Dead Space: Lifeline

Chapters

Chapter 00 - The Quick and the Dead
Chapter 01 - Over the Raggedy Edge
Chapter 02 - The Cost of Living is on the Rise
Chapter 03 - Rainbow Cutters are your Friend
Chapter 04 - Unnatural Selection
Chapter 05 - Start Spreading the Limbs
Chapter 06 - Vomit Comet

Chapter 00 - The Quick and the Dead

“Move!” Applejack cried as she limped through the pools of rot and blood painting the corridor floor. “Move, Fluttershy!”

Up ahead it was hard to see her in the dim, flickering lights of the corridor, but Applejack knew her friend was moving exactly as they had planned. After all, every time they took to these lethal corridors it had been with a plan to get to the safety of a ventilation shaft, or a maintenance tunnel or some cramped, dingy cupboard somewhere. Applejack had lost count of how many runs they had made in the past day. A hundred? A thousand?

How much ground had they even covered in all those mad dashes between safe zones. Ten metres? A hundred?

It seemed they weren’t making any progress. And she felt even more helpless as she counted the amount of ponies they had lost every couple of runs. Everypony was gone, and it was now just the two of them.

Ahead Fluttershy had opened one of the maintenance ducts that sat in the smooth walls of the corridors. It was easy enough to spot the ducts, they were always pronounced by black and red hazard strips, or illuminated by dim amber lights.

The pegasus struggled into the narrow passage, twisting and scrambling in the unfamiliar bulk of the Royal Guard armour bulwarking her otherwise frail body. The golden impact plates were scuffed, chipped and dulled, painting a grim picture of everything that had happened to the pony in the past twenty-four hours. Between the dents from falling down ventilation shafts and claw marks of the unrelenting damned.

Applejack looked no better off. Her customary Stetson was missing and she tasted blood. She wondered how hard Rarity would faint if she could see either of them, clad in tacky tarnished armour, their manes all frizzed and messy and blood caking their fur.

Heck, Applejack might not even recognise herself in the mirror should she care to look. She hoped she and her friend would live long enough to.

Catching up she watched Fluttershy looked back as she scrambled over the threshold of the maintenance tunnel. Applejack thanked Celestia – and a few other deities for good measure – that Fluttershy hadn’t broken into uncontrollable tears yet. They were both afraid of death’s shadow breathing down their necks, but they had to keep going. Applejack counted her blessings that she didn’t have to carry poor Fluttershy.

But something in Fluttershy’s expression changed as she looked past the earth-pony. There wasn’t just fear in her eyes anymore. They widened to the size of saucers with absolute terror. A mask of terror she only wore then “they” entered line of sight.

Applejack turned to see what Fluttershy had spotted, but feared she didn’t actually have to look. She knew it by the monstrous roars that carried down the corridor after them, and the scuttling of talons.

Applejack flicked out her right forehoof. The armour she’d scavenged from a Royal Guard pony who hadn’t needed it anymore glowed the same crimson colour as the blood caking the outside and inside. As the magical glow intensified, spare plates slid out of a hidden compartment in Applejack’s ballistic collar and slithered down her leg. Prongs and plates built up bit by bit around her hoof to form a handle. More bits clicked into place to form a shaft ending in a trio of barrels on the business end. The part pointed at her face extended into a clamp that secured around her fetlock before the magazine slotted itself into place and the weapon hummed hungrily for blood.

The moment the crystal rifle’s safety clicked off, Applejack cocked both back legs and bucked Fluttershy in her flanks. The pegasus was sent sprawling helplessly into the maintenance corridor as Applejack landed hard on her back, rifle shifted into a firing position.

“Run, sugarcube!” Applejack yelled as she aimed her rifle. “Get out and warn everypony! That’s all that matters! You have to get ou-…”

The shadows fell upon her, tearing and spitting and roaring. Applejack screamed as loud as the rifle while the maintenance hatch fell shut to block Fluttershy’s view.

An unsettling silence filled the dead space in her ears, and realising she was now alone, Fluttershy finally found her tears.

DEAD SPACE:

Lifeline

By PseudoFiction

Chapter 01 - Over the Raggedy Edge

My chin rested on my hoof, I watched the frozen landscape blur past the window. It made me shiver, and not because of the frigid wind and snow. I never much liked the snow. Winter was my least favourite part of year. It was cold, wet and nothing grew in the snow and ice.

Having been a farmer all my life, a time of year where you can’t grow your crops was understandably going to be my least favourite.

The Friendship Express blasted its whistle as the brakes squealed, and with a rumble the train pulled into an ice encrusted station lined with shivering ponies. Icicles hung from the train station and the shaking ponies as they piled aboard the train the moment the doors slid open.

I was on my hooves while the conductor stood by the door of my carriage, calling out; “Last stop! Frozen North! Err…”

He paused as I trotted past him, battling a gust of freezing cold wind that battered my mane into my eyes. Even through the insulated suit covering my hooves up to my neck I could feel the cold snake into my collar and chill my bones.

The conductor watched me with a frown as I tightened my scarf. “You’re, eh… you’re sure you wanna get off here, son?” he asked hesitantly. “Ain’t nothing up here but ice-fishing and… well… ice-fishing.”

I glanced to the shivering snow encrusted ponies stacking their fishing gear into luggage racks and gave him a firm nod. “Eeyup.”

Begging your pardon, partner. You’re probably waiting for me to introduce myself, and here I am blabbing on and on about my tale already.

Name’s Big MacIntosh, or you can just call me Big Mac for short.

But to be honest my name is probably the least important thing about this story. Who I am is a little more important. Or at least, who my sister is.

My sister Applejack is the Element of Honesty, one of six Elements of Harmony. Six ponies – Twilight Sparkle, Miss Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and last but not least, my sister Applejack – who have time and time again guarded Equestria from evil.

That is until a few weeks ago they went on another mission to save Equestria, a mission that took them to the Frozen North. Long story short, I haven’t heard from any of them for two weeks, which is unusual. Especially for Applejack.

So there I was, half a world away from home, looking for them and making sure nothing bad had happened. Of course I could have just left it to the properly trained authorities, but Applejack was my sister; and I’d gallop headlong into Tartarus for her if I had to.

Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. In my heart I hoped she was just celebrating another victory over the forces of evil with her friends and got carried away, forgetting to write home and all that. Granny Smith would be sure to give her an earful if that was the scenario.

But I’d never know sitting around in Ponyville twiddling my hooves like I always did when darkness threatened my home. So I packed my things, told Granny not to worry, entrusted Apple Bloom with my lighter chores and bought a return ticket to the Frozen North.

Now the Frozen Wastes were a desert of snow, ice and desolation. It would be stupid to just start wandering in the hopes of finding Applejack. I’d probably fall down a crack and be found and thawed out ten-thousand years later. I decided to ask around the train station.

Unfortunately there was nopony about. It seemed the Frozen North was just a train stop, nothing more, nothing less. The ticket vendor was an automated machine and the vending machine looked like it hadn’t been stocked in years.

Venturing away from the abandoned train platform I found a single pony still out fishing. The old stallion was crotchety enough, his big bushy beard crusted with snow and ice. Still he sat there wrapped in a thick coat, icicles hanging from his fishing pole as his little circle of water cut through the ice was beginning to glaze over.

The easiest way to describe to the old pony who I was looking for was to show him a picture, so I pulled an old photo of my sister and her friends from my saddle bags and showed him.

“Oh, I remember that thar’ one alright.” He pointed to Fluttershy. “Hard ‘ta forget pretty eyes like that one. They headed off that’a way. Hard ‘ta see from here, but that’s actually a road, there.”

The old pony led me onto the path and there was indeed distinct road leading through the snow. Even though many hooves had packed the snow tight and left little ridges determining the edges of the road, I could just as easily missed it.

The old pony continued to explain; “A lot of history down that road. Used to be the main road in ‘n outta the Crystal Empire.”

I must have looked confused, because he asked, “You never heard o’ the Crystal Empire, young’n?”

“Eey-nope.”

“Ah, well I’m afraid I can’t tell ya’ much about it. All this old-timer knows is that it used to be a sister nation ta’ ‘questria. There was an ol’ pony tale said that long as love reigned the Crystal Empire love ‘n such would fill the hearts o’ e’rrypony in ‘questria. Not sure if that was true ‘r not.

“So this king gets it inta’ his head he wants ta’ rule the Crystal Empire. His greed drove ‘im ta’ hoard away all the crystals that powered the empire ‘n he enslaved the crystal ponies. Tale goes he built the bridge into the empire with the bones of the slaves he killed and filled the moat with their blood.

“Yup. Lotta history down that road.”

I felt ill, staring wide eyed down the road leading off into the haze. How did Applejack do this heroic adventure stuff!? I was shivering with cold and fear and my rescue mission hadn’t even begun!

Gulping hard, I gave the old pony my thanks and set off down the road. I’d come this far, all the way to the Frozen North, further than I’d ever been from home before. There was no way I was going back empty-hoofed now.

Before leaving for the Frozen North I had made sure to pack and don my winter kit. Winter in Ponyville wasn’t as cold as up north, but it was still pretty frigid. Applejack’s friend, Miss Rarity had caught me chattering my teeth while manning the apple-stand in the Ponyville market one day and put together a rather nice suit to keep me warm. The fashionista was by no means the most practical mare around, but a little bit of Applejack must have rubbed off on her when she was designing my snow suit.

I was dry and snug as could be and reminded myself to thank Miss Rarity if I found her…

No, none of that thinking, Mac, I scolded myself. None of this “if” business. “When” you find her. “When” you find them all.

As the path wound on and carried me further into the desert of ice I was actually beginning to enjoy myself. There was nopony around, nopony looking over my shoulder. I was far away from home out in the big bad world, my winter suit keeping the cold out and the snow crunching pleasantly under my hooves. For all my hate for the snow, I was beginning to like it out there, mainly because the snow was like my first nemesis and I was relentlessly beating it.

My adventure was going so far so well. And with every step in my chipper trot I felt pride and reassurance swell in my chest. I even managed a smile. This adventuring stuff was easy! No wonder Applejack liked it so. I was growing more and more confident that her lack of contact was just one big misunderstanding.

There was clearly no danger.

So I kept telling myself.

A blizzard rolled in out of nowhere. One moment it was hazy but calm. Then next thing I knew the loose ends of my scarf were whipped up by the wind and a flurry of snow stung my eyes.

Squinting through a near complete whiteout I struggled onwards, keeping my head low and the edges of the road in my sight. But soon enough the packed snow under my hooves turned soft and deep. I had to raise my legs high in a silly looking flamingo step just to force my way forward. The edges of the road, the whole darn road, was gone in seconds.

I turned on the spot and tried to backtrack a little. Then I crossed the groove I’d walked into the snow only moments ago. I was wandering in circles.

A cold chill raced down my body. A chill of despair and actual cold. I pulled my hood up and my scarf over my face to try and stave off the elements a little, but my suit wasn’t rated for a cold of this calibre. Soon I felt clammy coldness seem through what was supposed to be waterproof material. Snow crusted every inch of my body like a layer of icing as I battled through the fierce roaring wind throwing snowflakes horizontally into my face.

I paused for a second to take in that last bit. The wind howled and roared, a deep, hoarse and terrible cry of some kind of creature wafting out of the haze to meet my ears.

A reality suddenly struck me. The reality was that Equestria was home to unpleasant things. The Everfree Forest was only next door to where I lived and a constant reminder of the monsters that roamed the land.

Another beastly howl, closer this time caused my mane to stand on end. I tried to turn towards the sound, to see it coming, but it echoed all around. It was impossible to pinpoint.

I cursed, trying to keep going in a direction that was hopefully away from whatever bad things were out there. But in my rush I practically collided with the shape.

It was definitely moving, but still far enough away that it merely took on a shape; the twisted unnatural shape emerged like a ship from a fog. You stared at the fog, and suddenly part of the fog was hull that had been there all along, and now there was nothing for it but to race for the lifeboats…

I turned and bolted in a panic. I could barely make out what the thing was, but not knowing was enough to drive my motivation to flee. It was huge, whatever it was, and moved too fast on too many legs. I wondered if it was even possible to outrun the thing. I certainly hoped so.

Another howl, and this time I was sure it wasn’t the wind. The thud of many feet scuttling into the snow followed the howl and I was suddenly pretty sure that draft down my neck had turned into the hot breath of a carnivorous monster. The pride and confidence that had swelled in my chest only minutes ago turned to suffocating fear.

I was panting for breath as every muscle in my body burned, drawing raspy breaths and huffing clouds of mist out through my iced over scarf. My hood fell down under a gust of wind and my ears went numb, but I didn’t care. I lifted my hooves as high out of the snow as I could and kept running.

I’d only been running for a short while but already I was out of breath. I could buck trees back on the orchard all day long, but out there the cold and fear whittled at my stamina. Soon it felt like the snow had turned to treacle and I became painfully aware I wasn’t gaining any ground.

Another howl, this one split my ear-drums with the pitch of it. It was a terrible noise that played into my most primal fears. The rapid fire of legs thudding into the snow was like a terrifying drum beat, increasing in tempo, faster and faster until…

I slipped and fell, my heart jumping into my throat. I thought I was a goner for sure. Whatever monster was after me would catch up and tear me asunder. But I didn’t stop.

My hooves had hit air instead of snow and I fell forward, sliding and tumbling down a steep hill. The world was a blur all around, sucker punching me from all sides as if to scold me for being such a stupid foal and coming out here with no experience whatsoever.

I took my punishment until I hit the bottom of the slope, a small avalanche landing on my back and grinding my face deeper into the packed snow. The taste of copper filled my numb mouth and I wondered if I’d bit my own tongue.

Lifting my head and forcing my eyes open I saw I had no such luck. The taste of blood was not of my own.

It was of theirs.

Bodies lay in the snow all around. Some fully exposed, others partially buried. All were frozen solid and in one way or another torn apart. Limbs lay scattered about the carnage, legs and hooves ending in bloody knots instead of being attached to ponies.

One head stared blankly at me with iced over eyes, recognisable only by the gold-plated helmet of a Royal Guard. I started spotting other shreds of armour and clumps of bloody hair, realising all these corpses were of guardsponies who had lost some sort of battle.

Lost badly. They were discarded randomly like a wild beast had torn right through them with all the grace of a giant lawnmower.

And the blood… I’d never seen so much blood in my entire life!

It stained the snow under my hooves completely, forming a crimson carpet in every direction as far as I could see.

Given the time I would have doubled over and thrown up there and then. But the unidentified beast’s howls of frustration somewhere above me kept my mind relatively sharp. Looking up the hill I’d tumbled down I saw small puffs of snow slide down towards me with the crashing sound of something big and heavy coming closer and closer.

Scrambling through the slippery mess, I belted it to a grey outline up ahead. It was linear in shape and every instinct in my body screamed at me that it was a structure up ahead. A shed or a house, I didn’t much give any kind of damn. Anything for me to hide in was good enough for now.

