> Fireteam Harmony
>  by Spark Plug
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Awakening
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The warlock walked into the Vanguard hall, not missing the glares on the way in. “You wanted to see me, Vanguard?” she said as she approached Ikora.

Ikora turned to her. Her expression was perfectly schooled; only a slight narrowing of her eyes betrayed her frustration. “Something has to change, guardian,” she said.

The warlock tensed while her ghost fidgeted nervously at her side. “You know I’m one of the hardest working guardians out there,” she said.

“And that is commendable. But every guardian must contend with the fact that the Light works in different ways for different guardians.” Ikora held up the data pad she was holding. “This is the fifth strike fireteam that has reported your inability to properly utilize your Light.”

“If this is about Fireborn—“

“Of course it’s about Fireborn, guardian!”

Ikora closed her eyes and took a breath. The warlock did her best to stand there even though she could practically feel every person in the room pointedly not staring at her.

“The Fireborn technique requires a particular state of mind, guardian,” Ikora continued, her voice back to its even tone. “In order to remake oneself without a Ghost channeling Light, one must be immersed in the Light and have a full and honest picture of themselves. You are a hard working and studious guardian, yes...” Ikora sighed. “But you lack the mental clarity to honestly know yourself.”

The warlock narrowed her eyes. “You don’t think I can do it.”

Ikora matched her stare. “Guardian, in order to remake yourself, you have to know what you’re making. You have to know who you are and be at peace with it. This is not something that can be taught; it is not something that can be gleaned from a text.” She put the data pad down. “No, guardian; I don’t think you can do it.”

She held up a hand. “But, a scholar must always be willing to be proven wrong. You have one week to show progress. You have one month to show you can reliably perform the technique. And if either of us feel that your talents are best redirected elsewhere, then we will redirect your talents.” She clasped her hands behind her back. “Have I made myself clear, guardian?”





The warlock stormed over to the vaults and started flicking through the screens.

Her ghost twitched nervously next to her. “Please tell me we aren’t about to do something monumentally stupid,” it said in it’s near-monotone.

“What gives you that impression, Ghost?” she muttered. She clicked through to the last screen and swore. “Son of a Dreg.”

“No heavy ammo synths?”

“Nope.” She shut down the terminal and started marching toward the hanger.

“Okay,” her ghost continued, “I stand corrected. We’re only doing something mildly stupid.”

“You heard Ikora.”

“And I don’t think this is what she had in mind when she spoke to you!”

“Well it’s what she’s getting,” the warlock snarled as they walked up to the mechanic station.

Amanda Holliday was chatting amicably with a blonde female titan in orange armor. “Ain’t nothing like a warm pecan pie. Throw a few chocolate chips in it?”

The titan laughed. “Y’all know I’d never turn that down,” she answered, matching Amanda accent-for-accent, “But my heart belongs to an apple pie. It’s in my blood.”

Amanda nodded. “Fair enough. Y’all should come by sometime. If you’ve got the recipe, that is.”

The warlock cleared her throat.

Amanda made no outward sign of annoyance, but everyone present felt it anyway. “What’s up, Guardian?”

The warlock clamped down on her emotions. “I need my ship,” she said as evenly as she could.

Amanda stared back.

“Please,” the warlock ground out.

Amanda turned and started messing with her console. “Ship nu—“

“WH543. Sometime today would be nice.”

Amanda’s stare turned into a glare. With slow, obvious movements, she folded her arms. “Can’t summon a ship without a flight plan.”

The titan shuffled awkwardly. “Aman—“

“I’m going to the Iron Temple.”

“What for.”

“Reasons.”

“Reasons like?”

“Reasons I don’t feel like getting into with you,” the warlock snapped. “Now are you going to do your job or not?”

“Hey now!” the titan yelled, holding her not-insubstantial arms at each of them. “Amanda, you ain’t a jerk, so don’t act like it.” She turned her full attention to the warlock. “Now, is there something specific eating you, or are you just normally more ornery than a cow with a thistle lodged up her tail?”

The warlock seethed. “I’m fine.”

“Horseapples,” the titan spat. “You don’t want to talk about it, say so.”

The warlock held the stare for a moment before sighing and hanging her head. “Look, I’m sorry,” she said. “You too, Amanda. Not you guys’ fault I’m a failure of a guardian.”

Amanda rolled her eyes and tapped her console. “Ship’s coming up.”

The titan softened her glare. “Now, I seriously doubt you’re as much a failure as you think.”

The warlock snorted. “Tell that to Ikora.”

The titan winced. “She give you a dressing down?”

The warlock nodded and sighed. “So now I’m going to head out to the Iron Temple, buy some heavy ammo from Shiro, find a nice, secluded spot in the Cosmodrome, and spend the afternoon blowing myself up and seeing if I can pull myself together. Literally.”

“Sounds like a fun time,” Amanda quipped with a smile. “Beats jumping off the tower, right?”

The warlock laughed in spite of herself. The titan clapped her on the shoulder—gently, but not gently enough.

“Whatever you got going on, I know it’ll work out,” she said gently.

The warlock frowned. “How can you possibly know?”

The titan stepped back and appraised her. “Because I’ve heard of you. Hardest working warlock out there, on the team that took out Omnigul?” She nodded. “You’ll get it. Call it a hunch if you have to.”

The warlock nodded and walked toward her ship. She paused next to Amanda. “Anything you need from the Cosmodrome?” she said with a weak smile. “Might as well make myself useful while I’m there.”

Amanda thought for a second before pulling a data chip off of a nearby shelf. “I was going to take this to Zavala to add to the beacons, but if you’re headed down there anyway...”

The warlock’s ghost scanned the chip. “Got it,” he said. “We’ll get what you need.”





"It was just down there that I found you," the ghost said. "We ghosts... we don't know what our guardians are going to look like. Not on the outside, at least."

The ghost and its guardian looked out over Old Russia, the fresh snow covering the rusted cars and falling gently down the towering walls of the Cosmodrome.

"Getting sentimental, ghost?" the guardian said, an audible smirk to her voice.

The ghost twitched itself. "I'm allowed," it said petulantly. It turned back to the deck of the Fallen ketch. "Do you think we should clear out the other decks?"

The guardian shrugged. "Does anything show up on the scanner?"

"Nope."

The guardian took off her helmet and shook her red-and-blonde-streaked hair out. "Then let's get some fresh air," she said, taking a long whiff of the winter breeze.

The ghost sighed audibly. "If I had lungs... No, I still wouldn't. I don't understand your obsession with 'fresh air.' Helmets exist for a reason."

The guardian sat down at the edge of the skiff and let her legs dangle over the side. "Ah, call it a remnant," she said with a dismissive wave.

The ghost hovered closer to look her in the eyes. "I'm sorry I can't find more, guardian."

The guardian shook her head and tried to wave it off. "It's okay," she said, "I know Golden Age records are spotty at best." She closed her eyes and rested her head against the railing. "I just thought that there was something..."

The ghost bumped her in the shoulder. "You know you liked the outdoors," it said. "I know of plenty of guardians that don't even know that about their past lives."

The guardian tried to smile. "Thanks, ghost," she said. "I just feel like if I could find one thing: a name, a place... Something real to tie me back to..."

She glanced at the ghost and sighed. "Lucky you," she said sardonically. "You got the defective guardian that keeps obsessing over her past instead of fighting for the future."

This time the ghost bumped her head. "Stop it, guardian," it said. "Everyone's allowed their hobbies. No one's going to fault a guardian for digging into the past, especially if that guardian's a warlock."

It flew around to stare her directly in the face. "And no matter what, you're still my guardian. We're together until the end."

The guardian smiled more broadly. "Thanks," she said.

In the distance, a jumpship shot through the upper atmosphere. The ghost turned toward the sound. "I think we've got incoming..."

Another guardian–a hunter–materialized onto the deck of the ketch, her ghost appearing a second later. She took a look at the warlock and pulled her own helmet off, revealing a rainbow-hued head of hair pulled back into a bun. "Warlock," she said in a scratchy voice.

"Hunter," the first guardian answered, standing up. "What brings you over here?"

The hunter walked over to a computer console near the cabin. "Been scouring Fallen ships for Splicer intel. Zavala wants to hit them pretty hard now that the SIVA vault and Aksis have been taken care of."

The warlock peered over her shoulder as she and her ghost browsed through the system. The hunter glanced back at her, and for a split second the warlock saw something in between joy and frustration before the hunter turned back to the computer.

"What're you doing tonight?" the hunter said after a moment.

The warlock blinked in surprise. "Nothing I can think of, why?"

The hunter shrugged. "There's a neat little ramen shop in the city. Cayde swears by it. If you want to check it out we can..."

The warlock was slightly taken aback. While a social request wasn’t that unheard of, it wasn’t exactly common either. Her gut instinct was to turn the hunter down. And yet–

friend

"Wait, go back!" the warlock said, running up next to the hunter and pointing at the screen.

The hunter glanced–glared?–at the warlock and started scrolling backwards. "See something you like?" she said evenly.

The warlock stared intently at the screen as the images flickered past–

home

She shoved the hunter's hands away. "This," she said, pointing at a six-point star on the screen. "This means something."

"Everything means something," the hunter said.

“Yeah, but this means something important...” The warlock rounded on her. "You know what it means, don't you?"

The hunter didn't move. "Why would you think that?" she said, her voice still unnaturally even.

The warlock narrowed her eyes. "I'm not in the mood for riddles, hunter. What do you know?"

The hunter narrowed her eyes back. "It's not that simple, Sunset."

i'm so sorry

fit of jealous rage

you're always welcome here

The warlock shook the images away. The hunter's eyes widened. "Oh, ponyfeathers," she muttered.

"Who's Sunset?"

The hunter facepalmed. "It's not that simple," she ground out. The warlock was pretty sure she saw a tear in the corner of her eye.

The warlock turned back to the console. The star–

mark

–meant something in her past, she was sure of it. If she could just remember–

don't forget me

–what it was in her past–

not today

–that was being triggered by the mark–

friendship royalty danger safety

–then maybe she could–

But you cannot wield it

"Sunset!"

Even with all that magic and power

–finally figure out–

"Sunset!"

you'll still be alone

"Guardian!" her ghost yelled.

The warlock snapped back to reality in time to see a shock grenade embed itself into the screen. She instinctively jumped back and pulled out her hand cannon. When the grenade exploded, she dove to the side into the smoke and started picking off the group of dregs that were coming out of the cabin.

"Helmet incoming!" her ghost said above her, materializing her helmet around her head. The warlock checked her heads up display: several dregs, two vandals, and a Fallen captain. With a Scorch Cannon.

"Still here, hunter?" she said into her radio.

