“Keep me posted, too. I want to know where you are every ten minutes, got it?” orders Rainbow Dash.

“Loud and clear,” says Applejack, her video feed flickering in and out for just a moment.

“Good. We'll see you then. Over and out.”

Applejack salutes and then her screen shrinks out of sight, leaving the group to float around and feeling lighter than before despite the lack of gravity. Well, everyone except for Fluttershy; an uneasy feeling has run up her spine when Applejack disappeared. She remembers seeing the Section H hangar in Honey Creme's video logs, plus it was where Dr. Rock was when the cargo ship returned, and one of the deceased had an audio log about the same hangar.

Fluttershy shakes her head and is about to leave, but stops when she hears a faint thud. She turns to the source and peers down the hallway, squinting her eye as the emergency lights flicker and a soft red glow appears from the far end around the corner.

“Fluttershy~” whispers a collection of voices.

An equine shaped shadow spreads on the wall with its hoof motioning her forward.

“Come here, Fluttershy~”

Fluttershy's eye widen and her limbs lock, making her float stiffly in the zero gravity. The red light glows and white hieroglyphs form on the walls, pulsing with her heartbeats.

“Come be with us. Make us whole again,” says the voices.

A sudden piercing whistle right into her ear makes Fluttershy jump, and she looks to her side and sees Rainbow Dash next to her while the other two are clinging to the doorway at the end of the hall.

“Snap out of it, Fluttershy,” orders Rainbow Dash. “No craziness allowed.”

“That's funny coming from you,” mutters Fluttershy sourly as she gingerly rubs her ear.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Fluttershy briefly looks over her shoulder, seeing nothing but floating garbage and emergency lights. “Let's get going.”

“Leave the commands to me... Now, let's get going.”

Rainbow Dash swims ahead with Fluttershy in close pursuit, and after meeting up with Thunderlane and Rarity the group enters the chamber when the large blob of a Necromorph was. The chamber is pitch black, so the group has to use the lights on their suits to illuminate small areas of the room. Their lights slide up and down and side to side as they float into the darkness, searching for anything that will want to kill them as well as the exit.

Finding the door is easy, though, since it is now a large hole of twisted metal that is surrounded by a ring of charred flesh. The group also finds chunks of cooked muscle and skin, and blobs of blood and foam floating around the chamber. The walls have been destroyed, the panels either smashed by the now charred tentacles, blown clean off the walls or warped from fire. With many panels gone burnt wires, warped beams and broken pipes are exposed to the small circles of lights.

“Keep your eyes open,” orders Rainbow Dash.

The group floats through the debris, sweeping their lights, and Fluttershy turns her light to the ceiling, noting a destroyed vent, and even though nothing is inside she keeps her eye on it as long as possible, and is the last one to go through what is left of the doorway.

The group still has to swim through the hallway, and the walls are covered in thick strands of flesh covered in dark veins. Some of the strands have petrified faces, rib cages, or limbs fused to it, and what parts of the wall aren't covered are destroyed or barely it from dying lights.

“This thing was growing,” says Rarity, shining her light on a face that had its flesh stretched to the point where its bone is exposed and its eyes have shriveled away. “It looks like it was absorbing bodies.”

“Glad Thunderlane's bomb killed it,” says Rainbow Dash.

“Me, too,” says Thunderlane.

Fluttershy shines her light on a strand of flesh attached to the ceiling, and sees a twitching pegasus wing hanging down. She keeps her light on it, trying to make out the color, but it has been grayed and is now flaking. She then turns her light to the side and sees a double helix painted on the wall in blood. Beneath it is: Welcome Home, Fluttershy.

Fluttershy tilts her head and floats towards the message, extending her hoof when she is close enough.

“Hey!” barks Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy's heart jumps and she looks at Rainbow Dash, who is waving at her from down the hall.

“Haul tail!” orders Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy looks back at the wall and sees just the double helix, and with that she shakes her head and goes to the group. After getting back with them, they continue down the hallway in silence with luckily no trouble. It would actually be a dull walk if they had not been going through Hell, but they are too tense to be bored.

A few minutes of traveling later, and the group reaches a large door with “COMMUNICATIONS ROOM” above it, and is illuminated by a pair of dim lights. In front of it is a red holographic circle, and Rarity goes to the door and plugs in her hoof computer to a port on the wall. Once plugged in she types in a few quick commands and the light changes from red to green; after that the door slides open and Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane slide in giving quick sweeps while Fluttershy keeps her focus on the dark hallway.

