Chapters “This is Lyra Heartstrings, code named Muse. I’ve just finished killing everyone on my team and I am currently destroying the research into the Marker. We all must die for what we did. Every one of us. I can already feel myself slipping into the dark and if I didn’t kill them, they would have been taken, too. But, honestly, I enjoyed killing my partners, and the voices praised me for it. Make us whole, they said. Make us whole. Heheheh, so romantic, yet so sinister… I hope I have the strength to kill myself before I am taken. I hope I am forgiven for what I did. This is Lyra Heartstrings, lead researcher of Sparkle Station Xenology Department signing off for the last time.”
Fluttershy has been still the whole time the audio has played, and once it ended, her motor function returned. She pushes the green lit button on the door and steps out when it slides open. She is immediately greeted by a rush of heat and crackling with fiery light shining on her. Fluttershy looks to the source on the left and sees a raging fire has consumed the corridor, leaving red hot metal skeletons and peeling wall panels. To her right is the other part of the corridor, which is shrouded in a blanket of darkness with small pockets of flickering lights.
Fluttershy looks at the darkness, where she cannot see anything and will have terrible creatures wanting to rip out her bones and paint the walls with her blood. She looks at the fires, noticing a clear opening on the other side leading to the open area of the Medical Wing. Also comes with Necromorphs and death and no cover.
But maybe if she can fly…?
Fluttershy tries expanding her wings, but sharp pain shoots through her muscles, and her wings tremble and retract back to her sides. The pain brings her to wince, and when she tries again, her wings barely move. With that result, Fluttershy realizes what must happen, so she takes a deep breath and goes right.
The hallway’s darkness is broken by pockets of flickering lights and sparks, and Fluttershy ducks down as low as she can go to the floor when sporadic gunfire echoes in the distance. An equine shaped shadow appears at the far end of the hallway, just passed a broken door. The equine is running, and the shadow get larger the closer it gets to the doorway, but it suddenly stops as a sharp tendril pierces it, splashing the wall and floor with blood, and the pony is tugged away.
Fluttershy stays put, ears drooped and eyes wide. She swallows and looks up at the vents, and crawls forward, stopping with a gasp when her hoof slides into a pool of blood. The blood doesn’t have a body to go with it, but it does have a pistol laying nearby, and on it is an Artificial Telekinesis Module. Fluttershy reaches for it but stops when a roar echoes down the hall. She remains frozen in place, watching as a group of three Slashers and a Griffin Necromorph run by the doorway. Once they are gone, Fluttershy grabs the pistol and checks the ammo.
Three bullets in the magazine, and one in the chamber.
Fluttershy sighs heavily, wipes the blood off on her sleeve, puts the pistol in her mouth and aims down the hallway. Her tongue brushes against the trigger and gives it a test pull, stopping just short of discharging a round. After that, she removes the Module by carefully undoing the straps and sliding it off. Then she does a quick visual inspection, slips it on her hoof when she sees nothing wrong, and aims her hoof towards a knocked over wheelchair, focusing hard on it.
Nothing happens to the chair, but Fluttershy gets a vague, burning sensation on the back of her skull, and her ears twitch as a faint voice and the noise of a revving saw floats in her ears.
“Troublemaker~ Troublemaker~”
Fluttershy drops her hoof with a gasp, and quickly follows up with feeling the back of her head, remembering how she was nearly killed by… someone. A psycho with a saw. And now she has no chip. No chip means no module use. No module use means death. Death means becoming a Necromorph.
“No, no, no, no,” whispers Fluttershy frantically.
She brings up Lyra’s band and quickly scrolls through the menu, occasionally looking down the hall, over her head, or behind her. Soon enough, Fluttershy finds a map section, selects it, and after selecting the Medical Wing, a holographic map of the section appears. Fluttershy searches through the map until she finds the room she needs: Neural Implant Room. And the path is simple. Go down the hall, take a left, down the hall to the fourth intersection, and it is the fourth room on the left.
Fluttershy turns off the map, and carefully moves forward. When she reaches the doorway, she looks right and sees carnage. Torn up bodies litter the blood-soaked floor, and distant screams are being drowned out by the alarm and the roars of the Necromorphs.
To the left. Nothing. Except for a carpet of broken glass, bloodied walls, and the mangled torso of a pony with no signs of their limbs or head.
Fluttershy swallows and goes left, cringing when glass crunches under her hoof. She keeps going, though, and peeks into an office with a broken window and blinds. She sees nothing important, so she keeps going.
Fluttershy passes the first right and stops when she sees a unicorn stallion in the white and red jumpsuits of the medical staff trotting down the hallway. He is covered in blood and is walking towards Fluttershy, and she looks around before approaching him, too.
“Are you okay?” asks Fluttershy, her words warped from holding the pistol in her mouth.
The unicorn says nothing, and when they are close enough, Fluttershy sees he is green with yellow eyes, and his tag says “Graymane”, which fits him well considering his mane is gray with streaks of blood; but the streaks look a little too smooth to be anything but controlled application. And his hooves are also covered in blood, but the blood is thin and in hieroglyphic patterns.
“Patient 54, what are you doing out?” asks the stallion, his eyes shifting from yellow to green and red. “It is past your bedtime.”
Fluttershy remains quiet and backs up, realizing that she made a horrible mistake approaching him, and Dr. Graymane tilts his head, blinking; his eyes are now back to yellow.
“Where did you get the weapon, Patient 54?” asks Dr. Graymane.
“Stay back,” orders Fluttershy, her voice muffled by the pistol.
“I’m your friend, Patient 54.” Dr. Graymane holds out his hoof. “Come with me. The other patients are waiting.”
Fluttershy backs up and Dr. Graymane walks forward.
“Easy, Patient 54. We don’t want to hurt you,” says Dr. Graymare. His eyes shift colors and his voice chances to a more grizzled tone. “No, we don’t. We’re friends. We’re all friends here.”
The vent above them rattles, and Fluttershy takes another step back.
“Don’t come any closer!” orders Fluttershy.
Dr. Graymare’s horn glows, its aura unstable red and green blobs. “Drop the gun, Patient 54. There are other patients waiting for you.”
Suddenly, the vent cover breaks loose and a Slasher lands behind Dr. Graymare. It roars and stabs him in the back; its scythe claw breaks through his chest, popping out broken ribs. The doctor grunts and pukes blood, and the second scythe stabs through his back with the same result. He is then lifted in the air, twitching, and gurgling as blood pours out of his wounds on the creature, and Fluttershy shoots the Slasher.
One round strikes it in the chest, another in its leg, making it buckle, and another in its face, blowing off a part of its head. The Slasher shrieks, rips Dr. Graymare open, and tosses the pieces aside as it rushes Fluttershy. She puts the remaining rounds in its chest, but it isn’t enough to stop it. The Slasher tackles her, causing her to lose her weapon, and she screams and squirms as it tries stabbing her.
The scythe claws stab through the floor with ease as she rolls from one side to another. Fluttershy kicks the Slasher’s groin, knocking it off balance, and she slams her hoof as hard as she can against the Slasher’s knee. The bone breaks at the joint, causing the Necromorph to stumble, and she follows up with slamming her hoof into what is left of its head. Its jaw breaks off and pieces of bone fall with blood and slobber, and as it tries to stab her, she tilts to the side and punches it in the head again. This time her hoof goes through the hole where its mouth used to be and breaks the joint between head and neck. Its head goes limp and it staggers off her, wildly slashing the air and stabbing whatever it can while it stumbles in circles.
Fluttershy takes the moment of its confusion to roll on her hooves, leap on its back and ram her hoof on the back of its head. The Slasher’s head breaks open, splashing the floor with skull and brain bits and it crumbles to the ground, twitching and clawing the wall and floor. With it no longer able to do anything, Fluttershy grabs the pistol, gallops away and ducks into an open room. There, she collapses against the wall, just out of view of the hallway and a good sight of the room’s vent, and begins taking deep, controlled breaths to calm her heart.
Steadily the rapid beats slow down to a more sustainable pace, and Fluttershy swallows and rubs her heart before poking her head out. The Necromorph is still stumbling in circles, leaving a ring of blood, so Fluttershy slips out of the room and quickly checks her map before going on the path she originally intended.
As Fluttershy runs down the hall, she can hear an announcement being broadcasted, and when she passes the next intersection, she sees a gate sealing off a hallway while a Slasher pulls a screaming doctor into the shadows. There, the screaming stops almost instantly.
“Please remain calm. Evacuation is in effect,” says the computer announcer in a fake, sympathetic voice.
Fluttershy passes the third right, which is on fire and has a hole melted into the floor with broken pipes spraying colorful steam. Then she reaches the fourth intersection, stops, and looks around for trouble.
Nothing. But there is the bright light of the Neural Implant Room shining on the wall through a window.
Fluttershy takes a deep breath, gallops towards it and she tries to open the door, but it is locked with the red circle.
“No! Please, open!” begs Fluttershy. Her chest becomes heavy and tears cloud her vision as she bangs her hoof on the door’s red circle. Then she realizes that she is wearing Lyra’s band, so she quickly presses the band against the door’s terminal, and the red circle flashes to green.
“Welcome, Muse,” says a computerized female voice while displaying a picture of Lyra sporting a toothy, excited smile.
The door’s lock turns, and the door slides open. Fluttershy doesn’t wait for the door to open all the way before she slides into the bare room, and the door is barely opened all the way before she hits the emergency close button, followed by locking it. After that, she pulls the curtain shut, blocking her view of the streaks of blood on the wall outside, and when she turns around, she gasps from the sight of a dead goat laying in a pool of blood, a hole in their head, and a pistol nearby.
Fluttershy carefully approaches the body, takes the ammo, and then goes to a chair in the middle of the room.
The chair is large, white, and thick padded with straps on the sides, and large hanging lights shine down on her. Behind the chair is a robotic stinger on a rail in the ceiling that reminds Fluttershy of a scorpion tail; and attached to it is a computer terminal displaying: Apple, AB- Replacement Chip- Appt- LATE .
Seeing the last name brings Fluttershy to a halt, but the moment doesn’t last. She has work to do, so in a burst of speed she brings up a command screen with a few options: Initiate. Postpone. Cancel.
Fluttershy hits “Initiate” and quickly jumps in the seat. She tries to make herself comfortable as the mechanical arm whirs, and out of the corner of her eye, she sees the robot move towards a cabinet with a fogged glass door. The door slides open, revealing a dozen rows of neural chips, all glowing green against the dim blue lighting. The robot delicately grabs one of the chips and slides over to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy tenses, and the machine takes its sweet time adjusting its position as a pair of green lasers slide along the back of her skull.
“Come on, come on, come on,” mutters Fluttershy.
The machine beeps, and then comes a sudden press. With it, there is a sharp, ice cold pain on the back of Fluttershy’s skull that surges through her brain, down her spinal cord, and spreads throughout her nerves. Fluttershy’s muscles tighten, her teeth grind together and her vision flickers in and out with various hieroglyphs flashing on the walls. Her breathing becomes heavier, and her heart races, choking the air out of her and sucking away everything around her.
Then it ends with a static crackling in her ears and her communicator projecting wavelengths as her vision returns to normal and the tension fades.
“Fluttershy~” calls Zephyr. “Come in, Fluttershy~”
Fluttershy quickly turns her communicator off with a shaky hoof and she slips out of the chair. Her legs buckle, and she collapses on the cold floor, shivering with one hoof rubbing her heart and her mouth hanging open for air.
“Zephyr’s gone. Zephyr’s dead,” whispers Fluttershy, her eyes flicking around the room. “Zephyr’s gone. Zephyr’s dead.”
Fluttershy swallows, and as she feels the back of her skull, her hoof brushes against the chip, and she groggily inspects the Artificial Telekinesis Module. It shows a connection, and Fluttershy aims her module at a rolling cart near the cabinet holding the neural chips.
The module and the cart light up in a blue aura, and the cart is levitated into the air before being launched into the wall. The cart bends and leaves a dent in the wall, and Fluttershy nods approvingly before cautiously exiting the room.
