Hell in Canterlot Castle

It's been a few hours since the shots stopped. Every now and then, something will shift behind the security door. I'm sitting against it, trying not to fall asleep. The plexiglass is covered in a layer of... something. Viscera. I don't want to attempt looking through it. I don't know if anyone made it on the other side. I've stopped crying. I can't bring myself to cry anymore. The power came back on briefly, went out again about five minutes later.

I've thought about shooting myself. I put the gun barrel beneath my jaw and let it sit there for a while. I couldn't do it. Couldn't bear it. The cowards way out.

I don't want to turn into one of those things, but I also don't have the constitution to put an end to it. At least, not here. Not alone. What time is it? The watch is cracked, I must've hit it against something in the struggle. It's still ticking. 4 PM. I must've fallen asleep at some point. I guess adrenaline can only take you so far when nothing's happening. I shift my weight and feel something in my pocket. I fish it out and I see Bootstrap's... Pete's silver crucifix.

Why'd it have to be you? It should've been me.

The nuke should have gone off by now, at least, according to what the facility manual stated regarding full containment breach. That means that either the situation is under control, or no one is around to activate it. Maybe that's what I'll do with the time I have left, before they find me. If I'm right, I'm somewhere in the East Wing of Gamma. I might still be able to make it out. But what does that mean? What does life mean when most everyone is SCP-2480-3? Whatever. It means nothing until I can find a map, and the evacuation route is on the other side of this door. I stand sluggishly and push forward. I guess that's all I can do. I stuff the crucifix back into my pocket.

Enough is enough.

Never really been a fighter, but I'll be damned if I'll let the base fall into the hands of those Sarkic assholes. I'm going to turn this facility into a big fuck-you fireball we can all burn in together.

I'm taking you all with me, you sons of bitches.

"Watch out!"

I throw myself backwards as the beast lunges towards me, a horrible amalgamation of equine and human features, tendon and muscle and meat soaring above me. It crashes against the floor behind me, sobbing and screaming. I spin around and advance, club in hand, then bash the damn thing in the face. It warbles out a cry and jabs at me with broken hooves.

The world shifts and the creature disappears. The smell of sulfur still hangs in the air. I tighten my grip on the club and retreat towards my pony backup, scanning the walls. When realities aren't merging and nightmares aren't manifesting to kill us all, I'd bet this dining room would look pretty fancy.

The ground shakes again and I space my legs out for balance. Steelheart yelps and a screech follows. I spin around to see Steelheart put up a shield and stop the beast midair, colliding against the energy barrier with a hum. A familiar pegasus dives in from above the shield and cuts at the creature. Human lips peel back on one of the forelegs and a whip-like tongue strikes at him, knocking him from the air with a grunt.

I charge around the shield and swing upward, colliding with the lower mandible. It's knocked upwards and away, the shield drops behind me. It's open, lying on its back. I advance and that tongue lashes out at me, I try to dodge, but I feel the razors cutting me across the stomach. The hot, searing pain spreads around my abdomen.

"Grgh..."

Sunny gets back on his hooves, unsteady, wing-blades limply dragging on the ground.

It goes to stand and bares an ungodly row of unaligned teeth, wet with blood and bile. I push through the pain, throwing my weight behind a sideways swing. The blow connects with the side of the skull with a sickening crack. The creature drops again and it starts to fade away, disappearing with another magical tremor.

"Liam, you're-"

I raise my hand up to silence him. The gesture works. We breathe hard, ready for another attack. Waiting for the nightmare to return. I gently touch at the fresh wound. Pain, blistering heat. Bleeding. That needs to wait. Wait until this thing's dead.

The smell comes first, then the creature. It appears in front of me, charging. As it comes closer, I kick towards it, making contact with one of the forelegs. It bends backwards and snaps. The creature lets out a human-like scream. Steelheart runs up and impales the creature with a levitating gladius. It writhes and hisses and I hit it again, blood splattering out across the marble floor. It sprawls out on the tile.

"Die you sunnavabitch!"

I throw myself on top of it and bring the club down again. Again! Again!

"Liam!"

I look over my shoulder at Sunny Skies. He eyes the body nervously. Or maybe me. I breathe out with a snarl and cave in the skull, bone and brain matter on my shirt. I grimace in disgust and the wound on my stomach flares up. Red light filters in through the windows, the foreign planet sitting in the darkened sky outside.

Gonna have to get this sewn up. A new shirt wouldn't be so bad either.

"Can never be too sure. They look dead, always make sure," I grunt and stand, wobbly and tired.

Steelheart and Sunny are at my sides. The latter looks like he wants to bolt, but he swallows that down. Look on his face tells me he's in a bad way inside. I'm surprised that he still trusts me after what we've been through. After everything we've seen.

"How can you... kill... like that?"

"Necessity," I utter. A half-truth.

"That's not necessity! That's..." Say it then.

Sunny looks disturbed and prods the corpse with a hoof.

"This is worse than the Changeling Invasion. We never had to... never had to..." Steelheart gags as he looks over the body. Sunny averts his eyes, then focuses on me.