Thankfully, fate did me one better.

The carpet of gore turned to trampled snow again with only streaks of blood here and there. A few frozen limbs stuck out of the snow, but the bodies were well enough hidden from sight. I paid them no mind for the moment as I slid up to the edge of a sheer cliff dropping into nothingness below.

Normally I would have had a moment of vertigo, but fear of ending up like the ponies torn to fleshy shreds back there overrode fear of heights.

Dangling over the hazy abyss was a cable car suspended from a set of metal cables that angled gently down into the cloudy haze below. The mechanised pulley perched on the edge of the drop-off automated the operation of the car. If I could turn that on and jump aboard the cable car would carry me down and away from the approaching monster.

I dove onto the generator and gave the ripchord a pull. The throttle was up, the choke was on, but the generator only chugged and gargled before dying again.

I pulled again. Gargle… dead.

I shook the fuel compartment as the wails of the creature grew louder and heard a little sloshing of liquid. The fuel wasn’t frozen at least. So I popped the fuel line and sucked while glancing nervously in the direction death would come from. Several air bubbles flowed through until I tasted spicy liquid on my tongue.

Spitting out a plethora of rainbow essence colours I replaced the hose on the generator and gave the ripchord one final, desperate pull.

Choke… chug-chug-… roar! Yes!

The generator grumbled to life spitting a plethora of colours rom the exhaust as the flammable rainbow essence sparked to life and worked the pistons. I slid the cable car’s pulley system into gear while running and leapt head-first into the car as it jolted into motion.

It swung back and forth as I took cover underneath the windows circling the car, but slowly and surely the car began moving forward, down the cliff face and towards the swirling clouds below. I managed a smile. I was home free. It was all going to be oka-…

CRASH!!!

Something heavy hit the roof of the cable car and the cable sagged. The car dropped a few feet, flipping my stomach, then sprang up again with enough force to lift me off the deck.

The monster on the roof scrambled about, talons scraping horribly over metal like nails on a chalkboard. When I smacked back into the floor of the cable car I looked up and saw it.

Well, some of it at least. All I could see was legs, kind of like the legs of an enormous spider but completely devoid of hairs and ending in wicked, barbed points clearly designed for killing and eviscerating. I didn’t see a body or any other kind of limb. Just two spidery digit hung over the edge of the roof and clawing at the cable car.

One of the legs slipped in through a window and swished dangerously close to my face. I screamed louder than a filly on a rollercoaster, scrambling away from the slashing limb as it seemed to be sniffing out my blood.

All the while the cable suspending us above the void was giving metallic twangs with every bounce. Right up until the sickening snap.

I heard the squelch of the highly tensed wire whip through soft flesh and a crunch of a shell being crushed followed by the high pitched squeal of the beast scrambling over the cable car. Then we plummeted.

The car rolled as it fell, and I hung somewhere in free fall, trapped in the plummeting cage. The spidery legs had disappeared, the monster clearly thrown free of the cable car just before the fall. I was actually relieved for a moment and in those fleeting seconds of euphoria, floating free thought he air surrounded by shards of debris and flakes of snow, nothing in the world mattered. Way up there in the sky there was nothing to worry about.

Then I hit the ground.

The impact happened so fast I could barely register it in my mind. The car landed on its side, I’m pretty sure of that. A geyser of snow spewed up through the windows and caught me. And in an instant of blinding pain racing through every inch of my body everything went black…

Chapter 02 - The Cost of Living is on the Rise

“Big Mac! Big Maaaa-aaaaaaaaaac!”

Granny’s high pitch grate drew a grunt from the dozing farmer, and rubbing his eyes Big MacIntosh sat up.

The sun was out and it was a beautiful day on Sweet Apple Acres for a sneaky late-afternoon snooze. Nothing out in the orchard but the gentle summer wind and the buzzing insects to keep the big red stallion company.

“Big Mac!” Granny Smith continued to shout from the farmyard. “Big Mac, we’ve got vis’ters!”

Big MacIntosh slicked back his mane wondering who that could be. With a smile the stallion trotted up the path leading back to the house, hoping it was Miss Cherilee. She was a dear friend, and he barely got to see his friends lately.

Somehow thinking of Cherilee, Big MacIntosh sub-consciously brushed some of the dirt from his coat and tried to tidy his mane as best he could. Catching himself in the act as he crested the hill overlooking the farmhouse, Big MacIntosh wondered why he did that thinking of the school teacher.

Looking down, the stallion didn’t see the pruce mare in the yard like he had been hoping to. Instead he walked down to meet Granny Smith and Apple Bloom greeting a pair of stallions from Canterlot. Big MacIntosh could tell they were from Canterlot, it wasn’t hard to spot their white coats, blue tails and polished gold-plated armour.

The Royal Guard always looked very serious, Big MacIntosh knew that much about them. But it was something in the way they greeted him with a curt nod that made the farmer very uncomfortable. It was in their eyes. The way they carried themselves.

And in the way they showed up just a week after Applejack had gone on her mission for Princess Celestia. They hadn’t even said a word, and already Big MacIntosh knew exactly what this visit was all about.

Something had happened to his little sister.

When I woke I found myself not groggy after a nap in the sunny orchard, but laying on my side in a pile of snow, surrounded by the twisted remains of the cable car. The impact had dented the hull and blown out what windows still had glass in them.

My limbs were stiff. Everything was sore. There was pain behind my eyes, in my hooves, behind my knees and in my ears. Parts I never even knew I had and can still not fathom any sort of use for hurt as well.

And above all, my head throbbed like a volcano had gone off in it.

With a groan I managed to flex my limbs and gave myself a pat down. There were no unusual protrusions, nothing felt broken, ‘cept of course my pride. That must have been what broke my fall.

After some time I climbed to my hooves then squeezed through a narrow crack torn into what had once been the roof of the cable car. Outside was barely a breeze, and the cable that had once held the car suspended high above lay coiled all around in the shallow snow. The snow down there was a lighter dusting over the frozen earth unlike the deep molasses I’d been forced to run through earlier.

I thought about the monster that had been chasing me and looked around with a brief spasm of panic. A beast that size would have been easy to spot, and thankfully there was no sight nor sound of it. All that remained of the beast was a horrible memory and an impact crater next to where the cable car and I had landed. It must have been hurt, for the crater was smeared with blood and infectious looking pus.

There was a trickle of coagulated fluids forming a trail down the hill, and following it with my eyes I gasped at the sight of a city laid out before me.

The sprawling urban terrain formed a perfect disc of built up civilisation. Main roads cut betweent he buildings like the spokes on the wheel, with angled roads forming connecting walkways to form a general star shape. Between the roads were a grand total of twenty-four enormous habitation blocks.

The habitation blocks were in turn home to observatories, iced over glass domes, walkways, gantries, balconies and skyways interconnecting the habitations. And every smooth, oblique surface had the sheen of glass, like the whole city was build out of crystal.

And in the centre was a monument to which even the Canterlot Castle coudlnt hold a candle. The fortress tower at the heart fo the Crystal Empire was an immence tower standing on four spread-eagle bases. It drew my gaze upward to the mid-section where the castle disappeared into the cloud-cover swirling all across the rocky valley in which this city was hidden.

I’d actually done it! I had found the Crystal Empire. This had to be that mission Princess Celestia had sent Applejack and her friends on. It had to be. And I was one giant leap closer to finding them.

Theoretically, of course. That was still one heck of a city I had to search. But hopefully somepony out there could lend a hoof. It was simple logical mathematics, the same kind I sometimes liked to befuddle my sister with.

Down there were a lot of buildings and streets. A city this size and in this good sort of repair had to have a population of some sort. Unfortunately the monster that had nearly torn me asunder was also out there, so I shook off my bruises and head down to the city outskirts with a steady trot. I had to find somepony, warn them of the danger and then figure out what exactly was going on.

As I walked the lonely, empty snow dusted street leading into the heart of the city, I suddenly felt very small. The buildings were built on a grand scale even the likes of Canterlot couldn’t live up to. I felt like it could take months, years even just to explore everything. And as time went on I suddenly became horribly aware I might have to actually try and explore everything.

There wasn’t a soul to be seen. I checked some of the windows, dusting away the snow that piled up against the panes, but it was so dark inside I couldn’t see a thing. There weren’t even hoof-prints in the snow apart from my own.

More worryingly, the more of the valley I came to see, the more I could see it wasn’t a valley at all. It was a crater. The sheer cliff wall I would have descended with the cable car stretched all around forming a perfect circle, trapping me within the Crystal Empire. Unless there was another cable car or if I started climbing this side of the week I wasn’t getting out of there in any kind of hurry.

I wondered if anypony had flown out, then checked that swirling storm churning above my head. It looked like there were violent gusts up there that would tear the best fliers in Equestria out of the sky.

A cry set my mane on end like I’d been electrocuted. I jumped hard enough to actually leave the ground for a second as the familiar wail of that spidery beast from earlier carried throught eh alleys and over rooftops.

Only instead of persisting, the beast’s cries was answered. By one roar at first. And then two. And then what sounded like four hundred. All terrifying howls like an enormous pack of Timberwolves howling to the moon.

And then silence.

I forced my heart to slow down, but maybe tried too hard because a second later it stopped entirely.

There came an eerie bellow, then it scuttled out of a pile of snow. The thing stood a little taller than a pony, only because it was reared up on hind legs. The front legs were like the legs of a foal. They protruded from its stomach. From its shoulder-blades sprouted two jointed scythes of bone, like the wings of a featherless pegasus. Its skin had the same crystalline sheen as the architecture, with seeping, disgusting rot churning and squirming just underneath the transparent film holding the whole monster together.

I never would have guessed that the thing had once been a pony if it were not for the head, broken and cocked over to one side. The eyes were wide and empty, and the bottom jaw had been torn down the middle to just leave two tusks lined with teeth and bony razors.

Holy buckin’ ponyfeathers, I cursed in my head, my mouth moving but unable to get the sounds out.

More geysers of snow where the powder had piled up against the sides of buildings over the years popped up. Curtains of white settled to reveal more of the monsters. There were three… then nine… then too many for me to count. They appeared all up and down the street, boxing me in as I backed up towards the nearest doorway.

Lashing out with a leg I gave the door an experimental buck. Not my hardest kick, just a checker. It was a crystal door, but it felt harder than steel. I coiled and unleashed a double kick.

My knees clicked and I slumped to the ground. The door didn’t budge.

Rising in a panic I looked back to the approaching monsters. They were watching almost curiously, like they didn’t know what to make of me the same way I couldn’t figure out what to make of them.

Then the door between me and sweet freedom parted into a six-pointed star shape, seams meeting in the middle followed by each segment sliding out of the way, leaving just a pure white stallion framed in the rectangular doorway.

His glare, his flared wings and his armour gave all his alliances away before I’d even had a chance to properly register his appearance in my mind. But above all, all that mattered to me at the time were his words.

“Come with me if you want to live!”

And he was gone in a flash, running back inside to lead the way. I wasted no time, turning on my back legs and bolting after the stallion. My hooves slipped over the slick threshold, but the moment I caught some traction I was off down the corridor like a bullet.

I dared a look back and saw the doors begin to close, but one of the monsters shot forward, snaking those killing talons between the seams. Several more joined in and together they tore the doors open again to give chase.

I turned forward again, the scuttling of their hooves and claws over the smooth floor was enough to drive me forward.

Drifting around a corner I saw the pegasus stallion had paused halfway down the next corridor and beckoned me through and adjacent doorway.

“Move! Up three floors and take a left!”

He slipped out of view again and I sprinted to catch up. Doors lining the corridor streaked past and I didn’t even pay any mind to figure out what the numbers meant. Was this some sort of apartment complex? Or was it a vile lab that had birthed the monsters now chasing me?

I tried not to think too hard about it, focusing instead on belting it up two flights of stairs. The stairwell led on up and up beyond as far as I could see. I almost gave in to the instinct to keep moving, maybe get to the roof and open air, but the pegasus had said up one floor only.

So I ran out into the corridor again and took a left. And luckily too, because glancing back I saw more of the creatures I could have run headlong into scuttling down the stairs. These things were everywhere!

So where was safe?

“Come on!”

Down the corridor I saw the guard waving me over. He stood in an open doorway waiting for me, so with a cry it sped into a fresh gallop. Somewhere behind the slashing monsters skittered out of the stairwell and crashed into the corridor wall before scrambling over each other to nip at my fetlocks.

My hooves thundered as deafeningly as the rapid-fire beating of my heart. I thought I’d either drown in my own sweat or die of a heart attack before reaching the guard. But with one final leap I threw myself forward and sailed past the pegasus.

Before I’d even landed he slammed his hoof into a glowing crystal beside the doorframe, and just like the external door segments of a deceptively heavy and sturdy door slid into place blocking all sight and sound of the pursuing monsters.

There was the faintest of thuds as the wave of beasts crashed into the door, but there wasn’t the slightest hint of stress on any of the crystal panels.

“Bucking crystal ponies!” my saviour snarled as he ran his hoof over the door to make sure it was going to hold.

Crystal Ponies? I thought with a shudder. Those were crystal ponies? I desperately wanted to ask to make sure I hadn’t misheard, but my mouth was so dry I couldn’t even manage a whimper.

Looking at me like this was the first time he’d done so; probably an astute assumption since he was too busy running away from the crystal monsters earlier, the guardspony looked me over head to hoof. He relaxed his wings and softened his glare a little. Only a little.

We were in some sort of living room. The space was very Spartan, that is to say functional over aestetic. I was used to all the homely decorations and warm colours back home in Ponyville. Here the decoration was as cold as the outside air. Furniture was sparse, colours were plain and neutral and there barely seemed to be any kind of personalisation done to the room.

I wondered if it was just the personal taste of those who used to live there or if it was like that across the Crytstal Empire.

“Who the heck are you, anyway?” the guard demanded in a firm but quiet voice. Clearly he was conscious of not making too much noise and letting the crystal ponies know exactly where we were. “The only ponies we knew about on the expedition were Captain Armor, Princess Cadance, a baby dragon and those six fillies from Ponyville. And you don’t look like any of the ponies on the rescue mission I know. Aw, not like it matters anyway.”

There was so much information to take in. This was the Crystal Empire that had been ruled by a slaver king, and the ponies who had once been slaves were now monsters? And my sister was in the middle of this!?

I wanted to cry. I wanted to break down and sob and curl up until this nightmare would end. I wanted to wake up now. Be woken in the orchard by Applejack and get a good scolding from Granny Smith. I wanted to see Apple Bloom again, just see her and her little friends smile.

Somehow I kept it together. I lifted my head from between my forehooves and watched the guardspony cross the room.

“Keep moving and keep living.” He touched a gem in the post of a door on the opposite side of the living room and it flashed green before the segments parted. “That’s the only thing that matt-… oh, buck!”

The lone crystal pony waiting on the other side of the door leapt forward, roaring as if to cry “surprise!”

