//------------------------------// // Winter Is Coming // Story: On My Honor // by Honored Service //------------------------------// On My Honor Chapter 14: Winter Is Coming (Brace Yourselves) By Honored Service Preread/edited by The Technical Trio and Spirit of Harmony I awoke to a peaceful morning: the sun was shining, birds were chirping, typical Equestrian utopia. All was well, and the previous day had gone smoothly: Luna was delivered into the waiting clutches of Celestia at 12:30 A.M sharp, and I had the hot-air balloon back to Twilight by 1:00. I may have made a quick stop before bringing it back, though... WHAM “Sir, I’m afraid that you have a visitor,” Tune called out from the front yard as my bedroom door was thrown off its hinges by an abnormally angry Twilight Sparkle (Note to self: Reinforce the front door, and probably the back door as well, that’s much easier than replacing the whole damn thing every time she does that). Said alicorn gave me her trademark death stare as I rolled out of bed and stretched. “Again, Tune,” I yelled out the window, “You suck as a security system!” I turned back to Twilight and gave her a grin while stretching and popping my back. “Morning, Miss Sunshine!” “Don’t act all innocent, Honored,” Twilight growled at me, stepping menacingly over to me until I was pressed up against the bed. I continued smiling before reaching down and patting her head and side-stepping around her. “Why shouldn’t I? I’ve done nothing wrong, that I can recall.” “Recall THIS!” Twilight hurled a newspaper at my head. Although I was awake, my incredibly awesome warrior skills were not. The result was me getting a faceful of newspaper. I groaned, bending over and picking up the offending packet of papers. As I scanned the front page, I noticed it was warm to the touch, meaning it had just come off the assembly line in Ponyville. Twilight must’ve rushed over here awfully quickly... STRANGE MESSAGE SHOCKS LOCAL STARGAZERS Stargazers, insomniacs, and early morning ponies alike rose this morning to witness a mysterious message scrawled across the sky this morning. In bright red letters, ‘Humans touch the moon, again’, covered a large portion of the skyline above the city of Canterlot. Scientists and astronomers are focusing on decrypting the message but all- The paper was ripped from my grasp, rolled up and smacked repeatedly against my head by a light purple aurora. I raised my hands in mock defense as Twilight railed against my head. “What (whack) did (whack) you (whack) do (whack) Honored?!” Twilight barked at me, throwing in one more whack, for good measure, I presume.. “I think someone is playing a prank.” I said looking up and watched as the paper descended again, “Okay okay okay. I did it.” “Why?” Twilight said glaring, but still holding the rolled up weapon. “Well I could tell you, but I think you might get mad.” “Tell me.” “It might be better for my well being if I don’t tell the questionably mentally unstable powerful alicorn with connections to Luna’s sister what happened.” I said while looking at the nearest window and guessing how long it would take for me to jump through it and then run towards the Everfree. It was, what, a hundred yards to the forest? Although I’m sure that if I really booked it out of here… “Well...you see-SMOKE BOMB!” I screamed and threw my hand down, a ball of red magic exploding into thick, heavy mist at my feet as I leapt out the window. "Freedom!!" I ran as fast as I could, helped by a new spell I had learned that allowed me to lessen the amount of force it took to move my body. How it worked, I have absolutely no clue. I knew it wasn’t a gravity spell, and it didn’t make me stronger. Beyond that, I didn’t bother thinking about it, I just ran. I was almost to the forest when I looked back. What I saw would’ve been terrifying if I didn’t know what it was. A winged figure rose out of the red mist, on fire. Man, Twilight must’ve been super pissed. I hoped I could loose her in the dark of the forest. THUNK SMACK THUMP-THUMP I tripped over a root, face planting into hard-packed dirt, then was picked up in a purple fist and dragged back over the root. “Nope.” Twilight stated. “I did nothing wrong!” I screeched as Twilight floated me away. “You can’t do this to mh!” I was muffled as she quickly summoned a gag across my mouth. “Sorry (not really), Honored, but we have ways of making you talk.” * “Would it be weird if I said that this was slightly arousing?” I asked calmly from where I was hanging by my wrists from the wall by a pair of handcuffs in Twilight’s basement. She huffed and then walked over to a cabinet and began pulling random things out. Rubber hose, tweezers, oh god, a hack saw. “I mean, just pull out a battery and the jumper cables and I’ll have a full on bo-“ “HONORED!” Twilight spun around with a fire in her eyes I’d seen only once before. “I swear if you don’t quit screwing around and tell me what you did last night, I’m going to have to do something we both are going to regret.” “Pfffft.” I blew a raspberry at her. “Please. What could you possibly do that could make me, a hardened warrior and PhD of kick-assery, talk?” “Oh no, not me, personally,” Twilight said with an all too familiar creepy smile. “Her.” She slowly raised a forehoof to the top of the stairs where a familiar pink mane began to slowly descend the steps. “Whoa. Okay Twilight, good joke,” I struggled against my restraints holding me down, “But I think it’s gone on long enough.” Twilight just smiled as Pinkie Pie came to rest beside her. “Pinkie, make him sing,” Twilight patted her friend on the head and then began to walk up the stairs. “Like a bird.” I watched as my friend, walked out of the basement and slammed the door shut. I hung there in complete silence as Pinkie Pie just stared at me. The seconds turned to minutes and the minutes felt like they were stretching into hours as Pinkie just…watched. “Uhh-“ “Shhhhh,” Pinkie hushed me while stepping forward. “You