The Sound of Thunder- Tempest

Festering Nightmare

Part II

-=-=-=-

23 Drizztember, 1001 AD

0317 NCST

Twilight Sparkle

The metal grating squeaked ominously as Twilight magically pulled it out of the wall. She frowned at the resistance it gave her.

“Are you sure this is it? Wouldn’t an accessway be more… Accessible?”

Gleam snorted.

Major Overcoat shot a disapproving glare at the pegasus. “Yes ma’am, it is. This one probably hasn’t been used in a while, since we don’t have too much happen up here in the quarters. Most repair work happens further below deck.”

With a mighty clang, the grating fell to the floor, revealing a dimly lit passage that led straight down into the bowels of the ship. As Twilight gazed downward past the ladderway, she saw… something.

It wasn’t much, just a slight shifting in the light. It ended as abruptly as it began, but something didn’t sit right with Twilight.

“Guys? I think there’s something down there.”

Sailing Master Cutlass moved up beside her and looked down as well. “Wait. D’you hear that?”

Twilight turned her head slightly, straining her hearing. She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing all her attention upon her other sense.

The thump-thump-thump thundered from the deck above her, but the unicorn tuned that out. A distant explosion. The hiss of steam from a nearby pipe. The steady boom of the cannons firing below her. The clang of metal on metal… and that hissing again.

“Wait a second.”

Twilight backed away slightly. With a thought, she channeled the magic from a nearby leyline into her horn, then forced the raw magic in the mental rune for illumination. With a final effort, she ‘shoved’ the invisible rune down into the corridor, which quickly became illuminated by a ball of spell light.

But as Twilight opened her eyes, she almost regretted casting the spell. Directly below her, hanging on the ladder, clung the source of the hissing noise. And it was definitely not a leaking pipe.

There, directly in front of her, a green skinned, snake-like creature poised to strike.

“WOAH!” Twilight and Gleaming Cutlass leapt back simultaneously as the serpentine being forced itself up into the hallway.

The ugly green monstrosity uncoiled itself as it sprang from the accessway. The beast roared its defiance as it landed in the hallway. With all of its weight supported by the thick tail below it, the enemy rose to his full height. Four muscular arms reached out at the ponies as it charged Twilight.

Twilight fell to the ground with a gasp as the creature thrust a trident down at her. The prongs drove their points deep into the deck beside her, missing her limbs by mere centimeters. Looking above her, she saw a webbed hand grasping the other end of the trident. The snake being gripped a huge cleaver shaped blade in two other hands as he swung at Cutlass with all his might. The final hand pointed a flintlock pistol at Major Overcoat.

Legs flailing, Twilight crawled backwards at her fastest speed possible. Crack! The pistol went off just as metal clashed with metal.

“Oh, no you don’t! Nopony or snake crosses blades with th’ Cutlass ‘imself and lives to tell the- GUH!”

Overcoat lept over Twilight in a mighty bound. Cutlass landed beside Twilight, gripping his blade in the air above his face. The cleaver pushed closer and closer to his neck, but with a brilliant flash of light, the beast collapsed into a heap.

Cutlass panted as he rose to his hooves. “Naga. Tough one. Good shot, Major.”

Overcoat shot the pegasus a glare. “Maybe I wouldn’t have to save your neck if you’d spend less time talking and more time fighting!”

Twilight pulled herself upward. A magical overglow covered her horn as she levitated her fallen sword back into the air.

The Sailing Master seemed about to make a witty retort, but he never even got the first word out.

The door behind them opened, and three more nagas poured into the room.

In a flash, Overcoat and Cutlass rushed the first two monsters.

Cutlass’ blade bit into the flesh of the first, a blue skinned beast wielding a net and two axes. Overcoat spun onto her front hooves, bucking the second in the face.

The third creature advanced upon Twilight. A smile split his rubbery yellow face. “Fressssssh meat…”

His four hands held an enormous javelin, which he pointed right at Twilight.

With one look into his rotting eye sockets, Twilight froze. Her blade dropped to the floor, breaking into the dozens of shards that formed it.

The golden naga slithered forward. “Yesssssss. Do not resissst. It makessss the meat that much sssssweeter…”

But as her death moved closer and closer, something snapped within Twilight.

“NO!”

The unicorn sprang into action.

With a burst of purple light, the unicorn teleported herself directly behind the naga. She fired a single blast of blazing magic into his back.

Snarling, the naga swung his tail into Twilight, knocking her into the wall.

Twilight slumped to the floor, her head ringing. As her eyes turned to the side, she spotted the shards of her sword laying nearby.

She stood to her feet determinedly, pulling the shards toward her.

The naga screamed his rage at Twilight, leaping with as much force as he could muster. He flew through the air, bringing his trident up in front of him as he raised his cleaver above his head to appempt a swift blow directly at Twilight.

But Twilight’s magic was faster. The shards moved into position a split second before the naga collided with her.

This time, they didn’t form a sword.

The shards assembled themselves into a long spear, with the tip pointed right at the naga. The yellow monster saw it, but it was far too late.

The tip drove deep into his chest, and the most agonized scream Twilight had ever heard pierced the air.

“Hhhhow?”

Twilight pulled the spear from her opponent. The shards shifted again, this time shifting into an axe. As she chopped her enemy’s trident in half, she smirked.

“Magic, of course.”

The beast growled. Rolling to the side, he pulled something from a holster on his tail.

He pointed the weapon at Twilight, who gasped and jumped to the side. With a loud blast, a sticky wed shot out of the weapon, covering Twilight and binding her in place.

The naga slowly moved to her in the slithering equivalent of a limp. He leaned over the immobilized unicorn.

“Let’sss see magic ssssave you now…”

Twilight met his rotting eye sockets with her gaze once more. As he grabbed her leg with a webbed hand, she smiled a brutal grin.

“Fine.”

Magical energy enveloped both of them as Twilight teleported them a third of a kilometer to the east.

Which left them in free fall outside the ship.

Twilight lashed out with the only thing she could. She magically pushed the naga away from her, separating them by a few meters. The yellow being gasped loudly, seeing the rapidly approaching water. He turned his gaze back at Twilight, mouth widening in fear.

Twilight smiled as she teleported back into the hallway.

She landed back on the floor with a thud. With a small fire spell, Twilight burned away the webs binding her. The blade shards rose off the floor, once more resuming the shape of a short sword. She turned to see the other two ponies finishing off their opponents.

Gleaming Cutlass wiped the purple blood of his foe onto the fallen naga with a grimace. Rosy Overcoat gave the green naga one final buck to the chest as he collapsed in a useless heap.

At the sight of all the blood surrounding her, the realization of what she had just done dawned on Twilight. The unicorn hunched over, her body shaking as the adrenaline left her system. She let out a small moan.

