Haylo: Crimson

by Zarius9998

Ain't no Rest for the Wicked

Pip groggily raised his ringing head. The first blow was dizzying, then the second had sent him, along with the door, to the ground meters away from the stoop. He thought she had said something to him, but was still too out of it to hear what it was by the time she was done...wait, was that Vinyl talking to Discordia?

Suddenly, his instincts told him that staying in his spot on the ground would result in severe pain in a moment, so he flung his body right and dodged a heavy hoof by inches.

"Slick, now keep it going!"

Pip rolled quickly to his rear hooves, fore hooves up and ready to retaliate. He really didn't want to fight this Artemis imitate, but she really gave him no choice in the matter, so...

"Hya!" Pip blocked a right jab, then responded with a powerful right of his own, except this one had more force than a train behind it.

Diana, completely unsuspecting, literally flew backwards until she broke through the wall beside the now empty doorway. The two pony spectators stared at Pip in shock as bits of broken wood and concrete broke and fell into the new gaping hole.

Discordia, on the other hoof...was rolling on her back and laughing in sheer delight, "Oh WOW she did NOT see that coming!"

Pip straightened up and glared at the damage he had done, thinking that perhaps he had overdone it. The thing with some of the newer Spartans is that they tend to specialize in a certain area, like strength, speed, agility, accuracy, or intelligence. Pip was one of the stronger types, as just proven. Artemis, he thought, was probably more of an agility and speed fighter. Diana...well, she supposedly wasn't a Spartan and Pip had yet to asses her abilities.

"Fuck, that will leave quite a mark..." Diana hopped out of the hole casually, as though nothing had happened, and rubbed the cloth around her chin and muzzle, "You're strong, yes? This will be fun."

Discordia grinned devilishly while Cross looked on in fear and Vinyl...stared wide-eyed into space. Nopony noticed this though...

Pip motioned for Diana to make her move, continuing to glare daggers with a clearly annoyed scowl. She happily obliged and ran at him again, prepared to completely knock him to the floor until the sun went down! Quickly, only a step away from making contact, Diana slammed a hoof and swung her upper body low, spinning on that hoof and starting a round-house kick of epic proportions. Fortunately, Pip anticipated this and caught her hoof, though he was forced to skid backwards a slight bit.

"Well..." Pip grunted and began to force Diana back, lifting, "Damnit." The aggressing mare suddenly found herself flipping through the air with no sense of up or down, 'He's really much more of a problem than I thought...I never knew he was so powerful!' Diana thought somewhat disappointedly—in herself, that is—as she finally righted herself and began the rapid descent back to Earth.

Discordia took a deep breath, the power within her already building from this minor source, "Ahhh...conflict, disorder...it just brings a smile to my face and a..." she lifted a leg, staring at it's new and temporarily metallic and twisted form, "spring to my step!"

Pip rolled his eyes at the cheesy joke before bringing his attention back to the mare in front of him which seemed hell bent on pounding him into the dirt. She was already poised to slam a hoof down upon his head, which he now had no time to dodge due to being distracted by Discordia. Mentally slapping himself for this Rookie mistake, he raised both fore hooves and blocked the attack, though he did almost collapse from buckling knees. As soon as Diana started to let-up, he forced his stance upwards and flung her hoof away, sending her off balance with worried and apologetic stare in her eyes.

"Well buck, this will hurt..."

And hurt it did. The force behind the following blow momentarily knocked Diana's lights out. When they came back on, she was back inside her room and a third hole was in the wall, 'Ugh...thank Celestia for this body, else I'd be a sack of dead meat!...I need to stop underestimating his strength...'

Again, Pip and the three spectators watched as Diana stepped out of the new hole, rubbing her cheek as the cloth around her muzzle betrayed an oddly excited smile, "So, where'd you learn to fight? Surely not this army?"

"I t'ght meself." Pip answered, "Bu' she go' me star'ed."

Diana hopped down to the round again, shaking her limbs out and hopping a few times before falling into a fighting stance, "'She?' Who is 'she'?"

"Somepony tha' I, an' a lo' o' others, rea'ly miss."

