"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. " The guard muttered to himself as he hid himself in a corner.

After he had gotten through the bars outside above the door, through the ventilation without stopping, and finding this place behind a crate, he was now cradling his gun as if it were a safety blanket. He froze when he heard a loud noise, similar to metal hitting metal, but it also carried the sound of a padded boot or hoof.

Looking at the wall from where he was, he saw three bars of light go over it for a moment before moving away. He could hear the padded metal slowly moving around, the small objects being moved around as Applebloom searched for him. Inching his head forward a bit, he poked the end of his visor out and just as quickly retracted it as an axe embedded itself in the wall where it was. Just as soon as it had happened, the lights came back and Applebloom appeared, clutching the handle of the axe while she held the other in her other hoof.

"Ya listen here," she said pointing an axe at him. "Ah ain't no whinin' little filly, and ah don't wan't to-"

He sprang out from his crevice, pushing her back as a second shotgun blast echoed around the room. Stopping in the middle of the room, he barely had enough time to duck before an axe flew past his head burying itself into a Waster's head. Blowing the arm off the Waster, he turned his gun around and smashed the butt of it against its head sending it to the floor.

Stepping back as he began shooting again, two more Wasters came from the vents; one which was torn to bits by Isaac and Babs as they slid under the rail where they were, and the second falling to its knees when Applebloom had thrown her other axe into its leg, causing the bone to snap and come out from the skin. He watched her run up to it even as it was raising a pair of crowbars to hit her.

As she took out the axes, another Waster appeared carrying a pair of wrenches. She held up an axe with a hoof and blocked the clumsy attack it made while she sunk the blade of the other one into the downed Waster's head. She pulled it way, splattering coagulated blood across herself and the floor as she cut into the knee of the other Waster, cut severed the Achilles tendon on the other leg, and finally decapitated it with a scissor motion of her axes.

Isaac, watching her set the axes on her back again, looked at the shaken guard as he just stared at the waster he'd killed. After a moment, the guard clutched his stomach and for a brief moment, Isaac caught a glimpse of white before a trail of vomit poured out.

"You alright?" Applebloom asked as her helmet slid together. "Um, guard, sir? Do ya feel fine now?" She asked putting a hoof on his boot.

"Um, yeah," he said his voice coming out a little raspy. "Are you? You were about to murder me a second ago."

"Ah wasn't gonna touch ya," she said rolling her eyes. "Ah was only gonna point ma'h axe, talk tough, and then help ya find the other pieces to Rosetta."

"Hold on," Isaac said stepping forward. "You weren't going to kill him? Not even maim him a bit?"

"Eenope." She said shaking her head. "Ah'm not gonna kill a part of our team. 'Sides, if ah wanted him dead, ah'd have killed him a while back."

"How far back?" The guard and Babs said at the same time.

"Titan Station." She said letting her helmet slide back into place. "Come on, we're wasting time down here. We need to get Rosetta together." She said looking back at the door Isaac and her cousin had come through in.

"About that," Isaac said scuffing a boot on the floor. "The door is locked. Blue means go, while orange means no."

Babs, the guard, and Applebloom all looked at the door; a small orange light seemingly mocking them in the middle of it stared back at them. Making a collective groan, they all looked around until Babs ran up to a large set of double doors. Applebloom trotted alongside the guard as Isaac hurried over to Babs.

As Isaac opened the door, Babs and Applebloom raised their guns, the reticules aimed at nothing but the broken door ahead. Old machinery was piled on one side, smaller doors were on either side, and only a few vents were present.

As the two fillies entered, that left Isaac and the guard behind them.

"So, are you really alright?" Isaac asked. "You threw up."

"I'm fine, really I am." He replied stopping at one of the vents. "I've had to fight-"

A sound like someone gurgling spoiled milk echoed through both vents. Before either of them could react, a Exploder burst from the vent behind the guard, pinned him to the floor, and was quickly flipped onto its back as the guard began yelling, swinging his gun into what was left of its face before it had been turned. As the other Exploder was killed, he was still punching the corpse, even without his gun he was still punching it leaving bloody smears and stripes across his visor.

Isaac took a step back and then some, looking at Applebloom and Babs, they just kept staring at the guard, beating away at the torso of the thing now. Putting a hand on his shoulder, Isaac pulled the guard away, even as he was kicking the Exploder's corpse.

"Calm down! It's dead!" Isaac yelled spinning the guard so they were facing each other. "You killed it. It's dead, a pile of mush, a bloody pile of flesh. It's not going to attack anyone again."

