The next day, in the Ponyville Hospital, on the second floor...
"Right in here, Ms. Sparkle." Nurse Redheart said as she opened the door to the injured guards for Twilight.
Twilight quickly entered the room and looked up and down the row of beat up guards. Each of them was on a bed, in slings, casts, and bandages. Honestly she couldn't give less of a shit about these random generics, she was worried about Shining Armor.
She found him at the left end of the line from where she entered the room, right next to a window. Shining was fully wrapped in bandages from horn to hoof. The only parts of his body that weren't covered up were his eyes.
"How bad is it?" Twilight worridly asked Redheart.
"Your brother recieved the worst injuries out of all the stallions here, Ms. Sparkle." Redheart replied. "His leg, back, and ribs are broken, his snout is cracked, and he's missing a few teeth. He's lost some blood, but if we give him time he should fully recover."
"How long should that be?"
"At least three months. It could take longer."
Twilight took another look at Shining. "Um, why is his whole body in bandages? You said that some of his bones were broken, but, isn't this overkill?"
"Two reasons."
"Which are?"
"First of all: the extent of your brother's injuries are really more then a few broken bones. He has lots of minor injuries all across his body. Second: Full body casts are freaking hilarious to look at. Just look at him!"
Shining Armor's eyebrows furrowed as he glared at Redheart.
"I'll leave you two alone. Just don't touch him or move any of the equipment, alright?" Redheart left the room and closed the door behind her.
Twilight stepped up to Shining Armor's bedside. "Oh B.B.B.F.F., I can't believe you've been hurt like this! Are you feeling any better?"
Shining replied, but the words he spoke came out muffled. "Mph... mmph... mmmph."
Twilight smiled. "That's good to hear."
What Shining Armor had actually tried to say was: The pain... it hurts... please, kill me.
"What did this to you? Please, tell me!"
"Mmmphmmph." A horrifying monster.
"It was another one of those creatures that you caught and sent to the Canterlot dungeon, right?"
"Mph." Eeyup.
Twilight gave a sad sniff. "I wish there was something I could do..."
"Mphmmmphmmphmph." Twilight, listen to me. I want you to stay as far away as possible from the Everfree Forest. Understand?
Twilight perked up. "That's a great idea!"
"Mphmph." I knew you would see reason.
"I'm gonna get my friends together and capture that monster!"
Twilight failed to notice the fact that Shining's eyes had just widened in surprise and horror. "MMPH?!" WHAT?!
"And I will avenge you!"
At this point Shining Armor was trying to break free of his bandage prison, but all he managed to accomplish was swing his slings a little bit and slightly roll around on his back. "MMMPHMMPH!!!" NO DON'T TWILIGHT! HE'LL RIP YOU TO PIECES!
"Thanks for wishing me luck big brother! I'll be back before you know it!" Twilight trotted out of the room.
Shining Armor tried to call out to Twilight, but alas, his efforts were futile. "MMMMMPH!!" NO! TWILIGHT! COME BACK! YOU'LL BE KILLED! BUCK!
**********
Banging noises awoke Kenny from his sleep. He slowly opened his eyes. His vision was hazy and blurry, but he could make out vague shapes. He moved his arms and... his arms didn't move. Kenny's vision became clear.
Kenny was in a medieval style jail cell; three stone walls, one small window on the back wall, and one bar door. He was sitting against the back wall, and his arms were bound and tied behind his back in some kind of magic glowing rope.
James and Rose were in the same cell as him, also bound in the rope. Rose was simply leaning against the wall to Kenny's right, while James was repeatedly trying to smash down the cell door with his body. To Kenny's surprise, the door hadn't broken yet. Every time James struck the door, an invisible barrier revealed itself, preventing the SPARTAN from escaping.
"Break already dammit! Break already!" James yelled out in frustration.
"Just give it up already James." Rose calmly said. "They're not taking any chances of us escaping again."
"Oh hell no. I am not going to die a captive at the hands of a bunch of goddamn ponies!"
"Hooves."
"I don't care!" James resumed hitting the barrier.
Kenny steadily positioned his feet, and balanced himself as he rose up to a standing position. "Rose, what happened? Where are we?"
"The ponies ambushed us. When we woke up, we were in a jail cell."
