5- Fragments
Having finished his duties at the newly occupied crystal palace, Shining Armor made his way toward the city’s gates. As he walked down the main street that led towards his destination, he was beginning to catch more and more glimpses of crystal ponies exiting their decaying abodes. A lingering fear of the King still hung in the air, even with their arrival and subsequent assurances that he would not return to claim his stolen throne. The encroaching blizzard did little to calm the populous down.
By now, it was only mere minutes away from striking, and already, stray snowflakes and ice-dust were beginning to rain down on the city's walls. He had told Cadence to raise the shield at the last possible second to minimize the strain his wife would be under, and it seemed that time was approaching fast. Picking up his pace, Shining began to lightly gallop towards the gate, and within short order, he could see his favorite super-soldier sitting off to the side, completely unphased by the snow beginning to strafe against their armor like a flurry of icy arrows.
“Hey, Six!” the unicorn called out as he began to come to a standstill beside his friend. The Spartan did not respond, however. The metal giant of a mare remained as still as a statue.
Shining frowned slightly and called out louder. “Six!” Silence.
With trepidation, Shining moved to stand in front of the Spartan and waved his chilled forehoof in front of her visor. That seemed to grab her attention as she, with a small shake of her head and flutter of their wings, began to speak.
“Sorry, Captain I… I think I may be compromised.” the Spartan responded, a clear apologetic and worried tone tainting her usual concise speech. Shining Armor’s face took on a serious note, his muscles tightening.
“Explain,” he spoke, his tone sharp and horn beginning to glow. When Six of all ponies said something like that, you don’t take any chances.
“Sombra, he has been… speaking to me. Appearing beside me like a ghost and trying to turn me to his side.” Her voice was… distant. Like it was a struggle to put the words together in her mind.
“Since when?”
“Since I woke up from that smog. It’s annoying, to say the least… I should be locked up. There’s no telling what else his damnable magic could be doing to me.” Six surrendered with a sigh.
Shining Armor bit his lip before cursing under his breath.
“If this was any other time, I would agree with you, but right now? I need you with me to get my sister… Can I count on you, Six?”
“Are you absolutely certain? You know how dangerous I am. If he forces me against you…” Six left the rest unsaid, merely gesturing to the blades upon her armored wings.
To Six’s surprise, Shining smiled slightly at her before responding, “Sombra’s magic may be strong, but if anypony would be strong enough to resist it, it would be you. But to be safe if he does mess with your mind… I’m sure I could give you a run for your bits.” His grin turned cocky before solidifying back into cold seriousness. “Now let’s go, or we’ll miss Twilight's train.”
Underneath her helmet, Six held an expression of genuine surprise at the captain's statement before she herself steeled her gaze and moved to stand up, determination filling her spirit as the small amounts of ice that had formed on her joints cracked and shattered under her movements. Rolling her wings and neck, she began speaking, her previous trepidation seemingly gone.
“I’ll take point.”
Shining Armor nodded before following behind the Spartan into the storm, the shield cast by his wife activating behind them.
The storm pelted their armor relentlessly, with winds that occasionally challenged even Six's balance, as the air seemed as dense as molten lead.
“Want me to ease up on the storm?” a smug voice whispered into Six’s ear.
“Oh, will you just shut up already!?” Six growled like a timberwolf. Her outburst did not go unnoticed by her companion, even within the harsh blizzard.
“Six?” Shining yelled in confusion over the wind.
“Sombra,” she grumbled.
“Oh, what did he say?”
“That this storm of mine is rather strong, of course!” A rich, baritone voice slithered between them as snowflakes suspended mid-fall. And there, on a mound of pitch-black ice, stood the one responsible for it all.
Bearing armor with a similar shade to that of Six’s titanium, he stood proudly, a malicious grin plastered on his face and red cape billowing in a nonexistent wind. Whisps of purple and dark green vapor leaked from his eyes like bloody tears as scarlet red eyes stared down at them, utterly emotionless despite the fanged smile he bore. Trails of seemingly living shadows licked at his armored hooves, and his curved black and red horn bubbled with unnatural magic.
He cast his gaze downward at the two with an air of expectancy, much like a lion sizing up a wounded gazelle. Merely looking at the King gave Shining a headache forcing him to avert his gaze whilst Six remained stoic.
“Do not look away,” the returned King’s voice boomed. “You witness your King's revival.”
“Shining,” Six spoke, pulling his attention back to her. “Get Twilight.” He didn’t have time to respond before Six vanished from where she stood, charging at the King with bladed feathers raised. Doing as the Spartan commanded, he galloped away towards the distant, shadow of the train platform. The eye-searing light of an oncoming train signaling that his sister was about to arrive.
