Celestia stood inside an empty room, her eyes scanning the dust-riddled surfaces of centuries-old desks and millennia-old maps. Ever since that fateful day over a thousand years ago she had hoped this room would forever remain locked. That the ancient armor and ancient weapons that were proudly displayed on the far wall would forever remain what they were right now: Decorations.
But fate was a cruel mistress. Her nation, her castle, and her little ponies have been attacked not once but twice by their enemy. Celestia would make sure now that there would never be a third. So there she stood in her silver regalia, back in the ancient war room that had existed as more of a formality since the abandonment of the everfree castle.
This room had been in disuse since that day, its presence existing as something to merely placate the still prominently warlike nature her old rule had cultivated. Celestia sighed as she witnessed her reflection in the glass of the display case. In some distant past, she may have relished the challenge. To go back out on the battlefield and lead her ponies to glory with her sister by her side.
To face the changelings on the field of battle and whet her halberd with the blood of those who had dared attack her ponies. But… she had long since left that life behind. She had worked so hard to have her ponies know nothing but peace and prosperity, unknowing of the horrors of war she had dredged through to carve out their little slice of paradise from the roaming griffon hordes and feral pegasi warlords.
The blood of thousands had stained her halberd's blade as she inspected its pristine surface behind the glass. Its ornate gold and silver hid the old steel that snarled with a bloodthirst for revenge. Vindicta was its name, and it called for changeling blood. It called for its old master to return.
“Sister.” Came the voice of Luna from behind her as she heard the door open and close behind her breaking Celestia out of her trance. “I thought I might find you here, the others are waiting on you.”
Celestia had completely forgotten in her ruminations that yes, she indeed had a meeting of the general staff to attend. Thanks to the invaluable information provided by Spirit they could finally finish this war, and end the changeling threat. After being forcefully removed from her memories by her sister, Celestia briefly shook her head and sneezed from the accumulated dust that was now flying through the air.
“Bless you.”
“Oh, excuse me.” Celestia began as she turned to face her sister. “I must have lost track of the time.”
“Yes…” Luna continued as she walked up next to her sister and inspected her own display case. “I can see why, it has been a long time since we hath summoned the generals like this.”
Inside was an ornate dark blue and onyx scythe whose blade almost seemed to ripple with the night sky itself. An old relic from when Luna was not merely known as the princess of the moon… but as its reaper. Though Celestia may have led the charge in days long past, it was Luna’s reaping that had deprived them of sleep, sabotaged their supplies, and slaughtered their support companies leaving them nothing but helpless fodder for her sister.
It had earned Celestia the admiration of her troops, and Luna their fear. How many of their own ponies that scythe had sent to the beyond is unknown to even the Nightmare that wielded it 1000 years ago. Luna could almost…*feel* the temptation and pull that weapon had on her. Celestia may have slain thousands with her Halberd and could remember every face. Luna, on the other hoof, stopped keeping track as her mental state degraded ever further into the nightmares cold embrace. Messorem was its name, and it ached to reap the enemies of the moon once again.
Both weapons were equally dangerous to their foes as to their wielders. Its steel having absorbed part of each wielder's magic after such extended periods of use. They had given the sisters the means to carve their place in the world. From a single village to entire kingdoms, they all fell to these blades. And they could do so again, all they need to do is remove them from their glass prisons.
Luna looked away in shame from the blade before walking past her sister and back towards the exit before calling over her shoulder. “Come, we are in no shape to trot the battlefield. Let us do what rulers of this time should, and leave the heavy lifting to the generals and soldiers, hmm? We are not the only ones looking to settle the score after all.”
Celestia glanced back at the armor behind her. For a moment she saw not herself in that reflection, but the Spartan, clad in her armor and wielding her blade. The pony that would either end the war as a legend or become yet another body to bury once the dust had settled. Vindicta, although it could neither move nor perceive from its glass prison, shuddered in delight at the pure unfiltered feelings of Vengeance the Spartans' image radiated. Like a moth to a flame, it wanted to feel its heat.
