The airlock door to The Docking Ring closed with a series of loud thuds as locks engaged that seemed to echo in the small chamber as the three mares stood in the center.

The room was unnervingly quiet after the noise of the alarms and chaos of the Docking Ring as the airlock cycled.

Twilight was doing her best to control her breathing, the weight of the pistol in her hand felt heavy yet she knew it was light as her mind went over everything she knew about the pistol. While she had never so much as held one she had studied ZyraTech creations when she had been recruited wanting to know as much about the company and their products as she could.

She knew the weight of the pistol, its charge, the fact it had two settings in the form of stun and lethal, the exact number of shots it had per battery, how it was the preferred weapon of choice for private security companies because of the two settings and was a reliable weapon that was very easy to maintain.

Her mind went over this information again and again as what felt like eternity stretched out before her despite knowing it had barely been a couple seconds.

“I was going to organize a small fair in a couple of weeks…” Pinkie Pie said as she watched the door, her mane still partly deflated.

“Huh?” AJ looked at her blinking.

“Everyones been so on edge these past few weeks. I was working on getting clearance to organize and host a fair in the section…..was going to have food, decoration and games….supplies were set to come in at the start of next week…..” Pinkie said. “Don’t think a party is going to help anyone now….” She trailed off and the chamber lapsed into silence once more.

There was a chim from the door in front of them and then a thud as the first of the locks disengaged, followed quickly by the second all working in perfect sequence just as it was meant to and now Twilight had a thought that she hopped the 5th thud wouldnt come and the last lock wouldn’t disengage so they were here in this sealed room away from the danger.

She cast that thought away just as quickly as it surfaced and took a deep breath before letting it out as she raised the pistol, holding it in two hands just like she had seen in movies. She saw out of the corner of her eye as the other two did the same.

All three mares aimed at the airlock door as the count down that was the locks disengaging counted down till the fifth one unlocked and with a hiss that made Twilight wince the door started to open.

The small chamber was met with light pouring in that confused Twilight as Rarity had said the power was out in Entertainment but as the door parted she saw the checkpoint lit up and beyond it was darkness.

As the door opened more it revealed the back shoulder of a security uniform and Twilight had to keep from jumping as the door opened more and the headless body of the security guard fell into the airlock chamber.

With the door fully open Twilight looked out at the utter massacre that had taken place at the checkpoint.

She saw multiple bodies of security guards, several behind the barriers that had risen from the floor to provide cover, their bodies in the same state as what she had seen of others killed by those monsters but she also saw several bodies of those things mixed in bleeding that mix of blood and black substance.

“Don't see anything….”AJ whispered before starting to slowly advance from the air lock, Pinkie and Twilight moving to follow as they stepped out into the overrun checkpoint.

“Looks like they gave them one hell of a fight….” AJ said, kicking one of the dead creatures.

“I thought Rarity said the power was out?” Twilight commented seeing how the lights of the checkpoint were clearly on.

“Checkpoint has its own generator, can be switched on if the power goes out. They most likely got it on before they were attacked….” AJ explained.

“Ah….makes sense.” Twilight said as she looked over the bloodbath before them.

“Come on, there might be something useful among all this…”AJ said as she walked over to one of the guard’s bodies to search through his pockets.

Twilight gulped as her mind reeled at the thought but the scientist in her asserted her cold logic, they were dead and anything they found on the bodies might be what keeps them from joining them.

She checked one of the guards and found a few spare power cells for the pistol, pocketing them as she moved to the next body and finding they had used all their power cells.

She moved to the next one in front of the security office and screamed as one of those things slammed into the glass hard enough a small crack appeared in it as Twilight raised the pistol nearly pulling the trigger before her mind caught up that it wasn't able to reach her.

With that her mind started taking in the details.

First this used to be a griffin security guard, the beak twisted and broken into something sharper and more deadly.

Second it was scratching at the class and gave a very muffled roar as it couldn't get out.

The others rushed over weapons at the ready as they aimed and saw it as well.

“Goshdarnit…..you nearly gave me a heart attack Twi…”AJ said, lowering her pistol as did Pinkie.

“Sergeant Thorne….” Pinkie said and the other two looked at her seeing her mane was nearly fully deflated. “I recognize the scar over his left eye….he was seeing me every two weeks…..reliable and tough…..scar came from his father…..we were….dealing with that…..he’d recently requested an increase in sessions due to nightmares…..” She said voice devoid of that cheerful spark it had had before as she watched the thing that used to be Thorne desperately trying to get out to attack them as it gave another roar.

Twilight looked back at it seeing the scar Pinkie mentioned…..She realized she was a stranger here, the closest thing to connections she had on the station had been the other passengers….but these two lived and worked…..these people had been their colleagues, friends. People they knew and now they were seeing them as twisted monsters trying to kill them.

Twilight's mind tried and failed to comprehend what that must be like for the two mares who had no choice but to keep moving.

“Hey Sugarcube…..you okay?” AJ asked Pinkie.

Pinkie took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. “Yeah….unfortunately Thorne…….that thing means we can't raid that weapons locker……” She said pointing to the open cabinet in the back of the checkpoint where they could see two Stormbreaker shotguns.

