Strange Visitors From a Darker World

Isaiah helped finish all the repairs for the damage he caused and looked at the position of the sun... almost sunset. He grinned, finally something he would enjoy! The young man ran over to the far side of Canterlot with unreal speed, his altered genetic structure helped him retain the freakishly high speed, no were near as fast as when Eternal helps but it works.

He made it to the place he was supposed to meet Spearmint... his heart pounded and his breathing came labored. Sweat formed at his brow. I have never been on a date... what if I do horribly? What if she decides she hates me.

The voice of his spirit blade piped up, "I find this suspicious! You came here, vaporized ponies, then one asked you out after knowing you for less then 5 minutes? Wow... you are an idiot if you don't think this is odd. I don't trust her, mainly because no female should be stupid enough to go out with you!"

"Wow... thanks for the encouragement Eternal..." Isaiah muttered sarcastically.

After a few minutes the green pegasus came. "Oh good! You came!" she chimed.

Isaiah smiled, "Of course I did, why would I not? I did agree to this and I would like to see where we take this..."

She nuzzled his side as they entered and Isaiah found himself gently stroking her cheek. The female grinned as she already was beginning to feed off of him. All according to plan... Chrysalis thought as the two entered the building.

The restaurant was small but cozy, it was dimly lit and had only a few tables. The wood was painted red, the walls were orange, and white candles here in the center of each table. The floors were made from a dark wood, polished to perfection. Isaiah pulled out a stool for his date then sat at the other side of the table.

"Welcome to the Warm Hearth! What can I do for... you... wh..." the waiter pony was about to freak out at the sight of the human with reptilian eyes... but he was cut off before he could say anything.

Isaiah held up the menu, "This seems good, can we get some of these fried vegie tacos?" he preferred meat but he could tell no pony ate meat so this would have to do...

"Same," Spearmint (Chrysalis) said, though she knew she would HATE the taste, she would just eat to keep her cover and feed more on the WAY to easy to feed off of male.

The waiter stuttered for a bit before regaining his composer and going off to tell the cook their order... though he still had no clue WHAT ISAIAH even was... "Master Chef... we have some... unusual customers... I don't know what the stallion even is, or if I can call him a stallion, but him and his mare need two orders of fried vegie taco."

"Meh! Paying customers are all the same! I would not care if he were a dragon or a minotaur, I would serve him!" the grumpy sounding chef said as he began to make their food.

~Back at the Castle of Friendship~

"Ok every pony! How did we do?" a cheerful Twilight asked as she entered the room her research project... er... human friend... would be staying in. Her jaw dropped...

The curtain was nice, and it matched the sheets. The cloth had gemstones sewn into it. Obviously Rarities doing... but the walls were COVERED in Daring-Do and Wonderbolt posters... Rainbow-Dash. The carpet was rustic and vintage but smelt very... would old be the best word? Hay was all over the ground, Applejack must have done that. Pink streamers and confetti were all over the place as a confetti canon fired when she passed it, Pinkie Pie may have had to much fun. Birds flew wildly all over the room with Fluttershy chasing after them, and Starlight Glimmer was tied up like a mummy in ribbon and hanging up-side-down from the ceiling. Spike was reading a comic and ignoring the chaos.

Twilight stared in confusion, "Well... this is a mess. I hope we can fix this before he arrives."

~Meanwhile back in Canterlot~

It was a few hours after the dinner and Isaiah was at the castle in Canterlot, apparently the room for him in Ponyville was not ready? Well, him not going all that way tonight way be for the best. He felt like all his energy was leached right out of him during the date. Well at least she was nice... he said thinking back to the date.

"My faithful student Twilight... said you room is taking a little longer then they thought to set up..." Celestia explained, doing her best not to giggle at what the younger princess described in her letter.

"You will just have to stay here... for the night..." Luna said, also repressing a giggle.

Isaiah nodded sleepily and went off to a guest room. The room had purple carpet, blue walls, and a fairly large bed. If Isaiah wanted to he could even sleep as a dragon, but why would he do that? He lay down and entered a tormented sleep. Two guards were stationed outside of his room.

This was PERFECT for Luna, she did not trust Isaiah or Stardust. And when they sleep, she can enter their dreams to see if they should be dealt with, or if they can be allies.

~Isaiah's Dream~

Isaiah was walking across a blackened landscape. A wing like that on a playset creaked and squeaked in the wind, its ominous sound making the boy uncomfortable. A ruined two-story house lay before him... his house. Memories of his family being taken away from him by figures in black cloaks just three years ago filled him mind. "I... could not save them," a single tear went down his cheek. Suddenly he heard screaming from the house. Its them, I know it is them! I have to save them this time!

He ran but everything got father away, soon he was forced into a crawl as his body changed into that of the red dragon. He made it to the porch, the door creaked and it moved in despite the wind being gone now. Isaiah used his claws to open it and the rotten wood fell apart in his hand. He looked around and heard a blood curdling scream. He turned and saw horror in his families face, they looked at him and only saw the dragon. Then they vanished, Isaiah was now in Canterlot. Ponies running from him, he tried to see what was going on and grabbed one to ask a question but its flesh burnt off its body with his touch. He stared in horror as it slowly turned to dust. This time Isaiah screamed. Then he was in a dark cave... one he had been in many times before. He heard a disembodied howl, a screech, right behind him.

He turned around, once again in his human body, and saw a wraith. It's face was hidden in it's dark hood and its claws were stained with blood. A shadowy aura hovered around it and it spoke with a voice from your worst nightmares. "You cant save anyone Lightseeker... you failed your family, you failed those ponies, you failed everyone else!"

Visions of past failures clouded his vision. Planets getting destroyed, armies trying to protect their homes getting ripped apart, villages getting consumed with a dark mist sucking the life from everyone within. And then, Isaiah with eyes glowing red standing over the bodies of hundreds...

"I... I just wanted to save people..." he cried, tears poring.

"But you failed, so you accepted a dark power hoping you could use it to save them... but you only killed those you meant to protect..." Their was another flash, his deep red eyes cold and merciless as he chased families from their homes. "You are the same as the evil you chose to fight!" the wraith taunted.

"No... I got rid of my darkness... I am a light... I... fight... evil... I..."

"Don't FOOL yourself!" the wraith snapped, it's skeletal hand grabbed Isaiah by the thought and lifted him up. "I know you can never forgive yourself for what happened, that is why you even hold this 'Hero' act... you think if you save families it will make up for your past failures and what you did when controlled by the Necrosign. I assure you... their IS no redemption!"

They were now in the open and a burst of light flew from the moon. The wraith faded and Isaiah lay down on the ground and wept. Luna now stood over him, she had entered his dream as she had seen enough. "We are more alike then I wish to admit," she spoke gently. Isaiah kept crying... "We both did things we regretted while influenced by Darkness."

He still cried...

"But the voice in your head is wrong! Let me show you that you have been redeemed." The princess changed the dream to go through Isaiah's memories. They saw him pulling children out of a burning building, fending off strange creatures attacking a family in their own home, going head to head against someone who wished to destroy an entire kingdom, comforting an orphaned griffin, encouraging a young dragon, and doing his best to make things up to the ponies in Canterlot. Isaiah sat up and Luna pulled him into a hug. "You and I are alike, whenever your dreams go dark call out to me and I will come to you."