Dead pony

Chapters

Chapter 1:Encounter
Chapter 2:Appendage
Chapter 3:Blood Caked
Chapter 4: Just their echos
Chapter 5:Ignition
Chapter 6:Oblitertion imminent

Chapter 1:Encounter

Dead Pony

By SinclairThompson.mlp

"I...im sorry twilight i never wanted it to come to this, i just want you to know that i dont blame you for this. You've always been my best friend and i hope the best for you now that my choice is now gone. I love you and i wish the best".

Twilight watched as fluttershy injected the syringe into her wrist, the transmission went to static the display minimized into her chest view panel.

"You've been playing that ever since we left the docking station. You must really miss her", the mission director said as he stared sympathetically at her. The mission director was a middle aged brown earth pony, his long work service showed in his face and hooves and named mike, a simple name that fit his standing somehow.

"Ya....she was one of my best friends, a loyal one at that", replied twilight as she gazed out the bubble glass debri sheild, huge asteroids..well..parts of the planet were floating calmly throughout the area. She could see the ishimura coming into view.

The planet cracker sat there floating in space like a sleeping metal giant in a deep slumber, the planet below that had been cracked had now a huge gapping crater that gave a dark stare into the space beyond it.The ishimura had only a few lights visible from the outside, which was rather strange for a ship its size and occupancy.

"There's no reply from the ship mam just bare static", said the pilot of the craft, he worked the control panels trying to get a response but still nothing."Thats strange a total communications black out, especially with that many ponies on board", remarked the co-technician raising one eyebrow while looking out the window at the floating ishimura, she was a young mare with a blue coat and a purple mane, her name was circuit for the obvious reasons.

The craft violently shook as a peice of space debri smashed against the top left corner, twilight held on to the seat with her hooves."Mother of celestia what was that!? We're here to repair the ishimura not end up like it!! ", shouted mike as he steadied himself against the pilots seat as the craft started to get sucked towards the ship.

Twilight could see the pilot working furiously at the control panel but to no effect, the craft started to speed up towards the ishimura like an invisible hoof pushing closer and closer, faster and faster.The docking bay was coming into view now it was massive with huge pylons on either side like a giant open ribcage.

"Buck its the automatic gravity docking system if we dont slow done we'll get torn to pieces!!", yelled circuit at the pilot the intensity making his hooves soar over the control panel faster,"there's nothing we can do!! Engage the crash shields now!!", shouted the co-technician at the pilot,"i cant the system wont respond, you'll have to engage it manually!!," the pilot shouted back.

"Well i guess i have too", replied circuit as she ran to the lever and engaged the crash shields.

The shields closed over the debri window in a mere second and then the lights cut off as the shriek of twisting metal filled the air, the impact sending some of the crew off their hooves onto the floor with a thud.

Red warning lights flooded the cabin indicating heavy external and internal damage, twilight was familiar with the indications being an engineer, she shook her head and fit on her helmet that concealed her whole head.

"Alright everypony, sync your rigs and lets move out we got a job to complete", circuit ordered to the crew, twilight heard the soft beep as the rigs were synced the meter rising from red to orange to a turquoise blue, they looked like glowing spines and helped with reading the condition of somepony.Some of the crew members loaded their pulse rifles which was strange since they were on a repair mission.

She stepped out of the hatch on the side of the craft, the docking hangar was unbelievabley huge it seemed to stretch upwards forever, the air was cool but not as cold as expected. The crew approached the door that led into the lobby, circuit placed her hoof on the door panel the circular hologram then displayed the words "please wait".

As if awaking for the first time the door slid open with a hiss and the crew walked in, a robotic mare like voice spoke from the intercom making twilight and some of the crew jump a little.

"Welcome to the USG Ishimura one of the finest mining vessels! We hope you have a nice work experience here and make sure to be cautious around all mining equipment".

The lobby went back to silence, all the doors except the one they entered and one that led to the lobby controls displayed the word locked in a red hologram.

"Hey twilight can you go to the lobby control panel and unlock these doors for us, oh and activate the holomap so we can see where the problem is located", asked one of the crew members, twilight was still in a trance from the odd silence through out the ship but managed to snap-out of it.

"Uh..ya...sure", replied twilight as she shoke her head and felt her hooves move towards the direction of the lobby control door.

Placing her hoof on the doors hologram it pause for a moment before hissing open revealing the semi-dark room the curved to the right, but something caught her eye, on the floor was a dried blood trail and it looked to be from a struggle.

She shrugged it off realizing some of the crew members were staring at her impatiently, stepping into the room twilight made her way to the control panel that was glowing softly waiting for a command.Tapping her hoof on the holomap tab the screen popped up a 2-D map of the ishimura the engine sector was highlighted in red.

"Ahh so its the engine, well we better get there quickly", remarked one of the crew members that was starring through the lobby window at the 2-D map.

All of a sudden the room plunged into darkness for a second then lit up dimmly as a yellow oscilating light flashed on the ceiling, the voice of the ishimura spoke once again,"warning decontamination in progress".

"Relax everypony its probably just a safety function", said circuit as she examined the room further, the other crew members had their pulse rifles pointed around the room, faintly twilight could hear a faint rustle in the air vent behind the crew member that was facing the other way.

Then a loud crash came from the vent the crew member spun around,"what the bu...AHHHH!!!", the crew member was cut short as the creature lungged itself at him the pony releasing a blood curddling scream as the creature stabbed its long talons into him repeatedly spattering his blood across the window.

Another had broken through the vent on the opposite side and attacked another crew member killing him also the pulse rifle bolts firing into the ceiling.

Twilight heard mike and circuit yelling at her through the lobby as they made their way through one of the other sliding doors,"RUN TWILIGHT RUNN!!", the yell broke her out the trance and shock of what was happening so fast.

She turned to the right and bolted through the doorway, just behind her another one of the creatures had broken through a top vent and was now roaring as it chased her.Down the corridor she could see an elevater and ran faster towards it.

Behind her the thing had disappeared but she knew it wouldnt be for long, she reached the elevater and pushed the hologram console every few seconds looking behind her.

She could feel her heart beating a thousand times a second, the blood pounding in her head. The door opened and she rushed in and pressed the level tab, as the door was closing the creature crashed through the outside from the top and started approaching the door.

The creature used to be a regular stallion earth pony, now it stood on its hind legs, long talons protruding from below its hooves. Its bottom jaw gone and little tentacles now replaced its spot.

It lunged at the door one of its talons getting stuck between the sliding doors, twilight pressed her body as flat as she could against the opposite wall.

The door snapped the creatures arm off it flopped on the ground till it finally stopped dead on the floor, twilight breathed heavily her chest going in and out slowly as the wir of the elevater sped up throught the shaft.

Faintly twilight could hear in her head something playing slowly:

"Twinkle, twinkle little star.

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle little star.

How...I...wonder...what.....you...are....

Chapter 2:Appendage

By SinclairThompson.mlp

The elevator came to a slow stop the door pausing for a moment before hissing open, twilight stood there for a moment not sure to come out but she felt her hooves move forward left then right.

She peeked out the door none of the creatures seemed to have followed her on the way up and now the room was still, silent, and nerve racking.To the left she could see three steps leading to a small room with no walls just a skeleton, she walked towards the steps in the small room was a dead body of an earth pony his body limp and seemed to be eaten on some parts, the sight churning twilights stomach.

The body was leaning against a bench the wall behind him had the words "cut off their limbs" written in his blood.On the bench layed a small weapon sitting there as if an angel had set it there, just for her.

As she walked up to it the small chest display portrayed a holographic image reading in medium sized letters," PLASMA CUTTER", she stared at the display then back to the weapon, then slowly reached her hoof to the plasma cutter and picked it up, a slight feeling of assurance came to her mind.

On the side she saw a small tab that read,"ALT", without thinking she flipped the tab its front end switching to a horizontal position in a second startling her, twilight played with the tab flipping back and fort back and forth.

The moment was short lived as a violent rustle started behind the door to the left she looked in the direction, behind the door she heard a stallions voice crying for help,"HELP!!! HELP!! GET IT OFFFF!!", twilight bolted for the door its circular hologram reading locked, she searched frantically for a way to open the door her eyes then rested on a purple glowing circuit.

Aiming the plasma cutter at the circuit she fired, the weapon shot out a bolt of plasma striking the circuit with a shower of sparks the doors hologram went to unlocked and twilight thrust her hoof unlocking it.

Just as the door opened twilight witnessed the creature thrust the stallion to the ground, before she could lift up the weapon the creature stabbed him multiple times then pulling his leg off, the stallion released a blood curdling scream as his rig went dead.

