"Everybody out!" A human security guard waved his comrades out of the dark cargo bay, through an overhead door. His vest marked him as a captain, and he was motioning his team down the hallway as two unarmored ponies ran up. He didn't recognize the colt, but he did recognize the rainbow-maned filly. "You're the telepath, right? Hurry up and tell us if we've missed anyone. We have another chemical leak." He glanced back towards the cargo bay, rolling up his soaked, sticky sleeves. "It's clear, nasty smelling, and scanners pegged it as a flammable solvent." When the human turned back, the colt, rather large for a unicorn his age, was sniffing his ankles. "And, uh, we can't pinpoint the source"
"Acetone," the colt mumbled. He pulled back quickly. "Start scanning for peroxide compounds," he demanded. "Everyone! Whatever you do, don't create any sparks. Don't turn on anything without a sealed power source!" Looking back at the human, he added. "Growl needs help at Junction 4A, a possible suspect is locked in supply closet there, and she's on the way with another team."
The human waved to two other humans. The taller of the two, dark-skinned and easily twice the captain's weight, was the most heavily armored person Mezzo had ever seen. Quite a feat given his upbringing. The black polymer armor that covered him head to toe glistened with weblike lines of energy disspating micro-conduits, and the smoky visor, swung open and away from his face at the moment, showed thermal scan data.
"Junction 4a," the captain said quietly, "recon only, suspicious person in a supply closet. Don't make contact until backup arrives."
The second human, whose armor consisted of little more than knee and elbow pads, carried only a modified rifle of some kind and a small side arm concealed in a pouch. The rifle was unusually long for a weapon confined to the twist and turns of a space station, with a stock made of an unusual material that Mezzo guessed was some type of wood. He had his scanner in hand, and held it out to the unicorn. "Trace readings of hydrogen peroxide, all pretty localized, this important?"
Mezzo shook his head. "There isn't enough here." He took the scanner and started performing the basic industrial safety scans while the two humans headed out. There were a few incompatible materials, but they were all in small quantities, and well separated. The acetone was the only thing out of the ordinary, and even that wasn't in a high enough conentration to do much of anything but stink.
He looked inside the maze of crates that made up the cargo bay. It looked like the rest of the station right now, like somebody just grabbed it and gave the warehouse a good shake. Light was the same too, nothing but dim emergency lighting. Only this place had also seen a good deal of fire. All of it radiated from a section of wall torn open and currently sealed by a forcefield. Behind it, a blistered power conduit would arc every few seconds, only for the energy to be crackle against the shield before being wicked away by the backup conduit running alongside it.
Wooden crates were scorched, and a few metal ones were torn apart. This large, incendiary explosion was mostly stopped behind a clearly defined line. But, scorch marks leeched around the sides of the dividing line. A second explosion had occurred behind that line, with a very clear source. A singed metal crate, bulging all around was ruptured on one face. Inside, Mezzo could see what remained of pressurized gas cylinders.
He looked in the direction indicated on the peroxide reading, and saw a crate relatively close to the door with a garishly bright label. He headed over. There was a small ledge to step down into the actual cargo bay, which was still an ankle deep pool of burgundy red berry juice. He sighed and hopped down, making his way to the crate. When he got closer, he recognized the logo from his Aunt's favorite shampoo. He tore the shipping manifest off the side and skimmed it until he found a line listing peroxide mane bleach. A quick peek inside the box showed that everything was properly packaged and not leaking. "Acetone shouldn't even be here," he called to the human. "All industrial compounds have to go through cargo bay Four. Three is for station-destination consumer goods."
"Who are you, anyway?" The human asked. "Growl must 'a sent you, so you get some slack, but we're gonna evac the moment the telepath says the bay is clear."
"Her name is Ribbon." Mezzo sighed and headed back to the doorway. "And I'm all for leaving. I'm just trying to keep anything else from going wrong until then. Name's Mezzo."
"Mica. Here." The human leaned down and held out a stained hand. "That's stuff's slippery, no sense in getting covered."
"Thanks." Mezzo reached to take the offered hand when ribbon jumped into the pool with him, splatering his white coat with the dark syrupy liquid. He might need some of that peroxide treatment for his coat when this was all over. He turned around to face Ribbon, but the look of concentration on her face stopped his question in his throat.
"A blue circle." Ribbon raised her hoof, barely out of the water. "About this high off the ground, the size of your hoof."
She wasn't looking at him, but Mezzo knew the statement was meant for him. That was a charging port for grav sleds, and it would be in the far corner of bay, near the transport tube to the shuttlebay. The two ponies started off simultaneously.
"Two survivors," Ribbon called back as they rounded a corner into the maze of shelving. "Both unhurt. And something else is waking up."