The guard screamed and tried to run, but the creature’s scythes were gouging into his back, spreading bloody spots over the stallion’s white back. It pulled him close like a lover and leaned in to bite his neck.

It was terrible to watch, the guardspony flopping like a fish out of water, screaming in a way I had only heard once before, when a rabbit had been picked up by a large bird of prey but lived long enough to realise it was desperately hurt. The creature was making a grotesque mumbling sound, drooling as well as biting and shaking its head so bits of flesh and gore splattered messily about.

My first impulse was to run. The only reason I didn’t was because of a fleeting selfish thought. If I don’t kill it, I thought, I’ll be next.

Call it a spurt of courage or a burst of ignorance, I leapt forward to help. My fore hoof curled through the air and hit the crystal pony in the neck. There was a spray of mucky brown material and the distinct sound of glass shattering.

The head tore mostly free, but the teeth were still firmly lodged in the guard’s neck and the body was still moving.

What does it take to kill these things!? I thought.

With a grunt I turned, curled and unleashed the hardest buck I had ever unfurled in my entire life. My body was like a finely honed cudgel. Years of apple-bucking had built up the muscle mass that could break ponies in two if I wasn’t careful. But didn’t pull my strength like I did when playfully punching my friends or wrestling with my youngest sister. I didn’t have to be worried about hurting somepony, because that was the whole intention.

My hooves hit the crystal pony in the chest and flung it across the room and into a wall. There was the distinct crack of crystal and bone and I was sure I’d killed the thing. But still it came back for more, teetering on hind legs and wildly slashing its scythes at my face.

I ducked low and lashed out, kicking the legs out from under the monster, then fell on it with a plan-B in mind. If it wouldn’t die, then I’d make sure it couldn’t hurt me or anypony else. My hooves fell hard and smashed into joints. Skin shattered like glass. Bone and flesh came apart like balsa wood and tacky glue. I stomped it out, tearing off limbs and maiming the monster as best I could, and didn’t stop stomping until I didn’t think it could do any more damage.

But even then I wasn’t sure it was dead. The incapacitated torso still writhed and twitched as if still trying to carry out its terrible mission.

I stepped back hellshocked from the pool of bits and piece, most of which I didn’t even recognise.

The Royal Guard pony was still alive I saw, and so was that head still firmly attached to his neck. He was in shock, his back and neck a bloody mass. I moved over, wondering what I could do to help, but by the time I reached him his eyes flickered, then clouded over. He was dead.

I must have stood there for the better part of thirty minutes just processing what had happened. Crystal Pony monsters, the kill, the gore…

My mind was racing when I heard a crack and saw the pegasus’ body begin to convulse. I pushed away from the corpse and scrambled back. The body seemed to be going through a fit, shaking and contorting. And then it began to change.

I watched horrified trying to keep my panic under control as the former guard’s jaw split down the middle and tusks burst out his mandibles. Blades sprouted from his wings as the hollow bones began to pop and snap. His forelegs withered as his chest cavity contorted and split down the middle, exposing the soft insides. His skin even became translucent, vitrifying and crystallising before my eyes.

He was becoming one of them.

That was bad for me. And that was an understatement. Not because I could become one of those should I fall. Because now I had a whole new set of problems to contend with. I knew what I had to do… but could I actually do it?

I swallowed bile as the former guard turning crystal pony let out a rotten roar.

Trying my best to convince myself this was for the best I moved over and began my bloody, grim task…

Big MacIntosh was a farmer of many apples, but of very few words. Even more so – though rare as it was – when he was frustrated or angry.

And the Royal Guard visiting the Apple family home were frustrating and angering him to no end with their news. How dare they trot up and bluntly state that his sister, their dear Applejack had gone missing!?

Apparently Applejack and her friends had been on some sort of expedition, the kind you might read about in a Daring Do novel. But this was real life, not some cheesy adventure story! And frankly it wasn’t even the fact his sister, unqualified in every field of digging up lost civilisations was sent on such a task. It was the fact Applejack and her friends had been missing for the better part of a week and the Royal Guard were only telling the Apples now!?

Big MacIntosh smashed his hoof down in a fury and put a crescent shaped dent in the kitchen table.

Guard#1 held up a hoof to calm the farmer. “Sir you must calm down. We don’t know if the situation has turned dangerous yet. The expedition has merely gone dark.”

Well what in tarnation did that mean!? But Big MacIntosh held his tongue as guard#2 opened his mouth to say more.

“We are of course sending a rescue team to the Frozen North to investigate.”

Guard#1 tutted and punched his wingman in the ribs, driving the wind out of him.

Sheepishly, guard#2 rubbed his neck realising he’d blurted out a little more than he was supposed to. “Not that that’s where the expedition was sent! And of course more details are classified.”

“But we’ll keep you appraised should the rescue team find anything,” guard#1 assured plainly.

Rearing up Big MacIntosh slammed both forehooves down on the table this time. The only thing stopping him from jumping over and breaking the two guardsponies across it was Granny Smith’s frail hoof crossing his chest.

“Big Mac, Ah’m sure these gentlecolts are doin’ all they can ta’ find Applejack.” Granny Smith assured, but Big MacIntosh huffed angrily.

“Hrmph! Nope.”

Elements of Harmony or no, since when was it Applejack’s responsibility to go on dangerous missions for the good of Equestria anyway!? Why couldn’t the Royal Guard, well trained ponies specifically taught to handle crises like these clean up this mess for once?

No, of course not. When there was a dragon, or an evil witch or a great evil it always fell to Applejack and her friends, his sister, to clean it all up! Throwing his chair aside, Big MacIntosh stormed off in a huff questioning everything he knew about the world.

While Granny Smith escorted the pegasi out, Apple Bloom ran to her brother. He was sat in the corner of the living room, glaring at the wall. She could usually tell well enough what her big brother was thinking, but for some reason the stallion was suddenly very unreadable.

Trotting over, Apple Bloom softly patted him on the shoulder. “Y’all okay, Big Mac?”

He didn’t even answer, brooding quietly, thinking deeply on what he was about to do…

The clasp holding the armoured plate across my foreleg clicked sharply. And in the dread silence that surrounded me I was suddenly worried about the sound being loud enough to wake the dead. I’d had nightmares before, but feared I had entirely new material for whole new ones now.

Covered in blood and wearing the armour of a dead pony I watched my forehoof shake uncontrollably. The armoured boot rattled a little as I steadied myself on the floor, but I could feel the nervous shake still vibrate in my muscles. I was a different stallion already. I was never going to be the same again. Even if I found Applejack. Even if I found Spike, Miss Rarity and the others…

The cost of living had risen. It was die and become a monster; or live and become an entirely different class of monster.

Shutting my eyes, I tried to convince myself this was all one big hallucination. Just a nightmare. But instead of opening my eyes to have a smiling Princess Luna standing over me to promise me everything was going to be okay, the gory mess that had once been a crystal pony and a Royal Guard pony stared back at me.

I gagged and spat a mouthful of saliva. There wasn’t even anything in my stomach worth throwing up anymore. I’d ejected its contents in the corner halfway through dismembering the pegasus while he was transforming.

Deciding to take things one step at a time I looked to the door the crystal pony that had murdered the guardspony had come from. His final advice – keep moving, keep living – was as sound advice as I could go by at that moment. I had to put as much distance between myself and this room. There were still other crystal ponies just outside in the corridor trying to get in. So I would move out, find a little safe hole and sort out a plan over some rations. What good would I do anypony if I passed out from low blood sugar?

My choices of progress were limited. Move through the open door or face the dozen crystal ponies stalking about the corridor outside?

I instantly regretted my choice as I moved deeper into the apartment through the door the guard had intended to take me. Beyond the threshold was a foal’s bedroom. And it had suffered as gruesomely as the rest of the Crystal Empire.

The wallpaper adorned with prints of teddies and balloons was splashed with blood. The furniture had been thrown about and there were deep clawmarks in the carpet.

I did my best to keep my eyes pointed away from the crimson mess in the crib.

Stumbling to the window, I wondered how the guard had intended to get us out of this apartment. Crystal Ponies blocked the only exit. Unless it was intended we jump out the window, but we were a few hundred metres up!

Looking down I caught sight of something. Quickly undoing the lock, I slid open the window pane and poked my head out into the frigid air. Less than a dozen hooves straight down was a skyway, a covered over walkway stretching across the street and connecting with the habitat on the opposite side. I could jump down and cross to the next building! And with all the local crystal ponies stalking about in the corridor of this building I was sure to be home free.

There was no point sticking around anyway, so gingerly I clambered over the windowsill and lowered myself as far as my forelegs would let me. On a wing and a prayer I unhooked my hooves and dropped.

Five hooves… twelve… SLAM!!!

I sprawled onto my side, the wind knocked right out of me. Bu the ride wasn’t over. Beneath the clear glass roof covering the walkway cracked and a spiderweb of tears raced to circle me. My eyes widened a moment, then I curled up and slammed my eyelids shut just in time for the roof to shatter.

I dropped several more metres and hit the walkway floor with a grunt. Waiting for the jingle of glass raining around me to stop I cracked an eyelid, then climbed to my hooves and checked myself for injuries. I hadn’t been stabbed up by any of the glass and my armour had saved me from most of the bruises. I was still sore from the cable car crash though, but put the pain aside with some practiced ease.

I was heading for the opposite side of the walkway, passing where a canvas had been hurriedly pulled down over a broken window but over the decades had worn away and now flapped loose like a tattered sail, when a thud stopped me. It came from behind and had a wet, fleshy note to it.

Any horror buff knows that when this happens the protagonist is supposed to hesitate, as if not really wanting to turn and face what terror may have landed behind him. I of course ignored this simple etiquette because I knew damn well what had landed behind me and I wasn’t about to expose my back to any of these monsters.

Though whirling about on the spot I was hit with a surprise. This monster wasn’t like the others who were obviously but the tip of the vulgar ice berg. If the other crystal ponies were best described as “slashers,” this critter was probably best described as a “leaper.”

The crystal pony had longer tusks than the slashers did and a powerful set of forelegs. But it ended in a bloody knot of ragged flesh around the waist, with only a whiplash tail of vertebrae ending in a scythe of bone. The leaper balanced on the bladed forehooves, then with a single supernatural heave threw itself into a swift lunge. I tried to dodge but was too slow to dodge and collapsed under the monster’s weight.

My back hit the deck and we slid to a halt with a metallic grind of my new armour. My forelegs desperately held back the leaper as it snapped its bladed mandibles inches from my cheek. At the same time that wicked tail darted upward and curled like that of a venomous scorpion.

I twisted my body and dodged sideways, the scythe of bone on the tail slamming into the ground and nearly piercing my ear.

In principle killing this thing ought to be a similar fare to the crystal pony slashers. And ignoring my immediate jump to the solution ending in my killing another one of these creatures, I curled my body like a shrimp and planted my bucking-hooves on what was left of the leaper’s torso.

I unleashed the same way I’d buck a tree, and the leaper lifted off me, flying straight up into the air and smacking into the walkway ceiling. Managing to roll out from under as it came falling down again, I was on my hooves in an instant and fell upon the dazed crystal pony.

My forehooves held the thrashing tail in place as I planted another hoof squarely on the head. From there it was a case of perseverance and brute strength before the skull squashed like a grape and the tail popped free.

The sudden pop had me sprawled flat out and eying my handiwork. But unfortunately without a head and tail the leaper was still thrashing about. Barbed little tentacles burst out of the neck stump, flickering through the air as if trying to sniff me out.

With some disgust I quickly let loose another buck that would snap a tree like a toothpick and what remained of the leaper flew out over the walkway and through the canvas failing to cover the broken window. I heard a thud in the snow below, and then sweet silence.

Catching my breath I stared for a moment at the bloody smear that had once been a head under my hoof. Forget nightmares, this was going to haunt my every waking moment.

Turning I continued moving. I wasn’t sure where to just yet, but anywhere but that walkway sounded pretty good. The commotion was bound to have drawn some attention, so sucking in my second wind I dashed for the shadows and searched for somewhere to hide.

Chapter 03 - Rainbow Cutters are your Friend

For a pony whose special talent was running an orchard, Big MacIntosh could sneak with the best of ninjas. Tiptoeing around with his bulk was no easy feat either, and with every groan and squeak of the kitchen floorboards he paused, then shifted his weight elsewhere while his ears turned to check if there was any sound from the bedrooms.

Satisfied he was still clear, Big MacIntosh navigated the darkness and stowed as much as he could into his saddle bags. He’d grabbed his winter suit from the cupboard, it would come in handy if he was heading into the Frozen North. He even had faithful little Smartypants balanced on his back as the farmer blitzed through the kitchen as silently as he could.

He packed a loaf of bread, as many apples as he could fit, jam and even filled some of the spare jam-jars with water. Satisfied he had some ration packs in case his savings couldn’t carry him the entire journey, Big MacIntosh visited upstairs one last time.

Granny Smith had a frilly sleeping mask on and snored loud enough to mask his movements as he left a letter on her bedside table. It explained everything, what Big Mac was doing, where he was going and couldn’t stress enough that Granny shouldn’t worry.

He promised to be back with Applejack.

He stopped by Apple Bloom’s room too and left the list of his lighter chores on her bedside table. It wasn’t just a list of chores though. It was orders that she listen to Granny Smith while he was away and the reaffirming words that she was all grown up now. She had responsibilities now, and he was counting on her to keep Sweet Apple Acres running tip-top while he was away.

Then he left, stalked out the front door and into the night air.

“Jus’ you ‘n me now, Smartypants,” Big Mac whispered to the head of his rag doll hanging out the saddle bag. “Let’s go find Applejack.”

Without looking back at the farm he’d called home for the entirety of his life, Big MacIntosh took a breath and set off down the road.

Waking with a start, I drew a sharp breath through my nose and lifted my head to look around.

The utility closet was exactly as I’d left it a few hours ago before I caught some shut eye. The shelves were lined with buckets and cleaning supplies. The floor was mostly clear apart from my makeshift bed of rags and saddle bags. Smartypants was sat up on a shelf as if watching over me.

Sitting up I worked a crick out of my neck and flexed my sore joints. Perhaps next time I'd take my armour off before catching a nap… it sounded like a bad idea at the same time and I purged the thought.

“Anything exciting happen while I was sleeping, Smartypants?” I asked the doll.

Smartypants shifted ever so slightly, then lost balance and slumped onto her side as if to answer. Pressing my ear against the door I listened for the tell-tale sounds of crystal ponies on the other side, but heard nothing.

“No, I imagine not,” I said with a relieved sigh.

While packing up my things and storing Smartypants safely in my saddlebags I jammed up a few slices of bread and tended to my growling stomach. Hefting my bags and ensuring the straps were all secure on my armour segments I listened to the door one last time and slid it open.

To my relief the corridor was empty.

Before leaving I gave the closet one last sweep for anything useful. I found a head torch that still worked and secured the strap around my head, then picked up a small first aid-kit from one of the supply shelves. There wasn’t much in it, just a pair of scissors, an unpacked half-used dressing and some bandaids. Was better than nothing through.

