> I Prefer the Term Freelancer
>  by One of the Crowd
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Oh It's You
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1: Oh it’s you
“Twilight, Twilight” Spike yelled while sprinting up the hill toward a group of ponies who were enjoying a day away from their usually busy lives well all except for rainbow who was rarely busy. The dragon trying to get the message he was carrying to his sister figure as soon as possible had forgotten that stumpy legs and inclines were a rather unfortunate combination for him. As he was about to reach the top of the hill he tripped sending his face into a pie pinkie had made for her friends outing today.

“Are you alright Spike” Twilight said while trying to helping him get to his feet while everybody else were laughing at the poor guys expense well everybody except rarity who held a more serious expression upon her face.

“Oh I know why he’s here he want to party, well spike don’t worry your ol pal pinkie pie will have one ready in a minute” pinkie said pulling the dragon away from the lavender alicorn and dragging him off to Celestia knows where. Spike of course did not plan on having a party today as he was here to deliver an important message so he slipped out of the mare’s grip with a ‘pop’.

“Not today pinkie I actually have an important message for twilight, and another message for somepony else Celestia said twilight would know” Spike said and then began to panic as he realized he dropped the message after having pie in his face. Believing that he had forgotten the message back at the castle he sprinted off without another word. Twilight floated the two scrolls that were lying beside the pie tin over to her and began to read.

Dear princess Twilight (Still proud of you by the way)

A certain matter has come to my and my sister’s attention as of late and it would be in equestria’s best interest if you and the other elements of harmony were to go away for lack of a better term until the trouble has passed. Do not worry however as the other message that I sent spike is to guarantee you and your friends’ safety until the issue can be resolved. As for whom the message is for you should remember him my dear pupil as someone very unique. You will find him and his company out in the Badlands and remember to be polite I doubt your knew status will change his views of you much.

Signed 
Princess Celestia

“Well what’s it say Twilight” applejack said trying to look over the alicorn’s shoulder to get a better view of the letter that she was reading  with mixed emotions on her face. The alicorn set aside the scroll and stared angrily at the other as if her gaze alone would make the scroll cease to exist.

“It says that we are going to have to go away for awhile and meet a certain person who I can’t stand” twilight replied in a rather agitated voice.

“Uh don’t you mean pony” dash chimed in as she flew beside her friend.

“No I mean person rainbow, you should remember him” she said while walking back down the hill toward the castle. “Pack your bags girls this is going to be a long trip”. 

***In the Badlands***

“So my hand is stuck in the window and it’s turning all purple when they finally realize that is the reason I’m screaming my head off, and you know what I was screaming?” The Blue eyed man asked while looking at his companions around the fire. Finally the only changeling of the group decided to speak up.

“By any chance did it involve the window and the word fucking” she asked as she tried to stealthily move in closer to him. He looked at the changeling for a minute before grabbing onto her and pulling her into a hug.

“Half right because you said window, but as for the other word no I was only 5 at the time so I didn’t know it yet. Why do you think all my stories are going to involve me cussing anyway Luca” The man said letting the changeling go to answer him more directly.

“Give me a minute to pull out the checklist Isaac.” She then proceeded to actually pull a checklist out of the log they were sitting on. After dusting  some of the dust that seemed to be everywhere in the Badlands off it  she began naming out various reasons why she assumes his stories involve him cussing including but are not limited to his basic vocabulary, his advanced vocabulary, his stories actually do have him cuss more often than not…

“…And finally whenever i surprise you back at the tent wi-“

“OK I GET IT, don’t scare everyone else off Luca, I mean look at Flim over there” Isaac said while pointing toward the unicorn who was trying his best to not seem like he wanted to know what happened next. Luca gave a snort before she started full on laughing at the poor guys expense seeing as this was her favorite kind of comedy, The Sex joke kind. Isaac couldn’t help but grin at his girlfriend or mare friend? Changeling friend’s antics because that was just another thing he loved about this creature who was with him since the very beginning of his journey  toward becoming one of the best freelance groups in Equis. A certain red horned unicorn with a dark grey coat and pitch black mane made his way toward the fire, and proceeded to sit beside Flim.

“Flim can you please get Flam to stop trying to get me to make crystals grow out of nothing because it’s getting rather annoying” Sombra said and then he proceeded to take a deep breath before saying. “You always find the strange ones don’t you Isaac”.

“I do and that’s why you’re here. Have to expand my group of loonies and crazies after all” The former king gave a small chuckle at that.

“You know if you said that to me before you helped fix my head I would have had yours removed”

“That’s why I helped you so I could insult an all powerful unicorn and they not try to kill me” Isaac’s face went from a smile to a frown as the memory came back to him in full force.

“Sorry about that” Sombra said trying to help one of the few ponies or people in this case that considered the former tyrant a friend.

“No, it’s alright Sombra that was more my fault I think It might be a good Idea if I turned in early anyway I got one of my feelings” Isaac said as he started walking toward his and Luca’s Tent.

“Wait your having one of those feelings again. Well this can’t be good” Luca said as she trotted beside her Boyfriend. He only gave a nod as he proceeded into their tent because whatever it was they’d have to deal with it one way or another.

***Back in ponyville***

The group of mares had gotten up early the next day to make their plans as to how to get to the badlands and to not get any unnecessary attention. Fluttershy had angel with her and her saddlebags had almost nothing except carrots. Pinkie’s bags also had supplies of the festive kind with streamers and balloons as well as a few pastries she because you can’t have a party without cake. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were a little more realistic in what they need with packing water, tents, various foods, and other gear they might need out in the wilderness. Twilight had finally come out of her gigantic castle in the middle of town with one of her saddlebags containing a book and the other containing various things she’s need while they were gone.

“Um twilight we’re probably going to be gone for awhile don’t ya think you should pack a little more?” applejack asked thinking that her friend might not quite understand the need for this stuff.

“Don’t worry Applejack My bags can carry a lot more than you think because I enchanted them to hold as much as I need to by…” Applejack just nodded at what the alicorn was saying because this was one of those times Twilight wouldn’t quit talking unless you shoved something into her face or something defying logic happened before her eyes. As if on cue spike came into view pulling a cart at full sprint with not only rarity but practically her entire boutique on it. 

“Darn it Rarity you realize we ain’t going on vacation and that we have to lay low. I swear Braeburn can probably see that all the way in Appleloosa” Applejack said in an exasperated way.

“Darling a lady must be prepared besides once we get there we won’t have to carry a thing”

“Um Rarity you do realize that it’s not a hotel right” rainbow decided to add as she began taking various pieces of luggage off the cart. Rarity pouted at the idea but realized arguing with applejack or rainbow was pointless let alone both of them. So they set off with their bags packed and their heads held high for some reason.

***1 week later***
“This looks like the place girls” twilight said then she sighed at the idea of meeting him again. Sure she didn’t like him and he didn’t like her that was fine but she didn’t intend to poison him that was a complete accident.

“You alright there sugar cube?” Applejack asked nuzzling the side of her friend in an attempt to comfort her. Everypony else crowded around the alicorn so that if needed they could help their rather sad/angry friend. Twilight looked up at them all and nodded to answer the question then looked back up with determination in her eyes because she was not going to let this bring her down because she had her friends by her side. With that they entered the small camp with various Tents and objects strewn about the place before the group eyed a certain Blond headed man walking out of a tent. Three of the ponies faces lit up with joy, one held her head down in shame, and the other two for lack of a better term were pissed.

“HEY ISAAC OVER HERE” The rainbow maned Pegasus yelled over to the human who turned his head and froze. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things before sprinting off in another direction entirely screaming his own name.

“Well that could have gone better” rainbow said as she proceeded to follow the human to wherever he was running off to.

“And where do you think you’re going” Applejack said as she lassoed one of rainbows legs to keep her from flying off.

“To see Isaac, duh” rainbow said as she started to mess with the knot holding her hoof in place. Applejack merely glared at rainbow. Applejack remembers the human from his time in ponyville and she didn’t like him the moment she saw him he had secrets and that was a sign you can’t trust someone if they hide themselves from you. However not all her friends would see her reasoning well all except twilight that also disliked him though for a different reason all together.

The human then appeared again though this time he was following a female Pegasus with a red coat and a purple unkempt mane. He finally was able to see why he had been dragged out of his tent before yelling:
“BUTTERS, DASH, RARITY” then he proceeded to run up and hug at least two of the mares while rainbow flew just above him. “It’s good to see you guys again”
“The feelings mutual Isaac how have you been” Rarity asked as the human let go of her and Fluttershy.
“Oh you know little of this little of that. Oh, nearly forgot” reaching into a bag he kept on his belt loop he  proceeded to pull out 15 bits. “You were right making clothes is impossible without having something to help, I don’t know how you do it”
“Well it is my special talent darling but keep your money that wasn’t a real bet after all” The white unicorn replied while handing the bits back to Isaac. He put them back into the bag and deciding to begin conversing with at least one of the Pegasi.
“So how about you butter, things been good for you since I left. That manticore hasn’t given you anymore trouble has he?”  The human asked his soft spoken friend.
“Oh no Mr. Bubbles has been a lot better and often walks with me in the everfree now” she said when a certain rabbit hopped out of one of her bags and began thumping the ground.
“Oh sorry angel didn’t see ya. You have been good to fluttershy here, right?” Isaac said glaring at the rabbit who nodded its head as fast as possible. “Good. Anyways rainbow whats u-“
“Are you just going to ignore us” twilight said glaring daggers at the human. The human merrily got back up to his full height before replying with:
“That was the plan Sparkly, now what do you want and why should I not kick you, the racist, and the witch hunter out of my camp” Isaac angrily said glaring at the alicorn and two earth ponies. Twilight was about to say something when she remembered celestia wanted her to at least try to be polite to the human  so she pulled out the message and handed it to him. He observed to see that the royal seal was still intact and it wasn’t in anyway opened before.
“Well this might be enough to keep you all here, but for now sit back and relax. Oh and spike you know I’m over the whole burning my shoes thing it was an accident.” Isaac called out as he turned to enter his tent. The dragon slowly crept out of a rock conveniently a few yards away from the camp and ran up toward the ponies. “Anyway you all stay here with Luca she’ll keep you company while I read this.” With that the human entered his tent already having an idea as to why he had to watch over these ponies. "God, I hope I'm wrong because if not we're all screwed."  
> Agree to Disagree
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2: Agree to Disagree

Isaac read and reread the letter trying to be sure that he was seeing things clearly or if he was hallucinating because this letter isn't good news in the slightest aside from the pay anyway. Isaac decided that he had to read this one more time before making a decision on whether or not to agree to the contract.

Dear Isaac

We request your services in a rather sensitive matter. As you already know by receiving this letter the elements of harmony have come to you and probably mentioned having to hide from something. I did not tell them what they were to hide from but you however have encountered it before. It is with this reason that I am offering you a contract and upon its completion you will be rewarded with five million bits. However you will only receive payment if all of the elements remain safe and sound, and I know you do not wish to look after twilight I am asking you not as a princess but as your friend to please look after her especially as she is the most likely target. If you accept this contract do as asked however if you decline send them back to canterlot so that we may protect them.
Signed
Princess Celestia

"Well, shit. I knew it. I fucking knew it wasn't over" Isaac said again as he finished reading the letter again. Sighing and rolling the letter back up Issac placed it in his belt before walking back outside to give his answer to the awaiting ponies. Pulling the tent's door open he was met with a rather disheartening sight as the six ponies he was asked to protect were attempting to pulverize one of his crew members, and his girlfriend was lying unconscious a few feet away. Sombra had returned from scouting out the cave they were planning on exploring later in the month and had been spotted by one of the ponies.

"HOLD IT," Issac yelled getting the ponies to look at him quizzically before Rainbow asked in a rather angry tone:

"Do you have any idea who this is? It's king Sombra you know the tyrant that ruled the crystal empire before it disappeared and then reappeared." Sombra had finally gotten his barrings back after a minute of recuperating  from having to throw up shield spells repeatedly for the past three minutes.

"I am no longer a king and I don't deserve the title after what I've done to those who saw me as their leader" Sombra stated before walking over to Isaac and handing him a piece of paper. "These are all the notes I took while over in the cave. It definitely has potential into leading to some of the old ruins around here."

"Good, now Sombra considering your welcome back to camp you wont have to be on watch tonight. I'll take the position as an apology for our new guests." Sombra nodded and gave a thanks before walking off into another part of camp. Isaac then walked over to luca who was laying unconscious on the ground. "Now please explain to me why my girlfriend is knocked out, and do not give me an answer that I don't like because I can still  kick your asses to the curb,"

"Wait she's your girlfriend?" Twilight asked as she walked over to the unconscious body. "I thought you said it was taboo or something back in your-"

"Twilight i'm not getting an answer and you are wearing down my patience with your prodding in my love life. Now tell me why she is like this" Isaac said lifting the Pegasus disguised changeling onto his back to take her to their 'doctor'.

"She might of gotten in the way when I tried to knock out Sombra" Isaac just sighed before beckoning them to follow with his free hand. This of course did not sit to well with Isaac however the decision on what to do did not lie on his shoulders alone he had to know what everyone else thought of first. Finally arriving at a brown tent with a small cross painted on the door with something, no one really wanted to know. Making his way in Isaac set Luca down on the center table of the room before a zebra walked out from behind a curtain.

"What are you doing here Zecora," Applejack asked the zebra who looked at her as if she were insane and began moving as if she were trying to speak without talking.

"Wow, I am so sorry Silver. She only knows one zebra so please do not hold it against her." Isaac then turned toward the earth pony. "God damn it, you really can't tell the difference between her and Zecora. Jesus I thought you were racist before but this is just a whole new level."

"I ain't racist they look exactly alike, and why are you talking for her anyway?"Isaac pulled the earth pony aside before beginning with explaining why she is in fact being a prick. 

"First off they do not look the same I mean look at the style of mowhawk, see how it dips with each white stripe that has a meaning to it. Secondly she can't speak" Applejack's eyes widened after being told that the zebra can't speak so she asked:

"Why can't she" 

"It's a little hard to speak when you don't have a tongue anymore but you don't want to hear that story, trust me" Issac finished his sentence in a rather quiet way leaving it just audible in the deathly silent tent. Silver walked up behind the human and gave him a hug before motioning him down to her level and making various motions with her hoof.

"It was my fault Silver, If I didn't try to intervene then you wouldn't have-" The zebra pressed a hoof over the mans mouth before motioning toward the table where their companion was lying unconscious. The zebra then proceeded to disappear under the table throwing various bottles over her shoulder and landing perfectly on a table behind her completely unscathed. Finally she pulled out a small container filled with you guessed it smelling salts.

*cough**cough*"Chrysalis, Silver do you have to get me up using that every time i'm knocked out." The changeling then dropped her disguise before realizing she was in a room with six ponies that didn't know about her. The ponies got ready to fight when the zebra pulled out a staff and the human rushed into the middle of the groups.

"Um, Isaac can you move, I mean there is a changeling there and you might get hurt" Fluttershy said walking up to the human in an attempt to get him out of the way. Isaac looked down at the Pegasus before patting her head and  saying:

"Yes, Luca is a changeling, and you will take care to remember that she is friendly. Do you understand?" Isaac said toward the group.

"But Isaac changelings were the meanies that attacked Canterlot  during shiny's wedding. They steal love  and hurt ponies and are rude and-"

"That whole hurts people and are rude sounds familiar don't it, But anyway you remember Canterlot had ample warning to the invasion, correct?" they all nodded except for pinkie who had a tear forming in her eye. "Well you can thank Luca here. She impersonated a guard and handed the information off. She was against the invasion from the start," The ponies looked at each other, then the changeling and then pointed at her which Isaac nodded to before all there jaws dropped. 

"Wait she could be lying to you and how do we know you aren't under her spell" rainbow asked getting too close for the changeling comfort.

"First part, she could be and second part she can't" Isaac shrugged before leaving the tent with Luca and Silver following. Next stop was the workshop to see how flim and flam were coming along with a special project Isaac had given them. The workshop tent had many holes due to many failures and triumphs of the brothers who had been assigned here.

"Flim, Flam, How goes the project?" Isaac asked the two brothers who were incredibly focused on a small contraption on the table.

"Aside from Flim nearly having his head blown off pretty good." Flam said rather excitedly as he pulled Isaac over to the table to have a closer look. The girls growing curious as to what exactly these guys were talking about inched closer to them only to be caught when Applejack decided to tell Isaac what she thinks of their inventions.

