This RP takes place ten years after the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows, New Equestria has popped up from the cleaned Wastelands, enjoy your time here.
"The reason you have never heard of MY travels with the Light Bringer is, like I said before, I asked that only I would tell of my part of the story, and for them to censor me out if they do." Julion told the crowd that had assembled before him under the branches of the largest tree in Junction Town. He had just reciting his part of the famous journeys of the Light Bringer, and the ponies around him just ate it up. He got up from his position that had his back against the tree, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a favor to do for a long lost friend if mine." he said as he started to make his way through the crowd. He knew that they were watching him, watching his scar, the scar that Calamity, his now friend, had given him 15 years ago. "Goddesses I'm getting old." he muttered to himself, and he looked it to. His once clean ocean blue mane was now streaked with gray that he found reminiscent of sea foam, and his scar had faded with age, though still very visible. After he had found a spot where he could sit by himself, and looked at a far away tower, "Don't worry Pipp, Soldier's a coming." he said to it, knowing that if she had one of those cameras pointed this way, she would see him.
Marion took a quick glance at the area around the wagon labeled Absolutely Everything. "That's everything, then?" He asked as the last pony moved the irradiated water off the cart. The pony nodded and walked off to do whatever ponies do after they move crates of water. Marion just scratched the back of one of his ears and turned to walk back into town. They didn't need him to deliver the water, just to unload it. Besides, he was a mercenary, not some mare's delivery boy! Just as he was about to wander off, a voice caught his attention. "Marion! Oi, over here!" it shouted. He looked about himself, looking for the source of the yelling. 'Where could...' before he could finish his thought, a griffin landed on his back and pushed him to the ground. He let out a pained "oof!" as he hit New Equestria facefirst. The smaller griffin on top of him stared him down as he kept Marion pinned. "Really! Are you losing your reflexes already?" the griffin chided as he Marion pushed him off. "Of course not, Keldwyn!" he snapped. Marion got back up and stared Keldwyn down with the worst look of hatred he could for the youngster. He wasn't fooling anypony. The two stared at each other a few moments before they both burst out laughing. "Hey...we found you...another job!" Keldwyn said in between breaths. Marion finished his chuckling and got back on his feet (or talons). "Oh, and who's dirty work might I be doing this time?" he asked. Keldwyn just shrugged. "Far as I know, you got a new job." Marion scowled at him. "Well, ain't that useful!" he said, bemused. "Fine, looks like finding out the task will be half the battle!" He turned away from the little griffin and jumped into the air, headed back for his temporary housing. "For the moment, though," he said. "I'm going to go lounge a bit. Cya!"
"Are you sure you want to do this?" the huge purple dragon that he had once known as Watcher asked him. "Yes, I even brought the surrogate for Celestia, if that isn't drive to do this, I don't know what is." Julion replied, motioning to the Alicorn next to him that just stared blankly off into space, oh the effects of a mind wipe. "Have you taken the nessacary precautions?" Spike asked. "Yes." Julion replied. "Okay then, I wish you luck, hopefully this works." the dragon took a deep breath, then green flames washed over Julion.
(lol, prepare for a LIFETIME'S worth of hurt after that!) Marion plopped onto a beaten up chair (that he had spent two weeks obtaining) with a sigh. Having nothing remotely better to do at this point in time, he smacked the top of a nearby radio and it popped on. ...but don't give up, those of you in Everfree! We all know breakouts are temporary, even if they're fueled by irradiated water! Also, if anypony finds the caravan that crashed there, please, give me any details you find and help anypony who might be around to steer clear of it! The best tactic right now is to be avoiding spots like that. And for some happier news, Tenpony Tower is getting an upgrade! A new breakthrough in technology (from Fillydelphia, who would have guessed?) has allowed the tower to be fitted with a water-electricity filter system. That means they can be looking towards even more power when it rains! Whoopee! Littlepip, if you're listening to this, that doesn't mean make it rain 24/7 on Tenpony, got it? As for the- Marion grunted as he smacked his radio again, accidentally pulling it out of the wall. DJ Pon3's broadcasts were nice and all, but they didn't attribute anything to Marion. He needed excitement, battle, places he could be to work his profession. If this sunshine and sparkles kept going, he might go insane from lack of entertainment.