Upon exiting, she notices that the alarm has stopped, at least in her section, but the red lights are still swirling. She also notices a sign directly in front of the door. Said sign has two arrows pointing in two different directions, but she only cares about one, and that is the one pointing left. According to the sign, the Social Center and Medical Wing Transit Hub are in that direction, which is exactly where she needs to go.
Fluttershy starts walking with a quick pace, and with the chip now in her brain, the communicator activates without her using her hoof, bringing up Posey Breeze.
“Mom, I’m on my way to the Medical Wing Transit Hub,” says Fluttershy.
“Okay, that’s good,” says Posey with a relieved smile. “You will need to take the Green Route to the Residential Wing, and once you arrive, follow Yellow Brick Pathway to the Harmony Center. The Unitology Citadel will be at the far end, and the largest structure. We’ll be at the top floor waiting for you.”
Fluttershy nods. “Okay. I’ll see you soon… I love you.”
“I know, dear.”
Then Posey’s end disconnects, and Fluttershy sighs with her ears drooped.
“You didn’t need her directions. You’re familiar with the Citadel. As am I,” says Zephyr, his voice being displayed as audio wavelengths on the communicator projector. “Why would you want to go back there, anyway? You know it will only end badly, just like before.”
Fluttershy shuts off the communicator again and gallops onward, quietly repeating, “Zephyr’s gone. Zephyr’s dead.”
While she gallops, she constantly looks over her shoulder and at the vents. She can hear the chaos in the distance and passes mutilated bodies, and lights flicker through the windows of offices or from ceiling lamps, but she is not seeing any Necromorphs.
Fluttershy starts wondering where the Necromorphs are, but before she can make any theories, a door opening brings her to skid to a halt, and when heavy footsteps echo in the hallway, she ducks around a corner, waits, and listens.
Clip-Clop-Clip-Clop-Clip-Clop .
Fluttershy sucks in air. She knows those steps. The tempo, the weight, all of it is similar to the mare that murdered her father.
Clip-Clop-Clip-Clop-Clip-Clop .
The heavy clip-clops get closer and closer, and Fluttershy trembles as sweat slides down her face. Her lungs are no longer moving. She must stay quiet.
Clip-Clop-Clip-Clop-Clip-Clop .
They are only a few feet away from her now. Fluttershy’s heartbeats thump in her ears and she covers her mouth with her hoof.
Clip-Clop-Clip-Clop-Clip-Clop .
Her teeth sink into her sleeve and her nostrils flare from the lack of air. Her vision becomes cloudy with tears.
Clip-Clop-Clip-Clop-Clip-Clop .
The steps start to fade, and Fluttershy releases her bite on her hoof and takes a slow, shaky inhale of air. Then she crawls towards the corner and pokes her head around the bend.
Marching down the hallway is the Section 0 Agent. They are walking with a purpose, a mission of extermination. The Agent suddenly stops near a door at the end of the hallway, and Fluttershy ducks back to cover, covering her mouth again, and she waits…
Silence…
Trembles shake Fluttershy’s body, and she gradually peeks around the corner just in time to see the door shut with the Agent no longer in sight.
Fluttershy watches the door for a few more seconds before she gets up and gallops down the hallway, stepping on papers and tablets as she goes. She passes more locked doors and windows, some cracked and covered in blood, others with curtains drawn, and some doors have been forced open.
As Fluttershy gallops, glass shatters next to her, and she is slammed into another window, cracking it with her weight. Claws dig into her shoulders, easily tearing past the fabric of the medical patient jumpsuit and staining it with fresh blood.
The Necromorph that has her pinned to the window has large bat ears, bulging eyes with red veins snaking through it, and pulsing yellow bags have grown on its throat while its ribs and skin have peeled off and fused to make larger wings. It is keeping Fluttershy trapped with its front hooves, which have split apart at the base to make claws, and when it roars, Fluttershy headbutts it. It jerks back with broken teeth, and she shoves it away, tearing her skin as the claws come loose.
The sharp, burning pain brings Fluttershy to tears, but she bites her tongue and gallops away. The Infector screeches and gives chase, and Fluttershy keeps running, ignoring the pain. As she runs, more roars and screams echo down the hallway.
Out of the corner of her eye, Fluttershy sees a group of three Slashers running down a hallway, towards her, and she doesn’t need to look behind her to know the Infector is close. She can hear its wings flapping.
Fluttershy leaps over a tipped over gurney, slips on a pool of blood and falls in a heap. Panic consumes her as she tries getting up, and she shrieks when the Infector lands on her back, pushing her into the floor.
Her breathing becomes heavy and shaky, and she twists to be on her back right as the Infector lunges at her. She extends her hoof to its neck, preventing it from completing its bite, and she aims her module at an IV stand. Her hoof and the stand glow in a blue aura, and she launches the IV stand at the Infector. It rips through the Necromorph's side and impales it into the wall with a shattered rib cage and broken bones and fleshy bits splattered on the floor.
With the Infector out of the way, Fluttershy crawls backwards, wheezing and shaking from her heart’s erratic thumping, but she cannot rest. The group of Slashers charge around the corner, roaring and swinging their scythe limbs in the air.
Fluttershy quickly launches the gurney at them, shattering the first one’s ribs and upper legs while the second one has one of its legs broken off by the attack. The third one is still intact and lunges at Fluttershy. By that point she is already standing up, and she ducks underneath the Slasher’s swing and pivots to avoid another slash. Then she gallops down the hallway, not looking back, only listening to the rapid steps and ragged breathing of the Slasher.
Dead ahead, Fluttershy sees a bright light shining past a door that has been broken open, and above it is “Social Center/Medical Wing Transit Hub”. The light is red and yellow warning signs flank it, but Fluttershy runs faster anyway. Warning signs be damned.
She can see the shadows of the claws reaching out to her now.
She must go faster. Must ignore the growing pain.
Fluttershy grits her teeth in response to the pain in her limbs and lungs, and when she passes the doorway, she slides to the left, letting the Slasher run past her. She follows up with using her Artificial Telekinesis to levitate a bench and smash the Slasher into a pillar with a message board. Whatever message was on display disappears in a splatter of gore and sparks, and a flash of fire cooks the Necromorph and the mangled bench it was squished with.
Fluttershy wheezes and looks down the opening where she came from, sees nothing, and backs up on shaky legs that eventually bring her to collapse on her haunches. She presses her hoof against her heart and swallows as she looks around the area.
Food stalls have been left open, with blood coating the broken glass and ingredients, food burning in oil or on grills, and colorful icons flickering or completely destroyed. Around her, evacuation messages are displayed on televisions, tables and chairs are turned over or smashed, and walls displaying public safety messages or photos of missing residents are covered in pockets of blood and bullet holes.
Fluttershy takes a deep breath, pops a pill in her mouth, and forces herself to go forward. Her legs are heavy, her throat feels like it is ready to tear, and the cramp on her side is not helping either.
At the edge of the food court is a line of observation windows riddled with bullet holes, cracks, and blood. At happier times, the windows would have shown a beautiful metropolis in space, but now all there is, is the growing inferno and swarm of Necromorphs consuming the various walkways and towers inside the dome.
Fluttershy looks away from the observation window and continues down the food court, only to stop and duck for cover when she hears some glass shatter. The cover is not great, either. It is only an elevated garden with shrubs inside it, and there are more like the garden around the court in equal increments.
Small gardens aside, Fluttershy lays low to the ground and scans the area, which her low view is obstructed by the furniture, but what she does see is a Necromorph with black scales on its back, chest, and limbs, with a two pronged horn on its head, which has a thick shell covering it. Both the scales and horn are lined with glowing red cracks, and its muzzle has split into four mandibles with jagged teeth. Its eyes glow red, and its hooves have torn into halves, creating eight thin limbs with flesh tightly wrapped around them and thin sharp claws on the bottom.
Fluttershy bites her hoof, watching with sweat trailing down her face, and the Spider tilts its head up and releases a series of fast clicks. Then it screeches and darts toward a pillar, leaps up on it, and climbs its way up to the ceiling. There, it rips out a vent cover and crawls inside.
Fluttershy follows the sound with her eyes as the vent rattles. The noise travels across the room and goes past a door labeled “TRANSIT HUB”. Said door is also marked with a red locked symbol.
Fluttershy gulps, gets up on shaky hooves and cautiously walks across the hallway, trying to keep her breathing steady.
Next to her, the smoke from the growing fires in the kitchens flow out, and where the glass shattered, Fluttershy can see a hole melted into a door with its red lights flickering, and a body inside a blood soaked supply closet with their flesh shredded from their bones and their torn guts spilled on the floor.
Fluttershy looks away, whimpering and shaking. Then she hears a loud thump from outside. Then another… and another.
She looks out the window and despite the rising smoke obscuring some of her vision, she can still see large cracks appearing on the dome, and swirling around it are tiny crafts leaving blue exhaust trails.
The crafts swirl around and fire off another salvo of explosives.
And the dome shatters.
Immediately, the smoke and air are sucked out with a deafening shrieking and howling. Necromorphs and loose debris are sucked straight up into the void. The food court observation window shatters, and Fluttershy is yanked off her hooves. She bounces and rolls across the floor, ears hurting from the splitting pain in her ear caused by the alarms and rushing wind, and her body getting assaulted by tumbling furniture while the swirling red lights discombobulate her.
The flashing lights, the mix of alarm and wind, and the air getting sucked out of her lungs turn Fluttershy’s brain to mush, and her hooves claw uselessly at the tiled floor she is being dragged across. Then she hits a railing and despite the sharp pain in her side she still latches on to it, gritting her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut as she is pulled towards the gaping hole.
Then, one by one… BANG! BANG! BANG!
Strips of metal slide down from the ceiling, each covering the length of a panel. Once the last panel is covered, the suction stops, Fluttershy drops to the ground, wheezing and coughing, and everything is plunged into darkness with only pockets of red lights for visual assistance.
The air is thin, and Fluttershy’s eyes dart around, chest heavy and breathing rocky, and her communicator flickers on, revealing Posey’s face.
“Fluttershy, can you hear me!?” says Posey.
A series of clicks and hums echo in the court, followed by multiple hisses and cold air rushing in. The cold air is welcoming, and Fluttershy gulps as much of it as she can as the atmosphere gradually returns to normal.
“I can hear you, mom,” says Fluttershy hoarsely. She coughs and winces as she pulls herself up with help from the railing. “Something happened…”
“The Station Security Service just destroyed the dome for the Medical Wing! I saw it all.” Posey shakes her head, sniffling. “They… They’re trying to stop the Harvesters and our scanners are saying they will used controlled demolition to disconnect the Medical Wing as a next phase!”
“Has the infection spread to the other wings?” asks Fluttershy.
"They have, and they're evacuating all essential officials and citizens."
Fluttershy knows exactly what they mean by that, and Posey sniffles again, blinking tears out of her eyes.
“The Medical Wing is using an emergency supply of oxygen, but it won’t last long. You need to get out of there and get to the Citadel before it is too late,” says Posey.
Fluttershy nods. “I will. I promise.”
“I can’t lose you, too. Please hurry.”
Fluttershy nods again, and Posey’s image suddenly flickers away, leaving Fluttershy in the dim room and an automated announcement for company. There are also blue lights being projected on the floor from the ceiling that create a thin line leading to the Transit Hub entrance.
“WARNING: Oxygen supply low. Please keep breathing controlled and follow the guide to your evacuation point.”
The message repeats, and Fluttershy stares at the Transit Hub entrance, jaw set and breathing heavy. The message repeats again, and she marches forward.
Author's Note
🎶She fell in to a burning ring of fire She went down, down, down And the flames went higher And it burns, burns, burns The ring of fire The ring of fire🎶
“WARNING: Oxygen supply low. Please keep breathing controlled and follow the guide to your evacuation point.”