"Isaac don't get to close to them they will take every bit you have if you let them" Isaac looked back over his shoulder and face palmed rather hard as it left a red print across his face.

"Sure, I'll take your advice about who to trust definitely not myself  who has traveled with these two for at least a year. Yes oh wise one what was I thinking, Flim, Flam, you are up for elimination head to tribal council for the vote." The joke obviously went over most if not all of the ponies heads, however Luca was trying  to keep a straight face. Applejack gave a deadpan look at Isaac before muttering "you'll be sorry"

"Anyway these two are invaluable here as they can create just about anything you can think of as well as get us the lowest prices possible when we have to head into a town"  Isaac continued to say why these two absolutely had to be here for at least another five minutes not because he meant all of it but because Applejack was getting more and more frustrated with the praise the two were receiving. Finally deciding that he had annoyed the apple farmer enough he began to head toward the fire pit that had Sombra sitting on one of the logs surrounding it reading a book. Taking a seat across from him the girls surrounded Isaac and proceeded to let their concerns be heard in the most dignified way possible.

"ARE YOU BUCKING INSANE" They all yelled in unison.

"Yes, but why do you bring this up" Isaac asked looking up to see Sombra had left a few moments ago probably to get away form his attackers.

"Almost all if not all of your group are evil" Twilight said getting closer to the mans face.

"They are not evil you may see them as such but they are not" Isaac said rather disdainfully.

"Yes they are, Flim and Flam are one thing but you have a changeling and Sombra with you and they are evil" Twilight tried to emphasize the evil bit at the end there but it only served to irritate Isaac.

"Alright if you call them evil one more time you are all gone I do not have to deal with you all and neither do they. So please sparkly tell me again what you think of my company." Twilight backed away as the man got up from his seat to tower over the alicorn who was a full two feet shorter than him. Before she could speak Luca spoke up from behind them:

"Hey Isaac what do you want for dinner tonight" Isaac looked at twilight with a wicked grin and said

"I'm thinking quesadillas tonight"

***That Night***

Isaac was enjoying his extra cheesy quesadilla with Luca doing the same beside him when Sombra decided to ask

"Why is Twilight hiding over there" Isaac looked over to the cowering alicorn who was hiding behind one of the cart used to move the camp from place to place. Isaac grinned and simply stated that he didn't know. He actually had no idea why but he did know that twilight was scared of quesadillas for some reason and jumped on the opportunity to mess with her. Finally Luca decided it was time to get some questions answered since she could now get confirmation on their truthfulness by Isaac's past acquaintances.

"So Isaac I've been wondering for awhile now, how exactly did you get into Equestria anyway" Isaac chocked on his food after being asked that question so suddenly which forced luca to smack his back in an attempt to get it out of his throat. When it came up it got a lot of air and laded in Rarity's mane causing her to run around in panic trying to remove the cheesy substance.

"Well, uh, you see, can I get some water" Isaac asked trying to get the changeling to back away from the question. The changeling expecting this to happen already had a cup of it ready and handed it to him before saying "ok, spill"

"Fine, kick back you are going to hear all of this not just the entrance but the exit as well or at least what was the exit plan" Isaac glared at twilight at the end of his sentence.

*** 2 years ago***

"Yeah I...I know...alright i'll be there in a minute just passing by the lake near your house now. Ok see ya soon" Isaac hung up his phone  as he passed by the lake near his friend mason's house. It was relatively late at night but Fireworks wait for no man especially when they were mason's. While passing the lake Isaac saw frantic splashing toward the middle of it which were punctuated with pleas for help. Isaac was a man who would stand by when it wasn't his problem, however when the situation was life or death he was one of the first to charge in. Not taking the time to bother removing anything he dived into the water and swam as fast as he could toward the middle of the lake to save whoever was in danger. When he got to where the splashing was however there was nothing. Fearing that they might have gone down he dove under the surface and went as deep as he could go when he suddenly felt something grab him from above.

Issac busted out of the fountain in the Canterlot  Gardens taking in deep breaths not even caring to look around him when he heard a scream come from behind him. Upon turning around he saw the strangest thing in his day, a unicorn. He climbed out of the fountain and proceeded to walk away from this in the direction of masons house because he believed he was hallucinating. However when he slammed into a rather tall white alicorn he froze and said

"Well, shit. Did old man Jenkins fish me out of the lake cause I think he should chill with his horse fetish" The princess stared at the creature before her for a minute before smiling and saying:

"I have no idea who this Mr. Jenkins is, but no my maid over there fished you out of my fountain"

"Yep, definitely hallucinating. Maybe if I shove my head back into that fountain I'll see clearly again." The alicorn chuckled at the mans idea to help recover his vision but surely no one would actually... never mind he did. Celestia yanked the man back out of the fountain and turned him to face her.

"You are not hallucinating, and you probably shouldn't submerge your head in water to long you still need to breath, I think"

"Ok, I am in Narnia now obviously since you are talking so...um.. I am a son of Adam" Celestia just blinked once, twice, three times before giggling and asking:

"What are you talking about"

"FISSION MAILED, FISSION MAILED, ABORT ABORT" Celestia began to think that whatever this creature was it was clearly insane. So deciding that enough was enough  with playing with this creature she decided it was time to investigate. It was a long boring process of explaining what he was and attempting to answer any questions she asked about the human race. The whole process took at least a solid month before finally Celestia's thirst for knowledge was quenched for now anyway. However they did not realize that they did not have a plan for how to get Isaac home after the fountain seemed to just be that a fountain. Celestia couldn't stand the look in Isaac's eyes when he was told she didn't know of a way home but she did have a back up plan.

"Isaac I believe I know someone who can help get you home" With that Isaac was sent to Ponyville where he was to stay with twilight sparkle until she could find away to send him home. 

***Back to now***

"I'd rather not talk about everything that happened those few months I was there Luca so I'm just going to skip ahead to why the exit strategy didn't work out" Isaac took a deep breath. "The way home closed my third month in Ponyville and I didn't know for another two months because helping me wasn't on Twilight's schedule for longer than three minutes a day." Twilight was looking at Isaac with guilt on her mind as if she had just done as she was asked she could avoided all this trouble with him.

"Oh, i'm sorry Isaac. I didn't know"

"Don't be Luca you helped me out of my depression from that remember"

"Yeah I do"

	
> A Changeling Named Luca
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3: A Changeling Named Luca

*** Ponyville 1 and a half years ago***

In the sleepy town of Ponyville the local residents were all sleeping comfortably in their beds after the long day had passed. It was deathly silent through out the town where if you listened closely you could faintly hear the lake a mile out of town swaying gently across the shore. However not all the residents were sleeping soundly as the local libraries door slowly creaked open revealing a human carrying a bag with all of his belongings trying to sneak away. Isaac slowly closed the door so he would not disturb any of the local residents in town because the last thing he needed was for them to riot against him again. He shivered at the thought and proceeded to make his way out of town while crouching, because in every video game he played sneaking was simply crouching and walking. 

"Hopefully spike sent that letter like I asked, as much as I hate the majority of ponies in this town I don't hate the princess." Isaac said to himself as he inched ever closer to the edge of town. Isaac looked up into the sky and grinned when he saw the moon and stars shinning back at him. After talking to Luna about constellations she began to make them appear in the sky every night, as well as making some of her own. Isaac just had a few more feet to go when he heard yelling coming from the house to this right. A creature burst out of the door and ran into Isaac. The creature looked back up at Isaac with Fearful Blue eyes before turning her head around to see an earth pony stallion walk back out with a knife. The creature then hid behind Isaac in an attempt to hide from its attacker.

"Please help me" It said in a whisper.

"Get out of the way monster or i'll go through you to get her" The stallion said inching closer to them his knife at the ready.

"First off you even try stabbing me i'll take that knife and make you beg like a dog for me not to hurt you, Secondly why are you attempting to hurt this thing" Isaac said taking a step toward the pony who backed away when the human was a foot away from him.

"She pretended to be my marefriend Blazing, and she keeps trying to tell me that it was her all along" the stallion said trying to get Isaac to understand that his actions are justified.

"Wait, Blazing, as in Blazing Fast? The Pegasus." Isaac questioned before turning toward the creature that had been standing a few feet behind him. The stallion nodded his head at a pace that would break most men's necks but he was a pony.

"I really am Blazing though please believe me" the creature said tears in it's eyes. Isaac knew Blazing since he first came to Ponyville she was one of the one's that tried to stop them from-.

"If you are Blazing then only you'd know this so I'm going to ask you a question. Get it wrong and I move out of the way, get it right and I'll get rid of this guy" Isaac said. The earth pony tried to protest and move on to hurt the supposed Blazing, but was stopped when Isaac punched his side and took the knife before returning to the creature . "When I first came to ponyville and met Blazing I said something that was a reference to my old world, what was it?" The creature thought for a moment before finally saying:

"You said that you at least didn't end up getting teleported to xen or black mesa, I still don't understand what you meant by that." Isaac stared at her with a vary serious expression before smiling and giving her a hug. 

"It really is you!" The stallion was stupefied by the fact that the man was hugging this pretender and decided to voice his opinion vary openly.

"She is using a spell on you to get you to trust her don't you see it's not Blazing"

"I'm not using a spell though, I really am Blazing" The stallion moved closer to the creature and raised a hoof to strike her when Isaac grabbed onto it.

"You start this and I'll end it understand" The stallion looked back at him with a glare that would melt steel beams. Deciding that it was worth the risk he kicked Isaac where the sun don't shine. Isaac slumped over trying to catch his breath after the cheapest of shots when the stallion went flying over his head into a cart filled with manure. Looking up Isaac saw the creatures horn had a light that was fading around it when it proceeded to walk over to Isaac.

" Isaac, I'm sorry he got you like that. You shouldn't of tried protecting me" The pain Isaac was feeling had died down a little but he was able to speak all though his voice was a little higher than it had been earlier.

"Don't worry Blazing, you were in danger. Um can you please tell me what you are though I recall you being a Pegasus" Blazing rubbed the back of her head and decided that Isaac deserved honesty out of her so she began to explain everything to him about how she was a changeling and why that stallion was so against her.

"...And that's what led us here" Isaac just blinked at all this new information. One of his first friends here was actually a changeling a creature that feeds on positive emotions. 

"Alright Blazing, I have two more questions the first being what he meant by you were using a spell to get me to trust you" 

"He meant that changeling use mind manipulation magic on their targets, I however can no longer do that since I've been cut from the hive mind" Blazing said rubbing the back of her head and looking over at Isaac to see his reaction which remained neutral.

"Ok new second question why do you have to be part of a hive mind and why are you no longer connected to it" Isaac raised one of his eyebrows as he asked the question trying his best to impersonate those people who did it one television. Blazing looked at him in confusion for a minute due to how his face contorted before she answered:

"Changelings like unicorns can use magic that's obvious, however without the hive mind we are severely weakened in what our abilities will allow us to do, I however was always good with disguises so i retained the ability to use them and other simple forms of magic. Why I can't use the hive mind however is because...because..." Blazing started to tear up as she was about to finish her sentence "I'm an exile"

"Oh i'm sorry about that" Isaac actually had no idea what was so bad about being an exile which Blazing could see by how he was thinking a simple apology would be enough to get her to stop crying.

"You don't understand an exile changeling can't communicate with others, you hear all these voices constantly chatting and when you're severed from the hive mind it's quiet and you are alone. I am alone." Isaac reached over to the changeling and pulled her into a hug and whispered to her.

"You don't have to be alone Blazing, I can't go home and I know how much it hurts but we can help each other come to terms with it" Blazing looked up at the human tears still in her eyes.

"My name is Luca"

"Well Luca, care to come with me because I think that guy woke up and is getting the guards as we speak." The changeling nodded before changing into a Pegasus with a red coat and unkempt purple mane. The two then walked out of ponyville together never expecting the journey they were going to face after that day.

***Back to Now***

"Who would of guessed that our lives would of turned out like they did after that day, eh" Luca said as she snuggled closer to Isaac by the fire pit. The six ponies just looked at Isaac and wondered how he could possibly trust such a creature, but after his outburst earlier they were in no way going to question him about it. When Silver sat down across from Isaac everyone in the camp had finally gathered so he could get everyone's answer to the contract he was proposed.

"Alright everyone time to tell you all about why we have these guests of our, We have a contract." All the ponies in the camp turned to him the mane six's heads all snapped toward him though because they had no idea that this was his job. "Now you all know me when it comes to these things so i'll just cut to the chase. We protect those six or eight in this case and we get five million bits all in favor."

"Wait you're being hired to protect us? No offence Isaac but when you left you weren't exactly a good fighter" Rainbow said flying over toward him.

"Dash, I haven't seen you in over a year a lot has happened" Isaac said flatly when he looked over toward Sombra.

"Besides, you have no idea what we're protecting you from and only Sombra and I have gone toe to toe with it" Sombras head jerked up at the mention of their experience. Isaac looked around the fire before stating "Well, votes anyone" Everone in the camp looked at eachother before nodding in agreement and all saying:

"We'll do it"

"Alright then you all know our rules so please fill in our guests about them and Luca show them where they'll be staying" Luca grunted at having to get up from her comfortable spot next to the human and moved over to the ponies motioning them to follow.

"Alright first rule is do not go into our armory unless specifically given permission by either me or Isaac. Second everyone will treat you right if you treat them right this rule is more of a statement though" Luca glared at Twilight, "Third do not start a fight with any of us as we will not hesitate to drop the contract and leave your asses in the dust, understand." The ponies were paying as close attention as possible to the rules and still wondering why the changeling was one of the leaders here when twilight decided to voice her concerns.

"Why exactly are you all being paid to protect us, why doesn't the princess get the royal guards to" Luca face hoofed so hard the thud was heard across the  camp.

"Because if I read Isaac right then the Guard can't help you, I'm not even sure we can the only reason Isaac survived it was because he wasn't actually there he was in a dream"

"So he was asleep then he didn't actually fight it in the first place" twilight decided to poke holes in the logic being used when Luca said:

"I didn't say it was his dream did I" The other ponies froze as that power was very rare in unicorns let alone in any other creature  that has existed. "Anyway this will be where you all will stay while you are with us and remember to let one of us know if you need anything." 

"How did he get into someone else's dream" Twilight asked genuinely confused at how he was able to complete such a feat.

"Either ask him or Luna how because i don't feel like explaining it, now if you don't mind i'm going to go snuggle with my boyfriend.  Oh  and twilight, you are lucky I wasn't around when you poisoned Isaac because if I was you'd be dead." Luca then walked out of the room as happy as she was earlier that day. Trotting back up to Isaac Luca had laid her head down on his lap and made a little chirping noise to get his attention."You alright their Isaac"

"Could be better but you're here so I guess good" He replied Tiredly

"Why are you up anyway wasn't Sombra on watch tonight?" Luca questioned. Isaac rubbed his neck trying to come up with an answer that wouldn't get her to argue with him. Finding that being honest was the only way to really tell her he told her about how he took Sombras shift to apologize for the fight he was part of. "Isaac I want you to go to bed I'll take watch tonight". Isaac tried to argue but knowing Luca anything he said would be completely ignored. He then proceeded into his tent and laid down on his bed holding onto his necklace as he drifted to sleep.

"Hopefully  I wont have to fight any nightmares tonight"

	


	
> Pinkie why
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Pinkie why

*** A few minutes ago***

"Twilight, what did she mean by you poisoning Isaac?" Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow toward her friend twilight. Twilight's eyes darted around the tent looking for a way to change the topic from her accidental poisoning of Isaac. Of course though her friend would have nothing to do with any other topic than this, after all Rainbow Dash was the only one there at the time as well as the only one who knew.

"Hehe, well... you see I kind of poured some highly toxic chemicals into,um, his drinking glass" Everpony's eyes grew even larger on their heads which was surprising considering that their entire face was mostly eye to begin with. They just stared at twilight for a minute before she added, "I ran out of beakers and it was there so I figured I could use that."

"It wasn't entirely Twilight's fault, After she finished whatever she was doing me and Isaac came in from playing some Hoofball. We didn't know so he filled it up and took a drink," Rainbow said as she trotted beside her friend before continuing, "He fell over and I started panicking when twilight came back in and saw what had happened. She used some spell to slow the poison and told me to fly him to the hospital." The other ponies looked at each other then  Applejack asked.

