Iron Lord Saladin Forge is many things, but 'father' was the least he expected. And to a non- human! See the Trials and Tribulations of Iron Lady Sunset Shimmer as she is brought up under the Traveller's Light.
NOTE: Lore is going to be followed as closely as possible, but Destiny Lore is fairly weird in some places.
Lord Saladin Forge sighed heavily as he trudged up towards the Iron Temple. Vostok Observatory had a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside, but the battle weary Iron Lord had no mind for that now. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that WRETCHED room, his comrades falling one by one… and SIVA covering the body of Jolder and her sad smile as she detonated the explosives that sealed the door.
With a grimace under his helmet, Saladin made his way to the temple doors, looking up at the statues of his fallen comrades… with a single exception. Looking around a final time, and with a heavy heart, Saladin douses the fire pit that provided the only source of light in the room. The doors sealed behind the Iron Lord as he left the building. He didn’t turn to look back as he left.
`~`~`~`~
Saladin had barely crossed the bridge when he heard it. A soft cry, mostly of fear sounded over the falling snow. Bringing up his Ghost, Saladin said, “Can you pinpoint where that’s coming from?”
“I can try, but the wolves may have already found it,” the little drone said as it hovered in his hand, “I’m getting a massive spike of Light though. It seems to saturate the entire area.”
“Really now?” Saladin asked, his grief not quite hidden behind curiosity. This new development would require his focus for the moment, and so, he followed the wolves as they followed the cry.
After a while, the wolves and Saladin’s Ghost led the man to the path leading to the old tram system for the mountain. The cry was still soft, but loud enough now that Saladin could follow the sound. What he found was a small animal with goldenrod fur and a two-tone red and gold mane and tail. When he approached the young one, he also noticed a small pair of wings on its back.
“What.. is it?” Saladin asked as he leaned down, his Ghost hovering over his shoulder.
“Almost looks like a horse… but smaller,” the drone replied as it hovered in for a better look, “Kind of adorable to be honest.”
The small one had stopped crying for a moment and looked at the Ghost and Iron Lord with wide eyes, small tears in the corner of her teal colored orbs. Saladin blinked for a moment and saw his Ghost hovering over him, concern radiating from the Light in its eye.
“Uh… we MAY need to be careful with it,” Ghost said, worry in its tone, “I just had to revive you and all it did was LOOK at you.”
“What… with just a look?” Saladin asked, “That kind of power…”
“No,” the Ghost said, “Not power. She killed you with her cuteness.”
Embarrassed beyond reasoning, Saladin looked back down at the being who was playfully swatting at his Ghost, trying to get a hold of it. The little one sat suddenly and started crying again, her forehoooves holding her belly much like a child would.
“She’s hungry,” Saladin’s Ghost said.
“She?” Saladin asked, “How do you know that?”
“Took some scans while she was swatting at me like a cat,” the drone replied with an aerial equivalent of a shrug, “Its physiology mostly matches some of the records that Efrideet managed to find in an old library before… well.”
The ghost stopped then, thinking carefully of its next words as it saw Saladin’s expression, “Anyway, it’s similar to a pony, but at the same time I’m getting a reading of Light from her that is leaps and bounds stronger than anything I’ve ever seen before, including the passive readings from the Traveler!”
“That’s… incredible,” Saladin said slowly, thinking of the implications and what it would mean for the young… pony.
“We need to keep her safe,” the Ghost said, “That much power and she’ll be a walking target for however long she’ll be alive.”
“Agreed,” Saladin said as he scooped up the pony, the young one calming for a bit, “I don’t suppose those records mentioned what to feed a baby pony?”
“They did, actually,” the Ghost said.
`~`~`~`~
A short while later, Saladin had traveled to The Last City as quickly as he could, the pony cradled in his arms sleeping soundly as his ship flew over the walls and was permitted to land in the Hangar.
“Lord Saladin!” a voice greeted as he stepped out of the cockpit (he wasn’t sure how the pony’s body would handle transmatting), “Not very often we see ya around here. What brings ya by?”
The voice belonged to the hangar mechanic, Amanda Holiday. She walked up, wiping greasy hands on a clean cloth and continued, “Must be somethin’ big if it brought you down from the mountain.”
“Indeed,” Saladin said as he cradled the sleeping pony in his armored arms, “I must see the Speaker. A matter has come up and I would appreciate his insight.”
“I think he’s in a meeting but should be done by the time you get to his tower,” Amanda said. She finally took notice of the pony in Saladin’s arms and said softly, “Well I’ll be… it looks like a sunset…”
“She does,” Saladin says softly, almost to himself before turning and heading out towards the courtyard, “Thank you, Holiday.”
“Y-yeah, no problem,” Amanda replied, a bit unnerved by the suddenness of the Iron Lord’s departure, “What was she…?”
`~`~`~`~
Saladin made his way through the tower, the snoozing Sunset in his arms stirring a little as they made it to the courtyard from the hangar bay. There was a bit of a hang up with an alarm, but otherwise nothing of note happened. Coming out into the sun, Saladin made his way past the Eververse storefront and the postmaster, various Guardians working around in their Vaults raising their heads and nodding in greeting as he strode on by.
Finally reaching the Speaker’s room, the Iron Lord spoke up, “Speaker, I believe there’s something we need to speak about. And perhaps get this little one some food.”
“Little one?” the Speaker asked curiously, the mask he wore shielding his surprised look as he saw Sunset’s alien form.
“We found her on the way down from the mountain,” Saladin’s Ghost explained as Sunset yawned and teared up, her hunger apparent once more, “She’s radiating Light like a beacon!”
“I… see,” the Speaker says thoughtfully as a few Ghosts start crowding around Sunset, “She appears to be fairly related to a horse… a vegetable stew would be ideal.”
Looking over to one of the people working the large Armillary Sphere, he nodded to him and off the man rushed, returning shortly with a cart of food.
“From the ramen shop?” the Speaker asked curiously, to which the tech nodded and headed off with a smile and a wave.
“I’m curious… how did you come to find this little one?” the Speaker asked as he looked Sunset over. The foal herself looked up at the masked man with wide, curious eyes as Saladin explained the story. She managed to squirm loose from Saladin’s grip, such as it was, and toddled off to explore a bit. She stopped when she sniffed the steam coming off the stew and got a bit closer to the cart.
“Here you go, Sunset,” Saladin said gruffly, but not unkindly as he set the bowl down in front of the filly, “Eat up. You sounded hungry.”
Sniffing gingerly, Sunset took a quick sip, then, finding it to her tastes, she sat on her haunches and in a surprising display of dexterity from her front legs, she lifted the bowl up and drained it dry with a smack of her lips and an adorable burp. Giggling, Sunset clapped her hooves, unaware that Saladin and the Speaker were watching the spectacle with wide eyes.
“She certainly is something,” the Speaker said after clearing his throat, “And as your ghost said she is radiating Light like a beacon.”
Looking over to the foal, Saladin and the Speaker both noticed the Ghosts floating around Sunset, some getting close enough for her to grab… and occasionally put it in her mouth, much to the chagrin of the Ghost in question.
“The Ghosts certainly seem to enjoy her,” Saladin says, “What are your thoughts on her?”
“Thoughts?” the Speaker asks, “She appears to be a child, no more than a baby. Immensely powerful in the Light to be sure, but a child all the same. Perhaps you should raise her?”
“What?!” Saladin asks with alarm, “Raise her? I don’t know if that would be a good idea, especially after…” The Iron Lord went silent at that, his thoughts turning dark and a brooding look coming over his face.
“She will need guidance,” the Speaker says simply, watching as a Ghost with a red and gold shell comes over to Sunset, curiosity clear in the way it moved, “She will need structure so her Light does not burn either herself or those around her. Come now, I believe you and I both know you were going to do this anyway, regardless.”
Looking over at the foal, who was eyeing the red and gold Ghost with the same level of curiosity that the little drone was eying her.
“I think I found my Guardian!” the Ghost says in a happy trill of a female voice. She pulsed brightly and as she did so, the Traveler did as well, a gasp of shock coming from the Speaker and Saladin both.
“A Ghost bonding with the living…?” the Speaker asks softly, the brilliant pulse of light from the Traveler fading slowly, “I have not seen this since Shin Malphur…”
“’Mena!!” Sunset says happily, clapping her forehooves, “p’lomena!!”
“She can talk?!” Saladin asked.
“Yes!” Sunset’s Ghost chirped happily as she floated around Sunset’s head, “And she gave me a name!! Philomena!” The foal giggled happily as the Ghost flew up and nuzzled Sunset, a very pleased look in its eye.
Saladin sighed heavily as he got up out of bed, not feeling the weight of his usual set of armor. It had been about a month since the Speaker had insisted he raise Sunset as his own, and frankly, the Iron Lord wasn’t sure if he was up to the task. Saladin had a suspicion that at least one other Iron Lord (or Lady in this case) was still around, but she had yet to respond to any messages he had sent her way.
Saladin guessed it was for the best. After the battle in the SIVA replication complex, he had fallen into a deep depression, the only thing keeping him going at that point was his eternal watch against a return of the damnable nanomachines. He had sealed ALL records of the Iron Lords’ search for it in the Iron Temple on Vostok, along with statues of his fallen comrades. Beyond that, however…
“Sala-daddy!!” came a small voice, “’m hungry!”
“Of course, Sunset,” Saladin called back, a wry chuckle escaping his lips. Sunset had grown rather quickly in the last month. She was, by no means, anywhere near ready to attempt using the Light she had within her frame, and the Iron Lord was a hundred percent certain she called him “Sala-daddy” just to be cute.… Much to his chagrin, it worked and his Ghost wouldn’t let him hear the end of it.
Making his way to the small kitchenette in the apartment he’d been given, Saladin set about making breakfast for the two of them. He had learned that Sunset could, and often did eat meat, but it was mostly fish. She had tried bacon once and after that first time, she had turned her nose up at it at every meal, often saying ‘m not bacon…’ in a quiet voice. When asked, the foal had responded with a shrug and a non-answer before digging into whatever else it was that was in front of her.
“Wat we gonna do today?” Sunset asked happily as she dug into the eggs in front of her.
“I have some business to attend to at the Tower,” Saladin replied, “I’ll need you to be on your best behavior, alright?”
“Okie, Sala-daddy!” Sunset nodded with a happy smile, a bit of egg on her chin.
“What have I gotten myself into…?” Saladin asked himself as he wiped the foal’s face off, then finished his own meal before standing to get into his armor.
`~`~`~`~`~
Arriving at the Tower, Saladin and Sunset walked over to the Vanguard table room, the little pony running every which way and saying a happy hello to anyone that would listen, though Arcite 99-40, in an uncharacteristic display of humanity, leaned down from his work and scratched the little one behind the ear.
“Zavala,” Saladin said in greeting as Sunset ran about the room.
“Lord Saladin,” Zavala replied in kind, holding out a hand to his fellow Titan, “To what do we owe this pleasure?”
“I had an idea over the last few weeks that I thought I would run by you,” the Iron Lord said, “I suppose Shaxx should hear of it as well, however…”
“I am well aware of the history,” Zavala said with an understanding look, “He and I have had… less than kind words to be said about that day as well. He does keep things professional, however.”
“That is good to hear,” Saladin says in a neutral tone, “Though I am not sure how he would react to this idea. No time like the present to ask, I suppose…”
“Indeed,” the Titan Vanguard responds as he keeps an eye on Sunset… who was running circles around Cayde. Literally.
“Whoa!!” the Hunter exclaims in surprise as he falls to his seat, “She could be a damn good scout! How’re you training her?”
“I’m not. Not yet,” Saladin responds harshly, “She is far too young yet to get into any kind of fight. I’d rather not have her getting into anything my axe can’t handle.”
“Fair point,” Cayde says with a shrug as he stands up. As he does so, he offers the Iron Lord one of his knives, “For when she gets old enough. Never know when a good knife can get you out of a spot of trouble.”
Looking it over, Saladin nods, accepts the gift, and slides it into one of his gauntlets, the handle poking out the side closest to his elbow.
“When she gets old enough,” Saladin agreed.
“Well, aren’t we an energetic one?” Ikora Rey, the Warlock Vanguard asked of Sunset as she looked up, wide eyed at her. “Can you do this, though?” And with that Ikora Blinked to the other side of the table, looking at Sunset with a smile. The foal’s eyes lit up in wonder, obviously curious as to how it was done.
“Wanna see!” she said, eyes pleading watching carefully.
“Alright, once more,” Ikora says with a smile. She Blinks again, this time to the entrance to the room, watching Sunset almost expectantly.
“I try!” Sunset said emphatically, nodding her head and closing her eyes in concentration.
“It took me years to master Blink, child,” Ikora responds with a smile, “Don’t be discouraged… if… what in the Light?”
The reason Ikora trailed off at the end was because she had noticed a slight pull of Arc Light coming from Sunset. The foal’s horn was lit up like a tiny beacon for a split second… then, she was standing next to Lord Shaxx in a flash of light, giggling like mad and saying, “I did it!!”
“By all that is Light in this world, don’t teach her any more!” Saladin cried out, “She’s enough of a handful with her levitating things on a whim!”
Cayde, not being one to be shown up yelled out, “My turn!!” Disappearing in a burst of Arc Light, he reappeared next to Sunset and tapped her. “Tag, you’re it!”
Letting out a long suffering sigh as Sunset and Cayde-6 Blinked about, the foal trying and failing to tag the Exo, Saladin turned to Shaxx who was watching the show with his expression unreadable behind his horned helm.
“Shaxx,” Saladin began, “I would like to use your Crucible for a tournament.”
This caught the Warlord’s attention as he replied, “A tournament you say? Well… let’s talk about it.”
It was plain to see that neither man was willing to come to some sort of agreement of past matters, but they had an… amicable talk as Lord Saladin explained his tournament… the Iron Banner. Saladin explained that it was to commemorate the fallen Iron Lords and prepare the Guardians of the Last City for whatever fight may come.
“I don’t see why not,” Shaxx said at length after hearing Saladin’s explanation, “Use the Crucible as you see fit for this Iron Banner of yours. More combat ready Guardians in the wild can be nothing but a benefit to the City.”
“Thank you, Shaxx,” Saladin said neutrally.