Twilight shot a bolt of plasma into the torso of the creature throwing it back, but it just stared at her a low growl came from its throat as it lunged at her both talons outstretched for the kill. Twilight jumped back remembering the words on the wall as she dodged the creatures swings, quickly switching the alt onto the horizontal fire she squeezed a bolt at a leg the searing hot plasma slicing through the flesh and bone like butter.

Screaming in rage and pain the creature crawled swiftly towards her with its upper-hooves, another bolt ripped through one of its upper hooves and it collapsed to the ground dead, coagulated blood ozzing from the torn appendages and body.

Twilight stood there panting, starring at the mutated creature her legs felt like thin columns of jello ready to just fall and never get up. Stepping cautioulsy over the now dead creature twilight starred at the limp body of the stallion, now a rag doll just lieing there twisted and mangled his cold dead eyes seemed fixed on twilight as if blaming her for his death.

"God, oh god why, god...", twilight wimpered to herself as she shut her eyes as tight as she could, trying to block out what just happened.

"If she just reacted and not of just frozen he would have been alive", twilight thought to herself, "alive and breathing thanking her for saving his life", but no that was not the case, he was still very much dead his eyes like two glass water filled orbs casting a cold glare upon her soul.

She stepped over his corpse and made her way down the hallway cautiously, a fine mist had settled upon the blood caked floors, glowing faintly on the ground twilight saw a small metal tablet which read,"audio log", finding a small activation button she pressed it and the log played, a panicked voice spoke from it.

"Entry log 442 we've figured out how they travel, its through the vents dont get close to the vents or they'll get you. Hey get him away from that ve.....AHHHHH!!!!", a voice in the background of the log srcreamed then went silent as the log came to a close.

Twilight tossed the audio log to the side and continued making her way down the hallway until she came across an unlocked door, tapping her hoof on it the door hissed open.

The area looked to be a control room of some sort, holopanels glowed softly waiting for a response then the metal doors outside the windows slid upward revieling mike and circuit on the other side, her rig link activated portraying circuit as she spoke.

"Twilight! Oh thank celestia you made it", said circuit in a relieved tone, the camera rotated to mike,"its good to see your face again twilight, we need to get this tram running", said mike as he was then interrupted by circuit.

"Mike are you crazy you almost got ourselves killed", replied circuit in a panicked tone,"well we wont if you just listen to me!!", said mike trying to reassure circuit from her panicked state as she paced back and forth nervously.

"Now circuit can you give me a reading on the tram?", questioned mike as he looked at her with a questioning glance,"uhh...ya..i suppose", replied circuit as she pulled out a data reader,"well the motherboard is fried and the tram is in need of replacement, there might be another motherboard inside the maintenance area ", sighed circuit as she shooved the data reader back in her pocket.

"Alright then, twilight i need you to go and get that motherboard on your way back replace the tram from the tracks", said mike,"oh and be safe out there, good luck", the rig link went to static and minimized back into twilights chest display.

"Well here we go..", sighed twilight as she turned to her right towards the door, it slid open and she gazed to the left down the hallway where a light was flickering of and on.

Sighing, twilight tightened her grip on the plasma cutter and pushed on.

Chapter 3:Blood Caked

Twilight peeked down the hall left and right, to the left a light flickered around the corner casting ominous shadows against the wall.On the right an unlocked door waited for command, twilight didnt know exactly which way to go so she typed,"maintenance room, floor one", then held out her hoof and activated the deck navigation.

A turquoise blue light lit at the bottom of her hoof, its light displaying a line in the direction of the maintenance room in the opposite direction of the flickering light.

But something called to her as she slowly walked to the left aiming the plasma cutter out in front of her she made her way down the hallway to the flickering light. Around the corner layed another one of the creatures dead or seemed to be, starring cautiously at the body she moved forward stepping on some crumpled paper.

The leg twitched and twilight jumped back just as the creature thrusted itself upward onto its hooves swinging at the place she had stood just moments before, wasting no time and luckly not stalling twilight shot a plasma bolt at its right leg tearing it off. Another bolt ripped through its upper arm and the creature fell to the ground dead, now a twisted mangled rag doll.

"Wow my own conscience is trying to kill me", muttered twilight as a soft glowing light caught in the corner of her eye, she made her way to it kicking the now limp body aside, it was an audio log.

Activating it a voice spoke,"we think we found the way to kill them, you half to cut off their limbs!! Shooting them in the body is useless!", the frantic voice shut off and the audio log went silent, tossing it aside twilight started her way back to the right direction.

Twilight approached the door and placed her hoof on the hologram it paused then hissed open, just as she walked in a dead body of a stallion fell from the ceiling making twilight jump, she sighed and pressed on.

The door came to a long corridor her hoofsteps echoing of the great metal walls, it went down for what seemed like miles like the throat of a beast. Twilight walked forward the repeatable slaming of a door coming into ear shot, she could see that one of the doors had short circuited and was opening and closing way to fast to enter.

A stallion unicorn had tried to go through but had gotten his body cut in half, one on one side the other on the opposite, blood had spattered on the door from the incident. On the ground twilight caught a glimpse of a small mechanical device, her horn glowed softly as she levetated it off the ground to eye level.

Her chest display popped up and displayed,"STASIS MODULE", she starred at the small mechanical device and noticed it fit on her arm close to her hoof. Clamping the small device on her arm a small noise came from the back of her suit, the same noise when the rig syncs to your lifeline.

A rig sync popped up and mikes voice spoke,"twilight use the stasis module to slow that door down", the sync cut off and twilight glanced at the bloodied door.

Raising her left hoof to the door she activated the module shooting a small blue vortex with lightning pulsing around it as it collided with the door casting a light blue haze enveloping the door slowing it down dramatically. Twilight ran through the door without pausing for wait.

The haze around the door faded as the door returned to slamming over and over, she walked onto a small incline that opened into a hallway with multiple entry ways, confused on where to go twilight activated her deck navigation it pointed to her left the line resting on a door.

She began to make her way down the hallway when the lights shut off, twilight aimed her weapon a flash light coming on with it, panic and fear rippling through her body like a stone splashing into a pond.

Twilight swung the plasma cutter back and forth expecting one of the creatures to come from behind and stab into her neck or back. The lights snapped back on and the air still calm and motionless as if waiting for her to make the next move, placing her hoof on the door panel she entered the repair station and a rig sync popped up.

Circuits voice came on the rig sync,"twilight use your stasis to slow the arm when grabbing the damaged tram", the rig sync minimized and twilight started to walk towards the control console. She activated the first arm grabbing the tram and made her way to the other, a necromorph lunged out of the vent but quickly dispatched as twilight cut it down with a few bolts.

Activating the second arm was a bit more tricky, at first she missed and struck the floor, activating the it again twilight hit the claw with the stasis bolt. Making her way back up she then pressed the control panel activating the replacement procedure the two arms dragged in the damaged tram as the ishimuras voice spoke,"replacement in progress please stand-by".

A rig link popped up as static cleared and circuits face appeared,"twilight now that you got the tram replaced make your way down the way you came and retreive the motherboard. Please hurry i can hear something outside", the rig then minimized.

Twilight took the chance to take a breath, the air tasted like iron, the iron of blood and made a nasty taste within her mouth, the tram was being lowered for replacement rather quickly. The rest was cut short as a necromorph burst out of a vent than slamming into twilight knocking her off her hooves.

The plasma cutter was knocked a couple hooves from her, using her stasis the creature slowed in mid-air as if in a slow moving movie, taking the chance she scrambled over to the plasma cutter and aimed then fired at the creatures limbs.

By the time the quarel was over the new tram was just being installed onto the tracks, twilight made her way back into the hallway but something above caught her eye, the cold hungry stare of a necromorph, its two hind hooves now formed a tail, the flesh molded together and the bone of the spine formed now a sharp dagger sharp enough to cut through flesh.

The creature was behind the cieling grate but its dead rotten eyes seemed to burn into twilights soul, it screeched before running into the venting duct.

Twilight shook it off and continued to follow the deck navigator, once again she stasised the door and ran through it. Making her way towards the end she felt the ground underneath her vibrate as a floor vent burst open flinging into the stagnent air, from the vent came the very creature that had been staring her down, its dead eyes glaring hungrily at her as it launched itself through the air.

Its speed was fast and made it extremly hard to shoot, remembering her stasis twilight managed to capture the twisted creature in stasis and cut off its limbs. It lay there motionless its bottom jaw also gone like the rest and had long sharp fangs at least 6 inches long.

Twilight quickened her pace and made it to the lower deck the air was just suffocating with stalenessan and rot the office that contained was on the same level but the key was uptop. As she ran towards the elevator a necromorph had begun to chase her, flipping around she dismembered the creature as it screamed rocking the area.