“Yeah….” Twilight said then thought. “Wait, why isn't the glass breaking?” She asked. “The glass in the waiting room shattered after a few hits…..why is this barely doing anything?”

“Some of the glass in less important areas are just Class I security glass meant for minimum protection from say an angry visitor or some one drunk, just need something basic as if it's gotten through it's not a big deal. Checkpoints use Class II stuff used by the military. It's much tougher stuff as you use it for when you want to keep people out….though i wouldn't fully rely on it as some of the glass is older and we hadn't gotten around to checking it as it was a low priority…”

Twilight nodded as she looked at the small crack in the glass where the things beak had hit. “Should we….deal with it?” Twilight asked.

“Don’t think so…right now it's trapped and opening the door could lead to a whole heap of trouble and be needlessly risky….Ah say we leave it as is.” AJ said.

Twilight looked at Pinkie, she knew who it used to be. The pink mare was looking at her boots. “Dr. Pie? If you’d like we can–”

“No.” Pinkie said looking at Twilight with a steel in her eyes that caught the researcher off guard. “AJ is right…..it's a needless risk…and Thorne is clearly long gone, that thing might have his face but it's not him.”

Twilight swallowed hard and nodded. “Right…anyways we should get moving as I don't want to tempt that thing to keep trying to get out.”

The others nodded and they turned to look at the darkness beyond the pool of light created by the checkpoint’s generator where they could see a few emergency lights but the rest of the Entertainment Section was pitch black.

Twilight swallowed hard as Applejack turned on her flashlight and advanced into the darkness with the other two mares following her into Entertainment proper.

Twilight knew both from promotional and having studied the map when she got the assignment as part of the initial orientation she knew the section was basically a giant mall with stores, cafeterias, cantinas and various entertainment venues spread out over multiple levels.

It was a palace filled with hiding places that would be perfect for ambushes and all they had was a few emergency lights and one engineering uplink flashlight to see.

To say Twilight was scared would be an understatement as she gripped the pistol tightly keeping it at the ready as she tried to peer into the darkness beyond the flashlight.
In the distance they heard the occupational roar from the darkness that made them jump but thankfully none of them sounded close.

The air here tasted off, not like the docking ring but almost stale.

“What's wrong with the air?” Pinkie Pie asked the question Twilight was thinking in a whisper.

“Environmental controls must be offline, general life support has a backup so will keep enough air in the section for a while but can't say how good the air will be as it's meant for basic survival.” AJ whispered back as she scanned around them. The three of them were walking near one of the walls as Twilight wouldn't want to try and navigate in the middle of the darkness.

Soon the light came across something laying near the wall. It was a security bot that lay damaged, its frame roughly the size of a stallion and painted in the same dark blue and black colors as the station’s security uniforms, though scorched and scuffed. Across what remained of its chest, ‘ZyraTech’ was printed in a fading white stencil, a stark reminder of its origins. Its head was featureless, a simple boxy shape without eyes or a mouth, making it unsettlingly blank. One arm ended in a four-fingered hand, while the other had been integrated with a barrel-like plasma weapon, singed and slightly warped from whatever last damaged it; there was a sizable hole in its chest under the company name.

AJ looked around and the light illuminated several bodies of the creatures with extensive plasma burns, it was clear the security bot had put up a fight before going down though….

Twilight eyes narrowed when she saw something the light passed over. “Go back.” Twilight whispered.

AJ did so and the light shone on the body of a pegasus in casual clothes of a shirt and jeans also showing plasma burns. “What the….” Twilight said.

“Must have got caught in the crossfire….”AJ said. “Section most likely activated the security system when thealert started and I can imagine the chaos that would have caused.”

“Yeah….Must be that….”Pinkie said looking over the bot once the light was back over it. “We should keep moving.”

With that AJ stepped around the destroyed bot as they continued along the wall eventually reaching the first shoop entrance. AJ panned the light through the window to see knocked over shelves of what looked to be a shop that sold various small decorations, there were smears of blood over several shelves as well as that oily substance.

Soon they were past it when they heard an uneven series of footsteps, one sounded like a boot while the other was flesh on the decking as if someone was walking around with a single boot on.

Twilight grimaced as she remembered that sound from the one that had chased her as there was no reason anyone would be walking around with just one of their boots and that unnatural pattern.

It was one of those creatures no question.

The other two came to the same conclusion almost as fast as Twilight herself and AJ looked around, the flash light showing them the door to the shop they were next to and she ducked inside as did the other two.

The three of them quickly made their way to the back of the shop getting behind some shelves, from the looks of it the store sold various goods from snacks to fabrics.

Once they were behind the shelf AJ turned off the light and they were plunged into darkness, the only light source was a single sign behind the counter that advertised some sort of beer bathing everything in a light blue light.

Twilight remained quiet as the unnatural footsteps got closer till she was sure it was right outside of the shop. SHe struggled to keep her breathing slow in case it hear her panicked breathing.

Then the sound was fading as it walked past the shop and soon she couldn't hear it, but as she strained to hear it she heard what sounded like soft footsteps approaching them from the back of the door to the back area of the shop and she heard AJ whip around turning on the flashlight.

