Scream Station

“The Great and Powerful Trixie succeeds once again.” Trixie took a deep bow before Twilight and Flash, the latter politely clapping. She smirked as she came up from her bow. “And you doubted that one such as myself could handle these meager traps.”

“Not at all,” Twilight said. “I am well aware of your talents and that, alongside a glowing recommendation from Glimmer, was exactly why I brought you with us.”

Her face flushed. “T-that is very kind of you, ma’am.” She rubbed her knuckles on her shoulder with a smug grin on her face. “Your praise is much appreciated to one as Exceptional and Glorious as myself.”

“That attitude, however, could use some adjustment.” Trixie visibly deflated. “Your skills should speak for themselves, not require needless boasting.”

Trixie rubbed her arm sheepishly. “That’s… fair. I will endeavor to not be as… ego ridden in the future.”

“It’s okay, Lulamoon, you’re doing a good job.” Flash eyed the machine parts laid out on the floor. “Especially with how many traps there have been.”

“About that, why are there so many traps?” Trixie asked.

“Spike’s squad set them up to kill Adagio,” Flash explained. “After they die, she made use of her engineering degree and jury-rigged all the traps to work in her favour in the hopes of capturing any stragglers on the station.”

Trixie quirked an eyebrow. “So, you?”

“Yeah, me.” Flash grinned. “This is definitely slow going, though.”

“Yes, I hadn’t expected so many obstacles in our way. Hopefully the others aren’t bogged down by the same,” Twilight said. “Let’s get moving. Lulamoon, if you would take the lead?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Trixie saluted.

Trixie continued her slow trek forward keeping an eye out for more traps using her helmet monitor.

“You okay?” Flash asked on a private comms channel.

Twilight tapped her helmet to enter the private channel. “Why would you think I’m even remotely okay, Flash?” She snapped. “We’re being hunted by a monster and being slowed down by a corridor more rigged than a cheap carnival game.”

“Rushing forward and getting injured won’t get us to our destination sooner, Twilight-”

“Sparkle,” Twilight interjected. “Major Sparkle or ma’am.”

“... Sparkle,” he corrected, “It’s slow going, but safer than running headlong into danger.”

“I know that, I just-” she sighed. “This is not how I thought this would go. We came prepared. I understood the danger, but I never expected to lose someone in a matter of minutes or be running for our lives from some terrifying monster. It’s just- it’s a lot and I don’t have a lot of real combat experience. I have my entire crewdependingonmeandIdon’t-”

Flash lightly touched her shoulder. “Take a breath, Sparkle.” She took a shaky breath. “I get it, you’re under a lot of pressure, but we need you to focus on the present, okay?” He gave a reassuring grin.

Twilight returned an uneasy grin. “You’re right. I need to focus. Thanks, Flash.”

Before Flash could reply, Trixie yelled, “We’ve arrived at the kitchen, ma’am.”

“Good work, Lulamoon,” Twilight said. “Everyone prepare for breach.”

All three of them huddled by the double door with their weapons raised. Both looked at Twilight, Flash confident and Trixie nervous, as they waited for her signal.

With a curt nod, all three pushed their way through. A quick survey of their surroundings revealed a commercial kitchen with walls and floor space dominated by appliances and countertops. On the wall opposite them was a line of hooded stovetops and, to the right of the stoves, an exit leading further into the station.

Lying dead in front of the stove was the corpse of Applejack. Her stomach was split open empty of its innards, pinned to the stoves by several long metal skewers. Hanging from her neck on a cord was the keycard.

“Keep an eye out for more traps, Lulamoon. Flash, you and I will keep an eye out for the monster.” Both nodded. “Let’s take it slow.”

Moving slowly and methodically, they made their way across the room. They arrived at Applejack’s corpse in short order. Wary of a potential trap, Twilight bent down and grasped the keycard with her hand.

She pulled.

“Wait, stop!” Trixie cried out.

As Twilight pulled, the cord snapped and zipped into the depths of the stove that had its oven door removed. There was a click, and the stoves hummed to life, emitting an orange glow.

“We need to run back!” Flash cried out.

Spurned to action by Flash’s shout, all three raced back across the tiled floor. Just as they managed to dive behind a long row of countertops for cover, all the ovens along the wall opened and a barrage of knives went sailing through the air burying themselves in the wall past where they were hiding.

The barrage continued as flames spewed from the appliances. Applejack’s corpse was lit and burnt to a crisp.

“What do we do?!” Trixie screamed out.

“Sparkle, what are your orders?” Flash yelled out over the machine gun-like sounds of the ovens.

Twilight was gripped by panic as she was frozen in place. She clutched the keycard tightly in her hand, shaking from overwhelming fear.

She couldn’t focus. She couldn’t think. Nothing in her body responded to her desperate internal cries to make it move.

They were going to die.

They were going to die and it would be all her fault.