Packed up I set out, orienting myself and moving deeper into the Crystal Empire. I hadn’t worked my plan out beyond “keep moving” and “look for signs of survivors” just yet. But it was the best I could do at the moment.

I didn’t have much more information than “Applejack and her friends walked into this hell and the rescue mission sent after them didn’t fare much better.” And I couldn’t shake the terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that perhaps all I was looking for were a pile of corpses like what had greeted me above on the crater’s edge.

None of that, Big Mac, I scolded myself. That guardspony had survived on his own unarmed all this time. And my sister and her friends were tough and resourceful. They were fine.

I repeated the words in my head as I descended a flight of stairs in some sort of utility corridor and opened a door leading into warehouse of some kind. The space was cavernous, filled with tall stacks of shelves and metal cargo containers. There were a large set of loading bay doors off to one side. But in the centre I found something of particular interest.

A long workbench was scattered with tools, like whoever worked there was either very messy or had to bolt mid-project. I found a plethora of liquid rainbow cartridges, handy little multi-coloured packets that contained liquid rainbow usually developed in Cloudsdale. Clearly the Crystal Empire and Cloudsdale had traded wares once upon a time.

Liquid rainbow was all the rage at parties for putting in party-poppers to give them more zest, or even used as a combustible fuel.

I found a few disassembled cutting torches and some other tools laying about as well and an idea started to form in my head. I could make a rainbow cutter out of this stuff!

I’d built a similar device out of scraps back home to help me cut down dead old trees, back before I was a strapping, buff stallion. Contrary to popular belief I wasn’t always musclebound and fit. I’d started out life as a scrawny little colt. And what my poor sister sometimes fails to realise is that I didn’t get my cutie mark until I was older than she was.

I started with the housing, putting together a hard-point that replaced the armour over my right fetlock. The old straps off the armoured plate did the trick holding the holster in place. On top of that I fitted the parts of the disassembled blow torch. I modified the fuel receptacle to take the liquid rainbow packs and fitted the trio of torch nozzles with the pump in the housing of a circular saw. The rectangular box was topped with an ignition rod that would spark with each triggering of the shot.

The principle was simple. The nozzles pumped the liquid rainbow into a shaped projectile that was shot from the slit-shaped muzzle at the front. The electric spark ignited the rainbow and produced a burning blade with an effective range depending on the nozzle strength. I overclocked those to get a maximum range of about twenty metres, then set to work on an aiming mechanism.

It took some calibrating to get the range to blade density ratio right, but eventually I had a working projectile cutting device attached to my foreleg.

I gave it an experimental aim. The bladed guards popped out and slid aside as the cutter perched up on its mount and gave an energetic bweeeeee! As the charging tone hummed past soprano and into supersonic frequencies the laser sights engaged and projected a trio of cool blue pointers across the room, oriented in a wide line to indicate the path and width of the cutting shot. It was about as wide as my own fetlock, which would do for the moment. The power supply wasn’t the most high-tech and I didn’t want to burn it out by trying to make the beam too wide or boosting the range too far.

For now though I had a decent weapon with which to defend myself.

Okay, I thought with a grin, collapsing my rainbow cutter again and giving it a pat. This’ll do some damage.

Packing up the few spare rainbow packs laying about the workshop, I buttoned down the pouches on my saddle bags and set out again. I still had a sister to find and set off to the only other interior door. I wasn’t too eager about heading outside just yet. Crystal ponies could pop out of the snow like they’d done when I first arrived, and that enormous beast that originally chased me into the city was still out there.

As claustrophobic as they were, the corridors of the Crystal Empire habitats were quite comforting at the moment.

Reaching the door that seemed to head into an office complex, probably a shipping and customs office if the warehouse and loading dock was anything to go by, I pressed a hoof to the blue stone in the frame. The gem flickered red and the door didn’t move. There was a lockout in effect; but how many times had Apple Bloom locked herself out of her own diary and asked big brother to come save the day?

Settling down I gripped the panel around the gem and gave it a tug, pulling it clean off the wall. No matter the age or scale, the enchanted gem technology across Equestria was pretty simple.

There were three overall components. The power supply, which in the case of Apple Bloom’s diary lock was a battery gem the size of a button with an average charge life of three to four years. In the case of a city like this there was usually a power plant that used larger battery gems the size of a barn and constantly charged them with either wind-vanes, hydro-dams; or for places where neither solution was practical liquid rainbow combustible generators like on the cable car, but on a larger scale were used

The second part was the mechanism itself. Could be a door. Could be a lift winch. Could be something as simple as a clock.

And finally there was the control gem. The part that told the mechanism whether or not it was allowed to do what it was supposed to do.

All I had to do here, just like on Apple Bloom’s diary, was fuse the power directly into the mechanism, bypassing the control gem entirely; and open-sesame!

Bypassing a gem lock was easy once you got into the guts of it. But of course bypassing a lock on say the Canterlot Treasury would be a pretty tricky affair because there were security spells, failovers, curses and other nasty booby-traps to contend with.

This was a garage door though, so I was relatively safe.

I was pulling the glowing power conduit out of the control gem and finding the port on the door mechanism when a rattle of talons on the concrete floor caught my ears. In an instant I was on my hooves and whipped around.

The glowing crystals running along the high ceiling did a poor job of lighting the place, casting pitch black shadows beside shipping crates and in the corners behind the stacks of shelves. I snapped on my headlamp and aimed my rainbow cutter before moving forward to check the area was clear.

The beam of light scanned one way, laser sights the other.

I was beginning to regret not going outside, suddenly realising it was possible to be surrounded inside as well as out. And unlike in the street where the only crystal pony cover there was were some piles of snow, in that warehouse were shelves and boxes to hide behind and break line of sight.

And it wasn’t my paranoia that had me scanning for targets either. Talons skittered one way and the other, and whipping around I caught the blurry tail end of something dashing through the open behind me. I galloped over and checked around the corner of a cargo box, but it was already gone.

I had the terrible feeling of being stalked by a pack of Timberwolves. That was of course until I turned and faced one of the stalkers head on.

It screamed as loud as I did as it burst from cover and cleared the space between us in a heartbeat. I reflexively raised a foreleg to protect myself and took the brunt of the charge to my torso armour. The already dented and scratched Royal Guard armour screeched and clanged loudly as I was thrown on my back and the crystal pony landed on top of me.

The “stalker” was even more horrific than the other permutations of crystal pony I’d seen so far.

The creature had been a unicorn once upon a time. What remained of the bony horn had broken forward to lay parallel with the long tusks of bone jutting out of the crystal pony’s neck, turning their face into a trident-like ram. I couldn’t see any eyes, but the fleshy nostrils flared as if drinking in the scent of my fear.

Somehow the creature remained balanced on rear hooves as it moved around, balancing with elongated forelegs with the hooves that ended in four long spidery talons. Even the ribcage of the stalker had been repurposed into a deadly weapon, the ribs opening up to reveal the soft innards of the crystal pony had long fallen out, with each rib ending in a vicious point.

The toothy bird-like beak of the monster opened to unleash a high pitched cry before it pecked at me like a chicken. One of the tusks nicked my cheek, but thankfully I dodged just as the headbutt came down, ramming the stalker’s face into the floor.

Not only was my rainbow cutter a decent ranged weapon, it made a fair good club too. I swung the weighty weapon around and caught the stalker in the side of the head, cracking its glassy skin and causing some of the hardened skull to buckle. The creature retaliated, swiping a claw across my chest, but the talons only raked armour.

The cutter on my foreleg hummed to life and let out a splash of energy. Superheated rainbow essence seared through glass and flesh and bone, lobbing the offending limb clean off with a scream from the stalker.

I whacked it again, this time succeeding in rolling the monster off me and pinned the stalker down. While I was stomping off the other arm I heard an imitation of the stalker’s wail and turned my head at the same time as my weapon.

Time slowed to a crawl as I caught it in my sights. The second stalker broke cover, skidding almost clumsily around the corner and straightened up to charge head first. It was smart, folding its arms behind its back to hide the limbs from my weapon. But the stalker still needed to run…

I snapped my aim down and twisted my leg, orienting the cutter horizontally and fired.

BOOM! BOOM!

The recoil kicked like a mule, throwing my aim between shots, but the double-tap hit true. Two multi-coloured blades of burning energy sliced through the stalker’s legs, and smouldering at the knee joints the crystal pony went down, face first.

I put another shot into the neck of the stalker I was holding down, decapitating it before stomping off the remaining claw and looked back at the legless monster. It didn’t give up easy, clawing forward on its arms to get a piece of me.

Two more shots put it down for good.

Smartypants, I love ya’, but this rainbow cutter is my new best friend. I even managed a smile.

But the thought and the smile choked and died when the stalker cries and the sound of talons scraping about doubled. Several more crystal pony stalkers leapt into view, peeking their grotesque heads around shelves and jumped atop boxes to get a bird’s eye view of me.

My cutter humming, I backed towards the door I’d been bypassing. Every time my laser sights crossed a stalker they smartly recognised the danger and backed away, or ducked into cover. This was complicating things a little.

Then as if things weren’t horrible enough, a very familiar mighty howl rang out, muffled by the docking bay doors. The sheet metal rattled and dented as something smashed into it.

Knocked once… twice… then a pointed, chitinous leg pierced through the metal. My eyes widened at the sight of my old tormentor tearing slowly through the door. Another leg pierced the metal and raked a long gash in the garage door, then an enormous fist made of multiple fleshy corpses burst through.

The stalkers wailed a challenge, but scattered all the same to seek out cover, as if knowing what would happen if they stood in the beast’s path. I followed their example.

Whipping around I reached into the door panel I’d torn open and desperately finished my bypass. It was just as I found the mechanism port to plug the main power supply into when I heard a stalker chirp over the groan of the buckling metal garage doors.

Looking right I saw a stalker leap around the corner and try its luck running me through before that colossal beast outside got a piece.

Quickly jumping back, I managed to duck under a swipe of a claw as the stalker soared past me and slammed headlong into a solid wall. Given the time I would have kept shooting ‘till it was deader than a door nail, but I merely put a few rainbow shots into squirming body before diving into the door panel again.

I jammed the conduit into the mechanism port and with a shower of brightly coloured sparks the door jolted to life. And not a moment too soon either.

The spidery beast finished ripping through the loading bay door and belted it into the warehouse. Shelves collapsed as they were ploughed through and boxes were thrown into the air as the beast clawed its way towards me.

I slipped through the door and ran as fast as I could. At the same time the beast lunged out with one of its long arms, sliding across the floor and reaching down the corridor towards me.

But it snatched at only air, a hair’s breadth from my tail as its shoulder got stuck in the doorframe.

I knew it was stuck, that it was blocking the doorway and preventing stalkers from pursuing and getting me; but I didn’t stop running until I was several rooms and a number of locked doors away from the beast’s anguished cries.

Closing and sealing the fourth door between me and the loading dock I leaned against a wall and caught my breath. My heart was hammering so hard against my chest I feared I might break a rib. Collapsing the rainbow cutter I took a look around.

A sizeable office space stretched out before me, desks broken up by cubicles tall enough that I had to rear up on hind legs just to look over them. The window blinds were drawn and the glass on the other side seemed to be snowed over blacking them out entirely.

I swept the shadows as I gingerly moved between the cubicles, but found myself alone with the rogue splashes of blood marring the cubicles and carpets. It looked like a slaughterhouse, streaks of red running along the walls like the monsters had been flamboyantly flicking the gore about like one of those nu-age artists.

It was through the soft tap of my hooves on the ground that I heard a hiss.

My eyes widened and I stepped back just in time. Through the delicate cork of a cubicle divide to my side came a long blade of serrated bone. It jabbed clean through and missed my nose by a pegasus feather.

A second blade followed as I scrambled back in seconds the slasher ambushing me tore through the divider, grinning at me like a dog eating hornets. The crystal pony lunged as I was deploying my rainbow cutter.

One of the scythed into my foreleg, cutting through fabric and flesh, drawing blood and making me cry out with pain. Thankfully the other bounced off my armour. But the grip the crystal pony had on me drew me dangerously close to that bubbling maw looking eager to sink its teeth in my neck.

With a cry I managed to push off the slasher and lashed upwards with my cutter. The device cracked into the glass skin on the left-side scythe, knocking the blade off me. Following through with another swipe I caught the slasher in the side of the head and knocked it away.

As I lined up my aim to start dissecting the stumbling beast another slasher, and then a third showed up. One tore through another one of the dividers, while the other slasher leapt clean over and bore down.

I rolled aside as the leaping crystal pony landed with a thud, but I came to my hooves dangerously close to the other as it finished tearing through the cubicle. It grabbed me and hugged close just like the first one, only this time I had a shot prepped.

Two splashes of energy roared out the rainbow cutter and lopped a leg clean off. At the same time the leaping slasher righted itself and rushed my back.

With a yell of effort I steadied my stance and lifted the slasher holding on to me into the air before chucking him like a hay-bale. The thrashing monster crashed into the rushing slasher and they dropped to the ground, confused and scrambling over each other. It gave me enough time to aim and fire.

Six shots roared out of the rainbow cutter and blew the two crystal ponies apart before I turned to the last one. It charged me with a guttural roar, swinging those scythes wildly, one of which still glistened with my blood.

I fired, but the cutter only clicked, and the housing popped open to reveal the liquid rainbow pack was no longer a swirling array of various colours. It was a dull grey colour. Completely empty.

I threw myself back and collided with a wall as the slasher came at me. One scythe darted forward and I ducked just in time. The blade of bone thudded into the wall and stuck there, giving me time to rise up and heavily uppercut the crystal pony. The head came clean off with a spray of mucus and a cloud of glistening, broken crystal.

My leg then swept down and grabbed the spare scythe arm. I twisted hard, unconcerned for whatever pain I might be inflicting the animal. There was no whimper or howl out of the headless crystal pony however as the glass skin shattered and the sickening pop of bone and joint cartilage rang out. Flesh tore like wet tissue paper and the slasher’s swinging weapon came free.

I finished up by circling into a ball and unloading a heavy buck into the creature’s chest. The blade still lodged in the wall stayed put and the force of my kick tore the arm clean from the torso, launching the harmless corpse onto the pile of severed limbs I had reduced the other two to.

Picking myself up I checked my surrounds to make sure there were no more contenders and pulled the empty rainbow pack from my cutter. Replacing it with a full one from my pack, I gave the weapon a single test shot into the pile of fleshy remains – just in case – and moved on into a stairwell.

That was when I heard another sound echoing down the stairs to meet my ears. Though it was not the grating, fear inducing wail of crystal ponies.

There was crashing of energy that sounded distinctly like unicorn magic and battle cries. Screams of regular, living pony vocal chords. Not the decayed, horrible animalistic roars and gargles of the crystal ponies.

It was definitely the sounds of a fight, and I questioned my sanity of mind when the sound actually brought me some relief. But it made sense. Sounds of fighting meant ponies other than myself still fighting for survival.

