A Noble’s Shadow

Chapters

0- Shadows of Peace
2- The Ancient City
3- Out of Time
4- Reinforcements
5- Fragments
6- Wounded
7- Written by the Victors
8- Birds of a Feather
9- 90 Seconds
1- The Frozen North

0- Shadows of Peace

“I do not understand this…game.”

When Six was first invited to meet up with the Captain, his wife, and her professional rival, this was not what she thought it would be. Especially so when she was told to remove her armor and take a seat on one of the many extra-large cushions against the wooden table in the center of the room. She did so somewhat reluctantly, the cool air of the room irritating the recently healed surgical scars on her chest and the metal implant on her neck. The small feeling of excitement from a new combat assignment that had been bubbling in the back of her mind vanished like dust in the wind. It was only thanks to her professional etiquette that Six did not immediately leave the room upon seeing the unicorn's setup.

It had been almost four months, by Six’s count, since the end of the pony-changeling war. The aura of peace and normality slowly began to return across the nation as towns were rebuilt and loved ones returned from whence they had been taken. It was a new experience for the Spartan and it was far less enjoyable than she thought it would be. Spartans simply weren’t meant to sit around doing paperwork they could barely understand for hours on end. She was a soldier, not a pencil pusher.

“What's not to understand?” the now Prince Shining Armor responded as he magically grasped and threw a pair of twenty-sided dice. “It's a simple tabletop roleplaying game where each of us rolls up fantasy characters and goes on adventures made up by yours truly!” he finished with a grin from behind the cardboard cutout that hid the lower half of his body.

Six’s eyes scanned the rest of the table. On her right sat Princess Cadence, while to her left sat the Captain of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire. The pegasus quite rigorously inspected the paper sheet laid out before her before she turned and looked up from the table towards the much larger Spartan.

“Trust me on this, Six, when I say it's much easier than it looks. I thought the exact same thing when I was first invited to these evenings and saw the mountain of papers Shining had brought. Damn near had a heart attack thinking he was about to start sprouting budget numbers at me.” She shuddered. “I can still see the graphs in my dreams…But otherwise, having a fresh face here will make this all the more fun!”

“Still a bummer that Midnight and Dawn couldn’t be here.” Shining Armor sighed.

“Where are they anyway?” asked Spitfire as she rolled five twenty-sided dice and wrote the results down.

“Midnight is currently sleeping a night of patrol duty off, and Dawn, he’s…*ahem* on vacation,” responded Shining Armor with some trepidation as Spitfire gave a silent ‘oh’ in response.

Six looked at the two in confusion for a moment before shrugging it off as the pink alicorn to her right spoke up. “I still don’t understand all the secrecy around my auntie and Commander Daw-“

“Shhh!” shushed Shining making Cadence frown. “Enough gossiping. Let's get to roleplaying! Six, have you got your character sorted?”

The Spartan looked down at the premade character sheet, its contents esoteric and illegible. “Yes?”

“Perfect! Now I hope you two don’t mind if we start off with a simple one-shot adventure for today so Six can learn the ropes.”

“Sounds good, can’t have our resident super-soldier run into this campaign blind.” Spitfire grinned as Six raised an eyebrow.

“I concur,” added Cadence from the Spartan’s right, drawing her eye. “Plus, I’m excited to see what Shiny has for us. Even if it means we have to put off our quest for the orb of destiny until next week.”

“Quest for the Orb of Destiny?” questioned Six causing Cadence to give a dismissive wave of her hoof.

“You’ll find out next week once you understand the game better.”

Shining Armor cleared his throat, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Then, if everypony is ready, let us begin!”

It was a dark and stormy night in the town of Rivelia. Harsh winds beat against the many small stone buildings that made up this little hamlet.

Yet even as the storm raged and lightning tore through the air, down in the Little Beak Tavern, drinks were still being served and laughter was exchanged. From minotaurs to griffons and the occasional pony, Happy Hour was in full swing.

The smell of ale hangs thick in the air as we focus on the small booth in the corner of the room where our party sits. By the whims of fate, each of you had received a summons in the mail earlier today to meet at this booth, the sender simply going by the name ‘-S.’

“So, I take it we all got the same letter, huh? I wonder what needs smashing? Names Messerschmitt by the way.”

“Seems like it. I was just minding my business tending to my animals when the letter appeared on my table. I’m Anacrusis, but you can call me Ana for short.”

“…”

The table stared at Six expectantly as the Spartan looked confused at the three of them. “…What?”

“Go on. Introduce yourself,” pressed Spitfire.

“But you all already know who I am.”

Cadence giggled, “Not you, silly. Introduce your character.”

“…Okay.”

“My name is…Kage.”

“Nice to meet cha’ Kage. So… any of you know why we’re here?”

“I believe I may be able to answer that question,” spoke a hooded figure approaching the table where the three of you sit. His face is hidden beneath the black robe he wears. Only the tip of a white horn pierces the perpetual shadow hiding his face.

“I want to roll to detect magic!” shouted Cadence, snapping Shining out of his concentration.

“Wait, what's going on?” asked Six, her usual stoicism cracking with the confusion.

“Oh, well, whenever we want our character to do something, we say what we want to do, and Shiny decides whether we need to roll for it to succeed or not. And since I want to use detect magic, I need to roll to see if I detect anything, right Shiny?”

“Yes, honey. Roll me a D20 then to see if you sense anything.”

While this was going on, Six glanced towards Spitfire. The Captain, seeing the unasked question in the Spartan’s eyes, whispered in her ear.

“Just say what you want to do and roll one of those dice right there.” She discreetly pointed at the small dice lying atop Six’s character sheet. “That's how I got through my first session.”

Like a switch was flicked in the Spartan’s brain, the connection was made as she made a silent ‘oh’ and moved back to look at her character sheet. Its esoteric and enigmatic numbers and words now slowly began to make sense, though full understanding was still a while away.

The clattering of dice against the table drew the Spartan’s attention back to Cadence and her Husband.

“Hmm, thirteen. Do I detect anything?”

“Your horn can only detect something faint. You aren’t even completely sure if what you are detecting is just the ambient magic from your earth and pegasus-pony companions.”

“See, I gathered you all here because I have a job proposition for you,” the hooded pony spoke, his voice slightly distorted.

“What kind of reward are we talking about for this job? I don’t do charity work.”

“Yeah, this better be good if it meant bringing us here in the middle of a thunderstorm.”

“…What's the mission?”

“C’mon, Kage, you’ve gotta be a little curious about the pay.”

“Why? He has an assignment and brought us here to complete said assignment.”

“Well, some of us like to be compensated for our services, Kage. And I am no exception. So please tell us, why should we do this job for you?”

The figure said nothing but instead pulls out a piece of parchment and lays it upon the table before leaving without a word. Inspecting the piece of parchment, it contains two vital pieces of information: Payment and a location.

“By the Sun! 300 platinum Bits each? All to clear out some wizard tower? No wonder we were- Hey, hey, Kage!? Where are you going?!”

“To do the job.”

“Really? Is that your best reaction? You just got offered 300 platinum Bits, for Celestia’s sake!” questioned Spitfire flabbergasted, at the Spartan’s reaction, or lack thereof.

“Is that a lot?”

“300 platinum Bits is the price of a home here in Canterlot. You…you do know that, right?”

Six shook her head as Spitfire inhaled sharply.

“You mean to tell me,” Spitfire began slowly, “that the mare, who now holds the Alicorn’s Honor, the highest military honor that can be awarded, not only does not know how to fly. But also doesn't know the value of an Equestrian Bit?! Don’t…” Spitfire bit her lip. “Haven’t you ever bought something for your quarters or office or just... yourself?”

“Why would I? I already have everything I need to do my job,” Six asked, genuinely confused.

Shining now interjected, “Wait, wait, wait. Is that why your office looks so barren, Six? I thought you hadn’t moved in yet! Last I checked, the wallpaper was still missing.”

“Is there something wrong with my office?”

“Well…no, except for perhaps the lack of wallpaper. But, it just seems so…empty,” remarked Shining. “Perhaps you can join Cadence on one of her weekly outings to the shopping district, make your space more like…well, you,” offered Shining with a look towards a smiling and nodding along Cadence.

“You’ll love it, Six. By the time we’re done, you won’t even recognize your office or your quarters anymore!”

“Wouldn’t that be counterproductive? The way I have it now is fine. Why would I wish to change it?”

Cadence blinked before grinning devilishly. “Well… what would a stallion say when they saw your room?”

“…I don’t understand.”

“Better add innuendo to that pile,” spoke Spitfire under her breath in amusement, drawing a frown from the princess of love.

“You’ll eventually understand, Six, and when you do, it will be the most amazing thing in the universe.” Cadence swooned, a feeling joined by the goofy smile on Shining’s face as the two ponies looked lovingly at each other.

“Alright, lovebirds, enough flashing bedroom eyes at each other. Let's get back to the game. Mama wants a new set of armor! And Six?” Spitfire said, grabbing the Spartan’s attention, “remind me to teach you how the modern economic system works. Having the second bearer of the Alicorn’s Honor not know what an apple is worth is not a good look for the history books,” she finished with a grin before adding, “Its two bronze Bits, by the way.”

The three of you are now standing before the ancient tower, its stone walls covered in centuries-old vines and crisscrossed with millennia-old cracks. The only visible entrance is the cave that stood at the foot of the structure. The sky was still an oppressive black, thunder ringing in the distance and rippling across the thick cloud cover.

“This seems to be the place. Spooky atmosphere, creepy tower, and not to mention the dark and foreboding cave entrance.”

“Well, let's go then. Not going to make our platinum Bits just standing around like this.”

“I’ll take point.”

“Woah there, Kage, you sure that's a good idea? You strike as more of the sneaky type. Let the mare in the armor go first.”

“…Alright. Ca-I mean Anacrusis, stay behind me.”

“Why, thank you. But I am sure I can handle myself, Kage.”

As the three of you enter the cave with Messerschmitt leading the charge and Kage following close behind with Ana in the rear, everything goes silent. The moment each of your crossed the cave’s barrier, the sound of thunder cut off. In fact, the very breeze you felt at your backs had vanished.

In the corner of your eye, you could see it. The entrance behind you had vanished, instead having been replaced with a solid stone wall. Upon further inspection, you realize the very cave itself had been replaced with a hallway of stone bricks with burning torches lining the walls.

“Teleportation magic, the cave entrance was an illusion!”

“Gee, ya don’t think? Know where it brought us?”

“A trap.”

“Now what makes you think that, Kage?”

“The pack of goblins the two of you failed to spot.”

Six smiled smugly at her two neighbors as she looked at the three perception roll dice strewn out on the table in front of her. Spitfire’s dice landed on a five, Cadence managed a respectable 11, and Six held a smug natural 20.

Spitfire grumbled under her breath, “Stupid mare luck, when are you going to stop sending me into single-digit Tartarus?!”

“I guess it’s just not your day, Captain,” responded Six with all the smugness of a Cheshire Cat.

“Yeah yeah, let’s just roll for initiative already. I want to smash something.”

Shining Armor cleared his throat. “Well, since Six was the only one to spot the goblins, she wasn’t surprised and will take the first turn. Followed by goblin B, Spitfire, Cadence, then the remaining two goblins.”

“Okay…now what?” asked Six as she inspected the small battlefield before them.

“Well, you roll to hit the goblin with your daggers. If you roll higher than its Armor Value, you hit!” explained the Prince quite enthusiastically as Six nodded along before rolling the dice.

“…14.”

“That's a Hit! Roll for damage.”

“Why would I roll for damage? I stab them lethally,” Six responded, completely serious.

The sound of an alicorn’s drink almost being spat out from laughter graced the Spartan’s ears. After catching her breath and wiping the water away from her mouth, Cadence giggled, an action shared by the yellow pegasus beside her. “Never change, Six.”

“You know what? This one time, I’ll allow it. It's a goblin, it has one Hitpoint, and you rolled high enough to justify it. Next time, however, you roll for damage like everyone else.”

“Understood.”

“Great! Now with that goblin down, Spitfire, it's your turn…”

After fighting through scores of goblins and a pack of stone wolves, and sneaking past one sleeping troll, the three of you have finally made your way into the heart of the wizard’s tower. All that remained before you now was to step through the precipice. A stone archway lay before you, and just beyond it was a whirling mist of inky black smoke.

“Enter my domain, and be damned for all eternity!” booms a deep voice from all around you.

“I haven’t come this far to turn tail and run now! C’mon Ana, Kage, we got ourselves a reward to collect!”

The three of you charge in, Messerschmitt taking point as you cross the barrier and break through the black smoke. Yet before any of you could begin to process your new surroundings, the three of you suddenly find yourselves unable to move. The smoke you had run through was clinging to your bodies, wrapping itself around you and refusing to let go.

“What did I say, little adventurers?” the voice returns and booms once more. “Now, you shall become nothing more than mindless pawns for me to exploit!”

“Alright, everypony, throw me a Wisdom save,” decreed the Dungeon Master with an evil grin.

The gathered ponies did as asked as the many dice clattered against the table.

“13!” exclaimed Cadence, who was sitting at the edge of her cushion, the alicorn quite invested in her husband’s Adventure.

“19, yes!” shouted out Spitfire, her hoof raised in victory. “Take that mare luck!”

Six held the dice between her dexterous wingtips, ready to throw. She actually felt quite a bit… excited. What had started out as something useless, seemingly boring, and impossible to understand for the Spartan had actually become somewhat, dare she say, ‘fun.’

With a swift swing of her wing, the dice rolled across the table and bounced exactly three times. On the third and final bounce, the dice came to a stop, and Six eagerly leaned over to see what it had landed on.

“…1,” she read aloud, the steam that had been blowing her sails of excitement vanishing as a frown overtook her features. Insides already dreading the fate that would soon befall her character. Her two neighbors cringed at the Spartan's bad luck while carefully glancing towards their Dungeon Master. Shining was grinning evilly.

“The three of you can feel the tendrils of dark magic begin to intrude upon your minds. On Messerschmitt’s and Ana’s minds, they find no purchase but, in Kage’s, they latch on like a snake would a mou-“

“Prince Shining Armor, Princess Cadence!” The door to the room was burst open by a member of the royal guard interrupting the Dungeon Master's storytelling.

“What is it, soldier?” Princess Cadence asked, her tone tinted with worry.

“Apologies for the interruption your majesties, but Princess Celestia requires you both to meet with her immediately.” The guard's gaze briefly turned to look behind him as if making sure there were no eavesdroppers before turning to face them again. “It has returned.”

Like a switch had been flipped, both royals' demeanors changed as Captain of the Guard Shining Armor spoke up. “Spitfire, get your wonderbolts on standby, have them ready to take to the skies at a moment’s notice. Give the same orders to Noble on my authority.” Spitfire saluted and took off like a lightning bolt, Six opened her mouth to speak up at the ordering of her Spartans by the Captain, but Shining Armor cut her off, “Six, you’re coming with us to see the Princess. I don’t care what she says; you are coming with us.”

“…Understood, but next time warn me before you start ordering my Spartans around without me,” Six added as she stood up and grabbed her disassembled armor that lay in the corner of the room.

“We’re sorry, Six, but time is of the essence here. I doubt Auntie Celestia would wait for you,” apologized Cadence as she handed Six the various smaller titanium plates that made up the Spartan’s Mjolnir Armor. With her undersuit slipped on, Six quickly got to work on plucking the floating plates out of the air and attaching them with various clicks. The magical help provided by Cadence allowed her to armor up much faster than usual.

Within a minute, the Spartan was ready. Her body gave an unconscious shiver as her armor linked with the neural implant at the base of her neck. She gave her bladed wings an experimental flap to make sure everything was working. Since her encounter in the changeling hive, there was always a worry that the repairs to her armor wouldn’t hold. But so far, those fears have been unfounded, the multiples of repair spells cast upon it (the exact number and names Six couldn’t remember but it was somewhere in the hundreds) working surprisingly well despite the extreme exhaustion it gave to its casters.

Six nodded towards the royal couple as she clipped her helmet against her hip. The trio began jogging their way through Canterlot Castle's winding halls, the guard from before leading them towards the throne room.

“So what is this ‘it’ that has returned?” asked Six as they turned the final corner and now stood before the throne room's ornate doors. “I’m in the dark here.”

“The ‘it’ you are referring to, Six,” came the familiar voice of the Lunar Diarch from behind them, an ornate eyepatch of dark blue and gold covering her lost eye. The edges of the scar that had caused the injury were too large to be hidden completely by the patch. “Is a place known only as The Crystal Empire and the Tyrant that ruled it one thousand years ago.”

Walking up, Luna opened the door with her dark blue magic granting them entry to the throne room where her sister was already waiting.

“Now, we must finish what we started a millennia ago.”

Six could already feel her heart beginning to beat just a bit faster.

The silence that permeated the throne room was palpable. An aura so thick one could cut it with a knife. The two diarchs sat upon their thrones, the two royals and one Spartan sitting before them expectantly. Though it was only Six who waited with a sense of curiosity permeating her being.

What was this Crystal Empire? She thought as her eyes scanned the unreadable features of the celestial alicorns. Everyone around her was worried, that much was clear, but of what? As far as Six knew, the two diarchs were ageless, yes, but the Tyrant they mentioned couldn’t have been. That was her theory, anyway. Without more information, it was all she had going for her.

“Explain to me,” Six began, breaking the silence with her usual tone, “What threat does this…’Crystal Empire’ pose?”

Celestia answered after a moment of trepidation, “It is not the Empire itself that is the threat, Six. It is the entity that will or has returned with it. The Umbral Tyrant, King Sombra,” the alicorn spat out as if the name was coated in the most vile of venom. A sentiment shared by her sister.

“Compared to the power-hungry nature of the former Queen Chrysalis, she is but a drop in the ocean compared to the King of Shadows. And we do not have much time before he makes his move. While the Crystal City itself has already returned to the material realm, the status of Sombra is still unknown. As such, we must act quickly,” Luna explained as her lone eye now pointed towards a faraway horizon through the stained glass windows that lined the throne room.

“This is where you, my niece, and my nephew-in-law come in,” began the solar alicorn drawing the gathered ponies’ attention. “While the Shadow King may still pose a threat, the ponies of the Crystal Empire must take priority. They are a society out of time, and they need guidance if they are to survive in the frozen north with their society and technology now a millenia out of date. The two of you must travel there to restore order and prevent Sombra from regaining his stolen crown.”