know, Honored, every mind is like a nut.” She held up a walnut and placed it next to my head. “Each one is different. But with each one, if you apply pressure to the right spots-“ CRACK She showed me a cracked open walnut resting in the center of her hoof, “They always crack. The question here it, how to crack yours?.” She said flipping the meat of the nut into the air and catching it in her mouth. She chewed slowly while rubbing her chin. “Hmm...” I swallowed and felt a trickle of sweat fall from my forehead and to the ground. “Akatosh help me.” “The only person who can help you now, is you. So, how’s about it?” No response from me. “No? Okie-dokie-lokie, you asked for it.” She pulled something out of her seemingly endless mane. It looked like...a feather? “So, I hear you’re...ticklish.” * “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” * “He’s all yours, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie said while stepping out from the basement and smiling sweetly to her friend. “He’ll tell you anything you want him to.” Pinkie Pie reached into her mane and pulled out a double-chocolate fudge cupcake before gulping it down in one quick bite. “Thanks Pinkie!” Twilight happily clopped her hooves together, “You know how stubborn he can be sometimes. I just need to find out what caused him to rearrange the sky like that this morning.” “I wonder what she did to make him shriek like that? I’m glad I’ve never been on the end of her wrath!’ Twilight thought to herself as she fluffed her wings up and began walking down the steps into the dark basement. The lights were all shut off, save for one light that was shining on the floor beneath where Honored had been pinned to the wall. Twilight saw a puddle of sweat and possibly tears in front of the light. She tilted the light up and gasped in shock as she looked at the human. He was shaking terribly. His face kept convulsing every other second as if some unseen foe was causing him great anguish, yet a smile was plastered to his face.... “H-Honored?” Twilight asked timidly, “Are you okay?” “I… I thought I was the monster,” He said with a shaky voice, slowly looking up to meet Twilight’s eyes. “I had no idea that… I was so vulnerable to… the tickles.” He dropped his head and began to tremble again. “Well, it makes sense, in a way. You see, tickles are your body’s natural defenses. That’s why most people are ticklish in places that are vulnerable, like their neck, under their You’re basically made to defend, so it makes sense that your natural defensive reactions would be much higher when compared to...” Twilight remembered what she was here for. “Okay, now Honored do you feel like talking about last night?” “Or should I call Pinkie back down again?” “NO!” The human’s head quickly shot up and his eyes flitted around the dark basement, “No, please no. I think I remember some of last night.” Twilight leaned in close to the human as he licked his lips, “Oh? Do tell.” She levitating a piece of parchment and a quill. “Well, last night, after the fireworks,” Honored began before motioning Twilight closer, “I pulled her close and,” he paused before leaning in to whisper in Twilight’s ear. Twilight’s face went blank, then turned pale, flicking through various emotions, before finally settling on blushing bright red. She pulled her head back and stared at Honored in shock. “No. No way..” Honored formed a smile across his face and then nodded proudly. “And I’ll tell you this. There is liquid on the moon.” “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” * “Your Highness.” Night Rose stood rigid in front of the throne that Princess Celestia was sitting on. “I have my- um.. report from last night’s date between your sister and the human,” She shifted her hooves before reaching down and removing the scroll from her side pouch on her armor. “Ah, very good, Night Rose!” Princess Celestia said while levitating the scroll over to herself, “I knew that I would be able to count on you to perform...your...task...” Celestia’s voice died in her throat as she continued to read over the report. “You… you can’t be serious. Is this all true?” Princess Celestia looked up for a sign on the Night Guard’s face. She found none. “They… they didn’t. No. No way.” “Ma’am I can assure that they did. For two hours.” Night Rose began to feel a blush slowly beginning to creep up her face. Celestia just stared off into the distance muttering to herself. Her baby sister and the human. Celestia felt a bit of bile rise up in her throat as she looked back to the Night Guard. “Please leave me Night Rose. I must… attend to some things.” Night Rose nodded, then bowed before retreating into the morning sky and flying towards her home to cleanse herself with a long shower, alcohol, and sleep. * “And that’s how my night went,” I said while taking a bite of the toast on my plate. I sat at my kitchen table while Tune had stuck his robotic claw through the window and was watching me on the camera attached to it. “You had sexual relations with one of the rulers of the single most powerful nation on this planet.” “Yup.” “Who controls a massive, unimaginable amount of power.” “Well, yeah.” “And her sister has the same amount, if not more.” “Well, when you say it like that, you make me seem like a complete and utter fool,” I said while taking a sip of my orange juice. Tune’s claw hung limp and a robotic like sigh escaped his speakers. “What?” “Honored, I regret to inform you that you have one fast approaching object descending upon the perimeter.” I spit out my toast and reached under the kitchen table pulling one of the extra Berretta 92f pistols I had taped beneath the table. “How long?” “Now. I’m 95% certain you know who it is.” Tune’s voice was very soft. I looked and saw that the robot was already across the yard and noping his way to the edge of the Everfree Forest. “What.” I said aloud as a huge crash ripped forward from the front yard. “HONORED SERVICE!” “Fuckfuckfuckfuck,” I