They sized each other up for a moment longer before breaking their glares and turning away from each other, Saladin calling out to a panting, but grinning Sunset, “Come along, Sunset. Time to go home.”
“Okie, Sala-daddy!!” she called out happily as she blinked up to a very surprised Cayde and hugged the exo.
A round of Ghost powered resurrections later, Shaxx looked over the camera feed from the visit of the little pony. Exactly seven Guardians had been downed by how adorable that parting had been, so the Warlord bellowed out, “SEVENTH COLUMN!!”
Sunset had learned a great deal about the world with Saladin and Ikora teaching her. After her little tag game with Cayde, the old Titan and Warlock Vanguard had felt it best to have her study and learn more about the workings of the City and more about how Guardians as a whole operated. To that end, Ikora had her meditating every once in a while with her studies of Vanguard policies, while basic physical training was done with Saladin. Her father also had started her off learning how to use and maintain weaponry.
Saladin brought her over to the Tower to visit Banshee-44, the old Exo arms master for Guardians both old and new alike to see what he had on hand to better train Sunset with.
“Saladin,” Banshee said as the two approached, “Figured you’d have all the weapons you need from your own forges.”
“I do, but my daughter doesn’t,” the Iron Lord replied as Sunset flapped her wings and put her forehooves over the edge of Banshee’s table, “I need a weapon for her. Something that will be easy enough to train her with and teach her the basics.”
Sunset looked up at Banshee in a bit of curiosity while the Exo blinked, his optics a little dim for a moment before they came back to full brightness and clarity.
“Sure, I have just the thing for Twilight,” he said as he turned and walked away from the desk, “Follow me. I left it in a store room in the Hangar.”
“Twilight….?” Sunset asked softly as she and Saladin followed the Exo. Every time she had seen the old man, Banshee had looked a bit out of it, almost like he was constantly walking into a room and forgetting why he had done so in the first place. Sunset had asked the Vanguard leaders about it one time when Saladin had been officiating an Iron Banner match and they had all said that Banshee was old.
“Do you know why Exos have a number after their name?” Cayde had asked. Sunset shook her head and the Hunter Vanguard continued, “That’s how many times they’ve been reset. Basically, when an Exo was first made, it takes a little bit for the Human mind to get used to being in a robot body. It’s also why we can eat and sleep even though technically we don’t really need to. The closer to being a natural flesh and blood body we are, the easier it is to get used to the body.”
“So… Banshee has been reset forty-four times?” Sunset asked, a bit of awe in her voice.
“Yep, so his memory gets all kinds of fuzzy. Even if you’d been standing there talking to him for a whole hour, he’ll occasionally ask how you’re doing and strike up a whole new conversation,” Cayde said.
“Indeed,” Zavala said as he looked down at the young mare, “However, there has been no better Gunsmith in the tower than Banshee. The weapons he provides and maintains for our Guardians are some of the best, outside of Exotic weaponry.”
`~`~`~`~`~`~
Shaking off the memory of that conversation, Sunset trotted a little faster to keep up with Saladin’s stride, the Titan looking down at the pony and marveling at how quickly she had grown in the months that had passed since he’d found her on the mountain. At first, she had only come up to his shins, the size making her both easy to carry and easy prey for anything that had a mind for it. Thankfully the wolves of the Iron Temple had taken a liking to the pony and kept an ever watchful eye on their new packmate. Now, however, she had grown to the point that she was at his knee. Her wings, which had seemed comically oversized for her smaller frame held a sort or regality that was more akin to a hawk. She still held the almost Super Charged levels of adorable that she had quickly become known for, but now it was only shown when something new had crossed her path. Or when she was playing with the wolves and their pups.
“Here we are,” Banshee said as he stopped at what seemed to be just a blank wall in the Hangar. The Iron Lord and pony had followed the old Exo into a fairly out of the way area near where Dead Orbit and Future War Cult had set up shop. A few Guardians were milling about and watching the trio with a bit of curiosity, but didn’t say anything.
“This is where I put it,” Banshee said to himself as he poked about a little bit before nodding and pulling out a small box from a room hidden behind the wall.
“What is it?” Saladin asked, the Titan eyeing the box with interest, Sunset trying to peer up at it from his side.
“A custom built sidearm,” Banshee responded, “Had it set aside for Twilight the next time I saw her. Said her abilities needed a faster charge time so I came up with this.”
And then he opened the box. True to his word was a sidearm, the paint scuffed a bit in places and what seemed to be Light filled cracks along its small frame. Above the trigger guard was a crest of two lions lunging at each other, a circle with the Titan, Warlock, and Hunter symbols between them.
“This feels…. Different,” Sunset murmured, “Like it’s not supposed to be from here….”
“… I see,” Saladin says as he looks over the weapon, “What is it called?”
“Traveler’s Chosen,” Banshee responded with certainty in his voice, “Been working on making sidearms like it for new Guardians when they land at the tower, but not much progress. Something about this one makes it Exotic. Dropping the power to something more common is an issue.”
“...daddy,” Sunset whispered, “It feels familiar. I need to take it with me.”
Looking down at sunset again, Saladin watched her face carefully. She truly believed that the sidearm was important, and so, he nodded.
“Thank you for this,” Saladin says firmly, “We’ll put it to good use.”
“Anything for Twilight,” Banshee replied with a slight shrug of his frame, “Anyway, I gotta get back to it. Almost Armsday, you know.”
`~`~`~`~`~
Several hours later, Sunset and Saladin had made their way to a New Monarchy firing range. Executor Hideo had given the old Iron Lord leave to use it as he saw fit in the hopes that Saladin would support him in any power grab. Too bad for Hideo that Saladin only cared for the protection of the City and his daughter.
“Alright,” Saladin said as they got set up, “Do you remember what I said about weapon safety?”
“Keep it pointed away from people and things I’m not gonna destroy, always treat the weapon as if it’s loaded even if you know it’s not, and…. Ugh, do I have to say the last bit?” Sunset said, a slight frown on her face at the last bit.
“Yes,” Saladin replied with a chuckle.
“...keep your booger hook off the bang switch til you’re ready to fire… but I don’t have fingers!!” The young mare complained, “How can I keep a finger I don’t have off the trigger?”
“It isn’t the biology that matters, in that case, more the idea behind it,” a Titan said from next to Sunset, startling the little one, “You hold it the same way a Warlock Glides, right?”
“Y-yeah…” the pony said, Saladin watching from her side.
“Well, it still applies,” the Titan said from beneath her helmet, “Keep your thoughts off the trigger until you want to fire the gun. Here in the City, safety is up to all of us, but you don’t have to be anywhere near as mindful out in the wilds on patrol. Just about anything that moves out beyond the walls is out to kill you, so you need to be aware.”
“I see…” Sunset said softly, “Has anyone tried to be friends with anything out there, though?”
“Maybe,” the Titan shrugged, “I hear stories that the Reef has a Fallen house allied with them, but I don’t put too much stock into what I can’t see or feel for myself. Been like that since I got rezzed.”
“Oh,” the pony said, “I’m Sunset, by the way.”
“Mina,” the Titan said, offering up a fist. Sunset took the meaning right away and tapped her hoof against the imposing fist and nodded happily, “If I ever see you out in the wilds, I’ll keep an eye on you. Even with our Ghosts, you can never be to careful.”
And with that, Mina walked off.
“Back to our lesson then,” Saladin rumbled, a happy feeling in his chest that his daughter had made a friend.
“Good morning, Sunset!” Philomena said cheerily from the young mare’s bedside, “Saladin has some food going for you. And coffee. I remember how you are without your morning cup.”
Sunset glared at the little drone for a second before giggling a little and nodding, yawning and stretching her limbs as far as they could go. She tore off her covers and crawled out of her bed, reaching for Traveler’s Chosen as she did so. Ever since Banshee had given the sidearm to her, it had been an almost permanent addition to her daily attire so loathe Sunset was to be parted with it.
“Alright, let me brush my mane out and get dressed, ‘Mena. Let Daddy know I’ll be down shortly,” Sunset said to her Ghost a bit groggily.
Saladin had custom ordered several sets of armor and clothing for his little pony and honestly relished in the fact that his daughter was turning out every bit the regal looking Iron Lady he had planned on raising her as. It turned out that Sunset had taken a liking to both the Titan based armor and Warlock based robes he’d commissioned, though the armor was adorably oversized for her frame, to the point that when she looked up at her father with what he’d assumed was a wide grin on her face under the helmet, he’d needed to be revived when the helm slipped a little and she sat down with a pout. The shop owner had laughed and said “On the house for that little show, Darling” when Saladin had recovered enough to pay the Glimmer for the goods.
It was a set of the Warlock robes that Sunset was putting on now. Simple but sturdy, the robes covered enough of her hind-legs to keep them protected, but not get in the way of her walking or running. There were holes on the back for Sunset’s wings as well, though they were a bit uncomfortable to slide into, the freedom of movement and comfort that the robes gave while worn was top notch.
“Ready!” the pony said to herself, nodding her head before heading down and into the kitchen. Sunset and her Father were still living in the apartment in the City that had been gifted to them, but the mare could feel that Saladin was more than a little twitchy being confined as he was. Ages in the wilds would do that to anyone, she supposed, but it was good to interact with others from time to time.
“Good morning,” Saladin said from where he was standing at the stove, “your meal is on the table. Eat up, I plan on having you do some combat drills today.”
“Combat Drills?” Sunset asked as she started wolfing down the breakfast in front of her, “Who is going to be with us?”
“I Invited Mina to join in,” Saladin replied as he finished making his own plate, “I don’t think I could fight you the way I would need to for it to be effective…”
Sunset looked up at her father and smiled, “It’s alright. ...I’m not sure I could fight you like that either.”
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~
Later on that day, Sunset, Saladin, and Mina found themselves at Vostok Observatory, the younger of the two Titans stretching herself out a bit before hopping a bit and shadow boxing for a second. Sunset followed her example and stretched out a bit as well, making sure she was limbered up and ready for the sparring match. The room they were in was the large atrium like entrance to the Iron Temple itself, which Saladin had cleared off for that bout specifically.
Mina had opted to not wear her helmet for this bout and her armor more closely resembled a set of street clothes. The Titan had a vibrant head of blue hair and her skin was a pale shade of purple, marking her as Awoken.
“Have you found your Class yet?” Mina asked curiously, “I remember saying that you were similar to a Warlock when we first met, but I’m still left curious about it.”
“Not yet,” Sunset said with a shrug, “But I’ll find it eventually!”
“That’s the spirit!” Mina laughed, “Maybe we’ll even be able to find it today!”
“Don’t push her too hard today,” Saladin warned from the side of the room, “This is just to get a baseline for what Sunset can do, and we can go from there.”
“I understand,” Mina said with a nod, “No Light from me, not from this match anyway.”
Nodding in approval, Saladin motioned to Sunset and Mina to take their positions at the center of the makeshift ring that they had set up. The pony Lightbearer took a low crouching stance with her wings flared out while Mina brought her arms up in a cross guard.
“Hit me with everything you have, Sunset!!” Mina said, “I can take it!!”
“If you say so!” Sunset replied with a grunt and a heavy flap of her wings. She flung herself bodily at Mina, planting her forehooves into the ground before the Titan and spun, kicking her rear legs out at the Awoken.
Mina took the impact of the strike on her crossed arms with a surprised grunt of pain, the force behind Sunset’s kick sending the Titan sliding back a good meter or so from her starting position. Mina dug her heels into the ground and stopped her slide, but ended up taking a knee and looking over to Saladin.
“Definitely a Titan with that strength,” Mina said with a huff.
“So it would seem,” Saladin said with a smile, “Reset your positions and let us see what else she is capable of.”
And so, the day went on like that for a while longer, Mina taking the hits as only a Titan could and Sunset striking in ways only she could. Saladin noted that his daughter would often use her wings as a way of both attacking and evading, making slices with them coated in Light to keep them from breaking. He made a mental note to have some armor made for that purpose. He also noticed that Sunset would propel herself into Shoulder Charge speeds with a single flap of her wings, though whether that was a product of her unique biology or the Light was yet to be seen.
“Enough,” Saladin said, walking between the two combatants, “Time to rest.”
“Whew…” Mina said, wiping sweat from her brow, “Thought that would never end…”
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked, cocking her head to the side.
Mina’s eyes bulged a bit at how adorable Sunset was like that before scratching her cheek and saying, “Uh… well… To be blunt, I’ve taken hits from Hive Knights that were far gentler than what you managed to pull. If I hadn’t put some Light into my guards, I’d have needed to be res’d more than once in this sparring match.”
Sunset’s eyes went wide and she bolted forward and tackle hugged Mina, burying her face in the Titan’s chest.
“’M sorry,” came the muffled appology as Sunset nuzzled Mina’s chest. Mina had to take a breath before returning the hug, schooling herself against the Exotic levels of cute the pony had at her disposal.
“It’s Alright, Sunny,” Mina replied, patting Sunset’s head, “We all have to learn our strength sometime. I’m just glad you didn’t have to learn it in the wilds like most of us did…”
“Indeed,” Saladin said as he came up beside the two and knelt down to Sunset, “And that is why I will have you two spar together. Mina, I also asked Zavala to have you moved to my command for a while for that purpose.”
“Understood,” the younger Titan said with a nod, “Anything to help a friend. I may have a Hunter and Warlock in mind that would be able to help as well.”
“We’ll see,” Saladin responded as he lifted Sunset away from Mina’s chest and into his arms, “For now, however, let us eat. I had a batch of Ramen broth brought up here to help ward off the cold. The noodles need to be cooked, however.”
Sunset looked around the Tower in awe as she took in all the decorations that had been hung all about. Glittering frost covered most surfaces and hollow engrams with icy snowflake designs were hovering in the air. The pony flitted to and fro, a happy smile of wonder and curiosity on her face. Philomena wasn’t immune to her Guardian’s infectious curiosity either, though the little red Ghost had seen a Dawning or two in her life.
“Settle down, Sunset,” Saladin said with a chuckle in his voice, “When we get inside, I’ll help you with your gifts, alright?”
“Ok, Daddy!” Sunset said excitedly, “Oh, I can’t wait to see everyone… Uncle Cayde and Aunt Ikora and Uncle Shaxx and… wait, who’s that?”
