//------------------------------// // The Signal // Story: Alien: Twilight's Gashing Origins // by TwiRaptor //------------------------------// Celestia's hoof smashes into the dome head of the Xenomorph, the guards inside the castle are struggling against the Aliens. Each of them being taken out of the room by the flooding Drones. The large alicorn did her best to keep the Xenomorphs off of her as they reach out one by one attempting to grab her. The Drones were not killing anypony inside the throne room, instead, the aliens were abducting the soldiers, dragging them out of the room once the Xenomorphs had a hold of one of the soldiers. "What do you want!? Where have you come from?" Celestia's horn charges up with a magical glow, casting a spell on one of the closer Xenomorphs. With the power, the sun goddess possessed she was able to shoot a beam powerful enough to cause the Drone to explode. "Get back Monsters!!" Celestia sends another beam flying out of her horn into the body of another drone causing it to burst. "Princess!! Get out of here!!!" One of the guards screams to the Goddess as he is pulled out of the room by one of the Xenomorphs. His voice echoes in the halls as he continues to scream at her, repeating until he couldn't be heard anymore. "Get out of here now!!" Opening her wings, Celestia soars up above the Xenomorph's reach as she heads for the exit of the throne room. The Xenomorphs react quicker than expected, the creatures roar as they begin to climb the walls in an attempt to get closer to the Alicorn. She dodges while in flight to avoid being knocked out of the air as the aliens began to push themselves off the walls in a lunge towards her. She swoops through the open throne room doors to escape the attacking infestation of organisms. The Goddess began to fill with fear seeing the castle hallways are filled with the monsters. Without thinking, to save her own life she turns quickly towards one of the decorated windows. She smashes through the pain of glass that contained images of her reunion with her sister Luna. Outside, the castle walls have the attackers crawling all over. Warrior Xenomorphs are climbing the walls of the castle smashing their bodies into the glass windows allowing other aliens entry to the castle. Celestia looks forward as one of the large winged Xenomorphs swoops down from above heading towards her. "The land and the sky? You really are perfect!!" Celestia charges up her horn, the Xenomorph readies its large tail to hook the Princess. "Not perfect enough!!" She dodges as the Xenomorph gets closer, Celestia aims her focused beam into the chest of the Winged Organism sending it crashing to the ground. The smoke from the crashed Encomi Station began to float above Canterlot, creating a thick black fog of smoke throughout the city below. The screams of the Alicorns loyal subjects echo from the smoke, she closes her eyes briefly. Celestia looks at the buildings above with a smile, with a big flap of her wings she ascends to the level needed to travel safely to the buildings. She aims herself towards the old Weyland Yutani Headquarters. The building suspended in mid-air above the thickest populace of the city. The smoke from Encomi surrounded the building making it hard to see as she approaches the large floating structure. She lands on the bridge leading to the Weyland Structure, not wanting to take the chance of flying into anything on the way. It was almost impossible to see through the thick smoke. More screams from ponies below echo up into her ears, holding back tears she walks along the bridge. Only seconds in, the bridge shakes as something is felt landing on the walkway ahead. "Why are you so persistent? Just let me be, monster!" Celestia powers up her horn once again as the dome head of one of the flying aliens start pushing through the smoke as it walks the bridge towards her. The winged Xenomorph has a deep hole in its chest from when it was shot from her previously. "Back for more? I am not afraid to kill you!!" The Xenomorph taps it's tail on the bridge hissing at the Alicorn, thick spit dropping down below its feet as it stops moving forward. Celestia waits to strike, wanting it to get closer so she could make sure it would die this time. The Xenomorph roars at her opening it's wings like it was ready to take flight at her. "Come on then!! Why are you hesitating!?" Celestia flares her wings as she screams at the alien, the Xenomorph showed signs of hesitation. The creature takes a couple steps back growling at the Alicorn, a deeper growl echoes from behind Celestia. Though she is too slow reacting to this, a large tail wraps around her being forced to remain still. The Xenomorph Queen hisses into Celestia's ear from behind aggressively. "How did something like you make it up here?" Celestia wiggles in the grasp of the tail. Even she knows though that it was a waste of breath, the tail was simply too strong to wiggle out of. She waits until she is able to get a better look at the Queen before making her next move. Celestia closes her eyes taking a slow deep breath of the smoke-filled air. Her flowing mane flows faster, her horn glowing a bright gold, a hint of anger trembles in her lower lip. The Queen opens her