Chapter 45
Spirit ran as fast as her hooves could carry her, and when that wasn't enough, she brought her little wings into the equation as well. She needed to be fast, that was non-negotiable. As much as the execution of ‘Rot’ would complete their objective and open the path for reinforcements, being buried under several tonnes of rock in the process is not a preferable outcome.
She could hear the terrible sound of metal rending flesh growing ever quieter behind her as she moved further and further away from the carnage of her Mentor. Some small part of her felt sorry for the changelings sent against Six. Surely they knew it was suicide, right? If they did, the aural pressure of those above them overwhelmed those feelings.
Dashing through abandoned cavern after cavern, Spirit didn’t stop to smell the roses planted in the small gardens littering the various outcroppings some no doubt called home. Spirit nearly tripped over a discarded ball and pile of toys as she sprinted round the corner and towards her destination. She could faintly sense the presence of a more powerful aura dead ahead, most likely the changeling in charge of executing or overseeing ‘Rot’.
Slowing her pace and calming her breathing, Spirit assumed a low crouch as she slowly approached the tunnel's exit. The sounds of orders being barked in changeling tongue now audible to her insectile ears that twitched in response.
“Come on! We don’t have much time, the Demon could be here any second!” A changeling wearing some sort of officer's cap yelled out towards a much lower drone before pulling out a flask and taking a swig from it.
Spirit began inspecting the room and saw barrel after barrel of unknown contents piled up all around the room. Watching from her position, she began to study the movements of the changelings below her. There was only a hoofful now as she watched them finish up whatever it was they were doing with the barrels before heading off into a far tunnel. Stepping forward to get a better look, the ground beneath her hoof broke off and fell to the cavern below. Its impact upon the stone reverberated throughout the cavern.
“Leave now. I’ll deal with it myself.” Spirit heard the officer speak out after several long moments as she listened to one last pair of hoofsteps retreating into the far tunnel.
“You can come out now, Demon. If your going to kill me, at least give me the honor of looking you in the eye before you do so!“ The changeling yelled out in Equestrian as he unsheathed a sword from his side.
Seeing that stealth was no longer an option, Spirit lept out from the tunnel and landed several hooves before the officer, her own blade at the ready as well.
“So you’re the hiveless I’ve heard so much about.” The changeling began as he…sheathed his sword? What? “I would offer you a drink, but I doubt I have any left after today.”
Spirit didn’t respond and kept her blade at the ready. The changeling noticed this and gave a single chuckle. “Yeah, I get it, mortal enemies and all that but honestly, I couldn’t care less about that now. Right now I believe we have a common enemy, and I’m not talking about your Demon.” The changeling pulled his flask out again to take a sip, only to find it empty. “Ahh, thought so. Names Curxe by the way, sure those memories you’ve stolen should have me in there somewhere.”
Spirit didn’t dare take her eyes off the way too casual Changeling as she searched her mind for the ling in question.
‘V.O.P.S ; Senior Agent Curxe ; Known friend, compatriot, and V.O.P.S handler of current Venator ‘Mobius’ ; Alcoholic.’
Her mind spat out many more snippets of information at her, but it was all inconsequential when compared to his relationship with the Venator. She couldn’t stop the widening of her eyes and the quickening of her breath. Such a reaction did not go unnoticed by her current company.
“All good things, I hope? Anyways, you don’t like me and I sure as Tartarus don’t like you, but right now, if you don’t want the changeling race to die out, you should listen to me and put that sword down. I just want to talk.”
“Why should I trust you?” Spirit hissed out quietly.
“Because.” Spirit gasped and suddenly dropped her weapon as an overwhelming aural order smashed into her mind. “If I wanted you dead we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Curxe responded quite nonchalantly as he began rummaging around in a nearby barrel.
Shaking her mind clear to recover, Spirit gritted her teeth and attempted to steel her mind further. “Fine, I’ll bite.”