What was standing there in the beam was an AUX Bot wearing an apron and colored the same as the walls of the shop.

“Welcome to Harlock General Goods! Is there anything I can help you with?” IT said cheerfully….and loudly just under shouting at them.

Twilight breath caught at how loud it was. “No, we are good. Go away.” AJ said quickly.

The bot stood there. “Welcome to Harlock General Goods! Is there anything I can help you with?” It asked once more.

Twilight winces once more and could now hear those footsteps from outside returning.

“Damnit…” AJ said and pushed past the AUX Bot as she ran for the back door, Twilight and Pinkie only a second behind her as they burst through the door to a less pretty area as it was just boxes of goods and a simple desk.

AJ ran for a panel in the back of the store taking out one of her tools as Twilight looked back seeing the AUX Bot walk through the door. “Welcome to Harlock General Goods! Is there anything I can help you with?” It asked again just as loudly as it walked towards them.

AJ got the panel off revealing a ladder like before. “Everyone in!” She ordered as Pinkie reached it first climbing up with Twilight right behind her.

“Welcome to Harlock General Goods! Is there anything I can help you with?” The damn bot asked as it reached the panel and then AJ was in the access point quickly resealing it.

She was half way done when Twilight heard the AUX Bot once more. “Welcome to Harlock General Goods! Is there–” It was suddenly cut off as there was that inequus roar and the sound of smashing metal.

AJ abandoned trying to fully seal the panel and was climbing up the ladder as quietly as she could and they all reached the top and started quietly crawling away.

Twilight kept listening and imaging hearing that thing tear the panel off the wall and start chasing them but she didn't hear it as they crawled away.

After what felt like hours AJ spoke up. “Alright….i think we are good….”

They slowed and started to take in breaths as they relaxed and AJ looked at the wall where a series of numbers and letters were painted.“Okay, we aren;t far from a panel…”

“Shouldn't we stay in these? Like before?” Twilight asked.

AJ shook her head. “These pens don’t go where we need and besides….I don’t know if anyone was working in here and I'd rather not find out when it starts chasing up.” AJ Said and Twilight gulped as she recalled the one in the vents.

“Why wouldn't it leave us alone?” Pinkie asked referring to the AUX Bot

“No clue…probably a malfunction.” AJ said as she worked as she seemed to be working out the route to a panel. “Alright take the next right and go straight, we will reach the next panel.”

Pinkie nodded and started crawling with Twilight right behind her and AJ bringing up the rear doing her best to have her flash light shine past them.

Soon enough they found the ladder and Pinkie started to climb down. “Hold on Sugarcube, I need to go first to get the panel off.” AJ said.

“No, you don't, give me the tool.” Pinkie said on the ladder.

“Huh?”

“You are the only one between us who can fix the power, Twilight’s a decent level researcher who can figure out what's going on I'm sure. Me? I'm the head of psychology and I don't think these things are willing to lay down on a couch and talk to me about why they are filled with such homicidal tendencies. If that door opens and one of them is there you two need to escape.” She said that same steel in her voice as back when they left Thorne.

Twilight gulped at it as she realized what the mare was saying in that situation.

AJ hesitated as Pinke stood there with her hand out, eyes locked firmly on the AJ mane completely straight.

AJ passed her the tool and the pink mare disappeared down the ladder and they could hear the tool undoing the bolts.

A Moment later the sound stopped and the tool was tossed up the ladder, Twilight barely reacted to catch it in her magic, a light purple glow in the dark passage as she passed it back to AJ.

“It’s clear.” Pinke whispered up the ladder and soon the mares were back in the main floor near the body of another crew member in casual clothes torn apart.

“Looks like we have reached Entertainment proper.” AJ whispers looking around, not far from them was a bench with an overturned rubber planet next to it. “Let's keep moving.”

The trio followed along the wall once more, Twilight straining her eyes into the darkness once more but all she saw was the light from a couple of signs that were still working in the power outage advertising products.

Their boots sounded impossible loud in the void around them…..

“Help.” Someone said in the darkness. “I need help here.”

THe group froze hearing the strained voice and looked at each other. The voice was coming from ahead around the corner.

“Do we….” Twilight said.

“Someone clearly needs help.” Pinkie said.

AJ nodded to the pink mare and started to carefully approach the corner. “Hold on sugarcube we are coming.”

“Over here, I need help.” They responded.

Twilight the scientist in Twilight’s head perked up and was trying to take the wheel as it noticed something. Twilight was trying to keep focused on the matter at hand so was mentally shushing that part of herself but it persisted.

“Please….help.” The crewmember said.

“Easy, they are going to hear you too.” AJ said as the three neared the corner.

“Help. I need Help.”

The Scientist forced its way into the driver seat of Twilight’s mind and hit the adrenaline button as it screamed what it had noticed.

The inflection hasn't changed once.

AJ stepped around the corner. “What in–”

She was cut off by an ear piercing scream that made Twilight see spots as she covered her ears from the impossible scream seeing Pinkie Drop to her knees clutching her ears as AJ fell back covering her ears muzzle open in a scream that was drowned out by that impossible scream and Twilight could see blood starting to run down her cheeks as the scream faded.

