Waiting for an ambush, Tarnish poked his head into the gristly, massacred mess hall. The corpses were still here, frozen, pain and terror still visible on their faces. Frozen pools of blood covered the floor. Torn limbs and sundered bodies lay amongst the overturned tables. Pausing, Tarnish could hear the faint whimpering sounds coming from Rainbow, a faint sound of anguish made with every breath. He wished that he could spare her from this somehow.

Vinyl began gathering up bullets that Tarnished had missed, and he had missed many. Daring Do stepped over the bodies and made her way to the kitchen area, no doubt focused on the needs of the living, just like Tarnish was. Rainbow just stood there in the doorway, unmoving, staring, transfixed in place by horror.

“Shouldn’t we do something with the bodies?” Rainbow asked in a soft, almost reverent whisper.

“What?” Daring Do responded as she paused in the kitchen doorway. “Carve graves into the frozen ground? How many calories shall we waste paying respects to the dead when our own survival is questionable?”

Shaking, Rainbow lifted her head and her eyes could be seen blinking behind her goggles. She huffed a few times, then managed to spit out, “You know, you complain about Tarnish showing no compassion, but you’re just as callous!”

“In this instance, I am,” Daring admitted, and then she passed through the door into the kitchen. “Tarnish and I, we have an understanding. We survive. It is what we do.”

Tarnish, not knowing what to do or say, stood there, looking at Rainbow, and he drew in a deep breath of freezing, lung chilling air. After some thought, he had this to say: “I know it sounds awful, but what can we do, really? If something happens to us, we’ll share the same fate. We’ll just be a pile of frozen corpses that maybe some other survivor might pick clean.”

Hanging her head, Rainbow retreated over to a corner, picked up an overturned chair, and sat down. She said nothing, but just stared at the bodies, her eyes wide behind her goggles. Tarnish wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t know what else to say. This was something that Rainbow was going to have to come to grips with, and the sooner, the better.

“I shouldn’t be here,” Rainbow Dash said in a low whisper. “I’m gonna go keep watch outside.”

Using his shield, Tarnish smashed open the heavy padlock on the locked cabinet in the kitchen, hoping and expecting to find a treasure trove of delicious food. With his telekinesis, he yanked open the reinforced steel door and looked inside, eager for fantastic loot. What he found left him quite curious. There were liquor bottles a plenty, which he didn’t care about, and lots of canned goods.

Lifting a can, he read the label. “Creamed rice pudding.”

“You’ve found the dessert cabinet!” Daring Do cried as she came trotting over. “Oh! Spotted dick!”

“You didn’t spot nothing, that’s tucked up under my outerwear. It’s way too cold to leave it hanging out.”

For a moment, nothing happened, but then Daring Do began to turn her head. She looked up at Tarnish, her face unseen behind her scarf. Her eyes could be seen through her goggles though, and they became narrowed. Lifting a hoof, she made a motion, a gesture of cutting her throat, while making a low nickering of disapproval.

“It’s pudding,” Daring Do said to Tarnish.

“My wife calls what comes out colt custard,” Tarnish replied. “I suppose it might be pudding textured though, I wouldn’t know.”

Daring Do squeezed her eyes shut and let out a groan. “That’s quite enough, Mister Teapot.”

“You know, it occurs to me, when you’re happy with me, you sound like Daring Do, but when you’re upset with me, you sound more like Miss Yearling.” Tarnish lifted out a can and held it up to look at the label. “What’s creamed semolina, anyhow?”

“It is what fills the space between your ears,” Daring Do deadpanned as she once more looked up at her colleague, companion, and friend.

“Oh, that’s mean, just plain mean, Miss Yearling. I think you could do with more spotted dick in your life.” Stepping forwards, Tarnish poked his head into the cabinet to have a better look at the strange, foreign desserts. “What in Tartarus is creamed rice pudding with sultanas, allspice, and nutmeg?”

