“It is time for you to see the Marker.”

Fluttershy can't believe it. Doesn't want to believe it. There is no way they brought a Marker back from Onyx! Markers are only myths spewed by the Unitology elders. There is no way it is real. No way.

“Ladies, if you'll follow me,” says Arcos.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy remain frozen in place, but Applejack steps to the side and gently waves her weapon at him.

“I suggest y'all follow him. It is the only secured part of the ship,” says Applejack.

Rainbow Dash glares at her, but after a few seconds she walks forward with Fluttershy following close behind. Zephyr walks next to Fluttershy, only his steps are light unlike the others. The group follows Arcos through the doorway, and once they pass through the doctor pushes up his sleeve and pushes a button on a small computer strapped to his forearm. The doors screech and grind, and when they close, they shake Fluttershy's bones. The intensity of the shutting makes Fluttershy turn around, and her eye focuses on giant metal gears and logs sliding into place. Then there is Applejack, who is staying behind everyone and is now aiming her weapon at Fluttershy.

“Keep going. We'll be safe in here,” says Applejack.

Fluttershy resumes walking, taking in the dim scenery of the short hallway, which is nothing spectacular. The gray metal walls are standard, the lights are standard, there are vents, but they are undamaged, but the idea of the vent being there is unnerving.

“The Section 0 hub is sealed off from the rest of the ship,” explains Applejack, noticing Fluttershy looking at the vents. “Separate air talisman, separate vent network, separate everything.”

Fluttershy does not find that assuring.

“Can it split off and fly away as a separate ship?” asks Rainbow Dash, half mocking half curious.

“Unfortunately, no,” replies Arcos, his voice easily being carried down the hallway. “Believe me, if it could, I would have ejected this a long time ago. And my colleagues would have agreed on that.”

Arcos passes through the hall's doorway, leading to a large chamber, and he takes a deep breath, smiling proudly at a tinted container in the middle of the chamber, laying longways. It is surrounded by a ring of computers, each showing graphs and lines of data of some sort with streams of numbers to go with them. Going up and down the container are orbs on long, slender arms, each projecting red scanner lines.

“Ladies, gentlemen! I have guests!” says Arcos.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy look at Arcos’s company and find various items lined up along the wall, all with faces drawn on printer paper and taped to them as well as having white lab coats tacked to them. They are a broom, a mop, a chair, a bag of flour, a large filing cabinet, and a trash can. Next to all of that is a collection of various computers and monitors, all connected together with a single keyboard and microphone to accompany them, and the monitors are showing different camera angles of the ship, which all of them have Necromorphs roaming in some capacity. Except for one. It is the Pyro Reverend burning a group of Necromorphs with his flamethrower. However, Fluttershy cannot see the Hunter, which concerns her.

“What the fuck?” whispers Rainbow Dash, looking at the collection of dressed items.

Even Applejack looks uneasy by the scene, but she remains silent.

“They have been most helpful in my studies,” says Arcos. He laughs and pats the trash can. “Oh, Cancan, you've always had a great sense of humor. Oh, and Agent Apple!”

“Hm?” replies Applejack.

Arcos points at a desk with a large, empty battery port that has various prongs and wires on it, as well as switches and a knob. However, it looks like it has been assembled by junk and welded together, and the torn equipment and used tools scattered around that table only solidify the observation.

“That is the module for the miniature warp battery,” says Arcos. “There is a ship big enough for our prize, and once you get it installed, we can hook up the battery and get out of here. Fluttershy, if you will place the battery near it so we can keep track of it.”

Fluttershy is hesitant, but complies anyway, and as she places the battery next to the makeshift device, Rainbow Dash looks around the area.

“Now, for the moment we've all been waiting for! Ladies, I present to you... The Marker!” says Arcos.
He types in a command on his wrist computer and the cylinder's tint fades away, revealing a massive object laying sideways inside the glass container. It is mostly black with bands of white following the curves of two sets of twisting ridged spirals, which form to make a double helix. And on those spirals are glowing red hieroglyphs.

Upon removing the tint, the Marker pulses, and the electronics flicker, giving everyone but the griffin a start. The unease is only made worse by the computer screens flickering and returning with spikes in the numbers and graphs, which slowly drop, but not by much.