“Clear!” says Thunderlane.

“Let's go, Fluttershy,” says Rarity.

Fluttershy nods and enters the large, circular chamber after Rarity goes in and closes the door as soon as she is inside. After the door closes, Rarity locks it and Fluttershy does a quick scan of the area with her cutter while Thunderlane checks a locked door at the far end that is labeled as “AIRLOCK”.

The three red guiding lines of Fluttershy's cutter slide across the chamber's curved walls, passing over blank computer screens, railings, pipes and steel beams. Blood, scratches, bullet holes and floating garbage desecrate the scenery, and when Fluttershy turns her focus up she sees a vent network following the circular design of the room with all the vent coverings floating in the zero gravity. There is also an audio disc floating with some garbage, which Fluttershy quickly takes and plugs in.

The audio crackles to life, and for once there isn't the sound of chaos and death and gunfire. There is chatter, angry chatter and multiple clicks and clacks of weapons being loaded and an indinstinct chanting in the background.

“Arcos Hieroglyph and Star Tracker. Remember those names. Arcos Hieroglyph and Star Tracker,” says a stallion. “I don't care who finds this, who hears this, as long as they spread the word of what happened here. I want the worlds to know that Arcos Hieroglyph and Star Tracker are behind this massacre. Whatever happened on Onyx, they brought on the Bon Voyage, knowingly and willingly exposing us to this hostile alien lifeform.”

“Sir, we're ready to go,” says a mare.

“Everypony?”

“Everypony and everybody.”

“Reverend Heart, are you ready?”

“I have no choice but to be,” says a familiar stallion; his voice is shaky and pathetic, but familiar nonetheless.

“Good mindset, son. This is the last message of Dr. Lexicon Stock, and I'm leading a party to kill Captain Star Tracker, Arcos Hieroglyph and every Unitologist on this ship. If we're going to die, we're taking the ones responsible with us. Whoever finds this, remember us and spread the word.”

The audio ends, and Fluttershy rewinds it a few seconds back.

“I have no choice but to be,” says the familiar stallion.

Rewind.

“I have no choice but to be.”

Fluttershy lets the audio keep playing after that, and she brushes her bandages over her eye, feeling a slight pinch of pain when her hoof presses against her covered injury, and feeling sick when she feels the dip where her eye was before the Pyro burned it out.

After feeling her injury, Fluttershy turns off the audio and looks at the center of the room to watch Rarity examine a massive pillar surrounded by a ring of blank screen computers, all connected to it by tubes of wires. The pillar appears to be made of blocks surrounding a tube, and all the blocks have small dim lights and screens on them. There is also a holographic projector on a raised platform near the computers, an airlock with a green light at the far end, and a large portion of the ceiling is made of thick glass to give a view of space and a relay tower with a large satellite dish.

Fluttershy looks at Rarity again, and watches as she uses her tools to carefully unscrew panels of the cubes surrounding the cylinder, and she inspect their interior for a near minute before resealing them. This method brings Rainbow Dash to roll her eyes impatiently while Thunderlane shifts his attention to the door they went through, and Fluttershy returns to scanning the area, thankfully seeing nothing different. The group remains quiet, though. No one tries to say anything or tries to look at each other, and frankly Fluttershy is glad no one is talking. It makes it easier for her to listen for trouble, to ponder why Arcos Hieroglyph and Captain Star Tracker brought this carnage to the Bon Voyage, and where Zephyr can be hiding.

“I hate to say this, but I will have to go outside and fix the relay,” says Rarity suddenly.

Fluttershy turns her attention to Rarity and sees Rainbow Dash not too far from her, giving her an odd look.

“Can you even do that?” asks Rainbow Dash.

Rarity glares at Rainbow Dash, and the commander's odd expression shifts to match the glare.

“It won't be as well as Applejack's repairs, but it will still be enough to get a signal out,” says Rarity.

“Maybe I should go out there instead,” says Thunderlane, floating towards the two mares.

Rarity snaps to him. “Why?”

“Well, you're injured-”

“Aren't we all?”

“And you had a breakdown earlier.”

Rarity rolls her eyes and looks at Fluttershy.

“What do you have to say?” asks Rarity.

Fluttershy hesitates. “I don't think you should be out there.”

Rarity huffs and Rainbow Dash waves her hoof rapidly.

