Discord Space

A trail of blood was running down her face. The slasher blade had gone through her helmet at the last moment when forcing the armoury door closed. She felt little more than a faint sting over the adrenaline. On the other side of the door, a couple of slashers continued to attack before moving on. Gunfire further down the deck eventually drew their attention away.

"That was too close. Either of you hurt? Cope?" Shade motioned her head towards Applejack's own wound between scavenging some of the bodies. A lot of the weapons had already been cleaned out. A quick glance showed that lot of the weapons had already been taken. By then, Plasma had retrieved a gel pack from the bench. She too noted the injury to her head. "Oh for hay's sake, it can't be that bad surely."

Sparks flew from her helmet as she tried to close it down. A quick reflex pulled it free to roll off to the side. The unicorn glanced at it briefly before starting to apply gel directly to her head. "That slash must've hit some vital circuitry. I should be able to repair it, but you're going to need something better if you're making a habit of getting stabbed." Applejack took a glance at her health read out once Plasma had finished applying the gel. It had gone down past the halfway mark.

"Okay, fine. Maybe it was a little rough. Just don't fuss over me okay, I've been torn to shreds before, remember?" Shade got up from the body pile with a mangled pulse rifle. It still felt odd that she was so calm with the changeling just picking up deadly weapons in front of her. Worse, she showed no interest in opening the crates and cupboards. Only pony bodies.

"Can you repair this too? I was a sniper in the war, this is the closest that I can find to my style. Cutters and other dangerous tools don't work in my favour." Both ponies were now occupied at the bench, leaving Applejack to herself. The scene was making her head spin. Maybe it had something to do with Plasma's punch that broke the illusion, or the pile of bodies in the corner.

A set of cutting blades caught her eye. In a desperate situation, it would be a lot easier to fire off a ripper than her plasma cutter. "So tell me Cope, didn't the changelings crack invisibility before the war? It's been some time now, I would've thought you'd perfected the technology. Why disguise as a necromorph, instead of just staying invisible altogether?" A bit of searching turned up her ripper. This came with its own saddle harness, sitting on her left side behind her shoulder.

Shade took her time to respond in between helping Plasma with the repairs. "We have perfected it, though there are some unavoidable problems. It doesn't recharge properly beyond Equestria and the Lunar surface for one, and it didn't seem to fool those things anyway for another. Though, it might fool those guards, if that's what you're thinking." She flashed a grin in her direction. Applejack couldn't conceal her shudder.

Something very large ran past the door. Metal being torn and crushed followed that, accompanied with some screams and excessive gunfire. "I don't think we'll have to deal with the guards anymore. But I sure as hay don't want to thank whatever did us that favour." The ripper harness folded out to her side, accompanied by the typical laser pointers. These ones were fixed forward, a small inconvenience she didn't mind much.

Ah, saw blades make a much bloodier mess. How delightful, enjoy soaking your body in blood. Her vision flashed orange. Applebloom was back, blood dripping all over her body. This time, a very faint voice escaped the mouth still pouring out an evil light. "Why did you leave us big sis? Why did you run away to a space station when we needed you most?" Without warning, she leapt onto Applejack with frightening speed. Why are we going to die!?"

"Hey Applejack, everything okay?" Applejack lowered her hooves from the momentary struggle to get Applebloom off. They had finished repairing the helmet by then. Plasma took the time to replace it on her head. After a few moments of beeping, it reintegrated into her RIG. "We're just about done with the rifle too. I'd say we're set to go, hopefully the necromorphs have moved on ahead. You still up for this?"

"Yeah, just a bit of a headache. Come on, I wanna get this over and done with." Nothing loud walked by outside the door. There was always the chance that one of the small necromorphs was lurking around, but she had two other ponies to watch her back now. The door opened without a scene. No barbs flew through. Apart from the remains of the necromorph that stabbed her, nothing moved.

No screams either. Either the guards had managed to retreat to the government ring, or the large necromorph had wiped them out entirely. More carnage lay ahead, this time with a very distinctive pattern. Many of the bodies had been crushed down to pulp by brute force. A few of the barricades had been punched right through. It was definitely a beast none of them wanted to face.

