Close Shave
James Raynor ducked back under cover, narrowly dodging a salvo of hydralisk spines. Quickly reloading his custom C-14 Gauss rifle, he came up from cover to drop the hydralisk that had been gunning for him. The staccato sound of gunfire and the howls of the Zerg filled the dark overcast evening. Tychus Findlay stood by Raynor with his huge minigun giving the air a steady loud buzz as he mowed down as many Zerg as he could see.
James Raynor and his crew had landed with a shuttle on Kemphus Prime, a small planetoid on the edge of the koprulu sector. It was supposed to be a quick stop for fuel and supply, but the Zerg had hit this planet already. The small settlement that they had been heading to was already gone. They had just gotten their distress call out to their ship in orbit, when a flying mutalisk had taken out their com tower. The shuttle they flew in on was destroyed before they could get back to it after discovering the state of the settlement.
A zergling jumped at the gunslot in the bunker trying to claw its way in, a quick triple tap ended that threat but with every one that fell, it seemed dozens more filled the hole that one left.
“Well ol’ buddy,” Tychus said to Raynor between bursts of minigun fire. “Don’t want to be the party crasher, but it looks like this rodeo just might be our last.” A mutalisk fell dead from above to partially cover the bunker with its leathery wings, shaking the dense squat building with its impact. The two men in massive armor didn’t even flinch at the impact.
“Ah, come on Tychus we’ve come back from worse, ‘member that time with the Jukebox?” another dozen zerglings fell. Dozens more still came.
“Now hold on there, Jimmy, there’s a couple things different this time. We ain’t on no train, we don’t have our bikes to make a hasty getaway, and where’s George? Can’t steal a Jukebox proper without some hoity toity CBPMV officer getting in the way, now can we?” The Zerg were making ground now. Zerglings were making it to the bunker in bunches rather than one or two at a time. The steady beating of Hydralisk spines had started to crumble the outer walls of the bunker and an odd one would find its way through the slits in the concrete.
“Maybe you’re right… Damn it.” Raynor’s curse was partially drowned out as all sound was smothered by a literally earth shattering crack as a massive ultralisk burst from the ground a few hundred metres off, and immediately began its way towards them.
Tychus cursed under his breath. “Don’t figure any amount of stimpacks is gonna get us out of this one.” He said. The futility of their situation finally seeping into his voice just a little. The gunfire and the horrific shrieks of the Zerg never stopped.
“It’s been fun ol’ friend.” Raynor said. “Guess we should have just brought our siege tanks and a full crew to grab some gas and dinner huh?” he chuckled darkly at their situation.
The bunker to their immediate left had been overrun, theirs and the one on their right were the only two left standing. The ultralisk knocked zerglings and hydralisks aside as it charged directly at their bunker. The lumbering monstrosity bellowed its rage into the evening air. What had started as a little pit stop would be their end. Or so it would seem.
With no apparent cause, the sky began to brighten as though dawn was swiftly approaching. The Zerg slowed in their approach as though confused with the change. Shortly their assault stopped entirely, allowing the haggard marines in the bunkers a brief chance to rest and glance at the sky as best they could.
The clouds started moving seemingly of their own accord, forming a neat circular hole through which a bright white thing shot down towards the surface at an alarming rate. Whatever the thing was hit the ground with a resounding crack. Without a moment's hesitation the majority of the Zerg Swarm turned its attention to this new threat including the ultralisk, the rest returning to strike at the crumbling bunkers. The light emanating from this thing was so bright that even with the shielding built into every marine's helmet it was too bright to tell what was going on immediately surrounding it from this distance.
“What in the name of all things holy?” Tychus said incredulously, spinning up his minigun to resume fire on the incoming Zerglings as he spoke.
Raynor switched his coms and spoke into his helmet, “Ghost 6 what’re we lookin’ at here?” He drew up from cover to fire at the oncoming attack.
A gravelly voice responded a moment later, “Optical implants must be malfunctioning, thing looks like a ... little horse with wings? It’s got something on its face. Want me to shoot it?”