The Big MacIntosh of yesterday would have balked at the sound of conflict; but I scoped out its direction and ran headlong towards it.

Chapter 04 - Unnatural Selection

The door at the top of the stairwell didn’t open on its own accord, much like the warehouse door. Only instead of being on lockdown, the reason for this door’s malfunction was clear to see. There were claw marks on the glassy surface and the seams were practically torn out like a rabid pack of slashers had spent hours prying it apart.

The gap was still too small for me to squeeze my bulky frame through, so I threw my weight into it and ‘persuaded’ the already cracked and broken panels to part. They yielded to my charge and I burst through onto the next stretch of offices like an armoured bullet.

The upper floor offices were just as abandoned and emancipated as the last. Only this one had more litter, with a few banks of snow that had blown in and gathered in the corners. Papers fluttered on a wind and blew past.

The windows to one side were all smashed in letting a wind colder than a brass toilet seat in winter snake into the room. But the opposite tower about twenty metres across suffered a similar fate. And there in the bare offices among the debris of what used to be chairs, desks and cubicle walls was the source of the commotion I was chasing.

There were three unicorns in total. All of them were clad in armour, and two hefted heavy rifles in their telekinetic grips. One of them clad in a set of armour similar to my own was familiar.

Captain Shining Armor was clad in a red winter suit quite like my own, with gunmetal grey plates of Royal Guard armour strapped over the top. The two other unicorns with him were dressed similarly, their ashy grey horns alight with magic as they belted everything they had at the pack of slashers charging them.

I aimed my rainbow cutter, but held my fire realising they were out of range. But it all happened so fast my shots wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

The two unarmed unicorns supporting Shining Armor threw their magic into the crystal monsters, but like a dull knife trying to cut through an armoured plate the bolts of light just seemed to glance off the slashers’ glistening skin. They fired lances and blades of magic, but no matter what they did it either didn’t seem hot enough to cut the crystal ponies’ skin, or they were somehow immune to the effects of magic.

One of the Royal Guard was in the middle of them, surrounded on all sides and doing his best to cut his way free. He desperately swung his head from side to side as if trying to give his magical blades more momentum, but the magic just fizzled out and evaporate on contact with the slashers’ limbs. There were too many of them. I watched as one of the crystal ponies plunged its face into the unprotected part of the unicorn’s neck. Screaming he tried to pry it off, and finally did, knocking it back and unloading a thick beam of energy directly into its mouth from his horn, but another was instantly in its place.

The unicorn was screaming and a moment later his head tore free, the decapitated body collapsing onto the deck.

Across the space between them I heard Shining belt out a curse before he dove to one side. One of the slashers charged him and his last comrade and collided with the other unicorn. Cursing louder than his captain did the pony roared a challenge and tangled in each other’s limbs, stabbing and punching all the way the two tumbled out one of the broken windows and fell out of sight.

The stark white unicorn scrambled to his hooves at the same time, the same rose light wrapped around his horn and weapon.

The triple-barelled rifle swung around and fired. Crystalline energy rounds flickered in bursts, cycling between each of the rifle’s barrels in quick succession, flashing from one allowing the other two to cool before switching. Shining swept his aim low, systematically working his way through the closest slasher and moving to the farthest.

He aimed with the same priorities I did, targeting limbs instead of body shots. Whatever shots did hit the centre mass just seemed to punch through and the crystal ponies didn’t flinch. But the moment Shining Armor hit a limb it came free with a mist of shattered glass and spurts of viscera.

Slashers dropped as Shining paused his excess of fire, adjusted his aim then laid into the crystal ponies still twitching. Soon his opposition was reduced to one shambling monster dragging itself closer with one arm before Shining Armor stomped on it, simultaneously reloading his crystal rifle.

Having popped a fresh crystal cylinder into the chamber and snapped the rifle shut, the captain looked around and finally noted me standing in the opposite building watching silently. His eyes flashed with half recognition.

“Hey! What are you-…” Shining Armor interrupted himself, shaking his head. “Never mind! We… I’m heading to the park on the north side of these buildings! We can link up there!”

I opened my mouth to answer, but was halted before I could make a sound by a cry that fed into my most primal sense of fear. A cry that was all too familiar for having heard it on two previous occasions already.

My tormentor leapt into view, latching onto the side of Shining Armor’s building and groping through the shattered windows with one of its long arms. The same beast that had almost crushed me in the storage area earlier was now clambering about directly in my line of view, thrashing up and down the building, knocking through drywall and sprinkling the ground below with debris and shattered glass. Shining leapt back with surprise. But he didn’t look like he’d seen this monster for the first time either. There was some recognition there, if not in his eyes at least in the way he maintained his combat ready posture.

The unicorn wasn’t like me; thrown off guard by every horror he face. Shining Armor was a professional soldier, had been for about as long as I’d been a farmer. Only soldiers were better equipped mentally to face the stress of combat than a farmer, obviously. Hence the captain stood his ground, and I looked about ready to bolt.

He screamed across the gap between us again, “Crap! North side! Move!”

Firing as he galloped, Shining disappeared into another corridor leaving just me and my old monstrous friend. It didn’t take long for the tormentor to notice me and with a swivel of its head leapt over the gap and latched onto my building with a pair of thick forearms.

I jumped back and galloped, putting as much distance as I could between myself and that monstrous head rearing into view. And there wasn’t a moment to lose either as the maw opened up and a quad of long, double hinged arms came slithering out of its gullet, each ending in a barbed tip. Those tips immediately proved to be lethal at any range, not just close.

The tormentor flicked its new set of miniature arms, filling the air around me with the buzz of high velocity projectiles flung in my direction. The barbs hissed through the air and whacked into a set of cubicle walls beside my face.

I didn’t dare slow down or look back as the tormenter grew a new set of barbs and clawed its way along the side of the building to catch up and unleash the next volley of bullets.

Something hit and swept the legs right out from under me. I fell mid-run, sliding to a halt tasting pennies in a numb, swollen mouth. Then came the pain drawing a shrill scream from my raw throat.

I’d broken ribs before, broken a leg from time to time too. I’d twisted my back, sprained an ankle, been clocked in the head by falling apples and even stubbed my hoof on the end of my bed aplenty. But this was an entirely new type of pain – an entirely new universe.

Crying I looked down at one of the tormentor’s barbed projectiles sticking out of my left foreleg. It had punched clean through armour and pierced my flesh. Scrambling forward as another volley smacked into the wall just above me I tried to pull the spike out, but the pain was blinding and I couldn’t bring myself to look at it, never mind touch it.

Blinking away tears I rolled aside and limped away as another flurry of projectiles shredded my hiding spot. Behind me the monster screamed and screeched as I hobbled out of range.

I dove into a corridor outside the beast’s field of view. But as I clambered to my hooves I almost wished to run back and face the tormentor.

Something whipped down the bloody corridor to meet me, and before I could even think to deploy my cutter a tendril of sinew latched onto my foreleg. The web of squid-like tentacles wrapped around my rainbow cutter, engulfing my entire fetlock. And then the whiplash tentacle dragged me off my hooves.

The hall had been remade, covered in an organic layer smeared with an approximation of flesh. It was like I was being tugged down an intestine and was helpless to stop it. My hooves wouldn’t purchase on any of the material painting the floor and I was whipped from side to side as the tentacle dragged me around a corner and up into a wide duct.

The duct was some sort of maintenance tunnel greased with the slick slime and fleshy paint that grew across the corridor as well. I fought at the threshold, trying to hold myself back, but the tentacle gave a powerful tug and I disappeared into the gullet screaming.

The next leg of the journey was a blur of reds and browns as I was dragged through tunnel upon tunnel. Up, down, left then left again and then a long smooth run. Up again…

Finally I hit something. My back smashed into some sort of ventilation grate and I fell through. The tentacle let go at the same time, seemingly of its own accord and I was flung like a toy by a toddler.

I was tumbling head over hooves through the frigid air, completing what must have been at least four whole somersaults before I hit the ground. And even then the bitterly painful ride wasn’t at an end yet. Sliding and tumbling I went crashing through a park bench, a fence of some sort, then finally slammed to a halt against the point base of a statue.

My armour had taken the brunt of the abuse, but the wind was knocked right out of me. My chest felt tight and I was sure something was sprained, broken or at the very least bruised. And this time it was almost definitely my ribs, not my pride.

With a groan I managed to roll over and get my hooves under me, but my legs were trembling as they struggled to support my weight. Sucking in a breath I managed to power through the pain and blink away the dazzling stars circling my eyes.

Around me sat the park Shining Armor had mentioned. A thick, misty haze descended all around as the wind picked up, but I still had a hundred metres visibility, enough to note the even dusting of snow covering the ground, a few light poles, some trees and even a playground I’d ploughed through in my landing.

My leg suddenly stung nearly enough to make me collapse. Looking down I noted the barb still sticking out of my fetlock, piercing the impact-plate that was supposed to serve as protection. The spike bent the sheet of tarnished metal inwards around the gash so the edges of broken armour prodded into the tender flesh where the barb pierced my skin. Blood trickled over my hoof and left distinct stains on the snow.

Undoing the strap holding the armour and now the barb in place, I took a few deep breaths. It had to be like tearing off a bandaid, right?

As it turned out, it was worse. I tore off the plate, gritting my teeth as the tormentor’s spike came free, leaving a hole of ragged, crimson flesh and a fresh streak of blood across the snow. I tasted pennies again, having bitten my tongue. Tears running down my cheeks I gave the weeping wound a look. It was a nasty gash, but it would have been worse had I not been wearing the armour.

I tenderly wrapped it with some of the gauze out of my med-kit and tested my weight on my hoof again. My whole leg throbbed painfully, but the sensation was mildly sobering rather than detrimental.

I looked up at the statue that ‘broke’ my fall. It was of a pony, a normal looking pony which was a welcome sight after facing so many monsters for several hours. It was an earth-pony sculpture, quite similar to that in the town square in Ponyville. Only this pony had an angular coat with a crystalline sheen. It must have been a native crystal pony before being transformed into an undead implement of murder and terror.

My moment of rest was cut short by a familiar howl wafting out the haze of gentle snowflakes raining over the park. While everything I’d met thus far was the stuff of nightmares, what came thundering out of the mist at me next was a horror directly from Tartarus.

The “tormentor” was unlike any of the other crystal monsters I’d faced thus far, as in instead of being formed and repurposed for a deadly mission out of a single corpse, this abomination consisted out of multiple bodies warped, buckled torsos were awkwardly melding with one another. A few of the heads still attached dangled weakly in place, hanging on like loose teeth.

It looked quite like a spider, but with seven scythe-like appendages serving as the hind-legs. The upper body was elongated and erect, the broad shoulders spreading down into a powerful pair of arms and the slender neck ending not in a head but a giant maw lined with rows of scissoring blades.

It scuttled towards me with long leaping bounds of the forearms, maw agape and a broken, rotting howl escaping the emancipated vocal chords of all the poor ponies making up its body. I bolted immediately. Scrambling over the playground fence I slid under a seesaw and disappeared into the weave of iron bars that made up a large climbing frame.

Toy after toy buckled and broke under the tormentor’s charge as it ploughed clean through. I was scrambling around in the snow, kicking and skidding just out of range as the climbing frame groaned and screamed all around me. Whole bars snapped off and twisted inward as if actively trying to impale me. The tormentor’s arms groped through the narrow spaces trying to get to me. But as it tried it tangled itself in the mess of iron bars.

Each grope and grab missed by inches as I managed to scramble just out of range every time. Right up until the point I whacked my head and looked up to realise I’d run out of hiding space. I was on the edge of the climbing frame, and slipped through the bars to escape just as one of the killing claws slammed down next to my face.

Once clear I dove forward for cover behind a merry-go-round.

Panting for air and shivering in the snow I snuck a peek through the playground. The tormentor was untangling itself from the web of metal that enveloped it. The climbing frame was a messy weave of constricting bars that somehow enveloped most of the beast to keep it pinned. But as the tormentor shrugged and thrashed the bars began to snap and break at the welded joints. Debris sprayed into the air as the tormentor spotted me, and drooling began to pull itself free.

Something forced me to my hooves. A little thought driving me forward. Challenging me to get up and keep going.

C’mon, Big Mac. You wanna live forever!?

The plan was to rush forward and start cutting. Not much of a plan, but it was all I could think to do. Aside from running away of course, but I doubted I’d get far before the tormentor caught up and tore me apart.

I charged with an awkward hobble, my wounded leg screaming for more tender attention and my opposite foreleg aiming the humming rainbow cutter. The tormentor was on me at the same time. I sliced the tip off one of the legs, and it reared back on the hind three to strike at me. I managed to side step and duck, parrying some blows against the flanks of my armour and dodging the rest. But each hammer blow was like getting kicked in the ribs by a bull. By a bull or my sister Applejack.

The last blow I didn’t see coming and it caught me in the side. The appendage had lost the tip to my opening attack and the blunt end threw me into the ground.

The tormentor fell with me and I was suddenly beneath it as it danced about trying to skewer me. My rainbow cutter barked and lobbed off one leg entirely, then another; but the tormentor’s balance wasn’t hurt at all. I screamed and kicked, rainbow cutter flashing off another leg or leaving gaping holes in the crystal flesh while my armoured hooves bucked and bashed at the vitrified skin.

Gritting my teeth, I coiled then unloaded one final mighty kick. My spine was braced on the ground and my hind legs made contact, finally succeeding in lifting the tormentor just a little. Just enough to turn it off balance. The monster toppled over and landed hard on its back.

I scrambled to my hooves just as the maw opened and those three projectile firing tendrils re-appeared. My foreleg throbbed with painful reminder as I aimed and fired, shaving the appendages off close to the mouth.

Spitting up a fountain of what was simply best described as gore, the tormentor thrashed and swung its forearms. I was too slow to get out the way and took a swipe to the chest. Launched across the playground I smacked into the fencing and felt it buckle under me.

Looking up weakly from where I lay catching my breath I saw the tormentor plant its forearms and scramble back to its legs. With a heavy gorilla-like bound the beast came closer, howling in anger and raising a fist to finish me. I braced.

And then the wail of a rifle pierced the air. It grated my senses like a hoof over a chalk board, but at the same time it was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard before.

A shower of razor edged crystals sailed through the air and slammed into the tormentor’s side. The hail traced upwards, shattering and sparkling against the beast before the volley of projectiles found the weakened, yellowed pustules enveloping the right arm’s elbow joint. The crystal rounds pierced the soft, diseased flesh and blasted clean through, severing the lower limb from the rest of the body.

The tormentor howled, buckling sideways before scampering away with a fearful posture I hadn’t seen in any of the crystal monsters so far. As the beast was retreating into the haze my eyes were drawn sideways in time to see a figure with his crystal rifle levitated by his side vault the playground fence and take aim to lay another burst into the tormentor’s backside.

