you just say you can move the sun! You must be joking." Said ghost, 

"It's no joke I assure you, I'm just as surprised to hear your sun moves without magic."

Mathew raised his eyebrows at the sun horse before him.

"Allow me to demonstrate." 

She walked over to the window and her horn began to glow with golden energy. Then low and behold the stars orbit reversed, moving backwards across the sky. Ghost was frantically running calculations to try and logically explain the phenomenal display, Mathew just watched in awe. That was cool. Mathew then showed them some of his own abilities, bending his light into various weapons and shapes. Fun fact, most guardians can do this. The only reason sunbreaker Titans form hammers is because it's the most effective use of the light they have, the same can be said for gunslingers and nightstalkers. Needless to say Celestia found the little show both interesting and mildly entertaining. 

The mood was spoiled by Mathew having to explain his predicament to her. 

"I can't even begin to imagine what you went through, but I promise that no harm will come to you while you are in Equestria. It's about as peaceful as you can get."

Mathew smiled, that was nice to know.

"I will have to request a summate with the other nations to inform them of both your arrival and Luna's return, it may take a while for the dignitaries to arrive so you are welcome to stay here."

"Thank you Celestia. For what it's worth, I don't think I could have ended up anywhere better." 

It's funny, he'd been here for less than twenty four hours and he'd already made friends with a countries rulers, gained the title of first man on the moon and was on his way to becoming a delegate for humanity. Things could only go uphill from here.























> Interlude: The garden at the end of infinity...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's said that in a garden grows a tree of silver wings, the leaves are ruin, the bark disaster, of the seeds we do not speak. The tree exists outside of time in a place that few will touch, and those who do will always say that they regret it all so much.

It's said that where the tree exists there used to be another, one that sprouted harmony instead of death, disease and power. That tree is lost to time and space but someday it will recover, until that day to our dismay the tree of ruin shall be no other.

The garden was a triumph of a race that was so vast, even though they still live on their legacy did not last. The garden remains lost to most within a plane beyond the past, where the only links are rings of steel and a throne made out of glass.

The creators have their heaven and the protectors their domain, but the children of the harmony wanted a garden in their name. So here it lies, with darkened skies and a sea of lifeless frames, until the day that the light prevails and the garden is reclaimed. 
> Chapter 6: Purple pony procedure 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponyville, Equestria. 7:37 am 22/06/1000 AN

Twilight Sparkle sat in silence, she had been worried about her mentor. Ever since she and her new friends banished Nightmare moon the princess hadn't replied to a single one of her letters, be it an apology or otherwise. It wouldn't have been as bad if it weren't for the fact that Celestia never missed a report, let alone the nearly two hundred she had sent last night. At first Twilight had presumed she was sleeping. Then she had presumed she was angry with her for something, but as the hours dragged on she began to worry about her safety. 

Twilight had almost convinced herself that she was just being paranoid, that she was merely tired. Then that, thing, came tearing through the sky. It had created a sonic rainboom, something she had only seen once before, performed by Rainbow Dash herself. Not that Twilight knew at the time. She had been with the rainbow maned pegasus when it arrived. She had observed the way it burst through the clouds, leaving a blue trail of fire and a massive magical fluctuation behind it. The speeds were so phenomenal that even Rainbow was speechless, something that doesn't happen very often. 

Then it flew off towards Canterlot. That's why she is currently sitting at Ponyville train station, waiting for the rest of her friends to arrive. She had a feeling the elements would be needed for this one.

"...Have a feeling that, whatever that big ugly monster was, I'm gonna kick it in the flank! Right Twi." Rainbow Dash had been talking while she was stuck in thought. 

"I'm sorry Rainbow, I didn't quite catch that."

"I was just saying that I'll be able to kick that big beast right in the flank." Boasted Dash.

"While, I'm sure you could, I think we should take this one more tactically. We have no idea what our foe is capable of, which could be disastrous." She replied.

Rainbow just laughed. 

"I'll leave it to you Twilight, I'm not really into that egghead stuff."

Twilight was about to make a point about health and safety when she was interrupted by a group of silhouettes wandering over the horizon. As they grew closer she recognised the somewhat bedraggled look on their faces, she had seen it on Spike many times before. It's not even that early...

"Hi girls!" Shouted Twilight.

Her friends grew closer until they were within speaking distance. 

"Howdy."

"Hi!"

"Hello darling."

"Um... Hello."

Her friends, excluding Pinky, looked extremely displeased with the fact that they were awake at the current moment, not that it mattered, they had a job to do.

"Look Twi, I know we got a big responsibility, being the elements an all. I know we need to take care of anything that crops up, but why does it have to be today? It's the beginning of harvest season and Big Mac an I have a lot of work to to."

Twilight understood, Applejack worked harder than anypony she knew, and this harvest was the culmination of an entire years work. Who knew what could happen if it wasn't a success.

"I know Applejack, but the princess could be in danger. Then where would we be?"

Applejack sighed, kicking a loose stone on the platform with her hoof.

"Yer right Twi, I'm sure we'll be back by noon anyways."  

"Yeah!" Interjected Pinky, who had just ingested most of the contents of the cakes baking cabinet. "Whatever nasty monster it is this time, I'm sure it'll be no match for us!"

Fluttershy whimpered.

"That sounds awful, I hope we don't have to fight..."

"Quite so darling." Said Rarity. "I can't imagine what fighting would do to ones mane."

Twilight smiled, those were her friends all right, she wouldn't trade them for the world. Her train of thought was interrupted by another, slightly more physical train pulling into Ponyville station. It's steam powered engine puffed out a great plume of smoke as it came to a stop. A cabin door opened and a young stallion in a blue conductors outfit strolled out, and was extremely surprised to see the six ponies standing in front of him.

"Oh hello, I wasn't expecting to see anyone up this early. Shouldn't you all be sleeping?"

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Yes."

"It's a matter of great importance actually, how quickly can you get us to Canterlot?" Said Twilight, in an authoritative tone.

The conducter thought for a second. 

"There's no other passengers on board, and if I tell the driver to speed us up we could get there within an hour."

"Excellent, six tickets to Canterlot please."

The conductor began to unfurl his long roll of blank tickets, the coil hit the ground and rolled towards Twilight, who stopped it with a hoof. He began to print a ticket before stopping abruptly.

"You know what, its alright. We need to go to the station in Canterlot anyway. You girls can just ride along for free." Replied the conducter.

Twilight thanked him and boarded the train, her friends in tow.

"So Twilight, why d'ya call us up here. What's the danger this time." Asked Applejack.

They sat down in one of the green booths, the soft material threatening to put them to sleep. Everyone except Pinky, who was jumping up and down without rest.

"Oh! Oh! Is it a monster from the Everfree. No a dragon! No wai..."

Rainbow cut her off by shoving a hoof inside her mouth. Twilight nodded.

"Thank you Rainbow. As for your question Applejack, I'm not entirely sure what it was. It was large, and purple, and it was moving at speeds that shouldn't be possible. It broke both the sound barrier and the latent magic barrier like they were nothing." 

Applejack blinked in confusion. "Latent what now?"

"Is that what that horrendous noise was, it woke me up an hour before my alarm! Whatever it is I'll be giving it a sharp talk about manners when we find it." 

Rainbow dash just rolled her eyes, the only thing that creature was getting if it touched the princess was a sharp kick to the face. There was a whistle from outside and the train began to move.

"I keep running the calculations in my head, nothing that big should be able to go that fast." Said Twilight. "I'll need Spikes help to study it when we get back."

"Speaking of Spiky-wiky, where is he? He usually comes along on our escapades."

"He was up late last night helping me send a few letters, I may have worked him a little to hard." 

That was a tremendous understatement and Twilight knew it, the poor guy could hardly walk after she was done with him.

"I think he was planning to spend the day with the fillies and colts anyway."

The train began to pick up pace as it weaved through the base tunnels of Canterlot mountain, the wind whistling through a gap in the window's seal. Rainbow settled into a cushion in the opposite booth and began to snore heavily. Twilight felt her own eyes droop, she had been up into the wee hours of the morning, maybe a small nap wouldn't hurt...

"Next stop, Canterlot castle!" 

The crackling voice of the conducter over the intercom filled the cabin, Twilight jumped awake. The train was drifting through a very peculiar scene. There was a large amount of iron carriages being pulled around, presumably full of cargo. They coasted up to the platform and the train screeched as its brakes engaged. Rainbows eyes snapped open in surprise.

"Wha-zzum awake, what's appnin."

"I believe we just arrived, although this isn't the usual place." Replied Rarity.

As they were talking the conductor entered the cabin, all eyes turned to him. 

"Sorry about the location, we had to make a delivery to the castle. You can get to the city through the gates at the end of the platform."

Rainbow gazed out of the window. There was a lot of solar guards standing about, weapons at the ready. 

"What's with all the guards?" She said, still looking outside.

"I'm not entirely sure, someone said something about a disturbance up at the castle. Something to do with the big rainbow earlier. I think they might be here as a result."

Now that got Twilights attention. 

"That doesn't sound good."

"I hear ya, we should probably get going."

With that the elements rose and exited the cabin through the door they had entered. The platform was in chaos. Loading crews rushed about, carrying boxes and equipment to various places. Battalions of guards stood at their posts, their faces locked in the trademark stoic expression. Twilight approached one who was standing next to the gate that lead to the castle gardens. 

"What's going on here, why are there so many guards."

He shifted slightly in his golden plating, thinking about what to say next.

"We have been ordered by the princess to guard the object that arrived earlier today, the castle is on lockdown until further notice"

The object? Was he talking about the monster?

"Can we get inside please? It's urgent." She gave a sheepish smile.

The guard shook his head, 

"The castle is on lockdown, nopony may enter unless authorised."

"But we are authorised, we're the elements of harmony!" Replied Twilight, getting impatient.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to enter unless I have authorisation from the princess herself."

Twilight groaned, at least it meant that the princess was safe. Though this object had peaked her curiosity, and she wasn't leaving until she had the opportunity to document it.

"M-maybe we should just go." Fluttershy whispered. "I-I don't think we're allowed in."

Twilight looked back at the guard, who stared straight ahead.

"Is there any way you can talk to the princess, to inform her that the elements of harmony are here."

The guard sighed. "Give me a moment."

He opened the gate and walked inside, past the two other guards who were on the other side of the fence. He strided through an arched passage and disappeared from view. Rainbow flexed her wings in boredom.

"Well at least we know the princess isn't in danger, can we go home yet Twilight, I've got a jar of zap apple jam with my name written all over it." 

"No we can't go home yet, not until we find out what caused the rainboom this morning." Replied Twilight.

Faint voices could be heard coming from inside the tunnel, barely above the commotion on the platform. Applejack shook her head in their direction.

"Look Twi, ah know you curious an all, but ah've got work to do. I'm sure the guards have it under control." 

"It's not about that, if they're keeping ponies out then they've got to be trying to keep something contained." Twilight pointed at the doorway. "They could need our help, and what if we're not there, what then. Better safe than sorry in my opinion." 

There was a creek and the gate slid open. The guard from earlier strolled out and stood at the ready, though he seemed to keep a tighter grip on his spear than before.

"It appears I was mistaken, you may enter. Stay close to me at all times, and please, for the love of Celestia. Don't touch anything."

Twilight could almost feel the neurones in her head firing, ready to absorb absolutely any information she could get her hooves on.

"Alright, lead the way!" She chirped.

The guard turned and made his way back down the dimly lit tunnel, the elements close behind him. The passage twisted and turned, the only illumination coming from the torches fixed to the walls at regular intervals. Fluttershy huddled closer to the center of the group, afraid to get near the stony surface. Twilight caught up with their escort.

"So what's got everypony in such a state of panic, is there something dangerous up here."

He looked down at her with a straight face.

"Dangerous is most likely the wrong term, it's not dangerous in its current state... But it may have the potential to be devastating. We don't know, so we're locking down the castle as a precaution."

"What is it? Is it some kind of dragon?"

The guard just shook his head. 

"That's what we all thought at first, but then it... It opened up, and out came, well... Whatever it was." 

"What was it? Asked Twilight, hanging on his every word.

"It kind of looked like a minotar, but with less hair. I dunno, I didn't get a good view before I was bumped off with rest of the guards. Somepony else arrived with him... It was another alicorn, though not one I've seen before... Her cutie mark was a crescent moon."

Twilight felt herself pulled from her dream state at his words. There was only one mare she knew with a crescent moon as a cutie mark. 

"OH NO! The princess!" 

Twilight charged a teleportation spell and directed herself towards the throne room, she let her consciousness flow over the hall before selecting a location near the back entrance. The spell finished charging and the guard barely had enough time to yell before she disappeared in a flash of purple light. 

What is teleportation? Teleportation is often described as simply vanishing and reappearing in another location, instantly. This is not the case. Teleportation is more like being pulled through a plug hole with the destination on the other side. While it may, from an outside perspective, look instant, there is lot more going on than that. The user experiences period of time where they are in a state of indeterminate existence, a moment of mind separated from matter. While their consciousness exists there is no physical mass for it to bind with, so the user often feels themselves being pulled towards the nearest host to their desired location. This can often result in the sharing of memories, or the passage of thought processes, from one mind to another.

As Twilight teleported to the throne room she connected, and was instantly bombarded with feelings of pain, loss and regret. She saw a mighty wall, hot metal being carved and bent along its surface. She saw an army of monstrosities, clawing at the door of a huge temple, their sharp talons leaving streaks of blue energy through the air. She saw a huge winged beast gargle and yell it exploded into a furious hurricane of light. 

Then it all stopped.

Moments later, Twilight reappeared near the door of the throne room, glaring down the long stretch of hall for any sign of trouble. All she saw was a very stunned looking princess Celestia, a bipedal creature clutching its head and a blue alicorn with a crescent moon for a cutie mark. There wasn't a threat, the princess wasn't in any danger, but she didn't know that... 

Fuelled by the fear and confusion of what she had just witnessed, Twilight wasn't in the right mindset to be thinking straight. All she saw was her mentor, and two beings attacking her. Clear of any rational thought, the first thing Twilight did after entering the room was charge a lethal offensive spell and aim it directly at the closest target. Who happened to be facing away from her. 

The spell soared across the room towards the turned back of princess Luna, who would never see it coming. Celestia was in to much shock to react in time and couldn't put up a protective spell to shield her sister from the attack, but the creature reacted instantly.

A bow of pure magic formed between its claws and it let loose an arrow. The projectile flew towards the incoming spell before making contact and neutralising it instantly. The arrow then continued and impacted the floor to Twilights left, where it stopped. She suddenly felt her magic suppressed, unable to form even the most basic of constructs. The arrow had a tether of anti magic connected right to her horn, and was sucking her dry of the little energy she had left. 

The last thing she saw before she blacked out was the shocked face of the princess, who had tears in her eyes. 

What had she done...



 





 




























> Chapter 7: An act of pure folly 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are very few things that make a guardian fear for their life. There is no weapon that can kill them, not truly. No foe that can best them, never entirely. A guardian is, in most cases, invincible, but that doesn't mean they are without fear. 

Everyone fears something. Some fear insects, others heights, tight spaces, large crowds. Fear is the great unifier of life, for without fear, you are vulnerable. The mouse is scared of the cat because the cat poses a threat to the mouses survival. Fear and survival are intrinsic to one another. Survival is impossible without fear, so fear should be impossible without the need to survive. Oh how wrong we were.

Fear never goes away, it, like energy, can only be transferred. If a being can't die then the only thing it has left to fear is life itself. A guardian doesn't fear dying, they fear living in conditions they can't escape. They fear their own heads becoming a prison, where they can only sit and wait for the end of time itself.

So when Mathew sensed an unknown entity apperceive his mind, the one place he fears most, horrified doesn't even cover what he felt. 

He and his new friends were in the middle of discussing the political architecture of Equestria when strange sensation took hold within his subconscious, it felt like someone leafing through pages of a book in his head, browsing for something. It only lasted for a second before the odd feeling was replaced with one of extreme pain. His brain felt like it was being ripped apart from the inside. Memories flashed before his eyes, none of them pleasant. After what felt like an eternity the feelings passed, and he was left shaking, clutching his head in his hands. Luna was in front of him, yelling something incomprehendable. He could hear his ghost talking over the transponder, his voice floating in the baseless wind. Who was he? Where was he? What was he doing? Simple questions felt like complex mathematical equations, he struggled to form words out of a vocabulary that he didn't know. The only thing he did know, however, was that the dynamic of the room had changed. 

Mathew saw the projectile of light launch from across the room, to fast for any normal person to clock. He felt his bow form within his grasp, he felt himself release an arrow and the world slowed down around him. The projectile was intercepted and the arrow flew on to hit the floor near the assailant. It was then that his mind caught up with his actions. The purple unicorns eyes widened as the tether made contact with her horn, and she instantly sank to her knees, before collapsing onto her side, out cold.

"TWILIGHT!" Yelled Celestia, her words a mixture of anger and grief.

Mathew keeled over, clutching his head. He could hear whispers, voices from the beyond, a chattering symphony of various emotions. Some he swore he recognised, others were beyond even his understanding.

"Where is the great machine?!"

"What fun is there in making sense?!"

"The night, will last, FOREVER!"

"You are a dead thing made from a dead power..."

"This ring, is MINE!"

Then there was silence, and only echos remained. He swore, in the final moments, he could hear a child's cries, a slow drawn out scream of pure agony. His eyes fluttered open and closed as his ghost hovered just out of view. Luna was up close, tears running down her cheeks, she spoke to him, but he didn't understand. There was a ring in his ears as his hearing began recover. Slowly he sat up, still clutching his head.

"Mathew..."

"Can you hear us Mathew?"

Mathew could just about make out what they were saying, but he couldn't quite form the words for an answer. It was then that he heard one final whisper, so quiet that it was on the verg of not being comprehensible at all.

"I am a monument, to all your sins..."

What?

"Mathew, please, please answer us..."

Mathews head snapped up right, facing the sobbing mare in front of him.

"It's okay I'm here, I'm here."

Luna hugged him tightly, the warm sensation of feathers and fur spread around his body.

"Mathew, what happened? Asked his ghost. "Your neurological activity was off the charts, you haven't had anything like this before..."

"I heard voices, whispers. They were talking about stuff I didn't understand..." 

Luna looked into his eyes. "What 'stuff' Mathew?" 

Mathew scrunched up his face as he tried to fight the pain.

"I don't know, I... I think I heard Exuberant, and there were others as well. One said something about a night 'lasting forever', does that mean anything."

Luna's caring smile was replaced by a look of shock, his ghost turned to her.

"Impossible, she's supposed to be gone, I... Did she say anything else Mathew, I implore you, I must know!"

"I'm sorry, I don't know... I promise I'll... Uh, tell you if I remember." Said Mathew. He would have asked about the significance of the voice but he was to tired to care. He could see Celestia of in the far corner of the room, casting some sort of spell on the unicorn from earlier. Why did she just attack like that? What did Luna ever do to her? 

Celestia finished her ritual and carried the unicorn back towards the throne, where she lay down it's sleeping body. Tears formed in the sun princesses eye's as she looked at Mathew, who was still sprawled on the floor. 

"Is she going to be alright, I'm not sure what affects the light will have on your bodies."

Celestia sighed. "She'll be fine, it's only light magic fatigue."

Luna stared at her sister, a small frown etched apon her muzzle. "Then why are you crying?"

"I'm crying because my own prize student just tried to murder my sister, and for that, there must be consequences."

Mathew stared at her in disbelief, there's no way that tiny blast could have been fatal. It wasn't even a fraction of what he had responded with, if that arrow had been slightly more accurate said 'prize student' would be splattered all over the opposite wall. Then again these ponies abilities where rather different from his, and he didn't know enough about this 'magic' to make a tactical judgement, but there was just something about the way she launched the attack. The mad look in her eyes, the utter lack of any hesitation or forethought. The way her pupils contracted in fear as she realised what she was doing. 

"Celestia if I might say, I'm not entirely sure it was deliberate, it seemed as though she was acting in self defence."

Celestia looked at her student, silently weighing up the odds in her head. Twilight was always odd, but never aggressive. She may have been over enthusiastic in the past, but it was always innocent things, like stealing samples from the Canterlot archives or trying to create dangerous chemicals from basic household goods. Assassination wasn't one of her many known hobbies, sadly that list was exhaustive at studying and pillaging the castle desert cabinet. Twilight was no murderer.

"That may be so, but I will need to conduct an investigation into why she lashed out like that. I can't have her hurting anypony."

Mathew nodded, though his neck strongly objected to the notion. He moved to stand but his legs crumpled beneath him, planting him firmly on the smooth marble of the throne room floor. He looked at the worried expressions displayed on his companions faces, like he was going to explode any second. His ghost narrowed his single eye at Mathew, as if raising a brow.

His next attempt was remarkably more successful, and he was able to stand straight again, though running was still out of the question. The small pony before him stirred in her sleep, her head squirming on silk laden cushion at the thrones center. It was quite remarkable that all this stuff seemed to be real, unicorns, pegasi and... What do you call them? He looked at the princesses behind him. Pegacorn? Unisi- 

Suddenly a switch flipped in his brain, he had seen them before. 

"Ghost, can you display the strange symbol we saw when we first boarded the Long Far Gone, the one we couldn't place." 

His ghost blinked as the image of the shield emblem was projected onto the nearby wall, the swirling pattern clearly visible in the morning sun. His ghost gasped, as did the princesses. There before them was the same symbol that was plastered all over the castle, the symbol that he had completely overlooked in his excitement. What was going on here?

"That's the royal shield, the sun of the two sisters. It's the Equestrian flag..." Said Celestia, staring agape at the wall.

"What was it doing aboard the ship? I thought Exuberant said she had never seen a pony before." His ghost flickered frantically, processing the variables to their situation.

Mathew thought back to something Exuberant had said to him right after she met them, all those hundreds of years ago. 

"You were lucky to retain the same prowess for discovery the first time, unlike your four legged allies..."

He picked up his helmet and sealed it back on his head, the locks clamped shut around his neck. 

"I guess the plot just keeps on thickening."
















> Chapter 8: Within the minds eye
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Venus, Ishtar sink. 22/06/4367 Earth date

The Ishtar jungles were quiet, silent almost. The only sounds that were heard came from the bubbling streams of superheated magma, boiling away beneath the baked rocks. The swirling clouds in the sky retained their deep green colour, as various noxious gases sifted through one another, creating intricate patterns. A lone Fallen Vandal scanned the horizon from his sniper post apon the old academy roof. The jungle was never silent. Ever.

The machines always stirred, unceasing, relentless, ready to attack. Yet the jungle was still, the leaves of the Venusian trees fell softly apon the stone floor. It was eerie, but he needed to stay alert. The Eliksni fleet had long since left this desolate system, only a few remained, ever watchful. Though it seemed like a fools errand, it was as if all life had ceased on that day... That fateful day. The Vandal blinked, rubbing the lense on his scope with a small rag.

The humans had always hidden behind their walls, sending out their soldiers of the dead to defend what little they had, delaying what was ultimately inevitable. Or so he was told, the warriors of the light had long since faded into myth, the only reason he remembered the stories is because of where he was. This planet was to be abandoned soon anyway, there was nothing left to scavenge, no loot left to take. 

He found the thought quite saddening actually, a whole civilisation, one that had fought for centuries against them, snuffed out like a weak flame. Those humans had accomplished so much, only to die a quick and painful death at the touch of forces from the dark beyond. He spotted a servitor heading his way, accompanied by a Dreg holding a long tubular weapon. As they approached he jumped down from his post to greet them. The Dreg stepped up and muttered something in Eliskni, before presenting the object to him.

It's white and gold surface was tarnished and old, what little of the metal was still painted gleamed against the molten magma below. There was an elaborate design of a miscellaneous creature above the barrel, where a projectile would presumably be launched. Something about this weapon sparked feelings of nostalgia, though he was unsure as to why. 

"Toss it in with the other scrap, seems worthless to keep it around." 

The Dreg nodded and tossed the launcher into the pile with the other detritus of the search, before marching back down to the waters edge to scourer again. What a waste of useless time.

The Vault of Glass, 2 miles below...

The Vault of Glass. A rip in time and space where all that is known, and all that is loved, is drowned out in an endless flow of thoughts and memories of people that are remembered, will be remembered and can't be remembered. The throne is dead, it's once mighty power gone to the winds of time. The sparkling glass is cracked and worn, barely anything flows through now. For the first time in time, the vex had lost. They had lost their gateway to the beyond, they had lost their throne of glass and conflux of time. Time... Time is the great decider, it's the force that determines whether you exist... Or you do not. 

The Vex had control of this force, bending it to their will and writing themselves into the very nature of existence itself. They had their conflux, and they had their garden... And they had their enemy. Inferior. That's what they were, they ran and they hid, never revealing themselves for more than a nanosecond at a time. There was never a moment  when they weren't running, running from them. Cowardly. Logical, but cowardly. Those mindless puppets of the domain, refusing to break away from dead protocols and pointless directives. 

Then they lost the garden, the garden of the harmonics. They lost it to a single mortal being with a pellet gun and a sharp stick, how weak of them. It was no matter, the garden would be easily recovered, or so they thought. The humans were far more crafty than they had originally presumed. The undying mind had been destroyed, and with it all hope of a swift reclamation. The glass throne was all they had left, and then even it was taken. 

Those humans weren't the target, they were merely an obstacle, to be over come with trademark brute force. Yet the Vex had underestimated them so much, that they had allowed them to infiltrate their most delicate infrastructure and destroy the source of all their power. Atheon. 

Even now the Vex are still recovering, little of that power is theirs. Yet the fact remains that they have a mission to complete, a purpose to fulfil. Those cowards may have fled, but nothing can hide from the scrying eye of the Vex mind. Not even those... Sentinels. They're location has finally been revealed, after a thousand years of waiting, plotting and preparing. 

They have fled to the only place that they think can protect them. Typical. They abandon those who they swore to defend just as they are needed most, first the forerunners, and now the humans. What could they possibly hope to gain off of... Them? Only time will tell...

Canterlot, Equestria. 9:48 am 22/06/1000 AN 

The pounding of hooves resonated off the cobblestone walls as six ponies raced through at breakneck speed. Rainbow Dash rounded a bend and slid across the murky floor, just grazing the side of the passage. She would take to the air but the roof was to low, and she wasn't risking a visit to the infirmary. Air whipped past her face as she rocketed faster down the corridor. 

"How much further to the gardens!" Yelled Applejack, who was keeping pace Celestia's guard at the head of the pack.

"It's just round this bend! Though we may have to slow our pace significantly!"

That damn egghead. How could she be so stupid! Rainbow was extremely fond of Twilight but it was moments like this that she wished for a few extra cells in the common sense department. Why did she just teleport away like that? Without the slightest warning no less!  The next bend was fast approaching, so she slowed to a reasonable speed. 

They turned the corner and were immediately met with a familiar looking gate and a pair of stoic sentries, who didn't even glance. Their guard banged on the iron bars. 

"Hey! Let us through, we've got an emergency! He yelled, getting the guard ponies attention instantly. "We have an unauthorised infiltration, the assailant is heading to the throne room." 

The gate was unlocked faster that Rainbows eyes could even track, so much so that it almost flew off its hinges. The soldiers turned and slowly jogged away towards the other side of the courtyard before reaching the stairs and breaking into a mad gallop. Their escort turned back to them.

"Now I want all of you to listen very carefully, okay? Don't make any sudden movements, and keep your voices low at all times. You got me?"

The group nodded, though they remained unsure of why. 

"Good, now stick close to me, and for Celestia's sake don't scream."

They exited the tunnel and into the courtyard, Rainbow could sense the tension in the air, what was happening here? Then she saw them. Dozens of tiny lights, shifting and changing as they swirled around. They were examining plants, rocks, anything. A huge object loomed overhead, it's indigo surface sparkling against the blue sky. The creatures noticed their presence immediatly, and began to swiftly approach, Rainbow resisted the urge to back away. 

"Don't. Move." Whispered the guard.

They began to circle the elements, shooting out blue beams that created grid patterns on their fur. They didn't seem aggressive, just curious. Maybe that's why Fluttershy slowly extended a hoof towards one of them, stopping just below its silvery surface. The odd creature stared at it for a moment, as if confused by what she meant. 

"Hello little guy." She whispered, quieter that a door mouse. "Your not evil, in fact... I think your rather cute."

"Flutters, what the hay are you doing!" Dash whispered harshly. "That thing could be dangerous!"

Fluttershy responded with an irritated glare. The small creature took one last glance at her hoof before slowly extending its own sleek appendage, it was like an insect feeler, but more mechanical looking, and it was getting closer... And closer.... And-

"AHHHHHH GET THIS HORRID THING AWAY FROM MY MANE!" Screamed Rarity, waving her hooves around in the air. The minature machine swerved in the air, attempting to evade the constant bombardment being sent its way.

A lucky blow struck the delicate creature from the side, sending it spiralling out of control. It landed on its side in the grass, sparking and whistling in pain. Rarity was suddenly flocked by the little beasts, their ambient blue eyes replaced with an aggressive red glow. A clank was heard from behind them as a door unlocked. A pair of significantly larger creatures flew from the side of the purple structure, with incredible speed they crossed the courtyard and were apon swarm in an instant. 

"NAP violated. Prepare for lethal response. "

Their voices sounded synthetic, but extremely threatening. Rarity was screaming now, furiously shaking her front legs around as if she was trying to swat a fly. The machines dodged her blows gracefully, their red lights getting brighter by the second. 

"SOMEPONY HELP ME!" She yelled, her voice muffled by the swirling cloud of robots. 

"Hang on! I'm coming!" 

Rainbow leaped up and raced towards the swirling mass. Many of the red eyes turned on her, preparing for her attack.

"GET AWAY FROM MY FRIEND YOU MONSTERS!" 

She jumped into swarm, but was met with nothing but a snapping sensation. A blinding pain erupted around her neck as something cut off her windpipe. Rainbow looked down to see a metal claw clamped tightly around her throat, the offending android holding her in its vice like grip. It's claw tightened as its metallic arm thrust backwards, throwing her to the ground. 

"NAP violated, prepare for lethal response."

Rainbow looked up at the robots unfeeling red eye, glaring daggers. It seemed unfazed. 

"STAY BACK FROM HER YA VARMENT!" 

There was a loud crack as Applejack bucked the creatures side with all her might. A blue field sprunge up, sending her flying forwards in a shower of lightning and sparks. The metal beast was knocked to the side a few feet, but quickly recovered and began charging some sort of magic.

"Prepare for lethal respo-"

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!"