"Why did she threaten you then"

"I tried to explain to Isaac that it was an accident, but he avoided me after that and left the next week" Twilight looked at everypony in the tent before continuing, "I didn't mean to hurt him" Pinkie's eyes were starting to tear up when she finally spoke.

"At least you didn't turn the town against him, not like I did" Pinkie's head dropped down as she stared at the floor recalling the event very clearly. "You didn't mean to hurt him, and I... and I" pinkie started crying before she could finish her sentence. Fluttershy moved over and draped a wing over pinkie to comfort her.  They all remember that day because that was the day the princess saw just how bad their town could be when they see the unknown.

*** 1 year 11 months ago***

"I don't know Blazing, I mean no one talks to me here. I don't think I've even seen a pony here that doesn't give me a death glare" Isaac said while walking down the street with Blazing beside him. Ponyville had been especially quiet today as not a single pony was out today not even Applejack who was always by her stand ready to ask Isaac far more personal questions than he enjoyed, at least Celestia wouldn't pressure him if he didn't want to answer. Eventually to get Applejack to stop asking him questions repeatedly he lied which she caught every time, and would reprimand him every time.

"You've only been here a week Isaac, You should of seen how it was when Zecora first arrived, Celestia, nopony would come out of their houses until she was gone" The Pegasus beside him said giving him a pat on the back, but do to the height difference it went a little lower than that.

"Blazing, stop you have a boyfriend" Isaac said grinning at the Pegasus that now had a cheeky smile on her face. After that however a random mare walked in front of the  holding something in her hoof.

"Hey, how are you" Isaac asked before the mare threw the object at him striking his head. "GAH,DAMN THAT HURTS" Isaac yelled while he pressed his hand firmly against the gash that had been created from whatever was thrown at him. Blazing started running toward the mare to give her a piece of her mind when she heard Isaac cry out for help. Looking behind her Blazing saw that Isaac had two stallions on top of him tying him up rope. "GET THESE GUYS OFF OF ME" Isaac yelled when one of the stallions hit him hard knocking him unconscious.

"WHAT IN TARTARUS ARE YOU DOING," Blazing yelled as she ran toward the stallions when her tail was grabbed by the mare she was after. "LET GO OF ME" she yelled as she kicked the mare in the face knocking out a few of her teeth. The mare let go of BLazing and grabbed her face as she cried out for help. The stallions had started to carry Isaac of to who knows where when Blazing slammed into one of them forcing him to drop Isaac due to the sudden impact. The stallion got back up after a second and got into a fighting stance ready to deal with the Pegasus when he smiled. Blazing didn't see who hit her over the head but she had a feeling it was that mare she kicked a few minutes ago, but it didn't matter she was knocked unconscious and was unable to see what happened next.

The stallions then carried Isaac into the center of town where a large pile of wood had been gathered and a large wooden pole stuck out of the middle. Almost everyone in town was there only a few ponies weren't and those few included Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Lyra, Derpy, Octavia, and a few others. One of the few more prominent members of the mob that had gathered however was pinkie pie who had no idea what was going on.

"Ooooh, are we going to have a bonfire, I love bonfires, there great for roasting marshmallows and making smores, and  don't get me started on the-" The pink pony continued talking about everything she enjoyed about bonfires though no one really cared about what she had to say, they had a mission to carry out and that was to rid the town of it's newest monster since the elements have clearly been hypnotized by it. Of course they hung out with it against their will because look at applejack she is fighting it to try and get help obviously, definitely not just an opinion because she is an element she can't hate anyone. Isaac began to wake up after being tied to the pole in the center of the wood pile and started to panic.

"OH SHIT, I KNOW WHAT THIS IS, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T BURN ME" He yelled at the crowd of ponies none of which seemed to care what he was yelling as they knew he was simply a monster that needed control of them, at least that's what they believed. They had gotten the idea he was a monster because of pinkie pie who avoided him at all costs and her random twitches would make ponies question what they meant. Pinkie didn't know what these new twitches were as they were in a more unique order than usual but she chalked it up to the human. She was right about it being about it being the human but the twitches didn't mean secret monster she found out after this day that it meant hurting a friend. 

"We know what you are monster and we will rid  the world of your influence since the elements cannot," the lead member of the mob said to Isaac as he lit up a torch. Isaac's eyes widened at the sight and started to struggle more and more trying his best to avoid the inevitable. The pony however did not set the logs on fire he trotted over to pinkie pie who was still talking about how bonfires are cool when he tried to hand her the torch. "here you are ms. pie"

"Oooh what's thi-" pinkie looked up to see Isaac struggling against the rope on top of the wood pile. Her eyes widened as she smacked the torch out of the ponies hoof. "We can't start the bonfire, Isaac is stuck can't you see him." The mob leader looked at pinkie in confusion realizing that he had obviously taken control of her mind as well, oh the horror the horror. Deciding that to free the minds of all those who had succumbed to the monster it had to die the leader picked the torch back up and set it on fire once again when...

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE" Celestia said in her royal Canterlot voice. The leader of the mob started to rub the back of his head to try and come up with a way to describe their current situation to the princess. Ultimately the pony could not come up with anything believable  so he decided to tell her their reasoning for attempting to burn a creature that Celestia a decreed was not to be harmed.

"I see, you have chosen that instead of talking to Isaac to believe whatever somepony has told you" Celestia said as she trotted over to Isaac who had tears staining his face. Celestia undid the knot using her magic freeing Isaac from the bindings, and with his new found freedom he buried his face in Celestia's chest.

"Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you, they almost... they almost" Isaac started crying into the royal ponies fur and she did not stop him for she knew he had been through quite the ordeal. Pinkie, realizing that this was her fault, her hair deflated to a very long straight mane. She had to make this right, she had to apologize to him, he would forgive her he had to. As she started to walk over to Isaac and the princess Isaac had calmed down enough to pull away from the princess. When he looked over to pinkie his expression changed to one of anger as he started to yell "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING, THEY ALMOST KILLED ME".

"I'm sorry, i didn't mean-"

"YOU'RE SORRY, YOU'RE FUCKING SORRY I WAS ALMOST MURDERED BECAUSE OF YOU" Pinkies ears pressed against her skull as he was right, she almost killed him. "I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOUR FUCKING FACE AGAIN"

"Isaac, you need to calm down" Celestia said trying to get Isaac to stop yelling "If you keep this up it will only serve to make them more terrified of you." After that day Celestia would often make surprise visits to Ponyville to make sure Isaac was safe and she would often write to him so she could see what actually happened to him and not what the ponies would say. When the others heard what had happened they were appalled by the fact they lived in a town that could do such a thing. 

***back to now***

"It's alright pinkie, you didn't mean for that to happen" fluttershy said as she patted pinkies back."Besides he if he really was mad at you for that why would he protect us?"

"Maybe because he's getting paid so much, ah knew something was off about him that first week" Applejack said as she glared in the direction of the door, "To be perfectly honest ah don't know if we should stick around here," she looked over toward the rest of their group. Spike had been asleep the entire time however but was woke up right when she said that.

"Sheesh Applejack he's not that bad," he said as he rolled back over in his sleeping bag.

"Spike he's a liar, ah know because I caught him every time back in Ponyville" Applejack said poking at the sleepy dragon.

"Applejack, you do realize that he might of had a reason he was lying to you right" Rarity said walking up to the aggravated southerner.

"There ain't no reason to lie to somepony" Applejack snapped back at the alabaster white unicorn.

"Clearly you've never had to lead anyone before then," a deep voice said. Sombra then walked into the tent that the six ponies were sleeping in. " If you did, you'd realize that sometimes secrets are to protect others" he said in a cool relaxed voice before he went further into the tent.

"That doesn't mean much coming from you" The farmer spat at the former king.

"Maybe not ,but  have you actually had to deal with telling someone something that would shatter their world, I know your friend there has" Sombra said as he nodded toward Twilight. " A leader has to be strong enough to carry a burden alone because asking for help may hurt the ones they lead"

"You're wrong, If a leader can't trust that the ones that follow them will understand they are no leader at all"

"You have much to learn, to bad you shut out the ones willing to teach" Sombra said as he made his way out of the tent. "Oh and Spike I think your name was, thank you for helping free me" Sombra said before shutting the door behind him.

"What did he mean by that?"
> Nightmares suck
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5: Nightmares suck

***Back to Isaac (sort of)***

"Alright, first things first find the door" Isaac said to himself a he looked around the barren landscape that surrounded him. Unfortunately for him though the door he was looking for was nowhere in sight. The only things visible were rocks, a lake, and a rock shaped like the pyro from TF2. Knowing full well that this was a dream Isaac tried to call up a map to find the door, however no matter what he tried it wouldn't appear before him.

"Why wont this work" He grunted between each word as he repeatedly snapped his fingers. The pyro rock began to shift and move bits and pieces of if fell off revealing the actual character under it. The pyro started moving toward Isaac who's back was turned toward the psychotic arsonist. Raising the ax above its head Isaac snapped his fingers one more time and a crossbow materialized in his hands before turning to the pyro and firing a bolt through it. "Whoops, that was not medicine" Isaac said in a horrible German accent before the pyro disappeared into a puff of smoke. After that the lake started to shimmer, and Isaac realized that was his way out.

"Oh right,fire goes out in water so I would jump in to find the door. Why can't it just appear instead of making me run through my own dream," Isaac then made other materials he would need appear before him including a checklist of the materials to ensure he didn't miss any. He quickly ran through the list checking off everything he had which included a crossbow, knife, scuba gear, parachute, and among other things a robotic t-rex with death lasers of death. Putting on the scuba gear Isaac jumped into the lake taking everything with him aside from Timmy the t-rex who would stay back and guard Isaac's head from trespassers, god help Luna if she visited him. 

Isaac went out a door that looked like it belonged in a fallout game to enter a long hallway filled with a multitude of doors. Isaac's first stop for the night would be Silver's dream to get her actual opinion on the contract that the group had taken. Isaac had the entire hallway memorized when he noticed that some new doors had taken the place of Silver's.

"Oh, right the ponies, it should just be seven more doors down than usual" Isaac said to himself as he walked further down the line. He began to think that having a private conversation with a few of them might be a good idea especially pinkie. Finally walking up to a tribal looking door Isaac grabbed the handle and opened it to enter a strange hut. Silver was obviously dreaming about her time back in her tribe when Isaac had walked in, but Isaac didn't want this to go back to that day her dreams always do.  Shaking his head of the thought Isaac went further into the shaman's hut to see that a group of zebra's were dragging her out. "Like hell they are" Isaac said as he lined the crossbow up to his eye. "Steady, steady" He said as he pulled the trigger making the tribals disappear into a puff of smoke.

"STAY BACK DEMON" Silver cried as she saw her former tribe disappear around her. This happened quite often in her dreams when Isaac would come and speak to her. Luca had similar dreams from time to time whenever they weren't extremely lewd, and had Isaac Isaac doing... Never mind you don't need to know about that other than Isaac can't do half of those things in reality. Knowing that Dreamers almost never realize they're dreaming until specifically told Isaac went straight to what he wanted to talk about.

"Silver, It's Isaac remember. You've been traveling with us for a little over a year now. I want to talk about the contract we took though so please cut the crap," Silver looked at Isaac in confusion before remembering that she was in fact in a camp with the human before her. She rubbed the back of her head before giving a sigh and saying "Sorry," before asking what he wanted to talk to her about.

"I want your opinion on everything Silver, I mean your actual opinion not what I think it is" The zebra looked up at him before begining.

"Well the purple one seems to be uncomfortable around you, as if she wishes to say something but can't find the right moment, the one in the hat seems to look at you as if you are everything she hates for some reason, and the pink one seems to become really sad whenever she sees you, the others however seem to be extremely happy to see you, I think that you need to tell me why they are acting like that." Isaac looked at the zebra a minute as that didn't answer any of his questions. However he figured that she'd keep her opinion to herself until he told her so he began at with his arrival in Ponyville and told her about all the trouble he had to deal with there.

"...so after that I finally decided it was time for me to go lest someone else tried killing me"

"Why do you believe it was intentional, From what you've told me you drank out of a cup and rumors got out of hand"

"I believe it's intentional because pinkie was always scared of me and would run off, and twilight knows perfectly well I only drink out of that one glass to avoid those types of mistakes. Silver, They almost killed me" Isaac looked into the zebras eyes which seemed to be somewhat annoyed at him.

"What about when Flam almost killed you, or Luca, what about Sombra. You don't hate any of them."

"That's different they-"

"It's not different all of them hurt you by mistake, so why not give them a chance" 

"You...uh...you have a point, don't you?"

"I have to make sure you are healthy, it's my job and hate is detrimental in that sense"

"Thanks Silver, oh you didn't answer my question though."

"This is going to be a tough contract if it really is that thing," And with that Isaac proceeded back out of the door into the hallway when he looked over to a pink door with three balloons. Sighing to himself Isaac walked into through the door and entered what appeared to be an empty version of ponyville. 

"I FUCKING HATE YOU" Isaac heard yelled from somewhere further into town. The voice sounded really familiar but he couldn't place it as it was distorted. Isaac knew full well that this was going to be a nightmare he had to face as he had done so many times before for his friends. When he finally reached where the yelling had some from he saw pinkie cowering near a pile of ash with a rather large burned looking creature.

"OI, HOW ABOUT YOU PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE" Isaac yelled. The creature turned toward him and Isaac realized that the burned creature was him. "Jesus, I heard about fighting with yourself but this is ridiculous" Isaac then pulled his crossbow back out and took aim when the burned version of him charged toward him. Isaac fired the bolt and it entered the nightmares shoulder but it kept going and tackled Isaac to the ground. It started to beat on his head as hard as it could in hopes of causing as much damage as possible. For Isaac the pain was excruciating because this wasn't his dream so his mind felt everything.

"Get off of him" Pinkie said as she tried to pull off the Demented Isaac. It smacked her away before getting off the now bloody and bruised Isaac. It slowly walked over toward her and snapped its fingers making a torch appear in its hand.

"Know you will see just what its li-GAH" The evil Isaac let out a howl of pain as the real Isaac slashed its back.

"I might hate her, but I'm not a monster like you" Isaac said before burying the knife he had brought into the nightmares head. The evil version of Isaac turned into a puff of smoke and Isaac dropped to his knees before asking "You alright pinkie?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine"

"Good, now can you fix me, this is your dream so I can't do anything aside from kill monsters and force you to wake up." After a minute Pinkie finally realized that this was of course a dream as she remembered Celestia stopped Isaac from being burned. Quickly Pinkie thought really hard and Isaac's body went from bloody and beaten to perfectly ok. "Thank you, now about that demon me..."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for any of this" Pinkie said in a quite voice with her hair staying straight and depressing. Isaac wanted to be angry, he wanted to tell her exactly what he thought about this but before he could he saw that everything around him was becoming dark and more bleak when he realized she actually meant it.

"Pinkie, you almost got me killed by your negligence, I almost died because of you."

"I know I deserve you hating me" 

"You didn't let me finish, I almost died because of you and your right I did hate you for a long time but after seeing that I know you regret what happened. I'm not saying I forgive you, I'm just saying that I'm willing to forgive over time" The darkness around started to fade away when Pinkie's ears perked up and she asked

"Really"

"Yeah pinkie, really" The darkness faded away entirely as the town then began to have random streamers and various ponies began to appear. Pinkies mane poofed back out to its usual uncontrollable mess as she began to bounce up and down with excitement over  the chance she could fix things with Isaac finally. Isaac's job here was done for now so he quickly made his exit to try and have a conversation with a few of his friends before he dealt with sparkly or the racist. Coming up to a round wooden door that was slit in two. "Hope butters is having a good dream, I do no want to see what her nightmares are like"

Upon entering the door Isaac was in Fluttershy's  cottage with the shy Pegasus standing beside another version of him with a tray filled with toast. She looked over toward him and nodded and put the tray the table in front of the dream Isaac as if this was completely normal.

"Deciding to visit me in my dreams Isaac," She said before walking back into the dream cottages kitchen.

"Just wanted to chat with you, what's with the other me here" Isaac asked as he took a piece of toast only to realize he couldn't eat it.

"I figured you'd remember how you started calling me Butters instead of flutters like everyone else"

"Oh right this was when I came over for breakfast and you made toast and had like a hundred different types of butter, I still want to know why you had that much butter" Fluttershy pressed a hoof over Isaac's mouth before shushing him.

"You don't need to know"

"It's sexual isn't it" Isaac said. The Pegasus's face turned from it's normal yellow to a red-orange color as he asked that question before she stammered.