"Wait, what?" Mezzo slammed his shoulder into a tall metal crate that was in their way. It was labeled as a metal sculpture weighing two hundred kilos. Heavy, but moveable, except for the layer of liquid around their hooves that made it hard for Mezzo to put any force behind his movements. He braced his hooves against a larger crate nearby and used it to gain enough leverage to rock the crate. "What's waking up?"
"I don't know." Ribbon climbed up Mezzo's back, using him to reach a lift hook hanging from the larger crate. "I'll need you to catch me in a second." She pulled herself up and launched herself to the top of the crate in their way. She perched on top of that crate and started rocking back and forth. Once she got it going, she shouted, "kick it!"
Mezzo braced himself and bucked the crate at the peak of its arc. Ribbon hopped off as the crate toppled, grabbing the loading hook she used to get up in the first place. One hoof slipped, and she dangled by the other, but a solid surface appeared beneath her rear hooves.
"I've got ya." Mezzo stood below her, reared up and bracing his hooves against the shipping container. His legs made enough of a platform for her to lower herself safely.
"Thanks." Once perched on his legs, she wrapped her hooves around his neck and slid herself down his back. It was a good thing he was so big. "We need to be careful not to slip. We can't afford to get hurt right now."
Mezzo nodded his agreement as he climbed over the box they just dumped. He helped Ribbon up and over. Luckily, she was light, even for as small as she was. He would probably be able to lift her with magic if he needed to.
"That's cause my skeletal system is the same as a pegasi's," she explained as Mezzo let himself down. He was tall enough to keep his footing the entire time. Even if it was a little bit of a stretch. "Minus the wings, obviously, but the microstructures composing individual bones... aren't that important right now," she responded to his unasked question. "And I really don't know what's waking up, there's no thoughts, just a vague consciousness. Probably some kind of animal."
"A pet? Smuggled on board maybe? Should we try to locate it after the survivors?" He looked up. "Hey, that curve in the wall up ahead," he pointed, "that's where the lift tube is." Mezzo braced himself against the next crate in the way and started pushing. It was much more manageable than the last one. "I didn't know telepathy could work on animals." He glanced back to ask if she knew where the creature was, but she was watching something. He followed her gaze to his flank and frowned. Was there something there?
"What?" she asked quickly. "No, I'm not staring at your muscles."
He stared at her for a moment, then shook his head. That wasn't what he was going to ask.
She blushed red. "Ok, so I'm a really bad liar and you have really nice muscles." She pushed past him, shoving the crate out of the way with surprising ease.
Mezzo raised an eyebrow. "Apparently, so do you." He watched her walk away for a moment, and exacted revenge by concluding she also had a nicer flank than his.
She froze in midstep, tail snapping down with an audible slap against the water's surface. "You walk in front of me."
Mezzo shrugged. Sure, hog the view.
She spun to face him. "That is not why-"
She trailed off, and Mezzo waited a second for her to finish her rebuttal. When she didn't, he shook his head. "Do we have time for this?" Mezzo then noticed that she wasn't looking at him again. Her gaze was firmly planted behind him.
She took a step. "Is that crate sinking?"
He looked back, and there was a crate that did seem to be sinking below the surface of the juice pool. Except for the bubbling where the foam container touched liquid. "No," Mezzo groaned as he looked back at Ribbon, "It's melting."
Her eyes met his. "Mezzo, more things are waking up."
"Of course they are." Mezzo started off, sloshing through the murky pool with a new sense of urgency. They only had to shove one more crate out of the way to get to the back, but they passed three more melting at varied rates as the acetone diffused through the swamp. "Here's the circle." Mezzo slapped the mark on the wall as he passed it, looking for the survivors. "Where are they?"
"They're here. They're watching us, at least one of them is." Ribbon took a breath and focused on the disarrayed thoughts, listening close enough to make sense of the panicked words and images. A young mind, struggling to understand. She cleared her throat. "It's ok," she said softly, forcing her voice to project a calm she didn't feel. "We only want to help you, you aren't in trouble."
She looked behind her. She could make out movement between two massive crates. It was a tight squeeze, even as small as the foal was, but she was desperately crawling farther away from Ribbon. All she wanted was to hide deep in the smallest place she could, somewhere so it wouldn't get her.
The foal looked up, and her terrified golden eyes met Ribbon's for just a second, filling her vision with teeth. A cavernous, gaping maw spewing spittle and stench as it tried to scrape its way to a defenseless meal. Rapid splashes broke her out of the memory, and she turned to the noise, ready to fight. But, it was Mezzo charging at her.
He rammed into her and twisted, tossing her aside and into the wall. The beast above the shipping containers fell on him. The weight of the hungry creature plunging the below the surface. His head was held underwater by a powerful limb, and he heard the muffled roar of the creature ready to reap the spoils of its hunt. He opened his mouth and clamped down on as much of the creature's hand-like appendage as he could.
