1- The Frozen North
Six watched the rolling hills outside her train car grow whiter and whiter as frost and snow replaced green and blue as they traveled further north. On the other side of the cart sat the Spartan’s charge, the royal couple sleeping softly in each other's embrace as the train ride neared its 11th and final hour.
With boredom beginning to teeter on the brink of Six’s mind as the scenery outside began to lose its appeal, she did what she normally did in such long stretches of inactivity. Unsheathing her knife from its holster on her shoulder, she inspected it for any signs of damage Her reflection stared back at her in its scarred metal, moving to start sharpening it against her armor she stopped. Her gaze moving towards the sleeping couple and deciding to instead merely inspect the knife rather than sharpen.
The door to the car slid open in front of her. Glancing up from the knife held in her armored foreleg, she watched as Pixy entered. Six lifted a single feather to her lips in a shushing motion, prompting the pegasus to slow her movements and ‘tip-toe’ her way back to her seat across from Six.
“How long have they been out?” she whispered, her eyes roaming over the sleeping couple's form.
“Not long… Why are you here? You should be with the others,” Six questioned with a glance.
“Spirit was getting hungry, so the two of them were getting a little…frisky. Thought I should give them some privacy… And you some company.”
Six ceased in her inspecting and glanced up at the pegasus. “I’ll have a word with them later, but that is no excuse to leave your post.”
“Cut me a break, will ya? I already get enough of their lovey dovey-ness in the barracks. Do you have any idea how hard it is to sleep in the room next to them?”
“No. I sleep in a different building,” Six answered honestly.
Pixy opened and closed her mouth like a fish. “…point. But anyway, it’s uncomfortable and I have a limit.”
Six placed her knife on the table and a moment of silence overtook the train car as the Spartan thought about what she would say. But before she could open her mouth, she felt the train beginning to slow down. They were about to reach their destination.
Such a development did not go unnoticed, even by the sleeping couple as they began to stir, the prince opening his eyes first before lightly prodding his wife awake as well.
“Hmm, but I was having such a nice dream,” complained the alicorn as she attempted to return to Luna’s realm. Her wings curling around her face, leaving only a pink horn exposed to the air.
“I know, honey. I know, but we’re almost there.”
Six turned to look back at Pixy before whispering, “Go see if you can find them some coffee.”
Pixy nodded, her metal wing lightly clanking as the pegasus got up and left in search of the requested beverages. Although Six herself was apathetic when it came to such drinks, even she knew that whatever was going to be thrown at them once they reached the Empire would require a lot of energy. Energy the still-stirring royal couple did not have.
Six watched with some amusement as Cadence continued to resist Shining’s attempts at waking her up, the Unicorn ultimately resorting to poking the alicorn with the sharp end of his horn, eliciting a loud *eep* from his wife.
“What was that for?!”
“You refused to wake up, had to resort to desperate measur- ow!” Cadence smacked him upside the head with her wing in retaliation.
“How’s that for desperate measures?!”
Six continued to watch the two bicker in amusement but now also with curiosity. Is that what love was? It didn’t make sense, not to her, even after all she had been told and what she had observed from her own Spartans and the royal couple.
The Spartan shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts. They were approaching the Crystal Empire; ruminations on the nature of affection could wait. Six loudly sheathed her knife, the sound of sliding metal grabbing the couple’s attention. Six grinned. “Sleep well?”
“Ye-“
“Good,” Six interrupted. “We’re almost there.” She gestured with a free wing towards the windows, the scenery outside now replaced with a blanket of white. A blizzard was raging outside, visibility plummeting as the train reached the end of the line.
Pixy returned at this moment, three cups balanced on her extended metal wing, small puffs of condensation rising from the beverage's dark surface. Walking between the Spartan and the couple, the pegasus hoofed out the cups. Two for the couple, who responded with a polite ‘thank you’ and one for the Spartan, who raised an eyebrow at her subordinate.
“Thought you could use one as well,” clarified Pixy as she returned to her seat across from Six. From where she was sitting, even she could see the small grins the royal couple directed toward Pixy.
“Thank you, but it is unnecessary,” Six stated as she pushed the cup towards Pixy.