Fluttershy stares at the Transit Hub door, shaking with the red and blue lights shining on her from in front and above her. She sits down, brings her hoof band up, and activates it map. With the dome destroyed that means she will need a space suit to get to the Residential Wing, and the space suits are held in maintenance rooms, so…
Fluttershy’s eyes zip left to right and up and down on the map, and her hoof shifts the projection until she finds a few maintenance rooms. One is by the Transit Hub, which is outside in the void of death; the other is behind her, past where she was locked up for an unknown amount of time; and the last one is at the South end of the ICU.
Fluttershy’s eyes go dim as stares at the maintenance room icon (a crossing wrench and screwdriver). Her hoof drops and she stares at the door in front of her, stiff and unblinking.
The ICU… Of all the places, the ICU…
The ICU is behind her, through the hallway where she was almost killed by those Necromorphs, and now she must go back with only medicine, an Artificial Telekinesis Module, and a pistol with no ammo.
‘Great.’
Fluttershy looks at her map again, takes a deep breath, and marks the maintenance room. After that, she trots towards the broken door leading to the hallway she left minutes earlier.
Red emergency lights are swirling with the occasional flash of blue guiding lights leading to the Transit Hub. The combination of flickering blue and swirling red splashes the walls and floor with distorted shadows, and with these lights, Fluttershy can see her handiwork down the hallway. The Infector is still impaled in the wall, the gurney is still mangled, and the Slasher is still a mess of broken bones and torn flesh. However, the injured Slasher is no longer there.
Fluttershy rubs her heart for a moment, and then proceeds forward. As soon as she enters the hallway, a hiss makes her jump, but a quick look is all she needs to see that it was just oxygen being pumped into the hallway. She shudders and walks forward, straining herself to keep her breathing easy, and as she walks, the flashing and swirling lights briefly reveal hieroglyphs on the wall that fade as quickly as they appear.
“Ooh, dark hallways. These are familiar,” says Zephyr over the radio. “Reminds me of when we played hide and seek with the Unitologists. Do you remember? Or are you pretending not to? That would be typical of you to pretend nothing’s wrong.”
Fluttershy growls and shuts off her communicator again. She then creeps forward, stopping when she is by the dead Necromorphs, and she looks at her map again. After figuring out what her next steps are, she takes a left and hurries down the hallway, keeping mind of the blood trail leading to a broken vent covering by the wall. She stops by the vent and watches it for a few seconds, straining her eyes and ears for any clues of something lurking in the dark.
Seconds of silence later, she moves forward. Glass crunch under her hooves, and dim lights shine on torn corpses, and on the wall are arrows pointing to various locations, from nursery to low priority medical care, and dental to cosmetic, and last the ICU. Fortunately, the arrow for the ICU is pointing the same direction she was going, so she just needs to keep going straight.
As Fluttershy travels, she comes across a dead security officer in the middle of the hallway. The officer is a griffin with their gizzard torn open and one of their arms cut off. Their rifle has been cut in half, but they still have a pistol, and after a quick search, she finds ammo in his saddle. So, she takes all the ammo, reloads her pistol, and keeps going forward. However, she comes to a sudden stop and she slides to a stop and aims her pistol up when a terrified shriek echoes from the vent above. The vent rattles, the screaming continues and there is a roar with a set of hard and fast thumps shaking the vent and going after the source of the scream. Then there is a wet slash and a bloody scythe claw rips through the vent. The claw pulls back and scraping travels above Fluttershy’s head as blood drips down from the whole.
Fluttershy gulps and presses herself against the wall, traveling slowly down the dark hallway, which is pocked by red swirling lights. She keeps her pistol trained ahead, stopping when the wall ahead is illuminated by bright flashes and the blasts of rapid gunfire echo in the halls.
Soldiers scream, some in fear, others in pain, others in rage, and a loud roar shakes the walls, followed by thumps, metal bending and breaking and electric discharges.
As the chaos goes, Fluttershy snakes her way through destroyed gurneys, broken glass and carts, bullet casings, and supply crates. Sparks pop out of exposed wires, and light flickers behind posters covered in blood while yellow emergency messages scroll across black screens.
“Retreat! Retreat!” shouts a soldier.
Fluttershy rushes towards a destroyed gurney and lays low to the floor while poking her out. The gunfire continues and three griffins in security armor fly past her, leaving only one left. She can’t see the remaining soldier, but she can hear the gunfire and his cursing. All that ends with a thud, and what follows is a heavy silence.
Fluttershy bites her tongue and keeps watching the hallway.
A growl rumbles, and scraping and heavy thumps shake the walls again, which also brings the lights to flicker.
“Help me,” calls a computerized voice. “Somepony, please help me.”
Fluttershy’s ears perk. The voice is close -very close- and it is following the steps of whatever is down the hallway.
“Help me. Somepony, please help me.”
A large shadow stretches on the wall, and Fluttershy’s heart races, her muscles tighten, and her throat clogs as the shadow grows. The swirling red lights at the end are soon covered by a hellish beast whose features are obscured by the dark. The lights barely luminate its flesh before they pop from its sharp spines rubbing against them. In the darkness, all Fluttershy can see from her position is a computer terminal in its arm, flashing green text messages, and bits of metal reflecting the green light.
“Help me,” flashes the messages on the screen, and the voice from the computer’s microphone. “Somepony, please help me.”
The beast keeps going, unaware of Fluttershy’s presence, and in the dark, she sees the silhouette of its large tail and hind legs for just a quick moment before it is entirely gone from sight.
Fluttershy waits a few more seconds, and then bolts down the hallway. Counting the intersections as she goes.
First right.
Second right.
And third!
Fluttershy skids to a halt, grips the wall for support as she catches her breath. She looks left, then right, then behind her, and seeing nothing, she takes the right and slides to the next intersection on the left. There, she pokes her head out again, quickly pulling back when she sees a Slasher hooking its claws in the ceiling and pulling itself in the vent and leaving a dead doctor on the flooor.
Fluttershy swallows and stays still, keeping her ears perked as she listens for the familiar rattle.
Nothing.
She gallops forward, and skids to a stop a few seconds later when she sees a sign saying “OPERATIONS OBSERVATION”. An idea lights up in Fluttershy’s brain, and she approaches the locked door the sign is above. Said door is easy to get past since Lyra’s band unlocks it with the same welcoming message as before being broadcasted. The voice carries down the hallway, as does the sounds of the metal door sliding and banging, and Fluttershy ducks inside and quickly closes and locks the door. She then presses her ear against the door, heart racing and breathing unsteady. She can’t hear anything, besides the humming behind her, and she carefully back away a few seconds later and turns around.
The room is circular, dimly lit with circles of light being reflected off the tile, a glass dome covers an opening in the center, and off to the side is another locked door. Fluttershy quietly approaches the observation dome, passing spilled papers and coffee. The dome is surrounded by chairs with computers, and above the dome is a ring of cameras.
Fluttershy goes to the nearest chair and squints her eyes on the live video feed, seeing an operations bed, soaked in blood with deep slashes in the mattress, and the floor is also soaked in blood with more sprayed on the wall. Vital monitors lay on their sides, broken with flickering data, and above the mattress are four c-shaped devices with lenses that look like magnifying glasses on their edges, each connected to a different mechanical arm that has its own circular rail. Lastly, there is an orb shrouded by a ghostly blue aura above the mattress.
Fluttershy moves her camera, noticing it rotating on a separate ring from the rest, and its zoom and focus rings expand and twist to adjust for best footage. She sweeps the room with the camera, not seeing any bodies, but she does see the carpet of glass and the dark hallway on the other side. She looks over her shoulder quickly, and goes back to looking at the camera feed, now focusing on the equipment. She can see emergency battery pack slots on the surgery cutters, and a space to easily disconnect them for maintenance purposes (that brings back memories), and as for the glowing orb, it looks like Stasis energy to her. So, she puts her focus on the orb and sees that it is inside a small tube, which is also connected to a set of wires and a tube that lead to a Stasis refill station off to the side.
Fluttershy pulls back, looks at the band on her hoof, then at the dome, then at her pistol, then at the dome again, and finally she jumps up and trots towards the door. It unlocks like it is supposed to, revealing a dark stairwell bathed in dim red lights and little emergency lights on the steps. She goes carefully goes forward with the pistol in her mouth, and her eyes and ears scanning the area.
Clip… Clop… Clip… Clop… Goes Fluttershy’s steps.
Down she goes, further and further. Each step is careful and quiet, and only her heavy breathing is making noise. She reaches the bottom of the stairs, also locked, and when she unlocks it, she finds herself staring at a clean operations chamber. No blood, no glass, only a chair with an opening for the neck, a stinger styled robotic arm with a syringe filled with black liquid, and a featureless shadow figure standing next to the bed.
The shadow figure holds its hoof out to the bed and looks at Fluttershy.
“Come, Fluttershy,” says the figure.
Fluttershy backs up, but her rump bumps into a solid mass, and she turns around to see the door is locked, decorative with elegant curves, and marked with a double helix in its center. Her eyes widen and she looks back at the figure; their hoof is now extended to her, and her heart races as pain eats away at her veins and heavy beating heart with a sharp tingle in her spine.
“Do not be afraid,” says the figure.
Then comes a high-pitched shriek, and Fluttershy’s vision snaps to normal just in time to see a Slasher in a torn doctor’s uniform swinging at her. Fluttershy ducks underneath the swing and unloads a few shots into the Slasher’s leg, popping out squirts of blood and strings of muscle. The gun blasts ring in the chamber, and the Slasher buckles as more scream from outside, and Fluttershy follows up with ramming her current target into the wall and beating it down as its limbs flail.
Rust colored blood splashes on Fluttershy’s limbs and chest, and one of the Slasher’s limbs pop off. Glass breaks, and Fluttershy turns around and sees three more Slashers in ripped up doctor uniforms running towards her with another window broken.
Fluttershy uses her Artificial Telekinesis to throw a cart at one, and she unloads her pistol on the closest one. The cart slams the first Slasher into a window, cracking it and splashing it with blood. The second one buckles from the pistol shots, but keeps going towards her, forcing her to dive out of the way and scramble from the third one as it swings at her. Sparks fly, screams echo, and with the floor slick with blood, Fluttershy falls, covering her uniform in a new layer of sticky crimson.
The nearest Slasher jumps towards Fluttershy, and she kicks it back, bringing it to stumble and fall over the gurney, and the second one charges her, swinging its scythes wildly. The large claws scrape against the floor and force Fluttershy to backpedal. As she does, she levitates a severed claw from one of Slashers and launches it her attacker. The claw spins like a boomerang and slices off her attacker’s claw and head, bringing it to stumble around as blood sprays over its body and floor. The last Slasher whacks the gurney aside, hitting its crippled partner, and it rushes Fluttershy.
She punches it.
Bones and teeth pop out from its mangled muzzle, and it swings in a frenzy, which is brought to an end when Fluttershy shoots out its legs with what’s left of her pistol ammo and stomps on it until it stops moving. Then she finishes off the headless Slasher by also stomping it to hell. When all is said and done, Fluttershy is panting and dripping with sweat and foreign blood.
There is only silence now.
Fluttershy looks around, swallowing and rubbing her chest, and when she sees nothing else coming to kill her, she extends her wings, wincing as the tight muscles and sore bones work together in making her miserable. She gives her wings a few moments of slow, graceful flaps that don’t bring her in the air, but get her blood flowing. She follows up with a shorter moment of slow, hard flaps. Again, there is no lift off, but she can feel a little bit of the tension fading away. However, flying is still out of the question, so she pulls the bloody gurney towards the cutter’s arm, stands on it, and gets to work.
There is a conveniently placed red switch at the tip, where the cutter and arm meet. After Fluttershy disconnects the cutter, she aims its at a dead Slasher. The magnifying lens serves as an odd scope, but it is better than nothing. After that, she checks the battery, finds it is good, and she carefully sets the cutter on the mattress and works on detaching the others. With the others off their arms, she pops them open, takes their batteries… and realizes that her saddle is full.
Fluttershy frowns and looks around the room again.
