Chapter 15: Subterranean

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The troop of six ponies all stood surrounded by a large open field of dirt and mud, the accompaniment of gentle music thanks to an army of invisible crickets was the only sound that invaded the silent night. In the darkness and calm of the night the near full moon clearly illuminated the numerous artificial hills of soil that surrounded the ponies like a forest of filth. The light of the lunar body seemed to contort itself perfectly to highlight the gentle curves of the five feminine bodies as well as their expressions of alarm as they impulsively snapped their uninterrupted attention towards Isaac.

Being the sole male in the group he realized that he found himself involuntarily shrinking under so many direct expressions of female emotion and concern. He felt himself unwillingly lamenting his past incidents concerning the fairer sex, more focused around their resulting grisly fates. He was certain that this wasn't going to end well for any of them and wondered why he felt so bad about that; shouldn't he feel nothing at all?

"What'ta ya'll meen hit mi'ght bahee thoo late?" The clothes pin clamped over Applejack's nose distorted her accent yet not her clear expression of frustration. Pinkie Pie, however, had to stifle a giggle at the apple farmer's absurd sound.

"It's hard to explain it if you've never actually seen it before," Isaac began slowly, "and I never did come up with a good name for it anyway, didn't seem important at the time."

"Is it caused by the Marker?" Twilight asked with equal amounts of curiosity and alarm.

"Yes."

"What is it supposed to do?"

"What does it look like?" Spitfire added with a nervous swipe of her tail.

"Whaddya mhean poithon?" Applejack shouted in indignation only to ignite a loud boisterous laugh from Pinkie Pie.

"AJ you sound so silly, ya filly." The hyperactive mare bopped and gyrated like an unrestrained jackhammer, "Try saying, 'forty fresh fish fought five French fishermen for a fortnight,' three time fast." She giggled as if it was the funniest joke in the world.

"Hush Pinkie!" Twilight prepared to shove her hoof into Pinkie's mouth. The gesture proved unnecessary as the energetic mare came to such a screeching stop that it seemed she'd suddenly suffered emotional whiplash and yet still a cheeky grin threatened to split her face in two.

"Yeah," Isaac droned trying his best to dismiss stray thoughts of a flat-haired Pinkie, "I believe that it's supposed to be a sort of 'habitat changer' meant to poison the air, which is why it smells so bad. But that was just a theory I happened to read in some scientist's journal." He tried to remember the name of said scientist and was fairly certain it was a doctor named Elizabeth Cross, but he couldn't be sure. It was of no consequence anyway, she was long dead as well as everyone else on-board that damned ship.

"It's a disgusting organic mass that rapidly grows over and covers everything it touches. It looks just like it smells, like someone vomited their guts out all over the floor…and walls…and ceiling." He trailed off realizing it also meant that there would be even more fatal varieties of necromorphs down there that they would have to tangle with. That was a disquieting possibility that he didn't feel the need to share right now for fear of jinxing it.

"You'll know it when you see it."

"Sounds really gross." Spitfire briefly added with an appalled grimace.

"You don't know the half of it. The stuff is wet and slippery and a pain to walk over."

"Oh my word, such an absolutely wretched idea, I do hope we can manage to avoid it." Rarity moaned with complete repugnance, putting a hoof to her forehead.

"Alright, so avoid the chunky brown muck, other than that what's our plan?" Spitfire fidgeted with unease.

"Well," Rarity inflected while simultaneously releasing a soft magical glow from her horn and lowering it to the ground, "my gem-finding spell is out." She sighed in resignation.

"Spike-wikey and I practically searched this whole area for gems and the few insignificant little rocks we dug up I just let Spikey indulge himself on them."

"This is what we'll do," Isaac kneeled down and unbuckled the saddle bags from his back, "It'd be better if I went in alone while the rest of you went back to town."

"Hold on," Twilight snapped a little harder than she'd intended, "you can't expect us to stay here while you risk your life."