“Okay, hold on. Hold on! Why are you asking what others think? It is my job to give out orders!” says Rainbow Dash. “Can you get the relay fixed? Yes or no?”

“Yes,” stresses Rarity. “I said that a minute ago.”

“Good. Then put on a suit and do it. End of discussion.”

Rarity nods and pedals her way to the door, but stops when Fluttershy gets in front of her and gently pushes her back while giving Rainbow Dash a condemning look.

“She can't go out there! Her heart is bad!” says Fluttershy.

“Uh, no it isn't. If she had a bad heart she wouldn't be in the services. She'd be doing something else, like dress making or selling makeup.”

“But-”

“What you saw earlier was her having a panic attack. She's fine, now.” Rainbow Dash looks at Rarity. “Right?”

Rarity nods.

“Good.” Rainbow Dash looks at Fluttershy. “See? She's fine now.”

“She almost had a stressed induced heart attack!”

“Is that true?” asks Thunderlane, looking at Rarity with wide eyes.

“She's exaggerating. I just had a panic attack earlier. I'm fine now,” says Rarity.

“You're not going out there,” says Fluttershy.

“Rarity is the only one who can fix the relay!” yells Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy narrows her eye, floats to Rainbow Dash and pokes her in the chest.

“Do you want her to get hurt?” says Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash slaps her hoof away. “I want us all out of here and the only way to do that is to get a signal out, which she can do!”

“What if I go and Rarity just gives me instructions?” suggests Thunderlane.

Rainbow Dash groans and slams her face in her hoof. “What the hell is wrong with you two?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” says Thunderlane. “You're being stupid, right now!”

“Fuck you! I'm in charge!”

“Rarity can't go out there!” says Fluttershy.

“Fuck you, too. We have a mission to do and she's playing her part.”

“Look, there has to be another way to fix whatever is wrong with the relay without sending her out there,” says Thunderlane. “Besides, we need Rarity to fix the scrambler code, too.”

CLI-BANG!

All three pegasi look across the chamber and see the airlock door now has a red circle projected in front of it with a message displayed above it.

WARNING: EXTERIOR MAINTENANCE IN PROGRESS

The three rush to the door, pedaling as fast as they can in the zero gravity, and when they reach the door Fluttershy presses her Master Key Band against the door's lock, but an error message appears.

“What?” Fluttershy tries again and when the same message appears she bangs on the door and activates her radio. “Rarity, what are you doing? Get out of there!”

A small orb hanging near the door flashes on and a video projection of Rarity appears. Her hoof is pulling away from the camera and she is using her magic to levitate a thick, white space suit and helmet designed to fit on a unicorn's head. Her eyes shine in the dim light and her body trembles as she wiggles out of her standard uniform to make way for the space suit.

“I'm sorry, but I have to do this,” says Rarity. “The outer relay is something we cannot leave to chance, especially to a non-magical creature with no training on the technology. No offense, Thunderlane.”

“Uh huh,” mutters Thunderlane. “Just get back in here so we can figure something else out.”

“No, this is the most efficient way to get it done,” says Rarity. “The inner relay is fine, but there is something wrong with the outer one, which is why I need to go outside. There is no other way to inspect it.”

“At least let me put on a suit to be out there with you,” says Fluttershy. “If you have another attack-”

“You can't come out here. There are no pegasus suits.” Rarity slips on the space suit with the help of her magic, and offers them an uneasy smile when she brings the helmet next to her head. “Wish me luck.”

Rarity then shuts off her end and the orb turns off. A near minute later and a screeching alarm sounds with red lights swirling above the door while a loud grinding and popping noise comes from behind the door. The three back away, watching the door in total silence, and several seconds later, the alarm stops, but the red lights keep turning, and Fluttershy looks up at the observation window, feeling just a little bit sick watching the relay tower stretch into the darkness of space. A minute later, Rarity appears in her white space suit with a large air pack on her back, the toolbox attached to the suit's saddle, her weapon clipped to her side, and a cord keeping her tethered to the ship.

“There she is,” says Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash sighs with relief and activates her radio.

“Rarity, talk to me. What do you see?” says Rainbow Dash, motioning Thunderlane and Fluttershy to keep an eye on the area.

The two comply with the silent command and scan the chamber with their weapons. The steel beams cast large patches of darkness all over the chamber, and floating garbage glides past their eyes, but so far there are no signs of any Necromorphs, which lifts a little bit of weight from Fluttershy.