With a shriek, the limb pulled away. Mezzo twisted, pulling his legs tight. He kicked upwards blindly, and was rewarded with a solid impact and a pained squeal.
The monster staggered back, and Mezzo scrambled away, getting his head above water. The creature was on him before he could do anything but breath. The three-fingered hand wrapped around the colt's head and pulled. Mezzo jammed his left hoof in the creature's waiting jaw as it fought to take a chunk of his head. It gagged and tried to dislodge the hoof from the back of its throat while refusing to let up on its grip. Mezzo's other hoof hit the beast over its bald, diseased head. Its eyes watched him with feral rage born of hunger, and he aimed for the fragile looking eyestalks they rose from. He couldn't quite reach, but he was close.
He braced his hind legs below him and reared up as high as he could. The unprepared creature lost its grip on the colt's head, but quickly found a new grip on his neck. Mezzo swung his free hoof up and brought it crushing down on the creature's eye, bursting the jaundiced orb into sticky paste.
Mezzo fell to his back as the creature released him, staggering back and clutching at its ruined eye. But even that victory was short lived. The creature howled in pain, then lowered itself to all three limbs, glaring at the the colt with its remaing eye.
Before it could rush in, Ribbon jumped over the colt, landing to the creature's left. It turned to snap at her, and she leapt close in to its right. It swung its head back as she hopped her weight to her front legs, raising her rear hooves off the ground. The snarling creature never completed its turn before she lashed out, striking the side of its head with both hooves. The creature's head snapped back the other way with a sickly sounding pop.
Both ponies stared at the creature. For a few seconds, there was no motion, but then the creature fell limp and the ponies let themselves breath.
"We need to get out of here," they said in unison.
Mezzo picked himself out of the juice. The acetone, weak as it was, burned his eyes, and he did his best to blink it out. Ribbon stopped him with a hoof on his shoulder. Her horn glowed, and magic obscured his vision. By the time it faded, the pain was gone.
"Eyewash spell," she explained, checking to make sure nothing else was wrong with his eyes, "better?"
He nodded. "Thanks." The colt made his way to the gap where the foal was hiding, and peered in. "Hey. It's ok now, we beat it. You can come out."
The little filly shook her head. "You didn't get the other one!"
Mezzo jerked away from the opening, and his eyes went up. He watched the warehouse shelving and stacks of metal crates for any sign of movement. Ribbon moved beside him, facing the opposite direction. Together, they watched, waiting for the slightest sound.
"We can't do this forever," Mezzo whispered.
"If you have any ideas," Ribbon responded, "don't keep them to yourself."
"Hey!" The human guard's voice echoed from from a few rows down. "What's taking so long? And what was all that noise?"
Ribbon gasped. "Mezzo, he's unarmed."
"Get back!" The colt bellowed. "There's-"
The second creature roared in response.
Ribbon looked up. "Mezzo, it didn't like that! Keep yelling!"
"Oh yeah?! You don't like me yelling?! " The colt shouted to the ceiling. He took a deep breath "Like I care what you think!" He paused and listened, moving towards a rattling noise up above. "If you want me to stop," his horn started to glow with bright white light, tinged sapphire blue at the edges, "come and make me!"
Two crates, high up in the racks, were shoved aside. A screeching creature launched itself from between them. With a flick of his head, Mezzo let loose a bolt of raw magic. It hit the creature in the chest with a solid sound of impact, disrupting the arc of its pounce, sending it crashing to the ground.
It was on its feet quickly, bellowing its challenge. Mezzo roared back, advancing on the beast. His head whipped back and forth as he launched bolt after bolt. The unrefined energy flashed against the monsters skin with each strike, forcing it back. Despite its struggles, the beast was pressed back against a crate, the soft metal denting with each kinetic blast.
With a shout, Mezzo aimed his last blast high. Relieved from the constant barrage, the creature hurled one final shriek at the colt before a falling crate silenced it for good.
Mezzo let out a loud snort as tried to get his breathing under control. He watched the twitching body carefully, until its movements ceased, then turned back to his companion. "Get the kid, we're leaving."
"Woah," Ribbon breathed, still staring at the scene of destruction.
This prompted a confused look from the colt. "Ribbon? Focus."
The nurse shook her head. "What? Yeah, I'm focused. Time to leave. Right." She turned away quickly, and made her way back to the foal. To her surprise, she found the little filly inching her way towards the opening. "That's it," she coaxed, "we've got you. You're safe now."
The foal looked up, no less scared than before. "Something touched my hooves."
Ribbon grabbed the filly with magic, yanking her out of the tight space. Something snatched for the screaming foal, but Ribbon was faster. This much smaller creature shot out of the water at Ribbon, and she brought her hoof around in a clean right hook. With a clang, she caught the creature between her hoof and the corner of the shopping container.