“Negative, keep it in your sights and be ready, but do not fire until I give the command.” Again he switched his coms, this time to general. “All units, do not fire on the creature designation ‘pony’ unless I give the word.” James spoke through the channel, downing another couple of hydralisks as he did.
Tychus spared a glance towards the pony, the spectacle that met his eyes baffled the giant of man. The light surrounding the thing had dimmed somewhat, allowing a better view of what was going on around it. The little creature out there had slaughtered hundreds of zerglings in the 30 seconds that it had been on the surface. Their bodies were strewn around the area surrounding it, smoldering with flames. Many hydralisks were sending spines at the thing from all directions, but it somehow was avoiding each one. Moving with impossible speed, the creature sped from one hydralisk to another. Each one it came to fell either in a gory mess of broken carapace and blood, or engulfed in flames. A mutalisk spat it’s glaive wurm at the pony. The pony turned its head towards the flying Zerg, and the projectile it had just sent her way. It waited until the wurm was about to make contact then suddenly, with a bright flash, it disappeared. Without warning a loud pop and a burst of light to Tychus’ left drew his attention. The thing had appeared there, and now, being much closer, the light shielding in his helmet better adapted to the brilliant light. The thing was shaped much like a pony, though thicker in the limbs and with a slim barrel. It had a white coat and a brilliantly colored mane and tail. It had its eyes closed, but it’s face and body seemed to indicate that it was a female. It had some sparse golden coverings that reminded Tychus of the Protoss. The thing also had wings and a horn, the latter of which now glowed with an intense light.
“Holy He-” Tychus started to shout but was cut off by a zergling bursting through the weakened bunker wall. The zergling leapt at Tychus, knocking the huge man to the ground, only to be cut down by Raynor.
“Keep it together!” He shouted as he hoisted Tychus to his feet. “We’re not dead yet, and I’ll be damned if you die to a Zergling!” A call from his radio pulled his attention away. The other two marines that were in the bunker with them took point at the gun holes, filling the bunker again with the sound of gunfire.
“Bad news and bad news sir. Lost track of the target, and that ultralisk is on it’s way towards us again.” Ghost 6 reported with an almost bored tone of voice. Steady gunshots accompanied his report. Raynor looked to his left, confirming that the gargantuan monster was on its way, now heading towards the other bunker. The end seemed to be nigh, despite the many Zerg that had fallen at the arrival of the pony.
A loud thud sounded behind the bunker, another to the left, then they saw a mutalisk fall right in front of their bunker, most certainly dead. Many others hit the ground in the instants following, some falling onto zerglings and hydralisks. The Pony thing darted out from its cover behind their bunker and hit the remaining Zerg like a freight train. Zerglings and Hydralisks alike fell faster than the eye could catch.
The Zerg had stopped coming for Tychus and Raynor’s bunker, instead turning to focus on the Pony thing or the bunker on the right. Raynor and the other men in the bunker turned to take shots at the Zerg heading for the other building. The Ultralisk finally made it to the other bunker. It reared up on its hind legs, opening its massive scythe-like mandibles, it dropped its full weight onto the bunker while drawing its mandibles to a close forcefully. The bunker crumbled like a sand castle under the might of the blow. Raynor cursed and Tychus’ face grew dark. Zerglings rushed forward to dig through the rubble to find anything that might have survived. They never made it that far.
The Pony thing had cleared its way through the masses of Zerg and, now airborne, flew into the side of the beast at what had to be supersonic speeds. There was a surge of energy that had to be psionic in nature that burst from where the pony had impacted. The Zerglings that had been rushing to the rubble of the bunker were killed as the wave of psionic energy washed over them. With unnatural agility, the ultralisk threw the pony from its body and turned to face it. The pony was now close enough for Tychus to make out the color of its eyes with his visor enhanced vision. Large eyes with purple irises that burned with a fury more intense than most anything he had ever seen.