“Don't worry about that,” chuckles Arcos. “It has been doing that for weeks! It is releasing a power surge that these colony ships can't handle, which is surprising, considering how much they can hold.”

Arcos suddenly looks at the chair, then nods.

“Right you are, Cushie McGee,” says Arcos.

“What is going on?” asks Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, my colleague was saying how the Marker was providing power to Onyx City and how we only found Onyx because of the energy signatures it released.”

“You knew this thing was here the whole time!?”

“Pfft, yeah. We've known for years, actually. Its signal was how we found Onyx and it is the reason why Section 0 built Onyx City. Building a colony was the perfect cover to test its effects on a populace, and now we see what it can truly do. Why it chose now to activate, I don't know, but can you imagine what we can do with that kind of power?”

“I've already seen what it can do,” says Rainbow Dash with a sneer.

Applejack looks down, and Fluttershy steps forward, her eye on the Marker.

“Its... Its real...” murmurs Fluttershy. “The Marker is real.”

Fluttershy stops in front of the Marker and puts her hoof on the container, feeling a tether pulling her towards it. With her hoof pressed against the glass another feeling comes over her. The desire to break the glass. Free it. Become one with it. Fluttershy suddenly closes her eye and steps back, shaking her head.

“How is this possible?” asks Fluttershy to no one in particular. “This thing is supposed to be a myth.”

“How it was formed is a good question,” says Arcos. “The surface and interior are too smooth to be natural, and we have found onyx and coroundum with uniform mineral veins. My best guess is aliens built it. But we can learn more when we take it to Sparkle Station.”

“Take it to- Are you nuts!?” yells Rainbow Dash. “You saw what it did! It killed everypony! Made a bunch of monsters, and it made Fluttershy nuts and now you're talking to furniture!”

Fluttershy snaps to Rainbow Dash. “I'm not nuts.”

“Oh, don't start this again. You're nuts, he's nuts, AJ is a liar and I'm the only one who kept my head on straight this entire time,” says Rainbow Dash.

“Bullshit. You gunned down a ranking member of the EUG Colonial Service,” says Applejack.

“Among other things,” says Fluttershy.

“Hey, don't take her side! You're supposed to be on my team!” says Rainbow Dash.

“You pointed a gun at me!”

“Fluttershy, why are you trying to take sides, anyway? They are both trying to kill you,” says Zephyr.

“Not now, Zephyr,” snaps Fluttershy.

“See!? You are crazy!” says Rainbow Dash, pointing at Fluttershy and stepping back. “I'M THE ONLY SANE ONE HERE!”

Arcos laughs, and Fluttershy grinds her teeth.

“Don't start. I'm not crazy,” says Fluttershy. “You're the nut that can't see what's in front of you.”

Zephyr grins and Rainbow Dash tilts her head slightly as she steps forward threateningly, but Applejack gets in between the two before Rainbow Dash can reach Fluttershy.

“Alright, this has gone on long enough,” says Applejack. “Fluttershy, Dash is right. You ain't right in the head, and if we can get you off this ship, we might be able to fix your brain and whatever is making your blood and eye weird.”

“Oh, your infected with Necro-bacteria? Fascinating!”

“I’m not infected!” snaps Fluttershy.

“Says the crazy pone,” remarks Rainbow Dash.

“No, you saw Zephyr, too! And so did Dr. Rock, I mean Arcos! Arcos saw him, told me where he was and now Zephyr is right here!” Fluttershy looks at Zephyr pleadingly with a shortness in her breath. “Please say 'Hi'.”

Zephyr dismissively inspects his hoof.

“Zephyr, please! They need to know you're here!”

“This is very interesting,” says Arcos. “I have to say I am genuinely surprised by the extent of your denial.”

Fluttershy looks at Arcos. “What's that supposed to mean?”

Applejack sighs heavily and activates her camera, displaying a holographic block with a menu of screenshots. Above the menu is: Subject: Fluttershy Breeze- Marker Reactions.

“Fluttershy, I hate to do this to you, you've been through a lot already, but you need to see it to accept it,” says Applejack.

“Accept what?” says Fluttershy, her eye darting all over Applejack's grim face.

“The truth.”

Applejack plays the first video.

