Chapter 108: Dawn of the Dastardly Evil, Abandoned Decorations
The next two houses were passed by without incident. On the third, however, the specter reared its head again.
The result was the same. Astral scampered backwards and the coast was clear by the time Sassi took a look.
Even worse, the helmet cameras on Astral’s older helmet were malfunctioning. Trying to re-wind the footage to confirm if Astral saw anything was just static on his end, and it wasn’t just tied to the sightings. It was a mess of useless footage most of the time. Sassi’s cameras in the newer helmet seemed to be fine, however.
Every other house after that made them pause. Astral’s limbs were shaking from the constant sightings, and after two more sightings, the stallion sat down, trying to take deep breaths.
“Just breathe, Astral,” Sassi said softly, worry pricking the mare’s heart. Astral’s frayed mental state bled over their link, fear, doubt, and genuine terror starting to dominate every sense she was able to pick up.
“Sassi, I swear it…” he began, Astral then hanging his head and shaking it. “I don’t know anymore. I can’t even aim at it. By the time I do, it’s gone. The lights flicker, and it’s there.”
There was a brief moment Sassi wondered if maybe her stallion was more traumatized than she thought. Perhaps something was making him see all of this? Surely, half a dozen sightings of this creature without a trace had to point to that?
No.
She reached over to lay a hoof on his shoulder, Astral leaning his head over to rest against it.
We’ve only gotten this far by trusting each other. I’m not breaking that now.
“Let’s keep going. Next time you see it, just keep walking and gently toss your head towards it.”
“Ok.”
The defeated tone in Astral’s voice made Sassi just want to hug him.
It only took two more houses before he tossed his head, continuing to walk past the single-story building.
NOW!
With a roar of the guns,, Sassi raked the entire house with a line of projectiles. From floor to ceiling, she made sure there wasn’t anywhere a creature could hide. As the miniguns spun back down, she walked over to the window carefully.
“It’s gone?” Astral asked softly.
“Yup. But take a look.”
The stallion’s ears perked up as Sassi gestured to the destroyed room. Entering through the back door, the two Thestrals noted the black blood sprayed across a wall and a large open-air vent on the floor. It was torn open, the foul liquid trailing into it.
“I hit it. And you can’t wound an imaginary creature,” Sassi said, watching Astral carefully as he slumped down.
“It was real.”
Sassi let him have a few moments, the other Thestral taking a few deep breaths.
“AI, why can’t we see this thing on the motion tracker?”
“Hypothesis: Creature emits an electromagnetic field that can jam suit sensors at close range. The older model of RASP helmet for primary user may lack sufficient shielding on camera systems.”
“That explains why the lights in the room flickered and the camera was whacked out,” Sassi mused, having RASP do an enhanced scan on the motion detector and air sensors before pulling off her helmet. She then motioned for Astral to do the same.
Astral didn’t have time to say anything after removing his helmet. Sassi abruptly wrapped him up in a tight hug and a rather long and passionate kiss, a muffled but rather happy cry of surprise making the mare giggle as they separated.
Putting her helmet back on, Sassi had to stifle another laugh as Astral stared at her, finally putting his own gear back on over a rather pink face.
“Um, not that I’m going to complain, but was there a reason for that?” he asked rather sheepishly.
“First, I don’t need a reason to kiss you,” Sassi stated, a soft, familiar chuckle making her heart flutter.
“Noted.”
“Second, it was a reminder.”
“Of?”
Giving his side a bump with hers as they exited the house. She paused, Astral leaning against her slightly.
“A reminder that I’m here for you,” she said softly. “And that I trust you.”
A soft, barely-audible sniffle sounded over the radio as Astral nodded.
“Thanks, Sas,” he said softly, the mare nodding once.
“Any time. Now let’s get out of here. That thing is probably angry.”
Astral’s demeanor quickly returned to a semblance of normality, confidence slowly returning to the Thestral’s frame.
I’m sorry for starting to doubt you, Astral.
The remainder of the mock suburb was traversed without incident. However, on the last row of houses, the mare spotted movement.
“Astral. Top left. On the roof of the teal house. Don’t move. Something is off.”
Sassi’s words quickly became an understatement as the two ponies observed the creature.
“What is that?”
The creature appeared to be a smaller version of a Skitter, but instead of pale skin, it seemed far more alive. Red, raw muscle fibers were knotted across its four limbs, and spiney, boney protrusions ran up and down its back and shoulders.
It lifted its head, swallowing a chunk of something that was bleeding all over the roof. The face was almost reminiscent of a pony. However, the muzzle had been utterly removed and replaced with a bloody mouth of needle-like teeth.
