The Northern Guard

Cosmo’s Loft, The Following Morning
Cosmo

Regret is a powerful feeling… Over the years I’ve forgotten how strong it could feel, until this morning when I looked down at the mare sleeping on my chest. It’s official, I done fucked up this time!

Trixie stirred and looked up at me. “Morning.”

I couldn’t help but offer a weak smile. “You sleep well?”

“Well you do make a good pillow…” She joked. Trixie rolled off me and sat on the side of the bed. “You have a shower?”

“Door on the back wall.” I replied. I watched her grab her clothes and slink on in. After about a minute of the water running I got out of bed and walked in behind her.

I managed to sneak into the shower behind her. I was quick to wrap my arms around her and rest my head on her shoulder. “Bit early, don’t you think?” Asked Trixie.

I just sighed and turned Trixie around. “Look, I’m sorry about last night. I acted emotions that I-” She shut me up when she pulled me down to her level and pecked me.

“Alright, spill. What’s on your mind?”

“Do you know how long it’s been since I really clicked with someone?” I asked.

“I’ll take it I’m the first one in a long time?”

“Almost ten years.” I retorted. “…Trixie, how much do you know about me?” She couldn’t seem to find the right words. “Well I know where I’m taking you and Archer today.” I shut the water off and hopped out of the shower. “Meet me in the kitchen in ten minutes. I think it’s time for a field trip.”

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Cosmo’s Loft
Cosmo

“So where are we going?” Asked Trixie as she walked in the kitchen.

“Ya, where are we going? Is it somewhere fun?” Archer was right on Trixie’s heels.

“Well I want to make a stop somewhere first. I figure that you two deserve to know a bit more about me as it stands, so we make our first stop and then we’re off to the races.” I walked out into the hallway and had to brush past some of the new ‘residents’ that I’d let in.

“Cosmo, where are you going?” Asked Palmer. She looked tired as she followed me out the door.

“Going on a field trip.” I retorted, stepping into the elevator with Archer and Trixie. “While I’m gone I want you to start whipping these recruits into shape. Got it?” Palmer didn’t have a chance to argue as the door slid shut.

“So what’s the deal with her?” Asked Trixie.

“Yah, those soldiers seem to know her.” Added Archer.

The door slid open into my garage and I walked off the elevator. “That’s because she’s a human… Technically.” I hopped into the warthog while Trixie and Archer clambered in the passenger side. “She was kidnapped a few days back and drew a short straw.”

Archer sat back in the middle of the bench seat. “What do you mean by that?”

I threw the Warthog in drive, taking us up the ramp to the street. “Some bad ponies decided to try a science project of theirs out on her. All I know is that it had something to do with Changeling magic.”

“Changelings, huh?” Muttered Trixie. “Is anyone looking into it?”

“Supposedly Princess Celestia is on it.” I replied. It was silent in the cab as we trundled onto the coast road south out of Vanhoover. I put my foot to the floor and felt the Warthog rear back as we accelerated.

“Give me a few days to do some research and I might just have some answers.”

I kept my eyes on the road as we got farther outside the city. The coast road really isn’t much to look at; it’s a two lane asphalt road running all the way down the coast to Las Pegasus. But that’s not why I’m driving us out here. I saw a tree off to the opposite side of the road and pulled off, parking next to it. “We’re here.”

I hopped out of the Warthog and walked over to a stone planted into the ground at the base of the tree. “Cosmo, what’s that?”

“That’s a grave marker.” I said. “Trixie, what do you know about the Enclave?”

She paused and leaned against the trunk, staring me down. “They came through some sort of portal, assuming that Twilight was being straight with me.”

“She was.” I assured. “I’m from the same world that the Enclave have been coming from Trixie.”

“What kind of place is it?” Asked Archer.

“Well… It’s a world of sinners with a few saints and all the shades of grey in between.” I glanced at Archer and felt my face soften into a frown. “Dusk found one of the mirrors long before the Enclave started their open war. He sent two of his teammates, Comet and Strike, back to the wasteland on a recruitment mission.”

“That’s where they found you?” Asked Trixie.

I nodded. “And my marefriend Sky.” I said as I pointed at the stone. “We were headed back to the portal in The Hoof that Comet and Strike had first come through when we got jumped by a recon team with Vertibuck support. We were dodging them for two days when Comet and Strike were captured.”

“But you got away.” Added Archer.

“We did… But not without a cost. We just outside the building with the portal when Sky took a sniper round right in her back. I managed to drag her through the portal and it dropped us right by this tree.” I knelt down and brushed the dirt off the stone. The letters I had carved into it were starting to wear after nearly a decade of exposure to the elements. “Sky died in my arms right here. An hour later Dusk and Steeljack managed to find me…”

Trixie came around behind me and wrapped me in a tight hug. Archer joined in almost immediately. “How close were you two?”

