//------------------------------// // Judgement // Story: The Speechless Spartan in Equestria // by marking //------------------------------// Judgement The Night and Solar guards had the Spartan in their custody, nothing he did or tried would be able to stop them. He was glowing as so many multiple parts of his body were being held down simultaneously. His armor crackled with little electric shots, dancing around it as his energy shields were not active, after it burst for the first time. In the way back, the guards stopped and had to find a way to make it so it wouldn’t affect them. They eventually came up with quite an interesting plan, they set up a relay team that would tap into the apparently electrical properties of the suit with their horns and suck out magically the ever growing charge. After a few tries with some of the guards having been shocked into dreamland they perfected the system and managed to avoid the pulses the armor sent. The Spartan was without energy shields and tightened with magic. The guards had originally expected to reach Canterlot in about a 1 hour long trip in the carriage. It had taken about 5 hours. Carriages were used mainly for royalty, and apparently Celestia had been quite sure about the danger the alien posed. The whole trip had passed completely in silence along with glares of the guards towards the Spartan. Not once did the Spartan tug or attempted escape, but it didn’t stop the guards from practically having him guarded like Hannibal Lector. When they reached the city, the Spartan was paraded through town like a circus animal going up and all the way into the castle. The ponies all around would stare and make remarks insulting him. This didn’t make the Spartan evoke any emotion. The problem arrived when he was at the castle; guards who once weren’t fond of him were now practically spitting on the soldier. Insults and comparisons towards animals had been thrown his way, and in one occasion an actual rock was thrown at him. He tried to catch it but his hands were completely unable to move, the rock directly impacted the side of his helmet. The Spartan originally was just going to reach Luna and try to explain the situation but they were treating him like trash without having any sort of evidence. This irritated the hell out of the Spartan but he kept calm as long as he could at least to defend his case. Then Blueblood came. The snobbish unicorn galloped to see the Spartan restrained by the guards and started laughing at him. He walked right beside the Spartan and made comments about his intelligence and how the Spartan was probably about as intelligent as a dog. “I warned them about you. I told them you were just some animal with metal plating. A brute in all that’s what you are: A non-thinking creature with no sort of rational process whatsoever, but did they listen? No, Auntie Celestia trusted you along with Auntie Luna, sometimes those two can have such dumb ideas. Trust the freak from outer space into royalty missions. As a matter of fact, I think it wouldn’t be too difficult to think that you were a freak among those who were like you, probably the most idiotic too. So undeserving of royalty, it’s a good thing your bowing or else I might not allow you to be graced with my presence animal. You know what’s interesting though? It’s that there are more like you out there. More stupid dirty animals roaming, the mere idea just makes me want to puke!” Blueblood ranted on and on about how good he was, and how bad the Spartan was. Inside the cage though the Spartan was starting to tug at the magic holding him in place, his strength grew stronger and stronger every second Blueblood kept talking. The guards taking him were starting to grunt in effort, as the Spartan’s blood boiled. Then Blueblood got closer to the cage with his nose up high and proceeded to stare at the Spartan. “You know, I don’t think that anything like you should even be allowed to live. Such vile and stupid animals should just be put down. Your species isn’t even worthy to live.” Said Blueblood and then spat on the Spartans visor. That was all it took. Something inside the Spartan snapped. The Spartan burst through the cage and towards Blueblood like lightning, the magical grip all the guards had to him had been ripped apart so fast, the magical backlash knocked most of them out and those who weren’t were too much in pain couldn't do anything. The Spartan grabbed Blueblood by the throat and held him in the air choking the stupid bastard. The Spartan wasn’t seeking his humiliation this time, Blueblood had gone way too far. This time the Spartan wanted blood from the unicorn, he wanted god-tier physical punishment. He lifted his fist backward and would have been covered in Blueblood’s blood already had he not been shot at with a ball of energy that shoved him backwards and thus letting go of the prick. Blueblood fell to the ground wheezing for air as the Spartan was being surrounded by guards that just kept coming, horns were flaring up to life and crossbows were being pointed at him. “SILENT WARRIOR! SURRENDER AND GIVE IN TO THE PROCESS OF JUDGEMENT! YOU ARE CHARGED WITH THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT OF CELESTIA’S PROTÉGÉ, TWILIGHT SPARKLE, AND THE DRAGON SPIKE! SURRENDER AT ONCE!” a voice came from a unicorn between the lines of guards. The Spartan saw the surrounding army only growing bigger and bigger every second. Blueblood took this as a cue to try and slip away from the chaos hide somewhere safe. It was too bad that he was the Spartan’s target and no one else. A regular Spartan always looked at every option in dangerous