Major Overcoat was at Twilight’s side seconds later. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Cutlass flapped over to her. “Chief! You shiny?”

Twilight shook her head. “No…”

Cutlass tilted his head. “No, you aren’t ‘urt, or no, you aren’t shiny?”

Major Overcoat socked him in his side. “Let her speak!”

Twilight raised her head slowly. “I’ve never killed anypony before…”

Gleaming Cutlass barked a laugh. “Oh, that’s all? Lass, you know they’re already dead, right? You only put some poor creature out of ‘is misery. You still ‘aven’t killed anything.”

The mare’s head tilted sideways. “Already… dead.”

The pegasus nodded. “Aye. Besides, he wasn’t a pony, so it wouldn’t have counted anyways!”

Overcoat socked him again.

“Oi! I was joking!”

The earth pony mare shook her head. “We need to keep moving. Let’s get down that access way before-”

The same hissing from before came from the door behind them. Overcoat jumped to the vent and beckoned for the others to come with her. “LET’S MOVE!”

Her previous thoughts shoved aside, Twilight followed the mare. But as she looked back, she saw the pegasus taking to the air and readying his blade.

“Cutlass! What are you doing? You’ll be killed!” Overcoat practically screamed at him.

The Sailing Master grinned. He pointed to his flank, right at his cutie mark. “This is a cutlass, lass.” He pointed to himself. “My name is Cutlass.” He held up his blade. “This is a cutlass. I’ve got th-”

The pegasus was cut off as he was tackled by one of five nagas charging. He rolled to the side, launching into the air once more. “GO!” He screamed as he slashed off one naga’s arm.

Overcoat nodded, pulling Twilight deeper into the accessway.

“No! Major, we can’t leave him! He’ll die!”

The earth pony didn’t slow down. “Chief, we have to go. There’s no time. Cutlass can take care of himself. If he shuts up for long enough, that is.”

Twilight glanced around the tunnel. Her light spell from earlier still illuminated the ladder leading downward.

Major Overcoat kept climbing down the ladder. “Engineering is a few decks down. Climb fast!”

The two mares climbed as if death itself chased them. Which it very well may have. After a few decks of this, Twilight began feeling the exertion.

“You know,” she managed between pants, “that the equine body is entirely unsuited for ladders? Accessways like this were a goblin, or more specifically gremlin, invention. We incorporated it into our designs of airships because of the fact that it allows us to move from deck to deck more conveniently than staircases.”

After the insanity of the last several moments, just thinking of something, anything else was a welcome relief. Even if she couldn’t shake the last few moments from her mind, she could at ignore them for a time.  “But it’s not the best way for equines to move vertically. The incorporation of a new invention from New Canterlot would improve travel times drasti-”

“I hate to cut this fascinating lecture short,” Major Overcoat intoned, “but we’re here.”

The mare held up her hoof. A bright yellow glow surrounded it, charging the air with electricity. She punched with all her might, and the grating beside her flew out into the hallway.

Twilight looked at the mare. “Why-”

Overcoat grinned. “You like? It’s called Earthtech implants. New invention. Allows me to channel my earth magic through my hooves, even though I’m not a natural caster. Makes punching stuff more fun. Cool, eh?”

Twilight blinked. “Actually, I already knew about that. I was going to ask why you punched the grating in when you could have pulled the lever right there to open it up…” Twilight pointed at a conveniently placed lever marked ‘OPEN.’

“Oh.”

The other mare met Twilight’s gaze. After a second, she spoke. “Let’s keep going.”

Major Overcoat stuck her head cautiously out the new opening. With a swift jump she landed on the ground outside with a slight clatter. Twilight followed after, noting her surroundings.

The engineering deck was quite different from the crew quarters. While the walls in the quarters were lined with wooden planks, the walls and floors here were all made of metal. Metal grates on the floor, metal pipes lining the walls, and a solid block of metal components for the ceiling. The deck was arranged as rows, with the row the two mares were in running parallel to others beside it.

Overcoat took off down the row, sprinting at top speed. “Come on!”

Twilight ran after the red maned pony. “Wait! Slow down! I’m not as fast as you!”

Overcoat glanced over her shoulder. “Okay. You know, you should probably practice running once all this is over.”

Twilight grinned. “Maybe I’ll see if the library has a book on the subject…”

Both mares laughed quietly, a laugh Twilight knew could be their last. Major Overcoat seemed to have been thinking this too, as her smile barely hid the worry lines beside her eyes. But the laughter died off abruptly as they rounded a corner. As they turned the bend, the sound of battle drifted toward them.

Overcoat stopped and held up her hoof. “Wait a second. Try not to engage. We have to get out of here as quickly as possible, and we don’t have time to waste fighting.”

They resumed their run, although a great deal more cautiously. Eventually, the two came to an intersection in the corridor. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight spotted something orange. But at the speed she was running, she barely managed to process the thought when a voice called out to her.

“Twilight! Twilight is that you?”

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face the source of the voice. He face split into a wide grin as she recognized the orange mare.

“Applejack, you’re okay!” With a quick dash, Twilight sped over to her friend, grabbing her in a mad embrace.

The mare chuckled. “Yeah, Ah am.” Her face tightened into a grimace as Major Overcoat turned back to face the two of them “T’aint been easy. The en’jun rooms are crawling with ponies who dun’ look like they been buried and dug up again. What’s been happenin’?”

Twilight opened her mouth. “Well—”

There, right from the hallway that Twilight and Overcoat had been running along, strode a hoard of at least twenty ghouls. A roar sounded from within the mass, and Major Overcoat charged them, saying something that Twilight couldn’t quite make out.

Rosy bucked a changeling zombie right in the face, just as said changeling threw a spear in Twilight’s direction. The unicorn ducked, speaking quickly to Applejack. ““I need to get to the princess! We tried to take a shortcut through the engine room but—”

Applejack waved Twilight off as she slammed her hooves into another ghoul who attempted to flan Major Overcoat. “Don’t bother with details, go get the princess! Ah’ll stay here and hold the fort!”

Twilight tried to move to Applejack’s side, but another thrown spear almost hit her. “But—”

“Go!” Applejack practically screamed as she hit a goblin’s face with enough force to snap his jaw off. The goblin stumbled back, but kept coming.

Major Overcoat sprinted past the two, grabbing Twilight by her saddlebag as soon as she was within reach.

They ran. A few moments later, an incredibly loud scream echoed through the hallway.

“APPLEJACK!” Twilight tried to run back the way they’d come, but the marine held her back.

“Chief! We have to go!”

Twilight shook her head. “No, no! I can’t leave her! She could be…” Her voice trailed off, as she could not force herself to say the words.

“Chief, you don’t know that was her. Even if it was, we have to keep going. There are more ponies on this ship who could die if we don’t keep going! And that’s what it’s all about, right? Saving lives?”