Nothing close to a satchel or a saddle. But there is medical tape…
Fluttershy trots to the tape, grabs the batteries, and with an awkward combination of hoof and mouth work, she manages to tape the spare batteries to her limbs (using lots and lots of tape). Stupid? Yes. But surgical cutters are designed to cut flesh and bone, and with how fleshy and boney Necromorphs are, she will definitely need as many batteries as she can. Besides, there must be more saddles and satchels laying around this area somewhere!
With the batteries now strapped to Fluttershy’s limbs, she gives her hooves a quick twist and wiggle, finding that the tape is holding quite well… For now. That said, there is still a certain Module high above her. This one is something she will have to fly to, so she grits her teeth, gives her wings a few test flaps, and then flies up.
Each flap is like a burst of fire in her wing’s joints and muscles, and tears pool in her natural eye as she grips the Stasis Module. Blue light shines on her, and the cylinder is cold enough for the icy temperature to seep through her jumpsuit sleeve. Her flesh sticks to the sleeve, and when she disconnects the tube and orb, Stasis mist sprays out with a loud hiss.
Panic rushes in, and Fluttershy before she can fly off, she is covered in Stasis, putting her in free fall, but the descent is slow and cold. Very, very cold. Shivers run through her nerves, and when she hits the ground, it is slow, yet still hard with frost growing on her. The mist flows to the floor like a waterfall scene from Hell and it spreads across the floor as Fluttershy rolls upright. Her muscles feel like cold rocks as she holds the tube close to her chest and runs towards the broken window.
One. Step. At. A. Time.
Cold tears sting her face, her mane clumps together, and her heavy heartbeats thump in her ears and vibrate her ribs and throat.
Closer and closer she gets to the broken window.
Her vision is pulsing. Her heart is beating harder. Her teeth grind and her mechanized eye flickers with flashes of yellow, hieroglyphs and shadows watching her. Both hallucination and reality overlap, making a mess of colors and making her dizzy.
The Stasis has taken over almost the whole floor, and puffs of it are kicked up as each hoof is painfully lifted and moved. The frost crystals grow, bringing the red lights to reflect off Fluttershy. She grabs the window’s opening; broken glass digs into her jumpsuit and darkness bleeds around the edges and the Shadows move closer.
Fluttershy’s heart feels like it is about to burst, and she screams through gritted teeth as she pulls herself over the edge. Then, like a spring being let loose, all the built-up inertia returns and Fluttershy throws herself into the wall. The impact knocks her vision out of focus, and she drops the cylinder; her mouth hangs open as she wheezes for air and she clutches her heart while curling up. Her vision is almost dark now, and her hoof shakes as she fumbles with her medical supplies, but she can’t grab anything, she can’t focus, and her supplies spill all over the floor.
“No, no-no,” wheezes Fluttershy. She turns on her side, grunting and trying to focus on her supplies, but in front of her, she sees Zephyr. His black eyes stare at her, and he walks towards her with rapid steps. Fluttershy grits her teeth and aims her surgical cutter at him. “Not… One… Closer…”
Zephyr keeps walking. “Not one what, sis?”
Fluttershy’s grip waivers. “You’re not… You’re not him… Not real. Not real.”
Zephyr keeps walking and grins. “So you say. Yet, here I am.”
“You’re not. Real!”
Fluttershy pulls the trigger and the surgery cutter’s green beam strikes Zephyr’s chest, making him howl and charge her with wild swings of the scythe claws. Fluttershy shoots the Slasher again and again, tearing off pieces of it at a time. When it finally drops due to its leg breaking off, it crawls towards her with the help of its massive claws and she rapidly shoots it in the head, chest and limbs, leaving it as a lump on the ground pumping blood all over the floor.
Fluttershy keeps her surgical cutter trained on it, and she keeps her mouth shut as her nostrils flare from her heavy breathing. The corpse remains still and Fluttershy’s hoof drops.
“WARNING: Oxygen level dropping. Please report to evacuation site immediately.”
Her vision fades and her head falls on the cold floor.
“WARNING: Oxygen level dropping. Please report to evacuation site immediately.”
Fluttershy’s eyes drift shut, and-
A sharp pain forces them open again, and she finds herself in a room shrouded in a dark mist. There are no walls, no floors, and the ceiling is darkness with pockets of dim light. Fluttershy’s limbs are strapped down to where she cannot move, and they are covered in IVs and sensors, and there are prickles on the back of her skull. In front of her are orange screens with scans of her vitals, bones, muscles, nerves, and brain. Behind the screens is Lyra levitating a pad and typing something on it.
“When you were on the Bon Voyage, did you notice your extreme changes?” asks Lyra. “Emotionally? Physically? Mentally?”
Pain floods back. Every stab, every slash, every fall, every burn. It hits Fluttershy. She saw people die, too. Who died, though? They’re just blobs in her memory, but every one of those adds a hefty weight of guilt on her shoulders.
A saw revs somewhere in the darkness and a mare cackles. She also feels fire on her back and face, eating away at her flesh.
Fluttershy wants to scream and break, but her mouth won’t work, and her limbs are heavy. The machines she is attached to beep and the signatures on the screen flare, but Lyra shows no sign of noticing this.
“Or better yet, did you die momentarily or experience near death while on the Bon Voyage?” asks Lyra.
“Troublemaker~ Troublemaker~” says a distant mare.
“Can you answer me?” asks Lyra.
Fluttershy’s throat and back feel like they are being ripped and burned at once. Tears cloud her vision, and Lyra sighs and approaches her; her head tilted slightly while red light pulses in the dark.
“We only want what is best for you, Patient 54, but we can’t help you unless you help me,” says Lyra. She stops when she is face to face with Fluttershy. “Let me help you. Let me make you whole again.”
Fluttershy jerks awake with a sharp, raspy gasp and immediately a hoof retracts from her hoof band. But the retraction is not quick enough, for Fluttershy is able to grab it and ram whoever it belongs to in the wall while pressing her cutter against their forehead.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I thought you were dead!” cries the pony.
Mare. Young. Probably a teenager judging by the height and build.
“Are you real?” says Fluttershy, her voice hoarse and her hoof pressing against the mare's neck.
“W-What?” stammers the mare.
She has an accent. A familiar one. Still…
“Are you real!?” repeats Fluttershy, pressing her hoof harder and digging the cutter into the mare’s head.
“Yes! Yes! I’m sorry! Please don’t kill me!” sobs the mare.
“Say it!”
“I’m real! Please don’t shoot me!”
Fluttershy’s chest is heaving and she remains locked in place, but eventually her grip loosens, and she backs away. She then collapses against the wall and takes deep gulps of air while keeping her cutter trained on the mystery pony, who is now sitting down across from her, pale and shaking. The oxygen warning is still playing in loops through the speaker, too, as well as emergency lights swirling.
With the lighting, Fluttershy is now able to see more of the young mare and she can safely say that the pony is a teenager. Probably eighteen at the oldest. She has bright gold eyes (currently bloodshot), pale yellow coat and a thick red mane; she is also wearing a red jumpsuit with white plating that trails her ribs and limbs, and there are small boosters on her boots, shoulders and flanks. There’s also a beat-up Stetson and a pink handkerchief tied around her neck. The Stetson seems familiar for reasons that Fluttershy can't peg.
“What’s your name?” asks Fluttershy.
“A-Apple Bloom… I’m an intern for the Sparkle Station Maintenance Department,” replies the mare. “I-I was trying to find a way off this Wing to get to the residential area and-”
Apple Bloom keeps talking, but her voice fades in Fluttershy’s ears. Rather, the ex-medic’s focus is drawn to a hazy memory. A docking bay, blood, fire, rage, the hat, and… “Make things right.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widen. She doesn’t know why, but she needs to protect this mare.
“And that’s when I saw you and I thought you were dead so I started looting you and then your band started beeping and I was trying to see why it was beeping and that’s when you jumped up and tried to kill me!” says Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom falls silent after that, and Fluttershy’s posture softens with a sigh, and she quickly pops a heart pill into her mouth before speaking.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’ve just had a really bad day so far,” says Fluttershy quietly and without looking at Apple Bloom.
Fluttershy then stands up, using the wall for support, and she briefly glances into the operations room and sees the blue Stasis liquid has stopped spraying, but its mist is lingering in the air and some of it is rolling out the window and onto the floor. With that observation out of the way, Fluttershy checks her battery, finds it is good, and proceeds forward.
“We need to get to the Unitology Citadel. There is a ship waiting for me there that will get us to safety,” says Fluttershy.
Apple Bloom has yet to move from her spot, but she cocks her brow while Fluttershy walks ahead.
“Hold on a minute. Did I miss something?” asks Apple Bloom.
Fluttershy stops and looks at her. “What?”
“I tried looting you, you tried shooting me, and now ya want me to travel with ya to the Unitology Citadel to escape on a boat to the mysterious beyond?”
“Yes.”
Apple Bloom scrunches her brow. “Yer also dressed like a psycho patient. How do I know ya ain't some kinda psychopath?”
“Do you want to live or not?”
“Yeah, but…” Apple Bloom groans and stomps her hoof. “I don’t know you, and you’re, well…” She waves towards the blood covering Fluttershy’s jumpsuit. “That!”
“I understand. Good luck on your survival.”
Fluttershy starts walking down the hallway again. This time slowly. With her slow pace she quietly prays that Apple Bloom will follow her, and seconds later there is a groan and metallic thumps in tune of a gallop rapidly approach Fluttershy. Apple Bloom then appears in Fluttershy’s peripheral vision and she has a small scowl aimed at the pegasus.
“Do you really have a ride outta here?” asks Apple Bloom.
Fluttershy nods. “They won’t leave without me, either.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’m important to them, and I’ll refuse to leave without you.”
“Are ya some kinda priest, priestess, leader thingy?”
“…You could say that…”
Apple Bloom rubs her chin, and then she points at Fluttershy with a little spark in her eyes.
“Okay, I’ll follow you to the Citadel, but before we leave the Station, we gotta get my brother and his family and my friends. They’re staying at the Orchard Rise Hotels in the Residential Wing,” says Apple Bloom. “I’ve been trying to contact them, but-”
“Done,” says Fluttershy.
Apple Bloom blinks in surprise. “Oh, that was easy.”
“I’m easy to work with.”
Apple Bloom nods and the two become quiet. Though, after a few seconds of walking in silence Apple Bloom looks at the Stasis tube in Fluttershy’s possession, as well as the batteries taped to her hoof.
“So, uh… you need help carrying any of that or are ya good?”
Author's Note
So, funny story, I meant to publish this chapter a couple of days ago. When I got it pasted on here, I realized that a chunk of the middle was missing. Like, a big chunk. It was the equivalent of ordering a burger at your local Hearty's Junior and not getting the meat. Luckily, I caught my mistake and fixed it before sending it out, unlike certain other people who forgot to put meat on my burger. Like... bro. C'mon.
Anyway, Apple Bloom is totally going to die.
Or will she...?
A few minutes later, the two are quickly walking down the hallway, with Fluttershy in the lead and Apple Bloom carrying the pistol, its ammo, and some bandages and medical foam. This has given Fluttershy enough room to move the batteries in her saddle, which she has insisted on keeping, as well as most of the medical supplies. But, as they walk, Fluttershy occasionally checks the map, looking for the maintenance room. They are getting closer, but she can already feel the effects of low oxygen kicking in. Nothing severe, yet, but it is getting harder to breath, her heart is working harder, and she is feeling a little dizzy.
“What exactly are ya looking for?” asks Apple Bloom, her helmet is now encasing her face, so she is looking at Fluttershy through a three-band visor with green lights, and her voice is projected through a speaker.
“A maintenance room so I can get a space suit and get to the Residential Wing,” replies Fluttershy.
“The one located in the ICU?”
Fluttershy nods.
“Why didn’t ya ask? I know exactly where that is!” says Apple Bloom.
Fluttershy stops and looks straight ahead. Not because she sees something, but the fact that Apple Bloom is right, and she just wasted time.
“I’ll take point,” says Apple Bloom.
She takes a couple of steps forward but stops when Fluttershy holds out her wing.
“Just tell me where to go and I’ll lead,” says Fluttershy.