I never through much of Shining Armor in his role as captain of the Royal Guard. He never seemed like much of a soldier, more like a surfer pony undergoing an identity crisis. But seeing him there with his rifle leveled, cursing the monsters that plagued the Crystal Empire, he just seemed to fit into the role perfectly.

Lowering the crystal rifle across his chest the white furred unicorn growled through the trail of dried blood connecting his mouth and his nose.

“Hey! I’m not done with you yet! Buckin’ thing!” Shining Armor called after the tormentor as it disappeared into the haze, its heavy footfalls replaced by the ghostly howl of the wind.

I was so sure that wasn’t the last we’d see of the thing.

Holstering his rifle across his back, Shining trotted over and offered a hoof to help me up.

“I did not expect to see you,” he sighed, flicking some of his nappy mane out of his eyes. “Big Mac, right?”

I frowned, dusting myself off. How could Shining Armor forget? We’d met before. Both my sisters were at his wedding! Apple Bloom was one of the flower girls, and Applejack was a bridesmaid.

“Uh… eeyup.”

Shining Armor paused like he was indexing his memory for a moment. “Applejack’s big brother,” he finally clarified with a smile. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Yeah…” I looked at him oddly, trying to read his expression, or more like trying to read his state of mind. He was clearly slipping a little, but then could I really blame him? He had been out here for Celestia only knew how long freezing to death and surrounded by crystal pony monsters. “Have you seen Applejack?”

Shining sighed and shook his head. “No. Sorry. Everypony got separated. He was out looking for them when…”

The unicorn caught me staring and he quickly shook his head. “I’ve been trying to find everypony. Not much luck in that department I’m afraid. But…”

His horn glowed and a small square of light flashed to life between us. Within the square of light glowed an outline? A silhouette at first, then features became clearer and finally I found myself looking at a recreation of Princess Cadance’s face.

The princess of love looked worse for wear. She had a black eye, a bloodied lip and her mane was out of control. She probably looked no better when being held hostage by Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings.

Her mouth moved and I heard her voice as if she were standing beside us.

“This is Princess Cadance. If any unicorns can pick up on this transmission, please find as many ponies as you can and come find me at the Crystal Empire library. I have set up a safe zone. We have protection, food, water and medical supplies.”

The glow on Shining Armor’s horn faded and Cadance vanished. “I’ve been making my way there. Care to join?”

I must have looked unsure because he added, “Look, I know you want to find your sister. Believe me, I want to find mine too. Twilight Sparkle is out there too. The best thing we can do is try to regroup. Applejack is tough. She’s probably beaten us to the library by now.”

Swallowing, I nodded. It made sense. Safety in numbers. And if Applejack wasn’t at Cadance’s position already, chances were she was already on her way. And even not, once we reached the princess we’d be able to form a search party and find everypony who was still missing with much greater ease.

Walking by Shining Armor’s side, we set out across the park in the direction his compass pointed us. And for the first time that day I felt a little spike of confidence. I was making progress.

All we had to do was live long enough to reach that library.

Chapter 05 - Start Spreading the Limbs

Shining Armor withdrew the barrels of his crystal rifle, strips and strings of shattered gore connecting with the weapon’s front end where it had pulped a crystal pony’s head into the ground. With a swing he brought the weapon around, peered through the sights and let out a burst decapitating and toppling a slasher just over my shoulder.

I saw the monster drop from the corner of my eye as I drew a left-to-right line with the laser sights of my rainbow cutter, firing single shots in quick succession. Two slashers dropped limbless as Shining briskly marched over and put three more sustained bursts into the convulsing crystal pony that had almost jumped on my back, putting the creature down for good.

This batch went down like the other two that had jumped us on the way into the concourse. The first ambush had been just two slashers and a leaper popping out of the snow at the complex entrance. Then another ambush dropped out of the ventilation shafts above our heads, spilling four slashers right on top of us.

We had put them down easy enough, but as we reloaded after dealing with that last trio that popped out of the food-court I couldn’t help think things could have gone horribly wrong despite the practice we were getting in. If our shots went a little high or a little low we’d miss, and then who knew what these abominations might have done with us.

For the sake of keeping motivated I didn’t dare hazard any guesses.

“This is surprisingly easy when you have help,” Shining Armor admitted as he snapped his rifle shut and checked the ammo counter.

“Eeyup.” I wondered how much experience Shining Armor had tallied thus far. After all, he’d been surviving this hell for weeks before I even arrived. “Shinin’, what happened here? Why hasn’t anypony escaped?”

Shining shrugged as he led the way towards the ‘concourse.’ The shopping mall was a sprawling complex of shops and facilities usually bustling with ponies. Seeing it so cold, empty and abandoned just felt wrong. And the floor littered with debris and the odd emancipated corpse didn’t help the shivers down my spine any.

“We haven’t figured out how yet,” Shining Armor muttered. “The city is sunk into a massive pit. The walls go all the way around and are sheer cliffs. Smooth too. We tried to climb, but no luck. I even sent up a few pegasus scouts, but the crosswinds plucked them right out of the sky and they died in the crash.”

Shining Armor paused to listen, hearing a far of wail down a corridor. Giving the darkness a sweep with his rifle torch he quickly beckoned me on and we continued through the abandoned mall.

“How’d you get down here?”

“Chariot.” Shining Armor chuckled bitterly. “Dumb, right? Rainbow Dash broke a wing and I lost most of my squad in the crash. Thankfully the rescue team sent after us had more sense. They set up a cable car, but most of them were slaughtered before they could get down here, and we haven’t been able to circle back yet. Damn crystal ponies keep dividing and conquering us, have us fighting in circles trying to catch up with one another.”

Shining Armor looked back and caught me with a concerned expression. “What is it?”

I hesitated, but when Shining Armor pressed, I broke. “The cable car is down,” I explained. “That big tormentor thing you scared off earlier tore it down with me in it.”

Shining stared for a moment as if processing the implications, then sighed. “Well, buck it. It’s not like I was planning to leave anytime soon anyway. Don’t frown like that. You wouldn’t leave without your sister or wife, would you?”

I gave him an understanding nod. With everypony still separated neither of us had escape on our minds just yet. Find our sisters and friends first, escape second. One thing at a time.

“So,” Shining continued to chat. “Tormentor, eh?”

It took me a moment to realise he was talking about my naming of the giant crystal pony. “Oh… uh… yeah. I figure I might as well name these things. Makes it easier telling ‘em apart and figuring which are the most dangerous.”

I expected Shining Armor to laugh at me, but instead he smirked and nodded. “That’s a good idea, Mac. What have you got so far?”

“Well those basic critters with the scythes, I guess I’m calling them slashers. The jumping ones with the whiplash tails are leapers. And then there’s the real quick agile ones, kind of like birds. I called them stalkers. How about you? Seen any others?”

“Can’t say I’ve seen stalkers yet. But I’m damn sure I saw a crystal pony that exploded once.”

“Exploded?”

“Yeah. Twilight zapped it good. Landed a lucky hit and the thing blew right up…” Shining paused, dropping his gaze a little. He was whispering soft enough that I had to strain to hear. “That’s the last he saw of her. That explosion separated them. He was so worried.”

I frowned at the captain, opening my mouth to ask who he was talking about when a scream pierced the air. But not the kind of scream I had been expecting to hear. I had expected a screech that could chip paint, the howl of a monster hungry for flesh or the blood-curdling cry of a victim bloodied at the talons of a crystal pony.

I hadn’t been expecting a dainty, high, girly scream laced with tones of civility and lady-like grace. The kind of sound reserved for a Broadway actress throwing her voice to attenuate some sort of startling revelation or horrific scene.

It was impossible not to recognise her voice.

Shining and I looked at each other and said at the same time; “Rarity!”

We rushed out of the concourse and to an attached chamber near the edge of the mall. The lobby for the inter-city transit rail was a cavernous chamber decorated with a multi-colour domed glass roof. Many of the glass panes were smashed though, letting banks of snow pile up in bumpy patches on the lobby floor. There was a corridor with lockers off to one flank, a juice bar and lines of vending machines to the other. Up ahead were the turnstiles leading onto the elevated tram platform with ticket kiosks like on the Frozen North train station abandoned and frozen among the heaps of snow in the centre of the chamber.

Among the cold empty space we saw movement and our eyes were drawn to a struggle. Rarity, whose scream we were sure we’d heard, was nowhere to be seen. Instead we only saw a grey coated guardspony grappling with a crystal monstrosity.

The “squirmer” crystal pony was a partially melted nightmare, though arguably it was more intact than most of the torn, fleshy beasts we’d faced so far. Through the translucent crystal skin that shimmered slightly in the light leathery brown flesh squirmed thickly across the body. It took me a few blinks to realise the flesh within wasn’t flesh at all, but a viscous bile that flowed in channels throughout the crystal pony’s body like visible ocean currents. The overall form was ragged and molten, like the crystal pony had been mostly dissolved in acid to the consistency of gelatine and then haphazardly slapped together again.

The squirmer had the guardspony in a stranglehold, a few of the talons extending from the forehoof digging into the stallion’s mouth and tearing his jaw open. He screamed, but it was a sound that turned into a sickening gargle before either of us could do anything. The squirmer’s own jaw dislocated itself, gaped to grotesque proportions and a thick torrent of bile retched up out of its throat and into the pony’s mouth.

Waterfall after waterfall of the thick chunky vomit gushed into the pony’s face, into his mouth and down his throat until eventually the squirmer let him go. The horror show wasn’t over yet as we watched the guardspony’s skin dissolve before our eyes. His face blistered and melted as he tried to scream, but only retched up a lung-full of acid and blood.

Finally running out of breath the guardspony dropped to the floor, the hissing puddle of acid he lay in belching lines of a foul smelling smoke.

Turning to us the squirmer let out a groan and distended its jaw again as Shining Armor brought up his crystal rifle. They fired at the same time.

The squirmer let loose a long jet of acid that sizzled past my face. Instinctively diving to the ground, my ear drums ached with the whine of Shining’s weapon. A volley of crystal rounds tore through the squirmer’s mid-section and sliced the beast in half. The crystal skin shattered and torrents of the acidic bile within broke free like a dam had been broken. The crystal pony’s foul contents spilled into a bubbling puddle that slowly ate a crater into the lobby floor before eventually turning inert all by itself.

Not taking any chances, Shining Armor put a few more bursts into the squirmer and tore it completely asunder from a safe range. I took note for the future not to stand too close to this new form of crystal pony when dismembering it.

“So that’s new,” Shining commented, helping me up.”

“Eeyup.” I pressed a hoof to my nose trying to filter out some of that horrible acrid smell. It was like burning hair mixed with vomit and rotting lemons. “I guess we should call this one…”

“Puker,” Shining interrupted, drawing my gaze.

Mulling it over for a moment, then realising it was better than what I had in mind I nodded. “Puker it is.”

A rattle drew the attention of our weapons and we turned on the nearby juice bar expecting another puker to appear. Instead two heads poked up over the bar, the first being a purple and green scaly face of a dragon.

“Spike!” I called lowering my rainbow cutter and trotting over as a unicorn followed the baby dragon. “Rarity. Are you alright?”

Just by looking at her I knew full well that Rarity was anything but alright.

Normally Rarity was a song that made you want to slick your mane back and strut. Her very presence was the truest example of a unicorn. She had a dazzling set of eyes, the most gorgeous curls in her dark purple mane and tail, and a glistening white coat.

The Rarity standing before me was not the beautiful mare I recognised as the Element of Generosity. Her coat was splashed with dirt and blood. Her scarf, probably brought from home to keep her warm as well as look fashionable, was torn and charred in places. Her mane was completely out of place and frizzy and she looked like she had only narrowly avoided a black eye, a crescent shaped bruise blackening over her cheek. A single long slasher-related injury raked across her ribs; the gash seemed to be shallow and had clotted at least.

To see such a usually pleasant and aesthetically pleasing unicorn in such a state was almost painful.

Rarity pouted a little as she touched the gash on her side, then nodded. There were black mascara streaks running from her eyes, partially wiped away but evidence of her tears none the less.

“Nothing that won’t heal,” she admitted, managing a little smile. But it gave me no comfort. Even Rarity’s voice was broken in a way I thought previously impossible. If this had happened to Rarity, what state was Applejack in!?

“But Big MacIntosh, dear. What are you doing here?” Rarity suddenly asked. “Are you part of the rescue team?”

Shining and I shared a look. “That’s a long story,” I admitted, preferring not to shatter all of her hopes of escaping the Crystal Empire.

“For now we should head to the library,” Shining added. “Cadance made it there with some other ponies at the sounds of it.”

“Is Twilight there!?” Spike piped up, his eyes lighting a little.

The stocky little dragon seemed uninjured bar a few bruises and scuffed scales. He was a dragon after all, he was a tough little guy.

Shining Armor gave a reassuring little grin. “Probably. But we’ll never find out standing around here. We should-…”

All of us were taken completely off guard by a bulky projectile slamming into Shining’s side and tackling him off his hooves. I had to blink hard a few times before my brain caught up and I saw the captain flat on his back.

And a leaper hissing and snapping on top of him.

“Shining Armor!” Spike cried jumping forward, but Rarity caught him by the tail to hold him back.

Probably not because she believed he was no use. Perhaps it was just some maternal instinct kicking in, a basic drive to keep the young one from throwing himself into any undue peril.

I jetted forward to help as Shining cried out, keeping the claws and teeth from mauling his face off. The jagged edges of the bladed ribs scraped noisily against the unicorn’s armour as the impact plates clattered against the ground with his struggles.

As he was keeping the leaper from biting his head, Shining could do nothing about that scorpion-like tail whipping up and taking aim. I jumped on it and held the appendage down before stomping hard a few times on the base of the spinal column.

With a crack and a wet pop the tail tore free and I tossed it aside before bucking the leaper hard in the side. It tumbled off the captain, landed on its back and I sectioned it further with my rainbow cutter.

Over the last two blasts of the cutter I heard Rarity scream. Shining was on her already, running over and pushing her and Spike back towards the juice bar for cover. Bodies spilled down from an upper balcony. A group of slashers threw themselves over the railings and smacked into the floor with dull thuds.

“Take cover!” Rarity hesitated until Shining Armor set Spike on her back and gave the mare a shove. “Now, Rarity! Keep your head down!”

Rarity seemed suddenly pulled out of her daze, then locking eyes with Shining she gave a nod, diving behind the juice bar again with one bound. She’d be safe there, but only if we could hold off the crystal ponies. And only for as long as we weren’t killed, because if we were the crystal ponies would make the unarmed mare and the baby dragon their next victims.

Shining turned and met my gaze just as I slotted another rainbow pack into my cutter. We nodded and set to our grizzly work.

The lead slasher leapt towards us, only to meet a hail of crystal rounds and white hot rainbow blades. Limbs sheared free and a lucky hit even tore a quarter of the torso clean off before the bloody remains of the crystal pony flopped uselessly to the deck.