"What, thought I'd sit out a fight, warlock?" the hunter answered with an audible grin. "I've got an Arc Blade charged; can you distract the big guy while I take care of the mooks?"

"On it," the warlock said, breaking cover just enough to draw a bead on the captain's head. To her left, she heard the sizzle of the hunter's Arc Blade activating, and as much as she wanted to watch the swirling vortex of electricity and death, she had a job to do. She took two shots at the captain.

The captain flinched, shook its head, then looked straight at her.

"Well, you got it's attention," her ghost said.

"How's my Radiance?" she answered, taking another shot. The captain just took the hit and aimed its cannon at her.

"You're super charged."

"Good, because–"

The cannon blanketed the the five feet around the warlock in fire and blasted her away.

"Of course," her ghost muttered, working to gather enough light to revive her. It looked over toward the hunter just in time to see her take a shot from a vandal's wire rifle right in the head.

"And we might be here for a little while," it muttered as the hunter's ghost hovered over her body.





You are strong and talented, but you lack humility.

A beautiful castle on the side of a mountain.

An ornate mirror that was more than it seemed.

A tall brick school.

Destroy the portal; you are not getting this crown.

The face of the building in ruins. A deep crater.

The magic of friendship doesn't just exist in Equestria.

The climb out of the hole. Rebuilding the building.

Rebuilding.

I've missed you,

Returning.

I've missed you, Sunset Shimmer.

Remembering.

Sunset Shimmer, we need you!





The warlock's ghost felt the Light around it shift. "Is this?"

An affirmative glow from the warlock's soul.

"All right, then!" The ghost worked to gather the ambient Light together as the warlock's soul flared bright, and in a flash of fiery Light, the warlock reformed herself. Light coalesced into matter which bonded together into bone and muscle. The ghost worked in tandem, binding together carbon fiber nanoweave and titanium alloy plates to build her armor and weapons around her. The ghost found things a little odd this time around, but there was no time to question it, only time to act.

The two remaining dregs got fusion grenades. The captain appeared to be puzzled, but the warlock didn’t stop to consider that. Acting on instinct, she planted her forehooves, turned away from the captain, and delivered a solar-infused buck straight into his midsection. And when that didn’t finish him off, another solar-infused punch and fusion grenade did.

As her radiance ended, she turned and spotted the remaining vandal. With a snarl, she drew her sniper rifle and—

She looked down. At her hooves. That wouldn’t fit though the trigger guard.

“Oh,” she said.

“Let’s get the hunter!” her ghost yelled. “Worry about this later!”

A shot from the vandal that nearly singed her flank startled her into action. She dove over to where the hunter’s ghost hovered, put one hoof on her ghost, and the other on the hunter’s.

The hunter’s ghost began spinning. “Revive in 3,” it said with a deep voice.

The hunter reappeared, and in one fluid motion drew an auto rifle, aimed, and took out the last vandal.

Both guardians—and their ghosts—let out audible sighs of relief.

“You win, Ghost,” the warlock said, sitting down. “Next time we sweep the decks.”

The hunter collapsed, then turned to look at the warlock who was missing her armor save for her robes and bond. And was suspiciously pony-shaped, complete with her yin-yang sun mark on her flank. “Seriously?” she said.

Sunset just raised an eyebrow. “That hair come naturally, or did you have to dye it?” She smirked. “Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow just stared for a moment. “I’m going to hug you,” she said finally.

“Wait, wh—“

Rainbow dove, grabbed the pony by the neck, and pulled her in. “Sweet Celestia, I thought you’d never wake up, Sunset!” she said, somewhere between a yell and a sob.

Sunset shifted around until she could wriggle her foreleg free, which she instantly wrapped around Rainbow’s neck. “How long have you known?”

“Too long. But I couldn’t just tell you.”

Sunset groaned. “Memory block with an unknown trigger?”

“Something like that. I recognized Fluttershy right off but every time I tried to get her to remember she just got angrier.”

“Wait, Fluttershy got angry?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said with an awkward laugh. “So you can see why I wasn’t too keen on trying to force you to wake up.”

Sunset pulled herself away. “Next question,” she said, looking herself over before turning back to Rainbow. “Why the hell am I a pony?”

“You pulled yourself together,” her ghost said. “This is what your soul looks like.” It hovered closer. “I... I should update my subroutines.”

“No!” Sunset said, a little too quickly. “You’ve still got the old revive subroutine?”

”Yes...”

“Good.” She hoofed up her rocket launcher and trotted a few feet away. “Rainbow, can I get a rez?” Sunset’s horn glowed slightly as the rocket launcher turned in mid-air and pointed at her.

“Wait wh—“

There was a pony-shattering kaboom.

“Guardian down,” Rainbow’s ghost supplied.





Sunset reappeared, human-shaped and with all her armor in place. “Thanks,” she said.

“A little warning next time?” Rainbow glowered.

“I can’t exactly go back to the tower like that,” Sunset said. “Ikora hates me enough as it is.” She rolled her eyes. “Figures; I finally learn Fireborn, and I can’t demonstrate it.”

“It might not be that bad?” Rainbow said with more than a bit of uncertainty.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Ikora already thinks I’m wasting my Light. If we add in the fact that I’ve been investigating my past, much less discovered it...”

Rainbow nodded. “Okay, so we plan.”

“Since when do you plan?”

“Since a lack of planning gets guardians killed.” She ran her hand through her hair. “No, it hasn’t actually happened to anyone on my teams,” she corrected, “but there’ve been way too many close calls.”

She shook her head. “Anyway, you never gave me an answer on that ramen shop.”

Sunset hesitated.

“Fair warning,” Rainbow added, “Pinkie’s going to throw you a party. And if it’s not now, it’ll be a surprise party.”

“Ramen sounds great!” Sunset said quickly.

Rainbow grinned. “Awesome.” She turned to her ghost. “Tank, send the coordinates over to...” She turned to Sunset’s ghost.

“Oh,” it said, shifting awkwardly. “I’m just—“

“Ray.” Sunset said. She glanced at her ghost.

It looked at her. “Ray,” it said, sounding it out. “My name’s Ray.”

Rainbow nodded. “Cool. See you there!” she said as she and tank transmatted out.

Sunset and Ray stood in silence for a moment.

“So...” Ray said. “Sunset, is it?”

“Sunset Shimmer.”

“And you’re a pony?”

Sunset smiled. “I’ve got a lot to tell you.”
> Ramen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, you’re from another world.”

“Yes.”

“But at some point in your adolescence, you ran away to a different world.”

“...yes.”

“And then you went back to the first world, stole a magical artifact, ran back to the second world, used said magical artifact, transforming yourself into—let me make sure I’m quoting you correctly—‘a raging she-demon’ and releasing magic into the second world?”

Sunset groaned. “Yes.”

“Okay, just making sure I’ve got everything correct so far. You were then defeated by Princess Twilight who was wielding—did I hear you correctly—the ‘magic of friendship.’ Still right?”

Sunset pointed a finger at her ghost’s eye. “Hey now, I know it sounds corny—“

“Because it is.”

Sunset sighed. “Ray, I know you’re teasing me right now. But if...” She blinked back a few tears and shook her head. “Wow, did not expect that,” she muttered to herself.

Ray hovered closer. “Are you okay?” it said.

“Yeah,” Sunset said, gripping the flight yoke a little tighter. “I think everything’s coming back to me at once.”

They flew on in silence for a while.

“It was like my soul was exposed,” Sunset said finally. Ray just hovered in place, so she continued. “It wasn’t just a ‘magic all the nasty away’ beam, it... It brought out all the nasty and showed it to me. In painstaking detail.” She blinked away a few more tears. “Only a little of what I did that night was actually magical, so there was only a little stolen magic for the Elements of Harmony to purify. Everything else was just... me.

“And so there I was, at the bottom of a crater, and knowing exactly why I was there. And when she offered me her hand, I had a choice. I could have slapped it away.”

“But you didn’t.”

Sunset shook her head. “I didn’t. She helped me up, she helped me make friends...”

She glanced at Ray. “Friendship really is the strongest magic in Equestria, you know. I know it sounds hokey and cheesy and stupid, but it’s the truth. It opens up spell possibilities that don’t exist otherwise, it makes magic more powerful than it would be otherwise...”

“Do you think it would help here?”

“Yes,” Sunset said without hesitation. “The Magic Of Friendship doesn’t just mean giving the Fallen a hug and thinking everything’s magically better. It can mean us standing united against adversity.” She thought for a second. “It could mean making friends with the Fallen that are willing to be friends.”

Ray gave Sunset what was clearly intended to be a stink eye.

Sunset shook her head. “I studied under Princess Celestia, an alicorn with the magical capacity to move the sun itself. She was the ruler of Equestria...” She blinked a few tears away. “Still is, probably.” She shook it off. “Anyway, there were two rules when it came to Equestria’s foreign policy.

“First, if we stood together, very few things could truly threaten Equestria. Twilight and her friends proved that several times over.

“And second, no enemy is more truly defeated than one that becomes a friend.”

Ray hovered in place for a moment. “I still don’t see how that can help against the Fallen.”

“Well, it worked in Equestria, largely because Celestia could drop the sun on anyone that opposed us. She never would, of course, but by the time any would-be threats realized that, they’d already negotiated a very favorable trade agreement, or whatever. The threat was just to get everyone to be reasonable.” Sunset bit her lip. “So now, we just need a Celestia.”

“Well, we don’t have one,” Ray said, and Sunset couldn’t tell if he was irritated with the conversation, or if this was the ongoing bitterness toward the still-inert Traveler.

“So,” Ray said after a moment, “what happened to bring you here?”

“Well, me and the girls from that school had a bunch of adventures. Had to do a lot to clean up all the magic that I let loose into that world, and for a while we had some magic of our own to use. We learned, we grew, we had fun...” She sighed. “And then we graduated and went our separate ways. I wasn’t from that world; it was only by a fluke and Principal Celestia’s kindness that I could go to that school in the first place. But when it came to colleges...” She trailed off.

“So you went back to Equestria?”

“Mmhmm. I still visited the other world fairly often; we were all still good friends. And they went on to do some really great things.”

Sunset stretched. “In the meantime, Princess Twilight decided she wanted to open some portals to other worlds...”





“And... check,” Spike said, rolling up the scroll with a flourish. “That’s the end of the pre-launch checklist.”

“Wonderful!” Princess Twilight said with a smile. “Now, what’s first on the launch checklist?”

Spike rummaged in his bag and pulled out another scroll. “Launch Checklist for Mirror Portal Mark II,” he read. “Step one: verify pre-launch checklist.”

