Chapter 5: Strange Relations.

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Isaac was having the worst day of his life. It was now over twelve hours since he’d escaped the psych ward of the hospital. In all this time he had yet to afford a single decent rest and his muscles ached from the nonstop struggle against these creatures. There were no reserves of adrenaline left in him and every fiber of his being begged for mercy. He pushed away such impulsive temptations, but they had become harder and harder to ignore. If he gave in now his death would follow soon after and that very failure would spell doom for every man, woman, and child of the Human race. Stopping that nightmare was the only thing that kept him going now.

He forced himself to stand as tall and proud as his battered body could manage. His bloodied left arm hanged limply in its socket with large gaping wounds punctured through the shoulder and hand. Isaac did not feel any pain the arm had long since gone completely numb from blood loss and shock. Tunnel vision was creeping in making it hard to focus. A problem intensified by his nearly useless right eye. It wasn’t completely blind, but it burned horribly and was covered in a haze of tears and blood that he couldn’t clear away because his helmet defied him that luxury.

Not that there was much to look at while he was stranded upon a chuck of rock hurtling through a starless void. The lights from his helmet’s blood caked visors failed to cut far into the eternal night and further obscured in a thick fog that blanketed the area. He tried to wipe some of the blood off of his visor but it failed to improve his situation.

He could not conceive of a more fitting place for his final act of sacrifice, his Alamo as it were. This was a one way trip and even if he won there would be no hope of escape and no last minute rescue. There was no future to hope for anymore and that was alright. He would be the last life consumed by the machinations of the Marker, his Marker. The finality of it all gave him a strange sense of peaceful anger.

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The Marker exploded with an ear splitting thunderous boom. A hail of deadly shrapnel rained down, but never touched the ground. The scattered pieces were drawn into orbit around the exposed and rapidly beating heart of the now defenseless artifact. The intense golden light of that unholy life filled the space around him and difficult to look directly at it. Isaac promptly raised his weapon and focused down the laser sights. His aim was unsteady from using only one hand, but crippled as he was there was no way he’d allow himself to miss a target that size. The pulse rifle screamed in a sharp metallic chorus of rapid mechanical hammer blows. Deadly spears of blue plasma energy surged unflinchingly and traveled at the speed of light to strike the core of the Marker. Injecting themselves deep into the essence with gruesome consequence.

The recoil from the weapon’s deadly delivery shook Isaacs’ entire body. It bucked in his grip like a wild stallion and caused pain to shoot up and down his good arm as he tightened his hold and forced his aim to remain true. In seconds the ammo counter flat lined at zero and the pulse rifle clicked in rapid futility as it tried to draw sustenance from the drained power cell. After the final rounds impacted home, the Marker’s evil heart ruptured into a wild tornado of golden energy. The tornado quickly degenerated into a tar black color as the Marker’s life force rapidly bled out. Countless streams of dark energy sprouted like tentacles from the ruined core whipping about madly like a great animal enthralled violently in its death rattle. The tentacles sliced and smashed off sections of the island and sent the pieced careening wildly about as they were absorbed into the core and it grew bigger, an uncontainable spire of insanity. The sensors in Isaac’s suit sent warning messages to his HUD registering a growing concentration of energy that was quickly approaching critical mass.

His head felt like it was being crushed under an industrial press as the Marker’s influence over him grew in intensity tenfold. Finally facing his ultimate annihilation a part of Isaac relented and desperately searched for a way to survive, to escape the inevitable. He turned on his heel and began to run in the opposite direction. He only managed a single opening step when he noticed a rectangular mirror, a little taller and wider than he, appeared just inches from him. His image was clear in the mirror’s reflection as well as the unrestrained destruction of the dying Marker behind him. None of that was what caused him to freeze dead in his tracks in abject shock. Standing in front of his reflection was a creature that he would never ever, not in his wildest dreams, have thought to see in a place like this and at this very moment. It was standing a couple of inches below half of his height, with large violet eyes that radiated innocence and concern tinged with obvious fear. It was what he could only describe as a purple unicorn with a mane of dark blue accented by a single stripe of pink.