Twilight stared back down the hallway. “But if I can’t even save the ones I care about…”

“Then we save the others. We save any we can. Like the princess. She needs us.” Major Overcoat gazed into Twilight’s eyes.

After a moment Twilight shut her eyelids, nodding grimly. “Okay. Let’s go.”

The two set themselves to running once more. Twilight heard her companion muttering under her breath as she passed the accessways.

“Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen… Nineteen. Oh, ponyfeathers…” The red mare skidded to a halt in front of an accessway.

“What’s wrong? Why are we stopping?”

Overcoat shook her head. “I forgot something. Accessway Nineteen leads to the cargo deck… Where all the non combatants are supposed to hide if fighting starts. Look up there, and listen.” The Major pointer up the ladderway.

Twilight stuck her head into the shaft. She leaned herself closer, and then she heard. “Gunfire. Lots of it.”

Overcoat grimaced. “Yeah. Nineteen isn’t the most direct route to the bridge, but if the civilians are dying…”

“Then we have to save the ones we can,” Twilight finished for her. “Let’s go.”

The ponies climbed into the shaft and headed toward the sound of gunshots and death.

0308 NCST

Applejack

The unfamiliar noises and array of ever-present steam left Applejack feeling uneasy, her ears pressed flat against her head as Ratchet led her throughout the seemingly endless tunnels. She had just finished her shift at the bar when she had run into Ratchet, the head engineer on the Thunder, on the way to her room.

“So,” the maroon unicorn began, glancing over his shoulder. “What made you want to ask for a tour? I was under the impression you hated airships.” Ratchet nearly had to shout so that Applejack could hear him over the endless internal tandem of machinery.

“Ah’m not sure,” Applejack began, gazing around in awe at the network of interlocking pipes lining the walls and the heavy machinery sputtering and moving. “Ah figured ah might ‘s well prove mahself useful outside of the bar. After all, what good is a bartender when we’re under attack ah’m I right?”

“Well I’m never one to turn down a hard worker.” Ratchet said with a grin. “You’ll find that you have your work cut out for you down here though. This machinery’s not as simple as bucking an apple tree.”

“Ah can see that.” Applejack said with a small bit of apprehension in her tone as she continued to gaze around. She was afraid that if she touched anything she’d ruin some critical component, or send the entire engine room into a catastrophic meltdown of some kind. She settled for crossing her hooves as Ratchet turned around to face her with a serious expression on his face.

“Okay, let’s start with something simple, the hydraulic compressor.”  Ratchet tapped a nearby collection of pipes with a hoof. “Because of the internal ley-flow of the aperture valve inside the external flow reactor, the engine requires a bit of dihydrogen monoxide redistribution. Basically, the back flow is redirected via physical pressure to reduce total entropy due to nodic-friction.”

Applejack’s jaw dropped. Ratchet had spoken so quickly and without a single pause, but if it had come from anypony else, she would have been sure they had just made that all up on the spot.

“Magic makes the engine hot, and the hydraulic compressor uses water to cool it all down.” Ratchet met her eyes with a small smile.

“Oh. Yeah, Ah understand now!”

“Good! Now for something a bit more complicated.”

With a sigh, Applejack continued to examine the surrounding machinery. There were moving parts and symbols and colors everywhere, all of it foreign and strange to her. Definitely much more complex than the simplicity of the farm life she was used to.

She followed Ratchet into another room, a small burst of steam shooting overhead as she went through the doorway. Ratchet continued, “So, inertial compensator. While not an integral part of the operation of any aerial vessel, it is of primary concern to those riding on said vessel. Due to the effects of magical propulsion and Sir Figgy Newton’s second law, which states, ‘Any object propelled by magical means will react in a way inexplicable by physical means, but quantifiable by magical measurement,’ whenever the airship is moving, it exerts a force upon the riders that makes their stomachs go all wimbly-wombly. Which is a scientific term. The inertial compensator alters that feeling, and instead makes it feel like the ship is moving forward as if propelled by physical means.”

“Umm… Ah have a question…”

“In order for this to work, we employ a full team of highly trained magical hamsters to allow the compensator to function properly.”

At this, Applejack cut him off. “Wait, wait, wait. Hamsters? Ain’t that like, slavery?”

Ratchet turned to her, his mouth contorted into a frown. “We pay them in carrots.”

Applejack had no words, but didn’t need any, as Ratchet’s laughter cut her off.

“I’m just kidding! We haven’t used hamsters in our engine room for fifteen years! Okay, enough about that. Moving on!” Ratchet continued talking, but a jet of steam cut him off, and the mare listening to him lost focus.

Applejack felt a bit overwhelmed at all the maintenance and careful work that had to go into the engine to keep it running. She caught a few words she understood, but most of it was engineer slang and words for machine parts that she’d never had to deal with.  

Ratchet turned back to her again. “Didja get all of that?”

“Uhhh…” Applejack paused. Something seemed… odd about Ratchet’s explanation. “Say...if it takes so much tah keep th’ engine runnin’, where’s the rest of the engineers?”

Ratchet blinked and looked around, seeming to just now notice that they were the only two in the room.

“That’s strange…” Ratchet said, frowning in thought. “They should be down here by now…” He raised his voice to a shout. “HEY! Where are all my engineers?!” Silence. Save for the occasional steam puff and whirring of machinery working, Applejack and Ratchet were very much alone.

“Somethin’ ain’t right…” Applejack trotted to another room, one filled with more complex machinery she didn’t really understand. A feeling of dread slowly began to build in her chest. “ ‘Ey! If this is some kinda joke, ‘taint funny!” She doubted anypony could hear her over the sound of the machinery, but it was worth a shot. Ratchet trotted up next to her, his face grim.

“Let’s check some of the other rooms, it can’t be completely abandoned.” Applejack nodded in agreement and the two made their way into a long adjacent hallway. Pipes crisscrossed the wall, and a single light dangled from the ceiling, swinging to and fro as it flickered on and off. And on and off. And then, just off. Then, back on, barely.

“Ratchet?”

“Yeah?” Applejack could just barely make out his figure in the flickering light.

“Just making sure ya’ll are still there...Does it normally get this...dark?”

“No.”

“Well… Ah guess that there’s a power issue or somethin’?”

“Or maybe Bronze forgot to change the lightbulbs again… Okay, follow me.”

The two ponies kept making their way forward through the barely lit corridor.

When they came to a crossroads, Ratchet motioned his head to the right. Applejack nodded and followed him. She could hear the thumping of the machinery through the walls, the hissing of the pipes as they shot steam and obscured her vision. The feeling of dread from earlier slowly changed to one of worry, almost fear.

The steam around her almost seemed to take on a red tint to it as the seemingly never-ending hallway continued with its twist and turns, another flickering light offering her only brief glimpses into the steam-filled abyss.