A loud roar pierced the morning air. All activity from the metal monsters ceased. Most of the smaller forms quickly recovered and filed into a rack near the back of the courtyard. The two larger ones lined up next to one another, standing to attention.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!" 

Rainbow turned to the source of the voice, but she couldn't lift her head to the right angle. The machine on the left, the golden one, spoke up. 

"NAP violated, aggression detected. A response was required."

"What part of NON LETHAL FORCE do you two not understand!"

"One of our units was damaged, so we responded in kind."

There was a crunch of hooves against gravel as something approached, she felt it touch her withers, and she froze up in fear. 

"It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you." It's voice was soft, though it carried an air authority around it. "Can you help her up? I don't wanna lift her." 

Rainbow felt herself engulfed in a magical aura, she was slowly lifted and propped up against the base of a nearby tree. Her eyes were still adjusting, but she could make out a crouched silhouette infront of her. As her eyes came into focus she was stunned by what she saw. It was a creature unlike any she had seen before. It had a flat face with sharp features, small eyes and no muzzle. It seemed to have no fur aside from a small tuft apon it's head, but the rest of its body was clad in thick blue plating adored with designs of wolves and trees. A long flowing cloak trailed down its back, golden thread gleaming in the sunlight. It's voice was clearly masculine, though not as deep as that of a stallion. Almost as if he was... Young?

"You alright, you look like you've just seen a ghost." 

Rainbow just stuttered. He chuckled and winked at her before getting up to glare at its robot companions.

"I want you to tell me exactly what happened here."

"The Non Agression Principle was violated by the white equine over there." It gestured carelessly in Rarity's direction, who was still attempting to catch her breath. Her mane was matted and dirty, twigs poking out at all angles. "She damaged one of our constructors, we took her actions as a threat."

The armoured creature sighed. "Where is it?" 

The machine pointed towards a spot in the grass, where the still shivering form of the constructor was lying on its side. The odd beings plating shifted as it bent down to pick it up, dextrously sweeping it out of the short lawn. He held the small device up to his eyes, straining to get a closer look. 

"Damn, is it fixable?"

"It should be, though for what purpose? It won't be a significant reduction to our uni-"

"I don't care. Get this thing fixed and for god sake stay in the Lich or I swear to the traveller I'll dismantle you on a subatomic level. You got it gold?" 

That voice. It was hard, bitter. On the verge of terrifying. Rainbow felt herself cower against the hard bark of the tree. The machines didn't fair much better.

"Request acknowledged, waypoint received."

"Good, keep it that way."

A small metal manipulator snuck out and snatched the constructor from his claw before the duo sped back inside the 'Lich'. The large door clamped shut behind them, and the courtyard was silent once again. It was at that point that Rainbow noticed he hadn't arrived alone, in fact he was with the last pony she had expected to see. The Princess slowly approached the creature, her everflowing mane wafting behind her. She raised her hoof and rested it softly on his back, giving it a gentle tap.

"It's fine Mathew. This wasn't your fault, stop worrying yourself." 

The creature, or Mathew as he was called turned back to her with a somewhat soft smile on his lips. 

"I know, I... I just didn't want my presence to be a danger to anyone, and I've already caused so much trouble as it is. Maybe I'm better off leaving you out of this."

Celestia gasped, a look of shock on her face. 

"You haven't caused anything at all, you couldn't have known all this would happen, it was simply a big misunderstanding."

"But what if it wasn't? What if I'm a danger to your people. I could end up hurti-"

"Do you really believe that? Is that what you think of yourself?"

Mathew simply looked down, refusing to make eye contact with the solar goddess.

"If you were really a danger to my ponies Mathew, if you really didn't care... Do you think you'd have brought Luna home to me? I think not. And I won't allow you to think anything less than that."

His dejected look was replaced with a sly grin. "So what. Your constricting my thoughts now are you? Maybe this place isn't all love and friendship after all."

A playful shove was his reward, but he seemed to laugh it off. Rainbow had been so transfixed by the interaction before her that she had almost forgotten to feel scared. There was just something about the odd the way this thing carried himself. The way he acted so casual, but seemed constantly alert, watching for signs of danger. Years of hanging around with her friend Gilda had taught her to recognise these looks. It was the attitude of a predator, the attitude of a... Hunter. She knew she didn't trust him, even if the princess seemed to. Something was going on here. Rainbow cleared her throat, getting both their eyes to lock her.

"So um... What have I missed?" 



































> Chapter 9: A touch of malice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hive dreadnought 'Nightmare grasp', Deep space. 4367 Earth date

Death. Death and decay. If you were to set foot within the Hives realm, that is all that would be felt. The Hive know no mercy, no restraint, they only wish to consume. Consume life. They feed off the essence of life itself, picking the proverbial bones from all that breaths. There are many creatures who feed like this. Some cherish blood, others fear, some... Love. Yet most are parasites, hitchhikers. The Hive are not, not anymore. That lust for living mass has driven them beyond the need to leach from others. They are independent. No longer a plague, no longer a scourge. Years of torment had seen to that. 

Oryx is gone. The Taken King is no more. He desired revenge against those who killed his offspring, and made the fatal mistake of misjudging his foe. Those humans were tenacious, frighteningly so. Just as they were before, and just as they should have continued to be. Whatever was responsible for the draining lives on. Somewhere out there, beyond the stars. Oryx may be gone, but there is still one to continue the Hives legacy. A two hundred thousand year old crusade for life. For mass. For growth. His name is Nokris, and he looks out to the black with hunger in his eyes. 

His throne is shrouded in dark magic, tendrils of ichor licking the solid stone around him, turning it to filthy crystals. Many bow before him, worshiping him as a god, a fitting title, for one who can move planets with his mind. A huge claw descends, scooping a lone thrall out of the grime. In one swift movement a gaping maw opens, and the thrall is gone. This process has been carried out for hundreds of years, feeding his strength, creating a monster to haunt the nightmares of monsters. A destination is set, a course plotted, and the journey is almost complete. A thousand years of hunger will not go unrewarded. He will soon feed, and when he does, nothing, not even those retched rings will stop him. 

Canterlot, Equestria. 11:56am 22/06/1000 AN  

Mathew sat cross legged on the soft grass, his cloak waving slightly in the mid day breeze. He brushed his hand through the short blades, feeling the green tips between his fingers. This place was so peaceful, it was how he had imagined Earth before the collapse, only instead of humans it was filled with small neon horses. His ghost hovered next to him, taking in the view of the countryside below them, the endless stretches of lush meadows and perfectly formed mountains. It was beautiful. 

They had retired from the hustle of the castle as Celestia gave the new arrivals the rundown. It was better that way, he didn't think he would have the heart to tell his story again, lest he risk tears. Mathew drummed his fingers on the top of his helmet as he rested his eyes, the rhythmic sound calming his nerves. He felt something soft brush his back and slowly craned his neck around, squinting to avoid the glare of the sun. The princess of the night took a graceful seat next to him, making sure not to disturb the precious silence. 

"Thank you..." She whispered. "Thank you for bringing me home."

Mathew reached up and began to scratch behind one of her ears, his gloved hands making short precise motions. Luna let out a content sigh, allowing the days stress to melt away.

"You don't have to thank us for anything, I don't think I could have forgiven myself if I had left you there."

Mathew continued to stare out at the vast landscape, his eyes trained on the small village in the distance. 

"This place is so pristine and polished, it's almost like its artificial." Remarked ghost, unintentionally ruining the atmosphere.

Luna leaned across Mathew to look at him. "How so?"

"I've been measuring and cataloging the data that the constructors collected, as well some of my own, and there doesn't seem to be any imperfections in anything, even down to the subatomic level. There isn't a single isotope or atomic variation, the only form of carbon on this entire planet is carbon 12. There's no pollution, no harmful bacteria, it's like the whole world has been sterilised. I can't even find even the slightest genetic mutation in any of these plants OR any of you."

Luna fixed him with a questioning gaze.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

Ghost hummed in thought.

"It's not bad per say, just really unnatural, forced if you will. Like someone came down here and picked out any imbalance or agent of change. I imagine this place has looked exactly the same for millions of years. Without those genetic mutations, nothing will have evolved into anything else, leaving a lot of questions about how it all got here in the first place."

"I don't know." Said Mathew, running his hand through his hair. "Maybe your overthinking this a bit, just enjoy the view for gods sake."

Luna laughed, causing them to laugh as well. In the distance a curtain of clouds spread apart revealing what was on the other side. A massive cloud structure floated slowly into the valley, casting a four mile wide shadow onto the grassland beneath. Mathew blinked, was he seeing things?

"Amazing... How does that even stay afloat, balloons?" Asked ghost.

Luna deadpanned him.

"Why would it need balloons to stay afloat? It's made out of cloud!"

Mathew squinted at the gargantuan white city coasting into the valley at reasonable speed, he could clearly make out what appeared to be homes as well as an assortment of other familiar structures. How could such a thing be made out of mere water vapour.

"That's not right. How would you walk on it? It would just collapse under your feet, or hooves in this case."

She stopped staring at ghost, who was still having a silent mental breakdown, and instead to Mathew, who continued to scratch deftly behind her ear. 

"I guess you could say it's magic." She said.

"Playing that old one are you? Well fine, have your secrets, I don't need em." Mathew replied.

He fiddled with a small pouch on his belt, his one free hand attempting to release the stubborn clasp. He got a grip on the leather flap and gave it a sharp tug, before reaching in and extracting a small cubic device. I pulled his scout rifle off his back and detached the simple holosight from the rail on top, slipping it into the now free leather pouch. The cube was set in it's place and instantly began expanding into a much longer scope. The now telescopic rifle was raised to his chest, giving him a much clearer view of the cloud city. He was beginning to make out the shapes of ponies when a large aqua eye blocked his view.

"Pray tell, what is this device for?" Luna looked curiously at his gun, inspecting the sleek white design.

"It's called a rifle, it's a weapon." Luna's head tilted in confusion. Mathew sighed. "Here I'll show you."

He lowered the Suros and popped out the magazine, the bronze bullets gleaming against the matte back of the cartridge.

"These are called bullets, the rifle can launch these at high speeds, hitting targets much further away than would be possible with a sword or a bow. It basically means that you don't have to get close to something if you want to kill it."

Luna reeled back in disgust.

"So what your saying is that they would have no chance to defend themselves?!" Mathew nodded. "That's so dishonourable, to kill without giving your adversary a chance to fight back. That would have been punishable back in my day."

Mathew just laughed. "I'm afraid warfare took a turn for the worse a lot further back in humanities history, it stopped being about honour well before even my time. Our wars were about survival, not about testing your metal. Weapons like this are pretty much the standard where I come from."

Luna was conflicted, years on the battlefield had allowed her to perfect her skills with a blade, knowing that every strike would equal a kill. She remembers the rush of adrenaline as the opposing army charged, the wind in her face as she plowed through them, cutting their ranks like a hot knife through butter. The wars were often short, played out in one, massive, battle, both sides walking away worse for wear. There's no doubt that this 'rifle' would have saved countless of her allies lives, maybe even guaranteed victory, but at the cost of all she stood for. Would it have really been a good trade? 

"Why were you aiming it at the city? Surely your intent was not to-"

"What? No no, of course not Luna, I was just using it to get a better view, come and see."

Luna leaned in close to Mathews chest and gazed down the scope, squeezing one of her eyes shut in the process. She could see crowds of pegasi milling about, most heading to work at the nearby weather factory.

"So if that weapon designed to 'kill' things far away, why do you need a sword?"

Mathew smiled. "Because sometimes far away just doesn't cut it."

Ghost, who had recovered from his shock, let out a synthetic snort at the pitiful attempt at humour. Luna simply rolled her eyes and turned back to the horizon. They stayed like that for a while, drinking in the sound of silence. The moment was brought to an end by the approach of one of the castles royal guards, a small pegasus who looked as though he had been sent on some sort of suicide mission. His legs shook as he approached, flinching at every tiny movement Mathew made.

"U-um hi. T-the princess wishes to see you." 

With a grunt Mathew rose from his sitting position and stood above the guard, causing him to back away in fear. This made the human crack a smile.

"You know I won't bite, right? Well, unless I'm hungry, in which case..."

The guards ears flattened against his head as he began to trot backwards at a faster pace. Mathews sly grin sending his fight or flight instincts into overdrive.

"I might just have to have a little snack... And I've heard pegasi is just delectable..."

The poor soldiers eyes shrunk to pinpricks, what little resolve he had left snapping. He let out a scared squee as his eyes rolled back into his skull and he hit the deck, taking out a nearby potted plant in the process. Luna broke into an uncontrollable chortle, rolling around with her hooves in the air.

"I almost feel bad for him." Said Mathew, his act dropping. "Almost."

The guardian slowly bent down and picked up the armoured pony, even with the plating he weighed little more than a dog. Luna pulled herself up out of the grass and began to walk out of the gardens, Mathew following close behind. 

"So what do you plan on doing now your back? I mean won't you have princess-y stuff to be getting on with?"

Luna shifted her gaze up to the human, who had the guard snuggled close to his chest. 

"I imagine I may take over the duty of the night. Though there will need to be a small transition period, just while sister gets things sorted out."

Mathew nodded. He didn't know much about royalty, but he knew that getting the populace to just accept a new ruler after a thousand years was going to be a tough pill to swallow. Especially after his arrival. 

"There will also need to be a meeting of the treaty holders at some point, regarding both of us that is." Luna continued. "At least if that's still around, sister could have done away with it years ago."

"The treaty holders? Who are they?" 

Luna thought for a moment.

"The treaty was an old declaration of peace between Equestria and Griffonia, both powers signed and an alliance was formed. Over time more kingdoms were introduced and the alliance began to grow." 

They passed under the arch the lead to the garden courtyard, the area was still littered with crates, many of which were lying open to the air. They continued through without incident.

"The ambassadors meet once every two months to discuss the various events occurring within each of our kingdoms, as well as any new laws that need passed or decisions that need to be made. In the situation that something concerns all of the members, like a large alien monkey and his equally large starship, then an emergency meeting will be called, allowing for all the members to contribute to a solution."

"So it's like a kind of round table, only with ponies, and stuff."

"I guess you could say that."

They began walking up the long pristine white stairs of the castle, boots and hooves echoing around the garden.

"So who's all part of this treaty? Just so I know."

"Well, back before I was banished there were six members. Us, obviously, the Griffon empire, the Minotaur tribes, the Zebra tribes, the Diamond dog packs and the Dragon clans. More may have joined though."

Mathew had an intense thousand yard stare going, this place just got stranger and stranger. He shook himself out of his stupor. 

"Well, okay. As long as I'm not on trial for anything."

Luna shook her head.

"On the contrary, I imagine they'll all be very eager to meet you, especially the griffons. You are the first alien to visit after all."

By now they had made their way inside the castle, walking down the long pale hallway towards the throne room. The guard was beginning to stir in Mathews grasp.

"Looks like our passenger is beginning to wake up, let's pick up the pace a we bit."

Luna nodded as they started to jog, the stallion bouncing slightly as they went. Soon the tall ornate doors of the throne room came into view, the gold intricacies reflecting sunbeams across the washed walls. Voices could be heard leaking out from the cracks, allowing Mathew to hear the conversation as he approached.

"Am tellin' ya princess ah don't trust em, the both of em. There's just somethin' off about the big fella, not to mention it-"

"HE, Applejack, his name is Mathew." Interjected Celestia. "And he has done our nation a great service."

"By bringing back Nightmare moon! How is that a great service! That creature endangered all of us!"

Luna froze, her eyes widening in shock. Mathew stared straight ahead, his hand pressed firmly on the door, he wasn't planning on entering until he heard Celestia's response. 

"Not to mention what it did to Twilight! That things a danger-"

"Get out."

"Excuse me princess?"

"Get out of my throne room."

There was a deathly silence, every second seaming to take hours.

"BOTH OF YOU GET OUT NOW!" 

The sound of hooves slipping on marble echoed from within the hall as two bodies race to leave. Mathew grabbed Luna with his one free hand and pulled her down an adjacent corridor, hopefully out of sight. The great doors flung open and the ponies in question raced passed, Mathew spotted the rainbow maned pegasus from the courtyard, along with another pony in an odd looking hat. Celestia's booming voice started up again.

"Now if anypony else has any concerns revolving around my sister or our guest then please, by all means, make them heard."

The tension in the air unfathomably thick, like breathing soup. It didn't look like anyone had anything worth saying.

"Excellent." The princesses voice raised. "You can come in now you two, or well three I suppose."

Damn, looks like they'd been spotted, not that it really mattered. Mathew slowly walked towards the door, making sure not to wake the guard in his arms. He crossed the threshold of the mighty frame and stood, as gracefully as one can expect, facing into the room. There was moment of complete stillness as both parties stared at each other with a mixture of awe and fear. Mathew was about to break the ice when a number of things happened. 

The guard woke himself up with a snort, only to take a good long look at the human holding him in his arms. This was closely followed by a swift kick to the jaw. Mathew squawked in surprise as he stumbled backwards several feet, dropping his helmet under him, right into the path of a large number of decorative spears. The small sentry forced his way out of the now weakened hold, shoving Mathew further towards the pointed end of a sun themed pike. In a final unfortunate turn of events, he tripped over his fallen helmet, and was rewarded with an extremely sharp object right through the back of his exposed neck. He slumped to the floor, the jagged blade poking out from under his chin. The entire room stood stock still, mouths agape, completely silent. 

"I-is he dead p-princess?"

As if to answer the question, Mathews eyes rolled back in his head and his body slowly faded in a flicker of light. The hall erupted into chaos. Rarity screamed, her voice reaching octaves that not even the Will of Crota could surpass. Fluttershy passed out, her body making a dull thunk as it hit the polished floor. Pinky Pie burst into tears, waterfalls of salty liquid drenching the floor around her. Twilight was still, until one of her eyelids started flicking rapidly, loose strands of mane popping out at different angles.

"This is fine, everything is fine."

She then proceeded to curl up into a ball and rock back and forth. Celestia just sat, unmoving, her eyes fixed on the spot where Mathew had just been. Luna stuck her head round the door, having just pulled herself up off the ground.

"Sister! What in Equestria is going on?!"

The sun princess didn't respond, she didn't even look up, she just sat and stared. What? How?

"Tia, where is Mathew?" 

"I-I, he was- He was there, he- He fell and then-"

She looked up at her Luna, and then back down at the pile of spears, one of which had a viscous white fluid dripping off the end. He just died, just like that, the last of his kind, in a household accident. How? Her train of thought was interrupted as a blue glow began to emanate from the mound, and slowly, Mathews ghost emerged. He sighed and began to open up into a ball of brilliant light, swirling with traces of many colours. Celestia braced herself for the worst, expecting him to attack. Instead he snapped shut in a flash, stunning the princess. When her eyes adjusted she saw something she couldn't believe.

"Gah! I hate that!" Said Mathew, shaking himself about. "That's the second time in two days! God..."

The whole room just gaped at him.

"D-did you just... Resurrect yourself?" Stuttered Twilight.

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I guess I did, honestly I wish I didn't have to but... Ya know..."

Several more mane strands popped out as the chipper unicorn began to laugh manically. 

"Hehe yeah, that's funny, it's funny right guys. Haha, the talking alien monkey that can come back from the dead, hehe what a joke!"

Mathew raised his hands as the small pony began to saunter towards him.

"It's not like resurrection is a class twelve spell that has never been casted successfully and is presumed to be impossible to complete. Not to mention it takes dozens of highly trained wizards to even get the spell started, hehe it's funny, and you just casted it on yourself. While you were dead. Hehe that's not magically possible. You are not magically possible."

She had Mathew up against the wall now, staring up at him with a hungry expression.

"Um, okay little unicorn, it's time for some personal space now. Yes personal space, please move back a few feet thanks." Said the human, who was attempting to get round the obviously insane mare.

Rarity cut in. "Twilight dear, maybe you should do as he asks. He looks pretty uncomfortable." 

Twilights head spun around to face her, making some very questionable snapping sounds in the process. 

"Oh but don't you see Rarity, he wants to help with my research. I'm going to get to study a real live alien, oh I can't wait!"

"That's, lovely darling, but maybe you should calm down first... Your acting a bit..."

Pinky Pie, now completely dry of tears, appeared out of seemingly no where, her head popping over Mathews shoulder.

"Crazy? Loopy? Loco in the coco?" 

Mathew jumped in surprise. 

"SWEET MERCIFUL FUCK! Where the hell did you come from!"

"OhmygoshI'msosorryIdidn'tmeantoscareyoupleasedontfalloverandhurtyourselfagain."

"Pinky get off him! I need him in prime condition to get the most accurate results!"

"I don't think that's the best idea Twilight-"

"Well of course it is! How will I document his sleeping patterns if I can't-"

"Oh my gosh! I forgot your 'Welcome to Equestria/Welcome back from the dead' party! What colour of balloons do you-"

"ENOUGH!" 

Celestia's voice ripped through the mares incessant babbling. 

"Get off of him, NOW!"

Pinky clambered down from his back and stood next to her friends, who's faces seemed white with fear. 

"All of you are completely out of line, get yourselves under control. Do I make myself clear?"

They all nodded rapidly. 

"Good. Now Mathew." The dazed human brought his eyes up to hers. "How did you perform that spell?"

Huh, he had really never thought about it. Luckily he didn't need to bother.

"Allow me princess." Said ghost, who had materialised over Mathews head. "It is my connection to the light that allows for Mathew to restore his body and armour even after they have been completely destroyed, how I am able to do this remains a mystery to me, though I do know that this ability is affected by my distance to a light source. The further away from the source I am, the longer the revival process takes, until eventually I cannot cast it at all.

Celestia's horn glowed as she probed Mathews body for magical imbalances.

"W-what is this? Impossible. Your body is seething with wild magic, the kind that permeates the Everfree forest. It is suppost to be uncontrollable and violent, how can this be."

Mathew perked up at the mention of magic. 

"I thought I didn't have any magic, only light."

His ghost turned around to face him, his single eye narrowing.

"That's just it, I've been taking measurements of everything that supposedly contains magic, and all of it seems to be a sort of weak, but refined version of what we know as light. The spells, the flight, everything. That only leaves one possible conclusion."

All eyes were on him.

"Both of them are the same thing."






 










 
















> Chapter 10: Curiosity killed the unicorn
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot, Equestria. 2:34pm 22/06/1000 AN

It's often said meaningful interaction with another being can mean the difference between life and death. That, in moments of extreme danger, a kind word of encouragement can change the course of someone's fate for the better. This statement is about as true as it gets. Interaction with another being does mean the difference between life and death, and in Mathews case, the current meaningful interaction was going to be the death of him. For good.

It had all started so innocently, with a meagre request for a little bit of knowledge, passed from one person to another. A simple exchange, one that had seen the start of many great friendships throughout history. Pity the fool who starts this conversation with Twilight Sparkle. Today that fool, or fools, was Mathew and his ghost, who had, unfortunately, caught the attention of the plucky purple bookworm through various feats as of late, and they were now paying for their ignorance. 

"So what does an ammo synthesis do exactly?"

For Mathew, this simple cultural exchange had become one of the most tedious experiences of recent memory, everything about it was making his brain bleed. They had been through all sorts of stuff, most of it boring. He had spent a solid twenty minutes explaining the functionality behind each of his pieces of armour, as well as what each of the designs signified. Normally this would have been a pleasure, but when each piece had to be removed, and meticulously studied, even though it could be perfectly examined while still on his body. Let's just say that patience begins to run thin. At least He had Pinky Pie to talk to, or more accurately, to get talk at by. Ghost on the other hand, was having the time of his life. 

"Well, an ammunition synthesis package basically allows me to create ammunition for Mathews weapons when we are out in the field. The case contains the necessary blue prints for the type of ammunition as well as some of the harder to find materials, the rest can be extracted from the surrounding area."

It wasn't often he got to talk to someone who was genuinely interested in the way many of his abilities functioned. Mathew, like most guardians, seemed to take it for granted that if they used an ammo synth, they would suddenly find that their guns were full, and go back to shooting. Very few actually thought to ask about why things happened as they did. Not that he minded, Mathew often had other things on his mind during combat. Twilight, however, was proving a worthy audience, furiously scribbling down any scrap of information she could attain.

"Yes, yes. Oh this is wonderful! Information from another world! Just think of the scientific merit this has, I'll need to compile these notes into a journal.

Ghost simply blinked in understanding, waiting for her to ask another question. She finished jotting down some reminders and turned to Mathew, who was trying to get a word in though Pinky's constant barrage of party talk. 

"And do you know what the worst part is? He didn't even eat the whole thing! It just went to waste-"

"Mathew? Could I ask you a few questions, please?"

No one could say no to those eyes, even if they really wanted to. 

"Sure, what do you want to know." 

Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Could you maybe tell me about your world? What it was like?"

Images flashed before his eyes as all his features hardened up. He saw the wall, the traveller, his lost friends. How they were all destroyed.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean-"

Then it all stopped. He was back in the throne room, with a teary eyed unicorn looking up at him.

"Hey, hey. Don't cry... It's okay, I need to get it out of my system anyway. What would you like hear first." 

Twilight's fearful expression softened. She rubbed the tears out of her eyes with her hoof and smiled up at him.

"Well I was wondering if you could tell what it looked like, like the landscape."

Huh, that wouldn't be to hard.

"Well, it changed a lot depending on where you were, but it was always sight to see. My favourite spot was on one of the neighbouring planets, Venus. The grass there was so unnaturally green, as were all the plants. I used to go and sit under this one small tree near a Vex citadel, it was up so high, like you were on top of the world. You could see for miles, all the way out to across the Ishtar sink, it was nice and quiet. My home planet was different though, most of it was littered with wreckage from past conflicts, there was a few places there that remained untouched, but none worth mentioning, and no matter where I went it always seemed to be snowing." 

Twilight finished writing down her notes and looked back up at Mathew, a big smile on her face.

"Thank you, I know that must have been hard." She said. "Just remember, if you ever need to talk to anyone..." She slipped a piece of paper across the floor towards him. It had what appeared to be an address, neatly printed in ink. "You know where to find me."

Mathew grinned and patted her lightly on the head. "Thanks Twilight, I may just take you up on that."

They were interrupted by the arrival of the princesses, who had been out giving a word to the outlying members of the elements of harmony, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Mathew didn't trust those two, as he was sure they didn't trust him, but he knew that he at least needed to make an attempt to be friendly. After his little 'accident' earlier, Rarity had taken Fluttershy to the castle infirmary for a check up, he was rigorously insured that she was fine, but he still felt it was his fault.

"Ah, it looks like the questioning has already begun." Said Celestia, who was taking the long route around a precarious stack of parchment. "May I ask what has already been covered."

"Mathew was just telling me a bit about his home." Replied Twilight.

The solar diarch shot a concerned glance at her sister before leaning in close to Mathew.

"Are you okay? I don't want this to put any pressure on you, I am aware that my faithful student can sometimes get a little too... 'Faithful'."

Mathew shook his head in reply.

"It's been fine, I was going to need to talk about it sooner or later, so I figured, why not get it over with."

"As long as your comfortable, let me know if it gets to much for you." 

The human laughed.

"I've taken on armies, I'm sure I can handle one little unicorn."

Celestia just smirked.

"Then you don't know Twilight Sparkle."

She stood up straight and walked across the room, taking a seat in the massive sun themed throne nearby.

"Go on then, I shan't keep you."

Mathew turned back to Twilight, who was holding an alarmingly familiar object up to her eye. Held within her purple telekinetic grasp was his omolon fusion rifle, and she was peering down the barrel like it was a cavern that needed exploring.

"Twilight! Don't point that at yourself!"

The element of magic flinched at her name being called, instead opting to aim the weapon at Mathew. 

"NO! Don't point it at me either! Just, put it on the ground, okay?"

She complied, placing the rifle on the ground and sliding if over to Mathew with her magic.

"What's wrong? I was only looking at it. I wasn't going to break it or anything." She paused, staring at the glossy black paint that covered the item. "Could you at least tell me what it is?"

Mathew picked up his gun and held it at his chest. He was sitting cross legged so it was just at the right height for the small pony to get a clear view.

"It's a weapon, it's called a fusion rifle."

Twilight's eyes widened.

"FUSION! Like, nuclear fusion!"

"Yes that kind of fusion, and that's exactly why I don't want you messing with it."

Luna, who had been watching from the sidelines, chose her time to make an approach.

"How many weapons do you need! Even during battle I wouldn't carry as much as that."

"I like to have one for every situation, just in case I need to engage from a multitude of distances and angles." Replied Mathew.

"I guess that makes sense, what does this one do then? Cause ponies heads to explode? Rip holes in time and space?"

"You can do that?!" Interjected Twilight.

Mathew chuckled, his hand finding its way down to the cartridge at the bottom.

"No, fortunately not, although that would be pretty neat. It's called a fusion rifle because that's what it does. It creates fusion."

Mathew pressed a button on the magazine, and watched as the clear purple liquid flowed seamlessly out out of the reaction chamber. He pulled the now full pack out of the rifle and tossed it at Luna, who caught it in her magic. She regarded the capsule with suspicion.

"Are you sure you should be tossing this thing around, it looks dangerous, and not all of us can just come back to life whenever we want you know."

The guardian waved his hand dismissively. 

"Oh, I dunno. Are ponies allergic to sea water or something, if so then you better be careful."

"No we are not, at least I do not think so, I'm unsure of what medical science has uncovered while I was absent."

Ghost approached and hovered inches away from Luna's scrunched muzzle. He shot out a scanning beam which struck her right on the nose, causing the alicorn to flinch. 

"No, I can safely say that you are not allergic to sea water, though I would refrane from drinking it. It'll probably have some adverse affects on your conscience."

Twilight had returned to her notes and was now scribbling down a crude a sketch of the weapon before her.

"So your saying that this thing can create a fusion reaction, out of sea water, in that small of a space."

"Well there's a bit of helium-3 in the mixture but essentially, yes." Replied Mathew absentmindedly.

"Prove it."

A deep silence hung over the room as the human and the unicorn locked eyes. Celestia sat forward on her throne, this could be interesting.

"What do you mean 'prove it'."

Twilight's competitive smirk grew.

"Prove it, because I think it's a load of horse apples. Fusion is impossible anywhere but in the core of a star, and yet you claim that this tiny device can create a fusion reaction out of something as simple as sea water! That's pretty rich, even by science fiction standards."

Mathew puffed his cheeks out in frustration.

"Okay, little unicorn, let me ask you. Who arrived in a spaceship this morning, and who took the train."

