Dead Space: Distress signal.

"We thought that the pest could be contained ... we were wrong. Maybe Celestia and Luna are dead after all...Unitology has collapsed..."

The small recon vessel traveled through a strange dark and bright tunnel in outer space, one that was actually a gravitational singularity folding the space for vehicles to pass through it as a hole through one fold of the universe. All around the observation windows unfolded a chaos of blue and pink lights passing through them so fast that they only seemed long lines, a real show for anypony who was watching intently the misteries that nature had to offer. On the side of the vessel's hull a name could be read: "USG Metis", it looked like a quick and maneuverable ship on its way to fulfill its mission.

Finally the ship emerged from the tunnel into the darkness of outer space, and the view of an area full of asteroids and other debris gave it a cold welcome. On board the ship were five ponies, two of them looked like the typical soldiers of the military wing of the CLEC or Celestia and Luna Extraction Corporation with the standard gray armor and pulse rifles, while the other three ponies were... much more interesting.  Standing near the two seats for the pilot and co-pilot, there was a unicorn stallion of a deep purple color, mane and tail and his eyes were black. His cutie mark looked like a military helmet and on an identification in the front of his armor one could read the name "Blackberry."

The second important pony was standing right next to him, a unicorn stallion whose coat was white, mane and tail and his eyes of a dark green; he wore an old engineer RIG, with only one or two guards of copper on an insulating fabric. On his identificacion one could read the name: "Clarity". Both stallions were in a discussion that was ignored by the third important pony on the ship, a mare sitting in the front left seat behind the stallions; an earth pony mare with a bright orange coat her tail, mane and eyes being a bright greenish blue, with darker streaks of the same color. Her age ranged between thirty and thirty-one years old.

Click to see her.

Those bright colors betrayed her personality, because this mare was the kind of pony one would classify as 'cheerful'. She wore an insulating fabric jumpsuit similar to the one of the white stallion, with a spinal LED bar-RIG, and a few grey plates of armor. Her cutie mark under the suit and carved on the plates of her flanks was a greenish blue transistor electronics symbol because she was the team's computer and networks specialist. The reason why this mare was not listening to her companions was because she was asleep.

Dreaming as the ship slowed its march, preparing to begin its mission.

I could see the face of my beloved so close to me... She looked so happy on this summer day, while the two suns bathed us with their light, I could see her mint green foreleg around me... We kissed, sitting on a park bench as the dusk reached us... I could see her light mint-green coat shining faintly in the dim light, her black mane and tail with horizontal stripes resembling a candy cane matching her mint-green eyes. Oh, what a wonderful time we had...Her delicate features frozen on a happy smile... I rubbed down her side with my hoof, gently rubbing her cutie mark. It was a "psi" letter, and the symbol sometimes used for psychology... a black letter with horizontal mint-green stripes... And just when her magic had reached to brush a lock of mane out of my eyes, I felt that someone was shaking me from the shoulders...No! Please... I wanted to stay with her a little longer!

I grunted in response to the hooves shaking me from the shoulders, and opened my eyes only to see Clarity's eyes staring at me. I gave a slight eep and jump before softly shoving him away, sitting down and rubbing my eyelids with a yawn. "Finally, you're awake! We thought that  you'd maybe like to see this." He said stepping to the side and looking at the observation windows. I grunted and stood up on my hooves, after giving myself a good shake and looking at what they wanted me to... Woah... There she was! The USG Ganymedes. The planet cracker looked exactly like on those promotional posters and propaganda! If only a bit bigger. It was traveling slowly through the rubble in a diagonal path to ours.

My contemplation of the ship was interrupted by our security chief and commander, Blackberry, when he stepped past Clarity with a confident smile. "Hey, Molten Copper! Isn't it awesome? The USG Ganymedes, the first and oldest vessel in its class... I wonder how such a wonderful ship could simply stop broadcasting so suddenly?" He said with a thoughtful frown, before his face lit up again. "But you and our engineer Clarity here will solve those problems right? And we are here to ensure your safety... so, everything should go smoothly." I smiled and gave a soft sigh, sharing the optimism of my companions.

"Sure! With Clarity's and the ship's crew help we should be able to overcome any obstacle and reach the communications center, the aerial and dish sections where I will get to work to restore the comms system." I summarized the plan, giggling a small bit. A nice and simple plan that would probably require a few days of hard work, if all went well... Clarity and Blackberry shared a look of concern before the mission commander cleared his throat and smiled gently.

