//------------------------------//
// Chapter 25: Judgement 
// Story: Once Upon a Time, on an Alien Ring World 
// by Hi World 
//------------------------------//

Rec.
The image of Lyra burst into life. "Hi! I'm Lyra Heartstrings!"
"And I'm Bon Bon!" a yellow-cream Earth Pony Mare with pink and blue hair and blue eyes joined Lyra in the frame, their excited faces squishing together.
Together they cheered, "And we're in the back of a Pelican!"
"Wooo!"

Lyra's horn was glowing, indicating she was levitating the camera in front of their faces.

Fluttershy watched on, remembering her encounter with Lyra, and astonished at how different the Lyra in the video was to the Lyra she'd met.

"Well it's nice to see somepony's lookin' on the bright side," came a deep southern accent.
The camera rotated to point at Applejack. The orange Earth Pony sat in the Pelican with her cowboy hat shading her eyes.

"Yeah, we're making the most of it," announced the Mare called Bon Bon, the camera panning to face her.
From behind the lens,  Lyra stated, "I don't even know where we're going, but I don't care! I just wanna test out my new camera. You ready for your close up, Bon Bon?"
The picture zoomed far up into Bon Bon's embarrassed face. "No, Lyra. Haha, Lyra, stop it!"
"Simmer down, Lyra," AJ's voice ordered off screen.

And then, another recognisable voice cleared its throat, and Lyra spun the camera to focus on Captain Rarity herself. 
"Ahem! I'm ready for my close up."
The white Unicorn Mare was donned in the same green UPSC armour as everypony else.

"Ok, let's get a close up of Rarity. Pose for the camera, Rarity!"
Rarity pouted, and her sparkly blue eyes gazed right out of the screen and into Fluttershy who watched on in captivation.
The Unicorn holding the camera giggled. "Hahaha! Fabulous!"

Faintly in the background, Applejack checked with another soldier, "You doing ok there, Big Mac?"
"Eeyup."
Lyra focused on Applejack and her brother. He was still wearing bandages over the injury he'd sustained on the Truth, but he seemed to be doing just fine. Fine enough to be back on the field.

"Something's wrong, isn't there?"
Big Mac shook his head. "Nope."
Applejack kept staring at him, knowing he thought something was wrong.
Eventually, he sighed and gave in. "I got a bad-"
-There was a deafening bang, and the whole Pelican started to rattle, the troops screeching and holding on to anything they could get their hooves around.

"Something's in the thrusters!" another panicked voice buzzed over of the Pelican's intercom. "We're loosing altitude! I can't control it!" It was a male voice, and as the sound of the dying engines began to whistle away, it yelled, "Brace for impact!"
A couple of seconds later, the Pelican's interior jumped as the aircraft came down hard, and the picture snapped to black.

Immediately after, the picture returned, and groaning droned all around the Pelican. Fluttershy identified it as the crashed Pelican she'd entered in the swamp.

"Ow!"
"Arg!"
The film camera turned to face the upside-down Bon Bon.
"You ok there, Bon Bon?"
"Yeah... You?"
"Yeah."
"How about the camera?"
"Yeah, it's fine."

"Everypony ok?" AJ checked woozily. "Rarity?"
The purple maned Unicorn coughed and gawped at the sight of her hoof. "Aahh! I chipped a hoof!"
"Yer fine, Rarity."

The camcorder shot over to the cockpit door that scraped open, and a pale blue Pegasus Stallion made his appearance. "I'm ok."
That was the Stallion Fluttershy had found dead outside.

Rarity; "Oh my!"
"What's the matter, Rarity?" Applejack walked up beside the Unicorn, ogling out the back of the Pelican at the gloomy swamp and bucketing rain.
"Look where we've landed!"
"Yeah. It's a swamp. You knew we were headin' to a swamp."

Rarity got in Applejack's face. "We've crash landed in a swamp! How are we supposed to get out of here when our Pelican is laying broken on the ground?!"
"Oh, I see yer point."