“Hey Chief? Ya sure ya know where yer goin-” The sound of approaching hoofsteps cut her off.

Applejack barely had time to turn before something collided with her. She stumbled backwards a bit, catching herself before she fell.

She got a look at what had hit her, a brown-colored pony with a short black mane and dark green eyes. He looked worse for the wear, bruises covering his body and cuts on his flank openly bleeding. Upon seeing Applejack, the pony’s eyes widened and he quickly jumped to his hooves. “Na...Min...everywhere! princess… pirates! blood...fighting...I...I...I can—”

Applejack put a hoof to the pony’s chest. “Calm down, partner,” she began, letting her hoof fall. “Take a deep breath n’ let me know what’s goin’ on.”

The pony took a few deep, shaky breaths, opening his mouth to speak.. “We’re—”  He stopped mid sentence, a wickedly sharp object suddenly protruding from his chest.

Applejack blinked as she felt something warm and wet splatter over her.

The pony’s eyes widened. “...under attack.” He breathed.

The pony jerked as something pulled him back up the staircase. Applejack heard him scream for just an instant, before he suddenly fell silent.

AJ’s  eyes widened as she took in the reddened staircase. “Ratchet!” She called. “Trouble!”

As if to accommodate her statement, a rasping, almost hissing sound could be heard coming from the shadows covering the stairwell. The shadows formed into a solid figure as a hideous beast stepped out of its hiding place. And then another. And another.

The first thing AJ noticed were the eyes. Blood red, they pierced into her very soul. She  took a step back as it stretched its four decaying arms toward her. She saw bones protruding from rotten skin as the beasts twisted their faces into dark smiles.

Fresssssh meat…. They all rasped in unison.

One of them dashed forward, spear held at the ready.

Applejack scrambled away from the first swipe, Jumping to the side as the naga brought the point down on where she had just been moments before.

Twisting as she landed, Applejack raised her hind legs and bucked hard. A sharp crack rang out as she connected with its torso, pushing it down to the ground. She followed up with a second quick kick to the skull, silencing it

The others paid no heed to the cries of their fallen comrade as they surged forwards, slaughter and bloodlust reflected in their slitted eyes.

Applejack rolled to the side, dodging another spear thrust. As she crouched into a low ready position, a magical blast flew past her shoulder from behind, knocking a shrieking naga into its comrades. She glanced back and tipped her hat at Ratchet, who responded with a quick nod.

Turning to face the naga once more, Applejack noticed a thrown spear heading straight for her. She moved, too slow. She winced in pain as the blade grazed her hind leg.

Gritting her teeth, she grasped the spear in her hooves, yanking it out of the floor as she rose to her hind legs to give herself a little more versatility. She’d never used a weapon like this before, but some form of defense was better than none at all.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ratchet standing his ground towards an oncoming group of about three naga. Applejack turned to confront the two approaching her.

The first one hissed, charging in for a strike.She deflected the blow with a flick of her spear and offered a quick riposte, only for the naga to slither away. It laughed as if to mock her, its scratchy voice like nails on a blackboard to AJ’s ears. She scowled. There was no way she could take them on with her limited experience.

The naga at the edge of AJ’s peripheral vision moved for a strike. AJ barely managed to parry the attack before shoving her spear into the naga's chest.

Applejack planted one hoof on the naga and pushed it off the end. She turned and caught the Naga that approached her from behind by surprise with a cut across its belly, causing it to falter in its step. Applejack swung her spear around, bringing the blade down onto the back of the Naga’s head and ending the battle.

She breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the corpses that had quickly piled up in the room. Her gaze moved over to Ratchet, who walked towards her, blood splattered on his coat.

“Nagas…” he said, frowning. “How did Nagas get on the ship? More importantly, how did we not notice?”

“These weren’t no ordin’ary Nagas…” Applejack said , nudging one with her hoof. “They look like they’ve been buried and gone dug up again…” She thought about his second question before turning to face him again. “It gets awfully loud in here, Ah reckon these contraptions was makin’ such a racket that we wouldn’t hear a bomb going off if there was one.”

Ratchet nodded his head in agreement. “In that case, the rest of the ship may need help. Let’s go up to the next level and see what we can do.”

The two ponies rushed up the wooden staircase, bursting through the door at the top. What greeted them was not a pretty sight.

The intersection of corridors that led to the different sections of the cargo deck was a war zone. Corpses walked amongst the living, swinging their weapons at anything they saw. Every manner of creature made up the scene before AJ’s eyes. Nagas stalked across one of the hallways, swarming a group of screaming, unarmed ponies. Glancing out a window, Applejack saw decrepit and rotting gryphons patrolling the skies, violently attacking any pegasi flying near them. Mutilated minotaurs lumbered across the decks, turning as they spotted Ratchet and Applejack.

Applejack prepared herself for another fight when a sudden shove from her front caused her to tumble down the staircase back into the engine room. Her head pounded against her skull in a daze, and she barely heard the words Ratchet shouted back at her.

“...Engine room! I’m going to find a commanding officer, but make sure the engines stay running!” The door glowed within Ratchet’s magical grasp before slamming shut. Applejack rose back onto her shaking hooves, adjusting her stetson hat back onto her head before taking off down a connecting hallway.

The pounding of hoofsteps on the floor accompanied AJ’s thoughts as she mulled over Ratchet’s words. The engines had to be protected, because if the engines died then the Thunder was as good as doomed.

As she made her way through the darkened hallways, she could hear the whirring and sputtering of machinery, but if she listened more closely, she could make out what appeared to be screaming coming through the walls, and the occasional loud bang or the sound of something sputtering. She mentally slapped herself, that wasn’t the sound of the machinery working! That was the sound of battle! Ponies had been dying all around her and she hardly even noticed it until just now!

A loud bang coming from a nearby wall caught her attention. She stopped her gallop, turning to look at the wall. There was another bang, and the wall before her splintered apart, a support beam caught in the wake of the destruction was hit and fell over too, though the top half remained. Through the newly produced opening, a combination of ponies and goblins began to trot and lumber through, all of them rotted or decayed in some way or another.

“Ah no you don’t ya varmints!” Applejack shouted as she moved to intercept the group, turning and bucking the lead goblin in the jaw. It left a very satisfying ‘crack’ sound as the goblin gained some airtime before landing on some of his buddies.

The ponies and goblins turned their attention to AJ, grinning. They knew they far outnumbered her.

AJ caught the descending blade of one golbin in her hooves, ripping it from his grasp and swinging it, easily decapitating its former wielder. She gripped the weapon in her teeth and tossed it spinning, watching it make its mark through a nearby pegasus skull, who could only feebly flap the stumps where its wings once were before collapsing.

She turned to face another opponent, only to see five rushing to meet her. She cursed and backed off, trying to think up another strategy—

Bang!