“I’ve had enough coffee today. It's for you,” Pixy replied, pushing the cup back towards Six.
“You do not understand. It physically does nothing for me when diluted,” Six explained, pushing the cup once more towards her underling.
“So you’re saying I need to jap you with a syringe of pure caffeine for it to wake you up?” Pixy joked with a laugh before she saw the unfazed expression Six wore.
“Yes,” Six answered without a hint of sarcasm.
“A… what? But… I’ve seen you get drunk. Caffeine is no different!” Pixy blurted out in confusion, eliciting an amused snort from the royal couple who had been listening intently.
“I did… after 15 bottles.” The sound of Shining Armor sputtering and nearly spitting out his drink briefly drew their attention.
“Excuse me, what!?”
“B-bottles?! Is that why my tab was so high after that night?” questioned Pixy in surprise before realization slowly began to take over.
“Remind me never to challenge you to a drinking game, Six,” continued Shining Armor as he recovered. Six blinked in confusion.
“Drinking… game?” Six questioned, surprising everyone. Cadence was the next to speak, her tone unbelieving.
“Surely you must have had party-filled teenage years, right? It's like… a right of passage for anypony in the guard. You know what alcohol is and yet have never heard of drinking games?”
“No. My handlers once offered me some alcohol after an assignment. It was an… interesting experience. That first time, though, the intoxication took quite a while. I have heard a few soldiers mention drinking games, but I don’t know what it entails,” was the response Six gave, causing Cadence's features to droop before being replaced with a determined smile.
“Well… I guess we will have to change that once Sombra is defeated.”
“I… look forward to it?” Six responded somewhat hesitantly as the train slowed down further. “Enough of this now. Are we expecting danger this far from the Empire?”
“No, though with this blizzard, I don’t know. I’ve never seen weather this bad before,” answered Shining as he stood up and grabbed his own purple and gold armor plating.
“I’ll take point then. My visor will give me better visibility than everyone else in the storm. Pixy, get the others and have them combat-ready. You’ll remain behind Shining and Cadence.”
“You do know we have a whole contingent of guards ponies with us, right?”
“Yes. I just don’t care,” Six responded as she stood up from her spot on the buckling wooden floor and walked towards the nearest exit from the train car. The Prince and Princess, now clad in plate armor vibrating with heating magic, followed close behind as the remaining members of Noble filed stacked up on the other exit.
With a hiss of a pressure seal and a click of interlocking mechanisms, Six put on her helmet. With a hum and a brief flash of golden light, her shields came online as she turned to ascertain the status of her fellow Spartans.
All of them were clad in their unique ODST-like armor that symbolized them as members of the now-famous Noble Team. The triangular insignia of their squad proudly displayed on their shoulders. Sparrow towered above the others much like Six did, his large form seeming more at place on an earth pony rather than a pegasus to any other pony’s eyes.
At his side, in her small white earth pony facade was Spirit. The disguised changeling gave a small smile toward Six before steeling her gaze and closing her eyes. Six didn’t know exactly why, but if she had to hazard a guess, she was reaching out with her ‘aura.’ A phenomenon Six knew next to nothing about other than that every changeling possessed one.
Finally, there was Pixy giving her metallic red wing one final look over before getting ready behind Sparrow. The pegasus quickly downed the cup of coffee meant for Six as her biological wing fidgeted at her side. After a quick shiver of energy shot down her spine, Pixy was ready for anything as she began hovering half a meter above Spirit. The smaller disguised changeling's ear flicking in response to the sudden downward draft.
Six gave one last cautionary glance towards the crimson prosthetic. It had a habit of buckling under the strain when Pixy gave it her all. A flaw both the pegasus and the creators of the ADFX-01 Prosthetic—or as it was sometimes referred to, ‘Morgan’—swore up and down was fixed with the use of higher quality metals.
‘I’ll be the judge of that’
Through the door’s glass, she could see the rapidly slowing down scenery as the train pulled into the extremely barebones station. Even from where Six was standing, she could see it was nothing more than a raised crystalline platform in the middle of nowhere.
