//------------------------------// // Chapter 37 // Story: A Noble Death // by LSTS Connor //------------------------------// Six’s head throbbed as she opened her eyes. Darkness clouded her vision, the only light she had was the dim blue of her helmet's visor. Her ears rang like a church bell, a feeling of blood dripping down the sides of her head from burst eardrums. Clumps of shattered wood and smoldering stone filled the outside of her visor as she could feel the weight of the collapsed building lying atop her armored form. ‘The building must have collapsed…damn it’ Thought the Spartan as she began to will her limbs to push the debris off of her. Her efforts were met with some success as she could feel most of the debris come loose but a large support beam still lay across her armored underbelly, pinning her to the ground. With slightly bared teeth and an inaudible growl, Six hooked her front forelegs under the beam. Pushing with all her might, the Spartan hoisted the beam up and over her head as It fell to the side with a crash. An ash-covered sky shone down into her eyes. Pillars of dark smoke rose into the air from the corners of her visor with a slight orange glow of fire. How long had she been out? As if prompted by her thought, the back of her head began to throb as a feeling of nausea began to make itself known. Slowly, the Spartan pulled herself upright, shaking the last of the debris off of her as she scanned her surroundings. Memories of Reach’s final days came to her. Destruction surrounded her as the building they had called their headquarters for the training was reduced to nothing but shattered stone and burning wood. The horizon turned into a chaotic mixture of orange and yellow as buildings burned under the heat of the explosions that wracked the district. Standing up carefully, Six’s back left leg protested in pain as her sprained ankle refused to carry her weight for now. Huffing into her helmet, Six proceeded to limp her way out of what remained of her broken prison of wood and stone. She needed to find the others that were caught in the explosion. Her armor protected her…mostly. The others, would not have had such luck. With a grunt Six limped out of the hole she was once buried in and got a good look at her new surroundings. With her ears still ringing, rendering her deaf to the world, all Six had was her sight. And it did not look good. All around her were the remnants of what was their staging area. Injured ponies from the Guard to Horizon Squad lined broken and cracked walls across the debris-covered street. Torn uniforms being used as makeshift tourniquets and bandages as the bandages they had on hand were simply not enough. They had been caught completely by surprise, and they were paying the price. Small black forms were buzzing around in the distant orange sky. Small beams of multicolored magic fired into the swarm like flak-cannons but all it did was tickle the buzzing changelings. Turning her head to the side Six scanned the wreckage of the building looking for where the others were. The flicker of a golden light underneath a nearby pile of rubble turned a bright blue before exploding outwards suddenly in a dual light, clearing the rubble that buried them. Limping over to see who it was and whether they needed help, Six reached the edge of the hole and looked down before quickly jumping in to render aid even while her ankle screamed in defiance. The princesses were there, both bleeding and unconscious as a panting Commander Dawn, his horn aglow in a mixture of blue and gold, seemed to be barely hanging on to life himself. But he didn't seem to care as he limped his way over to Celestia and began to look her over, before doing what Six guessed to be CPR. Six, not needing to hear the Commander's orders through her bleeding ears, quickly approached the Princess of the moon to render aid. Standing over the bleeding alicorn, Six could see her labored breaths meaning the alicorn wasn’t out of the fight just yet. The blood dripping from her left eye, however, foretold the opposite. Thinking fast Six scanned her surroundings for anything she could use as a bandage to stem the tide of blood. Six had to settle for tearing a strip off of Commander Dawn's jacket as a makeshift substitute until actual bandages could be located. The exhausted unicorn didn’t mind as his energy was entirely focused on the large white alicorn lying before him. After making sure Luna was in no further danger of bleeding out and or dying in the immediate future, Six made her way to Dawn and Celestia to see how she could help there. The tears dripping down the stallion's face and his increasingly weakening compressions did not bode well, the Spartan quickly took over as Dawn collapsed in a heap of silent tears and exhaustion. Six, seeing that Celestia was running out of options due to her heart not cooperating under the vicious beating the Spartan was now giving it, needed another solution. Looking around and picking up a nearby rock with one hoof while the other continued its compressions, Six ordered her armors charge dissipation systems inert, before stepping back. With all the power of a desperate Spartan, Six slammed the rock into her chest and with a resounding crack her shield shattered and golden arcs of unrestrained energy danced across her body. Uncaring of the pain she just inflicted upon herself and the red warning her HUD flashed, Six quickly returned to the still alicorn. With a silent apology, Six pressed her electrified hooves against Celestia’s chest and barrel, completing the rudimentary circuit through the alicorn's spasming heart. The alicorns' body spasmed under the electricity before stopping once Six’s shields reformed. With a loud gasp and gulping of air Celestia’s survival was assured. The only casualty being the two armored hoof-shaped circles of burnt fur and flesh by Six’s makeshift defibrillator. After a second check for her pulse to make sure Celestia was stable, Six could slowly begin to hear once again as the ringing that overpowered the world began to subside. Looking over to where Dawn was now lying, Six could see the visible relief on the old stallion's face as he watched the slow rise and fall of Celestia’s