AJ’s ears folded against her head as the small group before her fell after the loud sound. She turned to look behind her, to see a unicorn mare levitating one of the ‘guns’ AJ had seen some of the Marines tinkering with in her magical grasp.

Blood splattered the mare’s caramel and auburn mane as she calmly reloaded her weapon. Her tail whipped the side of her sleek flank as she moved slightly to her left, avoiding a spear that one of her opponents had thrown at her in panic. Smoke from her shot obscured her face, but Applejack could see her brown coat and cog of a cutie mark.

The mare shifted her gaze, raising her gun up to the remnant of the support beam that remained, and let off another shot. The support beam splintered, and a hail of debris rained down on top of the group coming through the opening in the wall, effectively blocking anymore access through it. The mare grinned, nodding at AJ. “You seemed like you could’ve used the help.”

AJ nodded, mentally breathing a sigh of relief. “I appreciate the help Miss, but I gotta git to the engine room, I’ve been told to make sure it don’t fall.”

“Be careful.” The mare said, nodding. AJ tipped her hat and took off down the hallway. Pipes and machinery blurred around her as she ran, hardy paying mind to the occasional puff of steam in her face.

“Rotting ponies, gryphons, minotaurs, and goblins? What’s happenin’...” AJ said to herself as she rounded a corner into one of the main engine rooms. She silently hoped that her family was okay, though she wasn’t too worried. She knew Big Mac could handle himself, though she could only hope that Appleboom was with him. And what about her friends? What if Ratchet had already been killed before he could get help? What if...

Applejack shook her head. “I can’t think about that now…” She mumbled, trotting in between some of the machinery and into an adjoining hallway. “I need to get to—”

Boom.

A tremor shook the deck, causing Applejack to nearly lose her balance.

Boom.

The floor shook again and AJ’s hooves stumbled for purchase against the smooth floor.

BOOM

“What in tarnation?!” AJ shouted before the wall further down the hallway exploded into a mass of splinters. AJ shielded her eyes from the debris, needing to cover her eyes from the residual dust. What she saw next left her at a loss for words.

The beast was huge, towering easily over any pony she’d seen thus far, and most other average-sized creatures she’d seen. Four muscular arms swung low to the ground, loosely connected to its bulging torso by some messy and bloody stitches. Muscle pushed themselves through the rubbery skin on its bulging torso and arms. The torso looked like it had been violently ripped open and stitched up again.

AJ resisted the urge to vomit as she noticed what looked to be like intestines hanging out from in between the stitchings across its belly. Its head was massive, topped off with two wickedly sharp horns that appeared to have dirtied and rotted with age. A long snout ending with a pig-like nose that spewed steam when it breathed, all held up on two massive trunks for legs that reminded AJ of the trees she’d been bucking for so many years. They also were stitched and torn, blood and muscle seeming to try to force its way out between the openings. The legs ended in webbed feet, each toe tipped with wickedly sharp claws as were the fingers. The entire beast stood larger than the room he now occupied, needing to bend down to fit his head in.

Standing atop this unnatural freak of nature was what looked to AJ like a thin, wirey goblin. Covered from head to toe in plate armor, its helmet only allowed an opening big enough for its eyes to peek out. Complimenting the rest of its intimidating figure was a long thin tail that ended with a curved scythe blade. Its frame and build reminded AJ something of a reptile.  

The reptilian monster lifted his head in the air, giving a big sniff. He turned, his eyes resting directly on AJ, who was too petrified to move. ”Ponnnnyyyyyy...” It spoke the word almost as if laughing. It scaled its massive comrade, bending down to speak into its malformed ear.

AJ couldn’t make out what was being said, but she had a good feeling that she should start running. As if to answer her, the massive beast looked right at her, taking a few steps to turn towards her and bare its fangs.

Yes, definitely start running.

She turned tail and ran as if Tartarus itself was on her tail. She heard an ear-splitting roar, then the steady BOOM, BOOM, BOOM of the massive beast running as it gave chase.

AJ quickly cut a corner, hearing something loud crash behind her, then the booming continued. She could hear hissing laughter, as if the thing riding the beast was laughing at her. AJ looked around, hoping for any sort of escape route. All she could see if she looked right or left were endless pipes and darkened hallways, no guarantee of it not being a dead end.

She lowered her head, blocking out all other thoughts as she just continued to run.

BOOM, Boom, boom, boom…

She raised her head and looked behind her. It was gone…? She slowed to a trot, coming to a complete stop. Did it lose interest or-

CRACK the sound of wood splintering above her drew her attention to a crack that had appeared in the wall directly above her. Shouting a word that would probably get her mouth washed with soap, she jumped as the wall exploded into splinters, just barely managing to dodge any shrapnel that might have threatened to tear her apart. The beast’s hand was sticking through the wall now, trying to grab for her. AJ took off again, hearing the wall crack and give a second time and the thunderous footsteps continue.

At the end of the hall, she could see a lone pipe sticking from the wall, hollow and thin. Without thinking twice she galloped towards it, hearing the footsteps behind her picking up pace too. She gripped the edge of the pipe, squirming to fit herself inside before she began crawling towards the blackness ahead.

She could hear a thunderous crash behind her, and she assumed that the leviathan had run into the wall. She looked back, greeted by the gigantic beast’s eye staring at her through the pipe. It snorted, and stood up, disappearing from view. Had it given up?

Her hopes for an easy escape were dashed when she saw the metallic reptile look into the pipe after her, and begin climbing in.

AJ’s eyes widened and she started to crawl faster, hearing the clicking of metal on metal behind her as the armored goblin made a grab for her. She felt something sharp cut into her leg, and she winced, bringing her good leg back and kicking hard behind her. She heard a painful shriek and continued to crawl.

The pipe was heating up fast. AJ looked up, able to see a white cloud of steam forming in the distance. Her eyes widened, and she glanced behind. The goblin crawled towards her with renewed purpose, bloodlust reflected in his eyes. A bloody hoofprint could be seen on his helmet, AJ had kicked him hard enough to dent his armor, which she was sure he was not happy about.

AJ had little time to think, so she started to pound away at the pipe with her hooves, praying that it would give way. The pipe shook, she could feel the reptile’s breath on her neck, hear its rasping laughter as if it knew it had won…

With an ear-piercing screeching sound, the pipe gave way, and AJ tumbled out to the floor below. She landed on her back, facing the pipe she had fallen from.

Above her she could see the monster that had chased her through the pipes staring down at her. It looked like it might come down to finish her off, but it spared a glance upwards and let out a high-pitched shriek of fear. It turned and made its way back towards where it had first entered.

Shortly after, a massive cloud of steam passed by the new hole AJ had made, and she breathed a huge sigh of relief as she climbed back to her hooves.

