Pony Space: Friendship is Severed

The first chapter of the adventure is complete. Please rate, comment, and track or add it to your favorites. I would like to thank the following for their support which was much needed for the size of this project; Cgaume12, Captain Crazy-Nonesense, MarcusH&PFenix, ghostlywolf, .

PONY SPACE: FRIENDSHIP IS SEVERED
BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality

-Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

CHATPER ONE: THE TIP OF THE HORN

Twilight made her way through a dark room that she kept her flashlight down to navigate through. It was hard to find her way through in the near pitch blackness, but it was better than looking at all the slaughtered doctors, sitting and lying on and around the tables. Most bore wounds that looked like bullet holes, and though they bled slightly, they were also burned, cauterizing most of the wounds, except the ones which were created from limbs that were blown off by absorbing too much fire.

While Twilight had seen some more gruesome things than this over the course of the past few hours, the sheer amount of those killed here was too much to bear. How many ponies had been killed including these and all the others? And these were not done in the same style as the kills made by the enemy of the ponies, so Discord must have had something to do with this.

It was surprising to her to say the least. Discord enjoyed causing chaos, but she thought he was above killing. Obviously not. She thought as she reached the door to make her exit. She told it to open and was seized roughly.

She stared in horror at the disfigured face of a pony. Her face was missing a good portion of its skin and one eye had been torn from the socket. Her lower jaw was gone and wicked, barb-like tentacles hung from her throat. The arms she had seized Twilight with were not arms. They were, instead, her legs, torn off at the joint and replaced with a long, mutated spear of bone protruding from the flesh of each. She held Twilight with these new appendages and let out a gurgling growl from her throat, the remaining flesh and vocal cords vibrating as she roared. The fore legs had also been further mutated, so that they had moved almost on to the pony's spine and her spine and back legs were broken into new crooked shapes to compensate her. Her new fore-appendages could hang easily at her side and she could not support herself on her back legs to stand taller.

The tentacles hanging from her mouth came down for Twilight's throat, ready to tear it out. Twilight Sparkle actually didn't mean to fire the Plasma Cutter she had assembled, but she would be dead if she hadn't stepped on the trigger. The cutter was angled upward and the beam horizontal, which made a perfect cut. The head of the monster went flying off, and the body released her, stumbling backwards with the force with which it was shot.

Except it didn't fall. In fact, the creature stood with its spine erect now and began to slash furiously at her, though she jumped back in time and was not caught in the flurry of deadly bone blades. She angled her Plasma Cutter and fired three shots into the monster's torso.

This had no effect whatsoever. The creature stumbled, but lacerations seemed to make no difference as it lunged at her. She dodged it again, about to retry her assault on the vital organ before something on the wall caught her eye. She turned the light on the writing while the dead pony was scrambling to get up. Written in blood was; Cut off the limbs!

Below the words was a bloody hoof print and a trail of blood hat led her eyes back to her attacker. She changed the angle of the beam to vertical, and fired two shots with accuracy that surprised her. Each one hit an arm joint, severing the slashing arms from the creature.

As blood poured from its severed limbs, the creature roared once before falling on its chest, the neck swiveling around once before going limp and the body fell on its side. The floor was quickly covered with a new coat of blood, as the vital fluid pooled around the creature.

Before Twilight could register much shock, a thought entered her head linking the writing on the wall to the dead pony. Before she had changed into this terrible creature, she had written instructions on dispatching her....

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After a brief time, Twilight Sparkle felt ready to take on the world again. She had cried for a few minutes out of fear and sock, but quickly composed herself. She had to find her friends if they were a part of this horrible universe, and together they could put Discord back in his place and hopefully reverse everything that happened here...wherever here was.

She quickly checked her body to see if she had sustained any damage, but her RIG read full health, and she felt fine other than her shaken nerves. Suddenly a call was projected into the air in front of her, and Pinkie Pie appeared, looking panicked.

“Twilight!” she cried. “Where are you?!”

“Pinkie Pie, I didn't catch your directions,” Twilight said anxiously.

The call began to fade in and out again. “How did you miss it? I...leave without you...the Marker!”

