Isaac, it’s me…I wish I could talk to you. *sigh* I’m sorry… I’m sorry about everything. *sigh* I wish I could just… talk to someone! It’s all falling apart here, I can’t believe what’s happening…*sigh*…It’s strange, such a little thing…
Isaac cut off the message and leaned back in his seat. His CEC Class 4 Engineering suit kept him warm, which was as much comfort as he was going to get in the aftermath of the horrific incident which he had just narrowly survived from. He rubbed his forehead and exhaled through his nose before turning his head towards the right. A distorted image of Nicole crouched against the far wall entered his field of vision and everything went black...
Twilight had begun her new duties as Princess, and she quickly learned that she held no liking for it. Politics and bureaucracy were never her thing to begin with, but a royal presence was demanded, and the others unfortunately, were delegating outside of Equestria. So Twilight was stuck with Blueblood and his less than merry band of snobby fools and ignorant hypocrites. As a Princess, she now had equal authority to that of Blueblood, and more than once, she thought of slapping him across the head, but her decency always got the better of her, much to her chagrin.
“Now that the court has gathered here today, presided over by Princess Twilight Perhaps we could all begin?” an elderly Pegasus stallion called over the voices that had begun discussing the day’s topics ahead of schedule. The silence was a welcome relief to Twilight who since learning of her new duties was no longer a morning pony. She knew she would be next to useless in this discussion as she was cranky and more likely to cause a scene than her new cousin (Blueblood).
“Yes, that would be most appreciated.” said a rather bigoted looking Unicorn, roughly the same age as the Pegasus that had spoken up. “Our first order of business relates to an argument over ownership of a block of land. Two noble families have claimed the long strip of vacant land that separates them from each other as their own. Neither one is willing to back down and has asked for Royal intervention. Their sides of the story are as follows…” the Unicorn continued, but was interrupted by the less than enthused princess.
“Turn the strip into a road. If it’s the strip of land I think it is, then it will connect to the main road and the lane behind the warring lands. Next!” she said, her boredom showing in plain sight.
“Pardon me, your highness, but I don’t think the nobles would appreciate that course of action.” the Unicorn, objected.
“Then that’s their problem. I find Nobles to be very similar to spoiled kids; if one gets something that the other doesn’t, then that one will complain and there will be bad blood between them. By taking away the source of their conflict and converting it into something accessible for both parties, the issue is settled and both parties walk away no worse off than they were before. Sometimes I think it would have done you all a bit of good to have read my friendship reports to Celestia.” she replied. The court members failed to come up with a solid argument against her words and moved on to the next order of business.
“Prince Blueblood has placed a formal request to have some offenders executed. As the residing authority of this meeting, the decision is yours, regardless of your equal authority to his.” the Pegasus said.
“What are the charges?” Twilight asked, bored out of her skull.
“Slandering the Prince behind his back. He’s imprisoned the offenders.” the Pegasus replied. Twilight smacked her face with her hoof.
“Release them. There’s no crime in spreading your opinion of your peers amongst friends. If there were, the majority of Equestria would be confined to the prison block. Unless an insurrection occurs among the public, don’t go imprisoning citizens every time my cousin takes a disliking to them. I may have to write a law relating to him.” Twilight was met with a ‘Harrumph’ from the Prince in question. Twilight turned to him. “Every time you exert your authority on mundane things like that, you belittle yourself and disgrace this family. Maybe Celestia allows this, but I will not allow you to humiliate us simply because you overheard somepony whispering things about you.” she declared flatly.
“Need I remind you Twilight, that you are new to this family. How I exert my authority is none of your business. I was born into this family, you were not.” Blueblood argued.
“Nevertheless, I was raised as Celestia’s student and have apparently been raised better than yourself. The past aside, I am family now; and as family, it is my sole duty, as it is yours to uphold a certain modicum of dignity, understanding, love and tolerance. Observing you, you’ve only managed to uphold your dignity, such as it is.” Twilight snapped back. The courtroom was silent for a few moments. Nopony, not even Celestia had spoken to Blueblood this way.
“How dare you–.”
