PONI

by The Crimson Harbinger

To Save A Life...

Author's Note:

Surprise! Another chapter! And only days after the one that took a month to complete. The next chapter may take a little longer, though I am currently working on it and hope to have it out around next week. Enjoy!

There are certain subtleties in life that one doesn't always notice at first glance. Take, for example, the butterfly. It's wings may look bare and paper-like, but look closely and sure enough you'll see that its' wings are actually covered in tiny hairs. In Kix's current position, however, it was the weight of the gravity hammer. When carried dormant, the weapon feels heavy and clumsy, but the second you clutch the trigger mechanism and bring it down upon your enemies, it becomes almost weightless.

Kix noticed that right as he brought the hammer ruthlessly down on his unfortunate victim, a brute minor foolish enough to stray from his pack to investigate a strange sound. The entire scenario had been a ruse, of course, with Kix using tin garbage cans and their contents to produce a soft rattling. Those cans, however, where now flattened as the hammer forced the brute to become one with the pavement, driving him into a deep, ape-shaped crater in the road. Admittedly, it wasn't the quietest way to take the brutes down, and Kix was sure that the rest of the now-deceased brutes' pack had heard the commotion, but such methods were extremely effective and minimized his time spent in combat.

"And stay down!" Kix added, bringing the hammer back up to the carry position. Too many times had he killed a brute only to have an infection form reanimate it just to kill it again. While the flood's ways seemed disgusting and rather extreme, they were effective. To be completely honest, he was glad that just Covenant had come here and not Flood. To him, it would be just one more thing keeping him from leaving and helping out with the war where it really mattered: Earth. He wondered how the war was going back home as he leapt over a carriage that lay overturned in the ally before continuing down the backstreet. He missed his home planet, though he wasn't actually born on Earth herself. He wondered how the rest of his squad was holding up, and whether they were searching for him. He gasped suddenly as he saw the ground rushing up to meet him, and a split second before he made contact he extended his arms to halt his fall. He cursed silently as he stood back up, and kicked the bucket he had tripped over aside. He shook his head solemnly and continued. No matter how much he wanted to go home, how desperately he wanted to help with the war effort, he had to focus on the task at hand. He had to stop the brutes. And speaking of which, he had seen them come this way, and, sure that they had heard the gravity hammer, hoped that they would come back the way they left. And after a few moments of patient waiting, they did.

Kix heard them long before he saw them, sniffing and growling in Jiralhanae as they walked quickly down the road far ahead of him as he crouched behind a tall hedge next to a floral shop. He clutched the hammer tightly, waiting for the brutes to pass within striking range, and his current position reminded him of the garden where he had attacked Twilight and Pinkie. He was truly sorry for what he had done to them, but talking to them didn't really put him in the mood for apologizing. He shook his head. He was losing focus again.

No more distractions. He decided mentally. No more thinking about the past or Earth. Only think about now, about the brutes.

"Psst!"

Ah great! What now?

"Hey, can you give me a hoof here? Or whatever you call those things." She whispered. Kix shifted around to see a light-blue unicorn trapped next to a wall behind some rubble from a nearby building that had collapsed in the phantom's strike. Her blue and white mane reminding him a little bit of toothpaste. Maybe she was a dentist, but how she had become trapped there was beyond Kix, so he didn't even try to understand it. Instead, he just decided to give her a helping hand.

"Sure." He said as he shuffled over to her. "And they're called 'hands'." He informed, placing them on the stone, and with a mighty heave, rolled it away.

"Thanks," She said, crouching down beside him. "My name's Colgate, by the way." He would have made a really funny toothpaste-related joke right there and then, if it weren't for the approaching brutes. Darn Covenant always ruining his fun. Perhaps another time. With the way things were going, he figured he would be here for a long time.

"Kix," He said, returning to his spot behind the hedge. "The name's Kix."

"What kind of name is that?"

"It's mine, okay?" He said, careful not to raise his voice.

"I was only kidding," She said, remaining where she was. "What are those things?" She gestured in the general direction of the oncoming aliens.

"Brutes. Nasty, violent Covies. The worst in my opinion."

"What are Covies?" She asked.

"It's short for 'Covenant'. They're an alien faction, believing they're on some 'religious quest' to destroy the entire universe."

"Why would they do that?" She said, shocked.

"No idea." Kix replied. "Universal supremacy or something like that. Becoming gods mainly."

"What do they want here?"

"You sure do ask a lot of questions, don't you?" Colgate blushed and shrugged, and Kix shook his head. "But back to your question. Most likely?" Kix ran through the possible things that the Covenant could be after here, and he found only one. "Me."

"Why would they want you?" She asked, crawling over to him.

"Hold that thought," He whispered quickly, peering over the hedge. The brutes were almost right on top of them, and they had picked up the pace, obviously sensing something wrong. Kix pointed to the wall where he had found her. "Stay there and stay down." Colgate nodded and did as he said. The brutes were now just a few yards away, drawing nearer with every second, then a few feet, and then... they stopped.

"What is it brother?" The brute on the left asked, not bothering to keep his voice down. "Why are we halting when we could be gutting?"

"I heard something," The right brute growled, scanning the sides of the street up and down. A look of disbelief crossed the brutes face moments before his head perked up.

"I smell it as well." The first said, sniffing the air, then suddenly pointed directly at the hedge. "There!"

"Throw a grenade!" The second brute commanded, obviously the one in charge, while the first drew a spike grenade, and right as it left his hand, Kix vaulted over the hedge, hammer ready, and charged the brutes, taking one down instantly with blade on the back of the hammer before finishing the other with a mighty slam. The last brute fell to the ground as the grenade went off in the background, it's barrage of lethal spikes ricocheting harmlessly off the surrounding buildings.

