Thy Pony Flesh Consumed
Chapter 2- Workplace Misadventures.
I finally pulled myself from under the desk. Need to find a way back home. Walked up to the door then froze. What am I going to do with the imp? Challenge it to a game of Monopony?
Oh wait, I got my plot beat like a red-headed stepfoal the last time I played. Maybe imps suck at board games, and I could win? An image flashed in my mind of an imp toasting the game board with a fireball, and then knocking the table over. Sore demonic loser! All right, let's get this done. I took a step forward and the door opened.
Ahead was a white hallway, clean, aside from a big smear of blood on the floor. Ugh. Going to try not stepping in that. At least, there was no imp waiting for me. Near the end of the hall there were two rooms. Probably have to check them out for food and water.
I crept down the hallway, and wished I could cover my nose so I didn't have to smell the blood. The good news was the smear didn't end at the two rooms, it went on down the hall. Have some time to prepare before I find out what happened. Who knows what other horrors are in this place?
There were two doors on the opposite side of the hall. Maybe I shouldn’t try open them, but I’m nosy. Well, they ended up to be locked. All I got for my curiosity was beeps. Too bad. With a sign, I went down the hall.
It ended in a bunch of cubicles, and more cubicles past that, with the only difference being that they were in a darker area. The blood trail seemed to peter off in the flickering and flashing light zone. Hope that I don’t have to go there. My ears and tail drooped for a moment. I bet I have to go there for some reason. Great.
I won't bore you with all the details about the tables and desks I searched, or the bodies I had to walk over or had to push away. No time to respect the dead. Don't want to be one. No food. One desk had some fried potatoes, but it had a sour smell. Don't need more reasons to drink water. Damn. Where do the humans get their food and drink?
Passed by a room that had two machines with glowing ads for drinks and food. Yes, but the smeared blood on the windows kinda killed my appetite for a few moments. That said, a mare’s gotta eat or at least carry some food around for later. Shook off the eww moment, and walked inside.
A dead human lay on the floor. Looked like something chewed off the flesh on his face. Guess someone didn't have enough to pay? Yeah, let's not look at that too closely.
Let's look at the snax, um, snacks machine instead. I guess I should thank T for being able to read human text. There were all sorts of tasty goodies behind glass. Cupcakes, chocolate and ones with orange frosting, cookies and other sweets. Then there was the apple, all red and shiny. Alright, I'll go for the healthy alternative. Bon Bon would be proud.
Pressed the button underneath it for my prize. The machine beeped. A panel at the top said to swipe a datapad to pay. Great. I don't have one. Looked around, and the dead human didn't have one either. Bet it was on his desk somewhere. Remembered seeing some datapads lying around.
Left the snack room, and searched around the body littered cubicles for a datapad. It didn't take long to find one. Walked back with it in my telekinesis. Not putting that in my mouth. Who knows what the human that owned that device put their hands on? Since the scanner, or whatever, was too high and I wasn't in the mood to stand, I used my magic to wave the datapad over it.
There was a beep, and the apple in its wrapping fell into something with a clunk. I opened the flap in the machine, and finally got my prize. Tore off the wrapping and... What?
The lighting in the room shifted to red. The apple shriveled up like it was outside for several days. I dropped the disgusting thing on the floor. It split open and large white maggots appeared, and writhed before rotting away. The stink almost made me pass out.
Then the light was just like it was before, and I was staring at an apple. No, I don't want that. There was no awful stench, but I didn't want my scary snack. What if those maggots I saw earlier appeared inside my stomach? Not going to have things eat me up from inside. What did I experience? Swiped some more and got junk food. The shiny red apple stayed where it was. Wait. How am I going to carry this food around? When I get water, I'll need that too. I'll deal with that later. Thank goodness getting bottles of water caused no weird visions. Left my goodies in the room while I left to find something to carry my prizes. Gave the apple some room.
Found a box big enough for my goodies, and a bit later found a cart. Had to get close to the dark zone. Even worse than that was the realization that I had to go through it to continue on. Yay. Went back to the snacks room, got my stuff, put it in the box, and rode the cart out of there.
How did I get the cart to move? I used my telekinesis to push it. After a while, I will need to nap, but not now. Rolled to the edge of the dark zone where there was some light, but lots of flickering. If the flashes were a bit faster, maybe it would be like being at the club. Dance pony dance! Could use a bit of dancing fun.