Twilight ears were ringing but she'd worked on a project that developed a nonlethal weapon meant to disable that used sound frequency to have various effects, she was pretty sure it had messed with her hearing ever so slightly.

And right now she was the only one standing even if she was defended as she grabbed Pinkie’s arm dragging her to her feet, she saw Pinkie lips moving but couldn't hear anything but that ringing as she rushed over to AJ who was still on the ground nearly curled in a ball, thankful Pinkie followed her as they both grabbed AJ and Twilight looked to see what was in the flashlight beam.

It was slender and wearing what looked to have been a nice dress before being torn and blood stained with a far too wide mouth that seemed to almost grin with how wide its mouth was and it took one slow step toward them eyes locked on AJ.

Pinkie and Twilight grabbed AJ’s arm and had to half drag her as they did their best to run. Twilight legs felt like jelly but she forced them to move even if she stumbled trying to keep the flashlight pointed ahead as best as she could using magic to try and steady AJ’s head as the mare struggling to have her leg move, shed take one good step and then everything would stop half way through and she was back to being mostly carried.

Twilight accessed the map on her uplink, it was glitching badly as the signal was weak but she could see enough there was something ahead that was large and they could hide in as that scream no doubt was drawing multiple of the other creatures they had seen.

She moved them towards it as her uplink lost signal and the flashlight soon fell on steps and they climbed them real quick as Twilight felt a strange tingling in her horn she ignored as everything on her felt off and they need to hide as they ran through an open door way into the dark past a counter and into a small opener oom that Twilight shut the door too and quickly moved AJs head around so the light showed if there was anything else in the room.

All there was was a doorway on the other side of the room and then nothing.

With that she sat down and let out her breath as she saw Pinkie doing the same next to AJ who was laying down.

Slowly the ringing faded from Twilight’s ears as she felt her limb start to feel normal again and she could see Pinkie moving her arms and legs around , nodding to Twilight as they looked at Aj who wasn't moving.

“Is she…” Twilight asked.

“She’s breathing….but i think whatever that scream did to us did more to her being in front of it….” Pinkie said checking AJ.

Twilight nodded as her mind worked on what had happened.

After a bit AJ groaned and her hand went to her head. “Anyone know the number of that truck?” She croaked out.

Twilight got up and walked over, there was still tingling in her body especially on her horn but she moved without needing to focus. “You okay?”

“Splitting headache…..what….was that thing…..it didn't look like the others….”

“Ambush predator…” Twilight said. “I think there are others of these things then just what we saw….though less common. Some sort of mimic ability though not perfect….it wasnt really responding to what we said and its inflection was off.” Twilight said as she saw AJ’s cheeks were streaking in blood as if she had been crying. “I think….it was magic enhanced….though i've never seen magic that does that….”

“Well….ah hope we never do again…”She said sitting up with pinkie’s help who handed her a handkerchief to wipe her eyes as best as she could. “Thanks sugarcube.”

Pinkie smiled. “Anytime.” her mane had a bit of its poofiness back with Twilight thought was a good thing.

“Where are we?” AJ asked, looking around.

“Not sure…..i was just running from that thing as we cant go back out there as its most likely swarming with those things…..i saw something about Chuckle before the map died.”

“Oh! Chuckle buns House of Mirrors….i love this place!” Pinkie said with some cheer, her mane poofing up a bit more. “It's a hall of mirrors, every month they change its layout so you cant master it.

“Is it safe?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie nodded. “Yes, the exit will be on the other side of the area, about 200 feet away from the entrance.” She said, “Should give us cover.”

“Right….that's good,” Twilight said. Least that was one concern she wouldn't need to worry about for now.

“Hey Pinkie…this here normally?” AJ asked, aching gotten to her feet and shining the light on something on the wall besides the entrance.

DON’T LOOK IN THE MIRRORS THATS NOT YOU

Was scrawled on the wall.

“No…..that's….not there normally….” Pinkie said, looking at it.

“Any idea what it means?” AJ asked.

“No….but….someone was either playing a weird prank or…they risked a lot to leave a message….” Pinkie said.

Twilight gulped. “No clue what they can mean….maybe in the panic they got scared by their own reflections in the mirrors?” Twilight suggested.

“Maybe…” AJ said.

“It’s possible….the mind can do weird things under high stress…”Pinkie said.

“Either way….We dont have much choice but to go through.” AJ said as she moved to get to her feet, Pinkie helping her up. “I don’t want to stay here any longer than we need to in case one of them gets curious about the door.”

This got the three of them to slowly start to move towards the entrance of the hall of mirror and its maze.

They entered and Twilight could swear the tingling in her horn grew stronger.

She shook her head, that things scream really did a number on them all. She was keeping an eye on AJ as she took the worst of it.

Soon they left the small hallway and entered….well the mirror maze and it seemed to light up as the mirrors reflected the flashlight making it easier to see though not by much but it was better then outside that was for sure.

“Anyone have an idea how to solve it?” AJ asked, looking around as they were at a 4 way junction.

“Normally id say just go till we find the exit but that's the fun way and we really don’t have time for that. “Pinkie said. “So we will go the surefire way and follow the right wall.”

