It had been about a week or two after the party everyone threw for me. Twilight forgave me –much to my surprise- and allowed me to make it up to her by taking her out on another date. Was it a mistake? Yes and no. I made it up to her in the end by not leaving her all alone with a broken heart. But it was a hollow relationship, a one night stand… sort of. At the end of the night she asked for one more kiss. I hesitated but ultimately caved in and just did it.

You ever kissed a pony? It’s weird. It’s not what you would think. You would think it’s like French kissing a garden hose. Nope! She has the body –sort of- of an animal but she is essentially human on the inside. It was like kissing another human being, but the fur is the weird part. I think girls who have kissed a guy with facial hair would know the feeling.

…

I’m off topic again.

Anyway, I was amazed at how understanding Twilight was about the whole situation. For both of us it was a tough pill to swallow. Now, onto a different subject. During the time Celestia had been in town she gave Twilight a book. Remember that old wizard’s book I mentioned earlier? Yeah, that book. Twilight was instructed to finish the last spell. Well she had cast it to see what it did, but to no avail.

The day after she cast the spell she had been singing yet another song. Something about how morning in Ponyville shines of something. But that all changed when she ran into Rarity. Who had Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark. She then spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon investigating the issue. Well, come to find out that that ‘failed’ spell did do something.

It changed the Elements of Harmony.

And since Twilight and her friends are the living embodiment's of the Elements it essentially changed who they are as a person, or their destinies as Twilight put it. When Twilight couldn’t figure out what to do she came running into my ship. Serenity and I were in the cockpit examining a few things when she came running up and explained what was going on.

“What do you want me to do Twilight? I wield no magic.”

“I don’t know!! Just something, please!?” she frantically pleaded.

She fell to the floor and buried her face into her fore hooves and started to cry heavily into them. I knelt down and placed my hand on her back. When she felt my hand she looked up at me with blood shot eyes and soaked cheeks.

“Twilight,” I said softly, “they are your friends and what do friends do?”

She sniffled and wiped her eyes with her fetlock while she sat up, “They *sniffle* stand by each other?”

“Through thick and thin,” I said with a small half smile.

I removed my hand while she stood up on all fours and looked at the back of the ship, “My friends,” she said quietly. Shortly after that, she closed her eyes while a bright white and purple hue surrounded her small body.

It was odd. Nothing I had ever seen…

...

Magic… duh.

As the light began to engulf her both Serenity and I put up an arm to shield our eyes. And as fast as the light came it was gone. Her eyes shot open while I lowered my arm. She turned and looked at me with a new sense of determination and a confident smile.

“I know what to do!” she said quickly before running through the ship as fast as she could, all while screaming, “Spike! Grab the Elements!”

I stood up. Remember when I said I had that feeling of ‘She’s going to do something big’? I had it again. Today was the day. Behind me, Serenity grabbed her helmet and quickly threw it on.

“We have to help her!”

I placed my hand on her shoulder when she walked past me. This caused her to stop and look back at me.

“This is on Twilight. Celestia ordered us not to interfere.”

“You can’t be serious!?” she asked out of disbelief while turning to fully face me.

I turned back and grabbed a rolled up piece of paper siting on the table next to me. I removed the seal and handed it to my teammate. She unrolled it and read it over and over again until finally letting out a defeated sigh while lowering her shoulders and handing it back to me.

“I was pushing my luck with that sentence,” I said while rolling up the scroll.

She turned and looked to the back of the ship, “I hope you’re right…”

A loud humming, a bright light and panicking voices caught my attention in the library. This time I had the decency not to kick the door in. But I might as well have ripped it off its hinges with how hard I entered the room. Inside sat all of Twilight’s friends who just stared at the large burn mark on the floor. I quickly walked up and placed a hand on the burn mark.

I looked up and around at everyone, “What happened?”

I knew for a fact that none of Twilight's friends would intentionally harm her. They quickly explained how the Elements acted up, shot these large beams of light at her and she just disappeared into nothing. Another bright light outside caught everyone’s attention. We ran out of the Library as fast as we could. In the sky high above us was Twilight's cutie mark. It pulsed like a heart as it descended to the ground getting smaller and smaller as it went. When it landed on the ground it disappeared, leaving Twilight standing there.