situation along with the impacts it could have for the near future. This Spartan though wasn’t regular at all and was blind with rage, punishment was his objective and anyone that got in the way would be effectively “taken care of”. The Spartan spotted Blueblood making his way through the guards into the inside of the castle. Being near the guards training ground gave him a lot of liberty of movement, but it also gave his current aggressors that advantage. His only option was to create a diversion and take them by surprise. The Spartan turned his back on them and went toward the cage, with the injured guards around it. The guards on the area never let their guard down, but it wasn’t required for what the Spartan did next. In a flash of movement he grabbed the cage flipped it to the side with the bottom exposed towards the surrounding guards, he then grabbed the injured guards and began using them as projectiles keeping one or two close to him to avoid the guards heading towards him from shooting their bolts. He ran towards them and with an unexpected agility, avoiding the bolts of magic that took them by surprise. The Spartan was not only incredibly strong but also as fast as a ballistic missile. When he reached them he threw several well guided punches that sent guards into others making them collapse on the ground. Every punch he threw at the guards made a dent like tin foil into their armor, as some of the ribs, legs, or jaws broke within them. He saw what looked like a pink beam shoot out of the ground behind some guards and collapse over the whole area in an expanding shield. The Spartan knew better than to be trapped inside when it completely finished closing. He ran directly towards the castle as some guards tried making magical barricades and barrages to stop his movement. He avoided most of the barricades and had to completely ram into soldiers that attempted to tackle him. He then slid through the dirt just in time as the shield closed, and was now staring at a pretty pissed looking white unicorn with blue mane and purple armor. “You…YOU… YOU TRY TO HARM MY LITTLE SISTER AND SPIKE! AND COME BACK TO DO THIS ON THE VERY GROUNDS I ONCE SWORE TO PROTECT?!? YOU WILL LEAVE THIS PLACE AFTER I'M LAYING COLD DEAD ON THE FLOOR!!!!!!”, finished the Unicorn as he sent multiple shots of pink energy towards the Spartan. The Spartan assumed this was the very unicorn that had shot the shield behind him. The Spartan ran to take care of him but didn’t realize how the magic shots he had evaded were now following him. He reached the unicorn in time before the magic shots reached him and with a well-placed kick the unicorn smashed into a nearby wall. The magic shots reached the Spartan and connected with his back exploding into pink voluminous flashes of energy. The Spartan was blasted with an enormous force into a hall pillar. The pillar exploded into shards of debris falling everywhere and onto the Spartan himself. The white unicorn grunted in pain after he collapse on the floor before he looked at the pile of rubble and was happy to see no movement. He let go of his magic to rest but then his eyes shot open in disbelief as he saw the Spartan breaking through the concrete and mess. His suit was glimmering with sparks shooting all around it, and stroke fear into the guards around him. The Spartan’s shields had regenerated somewhere along the time he was fighting the other guards. The shields took all of the damage of the magic blast, but he had taken the direct hit to the pillar and the falling concrete and marble. The Spartan rose from the rubble like a nightmare from the deepest depth of Tartarus. The Spartan looked at the white unicorn who had attempted to stop him from delivering punishment, he had fought well but he was not nor ever would be prepared to take on a Spartan head on. With a hand he clicked a little button to the side of his helmet and a small target appeared with a projected distance. Blueblood was getting away, but punishment was coming for him and it was going to come stronger than ever. The Spartan began running towards Blueblood at a full sprint, the distance was getting shorter and shorter every second that passed, and the few guards that had been foolish enough to try and stand in his way were rammed to the side or brought down with a punch. Chaos around the whole castle spread as he ran for his objective. Finally he saw Blueblood entering some sort of hall and closing the door behind him. The Spartan broke through the door as splinters flew everywhere. There in one of the corners was Blueblood terrified out of his wits. The Spartan grabbed him by the neck in a choking grip and Blueblood once more flailed about. One of hind legs kicked the Spartan but it was as much help as it would be kicking wall. The pompous white unicorn was crying once more due to the fear he felt, it seemed that once more he had pissed the wrong guy. The Spartan raised his other arm and formed a fist, last time he had been merciful and let him go with only embarrassment. This time however he was going to make sure he couldn’t blabber anymore, if he was going to be stupid about what he said he would go ahead and take his ability to speak for a while. Nothing to brutal just a broken jaw, maybe he would learn to appreciate the gift of speech. A bright flash of light appeared from behind the Spartan and enveloped the whole room leaving the two individuals blind for mere seconds. Not even the Spartan’s helmet was capable of stopping the light; it was like watching a supernova explosion. The Spartan didn’t even register the shot that was taken at him when he found himself flying