Mangled, the creature struggled weakly before going limp. It was smooth-skinned, and bat-like in shape, but with very few mammalian features. It's head consisted of a suckerlike mouth with three wormy, protruding tongues, and a distinct lack of eyes. Along each membraneous wing, was a row of short spikes, like teeth on a saw. "Mezzo, new problem! Skyrrellian leeches!"
Mezzo ran to the curve in the wall, the door to the transport tube. Ribbon tossed the body and directed a wave of magic down around her, disturbing the water. No angry response, that was good. She kept the foal suspended in a protective bubble of swirling aurora, and made her way back to Mezzo, watching the water carefully.
"It's either jammed shut, or the safety overrides have kicked in." Mezzo tore off an access panel to get to a readout inside. "It still has power. Help me with this." Mezzo moved to one side of a larger panel, one that was well hidden on the curved door. Ribbon moved to the other side of it, and pushed on the latch when Mezzo pushed the latch on his side. The panel popped off, and she felt a sudden panic from the second survivor.
The panic subsided as the colt inside the lift saw the ponies who opened it. "Shelly!" The colt shouted when he saw the filly. They were the same age and color, possibly twins.
"Sheldon!" the filly shouted, trying to swim towards him through Ribbon's magic.
"Twins," Mezzo muttered, "of course."
He held his hooves up to the protective bubble, and Ribbon released it while asking, "You got something against twins?"
"Twice the ponies, twice the problems." The colt took the filly and set her down inside the lift. "Especially foals. Why?"
Ribbon shook her head. "No reason. But that kind of makes sense now, twins do get into twice the trouble at the very least..."
Unfortunately, the opening was too small for either of the older ponies to fit through. As the two foals hugged each other, Mezzo pointed to a keypad on the far wall. His magic wouldn't be able to manipulate something that small from this distance, but hers might. "Ribbon, can you hold the zero down, then press the big button on the bottom?" That would send the lift straight to the security checkpoint outside the shuttlebay.
"Sure." She waited For Mezzo to move his hoof from the opening, then did as asked, sending the transport tube off to its destination amidst hastily shouted thanks. Alone now, and most likely surrounded, Ribbon looked over at Mezzo. "You shouldn't be ashamed. Even if you don't have fine control, your magic is really strong, and really, really impressive."
"Thanks." Both ponies turned around to face the splashing noises approaching them. "The way you killed those creatures with your bare hooves was pretty impressive too."
"Uh, thanks," Ribbon scratched her neck, "I guess."
"Feel up to doing it again?"
"Bring it on."
A third large creature, smaller than the other two, slammed into a crate a short distance away, shoved by a screaming human. Mica ducked the creature's swinging limb, hand going to his belt. The other hand delivered a swift uppercut to the creature's jaw and pushed back, shutting its mouth long enough for the humans other hand swing out, swiping a knife blade through the creature's windpipe.
The human grabbed one of the gurgling beast's eyestalks and yanked it towards him. He slammed his knife down between those eyestalks until the creature stopped moving. He let the body fall, and gave it one last kick for good measure, slipping in the process, and landing on his butt. "What the hell was that?" he demanded of the two ponies as he scrambled to his feet, "And where are the survivors?"
Mezzo stepped forward. "We-"
Three of the smaller creatures leapt out of the murk, latching onto the human. The one latched to his arm was there less than a second before he tossed his knife to his other hand and sliced its head off. The two stuck to his vest were grabbed by the tails and slammed against the nearest hard surface a few times.
"They're safe," Mezzo said quickly, "let's get out of here!'
Mica pointed to the wall. "The tube."
"Not an option," Ribbon said as she darted forward. She grabbed the human's arm in magic and pulled, stretching it out against the wall of a crate. She tore the remainder of the leech's head away and blasted the wound with searing energy. Her own leg contorted in pain as he screamed, but she kept the heat up until the wound was completely cauterized. "I'm sorry," she released Mica's arm, "roll your sleeves down and protect your face. Those things can't bite through cloth or fur, but they can cut you with their wings."
The human did as she said, biting his lower lip. His eyes watered. "A little warning next time!" He hissed in pain as the wet fabric clung to the wound, then started back the way he came. "Follow me."
Mezzo and Ribbon followed behind him. They passed the same three melting crates as last time, only much less was left of them. They were too small to have housed the large creatures, and most likely carried the leeches. They also saw crates that they missed the first time. Most were empty, but one was only starting to melt. Mica pointed it out to the unicorns. "Either of you want to do something about that?"
Some acetone must have dripped on this crate from above, because there was a melted streak revealing an eyestalk within. It watched the three as its prison melted, waiting for the freedom to attack.
"Sure." Mezzo blasted the shelf above with magic, and the entire shelving unit collapsed. If the creature wasn't dead, it was trapped at the very least.
"Thanks." Mica lifted his foot and stomped down. Something underwater spasmed and died. "Damned leeches."