Before Isaac could fully appreciate the impossibility which stood before him the unicorn reached a forearm through the mirror and actually touched him. At the moment of contact his mind imploded under a wave of lightening quick flashes, each flash accompanied by an unfamiliar memory. He groaned under the unexpected onslaught of another person’s mind and soul merging with his own. The raw awareness traveled along the edges of his mind, filling him with renewed hope and purpose. He could see a majestic city of stone carved out of a mountain, a humble town of horse-like creatures, six elements that seemed to resonate in time with each other, and many more in such bright colors it hurt to watch. The memories were as strange as they were impossible and Isaac struggled to force these foreign images out of his mind convinced they must have been born of the Marker’s control over him, trying to lull him into a false sense of victory through a kind of invasive reverse psychology.

His act of defiance was woefully short lived as he was struck brutally from behind as the Marker detonated with the force of a nuclear warhead. His entire existence buckled under the irresistible force. The intensity of the titanic fireball propelled him through the mirror and it shattered under the force as he passed through the veil. Tumbling head over heels in oblivion Isaac felt his chest tighten under the scrutiny of a vice grappling him strongly. He looked down and saw the purple unicorn wrapped around his torso, clinging with all its might like a fearful child to a loving guardian. His instincts commanded him to rip the alien creature off of him, to throw it away, and kill it. He grabbed its arms, ready to tear it apart limb from limb.

Suddenly it felt as if the whole universe had blinked and changed. In that infinitesimal moment beyond all human comprehension of time and reality, a feeling he could neither identify nor fathom intervened and held him back from the cruelty he had been about to commit. He was not entirely sure why he stopped and eagarly the gesture of friendship from the unicorn.

He wrapped his arms around this innocent entity, even if it did ultimately come from a fabrication of his own crazed and deluded imagination. Maybe, just maybe, a part of him wanted to be comfort it, to show it that everything would turn out for the best in the end. Or he simply did not care to fight anymore and this unicorn was, by far, a great deal of a prettier sight then what he’d been through that day. It felt good, as if someone finally recognized everything that he’d fought for and all that he’d sacrificed in order to save humanity from its own selfish mistakes.

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“Holy crap that hurt.” His mouth felt full of cotton as he gently shifted his body into a slightly more comfortable position. The impact from the sudden landing left him winded and a little disoriented. The peaceful presence of the unicorn was gone and he realized it was getting very hot inside his suit. The environmental control was inactive and judging from the total lack of a HUD his entire RIG was without power. Without power he might as well be wearing a giant paperweight since that was all it would be useful for.

Breathing in ragged gulps he concentrated on locating the Marker’s presence within his brain. He still felt the Marker’s corrupting influence, like the worst migraine he’d ever experienced, but it was fast evaporating away. He allowed a few moments of personal congratulation and a tentative smile of victory.

He had beaten the odds and had emerged both alive and in surprisingly good spirits.

It was finally over and he was free.

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Twilight quickly jumped away from the strange new pony, to stand at Princess Luna’s side unsure of how to deal with the armored interloper laid out in front of her. The situation had certainly taken a turn for the bizarre.

“Wha….What happened. What it suppose to work that way?” Twilight couldn’t remember a time when she’d so screwed up a spell this badly before. Well there was that one time when the parasprites had invaded Ponyville and started eating all the buildings because of her mistake, but that was immaterial compared to this.

“I can’t remember releasing the magic maybe I missed what I needed to find and brought him back by accident. I’m sorry Luna, I panicked I should’ve heeded your warning about shadows.” Twilight sputtered.

“Calm down Twilight.” Luna said in almost near panic herself. “While you were inside I was able to follow along with the weave of the magic and I’ll be honest, I am very impressed with your talents. Whatever went wrong I don’t think it’s your fault.”

Twilight briefly explained to Luna what had transpired inside the shadow world. Beginning at her arrival, to her grandfather’s appearance, and ending at the moment she had discovered the armored suit. By the end of her tale she was hyperventilating herself to pieces.

“You told me that this would be a weapon.” Twilight couldn’t fathom anyone being so cruel to think of anypony, armor or not, as some mindless tool created with the intent to cause harm. He was an individual blessed with the same right for happiness and friendship as any other pony. He also had a name and she knew what it was….