Diana shifted her stance, but her gaze gave away nothing. Everything after that remained silent as the two combatants stared eachother down and their spectators wondered what unspoken words were being spoken between them...until Diana actually spoke them.

"Boohoo, wah-wah-wah, die." Without warning, and with one sudden and fluid movement, Diana produced a small weighted knife and flung it at Pip.

Cross and Vinyl didn't even see it. Pip didn't have time to react to it. Discordia, though, did.

Pip closed his eyes and flinched, waiting for the inevitable burning which would ensue...but it never came. After waiting for about ten seconds, he reopened his eyes to find Discordia holding the knife with a disappointed stare, Cross and Vinyl frantically looking back and forth between where Discordia once stood and where she ended up, and Diana, fore hooves crossed, held upside down by the draconequus's tail.

"Really now, did you HAVE to ruin the fun, Diana?" the spirit of Discord asked sadly, "It was shaping up to be a good one, too! So now where can I find some good 'ol craziness? I don't see a Pinkie Pie around anymore, do you?"

Pip was still trying to process what just happened, and Diana refused to speak, but Vinyl finally felt every last thing click into it's place at that instant.

"BY CELESTIA'S BEARD, I GOT IT!" All eyes turned to the DJ as she jumped in joy, "I know how to make EVERPONY...and—ahem—everything, happy!"

Cross, finally succumbing to her anxiety, charged at Pip with tears flowing freely, "Huh? Wha's tha' Viny-OOMF!"

Cross tackled her ever-loving coltfriend to the ground and smothered him in nuzzles, kisses, and hooves, while he tried, and failed, to calm her down. Discordia, at that same time, let Diana fall to the ground and turned to the DJ with an interested gleam in her slightly mismatched eyes.

"Really now? How's that?"

The white unicorn smiled brightly and flipped down her shades, "Ever wanted to give a hoof at co-DJing?"

-------------

Burning...inside and out. Everything just WAS burning. From the tips of my hooves to the tips of my ears. Then came the pulsing. My heart slowly and painfully began to wake, each beat sending a shockwave of needles, fire, and energy through every inch of my body. At first, I couldn't see or hear anything, but slowly, ever so slowly, it all started to come back. First was a loud and obnoxious ringing, then something faint yet heavy started to fade it's way in, thumping rather meekly. Following that was something raspy and which resembled an old, sputtering car.

"Ugh, is that me...?" Another torrent of coughs, "I sound like a WRECK." With a sudden twitch, my upper body flung upwards and a loud, pent-in gasp escaped my lips. After allowing a couple calming, yet somewhat painful breaths to heave through my lungs, I noticed I still had Pip's helmet in hoof, so I began messing with the transmission systems on it to see if I can find anypony near a radio.

"Hello? Anypony out there...?" I paused, hearing nothing but static as I waited for an answer. While I waited, I surveyed the construction room...or rather, what was left. Practically everything was either in pieces, on fire, or a combination of the two, "Anypony...? Hello?"

Suddenly, much to my delight, there was a response, "Hzzz-Hello? Artemis?"

A grin slipped across my muzzle, "Sup, fool?" I forced myself to my hooves, grimacing from the massive amounts of disagreement my body threw at me as I did so.

"Arzzzemis! You're azzzive!" Widow cried happily. The connection was a little frizzed, but it worked at least.

"Found Pip's helmet." I stated nonchalantly, peeking inside at the visor to find a timer, much to my dismay, counting down with flashing red lights all over the place, "Boosted signal like hell." I gave a small laugh, wondering how the buck I managed to keep the helmet during the whole explosion.

"Szzz-so you're ganna m-ffzk it out?"

I peered at the countdown timer again, noticing I had about thirty five seconds until I became little more than a scorch mark...so I started to run...only to nearly fall onto my face as my legs refused to comply, "Dunno...got thirty seconds left."

As I started at a decent hobble for the same doorway I entered through, stepping around debris everywhere, Widow screamed her response, "Zzzzen you get your scrawny flank up and rffftzz like hell!"