“Lovely,” Curxe called out as he ceased his rummaging and pulled out another flask which he promptly took a swig from before offering it to Spirit. She refused, making him shrug and take another gulp. “So, as you may already know, the current Overqueen of the hive is…” He rolled his hoof, “less than desirable.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“Yeah, well, unlike a majority of my comrades, I swore an oath to the Empress, not Chrysalis, and frankly she doesn’t deserve my loyalty anymore. Not after she condemned my friend too.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
“Right, yes. Well, since you’ve decided to support the ponies, you must know of their pertinacity for friendship, correct?”
“After what you did at Canterlot, I doubt that ‘pertinacity’ is in high supply.”
“The cost of having an incompetent leader and a blind friend, I’m afraid. Anyway, that is why I wish to speak with you, and for you to pass on a message to your superiors. Preferably a superior that will listen, as I doubt that flying ball of hate you call Six would be talking with me right now.”
“What would you expect?! You killed our friends!”
“You have done the same to me and countless others here in the hive! We both have blood on our hooves, but that does not mean what I’m trying to do here isn’t just! So are you going to listen, or should I just order your hearts to stop already?”
“…fine.”
“Good, now I don’t have much time if I want to keep my cover, so I’ll make this brief. ‘Rot’ here must be executed or they will know something is wrong, but I’ll leave a path unscathed to help your reinforcements come. Should I, however, detect even a lick of you not holding up your end of the baragain, I will collapse it and bury them all down here, capiche?” He gave Spirit a look that she returned with some hesitation. She didn’t like making a deal with the enemy, but it’s not like she really had a choice.
“Now, let’s get into the meat of things. I have friends…many friends who are equally upset with the Regime. They will be willing to help you with the coming peace in exchange for two things. “
“An agreement that there will be no interference from the ponies in the organisation of our new government… and that the Venator be granted amnesty and immunity.” Spirit sputtered
“Nopony would allow that! Least of all Six, let alone Celestia and Luna!” Curxe sighed heavily.
“Was a long shot anyway…Fine, forget that clause just… allow my friend a fair chance at life. He’s as blind as the rest of them, but I know he will see the error of his ways if I can just talk to him before he’s butchered by that Demon.”
“Your Venator killed my friend, killed Six’s friend!”
“You have done the same to me to all of us here at the hive! We never hurt any of the ponies till your *Demon* massacred my friends' battalion! All following deaths are her fault as much as they are the queens! So don’t pass the blame on us when you’re equally at fault for their deaths!” Curxe stared the now crouching Spirit down as his much more powerful aura forced her to the ground.
Taking a breath, he weakened his grip on her mind.
“Just send it up the chain and I’ll know your answer, but ‘til then, I must remain your enemy in the eyes of the Queen.” Curxe turned and made his way towards the dark tunnel where the others had left minutes before. “If they accept, I’ll be in touch soon, until then.” He lit his horn and closed his eyes. “You have 3 minutes to get you and your Demon back to the main entrance. May the Empress forgive me for this.”
A large wave of aural pressure pressed over Spirit and all throughout the Firaxis hive. Its energy compressing a single word into the ears of all who were near.
‘Execute’
“Good luck, and may the Empress forgive us all.” Was the last Curxe said before he disappeared into the tunnels leaving a scrambling Spirit to find and warm Six.
Six gave her wings a hard flap causing the green blood that had accumulated along her feathers to fly off and splash onto the ground below. Her armored feathers now bear a visible tinge of green along their sharp edges.
Letting out a deep breath, Six didn’t have time to process the carnage that now surrounded her, ‘Rot’ wouldn’t wait on her ruminations. She had a mission, and her objective was only a few short steps away.
The Engines puffed and contracted and groaned with sounds more akin to that of a living, breathing creature's internal organs instead of what the name ‘Engine’ would suggest. Large red sacks of unknown contents lined every wall of the chamber as small red veins connected them all in a massive spider web of red. Small sparks of red-colored lightning jumped between the hanging bulbs triggering their movements.