screamed as I ran towards the basement and jumped down the stairs, rolling to my feet at the bottom before staring around the dimly lit armory. “Need a weapon to fight an alicorn. Shit shit shit shit!” I rummaged through ammo cans and weapon racks while trying to find a suitable weapon. My eyes locked onto it from across the room and I rolled my eyes. “Duhh.” I slapped a palm to face before running over and pulling the five foot long Sword of Protection from its mantle on the wall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nKbLt8DTKY I charged back up the stairs with my Element of Sanctuary clutched in my right hand and the pistol resting within my closed gauntlet on my left. Wearing only jeans and a faded gray shirt, I ran through the front door to find myself face to face with a raging Princess. “I wish I had put on my armor.” I mumbled as a huge chunk of earth was simply pulled from the ground and hurled at me. * “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU HONORED!” Celestia roared as she flung the two ton mound of earth at the human that had just run from his home. The mass of dirt and rock exploded on the ground in front of him as a flash of red magic teleported him around the debris. ‘Oh right. He has magic’, Celestia remembered as she prepared her next spell. “IT WAS MUTUAL!” Honored screamed back as he aimed his weapon at the princess and released a trio of 9mm slugs in her direction. Celestia’s horn flared to life as a shield made of solar energy vaporized the bullets in midair. She spun around, summoned a hundred energy javelins beside her and launching them all forward towards the human who dodged and weaved his way around the incoming projectiles. He dove forward and performed a flip while lashing out with his sword that deflected the last of the magical spears. “WE LIKE EACH OTHER!” He yelled, again vaulting over a beam of sunlight that sliced through several trees across his property. Celestia let out a primal scream as she launched herself at the human, horn lowered to impale. He also sprinted forward, the large glowing red sword dragging in the dirt alongside him, kicking dirt and grass into the air as he ran. They both leapt into the air and sword met horn. BOOM A huge blast of magic sent the two fighting creatures flying back from each other. Honored skidded across the ground on his knees before coming up in a spin, moving with the momentum of his body and drawing his blade across his chest, leveling the pistol across the front yard-turned-battlefield. Princess Celestia flew backwards, her wings spreading out and catching herself, hovering above the ground. She kicked her hooves and sent her golden slippers into the ground while shaking her head, relieving her of her crown and regal chest piece. With a flash of her horn, she was adorned in golden armor covering her neck, barrel, and sides stopping just below her cutie mark. A helmet resembling an ancient pegasi design with a plume of pastel colors covered her head. Her mane was tucked into the helmet and her tail was suddenly wrapped up and tied into a short bun as she hovered facing down the human. “ARE WE FUCKING DOING THIS?!” Honored yelled at Celestia, dropping his pistol and sword to his side. POW A blast of yellow magic detonated against the ground next to him, answering his question. Honored quickly dived to the left as another blast hit home, sending him flying through the air and over the awning built onto the side of his house. “Yes, Honored. Yes, we are.” Celestia said with a snort of hot air that literally was fire as she turned from where the human had been thrown and readied herself to depart. It had been a long time since she had used her battle skills, but she was pleased to see that she was still able to best even the most violent creature that the world had to offer. Celestia had walked to the large field outside of Ponyville to launch herself back to Canterlot. She wanted to calm herself and collect her thoughts before letting Luna know that Honored wouldn’t be allowed to see her anymore. Hopefully he had gotten the hint. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mjlM_RnsVE “WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” The sound of music exploded around Celestia AND the roar of Honored’s mechanical carriage ripped through the air. Celestia spun around to find herself watching as the tan thing flew over a hill with the human grinning madly behind the wheel. He stuck his middle finger towards her as he climbed up and stuck the top half of his body through the roof of the carriage, using his magic to control the its direction. It continued to hurtle towards her. Honored then reached around himself and swung a large rectangle around so that it was facing Celestia. Celestia’s eyes grew wide as she threw up a shield as her world exploded into loud music and even louder explosions as her shield took impact after impact of metal. She shot herself into the air, keeping her magical shield up as the human tore past her, his heavy weapon blaring away as he tracked her through the sky. Honored depressed the butterfly trigger on the .50cal again, sending a stream of hot slugs towards the flying alicorn. The hot casing fell from the machine gun and pattered down the side of the Humvee as he sent the vehicle into a wide turn. Honored leapt from the military vehicle as it turned and skidded to halt. He was now dressed in his armored brown duster and military body armor mixed with golden Equestrian armor on his arms and legs. On top his head rested his new brown Stetson. He landed with a bounce and then began sprinting towards the princess, sword ready in his grasp and plenty of pistol resting in holster all over his body. Celestia growled midair and dove down towards the human. How dare he take her sister’s innocence! He was going to pay. All he would end up doing was breaking her heart and leaving her to pick up the pieces. She channeled her anger into a magical charge and