Deciding that any more pain and denial my body went through at that point would be acceptable payment for the possibility of making it out, I ignored each complaint sent my way and started at a full sprint down the slightly curving hallway. A couple seconds later, I lifted the helmet to my muzzle and replied, "Way ahead of you."

After that, I forced all other distractions out of mind. I'm sure Widow shouted at me more, but I had to stay attuned to running and ignoring the burning and stinging that came with every little movement. Heck, every hoof step sent a shockwave that could rival a 10.5 on the rhictor all the way up my leg and through my spine...but I ignored it. I had to make it home. I HAD to see everypony again...I had to finally get over myself and put out.

'To think, it took my near certain death to build-up the courage to break away from my fear of loss...' I thought with a mental laugh, 'And finally decide to tell her what I really want...how I really feel.'

A dazzling display of light amidst the shadow caught my attention as I started to round a corner, so I brought the helmet again to my muzzle, "I see the exit."

I caught a glimpse of my remaining time before lowering it again, though, and didn't like what I saw...

'I'm nit going to live...' I thought, admittedly disappointedly, 'Damn! At least if this was an execution I would get a last request!' Even with this realization, I continued to push on, running hard and fast, the only sounds reaching my ears were my rapidly and painfully beating heart, my shaky and heavy breaths, and my loud hoof falls. I discarded the helmet to allow me to run without any deterrent, 'My only regret...' I burst though the broken blast doors, noticing that they must have been shaken off by the Scarab explosion. Unfortunately, that was where I ran out of...everything. I was running on fumes as it was, so there was just nothing left inside of me to keep my body going. I stumbled, almost falling in exhaustion, and heaved over, gasping for breath...my last breaths, 'Is that I'm still a bucking virgin.'

Figuring they were watching, I flung my head back up and flashed 'em one of my best smiles yet. Then...

-------------

"Well, nothing."

Halsey stared at the small red Hologram before her. She knew that it couldn't really lie to her, that it only knew what information had been supplied and programmed into her, so she wasn't expecting to be outright told that Artemis had escaped...but she was also hoping for a hole, for a falsity in the story which might have held Artemis's true fate.

"I see...I guess we are done here, then." Halsey sighed, "I will review this later. Any last words before you're gone?" Halsey hovered her hand over the erase button again, staring at the Hologram expectantly.

After a couple moments of thought the tired-looking pony-projection yawned and waved a hoof, eyes closed "Nah, I think it's time to get laid to rest, personally..." Halsey nodded and finally depressed the button, but then the hologram spoke one last time, "But she will never rest, no matter how much she wants to."

Halsey narrowed her eyes at the now empty projection platform, "Even an artificial construct, you always like messing with our heads."

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...

...

...//booting up

...

Systems Running//

//Warning!!!\\

Final Level Security!

Please enter passcode now_

...

...

...

*Pass_hnt—

"I am a substance. An over dosage of my liquid form is fatal, and prolonged physical exposure to my solid form can cause severe skin damage. I am highly and easily addictive, and once one becomes dependent on me, quitting results in death within a few days. My liquid form is found almost throughout the entire world, and I am present within most food and drink. My chemical makeup is dihydrogen monoxide.

I am more commonly known as _____."

Please enter passcode now_

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A/N—If you can solve the riddle, keep the answer in mind! It'll be relevant in the near future... >:P Also...DO NOT TELL OTHERS THE ANSWER OR I WILL END YOU.

Kthnxbai.

Comments

[Silverness]

Oooo another riddle? Nice chapter Zarius

[Zarius9998]

240488
Riddles...I plan for that to be my major "gimmick" in attracting new prey-I-I mean readers.

[Silverness]

240535 I see....I like your idea I keep on thinking I figured it out, but I wont say anything because I know what'll happen if I do

[Shadowstep]

Dihydrogen Monoxide...

...

Ah, I got it.

[Zarius9998]

242415
Beware the dangers of this highly addictive substance! The fact that every last person in the world is addicted to it is horrible and something MUST be done to fix this atrocious problem!

Will you aid us in our effort to rid the world of Dihydrogen Monoxide?

[Shadowstep]

245497
I don't know.. I kinda like Dihydrogen Monoxide. I suppose I can offer some inofficial support.