Twilight bit her lip and looked at Sunset with a slight smile. “I mean, it’s on the checklist...”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. She looked just past Twilight to see Spike vibrating with barely constrained glee. She looked back at Twilight and smirked. “Get on with it.”

Twilight smiled back. “Pre-launch checklist verified.”

Spike checked it off. “Unicorns at the ready?”

Sunset looked across the room to Starlight Glimmer. “Ready,” they said together.

Spike checked it off. “Instrumentation ready?”

Sunset looked to the corner where, behind a panel of crystals and gauges that would put Vinyl Scratch’s soundboard to shame, Starswirl the Bearded sat. “Instrumentation ready,” he said.

“Still can’t believe that’s him,” Sunset muttered to herself.

Spike checked it off. “Last step is to fire the spell, Twilight,” he said.

Twilight nodded and pulled him close with her wing. “Thanks, Spike.” She glanced at Sunset and Starlight. “On my mark,” she said, flaring her wings and igniting her horn.

On cue, Twilight, Sunset, and Starlight fired a specialized spell at the focusing crystal in the center of the room. The energy passed through Starswirl’s instrument panel and fed into the crystal arch at the other end of the room. Slowly, the arch filled with energy until it passed a threshold and filled the entire archway with a swirling miasma of energy. 

Twilight cut off her spell and trotted over to the arch. Sunset and Starlight kept their spells alive, but their job was now keeping the system stable, not charging it.

“Anything?” Twilight asked, not taking her eyes off the arch.

“I have something,” Starswirl said. “Focusing the apparatus now.”

“Unstable?”

“Only moderately. I wager we’ll have about two minutes to anchor the portal once we’re locked.” He turned a pair of crystals slowly. “Unicorns stand by...”

With a start he threw the biggest switch on his panel. “Instrumentation locked.” He looked at the portal with narrowed eyes. “One minute, Princess.”

“Call me Twilight,” she said reflexively. Grabbing four crystal-infused rods in her magic, she trotted through the portal.

The remaining unicorns waited anxiously, though not nearly as anxiously as Spike who was twitching his wings nervously. After a very long fifteen seconds, Twilight reappeared through the portal.

“Portal anchored,” she said with a wide smile.

Starlight and Sunset released their spells with a groan. Starswirl made a few final adjustments before nodding in satisfaction and stepping away from the panel. The three of them approached Twilight.

“Well?” Sunset said.

Twilight grinned and nearly vibrated in place. “Come take a look!”

“I’ll stay put here for now,” Starswirl said with a tired smile.

Twilight nodded. “Okay, okay, but Sunset? Starlight?” The two nodded. Twilight made a noise suspiciously similar to “squee!” and led them through the portal.

When the light from the portal (and the transformation-induced nausea) faded, Sunset pulled herself to her feet. “Human world,” she said.

“Mmhmm,” Twilight answered. “Though more muted skin tones.”

Sunset looked her over. “But you kept your mane.”

Twilight smirked at her. “Yeah, you did.”

“Um, girls?” Starlight said, pointing at something in the distance, “what’s that?”

They followed her gaze and saw a gigantic polished sphere hovering in the air, glowing with a subtle light.

“That,” said a mildly accented voice behind them, “is The Traveler.”

They turned around to see a middle-aged man in outdoor gear and a friendly smile. “Though if you’re asking that,” he said, “then I’m guessing you ain’t from around here.”





Sunset laughed. “When she saw what you were able to do with Light, the technological advances you were making, Twilight practically begged Celestia to open trade routes with you.”

Ray hovered closer. “You were here for the Golden Age?” he said excitedly.

“Oh yeah,” Sunset said with a smile. “All of us were over here at one point or another. Rainbow loved the stuff on Mars, Applejack helped with the plants on Mercury, and something about Io fascinated Fluttershy.”

“But what about...” Ray trailed off and looked toward their destination.

Sunset followed his gaze. The clouds around the Last City were growing larger as they approached.

“I didn’t talk to The Traveler,” Sunset said quietly. “It was just kind of... there. Every so often it would head off to one of the other planets for a week to check on the terraforming, see how things were, then it would come back to Earth.” She closed her eyes and let herself get lost in the reminiscing. “When it wasn’t near, you could still feel its presence. The Light that it infused into everything. But when you were next to it...” She grinned. “Ideas came quicker. Things fell into place faster. Stuff worked better than it was supposed to. It was like we all became better versions of ourselves. And that’s what it wanted.”

The jumpship broke through the cloud cover. As the approached the tower, they flew close enough to see The Traveler’s injuries close up. Sunset pressed a hand against the glass and blinked back tears.

“Do you know what hurt it?” Ray asked, his flat voice the saddest that Sunset could remember.

She shook her head. “I didn’t survive long enough to see...”





Sunset ran into the room housing the portal. “Twilight!” she yelled in relief. “Thank Celestia; are you okay? Have you seen...” She motioned outside. “That?”

Twilight turned from the portal, her face carefully neutral. “Have you seen our friends?” She said sharply.

Sunset shook her head. “No one’s answering on the comms, and none of the comsats have signal.” She ran closer. “You don’t think...”

Twilight turned her attention back to the portal. “You’ve seen what’s out there, Sunset Shimmer,” she said. “You tell me.”

As if to answer her, the ground shook.

“Higher magnitude, shorter interval,” Twilight muttered. “Sunset, that wasn’t a rhetorical question.”

Sunset blinked. “I’m sure they’re—“

“Stop.”

Sunset felt the blood drain from her face. To an outside observer, Twilight was completely closed off and composed. But Sunset knew the tells. Knew that the moisture at the corner of her eyes was involuntary. Knew that the fingers rubbing against each other was a nervous tic. Knew that those lips were pressed together too tightly for Twilight to be anything other than terrified.

“As Princess of Equestria, and the acting Princess on this side of the portal, I need you to answer honestly: are our friends okay?”

Sunset bit her lip and forced down the bile. “There’s no communication with the other planets, Princess,” she said. “Practically speaking, we should assume the worst.”

Twilight nodded. Her breath hitched slightly. “Get through the portal,” she said, “and tell them—“

“No.”

Twilight blinked. “Sunset—“

“You’re going to destroy the portal. You’re going to make sure whatever is out there isn’t going to make it back to Equestria. And you’re not about to ask me to go back to Equestria without you.”

Twilight bowed her head. “I can’t just turn it off,” she said softly. “Whatever this is, it disrupts Light. It works on a quantum level. If I want to keep it from finding Equestria, I have to break the connection to our universe completely. Permanently.” She raised her head and looked at Sunset. “Please,” she said, “I know how hard it was for you to be trapped away from home; don’t make me be the one to do it to you again.”

Sunset shook her head. “You’re here. My friends are here. I’m already home.” She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Do what you need to do, Princess.”

Twilight nodded and walked over to the portal. “I already gave a message to Starlight and tossed that journal through. Only thing left is to destroy the anchor crystal.” She pulled a milky white crystal from the center of the arch, deactivating the portal.

“So now we just blow that up?” Sunset said.

Twilight smirked. “Sort of.” She clenched the crystal in her fist, and her fist began to glow a deep purple.

Sunset gawked. “Magic?”

“Our magic and the Traveler’s Light aren’t that different. There are some different constants, but the basic rules are the same.” She opened her fist and let what was left of the now-pulverized crystal fall to the floor.

Sunset smiled briefly before another tremor shook the building, bringing their thoughts back to the situation.

Twilight frowned. “Of course I don’t discover that until...”

Sunset did her best to smile and put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “You discovered it in time to save Equestria.” She scanned the edges of the room and walked over to a rifle leaning against the wall. “Want to try and save a few more people?”

Twilight’s hand glowed purple again. “It’s like you read my mind.”





“So the portal is completely destroyed?” Rainbow Dash said, tapping the side of her ramen bowl with her chopsticks.

Sunset nodded. “And from what I’ve seen of the Darkness since then, I’m glad we destroyed it.”

Rainbow grimaced and swore under her breath. “The girls are not going to like that,” she muttered. “I don’t like that.”

“I don’t like it either,” Sunset said a little defensively.

Rainbow shook her head. “Not saying you do. Just...”

Sunset added a grimace if her own. “Yeah.” She took another bit of her own ramen. “You told the other girls about...”

Rainbow looked over Sunset’s shoulder. “See for yourself.”

Sunset turned around to see a titan wearing bright pink armor, an even pinker afro, and a pink-and-white shotgun aimed at her face.

The titan pulled the trigger.

Sunset blinked away the flash. “Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie nodded.

“Did you just shoot me in the face with a Party Shotgun?”

Pinkie nodded.

Sunset felt her head with her right hand. Sure enough, a cardboard party hat poked out of her hair. She looked at her left hand to find it holding a pair of cake pops, one chocolate and one vanilla, both with colorful sprinkles.

She turned around to hand one to Rainbow, but she was already holding up two of her own. “I was in the blast radius,” she explained.

Sunset turned back to Pinkie and, without breaking eye contact, ate the chocolate pop. “Do I want to know?” she said finally.

“Nope!” Pinkie said

Sunset nodded, then lunged forward and threw her arms around Pinkie. “I’m so happy to see you,” she whispered.

Pinkie hugged her back briefly, then abruptly pulled away and stepped to the side and yelled “Twitchy tail!”

Sunset blinked in confusion. “But we don’t eve—“

“SUNSET SHIMMER!”

Sunset barely had time to not-recognize the voice before she was attacked by a hunter-shaped missile with pink hair. “Oh my goodness I was so worried when I saw you and you didn’t recognize me but then I got Rainbow’s message and you’re here and you’re okay and I was so afraid you were gone forever and...”

Sunset managed to push the hunter away to arm’s length. “Wait, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy pushed her bangs behind her ear and nodded.

Sunset choked out something between a laugh and a sob and pulled her back into the hug.

“I missed you,” Fluttershy said.

“I missed you too,” Sunset said. “Even if I didn’t know it, I missed you.”

After another moment, Fluttershy broke the hug, patted Sunset on the shoulder, and stepped aside to let the titan that had just arrived in.

Sunset took one look at her and facepalmed. “Of course you were.”

The blonde-haired titan tipped her Stetson. “Like I said,” she drawled, “I had a hunch it would work out. Though I was still a mite bit surprised it worked out this quickly.”

Sunset smiled and held out her hand. “Good to see you, Applejack.”

Applejack grasped her hand and pulled her into a hug. “Good to see you too, Sugarcube.”

“No hard feelings from earlier?”

Applejack smirked at Sunset. “Wouldn’t mind some help with a patrol or two.”

Sunset smiled back. “It’s a deal.”

Applejack went to sit down at the table. Sunset looked out into the city and saw a warlock in a white robe and purple hair running up the street, muttering “excuse me” and “pardon me” and “sorry, darling” the entire way.

