Sketch stretched as the ‘low-air’ alarm began to sound. Thankfully, those alarms first sounded when there was about half an hour of air left, so that was alright. Relatively speaking.

“Shit... I hate that fucking alarm, or most alarms in general. Usually means we’re about to die.” Sketch said as he woke up. Tiredly looking around, he saw the faceprint he left on the glass.

“Hit... snooze...” CD groaned before waking up, realizing it wasn’t his alarm clock. “Crap, what’s that?”

CD rolled up from the bench he’d collapsed onto, yawning. Looking about, even he saw that the kids were only barely waking up. Scootaloo was apparently already awake, stretching in her tight uniform in front of both of the adults.

“Gaahh... S’up dudes?”

“Us. What’s wrong?” CD replied “How do we turn off the alarm?”

“I’m alright, anything happen after I passed out face first into the glass wall?” Sketch asked, popping his back.

Applebloom cracked her own neck, blinking owlishly around. “Mmm... we need ta’ shut off tha’ alarm... C’n do that from the control pa~a~a~” her words cut off with a yawn.

CD then started to wake up, realizing that the alarm meant something bad was happening. “Wait. Crap, we need to get to the next stop, we’re running out of air! We gotta speed up the tram somehow.”

“Oh, jes’ hit the main console, Cee. It only takes a few minutes ta’ get there.”

“Right.” Copy.Data said, heading towards the panel, ignoring the shortened version of his nickname.

Smacking at the holographic panel, he successfully turned off the loud alarm. From the intercom, CD could hear the sounds of the other tram waking up as well. “Hello everypony, this is your captain speaking, we are running out of air, but the situation is under control. In case of emergency, put you head between your legs, and kiss your bum goodbye.”

There were snickers from over the communicator, and CD caught a weak glare from across the gap between the trams from Cheerilee. CD smiled back and waved. The maroon mare just facehoofed.

“So...I guess nothing happened, oh well. Hey CD when do you think Cheerilee is going to kill us? Or Broker for that matter, they’re locked in a box together.”

“Nah, they got all kissy-goo-goo while you two passed out.” Scootaloo stated matter-of-factly, earning a couple points of attention from the adults.

“Awww, fuuuck... Looks like she found a way to make us save her now.”

“Whatever, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re still stuck in this tram with a diminishing air supply until we get to the next stop.” CD pointed out, planning to wait until later to make fun of Broker.

With that, CD tapped the control panel again, and the trams began moving once more. The two conveyances continued to trundle along for another minute, until Scootaloo pointed out a window.

“Hey, guys, there’s another tram heading in the same direction! I can’t see what’s inside, but it’s covered in blood and shit!” The little orange pegasus looked back at the adults in the car, looking worried.

“Goddamnit, I hate it when bad things happen!” Sketch said in response.

“Well, how about we contact it and see if it is bad.” CD pointed out, “Unless we can’t talk to it, in which case we come out prepared for a firefight, and hope it isn’t needed.”

After ‘Bloom confirmed that there was not a way to comm the other tram without a high security clearance, the ponies in the tram all shuffled around nervously as they prepared for potential battle.

In the other tram, Broker and Cheerilee were mulling over the news.

“Broker... do you think we’ll survive this? All of this, I mean?”

“I don’t see why not, if we held out in those vents. I’m getting sick of it too, no doubt there.” Broker said with a sigh, preparing his own weapons. “I just hope this tram isn’t too bad.”

Broker turned when he felt something tap against his armored leg. Standing next to him was a still sleepy-looking Big Heart, and she looked at him with her big, soft eyes.

“Mistah Bwokew, awe we gonna go find Auwntie Wedhawt?”

Broker gave a soft smile. “Yes, Big Heart, we are going to find your Aunt. Don’t worry about it.” The answer seemed good enough for the very little pony, and she stepped back over next to Alex. Broker’s heart went all gooey as he saw the little filly nuzzle Alex, who stirred, just barely.

“You little ones are so adorable no matter how things are in the outside world.”

As Broker watched, Alex gently put his arm around Big Heart, and gave her a weak hug. It was all Broker could do not to suffer a diabetic coma from the adorable overload.

“Broker, I want you to know, if we don’t make it out of this... I’m glad I met you.” Cheerilee whispered the words as she rested her head on Broker’s shoulder.

In the other tram, CD got to see the two hugging and sitting close. Eh, if they like each other, fine, if they all get torn into centimeter sized pieces, whatever. CD thought, checking the distance to the next stop. Only about four hundred meters, no more than a half minute or so of travel.

“As am I, Cheerilee. Just have a tiny bit of hope in this nightmare. We might have a chance of getting out of here if we keep fighting through this place.” Broker replied.

The two ponies nuzzled happily in the tram, to a chorus of ‘eeeew!’s from the kids in the tram at the mushy actions.

“You little kids will understand in a few years, I promise.” Broker replied to the reaction, then turned back to Cheerilee.

CD spoke up over the intercom. “Hey, we’re just about there. Get ready.”

“I am ready, CD.” Broker said turning towards the door in his tram.

“Same.” Sketch replied, readying his Divet.

“Great, now let’s hope we won’t have to be ready, for the children’s sakes.” CD said, making sure his Cutter was properly loaded.