She dusted herself off, adjusting her Stetson hat as she looked up to where she—

...only to notice the eyes of a surrounding group of zombie-like gryphons staring back at her.

“...ah ponyfeathers.”

The gryphons’ talons clicked on the metal floor as they slowly began to stalk towards her. AJ began to back up, looking around for some possible way of defending herself rather than just with her hooves. Her eyes passed over some of the pipework in the hallway, her mind wandering to the incident in the steam pipe overhead not too long ago where she almost got fried to a crisp.

Thinking quickly, lifted her two rear hooves into the air, pivoted on her front, and bucked a nearby pipe, causing it to expel white-hot steam over the incoming group of gryphons. Somewhere in the back of her mind, AJ could imagine Ratchet yelling at her for damaging the equipment, but she simply smirked and put it off for now. She heard shrieks and cries of agony as the gryphons backed away from it, but a few pushed through it to make their way towards her, eyes burning red with rage.

Applejack braced herself on her front hooves again, delivering all the strength in her rear hooves built up from years of applebucking upon the first gryphon to reach her, causing it to reel backwards into the steam and cry out in pain, unable to move.

The next one was faster, moving around in an attempt to throw off her aim. Applejack had to steady herself to avoid a swipe from one of its talons, leaving the gryphon exposed. AJ quickly took up the opportunity to buck the gryphon’s exposed torso, leaving it to join its friend.

The one after that didn’t have any plan of attack, it simply rushed forward, wings and talons outspread and tackled AJ onto the floor. She was about to kick it off when it was joined by a friend. Then another, and another, until AJ was literally covered in a pile of gryphons pinning her down. AJ grimaced, pushing against the weight with all her might.

“Git...off!” She yelled forcefully, kicking out with all her strength and sending the horde sprawling. She quickly clambered back onto her hooves, adjusting her stetson hat and backing up as the Gryphons started creeping towards her again. She winced at a fresh wound on her backside. It must have happened during that massive pile up. All in all, it was not looking good for her.

One of them gave a deep, scratchy laugh before leaping at her. AJ readied herself…

Boom!

The Gryphon flew backwards into its comrades. AJ whirled on her hooves to see the mare from earlier once again, a gun levitating in her magical grasp. Its end still smoked. “Seems like you could use some help, again.” She said with a smirk, causing AJ to smirk in return.

“Dun’ get used to all this ‘saving me’ hayseed. I ain’t some damsel in di’stress.”

“Less talking, more fighting.” She nodded towards the gryphons, who rose to their talons again.

“I gi’tya.” AJ said, smirking as the rotting corpses growled at them once more.

The mare next to AJ let loose another round of fire, causing several gryphons to fall and bursting another steam pipe overhead. The rest of them rushed forward with renewed vigor, their eyes glowing a bloody red.

AJ dodged a leap, bringing her hoof down on the back of the gryphon who had missed, feeling a sharp snap accompanied by a putridly loud crack. She heard a thumping sound behind her, quickly turning and ducking to dodge another swipe, but was caught by surprise when another talon came from underneath and caught her in the chest, leaving three bright red marks on her chest.

She muttered a curse under her breath and retaliated with a solid blow to the gryphon’s beak, then bucked it back into the massive cloud of steam. She could hear the unicorn’s gun going off again and again, more and more gryphons falling to its fire as AJ contended with one that had made it past the massacre, jumping into the air and tackling her.

AJ rolled with the gryphon for a minute, before coming to a stop with her on top. The gryphon struggled briefly, before AJ brought her hoof down and silenced it.

When all was quiet aside from the hiss of steam escaping the pipes, AJ stepped away from her fallen enemy and went to the unicorn’s side, breathing heavy.

“Mah apologies,” she said, turning herself to face the unicorn. “I don’t think ah’ve properly introduced myself, mah name is Applejack. And you are…?”

The unicorn mare smiled, extending a hoof. “Gear. Bronze Gear. I’m an engineer down here.” AJ met the hoof with her own, making a solid ‘clop’ as the two exchanged a hoof bump.

“Well Bronze Gear, any unicorn that can fight like ah jus’ saw is alright in mah book.”

Bronze took the compliment with a slight grin as she turned to face the doorway. “We need to get to the main engine room, I think that’s where everypony’s gone.”

Applejack simply gave her a blank stare. “Right...ah’m a bit lost down here, do ya’ll think you could...lead the way?”

Bronze Gear simply smiled and nodded in return, and the two mares began to trot towards the engine room, the unicorn keeping her gun held steady for any thrall that might jump out at them.

AJ took this pause in action to observe some of the structure, most of the walls and pipes were covered in blood, and a few bodies laid here and there, from varying different species. AJ could have sworn she saw a few ponies in the mix, but the loss of pony life was quickly countered by a few goblin, naga, and minotaur bodies she saw as well.

“‘Ey Gear…” AJ began, causing Bronze Gear to turn her head in her direction to show that she was listening. “I don’t suppose ya’ll know who’s attackin’ us? I’d like to give ‘em whatfor once this is all said and done.”

“I’ve only heard by word of mouth but…” bronze Gear sighed. “a lot of ponies seem to think it’s Scorn, the Demon of the Sea.”

The name and title of the cursed changeling of legend stirred a memory in the back of AJ’s mind, but she put it off for now. Best to focus on the task at hoof than to dwell in the past. She needed to make sure the engines were okay, after that she would need to check on her family.

Before long the duo arrived at a small control station filled with glowing buttons and levers AJ couldn’t make heads or tails of. Behind this was a massive set of double doors that looked like they might lead to somewhere important.

“These are the doors to the main engine room,” Bronze Gear said, glancing at the controls. “I need to get them open, but it’ll take some time. Think you can watch my back, Applejack?”

Applejack tipped her hat, and though battered, bruised, and bloody, she put on a grin. “Not a problem, Gear.” She turned to face the dark hallway ahead, keeping her eyes and ears vigilant for anything that might try to take Bronze Gear by surprise.

Applejack could hear levers being pulled and buttons being pushed, though none of it made a lick of sense to her. Her ears perked up when she heard a set of hooves pounding against the floor, coming from one of the nearby hallways. Applejack got into a fighting stance, but was taken completely by surprise when rather than another horde of thralls, a red and black blur whizzed past her vision, followed shortly by a purple one.

It only took Applejack a second to register before she called after the two. “Twilight! Twilight is that you?” The purple mare stopped and turned, smiling widely.

“Applejack, you’re okay!” Twilight quickly ran back to her friend, giving her a hug. The red mare with a short black mane joined them, glancing around as if looking for something that might jump out at them.

“Yeah, Ah am. T’aint been easy,” Applejack said, grimacing. “The en’jun rooms are crawling with ponies who dun’ look like they been buried and dug up again. What’s been happenin’?” Twilight was about to respond, when they heard a loud roar come from down a nearby hallway.

