I never liked the void. Traveling through it left a sour taste in my mouth, and I never liked tasting sour things. Through all of the void, most of it was empty, barren of any life, or life that was once there, destroyed by the Grineer. Some worlds were destroyed by their own suns, others were blown apart in the war.

The War...I do not remember much about it. There were lies...secrets...Who was the Lotus before? My memories are scattered like the shattered planets.

"Operator?" I nod to Ordis, allowing him to speak. I am thankful that he broke me from my thoughts. Often, I am trapped within them and wait for Ordis to snap me out of it. The -THE BITCH- Lotus has a mission for you.

I walked over to the coms of my ship. I enter in my Tenno ID and open the channel.

"Tenno, there is a wormhole that opened two sectors out of our zone. I would like for you to check it out. Further information includes that this wormhole is unstable, but it do beware Tenno that if you cross over, we will not know where you end up. You might not also be able to return."

I frown behind my armor. This sounded dangerous, but as a Tenno, I must follow the Lotus's orders. Whatever may lay beyond might benefit the rest of the Tenno. And...Because I am only one, the masses matter more. My life yes is important, but the future will never come if sacrifices must be made. My life could lead humans to a new age, a new renaissance of cultural understanding.

It was quiet, Ordis hasn't said anything for a few moments. It was worrying to see my ship is damaged from my sleep. How long have I slept? How long have other Tenno have slept, it is a very hard question to answer. All of our ships had something wrong with the AI or the ship itself. I heard another Tenno awoke on Eris, and his ship blew up as he took off. What happened that had caused us to sleep for so long? Like...something was wrong.

"Operator? I do not think that  this will be a good idea. Data indicates that -BURN IN HELL!- Lotus isn't sure what will happen. Are you sure you will accept this." I nod to my AI. As I saw the ship turn, I heard him say. "Please equip your Scout set operator. -THIS COULD GET BLOODY C- A very unpleasant experience."

Ordis activates the jump to hyperspace. It'll only take two minutes to reach the wormhole with the new warp systems I have installed. I had already spent most of my time in the void searching for parts, I can only hope my new armor will be finished before something goes wrong with this wormhole.

I travel down to the lower deck, a small space filled with all sorts of cool things. I had a Foundry where I could create weapons, armor, or utilities such as ammo packs. To my left, there was a Modification Station, where I could upgrade my current modifications with old useless mods or Fusion Cores. In the back I had my still broken incubator, but who said anything came good out of an egg? Besides, what was all the way in the back, sitting center with the wall was my Armory. I owned three specialized sets with different armors I found my favorites. I understood other Tenno disliked my tastes, but I quite enjoyed walking around on Jupiter with basic armor. One would might say, I don't dress to impress, but for convenience. Besides, Nyx, Oberon, and Chroma are amazing suits.

My Scout set, the set Ordis had recommended was my Nyx armor with high shields and low health to save room for stamina, and I had added an upgrade for my shield regeneration. Oberon was used when I was working with other players to assist when on Defense or Survival missions. Chroma was for general purposes, like gathering materials or Tenno Duels.

Nyx was equipped with a Heat Sword, Dues Exfuris, and a Lunnux. The Heat Sword was modified like my other weapons with the ability to cause blast attacks and lighting. Dues Exfuris had ammo upgrades and impact upgrades while the Lunnux was still new , and had only damage upgrades and a single ammo drum to increase my clip sizes.

I equipped my Nyx armor and see Ordis pulling from hyperspace, and then I hear the amazing thump of the ship blasting compressed atoms harmlessly out into space. I enjoy the feeling of exiting hyperspace, it is truly exhilarating. I step up to the window, and view a massive swirling vortex of many different colors. I've also modified it so I could wear it as the original design was left to the female Tenno, I liked how it gave me a lot more maneuverability during stealth missions and scouting areas.

We have arrived sir. And might I say it is truly a pleasure working with you. I couldn't do anything other than just nod in agreement. While Ordis was broken like most other AI, he had this war driven personality I enjoyed. The occasional glitches that I could fix are well still there, and I do not think Ordis would want me to fix him. He knows he can also fix it at anytime, but chooses not to. Operator...before we go in...I would like to shut down for a long time. If something happens to me after we exit the other side...I do not want to risk hurting you." I tear up behind my helmet, I could tell Ordis knew I was crying.

