“Please remain patient. Flights will resume momentarily,” says an automated female voice over the speaker.

The voice echoes in the empty lobby of the Bon Voyage, and Rainbow Dash motions her team to fan out while Fluttershy scans the area. It can easily hold sixty ponies, and she has been on board plenty of colony ships to know that the lobby is supposed to be brightly lit with pleasant music and the occasional announcement. But the lobby is subdued with dim orange lights and pockets of weak red emergency lights on top of the benches, plus the lights illuminating message boards. There is just enough light for Fluttershy to see the scattered luggage, clothes and papers covering the floor, but she is not looking at the clothes or papers. She is focused on the FORSAKEN painted over the Bon Voyage on the wall sized mural.
Seeing such a gruesome sight leaves a knot in her stomach, and her eyes slowly trail a streak at the “N” that leads to a pool of blood that stretches to a closed off area, like someone took a brush to the blood and dragged it across the floor.

“Please remain patient. Flights will resume momentarily,” repeats the voice.

A series of snaps make Fluttershy squeak and jump, and when she turns to the source, she sees a cracked monitor's messages flickering in and out.

Sec. C. Carry Pod 01- Delayed
Sec. C. Carry Pod 02- Delayed
Sec. C. Carry Pod 03- Delayed
Sec. C. Carry Pod 04- Delayed
Sec. C. Carry Pod 05- Delayed
Sec. C. Carry Pod 06- Delayed

“Where is everypony?” asks Comet.

“I don't know,” says Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash looks down the lobby, and when she sees a door with a red circle, she trots towards it and presses her hoof against it.

“Unauthorized” flashes in front of her via a holographic display.

“What?” Rainbow Dash tries again, and the same message appears. “How am I unauthorized? I’m a Chief Security Officer!”

“Allow me,” says Rarity. She goes to the door, hooks her computer to it via USB cord and sits on the floor as she types away. After a moment of work, she perks up. “Oh, I found the problem. Indefinite quarantine issued by Captain Star Tracker with a… Section 0 override code needed?”

“Section 0 on a colony ship? Great~” drones Thunderlane.

“Oh, don’t start with that,” chides Rarity.

“I didn’t say anything!”

“You were.”

“No, I wasn’t!”

“If you two are done flirting, I’d like to know if can be overridden,” says Rainbow Dash, glaring at the two.

“Of course I can,” says Rarity. “It will just take me a moment.”

“Make it fast. We got work to do.”

Rarity begins typing away at her pad, and Fluttershy follows the blood, going past an open door that leads to a room with thick windows giving the occupants a view of the lobby. Upon entering it, her body locks, her eyes widen, and her ears droop and her hoof covers her nose in a pitiful attempt to stop smelling the stench of old blood.

“Please remain patient. Flights will resume momentarily,” repeats the voice.

All over the floor, walls, computers, and chairs is blood. Streaks, puddles, splashes, thin slashes, thick slashes, there is enough blood for at least five ponies; and then there is the severed hoof near a door with yet another red circle. Fluttershy gags and backpedals into the door frame, and with a racing heart and shortness of breath she looks around the room with sharp flicks of her eyes.

Broken chairs. Glowing monitors of the computers. Large vent. Illuminated poster of a family having a picnic on a sunny grassy field with theBon Voyage above them.
“The Future Is Bright!” is what its caption says, and it would be nice if it didn't have blood and a gash going through it.

“Where’d the newbie go?” asks Rainbow Dash.

“She went over there,” says Applejack.

Fluttershy swallows the bile rising in her throat and shakily approaches one of the computers. She uses her hoof to wipe away the blood on the computer and sees a menu. She does not care about most of the options, but when she sees the

“Colonist List” option she quickly taps it, which brings up a list of names and a search bar.

“Moon, get Fluttershy back over here!” orders Rainbow Dash.

“Why me?” asks Moon.

“Because you deserve it. Now go!”

Fluttershy glances up just quick enough to see Moon trotting towards her while Rainbow Dash talks to Roid and Comet. The two nod and leave through where they come from, and Fluttershy hastily types in Zephyr's name and it brings up: Sec C, Room 60.

Fluttershy still feels sick from what she has seen, but she is feeling a small amount of relief for getting a lead to Zephyr, but right as she is about to leave the room, she comes face to face with Moon. This makes her yelp and jump back with a racing.

“Hey, come on. I’m far from ugly,” says Moon. He jabs his hoof towards the doorway. “By the way, Chief Dashole wants you.”

Fluttershy nods and follows Moon to Rainbow Dash. She, Thunderlane and Applejack are by Rarity, each taking turns scanning the area while Rarity works, and when Fluttershy arrives, Rainbow Dash gives her a harsh look.

“No wandering,” orders Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy nods, and the computer beeps, thus making Rarity sigh happily.

“A tough cookie for sure, but alas, I have proven better,” says Rarity. “Now, open sesame~”

She pushes a button on her pad and the door’s red light switches to green and it slides open, revealing a dark hallway with only one flickering light at the far end. The group stares at it in silence, with Fluttershy backing up on shaky legs and Rainbow Dash bringing up Captain Trotter on display.

