//------------------------------// // The Scout Team and the Trip to Canterlot // Story: The Xeno That Came to Equestria // by Corvo Storm //------------------------------// The dropship slowly made its descent to the planet's surface below. The synths were geared up and ready to gather as much intel as they could for their superior. Among the combat synths there was a more human looking synth. He was forced to go on the mission because he was the only scientist left. He didn't want to encounter the xenomorph they came here for. He knew it was suicide to step foot on unknown ground, and it was a death sentence to step onto a planet with a xenomorph on it. One that killed a large portion of the crew. There's no telling if the world below had its inhabitants slaughtered or if they managed to at least least condemn it. He knew it was very likely there would be a slaughter but he knew of Sarah's work on this xenomorph in particular. She didn't say much, but it was made from the strands of different types of xenomorphs that they only had one of each type. Sarah did mention something else that was put in its DNA. He wanted to find out what else was put into the DNA of the xenomorph that caused it to not and try to kill her the moment she walked into its cell. He'll probably not find out anytime soon seeing as he could be dead as soon as they land. The dropship landed in a small clearing in a forest with a strange creature's corpse decaying in the middle of clearing. He saw that it resembled the manticore from Persian legend. It was interesting to say the least. He had more pressing matters though, matters such as the xenomorph lurking around this world. The corpse was its handy work and judging by its decaying form it was here for a while. He turned to see the research synths collecting samples of the environment while the combat synths stood watch. In all honesty, he was scared. Scared that he'll be killed, scared that he'll be attacked by any of the inhabitants that live here, but most of all he's scared of encountering the xeno. He looked back to the corpse and made a silent prayer to himself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The morning that came went a bit quickly. Shadow could've swore he saw something land in the Everfree. Fluttershy said that it must have been shooting star that went behind the treeline of the forest. He knew it wasn't a star and that it was something else. He decided to drop it for now and get ready for the trip. Him and the pegasus ate their breakfast. He helped her feed the animals to help them be on time. Once they finished feeding the last animal they began to head to the train station. He hid while following Fluttershy the best he could while she walked to the train station. They arrived with no trouble at all. Fluttershy saw all of her friends at the station. The CMC was there too, and by the looks of it they wanted to come along. It seemed the mares gave up and let them come making the fillies excited. The pegasus and saw Twilight and Dash talking to each other. She approached them, and as she got closer she heard what they were talking. "-we don't know what will happen when the princess meets him. Maybe she'll have him researched to find out more about him or let him stay or I don't know," Twilight said worrying what might happen. She saw Shadow's attitude when she wanted to research him to learn more about him. "Don't worry Twi I'm sure he'll be fine. Look here's Fluttershy now," Dash said pointing to the timid pegasus. They smiled at her and she smiled back. Their smiles turned to confusion when they didn't see Shadow anywhere. They were going to ask but were interrupted by when one of the train employees yelled, "All aboard!" They boarded into a private car that the princess reserved for them while the other passengers went into the other cars. Once inside they sat down and asked the first question that came to mind. Applejack asked it, "So what is it that the princess wants? Ya said that she wanted to meet someone. Who is it?" Her question was answered when the train car's hatch was opened and Shadow dropped in the middle of them all. The CMC hid while the others except for Twilight, Dash, and Fluttershy went into defensive stances. Well Pinkie was the only other one who wasn't in a defensive stance seeing as she started to get excited. "What is that terrible creature?! Keep it away from me! It'll ruin my mane!" Rarity whined not wanting to get near Shadow. The others looked toward Twilight for an explanation. She chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of her head. "Well you see this is an alien from another world. He crashed here and me and Rainbow went to go look for him. Well the thought the spaceship was a meteor until we found it," she explained. Fluttershy took over from there, "I found him when he attacked one of my animals. My animals are all okay thankfully. He was probably hunting and saw that my animals were something to eat. He ended up staying with me for awhile. He never left my home or if he did he didn't go far." That was when the CMC came out of their hiding places rushing in front of her and simultaneously saying, "WHAT?!" Shadow looked over to the fillies and saw that they were the same fillies that he helped. Though his help could easily not have been understood right. These three were being bullied. I helped them. I still don't understand why. What caused me to do that action? He began to ponder why. While he pondered the CMC were explaining how they saw him at the playground of their school. They explained everything that happened. They laughed a small bit when he made Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon run scared. They explained how he flew off and what they did afterwards. Fluttershy was surprised to hear that he actually left to explore, but was more