"I'm more experienced at dealing with necros than the rest of you." What he really wanted to say was that they would all just get in his way and be nothing more than a constant distraction. That he'd be better without them tailing along. He could forgive that they were inexperienced when it came to dealing with the brood of the Marker, but even now they failed to carry any sort of weapons or armor. Worse they acted and behaved like children, emotionally speaking, even though they were clearly young adults. Even if he wanted to there was no way he could ever hope to protect them all and although he hated to admit it, even to himself, that was exactly what he wanted to do despite his misgivings.

"Darling, while we appreciate the gallant gesture we cannot allow such a handsome stallion, such as yourself, to go at it alone." Rarity batted her eyelashes and delivered her signature winning smile. Isaac felt himself about to break out into a cold sweat.

"Trust me, dear Cutter, we all have had experience handling ourselves against these uncouth Diamond Dog mongrels. I, myself, have escaped from their simply horrendous ill-manicured claws once before." Rarity explained while brushing her hair with a comb levitated from her bags. Isaac persisted in a strict tone.

"I'm not talking about any dogs, I mean the-,"

"Cutter," Twilight interrupted, curling her lips into a display of defiance, "I know you mean well, but there is nothing you can do to stop us from going with you. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are our friends and too important for us to simply sit by and do nothing to help them."

"Friends help friends, that's just tha way it is." Applejack smiled, removing the clothes pin just long enough to say her piece before immediately clipping it back over her nose.

"I can understand where you're coming from, I really do," Isaac gazed from side to side trying to formulate a response and during which he happened to spot a brief nod and smile of encouragement from Pinkie. It was such a small thing yet it, unexpectedly, helped to calm his frayed nerves and it was then that he found himself reluctantly able to truly appreciate the words that the candy mare had spoken to him earlier.

"It's just…," he pretended that he hadn't noticed the distraction, "Twilight and Luna are the only others I know of who have fought the necromorphs and survived it, apart from myself." He paused and rotated his head, taking the time to look each and every pony directly in the eyes. He'd expected some of them to shy away or raise objections yet all of them stood at silent attention, hanging on his words.

"Understand that necromorphs don't think like we do, they're not even alive, not really. So don't expect them to have any sort of pity, remorse, or fear towards us," he said as he opened his saddlebags.

"I'm not going to argue with you if you want to come along. That's fine, but at least let me go first to make sure the way is clear. I'll signal for you to follow if it's safe." The five mares traded uncomfortable glances with each other while Isaac pulled his advanced suit from the bags along with his jury-rigged plasma cutter and three cutter ammo canisters that Twilight had made for him. The ammo clips were slightly warm to the touch and glowed a fire red from the material inside

The showing of the armor earned him several curious and confused stares from the ponies as they tried to ponder the nature of the technological construct. The only mare not tangled in tendrils of incomprehension was Twilight. She had begun to feel her insides heating up to shamelessly flip-flop with gleeful anticipation. She wanted to see, to witness, exactly what Human technology was capable of. Yet, before any pony could speak or act, Twilight forced herself to step forward and deliver an ultimatum, utilizing the best of her commanding voice despite the butterflies in her stomach.

"It's a deal," Twilight hopped she sounded calmer than she felt, "we'll wait for five minutes before following, but you have to promise that you'll let me talk to the Diamond Dogs first before you start anything. There should still be a diplomatic solution to end this peacefully."

"Are you serious? After all they've done do you really think they'll listen?"" Isaac looked at the unicorn as if she were insane, "So unless you're planning on talking them into submission, diplomacy is a waste of time.

"No! I refuse to believe that violence is the only answer. Promise you'll give me a chance to at least talk to them first!"

"Fine," he relented, rolling his eyes in annoyance, weary of such a pointless argument, "I'm warning you though, the moment I see a necromorph all bets are off."

"You Pinkie promise?" Twilight insisted, evoking the time tested pledge of binding.

"Huh?" both Isaac and Spitfire questioned at the same time.

"A Pinkie promise, silly." Pinkie's giggle was overflowing with jollity as if the promise was the most obvious thing in the world. She demonstrated by motioning with her right fore-hoof in the form of an X over her heart before placing it over her eye, completing the chant.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." The mares looked upon Isaac expectantly, awaiting his response. For several long seconds he gazed lifelessly at Pinkie while she returned the stare with a massive goofy smile. The two stood there locked in a silent battle while the others looked on with a growing sense of unease which transformed into concern when Isaac started shaking while a strangled sound was escaping from his lips.

