Discord Space

Anticipation was running high in the group of twenty or so ponies on the floor of the deck. An explosion from the direction they had fled from caused a lot of panic, further compounded by Applejack's desperate warning to open the bay doors. There had been no reason to open them while the main doors were far easier to navigate through, now the precious seconds it took for the large metal gears to turn passed in agony.

"There she is!" Booster, a dark red stallion with a jet cutie mark was the first to spot their desperately missed teammate from the platform nearest to the opening doors. "She's really coming in hot!" Navy blue whizzed past his face as Applejack crashed down near the others. He couldn't see a whole lot of what went on, but judging from the sudden panic it had to be pretty serious.

"Get the oxygen mask! She's going into hypoxia; something must've interfered with her air supply." Applejack had blacked out for a moment as her lungs began to suffocate. A truly terrifying experience to go through, probably even more so than getting killed by that twitcher. Feeling the oxygen mask cover her face for a moment reawakened that panic until the soothing air flowed.

The crowd dispersed slightly as the critical phase passed. Plasma Blast remained by Applejack's side until she finally sat up. "I'm gonna be bruised for weeks after that. Why'd I have to promise away those apple fritters?" It was hard to believe she had actually made it. "I think some of those barbs might've hit the scrubbers. Last time I checked these RIGs have at least five minutes of air in them, not one."

Her legs still felt prickly and weak, leaving her unable to stand without Plasma's help. Another surprise came to her as she looked around the docking bay. A Pegasi cruiser, locked onto the deck, but otherwise fully functioning. Several ponies were hard at work to try and break the incredibly strong bonds. "We received word about an hour ago that the owners were among the first victims. Since then, we tried to get it free by force. Air Head went to retrieve the unlock codes from Administration through Hydroponics."

Applejack recalled her mentioning that Air Head had continued onto that deck. He was the only pony in their team who worked there. What she hadn't mentioned was the reason why. This was the guarantee she needed in any case. The other ponies could get away safely, and she would be able to finish Discord's horrible game without putting their lives at risk. There had been no reports of an outbreak on Equestria itself, right?

"Okay I get it. I'll go check up on him and see what the hold-up is. I'm sure everything's fine." She couldn't really do much there; it was a normal gravity situation for one thing. Fuel cells wouldn't need replacing; they had a good stockpile of stasis canisters for defence. And more importantly, no apple trees to buck. "I'll keep my channel open in case something crops up. Oh and I may say random things from time to time, don't pay any attention to that."

At first, it seemed like a good idea to tell them about her encounter with Discord. But the name still carried a dangerous weight to it. Ponies who claimed to follow a Chaotic lifestyle often received mental treatment. Nopony would let her continue the mission if they believed that she was becoming delusional from his influence. Perhaps that's exactly what is happening Applejack. You're becoming delusional, have you considered how much radiation came from that damaged fuel cell yet?

In this case, the vast expanse of the docking bay that spanned the entire deck proved to be a huge advantage. She could literally see both walls from her position, no rooms for necromorphs to hide in. The ventilation system was entirely independent too by design, nothing would be bursting out of the floor any time soon. A large amount of debris resulting from struggles to evacuate remained, ominously reminding Applejack of the reality she hadn't faced so far.

Travelling was made easier by a small cargo plate that zipped across the deck in seconds. To her right, the large cargo bay doors that transferred supplies into hydroponics stood firm. On the other side, the tramlines sat in silence. "Come on Applejack, it's just a deck full of plants. How bad can it really be?" Her stomach felt worse than when she was caught in that death spin.

The decontamination lock opened with a slight hiss of purging gas. She would have stuck to her roots were it not for the slew of plant mutations that came with hydroponics. Way too far from the way Sweet Apple Acres was always run for her liking. Now there wasn't really much choice in the matter, unless of course Air Head made a surprise return at that very moment.

No such luck. The deck's atmosphere had a musty look to it, like some sort of fungus had dispersed in a cloud of spores. It didn't look good at all. Her oxygen scrubbers had repaired by then, and whatever it was in the air didn't penetrate her RIG. "Hey uh, the air's filled with something, looks like fungus. I'm gonna be safe in my RIG, right?" She continued on anyway, feeling rather more cautious about each step she took.

The vents had probably malfunctioned thanks to all those necromorphs running around. Could the haze be pulverized pony? Plasma's voice came back after a few moments of static. Applejack had become comfortable with her being there on call. "What? There's supposed to be a chemical gas that destroys any trace of fungus on the whole deck, Air told me about it. I'm sending you the location he gave me; I don't think it'd be a good idea to go on if you can't see far."