chest. “You alright?” Asked Six through her helmet's speakers. “Bit banged up but I’ve had worse…” Dawn answered without looking away from the Princess as he rested his back against a collapsed wooden beam. His breathing was slow and deep as he looked up at the slightly limping Six. “Thank you, without your help, I would have surely lost her.” “As long as you excuse the, most likely, permanent burn scars. She’ll make it.” Six looked up and out of the hole they both found themselves in, the sounds of fighting were getting closer. “Know what happened to the others?” Asked Dawn before being overcome with a coughing fit. He brought his hoof up to his mouth to stifle his coughs as continued to speak. “If the…*Cough* the Princesses were hit this bad they can’t *cough* can’t have fared much better.” His fur came back bloody. “Don’t know, but we need to move you three out of the combat zone.” Began Six before stepping back down into the hole. She was about to help Dawn up onto his hooves but a look stopped Six in her tracks. “No missy. I may be old and battered but I didn’t earn these medals for sitting pretty. Go find and help the others, I’ll get the Princesses out of here.” Answered the unicorn as he got back to his hooves and made his way towards the alicorns of night and day. “The day you carry me out will be the day I retire.” “Then I hope that never happens.” “Good, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Once the Princesses are out I’ll rally the reserves and lead the counter-attack. See if I can find the royal couple and get them to do another one of their ‘love bombs’” “Copy that. I’ll go find the other officers.” Dawn nodded as he hooked Celestia's front hooves over his shoulders with a grunt. “Damn, you have got to lay off the cake sweetie.” Six could hear the stallion say quietly to the unconscious alicorn as she exited the hole and began to search through the rest of the wreckage. The sounds of combat had gotten even louder, and Six had had no luck in finding the others. Either they were buried underneath all this rubble or they had already made it out of the combat zone. Six hoped it was the latter instead of the former in this case.  Having done her search, and coming up empty, Six could no longer ignore the sounds of combat as she rushed out of the building’s crumbling remains. Following her ears to the sound of the greatest fighting. Right now she was itching for a damned fight. One does not simply drop a building on top of a Spartan and expect them to remain calm. And Six was anything but calm right now as she dove wings first over a frontline of shocked ponies and to the thick of the Swarm. Green blood already beginning to drip from her razor-sharp feathers. Spirit fought to catch her breath, her black chitinous chest heaving as she glanced back the way they came. It doesn't seem like they were followed as an equally heaving Sparrow stood several hooves behind her. “Thank the Empress” The exposed changeling spoke, exhaling loudly in relief “We weren’t spotted.” “Good, because be ain’t leaving until I get some answers from you.” “Now is not the time to-“ “Now is exactly the perfect time ‘Spirit’ if that even is your name.” “…it is” Answered the Changeling small and meekly in her dual-tone voice before it regained its previous fire. Its intensity now that of a raging Dragon as the reality of the Situation set in on the changeling. And just what it would mean for the Pegasus she cared about “But now is not the time to question my loyalties! We-… I need to get you out of here before we get found and brought before the Venator! Because he. Will. Kill. YOU!” Her vision was blurry as she finished her declaration, tears she didn’t realize she was crying were falling down her face. “Now please…you can do with me what you want later. Arrest me, interrogate me, even kill me. But please… you need to get out of here.” Spirit was practically begging at this point, her face downturned and teary eyes squeezed shut. Pleading with the pegasus to leave while they still had the chance, before the Venator found and killed them both. Sparrow was silent to the changeling's ears as only the silence of the alley filled the air. The subdued hoofsteps of the pegasus then reached Spirits drooped ears before she suddenly felt a wing being draped across her back. She unconsciously pressed herself into it as Sparrow spoke. “Tell me just this one thing then.” Spirit looked up and was met with the muzzle of the larger pegasus only wingtips away from her own. She could hardly breathe now with her stomach in knots and hearts fluttering. “Is what we had real?” “Yes…” The changeling answered almost breathless Sparrow smiled as their foreheads touched in a loving embrace. Oh, how Spirit wished that they could remain like that, together in that embrace. The trickle of Love she had thought lost turned into a downpour that invigorated her very being. But as with all good things it came to an end as Sparrow pulled away. “Okay, I trust you, but we must warn Six. This Venator, their dangerous?” “Extremely, they're the Queens strongest warriors, champions of the Empress. That's why we need to run.” “No, we need to fight.” Spirit looked at the pegasus incredulously. “Did…Did you not listen to a word I just said!? We can’t beat him!” “But Six can, that’s why we need to find her and you need to tell her everything you know about these Venators. Otherwise, all of us are going to be changeling food.” Sparrow’s eyes suddenly widened once he realized with who, or more what, he was talking with. “No offense.” “None taken,” Answered Spirit with a small giggle before the fire behind her eyes blazed once more. “Fine. But I swear to the Empress and all the good Queens of the Swarm if you die, I will crawl down to Tartarus and kill you myself.” Threatened Spirit as she stepped away and closed her eyes in concentration, her aura searching for the threads connecting the Venator to his armies. Sparrow chuckled at the changelings' words. “Whatever you say.” Spirit didn’t hear him however as she searched for the weak aura of a changeling drone in the void. She sensed around, felt with her mind, and found her prey. Their mind was weak, and aura defenseless against that of Spirits. Striking out with a ruby-tinted tendril she connected herself to the drone and forcefully took the information she was seeking before willing the drones' hearts to cease beating.  