The Ultralisk bellowed mightily and lunged forward, intent on breaking the little thing before it. Just as the ultralisk leapt to bring it’s huge mandibles down on the pony thing, it disappeared from in front of the beast and seemed to appear under the belly of the ultralisk. It bent down and delivered a kick to the stomach of the huge monster, then disappeared again. The ultralisk lurched at the impact, pausing in its place. Then tried to turn towards the bunker that the last four men were in, and fell to the earth with a mighty crash.
The scene that Raynor and Tychus stood to behold had to be impossible. One bunker stood. It was badly damaged and the men inside were all wounded to some degree or another. Two other bunkers stood to either side of theirs; one was smashed almost beyond recognizing; the other was standing but they knew it was empty of life. All across the battlefield were countless bodies of Zerg. There had to have been hundreds of mutalisks and hydralisks, not to mention the thousands of zerglings that lay almost carpeting the whole landscape before them. Then there was an Ultralisk, a smoldering hole blown into its side, lying almost right in front of their bunker.
“Hot Damn!” Tychus said in wonder, as he looked across the ravaged field of bodies. His attention was turned away from the carnage by Raynor putting his gauntleted hand up to his helmet, signaling that he was hearing something on the radio.
At first it was nothing but panicked breathing. Then, “Commander!!” a Panicked voice grabbed Raynor's attention away from the carnage before him. “What’s going on out there?! Is anyone still alive?!” A medic from the bunker to their right had survived the ultralisks assault, no doubt due to her heavy body armor.
“Yea, I’m here. It’s over. We’re coming for you, girl. Did anyone else make it?” Raynor's concern for his men showing through his voice.
She got a hold of herself and quickly surmised what she understood of her situation.“Yes sir, Gunnery here got his helmet busted up pretty good but I think he’ll live. Ghost 6’s vitals are still showing up on my HUD, but I haven’t been able to see or hear him.”
“Understood, we’ll be there as soon as we can.” Raynor muted himself on coms then turned to Tychus. The Pony had not been seen since it disappeared from beneath the Ultralisk. Tychus and the other two marines in the bunker were looking out for the creature while careful to not venture out of the relative safety of the concrete building.
“Now where in the Hell did that thing go?” Raynor asked turning to the other men. Then an overpowering sense that someone looking at him made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He turned around slowly and found himself face to face with the pony thing. It only came up to his sternum, though it’s horn came nearly to his shoulders height. It’s face was aggressive and it’s stance matched. It’s golden regalia shone with an untarnished luster, despite the battle that had just raged. It’s mane and tail, a colorful amalgamation of pastel colors, seemed untouched. Jim stood his ground, his weapon ready, but pointed at the ground. He waited with bated breath the seconds ticked by.
Tychus caught sight of Jimmy out of the corner of his eye and turned.
“What the?! Jimmy!” He shouted.
“I see it, Tychus” Raynor hissed, holding his hand back towards Tychus. “Don’t start something with this thing. I think we’d lose.”
Tychus trained his minigun on the Pony despite Jim’s words, but didn’t spin it up. The other two marines followed suit with their C-14 rifles.
The pony remained in its aggressive stance unfazed.
“Thanks for your help back there, but we’re not lookin’ for any trouble. Just leave us and we’ll be on our way.” Jim said slowly, hoping to the high heavens that it could understand some of what he said.
The things horn began to glow dimly and Jim felt something akin to the Protoss’ telepathic touch. Then it spoke.
“Why do these hunt you?” It said, gesturing to the decimated field. It’s voice was calm, smooth, regal even. If Raynor hadn’t just seen it rip through the Zerg as it had, it’s voice may have been soothing. Instead it’s calm voice, coupled with it’s demeanor and words only served to unsettle him.
“The Zerg? They don’t tend to need a reason, they just killed the people in this settlement, then we were unlucky enough to bump into ‘em.” Raynor replied.
The pony thing paused for a moment then, seeming satisfied, relaxed. She stood straighter, her face looking less wrathful and instead sorrowful. The pony looked past the men and to the field of carnage outside. Tychus kept his gun trained on the creature though. After a moment her face hardened, then relaxed into a polite smile.
“I am Princess Celestia of Equus.” She said curtly, bowing ever so slightly.
