Chapter 6: Taste of Blood

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“Isaac,” Twilight cried, “We can’t just leave you here.”

“Dohn’t whorry ahbout me, I do thish all de time,” Isaac replied as best he could with a mouth full of metal.

“Go! I havf thish undur kontroll!”

Brave or not, Isaac was ready for the twitcher which had not hesitated in its murderous rampage. It lunged at him with its blades raised high, seeking his warm flesh to rip and tear at. Standing up on his hind legs, using the railing for support, Isaac swung and delivered a powerful right hook to the monster, rotating his entire torso for maximum damage. The blow connected with the monster’s face with a sickening wet crunch as decayed flesh burst in a shower of gore and a popped eyeball. The creature staggered, head held at an awkward angle, and Isaac followed it with a downwards swing of the metal rod. The twitcher nimbly dodged by shifting away, mere moments before the weapon would liquefy the rest of its head.

Unsure how to better help the former human, Twilight and Luna retraced their steps before splitting up with each taking opposite paths around the scaffolds. Meanwhile both twitchers occupied the central path with Isaac where he was struggling against the first one with the second one blocked by its partner.

“Hold on!” Luna came to a stop against the right wall, “I can flank it from here.” Waves of magical light surrounded her horn as energy was drawn in and forcefully concentrated into a sphere of power. Still weak after her long imprisonment she fought hard to concentrate on drawing in so much magic into a single point no bigger than an apple seed, beads of sweat ran down her forehead.

“Let’s see how well you move after this.” Reaching maximum containment the sphere of magic fired from her horn with a thunderous bass, aim straight and true for the rear necromorph.

The bolt tore through the air, leaving a trail of steam as it super heated the moisture in the atmosphere. The necromorph unicorn seemed to sense the incoming attack as it blinked out of existence before the collision and leaving the projectile detonated against the earthen wall. Solid rock exploded under the impact and left a foal sized crater.

“Where did it go?” Luna desperately checked her surroundings.

Twilight yelped, skidding to a halt, as the creature reappeared in front of her, blocking her escape. Twilight choked in fear as she stared death in straight in the face.

“Help!” Twilight screamed as the twitcher moved in. Quickly she jumped back to avoid being beheaded by a scythe, but wasn’t fast enough. The tip of the blade raked across her left cheek leaving a very deep cut. Her cry of pain was echoed in her hears as she felt the sensation of warm fluid running down her neck. The necromorph shrieked in a cruel laugh as it thrashed and quaked, readying for another strike.

“Twilight, defend yourself!” The princess instructed while she searched for a better firing position. “Use that spell from before.”

“What spell?” Twilight breathed heavily while her heart was beating rapidly against her chest. She was slowly retreated from her attacker, never breaking eye contact with it.

“That kinesis punch you used on Isaac!”

“I can’t! I don’t know how I did it in the first place.”

“Do it Twilight or you could die!” The desperate order had somehow given her the strength to free her near paralyzed limbs and she sidestepped as the twitcher struck the spot she had just been occupying. Its blades had become stuck in the metal grating and it convulsed violently trying to free itself. Twilight had a sudden burst of inspiration as she recalled a portion of the knowledge she had gained from Isaac.

Twilight took advantage of the creature’s weakness and quickly turned around to deliver the mightiest buck she had ever given in her life. Her blow struck one of the creature’s arms and on its side, followed up by a loud snapping of bone as the arm broke away leaving a blade still embedded in the catwalk. The creature collapsed against the railing, but was quickly rising. With telekinesis she extracted the severed blade from the grating with a powerful pull to the tune of bone scraping against metal. She aimed the improvised weapon at the twitcher’s heart. Yet Twilight hesitated, terribly unsure of the act she was about to commit. She had never killed before not in self-defense or out of a need to protect others, another reason why she was Celestia’s favorite student. She could find solutions without a need for fighting.