Retracting her tendril Spirit watched the drone's aura fade into the void as its owners' life ended before her eyes. Some small part of Spirit felt guilt for what she had done, to forcefully break into another changelings aura. But if it meant making sure Sparrow would live to see the day's end, it was worth it. Sifting through what she had taken, Spirit found exactly what she was looking for. An overheard message from drone to drone. Six about a league away, tearing through a changeling attack like a wolf terrorizing a Shepards flock. Spirit had to quickly throw the images to the back of her mind lest she loses her stomach's contents on the street. Opening her real eyes, she briefly brought a hoof to her chest in an attempt to ease her upset stomach. She was no stranger to bloodshed, but those images… even Luna, the warrior princess herself, might have to look away from its sheer terrifyingly efficient, bloody ending of lives. No move was wasted and every blow was fatal. You couldn’t run, Six was faster. You couldn’t hide, Six would find you. And every blow one struck was shrugged off by a golden glow that cocooned the true Spartan. Spirits legs wobbled as they almost threatened to give out from under her. Luckily Sparrow was close by to help with a hoof preventing her fall. “You alright?” “W-we…were training, under…that? W-what…how di-didn’t I notice?!” Confused, Sparrow was about to ask what she was on about before he saw the look in her eyes. A look they had all shared after witnessing Six on that fateful day in Las Pegasus that changed their lives forever. It seems the looks Six caused were not confined to just ponies. How she even saw the carnage Six was no doubt creating at the moment he didn’t know. He guessed it was some weird quirk of changeling biology and left it at that. Even then Sparrow couldn't help but let loose a single chuckle at the horrified changeling's face. “Think this Venator stands a chance now?” “Oh crap oh crap, OH CRAP!” “Just run!” Yelled out Spear as he barely dodged an oncoming green magical bolt. The ground before him exploded outward in a shower of dirt and stone as he rounded another corner, Pixy following close behind. The changelings were hot on their tails. The black buzzing and hissing mass was gaining on them, their movements not constrained to purely chasing by hoof. Lighting his horn, Spear shot as strong a magical bolt he could manage into the nearest wall behind him. The bolt hit true and with a blast of magical light, the wall exploded outwards prompting a large chunk of the building to collapse in front of the approaching swarm. It slowed them down for but a moment, the sounds of angry shapeshifters dimming down before returning louder than before. “Great! You managed to piss them off, Spear!” Exclaimed Pixy with a yelp as she could now physically feel the swarms buzzing against her vibration-sensitive wings. The Swarm was beginning to gain on them rapidly, bolts of burning changeling magic were exploding around them. The shower of smoldering rock and the small craters now along the street slowed the pair down even further until eventually the Swarm engulfed them both. They came like a tide of hissing saltwater. The Swarm washed around them as if they were caught in the eye of a tornado. The pair stood back to back now, their gaze twitching all about them in an attempt to find where the first strike would come. The buzzing intensified even more as both ponies could now feel the vibrations in their very bones, rattling their equipment and fraying their nerves. The sound of readying swords and spears filled the air as every swarming changeling readied their weapons and pointed them inward. The walls of swirling swords began to close in as the changelings tightened their formation. “Caught you.” Boomed the dual-tone voice of the changeling commander from all over, turning the equestrian Spartans' blood to ice. The Swarm began to close in, the sound of their many swords cutting through the air creating a low whistle that signaled their demise. Artificial wind currents generated by the many buzzing changeling wings blew against the ponies that could only look around in despair. They had no weapons to block and their armor couldn’t withstand the oncoming punishment. Spear attempted to use his magic to clear a path, build a shield, to do something to get them out of this hurricane.  But to no avail. The moment his horn began to glow, the unanimous response of the changeling swarm lighting their horns stopped any spell he was attempting to cast. The sheer amount of magic being channeled around him prevents any facsimile of concentration from forming in the unicorn's mind. “Spear, we’re not getting out of this are we?” “I-I…” Spear looked around, desperate for any angle, any weakness, any minute opening he could exploit. There were none. Only a miracle could save them now. “I’m sorry.” Spear hung his head. “Well… we had a good run didn’t we?” “Yeah…yeah, we did” The two pressed back up as fast as they could, but all it did was delay the inevitable. The sound of rushing wind got louder and louder as the blades approached and began to form a coherent circle around them. Sparks from slight impacts of metal against metal showered them as Pixy closed her eyes and prepared for the inevitable. In a second the blades would connect. In two they would slice through her armor, and in three they would have her life. Yet…death never knocked on her door. As their miracle had arrived. With a crash of bright golden light, the Demon of Las Pegasus smashed through the outer layer of the Swarm. Landing in front of the pair with force one could only describe as coming from a crashing meteor. A large plume of dust clouded the pairs, now open, eyes. The bright golden glow of Six’s shield vanished, leaving the two blind to the world around them. Only a thick layer of swirling dust and ash surrounded them, as the screams of Six’s victims became audible to their ringing ears. Flashes of green magical discharges illuminated the dust cloud