Activating the the elevator control she road up the shaft and exited, a necromorph crashed through a air duct and charged at twilight grabbing her and biting for her neck. Twilight used all her strength and broke free of the necromorphs grip then slugging it in the head with the plasma cutter.

The necromorph stumbled back a little then snapped its head back in place with a load crack, twilight fired the plasma killing the necromorph. Twilight made her way up the scafolds to the area of the key and found it laying in the corner, a bloody hoof print smeared onto it.

Twilight raced back to the elevator luckily not coming into contactwith any of the necromorphs and road the shaft back down. Entering the maintenance office blood was caked all over the walls as if a spray painter had come in and blasted the whole place red, twilight saw the motherboard sitting there, just waiting for someone to come and snatch it away and thats exactly what she did.

Making her way through the hallway she then entered the control room and made her way to the damaged motherboard taking it out sparked a little and tossed it on the ground, twilight placed the new motherboard and clicked it in.

She then made her way to the control board and pressed the tram activation tab, her rig link buzzed then came on,"twilight thank celestia you made it, i need you to make your way to the bridge and check the damge report", said mike in an assuring voice, the rig switched over to circuit,"mike this is suicide your gonna get us all killed", snapped circuit at mike.

"I am not going to get us killed, i came her on a mission and im going to finish it. With or without you",said mike stearnly to circuit who was now shaking her head,"fine mike just dont get us killed", the rig link went to static then minimized.

Twilight made her way through the halls and arrived at the place where she had found the plasma cutter, the light now flickering furiously casting long shadows on the floor that looked like the spirits of the crew now bound in blood.

Before she entered the elevator twilight glanced over her shoulder thinking that she had heard someone whisper her name, but shrugged it off as a stray noise.

The elevator slowed to a stop at the lobby they had been ambushed at, the bodies of the repair crew now gone off probably mutated and hunting for her.

Making her way to the docking bridge a tailed necromorph had climbed over the railing, luckily twilight stasised him in time and dispatched him in a couple bolts. She starred at the repair ship, its body twisted and mangled as if forming a twisted metal origami figure.

Stepping inside she could see the screens and control panels now in static or broken entirely, she stepped into the flight control and came in front of a screen that,"LOAD DAMAGE REPORT?", she clicked the tab labeled 'load' with her hoof.

A violent explosion then rippled through-out the small ship almost knocking twilight off her hooves, running to the exit twilight leaped out of the ship just as another explosion knocked her to the ground.

Midway of getting up a final explosion thrust her to the ground as the reapair ship slided off the docking station crashing down below.

Twilight pushed her self up to her hooves and glanced over to her right, three necromorphs had just climbed over the railing. They wanted her and were hungry.

They wanted her among them.....hungry...and ready to feed.....

Chapter 4: Just their echos

Twilight fired the plasma cutter she managed to slice through two of the necromorphs legs, they fell to the ground scrambling after her with their front hooves, she fired again and they were dead their rotting blood oozing out of their torn appendages.

Stepping over the bodies she made her way back to the lobby, inside her rig link opened and circuit came on the screen with mike pacing back and forth in the background,"what the hell is going on down there, what happened to the shuttle?", questioned mike as continued his pacing,"it was the shuttle...our only home", replied circuit shaking her head.

"Goddamn it....god...GODDAMNIT!! Mike this changes everything!!", yelled circuit slamming her hooves glaring back at mike.

"Shut-up dont say that, if you listen to me we'll get out alive. Now just let me think for a sec....", replied mike as he stopped pacing and thought,"can you access the command computer"?

Circuit looked down at the keyboard typing then back at the computer screen disappointment washing over face like a bucket of water," its no use a command override is in affect, i cannot access it only the captain has the authorization code," replied circuit with a sigh.

"Well can you pin point his location?", questioned mike as circuit typed once more into the keyboard,"i found him, Captain Benjamin Mathias, location Med Lab, status.......deceased", sighed circuit.

"What....how?", replied mike shock now filling his face,"i dont know i can't access that information! Find the captain and access his rig to get the authorization codes, with those codes i can crack the computer wide open", said circuit with a hint of irratation.

"Twilight, im sending the tram back to your location make your way to the medical deck and get that rig", replied mike as a rustle came from the vents on their side,"what was that", shouted circuit as her eyes darted around the room.

A loud crash came from the corner as mike and circuit bolted out of the room a necromorph crashed onto the console roaring, his bladed tail whishing around hitting the camera it went to static then the rig link minimized into her chest display.

Activating her deck navigation, the blue line shot onto the floor turning left where mike and circuit had exited when they were ambushed.

Twilight walked into the tram station, she could feel the faint breeze pressing against her suit the smell of stagnent air flowing into her nostrils making her wing a little. To her right a little station labled,'STORE', just above it and remembering the credits she picked up along the way walked towards it as the menu folded out.

Scrolling through the menu her eyes rested upon on a tab,'LEVEL 2 SUIT: 9,000 cd", twilight looked at the tab for a second,"pricey", thought twilight as she tapped on the tab, the screen display folded upward as the back opened, twilight starred at the back station for a moment before walking slowly forward.

Turning her back to the wall tiny clamps came out of the back pushing her legs and head back against it, the front sliding doors hissed shut as the suit was stripped off of her and the new one fitted on a bright light ran down the middle of where the doors separate.

After the suit was fitted onto her and the helmet adjusted she stepped out of the small back room, she gazed at her hoofs more steel ribs were now on the suit covering half of her legs, the helmet now better fitted and the gazer more strategically armed.

After going over the suit twilight made her way to the tram, stepping in she glanced at the blinking tab clicking on it she sat down as the tram jerked forward. It didnt feel like a tram ride though but a ride down the intestinal track of a huge beast digesting her, twilight leaned her head back and closed her eyes as the darkness of the tunnel swallowed the tram.

The tram slowed to a stop yanking twilight out of a shallow nap she rose to her hooves, peeking out of the trams opening she entered the station, in the upper right hallway entrance she saw a mare with a blonde mane, bandages covering her eyes but that wasnt what startled her.

Laying next to her was a torso of a stallion his four legs severed and missing while laying in a pool of blood, the mare was petting him gently and whispering to it.

She approached the mare slowly and the mare spoke,"shhh..its ok shes here theres nothing to worry about", the mare said patting the bloodied torso as she looked up at twilight, the bandages covering her eyes were bloody where her eyes had been, she began to speak softly to twilight.

"Oh i knew you would come, i've been waiting for you, here take this i saved it for you", the mare reached just above the corpse where his head used to be and handed her a small mechanical object her rig display popped up and read,'KINESIS MODULE', "thank you for coming i know you'll need it more than me...thank you...thank you...".

The mares voice faded as she slumped to the floor, the last breath of her body leaving, her spirit floating on the breath as it carried it up to the heavens away from this hell hole.

Twilight fit the kinesis module in the rear of the stasis module and with a faint click it snapped on, seeing the debri in the hall entrance she decided no better way than to use kinesis, normally she would use her magic but being this deep in space somehow messes with it.

Holding out her front hoof a faint blue sphere appeared around her hoof as three strands of electricity cluched the debri and flung it out of a way, it was a splendid invention and came in handy when needed.

Just as she left the station twilight looked around it at the bloodied body bags that littered the floor, then back at the mare her body looked empty now just laying there, dead weight.

Twilight made her way down the hallway a glowing object caught her eye and picked it,'SCHEMATIC: FLAMETHROWER', she grinned at the schematic and idea but had a job todo first, pressing the door it hissed open a metal barricade prevented her from going to her route, the rig link popped up and mike appeared.

"Twilight are you there? We were attacked and circuit is gone one minute she was there....i just cant believe i lost her", spoke mike in a frantic voice before taking a breath and continued speaking.

"Alright we can still do this, get me the captains rig codes and we'll find circuit. It looks like the crew barricaded the door to the emergency wing", spoke mike as the rig link displayed a map of the wing and where she needed to go.

"We need to destroy that barricade to get to the medical wing, go to medical storage and retrieve some thermite then zero-G therapy for a shock plate...dang it...communication..is...useless...with..all...this static..", mike began to cut in and out as the static claimed the rig link then minimized.

Twilight started for the door and pressed her hoof on it, it paused for a few seconds, a dead mangled body layed next to the door she shrugged it off as she made her way through the bloody halls. A door leading to medical supplies was malfunctioning and was slamming repeatabley, stasising the door she walked through and the door continued its malfunction.

Entering the medical bay was strange, it felt as if the creatures were staring at her with cold gazes as if hating her especially. She walked further the containment alarm shot on making twilight jump aiming the plasma cutter, the room was now filled with soft yellow slow oscilating light.