"You're hurt, Liam," Sunny says in concern.

"I know. There's no time. We keep going."

His green eyes betray his worries. We've been fighting almost non-stop for the past hour, and he can tell that I'm going to have trouble moving soon, especially with this cut. These damn ponies do cardio or something.

"We need to keep moving. The nightmares are impermanent, no telling when we'll be fighting again," I say and groan as the wound stretches.

They lead me down the hall and into the doorway at the end. We come to a large circular room with an enormous crystal chandelier hanging from the center. The room seems untouched from the distortions. My head spins a tad and I brace myself against the wall.

"Is this the... grrnn... the atrium?" I mumble.

"Yeah, everypony in the guard should be nearby," Steelheart says as he rushes forward. "Come on, let's find them!"

I take a step forward, but I stumble and fall to my knees. Fuck, this is bad.

My eyes water and my tongue feels dry in my mouth. I feel my heartbeat thump in my chest. I'm falling apart. Fuck, I wasn't cut out for this, body isn't working right.

"Liam!" Sunny shouts. It sounds far away.

I put my hand up and look at the floor.

"I'll make it," I whisper. "We keep going. No stops."

He frowns, "we're getting you a healer as soon as we can." I nod.

I get to my feet and stumble forward, breathing hard. I approach the edge of the stone floor. I glance at the others.

"Try not to lose your head, Sunny. That's what they want."

Sunny moves ahead to catch up with Steelheart. I take a second for myself, panting and groaning in pain. My vision is blurry. I reach the doorframe and lean against it. The air is cold and stale, the light dim. I pant and close my eyes. A high-pitched whine fills the room and my ears ring. The air before me ripples like water and a growl rumbles from the fabric of reality.

I turn. There stands a nightmare, taller than me. It has three sets of arms and a single set of legs. A hideous maw opens in its chest, revealing rows of sharp fangs. Its skin is pale, transluscent, and seems to shimmer. The eyes are red, ooze flowing from the sockets. Intestines drag on the floor behind it as it leaps towards me.

I get the club up in time, just barely, and manage to embed the table leg within the horrible mouth. I cry out as my belly burns. The tableleg shatters to splinters and the creature grumbles. My heart thuds in my chest. It shifts against me and pushes me onto the floor. The intestines drag on my pants, slimy tendrils wrapped around my leg. I punch at the creature, breaking its feeble jaw. The beast chokes back a shout and disappears.

I get back to my feet unsteadily. My legs burn, lactic acid in all my muscles. I feel heavy. My vision's blurred. Sweat runs down my forehead, a feverish chill spreading over my skin. I breathe deep and hard, scanning the room. I try to call out to the others, but my voice gives out. I hear it behind me.

I whirl, expecting it to jump out at me. But it's already gone. The air shimmers and it reappears, only feet away from me. This time I don't move fast enough. The monster grabs me by the throat and lifts me off my feet, choking me, bony digits on one of the arms looking around under the barrel of the beast. Needle-like fingernails dig into my flesh. Another hand clasps over my throat.

I scream and thrash about, but it's no use. I'm lifted up and the thing's hands are on my neck, squeezing tight. I gasp for breath and tears stream from my eyes.

This is it. This is where I die.

"Marble! We can't keep up with the wounded, anypony that can fight needs to be out there!"

An ominous red light pours through the stained glass windows of the infirmary. They had only just retaken it from the creatures, and they still appeared in territory captured. This wasn't war, this wasn't a battle; this was slaughter. A gray earth pony with a white mane and brown eyes bites her tongue. She wasn't trained for this.

'Too many injured, but too many monsters. If this doesn't change soon, we're all going to Elysium', she thinks gravely.

She turns to Neat Stitch, forelegs doused in blood, the blood of her comrades. Ponies lie in stretchers around the room, candles lit beside them as Stitch hovers from guard to guard, treating their wounds. HIs face, emotionless and professional, is only a mask for the unbridled horror and stress of the situation.

"You want me to turn them back, Stitch?"

He looks up with a grim glance. The unicorn beneath him writhes in agony, a long laceration across his midsection.

"You have to," he says, "we're running out of space and Nurse Plunger..." he dips his head towards a body, covered in a white tarp, blood seeping through the fabric. "I can't keep up by myself, and everypony who can fight needs to keep this infirmary safe. Can you do that for me? Please?" His tone wavers.

She swallows back a lump in her throat, then nods.

"Say it then," he says aggressively.

"I can."

"Good, get to it then!"

'Celestia help us all,' she thinks.

I kick at it, but it's no use. My screams are muffled. Steelheart and Sunny...

No, now is not the time. The thought makes me furious. I struggle in vain, fists slamming into the creature's gut and face.
And then it disappears with a horrendous screech, flesh flaying outward and bones cracking outwards. The blood and gore dissipates in the air like steam.

I drop to the floor, gasping for breath. My vision is darkening. Every breath feels harder than the last.

My heartbeat is slowing, or my brain can't keep up.

"Keep going."