The abomination leaped into the air, its murderous intents clear. Without thinking Twilight had unleaded a blast of telekinesis, punching the weapon forward in a similar fashion as she’d done to Isaac. The organic blade was propelled at lethal velocity and impacted the twitcher in the chest with a sadistic result. Blood and gore gushed from the impact area, splattering Twilight in an oily black fluid, as the abomination flew back in a spiral clear across the room before being impaled upside down onto the wall.

“I’m so sorry.” Twilight wept in pity for the former pony. Yet even having struck a blow that would’ve killed any normal pony, the creature was still moving and teleported itself back onto the catwalk. Twilight stared agape while the creature regarded the object in its chest, as if in a moment of confusion, before it uttered a cry of mindless anger before continuing the offensive.

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Isaac was slowly losing ground as the necromorph unleashed a flurry of blows, swinging with wild abandon. He expertly defended himself, using the metal rod as a means of parrying the strikes away. He heard Luna say something, but was unable to respond back. He noticed the rear twitcher suddenly disappear and then there was a bright flash of light as an energy projectile flew over the rails. The unexpected light wrecked havoc on his night-vision and he was momentarily blinded.

“Crap!” he cursed as the rod was knocked from his grasp and vanished.

In a desperate move he readied another punch at where he thought the creature was. The twitcher had anticipated the move and brought its blades in for defense and the punch landed harmlessly against the its blades and left Isaac vulnerable. It barrled forward and knocked him down the ground before bringing its scythes down for a killing strike to his neck. Isaac’s experience told him what to expect and he flaying his arms out hitting the dull side of the scythes, redirecting the blades to land harmlessly to either side of his head. Pulling in his legs he kicked the twitcher square in the exposed solar plexus, knocking it onto its back.

“I have had enough of you!” Isaac, half crazed from fury, pounced on the downed creature trampling, striking, and stomping. His legs had become covered in black blood as hoof pulverized bone and destroyed sinew. The monster cried in pain, but Isaac was far beyond remorse. The only thing he saw or felt was the need to break and destroy as he viciously crushed the necromorph, sending up a shower of fluids and bits. He never stopped until the twitcher was a bloodied pulpy mess, a waterfall of viscera falling from the catwalk.

“Die! Die! DIE!”

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By this time the flood of necromorphs had reached the top level, a surging mass of knives and hunger. Twilight knew there was only one way out and it was through the twitcher before her. Desperation overrode fear as she gritted her teeth and charged forward, horn aglow with magic. Like cracks of thunder pony and necro hooves galloped against the metal grates as Twilight charging forward towards a final confrontation. The necromorph readied for the killing blow and Twilight held out her horn ready to run her opponent through. The two of them continued their suicide charge, but it was the twitcher who was faster and had better reach. Feeling victory was at hand it swung its arms and found only empty air. It stopped and grunted in confusion, unable to understand how it lost its prey.

“You’re not the only unicorn that can teleport.” Twilight had thought as she reappeared behind the twitcher and ran away. She didn’t have to look behind her to know the twitcher had already about-faced and was after her again. It still proved faster than her and it was only a matter of time before it caught her. Twilight saw a burst of movement in front of her and looked up to see that Luna had already landed on the platform in front of her. The princess was already ready with another sphere of raw concentrated energy.

“Duck!” Luna barked shooting a bolt of power twice as big as her first.

Twilight did as she was told and felt the burning heat of the bullet as it passed overhead. This time the twitcher failed to dodge and was ripped apart as the magic exploded in a shower of blue sparks. The many smoking pieces sailed into the air before disappearing down into the pit. The way was now clear and Twilight searched to discover Isaac’s fate.

“We have to get out of here.” Twilight called, but unsure if he had heard her.

He stood over the remains of his work, eyes cast to the ground, and body trembling. He seemed to be mumbling something to himself.

“Isaac! We have to escape, NOW!” She called, louder this time. He looked up with an unreadable expression that quickly changed into urgency as he was pulled back from the brink of whatever dark place he had just been. Picking up his helmet he galloped to catch up.