The other monsters immediately huddled, tucking their limbs in close and scuttled quickly over the segmented remains of their fellow like a horde of terrifying spiders. Shining held his ground, shortening his bursts of fire for accuracy as I dashed around the side to get a better angle on the limbs.

My rainbow cutter barked and legs and scythes flew into the air. Slashers toppled as their legs were cut out from under them or lost balance and slid into the floor face first as their arms were disconnected.

In the mess of flying limbs and falling bodies, Shining Armour started walking backwards to keep a healthy distance between him and the remaining crystal ponies. As he did I watched him try something new.

Tucking his rifle against his side, Shining’s horn brightened and his magical glow engulfed one of the fallen slasher scythes. The blade of bone hovered as he aimed the point, then unleashed it like a bolt off a crossbow. The jagged scythe made contact with the torso of a crystal pony, lifted it up and nailed it to a wall where it thrashed for a moment and then went limp. Three more scythes, followed, levitated by Shining Armor’s magic before he nailed them to the wall.

“That saved some ammo!” Shining laughed, switching back to his crystal rifle and polishing off the remainder of the crippled slashers slowed down by my shots.

One last volley of shots later we were the only things standing on a slick, bloody battlefield. One of the slashers pinned to the wall was still flailing and spluttering until Shining casually turned his rifle on it and took the head off.

I held up a hoof and Shining bumped his against mine. “We’re getting way too good that this,” I commented and Shining chuckled.

He was about to say something, but just like when the leaper tackled him he was cut off. Only this time it was by a sound. A deep rumbling that vibrated through the ground and into our hooves before something large threw itself towards us.

It barrelled off one of the upper gantries, turning the hand railings into twisted paperclips as it did before hitting the deck with a ground-shaking thud. Ploughing into the automated ticket kiosks, for a moment the new creature looked just like the tormentor.

Only instead of being formed out of multiple corpses, this monster seemed to be a singular creature. If it had once been a single crystal pony it must have been an enormous one because this “brute” was at least twice my height and three times my width.

Most of the fleshy inner body was a contrast of raw looking flesh and dark red scabs covered in the usual magic retarding crystal skin we’d seen on the other monsters. The brute had scaly additions like craggy armoured plates over the front legs, the hind hooves, shoulders and skull. While huddled up the brute could turtle, exposing very little flesh to shoot at.

But the brute didn’t huddle up, instead beat its heavy fists into the deck like an angry ape about to charge.

Shining groaned at the sight before snapping his rifle around to aim at the brute. “Yeah, this is gonna suck.”

The brute barrelled towards us with a heavy howl that made the air in my chest vibrate. We immediately scattered, Shining Armor darting to one side, shooting as he went while I dove in the opposite direction. Landing hard on my side, I fired as I slid just beyond the range of the brute’s armoured limbs that cratered the deck as it stomped about and flailed like a child having a tantrum. A mixture of gore and drool splattered from the beast’s malformed jaw full of needle-like tusks as it tried to decide which of us to chase after.

We didn’t let up, firing volley after volley into the beast but just like unicorn magic bounced off the glassy skin of the crystal ponies, our ammunition merely sparked across the brute’s hide and dissipated. The thing didn’t even flinch.

There was a break in our fire while we reloaded and the brute turned to Shining. He looked up from his rifle to see the crystal pony sit back, almost like a dog sitting to attention. Within the brute’s belly something boiled up, bulging sickeningly under the masses of raw flesh and slowly running up to the chest cavity. There a tight ring of muscly flesh opened up at the sternum, ribs jutted out through the skin fanned open and the hole revealed a bright yellow ball of volatile looking fluid preparing itself for launch.

As if recognising the ball of flesh, the captain’s mouth fell open slightly. “Oh, that can’t be good.”

With a loud squelching noise the ball was thrown across the chamber. Shining Armor threw himself a side at the same time with only a split second grace. The projectile arched through the air and hit the ground right behind the unicorn, exploding on impact with the force of an enormous water-balloon. The blast was all concussive force, with no shrapnel or fire visible, but the impact was enough to throw Shining Armor like he weighed nothing.

He flew a short distance then cratered into a vending machine.

The brute charged me, drawing my attention before I could spot if Shining was still breathing.

Lumbering on three legs, the brute cocked back a spare forearm and swung heavily to crush me. I sidestepped just in case, feeling the ripples of air from the sweeping blow brush my face with only millimetres to spare.

The brute still managed to swing out its arm and back-handed me right in the freckles. When the world finally stopped spinning I realised I was laying face down in a puddle of blood that had leaked out of my nose. My whole face was numb.

The shadow looming over me forced me to move just enough to look up at the brute stomping over to go at me some more. I scrambled back, slipping over my own blood and slumping to the deck again as the brute crew immensely over me. One of the hammer-like fists was raised high to beat me into a pulp.

And that’s where I saw it. A black and yellow knob of flesh where the shoulder-socket was formed under the plates of chitin. The puss infested, rotten flesh was a massive glowing target for my laser pointers.

The sickly flesh around the joint burst like a water-balloon when three shots made contact, spraying a waterfall of putrid flesh before the entire limb came free, popping out of the socket like a breaking action-figure. Losing its balance the brute fell over, howling in what I could only assume was pain.

It gave me some time to scramble to my hooves and put some distance between myself and the creature, and when I turned to lay more shots into it I saw Shining Armor beat me to the punch.

The unicorn was on his hooves having shrugged off that last blow, and with the stock of his crystal rifle tucked against his chest for stability he let loose a sustained burst of vibrantly coloured crystalline projectiles. The bladed bullets slashed into the brute’s rear legs, severing them from the body and causing the mighty crystal pony to roll around like an up-turned turtle. Its remaining arm flailed up until we joined our fire and lobbed off the remaining limb.

Sweeping the area one last time, Shining Armor slowly collapsed his rifle to a shortened down package, folded the stock then levitated it onto a gem set in the back-plates of his armour. The gem glowed, then held the weapon in place like a magnet to a fridge door.

I wiped some of the blood trickling from my busted nose across the back of a hoof, then looked down with the cold realisation I could no longer tell my own blood from the blood of the crystal ponies that stained my own armour. With a sigh I tried to ignore the numbness in my face and brain then trotted over to where Shining helped Rarity and Spike clamber over the juice bar again.

“There has got to be an easier way stopping these things,” I commented breathlessly as Rarity landed lightly like a fragile ballerina.

“Well it’ll have to be done the hard way since all kinds of magic we throw them just seems to bounce off,” Shining Armor replied before posing a question to Rarity. “Unless you found a spell that works on these things?”

Rarity shook her head. “No. And the beasts just tear through any shield I can conjure.”

“It’s hopeless!” Spike whined tearfully.

“Not entirely.”

We watched Shining Armor move over to the guardspony who had partially reduced into a puddle. The body had begun crackling and twitching, the bones within reforming and talons bursting from the forehooves. The melted eyes were glassy but open and darting until Shining levitated something from the remnants of tattered saddle bags.

I caught the glint of a clean blade, a broad bladed gladius that was common among the royal guard, particularly unicorns who could manipulate the swords with telekinesis.

The weapon didn’t stay shiny longer as Shining used it to slice up the twitching guardspony before it came back as a crystal pony. Then just as nonchalantly as he sectioned the corpse like he’d been doing this grizzly work nonstop from a young age, he trotted back and held out the gore stained blade for Rarity, who took it gingerly in her own magical grip.

“Magic may not work, but conventional weapons do,” Shining said as he turned tail again and led the way to the tram platform ahead. “The tram is the fastest way to the library. We should keep moving.”

Rarity looked to me questioningly, but I shrugged and followed, helping Spike scramble onto her back. “It’s not pretty, but he’s right. No point standing round here waiting to die.”

Chapter 06 - Vomit Comet

The three of us grunted, sliding the tram doors open inch by inch. Spike had managed to get his claws between the seams allowing Rarity and I to pry in our hooves and push off each other. Add a tweak of unicorn magic and soon we had ripped the door open and stumbled into the carriage.

Watching our backs, Shining Armor swept the muzzle of his rifle up and down the abandoned platform before backing on after us.

“We should be good,” the captain muttered as he eyed the inside of the tram carriage. “How’s everypony doing?”

“Well enough, considering,” Rarity mumbled.

“Considering?”

The mare hesitated a moment, then sighed with a shrug. “We’ve been running and hiding so long… what day is it even?”

“It’s today,” Shining offered with a cocked smirk.

“Remind me to stop asking you questions.”

Shining Armor moved up a little, peering through the askew doorway leading into the next tram carriage. About four carriages ahead the cockpit sat with the controls to get us moving.

“I’ll take point,” Shining said. “Give me to a count of ten, then follow. If there’s an ambush ahead there’s no point all of us getting jumped. Who wants to come with?”

Spike put up his claw and ran up to the unicorn’s side. “I’ll go!”

He was stopped by a magical glow matching the aura on Rarity’s horn catching him by the scruff of his neck.

Pulling him back, Rarity shot the baby dragon a concerned look. “I don’t know Spike. It could be dangerous.”

All three of us stared at her for a long time before she finally got it.

“Oh, right. Everywhere is dangerous. Well then I suppose it wouldn’t be any harm. Just be careful.”

As Spike and Shining Armor set off towards the front of the train, Rarity and I followed at a slower pace. I made sure to seal the door we’d pried open shut, or at least as shut as I could get it so we wouldn’t be followed and ambushed by any crystal ponies.

As we moved Rarity spoke up.

“Do you think he’s okay?”

“Spike’s tough as nails and twice as sharp,” I assured the mare, but paused when she shook her head. “You mean Shining Armor? What’s wrong with Shiny?”

Rarity shrugged, thinking for a moment. “I’m not sure. He just seems… off.”

I thought back to the few times I caught him speaking about somepony unknown, wondering if he was speaking about himself or somepony else. Then there was the fact he was being very calm about this whole situation. Not that that was a bad thing, mind you. It was putting me at ease enough that I might just die without remorse.

The thought still put a chill down my spine. I didn’t want to die. Didn’t even want to think about it. Still, I wasn’t delusional enough to not realise it might happen any time now. But with everything that happened on top of Shiny’s calm I was growing used to the idea enough to not worry about it too much.

“I dunno, Miss Rarity,” I offered. “When all this is over I might not be the same way I used to be either.”

“That’d be a pity.” She suddenly managed a small smile. “On the plus side, this is the most I’ve heard you speak in all the years we’ve known each other.

I gasped dramatically. “Oh, no! I’m starting to crack already!”

We shared a chuckle as we reached the front of the train where Shining Armor and Spike were rooting about.

Shining was on his back digging into the underside of the control console while Spike plodded about the dashboard testing buttons and switches while glancing over a driver’s checklist.

“How’s it looking?” I asked.

Shining Armor was shaking his head as he slid out from under the console and found his hooves again. “Not good. There’s no power going to any of the systems. Far as I can tell everything’s plugged in.”

“Must be a tripped fuse,” I mused turning the way we came. “The fuse box for these things is usually in the mid-section somewhere. I’ll have a look, see if I can get her running again.”

“I’ll come with,” Shining started to say, but I waved him off.

“Nah. You guys stay here and get the tram moving as soon as I restore power,” I told them. “The sooner we get moving the better. And don’t worry. I killed quite a few crystal ponies before you showed up.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t do it looking as good as I do!” Shining called after me before sealing the driver’s cabin door.

It didn’t take me long to reach the mid-section. All the doors hung open and it was easy enough to see two carriages ahead. If there was danger I’d be aware of it before it hit me.

At least I thought so.

A moment of vertigo hit me. There was a stab of pain deep within my skull, as if something had worked a knife carefully between my eye and its socket and then suddenly plunged it deeper in. I swayed and for a moment the dark and grey world was dyed red.

Little letters left a bloody imprint in my retinas for a brief moment, then faded into the air. It took some blinking, but eventually my vision returned to normal and I was left to wonder what the hell had just happened.

There was something else new there, just ahead of me and facing away. Or rather, somepony. A mare, somehow familiar, her body glowing softly. I knew it couldn’t be a pony though. If there was one thing the Crystal Empire taught me it was that none could wander around here alone and last very long.

And yet there she stood.

I moved closer, making sure to strike the deck under my hooves loudly to announce myself. She didn’t turn as if she were deaf. It was just a few feet away when I reached out. But before I touched her side she seemed to come to life and turned around.

“Applejack!?” I cried.

It was my sister… but then it wasn’t her. It couldn’t have been. Because if it were she wouldn’t be able to stand.

She’d be dead.

I could hardly tell what had happened to her. Half her face had been mauled off, one eye hanging grossly out of its socket. Her customary Stetson was missing and most of one leg was chewed down to the bone. Chunks of meat were missing from her side to reveal the ribcage and a beating heart beneath. Blood flowed from every crevasse in her body forming a thick pool beneath her.

“You left me!” she screamed through ravaged vocal chords. “Why didn’t you save me!?”

I was left for words, stumbling back and unsure what to do. I wanted to run to her and hold her. I wanted to scream for help, for Celestia and Luna to come from the heavens and save my sister. I was rooted to the spot though, unable to say or do anything.

“Why aren’t you ever there!? Why do you never save me!? Why do I always have to be the hero!?”

“I-… I-…” some doubt bubbled up within me. This couldn’t be applejack. Something told me this wasn’t my sister. I wasn’t sure what it was. Intuition. Gut instinct?

Or maybe it was the fact that I knew my sister, the stubborn mare who never backed down from a challenge. The pony who was ready to save the day and ask for nothing in return. She’d never question me like this. She’d never expect me to throw myself into danger for her.

“You’re not Applejack,” I blurted out. It seemed right, and hearing the words reassured me. “You’re not Applejack!”

“You have to help me, Big Mac!” the bloody mare screamed, her voice warping into something sinister and unrecognisable now. “Make us whole!”

“You’re not Applejack!” I just kept screaming. I was pointing my rainbow cutter at her. “Stop pretending!”

I was beginning to pull back the trigger but found myself hesitating. Closing my eyes I centred myself to end this, but when I opened them again the imposter was gone and the weapon I thought I’d been pointing at her was pointed at my own head.

I batted my own leg away with some shock and looked around. Everything was back to normal, just as I’d left it. The red dye on the horizon faded away and my headache faded in an instant. Swallowing some bile I clenched my jaw and went to move on.

That was when I was pounced by a roar. Turning my head in shock the area I thought was clear just moments ago was filled with crystal ponies. Face to face with a slasher I screamed and jumped back, but already all three of them were on me, clawing and scrabbling at my armour. One of them hit me hard in the side numbing one of my back legs. Another locked its jaws around my rear hoof tight enough for me to feel the pressure through the armoured boot.

I swung hard, catching one in the scythes with the metal guards of my rainbow cutter. Limbs were lobbed off in a single swing, sending the creature sprawling. I kicked off the slasher on my back leg with a powerful buck then started laying rainbow shots into the last crystal pony at point blank range. The legs came off first and it toppled. I fell on top and started to work stomping and cursing like a mad pony.