In the distance she could hear the roar of the necromorphs, hungry for her...

She fired at one as it burst out of the vent cutting its limbs off, she spun around to kill the other one but wasnt fast enough as the necromorph seized twilight and bit at her neck its foul breath pouring in her nose.

Thrusting it off she then fired at its legs cutting it to the ground, stasising it she curb stomped its other top hoof killling it. Making her way to the elevator she tapped on the downward arrow, aiming the plasma cutter she walked slowly towards the middle of the medical deck the lockdown was still in affect so there had to be more and it didnt take long for them to find her.

One crawled after her as blood gurgled in its throat she stasised it and stomped on it till it was dead, a few more had come out of the back room and she dispatched them, their blood spattering the walls and floor.

The containment breach lifted and twilight stopped to rest, she gazed at her bottom hooves now covered with blood and gave a little smile, she...somehow was beginning to like it.

Shaking her head she activated the deck navigation, the blue line turned behind her into a small office, following the line she pressed on the door as it hissed open, walking in she noticed another sliding door that the line continued beyond.

Proceding she opened the door and immediately something caught her attention, the smell of....foals, but why on the ship? Twilight walk slowly forward coming around a bend in the hall, she could see through rather good sized window in a enclosed room individual tanks and small forms floating within them as a green fluid encased them.

Walking closer a stallion rushed from inside to the window,"HELP HELP COME ON COME ON!!!!", he yelled in panic and terror as a small foal crawled from behind, its eyes no filled with blood lust, three tentacles slithered out from slits in its back.

One of the tentacles fired pinning one of the stallions hooves against the glass, it fired another into his back as it jumped up onto the wall behind the stallion, one last shot came from one of the tentacles into the stallions head exploding it against the glass like a bag of jelly.

Twilight shook her head to come out of her trance and ran to the door that led to the room, she pressed her hoof against the door and it hissed open. Walking in the foal, which from a closer view appeared to be a filly, jumped at twilight gripping her chest and stabbing into her back.

Surges of stinging pain shot up and down her body like a bullet richocheing of walls, twilight managed to yank the filly off her then slamming it into the ground, she then kicked it with all her might severing two of the three tentacles.

The filly necromorph was dead laying on the floor like a peaceful mangled puppet but strangely enough she didnt feel sad as she curved around the corner to a small lift. Once she reached the top another of the foal necromorph had its back turned against her.

The element of surprise was gone as another foal burst out off one of the tanks, twilight ducked behind one of the tank columns as the two fired their harpoons at her. Stasising one twilight shot a horizontal bolt at the one that was in regular motion, the bolt ripped off two tentacles and it fell to the ground dead.

Turning her attention to the stasised one she then stomped repeatabley on the foal till all she heard was the soft gurgle of blood oozing out of the wounds. Wiping the splattered blood off her visor she continued through two more doors entering a small room, which she guessed was medical storage.

Looking at the desk in the middle of the room she could see the small container of thermite and snatched it away, an audio rig link popped up and mike spoke," Alright that thermite should be enough to blow that barricade, use the shock pads from zero-G therapy to detonate it", spoke mike in a hushed tone.

"Hope i can hold this position....i can hear something big moving out there", mike spoke then the audio rig link shut off and minimized.

Making her way through the medical deck twilight went up the elevator and exited the room. On her way there two necromorphs ambushed her in the hall, quickly dispatching them twilight made her way up the small incline.

Entering the lobby she looked at the barricade and now needed to retrieve the shock plate, turning to her right she pressed on the door and it hissed open as she stepped in the hallway. From around the corner twilight could hear a wet thud every four seconds sending chills down her spine.

Making her way around the corner the sound grew louder and louder, when she turned a small shadow was standing facing a wall. Creeping closer she could see a stallion standing in front of the wall hitting his head against the wall that now had blood dripping down it.

She stepped closer, the stallion pushed his head back a little farther and slammed it as hard as he could a sickening squelch wrenched twilights stomach as his head caved in and blood spattered out, his body collapsed onto the floor.

His eyes starred at her like orbs of ice chilling twilight to the bone, his forehead caving in slightly, a small pool of blood forming in the caved in area.

She made her way through a door and into a loading station of somesort a large clear cylinder with a flat top and light blue glowing kinesis symbol beside it. Aiming her left hoof twilight shot out the kinesis bolt and it cluched the cylinder, she slowly rotated it to the left into a crevice opening a path way to her right, the squeling of the necromorphs on the other side.

Without giving pause she ran to the opening adrenaline rushing through out her body as she fired a stasis bolt at one of the blade tailed necromorphs as she finished off the other she then stomped on the stasised one until it gave way.

Breathing for a moment twilight looked up and saw a power cell on the ground, lifting up the power cell she then placed it in the socket turning blue indicating a good connection, the cargo lift next to it lit up as she stepped on and went upward.

Lifting her hoof she pulled the stage to the left so she could crossover , turning around the corner she fought off two necromorphs as they burst out of the vents. Doing the same to the stage as she crossed over to the other side.

The door read locked but she didnt take long to find the circuit and shot at it thus unlocking the door, opening it she walked in another door lay ahead of her. Pressing her hoof on the door it paused for longer than normal, then air started to furiously exit the room.

A hiss sounded as the door opened the ishimuras voice spoke,"Entering Vaccum", twilight stepped out, there was no sound it was completely silent, the vaccum no matter how hard or loud you screamed nopony could hear you.

Twilight made her way through the damaged area its side ripped out so she could have a clear view of the planet below, the huge crater stared at her like an eye of a giant cyclops without blinking.

She came upon the door and pressed her hoof on it the voice spoke from the intercom once again,"Exiting Vaccum", twilight walked over to the zero gravity door, it was different then the rest it was circular not square. Pressing the door it shifted and rotated to the left and opened.

The room was rather huge and in a cylinder set up a holopad sat waiting for command, twilight tapped the tab and the zero gravity kicked in and the bodies and debri in th room started to float around. Aiming herself, twilight jumped with her front hooves outstretched, landing with a hard thud she pushed herself up.

One of the power cells were missing so twilight searched the room for the cell, it was floating in the near corner, aiming her left hoof she then shot out the stasis bolt clutching the cell it drag close enough for her to place it in the socket then pressed on the door.

The door hissed open and she walked in, the room was small probably used for storing utilities, she rested her eyes on the shock pad and picked it up her audio rig link popped up and mike spoke.

"Great...you got a shock pad, combine with the thermite at the barricade to destroy it....shit i can hear more coming...moving through the vents stay safe twilight", spoke mike in a hushed voice as the audio link shut off.

Twilight exited the room a necromorph had made its way inside and was now starring at her, she raised her plasma cutter as it tensed itself and launched at twilight. Firing the weapon she managed to kill it before it reached her its body carring past her from the momentum.

Leaping across the platform she landed on the other side and opened the door,making her way through the vaccum once more a necromorph was walking slowly toward her she aimed and fired killing it swiftly its blood floating in little bubbles like bloody stars.

The way back to the barricade was smoother than expected besides the usuall necromorph, now she was facing the barricade, the thermite hooked into the shock pad and she placed it onto the barricade.

After taking a few steps back she sheilded her eyes as the thermite ignited with a brilliant blue light as sparks flew this way and that, when it was all over the a gapping melted hole stood in front of her, the audio link snapped on.

"Okay yor through it should be clear from here to the morge...remember the codes from the captains body", said mike as the audio link closed.

She walked through the door and saw a blue soft light pulsating slowly on the ground, twilight reached down and picked it up, it was a video log so she flipped it over a clicked the tab. Twilight gasped, it was fluttershy, one of her medical logs, she listened as she began to speak.

"This is senior medical officer Fluttershy transmitting ship wide, we need more help, we dont have the resources to deal with this many cases! Nopony would tell us whats happening!", sighed fluttershy as she continued.

"These...wounds..we are not equipped to deal with this.....", fluttershy stopped talking and sighed shaking her head as the bloodcurdling screaming of somepony came from the background,"get him to the table now! Mathew hold him! Hold him! God..end of recording!",the video log shut off and minimized leaving twilight starring at the empty air where the video was playing.

That was her friend, the second video ive seen of her, she must be around here somwhere! Her audio link snapped on and mike began to speak.

"That was fluttershy right....i cant tell from here when that log was made...im sure shes around here somewhere", spoke mike in a sympathetic tone, the audio link shut off leaving twilight there...silent.

Determination burned in her soul as she continued on her way to the morge, entering was a chilling sight, blood spattered all over the ground, bloody hoof prints on the walls and windows , and writting on the walls that was in an entirely differnt language but somehow....she recognized it.