"A jail cell? Don't you mean this jail cell?"
"No. A different jail cell. When we woke up, we broke out. Well, James and I woke up. Your armor was still locked up, and you were asleep, so James had to carry you out."
"So what went wrong?"
"We were just about to make it out of this building, when a very large pony appeared and immobilized us. She bound us in these ropes, put us in this cell, and surrounded our cell with some kind of barrier."
"This pony, did she have wings, a horn, and a crown?"
"Yes. Should we be concerned?"
"That must have been Princess Celestia, the primary diarch of Equestria."
"Their leader?"
"Yes. Hey, um, by any chance did either of you two harm any of the ponies during our little prison break?"
"We didn't kill anyone, if that's what you are asking. But we did toss aside a few guards along the way. Why?"
"Let's just say that to kill any of the ponies is to diminish all chances of us ever being on good terms with them."
James hit the barrier one last time before giving a sigh of defeat. "Screw this." He leaned against the wall to Kenny's left. "So much for your "friendly ponies", Kenny. Turns out they're a bunch of douchebags."
The three SPARTANs stayed silent for several minutes, pondering their fate. They were imprisoned in an enemy stronghold bound in unbreakable shackles and in a cage with no way in or out. Three heroes of humanity- absolutely powerless to do anything about the situation. Or were they?
Kenny tried moving his wrists and fingers. They moved. "SPARTANs, move your hands."
Rose and James twirled their hands a little bit. "Yeah? And?" James sarcastically said.
"Rose, I need you to make an open channel on my com link."
"For what?" Rose asked.
"I'm going to call Braden."
"Understood. Kneel down."
Kenny got to his knees. Rose approached him and turned around so her fingers could interact with Kenny's communications thingy on the side of his head. She kept her neck craned so she could keep one eye on what she was doing.
**********
Braden loaded his sniper rifle with a fresh pack of ammo, and aimed down its scope, making sure it wasn't screwed up from the crash. Then, his com link started buzzing.
"Hm? Hello? Who is this?"
**********
"This is X 6; SPARTAN 013; does anyone read me, over?"
A voice was heard through Kenny's com. "This is X 1. Kenny, do you read me over?"
"I read you Braden!"
"Are you safe? Where's James and Rose?"
"X 4 and 5 are with me. We are currently being held captive by Princess Celestia in Canterlot, the capitol city of Equestria."
"Is there any way you can escape?"
"No."
"I'm coming to get you. Stay put."
"Negative sir. There is no way you can save us without killing any of the ponies. And trust me sir, casualties are the one thing we cannot afford on this mission."
"Then what the hell do you suppose I do?"
"Our best shot at getting out of this is to talk it out with the ponies. So long as we don't seriously injure anyone, we should be fine."
".........."
"Colonel, please tell me you didn't already."
"A group of guards assaulted me without warning. I may have... crippled most of them."
"Well then everything just got more compli- crap. Guards are coming. I'll call you back when I can, Colonel."
"Stay safe Private. Braden out."
Kenny shut off his com link. A pair of unicorn guards were approaching their cell, levitating three small bags. When they were up in front of the door, a small hole briefly appeared in the force field. The guards tossed the bags through the hole, turned around, and left.
"Hey. Hey!" James called out. "What the hell are these bags for?!"
One of the guards turned his head toward James. His horn began to glow. The three bags glowed and began to unwrap themselves. Each of the bags were spread out flat on the floor, each of them holding an apple, a carrot, and a canteen of water. The guards left the jail room and slammed the door behind themselves.
The three SPARTANs stared down in disbelief at their rations. Their hands were bound, and they couldn't take their helmets off.
"You have got to be shitting me." James said.
**********
It was late evening. Twilight and her five friends were on their way to the Everfree Forest, ready to kick the ass of whatever had kicked Shining Armor's ass.
"T-Twilight, are you sure this is a good idea?" Fluttershy nervously asked. "I mean, we're just six normal mares, and whatever monster attacked your brother managed to defeat him and ten others!"
"Oh please Fluttershy, everypony knows that the royal guards are just a bunch of incompetant tools." Rainbow Dash casually said. Twilight gave her a sour look. "Heh, well, except for your bro Twilight. But seriously, when have the guards ever taken down a threat?"
"Um..."