“Ah, yeah I read about that.” Twilight spoke up. “It will always lead to the exit eventually.”

Pinkie nodded. “Righty-oh.”

With that AJ took the right path and began to follow the wall taking every turn that went that way till they reached a dead end with a mirror that made them look 3 feet tall. And she looked at Pinkie. “Well this just leads us to a dead end.”

“Yes, now we keep following the right wall as it takes us the other way.” She said, rolling her eyes.

AJ sighed and turned around following the right wall once more as their bootfalls sounded….muffled in the maze.

Twilight looked at the floor and saw it was decking like the rest of the station in the dim light causing her to frown. Her hearing must still be damaged.

Aj head suddenly snapped to one of the mirrors they were walking by as she raised her hand and then blinked at it.

“What is it?” Twilight was readying her….wait…where was the pistol…..she checked her pockets and didnt feel anything but her datapad and she looked at Pinkie who was doing the same.

“I….think we dropped them outside….” She said, smiling sheepishly. “But..what is it AJ?” She looked back at AJ.

“I….thought i saw it turn its head….: AJ said squinting at the mirror that made them look bigger then they were.

The other two mares looked. “Probably just the light….”

“Yeah….: She said and started walking again as the other followed, Twilight sparing a moment to glance at the mare before shaking her head and walking after them.

They soon reached another deadend and turned around a moment before Pinkie jumped with a yelp as she moved back pointing at the mirror at the end of the deadend making them all look seeing themselves as extremely thin.

“It….It smiled at me….” Pinkie said, rubbing her head and frowning as the other two just saw their reflection. “Somethings wrong….”

Twilight looked at it as well and moved her arm raising it up to wave watching the reflection move in sync then looked back at the other two.

Pinkie gulped as AJ looked at other mirrors. “Come on, this place is freaking me out..”She said, turning to keep walking and Twilight followed them.

And moments later she leapt back from a mirror going pale. “It….it…my neck…”She said, hands going over her neck. “My neck was….cut….” She said feeling nothing.

Twilight frowned at this and then Pinkie jumped back into her, nearly knocking Twilight over.

“What?” Twilight asked, bracing herself on the wall.

“It…it i….i stabbed….AJ…”She gulped. “Somethings wrong…this place…something wrong in here…..” Pinkie said, looking around.

Twilight looked around as well, this wasn't just from the ambush. She then saw her reflection and something seemed off….it took a second for her mind to figure out what.

There was no blood on her uniform. She looked down and saw the smeared blood from her fall and when she looked back at the reflection she saw the blood there.

“We need to move…” Twilight said and the group started to move faster following the right wall passing mirrors.

Twilight saw herself, her eyes just bloody sockets smiling at her as she moved past.

Another there was a massive hole in her chest and she saw her heart beating.

Another she saw herself as one of those monsters twisted and deformed.

Another she was laughing over the bodies of AJ and pinkie holding a bloody blade.

On and on and on as the normal reflections soon ended and each mirror was a different twisted and demented reflection worse then the last and all of them laughing as the mares started running through the nightmare hall of mirrors.

They turned a corner and saw a glowing exit sign sprinting for it as Twilight could have sworn she heard multiple people laughing.

And then they were out into the exit room and all three of them dropped to the floor panting. “That….that…..what..was that…” Pinkie said voice cracking mane fully straight.

“I…I don’t rightly know…” AJ said.

“Not us…..” Twilight whispered as she stared at the ceiling.

“Guess…..guess we know what that message had meant…” Pinkie said quietly.

Twilight swallowed and put her hands over her eyes trying to block out what she'd seen out the corner of her eyes as they ran….least her horn was feeling more normal.

AJ started to get up. “Let's get the hell out of here.” She said firmly eyes locked onto the exit door and slowly the others dragged themselves to their feet to follow her towards the exit.

The three of them went through the door without hesitation and AJ looked around, shining the light around as Twilight strained to listen. She could hear a distant roar but nothing close by so she let out her breath as Aj started walking along the wall, the others following without a word.

Eventually they came to a ticket booth and AJ turned to walk past it and through the halfway open doors without saying anything and neither did the other two.

They entered a lobby with discarded food items and knocked over velvet ropes, a sign emergency light gave light in the lobby as they went through the doors to the theater, a single spot light was centered on the stage as the only light source as well as small dim lights along the paths between chairs.

Looked like there was some sort of performance going on when this all hit, the air was thick with copper and socially their boots squelched on the carpet as they stepped over what was laying there.

AJ climbed the stairs to the stage and went behind the curtain and entered a hallway back there and then came to a stop frowning and she stepped back and looked a the sign above the door then back at the hall, her light illuminating the dead end of the hall, some panel on the wall and a pip running down it.

“What is it?” Pinkie asked.

“Ah was heading for a strange room we could take a breather in……but…it's supposed to be here….yet….” She frowned and walked towards the wall passing by a dressing room and a ladder then went to a catwalk where the lights were.

She looked at the panel. “I have no idea what this is….” She reached to touch it only to have her head pass through it. “What the…: She said as the other two walked up seeing her hand in the wall as she moved it around.

