Twilight and the others had waited for about an hour before moving on. Going back wasn't an option, because the door had locked itself and wouldn't budge no matter what Twilight did. So, they had no choice but to move on, further from the hangar. She knew protocol, though... Shady could only wait for so long before he had to leave. There was an entire cruiser out there, so it wasn't as if they were completely alone. And with those monsters running around, they definitely weren't alone.

Twilight looked behind her, expecting the two soldiers from before to be there. Instead, there was only one. She stopped and asked, "What happened to the other one?"

The soldier stopped, as if he had just noticed, "I have no idea..."

Captain Shard sighed, "We'll double back only a little. If we don't find him, then we'll keep on going."

Fluttershy, Rainbow, Twilight, and the remaining soldier all nodded in their response. The mission at hoof was too important to be compromised by one lost soldier. The information they had could very well save the Voltage. They needed to get the hell out of here, and fast. They walked back the way they came for a bit, but they couldn't find the lost soldier.

Captain Shard shook his head, "I'm sorry, we need to keep moving. The information we have needs to get to the Voltage. No matter the cost."

Rainbow walked into a room, its door having been ripped open. The others looked at her in confusion. She hadn't been given the order to explore that room. The others were about to follow her, but they broke in at a run when they heard gunfire within the room. Rainbow was firing at a pony... no, not a pony. Not anymore, at least. It dropped to the floor, shaking violently, blood smearing across the metal floor.

Twilight looked at the now still body with fear. He had been taken, and they hadn't even known it until it was far too late. They were dying off one by one. Nopony seemed safe, not even Twilight. She wondered if she would ever see her home planet again. She wondered if she'd ever see Rarity, Pinkie, Spike... any of them. She dreaded volunteering for this exploration job so damn much. It was meant to be a seven year journey outwards, gathering as much data as they could. Then, they would use that data to add onto the universe map, furthering their knowledge of the great unknown. Then, they would have built outposts along this newly discovered territory, furthering their great civilization. But no, Twilight wouldn't live to see that. Then she wondered if she would even see Shady Daze anymore... she cast that thought aside, knowing that romantic feelings just couldn't be added onto her job.

But mostly, she thought of this soldier. Did he have family? Did he have children of his own? The saddest part of it was the fact that they couldn't bring the bodies back to freeze them for burial when they got back. No, they would rot on this alien ship, forever lost in darkness and decay. Soon, Twilight knew that she, too, would soon join them. The final darkness before she became evil incarnate. No... she couldn't let that happen. She had to get out of here with her friends, even if she had to go back barely alive. She was not going to die on this ship. Better somewhere familiar than foreign.

Twilight said, "We didn't even know he was gone. He didn't call out for help... shouldn't he have done that?"

Rainbow shrugged, frowning, sympathy in her eyes, "What's done is done."

Captain Shard glared at the dead soldier, "We need to be more careful about this. We cannot lose another pony. Stick close to one another from now on. That's an order."

Fluttershy didn't say anything, but it was clear that she was breaking. Her fragile mind surely couldn't take the mental torture of this situation. She was going to break, and when it did, it will be at the wrong time. Twilight decided to shrug it off, knowing that words of encouragement could not fix this. Wordlessly, they all exited the room and walked down the corridor. This time, though, they stayed very close to each other. One mistake was all that was required for total annihilation.

None of them spoke, for fear of causing yet another ambush like the one in the medical bay. A few of the overhead lights were out, and most were flickering, which added to the already immense amount of paranoia. Up ahead, there was a hole in the wall of the corridor. It was much like the first one when they had found that body hanging from the ceiling. Except this one was covered in some kind of meaty growth. The unnatural thing about it was the disturbing fact that it seemed alive. Twilight wondered if it was independant, or it was attached to something much bigger.

A small creature poked its little mutated head from inside the hole, studying them. It made no move to attack them, but it sure as hell looked dangerous. It reminded Twilight of the Breezies back home. But this thing was very much different. It had to be the size of her hoof, so it's not like it'd inflict very much damage to them.

Fluttershy moved forward and crouched down, offering her hoof, but staying back, "Don't worry, little guy, we won't hurt you..."

It walked out into full view on six small, jagged legs. They looked a lot like tiny blades, a smaller version of what was on the back of those other monsters. It, however, didn't attack, but it seemed to be observing them. It had an eye on its little forehead. What frightened Twilight was that it looked like an eye from one of the humans. There were a shit ton of red veins around the outside border of the eye as well. It seemed to be protruding more than what she had seen on the humans. It walked forward slowly, but it didn't seem frightened at all. It just watched them very closely, as if it were sizing up them for a feast. It opened its mouth slowly, taking up half of its face. There were so many razor-like teeth that being bitten by one of these things must be extremely excruciating. It let out a high-pitched squeal that sounded out through the hallways like a warcry.

Fluttershy backed off and stood next to the team once more, uncertainty plastered upon her face. Almost a few seconds later, other similar screams added to the one already doing so. In a matter of maybe a few seconds after that, more and more screams followed. Soon, what sounded like thousands of squealing voices could be heard. And more seemed to follow after that. The Captain lunged forward and stomped his foot down, crushing the little guy.

After that, there was nothing but silence.

Rainbow's eyes were wide in terror, "What in the hell was that?"

Twilight said, her voice shaky, "I-I have no idea... they all just went silent. Do you thi-"

Ember Shard raised a hoof, which meant that they all needed to be quiet. He put his ear against the wall and tried to listen for something. His eyes widened in horror at some kind of realization, "The... the walls are vibrating. They're coming."