Sunset chuckled to herself. “Never change, Rarity.”

Rarity finally ran up, only slightly out of breath. “I do apologize for being so late, Darlings, but—“

“But you were caught in the throes of inspiration and you just had to seize the moment?” Sunset interrupted with a smile.

Rarity clutched her chest in mock offense. “Sunset, dear, why ever would you think that?” she said. “Besides, the inspiration came years ago, I just had to pull the result out of my vault.” She handed a warlock bond emblazoned with Sunset’s cutie mark to her. “I do hope you find it satisfactory; I haven’t quite convinced dear Eva to disclose all of her secrets...”

“It’s perfect,” Sunset whispered, blinking back a few tears and running her thumb along the band.
> Strike
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“‘Undone her death’?” Sunset blurted. “What does that even mean?”

“Yeah,” Cayde–6 said, “it’s not like she just pulled her knitting apart.”

Ikora narrowed her eyes at the pair. “Eris would say not to make light of this.”

Sunset bowed her head slightly, sufficiently reprimanded.

“Good thing she’s not here, then.”

Cayde, on the other hand…

Ikora rolled her eyes and turned back to Sunset. “We need to take care of this now. Guardian, since you’re the only one from the original team available, can you take point on this mission?”

Sunset nodded. “Who’s available?”

“I’m in!”

The group turned to stare at the titan–human male, shaggy black hair, and too much eye shadow–who stared back with a lopsided grin. “What am I signing up for?”

“Omnigul’s ‘undone her death,’” Cayde snarked, complete with air quotes.

“How the hell does that happen?” the titan blurted.

“I know, right?” Sunset answered.

“Hivebane,” Ikora said forcefully, “are you volunteering?”

“Yes ma’am please,” the titan said quickly. “Swordbearer’s on an extended patrol through Venus and I’m bored out of my skull.”

“Feeling a little pent-up, Guardian?” Cayde said.

The titan smirked at Cayde. “Sir, are you asking me to elaborate on how well one of your hunters is treating me?”

Ikora cleared her throat.

Cayde and the titan swallowed their next quips and shuffled awkwardly.

“So…” the titan said after a beat, “my usual partner’s not here, so if you know of a third?”

Sunset nodded. “I know a girl.”





“Hivebane?” Rainbow yelled when they landed in the cosmodrome. “You didn’t say it was Hivebane!”

“Is that a good thing?” the titan said, scratching the back of his neck.

“Are you kidding? You’re a legend, man! The Black Garden, the Dreadnaught, Crota!”

“Yeah, and you’re freaking Rainbow Dash? SRL Inaugural Grand Champion?”

“And don’t you forget it,” Rainbow said with a dramatic pose.

“And if you two are done?”

They turned to look at Sunset.

“Slayer of Omnigul…” Hivebane began.

“Bane of the Splicers…” Rainbow finished.

Sunset rolled her eyes.





“So,” Sunset yelled over the din of the fight with the Splicers, “how do you choose a name like ‘Hivebane’?”

“Well,” Hivebane said as he threw a new clip in his pulse rifle, “when everyone starts calling you something you tend to answer to it. I mean, I’m fine just going by ‘that titan over there,’ but apparently that wasn’t good enough for everyone else.” He glanced over to her as he reloaded. “What about you, ‘Sunset Shimmer’?”

Sunset blanched. She wracked her brain trying to come up with an answer that wouldn’t give herself–and Rainbow!–away.

“Eyes up, Sunset!” Ray yelled in her head.

Sunset blinked, aimed, and shot two dregs that had gotten a little too close to their position.

“It just…” Two bullets, two shanks. “Just came to me, you know?”

There was silence between the three guardians, peppered by the sound of various rifles finding their targets.

“His ghost says he’s nodding sagely,” Ray said. “Apparently he forgot you couldn’t see him,” he added.

Sunset shook her head slightly as she and Rainbow took out the last captain. “Can we get any data from that system?” she said, motioning at the console at one end of the room.

“On it!” Rainbow yelled as she ran over, her ghost, Tank, already out.

The titan surveyed the room. “Ghost says there’s Hive on the way.”

Sunset nodded. “What’s the word, Rainbow?”

“Tank, do you hear that interference?” Rainbow said with a tap on her helmet.

Tank materialized, and a burst of static immediately flooded the channel. Sunset and the titan cringed for a second before their ghosts cut the transmission.

“What was that for?” Sunset yelled.

“You need to see this.”

Sunset turned around to look. Rainbow pointed at the screen showing a rough outline of Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark.

Sunset forced down the swell of… emotions? Nostalgia? Longing? “How long do you need?” she said.

Rainbow turned to her ghost. “Tank says five minutes. Maybe seven.”

Sunset turned to the titan. “Can we hold the line for that long?”

“It’s sweaty,” he said. He turned to Rainbow. “I’m guessing this is not strictly Vanguard business, judging by how we’re offline?”

Sunset shook her head. “We’re not gonna drag you into this. Rainbow, we can come back later.”

“Into the middle of Splicer territory?” Rainbow nearly yelled. “They might wipe the system before then!”

“What are you looking for?” the titan butted in.

Sunset and Rainbow both came up short. The ghosts twitched nervously.

A Hive knight roared from the next room over.

“We’re looking for one of our friends,” Rainbow said quickly. “I’ve been looking for her for… since I…”

“Since you remembered her?” the titan said evenly.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said.

The titan nodded. “Fireteam leader, I will respect your decision.”

“You don’t have to,” Sunset said.

The titan shrugged. “If you can meet the needs of the many and the needs of the few, why not both?”

The shriek of a pack of Hive thrall put an end to the discussion.

“Tank, start the download!” Rainbow yelled as the three guardians brandished their guns.

“Rainbow’s ghost is exposed,” Sunset said. “Watch for snipers.”

“I’ll take close,” the titan said.

“I’ll watch the explodies,” Rainbow said.

Sunset nodded. “Eyes up.”





The three guardians rested at the vista overlooking the Last Array. Rainbow occupied herself picking bits of Hive out of her boots.

The titan leaned with his back against the railing. “How much do you remember?”

Sunset looked up from double-checking her weapons. “A name, sensations…” She glanced at Rainbow. “Friends.”

The titan nodded. “I don’t remember anything. At all.”

Sunset frowned. “I’m sorry.”

He waved her off. “Don’t be. I don’t know anything about my past life, and at this point I’m too afraid to find out.” He shrugged. “I like who I am now; what good is digging up the past going to do.”

Sunset nodded. “That’s fair,” she said. “I just didn’t like who I am.” She blinked. “Was. Before I…”

The titan nodded with a smile. “I get it,” he said. “You didn’t like who you were, so you went digging?” At Sunset’s nod, he continued. “So was it worth it?”

Sunset looked over and accidentally made eye contact with Rainbow, who had apparently taken a sudden interest in their conversation. She touched the Rarity-made warlock bond on her arm.

“Yeah,” she said quietly, “totally worth it.”





Omnigul’s bunker wasn’t as bad as Sunset remembered. It was worse.

The usual hiding spot was overrun with SIVA blooms, forcing the guardians out into a more open field of battle. They did their best to stay behind cover and make shallow progress wearing down Omnigul, but whenever they felt momentum swinging their way, she would disappear and summon another sea of minions.

“How’s everyone’s super charge?” Sunset yelled into the comms.

“I’m at least two minutes away from an Arc Blade,” Rainbow answered, thinning out some of the Acolytes in the back

“I’m halfway to a bubble,” the titan added. “I counted three sword knights in this wave; do we have eyes on them?”

Sunset fired twice. “There’s one down,” Sunset said. “I see one more. Rainbow?”

“Which one do you see?”

“Green chitin, south wall?”

“Shard,” Rainbow swore. “Anyone got eyes on number three?”

“Nothing here,” the titan said.

A mental nudge from Ray had Sunset looking to the right just in time to see the third knight bring its sword down, shattering her shield.

“It’s here!” she yelled as she dove away and fired blindly at it. It staggered back long enough for Sunset to stick a grenade in its face, and with a howl and a curtain of green flame, it went down.

“Well,” Sunset breathed, “that was—“

A well-placed shot from an Acolyte’s shredder finished her off.





The bond between a guardian and her ghost is strange, often mystical. Some would even call it ‘magical.’

Sunset, in her current state, wouldn’t call it much of anything. She was vaguely aware of what was around her, but only through the thoughts and sensations she was able to pick up from Ray. She had no brain, no real thoughts to speak of; just a spirit nestled in Ray’s Light.

Light enough to keep her alive, but not enough to revive her. Omnigul’s presence filled the bunker in a very real sense, muting the Light from the Traveler. If one of her teammates could get to her, loan her some Light, she could return.

Except there was another way! Ray felt the determination from his guardian, along with a questioning feeling.

“Not yet,” Ray said. “There’s still a chance.”





Rainbow took out Sunset’s killer with a single shot. “Ponyfeathers,” she swore. “Tank, can we get her up?”

“If we can get to her, yes,” Tank answered.

Rainbow looked back at Sunset’s body. She could just make out Ray next to it, staying out of range of the Hive. She looked over to the titan. “Can you get her?”

“Maybe?” Another burst of gunfire, punctuated by some heavy blasts, interrupted him. “Maybe not.” He chatted with his ghost. “One minute on the bubble.”

An unearthly howl reverberated through the bunker. Tank glanced above their cover for half a second, then screeched, “Thrall!”

The titan brandished a shotgun. “Run!” he yelled. “We’ll come back for her!”

Mentally screaming at herself that she shouldn’t leave her friend, Rainbow switched to her sidearm and dove out of her hiding spot just as the lead thrall lunged toward her.

A lance of plasma cut off one of their escape routes. “Ogres!” Rainbow yelled. She glanced over her shoulder. “Two of them.”

“I’ve got rockets,” the titan answered as he ducked into a corner. “Can you cover me?”

Rainbow ran to him and spun around to face three thrall. Instinctively, she stabbed one in the face. “Not for long!” she yelled. She dispatched one with her sidearm, but when the magazine clicked empty, she hit the last with her knife.

“Duck!”

Rainbow dropped into a crouch. She focused on reloading her sidearm while she felt the heat of a rocket pass over her.

“That’s the ogres!” the titan yelled. “Now we just–”

Omnigul’s piercing scream reverberated through the bunker.

Rainbow grimaced. “Now we just die.”





Ray took in the scene. The titan and Rainbow were still pinned down by thrall and acolytes. The ogres and knights were taken care of, but now Omnigul herself had re-entered the fray.

“Now,” he whispered.