"Well said! and... Copper?" He said as if he demanded my attention. "We know that you're looking for Mint in there, Mint Breeze. That's your marefriend's name right?" I nodded and his smile became more sincere. "Don't worry, we are sure that she is OK and helping the crew as much as she can." I gave a soft sigh and then looked through the observation window, rearing up and resting my hoof on the side of the pilot's seat, a brown unicorn mare with a bored look in her eye. I gave the massive planet cracker a longing look before turning around and sitting to face the two stallions.

"Thanks guys." I said with my own sincere smile. "I started to call her name in my dreams, right?" They nodded and I just looked back at the window. "It's just that... I love her so much. And the thought that she might be in danger is too much for me. I encouraged her to take this position on board of the Ganymedes... and if something happened to her..." The rest of my sentence was interrupted by a strong jolt of the ship and the pilot looking over her shoulder.

"We're close to the destination! Three minutes until reaching our target!" And with that Blackberry returned to guide our pilot and co-pilot in the somewhat delicate process of anchoring and landing. We couldn't take it easy, our ship was shaking a lot as it approached to the USG Ganymedes and the remains of some asteroids. And there,oh right there was when something went wrong... I tried to ignore the turbulence and walked to a nearby holographic panel and pressed the keys with the tip of my hooves and opened a secure channel with enough intensity so we could hail the Titan. "USG Ganymedes, come in. This is USG Metis preparing to board!" The pilot said loud and clear.

The only answer we received was an increase in static ... followed by what appeared to be deep and incomprehensible grunts.

I stared at the holographic radio panel in shock before my formation as a computer and networks specialist kicked in. "The Ganymedes' decoder must be malfunctioning... Don't worry, I'll fix it when we're finally there." I said to everypony and no pony in particular before the co-pilot, an earth pony mare with a red coat and pink mane and tail told us that there was a malfunction with the auto docking procedure. Before she could elaborate futher, the gravitational beam that would normally hold us safely on our path to the ship's hangar inexplicably began to damage our ship! Clarity was shouting something about the beam's calibration before it started to pull us to the ship... against our will.

"What the fuck is this!? Corporal! Abort the docking sequence... we are going to crash against the ship's hangars if we descend so fast!" But after some struggling with the controls, the pilot and co-pilot told us that it was useless; something was interfering with their control over our descent. Blackberry worked in the controls with his magic, while Clarity spoke to the co-pilot. Everypony was panicking, and with good reason. The noise coming from the hull of our ship being crushed by the gravitational beam didn't let me hear Blackerry's next words... Something about 'blast shields'? And before we could all react, the ship was suddenly pulled down into the Ganymedes' hangar...

My world became a blinding white followed by the roar of metal crushing against metal...

When I woke up our ship was really damaged. The previously polished metal surface was now dented and deformed beyond repair, the fire was beginning to cause havoc on the machinery around us when I rose up to my hooves and crawled towards the nearest pony. Clarity seemed to be OK but his coat had ash on it with some minor contusions, I shook his body until he woke up coughing and then I moved to Blackberry who already was standing up. "Damn it... Quick! We need to get out of this deathly trap before it explodes!" He said and together we shook the pilot and co-pilot until they could stand up.

We didn't have time for anything else... Holding our wounded ponies, we left the ship just when the explotions and fire began to destroy everything. With a final blast of fire we were expelled outside and into the hangar of the Ganymedes, I heard my companions' screams and grunts mixed with my own when we all landed on the Ganymedes' large main docking platform, a long platform where the hangar's roof and walls were so high that you could almost think they didn't exist! It was like if the long steel platform was floating in mid of a giant steel room, we could see some bigger ships tied to the platform, but all of them looked as if they had been here for a long time.

I coughed, then rose to my hooves for the third time this day, looking at the rests of our ship before sighing and laughing, everybody looked at me like if I had lost my mind. "Well... at least we didn't have to request permission from them to land, right?" They all groaned and I sat down, an holographic screen displaying from the chest of my armor-RIG, I typed some commands on it while they recovered. I only had some superficial bruises, despite how much pain I had felt while waking up in the lost vessel. "I'll sync up our RIGs and activate our health indicators now." I said before closing the screen and then everybody's health meters went on. I frowned a small bit... all of us had light green colored bars and our spinal LEDs were approximately at 75% of health. It should not be a problem, but we might need a first aid kit later.