Rotating to face the pilot, Rarity asked a question that Fluttershy already knew the answer to. "Soarin', is the Pelican still flyable?"
"Well, everything checks out in the cockpit, but the starboard thrusters got jammed up pretty bad."
"I like jam," Lyra spoke in a silly accent.
Rarity's blue eyes widened. "Excuse me? Did you just say jammed?"
"Yeah. Don't know what's jamming them. I'll take a look." With that, Soarin' galloped out of the Pelican and disappeared outside in the pouring rain.
"Be careful, ya hear!" Applejack called after him.

"Oohh, what are we going to do?" moaned Rarity. "What if the Pelican will never fly? Isn't there any way we can contact somepony?"
Shaking her head, AJ told, "Sorry, but I tried contactin' Twilight n' Fluttershy when we were in the air, and there was no signal."
"What about the Truth and Reconciliation?"
"She aint pickin' up on any frequency."
On her knees, the white Unicorn stretched her hooves up and dramatized, "We're doomed! Doooomed!"
Applejack tapped her on the shoulder and whispered, "Uh, Rarity? Yer the Captain, remember?"
"Oh... of course... I should probably take action."

Poking his head back into the troop bay, Soarin' advertised, "If it's of any use, I saw a building before we went down, not far from here."
Everypony rubbed their chins thoughtfully.
"We could shelter there," suggested a blue Earth Pony Mare.
"It is likely where the Covenant are guarding that Forerunner treasure," Rarity surmised, motioning a hoof. "We shall go there!"

Taking on a more Captain-like attitude, she commanded, "Everypony, saddle up! Aloe, Lotus, I believe you have umbrellas, yes?"
"We brought an extra one, just for you, Captain!" the pink Earth Pony called Aloe beamed, whipping a huge pink umbrella out of Lotus' saddle bag.
The umbrella was mounted on a pretty saddle, and Rarity instantly accepted it, placing it on her back over her soldier saddle. 
"Excellent! Thank you, dearies."

The Mare using the camera randomly proclaimed, "I'll just go around and introduce everypony." She angled the camera at Bon Bon. "As you know, I'm Lyra, and this is Bon Bon." There was an awkward pause as Bon Bon looked irritated at the camera.

Lyra then aimed at a couple of large Stallions, one of which was Big Mac. "Over here, we've got Big Mac and Joe. Tough guys." Another frame wipe, and, "This is Rising Star."

Fluttershy recognised Rising Star as the corpse just outside the chamber she was sat in.

"Lyra, put that away. Now is not a good time," Bon Bon counselled from somewhere out of shot.
"Hold on, Bon Bon, I'm just letting everypony know who's with us."
"Everypony? Who's everypony?"
"My viewers, of course!"
"Oh no. Lyra, you can't upload this."
"Why not?"
"Because it's a violation of the UPSC rules and regulations!"
Lyra filmed Rarity who paraded around with her umbrella. "Our Captain has a bright pink umbrella. Your point is?"
Bon Bon sighed and gave up. "Ok, fine, go nuts. Film everything."
"Tss-ss-ss-ss-ss! I will," snickered Lyra, posting the camcorder on Bon Bon's annoyed face. "Did I mention that her name is Bon Bon? She's my best friend."

Pointing at a dark grey Pegasus Stallion, Lyra commented, "That there is Thunderlane. He's pretty awesome." She then aimed the camera directly at the Pelican's interior wall. "If you can see through walls, you should be able to see our pilot, Soarin'. He's out there somewhere."

Spinning the camera, a new Pony came into view. A blue Earth Pony Mare with purple hair and narrow blue eyes.
"That there is Autumn Gem. She's a Crystal Pony." The quirky Unicorn waved, "Hello, Crystal Pony!"
Autumn waved back sheepishly, "Hi."

Autumn Gem. Crystal Pony. The dead body that lay right behind Fluttershy.