"M-Maybe, you want to-"

"Fluttershy I'm Dating Luca remember"

"Oh yeah, I should of tried when I had the chance"

"What was that"

"Nothing" Fluttershy quickly added to erase any suspicion of what she said. After that Isaac and fluttershy went over the good times they had before Isaac left. One such time was when Isaac ambushed a manitcore that was about to make fluttershy lunch because she was to scared to do anything. Isaac ended up in the hospital for a week with fluttershy by his side constantly saying sorry and him saying it was fine. Eventually though a doorway opened up and out stepped princess Luna.

"Isaac, fluttershy my sister and I would like to have a word"

	
> Moving on
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6: Moving on

"It's good to see you again Isaac" Celestia said as the human and Pegasus walked into a room if you could call it that. The room had no walls or anything really it only had a floor. The other five ponies Isaac was supposed to be protecting were also here looking at him with mixed emotions. Pinkie was obviously still smiling after their little talk earlier at the prospect of him forgiving her though in Isaac's mind it was still rather unlikely, but it was also unlikely that he'd end up being a freelancing mercenary in a land of talking ponies wasn't it. 

"How you doing sunny, haven't had a face to face in awhile" Isaac said before making a chocolate cake appear out of nowhere and handing it to her. The princesses eyes widened at the cake and she attempted to take a bite only for it to puff into nothingness. She was dumbstruck for a minute before remembering she was in a dream for all of this. She smiled at Isaac as she tried to formulate a plan to get back at him when it dawned on her, socks. Everyone in the room was surprised when they all realized they were now wearing various pairs of socks. "That doesn't work on me remember"

"Unless they're on Luca" Luna said which made Isaac's face seem like he had been smacked. Repeatedly. By a spatula. Before Isaac could retort about what he and Luca do behind closed doors was between them when Celestia cut in.

"Isaac by the fact that the ponies are relatively close to you, I assume you have accepted the contract, am I correct?"

"Nah, I'm holding them hostage until you give me my five million bits," the princess was stunned by his remark until she realized he was joking. Hopefully.

"Well I wont pay a single bit if any of them are harmed" Isaac grinned at the fact Celestia was playing along.

"Well I suppose I don't have to send you a message by-"

"THOU WILL NOT HARM OUR SUBJECT" Luna yelled in her Canterlot voice.

"Jesus, moon moon can you be any louder, we were only kidding" Isaac said as he tried to regain his hearing through cleaning out his ear. Luna tried to hide her face at the mistake of her mistaking the joke as actual aggression. "Anyway yeah, We've agreed to the contract. Let me be clear though If they start trying to start things with my friends again I am taking them to Canterlot and expect a percentage of my pay"

"We did not agree to tha-"

"Done" Celestia cut Luna off before she could object to the arrangement. The other ponies in the room were just watching the scene play out before them as the man talked to the princesses like they were friends and then swap to acting like they were conducting business. Twilight had to know exactly what in the hay was going on here.

"Isaac why are you talking to the princesses like that they are -"

"Royalty, blah blah, respect, blah blah, you do realize that they are human, sorry pony too right" 

"They are Alicorns, they are-"

"Oh yeah they get the best of all the worlds, But just like you they were normal before all this happened" Isaac motioned with his hands toward the two princesses. "Just because you are better does not mean you should flaunt it around, these two understand that"

"What do you mean by that" Applejack cut into the conversation.

"What I mean my dear Apple fucker-"

"I buck apple trees I don't-"

"Whatever the point is those two don't have to treat you all fairly. They don't have to care about any of you, yet they do because they have realized that they can use what they have to help others." Applejack took into consideration what he just said to her and began to think that maybe, just maybe he was right about this.

"Where did you learn all of this stuff anyway, Isaac" Rainbow asked after a minute of silence.

"I've always enjoyed the idea of philosophy Rainbow, I never said much back in ponyville because I figured you all didn't need anything I had to say, god was I wrong" Looking up Isaac realized he was still in the presence of all the ponies when he decided now was the best time to ask. "Twilight, Do you regret trying to kill me"

"What, I didn't try to kill you" Her eyes darted toward the princess who was standing a few feet away when she said,

"I already know about what happened twilight, Rainbow Dash explained everything when I visited Isaac in the hospital. However I don't believe he knows about you saving him."

"Wait, what do you mean Celestia? Twilight didn't save me, hell she almost killed me!"

"Those chemicals would of killed you if Twilight didn't slow down your blood enough to keep them from reaching your heart" Isaac froze for a minute at this new information. He left ponyville, the only place he knew in this world because he thought she was trying to kill him, and She had instead tried to save him from certain death. Isaac slowly turned his head to face the purple alicorn in question to see if he could detect any bullshit from that statement. He couldn't see any, and it hit him one of the major reasons for hating this pony was a lie he told himself for the past year and a half. 

"I tried to tell you it was an accident, but you were avoiding me so I was never able to apologize and tell you the truth"

"I think I need to lie down a minute" Isaac said before summoning up a couch and lying down on it. He just gazed up into the abyss above him as he thought over all of this. He was completely unreasonable about the entire thing, but he was scared that twilight really had intended to kill him. The more he thought about it he realized something, and that something was he'd of never met any of his friends if twilight hadn't accidentally almost killed him. Slowly Isaac sat back up and looked back toward the Purple princess before he said "Thank you."

"WHAT"

"WHAT"

"WHAT" Everyone in the room said had the exact same reaction to Isaac saying thank you to Twilight.

"If you didn't almost kill me i'd still be in ponyville, I'd of never met Luca or Silver or any of them really, so thank you Twilight" Twilight didn't know how exactly to react to Isaac just forgiving her for almost killing him, but he did say that she was the reason he met all of these ponies. The world around them started to shimmer and the ground started to shake. "someone is trying to wake us up"

***Back in reality***

"WAKE UP ISAAC, WAKE UP" Luca was slapping Isaac's face repeatedly to get him up to help deal with the current situation.

"Ah, Luca that hurts, whats the emergency anyway"

"Oh, i don't know maybe it's the ominous cloud of darkness over the horizon" Luca said pointing through the tent's door toward exactly what she was talking about.

"Shit, Luca I want you to get everyone up and have them meet me by the fire pit" Isaac commanded with which Luca gave a salute before she went off to get everyone. Isaac however walked over to his bed and reached underneath it to find his trusty crossbow with the engraving 'The last thing you never see'. Isaac looked at the engraving before saying to himself "Accurate, and so am I" Before he left his tent for the fire pit where Luca had already gathered everyone.

"Isaac you know what that is" Sombra said trying to keep his nerves under control which was understandable considering that thing enslaved him for at least  twelve-hundred years.

"I know Sombra, I know" Isaac then looked toward everyone that was standing before him as the wind started to kick up dust around them. "All right everyone we can't fight that thing head on, If we tried I'd only force us to fight each other. Now,Sombra I want you to throw up a shield and lead everyone toward the cave you scouted yesterday, it's our safest bet." Sombra did as he was told and threw up a bubble around the group. "Alright, now I'm going to try and Slow it down"

"WHAT" Everyone yelled in unison.

"Well if it follows the rules of most things that are made of pure evil then it should hate light so I'm setting the camp on fire" Everyone stared at Isaac for a minute contemplating his crazy plan to burn everything they owned down to the ground.  "I recommend getting everything we can now it'll be here in a couple minutes, and it's minions-" Isaac shot a bolt through a random shadow pony that had started running toward them. "- are already here" he finished. Everyone started taking what they could carry with them mostly what they needed or had sentimental value when Flim and Flam came up to Isaac.

"Hey Isaac we got something for you," The two ponies levitated some strange device that was made of wood and metal. Isaac grinned at it before pulling a piece of metal on it back letting of a 'click'.

"Just call me Edward Kenway cause bitches about to be shot, hallelujah for the the flintlock" Isaac placed his crossbow on his back before testing his new weapon on a nearby shadow creature. "You guys are geniuses"

"We know" the brothers said  simultaneously as Isaac admired their handiwork. Once everyone was packed and ready to go the cloud was only a few yards away from them when they realized it was time to book it out of there.

"I have to set the fire" Isaac aid as he rushed over toward one of the tents. He began attempting to light it with flint and steel when a fire appeared out of nowhere near him. Looking up Isaac saw Twilight's horn was glowing And that more fires were sprouting up around the camp. "Good job, Twilight." Twilight smiled at that though the strain she was putting on herself was making things rather difficult for her when a tendril from the darkness grabbed onto one of her hooves.

"GAH,  ISAAC" Twilight yelled as the darkness began to pull her toward the cloud to absorb her. Isaac knows exactly what would happen if she was taken so he did what he thought would work and fired a bullet at the tendril. It released twilight but another one wrapped itself around Isaac's waist before pulling him toward  the cloud. Twilight saw what was happening and tried everything she knew to free Isaac from the tendril but nothing would work it would just go right through it.

"Twilight, you have to go" Isaac grunted as he tried to pull away from the darkness that was now beginning to surround him.

"No, I'm not leaving you to die. Not like this"

"Twilight, it wants you to save me so it can have you, besides it wont kill me"

"But what if-"

"GO" Isaac yelled as his grip failed and he was pulled into the darkness. The last thing Isaac heard was Luca yelling:

"ISAAAAAACCCCCC".
> It's your fault
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7: Its' your fault

***Inside a cave somewhere***

"YOU FUCKING LET THAT THING TAKE HIM!" Luca yelled at Twilight who had her ears pressed tightly to her skull. She could of saved him if only she hadn't gotten grabbed by that thing it wouldn't of noticed Isaac.

"I'm sorry I tried to help him" she tried offering a simple apology which served only to infuriate the changeling.

"YOU'RE FUCKING SORRY, THE DAY AFTER YOU SHOW UP THAT THING SWALLOWS HIM. YOU DON'T GET TO BE FUCKING SORRY" The other ponies attempted to get involved in the argument earlier but Sombra had kept them from intervening. He told them that Luca needed to vent and that she'd be ok after awhile, he lied but they didn't need to know that. "EVERY TIME YOU WERE AROUND HIM HE GOT HURT." Applejack had enough of this changeling berating her friend for not being able to help Isaac.

"Now hold on a minute, Twilight tried to help him. You saw her throwing out them spells, why do you care anyway. You probably saw him as food anyway" Luca's head snapped toward the apple farmer  and barred her fangs before she started to rush toward her. Flim, Flam, and Silver all had to hold her back from harming the pony. 

"HE MEANT A LOT MORE TO ME THAN YOU THINK BITCH!"

"Luca, calm down" Sombra said in a cool collected voice.

"Why,  those two hate him for no reason and both Purple and Pink there tried killing him. So tell me Sombra why should I FUCKING CALM DOWN!" Luca began to struggle more against the three restraining her.

"Because Isaac wouldn't want you to hurt them over him" Luca stopped her flailing at that and thought for a moment. She remembered yesterday when the six first came into camp while she was disguised as Isaac. When she told him about them showing up he said to keep her temper in check and that he'd deal with everything. letting out a sigh Luca looked up at the orange pony:

"I never used Isaac like that, because he was there when nopony else was" The apple farmer looked Luca in the eyes before saying,

"Why should I believe anything you have to say"

"Because If I really was using Isaac for food, why would I still follow a rule he gave me?" Applejack didn't know how to respond to that because it was a good question with only one logical answer. Silver was now making various motions with fluttershy when the Pegasus started to speak.

"Silver says that we have a small window to help Isaac"

"What do you mean by save Isaac, that cloud consumed him" Twilight said looking toward the zebra who made more motions with her hooves toward fluttershy.

"Silver says that it didn't kill Isaac, it's um... can you repeat that last motion" Silver repeated a few gestures, " oh right, it's slowly possessing him"

"But the only way to save someone from that would mean-" Sombra quickly cut in before twilight could finish,

"Normally you'd be right, however this is the same thing that possessed me as you may recall. It takes over the mind, not the body so we just have to go into Isaac's head to help him"

"He'd have to be near us and willing to let us in, I doubt that thing would just let us help him" Luca's ears perked up at the mention helping Isaac and she had been forming a plan since to get what they needed when finally,

"We need Isaac's necklace"

"Why I don't mind having more jewelry I don't see how that is going to help"Rarity said wondering exactly where this was going 

"That necklace was something Isaac found when we first met Sombra, It's how he is able to get into dreams that aren't his. It's also how we originally saved Sombra"

"Well it's not like we can just walk up and ask for it" Rainbow added with which Luca said,

"Maybe we can."

***Back at the cloud***

Isaac slowly walked back out of the cloud with random bits of metal adorning his usual clothing as well as him holding a cracked crossbow. His eyes were now red surrounded by a sickly green color. A trail of Smoke like darkness followed him as he started walking toward the cave that the ponies ran to, It's old home.

"It's good to be back" he said in his and somebody elses voice.

***Inside Isaac's Head***

Isaac was running as fast as he could through his entire mind and all the weird fucked up shit he could think of was laid out before him as he went further and further. When he was dragged into the darkness he knew what that thing would try to pull on him so right when he arrived he summoned up random objects and people he could think of to slow it down so it couldn't capture him. It almost captured Isaac too if it hadn't bee for the bro of bros Timmy the T-rex who ran into the creature that was attempting to capture Isaac at that moment.

"Why do you run, I can offer you anything if you'd just comply" A voice echoed throughout the world Isaac was currently in.

"Yeah, would you kindly get out of my head"

"There you are" It said with an evil hiss.

"Not a Bioshock fan, are ya" Isaac said as he opened up a door that lead into an underwater city straight from hell. Running through hallways that were filled with leeks Isaac kept making random enemies from the game appear to help slow down whatever the creature had in store for him next. Since this was all in his head Isaac could run for eternity and do whatever he wanted but his influence here was slowly dissipating the more he messed with everything. Finally Isaac was about to reach the next door when one of the enemies he conjured up grabbed him. A figure slowly started to appear in the mist that had been chasing Isaac the entire time and it slowly walked toward him.

"You were rather difficult to catch, but you didn't really think you could best me did you. After all your mind was easy to manipulate against you" Slowly the figure emerged from the fog to show another Isaac with red eyes and random bits of metal on it.

"What is with me being evil in these hallucinations so often"

"That is simple Isaac, it's because you are evil"

"Yeah trying to save lives makes me evil, I deserve to be beheaded"

"You try to mask yourself, but you know deep down that you cause more problems than you could ever solve"

"That's bullshit and you know it"

"Is it now, let's just see about that" The evil Isaac opened up a window into what appeared to be one of Isaac's memories.

*** 3 years ago***

This was the tenth time the phone had rang when Isaac finally answered the phone to an extremely panicked feminine voice.

"Isaac, are you there"

"Yeah Jessica, what do you need this is the tenth time you've called me in the past five minutes, whats up"

"Steve is crazy, I need you to-"

"I think you're over reacting Steve isn't-"

"Isaac, he thinks I'm cheating on him, with you"

"So, tell him we aren't a thing he'll understand"

"Isaac I don't think-" The phone cut off before Jessica could finish. Steve was crazy in the funny sense he wouldn't hurt anyone right, at least that was what Isaac thought. He decided however that it'd be a good Idea to check up on Jessica anyway just to be safe. Isaac began to think as he drove toward Jessica's that Steve had been acting off lately around them almost as if they did some unspoken crime against him. When Isaac finally arrived at Jessica's he saw Steve's car was parked out front and the door to Jessica's house was kicked in.

"Oh shit, Steve I swear" Isaac got out of his car and popped his trunk open where he kept a baseball bat in case of emergency. Isaac than rushed into the house calling out Jessica and Steve's names hoping to get a response. Steve slowly crept around the corner with a kitchen knife covered in blood. "Steve the fuck did you do"

"I was just talking to MY girlfriend"

"Steve put the knife down"

"Before I do that, I think we should talk" Steve then started walking over to Isaac.

"Steve, don't you do it"

"Isaac, FUCK YOU" Steve rushed toward Isaac swinging the knife wildly around trying to hit Isaac anywhere that he could. Isaac however had a longer reach than Steve because of the bat, but Isaac didn't want to have to use it when he first came in here. Survival was priority here however and after dodging  a few slashes Isaac slammed the bat into Steve's head with everything he had. It killed Steve instantly and left Isaac the only one left to explain what happened to the police. After that day Isaac changed in someway, no one could put there finger on it but he seemed to become more worried about others people after that. When someone asked him he's say it was because he liked helping people, when someone asked his friends they'd say he would say he is trying to fill the hole left in him by the incident.