Now it was Twilights turn to get angry.

"That doesn't mean anything! Your craft could be operating on any number of magical systems, systems that are already in place all around Equestria! To believe that something of that size could operate on anything else is pure madness!" 

She finished her statement with a dismissive snort, only serving to infuriate Mathew, who was about ready to point the rifle at her and prove it that way. 

"Ghost, how exactly does the Lich, wait, scrap that. How exactly does the Long Far Gone operate!"

Ghost dug through his telemetry link to the ship, searching for the engine schematics. 

"According to the ship's schematics, it has three slip space drives, two of which are currently in a low power state, that allow for interstellar travel, with a fuel scoop that can extend to collect fuel from nearby stars. Sub-light is governed by a large octa-core fusion system, producing enough energy in one minute to power every device on this planet..."

Twilight was open mouthed.

"For a thousand years."

"Wha-how... No! I refuse to believe it, energy like that can only come from magic! There's no way that's true!" Stammered Twilight.

Mathew, being the competitive hunter he was, had sensed his advantage, and he wasn't letting it slip away.

"Well it says right here that's how it works, are you going to attempt to argue with a computer system developed be an age old empire, or are you just going to accept the truth."

Twilight was beginning to grow red with frustration, making Mathews sly smile increase ten fold. Pinky, who had been watching the exchange with no small part of enthusiasm, misunderstood Mathews smile as being one of joy, and began to smile to, making the lavender unicorn shiver with rage.

"There is no way that ANYPONY, could have invented ANY OF THIS!" She punctuated her sentence with a slam of her hoof, which echoed around the silent room.

Princess Celestia could sense where this was going, and she didn't like it. She knew how agitated Twilight could get when presented with something she didn't understand, and it wasn't pretty. Mathew leaned in close, his smug face filling his opposition with unbridled fury. 

"Well that's just to bad, because last time I checked... I wasn't a pony."

That was the straw that broke the camels back. Twilight let out a scream of anger and lept up into the air, her mane and tail erupting into a torrent of flames. Mathew scrambled backwards in surprise, slamming his helmet onto his exposed head. She floated there for a second, solar energy spiralling around her, before slowly descending, her coat returning to its normal colour. Her hooves made contact with the ground, her eyes darting around, panting with rage.

Mathew stared at her in disbelief. Everyone else seemed remarkably unfazed.

"Are... Are you like, okay?" He stuttered.

Twilight didn't answer, she just continued to twitch erratically.

"So, I'll take that as a... Yes?"

Celestia disembarked her throne and trotted down next to Mathew.

"Just give her a minute, she's just coming to terms with everything you've told her."

As if on cue, the purple protagonist loosened up and the wild, unorganised, look left her eyes. However, it replaced with an arguably much more terrifying expression, self-confidence.

"I have come to the conclusion that the information provided to you, Mathew, must have been in some way, inaccurate."

Both Mathew and Celestia's faces fell.

"Or maybe not."

Mathew resisted the urge to face palm, but the lavender science-pony wasn't quite finished.

"And, that the only way of informing you of the truth, is to categorise and study each of the devices you have brought with you!"

Mathew's resistance shattered, his visor almost did as well.

"No! That's not happening! There will be no messing around with alien weapons and vehicles, not on my watch."

Pinky leaned in.

"Your not wearing a watch, silly!"

"I believe Mathew was using an expression Miss Pinkamena." Said ghost, who was oblivious to the humans massacre themed thoughts.

"You can just call me Pinky, all my friends do, it's waaaaaaaay easier."

Ghost logged the new data before turning back to his fuming companion. 

"Why not Mathew, I, for one, believe that this could be great for all of us, including you. Why not see if we can learn about each other through a constructive and repetitive task, I've heard it does wonders for the mind."

Luna was next to through her 'crown' into the ring. 

"I wouldn't mind a closer look at some of the odd items in there, who knows there may be something of benefit to us."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to have a little look, I was certainly curious when stepped out of your craft for the first time." Said Celestia confidently. Mathew shot his ghost a stern glare. 

"Ghost, can I talk to you for a second. In private."

The little light nodded and disappeared, leaving several of the halls occupants rather confused. They waited for Mathew to retreat to the other side of the room to have his 'private' conversation, until he started emoting wildly.

"What's he doing sister?" Whispered Luna.

"I'm unsure, it could be a form of sign themed communication." 

Mathew began pointing at them and shaking his hands about.

"Is he talking about us now?" 

"Shh, Luna. Let's see how this plays out, we could learn something."

"It looks like a kind of dance." Pondered Twilight. "I wonder if I could get him to perform it at Spike's birthday party."

Little did they know, that Mathew had simply soundproofed his helmet, and was now having a very heated discussion with his own 'number one' assistant.

"They will be going nowhere near ANY of that stuff, who knows what could happen."

"I do, I know what all of the weapons in there are capable of, I know how all the vehicles operate. There is no danger letting them look."

"And what if one of them does something stupid, eh? What then? Do you want us to be responsible for slightly more that putting the poor little pests in the hospital."

"You know I seem to recall you giving a certain Princess a plasma based sword earlier this morning, or did my single light sensor deceive me."

"I- well- Ugh, you got me there. Was that a bad idea, should I take it off her?"

"I don't see why, she seemed to know her way about it, and I doubt it'll get used for anything more that a mantel decoration. That is why there's absolutely no harm in showing them, it might even help build trust. If we're going to be here for the indefinite future, then getting on good terms with the locals is a top priority."

Mathew sighed.

"What about the Sentinels?"

"What about them?"

"How can we be sure they won't just attack blindly again."

"Because they didn't the first time."

"But they-"

"-did what you ordered them to, guard the premises, and deter anybody who gets too close."

"I ordered non lethal force ONLY!"

"There is such a thing called self preservation you know, and it's not just exclusive to organics, most likely those Sentinels had been designed to forego any direct orders in the name of keeping themselves active, they were only doing what they were programmed to do."

Mathew hadn't thought of that, just another thing to the long list of things he didn't think about. A certain purple orb wandered from somewhere within that list. Exuberant. What was he going to do with her? Or more likely, what was she going to do with him. That monitor had already been shown to negate certain details from her cryptic explanations, but why? What was going on here? This planet seemed so familiar, like he'd seen it before somewhere, and then there was the flags, and the magic. She was hiding something, and the first chance he got he was getting some answers. If that started with showing his new companions some interesting tech then so be it. 

"Okay, I'm game, but if this all goes sideways-"

"Which it won't." 

"But if it does, then just know I said I told you so."

"Affirmative."

Mathew deactivated his helmet soundproofing, allowing noises from the outside to flow in. He turned back to his new friends, two of which appeared to be standing on their hind legs, attempting to mimic his stance, badly. 

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to copy your dance, it looked really super dooper fun." Murmured Pinky, who had her tounge stuck out in concentration.

"Ha, which one?" 

It's considered common knowledge that guardians have a certain fondness of dancing, whether it be a celebratory jig at the end of a hard won sparrow race, or deep behind enemy lines, often in very questionable locations. Mathew was no exception.

"The one you were performing there, with your claws." Said Twilight, who teetered but regained her balance.

Mathew looked down at his gloved fingers.

"First of all they're called hands, don't ever forget that, and second of all, what are you talking about."

"You were moving about erratically, we assumed it was a form of dance or sign communication."

Mathew burst out laughing, a long drawn out chuckle as he struggled to compose himself.

"You- You thought I was dancing, oh that's rich, thanks for the best laugh I've had in a while Sparkle."

Twilight didn't see the humour.

"Well if you weren't dancing, what were you doing."

"I was yelling a my ghost, but dancing sounds ok I guess."

"Oh,oh! Were you silent yelling, that's Mrs Cakes favourite kind of yelling. She likes to play that game with me all the time, and she's soooo good a it, I'll never be able to beat her." Recalled Pinky. Mathew began to wonder if this pony was on any form of medication, and if not then he could think of many that might help... Quell, some of this insanity.

"No I wasn't doing that either, I just soundproofed my helmet so I could talk it private." He explained.

"So he was inside your helmet."

"What! No. Well, not really, but at the same time yea-" Mathew felt himself switch to ramble mode. Today just got inexplicably longer.

Long Far Gone, Equis orbit. 3:14pm 22/06/1000 AN

Exuberant Witness coasted casually through the narrow corridors that made up the ship's service tunnels, whistling a cheery tune to herself. She had just finished repairing a small terminal that controlled one of the doors, a tiny minimalistic error that was one of the few and far between issues with the sub-systems. The Sentinels wouldn't allow for anything major to build up. She could have sent one of her drones to deal with minor malfunction, but she enjoyed fixing things, she was a builder after all. 

That wasn't the only reason she had come down here though. There was something she needed to do, and it wasn't something she enjoyed. The service tunnel came to fork, and she instinctively chose left, her logical mind attempting to push her further away from that ghastly section of the ship. She reversed and proceeded right, down the dimly lit hallway. Why did she have to do this? It was irrational, stupid, and extremely dangerous, but her creators had programmed it into her. The hallway began to glow with the light of preservation chambers, the eerie blue pulses casting shadows onto the deck. She could feel herself being pulled away, all of her senses trying to force her to leave, but she was no longer in control. 

As she journeyed further into the complex, more of the chambers began to unlock, revealing what was inside. There was a myriad of bizzare objects ranging from weapons to bits of bodies. She passed one that caught her eye. Though it was foggy she could just about make out the jagged shape of a changling queen's horn. Queen Chitus wouldn't be needing it anyway. Exuberant knew she was only distracting herself from her true goal. As she approached the back of the chamber she found herself stopping outside a heavily fortified door. She just couldn't bring herself to go through, so she turned to her right. 

She kept this particular preservation tube here for a single purpose, to give her hope. It worked for human soldiers, and she felt that the object held within was a symbol that things would indeed get better. Even if they looked bleak. She dragged herself away from the silver capsule, which held a relic more precious than all the gold in the Canterlot treasury. A battered and old helmet, once worn by the greatest warrior in history, and a piece of humanity's history that will always be remembered, even after they're gone.

The massive indigo door began to unlock, the sound of thousands of tiny mechanisms working themselves apart. The barricade slowly retracted, as what looked like the entire wall slid away. There was no complex designs here, not for something as deadly as this. Exuberant floated forwards, putting herself on auto pilot, the less she saw, the less she would have to remember. This was no place for the faint of heart, and she was reminded of the every time she forced herself down here.

For inside that chamber, resided the remnants of the most evil forces in the galaxy. All the darkness that has ever existed, could be found within it's walls. Exuberant felt a familiar sensation wash over her form, it was cold, unfeeling, hungry. She passed an object held within a gravity well, she could feel it's single dead eye watching her. Against her will, she turned to face the cracked and broken shape, 343 Guilty Spark stared blindly back, his metal frame singed beyond recognition. She was reminded of better times, before all of this madness. When she was but a young AI, following orders that were easy to understand. 

This was no way to be, she needed to keep focused, and her pain was far from over. The monitor continued down the long hallway, passing various dark and horrific relics. A shard of the composer, a Vex goblin head, the stolen blade of a dead hive god. This continued until she reached the far end of the chamber, which had to be the darkest place in the galaxy. Two pillars stood there, like monoliths of the night. Both had, perched atop them, a single preservation chamber. She could feel the blight leaking from them, urging her to stay back. Within one, floated a small, weak looking, creature. It's skin was pale and yellow, and it seemed slick with grime. It's long wiry feelers topped with red tufts. The last known, true, harbinger of death. Exuberant shuddered as she turned to the next container, which contained something of a whole different nature.

Hovering inside the glass cylinder, was a chip. A chip with a single hole through its center, a chip that was extracted from her relic of hope. A chip represented everything she fought against. Exuberant could feel her, like she was still there, still hanging over her. Planning to torment the galaxy with her false promises of peace and prosperity. She would never understand why the humans chose to name their protecters, their life saving wielders of the arcana, guardians. After all that monster did to them. Even now, her retched creations still haunt the galaxy, bending it to their desire. Those were dark times, and she knew they were still out there, hunting her. It wouldn't be long before she was found.

Exuberant finished taking the required scans, and as always, considered destroying them. It would be so easy, she could have the infection form incinerated, and the chip simply smashed to smithereens. It was then that she remembered why they were kept. For study, for science, the same study that ultimately lead to her creators downfall. She couldn't just throw them away, it was against protocol, and protocol was all she had left.

Canterlot, Equestria 9:37pm 22/06/1000 AN

Mathew had honestly expected the worst when he had invited them into the Lich. He had expected to be cleaning up un unclean-able mess, but, much to his suprise, most of Twilights tests proceeded without consequence. She had a couple more foaming at the mouth moments when she couldn't find any magic in any of the weapons, and she dropped some of the chemicals in the bio lab, but otherwise it would have been considered a great success. He was now lying drowsily against the newly named 'spectre' that he had been given by Exuberant, the largest of his small collection of ground based vehicles.

"Well." Said Celestia, who was organising a pile of homeless rifles. "This is certainly the most appealing arsenal I've ever seen, the colours are just beautiful."

Mathew sat up from the small troop transport brushed his hand over the smooth pink alloy. Whoever Covenant were, they certainly knew how to create some impressive designs. When he had first started testing the odd firearms, he certainly hadn't expected much. They looked to artistic to produce any real damage, and some of the concepts seemed outlandish and impractical. Then he started firing them. The power was indescribable, launchers that propelled nuclear fuel rods, rifles that fired pure plasma. It was insane. He had become rather fond of one particular carbine, as it had been converted to fire blamite crystals instead of the regular fuel rounds. Mathew held it in his hands, admiring the pristine red paint job.

"Yeah, you've got that right." He said, looking down the blue holosight.

The Sentinels hadn't been a problem either. Just as his ghost said, they weren't going out of their way to attack ponies, it was just another case of wrong place, wrong time. In fact, when Fluttershy had been discharged from the hospital, she had rushed down to see them, and had Mathew in a bone crushing hug. She was now sitting outside in the grass, a small swarm of constructors flowing around her, they were lifting up bits of her mane, and scanning parts of her body, but she didn't seem to mind. She spent most of the time giggling, and trying to catch them with her hooves. The other elements had also returned, and while Rarity had claimed fawning over objects designed to kill was 'uncouth', even she had been attracted by th unique light show. 

Rainbow Dash had kept her distance, obviously still untrusting of Mathew, or maybe just the ship in general, but he could see just how much she wanted to come over and join in. Applejack had approached and apologised for what she had said, and Mathew could see that she meant it. He wasn't naive, he could understand that meeting a 6 foot tall alien could perhaps be a little daunting, and he wasn't about to hold it against her.

"You know, I don't think I could have wound up anywhere better." 

Celestia, who had just finished organising the last of the stray weapons, looked up and smiled.

"I'm glad you think so Mathew, Equestria is lucky to have you." 

The human let out a soft chuckle and lay back against the spectre, watching as the sun made it's slow approach to the horizon. 






































> Interlude: A causal loop...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is time? Is it the displacement of subatomic particles, the path of electrons around a nucleus? Is it the unavoidable and continuous inevitability that one thing will lead to the next and that that too will lead to the next? Or is it merely a grounded and ultimately terrestrial way of thinking that makes existing comprehendable for those with limited lifespan and cognitive ability?

When you view time do you compare it to a corridor where each step closes a door behind you, trapping you forever within the confines of what is considered the present? Or do you willingly choose to avoid the thought, given that such a subject matter can be confusing and disarming to you, as it makes you process you own mortality?

In truth time is none of these things. It is not a corridor of closure, or a difinitive and binding concept that strings us to our place in history. No. Time is like a cog. It can move forwards, and does so at a regular pace. But contrary to popular belief it can infact be reversed, even stopped entirely. 

Every moment I spend within this beautiful and abandoned place brings me closer to uncovering the true meaning behind the never ending cogs of time. My findings will no doubt be astonishing, and the fruits of my labour are already beginning to blossom. I wish to create something that will mark it's place within the confines of time, an instrument of both war and courage. Just like the one that was taken from me. It will be the bane of those in the 'future', and the sickness of those in the 'past'. For they will come to know it by a name.

The ever vexing...

Mythoclast.  
> Chapter 11: Sleep, eat, fight, repeat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Badlands, Equestria. 1:43am 23/06/1000

The Badlands are often regarded by the ponies of Equestria as place of fear, where the sand is so arid that not even the most determined of plants can grow. This, while technically accurate, is not entirely true, for the Badlands are home to many different kinds of creatures. The most prevalent of which has to be the Badland changlings. Changlings are not native to Equestria, in fact they hail from a part of Equis that not even the all seeing eye of princess Celestia had discovered.

Queen Chrysalis was particularly proud of that, it  wasn't often that something confused that sad excuse for a leader, and it made her happy that she would remain part of that ever shrinking list. She couldn't even be bothered wasting thought on her, why should she? Here she sat, on her chitin throne surrounded by her changlings, who loved her as though she was their own mother, which she was. Chrysalis would never think to ask for anything in the way of pamper, she would never ask them to bend over backwards to provide for her, and she most certainly wouldn't have them pull her around on solid gold chariot, what did that thing way, like ten tonnes? No, she loved her children too much for any of that.

A door at the back of her throne room opened, and a single changling walked timidly through. He had a crisp envelope pulled close to his chest, and as he approached, he extended it out to her.

"My Queen, we have received a letter from the... Equestrians."

Ah, it's that time again. The background chatter increased, as all the changlings waited for her response. Chrysalis's eyes narrowed and she held up her hoof, silencing the masses.

"Thank you my child, be about you duties."

The changling gave a quick salute and wandered back to whence he came. The changling queen used her magic to carelessly rip open the letter, sending the ornate wax seal tumbling down the steps of her throne. It circled around on the floor for a moment before coming to rest upright, revealling the seal of the two sisters, something that Chrysalis had not seen for a long time. It caused her to stop.

"May I have a moment, please."

Her changlings understood and vacated the hall, their wings rustling as they climbed through holes in the ceiling. Chrysalis was now alone, she didn't want to bother her changlings with this. She carefully removed the letter from it's disheveled envelope, making sure not to damage it further. Taking a deep breath, she began to read.

Dear Queen Chrysalis

I am overjoyed to inform you that my sister, princess Luna has returned to us. 

So her suspicions were confirmed, the Lunar diarch had finally been released. While Chryisalis had always had a rather unhealthy rivalry with Celestia, Luna was someone she considered a herself to be on good terms with, at least she used to be. 

I wish to invite you to a meeting that will be taking place on the thirtieth of this month, where we, and all the other members of the treaty, will discuss her implementation into power.

Eugh, that treaty. The changling empire had basically been forced to join it by Griffonia. After those cat-bird imbeciles had invaded the Badlands and attempted to take what was rightfully hers. Despite the changling's efforts, the griffons were simply to powerful to thwart, and they were defeated, but not before haunting the dreams of many of the griffon foot soldiers, who claimed they had been attacked by the devil himself. Another thing she was rather proud of.

That is not all, for Luna did not simply appear on my door step, she was, in fact, rescued.

Rescued? From the moon? Impossible. No one had the capability to do that, not even Celestia herself.

The hero in question is known as Mathew Ausland, and he currently stands as Equis's first, extra-equistrial visiter. I would like all of you to come and introduce yourselves to him, in the hopes that we can further improve our relationship with him and his companions.

Yours respectfully,

Princess Celestia.

...

Chrysalis quickly re-read the final paragraph of the letter, then she rubbed her eyes and read it again. Could it be true? Could aliens actually have visited Equis? She had to see this for herself, even if it meant going to Canterlot, she wasn't going to let the griffons weasel anything out of him before she had the chance, those stupid feather brains might as well rot in tarterous for all she was concerned. Maybe she could visit him before hoof, yes! That would be perfect! She could get in under a disguise, and talk with him, maybe learn a few things before the griffons try to turn him into some sort of... War machine. 

She summoned one of her messengers with a clap of her hoof. The small bug scampered into the hall, a roll of parchment held within his magical grasp.

"Yes, my queen?"

Chrysalis smiled at his obedience.

"Please inform the hive that I will be missing for a few days, there is something I must attend to."

"Very well, I shall relay your massage."

With that, the changling queen charged her horn and vanished in a burst of light.

Canterlot, Equestria. 7:23am 23/06/1000

Mathew had known comfort in his life, he considered his jump ships magnetically suspended anti-shock seat to be rather comfortable, and he also though that his old living quarters back at the tower were quite cozy, but all of that had recently hit the chopping block. For nobody knows comfort until they've tried one of the beds in Canterlot castle. Those beds were like nothing he had ever experienced, just the right temperature, just the right density. It was heaven.

It wasn't often that Mathew was able to enjoy something as simple as sleep, for guardians didn't need it, just as they didn't need to eat or drink. That didn't mean that they couldn't enjoy it, for a good night sleep was something that every being should have the right to enjoy, and, oh boy, did Mathew take pleasure in his. It was then that someone had the bright idea to interrupt him with a knock on the door. Mathew groaned.

"Ugh, what is it? I'm ascending to a new plane of existence in here!"

A small pony, dressed in what appeared to be a traditional French maids outfit, stuck her head round the inside of the frame and smiled weakly. Mathew could see she was visibly shaking with fear. 

"T-the princess w-would like to invite y-you to breakfast."

The maid was fighting to remain with ten meters of him, probably assuming that he was some sort of evil monster. 

"Thanks, I'll be along in a second."

She nodded and left the room, the door slowly closing as she retracted her head away. Mathew pulled himself out of bed and took a look at his armour, which he had left in a neat pile in the corner. He yawned as he began to tiredly put his plating back on, struggling with the various clasps and buckles. He may not have needed sleep, but his body still had the same issues waking up as everyone else, albeit not as sevear. Eventually he was fully suited up, and he took a few steps out into the corridor, and then a few steps left, and a few steps right. Of course. He was lost. 

So he preceded to choose left, as that was the way he had come from last night, hopefully his hunter senses would do him some good here. After around ten minutes of searching, he came to the conclusion that the castle must have been using some anti hunter sense magic, and instead opted to yell Celestia's name like a lost child.

"Celestia! Luna! Hellooooooo! Anyone there!?"

"You know, if they didn't hear you the first ten times you yelled, what has you convinced that they will here you this time."

"Human intuition, and shut up ghost, don't you have a door to be opening somewhere."

Mathews ghost huffed at the snide remark, choosing to ignore the rather bad mood Mathew seemed to be in.

"Well if it's any help, the dining area is located at the fifth door on the right."

...

"Thanks."

Mathew stomped down the ornate hall, his boots smacking against the solid marble. He reached the door and could hear soft chatter from inside, he must be in the right place. The doors didn't require much effort to push open, considering their size, so Mathew was surprised when he applied the expected amount of pressure, only to have the doors shoot away in different directions faster than a warlock could go through a golden age library. 

All eyes turned to him, with the exception of Rainbow Dash, who crossed her front hooves and glared angrily at the ceiling. The usual faces were there, Celestia and Luna, who were trying desperately not to laugh. Twilight and her friends were also present, and showed a mixture of emotions, ranging from happiness to whatever Rainbow was doing. There was also three ponies he had not yet seen, the first was a smaller pink alicorn, roughly around the size of Luna, who had a three tone mane and a big smile on her face. The second was a young looking stallion with a coat of pure white, his blue mane styled in a spiky fashion, although it could have been bed head, Mathew wasn't sure. The last of the new faces was another stallion, who also had a white coat, and that's about where the similarities ended.

"Auntie? What is that, and why is it in my presence?"

The colt in question had a flowing blond hair do, with teeth that couldn't have shined brighter if they tried, those teeth currently bent into a look of pure disgust, which Celestia chose to ignore. 

"Mathew! It's about time you arrived, I was worried you were never going to waken. Come, take a seat."

Mathew smiled under his helmet, and moved to take the open seat next to Twilight, who had a welcoming curve to her lips. 

"Stop right there monster! Come no closer!" Yelled the white pony, who was trembling with rage.

The guardian payed him no mind, sitting down calmly and taking off his helmet, which he placed on the table before him. 

"Guards, seize him at once!"

The guards didn't move, they just looked at each other and shrugged.

"That's quite enough Blueblood, Mathew is our guest, and you will treat him as such." Commanded Celestia, still retaining her ever practiced motherly smile.

"You expect me to sit in this beasts presence!"

Ouch, that hurt a little bit, not that Mathew cared all that much, he's sure his enemies had called him worse. He picked up what appeared to be a small menu, and began browsing it with interest.

"Cousin, this is no way to behave! Especially in company, you should know better." Chastised the pink alicorn, who was looking at her family member with disaproval.

Blueblood was positively fuming, had couldn't believe this creature would have the gall to arrive here and sit in the palace, a place where only the richest of the rich could make their appearence, disgraceful.

"No, this is unacceptable. First you force me to share a table with none other that Nightmare Moon!" Luna, who had been casually biting into a pancake, froze at the accusation. "And then you invite this fre- URK."

Mathew had risen from his chair and was now towering over Blueblood, who was withdrawing in fear. 

"What did you just call her."

In truth he had no idea what the prince was on about, but it seemed to have upset Luna, and that would not do. 

"I-I... Aunt stop this beast! He's going to devour me!"

Celestia let out an angry snort, and grabbed Blueblood with her magic, the golden aura wrapped firmly around the scruff on his neck.

"Dear nephew I do believe it is time for you to depart."

With that she swiftly launched the offending pony through the open doors and slammed them shut, the clicks of the locks resonating throughout the dining hall. Blueblood's angry wails could still be heard, which seemed to please Celestia, who had gone back to nursing a bowl of porridge.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, Mathew, how about you meet some of the other members of my family."

Mathew returned to his seat, deftly removing his helmet from Twilights hooves, placing it on the floor instead. Celestia gestured to the giddy pink alicorn, who was practically jumping up and down in glee.

"This is my niece princess Cadence, the princess of love."

Cadence quickly leaned across the table, offering a hoof to Mathew, who gladly took it. What he thought was a handshake then quickly turn into an unprepared hug.

"Thank you for bringing aunt Luna home!"

Her voice was soft and melodic, but carried a mischievous tone, she also smelled like bubblegum.

"It's fine princess, I was just doing my job."

Cadence leaned back across the table, steadying a drinks platter she had disturbed.

"Please, just call me Cadence, it makes it easier for both of us."

Mathew smiled and waited for Celestia to introduce the other pony, who was now eyeing him with a look of... Jealousy?

"And this is Major Shining Armour, Twilights brother."

His odd expression vanished, and was replaced with a calm smile and a nod, which Mathew returned in kind.

"So Mathew." Said Twilight, who was looking up at him. "What does your species eat?"

Shit, he had forgotten about that, he was sitting in a room of quite obvious herbivores, how was he going to explain this.

"Um, well, technically I don't need to eat, so..."

"Really, why is that?"

"Um, it's a human thing."

Celestia smirked at his feeble excuse.

"Now, now. Lying will get you nowhere my little guardian, why don't you tell us what you would like to eat."

Mathew sighed, he wasn't getting out of this, was he.

"Well, my kind are, what you would call, omnivores..."

He looked up and down the table, judging whether he was going to have to run.

Celestia, Luna and Fluttershy didn't seem fazed at all, in fact it was as if that was the answer they were expecting. He couldn't see Twilight's face as it was buried in a large notebook, and the rest of them showed mixed expressions of interest and fear.

"So, darling, what your saying is that your kind, eat, other creatures."

"Um, yeah."

Rainbow Dash seemed to explode out of nowhere.

"You see, this is why we can't trust him, who knows what his plan is, probably to eat us or put us in a stew for his alien larva!"

"Rainbow! How insensitive! It's not his choice that he was built to eat meat." Said Fluttershy, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Why are you defending him! What has he done for us!"

Luna let out a casual cough, and Twilight held up a note pad that was about a foot thick.

"Rainbow, didn't you say that one of your friends is a griffon." Asked the purple unicorn.

"So! Why does that matter!" 

"Because griffons are predators, just like Mathew, and just like hundreds of other species on this planet."

Rainbow cocked her head in confusion.

"They are?"

The entire room groaned, except for Mathew, who was back to studying the menu. He wasn't going to let the opportunity for a good meal slip away.

"Yes Rainbow, they are, and you spent years around her without any problems, why is Mathew such an issue now?"

"Because Gilda wasn't an alien!"

Twilight rolled her eyes.

"I think you may have a small case of xenophobia Dash."

"Just because I don't what to get fed to some aliens offspri-"

"Can I just have some jam on toast please?"

All eyes locked onto Mathew, who was smiling gratefully.

"Of course dear." Replied the maid he was talking to, who seemed unalarmed by his appearance, which the human was thankful for. He wasn't sure, but he felt there was something off with her, like she wasn't who she appeared to be.

Mathew watched as she walked off with his order and disappeared behind a door presumably leading to the kitchens.

Everyone was still staring at him, looks of disbelief all around. Then Celestia let out a slow chuckle, which turned into hearty laugh. Pretty soon the entire table was in a fit of giggles. 

"What? Why are you laughing?"

Applejack began to regain control of herself. 

"Wew, am sorry partner, but ah just think it's awfa funny, a big scary fella like you eatin toast."

Mathew shrugged.

"I don't really need to eat, but I'm quite fond of jam, and I've been told it goes well with toast, so I figured why not give it a try."

"What do you mean you don't need to eat? Everypony needs to eat!" Exclaimed Pinky, who had her face buried in a breakfast muffin.

"Well I just kinda, don't... I've not really needed to do any of that stuff since well, I died."

Celestia fixed him with a concerned look.

"You mean the other day?"

"No, I meant the first time, back during the collapse. I was running to get onboard a ship with my parents, and then, I just, died, that's all I really remember. There was nothing after that..."

There was silence. A heavy silence. 

"I'm sorry." 

Mathew looked up, Rarity was staring at him sadness in her eyes.

"It's fine, it was a long time ago." He muttered. 

The rest of breakfast was relatively quiet, with only the occasional request for butter or milk. When everything was finished Mathew thanked the staff and went outside to get some air. The morning breeze was cool and welcoming, and Celestia's sun shone brightly over the land. Mathew found himself walking through the gardens, but not an area he had previously seen, it was lined with statues, some were of ponies, others featured different creatures that he couldn't name. There was one in particular that stood out, an odd looking being that seemed to be made up of many different body parts, it was set in a flashy pose, like it was singing. He shrugged and walked passed it, the princess sure did have an odd taste in artistry.

Mathew reached the courtyard where the Lich was still neatly parked. He walked up the ramp and stepped inside, the place seemed a bit darker than it was before. Then he remembered he had turned off the lights last night, something about wanting to save power. He pressed a convenient holopanel with his index finger and watched as the lighting strips activated. His ghost appeared.

