• Published 29th Dec 2012
  • 12,587 Views, 1,189 Comments

Mother of Invention - zaponator



Awake and alone, Applejack will find a way to survive.

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I Will Follow You Into The Dark

The entire facility that Applejack could see was illuminated in a dull orange light. Harsh shadows were cast by the sickly light emanating from cage-covered fixtures placed at regular intervals along the wall. It was bright enough to see, but not very well.

The flooring was cold, hard tile. Applejack figured that it was white, though of course everything was a dim shade of amber to her eyes. The walls, similarly, appeared to be light grey, but were also painted by the unpleasant lighting. A closer examination of the ceiling revealed large, long light fixtures that were currently dark. That only confirmed Applejack's suspicion that the orange lights were a backup measure for if the main lighting failed.

At least there was a backup measure, so she wouldn't need to worry about running out of torchlight. Applejack extinguished her torch with a few smacks against the tile floor. She had some extra tinder if she needed to relight it, and there was no sense wasting it when she could already see.

She stepped forth into the hallway and examined it as she went. There were occasional benches along the walls, usually next to potted plants that were far too green and bright to be real after so long without care. Everything, the plastic foliage, the furniture, and even the floor, was covered in a thick layer of dust. It wasn't thick enough to muffle the clip-clop of her hooves against the floor though, and Applejack winced every time the sound echoed back to her down the long hall.

Her next few steps were considerably lighter. There was no telling if anything lived in the facility, and Applejack decided she would rather not find out. She could only hope that the scientist had been right, and that the freed experiments had all died out by now. Her pace was slow, but Applejack felt no need to rush. She took tentative, careful, quiet steps forward. Just a couple steps, then pause and perk her ears for any sounds, then just a couple more steps.

Applejack couldn't help but notice the utter lack of bodies. Not that she wanted to see more dead ponies, but there had to have been hundreds of scientists working in the facility, at least. They had clearly all perished, but not a single sign remained that they had ever even been there. With all of the nameless horrors that had been unleashed upon them, Applejack supposed it wasn't terribly surprising if there was… nothing left.

She decided not to dwell on that train of thought any longer, and continued in her intensely slow advancement down the hall.

It took a few minutes at that pace to reach the first intersection. Three hallways trailed off into darkness, and one went back the way she came. The three new hallways were all lined with doors at irregular intervals, and each door had a number. From what Applejack could see, a few of the doors had windows set in them, but the majority were solid.

The scientist in the journal said that the control room was on the north end of the level. Applejack paused to think.

The entrance of the tunnel was on the east side of the mountain —she definitely remembered the rising sun shining directly into the cave— and the switchback slopes had turned around… three times. Three 180 degree turns, meaning that Applejack ended up facing in the opposite direction she'd entered. So Applejack was facing east, and that meant…

Applejack nodded in satisfaction, then turned and headed down the hallway on her left. She moved at a more normal pace now. The place wasn't any less creepy, but Applejack was becoming reasonably sure that she was along—

She skidded to a halt at the same time as a choking gasp exploded from her throat.

"No… no, no no," Applejack muttered desperately. She turned around to look the way she'd come, but saw nothing but the hallway extending out of sight in dim lighting.

She couldn't see it, but she could feel it; a cold, writhing darkness that gripped her insides in a vice. It was a feeling unlike anything that could be expressed physically. There was really only one way to describe it: it felt wrong.

Applejack didn't waste a second. She spun about and took off at a gallop towards the control room. The sickly feeling of wrongness was weaker than usual, but it was unmistakable nonetheless. Applejack wondered if the creature had actually been injured by her attack the other night, or if it was struggling due to the dim light that filled the facility. She knew that it had always seemed tentative around her bright campfire, and she had never once seen it in the light of day, so it stood to reason the thing didn't like brightness of any sort. Though it seemed the backup lights were dim enough not to deter it entirely.

All these thoughts flew through Applejack's head, but she didn't focus on any of them. She focused on putting one hoof in front of the other, and not slipping on the dust-covered tile as she flew past doorway after doorway.

She passed another intersection, this one only had three hallways: right, straight ahead, or back the way she'd come. She didn't even slow down as she barreled straight through. Fortunately, for now, the feeling of the creature wasn't increasing at all. It seemed that she could outrun it, but for how long Applejack wasn't sure. She certainly didn't want to test the limits of its endurance against her own. She had to deactivate the lockdown and get back out into the daylight.