“It’s…..an illusion.” Twilight said.

The other two mares looked at her before they all three looked at the wall and stepped through.

The illusion blocked her vision and then Twilight found herself staring down the barrel of a Stormbreaker shotgun being held by a large griffin hen in the dark blue and black security armor, several people in casual clothes and a couple in engineering uniform and one wearing a red vest standing behind her looking terrified.

The Hen aimed the shotgun down at the floor. “Damnit, you three nearly got your fucking heads blown clean off.” She growled. “Get in here quickly.

The three mare’s hands lowered, having gone up at the sight of the gun. “What in tarnation is going on here?” AJ asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? We are fucking surviving.” She said, rolling her eyes. “Come on in, we got some food and water, it's not much so take only a little, got it.” The guard said, shifting the shotgun in her talons.

The three mares moved to follow her, seeing the storage room where they found more people looking as related as one could. Several crewmen, engineers mostly but she was three white and red jumpsuits with red crosses of medical personnel but the majority were people in casual clothes huddling together comforting children if they had them the room lit by lanterns or flashlights of the engineers uplinks.

“How long have you been here?” Pinkie asked.

“Since this all fucking started. Those damn things were in the audience….medical got called and arrived to try and hell when those….fucking things happened….most of them got torn apart as did a lot of people in the audience but a few of us got back here……”

“And the shotgun?” AJ asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Bitch multiple people went down non responsive, you bet your fucking ass i ordered my men to arm up….doubt it helped them but still we had a clear security breach. Not like i had any fucking idea it would be this, i thought it was some weird pirate attack.” She said and took a deep breath and looked at them. “Lieutenant Gilda, Station Security if that wasn't obvious…..and you three are?”

“Lead Engineer Applejack. That's Class 3 research specialist Dr. Twilight Sparkle and Dr. Pinkie Pie head of station Psychology.” AJ said.

“Well welcome to the club, not sure how much longer we will be here for.”

“Why's that?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“And what’s with that illusion?” Twilight asked.

“That illusion is whats keeping us fucking alive….like i said there was a performance when those damn things happened…the entertainer has been manianting the illusion ever since when we all ran back here.” Gilda gestured back towards the hall.

The three of them went and looked and saw at the back of the hall sitting against the wall was a blue unicorn mare with a white and gray mane wearing dark purple clothes and a dark blue cape covered in stars and matching pointed hat.

She saw them and pushed herself off the wall putting her arms up. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is here for you.” She said with a flourish before swaying on her feet and falling back against the wall.

One of the medical crew pushed past them as did Gilda. “Dammit you dumb unicorn, I told you to cut the theatrics, you need to relax as much as you can.” She scolded as the doctor checked her over.

Trixie nodded and sat back down. “Trixie is not used to maintain her illusions this long or this detailed….” she said.

It didn't take a unicorn to see she was exhausted but as a Unicorn Twilight recognized the signs of impending magical burnout and the showmare was pushing her magic reserves to their limits.

And the second they run out is the second that the illusion wall vanishes….and after that….

“IS there somewhere you can go?” Twilight asked, looking at Gilda.

“Oh I'd love to get back to the station and lock it down but I have no damn clue if the place is safe.” She said,

Twilight nodded. “Alright we will check it out.”

“What? The fuck you mean ‘you’ll check it out? Fuck no you won’t i’m not letting you go out there.” She said standing to her full height.

“What are you going to do, arrest us?” AJ asked with a small smirk. “Need the station to successfully do that dont you?”

Pinkie nodded as Twilight spoke. “Yeah, we’ve been skiing through the section already, we can go there, you stay here and keep these people safe.” Twilight said standing her her full height, still barely coming up to the hen’s shoulder.

Gilda scrubbed her talons through her head feathers. “Fuck, fuck, fuck fuck. Fine! But No fucking heroics. Just take and look and if yous ee even one of those fuckers get your colorful asses back here got it? I’m not losing another damn person.”

Twilight nodded. “Where’s the station?”

“About 100 meters down from here, leave the theater and turn left. You can't miss it as the barriers were up when I left.”

With that the three mares turned on their heels and headed for the illusionary wall, blank on this side, and passed through to head for the security station.

As they walked back through the theater they slowed as Twilight looked to the others realizing she had just volunteered them for something rather dangerous. She opened her mouth to apologize when Pinkie spoke up.

“Don’t, you did nothing wrong.” She said, somehow knowing what Twilight was about to say as she looked at her face. “If you hadn’t then I was going to. Those people can't stay there and we are their only chance at reaching safety.”

“Eeyup.” AJ said. “We’ve come this far so out of all of them we are the best choice for heading there.”

“But…what if there are those things?” Twilight asked ears going back a bit.

AJ patted the plasma cutter on her hip. “We handle it because not handling it isn't an option.” SHe said as Pinkie nodded in agreement. “Besides, we aren't letting you do this alone.”

Pinkie nodded. “Friends don’t let friends risk their lives on dangerous missions to save others alone.” Pinkie said her mane poofing up a bit as she smiled at Twilight.