“Can we make it back to her?” the titan said, trying to peek around the corner.

Rainbow bit her lip. “I might be able to go invisible, sneak around behind them.”

The titan nodded. “I’ll keep their focus over h—“

A blaze of solar light lit up the other side of the bunker.

Rainbow grinned. “Never mind; she’s up!” With a toss of her grenade, she vaulted towards the end of the catwalk. Most of the Hive had turned to the newly reborn guardian, making them easy picking for Rainbow and the titan.

The three met at the end of the catwalk. “The hell happened to you?” the titan yelled as they regrouped.

Sunset hoofed over her rocket launcher to Rainbow. “Long story, I’m a pony, don’t tell Ikora. Now hurry up and shoot her before—“

Omnigul cast a spell at the ground beneath her, calling up more thrall onto the catwalk to defend her.

“Focus fire on her,” Sunset yelled. “I’ll take care of the thrall.” As the first wave approached, Sunset turned on her forehooves and delivered a solid solar-infused buck to the first thrall. It exploded and took out the next two behind it. Sunset turned around and stared down the next three a few steps behind it. The first met a hoof to the face. The second met a second hoof, augmented with the pulse of raw light characteristic of warlocks. With a war cry, Sunset lowered her head and charged the last one, impaling it on her horn.

Any further research on the interactions between Equestrian unicorns and Hive thrall would have to wait, though. As Sunset finished off the last thrall, Rainbow and the titan finished off Omnigul.

“Well, that’s it for her,” Rainbow said with a grin as the Hive witch dissolved into green flame and ash.

Neither of her teammates said anything.

Rainbow turned to the titan. “You okay, big guy?”

“Yeah,” the titan said distantly. “Just… pony?”

Rainbow sighed. “Hey, Sunset, how do you want to explain this?”

Sunset didn’t respond.

“Sunset?” Rainbow turned to her. Sunset was standing where she had impaled the thrall, her tail twitching in agitation and her mane slightly frayed.

“Hey, Sunset, are you okay?” Rainbow said, running up to her. Sunset wasn’t moving except for her mouth.

Rainbow pulled off her helmet.

“Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew.” Sunset repeated under her breath.

Rainbow looked at Sunset’s horn. There was some black and green ichor running down the side, the last remnant of the thrall she had stabbed.

Rainbow wiped some off with her finger. “Yeah, you got a little something on you,” she said with a grin.

Sunset shoved her hoof into Rainbow’s chest. “Shut up and give me my rocket launcher so I can respawn.”





It was early in the night when the fire team returned to the tower. Ikora and Cayde had left for the evening, leaving Zavala to maintain his watch over the communications.

“Guardians,” he said in his deep baritone. “I take it your mission was successful?”

“Killed her dead, sir,” the titan said. “Again.”

“She really should have gotten the picture by now,” Rainbow added.

Sunset rolled her eyes with a smirk. “Yes, sir; mission accomplished.”

Zavala smiled. “I’m glad to hear it. Anything to report?”

The guardians looked among themselves. “There was SIVA in the bunker,” Rainbow said. “Lots of it. It might explain how Omnigul was able to return.”

“Indeed,” Zavala said. “It could be significant. Or it could be a coincidence.” He tapped on his tablet. “I’ll be sure Ikora and Lord Saladin are informed.” He nodded to them in dismissal. “Thank you again, guardians.”

Rainbow and Sunset nodded and turned to leave, but the titan stayed put. “Sir?” he said, a little hesitant.

Zavala cocked his head. “What is it, Hivebane?”

The titan bit his lip. “Sir, I understand that Guardian Sunset here is… not doing well?”

Sunset and Rainbow stiffened. Zavala frowned. “Did something happen?”

The titan shook his head quickly. “No, sir! I wanted to make sure you knew she was excellent on the strike.” He looked at her with a grin and continued. “She showed excellent judgement as fireteam leader, and she demonstrated mastery of her light in order to turn the tide of battle.” He fumbled visibly before finally saying, “Ten out of ten, would fight with again.”

“Ten out of ten?” Zavala said, the barest hint of a grin on his face. “What would Swordbearer say to that?”

“Oh, she’s a thirteen out of ten. No question.”

Zavala chuckled. “Thank you for your report, guardian. If you put that in your report, I’ll make sure Ikora sees it.”

The titan grinned broadly. “Thank you, sir.”

Zavala turned back to his tablet. “I suggest you get home, guardian; Swordbearer checked in this afternoon.”

With a gasp, the titan turned and strode purposefully out of the room, Rainbow and Sunset matching pace with him.

As they reached the concourse, the titan turned to them. “So,” he said, “is there somewhere we can talk?”





Apparently the ramen shop also did takeout. Sunset, Rainbow, and the titan leaned against the outside wall, waiting for their orders.

“So,” Sunset said, “What do you want to know?”

The titan blinked for a moment. “How much do you really remember?”

“Everything.”

That took him aback. “Everything?”

Sunset nodded. “I was part of a group of… explorers that made contact with Earth during the Golden Age.”

“Really?” The titan’s ghost materialized and hovered in front of Sunset, scanning her reflexively. “Where were you from?”

“Equestria,” Rainbow said. “We were from Equestria.”

The titan glanced between them. “How many of you are there?”

Rainbow and Sunset both kept silent.

The titan sighed. “Look, I’m not going to turn you guys in or anything. I thought I made that clear with my little speech to Zavala.”

“Yeah, thanks for that,” Sunset said, a genuine smile on her face. “Hopefully it’ll get me some more time to figure out what my story for Ikora is gonna be.”

The titan’s face fell. “Why not just tell the Vanguard?”

Rainbow scoffed. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Not really, no.” He sighed. “I know they’re not perfect, but they’re not unreasonable.”

Sunset held out a hand to calm Rainbow. “You’ve just discovered something new and unknown,” she said to the titan. “Call it an Awoken artifact or something. What do you think Ikora would do with it?”

The titan considered the question. “Probably study it. Maybe take it back to the tower or wherever her secret base is.”

Sunset nodded. “And Zavala?”

“Probably destroy it, honestly. That what we usually end up doing.”

“Cayde?”

The titan laughed. “No freaking clue. Probably treat it like some cool new toy until it proved to be too dangerous, then destroy it.”

Sunset nodded. “And that’s why we can’t tell them. Not yet, at least.”

Rainbow sighed. “I want to tell Cayde. It’s tearing me up that I can’t. But not until we can find Twilight.”

“Twili—“ He blanched. “Wait, is that what you were looking in the computer for?”

Rainbow nodded. “I keep seeing bits of data on her; I think the Fallen know more about her.”

“And if you tell the Vanguard now, they might cut off the trail before you find her,“ the titan finished with a sigh. ”Yeah, I don’t like this either."

He shrugged and pepped himself up. “Well, if you or any of your other pony friends need anything, just ask me or Swordbearer.” He glanced at Rainbow to check for a reaction, and to his surprise she nodded.

“I get it,” she said. “Plus you seem like the type that’s awful at keeping secrets.”

The titan scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “From her? Yeah. But she knows a thing or two about hard situations. As long as you’re not endangering the people or draining the Light from other guardians, you’ll get no grief from us.”

“Ew, no,” Sunset spat.

“Yeah, didn’t think so.”

Sunset held her hand out. “Friends?”

The titan shook her hand firmly. “Hell yeah.”
> Patrol
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey."

The pink-haired human turned to see a red-haired Awoken hunter in a Dead Orbit cloak.

"You're the animal girl, right?" the Awoken said, holding up her left arm and the rather round bird perched on it. "What can you tell me about this guy?"

"Oh, um," the human said, shyly brushing her hair out of her face. "That's a kookaburra," she said softly.

The Awoken blinked. "Why."

"I... um, I'm sorry?" It didn't seem possible for the human's voice to get any quieter.

The Awoken glared. "Why. Is there. A kookaburra on my arm."

The kookaburra cawed twice.

The human giggled. "He likes you."

The Awoken turned to look at the bird.

The bird continued to stare adoringly at the Awoken.

The human cleared her throat and spoke a little louder. "It's not unheard of for hunters like us to find bird companions out in the field. If a bird finds someone they like..." She shrugged and smiled. "Congratulations."

The kookaburra cawed again, and the human blushed.

"Fine," the awoken said. "There's some splicers in the Plaguelands I need to take care of anyway. See you at the bottom of the mountain." She sent the bird away and stalked off toward the vault kiosks.

The human stayed by the Felwinter Peak bonfire warming herself. A human warlock with red-and-gold striped hair walked up beside her.

"Ever the animal expert, Fluttershy?" she said.

Fluttershy blinked. "He's got a crush on her."

"Wait, you understoo--"

"He called her 'Brilliant Mistress of the Sniper.'" She turned to the other human. "Sunset, I haven't understood an animal since..."

Sunset nodded. "Since before." She clapped Fluttershy on the back. "Well, just so long as Rainbow doesn't start flying on her own, we should be okay."

Fluttershy hummed in agreement before resting her head where Sunset's shoulder met her neck. "I missed you," she muttered.

Sunset snuck her arm around her and pulled her closer. "I missed you too," she whispered into the top of her head.

"Liar. You didn't even remember me."

Sunset could hear Fluttershy's smile. It was a joke. And yet, "No, but I still missed you. I wasn't the same without you, without my friends."

Fluttershy pulled back and looked Sunset in the eye. "Sap."

"Killjoy."

"Ahem."

Sunset didn't move. "Applejack," she said, "I love you like a sister. So as your sister, I have no qualms saying that I didn't know you could clear your throat in a Southern accent until I met you."

Applejack planted herself next to Sunset, giving her a friendly shove in the process. "And I will take that compliment with all the 'sisterly intent' y'all intended."

The three stood in front of the fire in companionable silence.

"Well," Applejack said after a while, "guess we should get moving. See y'all on Venus?"





“This feels like the setup to a bad joke,” Applejack muttered.

Fluttershy giggled. “A titan, a hunter, and a warlock walked into an Ether cave.”

Sunset smiled. “What’s the word, Ray?” she said to her ghost as they entered the cave system.

Ray materialized. “You’ve got two encoded messages from the Tower. One from the Vanguard, and the other from Guardian Rainbow.”

Sunset groaned. “Go ahead and play it.”

Ray glanced at Applejack and Fluttershy. Sunset nodded.

“Guardian Sunset Shimmer,” Ikora’s voice said on the recording. “I’m pleased to see these new evaluations, but I do notice that you haven’t submitted the telemetry data from your performance of Fireborn as I have asked you to. If you could remember to gather that data and pass it along the next time you’re in the Tower, I’d appreciate it.”

Sunset did her level best to ignore the pit of dread that was forming in her stomach.