Applejack did consider simply fleeing back to the surface, but that thought was smashed almost immediately. She could outrun it. She was outrunning it. Even if she left and came back later, there was no reason to assume it wouldn't follow her down again. No, she'd come down there for a reason, and she would see it through.

The dim lighting prevented Applejack from seeing too far ahead, so it came as some surprise when the hallway took a sharp right straight in front of her. She tried to turn, but skidded across the floor and slammed her side into the hard wall. Applejack bounced off the wall and sprawled across the dusty floor, but she was back on her hooves in a blink. Her side aching only served to distract her from the pain in her recently-injured leg, so Applejack pushed on.

The mandatory corner meant that she was running along the north-most edge of the level now, so Applejack continually glanced to her right for any sign of a control room. She finally saw the signs that the scientist's journal had mentioned, and they all had arrows pointing in the direction she was running, so Applejack kept going.

The sickly feeling in her gut had faded to a mere whisper of its former self by that point. She had well and truly left the monster in the dust. Applejack felt a new surge of pride and confidence at that. Of course, she couldn't let her guard down yet. It may have been weaker, but Applejack could feel something else beyond the usual sickening wrongness. The creature was mad. It was angry enough that it hadn't even shrieked when it came after her. Applejack blinked at that realization. It wasn't playing around, it was coming, and it was coming to kill her.

Fortunately, she had just reached her destination. Applejack did see the control room coming, and she managed to slow herself to a mostly-controlled stop. She skidded just a little as she halted in front of a large metal blast door.

There was no handle on the door, and Applejack frantically looked everywhere for a moment before she spotted what she needed. A large button was set into the wall next to the door. The journal hadn't mentioned anything about needing an access gem, and it was just on level 1, so Applejack could only hope it would open for her. She held her breath, leaned forward, and pressed the button.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a scratchy static emanated from the switch. The sound morphed and changed into a loose approximation of a pony's voice. It was rough and distorted, the words were difficult to make out, but Applejack strained her ears and listened.

"Schhht —main power offline. Please reset the main circuit breaker located in the generator room on level 2. Repeat: Electronic locking mechanism malfunction. Main po— sssnkkkcht"

The voice devolved into static, then fell silent. For a second, Applejack merely stood in the hallway with her mouth agape. She stared at the unmoving door. The only sound was her own heavy breathing and the thumping of her rushing heart, but even those seemed to fade out as her hope came crashing down.

She was snapped out of it as she felt the monster coming closer. Her insides twisted almost painfully with the rage she felt projected towards her.

Applejack steeled her will. She would not give up at the first setback. She was going to finish this once and for all. She looked around quickly for any sort of sign that would point her towards the stairs to level two. What she found was even better. A map of the entire level was stuck to the wall on the other side of the door to the control room. She trotted over and examined it as quickly as she could, ever conscious of the slowly growing presence of the creature hunting her.

The staircase was located in the center of the level, and the control room was in the middle of the northern edge. That meant she only had to run directly south, and she would eventually reach the stairs.

From what she could tell, the creature was directly following the path she had taken, so it was safely out of the way somewhere to the west. Applejack smirked confidently. She could do this. Get down there, flip a breaker, and come back up all while avoiding a mysterious creature out for her blood. She could totally do this.

No time to waste, then. Applejack took off down the southern corridor.

The power being out would explain the dim backup lights. Applejack gasped as an encouraging realization struck her. If turning on the power managed to reactivate the main lighting, then the entire facility would almost certainly be bathed in bright light. With the creature already down here, there was a good chance it would be hit with the full force of it all. That stood a good chance of scaring it off or hurting it, maybe even outright destroying it.

The scientist had said that anything they had made could be hurt. Applejack was pretty sure she had just stumbled into a way to hurt this one very, very badly. Even if it meant taking a longer, more risky route than she originally intended, the thought was enough to give Applejack new hope.

She flew past closed doors on both sides without glancing at them. She ran only slightly slower than she had been earlier, as she knew that there was a good way to go yet and she couldn't risk exhausting herself.