Sunset had pointed at a curious figure robed in black who seemed a bit… twitchy in their movements. The figure had set themselves up near the Speaker’s Astronomy tower on the opposite side of where Executor Hideo had set up his small soap box for New Monarchy. A Guardian or two had swung by and exchanged some Strange looking coins for exotic weapons and armor, then left without a word. The figure’s face was shrouded by a hood, but some odd looking… things were poking out from under it.
“Come, my little pony,” the figure said, “The Nine have a gift for you.”
Saladin, ever prudent, kept close to Sunset as she approached the unknowable figure and asked, “What kind of gift?”
“The Nine tell me many things, but they also reveal nothing of their intent,” the figure said with a shrug, “I am but a vessel for the Will of the Nine.”
“So… what was this gift?” Sunset asked curiously.
“This,” the figure said as he produced a bow from his cloak, “It is a weapon from a time much different than our own, made by Awoken hands. May it serve you well.”
Sunset took the offered bow in her telekinesis and looked it over, curious as to what it meant to her. The energy it gave off felt like the Void that Ikora used when Blinking and also felt somehow familiar to the pony, much like an old friend.
“It was meant for your hooves,” the figure said with absolute certainty, “May it serve you well.”
“A… combat bow,” Saladin said softly as he looked the weapon over, “A good pairing for the sidearm you have already.”
“I wanna test it out!” Sunset said excitedly before turning to the figure and giving them a hug, “Thank you!”
The figure hesitated only for a moment before returning the hug and said softly, “I have never received such a gift… it is my hope that you will one day return. The Nine wish this also.”
“I don’t know what I’m gonna be running into, but I’ll be back, it’s a promise!!” Sunset said happily as she all but pulled her father towards the hallway to the courtyard.
As they left, Xur, Agent of the Nine held a hand to his chest and said to himself, “My will was my own for that one moment. A moment I will Treasure more than you will know, Sunset Shimmer.”
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~
After testing out the bow in the rear courtyard of the Tower against targets Banshee had set up, the old Exo dubbed the weapon Subtle Calamity for how stealthy the bow seemed to make the goldenrod alicorn when used. Saladin liked the name, but elected to study Awoken bowcraft when he had the time so he could see if the weapon type would be useful in other ways. Sunset would likely be the better judge of the utility, however. With testing done, however, Saladin brought Sunset back to Tower West and around the corner to see someone special.
“Daddy, who’s this?” Sunset asked as they approached the area where Eva Levante had set up her shader shop.
“’Daddy’?” the jovial old woman asked with a slight laugh in her tone, “Why, Lord Saladin, she is just too precious!”
“Sunset, this is Eva Levante,” Saladin said with a smile, “She has helped Guardians outfit themselves with some interesting looks over the last few years and has decided to see if she can spread some Dawning cheer throughout the Tower this year.”
“So… what are we going to do?” the pony asked curiously, “It already looks like it’s really cheerful around here…”
Eva smiled at the Iron Lord and his daughter before motioning to a small kitchen area next to the alcove she'd set up shop, “I thought that we could all do with some treats!”
Sunset’s eyes went wide and she grinned from ear to ear before she looked up at her father and said, “Treats?! We should make some for everyone!!”
Saladin nodded, then said, “We don’t have enough ingredients for everyone, but we can at least give some treats to your Aunts and Uncles.”
“Oh…” Sunset deflated for a second before brightening up, “Alright. I guess we can let the others get gifts for themselves, but… what all are we gonna make?”
“Why don’t we start baking and find out?” Eva asks with a smile as she moved over to the kitchen. The oven was already preheated, and there was a selection of ingredients and a list of recipes with a name by them all. With everything prepared, the pony and resident grandmother of the Tower got to work.
`~`~`~`~`~`~
“There we go dear!” Eva said happily a few hours after they had finished. The treats were all lined up for their recipients, each box with a name on it for who it was intended to go to. Sunset herself looked incredibly pleased with the work that had gone into the treats, the little mare covered in flour and the odd fleck of chocolate here and there.
“Gonna need a bath…” Sunset murmured to herself before looking up at her father.
Saladin’s eyes went to pinpricks as he looked down, Sunset’s cuteness all but requiring a resurrection once more. He schooled himself however and smiled down at his daughter and said, “We’ll get you brushed off first. Flour tends to get sticky in water and doesn’t wash off all that easy.”
“Alright!” Sunset replied before looking at Eva and giving the older woman a brief hug, “Thank you Grandma Eva! I’m sure everyone will love the treats we made!”
Eva looked a little startled by the hug and looked up at Saladin, mouthing, “Grandma…?” She did hug the little mare though and said, “All the hard work you put into these treats will make them all the more meaningful, this I know.”
“Yay!!” Sunset exclaimed as she pronked off, a little flutter of her wings making her hover a moment before she looked to her father and said, “We should get these to everyone before they get cold.”
“Right you are,” Saladin replied, “Let’s go then. I’m sure everyone is waiting.”
As they bid farewell to Eva, the old woman turned to look at her shop and smiled happily, her thoughts of the young pony and how delightful she had been while baking.
“What a wonderful gift that one has been,” she said to herself, “I’m sure Saladin feels the same way.”
~`~`~`~`~`~`
Making their way back to the main courtyard for the Tower after a quick wash, Saladin and Sunset walked into the Vanguard’s meeting area where a long table was sitting, Ikora, Zavala, Cayde, and Shaxx sitting around it. Sunset was ecstatic about her first Dawning and could barely contain her excitement as they walked in, Philomena hovering off to float with Targe, Ophiuchus, and Sundance. Saladin’s Ghost joined them and they began to talk a little amongst themselves while Shaxx’s Ghost floated over to join them.
“I have gifts!!” Sunset exclaims happily as she flutters closer to everyone, “One for Uncle Cayde and Aunt Ikora, and Uncle Shaxx and Uncle Zavala!”
She places the gifts in front of each person before fluttering over to Saladin and trembling in excitement, hoping the gifts would be enough for the Guardians and Warlord before her. Ikora looks over to Cayde, who’s already opened his gift and grinning from ear to ear at the strange green liquid in a sealed container that had been lifted from the box. Zavala looks his gift of cookies over and smiles, grateful for the gift and the thought behind them. Ikora opens hers and lets out a short laugh at how much like the Traveller her gift looks. Shaxx never removes his helmet for the blade like cookies he received, but is grateful all the same.
“Thank you,” Ikora says as she pops one of the doughnut holes into her mouth, “These are exquisite.”
“Indeed,” Zavala responds as he eats his second Gjallardoodle. The normally stoic Titan is smiling happily as he munches on his treat.
“I’ll eat these later,” Shaxx says as he sets his box aside, “I feel like a good mug of coffee would go well with them.”
“What do you call mine?” Cayde asks curiously as he sips the drink.
“Ace of Spades! Like your hand cannon!” Sunset replied happily, “Granny Eva wouldn’t let me mess with that one though… said it was alcohol and I shouldn’t have any of it til I’m older. She liked the flavor ideas I had though!”
“Well, I think I’ll be having this a little more often than she thinks,” Cayde said with a grin, “It’s really tasty!”
“This is all incredibly thoughtful,” Ikora said, dusting her fingers off on a napkin as she walks over to Saladin and Sunset, “But we-”
“Pardon me,” an Exo female says from the entryway, “The package you requested is here.”
“Package?” Zavala asks curiously as he looks over the Exo, “I wasn’t aware we had something being delivered. Unless it was you, Cayde?”
“Got me,” the Hunter shrugs as he sets his drink down, “Why not bring it here and let’s see what’s inside?”
“On the table please,” Ikora asks, motioning to the end. Saladin eyes the package and it’s holder with wary eyes and off to the side he can feel Shaxx doing the same. Of all the things to bring the two Titans together, a feeling of over-protectiveness for Sunset was not something he would have ever guessed would happen.
Sunset herself eyes the package curiously as the Exo sets it down, then moves to the side to stay out of the way.
“It… has my name on it?” Sunset asks with confusion, looking over to Saladin.
“Open it then,” the Iron Lord says, “Let’s see what’s inside.”
Nodding, Sunset opens the box carefully, setting the lid off to the side. She picks up the item inside and blinks as she lifts a sword from the interior. The blade is two-toned in gold and silver, and has a slight curve towards the point. The crossguard tapers out into an odd shape before extending into the hilt. There was also an odd starburst pattern on the guard that looked somewhat familiar to the pony.
“A… sword?” Shaxx asks, “What need do Guardians have of a melee weapon like that?”
“I could ask the same,” Zavala says as he eyes the weapon, “However, I do know of Titans who use hammers and Hunters who use knives. Perhaps an avenue to look into?”
“In time,” Ikora says as she turns to look for the Exo who delivered the sword, only to find that she had left while everyone wasn’t looking.
“Well, that’s just Prime…” Cayde huffs out as he looks around, “Craftier than my Nightstalkers, that’s for sure.”
Looking the box over, Saladin spots a note. He lifts it out and reads it aloud, “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there in person. Happy Dawning. Yours Truly, Twilight.”
Sunset’s head snapped up at that, looking at her father with wide eyes.
“Twilight?” she asked softly, “Banshee called me that when he gave me Traveler’s Chosen…”
“She calls the sword ‘Zephyr’,” Saladin continues, “She says it uses… Arc.”
Sunset looks the sword over once more and nods before holding it out, hilt first to Shaxx.
“Can you make a sheath for it?” the pony asks, “I think I want to use it...”
Sunset often enjoyed the view from the top of Vostok. As cold as it was, her Light kept her warm and let her survive temperatures that, frankly, other beings couldn’t. Looking out, she saw that her father and Tyra Karn were tending to the wolves as they often did when Saladin brought her here. That wasn’t what had Sunset’s full attention now, though.
“Daddy would be upset you didn’t let him know you had visited,” Sunset said with a small frown.
“How did you know?” a figure said as she let her stealth drop, her armor the same kind Sunset had seen Hunters wear after the first Iron Banner tournament her father ran.
“I’m not sure,” the pony said with a shrug, Philomena hovering by her head, “I just sorta… felt you? No that sounds weird… Like your emotions. I felt them.”
“I see,” the Hunter said, “And how do you know your dad would be upset?”
“You’re his friend, Efrideet,” Sunset said simply, “He’s been trying to get in touch with you for a while now. Looks like you got his messages, but didn’t respond. Why?”
Sitting next to Sunset and looking down, Lady Efrideet of the Iron Lords responded, “...I had to leave. I always felt that there was more to the Light than just bringing us back over and over and using it as a tool for destruction. I am still more than willing and able to fight, but… I needed some peace. After Site 6… I just felt it was time to go.”
“Daddy showed me the statues in the Temple,” the pony said looking up at Efrideet, “There wasn’t one for you.”
“I see,” the Hunter said, her shoulders sagging, “..did he say why?”
“These statues honor the dead,” Sunset replied with a smile, quoting her father, “And Efrideet isn’t dead.”
Smiling under her helmet, Efrideet stood up and nodded, “He knows I’m alive.”
“Yes,” Sunset nodded, “He’s sure you’ll be back sometime. But the when is up to you.”
Looking down at the filly, Efrideet patted her head gently and turned to go, “It might be sooner than he thinks. Especially since he’s taking care of you, little one.”
`~`~`~`~`~
Later that evening, Sunset was by the fire, a pair of wolves playing with her. Saladin watched with a jovial smile, one he hadn’t worn in years as he watched his daughter and the wolves jump at each other and play.
“She really is a little bundle of Light,” Tyra spoke up from a little off to Saladin’s right, “I haven’t seen you smile like that in a long time, old friend.”
“It’s only been a few short months, but already I cannot see my life without her,” Saladin responded simply.
“I’m sure you noticed it too,” the elder Warlock said seriously, “How the world around her seems so much more vibrant and filled with life. It’s almost as if her mere presence is the same kind of blessing the Traveler gave before the Collapse.”
“I… I’ve noticed,” the Titan responded somberly, “She will need to learn how to use her Light…. And soon.”
“You feel it too?” Tyra asked, surprised.
“It’s like a… pressure on the back of my mind,” Saladin said softly, watching as the now tuckered out filly and wolves curled around each other, yawning, “something Dark is coming our way and… I’m not sure we’ll be ready for it.”
“All we can do is wait and prepare,” said a new voice, this one to Saladin’s left.
“Efrideet!” Saladin said with barely restrained joy.
“Saladin, old friend!” the Hunter said, embracing the old man like a brother. Looking back at Sunset, Efrideet released the embrace and sighed.
“She’s going to be a huge part of it. I’m not sure how, but with her Light being as strong as it is, I’d be very surprised if she isn’t involved at least somewhat,” Efrideet said, “And… no questions. Please. I… I’m not ready to answer them. Not yet.”
“I understand,” Saladin nodded, “But yes, I do agree that Sunset is involved in whatever is going to happen. I just hope that whatever may come… she’ll be ready.”
“Were any of you truly prepared for what happened in Site 6?” Tyra asked, making Saladin go stiff, “No. All we can do is as Efrideet said, wait and prepare.”
“...I will go to Ikora at the end of the week,” Saladin said with resolve in his tone, “She will be better prepared to teach Sunset how to control her Light than I.”
“You should be a part of her training too,” Efrideet said, a hand on the other Iron Lord’s shoulder, “We don’t need her going after a dragon on her own, after all.”
With a short laugh, Saladin went and bent down to pick up Sunset, “Never going to let me live that down, are you?”
“Not on your life old man,” Efrideet laughed, “For now though… I should go. I have friends waiting.”
“Don’t be a stranger, dear,” Tyra said with a smile, “I’ll set a place for you if you visit.”
“… I’m glad you survived,” Saladin said softly, Sunset cradled in his arms.
Efrideet looked back and nodded, “I’m glad you did too, old man.”
`~`~`~`~`~`~
Several more months had passed since Efrideet’s impromptu visit and, true to her word, the Huntress had kept in touch. Saladin was happy about this, but wished she would have stayed around a little more. Sunset was just happy that her Father had another friend to speak with.
Eventually, Saladin began heading to the City for his tournament. The Iron Banner brought Guardians from all over the system to fight against each other, the clashes making their Light stronger, brighter than before. Sunset watched the feeds with rapt attention, paying close attention to the Solar Light of the Warlocks.