"Aw, aint she sweet," Lyra moved on. "Over here we have Aloe and Lotus. They're twins. Creepy."
Aloe and Lotus carried small, camouflage print umbrellas on their backs. One of the Mares was blue with pink hair while the other one was pink with blue hair, and they both had the same blue eyes. They both had their forelocks pressed back by white headbands. Almost identical to each other, the two Mares looked puzzlingly over at the camera wielding Lyra.
The blue of the two started, "What's so creepy abou-"
"-Creepy," labelled Lyra as she spun to capture Applejack and Rarity.

Staff Sergeant Applejack was speaking into the portable coms system Fluttershy had discovered, Rarity watching over her.
Taking a break from recording her message, the orange Earth Pony pondered, "Lyra, what are you doin'?"
"This is Applejack," Lyra informed her viewers, ignoring Applejack. "And this is Rarity. She's a Captain."

AJ raised an eyebrow for a beat before resuming. "... Ok, I gotta wrap this up. If anypony's listening, there's a structure a few hundred metres from this here wreckage. That's where we're headin'."
"Oh my gosh! What happened to Soarin'?!"
Ending the recording, Applejack whickered and yelled, "Soarin'?!"

Lyra joined Applejack, Rarity and everypony else running out of the Pelican to behold Bon Bon and Soarin'. Soarin' was laying on his back next to a rock, and a huge hole had been torn into his upper torso.
"Oh gracious!" grated Rarity. "How did this happen?!"
"Uh, I should probably turn the camera off now." Upon Lyra's last words, the picture blacked out.

Fluttershy remembered seeing the Stallion called Soarin' laying over a rock, yet in the video, he was next to it. How and why had he been moved? She also remembered seeing no wounds on him, but she did see an awful lot of blood leaking from his carcass. The wound that was clear in the video was on his front, and when Fluttershy saw him, he was laying on his front. If she'd have checked underneath him, she would've witnessed the nastiness with her own two eyes, and it would've scared her right back onto Rainbow's Pelican.

Flickering back into existence, the video resumed, and Lyra was filming her own nervous looking face as she trudged on and on through the wet, misty swamp.
"Hi. This is Lyra Heartstrings. I'm back. I had to turn the camera off cos, well, y'know, I caught a glimpse it. I just have no idea what happened. He went outside to check on the Pelican's thrusters, and then Bon Bon wondered out, and the next thing I know, she's screaming."

Gulping, she continued, "Soarin' had his chest ripped open. It was disgusting. We placed him on a rock like it was some sort of... plinth, or a stage if you will, as a tribute."
Suddenly, Lyra flashed her head to the left, her wide orange eyes locked onto something out of frame. After a while, she began talking again.

"What's weird is, no pony heard him scream when he was getting attacked. He never shouted for help - never cried in pain... We didn't realise what had happened until it was all over. And whatever did it to him never showed its face, or at least not yet... I don't blame it. We all wanna avenge our pilot."
Lyra kept looking around the swamp, fretting and twitching a little.

Frowning, she informed, "Something doesn't feel right, y'know. The other Ponies have been saying it too. It's as if we're been watched... I could feel eyes boring so hard into the back of my head it made me itch... We've all been getting jumpy, saying that we're seeing things that probably aren't even there... I wonder if my camera will pick anything out." Suddenly sparking into a joyful tone and pasting a big smile on her face, Lyra trumpeted, "Let me know in the comments below!"
"Sshh! Lyra," hissed the unseen Bon Bon.

"Oh, and this is definitely worth a look. Check it out," Lyra nodded, rotating the camcorder to film the downed Covenant drop ship that Fluttershy had passed. "The Covenant crashed here too. It got us thinking about what happened to Soarin'. It didn't really match Covenant behaviour... I think..." She swallowed. "... I think there's something else out here... All the Covenant we've encountered so far have been hiding - cowering. But they're not hiding from us... I think they're in the same boat we a-"
"-Aahh, what is that?!" Rarity interrupted sharply.
The camera angled this way and that, searching for whatever Rarity was screeching at.
"Where? Where?!"
"Aaaahh!"

The film turned black as the camera was switched off yet again, and Fluttershy could've sworn she'd seen the same Elite that she herself had seen creeping around the swamp with the rope in his hand.

