Chapter 14: The Second Night.

(…………………………………………………………………………………………)

The two ponies made a hasty departure from the clock tower and turned inexorably towards the library. As they traveled a tense atmosphere was building between them. To a casual observer the two of them shared a solemn silence as Twilight and Isaac trotted along. So many questions still lingered in their minds about all that had been said and revealed, like a swarm of angry hornets that refused to subside. There had been a few answers but not enough to find any comfort in their meager offerings. Without realizing it the library had come into existence before them. It was still a ways away yet even from here they could see the lights were on and there was occasional movement from several ponies within. Before they reached the threshold Twilight felt a desire to say something to Isaac, anything to clear the air. How could they all work together if Isaac couldn't trust her or her other friends?

"So..," she began with a weak edge, stealing a glance at the cylinder that Isaac was cradling, "what is that nifty device Reaver gave you?" Isaac blinked as she had clearly pulled him out of whatever hidden reverie he'd been engrossed in.

"It's a power cell for my RIG and suit." He answered plainly with an eagerness to drop the conversation already evident.

"Oh, well that was nice of him." She attempted a warm smile.

"Nice would be me crushing his head with my foot." Isaac closed his eyes imagining such a desired opportunity.

"Soooo..how does it work? Is it magic based? Does it use similar science to a shock-point generator you talked about? Speaking of which I'd love to hear more about your world, about its history, culture, and those starships you mentioned." Her eyes birthed a new and eager hope at all the new alien knowledge she could acquire. Isaac was an opportunity to learn so much about worlds and civilizations beyond the veil of her world.

"Starships exactly, they can't exist here because your tech isn't advanced enough to build them. The same with this power cell it should not exist in such a backwater planet as this. You can't just ignore a thousand years of scientific research and pull concentrated fusion cores out of thin air in a place still stuck in the stone age." The former human savagely stomped his right leg three times for emphasis.

"That can't happen!"

"Shhh, do you want to wake somepony up?" Twilight whispered harshly and quickly scanned around for any spectators. To her relief the road remained empty and no pony had turned on their house lights, "And why do you always have to yell? I'm just curious that's all, about you and where you come from. I know you don't want to be friends, and we'll continue to work on that, but we can't work together when we know next to nothing about each other."

"You're really stubborn with this friendship thing, I'll give you that."

"I wouldn't be where I am if I turned tail from my duty at the first sign of trouble." She then flashed a knowing smile at Isaac, "Would you have survived this long if you'd just given up?"

"Point taken. What exactly do you want from me?"

"To trust me."

"How can I trust you, any of you, after what I just heard? Mind control? Mental blocks? Are you fucking with me? That sounds dangerously close to what a Marker would do. I fully expect him to stab me in the back at some point and he ensured that it'll be easy for him to do it. Or maybe he'll get his little lackey will do it for him?" He pointed an accusing hoof and a hate filled sneer at her.

"That's not fair!" It was now Twilight's turn to scream back, "I was taken advantage of too. I would never have played any part in this had I known what was really going on and what would happen and neither would the Princesses."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"I do!"

"Then Celestia hired a fool!" Isaac seethed causing the unicorn's ears to drop. The she felt something break in her head. There was an emotion and it was something she'd never felt before. She had been sent to Ponyville to learn about friendship but right now another, darker, sensation overtook.

"I hate you!" The line erupted from the very depths of her heart and lungs, the flood of tears blinding her almost instantly as she rejected him. She was unconditionally furious at him for his unkind words and mad at herself for letting it get to her so easily. What did he know about anything of anything, he was just a mule-headed inconsiderate jerk. But,..but maybe he was right after all, she certainly felt foolish and stupid blubbering in front of him like this. The whole situation was quickly spiraling out of her control and she failed to understand how she could go about handling it. She felt like her chest was being compressed and her heart ready to seize up.

(…………………………………………………………………………………………)

Isaac for his part just stood and watched her as the magic pony cried salty tears. His blue eyes reflected confusion and dread while hers ejected despair. Silently thanking his luck that none of her other friends were around to see them or he'd have been trampled under their vengeful hooves.

"Errmm..look," he stared but was stopped short.

"Isaac, if you wish to leave then I won't stop you," Twilight slumped her shoulders and plopped down onto the moist earth, "this is my duty after all. Fool or not I will always remain loyal to Celestia. But I know you're not under such oaths so I absolve you of your responsibility." Twilight wiped her eyes clear and got back up her legs quivering from the sudden rush of emotion.