***Back to now***

Steve had now taken the place of the evil Isaac with a bit of his head smashed in.

"You killed one of you're only friends, you monster" Isaac was still staring at the window into the memory with tears streaming down his face. He was a monster, he deserved to be punished for his mistakes against those he cared for. Isaac was ready to just give up when Steve continued. "At least I didn't feel anything the same can't be said for Silver who you know hates you" Another window opened up into a different memory. However before he could pull Isaac into the memory an echo was sounded throughout their world.

"Excuse me, but can I have that"

***Out in the Badlands***

The ponies were all praying to their various gods for their plan to work. Pinkie was supposed to be a distraction and attempt to see if Isaac still had any control by asking for the necklace. Luca would fly in and snatch it if pinkie couldn't get it out of him which from his expression seemed to be what would be required. Isaac lifted up his crossbow, but before he could pull the trigger he was thrown to the ground by a magical force.

"Oh Sombra, Nice to see my old servant still here, I thought you'd die without my power"

"I'm not your servant, and I don't need your power"

"That's not how I recall it, a thousand or so years ago you begged me to save your pitiful kingdom" While Sombra spoke to Isaac who clearly wasn't Isaac anymore Luca started sneaking behind the man in an attempt to grab the necklace while pinkie went back toward everyone else. "What do you think you're doing welp" The creature that stole Isaac's body then slapped Luca away with his back hand when his eyes flickered back to normal for a split second.

"Isaac you have to fight this thing" Luca pleaded with the man inside this monster. The man shot a bolt over into Sombra leaving him in pain. Slowly Isaac walked over to Luca who was looking up at him with tears in her eyes before she said "You always said you're not a monster unless you choose to be" Isaac's eyes flickered back to normal again before going back to their red green thing. He pulled back the bolt and aimed between Luca's eyes, and she didn't move. The bolt was released and went beside Luca's head instead of through it as his eyes returned to normal without switching back.

"I wont hurt Luca" Isaac said in his normal voice before tossing his crossbow away. His eyes started to flicker back to green already when he realized this. "You have to run, before he takes me back" 

"We need you're necklace though, we wont abandon you" His eyes flickered again and his expression startd to change back into one of anger.

"Fine, but  you are not the one who goes in" Isaac took of his necklace and handed it to Luca just before his eyes returned to being that of the other creature.

"Now you die first" The repossessed Isaac said as it grabbed for Luca when he was whacked in the head by a staff. Silver was making various motions toward fluttershy who said

"Silver says it's time to run"
> Silver lining
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8: Silver lining

***Isaac's mind***

"That's better now isn't it. Now you get to sit back and relax while I do all the hard work"  The shadow Isaac said as he walked around the now chained Isaac. When Isaac had lost control of his body again he didn't have a chance to run this time as the evil creature had been waiting for him and now had almost full control of his mind. "Now where were we before that interruption. I believe it was how you made one of your friends an outcast who can no longer speak because of you." The evil Isaac chuckled as he opened up another window into one of Isaac's memories. "Breaking you will be fun"

"You wont break me"

"Sombra said the exact same thing a thousand years ago, he only lasted a few days before he gave up. You however, I doubt you will be nearly as strong willed" 

*** 1 year 3 months ago***

"gah, my head feels like it's been smacked with a baseball bat" Isaac said as he rose up from a crudely made table. Looking around Isaac noticed that something was off as he remembered the caravan he was working for had been attacked, and he was no where near where it was. Panic began to fill him as he realized he had no idea where he was either and that the attackers may have taken him for god knows what. As Isaac began to panic the door opened to reveal a zebra who looked surprised to see Isaac, and then the strangest thing happened she bowed and started to speak some other language that Isaac couldn't understand. "This probably wont get an answer, but do you know what happened to everyone" The zebra was surprised by Isaac speaking before she spoke again.

"You speak the pony's language"

"Nah shit, Now if you don't mind answering the question because I don't care for stating the obvious"

"Of course oh great one. The others that were with you are in the other room"

"Thank you, but why did you just call me, oh great one?"

"What do you mean? You are-" Before she could finish the door was thrown open by Luca who was in her normal disguise  having a heated argument with another zebra before she turned and saw Isaac.

"Thank chrysalis you're ok Isaac. These zebra don't seem to understand that you might freak out by waking up in a place you don't recognize"

"Don't give them too much crap Luca, they were probably thinking I was dangerous or something" The other zebra were looking at Isaac perplexed by the conversation that was going on. Isaac began walking over toward the door to which the zebra that was arguing with Luca bowed. "Um, Why is he bowing"

"Before I was interrupted I was going to say that you are the great one."

"Still  doesn't answer my question" Luca facehooved over the fact Isaac was  this dense to what was going on.

"They think you are a god Isaac"

"Well I may look weird but I don't think they see me as a god Luca" The zebra that had been bowing began to rise and leave the hut in a hurry for some reason. The other zebra that walked in when Isaac woke up however spoke,

"You are the great one correct, bringer of prosperity and knowledge"

"The only kind of knowledge I got is how to piss off people by just existing, and as for that prosperity bit I wont even begin to tell you why that is wrong" The zebra looked at him for a minute in thought as what was essentially god in her eyes just said he was not in fact god  in any sense of the word.

"I think you broke her Isaac" Luca said as the zebra in front of them had a glazed look on her face and her left eye seemed to be twitching rather uncontrollably.

"Reminds me when you got us hired on the caravan and the head guard saw me. Did he ever realize that I wasn't an animal because I swear he acted like-" The zebra shook it's head to clear it's thoughts of everything that just happened before looking up at Isaac.

"You really are not the great one are you?"

"Yes I am, watch as I shoot rainbows out my hands and shit solid gold bricks" Isaac then began stretching out his hands toward the zebra making a 'pew' sound as he did.

"Obviously we were mistaken. The great one wouldn't act so-"

"Rash, childish, crazy, I've heard them all...um...I don't think I got your name"

"My name is silver and I am the shaman of this tribe"

"I asked name not profession, but I guess I kind of have to thank you though don't I"

"You could start by not being so rude toward me"

"Sorry I'm kind of rude to everyone, just ask Luca" Isaac motioned to the Pegasus disguised changeling in question. Luca wasn't paying attention to the conversation at all and was instead looking at the various masks and bottles that filled the room they were in. Luca jumped however when the zebra tapped her shoulder to ask her if he really was like this all the time.

"It's mostly around new ponies actually, give him time and he will grow on you"

"I just thought of something. Silver why are you the only one that has spoken to me directly. The other guy didn't exactly say much to me other than bowing in an attempt to kiss ass" Silver sighed before beginning,

"I also serve as the translator for my village so he probably went to tell the others you speak pony"

"How could you miss that? I mean I literally was traveling with several ponies." Silver just shrugged and went over toward a few bottles before pulling on down and tossing it to Isaac who popped the top and chugged the brew. Isaac made it look like nothing but on the inside he felt like he just chugged vomit mixed with raw sewage that were blended together in a rat's stomach. However being the man Isaac is he didn't  show any hint of it tasting that bad, I'm serious. "oh god, that was the most fowl thing I have ever had to drink."

"It may be fowl, but it will help your headache and cause your scars to heal faster" Silver stated before walking back over to Isaac with a staff in hoof before she hit one of Isaac's legs.

"Gah, what was that for"

"Reflexes" Silver stated before smacking his other leg which of course was working fine. Luca was sitting in the corner with a smug grin over what Isaac was being forced through to ensure he was fine. Isaac noticed Luca grinning before giving her a one finger salute to which Luca responded with,

"Thanks for the offer, but I can do much better than you" Both Isaac and Luca smiled at the fact they could joke about this sort of thing and it not go anywhere after all they were only friends. 

"What offer? He just stuck out that appendage. Does it mean something?" Silver was genuinely confused by this as she had never been around Isaac and his various gestures with his hands. Luca  was actually the only one that had learned what they all meant because she'd watch him use them for specific situations.

"Nothing" Isaac said before Luca could say the actual meaning. He didn't think it through though since Luca still went on to say,

"He wants to fuck" Silvers eyes widened and her face turned into a deep shade of red that would make one think she was in fact a lobster. Thankfully for Silver there was a knock at her door so to get away from this situation so she went to let whoever it was in. That wasn't a good Idea since the entire village had come to see what they thought was their god in the flesh. Silver tried to shut the door so that Isaac wouldn't be trampled by the sheer amount of zebras wanting to meet him, however they rushed in before Silver could do anything. When all of the zebra entered the room they were met by the sight of Isaac and Luca staring at each other. 

"You going to be rude and not look at them?"

"You're their god thing, so you should look away"

"You wont win that easy"

"Why are we having a staring contest anyway?"

"I don't even know." The two broke eye contact to finally look at the rather large crowd of zebra that were just sitting their waiting for Isaac to say something to them. "Alright, what do you want?" He asked the crowd who all started to whisper to each other. Silver started to translate what he said to their language so they could communicate. A zebra in more decorative attire which really only meant he had a hat on instead of nothing started to speak to Silver who again translated rather hesitantly.

"They want you to perform a miracle for them"

"Brilliant, I'm not who they think I am so they're probably going to kill me"

"That might not happen, I was raised with many of them and I didn't try to kill you when you said you were not the great one"

"Congrats you have more faith in others than I do." Silver than attempted to try and explain the situation to her tribe who all looked at her with shock and anger. That anger however wan't directed at Isaac but instead it was directed at silver who they all started to move toward. Isaac began to realize that she might have given the wrong impression of what she meant when saying Isaac wasn't their god so he tried to get them to stop by making various motions with his hands. The tribe however saw these movements as him urging them on to deal with the non-believer in the only way they knew how. Isaac and Luca kept on trying to get the tribe to stop in any way that they could until they finally reached the center of the tribe's land where they had a small stump covered in blood. Silver was speaking insanely fast in her native tongue to try and get them to stop but these zebra didn't want to hear any of it as the one who was dragging silver pulled out a dagger.

"Isaac we have to do something" Luca said in a urgent voice which Isaac answered with,

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking." Silver was forced down by another zebra that had been part of the mob that was going to kill their shaman. The thought that this might be a mistake crossed several of the villagers mind's since Silver was the only one of them that had any medical training, however she tried to deny their god who was in the same room as her. Just before the zebra brought down the dagger Isaac yelled "STOP" which caused many of the zebra to freeze at the sudden outburst from their god, they were doing this in his name so why wouldn't he be pleased by this. The tribe realized their mistake when they remembered their god didn't want non-believers killed that'd be horrible.

"I think you did it Isaac" The zebra that was holding Silver down was now prying open her mouth so that they could remove the ability for Silver to spread her lies among the village . "...or not" Isaac wasn't able to stop them this time as they cut her tongue off before he could say anything. The crowd cheered at the fact they just cut out the tongue of someone who did nothing wrong because of Isaac not wanting to be viewed as a god. The crowd looked up to Isaac not to see him pleased by their actions but rather they saw him with a mix of horror and anger in his face.  The zebras seemed to grow smaller as they made a path for Isaac that led straight to the zebra who was slowly bleeding out from her mouth. When he got to her he scooped her up into his arms and carried her back to her hut because he remember their being a torch there that  Silver could really use right now.

Isaac didn't want Silver staying in that place after all of that so he offered to let her join him and Luca on their little adventure to which she hesitantly agreed. After they left the tribe had a surprisingly large amount of accidents  happen almost as if they had angered some deity in the universe.

***Back in the cave***

Silver was walking beside everyone as she considered everything that had happened since she joined Isaac and Luca on their adventure. She didn't blame her tribe for what they did because they didn't want to believe that they hadn't found their god yet and just denied it. She was still angry of course but as time went on that anger dissipated to only a minor thought in her head. The more she thought the more she realized that if she had the chance to go back she wouldn't because even though Isaac could be dense to certain situations he always cared about everyone that followed him. After all everything that has happened to them has had a silver lining.
> The spirit's domain part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9: The spirit's domain part 1

***Deep within the cave***

"I don't understand why we cant go ahead and rescue Isaac" Rainbow said as she hovered near the group traveling further into the cave. It had been a day since they had gotten the necklace off of Isaac who was slowly becoming possessed by the evil spirit that resided  within him. 

"We could save him now, but the spirit would simply find a new host." Sombra said from the front of the group looking for an entrance to some of the ruins found throughout the badlands. 

"We can't just let it control him like that though"

"That's why we are hoping to find a way into the old ruins around here, because we might be able to save him and capture the spirit"

"That doesn't seem likely considering that Isaac is going to try to kill us on sight, and in order to capture a spirit it has to be contained in a gem with powerful enchantments" Twilight added as she started going through her saddlebag for something.

"If we get to the right ruins we should have one"

"What makes you so sure about that?" applejack asked without being cold toward him for once.

"I may have been in these ruins before"

"Why?" 

"It's where Isaac saved me"

*** 1 year 1 month ago ***

"Finally, we got that over with" Isaac said while stretching his arms as he was leaving appleloosa. Luca was behind him carrying a large bag of bits from their delivery. "Who would of thought that apple trees were so valuable in a town that literally has a thousand of them."

"Well it was for one of the apple family" Luca said as she trudged along with Isaac beside her.

"True, but did he have to yell appleloosa every ten seconds. I swear if he didn't do that I'd of offered him the chance to join us"

"Yeah, thats why you didn't let him. It definitely wasn't the fact he was making you question your sexuality"

"Hey, I'm straight even if he was extremely good looking for a guy i wouldn't do that"

"Sure you wouldn't"

"Besides you know I don't date horses" Luca looked away from Isaac at that because she has been developing feeling toward him ever since they saved Silver all that time ago. Of course she never told him because of that rule and she was scared he might think it was her trying to get more emotions out of him. Silver knew of course even if she couldn't directly speak the three had developed a system of her making various gestures for different things. 

"Have you ever thought about that though. Think about it Isaac do you really want to be alone forever"

"Of course I don't want to be alone Luca, but what can I do I'm the only human here and-"

"Don't get defensive about it Isaac. I was only saying that maybe you could at least try it"

"Why do you even care about this Luca. I don't think it should even matter."

"I'm just saying because I-" Before Luca could finish Silver had finally caught back up to them and was making various motions toward the barren desert. What she was telling them was that she over heard a rumor of a cave that led into some old ruins that no one had looted yet. Isaac always liked going into old ruins and caves because it reminded him of days when he would sit at home playing various RPG games, and that's not even mentioning the payout that they would receive from the various artifacts that they would discover. As they walked across the desert toward the cave as the sky seemed to grow darker and darker as well as the winds seemed to become more wild.

Upon entering the cave the three realized that they may of made a mistake as the entrance was sealed behind them after taking just a few steps. Knowing that they were not going to be able to go back that way the group proceeded deeper into the cave in hopes of finding a way out or find some loot, Both would be great too. As they went further into the cave they could sense that something in there was just unnaturally wrong, and they just tried to get out of there as soon as possible. The further into the cave they went the colder it became as well almost as if something was stealing the heat from the air around them. Normal this kind of cold wouldn't be acknowledged by any of them except snow doesn't typically fall inside of caves.

"I got a bad feeling about this" Isaac said as he pulled his jacket tighter onto him to prevent him from getting any colder than he already was. Luca on the other hand wasn't doing to well in this cold as she by technicality was still a bug and the cold had a devastating affect  on her ability to move properly. Isaac didn't take notice of Luca's distress until they had found an actual entrance to the ruins they heard about. "Damn it Luca, why didn't you tell me you were freezing?"

"I'm f-f-fine. D-d-don't w-w-worry about me." Isaac felt bad about forgetting such a simple thing and took off his jacket and wrapped it around Luca before picking her up in his arms. "I s-s-said don't worry"

"I'm not letting you freeze yourself to death, besides I always liked cold weather anyway" The feeling of everything being wrong was only amplified as they went further and further into the ruins. Finally they entered a large room that had a lone unicorn looking over a table mumbling something about getting revenge and crushing them all. "Hey, can you point us towards an exit" The unicorn's head snapped toward them and it glared at them with unnatural red and green eyes. He wore a necklace that seemed to have a dim glow around it that contrasted to his very dark gray coat. 

"Welcome to my home" He said as he walked over toward the group a hoof extended toward them. Isaac not wanting to be rude to the unicorn shook his hoof just to be polite. It looked like looting these ruins might not be something they'd be doing after all considering that it'd now be considered theft instead of grave robbing. "May I ask what you are" The unicorn said rather politely to Isaac. Of course Isaac had a speech ready since he had to say this way too often  and was getting tired of having to repeat himself. 