Fortunately, the film was still rolling, and the image of Lyra riding the elevator downwards fizzled into view.
"Ok, we're back, and-"
"-Lyra, stop filming," Bon Bon entered the frame.
"This is an important documentation, Bon Bon. I can sell this video to PONI."
"PONI won't buy it, they'll just take it from you."
"I won't let them."
"Or they'll just watch it for free when you upload it."
"Oh yeah. Didn't think about that."
"So stop filming!"
"No! This is important."
"Lyra-"
"-Do you wanna be that one Pony in the video who's all like; "stop it, Lyra, stop it! Stop having fun and sharing your experiences with the world, Lyra!""
"You're having fun?"
"I'm trying to."
Bon Bon sighed and turned her back to the Unicorn.
"That's what I thought."

A moment passed as a rather regretful looking Lyra glanced back and forth between the camera and the upset Bon Bon.

Eventually, she turned and pronounced, "Oh, Bon Bon, um, I can tell you're mad, so, I just wanna let you know, that, um, you are my best friend in the whole wide world, and I think you're super awesome."
Turning around, Bon Bon rolled her eyes and started to giggle. "Ugh, not this again."
Lyra grinned. "Yes, this again."
"Hm-hm-hm! You know just how to get to me each time."
"Hehehe! Hehehe!"

"Hey, you two wanna keep it down?" Applejack suggested as the lift came to a screeching halt.
Lyra pointed the camcorder at Applejack, Big Mac by her side.
"We're at the bottom."
"Oh, ok. I'll just turn the camera off now... Oh, before I do." Lyra began filming herself again. "I just wanna say that the thing Rarity saw in the swamp was an Elite... or at least we think it was an Elite. It was hard to tell in all the rain. Anyway, yeah, that's all. I gotta turn the camera off for a sec. See you in a millisecond!"

One millisecond later, the image changed to that of the inside of a chamber, but not just any chamber; it was the chamber where Fluttershy first met Lyra in person, and she'd witnessed her traumatic end.

The Crystal Pony, Autumn Gem, spluttered away in Lyra's background. "Arg! Ptooey! Urg!"
"Hello again, I'm Lyra Heartstrings, well, you all know that by now, but hey, it's my intro, so shut up!"
I never complained, Fluttershy thought as she watched on in anticipation.
"Uh, we skipped through quite a lot of the structure. There wasn't really anything interesting though... Applejack actually wanted me to film this part. It's really spooky, and we're all confused over it. What do you guys think?"

It was then when Lyra showed off the chamber, and Fluttershy learnt that the balcony had been broken and burning before Rarity's squad had even found it. What got to Fluttershy most of all though, was the bodies. Elites and Jackals laying on the floor, slaughtered in the most gruesome manner. But when Fluttershy had passed through that chamber herself, there weren't any bodies at all.

Lyra tilted the camcorder down to capture a blue armoured Elite laying at her hooves, a gaping hole in his armoured chest... just like Soarin'.

Continuing, Lyra snorted, "Gross, huh? ... Autumn actually stepped on it, and it scared her half to death. She's been sick in the corner - poor thing. She'll be fine. Anyway, I don't wanna focus too much on the bodies cos they're gross, and you probably don't wanna see em, so let's focus on this thing over here, shall we?"
Lyra was right; Fluttershy didn't like looking at the twisted Covie corpses.

As for "this thing over here," Lyra approached the devastated balcony and the never ending fire.
"What in all manner of things happened here? There's Covenant blood everywhere too. Bodies, blood, this. What happened here? I'm driving myself crazy just trying to think of an answer... Bon Bon, what do you think?"
The camera whizzed to focus on the Earth Pony.
"I'm just as stumped as you are. It's as if the Covenant turned on each other, but why would they do that?"
"Beats me."
"I really don't like it here."
"Me neither."
"I hope somepony comes looking for us soon."
"I'm sure everypony will know when we're missing. We have the Captain, remember?"
"Yeah, and it was her idea to come down here, where there's no radio signal."
"She does say it'll be worth it."
"Worth it? For some stupid treasure? I'd rather stay on the Truth. Hay, I'd even help Fluttershy with finding Halo's control room. That's a more important mission than this."