The two lesser royals nodded with a seriousness Six had never before seen on the married couple's face as Celestia’s eyes wandered to her armored form.

“Six, you and your Spartans shall be personally responsible for their safety and all that entails during their mission. You are, to put it simply, their personal guard now.”

“I understand.”

Both alicorns smiled, though it did not reach their eyes as Celestia continued, “Good, then you are to set off within the hour by rail. Your transportation and additional escort are already preparing for your departure.”

Luna was the next to speak up, “We will not be able to see you off as while we do trust in your abilities and that of Shining’s sister, due to the nature of the threat, contingencies must be put in place.”

All nodded except Shining, who spoke up with a tone of worry, “What does Twilight have to do with this? If Sombra is as dangerous as you say…”

Celestia smiled sadly. “I would wish for nothing more than to keep your sister in the dark about all this, but her status as an element bearer prevents me from doing so. Should you face the King in battle, you will need the Elements of Harmony.”

“I…okay,” the Prince said, his posture drooping, prompting Cadence to extend a wing over his back in comfort.

“Don’t you worry, Shiny. Twilight and her friends can handle themselves. She did so back in the changeling hive,” Cadence reassured, looking to Six.

“She did,” the Spartan responded with a hint of pride in her voice. “While she is no Spartan. She is one hell of an ODST.”

“ODS…T?” asked Shining as he rolled the acronym across his tongue.

“Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, closest you can get to a Spartan without the genetic enhancements,” Six clarified, prompting all gathered ponies to give a silent ‘oh’ in response. With ONI now more of a memory and her past all but exposed in its entirety to Luna and the rest of the nation's royalty, Six saw no reason to remain so tight-lipped about the UNSC.

“High praise,” commented Luna before she moved to stand up from her throne, her sister doing the same as she grabbed a quill and parchment in her magic. “Now, if you would excuse us, there is much work to do.”

Soon the two diarchs were alone once more upon their thrones, the only sound being the vibration of Six’s distant heavy hoofsteps. Celestia sighed heavily as she leaned back into her throne, every muscle relaxing at once.

“First the changelings, now the Empire returns… is it too much to ask for at least a few years of peace between conflicts? By the Sun, at least one would suffice.”

“You had your peace, sister, a thousand years long if I recall correctly. Now fate, it seems, is looking to collect,” Luna said with some amusement as she mirrored her sister's posture and reclined on her throne in relaxation.

“They were no peace to me, as I doubt the moon was for you.” The silence stretched for several more moments before Celestia gave a small chuckle. “Heh, it seems history is repeating itself.”

“What do you mean, sister?” Luna asked curiously.

“I have seen the way you look at Six. It is the same look I wore when I first took Twilight as my student.”

“She is… much like my old self, I must admit. A warrior through and through, my words may have started her…acclimatization. But the road she must travel is not one I can help her on alone. But, I must thank you as well, sister.”

“What for?”

“Do not play coy with me. Telling Six to protect our niece for the duration of her ‘mission.’” Luna smirked. “I believe, as Six would say, you are ‘Killing two birds with one stone’?”

“Morbid…but accurate. Our niece is certainly…social, a trait I have no doubt will rub off on Six. If I may be honest, her bluntness and complete lack of any real social skills are beginning to lose their charm during our conversations.”

Luna stood up from her throne, a smile still on her face as she stretched the knots from her back. “Perhaps she will do more than that. She does not take her title of Alicorn of Love lightly, after all. She may see Six as a challenge to be overcome. I would not be surprised if she already has a whole binder dedicated to this very topic.”

“When Sombra is defeated…I bet you one whole week of paperwork that I can find the binder first,” Celestia challenged with a smile, glad to think about something else other than the Empire's return. Luna met her provocation in kind.

“Ha! You believe such an undertaking is worth a mere week? You underestimate your niece's abilities. Make it two and it's a wager!” the lunar alicorn laughed alongside her sister, both enjoying one last moment of peace before they marched off to prepare for war again. And this time, they would be sure Sombra was defeated.

Author's Note

Welcome to the sequel of a Noble Death. I will update this as regularly as I can but over the next four months I'm finishing school so I need to focus on that a majority of the time, but when I have free time I will be chipping away at A Nobles Shadow.

I would also like to give all my love to Frazy, the Artist behind the D&D Picture at the start of this chapter. It is to be their last one for Six before they retire their drawing pen. So from the bottom of my heart Frazy, if you're reading this, thank you for all the beautiful art you have created for myself, these stories, and my discords community. For as long as our Six is remembered, they will remember the design you have brought to life.

My Discord is here where I am active basically whenever I am awake and it contains exclusive Six themed Emotes and Stickers.

That's all I have to say so sit back, relax, and enjoy the continuation of Six's journey.

2- The Ancient City

Six was one of the first to reenter the waking world. The sound of sleds cutting through ever-receding snow, the crunch of it under horseshoes, and the panting of multiple physically exerting ponies.

With an attack of hacking coughs, the last of the suffocating black smog was expelled fully, bringing the Spartan back to full awareness once more. With popping joints and cracking vertebrae, Six sat up from where she lay. The sounds of the large mare waking up easily grabbed the attention of the ponies around her.

Feeling and hearing their heavy cargo wake from unconsciousness, the two stallions tasked with pulling the sled Six lay on looked back to see what was going on. Their sweat-covered faces, lightly steaming against the cold air, were met with the large outstretched wings of the stretching Spartan.

“Finally,” the one on the left began, relief clearly visible on his face as he shied away from the wing-blades. “I don’t know how much longer I could keep this up.” For that comment, they promptly received a hoof upside the head from their comrade.

“Shut it and go find the Captain. I’ll take over for you in the meantime, lazybones,” he ordered before watching his friend unclasp himself from the sled and gallop up the line. He was already beginning to feel the strain and slow down as he was forced to bear the weight of the Spartan alone. He began to flap his wings slightly, a tailwind beginning to make itself known, kicking up some of the snow surrounding them.

“Uh…Angel, ma’am?”

Six’s ears twitched at her title given to her by the equestrian guard.

“What is it, soldier?” she asked over her shoulder as she retracted her flared wings against her back.

“Do you require a medic?”

“No, I am… fine,” answered Six after a moment of contemplation before noticing the obvious strain on the stallion's sweat-covered face. “I should be asking you the same thing. What's your name, soldier?”

“Specialist Crimson Sky, ma’am, and it’s nothing. Little- “ he stopped to catch his breath briefly, “Little physical exertion is the least I can do for the Angel,” the red stallion answered, his wings beginning to slightly droop and slow as his stamina slowly waned.

Noticing the obvious distress his dragging her full weight through the snow was causing, Six raised herself up onto all four hooves and jumped off the sled to stand next to the relieved pegasus.

“You know how much weight you were carrying there, soldier?” Six began as she continued checking her range of movement with a roll of her shoulders.

“Uhh, I find it rude to ask a mare her weight.”

Six smiled slightly in amusement. “Well, enough for me to notice… who's your commanding officer?”

“Captain Spitfire, ma’am, I’m one of the wonderbolts assigned to this mission. And, um, may I speak freely?”

“…You may.”

“Thank you for rescuing us from the changelings during the war. I…was one of the ponies taken on their second attack in Canterlot, even got socked in the jaw by your second before it all went down.” At the mention of Spear, Six’s features took on a sad smile. “ Anyway, I know you must have gotten this a lot, but I really do want to say thank you. I have more friends than I can count that have been helped by you in one way or another.”

“Just doing what a Spartan should… Still, that nickname will take some getting used to.”

“Oh, would you prefer I not use it, ma’am?”

“I have a feeling it would not matter,” she smirked. “But anyway, I take it Shining Armor wants to see me?”

“Yes,” Crimson confirmed. “We were ordered to inform him immediately when you regained consciousness. You’re… one of the first of those afflicted to wake up.”

At that prompting, Six looked around their new, less snow-filled environment. The ground beneath their hooves was now a mix of ice and grass, the blizzard behind them growing smaller with every step. Staring at the whirling wisps of black smog that spilled out along the edges of the storm, Six's thoughts were filled with half-blurred memories.

Cadence, the smoke… the voice. Six’s eyes began to widen as the memories came flooding back to her.

“My Spartans!” Six shouted suddenly, causing Crimson Sky to jump at the yell as Six was now almost muzzle to muzzle with the smaller pegasus beside her. “Where are my Spartans?!”

“U-up the line,” Crimson sputtered out, barely able to finish his sentence before Six took off after the next sled in front of them, leaving one very bewildered pegasus in her wake.

Dashing across the grassy fields and up towards the next sled, Six called her Spartans’ names as she almost frantically checked and inspected the next sled’s cargo. Finding her Spartans nowhere to be seen, Six continued from sled to sled before finally being intercepted.

“Six!” came a call from an approaching pony in front of her, their form being escorted by a pegasus with a single red wing glistening in the sun. Like a mare possessed, the Spartan sprinted to meet them in the middle, her mind only barely registering that the pony being escorted was Shining Armor. Six practically ignored him as she asked Pixy in a voice only slightly marred with panting.

“Where are the others?”

“Fine, Six, they’re fine. Sparrow’s got Spirit watching over him like a hawk and, knowing her, he’ll be right as rain in no time,” Pixy reassured as she came down from her position hovering above the ground to stand before the much larger Spartan.

The tension that had been growing in Six melted away in seconds, the Spartan nearly having to catch herself from falling as her hard-as-steel muscles relaxed suddenly.

“Good, that’s…” Six took a breath to steady herself and regain her composure, “Good. Glad to see we haven’t suffered any casualties.”

“Glad to see your compassion is still in working order,” came a comment from her left as Shining Armor trotted into her view. “We were worried that smog might have had some more… adverse side effects. Speaking of, mind removing your helmet quickly? I want to give you a scan just to be sure.”

Six complied, though with a minor amount of reluctance. The small part of her brain filled with ONI directives about Spartan project secrecy, no matter how hard she suppressed it and reasoned that they already knew far more than anybody should fought back with all the minuscule power it had. But by the time it could mount any real resistance, Shining had finished his scan in a flash of pink light.

“Not detecting anything dark magic related within you, Six. Seems like whatever that smog did, your own body has already dealt with it on its own,” reported Shining as Six blinked the spots from her eyes.

“Yeah,” she responded, recalling the rather violent coughs that had triggered her awakening, faint images of the disappearing black wisps filling her mind as she unconsciously cleared her throat. “Spartan biology for you.”

‘I think,’ she added mentally. In truth, Six had no idea exactly how her enhanced biology would react, that particular question having been filed long ago under the ‘turned into a magical pegasus’ folder. Briefly shaking her head to rid herself of such intrusive and distracting thoughts—the Spartan training of ‘Adapt or Die’ reasserting itself—Six reattached her helmet, returning the comforting warmth it provided as the pressure seal closed.

The ambient temperature has since risen significantly,now displaying in single digits rather than double. With her mind sharpening back to what it once was, Six’s eyes found themselves drawn to the crystal spire rising high above the horizon just behind Pixy.

“How much longer till we reach our destination?”

“Not long, I’ve already organized a pegasus scouting party to inspect the area from the air. However, I do want to get a closer look without drawing any unnecessary attention to ourselves. We have no idea what may be waiting for us down there, and I want to be prepared for anything.”

Six smiled underneath her golden visor. “I’m sure I can take a look for you.”

“Unfortunately, no, Six. While I don’t doubt your ability, that…smoke left a majority of our fighting forces down for the count. I need our best working security for the staging area we’re setting up ahead in case we are not…welcome in the city.”

Six bit her lip but acquiesced. “Understood. Spirit is the Spartan best suited for stealth recon then. As far as I know, she’s uninjured, correct?” She looked towards Pixy for confirmation, who nodded in response.

“Took the words right out of my mouth. She’s two sleds up with Sparrow and Cadence. Go take over for her and convey my orders: She is to scout up ahead and recon the city. I want approximate civilian numbers, military numbers, and whether or not they look hostile, as well as an optimal avenue of approach for a peaceful meeting. If we sneak up on them, we may send the wrong message,” explained Shining Armor, Six nodding along as he briefed the Spartan.

“Understood,” the super soldier confirmed with a nod as the captain began to make his way further down the column, Pixy taking flight and following shortly behind. Now alone, save for the two ponies pulling the sled to her left, Six followed the Prince’s directive as she made her way up the column once more, intent on finding her stealth specialist and alicorn charge.

In the distance, the crystal spire became evermore pronounced as the column began to stop at the base of a hill, the frost-covered terrain providing ample cover for their expedition to remain hidden. A wedge shape formation had been created with the sleds surrounding a central point where a single large orange stone glowed with a warm hue.

A standard heating stone, according to Six’s memory. It gave them the ability to warm an area without the need for an open flame that could expose their position. How it worked exactly, the Spartan didn’t know, nor did she particularly care. It worked, and that was good enough for her. Sitting at the apex of the makeshift wedge was her destination, the pink alicorn directing the still-approaching sleds and ponies across their camp.

Standing just behind her was Spirit, her head resting across an unconscious Sparrow's back, her ears swiveling in every direction as if looking for any possible threat that may harm him. The moment her eyes locked with Six’s visor, her form was briefly consumed by green fire before reestablishing her earth pony form. Within the flash of her flames, Spirit was sitting up with wide eyes and a large smile upon her face.

The sudden flash of green behind the alicorn did not go unnoticed by Cadence, who turned to see what had happened. Following the disguised changelings gaze, her eyes also met the Spartan’s hidden gaze, a warm smile spreading across her face before she refused her attention to a nearby soldier that had approached her gestured towards a nearby sled.

The Princess appeared to sigh before waving her hoof and directing the pony to the right side of camp. Moments later, a sled containing several unconscious ponies of various shapes, sizes, and species passed in front of the Spartan. The pony from before led it to where the distressed Cadence had directed.

“Everything alright?” Six asked as she approached the pink alicorn whose wings had begun to droop to her sides.

“No… but now that you're here, somewhat better.” Cadence offered her small smile. “You’re the first to wake up, which isn’t surprising now that I think about it…” Cadence shook her head, “No matter, if you woke up the rest will as well, I’m sure of it,” the alicorn continued whilst looking back towards the still unconscious Sparrow and a now hopeful looking Spirit.

Six just nodded towards the Princess before focusing her gaze towards Spirit, now standing at attention behind an unconscious Sparrow. “Got an assignment for you soldier.”

“Yes ma’am, what do you need me to do?” came the curt response before Six repeated the orders given to her by the Prince. While it was clear Spirit was paying rapt attention, she kept glancing at Sparrow with every little twitch. This did not go unnoticed with the Spartan mentally noting those lapses in attention down for later.

“Understand Spartan?” Six finished getting a firm nod in confirmation from her underling. “Then move out.” And with one final glance back towards Sparrow Spirit vanished into the environment in a burst of green flames as her coat began to perfectly mimic the ground beneath her hooves.

It was a skill, the Spartan mused, that had taken many weeks to perfect with the changeling’s disguising ability having only since been used to mimic ponies, rather than grass. An organic copy of the active camouflage systems employed by the Covenant, though not to the same extent. As much as the changeling tried, bending light around her body was not yet possible, though Six remained hopeful.

As she watched the camouflaged form of Spirit vanish over the hill and towards the crystal spire Six switched her gaze to Sparrow and sighed deeply.

“Something wrong?” questioned Cadence as she watched the Spartans visor examine the unconscious pegasus.

“Her behaviour was not that of a Spartan,” Six answered simply as she began to circle and inspect the area around the Princess who frowned at her response.

“Six it’s fine. If you want to blame that lapse of etiquette then blame me, they don’t call me the Princess of Love for no reason, after all.”

“This was not the first time their… relationship has impacted operational security.”

“And I doubt it will be the last but I must say I am disappointed in the lack of trust you have in her.” Six’s head snapped back to meet Cadence.

“What… Do you mean?” the Spartan asked slowly and almost dangerously.

“Well let me put it this way,” Cadence began as she ever so slightly leant back from the burning gaze Six was not shooting at her. “ All of your Spartans have not only been trained by the most dangerous pegasus in Equis, but were also on the front lines in the first major war in over a thousand years. Sure they may not be as fast as you, or as duty driven, and they are certainly more fun in comparison to you.” Cadence expected a reaction to that comment, but Six didn’t even flinch and even started to relax somewhat.

“But what I am saying is,” Cadence continued with more confidence, seeing that her words were hitting true, “they know what they’re doing and will be the model Spartans you trained them to be when the situation needs them to be, but they are still ponies underneath the Spartan training. Get what I’m saying?” Cadence waited for a response, Six continued to say nothing as she broke eye contact with the Princess. “Look I will agree with you that they do need to keep a sense of professionalism on the job, I won’t argue that. I’m just saying, there's more to them than just the mili-“

“Enough,” Six cut the Princess off, the Spartan moving to sit behind Cadence’s right, her back leaning against the sled that housed the unconscious Sparrow. “I’ll take your words into consideration but they’re my Spartans. Remember that. I’ll deal with them how I see fit,” Six finished with a glance towards Sparrow, her tone one of finality to the Princess.

Cadence sighed but said nothing, her attention returning to the organisational duties of the final few oncoming sleds leaving the Spartan to her brooding.

An hour had since passed before the camouflaged changeling returned from her mission, her presence announced via the sound of rapidly buzzing wings and the yelp of the awakened Sparrow as he was smothered with affection. The other ponies that had been affected by the black smog had woken up half an hour prior; their awakenings also preceded by them coughing up the last of the poison that had filled their bodies. They were far more violent than Six’s, with most also losing their lunch as their bodies expelled the smoke, unlike the Spartan who had experienced a mere coughing fit.

Their expedition was all gathered around the warming stone at the center of their makeshift camp, the main task being the treatment of those that had been afflicted. That was why Sparrow was now lying on the ground, the bowl of soup he had been given spilt across his coat with a chirping changeling nuzzling the croup of his neck. A cacophony of laughter at the pegasus’s expense echoed throughout the camp as Six, accompanied by the royal couple, approached the heap the two of them found themselves in. Cadence was the first to speak up with a grin directed at the Spartan couple.

“Having fun there?” A surprised chitter was her answer as Spirit suddenly shot up, buzzing into the air, the undisguised changeling now hovering above Sparrow with a distinctive green blush across her face.

