Two blackened Leaper's came from around the corners, she raised her Seeker Rifle but they had been killed by Applebloom and Isaac.

They ran into the open area, leaving the safety of their small room behind.

A glob of acid was shot down; Isaac shot it down with a well-placed Plasma bolt.

"Puke on that fucker!" He yelled.

"Scootaloo! Throw me up!" Sweetiebelle yelled.

Her friend wrapped a tentacle around her before throwing her above to the catwalk. She hit the Necromorph, sending it falling down below to its comrades. Once she got her bearings, she pulled out her Seeker rifle.

Zoomed in, she saw two Lurkers creeping up behind Isaac. As they jumped she shot out two shells, tearing them in half.

He stopped momentarily and gave a nod in her direction before him and her friends went in.

She heard a Puker and looked to her right. She rolled out of the way as a glob of acid hit the walkway. She narrowed her eyes at it before raising her Javelin gun to it.

She smirked as it went flying. Literally, it went off the catwalk and was pinned to a wall upside down.

She saw a Lurker and two Slasher's climb up. She groaned as she saw her friends exit the building and were confronted by more Necromorph's.

She took out her Contact beam and Seeker rifle.

She stood there, staring at them as they did the same. In a second they all charged.

She jumped up onto the Slasher in the lead and fired off a shot from her Contact beam, pushing herself back. She shot out a bolt of stasis at them before firing off a few shot at the Necromorph's below. She killed off a Lurker a Slasher and a Leaper.

She raised her Seeker rifle to parry a blow another Slasher sent down. She held it the before sticking her Contact beam right under it, charged it and fired.

It fell to the ground, leaving only her and the Lurker.

"Sweetiebelle! Come one! We need you in here!" Isaac said over the comm.

She spared a glance at where they were. They were centered near the end of the cat walk. She looked at the supports and smirked.

It had already fired its small barbs. She dodged them easily as she aimed at the sides of the catwalk. The bolts came loose and they went sliding. She jumped off the side, mid-leap talking over the comm.

"Open the door and go in, I'll slide under!" She commanded.

Time seemed to slow down as the door was closing, her friend’s boots disappearing from sight.

She slide under the door as it closed, rolled and finished with one hoof one the floor while the other held her Seeker rifle. She looked up and smirked.

"Now that's just showing off." Isaac said.

The room was dark but had a brownish light coming from the poorly cleaned windows. Rusted pipes lined the side and unsteady metal crisscrossed under foot.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes. "How are we all doing on ammo? I barely used any."

"I might need more petroleum for my Flamethrower." Scootaloo said. "And maybe some Force energy? I'm not sure."

"I'm almost out on Pulse rifle ammo." Isaac said. "I have two clips left and one grenade."

"Ah'm almost out of Plasma energy and Line racks." Applebloom pouted. "Ah guess ah'm still good."

"Well, we'd better get going." Sweetiebelle said going to the lift. "The Marker isn't going to destroy itself, now is it?"

"Come on you two, we've got some deconstruction to do." Isaac said going onto the lift followed shortly by the other two crusaders.

Isaac started the lift and Sweetiebelle's ears went up.

"Guess who’s back." She said.

"Dammit..." Isaac sighed. "Do we even want to know where?"

"Somewhere inside there." Sweetiebelle pointed at the door ahead.

"Then, let's see if we can't throw it off our trail." Isaac said getting out his Line gun.

"Well show this thing why ya don't mess with the Apple's." Applebloom said taking out her Pulse rifle.

"It may not have a soul, but I don't have a heart for anything like that." Scootaloo said taking out her Force gun.

They all proceeded slowly, weapons aimed at the door ahead. Waiting to see it come open and a pair of blades to shred them to bits.

Isaac opened the door and peered in, lowered his weapon and took the first step inside.

"Are you sure-" He was saying but was cut off when the vent was ripped apart.

The Ubermorph looked at Isaac, blinked and raised one of its arms.

Scootaloo sent it into the wall, holding it there while Applebloom got rid of the fuse.

The door opened, Scootaloo let go and ran in with the others.

Only, they ran to the left.

"Uh oh, this isn't good." Applebloom said.

They all looked back and saw the Ubermorph coming in.

"Hang on, I've got an idea. I just need to check some blue prints." Scootaloo said, tapping away furiously on her screen.

"There's only two ways this is going to end." Isaac said before running up to the Ubermorph. "And you’re not one of them!" He punched it across the face and jumped back to avoid a slash.