Twilight nearly stopped, the one thing keeping her from doing so was their need to keep moving but she did lapse into silence as she blinked at what Pinkie had said. She’d have asked about it but they had reached the lobby and needed to be quiet.

Did….these two mares actually see her as a friend? Even though they had only met a couple hours ago? Twilight had only been viewing them as three mares thrown together by random chance fighting to stay alive. Was that….really a foundation for friendship?

Twilight had to stop this train of thought as they reached the exit and entered the dark voice beyond. She took a deep breath and filed this away for later analysis when things were calmer as she focused her ears to listen for things.

AJ looked around, scanning for those things. The flashlight barely reached the far side of the mall only really succeeding in reflecting off a few items that looked like a mix of stars in the void….and eyes…..

The only reason Twilight didn't panic was the reflection didn't roar and charge them like those things would have.

Once AJ was sure none of those things were around she started following the left wall, their boots sounding far too loud to Twilight’s ears as she swore they echoed in the darkness and would bring every single one of those things to them.

She shoved that thought down under ruthless logic as if it was really that loud then those things would already be here and they aren't exactly quiet with those roars.

That seemed to keep the fear at bay for the most part, not all of it, but enough to let her focus on what is actually happening rather than wild and baseless thoughts.

Luckily the only thing they saw as they walked was the body of an engineer at the edge of their light, AJ didn't even glance at it as this was becoming all too normal unfortunately.

Still even with the brief light Twilight could have sworn she saw plasma burns rather than the usual damage the monsters make.

She didn't dwell on this as there wasn't time….a thing becoming familiar to her as well as the bodies. The Scientist in her was peacing as it was trying to make sense, it wanted to understand but it couldn't as there wasn't time for anything.

Soon the flashlight shone over a raised barrier like what they had seen at the checkpoint, only this one didn't have a body behind it.

AJ slipped the plasma cutter from her hip and primed her finger over the button not igniting it to avoid the light.

THe three of them slowly crept past the barrier towards the door beyond, the sign above the door saying “Security” and Twilight could see an emergency light on inside and then they were passing through the door.

First they were greeted by the counter long abandoned as AJ looked around the room before they headed for the door past the counter.

Entering the main part of the station they saw a large open room with desks that showed some signs of disarray but looked more like rapid movement rather than the violence they had been seeing.

Nothing moved in the room and they looked to the doors along the sidewall that lead to offices and then two across from them, one labeled Holding and the other Armory.

Twilight gulped her mind tightening up as this all felt wrong at this point as she had gotten used to the violence of the station that seeing such mundane and clean areas felt wrong as they headed for the officing.

They found one with Gilda’s name on it and checking inside showed a well organized office, the next one was for a sergeant and was equally organized. The other offices were in the same state.

Next they headed for the armory though found that locked as it seemed it had battery back up for it, it made sense to Twilight don't want panicked people in a power outage doing something unwise though right now she wished it didn't have such a sensible feature.

Holding was also thankfully empty and they were stepping back out into the main room looking around confirming there was nothing in the station.

“Alright….place is safe, don't want to turn on the generator as the light might draw those things in” AJ said as she relaxed.

Twilight and Pinkie nodded as the trio turned to make their way back to the theater to report their findings. Making their way through the dark voice once more till they reached the ticket booth and headed for the illusionary wall Twilight feeling relief that it was still there though she did notice it had lost some detail.

They walked through and were greeting the same way as before with Gilda aiming the shotgun at them before lowering and letting out a breath. “Fuck….” She said and looked at them. “Report.”

“Station;s empty, doesn't look like those things have even been in there and we didn't see any on the way there but I would say that shouldn’t be counted on.”

Gilda nodded. “Yeah, got about 20 people to move, it's going to be risky as 100 meters is a long way.” She said looking back at Trixie whose forehead was resting on her knees, horn had the barest flicker to the magic around it as she was clearly taking deep breaths.

Gilda headed for the store room. “Alright everyone, grab what you can, we are heading for the security station as recond reports its safe. You have to be as quiet as you can no matter what we come across, you all know what those things did so expect to see their aftermath. You have to stay quiet so as not to draw them to us as if we are caught in the open…..”

Gilda didn't need to finish the statement as Twilight heard the others started to move to gather supplies though two of the medical crew came out approaching Twixie who didn't so much as look up at them.

Soon the survivors were trickling out of the storage room, some carrying food and water, others carrying their children and a few had pipes or tools and other things they found in the storage room to arm themselves.

Once everyone was out Gilda did a sweep of the storage room, most likely make sure no one was still in there and then came up to the head of the group looking at Trixie who was between the two medical crew arms around their shoulder as she tried to stand there but looked on the verge of falling over.

“Alright….drop it…”She said and the magic around Trixie’s horn winked out and her head lolled to the side, eyes closed as one of the medics checked her and gave a nod to gilda.

With her magic gone the wall slowly faded away and as it did Gilda clicked on a flashlight on the shotgun aiming it forward as she started to advance.

Twilight and the others followed her, AJ with the plasma cutter at the ready and Pinkie went to the back to make sure no one fell behind as Twilight walked near Trixie concerned about her though there was nothing she could do to help as she needed rest to recover her reserves.