“What's the Marker? Pinkie Pie, I don't know what's going on!” Twilight cried.

“I'll explain every--...get to the cakes' bakery...find a store first...download the path!”

Then the call cut out.

Twilight sighed and headed for the next door. As she approached it, the room suddenly began to flash in an orange light, and she could hear screams ringing in her ears. She placed a hoof against her forehead, groaning as her head began to throb. She half-opened her eyes, to see Nightmare Moon staring into her face. Light was exploding from her eyes and then her mouth as she spoke.

“Do you remember me, Twilight Sparkle?” She asked and the next part was a scream that shook Twilight's bones. “Do you remember what you did to me?”

And then she was gone, and Twilight was left with a dull thudding in her head.

The screaming insider her head had ceased, but Nightmare Moon's words were still playing in her head. What that all about? She guessed that it wasn't real, and was in her head, but she had no idea why. Just another question to be answered.... She went into the next room, which brought more screaming to her ears.

She entered the hallway which was made up of rooms like the apartments that she had heard Cheerilee from. There was a balcony, where most of the screaming was coming from. As she started down the hallway, one of the rooms burst open and a female pony fell to the floor, screaming.

A stallion, mutated in the same way as the pony she had fought minutes ago brought his spear-like bones into her body, impaling her through her right side and left shoulder. She screamed in pain and the stallion ripped the blades out and stabbed one into her fore leg and used the other to slash the part of the leg past the pivotal point of its blade. This freed the impaling spear to stab into her chest and the other slashed her head off.

Twilight was, once again, too stunned to act fast enough, but as the stallion growled in satisfaction, his legs were torn out from under him by two blasts from a Plasma Cutter. The next two ripped its left blade off and then its head, leaving it to spill blood on the pony it had just dismembered.

Twilight Sparkle stepped around the severed limbs and small chunks of flesh that had been produced from the violence. She looked out, over the balcony and saw a large chasm, borded on the opposite side by what seemed to be more civilian housing and another balcony. Ponies were running and scream as explosions erupted behind them (from the same direction Twilight had come) and were followed by roars of distant monsters, some different from the cries of the creatures she had faced so far.

Pinkie Pie appeared on the other balcony and called to her before their RIGS connected them via video call.

“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie said, and pointed down below them where a bridge connected between the two civilian districts on either side of the chasm. “You're almost to the bakery! Watch out for the-...” She saw something coming up the underside of Twilight's balcony. “Run Twilight! Run!”

And ugly creature jumped on to the balcony, causing Twilight to fall back in surprise. It looked to have once been a stallion, but it was mutated far differently from the slashing creatures she'd seen so far. The stallions back legs were fused together to form the rear of the body, and becoming a strange whip like tail, which was tipped with a bone blade. The forelegs were strong and muscular, having been strong enough to pull it up the wall. The hooves had stayed, but talons had grown out above them, though the were so small they looked only good for gripping. The head was perhaps the most disturbing feature. They eyes had turned white and the head split open at the mouth, all the way back to its ears. The huge open maw contained four tooth-like spears set up to bite with the heavy jaws.

As Twilight backed away in horror, it lifted its tail into the air and expertly balancing on its strong arms and hooves, and began running surprisingly quickly on these appendages. She depressed the trigger in the hoof of her boot but the Plasma Cutter didn't fire. It was out of ammo and left her vulnerable to attack as well as panic. The creature reached her and struck its tail like a whip, catching her across the shoulder and knocking her to the floor. She grunted in pain, her RIG EKG meter dropping and the suit warning her that she was endangered.

Rolling away kept the blade from impaling her, but she ended up on her back. Thankfully she bent her legs, which ejected the Plasma energy. But that was no good. She had no energy clips on back up. The monster jumped on top of her, snapping at her face with its huge jaws.

She pushed against its throat with her forelegs, trying to remove the creature. It was heavy, and had the advantage, but before it could close its teeth on her head, a new-found strength grew in her and she kicked it off with her back legs. Adrenaline was pumping through her body in almost a larger quantity than her blood. She stood up quickly and without thinking, brought her back hoof down on the creature's head while it was still stunned.