Twilight entered the operating room, two foal necromorphs fired their harpoons as she ran for cover as they whizzed past her ears. Stasising one she lifted a power cell and flung it at the foal, the cell smashed the foal killing it instantly, she then fired at the other killing it as well.

Lifting the power cell she placed it in the socket unlocking the door, the door hissed open and revealed the bloodied hospital beds, each one was covered in blood and empty body bags laying on top. Each row was covered in the blood of the patients, it was also covering the floor, wall , and even the ceiling like a spray painter from hell had come and sprayed the corridor.

She walked on, the putrid smell of the blood filling her nostrils, two necromorphs slid from uptop suprising her but she quickly dispatched them and continued on her way through the bloody medical hall and came to a door.

Entering the room there was individual capsules for biocontainment, she froze as the middle had two ponies in it, the stallion on the medical bed was writhering in pain as the mare cut into him with a bonesaw. She looked over at twilight and started to laugh then looking back at the stallion she cut his main artery killing him quickly.

Glancing over her shoulder at twilight the mare laughed louder as she slowly brought the saw up to her own throat and slit it, blood gushed out of the cut as she fell to the ground all she heard was the gurgling of blood in the mares throat, loosing
its final breath.

Twilight walked around the capsule approaching a door starring at it blankly for a moment recalling what she had just saw, pressing on the door she was greeted by a huge roar that broke the pressure windows popping them like air filled bags.

"The beast is hungry", thought twilight as she released her hooves from her ears and brushed off the glass, continuing a little further she came upon an audio log sitting there without a care in the world and activated it.

"Science log chief science officer doctor kyne reporting, the colonies problems concern me greatly. I have no doubt that they are somehow linked to the discovery of the marker, but...the exact nature of that connection is still unknown, almost fourty-percent of the colonists are experiancing the same form of dementia".

"The obvious symptoms ar acute depression, insomnia, and hullicination. Incidents of violence and murder also indicate extreme paranoia.....doctor mercer even advises bringing some of the affected onboard for further study, doctor wellen, the planet site psychiatrist, has reported that his own analysis has been fruitless. An hetitance relies on mercers at this point, i need his expertise".

"We need solutions....and we need them quickly", the audio log closed and twilight let it fall to the ground,"the marker. The marker.The...marker".

The words bounced around her like a rubber ball each impact releasing thoughts and emotions, it somehow felt similar to her as if she was connected with this....marker.

Shaking her head she walked on and came to an elevator, pushing its holotab the door hissed open and she stepped in the air of the elevator runing through the shaft brought a strange sort of comfort to her mind.

The sliding doors opened and she was confronted by yet.....another door the same kind she entered through when the roar came, pushing the door a foul odor rushed into her nose making her gag as if she was punched by a hoof in the stomach.

Yep...it was the morge alright blood covering the walls and medical beds, organs laying on the ground and medical beds, the smell of rotting flesh and putrid blood claiming the air, a faint haze hung in the air.

Just ahead twilight could see a see-through glass section, inside layed a dead stallion...the captain. Once the idol of authority on this vessel now a bloody plaything laying on the medical bed. Twilight approached slowly making her way around the bloody beds.

She jumped as a morge door opened by its self revealing a dead rotted stallion, she chuckled to herself for scarring so easily over just a little thing, turning her attention back to the captains body, she approached closer.

Just then a necromorph crashed through the roof of where the captains body layed, swooping down on what looked like flesh like wings it grabbed ahold of the body and using an long injection talon it thrust the talon into the captains head through the skull.

A yellow murcy fluid flew in all directions as the bat creature transformed the captains body, twilight could just stand and watch as the bat flew off the captain as the body writhed on the ground.

Long talons shot out just underneath the hooves,the hair falling off and matted on the ground the skin turning coal black, his bottom jaw seeming to melt off as little tentacles sprung from where it had been.

Snapping its head around it glared at twilight with blood lust and hunger, the once proud kind captain was now part of the necromorph herd. Thrusting its talons back it broke the glass and charged at twilight but she managed to stasis him and fire upon his legs.

Cutting them off she than quickly cut off his upper hooves kiling him, but she had forgot the bat and it lunged at her its wings open for capture. Twilight was thrusted against the morge doors as she tryed desperatly held the bat away as it tryed to inject its talon into her head.

"How the buck could this have been a pony!?", said twilight in her head as she ripped the bat creature off of her, pressing down on the bat with her bottom hoof she than grabbed the three tentacles plus the long talon and pulled with all her might.

She heard the flesh rip as the tentacles and talon ripped out of the bat, then kicking it across the room it slammed into the wall and convulsed on the ground, blood pouring out of the wounds.

The bat gave one final convulsion then flopped onto the ground, twilight let the tentacles fall to the ground and leaned against the morge doors to catch her breath.

After gaining some strength she walked over to the captains rig, hovering her front hoof over it a data reader gathered the information and sent it to mike, her audio link popped up and mikes voice spoke.

"Codes received and they look good....thank celestia", sighed mike with relief,"I'll start accessing the captains records right now, head to the tram station and ill contact you there. I'm gonna find out the hell happened to this ship!"

The audio link closed and twilight made her way to the elevator around the bend, she pressed on the door and stepped halfway in and turned and looked back at the captains body. A pang of sadness came upon her like a sharp needle in her brain, turning she pressed on the holopanel and looked out the closing doors.

Twilight raised her hoof near her forhead saluting the captain as a final gesture of farewell, the doors closed and cut her vision from the morge.

The elevator stopped and twilight stepped, she was once again in the upper med lab, making her way to the door she walked into the blood caked lobby where a necromorph had "conveniently and patiently" had waited for her and charged.

Dodging its attacks she swung around and fired upon its legs, cutting it down she stasised it and commenced stomping on it till it gave up the ghost.

After stomping the buck out of it she noticed one strange thing, the once light pink flesh of the necromorphs were now a charcoal black and took more effort to kill. Keeping the thought in mind she continued through the door, for the first time in a while her video link popped up and mike appeared.

"Twilight!! Somehow one of them made its way down to the captains nest, i had to contain it in a damage escape pod", said mike in between breaths, he breathed and continued talking," Lifting executive lockdown now....i found the deck logs whatevers happening around here it came from the planet when the cracked it open".

"It spread through the colony and made its way to the ship....twilight this isnt an infection its some form of alien life", spoke mike as a brief wave of static claimed the channel for a few seconds.

Mike appeared out of the static and continued to speak," shit we got bigger problems!! The ships engines are offline and our orbit is decaying, get on the engineering deck asap while i stay here and figure out what the problem is", mikes voice cut off as static claimed the channel again for good.

Twilight made her way down the hall and into the room where the barricade was, pausing she remembered the flamethrower schematic she picked up a while back and turned to the right.

The shops menu panel unfolded ready to serve her like a mechanical servant, entering the schematic the menu tab labeled flamethrower popped at the top and she clicked it and two little arms unfolded at the bottom and assembled the weapon rather quickly.

Handing it to her she lifted it off the arms and felt it, it.....was marvelous how it felt in her hooves, oh what destruction she could release upon the mutated freaks of the ship. Holstering the weapon she turned around and made her way through the hall to the tram station, upon entering she gasped.

Just a little while back the tram station was littered with bloody body bags...at least eight were there and now there not, the torso of the stallion and the mare that had given her the kinesis module and died was also gone, now only blood stains were there.

A chill ran down twilights spine as if a piece of ice had run down it, shaking her head she walked over to the tram and sat down inside it by the control panel.

Pausing her hoof over the tab she looked out towards the hallway from where she had come, she thought she herd a voice calling out, 'im fine' or 'hey its good to see someone else'!

But ...no, there was no hoof steps or voices coming from the hall, pressing the tab the door slid slowly shut and so did twilights eyes as the tram jerked forward deeper into the intestines of the giant metal beast as the voices of the fallen echoed throughout the metal shaft....

......it was just their echos......

Chapter 5:Ignition

The tram slowed to a stop, the squeak of metal ringing through out the trams interior. Twilight stepped out of the tram a soft haze of steam floated from under, the floor in front of her read, "engineering deck".

Walking slowly forward her video link snapped on and mike appeared," Twilight we go two problems and we're working on borrowed time here", spoke mike in a frantic voice,"First, there's no fuel in the engines, second, the gravity centrifuege is offline which means there's a coulpe trillion tons of rock pulling us down!"

"I need you to get that sentrifuege operational and re-fuel the engines then fire it up so i can stabilize the ships orbit!", the video link went to static then minimized into twilights chest display.

"Yeesh....demanding, but i guess thats my life as an engineer!", twilight muttered to herself as she continued on her way, a feeling of comfort layed on her mind as she gripped the flamethrower as she made her way down the hall.