The creature was somewhere to her right, coming from the west side of the facility. It was steadily growing closer now, as it was no longer directly behind her trying to catch up. Applejack could only hope that she reached the staircase before the failed experiment managed to cut her off. Each time Applejack passed an intersection, she would glance down the right path with her heart in her throat. Fortunately, there was never anything there.

Just as the feeling of wrongness was growing worryingly bad, Applejack spotted a square of guardrails in an intersection up ahead. She slid to a stop next to the guardrail, and quickly looked down the square shaft it surrounded. Sure enough, a metalwork staircase descended in a square-spiral down to the next level.

Applejack glanced up towards the right hallway, and instantly felt her guts twist in a knot. Something was moving towards her down the corridor. There was a patch of darkness that the lights failed to illuminate a good distance down the hallway, but it was growing steadily closer.

An involuntary whimper rose in the back of Applejack's throat, but she rose above her dread and sprung back into motion. She quickly located the opening in the guardrail that led to the staircase and took the stairs down two at a time. Her hooves clanged against the metal steps as she went. The stairs wound all the way around a couple times before she reached level 2. It was a similar setup to the floor above, with a square of guardrails surrounding the shaft that contained the stairs, only here the stairs went both up and down.

Applejack took neither. She hopped over the guardrail and onto the white tile of level 2. The monster was nearly above her now; it would be descending the stairs any second. Applejack frantically realized that she didn't actually know where the power room was. She desperately flung her gaze across the walls in the hope that there would be another map.

She almost missed it in the dim light, but Applejack sighed heavily in relief as she spotted a floorplan similar to the one she'd found above. She leapt over to examine the map as quickly as she could. With just a second or two of observation, she noted that the power room was on the north wall. That was all the information she needed. Applejack set off at a sprint down the northern hallway just as she felt her pursuer descending to her floor.

The rage layered over the wrongness spiked in intensity, and Applejack nearly stumbled as it felt like a hot coal had been shoved into her abdomen. She regained her footing and struggled onwards. The feeling faded a bit as she gained some distance on its originator.

Applejack decided that she needed more time. She wouldn't be able to fix the power if her pursuer was right on her tail. She needed to give it the runaround first.

While she didn't want to underestimate it, the creature had never displayed any exemplary level of intelligence. Or, at the very least, it seemed to be very single-minded when it came after her. Seeing as it had followed her exact path to the control room above, it was probably following her hoofprints in the dust. Applejack could use that.

The next time she came to an intersection, Applejack took a hard left. She ran down the hall for some distance before slowing to a stop and turning to a nearby door. She trotted up to the door and attempted to open it. Fortunately, it wasn't locked. Applejack didn't know how much time she had, so she had to move quickly. She stepped into the room. It looked like some sort of science lab, unsurprisingly. Counters and desks and tables were all covered in various scientific paraphernalia and equipment. None of it meant much of anything to Applejack, but that wasn't why she was there. She stomped her hooves and kicked up dust, taking only a second to make quite a mess of the dust-covered floor. With that done, she stepped back into the hallway and closed the door behind her.

Finally, Applejack continued the way she'd been heading, only she wasn't sprinting. She stepped on the tips of her hooves, and swished her tail lightly across the ground behind her. It wasn't perfect, but in the dim lighting it was probably enough to obscure her tracks. Only once she was a good distance from the room she'd entered did Applejack begin sprinting once more. If her plan worked, the creature would think she had hidden somewhere in that room. Even if it figured out her ruse fairly quickly, it would still buy her a few precious seconds.

Applejack performed her little trick twice more, and turned at each intersection she reached. She was careful to keep her sense of direction, and once she was done she turned and headed north once more. Mere seconds later, the entire facility was filled with a hideous shriek of rage. Applejack smiled, even as her ears folded back against her head and her skull felt like it was splitting. She'd really made it mad.

There was no telling how long her distraction would last, so Applejack sprinted as hard as she could towards the north. When she reached the northern edge, she simply had to follow the signs that pointed her to the power room.

The feeling of her pursuer had faded almost entirely by the time she reached her destination. Only the barest inkling remained, so faint that Applejack could barely even detect it over her throbbing limbs, racing heart, and heaving lungs.