large mouth revealing a large instant kill tongue inside, one that is ready to strike down Celestia. The tongue slowly inches out towards the Alicorn's head teasingly, Celestia opens her eyes feeling the presence of the death. In her royal voice, she screams at the two Xenomorphs in defiance, "I WILL NOT FALL TO YOU, CREATURES OF DEATH!!" A wave of magic exits her body forcing the tail of the queen to release the alicorn. "I COMMAND YOU TO LEAVE AT ONCE!" With a fully charged up horn, the Goddess sends a beam of magic at the Queen's chest. The magic smashes into the Queen pushing the large alien away. ................................................................................................................................................................................................... "The Signal, it was received at Weyland Tower" Iron Will stretches heading for the door to unlock it. "Wake up the others, I think it is time to get out of here, see the damage done" He begins the process to unlock the sealed door, Twilight looks to the sleeping ponies. Before she even moves to start waking them, a question for Iron Will. "Can we go to Weyland Tower?" Twilight's voice is a sadder tone than the Minotaur was used to. Twilight turns to face him, waiting for a response. "For a clone ... you have the same thoughts as Twilight Sparkle" Iron Will stops with the process for the door, turning to face the alicorn. "I am not going to say anything ... this is a blessing for Sunset Shimmer. Though I know it is too good to be true" Twilight steps back shocked to have the Minotaur know she was a copy of the Alicorn, faster than she was able to figure it out on her own. She looks up at him before turning away to end the conversation short to wake up the other ponies in the room. Knowing she wasn't the real Twilight hurt her deeply, knowing somepony else knew as well hurts more. From this point, she knew she has to try harder to keep that secret safe. Knowing that if Sunset Shimmer or others knew the real Twilight really did die, it would crush them. Rahzzy, Rumham, and Mistilie are the first to wake up, followed by Sunset Shimmer and the two guards who were with her. "We are going to Weyland Tower, it should have the answers we need to perhaps save Equestria" Twilight's voice is raspy from her sadness. She holds back her emotions the best she is able too, Mistilie walks past the alicorn whispering something into her ear. "Good Morning, Buttercup" Almost as if Mistilie had heard Iron Will say it previously, the unicorn then speaks out loud so everypony can hear her. "To Weyland Tower then?" ................................................................................................................................................................................................... "Seriously terrible how fast they messed up Canterlot," Mistilie says looking up at the Weyland Tower overhead, there was sarcasm in her voice as she continues speaking. "Shame we were locked up, prevented from seeing all this" The group looks up to the tower, most of them ignoring Mistilie's negative attitude towards everything. Rahzzy pauses thinking to himself on how everypony is going to get up there. "Do you think there is a ship we might be able to use to get up there? Not all of us can fly ... you know?" The group agrees that it isn't going to be easy. A vehicle is needed to get up there, at least for everypony to get up there. "What worries me ... I don't hear anything. I can't even hear a Xenomorph nearby" Iron Will looks around briefly, looking quickly to find a ride up there, luckily it does not take long. The Minotaur walks over and opens the door to a hovercraft. Native to the area it has to have the ability to fly around like a plane to get up to the suspended buildings above. Coco watches, curious as to why the Minotaur was able to get into the car without worry. The Android mare steps forward and asks. "Don't you think the owner will miss it? Why just take it?" The Android, knowing her protocols, even if she was known to break them from time to time. They made her question what is right from wrong. "Well I am sure they are dead" Iron Will is blunt and taps the side of the car, "Let's get up to that tower ... the answers are up there waiting for us" ................................................................................................................................................................................................... The tower is quiet as the entered the main archives entrance, strange enough that not a single Xenomorph attacked on the way here. Rahzzy turns on a flash light to light the dark corners of the room. Twilight's brain was taking in everything as she looked at all the Intel collected by Weyland Yutani Corporation during its years of service to Equestria. The mass of files were probably classified information, that has never been read, this thought only made the bookworm alicorn excited to be here. She wanted to read!! "So what are we looking for? A lost library book?" Mistilie snorts, using a hoof to wipe the dust off one of the files. The dust floats off and fills the air, drifting in the beam of light from Rahzzy's flashlight. Rah looks over to