There is a brief pause as a loading bar goes across the display, and then it goes to the Terrarium when the two first reunited. Fluttershy can see herself and Slingshot, and Applejack's voice is behind the camera, but there is no Zephyr.
“I know, but none of that is your fault, or Dash's or the Captain's. None of us were prepare for this, but if we keep our heads on straight, we'll make it and we'll have a proper funeral for all of them when this over... Did you at least find your brother in all this mess?” says Applejack.
“I did!” Fluttershy points to nothing, smiling brightly. “Say 'Hi', Zephyr.” Then she suddenly glares. “Zephyr!”

Fluttershy shakes her head, and Applejack plays the next video.

Fluttershy is running ahead of Applejack down the hallway where Honey Creme died, and she is muttering.

“Zephyr's fine. Zephyr's here. Zephyr's fine. Zephyr's here. Zephyr's fine. Zephyr's here.”

Fluttershy takes a sharp turn into the destroyed shop with Applejack following close behind, and after they get behind the counter Fluttershy activates her cutter, keeping it aimed down while she puts her hoof up to nothing.

“Shh~ Shh~ Zephyr. It’s okay. I'm here. I'm here,” says Fluttershy. “He's fine. I'm fine. He's fine. He's fine. Zephyr's fine. Zephyr's here. Zephyr's fine. Zephyr's here.”

Fluttershy only stops when Applejack covers her mouth, but the glare she gives Applejack is barely contained rage.

“No, this... This isn't right,” says Fluttershy. “You edited those! Zephyr's right here!”

Fluttershy points at Zephyr, who is leaning against the Marker's container, but Applejack plays the next video without bothering to look.

Fluttershy is walking ahead of Applejack down one of the derelict hallways, still mumbling to herself.

“Zephyr's fine. Zephyr's here. Zephyr's fine. Zephyr's here,” she says without missing a beat.

When Fluttershy passes by a vent, she suddenly snarls, pushes an invisible body to the side and rams herself into the wall with a loud thud that echoes down the hallway.

Applejack swears and the camera jerks as she jumps back, and Fluttershy then punches the wall and proceeds to stomping on the floor, growling viciously, and when she is done she is panting heavily and looks at Applejack with a manic look in her eye.

“Are you okay?”

The video fast forwards to Fluttershy walking down a hallway with a row of bloodied and cracked windows. Behind the windows, Necromorphs lumber about in a large room full of office equipment. Fluttershy's ears are twitching and her breathing is heavy as she looks around with a panic in her eyes.

“Zephyr's fine. Zephyr's here. Zephyr's fine. Zephyr's here,” recites Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, be quiet and stay low,” orders Applejack in a firm whisper.

“Zephyr's fine Zephyr's here Zephyr's fine Zephyr's here,” says Fluttershy quickly, trembling and her eye snapping in every direction it can go.

“Fluttershy, please be quiet. You're going to get us killed,” says Applejack in a heavier voice.

“Zephyr's fine Zephyr's here! Zephyr's fine Zephyr's here!”

Some Necromoprhs stop their mindless walking to scan the area, and Fluttershy suddenly stops, shakes her head and steps back, looking side to side frantically.

“Zephyr? Applejack?” calls Fluttershy.

“I'm right here. Now be quiet!” snaps Applejack.

Fluttershy paces in a circle and then gallops ahead.

“Zephyr!? Applejack!?” calls Fluttershy again.

The Necromorphs on the other side look at Fluttershy and gallop after her, and Applejack does the same while her weapon cocks.

“Shit,” growls Applejack.

“Zephyr! Applejack!” yells Fluttershy. She coughs into her hoof and stumbles forward, and with her hoof pressed against the wall, she screams, “ZEPHYR!”

Then the Necromorphs break through the glass and lunge at Fluttershy, and the footage cuts out.

Fluttershy stares at the holographic projection. The blank projection reflects off of her wide, tear filled eye, and every muscle locks as a heavy weight suffocates her. Her hoof lifts just a bit, and she turns to the container, looking at Zephyr. Zephyr, in turn, silently stares back with his hoof extended and Fluttershy lifts her hoof, wanting to reach out to him. To feel him. To prove he is real.