blasted it forward while jerking her head, coning the magic into a spiral drill and sending the spinning cone of magic right into the human. The armor-covered human sprinted to the right as the magic drill rammed into the ground and sent the warrior rolling. He came up unscathed and reached down, ripping a pistol from its holster. He aimed and fired an entire clip from the Colt 1911 while running towards the Princess. Once that handgun was empty, he holstered and drew another pistol from his other hip. He dove around another volley of magical spears and unleashed a torrent of 9mm rounds from his Glock 17 while side stepping around a jab from Celestia’s horn. Celestia’s magical shield caught all of his lethal rounds and then released them back at the human. But he threw his own shield up and blocked all the metal slugs in a red field of magic. He holstered the Glock while slashing up with his massive magical sword, sending Celestia whirling back to avoid getting slashed across her lightly armored neck. He reached under and behind his duster to his back and drew one of the Glocks with the long cylinder on the barrel before aiming it and sending the .45 slugs towards Celestia. The muffled coughs of the pistol went nearly unheard as Celestial roared, catching all of the bullets in the physical form of the Royal Canterlot Voice. The bullets tumbled to the earth as she widened her stance and glared the human down. Honored tucked the pistol back into the double holster on his back and pulled the other Glock 21 held in the holster and fired more rounds at Celestia. She began to ready a shield but wasn’t expecting the human to dash forward and slam into her side while she was preparing to catch the rest of the lethal rounds. She staggered to the side while flapping her wings to get some distance from the human. Honored was putting away the other pistol when Celestia lashed out with a roundhouse kick that sent him reeling backwards. He rubbed his jaw while standing back up and adjusting his grip on his sword. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAw-EFuwC3A “What the hell Celestia?” He asked in a normal voice as he squared off towards the angered princess. “Why did you attack me?” “WHY DID YOU SLEEP WITH LUNA?!?” Celestia roared back and lunged forward, her horn bouncing harmlessly off Honored’s sword. “Um, maybe because we are a couple or...something. Or maybe because she is a big pony,” Honored grinned while reaching to his thigh and pulling a large silver weapon out of another holster and aiming it at Celestia. She threw a mound of earth up that exploded when the large slug from the .44 magnum revolver struck it. Celestia then reverted to flying in loops and dives, waiting until the human’s weapon went empty and he holstered it. She saw her opportunity, diving towards him as he reached for his sword. Honored brought his sword up a second too late as Celestia tackled into him and knocked him to the ground. She landed on top of him and then began to thrust her horn down, trying to gore him with it. “Oh look, now I’ve had two rulers of Equestria on top of me.” He smirked as Celestia roared at him and then picked Honored up like a rag doll and sent him flying across the field. He smashed into the ground and sat up coughing up grass, dirt, stone, and trace amounts of blood. “Yeah, totally worth it.” He reached across his body to his other thigh and drew another revolver. Celestia was still breathing fire as the hollow point .357 rounds left small dents across her armor while she flew towards the human like a streamlined golden arrow. Honored dove to the side as Celestia blew through a tree like it was made of wet paper. She turned and pawed the ground, readying for another attack. Honored holstered the revolver and took a two handed grip on his sword staring Celestia down. “What is this really about Celestia!?” Honored asked before slowly lowering his weapon. “I thought we were friends?” “OH, WE ARE HONORED!” Celestia shouted from across the burnt and cracked earth, “IT’S JUST SOME FRIENDS NEED TO BE TAUGHT A LESSON!” She then spread her wings and soared into the sky, her silhouette joining the sun in the sky. “Oh dear.” Honored whispered while he watched as Celestia hovered above the sun like during the Summer Sun Celebration. “That doesn’t good.” Honored watched as the sun literally went dark for just the briefest moment and Celestia lit up with the fires of a thousand suns. Then came the most blinding light that Honored had ever seen in his life. Even brighter than that accursed flash bang grenade that had lead him here. Everything around Honored felt hot, boiling hot as he kept his eyes slammed shut, the blinding light still seeping through his eyelids. When the light finally died down, Honored opened them to see nothing but dark blue and purple. He stuck his hand out and felt that the darkness was soft. Soft as feathers. The darkness pulled back and he realized that he was wrapped in Princess Luna’s beautiful wings. She looked down at the dirt covered human and smiled before leaning her head down and planting a quick kiss on his lips before looking up to her sister who was slowly descending from the sky. Nearly a hundred yards in every direction of Honored was scorched black. Nothing had survived the magical attack that was called ‘the Hammer of Dawn’. Honored let out a whistle before looking down to his gauntlet, the source of his magic. “Why can’t you do that?” “Sister, I simply cannot believe that you would attack my consort.” Luna said while stepping towards Celestia, who had landed before the two. Her golden armor was dripping off of her as molten gold from the sheer amount of heat that had poured forth from her during her last attack towards the human. Honored quickly nudged Luna’s flank and whispered in her ear. “I mean my boyfriend.” She gave her sister a disapproving glance before smiling, “But I’m so happy to see that you would go to such lengths to make sure that I would