With the sound of hissing steam and squealing metal, the train came to a stop and the Spartans left the carriage. The crystal cracked under Six’s heavy hoofsteps as she disembarked their transportation. A cobweb of crystal emanated from her first step before the rest of her limbs dispersed her weight.
With wings flared, blades at the ready, and shields at full charge, Six was ready for anything as the blizzard that raged outside her armor began coating her in frost and snow. To call the ambient temperature outside ‘cold’ would be an understatement. Her visor’s temperature readout from wind shear dropping to negative 40°C. Looking back at her charges and underlings, she could see the heating magic begin to work with a warm orange glow enveloping each and every one of the assembled ponies’ forms.
From her Spartans to the lowliest grunt of the soldiers they brought with them, everyone glowed with the protective warmth shielding them from the cold and the snow being blown towards them. Six had no such luxury, however. Though her armor protected her from the elements, it would still be easily marred by the falling snow.
Save for her visor, joints, and specific vital systems of her armor, such as its reactor and shield emitters, everything else was already white with snow. Her Spartans fanned out across the platform, making sure there were no unexpected visitors waiting for them as the rest of their deployment began unloading the supplies they had brought.
“All clear here!” came the yell from Sparrow.
“Same here!” added Pixy from above, the pegasus clearly struggling to remain in one place and not be thrown around in the icy-cold winds.
“And here. Nopony else here but us!” was the final callout from Spirit as Six continued to scan the area around the platform.
‘Damn blizzard, can’t see anything with this visibility! Going to have to rely on my tracker,’ the Spartan complained as she continued to watch her angle. With the blizzard as bad as it was, should there be anything waiting in the snow, they wouldn’t notice until it was right on top of them.
Six’s shields suddenly flared gold, the snow that had accumulated on her form instantly evaporating in an explosion of steam as Six spun around in all directions, blades at the ready and eyes glued to her tracker. Pupils darted around her visor, searching for what had caused the damage, the indicator failed to show the direction of the attack.
Two seconds had since passed and her shield was now at 75% charge and still flaring a brilliant gold, grabbing the attention of her charges and Spartans, who quickly came running to see what was wrong.
“What happened?!” questioned Shining as he ran up behind the Spartan, his horn already glowing and beginning to project a light pink shield over the entire platform.
“Something damaged my shields,” explained Six, her posture low and steam rising off her body as her shield became invisible once more with the hum of it recharging. “No idea what yet. Nothing appeared on my tracker,” she continued, her posture easing ever so slightly.
“Could it have been the weather? Perhaps a rock that was kicked up by the storm?” questioned Shining as he also began to visually scan outside of his shield as well as the immediate area around Six, her Spartans joining in the investigation.
“Could be…” began Six as she resumed her normal upright posture. “I would keep that shield up if I were you. If that was the damage from a stray rock, I doubt you would fare well.”
“Good call. Now why don’t you come with me and help finish unloading the supplies. We should be able to start moving much sooner with your help.”
“Understood. Pixy, Sparrow, Spirit?” she called, bringing all three to attention. “Set up a defensive perimeter and fill in the gaps with whatever soldiers you can find that aren't needed for the unloading.”
A symphony of ‘Yes, Ma’am!’ was her answer, bringing a small smile to her face under her helmet as the three of them left to complete their task. Meanwhile, Shining led the Spartan to where the others were uploading the many heavy supplies they would need for the journey and the battle they were expecting.
“…Have you ever thought about expanding your numbers?” Shining asked suddenly as Six grabbed a crate, surprising the Spartan.
“What?” she asked, handing the large box to a pair of earth ponies.
“Like… running more trials and turning Noble from a lone Squad into a Platoon? We have all seen what ponies with your training can do. And though we may no longer be at war, situations like these could always pop up,” Shining elaborated.
“The thought has crossed my mind…” Six trailed off as she continued to unload supplies, her mind now wandering with her body working on autopilot.
“But?” Shining pressed.
Six placed the crate down and looked towards the hidden horizon. “I…can’t think of a reason.”
“Well… I'll bring it up again later, once the King is dealt with, that is.”
“Please, I don’t want to become distracted when walking into enemy territory.”