"Um, ya'll ok there fella?" No sooner had Applejack asked then Isaac let loose a choking neigh of insane mirthful laughter that echoed all around.

Cross my heart…

Sharply throwing back his head uttering his loud and boisterous guffaw of pure amusement sickeningly mixed with a hurtful edge of a blade. It was a noise that caused the mares to squirm with worry, although they were unsure if it was for Isaac's well-being or their own. As Isaac lost himself in the in the moment he felt a cold presence emerge beside him. The enigmatic presence seemed to whisper words into his ear with absolute clarity and he could feel a wisp of hot breath caressing his ear and cheek while a hand caressed his neck. He knew this sensation, it was a familiar touch, and he knew the name of the one responsible.

…hope to die…,

"Hey! It's not funny!" Pinkie's smile melted into a frown of pure aggravation.

… stick needles in their eyes.

It was then that for the briefest of moments, like a snapshot from a camera, the world shifted and became something more alien. The night sky was alight by the sickly orange tint of flames and billows of acrid smoke. The field of dirt was covered in charred ash and choking dust clouds. As for the ponies their dismembered pulpy bodies bathed in puddles of their own boiling blood. Wearing expressions of pleading terror and immeasurable pain as their heads were impaled to the ground by metal spikes driven through eyeless sockets. He felt them staring at him, blaming him, macabre monuments for him alone.

"Why, Isaac? Why did you let everyone die? Convergence is at hoof!" Their voices screamed inside his head, a chorus of hatred, their lip-less mouths silent on those limp faces, the skin bare, burnt beyond recognition, and long decayed; a smell of burning flesh tangible in the air. The macabre scene flashed away faster than it'd arrived and left him reeling with bile in his throat.

"You're serious." Isaac wheezed, laughter dying with a pitiful strangle. He felt relief at seeing everyone still alive and well then he noticed Twilight's shaking her head as if to clear it, face pale and eyes glassed over.

"I wonder if she saw the same thing or maybe something different."He wondered and wouldn't be surprised if she had. He had no more time to contemplate this as he suddenly realized Pinkie was still talking to him, seemingly oblivious as to the sudden change in their moods.

"I am soooooo serious, mister," the cotton mare growled, a throaty sound more fit for a wolf, "a Pinkie promise is a very super-extra-duper serious matter! It's an unbreakable bond between friends and no pony ever breaks a Pinkie promise."

"Oh, we are so fucked." Isaac thought worriedly yet it was a feeling of embarrassment and relief. There were worse things after all as the Marker's influence was oft to remind him.

"All right, all right, have it your way. Just don't make me do those stupid motions."

"Well," Pinkie eyed him suspiciously with a one-eyed squint, "I guess that'll have to do so…," her smile returned, "okie-dokie-spamokie!"

A chilled breeze began to blow over the assembled ponies, kicking up loose dirt and debris all around them. It reminding him that he was essentially naked out here except for this coat of hair, yet he ignored the dire change in weather as he pulled his armored suit over his body, ensuring each limb was properly fitted into the appropriate section. He'd tried to delay wearing it as long as possible given it's now altered state without his knowledge or consent and compounded by his own paranoia, Yet fate, it seemed, conspired to doom him to forever be trapped in it.

The suit hung like a limp noodle over his frame with the protuding triangular chest piece resting on the ground. Two small green lights were illuminated next to the integrated computer interface, installed within the chest piece, a positive sign that there was power being supplied to the integrated electronics and RIG. After resealing the magnetic lock on the suit's frame and the neck collar a simple press on the computer. There was a humming sound and a hiss of exhumed air as the suit began to shrink around him with the sound and sensation of stretching rubber as Isaac felt the suit tighten around him. The pressure built, had become more restrictive to his movement, as the advanced suit hugged his body like it was a second layer of skin.