before showing brief silhouettes of Six rending her armored wing through a charging changeling warrior. Two swords of changeling origin suddenly slid towards the equestrian Spartans, their dark metal scraping against the dust and ash-covered cobblestone of the street below them. Taking the hint Pixy grabbed them both and threw one to Spear, the unicorn grabbing it in his magical aura. The dust began to dissipate and they saw the carnage Six had already inflicted upon their enemies. The raging swarm that had attacked them was in complete disarray as even with their compound eyes and fanged muzzles the expression of fear was still easily readable among their ranks. Their cohesion was gone, and their formation was nonexistent as Six dealt with the changelings in front of them, but just as they thought their ranks were broken and the battle was won. Something changed. All at once, their movements ceased before suddenly taking to the sky, their eyes and wings now bearing a shade of red. It was as if a switch was pulled and the strings that guided the swarm were now being pulled by someone else. Silence reigned as all three ponies questioned what was happening. Six remained low, her knife drawn, ready to strike with all the force of a lightning bolt. *Clap* *Clap* *Clap* The sound of two armored hooves applauding from a nearby rooftop broke the silence as the changeling commander, clad in his strange writhing armor, stood there watching. “Well, well, well. The Demon has come out to play.” Spoke the changeling, his dual voice portraying equal parts amusement and pure hatred. Flanking him on either side of the rooftop was a row of large changelings neither pony had seen before. They stood as large as Six herself from where they were standing, their forms covered in heavy armor that looked much more ornate and intricate than those of the common warrior. Seeing such a high-value-looking target exposing themselves Six, as fast as a bullet, threw her knife at the changeling, intent on decapitating the enemies command structure in one fell swoop. The knife’s aim was true and the force behind it was comparable to that of a subsonic bullet. With a resounding *Clang* the knife hit, but not its intended target. “I can’t fault you for trying, Demon. I’m more hurt that you didn’t do that during our first meeting in Las Pegasus.” He said before removing the knife that had embedded itself within his pulsating shield. “There it would have surely killed me and saved me the trip to return the favor!” The knife was thrown back with equal force, surprising the Spartan, her eyes widening under her helmet. Unable to dodge, her shield absorbed its full impact and flared a bright gold, half of its energy drained. Six bearly flinched, Mobius snarled, “That damned shield, that Empress damned armor, your Swarm cursed being! I will have your head for the changelings you have killed!” Mobius looked to his right flank of changeling guard and hissed and chirped out his orders in changeling tongue. Its hissing and scratchy tones grated against the pony's ears, their eardrums unable to process let alone comprehend its meaning. The changelings nodded and sped off, their much larger wings generating enough lift to throw several roof tiles loose and onto the street below. Looking to the left Mobius did the same but the message was different. Its hisses sharper chirps shorter and clicks louder as the changelings gaze turned and bored into the Spartans visor before switching to the two ponies wielding changeling blades. A single low hiss left the changelings fanged mouth, his armor seemingly reacting in turn as its writhing surface increased its movements. Then, all hell broke loose. All together the larger changelings beside Mobius flared their wings and buzzed down to the street below, two surrounding the pair of equestrian Spartans once again whilst the rest approached Six. The pair took their combat stances as the first changeling charged at them whilst Six remained low, waiting for them to make the first move. A red-tinted green magical glow began to envelop the Spartan, her shield suddenly becoming visible as it resisted its supernatural power. With her shields' energy subtlety draining, Six scanned the changelings surrounding her. Looking for the telltale green glow emitting from one of their horns. All of them were silent. Looking back up to the rooftop Six found the channeling changeling. She only managed to take a single step forward before the remaining changelings surrounding her charged. Speeding up into a gallop Six went straight for the Praetorian in front of her, intent on using them as a stepping stone to reach the commander before her shield's energy was fully drained. Rolling to the left to dodge an oncoming swipe, Six pounced directly towards the, now exposed, Praetorians side. But something went wrong, her momentum suddenly halted mid-air as she snapped backward as if a running child's clothing had gotten trapped against a door handle. The pain of pulled hair exploded at her backside before she was suddenly spun and thrown into a building. Her shield cracked and shattered as she was launched through its outer wall. A warning light flashed through her HUD as she scraped across a shattering wooden floor. Her momentum slowly bled until she came to a stop against the buildings opposite outer wall. ‘What the hell? Shield must not extend to my damned tail. Ugh, I hate magic.’ Growled Six as she got back up to her hooves, arcs of leaping golden energy igniting and burning the wooden remnants under her hooves. The red-tinted magical glow that surrounded her had disappeared, giving her a moment to think as she walked to the Spartan-shaped hole she had created. Warning lights continued to blink within her helmet before silencing as her armor hummed and reformed its protective barrier. Six used this brief respite to rethink her strategy when dealing with these far superior changelings. To Six they mirrored Elites with their structure, with them being much larger and stronger than the common soldier she had been dealing with till now. She looked back at her aching tail, a sizable chunk missing from its end. Six would also need to pay more attention to that, to ensure she wasn’t grabbed there like some common chew toy again. Stepping out into the street once again Six narrowly ducked under an oncoming blade. The metal embedding itself into the crumbling wall and trapping its user next to one very pissed-off Spartan. Extending her armored feathers it took but a moment for Six to slice through the Praetorians' arm and embed her wing into the changelings jugular. Killing them, instantly. Six barely had time to remove her wing before two more came rushing at her, weapons raised and mouths hissing like snakes.  