//------------------------------// // Magic meets Spartans // Story: Noble meets friendship // by Peppermint Swirl //------------------------------// "Okay question time. First: How the Hell are we still alive!?!" Said Emile as he and the rest of Noble sat down by the river they found Six by. None of them could believe that they were all here and somehow all alive. They all confirmed that they had died in some way. But Kat had to be told that she had been killed since she did not see it coming. While Six knew she had died but did not divulge any details of it. Carter had explained that he was the first to awaken and discover the "changes" and saw he was in a huge smokin' crater of some kind. And as he began to wander around the woods he found the rest of his team one by one. Now that all his team was assembled again he began to observe them. Kat was most likely still trying to go over the physics on how one went from Humanoid to well this. Emile was trying to figure out how to sharpen his knife with no fingers. Jun was still trying to wrap his head around this. Jorge was going over how his home may be lost to both him and the human race. Then finally he looked at Six. The newest member of Noble was quiet as usual, Six, almost never talked outside when it was mandatory for the mission. Didn't even say what her name is and never takes off the helmet. Carter knew a little more about Six's past than most but he didn't know much about the being, which he hopped he could fix soon. "I've got no clue Emile or the how, the where, or the why." Spoke Carter and the rest of the team looked to him awaiting orders on what they should do. Quickly taking up the burden of leadership once again he did not disappoint. "First we need to find out where the hell we are and to do that we need to find civilization. If the people of this planet are like most beings then we should head in a southern direction. Hopefully we will find a town and then see about getting home." Like any other op Emile began to point out the possible flaws. He snorted and began the list. "Except we know nothing of the planet we're on. If the natives are friendly, or even speak English. And for th-" He never got to finish he small speech. RRRRAAAAWWWRRR Vibrated over the landscape and filled the Spartans ears that was then followed by a much higher pitch of screaming. Normally they would have thought it to be a predator cornering it's prey except that type of scream could be made a sentient being. Not an animal. All six member jumped in unison and without any word spoken they raced towards the sounds. Six was still a little shaky on her "feet?" But she did not loose pace. Few hours earlier Twilight,Applejack,Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie slowly began to walk deeper into the Everfree forest as they followed the path of the fireball that fell from they sky. As they got deeper it became harder and harder to see Luna's moon as it rose into the sky. "Uh, Twi? Couldn't it wait ta ya know Mornin' ta try ta find this magic whatever. Ah mean, it's not like ah am scared or nothin' but a lot more critters that a don't like ponies come on out for the night." Spoke Applejack as she looked around for any sign of danger. Though the element of honesty was as brave or even braver than the next pony being in the Everfree at night was not somethin' she wanted to make a habit of. The purple unicorn began to scan the area nervously. Though the idea had crossed her mind she didn't want to leave the object there for it just to sit here overnight. Who knows if it would be there if they did. "Don't worry girls as long as we know what direction we came in we'll be fine." Rainbow said nothing but just kept flying overhead just to make sure there was a way to get to the site easy and then get out with whatever crashed. Pinkie on the other hoof was blabbering on and on about figuring out some foods that aliens might like to have for their party. The element of laughter was hard to worry or scare. She always had some type of smile on her and would laugh at anything that was hardly even funny. But what was coming managed to startle even her out of a smile. A low deep growling noise came from a thicket close by. And slowly, prowling a huge lion like figure emerged and got between them and they way forward. On it's back were two dragon like wings and it's tail was that of a scorpion rather than a lions. There was no doubt in there minds on what it was, A manticore. A hungry one too. Screaming the four tried to flee but again out of the thicket came another one. And it was even larger than the first. Trapped into a small circle the ponies watched fearfully as the two predators circled their prey. With fear for her friends and for herself Twilight acted on pure instinct. Her horn began to glow a magenta color as a shield in the same color formed around them. The Manticores stared at it briefly them began wailing away at it. Feeling her energy drain away at each blow she thought of Spike,the Princess,and the rest of her friends that she would miss once she's gone. She was about to pass out when she heard a stallions voice bellow something that startled everyone even the Manticores stopped what they were doing to see who spoke at that moment. "NOBLE TEAM! ENGAGE AND DEFEND!" Whipping through the trees all of Noble team raced toward the direction they heard the screams come from. They soon skidded to a halt just before the clearing as they saw two creatures out of a fantasy book bang away at a magenta drop shield that was slowly fading. But what really caught their interest were the creatures inside the shield. "What are those things?" Asked Emile as he looked at the view. They looked similar to what he and Noble looked like but different as well. "We can ask later but right now they need help and that shield won't last much longer." Spoke Carter gaining the attention of all the team. "Now I want two groups of three. One for each of those monsters. Jorge, you take jun and Six and take the one on the left while me, Kat, and Emile take the one on the right. Now any questions?" When no one spoke he gave a swift nod. "Good, now NOBLE TEAM! ENGAGE AND DEFEND!" And then all Hell seem to break loose... Jorge charged at the slightly smaller one giving it a ram that would topple a tank. The Manticore flew but quickly balanced itself with its wings. Then with a roar of anger it charged at him claws and jaw wide open. Then a sudden streak of silver zoomed past managed to land