“Zephyr's fine...” says Fluttershy distantly. She extends her hoof to Zephyr. “Zephyr's here...”
“No, he ain't,” says Applejack. “He was never with you, Fluttershy. It is that Marker messing with you, making you see ghosts. Hell, maybe it’s that infection making you see thing. But you ain’t well.”

The Marker pulses, ejecting faint hieroglyphs, and Fluttershy shakes her head while Arcos types on his wrist computer and Rainbow Dash keeps her distance, intently watching the scene unfold.

“No. You see him. Arcos sees him. I see him,” says Fluttershy.

“He ain't here,” says Applejack firmly.

“Zephyr's fine. Zephyr's here.”

“No, he ain't.”

“Zephyr's fine! Zephyr's here!”

“Then ask him if he is real!”

Fluttershy snaps her head to Applejack, and the agent nods to where Fluttershy was looking.

“Ask him if he is real,” orders Applejack.

Fluttershy keeps her hoof slightly raised and looks at Zephyr, who is still smiling at her with his hoof extended.

“Take my hoof. Make us whole again,” says Zephyr.

Fluttershy remains quiet, and Applejack steps next to her.

“Do it, Fluttershy! I'm tired of your destructive denial! Ask him if he's real!” yells Applejack.

“Are you real?” asks Fluttershy quietly.

“You're looking at me, aren't you?” says Zephyr.

Fluttershy's heart skips a beat.

“That wasn't the question... Are you real?” asks Fluttershy.

“You see me,” replies Zephyr.

“Answer the question... Are you... Are you real?”

“You're talking to me.”

“Zephyr, please answer the question! Are you real?”

“You see me, hear me, I've been next to you this whole time.”

“Are you real!? Yes or no!?”

Zephyr takes a step back, his smile growing. “You already know.”

Fluttershy's ear droops, and Applejack steps between her and Zephyr, completely blocking her view of him.

“He was never there,” says Applejack. “Your mind is messed up, but now that you know the truth you can focus and go the rest of the way. Once we can get out of here, we'll take you to Sparkle Station and get you fixed. Right?”

Applejack looks at Arcos, and he nods in response. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash scoffs and shakes her head as she walks in circles, and Fluttershy turns to Arcos.

“You lied to me,” says Fluttershy, her voice low and heavy.

“I did. But look on the bright side. You got the warp battery for me as well as great footage to study, and you got the ghost of your brother plus we discovered you have a resistance to the Necro-bacteria which will be perfect for study. A win-win-win if I do say so myself,” says Arcos.

Fluttershy takes a deep, shaky breath and focuses on Arcos.

“Where is Zephyr? Is he here? Is he locked up around here somewhere?” asks Fluttershy.

“Do you really want to know?”

“Tell me. Right now.”

Arcos shrugs, and with a jovial hum, he pushes a button on his wrist computer, causing a wall at the far end to open, revealing the profiles of everyone on board, and all red outlined in red. Seeing this, every tension in Fluttershy breaks down and a sickness takes over as she steps back.

“Computer, please enlarge colonist profile: Zephyr Breeze, and play last transmission in full,” says Arcos.

Zephyr's profile appears, his smiling face in a red box with all his vitals flat and his last location displayed. Section C, Room 60.

Beneath the information is another block, showing audio wavelengths that fluctuate as Zephyr's broken voice flows from the speakers around the room.

“Fluttershy... It's me... I know we don't talk much, but I don't know who else to talk to. I don't know how I'm supposed to... It's just all wrong. All of it. It wasn't supposed to be this way and now... Now I don't know what else to do,” says Zephyr. “I... can't even think straight. I just... I'm sorry for everything, Fluttershy. I wish I could talk to mom or dad, but I have a feeling that they will ignore my calls. Ever since they kicked me out of their cloud I haven't been able to reach them, and since I can't apologize to them for being a terrible child, I could at least try to apologize to you for being a terrible brother. You at least answered my calls once every few months, but... I'm scared... I don't know how I'm supposed to do this. I just wished you answered my call just one more time... Then you could have told me the most painless way to kill myself. If I don't kill myself, then those things will kill me in horrible, painful ways. I want my death to be quick. I don't want to suffer anymore. I want... I want this nightmare to be over. I'm sorry, Fluttershy. This will be the last message you'll get from me. Don't come for me, you'll die here, just like me... I love you, sis.”