"You live down here, why?" Luca asked a she observed many of the weird symbols on the walls of the room.

"It's where I was born" Isaac was about to say something when Silver grabbed his attention to tell him something. Isaac wasn't exactly sure what she was saying as a lot of the motions were rarely used.

"Silver, What do you mean by Unicorn eyes" Silver just shook her head side to side before pointing at the unicorn stallion who was getting uncomfortably close to Luca. "Hey, can I ask you somthing" Isaac called out to the Stallion. The stallion didn't respond and just stayed really close to Luca which led to Isaac saying "I'm talking to you" Again the unicorn didn't speak and just stayed near Luca. Isaac finally realized that there was something up here and he decided to investigate by forcing the stallion to answer his questions when. As he walked closer to the stallion he noticed that a black smoke was coming out of the stallion and was forcing itself down Luca's through. Isaac decided that this was in fact something that was not normal in any way and probably should be stopped so Isaac pulled out his crossbow and aimed it at the unicorn when it and Luca spoke in unison.

"You can not kill us that easily mortal."

"Luca?" Isaac asked his friend who was definitely not acting normal.

"She is mine!"

"You fucking let her go or i'll-"

"You'll do what? Try to kill me, because you can't"

"Like hell I can't" Isaac then fired a bolt into the unicorns head going straight through. The unicorn however pulled the bolt out with it's magic and flicked it away as if it was nothing.

"Like hell, eh. How about I show you what hell really is" The unicorn then motioned for Luca to attack Isaac. Luca didn't argue with the unicorn she just did as he said a if she couldn't think for herself.

"Luca, please don't do this" Isaac pleaded to the changeling  that was slowly moving toward him baring its teeth at him. Isaac didn't want this to happen again, he didn't want to hurt one of his only friends in this world but he couldn't just let her kill him. Luca pounced onto Isaac knocking him onto his back where she proceeded to stomp on his stomach. Isaac started to cough up blood as Luca and the unicorn laughed at him when Luca was smacked in the head by a staff being used by Silver. Silver helped Isaac back to her feet as she glared at the unicorn that had turned their friend against them. she then began making various motions to Isaac who actually understood what she was conveying, kill the asshole.

Isaac whipped the blood from his mouth as he got ready for a fight with the unicorn when Luca came back and dropped into a fighting stance. Silver however whacked Luca in the head which redirected her attention toward her rather than Isaac so he could fight this bastard one on one.

"Let's dance mother fucker"
> The spirit's domain part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10: The spirit's domain part 2

"Let's dance mother fucker" Isaac aimed his crossbow for the unicorn's knees in hopes of cutting off its ability to move properly. Just before Isaac could pull the trigger however he felt the air around him grow colder as he was lifted off the ground. "That's cheating!" Isaac yelled before he flung across the room into Silver who was about to slam her staff into Luca's head. After landing both Isaac and Silver were dazed by the sheer force behind Isaac as he sailed through the air. 

"Pitiful that the first thing I kill in a thousand years doesn't even have a fighting chance, oh well" The unicorn said with an evil grin as it slowly walked over to the two that were just then getting back their bearings. The unicorn picked up both of them in his magical grip once again and began to slam them into the various walls as hard as he could. Luca just stood beside the unicorn staring at the spectacle before her grinning at seeing her friends being thrown about with bone splintering force as if she was enjoying it. Isaac started yelling for Luca to help them but she just stood there completely invested in watching what was going on as if it was the greatest show to ever exist.

"Would you care to finish them, my dear" The unicorn said as he turned toward Luca who's grin grew wider at the idea of killing these two, and they could do nothing about it. The unicorn dropped the two from a good few feet up knocking the wind out of them before he forced them to stay down with his magic. Luca walked over to Isaac first before lifting up a hoof and making a small flame appear which caused Isaac to jerk around wildly in an attempt to move away from the fire. The unicorn just sat back enjoying everything happening before him especially the way Luca was planning to kill these two. Isaac knew that this wasn't Luca anymore because of that thing she is going to kill them when before she'd do anything to protect them. Isaac realized he had only one chance to get out of this alive so he began with,

"Luca, before you do this I want you to remember everything that we've gone through"

"You can't reach her, I've made sure of that" The unicorn said as he walked over to them before he continued, "She is rather easy to manipulate, I see why you kept her around for so long Isaac"

"She could leave whenever she wanted I didn't manipulate her into coming"

"From what her memories are showing me  you came out of the blue and took her away, and every time you needed to deal with others you've designated that task to her instead. You've promised her a friend and all I've seen is you taking advantage of her."

"I send her to talk because they wont freak out around her, Sure I make her do things I don't want to but she still is my friend"

"Oh really, Luca what is your opinion on Isaac here" Luca walked up to Isaac's face before stating,

"I thought you were my friend, I thought you cared about me, but you can't even see when I need to talk to you all you do is think about what our next contract is going to be. You never gave a damn about me"

"Y-You're right Luca, I have been a horrible friend to you but you have to realize that he is using you"

"Why should I believe that"

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that you are going to kill me because you choose to not because he tell s you" Luca looked straight into Isaac's eye and was about to begin when she realized she didn't want to kill them. 

"Isaac I want to kill you because I want to not because he's told me to" Isaac was shocked at the fact Luca really said that and he bagan to lose hope in their situation when Luca winked at him. The fire in her hoof began to grow bigger and bigger until it could engulf an entire pony before she spoke, "Isaac before I kill you I want you to know that you should grab that necklace" Luca then tossed the fireball at the unicorn which competently consumed him in the fire. However the unicorn slowly walked out of the fire completely unscathed by it and began to speak to Luca,

"Tsk, tsk, you shouldn't of done that my dear" Luca was then thrown up by the unicorn before he blasted silver with a bolt of magic sending her into the wall. "You've met with a terrible fate haven't you" the unicorn said as he walked closer to Isaac who respond with,

"First off I don't think you're name is Ben and I don't think you've drowned. Secondly what goes up must come down"

"What" Luca then dropped on top of the unicorn and attempted to grab at the necklace before she was thrown off again. The unicorn now had to fight to of them at once which he realized was unfair so he made a duplicate of himself. "That evens the odds rather nicely don't you think"

"I swear magic is basically a life hack" Isaac then rushed the clone on the right while Luca went toward the one on the right in an attempt to keep them from teaming up on one of them. Silver had finally recovered from the magical bolt and snuck up on one of the unicorns before attempting to whack it in the head with her staff which sailed right through it. "Jesus Christ will you just take a hit" The unicorn just laughed before both Luca and Silver were lifted back up into the air as the unicorn said,

"I grow tired of this so I'm just going to kill you one by one and force the others to watch, starting with you"  The unicorn then created a sword of solid black from his magic before another one appeared before Isaac, "I like it when they fight back" Picking up the sword Isaac said,

"Then you're going to just love me" The two rushed toward each other which resulted in their swords clashing together causing sparks to fly in every direction. Isaac however remembered that the necklace he was wearing was the key to beating him so everytime they clashed Isaac would use his free hand to grab for it which would result in it being nearly cut off every time. 

"You do got fight in you after all, too bad you have to die you'd of made a wonderful body guard"

"Make up you're mind damn it, first I'm pitiful now I have fight in me. Just shut the fuck up" Isaac the swung his sword in a large arcwhich connected to the unicorn, but again passed right through him. However it did carry the necklace through the unicorn as well which caused the unicorns eyes to widen. Frantically he tried to grab the necklace before Isaac could, but the sword had thrown the necklace to the otherside of the room. "Race, ya" Isaac said before sprinting toward the necklace in hopes that Luca was right about it being helpful here. The unicorn however wouldn't have it and started to charge up a magical bolt before a stone went sailing through his head. Turning to see what had thrown the stone he saw both Silver and Luca had gotten free before another stone had been thrown at him causing him to lose his focus on the magic in his horn.

"You insolent mortals, I'm going to kill you then bring you back just so I can kill you again"

"Hey Mr. all powerful"

"What!"

"Like my new necklace" Isaac held up the necklace in triumph before putting it on which resulted in both him and the unicorn falling to the floor unconscious. Silver and Luca quickly rushed over to Isaac to see what had happened to their friend,  but the only thing that was noticeable was the fact the necklaces glow was gone and that the unicorn no longer phased through everything since they tested this by giving him a swift kick in the family jewels. They decided that it'd be best to try and find a way to wake up Isaac before the unicorn could wake up and cause any more harm to them.

*** Inside of the unicorn's mind***

"Where am I?" Isaac questioned as he looked around the unfamiliar landscape which looked a lot like a city made of crystals. Isaac tried to find anything that he recognized but nothing stood out  other than the giant spire standing in the middle of the city. Deciding that was his best bet in finding anything Isaac made his way there only to find that a large wall had been erected around it. "That is a big ass wall, well time for a little human ingenuity" Isaac started looking for anything he could use to overcome the wall when he spotted something off in the distance approaching him insanely fast. "Yeah, that's a nope so I'm just going to nope right the fuck out of here"

Isaac then started to run parallel to the wall to see if he could find any point that was damaged or weakened in some way but found that there was no such thing. He soon noticed however that a set of buildings were slightly taller than the wall  so when he got them he ran into the door forcing it open to reveal a frozen tundra instead of a house. 

"What the fuck" Isaac realized that this was his only option in escaping though so he went ahead and continued in before slamming the door closed which resulted in a thud from the other side of it. "Ok, so a house leads into a frozen wasteland. Even by pony standards this is weird" Looking around Isaac could see that same spire from before except this time a bubble was emanating from it  which seemed to stop all the snow and ice from entering. "Well that's my best bet"

"Excuse me, but who are you" A voice behind Isaac asked.

"I'm Isaac, Hey do you think you could...tell...me" Isaac turned around as he was speaking to see the same unicorn he was fighting earlier was standing their. "You fucker" Isaac picked up the unicron by the throat and started his questioning. "Where the fuck are we, why the hell are you obsessed with trying to kill everything, and why shouldn't I kill you right now" Isaac started to squeeze the unicorn's throat even tighter as she waited for his answer.

"You're in my mind, and I'm not the one who's trying to kill you"

"Why should I believe you"

"Because he stole my body and I'm willing to help you beat him if you help me" Isaac let the unicorn drop to the ground before saying

"Alright, but try to back stab me and you kiss your ass goodbye, understand"

"Alright Isaac, my name is Sombra by the way"

"Well Sombra Since this is your head you lead the way" They began to make their way toward the city since Sombra said that was where the thing was controlling him from. It wasn't long before they arrived at the bubble shield thing that prevented them from entering Sombra had attempted many different things to get in but no matter what her tried it wouldn't do anything.

"Now if I focus enough I might be able to crack this open with a spell" Sombra then Looked over to where Isaac was standing a second ago before looking back to the shield where Isaac was now behind. "How did you get in their?"

"It can't bare a lot of weight just lean on it and you should fall through"

"You're got to be kidding" Sombra leaned on the shield expecting nothing to happen but instead he just phased right through as if there was nothing even there. "I've been trapped out here for over a thousand years and it was THAT EASY"

"A thousand years? Dude you look like you're in your twenties."

"Well it takes a lot for that spirit to posses a host so it's understandable it'd extend the life of it's host"

"Fuck modern medicine get an evil spirit and you wont have to even worry about death"

"It's not something to take lightly Isaac"

"I was joking Sombra, calm down"

"You're joking about the torture I've had to endure"

"Look I'm sorry ok, just trying to lighten the mood since you seem to be really stressed" They stopped talking after that since Sombra didn't want to talk about the situation anymore and Isaac felt that if he spoke he might piss of his only hope out of here. They finally had re-entered the town and gotten back to the wall when Isaac noticed that black smoke from earlier was now covering the spire. "Is that normal."

"Since he took over, yes. Now can you help me get over that wall" Isaac keeled down and cupped his hand waiting for Sombra to get on. "What are you doing?"

"Giving you a boost,duh" Sombra didn't argue with the rather rude way Isaac was speaking because this was his only chance to take back control of his body. Once Sombra was on top of the wall he used what little of his magic he had left to levitate Isaac up aswell. "Thanks, now where too next"

"The throne room,"

"Great, hey do you think I can find a crown in there?"

"Why are you asking"

"Because I want to say I have authority even though I actually have a much authority as a rock"

"That has got to be the stupidest thing I've heard in a thousand years."

"It's the only thing you've heard in a thousand years" They were finally standing outside a set of giant wooden doors that led into the throne room when Sombra spoke.

"You know we are probably going to die, right"

"You sound like Silver whenever we are exploring lost ruins"

"she sounds like a smart pony"

"She's a zebra, but i'll let that slide. You ready to get out of here"

"Yes" With that they kicked open the doors which caused the Sombra in the throne room to jump. It then grinned before saying,

"Ah, Sombra good to see you again, how was the frozen wasteland"

"I'm here to take my body back you monster"

"How should I put this, Your body is now mine, your mind is now mine, your life is now mine, and you are mine so how exactly do you think you're going to take any of it back."  The other Sombra then looked at Isaac before saying "I see you've made a friend as well, too bad I'm going to kill him" 

"Yeah I don't die that easy" Isaac said before rushing toward the evil Sombra who made multiple shadow guards appear around him with spears at the ready. Isaac was being surrounded by the guards when the two Sombras began to converse.

"I'll give you one chance Sombra leave and I wont throw you into the dungeons"

"I can't do that, You are a threat to everything and I will stop you" Sombra then attempted to headbutt the evil version of himself only for it to teleport away.

"That's to bad, guards kill the human and capture Sombra" The guards all pulled out spears and attempted to impale Isaac but due to evolution Isaac was much more agile and was able to side step them rather easily before grabbing onto one of them and yanking it away.

"Thanks for the spear mate" Isaac then proceeded to swing the spear more like a sword to move some guards out of the way so he could get out of the circle. Sombra however was having a more difficult time dealing with the guards as he was unable to use very powerful spells without almost killing himself However Isaac tossed him a spear which Sombra used rather effectively on the guards that were trying to apprehend him by using it to force the guards into one another.  The guards didn't pose much of a challenge to them as they were quickly dispatched which caused the Evil Sombra to reappear in the room  with them.

"As they say if you want it done right you've got to do it yourself" he said before forcing both Isaac and Sombra up against the wall which knocked the wind out of the two. They struggled as hard as they could against the magical grip but to no avail they were stuck. Isaac had an idea however.

"Sombra since this is your head think of something"

"That wont work anything I think of he'll just turn it against us"

"Then think of something he can't" Sombra then began to think of anything that could be used to get them out of this situation when finally he had an idea and began to focus on it. A crystal heart appeared in front of them which Isaac responded wit,

"GAY"

"Do you want out or not?" The heart then began to glow with a brilliant light as Sombra focused more and more on it. The evil version of Sombra was only laughing at their attempts to free themselves with such a mundane object because it's effects wouldn't work in Sombra's mind or at least that is what it thought. The Crystal then began to pulse with light before the light expanded across the throne room throwing the evil sombra up against a wall and letting both Sombra and Isaac fall to the ground. 

"How could you-"

"Dude it's in every type of story. good always triumphs over evil" Isaac said before turning toward sombra, "Care to do the honors?"

"Why thank you" With that a doorway appeared next to the evil Sombra  which the real Sombra proceeded to kick him into which resulted    in the spirit being expunged from Sombra's mind though the damage was already done. 

***Back with Silver and Luca***

Sombra and Isaac awoke at roughly the same time which startled both Luca and Silver who was watching over Isaac. Upon seeing Sombra  they both got ready to fight when Isaac stopped them and attempted to explain what happened. They were skeptical but after a lot of questioning they let it pass. Isaac realized that Sombra had been trapped for a long time and had nothing left to go back too so he offered him the chance to join him which Sombra humbly accepted despite Luca and Silvers protests to his joining.

***Back to now***

Sombra still remembers when Isaac offered to let him join their little adventure and realizing he had nothing left to lose he joined them in hopes of becoming someone that would be respected not feared. The more he thought back to then the more he realized how much Isaac had given him over their year long journey , and that wasn't only including the money but rather the fact he'd listen to his concerns about what was happening and offer what he could. Sombra realized that Isaac was a little like him before willing to sacrifice everything to protect those around him not because he had to, but because he chose to.
> Deal with it
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chpater 11: Deal with it

"You two have been quite for awhile, is there something on your minds" rarity asked the two unicorns in striped shirts. They looked at each other before Flim began.