"Alright..." Blackberry said, sitting down. He and the other two soldiers had somehow managed to take their pulse rifles before the ship exploded! I didn't have any gun, and Clarity was under the same conditions... But, we wouldn't need a weapon, right? This was just a repair mission. Once the ship's crew--- Wait... Even with the crash of our ship and the noise we had made, nobody had come! I was about to tell my concerns to the rest of the team when Blackberry went on. "Clarity, Copper, stay close to us. We're going to look for help in that flight room at the end of the corridor. Once we find the ship's crew, we will continue with our mission. I'd like to send a report to our superior officers." And with that, he turned around and the words died on my lips.

We walked to the end of the long platform, a bright banner screen above the doors to the flight room. A recording said with the voice of the ship's AI, complementing it with images. But then my attention was directed to Blackberry's words again. "Ah, damn it! These doors are locked!." The purple stallion trotted in circles before looking at the heavy steel doors with an hologram in the center again. It was red, displaying the word ... "But... why? Why would anybody do this?" My suspicions returned as a constant whisper in the back of my head.

Blackberry stepped aside before sitting down, keeping his pulse rifle hovering in his telekinetic grip. "Clarity! Hack this door, there's no time to lose." Clarity nodded and walked over, levitating some tools from his 'suit'  before he removed a steel plate next to the door. He put his hoof into the hole and twisted it around until the door's hologram turned blue, the word now being displayed on it. I stood closer to the two soldiers before Blackberry nodded and stepped close to the door, which opened with a beep and a hiss. "Don't worry ponies, we will have this resolved in less than...a... heartbeat..." His tone became one of shock when we looked into the flight room... and I could understand why. I was shaking from mane to hoof, terrified.

Before us, a slaughter spread. Blood was smeared on every wall and the floor was partially covered on it, some pieces of meat laying here and there... I couldn't help it, I threw up before the three soldiers (Blackberry and the other two ponies) rushed to the center of the room, holding their pulse rifles up and looking around for threats. "Clarity, Copper! Come here!" We sidesteped from the luggage laying on the ground and met our companions. The pilot was aiming to the left while the co-pilot aimed to the right, giving Blackberry a worried glance. The aforementioned stallion looked to the elevator at the front of the room and frowned. "What the fuck is this? ... Why are the elevators offline!?" A trickle of blood fell from the vents on the ceiling and the pilot backed away a small bit with a gasp.

Blackberry sighed and then pointed to a locked door to the left on the room. "We need to know what happened to this people... Clarity and Copper, hack the door and then access the computer to run a diagnosis of the ship. We'll stay here, watching your back." I nodded and then walked with Clarity to the door, he popped the plate next to it from the wall and then did the same as before while I nervously glanced back to our protectors. Finally, the door opened and I walked inside a much smaller room with an holographic pad next to an armored window, looking at our other three companions. Clarity had stopped at the door still outside the room, looking at the recently closed door before it started to open and close erratically with a spark coming from the hole next to it.

"Ah horsapples!" Clarity swore. "Run the diagnose, I have to repair this door before anypony gets cut in half by it!" I nodded and then used my hooves to type in the holographic screen while he tried to repair the malfunctioning door sliding his hooves into the hole next to it. I finally ran a diagnose of the ship's integrity and gestured to the other three to get close, looking to the hologram of the ship with It's damaged sections highlighted in red.

"That doesn't look good..." Blackberry said. "Tram system is offline... the engine is not working and the fuel is low... Shit. Okay Copper, get those elevators online and---" But then his sentence was cut by the ship's AI voice and the sound of security steel covers going down on every window and door. The co-pilot mare had been close to the door Clarity had just repaired, and when it closed down she screamed and jumped into the room I was standing in. "What the!?" Blackberry said before there was the sound of... something... moving above their heads in the vents system. We tried to warn them, Clarity had returned with them to the center of the room, and I tried to tell them to look up, to watch the vents! But no matter how much we screamed, the AI's booming voice obscured ours!

The vent above the pilot mare exploded, and then something fell from it landing on her body. There was the disgusting crunch of her armor being crushed against her flesh before she let out a scream that made the other three ponies and us look at her attacker... It looked like something that was once a pony, but the coat was gone with the flayed skin exposed... it stood on its hindlegs, like always rearing up... The head... its lower jaw was missing, the eyes were two wells of infinite evil and the forelegs looked atrophied and small compared to the long new legs or limbs growing directly from it's back, with long bone blades at the end of each limb.

The...monster sank his blades into the pilot's torso, and then tore her appart... Blood splattered the window as he roared and the RIG from the brown mare gave a loud flat-line EKG like sound, announcing her death. Our companions were shooting at the abomination and the pulse rounds ricochetted from the window's armor, the blood blocking most of our view before we heard Clarity's voice apparently transmitting to us via RIG link. "I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!"  I could hear their screams...but fear paralyzed me.