Six only barely managed to remove her wing and raise them both to block the incoming strikes. Her shield shattered on impact as the two praetorians gritted their fangs in exertion. The titanium of her armor held, its dense structure taking the impact as if it were bee sting. Six found her wings bending under their combined force, their strength matching that of her augmented body, but with a cry of defiance she exploded her wings outward, tripping one guard and unbalancing the other. Quickly Six jumped onto the tripping Praetorian before bringing her wings down into the Praetorian's sides whilst simultaneously bringing her hoof onto the changeling's face. Green blood spurted onto the Spartans' wings as the changelings' skull was crushed under her armored hooves and lungs pierced by her sharp feathers. Breathing heavily Six had but a moment before her motion sensor pinged the other Praetorian in her flashing HUD. Rolling towards the oncoming marker Six avoided a downward slash by the changeling, his blade now slicing through his dead comrade instead of the unshielded Spartan. Now on her back underneath the assaulting Praetorian, Six grabbed her nearby discarded knife and proceeded to thrust it through the changelings exposed chitinous underbelly. Spiderweb-like cracks exploded outwards across the changelings' exoskeleton as the Praetorian howled in unbearable pain. Their green blood filled the cracks creating a sadistic piece of organic art as its vital organs were pierced by Six’s blade. The changeling struggled, its pain-clouded mind trying in vain to pull itself away from the foreign object lodged in its abdomen, but to no avail as Six redoubled her efforts and drove the knife deeper into the Praetorians chitin. A strangled cough, marred with its glowing green blood, signaled the end of the praetorian veteran of countless battles. Falling limp on the blade Six threw the changeling to the side, leaving her to stare up at the ash-covered sky. Her chest heaved up and down through her armor before she rolled to the side and returned to her blood-stained hooves. Electricity danced across her body as her armor continued to attempt to reestablish its protective barrier. It was only moments away from doing so before her body glowed in the same red-tinted green as before and she found herself being floated up several meters off the ground. The Spartan barely had time to process this new development before she was slammed back into the cobblestone below. The air was driven from the Spartans' lungs as they were forcefully compressed against the cracking ground. Six coughed inside her helmet as she fought to catch her breath before she was lifted and thrown back down again, and again, and again. Without any magic to call her own, Six was powerless against the commander's supernatural assault. Six could see the changeling's sadistic grin as they flew down and approached the floating Spartan. “What's wrong little Demon?” Another smash against the ground, Six felt one of her ribs beginning to strain under the assault as her lungs burned like raging wildfires. “How does it feel to be at the mercy of someling else instead!” Six was once again thrown to the ground as the stone finally gave way underneath her, dropping her to the sewers below. Mobius, however, wasn't phased as he lifted Six by her hind legs and brought her helmet to his eye level. Six coughed inside her helmet, droplets of blood staining her HUD as she felt her now cracked rib stab into her lungs. Spots danced across her vision as she began to feel the pain of her now dislocated, and probably broken, wing radiating throughout her body. She needed a moment to recover as she hung there limply, and that was all the time Mobius needed. He drew his sword and placed its tip right in the center of the Spartans chest as he attempted to pierce the Spartans heart. The blade scraped against the hardened Titanium, the metals structure having withstood the changelings' assault as if it weren't there. He hissed dangerously as tendrils of his armor began to crawl their way up his sword, before expanding across the Spartans' armored chest. “Your armor may have protected you, Demon. But now your strength,” The tendrils pulsed and writhed with red light as Six saw her opportunity approach, “Will, be, mine!” Growled out Mobius between gritted teeth as he removed his sword and brought his hoof to his helmet. His legs began to give out from under him as Redfang drank heavily from his reserves of love. The aura around Six began to flicker, its pressure across her body receding, giving her just enough leverage to deliver her decisive blow. Rearing back with her armored hoof and growling through gritted teeth Six delivered a blow with all of her enhanced might against the changelings flickering horn. With a sound akin to crystal shattering, the changeling was thrown several meters screaming in unimaginable pain as shards of his own horn rained down upon him. Six fell back to the ground grabbing onto the side of the crater with her aching limbs to prevent another trip to the sewers below. Screams of pain and exertion echoed throughout the street, grabbing the attention of the remaining two Praetorians. Jumping back at the screams of their leader the two withdrew from their fight against the panting Pixy and Spear. Cuts and bruises marred the forms of both parties with neither having been able to gain the upper hand on the other. Quickly buzzing over towards their leader, the changeling waved them off. Ordering for them to just be on guard while he recovered in their chittering language. Spear and Pixy did roughly the same, the two of them rushing over to Six as she climbed up onto the street. “You good Six?” Questioned Spear as he glanced towards the Spartan. The Spartan coughed into her helmet in response, as she tried in vain to move her broken wing “I. Hate. Magic.” Hissed Six through the pain. “She’s good.” Confirmed Pixy with her trademark grin. “What are your orders?”  