“She’s still riding you about that?” Applejack said.

“She’s a scholar,” Sunset said with a sigh. “We’re kind of the embodiment of ‘pics or it didn’t happen.’”

“Still,” Fluttershy said, “you’d think the reports from other Guardians would mean something to her.”

Sunset shook her head. “It’s not that simple. Warlocks... With how much we dive into the divide between the light and the dark, the deep knowledge we chase, she’s got to keep a tight eye on us.” She glanced at Applejack. “A titan getting cagey and distant probably means they’re depressed. Maybe some PTSD. Those aren’t good things, but they’re ultimately personal problems. Whereas a Warlock distancing themselves could mean they’re crafting a Weapon of Sorrow or something.”

Applejack and Fluttershy shared a glance, despite the helmets in the way. “Yeah, I don’t buy that,” Applejack said.

“I didn’t say I liked it,” Sunset said, a little heated. “But I can’t blame Ikora for being a little suspicious.”

“Bullshit.”

Both Sunset and Applejack stopped short and turned toward Fluttershy.

“If Ikora only had her own perceptions to go on, that’d be one thing,” Fluttershy said. “But when multiple respected Guardians all vouch for you? She owes you the benefit of the doubt.” She shook her head. “This isn’t Canterlot High, Sunset. You weren’t a she-demon, you were just stubborn. And if Ikora keeps looking for trouble like this, she’s more likely to make it than find it.”

The three Guardians stared at each other for a moment before Fluttershy gasped and covered her mouth.

“Thanks, Flutters,” Sunset said, preempting any apology. “Needed that.”

Fluttershy nodded, still not taking her hands away from her mouth.

“Ray,” Sunset said after they had walked a little further, “still got the message from RD?”

“Right, here,” Ray said.

“Hey, girls!” Rainbow’s voice said. “So after Rarity and I paid way too big of a bribe to Master Ives, it turns out there was a lot of info in the data dump we got from the Splicers. But for it to make sense, we’ve got to cross-reference it with some other known Fallen data. Specifics encrypted for your ghosts.”

The three ghosts twitched as they processed the data.

“So that’s why we’re in these caves,” Applejack muttered. “Guess we’re supposed to get the old House Winter data?”

“Looks like it,” Fluttershy said. “I’ll take overwatch.”





The caves were just as empty as they normally were. A few Fallen patrols were easily taken out, especially with Fluttershy providing sniper cover.

The three guardians made their way to the open area that housed the old House Winter skiff. There were three squads of Fallen, each with a captain, openly fighting with a group of Taken that had materialized in.

“Wonderful,” Sunset spat.

Applejack stared at the melee for a moment. “Winona,” she said to her Ghost, “get the boots.”

Winona spun in place for a moment before materializing a very distinctive pair of boots onto Applejack.

Sunset gaped. “Are those the Peregrine Greaves?”

“Sure are,” Applejack said. “I’ll stun the captains; Shy, you follow up?”

Fluttershy nodded and reloaded her sniper rifle.

“I’ll handle the Taken?” Sunset asked.

Applejack nodded. “See if you can thin out the Psions a bit.”

With a nod, the three of them got into position.





"Hey, ugly!" Sunset yelled, showing herself.

The closest group of Fallen turned to look at Sunset.

Sunset took aim and shot a nearby Taken thrall. "Up for a deal? I help you take care of the Taken, you let me get something from your skiff?"

The closest Fallen roared and shot Sunset in the shoulder.

"Shields at 30%," Ray whispered to her.

Sunset shrugged dramatically. "Have it your way. After all, I'm just the distraction."

With a yell Applejack crashed into the captain. It staggered stood back up, and promptly fell to a sniper bullet from Fluttershy.





The battle was quick, a little dirty, but ultimately successful for the guardians. Mostly.

Sunset looked up at Applejack and Fluttershy. "Ta-da, I'm a pony," she halfheartedly cheered.

Applejack took off her helmet and tried very hard not to openly grin. "Stars above," she muttered, "were we really that cute?"

"Undeniably," Fluttershy said. "I'll start on the computer." She started running up the gangplank to the skiff.

"Sunset," Applejack said, stopping the two of them short. "I need you to be honest with me.

Sunset turned to Applejack and frowned. "What's wrong?"

Applejack crouched down to look Sunset in the eyes. "Can we go home?"

Sunset opened her mouth to deny it, but stopped. "Do you want the short answer or the long answer?"

"Long answer. Be honest."

Sunset closed her eyes and sat.

"Twilight destroyed the link from this universe back to our Equestria. I'm not sure how many Equestrias there are, but when we were looking through parallel universes back at the beginning, there were at least one-and-a-quarter million, and that's only counting the minor variations where one pony might have a different mane color but everything else is largely the same. So we would have to find ourEquestria—the Equestria that had a link to the Golden Age of Humanity—out of those. 1 in 1,250,000.

"To find that, we have to find the pony Equestrias inside of that cluster of universes. We're talking about the other Equestrias that aren't made of ponies; Canterlot High, for example. We were deliberately aiming "out" of that when we were exploring since we wanted to go someplace new. But that's another twenty-two million universes. We're up to 1 in 23,250,000.

"But that's even assuming we know which way to aim. And I use the term "aim" loosely; there's a lot of extra-dimensional math going on that, honestly, we just used computers for. And we don't know how many clusters of universes there are; for all we know, the multiverse is infinite and expanding. We could be talking billions of clusters, each with hundreds of millions of universes. Or we could be talking, like, twelve."

Sunset took a shaky breath, not willing herself to open her eyes. "But all of that searching, all that effort to find a way home, none of it matters as long as the Darkness is here."

Applejack swore and stormed away.

Sunset's eyes shot open. "Applej—"

"You're right!" Applejack rounded on Sunset. "Damn it, Sunset Shimmer, I know you're right."

"I don't want to be."

Applejack fumed for a few seconds, then turned, ran away and, with a gutteral yell, Smashed the ground. Arc energy threw loose stones and dirt away from her, leaving her on her hands and knees in the middle of a small crater, sobbing.

Sunset ran up to her and laid down next to her, touching her hoof to Applejack's hand.

"You don't need to remind me," Applejack choked out eventually. "I know we can't lead the Darkness back to Equestria. I know that's why y'all did it."

"That doesn't make it any easier to accept."

They sat in companionable silence for a moment.

"I don't know what you're going through," Sunset said after a while. "I had friends, but, honestly, a lot of them are here." She bumped Applejack as she said it. "But I know how much you care about your family."

"Family is everything," Applejack recited. With a deep breath, she pulled herself up. "Which is why we need to take care of things here."

Sunset watched her go. Ray materialized and looked at her. "She still thinks she can get back?"

Sunset shrugged. "Crazier things have happened," she said. "And maybe it's better for her that she hangs on to that."

"But not you?"

Sunset shook her head. "Not me. One job at a time."





“Sunset, can I have a word?” Rarity said. “Warlock-to-warlock?”

Sunset nodded, and they found a corner of the warehouse the group had found. It wasn’t free, but given the amount of glimmer the six former Equestrians had between them, a out-of-the way building in the city wasn’t hard to come by.

Rarity motioned to her ghost, Opal, who projected a set of runes onto the ground.

“I’ve been studying Hive magic,” she began. “Well, talking with Eris that is.” Sunset nodded, and Rarity continued. “Mostly I’ve been looking for patterns and structures that can map back to Equestrian magic.”

Sunset nodded. “I’ve been doing the same; it’s amazing how much overlap there is.”

“One thing I’ve noticed, though, with the Hive: triptychs. The most powerful spells work with components of three.”

“Same in Equestria.” Sunset blanched. “Except for the Elements.”

Rarity nodded. “Right. Six elements. Which corresponds to this spell I got from Eris.” She motioned to the circle.

Sunset looked at the Hive-like spell on the ground. “What’s it supposed to do?”

Rarity smiled. “Restore a soul.”

Sunset looked back at the spell. “That sounds dangerous.” She caught herself. “Though, no more dangerous than a Guardian?”

Rarity nodded. “We know that Light—and I assume Darkness—are capable of keeping some souls in stasis. That’s how we get Guardians. And also, we suspect, how some of our more potent enemies continue to... reassert themselves?”

Sunset nodded. “And we’ll probably need this for Twilight?”

“Something like it. And while I have devoted much of my second life to studying, I’m afraid my knowledge from Equestria is... lacking.”

Sunset cracked her knuckles. “No worries there.” She studied the circle some more. “I know the Fallen have a process of their own. It’s largely technological; relies on Servitors and such. We might need a few of those.”

Rarity frowned. “Why?”

Sunset looked back, equally confused. “To anchor the components? There’s six points here.”

“And six of us.”

“But only five of you were Elements.”

Rarity smiled gently. “And you weren’t?”

Sunset frowned. “N—no. No, I wasn’t. I mean, in that other world I had a gemstone same as the others, but those...” She shook her head. “Those weren’t anything like the actual Elements.”

“But Darling,” Rarity insisted, “you’re here.”

“Yeah, but—“

“Sunset,” Rarity said. “You’re here. With us. Remembering. Whatever magic we have from Equestria that lets us remember... you have it too.”

Sunset stared into space. Her mouth moved slightly as she went over what Rarity had said.

Rarity stepped closer to Sunset. “Are you alright, Darling?”

Sunset blinked, her eyes tearing up. “Yeah,” she said with a smile. “Yeah, I just hadn’t connected the dots.” She shook her head. “No, I was too afraid to connect the dots.” She took a shaky breath and let it out slowly.

“So,” she continued, “let’s have a look.” She crouched down and studied the spell. “We should be able to work this for the most part. In fact...”

She summoned her ghost. “Ray,” she said, “do you think you and the other ghosts could act as conduits in this pattern?”

Ray scanned the circle. “It’s definitely possible,” he said. “It’s like an initial revive, but spread across six ghosts it should be possible.” He twirled in place. “But this is for another pony, right? How can we make sure that...”

“That she comes back as a pony,” Sunset finished, biting her lip in thought. “Could you guide her into a self-rez?”

Ray froze. “I don’t even know if that’s possible,” he said quietly. “But maybe...”

Sunset stood up. “Am I super charged?” Without waiting for an answer she yelled across the warehouse, “Hey, Rainbow, stab me!”

A chorus of “what”s echoed from guardian and ghost alike.

“Hold on, hold on,” Rarity said. “Let’s take one moment to think abo—“

“Vibe check!” Pinkie yelled. And punched Sunset with a full-force attack. The room sat in silence as Sunset dissolved in a cascade of solar energy.

A beat.

“What the hell, Pinkie?” Rarity shrieked.