Julion Got up painfully on the floor of a large room filled with monitors. The wiped Alicorn stood next to him, mind not even able to register the pain, "Aren't you the lucky son of a gun(would be a very different word if this was my fanfic)." Julion grunted. On one of the monitors, a white, regal Alicorn appeared, "Hello Julion. So nice of you to stop by on Littlepip's birthday. But she's currently more than a little upset over Homage not showing up, do you know why? And why did you bring another Ali-" Julion cut Celestia off, "Sorry goddess, but this is buisness, the buisness of getting you two out of here." Celestia looked confused, "How is that possible?" she asked. "It's pretty complicated, but it involves a Pipbuck, some programming, some uploading, and general terminal stuff, and by that I mean on a super advanced level. Would you kindly calm Pip down and have her come see me, I'll wait." Celestia nodded, and Julion sat painfully down, I sure do hope this works,​ he thought to himself as he waited.
"Marion! C'mon, open up already!" The voice at his doorway just wouldn't shut up! Groaning, Marion got up groggily and wandered over to his door. "Can't a griffin get some SLEEP AROUND THIS LITTLEPIP-FORSAKEN PLACE!?" He shouted as he wrenched the door open. Standing in his presence was a pale looking pegasus who's eyes were wide as watermelons. "My apologies," he stuttered. "It's Keldwyn! He's managed to get himself clipped and he fell into some hole! I would have gotten him out myself, but there's this unmovable boulder that looks like it would fall if you touched anything! I- I'm not that skilled of a flier, please you have to help!" Marion just rolled his eyes at the pegasus's request. "Pathetic." He said, wandering out of his home. "Lead the way! I want as much time to gloat about this as possible!"
Littlepip came out from the next room over, it was obvious she had been crying, "Wait do you need Julion?" she asked shakingly. Julion couldn't help but feel sorry for her, but then he remember what he, no all of them had planned after he rescued and brought Littlepip and Celestia back, "I've come to help you, Pip, I'm offering you a way out of here." she looked shocked, and was about to protest, but he forced her to keep her mouth shut with magic, before continuing, "If what I have planned works, it could just allow all of us leave, even Celestia." he said, letting Littlepip's mouth go. Julion bridled past her and both her and the blanked Alicorn followed him. He proceded to pull several tools from his saddlebag and starting working on the area around the download junction. The three watches as Julion moved wires, reset adapters and a large range of other tasks that ended him in stepping back and saying, "Done." the Alicorn stepped forth and put the download helmet on its head and was frozen in place. "Alright, Julion, what are you doing?" Littlepip asked, extremely seriously. "I reversed the data stream for the download helmet turning it into an upload helmet and giving Celestia a new body, that will look almost exactly like her old one, albeit a bit smaller." he then floated out a Pipbuck, "This contains a weather scheduling program that has been prewritten by yours truly to replace you, so you can go home as well Pip." Littlepip took a step back in shock, "How come I never heard of this?!" she exclaimed. Julion just chuckled, "You control the survalience towers and yet you still didn't know." he walked over to the small pod at the end of the room, "I'm guessing this is it?" he asked. Littlepip nodded, "Good" he responded before getting to work inside. It took about an hour, but he eventually replaced the helmet with the Pipbuck, and after it had registered as working, they turned to see the Goddess herself standing in all her glory before them, "Thank you, Julion." she muttered. Julion smirked, "No problem. Shall we go?" the princess smiled and nodded, and a wall of dragon flame engulfed them.
"Stop laughing, you...you..." Keldwyn was running out of insults to throw out of his hole. "...scruffy lookin' nerf herder!" This caused Marion to laugh even harder than before. "Oh, Godesses, my sides!" He shouted as he rolled around in the grass. Keldwyn was becoming extremely frustrated with his actions, none of which involved Keldwyn's freedom from his hole. Marion suddenly stopped his laughter and stared forward, which pitched his gaze towards the open sky above him. 'Did I just...' he thought, unnerved. Keldwyn also shut up, he must have felt it too. "Marion...did you..." Marion got up and peered into the hole. He nodded at Keldwyn and lowered a claw to lift him out. When Keldwyn stood firmly on real land, they both took a look into the skies. "Something happened..." Marion said. "Something...powerful..."