"I don't hear anything large approaching. They still haven't sensed our presence behind them yet." A gutted corpse dropped down in front of them out of nowhere. Three different weapon sights flicked around the room. Shade cursed under her breath. At least, Plasma guessed it was a curse. She often muttered things in the changeling language, more often than not in place of swearing.

The loud beat of two heavy legs began again, this time in their direction. "I take that back. Move!" Each pound shook the floor plates underneath her hooves. Shade used her wings to take up position in an overhanging vent. "Applejack! Ignore the illusions, take cover!" Once again, the orange flashes kept her fixated on the busted doors as an absolute brute charged through.

It wasn't a pony though, at least not entirely. "AJ? You gonna move lil sis?" A dragon, she recognized what remained of the head between two heavily armoured front legs. And yet, she was hearing Big Mac's voice. "Better get moving, there's apples that need bucking back home." A swing sent her sprawling across the deck into a support pillar.

"Use your stasis! I can't get a clear shot!" It was charging for her again. Her right leg had been pulled by the impact; she still had use of her left. I hope you're right about this Cope, otherwise I'm toast. A single burst of stasis hit the beast right in the chest. She hadn't seen stasis affect organic life in a combat situation until now, and the result was spectacular. Just like slow motion effects in the movies, only this time it was the one thing saving her from a grizzly death.

An explosion disrupted that moment of awe. One of the meaty arms flew off as the stasis wore off. The other burned off under a jet of fire. For a moment, she had forgotten that her respawns had been traded off for Plasma's life. "You're welcome." Shade was hanging upside down from the vent, blowing off smoke from the centre barrel of her rifle. "I didn't know these things had a grenade launcher built into them, until now."

More necromorphs were returning to clean up, or perhaps make the mess bigger. Once again, the two standing ponies pulled Applejack up between them. "Thanks gals, I just need a moment to put my leg back in place. Let's get that advanced RIG, shall we?" Barbs began to hit the pillar. By now, it felt like a calling card of the necromorph horde.

From memory, they were only a couple of corridors from the lab in question. Come on Applejack, please! You have become obsessed with that silly suit! It's not going to keep you alive in the end, sooner or later you will succumb to Chaos. This time she didn't have much of an opportunity to stop and talk back to Discord. Nor did she need or want one. She had a promise to a changeling to keep, and a young unicorn to save.

"Applejack, I'm warning you again. Do not enter the government ring, do you hear me? Discord is using you, he wants the way open to-" Twilight sounded more desperate this time around. None of them would hear any of it. Her fate was decided, and given that the rest of the station was pretty much dead anyway, they didn't have too much to lose.

Another grenade helped fend off the approaching slashers while they stumbled into the RIG room. In the middle stood a suit synthesiser, several tubes and cords of all colours ran into it with the necessary materials in liquid form. Plasma and Shade spread out to do a quick search of the room. Applejack took the moment to lean back against the door and admire the technology in front of her.

Plasma took her time to admire it as well before returning to her side. "No vents, let's get your leg back in place and into the machine. That impact took your health down to critical; I don't have any more gel to heal you." She watched as unicorn magic lifted her pulled leg up. "This is going to hurt." The pain that came with her shoulder being shoved back into place made that sound like an understatement. Even Shade found herself wincing at the cry.

Applejack's vision was blurry from there while they took her towards the machine. "Excuse me for doing this, but it looks like this machine doesn't remove RIG's first." More magic began to peel her security suit away from her body. Fresh air touched her skin after constant hours of being protected by the inner lining of suits. It felt odd to not have anything on after all that time, at least now she could actually see her cutie mark.

The doors to the machine opened in waiting. Shade stood by the controls while she walked over awkwardly. Her hooves felt so small now, no weapons, no stasis, no kinesis. "Let's do this. I'm coming for you Twilight, and I'll take this station down too if need be." She turned around and let the machine close up around her. Liquids from the tubes began to pour in around her, followed by waves of energy that caused them to solidify into a sort of second skin she barely even felt. "I can make up for all the bad I've done at least."

Light poured back in as the doors opened. She expected to be lowered back down onto all four hooves like usual, though that didn't happen this time. And yet, she wasn't falling over. "This advanced RIG contains an experimental spine. Subjects are able to walk on two legs, instead of four. Please use caution when switching between normal and bipedal motion."