Scream Station

Sweat poured down the sides of Starlight’s face as she raced through the corridor, her boots clomping with every step, her shotgun swinging in her arm. Ahead of her, Maud carted Tempest along with her like a three legged race, somehow staying ahead of Starlight.

Behind them, bouncing from wall to wall and ceiling to floor like some kind of demented spider was Adagio. She cackled as she kept up the chase, always lagging behind, like she was luring them somewhere.

Or toying with them.

“How much further?!” Starlight screamed over comms.

“According to the map it’s another 250 meters to the mine shaft!” Tempest replied between grunts of pain.

“Run all you like,” Adagio trilled, her distorted voice sending shockwaves down Starlight’s spine, threatening to freeze her in place. “It won’t save you!”

That’s it, Starlight seethed. “Keep going!” She ordered Maud and Tempest. “I’ll hold her off.”

“Ma’am?!” Tempest blurted, staring back in shock. “With respect–”

“That’s an order, Shadow! Go!”

Ignoring the other two, Starlight leveled her shotgun squarely at Adagio, who’d slowed to a saunter, as if mocking her. So she took a moment to check the magazine, ensuring a full load of armor piercing rounds as were her preference, then aimed. “Go back to Tartarus where you came from!”

BLAM BLAM BLAM!

Three quick squeezes of the trigger saw three slugs leave the shotgun’s barrel, each one landing perfectly on target. Messy chunks of flesh exploded from Adagio’s torso as great holes tore her open, leaving innards exposed. Inky black and viscous yellow blood and ichor splattered everywhere as the monster screamed in sheer agony, collapsing onto her back.

“Yeah!” Starlight cackled, a triumphant smile twisting her mouth. “That’s for Sunburst you bitch!”

As Adagio shifted up onto one knee, extending a claw outward like a string of taffy, Starlight fired off another trio of shells into Adagio’s face. The monster’s brains splashed the floor in a shower of grey and black.

“Wow,” Starlight murmured as she beheld the end results. “That was easy.” She tapped a button on the ammunition counter of her shotgun, forcing it to load in more shells from the magazine. “Too easy. Pick up the pace, ladies!”

She turned and ran after Tempest and Maud, keeping her shotgun ready, one ear listening out for pursuit. For the first hundred or so meters she heard nothing but silence. Maybe she really had–

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

Starlight’s left leg flew forward and cracked at the knee due to suddenly taking her full weight unexpectedly. She fell over in a tumble, screaming as her suit’s damage klaxons went wild, warning of suit breeches and severe injury.

As her suit began its automatic emergency sealing procedures, Starlight glanced back to see her right leg left behind, sliced off neatly at the hip with a trail of blood being the only connection left between her body and it.

Adagio grabbed the leg and bit into it, armor and all, chowing down on it like a chicken wing. “Nice try,” Adagio murmured through mouthfuls of flesh and metal, completely uninjured.

“Ma’am!” Tempest shouted. She and Maud had nearly reached the bulkhead door to the mineshaft, and to Starlight’s horror they started turning around to come back.

“No! Keep going!” Starlight ordered through gritted teeth. She reached back with one arm and fired off another couple of shotgun shells point black, blowing messy holes in Adagio’s face. The abomination let out an unholy roar as it fell backwards.

Starlight turned back and wrenched herself up via a handle on the nearby wall. As swiftly as she could between the suit’s auto injected stims,pain relievers and her injuries, she pulled herself along the wall, managing to drag herself forward too slowly for her liking.

She paused long enough to switch her shotgun over to full auto grapeshot mode and blindly fired down the corridor, unleashing dozens of miniature flechettes with every shot. More horrific screams greeted her with every pull of the trigger, allowing Starlight to smile, just a bit.

And then something reached forward with a disturbing schlup sound and sliced clean through her right arm at the shoulder.

“AAAAAaaauauhahaahaaugh!” she bellowed, stumbling against the wall as her shotgun clattered to the floor. The shock plunged through her body, forcing her to pop open the front of her helmet just so she could vomit. Blood dribbled down the sides of her mouth along with bile as she desperately tried to keep carrying herself forward, damn the consequences. Her mind raced with terror but she refused to give in. She was not going to make it that easy for this monster!

“Ma’am, we’ve got to–” Maud started to shout.

“No, just, keep going, please!” Starlight begged in a ragged, half-choked voice. She used her helmet’s HUD to trigger the emergency booster stims, overriding the suit’s automatic checks against it. She wasn’t going to live, that much she knew, but like Tartarus would she just give up.