When Julion, Littlepip, and Celestia reappeared, they were on a platform in front of a huge crowd. "Welcome home guys." Julion whispered to them with a smirk. They entire crowd erupted into cheers and three very familiar ponies found their way on stage, "Calamity, Velevet, Homage!" Littlepip cried and rushed to her friends and marefriend. Julion looked calmly over to Celestia, "Well, go on. I'm sure they are anxious to meet you." Julion said to her. She nodded and flew down into the crowd, who were frankly confused about how to act in front of the goddess. Julion looked back over to Littlepip and co to see them in a big hug, which frankly surprised Julion that Calamity was taking part, then he remembered that Calamity hadn't seen Littlepip in ten long years. After Julion let them catch up a bit, he walked up to them, "Oh and Littlepip, there's going to be a homecoming party for you tonight, sadly, DJ Pon3 won't be able to make it, so we'll have to settle for the next best thing, Me!" he said the last part with a huge grin, the one of the rarest expressions to touch his face. "Wait, what?!" Littlepip exclaimed. Homage nodded, "Oh yes, of course he's a part-time student with the Commandos and all, but some years back, he asked if he could become my assistant, kinda his way of tryin to right the wrongs of his past I guess, anyways, he's great at parties, you'll see!" Julion chuckled, there were going to be A LOT of surprises in store for good old' Littlepip. Homage suddenly gave him a signal that meant he should do a live report on this, he smiled and lifted his Pipbuck to his mouth, "Hello ponies of New Equestria, it's me, the old' Soldier reporting live on a huge event that just happened in Junction Station. Would you believe me if I told you our personal guardians, Celestia and the famed Littlepip, now walk among us? Of course you wouldn't, but here's Littlepip right now to dispel all those doubts." he held his leg out to Littlepip, who took a little bit before saying, "Um, hello again, I guess." she said, Julion could just see all the mental facehooves she was giving herself for that, "That was the one and only Littlepip, the Light Bringer, right here in Junction Town. This is the soldier, signing off for you to enjoy some sweet tunes from the one and only, Velvet Remedy."
Marion and Keldwyn arrived back at Marion's abode and they took one last look at the sky. "What do you think could have happened?" Keldwyn asked again. Marion only shook his head and went inside. Keldwyn followed him and grabbed his radio when they got in. Plugging it back in, a voice pipped out of the radio, but it was not the voice of DJ Pon3. Intrigued, Marion wandered over and plopped himself down next to it. -guess. That was the one and only Littlepip, the Light Bringer, right here in Junction Town. This is the soldier, signing off for you to enjoy some sweet tunes from the one and only, Velvet Remedy! Some of Velvet Remedy's signature tunes popped up on the radio for everypony to hear. "Did he say...that was LITTLEPIP we just missed!?" Keldwyn breathed. Marion released a breath he didn't know he was holding. "No, there's no way." He said. "Littlepip killed herself to hook up to the single pegasus project, she can't be speaking with us!" Keldwyn patted the radio and said "But that was Calamity's voice I heard right there, wasn't it?" Marion wasn't really sure what to say, but he was thankfully interrupted by a whooping outside. Taking a look out the window, he saw a few of the older ponies of New Appleloosa cheering and running around, shouting "She's back! Littlepip's back!" Marion fell backwards. The mare who's plans he had acted out ten years ago was still alive? He punched the air in frustration after he realized he was still stationed in New Appleloosa. "I say we head back to Junction Town, eh? We need to find her!" He said with conviction.
Julion sat in front of a large set of DJ equipment, with the party going on down below. This was one of the things he was known for nowadays, the ability to mix almost any song into the perfect party song. Right now, a song that had once been the slow moving "The Daylight will Come." was pumping out, being the life of the party. Julion lifted his Pipbuck to his mouth again and came on air, "Welcome back everypony! This is once again the Soldier, reporting live from the Light Bringer's very own Welcome home party! Come on down if your in the area, my fabled remix's are playing, the cider is great, and the ponies are crazy! Now, how about The Daylight Will Come remixed by yours truly!" Julion turned off his radio broadcaster after selecting the next song for the radio and then set a playlist for the stereo set in front of him to play before going down into the crowd, time to catch up with his old friend.
Marion burst out his door after gathering all his supplies he needed to make the trip. "C'mon, Keldwyn!" he shouted at the young griffin. He stood in the doorway and hesitated. "I wasn't a talon for the war, you know." he said. "I'm not getting the level of nostalgia you are, and frankly, I really don't care about meeting Littlepip." Marion was taken aback by Keldwyn's refusal. Not wanted to waste any more time, he readied his wings. "Okay, fine." he spat. "Stay here and do whatever you do when you're not doing anything. I'll be in Shattered Hoof!" With that remark, Marion jumped into the air and began his flight towards Junction Town.