The guard, grabbing Isaac's wrists, shook his head momentarily before he pushed them off and stumbled into the wall behind him. Laying his head back, he let out a long, trembling sigh.

"Who the hell am I kidding?" He laughed hollowly. "I've never fought a Necromroph, or in the colonies to stop a riot; I wasn't even trained to fight. Me and my brother were fucking engineers, fixing the computer when you and the others crashed through the damn wall. We were just given guns and told we were guards until the 'situation' was handled. Everyone was torn apart, like fucking cattle. The whole damn station, murdered, filled with psychopaths, Necromorphs, and us," he said slapping a palm against his chest. "A bunch of toy soldiers running around, acting like we knew what we were doing. We were fucked as soon as you were brought in; we all knew it, but we kept quiet." He said looking at Isaac. "I'm a wreck. At least my brother has a shoulder to lean on, all I've got is a gun smaller than my arm."

"Ah know how ya feel," Applebloom said sitting by him. "Ah was happy, thinking 'bout Granny, Applejack, and Mac when ah went into Isaac's world. Ah wanted to just hide in a corner, cry, maybe even..." She held the Plasma cutter for a moment before looking back at him. "Point is, ah know how ya feel."

"Thanks." He said getting up before falling back down. "I-I need a second, I don't feel so good. Too shaky for my own-"

"Take your time," Isaac said. "Two of us can keep going while one of us stays here with you. Babs, Applebloom, why don't you two get going?" He said. "I think he needs some human on human conversation."

Babs nodded and let Isaac open the door for her. Before Applebloom trotted away, she gave the guard a pat on the boot before being carried away.

As they traveled further away, the sound of a door closing behind them, Isaac sat down in front of the guard.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Ask me that again," the guard said shaking a trembling fist at him. "And you'll look worse than that guy." He said pointing at the dead Exploder.

In the slight darkness, they both shared an equally joyful laugh that echoed through the small space they were in.

Alien City Foreshadowing! I think... Screw it.

Sweetiebelle and Nexus stared down into the pit. After their tunnel had collapsed, they began wandering the city in their pony forms. Sweetiebelle looked around in fascination while Nexus had a faraway look on his face.

Now, looking down at the small light below, the only one that didn't glow green or yellow, Sweetiebelle was judging the distance down.

"Nexus," she said. "Are you ready?" She asked receiving a nod from him. "Then... Jump!" She yelled jumping from the ledge with him.

Hitting the ground with wet splats and crunches, they both began to realign their bones while patching the breaks in their skins. Standing again, Sweetiebelle snapped her neck back into place while Nexus popped his eyes back into his head. Looking around, her jaw dropped at the sight before her.

Grey Markers littered everywhere, glowing red through the small writing on them. On nearly every wall, in the supports, and resting against the Markers or each other, were skeletons. Large, thin in some places and bulky in others, were the mummified remains of the natives of this plant.

"Nexus," she said sliding closer to him, but only found his presence cold. "Nexus, are they... You?"

Looking up at him, he had a look of pain on his face as he massaged his temple with a hoof. Nodding, he looked at one of the alien mummies before turning away slowly, almost as if he were in a trance.

"Family." He said. "I killed... I killed my family." He said letting a few tears escape. "I killed my family... My family froze me... My family killed me." He said falling to his knees.

Sweetiebelle, feeling her own eyes go misty, let him put his head on her shoulder and cry. Rubbing his back, she couldn't help but cry with him.

"It's alright, Nexus." She said keeping her voice normal. "It's not your fault, it's the Markers. They did it. All of them."

"I-I remember," he said his voice coming out rough and scratchy from the limited use of it, and the feelings he was experiencing. "I warned m-my family about t-the Black Marker, the Stone Light, but t-they w-wouldn't listen. I-I killed m-my-" he couldn't finish the sentence and instead began sobbing again.

"Nexus," she said rubbing his back. "It was the Markers, the Black Marker, they did this to them. Do you want to kill the Black Marker? To make it pay for doing this?" She asked looking him in the eyes.

"Y-Yes." He said letting a growl escape his throat. "Kill the killer. Kill the Stone Light."

"Then lets get out of here." She said stepping away. "Where are we though? I don't see any doors but that one." She said pointing at the door to the left.

It had a small stand with a screen sitting on it, and above the door in small yellow writing, it read 'Artifact Storage'.

"Maybe we can find an exit through there." She said. "They'd have to have some way of moving the artifacts from the surface here, or the other way around. Come on," she said rubbing his side. "Lets see if we cant get back with the others."

Author's Notes:

Anyone order some feels?