Fluttershy felt grateful that somepony she didn't know too well actually cared.

"Yeah, I gue-"
"-The fate of the galaxy rests on Fluttershy's shoulders, and here we are just exploring some creepy underground maze in search for pointless artefacts that no pony cares about."
"Wow, you're really upset, aren't you?"
"Sorry, Lyra. I just... I just don't think we're using this time constructively. And it looks like some of the Covenant thought the exact same thing."
"I don't get it. How does it look like... Oohh... Jeeze, Bon Bon, that's not a nice thing to think."

Fluttershy didn't get it.

"Only our leader, Lyra. Only our leader."
"Yeah but still."
"But still nothing. Let's just move on, ok." Bon Bon stomped away in a foul mood. "And you could've turned the camera off earlier."

Fluttershy attempted to piece together Bon Bon's puzzle. Not using their time constructively... Covenant thought it too... But the Covenant are dead... Turned on each other? ... Only our leader? ... She drew in a breath and shuddered, afraid.
She'd solved it.

Before Lyra switched off the camera, she filmed Big Mac standing over one of the mutilated Elites.
Rarity, their leader, approached him and voiced sarcastically, "Ew... Real pretty... Friend of yours?"
The big red Stallion shook his head. "Nope."

The picture flashed black as it cycled onto the next scene. Lyra's hooves clopping down on the light bridge as she and the team cantered across it.
"I just wanted to show you all the light bridge. Isn't it amazing? Wow!"
And then it went black again. That was quick. Fluttershy could totally understand Lyra's fascination with the light bridge though.

The next part of the video took place outside a certain door, and Fluttershy gulped nervously, heart in mouth. The door in question was the door to the chamber that she was in right now, watching the video. The chamber full of Pony blood, shell casings, and a dead Mare. She twisted, almost expecting the door to open and deposit Lyra and her team.

"Hi, we're back, also... I'm Lyra Heartstrings, teehee!" Lyra giggled, looking just a little bit cuckoo.
Bon Bon; "Why are you filming now, Lyra? What's so interesting about this door?"
"It's locked. Who knows what secrets lie in wait on the other side."
Bon Bon face hoofed. "You don't think there's treasure behind this door too, do you?"
"Well, there's only one way to-"

At that moment, Rarity interjected, "-Bon Bon, sweetie, there most likely is treasure behind this door. Why else would the Covenant have worked so hard to lock it down? They're obviously hording all the treasure for themselves."
"Or, maybe they locked it to make you think exactly that."
"Oh, I doubt the Covenant are that smart. Aloe, you have the hack box, yes?"
"Yes, Rarity."
"Lovely. Get to work."
Aloe attached the little black box to the Forerunner door and began tapping in codes with a faint bleep bleep.

Wow. Fluttershy never took Rarity for a fool, but that line; "I doubt the Covenant are that smart," she ended up disagreeing with her Unicorn friend quite strongly there.

On camera, Bon Bon grumbled to herself, "I swear, if this lead turns out to be a dead end, I'm gonna..." she stopped herself and shook her head vigorously. " No, no, no, no, no, no. No. Bad thoughts. That is not how a good girl is supposed to think."
"Uh, Bon Bon? Are you ok?"
"Yes. Perfect."
"No you're not."
"Who are you to say how I feel?" snarled Bon Bon, gaining some of the other troops' attention. She got real close to the camera, showing off her veined blue eyes.

In answer to Bon Bon, Lyra spoke softly, "Your friend who knows you? And knows when something's wrong?"
"... Whatever. I've had enough." The Earth Pony turned to walk away, calling out, "I can't take this anymore. I'm leaving."

Lyra and Applejack called after her. "Bon Bon!"
"Bon Bon!"
"No. I'm not walking through that door. I'm not staying with her." She pointed a trembling hoof at a stunned Rarity. "I want to live, thank you very much."