“Yes…” Answered Celestia, as she tore her vision away from the reflection and moved to join her waiting sister.
“You know you really should put those in the vault right? Keeping these weapons and armor up here seems like an extreme security risk sister.”
“You need not worry, Luna. I have already dealt with that issue long ago.”
As if on cue at her sister's words the display cases flickered, revealing nothing but empty space on the walls where they were once mounted.
“Illusion magic hmm? I didn’t know you had the talent for subtlety.” Luna jabbed at her sister looking to brighten the drab mood that had dominated the room.
“I had to do something to pass the time. Eventually, painting lost its luster.” Responded Celestia as she closed the doors to the ancient war-room. “Who knew it was possible to draw every rock in Canterlot at least once?”
Luna stared at her sister with her one good eye as if she had just sprouted a second head. She then promptly began laughing, much to the chagrin of her sister.
“I’m serious Luna.”
“W-what did *snrk* Did you run out of flowers to paint as well?”
“Yes.”
Luna proceeded to fall onto her hindquarters as another hearty laugh erupted out of her. Soon enough Celestia joined in as well, for while it may not have been the best jest, it was a welcome distraction. And for just a fleeting moment, as the two millennia-old diarchs shared a laugh about the most mundane of topics, there was no war for them to worry about. It was just two sisters laughing their worries away.
Hushed whispers and the sound of metal scratching against stone as its edge was being made whole again. High-ranking officers from all branches of Equestria’s general Staff were milling about the room getting their documents in order, studying the maps laid across any and all free surfaces about the room. But mostly, they were watching the Spartan sharpen her knife in the center of the room. How the cushion she sat upon hadn’t exploded yet nopony knew, though the golden Celestial symbol emblazoned on its surface gave them some idea.
Everypony knew who that was, how couldn’t they? Her likeness was plastered everywhere now that the Canterlot journalist community did what they did best. But the real question on everyone's mind was whether or not she was allowed in there. And if sitting on Celestia’s pillow warranted some sort of intervention
“Hey,” A Major of the 4th infantry battalion whispered to his colleague from the 5th, “What's the angel doing here? Is she even allowed to be in here?”
“I don’t know, she was there when I got here.”
“Should…should we mention this to the generals?”
“And they’ll do what exactly? You’ve heard the stories. If you want to try and kick her out, be my guest but don’t come crying when you end up with four broken hooves.”
“…point.” And with that, they returned to their work with the occasional glances toward the Spartan.
Six, meanwhile, cared not for the stares as she idly sharpened her knife. She did, however, have an idea of what would be discussed once the rest arrived. After all, she was the one who acquired the information from her subordinate in the first place.
A subordinate who was running quite late it seemed. Either that or Six was early to the meeting; she was technically not invited to, but she didn’t care. They needed her for this mission, that much she knew for certain, so she might as well save them the trouble of repeating all this to her later. Plus, a little human perspective might prove fruitful for their discussions. If they didn’t kick her out that is but she doubted that would happen, the whispers she overheard conveyed that much to her.
The door to the room opened and closed once more as Six watched the meek form of Spirits earth pony visage slip into the room and take a seat next to the Spartan. It went without saying that Spirit looked nervous as all hell. A strange opposite to what Spirit acted like when around people that wanted to kill her. There she was as cool as Six, here she was barely able to sit still.
“You’re late”
“Sorry… Sparrow insisted that he should come along as well. I was only barely able to convince him otherwise. He is so… protective of me now. I can barely feed off of him when he’s like this, I’m starving.”
“Heh, should have invited him along instead. Would have made this a whole lot more interesting.” Spirits cheeks turned a light red at that comment, it went unnoticed by Six. “ Already got people wondering whether I should be here.”
“Should you be here? S-Should I?”
“We are where we need to be.” Answered Six cryptically getting a head-tilt in response from Spirit.