“No time to talk!” The red mare next to Twilight said before running over to face the oncoming threat. A horde of twenty plus corpses, combinations of ponies, changelings, gryphons, and goblins came stumbling down the hall, glaring at the group with murderous intent.

“I need to get to the princess,” Twilight quickly told Applejack as the red mare bucked an incoming changeling. “We tried to take a shortcut through the engine room but-” Applejack waved her off with a hoof before bucking a rotting pegasus that was trying to flank the red mare.

“Don’t bother with details, go get the princess! Ah’ll stay here and hold the fort!”

Twilight looked unsure. “But-”

“Go!” Applejack repeated, catching a goblin in the mouth and sending him stumbling back into his friends as she blocked off the horde from getting to them. Twilight and the other mare turned down a nearby hallway and quickly disappeared into the darkness.

Applejack wrestled a cutlass from a goblins grasp and violently lashed out at its former wielder, leaving a bloody cut across its chest, causing it to fall to the floor. She repeated the action with several nearby ponies before getting caught in the stomach by a changeling hoof. She doubled over, backing up then tossed her weapon, which caught the changeling in the face. It let out a short hiss before collapsing to the ground.

AJ was breathing heavily, her coat matted, dirty and soaked with blood. She turned and trotted back over towards Bronze Gear, who seemed frustrated with the controls.

“The door’s not opening,” Bronze let out a frustrated grunt and backed off. “Someone is matching my pressure from the opposite side, I can’t get them open.”

AJ frowned. “What’dya suggest then?”  

Bronze paused for a moment as if in thought before brightening up. “We need to overload the pipes. If we do, it should cause a big enough explosion to blow the doors off.”

AJ smirked. “Practical and simplistic. Ah like it.” The two shared a hoofbump again before Bronze Gear trotted back to the controls with her horn aglow.

“Get some distance, this is gonna be big!” AJ nodded and darted down the hall, a horrible screeching noise reaching her ears. She quickly jumped to the floor, hearing something hit the ground next to her as well.

KA-BOOM

AJ’s ears went flat against her head, and she kept her head down. After a minute or two, she lifted her head and looked back the way she came. The hallway was filled with dust and debris, but the door was open. Bronze Gear was next to her, smiling.

“Okay, let’s go.”

The two made their way back down the hallway again, going through the newly made hole they had created. As they trotted into the main engine room, AJ could make out several ponies darting to-and-fro, picking up debris and attending to some of the machinery, which was humming loudly.

“Damnit Bronze! You broke the door again!” AJ whirled to see a frowning Ratchet, who smiled when he saw Applejack. “Applejack! I wasn’t sure if you’d made it!”

“Ah can say the same ta’ ya’ll, Ratchet. Where in tarnation did ya’ run off to?”

“When I arrived on deck I was attacked by a horde of minotaurs,” Ratchet began, trotting over to a whirring machine in the center. “I had the help of a few Marines in eliminating them, after that I went searching for an officer, but they were all preoccupied on the deck, so instead I went to get someone else.” Ratchet nodded towards a nearby unicorn, who was preoccupied with some nearby equipment.

The nearby olive green unicorn nodded back, flipping his lime mane out of his eyes. His tail flicked up over his cutie mark, which seemed to depict two orbs of some kind.

“Yes, yes. Ratchet here found it necessary to disturb my extremely in depth studying of some superbly important material,” he began glaring at Ratchet menacingly, as if he were a might angry at him. “Though on the grounds of our situation, I would call the disturbance a necessity, I suppose,” He finished with a smile. AJ blinked before turning back to Ratchet again.

“Well it’s good ta hear you made it out ahlright. What’s next?”

“We need to barricade that hole you guys made.” Ratchet said quickly, running over to the pile of debris some of the ponies in the room had gathered. “I expect whoever wants to hurt us is still down here. They most likely heard that explosion and are on their way.” He frowned, levitating some of the debris in his magical grasp. “Help me with this you two, would you? Warlock, stand guard.”

AJ and Bronze nodded and immediately set to work, as the Warlock stood in the exposed doorway, mumbling something under his breath. AJ lifted up a hefty piece of wood and set it against some of the debris that Ratchet had already put up. When she bent down to pick up another piece, she found that her pieces was already melded onto the barricade, and it was already several stories above her.

At this point, the most she could do was watch as Ratchet and Bronze quickly constructed a makeshift barricade faster than she could blink. Yer so useless… she thought to herself as she watched Bronze and Ratchet work tirelessly. Those ponies break their backs to do what they can for this ship, and what do you do? Give out alcohol? Grow some plants? AJ sighed, but looked up as the last piece of debris was put into place.

“That should do it,” Ratchet said as he trotted over to the engines again. “Now all we need is to—”

AJ could hear something roaring on the other side of the barricade, and everyone in the room turned towards the sound.

“Everypony! Do NOT let them get into this room!” Warlock took his place beside Bronze and Ratchet as a massive horde of enemies poured in towards the barricade. AJ couldn’t give an exact estimate, but she guessed there was something around fifty different kinds of enemies, all looking for blood. She could make out goblins, ponies, changelings, minotaurs, and naga in the fray. if they didn’t stop them, the Nocturnal Thunder would go quiet.

“Engineers! On me!” Ratchet shouted as he ascended to the top of the barricade, accompanied by Bronze and Warlock. AJ quickly clambered up as well, followed by a minotaur AJ hadn’t noticed before. He had an axe in his hand.

Heads went skyward as the undead forces looked up at their enemies. behind AJ, ponies were rushing to press against the barricade. This was it. They needed to defend this room.

AJ quickly jumped down into the fray, followed by the minotaur. She landed atop a naga, who she bounced off of into a roll. The naga twirled and tried to catch her from behind, but AJ caught the weapon and flung her opponent into the air, where it was simultaneously zapped by three different beams of magic and was simply gone. AJ tipped her hat to the unicorns above, and brandished her new weapon, using it to run through a pony who was rushing her.

Nearby she could see the minotaur tossing enemies around like paper and swinging his axe to cleave through flesh. He was like a powerhouse. Meanwhile, AJ dodged and weaved through the swipes and attacks, retaliating with hoof and blade.

Colored beams of light hit the floor around her and struck down many enemies on the spot. When five enemies rushed AJ at once, she jumped back, but they were stopped in their tracks as a large rune appeared underneath them. AJ looked up to see the Warlock’s horn glowing. AJ smirked, hacked and slashed the group until the were no more. Blood splattered the floor, the smell of flesh and pestilence was potent.

AJ felt something sharp graze her a few times, but it was nothing debilitating. she pushed on, fighting through seemingly endless wave after wave of enemies who all tried to push through the barricade of pony and minotaur, only to meet their end.

When all was said and done, there were a pile of bodies at AJ’s hooves. She dropped her weapon and breathed a tremendous sigh of relief.