‘Isaac Clarke’

“Yes, that’s what I was told.” Luna sat down. She was laid so low her nose almost touched the ground. “I wonder if this was all a terrible mistake and I’m responsible for dragging you into the middle of it all.”

“Princess, it’s my fault,” Twilight felt just as guilty as Luna was acting. If only she had studied harder and had been more vigilant, more confident, then maybe she could’ve made Luna proud. Luna had come to her out of confidence and she’d rewarded that trust with failure.

“I just wanted to do a good deed,” Luna was crying, “to prove that I wanted to make up for my past sins. If I had known this was going to happen I would not have been so eager to have pushed us, all three of us, into this terrible impasse. Summoning a live creature, or pony, was banned long ago for good reason, because of the inherent dangers of cross world contamination.”

“What are we going to do now?” Twilight closely examined Isaac with a critical eye and a profound sense of curiosity and uncertainty.

The influx of Isaac’s memories gave her more than enough reasons to fear what he was capable of. Yet, the bookworm side of her wanted to study him in unrestrained depth to find out where he’d come from and how his armor worked. More importantly she wanted to know more about him as an individual and apologize for what she’d done. Normally she was very reserved when it came to meeting new ponies, but there was something alluring, mysterious even, about Isaac. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she wanted to find out.

“Well, our plan was to….my plan.” Luna stalled trying to collect her words carefully. It had been a flimsy plan at best and even Celestia had been against it, at least from the start. What was she to tell her big sister now that she’d made a mess everything yet again and now expected Celestia to fix it for her?

“If..If it was simply to be used against the Marker then I was going to hide it away until the time was right. Now..I don’t know.” Luna shook her head in shame wondering if it was ever possible for her to do something right for once.

“I got it,” Twilight suddenly exclaimed excitedly, an idea converging in her head. While she only managed to remember Isaac’s name and a few other disjointed images from the memories, her instincts told her that he was perfect for the job laid out in front of them.

“I’ll take him back to Ponyville with me. If I help him make new friends there then I’m sure he’ll be willing to help us, just as my friends did a year ago when we defeated Nightmare Moon. Umm, no offense Princess Luna.”

“None taken, but are you sure? I don’t want to offload even more of this burden onto you, beside we don’t know if he will help us or if he can.”

“Trust me Luna.” Twilight felt her spirits lifting and she gave the princess a confident smile, “The memories I saw inside the shadow world showed me that he is perfect for the job. Isaac Clarke,” she pointed towards the armored pony. “has already destroyed a Marker in his own world already.”

Luna bolted upright, eyes wide, and mouth gaping when she heard Twilight refer to it by name.

“Are you sure?” Luna was afraid to think that things actually might work out.

“Would I dare lie?” Twilight’s smile grew broader. Luna turned her gaze to regarded Isaac with a renewed sense of hope at Twilight’s words, but she was also tempered with doubts. She did, after all, still had to explain all this falderal to Celestia and it was become more complex than she’d feared.

“Though I am curious as to how you learned his name. ” Luna asked rubbing her chin in thought.

“Well,” Twilight’s smile faltered slightly as she contemplated the how and why herself. “I think that mind-control portion of the summon spell went both ways.

We connected with each other on a deep personal level and were able to share our collective experiences for just a brief moment. Though it was so fast and unexpected that I’m afraid I don’t remember much about the finer details.”

“This is going to be trouble.” Luna sighed.

“He already is.” Twilight agreed with a nod.

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As his night-vision slowly kicked in Isaac found himself inside a cavern, or a mine judging from the smooth walls and the erected scaffolding. He was surprised that it wasn’t the metal corridors of the EarthGov Research Center. It was possible that he had been blown back inside the Titan mines.

There was only a single source of light, a gentle bright white that hovered just behind him judging from the way his shadow was cast out in front of him. He heard two voices full of confusion and doubt whispering in hushed tones behind him. Isaac could tell they were not the phantom disembodied whispers that frequently echoed inside his head, calling out his name or other random gibberish. These were flesh and blood voices uttered from at least two young women, judging by the youthful higher register. He was curious as to who it was, but didn’t feel especially motivated to eavesdrop on their discourse. Rather he just wanted to take a well deserved rest. At least until he unmistakably overheard one of them say something about a Marker.