What on earth was happening to Bon Bon? She was acting like she was possessed. Fluttershy could understand her feeling, but it wasn't enough to drive a Pony to insubordination... or repressed murder.

The yellow Pegasus looked away from the video to scan the surrounding chamber. There was something dodgy with this place. It felt haunted, like there was some sort of surrounding, all seeing presence. Every surface had its own pair of judging eyes, and they intimidated all who entered, toying with their minds.

Back to the video, Rarity pointed to herself and grated, "With me? Whatever did I do?"
"She thinks you're wasting our time," Lyra informed bluntly.
"Wasting our time?! That is ridiculous!"

The curly maned Unicorn stomped her hoof. "Bon Bon! I would normally turn away from you, tilt my head and hmph, but I am the responsible Captain, and I order you to come back at once!"
Bon Bon just paced up the ramp, snubbing the Captain.
"Please come back, Bon Bon," tried the camera Mare.

Rarity commanded, "Somepony stop her!"
Obeying, Applejack ran after Bon Bon and grabbed her pink and blue tail in her teeth, pulling hard to bring the AWOL Pony back.
"No! Get off me! Let me go!"

With a mouthful of tail hair, AJ stated, "Sorry, Bon Bon, but orders are orders. I totally see where yer coming from though."
No longer struggling, Bon Bon twisted and asked, "You do?"
"Yes. We'll talk about it later, when Rarity's not around."

"When I'm not a... What do you have to hide from me, Applejack?" The Captain stared at the Staff Sergeant through narrow, accusing eyes.
"I'll tell ya when we're done here and are back on the Truth."
"Maybe I want to hear it now."
"Maybe now isn't a good time."
"Maybe I'm ordering you to tell me now."
"Maybe I'm refusin' to tell you now."
"Maybe I'll have you court martialled!"
"Maybe I'll pay no attention to it!"
"Maybe I'll have you shot on sight!"
"Maybe I'll... Rarity?" AJ's green eyes popped and shimmered upon registering what her friend had just said.

"D... did you just say that?" She was truly hurt.
Realising what vile words had been spewed from her lips, Rarity gasped and looked sorrowfully into the downcast Applejack.
"But... I'm your friend."

Rarity would never say such a thing. Not to anypony. It was incredibly out of character for her, and as Fluttershy watched on with a gaping mouth, she could see that Rarity knew it too. The facility was speaking.

"Oh my goodness... I... I'm so sorry, Applejack. I... I don't know what came over me."
"I'll tell you what came over you," Bon Bon started. "This darn facility. It got to the Covenant and now it's getting to us."

Apologetically, Rarity placed a hoof on Applejack's back. "Applejack, I'm so dreadfully sorry. What I said was awful, just awful, and I hope you know that I would never do such a thing. Not even in my wildest dreams."
The hat wearing Mare sighed and peered up at Rarity. "It's ok, Rarity... I forgive ya."
The two of them shared a cuddle, and Lyra moved the camera so she could do likewise with her bestie.

After the long lasting hug-fest, Rarity pulled away and brushed her hoof on the floor. "Hm. I suppose none of us really need that treasure... Should we get out of here?"
"Are ya sure? I mean, yer the Captain n' all."
Rarity nodded. "I'm sure. We should leave before we suffer the same fate as the Covenant."

The same fate as the Covenant?

Applejack began, "That sounds like a good pla-"
"-It's open!" signalled Aloe with triumph, sliding the door open at last.

The herd stood silent before the open chamber, staring inside in a trance. As soon as the door had been opened, a cold shiver ran along everypony's spine.

Even Fluttershy felt her blood run cold, and she could've sworn she saw herself in the video, sat on the floor watching, well, the video. But that would be impossible, and she shook her head to get back on track.

"... Ya still wanna get out o' here?"
"... Yes... Yes I do."
Just then, screams of horror pierced the atmosphere from a nearby Elite. "Arg! Aaarrg! Aaruugh!"
Accompanying them, came a shriek. A shriek that wasn't Pony, wasn't Covenant, wasn't anything anypony had ever heard before.