Realizing that Twilight would be no help to them, Flash shouted to Trixie, “Lulamoon, give me a read on the situation.”

Trixie looked at Flash with uncertainty. “B-but I’m only supposed to take orders from—”

“The Major is out of commission and we are in dire straits, give me an update, Lulamoon!” Flash commanded.

“R-right, Flash.” Trixie tapped a button on the side of her helmet and tentatively peeked around the countertops. “The ovens appear to be rigged as makeshift gatling guns. They will run out of ammunition in a few minutes.”

“Can we wait it out?” Flash asked.

Trixie shook her head. “The heat radiating off the stoves is slowly melting some type of adhesive in the door leading to the med bay. If we don’t deactivate the trap, we’ll lose our only way forward and have to backtrack.”

“We don’t have that kind of time. How do we disarm it?”

A quick scan and another tap on her helmet brought up a display of the stove with two spots highlighted in red. “The mechanism is attached to these two pins. If we pull them out, the whole thing will break down.” She looked at Flash with a nervous expression. “We’ll need two people to pull them and we will get burned.”

Flash nodded. “How are you feeling, Trixie?”

“T-terrified, but,” she puffed up her chest, “ready for your orders.”

He grabbed two nearby serving trays, threw one to Trixie, and raised it in front of himself like a shield. He looked over to see Trixie mirroring his action. They nodded to each other then leapt out from behind cover and raced towards the stove.

They scrambled down the tiled floor as knives whizzed past them and embedded themselves in the trays. Shallow cuts appeared across their bodies as knives nicked them on their way past.

As they arrived at their destination, they tossed their makeshift shields aside and threw their hands toward their individual pins.

Both cried out in pain as flames licked at their hands and forearms. Once they had a firm grip, they both pulled. Hard.

The pin Trixie pulled popped out easily causing her to fall back and skid along the floor. Flash’s stuck. He screamed in agony as the flames continued to lick at his arms, burning through the material of his suit. Veins popped out on his arms as the pin slid out bit by bit.

After a minute of intense pain, it finally popped out and Flash joined Trixie on the floor.

With the pins removed, the stoves sputtered, the clouds of knives eased to a stop, and the flames died down to nothing.

Trixie scrambled to her feet ignoring the pain in her arm, as she raced to check the door to ensure their efforts were successful.

“It’s still open.” She dropped to the floor in a heap. “Our way is still open.”

“Good. Would hate to have gone through that to still fail.” Flash groaned in pain.

His cry of pain broke Twilight out of her panic-addled state. “Flash!” She ran toward them.

She knelt by Flash and gingerly examined his arm as he hissed in pain. His hand and forearm were puffy and red with second degree burns from where the suit burned away.

“I know you’re trying to help, but could you—” he cried out as Twilight nudged a particularly tender spot.

“I’m s-sorry! I j-just need to—” she finally noticed Trixie holding her arm. “Lulamoon, your arm!”

Her burns were similar to Flash, but less severe. “Thank you for noticing, ma’am. Really. The lack of attention to your second server is much appreciated.”

“Come here, I have a first aid kit, I’ll treat both of you.” She took off her backpack and took out the first aid kit. She listed out the items as she grabbed them. “Cold compress, ointment, bandages...”

Moving quickly, Twilight cooled their injuries, and wrapped them tightly with the ointment to ease their pain. Both winced when moving their bound arms, but were still able to use them.

“Nice handiwork,” Trixie commented. She scoffed. “You too, I guess, Flash.”

Flash grinned. “Thanks, you did a good job out there too.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie always does a great job.” She stood back up to her feet. “Now, I’m going to start checking the path ahead so we can avoid this happening again. Feel free to follow after me once you’ve dealt with...” she gestured towards Twilight who stared resolutely at the floor, “... that.”

As Trixie made her exit, Flash scooted closer to Twilight. “Hey, Sparkle, you still in there?”

“I can’t believe I froze like that.” Her body shook. “When you needed me the most, I was completely useless.” She looked up showing the beginnings of tears in her eyes. “This is all my fault.”

“Unless you set up that trap, I doubt that,” Flash replied. “You screwed up, but you did treat Trixie and I in record time.” He grabbed her shoulder companionably. “So what if you screwed up? Do better next time. You can’t be expected to do everything perfectly every time.”

“But I can’t afford to fail!” Twilight said in frustration. “We’re in a life or death situation, you and Lulamoon are depending on me to be a leader. I can’t afford to be this helpless.”

“It’s okay, we’re more than capable of covering your blind spots. Just do the best you can, Sparkle.”

“Twilight.” Flash tilted his head to one side. “You can just call me Twilight.”

He grinned. “Alright, Twilight.” He grabbed Twilight and dragged them both to their feet. “Let’s get those keycards.”

Sticking close to Flash, Twilight followed after him as they moved towards their next destination.