I turned to look at Trixie and caught her softened glance. “Everything you and I did yesterday? Sky did stuff like that with me on a regular basis…” I looked back down at the stone and wiped it off one last time. “She’s the last pony I really felt that I clicked with.”

We all just stood there for a few minutes before hopping back into the Warthog and continuing on down the coast road. “So where are we going now?” Asked Archer.

I shrugged. “I don’t know… I guess we’re just going wherever the road takes us.”

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Vanhoover Harbor, Cosmo’s Loft
Palmer

Recruits. They’re a necessary evil to the expansion of any organization, military or civilian. Oh how I loathe being the sap stuck training them. Five of the six standing in front of me aren’t leaving me with a good impression. The other one, a red unicorn, just seems a bit apart from this group. “Now then, who can tell me why we’re here?”

“So we can learn self defense skills?”

“And how we learn those skills?” I asked. “Anyone?”

“Hands-on training always worked for me.” Added the unicorn.

Cocky bastard, that one… “Well then, show the class how it’s done.” I watched as the others in the room turned to face this guy. Damnit, what’s with that stupid grin?

“Alright… No offence gents, but prepare to be emasculated.” The stallion disappeared in a flash of light before dropping down from the rafters onto his first victim… Yah, that’s the right word. Victim. Because most people don’t get kicked in the back of the head in a training session.

“Oh shi-” And there’s two with an uppercut to the jaw. Jesus, I don’t even think I’m that brutal in training…

“Alright, who’s left?” The stallion turned to face the last of the trainees, both of whom just stood and stared at him slackjawed. “Well, you asked for it.” As he stepped forward, his horn lit up before being followed by a blast of green light which slammed the last of the trainees into the far wall. “That was too easy!” He walked over to me and pulled an envelope out of his back pocket. “Commander Palmer, right?”

“That would be me.”

The stallion nodded and handed me the envelope. “Name’s Sonar. Princess Celestia asked that I bring this out to Cosmo personally.”

“And where he isn’t here I’m the next best thing?”

Sonar just chuckled. “You said it, not me. Anyway, you might want to look at that.”

I opened the envelope and pulled out the papers. On top was a photo dated from yesterday showing a Pegasus wearing the same getup that Cosmo has been using. “Where was this?”

“That was taken out in Hoofington last night. That isn’t what even what has me interested. Anything on that look familiar?”

I looked over the photo before walking out of the training room. “I know I’ve seen that before.”

“Care to enlighten me?” Asked Sonar.

I brushed past Halsey as I walked into the loft and made a beeline for the armory. “Where…” I caught sight of a duster hanging up on the far wall. Sonar levitated it over and held the sleeve out. “Northern Guard?” I looked back down to the picture, and sure enough it was the same logo. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Cosmo wasn’t the only recruit Comet and Strike managed to drum up.” Answered Sonar. “Blueblood confirmed that the second recruit died of injuries sustained during a firefight before coming through the mirror roughly a decade ago.”

“And Cosmo can fill in the blanks…”

I felt someone tap me on the shoulder real quick, but I still too focused on the photo to pay whoever it was any mind. “Maybe I can help.” That gravely sounding voice was new, that’s for sure. As Sonar and I turned around we hear the armory door slam shut before realizing that the mare in the picture now had us cornered.

“I’d say this was too easy, but that would make it sound like I believe that.” Sonar walked up to the mare and stared into the eyepieces on her helmet. “Who are you?”

She was quick to pull off her helmet and straighten out her mane. “My name is Sky. Now… Where’s Cosmo?”

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Vanhoover Harbor, Cosmo’s Loft
Cosmo

“Alright, final thoughts on the shakes?” I asked before finishing off my chocolate milkshake.

“Eh… I’ve had better.” Muttered Trixie.

Archer shrugged. “What’s the standard for a good milkshake again?”

“So we’re undecided then.” I said as we walked off the elevator. I noticed Palmer standing in the kitchen through the open door of the loft with the Stallion I had interrupted yesterday. “Looks like we’ve got some company.” I strode in, tossing my empty cup in the trash by the door. “Can I help-” I caught sight of a mare leaning up against the counter around the corner of the wall. Pegasus with a brown duster, auburn mane, cream fur, blue eyes, and a Northern Guard logo on her left sleeve. Huh… So this is how Dusk felt. “Sky?”

I watched the mare pop a cap off of a beer that was placed on the counter. “Sup’ Cosmo.” She downed the bottle quickly and put it back down. “Long time, no see.”

“Didn’t you say she was dead?”

“I did Trixie… I did.”

Sky just laughed. “In your position I’d have developed the same line of thinking. But hey, Tetrodotoxine B is a bitch.”