Exactly one hour later, they began to brave the storm, with the royal couple paving the way as the blizzard began to settle somewhat. A shield like one back at the station was no longer necessary as the company got ever closer to the eye of the storm and its winds weakened to manageable levels.
Six, even with her rudimentary knowledge of weather phenomena, could tell something was off about this blizzard. It acted more akin to that of a hurricane or a tornado, its freezing winds spinning around a point in space they could not see rather than a general cardinal direction. The winds become weaker the deeper they went rather than the opposite one would expect.
It worried her. Her wings twitched ever more frequently against the small icy buildup that had accumulated across her bladed feathers, with her eyes constantly darting from the snow outside her helmet to the tracker inside.
She stopped, her eyes staring into the weakening storm. Something was out there. Her instruments said the opposite, but her instincts were screaming at her that someone was watching them.
“You alright, Six?” asked Cadence, having noticed the Spartan’s icy-still stature.
Six shook her head and brought her hoof up to her helmet, a weak headache now dulling her senses.
“Fine. I’m fine,” she reassured, waving the princess off and continuing forwards, cursing herself for allowing paranoia to take hold. Cadence, however, wasn’t buying it and opted to remain close to the Spartan’s side. Her alicorn charge now also watching the snow like a hawk, the princess inching slightly closer to Six with every step.
The blizzard began to weaken further as they continued towards their destination, though the increasing visibility did nothing to ease Six’s agitated nerves. Something was out there, hiding in the corners of her vision, always disappearing the moment her eyes moved to investigate. But before long, the storm began to settle, and their destination began to shine on the horizon.
Like a beacon, a spire of crystal shone in the distance, the light reflecting off of it becoming a kaleidoscope of colors that expanded outwards into an impossible shape Six was incapable of comprehending.
It was eerily calm as the group exited the storm proper and got a good look at the landscape before them. The ‘eye of the storm’ theory held true as, in the distance, all could see the spinning blizzard encapsulating the lush green valley. To Six, all this greenery was a far cry from the environment one would expect in the region known as ‘The Frozen North.’
In the center of the valley, surrounded by the encroaching blizzard, lay their destination. A city made of pure crystal met their eyes. The spire they had first noticed placed at its central plaza where four main streets met. A crystalline wall of undeterminable size encompassed the city with what looked to be many glistening fields dotting the lands between it and the blizzard.
“An Empire fit for a King, don’t you agree?” a voice smooth as silk emanated from the blizzard as thick black smoke began to billow outwards and around the Spartan’s hooves. She felt a hoof pressing against her shoulder
Six spun, her shield flaring at 50% charge and wings extended, millimeters away from… Cadence’s neck?
The alicorn was on the ground, Six standing over her with the tip of her razor-sharp feathers threatening to break the skin. Cadence was breathing heavily and looking at the Spartan in fear.
“S-S-S-Six?” she stuttered out, wings splayed against the snow with the Spartans hooves threatening to crush the fragile feathers should she will it.
Shaking her head again, Six stepped back and off the alicorn, bringing her armored hoof to her head in pain as the headache from before returned. All around her, Six could hear the sounds of similar incidents happening among the rest of their expedition, with soldiers turning against soldiers before being overwhelmed by headaches.
In the corner of her vision, she could see that not even her Spartans were spared as Sparrow sat similarly to Six with his hoof against his temple and one very worried and scared-looking Spirit lying in the snow next to him. A thin line of green blood ran down her cheek.
“What’s going on?!” yelled out Shining Armor as he galloped from his wife down the line of recovering soldiers, his horn ablaze with another shielding spell that now encompassed the entire company.
“Little flies, now caught in my web, how you shake and squirm trying to escape the inevitable. But that does not matter. I have been watching you, little Angel. Though, from what I have seen, your other name suits you far better…”
The voice came from everywhere, the song of a siren, a seduction that emanated from within her helmet mere millimeters away from her rapidly twitching ears.
“Argh, shut up!” she lashed out, spinning and slashing at the empty air behind her, cutting large slashes into the billowing black smoke. The voice laughed in amusement.
“Such ferocity! I can see now why the Crimson Empress let her Venator loose against you. Yes, you will do nicely,” it finished with a chuckle before devolving into full-blown laughter. The laughter, however, came not from the voice itself but from her own lips and those of all the ponies influenced by the entity.