interested on how he flew back to her cottage. She wondered what was under his arms before he climbed into the crevice of the resin covered wall. She needed to ask about it later. Applejack spoke up after the explanation the CMC gave, "Well he better not cause trouble or he'll get a good whoopin." He heard what she said and saw a tall candleholder. He extended his claws and sliced through it with ease. They all watched he reached over and tipped it causing the sliced pieces to fall to the floor. They all couldn't help but gulp seeing that fighting him would be suicide. His head up to the air when he caught the smell of something. He looked toward the door from where the smell was coming from. They wondered why until the mouthwatering smell reached their noses. They realized what he was smelling. "I think the food they have is ready to be served," Dash said ready to eat. They began to make their way to the door until they realized that they couldn't let Shadow be seen by the other passengers. He wasn't going to miss out on good food plus it would be new to him and he might enjoy it. So he over to the hatch and was about to jump out onto the train car roof when he was stopped by Twilight using her magic to hold his tail. He looked at her annoyed that he was stopped. She explained while rolling her eyes, "You can't be seen by other ponies. Who knows what they'll do once they see you. You need to stay here. We'll see if we can get you some food." She let go of his tail and he jumped through the hatch. Before she could yell for him to get back a stallion walked through with a cart full of food. The mares and fillies looked at it with confusion. He explained how the train operator forgot to connect a dining car so they are delivering food to the passengers. He left the cart with them so they could decide what they wanted. He said he'd be back for the cart in an hour. He left without another word. After the stallion left Shadow jumped back into the train car and looked over at the food before him. The others were went ahead and got what they wanted. There was enough for all of them. Especially a very hungry xenomorph. He wanted to try what ponies eat and the fish he was given wasn't enough to satisfy his hunger. He grabbed the first thing he saw and took a bite out of it. He had grabbed apple cobbler. He was amazed at how delicious it tasted. He didn't think he would like any of the food that wasn't meat related. It seems that he was wrong. He had to admit that it tasted great. He devoured it as well as the rest of the apple cobblers. He kept trying new food and found that he liked all of them. Once he was finished he turned to see the surprised expressions on all of the ponies' faces. They had finished before him and watched as he devoured everything that was on the cart. He just shrugged off their expressions jumped back through the hatch. They wondered why until the stallion from before walked back in. He was surprised to see the cart empty of food. He eyed all the mares and fillies suspiciously before leaving with the cart. Once he was gone Shadow jumped back down. They were wondering how he knew when to hide. They pushed the thought off for another time and decided to talk about him more. They talked about what he could do, where he came from, and how he lived as well as introduce him to everyone. Twilight had given him a paper and pen so he could explain anything they had questions about. He explained why he scared the bullies and his past life. They all couldn't believe what they read. He had a very painful past. They gave him some comforted him when he began to start showing signs of sadness. This continued until the train stopped in Canterlot. They all agreed to head straight to the castle. Shadow went through the hatch and into the shadows of the train station while the rest of them stepped off the train. The group of ponie made their way to the castle with a hidden xeno following behind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The scout team was was on the move again. They picked up some reading that belonged to an xenomorph. It appeared to be on the move as well. The human looking synth didn't like this one bit. The combat synths were programed to scout the planet and capture the xenomorph should they find it. They found it and were flying to the location now. He knew there was no time left for him and the other synths. One glance from the xeno and lights out. He took off his name tag and looked at it. It read C5-77. He always hated his designation name. He never really enjoyed being apart of Weyland Yutani even though they created him. The reason why was because he witnessed one of the other human looking synths be killed by Weyland himself. He wanted a way out. He thought about it and decided that if he lives through this ordeal he'll help the xeno's creator. He looked out to the pilot. The pilot was actually the only human on the scout team. His name was Drake. He was an expert pilot and knew how to get out of a jam. When he heard what they were doing he got excited then scared. He was happy to be off that ghost ship, but when heard that the xeno will be captured if found he began to rethink his decision. It was too late to go back now. C5 watched Drake as he piloted the dropship toward a city on the side of a mountain. They had observed the creatures they found as well as the structures. The structures looked to be back in medieval times but were modern as well. They hadn't found any of the inhabitants and decided to not worry about it. They were getting close and the combat synths set their guns to stun. The ramp opened while they were still flying. C5 knew what that meant. They were going to do a flyby drop. He only did it once and didn't like it at all. The synths went over to the ramp and got ready for the drop. All C5 could think of is 'fuck.'