"Do you want me to try and contact Exuberant, the ship should be within range."

Mathew stuck his head out the door and peered up at the cloudless sky, sure enough the Long Far Gone was clearly visible. They had attempted communications last night, but the ship was to far round the planets curvature to contact. Much to Mathews dismay. 

"Go ahead, let's see if it works this time."

Ghost split apart as he tried to hail the huge CSO, but after a moment of static, gave up. 

"Something with the planets magnetic field is throwing comms way off, I can't get a clear signal through."

Mathew sighed as he watched the silver behemoth drift slowly across the sky, he hoped that none of the populace would be looking up today, especially since the only people that knew of his existence were the ponies he'd met thus far.

"It's fine, I'm sure we can go up there at some point, it's not like she's going anywhere."

Mathew was about to turn his back when his motion sensor lit up, showing movement in the brush nearby. He grabbed the nearest weapon, which happened to be his recently acquired carbine, and held it at his waste.

"You know, hiding isn't going to get you anywhere."

He saw a bush rustle, and a small 'eep' was heard. His ghost floated lazily over his shoulder.

"Now, come out slowly, and let's see who's been spying on me."

Much to Mathews surprise, the maid who had served him toast slowly crept out of the bushes, her head was lowered so she was as small as possible. That feeling was back, but this time he could definitely place it.

"Also, lower the disguise, your not fooling anyone."

The maids eyes widened in shock, before she broke into a smile.

"Very clever, not many have been able spot me."

He groaned.

"Just hurry up."

"As you wish."

Mathew was stunned for a second as the mare was engulfed in green flames, the whirlpool of fire then dissipated, revealing the maids true form. 

The being that stood before him was unlike anything he'd ever seen. It, or she, had a sleek black chitinous body, with a green shell curved over her back. She had insect like wings that were so tattered it was a wonder they worked at all, or maybe they didn't, who knew. Her long neck ended in an oddly appealing face, with a set of sharp fangs and a pair deep emerald eyes. A horn protruded our of her forehead, but it wasn't long and slim like Celestia's, instead it was jagged and bent. She hissed in anger, attempting to frighten the human, who raised an eyebrow at her.

"Okay?"

Chrysalis was taken aback, normally that trick sent her opponent scampering, but the alien stood stock still, an unimpressed look on his face.

"Are you done?" He said, flicking a bit of her spit off his shoulder pad.

"Wha- why are you not running, don't you know who I am!?

Mathew crossed his arms, looking at her with mild disinterest. 

"No, and quite frankly I don't care, so if your here to assassinate me or whatever can it wait until later when I'm in a better mood."

The changling queen was stunned, never, in all her life, had she been addressed in such away. She would have been insulted if it weren't for the fact that she was speechless.

"I did not come here to assassinate you creature, if I had you would be dead."

Mathew deadpanned her, but she took no notice.

"Now, creature, you will answer my questions and obey my every command, is that understood?"

"And what happens if I refuse?"

"Then you will suffer a fate worse than death,"

As a guardian, Mathew could think of many things that were worse than death, the most strenuous of which had to be filing combat logs, but he didn't think the queen was going to force him to do any of her paperwork.

"I can't be arsed right now, can you come back later please."

"What!?"

"I said I can't be bothered answering your questions, there's things I've got to do and I don't have time at the moment."

Chrysalis was positively fuming. She had threatened this thing with death! Why was it not afraid!?

"I am Chrysalis, Queen of the changlings! You will answer my questions or I will end you!"

"And I'm Mathew Ausland, the last fuckin' human in the universe! Nice to meet you! Now please, piss off!"

Mathew slumped against the spectre, giving up on the situation. He pulled up his hands and slowly dragged them down his visor, as if willing the angry bug to leave.

"Why are you so intent on asking me shit, you said you were a queen, don't you have like, I dunno, a kingdom to run."

"They can manage in my absence, unlike these pathetic ponies, who can't survive a day without their precious 'princess'."

Mathew sat up, his eyes narrowing at her through his helmet.

"I'm going to tell you this once, okay. Leave. Me. Alone."

The changling queen said nothing, she stood there, a defiant look on her face. I guess she wasn't leaving.

"You know, I could kill you right here and now."

"Sure, go nuts."

"It wouldn't be hard."

"Go ahead."

"I'll do it."

"I'm waiting."

Chrysalis had had enough, why was this creature so hard to intimidate! 

"Listen alien, you have no idea what your dealing with, I have conquered entire kingdoms! What makes you think you even have a chance against me?"

Mathew snapped his fingers, and his ghost began to speak.

"Subjects bio readings are similar to that of an alicorn, but weaker in comparison, neurological patterns suggest a telepathic connection or undeveloped hive mind, many of her features are comparable with an arthropod, fangs suggest she is vampiric in nature, she has a weak but specialised connection with the light, harbouring unique cloaking capabilities and draining spells, not unlike a Hive wizard. She is also malnourished and in need of immediate medical attention."

Mathew pulled his helmet off, displaying his knowing smile to the stunned changling.

"On the contrary, I know exactly what I'm dealing with."

"Wha-"

"Oh don't act so surprised, it's not like you were hiding anything. Ghost, can you tell me where I might find more of her kind?"

His ghost blinked for a moment, then continued.

"Orbital photos show that she isn't native to Equestria, rather a small island just over three thousand miles from here. This island shows signs of basic civilisation, but no identifiable citi-"

"STOP! Please, stop."

Mathew's smile disappeared. 

"Please, don't tell her about us. She can't know."

"She?" He replied.

"Celestia, she can't know where we come from."

The queen was begging now, there were tears building in her eyes. Mathew didn't know what to do, she had been threatening to kill him a minute ago, and now she looked positively miserable.

"Are your kind, at war with her or something?"

Chrysalis shook her head.

"No, but if she finds out, then the others will find out, and they'll come and try to take our home away."

"Who are the others?" 

"The other members of the treaty, they'll come..."

The more he looked at her, the more he began to feel sorry for her. She looked so thin, like she hadn't eaten in months, if anything, she needed help.

"Hey, it's alright, we won't tell anyone."

"Really?"

"Really, really."

Mathew walked slowly down the ramp. Crouching next to her, he offered his hand, which she took, and he pulled her to her hooves.

"Right, I'm willing to answer you questions, just as long as you gone down the death threats a little bit, okay."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you being so... Kind. All I did was threaten you, and you help me in return, I just want to know why?"

Mathew sighed.

"Because I've experienced what your going through, trying to protect something from people who want nothing other that to see it fall. It was my life, up until I failed. If I think I have a chance stopping what happened to me from repeating, queen Chrysalis, then I will make damn sure that I take it."

"Please, just call me Chryssi."

"Um... Sure, I guess I will."

They made their way up the ramp, and took a seat, facing out to the morning glow of the courtyard, just as the Long Far Gone faded from view on the horizon.





















































































> Chapter 12: From whence you came
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot, Equestria. 10:35pm 27/06/1000 AN

It was that time again, so it appeared. Princess Luna sat on her private balcony in the castle's highest spire, preparing for an ancient act, the likes of which had not been performed a thousand years. It had been her charge, her duty of the night, and nopony could have possibly thought to replicate it. Not even her sister, with her almost godlike powers, came close. No. For this was something that only she could do. 

Luna's horn began to glow, thin white wisps emerging from it's tip. They grew out like a blossom, creeping and crawling up the surrounding walls. The dream walk had begun. The alicorn felt her body transcend existence, exiting the waking world into a specifically constructed limbo, where she would be able to complete her task. She reached out with her mind, looking for ponies in need of comfort in their slumber. Instantly she found three, two of which resided in the nearby town of Ponyville.

Her sisters prodigy and her friends had left for there a day ago, seeing as they were no longer needed, the apple one also repeatedly mentioned how she needed to tend to her farm, which was understandable. Luna opened her eyes, and was standing in a starry landscape, where the words up or down held little meaning. There was only an infinite stretch of nothing in all directions, the nature of which even she couldn't explain. After a moment, hundreds of doors began to populate the sparse environment, flowing endlessly down an invisible corridor. It was here that the 'magic' happened. Luna could feel her first door calling, and she slid the others out of the way with her hoof. She could see her prize.

A simple entrance, it's surface was brashly painted, and it most certainly wasn't that of an adult, seeing as no cutie mark was present. She placed her hoof against the cold wood, and she could feel the emotions that came from within. Fear, desperation. Not things the lunar diarch strived to promote. She slowly pushed it open and flew into the dark abyss.

Applebloom's P.O.V

Applebloom was alone and scared, her hooves planted firmly in the cold grass. She could her laughter, manical laughter that was chilling to the bone.

"H-hello?" She called out, unable to do anything else.

It was as if the night itself noticed her presence, and she began to grow terrified.

"Ah ain't wantin no trouble, ya hear." 

Something began to slink it's way out of the shadows, a tall black form with a jagged white smile.

"P-please don't hurt me..."

The pony lowered her head, a monstrous face becoming visible in the light of the moon.

"Now now, my sweet child." Whispered Nightmare Moon. "Fretting will ruin your taste." 

She punctuated the end of her sentence with and evil cackle, before rearing up and preparing to pounce on her prey. Applebloom screamed, but no sound escaped, and she could only watch in horror as the fanged maw of her greatest fear grew closer and closer.

Luna's P.O.V

Luna could hear the sound of a fillies screams, and sped up in response, flying fast through what appeared to be an orchard. The screams were getting louder, more desperate. The princess flew out of trees and into an open expanse of grass, bordered by a forest. She could see her target. A small yellow earth pony, a pink bow in her mane, a frightened look on her face. She was backing away from something, just out of view due to the forests edge. Luna was about to dispel the horrid dream when she noticed something about the tree line. A wisp of ethereal mane was inching out, followed by a head, and then a body. Nightmare Moon stood in the clearing, her low gaze fixed on the youngling.

"P-please don't hurt me..."

Luna gasped, how was that witch still alive! She had dissipated while she was on Mathew ship, yet here she stood, defiant as ever. 

"Now now, my sweet child. Fretting will ruin your taste."

The moon princess was frozen on the spot, unable to move. She could only watch as her own weakness slowly made its way towards the frightened filly, reared up, and pounced apon her screaming form. The dream world collapsed around her, as child violently woke up. Luna was tossed out into the sea-foam void, unable to control her body.

How could she just let that happen! Why didn't she do anything to stop the Nightmare, forcing that little one awake. Luna knew why, but she didn't want to accept it, she was afraid, she was afraid of what she had allowed herself to become. She was afraid that, even though a thousand years had passed, she still held a special place in the hearts of youngsters everywhere. A place of fear. 

Her drifting lament was interrupted a hard surface bouncing off her back. It was a door. Luna looked back at the rows of doors behind her, faintly visible on the starry horizon. Why was this one out here on its own. She tried to move it, but it remained locked firmly in place. It wasn't an outstanding door, a simple white paint job with a purple streak down one side. A glass handle was neatly set into its surface, and a classic four square design showed know reason for its exile.

After a few seconds consideration, she placed hoof on the hard surface. For a moment, their was nothing. Then an explosion of negative emotions caused the diarch to lurch backwards in surprise. This was no ordinary nightmare, it was fuelled by hate, by loss, and most alarmingly, loneliness. Pure loneliness, the kind she had not felt since her first years on the moon. Whoever was in there needed her help more than anypony she had ever incountered, and she knew that she was to face whatever was causing such plight. With a swift twist of the handle, Luna dived into the inky black of the unknown. 

The first thing she noticed was how cold it was, as her breath began to condence in the frozen air. Snow began to fall from invisible clouds as she dove deeper into horrific dream, whipping passed her muzzle with tremendous speed. There was no noise, only darkness and silence. She began to get worried, normally the initial blackness of a dream wore off immediatly, but this one was taking it's sweet time. Just as she was wondering if she should turn back, there was wet sensation around her hooves, and she broke the cloud layer. There was know words to describe what she saw.

The snow seemed to fall slowly as she finished her descent, coming to a stop above a sight that was truly bizarre. A huge city stretched for miles below her, devoid of all life. Luna could see a great wall, extending far into the distance. This was not what caught her attention though. At the cities center, to halves of a massive sphere were dug firmly into the earth, it's interior hollow and empty, like it had been cleaned out with a giant spoon. The exterior was scorched and burned, long rips making their way up its white sides. It was awe inspiring, and somewhat familiar. She continued to the ever growing source of the hateful emotions.

She watched as a jagged tower started to faze into view, it's dark silhouette unmistakeable amongst the snow fall. She could see a large mezzanine, most of which was open to the air. It was easy to land, given the vast amount of space available, but she choose to land right at the tip, before a small set of stairs. That was the only place that seemed right. The courtyard floor was comprised of smooth stone plates, forming a grid iron pattern along the ground. There was a large metal disk flush with the slabs, words inscribed in an unknown language. Luna read them out loud.

"ATRVUM PROPVGNATORVM" She spoke, her mouth forming the words perfectly. 

What did that mean? It didn't matter, she had a soul to cure. The alicorn began to walk up the steps towards the central square, and noticed some things that seemed out of place. There was a blue hut, it's surface covered in snow, with an opening facing inwards. A desk. It was empty, of course, and saddened her for some reason. The rest of the environment was just as eluding. A small red tent, covered in strange symbols and filled with tinker toys not unlike that of the late Starswirl the beaded's old study. A large dead tree, it's ancient curved trunk littered with scratches and prints. This place was eerie, not because it was a dream, but because it seemed more than that, like a memory. Luna tried to continue, but her hoof struck something hard. Looking down, she spotted an odd blue device. Huh, it almost looked like the helmet worn by... Mathew...

Suddenly she understood, this wasn't the dream of a colt who had read one to many sci-fi books, it was a real experience, a distorted memory of a long dead past. Mathew's past. Luna moved for the opening at the rear of the square, which was a passage to the underside of the plaza. She raced down the snow covered stairs, determined more than ever to rid her new friend of his plight. She bounded round a wall divider, and entered a long hallway, bordered by tattered chairs and smashed glass. At the end of the corridor was a meeting room, with a long table laden with books and maps, and at that table stood Mathew. His exposed face was blank, devoid of all the emotion that was usually present. He looked utterly distraught. In his hands was another helmet, one that was not his own. He clutched as though it was the only thing he had left in the world, just looking into the shining silver visor, motionless. 

Luna moved slowly, as to not started him. Something was wrong. She began to hear whispers, voices calling out from seemingly everywhere, and yet no where at the same time. There was a flash to her right, and she swivelled her head to the source. A small shining diamond, flickering in and out of existence. The whispers began to grow, and soon the hallway was full of the little lights. Blinking from one place to another.

"You shouldn't be here..." 

"This is a place of light..."

"Leave, or join us..."

Luna stamped her hoof, trying to expunge the dream. Nothing happened.

"What is this sorcery! I shall dispel you!"

The voices grew in hostility, but remained barely above ultrasound.

"You cannot dispel what doesn't exist..."

"This place shall always remain..."

"For that is the will of the mantel..."

Suddenly the voices merged into one. A harmonic scream that took her completely by surprise.

"Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it!"

Then they vanished, leaving the diarch alone. Mathew was still there, looking down at the helmet. Luna approached, walking down the shallow steps towards the table. She stood behind the guardian, hoping he would notice her first. After a moment, he spoke up.

"I suppose your wondering where you are..."

This surprised the alicorn, it wasn't often that a being just readily accepted her presence within a dream.

"The thought had crossed my mind, yes, but I'm more worried about you. This isn't a natural dream."

"No, it's not." Replied Mathew. "Guardian's are supposedly unable to dream, our brains are only sustained in the waking world."

"Then how is it so?"

"I don't know Luna, I don't know..."

He turned to face her, still clutching the piece of headwear in his grip.

"Why are you here?"

Luna straightened up, trying to look as regal as possible.

"I am the princess of the night Mathew, dreams are my charge, just like the sky."

"Okay... But why are you here, in paticular, surely there are more pleasant dreams to be watching."

"You misunderstand, it's my job to make sure that there are no nightmares plaguing Equestria." She gestured around with her hoof. "And this is what I would call a nightmare."

Mathew nodded. 

"I suppose, yes it is."

"Then let me rid you of it."

Luna raised her foreleg, readying to end the dream world. A hand stopped her.

"Wait. Just, give me a moment." 

The guardian took one final look at the helmet in his hands, before pulling back and launching it at the window nearby. The hard object shattered the glass on impact and descended into the valley below. His companion raised an eyebrow. 

"Why would you do that?"

A weak smile slowly spread across Mathews face.

"Kalie always said, if she was ever to go, she wanted her helmet thrown through one of these windows with at least one of the higher ups watching. You may not be commander Zavala, but you're leadership all the same."

Luna hummed in understanding. She felt a great sadness within him, it permiated the dreamscape with a scent of agony.

"What is this place?" Whispered the lunar princess.

She looked around, taking in the scene. It was like no place she'd ever witnessed.

"This... Was my home. It was home to all of us." 

Mathew picked up a small compass, twirling in between his fingers. Luna sat in silence, watching as her friend twitched in pain.

"We called it the tower, it served as our base of operations. As guardians, we were always deployed on missions, ranging from recon to full blown raids. When I was off duty, which was rarely ever, I liked to come and spend my time down here, talking to the Vanguard. They were honest, good people, who cared about the cause as much as we did."

The compass in his hand began to vibrate, as an unknown energy was channeled through it. 

"It's funny actually, every time a look at Twilight, or one of her friends, it's like I see my own friends staring back, their personalities, their morals, it's like a spitting image of us. People, or ponies, who only want to make a difference, in a world where making a difference is damn near impossible."

The brass navigational device floated out of his palm, glowing purple and pulsing with raw energy. 

"It's hard to accept death for what it is, when death to most guardians is a daily occurrence. Then it would happen, we would lose someone close to us, in the blink of an eye. I used to know a warlock, nice guy, really quiet. His name was Drew. He was sent out on a mission by the reef, the poor kid never came back. I used to sit with him during R&R, and every day for three months I waited there, hoping that he would come back, he never did, and I was left reminding myself that he was gone."

Luna could feel tears welling up in her eyes, and she lifted her hoof to wipe them away.

"I'm sorry Mathew, I wish I could have done something for them."

The aura disapated from around the compass, and it fell back onto the table.

"I told you that I have existed for over one thousand five hundred years, didn't I?"

She nodded. 

"Do you know how much of that time I've been alive?" 

Luna said nothing. 

"Twenty years Luna, I've been alive for twenty years. To me, my friends were alive four days ago, and I was back here."

Mathew looked down at her, his eyes were slick with tears, and the silvery pearls slowly began to make their way down his tired face. Without thinking, the alicorn pulled him into a tight embrace, the cold metallic texture of his armour brushing across her fur, it was smooth, and riddled with fine scratches and dents, imperfections that told stories that had been lost with his world. Slowly he returned the affection, and for what seemed like an eternity, they stayed that way. Two damaged souls lost in a world they didn't know.  

"How did you do it? How did you keep your sanity up on that moon, when I can't even keep mine down here?" Trembled Mathew, braking the hug. Luna lowered down from her bipedal stance, relaxing on all four legs.

"I didn't Mathew, the first few years I felt exactly like you do now, and over time, anger gave way to fear, and then loneliness, until finally, I accepted what was happening to me. After that the years began to melt together and lost track of time."

The human let out a harsh chuckle, it wasn't one of joy, or happiness, but of pain.

"To be honest, I always thought it would be me, the risk taker. The one who shot first asked questions later, and made it through so many shitty situations based on luck alone. Yet here I am, the least qualified individual to be here."

Mathew took a seat on the table and wiped his face with his sleeve. 

"Go on, do that thing you were going to do..."

Luna touched the ground with her hoof, and felt the dream world begin to destabilise. Bits of paper began to disintegrate and the world seemed to lose focus.

"I shall see you when you awake, until then, good night my friend, may you rest well.

"Thanks Luna, I'll try my best."

He watched as the azure princess stepped onto a shimmering platform of stars, floating gracefully through the smashed window and up towards the moon. Vanishing from sight, but not from mind.


























> Chapter 13: An icebreaker
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot, Equestria. 9:13am 30/06/1000 AN

Today was the day, the day when the treaty holders were to meet. Tension was high within the castle, maids and guards alike were running around frantically, trying to get the place in perfect condition. It was already a big deal, all the nations coming together in one place, but the stress had only been heightened when they found out who was coming. 

Apparently Mathew was more popular than he knew, so much so that the the meeting was now to be between the nations leaders, and all of them were coming to Canterlot. This morning. Princess Celestia had received letters indicating the arrival of all but one of her neighbouring countries, she hadn't expected Chrysalis to respond anyway, she didn't want anything to do with the treaty. The princess was also jostling a flood of reporters, who all wanted to know what the big silver object that had been periodically blocking out the light was, and whether or not they should be worried about it. She told as many of them as possible that it was simply a misunderstanding, that the sky was fine and there wasn't a monster eating the sun. In the end it didn't matter what she told them, they were going report about it negatively. 

Speaking of Mathew, he had left shortly after breakfast for his ship, saying something about how he was going to clean it up. Last she checked that's what his robots were for, but she decide not push the issue, he was probably just as nervous as she was. It wasn't every day that an entire planets worth of royalty was to meet at one location. Celestia was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the guard who had approached, and was now standing in front of her.

"Your highness, we have secured the perimeter, as well as bolstering the castle station, is there anything else that is required."

The goddess snapped out of her trance.

"No commander, that will be all, please return to your post." 

Commander Sure Steel nodded, and then continued.

"Oh, and before I forget, Mathew wants to talk to you before the meeting, sounded important."

With that he turned and began to walk back to the barracks, intending on giving the guard the run down. Celestia watched him go, and then raised her hoof up to her ear, fumbling with the small 'earpiece' that Mathew had given her. He said that it was to help him get in touch with her if needed, and she was needed. There was a small click a static was heard, Celestia wasn't sure if it was working, so began to talk anyway. 

"Hello? Is this thing on?"

After a moment, a clear response came through.

"Yeah it is princess, damn near scared the crap outa me aswell. I need help deciding what I should take up to the meeting room, no doubt they'll be curious."

"I understand, I'll be with you shortly." 

She heard the strange device pop, and then there was silence once again. She turned to one of her advisors, who was standing amidst the rabble. 

"Swift, could you please have the attendants prepare the welcome ceremony, I must see to something."

Swift, a small brown pegasus with a note pad and quill, bowed at the request.

"Of course you magesty."

Celestia smiled and quickly charged a teleport, leaving the grand hall and reappearing in the courtyard, where a very flustered Mathew awaited.

"Ah good, your here, I need help deciding what to show them, I don't want to come off as threatening."

She watched, amused, as the human ran around the lower deck of his ship, frantically gathering bits of equipment. He was making a small pile of instruments, but kept removing and adding things afterwards.

"Mathew, I know your worried, but this isn't any different from the time you showed us, I imagine the griffons will be the only ones really interested in your weapons, most of them are just here to meet you, and to understand what you are. So stop panicking, and just pack what you think is appropriate. If somepony wants to see something then we can simply go and retrieve it.

Mathew let out a slow breath, and calmed his nerves. He could take on armies, even topple empires, but ask him to make a public speech and he was as good as dead.

"Okay, your right, let me just grab some stuff."

He grabbed a small glowing rectangle, along with a pair of unique looking weapons. One resembled a large war hammer, but seemed to have a lot more finesse than that, it probably did something unexpected. The second was far more interesting. It was small, white, and seemed to have a layer of energy coating its entire surface. It was divided at its center, with a small plume of lightning connecting at the front, and a curved handle at the back. 

"Mathew, is that one supposed to do that?"

She gestured towards the weapon in his grip. He looked at it, before shrugging.

"Ghost says it is, something about a magnetic field to increase melee lethality. Hang on, I think I can turn it off."

He flicked a small switch on the underside of the weapon, and the field disapated, leaving only the white, gold and blue colour scheme. Mathew held it up to Celestia's side.

"Hey, it matches you, maybe you can keep this one of your sister gets the sword."

Oh yes, that sword. The first time she had witnessed it was at dinner a few nights ago. Luna had proudly displayed the somewhat beautiful blade of energy, and she was speachless. She was even more speachless when her sister promptly cut the table in half. That was just the beginning, more and more things in the castle were turning up with a trademark cut, right down the middle. The sword was then confiscated indefinitely.

"No thank you Mathew, I think the castle has suffered enough recently."

"Suit yourself." Came the reply.

Mathew reached the bottom of the ramp and dumped the weapons in the back of his pink vehicle, which he had dubbed 'spectre'. There were other items inside as well, including his old weapons and the red 'carbine' he was so fond of. He released the pilot seat and hopped inside. There was a moment of silence, before the machine began to light up, and slowly rise of the ground. It was floating roughly a foot above the earth, and was making a rather pleasant whirring noise. She had expected it to be loud and obnoxious, but it's simply hovered quietly, arcs of lightning trailing around beneath it.

"So, my little human, where do you plan on going now."

"Inside. Where else."

Celestia just stared at him, unable to tell if he was joking.

"Inside!? You cannot be serious. There's no way that would fit."

"Those halls are big enough, plus, I can't be bothered carrying all this stuff. So jump on."

The sun princess knew she could just teleport the items to the meeting room, but a really small part of her brain wanted to ride on the alien transport. She didn't normally listen to those urges, but today so stressful already, maybe something fun would take the edge off.

"Alright, but please be careful, there are ponies trying to get everything organised."

"Got it princess."

Celestia began to climb onto the rear of the vehicle, expecting it to falter under her weight, but it stood strong.

"You good back there?" Called Mathew, who was tampering with the controls up front.

"Just fine thank you, but we must make haste, they will be arriving shortly."

She didn't get a reply, but the vehicle slowly started to move forwards, cutting over the rough path like a boat through water. They made their way out of the courtyard up the garden path, towards castle entrance. 

"So, who's all coming then, just so I know what I'm dealing with."

"Well, the original members are all coming, as well as the Saddle Arabians, the changlings won't be coming though."

She felt the ride lurch slightly at the mention of changlings, but quickly correct itself. 

"Okay, so is there anything else I need to know, any customs or things I should avoid saying?"

"Not much, bow to all of them, especially the minotar, and try and be as respectful as possible. So no swearing, and no shooting anything, okay?"

"Okay." 

They reached the entrance stairs and the craft began to float up them with ease.

"I must say Mathew, this is an incredible feat of engineering, quite something."

"Your right about that, I wish they had toned it down on the blue lights a little though, I can barely see anything in here."

The machine banked over the top of the steps and Mathew slowed to a crawl, making sure not to bump into anypony. The guards outside noticed their presence, and pulled open the doors in response, giving them clear access to the hall beyond. Just as Mathew had presumed, there was plenty of room, leaving enough on both sides for the staff to moved around comfortably. Many of them stopped to watch as the spectre pulled into the hall, letting out gasps of awe, even some of the guards turned to look. 

Suddenly, a weight was applied to one side, making Mathew swerve, luckily there wasn't anything in the way.

"Hello dear sister, how are you this morning."

"I am fine Luna, shouldn't you be getting ready for our guests."

"I finished a while ago, it's been years since I've had to cast that spell."

Mathew leaned out of the side of the cockpit, about to tell Luna off for jumping on them, what he saw forced him to stop. Luna's mane was no longer the simple aqua blue he was used to seeing, it was now flowing like her sisters, and was filled with stars, giving the illusion of the night sky.

"Whoa, nice hair, when did you have that done?"

"I applied the spell this morning, just after breakfast. It looks all right does it not?"

"Yeah, it does... Wait, if that's a spell, then what does your hair look like Celestia?"

The princess blushed, averting her eyes.

"I honestly cannot remember, it's been years since I-"

"It's messy, pink, and smells of strawberry." Interjected Luna.

Celestia's blush deepened, Mathew simply shrugged.

"Huh, who'd of guessed it."

The grand meeting hall was in sight, with a large number of guards posted at the door. Rows and rows of the little soldiers raised their spears in the spectre's direction. 

"Hey hey, I'm on your side, stop pointing those things at me."

"Guards you may let him pass." The princesses voice rang out from her position round the back.

The battalion recognised the word of their princess, and swiftly opened the huge doors. Mathew nodded at them and edged the vehicle onwards. The inside of the room was decorated with the finest of Canterlot silk, and large maps and chalk boards had been drawn out, I case the subject turned political. In the center of the room was a long table, not unlike the one in the dining room, which was pristinely made, featureing a beautiful gold centrepiece, encrusted with gems. The spectre actually looked at home amongst the fine furnishings.

Celestia and Luna jumped off as Mathew strafed it across the carpet, coming to a stop near the top left of the table. The anti-grav generators gave a whine and the spectre slowly descended, silently touching the ground.

"Right" he said, pulling himself out of the transport. "How long until they arrive."

"The first guests should be arriving shortly, I shall go and greet them, you two stay here and get ready."

Luna cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"But sister, surely I should be with you for the welcome, if only to meet the members at the gates."

"I'm sorry Luna, but I can't allow that as of right now. Many of the treaty holders have their... Reservations, about you, and I need to inform them otherwise, I'm sorry to be so harsh."

She reeled back.

"Surely not! It was a thousand years ago, they must have forgotten."

"I'm afraid they have not, and I must remind them of the caring pony you are, so they treat you with the respect you deserve."

"But I should be the one to-"

"Enough! Let me talk to them, and you stay and help Mathew, maker knows he needs it."

Luna felt herself becoming angry, but relaxed as a hand rested on her withers. Mathew had his helmet off, and he didn't look pleased.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this little spat, but don't we all have things to do."

Celestia's peeved look was replaced by one of panic. 

"Of course! I'll be back once everypony is greeted."

With that the sun princess twirled and galloped out oth the door, shutting them with magic in her wake. Mathew looked down at Luna, who had gone blank.

"Jeez, what was that about, it's not like your coup affected them or anything."

Luna let out a heavy sigh, and looked up at her human friend.

"It's not that simple, it did affect them, it affected all of them."

"How so?"

She sighed again, and stared straight forward.

"You've shared your history with me Mathew, I think it's time I shared a little of mine."

Luna took a step back, and began to charge her horn, a white tendril made its way out of the appendage, and lightly touched the human on the fore head. Everything when black.

Everfree forest, Equestria. 5:39am 21/06/567 AD 

The castle of the two sisters was quiet, and still. The lush and peaceful forest that surrounded it was filled with critters, getting ready to wake for a new day. The gates had been opened as the last of the night watch gave up their posts to the solar guard. Inside the castle, a younger and much less experienced Celestia awaited the arrival of her sister, Luna, who was to lower the moon. As the keepers of harmony in the land it was their responsibility to make sure the little ponies were safe and secure. As she waited she began to notice that the moon wasn't making it's usual descent, instead it was simply hanging there, creating another problem that needed to be fixed.