They climbed atop the first crate, and the entrance to the cargo bay was in sight. A little worryingly, half a dozen of the security guards were waiting there, weapons aimed nearby. "Captain," one of them called out, "there's something in there!"
He gestured to the crate he and the other guards were aiming at. It rocked back and forth as the snarling beast inside fought to free itself.
Mezzo was about to yell a warning not to fire, but Ribbon touched his side with a hoof. "Those are sonic weapons," she told him, "no chance of combustion."
"Watch out," Mica warned, "There's buggers in the water. Seal off the section before you do anything that might-"
He was cut off by a roar, and half a dozen of the large creatures lept from their hiding places. The moment the first one hit the water, dozens of the small flying beasts erupted from the water. One of the security guards, a unicorn loaded down with gear, broke rank as the swarm of monsters charged. The others opened fire on the larger beasts.
The unicorn turned and ran down the hall as the winged things flew past the line. And, with a focused grunt, he launched a spreading wave of magical flame above him, keeping any of the flying creatures from advancing. He ran past the wall of flame, then grabbed the largest device strapped to his armor and tossed it down in front of him. He unfolded the device's metal wings, and pressed it to the ground with his hooves. The flick of a switch started motors that buried screws into ground, and he started dialing in the emitter.
One of the large creatures leapt past him. A glance back showed two more creatures charging. The unicorn slammed his hoof down on the activator as they jumped for him. One creature sailed past as the shield sprang to life, losing a toe to the crackling energy, but otherwise making it through. The third slammed into the active barrier a second later, bouncing off and landing near the unicorn.
The creature snarled and swung his arm at the unicorn, but he threw up a shield of his own, magic this time, to ward it off. Enraged, the beast pounded away at the shield, until distracted by another unicorn's shout.
Mezzo shouted as he charged his horn. He wasn't fast enough to get the other two, but he could get this one. He swung his head in an upward arc, focusing on turning the raw magic into kinetic energy below the beast. It shot up, hitting the ceiling with the crunch of breaking bone, and falling back down with a similar noise.
The guard undid his shield, and pulled stringer of spikes from a pouch at his chest and tossed them into the air. A quick hit of magic unfurled them and lined them up around the beast, and the lights on their ends turned from red to green. The unicorn then grabbed his radio. "Hostiles on level 3! Two have breached containment, Corridor 1-CB, heading towards junction 1-A!"
"1-A, level 3?" Growl sighed, listening to the broadcast. "That's us." She tossed her spent plasma rifle down at her hooves. It still had a little charge, but the chassis was bent beyond repair. Trying to fire it in this condition would leave her with a melted weapon as the misaligned amplifier coils dumped energy into the surrounding metal. "This day just gets better and better."
"Eeyup," Mac agreed as he leaned against the wall. He was busy pulling tiny shards of glass out of his leg with his teeth. "Ah never thought Ah'd fight more'n one android in mah life." With a shrug, he added, "never even thought ah'd fight a first one." The big pony pulled the last of the glass from his leg and put some weight on it. It hurt, but he had been through worse. "Wait, ain't we junction 4-a?"
Growl tossed her head back to indicate the hallway behind them. "We started at 4-a. 1-a is just up ahead." Growl walked over to the mentioned android. It lay in a crumpled heap in the center of the hallway. It was clad in a yellow emergency spacesuit at first, but sustained weapons fire had all but burned it away, leaving a sticky residue of melted plastic pooled around its legs. The chained emission weapon it was armed with, in addition to being illegal as hell, backfired when faced with the energy dissipating properties of the security team's riot shields, to say nothing of Timbo's response suit.
Still, it was a tough battle. The thing was equipped with additional weapons, and its considerable mechanical strength. Three members of the security team had to be dragged back to medical for broken bones, and fifty meters of hallway, from junction 4-a to junction 1-a, was in shambles. Panels and light fixtures hung by wires from the ceiling. Walls on all sides were scorched, and parts of the carpet were still on fire.
This drone was a well-made machine, several steps above the construction drones she had last seen in one of those suits. No amount of energy weapons seemed to do any damage, and kinetic force only tossed it around. The drawn out battle seemed like it wasn't going to end, until Mac managed to smash a compartment that held an organic brain.
"That brain isn't from any intelligent species I've ever studied," Growl sighed as she picked up an abandoned riot shield. "It's probably an animal brain being used as a neural interface. How did you know?"
"Ya ever read the Power Ponies?" Mac chuckled at the blank stare he recieved. "Ah punched the important lookin' glowy part."
"Dumb luck then," Growl shrugged, "works for me. Grab a shield, big guy, you don't want to get caught defenseless against a chain blaster."
Mac limped over to the nearest shield, and held it up in the direction Growl was facing. "Was that the blue lightning thing, or the green energy spheres?"