“What?” Pinkie yelled back. “She wanted to test her self-rez, so she needed to die, and this was going to leave the least blood on the floor.”

Sunset resurrected in a burst of fire into her pony body. “Thanks, Pinkie,” she said. She looked around her immediate area. “And good call on the Sunstrike; didn’t leave any blood.”

Pinkie smiled smugly.

Rarity took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Sunset, darling,” she said, “while we’ve all gotten used to our own immortality, do consider that maybe some of us aren’t quite as... casual with it?”

Sunset scratched the back of her head. “Sorry, Rarity. Got caught up in the moment.”

“Well, good news,” Ray cut in. “I watched the Light patterns as you came back, and I think I’m starting to see the difference.”

“That’s great, Ray!” Sunset said, poking him with a hoof. “But we’ll need to do it a few times to be sure, right?”

Rarity rolled her eyes with a scoff and walked off.

Fluttershy raised her hand timidly. “I, um... I have Golden Gun charged if that helps.”

“Hold that thought, nerds,” Rainbow yelled as she and Applejack ran into the center of the warehouse, Rainbow’s ghost Tank already displaying a set of Fallen info.

“Our timeline just got moved up,” Applejack added. She motioned toward the display. “We just got the latest batch of info back from the cryptarchs. It talks about the ‘Purple Light’ and how they plan on reviving her.”

“So we know where Twilight is?” Sunset said. “That’s great!”

Applejack and Rainbow both grimaced.

“Why is that not great?” Sunset groaned.

“The Splicers have her,” Rainbow said. “They’re going to try using SIVA.”

“Best case scenario,” Applejack said, “it doesn’t work. But it’s more likely it works long enough to rip her apart.”

The six guardians stood in silence, processing the news.

“So how are we going to do this?” Pinkie said after a moment.

Rainbow and Sunset made eye contact and nodded.
> Raid
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset took a breath in her jumpship, trying in vain to steady her nerves.

“Your heart rate is high,” Ray said. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Sunset said, a little too quickly. “Just... nervous.”

“You’ve done missions before,” he said.

“Yeah, but the consequences are higher this time.” She blinked. “At least, they seem to be.”

“Maybe so,” Ray said. “But you’ve never let me down.” He spun in place for a bit. “And anyway, no matter what, we’re in this together.”

Sunset smiled. “Thanks, Ray.”

The communication channel sprung to life. “Fireteam Harmony,” Cayde drawled, “you are go for mission.”

Sunset sat up and gripped the flight stick. “Copy that, Vanguard,” she said. “Fireteam Harmony, let’s move out.”





Cayde cut the communications channel on his station. He didn’t look up, but out of sight of the others he flashed an “okay” sign.

His ghost, Sundance, twitched in place a moment then hovered next to his ear. “So far, so good,” she whispered.

He spun his wrist, mimicking checking a watch.

“Half an hour until they’re beyond recall,” Sundance whispered.

Cayde nodded. “Hey, Ikora,” he said, catching the other Vanguard’s attention. “Any new findings from the Dreadnaught?”

Ikora looked up at Cayde with a look that was half bemusement and half glare. “None that you’d be interested in.”

“Not even the kind of findings that need un-finding? With lots of firepower?”

“Not today, Cayde,” Ikora said with more of a smile. “But if you’re so bored that you need something to do, you could go over Shiro’s reports from the Plaguelands.”

“Huh, worth a shot.” The two Vanguards turned back to their terminals.

After a few moments, Cayde spoke up again. “Hey, uh, Ikora?”

This time she was decidedly less amused. “Yes, Cayde?”

“What drive are those reports on, again?”





The six guardians made their way into the Splicer den. Pinkie and Applejack took point, being the titans of the group. The remaining girls kept an eye out for any patrols, but so far their presence seemed to not be noticed.

"Blackout zone should be just beyond the next room," Ray whispered to Sunset.

Their radios suddenly crackled. "Fireteam Harmony, recall to tower," Ikora said over the comms.

The guardians all paused for half a second.

"For Equestria?" Rainbow whispered?

"For Equestria," Sunset answered.

The six guardians sprinted toward the blackout zone.





"Fireteam Harmony, recall!" Ikora said again. On her display, the six dots winked out one by one.

Fuming, she glared at Cayde. "Alright, spill. What's going on."

Cayde held up his hands. "You're going to thank me for this, just so we're clear."

Ikora raised an eyebrow. "That remains to be seen."

"Cayde," Zavala said from his station, "what have you done?"

Cayde rolled his eyes. "So dramatic." He turned to Zavala, hands still up. "Before you freak out, I did not betray the city or the Traveler."

"Cayde." Ikora said.

Cayde sighed and lowered his hands. "Either of you heard of 'Equestria'?" He sent a file to their consoles. "It was a parallel universe we made contact with during the Golden Age. When the collapse happened, the portal was destroyed and it stranded some of their residents here."

"Sunset Shimmer," Ikora said.

"Not just her!" Cayde answered, sending all six profiles to Ikora and Zavala. "They've been some of our most prolific guardians."





Another patrol of dregs and shanks were quickly dispatched. "Do you think they know we're here?" Rarity said.

Immediately several wire rifle shots whizzed over the guardians' heads, followed by some screeching in Eliksni.

Rainbow took aim with her scout rifle, but Fluttershy ran in front yelling "Cease fire, cease fire!" She stood between the guardians and where the shots had come from. "What did you say about the 'purple spark'?"

There was more yelling in Eliksni.

"We're not here to destroy her."

The voice screeched at her.

"She's our friend!" Fluttershy yelled back. "We want to save her!"

Silence. Then the vandal slowly stepped out of the shadows. He held his rifle ready but aimed to the side. "Friends?" he rasped.

"Yes," Fluttershy said. She pulled out her pistol and laid it on the ground.

The vandal laid his rifle on the ground. He started to reach at his side before speaking a few words in Eliksni.

"That's okay," Fluttershy said. "Girls, he's getting something from his belt."

"House," he said. "New house." He held up a strip of cloth with a six-point star painted on it.

The guardians gaped at it. "How?" Fluttershy finally said.

The vandal began talking, and Fluttershy translated for the others. "She came to us in dreams. At first she wondered where she was. Then she asked who we were. We told her of the Eliksni, of how we lost the Great Machine, of how we scrape to survive. And she did not hate us.

"She told us of a land of magic. Of the Golden Age of Earth. Of how that ended. And she did not hate us.

"She asked to be our friend. We told her of the war between Fallen and Guardians. Of the wars between Eliksni and Eliksni. How our way is not the way of friendship. And she did not hate us.

"'How lonely it must be', she said, 'to have such a large galaxy with no friends.' And she asked to be our friend."

The vandal stood taller as Fluttershy finished the translation. "I am Spyrokan, of House Friendship."





"So," Ikora said, still glaring at Cayde, "we have a fireteam of six guardians, each of whom remembers her past. And all of them are deep in Splicer territory against direct orders."

Cayde laughed uneasily. "Wow, it does sound kinda bad when you put it like that." He cleared his throat and sent another set of files. "Anyway, they've been looking for any information on others like them. And the most powerful one might be in trouble."

"Trouble how?" Zavala said.

Cayde turned to Zavala. "Remember those Fallen in the Ishtar Sink on Venus that raided the Prison of Elders in the Reef? Got an Archon Priest?" Zavala nodded, and Cayde continued. "The prison works on the same basic principles that Ghosts do: keeping a soul in a form of stasis so it can be restored to a body.

"Well, House Kings found her soul, put it in a cell they had scavenged, and they've been trying to restore her for centuries." He chuckled. "Didn't work."

"Of course," Ikora said. "There has to be parity between the soul and the body, otherwise the restoration won't work."

"Which is why I'm standing here in this sexy getup instead of whatever meat suit I had before," Cayde said with a flourish. "No offense, of course."

Ikora, despite herself, had the barest hint of a smile. "So, the Fallen have a soul they can't restore," she said. "Why the urgency? Why are these guardians risking everything right now?"

"SIVA," Zavala said.

"Exactly," Cayde said. "Best case scenario, it doesn't work. Worst case, it works and the Splicers are able to control her."

"But most likely," Ikora said with a frown, "is that bringing together two processes that should never be brought together shreds the soul beyond recognition."





"I don't like this, Darling," Rarity said, fussing with Fluttershy's cloak. "I don't like you not on overwatch, much less being exposed like this."

"I know," Fluttershy said, her usual meekness gone, "but we have to give them a chance. If there's more like Spyrokan out there–"

"We'd be killing Twilight's friends, yes, dear." Rarity stepped back. "That doesn't mean I have to like it, though."

"I can talk," Spyrokan said.

"You can die," Sunset responded. "I don't like this either, but it has to be a guardian. And out of all of us, Fluttershy's the one that can be understood."

Fluttershy laughed uneasily. "Who would have thought that talking to animals also meant this?"

"Nah, it's not just that," Pinkie said. "We all got turned up to eleven here. Rainbow's unstoppably fast, Applejack's a menace with all of her guns, y'know?"

Sunset nodded. "Something to unpack later, of course. Rainbow, you in position?"

"Copy that," Rainbow said over the comms. "Fluttershy, there's a dead SIVA bloom about ten meters past the door. Stop by that; there'll be enough room between you and the Splicers for cover fire that way."

"Copy that," Fluttershy said and turned back to the group. A series of thumbs up gestures, plus a strange one from Spyrokan, met her.

With a nod, she stepped out of the hallway into an open chamber. About a dozen Splicers along with several other normal dregs and vandals were managing various machines and displays, all surrounding the stasis container clearly from the Prison of Elders.

"Parlay!" Fluttershy yelled, her hands up.

All the Fallen in the room immediately turned towards her. A couple pulled out weapons but none fired. A Splicer captain yelled something to her.

She made a show of coming to a stop. "A galaxy is cold with no friends," she said. A few Fallen subtly perked up at that, and she continued. "We are not here to bring death."

The Splicer captain yelled more words at her.

"We are friends of the Purple Spark," Fluttershy said clearly. "We are here to restore her."

One of the dregs called out to the rest, motioning at Fluttershy. A few of the others nodded in agreement, but all of the Splicers immediately shouted back.

The Splicer captain turned back to Fluttershy. "Here is our answer," he said. In one fluid motion, he pulled a scorch cannon from behind him and shot it at her.

"Hotbox!" Rainbow yelled. She immediately fired her weapon from her vantage point: Dragon's Breath. The missile hit the ground between Fluttershy and the captain and covered the area in a wide-ranging inferno.

That wasn't quick enough to stop the blast from the scorch cannon. Fluttershy dove out of the way enough to survive the blast and scampered back to the rest of the group that was rushing into the chamber.