on its back. Startled it skidded to a halt. Meanwhile on its back Six gripped its tail with her front hooves in a misshaped strangle hold. Enraged by its unwanted rider the Manticore began to whip its tail around as fast and hard as it could. Pour Six felt like her brain was going to fall out of her head soon if it didn't stop soon. Suddenly a hard and sharp CRACK could be heard as a stone missile at high speed hit the Manticore right in the gut. It howled in pain to see Jun standing there his horn aglow with more stones hovering around him. Taking the opportunity Six managed to pull her combat knife from its holster and with one clean swipe she cut off the scorpions tail like butter. Instead of falling to the ground like she thought she would she found herself hovering in midair. Looking to her back she found that the extra limbs on her back were actually wings. Interesting... "Six! Incoming!" Jorge's voice came too late. A huge lion paw came into the air and hooked its claws into her armor. Shattering her shields as it did. Ignoring the extreme pain Six did her best to struggle away from it. The Manticore's eyes filled with rage and pain came closer and it's jaws opened wider. Suddenly the creature and Spartans were hurled forward and both smashed into the shield. Lumbering Jorge managed to sneak up behind it and gave it a good solid buck. The manticore manage to recover first and saw that it was outmatched fled leaving behind a small trail of blood as it did. Meanwhile Carter, Emile, and Kat faced off with the larger Manticore. Of all of them there Emile seemed to be the only one enjoying himself. He had somehow gotten underneath the creature and stabbed his knife into the creatures underbelly. Blood soon began to pour out of its wound drenching the spartan as he drew the knife back. The Manticore stumbled a bit and seemed to get weaker. Carter then gave it a buck to its side sending it stumbling away. Blood continued to flow from the wound on its underbelly and then Kat also gave it a solid buck to the rear. After that and seeing its compatriot flee the larger one did the same leaving exhausted Spartans and horrified ponies. "Six! Are you alright? Answer me!" Came a concerned voice. Carter and the other two turned to see Six lying on the ground by the drop shield unmoving with Jorge kneeling the best he could in his current form next to her. Rushing over towards them they saw Six managing to get up. Blood had begun to weep from her chest wound and she seemed to be in obvious pain. "I'm fine Jorge! I just need to-" Six falters a bit before finish her sentence."-catch my breath." And as if to prove it Six began to walk away from the shield so the occupants could lower it, until she collapsed onto the ground and her blood began to seep onto the ground. The rest to the Spartans raced to her aid and Jorge then picked her up on his back the least painful way he could while possible in this form. "Just for once cut the Lone Wolf crap again and let our team help you." Was Jorge's response as the rest of the team turned back towards the creatures they had just saved. Inside the barrier the four ponies gaped in both horror and awe as they watched the spectacle take place. They had watched as ponies as huge as the princesses and in scary looking armor came to their rescue and nearly killed two Manticores without pause. They watched as the other ponies quickly came to the aid of the green armored Pegasus when it was clearly injured. Now with it on the back of the largest one of them all they four recoiled as the other armored ponies, one drenched in the Manticores blood came towards them. The blue armored unicorn stopped at the barrier and gave a knock on it. "Uhm...Hi there. I am commander Carter of Noble Team. I was hoping you could tell us if there was a medical place or perhaps a town near here. Or perhaps you have medical supplies with you? I don't know how long my friend here will last without medical attention." Said the blue unicorn his voice muffled by the barrier. And Twilight stood dumbfounded at the moment. "Uh..o-one moment please." Using some of her extra magic she solidified the barrier and made it sound proof. Turning around to her friends who still had the looks of horror on their faces she asked simply. "What do you girls think?" "Are you kiddin' Twilight?!?! Did you not see what they did to those Manticores? If you lowered the shield or worse lead them to Ponyville we'll end up just like those Manticores did or worse!" Rainbow shouted and was the first to break out of the spell. Her opinion obvious in every way. She was the element of loyalty and she did not want to do anything that endangered her friends. Twilight took note of this to reference later. "Ah don't know Dash." Spoke Applejack with a concerned look on her face. "Ah admit that ah amma bit scared at those ponies. But they did save our hides back there. And that one Pegasus looked in mighty bad shape ta me. And if they wanted to skin us alive or somethin' then they coulda have done it earlier." Twilight also noted this glad to have AJ's honest opinion on this matter. Then all three mares looked at Pinkie so stared at them briefly then spoke. Slightly calmer than before. "I think we should help them Twilight. I mean it is after all part of the script and if we killed off one of the main character already we will never finish this story." "What?" All three asked in unison. "You know the story! The one that we are doing right now. If we never finish then the poor author will get lots of comments asking when they'll finish it and if they never do then we'll be stuck here forever!" Pinkie then turns her head upwards and waves into the open air. "Hi there readers! I do hope you enjoy the story as much as me. Maybe afterwards we can have a party together!" Giving an exasperated sigh Twilight and then went over the notes and warnings in her head. And lastly she looked at the image of the Pegasus laying on the back of the giant armored pony she made her decision. Lowering the barrier and the extra spells she put on it she turned back towards the blue unicorn who watched them through its frost colored visor. "Alright we'll help you. There's a town just south of here with a hospital. But if you or your team try anything them I'll throw you all back here myself!" Carter just gave a curt nod and the rest of his team visibly relaxed and mumbled their thanks. And with that they headed towards Ponyville and a new adventure begins... To be continued...