The doors of the trams slid open, and the ponies looked out from them. The tram station was barely lit, thanks only to the ever-present sunlight streaming in through a few windows and the lights of the trams themselves.

CD, not feeling as scared as normal, thanks to Summer’s comforting presence nearby, but still wasn’t sure he wanted to step out.

“CD has Summer, Broker has Cheerilee, I have nothing, so why the fuck not.” Sketch said, poking his head out before exiting.

“You can always have a date with Rosy Hoof." CD reminded him, smirking, before shrinking back from Summer’s disapproving gaze.

“Fuck you too, buddy.” Sketch said, preparing his line gun before taking a tentative step out of the tram.

At the same time, on the other side of a dividing wall, Johan and Frost stepped out of their own, blood-splattered tram.

Johan swept left as Frost swept right, the two checking the area automatically. There were thick layers of the encroaching goo, and the smell was awful. There was no movement, but she knew the other tram had something in it.

“All clear here.”

“Clear, too. Nothing up top, and I can’t hear anything.” Johan lowered his pulse rifle a bit, but kept it still battle ready. The two had decided to use their inter-suit security comms to prevent anything from finding them by sound alone.

“We should check the other trams, I thought I saw something on the way here.”

“I know, we already went over this.” he said placatingly, “We can- wait, I hear something coming around the corner. It’s not moving fast, but that’s not a shuffle.”

“Another monster probably.”

“Uhm... Not too sure. Be ready though, I’m tired of being wrong about how peaceful things should be.”

Around the section of wall, Sketch was nervously getting ready to peek around. With a flash of inspiration, he noted a piece of glass on the ground. And, his new suit had fingers...

Sketch picked it up with the kinesis module and tried to use it to look around the corner. Unfortunately, the piece of glass’s ‘base orientation’ was apparently with the point forward, about a meter in front of him, well beyond the wall. Sketch backed up just as a single shot rang out, and the piece of glass shattered.

“What the fuck man?!” Sketch shouted, preparing his Line Gun.

On the other side of the wall, Frost looked up from where she’d fired the snapshot before realizing it had been held in a kinesis field. As well, both she and Johan heard the sound of someone yelling.

“Oops,” Frost said, lowering her rifle. “Hope they’re not dead...”

“Well, they can still speak, so that’s a point in their favor. You cover the corner, I’ll circle wide.”

Frost nodded and held her weapon up again, ready to move.

“Stop shooting at me you dicks!”

Switching to speakers, Johan shouted back, “Step around the corner with your limbs visible, and without a weapon.”

“You just shot my mirror you asshole how can I trus- Wait... Johan? You teamkilling fucktard!”

Johan paused for a moment, lowering his rifle slightly. He turned back to Frost, and spoke over the suit comms, “I- I think that’s Sketch... but he doesn’t sound right. Get ready to fire, if he’s turned. I- I don’t think I’d be able to.”

“It’d be my pleasure.”

“Johan, seriously man, what the fuck, you had someone else shoot me? You better have a good explanation!”

Johan switched back to external. “Ah, I’m alone over here, why don’t you step around the wall? It’s been a while.” Johan had to work hard to keep the suspicion out of his voice.

“Yes it has, but no, now I’m sure you have someone, you were never that good of a shot!”

Frost let out a small huff of amusement, trying to keep herself focused.

“I got better. Kinda had t-”

“In the span of a few hours? Yeah right, With you its more likely to hit the target in the next lane over! Also, get your ass over here, I’ve had to put up with too many monsters already, we need all the backup we can get. We’re escorting a class of children you asshole!”

“Girls, girls, you’re both pretty, now can we get this over with?” Frost shouted. “My arm’s getting tired.”

“We can if you both put your guns down and get your asses over here, Johan, make sure she doesn’t scare any of the children, they’ve been through enough.”

Johan turned to Frost. “I’ll go first. If there is anything resembling a trap over there, I can survive it. It doesn’t sound like it’s a trap, but I think my paranoia is rather earned at this point.”

“Are you guys going to hurry up? Get your toys and let’s go!”

Johan just shook his head and stepped forward, gun at the ready. As he stepped around the dividing wall, stopping when he saw the suited-up pony standing before him. Since, at this point, Sketch was on his hind legs thanks to the engineering suit’s assistive servos, he was almost as tall as Johan, and was holding the Line Gun at about gut-height.

“Ah, is that you, Sketch? You, uhm, look a little different.”

“Of course I do, it’s the fucking apocalypse, now get your group or whatever and lets go. Also, Broker survived, same with CD and now we are babysitting a group of children. One was turning, but I saved him, also Broker hooked up with their teacher.”

“Uuh... okay, then... wait, kids? Shit. We need to get going. Whatever this crap on the floors and stuff is, I doubt it’s healthy for them to be near. We should get them to the housing sections.”

“Last time we went there they were almost as fucked up as the school, they were in the middle of a school play. By the way, where the fuck are we?”

“Oh, we’re back home. PV-07, good ol’ Ponyville. Shit, though, poor kids...”

“Yeah, we saved one class, I even performed a surgery on one, oh and a we lost a few group members along the way.”

By this time, Johan and Sketch had stepped closer towards the school trams, allowing Frost to circle around behind them, exactly as planned. It was a fairly common tactic used in Security’s few Hostile Entrance teams, And he made the hand motion for ‘stand down’.