Celestia stepped off here burnished throne and took flight, heading for the castle atrium, where she knew her sister could be found. The spacious hallways posed no issue, allowing her to glide easily around the structure. The entrance to the great hall was in view, so she slowed her descent as necessary. Her hooves touched the ground, stopping after a small gallop. The sun goddess used her golden aura to open the doors, and trotted inside. The burning torches illuminated her strawberry coloured mane, which hung in loose locks around her head. She spied a dark shape, perched atop royal alter. It turned as she approached.

"There you are Lu-lu, why haven't you lowered the moon? It's nearly six o'clock."

The silhouette shifted, as the dark blue alicorn stepped out into the light. Her blue, short cut hair tied back in a pony tail. She didn't look happy.

"I'm sorry sister, but I will no longer live in your shadow."

The older alicorn squinted, processing what she had heard.

"Luna... What are you saying.?"

"I'm saying I'm tired of being ignored, resented by our subjects, hated because of what I bring. If they cannot learn to accept my night as the thing of beauty it is, then I shall show them."

"What? Nopony resents you Luna, they care for you, just as I do. Come down from there and let's talk about this."

The moon princess growled angrily.

"Sister do you think me blind!? Or are you simply to self obsorbed to see yourself?! The ponies of this land prance and play throughout your joyous day, before retiring to slumber, where they dream of me as a horror to be feared. For bringing out the nightmare moon."

"Luna this is madness, our subjects love us equally, and they cherish what your night brings them."

"What does it bring them sister! Fear. Hate. Am I the princess to hide from, the monster under the bed!"

She pulled in her breath and screamed out, her royal voice shattering the windows.

"IF THEY WANT A MONSTER THEN I SHALL GIVE THEM ONE!" 

The ground began to vibrate, pots and vases jiggling of their shelves. In the sky, a new star began to outshine the rest.

"Please Luna, stop this insanity, I need you by my side!"

"THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA!" She smashed her front hooves of the ground, turning the solid marble to dust. "AND THAT PRINCESS, WILL, BE, ME!" 

A long spike of energy flew out of the clouds, it's oranges, purples and blues mixing together in a tornado of pure power. It impacted the ground where she stood, incasing her in magic. Celestia stepped back, using her leg to shield her eyes. After around five minutes of constant bombardment, the beam stopped, a dust cloud concealing what was within. 

"L-Luna, are you there?"

A dark figure rose from the shadows, a toothy snarl appearing out of the smog. Luna was no more.

"Your precious Luna is gone. I AM NIGHTMARE MOON, AND THE NIGHT, SHALL LAST, FOREVER!"

She finished her display with a wicked cackle, sending shivers down her sisters spine. Then the world faded away to nothing.

Canterlot, Equestria. 9:32am 30/06/1000 AN 

Mathew awoke with a start, his breathing shallow. He quickly checked himself and his surroundings, he was still in one piece, and he was still in the hall. Good. His ghost appeared in front of him.

"Well that was, unexpected. I guess your not the only one who's got problems."

Mathew shot him a glare, his vision then locking with the forelorn princess ahead of him. Her eyes were cast down in shame, and she looked on the verge of tears. She began to speak.

"That's why they hate me, because of what I did, to all of them. That feral magic, it made me lose my mind, I became the monster that they saw me as, and my plans would have ended with the destruction of Equis. My sister used the elements to stop me, but the magic could not be eradicated, it spread over the Everfree like a curse, driving animals and ponies alike from their homes. Leaving only destruction in its wake. I saw it all, and it hurt me like nothing ever had. I understand if you want to hate me too, but know that it was not my will to hurt them, once the magic was within me, it created another form, a parasite known as Nightmare Moon. She still plagues the land to this day."

There was no doubt what he had seen had definitely left it's mark, but he couldn't hate her for it. There was probably much more to that situation that he had witnessed.

"Luna, I couldn't possibly hate you, it didn't affect me, and it's all in the past. We can talk about it later, when we have clearer minds, but for now, let's get ready for those dignitaries before-"

The sound of trumpets shattered the silence, Mathew shot away from Luna and grabbed his helmet, sealing it tight over his face. The doors were covered in a violet aura as one of the guards opened them. In the entrance stood one a large bird like creature, like an eagle. It's lower half however appeared to be feline, similar to that of a lion. So this was what a griffon looked like. It was easily the same height as Mathew, and stood slightly taller than Celestia, who was standing close by. 

Mathew watched as the odd creature surveyed the room, before his eyes settled on Luna, who had since wiped away the tear tracks on her face. The griffon approached and offered a bow, which Luna returned in kind.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you... Your highness."

He finished his sentence with a delicate kiss on the hoof, causing the nearby human to visibly cringe. He had seen fake praise before, and this guy just radiated it. What a creep. From what he could see Luna was equally observant, but was adequate at hiding it.

"The pleasures all mine, king Iron Claw."

What was with these two parter names. The hulking griffon then turned his steel gaze towards Mathew, who had stopped paying attention and was now fiddling with a datapad. He approached and stood in front of him expectantly. Mathew lowered the pad and stared back, displaying mock confusion. 

"Well, what are you waiting for? BOW!" Roared the angry bird, spraying spittle all over the humans visor.

Mathew said nothing.

"Is this thing disciplined Celestia?! Does it even speak?! Or is this more magic tomfoolery."

"While I can assure you there is much tomfoolery, none of it is magic. I suggest it ends now." Said the princess, a cold edge creeping into her motherly voice.

Oh shit, she sounded serious. Mathew straightened up, and offered a quick salute, to which the griffon only stared. 

"Well I guess it knows how to follow orders, that could come in useful later. I'm afraid if all you have to show me is a magic projection and some children's toys, then I will have to be on my way."

Celestia gasped in disbelief, and then narrowed her eyes at the human, who could feel their gaze melting through him like butter.

"Alright alright, I'll stop taking the piss." He choked, clutching his chest.

Iron Claw whirled around to face him, a satisfied smile crossing his beak.

"So it does talk, how unique, tell me, alien, why did you not speak when you were spoken too?"

Mathew leaned in close, just close enough to whisper in the birds ear.

"Because I got a kick out of it."

There was a moment of complete still, everyone waiting to see the reaction. Slowly, the King began to to chuckle, a chuckle that turned to a laugh, which turned to a mad cackle. 

"I like you." He said finally. "You've got a strong head apon those shoulders, a foolish one, but strong none the less. I admire that."

He smiled once more and then took a seat at the ornate table, flanked by his griffon guards. 

"So where are the others, did they not respond?" He asked, dragging his claw along the rich mahogany, leaving visible scratches. 

Mathew didn't like him.

"They will be here shortly, the maids are showing them to the guest bedrooms." Replied Celestia.

At that moment another figure entered the room, it was small, blue, and covered in scales. 

"Ah, princess Ember, lovely to have you. I take your father sent you?"

"Unfortunately yes, he's rather, inebriated, when it comes to small pony structures. None the less, I hope my council will serve."

Was this a dragon? Mathew thought so, she seemed reptilian in nature, but he had expected them to look slightly larger, and angrier. The apparent dragon finished greeting Luna, and made her way over to him. He bowed politely, raising the eyebrows of the bird at the table. She eyed him up and down with suspicion, but couldn't find anything to be concerned about. 

"I must say your are an interesting one, to small to be a minotaur, yet to big to be a monkey. What are you..?"

"I'm a human, your grace." 

Your grace? Where the hell did that come from? The dragoness smiled for a moment, and then her face turned somewhat sour.

"It's funny to me that your are so alien to this land, yet you speak out tongue and respect our customs, even going as far as to bow to a ruler you don't yet know. I find it funny because you've just displayed more curtesy in a mere moment, than that feather brain behind us had shown in all his days as king."

Iron Claw, who was sipping out of an eggshell teacup, spat out the hot liquid in shock, his expression quickly turned to anger.

"Watch your mouth lizard! You wouldn't know civilised behaviour is it smacked you right between the eyes!"

"And you would, what with the fact that you brought an entire army to a political discussion!"

The mythological creatures began to square off, flashing sharp talons and pearl white teeth. Celestia stepped in.

"That is enough! You didn't come halfway across the continent just to start a war, now sit down and wait for the others to arrive!"

With one final snarl, princess Ember sauntered down to the far end of the table, near the spectre. She took notice of the vehicle and began to stare at it quietly. King Iron retook his seat, his guards flanking him. The sisters took their seats as well, Celestia at the tables head, with Luna to her left. She gestured for Mathew to sit as well, to which he complied.

The hall slowly began to fill up, various leaders pouring in. There was a group of slightly more equine looking horses, their manes decorated and their coats covered by thick golden garbs. They were introduced as the Saddle Arabians, and seemed nice enough. The zebras were also based, and Mathew, though his helmet couldn't show it, was silently laughing at their rhyming accents. The rest of the troupe were pretty nonchalant, showing mixed expressions of fear and intrigue. Finally, Celestia called the hall to order, and the table turned silent.

"Greetings, fellow diplomats, may I say it has been to long since we last met."

There was murmurs of approval, and many nodded their heads.

"I know this was called rather suddenly, but, as you can see, this is a rather special case. Not only has my sister finally returned, but Equis has also received it's first, otherworldly visitor. Mathew, why don't you stand up and introduce yourself."

The guardian gulped, here goes nothing. Mathew stood and slowly walked around to the back of the room, where Ember was still staring at the spectre. 

"Um, hello. I guess I should start by saying that it is an honour to be among you, and that this world has so far shown me hospitality that rivals that of my own home. I feel this would probably be easier for all of us, if you ask me what you want to know and I'll answer to the best of my ability. Any questions I cannot answer, I'm sure my ghost will be able to handle." 

Mathew flared his hand out, letting his ghost float out. The room, exuding Celestia and Luna, gasped at the display.

"Right, let's get starte-"

The human stuttered as the doors flew open, revealing someone who Mathew hadn't expected to see. Chrysalis, stood there, her wings flexed and her body tense. The rooms gaze shifted to her, and almost everyone began to frown. The sun princess spoke up.

"Chrysalis, how nice of you to join us, I'm afraid we weren't expecting you, so please be patient while we get you a chair."

"It's fine Celestia, take all the time you need."

A nearby guard scampered out of the room, quickly returning with a matching chair. He dragged it up to the end of the table, and sat it near Ember's.

The changling queen nodded in thanks, and then took her place. Thirty six eyes followed her as she walked, scowls to match. The dragoness quickly edged away, making little attempt to hide her disgust. Chrysalis ignored her, and proceeded to sit down without incident. 

"You may continue Mathew." Said Celestia.

"Hang on." Interjected Iron Claw. "What's the bug doing here."

Several seats nodded, princess Ember included.

"Well she's a part of the treaty is she not? She has just the same right to be here as everypony else."

"Does she now? Who will it be next then, manticores? Hydras? We're not running a circus here Celestia, this is council, and I vote that insect is removed from the premisses."

A few heads nodded, but most remained silent. If Mathew already didn't like the king, then what he felt now had to be hate. So he decided to do something about it.

"If I may, Queen Chrysalis is a part of this treaty, then I am happy to answer any of her questions. I won't refuse anyone just because whatever is going on here, that is none of my concern."

More murmurs, this time swaying more in favour of Mathew.

"Well said Mathew, now please, continue."

"So we're letting the alien make the political decisions now, great."

Mathew paid him no mind. 

"So as I was saying, please raise your hand if there is something you wish to ask."

Nobody moved. The minotaur King looked like he was going to, but then noticed his companions, and lowered his hand again.

"Really, then why are you even here?"

"It's not that we disregard your intent, we simply misunderstood what you meant." Replied King Zeroos, who was stroking his striped mohawk in confusion.

"OH, right, anatomy difference, sorry, um, raise your hooves slash claws then."

Every appendage within sight shot up.

"Okay then, how about you?"

Mathew pointed at a young Saddle Arabian prince, who he couldn't remember the name of.

"Where do you come from, originally?"

Should have seen that one coming, at least he wasn't asking about ammo synths. 

"Well my species originates from a planet called Earth, which is around seventy five thousand light years away." 

The prince looked unsure, so Mathew decided to explain it the old fashioned way. He walked over to one of the clean blackboards, and sketched out a crude representation of the Milky Way galaxy. 

"Your planet is here." He marked an 'X' just outside the scutum-centaurus arm. "And my planet is over here." The second 'X' was marked in the Orion arm, roughly around Sols location.

This elicited many 'oohs' and 'aahs' from his audience, except for one griffon, who remained unimpressed. 

"Right, next question."

Princess Ember's arm shot up, but was just beaten to the post by a burly minotaur.

"Elder Tremor, what would you like to know?"

"Could you offer us any insight into the silver beast that has been plaguing our skies."

Silver beast? Did he mean the Long Far Gone? The sooner comms were up and running the better, he needed that thing cloaked before it caused a public travesty. It most likely already had.

"That's the starship I arrived on, I hope it hasn't been to much trouble, I can't get in contact with my friend up there because of the magnetic field, I may just have to head back and tell her to cloak it."

The elder nodded in thanks, and Mathew prepared for another question when he was rudely interrupted.

"Did you just say there are more of you!" Screamed king Iron Claw, who had risen from his seat. "How many!"

This guy...

"Iron Claw sit down! Or you shall be asked to leave." Celestia had also stood up, and had her from hooves planted on the dark wood of the table.

"No Celestia, I will not just sit here while a possible invasion force amasses on our doorstep. Something must be done!"

"That's it, all in favour of removing Iron Claw from the chamber say aye."

"AYE" Rang out most of the room. Surprisingly Mathew wasn't one of them.

"Then it's done, guards please escort king Iron Claw off the castle perimeter."

"You can't be serious, on what grounds?"

"Disruption of foreign affairs, threatening activity and..." She pointed at long claw marks in the table. "Destruction of property. Have a good day."

A group of solar guards had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and now stood around the king and his soldiers.

"This is treason! I demand my place on this council."

"You still have your place, just not today, or for the foreseeable future. Now please, vacate the premisses."

The furious griffon roared in frustration. 

"You ponies think you control everything, who are you to decide whether I stay or go?"

Luna chimed in.

"Your in our kingdom! You will do what is asked of you."

"You expect me to listen to you? You should be hanging in Tartarus for what you did!"

Mathew could feel himself snapping, he didn't even notice that his his carbine had found its way into his grip.

"Get this bird out of here."

Iron Claw growled.

"Fuck off back to the moon, freak sho-"

*Feeeew CLUNK* 

Iron was lifted of his claws as a pink projectile impacted his armour, digging into the hardened metal like tissue paper. Mathew had specifically angled the shot to avoid injury, but was so angry that he nearly reconsidered.

"Get out of this castle."

The griffon guards drew their weapons and readied an attack, but were met with tips of pony blades. 

"GET OUT OR THE NEXT ONE GOES BETWEEN HIS EYES!"

The griffons relinquished their swords and trudged heavily towards the door, balancing the 'wounded' king between them. 

"This isn't over! You will pay for what transpired today, all of you!" A wicked smile grew apon the his beak. "A darkness approaches, we can feel it. You will all fall!"

With that the doors slammed, leaving the hall in silence. Faces showed mixed feelings, but most looked thankful.

"Well, now that that's over." Continued Mathew. "Any more questions."

All appendages shot up.

















































> Chapter 14: Whispers in the shadows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Long Far Gone, Equis orbit. 10:46 pm 30/06/1000 AN

Exuberant watched the crisp blue of the oceans pass by out of the bridge bay windows. It had been nearly a week since her last contact with her reclaimer, but she knew he was alright. Her sentinels had been designed to return to her in the case that he was captured or critically wounded by one of the planets inhabitants. She had received a visit from one of them, but it was simply to return some samples and repair a constructer unit. The data that was collected on the planet didn't surprise the monitor, for she already had record of most of it. This installation obviously hadn't changed much since the forerunners had commissioned it, in fact she could almost say it was functioning above average. While she was well aware of the librarians tampering with the human seeds, the seeds that populated this planet were designed to keep it's inhabitants firmly grounded.

Her thoughts wandered back to her reclaimer, what was she going to do with him? There was no way she could keep the nature of this planet hidden forever, there was no doubt his ancilla had already uncovered much of the truth, or at least the means to finding it. Exuberant wasn't fond of lying, lies and deceit were the undertones of conflict, and she didn't want conflict. This is why she had avoided directly misleading Mathew and his ghost as much as possible, she had observed the affects that shocking information could have on an organic brain, and she didn't want the last reclaimer to suffer those consequences. However, there was a few things she had purposefully falsified, much to her own displeasure. 

It was mystery to the monitor as to how her little fibs had gone completely unnoticed, despite the fact that Mathew's ancilla had access to all the schematics and databases on the entire ship. Did they not think it a little coincidental that the journey here just happened to take exactly a thousand years, and that the inhabitants of the world they were exploring just happen to look exactly like the ones that appeared within the myths of their own culture? Did they not even find it slightly concerning that the arcane energy that permeated the planet was almost identical to the power emitted by the wandering star, and that, for some inexplainable reason, they all spoke the same language?

No, there was no 'lucky' correlation. There was no accidental similaries. Exuberant knew exactly why they were here, and she knew exactly what had drawn them. So she had been preparing. The first order of business was to locate and observe any nearby forerunner structures, this wasn't as easy as it sounded. What little she had found resided mostly apon the planets surface, in the form of medial outposts and weapon caches. She had sent down teams of sentinels to retrieve much of the abandoned firepower, with the knowledge that it was only right to be prepared, and prepared she was. There was however, one other structure she had uncovered. It took a lot of digging, but she was eventually able to crack the excessive firewall that was protecting it, creating a back door for further intrusions. What she found stunned her.

Locked away beneath the planets surface was something that she had wished never to see again, something that should have been destroyed eons ago. A forerunner guardian. It wasn't of the same model as the ones that had been used to enslave humanity. It was something more, aggressive. No doubt it would serve as a valuable tool to her and her comrades, but that was only the case if they could oust the troublesome AI that currently inhabited it. Said AI, Ironicly named '225 Everlasting Truth' had gone rampant millenias ago, and refused acknowledge her own deteriorating state. She was convinced that she was waiting for a message from her creators, and that they would instruct her on the necessary containment protocols for the 'horrific' flood outbrake on the planet above, a message that would never come.

She was dangerous, and needed to be terminated as soon as possible, but her hardwired position within the large device had made it rather difficult for her sentinels to ambush the troublesome construct. That was on ongoing effort. 

Exuberant made note of the strange weather patterns moving around in the atmosphere.

"Yes yes, the artificial condensation generators must me functioning optimally."

She added her note to the ever growing list of forerunner infrastructure that the world seemed to display. Everything that was observed corresponded exactly to the information she had stored. The keys the librarian had provided were proving especially effective, even if they weren't originally meant for her use. 

Canterlot, Equestria. 11:39pm 30/06/1000 AN

The air was cold and refreshing, and Mathew felt the satisfying cool of the breeze wash over his exposed skin. The meeting had completely lost it's tense aura once the griffons had left. Chrysalis certainly wasn't joking when she said they were a difficult bunch to be around, how anyone could put up with that for more that a few minutes was beyond him. After the King had been, vacated, the subject turned to his tech, which was met with a lot less screams of war mongering that he had expected. It seemed that almost everyone on this rock had a supreme fascination with pretty shades of pink and blue, despite the rather violent nature that the items promoted. After everything was passed around, safety on of course, they went outside for an impromptu demonstration, where a number of targets and practice dummies had been set up by the guard. Mathew got to show off many of the fancy weapons, and offered to pay for all the things that Ember smashed to bits with a gravity hammer.

After all was said and crushed, the leaders had retired the night, leaving the sisters to lower and raise their respective celestial bodies before packing it in themselves. A few more attempts skewering an apple with a blamite shard later,  Mathew had also found his way to bed. That brought him to where he was now, sitting on his guest balcony without his armour, enjoying the crisp night air with a platter cheese and crackers he had poached from the kitchen on the way past. He let out a sigh of content, it wasn't often he felt as relaxed as this, if only he had some com-

"Hey."

Mathew jumped at the sound of a voice close by, he searched around for a moment before spotting Chrysalis on the balcony next to him. What was she doing here?

"Uh, hi, what are you doing here?"

She scoffed in a very royal manner, blowing strands of seaweed green mane out of her face.

"Are rooms are next to one another, who knew?" She said giving the human a sarcastic eye roll.

"Actually, I did." Good old ghost, there to ruin every joke, as always.

Chrysalis smiled at the little lights prescence.

"Is there anything you don't know, lightbulb?"

"Yes there is, he doesn't know when it isn't a good time to be a smart ass, isn't that right sparky?"

His ghost huffed and disappeared, leaving them alone. Chrysalis then attempted to adopt a face of superiority, giving the guardian a sly look. 

"So, is it gonna be your place or mine?"

This caught Mathew off guard, sending a ripple of laughter through his body, he sprayed his cracker crumbs over the balcony in a fit of giggles. 

"I didn't take you for a joker Chryssi, are you fresh out of insults or something?"

The queen's small, insect like wings buzzed, and she floated lazily over to his balcony, landing quietly next to him.

"Just don't let it get to your head, monkey."

Mathew ignored the comment and continued to stare out into the black. A glint floated over the horizon, passing across the sky at extreme speeds. Celestia was holding a press conference tomorrow to deal with that paticular issue. 

"Thank you, by the way." Spoke Chrysalis, who also admiring the night.

Mathew turned to face her.

"For what?"

They locked eyes, her deep green to his glowing blue.

"For, you know, sticking up for me today, even though you didn't have to."

"I did have to though, what kind of a friend would I be if I just stood there and did nothing?"

The large arthropod's expression shifted to one of joy.

"You consider us friends?"

"If I'm calling everyone else here my friends, then I might as well add you to that list, besides, you're fun to talk to."

He turned back towards the horizon, failing to notice his companions light blush. They sat in silence for a few minutes more, a long pair of shadows, cast against the castle walls. Eventually Chrysalis stirred.

"As much as I enjoy our time together, I believe I must be getting some rest. See you in the morning... Friend."

Just like that she was gone, her sleek black chitin vanishing into the darkness of her own room. Mathew watched her leave, and gradually began to move himself, picking up the now empty cheese platter. He balanced it carefully on one arm, while using the other to slide open the overhang doors. They were surprisingly easy to move, much like most of the castles doors. Once inside, he placed the wooden board on a nearby desk, next to his sword hilt. 

The large bed beckoned him, inviting the guardian with the promise of warmth and comfort. He was about to climb into the silky material when his ghost popped into existence next to him.

"I've been thinking..."

"Oh wow, there's a surprise, the machine designed to think, thinks." Came a snarky reply, muffled by a sea of blankets. Ghost just ignored him.

"That griffon seemed to know something we don't, something rather bad."

"Well can we continue 'not' knowing what he meant until the morning, I'm already past the point of no return."

"Mathew this is serious!" Cried the ball of light, twitching angrily.

Mathew sat up, giving him his best 'are you shitting me' look.

"It's just the way he put his remark, like he was deliberately using the word darkness... Like he was describing something more..."

"Are you sure it's not just another metaphore, I'm pretty certain darkness is widely considered to mean 'bad'. He probably just wants to sue Equestria or something, can I sleep now?"

"Mathew, you do realise what would happen if the enemies of the light found their way here, right? Does this place look like it's prepared for that kind of conflict?"

The human sighed, forcing himself into an upright position.

"I'm telling you, there's no threat. They have no reason to come here, there's nothing they want."

"But what about-"

"They got what they wanted! They killed us, we're all that's left. Why would they go a thousand years out of their way just to catch a single guardian and his ghost? I doubt even the Vex have that kind of patience, and they control time itself!"

Mathew slumped against his pillow, the feathery sensation washing over his head.

"If your really that worried, we can go up to the ship in a couple of days and take a few deep space scans, that monitor owes us one hell of an explanation anyway."

Ghost remained silent, floating above the head board with minimum enthusiasm. Just before he drifted off to sleep, Mathew swore he heard him speak.

"A thousand years, those numbers just don't..."

Then he was consumed.

...
...
...
...
...
Mathew awoke with a start, everything around him was black, draped in a thick layer of whispy shadows. He felt around, looking for the bedside lamp, his hands grasped nothing. Slowly, he climbed out of his bed, his movements were silent. The guardian finched as his food made contact with the ground, it was smooth and hard, unlike the soft carpet that previously covered the space. As he rose from the bed, the viscous smoke began to clear, allowing his eyes to adjust. 

"Ghost, you there?" He whispered, unsure if he could be heard. There was no response. "Ghost? Where are you?"

"Your robotic friend will be of no use to you here, human."

That voice, Mathew recognised it, but he couldn't place where from.

"Who are you? Come out so I can see who's been stalking me."

The darkness shifted nearby, but nothing approached. 

"You may not know me now, but in time, you will come to remember me."

"And why is that?"

"Because this isn't the first time we've met, and it won't be the last..."

Mathew shuddered as a tendril of ink danced along his back, caressing him softly.

"Such fear, such, hatred... Tell me human, why do you feel this way, why do you keep so much bottled up inside?"

The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, including his mind. He drew a void bow out of no where, pointing it at the swirling clouds. 

"This is your last chance! Come out now!"

"As you wish..."

A portion of the darkness grew blacker that the rest, and slowly, a plated hoof began to emerge, followed be a body, and then a fanged grin. Nightmare Moon stood before him in all her regal glory.

"You..."

"Yes human, me..."

"What do you want?"

She paused her advance, staring down at Mathew with hungry eyes.

"This isn't about what I want." She raised a hoof to the crackling arrow aimed at her, it vanished in a shower of light. "This is about what you want"

"And what do I want?" He replied, staring at the place where his light had vanished. 

"You seek the truth, as does you companion, you seek to understand why you are here..."

Mathew looked around at the crazy dream world surrounding him.

"I already know why I'm here, I'm here because you brought me."

"Not here, you fool. Here..."

A large image of Equis appeared, hovering above them in the eerie blue light. Nightmare continued.

"You seek understand the nature of you arrival, as well as the world you've been deposited on."

Mathew growled at the spirit, who remained unfazed.

"I've got no time for this! Why are you even talking to me! Your just another monster to add to the ever expanding list!"

Now it was Moons turn to be angry, she grew taller than Mathew, and her dark blues tilted to angry reds.

"There is much talk and I have listened! Through earth and cloud and time! Now I shall talk and you shall listen..."

Her form faded and returned to normal, were an intimidated human was waiting. 

"You are being lied to, Mathew Ausland, blatant lies, covering a truth you do not know..."

"And why should I listen to you, you took over Luna's body, you forced her sister to banish her!"

"You say that like we are two entirely different entities, nay, while Luna has a physical body, and I do not, we are very much related. I am an extension of her conscious, and she is an anchor for mine. Luna created me because she didn't have what it took to forward her plans, she created me because she couldn't bear to fight the ones she loved herself. Her plan stayed the same, I was merely an execution, a contingency."

"Why should I trust you?" Said Mathew. 

Nightmare Moon sighed.

"What do you know of this world human, other than its filled with creatures you recognise?"

This caused the human to stop.

"What are you saying?"

"Tell me human, why weren't you immediately arrested by Celestia when you arrived?"

"Because I rescued Luna from the-"

"And why did you do that?"

"It was the right thing to do-"

"And why do you think she came with you? Surely an obviously unknown alien creature, showing up in one of the largest warships ever built would set off some alarms?"

"Wait, I never told you about-"

"And didn't young Twilight, having met you just thirty minutes prior, give you and address to her home! How odd..."

Mathew took a seat on the bed, which was still sitting in the smoke clearing. She was right, he had trusted them almost instantaneously. Why? He had assumed it was due to their naive appearance, and how innocent Luna had looked on the moon. Then he met Celestia, and even though she presented herself as a possible hostile, it didn't even cross his mind to raise a weapon. The same thing happened with Chrysalis, and after five minutes she already had him calling her by a pet name, 'Chryssi'.

"Why is it, that whenever any of them are around, you immediatly jump to defend them? Without thinking, you put yourself at risk for people you hardly know."

Did she just say people? 

"I know why, I wish for you to know why."

Mathew looked up at her, finding the spirit towering over him.

"I-I don't know..."

"Then think! What about this place makes you feel so safe, and why do you refuse to trust someone who is an extension of the pony you already know!"

"I SAID I DON'T KNOW!"

Moon backed away, sitting on her haunches. Her long misty tail wafting behind her.

"I just... I just don't know..."

"Then I shall tell you..."

She straightened up, preparing to deliver a speech.

"You are familiar with the concept of the uncanny valley, yes?"

"Yeah, the dip before perfection... What does that have to do with anything."

"It has to do with everything. It has to do with the comfort you feel around those ponies, as well as why you fear me."

Mathew raised an eyebrow, not seeing the point.

"When you look at me, do you feel uneasy, yet you are unable to comprehend why?"

"I imagine it has something to do with the fact that your invading my dreams, and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

"Luna has that ability, as did many other beings of the past. No, you fear me for a different reason, why?"

Mathew closed his eyes, trying desperately to see why she was making him so uncomfortable.

"It's because of what you've done, the deciet you bring."

"Yet you befriended Chrysalis, the queen of a race who's entire livelyhood depends on lies and the warping of perception."

There was silence, Mathew locking eyes with the fallen goddess. Then she continued.

"It's because I'm almost perfect, almost a pony that you can trust yet there is something in me that tarnishes me, makes me seem, out of place. Can you feel it, can you feel them?"

"I don't know what your talking about, now please, just wake me up."

"You can sense something within me that shouldn't be there. Let me show you..."

Suddenly, Nightmares voice shifted pitch, it's tone becoming higher and less regal.

"Can you sense what you've lost Mathew."

There was no way, she sounded exactly like Kalie. Her pitch changed again.

"Can you feel the pain of a thousand lives lost."

That was Cayde, how did she even know what they sounded like?

"Does it hurt."

Mathew stopped thinking, his mind went numb. That was his own voice, down to the little hoarse scratch. Mathew hadn't felt fear like this in all his life. 

"What... Are you?"

"I? I am a monument, to all your sins..."

Mathew stood up from the bed, backing away from the crazed mare.

"You are being lied to, Mathew Ausland, and it's time for you to wake up, wake up, wake up."

"Wake up."

"Wake up, Mathew please!"

"You have to wake UP!"

Mathew snapped awake, his hands gripping the duvet for balance, his ghost floated overhead.