This was a mission that I might not survive. The Lotus has entrusted me to be the first to cross over, and...I am just another. I walk over and set down on my legs. Then, I closed my eyes, I feel the ship move forward.

"Shutting down all core functions...Good bye, -SILVER-. I begin to shed tears as I stand up and move to the back of the ship. All the systems are shutting down now. I raise the hatch to the lower bay and walk over to the Armory and hope that it'll protect me while I am in the shields. I set my shields to kinetic damage and hope I survive whatever may come.

As a great human had once said..."One small step me...One giant leap for Mankind...". The ship exits, instantly the whole ship starts to rock, and I begin to cry more. As a Tenno, I am trained for anything...but I was never trained, nor remember training for anything like this. A few painful minutes pass by, and all I remember is crashing.

At the northern parts of Equestria, a new nation sat in a frozen desert. However, this nation was protected with a very powerful artifact known as the Crystal Heart, and it protected the ponies made of living crystals. They were ruled by two very wonderful Equestrians who showed these troubled ponies that they could be helped. And so they did, and so much more. They were leading the renewed empire to another golden age.

As their princess, Princess Cadence as she preferred to be called by all, walked down the halls of her tall crystal castle, she felt a strange feeling deep in her stomach. It wasn't the foal on the way, that she knew, she could feel when her foal kicked or moved, but this was different, so...strange. She followed the feeling all the way out to her balcony. There was something stirring in the air, it felt so off, it wasn't good.

"Feeling alright honey?" Cadence turned to see her smiling husband, Shining Armor. His white coat was matched with two tone blue mane.

Cadence shook her head, and turned it back to where her gut was telling her to look. "Something doesn't feel right. The wind is running wild, the skies are trembling, and there's a feeling in my gut that I can't ignore."

Shining Armor took a few steps closer to his wife with a concerned look. "Something wrong with the baby?" He gently touched Cadence's stomach.

"No....it's just so...off."

-WWWOOOOOOMMMPPPPPFFFFFF!!!!!!!-

Over head a massive red and black dot rocketed overhead. Shining summoned a shield over them in instinct to protect his wife, and to-be foal. It didn't penetrate the shield the Crystal Heart protected the kingdom, but there was still a blast that shook the castle. Inside crystals shattered as they broke off of the main structure.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Shining screamed. Lowing the shield he looked out and followed the trail of black clouds fly deep into the frozen wastes.

"Can you go get that checked out?" Cadence asked after checking on herself.

"You bet! We'll be out before you know it!" Be ran off, but quickly returned to give Cadence and his foal a kiss. He looked into Cadence's eyes and nuzzled her gently. "I'll be careful."

"Come back safe, that's all I care about."

"I love you sweetie..."

"And I love you too Shiny."

Shining Armor began to bark out orders like lightning. He rang alarms throughout the castle and outer regions of the empire. Guards came by masses, ponies were told to stay inside their homes. While fear began to rise in the pits of his stomach, Shining Armor swore he would keep his wife, and the rest of the empire safe. Until his last breath, he would keep this oath.

With a squad of thirteen earth ponies, six pegasi, and four unicorns, Shining led on. After they had met at the shield Shining had stopped them. He spoke about the empire with such passion, using his silver toung to help break their fears of the unknown. "I'll lead us." He said over and over, followed by; "There is nothing to fear." As his words hit home to his squad, his own fear began to rise. One would think while he took away their fear, it all went to him.

His mission could end his life if things go bad, not only this, but other's as well. It was dangerous, the time it took to get them ready for action took longer than he needed, but with the flashes of protection spells from the mages and himself, they ran out into the frozen fields. Their hooves hit the ground at the same time, and with the same step, they ran as fast as they were trained. Rage, and other emotions were keeping the prince of the Crystal Empire on his metaphorical toes. Worry was also there, worry for the future of all, not just the empire.

The trail of black smoke from the object was still fresh and a pillar was starting to act like a beacon to where it had crashed. Heat from the strange metal object had melted a path, leaving a river of water as a trail. With a combination of the fresh water and dark smoke helped give them a path to follow, making the trip all the quicker.