Frost let out a small huff and lowered her gun, putting it on her shoulder as she stood up straight, a hand on one hip.

“Frost, we have civilians to evacuate. Kids. we need to see if there’s any survivors here who can take care of them.” Frost paused for a second. “I hope we can.”

“I can take care of them with Cheerilee. She does have experience with the children, and I don’t find them too bad.” Broker offered.

“Wow dude, way to insult the children.” Sketch added.

Johan shook his head, and began walking onwards. “Hey, wait, did you come from Sunshine?”

“Yeah... I hope we never go back.” Sketch deadpanned.

“Was the principal there? She’s kind of a high-profile pony, you know.”

“No, we were too busy running and shooting and blasting off arms.” CD said. “I don’t think meeting her would have helped us kill necromorphs.”

“Also there were piles of victims in the gym... She was most likely among them, why does she matter?” Sketch asked.

“Because she’s the niece of one of the rulers of our grand, interstellar nation.”

“Not anymore she isn’t.”

“And how would you know? She could’ve easily walked out a window and been fine. She’s an alicorn.”

“Yeah, or she could’ve died like the rest of them... wait, did you say alicorn?”

“Yeah. Me Condenser or something. When the riot warning went out, we were sent a small list of folks to keep an eye out for. She’s number two on the list. I hope she’s alright, she’s always seemed nice.” Johan finished his sentence with a sad-sounding sigh.

“Well, if she was alive, wouldn’t she have tried to help us and the kids? That sounds like something an alicorn would do, if you ask me.” CD stated.

“She might’ve been forcibly evacuated. That’s the standing orders for any Security personnel in situations like riots and worse. I think this classifies as ‘worse’, personally.”

“I agree, but I thought alicorns were immortal, why the need for an evac order?” CD asked

Frost finally spoke up.

“We need to get moving.” She hitched her gun up to a more comfortable position, impatient from all the chattering. She took a step towards Johan. “Me and Johan will stay together and guard the front. You and other others will guard the back. ”

“I like that plan, but the trams’ Oxygen Scrubbers need time to recharge.” CD pointed out. “They aren’t going to help the kids breathe if they’re burned out.”

“So we are going to sit here like ducks and protect the kids and Cheerilee until we can go, Johan, Frost, CD, ya with me?”

CD just gave a nod and turned to Broker. “What’re you gonna do, Broker?”

“Probably stay and agree with Sketch.” Broker replied.

“Then I guess we’re as good as dead.” Frost crossed her arms.

Johan interjected, trying to stall the fight before it could start. “We should get everyone going, together, so we don’t lose anyone. But we need to work fast, I saw what this gunk can do a while ago.”

“We did too, not fun.” Sketch added.

“So, you have some wounded, right? Then let’s get them moving. Middle of the group, with two adults in back and two up front. I’ll take point. Frost, you stay in the middle, too. I know you can hit anything at either end from there.” Johan began pointing towards each location, sorting the members of the group out. “Also, what’s up with the- wait, who’s that in the white armor?”

CD decided to respond quickly so they could get back to the matter at hand. “Sweetie Belle, and I have no clue how old she is, but it doesn’t matter. Moving on...”

“Actually, this is important. She’s number four on the list. She’s in the center of the group. Frost, I need you to keep an eye on her at all times.”

Frost looked over as CD gave a ‘You gotta be freaking kidding me, what the hell is this?’ look. Victoria let out a small disappointed huff but nodded to Johan. “Alright, but you better not die, got it? After all this is over, we have business to take care of.”

“I’ll try not to, I am the senior officer for this operation. Sketch, you and the little one in the engineering suit take the front of the column. Broker, you and CD take the back. Keep an eye out for anything sneaking up on us.” Johan looked around at them. “Any questions?”

Without waiting for a response, he snapped a quick, “Good, then let’s go.” before turning and beginning to leave.

“Here’s an idea, Broker, how about we get a pair of ankle biters on our backs to watch behind us? It worked before with me and Sketch, what say?” CD asked.

“That sounds like a great idea, actually.” Broker replied and nodded towards CD.

The group began to move in a (somewhat) orderly fashion, the seven kids stuck walking complaining in loud whispers to each other every few moments. Scootaloo and Big Heart were both carrying Alex’s stretch.

Frost, standing sentinel in the center of the group, had found Sweetie had attached herself with magnetic clamps to her back. She had to admit, it made the carry a lot easier, and she was getting a tiny readout of Sweetie’s vitals on her HUD. It was very reassuring to know she’d be alerted if her charge decided to wander off.

And at the front, Sketch and ‘Bloom followed about six meters behind Johan.

“See anything Applebloom?”

“Not yet. Just shadows.”

Johan called back from the front. “Shush, you two!”

If it wasn’t for the windows with a view to the outside, with the sunlight streaming in, the habitat would be completely dark. In the eerie, orange half-light, the shadows seemed to dance and move.

All the children had started whispering amongst themselves, except for the CMC members.

“I hope my brother’s alright.”

“Did you see that?”

“I think that shadow moved!”

“Ms. Cheerilee, can we go home now? I’m scared...”

