Broker and Sketch, two ponies living in the expansive Habitat PV-07, are currently sitting down to eat lunch in the mess hall. Technically, Sketch lives in the Manehattan quarter, but he’s visiting his friend. The gentle background noise of the others eating in the cafeteria is loud, but not so much that they have to yell to be heard.

“Tacos?” Sketch asks

“Tacos aren’t that bad here Sketch, though I am more of a sweets guy. How about chocolate?” Broker asks, already savoring the taste of his sweets.

“Don’t make me get a bucket for your drool ponyboy, and who heard of chocolate for lunch? You trying to be the fastest on the station?” Sketch mocks.

“I am not actually unless you count reading. And who doesn’t want chocolate for lunch? I know I do! That would be so delicious. You, Sketch are just limiting your possibilities for sweets!” Broker states while pointing a hoof at Sketch.

“Or, I just don’t want to have another reason to go to the dentist tubs.” Sketch says, poking at Broker, he’s a little squishy.

“The dentist tubs aren’t that bad, I go to them every month. Besides, I may be big, but I’m a fun pony as many have said.” Broker says now smiling at Sketch

“Books having the word ‘fun’ in them don’t count as compliments.” Sketch says flatly.

“Oh quit being so rude to books. I love them all, it was the only means of escape when I was growing up with my family. Not every-pony here is a dictionary!” Broker says taking offense.

“I guess that makes me a chicken.”

“Indeed so. How about we advance onwards. How has your day been so far? Book store has been awfully quiet lately. I feel I need to find a way to advertise in the more heavily populated areas” Broker says more nervously.

“Bored out mah gord! I have nothing to draw.”

“Nothing to draw? Why not draw a pony on top of a pile of candy!” Broker drools at the sight in his mental image.

“I swear dude, you’re developing more than a love of candy, right now it’s borderline fetish.” Sketch says, wondering for his friend’s sanity.

Broker smiles “It’s not a fetish, just an obsession. You take it so seriously sketch, let loose a little and come to the shop. I can give you a few suggestions for comedic novels. Life here is boring, but it’s a better one than what our ancestors went through”

“Unless you’re in the hospital, how do you think a quadriplegic would respond to that statement?” Sketch adds.

“Being so grim now Sketch. Fine, new idea. Draw the space station.” Broker states firmly

“It’s been done, many times.”

“Make yours unique in some way. How about you make it all silly.” Broker asks

“Pfft, he’s done that one, where do you think the kindergarten got that mural on the front?” A tall, red-haired human sits down next to them. “I mean, seriously, there’s no way fourth graders could draw that bad, so it had to be him.” Johan says, jokingly. he’s carrying a tray with his lunch on it, full of pseudo meats and nutrient paste made to look like real food.

“Hey, lets tape your hands, shove a paintbrush in your mouth and see how you paint on a ladder too small for you?” Sketch retorts.

Johan snorts. “About as well as you do, and you’re used to it. Hey, Broke, how ya doing?”

“Brokebuck mountain over here wants candy for lunch.” Sketch teases.

Johan smacks him on the back of the head. “Be nice, he makes more than you and I put together, and he’s still only an assistant manager. And besides, if it wasn’t for his mom, you wouldn’t have had a cake this year made of real ingredients. She is the head of the cooking department for this entire habitat, ya know.”

“Hey, I will say the cake was good, before Broker here at it all and passed out on the table after everyone had ONE piece of that enormous cake...” Sketch stares at Broker

“Hey, how could I ignore such a delicious cake like that. You’ve known me for awhile Sketch, you should know that was bound to happen. Who cares anyway? I know I don’t. To answer your question, Johan, business has been slow recently. I fear the boss is getting desperate. He wants to take out a loan to put up an advertisment up in the main hub to increase an inflow of customers. I do however fear-” Broker says

Johan cuts him off, though, “Yeah, I get the idea. Lotsa businesses are drying up around 09, as well, just not as much traffic now that the station’s almost a third of the way around the belt.” Johan begins shoveling the food into his mouth with his usual gusto.

“Yeah, the only way he could be further from the high traffic area is if it was the size of his belt.” Sketch gets another slap on the head from Johan at this.

“Play nice, Sketch, or I’ll have to stick around for a little when I’m on duty.” Johan warns playfully.