“U-um…”

“Enough,” Six cut through, snapping the changeling to attention. “What did you find?” the Spartan asked as she led them all away from the main group to leave them to their meals. Once the four of them were gathered just outside the main camp, Spirit spoke up.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Shining Armor repeated in surprise, a facial expression mimicked by all save Six.

“The city is… empty. I couldn’t see any guards, any civilians, and not even a stray pet!”

“Impossible,” Cadence stated as if she knew what she said was fact. “The crystal city wa—is home to thousands!”

“I got as close as I could without exposing myself, and it was a ghost town. If any creature is in there, maybe they’re hiding?” Spirit offered, unsure of what more she could tell them.

“Could they be preparing an ambush?” Six asked, her mind focusing on the threat this development may pose.

“Maybe… I counted four entrances into the city, one for each direction. The closest one is the southern entrance and, as I said, it was deserted,” Spirit added, disappointed she had nothing more to share. Shining was next to speak up, his hoof brought to his chin in thought.

“The last thing they may remember is being under Sombra’s hoof. There is a high chance that they’re all just hiding inside their homes, the mines, or the king's dungeons. I’m hoping it’s the former, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it's the latter.”

“What about the King's military? Could they still pose a threat?” asked Six, her own hoof now mimicking Shining’s.

“If they did, Spirit would have seen them. From what I know, the King liked his security and he loved to show it off,” the Prince finished as he looked up towards the crystal spire. “We stick with the original plan. Sombra seems to be part of the blizzard that's surrounding this valley and the only place we stand a chance is in the city. We will move up with myself and Cadence taking the lead. Once we know for certain that we’re welcome in the city, I’ll call for the rest of us to come.” He looked towards the Spartan. “Six, due to your…stature, it's best if you stay back with the supplies to avoid frightening any civilians that may be watching us.”

Six nodded, but with some reluctance. “My Spartans will be your security then.”

“Yes. Any objections?” Shining looked at his wife, who shook her head at the question. “Good, then get everypony ready to move out. We leave as soon as we’re ready.”

Author's Note

Next chapter is going to be very interesting indeed

3- Out of Time

To call Six annoyed would be an understatement. To call her pissed would be an overstatement. To be accurate, Six was experiencing a limbo between both sides of the spectrum as she sat atop her sled and watched as Shining Armor and Cadence walked down the slope towards the crystal city’s gates, flanked by her three Spartans.

As much as she knew that duty and following orders came first, being told to sit back and let her charges walk directly into probable enemy territory would never sit well with her. Throw in her Spartans as well and you had a recipe for impatience, one Six was indulging in quite heavily. Most of the ponies around her had given the Spartan a wide berth. Her posture, constant staring towards the royal couple and her underlings, as well as the errant twitches that made her diamond-sharp feathers glint in the slowly dwindling sunlight.

Those that knew her stayed away, those that didn’t followed their seniors, and those that only knew of her reputation whispered amongst themselves in awe. However, there was one exception to these groups: those that didn’t give a damn and continued on as normal. And one pony among them managed to draw the Spartan’s gaze.

Prompted with an annoyed question of “Why isn’t this sled in position?!” and getting nothing but glances to the Spartan atop it in response, an annoyed Crimson Sky walked up to the sled and hitched himself to it. With a raised eyebrow in curiosity, Six turned to watch the display before her, a part of her conscious mind welcoming the brief distraction.

With a heave and several flaps of his bright red wings, the sled began to move, the ropes binding the Pegasus to the Spartans sled straining against their bonds as the sled began to move with a lurch. Six could faintly feel the pressure of a tailwind pushing through her feathers as this lone soldier managed to pull the combined weight of the Spartan and her sled.

The wind at her back began to increase as the sled began to move to its destination, closer to the others. Six watched the straining pegasus before her with ever-increasing curiosity and attention.

“What's your secret?” Six asked suddenly, briefly breaking the straining pegasus’s attention, the breeze at her back wavering before returning in force.

“Would you…” Crimson Sky began with a pant, “Would you take magic as an answer for now? Need to… need to focus here. Wind isn’t… as favorable…as before.”

Six did as asked and remained silent for the rest of the short trip, the analytical part of her mind processing what the pegasus had said. Could he control, or at least influence, the surrounding wind? Could she do so as well? Six pondered with an experimental flap of her wing as her gaze switched between her still ones and the flapping pair attached to Crimson.

She knew from experience that her weight was nothing to scoff at, with even the strongest of earth ponies required to move her any amount of distance. The ponies that had said job during her stay in any hospital were given the unofficial nicknames of ‘Six’s Noble Steeds.’ So seeing this, by all accounts, average size and strength pegasus managing to pull not only her weight but that of the sled as well was nothing short of astounding to the Spartan.

Five minutes later, Crimson Sky collapsed to the ground, his spirit seeming to have overestimated his body, the pair having only made it halfway to their destination. Six grinned under her helmet as she looked down at the panting pegasus before jumping down and offering a hoof to help him up.

“Well, color me impressed,” Six began as Crimson took the offered hoof and rose from the ground. “So tell me now, what's your secret?”

“My own technique…” He took a moment to catch his breath before continuing, “If I concentrate, I can influence the surrounding winds to help pull the load. Haven’t…haven’t found another use for it, though. Too tiring, too situational. What happened in the blizzard was a fluke, I tell you. Winds everywhere else are way too weak,” Crimson finished as his breathing slowly began to calm.

“Hmm,” Six hummed, her attention drawn to the distance they had managed to cross. It was certainly a short distance, but not an insignificant one. This pegasus had potential, maybe… maybe Shining Armor had more influence on Six’s thinking than she realized.

Without saying another word, Six hooked one of the sleds reigns around her wing before beginning to bull it—extremely easily— the rest of the way, leaving Crimson to catch his breath.

“Pegasus Magic has always interested me.”

Six froze, her eyes darting to her tracker. It was the same voice—that same seductive tone, and it came from everywhere.

“After all, my Empire is sorely lacking in genetic diversity. There are only so many experiments one can undertake when your test subjects possess neither a horn nor wings. And quite frankly, I hate needles.”

The voice was coming from behind, her heart rate already beginning to skyrocket involuntarily, her biology betraying her once more. Turning as fast as she could, wings shivering and feathers vibrating, Six met the source of this siren's song.

Sitting atop the sled where she had sat not too long ago was a pony. His coat was a dark grey, its color nearly mimicking that beneath her undersuit. A long, dark, flowing mane as black as night grew from his head. A sharp, red-tipped, curved horn grew from his forehead. Wisps of translucent black and purple smog seeped from his eyes. In fact, upon closer inspection, his whole body was transparent, as if the pony was not really there in the first place. He looked down at the Spartan with an impassive gaze, his eyes focusing on the extended wing she held towards him. He chuckled, as if seeing a child pointing a stick at him.

“Please, there is no use for violence Noble Six. What you are seeing is merely a…projection. I simply wish to speak with another warrior on equal terms.”

Upon closer inspection, the King was indeed almost completely translucent, a dark haze distorting the space around him as if his mere presence interfered with reality. Approaching carefully, wings still raised, Six realized that the King—or his projection—seemed to be as large as her. The two eye to eye as Six climbed up the sled. His body was covered in scars and burns, his build large and powerful, not too dissimilar to Sparrow or herself. It was the body of a soldier, a killer, a weapon honed to perfection and tempered by warfare. He continued to watch the Spartan in amusement, a grin on his lips and his fangs bared.

“You may want to lower your weapon. All the others will see is you threatening empty air.”

“Shut up.”

The King sighed, stood up, and simply walked into the blade pointed at him, his form passing around it as if it weren't there. Her shield became visible along the armor inside his translucent form.

“There, as you can see, weapons are not needed. I merely wanted to say hello.”

Six continued to say nothing, merely staring the King down before retracting her wings. Sombra mirrored her expression, the two warriors staring each other down.

“Hello,” Six was the first to break the silence. “Now leave before I find a way to kill you where you stand.”

Sombra smiled. “And why would you want to do that? I haven't done anything personally to you, no?”

“Many I killed haven’t, but I still did my Job,” Six shot back as Sombra’s smile only grew into a chuckle.

“And those sisters thought they could be rid of me.” His eyes roamed across Six’s armored form. “I must say that the craftsmanship on your armor is simply divine. I have no doubt that should our swords cross in battle, I would have found myself a worthwhile foe. Though I hope it will not come to that.”

Six wanted to retort, but the translucent unicorn continued before she could speak.

“No matter. You may have come here to stop me from retaking my throne, but it will be for naught. My ascension back to King is as inevitable as the rising sun itself. What your charges are doing is merely buying time.”

“Tyrants live on borrowed time,” Six retorted, hoping to would wound the shadow’s pride. It only elicited a deep laugh.

“My my my, what have those princesses been telling you? That I am a tyrant? A monster from the deepest pits of Tartarus? A power-hungry and enslaving Warlord? I am merely what my creators wanted. As for the Empire, let's just say… the dog took hold of its leash.” Another laugh billowed out from the spectral King as he turned to look Six directly in the eye, the Spartan finding herself frozen solid, body refusing to follow her commands.

“We are more alike than you could ever know, little puppy. Perhaps next we meet, your leash will be as broken as mine. But for now, our conversation must come to an end.”

“Good, your arrogance was beginning to annoy me.” The King laughed once more.

“We will speak again, Noble Six. After all, us living weapons must stick together.” And like dust on the wind, Sombra had vanished. Six remained still for several long moments, her mind still processing what had just happened.

She inspected the area Sombra had appeared, the Spartan finding nothing out of place.

‘I. hate. Magic.’

Half an hour later, the convoy entered the ancient crystal city, Six walking along the side, watching for any possible attack. Her conversation with Sombra had left her more shaken than she cared to realize, the sudden biological whiplash leaving the Spartan with involuntary shivers periodically running down her spine.

Walking down the crystal boulevard, the Spartan witnessed several windows slam shut and fearful looks being shot at not only her but their entire convoy as they entered the Empire. But the moment their eyes landed on Six, they vanished and slammed their windows and doors shut. The scenery surrounding them looked abandoned, with large cracks running down the crystalline walls and street, as if chunks had been ripped out and brought to who knows where.

To Six, however, it meant nothing. She had seen her fair share of cities ravaged by warfare, and this was no exception. It was as if the battle had happened only days ago, the ash having only just settled from whence it had come. By all accounts, this should not be as, apparently, until yesterday, the Empire did not exist.

Reaching the plaza underneath the Spire that rose from the city's center, Six met back up with the royal couple and their Spartan escorts. They were organizing the sleds like before, telling them to spread out and begin to hand out the many supplies they had brought. From modern medicines to food and warm winter clothing, all the humanitarian supplies they had brought were handed out in their bid to introduce the modern world to this Empire out of time.

Six said nothing as she took her place by the royal couple's side among her Spartans, glad that nothing ill had befallen them whilst she was stuck having a conversation with that… shade. She didn’t know what to feel when it came to what the King had spoken to her. She should have, by all accounts, shrugged it off as the lies of a madman, some failed attempt to manipulate her to his side like in those books Shining kept recommending her.

But there was something about the way he said it, about the way he looked at her underneath that arrogant conquerors mask he wore, the voice in the back of her mind telling her to not dismiss it outright. Six closed her eyes in thought, the drone of ambient conversation around her allowing the Spartan to focus more intently.

Though attempted would be more accurate as the sudden, very slight, pressure of something pressing against the Spartan’s forelegs brought her back into reality, interrupting her ruminations.

“Yes?” she asked, annoyance quite clear in her tone. Opening her eyes and looking towards the source of the pressure, she found herself at a loss for words.

Coiled around her right foreleg was a small snow-white ferret looking up at the Spartan with its small black eyes and tiny pink tongue sticking ever so slightly out of its closed mouth.

Six was only able to mouth the word ‘what’ before she felt another pressure running its way up and along her back before resting atop her helmet. Seconds later, a second snow-white furry face came into view. The ferret looked upside down into the Spartans visor, inspecting the golden glass with its nose before she felt it run along her shoulders. The little mustelid squeaked in what seemed like happiness as its companion climbed up the Spartan’s leg to join it on her armored form that had become their playground.

A suppressed giggle from her side drew her attention; the Spartan finding out that the ambient conversation around her had gone silent, everyone throughout the crystal plaza stopped to watch what was transpiring to the Spartan. Looking to her side, careful not to throw the little animals off, Pixy was barely suppressing a giggle.

“I see our Spartan has found herself a few friends,” began Cadence, smiling warmly at the cute display before her.

“They came up to me,” answered Six before quickly catching one of the ferrets with an outstretched wing that had lost its footing atop her helmet. It jumped around its newly discovered environment, its little paws tapping against the many armored feathers. Wether out of amusement or wanting to join its friend, the other ferret jumped off the other side, prompting Six to extend her other wing to prevent it from falling.

Cadence giggled as the sound of the surrounding ponies returning to work began to pick up. She moved to pick one up in her magic and remove them from the Spartan, but the moment the little creatures felt themselves being pulled away from their new playground, they fought back. They squeaked and hissed and trashed Cadence's light blue aura. When Cadence set them down upon her outstretched wings, they bolted. The two ferrets rushed back towards the Spartan.

“Huh… they seem to like you,” Cadence remarked as Six now looked at her with a small tilt of her head, the ferrets climbing up her back and wings. “…Can you perhaps remove your helmet, Six? I think they want to know what's under the armor.”

The Spartan almost reflexively answered no, only just stopping herself before the words left her lips. She looked to her left shoulder, finding one of them attempting to remove her knife from its sheath, its squeaking making the Spartan pause. What was happening to her? Why was there a smile growing on her lips, and why in the hell was that sound making her feel warm inside? She couldn’t tear her gaze from its small face as it attempted to remove the knife from a different angle before it noticed the visor staring at it.

It leaned forward and began to sniff the golden surface like its companion had before. And then it licked it, and for some reason unknown to all —perhaps even the heavens themselves—Six giggled.

Not laughed or chucked or smirked in amusement. The Spartan giggled. A happy sound that seemed so utterly alien to be coming from the Spartan that it made those around her do a double take in response.

“Please tell me I’m not the only pony that heard that,” began Pixy, her eyes locked on the Spartan.

“No, I heard it as well,” added Spirit, equally flabbergasted as they all continued to watch Six in surprise.

Six meanwhile ignored them all, her attention becoming squarely focused on the little mustelid attempting to ascertain the inorganic nature of her visor with its tongue. That or it was thirsty and attempting to drink the melted snow that dripped off her helmet.

Six shook her head ever so slightly, causing the little ferret to move back, allowing Six to remove her helmet without worry. The hiss of the pressure seal breaking startled the animals, causing them to jump around, backs arched and mouths wide open. It made Six pause again, barely suppressing another un-Spartan giggle. The two of them were still on her outstretched wings in front of her, watching the Spartan with great interest. Once the helmet was removed, however, Six barely had time to put it on the ground between her forelegs before the two ferrets began to inspect her in earnest.

Their little whiskers tickled against her cheeks, the animals squeaks making Six’s normally stoic heart soar even further. A part of her brain thought long dead and buried underneath the Spartan III program's training beginning to revive.

“Well, aren’t you two brave ones,” Six said with a smile so uncharacteristically large it made even the Spartan herself pause as she flexed one of her wings to very daintily play with the ferrets, an unconscious knowledge within her mind telling her exactly how and with how much force she should use. The experience seemed oddly familiar as if some long forgotten and dead memory had returned to life, and with a vengeance at that. The animals ‘dooked’ in happiness at the attention, the word coming to Six’s mind like it had always been there.

Meanwhile, on the outside, the attention surrounding Six had only grown, more and more ponies stopping to watch the display before them. And as time continued to progress, Six’s behavior only continued to grow stranger. From merely playing with the ferrets with her wings soon she was actively chasing them and them her, the Spartan giggling and laughing all the way with almost childlike joy. It was as if the world had fallen away to the Spartan, and all that remained was herself and the ferrets.

“Should…should we do something?” questioned Shining as he watched Six he had come to know and respect as the personification of an unstoppable force play with the two ferrets like a foal would with a puppy. The look he held was mirrored by the other Spartans, their minds surely having the same thoughts.

“I…” Cadence began herself also almost at a loss for words, though smiling warmly nevertheless. “As much as I don’t want to, Sombra is out there, but I think that just this once, we should leave her be.” The princess looked around, seeing the many other warm smiles being directed toward the playing Spartan. “If anything, you can file this under a moral boosting event,” Cadence proposed with a giggle towards her husband before the smile became sad. “When Sombra comes, we’re going to need all we can get.”

Shining glanced toward his wife before shuffling closer to her and using his magic to pull one of her wings across his back. And whilst this was happening all around them, crystal ponies began to leave their hiding places, drawn to the epicenter of the childlike laughter that seemed to echo throughout the plaza. Within moments, the caravan was no longer alone in the city center. The soldiers along the outskirts of the plaza, now realizing they were no longer alone, began to hand out the supplies they had brought in earnest.

Soon the plaza began to bustle with the sound of ponies hard at work, helping to bring the civilization out of time into the modern world. The gentle and innocent childlike laughter of the Spartan signaling to all who heard it that maybe, just maybe, everything was going to be okay.

Author's Note

~~May or may not have been tempted by the chaos god Slaanesh and spent the last week writing over 10k words of nsfw Six thats only continuing to grow~~

~~Totally dont join my discord server and read the WIP document i have pinned in the nsfw area~~

~~I blame my discord server for tempting me down the path~~

4- Reinforcements

Six walked behind the royal couple in line with her training on how one should act as a bodyguard to a VIP. Her helmet was located at her hip, and her wings remained half extended at her side, ready to deal with any threat that might approach. Or at least, that’s what she would have liked anyone to think. With the small white balls of fur located within her helmet and between the crook of her wings, the bright red blush and bashful smile portrayed quite the opposite message.

Currently, the trio was inspecting the spire that encapsulated the plaza below, her Spartan underlings tasked with keeping watch for any would-be attacks on their convoy. But even Six knew that after her rather…unique display, they would’ve already been attacked if they were a target.

“So…” Cadence began with a glance towards Six, drawing the Spartan’s attention. “You gonna keep them?”