“And need I remind you, that I am an Alicorn, where as you are not. As such, I am also one of your very few peers. And it seems I must remind the Court also that I am not equally ranked with Blueblood, but co-rule the night with Princess Luna, who has graciously given me control of the stars as a result. Therefore, I am ranked above the Prince, which is why I am the leading authority of this meeting, and not my self-centred cousin here.” Blueblood, as well as the rest of the court were rendered speechless in the wake of Twilight’s comments. They knew she was right in every aspect, and Blueblood hated to admit it.
“Next.” Twilight ordered. The Pegasus fumbled around with his list.
“It appears your Student, Spike is waiting outside this courtroom with important information regarding… a pair of rogue stars?” the Pegasus sounded confused. Blueblood took the topic as an opportunity to get back at her.
“So my Aunt gives you control of the stars and you can’t control all of them? How… inspiring a peer you are proving to be, dear cousin.” he teased. Twilight showed no emotion, her poker face mirroring Celestia’s.
“It seems I’ll have to teach you not to jump to conclusions, Blueblood. For the record, they aren't stars that I had Spike investigate. I’m not sure what they are, that’s why they were being investigated. He’s obviously classified them as ‘rogue stars’ for simplicity’s sake. Let him in.” Twilight ordered. Defeated once again, Blueblood sat back in his seat, steaming and ashamed. The doors to the courtroom opened and in came a smallish purple dragon with green spines and frills. He was dressed in a small amount of clothing, which consisted of an astral themed scarf, a pair of goggles with magnifying lenses, white gloves and scale themed pants all designed by Rarity herself. The scarf symbolised Spike’s status as Twilight’s student and acted as Identification.
“Welcome, Spike. What have you found out?” Twilight asked, keeping things formal. Spike took a moment to gather his words.
“Okay, well I have good news and bad news.” the dragon replied. Twilight raised an inquisitive and curious brow.
“What’s the good news?” she asked.
“You were right, they're not stars, but solid objects.” he said. Twilight had hoped for more than that, but she took comfort in the fact that Spike’s diagnosis confirmed her story and argument against Blueblood relating to the phenomenon.
“And the bad news?” she enquired. Spike took another moment to gather his words, and swallow hard.
“They're humongous and they're coming toward us.” he replied with a nervous tone to his voice.
Isaac found himself unphased by the splendour the castle alone had to offer. Such unique and genuine craftsmanship was lost to him.While Twilight still appreciated its allure, the human concentrated primarily on his weapon, checking it for any faults caused by damage it may have suffered. Isaac was pleased to discover that the ponies hadn't been able to raid his suit's inventory. He'd never found the need for anything short of med-packs and ammunition. Leaving room for anything else would have increased his chances of dying. He had plenty of power nodes which he didn't need since his pulse rifle was upgraded entirely, as was his RIG and Stasis charge. Even his Telekinesis had been upgraded to allow greater reach. He was as good as he was going to get at this rate, with no shortage of ammunition and first aid, his plan to create a workbench from scratch seemed assured.
"So how far's this fort you mentioned?" Isaac asked.
"Ponyville is just south of Canterlot. It's the most logical place to choose from since my friend's Apple Orchard could feed Canterlot for months on end if rationed properly. Though, that being said, Nobles would definitely be a problem. I'm sure you know how they are?" Twilight gave a look that asked for empathy relating to the situation.
"Introverted, self-centred, stuck-up bottomless pits that inspire hatred from those around them? Yes, I know the type." he replied, holstering his pulse rifle over his shoulder. Twilight laughed at his description.
"That's right. Rationing their food will undoubtedly make others want to throw them to these Necromorphs you mentioned." she replied.
"You could always not tell them, and just help the more... morally established of your kind instead." Isaac suggested. Twilight shook her head.
"Unfortunately, as Princess I have a duty to all my ponies, regardless of my feelings towards certain individuals." Twilight expressed a somewhat submissive expression as she spoke.
"I could always take them out on the way, clean and simple, no-one would ever know." he offered Twilight just chuckled.
"Thank you, Isaac, but if we're going to survive this, then we'll need everypony." she said, smiling.
"In my experience, all you need is a male and female, time goes on from there."
"You know what I mean, Isaac." Twilight nudged him with her wing, the pair chuckling as if there were no danger. As they walked together, Isaac was noticed by a few royal guards. They couldn't help but stare as he was so different from them. He walked like the Princess' assistant Spike, but wasn't a dragon. He had armour that far surpassed their own and weapons faster than crossbows and easier to use with fewer reloads.
