Twilight and the Spartan Stallion
Part 8: CMC Warriors, Yeah! (II of III)

None of the Spartan Stallions expected to see her Shining Immortal Majesty hit the ground so hard. Her cry was doggish and she tumbled across the ground like a skipping stone. She smashed hard into the ranks of the Lunar Stallion pegasi mid-battle and was buried in a cliff face. Rubble came down over the milky white alicorn and she was buried. The chaos of battle ended in a very sudden dead silence. Everypony waited for her to emerge, for a long time. Nothing happened. They all looked at each other. A single line of silvery blood emerged from the wreckage, and there was great quiet. The two sides separated themselves from each other, hastily looking back and forth for--!

She landed hard with an authoritative stomp of four hooves. Nightmare Moon. She was battered on her chest and sides with bruises, and a portion of her helm was simply missing, blasted off by some assault Celestia had managed to land on her head. The Lunar Stallion pegasi jittered back, and after a few chaotic moments, formed a hasty set of ranks. Ever the perfect army. “WHO SPEAKS FOR THIS RABBLE?!” The Royal Canterlot Voice rolled across the field like a crack of thunder. Nopony spoke. “THIS BATTLE IS OVER! WE DEMAND THY LEADER STEP FORTH!” she concussed the night with her shouting.

Spartan Shield stepped forth, leaving his shield behind with his fellows. A few of them tried to stop him, but he shoved past and started across the field. Spear in hoof, he cantered slowly across the way. Both armies stared at each other, unsure, as their leaders were both out of earshot. The black, armored alicorn stood above him on a boulder, asserting their hierarchic scaling all the more. She looked down upon him. “I am Spartan Shield. I lead these stallions.” He said, resting his spear on his shoulder.

“Come, Spartan Shield, let us reason together.” Nightmare Moon stepped down from the boulder when he’d at last arrived. She made a mild and rather diplomatic gesture with her hoof. It was stained silver with Princess Celestia’s blood. “We know of thine herd’s ways, how thou values discipline and high education.” She eyed him sideways. “Thy breed produces many a desirable warrior stallion. We would hate to simply annihilate you all and waste an entire generation of good horsepower.”

“What keeps thou from doing so?” he asked, gesturing over his shoulder to his waiting soldiers. They were leaning back and forth, craning their necks and trying to hear. “It should not be hard for an alicorn to simply blow our heads apart with a thought.” He jabbed at her. Slowly, they circled each other. It was a nervous sort of pacing, as the conversation continues. Both armies that watched were reminded of circling timberwolves, snapping and snarling at each other for dominance.

“Tiz true.” She reached and wrested him off of his hooves by magic, briefly, then set him down again. “But there is much we may share together, and even our Lunar Stallions may learn something of military might from your subculture.”

“Oh yes! I happen to notice we’ve been sharing our culture with them all night.” Spartan Shield smirked in such a way that Nightmare Moon’s eyes narrow angrily.

“Thou art a strange one, Spartan Shield.” The night alicorn chuckled after she got over the jab to her ego. “Even in the face of annihilation, thou art defiant.” He turned from her to check on his soldiers as she spoke, and she slowly approached him from behind. His eyes turned, but his head did not, to look back at her. Her long and black wing extended over him to block out the moonlight. “Thou fights for Equestria? She is mine now.” She said gently. “If you and yours would but march under my banner, I would allow you to live. All would fear the Spartan Stallions as one of the most elite forces of the nighttime eternal, second only to my Lunar pegasi.” She gestured to the battalion to their far right. The Lunar Stallions bristled, awaiting even the slightest gesture to resume the battle.

“Second?” Spartan Shield whispered, looking over at his Spartan Stallions. He slowly sat on his haunches, as though considering.

“We art kind, Spartan Stallion.” Nightmare Moon made a show of sitting behind him, pressed up against him like a bigger spoon to a smaller spoon. Her greater stature made him feel briefly like they were mother and foal. “Celestia asked thou and a handful of stallions to stand against our endless hordes.” She stroked his back slowly, tenderly as her wings came to flank him on either side. It was a rather erotic display, in all actuality. “To go into battle where there could be no victory. Into a horseflesh grinder.”