Six seethed through her gritted teeth as she mentally ordered her armor to lock her limp wing against her side to prevent any further damage to it. Every breath she took sent sharp stabs of pain through her body but she didn’t care as she spoke out her orders. Armor flaring gold as her shield was finally able to reform itself. “Keep the guards occupied, that commander is mine.” They didn’t need to be told twice as they both nodded forcefully with Six stepping between them. Across the plaza the commander did the same having returned to his hooves yet… something was different. His horn was gone, its form in pieces across the ground leaving red-tinted green blood to drip down his forehead. His armor glowed and pulsed at the seams, red light spilling out as its texture resembled that of Six’s armor. The changeling spat out a wad of green blood, “You’ll pay for that.” Six crouched low in response before sprinting forward, her one good wing flared and cutting through the air with a low whistle. Spear and Pixy followed close behind her, their blades ready to meet the enemies in the middle. The commander did the same, his two Praetorians following suit intent on finishing what they had started. With the loud clang of metal on metal and a flash of golden light, they met in the middle. Mobius’s blade smashed into Six’s reformed shield with such force it was already on the verge of breaking and allowing his blade to strike the Spartans extended wing. Undeterred by the warning lights blinking across her HUD, Six reared up, intending on striking the commander with her full weight under her hooves. Seeing this Mobius raised his other hoof and brought his shield to bear.  Metal screeched as the two made contact, Mobius’s armor glowing brighter as he held firm against the Spartans' assault. With a mangled battle cry through gritted teeth, Mobius pushed Six off of his shield, moving her several hooves back. Not one to waste gained momentum Mobius swung his sword skyward only to hit nothing but empty air as Six dodged to the side. He found his air driven from his lungs and his sword leaving his hooves as Six delivered a punch straight into his exposed side. Then another and another and another. The Spartan fought back with unrestrained rage, growling like a wolf before delivering her strongest blow, throwing the changeling to his side. Mobius coughed up another wad of green blood as he attempted to return to his hooves. Pouncing like a wolf going in for the kill, Six extended her one good wing intent of impaling the changeling through her armored feathers. Seeing this Mobius used his gathered strength and rolled to the side and underneath the airborne Spartan. With a buck that could shatter stone, Mobius drove his hind legs into the Spartans underbelly, driving the rib that pierced Six’s lungs deeper into her soft tissue. Her shield shattered on impact as she flew for several hooves before crashing back into the cobblestone. Six could feel several more ribs breaking from the impact, her chest screaming in pain. Both parties groaned as they moved to return to their hooves. Mobius panted as he held one hoof to his horn whilst Six rolled onto her side. Her chest was heaving as her body was wracked with more blood-marred coughs. Sitting up could barely see through the inside of her helmet anymore, its visor visibly smeared with her blood. With a hiss she removed it and threw it off to the side, it was getting in her way now. The arcs of golden electricity across her armor ceased as her shield was now unable to form without its helmet. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her one good lung now working overtime to make up the difference. But Six didn’t care. Right now all she could feel was rage. She was a Spartan, she was the best, of the best, of the best. She had killed aliens far more dangerous and threatening than this changeling ever was. Six would be damned if she let some cocky changeling with a vendetta kill her now! As if a switch was flipped Six moved as fast as a bullet towards the recovering changeling and with a yell brought her hoof down onto the changelings head, driving it into stone. The Spartans' second wind kicked in as more adrenaline flooded her bloodstream. Mobius stumbled back before an uppercut forced him back to the ground. Looking up he witnessed the avatar death itself approaching him. The sounds of nearby combat between his soldiers and Six’s fading away to the Venator. Blood dripped down the corners of the Spartans' mouth as she picked up Mobius’s own discarded blade and began to approach the downed changeling. Her armor was drenched in the dried blood of herself and those she had killed, it's usually dark grey marred with splotches of green and red. Yet Mobius was not afraid, no… Mobius grinned. ‘Do it’ Suddenly the sword that Six held glowed a bright red before melting right before her eyes. Its metal writhed and began to drip down from the tip of the blade before climbing up Six’s hoof. The Spartan’s eyes widened as she tried to drop the blade and remove the liquid that began to flow up her hoof but to no avail. Within seconds it had reached her head and expanded. The living metal grew across the side of her face like a plant spreading its roots, tendrils pressing into her still healing ear. Six tried with all her might to remove the substance across the side of her head. But no matter what she tried, her hooves could not get a grip on the liquid as it settled onto the side of her face. The metal began to glow as six felt its tendrils move and writhe across her skin before suddenly stopping. The glow disappeared and the moving halted as the metal suddenly began to start flaking and peeling off. Six, wasting no time, removed the brittle metal and threw it on the ground before crushing it to dust under her armored hoof. Within moments it was gone with only the slightest impression left upon the Spartans face. The world