She stood in the hallway outside the power room for a moment, coughing and sputtering as she tried to regain her breath. Fortunately, it didn't take too long for Applejack to be able to breathe again. She knew that her limited diet and weeks spent in recovery hadn't been great for her, but she almost felt like dying after sprinting for a few minutes. She would need to work out hard when she got back home.

Applejack blinked. When she got back home. There was no 'if' anymore. She chuckled happily. Of course, there was still one last thing to do before she was home free.

The monster wasn't even getting closer at that point. It was probably stuck in some room, flipping over tables in a fruitless search for her. The thought only made Applejack chuckle again as she trotted into the power room. There was no door, merely an open arch leading into the small, rectangular room.

The room was fairly sparse. Dormant machinery lined both sides, but the center was mostly open floorspace. Unlike the rest of the facility, the power room wasn't white. The walls were unpainted, grey concrete, and the floor was dark grey metal plating. A table sat at the very back wall covered in various tools, pieces of pipe, and small bits of electronics. Thick metal pipes ran along the ceiling, and equally thick wires ran alongside them. The lighting in the power room was even worse than out in the halls, and Applejack had to squint just to look inside. Fortunately, it didn't take her long to find what she needed, even in the dim light.

In the back left corner of the room, bolted to the left wall, was a large lever. The lever was flipped to a downwards position, and had a small red light glowing next to it. Of course, what tipped Applejack off was the white sign labeled 'Main Circuit Breaker' that was bolted right next to the lever.

Applejack trotted into the room and straight towards the circuit breaker. She'd made it about halfway across the open floor when something went horribly, horribly wrong. She felt it, right behind her.

Even as her stomach twisted to the point of severe pain, Applejack spun around with wide eyes. She choked out a pained whimper as she looked at the doorway. Where before it had opened into the orange-lit hallway, now the doorway contained nothing but pure, deep blackness.

Applejack stumbled backwards. Her hooves felt clumsy and weak, and they clanged against the metal flooring far too loudly. She nearly slipped and fell, but managed to barely stay standing as she backed slowly, slowly away from the accursed darkness.

"No… please," Applejack didn't even know who she was pleading with. The monster, the gods, it made no difference.

She could feel the ice-cold grip of fear paralyzing her lungs. Her heartbeat seemed to echo loudly in her ears. Through it all, her stomach twisted with the wrongness and the rage of the failed experiment before her. She felt like she would throw up, but her insides were too tied up to even manage it.

For the first time, she felt something different from the monster. In addition to the ever-present feeling that it was wrong, in addition to the more recent feeling of utter rage, Applejack felt the bare traces of a new emotion. It felt satisfied.

Then it stepped into the room. The darkness flowed around it, writhing and sliding across the walls, floor, and ceiling. It moved inexorably slowly, one inch at a time, perfectly matching Applejack's desperate backwards scrambling.

The thing stopped as Applejack yelped and fell back to her haunches. For a split second, there was stillness in the tiny room. Neither party moved; they stared back at each other, one with hunger and the other with wide-eyed frothing terror.

Applejack broke first. She spun and made a desperate leap for the switch. It was way too far, but if she could make one or two more good leaps she could make it. Her hooves hadn't even touched down from her first jump when something slammed into her left side. Hard.

It felt like a hoof, albeit a hoof made of solid cast-iron. All the air burst from Applejack's lungs in a pained wheeze as she sailed through the air. She smashed into the concrete wall with a loud crack that echoed in the empty room. She would have screamed in pain if she'd had the air to do so. Applejack flopped down onto the cold floor and bravely attempted to get to her hooves.

The world was swaying, and her chest felt like a knife had been driven into it, but Applejack managed to stand up just barely. She stumbled forward blindly. Her vision was too hazy to really choose where she was going.

A brown shape loomed in front of her, and Applejack gripped it with her forehooves. Wood. The table. The workbench against the far wall of the room. She could still feel the creature, watching her with what she assumed was sick satisfaction. Applejack propped herself up on the table and worked the air back into her lungs. The creature didn't move. Apparently, it wanted sport. Well, if it wanted a fight —one of Applejack's hooves inched towards a heavy piece of pipe— she could oblige.

Applejack shouted a war cry as she spun about and flung the length of metal piping towards the center of the darkness. She heard a meaty thud as the pipe connected with something, and the creature seemed to stumble back half a step in more surprise than pain.