"I can't, I won't let you do that," he looked at the nearest building as if it had suddenly caught his interest, "the only way out is to play this game and destroy the Marker." He managed a calming breath freeing the sudden lump in his throat.

"So…I guess we're stuck together for now, like it or not." He considered not saying anything else, not convinced that this just wasn't another part of the ruse to get him to cooperate. If it wasn't, if she was the genuine article then he had just done something terrible. The doubt over his actions was enough to make him feel like something he'd scrapped off the bottom of his feet. His vocal cords froze and what was left of his pride fought to the bitter end. If Nicole, when she was still alive, had seen him now she probably would've slapped him hard.

"I'm..sorry for what I said, it was uncalled for" Twilight sniffed but his apology seemed to restore some of her earlier spirit.

"Ok," she seemed to struggle to drag her hooves but managed to complete the trek to her home and Isaac found himself automatically following. When they reached the door they could make out the voices of several mares having a lighthearted discussion. Twilight took a moment more to compose herself and fix her mane before the next step.

"This is quite a mess we're in." The mage sniffed trying with all her might to maintain a positive attitude, something which Isaac found rather admirable.

"Yeah." Isaac agreed.

"There really is only one way to describe it."

"Total bullshit?" Isaac offered helpfully.

"Not really the phrase I was thinking of, but accurate." Twilight then held out a hoof, a gesture of forgiveness, hoping that he'd accept it. He examined her; the moonlight reflected by her large beautiful eyes showed she was indeed serious. He considered the gesture for a moment as if it would cause him physical pain if he relented, if he accepted her forgiveness.

"Maybe we can still be friends?" She smiled and it was a delicate expression that Isaac found almost heartwarming yet also disingenuous. He didn't understand her at all and swiftly turned away, inhaling sharply.

"Perhaps…but not today."

(…………………………………………………………………………………………)

Inside the library Rarity, Pinky, and AJ were seated side by side engrossed enjoying each other's company as well as a fourth occupant that Twilight couldn't see yet. The noticeable lack of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in the deliberations made it feel as if the room was somehow smaller than before. As hard as it was to force such feelings aside, given her earlier outburst, she had to stay strong for her friends and now was the time for action not mourning.

"Everything will be ok." Twilight coached herself taking a deep calming breath.

"Hey I remember you," an unfamiliar voice called out to her, "you're one of Dash's friends." Twilight looked in the direction of the speaker and saw a pegasus mare with a wild mane of light orange at the base and a darker orange at the tips. Twilight wouldn't have known this newcomer, with a coat of yellow and eyes the color of burnt sienna, if not for the fact that she was fast friends with Rainbow Dash. It was the lack of the unique blue uniform that had initially thrown Twilight off.

"You're one of the Wonderbolts," Twilight said both amazed and confused, "Spitfire I believe." She took note of the golden mare's speeding fireball for a cutie-mark.

"Indeed I am," Spitfire gave a courteous nod, "I'm impressed, most ponies wouldn't recognize me outside the uniform."

"How could they not recognize you? You're a famous celebrity, you're one of the Wonderbolts!" Twilight's ears started twitching in maniac panic.

"This mission was supposed to be secret, now everypony is going to find out! What are you even doing here?"

"Settle down there missy," Applejack placed a friendly hoof on the unicorn's shoulder, "It's not as bad as all that."

"It's surprising even to me, yet here I stand. When I heard that Rainbow Dash was being accused of murdering a guard and implicated in the conspiracy to assassinate Celestia I had to find a way to help."

"Murder? Oh my heavens." Rarity clapped her hoofs over her mouth trying desperately not to faint in horror while everyone else in the room gaped in surprise.

"RD would neva' turn against tha princess like that!" Applejack growled her face twisted in anger and stomped a hoof hard in exclamation.

"That's what I felt too so I went to the hospital to talk to her. I happen to run into Princess Luna on the way out and she told me that Dash had disappeared. Long story short she made me an offer and here I am," Spitfire ran a hoof over her wild mane.

"I would imagine that associating yourself with Luna would an unhealthy for your career move, Spitfire darling. Why take such a risk?"

"I'm not convinced the princess is guiltybesides I still owe Rainbow one for saving my life."

"Luna sent you?" Twilight crooked an eyebrow, "Not..him?" she hesitated, breath catching in her throat.

"Not him who?" Spitfire gave a curious frown.