The whole room resembled a creature's lung, and it left the Spartan frozen in her tracks. A temperature warning suddenly appearing on her visor snapped her out of the stupor as she read the external temperature exceeded the boiling point of water. The blood that still stuck to her armor began to boil off and turn to mist triggering the Spartan to act.
She needed to destroy these sacks to complete her objective, but slicing and dicing each individual bulb would take too long. She needed to find a way to stop this Engine in its entirety and fast. Spirit mentioned during the briefing that this… contraption (if you could even call it that) needed love to be fed into it constantly to keep it working efficiently. And should that supply be interrupted, or better yet destroyed, it would cause the whole system to collapse.
Looking around the boiling room for anything that seemed vaguely important enough to be said love intake, and that pulsing pink pillar in the center of the room looked promising.
Walking up to the pillar, Six watched the temperature outside her armor soar. Yeah, if it generated this much heat, it was most definitely something important. Flaring her wings and bringing her feathers to bear.
Six slowly…ever so slowly sunk them into the pulsing pink pillar of highly energetic love. Her shield began to flare and lose power as the burning liquid love began to seep out of the edges of her cuts. All around her, the sacs started to twitch and pulse with higher frequency like a panicking animal with nowhere to run.
With her feathers now firmly slicing into the pillar and shield draining, Six pushed as deep as she could before slicing backward with all the force her augmented muscles could muster.
The sound of ripping flesh tore through the entire hive as a waterfall of boiling love cascaded down onto the floor. The sacs lining the walls pulsed faster and faster and faster before ripping themselves apart. Half-processed love and incomplete sulfur fell to the ground. Both compounds mixed into a soup of chemicals and toxic fumes that began to permeate the air.
Six’s shield ceased in their drainage but did not yet recharge, the heat and energy of the liquid reaching her knees preventing it.
“Si- Six!” Came a yell from behind marred with coughs.
Turning around, Six watched a choking Spirit limp into view, ankle-deep in the chemical soup. The Spartan could see the weakness in her hooves and quickly, before she collapsed, dashed over to support her fellow Spartan.
“We- *Cough* we need to go *Hack, Cough, Wheeze* Quickly!” The Changeling hissed out, her eyelids beginning to droop. “C-couldn’t stop *Cough* Rot. Found *Wheeze* turncoat…entrance cavern is s-safe… Empress, c-can’t… breathe…” Spirit was beginning to lose consciousness because of the fumes, her body unable to find any breathable particles in the polluted air.
Six’s heart rate began to quicken as she listened to her partner’s strained whispers. Before Spirit even finished her plea, the Spartan had thrown the changeling onto her back and began sprinting back the way she came. What she said could be analyzed later. Right now, the health of her fellow Spartan mattered more than anything in the world.
As the fumes lessened, Spirit’s breathing began to normalize, her consciousness returning. She blinked once, twice, then thrice as wind rushed past her face, the fog that clouded her mind cleared…and she began to panic. Their time was about to run out.
“Faster Six! It’s about to bl-“ *BOOM* The ground began to shake below them as the sounds of explosions throughout the hive echoed all around them. The walls started to crack as the tunnels began to strain and buckle under the intense vibrations. They were so close to safety now, but something had to go wrong.
Six’s half-power shields flared once more, choosing now as the perfect time to recharge. Spirit yelled in pain as her chitin was suddenly burned from the energy, making her reflexively roll away from the searing heat and onto the shaking floor.
Six skidded to a halt as she turned around and saw two things that made her heart quicken. Several meters behind her laid the burned Spirit clutching her underbelly tightly and groaning in pain. And just behind that was the fast-approaching collapse of the tunnel. She needed to be quick or they would both be buried under several hundred tonnes of rock.
Running back, Six grabbed one of Spirit’s hooves and galloped as fast as she could back down the tunnel, dragging the injured changeling behind her. It wasn’t pleasant for Spirit, but luckily (if you can call it lucky), the pain of the burn served as the perfect distraction. But now, comfort was the least of their concerns as the tunnel collapse behind them began to catch up.
