Standing in the elevator, Sweetiebelle was staring at the up and down arrows while occasionally glancing at Nexus, but only to look away when he glanced at her. Coughing nonchalantly into a hoof, she looked over at him and got a good look for the first time.

His coat was a darker brown than she had realized, almost as dark as the grime on the walls. His mane was the color of a dark ash, but it was flecked with strands of black, light grey, and a few white hairs. His eyes, the color of rubies, seemed to glow in the dim light. His shoulder were wide, but a little shallow in the collar bone, his torso was well rounded, and his legs looked fit but not enough to where it looked like he was a an athlete.

'Poor Nexus,' she thought. 'He's lost his family, his home pretty much, and he's just now talking. Although, he's not alone, he has me, he can talk to me, we're friends. We're... Both dead. That's something we have in common. Something I wish wasn't true for him.'

As they stood in the elevator, she began to hum along with the cables above them as they grinded against the metal. As she was doing so, Nexus began to hum something, and then the humming turned into small, trumpet like sounds. Looking at him, she smiled when she saw his eyes closed, and he was making his own little diddy.

The elevator stopped, and Sweetiebelle blinked as his face changed back into the pained expression she was now seeing. Looking out, she was met with a blue hue in the lighting, frost covered concrete to walk on, a sign in front of them reading 'STAGING AREA 03', and a stack of boxes to the far right. Stepping out, the doors closed behind them and the blue light turned orange.

Going down the steps, she looked to the right and saw a wagon filled with mummified remains of the aliens. Spotting a small holo-board, she took Nexus's hoof in hers and led him to it. Stopping to look at the rotting Necromorph in the case beside it, she reached up with a Drag Tentacle and pressed play.

"He was shivering, naked when I found him." A male voice said, calm and collected but also sympathetic. "The self-inflicted wounds carved deep into his skin, the meaning of which I can only speculate. I had to work to pry the artifact from his cold, white hand. A curious object, made of an unknown material-activated, it seems, by sound."

"Doors, tools, toys for the young." Nexus said scooting closer to Sweetiebelle.

"The markings are words, that I'm sure of. But without a means of translating them, I'm afraid it's purpose will remain a mystery. If only there were more time, I could find other examples of the script stored here and unlock it."

The recording stopped and Sweetiebelle rubbed Nexus on the side again, letting him shake the tears away as he stared at the head only a foot away.

Leading him away once the tremors stopped, she opened the set of double doors and led him into the small hall. Listening to the doors close, she let go of his hoof and went to open the other doors. When they opened, she squeaked a small sound of surprise when she came face-to-muzzle with a human corpse.

Tilting her head, she waved a hoof and batted it away; watching it float away she grinned before jumping in. She flew up and turned to see Nexus looking around, a look of awe in his widened eyes as he saw everything floating. Waving him on, he crouched and jumped in. He was flying towards the ceiling when she took hold of him with a pair of Lurker tentacles.

Landing on the ceiling, she sunk the small barbs into the metal; following her, he took out a pair of his own and did the same. Above them, the ceiling was composed of four, large yellow triangle that were being held together by clamps. On the lower level, hiding underneath the bridge they came in on, was a Necromorph composed of three to four aliens. Further than that, the floor was covered with barrels, crates, and pieces of scrap and trash that were hovering just above the anti-grav plates.

"Family." Nexus said, watching the Necromorph below. "The ill ones." He said watching as another drifted up from the floor.

"No, Nexus," Sweetiebelle said. "They're not anyponies family anymore. They're just shells that the Markers are using."

He glanced at her momentarily before a loud roar shook the metal they were holding on to. Looking down at the first Necromorph, Sweetiebelle could make out three crested heads staring up at her, and surrounding them were giant, yellow pustules not unlike the Exploders she'd seen. It split in the middle like a flower blooming, and a small jellyfish-like Necromorph came flying at them.

Charging her horn, she let off a red bolt of magic that incinerated the projectile. Looking at Nexus, he had his own horn charged and fired off a blue bolt of magic that cut into the Medusa. The sacs popped as sparks danced across its body while jumping to the other one. Once it stopped, the two bodies were floating, smoking or still on fire, or were just melted in some places.

Floating past the first corpse, they landed on the second level where Sweetiebelle opened the door for him. The small hallway was ice on one side, and concrete on the other. Turning a corner, Sweetiebelle jumped back when she hit an alien skeleton that was leaning against the wall.

Staring at it for a moment, she opened the next door and immediately took hold of a rail nearby. Taking out the Lurker tentacles again, she flung herself onto the wall and looked down.

Orange mining lasers were scattered haphazardly around the concrete tube. Jumping down at an angle, she passed most of them along with Nexus as he landed beside her. Sweetiebelle was reaching for the holographic button when Nexus pushed it for her. The door opened and at the end of a small hall was another holo-board with a speaker below it. Going up to it, Sweetiebelle pressed it.

As the word 'WARRIOR' appeared, Nexus made a strand of nasal noises again just as the machine made the same noises. Sweetiebelle, looking between the two played it again and he did the same thing.

"Do you know how to read this?" She asked pointing at the brief flash of the alien script. "Of course you do, you were taught the language."

"Warrior." He said. "I healed the warriors when we fought against the ill ones." He said looking at his fore-hooves. "The blood stained the water, the last words were spoken by those before they became the ones we sought to defeat. I was-" he gripped his head momentarily before continuing. "I was treating one who had ingested the blood of an ill one. The warrior changed before me, struck me down, and killed me."

"You were a doctor?" She asked making him tilt his head. "You helped make others better when they were hurt or sick, right?"

"Doctor." He said. "Doctor." He said again before making more nasal sounds.