I glanced over at Trixie and Archer before returning my glare to Sky. “Mind elaborating?”

“That sniper round was made of the solid version of the drug. Tetrodotoxine slows the heart rate down to about a beat a minute, just enough to keep oxygen supplied to the brain and vital organs.”

“And down to the point where a pulse isn’t detectable without medical equipment.” Added Palmer. “The stuff is basically a high-powered tranquilizer.”

I sighed crossed my arms. “Then prove it. We called ourselves something, what was it?”

“The Northern Guard.” Sky walked over to the fridge and grabbed another beer. “But let’s expand on that, shall we?”

“Be my guest.”

Sky nodded before downing the second bottle. “When me and you were growing up we kept hearing stories about how the north half of the country was a total shit show. Stalliongrad was really the only bastion of civilization that could defend itself, at least from what the traders who came into New Pegasus kept saying.”

“You two grew up together?” Asked Trixie. I held my hand up to get her to keep quiet.

“Yah, we did. Our parents were both part of the Desert Rangers, which is where we both got our armor. Now all of the stories those traders kept coming back with about torched villages and entire towns being captured by slavers… That always bugged you. When we both hit sixteen, you came to me and said you were going to head north because you thought it was high time for someone to stand up for those little guys that weren’t lucky enough to be living inside the walls at Stalliongrad.” Sky kept twirling the empty bottle over in her hands. “The Northern Guard wasn’t a nickname, it was an ideal that you managed to convince me was right. We defended those who needed it for the sake of trying to make that hellhole of a world a better place.”

“It really is you…” I muttered.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

For what seemed like another moment of exasperation, I sighed. “You do realize that what we had before is gone, right?”

“Oh I know. I had to come to terms with that really quick… Although it probably took you a bit longer.”

I nodded in agreement. “That doesn’t mean I still don’t consider you a friend though.”

“Fine by me.” Sky pulled an envelope out of her jacket and put it down on the island in the center of the kitchen. “Now to why I’m here. Your buddy Stalemate, assuming you could stretch it and call him one… Stalemate isn’t even his real name.”

“Do you want to just cut to the chase, or do would you rather I take a shot in the dark?”

“Fine, I’ll spoil it. His real name is Phalanx, who up until about fifteen years ago-”

“Served in the First Home Battalion as second in command to Commander Meteor Shower.”

Sky looked at the unicorn and furrowed her brow. “You know him Sonar?”

“Know him? He and Dad were in basic together. Phalanx was family as far we were concerned, but he died at Midlothian Ridge.”

“At risk of sounding like an ass-” Injected Palmer “You ponies have a weird way of coming back from the, quote on quote, dead.”

Can’t argue with that logic. “Trixie, why don’t you and Archer go for walk? I’m going to need a few minutes with alone my guests.” As Trixie and Archer walked out I turned my attention back to Sky. “If you knew I was trying to find dirt on Stalemate, why wait until now?”

Sky shook her head. “Because you’re nearly impossible to find, for one. I only managed to track you down when I broke into the guard station in Hoofington and hacked their computers.”

“So you’re the one who shorted out the security cameras!”

“Oh shut up, what was I supposed to do? Leave traces that I was looking for one of the country’s top mercenaries?”

“Does it matter?” I asked. “I’ve been giving the Princess all of my evidence on Stalemate for years yet she never issued a warrant for the bastard’s arrest. Now we have solid evidence that he was using a fake identity, therefore getting a warrant shouldn’t be that difficult!”

Sonar shrugged. “I’ll see what I can do then.”

Sonar teleported away, leaving us to our thoughts and the last of the beers in my fridge. “So what now?” Asked Palmer.

“We sit back and punt.” I replied as I walked into the armory. I looked over my burnt armor, running my fingers over the jagged shoulder pads. The chest section had survived relatively unscathed, and a tug on the shoulder pads tore them away from the intact sections with little effort.

Sky walked up next to me, my damaged helmet in her outstretched hand. “You want this?”

I shook my head before placing my helmet on the shelf above the armor stand. “I’m not going to need it.” I tossed my shirt to the side, pulling the armor on with some effort before grabbing the slacks and changing into them. I looked myself over in the mirror and shook my head. “Still needs something…”

A blue jacket landed on my shoulder, along with a chest-slung holster. “Try that.”

I smiled at my new combination of gear. “This works.” I looked over at Sky, who had now hung up her coat and retained the body armor underneath. “Thanks.”

“So… What now?” Sky didn’t have a chance to add more to her thought when Sonar teleported into the armory, scroll in hand.

“That my warrant?”

Sonar nodded. “The Princess has promised whatever resources you feel necessary to take Phalanx into custody.”

I nodded, unfurling the scroll and reading it over. “Sonar, you might want to start writing some of this down…”