"We're thinking back to when we met Isaac almost a year ago, If it wasn't for him we wouldn't be here"

"The town we were in was having some trouble and they accused us. Isaac found the real cause of it and helped o clear our names" Flam added.

"I can see why you two would be accused of somthin considerin you're liars" Applejack said glaring at the two con-ponies 

"Oh, we don't do that too much anymore, unless you count making whatever we find sound like it's worth a lot more than it is" Both Flim and Flam turned to applejack before saying "We stopped after Isaac helped us"

*** 11 months ago***

"It's nice relaxing like this every so often ain't it" Isaac said reclining back on a bench in the middle of a small town. Luca was beside him snuggling up to his chest in her sleep, "I swear, you are just adorable when you're sleeping." To their right a large crowd was forming around those two sales ponies selling their 'magical' cure all potions. Isaac had seen this a million times, and knew the town would kick the two out of town in a couple minutes when he noticed the crowd had pitchforks at the ready. "Why can't any of these ponies calmly remove people instead of going straight to murder" Isaac then nudged Luca to get her off of his chest so he could deal with this situation before it became another riot.

"Why'd you have to wake me up, I was enjoying a wonderful dream where you...you...never mind" Isaac raised an eyebrow at the changeling because of her stammering. She'd been acting strange lately around him and he didn't know why all he knew was that she'd stumble over words and randomly drag him to places to relax which Isaac didn't have a problem with.

"Well if you look over that way you can see a mob forming, again. Seriously what is with ponies and forming mobs"

"Didn't you say humans kill each other for nothing"

"That's only sometimes and with certain people who are completely messed up" Luca shrugged before getting off her spot on Isaac's side allowing for Isaac to get up and defuse the situation before it blew out of proportion as always.

"Our product does not bring back then I tell you" One of the ponies on the stage thing said before he continued "It does just about everything else though" This didn't seem to help their case in the slightest as the mob only got more rowdy at his words before a rock was hurled toward one of the unicorns. 

"Alright can someone tell me what is going on here" Isaac said drawing the attention of the entire crowd which resulted in most of the ponies shrinking away from him. "Well?" One of the ponies closest to Isaac then spoke,

"Those two have been selling there miracle cure, and its been how do it put this. It's brought back the dead"

"I guess I'm in red dead redemption now aren't I? Sorry but I've only seen the dead be brought back once and it was through magic not miracle cures"

"It's true though, they come at night and attack the town."

"Fine, i'll help"

"What?"

"I'll help fix you're undead problem, for a price of course"

"We'd be grateful but we can't offer you anything"

"You'll think of something, but before I help out I'd like for you to not try to kill those two up their. I might need them for something if this works the same way"

"But they caused all of this.We will have justice"

"You will murder and hope it fixes your problems. What if your right anyway they might be the only ones that could reverse it?" The pony in question looked up toward the stage before back to Isaac and nodded which resulted in the crowd dispersing, but not without giving angry glares in Isaac's direction. Isaac however didn't give a fuck and gave all of them the one finger salute as he walked over toward the stage to see if he could get any information out of the con-ponies. "Alright first things first I expect a thank you" The two ponies on stage looked at each other before back to Isaac before giving a half-hearted thanks."Now I need to know exactly what is going on and why everyone blames you for it."

"Well my brother Flim and I came to this town about a month ago with our patented miracle cure, proven to cure everything for a toothache to cancer..."

"I should beat you to death for that bullshit, But I might need you two" The unicorn shrank back from Isaac when his brother Flim came up to speak to Isaac instead.

"Sorry about Flam, he's more about the promotions than the customers. Like he said we came here about a month ago selling our cure to the town and business was good until the next week when the dead started to rise"

"Why do I always have to deal with the weird shit, Luca I want you to get Silver and Sombra" Luca nodded before heading off into town to get the others that were part of their merry band of loonies and crazies. "Alright next up I want to know what your miracle cure actually does if anything at all"

"Like my brother said it is the cure for all your ailments" Isaac glared at him for a minute before he changed what he said, "Alright it's just water with some green food coloring"

"And they didn't realize this"

"We're really good at what we do sir"

"My name is Isaac, and you two are going to help me deal with the problem"

"WHAT, WHY?"

"You get a cut of whatever we make"

"Deal" Flam said which caused Flim to pull him to the side. They started whispering to each other about what the hell Flam was thinking which was mostly about the money they'd have chance at making which Flim countered with how it wasn't guaranteed they'd get payed at all considering this town wasn't exactly swimming in bits. Ultimately Flam convinced his brother that in the end it was worth it considering that it'd get the town to trust them once again resulting in more sales.

"Well Isaac, I suppose that it is a deal. We expect fifty percent of whatever  is earned however"

"You'll get thirty percent because I just kept you guys from being murdered" The two looked at each other with worried expressions before turning to Isaac and saying.

"That's fair"

"Alright, I'll introduce you two to everyone once they get back here" Just as Isaac said that Luca had returned with both Silver and Sombra right behind her. "And there they are," The three walked up to Isaac before asking him exactly why he needed them. "Well we got a job of ridding this town of ponies that don't realize they're dead yet."

"Damn it Isaac we're on vacation"

"Our vacation will be ruined if one of us get eaten so if we do this we get both payed and we don't have to worry about our brains being eaten."

"Fine, but we better make this quick"

"I hate to interrupt, but raising the dead is a very difficult spell to perform once, but if it's happening every night something very bad is happening here" Sombra cut in as he faced Isaac "The only way to have this much power would require constant energy that wouldn't necessarily come from the caster"

"So sacrifices. Why can't ultimate power come from using water or the wind hell why not just use steam"

"Because-"

"Before you start I was joking again, Sombra"

"Oh, anyway like I said somepony would have to have a constant source of energy to do this"

"Alright here's the plan. We wait till nightfall, kill all the undead ponies, and finally follow the bodies to where they came from to see if there are any clues there"

"Sounds simple enough" Flim said as he walked to Isaac's side.

"You've never met Isaac then. His plan's never go as they should" Luca said as she walked over to Isaac and looking him in the eyes, "Isaac just in case I want you to know that I... that I..."

"What Luca"

"Never mind, I'll tell you later"

*** Later that night***

"Alright so from what you two said they're going to be coming from the west, right?" Isaac asked the two brothers as he stood in the middle of town trying to form a plan for fending them off.

"That's right, They come from the west when the moon of in the middle of the sky"

"Of course, Any werewolves want to come out to play too?" Isaac said as he stretched out his arms "Because I just love fighting shit that shouldn't exists"  The brothers looked at Isaac as if he was losing his mind while everyone else was used to him doing things like this rather regularly. With that said they got in their positions just within the town limits to  prevent the undead from harming any civilians that might be wandering around that night  because they have a deathwish.

"So anyone here want to say something  before they get here, because here that come" Isaac said before dropping into a fighting stance since he was never able to get a weapon that he could use effectively. "Why don't I just buy a sword or something?" with that the zomponies were upon them biting and not really clawing but rather punching  at them in attempts of feasting upon their flesh. They however were incredibly slow, uncoordinated, and  would just change what they were doing randomly resulting in them being dispatched rather easily. "You have got to be kidding if that is what these ponies are hiding from"

As Isaac said that a Minotaur whose body was heavily decomposed started to trudge toward the town.

"Well, shit" The Minotaur then spoke in a low scratchy voice,

"You've killed my minions, oh well I'll just bring them back later, after I've killed you of course"

"Good luck with that" 

"I don't need luck creature"

"You're right, but you do need to pay attention, NOW SOMBRA" At that Sombra shot a magic bolt at the Minotaur knocking it to the ground, and before it could get up Sombra imprisoned it in a small bubble.

"How mundane" The Minotaur said before punching through the bubble. "Now where was I" The ponies that were lying dead at their feet started to rise back up and began trying to fight everyone once again. Of course it wasn't hard to knock them back down but every time they  did the pony would just come right back and continue what it was doing.

"Why can't we have an easy job once" Isaac said as he used one of the zomponies legs as a make shift club to whck another across the face. "Still better than the hydra job at least." The Minotaur just watched them with disinterest before he began walking toward the town itself when Isaac started rushing toward him only to be stopped by some one yelling,

"FLAM"  Isaac turned to see Flim yelling at a group of zomponies crowding around what he assumed was where Flam was. Isaac looked at the Minotaur then back to Flam realizing he could only get to one right away.

"Fuck me with a cactus" Isaac charged toward the group of zomponies to try and help the con-pony before he'd be killed. Not thinking it through Isaac went straight to the center of the group to find Flam cowering in a ball trying to hide from the ponies around him when Isaac picked him up and through him over the crowd so he'd be safe. "Now who's first," Isaac said before cracking his knuckles."

*** back in town***

"Remember me?" The Minotaur yelled as ponies were running around him screaming in fear.

"I do, but do you remember me" Isaac said. The Minotaur turned around to see Isaac covered in blood and bite marks with everyone else standing behind him. "Because if you don't you sure as hell will after this."

"How do you expect-" A stone went flying toward the Minotaur's head which it caught in it's hand  "How did you think that would work"

"It wasn't supposed to" Isaac said before running up and kicking the Minotaur in the knee causing it to bend in the wrong direction which caused the  Minotaur to fall over. After that Isaac started to stomp on the minotaur's head as hard as he could causing bits and pieces to fall off of its skull. The Minotaur grabbed onto Isaac's leg after one stomp and twisted it to point in the wrong direction. "GAH, DAMN IT. MY FUCKING LEG" Isaac fell to his side which the Minotaur took advantage of and climbed on top of him before repeatedly punching his face until his face began to swell and bleed.

"You fought rather dirty don't you think, good thing You feel pain though" The Minotaur said before one of his zompony minions walked up beside him and proceeded to buck him off of Isaac. Sombra's horn was glowing making various zomponies turn from terrorizing the town and instead getting the to attack their leader. The Minotaur  tried to fight back but after a good twenty or so zomponies had climbed onto him he couldn't fight back as they took him apart quite literally. 

With the Minotaur no longer a threat Isaac was carried off to the hospital in town where his leg was put into  cast to heal over a long period of time, but thanks to modern magical medicine it only took a month before Isaac was released, and the first thing he did when he got out was go out  to dinner with Luca where she finally told him how she felt which surprised Isaac but he didn't turn her away but rather agreed to give it a try. Flim and Flam would often visit him in the hospital to thank him for not only helping them out of being blamed for the evil that was occurring but for also saving Flam which Isaac just waved off as doing what he had too.

The brothers feeling that they owed Isaac offered to join him on his adventure since they could not only smooth talk their way into better prices for things but also build quite a few inventions as they talked about one they created that made cider much fast than any pony could. Thinking over their offer Isaac eventually agreed to it and after that they stuck with Isaac creating some of the simpler things Isaac remembered from his worlds history such as a crossbow which Isaac continued to use since they made it for him.

***Back to now***

The brothers continued into the cave completely unaware of what was being said around them as they trudged along thinking back to that day. If Isaac hadn't shown up when he did they surely wouldn't be standing here and he didn't turn them away after so many others had done before.  Knowing that Isaac was in great peril Flam whispered to himself,

"You saved me, it's only right if I save you"
> Not the worst contract we've had
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 12: Not the worst contract we've had (Finale) 

***In the ruins"***

"Sombra, are you sure waiting this long to save Isaac is a good Idea. I mean it's been two days" Luca asked worriedly to the Unicorn who was looking around to get his bearings.

"Isaac is strong he wont give up without a fight" Sombra said glancing a smile toward the Changeling in hopes of easing her distress. Neither of them believed that though Sombra knows the only reason he was able to be saved was because of that dragon who separated the spirit and Sombra's mind, and Luca has seen just how fast that thing took over making Isaac its puppet. The ruin that they were currently in was in fact the one Sombra had hoped to get into, however they did enter in an area he was familiar with. 

"So, I was wonderin, why do you all follow Isaac?" Applejack asked with genuine curiosity because these individuals seemed to be extremely loyal to him and are trying to save him when I'd be simpler to go with the other solution. The group stopped and they all turned toward the seven they were protecting before they began.

"I was there at the start even when they told him he couldn't trust me because I'm a changeling. He took me along anyway and whenever Ponies would find out about me, and they'd start calling me a monster he'd simply tell me you are not a monster unless you choose to be." Luca said when Silver stepped beside her and started making fast movements in front of fluttershy.

"Silver says that Isaac did everything in his power to protect them even when he first met her he stopped her own tribe from, oh my. He stopped them from killing her which resulted in them taking her tongue instead, why would they do that" Silver made more quick motions toward Fluttershy before Fluttershy gasped and went quite. Sombra stepped up next before beginning,

"He helped me free myself from that demon that currently possesses him, do you really think I'd abandon him after that?" The group looked at one another because that was obviously going to be his answer. Finally Flim and Flam walked over to them and started,

"Why he saved us from a mob of angry customers, and that's not mentioning when he jumped into a pile of undead ponies to save Flam here" Flim said motioning toward his brother in question.

"After that we offered to come along to help repay him which he agreed to" finally the five ponies or rather three ponies, a changeling, and a zebra that Isaac had gathered moved further into the ruin so that they can save Isaac and finally get back to how things should be. The other six ponies and dragon again looked at each other contemplating all that they had just heard considering that this was Isaac the man who came to them two years ago as just another problem for them to solve had gathered the loyalty of so many in ways they didn't think he ever would. Back in Ponyville Isaac stayed away from ponies unless he knew them personally because of the mob incident which caused Isaac to be bitter around them all considering they didn't stop it though none of them knew about it.

"Wait, so Isaac over a year and a half got you five together, and has dealt with more life or death situations than you could count" Rainbow asked which Luca replied with,

"That sums it up"

"Damn, you think that I could-"

"Maybe if you get in a life or death situation, but saving Isaac might help get you in" Luca said cutting rainbow off before she could ask her question. The further the group went into the ruin the more lost they became until they heard footsteps behind them, slow heavy footsteps.

"I see you've decided to visit my old home. It's rather rude to just pop in unannounced you know," Isaac said with an evil grin as he walked closer to the group. "I mean I didn't even have time to clean let alone decorate, oh well" 

"We will defeat you" Twilight said rather confidently which caused Isaac to look in her direction.

"While possessing you would have been preferable I suppose having you work for me can be just as good"

"I'll never work for you"

"Who said you had a choice in the matter" With that a dark mist started to seep out of Isaac and started to head toward Twilight when a red bubble like shield surrounded her  preventing it from reaching her. "Oh Sombra, why stop the fun. Oh wait I have an idea" The mist then quickly turned and started to envelop Sombra who was cried out for help only to realize that none of them had the ability to. Before Sombra was completely enveloped by the mist he yelled,

"I WONT GO BACK" He started to struggle harder to get away from the mist which only took the opportunity to force its way down Sombra's mouth before it completely enveloped him. Isaac Smiled as Sombra screamed he wouldn't go back when nothing he could do would save him, nothing. Sombra walked back out of the mist a few moments later a maniacal smile plastered on his face before both he and Isaac said,

"I'm back and I want to have some fun before destroying Equestira," With that Sombra formed a sword using his magic and Isaac pulled out the flintlock he'd gotten just before being consumed by the cloud. "You have two options you can join me and live, or you can try to fight me and die a horribly gruesome death, I recommend the prior" All the ponies realized that the only two that knew how to fight this thing were now under its control,and that they could do nothing about it. Luca however wanted to try something before giving up hope,

"Isaac please don't do this"

"Oh you want to talk to Isaac go right ahead. You know what I'll give him just enough control to speak to you" Isaac said before his eyes flickered back to their normal blue. "Luca , I thought you were going to save me. I thought when I gave you that necklace I was going to be ok, but you just left me here, you abandoned me just like they said you would," after that Isaac's eyes turned back to the same green and red that had been there since his possession. Luca looked away realizing she did abandon Isaac by not helping him immediately, she did what she thought he'd want but instead she had left him in a personal hell for the past few days when she could of helped him.

"I'm sorry Isaac," Luca said in a weak voice which made him grin at how easily he could break the pitiful changeling before he began again,

"You know when you first gave him back control I realized just how much he cared about you, how much he wanted to protect you but as time went on he realized you left him and he gave up. I should really thank you for speeding up my take over" As he said that Luca looked down toward the floor disgusted by the fact she let this happen to him. More of the mist started to creep up on Luca before it began to consume her, and she did not fight it for in her mind this was her rightful punishment for abandoning the one she loved. After a moment Luca walked back out of the mist just like Sombra had and she glared at the ponies, and that glare was essentially saying 'I will fucking end you'.