not be hurt. Let me assure you though, that if Honored ever breaks my heart, it will be I who will do the smiting.” Honored gave a nervous gulp before smiling, “Good thing I would never do that.” “Indeed. Now Celestia, I think you have something to say, oh, maybe an apology?” Celestia walked forward, the rest of her impressive golden armor trickling off of her as she cooled down, both figuratively and literally. “Ugh. Honored I’m sorry for trying to kill you with the righteous and full fiery fury of my wrath.” Celestia said while giving the human her best puppy dog expression. “Aw shucks Celly, it was fun, kind of,” Honored said while looking at his slightly burnt duster and hat. “Mostly.” He then stuck out his hand, “Besides, it was good seeing how I would fare against an alicorn. Next time I’ll be sure not to hold back, though.” He jerked his hand as Celestia shook it. With a quick burst of energy, the human sent an electric shock through Celestia, causing the rest of the golden band that was holding her tail to disintegrate. Amends were made and the three extremely magical creatures began heading across the hellish landscape back towards Honored’s house for some after battle snacks. “Hey, Lu, why are you walking all funny?” The human asked as the trio crossed next to a large depression in the ground, “I mean it was only two hours.” Honored was shoved into the crater by a burst of dark blue magic, laughing all the way down. “Worth it!” He called out as the two sister’s blushed at each other. * “I still don’t see why this is an Equestrian Honor Guard Mission,” I said while clinging to the side of the chariot as it passed over the vast plains of Equestria. I was being transported to the Crystal Empire to work alongside the Crystal Guard to solve a series of strange occurrences happening along their border. Small villages have been going quiet and traders from the icy tundra have been reported missing. The princesses decided that I be put back on active duty (finally), and were sending me to help. “Lieutenant, they said that when it came to figuring things out, you were the fastest, and with the empire only just now being re-recognized into the world, they feel that this problem needs to a solution immediately.” The sparkling gray guard said. I just stared at him as the sun of the afternoon glinted off of him. “I’m sorry, I can hardly look at you, let alone take you seriously with you being so...sparkly.” I said while going back to looking down at the ground. “We get in, stop the bad guy and get out.” “Bad guy?” The guard said questioningly. “Yes, bad guy,” I rolled my eyes and smirked. “That’s what is happening. Some bad dude (or dudette) is moving through the land gaining support and taking out the empire’s supply line, i.e. the traders and outer villages. Then they surround the main city of the Crystal Empire and ask for surrender in a long, drawn-out monologue,” I said while keeping watch over the sky. “How can you be so sure, sir?” The guard asked, sounding a bit shaken at the news. “Because that’s what I would do. Duh.” I shrugged my shoulders and went back to watching the frozen ground pass beneath us. For some odd reason my request for the rest of the Elements of Sanctuary to join me had been denied and I was being sent alone. Or so they thought. I reached into my pocket and drew my small cell phone from my pocket. “Tune, ya’ there?” I spoke softly into the receiver making sure to keep my voice down from the guard standing on the other side of the chariot. “Yes, sir.” The robotic voice said. “I am tracking your progress and using the 65.8% battery I have to follow your path for an estimated 6 hours and 42 minutes of continuous travel before being sent into standby mode.” The voice stopped for a moment before coming back to life. “If the coordinates I received from you are correct, then if we keep the current pace, I shall make it to this Crystal Empire castle with 20.3% battery life remaining.” “Yes, I’ll recharge you once we get there.” I groaned before hanging the small device up. Thankfully the cell phone had a radio option in it. Seeing as I had no service, I had to use the radio ability to keep in contact with Tune for at least three miles before he wasn’t in range.. “Um, excuse me, Lieutenant Service, sir,” the charcoal gray unicorn guard asked nervously, “Uh, are the stories about you true?” I turned to him and looked at him and noticed that the two pegasi pulling the chariot also had their eyes turned towards me as well. “You’re new to the guard aren’t you?” I asked, crossing my arms across my chest rig beneath the duster and smiling. All three guards nodded. “Well, it depends on the stories.” “Well, uh, a few of the Elite are saying that you fought Princess Celestia a few days ago. Like, an all-out battle.” The unicorn’s eyes were wide as I smiled and laughed. “Yeah, we did. But we made up, so it’s all good.” They all seemed to stop breathing for a moment. “If y’all stick around the Crystal Empire while I do some investigating, you might get to see some action.” “How can you be so sure?” One of the pegasi spoke up, her voice was somewhat deep and scratchy… almost like Night Roses’ voice… fucking handler was sent with me on this mission to. Fucking Celestia. “Because,” I gave her a knowing stare and wide toothy grin, “trouble always finds me.” * “Honored!” Shining Armor called out to me as I disembarked from the golden chariot on the balcony of the massive crystal castle. I dropped my gear and stood at attention giving him a rigid salute. “Sir,” I responded gruffly. I then cracked a smile and bent down towards the white unicorn, “How’s it hanging, buddy?” “Aw, knock it off, Honored,” He playfully punched my arm, “We both know that the serious stuff is long gone between our ranks.” “Yeah, ain’t that the truth,” I responded while picking up my long dark green overseas bag containing my equipment for the mission of scouting out the frozen tundra and towns. “How’s the wife?” I