Yeah that big moment I had been anticipating had happened.

“Twilight…? Is that you?” asked Applejack.

She stood up a little straighter with her head held high and… wings? She had a pair of fucking wings! Twilight Sparkle… the little teacher’s pet of a unicorn… was… an ALICORN! A. Fucking. Alicorn!

Everyone gasped at the sight… except me... my jaw kind of hit the floor.

Her friends gasped before they walked up still shocked about the latest turn of events.

“Wha'... I've never seen anything like it!” Applejack said in disbelief while walking up to Twilight’s left.

Rainbow hovered over and grabbed Twilight's right wing, “Ha! Twilight's got wings!” she let go and leaned back in the air with her forelegs held out wide momentarily, “Awesome, a new flying buddy!” She said enthusiastically while giving Twilight a big hug.

Rainbow let go and Rarity walked up, “Why, you've become an Alicorn,” she said stating the obvious, “I didn't even know that was possible!” Rarity said, while holding a hoof near her chin in thought.

“Alicorn party!” Pinkie said while swinging from a pair of strings with cardboard wings on her back and a cardboard horn on her head. Once she reached the pique she started to blow a kazoo as… balloons hovered up and confetti fluttered from out of nowhere?

Now that I think about it, where were those strings even attached? We weren’t even anywhere close to a building! Never mind. After the whole train talk I stopped questioning her. Don’t get me wrong I’m a smart guy and I have been able to defy the laws of physics, but that’s with the help of the void. She just does it!

“Wow... you look just like a princess!” Fluttershy said with a smile while looking Twilight in the eyes.

“That's because she is a princess,” Celestia said as she descended to the ground nearby, which caused all of us to turn and look at her.

Everyone wore a look of confusion while they all said, “Huuuuuh?” in unison.

“Hold on a second!” Pinkie said before pulling out a glass of water from nowhere and doing a spit-take.

“Ah… ah Princess…?” Twilight said with a mix of shock and disbelief.

Celestia walked up and placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, causing her to look up at her mentor.

“Since you have come to Ponyville you have displayed the charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and leadership role…” Celestia said while looking at each of Twilight's friends before looking back at Twilight, “of a true princess.”

Twilight's ears fell flat “But... does this mean I won’t be your student anymore?” she asked, dis-heartedly.

“Not in the same way as before,” replied Celestia, “I’ll still be here to help and guide you, but were all your students now too.” She paused, “You are an inspiration to us all Twilight,” she said with a deep bow.

Twilight watched as all her friends started to bow to her one after another. When she reached the end of the line her eyes eventually landed on Serenity and I. We looked at each other and shrugged before placing our guns on our backs. Twilight's friends and Celestia stood up and looked at us. In unison we clenched our right fists and bought our bent arms out a little and slammed the fist into our left palm and gave her a deep bow. As we rose back to our original stance to see everyone smiling.

Celestia walked up with a light smile, “Congratulations Twilight on- oof!”

When Celestia was within arms reach I promptly slapped the solar princess across the back of the head, causing it to recoil forward slightly. Everyone but Serenity gasped. Celestia stood there a moment with her eyes wide and her mouth in an ‘o’ manner until I started speaking.

“That’s for not telling me!” I scolded.

“Yes… well…” she started while bringer her head back to normal and adjusting her tiara with her magic.

“Wait you knew about this?” Twilight interjected in disbelief.

I looked at her, “If you’re going to blame someone blame Sunbutt here,” I said while pointing a thumb at Celestia.

“Thank you Excalibur…”

“Your welcome…” I said over my shoulder, “I’m sorry Twilight, I was sworn to secrecy.”

Her head dropped while she looked at the ground with a sad expression, “I…”

“EXCALIBUR! WE HAVE A SITUATION!” Ordis screamed over the comms in my helmet.

Nice timing buddy.

My eyes went wide, “Ordis, what is it!?” I frantically replied while turning my head to look at my ship.

Everyone looked up at me, but I ignored them.