“The relay has been sabotaged, I'm sure of it,” says Rarity.

“What do you mean?” asks Rainbow Dash. “What wrong with it?”

Fluttershy risks looking out the observation window and sees Rarity holding on to a piece of the relay.

“There's clean cuts in the wires, and some circuit boards and gems have been disconnected, but these are easy fixes. The saboteur did a really bad job at sabotaging this,” says Rarity. “I should have all of this fixed enough to get a signal out in a few minutes.”

“Good. Keep me posted,” says Rainbow Dash. She clicks off her radio and looks at Fluttershy. “You're supposed to be watching the perimeter.”

Fluttershy quickly turns away from Rainbow Dash and scans the area again, still not seeing anything. This goes on for some time, and if the situation had been the exact opposite Fluttershy would have loved the quietness. There is no shooting, no screams, no terrible monsters trying to rip her into pieces; it is just her, the other two, and the gentle hums and blinking lights. The sky is also great to look at, with the tiny lights dotting the blackness, a blackness that is split down the middle by a thick stripe of light brown and dark purple dust that has its own collection of glowing dots.

So calming.

So peaceful.

Yet, Fluttershy wonders if there are more of these Necromorphs hiding in their galaxy. If there are more then they are fucked. If not then maybe they can contain them. Provided that the group survives to tell the United Equestrian Governments what happened here.

Fluttershy sighs quietly and warily looks at one of the vents in the room, wondering if a Necromoprh or Honey Creme is watching them; and also wondering if Zephyr has been using the vents to travel.

“Fluttershy, darling, you're closest to the pillar. Can you do me a favor?” asks Rarity over the radio.

Fluttershy looks up and sees Rarity guiding plating back in place with her magic, and the relay tower and its satellite is slowly flashing red.

“What do you need me to do?” asks Fluttershy.

“I need you to flip the power switch. It is a large lever that is at the base of the relay pillar,” says Rarity.

Fluttershy nods, and after a few seconds of searching she finds a large lever at the bottom of the pillar. She grips it with her hoofs and pushes against it, but it remains in place. She grunts and puts all of her weight against it, and right before she decides to call Thunderlane for help the lever snaps up with a bright spark and a loud clang. What follows is a series of hums and lights flickering to life.

The lights go from red, to yellow, to blue, to green, and all of them flash on with the ring of computer screens snapping to life as well as a holographic display of a blank map of the Peace System with a loading bar underneath. The hologram flickers for a moment, but soon enough the image stabilizes and the loading bar disappears, followed by names appearing and the celestial bodies getting some color.

In the center is a red star marked as: Peace

Next to it is: Onyx (Peace I)

Beyond it is another planet marked: Peace II

And the last planet in the system is: Peace III

Fluttershy pushes herself back and wipes her mane away from her face, breathing heavily with a smile on her face while she rolls her shoulder.

“I got it... I got it!” yells Fluttershy triumphantly.

“Very good,” says Rarity over the radio, short of breath. “Everything is green up here, except for one thing... The rotatory platform is not moving. I'll have to manually turn it... Go to the main computer, it should be marked with a '01', and let me know when you see an antennae icon appear.”

Fluttershy floats down to the designated computer, and after grabbing the railing to its platform she pulls herself in and looks out the observation window. She can still Rarity's white space suit floating in the black expanse with the dark red light of the sun and planet behind her, and she is moving just fine with the safety cord holding strong.

It takes a few seconds for Rarity to position herself at the base of the relay, and she uses her magic to guide her tool to unscrewing the covering, which exposes a network of gears and one large crank. Fluttershy can hear Rarity's heavy and shaky breathing through her radio, and that alone brings her heart to rise to her throat, and her ears droop when she sees Rarity using both magic and physical strength to turn the crank, leading to the gears and the satellite to slowly turn.

“Rarity, how is your chest? Is it hurting?” asks Fluttershy.

“Worry about the computer screen, darling,” orders Rarity.

Fluttershy looks at the screen, and her ears perk when she sees two antennae icons appear in the corner.

“Rarity, I got something! Two antennae icons!” says Fluttershy.

“Good... Good... Sweetie Belle likes music... Mom likes baking... Dad likes hoofball... Sweetie Belle likes music. Mom likes baking. Dad likes hoofball. Sweetie Belle likes music. Mom likes baking. Dad likes hoofball. Sweetie Belle likes music. Mom likes baking. Dad likes hoofball,” chants Rarity.