Looked around and decided to hop off the cart. If something shows up, I can hide. Again, lots of tables and desks and chairs. And of course some dead humans. With a groan, one got up.
Never heard anything living sound like that. Several other moans followed that. I trotted over to the lit section, then turned around.
Several undead humans shambled out of the darkness after me. You guys want a nice shiny apple? The caked blood on their mouths told another story.
Quick! What do I know about zombies? Bon Bon used to tell me about episodes from the Trotting Dead comic. Oh yeah, destroy the brain. Where's Pinkie Pie and her crazy stories? Could use her now. All she had to do was to tell one, and the zombies will just lie down, and whatever is left of their brains will dribble out their noses like gray snot. She's not here. It's up to me.
Grabbed a chair and threw it using my telekinesis. Of course, it missed. Tried again and hit a zombie in the chest. Heard bones crunch, the zombie fell down... and then he got back up slowly.
Throwing chairs isn't working. Finally had to hold the chair, and just smack the zombies hard in the head until the chair or the zombie's head crunched. Smashed several heads with a chair until bits of brain and bone flew all over the place. The chair fell out of my flickering golden telekinetic spell.
Needed to rest a moment. Have to catch my breath... hope that's it for a while. Does this mean when I walk by any dead human, it might get up?
Not for the last time, I wished I was back home. Walked around a bit picking up some squarish metallic things. Maybe they will be useful later. Found some strange boxes with red pluses on them. Maybe they're for health? Wish I could find some for sanity. Definitely will need more of those. Picked up two. Probably could get more later. Got back to my cart and rolled on.
The next area was just a hallway with more rooms on both sides. The good news was that some of the rooms had windows so nothing could just jump out at me without me seeing it. Rolled up my cart to the edge of the hallway, then got off. Time to check the first room. Why? I needed more food and I'm nosy. There’s no one alive to tell me what's going on, so I guess I need to check out more datapads. Opened the door then the lights went out.
Crap! Backed out of the room as fast as I could.
Something made a garbled sound, and there was a loud bang!
The lights came back on. I almost tripped over the cart before hiding in a cubicle.
Could hear footsteps walking toward me.
Peeked out.
There was a zombie carrying some sort of small black-metal weapon in its hand; guessed it was a weapon because the zombie kept waving it around. Picked up a chair and smacked the zombie in the head hard. It flew back, and hit the wall with a crunch, and lay still.
I saw the weapon fly off somewhere. Gotta get that. Might be useful. Went looking for the weapon while keeping one eye on the zombie. It didn't get back up. Good.
Checked out the weapon, it was L shaped with single hand-shaped grip on one end, and an opening on the other. Guess that's the business end. There was a curved part that looked like it moved back and forward. Picked up the weapon, could be useful for later.
Then the lights went out.
Must be an issue somewhere with them here. Waited for a few minutes for the lights came back on. Carried my new weapon back, and put it on the cart. It will be better than fussing with chairs. They're heavy, and I don't use my telekinesis that often. Twilight Sparkle could probably toss them all day, but I was getting tired. Back to work.
The first four rooms didn't have any food. The audio logs mentioned people having nightmares and hearing voices from things that weren't there. Why didn't they leave? Um, why can't I see outside? Where is this place? Just shrugged and rolled on.
The next place was another hallway with a room to my left that sounded like a strange turkey was living there. Do I really want to mess with that? What if it's a zombie turkey? I have a weapon, and if that fails, there's always a chair. I hope. Looked up and saw the cafeteria sign. Okay, it's a place with food.
Opened the door and went inside. Reluctantly. Thank goodness it was well lit, and body free. A machine in the corner was making the turkey noises. Wonder why humans need such a thing.
To my right, was a large machine with a handle on it that hummed. Past that was a counter. Beyond that, a bunch of white tables and chairs like a regular cafeteria that you would see in Equestria. Well, except that the chairs and tables were human sized.
Checked out the humming machine. Pulled the handle, and the cold stink that came out almost knocked me out. Just looking at the bottles and containers inside the machine gave me idea of its purpose. Humans used this to store their food. Guess when they died the food went bad. Closed the door and left the cafeteria.
The next area had some missing light panels in the ceiling. Wondered how the humans got them to work without lightning bugs. Was getting used to seeing random smears of blood on white walls and floors. Barely. Yeah, another bunch of rooms with flat panels on tables. More dead humans wearing lab coats slumped in their chairs or lay on the floor. I wondered if I was in some sort of lab area.