The farm pony got another confused look. "Uh, yeah, the lightning. The green was an ion pulser." Growl rolled her eyes as she turned back down the hallway. A roar echoed from beyond sight. "Are you a farmer? You strike me as a farmer."
"Ah ain't been a farmer fer a long time." Mac sighed as another roar rang out. "Are we goin' from fightin' robots ta fightin' monsters?"
"Looks like it," Growl said with a smirk, "I used to do this all the time when I was a mercenary."
Mac shook his head. "Yer cutie mark ain't one for fightin'."
"Who cares." She glanced back at the mark. The tree growing into a stylized heart was a mystery to her, had been for a long time. "I went fourteen years without knowing what a cutie mark was, let alone that they hold any sort of meaning. I'll leave that to other ponies, I'm perfectly happy being a gryphon."
Two monsters came running down the hallway, and both ponies braced their shields in front of them.
"Mutated prills," Growl spat, "and here I was hoping the yellow spacesuit was a coincidence."
"They venomous?" Mac asked as the beasts barreled towards them.
The nurse shook her head, eyes never leaving the approaching monsters. "Nope, just tough and ugly."
The stallion dropped his shield and turned around, snorting and pawing at the ground. "Well, so am Ah."
"Hey, wait a -"
Both beasts moved to attack the pony that turned around, but one was much faster than the other. Mac snapped his legs back, a smooth, practiced motion. The mutant prill caught a pair of massive hooves in the head, and the force of the impact caused massive internal damage. Head and neck were jammed back into its body, and the implosion of its cranial cavity caused a short gush of blood and other matter from its nostrils.
The other prill, seeing its companion dispatched so effortlessly, screeched at the two ponies, but halted its advance.
"I could have done that," Growl chided, "now how do we get close to the other one?"
Mac recovered his shield. "Don't ya have that fancy energy shotgun thing?"
Growl raised an eyebrow. "You mean my plasma rifle? It bent when I smashed it over rust bucket's head."
"If Ah bent it back, would it work?"
Growl's jaw dropped as she fixed him with an incredulous stare.
Mac scratched his forehead. "Um, that a no?"
With a disgusted scoff, Growl brought a hoof to her mane, undoing a hidden ribbon the same color as the strands it tied. It came away with a long hidden blade which she bit down on, unsheathed, and started advancing. "Don't let it get behind me."
Mac followed behind, both ponies walking on three legs and holding their shields in front of them.
The creature didn't like this. It snapped and snarled, and paced back and forth in the hallway. It didn't know how to react to its opponent's slow steady march. It was unnatural, and confusing, but the beast did know that they were getting too close. It roared at the closest one.
The eagle's screech that answered the beast brought a smile to Growl's face. The mutant prill saw what was approaching, and turned to run. Mac turned to face what he thought was another beast, only for the grey blur to fly past him.
James slammed into Prill's back with his talons stretched in front of him, tearing into its leathery hide as he plowed it into the floor. He snapped down on the back of the thing's neck, the curve of his beak hooking against bone. He twisted his head as he crunched down, severing the spinal column in one clean movement.
James spit out chunks of bone as Growl walked up to him after retrieving her scabbard. He smirked at her and took the knife, easily tying it back in place in her mane. "What? You know full well that I'm the only thing in this galaxy allowed to roar at you."
She smacked his feathered chest with a hoof. "Somehow, I always have to ask first." She grabbed a hooffull of feathers and pulled his head low enough for her to plant a kiss on the side of his bloodied snout. "But thanks." She started down the hall towards the cargo bay. "Any update on that dragon kid's blood type?"
"Yeah," James followed after her, "he's an honest to goodness elder dragon. Blood type: ancient magical mystery flavor."
Growl slowed to a stop. "Bullshit." She looked back at James. "A dragon prince that young would never be allowed away from the homeworld, much less working as a cargo handler." The mare went quiet for a moment. "If he were an elder dragon, would there be any change to his treatment?"
James nodded. "Annabelle volunteered to supply magic for one of the ancient rituals, she also donated a little blood for a transfusion, and the drake walked out of the operating room a few minutes later as if he was never hurt. He was against it, but after I explained it all to Annabelle, she couldn't be talked out of it." The gryphon shook his head. "She'll be resting for a good long while, and based on the condition of the operating room, I don't think that drake is merely a dragon prince."
"A direct descendant of the first elder?" Growl groaned and started back down the hall. "We'll deal with it later! The cargo bay is under attack right now, and I haven't killed anything all day. And why are you even here?"
"Um, the cargo bay is under attack?" James muttered as he followed, gesturing to a small pack almost hidden on his back. "Attacks tend to cause injuries, and doctors, like me, tend to treat those injuries."
Mac scrambled to catch up with them after he finished puking in a nearby alcove.
Mica let out a low whistle. "That right there is a thing of beauty."