Julion found Littlepip and Homage chatting in secret in a corner and decided to leave them alone, considering the goggley eyes they were giving each other. "Ah want to thank ya." Calamity said from behind Julion, stepping up next to him. "Yea, I owed it to y'all after everything that I did, from New Appleloosa to Tenpony." Julion replied. "Dammit Julion, will ya (I refuse to misuse y'all) ever learn that you've done more than enough to repay that, which is saying somethin' as your mercenary." Julion nodded, "Of course, but the sins of my past will probably never go fully paid." Calamity merely sighed and wandered off, more than likely to find Velvet, leaving Julion alone.
Marion took a quick recon before swooping down into the town below him. Gawd and her spawn were somewhere in this area, and he needed to steer clear of them. He was supposed to be in New Appleloosa, not Shattered hoof. "What the- hey, over there. That you, Marion?" So much for that idea. Marion froze in place, only turning slowly a bit to lay eyes on his apprehender. A weathered-looking Talon griffin wandered over to him. "By the godesses, it is you! What are you doing in Junction Town?" The figure asked. 'Wait,' Marion suddenly thought. 'I know that voice.' He turned around just in time to catch a faceful of feathers as the figure pulled him into a bear hug. "Niph to phee you tew, Alyx." He managed to say as the griffin kept him smashed against her breast. "Are you returning on duty, or just stoppin' by?" She asked as she released him. "Well..." he said slowly. "I heard that Littlepip is back. Is it true? Is she really here?" Alyx's grin widened. In Marion's Book of Common Sense, that usually meant something bad, but in this case it seemed a good sign. "Oh, I dunno!" She said. "Why don't you go ask her yourself?" Alyx turned and geatured behind her at what appeared to be festivities. 'How the hell did I miss that?' Marion thought angrily. "C'mon! I'll lead the way!' Alyx said as she took off into the air. Marion followed suit and soon they were flying just above the crowd.
"So, what is it like, I mean, last time I saw you, you were the fearless commander of the commandos and now, well you still are, but also an assaistant to um DJ Pon3! What has she made you do?" Littlepip asked Julion. He could tell that Littlepip thought that Homage would really try to subjugate him, but when you lead a group of elite mercenaries and have a talent that literally let's you take over ones mind, well. "Meh, just the usual assistant type stuff. It's more of an apprenticeship." he replied. Littlepip nodded, "And I want to thank you again for what you did." she said. Julion sighed, "It was nothing Pip, your my friend, and I make sure my friend's are cared for." He looked up to see two Talons flying across the sky, "Excuse me." he said and then punched in a few code into his Pipbuck, hacking into the earpieces he knew every Talon had, "Excuse me, Talons, must I remind you that this is Junction Town, which is under Commado protection, and from my records, you never registered to fly in our airspace, please land immediately before we are forced by protocol to have you either forced to land or leave the area." he said into the hacked communication stream to the Talons.
Alyx grimaced as a voice suddenly appeared in both their earpieces. She yanked it off and stared hatefully at it. Marion could hear the voice from both her earpiece and his. She was also was notorious for having that thing turned up too loud. Excuse me, Talons, must I remind you that this is Junction Town, which is under Commado protection, and from my records, you never registered to fly in our airspace, please land immediately before we are forced by protocol to have you either forced to land or leave the area. Alyx groaned. "Damned Commandos won't let us fly ANYWHERE! It's annoying having to walk everywhere; I was just hoping no one would see us this time." Alyx led Marion back to the ground, which was not a hinderance seeing as they were already at their destination. "Where is he..." Alyx growled as she scanned the ponies around her. "I wanna find whoever told is to get down. My ear calls for vengeance!" Marion just smirked at her. "You can get angry later. Right now: Littlepip, okay?" She looked at him and blinked before adjusting her wings. "O- oh, Littlepip! Yeah, let's go find her."
Alyx continued rubbing the ear that her earpiece had been in before inserting it back in. "Yeah...yeah..." she grumbled. "It would be nice of you not to hack into our networks, though. It's not yours to tamper with in the first place!" Marion facepalmed as Alyx began her rant. "Ignore her," he said. "Hey, might you know where Littlepip is? Last time I saw her, she was telling Gawd the orders that she was about to give to us." He chuckled a bit. "Clearing those clouds was perhaps one of the most dangerous things I've ever done!"
"I'm talking to her right now. If you were there, you should also remember a brown unicorn with ocean blue hair and a huge scar, that would be me." Julion replied, "And also, I will have you know when it comes to protecting my airspace, I will do as nessacary."