She wasn't going to waste the opportunity. Applejack swiftly drew the knife from its sheath and gripped it tightly in the crook of her right forehoof. In a blink, ignoring her pain, she lunged forward and closed the distance between them. Applejack couldn't exactly see the creature; it didn't work that way. Rather, she could very specifically not see anything, and Applejack aimed for the center mass of that nothingness.

The knife sank in to the hilt, and the creature released a loud hiss as it stumbled to the side in pain. Applejack pressed her advantage. She tried to get a grip with her other forehoof so that she could leverage it into more stabbing attacks. She plunged herself into the aura of darkness that surrounded the thing, and attempted to grapple with it. It was taller than she'd expected, and reaching for where a pony's neck would be only hit the side of its chest. It was still pony shaped though, so Applejack latched on to a long, slender forelimb.

All of this had taken the span of a single second, and with her grip secure Applejack prepared to stab the thing again. The second she pulled the knife out of it, the monster struck. It moved even faster than she'd anticipated, and swung the leg that Applejack had gripped. The speed and strength of the swing were enough to break her hold, and Applejack rolled painfully across the metal floor before skidding to a stop against the wall.

It wasn't waiting this time. The creature moved forward so fast that Applejack didn't even see it move. She blinked, and it was simply in front of her. Applejack instinctively raised her forelegs to shield herself, and only just in time as a heavy limb smashed into her from the right.

Her block managed to save her head, but Applejack was still sent cartwheeling across the room. She flew through the air and landed hard on the floor. Her chest felt like it was exploding when she hit the unforgiving metal.

She couldn't lay down, though, and valiantly attempted to push up to her hooves. Before she could even stand, a vicious hoof collided with her side and sent her sliding across the floor to impact the wall painfully.

Applejack coughed and sputtered, and when she opened her eyes there was blood splattered on the floor in front of her. She wiped at her mouth with a foreleg, and it came away stained with red. Her gaze hardened. Every part of her throbbed in intense pain, and something was definitely broken in her chest, but Applejack wasn't done yet. Each hoof clanged as she planted it against the floor, and then she pushed. Slowly, Applejack rose up until she was standing proudly at her full height.

Her opponent stood across the room where it had kicked her. The knife lay on the floor between them, knocked free from her grasp by the savage blow.

Applejack glared defiantly into the impassive blackness. She spat a glob of blood onto the floor, and then dragged one forehoof across the metal threateningly.

For a moment, the monster seemed to hesitate. Applejack knew it wasn't actually intimidated, but perhaps it was just the least bit surprised by her tenacity. Good. It thought it had her trapped. It thought it had already won.

Something resembling a grin spread out below Applejack's fiery glaring eyes.

"Turns out I'm just full of surprises."

Applejack leapt forward and snatched the knife from the ground. The monster seemed to brace itself, no doubt perfectly ready to smack down her attack. Only Applejack didn't attack just yet. She kept her momentum from the leap and rolled to the left. Her roll carried her across the floor until she was alongside the monster. It had been expecting her to lunge straight at it again, and wasn't ready to defend from the side.

Before the monster could turn to face her, Applejack capitalized on its momentary surprise. She flew forward and thrusted with the knife, making sure to aim a bit higher than a pony. As disturbing as the thought was, the creature seemed to be built similarly to Princess Celestia, and Applejack aimed her attack accordingly.

The blade once more sunk in deep, and the monster staggered a bit from the attack. Applejack had learned from her last mistake, and quickly withdrew the knife. She backed up several paces and watched as the thing turned to face her.

The burning, twisting in her gut was more intense than ever, but Applejack hardly noticed it at that point. Between the fiery pain she felt everywhere else, and the adrenaline coursing through her veins, Applejack didn't have time to feel sick.

The creature paused for a split second, but Applejack already knew what was coming. In the next blink, it had appeared in front of her with a rush of air. A foreleg heavier than a lamppost swung with enough force to shatter her skull, but Applejack was already moving.

She rolled once more, this time to the right. The heavy limb sailed harmlessly above her, and Applejack sprang back up to her hooves next to the creature. Again, she lunged, and again she struck deeply. The monster let out another hiss of pain, and the aura of darkness fluctuated just slightly.

Applejack smiled grimly as she backed up. She spat again, and more blood spattered against the floor. She couldn't keep going for much longer. If the monster didn't fall soon, it could very well win without touching her again.