The shooting didn't slow down, but we heard Blackberry's voice next. "Copper! ... Cherry Blossom! there's a door in there that you can use! Run away! Use... Use the elevators! NOW!" The co-pilot girl (Cherry Blossom, that was her name) was the first to react, and she pushed me towards the door. I gasped and then followed her closely, as the door slid open and we both rushed into a long corridor surrounded by pipes with steam erupting from them... We could hear the screams of our companions, and then on the still open RIG-link we heard Clarity's scream followed by him shrieking before there was a fleshy crunching sound, followed by another flat line sound signaling his death.

Blackberry shouted in fear and kept spraying the monsters with pulse rounds, his RIG-link still open on my RIG. "No no no! They've beheaded Clarity! They're feasting on his corpse! What the fuck are these things!? Die you motherfuckers!" More shooting, and his screams... I could imagine one of those things pulling Clarity's head off with the rests of its jaw, and then proceeding to feast on his corpse... We were still running, turning a corner and so close to the elevator when one of those things came out from a vent in the ceiling and fell on me! Maybe it was that it fell from a much lower height, but it just knocked me down instead of breaking my body.

I screamed. I didn't have as much armor as that other soldier had, so it reduced my health LED despite the softer hit. Cherry turned around and shot the beast in the head... But it only backed up when its head was blown from its shoulders! It started to flail around wildly with those bone blades and it almost severed Cherry's hoof  before she shot it on the legs. The creature fell down to its front and yet it kept chasing us when I stood up and ran! I had almost make it to the elevator... just a bit further... There was a loud growl coming from the long hall...

I hit the bottom wall of the small cargo lift and turned around just in time to see Cherry's hopeful smile, she was going to make it! And then I saw the long bloody bone blade erupting from her chest with an explotion of blood and the confused look on her face... as if in slow motion. The blood splattered my face before she fell into the small cargo lift, pushing me to the back wall as I screamed. The monster that had hurt her was halfway in here as well, wildly slashing at her body as she screamed in agony, her foreleg was ripped off and sent flying to my face, I screamed in horror and backed up, flailing and falling into the floor while hitting the elevator's holographic button in the process. The heavy armored doors closed, crushing the beast's torso as more blood sprayed us, and then as the elevator went up to the next floor the beast was tored into pieces with a crunch, a bone blade fell inside with us.

The elevator continued its ascension, and I looked in front of me to the mutilated body of Cherry... She was still breathing, mouthing some words that I could barely hear... I couldn't move, paralyzed by the fear and the shock of feeling her blood on me... I finally leaned a bit closer and heard her last words. "Don't... Don't let them... catch you..." My tears fell down on her face before she gave a last sigh and her RIG announced her death. While the elevator kept going up I screamed... I screamed in fear... I screamed in shock and pain... I screamed several times, crying like a foal... I had even wet my suit as we fled...

The elevator doors finally opened, and I slowly crawled outside... shaking, but there were no monsters in sight. I walked into a small room... the lights were constantly flickering, there was an absolute silence present punctuated by the rythmic hum of machinery and the occasional sound of... hoofsteps. I looked back to the lift... Cherry... I closed her eyes with my hoof, I couldn't do anything else for her... Even if I had only known her for some days I thought she was a good pony.  I returned to the room I had seen before, and then spotted some crates lying on the ground. Well, they looked more like ammo boxes and they were closed anyway. Then I jumped and almost had a heart attack right there when my RIG received a video message.

It was Blackberry! He was alive! And... His ear was missing... and his left hindleg too...He was also laying on the ground and bleeding... I gasped and then leaned close to the blue holographic screen. "Blackberry! ... Sir... what..." But he rose a hoof to silence me and then coughed up some blood, the pulse rifle laying next to him, with the ammunition counter on '00' and the canon horribly bent. I took cover behind a wall and then spoke softly. "Blackberry... Cherry... Clarity... That soldier... they are all dead!" I sobbed. "Sir, I am just a network and computer specialist... I'm not prepared for this kind of situation! I've never fired a gun in my life! I just saw a pony being cut into pieces in front of me! What is going on here!? What are those things!?" I sobbed, but then I remembered that he was the hurt pony and I the still healthy one, so I leaned closer to the screen wishing I could be there to help him!

