//------------------------------// // The Clash // Story: A Noble Cause // by Sarkastik Menace //------------------------------// “Do not fool yourself. War is not glory and fortune. War is death, destruction, and pain. I come here today to speak to you assuming that at least eighty percent of you will wind up either dead or crippled for life. It is my job to make sure no more than eighty percent of you are lost in action. It is your job to make that number less than eighty percent.-Staff Sergeant Johannes Currahee, speaking to Spartan threes two years before the augmentation process. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Six sighed for the third time in five minutes, looking at the flare and at the tree over and over, thinking of her plan. Six knew the advantages, disadvantages, and risks of her plan. These were a given, but what would happen if the variables happened in certain ways, that’s what worried her. Lighting the tree practically on fire by hand activating the flare would no doubt draw her pursuers to her, to a confrontation she would win, or should the enemy prove themselves, escape from. But that would mean her pursuers would get a new estimate of her location and her likelihood of capture would increase. But at the same time the chances she would be able to escape or possibly get the ponies to negotiate were much higher. To hell with this, Six thought in her head as she primed the flare and threw it into the tree. Within seconds it exploded in an audible ‘Pop’ like noise. The tree it got caught in burst into flame, and a tree next to it burning slightly. At the same time white crystals began to fall from the sky. Snow. Six said in her head over and over. The spartan looked at it fall from the pale white sky.  “Snow.” The spartan chuckled to herself silently at the sight of it, several memories in it flew into her mind. Of course this meant the Spartan would have trouble cloaking in the open, as the snow would just fall on her armour goofily and making it obvious to anyone observant in the slightest something was there.  Still, the Spartan could operate with cloak virtually unhindered in pouring rain, so the concept was pretty similar. She just had to watch her footsteps and hide in shade where she the snow wasn’t hitting the ground. Once again, not a big deal for the expert soldier. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patches was walking around the woods, using the excuse that she would patrol a broad area for the apparent monster. But according to a pegasus by the name of Daring Do, who eerily resembled the main character of a popular book series, it was no monster. She hadn’t dwelled on the thought, because eventually it would be caught so everypony would eventually find out anyway. For now the pony just needed a break from being a paper jockey. The forest though seemed very eery. Very silent, many of the animals she saw were scurrying past her. Not close, but still all going in one direction nonetheless. Patches saw smoke billowing a few hundred meters away and she realized that the reason the critters ran was because a fire erupted. “Damnit damnit damnit.” The mare repeated to herself as she paced in place, looking around for anypony else who could check out the scene with her. It was a stupid idea to run after the fire. Patches knew that, but she still ran into the harsh blaze unknowing of what lied in waiting for her. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Six was crouching behind a tree, carefully observing the entire area around her, knowing when the ponies would come she would use stealth and mirror her first fight with the ponies. So Six clearly had to make sure she’d see them before they spotted her. The exercise of craning her head was boring and monotonous, though Six instinctively kept doing it, thinking in her head while she monitored the area. This kept going on for the next ten or so minutes until Six finally spotted a pony. White coat, red hair. Who in their right mind would send a single soldier after me? Six wondered in her head, seeing the light golden plate of armour attached to the ponies chest. The pony walked slowly, carelessly neglecting the fact that several trees were on fire. At this moment three of the trees were engulfed in flame, and the original recipient of the flare was all but collapsing. Six could tell it would barely last any longer as she heard barely audible cracks from the wood. And it’s walking right to the tree. Idiot. Six wondered if she should save the pony, activating her cloak and stalking closer to it from it’s right. The tree, if it collapsed on top of the pony would injure and maybe kill it. The pines from the ‘Christmas Tree’ would injure it heavily, and a branch or worse off the tree itself would kill or trap it effortlessly. Of course the tree began to fall before the soldier made up her mind. Six’s training kicked in oddly enough as she bursted in a flat sprint towards the equine. She deactivated her cloak knowing it wouldn’t mask her forty kilometer an hour pace Six pushed the pony hard. It fell out of the trees range as the bark and pine needles collapsed heavily yet harmlessly on the soldier encased in about a ton of armour. Six trudged out effortlessly, revealing the pony she saved. It was unscathed, save for a gash on her cheek from being rag dolled across the terrain. Six helped the pony up with a hand, remaining eerily silent. Still, the pony was simply standing there, dumbfounded. It didn’t express the classic ‘Oh god don't eat me’ expression SIx loved receiving. Still, Six didn’t want the pony there any longer and knew that she probably was just either a stray or came rushing to investigate alone. Keeping the pony hostage wouldn’t delay an attack or help her during one. “Go.” Six said quietly, but still carrying force enough to get the pony to bugger off in a hurry. Sighing, Six crouched by the tree, remembering in her mind what direction the pony was sprinting off to. As if she hadn’t alerted the ponies enough to where she was. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “So then, while it’s distracted by you guys getting your butts kicked, i’ll swoop down from the trees and whoop it’s flank!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. The rest of the group and even a few of the guards accompanying them rolled their eyes at her senseless boasting.   “Umm, no offense Dash. But maybe you should be less.… Ummm…” Fluttershy started, twirling her mane, stopping herself before saying something. “think it through a little bit more?” Fluttershy smiled sheepishly as she finished.     “Oh c’mon, is it really that bad? Element of surprise, y’know?!” Dash flew in the air as she said this, jabbing her hooves in rapid punches.        “Element of surprise doesn’t mean sensessly throwing yourself at a very skilled combatant, Dash.” Twilight said, and began to continue right before Dash could interject. “And, don’t forget that we have a detachment of thirty Royal Guards with us. This will still be a challenge, even with all them.” Twilight finished with a neutral expression, showing she was very used to her friend’s antics.       “Sheesh, you girls can be such buzzkills sometimes. I’m keepin’ my spirits up, unlike some of you.” Dash said, giggling as she dipped her head down right in front of Twilight’s. “Anyway, what’s the plan with this fire stuff? The thing will probably end up having the jump on us if it really wants to.”         “Don’t worry about me guys!” Pinkie pie exclaimed hopping at the group’s pace “I’m gonna lay a trap for this thingy!”        “Pinkie… With all due respect, how are ya’ gonna-” AJ started, but was cut off almost instantly            “With this! … Um, thingy.” Pinkie said, taking a shovel out of her mane.         “Don’t even bother Applejack. It’s not good for your health.” The lavender unicorn said, rubbing an all too familiar concussion she had over a year ago from the crazed pony. The group approached the blaze and suddenly the entire group of about forty grew completely silent. The fire was an eerie sight, only adding to the fears of the more nervous members of the large group. Several trees were ablaze. “It’s always irked me how a force as destructive as fire can be so… Calm sounding. Something that can kill you has a relaxing crackle to it.” Rarity said, stating her thoughts in a calm manner, trying to keep her composure. “Yeah. This place is even giving me the creeps. We gotta stay together.” Dash said plainly, still flying a little higher than the group but losing her visible flare.          “I think that’s the smartest thing you said all day, Rainbow Dash. Granted it was kinda obvious.* Twilight said, giggling softly. Still, nopony knew what they had gotten themselves into when they left to discover the mysterious forest fire. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------       Six sighed again, poking out from the wide tree. She had her camouflage off, knowing she wouldn’t need it from a hundred meters out as long as she was careful. The group stopped and the guards began to survey the area. Six immediately used this as the queue to move in. Activating her camo, Six began to walk from tree to tree carefully exploiting the forest around her. The camo was around a quarter done, and she would only have another minute and a half or so until it ran out. Continuing to stalk the formation as they strangely began spread out. Six couldn’t help but notice a lavender unicorn who kept staring in her direction. It kept flaring it’s horn, though it never once said anything to anyone else. She weaved from tree to tree regardless. Even if the pony had sensed her somehow there was nothing she could do. Fifty seconds left on Six’s camouflage. The ponies were walking straight towards her. She went to other trees slowly, seeing if it was sheer coincidence. It isn’t. Six confirmed as the ponies kept changing direction. That damned unicorn still had it’s horn lit up making it obvious that that specific equine was what foiled her ambush. Well, at least partially. Six changed her mind from trying to avoid them to purposely getting closer. They still don’t have an idea that what they sense is what they are looking for. For all they know it’s just a screwup. Six thought in her head, trying to logicize what she’d done. In seconds the spartan modified her plan and stopped approaching any further. They were getting closer and closer, the group using a formation in the shape of a diamond. Ten seconds on the camouflage left. The unicorn was not even five meters from Six and in clear sight. It blinked a few times and the countdown went down to five seconds. A larger guard stepped in front of her, a meter or so away and looking. They were exchanging confused dialogue about whether or not the ‘spell’ backfired. To emphasize it’s point the guard extended a hoof towards the spartan, not even expressing the slightest concern that someone was actually there. Famous last words? The spartan asked herself as the camo expired, dragging the guard to the ground and stomping on his back. All of a sudden she was practically drowning in guards, blocking blows from their hooves and returning her own. She knocked out several guards and eventually they loosened up their attack. A group or two or three was the closest and always tried to hit Six with light blows. Six lunged at the trio and hit one in the side of a face, knocking him down with a scream. The one to it’s left launched a punch of his own to Six’s face. She simply ducked under it and uppercutted his chest. That guard fell flat on his back limp. The other one backed off. There was suddenly a cyan blur flying right to her intent on tackling Six. The spartan dug her feet a little bit into the ground and the pony hit her hard. It bounced off with a very pained yelp and hit the ground with a loud thud. Six glanced at it for a few seconds as it rested blankly in the mud face down. It certainly wasn’t a guard, so what was it doing in a large fight in the first place? Right as she was about to return to the fight Six heard a noise like a sparking hiss as she stumbled forwards a step to keep her balance. Craning her neck around Six saw a purple unicorn staring at her angrily, digging it’s hooves into the ground and preparing another attack it seemed. Her shields surprisingly lost  a quarter of its integrity from the strange assault . There was no way she was gonna let the Unicorn fire again. Six charged like a bull at the pony, as another guard tried to stop her but she simply used his momentum against him. Six ducked at the moment of contact, the guard let out a surprised yelp as she made her next move. The Spartan launched herself upwards and the guard was propelled through the air and landed on the purple unicorn, dazing her and giving Six enough time to close the distance.   