In the cargo bay, Mezzo blasted an oversized prill in the gut with magic, doubling it over. Ribbon catapult off the colt, landing on the prill. A second blast of magic blew away a skyrellian leech as it dove for her. She jammed her appropriated sonic pulse rifle against the base of creature's skull, bracing her weight against the leg-strapped weapon as she dialed it to maximum output, and pulled the trigger. The hypersonic impact scrambled the beast's central nervous system and recoil launched the small unicorn backwards.
She twisted in mid air, kicking another leech out of the air before landing on a high warehouse shelf. Two blasts of Mezzo's magic took out leeches seeking revenge while she dialed her weapon back to to its previous setting, and she shot down three more once that was done.
Mezzo blasted another prill away from him, and Ribbon moved to a nearby crate. She shoved it off the shelf, and down on the stunned prill. Mezzo used the crate as a step to get to the first shelf. The other shelves were close enough for him to climb from one to the other on his own as Ribbon covered his ascent from the leeches with well-aimed shots.
By the time he made it up to Ribbon's level, two smaller, agile prills decided to follow him. Ribbon nailed one in the chest with two sonic pulses, but from a distance, her weapon had little effect. She took a better aim, and hit its delicate eyestalk.
It stopped and howled in pain, and that gave Mezzo the time he needed. He grabbed the moving prill and launched it into the other, knocking both of them to the ground. Four more Prills came out of hiding around their injured comrades, snarling up at the two responsible.
A leech dive-bombed Mezzo, and ribbon deflected it with a small magic shield before blowing it out of the air with a rifle pulse. "Mezzo, kick up some water!"
He looked down at the prills in the swamp below, took a deep breath and threw the widest kinetic blast he could straight down. It was joined by a second kinetic blast from the pony beside him, and hit the floor of the cargo bay like a meteorite. The water was shoved away from the center of the floor as the prills were knocked flat, joined by any leeches unfortunate enough to get caught in the wake.
With a shout, Ribbon added her magic as the water came rushing back to center, speeding it up. Mezzo saw what she was doing, and when the water met itself, he added his own magic to the geyser she created, pushing upward with sustained energy.
Ribbon's magic joined his, completing the capture of thousands of liters of liquid. But both unicorns were struggling. Ribbon with the sheer amount of energy required, and Mezzo with the constantly changing forces acting against him.
Ribbon groaned with the strain. She wouldn't be able to complete her spell like this. The prills below were still disoriented, they had a chance to end it all in one go. "Mezzo... I need..."
"Open fire," yelled a voice below, "buy 'em some time."
"Do it," he cut her off. He didn't have any concentration to spare. "Whatever it is, I can't-"
She turned and grabbed the colt, pulling his head down to hers. Their horns met, magic intertwining as they both held their spells. It was painful at first, the sting of foreign energy, and the feedback of another's control, but they closed their eyes and focused purely on the magic.
Ribbon was the first to adjust. She knew the feeling of his magic already, memorized its color. She could follow the warmth, the bright white sky over a sea of electric blue. She could understand the singular drive and purpose that gave it strength, and read the duality giving it form. She could adapt to it. But now, he had to do the same. She strengthened his spell with her energy, guided it as much as she could, but spared a little magic to give to him as raw aura.
Mezzo struggled to maintain his concentration as energy washed over him. It was muted compared to his own magic, a gentle glow, with a deep, mysterious power to it, changing, dancing, bouncing from color to color, within a containing, golden hue. This golden aurora lingered around him, wanting, needing, seeking... lonely.
Mezzo pulled a little magic away from his spell, but didn't take it back. He touched it to the golden aura, surrounding it without hiding it, strengthening it, finding balance with this new energy. Giving the aurora a sky to dance in, and an ocean to shine over.
They both took a sharp breath, releasing it slowly, as each of them eased into a new arrangement of magic. Ribbon guided energy more powerful than she could ever conjure as Mezzo allowed his mind to relax and release power he could never control on his own. Magic flowed freely between the two, shared deeper than either knew possible.
For a moment, Mezzo thought he could hear Ribbon speak, but he couldn't make out any words. Despite this, he knew what she had planned. What she needed him to do was as clear to him as if he had come up with it himself. He used as little magic as possible to hold the water high, and started gathering as much energy to him as he could. He waited for the moment that Ribbon was ready, and dumped all the power he gathered into their link.
Fridgid air washed over the two ponies as the suspended liquid froze in midair. The two unicorns pulled away from each other, but remained bound by magic as they turned their attention back to their surroundings. Moving as one, they both raised their heads. Before them spread a thick sheet of darkly colored ice.
"We're clear!" Mica shouted. "Do it!"
Both ponies swung their heads down, pushing the frozen slab far faster than station gravity alone. It hit the ground with a thunder-like crack as it shattered. Any creatures caught below were either crushed, or impaled on the broken shards.