"Ssshh... It's okay to be afraid... Copper..." He coughed. "I'm... I'm screwed. One of those things pierced my lung... Listen... I don't have much time before they reach me... and I don't want you to risk your life and try to save me. You should remember a few things... Our mission was to repair the communications system of the ship... And any other damage it could have taken... But now, these... creatures, they change everything! I think the whole crew was killed and-or transformed by them... I saw our pilot's body being dragged away by one of them to... The Princesses know where! You need... you need to repair the tram system... and then... check the engine! A malfunction on it could send the entire ship to Nightmare Moon's hell... And then... when you repair the comms system... you should send a distress signal..."

There was the sound of so many claws against the door, and the sound of something crawling through the vents. "Your RIG should assist you, guide you even! Just follow the instructions the RIG gives you! I'm... I'm sorry... I wish I could have helped you to find your marefriend..." I closed my eyes shut... Mint Breeze... I couldn't accept the idea that she was dead. She had to be alive somewhere...somewhere! There was another stronger hit on the door. "Copper... Find... a weapon... you will need... a weapon... and... a better suit... to survive...be-beware...va...cuum." And then the vent above him exploded just when he let out his last sigh, the transmission ended and at the end I could hear the sound of his RIG signaling his death.

I cried a bit more, mourning his death...he was a good pony even if I had only known him for some days, like Cherry... Wait, va-cuum? Vacuum! Oh no... so there was depressurized areas of the ship, or exposed to outer space? I didn't even have a insulated helmet nor an insulated suit with an oxygen reserve! They did not seem necessary when we embarked for a routine mission. Maybe I could find a storage node later where to improve my current 'suit'. But Blackberry was right... I needed a gun, or at least something to use for self-defense. Without that any other concern was pointless. I paused and opened my RIG screen, looking at the blue holographic screen in front of me before navigating through the tabs using my mind; there it was! The mission objective screen. Huh? That was my current objective? The map screen showed a blue line across the tridimentional representation of the ship, showing me the way to a certain location.

I put the RIG screen away, and then there was a female artificial sounding voice coming out from my RIG. I immediately felt a tingle throughout my spine, I knew that my RIG had (finally!) activated the survival features which were supposed to help several specialist to survive to adverse work environments. Improvements in strenght, some speed, the oxygen reserves became operational along with a unique but essential function: we called it 'artificial telekinesis', completely different from the kinesis modules issued to everypony's RIG.

In summary, artificial telekinesis was an extra module issued to the RIGs of anypony that wasn't a unicorn. A particular magic which allowed pegasi, and earth ponies like me to use a 'weaker' version of the telekinesis spell of a unicorn that (unlike kinesis) allowed us to use precise manipulation magic at the sacrifice of the spell's range and power. For example: you could hold a gun only less than one meter in front of your face, meaning you couldn't make it hover away from you to shoot a distant target like unicorns did. You couldn't carry heavy things around, and finally the 'magic' glow around it would be a static light blue glow around the object. In situations like this, we decided to leave behind our differences to bet on greater chance of survival.

After the short delay, I used another of the new functions of my RIG: the 'compass', a bright blue line projected on the environment that would lead you to your current target, it was activated by holding out your hoof, pointing to the floor. Looking around nervously, I walked to the end of the room and the door when the same female artificial voice spoke once more, and a holographic screen appeared in front of me; I sat down and then looked back at the closed boxes I had spotted before and then trotted towards them, I didn't know if this would work but I lifted one forehoof before stomping one crate strongly with a grunt. The box broke! and inside it I found some small orange cartridges that my RIG identified as 'Plasma Energy.' I put them on my inventory (a few pockets for supplies, two handles for medkits and two handles for weapons running throughout my RIG on my back)... I really needed to upgrade my inventory slots!

A few boxes later, I had found more Plasma Energy and some pulse rounds when I stomped the last crate levitating a small medkit up to my face. The small blue canister held a powerful healing gel inside, and the top was designed to be plugged into a special port on my RIG to automatically pour and distribute its contents over my damaged body parts. Again, my RIG was vital for this to happen because it managed the distribution of the medicines to my damaged parts. I used the small medkit, giving a sigh of relief as my spinal LED (which indicated my overall health) recovered about 25% of its full capacity, returning to the 'white' zone. Around 25% of the LED was still darkened, but the pain died allowing me to walk and move normally once more.

I kept moving, following the path of my compass until I walked into a dark, narrow hallway with steam floating all over. I lowered my head, creeping slowly as I heard hoofsteps in the distance followed by those growls and incoherent botching... It didn't sound like words, more like a bunch of growls and babblings from the throat of a monster. For a few seconds, I swore I could hear the faint and weak whispering of a mare and a stallion in the middle of a conversation but as fast as it came, the sound was gone... The air tasted stale and putrid, but it was breathable even if it looked brownish and impure against the darkness of the corridor.