Blood exploded from its mouth as its own teeth burst through its lower jaw. Twilight brought her hoof up again and slammed it down again and again. Three stomps from the heel of her boot crushed the creature's head, her hoof slipping on the brains and flesh, and throwing her off balance.

She was now on her side, panting and staring at what she had just done. How had she managed that? It seemed like Psycho-Twilight had taken over for a moment. But the creature struggled on to its feet (arms). The massive lower jaw was the only thing left of its head. It shook the shattered remains of its cranium away, but before it could mount another attack, Twilight kicked the creature hard, throwing it backwards. It fell against the railings of the balcony and Twilight charge at it, feeling her horn stab into the creature's side. She could feel the slippery flesh and internal organs parting around her horn as she used it as leverage to toss the creature over the side.

It let out a howl of sorts (the only noise it could make due to its mangled head) and she heard a squishing sound as it hit the ground hard. She didn't honestly care if it was still alive. She rushed down the hallway to search for an exit.

When she reached the end of the hall, there was a sudden turn and a light source around the bend revealed a pony-like shadow. She froze and braced her self against the wall. She had no ammo to dispatch this new threat with, and if she turned the corner, she risked being grabbed as she had carelessly done before.

The shadow was swaying from side to side and a clinking noise broke the silence that had fallen after her fight with the monster resting at the bottom of the chasm (or hopefully resting). She didn't think she could muster another defense (or offense) like that which she had used against the creature moments ago. That had seemed to be another pony, or some dormant part of her brain taking over. She realized, she had been focused more on thinking for awhile now and hadn't exactly been quiet when approaching whatever lay in wait for her. If these creatures could perceive noise, then it certainly would know she was there.

This left her with two options: take her chances around the corner, or head back the other way. The other way only led up and Pinkie had mentioned going to some sort of store to find her route to the bakery, and she hadn't seen anything like that back there. She'd never find her way there without following Pinkie Pie's instructions, and so she had to take her chances around the corner. She slowly peeked her head around, ready to pull herself out of harm's way.

What she saw caused her to gasp but she only did so out of surprise, because she had been expecting something else. A pony hung from the ceiling by a cord that wrapped around her neck. She was a unicorn, so because she had magical abilities, Twilight assumed she had done this to herself. She was swinging back and forth slightly and her left back hoof was knocking against a large yellow arch like structure, just beside a door marked as an elevator.

She approached it curiously and as she stepped on the pad inside of the little arch, a small screen came down, giving her a welcome, informing her this was a store. She looked at the options it gave her: “Information,” “Buy/Sell,” and “Storage.” She checked the storage by simply thinking of it and found only a picture of a gold card with a small number beside it.

“10,000 credits,” Twilight Sparkle read aloud. “Well, I hope that's a lot.”

She went back and went to the the info section. All that it contained were “Routes” to different locations, each costing 500 credits. She found one leading to the bakery and selected it. The window opened, asking her if she was sure she wished to download it. She confirmed, and it thankfully told her how to use it.

Once the download was complete, she left the store and clicked her left hoof against the right as it had instructed. A blue line appeared on the ground, made up of flashing light. It led to the elevator doors and disappeared into them. The line illuminated for a few moments before disappearing. Twilight went for the elevator and summoned it, stepping in and beginning the journey down.

When it reached the bottom of the shaft, it rocked violently and the lights went out, as well as the small holographic screen that controlled the elevator. She started to turn on the Plasma Cutter light, but two glowing orbs hanging in front of her halted her actions. They floated in the air peacefully for a moment, before a familiar orange light began flashing inside of the elevator, showing the orbs to be the eyes of Nightmare Moon as she gave a hollow stare, before gripping Twilight's face with her hooves and let out a high-pitched scream that was vaguely familiar.

Several minutes later, Twilight awoke on the floor of the elevator. The lights had returned and the elevator doors were open. Ignoring the dull throbbing in her head, Twilight made the mask of her suit wrap back around her head, since it had receded for no apparent reason. The hallway outside was plastered with coatings of blood and flesh, anything that had once belonged to a pony that had been brutally taken from him or her.

