Mare Space

"Ugh... is everypony alright?" the sound of Sergei; a changeling and the shuttle's medic, moaned through the blackness. "I can't feel my wing casings... ugh..."

"What the hell were you thinking?" Crystal Clear's voice spoke up in a fairly angered tone, as the lights suddenly flashed on, revealing the damaged interior of the shuttle and Sky's thrown-about crewmates. While Crystal was standing up and looking down at Wire, who was currently picking himself up from the ground, the only other character the buckled-in unicorn could see was Sergei, who's chitinous form was dangling from some wires that were hanging from the ceilings. "Were you trying to get us killed?"

"For your information, I just saved out flanks, Ms. Clear," Wire Cord replied, as the pony he talked to went about, inspecting the crew to see iof they were all alright. "If we had aborted at that speed and distance, we would have smashed right into the side of the Pinkimura. Now settle down, and let's get to work. Corporals, report!"

"Everything's... good sir," Chain responded groggily, pulling himself up from the ground by grabbing onto a nearby railing. "Aside from Sergei dangling from the ceiling, everypony is okay."

"I'm not getting any readings from the port booster and we've lost comms and autopilot. It'll take some time to fix," the fully-alert Broomstick went on.

"Hmm... let's go see if we can get some extra hooves from the flight deck to help out," the officer spoke back, as Crystal turned around and walked up to where Sky sat, her eyes still wide with shock over what had happened.

"Hold still, Sky. I'm syncing up everyone's RIGs with the ship," she said, as she checked a hologram that started to form in front of her, scanning her surroundings before disappearing when its work was done. When it finished, a long, green line lit up on each crewmember's back, where their RIG device was located. "Okay, we're all good. Clean bill of health for everyone."

"Sky, go ahead and activate the Epyllion unit," Wire said, motioning to a pod-like device nearby.

"Yeah... sure thing," Sky agreed, taking in another deep breath.

"Sergei, pull yourself out of those wires. Everypony else, let's move out," Wire then said, making his way to the shuttle's exit. With the others following him, Sky, Sergei, and Crystal Clear were soon the only ones left.

"What a mess..." Crystal moaned as she, too, exited the ship. Unfastening her seat belt, Sky got up, and ran a hoof through her short, blue mane, standing up once she had her moment. With a whir of small mechanical gears working their magic, her engineering RIG's vaguely portcullis-shaped helmet formed around her head, covering her white-furred face, ears, and horn until all that was left was the steel form of the helmet. Once it had completed its transition, the multiple lights on its visor lit up in a striking bright blue color, the same as the bright streak that went through her now-covered dark blue mane.

Looking around and spotting what she was looking for, Sky trotted over to the pod as the sound of Sergei trying to pull himself out of the wires went on in the background, and approached the terminal that stuck out of its side. After inputting several numbers with one of her hooves, the pod opened up with a loud hiss. Once its barrel-shaped door had spun open, a pegasus-shaped, but clearly mechanical being walked out, its metal hooves making a ka-shunk noise as it moved about and faced her.

"Good morning, engineer specialist Sky Lark. I am Epyllion-42," the machine greeted, introducing itself to the pony before it in a computerized male voice. "What service may I provide for you today?"

"Just follow me," the unicorn ordered. The robot saluted and did as it was told. As they made their way to the exit, Epyllion-42 took the time to use his jet-like wings to fly up and grab Sergei, allowing the changeling still caught up there to get down safely. Leaving the Vermilion and taking a few steps out with the robot and changeling in tow, Sky turned her head upward and groaned at how damaged the shuttle looked from the outside.

"What a travesty..." Sergei mumbled, as he too saw the totaled sight. Epyllion-42 made no comment, instead focusing on his directive. The three traveled through the hangar's railway to where their comrades stood in front of a large, closed door.

As they moved down, a dozen lights went on over the hangar, each one displaying words that spelled out USG Pinkimura, followed by a recorded female voice.

"Hello, and welcome to the USG Pinkimura" it started. "The Pinkimura was the first planetcracker-class vessel and the oldest still active, with over sixty-two years of continuous service to its name. Just as well, the Pinkimura also holds the record for highest number of planet cracks, with thirty-four to date..."

As it went on explain the ship's creator and sixty-two year history in planet cracking, Sergei let out a sniff. "Where's the welcome wagon?" the changeling asked aloud, his voice echoing through the hangar as his own helmet began to form over his horned head, its visor lighting up the same color as the unicorn's. "This entire place seems dead."

"On the other side of the door, I'd wager," Sky bet. As they trotted up to their commanding officer, Sky couldn't help but notice the shaken looks on her coworker's faces. Soon, they were in front of Wire and the closed door.

"Sky, the power's down everywhere," he stated, as the ship's recorded voice continued to speak in the background. "We need you to hack to the door pad. Are you up to it?"