Turning the corner she was engulfed in a bright white light, walking to the lights she found that they were flood lights, six to be exact.

She entered a rounded room, a dead stallion wearing a gas mask was slumped in the chair his body bloodied and torn in some areas, glowing on the floor was an audio recording. Tapping the button a soft electronic whine started and her audio link snapped on.

"Personel log, active chief engineer jacob temple, its been two days since they pulled that planet open....since the captain died.The panic, the riots are nothing compared to what came after, our friends our co-workers.....started coming back!"

"Changed, coming back...to kill us, drag us away, robert disappeared this morning and i have to assume hes dead...the crew they're starting to crack. Im trying to keep an eye on them but i have bigger problems."

"We're hemraging fuel and the primary engine is laboring, damvers and i are going to try make it to the engine level and see if we can fix it.....temple out"

The audio link shut off and twilight glanced at the bloody corpse,"well i guess he didnt make it that far", she thought to herself as she snapped on her deck navigation and followed the blue line.

Entering the engine sector made her jaw hang loose, it....was huge the open expance seemed to go upward for ever she couldnt even see the ceiling and plus it was dark. A heavy fog lingered above as if the sector had its own weather and rain.

Continueing on down the grates she turned a corner where a door lay busted wide open with blood covering the floor around it. There laying on the floor was a dead necromorph or so she thought.

Approaching it she stopped remembering the one that played dead back in the tram control, not taking any chances see aimed the flamethrower at the corpse and let loose and then.....

It was a pleasure to burn...

The necromorph shot up and started flailing its talons screaming, its scream tore through the huge expance like a sharp knife.

She slugged it in the head with the flamethrower as it made its way to her stunning it to the ground, it writhed and twisted as the fire cooked its flesh, bubbles formed under the skin and popped like popcorn, the smell of burning flesh filling the open expance.

Twilight starred in wonder at the burning writhing necromorph, the burning orange, yellow, and red feathers of flame danced in her eyes as the fire claimed the necromorph a small smile slowly spread across her face as she accepted the joy of burning these "things".

Turning right she continued her way while following the blue line like a foal following its mother, she jumped as a talon tailed necromorph crawled swiftly under the grates to fast to fire her weapon.

Walking now at a quicker pace she turned a corner where a necromorph was just making its way through the grates, she fired a blast of the napalm and fire onto the necromorph then stomped on the burning creature till it became limp.

Faint tiny squeals came from behind, twilight turned around, they were tiny creatures no bigger than a gerbal that were flipping around on the ground then simultaneously jumped onto her.

Twilight flailed her arms ripping at the small creatures as they dug their tiny claws into her flesh, she ripped them off squishing their tiny bodies in her hooves like tomatoes.

Continuing she came around a bend and saw a gondola stranded in the middle of the tracks, a small kinesis symbol glowed softly on it. Pulling it back over she flipped on her deck navigation and bent around the corner. Proceeding she came upon a switch that had a kinesis symbol.

Raising her hoof she released the kinesis bolt and slowly pulled the lever down until it locked into place, the ishimuras voice snapped on,"refueling process started".

Twilight walked onto the gondola and pressed the switch, it jerked forward and drifted through the heavy fog, on the other side twilight herd a deep roar emminating from the fog.

As the other side came into view she could see two necromorphs waiting for her as if they expected for her arrival. Pulling out her plasma cutter she fired at the two before docking. They both lied dead as she walked past and made her way to the second fuel lever, pulling it down she activated the ishimuras voice once more,"refueling process completed refueling engines".

Upahead the great turbine cylinders jerked awake as if from a deep slumber, the turbine to her left moved forward to an open claw and connected, the giant connectors on the side lifted up and connected refueling the ship, her audio link snapped on and mike spoke.

"Whatever you did its working twilight, i have a reading, its only a quarter full but that should be enough for orbit once you bring the engines online....", mike stopped speaking he then continued in a hushed voice,"what the hell?".

He sighed and continued,"false alarm...thought i saw something", the audio link shut off and twilight made her way back to the gondola.

Activating it she drifted once more through the heavy fog the deep roar came again but nopony was waiting on the otherside which relieved her.

Stepping off the gondola she flipped on her deck navigation, it led to the door that entered to the outside of the cylinder room. Following the line she came upon the door and pressed it open, she was in front of the cylinder room when a bat necromorph swooped down and connected itself to the body in the chair.

By the time she opened the door and rushed into the room the corpse had already turned and the bat flung itself off of the necromorph. Stasising the two she engulfed them with flame, they screamed as they flung their flamming bodies at her, jumping back they hit the ground in front of her.

She watched with a smile as their bodies burned turning their skin a charcoal black, after watching their anguish she continued to her right entering an elevator.

As the elevator soared up its shaft an disruption rocked the elevator almost sending twilight off her hooves, it came to a stop and the doors opened revealing a sectioned off room.

Making her way around a corner she opened the door leading to the room, upon entering she saw a holopanel and approached it and read,"start decontamination process?".

She pressed the tab and the room filled with an orange light and the rooms voice spoke,"decontamination in process please wait", a orange scented spray came from the roof.

Iron grates slamed on all the windows around her startling her, outside she could see three necromorphs crash through
the ceiling and try the grates, they gazed at her hungrily like foals starring into a candy shop.

A shower of sparks came from overhead after the three necromorphs jumped back into the ceiling and darkness fell in the room she was in. A crash came from in front of her as the necromorph roared, she fired at the necromorph engulfing it in flame lighting up the room like a living torch.

Another came from behind, she spun around and slammed the flamethrower into its head then engulfing it too, just as she thought she could rest a tailed necromorph flung itself at her from a side vent. Landing next to her it slashed at her with its tail, attempting to to dodge the slash she slipped on the decontamination fluid falling to the ground.

The necromorph launched its tail at her but she managed to catch it, the blade one inch from her facemask. The strength of the creature was immense. Twisting the tail in an akward direction it roared with pain as she grabbed her flamethrower and fired upon it.

The creature convulsed on the ground then layed still, twilight lied on the ground her chest rising up and down from the struggle. The last of the decontamination fluid dripped onto her helmet and the voice came on.

"Decontamination complete thank you for your patience", the lights flickered on and off repeatably but the doors unlocked,"ya...i waited very patiently",twilight muttered to herself as she got up and headed towards the door.

Twilight exited the decontamination room and continued on her way, she came upon another and opened it entering a rotunda. As she made her way to the deck navigations marker she noticed two good sized holes in the wall, blood and limbs layed in the floor in front of the holes as if they were the mouth of a horrible beast.

She came upon a circular door similar to the one she saw when retrieving the shock plate, pressing it the doors panel slid from horizontal to vertical then separated as the door opened.

Entering the room was another one of the doors but she stopped and looked down at the ground, it was a medium air can she picked it up and connected it to the back of her rig but didnt activate it yet.

Pressing on the door she entered to a huge open rotunda, the gravity centrifuge sitting in the center, the ishimuras voice spoke upon her entry,"entering zero gravity".

Down below the gravity generators were spinning but not connected to the centrifuge, shooting out a kinesis bolt she slowly guided the generator to the connection. Just as she connected them it recoiled back in a shower of sparks a message popped infront of her,"use stasis to connect generators".

Twilight kicked herself in the leg for not thinking of that and shot a stasis bolt at the generator slowing the spin of the connector. Guiding the connector it attached to the centrifuge with a loud clang,"gravity module one connected", spoke the ishimuras voice.

Getting ready to jump twilight paused and glanced to her side, bursting out of the wall was a fleshy mass, like an organ hanging out of a wound. Veins corsed all along it and slightly pulsated here and there, shaking her head she turned and jumped.

She glided across the room and landed on the opposite side next to the holopanel, scooting as close to the edge as she could twilight aimed and fired a stasis bolt but her kinesis was to far out of reach.

Jumping down to the second module with the stasis still in effect she guided it into place,"gravity module two connected, activation now authorized". Twilight turned to the right as a necromorph screeched and flung itself at twilight, dispatching it quickly.

Twilight walked to the cargo lift under the control panel and went up, approaching the panel she pressed the holotab and the sound of hydralics filled the air. Under the centrifuge a huge rounded hatch opened revealing the planet that had been cracked, it was red and dark shadows covered most of its surface just a little off to the side she could see the huge eye of the crater starring at her without blinking.

"Gravity centrifuge online, entering vaccum", just under the centrifuge an antenna glowed and shot a bright white beam towards the dangling four trillion tons of rock.

Twilights audio link snapped on and mike spoke,"you're doing great twilight, centrifuge and gyros are both at one-hundred percent and stabilized, now get out of there and focus on the engine. Celestia knows how much time we have left".