His body felt slightly numb all over, the feeling was especially prevalent in his hands and feet where he could not register a single thing. His joints felt misplaced and attached in all the wrong places, and his midsection felt unusually tight like the armor had shrunk. Regardless he forced himself onto his feet so that he could try and face the people that had either saved him or captured him. Desperately hoping that it was the former and they were friendly.

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His back still turned towards Luna and Twilight. Slowly Isaac had begun to lift himself up, rising to his full height to stand vertically on both of his hind legs, just as Twilight had seen him doing before he had became a pony. Twilight realized Isaac probably had yet to fully appreciate the fact that he was transformed otherwise he might’ve known that this was a very unusual position for a colt to take.

“The hell!” Isaac shouted in alarm, now fully aware of his hooves for hands before he suddenly lost his balance. He tried to catch himself with a step back on his toeless feet, but it only served to accelerate his reverse speed. He tumbled backwards uncontrollably, arms splayed and swinging trying to find something to hold onto.

“Whoa, Whoaaaaa!”

“Look out!” Twilight’s warning fell short as Isaac collapsed on top of her in a clatter of metal, cymbals, and dust. When the smoke cleared Luna glanced upon the tangled knot of limbs and hooves that was Twilight and Isaac. Twilight’s pupils spun like tops and Luna giggled at the humorous sight feeling her tensions easing greatly.

Isaac was shocked when he realized he had fallen upon the enigmatic unicorn from the mirror, only she was not an unknown element anymore. A part of his subconscious identified her as the most favored student of some royal figure or other and that she was a social misfit and nerd who went by the silly name of Twilight Sparkle. She had also been the one whose mind he’d touched upon. Or was it the other way around? Not that the distinction really mattered, he was confident that this was all just a product of his own deranged brain. It was all cooked up to show that he’d finally flown over the coo-coos nest and was nuttier than super-dense peanut brittle. If Twilight’s existence wasn’t enough to prove he was totally bonkers then there existed a second, even more inscrutable, figment of his imagination to further the strong case against his sanity. This one was a darker skinned unicorn with wings and her name was Princess Luna, goddess of the moon. He scoffed at the uncreative name and was convinced she was most likely the underhanded leader of some cult that worshipped the moon and other nonsense. Currently she was laughing at him like a giddy schoolgirl with a voice that was both too sweet and flighty to belong to a real regal monarch.

“You know our names?” Luna’s humor melted into incredulity. She realized that Twilight was absolutely right about the spell acting as a two way door. It sounded far too similar to what had happened to her.

Isaac wasn’t sure when he’d spoken aloud, but he set about peeling himself away from Twilight only to stumble a few panicked steps away to open up the distance between him and them. He almost wished they had simply turned out to be more Necromorphs then at least he would know what the proper response should be and that was to strategically dismember all their limbs and stomp the remains into bloody mush. He checked his harness for his weapons and all he found was the empty pulse rifle on his back. All his other weapons from the plasma cutter, to the line gun, and even the contact beam were all MIA. The latter of which would’ve been really useful for blasting these mind parasitic pony illusions into chunky salsa.

"Shit!" Isaac silently cursed.

“You’re not real, none of this is. I’m not really here. It’s just a dream, just a dream.” He chanted to himself hoping that through sheer willpower he could cast them away and return back to reality.

“I know you’re confused right now,” Luna said gently trying to play the diplomat and to reassure him. “I can explain everything, ok, but you have to trust me.” Luna took a few tentative steps closer.

“Leave me alone!” Isaac yelled. Luna jumped in surprise at the sudden outburst and backed away nearly tripping over her hooves in the process.

“You’re just a hallucination and you’re not going to break me, damn it!” Isaac’s hateful words struck Luna right in the heart and she seemed to shrink pitifully under the verbal assault. The princess was saved when Twilight Sparkle interpose herself between her and Isaac.

“Stop!” Twilight commanded, “Where are your manners? That is no way for a gentlecolt to addresses the princess!” Twilight’s face was twisted in anger and positioned less than an inch from his. She was utterly furious with his disrespectful attitude and tone towards Luna. Foul language was an especially pesky pet peeve of hers too and really got her goat whenever she heard it. If he had insisted in talking to Celestia in the same fashion then there was no way Twilight could be held responsible for what would have happened next.