With a groan, scientist zombies got up, and stumbled toward me.
Sorry, but I refuse to donate my brain for study, or eating. It might have issues, but I need it!
This time I had a weapon in my telekinesis. Aimed it at the first zombie. Pulled the moving part, and the weapon made a loud bang then jerked back.
The zombie kept moving towards me.
Aimed the weapon again, this time more toward the zombie's head. Fired.
It just grunted, and kept moving toward me.
What? That was a shot to the head. Let me try again. The next shot worked, and the zombie slid to the floor.
Yess! But I can't be too cocky, more zombies were coming. Thank goodness they were in single file.
I stepped back, and shot the next two. This was getting too easy.
The zombie behind them didn't have a head to shoot. What? How am I going to kill this one? Aimed at the body and fired. It grunted. Wait? How can it grunt without a mouth? Do I really want to know? No. After a few more shots, it went down.
Look out weird human place! It's Lyra Zombie Killer.
I waited a few moments to see if they would get up. Nope. Put my weapon in the cart and rolled on.
The next area was a change from just rooms with a table and chairs. They had equipment inside them as well as some tables and chairs. Couldn't get in though. The door just beeped. So I traveled on.
Got to the end of the hall and there was a door and a sign that said, “Call lift.” Pressed the button and heard machinery whirring. Then the door opened and I went inside. Pressed the button for the “Maintenance Level.” It felt like the lift was moving down. It was kinda cool. Well, until the door opened.
No sir, I don't like this level. It was dimly lit and stunk of metal, chemicals, blood and an imp. Unseen machines whirred and hissed.
The imp peered at me.
I grabbed my weapon and aimed at its head. Yeah, I'm not scared of you mister brown ugly-face!
The weapon went click.
What? No! The weapon should've gone bang!
Pulled on the moving bit a few times. Only got clicks. Oh no! What happened to the bang? Why would humans have weapons that would just fail without warning?
The imp threw a fireball at me.
Could've cringed again, but I had no room to hide behind anything.
The fireball flew toward me. I could even see the smoky trail.
The lift's doors closed.
The fireball hit the doors with a poof.
Okay, I got some time to think. Well, I can't throw chairs, and my weapon stopped working. I'll, throw the weapon at it. Maybe I'm safe if I just keep the doors closed. Wait, what if the imp hits the call lift button? I can't stay here forever. After a few moments, I decided that I would throw the weapon at the imp as hard as I can.
Hit the open door.
The imp was still there.
I threw the gun. It hit the imp. I saw it stagger, but it didn't go down.
Damn.
Again, it summoned a fireball.
Use the shield of light. A voice in my head said.
Wait, I'm hearing voices in my head? No! Gotta focus on the imp. Then I just knew the spell and cast it. A golden haze filled my view. It was still transparent enough that I could see through it.
The fireball hit the shield, and it shattered into fading golden pieces.
Awww, why didn't it stay up? Well, at least the fireball was gone.
Use the spear of light.
Okay, voice in my head. I summoned a spear of light and threw it at the imp.
The spear flew through its gut.
The imp screamed, and faded away into blood red embers.
Yesss! I might be going nuts, but at least now I have some way of defending myself. Maybe the strain of this terrible place was too much, and my fragile sanity had fled.
Yeah, right. If I was nuts, I would've made a better fake reality than this. No, I'm not ready for Equestrian Acres. At least not now. Got my cart, and rolled my way into the Maintenance level.
After walking around for a while, and feeling my eyes closing without my say so, I decided that it was time for a nap. All I need is to find a nice pony sized bed. Yeah, right. How about a small vent instead?
Had to force my eyes open until I found an open vent with a grate nearby. I could crawl inside and cover the vent with the grate. Luxury, here I come! Ugh.
Left my handy cart nearby and hoped imps and zombies wouldn't steal it or my goodies. There was some room in this tight vent for me to sleep, and it wasn't totally dark. Well, it beats sleeping in the open where something could chew on me. Pulled the grate onto the vent, and curled up for a good nap. Wished I was back home again. My bed was much softer, and there wasn't the incessant hissing of steam somewhere.
Ugh, again, my nightmares were murky and fear filled. Kept hearing screaming, shooting and roaring. Reminded me when I got that double stack from Hayburger's. Bon Bon kept warning me that I needed to stay awake instead of rushing off to sleep. That went well. I miss her and home.