Every one of them had bunched together closer to the center of the group, nearer to where Cheerilee and Frost were.

“It’s okay kids, I’m here to protect you, and so is Cheerilee, neither of us will let anything get you.” Sketch said.

“As best we can at least.” CD whispered to Sketch, reminding him of their trek through the vents.

“Don’t forget me you two.” Broker added quickly. “I promise not to let those things get any of you precious young minds.”

“We all did.” CD said. “Though we weren’t as sappy.”

“Yeah Broker, long story short kids, I’d rather die than leave you with these creatures.”

The kids didn’t seem very reassured, and continued to whisper to one another. Each of them sounded ever more fearful than the others, and the tension in the group was rising. There was seven foals and two human children in the group.

“So, just a question, but if they were going to evacuate the principal, where would she be taken?” CD asked. “And would it be easy to get some help from her, an Alicorn would be totally useful?”

“Would you all be quiet, please?!” Johan hissed back at the group. “As for your question, she’d likely be evacuated here. I saw three of the school trams at the station. You only used two, right? That means one was used earlier.”

The group finally got to one of the commons rooms, the large, wide-open area meant for people and ponies to move around more comfortably without having to be in their rooms. Johan raised a hand for them to stop, giving everyone some time to rest. They had been marching for almost ten minutes, after all, and the children needed a break.

Sketch turned around, “Hey Scootaloo, Big Heart, how’s Alex doing?”

“I’m missing an arm. That’s how.” The voice was tired and groggy, and laced with pain. Alex, it seemed, had woken up and was looking at Sketch with bleary eyes.

“Well it saved your life, so that’s all that matters.”

“Still missing an arm... An’ my head hurts.” The boy’s cynical tone softened as Big Heart nuzzled him. Alex threw his remaining arm around her, and hugged her close. This whole thing earned a squeak from Big Heart and and a chuckle from Scoots.

“Just be glad your marefriend was there to help save you, you owe her big time.”

“She’s not my marefriend! That would be gross!” Alex protested weakly. Big Heart was also making gagging noises, and the two had separated.

“You know, defiance usually gives the opposite message. You two just give it a couple of years.” Broker said with a tiny chuckle himself. The two children made spitting and gagging noises, and Scootaloo had to stuff her own mouth with a hoof to keep from laughing out loud.

Broker, meanwhile, had wandered to Cheerilee. “How are you right now, Cheerilee?”

“I’m fine. The kids are spooked, and I’m having to keep them calm. How about you?”

“Scared, but mainly concerned for the children. Poor things shouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.” He whispered into her ear. “I do hope we can find something useful here in Ponyville. Maybe I can find some answers to where this infection started as well.”

She nuzzled his cheek happily. “That sounds great.”

Sketch, sitting on his own, wondered to himself, ‘Hmmm, I wonder if anyone else will hook up here... ‘ he mused, looking at CD, ‘He’s got his hallucination,’ He looked at Johan, ‘He smells like he’s been tapping Frost, and recently, too,’ He then looked at Scootaloo, ‘Wonder why she was watching Broker earlier.’

“Johan, you were here right? You think there are still survivors here since they managed to build barr-”

“Hey! Over here!” A voice called out from the other side of the barricade. It definitely sounded normal.

“Does that answer your question?” CD replied, rolling his eyes.

“Why yes it does, CD.” Broker said replied in an annoyed tone. “Who might you be?” He directed the question to the anonymous voice.

“Andrew Tam. You guys with Security?”

“Yeah, we are. I’m Acting Sergeant Allegro. We’ve got children that need shelter.”

Those words, it seemed, were magic. A portion of the barricade was dragged out of the way, and a small group of people, mostly ponies, stood on the other side. Almost immediately, several of the children ran forward, squealing happily for their family. A few did not, and a few of the adults looked up hopefully, but did not receive a child’s return.

Sketch just died a bit inside looking at the broken families, he had nothing to say here.

CD looked down sadly before speaking. "I'm sorry, we couldn't manage to save them all, we... we did the best we could and then some... really, we did."sa

One of the ponies, evidently a parent, pressed her face into the shoulder of the colt next to her, and began crying. Several other also reacted to the news poorly, blinking away tears and the like.

CD responded, still sounding sad. “I feel really awful about it, if it helps, though I don’t know why it would.”

Broker sighed in sadness.

”We’re sorry for your loses... I can’t understand what it feels like to lose someone.” Sketch said, patting one grieving parent on the shoulder.

The families responded well to the comforting of the trio, or at least, as well as anyone could being told that, by the seemingly faceless ponies in the armored suits. One of them, dressed in the dress clothes of a military veteran, caught Johan’s attention.

“Son, you’re with Security, right?” The older buck’s breath smelled like mint and alcohol, and he looked ancient. “A few of folks in Army suits took a different path with that princess, Miss Cadenza. They... they didn’t seem right, son. Please, for us ponies, go and check on her, please. I can send you the route they took.”

Johan looked into the pony’s eyes, and nodded. “I’ll see if anyone else is coming along from my group, but I’ll get heading there right away.”

A moment later, Sketch felt someone tapping at the armor on his shoulder.

“Hey, Sketch, want to help rescue that pony princess? I have a lead on where she went, and it sounds like she might be in trouble.” Johan’s voice was level, but far from calm.