Twilight and Luna had sojourned at the exit as Isaac made his way to them, the flood of necromorphs close behind. Suddenly and without warning the metal structure gave off a loud deep groan as the structure suddenly lurched perilously to the side. The sheer weight of so many bodies had finally overwhelmed the ancient structure. Bolts, screws, and thick wires snapped with loud metallic pings sending metallic shards flying like bullets and wires arcing like whips as the structure broke free from the walls. Isaac grabbed onto a rail post as the structure dipped backwards coming to crash at a dangerously low angle as the fatigued metal buckled and warped, a total collapse imminent.

Numerous necromorphs fell or were crushed, but still they still kept coming. The violent movements of the scaffold had little to no effect at slowing down the movement of hundreds and hundreds of necromorphs. The enclosed room was saturated with the vociferous cry of countless strangled voices as they continued get closer and closer, uncaring of the danger that they were in. If they couldn’t walk they crawled, pulling themselves along with their blades, hungry eyes never breaking sight of their quarry.

When the structure fell Luna was fortunate to be able fly. However, Twilight had lost her balance and fell, sliding down the walkway towards Isaac and the monsters. Without hesitation Luna had launched herself after her friend, knowing she had to catch Twilight before it was too late. Unable to arrest her fall Twilight screamed in terror and then in pain as her arm crashed against one of the rail posts causing her to spin out of control. Her protests were cut short as her head struck against another pole with a snap, the impact leaving her disoriented and lethargic.

“I got you.” Isaac reached out as Twilight slid past, catching her arm with his. His strength was waning but he pulled her up close trying his best to shake her out of her dazed state while simultaneously holding onto the railing for dear life, the necros only mere feet away.

“Hey, can you hear me? Come on, snap out of it. We need to climb our way out.” There was no way he could carry her out in time by himself, the necromorphs would surly catch them.

“You can do that right?” Isaac encouraged and Twilight felt her bafflement start to fade as she listened to his voice.

“Ok.” She said neutrally, but her eyes were still glazed over. He feared that she might be suffering from a concussion caused from the blow, or perhaps something worse. There was just no telling with severe head trauma.

“No need for climbing,” Luna said as she reached them and held out her forelegs, “leave Twilight to me. I can fly her up and come back for you.” Isaac gladly handed Twilight over to Luna’s care.

“Don’t worry about me.” He said as he began his climb, using the rail posts as a ladder. “She’s hurt and you need to get her out of here. I’ll catch up.”

“I,….Are you sure?”

“I told you I’ve done this before, remember.” He gave her a confident smile.

“I understand, but you better not die.” With no more time to argue the point Luna carried Twilight out of harm’s way, but swore that she’d return to get Isaac soon. She wasn’t ready to leave anypony behind.

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Reaching the safety of the top tunnel, Luna carefully laid Twilight down upon the rocky earth. The purple unicorn did not respond and was completely still, her pupils fully dilated and staring at nothing. Luna now also noticed that her forearms and chest were smeared in blood.

“Twilight?” Luna felt the pit of her stomach fall out as she gently tapped the unicorn trying to elicit a response of some sort. Luna was not doctor and when she examined the wound to the unicorn’s head she could not find the words to describe how terrible it was. What she saw looked bad, really bad, there was blood everywhere and already forming a puddle on the ground. Dismissing the mess Luna put her ear to Twilight’s chest and listened closely with hope fading.

There was no breathing, no heartbeat.

Twilight Sparkle was dead.

“No! Stay with me Twilight. You can’t die, not here, not like this. It’s all my fault!” Luna cried out in despair, tears falling unchecked.

“This isn’t good. What can I do now?” At no point had Luna ever hated herself more than she did now. She was an immortal goddess, the second ruler over all Equestria, and responsible for the rising and setting of the moon itself, and yet completely helpless to save a single pony’s life. Any healing knowledge she once had was a thousand years out of practice.