"What was that?" wondered Applejack.
Shivering, Rarity trembled, "I'm scared."

As the Elite died, the shriek sounded off again, only louder, and a heart-stopping bang resonated in the ears of the frightened herd.

Very slowly backing up into the chamber, Rarity muttered, "I know I said we should leave, but we should probably find a different way... Away from whatever that is."
"I hear ya, Rare," Applejack agreed. "Everypony, in the chamber, now."
Hastily, the equines pushed through the doorway and into the chamber, Aloe standing by and closing the door.

Lyra's camera swivelled around until it came to focus on Bon Bon. The Earth Pony had strayed from the squad and was sat atop one of the chamber's two glass-topped islands, gazing silently down.
"Bon Bon?" Lyra voiced, pacing up to her. "Bon Bon, what's wrong wrong?"
Suddenly, the fear stricken Bon Bon spun and spoke to the camera. "D... d... don't you hear that?"
"We hear it alright," Rarity answered, the banging muffled on the other side of the door.
Bon Bon listed, "No, not that. That awful buzzing! The squirming! The footsteps! The voices."
The soldiers took a break to listen, but there was nothing but banging. Fluttershy couldn't pick anything up either.

"... We should definitely keep moving," Rarity declared.
The Ponies trotted around the whole room, trying to be quiet, but trying to be fast as well.

The camera approached a door with red "lock" lights on it, and the Mare holding the camera attempted to open it.
When it didn't relent, she called out, "This door's locked!"
"So's this un!" broadcasted Applejack, along with some of her troops.
"And this one!"
"Eeyup!"
"Locked!"

From somewhere unseen, Aloe informed, "Uh, guys? This door's locked too."
The soldiers gathered to see Aloe standing by the door she'd hacked open not two minutes ago.
"And the hack box is on the other side."
"So, we're trapped?" Lyra quizzed panicky. "Is that what you're saying? That's what you're saying, right?"
Aloe shrugged and sighed, "I guess we are... I'm sorry."

Everypony grumbled amongst each other, annoyed. Looking guilty, Aloe brushed her hoof on the engraved metal surface.
AJ spoke tenderly, "Don't fret, Aloe. No pony's blamin' ya."
"I am!" Lotus announced, looming angrily over her twin.
"Lotus, don't start!"

Noting that all the doors had locked for the squad, Fluttershy's eyes widened in fear and she craned her neck to look around. She noticed all the doors had locked for her too, including the one she'd just passed through. Her gut sank and her lungs accelerated.

"Rising, Joe, Lyra, Rarity! Y'all are Unicorns! Is there some way y'all can magic yer way through?"
Rarity; "We can try, but I'm not exactly Twilight Sparkle-"
-The same slithering, squelching noise that Fluttershy's ears had been subjected to earlier resonated around the squad, spooking them all out.

"What was that?"
"I have no idea."
"Ssshhh, there it is again."
Hushed, the Ponies listened on to the weird, wet noise.

"... Please tell me I aint the only one hearin' this," muttered Applejack, the panic in her southern accent increasing. "Please tell me I aint the only one hearin' this!"
"It's ok, Applejack, I hear it too," Rarity reassured. "Either that sound really exists, or we're both going bonkers."
"Do you hear it too, Big Mac?"
The massive Stallion hunkered down, assault rifle at the ready. "Eeyup."

"Doh, we should've just left when we had the chan-"
Rarity was cut off by a heart stopping thud that originated from the right of the camera. Lyra spun to capture the moment when a door was pounded into scrap, and something Fluttershy had never seen before came pouring out.

"What in Celestia's name are those?!" Rarity yelled, pointing at the things.
The things were tiny little creatures that slithered around on tentacles. Their bodies were bulbous and their flesh was an ugly brown-beige colour. They had no visible eyes, or any facial features for that matter, but they did have three particularly extensive tendrils that stretched forward off the ground, playing the role of antennae. Tipping those tendrils, vivid red gristle brushed through the air.