“I am picking up large amounts of void energy from the Kuria!”

Without saying a word, I bolted toward me ship in a full sprint. I ran up the first ramp, through the lower half, and up to the cockpit. I looked around in a panic for a second until I found the tiny artifact. The object glowed brightly as the energy coursed through it. Without hesitation I grabbed the object and ran out of my ship. I was worried this thing was going to explode, leaving me fully stranded. When I reached the bottom of the ship I passed everyone at the bottom. After running about 100 feet away from the ship while I held the Kuria like a live plasma grenade. I heard everyone running up behind me.

“Excalibur whats-” Twilight started.

I turned and looked back at the group, “Nobody come any closer!” I ordered while pointing a finger at them from across my chest.

Everyone came to a stop about 20 feet away from me. I turned back and looked at the glowing artifact. Every second I expected it to explode and kill someone.

“OUCH!” I screamed in agony and dropped the artifact. The overpowering heat it was creating was enough to melt through my shields and my armor, causing me to drop it and shake my hand in an attempt to cool it off.

It started to glow brighter and kill the surrounding grass. Once it got to bright I brought my left arm up to shield my eyes from the blinding light. Even that didn’t work, I was forced to close my eyes in an attempt to keep from burning my retinas. After a few seconds of intense light, I opened my left eye and lowered my arm and studied the Kuria.

A beam of energy shot out and hit me in the chest, causing me to tense up, arch my back and throw my head back before my armor locked up, forcing me to my knees.

“SHIT!”

“EXCALIBUR!” everyone screamed behind me.

“HURRRRAAAA!!!”

“NO WAIT!”

I watched as Serenity fell to the ground to my right while another beam of light connected to her side.

“WHATS HAPPENING!?”

I looked at the inside of my helmet and watched as my shields started to rapidly drain into nothing, “It must be draining our shield for power and our armor locked up to prevent damage!”

“God I hope you’re right!”

It was a tense few seconds as I watched all 740 shields drain into nothing. Once our shields reached zero the energy beams disappeared into the Kuria, leaving Serenity and I locked up. An awkward and tense silence filled the air while I watched the inside of my helmet as it started to reboot.

TOTAL SYSTEM FAILURE!

REBOOTING…

POWER LEVELS AT 50%

SHIELDS… REBOOTING

HEALTH… 100%

ENERGY… 300

“Well…” I looked over at Serenity with my eyes, “That was something…”

“No kidding,” she answered, still splayed out on the ground.

POWER LEVELS 100%

SUIT FUNCTIONS OPERATIONAL

“I think were good?” I said nervously while lifting my right arm. I slowly stood up while Serenity placed her hands under herself and propped herself up. Once we were finally up we turned to face everyone.

They all walked up and stopped a few feet away, except Twilight who jumped into my chest. She wrapped her forelegs around me while I wrapped my arms around her back and did my best to avoid her wings. She rested her head on my right shoulder while I just held her close.

“Excalibur, are you alright?” Celestia asked, concerned.

“Yeah,” I looked at the Kuria and watched it nervously.

Twilight adjusted her head and looked at the Kuria while we all watched as both of its ears fell to the side and a thin beam of white light shot out of the top of it. I slowly placed Twilight down but never took my eyes off the artifact. Orokin wording started to write itself out on a holographic screen.

“Excalibur… what does it say?” Twilight asked, nervously.

"You sought and you found

Relentless indeed

Keep one of the statues

As proof of your deed?"

I turned back to the group and raised an eyebrow momentarily before facing the artifact yet again. The holographic screen disappeared then turned into another beam before shooting forward and opening a larger round portal. I looked back at the mares behind me.

“Stay here!” I said firmly before I looked at Serenity and grabbed my Soma off my back, “Serenity, you’re with me!” I ordered.

She nodded and grabbed her Tigris off her back. We raised our weapons and slowly we made our way to the portal before stopping and giving each other one last nod of affirmation before disappearing into the ethereal gate. As we came out on the other side with our guns at the ready we examined the room for activity.

“Where are we?” Serenity asked while looking around the room.

I lower my gun, “An Orokin Tower or Frigate. The portal room to be exact,” I answered, “I won’t fully know until I find a control panel.”