Even with all her enhanced speed and the adrenaline pumping throughout the Spartan’s system, the collapse was gaining on them. The combination of having to drag an injured changeling as well as dealing with the uneasy footing of a shattering tunnel proved too much for the pair to outrun.
The light was growing brighter and brighter. They were so close to making it. But looking back at the rapidly approaching collapse, Six realized that together… they wouldn’t make it.
Six had a choice to make…leave Spirit and survive, or keep running and hope for a miracle. The collapse was beginning to catch up as explosion after explosion after explosion began to tear through the rest of the Hive. She needed to make a decision now!
Then a third option presented itself to her as she looked back and knew what to do. Spirit would be crushed, but she might, just might, live.
Gritting her teeth, Six sucked in as much air as she could before throwing the injured spartan in her hooves with all her might towards the light at the end of the tunnel.
Six could see the shocked look in Spirit’s eyes for but a split second as she flew through the air before the ceiling came crashing down onto her, burying the Spartan under the remnants of Firaxis Hive.
Thanks Always Tired for the editing bro.
Stats
Page generated in 0.039 seconds
Total duration
987 users online
395,014 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Wonder how damaged she'll be after that. Spartan armor can take a beating, especially with the shield, but I imagine she'll be pretty injured for a while.
At least Spirit is (mostly) okay, don't want best bug to get hurt too much.
I am feeling some halo 3 vibes from the ending of this chapter. Six's armor will definitely be locked up and then pulled out of the rubble and come rising back up to her hooves, at least that's what I think will happen in the next chapter.
Six be like: i.imgflip.com/40xpal.gif
Crispy boogs
11327499
How the fuck did you get ahold of my notes?
the king knows what to say allways.
this is going to be a intresting turn off events
11327554
I Swear I didn't!!! It just reminded me of the scene from the beginning of the Halo 3 campaign.
Sorry ling but those deaths lie on the queens hooves as well
11327556
It's too bad they couldn't scoop up some spare love during all that. It's sorely needed..
Great chapter. Armor lock is a great ability. No matter if unsupported planet re-entry and a bad case of Sandcastle collapse over you on the Beach vacation
11327554
*ODST droppod in your backyard*
11327436
the shields are going to blunt the collapses initial kinetic impact, her armor & strength are sufficient to dig herself out.
after all we all saw six fall from the long night of solace, which was stationed in low/ high orbit, survive with a wounded arm & limping walk. with no damage to the armor itself
if a fall from orbit couldn't kill her, then a collapsing hive sure as hell wont.
11327436
It's more than that. The story has made a point several times of pointing out that the armor is still made of the same space-age materials it was back on Reach. Which means the ponies probably can't reproduce it. So if the armor takes damage, or the electronics inside get fried, Six will be left with progressively less support and protection. Heck, even if the armor survives, it's got strength-enhancing internals and life support gear. That would need regular maintenance to work properly.
Six has managed so far because she hasn't really pushed herself to the limit. Now, however, things have changed. Without some form of maintenance support, she's going to find herself having less and less of her old suit to depend on. Eventually? Shields, strength enhancing exoskeletal support, active HUD, sensor systems... the list goes on. She'll always be dangerous. But it's fair to say the armor is an important part of what makes her so dangerous. Replace it with conventional armor, and she's a lot less effective.
Of course, having said all that, another thought occurs to me. Where, in all this madness, is Twilight? Think about that for a moment. The pre-eminent sorceress of her generation who is also a magical prodigy, and the element of magic. Apparently not in the fight. The ponies are up to something. And who knows? Twilight might have a solution to Six's irreplaceable hardsuit...
11346705
Yet it's completely unnecessary.
Armour lock?
Halo 2, baby!!
Uh huh.....sure. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure
Curxe's logic is flawed. The changeling and pony deaths are squarely on Chrysalis's hooves. Ponies didn't know they were just being taken to be used as food, and even then, killing the kidnapper is preferable. So, Six was doing the logical thing to do given the situation and current knowledge. Curxe is just mad the ponies have a better weapon.