It was when he felt an especially uncomfortable vice grip on both sides of his torso that he was reminded that the form fitting suit wouldn't form properly over his wings. He had forgotten he'd even had wings, but the denial of his feathery appendages didn't bother him that much since he didn't use them anyway, they were more a nuisance than an asset.

A holographic interface had flickered into life hovering inside the protruding chest piece. If Isaac had looked down he would have seen various messages and lines of code panning up along the phantom screen, but he paid no attention to them having familiarized him with it over the thousands of times he'd donned an EVA suit. A soft blue light shimmered to life behind him. It started off very weak but grew in intensity as a line of blue holographic light traced up over his spine.

He cracked his neck in preparation; having already felt the familiar vibration of nano-circuitry firing to life. The computer panel on the chest piece opened up to reveal the folded front half of the helmet while, simultaneously, a second hatch had released at the top of the RIG just behind the base of his neck, where the back half of the helmet was kept. Small claw-like machines gripped the two halves of the helmet and, following unseen tracks etched into the armor, lifted them up to his neck. The two halves connected and sealed together to form one piece that covered his mouth and nose. The claws retracted back into their receptacles while the helmet unfolded itself with the pinpoint accuracy like the machine it was. It completely covered his head and the device gave a sigh of metal on metal as all of the pieces slid smoothly into place.

An artificial light of blue erupted from the three visor slits on the faceplate followed by a hiss of air and the familiar sound of rubber stretching as the helmet formed a hermetic seal with the rest of the suit. The whole process took a mere three seconds and when it was over Isaac was behind bars inside a sealed off and controlled atmosphere.

"That was amazing!" Twilight clopped her hooves in excitement, her horn aglow with magic monitoring Isaac and his uniform, "Such an intricate device and I felt neither a hint nor a trace of magical energy. Technology of this level without the need for magic could revolutionize all of Equestria."

"It is quite impressive," Rarity said with more reserved enthusiasm, "if a little intimidating. It alludes to those medieval romance novels where the handsome knight is on a quest to save a damsel in distress. Oh, but the colors are so terribly dark and dull." Applejack just rolled her eyes at the two excited unicorns.

"All you ever think of is purtying stuff Rarity. It's fine tha way it is, whatever it is."

"Yeah, what is it?" Pinkie asked unusually straight forward. Isaac mulled for a moment at how to explain.

"It's…a safety suit, you see. It helps me in hazardous environments and since I have the only one it's why I should go down first, the canary in the cage so to speak."

"Wha?"

"No wait! Bad example, forget I said anything." Isaac quickly corrected. The others continued to pepper him with questions, but he ignored them. He trudged over to the entrance of the tunnel and cautiously peered over the edge into the yawning hole.

"Start the clock, I'm going in!" He declared confidently as he jumped tail first down the mouth of the tunnel.

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The air was filled with the grating sounds and sensations of dirt and rocks grinding mercilessly against protesting metal. It filled Isaac's ears and body as he rapidly journeyed down the narrow subterranean tunnel. He was firm on his back and held his limbs up above him, stiff an unyielding, to apply pressure against the earthen walls. It was an action used so as not to twist and tumble uncontrollably as his linear path snaked and bent about like intestines. He felt like a pinball being shot down a chute and he doubled his efforts to dig his hooves against the walls in a fierce attempt to slow his descent so as not to bury at the bottom like a wild meteor.

It was hard to determine just how long or far he'd traveled until suddenly the tunnel terminated several feet above the bedrock of an artificial cavern.

"Oh sh…" Isaac shouted as the solid purchase beneath him gave way to an arcing freefall. For a moment he was suspended in midair before the inertia and drag caused him to flip over. He impacted on his stomach with a loud echoing crescendo accompanied by a painful grunt as all the air was suddenly forced out of his lungs. As he had expected the armored suit absorbed a great deal of the damage and yet he rolled onto his back gasping for ragged air. His suit's oxygen filters couldn't fully keep out the stench saturating the air and it felt as if a layer of filth was coating the inside of his lungs.