I finally made it to my destination, and what I saw made me want to retrace my steps: the mummified cadaver of a unicorn was leaning against the furthest wall of the room next to a closed door with a damaged looking sparkling switch, on the wall and written with blood were the words 'Cut their limbs off!'. Next to the corpse was the partially dismembered body of one of those creatures and a folded, inactive workbench. Something peculiar lying on the ground far away from the corpses: A tool used by engineers to cut the ore extracted from the asteroid and tectonic plates disassembling process. This one looked different tho, instead of the usual orange it was of a bright red color! There was also an audio file couple of meters next to the tool, I touched the resistant casing and the data was instantly transfered to my RIG. I hit the play button.

<This is Scorpion Tail, acting chief engineering... These things... they have massacred my employees... each one of them! Shooting them in the body doesn't work, It's a waste of ammo! After much suffering, I've found out that the best way to kill these things is to dismember them... shooting their limbs off! That kills them way faster and slows them down too! I also discovered that the best parts to cut vary depending on the type of monster you're fighting. Sometimes cutting their head off will be a bad choice, and shooting at the legs the best one, for example. I've... worked and upgraded the only weapon I think is the best to deal with these monsters: a plasma cutter. It has proven to be highly effective against every one of these freaks I've come across. I painted it another color so I could distinguish it from others. (I tend to lose my stuff often.) Now I'm heading to the elevators and then to the flight room, once there, I should be able to... Wait... I can hear something... Oh Celestia and Luna, no! I think---

The recording ended with the sound of a vent on the ceiling exploding, the plasma cutter's shots and the screams of the unicorn mixed with the growls and roars of the fallen monster. I let the plasma cutter hover close to my face before mentally gripping the handle and firing pin on my artificial magic. "Scorpion's Cutter huh?" I mumbled softly before checking the corpse for any plasma energy cells. I stood next to the rests of the creature Scorpion Tail had killed, both its legs and one long blade tipped limb intact and as soon as I leaned to look for the ammo, the thing came back to life! I screamed and jumped when it rose suddenly, roaring and trying to cut me with its blade. I backed up, aiming at it with my plasma cutter...

I've heard that there were more than one firing mode for almost each weapon hooffactured by the CLEC (Celestia and Luna Extraction Corporation). I frowned, focusing before I pressed a small button on the side of the 'gun' with my ATK (artificial telekinesis) and the laser dots showing where my shot was aiming to twisted sideways. Now I targeted the legs of the thing, firing twice before cutting them off and ending it with a shot to the head, which flew clear on an arc over my shoulder... Yeah, it seemed to be dead for real now. I looked at the plasma cutter and smiled a bit, feeling less helpless for the first time since we came to this ship... Even if I was still afraid.

After checking the corpse I found some more plasma energy and then I paused to check my objectives screen once more. There was a new objective! Well, easier said than done... But it was apparently close. Leaving this room through a large cargo bay and down an elevator... It should be easy, right? I knew little about how the storage worked, but apparently schematics were needed so you could download certain product's data into the computer's memory. Once a product was downloaded at the store, you could get as much of it as you could carry or needed. The schematics for better suits, or the upgrade of a single one were granted to certain ponies according to the needs of each.

The 'suit' I currently possessed could be cataloged like a level one suit. It had virtually zero armored platings, and it lacked a helmet and both stasis and kinesis modules. Stasis was another spell that allowed you to nearly freeze the time around an object or even a enemy for multiple purpposes which had an automatic recharge function... The recharge process was somewhat slow though. BUT! Fortunately I possessed a schematic for the level two suit! I had never had to use it before nor the stasis or kinesis modules. The suit included them both, along with a helmet and the necessary insulation and oxygen reserve to survive outter space's vacuum and even poisoned or adverse atmospheres. The oxygen reserves were upgraded along with the suit's level.

Now, according to my RIG's data, the room with the storage node was marked as a 'safe room'. The armored doors (assuming they worked correctly) usually found around storage nodes should stop any creature wishing to break in, the room lacked a vent system for air distribution having a much safer and armored network of small ducts. There wasn't time to waste.

I stepped out from the room after the door opened to the corner of the large cargo bay, it was a long and wide steel platform with such a high ceiling that I couldn't see it. Behind me some sort of ramp had been lifted from the other side, and now there was an endless abyss between the platform and the floor at the other side. I sighed and walked slowly towards the end of the room, barely visible in the distance while the air again had that stale and putrid scent, with a dirty color... Perhaps a better way to describe it would be gas? But if it was gas, why wasn't I choking? Oh well, I couldn't complain... I was very happy to be alive, really! Despite the fear in my chest, I still smiled a little and kept up my spirits. Sometimes ponies told me that I was too cheerful hahaha. I'd like to see them in this situation, see if they kept that smug smile on their faces.