“I have respect for her, so why not. CD, Broker, you in?”

“I’ll do it if I have a chance to do a cliche ‘save the damsel in distress’ mission.” Broker replied, earning a playful smack from Cheerilee.

“I’m not sure she’d really need much help, but I’ll offer all I can anyway.” CD said.

Johan nodded happily, only stopping to see if Frost was coming along. She spent a moment to think about it, but decided to stay behind, to keep an eye on the survivors.

“But don’t you dare die, Johan.”

Back on the ground floor, Johan was leading the four-part group by the guidance track on his HUD.

“Alright, the Evac point shouldn’t be much further, so we can check up from there. It’s one of the personal vehicle hangars, and-” Johan cut off as he looked up upon entering the hangar.

Thick layers of black, slick crusts had formed up on the walls, floor, and ceiling. It had even formed around and over the personal EVA pods. At the far end of the hangar, there was something standing still, in the vague shape of an large pony hunched over.

“You think it’s one of those things, Johan? I can’t really see any deformities on it.” Broker said in a quiet whisper. He flinched as something moved in the shadows nearby.

“Me neither, but it’s creeping me the heck out.” CD said. “Should we try talking to it, or shoot it?” His eyes darted to try following something that shifted, but the long shadows cast by the slanted sunlight obscured much of the floor. The covered lumps in the floor also cast deep pools of shadow.

“I vote for investigation before opening fire.” Sketch said, turning his head. He could’ve sworn he’d seen some glimmer of light in one of the dark sections of the room.

The entire room was lit in alternating bands of dark and orangey-yellow. Johan, not willing to shoot something that might be the princess, called out. “Princess Cadenza? Is that you?”

Something in the darkness shifted, and tiny glimmers of red light slowly encircled the four people. Sketch turned as a sound like plates of ceramic sliding over one another echoed through chamber. He looked in time to see the door out covered in a shell of blackened material.

“Hello? Who’s there?” Every one of the four males turned at the sound of the voice. It was, quite simply, beautiful. The form at the end of the room shifted. “Are you here to... rescue me?”

“Hello, and yes we are Miss Cadenza.” Sketch said politely for once.

“Oh, I was escorted here by these nice young guards. But then, they said they needed to go, and that I should wait here. So I did.” The sadness in her voice made everyone in the group feel a bit worse. It wasn't fair that the princess, well-known for being exceptionally nice, had been subjected to this horror.

Johan began stepping forward, towards the princess.

“I’m sorry Princess, let’s just get you to safety.” Sketch said, heading towards her as well.

“I agree.” CD said, his head a bit down, half from respect, and half from still feeling awful about the ruined families.

“No doubt about that, Sketch.” Broker added as he watched Sketch and Johan walk towards Princess Cadence’s shadow. He began to walk towards the shadow as well.

Passing from the first bar of light into the deep shadow beyond, and back into the second, CD couldn’t help but feel a bit odd. Something was... off. He looked around, and saw Summer looking terrified.

All she said was, “Data, something’s wrong. Please don’t.”

“Don’t what? Should, should I stop them?”

Before he could get a response, Cadence called out again, and he forgot what he was talking about. “Please hurry, I’m scared. And it’s going to be night soon.” Copy.Data continued walking on.

As they stepped into the last patch of sunlight before Princess Cadence’s, they stopped

“Oh, four of you! Just like last time. Since I can’t go; I have to stay, after all, perhaps you can stay with me, then?”

The dark shape in the shaft of sunlight turned around, opening a pair of huge, black wings. Holes and cracks covered and filled the wings, and several of the ‘feathers’ only held on by sheer tenacity.

As ‘Princess Cadence’ opened her eyes, each glowing like a dull, red light, a flare of thin red lines formed over her. Thousands of little shapes, almost like letters but not quite, twisted and formed in the blood-red cracks in the blackened skin of the Alicorn. A bloody red aura of magic formed along her horn.

And finally, the chest of the creature lit up an outline of something both CD and Johan recognized, though only the human knew what he recognized it as, at least in miniature.

“A- a marker? W- what the-”

The creature, thankfully, seemed to merge with the floor and wall’s covering, nothing but a volcanic-looking mound with veins and muscles pouring into the geyser-like pile of blackened flesh. A skeletal grimace leered at the group, as they realized the creature was definitely not planning on letting them go.

Broker’s only reaction was to fire his divet at the creature violently.

“Might as well join the idiot if we’re about to die!” Sketch said, taking up his line gun and firing at the creature, not using the mine because... reasons.

“Sounds like a plan.” CD said, firing horizontally at the chest, so he might hit other parts as well.

Johan, for his part, took a step back and began firing as well.

The alicorn-necromorph turned with the sickening crunch of bone and gristle grinding. The thing’s forehooves had split apart, revealing a set of long, razor-sharp talons. Grinning that eerie, macabre grin once more, she crooned to the assembled males. “Please, just join us. We’ll be together, forever. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?”

In spite of the slightly grating sound of her voice, every one of the guys there had to fight off what had to be layers of enchantment trying to sink their grimy roots into their brains. An uphill battle all the way on the mental front, it was all they could do to remain standing.

“N- not fair, I’m... I’m the only one... who can mess with my brain...” CD mumbled, trying to see if humor could distract it or something, but to little effect.