“You’re Isaac Clarke right? Show some respect for royalty! You’re her guest after all.” An unwitting guest, but a guest nonetheless Twilight finished silently.

“Who are you and how do you know my name?” Isaac pressed his faceplate against Twilight’s muzzle to show he meant serious business.

“You should already know my name, the same way I know yours. Through the mirror and when our minds touched each other.” Twilight shoved back, giving a nervous smile in hope that she was right,

“Please calm yourself down and I can explain everything about what’s happened.”

“I only want two explanations. Why am I here and why the fuck am I a horse?” Isaac pushed back even more, his curse eliciting a flare of incense from Twilights eyes. He figured that if he pushed her buttons enough, made her angry, then she’d show her true nature.

“I can explain that too,” Twilight strained to stand her ground under Isaac’s emerging physical superiority, “but we need your help.”

“My help?”

“Do you know what a Marker is?” Twilight asked. Isaac recoiled sharply like she had just physically struck him.

“Maybe I do know what it is,” Isaac said slowly, reflecting a greater degree of caution, “and maybe, this is all just hypothetical talk you understand,” he chuckled, “I might have just killed one and sent it straight to hell where it belongs. Supposing that this is true then what exactly is your business with me, hypothetically?” Isaac wanted to shout in absolute frustration. Just when he had thought he was finally free now he found himself being dragged back into the nightmare.

“

Well, in theory, somepony wants to create another Marker,” Twilight was sweating heavily under the strain to keep Isaac at bay, “and we’d like you to help us to find them and stop it, theoretically speaking of course.” She gave another, more consoling, smile this time hoping that she might win him over. She really wished his helmet was not in the way so she could see his face and maybe glimpse at what he was thinking.

“No.” Isaac replied plainly craning his neck back slightly, breaking contact between the two of them.

“What? But why?” Twilight’s felt hurt.

“Because, damn it, I’ve already served my time I have nothing more to give.”

“I said you need to watch your language!” Whenever he cursed her anger rose exponentially and overrode all logical thought. If he cussed one more time in the presence of the princess then bad things would happen.

“What did I tell you about the foul language, your being rude to the princess.”

“What are you going to do about it you piece of shi..,” Before Isaac could finish there was a pulse of air that passed over him as he felt a massive force impact his chest. His body was easily and forcefully blown back with the power of a sledgehammer, the impact flung him spinning through the air at a dizzying speed. He didn’t go far before crashing into the cavern wall with a humorous flattening crunch.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I..I didn’t mean to do that.” Twilight rushed to Isaac’s side as he slowly slid back down to the ground and caught up in an uncontrollable fit of coughing. She had been angry at ponies before, but never to the point that she would strike at them. So Isaac had a dirty mouth, but that was no excuse for her to lash out in such fury. She was better than that, wanted to believe that she was disciplined enough and in complete control of her emotions and magical talents that this would not happen.

“What was that?” Isaac clutched a hoof to his chest as he gasped for air.

“Sorry,” Twilight repeated as she tried to help Isaac back onto his hooves, “I didn’t mean it. It was an accident!” She would have to do something extra special to make it up to him. Right after she cleaned his mouth out with soap, just as her parents had done to her when she had made a linguistic oopsie. It would not proper to have him speaking in such a fashion amongst her friends or the impressionable foals of ponyville.

“It felt like a force gun hit me.”

“I was just so mad that I kind of, well, punched you with my telekinesis.”

“Good one,” Isaac half congratulated her and half laughed at the absurdity of the fact that he’d just been blown away by a purple unicorn with a kinesis module, “but next time a simple slap to the face would have sufficed.” He tried not to laugh too hard as he was set upon by a fresh wave of coughing.

“Are you ok?” Luna had winced in pure sympathy when she’d seen Isaac taste the full unbridled fury of Twilight’s nerd rage. Luna knew well and good to never drive Twilight over the edge because for as unassuming and bookish as the unicorn appeared she could be a real terror when provoked.