The scrap was over faster than a knife fight in a phone booth, and the result was twice as messy.

Breathing heavily I picked through the slick gobbets of gore and sectioned the slashers that looked a little too whole for my comfort before turning to find the fuse box I had been looking for. It became quite a chore to get it open, my hooves now slippery with blood, but after some pawing I got it done and inspected the contents of the box.

As I suspected, a fuse had been tripped. It was just a case of flipping a switch that sparked dangerously, but with a loud crack the lights on the interior came to life. The motors in the trams undercarriage hummed reassuringly before a small blue spark flashed to life in front of me.

Projected from one of the intercom gems glowing in the wall, a small panel of light lit up in front of my face. It formed a solid screen that fuzzed over with static before the little pixels took on various colours and formed the familiar shape of Rarity’s face.

“Big Macintosh?” she called, her voice projected over the intercom’s magical airwaves. When I looked up she must have spotted me through the two-way intercom and smiled. “There you are. The board lit up green. Captain Shining Armor has control now.” she must have notised my shaken expression because she added; “Are you alright, darling?”

“I’m fine. You just tell that plot-hole on the reigns to keep it under the speed limit.” I added jokingly. It earned a giggle from the mare at least.

“Will do.”

The tram chugged, the clamps linking the carriages rattled and a second later we were away; slowly chugging down the elevated rails stretching through the Crystal Empire skyline.

By my initial estimate I figured it would take us thirty minutes to reach the library at this speed. Not too long then. If only we could avoid…

I couldn’t even finish the thought before I had jinxed it.

Further toward the rear of the tram windows shattered inward allowing the frigid wind to snake its way in. it was followed by crystal ponies. More than I cared to count at the time, at least a few pukers mixed in with a sizeable compliment of slashers.

They clambered in and hissed when they spotted me. I staggered backwards, aiming and firing my rainbow cutter as I did. It was only on the third dead click that I looked down and realised the rainbow cartridge in my weapon wasn’t glowing anymore.

I was empty.

With some deep breaths I managed to pull the empty cartridge from the rainbow cutter and produced a full pack from my saddle bags with a shaking hoof. It took some effort just to line up the magazine with the receiver, never mind plug it in and prime the pump.

All the while, over the skittering of crystal pony movements approaching on my front, I could hear the thunderous hoofbeats of something charging up my rear.

I turned in horror, expecting to see more crystal ponies box me in before I could even click the rainbow packet home. To my relief it turned out to be Shining, Rarity and Spike running towards me. But at the same time it begged the question ‘why?’

“What are you guys doing here!?” I shouted before the reason became obvious.

Shining Armor forced out a bitter chuckle, turning and laying suppressing fire into the pursuing crystal ponies. “Funny story!”

The rainbow packet clicked home and the rainbow cutter gave a preparatory soprano whine. “Cockpit got overrun!?” I asked, turning to engage my own pursuers.

“Cockpit got overrun!” Shining confirmed.

We fought like hell for what felt like hours in the cramped confines of the transit car.

On one side Shining Armor let fly the full merciless force of his crystal rifle. Firing in full automatic the stinging whine of the weapon perforated our ear-drums as the sting of its razor tipped projectiles perforated the incoming monsters. He didn’t break his fire into bursts like he always did. There was little point for controlled fire at this range. He just let ‘er rip and swung his aim from side to side, lobbing limbs off by the dozens until the deck was slippery with bits and pieces.

On my side things were a little more controlled. I would take more care aiming and with each expended shot would sever a limb from a crystal pony. I didn’t have the luxury of a high rate of fire, but that didn’t prevent me from spamming the area ahead of me with bolts of burning liquid rainbow.

Unfortunately the slower rate of fire came with the risk of getting overwhelmed. Every once in a while a slasher would get too close, or a leaper would leap in before I could de-limb it enough to prevent it from pouncing. At that point I’d duck aside and Rarity would step aside.

Anything that got by either of us, Rarity cleaved into it with powerful telekinetic swings of her sword. She tried to erect a shield and hold the crystal ponies back, but the creatures just ploughed through the barrier like it wasn’t there. Even Spike’s fire had no effect.

He breathed over one slasher as it crawled in and nipped at my fetlocks, but the beast merely glowed hot and did not melt. On the upside, Rarity’s blade cleaved through it with greater ease.

Within a minute I lost count of how many crystal corpses littered the floor. And crystal ponies just kept streaming in.

A break in Shining’s fire caused me to pause and look back. He hadn’t stopped to reload, those breaks only took a second and were announced by a tell-tale click of him opening the rifle’s chamber. The crystal rifle let up for exactly two seconds prompting me to look.

A slasher had its bony scimitars pinned across Shining Armor’s weapon. He had it held in front of him horizontally, keeping the creature from sinking its teeth into his neck.

“Mother-bucker!” the stallion seethed as the slasher was joined by another running into his side.

I leapt into action, slipping by Rarity and calling for her to switch with me. She did so immediately, spinning her blade into a deadly flourish that dropped two slashers in quick succession.

I hobbled as I fired, nailing the slasher in Shining’s side. It hadn’t breached the captain’s armour, thankfully. I quickly adjusted my aim over Shining Armor’s shoulder and dropped a leaper before it could jump us.

Shining immediately took the initiative and levered his rifle sideways, throwing the slasher pinning him into a chair. He then proceeded to smash the weapon into the creature repeatedly, snapping the scythes one after the other and finally decapitating and disabling the beast.

Ignoring a squirt of blood tagging the side of his face, Shining Armor turned and took over on Rarity’s side before she was overwhelmed, pushing back the gathering wall of undead.

“These zombies really love ‘ya, Shining!” I commented.

“They just want me for my brains!”

The lull in the crystal pony tide allowing for a bit of banter was brief and once again we had to get stuck in. The cycle of death and dismemberment continued.

And for a dread second I thought fate was throwing us another curve ball like the tormentor.

A previously untouched pane of glass shattered inward and a blurry streak smacked into the side of an approaching slasher. At first I thought a leaper had just smashed its way in beside us. Luckily I turned my eyes before my rainbow cutter sights and caught a flash of blue.

“Awwww, yeah! This fight just got twenty-percent cooler!”

Rainbow Dash may have been cradling a broken wing by her side, but her spirit was still whole. She bashed the slasher she pinned to the deck in the chest and sent it sliding into a group of others, toppling the mindless killing machines. She then whipped around and brained another with a scissor kick, sending it sprawling. Another fell with a double kick to the chest.

But as was expected, after the crystal ponies took their medicine and fell down, they just as quickly came back for seconds.

The cyan pegasus with six colours in her hair turned with her mouth open, probably about to shout something about getting out of there; when she came nose to nose with my rainbow cutter.

She froze a second, as if trying to figure out what the weapon was until I barked; “Get down!”

She hit the deck and I blasted the slashers looming up behind her. While I was a segmenting them I pulled a spare rainbow packet from my saddle bags, so as soon as I ran dry, I ejected the spent cartridge and slotted the next one in place. The reload was significantly shorter than my previous fumble and I was back to chopping crystal ponies a split second later.

When the line was pushed back a bit again I helped the newfound pegasus to her hooves again and pushed her into our group’s middle.

“You figured out how to stop these things!?” Rainbow Dash cried as she fell over a dead slasher. “How!?”

Despite the wind, debris, scuttling corpses and flying bullets making up the chaos whirling all around, Shining and I still managed to share a glance and roll our eyes. Rainbow Dash was loyal, tough and difficult to scare; but boy, that girl wasn’t exactly the brightest crayon in the box. How she had survived this long and not figured to stop kicking the crystal ponies in the torso like a stubborn mule and go for the limbs instead was anypony’s guess.

“The limbs!” Rarity cried, cleaving her sword through a slasher, taking off both scythes and the head in a single swing. “Go for the limbs, Rainbow Dash! Cut them to pieces!”

It was like a small spark went off inside the pegasus’ head when the penny dropped.

She stepped around Rarity and laid into one of the slashers almost experimentally. I didn’t see properly, but I heard her grunt, knocking the thing over before her hooves came down on the monster’s limbs again and again. She huffed and when I turned she was up to her belly in blood and slime, breathing heavily.

But the crystal pony under her wasn’t moving anymore.

“R-right. This is d-definitely going t-to get difficult a-after a while,” she panted before turning to the next slasher in her path.

I was back on track listening to another mare join the fray somewhere behind me, and for a while it was going good.

Then it all went bad, as things in the Crystal Empire inevitably do.

Rarity screamed as Rainbow Dash did. At first I didn’t look, thinking perhaps one of them had been pinned to be freed by the other. Only this time Spike was crying and Shining Armor called my name.

Looking over my shoulder I saw Rainbow Dash was on her side with Rarity huddled over her. There was a long scimitar of bone sticking out of the pegasus’ side and her eyes were shut; Dash was out cold and bleeding. Rarity worked the scythe from her friend’s body and was plugging the wound with both hooves and glow of magic, but whatever way the crystal ponies worked the stab-wound would not yield to her healing magic. So she focused on stopping the bleeding.

“Bucking hell, this isn’t going well!” Shining yelled, backed up by the wall of undead until he was practically standing on top of Rainbow Dash’s prone form.

I was being pushed too, crowding near them. Every time my rapid taps with the rainbow cutter made a hole more windows would break and more crystal ponies would stream in.

This is it, I thought to myself, clenching my jaw. This is how I end.

Then came a blessing in a hideous disguise. It belted out a screech that could strip paint and I felt my ears automatically ping against the side of my head. Shining recognised the predator’s wail as well and cried out.

“TORMENTOR!”

I didn’t see where it launched itself, but the way it slammed into the side of the forward carriage it must have thrown itself from a rooftop. The tormentor tangled with the carriage, turning it into a twisted knot of metal and shards of glass, sending the compartment off the tracks. The whole train piled up, folding around the joints between carriages like an accordion.

The sudden impact threw us into the ceiling and tossed us about the compartment. The crystal ponies were the same, flung out of windows and smashed into the deck right beside us. I managed to aim and belt off a few shots as I tumbled, nailing one or two slashers mid-air before I was wrapped around a luggage rack.

I saw Dash’s limp body fly past me and smack into Rarity who was holding on for dear life to the back of a chair. Shining Armor was still shooting, wrapping his hooves around a support handle in the standing area, his telekinesis still glowing to manipulate his rifle.

The train hit something and we were jostled again. I fell first, tumbling helplessly down into the next carriage as the train remained vertical. The newly formed well spiralled around as I flailed for something to catch on to. And then I fell out of the train completely.

I slammed into the ground, a cold, wet and hard ground. The impact threw the wind out of me, then my ribs buckled and even more breath was driven out of my chest when Spike landed on top of me. We both cried out in turn when Shining followed, then Rarity landed on us and finally Rainbow Dash formed the unconscious cherry on top.

We lay there in a pile for a moment before I caught my breath enough to let out a pained groan. “What a day.”

It took some wriggling, but we managed to untangle from each other and look around. I was the first on my hooves, flicking on my flashlight and scanning the dark cavern we had fallen into.

The train stood perfectly upright behind us, hanging a few metres above the ground and forming a perfectly vertical tunnel through the bricked up ceiling. We were clearly in the Crystal Empire’s sewer system. The ceiling was slightly curved into vaults and bows at each junction ahead. To either side of a sloshing river of muck and slime was a path slick with filth and moss.

The train had punched clean through the ground and into one of the tunnels before ejecting us. Which made me wonder what happened to all the crystal ponies we’d been fighting. We’d nailed quite a few and flung even more from the train during the crash.

I trotted back to where we’d fallen and looked up through the interior of the train. The carriages were suspended through some sort of building sprawling above our heads, and the compartment directly above us was packed with crystal ponies. Many were pinned by debris, impaled on twisted poles and girders. Some half hung out smashed windows, pinned in place by shattered glass turned to long knives. All of them were moving however, and it was only a matter of time before one worked its way free and fell down after us.

“We need to plug this hole,” I mused looking at them.

“I got something for that,” Shining Armor assured, levitating something at his side.

With a metal ‘clink’ he pulled the pin from a grenade he pulled from a pocket and flung it upward into the train’s cabin. We all ducked down and plugged our ears so we could barely hear him shout “Fire in the hole!”

We did hear the explosion rip at our ear drums and rattle our teeth much more clearly. But when we looked again, waving away acrid smoke and soot, the hole was plugged. The train had slipped down so the nose ground into the sewer floor, the cabin backed up with enough twisted debris to block any crystal ponies from digging after us.

We were alone in the sewers. I didn’t dare think of the word safe, as so far nowhere in the Crystal Empire had proven to be safe.

“That’s handy,” Rarity said looking at the plugged hole, and Shining huffed.

“Well don’t get used to it. That was my last grenade. I was saving it for a special occasion.”

“I’m honoured I was a part of it,” the mare quipped back before looking to where Spike was sitting next to Rainbow Dash. The unconscious pony was still breathing, her chest gently rising and falling steadily. Her wound still wept a little, but it had coagulated and wasn’t bleeding as profusely as before. They had lucked out.

“We need to get her to safety,” she added more gravely.

“Agreed,” Shining nodded. “We’ll keep moving to the library using the underground. These sewers can’t be more dangerous than up there.”

I groaned.

“Sorry,” Shining apologised, realising he’d jinxed it.

“I’ll dress Dash’s wound and get her ready to move,” Rarity said and I nodded, digging in my saddle-bags and tossing her the med-kit I had found earlier.

As the mare set to work getting Rainbow Dash patched up, I took a moment to reload my rainbow cutter. I paused halfway through though, staring at the full cartridge in my hoof for a long time. I wasn’t thinking about almost dying back there, or the crash, or Dash being hurt.

I was thinking about that vision of Applejack. What had that been? What brought it on? Was I beginning to crack under the stress?

This ‘hero of Equestria’ thing was starting to wear me down. However did Applejack stick it? Had the Changeling invasion of Canterlot been anything like this? What about the battle with Discord? All I knew is she and I were going to have some words as soon as I found her.

“Something wrong?”

I jolted and looked up to see Shining Armor had trotted over. Swallowing, I shrugged and slotted the rainbow pack into my cutter.

“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” I whispered honestly. “How in Tartarus am I supposed to keep going?”

Shining seemed to understand, and thought for a moment. “I found it helps to keep in mind what you’re going to go home to. You got a special somepony waiting for you?”

I thought of Cherilee for a moment and wondered what she was doing. Maybe preparing for class in the morning? Cooking a meal for one? “I might do.”

“Yeah? What’s his name?”

Blinking for a moment, I shot Shining a sarcastic glare. “Oh, a gay-joke.”

Shining Armor chuckled. “Just working with what you give me, buddy.”

We were quiet for a moment before Shining Armor gave me a reassuring pat on the back then set out. I gave the way we came one last look, then sighed and moved to follow. Only I wasn’t moving on as grimly as I expected. I was grinning optimistically.

“Hey, Shiny? Thanks.”

“Anytime.”