Ember Shard pulled away and began to run down the corridor, "EVERYPONY! MOVE! NOW!"

The others sprinted after him, not wanting to stay around for very much longer. Twilight happened to looked behind her and immediately wished that she hadn't. What seemed like millions of those creatures burst out of the hole like a tidal wave, engulfing the hallway. They climbed on the ceiling, the walls, the floor... they were absolutely everywhere. They skidded around around a corner, the soldier from before slipping and slamming into the wall. Twilight considered going back for him, but her decision-making was cut short as he was covered from hoof to head, his screaming cut off within a matter of seconds. The little creatures had paused a moment to enjoy their little feast, and then they continued on their chase. There was absolutely nothing left of that pony. Not even bones. There was just a massive pool of blood. He had been completely devoured within seconds. All the while, the screaming of these little devils gripped her mind in a vice-like grip of ultimate fear. It was the single most horrifying thing she had ever heard.

They ran into a huge room, a single metal walkway extending from one side to the other, where an open door was waiting for them. Below them was a dark pit that seemed like it went on for a long time. She didn't have time to judge distances, though. Captain Shard stopped at the middle of the walkway, taking an explosive charge and setting it down. He looked around hurriedly for the detonator. He took it out, but he accidently dropped it into the hole below.

"SHIT!" he yelled, getting his rifle ready, "Get the HELL out of here! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

Twilight didn't want to leave him behind, but they didn't have a choice in the matter. The others ran off without him, regretting doing so all the while. Twilight closed the door behind them, and they ran through an even larger room, but this time, there were metal tables all around. It seemed like some kind of cafeteria. Her thoughts were cut short by screams that were all too familiar. Up above on a balcony that overlooked the entire room, wrapping around the inside, were hundreds of the monsters that were in the medical bay. That wasn't what terrified Twilight the most. On the ceiling, there was an enormous abomination that eyed them with a predator's glare. It had two gigantic arms with yellow spikes sticking out. They seemed to be glowing some kind of strange light. Ot leaped down from the ceiling, landing with a huge crash. Tables went flying everywhere that had been around its landing zone.

Rainbow dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding being decapitated by a rogue table. She got up and aimed her rifle at the monstrous creature. Twilight ran to a door, which Rainbow had dived towards. She ripped away a panel from the wall and began to hack like her life depended on it. In this case, it most certainly did. A loud explosion could be heard from where the captain had been left. The room shook violently.

Twilight screamed, "Keep those things off of me while I get this damn door open!"

Rainbow and Fluttershy both nodded their understanding. Fluttershy adopted a look of determination that didn't seem to fit her very well. Nevertheless, she looked ready and willing to do whatever was necessary. Rainbow fired her rifle at what seemed like the most vulnerable spot. Everywhere else was armored, but the arms seemed like plain flesh. Fluttershy darted to the other side of the room, firing off multiple rounds, tearing into the creature's arm. It let loose a roar so loud it, it shook the room, but not as bad as the explosion. It ran at Fluttershy, swinging a black-spiked tail at her. The yellow pegasus took flight, trying to dodge this attack, She succeeded, but just barely.

Rainbow took off at a sprint, grasping the creature's back leg on the right. She hoisted herself up and climbed along its back. The creature had just now noticed this, now flailing around, trying to grab at her. Rainbow held on firmly, now upon the back of its neck. It opened its huge mouth, trying to snap at her. All the while, it slammed into the walls, trying to get rid of its hitchhiker. When the creature opened its mouth to try to take a bite out of her, despite it not being in a position for that option to even be available, she stuffed a plasma grenade into the gaping maw. She jumped off, crashing into the floor and sliding a pretty far distance. The inside of the creature ruptured, spraying the room with blood, guts, and just about everything else you would find in a stomach. It fell to the floor, screaming as it shook violently, writhing in pain. Soon, the creature lay still.

The monsters on the balcony had been staying out of this fight, but now they seemed enraged. They all started jumping down, the height from the fall no doubt shattering all of their legs. Regardless, they continued to descend upon the ponies below. Twilight got the door open and they all ran through, closing it behind them. They continued to run despite the fact that none of those things could get through the door.

The three kept running, fear for their lives being the only thing that kept them going. They still were not dead, but for how long would that last? Putting doubts aside, knowing that it could be the death of her, she ran with her friends. Deeper into the abyss they went, fear and terror the only things left now.

_______________________________________________________________________________

~Before the explosion... ~

Captain Shard took pried off the case of the explosive, sticking a rag he found in his storage compartment into the charge. He used a plasma torch, which was mandatory for all soldiers to carry, and lit one end of the rag. At this point, almost half of the room was covered in those monstrosities. When he was satisfied that the rag was burning right, he jumped off of the edge into the hole. This was his only chance for survival. He would either die, or he would be saved by some miracle. At this point, he didn't care. An explosion from above indicated that his improvisation had been a success. The little creatures were bathed in fire, but the red death raced towards him faster than he was falling. He relaxed in that final moment, knowing that he had done good with his life. He closed his eyes and did one thing he hadn't done in years... smile.

Deeper he fell into nothing... deeper... deeper...

Everything turned wet and cold... then it was nothing but darkness.

Author's Note

As for the seemingly new abominations, I decided that adding a few new additions wouldn't hurt anything. After all, even in Dead Space 3, Isaac found himself fighting new monsters. So, something new kinda' makes sense.

As for the chapter in general, I hoped you guys liked it! ^-^