It let out a soft chitter, looking around with eyes that were far too big for its head. The eye sockets bore a familiar, almost malevolent red glow as they scanned around. The odd part about it was that there was intelligence behind the eyes, the red orbs methodically scanning the area. With a loud, warbling cry, the creature abruptly darted away and out of sight.
“Ok. When the freaky creature vanishes, that’s not usually good,” Astral muttered.
“Agreed. Let’s be careful. The main exit door is just behind that tree line.”
The trees were, of course, fake, but rather dense. Just as they were about to enter, Sassi stopped as the motion tracker lit up with contacts to their left.
Turning to confront the creatures, the two Thestrals paused. To their surprise, a dozen or more ponies were meandering out from behind the last house, near where the creature had been lurking on the roof.
“Survivors?” Astral said, “something doesn’t seem right.”
The flow of ponies grew, and one of them stopped.
Turning to look at them, the once-pony bared its bloody, broken teeth at the Thestrals with a hungry scream. The dozens of creatures turned, all screaming as they galloped toward the pair. Their faces were torn, blood and flesh hanging from their mouths as their bloodshot eyes were focused, unblinking, on the Thestrals.
The minigun roared, but it only took a burst for Sassi to realize their needed path.
“RUN!”
The two galloped off, Astral laying a stream of fire down behind them to slow the creatures down. The massive, double-doors were now visible through the tree line, a beautifully-intact panel next to it.
The screams sounded again- were they catching up?!
Dashing through the door, Astral spun around to fire as Sassi toggled the emergency closing mechanism, ducking through to end up at his side. The Thestrals fired as the heavy steel door began to close far too slowly.
Still-on-fire mutants ran toward them. Even as their flesh was charred and limbs falling off from the spray of bullets sent their way, they struggled onwards. Even as the cannons and shotgun blew off chunks and holes in their bodies, the creatures shrugged off the wounds with disturbing apathy.
How many are there?!
A few got close enough to try and get under the door, but it slammed down on their bodies with a disturbing *squish*.
And then it was silent, Astral catching his breath as reddish-black blood oozed from under the door.
“Zomponies. Not likely, but possible,” he hissed. “I hate this place.”
“Ditto.”
Their goal stood ahead of them, illuminated by a large information panel flashing red.
“Warning. Prison security systems have been compromised. All containment measures have failed. Convicts are in control of prison block as per last automated scan. Lethal countermeasures advised.”
I mean, of course. 
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Convicts in control? Do you mean the Scientists or Guards, because I am pretty sure they have done worse things then the "convicts" ever did.
11557845
Wellllllllll there's a difference between pain and suffering being collateral damage, and being the primary goal.
so the question here is 'Condemned', or 'Dead Space' for our prison?~
That smooch was definitely a surprise for us too!
Sassi seems to be in high spirits despite the current situation. Maybe the adrenaline, horrors, and action is putting her in a great mood! Seems like it could be a mental issue or kink in the making when they both escape.
Anyways, have you heard of Observation Duty? It is a horror PC game, can be found on steam, where you are the camera observer and your duty is to report anomalies and survive until a time period. Set in a fixed location with CCTV cams in the usual spot, sometimes with outdoor cams too, where you play an advanced "spot the difference" except you have to mental remember every single object's location and state. Even the tiny angled spoon a few pixels large is not safe from moving.
Sometimes there are physical living anomalies, sometimes the object is not there or have multiple clones, or simply a very anomalous event like causing the sun to be out. By the way, the game is mostly set at night.
I don't know if you might use this as inspiration, but it is extremely creepy and potentially jumpscare prone. Personally, this definitely sparked my horror creativity!
11557874
Well, more to help Astral snap out of it. He's been through the wringer! And to realize your loved one isn't totally crazy is certainly a relief.
11557889
Ah, I have heard of that I think! It has a lot of potential for creepy moments!
So what happened was this, but bloodier:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ChJ6QmwWUAAb5DK.jpg:large
11557918
That made me burst out laughing. But....yes!
It appears we have some rogue quotations. Buggers need to go back to the keyboard where they belong.
11559062
*Fires gun at the quotation goblin but misses.
Darnit. Almost had him that time... (thanks!)
I am ashamed that it took me this long to finally read this. But dang nabbit I am glad I waited so I could binge read. I can’t wait to see what happens with Sassi, Astral, and Arcane. chaos pone is best pone so far. Other than the bat pones.
11565819
Glad you've enjoyed it!