Shortly after I found a couple of small medkits and more ammo inside some boxes, there was another horrible growl behind me. I turned around, hoping to find another of those slasher thingies (the name seemed appropiate for some reason) but the room seemed clear... The ceiling vents were so high that if they tried to drop down from them they would became a meaty splat against the ground! And if they somehow were able to stick to the walls, I'd quit! I would retire to some vacational paradise like the moons of Tauro-V! Hahaha!

Yeah, as if that were to happen soon! Besides, I was too young for retirement... I was still in the prime of my life and--- The grating of the floor in front of me bursted open, and from the depths of a pit, another of those monsters broke through. This one seemed different though, only the upper torso remained with the skin flayed, the inner flesh was visible on a disgusting pink-flesh like color and the bottom part of the torso was gone. The forelegs had been modified, became longer and stronger with long sharp claws instead of hooves. Unlike the Slasher this thing had an intact mouth, and very powerful and vicious looking as well! With four sharp fangs in dislocated, yet deathly jaws. Its eyes were blank, the spine was visible jutting out from its back like big and heavy bones... All that remained from the bottom was a fleshy part narrowing towards a long tail like limb, with a long bone stinger at the tip.

The creature let out an horrifying growl, and two of those slashers climbed out from the hole, letting out a shriek and charging towards me while the first monstrosity sprinted to the left using its arms... It was fast! Really fast! I rose my cutter and then wished I had a stasis module shooting at the nearest slasher's legs making it crawl towards me, I screamed when the second one got closer than I had expected and almost sank his blade into my shoulder. Reacting quickly, I dropped the plasma cutter into my hoof and used it to block the attack... Hurray for the RIG's strenght improvement. I proceeded to punch the monster twice by swinging my weapon in an arc towards its body while grunting, and at the second hit its head came off with a meaty crunch and a pop. The creature flailed around almost comically (at least for me) before I shot its legs off, and it let out a loud gurgling shriek before it stopped moving.

...How had that monster still screamed if it lacked its head? Maybe the head had screamed, somehow still alive even if I had severed it from its body!

The slasher I had left crawling towards me surprised me when it almost sank its blade deep into my neck! Only the hovering plasma cutter saved me from having a similar fate than Clarity, because the weapon deflected the blade to the side and fell somewhere behind me. The beast lets out a horrible scream before I rolled backwards, grabbing the tool from the ground on my ATK and then aimed for its arm, firing and then the limb was sent in an arc behind it before the monster went limp with a gurgling--- I should have watched my back... The scorpion thingy leapt the distance to me, and pinned me down under his heavy body... I screamed when it grabbed my shoulder with those claws, drawing some blood and then it lowered its jaw to bite my face (or maybe my head) off! I held it back with my forelegs, and then picked up the plasma cutter from the ground with my ATK. I slapped the thing across the face with my hoof making it flinch a small bit before I shot its head off, putrid blood splattering my chest, missing my face for inches!

I heaved the thing up and away from me with a buck of my hindlegs before I rolled to the side and stood up, panting. It landed on its arms before it sprinted towards me with that incredible speed. I aimed... and with all my focus and the vertical shot of my weapon severed an arm off. The monster fell, but it then crawled towards me with the remaining arm! I frowned... These things just refused to die! I put two shots into its remaining limb before the monster went limp with a horrible growl. I looked at the holographic ammo counter on my weapon, I had spent ten of twenty shots since I shot the first monster... Cutting their limbs off truly saved ammo. The wounds on my shoulder were deep because I didn't have armor to shield my body! and my health bar had returned to yellow again... Sigh. I limped a small bit while hovering one of the small medkits to the port on my RIG, letting it work its healing effects on me with a sigh of relief.

I moved fast, I could see the elevator now! The brown air dissipated close to the elevator's section and I skidded to a stop. "Oh no..." The elevator was badly damaged, the outside was burnt and the same could be said of its interior. The lights flickered and the holographic controls too... I brought up my RIG screen again and looked at the map and objectives tab... This was the only way to reach the safe room... Behind me, I heard more growls, and when I turned around I saw more of those monsters chasing me, approaching fast... I grunted and closed my eyes shut before running to the elevator. I was a mare with a mission, and I had a marefriend to rescue... She was alive... she had to be!