asked while we began walking down one of the shining hallways. I was not disappointed in the least to say that I did not in fact get all shiny. I think that the crystal heart thing must have to be activated for it to make things all… shiny and sparkly. “Ah, she’s doing great! A little upset by the recent actions to the north and west, but I’m sure you can solve the mystery and put her troubled mind to ease.” He gave me a confident smile while two shimmering gray guards opened the throne room doors and ushered us inside. I gave a low whistle as I stepped into the massive room and looked around. My eyes stopped on Princess Cadence resting on top of my Area Denial Weapons System. “TUNE!” I screamed out, “What the hell?! How did you beat me here?” I dropped my gear to the ground and then marched up to the loyal yet at the same time disloyal and annoying robot. “I may have used my advance system to track and follow a better route than the one you had mapped out.” Tune’s voice seemed smug as he rolled over to me sideways on his weird wheels. Princess Cadence just giggled as he stopped. She hopped off his chassis and glided over to me. “Honored, I’m so grateful that you could make it here in such short notice. We are so worried about our little ponies.” Cadence turned towards me as Shining Armor walked beside his wife and led me down a side room from the throne room. “With everything that has happened, we would love to have this mystery solved.” “Well it shouldn’t be a problem.” I turned and smiled at Tune who had picked my bags up and placed them on his equipment rack. “I think we can solve this little problem of yours in a jiffy.” “You can count on it.” A husky voice said from directly above me. I looked up to see Night Rose hovering over Tune wearing her sleek black armor. I groaned and rolled my eyes before waving my hand at the handler. “Cadence, Shining, meet my handler, Night Rose. She was assigned to me to make sure I didn’t do anything to upset the Princesses.” Night Rose gave a little bow midair, then flew down and walked over to me. “Well, more like reporting to the princesses what he does and having them deal with it accordingly.” She said with a shrug. “Yeah. Sure. She doesn’t do anything.” I grumbled and coughed as she glared at me. “Well, I’m ready to begin today if possible. Tune and I can head over to the first site and begin looking for any sign of what happened.” I looked out of the window and then looked to Tune who was scanning the room with his camera mounted to the weapon turret. “Sound good Tune?” “Yes sir. If you are capable of recharging me while we move we can reach the first settlement in less than two hours. One point three hours to be exact.” Tune spun his turret around and locked it onto me. “Can you please stop aiming at me all the time? Please?” I asked looking nervously at the .50cal and M240B that were aiming at me. “Of course sir.” I don’t think that with all the magic flowing through me that I could shrug off a fifty to the face. “I’ll get you some more equipment and supplies Honored.” Shining Armor nodded and led our little party to a store room to give us food and other supplies we would need for some time out in the frozen empire. * “So wait, did you really stop the invasion by yourself?” Night Rose was lazily spread out on top of Tune as I walked and he rolled along the thin dirt road leading away from the Crystal Capital. “No, ‘course not.” I shrugged and looked over my shoulder at the following robot. “I had help from the other Elements of Sanctuary and even more ponies.” I turned back to the front and continued walking along. Why did I never get to ride on my robot? “And that’s another thing. These...Elements of Sanctuary. Like, where did they come from?” Night Rose crawled over to the edge of Tune on her belly and draped herself over the equipment stored on the racks along his side. “If there had been super magical weapons hidden here all along, why did Celestia just now send someone to get them?” I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore that question. “Probably because she needed someone who was responsible enough to wield them.” I stopped and thought about who were wielding the Elements, “Okay, maybe it wasn’t who was wielding them. Considering two out of the six are incredibly immature. And another is a creature made of pure shadow.” “You rang?” The cool smooth voice of Covert slipped out from beneath Tune. “AHHHHH!” Night Rose screamed as the shadowy figure pulled himself out from beneath Tune and smiled at me showing his red mouth and black fangs. “Hey bud.” I waved at him and he returned the gesture before walking up to me and patting me on the back. “You never can escape your shadow Honored. And why you stopped talking to me is silly.” He faked a frown before smiling again. “Oh, you know, I got busy trying to deal with a new shadow.” I jerked a thumb at Night Rose who was still looking absolutely horrified at Covert. “Hm. Yeah, no, the armor is all wrong for the dark, it shines too much.” Covert said giving Night Rose a once over. “Easily spotted and easy to penetrate. The joints are far open and the neck is largely under-armored.” “HEY!” Night Rose got over her cowardice and stood up, “I’ll have you know that this armor is made to be used for stealth and offers the most protection that –“ I held a finger up and silenced her rant. “Please, Rose. This is the Covert the Element of Stealth. And also the master of close quarters action, besides myself. I’m pretty sure that if he says you aren’t stealthy, you aren’t.” “So just like old times, eh Honored?” Covert said while plodding along beside me. “You and a ragtag group of warriors out to stop a rising bad guy.” I gave him a deadpan look. “Okay, so your ragtag group is a master shadow, a night guard, a strange robotic weapon, and one mentally unstable warrior, but you know, similar, right?” “Whatever you say, Covert.” I laughed as we wound down the side of a small hill. The