The audio link shut-off and twilight glanced at the door she needed to get to,"oh buck!",twilight muttered to herself as she realized that now that there was no more zero gravity that she would have to gallop as fast as he could to get to the cargo lift while the huge counter weight of the centrifuge swung around that could kill her if she came in contact with it.

Lowering down in the cargo lift twilight spotted the other cargo lift she had to access to exit it...was...clear...across the room, each passing of the giant counter weight shook twilight to her bones.

"Alright...one...two...THREE!!!", twilight yelled as she exited just as the counter weight passed by the opening, galloping as fast as she could twilight made her way to the next cubby spot just as the counter weight passed by.

Her heart pumping with blood and adrenaline, twilight ran out a second time to the closest cubby spot, but just as she reached the spot a necromorph with the "conveniently" same idea ran in as soon as she did. Struggling with the necromorph she glanced at the fastly approaching counter weight.

Swinging it around twilight pushed the necromorph off and thai kicked it in the gut sending it back in the path of the counter weight, twilight waved her hoof goodbye at the necromorph as the counter weight smashed into it obliterating it.

"Sucks for you", twilight muttered to herself, she then started to have a shortness of breath, her lungs felt like they had one hundred pounds layed upon them.

Checking her oxygen meter it read in red numbers 54.5 and was decreasing fast, twilight fumbled on her right hoof for the medium air tank activation switch, her vision becoming blury.

"Oh mother of celestia i dont want it to end like this, not here!", twilight said in a frantic voice, she found the switch and flipped it on. Instantly the new oxygen filled in her supply as if an angel had lifted the weight off her chest.

Twilight leaned against the wall as she breathed in the sweet new oxygen, her vision cleared and she focused on the cargo lift.

Bolting out of the safety of the cubby hole twilight galloped to the cargo lift and jumped at it just as the counter weight passed by.Twilight lifted up the lift and exited the centrifuge room, the pressure locked and she was now back in the oxygen supplied room.

"Surely things cant get any worse?", twilight muttered as she opened, just as she walked out a tentacle wipped around the corner and grabbed ahold of her bottom hoof, picked her up and slammed her back down on her back knocking the wind out of her.

Twilight aimed her plasma cutter as the tenatcle pulled her towards the hole in the wall, aiming her plasma cutter she fired at the bright yellow sack out of pure guess.

The tenatcle recoiled in pain and continued to pull, she was now closer to the hole, twilight kept on firing and missed a few times with just one more yank twilight would become this things lunch.

Grinding her teeth twilight fired one last time at the sack the bolt struck the bright yellow sack and exploded ripping the tentacle in two showering twilight with the liquid, the one half leading into the hole writhed in the air before sinking back into the hole, a deep roar rang through the ship.

"Im.....never....saying....that again", said twilight in between breaths, staggering up she then ran past the hole fearing it as if it might emerge again.

Twilight walked quickly down the hall, she entered the decontamination room and exited towards the elevator, on her way up her video link snapped on, she was surprised to see that it was circuit.

"Twilight can you hear me, its circuit! They attacked me and i galloped for it and mike just...he just disappeared", circuit spoke in a frantic voice, mikes voice came on the line,"Circuit? Where are you?"

"Its nice to hear that your alive and well mike. I barricaded myself in the computer core....i can hear them moving outside but...i dont think they know im in here".

"I've been logging into everything from here, i hacked the root and found some reports from the colony. Even befor they had cracked the planet the colonists were experiencing wide spread forms of dimensia...it seems to be related to some artifact they found on the planet something called....the marker".

"I'll keep looking, i've got your location and im going to unlock the door to field storage you can get to the engine chamber there", the video link minimized and circuit disappeared from view.

Walking to the right twilight was greeted by another circular door, pressing on it the door open and she proceeded to the next door and did the same. The door hissed open,"entering vaccum", twilight could see the open expance of the dark void known as space.

The damage had been done to a zero gravity area so twilight was able to glide to the other side and open the door, hissing closed the pressure returned,"exiting vaccum".

Twilight opened the door upon entering she cringed at the high pitch roar of the engine area, light shown through the bottom grates casting ominious shadows on the walls and ceiling.

Making her way down the hall around a bend she shocked and disgusted at what she found, the same organic material that was in the centrifuge was covering the three floors and the walls, its tangled mass consuming everything.

Twilight could barely walk as she made her way to the first cargo lift and went down, the stuff wasnt only revolting it was also like a glue making it considerly hard to walk through.

Twilight reached the bottom and noticed that a door was short circuited and was slamming open and shut, making her way to the door a necromorph tried to launch itself at her but utterly failed as he was cut to pieces.

Rolling her eyes she stasised the door and walked through making her down the hallway turning to the engine control room, pressing the door it hissed open revealing the huge engine turbine, the sheer size stunned twilight.

Shaking her head out of the trance she focused on the necromorphs ahead, firing she managed to deal with them rather quickly then from behind the engine control console a necromorph that had his abdominal area bulged out, the flesh tearing from the growth.

Twilight fired at his stomach a few times figuring that was his weakness, the necromorph dropped to his knees and hooves, his stomach started to twitch and bulge. Then with a sickening rip the flesh and his stomach ripped open killing the necromorph but spewing out the gerbal sized necromorphs.

She tore frantically at the tiny creatures as they dug their tiny claws into her flesh sending waves of stinging pain up and down her spine. Twilight managed to teared off the tiny creatures and squish them to a small paste, breathing for a second twilight then made her way to the console and pressed it.

"Engine ignition sequence started please stand by", the ishimuras voice announced, behind her twilight heard the roar of multiple necromorphs.

Snapping around twilights eyes widened with horror and fear as she counted the amount in front of her, there had to be at least ten or twelve. Twilight took a deep breath and pulled out her two weapons, the plasma cutter in one hoof the flamethrower in the other.

The necromorphs bolted at her and she opened fire, she would engulf some then fire at them with the plasma cutter if they didnt succom to the flames. Twilights heart was pumping a mile a second as adrenaline corsed through her heart and body.

Twilight stood there breathing her chest heaving from the intense battle, the bodies layed in a circle around her, blood and seared skin covered her suit and helmet. Twilight turned to the control panel and tapped start,"engines started thank you for your patience".

Twilights ears popped from the pressure as the engine ignited, the deafening roar shaking twilight, above jets of fire shot out as the engine roared to life, she had awoken the metal giant.

Making her way back to the door twilight opened it and stepped through, as the door closed behind her the video link snapped on and mike spoke with a smile on his face.

"Its working, we're online and functional. Finally some good news get a tram to the bridge twilight and we'll take this ship back into orbit.....", mike was cut off as circuit appeared,"wait! wait! We're not safe yet, the ships debri protection system is offline!"

"On the way up the ships going to pass through a debri field that had come from the planet crack. We'll be ripped to pieces unless you reset the system".

Mike appeared again and anger replaced the joy,"DAMNIT!!!! I'll start working on it from here, twilight make it to the bridge you can do more good than i can".

The video link shut off and twilights spirit sank,"buck cant i have anything?!", twilight muttered to herself as she made her way through another sloped corridor to the tram station.

On her way up the corridor twilight froze as her audio link snapped on and a familiar voice spoke,"Twilight? Twilight? Whera are you...its me fluttershy!".

Twilights mind stopped,"it..it...it was fluttershy and i didnt pick up a recorder either, so she has to be alive!", her heart filled with determination twilight pressed on towards the tram station.

Upon reaching the tram twilight stopped to and took a breath, stepping in twilight pressed on the tab and sat down in one of the seats.

"Shes alive...shes alive, i can feel it", twilight thought as she gazed at her hoofs as the tram jerked forward and proceeded deeper into the beast, the transmission echoing in her head.....

....twilight?.....

.....its me fluttershy.....

Chapter 6:Oblitertion imminent

Chapter 6:Obliteration imminent

The tram slowed to a stop, standing up twilight winced at the stinging pain in her back from the tiny claws, cautiously twilight walked out of the tram a faint white haze hung in the cool air.

The video snapped on startling her, mike began to speak,"twilight come in, circuits right the atius is completely shut ill need your help to fix this....circuit if you can hear me see if you can get to the ships reports it sounds like you have better access from there".

Circuit came on the line,"when were you going to tell us about the artifact mike....this marker?", spoke circuit in an untrust worthy tone,"i dont know anything about that, its referanced in the captains records....they brought it up from the planet.

"Its on the ship?!", exclaimed circuit now in a high voice,"its in cargo, they think its of alien origin, but i dont know what the hell it is?!"

Twilight noticed now that circuit was beginning to not trust mike as she spoke,"oh really? C&C did not know anything about it.....you're lying!"