“Rarity, focus,” says Fluttershy. “Tell me what to do next.”

“Sweetie Belle likes music. Mom likes baking. Dad likes hoofball. Sweetie Belle likes music. Mom likes baking. Dad likes hoofball.”

Fluttershy looks out the observation window and sees Rarity leaning against the crank while rubbing her chest. “Rarity, get back inside!”

“Sweetie Belle likes music. Mom likes baking. Dad likes hoofball. Sweetie Belle likes music. Mom likes baking. Dad likes hoofball.”

Rainbow Dash floats next to Fluttershy, scowling and pressing her headset while her free hoof taps on the computer screen, bringing up a keyboard display.

“Hey, Rares, get back inside. We got signal locks!” says Rainbow Dash as she types in commands.

“Sweetie Belle likes music. Mom likes baking. Dad likes hoofball. Sweetie Belle likes music. Mom likes baking. Dad likes hoofball,” continues Rarity.

Fluttershy pulls away from the computer and floats towards their entrance, kicking in the zero gravity as fast as she can to get her to move faster.

“Fluttershy, get Rarity back inside!” orders Rainbow Dash. “Use whatever suit you can!”

“Sweetie Belle likes music. Mom likes baking. Dad likes hoofball. Sweetie Belle likes music. Mom likes baking. Dad likes hoofball,”

Fluttershy is about to leave, but she freezes and and her eye widens as she looks past Rainbow Dash, watching as a leaper crawls on the side of the relay, towards Rarity.

“Oh no... Rarity, get out of there now!” yells Fluttershy into her radio.

Rainbow Dash looks up and she swears, as does Thunderlane, and she presses her headset.

“Rarity, get out of there right now! That's an order!” barks Rainbow Dash. “MOVE IT, RARITY!”

“Sweetie Belle likes music-” Rarity's chanting is cut off with a bloodcurdling scream, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy watch helplessly as the Leaper latches on to Rarity, tearing and biting into her suit, ripping off pieces of flesh and fabric at a time. Jets of air and blood spray from her tanks and body, and her safety cord snaps, sending her twirling into space with the Leaper on her, still biting and stabbing and slashing at her as her screams and sobs pierce the group's ears.

And then her radio cuts off, leaving the three quiet and still in the chamber as they watch her disappear into the void, with the only trace of her existence being the tool box and bits of bloody flesh floating around.

“No,” whispers Rainbow Dash. “No, no no no no no no no! This can't be happening!”

Fluttershy clutches her head, whimpering and gritting her teeth, unable to open her eye as she floats around, and Thunderlane bangs his head against the wall.

“DAMN IT! I HATE THIS SHIP!” screams Rainbow Dash. She punches the pillar. And then she punches it again. And again and again and again and again, screaming and wailing as the punches leave little dents in the shell. She screams one last time before giving it a final punch that creates a thundering echo, and her armored hoof slides away as she looks at the collection of dents with tears soaking her face and her dim eyes. “Are you happy, now? Is this what you wanted?”

Fluttershy looks up, but can't find the strength to speak, and she watches Rainbow Dash as her wings twitch and her head tilt to the side, not looking at anyone in particular.

“I'm going to kill you,” says Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy reaches for her cutter, and Thunderlane looks at Rainbow Dash, his wet golden eyes wide and heavy with worry while Rainbow Dash shakes her head and guides herself to the computer.

“I'm going to find a way to kill you and I'll make your death as painful as possible,” mutters Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy keeps her hoof on her cutter and carefully watches Rainbow Dash as she positions herself on the computer and finishes typing in the commands on the computer. Once the command is finished a menu opens up and Rainbow Dash clicks on a button that brings up a microphone icon.

Rainbow Dash wipes her eyes and taps the icon, making it beep and flash green. “Mayday, mayday, mayday. Any available UEG military craft. This is UEG Bon Voyage needing immediate emergency evac. Location: System Peace, Planet: Onyx, Coordinates: +45 North, -20 West. Bring lots of guns and aid. Over and out.”

Rainbow Dash taps the icon, and after it flashes red she types in another command and the computer beeps.

“Message sent.” Rainbow Dash's message replays, and when it ends there is another beep. “Message repeats.”

Rainbow Dash sniffles again and lowers her head as her message loops. Soon Rainbow Dash starts trembling and her hoofs grip the computer with tears floating around her as Fluttershy watches her in silence.