“I don’t…understand.”
Six glanced at the disguised changeling briefly before returning to her knife sharpening. “Just do as I do, and look like a Spartan.”
“Okay…how?”
That got a laugh out of Six as she put the sharpening stone she had ‘borrowed’ and turned to face Spirit completely. A sly grin upon the Spartans face.
“You’re already doing it.”
With those words, the doors to the war room opened once again. Looking towards the door Six saw Princess Cadence peering into the room, looking completely out of her depth. Suddenly, Six watched as Cadence’s eyes locked with Spirits. The princess's demeanor seemed to suddenly flip as the nervousness or fear (Six was not sure which) disappeared and was replaced with a happy smile as she cantered towards the Spartan pair.
Six turned her gaze to see Spirit's reaction and was promptly thrown through a small loop. Spirit was staring at Cadence as if she were the most delicious sandwich she had ever seen, a small line of drool was beginning to form around her slightly open mouth.
“You good?” Asked Six quietly, knocking the drooling pony out of their stupor.
“Sorry, instincts… Having the goddess of food so close…” She began drooling again prompting Six to break her out of her staring once again.
“Well get control of them. I’ll send you and Sparrow on a patrol later. But, for the love of God, don’t pounce on the pink one.”
“Y-yes…” Spirit responded idly once again, she clearly hadn’t heard a word of what the Spartan had said. Now, this was beginning to annoy Six. She was a Spartan, Six had trained her better than this.
“Oh goddammit… Spirit leave and go sort yourself out. I don’t care how but come back once you're no longer drooling at the sight of her. I need your mind focused, you're a Spartan goddammit you should be able to control yourself!” Six whisper-shouted at her subordinate who was shying away from her with barely restrained fear and shame in her violet eyes.
Even in her love-starved mind, Spirit knew not to risk the Spartans' wrath as she as quick as a minx slipped past a very confused Cadence and out of the room. Releasing a breath she didn’t know she was holding, Six glanced at the pink princess before standing up from her seat.
Grabbing her helmet and sharpening stone from their position on the table Six turned and gave a short nod of greeting to the pink princess before relocating herself to a corner of the room next to a nearby window. A small table stood before the window with two seats of pony-sized cushions. Sitting down, Six rested her helmet on the table as she heard the fabric underneath protest loudly at her weight.
Unluckily for Six, her attempt at solitude until the meeting began was cut shockingly short as she suddenly found Cadence sitting across from her. The Alicorn wore a surprisingly relaxed smile as Six raised her scarred eyebrow at her.
“May I help you?”
“No, I just wanted to give you some company.” Cadence abstained from mentioning it was actually Spirit she wanted to talk to or more specifically thank for what she did in the attack.
“Really? The last time we met you opted to stay away from me.” Responded Six with a raised eyebrow and a sideways glance.
“I would like to apologize for that. In case it wasn’t blatantly obvious I’m not like my husband when it comes to matters of…”Her eyes wandered to the knife Six wielded and the blades her flexed wings contained. “Violence. I’m the princess of love, not hoof-to-hoof combat.”
Six laughed slightly as her eyes wandered the thin and lithe form of the alicorn. “ I can see that. But thanks, princess.”
“Now enough about me. What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You know, the usual things. What do you do in your free time? What are your interests? Perhaps…got an eye on somepony?” Cadence leaned in with a cheery smile. It reminded Six of those old Earth ‘high-school drama’ shows she once caught one of her handlers watching during her time in ONI. She didn’t care for it.
“Look, Cadence. I don’t have interests. I’m a Spartan, a weapon. In my free time I train, my interests are those of my superiors and I do not care for…” Six twirled her hoof, “intimate relationships. There are people I work with, people I follow, and people I order. That's that.”
“Well… you certainly care for the relationships your Spartans have. These ears are a lot better than you might think. Speaking of which, what happened with Spirit? You didn’t sound too happy with her.” Six eyed the alicorn for several seconds before answering.