"Yeah, sure," she replied. Once she arrived at the door, a small holoscreen popped up, and the unicorn chuckled to herself. It was foal's play. Upon inputting some data, the two doors willingly parted, sliding vertically away from each other, and allowing the crew made their way inside, entering an empty room.

"Where is everypony?" Sky inquired, as she looked around.

"I have no idea, but it seems everyone was trying to pack in a hurry," Crystal replied, poking a front hoof toward one of many briefcases that sat in an opened state on the floor, its papery contents strewn about and littering the brown, fabric ground.

"There should be a security detail in here..." Wire spoke up, his voice very wary, before his green eyes came upon another sight nearby. "Sky, that security console is still live. Log in and see what you can find, and keep an eye on her Sergei. Crystal, get that elevator over there back online."

"Power's dead. I can't," she shrugged in a deadpan, somewhat half-caring voice after a quick inspection, while Sky and the changeling moved into the room containing the console.

"Then re-route the damn power!" Wire grumbled in a restrained voice. "Look, if we all cooperate, we can figure this out a lot sooner. Epyllion, do you sense any employee signatures aboard the ship?"

"Results inconclusive," the android responded. "My detection sensors can only find them if I have the proper clearance, and the ship's main frequency is not responding to my call for permission to access its employee's ID signatures. My apologies."

Wire sighed. "Sky, let's get that computer display up."

"I'm working on it," the unicorn replied, speaking through the glass as she just started to access the console's holoscreen. After moving a few things around and allowing the system's applications to load to their proper designations, an image of the Pinkimura itself came into view, showing her teammates on the other side of the glass and herself the ship's current status. Many sections of the ship were a vivid red, boding poorly to Sky Lark.

"Uh-oh. That doesn't look good," Sergei said when he saw the readings. "She's taken a lot of damage."

"The tram system is offline... getting around's going to be difficult," Wire revealed, just as the vents overhead turned on. "Well... at least the air seems to be flowing again, so that's a start."

Suddenly, the lights over their heads flashed out, replacing them with a dim, yellow, rotating warning light and a loud siren. Surprised, Broomstick, Chain, and a few other members of the crew pointed their hoof-held guns upward and around in alarm.

"Ah, horseapples..." Sky cussed as she fumbled with the holograph's controls. "An automatic quarantine system tripped. I think it activated when I restarted the filtration system. Give me a few minutes and I should be able to raise it..."

"She's right. Everypony relax," Wire agreed, lowering his rifle.

"Wait- what was that? Did you hear that?" Crystal suddenly asked in a panicked voice as the she and the others heard an eerie creaking and grating sound of something clearly moving in the vents above.

"My scanners sense several life signatures within a ten foot radius of my person," Epyllion voiced, his robotic eyes zooming aloft as well. "How queer."

The sound of metal violently breaking, and a solid, organic thump suddenly went out in the dark room next. "The hay?" Chain inquired, looking around. Taking a second off from her work to observe what was going on, Sky peered into the room, and let out a gasp.

"S-something's in the room with us!" Crystal shouted again, as both she and Sky noticed a pony-shaped being, clearly not one of the crewmembers, begin to rove around the room, headed in Chain's direction as his back was turned.

The being stumbled about on all fours like a pony, but through the misty, dark room, Sky saw something was plain off with it. It wasn't just its ambling shuffle that caught her red eyes, but something was projecting from over its shoulders, like a miniature crane, or a set of... gangling arms? When its hooves... no, wait, the things on its back were its spike-tipped arms were stretched out above Chain, ready to do something clearly terrible, Sky Lark finally reacted accordingly.

"Chain, look out!" she screamed. Chain was too late to react, as the being, with a bloodcurdling, pained roar plunged its spike-tipped, shoulder-mounted claws downward, achieving a shriek of agony from her colleague as the foot-long projections repeatedly stabbed and tore through his body like paper-mâché. The twisted creature sent a spray of crimson blood across the glass of the room she and Sergei were in when Chain's limp, savaged body was thrown away like a spent toy. The changeling beside Sky screamed in horror, only serving to add to the chaos that was now unfolding before them.

"Celestia's mane!" Wire cried out, as a loud ring of Chain's failing RIG ripped through the air, proving his demise. "Open fire!"

Flashes from the rifles filled the room, illuminating the grotesque figure. Without warning, several more aberrations just like the one they saw jumped down from vents on the ceiling. Like giant ants, they started to swarm toward Sky's remaining crew, lashing out at them with their unnatural extra appendages as they tried to enter the elevator, sending more blood and mangled screams through the air with every attack.

"Sky, Sergei, get the hell out of there now!" Wire cried out on the comline.

"The door's unlocked! Run!" Crystal's voice implored on it as well. Without a word against it, both Sky and Sergei rushed to the now-open door beside where they stood, and dashed into the hallway, the sound of several of those creatures behind them giving chase encouraging them to run faster.