After a full ten minutes of constant running, they found what they were looking for. The snow around it had completely melted and the dead grass around it had turned into black ash. Some of the ground was super-heated and was still burning. A quick look showed the metal thing they were looking at was still intact, but it was burned from the entry. Shining Armor looked to his companions, some had worried looks on their faces, while the unicorns looked rather interested in it. One had taken a step forward, but Shining Armor had shook his head and held him back.

"I'll go first, I want the pegasi to scout around, two earth ponies and another unicorn to come with." He was answered with either nods or 'Yes Sir's.' He walked around it a few times, wondering what he was looking at. A quick scan had showed there was only one life form inside.

"What do you think it is sir? I haven't seen anything like it!"

"Stay calm Blue Light, this could be dangerous."

Blue nodded as he narrowed his eyes. "Understood sir, but we should try to figure out what this is before we try to find out where this creature may be at."

Shining nodded back to Blue. The unicorn was at the top of his classes, and had passed with honors. He rapidly rose through the ranks, and was the top of the guard. The only thing keeping him from being captain was his attitude, but that was slowly getting better. "I wonder where it had came from." Shining had stopped to inspect the burnt glass, it was all still intact, but there were some damages to the front as to be expected. He wiped some of the ash off the glass and saw an entire room inside.

"There's more to it?" Asked Blue as the earth ponies began to rear up.

"What would you like us to do sir?" Cold Steel had asked with a static expression. It was like he wasn't even fazed by the strange thing.

"Can you break a small section of the glass? Big enough for two ponies by width?"

Cold Steel smiled. "One moment." He placed his hooves on the glass and hummed. Shining Armor knew what the stallion was doing. Cold was testing the glass with subsonic waves to find it's exact thickness down to the atom. "The glass is six inches thick, blown...seven times...no! Eight times."

"You sure?"

"Yes sir!"

"Can you break it?"

Cold gave an evil smile Shining had loved to see. "Of course! Shield Breaker!"

"Right!" Shield stood next to Cold.

"On three!" Shining called. The stallions stood on their forelegs and cocked their hooves while they focused their strength to their hooves. "THREE!"

"YA!" The earth ponies shouted and their back legs hit the glass so hard it didn't even crack when the space for two ponies had fallen inside of the thing. Shining had felt a drop of air pressure around them and teleported the earth ponies far enough back so they weren't hit by a wave of steam. It had seemed the room was super-heated, but it was empty.

With a protection spell that protected him from the heat, he jumped inside. Quickly Blue followed in and started casting spells to scan for the life form. Blue pointed to a thinner section of the room where the prince saw a rectangle outline. He walked over to it, and knocked on the metal. He received hollow echos.

"It has another room. Can we get an earth pony?" Blue asked.

"I do not think that will be wise, nor do we need them." Answered Shining with a smirk. He used his magic to make the thing drop. And so it did into a ramp where they saw the creature.

There it was, laying on the ground with a blade that seemed to give off heat. It was in some strange armor that with a quick scan showed it was attached to his body at different points. There were also two odd looking boomerangs on his sides, and a metal rod on his back next to the sword. He also seemed to give off heat which was coming from the armor itself.

"What do you think it is?" Blue asked in a hushed tone.

Shining Armor scanned it and found it to be gravely injured, but it was lucky to be alive. "We need to take it to the empire. Tell the pegasi to set a flare for a med team." Shining saw Blue salute and exit the compartment. It was dark except from the light coming off the sword, and his horn. A few questions best left to be answered by the creature itself. What was it, where had it came from, and why was it here?" The only weapons he saw was a sword and his other equipment.

Something began to glow around the creature from its legs to its head. "What the..."

It struggled to move its arms, and Shining heard it cough a few times. Slowly it stood up over Shining Armor, standing nearly seven feet high. It looked down and tilted its head. It slowly pulled out a small rectangular cube and gave it to Shining. He grabbed it with his magic and examined it. Slowly his eyes widened, what he held was a badge, or what looked like a badge. He looked up at the weird creature and saw there was a strange marking on his shoulder that was similar to the 'badge'.

"Can you understand me?" It nodded to him after a moment. "What are you?" It pointed to its throat and made an 'X' with his long spidery claws. "C-can you not speak?" Again another nod came from it. "Well, if you can't speak, then how can I know what you are?" It stepped around him and walked up the ramp to the room. It paused to look at the hole in the glass and shook its head a little slowly before it knelt down to a small metal circle in the floor. A picture made of light appered which slightly startled Shining Armor.