On the far side of the field, the Spartan Stallions shifted nervously. What was Spartan Shield doing over there?! “Steady boys…” said Captain Slate a little nervously. “Steady. Let ‘em talk if they wanna talk. Somethin’ may actually come of it.”
“All we ask,” said Nightmare Moon softly into his ear, “Is for thou to lay down thy arms to allow my armies into Canterlot. Think of the lives that could be saved by such a selfless act.” She coaxed him, still stroking the gorgeous muscles on his withers. He continued to stare at the cliff face were Celestia had been buried. “We would not ask though to stand against such oblivion…” she leaned to whisper more closely. A long, forked tongue came out and grazed his cheek. His eyes flicked at her again, and he saw the serpentine glow of her dragon-like pupils. “All we ask,” she closed her wings quietly around him, like a lover. “Is that thou kneel before us and our banner.” She whisped. Her hooves slowly massaged his tired shoulders.

“Kneel…” he mumbled slowly, as though entranced by her words.

“But one token of your submission, and the Spartan Stallions shall be rewarded beyond thy wildest dreams.” Nightmare Moon smiled with her fangs out, dripping neon green goo upon his crimson cape-scarf. “You and yours have repelled my entire army for more than twelve hours. An impressive feat that will surely give thou rank in our new empire.” She offered with a smirk and a silver tongue. “You will find, we think, that I am kind…” she squeezed his shoulders firmly, easing his burden of aches with a flick of healing lunar magicks

“Kind…” Spartan Shield whispered. He slowly came forward a few steps, out of her wing-hug and away from her soothing hooves. “Thou art generous as thou art… tall.” He said with a lopsided smile. “Why, only a madpony would refuse such gifts.” Nightmare Moon smiled, rising to her full height. “But,” he turned back to her with a mad warrior’s smile. “Having been, well, slaughtering all of your forces thus far has cramped my legs, you see, so kneeling…” he made a wavering gesture with his hooves. “That’s going to be a problem.”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes lidded and the tips of her wings shook before she folded them violently. The flap of feathers was audible. “There is no glory in thy coming defeat.” She spat upon the ground, over his hooves. “When my stallions are done with thee, I shalt erase all of your family lines from the Canterlot Archives!” she threatened, leaning forward. Slime dripped from her angry fangs, hissing like acid upon the ground. “When this is over, Equestria will never even know thou existed!”

“Equestria will know that few,” he gestured behind himself. The Spartan Stallions shifted on their hooves, pressed together in the golden wall of the phalanx. “Stood against many.” He nodded to her and hers. “And by the time this is over, Equestria will know that even Nightmare Moon can bleed.” He grinned at her defiantly from under his eyebrows.

“THE SUN HAS SET ON THIS ERA!” Nightmare Moon roared, prodded easily into anger by his words. All could hear her shouting in the Royal Canterlot Voice. “NIGHT TIME ETERNAL AWAITS! THY BATTLE IS OVER!” she turned to return to her forces. “AND WE SHALT ENJOY WATCHING THOU DIE FROM ON HIGH, INSECT!” she opened her wings to take off.

The rubble where Celestia lay shifted, giving everypony present pause. Suddenly, Celestia’s head emerged and she thrust a dented golden helm off of herself. Coughing, she spat silvery blood to one side before wrenching free from the wreckage. Spartan Shield and Nightmare Moon stared, open-mouthed. “The sun doesn’t set until I TELL it to, sister.” said Princess Celestia, flaring her wings open aggressively. The Yoke of Harmony was around her neck, its six gems glittering in the moonlight.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
1.002 Years Later…
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“We’ll probably find at least one of the cutie mark crusader’s at Rarity’s house.” Twilight said conversationally. Spartan Shield had insisted on bringing his shield and spear for the trek, probably to scare the buck out of the fillies that had stolen his things. He was rather angry, and hadn’t said anything since they’d left. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find them.” She coaxed him with a light shove of his shoulder. He looked at her, but relaxed just a little. “Here we are.”