She refused to look back even as she heard Adagio pointedly exaggerate the noises of eating, knowing that her arm was being torn apart in Adagio’s toothy maw.

“But, ma’am, you have the keycard!”

“Wait, what?” Starlight gasped.

A loud bang of dropped metal drew Starlight’s attention, allowing her to see Adagio rise up from the floor, wiping her mouth. Not a trace of her injuries were visible. “Oh really,” Adagio cooed, a sinister chuckle burbling up inside her chest. “Stop trying to fight back. I’m going to kill you one way or the other. You might as well accept it.”

Adagio scooped the arm back off the floor and clawed the metal off of the hand, sticking Starlight’s finger in her mouth in a way that, in other circumstances, would’ve had Starlight blushing profusely. Then she bit down, the bones crunching between her teeth as she added, “Or don’t. It’s more fun that way.”

Starlight’s whole body trembled hard enough she nearly lost her grip on the railing. Sweat poured down her body in droves, exceeding her suit’s ability to combat it. Her vision swam, fuzzing at the edges, the shock of two lost limbs threatening to sink her into unconsciousness.

“Go,” she murmured into her suit radio, her voice losing steam rapidly as she pulled herself along the railing as fast as she could maneuver with just the one leg.

As she crawled, her hand fumbled for her chest pocket, managing to withdraw the keycard. “Gotta… gotta get it to them,” she said, though whether she was speaking to herself or to them she wasn’t sure anymore. Her mind was dull, dim, the lights shutting down throughout the place like they were spotlights going out one by one over a stage.

Somewhere deep inside her, the little girl that had once been abandoned by her best friend for over a decade cried out in horror, clinging to her pillow as the monsters emerged from under the bed, ready to rend her to pieces.

Falling flat on her face when Adagio sliced off her other leg was inevitable, she realized as she abruptly found herself on the floor, her nose smashed and broken against the inside of her suit helmet. Yet she could hardly feel the pain anymore. It was still there at a distance, somewhere where there was some voice shrieking like a damned soul, but in the depths of the fog Starlight didn’t really notice it. She was too focused on her goal.

“Go,” she whispered as she pushed off the floor enough to lean against the wall. With one great toss she hurled the keycard in her hand in the direction of Tempest and Maud, seeing Maud dart forward just long enough to catch it.

Adagio’s claws stretched forward and took off Starlight’s arm, but Starlight found herself laughing giddily as even more blood flowed from her body. Her mind had all but shut down entirely now, her vision so grey and tunneled it was a wonder she’d remained conscious at all. “Hahaha, I hope you… hope you choke on it…” Starlight tittered.

Adagio’s face twisted in a monstrous way, pure rage causing her to let out a spine-shaking roar that got through even Starlight’s giddiness. Starlight fell over onto her chest, screaming anew in pure fright as Adagio straddled her and grabbed her head in both claws, the ends shoved through the helmet to puncture her skin, just enough to add extra pain.

Starlight continued to scream until it fell apart in liquid, gushing gurgles as Adagio’s teeth tore her throat out.

Maud sealed the bulkhead door. Wordlessly she handed the keycard over to Tempest, then checked the status of her own suit’s weapons, specifically her gauntlets and boots, which could be electrified. The failure of Starlight’s shotgun to do more than temporarily annoy Adagio left Maud deeply concerned.

As for Starlight’s passing, Maud buried any feelings from that deep, deep down. She didn’t have the luxury of worrying about it right now. “We need to find the next card,” she said.

Tempest shot her a look, sighed, and nodded. “Right. Damn it… Glimmer didn’t deserve any of that shit.”

“No.” Maud focused on the corridor before her, the plain metal walls lined with signs warning about the dangers of the mines and the need for safety equipment. “The monster seems committed to making us afraid.”

“Yeah, noticed that too, huh?” Tempest scowled. She glanced back at the bulkhead door even as she shuffled her way towards the mineshaft with Maud. “Think that door’ll hold her for long?”

“...no.” Maud’s mouth tightened a fraction. “We’d better hurry.”