stood still for several moments as Six moved to take another step towards Mobius before suddenly falling to her knees. “SIX!” Yelled out Pixy from the side as she stood sword locked with a growling Praetorian. She attempted to throw the Praetorian off and managed to succeed before she was thrown back by said Praetorians magical aura. Spear wasn’t faring much better as he barely managed to parry an oncoming sword swipe as he watched what was happening to his friend and mentor. Mobius returned to his hooves, chuckling as he ordered Redfang to reform his shield into a new sword. He gave a small groan as bruised muscles protested his movements yet he didn’t care. He was kind of glad his muscles ached so, it meant his armor had worked. Redfangs adaptation had worked, for otherwise he would be but a red paste on the cobblestone. The Venator coughed slightly as he looked back towards the kneeling Spartan, unrestrained tears running down the side of their usually composed and unreadable features. His feelers told him exactly what the Spartan was feeling. Six was lost in a Tsunami of emotion. Grief, sadness, pain, loss, despair, anger. They all ran rampant across her mind as the floodgates were pried open by the living metal's influence. She couldn't think, for all she could imagine was Reach. She couldn’t move, for all she could feel was the burn of a plasma sword through her chest. Her voice couldn’t be heard under the sea of all those she had mercilessly torn apart because of her need for a purpose. Her need to be an instrument of death. She could recall names she could not pronounce and lives she had not lived. She felt the pain of her wings cutting through her body again, and again, and again. As souls that should never have been lost fell to her wings. Her mental barriers were gone with emotions Six didn’t know how to handle overtaking her psyche, and she could do nothing as she was imprisoned within her mind. Forced to watch all that transpired before her, unable to react. The emotions she has walled away for so long becoming her captors. Mobius couldn’t help but smile as he saw what had become of the Demon that had brought him here. Redfangs ‘surprise’ had been more effective than he had previously thought as he felt the hurricane of emotions the Spartan was emanating. He expected nothing more than a slight stun, perhaps a long-lasting distraction. But this… this was far better. She was defenseless, absolutely and completely at the Venator's mercy, her one good wing now hanging limply at her side. And he loved it. Raising his newly reformed sword Mobius savored the look on the Demon's face as he prepared to end its miserable life. “NO!” Came the shout before Mobius suddenly felt a pair of hooves colliding into his barrel once again. Yet, he did not budge. Looking down to the side he was met face to face with the green bloodied face of Pixy. The blood-covered Pegasus gritted her teeth as she delivered another blow with all her might. Then another and another and another. A flurry of blows was launched against the Venator as fast as the pegasus could. The changeling blade she wielded simply bouncing off Mobius’s enhanced armor with every strike. Her hooves began to bleed as the constant punishment began to take its toll. Her blows starting to lose their power as the blade began to dull. Pixy stopped and fought to catch her breath as she looked at the still changeling. He hadn’t moved an inch or even looked like any of what she had done had any effect on the changeling. Mobius grinned as he suddenly grabbed Pixy by the throat with his free hoof. Was this how it felt to be Six? The overwhelming physical power compared to any normal pony? The Venator brought his blade to bear against the scrambling Pegasus. Her bleeding hooves uselessly beat against the armored limb in defiance. “A single red wing.” Spoke Mobius in his dual-tone voice as he eyed the appendage uncaring of the ponies resistance. “How would your ancestors think of you now?” A Spit in his face is the only answer he got, he didn't flinch. “Let me save them the trouble.” He brought his sword down with sickening speed. Pixy screamed as loud as she could, pain wracked her entire body as her wing, the wing she equally loved and hated, was cleaved straight off of her body. Blood sprayed like a faucet from the open wound, staining the Venators sword. She collapsed from the pain, becoming limp in the Venators arms as he dropped her to the ground to lay in a pool of blood. The dismembered appendage lying a few inches away from where it had once called home. “PIXY!” “Now wha-?!“ Was all Mobius could get out before he was suddenly lifted and thrown into the same wall Six had been launched through several minutes earlier. The building finally collapsing under the punishment it had received since the battles start. Spear panted in exertion, his horn aching under the amount of weight he had just thrown with his already meager energy reserves. The equestrian Spartan having used a majority of it dealing with his own Praetorian by overpowering and crushing its surprisingly sturdy windpipe. He stood protectively over the unconscious and bleeding pegasus he had known for so long. He wanted to see her over, to check her pulse and make sure she hadn’t already passed on. But he couldn’t. The brief reprieve he had been given didn’t last long as the building he had thrown the Venator into exploded outward in a shower of spurting red magic. Mobius stood panting, the glow of his armor having increased tenfold as its original texture began to return in patches. The changeling hissed loudly in rage, tongue lashing and dripping fangs exposed in their entirety. His shattered horn began to glow bright, liquid mana blubbering and spurting from the wound. Its powerful fluidic energies mixed in with his green blood. Uncontrollable bursts of magical arcs, resembling that of unrestrained red lighting bolts, burst from his horn. The energy vaporizing any wood it struck straight to ash. Spear was ready for the fight of his life until suddenly, the changeling stopped and looked towards the horizon, ears twitching. Spear followed the changelings' gaze, making sure to keep his aching horn lit. At first, he didn’t see