The audio ends and Fluttershy drops to the ground, eye wide and bloodshot, and mouth hanging open as she struggles to breathe. In front of her, Arcos paces from one side to the other, Rainbow Dash is silent with her nostrils flaring and wings twitching, and Applejack takes a couple of steps back.

“The truth is, is that he has been dead this whole time, but the Marker emits a frequency that manipulates our senses, tricking us in ways it sees fit. It manipulates what we see, what we hear, and when we snap from madness the next function begins. Cellular reconstruction of the corpse,” says Arcos. “How or why that happens is yet to be determined, but I know us survivors can figure it out somehow. Or at least me, anyway.”

Arcos voice drifts off to silence, yet his beak keeps moving. The world goes dim and quiet, and Fluttershy stares at Arcos, chest heaving, heart thumping in her ears and twitches surging through her body. The base of her wings tingle, and the taste of bile rises in her throat. Fluttershy glances to the side, her jaw set and nostrils flaring, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack's mouths are moving with no words. Rainbow Dash's ears are flat, her tail is flicking, and her wings are twitching, and Applejack has a scowl of her own. Both ponies are going in a slow circle, like wolves readying for a fight.

Fluttershy looks back at Arcos, her hoof digging in the floor as she pushes herself up with her ears flat against her skull and tears streaming down her cheek. The griffin is still talking and waving his talons around without a care of what was revealed.

Behind Arcos, the Marker pulses, releasing a red aura of hieroglyphs that feel like they are burning into Fluttershy, and Zephyr returns to step between her and the doctor, smiling.

“Don't worry, Fluttershy. It was quick and painless,” says Zephyr. He extends his hoof to her. “But we're here now, you and me. You can end this right here, right now. Just take my hoof. Make us whole again.”

“With all the data I collected and with you, Dash and Agent Apple as surviving subjects of this grand experiment to provide first hand experience, I can change the world. Or worlds,” says Arcos, snickering. “The Marker is the key to our ascension.”

Rainbow Dash takes a sudden step towards Applejack, and the agent takes a couple of steps backwards, aiming her weapon at her former commander.

“Back up, right now!” orders Applejack.

“Or you'll do what? Shoot me?” sneers Rainbow Dash, stepping closer. “Come on, pull the trigger. You already betrayed us. Go the rest of the way!”

“I'm trying to get us out of here! I want to go home just like you. Bloom and Mac need me!”

“Rumble and Sweetie needed Thunderlane and Rarity, too. But you killed them. YOU!”

The Marker pulses again, and the hieroglyphs are burned into Fluttershy's mind, making her wince and rub her head while Zephyr remains standing in front of it.

“End your pain. Make us whole again,” says Zephyr.

“I know you're mad,” says Arcos, taking a step closer to Fluttershy.

“I SAID BACK UP!” shouts Applejack.

“PULL THE TRIGGER! COME ON! YOU ALREADY KILLED EVERYPONY ELSE!” screams Rainbow Dash.

“But, Fluttershy, you are special,” continues Arcos. “Your profile pointed to a filly afraid of her own shadow, but I saw who you really are, and I see a great future for you, but you have to take the next step. You have to follow me and the Marker to Sparkle Station.”

The Marker pulses again and the lights and screens flicker, plunging the room in chaotic flickers of darkness with red swirling lights flashing on and off, as well as the emergency alarm.
Fluttershy is struggling to breathe, her chest hurts, and her throat is tight, and the tension has returned, winding up all her limbs to a painful tightness.

“I know you're upset, but trust me, I only want what is best for you,” says Arcos.

“We only want what is best for you.”

Hearing those words, remembering that phrase told to her all those years back, Fluttershy's pupil shrinks to a dot and the Marker pulses again, plunging the room in near total darkness.

“YOU BASTARD!” screams Fluttershy.

She gallops past Zephyr and all Arcos can do before he is subjugated to wrath is widen his eyes. Fluttershy tackles the griffin head on, and the two roll over each other with Fluttershy landing on top of him. She screams and wails as she punches and stomps on his face and chest, drawing blood with each strike, and with every strike her destroyed mane flaps over her face and her vision becomes redder as his blood splashes on her. Behind her, Rainbow Dash rams Applejack, and the two roll over each other, snarling and dealing blows with Rainbow Dash's wings flapping madly, covering both bodies in a mess of feathers and colorful hair.