“Damn it, you’re giving me a migraine.” Sketch fired off another shot as he spoke

Everyone felt an odd, flat feeling in their chests as the necromorph’s horn lit up with a sickly red glow, like a dying ember. Then, they each stumbled as a sharp, almost explosive pain went off in their chests.

“Oh, please boys,” the monster spoke in a pleading voice, “I just want your hearts. So give me your HEARTS!”

Johan squeezed off several shots to try distracting it, and everyone felt another painful lurch in their rib cages.

“What’s... in it for us... ugly?” CD said, aiming his Cutter, trying to hit her horn, but pain made his aim far from straight. The bolt went wide, hitting the back wall and sending a shower of reddish, luminescent goo across the floor below that point.

A keening shriek ripped through the air, and a shape like a hundred faces lit up along the walls. Every one of them looked like it was screaming in fear or pain, and their overlapping voice drowned out the turned princess’s melody. In that time, though their ears began to bleed, their hearts stopped trying to burst from their chests.

“No idea why that stopped her, but keep doing it!” Sketch said, though nobody could hear him, and fired a shot at the back wall hoping to keep her from giving them heart attacks.

“Try muting your helmets... that might stop the noise...” CD said weakly before doing just that.

Unfortunately, the raucous din still poured through the helmets as Broker and Johan continued to try firing at the unliving blasphemy, though the shots didn’t seem to be doing much. Some sort of shield had formed over her/it, and they couldn’t get through it. Finally, the screeching came to a halt, along with the bubble.

Johan breathed a sigh of relief, Broker breathed heavily within his helmet, while CD tried another blast at the princess, still attempting horizontal blasts in an attempt to remover her horn , and Sketch fired the last few shots of his line gun into her, shooting the wall didn’t seem like a good idea anymore. Everyone was bleeding from ears and noses behind their masks, and all of them had slightly blurred vision.

“Broker, try your explodey-spear thing, it might work, right?” CD offered the idea while trying to think of others that seemed less risky.

“Yeah, was about to try that.” Broker replied while his javelin gun was trying to lock on target with the Princess’s chest. However, it was not going too well since he felt dizzy from the aftershock of the screeching that, thankfully, had already ended.

“Wait, what about an explosive spear? Use the damn thing!”

“I’m trying to get on target!” Broker said while he finally got a good, hazy focus on the thing’s chest before pulling the trigger. The barbed length of metal slammed into the creature’s lower body, and she screamed like a banshee. The ear-splitting shriek was worse than the walls shrieks, and every person there fell to the ground in agony.

Broker, on reflex hit the alt-fire switch, sending coruscating arcs of electricity across the alicorn-thing’s body. Finally, the energy dissipated, and the creature stopped shrieking.

Like marionettes with their strings cut, the group relaxed from the positions of agony they’d curled into, before looking up at the monster still standing before them.

“Fine... if you don’t want to be loved, then you can be annihilated!”

The creature’s horn lit again, and a sizzling bolt of energy raced across the hangar and blasted into Broker, sending him flying. Accompanying this was a flare of red light coursing along the alicorn’s body and traveling across the black-covered floor and wall near her.

The wall opened its eyes again, and the tiny points of red light marking those ocular organs shone like a city seen from space, and they appeared in every shadow in the hangar.

“Feast on them, my children, my loves, tear them apart and devour them!”

Broker, laying in a section of shadow and barely conscious had just enough time to begin screaming before he was grabbed by whatever was in the floor and dragged towards the wall. Thrashing and squirming to try to break the monstrous grasps holding him, he had no luck.

“Damn it Broker!” Sketch tried to fire his line gun again, nothing, “Shit...” Sketch drew out his divet and began firing away.

Again, the gunfire simply glanced harmlessly off the shield around the monster, each shot causing a pulse of light to flare along the trails on the floor.

“Alright, plan B. And hope it works.” CD said, firing at the walls like before, hope wasn’t always his friend, but he tried anyway as Sketch joined in and fired two shots at the glowing parts on the floor.

The red traceries flared, and the Cadence-monster shrieked again. The shield flared, but didn’t drop. The alicorn monster looked about with a murderous look in her glowing red eyes, and she twisted around with a noise like snapping cartilage to dig at the wall behind her.

Suddenly, a pony-like shape dropped, covered in more of the red symbols on Princess Cadenza’s necromporphic form from the wall. It stood up shakily, its appearance insectoid from the blackened armor covering it. A pair of tattered wings sprouted from its back with a sickly ‘pop’, accompanied by the flare of dull red magic around its twisted horn.

With a shriek, it charged them, barreling towards CD. Despite the surprise appearance of the new threat, CD managed to aim and fire a bunch of horizontal shots, particularly aiming at its legs.

The creature stumbled and fell as its legs were blown off, the symbols on it turning dark as it died.

“N- noo! My baby! You will pay for this!”

The creature immediately tore another quartet of the creatures from the wall and released them into the battle. Two stayed near the back and began charging their horns, one charged headlong, and the fourth rose into the air on its broken, tattered wings.

In spite of their tentatively necromorphic status, they were surprisingly uniform in appearance.