I heard the portal make a noise behind me along with the gentle tap of hooves on metal. Both Serenity and I quickly turned around to see Twilight, along with the rest of the girls and Spike walking in while looking at the elegance of the tower.

“It’s Beautiful!” Rarity said with a large smile.

“Oh… wow!” replied Fluttershy.

“It could twenty percent cooler,” Rainbow said with a shrug of her shoulders.

“I feel… cold,” Celestia said with a shiver.

“And it’s dangerous,” I interjected, “All of you need to-” I heard the portal power down as the ring around it started to slow down to a crawl, “… leave… SHIT!” I said angrily with an over exaggerated head tilt downward.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked nervously.

I started to walk to the back of the room before I started mess with one of the round, gold panels on the right hand side. Everyone followed behind me and stood to my left and watched me mess with the dual console.

I let out an annoyed sigh, “The portal is cooling down,” I examined more of the contents, “Which means were stuck here until…” something caught my eye.

“Until what?” asked Celestia.

“That… that can’t be right!” I said out of disbelief before looking around the room, “No…” I grabbed the round console with one hand looked back at it and continued to examine the Orokin writing.

“Excalibur, what’s going on?” Serenity asked with a hint of worry and frustration.

I looked at her, “This is the Guardian… but…” I looked back at the console, “But... I watched her burn before my very eyes!”

“What’s so important about the Guardian?”

I looked at Serenity, “She was our lead Frigate! The biggest Star Explorer in the fleet!” I looked back at the console, “But… I don’t believe this…” I stood up straight and headed for large, metal revolving door, “Look... we can get more from the helm.”

We left the room in silence and entered one of the many large rooms of the Orokin frigate. I removed my gun from my back and took the lead. We entered one of the many rooms and walked around a separating island. Before the room turned into a ‘T’ sector where a lone Death Orb sat in the middle. I always hated those things. Damn lasers can cut a man in half!

“Everyone, be on guard and watch for-”

PTSSSSS!

I looked back to see Celestia holding a hoof up and looking at a large square that was now indented into the floor.

“… Traps…”

"Attaf!"

My eyes went wide, “GET TO COVER!” I screamed before taking up position on the left hand side of the wall where it curved inward while Serenity took cover to the right. I peered out to see Corrupted Lancers and Crewmen coming out from both sides of the intersection. Immediately they opened fire on us.

“Mother…” I leaned out from my hiding spot and started to unload the massive 200 round clip of my rifle into the on coming hoard. Bullets, golden energy shots and gunfire filled the air while Serenity and I held the line. Most of the Orokin rounds TINKED off the walls and the floor. But those that connected with my shields exploded in a bright flash of golden light. On the other side of the hall Serenity would fire both barrels of her shotgun, which would either drop a target or rip them right in half. After a few seconds I leaned back against the wall.

“RELOADING!”

I quickly dropped the old mag and swapped in a new one before leaning back out and continued firing. A few hits me here and there but my shields easily stopped the energy rounds from harming me further. After emptying another mag I leaned back against the wall yet again.

Twilight peeked and eye out from around the corner of the large divider, “What are those things!?”

“Corrupted Drones!”

That’s when it hit me…

Twilight and all her friends… are at risk of the Neural Sentry.

Let me explain, the Neural Sentry takes all unprotected beings it can and turns them into mindless attack drones. These Corrupted Grineer Lancers and Corpus Crewman are the offspring the Sentry. I don’t even know why the Orokin made it a thing!

I leaned back from my latest volley of fire and replenished a fresh mag. The gun fire had ultimately died down while bodies and body parts littered the hallway. Serenity and I slowly moved out from cover and advanced forward. The sounds of our foot steps on the metal floor only created the air more ominously. Once we reached the orb we lowered our guns. The sound of hooves behind us filled the tense air. Everyone had a hoof over their nose in a futile attempt to protect their nostrils from the smell of fresh blood and gun power.

“Stay close,” I ordered before looking at the group of mares, “You are all at risk of a fate worse than death.”