The only thing heard was the sickening sound of the contact between metal, flesh and bone. The pony landed on the ground with a yelp, and Six turned around and continued to fight off the guards. Six took no advantage of her weight, but used the strength and consistency of her blows to overwhelm the horde of guards. A rope wrapped itself around Six and she turned her head to see where it came from. An earth pony wearing a hat was holding the other end with it’s teeth, hooves dug into the ground. Six gave the rope a tug and it fell face first into the mud, allowing Six to cut the rope with her knife quickly and get back to fighting. A pink pony though was  around the battlefield with a helmet on that had red cloth tied around it, with a peace sign pinned to it. It stopped right in front of Six and looked at her with a wide smile. “Hi, who are you?!” The pink pony asked Six. The gritty soldier had no idea what was going on. “Where did you get that helmet?” Six asked, almost forgetting about the force of guards trying to bring her down. “It’s my little secret!” The pony said, winking “How, precisely-... Nevermind” Six stopped, shaking her head. “Oh, I’ll show you how I got it if you want! Just follow me!” the pony began to bounce away, but instantly fell in a hole. “Ow! I’m Ok! Hey look my kidneys! The fight was very brutal, at least for the ponies. Six had assumed she had knocked around three fourths of the guards, and they began to focus more on simply getting the less fortunate of the group out of harm’s way. The Spartan decided not to beat the medics up too. The Spartan was currently making short work out of four more guards, knocking out three and about to finish the fourth until something awkward happened.                   “I will slay you foul brute!” Six was in the process of holding a guard by it’s hair and punching it but she paused, allowing it to spit out a few teeth and turn it’s head as well in confusion. A white unicorn was shrieking with a horrible pitch loudly as it charged towards Six. The guard screamed out in pain from the vile noise and fell to the ground. Six winced in pain and could’ve sworn her visor cracked a little. Still, Six remembered a line from Shakespeare. “That unicorns may be betrayed with trees” Six whispered to herself, intent on humiliating the pony somehow. It just kind of annoyed her for some reason, though she didn’t know why. The pony reared it’s head down, intent on stabbing Six with it’s horn like a spear. Six casually stepped to the right at the last second and it’s horn went into the trunk of a tree. The pony screamed some more. “Free me from your vile trap this instant you disgust-” the Marshmallow white pony yelled, getting cut off. “Dont you dare walk away from me! Have you any idea who you are talking to?!” Six walked away, trying her best to ignore the pony. Six then noticed that there was no opposition left. The fallen guards were being cleared out, and some were crawling away. Six had decided they had enough, and it would be to risky to stay. As six turned her head quickly, looking for the best way out, Six saw another pony scowling right at her. The pony itself look harmless. Light yellow coat and pink hair. Still, something about it seemed… big. It’s eyes widened, and the air around it turned wavy as Six’s vision became distorted. The Spartan put a hand to the side of her face, keeping it steady. Flame, darkness, and the pony was all that Six could see. The pony was at the center of it all, and she became light headed, dropping to one knee. Six couldn’t break eye contact, but kept a hand to the floor for balance. Six tried over and over to close her eyes, but a burning sensation was all that Six got in response. A tear rolled down her cheek from her efforts. I didn’t do all this… Six said in her mind, wearily getting up. To break now. Six began to walk towards the pony. She was burning in the inside, blood boiling. Six’s mind was a jumbled mess. The only reason she didn’t just keel over was basic instinct that had been pounded into her skull over the years. Six got closer and closer with each clumsy step, and the hallucination only got worse, though she couldn’t tell how. The feelings she had been feeling had been amplified with each footfall. The confusion, shock, and fear. Six never acknowledged them though. Each movement of her limbs felt so sluggish that she may as well have been drunk Six felt that the pony was close enough to try and stop. The pony hadn’t changed it’s footing, and only looked up at the armoured warrior. Six reared her left arm back, and threw her fist forward at the pony. Though it collided with something else before she hit her mark. A sharp and loud yell echoed through the forest. Six’s vision turned directly back to normal, and the control of her muscles improved so much that her arms snapped back to where she wanted them to go. She got a good look of the pony that had given her the nightmarish hallucination. It wasn’t even scratched, but was staring horrified at what Six could only assume was it’s friend. The Rainbow maned pony from earlier. Had it jumped in front of the blow meant for it's friend? It was unconscious, and it’s chest was probably caved in from the blow. The pony instantly jumped on top of it and examined the wound, shaking. Six decided enough was enough and turned around, walking away from the carnage she had caused, head lowered slightly. I defeated them. If I beat my enemy why does it feel like i lost?