“I'm sorry,” says Rainbow Dash, keeping her back to the other two. “That should not have happened. None of this should have happened. I failed everypony.”

Thunderlane turns away from the wall and looks at Rainbow Dash with reddened eyes, his jaw tight, nostrils flaring, and his wings twitching; and while he watches his commander a sharp tingle running up Fluttershy's spine, which brings her to nervously look around the chamber. The more her eyes dart to the shadows the tighter her throat becomes and the more her hoof twitches, wanting oh so much to squeeze her cutter's trigger. She can hear Rainbow Dash, but her voice is faint background noise for Fluttershy as she watches a shadowy figure creep along the ceiling, using the support beams like a spider on a web, and it stops when it is almost directly above the group.

Fluttershy hears Thunderlane, now, but he and Dash's voices are faint and a jumble of incoherent words while her heartbeats and breaths are loud in her ears. She aims her cutter at the figure, and a light glow emits from it, illuminating a pair of blue eyes, a bloody blue jumpsuit, and a clumpy gray mane. As well as a bloody circular saw. Fluttershy's eye widens and the saw revs to life, bringing the other two to snap to Honey Creme.

“Oh fuck!” yells Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash aims her weapon at Honey Creme, as does Thunderlane, and as soon as Fluttershy shoots at her the others do the same. The cutter beams and bullets shatter and bounce harmlessly off of rippling energy field of red and green, and the ricocheting projectiles bounce off of the walls and crack the observation window, leading to red lights flashing and a warning alarm sounding. While they shoot at her, Honey Creme's shrieks echo in the chamber and she fires a swirling red and green beam at the group, forcing them to jump away. The beam hits the computer console, blowing out its screen and flinging sparks and burnt computer pieces twirling in the zero gravity chamber.

The group spins around, grunting and swearing as they try to straighten themselves out from their bouncing, all while Honey Creme effortlessly launches herself from the ceiling, cackling and revving her saw again.

“I'll make us whole again!” yells Honey Creme.

Fluttershy growls and hooks her hoof on a metal beam, and after pulling herself into position she keeps her body pressed against the beam and shoots another volley of cutter energy at Honey Creme. The red cutter beams streak past the unicorn, leaving glowing lines of hot metal where they impacted, and more bullets ricochet around the chamber , sending out dozens of sparks at a time while cracks grow in the window.

“WARNING: Observation window damaged. Please evacuate in an orderly fashion,” says the computer.

“You want me? Here I am!” yells Rainbow Dash as she hops after Honey Creme, still shooting madly.

“Rainbow, we need to retreat!” shouts Thunderlane.

Honey Creme leaps towards another metal beam, turns herself upside down, and grins at Rainbow Dash as her hoofs latch on to the metal ridges. Her grin widens and her pupils shrink as she revs her saw, and Fluttershy's eye snaps between the two mares as she tenses her body as well.

“COME ON! HERE I AM!” yells Rainbow Dash. “COME GET ME!”

Honey Creme curls her body, and then launches herself at Rainbow Dash. As this happens, Fluttershy rockets herself off of her perch and rams Honey Creme, sending both of them spinning in the weightless room. They bounce off of the metal walls, and Honey Creme kicks Fluttershy away, sending her flipping backwards into a doorway and hitting her head on the frame. A sharp pain explodes along her skull and a ringing blocks out all noise as her vision blurs. Fluttershy holds her head, wincing as she twirls with circles of blood floating with her clumpy mane, and her eye struggles to focus on Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash as they continue shooting at Honey Creme. Despite their best efforts, their bullets still bounce harmlessly off of the shield surrounding the psycho, leading to ripples of red and green energy, and after the ripples clear, Honey Creme launches a saw blade at Rainbow Dash, forcing her to jump out of the way. The sharp blade zips past Rainbow Dash, and she retaliates by shooting at Honey Creme again, but after a few bursts her weapon clicks and her magazine falls out.

“Son of a-” grumbles Rainbow Dash.

She reaches into her saddle to grab a fresh magazine, and Honey Creme giggles as she slips another saw blade into her weapon.