Walking past the orb, up a short stairway and around a corner we left the blood soaked room and into another larger room through a massive automatic gold door. Soooo... originally the Guardian was a civilian Star Explorer that was converted into a Military Grade Frigate. The elegance and plush amenities stayed. She was equipped with heavy cannons, hull shields, and military grade armor. Traps were added in case the Sentients ever got aboard. The surviving nobles in the colonies that invested in the ship and used it frequently weren’t too happy when we took it for military purposes.

We entered another one of the many rooms. Now that the Sentry was active, getting to the helm was not going to be easy. Immediately more Corrupted noticed us, screamed, and open fire, forcing the girls and Spike to take cover while Serenity and I dealt with the situation. Celestia, Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie ran up a set of stairs onto an elevated platform while Twilight, Rarity, Spike, and Fluttershy dove down into one of the fountains nearby.

I shouldered my gun yet again and opened fire with my Soma while Serenity took care of the ones that got to close. The place was infested! I’m just glad there weren’t Bombards.

“Tenno skoom!”

BOOM!

Me and my big. Fucking. Mouth.

A golden missile exploded next to my left foot, launching me several feet into the air and into the indented fountain while my rifle left my grasp and landed somewhere else. I landed flat on my face underwater while I soaked the three mares and one dragon further with water. All four of them held up a hoof -or claws in Spikes case- to shield themselves from the wet onslaught of water.

I propped myself up with my hands and pulled myself out of the two and a half feet of water, “Excalibur are, you alright?” Twilight frantically asked while lowing her hoof to the wet floor.

I growled, “He… is so dead!”

I grabbed my Skana off my back and Bullet Jumped out of the deep indent in the floor and hit the ground in a dead sprint. The massive Bombard fired another missile, which I promptly ran around. The next round he fired I jumped over before rolling forward, once I hit the ground I kept moving at full pace. Firing a third shot I slid underneath, this time I was close enough to make my attack.

I buried my sword in his skull.

I pulled my sword from the now split helmet and neural mask and watched the massive armor trooper fall to the ground as nothing but a heap of metal and flesh. Quickly turning to the left I drew my Lex and put two shots into the skulls of two separate Corrupted Corpus Crewmen. The ship was full of the Corrupted, because they just kept pouring into the room. It was getting really bad in that room! By now I had run out of ammo for my Soma and was down to my Lex.

But that wasn’t the worst of it.

After finishing off another crewman I let out a relieved and exhausted sigh.

“Okay… everyone’s dead!”

Slowly everyone peered out from around corners and nervously scanned for threats before emerging from their hiding spots. The girls that hid in the fountain promptly shook themselves dry –except Rarity, who complained about being wet and having a frizzled mane- whereas those on the platform slowly walked down the stairs from it. Everyone continued to look around nervously while we all gathered in a large group.

Serenity walked up and stood next to me, “How are you holding up?” she asked.

I looked at the inside of my helmet, “I’m out of ammo for my rifle and I have one-hundred and twenty-six for my Lex. You?”

She opened the shotgun and looked at it, “Two shots,” she said before closing it with a flick of her right wrist.

“Secondary?”

“Full.”

I holstered my pistol and turned around. By now we still had a large amount of the ship to fight through before we even got close to the helm. Because I didn’t expect this to happen I couldn't have Ordis do an ammo drop and I didn’t bring ammo restores! So we were going to have to make every shot count. But while I continued to think about the situation I didn’t even notice a panel on the ceiling open up while a few golden metallic robotic arms reached out.

“What the!?” Dash screamed upon feeling something grab her by her sides.

“HELP!” screamed Twilight while waving her hooves in all directions.

“What in tarnation!?” Applejack screamed while looking at the metallic arms.

Immediately everyone spun on their heels. I stared wide eyed as the girls were lifted into the air. Rainbow bit at the arm with her teeth, Applejack kicked hers with her back hooves, and Twilight just squirmed in hers. Why? Why did we make that a thing!?

“Serenity, MOVE!”