"Careful with shots!" Rainbow yelled into the comms. "We have friendly Fallen surrendering!"

"Aw, man," Pinkie whined, putting away her Gjallarhorn. "Guess it's back to you, Party Crasher." With a dramatic flourish, she ran toward the nearest group of Splicers and... well, brought the party.

Rainbow had switched to her sniper and was doing her best to wear down the captain while Applejack got in close. 

Rarity and Sunset brandished their own shotguns and wove through the other Splicers, taking down as many as they could that were not obviously surrendering. Sunset caught a glimpse of one Splicer taking aim at them before falling down in a spray of ether, the dreg from earlier standing behind with a knife.

Eventually every Fallen and Splicer in the room was either on the ground with their hands up or just on the ground.

"Friends, yes?" one of the vandals said.

Sunset stashed her shotgun. "Friends," she said.

The vandal stood up. "You can... bring back?" he said, motioning to the stasis pod.

Sunset nodded. "I promise."

The vandal nodded back. He yelled to the remaining Fallen in Eliksni, and they all got up and formed a perimeter.





"So how do they expect to restore her?" Ikora said. "I'd assume the Fallen already tried every known biological profile."

"See, that's the thing," Cayde said. "Remember how Equestria was in a parallel universe? Apparently there was some magical mumbo-jumbo that turned them into humans on this side, but their birth forms were completely different."

"So how did these six come back as guardians," Zavala cut in, "if their souls can't be restored as human?"

Cayde shrugged. "Beats me, but given how they described Twilight–that's who they're saving, by the way–it might have something to do with the power involved."

Zavala's face darkened. "And what sort of power are we talking?"

"Ehhh," Cayde said, "demigod level? Like, Crota if not Oryx. But good!"

"I hope you're right, Cayde," Zavala said. "For all our sakes."

"That still doesn't answer the question," Ikora said. "So, she's too powerful to restore to a human shape, and none of the other patterns the Fallen have work. What's left?"

Cayde smiled. "Pony."

Ikora blinked. "Excuse me?"

Cayde activated the holoprojector. "Here's the telemetry data from Sunset Shimmer performing Fireborn for the first time," he said.

Ikora and Zavala watched as Sunset was obliterated by a scorch cannon then came back as a one-meter-tall pony, still very much a guardian.

Ikora sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as the projection ended. Zavala just stared. "Well, that's unusual."

"I know, right?" Cayde said. "But apparently it's why she had such a problem with it in the first place."

"She had an incomplete sense of self," Ikora said. "Of course."

"So, Cayde," Zavala said. "Anything else we need to know?"

Cayde shook his head. "If I'm wrong, I'll be first in line to end the lot of them."

"If you can," Zavala said. "We've had some victories lately, yes; but taking down a demigod is no small feat, even for guardians."

"Even if they can restore her," Ikora continued, "who's to say what state she'll be in?"

"Send in another fireteam if you think it'll help," Cayde conceded. "But if they shoot first and ask questions later, things will end poorly. The girls made that much clear."





They worked quickly to set up the ritual, painfully aware that their guards were mortal. Sunset and Rarity did their best to set everyone in the proper points, each class balancing the other.

"Ray, how's the air here?"

Ray spun a bit. "Not great, but breathable."

"I only need a minute," she said. "Everyone ready?"

A chorus of affirmations came back. With a deep breath, she removed her helmet.

"Sunset?" Ray said, storing her helmet.

"Powerful spells have a strong verbal component," she said. "And we need this to work the first time."

She stood tall. And she reached deep. Deeper than the fiery Light she recently channeled. Deeper than the spark of the Traveler she carried with her. To the glow she knew came from her first life.

"Lost soul!" she yelled. "In the name of Harmony, hear us and return!"

She channeled the Harmony within her, felt her connection to the others, and called out,

"From all of us together Together we are friends; Marks of destiny made one Brings us magic without end."

The power began to gather among the six guardians, wisps of it gathering toward the six ghosts that floated between the guardians and the cell.

"Through Darkness cold and dangerous Your Light has found it’s way; Now with the rise of iron’s might, Bring triumph here today."

The power grew to a steady stream, flowing from the guardians through the ghosts to the cell. Bright cracks of purple energy began to climb up the cell. All six guardians released their stored light.

“With bonds of friendship burning bright And power matriarchal, Return our princess safely here, Be reborn, Twilight Sparkle!”

The cell exploded, atomized; Sunset felt the dust blow past her, grains stinging her cheeks and eyes.

In its place stood a lavender alicorn, her face passive. Her eyes were open, but not seeing.

The guardians stood at the ready.

The alicorn blinked. Took a deep breath.

And Twilight Sparkle blinked.

“My friends,” she said.

A beat. And the guardians rushed forward to smother her in a group hug. There was laugher and tears and exclamations of each others’ names, and when the group finally calmed down, Twilight turned to Sunset and said, “‘Matriarchal’? That’s the best you could do?”

Sunset playfully swatted her neck. “You try rhyming with ‘sparkle’ sometime.”





The motley crew made their way back to the surface. Sunset and the two titans in the front, followed by Twilight, and the remaining three behind her. The Eliksni of House Friendship stayed close but hung back, knowing they would be the first shot if they ran into another group of guardians.

"I must say," Rarity said as they walked, "you are looking very much the monarch today."

Twilight blushed slightly, though she couldn't deny it: she stood eye-to-eye with the guardians, her horn was impressively long and quite pointy, and her mane and tail shifted in a false breeze just as the royal sisters' had.

"Well," she said, "there are some perks to being centuries old."

"Y'all weren't awake the whole time, were ya?" Applejack said.

"No," Twilight shook her head. "Not entirely. I was... aware. Barely. I've got a general idea of what's happened, between what I could get from the others and the Traveler." She glanced at the Eliksni, making eye contact with Spyrokan briefly. "But I could tell when I was needed."

The group continued walking, making small talk on occasion. As they broke into the sunlight of the Cosmodrome, they were greeted by another fireteam, one titan, hunter, and warlock. All three had their weapons held ready and aimed at the ground.

"Well met, Sunset Shimmer?" the titan called.

The girls stopped, Sunset out front with Pinkie and Applejack standing to guard Twilight. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow spread out to get closer to the Eliksni.

"Hivebane," Sunset said, recognizing the titan from their strike earlier. "What brings you out here?"

"Vanguard are concerned about a potential rogue element," he said. "Wanted us to make sure everything was fine here."

Sunset nodded. "There's no enemies here," she said carefully.

The titan glanced to his teammates who nodded. He looked towards Rainbow. "Hey, Tank? Remember what happened on the way to Omnigul?"

Rainbow's ghost materialized, hovered in place a moment, and another burst of static flooded the radio before all the ghosts cut transmission.

"So, those Fallen are with you?" the titan said?

"They're my friends," Twilight said, stepping forward to stand next to Sunset.

The other fireteam took a step back and looked among themselves. "You're..." the titan fumbled. "You're a friend of Sunset's?"

Sunset nodded. "Twilight, this is Hivebane. Hivebane, her majesty Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship."

Twilight snorted. It was a very equine snort. "Just 'Twilight,' please," she groaned.

The titan gave a slight bow. "It's an honor to meet you." He turned back to his fireteam. "You guys see a problem here?"

They both answered in the negative, and he turned back to Twilight and Sunset. "The Fallen aren't going to be welcome in the city," he said, "but we'll try to spread the word about their insignia, hopefully keep them out of range of any patrols."

"We were gonna take them west," Sunset said. "Find a spot in the EDZ that isn't heavily patrolled."

The titan nodded. "Good plan." He faced Twilight. "I was only told to make sure you are not a threat. If you're a friend of Sunset and Rainbow, that's good enough for me." He holstered his gun. "I don't know how the Vanguard will want to proceed from here, though."

Twilight shook her head and smiled. "Leave that to me."





As the sun set over the Last City and the different shops began to light their signs for the evening, word spread of a strange creature sitting in the center of the city, where the Traveler was closest to the ground.

Zavala strode purposefully toward the center, Ikora and Cayde close behind him. The citizens let them pass without issue, though there was a small crowd gathering toward the center.

At the center of the crowd was a group of children playing on and around a lavender horse, though it had both pegasus wings and a unicorn's horn, and a magenta starburst was clearly visible on its flank.

"Twilight Sparkle?" Zavala said.

With some soft words of "Don't worry, I'll be back," Twilight gently pushed the children back into the crowd. That done, she turned to face Zavala fully. "Vanguard Zavala, Ikora, Cayde." She dipped her head. "It is nice to meet you."

"You as well," Ikora said. "Though, if I may ask, what exactly are you?"

"I am an alicorn," Twilight explained, "possessing the magic of all three pony tribes: unicorn, pegasus, and earth." She smiled knowingly. "Consider me a warlock, a hunter, and a titan."

"And what do you plan to do now?" Zavala said.

"What I have always done," Twilight said. "Discover. Learn. And make friends."

"Friends are hard to come by, these days," Cayde said.

Twilight smiled patiently back. "I think you could have more friends than you realize."

Zavala scowled. "If you're referring to the Fallen–"

"I'm well aware of your history with the Eliksni," Twilight shot back, though she kept her voice even. "And I do not expect centuries of antagonism to disappear overnight. Especially when, as I understand it, difficult memories are still present." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, I have no illusions of what can happen, of how wars are fought." She looked back at Zavala. "I just ask you to consider that, just as there are good and bad guardians, there may be Eliksni and others that are willing to be friendly."

Zavala opened his mouth to retort, but Cayde butted in. "We'll do what we can."

Zavala glared at him, and Ikora gave him a side eye.

"What," he said more quietly, "I'm trying to not piss off the horse god in the middle of the city."

Twilight snorted. "Okay, who told you I was a god. Was it Rainbow?"

Cayde cocked his head. "Don't know if I should say..."

Twilight gave a gentle smile back. "In all seriousness," she said, "thank you, Cayde, for trusting my friends."

Cayde shrugged. "They're good guardians; how could I not?"

Twilight turned to Zavala and Ikora. "And thank you as well, for choosing wisely who you sent after us."

"We were informed," Ikora said, "that to do otherwise would be folly of the highest order."

"But you still had that choice," Twilight said. She turned back to Zavala. "If you truly fight to protect," she said, "then we are on the same side."

Zavala nodded. "Then we are in agreement," he said. He held out his hand.

Twilight glanced down and grinned sheepishly. "If it's alright with you," she said, "I'd prefer a fist bump."

Someone in the crowd giggled. Another laughed out loud. Cayde just bumped Zavala in the shoulder. "C'mon, Zavvy."

With a sigh, Zavala curled his fingers into a fist that Twilight promptly bumped with her hoof.