“Daddy… can I learn that?” Sunset asked as she watched a Warlock’s self-ressurection on the feed.
“I would certainly hope you would not need to,” Saladin said after a pause, “But when we begin your training you probably could.”
“Why the hope?” Sunset asked.
“Because that particular gift of the Light means you would have to die,” Saladin said softly, “I do not think I could handle that.”
“Oh,” the filly said, her ears drooping. She didn’t ask about that ability again.
`~`~`~`~`~
About the middle of the week, Sunset found herself out on the town. One of Cayde’s Hunters keeping an eye on her at the request of the Exo himself, but otherwise she was exploring and in general having a good time. Children occasionally stopped to oggle the pony, some with smiles and awed looks of how cute she was and others with a little fear since Sunset was a non-human. Adults, however, were not quite so afraid of letting their opinions be known. Thankfully, under the watchful eye of the Hunter that was following the filly, nothing happened.
“...Why don’t they like me?” Sunset asked aloud, “I haven’t done anything wrong so…. Why?”
The Hunter behind her knelt down and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Try to not let it get to you, New Light,” he said, “Some people are just distrustful of anything different.”
“Yeah!” Philomena said from Sunset’s other side, “They’ll warm up to you eventually. The children are already wanting to play. Don’t you see?”
Looking around, the filly did indeed notice the kids watching curiously from around them. The adults, on seeing the Hunter with the young pony, were a little less wary as well, but still occasionally shot her some distrustful, but not hateful glares.
“I see,” Sunset said with a smile, “But we can’t play right now. We have to meet with Ikora soon.”
“That we do,” the Hunter said with a smile under his helmet, “From experience I know she doesn’t like to be kept waiting either.”
`~`~`~`~`~
“Welcome back,” Ikora said with a small smile, “And thank you for keeping her safe.”
“As if I’d let anything happen to Cayde’s niece,” the Hunter said with a short laugh, “He’d rope me into being the Hunter Vanguard if I did.”
“It was fun!” Sunset exclaimed happily as she pronked a little bit, her wings fluttering, “The City is so pretty, and I loved seeing everyone. I just hope we can be friends…”
“I’m sure you will be, one day,” Ikora said, “But for now… We should get started in teaching you the ways of the Light.”
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked.
Walking up from the Vanguard’s chambers, Saladin said, “You are going to be training with Ikora and I to hone your Light. As I said before, my hope is that you will never have to use the Sunsinger’s ability to bring yourself back, but… I cannot protect you from the rest of the trials that being a Lightbearer will bring. All we can do is prepare you accordingly.”
Looking up at Saladin’s somber visage, Sunset nodded. “I understand, Daddy. Where are we going to go to train?”
“I have just spoken with Lord Shaxx,” Saladin said, turning to Ikora, “He suggested Twilight Gap or Bannerfall as good places to start since they are fairly close by.”
“Bannerfall,” Ikora said with a nod, “It’s closer to the City and less chance of any outside interference.”
`~`~`~`~`~
Sunset had read about Lysander’s Folly and the fall of the Concordat. The reminders of that event were on full display on either side of the top of the Tower building. New Monarchy on one side and Concordat on the other. It was… weird. To the filly at least. All she had known from the Vanguard and the Consensus was kindness and understanding, so anyone trying to overthrow them was… weird.
“Try not to worry about it,” Cayde had said when Sunset asked, “It was a long time ago and we’re much better off without that kind of negativity in the City.”
Ikora and Saladin led the young pony to the courtyard, near the edge of the building. A still living tree was growing there as if nothing had happened to it. There were some bullet holes in the trunk, but the gnarled old thing kept on growing, defiance in the very action of continuing to live.
“The Light is a tool,” Ikora began as they sat near the tree, Saladin standing off to the side, “This tree, the very air around us, but it is most noticeable in the way a Guardian interacts with the world around them.”
The Warlock Vanguard held up her hand, summoning a Void Grenade and holding it up. Sunset was in awe of the swirling vortex she saw, a childlike look of wonder on her muzzle. Saladin’s heart melted at the sight and Ikora had to school her emotions lest her heart literally burst at how adorable the filly looked.
“Guardians use the Light as both shield and sword,” Ikora explained after she dismissed the grenade, “Protecting that which we hold dear and striking out at those that would see us gone.”
“I understand,” Sunset said solemnly, “but what does this have to do with my training?”
“In order to call the Light,” Saladin said, “You must find it within you first. Newly reborn Guardians seem to have an almost instinctive command of it at first, with their abilities manifesting at random and all over the place. Most don’t even attempt to master much more than the first element they stumble across.”
“What do you mean by ‘Element?’” the filly asked, Philomena bobbing around her head.
“Arc energy, Solar flames, and the Void,” Ikora responded, “these three elements make up the prism of energy that is the Light and each Guardian manifests these energies in different ways.”
“Oh! So you mean like how Daddy uses electricity and how Uncle Zavala uses that weird bubble!” Sunset exclaimed.
“Yes, exactly,” Ikora said with a smile, “and those abilities have saved more lives than I’ve been able to count.”
“So… how do I find my Light?” Sunset asked as she looked up at Philomena.
“That is why we’re here,” Ikora said. She crossed her legs and sat, facing the filly. She placed her hands on her knees and relaxed her posture.
“Since you were not reborn like most Guardians, meditation will be what we use to try and trigger your Light,” the Warlock said, “First I want you to sit and try to clear your mind.”
The filly did so, closing out the world around her as best as she could. Philomena was still hovering near by, so Ikora’s Ghost, Ophiucus, took the red-shelled Ghost off to the side where Saladin stood vigilantly, his Light ready to spring forth in a torrent of fatherly concern.
“Now…” Ikora said when she felt that Sunset was in a calm state of mind, “Reach out with your senses and tell me what you feel.”
“I… feel sort of tingly. And warm,” Sunset replied after a moment of introspection, “I feel like there’s a storm going on, but also… the comforting warmth of a fire.”
Blinking, Ikora looked over to Saladin who simply shrugged.
“Good,” the Warlock said without missing a beat, “Now… which of those feels more like YOU?”
“….the fire feels familiar,” Sunset all but whispered, seemingly to herself, “Like a familiar pair of wings…”
“Can you reach out and grab that feeling?” Ikora asked, paying close attention to how Sunset was doing. She was sorely tempted to reach out and hug the young pony, such was the force of the emotion behind Sunset’s whisper.
“I… I think I can, yes,” Sunset replied, her voice still a whisper.
“Then take hold of it and shape it to your will,” Ikora said, standing up and stepping back. She knew that a lot of first time users of the Light would often… explode when their Light first came at their command.
Still sitting with her eyes closed, Sunset reached out with her forehoof, the filly grabbing at her Light. It resisted her attempts at ordering it to come to her, at least at first. Then, a buried memory surfaced….
“The crown may be on your head, Sunset Shimmer, but you cannot weild it, because you don’t have the most powerful magic of all…”
“...Magic,” Sunset murmured to herself. She stopped trying to force her connection to the Light after that. Instead, she asked. And the Light responded with an astounding flash of Solar energy. Ikora stepped back, shaken by the outpouring of Light from the small filly’s body. Saladin narrowed his eyes and tensed up in anticipation, ready to act if he saw that his daughter would be in ANY kind of trouble.
“SWORD!” Sunset cried out, lifting off the ground with a powerful flap of her wings, a slight pirouette as she summoned a blade of pure Solar Light in her outstretched hoof.
“By the Traveler…” Ikora said, awed by what Sunset had been able to do, “She isn’t a Sunsinger. I… I’m not sure WHAT she is…”
“I remember seeing blades like that during the Dark Ages,” Saladin whispered hoarsely, “Just as skilled at dealing death as they were at keeping allies hale and whole. Dawnblades we called them, because when those blades were unsheathed, a red dawn was all their enemies saw.”
Sunset, meanwhile had fluttered to the ground, her wings alight with flame and a blade of Solar Light floating at her side.
“Daddy! I did it!” she exclaimed happily. Sunset dashed over to Saladin as quickly as she could, a flap of her wings bringing her to his side in an instant.
“Oof!” the old Titan said as Sunset’s sudden tackle almost sent him reeling, “I’m glad, my little phoenix.”
And now, we come to a crossroads. Our pony has found her Light. She has been properly armed.
...and now she must be tested. She will survive her Trial, that much I can assure you, however, events will happen before they were meant to happen. A House will stand with the City, a Saint returned, and a Friendship will be made. All the while, The Young Wolf will do what they were meant to do, but they are not the focus of this story…
You are granted a vision of a fanged equine smiling through the dark, and a laugh that would chill even the most stalwart of Titans. A flash of vivid electric blue eyes with cat like slits for pupils dances in the dark, a not-quite malevolent glint to them.
Sunset awoke with a start. She peered up at the Traveler from her bedroom window, the broken shards of the paracausal being floating around it like a moon orbiting a planet. It was beautiful, in its own way, but some fleeting, half remembered image in the back of her mind told her that things wouldn’t be like this forever.
Since awakening to her Light, Sunset had been training day in and day out. She could call on her Dawnblade pretty much at a moments notice at this point, but generally preferred the Well of Radiance she had developed an affinity for. The speed of the Attunement of Sky was generally fun to mess around with and the raw aggression of Attunement of Flame was great for dealing with lots of targets in a confined area, but the Attunement of Grace was where she felt the most comfortable. Helping others and being rewarded for that help in one way or another was something that just felt… RIGHT to the young Alicorn.
Looking around her room, Sunset noted that it was still dark out, the omni-present lights of the City not counting for much. Groaning a bit, the little mare pulled the covers back over her head and attempted to fall back asleep, succeeding for a while.
`~`~`~`~`~`~
“What’s the matter?” Philomena asked her Guardian as they walked to the Tower from their apartment, “Bad dreams?”
“Sort of?” Sunset replied, not sounding too sure of herself, “I can’t even remember what it was about… just that it was… Dark.”
“Dark?” Mena asked, parroting her Guardian, “That doesn’t sound all that good… Maybe we can talk to Ikora about it. She’ll know at least SOMETHING about what happened.”
“No, it was just a dream,” the pony rebuked, “No need to get worked up over it.”
“If you say so, Sunset…” Philomena said as she went to hover over the mare’s shoulder.
The pair were on their way to spend time with Shaxx, at the Warlord’s request no less. Saladin had business to attend to at the Iron Temple that week anyway, but trusted the other Titan with his daughter, if only for a little while. The Vauguard also took turns keeping an eye on her while in the City, each with their own ways of teaching the young mare.
Cayde often made it so his lessons with Sunset were more like games, teaching her how to move and fight while playing tag or some other similar game. Ikora was more like a traditional teacher, but also made time for stretches and more metaphysical kinds of exercises, like creating the ice crystals that Sunset had seen around the tower during the Dawning. Zavala often taught Sunset leadership skills and presented the lessons in the form of puzzles for her to solve. Some, like the Kobayashi secanario, were meant to test how someone would react in a no-win situation… but it flew apart when Sunset not only managed to keep her team ‘alive’, but succeed in the activity.
Lord Shaxx, however, often showed Sunset the Crucible matches he officiated, a steaming mug of coffee in his fist the whole time. He would shout at the screens, complaining about the lack of grenades being thrown, or bellowing out in laughter that was honestly just as infectious as Sunset’s own when a Super Charged Guardian took out another one. Rarely, he also cried out ‘Get that butter knife shit out of here!’ when a Titan took out a Blade Dancer in their super.
Today, however, had other plans.
Just as Sunset and Philomena reached Shaxx’s office, there was a… PULL. And suddenly, Shaxx, Sunset, and their Ghosts found themselves in an entirely different place, a haughty, but beautiful Awoken woman standing before them in a chamber of Amethyst crystal.
“Wha- Where are we?!” Shaxx demanded as he looked around, the steaming mug of coffee in his fist still, “Sunset, are you alright?”
The mare in question nodded, but looked a little green from the sudden translocation.
“I’ll be alright… just as soon as the room stops spinning…” Sunset replied, Philomena floating around her worriedly.
“...who in the world is this?” the Awoken woman asked.
“Queen Mara?” Shaxx asked, slightly confused, “Why did you bring us here?”
“I was going to have you read this,” Mara Sov, Queen of the Awoken replied as she held up a copy of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, “But now I find that my desire is more rooted in curiosity about your four legged friend here.”
Looking around after having recovered from her nausea, Sunset eyed Mara with some scrutiny before saying, “My name is Sunset. And you are REALLY pretty…”
Mara blinked a bit at the compliment, internalizing a squee that would have made her Corsairs giggle and laugh for centuries to come. She walked over and knelt down before Sunset and said, “Thank you. The sincerity behind your voice is… refreshing.”
“That’s all well and good,” Shaxx began, “But that still leaves us stranded here, wherever HERE is.”
“I will return you to your Tower and City in due time,” Mara said, “For now… I feel like I should show Sunset around the Dreaming City. And you as well, I suppose, since you are, apparently, acting as her chaperone.”
“Dreaming City?” Sunset asked curiously, “What do you mean by that?”
“Come, and you shall see,” Mara replied with a small smile to the equine Guardian.
Behind them, Shaxx huffed out, “For the record, I know The Tempest by heart….”
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
Oh yes! YES! You are finally here, O Phoenix Mine!
The might of any wish you could EVER make is so… deliciously TANTALIZING….
A wish for Twilight, a wish for Memory… perhaps a wish for a Mother?
Oh, the possibilities from your mere EXISTENCE fills me with so much energy I could break these chains that have been Wished upon me with nary a thought to them!
But no. I will not. After all… where is the fun in that… O Reader, Mine?
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~
As Mara showed Sunset and Shaxx around the Dreaming City, the mare herself was in awe of how beautiful the place was. She took in every crystalline formation and vista she could, her wings fluttering a little in a desire to stretch out and fly around, to see it all for the beauty it held.
“Look up,” Mara said at one point, the Queen smiling a little bit as she did the same. Shaxx looked as well, though his expression was, as always, unreadable under his helmet.