The scariest thing about these creatures was not their appearance, or the noise they made when they scuttled across the deck, but the sheer amount of them. There were hundreds of the little things, and they came bucketing out of the door like water from a burst dam.

A horrendous shriek came from Aloe who flailed around on her back with one of the tentacle aliens latched to her stomach. "Arughhuughh-wraaahh!"
"Hold still! Hold still!" strained Lotus as she tried to remove the bug from her sister, dismissing her annoyance at her.

She was able to yank the bag of snot free from the pink Mare with a splash of red blood, but then the nasty little thing turned its attention to her, and she held it as far out in front of her as she could, its flailing tentacles stretching, caressing her panicking face. As for Aloe, she laid on the deck in an increasing puddle of blood, convulsing.

"Fire everything!" boomed Rarity as she brought her MA5B up and fired fully automatic into the tide of alien parasites.
The rest of the fire team obeyed, their weapons chattering and converting the things into scraps of wet flesh and olive green blood.

However, there were too many of the darn things, and every time one pod popped, a dozen more came to take its place.

"What are these things?!" boggled Lyra as she multi-tasked from her position atop a metal island, Bon Bon at her side.
"We dunno! Just shoot as many of em as ya can!" Applejack replied hastily over the thundering battle, her shotgun wiping out the miniature beasties in large doses.

Despite all this, the horrid alien life forms just kept coming, like they were on an infinite spawn.

"Aaarrg!" came the unexpected squawk of a Covenant Jackal.
Lyra panned the camera to find that a team of three Jackals had opened the door from the other side and stumbled into the intense Pony - unidentified enemy conflict.

Not caring about whatever threat the Jackals would pose, Lyra noted the open door and exclaimed, "We're free!"
Bolting over to the door with Bon Bon in front of her, Lyra filmed the Jackals as they turned and fled; they were just as afraid as the Ponies.

"Ugh!" the aquamarine Unicorn grunted with pain as something slammed into her back, knocking her to the floor.

She dropped the camera, and it landed right where Fluttershy had discovered it. It was then when the horror movie ended with a black flash, and the image on the screen cycled back to that of the joyful Lyra riding in the back of the doomed Pelican.
End Record View.

This was it then. Fluttershy had learnt the terrifying truth as to what happened to Rarity, Applejack and all the rest, and had never felt so afraid in all her life. There was blood in the room, but only one remaining body; some of the Ponies must have made it out alive, right? ... Right?

Chucking the pink camcorder in her bag, she galloped frantically to the locked door behind her, noticing, for the first time, a stain of dried Jackal blood.
"Heeeelp! Heeeeeelp!" she cried, banging strenuously on the Forerunner door.
Her teeth gnashed within her creasing mouth and tears spilled from her frightened blue eyes.

"He-he-he-heeelp! Pleeaase, somepony heeeelp! Some Covenant heeeelp! Aha-aha-ahaa!"
It was pointless; there was no pony around to help her, and the Covies sure as hay wouldn't assist a Pony, but Fluttershy just wanted rescuing so bad, she'd willingly hoof herself over to the Covenant if it meant an escape.

Sobbing on the deck before the door, Fluttershy curled into a feeble ball... and that's when the clanging began.

One of the other doors in the chamber started to dent outwards; something behind fighting its way through.

Heart skipping with every powerful thud, Fluttershy rose and darted her eyes around. She spied the door that had been broken down in the video, only to deposit an infinite supply of the unknown hostiles.

Chancing it, she sprinted for that door, slipping on the lake of Pony blood and shell casings. Skilfully, she kept herself on her hooves, and resumed her dash through the destroyed door.

Clunk! The creatures had entered the chamber of doom, and Fluttershy could hear them wriggling and writhing, hunting for her. What's worse, the door she'd taken lead her into a tiny box room with no exit. Trapped.

Quivering with distress, she hunkered down, swapped her shotgun for her assault rifle, and kept it pointed directly at the tiny room's one and only entrance. With her lungs working overtime, she waited...
and waited...
and waited...