through the air at a massive speed. He was able to flip in time to use Blueblood as a cushion as he broke through the wall and fell into a known area of the castle. The Spartan lay in the gardens of the castle. He had landed near the concrete where the genetic monstrosity used to stand when he first woke up. Blueblood had landed in a bunch of thorn bushes. The Spartan had received quite the hit; it was so hard he was having trouble shaking it off. He wobbly stood up and saw Celestia walking towards him, she looked pissed. Not royally pissed, but pissed nonetheless. “I trusted you Silent. I thought I could trust you and give you a life here in my kingdom. Give you a second chance, but it seems that I trusted you too much. I was blinded by the conception that everything had good in themselves but not only did you do exactly the opposite of what we had asked of you when we told you to protect the one being in this land that I love almost as much as my sister, but you were brought here and impaired over 45 royal guards and seek to break my nephew both physically and mentally. You live me no chance Silent Warrior, I cannot let you hurt my subjects anymore.” Celestia raging with tears, charged her horn with a massive power and aimed at the Spartan. The Spartan stood up groggily but getting ready to try and dodge the attack. He had taken quite the beating for a single day. A dark and purple flash of light appeared next to Celestia and there stood Princess Luna along with Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony. “CELESTIA WAIT!” yelled Luna as the other Elements moved to stop her. It was too late though as the shot left her horn and directed to the Spartan at an enormous speed. The Spartan tried moving to the side to dodge it but couldn’t as he saw that his leg was glowing in a pink manner. Behind the hole he had come through to the gardens stood the same white unicorn he had fought a second ago. He was visibly bruised and weak but somehow had come all the way to the gardens to aid in the defense against the Spartan. The shot reached the Spartan and he could feel how all of his extremities contorted into pinpricks, it could be described as being compressed enough to passed through a needle head. Then he felt as he expanded once more. He opened his eyes and saw darkness, he saw little lights all around him and then he turned. He saw the sun and to his side he saw the moon. He was floating in space a little too far from the planet to be sucked back in by the gravitational pulls. As a matter of fact he was practically drifting of into space. His suit detected the anomaly in the pressure and initiated the armor lock as the Spartan fell into unconsciousness. ********** -3 hours before the disaster in Canterlot- Rainbow Dash trotted inside the hospital room where all the other Elements were waiting for her to confirm what Twilight had been rambling about. She had an unfocused stare, and was noticeably pale. She just came into the room with that thousand yard stare which made everyone in the room worried. Twilight approached her and knew exactly what she had done. “You went yourself didn’t you?” said Twilight with pity. Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words, but nodded. It appeared like she hadn’t fully accepted the concept of seeing death. Sure she knew of it and how to it happened but never had she seen murder upfront. In none of the situations she and the other girls had been was there murder involved, sure there was chaos, ponies screaming for their lives, and ponies getting placed inside slimy cocoons but never murder. “Did you see him?” asked Twilight. “W-which o-one?” asked Rainbow Dash. “What do you mean which one, there was only one.” “Then…Then WHO WERE THE OTHER TWO THAT I SAW!?” yelled Rainbow. “Two more?!” yelled Twilight as she blanked, “Oh no. The guards?” Rainbow Dash only nodded as tears formed on her eyes, “I had to drag one inside, since he was thrown in a bush. I-I couldn’t risk anypony finding him too.” The ponies around the room were either as white as a ghost or looking sick to the core. Fluttershy broke into tears and Pinkie Pie’s hair deflated. “Lightny and Fido?” said Pinkie as tears fell from her cheeks. The depressive mood of the room fell more and more as time passed. Rarity was trying to help Spike with the idea of the recently departed. It was a very gruesome thing to think about, but nothing had prepared them to have to actually have talks about such a thing. The six friends always delved into the unknown and dangerous but the idea of actually losing one of themselves hadn’t really hit home, until someone close to them died. Sure the guards weren’t exactly the best of friends, but they were ponies to whom they had met and known for the little while they had been stationed in Ponyville. If losing them hurt so much, what would happen if they ever lost one of themselves? Though the answer could very well be at the doorstep, since their current situation meant that someone had tried to kill Twilight. It took an hour before the six mares were able to at least start getting the big picture of the situation Twilight was in. Not also that but the other five mares and dragon could very well be used to get to Twilight and harm her. There was just no way of figuring out exactly how their lives would be affected for the next month or two, but evidently enough some plans would have to be made. It took quite the while to be able to lift up the spirit of the group, and even longer to pick up Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were among the first ones to pick themselves up. After them came Rarity, Spike, and Twilight; though Twilight could very well just be pretending to be alright. In the midst of the worries and problems, they had forgotten of the outside world until a knock came to the room. “Come in.” replied Twilight at which moment the door opened and quickly entered Princess Luna. “Oh Twilight Sparkle! We are most grateful for your well-being!” she said as she picked up Twilight and hugged her tightly. “We are truly sorry for having left you with that being. I guess he coming from the stars and being so disoriented made us empathize him, and now we paid the price. I sincerely hope you take our apologies, rest now for we will make sure he pays the ultimate price for such actions!’ “Princess Luna this is not okay.” Said Twilight “I see we have deeply hurt you, and maybe in the future we shall be able to rekindle our friendship, but right now I have some business with that…” but Princess Luna was interrupted by Twilight. “No Princess, what I’m trying to say is that Silent didn’t have anything to do with it! As a matter of fact if it hadn’t been for him me Spike would be probably… dead.” “I do not understand Twilight; the reports say that he was seen appearing here in the hospital with Spike about to die and you with multiple bruises and cuts. We assumed you naturally teleported to an area you could get help for your friend after he tried kidnapping you.” “That is somewhat true Princess Luna, but not that he wanted to kidnap me or hurt me. There was this other unicorn that came to the library at night and tried to kill us, but definitely not Silent. I’m sad to say that the guards I was appointed to did not have the same fate I did.” Twilight said looking down, “The unicorn had placed me under monumental restraints in order to kill me, and figured to kill Spike first. Then Silent took care of him, I don’t know how he knew I was in trouble, but the issue here is he being punished for a crime he did not commit.” “If what you’re telling me is indeed true, we must not waste time Twilight Sparkle. We need to go to Canterlot at once, before Silent reaches Celestia. We are afraid of what she has planned, but when she heard of the attempt she went uncomfortably silent.” Said Luna, “All of you except Spike come close to me. I'm guessing you have never teleported in groups before?” Everypony had bundled near Princess Luna, as her horn began to glow stronger and stronger until an enormous flash appeared and they were gone from the hospital. They later arrived at Canterlot but were met with the whole guard mobilized and moving on. They threw themselves unto a full gallop and reached the area of the first encounter. The multiple guards laying in their broken bodies, and those who were helping to get them into the infirmary. They all drew the conclusion that whatever Silent was in species, he was very dangerous. Their moment of shock was broken as an explosion resonated on the other side of the castle. Luna knew where the sound have come from and knew the feeling of her sister’s magic as the shock wave passed through the castle breaking various windows and glassware. She immediately grabbed all the group of mares and teleported them all to the origin of the shock wave. When they appeared Luna saw the broken wall from which they had access to the area of the castle and also saw Blueblood as a bloody mess in a thorn bush. What grabbed her attention the most though was that she saw Celestia aiming at the Spartan charging her horn fully for what she was going to do. Luna had an idea of what Celestia was going to do, last time she did it the moon had a 1000 year occupant. She had done it with the Elements of Harmony which sent her directly to the moon and binded Nightmare Moon there, but Celestia was very capable herself of teleporting anything that far away. The thing was that she really didn’t know where it would end up and was pretty much a death sentence within itself. Luna lounged and yelled, “CELESTIA WAIT!” but she was too late. With a flash a burnt piece of land was left of where the Spartan stood once. And a very exhausted Celestia stood staring at where he once was. ********** When the Spartan had been first disposed by the UNSC he had been on a cryosleep chamber, the thing had probably hit something or broken down when he entered the atmosphere of the planet. Drifting in space completely exposed would kill him in about 14 hours unless he could replenish the oxygen he was losing. “Wow Celestia can be such a party pooper from time to time cant she?” came a voice from nowhere in particular. The Spartan just drifted off in the solitude of space. “I mean you’ve caused so much chaos in the time you’ve been in Equestria it's like having my very personal treat. I know I'm supposed to be good now per say, but I mean sometimes one has to unwind right?” continued the voice the conversation. “I'm so glad you and I had this talk, human, it’s been such a while I saw one of your species. You guys always know how to have fun. Now let’s give you a little push in the right direction shall we? I mean I'm not going to take you back to the castle like a lost child, you’re a big boy now; besides, we wouldn’t want to make things too easy now, would we Spartan?” the voice said as a paw materialized next to the flying soldier and gave a good shove back to the planet. As the Soldier entered the atmosphere fire enveloped its armor as it fell once again into the planet like the first time. It was definitely going to hurt. “I have high hopes for you Spartan, I’m sure you’re about to make everything a lot more interesting.” Said the voice as discord materialized with a smug grin on his face.