“Yes,” Six didn’t even hesitate with her answer as she looked back and smiled at the sleeping animals’ form. She could almost feel their soft breathing, unconscious squeaks, and hums through her armor, and each and every one of them made her smile. Six didn’t know why and, right now, she didn’t care. All that mattered to her right now was that they didn’t get hurt.

Her Spartan training suddenly reasserted itself, bringing a metaphysical sledgehammer to her mind and forcing her to remember that the ponies before her were her real charges, not the sleeping ferrets.

“I thought as much,” Cadence continued with a smile. “I’ll make sure to have some food and bowls for them brought to your room. Though we still have to know where they came from. They might have names.”

Six hummed in agreement as they entered what appeared to be the throne room proper. It was a large crystalline room, its walls sharing their characteristics with everywhere else inside the spire. Against the far wall was the throne itself, though it seemed more like a foreign object rather than part of the castle itself.

It was covered in a black crystalline substance, with red and violet veins crisscrossing its surface like blood vessels. Colors seemed to flow like liquid underneath the surface, as if the inorganic substance was alive. The structure seemed to radiate an almost palpable feeling of wrongness to the trio, its mere presence felt like a mistake in the cosmic fold. A tumor that needed to be excised lest it be able to fester and grow. Even the ferrets were not exempt from its influence, the little mustelids waking up and hissing in the general direction of the black throne.

Shining sneered and looked in utter contempt towards the throne as he began to charge his horn with more power than Six had ever seen. Even with her enhanced biology, she dared not look directly towards the tip of his horn, its light blinding. The Prince was soon joined by his wife, who also began to charge her magic. Within moments the couple's magical auras began to merge, forcing the Spartan to raise her wing to protect against the blinding light, her other moving to do the same for her two furry passengers.

A bright beam of pink and blue shot out from where their magics met and toward the tainted throne. The room was bathed in a pinkish-blue hue, and the sound of glass shattering filled the air, the light dissapaiting shortly afterwards. Removing her wings from her face, Six blinked the spots out of her eyes. The throne was gone, not shattered or broken, it was as if the tainted throne was never there to begin with.

The feeling of wrongness had vanished with the throne, Six’s two passengers calming down though remaining in their newest hiding spot within the helmet attached to her hip.

“That feels much better,” began Shining as he walked around the throne room. “Nothing quite like the feeling of banishing dark magic, ey honey?”

“Yep!” Cadence answered happily before joining her husband in inspecting the room.

“Dark…magic?” Six questioned, her mind already beginning to grow peeved at the thought. “Don’t tell me there's dark magic Inow have to deal with as well,” the Spartan grumbled, exasperated as she brought a hoof to her face. In the corner of her vision, she could see the sheepish smile shot at her by the royal couple. Six sighed deeply.

“Great. Just…Great!” Annoyance wouldn’t even begin to describe how Six was feeling at this very moment. Were it not for the sudden warmth of one of the ferrets deciding to use her head as perch she would have surely released her frustrations on the nearby wall. Such an event did not come to pass, however, as the little mustelid calmed the Spartan down like water on a flame. Its little dooks as it began to play with her jet black hair easing Six’s nerves immensely.

After the display that had transpired on the plaza below between herself and the ferrets, the Spartan’s mood had improved immensely. Spartan and professional etiquette be damned, that was the most fun she had ever had in recent memory, perhaps even her whole life. It was as if, for a brief moment, she wasn’t a Spartan, or even a soldier; she was a child playing with her pets without worry about what the future might hold. But reality reasserted itself soon after, forcing the Spartan back into her role as protector of the royal couple.

Walking towards where the royal couple now stood, Six found herself overlooking the city from a balcony. She could see for miles on end, but the horizon obscured by the ever-encroaching blizzard that surrounded the valley. It had gotten closer, and within the hour, it would be on top of them.

“Dammit, it seems Sombra is accelerating his timeline,” cursed Shining as he eyed the blizzard with a look of uncharacteristic disdain. “Looks like my sister won’t arrive until after he’s already knocking at the gates.”

“What can we do?” asked Cadence, worry clear as day in her voice. “We only just got the crystal ponies to come out of hiding. If…if they see Sombra again, it could become a full-blown panic.”

“My shield seems to be strong enough to hold him, so mayb-“

“Shiney, no, please. Sombra isn’t Chrysalis. He won’t hesitate to k-kill you to get what he wants. L-let me do it, p-please I’m an Alicorn. I can take it,” Cadence pleaded as Shining bit his lip, clearly having an internal debate.

“My shield spell is too energy-consuming for you. I…I would have to take over,” Cadence smiled at his words however, confusing the Prince.

“But by then, you would have Twilight and her friends with you. And I know that they’ll find a way to deal with Sombra once and for all.”

Shining Armor looked at his wife, his face unreadable. He stayed like that for several seconds before sighing deeply, a hint of resigned amusement in his voice. “I swear to Celestia, I hate how it's always up to Twilight and her friends, making us soldiers look bad. Fine, wait until the absolute last moment to put the shield up then, Cadence. Six?”

“What do you need me to do?” answered the Spartan, her serious aura only marred by the sleeping ferret atop her head and the awake one lying across her soldier, watching the unicorn with interest.

“Well, first, I would suggest finding someone to take care of those little guys.”

“I'll take care of them,” answered Cadence as she slowly moved up and coaxed the two ferrets off of Six and onto herself. They didn’t seem to mind much now that they were not being flown through the air against their will within her magical aura. “Well, aren’t you two just the cutest little things?”

Shining smiled at the sight before refocusing on the Spartan, who mirrored his expression. ‘Seeing Six like that will certainly take some getting used to.’

“You’ll be coming with me to get my sister and her friends in case Sombra decides to crash our party. Which, knowing what I do, he most probably will.”

“If I see him, I’ll deal with him.”

“Do not enter a protracted fight with the King. If he comes, you will have to slow him down until we get back to the city. His magic is far unlike anything you’ve faced before… and we all know how you feel about that.” The Spartan’s undisguised hatred for anything magical had become quite well known among the equestrian guard, leading to several incidents of freshly recruited unicorns outright refusing to use magic after an encounter with ‘The Angel.’

“What type of crap am I going to have to deal with now?” Six asked, somewhat exasperated. “How is this dark magic he uses any different?”

“Other than its increased potency and penchant for the effects of the more… esoteric nature, it is incredibly dangerous. Your shield—as effective as it is against normal magic—may not be so protective against him. Dark magic it’s… how do I put this…” The Prince wracked his brain, trying to find the words he needed.

“It's… an anathema to normal magic, a type of energy that can only be extracted from those dark crystals we destroyed. And Sombra happens to be a master at creating and using these crystals.”

“Cut the history lesson. I need specifics on what it can do and how to counter it.”

“Well, to be honest, then we have no idea.” That answer made Six frown as Shining quickly put his hooves up in a defensive posture. “Hey, hey! Look, you’ve felt what just being near that stuff feels like. Imagine being directly next to it for days at a time. Needless to say, researching it is not high on the priority list”

The answer seemed to calm the Spartan down. Though it still remained, it was no longer directed at him. Shining continued, “What we do know is from the Princesses, and that's how to destroy it. It’s why I’m coming with you to get my sister and her friends.”

Six turned to look at the horizon, squinting as if trying to find Sombra with her naked eye among the raging storm.

“What of my Spartans?”

“Protecting Cadence. Sombra may have sleeper agents or something else hidden as a contingency plan. I would not put it past him having planned for this situation in advance.”

“You think he may have?”

“If he did not, we’re massively overestimating him, and I do not want to take that chance. According to Celestia, he took over the entirety of the crystal empire by himself, slaughtered the royal family, and consolidated his power as the only ruler of the Empire.”

Six opened her mouth to say something but was cut off.

“He had no help. He had no allies. He took over the entire Empire within a single day by himself,” Shining intoned again with more force. “Killed every single blood relative of the royal family so that none could claim his throne. He is not somepony we can afford to underestimate. For all we know, this is all part of his plan to retake the Empire.”

“I'll tell my Spartans to be extra vigilant. If he has something up his sleeve, they’ll handle it.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from those ponies,” Shining offered with a small but sad smile as he looked out towards the encroaching storm. The only sound that now reverberated through the throne room was the innocent squeaks of the two ferrets inspecting Cadence. A moment later, Shining Armor turned to look towards Six, a dead serious look on his face. ”Twilight will be arriving soon. Tell your Spartans their new orders, then wait for me at the city's gates.”

Six nodded and gave a short salute, turning to leave and fulfill Shining’s orders, the Spartan giving one last cursory glance towards the pair before leaving the room fully.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to go out there?” Cadence asked, breaking the silence as she refocused her attention away from the ferrets sniffing her wings. “ I can handle myself, you know, if that’s what you're worried about.”

Shining said nothing for several long seconds before sighing loudly. “I know it's not a good idea. It's a terrible one. But I’ll be damned if I’m not there to protect Twilight.” A fire was lit behind his eyes as he made the proclamation. Cadence knew that look; it was the one he did when his mind was made up.

“Alright… but if you end up dead, I’m going to kill you myself,” Cadence responded with her own deathly serious tone. Both stared at each other for only but a moment before sharing a small laugh and embracing each other.

“I wasn’t joking,” Cadence whispered into her husband's ear, tightening her grip on the unicorn.

“Then I guess I better come back,” Shining whispered in return before bringing his lips to hers.

Six waited somewhat impatiently at the city's gates, the edge of a pink shield lying several meters before her just outside of the crystalline walls. She held her knife in her hooves, sharpening its surface along a nearby wall whilst idly watching her motion tracker.

She had deafened herself to the conversations around her, the only sound reaching her ears being her own calm breathing and the vibrations traveling up her hoof from her knife.

“While I can commend Shining Armor’s forward-thinking nature, you should know it will ultimately be useless when I arrive.”

Six extended her right wing out in an attempt to impale the voice's origin, but as she feared, her wing met nothing but empty air. She sighed into her helmet. “Now what? You’re starting to really piss me off.”

“Not my intention, I assure you. Is it so bad that I want to merely speak with the Demon of the Empress herself?”

Six turned to look in the direction of her outstretched wing. It was bisecting a translucent Sombra’s face, golden shield visible to the naked eye. “What is your end goal here? Annoy me to death? Try and manipulate me to your side?”

“No, I require no manipulations. Once you get a taste of the freedom I am offering, you will join of your own free will,” he responded as if it were fact. Six couldn’t help but laugh at the King’s pronouncement.

“You are sorely underestimating a Spartan’s loyalty—my loyalty.”

“And you are a fool for giving them that loyalty. Once your usefulness is at an end, they will do the same as my old masters. You are a tool to them, nothing more. But I know that you will enjoy the freedom I am offering. After all,” Sombra smirked as if he had already won, “you appeared to enjoy my gift.”

“Gift?”

“Those little animals you appear to be so fond of.” Six froze. “Do be sure to take good care of them until I arrive. I took great pride in raising Castello and Cristallo before I gained my freedom.”

“…They're yours?”

“In another life, I suppose, but now they belong to you. As a gesture of goodwill from myself to you. From one weapon to another. We do not have to be enemies. That is all I am trying to tell you.”

Six moved to say something but was cut off by the King.

“Do not mistake my gifts for weakness, however. When we meet on the field of battle, I will not hesitate to kill you if it means reaching my goal. These offers and gifts are as easily taken away as those ponies you care so deeply about.”

“Don’t you dare threaten them,” Six responded coldly, her tone laced with enough venom to kill a dragon.

“Joining me guarantees their safety, and as powerful as you are, you are but a single drop in the ocean compared to me. If I had been there when those changelings attacked, Spear would still live. And if they were to attack again, you needn’t worry about the rest.”

Six growled in anger as she jumped up to behead the shade, only to meet empty air once again, the King having vanished as if he were never there.

“You do not get to speak his name!” the Spartan growled out into her helmet, breathing heavily and heart racing.

She stood there panting for several seconds before calming herself down with several deep breaths.

‘Ignore him. He’s just trying to manipulate you.’

Six told herself as she returned to where she was previously seated, ignoring the looks being thrown her way by several faraway guards and citizens. Her mind attempted to dismiss the intrusive thoughts the King has given her—to ignore the memories unearthed by his words.

‘There was nothing we could do.’

Yet as hard as she tried, some small part of her brain disobeyed, a little voice in the back of her mind awakening to ask her one simple question: Could she handle losing her family again?

5- Fragments

Author's Note

5- Fragments

Having finished his duties at the newly occupied crystal palace, Shining Armor made his way toward the city’s gates. As he walked down the main street that led towards his destination, he was beginning to catch more and more glimpses of crystal ponies exiting their decaying abodes. A lingering fear of the King still hung in the air, even with their arrival and subsequent assurances that he would not return to claim his stolen throne. The encroaching blizzard did little to calm the populous down.

By now, it was only mere minutes away from striking, and already, stray snowflakes and ice-dust were beginning to rain down on the city's walls. He had told Cadence to raise the shield at the last possible second to minimize the strain his wife would be under, and it seemed that time was approaching fast. Picking up his pace, Shining began to lightly gallop towards the gate, and within short order, he could see his favorite super-soldier sitting off to the side, completely unphased by the snow beginning to strafe against their armor like a flurry of icy arrows.

“Hey, Six!” the unicorn called out as he began to come to a standstill beside his friend. The Spartan did not respond, however. The metal giant of a mare remained as still as a statue.

Shining frowned slightly and called out louder. “Six!” Silence.

With trepidation, Shining moved to stand in front of the Spartan and waved his chilled forehoof in front of her visor. That seemed to grab her attention as she, with a small shake of her head and flutter of their wings, began to speak.

“Sorry, Captain I… I think I may be compromised.” the Spartan responded, a clear apologetic and worried tone tainting her usual concise speech. Shining Armor’s face took on a serious note, his muscles tightening.

“Explain,” he spoke, his tone sharp and horn beginning to glow. When Six of all ponies said something like that, you don’t take any chances.

“Sombra, he has been… speaking to me. Appearing beside me like a ghost and trying to turn me to his side.” Her voice was… distant. Like it was a struggle to put the words together in her mind.

“Since when?”

“Since I woke up from that smog. It’s annoying, to say the least… I should be locked up. There’s no telling what else his damnable magic could be doing to me.” Six surrendered with a sigh.

Shining Armor bit his lip before cursing under his breath.

“If this was any other time, I would agree with you, but right now? I need you with me to get my sister… Can I count on you, Six?”

“Are you absolutely certain? You know how dangerous I am. If he forces me against you…” Six left the rest unsaid, merely gesturing to the blades upon her armored wings.

To Six’s surprise, Shining smiled slightly at her before responding, “Sombra’s magic may be strong, but if anypony would be strong enough to resist it, it would be you. But to be safe if he does mess with your mind… I’m sure I could give you a run for your bits.” His grin turned cocky before solidifying back into cold seriousness. “Now let’s go, or we’ll miss Twilight's train.”

Underneath her helmet, Six held an expression of genuine surprise at the captain's statement before she herself steeled her gaze and moved to stand up, determination filling her spirit as the small amounts of ice that had formed on her joints cracked and shattered under her movements. Rolling her wings and neck, she began speaking, her previous trepidation seemingly gone.

“I’ll take point.”

Shining Armor nodded before following behind the Spartan into the storm, the shield cast by his wife activating behind them.

The storm pelted their armor relentlessly, with winds that occasionally challenged even Six's balance, as the air seemed as dense as molten lead.

“Want me to ease up on the storm?” a smug voice whispered into Six’s ear.

“Oh, will you just shut up already!?” Six growled like a timberwolf. Her outburst did not go unnoticed by her companion, even within the harsh blizzard.

“Six?” Shining yelled in confusion over the wind.

“Sombra,” she grumbled.

“Oh, what did he say?”

“That this storm of mine is rather strong, of course!” A rich, baritone voice slithered between them as snowflakes suspended mid-fall. And there, on a mound of pitch-black ice, stood the one responsible for it all.

Bearing armor with a similar shade to that of Six’s titanium, he stood proudly, a malicious grin plastered on his face and red cape billowing in a nonexistent wind. Whisps of purple and dark green vapor leaked from his eyes like bloody tears as scarlet red eyes stared down at them, utterly emotionless despite the fanged smile he bore. Trails of seemingly living shadows licked at his armored hooves, and his curved black and red horn bubbled with unnatural magic.

He cast his gaze downward at the two with an air of expectancy, much like a lion sizing up a wounded gazelle. Merely looking at the King gave Shining a headache forcing him to avert his gaze whilst Six remained stoic.

“Do not look away,” the returned King’s voice boomed. “You witness your King's revival.”

“Shining,” Six spoke, pulling his attention back to her. “Get Twilight.” He didn’t have time to respond before Six vanished from where she stood, charging at the King with bladed feathers raised. Doing as the Spartan commanded, he galloped away towards the distant, shadow of the train platform. The eye-searing light of an oncoming train signaling that his sister was about to arrive.

Six charged.

Sombra remained unblinkingly still.

A shower of ice and snow kicked up from behind Six like the coattails of a fighter jet, and her wing blades raced to meet the tyrant's jugular like the reunion of two old friends.

A moment passed. Two. She swiped.

He grinned.

A wall of black crystal erupted from the earth, and Six's eyes widened.

Bracing herself, the mare felt the air get knocked out of her lungs as the crystalline barrier smashed into her stomach, instantly shattering her golden shield and sending her flying several meters away.

She hit the ice with the force of a tank, spinning and rolling uncontrollably for several more agonizing meters before coming to a stop.

Head spinning and mind in a daze, she felt the ground beneath her begin to rumble, giving her only seconds to roll to the side before four large spikes erupted from the ground right where her hooves had been sprawled out.

Breathing heavily, she whipped her head back towards where the King had been standing, only to find it empty.

As quick as lightning, her stance lowered and her wings raised in a threatening flare as she scanned the snow and watched her tracker for any movement.

Golden arcs of electricity leaped off her form as her shield struggled to reform in the battering snow.

There was nothing for several long moments.

Then, suddenly, a tingle on the back of her ne-

Six stumbled back, a hoof brought up to her visors now cracked and bloodstained glass as she tried to figure out what the hell had just happened. Her nose was bleeding, droplets marring the broken glass. The blue light of her HUD flickered sporadically now, parts of it varying wildly in shape and size.

A meter before her was what could only be described as a breach in the world itself. A cut in the very fabric of reality began to expand to reveal a grinning Sombra.