She drew her left Tonfa from her back and shot her Rip Line out of her right hand, which connected to the ceiling. She pulled herself up next to Dash and promptly cut the pegasus free. Dash quickly flew away from the arm and took up a defense stance next to the rest of the group. While Serenity dealt with Dash, I went after the closest pony, which was Applejack. I bullet jumped up and grabbed the arm with my left hand. With a quick slash from my sword she was freed. When she was released I grabbed her with my left arm before she hit the ground. We landed on the ground with her tucked safely under my arm. I placed her down before looking up at Twilight. She turned her head away while making panicked noises and frantically shaking her forelegs in an attempt to stop the new arm that was trying to get her face. In its grasp…

The Neural mask.

The mask attaches itself to the face, implants the power cables into the body through the nose and mouth and fully overrides all brain functions. And there is no recovering from it. Before Serenity or I could do anything, Celestia shot off like a bullet with a powerful thrust from her massive white wings. When she reached Twilight, she kicked the arm with the mask and used her magic to snap the arm holding Twilight, in two.

But since Twilight had had her wings for less than a few hours she dropped like a rock and screamed as loud as she could. Celestia grabbed Twilight in her magic… but that left her vulnerable. Two separate robotic arms wrapped around each side of the solar princess and held her in place, causing her gasp and drop Twilight, causing her to scream in fear yet again. She placed her hooves over her eyes, expecting the end.

But before Twilight hit the ground I dove after her, catching her in my arms and rolling before gently placing her in the floor. Once she was safe all our eyes fell on Celestia…

Who now wore a Neural mask on her face.

The arms released her and retracted back behind the closing panel. Celestia landed with a heavy THUD with her wings extended and her legs splayed all over the place. We just sat there stunned. The almighty solar alicorn…

Was Corrupted…

Time seemed to stop. After a tense few seconds a hoof twitched, then another. Next thing we knew she started to rise to her feet. She put her front hooves under herself than her back before standing up completely and flaring her wings.

“Pr-princess?” Twilight asked nervously.

Celestia's head slowly turned to look at Twilight. That dead mask struck fear in everyone. Corrupted Celestia's horned glowed bright yellow as a massive magic attack shot out right at Twilight. Her eyes went wide while she stiffened up like a board. Before it hit and obliterated the newest Equestrian Princess I grabbed her and rolled forwards toward the rest of the girls causing the massive attack to crash into the wall and melt the metal. Landing in a kneeling position I placed Twilight down before standing up and facing the Corrupted mare.

“Excalibur, you have to do something!!!” Twilight screamed in a panicked and pleading tone.

“I will!” I replied over my shoulder, “Serenity, get them out of here! I’ll meet up with you later!”

“Got it! Come on everyone!”

I heard her and multiple hoof beats on a metal floor behind me. It was a tense few seconds as the sounds of running faded into nothing while Corrupted Celestia and I glared at each other. I activated a timer in the lower left hand corner of my helmet and set it for one hour. Meaning that I had one hour to remove the mask before Celestia was removed from her own mind and replaced by the Sentry.

“So,” I started, breaking the silence, “It’s just you… and me.”

She just stood there and turned her head and studied me. It was amazing how fast the sentry was working, because the fur on her face began to turn from white to corrupted gold. Her horn glowed for a second before a massive magic attack shot from the tip and straight for my chest. Instinctively I opened my Venka claws and blocked the attack. As the light faded she took to the skies and continued to launch barrage after barrage after me. Everyone of them I either blocked or dodged by rolling one way or another.

When that didn’t work she hovered in the air momentarily before flying full speed right at me. She was going to use her horn as a broad head and impale me. Once she was within reach I dodged to the right, spun 360 degrees and promptly slammed the back of my left fist into the back of her head, causing her to crash into the ground and slide a few feet into the wall. I turned back and looked at Celestia, who was slowly rising to her feet on shaky legs.

She turned and slowly faced me before she spread her front legs and leaned down slightly. Her horn glowed brightly. As it glowed I could see small particles of light start to gather at the tip of her horn. Before I could even do anything she launched a massive beam of light at me. My eyes went wide at the massive ten foot by ten foot beam. Before it hit me I dove to the side where I landed on my stomach with an 'Oof'. Behind me the massive beam roared and hummed before it tore through the hull of the ship, causing the room to rapidly decompress.