Sketch took aim and fired at the two in the back, aiming at their horns, while CD fired a pair of vertical shots at the flying one to remove it’s wings, stopping to reload, and slicing its legs with three horizontal cuts like the one earlier. He hoped Sketch knew what he was doing, before aiming at the charging ‘baby’ monster, repeating the process.

Sketch’s aim went wide, disappearing into the reddish glow of the thing’s horn without any sound of impact. All four rounds seemed to vaporize, not even hitting anything behind the creature. Finally, the creatures released their spells, the bolts arcing outward to strike... the other necromorph-unicorn things. Each of the struck casters vanished from view instantaneously with a slight ripple, before being completely gone.

Copy had the idea of aiming a bunch of horizontal shots at varying angles, hoping to hit them even if they moved up into the air.

The shots didn’t seem to impact anything, and Johan’s similar tactic of just firing everywhere was having about the same success rate. However, his higher rate of fire led to a spray of gunk and fluids splashing from mid-air, coating an invisible creature not more than a meter away from him. Firing with abandon, he took the creature down, but one more still stalked around.

This was about the time another wave of the creatures got dropped down, the alicorn-necromorph tenderly setting them on the floor. Three raced towards the group while the fourth began charging its own spell.

Sketch once again took aim at the one in the back, but this time he aimed for its legs instead of its horn.

Once again, CD fired at one of the charging monster’s legs until it fell, continuing the tactic on the rest of them, firing nearly a dozen shots at the rapidly moving beasts and reloading twice. He then tried an idea he came up with: Throw stuff.

He picked up a severed leg from the first ‘wave’ with his suit’s Kinesis Module and hurled it at the unicorn in an attempt to distract its spellcasting. The limb hit at about the same time as another of Sketch’s four-round bursts hit once, and the unicorn-thing staggered, its light flaring. The red light flicked and winked out for a moment before returning with force, a small explosion like a grenade blasting chunks of the walls and the floor around.

CD quickly shut his eyes, thinking that leaving them open would send him to Blobland again. The impact of something slamming into his chest forced his eyes open on reflex, though, and he saw one of the gross, insectile things on his chest as it forced him to the ground. It opened its mouth, revealing long, serrated fangs right before it began to bite at him and dig its teeth into his shoulder.

Meanwhile, Johan and Sketch had ended up side-by-side firing at the monstrous things, Johan emptying two clips into the creatures one after the other. Sketch had emptied the last of his own ammo into the sudden horde of necromorphs.

Both of them were interrupted by the shriek of the alicorn-necromorph, and Johan began firing at her instead of the creatures.

Meanwhile, in a desperate attempt to get the creature off of him, CD started punching it... or more accurately, flailing his hooves wildly trying to hit it. The creature continued to bite and pound its own hooves into him. It kept releasing him only to bite him again, the pain viciously distracting. He finally got a grip on the thing’s head and began pushing it away from himself.

The suit’s muscle augments made the task a little easier, but the necromorph on his chest was incredibly strong for its size. Even utilizing the surge of his earth pony strength, he only barely ripped it off of him, breaking its skull in the process. The monster fell to the ground, twitching, but inactive.

The young colt rolled over to stand up, seeing that the creatures were numerous, and swarming all around as the alicorn-morph shrieked again.

Broker, concentrating as best he could around the pain of the necrotic limbs tearing at his body, began to charge a bolt of raw kinetic energy. Unicorn telekinesis was a common spell for them, but it was usually limited, as it was intended for moving something relatively precisely.

This spell, on the other hoof, should act like a concussion grenade, pushing away everything around him. Provided it didn’t simply tear him to pieces, he had to admit. Shaking away the thought, he concentrated harder, the dull glow of his magic muffled by the suit he wore.

Back on the floor, Sketch was running out of options as the creatures charged him, Sketch adopted CD’s ‘Throw shit’ plan. He began chucking nearby limbs and chunks at the oncoming enemies in hopes to slow them down enough for the others.

Johan’s gunfire and Broker’s improvised kinetic bomb both found the ex-princess at about the same time, the bullets ripping into her unshielded form as Broker’s wash of raw energy slammed into her from the side.

As Broker felt the arms and bodies forced away from him, he fell towards the ground some ten to fifteen meters below. He impacted the crunchy covering of the floor with a dull thud and the crunch of something breaking, and pain flared in his body. He could barely seen through the red haze of agony.

Meanwhile, the alicorn-thing was screaming, and thrashing, the meaty connections with the floor making grotesque popping and snapping noises as she twisted and flailed. Glowing red lines of fluid dribbled down her cheek like tears from her eyes as the thing made weeping noises.

CD took a break from the smaller monsters, and fired a few blasts at the alicorn, mainly aiming for her horn in case she tried anything to make things a lot worse.

The bolts of concentrated plasma slammed home on the creature’s head and near the base of its horn, but didn’t seem to do much beyond make her thrash so much more.

Her horn began to light up, new symbols flaring to life across her body. This time, CD... recognized them. The symbols weren’t symbols, they were letters, all in the language he knew. What they spelled, he had no idea, it was like someone had drawn the contents of a large can of alphabet soup onto her skin.

He could tell where things started to look like words, but then they broke off, like an incorrect crossword puzzle. Whatever those ‘symbols’ were supposed to be, something had gone wrong here. Horribly, horribly wrong.