A short, brisk jog later saw them enter the mineshaft proper. Like every such asteroid mining facility, the constructed walls and floors gave way to the natural rock of the interior of the asteroid, shored up wherever necessary to keep the shafts open and sealed from the vacuum of space. Lockers full of equipment lined the walls, with a few bits and bobs scattered about amongst the requisite skeletons. Lights hung on strings nailed to the rock ceiling extending deep into a dark tunnel that led off into numerous catacombs.An asteroid the size of this one, comparable to the size of Minerva in the Equus home system, could have hundreds of kilometers of criss-crossing tunnels.

Thankfully there was no need to go diving off into the depths. Not when their target lay sprawled along the stairs, her cascade of pink locks stained with blood, her face twisted forever in a frozen expression of pain from the axe embedded in her stomach.

Tempest winced as she approached and snagged the keycard off the corpse. “Oof, that must’ve been painful.”

Maud stiffened. Mechanically she forced herself to take one step, then another until she stood before the body. She looked down at the face of Pinkie Pie, and without meaning to, reached out with one hand to stroke her cheek. Her muscles seized up as she moved her hand across Pinkie’s face over and over, each time her mouth twisting further and further into a frown, her eyes turning misty. “...I’m sorry…” she whispered. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you.”

Tempest stepped beside her and placed a hand on Maud’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for your loss, Sergeant.”

Maud shrugged off Tempest’s hand. “It’s… fine,” she grunted. “We should hurry.”

As they rushed off, Maud’s fists gripped knuckle white at her sides, they made their way towards the command center, finding themselves in a narrow corridor with another massive bulkhead door at the end.

Crash!

The horrific shriek of tearing metal and the rapid clip-clop sound of claws against steel drew their attention. “Damn it, not again,” Tempest cursed.

Maud took one look at Tempest and pointed to the command center. “Go. I’ll hold her off.”

Tempest sneered, holding up her rifle. “Oh Tartarus no, no way. We just lost Glimmer pulling this crap. We’re not losing you too.”

Maud stared back, impassive as a stone. “You’re too injured to fight. Without a distraction Adagio will kill us both if I try to assist you. This is the only way.” Maud raised both fists and switched on the electricity, causing them to hum. “Now go.”

“...fine.”

Maud turned away from Tempest and took up a martial arts stance, just in time to see Adagio round the corner, her toothy jaw still dripping with Starlight’s blood. “Oooh, what’s–”

Adagio’s flesh sizzled as Maud’s electrified gauntlet popped her in the mouth, sending her reeling. A followup punch with Maud’s left gauntlet to the side of her head sent Adagio sprawling into the deck. Maud raised one boot to stomp onto Adagio’s chest, but the monster rolled out of the way, springing to her feet.

With a hiss, Adagio sprang onto Maud, raking her claws along Maud’s suit, carving out bits of electronics and causing Maud’s HUD to blare with alarms and warning windows. Maud brought her knee up right into Adagio’s groin, then slammed a fist straight into the side of Adagio’s head. The monster crumpled like a sack of wet potatoes.

That’s for Pinkie Pie, Maud thought. She kicked Adagio in the shoulder once, twice, thrice. Each time her electrified boot landed sizzled Adagio’s skin till fat began to boil off and pop. The monster howled and leapt up to her feet once more, her claws reaching for Maud’s shoulder. Maud side stepped, smashed her fist right into Adagio’s upper arm, then grappled, and with one mighty yank tore Adagio’s arm off.

In the process however she lost her footing as Adagio hissed and sprung like a coiled cat, spitting and biting at Maud’s legs before springing up and landing a solid blow directlyinto Maud’s injured shoulder.

Crying out, Maud stumbled, and prepared to strike back.

Schlunk!

Maud stilled as she realized Adagio’s arm had punched through her torso, straight through her lungs. She gasped, struggling for air as fluid filled what was left and her vision began to fade. “I… I won’t…” Vainly, she struck out with her weakened fists, landing blow after blow against Adagio’s face. But all the melted skin in the world wouldn’t stop what was about to happen.

Adagio wrenched her claw back out of Maud, unplugging the hole and leaving blood spilling everywhere, then picked Maud up and hurled her all the way out the corridor and onto the deck plating. Maud bounced several times, her whole body wracked in excruciating agony. Blood seeped out of her gaping wound and unconsciously she brought up a hand to try and stem the tide. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the massive bulkhead door to the command center closing, with Tempest on the other side.

Grinning to herself, she glanced over to her sister’s body, close enough that Maud could reach for her hand. “I’ll see you soon, Pinkie,” she said.

An unholy shriek and a flash of pain were the last thing Maud knew as Adagio buried both sets of claws deep into her brain.