Six charged.
Sombra remained unblinkingly still.
A shower of ice and snow kicked up from behind Six like the coattails of a fighter jet, and her wing blades raced to meet the tyrant's jugular like the reunion of two old friends.
A moment passed. Two. She swiped.
He grinned.
A wall of black crystal erupted from the earth, and Six's eyes widened.
Bracing herself, the mare felt the air get knocked out of her lungs as the crystalline barrier smashed into her stomach, instantly shattering her golden shield and sending her flying several meters away.
She hit the ice with the force of a tank, spinning and rolling uncontrollably for several more agonizing meters before coming to a stop.
Head spinning and mind in a daze, she felt the ground beneath her begin to rumble, giving her only seconds to roll to the side before four large spikes erupted from the ground right where her hooves had been sprawled out.
Breathing heavily, she whipped her head back towards where the King had been standing, only to find it empty.
As quick as lightning, her stance lowered and her wings raised in a threatening flare as she scanned the snow and watched her tracker for any movement.
Golden arcs of electricity leaped off her form as her shield struggled to reform in the battering snow.
There was nothing for several long moments.
Then, suddenly, a tingle on the back of her ne-
Six stumbled back, a hoof brought up to her visors now cracked and bloodstained glass as she tried to figure out what the hell had just happened. Her nose was bleeding, droplets marring the broken glass. The blue light of her HUD flickered sporadically now, parts of it varying wildly in shape and size.
A meter before her was what could only be described as a breach in the world itself. A cut in the very fabric of reality began to expand to reveal a grinning Sombra.
“Is this really a battle you think you can win?” He spoke confidently, his smile not reaching the eyes that remained as cold as the vacuum of space.
Six charged once more, intent on taking this smug king down in close-quarters combat.
Her shields were still down, but she couldn’t wait lest she lose the initiative. The revived king seemed to accept the unspoken challenge as his gaze hardened and his posture lowered.
She moved to fake the King out, to get as close as she could to provoke his counter before rolling to the side and bypassing his defenses.
Six only made it within a meter of Sombra before it all went south.
The ground below her burst open once more in black crystals. She moved to jump out of the way, but just as her shields began to flare and recharge, they were broken once again as a spike bore against her right foreleg.
With the sound of screeching titanium and shattering energy, the Spartan’s hoof was impaled, the dark crystal fully piercing her limb with already frozen blood coating its sharp and slightly chipped end.
Six yelled as pain rivaling the plasma sword that brought her here erupted from the wound, crystal spreading to encase the torn ligaments. Six struggled and thrashed in an attempt to free herself. She raised her other hoof, intent on shattering the crystal with all her might.
Her hoof only made it halfway before another spike burst from the ground and shot through her limb faster than she could react. Six barely managed to grit her teeth through the pain as gravity caught up, causing the Spartan to hang from her impaled forelegs several meters off the ground. She couldn’t fight this. She needed to get away.
Six flared her wings before attempting to saw her way through the crystal. The king tutted in response as he circled the strung-up Spartan. “I’m afraid that won’t work. My crystals will require a lot more than those pathetic blades to shatter, though the effort is commendable.” His armored hoof tapped against the base of the spike, the vibrations amplifying from nothing to bone shattering as they traveled towards the immobilized Spartan. “Still, better not take any chances.”
The connecting enhanced bones shattered like glass within her armor, the pain unlike anything she had ever felt before forced a scream so loud and hoarse from her throat she likely wouldn't be able to speak for weeks.
“My apologies, but I simply cannot risk you attempting some elaborate escape plan for the time being. Once my kingdom is assured, however, you have my word that I will heal your wounds. But first, I must deal with its upstart pretenders.” He continued looking up at the now limp Spartan, wings flapping irregularly against her side as she struggled to continue her futile escape attempt through the pain. “Now come, once the ponies see you at my mercy, they are sure to surrender.”
He turned and began to walk towards the distant empire, a corridor of calm winds appearing before them, revealing the shining city and its glowing defensive bubble. The roots of the impaling crystals began to follow their king, dragging Six along with them.
“Leave…” she gasped through her helmet's damaged speakers, her voice coming out garbled, horse and nigh illegible. “Leave my Spartans… p-please.” The mare begged, knowing they couldn't fight this enemy.
One of the King's ears twitched and swiveled towards the beaten Spartan. “What was that?” he began, not even bothering to turn his gaze away from his soon-to-be Empire. “Are you begging that the lives of your underlings be spared?” he spoke almost casually, as if they were currently speaking over a cup of tea.