"Yeah! Get it Isaac!" Cheered Applebloom and Sweetiebelle.

"Whoo hoo, go Isaac." Scootaloo twirled a hoof around in mild interst before her eyes lit up. "I've got it! We need to throw it into the vent!" She yelled excitedly.

"Alright," Isaac groaned, holding back a pair of blades. "How do we turn it around? And, help goddammit!" He yelled.

"Isaac step back and go behind it, I need you to punch it!" Sweetiebelle yelled. "I'll do the rest!"

He groaned once and threw the blades down before turning around. Her went behind it and raised a fist. He looked at her and saw her horn glowing, out of the corner of his eye, he saw his own fist light up too.

"Now! Punch it!" She yelled.

He swung forward, and when his fist touched the Ubermorph, his fist flashed before a small explosion came from it and sent the Ubermorph back towards the vent.

"Ow... ow... this really hurts." He said cradling his hand. "It might be sprained at best."

The Ubermorph got up and continued walking towards them.

Applebloom ran first and rammed into it, making it stagger back a few steps. She retreated and let Sweetiebelle go next. She did the same and retreated.

Scootaloo shot her Force gun using the alternate fire mode and sent it right at the grate. It was only hanging on by its blades. Slowly, Isaac made his way over, a smile on his face.

He raised one boot up and kicked it down, roaring furiously as it went down.

"This is Sparta!" He yelled. He turned back to see the crusaders give him questioning looks. "Hey, if I'm going to die in a few moments, I might as well have some fun."

They shrugged before going around the corner, himself quickly following. As they went out to the catwalk, they didn't hear or see a single blade dig into the side and raise its owner up.

The Marker.

"So, this is it." Sweetiebelle said.

"Eeyup." Applebloom said.

"The end game." Scootaloo said.

"Our end, that is. And its." Isaac said walking forward.

When they were almost at the light that was Nicole, a spike shot out and went through Isaac's shoulder. With a grunt of pain, he slowly pulled it out.

"The research we put in that Marker, is worth every life lost." A half Kentucky-fried half normal Tiedmann said limping forward with a Javelin gun.

The crusaders stared, angered but also scared and let the scene play out for themselves.

'Come on Isaac! Do this for me! For your parents! For Nicole!' Sweetiebelle thought.

Isaac raised his good hand and another javelin went through which he slowly extracted.

They were at arm’s reach now.

"I won't let you throw all this away." Tiedmann said raising the gun.

He fired but Isaac swerved to the left and grabbed Tiedmann by the arm, broke it and was about to shoot a javelin through his neck when he saw Sweetiebelle staring.

"Sweetiebelle, why don't you do it?"

"Me?" She asked. "I thought you wanted to do it, for your parents?"

"I never really knew them anyway. But, he did kill you at one time, remember?"

A grimace found its way onto her muzzle as she walked up to Tiedmann.

"What... are you going to... do to me?" He wheezed.

"Give you a taste of your own medicine." She said before her horn sprouted out from her head on a stalk and rammed into his skull.

Instead of the desired effect, he was still alive. Only, he was changing, healing too.

A small stub came out from his fore-head, his hands and feet melded together by their own digits. His face became longer, his sharper teeth flattened and his eyes became monstrously huge. When it ended, he was covered in a coat of brown fur.

"What... what did you do to me!?" He yelled shocked and furious.

"Not what I intended, but I can make this work." She said.

A Drag Tentacle came out from her back, grabbed Tiedmane and threw him over the edge, into the Necromorph's.

They all watched as he went down. When the crusaders looked back at Isaac, he was stock still, the veins under his skin turning black.

"Isaac...? Where's Nicole?" Applebloom asked. "Isaac?"

"Hang on; I think I know what's happening." Scootaloo said putting a tentacle into his neck. "He's... he's inside his own mind."

"Should we help him?" Sweetiebelle asked.

"I don't- agh!" She cried. "Yes! We should definitely help him!"

"How though? It's not like we can just go in ourselves?" Applebloom said.

"Oh yes we can!" Scootaloo said. "Remember how I said I could make a mental link? But I shouldn't because I might kill you all? Well," Her tentacles connected to her friends. "Let's hope it doesn't happen."

Sweetiebelle saw nothing but small neurons and finally a grotesque world. It was the same as the Marker's light, patches of land were scattered everywhere, and in the middle of the one they were on, was Isaac.

"Fuck you!... And fuck your Marker!" He yelled at the old Nicole.