"All kidding aside..." Isaac began, drawing Twilight's full attention. "What's coming isn't something you can take lightly. It won't be a matter of posting a couple of guards on every side of the wall. You'll need all around security twenty-four seven. Necromorphs have no sense of rhyme or reason. They'll attack when they want, when they see you. It's not a matter of just staying out of infected areas, they'll come looking for you. Believe me, I know exactly how this will turn out. And sleep is foreign to me now."
Twilight couldn't help but feel a deep sense of remorse for Isaac as she saw the wear and tear on his features. He looked older than he sounded.
"It's alright," she said. "Canterlot has a total of several thousand Royal Guards. Three thousand during the day, another three during the Night, and the rest are my own guard. There are currently four Princesses ruling over Equestria. Celestia rules over the day, and her sister, Luna rules over the night. Luna has been gracious enough to give me co-rulership over the night alongside her. I'll explain why later if you wish. Finally, there's my sister in-law; Cadence. She rules an empire in the North with my Brother. Figuratively speaking, the Crystal Empire would probably be the safest place to go, seeing as how the castle is made out of crystal. Surely these monsters couldn't break through Crystal?" she asked. Isaac considered the new information. While it was true that the Necromorphs he'd encountered before wouldn't have been able to do so...
"It's difficult to say. Your race is different to my own, so I don't know the limits of these new Necromorphs. Your magic's an unknown variable. So until I learn all I can about the Necromorphs on this world, My opinion is that the Crystal Empire you mentioned is as safe as any other place. But I recommend letting them know. If they are successful in keeping them at bay, then all we'd have to do is find a way to get from here to there." he said, looking straight ahead.
Twilight found Isaac's absolute personality reassuring. He sounded as though he knew what he was talking about. She felt safe around him because of that.
"How quickly do these things take over?" she asked.
"Difficult to say. The Ishimura would have been about five times the size of this castle, given what I've seen so far. It took a full day before the company I worked for realised something was out of sorts and a further three days for our team to arrive. By then, it was almost completely taken over." he replied, removing his helmet to rub his temple.
"Something wrong?" Twilight asked. Isaac didn't answer immediately. His eyes were scrunched shut; when he opened them, the image of Nicole stood beside Twilight.
"Make...Us...whole!" she said, disappearing in a distorted flash of light. Isaac returned to his normal state and looked Twilight in the eye.
"They're here." he said, replacing his helmet.
Author's Note
Took a while, but It's updated. I'd been thinking about this story in small doses and it was getting annoying so I decided to update now.
Chapter 1: Assimilation (Revised)
Isaac woke up feeling cold and much lighter than before. Light shone into his eyes and he quickly closed his lids before the offending brightness could cause him any more trouble. He reached his hand up to rub his eyes and found skin touching skin. Curious, he opened his eyes a fraction to look at his hand. His arm was bare.
With his curiosity overpowering his pain, he lifted his head and looked himself over. His Engineering suit was gone and he was left with a lime-aqua gown covering his body. To his relief, he wasn’t tied down. His wounds and bruises hurt as he tried to get up, and he quickly found his skin pulling. Looking under the gown, he saw stitches in various areas on his chest. He looked around the room he was in and deduced he was in an operating room. Why he hadn’t been moved to a ward afterward was beyond him, but the interrogation window across from him satisfied his curiosity. He lay his head down and waited for the questions to start.
He waited for nearly an hour before a voice reached him. “Who are you?” it said. Isaac identified the voice as a woman’s.
“Isaac, Isaac Clarke.” he replied.
“Nice to meet you Isaac… Now for the weird question; what are you?” the woman asked. Isaac looked up in curiosity. He half expected the window to somehow reveal the face behind it, but all he got was a brass reflection.
“I’m… human?” he replied, hoping that was the right answer.
“I see… and what is a human?” she asked in return. Isaac was beginning to grow uneasy. Wasn’t he back on Earth or on a Space Station?
“I… I don’t understand. Where am I?” he asked. The woman behind the window didn’t respond at first. Isaac thought she may have been considering the question.
“You may consider it to be an alien world, but understand, you are just as much alien to us as we will undoubtedly be to you. Your vessel crashed on our world about a month ago We’ve kept you asleep so your wounds may heal without trouble, but I admit, I’ve had you woken up because my curiosity has gotten the better of me.” she replied. Isaac froze. he was being observed by an alien, or a multitude of them depending on those present with the woman behind the window.