A few silent seconds had passed before Isaac righted himself onto his legs and began scanning the surrounding area. The dome shaped enclosure was about twice as wide and tall as the library's main hall and consisted mainly of earthen colors; gray, brown, and tan shades. The rocky terrain looked and felt strangely similar to the mines below the Everfree forest except here, despite no visible source of light, the room was strangely well lit. His helmet's visor cast three lines of mechanical blue light along the walls; still it would not have been enough to illuminate the whole area.

Apart from the sound of his hoof-steps accompanied by the unmistakable sound of water rhythmically dripping there were no signs of life. He took a single step forward and immediately there was a squishing feeling beneath his hoof. At first he thought it was the bio-mass he had just described to the ponies, but he failed to see any more of the substance anywhere around him. Examining the ground he realized he'd stepped into a small puddle of blood which, although still relatively fresh, had congealed into a red jelly-like substance.

He snapped his hoof several times to fling the blood off and then scrapped what was left off on a nearby rock. He noticed that there were many more puddles of blood around him though most were so old that they were nothing more than dried brown stains. They all seemed to head in one direction towards a crude metal door that looked like it'd been built by welding steel sheets together. As far as he could tell it was the only way out so he tried the door handle only to find it was locked. The door's shoddy construction made Isaac briefly consider trying to buck the door down. Instead he felt this would be a good time to test his plasma cutter since he wasn't quite sure what was going to happen. Better now than later on while in the middle of a fight.

He carefully inserted a cartridge into the cutter's top loader. The fit was a little tight but made a satisfying click as it slide into place. Positioning himself at an angle to the door lock, to avoid the inevitable spray of molten metal, he raised the makeshift weapon and steadied his aim. He squeezed the trigger in one smooth squeeze and the weapon responded with a thunderclap and a flash of ionized red light as a blade of violently ignited energy burst from the cutter. The plasma bolt had struck the door true. Effortlessly and cleanly it had cut a gaping hole through the door handle and keylock leaving nothing behind but molten slag. Lines of red energy arced and electrified the metal door creating a strobe effect that illuminated the room in flashes of crimson.

"Holy shit." Isaac considered the weapon in his hoof with a new found respect. Looking at the ammo counter, or rather the stereo volume, it had decreased by a noticeable amount. He quickly made an estimate on how many shots that gave him overall.

"Eight shots per clip, not as good as I'd wanted but better than I'd feared." Isaac proceeded through the 'unlocked' door not caring for the stealth approach any longer since the sheer volume of that single shot had probably alerted every enemy in the immediate area.

He entered into an almost identical room as the last one however it was not quite as empty. There was a plain gray table erected in the center of the room, at least it would've been gray if not for the layers of red and brown bodily fluids that stained its surface. There were also an array of similarly colored tools as well; pliers, a large hammer, and scalpels as well as other medical implements.

Stacked next to the grisly table was over a dozen wrought iron buckets each one filled with unknown content. He panned his flashlight over each one and soon felt a lump form in his throat at his discovery. Most of the pails were overflowing with an assortment of different hued pegasus feathers. One bucket, still covered in somewhat fresh crimson, was stuffed with butter colored down and another, right next to it, held light gray tinted fringe. Isaac assumed they belonged to the two pegasi that Twilight and company were looking for. Still many other varieties of colored feathers were also present, stacks and stacks of them. Isaac felt his own wings shake nervously inside his suit.

Yet not all of the buckets contained feathers, several others were filled with a mixed spectrum of severed unicorn horns. Severed, however, was a poor way to describe it, shattered was more on par with the calamity before him if he was any judge of the sharp and uneven protrusions at the base of the horns. Cracks and splinters at the center of the horns suggested that blunt force had been used. Isaac's eyes briefly considered the large hammer on the table and wondered if a unicorn's horn could grow back like a pegasus' feathers. Regardless he envisioned the loss of the horn was the Human equivalent to having both hands crushed. A cold shiver worked its way down his spine.

Soon after he heard several squeals of surprise, alarm, or delight mixed together and had originated from the room behind him. He didn't need to hear the following thumps of five bodies hitting the floor to know it was the ponies.

"Cutter?" Twilight called out.