Daring Do’s serious mien gave way and she began chortling so hard that her whole body shook. She gasped a few times, then gave Tarnish a nod. “Transport that whole cabinet to the sledge, Morale Officer Teapot. Sweets and desserts will help us keep our mood. Get moving, you goof!”

“Right.” With a nod, Tarnish set to work to do his boss’ bidding.

The sledge had quite a load already, and Tarnish felt a strange comfort from seeing the supplies. Many important things from the kitchen had been looted, but there was more to take if they felt like it. What had to be a year’s worth of food had been loaded onto the ship, and that wasn’t even counting the ration bars, of which there were thousands. So many in fact, that they had to leave some behind because of the weight.

Another trip would be in order, but the idea made Tarnish nervous.

“Psst, Tarnish, over here!” Rainbow said in a loud-quiet whisper.

Turning about, Tarnish went over to Rainbow, who was squirming where she stood. He didn’t like how she was acting, and he felt a cold shiver that had somehow made its way through his many layers of protective clothing. Rainbow grabbed his leg when he got close and yanked him around so that he could see whatever it was that she was seeing.

And Tarnish saw it, too. He didn’t like it. Squinting, he peered out and between some trees, he saw a tall, spindly figure glinting in the sunlight. It had an arm cannon and three wolves circled around it. The sight caused his blood to freeze and he could feel Rainbow squeezing his leg with hers.

“Automaton thinking,” Tarnish whispered to the little pegasus mare clinging to his leg. “One wolf for each of us and a hunter. We killed the scout, I think, so that’s one wolf down, but what’s out there could be a real threat to us. Those wolves will keep us busy while the hunter shoots us.”

“What do we do?” Rainbow asked in a hushed voice.

“We stay out of sight,” Tarnish replied as he drew Flamingo while he moved out of view, pulling Rainbow with him. “Hey, Flamingo, keep quiet, but we need you.”

“Yeah?” Flamingo’s reply was an enthusiastic whisper.

“Mechanoids.” Tarnish made a gesture in the general direction that the threat was in.

“Right, got it.” And with that, the floating sword that glowed with pink light took off to cause mechanical mayhem, while humming a happy tune to herself.

While Flamingo floated off to do her dirty work, Tarnish pulled Rainbow away from the large split in the hull. He pulled out his shield, just in case, and wondered what Vinyl and Daring Do were doing elsewhere. Some kind of alarm was needed, but he didn’t want to give himself or his companions away to the hunter and his pack.

There was a faint buzzing sound, following by another, and Tarnish strained to listen. The ring of metal on metal could be heard and he knew that Flamingo was hard at work, reducing the automatons to scrap. She was good at it and Tarnish felt a immense gratitude towards Gorgonzola for the wonderful gift she had given him.

The sound of gunfire elsewhere in the ship almost made him jump out of his skin. Shield held in front of him, he charged off down the lopsided hallway, and more gunfire could be heard. Rainbow was right behind him, and Tarnish lept up the stairs three at a time to get to the upper decks where the sounds of fighting could be heard.

Something struck his shield with enough force that Tarnish almost dropped it. His whole head buzzed with pain and he thought that his horn would explode. Woozy, he almost fell over, he staggered, and battled against his quivering legs to remain upright. His telekinesis wasn’t strong enough to endure a blow like that against his shield. Sniffling, he waited for his nose to start bleeding, but no blood seemed forthcoming.

Just as he was starting to recover, his shield was struck again and a sound like a ringing gong filled the hallway. Stumbling, he would have fallen down the stairs that were behind him had Rainbow not caught him. There were two loud bangs that made his ears ring, and a buzzing sound accompanied by something whizzing over his head. It was all he could do to keep holding onto his shield and his eyes blurred as his brain threatened to go squirting out of his ears.

Another shot rang out and the sound of metal clattering on wood filled the small space. Rainbow dragged Tarnish down the stairs, his body thumping against the wood. Behind them, on this deck, there was an automaton in wolf’s clothing waiting for them. Letting out a slurred moan, Tarnish tried to raise his shield, but it fell down and struck him in the head.