Applejack's gun goes off, spraying the container and ceiling with bullets. The large pieces of the glass shatters and sparks fall from the ceiling while bullet casings clatter on the floor. As this happens, Fluttershy keeps beating Arcos, despite his attempts to slash her with his talons.

“I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!” yells Fluttershy, half screaming and half sobbing with tears soaking her broken face.

Arcos gags and twitches and his swipes are useless from his chest being caved in and his face being broken. Bloody bones pop through his suit and his throat is popped as his skull is cracked open, and Fluttershy keeps going, screaming, and sobbing.

Rainbow Dash is rolled on her back and Applejack climbs on top of her, stomping on her chest. After a couple of stomps, Rainbow Dash blocks and retaliates with a jab to Applejack's throat. Applejack gags and rolls off, clutching her throat, and the commander quickly gets up and puts Applejack in a choke hold.

Fluttershy keeps stomping and sobbing. Arcos' head is now flat, his skull, broken beak and brain matter all over the floor, mixing with the blood spreading. His eye is staring at the Marker and his limbs twitch, and calmly pacing around Fluttershy is Zephyr, smirking as she gulps for air with blood and tears dripping off her face.

“Just die already!” snarls Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy looks at Rainbow Dash and sees she still has a hold on Applejack. The earth pony's face is turning blue, but she musters enough strength to push herself up, stand on her hind legs, and fall backwards, squishing Rainbow Dash between her and the floor. Rainbow Dash grunts, but keeps her grip on Applejack, and Applejack rolls around, pushes herself up again and takes a leap. As she is in the air, she twists and lets gravity work, slamming Dash on the floor again. This time her grip loosens, and Applejack breaks free, rolls to her hoofs, and while Rainbow Dash scrambles up, Applejack hooks her hoof around Dash's slender neck and tugs her down. There is a loud thud and crack, and Fluttershy gallops forward, only to be wrapped up in the aura from Applejack's Artificial Telekinesis Module.
Fluttershy is then lifted in the air, and as she grunts and kicks Applejack keeps her hoof trained on Fluttershy, guiding her higher up while her free hoof stomps on Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash curls up with a loud cry of pain, and Applejack stomps on her again before turning her focus to Fluttershy.

“You killed us,” says Applejack, panting and watching Fluttershy struggle in the aura with a glare wrinkling her face. “Arcos had the other password we needed, and you killed him.”

“He killed my brother,” says Fluttershy roughly through her teeth. “He killed all these people! Don't you care about that?”

Rainbow Dash wheezes and then jumps up, taking a swing at Applejack, but she blocks it, hooks their hoofs together and headbutts Dash. The pegasus buckles, and then she is headbutted again and thrown to the ground with a bloody maw and then Applejack stomps her again. After that, Applejack returns her attention to Fluttershy with streaks of Rainbow Dash's blood trickles down her head and her eyes getting darker as she shakes her head.

“I tried to make things right,” says Applejack. “I tried to get us outta here, but y'all made it clear that ya don't want to leave. I guess y'all got nothing left, but I do. Bloom and Mac need me, and I won't let you two stop me from going home!”

There is a burst of energy from Applejack's module and Fluttershy is launched backwards. Her back hits the wall of profiles, and glass and sparks pop around her, and as she hits the floor they bounce off and around her. Fluttershy coughs and arches her back as she tries standing, but before she can, Applejack levitates the network of computers and launches them at Fluttershy. A mix of shock, cuts from broken glass and blunt trauma hit Fluttershy and the impact of the cluster slams her into the profile wall again, covering her in broken computers, sparks, and glass. Fluttershy lays limp on the ground, trembling and bleeding, watching as Applejack grabs the warp battery and its module.

“Feel free to die here,” says Applejack, her voice echoing in the chamber as she walks away.

Fluttershy looks at Rainbow Dash's limp figure, then at Zephyr as he walks towards her, tilting his head slightly as her blood spreads. Then she goes limp and her eye closes.

Author's Note

So, stuff happened in my life and more stuff will happen because that is life. But the good news is that we are on the home stretch for this thing.
Will Fluttershy and Dash make it off the Bon Voyage? Or will they die?
Keep reading and find out!