"Stop i am not the bad guy here so right now you are going to have to TRUST me that i dont know anything about it!", spoke mike now irratated, the video link then filled with static as mikes image distorted and struggled to talk.

"we've...entered the...debri field get to the captains deck ill explain everything later, mike out!",static claimed the video link as it closed into her chest display.

Twilight walked slowly around a bend and came to a waiting room with red lights shining from the ceiling, she jumped as tentacle of some sort broke through the glass and wriggled before sinking backwards a mutalated head popped throught the hole, its tentacles tasting the air.

The head shot back through the hole and the creature lumbered away roaring as it went, each step it took as it moved on shook the ground, whatever it was had to be big.

Making her way around the bend twilight pressed on the main atrium door and it hissed open, the atrium was huge, great glass debri panels gave a clear view of the space ahead and the great chunks of debri that flew past.

The ground shook as a chunk of debri crashed through the ship into the floor almost knocking twilight off her hooves, sparks shot from the hole in the ground, the ishimuras voice spoke,"debri breach detetected, heavy damage on atrium".

Her audio link snapped on and circuit spoke, "Twilight, impact on the bridge right at your hooves...im reaping heavy damage but containment looks solid, life support is stabilized...we got to get the ADS working!"

The audio link closed and twilight moved around the hole to the bridge, stepping on the cargo lift twilight tapped the console lowering herself to the bridge. Twilight stepped off and made her way through the escape capsule area, she stopped as she noticed a glowing device laying on the floor near a escape capsule.

Picking it up the holodisplay read,"Level 3 engineer suit", she smiled as she downloaded the schematic into her data bank so she could redeem it at the store. Continuing on twilight pressed the door and entered the bridge.

Mike was working on one of the control panels when she entered and approached him, he jumped as she approached him,"Twilight! Damn you scared me this place has been making me jumpy. Bucking asteroids coming through the roof", mike sighed and continued to talk.

"Look i know circuit doesnt really trust me, i dont know anything about a marker or anything else this is suppost to be a repair mission....plain and simple", said mike as his eyes and hooves darted on the control panel working its various functions.

"This mess is the asteroid defence system...i can fix these boards but the main power routing is shot, your going to have to re-route them manualy through these three junction boxes to activate the primary cannon".

"Oh!! But first you need to activate the atrium elevators from bridge security, then you can use them to get to the junction boxes", spoke mike as he turned his head and looked at her.

"By the way be careful, i saw something out there...i dont know what i only got a glimpse, it was big...really big", twilight nodded and exited the bridge she jumped as a necromorph thrashed in a escape pod, her audio link snapped on.

"Shit!! Hold on!", exclaimed mike as he activated the escape pod sending it into space,"I thought it would be dead for the amount of time i sealed it in the pod...they dont die easily", the audio link shut off and twilight entered the cargo lift back into the atrium.

Quickning her pace she walked over to the door, she stopped as a roar came from behind it the creature punched the door denting it outward then again and again. Twilight starred at the door,"oh you got to be shitting me", she said to herself as the huge creature smashed through the door.

It barreled at her with its two huge front mutated hooves like a gorilla, twilight bolted around the corner the brute smashing control panels as it chased after her. Looking back she fired the plasma cutter, the bolts bounced of its thick armor only enraging it further.

As she ran her audio link snapped on and mike spoke,"your weapons cant punch through its armor, shoot it in the back!!!!", twilight spun around and tried to stasis the brute but it had caught up to her. Using its huge front hoof it swung it into twilights gut sending her across the room knocking the wind out of her.

Twilight slammed against an control console, she could hardly breathe, her chest screamed with pain from the impact. Staggering up she lifted her left hoof, her head still in a daze she fired a stasis bolt at the brute, it slowed and twilight ran almost tripping to its back.

She unloaded a whole clip of her plasma cutter into the glowing yellow spot upon its back, the brute roared in pain as the stasis wore off and it swung its hoof at her. She dodged the hoof this time and ran again, the brute pursued with unextinguishable rage.

Using its size twilight sharply turned a corner, the brute couldnt turn fast enough skidded and slammed against a wall, as it shook off the impact twilight ran towards it stasising the huge creature, after a split second reload twilight unloaded another clip into its back.

The creature roared with pain as it thrust its head upward then collapsed onto the ground, blood gurgled from the yellow spots in its back.

Twilight kicked it to double check if it was dead and it was indeed dead, she leaned against a wall and slumped down to the ground. Her chest still screamed with pain at each breath she took, she almost certain that she had a cracked rib.

Staggering up she focused some of her magic onto her chest but to much aveal, the magic helped a little but not by much. "What a life", twilight muttered to herself as she limped on to the bridge security.

Upon entering the security control panels flashed on revealing fluttershys face,"twilight....make us whole again", the panel snapped of and twilight moved onto the atrium elevator control panel. She tapped on the activation tab,"atrium elevators activated", spoke the ishimura.

Twilight glanced at the security bridge before entering the elevator, the room was covered in blood and twilight looked at the brute,"well i guess i know now what happened to the security crew in there", sighed twilight as she entered the elevator.

Her video link snapped on and played a recording,"This is mutiny....you're all being tried for mutiny!!", shouted the captain, two security personel stallions stood next to him doctor kyne facing him.

"Theres no use in reason...settle down then..hold him", spoke kyne as the two stallions took hold of the captain,"of marital law 469, i here by declare captain benjamin mathias unfit for duty!"

"The marker...must be delivered to the church!!! Clerance please!!",shouted the captain as he started to struggle from the stallions grips,"im sorry ben but i dont want to have to do this", said kyne as he turned his back to the captain preparing a syringe.

"Traitor...heretic..MURDERER!!!" yelled the captain as he struggled,"hold him!!", shouted kyne to the security personel as he lowered the syringe towards the captains neck.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!", yelled the captain as the needle sliped from kyne into his eye, blood gurgled from his eye as he dropped to his knees and then collapsed on the ground a small pool of blood forming around him.

"Hes...dead", stammerd on of the security personel,"n...no it was an accident, i...i had to stop him!", stammered kyne as he stepped back from the captains body.

"Arrest the doctor!", shouted one of the security personel as the video link closed, twilight pressed the tab and the elevator started its decent. She gingerly touched the place where she had been struck, she let out wimper as the ginger touch on her rib shot jolts of searing pain through her spine.

She breathed and closed her eyes, then jolted back awake as a blood curdling scream of a mare rang through the elevator and shaft. The elevator jerked to a stop and the door slowly opened, stepping out cautiously twilight began to walk through the corridor, data panels streamed data as she walked.

As she approached ship systems door her audio link snapped on and circuit spoke,"It looks like some of the gravity plating is malfunctioning, keep an eye out for any distortion affects coming from the floor it could be dangerous".

Twilight pressed on the door and it slid open revealing a maze of data panels, turning a corner a foal necromorph screeched as it sprinted towards her, she noticed a broken gravity panel as the foal necromorph ran over it and was launched into the ceiling.

The gravity field crushing it till it died, making sure to avoid the malfunctioning panels, she made her way to the other end of the room. Stopping she pressed on the door to a second room, she stopped and listened, a crashing noise started and it was coming in her direction!

Dodging to the left a brute smashed through the security panels into a wall, twilight turned and bolted to a clearing in the middle of the room. The brute barreled towards her, stasising it she noticed yellow segments on the joints connecting the large leg and hoof to its body.

Aiming the plasma cutter twilight fired at the yellow segments, they exploded and the brutes arm shot off. Sruggling back up the brute contined to crawl towards twilight with its one arm, she made quick work of its other arm and it collapsed onto the ground.

Twilight stopped and took a breath she noticed the taste of blood in her mouth as her ribs ached further, swallowing her saliva she contined to the back room. There sitting in dented metal was the asteroid that had crashed through the roof, its bottom still ablaze.

Turning her attention to the junction box she noticed a pair of electrical cables thrashing around like snakes from hell, stasising the two cables she bolted to the junction box and activated it.

The electrical wires stopped their thrashing and fell to the ground, her audio link came on and mike spoke,"ships system box rerouted, im making some progress with the tracking grid...one of the cannons are giving me a hard time, keep moving", the audio link shut off and twilight made her way through the maze back to the elevator.

Upon entering the main atrium twilight was ambushed by the talon tailed necromorphs, firing she managed to kill two but more came from the vents, twilight dodged as fast as she could from each slash of their tails each attempt sending pain from her ribs.

She managed to kill the last one and stood there holding her side, she rotated around the corner and entered the second elevator.

(SORRY EVERYPONY FOR THIS BREAK IN THE CHAPTER AGAIN, PROGRAMMING TAKES UP ALOT OF TIME)