Mistilie shaking his head in anger. "Does everything you say have to be negative? It is really bringing me down" The stallion snorts back at her moving away to resist the urge he had to hit her. "Though, what are we looking for?" Rahzzy watches as Iron Will walks over to the video archives. The Minotaur picks up two boxes full of tapes with labels bringing them into the open before responding, the tapes were all organized by dates received. "We are looking for the Signal, it might have the answers on who can stop this madness" Iron Will spoke in a way, that feels like he has given up hope on everything but this. Twilight looks over to the box using her magic to levitate one of the tapes out of the box. This one didn't have a date on it, however, instead, it had a full title. "Angel Colonization Mission?" Twilight reads the title, confused, she has never heard this until now. Iron Will grabs the tape walking away to look for a player. Rahzzy steps forward taking off his glasses, the stallion smiles remembering the mission. Mistilie rolls her eyes annoyed by what she believes to be a waste of valuable time, while Iron Will looks for a player for the tape, Rahzzy explains. "The Angel Mission, I remember it like it was yesterday, it was the first colonization mission. Many ponies were sent out on a massive space center, Aspheion 2" Being a curious pony, Twilight would have a question right away. "What happened to Aspheion One?" Rahzzy rubs the back of his head being asked that question. "Why is a tape of the first colonization mission in these secret archives?" "Something ... I don't know exactly what, happened during the mission that Weyland didn't want public" Rahzzy uses his shirt to clean the lenses of his glasses. Keeping his eyes away from looking at the Alicorn as he continues. "Aspheion One is said to have never left Equestria. That it was attacked during the beginning of the Griffon War" Iron Will steps back to the group holding a very small device, used to play these taped files. The Minotaur has a look of excitement on his face. Rahzzy was cut off as Iron Will arrived, he obviously didn't want to be in here too long with the current Xenomorph Infestation still going on. "This is it! In the files of mine, the Angel Mission was mentioned frequently throughout the pages" Turning on the device Iron Will showed it to Twilight Sparkle, Rahzzy, Coco Pommel, Sunset Shimmer, and Mistilie. "Let us see what this tape has for us" The tape turns on, the first thing displayed was a small photo of a group of ponies. They were prominent roles on the Angel Mission. The picture showed the captain of the ship standing with a light brown stallion, a green mare with a brown mane, another mare white of color, and an out of place android with them. The slide ends shortly before moving onto a long line of text, Twilight reads the text as it is displayed. Weyland Yutani Headquarters Only Confidential Intel, Angel Mission Threat Signal Hello Weyland Yutani Employee, The footage you are about to view should only be watched if you plan to do something with it. The footage was sent from Space Center, Aspheion Two. This footage contains a threat from a source, our commander wishes to keep to himself, so the identity will not be mentioned in this footage. This threat is on Equestria, a threat to unleash a deadly pathogen onto Equis soil. In hopes to wipe out the ponies living here and in the threat it is also stated that the universe itself is not safe from this pathogen. Thank you, Here is the footage The footage begins to play, the camera looking at the security cameras of Aspheion Two. The camera shows a large Xenomorph Drone walking the hallways of the craft, bodies piled up on the floor where it walks. The footage stays looking at the footage and then a voice speaks softly into the camera. "You have seen it for yourself ... this is my life's work!! My creation put together perfectly for killing quickly and effectively. Gestating fast inside of a pony host, bursting out to something beautiful" The voice is a mare, she seems in love with the alien creation on the screen. "I will be unleashing this ... this Xenomorph onto the worlds. I plan to erase what you have built, in your better world" Rahzzy looks away from the screen, as if he knows something Twilight doesn't. The voice was becoming clear ... the camera began to pan to show who the pony was on the screen. Suddenly a magical glow wraps around Iron Will's neck choking him out, the device falls to the ground smashing, the video starts to glitch but still watchable. Rahzzy pushes himself up from the ground and backing away, Mistilie is the mare using her magic to put pressure on the Minotaur's neck. "Digging Deep? How about I have my turn?" Mistilie growls, her horn glowing brighter as she levitates a nearby box cutter into the air. Twilight looks away from the fallen device and reaches out with a hoof to Iron Will. The blade of the cutter is shoved into the Minotaur's chest by Mistilie Flare. "I am not helping ... anypony out of this" Twilight opens her wings and jumps towards Mistilie in as intense anger overflows. "Nooo!! Iron Will!!" Twilight screams while jumping forward in the air, on the screen of the device ... Mistilie Flare.