“Oh yeah, good times.” Isaac groaned in agony. Pain certainly had a way to focus one’s mind. Where he had once been set in his personal convictions of what was real and what was not, now he began to doubt himself. He still wanted to believe this was just a fever dream, yet everything was just too vivid for it to be false. It could still be a hallucination although he’d never had one that had been so persistent especially after he had just been back-handed halfway across the room right into a solid wall. All five of his senses told him that this was somehow real. There was the dead weight of the suit on his body, the fresh wave of pain in his back and chest, the salty taste of perspiration in the corners of his mouth, and the smell inside his helmet; which his nose judged him to be in desperate need of a shower.

“Are you real?” Isaac hoped so because it would mean he wasn’t crazy, but he simultaneously also feared it. It would mean that this was not his world and that he was an outcast wandering through an alien landscape. He just wanted to go back home to the life he had once enjoyed and not wallow in a reality where he was a flippin’ talking horse socializing with other talking horses.

“Of course I’m real. Why do you refuse to believe the evidence right in front of you?” Maybe she was being unfair, but Twilight could not comprehend why Isaac persisted in being so stubborn despite the facts.

“I’m getting too old for this.” Isaac steadied himself, this time on all four limbs. “Ok then, enlighten me on where the hell I am and how I got here.”

“Well I, um,” Twilight rubbed her head in embarrassment, “We’re in the mines just under the Everfree forest, just outside my home in the town of Ponyville, located in the kingdom of Equestria. As for why you’re here, you can blame me for that. I sort of pulled you into Equestria by accident.”

“Pulled? I don’t understand. Did you employ the use of a shockpoint gate?” Isaac was dubious at that idea. The ponies didn’t seem advanced enough to posses such technology, but it was the only explanation he could think of. Well apart from magic, but that would just be childish.

“Shockpoint?” Twilight had never heard of such a term before, but it sounded important and served only to increase her inquisitiveness. “Is that what you call magic in your world?”

“Guh, no.” Isaac grunted forlornly. Of course it had to be magic, it was only sensible that if he was going to go insane then he might as well do it properly.

A shockpoint ‘reactor,’ Isaac explained, was the single most powerful piece of technology the Human race had ever created. It was what enabled Human starships to travel to distant star systems in mere seconds instead of years. Isaac had served several tours in the Merchant Marines as a civilian systems engineer helping to protect and repair merchant starships as they transported goods and services in between planetary colonies. While serving he had heard many stories about people disappearing into thin air at the exact moment a starship passed through a shockpoint ‘gate.’ One tall tale alluded to an entire ship never returning once it had entered the gate, but he equated that to a modern retelling of the ‘Flying Dutchman,’ a story which was older than space travel itself.

“Oh, that sounds so exciting!” Twilight clapped her hooves together.

She wanted to know everything about this shockpoint technology and was determined to get Isaac back to the library so she could write down everything he knew about it. The idea pushed her into ecstatic levels of bliss just thinking about all the knowledge and stories she could learn from him, the first of its kind in all of Equestria and she would have exclusive access to it.

Princess Luna had fallen prey to the especially alluring idea of space travel, her face lit up in a smile of optimism at the idea of all ponies, not just the unicorns, being able to travel the star lines and to dance upon the moon alongside her. If such a thing were to become possible then maybe all of ponykind would be able to appreciate all the effort she put into sculpting the night sky and she wouldn’t feel so alone all the time. Isaac said he was an engineer and had worked and lived on such ships before. Luna was dead set on getting him to Canterlot at the first available opportunity so she could learn how to build such wonderful devices herself.

Under the intense hungering glare Isaac felt a cold shiver go down his back. The only time he had ever seen anyone so excited over the idea of space travel was when he was in elementary school back on Earth. The idea of traveling the stars was a child’s dream fated to grow altogether boring and mundane in its regularity. However, seeing the same enthusiastic feelings he had once felt now on display in front of him through the expressions of these ingenuous ponies made him feel an emotion he hadn’t felt in a long time.

He was getting desperate and needed to settle the matter once and for all, he needed to see them with his own eyes. Feeling the underside of his helmet he touched the two emergency release latches. There was a hiss of air as the seal was broken and he lifted it over his head. He looked upon his two companions with his naked eyes and they had to audacity to persist in their refusal to disappear into thin air. He sighed in resignation to the inevitable, dropped his helmet to the ground, and leaned back in reluctant defeat using the cavern wall as his only means of support.