“L-leave… them.” Darkness was beginning to close in from the corners of her vision, heart beating in her ears and a searing pain radiating from her numbing forelegs. She could barely see out of her visor with its glass cracked and H.U.D failing and flickering.
“You needn’t worry about them, my dear. You have my word, not as a King, but as a fellow warrior, that they will not die during my reconquest of the Empire.” The voice of Sombra emanated from within her very mind, its presence calmed the Spartan as the thundering of their heart in their ears began to slow and quieten. The adrenaline that had flooded her system dried up and forced her limp, energy gone.
She wanted to respond but couldn't. Her vocal cords were shredded, refusing to make sounds until they had rested. She was conscious but trapped within her limp body, forced to watch as the King dragged her by her unfeeling limbs towards the crystal city.
“SOMBRA!” came a shout—no, a yell of pure unadulterated fury as the Spartan watched a wall of pink energy crash into the surprised King, sending the umbral unicorn flying into the snowy mist in a puff of jet black smoke.
Six could barely register what was happening, her mind clouded and neurons slowed as her exhausted body struggled to intake oxygen. In a flash of light, she felt herself fall and crash into something soft, blue, and much smaller than her. A scratchy voice she couldn't make out but was definitely familiar emanated from below her before a much larger orange form joined in as she felt herself lifted onto something, or rather someone, before her vision winked into darkness.
“You dare strike a King!?” A booming yell that came from both within and without pierced her brief bout of unconsciousness, forcing her eyes open as her senses suddenly rebooted with near total clarity, foreign energy coursing through her veins as she saw through a cracked visor and swiping snow-covered orange tail the magical battle happening behind them.
But she could tell, however, that it was no battle as she watched spire after spire of corrupted black crystal pierced the ground, turning the flat landscape into a maze of jagged spikes. And just before the trailing field of spikes and a rapidly forming blizzard of black smoke was Shining Armor, his horn ablaze as he shot falling crystals out of the sky and sprinted towards the Spartan and her rescuers.
Purple bolts of energy joined the stallion’s from outside the Spartan’s vision, her neck muscles refusing to answer her calls to move. Voices her mind refused to translate shouted out towards him and each other as the sky behind them began to grin.
The skies churned with lightning and ashen snow as Six passed over the familiar light blue barrier that covered the crystal city, herself and her rescuers coming to a stop just beyond the wall as the magical storm behind them hit a crescendo. Searing bolts of blood red struck relentlessly at Shining Armor's shield, his breath ragged as each sequential bolt zeroed closer and closer to its mark.
Crash. A bolt had found its mark, shattering his shield and striking the unicorn on the horn, forcing hi, to stumble and roll as he cradled his forehead in obvious pain. They were so close to the barrier, only meters away from safety. A shout echoed out as Six watched a purple mare run out and drag the stallion by his mane into the city moments before the ground beneath him gave way to a forest of dark crystal spires.
Darkness filled her vision, and she felt herself hoisted upward, causing her stomach to lurch inside her tightened chest as she was carried off, the Spartan plunging into the sea of unconsciousness, her last thoughts being on that of her Spartans and how ill-prepared they were to face the coming threat without her.
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And the story returns! Huzzah!
Man that was a long wait.
So happy to see this back!
Love the Tears of the Kingdom reference.
A great surprise for sure after a long day of work!
small error ^^'
but great that this story is continuing
I think that was the first time in either book that we have seen Six's armor breached. This scares me greatly.
Noble Six is the victim of the Worf Effect! Uh oh!
Also apparently Sombra enjoyed Tears of the Kingdom.
She was warned. This isn't a fight that can be won with physical prowess, especially when it's already started in the mind...
Still think the cute animal trick might come to haunt us. Nobody questioned its existence with more than a passing "huh."
11661931
Yeah and basically not repairable
11662700
Yeah, it's rather unfortunate.
11662700
A samurai without a sword is like a samurai with one, but only without one.
Any Armor just like any sword is but a tool of a warrior and it is ok for tools to be brocken.
11662994
it was her biggest advantage.
Ouch, Six got to find out the hard way how dangerous Sombra is.
Not sure how long it will take her to recover.
Physical confrontations are Nobels 6 specialty, magic?
Absolutely handicapped, what have we learned?
Don't send out unprepared super soldiers for things they are not prepared for.
Its like Sweety Bell and cooking, it just don't work that way...
him
Nice to see an update. I binged this whole series a while ago and it's good to see it's getting new chapters.
*racks bolter*
Time to kick some tyrant butt!