“Are you aware she is a changeling?” Cadence's eyes widened as she fumbled over her words slightly.
“I…um…No. I knew we had captured a changeling… I-I didn’t realize-“
“Yeah, well, anyway she was drooling at the mere sight of her ‘Goddess of food’ and there was no way she would be able to focus on the meeting if all she did was prevent herself from pouncing on you. So I sent her away to go ‘deal with it’ with Sparrow.” Six nonchalantly replied, unable to see the invisible blush that had formed on Cadence’s pink fur due to her answer.
“Well…than-“
“Don’t thank me.” Interrupted the Spartan, “It should never have happened in the first place. She’s meant to be a Spartan, and above such distractions.” Cadence frowned
“But that’s where you’re wrong, Six. You have been, what, trained since childhood right? Taken as a foal I presume?” Six raised an eyebrow at the princess and ceased mid-stroke in her sharpening. Cadence took this as a yes and continued. “All you’ve ever known is being a Spartan. Surely there must be more to life for you than just being the weapon you describe yourself to be. Don’t you want to have a life that doesn't involve death and violence?” Six’s face darkened.
“I do what I do because no one else can. I took an oath. I am a Spartan, I will die a Spartan, there is nothing more to it. You need me in this war, and you will need them.”
“Yes, I won’t argue on that. But what about afterward? Equestria has been at peace for over 1000 years, what's to say there won't be 1000 more after this? What then Six?”
Six opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out of it.
“Look Six. All I’m saying is that there could be more to your life than being a weapon of war. Your Spartans chose this life, they have something to fight for other than war itself.”
Six wanted to say something, anything…but nothing came. But luckily for her the princesses and captain she had been waiting for entered the room, snapping everyone to attention. Looking back Cadence gave Six some parting words and a smile before heading to greet her husband.
“Just…When this war is over and done with, think about what I said. Who knows, perhaps next time we meet it will be your wedding I'll have to save.”
“Alright, if we are all present then we may begin.” Spoke Captain Shining Armor from the head of the table. Across it lay a map of the badlands with their target and the closest military base marked in the standard OPFOR dark red and BLUFOR dark blue coloring. It seems even across dimensions, red and blue were still the standard color choices for friendly and hostile forces.
“So Fillies and Gentlecolts thanks to the efforts of a member of our newest specialists in Noble Squad we finally have the information we need to win this war. We have the location of the changelings' main and subsidiary hives as they call them.” Levitating a pointer in his magical aura he gestured to the map. “They're located here in the badlands and more specifically the sulfur wastes of the badlands.”
Murmurs erupted among the general staff as Shining mentioned that detail.
“Well, that rules out a frontal assault.” Began Colonel Blaze of the 2nd Unicorn Brigade. “Even if you have a path through the lakes our unicorns don’t have the energy to hold a shield and provide breathable air to the troops for the duration of this mission.”
“Yes Colonel you are correct, however, thanks to Noble we have discovered that the wastes are in fact not natural. They were created by this” He pointed to the smaller hive just outside of the changeling's capital. “From what we can gather this Hive serves as the lynchpin to their defensive stratagems. This is where they maintain the enchantments that create their sulfur fields. It's Toxic to us but to them, it might as well not exist. So unless we can take out that Hive first we cannot attack them directly.”
“What about Artillery? We could bombard the place with magic until it ceases to be a problem.” Interjected Major Grid of the 6th Mage Regiment.
“Maybe, but the likelihood that you ignite the sulfur is too high. If that happens the gas it would create in the ensuing ignition could roll downhill and into the nearby valley with several villages. Thanks for your input anyway Major, but we have already devised a way to eliminate this obstacle.”
His eyes met Six’s.
“Six, you specialize in stealth correct?” The Spartan nodded. “Good, because you're going to be the key to this operation. And your armor would protect you from the fumes as well, correct?” Six nodded again, and Shining smiled. “Then this will be the plan: Since going in using magic would act as a beacon to any of their mages on watch in what's supposed to be dead wastes. Six will be sent in with our informant, alone, to sabotage their hive and clear a path for the main attack force.”