“Jim. Jim Raynor,” Jim replied. He relaxed slightly. Talking was better than some of the alternatives that he could imagine.
Celestia nodded, then continued, “Some like these came to my world, killed many of My Little Ponies, and tried to spawn more of themselves. I suspected that they might be mindless beasts, as their actions seemed to indicate, but I had so hoped otherwise.” A brief touch of grief crossed her regal features, almost immediately replaced with a righteous furor. “I purged them from my world and now seek their source. Do the ‘Zerg’ originate from this place?” she asked, her voice cordial, yet firm and confidant.
He chanced a glance back at Tychus, whose face was just as shocked as he felt. This pony is a Princess of ‘Equus’, and she wants to kill all the Zerg?
He winced at a shout that sounded in his headpiece, “Commander, are you still there? Did they come back!? Why aren’t you coming yet?” The medic from the other bunker shouted, vying for some kind of hope. Sorry girly, you are gonna have to wait for just a little longer, he thought. Raynor had to speak over her cries trying to keep the Princess from hearing her shouts in the relative quiet.
“Uh, no, your Highness.” Raynor spoke with a halting voice. He was unsure of how to address this being, but speaking formally seemed right. “They don’t come from here. We were actually real surprised to find them here at all. We were just here for some fuel and food.” James tried to dodge the question with a half answer. The pony accepted his answer with a nod then turned to look at the bunker to their right.
“I am sorry I could not get to them in time. Had I known better what was going on I could have perhaps saved them.” Her eyes took on a tone of sadness, and she bowed her head. “I sorrow for your loss.” she spoke as she turned back to Raynor.
“Actually, some of my boys are still in there.” He commented.
Princess Celestia’s eyes grew wide with horror and frustration. “What?!” She disappeared with a pop and a flash of light. Raynor immediately regretted his words. Tychus shouted profanity as he and the two marines looked around for the pony. Tearing concrete and steel soon met their ears as the Pony Princess began forcefully excavating the shattered bunker. Raynor burst from the door of his bunker to see Celestia hovering in mid air on alabaster wings, chunks of concrete and steel flying behind her. A chunk of the shattered bunker would begin to glow and flew seemingly of its own volition. The bunker was being thrown to pieces at an alarming rate.
“Commander.” The medic's voice came through Raynor's helmet. Her voice was flooded with despair and hopelessness, the panic now gone. “The Zerg must have come back. They’re digging their way down to us now. Ah whatever, you're probably already dead.” He was so shocked by what he was seeing that he couldn’t find words to respond at that moment. “I’ll make my last moment count though. I have Gunnery’s pistol. I can take at least one Zergling with me. Here they come!” Her shouted words snapped him out of his trance. He switched himself off of mute and tried to shout a response.
Simultaneously, Celestia tore another block of concrete out of the rubble revealing the upper torso of an armored medic. Her face was hidden from view by a large green and white dome. She pulled a pistol up from her side, the upper part of her normally white armor stained red; and fired just as Raynor shouted, “hold your fire, damn it!!”
Blam blam blam blam blam click click!
The air around Celestia shimmered with a golden aura and each shot was accompanied by a brighter than normal flash of light.
Time seemed to pause as Raynor now considered an untimely end for not only himself and those with him but for the rest of his people that were up in orbit right now. If this Pony could ravage a swarm of Zerg as he had just seen, what would stop her from compromising a ship like the Hyperion? Did those five shots just start another front on an already hopeless war?
Tychus looked on with grim understanding, and readjusted his stance.
Celestia slowly drifted to the ground, seemingly unharmed. Everyone held their breath momentarily. She spoke calmly, “Fear not youngling, I come as an ally.” Raynor could hear the medic’s ragged breath turn hysterical, first to laughter then to tears. Tychus stood his ground waiting for something to happen. Celestia’s mane, tail, and coat were untouched by the shots. Despite being attacked by the one she was trying to rescue, she seemed unperturbed.
The medic caught a glimpse of Raynor and the other three men out of her peripheral vision.