Applejack could barely see the blue line through the growing haze beyond a few metres. It gave her a direction to go in for a few seconds before she needed to update again. Moving in that direction took her to an intersection, where she checked again. Down the left, then through another doorway. To her relief, the air was much clearer in the corridor she had entered. The industrial glass walls held back various pipes of chemicals that ran through the whole deck.

Most of the station had this kind of food, the stuff that grew entirely from fluorescent lights and liquids sprayed at them. CEC had their food supplies shipped up from Equestria. Only Luna's private section of the station in the government ring had access to plants that grew by sunlight and hard work. Her brief walk through that corridor was an unwanted reminder of why she left her home in the first place.

Another doorway took into the chemical distribution room, notably free of the haze from before. The purification pipe system had been suspiciously turned off. "Plasma, somepony turned off the cleaner. I haven't seen those things use a wheel effectively. Something's not right here at all." The medical deck lockdown. The power core being turned off. That walkway falling out from under her, and now a deliberate attempt to leave the air hazy?

Well done Applejack, you've found another piece of the puzzle! Did you really think that everypony is really that faithful to Celestia? And did you really think that everypony is completely free of Chaos? She didn't want to admit it to herself. And yet, it was inevitable. Ever since the Elements of Harmony broke up, things hadn't quite been the same. It never occurred to her that some ponies would turn to serving Discord.

Her radio went silent for a moment. "Oh put a hoof in it Discord, so you've got a few ponies on your side. They're probably all gone by now." New determination filled her body when she forced the valve open again. Gas rushing through the pipes caused a lot of noisy shaking, but it worked at least. A metre displayed the gradually improving air quality.

"Sorry 'bout that, bit of static here in the room. Seems to be working, though I don't know why anypony would turn it off." The metre had settled around thirty percent contamination. "Okay, this is real weird. Some areas of the deck must be locked down, or..." Something is contaminating the air with necromorphic spores? Oh come now Applejack, do you really think I would resort to such a boring method of spreading chaos?

"I wouldn't put it past you." Plasma sounded like she was about to ask something when Applejack turned her radio off again for a few moments. Only when she was back in the main corridor did she turn it back on to a slightly concerned pony. She could very well be going insane under the stress, but she was one of the only ponies who actually faced Discord. She knew what he was capable of; far more than anypony save for Celestia herself.

Visibility had improved drastically; she could now make out signs up to ten metres away. But the haze remained, as did the chilling silence. For once, she wouldn't mind a distant gurgle. Or perhaps even the chilling cry of a necromorph about to charge. Everything had been too quiet so far, and she couldn't help but think that this was the dead calm, before a very violent and destructive storm.

She locked her locator onto Air Head's RIG. It still registered as intact, so at least he hadn't been cut in half. Applejack! Is that a twisted sense of humour I can actually relate to developing? A sound finally did appear, though it made Applejack cringe. A deep wheeze, mixed with moaning and scratches on metal. Somepony was in terrible pain, suffocating in the spore-riddled air.

"Hold on! I'm coming to help; we'll have you outta this here mess in lickety... split." The locator beam led right to Air Head's RIG all right. What she couldn't have imagined at all was that it also led to the source of the wheezing. Most of his softer RIG had been split open, primarily on the back where two oversized lungs pushed clouds of spores out. His lower jaw had become fused into the front hooves, the back hooves had melted away altogether. The health readout showed a weak, but definitely present life-sign.

Oh dear, and for a moment, you were actually starting to see the funny side of this. What a shame. Applejack didn't even hear Discord that time. Her hoof was outstretched to touch the blue face full of pain. Up close, she could see the membranes of his wings forming a cage over the lungs. A data transfer would give her access to his last hours; hopefully he had managed to obtain the codes. At least then it wouldn't have been for nothing. "How in Equestria am I going to tell Plasma?" She activated the camera in her helmet instead.

It would hurt the poor unicorn either way, learning that the spark of her life had become a tortured necromorph that poisoned the air. At least if she saw the suffering, she would understand what Applejack was going to do. For once, she detached the cutter-pistol from her shoulder. A small guide rail allowed it to slide down to the end of her hoof for independent aiming. This was something she didn't want to have her eyes open for.

"I swear, if I find the pony who started this mess... I won't close my eyes." They closed this time when she was sure the shot would be instantly fatal. Her body shook as the discharge kicked back against her hoof. The physical action was over, but she wouldn't be forgetting it any time soon. Once the data transfer had finished, she turned off the camera and started making her way back.