land was becoming more and more tundra-like. Cold wind blew against us even though the grass was green and the sun shining. I stopped and reached into my bag slung against the side of Tune’s chassis. I removed my M39 enhanced marksman rifle that had been… donated, shall we say… to my cause by the US Army. I aimed down the telescopic sight and looked ahead of us. I was slightly put off by the clouds looming ahead. The sky in the distance was dark. Thick black clouds clung in the air and flashes of lightning lit up the skyline. “Well, if that isn’t ominous then I don’t know what is.” I groaned and lowered the weapon, sitting across Tune’s storage bars. “It looks like we’re reaching the edge of the area in question. So stay sharp and stay smart. Call out anything worth investigating. If not, then lets push forward to the first village. It should be along this road in about three miles.” The air around us not only got colder, but the tension was physically felt around everyone. It was as if something terrible had happened. I swallowed nervously as we slowed to a stop and Covert pointed his Blade of Stealth across the road at a flipped over wooden cart. I reached down and brought my new weapon to my shoulder. I was using my newly created plasma rifle that had once been a TV, but thanks to my magic, was now a lethal weapon. I slowly approached the cart while I heard Tune’s weapon system spooling up. God I hope he doesn’t use the Mark 19 with me this close. As I reached the cart, I noticed something that raised goose bumps all over my body. Four massive jagged claw marks covered the side of the cart. I stepped up the cart and placed my hand on the side of it. I nodded to Tune and then flipped the cart over, leaping back in case of something under it. “Oh my.” I heard Night Rose say with a gasp. I looked over and saw that the inside of the cart was splattered with blood and scorch marks. “What the hell?” I lowered the weapon and walked closer. This was bad. It could be just a wild creature that had done this. But then again... “Honored we got secondary trails.” Covert called out to me. I walked around the cart and found a blood trail leading away from the cart by the edge of the road and leading farther away into the tundra landscape. “Okay, Tune and Night Rose stay here and provide security for this location. Covert, you’re with me. We follow this for five minutes. If we find nothing then we come back.” I turned to Night Rose, “If we are not back in ten minutes, both of you follow and come get us.” I needed before grabbing my small assault back from Tune’s rack and slinging it. “Tune start time, ten mikes.” Covert walked behind me as we followed the ruts dug into the ground and blood splatters. We stayed silent as we walked, I was focusing on the surrounding area. Nothing other than grass and dirt. And the blood splatters. Something had done this and then dragged the body away, but still nothing. “Three minutes Covert.” I said aloud before stopping. I looked down at a something shiny. Scales? “What is it Honored?” Covert asked coming beside me. “Scales.” I reached down and picked up the shiny objects. “But what the hell are these doing here?” “Honored. There.” I followed Covert’s pointing finger and found it aiming directly at an Ophiotaurus, a half-bull half-snake creature. It looked just like the one that had attacked me in the woods around Canterlot before the changeling attack. It locked eyes on us and released a long hiss before charging at us. Covert vanished into thin air, the Ophiotaurus passing right through him. “Oh fuck.” I groaned as it then charged at me. I brought the plasma rifle up and squeezed the trigger, hissing gas meeting hissing foe. Small purple explosions danced across the beast’s body as it continued to charge me. It gave an ear shattering wail as the creature pitched forward and slammed into the dirt, skidding to a stop inches from my boots. A small trail of purple smoke exited the barrel of my rifle as I slung it and turned around. “A lot of fucking good you are!” I yelled at Covert only to find that he was busy trapped between three Timberwolves who were taking turns lunging at the shadow and falling back as his blade moved silently through the air. “Covert!” I screamed, sprinting towards the Shadow. I jumped into the air and delivered a kick to the side of a wolf’s head before spinning around and punching it across the ribs. I ran up to it as it staggered backwards while drawing my .357 revolver and shoving the barrel into the wolf’s chest in between pieces of wood and branches. I squeezed the trigger, blowing out the Timberwolf’s chest cavity. Sticky sap covered my pistol as I removed it from the carcass and opened the chamber and emptied the spent shells from the cylinder. Covert sliced up and a wolf’s head fell silently to the ground as the remaining wolf squared off against us as Covert joined my side and I flipped the cylinder closed with a clicking spin. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM The wolf jerked sporadically as .50 cal rounds tore through it and punched holes the size of plates into it. I looked to see Tune rolling to us with Night Rose following close behind him. “Ten mikes sir.” Tune said while wheeling over to the bodies of the killed wolves and Ophiotaurus. “At least now we know what happened to the cart.” “Yeah,” I said turning to the bodies and kicking one to make sure of its death, “But why the fuck where they so close to each other. Most creatures from the Everfree are violent towards each other. And that brings up another point.” “What’s that?” Night Rose asked hovering over towards me. I spun around gesturing to the wide open frozen tundra, “Why the hell are Everfree creatures out here?” * Pain Anger Hatred The unicorn stood atop the boulder overlooking another section of the northernmost part of the Everfree forest that stretched into the Crystal Empire. His curved horn began to glow and dark purple wisps of smoke trailed