A woman's voice. The voice is cold, tone scolding, demanding. A frosty wind passes over me, stripping away all heat. I grab at my throat and look up to see two teal wisps set in a black puff of smoke, cerulean eyes gazing out from the abyss. The vague form vanishes in an invisible wind. I find my stomach no longer hurts.

I look down to see my shirt, torn and tattered, bloody, but a long bright pink scar where that wound was. It feels taut, tight in my skin, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Up. I get on my feet and feel... rejuvenated.

"Liam, we've found-..." Sunny runs back in with a dark green unicorn mare and Steelheart in tow. They stop when they see me standing.

"You shouldn't be standing." Steelheart glances at me, looking confused. I shake my head.

"I shouldn't, no. Where's everyone else?"

Steelheart brandishes his sword. He levels it at me in fear.

"Stop wasting time," I growl, "where is everyone?"

He lowers his sword and the mare steps forward.

"Mister Human, eh... sir, everypony is scattered. Only a few made it out to the courtyard, and then..." the green mare trails off. Blood reaches up past her forelegs. That stays; that's pony blood. She looks to Sunny and her lip quivers. Poor gal.

I take a deep breath. This is all going to hell too fast for my liking.

"Where's Princess Celestia?" I press.

The green mare steels herself and recomposes. She looks at me with renewed resolve.

"She's in the Ambassadors Suite, lots of ponies are there, they're working on a defensive position. Casualties are mounting, but we're trying to get everypony back to safety."

"Addressing the symptom, not the problem. Princess Luna?"

"I... I don't know. The Lunar Guard should be with her."

The ground shakes again and the chandelier swings violently. We all dive away as it comes crashing down, glass and diamond scattering across the floor. The corruption spreads out over the surfaces of the walls, a sickly sweet smell, decay, permeating the air. We get our bearings.

"I don't know how much more of this I can handle!" Steelheart cries.

Sunny runs a hoof up and down his back. The green mare takes a step back, scanning the room in fear. It's all going to hell again. I can see them breaking down. I can feel their hearts sagging in their chests.

The cold darkness seizes my heart. They will all die. They will all die and it's my fault for not dying where I was meant to. They will all die because I failed to stop it on my own world. Now I can't stop it here. My own memories, a weapon against those that took me in. Gave me a second chance, and they suffer for it.

Gnawing.
"Someone grab that piece of shit and let's get moving."
Clawing.
"... unable to retaliate effectively..."
Scraping.
"Webb!"
Burning.

I shake off the feeling. No more. Do or die.

"Listen up," I say tightly. Their eyes turn back towards me.

"I don't know how to stop this, but I know where to start and I need your help. I don't know much about magic, but these things are made of it, right?" For a moment, I think my rally falls on deaf ears, but I see their postures change ever-so-slightly. The mare stands taller and moves towards me.

The mare nods. "Illusion magic," she says, "very advanced illusion magic. They aren't dispelled by our counter-magics."

"Then we need to find Princess Luna. She's casting it. We need to find her and stop all this. Where is she usually around this time?"

"The throne room, probably," Steelheart says, sniffling.

"Are you saying she's doing this?" The mare's words burn with anger.

"Not intentionally. Is it possible to stop a spell someone is casting?"

"Yes, every spell can be unwound."

"Do you know how to do that?"

Her face registers the importance of the request. Her purple eyes look over Steelheart and Sunny. Her lips contort into a grim line. She nods.

"Good. Then I know where to go." I glance around. "Sunny, you and Steelheart, find everyone you can and get them to the ambassador suite. If you see any other monsters coming, run and hide. Fighting is a last resort. Don't let them corner you. Sunny, I need you to protect Steelheart if something happens."

"I don't need to be protected!" Steelheart shouts.

"You're shaken. You need a break and we need range against these fucking things, everyone of you with a horn is damn important to keep these things back. You're going to get everyone you can out, then get back to Princess Celestia."

"But-"

"No buts. Do you understand?"

He nods.

"I'll do my best."

"Don't die," I snap. They take off, hoofsteps echoing down the hall. I turn back to the mare.

"You, what's your name?" I ask the mare.

"Peridot Beam," she replies.

The castle shakes again and I brace myself against the wall. Peridot splays her legs out for balance. It feels like this thing is going to slide down the mountainside. Every tremor is worse than the last. The castle lurches to the side and furniture slides out of place. This needs to stop and fast, or the nightmares will be a secondary issue.

"You're coming with me, Peridot. You're going to unwind the spell."

"I... I can try."

"You will unwind it. We are fixing this, alright?"

She takes a raggedy breath.

"Alright."

I get an idea.

"Where's the armory?"

Author's Note

So, this isn't the length that I wanted, BUT! I wanted to get something out to you all. Didn't want to keep you waiting, but funny enough, you're going to have to wait again. Road to hell is paved with good intentions, huh?

Comments are always welcome, lemme know what you all think! Have a nice day, whatever time it may be!

PS: I made some music for ya! It'll show up in the next few chapters, somewhere. 🤷 Got Ableton working how I wanted it, but it doesn't work exactly like Logic does. Anywho, catch ya later!