The air had cleared by the time she reached the door. Her mission had been shorter than expected, at a cost she couldn't bear to think about. Now was the perfect time to keep her helmet on, to conceal the utter horror on her face. Air Head had been conscious in that twisted half-life. How could she just move on from having killed him, even in desperate mercy?

Some ponies could tell something didn't go well in her brief absence. None dared to ask what had happened, that question was left to Plasma Blast as Applejack made her way over to the bench. "Applejack, did you get the codes?" She didn't see Air Head behind her. Instead, she was met with a deeply scarred expression as the helmet folded away. She actually had to take a deep inhale before playing the video.

Everypony fell silent at that moment. The wheezing continued on for several seconds, until a single loud shot silenced the suffering. "Until now, I had my doubts about other ponies deliberately trying to sabotage my efforts. Now, I want all of you to get back to Equestria. I'm finishing this alone." The codes downloaded into the bench, where they found their way into the ship locking system. All eight of the thick metal clamps unfolded at last. Again, there was no celebration for her achievement.

Crack Shot galloped over from his position towards the medical deck. "They're starting to break through!" All eyes turned to the wall in question. A terrible slush of sounds echoed around the room. The horde had reached them. No time to grieve over their loss anymore, much as she hated to admit it. They had to evacuate, before they were overrun.

Applejack took another look at her shoulder-mounted weapon. It wouldn't do much against such a sizeable horde. "Plasma, I need a bigger weapon if I'm gonna hold them off until the ship's clear." She seemed too grief stricken to say anything at first. Soon, she finally swallowed down tears that had begun to form in the face of joining Air Head's fate.

"I worked on modifying the charge of a debris blaster into an explosive yield. Essentially a rocket launcher." Applejack took one look at the weapon in question before sliding her hoof into the holding slot. It would do just fine. Aren't we becoming quite the griffon now, Applejack? A rocket launcher hardly seems to fit a pony who used to buck apples out of a tree for her living.

"Shut up... Just shut up!" Applejack had been sure to avoid looking in Plasma's direction when she shouted. Her free hoof wiped some of the sweat that had formed away. "This'll do just nicely Plasma, and don't worry about me either." She took the moment to properly examine her new weapon. It was comfortably weighted, and didn't impede her movement too much. The tip of the barrel left her enough space to walk around comfortably.

Most of the survivors had boarded the aerodynamic cruiser by then. Pegasi really prided themselves on speed, a quick journey would be best in this case. Plasma was the last to board. Air Head's death had torn out a part of her, now there was a good chance she would lose Applejack too. Her lover, and her only real friend. Both gone in one day.

Applejack's mindset had changed drastically in that one day. Her first encounter had been met with severe hesitation and panic. Now, she wanted to fight the necromorphs, almost entirely to try and block out the boiling anger that had developed over Air Head. His death had been brought about by pony hooves. The same hooves who were undoubtedly responsible for this outbreak.

"Come and bucking fight me." A small crate provided her the stability to aim her launcher effectively. What remained of the barricade was starting to fall. Sure, there were stasis canisters available, but she didn't want to see necromorphs blow up in slow motion. She wanted them to know that she wouldn't go down without a fight. That whatever remained of the original pony didn't have to go through the torment any longer.

"Applejack! The doors are closing!" She turned her head away from the barricade for just a moment. The large main doors were indeed closing; the cruiser wouldn't be able to escape. Another attempt to prevent her from succeeding, one that she wasn't going to let happen this time around. A few necromorphs had broken through the barricade at that point, charging towards her as she aimed for the gears of the inner doors.

There was far less room to manoeuvre but once they were outside it wouldn't be that big of a deal anyway. Outside in space, the necromorphs wouldn't be able to ravage the ship, and the ponies on board. Her chance of survival was low, but she still had two more chances to get it right after all. "Time to buck this station to Tartarus and back."

Her hoof jerked back as the rocket fired off. A blade sliced down beside her, followed closely by a barb skimming her helmet. That moment felt like the whole world was trapped in stasis, caught in slow motion for her to watch. Perhaps it was. A short delay followed the explosion that destroyed most of the gears in that section. The doors buckled in, air began to flow out through the small gap left by the destroyed field generator. Necromorphs flew past Applejack as she held on for a moment longer. An ear-shattering volley from the cruiser took out what remained of the door, taking the entire docking bay clear out into space.