"Exactly. Nightmare Moon? Swatted them aside. Discord? Slipped right past them. Changelings? Beat them down easily. But we beat them all. Well, it was technically Shining Armor and Cadence who took out the Changelings, but still. We can do this!"
"That's the spirit Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said with a slightly crazed look.
Applejack trotted up beside her. "Twi, I know you're angry 'an all about your brother being hurt. Now, don't get me wrong, I'd be in your position right here right now if this had happened to Big Mac, but, you seem to be taking this a little too zealously."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that you probably aren't thinking straight. We need to turn back, now, and think up of a better battle plan."
"Too late we're already at the forest."
"D'oh!"
The six friends had arrived at the edge of Everfree. The dark trees menacingly loomed over them, the wind howling in the most creepily cliche'd way possible. Fluttershy hid behind Pinkie Pie, shivering. "WE'RE GOING IN." Twilight dramatically said. The ponies entered the forest.
"Twilight, how exactly do you know where to go?" Rarity asked.
"Easy. I asked a guard where in Everfree Shining and the others were attacked. I played the whole "concerned citizen" role."
The group continued onwards for several more minutes until Twilight suddenly stopped and raised a hoof. "Get down!" She quietly said. The six ponies dropped low to the ground. They silently crawled forward and peered over a bush. Just fifty feet away was an open clearing. In the middle of the clearing there appeared to be a giant winged creature that seemed to have crashed where it lay. Standing guard in front of the giant creature was a much smaller creature.
It resembled the monsters the girls had seen the other day.
"That must be it." Rainbow Dash whispered. "The monster that took out those guards."
Fluttershy whimpered. "It's so scary..."
Twilight observed the monster the best she could. It was bipedal, much taller than they were, pure white in color, and appeared to be heavily armed. She stroked her chin in thought. She recalled the damage it did to the guards. To her brother. "It's not merciful. We have to do this carefully." "Girls, I have an idea..."
**********
Braden heard a twig snap. He quickly turned around and scanned the trees. Nothing. But that's not what his radar said. Six red blips dotted the area ahead of him. "No killing." He reminded himself.
Three of the dots began to slowly move towards him, while the other three fanned out around him. "A diversion? Clever. But not clever enough."
If you don't know what Braden's going on about, here's the deal: shortly after his fight with the guards, Braden had lined the perimeter of the treeline with traps.
Three of the traps were set off by the three diversion blips. Three screams rang out.
"EEP!"
"AH! My beautiful mane!"
"A surprise! I love surprises!"
Hanging upside down by the legs in three of the snares Braden had set were three ponies. A yellow pegasus, a white unicorn, and a pink normal pony. They were obviously not military. "Civilians? Okay, definitely do not kill."
"It got them! I'm going in!" A brash voice called out. One of the blips that had been circling Braden shot out from the trees straight at him. He had fallen for that trick before. No way in hell would he get bucked again.
He twirled toward his oncoming opponent, stuck out a hand, and grabbed a blue pegasus by the face, stopping it in its tracks, or, flight, whatever.
His hand almost completely covered its face, save for its eyes. Its screams came out muffled. "Don't worry sugarcube! Ah got you!" Another voice with a southern accent yelled. Behind Braden, an orange normal pony charged out from the brush at him. "Dear god this is too easy." Braden thought to himself.
Just as the orange pony was going to tackle Braden, he scooped it up by the neck. So now he was holding a blue pegasus by the face in one hand, and an orange pony by the neck in the other. Braden noticed that the orange one was wearing a stetson hat and was wearing its mane in a ponytail. Get it? Pony? Ponytail? Heh... ah who am I kidding that joke's already been done one thousand three hundred and thirty seven times.
"Let us go!" The orange pony said to him in anger. Braden did not want to deal with this. He squeezed on the pony's neck, pressing down on those "sleepy parts". The pony gave a choking cry at first, then it fell asleep. Braden dropped its limp body to the ground.
He noticed that the pegasus he was holding was looking down in horror at the unconscious pony. Tears were welling up in its eyes. "Hmm. It must think its friend is dead. Better do this quick."
But he couldn't resist messing around with the pegasus first. "You're next." He said to it. The pegasus struggled and thrashed at first, but fell silent when Braden pressed down on its pressure points. He set it down next to the orange one.