“Wow!!” Sunset exclaimed, the swirling stars captivating her attention as she laid on her back and took them all in. The trio had made their way out of the town like place that comprised the bulk of what Mara had been willing to show them of the Dreaming City proper, ending up on a hill that overlooked a lake like place. An entrance to a Temple was off to their left and an opening carved out of the same Amethyst crystal off to the right.
“I do not usually take in the sights anymore,” Mara said softly as she too sat and looked out at the lake, the rocks jutting out like jagged teeth from it, “We Awoken live far differently than the humans and Exos that live on Earth now. Time is different for us, even. But… You are something incredible.”
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked as Shaxx sat down as well, the Titan looking out, but keeping his thoughts to himself.
“I mean that you are so much more than what you seem to be,” Mara said matter-of-factually, “And you represent something far more… Harmonious than even I could conceive of. I feel that, some day, you will know exactly what I speak of. For now, however… take this.”
The Awoken Queen held out a small token to Sunset, the image of a swooping bird on one side and a diving bird on the other. The mare took that offered token and asked, “What is it?”
“A token of friendship,” Shaxx said from her side, “Something that the Awoken do not give out on a whim, I might add. Treasure it.”
“I will,” Sunset replied without hesitation, “Thank you.”
“That token will grant you access to the Dreaming City whenever you Wish,” Mara said with a smile, “Should you need it, the Awoken will be here for you.”
~`~`~`~`~`~`~
Ah! A Wish to be made!
Be careful what you Wish for, O Phoenix Mine…
It may not be what you expect….
Laughter fills your ears once more as things go silent.
After having been gifted the Awoken talisman, Mara and Shaxx had left Sunset to her own devices, but not before the Queen had shown Sunset to a massive library in the temple closest to where they had first appeared in the Dreaming City.
“Every tome here is a recreation of something from before the Golden Age,” Mara said as she gestured around, “Fantasy, history, philosophy, science, if you can think of it, it is here somewhere.”
“wow….” the mare said softly as she took in the structure, “Not even the Cryptarchs have a library this extensive.”
“Indeed,” Mara smiled as she took in the awestruck look on the filly’s face, “And it is all available for your perusal.”
“Are… you sure that’s wise?” Shaxx asked from Mara’s side, “Ikora took her to the Cryptarch’s library one time for a lesson and we found her there, three days later, STILL reading tomes…. I think she built a book fort….”
“That was one time!!” Sunset pouted indignantly, “One time I make a book fort and I never live it down…”
“Well, you do have to admit, it was cute,” Philomena chimed in, “All curled up under the blanket the Cryptarch had given you, books piled all around… and you cuddling me like I was some plush doll.”
A short squee was heard by Sunset and Shaxx that echoed slightly around the room. They both turned and looked at Mara Sov who was blushing heavily at the sudden attention.
“Yes, well,” Shaxx began after clearing his throat and looking away from the daggers being thrown his way from Mara’s glare, “The point is I think Sunset will be fine while we discuss why you brought me here. Correct, Your Highness?”
“Correct,” Mara replied, giving Sunset a last look before heading out, Shaxx in tow.
“Have fun, Uncle Shaxx!!” Sunset yelled after them.
`~`~`~`~`~`~
A few hours later, or so it seemed to Sunset, she got up and stretched her limbs out, much like a cat would and looked around. There was nothing overtly going on, but… the mare could SWEAR she’d heard a slight chuckling just barely outside the range of her hearing.
“Do you hear that?” Sunset asked her Ghost.
“What do you mean? I’m not picking up anything, at least not right this second,” Philomena replied.
Looking around again, Sunset started noticing small changes in the things around her, the only constants being herself and Philomena.
“Things are different… I need my gear,” the mare said cautiously, “Something’s not right.”
“Nothing’s showing up for me, but one equip job coming right up,” Philomena said as she decompiled. Sunset’s armor and weapons appeared on her body in that same instant, arming the young Iron Lady for anything that may come their way.
“Slow and steady, like Uncle Cayde taught me,” Sunset whispered to herself as she began moving forward, Subtle Calamity out and ready to be drawn by her telekinetic field.
As she moved forward, the mare noticed even more… twists in the reality around her, like someone had purposefully built the entire structure as a cage, but didn’t bother to check to see if it had any rat holes. Somehow, the library was far FAR behind her as well, and in front of her instead was a massive arch made of the same crystaline stone that made up the majority of the Dreaming City.
“You are finally here! Iron Lady. Sun’s Child.”
The voice Sunset heard echoed all around her, startling her into nocking and almost loosing an arrow into the crystals blocking the opening in front of her.
“Who’s there?!” Sunset asked, barely able to keep the fear in her voice from being noticed.
“After all this time, there has been one other with your Shape, little Light.”
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked the open air again, lowering her bow just a bit, “What do you mean, ‘one other’?”
“Come, I would quite like to meet you…. O Phoenix, mine….”
After that last echoing voice faded into the air around her, Sunset heard a loud grinding coming from her left, an alcove leading into a crystal tunnel opening up to her. Looking around and getting a sudden feeling of anxiety about everything, the mare looked back at the tunnel and cautiously made her way through it.
Unlike the perfectly cut hallways of the rest of the Dreaming City, this one looked like it had been haphazardly carved out of the surrounding Amethyst, and ending in a sudden drop.
“Of course it’s a jump puzzle,” Sunset muttered under her breath. She’d heard of how the enemies of humanity had thoroughly enjoyed making thes but had yet to experience them herself, though the Botza district was close enough that it was honestly a lot of fun for her.
“A winged creature like yourself could easily make this jump, with or without your armor. A test of your skill in your native form. And besides… as I said… your Shape is relatively new.”
“What do you mean by ‘Shape’?” Sunset asked curiously as she got ready to make the jump and long glide it would take to cross the chasm she’d found on the other side of the tunnel, “That’s the second time you’ve referred to that as a proper noun.”
“O-ho! Sharp as a sword are we! Fear not, O Phoenix Mine, I shall reveal what must be revealed.”
“Well that’s not cryptic at all…” Sunset pouted as she pinged her radar while moving along. No flashing motes of red on the tracker just yet, but it never hurt to be too careful while dealing with the unknown.
After crossing the chasm, the voice had gone silent again, apparently watching as Sunset had barely missed the ledge, but Blinked up onto it in a shower of Arc light. She looked around again and spotted a small ramp leading to a doorway. The room beyond looked like a more traditional cave carved out of rock, but there was a circular rescission in the middle of it. All around this spot there were what looked to be small openings, each ringing the lowest point in the room, but each also on separate levels that looked like a bipedal being could easily jump up onto. Around this structure were several plates of metal, each spaced fairly far away from the middle area.
“Don’t worry, little Phoenix… The battles to be fought here are considerably far into the future. The Kingslayer has yet to awaken and believe me… You will KNOW when they awaken…”
“I wish you would be clearer in what you say!” Sunset yelled in frustration to the empty ceiling, “I haven’t had this much of an issue with things since Ikora tried teaching me how to use Void Light!!”
Looking around once more, the mare huffed in annoyance as she spied the door she walked in from, deciding to head back out the way she came. Making it back to the area she had entered from, Sunset kept her head on a swivel, looking around in both curiosity and annoyance, wary of most of the shadows that had started gathering in every nook and cranny… except for the body of water next to the rocky outcropping she’d Blinked up to earlier.
After making her way to the edge of the water, she spied a series of ledges that would let her climb higher into the cavern, all marked by plant life.
“I cannot make that wish a reality with words alone. Bargains MUST be struck in a very specific way, little Phoenix… And that way lies at the Wall of Wishes. Someone has come before you, to bargain with me as all are wont to do, but they left before the bargain was struck. Their Wish is still there… if you dare.”
“Wish? Bargain?” Sunset asked, “...This is sounding more and more like a bad idea…”
Turning to leave, the young Lightbearer found her path blocked by a series of crystaline structures that seemed to have grown in the space of a few seconds. Moving closer, Sunset found that they were exuding a… Dark aura.
“...not leaving me much of a choice, are you?” Sunset muttered to herself.
“Sunset… I have a horrible feeling about this…” Philomena chimed in from within her Guardian’s helmet, “I don’t think we should follow what this thing wants.”
“There are no other paths out,” Sunset replied, apprehension in her voice, “The only other doorway out of here was up that ramp and I can see crystals blocking that too. It’s up and into the unknown or we sit here and I die of starvation while you constantly rez me. To be honest, that REALLY doesn’t sound appealing to me…”
“...I can’t get a signal out either,” the Ghost said in response, “I’ve been trying since we walked in here. We’re on our own and I’m worried about you.”
“I’m scared too,” Sunset admitted as she Blinked over to the first ledge, “But… we have to go on. As afraid as I am of what’s waiting for us, I don’t think I could sit around and wait to be rescued either. I have this Light for a reason… Be Brave, ‘Mena. I trust you to have my back.”
Philomena hesitated for a moment, a certain wariness about everything washing over her for a moment before she shook it off and responded, “You lead, I’ll follow, Guardian. I’ve got your back. I promise.”
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~
After a brief set of jump puzzles, Sunset and Philomena found themselves at a wall with circular plates attached to them. The plates were suspended above a pool of water with another plate directly center of them on the floor facing the wall itself. Like the voice said, some of the plates were lit up and symbols were showing on them.
“The center plate will complete the wish… It will act as a way to move you from where you are, to where you need to be. I have been told that the experience is… less than pleasant, but it is not dangerous in the least.”
Warily, Sunset looked back behind her, seeing that crystals had once again grown to cover the entrance of the cave. Looking back to the wall, the mare steeled herself and stepped forward onto the plate.
“What now?” Sunset asked.
“And now… we meet.”
And for a moment, Sunset knew nothing. In that moment, it seemed as if eternity stretched before her, a black yawning abyss with no end in sight. Frankly, it terrified the poor mare and she wanted nothing more than to go back to the City, back to her father and curl up in the Iron Lord’s embrace.
Then, she knew once more. Her surroundings had most definitely changed. Sunset was now standing in a large, almost cathedral looking area with a tree overlooking three separate alcoves. If the Iron Lady looked closely enough, she could almost make out something moving in the shadows.
While she was occupied with looking around, Philomena had recompiled and started looking about herself, the Ghost keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.
As Sunset approached one of the alcoves, a shadow moved out towards her, a long bladed weapon held in its hooves. Yelling in surprise, Sunset dropped her bow and drew Zephyr, blocking the downward strike of the weapon that was aimed at her with incredible difficulty.
“Sunset!” Philomena exclaimed as she decompiled back into the mare’s armor, “Sunset! Hold on!”
“W-who are you?!” Sunset grunted out, her Light flaring in response to the sudden assault.
Teal eyes opened and looked Sunset in her own, a fanged grin met the mare as she struggled with the weight of the polearm she was locked with.
“I am Riven,” the shade responded in the same voice Sunset had been hearing on her way here, “And you shall be tested… O Phoenix Mine...”
Sunset was immediately on the back pedal, blocking hard, heavy strikes from her opponents Glaive with her sword as much as possible. Before the fight had started, she’d made sure to shift to her Well of Radiance ability tree, so every so often, she’d find the time to charge and throw her grenade to heal herself, however one thing became apparent after the very first strike against her.
She was woefully, helplessly under prepared for this fight.
“Even so young, you can still counter me, my little Phoenix,” Riven said as a compliment, “You are my first actual battle, truth be told, but I can see why my cousins and siblings endeavored to give Lightbearers the challenges they wanted and Wished for. Your Light gives you so much strength… but you have no will to USE it!”
When Riven said this last bit, the clearly not-pony being lobbed what looked like a grenade behind Sunset before shoving her headlong into a wall of crystals that had sprouted up from the impact of it. As the Iron Lady struck the wall, the crystals shattered, causing Sunset to shout in pain as the shards dug into and through her armor.
“I d-don’t even know what the hell is going on!” the mare cried out as Riven allowed her to catch her breath, “What have I ever done to you?!”
“Nothing,” Riven replied, “I am simply giving you a taste of what Midnight will be capable of. If you cannot handle me going easy, then HER darkest half will end you in less than a second. Your Ghost will not be able to help you, either, Little Phoenix…”
Staggering to her hooves, Sunset’s eyes widened as she shifted to her Attunement of Sky and quickly dodged out of the way of Riven’s sudden downward strike. Putting some distance between them, Sunset also drew her bow, nocking an arrow and letting it fly with as much precision as possible while on the move. The arrow struck home, hitting Riven in the ribs, but not doing much more than annoying the other being.
“An excellent shot,” Riven said as compliment, “But you are not fighting to kill.”
“I don’t want to fight!” Sunset snapped back, “There HAS to be a way to not fight anymore!”
“A naive dream,” Riven snorted harshly, “The Deep will not have any such notions of peace.”
The false-pony surged forward at a pace most Hunters would have been jealous of, forcing Sunset to dodge out of the way once more, quickly swapping to Traveller’s Chosen and rapidly firing off as many rounds as she could before tossing a Fusion Grenade at Riven. The grenade stuck fast to Riven’s ribcage before exploding, sending the being sprawling on her side, but otherwise mostly unharmed.
“Bait and switch,” the not-pony said as it stood up, inspecting the damage to her form, “A useful tactic, and one that would work wonders against Midnight. Her mind is far more straight forward than mine.”
“Who the hell is Midnight?” Sunset asked as she lowered her sidearm slightly, “You’ve said that name twice now, but I don’t know anyone by that name!”
“You will,” Riven replied with a shrug of her shoulders, “And she will know you far more intimately than you think, child.”
The being hefted her glaive upon her shoulder and leaned on it slightly, looking more relaxed than anything before sweeping her hoof around the area, as if wanting to point out something.
“The Deep will Take us all, and there will be nothing the Sky can do but watch as all it made is laid to ruin. Personally, I have no interest in anything the Deep and Sky do simply because a being such as I will continue to exist so long as there are Bargains that are unfinished…”
“That STILL doesn’t explain why you attacked me or what you’re testing me for!” Sunset yelled, frustrated at the non-answers and half-explained things.
“Indeed,” Riven said with a mocking half grin, “I suppose we’ll have to continue and see if we can’t wake something else up…. O Phoenix Mine.”
Riven charged again, the sudden burst of energy from her movements cracking the floor underneath her as she swung her glaive up at an angle, aiming for Sunset’s barrel. An instinctive flap of her wings brought the young mare out of the way of the slash itself, but not the follow up strike of the pommel of the glaive coming from the opposite side as Riven continued the lunge.