“You really think just the orbital path is cutting out business? Certainly we would have more traffic unless we are heading to the dark side of the planet” Broker states

“Actually, the eggheads say that we are drifting into the dark part of the spin, we’ll be there for something like the next six years or something like that.”Johan says, “Buncha the Unitologists are saying it’s going to be good for change, or something like that. Anyhow, my break’s over in ten minutes, I’m going to need that to get back.”

“Before you go, lets fill this guy with candy corn, get him on a sugar rush, and then TAZE him! Come on, it’ll be fun!”

Johan just smiles and rolls his eyes, grabbing his tray and heading off.

“You little piece of... No thank you Sketch. I should be fine just eating this heated crap!” Broker says annoyed.

Suddenly, the entire room shudders, and the lights flicker.

“How fat are you that you broke the space station?” Sketch asks his sort-of friend.

“You piece of shit!” Broker gets out of his chair and charges but stops mid-way. “I will find a way to get payback!” Broker hisses. “Now, what is causing this shaking? We hit something light again?”

“I don’t know, did the weight watchers clinic develop its own gravitational pull?”

Several of the other people have started muttering, as the lights flicker again. The lights flicker again, then go out. The people in the mess hall call out in fear, and the red and yellow emergency lights snap on.

“Well fuck... “ Sketch sighs as he follows the warning lights. On Sketch’s riglink, a picture of Johan pops up. “Hey robo-cop, what broke this time?”

Johan’s voice crackles over the riglink, Sketch’s civilian-grade RIG having issues with the frequency. “Some sort of riot has broken out in PV-08, and all the Security types have been called in to help out. Something about aliens and monsters, but it’s probably just hysteria.”

Sketch looks over to Broker, “Stay close dude, shit just got real.”

Broker sighs. “Understood, oh great Sketch! What’s our first priority?” he says sarcastically.

Johan speaks over the link. “I’ll try to keep you guys informed, but I’ll be on the security frequency for the most part. Anyhow, take care, you two, it’s sounding like the Manehattan is the safest place right now. Anyways, chat later, I got to go.” And with that, Johan’s link drops, leaving you with less light that before.

“Well, they don’t call all the guards for a little hysteria, something’s wrong.” Sketch warns, his minor paranoia showing through.

“Sounds real exciting. Where should we head to?” Broker says

“The opposite direction where all the guards are running, come along squire!”

“You... you have- Fine you lead. Go Sketch! I’ll be right behind you. But why do I have to come along? I should be in the store!”

“Yeah, but he also mentioned aliens and monsters, fuuuck that!”

“They don’t exist! Only books contain them along with those strange movies that are made. It surely must be a riot!”

“Yeah, so why do you want to head towards a riot, where you could get beaten to a pony pulp?”

Broker sighs, “Fair enough. Lead the way.”

“I don’t know where I’m going, I’m just walking away from the riot area, and yay light!” Sketch shouts as the lights turn back on.

It’s been several minutes of walking by the time you’ve gotten to the transit station, though the tram is saying that there’s only two places it can go without additional clearance; the Manehattan or to the Starlight Mall, though the shipping docks might be able to be gotten to with merchant clearance.

“I vote for the docks. I think my clearance should be able to get us in. We could stay there away from the riot there.” Broker says, now checking his clearence level, “Hopefully two is good enough to get us through.”

“Just get us the fuck outta here.” Sketch says.

Broker scans his RIG to the control panel to get access to head to the docks. With a beep, the holographic interface cycles through. The tram starts moving, zipping along the track. Looking out of the windows, Sketch and Broker get a view of the Equus System’s sun slowly sinking behind Tyranis, the gas giant that Nightmare Station orbits. The lacy-looking connections between the chunks of rock and metal floating in space calls to mind a massive spread of dust held together by shimmering spiderwebs.

The red-orange and blue stripes of the planet ‘below’ provide a contrast for the soft, yellow light of the star. Best of all, it looks like the shipping docks, protruding from a larger section of the broken moon, appear totally unaffected by the riots, the perfect place to hangout while waiting for it all to blow over.

“So.. What do?” Sketch asks.

“Wait out this storm of an apparent riot I guess. Seems peaceful here. Check up on Johan if you can. I’m getting curious on what’s happening down there” Broker says, looking out across the space.

“Well... “ Sketch tries using his RIG. Unfortunately, it seems Johan is either busy or on a different frequency still.

“Nothing I assume. Damn, guess we just sit here then. What do you think is going on Sketch?” Broker asks.

“Nothing good, he isn’t answering.”

“Hm, what to do...” Broker fiddles around at the ground.

