//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Inferi Redivivus // Story: The Pony Lisa // by Hi World //------------------------------// >Luna 1501 hours At last, they’d found a body. Luna never thought she’d cheer a silent “Huzzah” for that. Locked door after locked door, blockade after blockade; her herd had been diverted into one of the ship’s few rec rooms. Tables and chairs positioned neatly around the room, with tankards sitting on coasters. Some were half full of Flim Flam brother’s cider; beautiful stuff, but it would never live up to good ol’ traditionally made cider, or at least that’s what Applejack kept ranting on about. Luna had to agree though, and she would have thought about it for longer if she was off duty. Further down the room; a bar, with more tankards and taps that had been emblemised with the Flim Flam brothers. And pool tables, looking good as new. With fully functioning lighting, and nothing smashed or overturned, or stained with blood, the rec room looked, well, normal. Except for the body of course. Or two. It was hard to tell. Closer inspection revealed a hoof that she knew to be Pony, a claw that she knew to be Griffin, and a novelty sized protrusion that formed a lump in her throat. “Err... Pretty?” Pinkie stated with confusion. “Ew, Luna?! What the muffin crumb on a plate in the fridge on top of a mountain in a Dragon’s belly doing a back flip - is that?!” Derpy pointed as if Luna hadn’t already noticed, Zecora raising an eyebrow at her. Specifically, she pointed at a great, brownish green hand. Three, long, spindly fingers and a grossly distorted thumb. The remains of a hoof could be seen hanging below its wrist. Death hadn’t relaxed those fingers; the hand was held out as if it was motioning them to stop. Stop now, turn back, go away, leave this place! That’s what Luna imagined its owner, or owners would say if they were still alive. Answering Derpy’s curiosity, Luna sighed, “Well Derpy, that there is a hand.” “A hand?” Lyra perked up, stretching her neck to gaze over Luna. "Yes, fair Lyra. A hand." The Mare who was once woeful gaped at the horrible hand with shimmering eyes. "Wow. I wish I had one of those," she announced, drooling a little. Luna, Trixie and the others turned their heads deliberately to behold the strange Unicorn. Choosing to ignore Lyra's quirks, Luna decided to keep digging. “Trixie,” she called, summoning the shifty Unicorn companionably close with her magic. “May I call thou Trixie? We think thou know what this is. Thus, thou shall tell us what it is.” Trixie squirmed and tried to push herself away, not from her, but from the bodies. Dragging her in close, Luna intended on giving her a real good eye full of the mess that rotted away in an open cupboard. Applejack catalogued, “It kinda looks like they got ‘emselves… fused together, or somethin’” “I know! Isn’t that hilarious!?” Cheered Pinkie Pie with a bounce. “Pinkie… er… yer startin’ a’ creep me out.” Pinkie Pie never crept Luna out. In fact, she couldn’t think of a single Pony who could. She knew that when Pinkie was getting all happy over this gruesome stuff, she was really just banishing the fear from her system. Giggle at the ghostly, as Pinkie had sang it, both on leave and on duty. When Pinkie wasn’t busy having fun being a soldier, or having fun doing autopsies, she was having fun entertaining everypony on board the Red Horse. Often up on stage putting on a show to lift spirits and moral and to make everypony smile. Off duty, the puffy tailed Earth Pony rarely failed to elicit a smile from her, but on duty, she was nothing short of annoying. >Rarity 1502 hours If there was one thing to be satisfied about; it was that there was no area to miss. The heat from her BR85 radiated from her right. The first… whatever the hay it was, came running at them on four hooves; claws and tentacles supplemented from various parts of its misshapen body. Strands of pink mane and tail wisped in the wind of the thing’s loose movement, identifying it as a Pony. No. That was not a Pony. Not even close to Pony. Not anymore. Her troops had opened fire as hundreds more came pouring around the corner like an avalanche of green flesh and broken bones. The smell of them overpowered the sewage smell, causing Rarity to choke. “Arg! Keep firing!” The first ugly went down after what must have been over ten bullets from her, Big Mac and Fluttershy. Sickly green goo spurted from the many holes, some of which were in its face. She shifted fire to a near unrecognisable monstrosity; a claw, a tentacle, a spike. A wing, a paw, a beak…: Griffin. A new, reimagined Griffin. It, along with so many more, pushed past the other forms and scrambled past its fallen comrade, even as - oh gosh, it was getting back up! Rarity knew for sure that the first mutant had been riddled with bullets, she could even see the holes, but it was just… just… getting back up! She screamed with shock and fired her magazine empty at it, at the deformed Griffin, at all of them. Fumbling for a fresh magazine with her magic, she cried, “They’re not staying down!” A yelp, as a different form pounced off the ceiling