“Aliens? Are you the ones who created the Markers?” Isaac asked.
“Markers? I don’t understand. Are they like that two-pronged spiral with the markings on it that came down with you?” she asked. Isacc’s blood froze over and he threw himself up into a sitting position. He looked directly at the window with an expression of panic.
“Listen to me, those things are dangerous. I don’t know how they work, but somehow they drive people crazy and all hell breaks loose. You have to get rid of the Marker before it starts happening to your people too!” he began to grow hysterical. He hopped off of his bed and rushed as quickly as he could to the window.
“Isaac, settle down, explain to me the dangers of the marker.” the voice said in a calm and rational tone. Isaac leaned against the window for support.
“I was part of a repair crew that was sent to answer a distress call from one of our ships. Even before we boarded, things turned bad for us. We crashed into the other ship and had to find another way off. Next thing we knew we were separated by some sort of monster that used to be human like us, but it was mutated beyond recognition. These… monsters, tore apart all of us one by one until I was the only one left. I thought I’d destroyed the marker when I blew up the planet it came from, effectively destroying the ship I was sent to repair, but it obviously followed me here.” he said. The woman behind the window was silent for a few moments.
“Not possible, you and the Marker approached from opposite ends of the sky. This marker must have come from somewhere else.” she replied. Isaac looked at the window again, his face displaying horror.
“I barely escaped with my life the first time. If you can, destroy it as soon as possible. Though it may be too late. I’ve been here a month, you said?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“If the Marker landed at the same time as I did, then it’s undoubtedly too late. Look, if you see any monsters, don’t try and shoot their heads or their hearts. That doesn’t work. You have to cut and shoot off the limbs. That’s the only way to stop them.” Isaac backed away, leaning into the bed he was on before.
“I fear you may be right about it being too late. I sent a small contingency of guards to investigate the marker, but I haven’t heard from them in over a fortnight.” the woman said, confirming Isaac’s worst fear.
“Isaac, would you be willing to help us rid the world of this Marker and all monsters it’s converted?” the voice asked. Isaac lifted his head to look miserably at the window.
“I can only promise that I’ll do my best. While I’ve dealt with the Marker before, I have no idea how this one will change your race and what their effects will be.” he said.
“Effects?”
“Yeah, some were made to just blindly kill, others were made to spread the infection and turn the living and the dead into one of them.” he replied. The woman seemed to consider his statement again.
“Wait there. I’m coming in.” she said. Isaac looked around for a door and found one immediately to his left. There was a heavy clopping sound from behind. As the door opened, Isaac was met with a Lavender Alicorn donning a silver crown, chest piece and four silver ruby encrusted horse shoes.
“Hello, Issac. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m one of the four Primary rulers of Equestria, the country in which you’ve found yourself in. The world as we know it, is called Equis. Despite the circumstances, I and the great city of Canterlot, welcome you here.”
Minutes had gone by as Twilight tried to illicit a response from the shocked human. She tried everything from calling his name to waving her hoof in front of his face. Nothing worked, but thankfully, Isaac had come out of his initial shock on his own.
“You’re… an Alicorn?” he asked, disbelieving.
“You’ve seen our kind before?” Twilight enquired. Isaac shook his head.
“No… your kind are an ancient myth back home; as well as Pegasi and Unicorns.” he replied.
“What about Earth Ponies?” she asked.
“What?”
“Earth Ponies. They’re like us but don’t have horns or wings.” she replied. Isaac considered mentioning the name horse, but if Twilight had said ‘ponies’ instead, then perhaps that was the name of their species in general. And Unicorns and Pegasi were different races just as Caucasian and Asian were different races among Humans.
“We have those, only they’re more… animalistic than you seem to be.” he said. Twilight dismissed the subject without warning.
“Before I forget, I had a close personal friend design these clothes after the ones we found you in. You’ll find the fabric to be softer than what you previously wore, but just as sturdy, I should think. In my opinion, it isn’t bad for her, given she’s usually a fashion designer.” she said, levitating some folded clothes from behind her over to Isaac. He knew that Unicorns possessed magical abilities, so he wasn’t that surprised to see clothes floating over to him. He took them and quickly changed out of his gown. He saw no problem being naked in front of Twilight, for she too was mostly naked, not to mention the difference in species would undoubtedly prevent attraction. He slipped his new pants on first, finding them very comfortable indeed. Up until now, he found fashion to be overrated, but after feeling the comfortable clothes, he wasn’t so sure. With his dark olive khakis and his dark grey t-shirt with an equally dark grey jacket, he felt better protected against the oncoming necromorph plague. But he really needed his suit; with that, he would be able to do his best, he would have a chance at winning.