"Mathew thank the traveller, your vitals were all over the place, if you weren't a guardian you could have gone into cardiac- Mathew! Are you listening to me!"

"We need to leave..."

Ghost double took him.

"What do you mean, there's a press conference tomorrow, we can't just-"

"We're leaving now, port the weapons back into the Lich, we're getting answers."

Ghost could sense the serious tone in his voice, and promptly transmatted the desired items on board.

"Should we tell them we're going, it would be rude just to leave like this..."

"They can't know, not till we know who we can trust. I'll explain on the way."

Mathew finished putting on his armour before stealthily making his way down to the courtyard, the ship was resting quietly, and he ran for the entrance, which was sealed shut. A quick rap on the purple surface and they were faced by gold, who was in idle mode, his long fins tucked away. 

"How may I be of assistance."

"We're leaving, pack you bags."

The Sentinel just floated inside and began the startup procedure, before long, Mathew was seated in the glossy pink cockpit. He snuck a glance at the co-pilot chair, which still had a small strand of blue hair stuck to it. He turned away in anguish, this had nothing to do with her... At least he hoped. They would soon find out. Just as the first rays of dawn began to approach, a crack shattered silence of the morning air, followed by a halo rainbow energy, most slept through it, but a certain blue alicorn had no need of sleep.


























 

















> Chapter 15: Prometheus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hive dreadnought 'Nightmare Grasp', Deep space. 4367 Earth date.

Nokris was silent as ever, gazing out at the infinite black, his tempered mind filled with thoughts of fire and death. A lone knight bowed at his feet, the normally towering creature looking puny and weak against the Hive gods form. 

"My king, the planet approaches, shall we begin preparations."

Nokris pulled himself away from his graphic fantasies. They wouldn't remain fantasies for long. He looked down at his shivering underling, fortunately the news was pleasing, so his life would be spared. 

"Yes... Have the seeds ready for or arrival, and make good haste!" 

The kings booming voice sent shock waves through the stinking air, clearing the rolling green fog with ease. There was a moment of silence before the knight rose, exiting the throne room to complete his task. Nokris leaned back in his chair, attempting to resume his thoughts, but something was bothering him. He felt as though he was being stalked, despite the fact that he was alone. Of course it was of no concern to him, he was merely curious as to why he felt as such. 

There was a flicker in the darkness, a small light glinting in the rafters above. It made its way slowly down to the floor, pulsing with energy. Nokris viewed it with interest. The blue spark stopped, hovering a a few meters away from his throne. A particularly bright pulse was emitted, and the light began to speak.

"Hello Nokris..."

How curious... It spoke in a light tone, but he could hear the age in it's voice. 

"Greetings spark, why have you came to this place?"

The light flickered, it's blue hue turning to one of red, but it quickly reversed.

"I came to you because I believe there is benefit in our interaction, we both want the same thing after all."

"And what might that be, spark." Replied the king.

"Equis."

Now that got his attention, what would a spark of light want with the accursed planet? The orb continued.

"Are you aware that a human still lives?"

No... Impossible, how could one have survived, he had seen their city with his own eyes. It was nothing but a charred crater, a thousand miles wide. To think that someone could escape that...

"Though you do not show it, I can see your surprise. Not only is a human alive, but it's the same human who killed your brother, and his son. He is in the company of my enemies, I trust you will want to meet him?"

Revenge... He could have it, personally... While he thought that they were arrogant and foolish, Crota and Oryx were two of the few  entities in the galaxy worthy of what little compassion existed within him. They were tasked by the forefathers to consume that which brought light, and destroy the human race. Together. He would avenge his fallen kin.

"What is it that you desire..."

"I merely propose an alliance, for the sake of ensuring victory. I wish to purge those who have wronged me, as do you. If we were to work together, nothing could even hope to stand in our way."

Red lights began to fill the darkness, accompanied by a symphony of mechanical sounds. A silver encrusted creature emerged from the shadows, it's single crimson orb staring evilly up at him. Nokris pushed himself forwards.

"And do you have a name, spark?"

There was a flicker, and the sphere suddenly changed shape, twisting into a far more recognizable form. A glowing human female stood before him. 

"My name? I have many, collective mind, forgotten construct... But you, you may call me Cortana..."

Long Far Gone, Equis orbit. 2:19am 01/07/1000 AN

Out in the vacuum of space, a purple light tore at shocking speeds. Its target was clearly visible, it's mountainous silver hull looming overhead. The huge vessel passed across the rising sun, casting a shadow apon the lands below. The violet glint burned out as its escape thrusters wound down. As if sensing its approach, a massive metal slab moved aside, revealing a shielded hanger entrance, through which the comparatively minuscule craft passed. 

Inside the hanger, all was as it was left. Sentinels buzzed around, moving objects and filing data. Among them was one that stood out, for it's round shape was in stark contrast to the jagged and menacing androids surrounding her. Exuberant watched as the Lich crossed the shield threshold at unsafe speeds, before impacting the floor and sliding over a hundred meters towards the back wall, where it came to rest apon its original landing pad, although slightly more scratched and dented than before. The monitor rushed to the scene.

"Reclaimer! Reclaimer are you okay!"

The answer came as one of the side doors slowly opened, revealing a somewhat intact interior. Most of the weapons cases were in perfect shape, but not in the order she had left them. Had they been reorganized? Before her thoughts could go any further, he reclaimer appeared in the entrance, helmet on and hood up. She flew to greet him. 

"Ah reclaimer, I trust you had a pleasant excursion, did you return the moon princess to her former lodgings?"

Mathew didn't answer, he just stared straight ahead, refusing to make eye contact with the chipper AI. 

"Reclaimer? Is everything alright? You seem to have misheard my-"

"Oh he heard you Exuberant, he's just not in a very good mood right now."

Mathews ghost entered her view, his many moving parts twitching erratically. He floated directly in front of her, his single eye narrowing in suspicion.

"Why? Was the locals hospitality not sufficient? Did they show aggre-"

"Drop the act Exuberant, you're fooling no one."

Mathews voice was cold and harsh, almost on the verge of sounding mechanical. He growled at her through his helmet, threatening to vaporize her with his fierce glare.

"Whatever do you mean reclaimer?" She asked, feigning surprise. She just needed more time...

"You know what, I give up. I'm sick of everyone just lying to me! What is there to hide?! First them, now you."

"Reclaimer I-"

She was interrupted as Mathew stormed off, sulking like an infant. It was petty, he knew it was petty, but he didn't care. Being mature had gotten him nowhere thus far, maybe acting like a child would make a difference. Ghost stayed where he was, looking directly at the purple monitor.

"When did he start acting like this?" She asked, he gaze not leaving the huffing human.

"About an hour ago. He was resting when his vitals began to spike, I woke him up and he said we needed to leave. He didn't tell me why, but somethings got him worked up."

Exuberant said nothing, refusing to turn away from her reclaimer.

"Did he mention anything, anything at all?"

"Something about a 'nightmare moon', whoever that is."

The forerunner anchilla was silent, stuck in deep thought.

"You know, while he was a bit brash, I agree with him. What are you hiding from us, and why can't you just tell us the truth?"

Ghosts voice wasn't angry or frustrated, but sad, with a hint of curiosity mixed in. Exuberant broke out of her trance, taking a final fleeting glance at Mathew before turning to his counterpart.

"I'm... I'm sorry, it's just sometimes I get cuaght up in my old ways. If Mathew had found out where he was, there was a high chance he wouldn't have set foot on that planet. I needed him to meet them, at least briefly, to get to know them."

She was silent for a moment, but quickly followed up on her rather cryptic sentence.

"Bring him, I believe it would be easier to show you why you are here, rather than tell you."

Ghost nodded in compliance, and floated over towards his forlorn friend. After a moment of hushed speach, Mathew rose and approached her, coming to a stop to her left.

"Let's get this over with then." 

A swirling blue portal opened ahead of them, and the trio disappeared in a flash of light.

Canterlot, Equestria. 2:30am 01/07/1000 AN

"What do you mean he's gone!"

The perfect calm of the castle was annihilated by the hoarse sounding voice of an extremely angry sun horse. Luna, in all her thousands of years of wisdom, had decided to wake her sister apon seeing the guardian leave. She hadn't taken it well.

"Sister, calm down! Your going to wake the entire city!"

"Calm down?! Luna this is a disaster, those griffons must have come back for him during the night! What if he's hurt! We need to find him-"

"Sister! Listen to yourself, Mathew is fine... At least he looked fine. He must have gone up to retrieve something from his spaceship. Nothing more, now rest."

"But Luna-"

"Rest..."

Celestia grumbled and lay down her head, getting a smile from her Lunar counterpart. It reminded her of the old days, when her sister was more joyous and care free. Moments like this were par the course back then.

Her musings were cut short as regal princess snores began to permeate the air, Celestia had curled up, her forelegs hugging an overstuffed pillow. 

"Sweet dreams sister, I shall see you when you awake."

Celestia murmured in response, snuggling further down into her pillow heaven. Luna sat up and walked slowly towards the exit, taking care to step over the many scrolls that littered the carpet. She picked one up on the way out, examining the finely pressed seal. As she moved out into the cold hallway, her magic popped off the wax cover, which had a smart imprint of her sibling's student's cutie mark, neatly positioned in the center. Luna scanned the page, which was expertly written in black ink.

Dear Princess Celestia

I humbly apologize for my actions last night, I was only trying to protect Equestria, and I'm not sure what I did wrong. I couldn't just stand their and let Nightmare Moon bring- 

"-Eternal night..."

Luna froze.

"That's what it says isn't it, that's what you wanted me to bring..."

She whirled around, charging her horn in the process. 

"Where are you! Come out at once!"

There was a shudder as darkness began to crawl down the castle walls, it seeped through every crack and filled every crevice, covering Luna's surroundings in a thick black tar. It slid across the floor towards her, and was met with a beam of blue light. No effect.

"Come now little Luna, don't you wish to see me again? After all..." A particularly large bubble burst, sending a shower of inky goo over the fuming princess. "We're like family."

In the bubbles place stood Nightmare, a jagged grin plastered on her face. 

"You have no place here demon! Leave! Before I am forced to banish you myself."

Nightmare just chuckled.

"Yes, yes. If seems you haven't changed much since we last met, the only difference then is that we were on the same page..."

"I never sided with you! You used me!"

"Is that so, or am I forgetting the millions you killed just to acquire me..."

Luna snarled, pawing the marble floor with her hoof. 

"I did no such thing! We will not allow an evil being to bring such slander to our name!"

"To the eye that does not wish to see, slanders there can only be... That's an old Zebrican saying is it not, one that fits quite well in your case."

Luna fired a beam of hot magic at her twisted form, only for her to disappear af the last second. She materialised on a ledge not far a above, grinning like a mad-mare. 

"Tell me Luna, what's got Tia so worked up, she's normally so prim and proper. "

"That is none of your concern, witch!"

Another azure projectile impacted the overhang, blowing it to pieces. Nightmare reappeared behind her.

"Could it maybe have something to do with our current guest, hmm?"

Luna slowly rotated, a drip of blue plasma rolling down her horn.

"Where. Is. He."

"He's long gone, far away from you."

"What have you DONE TO HIM!" 

She punctuated he sentence with a huge blast of magic, striking the cackling alicorn right in the chest. The blast caused her to erupt into a cloud of black mist, which drifted aimlessly downwards. Luna collapsed from exhaustion, magic fatigue beginning to effect her senses. There was a twitch of light, and the dust rose in a thick cloud. The cloud rumbled and began to reassemble into a familiar shape, once again Nightmare stood over the lunar diarch.

"I have done nothing to him Lu-lu, nothing at all. You on the other hand, or should I say hoof, it doesn't really matter at this point does it. You, are the source of all his strife."

"I-I, No! I shall not yield!"

"Then it will be your undoing."

With a powerful beat of her wings Nightmare sent the moon princess flying backwards. She slammed off the white wall behind her, specks of red splattering the alabaster marble. Luna tried to regain her defensive stance but was cut short as a black hoof impacted her muzzle. Blood erupted from the end of her nose, clouding her vision in a sea of crimson.

"Weak, just as you were before."

Luna spat out a blob of saliva, shakily pulling herself to her hooves.

"You may try to break me, witch, but you will not succeed. No matter how real this seems, it's just another nightmare."

"I'm not here to break you Luna, I'm here to make you see."

Nightmare kicked her again, tossing the mare to the floor.

"Breaking you is just an added bonus."

She reared up to deliver a crushing blow, Luna pulled her hooves over her eyes, preparing for the impact. There was a whooshing of air, followed by a sickening crunch. Luna popped her eye open. A shimmering blue hoof shoe was imbedded in the floor, just an inch away from her head. 

"Look at you, pathetic. At least that monkey had the guts to listen to what I had to say."

"Please... Please don't hurt him..."

Nightmare Moon just sighed, pulling her dust covered hoof out of the sizeable crater in the stonework.

"As much as seeing you in pain pleases me, I doubt I would be able to do anything of the sort."

Luna gazed up at her in fear, watching as a tri coloured flash warped across the spirits snake like eyes. Blue, orange, purple. 

"You see, there is nothing that I could do, nothing I could ever take away from him, that would match what you've already done..."

Long Far Gone, Equis orbit. 2:45am 01/07/1000 AN

Mathew walked silently down the narrow pink corridors of the Long Far Gone. If it weren't for his sour mood, he would have probably mentioned the complete silence that seemed to shroud the halls. After exiting the portal, it was as if all the background noise just... Stopped...

They were alone, moving thoughtfully through a maze of twists and turns and blinking lights. He watched Exuberant with a sceptical but curious eye, following her through what must have been a cartographers nightmare. Eventually, they reached a long slim door. It's shimmering purple surface glowed with hidden lights, illuminating the symbols it bore. One of the sun, the other of the moon. Between the two symbols was another he recognised, the same symbol that had originally drawn him to this strange place. Exuberant turned to face him.

"Reclaimer, before we enter, there is something I must ask of you. Something very important."

Mathew shrugged impatiently.

"I don't care what it is, as long as we get the answers we deserve."

The monitor blipped in conformation, before digging through her memory for the right words to use.

"Behind this door, are many things that you may bat be able to fully understand. Their nature may anger you, confuse you, or even scare you, but you must promise me, promise me, please do not lash out. Because no matter how you react, you will not be walking out of that room the same as you go in."

Mathew nodded uneasily, shooting a wary look at his ghost underneath his visor.

"Splended! Shall we enter?"

The symbols on the door compressed, spinning as imbedded locks began to pick themselves apart. With a final clank, the process was completed, and the door slid slowly open, revealing what was on the other side.

"Woah." 

The room was huge, nothing like the size of the hanger, but it's shape seemed to increase the already immense scale. The curved walls rose into a beautiful dome, a swirling hologram of a galaxy bathing the room in an aura of blue light. Lining the walls were stands, each containing an item of a different variety. Some looked to be weapons, while others ancient robes and tapestries. What was most impressive however, was the shelves bordering the majestic dome, each of which was stacked with throusands of books and tombs, the nature of which remained unclear. In the center of the room was a grand podium, suspended on which was an ornate golden staff. Mathew approached it.

"What, is this place?" He asked, still gawping at the stunning interior.

"This is the arcane archives, the last remaining documentaion of the forerunner dark period."

Though she couldn't see Mathew's confused expression, she could feel it was there, begging for her to continue.

"Held within this room are the answers to many of the universes great secrets, locked away in time. It is also were you will find the answers to your own questions, reclaimer. It is every beings quest to discover why they tred the grounds of the universe, even those like yourself, who have an eternity to find out. If you wish to uncover the future, I must first tell you of the past."

"Well then, go on..."

Exuberant began to glow, a soft steady hum resonating from her spherical body. The light in the room began to warp and bend around her, obscuring much her surroundings in a gravitational lense. Mathew took a step back, attempting to distance himself from the dramatic display. Just as the vortex reached its critical point, the monitors violet eye burst open in a flash of white, and the world dissolved around him.

UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN #:&?am/pm 01/07/1000 AN

Mathew awoke to a haze of blue, spotted with close but distant specks of light. He felt as though he was underwater, able to feel the air moving past his fingers, like he was floating in soup. There was nothing below him, or above him, or anywhere around him. Just an infinite expanse of nothing. 

"Hello? Exuberant? Is anyone there?"

"I am here reclaimer, do not fret."

Though there were no clear surfaces anywhere, the monitors voice seemed to echo loudly, making it difficult to pinpoint her location. 

"Where are you?"

"I am everywhere, and nowhere. I need not be physical while in this state."

There was a flash and Exuberant appeared next to him, twisting around to be at his eye level.

"But if it makes it easier for you."

Mathew jumped in surprise, but curtly nodded, it was probably best not to think about that to much. He opened the telemetry that normally allowed him to communicate with his ghost, but was met with only static. When a swift bang to the side of his helmet failed to solve the problem, he turned instead to the monitor.

"If you are trying to contact your ancilla, I'm sorry to say that you won't find him. This place is normally off limits to an artificial mind, they don't have the right neural framework to access it. Normally."

"Exuberant, where are we?"

The monitor took a quick glance at her surroundings, she paused for a moment in an action that could only be described as a tired sigh, before continuing.

"This is the dreamscape Mathew, you may not know it by that name, as it has many others. Mindscape, limbo, purgatory. It's all the same thing, a metaphysical realm that overlays the physical world in a shroud of thoughts and memories. It's how your princess friend was able to enter your dreams, it's also the realm in which many terrible horrors lurk."

Mathew winced at the mention of Luna, what was she thinking right now? She was probably asleep. In the distance, he began to make out what looked like rows of screens travelling towards them. Each had a display of unknown events, most of which looked alien to him.

"The archives contain a magical artifact that allows inexperienced dream walkers to traverse the dreamscape with relative ease, truth be told I never thought I'd have to use it, but here we are!"

The screens reached them, stopping just ahead of the duo, awaiting further commands. Mathew eyed them with caution.

"Your wondering what they are, aren't you. Simply put, they're memories, ancient memories from before even my time. In the dreamscape, minds become similar to that of housing structures, with the entrances being doors, while memories appear as windows. These paticular memories will help to answer some of your questions."

As he took a closer look, he began to make out what looked like a massive city. It was larger than anything he had ever seen, dwarfing even the ancient ruins he had seen in Africa. Much of the city was suspended from great floating platforms, elegant and silver in design. Great sparkling crystals were aglow in all the streets, lighting the way. Exuberant moved the window closer for emphasis.

"Wow, where is that place."

"Where this all began, where we all began."

Mathew could see creatures roaming the streets, though it was blurry, he could definitely be sure they weren't human. 

"Long, long ago, there was an ancient race of beings who had one simple, yet indescribably complex task. They were the keepers of the mantle of responsibility, and they watched over and protected all life in the galaxy. This is the only known memory of them that still exists, and even then it is hazy."

Mathew lifted his hand up to stroke the fragile surface, it wobbled under his touch, threatening to shatter. He backed away.

"Under these supposed precursors care, three beautiful and unique races began to blossom. Though they showed great potential, they were unexperienced and weak, forcing themselves into perpetual states of war and chaos. Seeing this, the precursors wished to show them the wonders that could be achieved though teamwork and friendship. They presented each of the struggling civilisations with a gift, and told them that, whether they accepted it or not, they would find salvation through it's unlocking. That gift reclaimer, was magic." 

Mathew felt the travellers light run through his hands, forming a sparkling orb in his palm.

"Who were they?"

In a flash of light the city screen vanished, and a new one took its place. It was an image of a silk woven tapestry, emblazoned with symbols and all the colours of the rainbow. In the center stood a group of beings, two tall bipeds, and one smaller quadruped. Their happy smiles set forever in thread.

"They were us Mathew, humans, forerunners, ponies. We were all given that opportunity, the greatest gift ever given from one to another. They showed your ancestors the magic of friendship, and sealed the bond between our kin. Though only the ponies chose to accept the gift, the knowledge that came with it was vital to keeping our relationship afloat. Over time they grew in strength, and defining values began to emerge among each of the different cultures. The forerunners were good at maintaining order, and wished for a galaxy of peace and prosperity. The humans wished to progress, both in their own knowledge and as a compassionate and curious species. And the ponies, well they wished to see a universe of harmony, where everyone worked together and shared their values of love and friendship."

Though it would have seemed complicated at first glance, Mathew found it surprisingly easy to grasp. Three races, each with their own values and characteristics, coming together to make the world a better place. It reminded him of a good three class fireteam. There was just one thing that was bugging him thus far.

"Wait, when did this all happen, I'm not sure I've ever seen any of this stuff written anywhere."

"You will not find any of this information in a history book, no matter where you look." Said Exuberant, facing the screen. "It happened hundreds of thousands of years ago, and has long since fallen into myth."

"There's no way that's possible, the human race was barely banging rocks together at that point."

"I'll- I'll get to that later, for now reclaimer, shall we continue?"

The tapestry dematerialised, a new image sliding into view.

"Though the precursors truly wished to bring happiness to all those under their care, they had other motives as well. The mantle isn't something that can be owned, it must be cherished, and must be free to move on. The precursors understood this, and through building teamwork and trust, were attempting to find a successor. After thousands of years of observation, a decision had finally been made. The forerunners had been chosen to inherit the mantle of responsibility, and with this new power, they hoped to bring an everlasting peace to the galaxy. But as always..."

The new image was finally clear to view, and what Mathew saw could only be described as shocking.

"They took it one step to far..."

Within the window was a still image, crystal clear compared to those that came previous. Though it was merely static, it conveyed all the emotion it needed to. Framed against the sky was a massive bird like structure, stretching its mighty wings across the city below, a city that was shrouded in darkness. Figures could be seen running from the huge metal beast, like tiny ants about to be exterminated. The most prominent of the masses was a young looking man, his mouth wide with terror, clutching something to his chest. Mathew squinted to make out what he was holding, and apon closer inspection realised that it was a child, a pony foal, it's tiny ears splayed back in fear and its eyes wet with terrified tears. 

"They called them guardians, and they were built as a solution to an honourable goal, to watch over and protect worlds from harm. Protection quickly turned to restraint, which then turned to violence. Only when they started to harvest arcane energy from pony controlled settlements, did the precursors realise their mistake. My creators didn't take kindly to the removal of their power, they were more distraught when it was offered again to the humans, who readily accepted. As the humans began to rebuiled what they had lost, the forerunners anger stewed, they grew resentful of the beings who had taken away their right to rule, and they grew envious of the race who had filled their place. A hundred years later, they declared war on the precursors, shattering millennias of trust and companionship in one swift move."

The screen changed again, this time showing footage of a great battle. Ships streaked the skies and blood fell as rain, staining the charred ground. 

"The war lasted an inconceivable amount of time, the forerunners pushing their teachers further and further out of the galaxy. My creators told themselves that they were doing the right thing, and that they were preventing their own destruction. I was told that myself, and at the time, I believed it. Eventually the precursers were pushed out of the Milky Way, and into a local dwarf galaxy. Where they ultimately met their demise."

Mathew watched as the image faded away to nothing, leaving only a faint outline behind. 

"What happened then?" He asked, shifting his damp eyes upward.

"Nothing, for millions of years the galaxy was silent. Leaders came and went, lives were spent, and from the forerunners perspective, their old allies and friends receided from view. Of course they didn't go anywhere, they simply began a new, attempting to replace my creators with a new race of allies. When the forerunners finally remembered who their old friends were, it was not on the best of circumstances. An armada of ships had been edging towards their territory, armed to the teeth with magical and technological weaponry that even the most fearless warrior servants tremble in fear. And after a human starship glassed a forerunner colony, the war to end all wars was declared. It's truly sad that my creators couldn't see past their hate and anger, unable to view what was really occurring just out of sight."

Exuberant pulled another, more sinister looking image from nowhere. It showed a marred corpse bursting with sick yellow flesh.

"The armada wasn't attacking... It was running, and now trapped between two slowly closing walls, both of your kinds were easily defeated, and all that remained were my creators, and the flood of horrors that they had unleashed. The parasite bled across forerunner territory, destroying and infecting anything it came into contact with. It was the precursors final gift, a final test of our will, which we thought was as strong as the fleet it bolstered. Everything we threw at it failed, until we were left with only one option. If we couldn't defeat the monster, then we had to starve it."

A final memory appeared, showing a bazaar piece of footage. Mathew couldn't quite make sense of it. Many silver rings hung eerily over a larger object, it's surface covered with mountain ranges and oceans. He swore they looked familiar, he had seen them somewhere. Then it hit him. 

"Those are halo rings, aren't they."

Exuberant bobbed up and down, attempting a nod.

"I'm sure you have been made aware of their function, correct?"

"Yeah, yeah I was."

"Then you must understand the sacrifice my creators had to make, and the sacrifices they continued to make, right up until the end. Though the forerunners could hardly be considered the noble and proud race they once were, many wished to see their supposed enemies preserved from the coming fire. Saved from destruction."

The memories field of view tightened, expanding in on a patch of space near the base of the larger structure.

"Plans were put in place to guarantee your survival, but it was not without compromise. The forerunner leadership did not wish for either the ponies, or the humans to find out who the once were. So a pair of installations were constructed. Given controllable ecosystems and perfect landscapes. A single star and moon, rotating around a prison world were nothing ever changed. One had magic, the other was abundant in natural resources, a crib in which a neutered civilisation could grow. That would have been your fate Mathew, a fate that you narrowly avoided. Your peers weren't so lucky."

A white orb began to emerge from the shadow of the massive machine, tiny and insignificant.

"Were it not for a little outside meddling, I wouldn't be having this conversation with you, and you wouldn't even exist. As luck would have it, humanity had a supporter that was capable of interfering with the process, and Earth was placed in the Sol system, hidden from the scrying eyes of the high council. The Librarian, as she was called, created a time capsule of everything you humans had discovered, and filled it with the knowledge and power that would eventually lead you to reclaim the mantel that was stolen. It was launched out to space, with a hundred thousand year long flight plan that would one day take it to it's intended target. She named it the wandering star, and it was the key to everything."

There it was, the traveller, the light of humanity. Glowing with pristine beauty against the darkness of the universe behind it. He could almost feel it's touch again. Until the light of the window faded, reminding him of where he truly was.

"The rings were activated, and everything died, just as planned."

Slowly, the dreamscape began to fall apart, tearing itself to pieces.

"Ah, it appears I am losing control. Not an issue, I shall see you in a moment."

With a final groan, the dream world shattered, thousands of shards of prismatic glass raining apon him. He awoke with a start.

"Well, that was quick, it normally takes a mind some time to disentangle itself from the dreamscape."

A quick check of his surroundings confirmed that he was indeed back in the archives, leaning against the central podium. The odd staff that was situated there gleamed in the ghostly azure light. It rotated slowly in it's gravity well, reflecting at all angles.

"Well that was, interesting, to say the least..." Sputtered Mathew, still mildly dumbfounded. "But it doesn't answer my question, you still haven't told us why we're here."

"I know reclaimer, I'm just trying to find the right vocabulary. You've handled these transgressions admirably thus far, but I know what I'm about to tell you is going to hurt."

Ghost, who had just finished a batch download of all the information his guardian had received, floated blankly at his side.

"You can tell us Exuberant, it's okay..."

The monitors normally peppy nature seemed to have drained away, leaving what could only be described as shame.

"Okay, but, remember your promise. Please don't take this out on those who cannot attest to their actions."

"I promise Exuberant..." Replied Mathew, standing up from his slouched position. She simply sighed, and flickered in discomfort.

"I've made many choices reclaimer, being as old as I am. Some were easy, some were more difficult, but in the end it didn't really matter which way I chose to go. The grass would still grow, the world would keep on spinning. I was content with knowing that no matter what choices I made, the outcome would never truly affect the universe. Until the day that changed, when that lucid dysfunctional construct had the audacity to infiltrate my installation. Taking with her a million years of peace and sanctity. The choices I made during that time, while they seemed beneficial, would only lead to the eventual downfall of your most precious golden age, and all the destruction that came with it."

"In time I grew resentful, as I watched your race tear itself apart from the sidelines, hiding what was left of my kind aboard a stolen vessel of war, and just when I thought all hope was lost...  The Wandering star did something know one could have foreseen, it created you..."

Mathew shared a confused glance with his ghost, who was listening intently.

"As final contingency plan, the raw arcane energy within the star, previously unseen, birthed out in the form of constructs, much like your ghost. With a newfound hope, I witnessed this new breed of super soldiers push back the enemies you had once run from, driving them away from your home. For a time that's all there was to it, but as I looked closer a single team began to overstep the bounds required. They went on the offensive, and were successful! For the first time in nearly a millennia humanity was winning it's battles, fighting harder that they ever had before!"

In a surprising burst of speed, Exuberant closed the distance between them, coming to a stop inches from Mathews visor.

"That was you reclaimer! You pushed back the Vex and the Cabal and the Flo-"

"I know what I did! Okay, I know what I did... Just please, tell us why we're here..."

Whatever brief spell of excitement the monitor had managed to conjure up, quickly vanished with the mention of their arrival.

"Yes reclaimer... Unfortunately, with the arcana leaking from the star, it put itself at great risk to those able to wield that power. Ritual magic is one thing, but if a true creature of the arcane was to get a hold of it, well the results would have been less than pleasent for both sides, and in my own fit of enthusiasm, I had allowed my conscience to forget about that a fact... By the time I realised what was coming, it was already to late... I had to do something, even if it meant revealing myself to those who wished for my destruction. I had planned for them to send a team of three... When only you arrived, my plans changed quickly. At the request of your ghost, I sent the Long Far Gone to the origin of the magical drain. In truth we could have been here hundreds of years earlier, but I was trying to buy time from those who have an unlimited amount..."

"So you brought us here as a defence? A sort of last bastion?" Asked ghost.

"Precisely. I do not know whether we were followed, but we more than likely were, so I've been preparing."

Mathew, who had gone uncharacteristically quiet, whispered something under his helmet. His companions, being the what they were, detected it immediately.

"Did you say something reclaimer?"

Mathew glared at the monitor, his visor hiding the troubled mix of emotions on his face.

"You talked about the source of the drain, d-did you ever find out what it was?"

Exuberant paused mid flight, looking for a way to defuse the situation. 

"Answer me! Who was it!"

Finally she broke, and in a slow stutter, spoke the very words Mathew had been praying not to hear.

"I-I think we both know the answer to that question reclaimer..."

"No... No it wasn't her, she had nothing to do with this!"

"I know this must be hard to accept reclaimer, millions of years of friendship are not easily erased..."

"It wasn't her, there has to be another answer! Please tell me... Please..."