and got close; a small balloon like creature, vaguely parasitic, slithering around on tentacles. Three different appendages tipped with what looked like red feather dusters stretched out in front of it, playing the role of antennae. Somepony shot it into scraps of wet paper. Fleur De Lis just stood there, jaw dropped, eyes popping out as what used to be Ponies and Griffins staggered and bellowed their way. “Snap out of it, Fleur!” Rarity screamed in her ear over the weapons, over them. A gut-wrenching howl that no Pony or Griffin could make brought the stick thin Unicorn around, and coughing with the increasing stench, she pointed her MA5D and fired. The transformed Griffin fell with a gibber, as did another, and then a grotesque Pony wearing the remains of a prison jumpsuit. Rips and tears in the suit where its new, out of shape physique simply couldn’t fit. Well, they’d found the prisoners, and by the - oh gosh, the redesigned Griffin was also thrashing its way back up! Weeping, Fluttershy fired her rifle with squinting eyes, head turned away slightly. Big Mac hadn’t flinched, just held his position, scored most of the kills, even if some of them immediately resurrected, and provided covering fire. “Rarity!” Strained Twilight, her voice warbled by the kick of her rifle. “You think maybe we should-” WWRRRRAAAAAIIIIIII…!! Ears ringing, Rarity resumed fire, and called out, “What did you say, Twilight!?” “I said; we should fall back!” Bababababang!! Every time one creature was floored, two more seemed to take its place, then it would just go ahead and rise up from the icky water. In reply to Twilight, Rarity screamed, “If we fall back, they’ll swamp us! Aah!” A tentacle Pony’s head flew apart with bullets. New, spiny limbs bloomed from its oesophagus like an ugly flower, and it kept going, never stopping, even as bullets continued to penetrate it. Over the thunder of their weapons and their targets, Twilight informed, “If we stay here; they’ll swamp us sooner!” There was a splash as Fluttershy plummeted into the water that was now filled with spent shell casings. It had gotten too much for the Pegasus to handle, and her wings had finally locked up. “Doh!” She whimpered just before her muzzle became submerged in the sewage. Rarity rushed to assist her as Big Mac reloaded and continued shooting, shrieks of rage and hunger rattling the walls. “Fluttershy! Darling! Get up!” Slipping her way out of the water, Fluttershy spat out a shell casing and a chunk of something brown, her tears camouflaged with the water on her soaked face. “Oh Rarity! I can’t do i-ahi-ahiiit!” She sobbed, crying her eyes out. Rarity had already resumed fire, and shifted her attention to Twilight’s suggestion. “Very well Twilight! Everypony! Fall back! Use grenades!” As the Ponies began to squeeze their way through the doorway, unwilling to turn their backs to the ravenous torrent of mottled flesh and tentacles, Twilight urged, “No! No grenades! We’re too close to the hull!” “Uh! Too late Twilight!” Oh my, she practically bit her gosh darn head off. It didn’t register with any of the Ponies though, as they retreated down the subsection of recycling. After pulling the pin on a grenade, she magiced it over to a very precise spot within the impending horde. A spot where it would inflict the most damage. Who says attention to detail serves no purpose in the military? A second grenade soared over her head and became lost in the horrific crowd. Who it came from, Rarity had no idea. Before she could retreat through the doorway, the grenades exploded with an all mighty boom! The force of the explosion propelled her back, through the doorway, and slamming into Twilight. All the air fled her lungs, her vision blurred and her ears buzzed. Fresh, warm water sloshed over her stinging body as Twilight yanked her up with a burst of telekinesis. “Keep...! Keep...!” Rarity really needed air. With closed eyes, she couldn't begin to imagine how hopeless and ridiculous she looked. She kinda looked like a little lost Philly in the shallow surf of a beach. Spitting and spluttering, she finally cried, “Keep moving!” The water had intruded her nose and throat, making it ache and burn, and leaving a foul taste in her mouth. A glance back revealed that the grenades did the trick; the walls and ceiling had caved in, and a barricade of flotsam and scrap metal in the doorway was born. The crowd on the other side couldn’t have been too pleased about that. A glance forward revealed Fluttershy, slumped on Big Mac’s back as he galloped away towards the sealed door of the maintenance storage room. That’s right, keep her safe. Her hearing slowly returned to the sound of frantic snarls and roars, muffled by the heap of metal that separated her squad from their new found enemies, but another sound could be heard amongst their babbling: Screams. Cries. Twilight, Big Mac, Fluttershy... Oh no. “Fleur De Lis!” “No! No! Aaaaarrrrrggh!” Squealing from the other side, Fleur was being mauled by those… those things! Rarity became numb, her mind blank. She never really knew Fleur in person until the start of the mission, and her first