“Is this really a battle you think you can win?” He spoke confidently, his smile not reaching the eyes that remained as cold as the vacuum of space.

Six charged once more, intent on taking this smug king down in close-quarters combat.

Her shields were still down, but she couldn’t wait lest she lose the initiative. The revived king seemed to accept the unspoken challenge as his gaze hardened and his posture lowered.

She moved to fake the King out, to get as close as she could to provoke his counter before rolling to the side and bypassing his defenses.

Six only made it within a meter of Sombra before it all went south.

The ground below her burst open once more in black crystals. She moved to jump out of the way, but just as her shields began to flare and recharge, they were broken once again as a spike bore against her right foreleg.

With the sound of screeching titanium and shattering energy, the Spartan’s hoof was impaled, the dark crystal fully piercing her limb with already frozen blood coating its sharp and slightly chipped end.

Six yelled as pain rivaling the plasma sword that brought her here erupted from the wound, crystal spreading to encase the torn ligaments. Six struggled and thrashed in an attempt to free herself. She raised her other hoof, intent on shattering the crystal with all her might.

Her hoof only made it halfway before another spike burst from the ground and shot through her limb faster than she could react. Six barely managed to grit her teeth through the pain as gravity caught up, causing the Spartan to hang from her impaled forelegs several meters off the ground. She couldn’t fight this. She needed to get away.

Six flared her wings before attempting to saw her way through the crystal. The king tutted in response as he circled the strung-up Spartan. “I’m afraid that won’t work. My crystals will require a lot more than those pathetic blades to shatter, though the effort is commendable.” His armored hoof tapped against the base of the spike, the vibrations amplifying from nothing to bone shattering as they traveled towards the immobilized Spartan. “Still, better not take any chances.”

The connecting enhanced bones shattered like glass within her armor, the pain unlike anything she had ever felt before forced a scream so loud and hoarse from her throat she likely wouldn't be able to speak for weeks.

“My apologies, but I simply cannot risk you attempting some elaborate escape plan for the time being. Once my kingdom is assured, however, you have my word that I will heal your wounds. But first, I must deal with its upstart pretenders.” He continued looking up at the now limp Spartan, wings flapping irregularly against her side as she struggled to continue her futile escape attempt through the pain. “Now come, once the ponies see you at my mercy, they are sure to surrender.”

He turned and began to walk towards the distant empire, a corridor of calm winds appearing before them, revealing the shining city and its glowing defensive bubble. The roots of the impaling crystals began to follow their king, dragging Six along with them.

“Leave…” she gasped through her helmet's damaged speakers, her voice coming out garbled, horse and nigh illegible. “Leave my Spartans… p-please.” The mare begged, knowing they couldn't fight this enemy.

One of the King's ears twitched and swiveled towards the beaten Spartan. “What was that?” he began, not even bothering to turn his gaze away from his soon-to-be Empire. “Are you begging that the lives of your underlings be spared?” he spoke almost casually, as if they were currently speaking over a cup of tea.

“L-leave… them.” Darkness was beginning to close in from the corners of her vision, heart beating in her ears and a searing pain radiating from her numbing forelegs. She could barely see out of her visor with its glass cracked and H.U.D failing and flickering.

“You needn’t worry about them, my dear. You have my word, not as a King, but as a fellow warrior, that they will not die during my reconquest of the Empire.” The voice of Sombra emanated from within her very mind, its presence calmed the Spartan as the thundering of their heart in their ears began to slow and quieten. The adrenaline that had flooded her system dried up and forced her limp, energy gone.

She wanted to respond but couldn't. Her vocal cords were shredded, refusing to make sounds until they had rested. She was conscious but trapped within her limp body, forced to watch as the King dragged her by her unfeeling limbs towards the crystal city.

“SOMBRA!” came a shout—no, a yell of pure unadulterated fury as the Spartan watched a wall of pink energy crash into the surprised King, sending the umbral unicorn flying into the snowy mist in a puff of jet black smoke.

Six could barely register what was happening, her mind clouded and neurons slowed as her exhausted body struggled to intake oxygen. In a flash of light, she felt herself fall and crash into something soft, blue, and much smaller than her. A scratchy voice she couldn't make out but was definitely familiar emanated from below her before a much larger orange form joined in as she felt herself lifted onto something, or rather someone, before her vision winked into darkness.

“You dare strike a King!?” A booming yell that came from both within and without pierced her brief bout of unconsciousness, forcing her eyes open as her senses suddenly rebooted with near total clarity, foreign energy coursing through her veins as she saw through a cracked visor and swiping snow-covered orange tail the magical battle happening behind them.

But she could tell, however, that it was no battle as she watched spire after spire of corrupted black crystal pierced the ground, turning the flat landscape into a maze of jagged spikes. And just before the trailing field of spikes and a rapidly forming blizzard of black smoke was Shining Armor, his horn ablaze as he shot falling crystals out of the sky and sprinted towards the Spartan and her rescuers.

Purple bolts of energy joined the stallion’s from outside the Spartan’s vision, her neck muscles refusing to answer her calls to move. Voices her mind refused to translate shouted out towards him and each other as the sky behind them began to grin.

The skies churned with lightning and ashen snow as Six passed over the familiar light blue barrier that covered the crystal city, herself and her rescuers coming to a stop just beyond the wall as the magical storm behind them hit a crescendo. Searing bolts of blood red struck relentlessly at Shining Armor's shield, his breath ragged as each sequential bolt zeroed closer and closer to its mark.

Crash. A bolt had found its mark, shattering his shield and striking the unicorn on the horn, forcing hi, to stumble and roll as he cradled his forehead in obvious pain. They were so close to the barrier, only meters away from safety. A shout echoed out as Six watched a purple mare run out and drag the stallion by his mane into the city moments before the ground beneath him gave way to a forest of dark crystal spires.

Darkness filled her vision, and she felt herself hoisted upward, causing her stomach to lurch inside her tightened chest as she was carried off, the Spartan plunging into the sea of unconsciousness, her last thoughts being on that of her Spartans and how ill-prepared they were to face the coming threat without her.

6- Wounded

Six walked the battered streets of the changeling hive, a diorama of frozen violence surrounding her. Where she was going, she didn’t know. She just walked down the main street towards the palace at its core. Broken buildings of design so alien they might as well be covenant stretched into the sky, with crimson flames licking the sky.

To her left, she saw a warrior frozen mid-strike against a pegasi combatant. On her right, a small swarm of drones leaped at a unicorn whose horn sparked with half-formed energy. And right in front of her stood one of the Custodians weaved in their blood red armor and swinging their void steel glaive right towards her neck.

Six walked past the frozen display, continuing forward toward the palace. Looking up at it, she found her eyes drawn to a particular section, a crack in its outer shell that spilled crimson light into the scene. Like a breach in a fusion reactor, its light radiated outward in small, barely perceivable waves that warped space around it.

“This is certainly one of your more… exotic dreams, Six,” a familiar voice penetrated the silence to her right. The Spartan turned to look before having to fight the corners of her mouth from plastering a grin on her face.

The moon princess had taken the place of a changeling drone that had been hanging from their tangled tail fin against a wall. Her ethereal mane touched the ground and covered part of her muzzle as her wings hung limply at her sides. Clearly, she was not expecting to end up there upon entering the Spartan’s unconscious mind. With a small flash that blinded Six temporarily, the alicorn had righted herself. Her mane, however, had seen better days despite its ethereal nature.

“Need a little help there?” Six asked in amusement, not bothering to fight the grin anymore.

“That is what I should be asking you,” Luna responded with a small gesture of her hoof towards the Spartan’s armored forelegs, her facial expression turning from exasperation to shellshocked in a heartbeat.

With a tilt of her head, Six followed the alicorn's gaze only to find nothing wrong. She willed her body to lift a hoof to inspect, yet her limb did not respond. She tried again, more forcefully this time, pulling with all her might only for her hooves to remain unmoving as if stuck to the floor itself.

The sound of cracking glass shearing metal pierced the world as pain on a nigh indescribable level shot through her. The metal on her legs began to buckle and warp before finally exploding in spikes of black crystal. Six cried out as the crystal began to grow, climbing up her limb and tearing the armour from her body.

She looked to Luna, heart racing, panic gripping her by the throat, only for her gaze to meet that of the King’s. The world began to crumble, buildings falling into the void and streets breaking open to reveal absolute darkness. The crystal continued to grow, encasing her limbs and devouring the flesh and bone underneath.

Her eyes became locked with Sombra’s, unable to tear her gaze away from him as the crystal reached her neck. She couldn’t breathe, her lungs had turned to crystal. All she could do was stare with frightful eyes as the crystal encased her completely.

Yet as the world began to fade as crystal encased the rest of her head, just before the last remnants of herself were lost under the crystalline growth, it stopped… and Six’s vision turned red.

The gentle sound of a vital signs monitor broke through the haze as the Spartan began to wake. Then came the voices from all around her, as if she was caught in a storm of activity and she was its eye.

“...Six…”

As her mind dragged itself out of the gutter, the darkness across her vision began to recede. She looked up at a fractured world as the broken glass of her helmet turned the white blob behind it into a fractal.

“Six…”

Then came the pain. A searing, cracking, and radiating pain that crawled up her forelegs like lava. A feeling of burning flesh and melting bones, her brain screaming at her to move, to get away, save what was left of her forelegs from the fires that now consumed them.

“She’s going into shock!”

“Hold her still!”

“SIX!”

Her blurry vision finally focused on Shining Armor’s face. His tired, hurt, and sweating face. She continued to weakly struggle and kick out her limbs in futile attempts to escape the pain, yet her focus was now on her friend before her. She fought against her primal mind to still herself from burning that eclipsed all her senses.

Noticing her subdued movements, Shining did what he came here to do.

“You have to detach your armor,” he spoke loud and slow, making sure every word was heard.

Without a second thought, she sent the command through her neural link. Within moments, the instructions were disseminated throughout her battered Mjolnir armour. Servos whirred and magnetics disabled as the emergency command the Spartan had sent forced the various plates of armor to disconnect from her undersuit, titanium clattering to the ground and denting the floor. While Six would normally abhor such treatment of her most prized possession, it was either that or die.

The loud sound of crashing metal and hissing air filled the room before quickly being replaced by gradually dampening sounds of hurried shouts and medical work as Six’s brief awakening came to an abrupt end and she fell into a dreamless unconsciousness.

Shining Armor sighed before sucking in air through his teeth as he brought a hoof up to soothe his aching forehead. The sudden limpness of the figure before him signaled her return to unconsciousness despite the helmet still covering her face.

Careful to stay out of the way of the specialized medical staff around him, he went to remove the Spartan’s helmet that now hung limply over her head. He winced as he instinctively tried to grasp it with his magic, only for the crystals buried deep into his horn to punish him for such action. The unnatural molecules consumed his focused mana and fueled their own growth outwards by several milimeters. A headache slammed into him briefly, making his vision blur before vanishing like it was never there.

He cursed himself under his breath for his stupidity as he used his hooves to remove the Spartan’s helmet. Its cracked golden visor reflected his face in a fractal, the crystal suffering no such fate with it remaining perfectly clear.

He turned away and put it with the rest of the armor plates that had been gathered onto a nearby, now slightly bent, metal table. Looking back, he saw the grimacing face of his friend, pain and discomfort clearly burned onto her face even while unconscious. And with the injuries she had, he couldn't blame her.

Her forelegs were in a shape he couldn’t even begin to describe without his stomach beginning to lurch. The same crystal that grew out of his own horn had pierced both of her hooves, covering them from the knee down in its corrupted growth. From what magical scans and X-rays could pierce below the shell, the damage was extensive.

As one of the privileged unicorns briefed on the nature of dark magic and its related constructs, the normal way to… destroy them is to soak it in pure, unrefined mana. The exact science behind it, even he did not fully know. What he did is that when both associated energies come into contact with one another, both are destroyed.

But Sombra was insidious. If they attempted to do so on either himself or the Spartan’s limbst, both the crystal and the flesh they were rooted into would be destroyed. And if they didn't find a way to remove these crystals soon and they continued to grow at their current pace…

Shining Armor shook his head, ridding himself of such dark thought. Now was not the time to dwell. With Twilight and her friends here, they would surely find a way to defeat the King that had struck the Angel low. Intent on leaving the medical staff to their work, Shining turned away and exited the room. The echoing sound of an irregular heart rate monitor muffled as he left the medical wing of the palace fully.

Cadence looked towards a nearby window with trepidation, her heart thumping in her ears and sweat slick across her forehead, matting her usually pristine coat as her horn burned in arcane energy. She could already feel the strain as she sat in what was to become her throne room.

‘Shiney, how do you do it so effortlessly?’

She thought with another glance towards the stained glass window, staring at it as if Sombra himself was about to burst in and send her flying right back to Equestria. And considering the situation they were currently in… that was not an impossibility.

A twitch to her side brought her back to reality as the ferrets, using her enclosed wing as a makeshift bed, kicked out in their sleep. She smiled slightly at the sight.

“They are precious creatures, are they not?”

Cadence stopped, a shiver running down her spine at the soul-chilling voice. Slowly turning her head, every minor combat spell she could think of prepared with what little energy and concentration she could spare. It shouldn't be possible, how was he here?!

Looking up towards where the voice emanated from, she saw the King that was knocking at the gates. He stood in the center of the room, though something was off about his form. He wore his battle armor with his red cape waving in an invisible breeze, but what really caught her eye was the fact she could see through him.

“H-How?” she couldn't keep the stutter out of her throat as her mouth felt as dry as the desert.

“Oh, there is no need to fear, pretender. Not yet anyway. Your shield is doing its job admirably at preventing my physical form from passing its boundaries,” he spoke, his voice as smooth as silk, as he began to look around the room with a frown on his face. “Luckily for you, a thousand years is excellent practice for one’s mental abilities.”

With resurgent determination, Cadence took a page out of Six’s book. Making sure to project an aura defiance, she answered the King with a bolt of magic.

It passed through him without any reaction from the king as he continued to nonchalantly inspect her throne room whilst quietly speaking to himself about interior decor. Until he was interrupted by a bolt of magic burning a hole into the crystal he was inspecting.

He did not physically react in any way Cadence could tell, but when he turned and his eyes met hers, she recognized that look. It was one she would never forget, that look that brought a knife to one’s throat. The gaze of a predator, moments away from devouring its prey.

Cadence swallowed unconsciously, her throat even drier than before as her heart began to thump out of her chest.

Within the blink of an eye, Sombra was a hair's breadth away from her face. His eyes glowing with purple magic and weeping black as night smoke into the air.

Cadence yelped, and Sombra was back to where he stood before.

“Let me make sure you understand my intention clearly, Pretender.” He began to approach slowly and methodically, intoning every word with a step forward. “Were it not for the Spartan lying in your apothecary, there would be nothing to stop me from making the streets of my city run red with the blood of you slavers.”

Cadence held her ground even as the image of the king was so close he could feel his noncorporeal breath on her muzzle.

“Y-you are wrong. You are the slaver, Sombra. We have liberated these people from your tyranny!”

“What you call tyranny, I call irony. What glorious lies those sisters have told you. But enough reminiscing about the rewritten past.” He leaned in to whisper into her ear, the alicorn's blood running cold as she found herself unable to move away, “I come to you with an ultimatum.”

He pulled away and, with the barest turn of his head, cut a line across her cheek using the tip of his jagged horn. Cadence winced before bringing a hoof up to her face. It came away bloody, shocking the alicorn to her core. How…how was this possible?! How could he harm her here?! Were… were they ever even safe to begin with behind this barrier she was struggling to maintain?

“Hopelessness of your situation finally setting in?” the King mocked before returning to his previous demeanor. “This is my offer: I will grant you and all your ponies safe passage back to Equestria. In return, Six and her soldiers will stay as my valued guests here, and I can give you my word as King that neither you, your entourage, or any other equestrian here in the empire will be harmed.”

“And what will happen to the crystal ponies? You will just enslave them as you did a thousand years ago!” Cadence shot back, a righteous fire burning in her heart.

“A far more merciful punishment than they ever deserve!” Sombra yelled, his composure momentarily shattered as a fury that eclipsed that of the sun broke through his regal exterior. His eyes billowed out smoke, and his horn glowed with such light it made the princess sick to her stomach from its baleful energies.

For several long moments, the King simply stared at Cadence before he regained his usual demeanor, though it did not reach his eyes this time. “You have twenty-four hours until I reclaim my kingdom. I am many things, but a liar I am not.” And with that, the King disappeared, his image losing cohesion before dispersing like smoke in the wind.

Cadence blinked as she once more brought her hoof up to her stinging cheek. It was still bleeding. A rustle from her wing snapped her back to reality as the ferrets twitched once more in their sleep, having somehow remained oblivious to the conversation that had just unfolded.

She sighed as she carefully got up and walked towards the balcony before looking over towards the barrier’s edge. And for perhaps the briefest of moments, she could see the small form of the King standing on the closest hill, atop a throne of crystal, staring her straight in the eye.

A knock on the throne room door and the unforgettable voice of Twilight Sparkle and the ruckus of her friends greeted her ears. She allowed a smile to grace her features. If there was anypony who could find a way to defeat Sombra, it would be her and her friends. Of that she had no doubt.

‘Right?’

Author's Note

Took like 3 months for this pic - Fimfiction

I like my Sombra, I hope you like him as well

7- Written by the Victors

“So Twilight, what are we looking for in here anyway? What’re a bunch of dusty old books gonna do to kick Sombra’s flank?” asked a bored Rainbow Dash as she skimmed through another ancient book before unceremoniously tossing it to the ground behind her.

Twilight caught it in her magic without looking. “Because I am sure that somewhere in here is the answer to how they defeated him a thousand years ago.”

“But why can’t we just like… y’know, blast him with the elements? That's worked pretty well last couple times we dealt with a big bad from a thousand years ago,” she called over her shoulder as she tossed another ancient book about crystal sculpting over her shoulder. This time it was caught in Rarity’s magic.

“You saw what Sombra did to my brother, to… Six.” The mood suddenly dropped at the memory of what the King had done to the two ponies. Even Pinkie, who had been building a castle out of the books Twilight was finished with visibly slowed from her usual hyperactivity.