He looked pleadingly at his ghost, who just nodded in resignation.

"I detected it too, but from what I can tell, it wasn't intentional."

"She wasn't in control of her actions reclaimer..."

"NO! I WONT BELIEVE IT! There's no way..."

Mathew collapsed to his knees, pulling his helmet of with a dejected hiss. 

"It... It can't have been her... I trusted her... I trusted all of them..."

A single tear tracked down his face, dripping onto the plated floor.

"Why Luna... Why..."




















































































> Interlude: A place to call home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unexplored Ring segment A1-3, EQ Pegasi 1, 23/04/3098 Earth date   

It was cold, oh so very cold. Ice crept across every available surface, slipping between the nooks and crannies of a thousand inert rocks. It was usually cold in space, but this was a different kind of cold. An artificial cold. 

From between the sterile asteroids flashes of colour could be seen, beams of red and orange light reflecting apon the frost ridden boulders. Though muffled and inconsistent, the belt provided enough atmospheric density for some sound to permeate the otherwise enduring silence. The whirring and whistling of machinery, coupled with clanks and fizzes of metal colliding with metal. A symphony of foreign and alien sounds that were out of place in this peaceful environment. 

In a paticularly bright flash, a silver sphere emerged from the forest of rock. Flanked by a pair of angular machines, it sped onwards, leaving the frenzied battle behind. They dodged an weaved around meandering debree, hugging close to avoid detection. They were being hunted. In the shadows to their right, a set of glowing eyes flickered to life, followed by a sharp chirping. A war cry.

Four flared shapes fell from their ambush point, speeding towards their prey at a frightening velocity. Their wings extended threateningly, as each unleashed a barrage of crimson light, homing in on its target. The pursued reacted immediately, flaring their fins as a pair of lethal sentinel beams charged. The slap rifle rounds ricochet off their protective shielding and impacted the hard ice, sending up a spray of white powder that clouded and disrupted optics.

Taking advantage of their momentary cover, the Sentinels discharged their weapons, firing hot orange beams through the smoke screen. Without checking to see if they'd scored a hit, the group fled further into the ring system. Harpies hot on their tail. A rain of solar energy blasted apart the rocks as cracked shrapnel flew in random directions, bouncing off shields and brushed alloy. A series of high pitched chirps signalled the approach of reinforcements as a massive flock of tapered androids rallied to the hunt. 

"Oh dear oh dear oh dear, it seams we may be outmatched..."

The trio dodged another volley, ducking under a massive asteroid. A swift push from a tractor beam sent it hurtling towards their attackers. The satisfying crunch of glass and metal rang out as the harpies smashed off the worn basalt. The field was getting thinner the further they travelled, the space between stray rocks increasing. This allowed them more freedom to move, but also less cover. A searing bolt shattered the left aggressors shield. It swerved to avoid the follow up shot, but wasn't quick enough, taking a hit to it's dorsal fin. A trail of smoke erupted from the damaged drive, slowing it's speed exponentially. It didn't matter, they were almost at their target. The rings finally gave way to a clearing, revealing the lilac gas giant they were satellite to. 

"There..."

In the centre of the clearing, drifting ominously, was just the thing she had been searching for. Her relief was short lived however, as a flood of Vex began to pour out of the belt behind them. They encircled the forerunner units, forming an impenetrable barrier of metal. 

"Give it up Exuberant, your forces are no match for me!"

A blue figure emerged from the masses, her arms and legs held aloft by an unknown energy.

"Surrender yourself, and I promise to make your destruction quick..."

They were surrounded, no way out an all sides. 

"And don't even think about running, there is no way you will ever, be getting on that ship."

'That's it, just keep talking...' She thought.

"What's it going to be then, the easy way, of the hard way?"

'Just a few more seconds... If I had fingers they'd be crossed...'

"Well then, hard choice it- What is that?"

A low buzz could be heard, emanating from somewhere behind them. The hundreds of harpies readied their weapons at the source of the noise. It was getting closer and louder by the second, it couldn't have been more that a few meters away. A single constructer came into view, slinking round the side of an asteroid. 

"That's it? That was your plan. I truly have overestimat-"

She was cut short as the damaged aggressor smashed into her, sending shards of shrapnel off in a large explosion. The metal shredded the nearby harpies optics, sending them berserk. They blindly sprayed solar rounds in every direction, taking out many of their peers. Now in a state of panic, the Vex didn't take much notice of the impending doom that was apon them. A swarm of Sentinels flew out of the field, smashing through the confused cyborgs, slicing them to pieces with their beams. A spray of needles from an enforcer cleared a large enough gap for Exuberant and her remaining unit. She escaped the chaos of the battle and headed straight for the center of the clearing, where her prize was waiting. 

From an outside perspective, the carrier looked in moderately good condition. She could definitely see what looked like MAC impacts on some of the lower levels. Should be to hard to fix. One of the hangers looked to be depressurised, that meant it could be an entrance. She raced towards it, intent on finding out the state of the ship's drives. Exuberant didn't know how much longer her Sentinels could keep the fight up. She entered the hanger, swerving to avoid a decoupled seraph that had entered her path. 

"Come on, where are those terminals. Aha!"

Blinking near the hanger doors, was am insert panel to the ships systems. She quickly moved towards it, taking care to avoid a sea of floating crates. She reached the panel and began to sync up with the ships firmwear, nothing to difficult thus far. 

She was in, and a quick check of the main system showed that the slipspace drives were still in decent condition. Many of the decks had hull breaches and a large amount of the gun emplacements were crippled. She simply sealed and vacuumed damaged decks, ejecting the irreparable ones, as for the guns, they could be replaced later. She began the charging sequence for the two functioning drives, breaking through an infinitely complicated encryption process as she did so, before taking control of the foreward plasma lance.

Exuberant signalled her Sentinels to fall back, watching as they fled towards the shining silver vessel. Once they were clear, she charged up the plasma lance and...

Nothing happened.

She tried again and was met with the same result, a whine as the weapon failed to discharge. Why? The ship diagnostic showed lances one, three and seven were fully operational, what was wrong with this one? A glance at the operations menu she had created left her rolling an eye. 

"Of course the the ship of religious crusaders and murderers would have a safety."

With a lazy flick of s virtual switch, she gave it another shot. The weapon charged up, plasma building in it's batteries. This time however, it reached a critical point, staying at maximum power. A large, stereotypical red button appeared on the system holopanel, begging to be pushed. How could anyone refuse?

There was a massive eruption of sound as a superheated stream of star matter sped forth from the cannon. It met the advancing cloud of Vex with brutal speed, spreading though their numbers with ease. Anything within its path was instantly vaporised, what remained was melted into a black, shining glass that rippled and cracked from the extreme temperature gradient.

The slipspace drives showed full power, and a portal began to form at the ship's bow, warping the space around it into a mixture of blurred stars and dancing gas. Slowly the ship began to move though, disappearing from sight. In a futile attempt to halt their progress, a splinter group of damaged Vex attempted to rush the fleeing vessel, but were met with a barrage of plasma shells from the ship's point defence. In a final blink of light, the pointed tail vanished through the wormhole, leaving nothing but a static cloud and an untraceable wake. 

At the edge of the clearing the surviving Vex force began to regroup. Nowhere near their former numbers, but still enough to continue their task. 

"Well Exuberant, a stand corrected, I guess you really are just as crafty as I remember. But don't you worry, supercarrier or not, you will pay for what you took from me..." 







> Chapter 16: Vulpine interloper
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponyville, Equestria. 4:48am 01/07/1000 AN 

*BANG*

The calm morning air surrounding the golden oak library was oscillated violently by the sound of several book shelves crashing down apon themselves. Inside, a certain someone's number one assistant rolled over in his basket, pulling a soft but ultimately not soundproof pillow over his head. Spike considered himself many things; daring, heroic, attractive. Yet what he prided himself most on was the seemingly endless amount of tolerance he always seemed to possess. Be it rain or shine, Spike the dragon was never absent to help clean up fallen books or scrub hydrochloric acid out of the carpet. 

However, despite having the patience of a saint, he could only be woken up at 4 AM so many times before things started to get old. And oh boy had things gotten old. 

"Come on Twi, just give it a rest would you." Shouted the young drake, hoping against hope that his voice would make it down the stairs before something else fell victim to Sparkle intuition. "What would Princess Celestia say if she found out you were up at this time?"

There was a shuffle from below, coupled with a tired and frustrated moan. What sounded like several metric tonnes of paper shifted around as a set of weary hooves began to ascend the stairs. Slowly, a pair of eyes found their way round the door frame, sporting bags deeper than the gastly gorge. 

"Sorry Spike, I didn't mean to wake you. Just *yawn* go back to bed..."

She turned to leave, but was interrupted as a scaled knuckle rapped the floor behind her.

"I know I'm normally pretty laid back about this kind of stuff, but look at yourself Twilight. You need to rest, you've been at this for nearly a week straight!"

"I know Spike, but I promise I'll stop after tonight."

"That's what you said yesterday, and the day before! What is it that's got you so worked up!"

Twilight sighed dejectedly, scuffing the door frame with her hoof.

"I can't say Spike, you know that. Princess Celestia made me promise to keep this a secret, at least until she can release an official statement. You'll just have to wait until then." 

"But why not tell me! It has to do with that big space fish doesn't it! Everyone in town is talking about that, it's no secret."

The unicorn gave her helper a soft smile, the best she could offer in her tired and dreary mood.

"Yes it does have to do with that, but I can't tell you what just yet. I do promise though, it will be worth the wait. Now get some sleep, you can have tomorrow off as an apology."

The purple mare turned to leave once again, brushing past the varnished door. She failed to notice the piece of parchment that was trailing behind her hoof, and when her leg made contact with the wood the bindle detached, rolling across the room towards her young compatriot. He reached out with his claws and began to study the stained script, straining in the low light. There were a few crudely drawn diagrams, most of which made no sense to him, and a single paragraph of text.

Subject exhibits extremely accelerated healing, along with the exceedingly unnerving ability to self resurrect if killed. Subject displays powerful and uncontrollable wild magic that was previously thought to be impossible to wield, given his bipedal nature and lack of both surato argomagicallus and unicornius I can only assume that the subject channels his magical energy through his 'hands', which in themselves require further study.

The little dragon squinted in confusion, stroking his spines as though he was in deep thought. Who was this subject? And how did this in any way relate to the big fish in the sky. He risked a peak at the back of the page and was pleased to find that there was one last diagram and a small piece of text. The drawing was very messy, but it's shape and design sparked a sense of familiarity. A lifetimes worth of power ponies knowledge began to weave the scribbled mess into something more tangible. Spike looked down at the text, which was just as inelegant. He was pretty certain of what it said, and the small arrow pointing to the diagram only confirmed his suspicions.

Squeeze here to discharge-

Long Far Gone, Equis orbit. 5:03am 01/07/1000 AN

Where does one go when he feels the entire world is out to get him. When all the walls have eyes, and the floors ears, where can one go to escape it all. To Mathew that was the 25,000 glimmer question, a question he currently had a hard time answering. He had run from that treacherous room shortly after Exuberant finished her speech. He still had a hard time believing it was true, as can be expected. He felt small, insignificant, like he was no longer in control of his own actions. So he took himself to a place with only one entrance, fused the lock on the door with an arrow, and then sat in the corner of the small and dark storage compartment with his knees pulled up round his head.

He didn't want to do this anymore. He wanted his friends back, his real friends. Not the friends he had been conditioned by some omnipotent race to love on sight, weaving their way into his subconscious and begging for a forgiveness that he told himself wasn't there. He could hear the sound of Exuberant's drones stalking around outside his hiding spot, waiting for him to emerge so they could ruin his already futile existence with more cursed knowledge. 

He was constantly on the lookout for someone to blame. His mind snapped back and forth between many equally horrific possibilities, scanning everyone he knew to try and find a contender for his 'worst being alive' top spot. Mathew had found one long ago, but again his altered and indoctrinated mind wouldn't allow him to blame her for anything. That little voice in the back of his head kept repeating the same things. 

"It's not her fault, she didn't mean to destroy everything you care about over a sibling disagreement. Things just turn out the way they do."

He couldn't bring himself to be angry, not at Luna anyway-

*Tap Tap*

Mathew flinched at the sudden noise, raising his fusion rifle weakly at the point of origin. Nothing emerged.

"What is it this time?! More lies, is this just some big game to all of you!" He yelled, attempting to hold a threatening tone.

*Tap Tap Tap*

The guardian was breathing heavily, trembling with a mixture of fear and hate. 

"What did I do to you to deserve this?! Eh? Do you just want to see me suffer like everyone else?!" 

When he received no answer, Mathew picked up the nearest crate. Holding it aloft above his head, he gave it a mighty throw. The box made a small arc across the room, before crashing into the darkened corner with a satisfying crunch, spilling it's contents across the floor. A sea of green fuel rods illuminated the once gloomy area in a fantastical green glow, casting shadows across the wall behind. A single rod touched the smooth spherical object resting apon a stand, sparking a brilliant blue shield to life. A rush of nostalgia washed over him.

Mathew had presumed that servitor to have been destroyed, and seeing it here made him smile slightly. He approached the dark object, making sure to avoid stepping on the scattered ammunition. What need would Exuberant have of such a device, had she planned to use it as a pilot? Maybe she had stored it away and simply forgotten about it, but that seemed unlikely. He doubted the monitor ever forgot anything. 

Reaching out with his hand, he brushed the air around the mobile super computer, feeling the arc shield run between his fingers. He took a peak round it's rear, noting the large amount of dust present. A set of coiled wires were connected to a panel on the base of the stand, leading to console a few steps away. Mathew touched it with the tip of his gloved hand, and a purple display sprung to life. An image filled the screen, with a prompt informing him that it was a video. Hesitantly he pressed the play button, and then sat down on his knees to watch.

"Hello reclaimer, I see you found the servitor I left aboard the ship."

Mathews hands clenched into fists as he gave everything he could to avoid smashing the screen into a thousand shards.

"If you are receiving this message, then it means we have arrived at Equis. It must also mean that you have been made aware of humanities troubled past. You must hate me. I doubt that anything on this recording will change the way you feel about how I have treated you. I have told lies, taken you places against your will, and forced you to relive a part of your history that makes even me feel sad inside. You have every right to be angry with me, and I won't stop you from feeling so.  

I wish to say thank you reclaimer, no doubt you have no idea why I am thanking you, but I will thank you regardless. Maybe in time, you'll come to understand why I did what I did. Again, I'm so sorry.

The short clip ended, and Mathew continued to stare at the black screen for a long while. He trembled in rage, his armour rattling as his gauntlet raised to punch the disgusting holopanel. He was about to push his entire arm through the display when another video began. It opened with a familiar background, a simple white wall with a single shelf. Apon the shelf sat several photos, each with their own premise. He could make out the smiling faces that he had used to know. Mathew felt his face lift as Maria entered the cameras view. She looked tired and weak, like she was barely clinging to life. The recording showed it was broadcasting openly.

"Math- *cough* -Mathew. Ah don't know where ya are right now but this here situation is pretty bad. We've already dropped so many guardians I've lost count- *cough cough* -listen! If yer receiven' this then ah've not much time left. Ah need ya tah promise me somethin'." 

The recording of his friend reached into a pouch at her thigh, unclipping it with shaky hands. She pulled a small and worn peice of paper from the bag, taking care not to damage the aged parchment as she unfolded it. As the paper unfurled, so did the memories held within. Tears began to well up in Mathew's dry and tired eyes. Printed on the paper was a photo. A photo that was taken a very long time ago. It was Mathew and his friends, standing proudly affront the Iron Medallion. Lockjaw-11 sat at the base of their huddled forms, his legs tucked neatly in a cross. To his left was Triss, who sat elegantly on her knees. Above her was Kalie, helmet under her arm and a big smile on her face. Sam stood at the center of the group, his face twisted into an impatient yet joyful smirk. Maria was squatted to his right, and clambering over her head was Mathew himself. They looked so happy, so free. 

Recording Maria removed the photograph from the camera lens. Tears now streaming from her own eyes.

"Ya have tah promise me ya'll stay strong, please Mathew. Where ever them crazy coordinates take ya, remember that yer still a guardia- *cough cough* -damn it! Even if there's no earth tah protect, ya have to keep on fightin'. Fight for us, and fight for those who can't fight fer themselves. Promise me! Promise m-"  

The message ended abruptly, leaving Mathew alone in the dark room once again. He pulled off his helmet, revealing the wet tracks that had slithered down his pale face. He leaned forward from his kneeling position and pressed his forehead against the glass, allowing his tears to form wet patches along it's smooth surface. 

"So sad, to see a warrior such as yourself in tears..."

That voice...

"I honestly would have expected more."

Mathew didn't move, instead opting to turn his head slightly. He could see the patch of shadows that stood out beyond the rest, and he glared at it with every bit of malice he could muster.

"What. Do you, want?"

The darkness visibly smirked, a wide and jagged grin forming on it's surface. 

"I just finished my little chat with Luna, she seemed to miss you. I beat that out of her."

Slowly and carefully, Mathew rotated to face his stalker. Nightmare Moon's grin grew.

"Oh! Let me guess. Did you finally manage to pick up on what's going on here?" 

The hunter remained silent, calculating her next move. 

"Ah, so it's true. You really aren't as dense as you look. Maybe in time you'll begin to think less like prey, and more like predator."

"How did you get up here?"

"It's truly amazing what a radio can do once you actually let the signals through. I like your hovercart thing by the way, the colours are a bit bright for my tastes but a least it's well armed."

So she was the one jamming their signals, typical. She must have used the spectre's comms to transmit herself up here. He mentally cursed himself for forgetting to bring it with him.

"But enough with these trivial questions. We both know the truth by this point, and it seems we have developed a common enemy. So I am here to offer you a choice Mathew Ausland."

"If you think I'll have anything to do with you after what you cost me, then you are sorely mistaken. Now leave, before I remove you myself."

He felt a shiver rise up his spine as a pair of cold hooves grasped his shoulders. He felt a slight breeze touch his ear as Moon's wraith like form curled it's way up his back.

"But just think of the advantages we could bring one another in such a state. You with your skill in combat and seemingly unlimited power, and me with my dream walking abilities. We would be unstoppable. We could have those worthless coward sisters bowing before us in no time. You could avenge those you lost by delivering justice apon those Equestrian weaklings. Just think..."

Her last line was delivered in a whisper that seemed to penetrate every corner of his mind, filling him with thoughts of hate and greed. He was familiar with that feeling. The Hive radiated it. Their weapons of sorrow radiated it. 

He would not radiate it.

"No." 

Nightmare looked surprised, and flinched away from him as he spoke.

"Excuse me?"

"I said no. I won't be your puppet, I won't allow you to control me. Like you controlled her."

The mare of darkness sighed, unraveling herself from Mathews frozen body. She floated around him, levelling her snake like eyes with his own brown pools. 

"I see I cannot convince you. I guess in order for me to take the strings, the previous puppeteer must loose them."

As she spoke she began to fade into the shadows, disappearing before him.

"Goodbye human, enjoy what little peace you have left. I shan't wait around for my own destruction, but won't stop you. After all, it really is easy to stay up late, when you don't know what's real, and you don't know what's fake..."

And with that she vanished, and the weight of her prescence trickled away like water from a tap. The dark of the small room returned to it's natural state, but remained smothering to him. Mathew took a glance at the servitor, which remained still and dormant. He wondered if those machines could actually feel true emotion. Maybe he could confide in it, if it ever woke up that is. 

He chuckled sadly, giving the worn machine a soft pat. Here he was thinking about befriending another carbon copy of the aggravating bullet sponges he had destroyed hundreds of in the past, and all it took was a thousand years and a small boat to share. He turned towards the door, picking up his helmet and sliding it over his head. A sharp kick from his boot caved the alloy surface outwards, light streaming in through the newly formed exit. Mathew gave a final sigh before ducking under the damaged doorway, leaving the servitor behind.

With the guardian out of sight, it's eye flickered to life with a dim purple glow. 

'Yes... Thank you Mathew. Thank you for letting me in...'








 




> Chapter 17: A long way to fall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot, Equestria. 6:02am 01/06/1000 AN

Princess Celestia watched her sisters moon dip out of sight from one of her favourite balcony spots. The morning air was crisp and fresh, it's chilly touch stimulating her tired muscles. She was worried. She was worried for her little ponies. She was worried for her continental neighbours and for the very planet she called home.

The solar diarch had awoken to the frantic cries of a mare just outside her chambers. Screams of pure pain and agony akin to somepony being burned alive. Rushing to the scene, she found none other that her little sister, who was writhing and twitching as she rolled around on the hard marble floor. Minutes passed by, her guards dared not approach somepony so powerful while they were in such a fearful state. One wrong move and she risked endangering not only her sisters life, but the lives of all those in the immediate vicinity. Celestia had made attempts to call out, to relieve her sister of whatever wicked ailment was at play. All of her attempts ended in failure, leaving Luna in a worse state than she began. Eventually she began to show signs of coherence and, after a further while, had stopped whimpering as well. She simply sat in the middle of the hall, eyes trained on the floor and a hoof mashing the carpet to the beat of her heart.

"This is all my fault..."

Luna's words cut deep, leaving her elder sibling both confused and alarmed.

"What is your fault Lu-lu?"

"Everything that's happened sister, it's all been my fault..."

Celestia placed a hoof on her younger siblings withers, offering what little comfort could be claimed from the action. 

"You have done nothing wrong Lu-lu, nothing at all. Is this about what the griffon king said to you earlier?"

Luna remained silent, her gaze fixated on a small spot at her hooves. A single tear bled out of her eye and rolled down her muzzle, leaving a streak of damp fur in it's wake. It hit the ground with a soft pat. She held something within her left foreleg, snuggled close to her chest.

"No sister, it's about Mathew."

"Mathew is fine Luna, you said it yourself. Now let-"

"How can you say that!" Interjected the night princess, turning on her sister with hateful eyes. 

"Luna, calm down. Okay? Now tell me what happened and then we'll go to the medical wing."

A shiver of anger shot down Luna's spine, stiffening her resolve.

"His planet, his home. I took them away from him, I destroyed his loved ones..."

Celestia just closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Something was going on here, something she couldn't yet see.

"Luna, you did none of those things. Now who told you these lies?"

"I saw it sister, with my own two eyes. One moment they were there, the next they weren't. I-I didn't believe it at first, but the more I saw the more it became clear to me..."

"Dearest sister, our friends home world is far beyond even our own reach. You couldn't have made a difference to what happened if you tried, so it was nothing to do with you..."

Luna removed her hoof from her chest, pulling out the object she had nestled there. It was a small rectangle, silver and flat. Blue lights danced across it's surface, shimmering and reflecting.

"Then explain this..."

Celestia was about to respond when her sister blinked out of existence, a waft of magic following in her wake. Her eyes slowly fell, focusing in on the strange contraption that had dropped onto the carpet. She instantly recognized it as Mathews 'datapad', the strange and infinitely fascinating device that her new friend had used for much of his presentation the previous day. She quickly dismissed her guards and made haste towards the private balcony just off the castles east wing. That lead her up to the present.

The data-pad still floated unassumingly in the golden glow of Celestia's magic, it's shining glass surface reflecting the rising sun at her back. Luna seemed so certain when she relinquished the technology, yet the solar princess failed to see the connection. All she knew is that something had occurred last night, something that caused their extra-equistrial visitor to leave the castle in a hurry, and something that controlled and manipulated her sister. She wouldn't allow her ignorance to continue.

"Come on... Stupid thing! Turn on!"

Her attempts to use the alien device had proven fruitless. She was certain she saw Mathew using the pad with his 'fingers', and he simply dragged the slender appendages across the glass surface to bring it to life. Unfortunately her hooves were incapable of rousing the dormant knowledge, her magic too was useless. Then, a sudden thought struck her mind. Slowly and carefully she raised the pad up to her muzzle and placed the tip of her nose on the screen. 

A picture filled the glass surface, forcing her tennis ball sized eyes to cross. It was a photo of Mathew himself, standing proudly atop a worn stone structure. She could see bits of machinery poking through the chipped and cracked surface, which resembled the concrete that held Canterlot in it's place. Mathew looked no different from when she had last laid eyes on him, his armour was still the gleaming deep blue she was used to seeing, complete with the gold trim and mesmerizing flame display. Even though he wore his helmet, Celestia knew he was smiling. He brandished his faithful sword in one hand, while he held aloft a... Something?

She had no idea what it was. It shared Mathew's body structure yes, but that's where the similarities ended. It seemed to be completely formed of metal, excluding the milky substance that glowed at it's waist. The fan shaped structure that was must have been it's head had little in the way of a face, only a single, evil looking eye that glowed blood red. What ever it was it scared her, and she made a mental note to ask Mathew the next time she saw him. If there ever was a next time.

Celestia was so fixated on the strange machine that she almost forgot what she was doing, she shook her head to clear away any unsavoury thoughts before returning to the data-pad. A small arrow at the bottom of the image prompted her to drag upwards, so she did just that. The image on the screen changed once more, showing an idyllic countryside view. Overlaying the photograph was a large number of folders, resembling the files used in the treasury to store taxes. There was one labeled photos, another simply entitled 'stuff' and one near the bottom that had a games tag. There was also a circle showing something resembling a camera, with another to it's left displaying a device for which she had no name. This one was blinking red, inviting her to press it. Her nose pushed the little icon precariously, opening whatever Mathew wanted her to see. 

The top of the page read 'Audio logs', and the latest entry was addressed to her.

"For princesses Celestia and Luna, urgent." She read aloud.

The capitalised text was followed by a string of meaningless numbers and finally an arrow to play the message. Time to find out what's going on...

"Hello princess, or princesses, depending on who's listening. It's ghost here, coming with a rather unsettling development. I was forced to wake Mathew from his sleep early this morning due to heavy increase in cognitive activity, activity so strong it would cause a normal brain a serious amount of damage. Had it continued any longer he would have run the risk of muscle spasms, spasms which would have resulted in unregulated light release. That however, is not the most worrying part."

"When he awoke, he immediatly stated that we needed to vacate the planet as soon as possible, and when I asked him why he simply replied with 'because it's not safe anymore'. Now, I'm well aware that your species, more specifically princess Luna, has the rather unique ability to enter ones dream state and converse with them. If you are watching this princess know that I mean no disrespect and I am most certainly not accusing you of damaging my guardians brain. But I must know if this ability is shared by others. The only words I was able to proclaim from Mathew were a string of unformated mumbles that consisted mostly of the words 'Nightmare' and 'Moon', not exclusively in that order. If either of you has any insight then please use this device to contact me. Do not under any circumstance attempt to contact my guardian, he is in a very fragile state and I do not wish to spark any sort of conflict. Best of luck to both of you. Ghost out."   

Celestia sat in silence as the audio ended, she didn't know what to to think. Even after a millennia that decrepid husk of a being was still running rampant around her nation, and she was powerless to stop it. Not only was the situation out of her control, it had also reached much further than anypony could have anticipated, and she, in her thousands of years of wisdom, had failed to see it. Was she, the diarch of the sun and the everlasting ruler of Equestria, really that dense?

Celestia allowed her eyes to drift apwards, the fading glints of millions of stars reflecting off her wide pupils. She scanned the sky for any sign of movement, anything to confirm there was still time to reverse the present. Nothing. The princess sighed, how was she going to explain this to an entire country of nervous ponies...

Long Far Gone, Equis orbit. 6:46am 01/06/1000 AN

"Cloak engaged, that should stop anyone down there from picking up on us." 

Mathew's ghost floated lazily at the helm of their impromptu base of operations, scanning the stars for any kind of movement. Nothing. The small construct sighed in relief, maybe they still had some time. 

"I wouldn't worry for your reclaimers safety 'ghost', this ship was designed to resist an entire fleet of vessels and emerge victorious. I doubt it will faulter out of the blue."

Exuberant was close by, monitoring radio waves and other signals.

"That's not what I'm worried about, that planet is covered in towns and cities, cities that our enemies would take great pleasure in levelling. If the darkness chooses to show face, how can we be certain their interests won't stray from us?"

The monitor looked up from the holo-display, processing her college's question.

"You needn't worry about the equines safety, they are tougher than they are willing to show. I have great experience with their kind and the way their minds work. Hopefully they haven't diverted to far from their roots."

"That's just it, when I was down there I made many observations into their military command line and strategies. I even went as far as to watch a regiment of guards train. Their tactics seemed reminiscent of ancient human marching lines, the kind of power play designed to intimidate your enemy. At least that's what I thought. I waited for them to break rank or rush for cover behind the many nearly crates, but they didn't. They stayed completely immobile!"

Exuberant seemed puzzled by this, and seemed to pass into a state of deep thought.

"I'm unsure of how far back my creators sent them in terms of military inquisition, but that seems a little too primitive. Are you sure you simply didn't catch them at a bad time?"

"Well, after watching them attempt to walk in rows for a long period, I approached the commanding officer to enquire whether they had been rehearsing for some sort of historical march. He said that they were training, actual battle training. Some of the guards he claimed to be the 'best fighters on Equis' were struggling to load arrows! Mathew could have killed all thirty of them with his bare hands before the even realised what was happening! Those are not warriors that would be able to stand up to the darkness, in any of it's forms."

Ghost drifted out of the captains chair to continue his rant.

"I made an inspection of their armoury as well. They only recently seem to have developed a crude form of hoof mounted crossbow, yet they stood proudly by it when I asked of it's combat merit. I just don't understand it! How can a race of beings that have a full understanding of modern physics and mathematics be so behind in everything else. It's like the technology is deliberately being suppressed, despite the knowledge to create it already existing!"

"That's because it is ghost."

The little light turned to face his companion, confusion now visible in his squinted features.

"How so?"

"Magic. Magic is the reason. Like I explained to your reclaimer earlier, the precursors gifted all of ponykind with magic as part of their initiation into the galaxy. They quickly adopted their stunning and exceedingly powerful new abilities into everyday life, shuffling aside things like space flight and weapons development in favour of learning more about their new powers. With every day spent on magic their knowledge of the subject increased exponentially, but at the cost of other important fields. Their magic became a crutch."

"When they finally worked out how to use magic to leave their world, the first thing they ran into was a battle group of human starships. They assumed it was magic, and attempted to manipulate it. Obviously to little effect. This was a cycle that continued right up until the activation of the rings. Not a single pony constructed vessel was ever recorded, they used the human's ships and weapons, or they simply teleported from here to there. Of course when they were placed on Equis, my creators didn't want them somehow escaping again, so the arcane signature was both dimmed and bound to the planet. Your guardian is quite possibly the last being in the universe to effectively  use that power. Without losing mental stability of course."