“Sir you’re alive? What is going on? What is this thing!?” Her hyperventilating breath shortening further and further. “Where am I again? Why did the…” her questions drifted into incoherent mumbling, then silence as she passed out.
“Princess I-” Raynor began.
“You have nothing to apologize for, and neither does she,” Celestia said as she turned to Raynor. “I ought to be apologizing for my lack of consideration of her thoughts in my mad rush. Please allow me to extract the others in a slower manner.” Dumbfounded at her response he found himself only nodding.
Celestia again began removing chunks of concrete and steel, slower this time. Soon three Terrans lay amongst the rubble. None spoke while she worked, the tension of the last ten minutes taking its toll. When she had fully removed all of the bunker that had collapsed, Raynor motioned for the two marines to go help the wounded.
Celestia approached Raynor again.“If this is not the origin of the Zerg, then point me to it. This menace cannot return to my world.” the tone of finality in her voice implied that she knew he was dodging her question earlier.
Jim held her gaze, he was not one to be intimidated lightly. Celestia’s glare was firm, but not hostile. Jim hardened his own glare. “It’s called Char, It is in confederate space, and you don’t want to go there.” He said evenly.
Celestia frowned. “I don’t have a lot of time to discuss this with you. Please, just tell me where it is and I’ll be on my way.” Celestia used some of his own words with a slight smile.
Raynor was at a loss. This Princess had shown up out of nowhere, saved their hides, then insisted on going and getting herself killed. She could obviously handle herself but this was nothing compared to what Char was. This was a drop in an ocean planet’s sea. A grain of sand on a desert planet. Char was so much more of a threat. And that was to say nothing of the fatally hostile environment or the Queen of Blades. Though he couldn’t deny it was a noble thought. Noble or not though, he couldn't send her to her death.
“No.”
Celestia held his gaze for a long time. Her huge purple eyes looking up to his. Raynor held her gaze until he could no longer, then said, “I cannot rightly do that. If you’re a princess in your world, your subjects need you more there.” He hoped that she couldn’t hear the uncertainty in his voice, his fear that she would further insist to go.
Celestia stood, holding his gaze, then spoke again. “Very well. You are correct. Without my sister, my subjects need me there.” Celestia sighed in frustration. Her horn began to glow brightly, the air temperature raising a few degrees in response. Tychus tensed, his instincts crying out for him to start spinning up his gun, but he waited. Minutes later, the glow lessened until it was gone entirely. Celestia took a deep breath, smiled and said, “I have pushed this place into a collision course with its mother star. How are you and these getting out of here? Can you travel the stars?”
“You’ve done what now?!” Tychus cut in, having been standing nearby the entire time, minigun at the ready. “You realize we are still on this rock right?!”
“We have a ship in orbit that’ll be picking us up shortly.” Raynor said ignoring Tychus.
“Very well. I will be taking note of what leaves this place, if any of the ‘Zerg’ attempt an escape I will stop them. Good journey to you and your company Jim, Jim Raynor.” Celestia said. She turned and looked at the sky and unfurled her wings. Glancing sidelong to Raynor she said, “until we meet again,” and smiled. Then with a concussive blast that staggered Raynor and Tychus she shot into the sky with incredible speed. Very soon there was no longer any sign of her to be seen.
“Commander, this is Matt. Are you still alive down there, sir?” a garbled transmission came through Raynor's helmet radio.
Jim responded after a moment's pause. “Matt? We’re here, I’ve got seven boys down here that need evac immediately.”
“Understood sir. I have a small entity leaving orbit on scans, no known match. Should we intercept enroute?”
“Negative. Disregard the target and make your way here ASAP.”
“Understood sir, we’ll be coming in weapons hot.”
“No need, the Zerg are down for now. Best hurry though.”
“The Zerg are down? Uh… affirmative sir, ETA 2 minutes.”
James was still looking in the direction that Celestia had disappeared, the other marines preparing the wounded from the other bunker for extraction. Tychus stood by Jim with an almost angry look on his face.
“We are never going to mention this to anyone, you understand?” Tychus said grimly as he watched the empty sky.
“Agreed.” Raynor said.