“Look, I know yer all sorry about almost killing me and all, but ya don’t have to be all compensaten’ ‘bout it. I can take the lead,” says Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom takes another step forward, but once again, Fluttershy stops her. This time by stepping directly in front of her.
“Which way?” asks Fluttershy with more weight in her voice.
Apple Bloom sighs. “There’s a short cut. Go straight. Third left. Follow all the way down. It’ll be right there.”
Fluttershy scrunches her brow and looks at the map, and then at Apple Bloom.
“Are you sure?” asks Fluttershy.
“Lady, I work here,” says Apple Bloom flatly.
“… Right… Straight. Left. Got it.”
Fluttershy walks ahead with Apple Bloom following close behind. They pass more torn corpses, bloodied walls, and broken equipment, and above them the lights flicker while the oxygen warning plays on loop. They keep a quick but quiet pace as they walk but come to a stop when their communicators flash on at the same time with a shield surrounded by stars and a wreath on their displays. A moment later, a griffin with a red beak and dark gray plumage appears.
“Attention, if you are receiving this message, fall back to the Transit Hub!” says the griffin. “The Hub is secured and has oxygen. You must hurry. We cannot hold this for long and will be evacuating soon. Redstone over and out.”
The message ends, and Apple Bloom gasps for joy and prances in circles.
“Did ya hear that? We can make it! The Hub ain’t far from here,” says Apple Bloom.
“We’re not going there,” says Fluttershy.
Apple Bloom’s prancing stops, and she tilts her head before trotting after her partner, watching as Fluttershy walks with a purpose away from the Hub. Seconds later, Apple Bloom trots after her and brings her speed to match Fluttershy’s when she’s next to her.
“But we need to go there We can avoid all this and get outta this Wing quickly,” says Apple Bloom.
“It’s a bad idea,” says Fluttershy.
“How?”
“It just is. Trust me.”
“Ya know, it would be easier for me to trust you if I knew your name and why you’re… well, like this,” says Apple Bloom.
“My name is Fluttershy and even if Redstone was good, the government will stop him one way or the other. It will be a bloodbath. Also, they killed my dad.”
“But… But they wouldn’t do that! They’re trying to save us!”
“You knew?”
The voice is familiar and faint, and that coupled with Apple Bloom’s claim as well as the disregard for her father being murdered brings out a flare of rage inside Fluttershy. She snaps to the young mare and jabs her hoof at her nose.
“They don’t care about you!” yells Fluttershy.
Apple Bloom has pressed her rump against the wall and shrunk down, and Fluttershy quickly retracts and looks away with shame weighing her down.
“I’m sorry, but… But they don’t,” says Fluttershy. “They never did… Let’s keep going. We can sneak around them and get to your family without them interfering.”
Apple Bloom remains hunkered down, and Fluttershy walks ahead in silence; a moment later, Apple Bloom quietly follows her. However, as they walk, Fluttershy finds it unnerving how little of the Necromorphs she is seeing. Sure, there have been a few, and then there was the big one, but where are the rest? And why is it that she can remember the Necromorphs and Zephyr, but nothing else besides them and bits and pieces of a ship? What was the name of the ship, anyway?
Questions, questions, questions…
A sudden distant whirl and thud catches Fluttershy’s attention, and she stops and turns around, seeing that Apple Bloom is also looking for the source. Heavy steps bounce off the wall, and Fluttershy activates her cutter, which brings Apple Bloom to raise her pistol with her hoof. The steps come closer and they keep their weapons trained down the hallway.
Then the Agent comes around the corner.
Fluttershy’s eyes widen and her colors pale as she takes a couple of steps back.
“Oh, no,” says Fluttershy.
“Who is that?” asks Apple Bloom.
Fluttershy backs up again. “Run.”
Apple Bloom backs up and Fluttershy shoots her surgery cutter at the Agent, who is now cocking their saddle rifle and completely unfazed by the shots.
“RUN!” cries Fluttershy.
Apple Bloom gallops past and continues down the hallway while Fluttershy shoots a few more cutter beams at the Agent, but the beams break harmlessly against their armor. The Agent returns fire, and Fluttershy ducks into the next hallway with an observation window damaged by bullet holes. Fluttershy quickly turns around and walks backwards as she aims her cutter at the hallway entrance with a racing heart. The heavy steps rapidly approach, and when the Agent rounds the corner, Fluttershy unloads a barrage of cutter beams.
Again, the beams do nothing, and the Agent quickly gains on Fluttershy. She tries backing up again, but the Agent quickly catches her and punches her on the side of the head, knocking her against the glass with a stream of blood pouring down her cheek. The punch knocks Fluttershy’s vision out of focus, and the Agent grabs her and slams her against the observation window. It cracks on impact, and Fluttershy releases a yelp of pain. The Agent slams her against the window again and again, each time creating more cracks that multiply as they connect with the bullet holes. Each slam makes the window buckle more, and Fluttershy grabs the Agent’s hoof and she looks at the visors, seeing nothing but her reflection tinted in red. She tries to push back, but the Agent pulls back, causing her to lose her balance, and then Agent whirls around and bucks Fluttershy.
Fluttershy’s back slams against the window, shattering it, and everything spins as she falls to the level below. As quickly as the falling and spinning begins, it ends with an abrupt stop on a table that breaks on impact. Fluttershy rolls off the debris and lays on the floor, twitching, coughing, and spitting blood. She arches her back and grinds her teeth as she tries standing, and she looks in front of her and sees her surgery cutter is not too far from her. She reaches for it and-
A sudden screech snaps Fluttershy’s eyes away from the cutter, and she screams and scrambles away as the Spider drops from the ceiling. It lands not too far from her, and its thin bony feet rapidly tap on the metal floor as it runs towards her. She uses her Artificial Telekinesis Module to levitate and throw a table at it, which knocks it off balance. Using this moment, Fluttershy dives towards her cutter and brings it bear as the Spider rushes her, its body engulfed in blue flame and its eyes bright white.
Fluttershy shoots it a few times, making it stagger, but appearing to do nothing significant against its shell. The Spider shrieks and ejects a ring of fire, blowing Fluttershy back and engulfing her in flame.
The room flashes to a hallway with an elevator at the end, and in front of the elevator is a brown earth pony stallion with a green mane wearing a miner’s outfit underneath a white robe. He is carrying a flame thrower and marching towards her with the walls vibrating and splitting into darkness the closer he gets to her.
“Die with me. Make us whole,” says the stallion.
He shoots a stream of fire towards Fluttershy, and she shrieks, backpedals, and shoots a barrage of cutter lasers at him. The stallion breaks apart, along with what remains of the hallway, and the Spider roars and leaps to the wall with one of its legs on the floor. It races along the wall and Fluttershy shoots at it, cursing under her breath as the shots strike the wall.
The Spider leaps off the wall and tackles Fluttershy. The impact on the floor knocks her vision out of balance, but she still holds its head back as its mandibles snap at her. It lifts one of its sharp legs and right as it brings it down to Fluttershy’s head she puts her other front hoof in the way, screaming in pain as the barbed limb pierces her flesh.
Her blood rapidly oozes out of her wound and she pulls her impaled hoof to the side, jerking the Spider off balance and giving her time to punch it in the head. Fire eats away at Fluttershy’s suit and she punches the Spider in the head again when it tries standing up, knocking it off balance again. Then she pushes it to the side, rolling them into switching positions and she keeps punching it in the head, with each punch sending ripples of pain through her hoof and making her scream as blood splashes on her face and uniform. When she is done, it is twitching with a hole in its face and broken teeth, skull, and brain bits all over the place.
Fluttershy then pulls her limb off the Spider’s leg and staggers back, now smoking with black chunks of her uniform falling off and bits of ashy mane and tail breaking away. She trembles as she sprays the medical foam on her wound, and she breathes heavily as her heart thumps in her ears and rocks her chest. She quickly pops a couple of pills and after swallowing, she looks up, eyes wet and red, and her jaw tightens when she sees Zephyr standing in front of a door, his dark void eyes staring at her, and his easygoing smile stretching across his bloody face.
“It’s coming back, slowly but surely. Soon you’ll remember everything and feel everything,” says Zephyr. “But it doesn’t have to be this way, Fluttershy. Stop hurting yourself. End it now before it is too late. Or…” He points towards the door “You can keep compensating. The choice is yours, Little Sis.”
“Zephyr’s dead. Zephyr’s gone,” recites Fluttershy, glaring at the specter.
Zephyr tuts. “You’ve always been good at denial.”
Zephyr then disappears in a flash, and the door is forced open with screeching metal and sparks, allowing a group of four Slashers to rush in. Fluttershy quickly ejects her battery and slips a new one in as the swarm rushes her, and she cuts down the first one by shooting off its front legs and one of its scythe limbs. Then she whacks the closest one in the head, breaking its jaw and sending it staggering, and she shoots the next one in the head, popping it off with a short geyser of blood. The headless slasher swings wildly and Fluttershy gallops away as the others chase her, with two running and the other crawling after her.
After gaining some distance she turns around and fires off a few cutter beams to the closest Slasher, taking off one of its scythe limbs, a front leg, and the top of its head. Then she ducks and dives away from the next one as it swings at her, and she turns on her back and shoots off its front and back leg. It collapses awkwardly and flails its remaining limbs, and she shoots it some more, severing its spine, head, and scythe. After that, she gets up, hastily slips another battery in and shoots the remaining Slashers until they stop moving, leaving her and the floor and walls covered in patches of rust colored blood.
She is breathing heavily and sweeping the area as she gives her wings hard flaps. She blinks blood out of her eyes while her mechanical eye adjusts with a series of clicks and whirs. She swears she can feel it adjusting, which makes her sick, but that said, she sees and hears nothing, so she brings up her communicator. Thanks to the neural chip, it automatically brings up a menu of contacts, which include her mother, Sparkle Station Climate Services, Seer Asama Zaeem, Sparkle Station Citadel Personnel Resources, Orchard Rise Hotels, Pizza Planet, and two dozen other contacts. The list of contacts changes to a short-range scanner that takes a moment to complete, and when it does, a list of names appear: Abigale Redheart, Apple Bloom, Lucky Clover III, a dozen or so other names, and “Classified Military IDs” (around eight of them).
Fluttershy immediately selects Apple Bloom and hurries out the room while the communicator connects. By the time she reaches the broken door, Apple Bloom’s face appears. It is on night vision, so her features are bathed in green and her visor is bright.
“Apple Bloom, can you hear me?” asks Fluttershy.
“I can. Where are you?” asks Apple Bloom.
“Somewhere on a different level. The Agent-”
Apple Bloom’s feed suddenly becomes distorted and begins fuzzing out.
“Apple Bloom!?” calls Fluttershy
“F-ter-y?”
“APPLE BLOOM! If you can-”
Apple Bloom’s image is replaced a padlock icon and “SIGNAL LOCK” in the center of the projection.
“NO!” Fluttershy tries reconnecting, but the padlock icon remains, and she stomps the floor. “Dang it!”
She brings up her map again and sees that she is in the dental section and her original objective is not too far, but with the oxygen levels dropping and her breathing getting heavier, the distance is too far to be comfortable.
“Attention, all security forces are to enforce quarantine of the Medical Wing until outbreak is contained. All civilians inside infection zone are to remain quarantined until further notice. This is non-negotiable. Station Supervisor Article Hallmark out,” says a stern female voice over the intercom.
Fluttershy shakes her head and continues down the hallway. The lighting is dark, save for the flickering bright blue trails leading to evacuation points, and poster of happy teeth and dental care are illuminated by failing lights. Some are covered in blood and others are shattered. Glass and trash are crushed under Fluttershy’s hooves, and her eyes and ears flick as she goes down the hallway.
A screech echoes down the hall, and Fluttershy raises her cutter and cuts down a pair of Slashers in medical jumpsuits that rush out of a room. After they are dead, she peeks inside and sees a knocked over dental operations chair with a pool of blood behind it and a gutted goat.