While only Twilight had been privileged to get to know the Spartan as something more than what the papers made her out to be, all of them knew of her contribution and role in defeating the changelings. And to see that living symbol of Equestria’s defiance brought low by Sombra…

Rainbow Dash turned and continued to search in earnest now before noticing a button hidden behind the book she had just removed. “Hey Twi, I found somethin’.” Informed Rainbow as she tentatively raised a hoof and pushed the button.

With a click that made all of the Element’s gathered ears perk up the bookshelf retracted, revealing a dusty passageway with a spiral staircase of dark crystal leading down. Twilight stared at it for several seconds in confusion as an image of the palace flashed in her mind’s eye.

The library they were located in was on the first floor just above the plaza underneath the palace. If one squinted hard enough it was possible to discern movement below them from the many crystal ponies helping themselves to the supplies her brother had brought. This staircase in front of them shouldn’t have been able to physically exist. Applejack was the first to speak up.

“Well, that’s… certainly something ya found there, Dash.”

“Well? Where does it go?!” questioned Pinkie in her usual squeak as she peered down the winding staircase.

“Hopefully somewhere with far less dreadful decor than that... Do you feel that darling?” Rarity called out to Twilight. “Blech. Dreadful, I tell you,” Rarity complained like she had just tasted something rotten.

“I feel it too. Dark magic, this must be one of Sombra’s secret chambers.”

“And If I were a betting mare, that’s where we’ll find what we’re looking for,” finished Rainbow who, upon crossing the threshold, glided to the ground. “Huh,” she questioned as she flapped her wings harder yet refused to leave the ground. “Can’t fly.”

“I can’t cast anything either,” responded Twilight with a small grunt as she tried and failed to channel her magic. The mana simply ceased to exist the moment it attempted to leave the confines of her horn to light up the surrounding area. While it wasn’t dark inside the discovered passage, it certainly wasn't bright. The dark crystal construction eating a majority of the light that attempted to bounce off of it from deeper below.

“Well, we aren’t gonna get anything done just sitting here-“

“Let’s go exploring!” Shouted Pinkie from behind as she bounced past the gathered mares and hopped down the spiral staircase into the space that shouldn’t exist. The others looked at each other sighing and shaking their collective heads before following and crossing the threshold.

“So… girls? Anypony know what exactly I’m looking at?”

“Sweet Celestia…”

A chorus of surprise rang out from the gathered ponies as they reached the end of the impossible staircase. They had entered into a large room of slightly grey translucent crystals, the area beyond their boundaries swirling with purple and crimson flux that made the stomach lurch when put in focus. Two large archways, obscured by what seemed to be solid shadows lay to their left and right but the real focus of their attention is what lies at its center.

A painting of a unicorn…a crystal unicorn. She wore a long flowing light blue mane with matching color eyes. Her fur is a slightly lighter shade of purple than Twilights. She bore an expression of love and compassion, a slight smile on her face that could disarm even a charging minotaur.

Twilight’s mind raced as she tried to figure out why such a painting was in the impossible chamber Sombra had made. She and her friends began to spread out and investigate the room.

“Darlings? Any idea who this pony is?” questioned Rarity as she inspected the painting closer. “I do have to say that she is quite striking for somepony a thousand years ago.”

“I don’t understand. The books in the Canterlot library said that Sombra killed all the crystal unicorns so that nopony could threaten his power. But then why does he have a painting of one here? And why is it the centerpiece of a room behind a secret staircase in a space that shouldn’t exist?!”

“Calm down, sugarcube. Take it one step at a time. First, mind explaining to us non-magical types where in Tartarus we are? It's giving me the heebeegeebees,” Applejack began with a shudder as she glanced toward a nearby wall and the swirling liquid behind it.

Taking several deep breaths, Twilight centered herself, “Okay… We went down a staircase that shouldn’t exist, there was no space for it. It must have actually been a portal, teleporting us somewhere else. We know the area around the empire so we cannot be located above ground, we must be underneath the city… As for why I can’t cast any spells or Rainbow can’t fly…”

She sat on the cold, swirling floor and began to think, every time she so much as attempted to channel her mana it vanished the moment it left her body, its energies simply ceasing to exist. While her first thoughts were on any standard anti-magic fields and spells, they did not do that. They worked by absorbing any and all magic used within its radius into itself, this was complete annihilation. Could… could the amount of dark crystal surrounding them cause such an effect? Possible, but from her calculations regarding the rate at which the crystals give off their dark magic radiation it would require an astronomically large power sour-

Twilight froze, no… that wouldn't be possible, it couldn’t be possible. The energy to even accomplish such a feat and not have it be detected for leagues all around would be impossible. The only way this could even exist would be in a pocket or a separate dimen-

The walls swirled in the corner of her eye much more forcefully and her stomach began to lurch. The air was so utterly saturated with dark energies that it made her feel like a fish out of water. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't speak. All she needed to do was get out. She didn’t belong here—none of her kind belonged here. Get out. They had entered the Anthema, the origin of Sombra’s power, and the source of all dark magic. A place all unicorns had only heard whispers about in the darkest recesses of their soul. GET OUT!

“Uhhh, y'all alright there, sugarcube?” Asked applejack as Twilight blinked the tears she didn’t know she was crying out of her eyes. She was surrounded by her friends, each glowing ever so slightly with the color of their element, though this seemed to be unnoticed by all except her.

Twilight smiled slightly as she resurfaced. “I-I’m fine. We…” need to leave “have to find a way to stop Sombra.” Her determination won out, the whispers receding for the time being. They had a mission to accomplish, and if they ran out screaming they would never find a way to defeat Sombra.

“Okey dokey!” began Pinkie. “How?”.

“Have one of you tried anything with the archways?”

“The one on the left wouldn’t budge. The right one seemed to have some give, though. Felt like a bunch of spider webs on my hoof,” Rainbow replied, sticking out her tongue in disgust at the memory. Though she quickly regained her brave posture with a small shake of her head. “Not like it bothered me!”

“Then let's go and see what's on the other side.”

After a short, and highly uncomfortable, trip through the archway, the group appeared to find themselves back in Equestria in a space near the tip of the crystal palace. The walls to their left and right were transparent, giving a rather pleasant view of the Empire save for the light blue shield and the unnatural blizzard raging outside of it. Several knee-high bookshelves lay just beneath the windows, each filled to the brim with books that looked to be brand new, but upon further inspection were over a thousand years old.

Against the far wall was a quaint desk with a rather comfy-looking chair. The desk was covered in various knick-knacks and books with multiple colored indentations sticking out from between their pages. A pink feather and multiple pots of various colored inks lay opposite the books. A small picture of the same unicorn from before smiling happily framed on the desk.

If it weren't for the overbearing feeling of wrongness permeating the air like sludge one might be forgiven for thinking themselves back in Equestria and perhaps the office of a local governor or low nobility. Was this the study of the King knocking at the city's door?

“My this is rather… humble,” Rarity was the first to vocalize what they were all thinking.

“That same unicorn from before is also here,” spoke the, until now, silent Fluttershy as she moved to pick up and inspect the picture frame. Until this point, she had been practically catatonic and opted to hide behind Twilight or Rainbow Dash at any opportunity. The less reality-opposing scenery had put her somewhat at ease.

She turned the frame in her grasp, inspecting it for any writing. Meanwhile Twilight had flipped open the book at the centre of the desk. Her inner librarian was both elated and mortified upon flipping through the book’s pages. It was the latest edition of the book ‘From Herds to Cities: The History of Equestria.’ A version that was not set to be published for at least another month! Questions as to how Sombra got a hold of this early swirled in her mind before they were swiftly overtaken by a more pressing development.

The book's pages were filled with annotations, scribbles, and footnotes by the King himself! Multiple times a page, for almost every page, were what looked to be corrections, each more condescending than the last. With a ‘wrong’ here and a ‘oversimplified’ there. His notes spoke of these events as if he was actually there to witness them. Which should be impossible with him being in stasis along with the rest of the Empire, right?

Turning around, Twilight grabbed a book at random from the shelf behind her, flipping it open and gasping as this book was equally filled with the words of the King. Sensing the golden opportunity this was she scanned the bookshelf for anything relating to the Crystal Empire.

Her eyes caught one lying on the bottom shelf. It looked old, its pages having turned yellow from time and its cover having faded to a shadow of its former self.

Her eyes caught the corner of a letter engraved into its surface before her blood turned to ice within her veins as a voice reverberated through the very fabric of this broken reality.

“Ah… visitors.”

The King stepped through the darkness obscuring the doorway, his every step forward making them flinch as throughout the room each mare stared at him in awe. It was as if some very part of their soul couldn’t help but gape at seeing the umbral stallion in the flesh.

“While I would like for nothing else than to stay and chat, with us currently being considered enemies that would not be very tactically sound on my part, hmm? Wouldn’t you agree, Elements of Harmony?” he finished with a rhyme, grinning toward them as if they had met at a dinner party. With the slightest tilt of his head reality around them began to unravel. The sound of tearing paper and rushing wind filled the room as each mare found themselves being pushed through a portal behind them.

Knowing they wouldn’t get another chance like this, Twilight grabbed the book and held onto it with all her might as she was dragged through the hole in reality. The mare's ears popped with changing air pressure as they suddenly found themselves back in the Empire’s library. All of them were breathing heavily like they had run several miles as the final words of the King reverberated in their minds.

“Tick-tock, ponies. My patience will not last forever.”

Twilight clutched the book close to her chest, holding onto it for dear life all her gathered friends caught their breath. Her eyes darted to where the tear in reality had been. All her eyes met with was a disheveled crystal bookcase. They were back in the Empire and back in reality. First came relief at escape, then terror at where they had been before, finally, curiosity took hold of Twilight's mind as her gaze switched between the dark staircase and the book in her grasp.

She held in her hooves the source of information they had been looking for, a text annotated by the dark King himself. Would… would it even be safe to open it? To read its contents without going mad or falling to the King's manipulations? Questions for another time. Right now Cadence, her brother, and all the ponies of the Crystal Empire needed her help. They needed what was contained in this book.

The unicorn placed the book on the ground and opened to the first page as deep within the palace infirmary, an Angel began to dream.

Author's Note

The Dream in question (real):

Time is relative, according to the laws of I just made up this chapter released in a reasonable time with no doubting of ability

8- Birds of a Feather

Author's Note

No title image for now, currently away from my PC where I keep the required photoshop template I created. Will add it when I am back home.

8- Birds of a Feather

Six didn’t know where she was. Her surroundings were that of a blank, white room with a crystalline window she couldn’t see out of. Light shone down upon her from the four corners of the ceiling making her cast no shadow upon the padded flooring. She was wearing her undersuit, though its armor plating was gone, and her front legs tingled with pins and needles.

Getting up on all fours from her previous position on the floor the Spartan inspected the room, tripping slightly over her numb hooves with each step. ‘How did I get here?’ she wondered, trying to recall the events leading up to her awakening in this padded room. Her mind was in a fuzz—like static within her neurons obscuring the recent past.

“Subject Fourteen has awoken, beginning preliminary testing,” a female voice boomed, seemingly within her mind. It bounced around inside her skull forcing a hoof to her temple.

With a shimmering haze, the wall in front of her vanished, on the other side lay a chunk of light blue crystal. Her forehead began to tingle the same as her front hooves as she inspected the formation. Something about it just made her feel…wrong. The Spartan couldn’t quite put it into words, but being near that formation just made her limbs tingle uncomfortably.

“Destroy the crystal,” the voice boomed within her once more.

Six, in her stoicism, ignored the order and instead began to move around the room, putting her hooves against the walls looking for a way out.

“Subject Fourteen, destroy the crystal,” the voice ordered more forcefully, drawing another hoof to her temple as Six stared daggers into the room, eyes darting around to identify wherever this voice was watching her from. Still, she refused to follow its orders and continued to look for a way out.

“Okay, well, if playing nice isn’t going to work, let’s move on to plan B, Subject Fourteen. Dr. Radiant, your assistance please.” All went quiet for several seconds, the anxious tingling in her front-end persisting.

*’Destroy the target.’*

The world went black, her entire body turning numb as her consciousness was suddenly shunted out of her mind. She was now floating in a dark void, muted sounds of breaking glass and broken wood permeating the inky blackness as she floated aimlessly, not knowing what was up and what was down. Her lungs felt empty, her breath caught in her throat, drowning and choking on nothing for what felt like an eternity.

Then suddenly, she was back in the room. The crystal she had been ordered to destroy by the voice were gone, and a fine powder now covered her hooves. A small crack down its horn seeped blood.

Six looked back up at the one-way glass, panting heavily as she felt a trickle of blood run down her forehead. Her eyes focused on her reflection as she brought her hoof up to her face. Growing out from her skull was an obsidian jagged horn.

The world began to fall away from the Spartan as a final sentence from the voice serenaded her return to oblivion.

“Very good, Subject Fourteen. Now get some rest. We resume testing in an hour. And next time, don’t make me get the good Doctor.”

The Shadow King watched the slow rise and fall of the Spartan’s chest in interest, his unnatural horn glowing as he worked his magic upon the mare. He cursed himself slightly for allowing the urge to damage the Spartan so severely.

His goal was to incapacitate the mare to make sure she wouldn’t interfere with his takeover, and while he did complete this goal it meant what was to come next would take far more effort than he initially expected.

Having watched this sibling in arms from the shadows since she first appeared on his metaphorical radar he couldn’t help but feel a connection and an… obligation to help this soldier experience the same freedom he now has. It is what she would have wanted him to do were they here now…

But Six was too stubborn to listen to him, too loyal to her gilded cage because she had experienced nothing else. Sombra bit back a growl as his own memories were brought forward to his mind's eye involuntarily.

Images of the atrocities he had committed in the name of that Wicked Queen and her Empire were thrust into the light before he bit his tongue and forced them back. His gaze once more rested upon the unconscious Spartan, the mare gritting their teeth in their sleep as Sombra’s spell revealed the cage… by showing her his.

He would have her see through his eyes, through his memories, and illuminate her with the truth. She would see the error in her ways, and he would show her what true freedom was. That nopony other than herself had the right to wield her power! Even if that meant some temporary discomfort.

The sound of approaching hoofsteps and the turn of the door handle forced Sombra back out of the material plane as he melded himself with the shadows in a wisp of smoke like magic. He watched as the nurse came in to check up on the grimacing mare who was beginning to sweat in her sleep.

A pang of sympathy coursed through Sombra’s immaterial veins before he steeled himself once more. His road to freedom had to undergo the same hardships, it would be the only way she would learn.

Reaching out with his soul, he wrapped himself with magic as he returned to his home away from home. When the magic fell away he was back in his study, his own little realm within the Anthema. The unwanted feeling of comfort embraced his being as he felt his magic wish to meld into the Anthema.

He sighed into the empty and unkempt room. First, cleaning. Then he would deal with that. While the spell to briefly rip open the planes was useful the draft it tended to create was always Tartarus to clean up, especially with all his manuscripts lying around as they were.

Well, if there was one upside that made this bout of spring cleaning worth it, it’s that the bait had been taken. He had been very careful over the past millennia to conceal his existence, so for those little weapons of harmonic destruction to see just how… active he had been behind the scenes is sure to have them shaking in their hooves. Psychological warfare was his specialty of course.

With a flick of his horn, he began to reorganize his study, putting everything right back where it belonged, taking extra care with his manuscripts and the picture frame on his desk. He frowned when he saw that a corner of the frame had been damaged when it fell to the ground as his guests were expelled.

Opening one of the many drawers of his desk, he searched for a replacement frame as simply repairing the damage through magic would not do in his mind. He soon found what he was looking for and smiled slightly to himself as he got to work.

Working as softly and carefully as he could, he removed the ancient snapshot from its damaged frame. He allowed it to slowly drift into its hoof as if it were a delicate feather while his magic prepared the replacement frame. Without the magical filters he had placed upon each frame, the picture's true age was revealed. With yellowing edges and fading color it felt as if the smallest of breezes could reduce the picture to ash.

The fading psychic imprint of the magical snapshot brought memories of a happier time to the forefront of Sombra’s mind. The warmth of her smile, the sound of her laugh, the softness of her lips… How he could just melt into those feelings, it would all seem so simple the-

The photo began to fall as his hoof turned dangerously transparent. Cursing himself for his slip in concentration in his current state, he quickly reformed his hoof and finished his initial task.

With the picture reframed and his study cleaned, it was time for him to deal with his condition. A remnant of his time as Amore’s guard dog, but it was something easily fixed. Regardless, he winced at the thought.

Exiting his study, he stepped through the portal and into the main ‘hub’ of his little realm. He gave a cursory glance towards the spiral staircase that led into the material plane, sealing it off with a flick of his horn. It had served its purpose, there was no need for it to remain.

Focusing his full attention on the large painting that took up the far wall, he steeled himself for what was to come.

“In spe, libertas,” he spoke aloud in the ancient crystalline tongue.

The painting began to shimmer, accepting his passphrase as the King approached. He walked through the centre of the image as if it weren't there, its surface rippling like water until he had passed all the way through.

Behind the painting was a simple small room, with a casket made of glass at its far end. The body of a pink unicorn lay within, her face forever stuck in a loving smile, and a dagger of pink crystal piercing her chest. The sound of a gentle beat of magic untouched by the Anthema around them radiates outwards in faint light-blue pulses across the dark crystalline walls.

Sombra almost shied away, but continued forward until he stood by the casket's side. He placed his hoof upon the casket glass above where her heart was meant to be. The faint beat of her crystal heart made the Anthema within him scream.

He did not care however at the pain this proximity was causing him as he leaned down to touch his horn against the glass and prepared to speak his three most hated words in the ancient crystal dialect.

“Servio… Regina… Amore.”

Within an instant, a bolt of pale blue light pulsed out from the casket and was absorbed into the King's being. First, there was a bolt of pain as the Anthema’s hold within him was burned away.

He fell to the ground panting, struggling to catch his breath with his heart beating out of his body. He brought a hoof to his chest as he worked to calm his breathing. He was fully corporeal once more, for a while at least. Taking deep lungfuls of air he worked to slow his breathing as he moved to stand back up on his four hooves.

The sudden feeling of a pair of hooves hugging him from behind filled him with warmth.

“It's good to see you, Radiant,” he spoke in a soft tone as he lifted a hoof to the ghostly hooves around his neck, his flesh passing through them. “I should have come sooner, but then again… I haven't used the Anthema as much until now.”