"Were you saying doctor in your language?" She asked looking at the small holes on his muzzle.

He nodded before his ears stood up. Baring his teeth, he charged past her, around the corner into the other room and slammed into a door, denting the metal. Rushing over to him, Sweetiebelle's ears twitched when a scratching was heard overhead. Dragging him back a few feet, she charged hero horn and blew the door away. Running in, the vents down the green-lit hall were smashed open when a pair of blackened Leapers jumped out.

Sweetiebelle's back split in two places as a pair of Slasher blades cut their way out before cutting into a Leaper as it jumped. Skewering it on one, she cut an arm off and then the head before delivering two more stabs to the torso. Throwing it off, she looked at Nexus and saw him tearing the other one to pieces with his teeth.

As he was busy with that one, another pair of Leapers appeared and charged. Sweetiebelle caught the first one as it lunged, clipping its right shoulder. Cutting the appendage down to the bone, it hung uselessly as it turned to attack her again. She swung down with both blades and cut off the tail and arm while severing the head in the process.

The second one had caught Nexus by surprise and was now clawing at his face and chest mercilessly. Grabbing it by the tail, Sweetiebelle smashed it against the wall and then the floor, repeating the process on any solid surface before dropping it after the noises stopped.

Going over to Nexus, she helped him up as his wounds healed. Leading him to the next door while his eyes reformed, she was about to press the button when a loud thud was heard from the other side of the door. Charging her horn, she opened the door and fired off a blast of energy that sent the Alien Necromorph flying back with a smoldering hole in its chest.

While it lay there, another chorus of sounds began in the hall. Squeaking and squawking resonated through the chamber making her fold her ears against her head from annoyance.

"What is that? Dolphin Necromorphs?" She said rubbing her ears. "A rusty trumpet?"

"The young." Nexus said, his voice coming out in small sprays of blood before the skin finally healed. "The ill young."

Looking ahead, she saw nothing but the green lights and solitary door. Trotting next to him, she kept her horn lit helping to illuminate any other Necromorphs. As they were passing a metal support, Nexus turned and slashed four Alien Crawlers causing them to detonate. He was flung against Sweetiebelle, landing heavily on top of her while his leg was laying elsewhere. Rolling off her, the sounds were still coming but from further down.

Sitting up, Sweetiebelle charged her horn and fired a ball of energy where the other support was. The wall opposite of it was splashed with orange puss when the Crawlers were detonated. Listening for a moment, no other noise was heard until a Leaper attempted to crawl through the vent by Nexus. It was thrown back into the vent and skewered with a piece of metal laying on the ground.

Stopping again, they waited longer than before, before Sweetiebelle was at the other door alongside Nexus. Opening it, she lashed out with her shoulder blades and only hit air.

The room they were in now was empty aside from a desk with another holo-board and speaker by it, notes on a cork hangup, filthy lights laying on the ground and pieces of tile that cut into their hooves when they stepped on them.

"Nexus, look at that." Sweetiebelle said pointing at the holo-board. "Do you want to know what this one says?"

He looked at it with the same bored expression before he pressed play himself. As the word came into view he let out three noises that the machine made after he had finished.

"Neat." She said going to the other door. "I wonder how close they were to translating it all?"

When they entered the door, the first thing thy noticed were the orange lasers above, the second thing they noticed were the Lurkers pouring out of the vents. Charging their horns, they shot a single bolt of energy at one Lurker and watched as the sparks flew from it to the others.

Once the electricity stopped, the Lurker bodies smoking and floating around now, did they boost themselves up towards the second level. Grabbing the metal, they hoisted themselves under the rail and glided to the door. Next to it, was a circuit router with the twin icons glowing at eye level with them.

Looking at her hooves and then at the controls, Sweetiebelle took out her Stalker claws and began tearing away at the door carving out large gashes of metal until they both could fit through.

The room they were now in had a small pile of chairs and empty crates in one doorway making it impossible to get through, the other side was fairly open with a few lights giving the usual brown-streaked light, a bench, and a single unlocked door. Passing the bench, Sweetiebelle opened the door and was going in when Nexus quickly pulled her back in a bone-crushing hug.

"Nexus," she said blushing from the close contact. "What's wrong?"

"The ill ones walk here." He said. "Encased in their creators tombs."

She just stared blankly at the wall for a moment while biting her bottom lip; getting out of his grasp, she made her way in and stopped. Three Regenerators were in glass cases, all of them desperately trying to break free and slaughter them.

"Nexus, get in-" she was saying before a recorded message stated speaking.

Looking back, she saw Nexus staring at a holo-board, mimicking the word 'SACRIFICE'. Feeling a shiver go down her spine, she got rid of it and replaced it with a layer of muscle. Looking around the room, she saw a small glowing tablet laying on a table in front of one of the Regenerators. Going over to it, she propped herself up with Drag Tentacles and her spinal tail. Taking the tablet, she began going through the lines, stopping once or twice when the name 'Serrano' came up.

Stuffing it in her chest cavity, she led Nexus towards a ramp that led into a lower room. The room was lit with clean, white bulbs that were still shining as if they had just been put in. A trio of unopened lockers were in front of them, the yellow paint was hardly chipping off as noticeably as any of the others, and the small turn by the door revealed a second vent. As they were passing the first vent by the door, Sweetiebelle's ear twitched.

"Nexus, do you hear that?" She asked putting her ear right by the vent. "I hear voices. They're far off, but I can hear them. Come on, we can get back to the others through here."

As she tore away the vent and climbed up, Nexus paused only for a second to hear the sound of glass shattering and the snapping of bone followed by tearing flesh.

"The ill ones walk among us yet again."