Dead Space: Lifeline

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…