Boutique Magnifique was the strangest building Spartan Shield had ever seen. It was wood and glass and gaudily-decorated to such a shine that it really stood out in the town. It was a business, so that was probably intentional, but still. It looked strange. Leaning, he peered into one of the windows. “A seamstress.” He said slowly. Twilight nodded in confirmation before pushing the door open to go inside.

“Ah, Twilight! I’ve been expecting you darling!” Rarity already had a table set up. “Just turn the sign as you come in so we won’t be interrupted.” The pale unicorn was moving a tea tray from the kitchen to the great room so that they could sit and gossip together. Well no, gossip was a crude word. More like talk about other ponies and hear about what they were up to around town. It was only right for a lady to know what was going on around her, right? Of course. “Pull up a chair, darling, I’ve got our tea right… here…?” she trailed off when she saw Spartan Shield. “Oh, I’m sorry sir, I’m closed now.” She said gently. “And if you need a dress, you shall need to make a measuring appointment, you’re a little outside my normal cliental.” She giggled playfully at her own joke.

Spartan Shield took it as an insult and fired back, “If there were anything that seemed worthy of purchase here, I might consider.” Twilight winced at his harshness. “Thus far, unimpressed.” He scowled, putting her in her place so fast, so hard, that Rarity flushed angrily.

“Why, the nerve!” she said, setting the tray down hard on the table. “You can turn right around and leave, you ruffian! How dare you insult my craft?!” she sauntered across the room, past Twilight and put her face right in his.

“I speak the truth.” He snapped, he pressed his face angrily into hers. His chest inflated, the muscles coiling. “That aside, thy complete disregard for the opposite gender strangles thy income. If thou had half a brain there would be stallion-wear here as well.”

“I specialize in what I please, thank you very much!” she leaned harder into him, the pressure of her pressing horn rubbing sorely on his face. Twilight looked helplessly back and forth between them. The seamstress and the warrior, a match made in hell. She shuddered a little. “Twilight who is this ruffian?! Is he with you?!” she broke the contact for a moment and they stepped back briefly.

“This is Spartan Shield.” Twilight said a little meekly, getting twin glares from both of them. “Er, we think maybe Sweetie Belle and her friends may have taken something of his. Do you know where she is so we can ask her?”

“Sweetie Belle? She left early this morning to go play with her little friends!” Rarity said indignantly with a toss of her magnificent mane. “There’s no way she would have anything to do with common theiv--!”

The door burst open, flinging the bell off of its hanging chain. Sweetie Belle ran in, panting and gagging. She was covered with mud and leaves and twigs, looking exhausted and frightened. “Big sister!” she ran like the dogs of hell were on her hooves and hid under her undercarriage to shake like a leaf. The flash of gold on her back caught Spartan and Twilight’s eyes.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity said. “You look terrible, what’s happened to you?! You’re filthy!” Rarity backed up to survey the frightened little thing, but couldn’t. She was being clung to and the foal refused to do much more than hold onto her big sister and shake. Her face was pressed to Rarity’s thighs, almost to her teats, where instinct bade her was safest in the elder female. Her whimpering was audible.

“There, on her back.” Spartan Shield said, pointing.

Rarity glared at him briefly, before lowering herself. “Sweetie Belle…?” she said more gently, for clearly her sister’s wits had been frightened out of her. “What’s happened to you?” she began to ease the straps of the strange metal plate she was wearing off of her back. When it was loose, she tossed it aside. Twilight lifted it by magic, returning it to Spartan, who stuffed it in his saddlebag.

“I-Its Applebloom! A-and running! Patrollin’! In the woods and timberwolves and!” she was hiccupping, shaking, crying so hard she could barely talk.

“Timberwolves?” Spartan Shield wondered aloud.

“I think Applebloom is dead! I think they ate her up!” the filly wailed and hid her face to bawl like the child she was. “Ate her uh-huh-hup!” Rarity hunched to hold her with both front hooves, stroking and crooning over her gingerly.

“Applebloom?” Spartan Shield asked.