“Captain, we got the door open and we’re about to go down a… very spooky hallway,” says Rainbow Dash.

“Stay safe. Comet and Roid are guarding the ship. No pirates will be getting on the Hook Line,” says Trotter.

“I’ve never seen a pirate attack like this,” Moon. “I mean there’s nopony here! Just blood.”

“Dragon pirates probably,” says Rainbow Dash uneasily. “Dragons are vicious.”

“If it was a dragon attack then there wouldn’t be a Section 0 lockdown,” says Thunderlane.

“Don’t start that nonsense,” says Rarity.

"I wasn't going to!" claims Thunderlane.

Fluttershy has backed far away from the group at this point, and her eyes have drifted back to the room she was in previously. She really wants to run. She needs to run. But her legs can barely move.

“Moon, you’re point,” says Rainbow Dash.

“You serious?” sneers Moon.

“You’ve been a pain in the ass the whole trip over. You’re front!”

Moon shakes his head, looks at the dark hallway, takes a deep breath, and inches forward. The group watches in silence, with Applejack nudging her way next to Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane scanning the lobby.

Moon’s silhouette against the only light in the hallway gradually shrinks, and the light from helmet sweeps the metal walls, revealing blood, scratches, and bullet damage. Then he stops and stares at something at his hooves. Nobody can see what it is, but he takes a step back, looks up and-

BAM!

Something slams down onto Moon, squishing him into the floor, and his limp form is snapped up into the ceiling, his body and light disappearing in the darkness.

“MOON!” cries Rainbow Dash over Rarity’s shrieking.

“FUCK!” yells Thunderlane.

Rainbow Dash lurches forward but is grabbed by Applejack and pulled back. She then breaks the door panel, bringing the door to slam shut, all while Rainbow Dash screams and reaches for the door.

“No! No! NO! Let me go! MOON!” cries Rainbow Dash.

“We need to go!” says Thunderlane.

Fluttershy is frozen in place, staring at the door with wide eyes as Rainbow Dash is pulled away, despite her thrashing and screaming.

“He’s gone. We need to abandon the mission!” says Applejack. “This wasn’t in the report! We ain't prepared for this!”

“You think?” snaps Thunderlane. He points at Fluttershy and Rarity, who is leaning against the wall, hyperventilating with tears soaking her eyes. “You two, haul it!”

“What was that?” mutters Rarity. “What was that? What was that?”

Suddenly, rapid gunfire echoes from beyond the broken door, and Comet’s face appears in Rainbow Dash’s communication projection. His feed is bobbing from his running, and seconds later Trotter’s face appears next to his.

“Dash, get your team to the Bon Voyage bridge for shelter! The Hookline’s been compromised!” says Trotter.

“Dash, there’s something on the ship!” says Comet. “Something-”

Comet’s feed suddenly fuzzes out and Trotter turns around, colors paling as the two pilots scream in terror.

“Open fire!” orders Trotter.

Gunfire rings out, and heavy steps rapidly approach Trotter. When the steps reach him, the footage ends, and Rainbow Dash stiffens with bloodshot eyes while Thunderlane aims his rifle at the door.

“What’s going on?” whimpers Rarity.

“We need to get to the bridge,” says Thunderlane. “Rarity, we need a map, now!”

“No-No. I’m in charge. I’m in charge,” says Rainbow Dash. “We need to get to the bridge. We need to get to the bridge, right now!”

Then the room and the lobby lights shut off, leaving just the emergency lights of the benches and red swirling lights from the ceiling and a screeching alarm to scrape at their ears.

The vent breaks open and a mass of flesh lands in front of Fluttershy, but she is too terrified to move. She can only watch with wide, wet eyes as the thing writhes on the ground before twisting itself in an upright position. Whatever it is, it has the body of an equine, but its lower jaw is missing, leaving its sharp tongue to hang freely, its eyes are a pale gray, and the jumpsuit has been bloodied and ripped apart by a pair of bony protrusions from its shoulders that are wrapped in strands of flesh and tipped with bony scythes. Its limbs are covered in throbbing veins and little arms have clawed their way out of its chest.

It looks at Fluttershy, and it shrieks and lunges at her.

“KILL IT!” screams Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy gallops away, towards the room she was in earlier, screaming as the monster runs after her, seemingly ignoring the bullets tearing into it. Then there are more raspy shrieks, and the remaining team screams in terror and shoots madly at whatever else is in the room.

“Fluttershy, run!” yells Applejack.

“Get the other door open!” screams Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy reaches the room and scrambles to the side, causing the creature to crash into the wall. It doesn’t stay down long, though and keeps chasing her through the room and out the door at the far end. The door has also been broken open, so Fluttershy leaps through it, trips over herself, and is in the middle of trying to get back up when she screams and drops to avoid the creature's scythe from cutting her skull in half. She awkwardly gets back on her hooves and runs down a thin hallway lined with pipes and flickering lights, not daring to look back as the creature's shrieking and heavy steps gain on her. She almost trips over herself when she rounds a corner, and when she sees an elevator at the end of the hall her hoofs barely touch the floor from how fast she is running.