Fluttershy keeps going, and her ears perk when she hears gunshots and a shriek not too far from her. She gallops towards the noise, which is directly down the hall from her, and she slides to a stop when a Puker and Slasher exit a room with a broken door. She immediately shoots them, and while the Slasher drops first, the Puker rushes her, hoarsely roaring. When she strikes a yellow bag on its chest, it convulses and collapses with acid melting the metal and its body twitching. Fluttershy shoots it a couple more times to be sure it is dead before going to the room they left.
The room she enters makes her jump, for there is a dead pegasus mare laying on the floor with her throat melted open and her lower jaw missing. She is wearing the Medical Corps jumpsuit, but the white base and red bands are stained in a thick layer of blood and damaged from scratches and scorch marks, and her supply pouches appear empty.
Fluttershy looks over her shoulder, sees nothing, and looks back at the corpse. She swallows nervously and cautiously approaches the deceased pegasus, whose tag reads: Snow .
Fluttershy does a quick visual inspection of Snow, quietly apologizing to her when she turns the body. More blood pours out, but she ignores this. When she finishes her inspection, she finds that the suit is still in decent condition, considering the situation, and that there are a few cans of medical foam left in her pouch, and on her hoof is an audio band, plus a radio.
Seeing this, Fluttershy quickly drags the body away from the doorway, slips the audio disk in her band, and listens to the recording while she gently removes the Medical Corps suit.
The first seconds are of heavy breathing and running and Supervisor Hallmark’s message playing in the background, followed by the door opening and closing.
“This is Private Winter Snow! Can anypony hear me?” cries Winter.
“Private Snow? This is Sergeant Redstone, where are you?” says Redstone on the other end.
“I-I don’t know… Medical Wing. Dental. These things are everywhere! My team is dead! All the civilians are dead! I need evac!”
“We can’t give you evac. We’re losing ground and fast. You need to get to the Medical Wing Transit Hub. That is where we are regrouping for evac. I repeat, regroup at Medical Wing Transit Hub for evac!”
“That’s on the other side of the Wing! I can’t get there!” weeps Winter. “Please! You have to send help!”
“We can’t send anybody! These things are spreading too fast to contain and the brass is getting desperate. You need to get out. Now!”
Metal suddenly bends and snaps, but even though it is in the audio log, Fluttershy still jumps and aims her cutter at the broken door. As she aims her pistol at the doorway, heavy footsteps approach, and Winter’s weeping turns to shaky gasps of air and whimpers.
“Please… Please, no,” begs Winter.
A raspy growl rumbles in Fluttershy’s ears.
“No! Stay back!”
Gunshots ring out, the growl turns into an airy shriek, and then the audio ends. Fluttershy keeps her eyes on the door, shivering with tears trailing down her cheek. Seconds tick by, and Fluttershy reluctantly looks away from the door and resumes her work.
Minutes later, she exits the room, wearing the Medical Corps suit with all her gathered supplies in the pouches, her communicator on her shoulder, and her cutter now on a small platform attached to her saddle. The suit’s bands have tightened on her limbs, the saddle’s trigger is just below her mouth, and she flexes her wings while her hoof holds the helmet. Seeing her wings move without pain brings a sense of satisfaction to her, and she is glad that she has something other than a psycho ward patient jumpsuit for protection, but is loathing that it had to come at the cost of Winter Snow’s life.
But she has a mission to do. Mourning will come later.
Fluttershy takes a deep breath and activates her helmet. The helmet rises to cup the back of her head, and strips quickly move into place to cover her face. The interior lights of the helmet flash on with her vitals appearing at the bottom and small beams of light from her three-band visor shines on the exterior, therefore giving her light in the dim hallway. The suit even warns her of low oxygen and readies the medical foam in the slots.
Fluttershy swallows, checks her map, and the cutter, which is now on the weapon’s arm of the saddle. The gears whir and click as a fresh battery slides in, and once the pleasant ding rings in her ears, she starts moving further into Hell.
Author's Note
🎶Agent B's gon give it to ya!🎶
“Fluttershy... It's me... I know we don't talk much, but I don't know who else to talk to. I don't know how I'm supposed to... It's just all wrong. All of it. It wasn't supposed to be this way and now... Now I don't know what else to do.”
Zephyr’s audio ends abruptly, and a light aquamarine colored unicorn mare with a straight light cyan and white mane pushes a button on her side of the table. This causes the holographic display of the audio and Zephyr’s photo to flicker away.
“Is that what started it?” asks the mare, Lyra, wearing a white jumpsuit with blue cuffs and bands tracing her limbs. “Is that why you went to the Bon Voyage?”
Across from her is Fluttershy; her hoofs are cuffed to the table and her wings are bound to her sides from straps on a padded white jumpsuit. Her eyes are weighed down with thick black bags, but only one is her normal blue eye while her other one is a blue lens. Remnants of her burns have left faint cracks around the robotic eye, up to her ear and down her neck, plus there are faded stitching scars across her throat. And her long pink mane and tail have been cut, with the mane barely reaching her shoulders and her tail a stub.
“It was,” says Fluttershy quietly.
“And it was there where your team died and you discovered something on the ship, correct?” says Lyra.
“Yes,” says Fluttershy.
“What did you find?”
Fluttershy silently glares at Lyra.
“What was there?” asks Lyra. “What did you find on the Bon Voyage?”
“The Marker,” says Fluttershy. “You knew what it was, what it did, and you knew Zephyr was already dead. You sent us there to die.”
“No, we didn’t,” says Lyra. “What happened on Onyx and the Bon Voyage was a catastrophe, no one is denying that, but we are not to blame.”
Fluttershy’s nostrils flare and her throat tightens as tears roll down her cheek, but something in the corner catches her attention, so she looks past Lyra. Zephyr is standing in the back of the room, head limp and colors gray with black pools for eyes. The air around him has become dark, and the darkness spreads with red mist and hieroglyphs of the Marker appearing on the walls.
“Fluttershy, were you ever in direct contact with the Marker?” says Lyra.
Zephyr walks forward, and Fluttershy locks her eyes on him while the darkness surrounds Lyra with the red mist wrapping around her limbs and seeping into her ears.
“Yes,” says Fluttershy, her voice quivering.
“What did you see?” asks Lyra. “What did the Marker tell you?”
Fluttershy is silent, and Lyra sighs.
“Look, we only want what is best for you, but we can’t help you if you don’t talk to us,” says Lyra.
Zephyr climbs on the table and sits in front of Fluttershy, blocking her view of Lyra as he leans closer to her.
“You never answered my calls,” says Zephyr.
Zephyr extends his hoof to Fluttershy, and she grits her teeth and leans back in her chair, her chains rattling as she trembles.
“Fluttershy?” calls Lyra.
“You abandoned me when I needed you,” says Zephyr.
“Fluttershy!?”
Tears streak down Fluttershy’s cheek, her breathing has become labored, and her eye burns while her mechanical lens ticks, and Zephyr leans closer, his hoof still outstretched.
“We’re broken because of you. Fix us. Make us whole,” says Zephyr.
“Fluttershy!” yells Lyra.
There is a bright flash of light, and Fluttershy blinks quickly. After the first few blinks, a wave of nausea rushes over her, rapidly making her groggy. Her eyelid twitches as the robotic lens for her augmented eye adjusts to the light, and her head feels loose, her brain feels like it is detached from the rest of her body and her mouth is dry.
“Fluttershy? Fluttershy, can you hear me?” asks a stallion with a soft voice, his features obscured by a flashlight on his shoulder.
The room is a blur, and the light shining in her face is only bringing pain to her, so she lifts her hoof up to shield her eyes. With her hoof blocking the light, Fluttershy can see some padded walls with hieroglyphs and double helixes drawn on them with various colors (mostly red). There is also a red swirling light outside her door, as well as a ringing alarm and an announcement she cannot understand.
The flashlight in front of Fluttershy turns off, and she blinks the colorful floating blobs away, which also focuses her vision. Once her vision is focused, Fluttershy sees an old, heavyset stallion with turquoise eyes, a thick light gray mane, tail and mustache, and a pale green coat. He is wearing a black jumpsuit with green double helixes woven into the sleeves, and green collar and cuffs, as well as a battle saddle, and when he smiles and puts his hooves on Fluttershy’s shoulders, her muscles lock and her eyes widen.
“Dad?” stammers Fluttershy hoarsely. “Are you real?”
The stallion, Weather Breeze, nods, his eyes shimmering from tears.
“Yes, I am real, and I’m here to rescue you,” says Weather. He gently pulls Fluttershy up and does a quick inspection of her, his face becoming more distraught as he realizes how thin her frame is and the number of injection marks along her skull and neck. “By the Marker, what have they done to you?”
Suddenly, a griffin moves into view, brandishing a rifle saddle and covered in armor decorated with helixes and hieroglyphs. Fluttershy immediately tries moving back, but she is held in place by Weather.
“No, no, it’s okay, they are here to help us,” says Weather.
“We really need to get out of here,” says the griffin. “The Harvesters are breaking through everything. If we don’t leave now-”
“I know,” says Weather shakily. He gently pulls Fluttershy out of the room, being mindful of her wobbly steps. “Fluttershy, sweetie, we are going to get you out of here, but you need to follow our instructions, okay?”
“What’s going on?” asks Fluttershy.
Her heart races and her eyes snap past her father’s shoulder to look at other armored escorts, each with Unitology markings on their suits and scanning the area with the lights on their weapons. As the lights sweep over the walls and doors, Fluttershy sees more hieroglyphs, double helixes, and other forms of graffiti painted on the walls and glass doors of cells where patients are muttering, pacing, or cackling. The nearby door is locked with a red emergency sign projected above it, and it is being welded shut by a pair of unicorns. Seeing this, Fluttershy shakes her head and tries stepping back, despite Weather keeping his hooves on her shoulders.
“No… Not again. Not again! I can’t do this again!” cries Fluttershy.
The door thumps and muffled shrieks on the other side make the unicorns jump back, and the griffin aims his rifle at the doorway.
“Weather, we need to go!” barks the griffin.
Weather presses his hoof against Fluttershy’s neck, and after a quick poke from a syringe, energy floods through Fluttershy’s veins, bringing her to gasp and tremble with her heart feeling heavy. The patients are now screaming and banging on their cells, and there is muffled banging that brings the unicorns to swear and gallop away from the locked door.
“Fluttershy, stay with me,” says Weather, cupping the back of her heard and bringing it so their heads are touching while pulling her further into the hallway. “You’ll be fine if you stay with me.”
“But what about them?” asks Fluttershy, glancing at the patients.
“There’s nothing we can do for them. All that matters, is you.”
A pair of blood-soaked scythes suddenly puncture the locked door, and the door bends open with sparks popping out and the emergency message flickering away.
“Harvesters!” screams one of the unicorns.
The escorts shoot into the doorway, bringing the creature to reel back with sprays of rust colored blood splashing out, and more high pitched shrieks come from the darkness of the hallway.
“Get the Oracle out of here!” barks the griffin.
Weather shoves Fluttershy forward and the two gallop away while three sets of gunshots and screams echo in the hallway. The pair gallop past more glass doors, showing more patients inside howling, screaming, banging, and laughing while the gunfire disappears and glass shatters behind them. With each glass breaking, the hellish screams get louder, and over the chaos, a voice speaks through the intercom.
“This is Pinnacle. Black Hole Protocol is in effect. Execute with extreme prejudice,” says a stallion.
The two pegasi round a corner and continue running down the hallway, passing more glass cells with patients trapped inside, and the lights above flash off one by one. Each light turning off creates a patch of darkness with only flashing small red lights to break it. The pockets of dark and light make the sharp shadows of the Necromorphs flicker in and out of view, each time getting larger and their screams getting louder while they break the glass and silence the patients.
The pair take another turn, go through a door, and Weather quickly locks it, and resumes galloping with Fluttershy next to him. He takes her to an elevator, hits the button and quickly turns to aim his rifle down the hallway while the elevator ponders on whether it wants to show up or not. While they wait, Fluttershy cannot help but be impressed with what she has seen of her father. What she has seen is a far cry from what she remembers him as. But that aside, a thought nags Fluttershy.