Applejack feigned another roll to the creature's side, saw it move to intercept, and instead lunged head-on for its chest. It was almost too easy to fool. Her knife sunk deeply into the thing's chest—

Only it didn't. Applejack blinked as her forehoof bounced ineffectually against the creature's rock-hard chest. She stared down at her right forehoof, and saw much to her surprise that it was empty. Applejack quickly dodged back to a safe distance, then glanced around the room to locate the apparently dropped knife.

It didn't take long to find it. She hadn't dropped it. The knife floated in the air a few feet from the monster. The handle was surrounded in a deep black aura, and for the first time Applejack noticed that the blade was stained with black ichor.

"Oh…" Applejack felt her heart drop into her hooves.

The creature didn't move, but the knife sailed towards her blade-first as if it had been shot from a bow. Applejack yelped, and only barely managed to dodge the deadly projectile. The workbench was only a couple steps away, and Applejack made a beeline for it and all the metal tools it held.

She snatched up a large metal wrench, and only just managed to turn around in time to see the knife flying through the air towards her chest. Applejack gasped and raised the wrench to deflect, just barely knocking the knife wide of hitting her.

The assault didn't slow, however. Applejack was forced to deflect attack after attack, and she soon found herself backed into a corner, fending off each thrust of the knife by the skin of her teeth. She knew that she couldn't keep it up forever, but she only had to buy enough time to launch a counterattack.

Before she could even think about attacking, a white-hot pain exploded in her left ear. Applejack screamed, and the wrench fell from her hooves to clatter against the floor. She put one hoof up to her ear, and it came away washed in crimson. Applejack glanced downwards and spotted a tiny orange thing laying in a small splash of blood. It took her a blink to realize it was actually her ear.

Yet another scream prepared to fly from her throat, but before she could voice it, she felt her limbs pulled forcibly to the sides. Inky darkness surrounded each hoof as Applejack was lifted spread-eagle into the air. She floated over to the center of the room, where the creature watched silently next to a blood-stained knife.

Applejack struggled and heaved, pulling against her magical binds with all her might. She could feel them flicker and weaken slightly. If she could just get free and surprise the monster with—

Applejack's scream once more filled the small room as the knife lanced across her side. Blood flowed from the open wound and dripped onto the metal floor beneath her. Before Applejack could catch her breath, she was flung forward and impacted the wall face-first. She both heard and felt a crack as her muzzle smashed against the unyielding concrete.

She was floated back to the center of the room, sagging in her restraints. Blood dripped down from her muzzle to add to the growing stain on the floor. The knife flew across her right flank next, obscuring the crimson apples of her cutie mark behind a veil of deeper red.

Blackness crept in at the edges of her vision. Applejack's eyelids fluttered as she struggled to remain conscious through the pain. She screamed again as she felt herself fly backwards suddenly. This time, the creature released its hold on her just before she hit the wall. Applejack slammed against the wall with a wet slap, bounced off, and tumbled across the floor to land in a crumpled heap in the corner.

She shuddered and whimpered, but even crying hurt. Her vision was blurred and stained with red. For some reason, she rolled herself onto her back. The action caused another pained yell to burn through her aching throat.

Applejack lay there, staring up at the ceiling as her executioner approached. It took its time, savouring her suffering and pain. The blood from her numerous wounds pooled beneath her back as Applejack took breath after slow, shuddering breath.

She waited for death… until, something caught her eye. Applejack blinked, and tried to clear her vision enough to focus. It was blurred, and she might have been seeing things, and she probably didn't even have the strength to move a forehoof, but…

Applejack noticed that she had landed in the back left corner of the room. Right in front of her face, bolted to the wall above her, was a large lever with a sign that read 'Main Circuit Breaker'.

The creature was close now. Darkness was spreading in her peripheral vision that was different from the darkness already there. It was only two or three steps from her, reveling in her suffering.

Applejack didn't like that. She didn't like that at all. Something sparked inside her, and that spark spread to a fire. That thing wouldn't even finish her off. It wanted to see her suffer. It was evil, it was sadistic, it was everything wrong with this damned island! Applejack hated it! She hated it, and she would not let it win so smugly.