"Operator?" There was a heavy sigh behind the mask of the creature. "OPERATOR! Oh thank the programmers! We have survived! It nodded in agreement, and looked to Shining Armor. "Oh! It is a new creature!A whole new alien species! Should I start introductions?

Shining Armor stepped forward to the light. "Can you tell me what you are...or where you are? How come I hear a voice and I see no body?"

"Starting Introduction: Hello sentient being! We are glad that we are able to come to an understanding and speak in peace! Shining mouthed the word 'peace' and sighed in relief. My name is Ordis, and I am an Artificial Intelligence. The being that you have either have discovered, captured, or might have already killed is known as a Tenno. They are skilled fighters and serve the Lotus to protect planets from hostile invasions or take-overs.

Shining Armor rubbed his chin while Blue had stepped back in. "WHAO! When did it wake up!?"

"A few minutes ago Blue...And it seems this whole squad was out for nothing..."

"On the contrary sentient! Tenno agents cannot wake up after they have gone into stasis until another finds them. It is at this point I should contact the Lotus and inform her of our survival. One moment please...."

"Who is the Lotus?" Shining asked.

"The Lotus is the commander of our peace corp. Whenever a planet or moon that is inhabited and is attacked by hostiles, the Lotus informs and sends the Tenno out."

"What are the Tenno?"

"Operator?" The Tenno nodded. "There are over six million Tenno agents recorded that have woken up, and only half have been converted to other hostile forces."

"This will be my last two questions...Ordis... How come this Tenno or other Tenno can't speak? And are you the side of good or evil?"

"Right to the point. Operator, I do like these creatures already. To answer your question sentient, Tenno are not allowed to speak, but can. They are sworn to silence after taking the oath of Order that the Lotus announces. After that, they are no longer allowed to speak even when it is required. Only when the ship, which is I -Ordis- is no longer functional can the Tenno talk as this is a sign that they can no longer uphold the oath. This Tenno, -SILVER- has been found by forces of evil, but was able to defect with the Lotus's assistance."

Again Shining Armor sighed in relief. "Alright. Can you and this Tenno come with me?"

"We can, but it is requested that all other sentients in the area enter me to avoid disintegration." Shining gulped and nodded to Blue. Almost instantly the ponies began to crowd inside the ship, and the Tenno was seen in a very confused state. "LETS GET READY TO RUMB-! Lift off in five....four....three....two....one...."

The whole ship lit up with red lights as the systems began to turn back on. All the ponies around the Tenno had scared looks on their faces, and all he could do is smile at how these creatures were reacting to everything. Shining Armor was giving him a light glare, as the stallion had not expected this at all. The ship hummed to life, systems beeped, booped, and blooped. The engines began to hum and whirl.

Tenno lowed his hand and pointed to the hole in the glass where the equines had broken into his ship. "Welcome aboard sentients I am your -DEATH- ride for the evening. Please make sure that you are secured and we'll arrive at the nearest city."

"Mr. Ordis, the Crystal Empire is four miles north of here." Shining had stated.

"Oh that helps so -MUCH YOU FAG- much sentient."

Ordis moved the ship along at a slow pace, much slower than he had liked to normally travel, but when the Tenno had pointed out the hole, he slowed down so they weren't blasted back by the sheer speed. While the Tenno could withstand the force, Ordis had heeded the warning he made. It only took a little under four minutes.

When the Tenno saw the Empire, Shining Armor watched the bendable metal in his helmet go down here his chin was. "I wonder if you can take that mask off so I could see that face." He said smugly. The Tenno only shook his head slowly, and closed his mouth shut. "Darn...I thought I could see what you are." Tenno only shrugged and tilted his head. "I'll take that as a maybe?" A nod. "Cool, can I know you by something. I can't stop thinking you as just something." He tapped his chest at the silver painted symbol on it. "Silver? OH! Is that your name!?" Silver nodded. "Well...damn. You have a last one?"

He shook his head, and Shining shrugged. Ordis began his approach... Next Chapter: II Estimated time remaining: 58 Minutes