My Mint Breeze was too smart and tough to be defeated by these creatures... I had always been the soft, blushy one.

I hit the elevator's back and then punched the holographic panel. The doors closed before one of those monsters hit it with a heavy thud that make me jump back when the steel budged a little... The elevator went down... But... something was wrong. It kept shaking, rattling and the lights were flickering, same than the control panel in front of me! The panel flickered once... twice... and then I heard the ship's AI voice. Warning! Elevator #37 power source heavily da--- and then with a last flicker the holographic screen and the lights went out. I froze... afraid that the elevator would leave me trapped in here forever... until I died of starvation and dehydration.

Instead, it did something even worse: The elevator rushed down freely, plunging into the abyss below. I screamed... and then my world became a blinding white light for a second time today...

When I came to myself, I was lying on the floor of the now crushed and deformed elevator... everything around me was on fire, and the smoke was slowly choking me... I looked up... I could hear the growls of the creatures far away, but I also saw a weak dot of light way above the elevator's shaft... It wouldn't be long until they managed to break into the shaft and then down here... I tried to stand up... But my hind legs didn't move. I screamed and then grunted, looking back over my shoulder. My health indicator was on the red zone... around 25% of my health left. Not good.

I was in so much pain... every part of my body was hurt... Every breath felt shallow... The smoke and the stale air were choking me to death as I wheezed and  crawled on the floor towards a heavy armored door at the end of this small room... The doors to the storage room! I crawled a bit faster, leaving a trail of blood behind... Copper you stupid mule! I would have facehoofed if I could... I levitated my last small medkit to the port on my RIG, and I gave a small sigh of relief as the medicine rushed through my system... The health indicator went back to the yellow zone... I was creeping to the armored door at this point.

Behind me, I could hear the armored elevator's doors way above me being opened with a metallic shriek. I tried to move faster... Almost there... Almost there... The grey 'suit' I wore had so much zones of torn material... the 'armored' zones had been damaged... My vision blurred... my legs didn't want to walk anymore... too exhausted by the recent events of this day... The armored door is opening in front of me now... I heard something land behind me with a fleshy thud, and I hear a loud blood chilling growl. I look over my shoulder... monsters... they are going to get me.

I slip inside the safe room... And then I collapsed on the floor... The door was closing now. I looked to my left, where the familiar yellow glow of a storage node greeted me. Looking to my right, I froze... This place was a tomb. On the walls, and written in blood was a complete chaos of symbols and words... I tried to close my eyes shut, but fear forced me to open them again as I stared at the now brownish-black paint. Celestia! Celestia! Celestia! / Limbs... gotta cut the limbs off... / We are fucked! / HAHAHAHA HAHAHAHA!/ It tastes so good!/ Check for pregnant mares! They can change into monsters!/Please...I'm a good pony! /Celestia and Luna have forsaken us/ Unitology is dead!/ My foal... I saw my foal... it was one of them! one of them!/ Save us... ...On the floor and on the right side of the room there were so many corpses stacked, they looked almost mummified by now...

  I screamed in horror and then there was a resounding crunch and then one of the slasher monsters started to slowly but decidedly crawl its way towards me. I was hyperventilating... I couldn't stand the stench of this room... I couldn't... keep going... But... a picture of my beloved marefriend came to my mind... She was somewhere on this ship... scared and alone... trying to survive and thinking about me... Wondering if I had abandoned her to her faith.

No.

I would rescue her.

I stood on my hooves as best as I could, and then aimed to the monster with my plasma cutter. The artificial light in the room makes the end of the weapon shine, as if it was freshly polished. I frown and then a soft cheerful grin blossoms on my face... "Enough of your cheap tricks." I smiled and then shot the thing in the head, and then in the arm. Both went flying behind the monster in an arc before it went limp with a gurgling shriek...

I look around... all the doors were functioning and locked... the store was right next to me... there wasn't a vent to be seen... And there were psychopathic messages written all over the walls next to a pile of corpses. "Well... So much for taking it easy on the safe room..." I was still smiling when the plasma cutter clattered to the ground next to me, my eyes rolled back into my skull and I collapsed into my face, again. Before everything went dark, I could still hear all the monster's and hoofsteps background noises... And the whispers of stallions and mares... I don't know why, but I could swear that I heard a mare's voice softly whispering. ... The last thing I thought was about my lover, Mint Breeze running towards me in a beautiful plain of grass with a smile on her face... Hold on honey! ...

I'm going to rescue you... The question is... Who will rescue me?

I passed out.

Dead Space: Distress Signal