He turned and found the ghostly image of the mare he loved, her form whispy and transparent. Glowing in a pale blue light powered by the beating of her crystal heart. Her face morphed into a smile as she beckoned with her eyes for the King to continue, to speak for time was always short between the two of them.

“I found another, Radiant. Another creature like how I was before you. Her name is ‘Six’.”

Her visage took on a shocked and sad expression, like she had been stabbed through her heart all over again. Unable to see his tortured beloved so sad, Sombra closed the distance to nuzzle the apparition. His nose tickled from her ghostly vapour but his own heart ached as he felt no resistance as he comforted the mare. It felt as if he were nuzzling a winter breeze.

“Don’t you worry about it, my little star. I will help her and with her by my side we will find a way to save you.” The ghostly mare looked up with spectral tears glistening in the corner of her eyes as she was already beginning to fade once more. “Once the Empire is back in my hooves, I will stop at nothing to have you by my side again.” His lips began to close the distance between hers. She did the same even as her body began to vanish.

But then just as they were about to connect, she was gone. Only the silence of her tomb and the laughing of long dead queens remained with him now as he moved to sit by the coffin's side without a word. He eyed the dagger piercing her chest, the dagger of the accursed Queen that had taken everything from him, its hilt still glowing in her sickening magic that forever kept his beloved between the cusp of life and death. Forever keeping the duo that had toppled kingdoms apart in one final act of spite.

He ripped his gaze away from the weapon before his emotions called forth the Anthema unnecessarily as he focused on Radiant Hope's serene face. He planted a gentle kiss on its glass before gazing into her closed eyes, dreaming about what might have been in the millennia stolen from them both.

But dreams would not bring back Radiant, only his actions would. Only once the denizens of the Empire that had enslaved him and called for his death when he was no longer needed repaid him in turn would he finally allow himself to dream.

The King quickly ran through some calculations in his head as he laid his weary head against the glass. If he incorporated the knowledge he had gained from the ponies over the millennia he could…

Sombra’s eyes began to widen as he did the math over and over again in his head before lighting his horn and writing it in the air to make absolutely certain. His calculations didn’t lie, if with only the lowest of efficiency averages for incorporating modern equestrian technology into his plan Amore’s vault could be cracked in less than a month! And in two, with enough encouragement for his penal workforce, he would be finally reunited with his beloved!

“No…No, don’t start planning the wedding yet you old fool,” he spoke to himself, slowing his mind and tempering his expectations. “Those arrogant Sisters won’t let you just keep the Empire unopposed, and you won’t have enough time or the resources to prepare another tesseract spell.” His hopes seemed to be withering right before his eyes until he remembered Six.

She could, and had, taken on whole battalions without a scratch. Her reputation is known as far as his was millenia ago, perhaps further. With her by his side the princesses wouldn’t dare interfere, and if she didn’t comply willin-NO!

He bit his tongue and growled as he once more focused his mind on containing the Anthema’s influence. “Either she helps me of her own free will or she doesn’t help me at all. If have to use her as a temporary hostage, I will. But I WILL NOT. BECOME. LIKE. THEM!” the King of Shadows and End of Empires shouted out into the void with conviction.

All went silent in his realm for minutes afterward, only the sound of his heavy breathing piercing the shroud. He regained his composure and centred himself once more. A minor outburst nothing more. It seems his extended time apart from Radiant and inside the Anthema had taken its toll on his psyche, its urge remaining unchecked for too long. No matter, it was only temporary, afterall. Once Radiant was revived all would be fixed, and he could finally get that beachfront cabin in Griffonia the two of them had dreamed about millennia ago.

Then he could finally leave this life behind, and start a new one with the one he loves unbound by the legacy of the Empire that had created them.

9- 90 Seconds

Author's Note

Happ halloween from one of my two cats: Chubby

9- 90 Seconds

“You have got to be kidding me!” shouted out the would-be Prince of the Empire as he read through the response sent to him by the sisters back in Equestria. “We just had a war! Surely there must be a division they can reassign. Tartarus I’d take just Horizon Squad if they could give me them!”

“Honey… calm down.”

“How can I calm down?! Sombra’s ultimatum ends in three hours, Six is barely alive, and Twilight is still nowhere close to finding a way to stop him!”

“Shiney, please- ah!” The alicorn winced and brought a hoof to her tired head. Her minor yelp of pain broke her husband out of his spiralling and he quickly rushed to his exhausted love’s side.

Bringing Cadence into an embrace, he could now fully see the state she was in. She was never a prodigy with magic, and her inexperience showed itself now as this high level shield spell sapped at her energy and concentration. She couldn’t sleep as her every waking moment was focused on protecting the crystal city from Sombra’s unrelenting blizzard.

Deep bags were visible under her eyes that remained in a constant state of half-closed with her eyelids resting just above her iris at all times. She looked like at any moment she would just collapse with her lethargic movements and drooping wings. Not even the copious quantities of caffeine she had ingested over the past twenty-one hours had helped as her fatigue went much deeper than mere sleep deprivation.

Shining Armor wasn’t doing much better, with bloodshot eyes and small unconscious twitches his body was the exact opposite than his wife’s. Hyperactive and unable to remain still, but it was nothing the stallion hadn't experienced before during his time in the guard.

Beside the couple, the two snow-white ferrets continued to sleep blissfully unaware of the situation around them. They lay in a small basket off to the side of the throne, their bodies an organised knot that, while looking incredibly uncomfortable, allowed them a pleasant nap.

Yet it would not stay that way for long as quite suddenly both mammals woke from their slumber and began to stare into the room.

Their sudden movement did not go unnoticed as both the hyperactive prince and lethargic princess looked to see what was happening.

“My my, did the diarchs really send such a pathetic rabble to face me? I barely touched your barrier and you already look ready to collapse,” the King that should not be there mocked before his eyes met that of the tiny creatures. An uncharacteristic smile grew over his features as the ferrets ran, nearly barreling over each other, towards their original caretaker.

With an ease that spoke of this being a normal and expected reaction he held out a smoking hoof as a step for the two mustelids. They accepted it graciously, using it as a rung on a ladder to climb up and onto his back before disappearing from view beneath his crimson cape. “I am glad to see that they came out of the banishment just as energetic as they went in.”

“Sombra! What are you doing here?! How did you get in?!” Shining yelled out as he defensively jumped in front of Cadence, his posture low and ready to fight back even if his magic was sealed away.

“Simply inspecting the crystalwork of my palace. No need to worry dear usurper, I am a King that keeps his word. You have nothing to fear from me… for now at least. I paid a visit to your little weapon-on-a-leash before coming here. If only she weren't so blinded by your chains, I wouldn't have needed to hurt her so.”

“Six?” Shining asked, to which the glance from the King confirmed. Anger began to well up within the unicorn. “What have you done now?!”

“Oh nothing life-threatening I assure you. I don’t intend to hurt my soon to be guests, nor the little trespassers you call the ‘Elements of Harmony’. I do not intend to wage war against you or the alicorns in Equestria.”

“The Elements… if you hurt Twilight I swea-“

“Hold your tongue!” Sombra spoke with such power it forced the unicorn to silence and made the crystals on his horn grew a few more centimetres. “I have only one wish, and that is to enact my righteous and just punishment on the worms that created me! Even if you are no better than them when it comes to the Spartan you forced me to incapacitate! But enough about that, I have come to get your answer: Fight and die or leave and live?”

Cadence was next to speak up, “B-but, we still have 3 hours!”

“I am a practical stallion, and in 3 hours from now your answer would be the same either way. So why waste time? I have much to do and reorganise in my Kingdom and I would much prefer to get started right away.”

Shining steeled his resolve “And let you turn this place into an open air prison once again?” he asked rather mockingly.

The King didn’t even bother to register that jab as a response as he returned Shining’s glare. This lasted for several agonizing seconds until the King’s lips curled upward slightly in a sinister smile

The sun began to darken as the blizzard outside grew to encompass the dome in its entirety, blotting out the sun as Cadence…began to scream. Yet as hard as Shining tried to look away, to speak—to even turn his head towards the screams of his wife his body would not react. His very being locked in place as the crystals that bore into his skull pulsed in tandem with the smoke billowing out of Sombra’s eyes.

“This…” the voice was not that of a King, of the regal Sombra, it was that of a cold and calculated killer, “is me playing nice. I may be one stallion, but I have felled kingdoms and empires much larger and stronger than this city. So I ask you again: leave or die?“

The shield outside began to crack and flicker as the blizzard began to pound against its form, pressing against it like a pressure cooker. Cadence's voice began to crack and tear. Shining beat and bucked against the lock on his body but still nothing obeyed his command, all except for his lips.

“I…I choose-“

“Yes?” He growled as the very edges of his body almost seemed to disintegrate into plumes of purple smoke as his grin turned from menacing to victorious. He already knew what his answer would be, just as he had from the moment the Empire returned from stasis.

Six’s eyes shot open with a gasp, the Spartan shooting upwards on the bed she had laid upon. Images flashed through hermind, foreign memories and imprints still yet to settle. A mother of all migraines began to pierce her temples not unlike a metal spike being driven into her cranium with all the subtlety that came with.

Through gritted teeth she seethed as she brought both of her hooves to the sides of her head, only to be met with the feeling of cold glass mixed with rough fabric. Pain ripped through her limbs like a tuning fork against her nerves, freezing the Spartan in place with a cold shiver that rippled up and down her spine and feathers.

“Easy there, my crystals may be multipurpose but even they need time to reform your bones,“ a figure spoke from her side, a voice that sounded familiar but she couldn't quite place until her mind broke through the pain that hazed it and her instincts kicked in.

Without thinking, her body lashed out. A wing extended to pierce Sombra’s neck with its bladed tip. Instead she felt her primaries flex and give around his neck. In her haze she had forgotten about releasing the seals on her armor before falling unconscious.

“You know, back in my time that was how pegasi asked for one's hoof in marriage. Sorry Six, but I’m taken.” He raised a bare hoof and lowered her wing from his neck in a manner too gentle to be the same stallion that had strung her up by her forelimbs.

Six tried to strike out again with her hooves this time, only to find her limbs unresponsive as the brief rush of adrenaline ran out, sapping her energy and slowing her movements to a crawl.

“W-what are you-?” Six spoke, her voice hoarse and words breathless only to stop mid sentence as she took in her surroundings and her situation. She was in a hospital room, that much was obvious to her, but overlapped with another scene in her mind's eye. It was as if her vision were doubled but the two images were vastly different. One was an almost warm and clinical environment she could easily recognise as a hospital room, but the other was a nigh featureless white sterile room with a single window taking up the opposite wall.

But what was most striking were the state her forelegs were in. Bandages covered what they could of the various smaller wounds but the space between her hooves and knees were encased by dark crystals that seemed to be growing out of her very limbs in fractal patterns. Roots similar to that of a plant were visible like veins just beneath her fur showing just how deep the crystals went.

Six’s eyes went wide as her mind was bombarded with chaotic images and scenes from the feeling of being impaled, the sound of shattering glass and glaciers of black crystal bursting from the ground to swallow cities.

Bile began to rise up her throat, too fast and strong for her to fight back, forcing her to roll to the side and expel the contents of her stomach into a hastily placed bucket that still glowed slightly with dark purple energy.

“I told you to take it easy… ah, who am I kidding, I should have expected this. You have my sincerest apologies, Six, I may have overdone it in our encounter. But what a thrilling encounter it was.”

Six wasn’t listening as she stared at the ceiling, her body dry heaving in aftershocks of the automatic reaction as her body tried to make sense and recover from severe trauma it had suffered.

‘Can’t feel my limbs, weakness all over, nausea, vomiting, nausea, dizziness, double vision-‘

Six began to list off everything she could feel, taking stock of her combat readiness. Needless to say, it was not good.

‘Arms are broken and covered in crystals both inside and out, concussion, blood loss. Vision’s shot and my mind may be compromised. Probably because of his magic because this situation could not get any worse.’

She sighed audibly, though it came more out like a pained moan as bruised ribs resisted the sensation of expanding lungs and made their discomfort known to the Spartan. But Six did not care for such trivial things such as severe and traumatic chest trauma when something far more pressing was at the forefront of her mind.

“M…my Spartans…”

“Unharmed and confined to their barracks for the time being. Do not worry, you may consider me an enemy but I do not share the same view of you. You are my guest here, I will treat neither you nor those under you any differently than I would a visiting statespony. As for the others, well…”

Unpleasant images began to flash through Six’s minds eye once more of piles of bodies impaled by pitch black crystals like an old earth warlord from the distant past. Her reaction did not go unnoticed by Sombra as her wings began to twitch in agitation.

“Oh don’t look at me like that. I simply deported them out of my Empire. They did fail to go through the proper channels afterall.” He chuckled to himself. “But in all seriousness, I promised them a safe evacuation in return for keeping you as my honoured guest. And no, I see that look in your eye. When I say ‘guest’ I do in fact mean guest, not hostage.”

He took a deep breath as if to calm himself. “ I’ve seen enough upstarts give that word a bad reputation. Honoured guests used to mean something in my time, now it’s nothing more than a cliche in badly written novella.” Sombra leaned back in his chair, his horn lighting up briefly as he plucked what looked to be a bog-standard cigarette from thin air. He inspected it briefly, giving a small nod, before lighting it and bringing it to his lips. “The Equestrians do have some good ones, I admit, though they are far too full of inaccuracies and take too long to update.” He was talking to himself now more than Six as he blew the smoke towards an open window before offering the lit cigarette to the Spartan.

Six merely opted to stare down the stallion in silence, her eyes saying more than words could, not even bothering to acknowledge the offered smoke even as a small part of her would have welcomed the feeling. While not a smoker herself, she had spent enough time around them to get an inkling of what the activity offered.

Sombra accepted her non-verbal answer with an understanding nod of his own as he brought it to his own lips once again. “I wonder if the memoirs of a King would help clear things up… Something to think about once I’m done with this rotten Empire.”

Now that things had somewhat calmed down for the Spartan she was able to properly take in the visage of the stallion that had nearly killed her. He wasn’t wearing his armor or red flowing cape, he appeared to her like he had during their ‘one-on-one’ talks though this time the battle-scars his body held were far more pronounced. But what caught her eye were the outliers across his hide. Long straight and almost geometric patterns of lines in his fur dotted with small nubs of black crystal. Six could recognise what these scars were, what they echoed, as she had many of them herself.

They were surgical scars.

A phantom pain began to blossom on her chest, mirroring those on Sombra‘s as her double vision overlayed a room of pure crystal with black stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. Crystal ponies in surgical garb standing above her, the black crystal hanging from the ceiling boring into her skin, its roots growing into her chest before crawling up her spine and coalescing at her forehead.

The room, the crystals, the voice they all came rushing back vividly interposed with other foreign images and scenes. Voices and ponies spoke to her in an indecipherable language, ordering her about, shouting at her, comforting her. It reminded her of her training but with the omnipresent feeling of icy-cold crystals sprouting out of her forehead and a burning sensation of intense discomfort whenever she disobeyed the voice of her instructors.

But… they were not her instructors and doctors. One figure, one pony constantly reappeared in the images, her presence always accompanied with a cocktail of pain, comfort and obedience. She pulsed with a pink aura that hurt to look at, and was agony to ignore. All she knew was that if she told her to topple an Empire, she would stop at nothing to complete her mission. To fight and kill those who opposed the Crystal family. To eradicate all those who would stand against the Heart and its Shadow!

Because that's what he was, what he was made to do. The first successful subject of the Blighted Realm Anthema Project and he would stop at nothing to…

Six shook her head free of the foreign memories only to find the pale glow of the moon shining through the window when only moments before it was as bright as high noon.

“Oh good, you’re back. Must have triggered one of my stronger memories.”

Sombra spoke once more, closing the door behind him as he entered from the far side of the room, a large platter of crystalline food sitting upon an equally opulent tray held within his magical aura before him. Six’s mouth couldn’t help but water as her body realised just how long it had been since she had last eaten.

“What have you done to me?” The Spartan questioned with as much luster she could manage as she slowly and carefully sat up. Her forelegs didn’t hurt as much as before but that did not mean they were healed, not after such a short amount of time she reasoned. The crystals that grew around her limbs appeared to have since darkened, the material beginning to almost mimic her natural fur color.

She was in no position to fight, however. The best course of action right now was to recover and observe even if it meant swallowing her pride. Find a weakness, know the routine then strike when the odds are in her favor. Also the food looked really damn good, it felt like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.

“Nothing permanent, I assure you. Just a little conversation starter if I may be so coy. Crystal berries?” he offered with an uncharacteristically cheerful smile that looked utterly out of place on his hard face. “A local delicacy and specialty of mine.”

The food appeared to be a type of pudding bowl with the look of a stained glass window of purple, pink and red, yet when Sombra placed the tray squarely on her lap the glass jiggled and wobbled betraying its true consistency. The image of a smiling pink mare with a teal blue mane munching happily at a spoonful of the pudding flashed before her eyes wearing a white lab coat with the words ‘BRA-S-14’ emblazoned before a crystal heart sewn onto her chest pocket. As she tried to focus on the image a headache began to make itself known.

“What. Did. You. Do?”

“I am showing you the cage you so wholeheartedly believe doesn’t exist. Words didn’t work so memories will have to do. I have said it once before, I am not your enemy, I do not wish to become your enemy, nor do I wish to remain one. We are siblings of war, Six. And I will not cannot sit idly by and let my sister live in the darkness of captivity while I stand in the light of freedom,” he spoke with conviction that held the weight of someone who believed with all his heart in what he was saying.

Six showed no outward reaction but grimaced with the telltale sign of another memory in Sombra’s eyes. She froze in catatonia once more, just like the last time he triggered one of the stronger seeds. A small part of him cursed himself for cutting what could have been a pleasant conversation short by walking over that tripmine.

‘Well, no use crying over crushed berries. At least this one should be shorter. Then again, I didn’t think the first one would last 90 days either…’ The King thought to himself as he encompassed Six in his magical aura, adjusting both her and her bed in order to position her in a more comfortable position for when she woke up next.

Taking his usual spot by the window he levitated a pair of spoons towards the confection still sitting in her lap.

With ease that spoke of this repeated activity, Sombra began to feed both himself and the Spartan with his latest work of crystal berry art.