“Story of my life.” He rubbed his eyes. The simple act failed to elicit any discomfort from his injured right eye. He blinked a few times to test it and rubbed it again. Finding that there was no blood or tears he could only conclude that his eye was somehow healed. When had it happened, that was a mystery. He studied his left arm as well and where the wounds on his shoulder and hand had been so grievous before, they were now inconspicuously absent from his person.

When he had removed his helmet Twilight realized that this was her first opportunity to finally see the pony behind the mask. He was a handsome, in a rugged sort of way, colt pony with light grey skin and a mane the color of onyx black and cut very short. Considering the extraordinary circumstances that had brought them together Twilight was feeling somewhat disappointed by his slightly above-average appearance. Now that she thought about it he did appear to be a little on the short side for a colt, standing only a couple of inches taller than her.

‘You should never judge a book by its cover or a pony by his armor.’ Twilight thought silently. After all it was clear he was very intelligent, capable, and well traveled. If he also shared her love of books then that would seal the deal for her.

Such positive feelings only lasted until she took note of his eyes. There were prominent dark circles under them, clear indications of a terrible lack of sleep and disturbance of mind. Yet, these bottomless blue-green pupils reminded her of Luna in a very strong way. The color was different, of course, but they shared a bottomless quality about them that reflected a terrible reality of an individual who had experienced far too much suffering and despair for a single lifetime.

Twilight understood now, the real fact of the matter was that for all of Isaac’s bravado, foul language, and attitude it was, all of it, a simple façade to mask his terror. He was afraid of them and Twilight could not fathom why he should feel so.

The three of them stood in an awkward silence when there emerged a disgusting and sickly choking sound that echoed from deep within the mines. It was faint at first, but quickly gathered volume. It sounded like a pony trying to scream in agony while its lungs were filled with fluid; a repulsive and wretched sound.

“Hello? Is anypony there?” Twilight called out with an edge of concern. There should not be anyone else down her besides the three of them. Had they been followed or was something else living down here?

That single instance of random gurgling babble quickly multiplied into at least a dozen more individuals and still more joined the group after that. In less than a minute the airways were saturated with an oppressive undulating mass of unearthly screams, cries, and moans.

‘You’ve got a job to do and you know what it is.’

Twilight felt the words echo unobstructed in her head at the moment she saw a faint hint of movement emerge from the tunnel.

“Both of you get back!” Isaac barked the order as he positioned himself between them and the tunnel entrance. His fear fell away, taking a backseat behind a mask of grim resolve. Twilight and Luna both strained to see what had spooked Isaac. While he didn’t need to see what was heading their way, the sound alone told him everything. He backpedaled in tune to the dual gasps of horror that escaped from his companions as the first of the creatures emerged into the light. It was something that Isaac had hoped he would never see again. It didn’t matter if it used a human or a pony for a host it was clear that this perverted abomination was what he had come to know as a Necromorph.

Some might have simply called it a zombie, but that was both a poor and inaccurate description, for a necromorph was something far more sinister. It was a reanimated corpse of a deceased creature that had its body twisted and mutilated in ways that spoke of a deliberate redesign and a total disregard for whatever the natural anatomy had once been. The monster that had entered the cavern used to be an Earth-pony, its mane and tail hung in wet clumps of grime matted hair. It stood upright, shuffling uneasily on its hind legs, its hooves stretched out unnaturally into rudimentary ‘feet’ to aid in keeping its balance. Its forelegs, held high over its head, were swinging wicked looking organic scythe blades that had grown out from the pony’s own skeleton being pushed through the hooves. Its torso was savagely ripped open revealing the lower rib cage and all of the entrails in order to allow a smaller pair of grasping arms to push out through the abdominal wall. Its face was no longer in possession of a nose while blood and other fluids dripped from a mouth that was missing the lower jaw.

“In Celestia’s name..!” Twilight was paralyzed in fear, horrified at the visage of the former pony.

What evil magic could make such a ghastly thing? The Marker? Twilight struggled to come to grips with everything that was happening.