Rising into a bipedal stance, Rainbow stood between Tarnish and the advancing mechanoid while making a come-hither gesture with her booted hoof and the automaton wolf obliged her. It lept, moving with surprising speed. Rainbow, bundled up as she was, was still somehow faster. She was the fastest pony alive for a reason and with her teeth gritted in determination, she was resolved to live up to her reputation.

Her front left hoof struck out, lightning quick, and she struck the mechanoid in the side of the head. A follow up strike with her right hoof sent the automaton flying away from her, and she kicked out one hind leg while standing on the other. The push kick connected with the mechanoid’s backside and the sound of shattering crystal could be heard. The wolf illusion dropped away, flickering several times before it did so.

It landed, turned about, and lunged at Rainbow with snapping jaws. She struck again, this time unleashing a flurry of pummeling blows. With each strike, the sound of crystal shattering could be heard, and smoke rose from the automaton’s brass skull. It tried to bite her, but she sidestepped away, then delivered another quick kick.

The axe kick launched the mechanoid upwards and it struck the ceiling with a heavy thud. Rainbow, moving at a speed that only alicorns could see, let go of a torrent of surgical strikes at the mechanoid while it descended. Brass dented and gave way, crystals shattered, and crystalline fibres became irreparably damaged.

Before it hit the ground, she caught it, got it in a headlock, bore it down to the deck, braced her hind hooves against where the floor and the wall met, and then began twisting its head off with steady, applied pressure. With the screeching sound of twisting, rending metal, the structure connecting the head to the body gave way and with a sizzling pop, the mechanoid in Rainbow’s embrace powered down.

Tossing it down to the floor, Rainbow then drove her hoof straight down and crushed what remained of the automaton’s skull. Actuators, crystal shards, and torn bits of brass went flying in all directions as the brass skull exploded on impact. Grunting, Rainbow kicked it away, dropped down on all fours, and went to Tarnish’s side. She gave him a shake, and all she got in return was a low moan.

“Are you okay?”

Looking up, Rainbow saw Daring Do looking down from above. Beside her was Vinyl, holding two smoking pistols. The stench of gunpowder filled the air, along with ozone and hot metal. She took a deep breath and tried to stop the shakes as they began to set in, but she failed and she could feel her knees wobbling.

“I’m fine, but I think Tarnish had his brains scrambled,” Rainbow managed to say as her shakes grew worse. “I don’t know if I could fight two of those at the same time… are we safe?”

“I don’t know,” Daring Do replied. “Vinyl, see to Tarnish. Dash, keep your eyes open. I’m going to peek outside and see what is going on. I think I hear Flamingo fighting outside… whatever is out there will be dismantled in short order, I suppose. Nice work, Miss Dash.”

Rainbow looked down at the ruined mechanoid, then back up at her fellow pegasus. She nodded and replied, “I had to save Tarnish… he’s my friend. I think I’m about to piss myself.”

“Hold it together, Rainbow Dash,” Daring Do commanded in a stern, harsh voice. “We’re not out of danger yet and your friends may still need you.”

Vinyl came down the stairs and Rainbow turned to look at the tear in the ship’s hull to keep an eye out for invaders. Daring came down the stairs as well, pushed past Rainbow, and went over to where the gap in the hull was to have a look outside. Rainbow watched her suck in a deep breath, almost as if she was diving into a swimming hole, then Daring held it, and then with a great deal of hesitation, she peeked her head out.

There was a buzzing sound, a faint whizzing, and then Daring Do backed away from the opening. She turned to face Rainbow Dash and revealed a rapidly growing red stain on her parka. She stood there for a moment, and behind her goggles, her eyes were filled with shock, surprise, and pain. So much pain.

Saying nothing, Daring Do tumbled down to the floor as the sounds of battle outside drew closer.

Author's Notes:

I would have had this out sooner, but my blood sugar decided to tank and I sorta fell apart.