“Ah think that’s all-”

Boom.

AJ’s eyes widened.

Boom.

Several ponies stumbled and fell off the barricade, but AJ knew what was coming. “Everypony, get behind the barricade, reinforce it as best you can. We got a big’un comin’!”

BOOM. AJ quickly leapt over the barricade again, pushing against it with all her might. She was followed by the minotaur, the Warlock, Ratchet, Bronze, and several other engineers.

For a moment, all was quiet. AJ swallowed hard, wondering if the massive beast had moved on.

She was wrong.

AJ was thrown violently to the far side of the room as the barricade literally exploded. She was followed quickly by several other ponies who slammed into her, burying her beneath them. When they had untangled themselves from each other, AJ observed the massacre before her.

The beast from earlier had caught up with her, he had smashed through the barrier with ease and had crushed several ponies underfoot. His eyes scanned the room, eventually setting his sights on the massive machine before him. He began to lumber towards it, but faltered in his step as the minotaur cut at his mangled ankle. The immense beast kicked backwards, sending the minotaur into the opposite wall with a sickening crunch.

Ratchet shouted something, and then every pony available rushed towards the imposing figure.

They didn’t stand a chance.

The beast was merciless, swinging fist and foot and crushing, ripping, and tearing through everyone. Ratchet was hit and he slammed into the floor, next to bronze who had been unconscious from the barricade exploding. The massive figure swatted everyone aside with ease, until the only ponies remaining standing were Applejack, and standing next to her, warlock.

From behind the monstrosity, a clawed hand dug into its flesh and pulled itself up. The armored lizard from earlier scanned the room, stopping when his eyes hit AJ. They glowed in recognition, and he put a clawed hand to the bloody hoofprint dent in his armor. He growled and stood to his full height, pointing towards AJ and Warlock.

”Sssssslaughter theeeem!” The beast roared, shaking the room with its fury. Behind him, debris fell from the ceiling and blocked the exit. They were trapped.

“This is certainly a predicament.” Warlock commented, as both he and AJ had to jump back as the leviathan’s fist slammed into the ground where they had been standing.

“More than a predica-ma-call-it!” AJ retorted as they continued to move out of the reach of the massive beast.

“Fret not my ground-scumming fellow, I have a feeling my ideal solution is at hoof.” Warlock’s eyes were narrowed, focusing on the creature. “A spell. But it takes time, I trust you can occupy the beast’s attention until I finish?”

They had stopped moving and the beast turned to face them again, steam escaping its nostrils as it glowered at them.

AJ looked from the Warlock to the massive beast and adjusted her hat again. “Ah’ll do mah best.”

The Warlock nodded and vanished in a flash of magic, appearing on the other side of the engine as he began to glow. The beast looked at him and began to lumber in his direction.

“Ey ya stinking varmint!” Applejack shouted, running up and delivering as hard a kick she could muster on one of the beast’s legs. The creature let out a shriek of pain and fell to one knee, turning to glare at Applejack with rage in his eyes. “Come n’ git some!” She jumped back as the beast made a grab for her, eyes widening in surprise as the armored lizard jumped from his perch and attempted to slash at her. AJ barely had time to move out of the way, stumbling and falling onto her side.

The lizard let out a hissing laughter, raising his claws to bear down upon his exposed foe.

Applejack rolled to the side, the lizard’s claws getting stuck in the wooden floor. She kicked out with her hooves, striking the beast directly in its shiny metal head. The lizard shrieked in pain, stumbling backwards. He shook off the pain and quickly jumped back onto the beast, pointing at AJ and hissing something she couldn’t understand.

The leviathan rose to its feet once more, then crouched down and made a sort of right hook towards AJ.

AJ rolled, feeling the wind from the massive beast’s arm pass over her, then stood up ready to dodge again, but another fist greeted her instead.

Everything hurt.

AJ was aware of a feeling of weightlessness before she smashed into something metallic, then dropped to the floor with a heavy thud. Everything around her had gone blurry, and there was a distinct ringing in her ears. She could barely make out the form of the leviathan lumbering towards her, its eyes glowing red.

So this is it… She thought as the beast neared her. This is how ah die… ah’m sorry Applebloom.. Big Mac’…

Just as she finished that thought, a bright and vibrant yellow overtook her sight. She could hear the beast scream in rage and pain. She shook her head, trying to make sense of what was going on. She noticed a huge pylon of light being streamed into the beast from across the room. There was a loud whistle as the air around the beam was thrown asunder, a large crackling spear thrust into the beast’s maw and out the other end. By the time it was over, she was suddenly aware that she was being shook. The blurred images became one and she was staring into the face of the Warlock.

“You’re not finished with us quite yet.” Warlock grinned, helping AJ back to her hooves.

AJ stumbled a bit, her ears still ringing as she struggled to think through the pain dominating her body. “Is...is it over?” She looked where the leviathan had been, but could see nothing other than a massive black stain on the ground.

“Very over. The way you handled the beastie was pure mastery in of itself. Battlemages such as myself would kill for the sort of grace in which you prance around your enemies, making them look like fools.” Warlock said with a beaming smile, looking towards a very confused AJ, who merely nodded.

“Ah...you’re welcome?”

AJ glanced to the side as she heard debris shifting and saw Ratchet pulling himself to his hooves, limping as he walked.

Ignoring the protests of her body from movement, AJ scrambled over to Ratchet. “Are ya’ll okay? Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“I’ll be fine.” Ratchet grimaced. “Bronze, is she…?”

The Warlock was standing over her already, putting a hoof to her throat. “Still among us.” He nodded, causing Ratchet to breathe a sigh of relief. He straightened up after a bit.

“Let’s assess the damage. Applejack, if you could work on the engine I’ll try and repair some of the structure damage. Warlock, if you wouldn’t mind, stand guard again, please.” Warlock nodded and vanished in another flash of magic to the open doorway.

AJ made her way over to one of the smaller engines, glancing over the machinery with uncertainty. Well, it can’t be TOO difficult… She pulled a loose piece of debris that had wedged itself into the engine out, and placed tilting and fallen machinery upright, though the repairs didn’t feel like they really did anything substantial. Tarnation Applejack, can you do anything…?

“Applejack!” She swiveled her head to face Ratchet and the Warlock, who were standing atop the barrier they had repaired. The Warlock grinned, and helped AJ up to the top as well. “We’ve still got a job to do.” Applejack smirked and nodded, turning to face the Warlock as more roars could be heard coming from down the hall.

The three ponies took defensive positions as the corpses started to emerge from the darkness, rushing towards them. “Do you suppose they need a tour too?” Ratchet cracked, causing AJ and the Warlock to grin as they began to fight once more.

Next Chapter: Festering Nightmare: Part II Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 52 Minutes