As they left backstage the pool of light from the flashlights and lanterns made the theater carnage much easier to see and bloodbath was the best way to describe it as it was a log of people caught off guard without cover.

She saw parents cover their children's faces as they made their way up the pathways between rows of seats stepping over the bodies wearing white and red uniforms and casual wear.

Soon they hit the lobby and then left the theater behind and Twilight internally winced as Gilda was right, despite how quiet everyone was trying to be it was a lot of people walking with several light sources making them basically a flare for any creatures that could see them.

Twilight's head was on a swivel…..if they were attacked she’d grab Trixie and run as everyone else could run but the mare was in no shape to do anything except be carried, Twilight wasn't even sure she was conscious at this point.

Despite Twilight’s fears though the group soon reached the barriers and Gilda entered the station followed by everyone else. “Everyone to the back.” She ordered and they all dutifully followed as she went to a panel and opened it.

She flipped a few switches and within seconds the main room lit up and she ran for the front and hit a button behind the counter.

Twilight watched as heavy shutters started going down over the windows and a massive door closed over the entrance and she came back looking far calmer as the entire group relaxed.

“Okay, doubt those bastards can get through that.” She said and looked at the trio. “Thanks for the help….not sure what we will do now but we got emergency supplies and protection so should be fine for a while while we figure out how to get the hell out of here.”

AJ nodded. “Glad we could help.”

“We should contact Rarity.” Pinkie said.

Twilight checked and saw her uplink was fully working with the station powered again.

“Rarity?” Gilda asked.

“Corporate investigator, she sent us here to Entertainment to restore power.” AJ explained.

“Corporate eh? Guessing about that accident huh?” Gilda asked dand AJ nodded. “Yeah, I heard it was bad, no clue what happened, just know a lot of people didn't make it.” She shook her head. “Anyways i’ll leave you to your call.” She said before walking off to check on the others.

With that the three mares opened their uplinkes and sent a ping to Rarity.

They didn't get a response. AJ frowned and tried again but same.

“Maybe she's in the bathroom?” Pinkie suggested a hint of hope in her voice.

A moment later they got a ping from a different signal and they opened it and saw an older unicorn stallion with charcoal fur and a gray and yellow mane. “Hello? Is this thing working?” The stallion asked.

“Dr….Eclipse?” Twilight blinked recognizing him in an instant.

“Ah good, you are reading me, I saw an emergency generator turn on and had hoped there were others.” He said, smiling warmly. “Who might you three be?”

“Engineer Applejack, the others are Dr. Pinkie pie from psychology and Dr. Sparkle who I think was on her way to your team.” AJ said.

“Dr. Sparkle….ah yes i've heard a bit about you and was looking forward to your arrival, though i had hopped to be under better circumstances….”He said

Wait, Dr. Eclipse knew about her? He was looking forward to working with her? The only thing that kept Twilight from squeezing and fanfillying was the citation they were currently in.

“Anyways, glad to see others made it, I’m trapped in my lab by the lock down but I seem to have access to some systems.” Dr. Eclipse said.

“Forgive me sir, but we were trying to contact someone else.” AJ said.

“Do you mean Rarity?” He asked and AJ nodded. Dr. Eclipse gave a sigh. “Nice mare…we were trying to coordinate things…i….those things got into where she was…..i don't think her and that guard made it….it sounded bad before our connection was lost….” HE said gravely.

“Damnit….”AJ said.

“What was she having you do?” Dr. Eclipse asked.

“She was having us trying to restore power to The Entertainment Section by rerouting power past damaged systems.” AJ explained.

“Ah so you were them, she mentioned working on that….good news is i've managed to figure out where you need to go to do that, i’ll send it to your uplinks.” He said and a moment later they got an update showing them a ping where the bad system was.

“Isn’t that in the Neon East club?” Aj asked concerned.

“Yes, i know it's not a good place in all of this but I've been able to check over things and it's where you need to go to get power restored.” Dr. Eclipse said. “You three made it this far, I know you can do this.” He smiled at them.

AJ sighed and nodded. “Alright sir, thanks for the info.”

He nodded. “I’ll let you three rest as you probably need it.”

“Yeah, we just managed to save about 20 others by getting them here to the station.” AJ informed him.

“Ah, excellent. Very good. There are probably more people scattered around as I doubt we are the only ones who are still alive.” Dr. Eclipse said. “Anyways rest up, it's a bit of a trek to the power system. Just remember we are in this together and we can get through this.” He said smiling. “See you when power is restored.”

With that the call was terminated and the three mares sighed and went to find seats. “I can’t believe she didn't make it….”AJ said.

“We had some close calls too….”Pinkie said. “I don;t think we will get out of this without some casualties….”

Twilight nodded. “Unfortunately…but…”

“We shouldn't dwell on it.” Pinkie interjected. “There is nothing we can do about it and we should focus on what we can do, like getting the power back on.”

AJ nodded. “Agreed….we should rest up a bit before heading out.

The others nodded and they found some place to fit to take a break.

Author's Note

I can say I've not felt this level of passion for a book in a long time and I am amused it's horror of all things as I am not the biggest fan of horror.

But I am enjoying writing this and I hope you are all enjoying it as well.