Her forehoof twitched, then rose an inch from the floor. The creature hesitated, no doubt curious as to what its defeated prey was doing. Applejack's face displayed a bloody smile. Turns out, she really was full of surprises. With one last lunge, she flipped the switch.

A rumbling filled the room in more than just sound. The floor shook and shuddered as old and long dormant machinery slowly came back to life. The creature hesitated above Applejack, apparently confused. The confusion didn't last more than an instant, as the room —and the entire facility— was suddenly bathed in blinding light.

The harsh shrieking that filled her head was different from any that she'd heard. It wasn't angry, or threatening. It wasn't even frightening. It wasn't even really a shriek; it was only a scream. It sounded almost pathetic. It was music to Applejack's ears.

The scream lasted only a second before cutting off suddenly. When Applejack opened her eyes, some time might have passed. The room was bathed in a bright white light that practically hurt if she stared straight up into it. She stared anyway, and it was the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen.

Applejack wanted to just lay there. She was tired, and the floor was comfortable, and she felt warm and fuzzy. But… there was something she had to do. It was important, really important.

She got to her hooves, though she had no idea how that happened. Applejack found herself stumbling down a long hallway. The floors were a pristine, white tile, and the walls were painted a blue so light that it would look grey in poor lighting.

It was nice, comforting. The environment was sterile, but didn't have the same unpleasant sense of discomfort that was present in a hospital. Something to do with the lights, probably.

Applejack stumbled up the metal stairs. At some point her hooves stopped going up, and she had to climb on her knees. She didn't mind. The stairs wound around and around and around until she was walking down a hallway again. Applejack stumbled to the side and slid against the wall for a few paces. It was nice, and it helped support her upright, but when she stepped away the wall was smeared with red.

A large door loomed before Applejack. Like the rest of the place, it was in perfectly pristine condition. In a sudden moment of lucidity, Applejack remembered exactly what she was doing. She staggered over to the button, and desperately slapped a red-stained hoof against it. There was no distorted, electronic voice this time. There was merely a buzzer sound, and then the grinding and clanking of the metal door sliding open.

She stumbled into the control room and made for the massive array of buttons located on a control along the far wall. Numerous screens hung above the control panel, but all of them displayed some error message. A few spinning chairs were strewn about as if their occupants had left in quite a hurry. A large sign was taped to the front of the control panel, which read, 'Please receive authorization by security personnel before touching anything! This means you, Shale.'

Applejack ignored all of it. She limped up to the array of buttons and switches, and propped herself up with her forehooves. There were countless different switches for countless different operations, but Applejack only had eyes for one. She spotted a large, red button that stuck out prominently from those surrounding it. A label was printed underneath it: 'Island-wide lock'.

When Applejack pushed the button, a loud, harsh klaxon filled the entire facility. Red lights flashed as the siren sounded for almost a full minute. The computer voice said something about the lockdown being lifted, but the sound was muffled in Applejack's hearing.

Applejack smiled. She'd done it. Finally, she had broken the one thing that was holding her on the island. At long last, she was free.

She turned around and trotted away from the console, but after only a few steps her legs gave out. Applejack collapsed to her side with a wheezing breath. The cold tile felt surprisingly pleasant against her skin. Her vision was blurred, and Applejack blinked rapidly to clear it. When she was able to see, her gaze fell on a dark path of blood, left in puddles and splotches that smeared across the white floor all the way back through the open doorway.

She blinked. "Oh…" Her voice wasn't even a whisper.

Glancing down, Applejack saw an ever-expanding puddle of red staining the perfectly white tile floor. She finally noticed the blackness at the edges of her vision, and the fact that it was encroaching ever further until she seemed to be looking through a tunnel.

Funnily enough, it didn't hurt at all. She'd been in so much pain, not just from the fight, but ever since arriving on the island. Her stomach had hurt, and her back had hurt, and her head had hurt, and her leg had hurt. Nothing hurt now; she just felt tired.

Applejack laid her head down on the cold tile. She was done. She was finished. It was all over, and, surprisingly, she didn't mind so much. She would've liked to say goodbye to her friends, to her family, but she never did get the chance. At least the pain would be over.

Applejack exhaled one last breath. At long last, far from home and utterly alone, she died.

Author's Note:

Edited by Pyromitsu and Aatxe360. The real guys, the best guys.