***In Issac's mind***

"NOOOO YOU LET HER GO YOU FUCKER" Isaac yelled as he watched everything unfold in front of him. Isaac couldn't do anything to stop this from happening however the spirit had complete control and Isaac couldn't do anything to stop him.

"Why Isaac you should be happy I've done this for you, I had wanted to kill her but I'm letting her live by working for me" The evil Isaac stated in a charming manner.

"You're killing who she is. I swear when I get out of here I will-"

"You aren't getting out of here, they think you are a lost cause now. You are now mine forever" Isaac looked down realizing how true the monsters words were they had given up on him. With that Isaac's body flickered in and out of existence which the spirit smiled at because very soon Isaac would become lost in his mind forever never to be free again.

***Back in reality*** 

The three slowly started to corner the others as they moved closer and closer cutting off all forms of escape. The only reason they were not dead or possessed was because twilight had formed a shield around them that prevented the mist from getting in but Sombra's sword constantly smacking the sheild was making it get weaker and weaker until it wouldn't hold much longer.

"I don't think we're getting out this time" Applejack said taking a few steps back when she stepped on something and they all heard a clicking sound before the wall behind them slid open revealing a room that had a table in the center and the wall looked as if something had been thrown against them repeatedly due to how they were cracked in certain places. The group moved into the room before twilight forced the wall shut again with her magic to slow down their pursuers which would have been effective if this wasn't where the spirit was brought into this world. 

"I'll hold them off, you girls look for a big gem" Twilight said as she threw another shield against the wall as it opened back up to reveal three rather angry looking faces.

"First you invade my home, now you try to steal my stuff I have half a mind to call the guard on you all" Isaac said as he walked up to the shield before hitting some thing on the side causing the shield to disappear as well as Sombra's sword. Twilight tried to throw up another shield or any spell for that matter, but no matter what she tried she couldn't get anything to happen before Isaac spoke, "The one who brought me into this world were rather ingenious to make an Anti magic barrier to stop me from escaping. To bad they didn't realize I could be very persuasive when I needed to be" With that Isaac raised the flintlock and pointed it at twilight before saying "You could of been useful but you're also the only one that can stop me, so I regret to inform you that you've been terminated" 

Isaac then fired at her and as the bullet flew toward twilight time seemed to slow down and eventually stop and everything else disappeared around her. Looking around Twilight saw Sombra talking to a few other ponies beside the table they were doing something on,

"You are certain that it can't get out, correct?" Sombra asked the pony beside him who had a green mane and blue coat. The pony looked at sombra before she began,

"The only way it can get out is if someone lets it out, and that can only happen through direct contact"

"You are certain of this, if it gets out it may cause more harm then good for my people"

"Yes, I'm certain Sombra. If you're really so scared of this thing why did you want us to summon it in the first place"

"If I didn't do something everypony would die" The two ponies faded away and twilight took a moment to try to understand exactly what had happened when the two reappeared in a more panicked state.

"What do you mean its not here!" Sombra said,

"I don't know I left it alone for five minutes I swear!"

"Do you have any idea how much damage that  thing can do"

"I know, We have to find it and fast" Again they faded away as twilight began to realize that this Sombra was before he was possessed in the first place, but she doesn't know why she was here in the first place since this was just showing what had happened here rahter than a way to fix it. As she thought about it Sombra was standing over the table Focusing his magic on a gem as a shadowy mist crept up behind him,

"I will stop you" Sombra said as he poured more of his magic into enchanting the gem.

"What about your people. If you get rid of me they will wither and die" Sombra looked back at the monster as his determination melted away from him. 

"I brought you into this world so you could save lives not end them"

"I am doing that, by ending their lives I'm making it easier for you to grow enough food for your people."

"That was not what you were meant to do you were supposed to-"

"What exactly did you think I was going to do when you brought me here, you said you wanted to feed your people and that is what I'm doing"

"You are murdering them"

"You are a leader, you know better than anyone that if a few must die for the many that it is worth it"

"It's not worth this though, nothing is worth this" The mist had started to wrap around Sombra's leg before it pulled him into the cloud leaving the gem on the table. Twilight realized exactly what that gem was and exactly how they could save Isaac all she needed now was that necklace. As everything faded back to reality and everyone took their places Twilight realized that she still was going to die. She shut her eyes to not see the inevitable only to realize that it never came opening her eyes to see why she saw a pony made of stone between her and Isaac before it spoke in a booming voice.

"I warned you about this Sombra" The voice that came from the stone pony was the same as the one from that she saw talking to Sombra in the flashback thing. Sombra looked at it with his eyes widening and returning to normal before he softly said,

"Crystal? is that you" The stone pony nodded before it began to speak again.

"I told you that summoning that thing would only result in death, but I did it anyway because of you"

"Enough with this nuisance" Isaac said smashing the button again and snapping his fingers making a spear appear, "Bye bye, Crystal" Isaac than through the spear as hard as he could which caused it to go through the stone ponies head resulting in it slumping over dead. Sombra looked between Isaac and the pony several times before forming his sword once again and speaking,

"Would you like me to deal with the rest of out problems?"

"That would be grand Sombra"

"Alright then" Sombra said before swinging his sword into Isaac which just phased right through him.

"Tsk Tsk Sombra I though you were smarter than that" Isaac said before grabbing Sombra's face and throwing him into the crowd of ponies in front of him. "To be honest I didn't think Crystal there was smart enough to transfer herself into one of the golems here but then again that still didn't save here now did it" Isaac said as he started to laugh, "You'd think that she'd be smart enough to just die instead of fight me"

"I"LL KILL YOU" Sombra yelled as he started to charge back at Isaac who just let the sword pass through him with every strike grinning before he grabbed onto it and said,

"I win" Before yanking the sword away from Sombra before attempting to cleave Sombra's head off but he couldn't swing it for some reason. When he looked behind him he saw his arm was encased in a magical aura that was emanating from Twilight's horn this was when he realized he made the mistake of turning off the anti magic barrier, "Shit"

"You wont win" Isaac just yanked him arm free of the aura before turning around to Twilight and saying,

"And how will you stop me" His eyes widened when he saw Silver tossed Twilight the gem on the table as well as Isaac's necklace.

"Like this" Twilight said before Luca, Isaac and Twilight passed out onto the floor after she put on the necklace.

***Isaac's mind***

"Uh where am I" Twilight said as she looked around the barren wasteland that she was in. There was only dust around her and that was it before she remembered she had no idea how to fight this thing if she found it. She decided that staying in one spot however wouldn't help them in the slightest so she went decided to head in a random direction since there were no landmarks to speak of. That however was when she noticed building off in the distance that were shrouded in a dark mist. "I guess I found where that thing is, but what about Isaac"

"You need some help there?" A voice sounded behind Twilight which sent a chill down her spine because there were only suposed to be two people in here other than her and one wasn't in control. Slowly twilight turned around to see another human who looked different to Isaac with long black hair and was slightly shorter before he spoke again, "Hello, I asked if you need some help" Twilight blinked a few times before coming back to reality,

"That depends on who you are"

"Technically I'm Isaac but I'm more or less how he remembers his brother"

"He has a brother?"

"Yeah, When Isaac disappeared we weren't on the best of terms so really I'm more along the lines of Isaac's regret."

"I don't suppose you could tell me how to help Isaac, can you"

"You can't do that, only Isaac can. However you can give him the means to."

"How?"

"Get me to him, and I'll do the rest"  Twilight nodded as she led Isaac's brother toward the building that were completely shrouded in the shadowy mist that was ever so present. It really just looked like a normal neighborhood if you were human but to Twilight it was strange to see architecture like this. 

"Where are we"

"Home" Isaac's brother stated simply as he continued to walk toward a particular house with the number 23 on the door. He opened the door and stepped through into nothingness. Twilight followed him but hesitated when she saw nothing in the home before Isaac's brother motioned her to follow him in. Looking around Twilight saw two Isaac's with one standing over another which was chained to the floor and it was flickering in and out of existence. 

"Now you get to see your only hope die, Isaac" The Isaac standing over Isaac said before snapping his fingers causing the world to shake and shatter taking them back to the wasteland Twilight had woken up in.

"Keep him distracted I'll help Isaac" Isaac's brother said as he moved toward Isaac completely unnoticed by the spirit for some reason. Twilight didn't question it and just started to throw spell after spell at the evil Isaac that just let the spells go right through him, this was going to be a long fight. Over where the real Isaac was sitting his brother had started to speak to him,

"I'm sorry Isaac"

"I know you're not the real tom, besides even if you were i should be sorry. I should of protected you"

"Hey, who's the big brother here I'm supposed to protect you little bro"

"I could of at least kept my mouth shut"

"I shouldn't of brought you there to begin with, I knew it was something you hated and I still brought you"

"Does this even matter you're not real so no matter what I say you wont actually here it"

"That's true, but you should at least forgive yourself you couldn't of stopped it if you tried"

"Tom, if I didn't say anything you wouldn't need to stay in that damn hospital"

"It still would of happened, but you don't have to worry about me anymore. Other people rely on you now"

"What makes you say that" Tom just pointed toward the fight that was going on as both the Evil Isaac and Twilight through spells at each other. With that Isaac's flickering started to slow down and eventually stop when Tom kicked the chains holding Isaac down shattering them.

"You do what's best for everyone not just yourself" Tom faded away after that and Isaac stood up before cracking his knuckles,

"Time to kick some ass" Twilight couldn't keep fighting she was slowly losing strength after each spell threw at the evil version of Isaac would just faze through him. She was about to give up and pass out when the evil Isaac laughed and said,

"You remind me of when Isaac tried fighting me, how pitiful"

"You remember our fight, eh. Well I've decided to change up what happened" Isaac said as he cocked a shotgun he made materialize in his hands,"As I say in nazi zombies, time to break out the stakeout " Then he pointed it at the evil version of himself before firing right at it's head which sent it flying back. Of course it didn't stay down long as it got back up and said,

"You insolent fool"

"That's my line" Isaac said as he cocked the gun again and fired again knocking the evil version of him fall back down to the ground. "Now GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD" The evil version of Isaac stood back up and snapped it's fingers making more Isaac's appear around him before saying,

"Try to find me now"

"Don't need to" Isaac said as he snapped his fingers making a ton of bricks fall on top of all of them, "My head my rules" The evil version of Isaac slowly crawled back out of the rubble coughing and spitting blood, "How can you bleed if you're a spirit?"

"I will kill you"

"No, you wont Timmy the t-rex will kill you" With that Timmy materialized next to Isaac and charged toward the evil Isaac when the real Isaac remembered, "Oh, right the door out is right there" Isaac said pointing in the direction of a door which the evil version of him ran for slamming it on it's way out.

"So Isaac are we um..."

"Yeah twilight we're good, I mean you did kind of get me my body back"Twilight smiled at the fact someone who hated her so greatly before had forgiven her for what had happened. "Now, the door is over there, but Timmy here wont chase you out of it." Twilight nodded before walking back toward the door and shut it calmly behind her.

***Back in reality***

The gem twilight was holding had turned black when the spirit entered it and now it was constantly shaking. Everyone woke up and Luca begged Isaac to forgive her when he explained how it wasn't really him. Isaac took his necklace back soon after despite twilight wanting to keep it for research purposes which Isaac responded with ask Luna. They stayed so Sombra could pay his respects to the stone pony named Crystal, when they asked him who she was Sombra just said someone close to him. Once everything was said and done they started to make their way to Canterlot to report that their contract was a success and that they should get a bonus for dealing with the problem for the princesses. Twilight finally decided to ask,

"So I bet this was the worst contract you've ever taken isn't it"

"God no, you should of been there when we had clear out a dragon nest three months ago"

"Really, I guess being a mercenary is quite the job isn't it"

"Twilight please, I prefer the term freelancer" 
> epilogue 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

epilogue: step one: protect ponies, step two:????, step three: profit

***Canterlot one week later***

"I think a monument to my greatness should be right here" Isaac said pointing to a random spot on the canterlot ground near a hedge maze.

"You know that's where discord was originally imprisoned, right?" Luca asked as she clung to Isaac's back since she was to lazy to walk today. Isaac just looked back at her and grinned before saying,

"They have to replace one being of chaos with another don't they?"

"Please, the only chaotic thing you do is walk on two legs,"

"You wound me" Isaac grinned as he started to carry the changeling along the path back toward the castle itself which stood proudly against the skyline with its pristine white towers. "If we ever retire, you want to live here?"

"I don't know, to many snobs around here"

"There are snobs everywhere, but I see your point"

"Besides I hear ponyville is pretty exciting, Even when we retire we wont get bored from doing nothing"

"God, you reminded me when I was there and discord got out" Isaac shivered at the thought of being trampled by rabbits again since it took the doctors three days just to find all of the bone fragments in him.

"You know we are the thrill seeking type"

"Yeah, you kind of did make me an adrenaline junkie"

"Did it start with our first contract or when I surprised you with appearing as a female dragon"

"The first one" Isaac said calmly while trying to look interested in something else since he didn't want Luca to see him blushing. They passed many different sculptures depicting various ponies and villains throughout equestria's history when they walked over to a relatively new one of Sombra. There was an inscription underneath that read,

A pony who sacrificed everything to protect his people only to become the one who harmed them.

"You think ponies will eventually stop fearing Sombra" Isaac asked as he read the inscription.

"Have they stopped fearing you?"

"Well I kind of a mercenary Luca, even if we only pick the contract that deal in protecting others they don't need to know that"

"True, but you'd expect them to put two and two together" As Luca said that they finally reached the entrance hall to the castle which was decorated with balloons and confetti obviously by pinkie pie. When they had returned to canterlot Celestia though Isaac had decided to give up on the contract only for him to ask for a bonus as he held up a gem in a cage. Celesia asked why it was in a cage when Isaac said it growled at him before laughing his ass off. After locking the gem deep within the forbidden archives Celestia had decreed there be a celebration today and Isaac would get a special reward which he detested greatly.

Walking in Isaac was met with the smiling faces of five ponies and one face that was more disgruntled appearance. Isaac decided that since he gave pinkie a chance he could give one to applejack.

"Listen applejack whatever the hell you're pissed about can you just tell me"

"You lied to me repeatedly, put my sister in danger, and stole some of my apples"

"You kept asking questions about things I told you not too repeatedly and you kept asking anyway"Isaac began before taking a deep breath and continuing, "I kept my eyes on your sister the entire time she and her friends were diving into that lake, besides how was I supposed to know there was a lake monster in there,finally I paid for those apples you just didn't accept the currency I gave in exchange" Isaac reached into his bag before producing four bits, "This should cover it"

Applejack just looked at him slack jawed at everything he just said and then handing her bits as if it would fix everything.

"Ah still don't trust you"

"Did I ask you to trust me" Isaac said before walking further down the line of ponies only stopping to ruffle Twilights hair when he reached the end of the row where the princess of the sun stood.

"Are you ready for your special reward, Isaac" she asked.

"Is it a useless title or a useless lesson"

"No Isaac, I am giving you a job offer"

"I already like this"

"You and your companions shall work as a special task force for the crown, however your still your own group. You will be the first offered an jobs that the guard can't quite complete"

"Like you were going to hire someone else, but that sounds nice though next time no mind control"

"No promises"

"Great" 

"Sister do you mind..." Luna walked into the room and looked over to see Isaac and her necklace.

"Hey moon moon, what have you been doing"

"I've been looking for my necklace since it disappeared after you returned it"

"Really, I wonder where it is"

"We believe it's around your neck"

"Well would you look at the time, We'd love to stay but we got other jobs to do" Isaac then proceeded to bolt out of the castle so fast that in the wonderbolt's academy spitfire yelled 'THAT'S AN ACADEMY RECORD' which confused many of the ponies she was currently training. The other four of their merry band were already waiting by the gate with their cart  full of coin as Isaac was sprinting down the street yelling for them to go ahead and go when the Lunar princess dive bombed Isaac.

"THOU THINKS TO STEAL FROM THE CROWN, THOU SHALL FEEL THY_" Luna stopped yelling and began giggling as Luca had turned herself into a bird and started to tickle the night princess with her feathers while Isaac made his way out of the city.

"Alright first things first, Who wants to by a small Island?"