"Wait. There were six. Three in the snares, two asleep, but where is that last one?"
The sixth blip reappeared on his radar, but it was fazed, and in the exact same spot he was. "But that means..."
Braden looked up.
A purple unicorn was standing directly above him on the wing of the Longsword.
"What the fu-"
The unicorn jumped. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"
Braden casually stepped to the side.
"YAAAAHHHH- OH BUCK NO!"
The unicorn landed on its face with a splat. Braden lightly pressed down on its back with his foot, grabbed its horn, and reared it back so she could look at him in the eye visors. The unicorn gave a groan of pain and stared at him. Its face was filled with rage. "Go ahead. Do to me what you did to my brother!"
"Your brother?"
"Does "Shining Armor" ring any bells?"
"...Ah yes. The arrogent fool who tried to arrest me for no legitimate reason."
"You HURT HIM!"
"Not as much as I'm going to hurt you." Braden unsheathed his sword and set the blade to the unicorn's neck. It whimpered. "What's your name?"
"T-Twilight S-Sparkle."
"And your friends?"
Twilight first looked to the orange pony and blue pegasus. "You killed them..."
"No. They're just asleep. Now, their names."
"...Applejack and Rainbow Dash."
"And the three in the traps?"
"Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity."
Braden briefly pondered what he should do with these ponies. Should he keep them, or let them go? Then, an idea sprang into his head. "They have three of my SPARTANs. So, if I have three of their ponies..." Braden chuckled. He pressed down on the pressure points on Twilight's neck, causing the unicorn to fall unconscious. He picked her up, as well as Rainbow Dash and Applejack. He carried them into the Longsword, tied each of them up in rope, cuffed their legs, and placed them in one of the empty spare rooms. He closed the door shut and went back outside.
He approached the ponies Twilight had named Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. They were still hanging there, upside down. The pink pony and white unicorn saw him coming and started shuddering in fear, unable to move. However, the yellow pegasus was facing the opposite direction. "W-what's going on?" The pegasus nervously asked. "D-did w-we win?"
Braden was standing directly behind Fluttershy. "Pinkie Pie?" He calmly said. The pink pony waved a hoof. The pegasus started shaking badly upon hearing Braden directly behind her.
"Rarity?" The white unicorn nodded.
Braden looked down at the pegasus. He gently grabbed one of its hooves that was caught in the snare, and twirled it around so it would face him. The pegasus froze up and looked up at Braden in terror. "Fluttershy?"
"Eep."
"W-what are you going to do to us?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"And where are our friends?!" Rarity demanded. "Twilight deary! Applejack! Rainbow Dash!"
"They are my prisoners." Braden responded.
"Let them go!"
"Not until I get what I want."
Suddenly, Fluttershy was eye level with Braden. She was flapping her wings, trying to stay upright. Gone was the timid creature just five seconds ago, Fluttershy now looked more intimidating than a Jiralhanae going berserk. Fluttershy was giving Braden The Stare at point blank range.
"Now you listen here mister! Just because you're bigger and stronger than others, doesn't mean you get to hurt others! Now, free me and my friends, or suffer the consequences! NOW!"
Braden grabbed Fluttershy by the neck. Pinkie and Rarity gasped, while Fluttershy was simply shocked that The Stare had failed.
"You ponies attack my team without cause, take them captive, threaten our lives, and you have the nerve to label me the villain?"
Fluttershy began whimpering. "B-but you-"
"SILENCE!" Braden let go of Fluttershy and took out his katana. The ponies looked up in terror as he raised it over his head, and brought it down.
He had cut the snare lines. The three ponies each dropped to the ground with a small *thud*.
"I have a message I want you three to deliver to Princess Celestia! So listen closely!"
The ponies looked up at the SPARTAN in terror.
"Tell Princess Celestia that if she ever wants to see Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack alive ever again, she is to immediately release the SPARTANs James, Rose, and Kenny from their prison in Canterlot, alive and unharmed, to me in person here. Alone. No exceptions. Is that understood?"
"W-when do you w-want to meet h-her?" Rarity asked.
"In twenty four hours. Now GO!"
Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity ran away from the SPARTAN. Braden watched them disappear into the darkness. He could hear them crying.