“How did this happen?” asks Fluttershy.
The elevator opens and Weather pushes her in. After he joins her, he hits the emergency close button and keeps his eyes on the hallway as the door closes.
“I don’t know,” says Weather, “but your mother and I have arranged to get you off Sparkle Station and take you somewhere safe.”
Fluttershy stares at her father with the only sound being the muffled alarms and the humming of the elevator. Seconds later, the elevator dings and the pair look at the door as it slides open. Once it opens, they see a Slasher slicing a goat’s head from his body and ripping his ribs out. After the body drops, it looks at them, roars, and charges.
Fluttershy shrieks and hits the emergency close button while Weather shoots it with his rifle. The bullets tear into it, making it jerk as blood pours from its wounds, but it doesn’t stop. Weather keeps shooting, and the Necromorph’s legs break off with splinters of bone and mangled flesh. Its roar is weak with blood oozing out of its mouth, and it crawls towards them using its scythe claws while Fluttershy bangs against the emergency close button. The door finally closes with a pleasant ding when the Slasher is almost at the elevator, and Fluttershy hits the next floor down. The elevator starts moving again, and Fluttershy collapses against the wall and slides down to the floor, clutching her heavy beating heart as she tries to swallow air. But as soon as she does that, the door opens again, and Weather shakily reloads before stepping out.
The light of his gun is unsteady as he sweeps the darkness, illuminating a massacre. Torn up bodies lay in puddles of blood with splashes of red along the walls and cracked windows. Tipped over furniture and spilled contents litter the area, and on the wall, a large television with a hole in its screen lights up more corpses and drowns out the alarm with its electric static. At the far end of the darkness is a partially open door, letting bright light from the hallway bleed into the room.
Fluttershy stumbles out of the elevator, breathing heavily while clutching her heart and leaning against the wall, and Weather gives the room one more sweep before slowly moving forward. The elevator closes a few seconds later, cutting off the light, and Weather goes to Fluttershy’s side to help her stand.
“Are you okay?” asks Weather.
Fluttershy swallows and rubs her heart again, feeling its hard beats against her ribs.
“No… My heart… It’s bad,” says Fluttershy.
“Oh dear. Okay, there’s got to be something we can find to-”
A whirring and bang brings him to silence and Fluttershy’s eyes to widen, and when a shadow stretches on the wall past the cracked windows the two pegasi crouch down. They wait in silence, each holding their breath as the shadow moves along the wall, with the alarm covering whatever noise is being made by the steps.
Several seconds later, the door opens again, and the shadow moves faster and connects to a goat in a white lab coat over a white and red jumpsuit running down the hallway. He looks over his shoulder and screams before a barrage of bullets hit him. Each bullet striking him releases a burst of flame that chars his body and leaves his uniform smoldering. When he collapses, his flesh is sizzling, and an earth pony covered in black armor with red lenses on their helmet approaches him. The body structure points to the pony being a mare, and the black armor has a collection of fresh scratches and dents, a jet back, claws on the boots, and has a battle saddle with red gems glowing in its barrel.
Fluttershy and Weather watch the armored mare stand near the goat, and both flinch when she puts two more rounds in his head, leading to red smoke rising from his skull, and the pair bite their tongues when she goes to a door on the other end of the hallway. The door slides open, and she goes into the next section, disappearing in the darkness. As soon as the door closes, Weather quietly goes to the window and peeks out, looking from one end to the other, and then he goes to the jammed door and grunts as he pulls. The door screeches and groans, and Fluttershy takes a deep breath before walking to her father.
“Who was that?” asks Fluttershy.
“I don’t know,” says Weather, grunting and giving the door another pull that allows it to move a little bit more. “But we best avoid her.”
Weather gives the door one more tug that brings it to move the rest of the way, and with it comes a loud, long screech that echoes in the area. The old stallion looks in the direction the stranger went, and then the direction he came from, and steps out, looking at the latter.
“This way,” says Weather.
Fluttershy follows Weather, grimacing when she steps into the hallway. The trail of blood reflects the bright lights, and on the wall is a broken screen displaying an emergency message that fuzzes in and out of clarity. The door Weather approaches opens without any trouble, and it leads to a brightly lit lobby with torn up bodies, pillars placed equally apart and destroyed tables, flipped chairs, and torn couches around smaller smashed tables with a long wall displaying a sunset and tropical beach. Then it flickers to an urban café. Then to a forest with a waterfall. Then to a blur of distorted images that collide with each other. The other wall has the same set up, but the screen has been destroyed, leaving its burnt interior exposed with sparks popping out every few seconds.
“The pharmacy is just a bit farther. There should be something there for you to use,” says Weather.
Fluttershy nods and quietly follows him, trying with questionable results to keep her breathing under control. They go through another door and are immediately blinded by a flash of fire and both shield themselves with their hooves as shards of glass fly and scatter across the enclosed walkway. Metal groans and fire crackles, and when Fluttershy lowers her hoof she gasps at the sight of a burning vehicle on what’s left of the walkway. It rocks back and forth, and inside the cockpit, the pilot struggles in their seat as the fire eats away their uniform and flesh. Their agonizing screams and sobs are dampened by the roaring fire, and when Fluttershy runs forward she is tugged back by Weather and locked in a hug.
“No! What are you doing!” cries Fluttershy, tears streaming down her face and her hoof outstretched. “Let me save him!”
“There’s nothing you can do for him!” says Weather.
“I can save him!”
“No, you can’t!”
That is when a black mass with bright white eyes and covered in blue flame breaks through the pilot’s door. The pilot’s skull and bones are now exposed and blackening with his muscles dripping off as his attempts to break free weaken, and the burning creature shrieks and releases a large burst of fire. The explosion knocks Fluttershy and Weather back, and the gutted craft plummets out of view. Seconds later, the walkway groans as pieces of its foundation fall, crashing into the walkway below.
“Run!” yells Weather.
The two scramble to their hooves and gallop across the hallway. Fire nips at Fluttershy’s hooves and the hallway buckles with loud groaning and snaps. Sparks fly out of the walls and pieces of the floor pop out of place with glass shattering. Weather is the first to reach the door at the end and he slams his hoof against its control panel, bringing it to open right as the walkway snaps loose. As the walkway falls, Fluttershy leaps into the doorway and slides across the floor, clutching her heart and gasping for air. Weather then closes the door, goes to Fluttershy’s side, and helps her stand up, but she wobbles due to weak knees and one of her hooves clutching her heart.
Weather pats Fluttershy’s shoulder, and then he turns on his light and scans the area. The lobby is spacious with pillars placed in even increments, and lights flicker above with the intercoms spewing out loud fuzz. The lights reflect off pools of blood without bodies and briefly light up torn furniture and a broken receptions desk. Off to the side, a dimly lit poster has a picture of doctors in white lab coats over white and red jumpsuits, all smiling with a message below: We’re Here to Help!
Weather walks forward and Fluttershy hobbles after him with a frown and heavy breaths going through her nose. As he walks, he keeps sweeping the area with his light, showing more blood splatter and slashes on the walls and floor.
“Fluttershy, I know you’re mad,” says Weather, “but there was nothing you could do for him or those patients back there. You would have died trying to stop the inevitable, and I couldn’t let that happen. You’re too important to us.”
“Who’s us?” mutters Fluttershy.
“Your mother and I, of course.”
Fluttershy looks away, rubbing her heart and briefly seeing Weather’s light illuminate a mannequin in a white suit with red bands similar to what she wore when she was in the Medical Corps. The light quickly leaves it, though, and shines on a sign that says ‘PHARMACY’ . The door beneath it is broken open with blood and strips of flesh coating the jagged edge, and a thick trail of blood goes towards a jagged hole in the wall. Near the hole is a door with a green glow and ‘MEDICAL ADMINISTRATION’ above it. Though, the sign is flickering, and Fluttershy looks at the hole in the wall again while Weather peeks inside the Pharmacy room.
“It looks clear,” says Weather. He waves Fluttershy towards him, and as she approaches, he goes inside and does a quick sweep. “It doesn’t look like they had time to loot anything.”
Fluttershy steps past her father and immediately begins going through the aisles, breathing heavily and her heart thumping loudly. Every aisle has rows upon rows of canisters with names of patients and bar codes. Fluttershy goes towards a computer in the back, which is still open with “A. Redheart” at the top corner. Fluttershy’s eyes lock on the name for a moment before she looks at the keyboard while Weather stands guard. She stares blankly at the letters and numbers, and like a lightbulb flashing on, she remembers what she needs to look for and types in “Heartamony” in the computer. Once the name is entered, its location is displayed as: R10-01-12 .
Fluttershy leaves the computer and goes through the aisles, eyes flicking to the numbers as she passes the shelves. From R01, to R02, to R03, on and on the numbers go until Fluttershy finds R10, and she cranes her neck and takes a step back to look at the labels on the top shelf. Fortunately, the dim light is just strong enough for her to see the labels, and when she finds Heartamony she stands on her hind legs and paws at the container until it falls from its slot. After that, she scoops it up, and pops the lid off. Her hoof shakes as she tips the container, and two 20mg cylinder-shaped capsules fall into the bowl of her hoof. She swallows the pills dry and coughs and gags as she leans against the shelf. The shudders that follow leave a wave of painful tingles through her spine and limbs, but after the pain subsides, the tension eases on her heart just a bit. However, that doesn’t stop her from sliding to the floor and rubbing her chest.
“Are you okay?” asks Weather, kneeling next to her and placing his hoof on her shoulder.
Fluttershy nods.
Weather hesitates. “Do you forgive me for what I did back there?”
Fluttershy looks at Weather crossly, and he sighs and stands up, using Fluttershy’s shoulder as a crutch. Once he is up, he undoes his saddle and holds it out to Fluttershy. At first, she doesn’t move, but after a silent begging nod from her father, she gets up and lets him place it on her.
“I know you don’t understand what’s happening, but you will eventually, and then you will know why I did what I did,” says Weather while adjusting the straps.
“I already know what’s happening,” says Fluttershy. “This happened to Zephyr before he died.”
Weather stops in the middle of tightening, and after a brief moment of shaky breathing he turns Fluttershy so they are face to face.
“Fluttershy, sweetie, I need to confess something, about you and your brother. I… made a mistake,” says Weather. “You were my children, and I wasn’t a good father. I wish I could fix what I did, but I can’t. Your mother feels the same way, too. If we could take back what we did to you and Zephyr, especially you, we would in a heartbeat. We just… We only wanted what was best for you, and it didn’t work out that way. If we survive this, will you forgive me for what I did?”
Fluttershy's breathing hitches and she swallows a hot, wet lump in her throat. “Can we talk about this later? … Please?”
Weather nods and finishes her straps. “We can.” He readies his rifle and steps back. “Gather up as much supplies as you can. We’ll need it if we’re going to survive the Harvesters.”
“Necromorphs,” mutters Fluttershy as she goes to raid the shelves.
A couple of minutes later, Fluttershy has finished stuffing her saddle with Heartamony, pain pills, adrenaline, and bandages. She hasn’t said a word to her father, and he hasn’t spoken a word to her either. During this quiet time (or as quiet as the alarms and the distant screams would allow), Fluttershy’s thoughts run wild.
Weather’s apologizing to her for what he did now? After all these years? A little late on that, and she doesn’t trust the apology, either. He and his wife had plenty of time to fix things, but they chose Unitology over her and Zephyr. Now Zephyr’s gone, and Fluttershy isn’t sure if she’ll last much longer. She barely survived a Necromorph infestation on a colony ship and now she’s experiencing the start of one on a space habitat. They are considerably larger than colony ships in every way. Some might call them space cities, or space city-states depending on who is asked.
Fluttershy pushes out the thought of size comparisons between habitats and colony ships. and glances at Weather. He is staring out the broken door with a distant look in his eyes. The dim lighting is making it hard to see his detail, but she can see his ears and wings drooped and a sag in his stature. Seeing him like this softens her heart a little bit, and she takes a few steps forward, but stops herself before she can reach him and looks away.