The two slip in their fresh ammo at the same time, and Honey Creme revs her saw and bounces towards Rainbow Dash, grinning madly and body trembling from her chuckles. Rainbow Dash growls and braces herself, wings at full mast and weapon aimed right at her, but before she can shoot Thunderlane pushes her out of the way, leading Honey Creme to bringing her saw against him. Her cackles turn to shrilling laughter and Thunderlane's pained screams are crisp and clear in Fluttershy's ears, and with a new burst of rage fueled energy, Fluttershy leaps from the doorway and uses the zero gravity to make large jumps towards Honey Creme, with every bounce dragging her deeper into red vision.

As Fluttershy rushes towards Honey Creme, the demented unicorn keeps Thunderlane pinned, cackling as sparks and blood fly from her saw blade digging into Thunderlane's hoof. She pushes down on him and his hoof buckles with flesh, bone, metal and cloth popping up and off, and when his hoof snaps off, Fluttershy roars and rams Honey Creme. The unicorn loses her grip on her saw and the two cling to each other, spinning and bouncing off of the metal walls as Thunderlane screams with a cloud of blood surrounding his pale and shaking form.

Rainbow Dash appears by Thunderlane's side leaving a rainbow trail in her wake, and Fluttershy snarls viciously as she delivers punch after punch to Honey Creme's face. Thick clumps of blood flows from the unicorn's maw and around her eye and flashes of pain hit Fluttershy from shoulder to back and head to hips as the two ricochet inside the chamber.

When they are in the center of the room, Honey Creme shoots Fluttershy's chest with an energy blast of swirling red and green magic. The hit pushes the air out of Fluttershy's lungs and everything is pulled away from her as she flies backwards. She passes through a pale blue barrier and all the lost weight returns, bringing her to a hard and fast crash on the floor.

The momentum of her landing causes Fluttershy to bounce and skid across the floor, leaving a trail of feathers and dots of blood, and when she stops she gets up on wobbly legs, only to be blasted in the chest again by another one of Honey Creme's beams. The attack sends her crashing into a display at the edge of the hallway, and she momentarily loses focus as glass and sparks cover her while a hot jolt surges through her body, leading her to collapse as a heap on the cold metal floor.

Fluttershy's heart shakes her ribs as it beats rapidly in her chest, and she wheezes and gulps for air as her hoof scrapes against the floor. The walls pulse with hieroglyphs fading in and out, and at the end of the hall where the barrier is, the Frail Stallion approaches with heavy steps and his eyes focused on her.

“We only want what is best for you,” says a soft spoken stallion.

“Please don't be mad,” says an equally soft mare.

“But that was my dream,” says Fluttershy.

“You can have a better one with us,” says the stallion.

The Frail Stallion stops in front of Fluttershy and she looks at him, trembling with her lone blue eye tainted with streaks of red and a black bag. Her burnt and sweaty mane partially covers her face, and she growls through her gritted teeth as she tries to stand, but her limbs feel like stone and her hide feels like it has hardened and is cracking with hot streaks of pain as she flexes her muscles.

The Frail Stallion then extends his hoof to Fluttershy, and she gasps and kicks her legs as she is levitated off of the ground with tendrils made of red and green mist wrapped around her throat. Soon her hind legs are dangling inches off of the ground, and Fluttershy gags and gasps for air as she looks down into the pulsing red and green eyes of Honey Creme, whose bruised face and neck is soaked in blood, just like the front of her jumpsuit.

Honey Creme grins at Fluttershy with the tendril's colors matching the bubbly aura around her horn, and behind her the faint blue barrier flickers with an emergency message and a yellow triangle being projected on it.

“Troublemaker~ Troublemaker~ Troublemaker~” coos Honey Creme. “Troublemaker doesn't want us whole.”

Fluttershy gags and kicks her legs while her other hoofs claw uselessly at the tendril, and her eye rolls back while her lungs burn and her breathing becomes shallow. As this happens, Honey Creme giggles and levitates a circular saw blade from her saddle. She presses the toothed blade against Fluttershy's throat, and Fluttershy kicks become more frantic; but her hoofs are barely out of reach of Honey Creme.

“But she won't stop us. We will be whole again,” says Honey Creme.

And then she slashes Fluttershy's throat.

Author's Notes:

So, I hate this chapter. I just had the hardest time with this thing. It was a serious pain in the butt writing it from the beginning; nothing just seemed to work, and count in what has been going on all month outside of this and it has been amazingly annoying. Oh well, its done and done, and I think we can all agree that a little blood loss never hurt anybody. So stay tuned for the next chapter of Fluttershy's happy space travels. Hopefully it'll be better than this thing.