“Stare off into literal space?”

Broker chuckles “Guess we can do that” Broker turns his eyes towards the view.

After several minutes of silence, the tram arrives in the station at the docks. Upon stepping out of the tram, the two are immediately met with a group of humans and ponies, all six of them wearing variations on the Riot Security suits, and pointing what appears to be pulse rifles at them.

They ease up as they see who it is, however, and the leader, a man with some rank marking on his shoulder, asks, “What’s your clearance level and type?”

“Merchant, clearance level two.” Broker states calmy.

The man nods, passing a sensor wand over Broker and Sketch, then steps back.

“Alright, go ahead on through, but try to keep your business brief, there’s been some sort of attack on one of the habitats.”

Broker’s ears perk up “An attack on the habitats? By who?”

One of the policemares shrugs. “We’re not sure, but we think it’s some sort of terrorist attack, E-Gov is sending in troops from the testing district at this point.” She sounds a little worried.

“Doesn’t sound too good if terrorists are here attacking the habitats. We’ll be on our way. Might I ask though, where you six are heading?”

“Actually,” the policeman replies, “we’re stationed here, make sure nobody sneaks in and causes damage to the shipments. Some of the merchants would be real unhappy at that.”

“You can just leave his books alone, I doubt they are worth stealing.” Sketch interjects.

Broker scowls and punches his friend in the knee, “Excuse him. We’ll be on our way now. Nothing here for us to do. Any other locations we can head to with the tram?”

“Yeah, I hear the Manehattan and some of the malls are open, and being used to hold onto people until the attack’s over.” the policemare replies.

“Well Sketch, I think it’s only fair if you choose our next destination. Personally, the mall sounds more intriguing to me.” Broker states.

“You know how bad things can get in a mall? Fuuuck that!” Sketch says.

“Well, I guess we head to the Manehattan then. Thank you for the information update.” Broker says to the officers, who nod and wave as the Broker and Sketch return to the tram. Pressing the correct button, Broker starts the tram towards the Manehattan, the largest single piece of the station.

Several minutes of waiting pass, when Sketch’s RIG chirps at him. Johan’s voice floats out, but there’s no video accompanying it. Sounds like pulse rifle fire echo in the background, along with screams, some of which sound utterly alien.

“Guys, it’s no-~fizzle~-iot, some sort of mons-~fizzle~-to the Manehattan, I rep-~fizzle~-the Manehattan, it’s-~fizzle~-all over! Get-~fizzle~-” and the call cuts off abruptly, with a staticky pop. A moment later, the tram stops on the tracks, throwing its occupants to the ground.

Broker lands on the ground firmly and winces in pain. He gets up again and looks at his friend, who is also getting up from the ground. “Sounds like... Sounds like something really bad is happening out there. We need to get off this damn tram, now!”

“Where the hell would we go?!”

As if to answer, the lights flicker back on, and the tram begins moving again.

“Anywhere but here! Didn’t you hear the com? They are dying out there by some creatures! We could be next!”

“Oh, you mean how we are heading to the place he said because of me, and how we left the danger zone because of me? Man, I am on a roll today, just try not to eat it.”

“We.. Let’s just get inside and see if we can actually know the threat!” Broker states now fuming with fury and anger and fear.

“Calm down man, panicking isn’t going to do anything besides get your panties in a knot.” Sketch mocks.

Broker stands there, breathing hard through his nostrils. “How did this happen?”

“Republicans?”

Broker stares at Sketch “What?”

“Exactly.” Sketch retorts.

Broker shrugs off the weird moment. The tram slides into place in the retrofitted hangar of the Manehattan, neither of them paying much attention until they hear a screech from outside the tram. Accompanying the sound is another flickering of the lights. They go out entirely as their heads whip towards the door, only barely catching a glimpse of a humanoid figure standing on the platform.

The other thing they could see as light fades is that the platform, normally drab gray, is a slick, wet crimson, several forms laying immobile in the dark.

“Nope!” Sketch shouts, running to the corner of the tram, not quite out of sight, but it’s the best he can do.

Broker looks at the figure, then the platform and gulps. He proceeds forward off the tram and steps in the liquid on the platform. “H-hello?” He says with his voice shaking in fright.

A flicker of light from a sparking electrical cord temporarily illuminates the platform, showing that there is no-one on it, except Broker.

“Huh... it’s gone... Sketch. It’s gone!”