impressions of her were… well… let’s just say she didn’t like her. But now she was dying, getting eaten alive by those horrible, horrible freaks, and that made things different. Fleur just wouldn’t stop screaming. Blood stained water waved up from under the jumble of girders and panels. Sombrely, she stared past Twilight and whatever that dark figure was moving around next to her, and at Big Mac, who had set Fluttershy down, and was pointing his rifle in her direction. Moi? Are you aiming at- He opened fire at the dark, looming figure to the right of her vision. It howled an alien howl and slashed Twilight’s side with a whip of bone. A blade of body. Startled, the fringed Unicorn squealed with sudden agony, her blood spraying and peppering the water. Big Mac walked towards them, still firing, the thing still making disturbing noises, some of which could be recognised as a sick, screaming Pony. As Rarity opened fire herself, the thing attempted to unjam its appendage from Twilight, who continued to wail and wail. Twilight’s legs lost their energy, and her hooves scraped across the submerged floor. Shrugging off bullets from both sides, the creature that possessed hooves and a mane but wasn’t a Pony, threw all of its strength to remove the distressed Twilight from its arm, and launched her through the air. Twilight’s scream came to an abrupt stop as she crunched up against the edge of the ceiling and dropped down amongst some storage tanks. “Twilight!” Rarity cried out in anguish. “Noooo!” Facing the direction of Big Mac’s bullets, the Pony that wasn’t a Pony thundered and stomped its way towards him, dragging its organic samurai through the blood swirled mix. As Fleur’s screaming faded, and the pack of beasts began beating at the scrap metal, Rarity ran at the ex-pony’s back in a blind frenzy, crying a pitiful war cry, and latching onto it. “You! ... Killed! ... My! ... Friend!” Snarling through gritted teeth, punching it in what she could only assume was its head, she let out an increasing groan of determination. The creature she rode on flailed around, became weaker, weaker, dropped to the ground, still wriggling, but weaker… Not moving… Still… Wriggling again… Still. Valiantly, she stood, the pummelled corpse providing an island for her in the dull liquid, leaking the same green paste she had discovered in the hanger. She panted, not believing what she’d just done. Big Mac not believing what she’d just done. Fluttershy: “Oh goodness! Rarity! I can’t believe you just did that.” Rarity became lost in the sight of her hooves, stained with the green blood of what was once a Pony, with a life and friends and a family... probably. Responding to Fluttershy, she heaved, "Me neither." “R… Rarity...” came a frail voice from within the storage tanks. Rarity and Fluttershy inhaled. “Twilight!” Creaking and scraping; the droning mass of melted play-dough models proceeded to push their way through the blockage. There was a snap as something gave way on the other side; it wasn’t going to hold for long. Rarity, Big Mac and Fluttershy had rushed over to Twilight, who had become wedged between two septic tanks. Nestled within the gash in Twilight’s side, was a pulsating wad of pus; finger-like tendrils dug in to her muscle structure. Whatever it was, Rarity engulfed it with her magic and pulled. Those tendrils were rubber bands that stretched as it was gradually yanked from Twilight, who seemed oblivious; not moaning or screaming, only wheezing. With disgust, Rarity shot the bug back into the water. Having wasted little time slipping Twilight out of the tanks and onto Big Mac’s back, they trotted eagerly to the maintenance storage room. Praying for the best, Rarity voiced, “Twilight, talk to me.” A groan in response. “Talk to me Twilight.” Her friend hurled up a portion of blood. “… ‘s fadin’…” “Twilight, don’t do this. We need you.” “W… where…” confused, disoriented… but still hope, always hope, right? She would treat her right here, right now, if it weren’t for those abominations, craving for them, not to mention this filthy, filthy water! “Don’t die on us Twilight!” She hissed. “Don’t you dare! That’s an order!” The poor Mare just wheezed heavily as they reached the locked door, blood dribbling out the side of her mouth. “Hang in there, Twilight,” Fluttershy offered, the sounds of imminent doom echoing through the recycling sub-chamber. Knocking on the door with her hoof didn’t open it, not to worry; there was another circuit panel identical to the one that she hotwired earlier to get them all down here in this mess. She deeply regretted that now. Rarity cursed herself for not being more insistent with Twilight about finding another way. She was suppose to be in charge. She wished she had put her hoof down and said; "No, we are not exploring the sewer." What a useless leader I am, she thought. With Fluttershy comforting Twilight, and Big Mac facing the shuffling scrap heap, it was time to get to work. As soon as she removed the panel, Fluttershy piped up, “Oh my, she’s really bad. Look at her face. Rarity, look!” Rarity yanked a wire and looked. What looked back was not Twilight.