“I’ll see you soon… little Angel.”
The smoke began to recede just as Shining Armor's shield enclosed itself around the group. The last black wisps manage to slip underneath the magic dome and back into the blizzard behind them.
Breathing heavily and on the verge of gasping and hyperventilating, Six practically threw her helmet off her head and into a nearby pile of snow in order to breathe more easily. The part of her brain responsible for fear clashed fiercely against her Spartan training. She had never felt this way before, never even knew she could experience something like this with her brain's amygdala being thrown into a sudden overdrive, flooding her synapses with chemicals responsible for fear. Her own enhanced biology was betraying her training.
But just as she was on the cusp of hyperventilation, the fear receded, her mental fortitude kicking back in with a vengeance. The cortisol running through her brain was quickly neutralized as the adrenaline flooding her body was used up.
Six took several deep breaths as she continued to soothe and calm her overreacted body, the chill of the frozen air whistling past her now exposed face and scars acting as the anchor for her return to control.
The same process appeared to be repeating itself among the other ponies that the entity had paid a visit to. Soldiers all the way up and down the line were either breathing heavily due to released adrenaline or what appeared to be cowering from the outside world. Their armored bodies curled up in on themselves and shook like dogs. Six was not spared from this fate, as the Spartan herself was compelled to do the same. Small puffs of black smoke billowed from their collective panting mouths.
And for some reason unknown to them all, a single phrase in an unknown language remained burned into their mind.
'Fractum est Sigillum, Rex reversus est.'
With a sudden heave, Six’s body violently expelled the smog filling her lungs and stomach. The distant sounds of the others also experiencing her fate and collapsing to the ground graced her ears as unconsciousness embraced her. Those unknown words still rand in their minds.
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Oh so we’re going the intelligent and not insane Sombra route. Well there goes any plans for an easy victory.
This flew under my raydar(cant spell lol)
o h n o
This is not a naturally occurring storm formation.
Damn... Sombra plays dirty...
But versus a Spartan and a Alicorn it might be better to hold nothing back!
Great chapter, well worth the wait.
I wonder what the next chapter brings?
FYI it’s windchill, not wind shear. I didn’t chuckle too much at the -40 bit, but I’ve lived in those temps and colder for most of my life.
She said the cool thing!
'The Seal is broken, the King has returned.'
And thus, it begins.
Oh boy. I cannot wait to see where you go with Sombra. He's such an underdeveloped villain and this introduction for him is awesome. Really makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
Hmmm, this Sombra has better mind-control than shown but 1000 years of playing in the snow might help with that ...
Awesome writing so far, really looking forward to some badass pony noble team action and continued Six shenanigans.
Good luck with writing any romance for Six, it's always hard to walk that fine line between not making the romance take over the story, and not making the romance feel rushed and like a placeholder. I suppose you Chekov's Cadenced your way into it being inevitable, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays out!
Looking forward to what comes next!
11483778
‘Chekovs Cadence’ Ha! I’m stealing that phrase. But yeah Cadence trying to find romance for a Spartan that has never known any such relationships is gonna be a doozy. Her greatest challenge yet. Playing matchmaker to a Spartan
Great start! Looking forward to reading more.
11483261
just because he is cunning does not mean his sanity is intact. "So insane that they are sane" comes to mind
stupid question. is missing in action canon to this?
11488131
I must strongly disagree that this is a stupid question.
It had added quite a lot of content and world building as well as character building in it. I hope that it was indeed canon.
It had been a well made short story after all.
11483443
The Seal has been broken. The King has returned.
Both are in passive perfect indicative, but the latter is a deponent verb and thus takes active meaning. The Seal is broken would be Sigillum frangitur.
Latin courses finally coming in handy.
11483275
It's spelled radar.
11488131 11483790
More importantly, is A Noble's Heat at all canon? Because if it is, we already know who Six will come to fancy.
P.s. I so hope it is. I think there is a GOLDMINE of characterization there, with six having some understanding of human norms, only to end up in a 'herd' with the Prince and Princess.