Shaking himself from his reverie, he realized that she was staring at him staring at her. A partial shield protected her slightly-battered body from further assault from Johan, but he could easily walk to her... He shook his head. He’d meant to think shoot at her.

“Oh, my... perhaps you aren’t so crude as those other ruffians? Would you come to me and... make me whole?”

Something about those words, spoken in such tones, seemed to override his brain, and he began walking forward nodding.

Across the room, Sketch saw this all unfold, and threw a limb at his front legs, trying to knock some sense into him. The leg flew out and smacked the colt in the side of the helmet, just a meter or less from the outstretched ‘arms’ of the alicorn monster.

CD blinked and shook his head, looking up into the smiling, macabre face of the necromorph princess, and realized he was nearly close enough for her to grab him. He was also closer than the inside of her shield.

“Stop fucking with my brain!” Copy.Data yelled, firing quick horizontal blasts at the undead beast of a princess, his aim at the base her horn, and continuing his rapid fire on her source of magic.

The bolts of energy hit her on the horn, and she shrieked. Data saw her shield break just as he passed out, feeling blood flow freely from his ears and nose and eyes. Pain lanced through his head as his vision faded.

Almost twenty meters away, Johan and Sketch fell to the ground once more, limbs over their ears in agony as the shriek continued on and on, and they both felt their own eardrums burst agonizingly.

Broker, his own ears still ringing, couldn’t hear a thing as he looked up at the monstrous princess, aiming through the haze of pain and blood loss. Squeezing the trigger, he prayed that his aim would be true, and prayed for forgiveness for shooting an alicorn.

The spear flew from the weapon, spinning through the air. The javelin slammed into the alicorn princess’s eye, forcing it way through the delicate bone and out through the back of the head. It stayed, lodged there, as Broker hit the alt fire before collapsing.

As the lightning coursed through the twisted creature’s form, she screamed one more time, twitching and jerking. She slowly toppled over as the runic symbols across her body flared and died. As she struck the ground, chunks of the armor-like plating fell away, and Sketch was able to stand and look at her. The soft-looking pink coat of the princess within the shell was matted with blood and gore, and her body had been compressed and twisted beyond recognition after the hips.

As the only pony standing, even as a space-born, he still felt the need to go to the princess. She no longer had the look of infection, and the vicious scarring around where the Marker had been embedded was simply pouring out blood. The Marker itself was nowhere to be seen, except in fragments.

“This is all kinds of fucked up...” Sketch’s voice was scratchy and hoarse from his own screams of pain, and he could feel himself limp slightly from a bite on a rear leg. All the little creatures had fallen inert, and his hooves crunched over their unresponsive shells as he stepped cautiously towards the downed princess.

As he drew close, she weakly opened her unruined eye, proving beyond a doubt that alicorns were far beyond mortal, at least in toughness. Her ruined eye streamed with blood and gore.

“P- please... d- don’t leave m- me alone... I- I’m a- afraid of the d- dark...” Her voice was weak, and a look of genuine fear had settled onto her visage, though her remaining eye wasn’t fully focused on Sketch. “P- please, Shining, d- don’t leave m- me... I- I...”

Sketch realized with a start that she was not the monster he’d just fought, not anymore. And wherever she was thinking she was, it was a far scarier place than even the gore-coated hangar.

“I’m here princess, I’m not going anywhere.”

Her voice was plaintive, terrified, as she said, “Sh- shining... I l- love you... Please don’t leave me alone again.” She sniffled, a broken hoof reaching towards him agonizingly slowly. Sketch took the hoof gently, gasping as Princess Cadenza pulled him closer, her eye focused on him with shocking aclarity.

“Y- you’ve got to stop them. It- it’s awoken. I thought they were trying to stop it, but they’re trying to tame it. It can’t be chained, it is the chains. Please... please don’t leave us all in the darkness. I’m so afraid...”

The pony princess sobbed again, pulling him into a crippled, one-armed hug. He could feel her using him for support. “I’m s- so sorry for... for hurting y- you all... it’s so d- dark...”

Sketch felt her grip slacken, and she slid unceremoniously from him, collapsing to the ground once more. Her curled mane and pink coat were matted with blood, but even he’d known of Cadence’s constant attempts just to make things better for everyone.

Sitting next to the corpse of the princess, Sketch fought to hold back tears he wouldn’t be able to wipe away.

[Achievement Get: Attrition]

Author's Notes:

Well, for whatever reason, this chapter did not post when I told it to. As such, here is the ridiculously belated chapter 14 and Act 3's interlude.

Original Author's note:

Well, that was a turn. Starting off with adorable reconciliation and capping off with a fight against a crazed Alicorn monster. Oh man, I warned you guys... Make your votes, damnit. This is entirely the fault of anyone who didn't vote, so you can all start blaming each other. This isn't a story with a set storyline and decided points where certain people die.

People can die at any time.

So please, vote. One person up, one person down. Every vote counts.

Thanks to the following for contributing to the story so far:
Itsmyfuneral, starring as Sketch
Hunterz263, starring as Broker Wordsmith
Rosethorn, starring as Victoria Frost
SomeGuy, co-starring as Johan Allegro
The Pieman, as Copy.Data