Dead Space: Purpose
Chapter 16: [RAINBOW FACTORY] Part 2
Previous ChapterNext ChapterIsaac stared at the head of the cyan Pegasus that he had decapitated and realized the impact that his actions will have on the young soul before him. He quickly holstered the Plasma Cutter and rushed over to Scootaloo's side. Before he could get too close, however, the filly screamed loudly before backing away from both the head and Isaac.
"S-STAY AWAY!" She shouted.
"Scootaloo, wait!" He called, extending a hand.
"NO!"
Scootaloo tried to jump over the fallen bindings but ended up tripping over them. She fell to the floor with a thud but recovered quickly enough to scurry away from Isaac.
"Just listen." Isaac stated.
"NO! Y-YOU JUST... KILLED HER!"
"Scootaloo-"
"YOU MURDERED RAINBOW DASH!"
"Please, I-"
"NO! I DON'T WANNA-"
"LISTEN TO ME!" Isaac snapped.
The filly stopped moving before collapsing onto the ground wailing out in tears, half crying, half screaming in horror. Isaac moved slowly towards her and knelt next to her as his helmet unfolded. He reached out towards Scootaloo, causing her to jump back for a second before she gave up altogether and let him hold her shoulder.
"I'm sorry." He whispered to her. "I had no choice."
Scootaloo cried loudly into her hooves as she tried to choke beck enough sobs to respond.
"Y-you could h-have tried to... sniff... talk to h-her. You could have j-just asked her to s-stop."
Isaac moved his hand down her back and started to stoke her fur, trying to calm her down.
"You tried that. You told me earlier that she was like a sister to you."
Scootaloo whipped her head around to face Isaac.
"SHE IS A SISTER TO ME!" She screeched before continuing her crying.
"I couldn't have said anything to stop her if you couldn't convince her."
Instead of responding, Scootaloo went silent for a few seconds before crying out even louder.
"If I could have stopped that guy from taking you, none of this would be happening. It's my fault."
Scootaloo turned back to him.
"N-no... it's not... your fault... Sh-she told me... she cared m-more about her faith, a-and that I was just another... gasp, another cripple that needed help! But I didn't want this! I wanted her to teach me how to fly! I wanted to grow up with her always there! And she saw me as a... as a..."
She broke down once more into loud bawling before Isaac stopped stroking her back.
"I'm sorry."
"I... I want to wake up... I just want this n-nightmare to end..."
Isaac moved his hand underneath her torso and slowly lifted her. He then twisted Scootaloo so that she could look him in the eye. She stared at his unarmored face before jumping out of his grasp and holding his neck tightly. Instead of prying the grip around his neck off, Isaac returned the gesture by lightly wrapping his arms around the filly, hugging her close.
"I know." He whispered to her. "I want this nightmare to end too."
They stayed there for a few minutes, holding the only other thing that made them feel safe close.
\\\//////
Fluttershy stared up at the Human figure before her as they transitioned from a dark void back to Canterlot Castle. This time, however, there was a preferred lack of gore and blood on the walls and furnishings. The Human form sat down on the bed that Fluttershy recognized as the one in her room at the Castle. When the Human motioned for Fluttershy to approach, she did so cautiously, albeit rather fast for the timid mare.
When she plopped onto the mattress, Fluttershy waited for the Human to speak.
"So," The Human began, "I guess we have a lot to talk about."
"Um, if you don't mind me asking, who are you?" Fluttershy asked.
"I'm Ellie Langford. I thought you said my name?"
Fluttershy raised a hoof to her mouth as she remembered that she did, indeed, call Ellie by her name. How she knew that was well beyond her, however.
"H-how did I know that?"
"Well, it could be because of Isaac."
Fluttershy looked back up to Ellie.
"What about Isaac?"
"Since he came here, the only one who's been able to really talk to him, or truly close enough to him was you. Didn't you notice when he nearly hit your friends when he woke up? You were able to talk him out of hurting anyone. Not only that, but you were able to make him go into your town and even try to make friends with everyone there. I could barely get him to let go of his Plasma Cutter."
Ellie chuckled lightly to herself as she slowly shook her head.
Fluttershy looked down and realized how seriously Ellie talked about Isaac and her interactions with him since he arrived in Equestria.
"Yeah... and how I've been acting different, too."
Slowly, Fluttershy realized that she was changing around him as well. She was frightened by so many things, like the dark, timberwolves, some plants in the Everfree Forest, strangers, loud noises, surprises, more and more things she listed off, yet Isaac came down to Equestria in a ball of fire, crashed into the ground right by her hooves, and crawled out of a crater while speaking through a metallic suit. He was completely alien, accident prone, and had no way to be determined as safe or not, yet she just took him in without a moment's notice. As if he were one of her closest friends that was severely hurt.
"I... I just took him in... without even thinking about it, and ignored every scary thing that happened right then and there when he first came to Equestria."
The more she thought on this, the more she realized that she had stopped muttering so many apologies, as well as using a more present tone around others.
"Then it looks like he got lucky, again." Ellie said while smirking.
"What does that mean?"
"He came here for a reason, you know. I was there when he was supposed to die."
\\\//////
When Isaac finally started to withdraw from the embrace with Scootaloo, he noticed that the filly had passed out from exhaustion or from stress or something else since she woke up here. Isaac knew that she would be better off sleeping through this, so he carefully opened his RIG at the top behind his head, and slid her in heads-up. He made sure that she was safe inside the storage on his back before reaching for the Plasma Cutter.
As he got up, he noticed a white figure next to him.
"What's wrong now?" He deadpanned at Nicole.
"Well," She started, crossing her arms, "for starters, your attitude. Secondly, the filly. She's gonna need a lot of help when she gets back to wherever it is she came from."
"Yeah. So, where's the exit."
Nicole unfolded her arms and placed a hand on Isaac's left shoulder.
"Isaac, you can't just leave this place." She stated with a worried tone.
"What? Why not?"
"Look at this place. It's constructed by Unitologists, and works by letting them sacrifice children. You can't just let this place keep going."
"Well what do you want me to do?"
Nicole reached for Isaac's left hand and raised it. A blue line shot out of the room and into the main facility.
"There's almost no way for a place like this to run without a massive source of power, and these Ponies don't have nearly enough advances for a generator powerful enough to sustain this place. Go down to the Engineering section and turn off the main receiver. It should look like the Ishimura's Gravity Tether, except a lot darker with magic glowing around it. If you turn it off, this place will fall right out of the sky."
Isaac backed up and raised a hand.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa... hold on... Fall out of the sky?" He asked.
"This place is built on a massive connection of clouds. However, they need the receiver to power the fields keeping the machinery on top of the clouds. This is a world ruled by magic, Isaac. Be glad they used the same method of transmitting magic identical to Electrical Engineering."
With that, the form of Nicole vanished as the blue line winked out of existence.
Isaac gave a heavy sigh as he checked Scootaloo. She was fast asleep, thankfully. He raised the Plasma Cutter while walking out of the room slowly.
"Every day, I swear to God it's just 'Engineering this,' and 'Marker that.' My life's like a damn routine."
Isaac silenced his babbling as he cautiously looked around the facility with his uncovered face. He walked out of the room and began to follow the faint blue line.
Next Chapter