“Please, Twilight, wake up. I didn’t mean for this to happen, please forgive me.”

I forgive you Luna.

“Twilight?” Luna had heard her voice, but her body remained motionless.

But there are more important things to do, Luna. You have to stop them.

“No….no, no, no!” Luna stood over Twilight as if to protect her from some unseen force. “Don’t you dare take her away you damned cursed rock!” Luna shouted into the darkness, shaking with rage. “She’s too young. None of this is her fault it’s my fault and my responsibility. If you want to take somepony, then it should’ve been me!”
Only the cries of the dead answered her plea. Luna forced herself to take several deep breaths to try and calm down; panicking would not help either of them.

“Focus Luna,” the princess reassured herself, “alright, I have an idea. I just hope it works.” She lowered herself to lay next to the still warm body of her friend.

“Hold on Twilight. I can save you, though I feel this will hurt me more than it does you.” Luna touched her horn to the wound on Twilight’s head. She closed her eyes while once again concentrating her magical energy into a single focused point. Currents of magical energy flowed all around her in a wild vortex of unrestrained power. Before her magic had always glowed with an inviting blue radiance now it was a lethal destructive red. She could now hear the voices in her head, whispers that turned into pleading cries. Luna could still clearly hear Twilight’s amongst the vast chorus, still loud and strong. Twilight was telling her to stop what she was doing, that this was a terrible mistake she was committing.

“Come back Twilight, you’re friends would miss you if you left now.” Luna coaxed gently. Luna’s eyes opened burning with an overwhelming fire, like twin suns trapped inside immaculate polished rubies. “I give of myself, to replenish you. Together we can embrace the infinite!”

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“Come on, you necromorph bastards! Let me see you work for your meal!” Isaac taunted the undead horde while kicking at a necro that had gotten too close, sending the insane creature falling into the pit and taking several of its kin with it.

“Yeah, fuck you!” Isaac frantically climbed. He was like a bat out of hell with necromorphs constantly nipping at his heels. The top was only a dozen more rungs away from his position; he was going to make it.

Abruptly a brilliant crimson light illumined the space above him. He instinctively looked away to protect his eyes while he could feel sudden and intense vibrations travel through the air and in the ground. Isaac feared that the quakes would cause the scaffold to crumble taking him with it. A few seconds later the light and vibrations ceased just as quickly as they had arrived. Something about the light gave him a feeling of sinister purpose and he redoubled his efforts to reach the top not sure what he’d find.

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“Wha….What happened?” Twilight coughed, her whole body felt cold and numb. Even the modest blue glow of Luna’s horn seemed blinding to her. Out of reflex Twilight rubbed the spot where he’d hit her head, relieved to find no sign of injury, but it really hurt.

“Uh, Luna?” Twilight felt awkward when Luna suddenly Luna embraced her closely, not sure what had done to deserve it.

“It’s ok Twilight, you just blacked out for a moment when you hit your head, but you’ll be ok.” Luna said wiping the tears from her eyes.

“You should thank Isaac, if he hadn’t caught you at the last moment….”

“Yeah, speaking of that guy, a little help here.”

The two mares turned to find Isaac struggling to lift himself over the side of the pit. Luna separated from their embraced to help the gruff colt. After they parted Twilight realized she could taste blood in her mouth and also felt nauseous, bile rising in her throat. She stepped away hoping the others didn’t notice as she spit it out. That’s when she noticed the pool of blood and something told her it was her own.

“Are you alright?” Luna examined him and apart from the splatter covering his armor she didn’t see any injuries
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“Yeah, thanks, but we’re not out of danger yet. There’s a whole lot of necromorphs behind us and they’re really angry. You said there was a way out of here?”

“Yes, just down this tunnel. Follow me.” Luna led while the others followed and the trio galloped with all their might. The scaffolding had given up the fight and at long last had collapsed, the sounds of destruction echoing all around them. but there was no telling how many necromorphs might have made into the tunnel. They didn’t bother to check behind them because they could see the elevator shaft in front.