anything. Just the orange horizon of a burning and ash-filled sky, but as the unicorn continued to watch. Spear couldn’t help but smile when he realized victory was at hand. “NEIN!” Screamed the changeling in another unfamiliar language to the ponies. “NO, NOT AGAIN!” The changeling hissed in his two-tone voice once again at the growing pink bubble expanding on the horizon. “I WILL NOT HAVE MY PRIZE TAKEN FROM ME NOW!” The changeling took off like a bullet towards Spear, his sword raised and poised to kill. Spear raised his own to meet the Venators, the unicorn managing to block and parry several vicious downward strokes. Sparks flew as his changeling blade tried to withstand the punishment from the augmented Venator. But the changelings' strength proved too much as the blade shattered in Spears' hooves on the third and final strike. The remaining momentum forced the Venators blade into the unicorn's shoulder as his drained magic failed to grasp it in time. Spear yelled out in pain as the blade cut through his armor as if it weren't there and embedded itself within his shoulder, only stopping once it had reached the bone. This did not stop the changeling, however, as he redoubled his efforts with a yell and cleaved right through the joint as well. Removing the limb utterly and completely from the unicorn's torso. Spear fell in a heap, holding onto his gushing shoulder for dear life, screaming his lungs out in pain as he saw the Venator approach the still catatonic Six through tear-filled eyes. Pink light began to radiate brighter and brighter. Its unrestrained power illuminated the back of the Venators armored head as he raised his sword to deliver the killing blow against Six. The barrier would be here in just a few moments more but Six would be dead before then. Spear had to do something, anything to try and stop the Venator before he succumbed to blood loss and let his friend be killed. Lighting his horn with as much energy as he could muster he enveloped the changelings' blade in his magical aura stopping it in its tracks.  Hissing in rage and annoyance Mobius picked up the blade Pixy had wielded and threw it at the dying unicorn. The Venators' aim was true as it embedded itself into the unicorn's side. The aura around Mobius’s sword ceased as he raised it for the third and final time, rage and vengeance coursing through his veins as he brought it down onto the Spartans’ exposed neck. But he was too late. Mere centimeters before his sword would have taken Six’s head clean off, the barrier hit. Its form of concentrated love magic sweeping the changeling off of his hooves and down the street. The Venator tried in vain to halt his momentum by impaling his sword into the cobblestone but all it did was damage his blade as the magic launched him, his troops, and every single changeling within the district towards the sky. Mobius’s screams of defiance echoing all the way.  The day had been won, but at what cost? Six returned to reality at the feeling of rain pitter-pattering onto her head, the distant sounds of thunder signaling to the Spartan that this was real. She shook her head and coughed, the feeling of blood leaking out the corners of her mouth signaling to her that she needed a medic. The stabbing feeling of her rib puncturing her lung on every labored breath marred her senses with pain. The sky was a mess of thunder and lightning as the rain began to pour down onto the district. How long she was out, Six didn’t know. But she did know that the wetness flowing down from the corners of her eyes wasn’t purely rainwater. Her emotions were still running amuck in her mind. The wall that had kept them locked away for so long was completely shattered by the changelings' actions. Six could still remember the faint flashes of those injected memories, still remember what it felt like to die by her own wings over, and over, and over again. Labored breathing to her left caught the Spartans' attention as she looked down to find Pixy lying in a pool of her blood. The rain had already washed away most of it, leaving a dark red trail to run down the cobblestone and into the sewers below. “No,” A gushing red stump is all that remains of Pixie's signature red wing, the appendage nowhere to be found in the pouring rain. Six’s heart rate quickened as she quickly retrieved Pixie's torn aid kit from her uniform and grabbed a soggy bandage. “Not again!” She applied as much pressure as she could to the wound. Wrapping as many bandages as possible around it. Looking around for anything more she could use to help staunch the already out of control bleeding. Her body was wracked with more bloody coughs as her adrenaline began to run dry, yet Six pushed on once she saw Spear. Instantly rushing over towards the soldier, Six went to grab Spears aid kit only to find it torn open, contents missing.  “No… please.” Frantic Six tore the fabric from Spears uniform, careful not to disturb the sword impaling his abdomen. The uniform became a makeshift tourniquet for his hoof, yet it was not enough, the bleeding too severe to be stopped. “Leave…me.” Came the weak voice of Spear, its volume bearly that of a whisper through the rain. “S-save… her…” He weakly pointed with his bleeding stump towards Pixy. “W-while she…still…can…be…” His eyes began to dim and glaze over, his body no longer having enough blood to keep them going. “N-No! I-I won’t let you die!” She shouted out before keeling over with another fit of bloody coughs as she applied as much pressure as she could to the heavily bleeding wound. It still wasn’t enough as blood continued to spill onto the flooded streets before being washed away. “Please…don’t.” Spear wasn’t breathing. “Not again.” She couldn’t feel his pulse. Six started chest compressions with her one free hoof, but he was too far gone. Spear, one of the first ponies she had met, one of the first she respected, and the first she considered a real friend since her awakening…was dead. “Please…” She looked up to the sky, her free-flowing tears mixing with the rain that fell onto her face, and asked one question to any being that was watching. Her cry echoed throughout the silent district. Why did another Spartan have to die, so that she could live again?