If this was truly the work of a Marker then it was no wonder that Luna and Celestia wanted to keep the knowledge of such a thing secret. Everything from the closing of the Canterlot borders, the high levels of secrecy, and the need for a weapon to fight it, all of it made a horrible kind of sense now.

Was this to be the fate of Ponyville and all of Equestria?

Similarly Twilight also felt deep remorse and pity for the unfortunate necropony stumbling towards her. No pony deserved to be shaped and abused this way, it was..it was.. She was utterly speechless, in her vast well of knowledge to draw upon she was at a loss to find the words or measurements adequate to put this fiend into context. Forcing herself to look it straight in the face she found an impression of graphic déjà vu.

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Twilight backed away in horror as these shadow ponies gazed upon her with blood red eyes that held no emotion or soul, only the desire to consume.

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It was the same sensation as before. There was a faint glow of red emanating from necropony’s black lifeless eyes and it looked upon the three of them with the same remorseless desire to consume every living thing it encountered.

The necromorph reared back casting a shrill guttural wail that echoed throughout the mines. Before long more nightmares just like it began to pour into the room from the mines.

Dozens more.

“To the scaffolds! Get out of here now!” Isaac’s desperate warning seemed to snap his companions out of their silent revelry.

Luna spread her wings, took two steps, and hastily launched herself into the air while Twilight and Isaac made for the nearest stairs. Isaac risked a brief detour as he snatched up his helmet using his teeth. By the time they scaled to the first level of catwalks the cylindrical room was nearly full of the monsters. The first necro had begun its own ascension while more of its kin were already on the first level having used the stairs on the other side of the circular room.

“This way!” Luna called from up above them, the light from her horn was the only indicator of her location.

“We’ll use the next tunnel up to make it back to the elevator.” Isaac and Twilight followed Luna’s light and continued to climb up the scaffolding.

They gained precious distance between them and the necros only by virtue that the necro’s malformed feet were not suitable for stairs, but they were still close enough for the red glow in their eyes to be visible.

Up and up the ponies fled, climbing level after level carried upwards through the zig-zaging stairwell. The entirety of the structure was incredibly unstable after countless centuries of neglect and decay. Now uncomfortable amounts of debris, consisting of tendrils of dust and small rocks, were beginning to fall as the structure was being pulled out of its wall supports under the incredible weight of two live ponies and several hundred necromorphs.

Arriving at about the fifteenth level they had reached the ceiling. Sweat poured from their brows and their legs felt like jelly after such an exhaustive climb. Isaac and Twilight met up with Luna as the princess pointed them towards the exit tunnel on the other side. The scaffold continued to wrap itself around the circular walls, but now there was a single catwalk that cut straight through the middle. Twilight imagined that if the marker had still been here then this would take them right through the middle of its twin spires.

The three of them raced down the middle path only to be ambushed by a pair of necros that jumped out of the shadows of the exit. These new creatures looked just their kin from below, except for the single horn that adorned their foreheads which glowed with dark energy. Their lithe decayed bodies shook and thrashed about in violent uncontrollable spasms as if they were gripped in the middle of a terrible epileptic seizure, their faces frozen into a permanent scowls.

The pair of twitching necros charged with unnatural blinding speed. Energy erupted from the horn of one and it blinked out of existence only to instantly reappear after it had teleported itself half down the catwalk between it and the three living ponies.

“I’ll hold them here,” Isaac ordered after he dropped the helmet, “take the other paths and get out of here.” he reached down to pick up a loose metal rod with his teeth. Isaac brandished the improvised weapon, testing it by striking it against the guardrail and feeling satisfied with the solid metal ring. He stood firm before the undead unicorn, ready to do whatever it took to save his campanions.

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Author’s Note: BTW, Isaac Clarke is totally a potential brony. Don’t believe me? Then check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hryvvAH9ol4

I’m sorry for the long wait, but this chapter was really hard to write. From the moment Isaac enters the MLP world to when Twilight hits him with a TK punch was the part that gave me the biggest trouble. I had to go through so many rewrites and edits before I was satisfied that the scene was in character and not rushed or cheesy.

“My Little Pony: FiM” is copyrighted Hasbro and Lauren Faust.

“Dead Space” is copyrighted EA games and Visceral Games.