Smacking his lips, Sombra hummed as he looked out towards the moon. “Needs more cinnamon,” he mused out loud before making sure to spoon an extra large serving for the catatonic Spartan.

He never could get the recipe quite right, though he doubted all the additives he needed for his guest helped much when it came to following Radiant’s recipe. Crystallized proteins and enzymes really do a number on the pudding's taste, but compared to the crushed crystalline fabric of the Anthema he needed…

‘Meh, 50/50,’ he thought as he took another bite.

1- The Frozen North

Six watched the rolling hills outside her train car grow whiter and whiter as frost and snow replaced green and blue as they traveled further north. On the other side of the cart sat the Spartan’s charge, the royal couple sleeping softly in each other's embrace as the train ride neared its 11th and final hour.

With boredom beginning to teeter on the brink of Six’s mind as the scenery outside began to lose its appeal, she did what she normally did in such long stretches of inactivity. Unsheathing her knife from its holster on her shoulder, she inspected it for any signs of damage Her reflection stared back at her in its scarred metal, moving to start sharpening it against her armor she stopped. Her gaze moving towards the sleeping couple and deciding to instead merely inspect the knife rather than sharpen.

The door to the car slid open in front of her. Glancing up from the knife held in her armored foreleg, she watched as Pixy entered. Six lifted a single feather to her lips in a shushing motion, prompting the pegasus to slow her movements and ‘tip-toe’ her way back to her seat across from Six.

“How long have they been out?” she whispered, her eyes roaming over the sleeping couple's form.

“Not long… Why are you here? You should be with the others,” Six questioned with a glance.

“Spirit was getting hungry, so the two of them were getting a little…frisky. Thought I should give them some privacy… And you some company.”

Six ceased in her inspecting and glanced up at the pegasus. “I’ll have a word with them later, but that is no excuse to leave your post.”

“Cut me a break, will ya? I already get enough of their lovey dovey-ness in the barracks. Do you have any idea how hard it is to sleep in the room next to them?”

“No. I sleep in a different building,” Six answered honestly.

Pixy opened and closed her mouth like a fish. “…point. But anyway, it’s uncomfortable and I have a limit.”

Six placed her knife on the table and a moment of silence overtook the train car as the Spartan thought about what she would say. But before she could open her mouth, she felt the train beginning to slow down. They were about to reach their destination.

Such a development did not go unnoticed, even by the sleeping couple as they began to stir, the prince opening his eyes first before lightly prodding his wife awake as well.

“Hmm, but I was having such a nice dream,” complained the alicorn as she attempted to return to Luna’s realm. Her wings curling around her face, leaving only a pink horn exposed to the air.

“I know, honey. I know, but we’re almost there.”

Six turned to look back at Pixy before whispering, “Go see if you can find them some coffee.”

Pixy nodded, her metal wing lightly clanking as the pegasus got up and left in search of the requested beverages. Although Six herself was apathetic when it came to such drinks, even she knew that whatever was going to be thrown at them once they reached the Empire would require a lot of energy. Energy the still-stirring royal couple did not have.

Six watched with some amusement as Cadence continued to resist Shining’s attempts at waking her up, the Unicorn ultimately resorting to poking the alicorn with the sharp end of his horn, eliciting a loud *eep* from his wife.

“What was that for?!”

“You refused to wake up, had to resort to desperate measur- ow!” Cadence smacked him upside the head with her wing in retaliation.

“How’s that for desperate measures?!”

Six continued to watch the two bicker in amusement but now also with curiosity. Is that what love was? It didn’t make sense, not to her, even after all she had been told and what she had observed from her own Spartans and the royal couple.

The Spartan shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts. They were approaching the Crystal Empire; ruminations on the nature of affection could wait. Six loudly sheathed her knife, the sound of sliding metal grabbing the couple’s attention. Six grinned. “Sleep well?”

“Ye-“

“Good,” Six interrupted. “We’re almost there.” She gestured with a free wing towards the windows, the scenery outside now replaced with a blanket of white. A blizzard was raging outside, visibility plummeting as the train reached the end of the line.

Pixy returned at this moment, three cups balanced on her extended metal wing, small puffs of condensation rising from the beverage's dark surface. Walking between the Spartan and the couple, the pegasus hoofed out the cups. Two for the couple, who responded with a polite ‘thank you’ and one for the Spartan, who raised an eyebrow at her subordinate.

“Thought you could use one as well,” clarified Pixy as she returned to her seat across from Six. From where she was sitting, even she could see the small grins the royal couple directed toward Pixy.

“Thank you, but it is unnecessary,” Six stated as she pushed the cup towards Pixy.

“I’ve had enough coffee today. It's for you,” Pixy replied, pushing the cup back towards Six.

“You do not understand. It physically does nothing for me when diluted,” Six explained, pushing the cup once more towards her underling.

“So you’re saying I need to jap you with a syringe of pure caffeine for it to wake you up?” Pixy joked with a laugh before she saw the unfazed expression Six wore.

“Yes,” Six answered without a hint of sarcasm.

“A… what? But… I’ve seen you get drunk. Caffeine is no different!” Pixy blurted out in confusion, eliciting an amused snort from the royal couple who had been listening intently.

“I did… after 15 bottles.” The sound of Shining Armor sputtering and nearly spitting out his drink briefly drew their attention.

“Excuse me, what!?”

“B-bottles?! Is that why my tab was so high after that night?” questioned Pixy in surprise before realization slowly began to take over.

“Remind me never to challenge you to a drinking game, Six,” continued Shining Armor as he recovered. Six blinked in confusion.

“Drinking… game?” Six questioned, surprising everyone. Cadence was the next to speak, her tone unbelieving.

“Surely you must have had party-filled teenage years, right? It's like… a right of passage for anypony in the guard. You know what alcohol is and yet have never heard of drinking games?”

“No. My handlers once offered me some alcohol after an assignment. It was an… interesting experience. That first time, though, the intoxication took quite a while. I have heard a few soldiers mention drinking games, but I don’t know what it entails,” was the response Six gave, causing Cadence's features to droop before being replaced with a determined smile.

“Well… I guess we will have to change that once Sombra is defeated.”

“I… look forward to it?” Six responded somewhat hesitantly as the train slowed down further. “Enough of this now. Are we expecting danger this far from the Empire?”

“No, though with this blizzard, I don’t know. I’ve never seen weather this bad before,” answered Shining as he stood up and grabbed his own purple and gold armor plating.

“I’ll take point then. My visor will give me better visibility than everyone else in the storm. Pixy, get the others and have them combat-ready. You’ll remain behind Shining and Cadence.”

“You do know we have a whole contingent of guards ponies with us, right?”

“Yes. I just don’t care,” Six responded as she stood up from her spot on the buckling wooden floor and walked towards the nearest exit from the train car. The Prince and Princess, now clad in plate armor vibrating with heating magic, followed close behind as the remaining members of Noble filed stacked up on the other exit.

With a hiss of a pressure seal and a click of interlocking mechanisms, Six put on her helmet. With a hum and a brief flash of golden light, her shields came online as she turned to ascertain the status of her fellow Spartans.

All of them were clad in their unique ODST-like armor that symbolized them as members of the now-famous Noble Team. The triangular insignia of their squad proudly displayed on their shoulders. Sparrow towered above the others much like Six did, his large form seeming more at place on an earth pony rather than a pegasus to any other pony’s eyes.

At his side, in her small white earth pony facade was Spirit. The disguised changeling gave a small smile toward Six before steeling her gaze and closing her eyes. Six didn’t know exactly why, but if she had to hazard a guess, she was reaching out with her ‘aura.’ A phenomenon Six knew next to nothing about other than that every changeling possessed one.

Finally, there was Pixy giving her metallic red wing one final look over before getting ready behind Sparrow. The pegasus quickly downed the cup of coffee meant for Six as her biological wing fidgeted at her side. After a quick shiver of energy shot down her spine, Pixy was ready for anything as she began hovering half a meter above Spirit. The smaller disguised changeling's ear flicking in response to the sudden downward draft.

Six gave one last cautionary glance towards the crimson prosthetic. It had a habit of buckling under the strain when Pixy gave it her all. A flaw both the pegasus and the creators of the ADFX-01 Prosthetic—or as it was sometimes referred to, ‘Morgan’—swore up and down was fixed with the use of higher quality metals.

‘I’ll be the judge of that’

Through the door’s glass, she could see the rapidly slowing down scenery as the train pulled into the extremely barebones station. Even from where Six was standing, she could see it was nothing more than a raised crystalline platform in the middle of nowhere.

With the sound of hissing steam and squealing metal, the train came to a stop and the Spartans left the carriage. The crystal cracked under Six’s heavy hoofsteps as she disembarked their transportation. A cobweb of crystal emanated from her first step before the rest of her limbs dispersed her weight.

With wings flared, blades at the ready, and shields at full charge, Six was ready for anything as the blizzard that raged outside her armor began coating her in frost and snow. To call the ambient temperature outside ‘cold’ would be an understatement. Her visor’s temperature readout from wind shear dropping to negative 40°C. Looking back at her charges and underlings, she could see the heating magic begin to work with a warm orange glow enveloping each and every one of the assembled ponies’ forms.

From her Spartans to the lowliest grunt of the soldiers they brought with them, everyone glowed with the protective warmth shielding them from the cold and the snow being blown towards them. Six had no such luxury, however. Though her armor protected her from the elements, it would still be easily marred by the falling snow.

Save for her visor, joints, and specific vital systems of her armor, such as its reactor and shield emitters, everything else was already white with snow. Her Spartans fanned out across the platform, making sure there were no unexpected visitors waiting for them as the rest of their deployment began unloading the supplies they had brought.

“All clear here!” came the yell from Sparrow.

“Same here!” added Pixy from above, the pegasus clearly struggling to remain in one place and not be thrown around in the icy-cold winds.

“And here. Nopony else here but us!” was the final callout from Spirit as Six continued to scan the area around the platform.

‘Damn blizzard, can’t see anything with this visibility! Going to have to rely on my tracker,’ the Spartan complained as she continued to watch her angle. With the blizzard as bad as it was, should there be anything waiting in the snow, they wouldn’t notice until it was right on top of them.

Six’s shields suddenly flared gold, the snow that had accumulated on her form instantly evaporating in an explosion of steam as Six spun around in all directions, blades at the ready and eyes glued to her tracker. Pupils darted around her visor, searching for what had caused the damage, the indicator failed to show the direction of the attack.

Two seconds had since passed and her shield was now at 75% charge and still flaring a brilliant gold, grabbing the attention of her charges and Spartans, who quickly came running to see what was wrong.

“What happened?!” questioned Shining as he ran up behind the Spartan, his horn already glowing and beginning to project a light pink shield over the entire platform.

“Something damaged my shields,” explained Six, her posture low and steam rising off her body as her shield became invisible once more with the hum of it recharging. “No idea what yet. Nothing appeared on my tracker,” she continued, her posture easing ever so slightly.

“Could it have been the weather? Perhaps a rock that was kicked up by the storm?” questioned Shining as he also began to visually scan outside of his shield as well as the immediate area around Six, her Spartans joining in the investigation.

“Could be…” began Six as she resumed her normal upright posture. “I would keep that shield up if I were you. If that was the damage from a stray rock, I doubt you would fare well.”

“Good call. Now why don’t you come with me and help finish unloading the supplies. We should be able to start moving much sooner with your help.”

“Understood. Pixy, Sparrow, Spirit?” she called, bringing all three to attention. “Set up a defensive perimeter and fill in the gaps with whatever soldiers you can find that aren't needed for the unloading.”

A symphony of ‘Yes, Ma’am!’ was her answer, bringing a small smile to her face under her helmet as the three of them left to complete their task. Meanwhile, Shining led the Spartan to where the others were uploading the many heavy supplies they would need for the journey and the battle they were expecting.

“…Have you ever thought about expanding your numbers?” Shining asked suddenly as Six grabbed a crate, surprising the Spartan.

“What?” she asked, handing the large box to a pair of earth ponies.

“Like… running more trials and turning Noble from a lone Squad into a Platoon? We have all seen what ponies with your training can do. And though we may no longer be at war, situations like these could always pop up,” Shining elaborated.

“The thought has crossed my mind…” Six trailed off as she continued to unload supplies, her mind now wandering with her body working on autopilot.

“But?” Shining pressed.

Six placed the crate down and looked towards the hidden horizon. “I…can’t think of a reason.”

“Well… I'll bring it up again later, once the King is dealt with, that is.”

“Please, I don’t want to become distracted when walking into enemy territory.”

Exactly one hour later, they began to brave the storm, with the royal couple paving the way as the blizzard began to settle somewhat. A shield like one back at the station was no longer necessary as the company got ever closer to the eye of the storm and its winds weakened to manageable levels.

Six, even with her rudimentary knowledge of weather phenomena, could tell something was off about this blizzard. It acted more akin to that of a hurricane or a tornado, its freezing winds spinning around a point in space they could not see rather than a general cardinal direction. The winds become weaker the deeper they went rather than the opposite one would expect.

It worried her. Her wings twitched ever more frequently against the small icy buildup that had accumulated across her bladed feathers, with her eyes constantly darting from the snow outside her helmet to the tracker inside.

She stopped, her eyes staring into the weakening storm. Something was out there. Her instruments said the opposite, but her instincts were screaming at her that someone was watching them.

“You alright, Six?” asked Cadence, having noticed the Spartan’s icy-still stature.

Six shook her head and brought her hoof up to her helmet, a weak headache now dulling her senses.

“Fine. I’m fine,” she reassured, waving the princess off and continuing forwards, cursing herself for allowing paranoia to take hold. Cadence, however, wasn’t buying it and opted to remain close to the Spartan’s side. Her alicorn charge now also watching the snow like a hawk, the princess inching slightly closer to Six with every step.

The blizzard began to weaken further as they continued towards their destination, though the increasing visibility did nothing to ease Six’s agitated nerves. Something was out there, hiding in the corners of her vision, always disappearing the moment her eyes moved to investigate. But before long, the storm began to settle, and their destination began to shine on the horizon.

Like a beacon, a spire of crystal shone in the distance, the light reflecting off of it becoming a kaleidoscope of colors that expanded outwards into an impossible shape Six was incapable of comprehending.

It was eerily calm as the group exited the storm proper and got a good look at the landscape before them. The ‘eye of the storm’ theory held true as, in the distance, all could see the spinning blizzard encapsulating the lush green valley. To Six, all this greenery was a far cry from the environment one would expect in the region known as ‘The Frozen North.’

In the center of the valley, surrounded by the encroaching blizzard, lay their destination. A city made of pure crystal met their eyes. The spire they had first noticed placed at its central plaza where four main streets met. A crystalline wall of undeterminable size encompassed the city with what looked to be many glistening fields dotting the lands between it and the blizzard.

“An Empire fit for a King, don’t you agree?” a voice smooth as silk emanated from the blizzard as thick black smoke began to billow outwards and around the Spartan’s hooves. She felt a hoof pressing against her shoulder

Six spun, her shield flaring at 50% charge and wings extended, millimeters away from… Cadence’s neck?

The alicorn was on the ground, Six standing over her with the tip of her razor-sharp feathers threatening to break the skin. Cadence was breathing heavily and looking at the Spartan in fear.

“S-S-S-Six?” she stuttered out, wings splayed against the snow with the Spartans hooves threatening to crush the fragile feathers should she will it.

Shaking her head again, Six stepped back and off the alicorn, bringing her armored hoof to her head in pain as the headache from before returned. All around her, Six could hear the sounds of similar incidents happening among the rest of their expedition, with soldiers turning against soldiers before being overwhelmed by headaches.

In the corner of her vision, she could see that not even her Spartans were spared as Sparrow sat similarly to Six with his hoof against his temple and one very worried and scared-looking Spirit lying in the snow next to him. A thin line of green blood ran down her cheek.

“What’s going on?!” yelled out Shining Armor as he galloped from his wife down the line of recovering soldiers, his horn ablaze with another shielding spell that now encompassed the entire company.

“Little flies, now caught in my web, how you shake and squirm trying to escape the inevitable. But that does not matter. I have been watching you, little Angel. Though, from what I have seen, your other name suits you far better…”

The voice came from everywhere, the song of a siren, a seduction that emanated from within her helmet mere millimeters away from her rapidly twitching ears.

“Argh, shut up!” she lashed out, spinning and slashing at the empty air behind her, cutting large slashes into the billowing black smoke. The voice laughed in amusement.

“Such ferocity! I can see now why the Crimson Empress let her Venator loose against you. Yes, you will do nicely,” it finished with a chuckle before devolving into full-blown laughter. The laughter, however, came not from the voice itself but from her own lips and those of all the ponies influenced by the entity.

“I’ll see you soon… little Angel.”

The smoke began to recede just as Shining Armor's shield enclosed itself around the group. The last black wisps manage to slip underneath the magic dome and back into the blizzard behind them.

Breathing heavily and on the verge of gasping and hyperventilating, Six practically threw her helmet off her head and into a nearby pile of snow in order to breathe more easily. The part of her brain responsible for fear clashed fiercely against her Spartan training. She had never felt this way before, never even knew she could experience something like this with her brain's amygdala being thrown into a sudden overdrive, flooding her synapses with chemicals responsible for fear. Her own enhanced biology was betraying her training.

But just as she was on the cusp of hyperventilation, the fear receded, her mental fortitude kicking back in with a vengeance. The cortisol running through her brain was quickly neutralized as the adrenaline flooding her body was used up.

Six took several deep breaths as she continued to soothe and calm her overreacted body, the chill of the frozen air whistling past her now exposed face and scars acting as the anchor for her return to control.

The same process appeared to be repeating itself among the other ponies that the entity had paid a visit to. Soldiers all the way up and down the line were either breathing heavily due to released adrenaline or what appeared to be cowering from the outside world. Their armored bodies curled up in on themselves and shook like dogs. Six was not spared from this fate, as the Spartan herself was compelled to do the same. Small puffs of black smoke billowed from their collective panting mouths.

And for some reason unknown to them all, a single phrase in an unknown language remained burned into their mind.

'Fractum est Sigillum, Rex reversus est.'

With a sudden heave, Six’s body violently expelled the smog filling her lungs and stomach. The distant sounds of the others also experiencing her fate and collapsing to the ground graced her ears as unconsciousness embraced her. Those unknown words still rand in their minds.