“You. Are. Fuuucked.” Sketch hisses from the corner. A loud slam echoes in the chamber of the tram station, and the tram rocks on its track. Sketch lets out an involuntary shout of “Fuck!” as something crawls onto the tram. Emergency lights flickers on, and Broker gets to see something that was once human crawl on all fours down the outside of the tram, separating him from it. It twists its head towards him, and he gets a view of a broken jaw and a split open ribcage.

Broker screams his head off at the sight and dashes away from it, not caring where he ends up.

The creature screams, gurgles, and rears back. Sketch, from inside the tram, sees a stream of some sort of fluid pour from the creature’s mouth and into the tram, the puddle now steaming and hissing as it touches the metal floor.

Scrambling away from it, Sketch backs up onto one of the seats as the plastic seats crackle from the acidic spray. Broker turns as Sketch shouts again, and sees the creature dropping gracelessly into the tram and advancing on his friend.

Broker, in a moment of brilliance, uses his telekinesis to grab the hanging electrical cord. Shoving the sparking end of the cord into the creature’s back. The creature howls in what can only be assumed is pain as it collapses, smoking, into the puddle of its own acidic effluvia.

“You teamkilling fucktard! You ditched me!” Sketch shouts.

“I came back to save your ass, Sketch! You were an idiot to stay in the corner of the tram! A least I had space to move around!” Broker retorts.

“You came back! Which means you had to leave me in the first place!”

“Whatever! We need to move on! We’re stuck here. Lets at least explore and hope we don’t see another one. If so, we find ourselves a few weapons to defend ourselves! Get out of the tram now!” Broker orders.

“From now on I’m keeping an eye on you.” Sketch says sternly.

“Fine by me. Now, let us proceed and see what is happening with the others” Broker says calmly.

“I still can’t believe you ditched me.” Sketch adds.

A loud growl from the corridors gets their attention.

Broker’s ears rose up at the noise. “More of them. Sketch, what do you want to do since you are my watchdog now” Broker says growing more frightened.

“How ‘bout we run?” Sketch asks calmly.

“Run? You mean like what I just did? Does the tram work? If it does, we’ll head to the mall.” Broker asks.

“Yeah, fuuuck this!” Sketch shouts, running back to the tram faster than he had ever ran in his life.

Mashing at were the interfaces should be, Sketch tries desperately to get the tram to work. Unfortunately, the tram does not appear to have power, leading to Sketch turning back to Broker. “We are going to die!” He shouts, frowning after his sentence.

“We are not going to die. Look, we just need to get out of this platform and maybe get into the mall by hoof. But if we are to get there, you need to get out of the tram and help me walk through the ship.” Broker says calmly. “You live here, you should know it at least a little better than I do, considering I don’t know it at all.”

“Fine, just tell me what you’re going to do before you do it, like running away.” Sketch says.

“First thing we need to do is arm ourselves with anything. I say we look around here while it’s clear. Those howls haven’t gotten close yet so we have some time to scavenge. Do you happen to know this part of the ship?” Broker asks.

“Kind of, and arm ourselves with what? The sharpened bones from the corpses laying around?”

Broker smirks and uses his magic to rip off on one the blades the creature had. He hovers it in front of his face. “Now what do you say?”

“Get one more and some duct tape and I’m set.”

The other talon soon comes off and is floated in front of Broker. “Let’s get going. You lead however!”

“Why the hell should I lead? You have the weapons!”

“Uh, because you said you would.” Broker retorts.

“And give you a chance to run without telling me? No, you’re in front mister stabby stabby cut cut.”

Broker groans but does as commanded by walking down the platform with blood soaking his hooves with each step. His weapons hover close to him.

“Yes, because if I were to hold a weapon I wouldn’t be able to talk, leaving us with charades to find our way around.”

“I have no idea where I’m going Sketch, so would you kindly at least stay by my side and point where we are suppose to go? I mean geez, you grew up h-”

A loud roar reverberates through the ship, and it sounds like it’s nearby. With nothing but the glow of Broker’s horn, the two ponies venture timidly into the hall, and prepare to run or fight, as needed.

Author's Notes:

Thank you for reading the first chapter, if you see any mistakes, please tell me so that I can fix them, please!
This is a roleplay between me and several friends, but don't think that makes them immune to dying horribly.

Thanks to the following for contributing to the story so far:
Itsmyfuneral, starring as Sketch
Hunterz263, starring as Broker Wordsmith
The Pieman, Editor in Chief