“Thanks. Now, what have we got in terms of weapons?” he asked.
“Before you arrived, we were working with crossbows, spears and swords. But after taking a look at your weapons and armaments, we've done the best we can to create similar items.” she showed Isaac an example of what she meant. The design looked like an old flintlock revolver.
"I'm assuming you've managed to create some form of ammunition?" Isaac asked. Twilight nodded showing a round iron ball.
"Sadly, we can't seem to get any propulsion from it. No matter what we try, it just falls out of the barrel." she said.
"Ah, so you haven't created Gun powder yet." he stated.
"What good is this... gun powder?" she asked.
"It's an explosive powder that puts force behind the bullet. Without the powder, those bullets are as good as marbles and the gun's only good for carrying them in." he replied, handing Twilight back the revolver.
"I see, yes explosive force within a small cylindrical tube would do the trick. Unfortunately, we don't have the time. If what you say is true, we must focus on building a fort. Any advice you could give us would be very helpful." she said. Isaac thought about it for a moment before replying.
"Try not to let any gaps in the defences. On the Ishimura, Necromorphs were jumping through air vents, climbing out of maintenance hatches, you name it. Also, try to get as large a fort as possible. Something along the lines of a small village should do the trick. Best bet is somewhere far from the Marker." he said. There was a subtle scuffling sound from above and both Isaac and Twilight looked up. Of course, they could see nothing, but there was definitely something in the roof. "Swords and crossbows will have to do until I can get things up and running." he added as he moved for the door. Twilight followed close behind, both of them keeping their eyes on the roof.
"So exactly how difficult can these things get?" Twilight asked as she led him towards the Armory.
"One would think that the large house-sized ones are the most difficult. But I think the regenerators are the worst." he replied, rubbing the back of his head. He still hadn't gotten much sleep despite the unconscious state he'd been in.
"How so?" Twilight asked.
"Well usually, all the big ones can do is either attack you if you're in reach or throw things at you. With the Regenerators, you can end up wasting your ammunition, or in this case, crossbow bolts cutting off their limbs to no end. It doesn't matter how many times you decapitate them they just keep coming back for more. Thankfully, I learned that if you incinerate them, that tends to do the trick." he replied.
As they reached the Armory, Twilight led Isaac to his suit which had suffered little damage in the crash. "We tried to copy the suit, but we couldn't even attach bits of armour to our clothes. Our fabric's too soft." she said.
"You'd have to have invented a polyfibre fused with a self-sealing unit." he replied. Even to Twilight, those words were unfathomable.
"And not even you can do that, I'm assuming?" she asked. Isaac nodded his head before activating a holographic icon on the HUD. The suit opened up like a sarcophagus, waiting for Isaac to enter. He did so, stepping backwards into the suit. His body was jolted into the back as the armour closed around him. The RIG connected with the suit and all systems were green.
"Alright, let's get this started. I'll need my rifle and a sword for starters. Afterwards, you should start evacuating all the ponies and sending them to an area that could potentially house them all. Multiple forts would be needed, I think." Isaac stated. Twilight nodded and levitated a sword and sheath over to him. The suit adapted to the primitive technology and welded the sheath to his waist, thus eliminating the need for a belt. Next came the Pulse Rifle, which rested beside the Helmet. Both came towards Isaac. With one hand he gripped the rifle, and with the other, gripped the helmet. Holstering the rifle over his shoulder, Isaac put the helmet over his head, and the blue light flashed on, signifying that it had connected with the rest of the suit.
"The Guards know you're on our side. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like you to remain by my side until we've established a fort in Ponyville and Appleoosa." Twilight asked. Isaac nodded.
"Sure. Not much else I can do until all hell breaks loose. Besides, I might be able to make some things that should help in the defence of those places. Of course, I'd need to create electricity first in order to power these things." he said. He stepped off the pedestal the suit had been on and approached Twilight. "Lead the way, Princess."