“You can consider it done, Captain.” It didn't take a genius to know that the ‘informant’ he was talking about was Spirit. Having someone with her that was intimately familiar with their shared enemy would only be a boon to her mission.
“I would sure hope so, if you fail in your mission we will be back to the drawing board.”
“Are we certain there is no other way? As much as I trust that Six may get the job done, hinging our entire offensive to a single mare, no matter how powerful, seems like a recipe for disaster. You mentioned that offensive artillery could ignite the sulfur so what's to stop the changelings from preemptively doing the same.” Argued Major Grid once more. And Six had to agree that he had a point. What was to stop the changelings from implementing a literal scorched earth policy to repel their offensive.
“It's simple, although the changelings did attack us they are not stupid. You all remember how they fought during the initial invasion, correct?” A chorus of ashamed nods was his answer. “Well as you remember the changelings fought with non-lethal means by opting to incapacitate troops before capturing them. We all now know that they did this because they feed upon our emotions. Killing us then or poisoning the villages closest to their home now would be akin to us burning our own orchards and farms.”
“But what about their most recent attack here in Canterlot?!” Shot the Major back, but the Captain was ready for it.
“A one-time offensive. They wanted to assassinate and cripple our special forces as well as their leadership. We have it on good authority that they will not attempt such an attack again as they believe their mission to be a success.” Six recalled what Spirit had told her during her debrief. That the attack by the Venator was one in retaliation for the Spartans’ actions in Las Pegasus. Six had ended that session prematurely afterward, citing that she needed to get some air, despite the fact it was heavily raining on that day.
“Wasn’t it though? The Wonderbolts are grounded, the LSTS are at one-third of normal strength and Horizon lost one of its most skilled members. Even the members of the newly christened Noble Squad were not unaffected”
The room went silent for a solid minute at that proclamation and Six couldn’t prevent the slouch in her posture and the droop of her facial features. Shining armor Cleared his throat.
“…A tragic loss that won’t be soon forgotten I assure you, but that is why we are sure they won’t resort to any more attacks capable of such large losses of life.”
“…I still suggest we find another way to disable the sulfur production that does not hinge upon a single pony's success.” The officer continued to argue.
“I’m sorry Major but this is our only option, anything else risks the deaths of innocent ponies.” Shining’s eyes met Six’s once again. “The fate of this war is in your hooves now Six, are you up to it?”
“It's not the first time Captain. I will go prepare.” Answered Six with a resolute salute and straightening of her previously drooping posture. Her armored wings twitched ever so slightly on her sides at the prospect of slaying the one that killed Spear.
“Yes, your presence is not needed for the rest of this meeting. I will contact you later for a full briefing, otherwise, you're dismissed.” Finished the Captain look, one the Spartan had not seen on the pony before.
Six nodded as she grabbed her equipment and made her way for the exit of the room. As she heard the captain resume his discussions of the larger battleplan he had dubbed ‘Case Yellow’ Six looked back and witnessed Cadence looking back at her from the table. She mouthed three words to the Spartan before turning back to the table.
‘Think about it’
Six stared at the back of the pink alicorn’s head for several seconds more before leaving the room in its entirety, banishing the uncomfortable thoughts that had invaded her mind. Six had more important things to deal with right now, and her future after the war was not one of them. Right now she needed to find Spirit and get her ready for the upcoming mission.
In the words of her former leader: There would be no lone wolf stuff. Six had a pack now, and although it may be battered and beaten. All the changelings had done is made them the target of the Alpha’s wrath… and may the heavens help whoever was caught in her path. Yet as Six’s mind stirred and stoked the flames of her unshackled emotions, something began to hear her call.
Deep down in the Celestial vault, Vindicta began to wake once more. Its once pristine cage of enchanted glass is now marred by a single, growing, crack.