Monsters behind them had become the least of their worries. One moment the tunnel was clear and in the next swarms of necromorphs jumped to life and descended upon them from all sides. The tunnel wall itself was alive, crawling with countless numbers of slashers, twitchers, and a lot of new strains that they’d never seen before. They blocked the exit and encircled the ponies.

“We’re all going to die down here!”

“We’re not going to die!”

“Look out, they’re all around us!”

The three of them were back to back ready and willing to fight until the very bitter end. They were hopelessly surrounded, outnumbered, and had an impossible chance at escape, but they would kill as many of these abominations as they could before they died. It would all be over any second now. Then seconds turned to minutes as they continued to wait in anticipation for an attack that never seemed to come. The necromorphs had halted in their tracks, standing still, not uttering a sound.

“Why are they just standing there?” Twilight whispered, feeling as if time itself had stopped. Somewhere in the darkness they heard the sound of a body hitting the cave floor. It was followed by the sound of another body collapsing, then another, and then multiple bodies at once. Soon, without warning or explanation, every single necromorph collapsed, like puppets with their strings cut.

Every single one.

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As the elevator safely carried them out and upwards Twilight, Luna, and Isaac all lay upon the platform gasping for air and completely exhausted. Not a word was said while everyone sat in complete silence, except for the occasion whooshing sound of a passing floor. After awhile a light snoring could be heard coming from Isaac as he had fallen asleep perched against the elevator side.

“How can he sleep now?” Luna was incredulous at the sight and especially so soon after their narrow escape. Her heart was still thumping at an incredible rate. “I thought Pinky Pie was the only pony who could so casually dismiss a nightmare like this.”

“No that’s not it,” Twilight shook her head, a small smile on her lips, “but I think we should let him rest for now. He’s had a tough day.”

“He’s not the only one.” Luna complained, “We could have died back there.”

Twilight’s smile faded as she suddenly found an interest in studying her hooves. She saw the caked blood on her legs and chest, a mixture of red and black. Some of it was hers and some belonged to that creature she had attempted to destroy. Intellectually she knew that there had existed no other choice but to do what she did. That there was no possible way to reason with the creature, still it was hard to accept that such appalling measures had to be taken on her behalf.

“Luna,” Twilight quietly spoke, “those things, is it, are they….Is that the future of Equestria.” She casually scrapped some of the filth off her skin.

“Possibly,” Luna confirmed solemnly, “only if we can’t stop the Marker before it’s built.” She kicked a pebble about absentmindedly. “I think you now understand why big sis and I wanted to keep this quiet. We didn’t want ponies to know how fragile the world was. We just wanted them to continue being happy and not fearful for the future. I especially wanted to atone for my sins and, well, I’m sorry I dragged you into this.”

“What you said before, about me hitting my head, did I, um,” Twilight dreaded asking. A part of her already knew the answer but she need to ask, she needed the closure.

“I felt it when it happened, something pulled me away. I fought it but I couldn’t resist. I was dead. I,...I died didn’t I?”

“Yes,” Luna knew it was a fool’s hope to believe she could hide it from Twilight. The bookworm unicorn was too smart, too observant, to be deceived.

“You brought me back?” Luna nodded. “Well, I suppose that makes us even now.” Twilight glanced at the princess as another reluctant smile lit her face. She was truly grateful to be alive and wanted to find a way to properly thank the princess.

“I didn’t want it to let you go because of my mistake. None of this would have happened if those things hadn’t come back to life.”

“Did you know they were there?”

“No, I was honestly more surprised than you were. You see, Necromorphs can only live while in the presence of a Marker signal. But there is no Marker here, not anymore. Celestia and I saw to that personally. Afterwards we buried the bodies here so that they would no longer be able to come back, but they did anyway and I don’t understand how it could have happened.”