This went on for a little while longer before, frustrated and angry, Sunset bellowed out, “ENOUGH!!”
Darting forward, a determined glare on her face, Sunset drew her Dawnblade and brought the full fury of Solar Light to bear against her foe. Riven, a little taken aback by the yell and the sudden aggression started back pedaling herself, the Glaive barely able to block the strikes from Sunset’s fiery blade. Eventually, Riven needed to use her own wings to put some distance between her and her opponent’s wrath and flapped a good distance away. Sunset just swung her sword and sent energy flying towards the not-pony.
“Excellent!” Riven crowed out, “Use your Light! Let the Storm overtake you!”
Deciding to not answer back, Sunset just flung another blade of energy at Riven before her Light blinked out and she drew Subtle Calamity again, nocking another arrow and letting it fly at the retreating form of her foe, her aim true as the arrow hit one of Riven’s wings, dealing considerable damage to it and making the being shout in pain.
“An excellent shot!” Riven said as she stood tall, her left wing folded tightly against her barrel as she inspected the arrow sticking out of it. The not-pony brought the blade of her glaive up and then down on the protruding shaft and broke it easily. Then, with a hiss of pain, she opened the wing to its full length and pushed the arrow through, the half that was stuck in the wing clinking on the ground a bit.
“W-what the heck…?” Sunset asked as she watched the not-pony examine the wing once more and give it an experimental flap.
“You used your ability…” Riven began, “Now it is MY turn…”
“Sunset we need to be careful,” Philomena chimed in, “That thing is giving off all kinds of Dark energy and I have no idea how to counter it! I can bring you back as many times as it takes to stop it, but you can’t rely on your Super ability all the time…”
“I know, ‘Mena, but I’m running out of options here…” Sunset hissed back, wanting to keep Philomena out of the worst of things. The mare let loose another arrow, but went rigid as a wall of the same crystals went up in front of Riven just before the projectile hit its target. A sound like a glacier moving came from behind the wall and a burst of energy Dark and cold enough to swallow the sun shattered the crystals.
“As I said… My turn…” Riven said with a wicked grin, a staff of Dark ice floating beside her.
Sunset watched with fearful awe as Riven rose high above the wall of crystals the being had made, a wicked grin on her fanged muzzle.
“Best be moving, Little Phoenix!” Riven taunted as she thrust her staff forward. A blast of Dark energy flew from it, hurtling towards its target.
Eyes going wide, Sunset Blinked out of the way, a shower of sparks left in her wake as she reappeared several meters from where the blast eventually struck. The follow up burst of Dark energy from Riven’s staff sent the mare reeling, but not hurting her too much. She did, however, hear faint whispers in the energy, like a Voice beckoning her to simply… relent.
“W-what is going on?” Sunset asked softly as memories she didn’t know she’d had surfaced in her mind, prominent among them a violet skinned human with glasses smiling at her.
“Keep moving!”Riven growled out, sounding almost like she was HELPING Sunset stay focused on the battle at hand, “The Deep has ties to memory while the Sky has ties to the very essence of lift itself! To be lost in one is to be vulnerable to BOTH!”
Riven dashed forward in an overhead strike with her staff. Sunset brought her sword up again and blocked the staff, but felt her Zephyr start to buckle under the power that the Dark gave her opponent. Blinking out of the way again, the Iron Lady looked at Riven curiously, but didn’t say anything.
“Is this the best you can muster?” Riven taunted, “I thought you were made of sterner stuff, Child of the Sun!”
“I’ve still got plenty of surprises!” Sunset snapped back and glared at the dark form of Riven, “Just try me!”
“Oh but I am…” Riven grinned wickedly. She stepped forward and was met with an arrow to the face, which was blocked perfectly by the staff of ice she still held.
Sunset huffed in annoyance as she Blinked further back once more, getting herself very near a wall. She took a step back, then looked behind her, a plan forming in her mind.
“What?” she taunted, “Can’t follow me?”
Riven laughed, then surged forward, a blast of Penumbral energy leaving her staff as she flew forward. Before either the blast or riven herself got close to Sunset, the being’s power suddenly dropped, the Dark crystals that had covered her form falling away to leave a speeding body swinging her Glaive down in another overhead strike at Sunset’s body.
Sunset, in a moment of ridiculous luck, Blinked just behind Riven before the blast was about to hit her, the Dark form of her opponent smashing into the wall mere moments after her initial attack.
“NO MORE!” Sunset bellowed as she flapped her wings once, gaining a little height, before she unleashed a tremendous beam of Arc energy from her horn. The blast struck Riven squarely in the back as she struggled to pull her now stuck glaive from the wall, forcing the not-pony to cry out in surprise and pain as the energy washed over her.
As the torrent of Arc energy began to wind down, Sunset Blinked closer to where Riven was still reeling and let out a furious cry, her wings wrapping around her body for a moment before she hopped up a little, then aimed her horn down, firing a massive bolt of lightning into the ground. Riven, still reeling a little from the initial burst of Arc energy from the Chaos Reach grunted in pain once more as the shockwave from the lightning bolt hit her, sending her crashing against the wall. Before Riven could stand or even think about mustering up some kind of defense, Sunset was on her, a new torrent of Arc energy flowing from her wings and into Riven’s form, causing the not-pony to screech in pain as Sunset’s new powers were turned against the being.
Eventually, Sunset’s Arc abilities ran out and the little mare hit the ground, panting heavily while Riven did the same, laying on her side. The not-pony eventually attempted to struggle upright, slipping once or twice before getting into a sitting position.
“Better, Little Sun,” Riven spoke, her voice breaking with pain once, “Midnight will be a challenge for you, to be sure… but for now… rest.”
Glaring up at Riven’s now kinder looking visage, Sunset just huffed and shook her head, her legs trembling a little at the lack of energy she felt.
“What now, you may ask?” Riven said with a smile, “Rest. Then, I shall give you a gift. One that may aid you in the trials to come.”
With that, Riven hobbled away. Nothing more to be said and an incredibly confused and tired Sunset Shimmer left in her wake.
Philomena took that chance to recompile and said, in a fairly deadpan tone, “Well THAT was a thing…”
`~`~`~`~`~
After a long rest and a couple applications of a Healing Rift, Sunset was ready to move back to the Library she had started from. She was, however, still more than frustrated with how the battle went.
“All of that, the fear, that weird bunch of crystals, all of it, just to get me to tap into my Arc Light…” Sunset groused as she walked around the area, “That thing… what was it?”
“I’m not sure,” Philomena replied, hovering next to her Guardian’s shoulder, “But whatever she was, she was powerful. If the circumstances were different, I don’t think we would have survived…”
“This way, Little Phoenix,” whispered Riven. Sunset looked around, then to Philomena once more, a question on her lips.
“Did you hear that?” the mare asked, “It sounds like we’re being called…. AGAIN.”
“Like I said, You lead, I’ll follow, Guardian,” the Ghost said, decompiling back into Sunset’s armor.
Looking around, Sunset spotted a portal of some kind hidden in an alcove off to the side of the room. Walking towards it, the Iron Lady held her sidearm off to the side in her telekinetic grip, ready to squeeze off rounds if necessary. The portal itself seemed to be fairly innocuous, and there were no pings on her radar to speak of, so, Sunset went through, finding herself back in the library on the other side. Riven herself, still wearing the guise of the not-pony from their battle, was laying on a fairly large plush cushion next to the pile of books Sunset had pulled out earlier.
“What do you want?” Sunset asked warily, ready to defend herself if necessary.
“I said I would give you a gift, didn’t I?” Riven asked somewhat pleasantly, “No strings attached, I assure you. Well, no strings for you or your Ghost that is.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?” the mare shot back, “What even ARE you?”
“Nothing that will harm you, your Ghost, or your loved ones in any way, I assure you,” Riven replied, motioning to her side, “Remove your armor and lets get you cleaned up. The Queen and her booty call will be returning shortly. We must get you presentable.”
Scrunching up her face at Shaxx being called a ‘booty call’, Sunset let out a slight chuckle.
“Alright… I’m keeping my Traveler’s Chosen though,” she replied, “That still didn’t answer my question.”
“I am an Ahamkara,” Riven said simply as Sunset nestled in between the not-pony’s forelegs, “Wish-Dragons we are called. Our powers come from the gradient between what was… and what might be.”
“Daddy talked about them once,” Sunset said, thinking back to his story of fighting a dragon, “...are you going to offer me a Wish?”
“No, Little Phoenix,” Riven replied as she started to preen Sunset’s wings, “For all my power, I cannot grant you a Wish. You are simply too much of an unknown.”
Closing her eyes, Sunset let Riven continue the preening, relaxing a little as the Ahamkara’s tugging realigned feathers, easing some aches and pains the little mare hadn’t noticed before. After a while, the feelings stopped and Sunset opened her eyes, the Ahamkara having left fairly quietly. In her place, there was an egg. Looking it over, the mare felt a sort of connection to it.
“My gift to you,” Riven whispered in Sunset’s ear from what seemed like an incredible distance, “The last un-Taken Ahamkara egg inexistence. I do hope you’ll take care of little Ray… He is, after all, an Ahamkara born of Light.”
`~`~`~`~`~`~
With Riven having left and the Egg she had left behind safely tucked away, Sunset made her way into the main entrance to the library she’d wanted to see, the mare’s thoughts swimming with questions.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Keeping that egg, I mean,” Philomena asked as she hovered over Sunset, “From everything on Ahamkara in the Vanguard database, they’re nothing but trouble.”
“Riven said we wouldn’t be hurt by it,” Sunset replied, “Daddy said that Ahamkara never lied. Twisted words, made things different, but never lied. More like… ‘they are the lie that makes themselves real’. I think that’s how he put it anyway…”
“If you’re sure,” the Ghost replied, “I trust your judgement.”
And with that, the pair met Shaxx and Mara Sov at the gate before the Queen patted Sunset’s head, sending them back to the Tower with a Wish.
Warlord Shaxx sighed heavily as he watched the Crucible match ending in front of him. It seemed as if there were Guardians who lived and breathed the Light versus Light training ground he had set up, but that couldn’t be helped. Guardians just seemed to be drawn to the bloodsport that was the Crucible and it helped hone their Light for when they were forced to go out into the field by Vanguard Ops or the dungeon crawling and spelunking some of them had gotten up to in their down time.
As had become the norm, of late, Sunset trotted up to the handler and sat down next to him, watching the screen as it went to black.
“Another blow out match?” the pony asked curiously, her Ghost flitting about her head.
“Yes!” Shaxx replied loudly, “It’s like these rookies don’t know how to hold a gun!”
“Maybe because they don’t?” Philomena muttered softly, to which Sunset shushed the little drone.
“Maybe a story will get your mind off of it?” Sunset asked, “Daddy usually feels better about things when he’s told me a story.”
Seeming a bit caught off guard, Shaxx mulled the question over for a moment before turning to his arms master, Arcite 99-40 and said, “The Crucible is closing down for a little while. Those Guardians that want to fight something can take their fight to the Darkness for a little while.”
“Understood,” Arcite replied before turning to the terminal at his desk and sending a few messages to the next lineup of Crucible games.
“Come here,” Shaxx said, sitting down at his own desk and pulling up the dossier on an incredibly beautiful rocket launcher, “and let me tell you about the Battle of Twilight Gap… and the first of the Gjallarhorns.”
`~`~`~`~`~
It was quite a while ago now, long before Lord Saladin found you on Felwinter Peak. The Fallen House of Kings had felt that attacking the City would be their best chance at taking the Traveller… Word from the Reef at the time was that the House of Wolves were eager to join the attack as well, but some new upstart Kell felt that tossing his lot in with the Awoken and Queen Mara’s forces was a better choice. Good for us since we didn’t have ALL of the Fallen Houses arrayed against us, but still bad since we wouldn’t be able to call on Awoken aid if necessary.
In any event, the Houses of Winter, Devils, and Kings were all allied against us, the Fallen using probing attacks on our walls to try and get through, find a weak point and punch through…”
`~`~`~`~`~
“Did they find it?” Sunset asked with worry in her tone, even fear. A few Guardians on their way to report their findings from patrols or turn in bounties for the rewards they were after had also stopped and started listening, but Shaxx paid them no mind, only gently stroking the mane of the pony on his lap. (Shaxx would later deny that this had ever happened, but Sunset would always assure the Warlord that it was alright and it took far greater strength to be kind and gentle than to be rough and mean.)
“Yes, they did,” Shaxx replied with a heavy sigh, “Twilight Gap. A small abandoned military base just outside the City walls. That the Crucible now holds the territory and Guardians fight where heroes fell and Legends rose is a privilege and an honor.”
`~`~`~`~`~
When the Fallen offensive finally came to Twilight Gap, they outnumbered us by the score, but as always we had the Light. Holborn’s Host kept the Fallen houses off our backs while my fireteam and I did what we could to defend the outpost itself. Aerial bombardments were fairly close, however the Fallen had their own artillery. The fearsome Walkers….
After arriving in the solar system, Fallen began scavenging technology from everywhere they could, cobbling it together in to the weapons and armor they use to this day. This includes their tanks, Walkers. Large, heavily armored and armed with compartments for their Shank drones, a small rocket launcher, and a massive cannon, they are weapons to be feared. Though, not in the same way a Guardian defending their home is.
Before long, your father took a look at the situation from a tactical stand point and ordered a retreat. Instead of following his order, I looked to my fireteam, those brave loyal souls and their ghosts and… I refused. My fireteam and I pulled back to a gap in the Wall of the City, just enough to force a choke point…
Anastasia Bray. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Hunter more fierce than Cayde-6 before or since. Her Golden Gun was resplendent with the fury of her Light. She fell that day.
Liu Feng. A Sunbreaker, an exile from the City. Her Hammer of Sol left pools of burning sunfire in their wake, incinerating her enemies, but leaving her allies unscathed.
Nkechi-32. A Sentinel Titan. Her Barricades and Ward of Dawn kept us safe enough to resurrect our allies when we fell. She is a damn good shot with a rifle too.
