Discord Space

A great change had passed in her brief time among her co-workers and friends. Applejack no longer panicked as she was pulled out of the docking bay after the cruiser blasted its way out. There was far more air in the expansive room to propel her outward, back towards the Central Spire. Every single computer on the station routed there, as well as communications and the solar generators. And more importantly, the tram system.

She needed a way in. This time she had about three minutes of air, more than enough time to punch through and let the auto-sealer take effect. A good window would suffice, so long as her rocket launcher could punch a hole large enough for her to smash through. And what if there isn't, Applejack? What if you're just going to repeat that explosion three more times, until you're permanently dead?

Being out in space gave Applejack a moment to assess the overall state of the station. The Medical Deck caught her eye, several fleshy tendrils extended out into space from every opening. More flesh was packed into every window. Several glowing sacs similar to what the exploders carried floated above on stalks. "It must've sucked up a huge amount of ponies to fill over half the deck."

Discord's tidbits were rather bothersome, but they did give her some very useful information. The fact that any necromorph could be melted down and reformed into a larger being had her concerned. Soon, the whole medical deck would be filled with some sort of super necromorph, one that could potentially survive re-entry. It was a thought she didn't want to conceive, yet had to face.

Her window came up near one of the server levels. It would do just fine; all of the servers were bolted down securely against kinesis theft. Nothing to fly around and knock her unconscious when she punched through the window. "Time to pay a visit to my internet providers." Forty five seconds remained on her air supply when she fired the rocket off. Heavy-duty glass rained out towards her in the wake of the evacuating air on the deck.

It was a very close call between getting in, and being chopped in half by the air locks as they finally sealed. A few items that were attached by cords were left scattered around, nothing that would be a hazard in a fight at least. On that note, the whole room looked spotless. Nopony had even trampled through in the panic. Finally, some time to sit down and think about her next move.

"Okay then, Plasma Blast said that something had gotten into the transfer tube, chances are that it's the same thing on the medical deck. That's where all of this began, and I'm going to have to go there to free the shuttle anyway. Time to do some detective work." A nearby lift took her down to the central tram station. Carnage that was absent above had collected on that level. Only now, the sheer lack of bodies had Applejack concerned. Every missing body meant another possible necromorph lurking around.

It occurred to her that she hadn't eaten for several hours now. The RIG provided suitable hydration for days, but her stomach was feeling empty. "Might as well stop by the CEC mess hall. Chances are all the food is gone by now though." Much as she disliked energy synthesised food for its terribly bland flavour, the alternative was energy drinks, no substance to them at all. She needed to keep herself at peak efficiency to survive.

Did you know that eating necromorph flesh could ironically make you hungry for more? Eventually you'll become so hungry that you'll end up as a pile of twigs! How hilarious! "Oh yeah? Well ponies don't exactly eat meat, do they? Besides, it's not far to Equestria, there's plenty of food there." His laughter trailed off into the silence. Again, she felt worried that there was more to it than he was letting on.

She sat down on one of the shredded seats of the tram as it rushed through space. The inner ring had been totally locked down; no unwanted stops there would make her very happy. It had to be a butchering in there, one she didn't feel like seeing. Instead, she decided to check her weapons out again. There was only one rocket left, but she only needed one in a sticky situation. She could easily make a few more when back on the CEC deck.

"Arriving at Primary Medical Deck. Please log any injury at the main desk as soon as possible. Have a nice day." Monotone and inappropriately cheerful as ever. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to change up the voice back in the spire. She'd head back there with the shuttle to keep an ear out for those transmissions anyway, it could wait until then.

A very deep and muffled roar greeted her when she stepped into a pool of blood off the tram. Fleshy tendrils punctured through most of the walls. Bodies had become hanging pincushions for those bone blades. A sensor in her RIG alerted her to a less than tolerable air quality. A high concentration of pony flesh in the air, blowing out of every broken vent. The few remaining lights had been splattered with blood to give the deck a very grim, red color.

More came with every step. There were massive holes in the floor beneath the surface of blood. What she had assumed was merely a small layer had to have filled the access tunnels below first. Bloodbath was a horrifyingly accurate description. "Better watch your step Applejack, no telling if this RIG will keep the blood out for long. They're designed for vacuums, not liquid after all."

Almost immediately on her way deeper into the medical deck, her way had become blocked by a wall of flesh. A few twisted pony faces were visible in the meaty barrier. The circular screen of a cutie mark poked out near the bottom, displaying a flickering pie. Apple Pie... "Granny?" Applejack blinked, only to find the cutie mark had changed into an hourglass. This time it remained that way, no amount of blinking revealed it to be a momentary illusion.

"I'm starting to see things. Well, time to get this wall open, and see what's lurking down further." She retraced her steps back until she was far enough away from the explosion. Blood dripped from her hoof as she lifted it up to aim. By then it didn't bother her in the least. Her concern was about using the last rocket to get through the wall, when there was a chance she couldn't get more right away.

There was no way she'd squeeze through that wall willingly. It took just a moment to line up her shot, and fire off the projectile. Bits of flesh splattered around, leaving a very nice hole for her to get through. On the other side, virtually every surface had become covered in more of the mess. Slippery in the unpleasant way, but she managed to get through alright.

One thing that she immediately noticed was her inability to move quickly along the surface. Each step was met with a sucking force from the flesh itself that took a lot of effort to overcome. Many ponies who lacked her strength would have become trapped, and consequently pulled into the fleshy growth. A horrible way to go, and one that she definitely wasn't going to stand around thinking about.

Another bellow rattled through the dripping corridor. Whatever it was had to be really cranky, maybe because of that big hole she had just blown in it. "Get over it you big baby. You're going to hurt a lot more before I'm done." Getting there would be a problem though. Each step was agonisingly slow. Now it felt like the floor was really starting to grab at her hooves, though there wasn't much to grip onto at least.

"Come on out my lovelies. I hope you all had sweet dreams..." Fluttershy. At least it was her voice. But what would she be doing up on the station in the middle of a necromorph infestation? Had she lost it in all the chaos? Not unlike yourself Applejack? Don't you feel the chaos creeping into your mind, filling your every thought with my influence?

"Fluttershy? What the hay are you doing on the station?" Her voice faded away into the ambience of the corridor. A heavy squelching sound akin to somepony walking awkwardly across the flesh floor followed. Out from one of the rooms came a heavily bloated necromorph. The face was consistent with what she had come to expect, though the long trail of pink hair splattered in blood made her shiver. The inflated necromorph reared up on its back legs to expose the large, sickly yellow belly. There were things moving around beneath the mottled skin.

"Applejack! It's been so long since we talked! My babies want to see you!" Two giant blades plunged deep into the belly before tearing down to open the body open up. Amidst the blood and internal organs that fell out, three of those infant necromorphs Applejack had encountered before emerged. What little remained of the host fell away in a dead slump.

Applejack didn't even flinch. The only sounds necromorphs could make was that gurgle from their throats. Fluttershy's voice had to be a hallucination then. Another look at the dead body caused the pink mane to vanish. Barbs rushed past her head. An illusion, nothing more. She needed to focus on dealing with the spawn right now.

She blinked momentarily before moving behind a bulkhead for cover. A barb had penetrated the back of her helmet. All she felt was a dull discomfort. "I'm getting real sick of these babies y'know. There's a difference between hating them in general, and hating the ones which try to impale you!" Exposing herself for a moment allowed seven shots to fire off and take down one hanging from the ceiling. Another barb planted deep into her right leg.

The bellow came again. Beneath the fleshy covering, she could hear things moving through the walls. "This is going to get real messy."