But the creature rams her and everything becomes a blur as she rolls head over tail. Each time her body hits the metal floor a flash of pain ripples through her body, and when she stops, she is on her back with the creature looking down at her and a fire extinguisher next to her. Bloody slobber falls on her face, and it lifts its scythe while its thick hoofs keep her pinned.
The scythe comes down hard and fast and Fluttershy moves her head to the side, crying out in pain when the claw slashes her cheek. Its bone shatters against the floor, this barely fazes it though and it goes for another strike. Only this time it goes into Fluttershy's shoulder, easily puncturing her suit and flesh, and when it yanks it out blood splashes all over her shoulder, neck and face, and she screams and squirms on the ground, somehow managing to wiggle her way out from underneath it.

After getting out, she kicks it in the face with her hind leg and grabs the fire extinguisher. The creature shakes its head, its eye hanging loose, and it lunges at Fluttershy again, only to get its face caved in with the metal canister. The creature stumbles back with bits of bone poking from its broken face, and Fluttershy drops the fire extinguisher and gallops towards the elevator, hitting the “Up” button. The door slides open with a pleasant ding, and Fluttershy runs inside, turns to hit the emergency close button, but is rammed into the wall by the monster.

Thick clumps of blood and saliva drip from the monster’s broken maw, and its large claws scrape the walls while Fluttershy shrieks and pushes against its chest with her hooves. The elevator dings, and Fluttershy strains herself to push herself from the wall, forcing the hellspawn backwards. It is in the doorway when the elevator slams shut, slicing its back half off and splattering the doors with its blood. It drops to the floor, gurgling and clawing toward Fluttershy with a string of broken organs behind it.

Fluttershy screams again and stomps on its head, and she keeps stomping on it with her mane flailing wildly and clumping up with sweat and blood, and by the time she is done she is panting and shivering with a prickling pain in her throat.
She collapses to the floor, staring at the dead creature, which has been reduced to a twitching mess of broken bone and punctured skin with its odd colored blood soaking the floor. With her being still, she hears the gentle hum and feels the elevator rising with flashes of yellow light streaking up the bloody wall. Seconds later, Fluttershy curls into a ball with her wings shielding her and she sobs into her hooves. When the elevator stops and begins to open, Fluttershy quickly hits the emergency close button and then hits the emergency stop button. After that, she retreats into the corner, shivering and pressing her wound with her pink mane partially covering her face.

Her heart is racing her chest and throat are tight, and her eyes burn as her mind races to figure out what she just experienced. With the rapid thinking, she has concluded that she has no idea what happened or what that thing was, and she needs to find Zephyr and get off the ship fast.

Then her holographic projector activates, and Rainbow Dash's face appears. Her cheek and neck are coated in blood and her eyes are shimmering with tears. Behind her is Rarity shakily working on a terminal by a locked door. They are not in the lobby anymore, and from what Fluttershy can see, they are in a sealed room.

“Fluttershy, can you hear me?” asks Rainbow Dash.

“Y-Yes,” says Fluttershy, refusing to leave her corner.

“Okay... I got bad news... It is just me, you, Rarity, Applejack and Thunderlane. Whatever those things were... They killed everypony else. I can’t get a hold of Captain Trotter or anypony else. We’re going to have to get to the bridge. It’s the safest part of the ship and we can figure out a way off when we get there.”

“The bridge?”

Rainbow Dash nods. “We're going to regroup at the transit station and head to the bridge. That’ll give us some answers and safety. But we also have a problem. Rarity is saying that the transit isn't working properly. Something about a connection error that can only be fixed at the transit hub, which is on your side.”

Fluttershy pales. “M-My side? But I'm not a mechanic!”

“Relax, it isn’t mechanical. It’s computer stuff.”

The door Rarity is working on opens, and Thunderlane peeks inside with his weapon at the ready.

“It’s clear. Go. Go. Go,” says Thunderlane urgently.

The video feed bobs as the group moves into the dark hallway, and Rarity quickly closes and locks the door while Rainbow Dash looks into the camera again with Thunderlane and Applejack moving ahead.

“I need you to fix whatever is wrong with the connection, okay? Can you do that for us?” asks Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy nods and swallows. “I-I can try, but I don’t know if I can.”

“Hey, cut out the weakling shit, alright? We do not have time for that! Grow some balls and get that thing fixed. You want to save your brother, right?”

Fluttershy nods.

“Then fix the transit connection!” says Rainbow Dash. “We’ll regroup as soon as we can, but right now you’re on your own and I need you to be brave, got it?”

Fluttershy swallows a lump in her throat before nodding yet again, and Rainbow Dash sighs heavily and looks away for a moment before returning her focus to Fluttershy.

“Good. Stay safe, Fluttershy. Over and out,” says Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy nods, and after the feed cuts out, she closes her eyes and falls against the wall, rubbing her face as a shaky whine leaves her. And after a moment of stillness, she pushes her mane out of her eyes and gets to work on patching herself up with medical foam and the stitch kit, and then she hits the button for the transit and mentally prepares herself for the next level of Hell.

Author's Note

That was fast.