Idil Abdi. The only Sunsinger I met who could literally sing with the Solar Light he commanded. His strength was our strength. He was much like the bards of old in that respect.
Truce. A Stormcaller. Groups of Fallen were annihilated the moment they came in too close. With his aid, we were faster, more responsive than normal.
Final Deaths were dealt. We kept the bulk of the Fallen forces from entering the City, shattering any hope they had of coming together to fight us ever again, but there were still some civilian casualties. My Loyalty to the City and the people who live here are what gave me the strength to stand and fight. That decision I made that day saved countless other lives and made it so children could sleep a little better at night.
That decision also almost cost me two great friends. My loyalty to the Light, the Traveler, and the people we protect caused a rift to form between Lord Saladin, Zavala, and myself. They kept spouting something about insubordination, though I tuned that out fairly quick. ‘If the people are safe,’ I reasoned to myself, ‘then my decision was not wrong. I offer no apologies.’
It wasn’t until you came into Saladin’s life that he and I even began to speak again. And I am greatful for that, Sunset.
After the battle, an armorer named Fiezel Crux felt that some sort of commemoration should be done. He took a team out to the battle site and collected the armor scraps left over from our forces. He worked tirelessly to craft… Gjallarhorn. To wield one is to wield honor against any attempt at our extermination. Or so Crux said at any rate.
`~`~`~`~`~`~
Sunset listened in awe as Shaxx told his story, Zavala, Cayde, and Ikora having joined the small crowd of Lightbearers also listening in on the story. As the story wound down and a Guardian from the middle of the group brought forth his Gjallarhorn to show an awed Sunset, Shaxx looked to the crowd and nodded to them all.
“Loyalty,” Shaxx said softly, catching Sunset’s attention once more, “Can be a heavy burden. And it can lift you up to heights unimagined. Trust your allies, trust your Ghost, trust your Light, but most of all, do not be afraid to remain loyal to yourself, even if the world around you seems like it will burn if you do.”
“I will, Uncle Shaxx,” Sunset said as she hugged the Titan, “I promise.”
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~
Deep within the European Dead Zone, far from the story a foal had asked for, there was a Shard. This Shard was filled with incredible power, so much so that it warped the landscape around it and caused all kinds of anomalies to form near it.
One such anomaly was a simple tree at its beginnings. For a time the tree lived and grew as all trees do, taking in the air around it and purifying it to produce breathable air for the world around it.
When the Traveler’s Shard landed near it, the tree became something more… Harmonious. Light filled the tree, causing it to take in any surrounding Darkness and make it something different in the same way that the tree made air. The tree became more and more crystaline as time went on, its trunk reflecting ambient light sources back in a myriad of colors.
On this tree grew five great branches, the tree looking as if it were a hand reaching to the stars.
At the very top was a dull red crystal. If one were to watch closely, however, they would have noticed the crystal flicker for a moment before a steady radiance shone from within it. It grew brighter and brighter until at last the cavern the tree had formed around itself was bathed in a warm red glow.
Several weeks after the encounter with Riven, Sunset found herself out on patrol with Mina near the ruins of London in the European Dead Zone. Saladin was reluctant to let her head out on patrol at all since he was certain the Fallen would only recognize her as the beast of burden she resembled, not the Guardian she actually was. Which was why Mina had volunteered to go along with the Iron Lady.
“Looks like there’s not anything going on,” the Titan said from her comrade’s side through her Helm of Saint-14, “May not have needed to patrol the area at all, really.”
“I guess,” Sunset replied, looking out over the broken up roads from the top of the roof they had landed at, “...this all makes me uncomfortable…”
“What do you mean?” Mina asked as she lowered her hand from her helmet, disengaging the optical zoom she’d added to the Exotic.
“It’s like… The City is alive and full of life and I can tell that, even from the Tower,” Sunset said as Philomena flitted about, “But out here… there’s life, but it feels… different. Not really bad, but kind of scary…”
Thinking for a moment, Mina nodded to a nearby building and said, “Might be something over there. But, about the feeling you have… I can’t say that it sometimes doesn’t feel the same for me, coming out to these old ruins. Seeing all that humanity has lost… all that we’re trying so hard to hold on to… it’s… a struggle some days.”
“We’ll set things right,” Sunset said with conviction as she Glided down to the ground where some broken overhangs and long shattered windows made a sort of cave. Peering inside and seeing nothing in the immediate area, the pony hesitantly climbed inside, Mina not far behind.
“So… any particular reason you wanted to see an Old Earth capitol city?” Mina asked.
“I was curious,” the young Warlock responded, Philomena lighting up like a flashlight in the gloom, “I’ve seen recovered pictures of how things were before the Collapse, but…”
“Yeah, post-Collapse Earth wasn’t pretty…” Mina said with a nod, her own Ghost, Tepes lighting up as well, “Dark Age it was called, apparently.”
“You didn’t live through it?” Sunset asked as she hopped over a broken table, then turned to look back at her friend.
“No,” Mina replied, “Tepes brought me back just before Twilight Gap. I was out on patrol, helping some New Lights get settled into their roles when the call came to come home and fend off the Fallen.”
“Uncle Shaxx told me that story,” Sunset said as she turned back around, winding her way through debris and to a chunk of broken ceiling that looked stable enough to form a ramp to the next floor, “...I asked Daddy why we couldn’t be friends with the Fallen, but he just told me not to try. I know he’s just looking out for me, but… They can’t be any different than we are, can they?”
For a long time, Mina stayed silent, knowing that her next words should be spoken with care, “...I heard stories from some of the older people living in the city… The Fallen would raid and attack indiscriminately. Anyone who was left alive was often left wishing that the quick death had come. An older woman, just before a party of Iron Wolves came through to stop the raid, was beside herself because a Captain had taken her youngest… and killed her. ...If we can be friends, if we can be allies, then it will be a difficult, painful battle for everyone involved.”
Sunset stopped on the upper floor, testing its durability for a moment before nodding down to Mina and saying, “Then all the more reason to mend that rift sooner. So we don’t have to fight or scavenge anymore…”
Going silent once more, Mina jumped and used her Lift ability to get up onto the next ledge, careful to keep an eye on her surroundings. She didn’t have a weapon drawn, though she did have her Fabian Strategy and a Matador ready to go if need be. There weren’t any enemies showing up on her radar, so the Titan felt that it was safe to leave them holstered.
“Peace would be nice,” Mina grunted out as she mounted the next ledge, Sunset already poking her head out the top of the building. “I’ve heard that the Reefborn Awoken have worked with the Fallen in the past. I think the one they allied with was Variks or something.”
“I see,” the pony said as she looked out over the crumbling city, “I’ll have to head out that way and meet him…”
Still observing the city, Sunset started having a nagging feeling of being watched. It was odd, especially since they were as far up as they were, but the feeling was there all the same. Looking around herself, the pony Guardian eyed the surrounding buildings with caution and a little bit of curiosity before speaking up to Mina.
“We’re being watched,” Sunset said in a low voice to her companion.
“You noticed it too then,” Mina stated in reply, “Doesn’t feel like they’re hostile, though. So we could probably talk our way out of it if you want.”
“Don’t draw unless drawn upon,” the Iron Lady said with confidence, “I want to try and make friends…”
“Understood, but I’ll have my Ward of Dawn ready at a moment’s notice all the same,” Mina said with a nod of her head, “Better safe than sorry. I’d rather you didn’t experience your first death out here…”
With a chuckle, Sunset turned and looked out over the buildings again, spotting what looked like a well made bridge connecting the one they were on to what looked like an old, and fairly ritzy hotel.
“This way,” the mare said, trotting up to the bridge and testing it under her hoof. It held and looked to be in relatively good shape, which was odd given the dilapidated look and feel of everything else around them. Keeping her head on a swivel and occasionally flicking to the motion tracker in her helmet, Sunset left her weapons holstered. Mina, however, had no reservations about keeping her weapon out and at a low ready hold, her finger resting easily on the trigger of her Fabian Strategy auto rifle. She wasn’t looking for trouble, at least truly, but as a Guardian, Mina knew trouble would find them eventually. This was a fact that was far more apparent the further into the building Sunset lead them, some unknown instinct telling the pony Guardian that there was something here.
Fallen tech made itself more and more apparent the further in the pair went, occasional pings from motion detectors in the helmets of both Guardians letting them know that yes, they were indeed being watched. Mina didn’t like this fact, her Light bristling a little at the unwanted eyes tracking her, but she disciplined herself. Sunset had said not to fire unless fired upon and so far the hidden figures just outside of sight or cloaked had seen fit to keep to the same mind set.
Eventually, however, a large purple energy barrier prevented any further progress, causing Sunset to look up and around, taking in her surroundings.
“This doesn’t feel like the outside did,” the mare said, looking at Mina, “It feels like… someone is trying to build a home.”
“What do you mean?” the Titan asked, her back to Sunset as she looked the way they had come. Mina could feel more eyes on them from around the large room. Again, the Titan’s Light bristled, ready to be called at a moments notice, but again, she schooled herself, keeping the anxiety at being surrounded by apparent hostiles at bay.
Instead of answering, Sunset took a step forward, her eyes glowing slightly in the din around them. Eventually, the pony stood just in front of Mina and flared her wings open. Light and a warm ethereal feeling came from Sunset’s body as Mina watched her friend perform an odd almost ritualistic bow, speaking flawlessly in a Fallen tongue.
“Tepes, what is she saying?” Mina asked her Ghost quietly.
“She’s… saying that we aren’t here to fight,” the drone said, “Parleying for peace essentially. There’s some kind of odd interference coming from her too, so I can’t make a one to one translation.”
A moment or so after Sunset stopped moving, the pony sat on her haunches, wings folded comfortably at her side as a Vandal stepped forward, hesitantly, from the shadows. Placing a hoof at her chest, Sunset introduced herself.
The Vandal, surprised at the display of peace, but honor bound to respond said his name.
Mina had, in all her lives, had never so quickly readied her Light to strike out at an enemy. The Fallen around her all flinched when it flared up, so much so that Sunset looked back and gave the Titan the strongest kick she could muster, forcing the other Guardian’s Light to blink out and fade as she doubled over.
“W-what the hell?!” Mina asked with a ragged breath, “Don’t you know who that is?!”
“Well he DID just say his name was Randal..” Sunset deadpanned, “And I just said we weren’t here to fight! So why the Lightshow?!”
“Because that’s Randal the friggin VANDAL! Probably the most well known Tower ghost story ever! I’ve seen New Lights coming in from the Cosmodrome that have come across this… THING and barely had been able to escape with their lives!” Mina countered hotly, “He’s dangerous, Sunset, and more than that he’s just as hard to put down as a Guardian!”
“He doesn’t look dangerous to me,” The pony said as she turned to look at the Vandal once more.
“I wanted to try and make peace,” Sunset answered, “But I’m not sure where to start.”
“Peace?” Mina asked incredulously, “Sunset did you KNOW these Fallen would be here?”
Ran’Daal grimmaced hard at being called Fallen and said, “Not Fallen. Not here. Here Eliksni. No Eliksni here EVER hurt hooman. All Caretakers or hatchlings.”
“What about YOU?” Mina shot back, anger coloring her words, “Have you hurt humans?”
“Lightbearers, yes,” Ran’Daal replied without hesitation, “Only protect self. Loss of life… of Light… sad.”
The look on the Vandal’s face, as covered as it was by the Ether rebreather he had on, truly seemed morose. Or as close as the insectile face Mina could see could get anyway.
“Sunset, we should go,” Mina said to the pony, but she stopped when she saw a small body crawling towards her. Sunset had noticed too and knelt down to greet the little one. She nuzzled its head and smiled happily as it cooed at the feeling. Not long after, another Eliksni came up and, looking fearfully at the imposing Titan, scooped up the hatchling and ran back into the relative safety of the darkened hotel.
“Was that…?” Mina asked.
“Hatchling, yes,” Ran’Daal said, “Innocent.”
“I… see,” the Titan said, “but why did that other one run away…?”
“You resemble The Saint,” Ran’Daal said with a touch of fear in his voice, surprising Mina, “Stories told of The Saint… we are… afraid.”
“Thank you for seeing us,” Sunset said as she stood up, “I’m glad I could meet one of the Hatchlings!”
“We can handle ourselves,” Mina said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Not safe for us,” Ran’Daal snapped back, “Must move. Hatchlings too weak to defend themselves. Do not look for us again.”
“But I…” Sunset began, but stopped when she felt a hand on her back. Looking up, she saw Mina holding her in place.
“We’ll leave you in peace just as long as we aren’t attacked with our backs turned,” the Titan said shortly.
“Came under truce,” Ran’Daal replied, sounding heavily offended, “Will leave the same. Not honorless.”
And with that, the Vandal turned to leave.
`~`~`~`~
Sunset was quiet the entire way out of the building. And the entire flight back to the City. And even when they landed in the Hangar, she had barely spoken a word. It troubled Mina that her normally cheerful friend had been so quiet and was about to ask what was wrong when the pony finally broke her silence.
“Do you… think we could ever find some kind of common ground?” Sunset asked as they walked towards the ramen shop in the Tower Bazaar, “They seemed a lot more like us, like the people we want to protect than even they realize…”
Sighing heavily, the Titan sat down next to Sunset and held up two fingers to the cook, asking for a couple bowls of food to be brought out.
“I don’t know,” Mina replied after a long moment of silence, “I’m a Titan. As intelligent as I am, my usual jobs tend to be ‘hold the line’ or ‘punch it until it breaks’. Diplomacy? Might as well be teaching a fish to fly.”
“But-” Sunset began, but was cut off by Mina’s upheld hand.
“Both sides have to be willing to strive for that outcome,” Mina continued on, “That much I know. And you showed them that at least one Lightbearer is willing to offer peace before showing them the business end of a Gjallarhorn.”
“Yeah, I guess…” the pony mopes as their food arrives.
“Itadakimasu,” Mina says as she pops her chopsticks apart and begins to dig in, “May be you should ask Ikora about it? Warlocks have always been scholars at heart. Diplomacy is something they at least entertain before fighting.”
Mulling the thought over, Sunset nods as she digs into her own soup, a course of action decided on.