"Um, nevermind."

"..Maybe you should tell us what's going on Twilight."

"Later after we rescue Fluttershy." Twilight quickly scanned the room and then turned back to her friends. "Hey, where did Cutter go and Pinkie too?"

(…………………………………………………………………………………………)

After entering the tree house Isaac had made a beeline for the guest room after he retrieved his helmet from where Twilight had been studying it. He was momentarily taken aside when he found that his advanced suit had somehow made the trip from the bathroom floor to the bed. Having made a closer inspection he found that all the grime that'd encrusted the exterior had been cleaned off and the composite allow plates shined. If not for the innumerable scratches and dent it might've even looked brand new. Furthermore the whole apparatus had the light smell of floral soap.

There was also a note attached to it and read:

Hey dude,

I hope you don't mind but I went ahead and cleaned your suit for you. It seriously needed it and the funk coming off it was making me sneeze a lot and a sneezing dragon is not a safe thing to have around especially in a library inside a tree.

-Spike

Isaac crumpled the note and discarded it not caring if it fell into the trash bin in the corner. Turning to the wooden desk he slammed the hexagonal shaped cylinder down, activated it, and pulled out the power core to examine it closely. He felt doubts about going through with powering up the suit at this point. How could he trust that this wasn't some sort of trap or rather another means of forcing him to obey. Maybe it would explode, short out the systems, override the computer, or give Reaver the ability to assume direct control. Many more equally paranoid situations ran the gamut from sensible to reality breaking insanity, just like the similarly deranged world he was in.

He took a singular step in reverse before sitting down and cradling his head with his hands, no, hooves. Breathing deeply he tried to calm his mind and take a more rational survey of his situation. He couldn't trust that Reaver guy, that was a given. Still Isaac didn't think the pompous bastard would go through all this trouble to simply wipe him out. At least not until the former human had served its purpose. No, Reaver would wait until the Marker was no longer a threat or maybe he wanted it for himself. So the plan was thus; destroy the Marker, kill Reaver (Twilight or any of the others too if necessary), all while navigating a world that was both familiar and alien and all while trying to keep his head on straight literally and figuratively.

"The third times a real charmer." He internally assessed with a garnish of dread.

Isaac ceased his posturing when he felt another's presence in the room and he turned to see them. Now he never really considered himself a religious man but when he saw the hyper pink demon wearing his suit, his suit, he wanted to scream such blasphemy and put a real fear of god into the sugar equine.

"It's a little big," Pinkie commented on the 'unfolded' armored suit as it hung limply from her delicate frame, "Did Spike wash it? Smells like it. I've heard of clothes shrinking in the wash not getting bigger. Not even Rarity could pull that off. Getting bigger is for bread, cupcakes, and muffins but you bake those you don't wash them. They'd get all soapy and soggy and wouldn't be tasty to eat, they'd be all 'bleh' gross."

"Jesus, don't you ever shut up!" Isaac trudged up to her and grabbing the suit he forcibly yanked the suit off of her pulling up and towards himself. This caused the pink mare to fall front first to the ground with her back legs in the air as the suit flew off.

"Hey!" Pinkie barked in protest as she tumbled. "Geez do you always have to be such a meanie grumpitty grumpy pants all the time." To which Isaac replied with a dismissive shrug. He tossed the suit back onto the bed and was immediately confronted by a by a clearly pissed off Pinkie. She presses her muzzle against his while giving him a narrow eyed evil stare. He could easily see his uneasy reflection in those large blue eyes.

"Something happened between you and Twilight, didn't it." She growled demanding blood for his transgression.

"Nothing happened." He swallowed and tried to smile but only managed to grimace.

"Don't try to hide it, I know you made Twilight cry."

"How do you know that?"

"Oh, I have my ways. I'm always watching out for my friends and if you ever hurt her again I'll.."

"Or you'll what?" Isaac recovering from his shock at her threatening tone and began to fight back against Pinkie.

"I'll..I..I won't throw you a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party. Yeah! No 'monster-mashing, pony-saving, zombie-slaying,' party for you mister meanie poopie pants!" She regained the upper hoof and forced Isaac back a few steps.

"Is that the best you can do?" He smiled cynically before becoming dead serious, "I can live through the loss of a single party. I'm not so sure all of us will survive long enough to have your not-party. You realize this Fluttershy girl could already be dead!" He spat out the last sentence with a fury of finality. Pinkie snapped back as if his very words had taken form and impacted her with the force of a speeding train. Her high pitched gasp of horror didn't prevent Isaac from continuing as he'd clearly touched a nerve and exploited her weakness.