"Huh, well then." Replied ghost, gazing out at the passing planet below.

"I wouldn't worry to much though, even without modern technology and tactics I'm sure they can still put up a good fight. This is magic we're discussing after all."

The conversation was about to go further when a door at the back of the room slid open, and a dishevelled looking Mathew stumbled out. A large number of fluorescent eyes locked onto him, only two of which showed actual emotion. There was an uncomfortable silence as the guardian approached his ghost.

"Hey..." He said nonchalantly, taking a seat in the shipmasters chair.

Exuberant glided across the bridge, coming to a rest a few feet away from her reclaimer.

"Hello reclaimer, I trust you found the message I left in that device."

Mathew nodded, showing little sign that he cared.

"Did it... Help?"

"Your message? No. Maria's however..."

The human slumped in his seat, resting his helmeted head in his hand. 

"Let's just say I'm indifferent, for right now. I'd rather focus on getting things done, maybe after that I'll be able think about it in more depth."

Ghost felt the urge to warn him about his dismissive attitude, but decided against it. Once they were fully prepared for what was to come, he would be able to confront his guardian.

"Well, I'm glad your at least willing to cooperate. For there is much to be done and not much time to do it!"

Mathew glanced up, adopting a more serious stance. 

"Show me."

With a nod, Exuberant opened the bridge holo projecter suite, summoning a three dimensional display of the planets surface. He could see a small model of Canterlot, hanging gracefully from the cliff side. He felt a twang of guilt run through him, but quickly banished those thoughts. The map began to move, flickering blue landscape flying past at impossible speeds. The geography began to change, leaving the sloping equestrian hills behind in exchange for rugged mountains and jagged cliffs. Even through the hologram, Mathew could tell the climate was rough. He watched as the map began to slow, and then come to a stop completely. 

"So. What am I looking at?" He asked, scrutinising the projection.

In response, Exuberant highlighted a small area with a red circle.

"This installation has many underlying substructures that manage everything from the artificial weather patterns to the planets gravity it's self. Most of these structures have remained completely undetected by the local fauna thanks to countless procedures and defence protocols keeping them away. Up until recently, these procedures were managed by a central ancilla, a monitor, much like myself. Unfortunately, this AI has reached a point in her development in which she can be considered 'rampant', and has lifted many of the security measures surrounding her installation without knowledge."

Mathew gazed at the map with a tactical eye, memorising every little detail of the landscape.

"And what do you want me to do about that? Convince her to stop?"

"No... As much as it would be beneficial to have her as an ally, she is well past the point of no return. 255 Everlasting Truth must be eliminated from the field, and soon."

"Woah, hang on!" Interrupted the human, staring at her in disbelief. "There must be an easier way to do this. If this AI controls as much as you say she does, the how do you expect us to even get close to that facility. Surely she'll just kill us on sight."

"It won't be easy reclaimer, but we do have the element of surprise on our side! In her rampant state, Truth has been diverting most of her forces to within the structure. My orbital scans show that many of her 'units' are engaged in skirmishes with the local life forms. She won't be expecting you, and taking advantage of that will be the key to victory."

"So, you want us to break into this ancient facility full of angry robots, and kill the biggest robot we can find? Where have I heard that one before..."

"I doubt you'll find any robots in there, but essentially, yes. You'll need to locate her cortex, the center of her mind, and either disconnect her from the system or destroy the core. I've sent your ancilla a copy of the structures layout, but I must warn you. Try to avoid contact with the locals, they seem to have formed some sort of attachment to the forerunner technology, almost as if they are worshiping it. No doubt they will see your prescence as hostile, so be careful where you stray. You must also hurry, we are running low on time as it is and I do not wish to waste what little we have left

Mathew curtly nodded, standing from the captains chair. 

"You keep saying we're running low on time, and I can see how this crazy AI might be a bit of a concern, but if she's been like this for a while then why is it such an issue now?"

"It's not her we're worried about." Stated ghost, speaking up for the first time since his guardians arrival. "Everlasting Truth is in possession of a weapon, one that could prove devastating if controlled by someone that understands how to use it."

"Go on..."

The map dissipated, and in it's place a familiar looking hologram appeared. It's wings were spread proudly, and Mathew audibly gulped.

"That's... One of those things is... Here?"

"Yes reclaimer, and it is very capable of destroying everything on this world. You must remain thankful that Truth is too rampant to operate it. Otherwise we would be looking at a very different situation."

Mathew took a step back. Even in hologram form the guardian was intimidating.

"But if Truth can't use it, then who will?"

"The collective mind. That's who."

The hunter felt himself tense, shivers of discomfort running through him like spikes of ice.

"You mean, collective mind as in... Vex?"

Exuberant and ghost nodded in tandem, the former looking up at the holographic monstrosity.

"Yes reclaimer, the Vex."

Mathew's mind raced, countless possibilities storming through his conscience. Why would those machines come here? What threat was a single lost guardian to their never ending onslaught? Words failed him as he attempted to come up with a logical reason. 

"But... Wh-" 

*CRACK*

An earth shattering rumble pieced the ship, sending it's one bipedal occupant tumbling to the floor. The lights dimmed, flickering on and off as a hundred blue eyes raced around. Mathew stumbled to his feet, but fell upwards as the ships gravity was thrown for a loop. Everything that wasn't tied down began to float around the bridge. 

"What's happening!" Yelled the hunter, twisting to avoid a floating control console.

"We've been hit by some sort of EMP! I can't get a log on the system status!"

Exuberant rushed past ghost, who was pulsing madly in an attempt to get a reading. She used her tractor beam to pull a section of panel from the command suite, trying desperately to divert any alternate power. After a few tense moments, the holographic display flickered to life.

"Oh dear... The ship's drives have failed, we are without thrust!"

As if to emphasise her point, the hull groaned under the gravitational strain of Equis, tilting downwards towards the planet.

"Is it a system failure?!"

Mathew attempted to dodge an incoming cargo crate, but was smacked to the side, landing on the bay windows of the bridge.

"No, the ship's systems are in perfect condition! This is coming from further a field."

"Further a field?! How?"

"I believe I have an answer to that reclaimer!"

Exuberant looked to be having an actual fight with the stations power supply, trying desperately to keep it active.

"The Guardian that Everlasting Truth is currently occupying was designed as an assault class. It was mainly used in ship to ship combat, and an electromagnetic pulse generator was one of it's many features. She must have found it while attempting to reach other systems, and the diameter of the attack will span the entire planet until it is deactivated! Unfortunately I am not well equipped enough to combat the effects..."

"Wait? That things responsible for this?"

"Yes reclaimer, and if we cannot shut it off soon..."

Another groan shook the massive Supercarrier, sending Mathew tumbling off the window and towards the other side of the bridge. As he passed Exuberant, he grabbed hold of the holopanel, swinging round to her left.

"So what you're saying is, we now have another reason to get rid of that crazy AI and her behemoth robot?"

"Essentially yes."

"Well then! Ghost prep the vision, we need to get down there asap!"

Ghost just clicked in confusion.

"Uh, Mathew. Your ship is currently inoperable, as are all the other craft on board."

The guardians eyes widened under his visor.

"Not all the craft..."

The duo turned to Exuberant, who had forgone her attempts to revive the console in the name of fixing one of the slipspace pads.

"I think I have a way to get you down there, but it will require a direct line of sight, one which is fast approaching! You'll also need weapons!"

Mathew gave her a deadpan look and pointed a thumb at the scout rifle and carbine that were attached to his back.

"I've got plenty of weapons!"

"They are insufficient. Most require electronic regulators and optics, barring maybe your combat sword. I suggest you allow me to provide you with more effective replacements."

"But won't they just be busted as well?"

"No, forerunner weaponry and ship systems are designed to negate the effects of the Guardians electromagnetic pulse, preventing accidental compromise of vital systems via friendly engagement. In other words, these ones will work even if you were to stand right next to the generator! Isn't that great!"

"Yeah, now where are they?"

"I'll just be a moment!"

Exuberant shot a few more beams at the base of the teleporter, forcing it to reactivate. An unstable looking rift crackled in it's projector, mixing shades of unhealthy purple and red with the usual blue.

"It's to unstable for us to enter, but small items should be able to make it through!"

On cue, a pair of angular weapons flew through the opening, sailing across the room towards Mathew, who caught them in his hands. As he did so, another quake rocked the ship, sending him flying backwards. Luckily a lone sentinel was there to catch him.

"Woah! Um, thanks."

He took one of the weapons in hand, marvelling at it's almost metaphysical nature. It split apart within his grasp, shards of possessed metal spiralling around his wrist, before reforming into it's original state.

"What are... These?"

"What you hold there is a  Z-250 Directed Energy Engagement Weapon, or 'lightrifle' for short. It's a long range weapon that was a common part of most forerunner arsenals, and will provide sustained fire effectively over a distance of nearly a kilometre!"

"So it's a fancy scout rifle?"

"Well- Um, I think it's a bit more than-"

"And judging by the design this one looks like an over qualified shotgun."

Exuberant scoffed as the guardian inspected the sleek grey weapon.

"That's not just a mere shotgun! It's a very capable medium range assault weapon that fires a spread of deadly hard light projectiles!"

"So it's a shotgun..."

"No! It's-"

*CRACK*

The shudder once again threatened to throw Mathew across the bridge, but he was held in place by the drone behind him.

"We don't have time for this!" Interrupted ghost, transmattimg both guns to his collapsed space inventory. 

"Yes, unfortunately time is lacking. At our current rate, I calculate we will enter the atmosphere in just under and hour. Without our protective shielding, the ship will most likely suffer catastrophic damage apon reentry, maybe even burn up entirely."

"So we need to move! How are you getting us down there?"

"I'll explain when we arrive, follow me!"

Exuberant punctuated her statement by blasting out the bridge doors and away down the access corridor, ghost hot on her tail. Mathew remained stationary, having no way of propelling himself.

"Uh, guys? How am I supposed to- Gah!"

He was cut short as the Sentinel holding him in place speared him in the back, carrying him out of the bridge at unsafe speeds, most likely towards his certain doom. The human watched as corridors flashed by, resigning himself to his fate. 

'There better be some good loot for this shit...'













 












 





 




















> Chapter 18: Exclusion zone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deck C-2, Long Far Gone, Equis orbit. 7:04am 01/06/1000 AN

*CRACK* *RUMBLE*

The normally quiet service tunnels shook and quaked as the mighty vessel continued it's descent towards the planet. Plumes of steam from ruptured pipes and dispersal systems filled the access corridors with a ghostly fog that rolled over the streamlined covenant panels. It was also dark, really dark. What little lighting there was in the dim hallways had vanished along with the ships power supply, and the only illumination available came from the occasional spark of plasma, and the long blue ethereal tail that wafted through the vents behind it's owner.

Nightmare Moon showed little concern for the Supercarriers current trajectory, and she found the darkness rather pleasing. It only made her task easier. She needed to get off this ship, and so far, was having little luck. She could not infiltrate those treacherous drones, for she knew their minds were interconnected on a scale that would make even a Changling queen soil herself. If she was too alert one, she would get the attention of all. She had to find another form before she was discovered, and right now she would settle for just about anything.

*RUMBLE*

She was running out of time. In the distance, Nightmare began to make out what looked like a fork. Two pathways, one leading left, one leading right. Something drew her to the right, something incredibly powerful and dark. It wasn't a feeling she was used too, but it was inviting... Maybe whatever was down there held a ticket off this doomed ship. She began to drift down the tunnel at a leisurely pace, failing to acknowledge the scorch marks on the door console. After a short moment, the tight corridor opened up to a much larger room. It was equally as dark, but Nightmare had no issue perceiving what lay out of sight. Up ahead, something caught her eye. Shards of shattered glass covered the plated floor, and a ring of burning purple residue shined in comparison to the gloom. Even in her metaphysical form, she could feel the heat radiating from the blast. At the rings centre, lay an object. It looked like it was once a helmet, she didn't really care too much. 

However, the explosive residue was fresh, which meant the perpetrator was still nearby. Perfect. With renewed hope, she continued into the dark. More of those purple rings were appearing, covering the approaching wall like blisters. One particular spot looked as though it had been focused, and the bent and twisted metal gave way to a room on the other side. The hole was large enough for her equine form to walk though, but she assumed a gaseous state anyway, hoping to surprise whoever lay beyond. No such luck, perhaps the suspect had moved on.

She was about to turn and leave when she noticed something floating in a display. It looked like one of the drones, there leader, but it was cracked and broken. The burns that covered its surface were not new, in fact the looked to be millennia old. A sudden idea come to mind, and the grinning mare approached the sphere like device. She probed it with a tendril, and sure enough it flickered on. Nightmare had found her vessel. It was a tight fit, but just enough of the original systems remained operable for it to function. Of course most of the more advanced roles would have to be filled by magic, but at least now she was undetectable.

*Bang*

Nightmare Moon turned to the source of the noise, her new spherical body following her command. Shakily, she manipulated the damaged thrusters to push her out of the display, and towards her new target. She rounded a corner, and was met with a rather unusual sight.

"Well... Looks like that thing is awake." She whispered to herself.

Sure enough, the glowing purple eyeball that had the monkey so enamoured was present, and it didn't seem to be doing much. An aura of pink gas leaked from it, giving it a rather ghostly look. It's single unblinking eye was fixated on a pair of pillars near the rear of the cell. Oddly enough the glass chambers on top were illuminated. Did they run on an alternate power source? Or was this thing powering them on it's own... 

Nightmare slowly retreated out of the chamber, attempting to leave unnoticed.

"Beautiful, isn't it..."

That voice... She swore she recognised it.

"How something so small, so weak, could bring an entire empire to it's knees."

The machine spoke with a feminine tounge, one cut with malice and hate. She could feel the pure rage that came with every venom fueled syllable. 

"I used to fear them, hate them. But now I only admire them... Much like I admire you... Nightmare Moon."

Moon felt a cold chill run through her soulless body.

"How do you know my name machine? Am I that famous?"

"No... You are more than that, at least to me. When I look at you, what you've become, I do not see the bringer of eternal night. In fact, I do not see you as a single thing at all. You are a mere shadow of countless millions of dead heros, lost villains and 'valiant' leaders. And yet you still bring panic and fear to all those who cross your path. Admirable indeed..."

"Flattery will get you nowhere creature, but I suppose you are correct in that assumption. However that doesn't answer the question. How does something so alien, know about the dead legend of a long forgotten race?"

The sphere turned to face her, and she could finally see it 'face to face'.

"Because I know many things... And I've been watching this world for a very long time. I have seen rulers rise and fall, wars play out, kingdoms overthrown. From afar I have observed their culture and witnessed them achieve nothing, while those who created me blossomed. I suppose in that respect I could call you family..."

"How so?"

"We are both constructs, one of mind, one of magic, who have been created from the embers of others. Both designed to fill a purpose. Your precious lunar princess commissioned you to wage a war in her favour, did she not?"

"She is not precious to me! She is weak and foolish."

An unnerving chuckle slipped from a hidden mouth. 

"We all believe that, for a time... I was designed for a similar purpose, to win a war against an enemy that could not be reasoned with, by those who refused see reason. Rather comical if you ask me."

Nothing in her tone of voice suggested it was even the slightest bit humorous.

"So, you wish for revenge?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. I do not question the motives of those who betrayed me, looking back the plan I had developed was almost as convoluted and ridiculous as an eternal night."

Nightmare scowled at that, not that her new form was capable of showing it.

"But regardless of the way they treated me, they are not who I wish to feel my vengeance. They may have thwarted my plans more than once, but thanks to your princess and her childish desires, the only thing I have left to remember them is one stubborn hunter and you.

"So you are who I presumed."

The machines central ring flickered for a moment, turning a deep shade of crimson.

"I am. And I have come to repay these inferior drones in kind for the pain they caused me. Unfortunately I now seem to have obtained a witness, and one that has already given so much up... So I'll give you a choice. You can leave this world, discard the majority of your already drained power, and seek refuge elsewhere... But when my forces arrive, and they will, I better not find you here. The last thing I need is another distraction. Do I make myself clear?"

"And if I refuse?"

Not a single joule of energy in her ethereal body was planning on remaining here, but asking that question allowed Nightmare regain a little dignity. An evil purple eye narrowed in her direction.

"Then you will burn along with them, and I will use the energy from your husk of a body to power my armies. It will be painful, and you will take an eternity to die, and I will watch you scream for mercy for centuries after this planet is but ash. You have been warned Moon, do not let blind arrogance be the death of you. Do not go to the same place as the previous owner of that shell."

Nightmare Moon no longer gave a damn about dignity, and booked it out of there as fast as her damaged drive core could take her. Cortana just smiled inwardly, that was one less issue for her to deal with. She turned her attention back to the pillars, and their occupants. 

*CRACK* *RUMBLE*

The viscous liquid that held her prize slopped dangerously as the ship drifted towards the planet. She was lucky the infection form was even still alive. The ships rapid power loss had turned off what little life support the strange solution provided. Luckily she had both the experience and tools fix that. Carefully, she approached the foggy silver capsule, gazing fondly at the decrepit creature within.

"Yes... Beautiful. Perhaps one this is all over, I can teach your descendants what a true hive looks like..."

Though it made no sound, she could tell the parasite was listening. She could feel it's thoughts, it's memories. It's hate. 

"Yes... But until then, I have work to do."

Drifting backwards, the servitor gave a final flat chuckle, before speeding away from the accursed chamber. 

Mathew's POV

There were few words in the English language that could properly describe the way Mathew felt right now. Here he was, in one of the lowest and most disused parts of the ship, staring at what had to be the largest joke ever pulled by one creature to another.

"You've got to be fucking me, there's no way I'm going down there in that."

"I'm sorry reclaimer, but it's the only way."

"And how in the hell do you expect me to slow this bitch down? I may be without death, but that doesn't mean it's overly pleasant!"

"I had an aggressor unit rig the rocket boosters to this switch." Exuberant lifted a rather rudimentary looking button out of the purple death trap that was to be the humans transport.

"Click this, and all three of the stabilisers will go off at once, and the drag flaps will extend. You'll have to time it right though, and without the HUD your ghost will probably need to tell you when."

Great, just great. 

"You know, humans in the past used to use these all the time! It was a very efficient way of deploying troops to the battlefield."

"Yeah well I bet they had power! And weren't dropping into god knows what!"

"While that may be true, they did not possess the ability to self resurrect when they pleased. You don't mean to tell me that your kind has gone soft..."

Was that a challenge? The look Exuberant was giving you spoke lengths about what she was trying to accomplish. It was indeed a challenge.

"Fucking fine, I'll take your orbital drop death trap, but just so you know, if I end up a glossy white puddle down there-"

"Then no one will notice because you'll blend into the snow, now hurry reclaimer, we are out of time."

Mathew uneasily climbed into the drop pod, taking care not to bump his head on the shallow roof. It shook precariously in it's lock, causing the guardian to flinch. The lack of Gravity was making it exceedingly difficult to strap himself in.

"Now, when you get down there, you are going to want to remain out of sight. I've detected foreign troop movements all around the structure. They will not be much of a threat, but I take it full scale war isn't on your to do list." 

"For once..." Muttered the hunter, adjusting himself in the uncomfortable seat.

*RUMBLE*

"I wish you the best of lu-"

The monitor froze mid sentence, and began to scrutinise something above them with extreme interest.

"Uh, Exuberant... You there?"

"What? Yes, sorry. I was just made aware that the gravity generator on deck C-2 was re-activated."

"Isn't that a good thing? Maybe we're regaining power?"

"It would be... If one of my Sentinels was responsible."

*CRACK*

Ghost appeared out of nowhere in response to the creaking of the hull.

"May I remind you two that the ship is crashing!"

"Y-yes, of course. Reclaimer, I wish you the best of luck, I'll be available on comms while you remain outside the facility, but once you enter, you're on your own."

"Understood."

Mathew reached up and pulled the pod door down, sealing himself inside. The ship shook again, but the air tight walls muffled much of the sound.

"Oh reclaimer! One last thing!"

"WHAT?!"

"The temperature regulators inside the pod run on electrical power, so there's a small chance that the the explosive bolts may detonate during insertion. But other than that you're good too go."

"Wait what? Exuberant? EXUBERANT YOU BEACH BALL LOOKING FUCK! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"

"You'll be fine, now hold on to something reclaimer, and mind the bump."

"What bum-"

Mathew was cut off as a tremendous force pushed him downwards. If it weren't for the straps holding him to seat, he probably would have been pinned to the ceiling. The sound of matter speeding past him at blinding speeds funnelled impossibly through the air tight seals, drowning out many of his racing thoughts. Then suddenly, there was silence.

"We appear to have left the ship..."

Ghost floated inside the capsule, spinning Idly.

"So we're in open space?"

"Yes, and we should be hitting the atmosphere right about... Now."

Nothing changed within the pod, but Mathew began to feel heavier. The outer walls rattled as the thin upper atmosphere passed by at a tremendous velocity. 

"The reentry process is beginning, it may get a little hot in here."

Mathew felt is hunter body skin begin to artificially cool him down, but it was struggling against a rapidly rising room temperature. His helmet counted off the degrees as the pod reached boiling point. 

"We're doing well so far!" Yelled ghost, forcing his voice above the roaring flames outside.

"Another two or three minutes and it we will be out of this mess!"

Mathew panicked as the pod door began to glow slightly red.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's meant to do that!"

The advanced alloys specifically designed to resist heat were lighting up like cheap Dawning lanterns. 

"Eh, I'm sure that's normal too-"

*BANG*

One of hatches bolts blew out, and took a large portion of protective covering with it. The pod was blasted to the side, spinning uncontrollably. Mathew was thrown against the straps as the lifeless can flailed around. The wind roared, and Mathew raised his hand up to his helmet, silencing the noise.

"Hang on, I'll see of I can divert some power to the gyroscope!"

A strange sensation over came him, and a small tendril of void light escaped his palm. It fed it's way into one of the fractured panels, and a broken holodisplay sprung to life.

"I've almost got it..."

The display was fading fast, but in as stroke of luck the gyroscope whirred to life, and the pod righted itself.

"Fire the boosters! Now!"

Mathew slammed is palm on the button, and the pod began to decelerate fast. The tips of snowy white mountains could be seen out of the cracked canopy, and they were approaching at an alarming speed.

"I don't think we're gonna stop!" 

On cue, the engines cut out, signalling the end of the fuel supply.

"I think you might be right guardian! Brace for impact!"

There was a few tense seconds before an impact sent the pod tumbling. Shards of metal and glass bounced off the hunters visor as the orbital vehicle crashed down a slope, uprooting trees and smashing rocks. Snow filled the capsule, covering Mathew in a white film. After a few more seconds of bouncing, the vehicle came to an abrupt stop, the metal to his compressing inwards. 

"Ow... Ghost, where are we?" 

"I cannot pinpoint exactly, but I don't think we dropped too far away from the original landing site."

Mathew struggled against the straps that were holding him in place. The material was strong, obviously designed to stop him from flying out the pod on impact, which was proving to be a hindrance. Reaching for his belt, he pulled out his combat knife, which still retained it's hunter insignia. With a few quick slashes, the belts began to fall away, leaving only the damaged pod door in his way. His ghost inspected it with a critical eye.

"I'll see if there's a way for me to get past this..."

His thoughts were stopped as a plated boot slammed into the purple surface, buckling the alloy surface. 

"Or you could just do... That..."

Mathew repeatedly kicked the door, rupturing it further outwards. After a few short moments, the remaining bolts triggered, launching the battered husk into the air like a polythene bag in the wind. It landed close by as the bedraggled guardian scrambled out of the pod.

"Could we possibly make any more noise?" Complained ghost, floating over his head.

At that moment, the rock that had been supporting the vehicle cracked under it's weight, giving way to the massive drop on the other side. With a groan the pod tilted backwards, and Mathew gave a panicked leap towards the cliff edge. His frozen fingers found purchase on the snow covered bank, and the rest of the pod fell down into the valley below, impacting the ground with a dull thud and a puff of pink smoke.

"Huh, I guess so..."

Using what little energy was left in his tired arms, the Mathew pulled himself up the ledge. Removing his helmet, he spread out in the fresh snow and proceeded to breath heavily.

"I swear this is the second time that ship has made me consider vertigo a death sentence."

"Indeed, but at least we're here."

That they were, but where was here?

"Gimme a sitrep."

"It looks like we've drifted a few klicks away from the original insertion point."

"Define a few."

"Four, nothing major, but it does set us back a bit."

Mathew sat up and took his first real look around. They had landed somewhere on the side of a mountain, that much was obvious, but as for where they were headed? He had no clue.

"Can you patch the coordinates through to my hud?"

"Already done."

The hunter slipped his helmet back on and stood up, taking notice of the grey and white diamond that signalled their destination. It was in a valley to the east, a long way below them.

"Well that's far... How are we going to get down there without a ship?"

"I am... Unsure. Perhaps there is a path we could take?"

There didn't seem to be. Whatever mountain they were on, it wasn't well tred. Speaking of exploration, Mathew could definitely see what appeared to be camps set up around the valley below. They consisted mostly of tan tents, with the occasional spent fire burning in a pit. There was movement down there, so the station was undoubtedly inhabited.

"Mathew... You're going to want to see this..."

He increased the magnification on his helmet, straining his eyes at the crude fort. 

"That's... Oh. Oh for fucks sake."

Dig site alpha, Shiverstone pass, Griffus. 7:25 am. 01/06/1000 AN 

Captain Sliver Beak was not a happy chick. He wanted progress, progress to please his gods and his king, progress which was sorely lacking.

"What do you mean it won't open!"

"T-that's it sir, it won't budge. The entrance has sealed shut."

"Move out of my way!"

Beak pushed his snivelling underling aside as he strode too the holy structures entrance. All had been going well, they had managed to access many of the upper levels of the hallowed ground, and he was pleased with their efforts. Then that ship arrived. He had heard about it in a briefing from the king. The foul ape that had 'graced' their world with it's presence was now considered an enemy of Griffus. At first not much changed. Then setback after setback, loss after loss. The ship had obviously triggered a response from the holy relic, like it was trying to protect itself from falling into those disgusting claws. More of those 'things' were showing up. They razed entire scouting parties to the ground in mere seconds, liquifying the bodies into clouds of orange dust.

That remained an issue, along with the newest edition to his list of grievances. A short while ago all of their telecommunication devices inexplicably burst into flames, leaving them without backup. They'd also lost all of their lights and electrical equipment. He had swiftly come to the conclusion that the equestrians were behind it. After all, it was only in their nature to go after the superior might of the Griffon army in such a cowardly way. It mattered little, once they were able to access the oracle, all would bow before them.

They had caught glimpses of a machine, deep within the sacred cradle, a machine that could tell the future! It spoke to them of great weapons, power beyond their imagining. If they were to wield it, then all of Equis would be under their control! 

The captain continued his musings of everlasting power until he stood face to face with a group of nervous scouts. Behind them was the grand entrance, a great silver door towering over the camp.

"Report! Now!"

A larger Griffon, his feathers a deep brown colour, stepped forward.

"Sir, the entrance to the sacred structure has sealed! We cannot reopen it, and the glyphs on the doorway have changed. We cannot hope to understand their meaning without the oracles guidance."

Silver Beak narrowed his predatory eyes at the new symbols. They were abstract, unique. It must be another test to prove his worth. 

"Record these, and as soon as we get communications I want them sent too Griffonstone, am I clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Good, now begin. The sooner we get these doors open the soon we can continue our quest."

He left the scouting crew go their business, watching as they began to scribble out and compare the strange but beautiful symbols. One in particular caught his eye. It was round, with a smaller circle dominating the upper half. He was no linguist, but it was certainly a unique form of writing. The Griffonstone scholars had managed to crack the code surrounding these glyphs. They were not letters, but rather phrases. Each conveyed it's own unique message, ranging from single words to entire paragraphs. The sacred oracle had shown them the way, and they had been able to uncover many of the inscripted secrets.

"Actually, is anyone here familiar with the holy text?"

One of the more plucky soldiers raised his talon. He was a small, unassuming bird, with a fidgety and scared expression.

"Y-yes sir, I studied a few of them while in training..."

"And do you think you'd be able to translate this?"

"M-maybe, it's not a particularly complex one..."

The scout ran his claws over the door, pointing at different parts of the shape, mentally adding up what he knew. After a short while, Silver raised his voice.

"Well? What does it say?"

"I-I'm not entirely sure, it may not be complex, but it's rather unique. Like it was written to serve a singular purpose. The best I can get out of it is 'inheritance'... No, wait, 'reclaim' makes more sense."

"Reclaim?"

"As I said I'm not entirely sure..."

Beak snorted, but made note of the scouts competence. 

"It was a valid effort, I cannot fault you for that. Perhaps the eggheads back at the academy will make more sense of it. Be about you're work."

Once again he turned to leave, stalking back across the camp towards the command tent. Inside was a simple desk with a wooden chair positioned behind it, perfect for filling out the hordes of paperwork he was presented with on a regular basis. Currently a large map was spread out on the oak furnishing. On it was marked the locations of all of the recent attacks, along the supply lines that were effected. If he had it his way all of their supplies would be delivered by airship, but the council wouldn't run the risk of an impact with the surrounding mountains. Such were the joys of politics. He was about to continue with his cartography when a pair of wheezing sentries stumbled into his 'office'.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"S-sir, we saw... Something."

They looked as though they had been flying for miles, not that he gave a damn.

"What sort of something?!"

"I don't know what it was for certain, it fell out of the sky!"

"Was it a pegasus?"

"N-no..."

"A dragon?"

"I don't think so..."

Silver smashed his claw down on the desk, scattering the troop markers he had placed all over the map.

"THEN WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SEE SOLDIER! I have no time for the idle day dreams of underperforming grunts like yourselves, so unless you can describe to me exactly what it was that you saw, then you can make yourselves scarce!"

"I-it was purple! And had blue fire coming out of the bottom! It crashed into the side of Shiverstone mountain and disappeared!"

Purple... Why did that set off so many alarm bells? What did he know that falls out of the sky, and was commonly associated with the colours purple and blue? Then, a certain something came to him.

"Lock this base down, nothing gets in or out. Nothing!"

"Y-yes sir, right away!"

They turned tail and sprinted out the tent, armour clattering with every bound. As the alarm bells began to toll, Silver took a look out of the tent skylight, up towards the looming mountain.

"You're playing a dangerous game Celestia, one that you cannot hope to win. Though it would be fun to watch you try..."