Time to open my eyes to the nightmare or daymare. Don't know what time it is. Listened to make sure nothing was waiting for me. Seemed like the area was clear. Pushed the grate away and went for my cart.
Rolled through the stinking, hissing and flaming maintenance level. Yeah, flames flew out of some pipes. Am quite sure that wasn't normal. What happened to this place?
Was rolling down the hall when I heard something hiss. Really? Snakes?
Looked behind me and saw something worse than a snake. Imagine an upside down human head, with spider like legs. Yeah, not liking the look of these things. Of course, it had to scuttle towards me.
Heard another hiss, and another one of these things decided to move in. Then to my surprise, they leaped at me...
The next moments, or hours, or years, were spent in agony. The damned things kept clawing at me, and I couldn't see what was turning me into a scratching post. Must have fell off my cart. Kept turning and kicking and screaming, until the slashing stopped.
It was over. And I felt like I was on fire. My skin burned with cuts and gashes. The floor was painted red, and a disgusting shade of yellow. Stumbled back to the tipped over cart, and fell on one of the health kits. This time it did something. Don't know what happened but the pain lessened. Went for the other one, and the pain went down more, but I still hurt. At least I was healthy enough to get out of this area.
If more of those spider head things show up, I won't survive another attack.
Kept on rolling though more slowly. Got to an open area with four metal pillars splashed with drying blood. Dead humans were strewn around like discarded toys. It didn't help that they had been torn limb from limb. Poor people. No one should die like that.
Passed a human who was missing his legs. A long weapon lay next to him while a pack lay some distance away. Then he groaned.
I cringed.
His eyes opened. “What? Another type of demon?”
My eyes narrowed. Really? “I'm not a demon, but I'm not from around here.”
The human laughed. “Yeah, no kidding and you don't know jack. Walking around with used medkits.”
Who's this Jack? Better ask this human for help.
“Do you need help?”
“No, it's too late unless you can heal me with your horn,” The human said, then laughed again.
What? Touch that bloody person with my horn? Eww. Yeah, healing could be done with a horn, but not quite that way. Well, I don't know how to do that anyway. Hope this wasn't the human I was supposed to help.
“Do you want me to find more medkits for you?” I said.
The human shook his head. “They won't fix this. Please stay with me until I go. Don't want to die alone.”
Poor human. “Yes, I'll stay with you,” I said. Tried to not look at the torn place where his legs were supposed to be.
The human took a shuddering gasp. It seemed like he sat up straighter. His eyes were clearer.
“Name's Gunnery Sergeant Avery Brooks,” Avery said.
I gaped at him. What's going on?
“Listen to me carefully, you horse-faced grunt! I've only got a little bit of time to shove some knowledge in your thick skull so pay attention!”
My eyes widened. What?
He reached at his side and pulled out a weapon.
It was the L shaped one I used before. It ran out of bang, and I threw it at an imp. Useless thing.
“This is a pistol. Bullets come out the barrel. Only aim it at something you wish to kill. That includes yourself,” Avery said then turned the pistol sideways. “Hit this to release the clip. It has twelve bullets. You run out, you get another clip and put it in this way. Don't worry, they're made to go in only one way, so don't force it.”
Damn, all I had to do was put more clips in the pistol instead of throwing it. Too bad I didn't know this earlier.
“Got it pony?” Avery said as he handed the gun to me.
“Name's Lyra and yeah, I got it,” I said and picked up the gun.
“Show me the clip,” Avery said.
I turned the gun sideways and hit the button. The clip slid out and I pushed it back in.
“Good. Now the shotgun.” He reached for the long weapon, but couldn't get it.
I pulled it closer to him.
Avery nodded then coughed. “This is a shotgun. Unlike the pistol which is good for far distances, the shotgun is much better at kissing distance. You can blow off a zombie's head with one shot. Imps take two or three shots. Don't let anything here get within kissing distance or you'll be sorry. Wished I had remembered that when I got married. Shotguns use shells. If I hear you say use bullets for shotguns, I'll come back and rip you a new one! Go in my pack quickly, and get a box of shells. It's the white box,” Avery said while blood oozed out of his mouth. He sucked the blood back in, and grimaced at the taste.
Damn, I better get those shells. Too bad I didn't know this info earlier. Walked over to his pack and looked inside. The shells were easy to find. Brought them out.