"In fact that Ditzy, or Derpy or whatever the hell her name is could be gone as well and do you know what the Marker will do to them? It'll twist your friends into necromorphs and the only way to kill a necro is to dismember them, tear them apart. Do you understand?"

"No! Your wrong they're alive, they are. I can't..how..how could any pony be so cruel or do something so terrible." Pinkie lowered her head is dismay choking on her words. Isaac wasn't sure but he swore he saw her puffy cotton candy like mane start to unfold before his very eyes. The sight was so pathetic and yet heartrending that he had to grit his teeth and force himself to calm down. He wasn't the bad guy here, damnit!

"Look I don't wish such a thing on anybody and maybe they're alive. I just don't want you to get your hopes up like I did." Pinkie met his gaze again but this time her eyes were filled with pity and understanding. The intensity of such naked emotions left his brain in a numb state, unsure how to acclimatize.

"Were your friends k..killed by these monsters?" she tilted her head to the side in a similar fashion a sad puppy would.

"Yeah, I first encountered these necros onboard a ship called the Ishimura. A lot of good people died that day and I had worked alongside a lot of them in the past. Having to dismember their dead bodies was never as painful as losing my fiancée to those damned creatures.

"What was her name?"

"Her name was Nicole. She was everything to me and without her I'm nothing." He turned his back on Pinkie unwilling to continue the conversation yet he couldn't hold back the tsunami of memories

"I'd hoped she was alive, I must've cut down hundreds of necros searching for her, but..she was dead even before I had arrived." He didn't cry there were no tears left for him to shed, just a cold hollow feeling. He didn't understand why he'd just bared a part of his soul to this mare, of all ponies he'd met he hated this one most. Then again all it's not like any of them deserved his trust or sympathy.

From the corner of his eye he saw the mare slowly circling around to his front and he was about to demand that she leave immediatly when she suddenly lunged for him. She wrapped her forelegs around him drawing him into a tight embrace, her neck tucked firmly against his, and he noticed that she had the faint aroma of fresh cupcakes. Now her hair had gone completely straight as if all the life had been completely leeched from it and the who sight was probably one of the most disconcerting thing he'd ever seen. She looked and behaved as a completely different pony now. He felt conflicting emotions clash on whether he should either return the gesture or throw her off him.

"Isaac…," Pinkie sobbed pitifully, "there was a day when I thought I'd lost all my friends," she tightened the hug more at the memory, "and I didn't take it so well. I'm lucky, it was all just a misunderstanding and so it all turned out alright." She released her hold and retreated a few steps, all joy and happiness had been drained from her expression. "For this...for you...I can't image what you're feeling. I don't have an answer and…a part of me thinks I should."

Very slowly and deliberately Pinkie made her way out of the room but before she closed the door behind her she glanced sideways at Isaac her expression now an unreadable mask.

"The ponies doing this, building the Marker I mean, do you think they ever smile or laugh?" The question caught Isaac off guard and he replied with the first thing that came to mind.

"I don't think they even care about living anymore. It's god damn suicide."

"Isaac, life is not meant to be a nightmare forever. So.., please, don't become like them."

When the pink pony finally departed Isaac just watched her go, as if he was glued to the spot, wondering how something so brightly colored, girly, and overly hyper one moment could turn out to be rather profound and far more than she appeared to be the next. Her last words made a strange kind of sense in a very real way. Isaac ruffled his short haircut trying to banish the whole scene from his memory.

"Damn these tiny horses," he cursed secretly, "they're trying to mess with my head. Their worse than the Marker!"

He admonished himself for being too easy on these creatures when all they seemed to do was drive him to slit his own wrists; they were just too friendly, too innocent and carefree, and why did it make him want to protect them. He hoped that sooner, rather than later, they'd grow up and learn the truth about how the universe was inherently unfair. With renewed vigor, and a desire to forget the recent pinkanormal activity, he returned to his earlier task.