“Maybe it happened when I carried Isaac to Equestria.” Twilight hypothesized, her curiosity perked. “Yes, that might be it. I thought what I saw in that shadow realm was just my mind creating an internalized physical representation, but it could’ve been real. If so then maybe there exists another Marker in this third realm and its signal was able to spill over and bring the necromorphs back to life, temporarily. I think we’ve stumbled upon to something big here. There exist other worlds beyond Equestria and even worlds inside those worlds. I’d love to try and study them all.”

Despite herself, Luna giggled as Twilight proceeded to geek out. It was a welcomed change from the earlier somber atmosphere.

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Between the two of them they were able to carry Isaac’s comatose body back to the teleportation plate. Luna keyed the spell and in a brief, but intense, moment they found themselves back in the central Sanctuary chamber. Luna peeked outside a nearby window and noticed just a faint glimmer of sunlight ready to rise above the mountains.

“Drat, it’s almost time for the sun to rise and I have to get back to Canterlot before then.”

“Can we make it back to Ponyville in time?” Isaac was on her back and he was heavier than he looked. Twilight could carry him but not all the way back to the library by herself.

“No, I’m afraid you’ll have to take him yourself, there just isn’t enough time left.” Luna apologized and lifted herself to the window prepared to jump out and take to the air.

“Hey guys, whatcha doin’?” Both Luna and Twilight jumped ten feet into the air in abrupt surprise at the sudden intrusion of a sweet and carefree voice.

“Pinky Pie? What in the wide, wide world of Equestria are you doing here, and Spike too?”

“We should be asking both of you that question.” Spike ran up to Twilight eyeing the wound on her cheek critically with a mixture of horror and concern. “Geez, Twilight you look horrible! Is that blood and your face is cut, what happened?”

“Oh, I’m fine and this,” Twilight gingerly felt the laceration on her cheek, “it’s not as bad as it looks.”

“Are you kidding? The three of you are covered in more red than Big Macintosh,” Pinky stood inches from the violet unicorn’s face, her eyes bugging out in alarm, “and you want us to think there is nothing to it?” Pinky was absolutely livid, “Why are you with Princess Luna and who is the new guy? I can’t throw him a welcoming party with you looking all sticky-icky. Why were you in the Everfree forest without telling me? What is your favorite color? What is pi to the thousandth place, what is the capital of Assyria, what is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?” Pinky squeaked at a rapid fire pace, so many questions to answer and so little time.

“All right, all right!” Twilight relented under the party pony’s assault. “I’ll tell you everything if you help me carry him,” she pointed at Isaac, “back to the library without anypony noticing. Ok?”

“Twilight!” Luna gave a warning shout. They had to keep this operation a secret and she shouldn’t just talk about it to anypony.

“I’m sorry princess Luna,” Twilight sighed knowing that the battle was already lost before it had begun, “But I’ve learned that it’s dangerous to keep secrets from Pinky Pie and Spike is my most trusted assistant, I’d be lost without him.” Both Pinky and Spike beamed with pride at Twilight’s compliments. “The truth is; I need their help. They are my friends after all and shouldn’t a threat this big require the attention of all the Elements of Harmony?”

“Your right Twilight,” Luna returned to the window, “You do know best. Before I go I just want to say it’s been a pleasure fighting at your side. I’ll return later tonight and we can discuss our next course of action. Until then,” Luna, in turn, looked at all the ponies gathered in the room, “keep our new friend safe. He just might be the key to our survival.”

With those parting words, Luna launched herself from the Santuary window and carried herself high in the sky towards Canterlot.

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Author’s Note: Sorry for the short chapter, but I got too ambitious with the size of the next chapter so I had to break it down into smaller chunks. Besides, you all have been waiting so patiently I didn’t want you to think I’d abandoned the story. On a positive note, updates should be a little more frequent as the next couple of chapters are already partially completed.
“My Little Pony: FiM” is copyrighted Hasbro and Lauren Faust.
“Dead Space” is copyrighted EA games and Visceral Games.