"Over here." Isaac answered, wondering how the ponies would take the macabre sight in front of him. He hoped that it would convince them to leave this place right away and let him fly solo from this point. Unsurprisingly they didn't take it very well or very gracefully, especially Rarity who simply fainted on sight. However, it failed to scare them off it simply made them even more incensed and determined.

"I swear ta Celestia if'n they dun this ta poor Fluttershy, I'll be sure ta buck'em hard in tha family apples." Applejacks face was as red as her namesake, teeth grinding in barely restrained fury.

"No, I'll be sure ta buck'emt anyway." She corrected demonstrating with a devastating rear kick into the cavern wall leaving two deep impressions.

"Too true," Spitfire agreed, "I sure am not letting them do this junk to me or any pony else. We should kick their flanks right now."

"No, we can still solve this peacefully." Twilight raised her voice to get everyone's attention.

"Yeah, I'm sure all they need is a…"

"Pinkie if ya'll say party I…I just can't be held responsible for what I reckon I'll do next."

"Geez, there's no reason to be a crabby patty pony." Pinkie met AJ's challenge with a frown of her own. The two were locked in a silent battle before they mutually turned away from each other

"Besides every pony likes my parties, don't they?" Pinkie mumbled quietly.

"Told you it was going to be useless trying to talk to these dogs." Isaac directly addressed Twilight.

"Twi, you dun seen what them dog's been doing." AJ's wave encompassed the entirety of the buckets of pony parts, "I agree with ol' Cutter here. T'aint no forgiveness for this."

"B..but violence only leads to more violence." Twilight defended.

"I agree as well," Rarity said placing a supportive hoof on Twilight's shoulder.

And that was how the argument carried itself for the next hoof-full of minutes. Two irreconcilable groups fundamentally divided on how to handle the situation. The argument might've lasted longer until Spitfire stepped in to restore order. As captain of the Wolderbolts she'd had plenty of experience with team infighting and how best to smooth over such disagreements.

"That's enough every pony!" She bellowed in her no-nonsense captain voice. "We're all on the same side here and all this arguing isn't getting us closer to rescuing any pony. Let us shelve this issue for now; we can deal with it after our friends are safe!"

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With the grisly scene left behind them the group proceeded further down the tunnels in silence. The tunnels all seemed to head deeper into the earth. It was impossible to tell just how far down they had gone but the tunnels always headed downward. Occasionally they would come across a dead end or a deep chasm blocking their way. Most of the latter were narrow enough to cross with a run and a jump, still others were too wide, or the ground too unstable, that the group was forced to backtrack a ways and find a detour.

It didn't take them long to realize they had absolutely no idea where they were or if they were even headed in the right direction. Just endless corridors one after another and they all looked exactly the same as the last one. Everyone realized this yet they refused to talk to one another, feelings still raw after their harried argument. So they kept on with an air of oppression and claustrophobia building up around them and the foul stench become more and more saturating causing all of the party to start coughing.

The relative stillness was finally ended when a shrill gasp suddenly escaped from Rarity causing everyone to jump out of their horseshoes.

"Oh, oh my," Rarity preened holding her horn high as it flashed brightly, "what is this? I sense gems nearby… no they are much further away, but there are a lot of them all in one place." Twilight's magic flashed with a similar spell.

"That's strange. I'm not picking up anything."

"Twilight darling, gem hunting is my special talent after all or have you forgotten? Now let me see…."

"Why couldn't you sense them before?"

"Because, my dear Spitfire, I do have my limits and only by coming down this far can I now feel them."

"This is good," Isaac "The Diamond dogs are sure to be there as well. Can this unicorn magic of yours lead us there?" Isaac said skeptically, yet hopeful.

"Of course I can do that. Oh precious gems, I can feel you calling in the air tonight." Rarity, so focused on the hunt, failed to notice the collective chorus of groans, giggles, and face-hoofs that played out behind her. Like a mare possessed Rarity jumped forward in a dead sprint, her euphoria and gem craze overwhelming her caution. The rest of the troupe wasted no time in pursuing the runaway unicorn.