On the back of his advanced suit was the RIG, the Resource Integration Gear. The RIG was an interface which controlled health management, communications, navigation, and holographic interfaces. Its primary function was to display the wearer's health in real time via a segmented aqua blue bar that ran along the spine of the wearer, whether it was civilian clothes or the most advanced suits of armor. At the base of the RIG, located at the small of a human's back, just above the onset of the coccyx bone, was where the power cell chamber was located. Isaac had trouble prying this chamber open sing the latch release was so small and his hooves were too big but he managed to succeed after a minutes of focus. When the chamber opened he expected an obsolete and drained cell to be ejected out, or at least present, but when nothing came out he took a peek inside and then realized the problem. His suit wasn't dead because of a drained power core, there was no core in the chamber to begin with.

"The fu..?"

He hastily flipped the suit over to double check its components. Everything seemed to be in order and perfectly normal, apart from the altered anatomy from human to pony. Then he felt a jolt of bewilderment and alarm course through his consciousness as his newest discovery hit him like a knee to solar plexus. How, he didn't know, but the telekinesis and stasis modules on the left arm of the suit were missing as well. Isaac desperately wondered why he had not noticed this sooner.

"What the hell is going on?" Isaac backed away from the suit as if it was the plague itself then looked to the cell gripped in his hoof.

"Reaver!" he cursed the name with venom on his tongue.

(…………………………………………………………………………………………)

Equipped with a map that Rarity had drawn up using Angel's sole knowledge of Fluttershy's whereabouts, the group of six ponies departed the library with an acute sense of urgency. Except maybe for the sole grey pegasus stallion who trailed behind the rest of the group by a fair margin. Isaac still didn't trust these females and felt vulnerable when they were not in his sight, especially around the lavender and pink mares. The latter of which had seemingly returned to the normal puffy hair and boundless energy disposition.

Spike on the other hand had been left behind to 'guard the library' as Twilight had put it. The mini dragon had protested heavily at that unanimous decision and had been absolutely beside himself with anger, only to receive a strict rebuking by the lavender unicorn. She had been unbending and said that he could not come with them since he was still a baby dragon. In truth she didn't want to put him in unnecessary danger, this enemy was unlike anything they'd faced before.

Everypony, loaded with various supplies stuffed into their saddle bags departed the library at full speed. The group proceeded through the sleepy town, their quickened pace eliminated the potential for casual conversations. On this night the moon overhead was dull and unremarkable which was a sharp contrast from last night when it had been bright and inviting. Despite being the middle of summer the air had a vicious cold bite to it, almost oppressive in nature. It didn't take long until Ponyville was far behind and they forged their way down a single dirt path that wound its way through the grassy plains. At first it appeared they were heading into the Everfree forest but suddenly the path made a sharp left and trailed along the edge of the enigmatic woods.

At the end of the journey they arrived at a wide dirt field where only a few trees and sparse bushes grew. However, the field was far from unremarkable; it was filled with countless dirt mounds as far as the eye could see. Some were simple dirt piles which served no clear purpose while others were akin to giant ant hills and served as entrances to a network of subterranean tunnels. Everypony followed Rarity as she led them through the maze of brown hills.

"Are you sure this is the right one?" Spitfire was skeptical as Rarity pointed towards a particular mound that appeared uncomfortably similar to all of the other earthen heaps around it.

"I assure you," Rarity said in a self-aggrandizing way, "Angel was very specific with his instructions and I, Rarity, do not make mistakes."

Rarity peered over the rim of the hole and looked as it plummeted downwards and around a corner making it impossible to see the bottom. A draft of air was ejected from somewhere deep down and she found herself instinctively bringing a hoof up to her face. Degenerating into a coughing fit as a malevolent and putrid smell, like a mixture of sulfur, ammonia, and feces, invaded her sinuses.

"Oh," Rarity exclaimed, dramatically elevating her disgust, "my word it smells absolutely wretched down there. Far worse than the last time I was unfortunate enough to visit. How can these Diamond Dogs possibly live with themselves?"

Rarity telekinetically pulled a wooden clothes pin from one of her saddle bags and pinned it over her nose. All the members of the troupe had varying expression of displeasure as the rotten stench introduced itself to their noses and gratefully accepted Rarity's offer of clothes pins. However although Isaac and Twilight were equally revolted they also approached the mount with expression of familiarity and concern; waving away the need for nostril protection.

"It's the same smell, only stronger here." Twilight observed in the manner a scientist evaluates peer reports.

"You've experienced this before?" Isaac asked, truly surprised.

"The night Luna and I went into the Everfree forest, just before we met, I smelled it and it hadn't been there before. Do you know what it is?"

"Its," Isaac rubbed his chin while searching for a way to explain it, "honestly I hope it isn't what I think it is. If it is then we might already be too late."