`~`~`~`~`~
After parting ways, Sunset trotted over to where the Vanguard’s office was, hoping to catch Ikora outside of a meeting. On her way there, however, she noticed a… DARK presence nearby. Looking around, her head on a swivvel, the pony saw a brown robed woman looking out over the Courtyard from the ledge above where the path to the Speaker’s astrolabe was.
“Mena, who is that?” Sunset asked, nodding towards the figure, “She looks… kind of sad.”
“I think that’s Eris Morn…” Philomena said slowly in response, “But… she’s different than the last time I remember seeing her. I… don’t sense her Ghost anywhere.”
“Oh no…” Sunset said as she changed course to meet up with the cloaked woman.
As the pony approached, Eris looked up from her musings and regarded Sunset with a guarded look. Through the bandages around her head, Sunset could make out three glowing eyes and what seemed to be streams of darkness coming out from under them.
“Curious,” the former Lightbearer said, “You are not human, Exo, or Awoken and yet… I can feel Light coming from you.”
“Philomena chose me,” Sunset responded, “My name is Sunset Shimmer.”
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Eris says in return, “I am sure your Philomena has told you already, but I am Eris Morn. I must ask, however… what brought you to visit me? Most Guardians avoid me where possible.”
Shrugging a little bit, Sunset just replied, “You seemed a little sad. I wanted to see if I could help…”
Surprised into silence, Eris considered the pony in a new light. As she had stated before, most other Guardians tended to leave the sorceress to her mysteries simply based on the fact that she worked with Hive magicks. But even with that being painfully obvious, this little one came just to try and help. It was enough to make Eris start chuckling, then laugh, then break out into a friendly cackle. After catching her breath enough to notice the quizzical look Sunset was giving her.
“I am… as well as I can be,” Eris said with a slight smile as she beckoned the young mare closer, “You are truly a kind soul to reach out just because someone appears sad.”
Moving closer, Sunset sat on her haunches just in front of Eris as she reached into a pouch at her side, then brought out a small necklace made of some kind of glass beads and a small metal square with an odd X shape on it.
“A gift,” Eris said, “As my thanks for your kindness.”
“It looks really pretty,” Sunset said as she leaned forward to allow the sorceress to slide it on her neck. As it settled into place, the mare lifted the square up to admire it before letting it clink against the armor she was wearing. Looking up at Eris, who nodded, she went up and gave the woman a brief hug before sitting back down.
“Run along now,” Eris says good naturedly, “I do believe you had other business to attend to before the day gives out, correct?”
“Oh right!!” Sunset said as she remembered her reason for coming out this way, “I have to see Auntie Ikora!!”
And with that, she was off like a shot.
“Ikora Rey, an aunt?” Eris chuckled as Sunset bolted off to the Vanguard office, “Things have indeed changed. Your hunch was correct after all, my Queen…”
Sunset ended her sprint at the Vanguard table where Cayde, Zavala, and Ikora had just finished a meeting with the Consensus members and all three of them looked up to the sound of clopping hooves as the mare approached.
“Sunset,” Zavala began, “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“Oh, come off it,” Cayde said with a smile, “We all know you wanted to see the kid again!”
“I’m not a goat…” Sunset pouted, “I’m a pony!”
“HAH! I didn’t think of that!” Cayde laughed as Ikora shook her head with a smile.
“Jokes aside,”Ikora said as she walked towards Sunset, “How can we help you today, Sunset?”
“I… kind of wanted to talk to you in private,” the pony said sheepishly as Ikora approached, “If you have time, that is…”
“We’ll leave you to it, then,” Zavala said with a meaningful look at Cayde. The Hunter got the hint and nodded.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” the Exo winked as he walked past, “I’ve got a bowl of ramen just calling my name! Catch you later!”
As the other two Vanguard members left, Ikora walked back around to where her seat at the table was and motioned for Sunset to take a seat next to her.
“What’s on your mind, Warlock?” Ikora asked.
“Well…” Sunset said sheepishly, “I… may have run into an Eliksni… Fallen camp of sorts out in the ruins…”
Ikora looks Sunset over and responds, “Did they hurt you?”
“No!” the mare denies vehemently, “No… they… there was a lot of their young. Their leader didn’t want to fight… I just thought.. maybe we could find some peace with them if we just… I don’t know.. talked?”
Ikora looked away from Sunset just then, her thoughts racing. Fallen.. NOT attacking either the newly minted pony Lightbearer OR the Titan that had gone with her? It was… odd. Definitely not in line with any of the past experiences that Ikora had had with their kind.
“I… see,” the elder Warlock said, “I’m glad you weren’t hurt, Sunset. Saladin would have been incredibly upset if that had been the case.”
“Oooooh double stuft cookies I forgot about my dad…” Sunset cringed, “Can we… not tell him that I went willingly into what could have been an ambush even though it really wasn’t?”
Chuckling a bit, Ikora noded and said, “I won’t just outright tell him, but if he asks, it would be irresponsible of me to lie.”
“Alright…” Sunset sighed.
“As for your earlier question… we’ve tried talking to them before,” Ikora said softly, “The talks never really ended well. For either side.”
“O-oh…” the mare looked down, suddenly a little sad, “I see…”
“We’ll keep an open mind, though,” Ikora said gently, “If what happened with you today is any indication, then at least some Eliksni are open to the idea of stopping the fighting. Which is a very good thing to know. Thank you for bringing us this information… Guardian.”
As Ikora finished her sentence, Sunset looked up, hope in her eyes.
Ikora smiled a little to herself as she watched Sunset head up the stairs and out to the Courtyard from their little meeting.
“The little one is definitely different than most other Guardians, that’s for sure,” she said as she stood back up. Following Sunset’s initial path, the Warlock Vanguard instead peeled off and headed towards her own personal office. It was smaller than Zavala’s, but that was fine by her, the Warlock finding all the clutter of a large area a little too much for her meditations.
When she arrived, she sat down at the small desk she normally used for paperwork and brought up a list of her Hidden operatives. Quickly scanning through them, Ikora found the Hunter she was looking for and tapped on a button.
“Ikora-sensei,” came the voice over the coms, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Something of a mission for you, Rei-2”, Ikora responded, “I need to get in touch with the Reef and I know you’re on friendlier terms with them than I am.”
“Why not ask Lord Shaxx?” Rei asked curiously, “He seems to have a… relationship with their Queen.”
“You know Shaxx,” the Warlock Vanguard replied with a laugh, “He’d likely have me in the Crucible for a sparring match with the New Lights just for trying to ask him a favor. In any case, this isn’t for the Queen, though I know she’ll likely hear of this anyway.”
“Alright, who am I going to contact?” the Hunter asks, her curiosity piqued now.
“Petra Venj.”
`~`~`~`~`~
It took another three weeks from when Ikora called Rei and asked her to get in touch with the Queen’s Wrath to get a response. What the Warlock Vanguard hadn’t expected was for the Queen’s Wrath to show up on her doorstep for their chat.
“Ikora Rey,” Petra said as she entered the office, “I heard you wanted to speak to me?”
Surprised, the Warlock looked up from her paperwork and nodded in welcome.
“Yes. I had a few questions for you, if you don’t mind. Can I get you anything to drink while you’re here?” Ikora asked.
“Tea, if you have any,” Petra responded, “Earl Grey, if you have it.”
After the tea was served and both parties settled in for a comfortable chat, Ikora started speaking.
“I had a Guardian come to me with an… interesting look on a problem we’ve been facing for quite a while,” Ikora began, “I don’t really know how to answer her questions either."
“Oh?” Petra asked as she sipped on her tea, “What problem would this be?”
“Peace with the Fallen,” Ikora said softly.
Looking up, a little surprised, Petra set her tea down on the desk in front of her and asked, “It was Sunset, wasn’t it?”
“How do you…?” Ikora asked hesitantly.
“There was an incident not too long ago,” Petra replied, “The Queen noticed an incredible paracausal anomaly while speaking with Lord Shaxx. Apparently Sunset tagged along with Shaxx for their meeting, though they split up not long after arriving. When the offending party was questioned, all they said was that ‘Sunset Shimmer needed to be prepared’, whatever that meant. When I asked the Queen about it, she mentioned that Sunset was unlike any Lightbearer she’d ever encountered before.”
“I see,” Ikora said with a wry smile, “And Sunset is indeed vastly different than any Lightbearer before her.”
Tapping on the screen of her computer, Ikora brought up a recording of her first interaction with the Speaker and an image of what she looked like now. Petra had to struggle to keep a ‘squee’ from escaping her lips when she saw the foal drink an entire bowl of ramen broth.
“She’s… not human,” Petra remarked quietly.
“No,” Ikora agreed, “But perhaps because of that, she doesn’t have the same prejudices as humans do. She asked if we could be friends with the… Eliksni.”
Petra looked up, a little surprised that the Warlock Vanguard even knew the word the Fallen used for themselves. Looking back at the image of the pony Warlock in her Iron Lord robes, the Queen’s Wrath hummed a little to herself, then sipped on her tea again.
“It may take some doing, but I’ll see what I can manage,”: Petra said as she finished her cup of tea, “I need to speak with Queen Mara about it, but I think something can be done.”
“That’s all I ask,” Ikora said with a smile, “Thank you for your time.”
`~`~`~`~`~
Deep within the European Dead Zone, far from where a Warlock conferred with the Wrath, the Tree shone again. The branch in question held a dull purple crystal that flickered to life and began shining like the red one before it. The radiance from the branch grew and grew until it was equal to the radiance given off by Loyalty, both red and purple shining brightly and bathing the cavern equally in their glows.
Deep in an inscrutable forest, a Warlock and a Titan were searching for each other. The Warlock styled himself as a phoenix in every way while the Titan had a fondness for pigeons, the birds being one of many ‘Last Things’ that he strove to protect. The Warlock fancied himself the Sol System’s greatest mind and the foremost authority on the Vex, using their own reality engine on the once garden world of Mercury to help predict future events and hopefully find his lost love. The Titan entered the forest by force, following his phoenix in the hopes of bringing him home. To all outsiders, it appeared as if both simply…. Vanished.
However, one of the many Reflections the Warlock commanded brought news to him one day. A new, non-human Lightbearer had come to the City. The Warlock, intrigued, made his way to the exit of the forest, taking in the true light of Sol’s sun warming his bones for the first time in decades. Holding up his hand, a Ghost materialized and hovered there for a moment.
“Sagira… let’s see this new Lightbearer, shall we?” The Warlock said, “There was nothing about her in the Infinite Forest. She may be exactly what we need to safeguard… everything.”
“You know, you could just send Ikora a message and say ‘Hi’” Sagira sassed back.
Osiris gave his Ghost a pointed look as she giggled a little and got their ship ready to transmat them aboard.
`~`~`~`~`~`~
Sunset found herself wandering through the City with some unexpected time off, the pony Warlock just taking the time to be somewhat normal as she took in the sights. The residents, especially the children, were happily hailing the Iron Lady, waving and sometimes asking if she could stop and play for a while, and play she did. She always enjoyed seeing the smiles on the kids faces and even the adults who watched over them. Eventually, it got fairly late and Sunset began making her way back toward her apartment, passing through a garden on the way.
“Someone is following us,” Philomena said as she hovered nearby, “I don’t think they’re hostile, but your motion tracker is definitely picking someone up.”
“Hmm,” Sunset hummed, “Well, I guess we could sit a while. Daddy is out at the Iron Temple at the moment checking in on Granny Tyra and the wolves. I wish we could have gone to see them, they were the BEST cuddlers…”
“True, but I think it was more to make sure whatever he’s keeping an eye on from the Temple is secure. I’m not sure what it is, but it must be incredibly important.”
“Yeah, I guess so…”
With that, the pair lapsed into a companionable silence as they moved over to a bench. The stars, while not quite as visible due to the myriad of lights coming from the City, were still nice to see every now and then.
“I wonder when our little follower is going to notice I’m not moving anymore,” Sunset said suddenly to the open air, “It’s kind of rude to be following someone like this, y’know.”
“See, I told you! You should have just come forward, but nooo, had to be all mysterious,” said a female Ghost as it came forward, her partner walking into the mild lights in the area.
“Yes, yes, you can admonish me later, Sagira,” the man said, “We should introduce ourselves I suppose.”
The pair came forward and took a seat next to Sunset on the bench before the man said, “My name is Osiris. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”
“Auntie Ikora told me a couple of stories about you, yes,” Sunset said with a nod.
“….’Auntie’?” Sagira asked, a disbelieving shock in her tone, “If she’s you’re Aunt then who is the father?”
“Lord Saladin!” Philomena said from Sunset’s shoulder with a happy chirp.
Osiris was more interested to actually SEE that a Ghost had bonded with a non-human. He had been exploring the Infinite Forest for what felt like an eternity to him now and not once did any single one of his simulations ever predict something like this. An anomaly of this size, was… well, incredible. The elder Warlock sized up the pony and shrugged, thinking ‘comparatively, anyway.’
Out loud, he said, “I am surprised that a Ghost was able to bond with someone like you. Most of our enemies have been non-humans, so to see a Guardian such as yourself is… surprising.”
Turning away, Sunset looked back up to the Traveler and thought for a moment.
“The Speaker was surprised too. So was Daddy. And all the rest of the Vanguard. Daddy won’t let me fight though. Even though I’m a Guardian like him and I can take care of myself, he’s… a little overbearing sometimes,” the young Warlock said, “Even my last mission was more because he had thought that the area was already clear of Eliksni or Cabal. He definitely doesn’t want me dealing with the Hive at all. I don’t wanna deal with them either…”
Taken aback, Osiris looked up at the Traveler himself with a thoughtful look on his face before turning to leave.
“It was nice to meet you, Grandpa Osiris!” Sunset said in farewell as she also stood up to leave.
Osiris stumbled a little in shock as he looked at the adorable pony waving at him as she left the garden. Sagira watched on as well, her eye wide as she struggled to contain her laughter.
“Don’t,” Osiris said warningly.
“If you say so…. Grandpa,” Sagira said as she bust out laughing. Osiris let out a long suffering sigh before leaving, pulling his cloak down over his head a little further.
In the shadows nearby, a Nightstalker Hunter watched the exchange with keen eyes through his Graviton Forefit helmet. He had cloaked himself to keep an eye on Sunset, at Ikora’s request, and was about to head off when Osiris had shown himself.
