Dead Space: Lifeline

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.”