She saw at the end of the dim hallway, a holographic sign in front of a door with a cake on it. When activated, the sign listed everything Pinkie Pie had baked. At the very bottom, the last thing was blinking an orange light (rather than light-blue) and read, “Step Four.”

Perplexed, Twilight went inside, standing in the banquet hall which was covered with blood but surprisingly no bodies lay on the floor. She went into the kitchen where she expected to find Pinkie Pie, but instead found only a destroyed and scarlet work place. She did notice however, above the stove, some pony had written another message in blood, “You have to see this.”

Below it was a small circular device. When Twilight touched it, it projected video into the air; what appeared to be feed from a security camera. The video showed the Cakes working in a normal kitchen, before all of this had started it seemed;

An unseen door opened and the Cakes turned and looked, shock crossing their faces.
“Pinkie Pie!” Mrs. Cake said. “You look terrible! What did the therapist do to you?”

The unseen pony didn't reply, which seemed to cause the worried looks that crossed the Cakes' faces. Whispering came from where Pinkie Pie apparently was. (Twilight didn't know whether that was in her head or not.)

“Pinkie Pie..?” Mrs. Cake asked, gingerly. “Why are you looking at us like that?”

The door slammed and a pink flash rushed Mr. Cake. His wife let out a cry of alarm as Pinkie Pie knocked her husband on to the stove, wrestling him to submission with bites, harsh kicks, and her weight.

“Step four!” Pinkie Pie screamed. “I can't take another session!”

Mrs. Cake tried to help her husband, but was silenced by an extremely hard kick across the face. She fell to the floor, out cold. Mr. Cake let out a cry as Pinkie Pie opened the oven, which let out an orange glow from the fire burning within.

“You do it!” Pinkie Pie screeched. “You build the Markers!” And then she pushed Mr. Cake in.

His screams became a-never ending torrent as she slammed the oven and held the door. His shadow was all that was visible through the tinted window and Pinkie watched it thrashing and beating at the door. His screams died to whimpers as Mrs. Cake regained consciousness, and were present long enough for her to realize what had happened and let out a horrified exclamation.

She ran to the door, her wails already mourning the loss of her husband. Pinkie Pie grabbed a knife, screaming something (through teeth clenched around her weapon) about keeping a promise and sticking a cupcake in her eye. She disappeared from view as she attacked Mrs. Cake; the video ended with her cries of fear and agony.

Twilight took a moment to try and control her emotions. Her eyes began pouring their salty tears as she felt like screaming out of her sheer confusion and fear. In her blurry vision, she could see bloody hoof prints and splashes of said liquid across the door that must have belonged to Mrs. Cake. And all the rest of this blood.... What had Pinkie Pie done to her? Was it Pinkie Pie? It looked like her but...she would never do that, especially to two ponies as close to her as the Cakes. As Twilight dropped her hooves off the stove and to the floor, the knocked the oven door open and a blackened corpse fell out, that had been leaning against the door.

Twilight screamed and dodged the body as it hit the floor and lost pieces of its crippled form, letting out a puff of smoke as it crumbled. The face was Mr. Cakes, twisted in a scream, the flesh peeled away and pulled taunt over the bones. The eyes had burned away, but the fear was still apparent in the hollow sockets. The jaw that formed a scream was twisted slightly to the side as it had begun to lose form and shape as he was fried. The ribs were dark black and exposed from the paper thin layer of black material that had once been skin and flesh.

The fall had split his body in half, but the position it had been in while writhing in agony was still apparent. She backed away biting her lip, trying not to scream again, which might mean losing all control over herself. All silent doubts that maybe the video wasn't real were gone. It was Mr. Cake. Maybe if the corpse had been more burned, she could hold on to hope that maybe it wasn't him, and it wasn't Pinkie Pie who did this but.. there were no more doubts in her mind. Pinkie Pie had murdered the Cakes. Her thoughts were interrupted as a loud crash sounded outside and a roar louder than anything she'd heard so far struck fear in her heart.