“Woaaaah!” I said out of surprise while being lifted into the air. I waved my arms in all directions in an attempt to grab something before I was sucked into the nothingness of the Void.

Before I was sucked out of the ship I drew my sword from my back and buried it deep into the white metal floor, bringing me to a stop. While bodies and debris flew past me I gripped the handle of my blade even harder. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a living body fly by me.

“Oh no you don’t!” I said over the roaring rush of air while grabbing Celestia by her ethereal tail. She came to a stop and fluttered up and down in the decompressing wind while I held her tight in my grasp, “Twilight and Luna would kill me if you died!”

She didn’t respond.

I had to do something! With Celestia in my left hand and my sword buried into the floor with my right and my feet in the air there was no way I was going to be able to crawl all the way to the nearest door. But that’s when it hit me.

‘Capture device… duh!'

I activated the device in my left palm and watched as Celestia was absorbed by a bright orange light into my palm. When her tail was absorbed I opened my hand and adjusted it so I capture her properly. As soon as the sequence ended I let out a relieved breath and opened my left Venka and buried it into the floor below me. With each stab of the claws into the floor I crawled my way to the nearest door.

Following the mini-map in my helmet I finally rounded the last corner where Serenity and the girls stood nearby. Upon hearing footsteps Serenity spun 180 degrees and raised her gun to her shoulder and and pointed it right at my chest.

I ignored it and kept walking, “You have that map in your helmet for a reason Serenity.”

She lowered the gun, “Sorry… I’m still on edge.”

“Aren’t we all?”

She went silent for a moment, “...What of Celestia?” she asked, concerned.

I held up my left hand and waved it, “I got her,” everyone let out the breath they didn't know they were holding, “Get ready to hold her down,” I ordered Serenity.

She nodded, put her gun away and got into a ready stance. I held out my left palm and watched as Corrupted Celestia started to materialize. Once she was fully formed Serenity tackled her and pinned her to the ground with her body while she held her head down by the mares horn. I bent down on one knee and grabbed the mask with my right hand. With a forceful tug I removed it from her face.

Celestia gagged and gurgled noises while the robotic cables buzzed and vibrated as the mask was removed from her esophagus, causing everyone to wince. Once the thing was free my right arm flew over my head for a second before I brought my hand down and looked back at the golden mask. The cables flailed around frantically in a failed attempt to grasp its next victim. I shuddered before crushing the thing in my hand and throwing it over my shoulder.

“Ohhhh…” Celestia moaned on the floor while her Corrupted gold coat began to disappear, “What happened?” she adjusted her head and looked at Serenity, who still had her pinned to the floor, “Serenity, what are you on top of me?”

“Long story,” I said, trying to avoid that fact that she nearly killed us. Serenity let go of Celestia and stood up off of her. I bent over and helped the mare to her feet. She held a hoof to her head while Twilight ran up and hugged her. After a couple seconds of crying and reassuring comments, we started walking again. The girls and Spike walked in a tight group behind Serenity and I while looking in every direction for the next thing that would jump out and grab them.

The resistance from that point on was minimal. We only ran into the occasional squad or patrolling Crewman or Lancer. It felt like an eternity but we eventually reached the helm and the door opened just like any other. But what was inside wasn’t the normal Orokin frigate helm. The room in itself was dull, grey metal instead of the regular Orokin white. All around the room were panels… lots and lots of panels. Each one was a video feed. They hung from walls, the ceiling, and many sat on the floor. From what I could tell they were active Tenno in missions of all kinds. Capture, defense, exterminate, and so on... But right in the center of the room sat a large metal spire with massive wires and cables hanging off of it. They hung from the top and disappeared into the floor. The sound of gears turning and the spire moving caught our attention. As it slowly turned I could see a body.

And my blood boiled like the surface of the sun.

“Hello Excalibur,” a familiar voice said as the woman faced us.

SHING!

“YOU!”

Author's Notes:

Well that would be the beginning of the end of Season 3. Next chapter will be some action but mostly explanations. Then onto Ember's back story and onto Season 4! Don't worry were not done just yet