Is he playing a trick on her? Deception isn’t a foreign concept to him or his wife, after all. They may look soft and speak softly, but if Fluttershy has learned anything from her parents, it is that they will bend to the strongest will and lie to preserve themselves, even if it means going against their children.
But then again… His stature does look genuine. Maybe he really is sorry. Or maybe he perfected his trickery. She hasn’t seen him in a long time, so it is possible.
Fluttershy looks at Weather again, takes a deep breath, stiffens her posture, and walks towards him with her head held high and steps steady. Once she reaches him, she stops and looks him in the eyes. She sees a shimmer in them. But the shimmers could be fake tears. Actors do it all the time… But Weather has never been a good actor. Only a good liar.
“Are you really sorry?” asks Fluttershy.
Weather looks at her, nodding. Fluttershy keeps her eyes locked on him, wanting to believe him, and he looks at her, blinking the tears from his eyes.
“We need to go. We’re lucky we haven’t run into any Harvesters yet,” says Weather. “We can talk about what happened to you and Zephyr when we meet with your mother. Maybe then we can work things out when we're together.”
After that, Weather leaves the room, gives the lobby a quick scan, and motions Fluttershy out when he determines it to be safe. Fluttershy carefully steps out and follows him down the lobby, ears flicking and eyes scanning the area as the alarm and distant screams flood the air. They pass the jagged hole in the wall, and when they reach the Medical Administration’s door, Weather opens it, stops, and looks at Fluttershy.
“I almost forgot,” says Weather. “This little trinket is important.”
Fluttershy watches the old stallion digs into his pouch and pull out a small tube-shaped device with an ear clip and straps. He quickly works on strapping the device to her shoulder and clipping the appropriate piece to her ear, and once he is done, the device beeps and flashes green.
“This communicator is connected to your mother,” explains Weather. “She would really love to talk to you and is waiting with Seer Asama Zaeem at the Citadel with a ship. We’ll get you to safety and-”
Weather suddenly stiffens with a blue glow surrounding him, and Fluttershy’s eyes widen as he is lifted off the ground. As he is levitated, Fluttershy looks down the lobby and sees the black armored mare at the lobby door she and Weather came from. The fire from outside is cut off from view as the door closes behind the Agent, and she has her hoof extended and her Artificial Telekinesis Module band glowing, enveloping her hoof in the same blue aura covering her father.
“No. No!” cries Fluttershy.
Fluttershy grabs Weather’s hoof and tries in vain to pull him down as the Agent walks down the lobby on three hooves with the fourth still extended. Weather grunts and strains himself to look at Fluttershy, and she looks into his eyes before looking at the approaching Agent again.
“Please don’t do this!” begs Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, run,” says Weather.
With a flick of the Agent’s hoof, Weather is launched into the jagged metal surrounding the wall’s hole. The metal rips through him and he goes limp in an instant as thick drops of blood dribble to the floor.
“No!” cries Fluttershy.
The Agent lifts her hoof again, the module glows, and Fluttershy dives through the doorway and hits the emergency close button right as an invisible force grabs her. The door slams shut, the restraint disappears, and Fluttershy bucks the terminal, causing the lights around it to flicker off and a thud to echo from the door. Then Fluttershy gallops down the walkway with a slight limp due to a pain in her back hoof. Her heart thumps loud and heavy, and her steps become wobbly as her hoof presses against her chest. Her breathing turns to wheezes and she collapses on the floor, her wet eyes locked on the outside chaos. There are crisscrossing covered walkways with a small, spearhead crafts with stubby orb shaped wings circling around, shooting a stream of bullets at a group of Necromorphs running across the opposite walkway. On another walkway, a small team of security officers shoot into the horde while doctors try to escape, only for them to be slaughtered by Necromorphs that break through the vents.
Fluttershy pushes herself against the wall, trembling and hyperventilating with her face rapidly becoming soaked in tears. Then she gasps when Leapers jump on the security ship and start tearing into its hull and wings, putting it into an uncontrollable spin out of sight. As Fluttershy watches the carnage, her communicator activates, projecting a light amber, obese mare with cerise eyes that are magnified by her thick glasses; she also has a heavy mane and tail that are the color of raspberries.
“Fluttershy? Fluttershy, can you hear me?” says the mare, Posey Breeze.
“Mom? Mom, I can hear you!” says Fluttershy, jumping to her hooves.
“Where’s your father? His vitals went flat, and his communicator isn’t working.”
“He’s dead. He was murdered! I couldn’t save him! Now the pony who killed him is after me!”
“It’s okay, dear.” Posy takes a deep breath and wipes her face before looking at Fluttershy again. “I’m glad you’re alright. I can send a group to come get you. Just tell me where you are.”
Fluttershy shakes her head. “No.” She looks over her shoulder. Nothing. She looks back at Posey. “Please, don’t send anypony for me. I’ll come to you. Nopony else has to die because of me.”
“But, Fluttershy-”
“Mom, I’ll be okay. I’ve done this before. I’ll see you in a little while… I… I love you.”
Posey smiles. “Just get here as fast as you can. I’ll be waiting for you.”
Fluttershy nods, disconnects, and limps down the hallway while looking over her shoulder. The screams of the dying, the roars of the Necromorphs, and the distant thuds of explosions clash together, and hellish fire rages on the walkways and out of the rooms. Red and black smoke has gathered at the top of a glass dome lined with curved metal that forms a five-point star at its crest, shrouding the outside cosmos and their gas giant neighbor with smoke.
After a minute of walking, Fluttershy comes across a door at the far end of the walkway with a dead unicorn mare laying in a pool of blood. Their eyes are still open, and when Fluttershy is close enough she reluctantly inspects the body, finding that their throat has been ripped open with a crude weapon. She searches the corpse and finds nothing, so she opens the door and steps inside the room.
The room is dimly lit with weak flickering lights above, and the light from the raging fires brings a red tint to the room. Fluttershy swallows and continues forward, stopping when her hoof steps in a puddle of blood. She gasps and pulls back, finding another dead unicorn, and she looks up and takes a step back with her hoof to her mouth. The room is littered with corpses, broken furniture and computers with shattered screens or smoking from small fires inside them. All of the bodies are laying in blood with various stab and slash wounds, but the fatal wounds are not the work of Necromorphs, and out of the corner of her eye, Fluttershy sees one of the computers flashing a series of images.
She approaches the computer and sees the images are double helixes with hieroglyphs, as well as photos of the Onyx Marker. There is also a muted video on loop that shows a light purple unicorn mare wearing a white jumpsuit like Fluttershy’s with a horn cuff, talking to the camera. Fluttershy stares at the video, noting that the mare’s mane is flat, three toned with dark blue, purple, and pink, and has bloodshot, violet eyes. The mare looks familiar, and Fluttershy pushes the volume button on the computer, bringing the mare’s voice to crackle through the speaker.
“I didn’t kill them, the monsters did,” says the mare, rocking in her seat. “They killed them and they’re coming for me! My time is running out. Our time is running out. Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock. Make the ticking stop!”
“Tell me about the Marker. What did it tell you?” asks Lyra off screen.
“The ticking won’t stop. Make the ticking stop!”
“Focus, Twilight. What did the Marker tell you?”
Twilight whimpers and roughly rubs her ear on the table. “Time is running out. Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock. The clock is ticking!”
“Is that what the Marker told you? Was the Marker counting down while you were on Onyx?”
Twilight shifts to rubbing her other ear against the table as her eyes dart madly around the room. “We’re running out of time. We must destroy the Marker before it kills us all!”
Suddenly, a golden aura wraps around Fluttershy’s waist, and she screams as she is lifted into the air and slammed on the table, breaking the computer. Fluttershy gags and coughs as she tries to stand, and the magic returns, blasting her into the observation window. The window cracks, and Lyra steps out of the shadows, holding a broken, bloody piece of metal as a knife with her magic, and her torn uniform is covered in blood with scratches covering her face. She grins at Fluttershy, and her golden eyes and magic flare from to red and green.
“Oh, it’s you. It’s really you,” giggles Lyra. “You’re alive. The plan worked!”
Fluttershy stands up, albeit a bit wobbly while the unicorn uses her magic to disconnect a green band with a small projector and a set of buttons on it. Once the band is off, she tosses it to the observation window and steps closer to Fluttershy, passing one of the corpses.
“Pinnacle said the Black Hole Protocol was in effect. That means we all must die. You, me, them, all of us,” says Lyra. “We all have to die. But I told them where to find you. Oh, yes, I did! I did! And they got to you in time!”
“You told my dad where to find me?” says Fluttershy, sniffling and torn between looking to the door for the Agent and keeping her eyes on Lyra.
Lyra giggles and nods. “I did! But I need more. I need closure. I need forgiveness.”
Fluttershy’s hoof is grabbed by Lyra’s magic and she is pulled forward with a ring of gold, red and green aura wrapping around her neck. Fluttershy struggles in the grip and tries striking Lyra, but the unicorn is keeping her just out of reach, and has grabbed the striking hoof with magic.
“Do you forgive me?” asks Lyra while raising her crude knife.
“W-What?” asks Fluttershy.
“Do you forgive me?”
“Put the knife down.”
“Do you forgive me?”
“Please put the knife down! We can make it out if we work together. The two of us. That sounds nice, right?”
Lyra jerks Fluttershy forward with her magic so that their muzzles are almost touching, and she pins the pegasus' hooves to her sides. Fluttershy can smell the horrid stench in Lyra’s breath, she also sees her reflection in her shifting pupils.
“No. No, no, no.” Lyra gently traces Fluttershy’s cheek with her knife and cups her cheek with her hoof as she shakes her head with a twisted smile. “None of us are escaping this."
"We can if we work together!" says Fluttershy desperately.
Lyra giggles and shakes her head and lifts the knife up. "No we can't. We're all going to burn for what we did to you."
"No, please don't!"
Lyra then stabs Fluttershy’s back and rips it upward, tearing the bands holding her wings down. Her wings snap open, the aura disappears, and Fluttershy drops to the ground, holding her chest and gasping for air while Lyra steps back and uses her magic to grab her hoof band and Fluttershy’s hoof. Fluttershy tries resisting, but the magic is too strong, and in a quick moment Lyra’s band tightens around Fluttershy's hoof, and there is a flash of green light before a white circle appears. After that, Fluttershy holds the band up to her face, twisting her hoof to get a better look at it before meeting Lyra’s eyes.
“Find 23. Find 42. Kill 0,” says Lyra. “Forgive me.”
Lyra plunges the knife in her throat and tears it sideways, completely opening it. Blood gushes out, and Lyra gags and collapses against the observation window, coughing blood with more squirting out of her wound in thick ropes. Seconds later, her limbs go limp and she slides down the window, twitching with her uniform soaked in blood and more pumping out and spreading on the floor.
Fluttershy stares at Lyra’s corpse, hoof to mouth and eyes watering. She doesn’t hear anything besides her own breathing, and after several seconds of stillness her eyes shift to Lyra’s band. She licks her lips, and lightly pokes on the display, bringing up a menu of audio logs, with the most recent being a few hours ago. So, she clicks on that and hurries towards the exit while the log plays in her ear.
“This is Lyra Heartstrings, code named Muse. I’ve just finished killing everyone on my team and I am currently destroying the research. We all must die for what we did. Every one of us. I can already feel myself slipping into the dark and if I didn’t kill them, they would have been taken, too. But, honestly, I enjoyed killing my partners, and the voices praised me for it. Make us whole, they said. Make us whole. Heheheh, so romantic, yet so sinister… I hope I have the strength to kill myself before I am taken. I hope I am forgiven for what I did. This Lyra Heartstrings, lead researcher of Sparkle Station Xenology Department signing off for the last time.”
The audio clicks off, and Fluttershy opens the door, looks to the right, where there is darkness and flickering lights, and to the left where there is a raging fire slowly eating away the corridor. She takes a deep breath and goes right.
Author's Note
And so Fluttershy gallops off into another wonderful adventure!