“The filly you shoved the other day.” Twilight reminded him. Realization went over his face and he nodded seriously. “Is she still out in the woods?” she asked Sweetie Belle. The little filly nodded.

“Did you see her get killed?” suddenly Spartan Shield was all business, leaning down and onto his belly. He shoved his head into Rarity’s undercarriage so he could be eye to eye with her little sister. Rarity startled back a little, red-faced, but tried to coax her little sister to answer.

“N-no…” Sweetie Belle managed through her sniffling.

“If you did not see her die, then she is not dead yet.” He said, frowning at her seriously. “Until you see something with your own eyes, it is not real. Understand?” he said firmly. She nodded fearfully, pressing up against her sister. Emerging slowly from under Rarity, he looked over at Twilight Sparkle. “The healthy foal is lost.” He told her officially. “We must go and retrieve her.”

Twilight nodded officially, a determined frown coming to her face. “I’ll go get Big Macintosh and Applejack. They’ll want to come too.” Spartan Shield nodded briefly, and Twilight took off.

After a short silence, Spartan Shield looked down at the distressed sisters. Rarity looked at him with a mix of fear, contempt, and gratefulness. Reaching, he took off his scarf cape and draped it around them. “I’ll need a new scarf-cape, seamstress.” He told her. “Eight feet, blood red.” He tied a loose knot to tie the sisters together, so they could be closer and not part until they really needed to. Turning, clad in only his breastplate and wrappings, Spartan Shield left the shop.

Wanting attention and comfort, Sweetie Belle broke into new sobs and pressed into her sister’s bosom. “Oh Sweetie Belle…” Rarity crooned gently, her eyes soft for the little filly’s trauma. “Shhhh-sh-shhh…” It would take hours of tenderness to coax her back to calmness. She used the end of the red scarf around them to start dabbing at her face and tears. “There there, now…”

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Applebloom was bleeding, bad. It was the first time she’d ever bled like that before. She’d fallen and scrapped her knees a fair number’a times, and sure, workin’ on a farm gave its share of little bumps and cuts—but this was a timberwolf bite.

As the timberwolf alpha had leapt upon her to tear her heart out, he completely misjudged her weight. She was much lighter than she looked. The little filly was hit so hard by the pounce that she’d literally bounced backward before she could be grabbed and had been flung into a crevice in the cliff’s face. Now, alone and hurting, she was in an impossible situation. She was pressed into a little crack that she barely fit into, and an entire pack of Timberwolves were pacing and waiting for her to come out. The alpha had his face pressed into the crevice, bitting and snapping, flailing at her to try and get its fangs into her tender hide. But no, she was just out of range, pressed to the back of her sanctuary and crying quietly. “J-just go ‘way!” she waved her hoof at it. “Go ‘way and leave me alone!” she whimpered impotently. “You can’t fit in here, just go ‘way!” she watched the monster continue to gnash its teeth and glare at her with burning green eyes. She was JUST out of reach, she could feel the wind of its claws and the stink of its breath. It scratched at the sides of the crevice, howwwwling and barking in frustration. The whole forest must’ve known where they were and what was happening. Howwwwwl! Applebloom looked down, for one of the cutie mark crusader spear-sticks had been shoved into the crack with her. When trying to get at her, the timberwolf must’ve kicked it in with her by accident. Caught by its shoulders, it just couldn’t quite reach her.

Applebloom untied her hair ribbon, trying to use it like a whip for a moment. It did little more than flutter over the Timberwolf’s nose, so instead she tried to get the stick. Maybe she could whack it on the nose and make it go away. She tried and tried, but it was a slow process. Her mind wandered to a Daring Do book she’d once read for school. She could just do it in one go, whip something and bring it to herself. What would Daring Do do? Hehe, doodoo. She was so scared even the dumbest of jokes made her giggle nervously. She kept at it, trying to snag the stick. Meanwhile the pack paced back and forth, ever patient for their leader to pull their prey out into the open. She was there for hours, growing hungry and tired and more scared as the day wore on. But she wasn’t gonna give up. She was safe as long as she didn’t go anywhere… right?

End of Part 8