from the corner of his eyes as his dark magic wafted and covered the forest. Within seconds ferocious roars filled the air as creatures of all shapes and sizes funneled out of the forest. They massed around the boulder where the crème colored unicorn was standing, basking in his magic. His normal colored coat was slowly beginning to turn black, fading to a sinister color from the bottom of his legs. The whites of his eyes had turned green and his irises red while he eyed the army massing around him. “My army of nightmares.” His voice was rough and deep. Every creature was silent as he spoke. “We have been shut out. What belonged to us, taken from us.” He walked over the animals, black crystal forming beneath him as he walked steadily overhead. “You are forced to live in the confines of that dark, terrible forest, fighting each other for food to just stay alive while these… ponies wallow in luxury. Wallow in the space that once belonged to you. To your families.” The unicorn stopped at the edge of the group of creatures and turned, his eyes glowing with power as a sinister smile played on his lips. “You deserve to have your land, your food, your lives back. Enough of this hiding in fear of the ponies retribution. Let us take what is ours!” The unicorn previously known as Sea Gull shouted, a ground shattering spell sent the unicorn into the air on a spire of black crystal that seemed to suck in sunlight. “We start with the new and pitiful North.” He pointed his slowly changing color hoof towards the far off distance, “Then, we attack the rest of Equestria! Rise my brothers, my fellow mistreated beings. Let us remind the ponies why they shut us away!” A symphony of roars that shook the ground was heard for miles around as an army of manticores, Ophiotauri , timberwolves, cockatrices, crocodiles, feral Diamond Dogs, chimeras, adolescent dragons, and rouge griffons. The massive army of evil creatures charged forward, following a manically laughing unicorn, gliding along a black crystal boulder. * “Okay, so what do we know?” I asked the group of ponies… well, pony, shadow, and robot tank thing. “That creatures from the Everfree are working together.” Night Rose said from on top of Tune. “And creatures of the Everfree are pushing north.” Covert said while swinging his legs off of Tune’s top. “And they are attacking small towns and traveling ponies.” Tune’s voice finished. I nodded and crossed my arms as I trudged along next to the robot. “That’s right. So now we got to find out why.” “Honored?” I quickly reached into my pocket and pulled out a glowing green gem. “I’m sorry who?” I asked. “Are you serious… This is … you’ve got to be kidding… this is Prince Charming calling Ramrod.” I smiled at Shining Armor’s awkwardness, “This is Ramrod, over.” “Ramrod, have you found anything?” I tossed the gem up into the air and spun it around on my finger. “Roger that Charming. Groups of creatures normally found in the Everfree have moved north and are attacking ponies. Me and the team are heading to the nearest town to rest for the night and see what we can do.” “Roger that Honored.” “Mhmh.” I couched into the magical gem. “Roger that Ramrod.” Shining responded with a grunt and what I’m sure was clenched teeth. “Okay team, let’s move out.” I said while pocketing the long-range communications gem. “We get to Icyberg and see if everything is okay there. The town went silent two days ago, so hopefully whatever happened is still fresh.” I trudged forward as a particularly cold gust of air cut across my face. “Honored what if something did happen?” Night Rose piped up with concern in her voice. “Then we fix it.” I said with a grimace. * “Honored?” “I know.” I turned to Covert and gave him a silencing glance. I pulled out the communicator gem and sent a trickle of magic into it. “Shining? Come in Shining.” “I thought it was-“ “Not now.” I grunted, “Listen this is bad, and that’s coming from me.” I looked around the town, or had once been a town. “Honored, what is it?” Princess Cadence’s voice replaced Shining’s over the communicator gem. “Its bad princess. The town is… the town has been-“ I began before Tune jumped in. “Princess, the town and its residents have been eradicated.” The robotic voice was softer than usual. “What?” Princess Cadence’s voice was barely a whisper. I looked at the burning houses and shops. The fires had died down, but smoke still lingered from the smoldering wooden beams and melted crystals scattered around. But the worse, the worst thing that I couldn’t stand to tell her were the bodies. They weren’t just dead. The remains of the ponies were eaten. The residents of Icyberg had been devoured. Guards, stallions, mares and foals alike, they had all been eaten or partially eaten. Piles of bones and remains were scattered everywhere. Night Rose had stayed at the edge of the town because of the stink and the rest of us had just pushed on. Tune didn’t have problem but Covert and myself were growing sick. “They’re dead.” I choked out before gagging. “They are dead Your Highness, that’s all you need to know. That’s… that’s all you should know.” “Damnit Honored,” The princess’ normally sweet voice was like venom, “Tell me what happened to my crystal ponies!” “They were eaten!” I screamed into the gem, “They have been devoured by creatures, turned into some kind of buffet! Are you happy?!?” I screamed back at her. “And there’s nothing left here to save! I failed. We failed!” I dropped to my knees as Covert and Tune approached me. “Honored.” The voice emitting from the gem was soft. “Please don’t blame yourself.” There was a long moment of silence. “Just stop whoever did this.” “Oh you can fucking count on it.” I said, feeling something burning in my belly. Something that I hadn’t felt in a long time. Something I hadn't felt since I had had my mind ripped in two and my friend leave me to only turn and fight me. I had a purpose again. I had an enemy to fight. I had war. War. Attack. Defeat. AVENGE.