He took the shells and loaded them into the shotgun. “Put the shells in shiny-part last. This gun only holds eight. Always know how much ammo you have so you can reload when you want to, and not in the middle of a firefight. Again, close up or middle distance. One more thing.” He reached at his side and brought out a small black cylindrical object. Then he pressed a button. Light shone out one end. “Flashlight, you'll need one for sure here. Don't know who was the cheap bastard that ordered all of the old ass weapons with no flashlight mounts. Plenty of chainsaws, but no duct tape, believe me I looked. Having to choose between light and having a weapon at hand bites! Things are soo FUBAR here!
There are other weapons here on Mars Base, so keep your eyes peeled for them. How they work should be simple for you to figure out. The UAC has weapon research labs in this area. Snag all of the fancy guns you can get your hands, um hooves on, you'll need em.” Avery started coughing for a few moments. Blood started dribbling from his savaged lower half. He gasped, “Gren-” Then he exhaled and went limp.
“Gren what?” I asked, but it was too late.
He was dead.
I nodded. “Thank you.” The air in the area lightened up, and with a golden flash some saddlebags appeared next to me.
“Lyra Heartstrings, you must move faster. Abandon the cart, it will slow you down later. You don't have much time left. Find the marine in Delta Section three and help him reach the main portal to Hell. To get to Delta Labs two you must climb some ladders and get to an elevator to reach Teleport Testing. I've taught you spells like Light spear, Light shield. Air Bubble, Open Door and Float. Air bubble is a spell that allows you to travel through places where the air won't support you. The spell has a limited duration so hurry. Float will allow you to levitate up or down. Open door will allow you to open doors. Hurry, but be careful. When you help the human to the portal, I'll send you back home to Equestria,” T said.
Then the atmosphere went back to its leaden feeling again, and with that, T was gone.
Used my magic to pick up the goodies, I put them in my saddlebags. Put the bags on. Wow, they didn't feel heavy. There must be some sort of magic on them. Great. Carried the flashlight and shotgun.
Oh wait, one more thing. Had to stop and grab the weapons and ammo from Avery's teammates. It seemed kinda greedy, but I need the supplies more than they did. Loaded them up into my bags, and I started down the hallway.
After what seemed an hour found three medkits. Used two and kept one. Now, I felt normal.
Something roared in the distance.
I walked down some steps into some sort of room with some consoles and a door on the left.
The roaring got louder.
A large pink demon ran at me. It was bloody, but I could see the shiny parts on its mechanical legs flex. Who would give a demon mechanical legs?
Its jaws snapped like a metal trap, and I could see bits of flesh in them. Yuck. Floss dirtbag! Fired my shotgun at it while backing up. The first shot made it squeal, but it kept on coming and snapping. Fired again, and it screamed and burned away into nothing.
Whew! Reloaded my shotgun then looted the room. Some of the consoles had all sorts of text and moving things but I didn't have time to make sense of them.
Went through the door and down another hall.
Then the dim light changed to red. A familiar voice spoke.
“Having fun, my little pony? Everything here is mine. And when they bring me your mutilated corpse I'll use it to find your homeworld. Every pony there will die cursing your name. Your eventual death will doom your world. Ponder that with your tiny equine mind in the meager time you have left,” Dr. Betruger said.
There was a flash of light in front of me and an imp appeared.
I backed up and something hit me from behind. Oww! What tagged me? A fireball hit me too. That also hurt. Turned and looked behind me. Three zombies were behind me. Where did they come from? I didn't see them before. I dodged the next swipe from the zombie, and shot it in the head.
It blew apart into fleshy chunks.
Somehow, I dodged a swipe from an imp, and shot it.
It screamed and flamed away.
Sensed something near me, and sidestepped it. Shot whatever it was. Rolled under a swing from a zombie, and put it down with a shot. Got to see its brain fly. Now, it was just an imp left.
It threw another fireball, and crouched.
Oh no, you're not going to jump at me! Shot it in the head, and it burst into orange flames that faded to darkness.
The light went back to the normal dim color.
I saw where the zombies came from. It was some sort of alcove. Remembered seeing a metal wall here earlier. Damn, that's so cheap. Okay, wait, not okay. I’m in some serious pain. It made me stagger, but I checked out the alcove. There were two medkits and shotgun shells. I felt better after using the kits. Then I thought what sort of things I might find while on the way to the human. Don't feel so good now.
Reloaded my shotgun, and staggered down the hallway...Had to find that human, so I could go back home.