But that wasn't the end. There were still leeches left. Still moving as one, the two unicorns flicked their heads left and right, launching chunks of ice at their aerial targets. Not a shot was wasted, as each unicorn knew where the other was aiming. After launching over a dozen shots each, neither unicorn could find a new target.
Magic faded, and ice fell slowly to join the rest floating below. The glow surrounding the two unicorns faded. Mezzo blinked as his senses returned to normal, vision slightly blurred by golden light. He looked over, and Ribbon stared straight ahead as a glow matching his magic faded from her eyes.
Cheers erupted from outside the cargo bay, followed by a splash as Mica jumped into the water. He held his scanner out in front of him as he navigated the ice, weapon at the ready. He pulled the trigger once, aiming at a twitching prill, then checked his scanner again. "No life signs!" He looked up at Ribbon. "You feeling anything?"
"No," She answered happily, "Nothing, we're clear!" She looked back at Mezzo, brimming with excitement. "We did it!" She raised her rifle high and shouted out, "Survival is victory! Whoo!"
With a smile, Mezzo threw his hoof in the air alongside her, "Yeah! Sur-"
Before he could finish parroting Ribbon's victory cry, he felt her hooves grab him by the head. She pulled him down to her again, but it wasn't horns that met this time. Snouts smashed together with the alignment skills of a drunken budgie, and Mezzo's eyes snapped wide open. She released him quickly, and shouted right in his face, "we did it!" She looked back at the sea of broken ice below them. "That was so awesome! Can you believe we did that!"
Mezzo recovered a little from the shock, and his eyebrows pulled together in confusion. "Ribbon?"
"I mean, I was trying for that," her hoof pulled her forelock back as she stared in awe, "but I didn't think we were going to get anywhere near so much ice. We should should get scanner readings and see how much there is."
"Ribbon?" the colt repeated a little louder.
"Holy crow, so much power, my heart is pounding just thinking about it! I can't believe how strong you are." She looked back at Mezzo. "Your magic is..."
The colt stared at her for a moment. "Ribbon? Are you coming down yet?"
"Oh." Her hoof went to her chest. Her heart was pounding. She took a deep breath and willed it to slow down, along with her racing thoughts. "I'm on a magical high, good catch. Ooh, wow. Your magic is really strong." She took a few more deep breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth. "Mezzo, we should probably-"
"No." Not sensing a stopping point in the immediate future of her rambling, the colt decided to interrupt. "Ribbon, you just kissed me."
The nurse's mouth opened and closed a few times before managing to find the shape for the words she wanted. It took a few more tries to find the sound to go with it. "I... I did?"
The colt stared in disbelief. "It just happened!" He brought his hoof to his mouth, touching the right side of his upper lip, where she had just mashed hers a moment ago. "oh, forget it!"
Ribbon's eyes went wide. She saw it coming, but the split second's warning she had was barely enough to raise her hooves before his grabbed her. He pulled her face up to look at him, hooves resting on her jawline, and she gave up on fighting, letting her hooves hook onto his for support. He leaned down slowly, and Ribbon closed her eyes. She could feel his breath on her, hot and slow. And she knew he felt hers. She could hear his thoughts, thousands of them spinning to silence, nothing coming to the surface beyond pure focus on the mare before him.
She swallowed nervously. She felt the doubt, both her own and his. This would change things between them. What she did earlier could be ignored, explained away by the heat of the moment, but this couldn't. This was a choice, one they both had to make.
She pulled on him, and he didn't resist. Their lips met. They pulled away quickly, both too afraid to let it linger. In that brief moment, feeling each other's warmth, both realized that they were even more uncertain of things between them than before, but that they would figure it out, together.
Their eyes met, Mezzo nervously watching Ribbon for some sort of reaction. Unlike her, with the benefit of her telepathy, he wouldn't know how she felt until she told him. He didn't know if he made the right choice. In that moment, she decided, she would always tell him. If he was unsure about her, curious about something, or if she was dealing with something he may not be able to see, she would tell him.
But her voice didn't want to work right now, so she answered his questioning stare with a small nod.
He loosened his grip on her, blinking as it sunk in. She offered a small smile, and he returned it. They separated quickly as their embarassment returned.
"We should probably climb down," Mezzo said quickly.
"Good idea," Ribbon agreed just as quickly.
Growl sighed from the far side of an energy field. "Well, I'm glad they're having fun." She knocked her hoof against the energy field. "Red! Cut this thing off!"
As the unicorn on the security team noticed her, and moved to comply with the order, James pulled a small tablet from a satchel he had tied around his neck. "By the way, you need to see this. I needed those limiters you confiscated the other day to purify the gems for the ritual. The guard who went after them recorded this."
Growl took the pad, but her gaze lingered on her husband a second longer. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"