"Only two groups left," Kix made a verbal note, returning to the hedge, which had been blown in half by the grenade. "You okay Colgate?" He had his back to her, scanning the street for any other brutes. He didn't get an answer. "Colgate?" He said, turning around. He wish he hadn't. Colgate lay propped up against the wall, her deep blue eyes huge and full of fear as she stared down at the long spike protruding from her chest, which was heavily rising and falling. A steady stream of blood trickled down form the wound as the hammer fell from Kix's hands and he rushed over to her.

"Oh. My. Faust." Colgate breathed heavily, her voice rasping in pain and fear. "Kix, I-I'm-"

"You're gonna be okay," He reassured her, unclipping a can of biofoam from his belt. "This will help, but it's gonna sting." He popped the lid off, and bracing her shoulder with his left hand, sprayed the foam around the spike. He felt her body tense up as he sprayed, but she never uttered more than a soft moan. Once he had sprayed a good amount of the can onto her wound, he set the can down. The next step wasn't going to be easy for him or her, but he had to get the spike out.

"I'm going to have to pull it out now, okay? Are you ready?" She nodded, fear of the coming pain evident in her eyes. "Alright," He grabbed the spike with his right hand, making sure not to move it. "Here we go in three, two, one..." He pulled his hand back, Colgate screaming as it left her body. He quickly grabbed the can and sprayed some more foam into the wound before capping it and returning it to his side.

"See? That wasn't so bad." Kix said as he tossed the spike away. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah, thanks." She smiled weakly, grasping her chest with her left foreleg.

"Don't mention it." Kix said, helping her sit up. "But you're gonna need more than biofoam for that. Do you know where we can get you some help?" Colgate shook her head.

"Most ponies fled to the castle before the attack." She moaned in pain as she spoke. "That's, that's probably our best bet."

"Then that's where you need to go. Can you walk?"

"I, I don't think so." She inhaled sharply as she clutched her wound, staining her hoof with a mixture blood and foam. "Kix, I-I don't think I'm going to-"

"Hey," Kix shushed her, "don't talk like that. You're gonna be fine. If you can't walk," He placed his arms under her, "then I'll carry you." He finished, gently lifting Colgate off the ground and into his arms, holding her close to his chestplate.

"Is this good?" He asked, making sure he wasn't hurting her.

"Yeah, Kix. Thank you." She rested her head against his chest, her voice growing softer as Kix took off, keeping his pace slow enough so she wouldn't bounce in his arms but quick enough to minimize their time in the open. Kix was vulnerable, and he was sure the brutes would take advantage of that. He had to get her to the castle without being spotted. Luckily for him, the streets were tight-knit and winding, and he was heading away from the direction the brutes went. He maneuvered around any obstacles in his path, praying silently that he wasn't lost when he had to find new routes around collapsed buildings and burning carts, but he never stopped moving forward, constantly checking on Colgate to make sure she was alright. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of winding streets and back roads, he caught sight of the castle's main gate.

"Stay with me Colgate," He spoke quickly, "you're gonna be alright. We're almost there." He went up to the gate and, with no other way to open it, kicked it open. He hurried up the castle steps, careful not to shake her too much, and reached the castle doors. He attempted to kick them open, but to no avail.

"Hey!" He yelled, not caring if the brutes heard him. "Open up! I got a wounded mare out here!" It was a desperate and rather childish move on Kix's part, but he didn't care. After all, he was holding an injured, possibly dying mare in his arms. "Hey!" He kept shouting until a guard finally opened the door and quickly ushered them in before closing and locking the door again.

"She needs medical attention." Kix told the guard, who immediately pointed them towards a room marked with a red cross, which lay at the other end of the main hall. The circular room was crowded with ponies, all who gazed at Kix in shock and horror and, upon seeing Colgate in his arms, quickly stepped aside, allowing him to effortlessly cross the room. He was instantly met by a swarm of doctors and nurses when he arrived, who hurriedly told him to set her gently on the stretcher they had brought, and then rushed her away down the hall before he could say a word. He watched her go for as long as he could, before turning and leaving the way he came, the ponies in the hall still parted and ever-silent as they watched him go, the guard who let him in opening the door once more to let him back out into the city.

Kix silently made his way back through the streets, unable to get Colgate out of his head. She was just an innocent pony who got caught in the crossfire, and yet he felt like she was something more.

Oh no, He thought stubbornly, I am NOT getting feelings for a pony. Though somewhere deep inside, he knew he was lying. He stopped at a corner to get his bearings and re-focus his thoughts. He was just a soldier who was following orders, and a pony happened to get hurt in the process. Things like that happen all the time.

I mean, it's not like I wanted her to get hurt. Kix told himself as he took off, following a new trail of debris that one of the final brute packs had left behind. Why they were making such a mess was unknown to him, but then again, everything that had happened so far was a mystery. Like how a phantom and so many brutes had managed to survive the crash, or how he himself had survived.

"Well, if I survived, it's not surprising that they did too. At least it was only one phantom." And so he continued after the brutes, not thinking anything more of it.

Comments

[Clicker]

I don't think a ODST would give his name away, I think its clasified.

[DarthMalentai]

... At least it was only one phantom."

YOU DON'T AY THAT! DON'T JINX YOURSELF!

[DarthMalentai]

4776832 They have designated names so maybe that is his... or maybe he just doesn't give a shit if others know.

[Clicker]

4808819 ONI kills people who gives away classified information, even if it is just a name.