Chapter 1: A Day in the Corp is like a Day on the Farm

Aliens: Consuming Equestria
Chapter 1

The darkness of space filled the outside view of the ship Sulaco. Stars dotted the empty void, slowly moving as the ship headed towards its destination. The interior was shining, the lights reflected off of the walls. If one were to walk down the corridor, they would be near blinded.

The whole ship was uninhabited, apart from in one section of the ship. On one of the lower decks of the ship, four individuals were laying in cryosleep. The cryopods were naturally in a dropship, just in case an emergency led to the crew having to abandon ship.

Conveniently, such an event was about to occur. An egg, somewhere in maintenance, had finally opened up, and had let out a strange spider-like creature. Said creature had found its way through the vents and discovered the source of the smell of living beings. Its target in sight, it leaped at the glass surrounding it. Smash! The creature had successfully smashed the glass, but the glass had cut it, and its acid blood was now corroding the cryopod. The smoke created reached the fire alarm.

<Warning: Cryosleep interruption>

The sprinklers above the cryopods burst out with water, combating the smoke. But the sensors detected another problem. The cryopod did now have a gaping hole in it and the spider-like creature’s cousin decided to come along and join in the fun.

<Warning: Cryopod breach detected. Unknown organism detected in Cryopod A: Occupant: Lt Ripley>

<Warning: Unknown organism detected in Dropship C>

The ship suddenly encountered a problem. It tried to get a security drone to power up and eliminate the threat, but the ship had not been maintained well enough to survive ninety days without someone to perform the tasks for it. The only android on the ship was unable to move, and the ship overloaded with the amount of work it had to do in awakening the drone, instructing it on how to eliminate the threat, turning on sprinklers, opening doors to make a pathway, waking up the inhabitants of the cryopods. Suddenly, a transformer in the engineering deck gave in and caused a massive explosion.

<Alert: Explosion detected aboard: Engineering deck E>

Red lights began to flash in warning aboard the Sulaco. A bell began to sound in alarm as the ship began to plummet towards the nearest source of gravity.

A countdown was heard as the ship prepared to launch the twenty dropships aboard the Sulaco.

<5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Dropships released>

The self destruct bolts exploded as the dropships were released into the open expanse of space. Slowly, they drifted out to find a planet to drop down on. They did not, however, detect the planet directly below them. As a result, the dropships wandered off into the open space.

Dropship C zoomed off in search of a planet to drop down on before the fuel ran out. The occupants of the cryopods did not awaken, and so the ship was left to the Autopilot to find a new place to land on. Unfortunately, the dropships aren’t filled in with the details on where the ship itself was going, as that may be light years away and dropships have very limited fuel. As a result, the dropship began to drift away from Earth, rather than towards it.

After several days of drifting in the cold, silent darkness of space, the dropship discovered a planet.

The dropship changed course and headed towards the suspiciously Earth-like planet directly below it. As it entered the atmosphere, it became a burning ball of fury. Paint was being scratched off and components were being battered.

<Warning: Minor damage occurred on the following components: Flaps, Outer-plating, Radio-transmitter>

The surface of the planet zoomed into view as the craft lowered towards the ground. The damage dealt to the equipment was going to be a problem, but the Autopilot could still see a successful landing as a possibility. As the craft lowered, it ran a scan over the surface.

<Alert: Unknown organism detected on Planet Surface>

<Report: Planet Terraform level: 4>

<Report: Gravity percentage (in comparison to Earth): 76.4%>

<Report: Atmosphere density percentage (in comparison to Earth): 84%>

<Report: Distance from Earth: 122, 394, 766, 991 light years>

<Report: One year = Error: Calculation impossible: Reason: Planet movement not detected>

<Report: One day = Error: Calculation impossible: Reason: Planet rotation not detected>

The detail of the surface finally came into view. The surface had luscious grass that reflected the sunlight with dew it had caught overnight. Farm animals were grazing in the fields as the sun shone down on them. Mountains were high enough for snow to gather on top of them. Below them, a small village stood proud, these unknown creatures trotting about, going about their daily routine. The planet resembled Earth’s countryside. One particular mountain had a large castle jutting out of the side. The dropship was now close enough for landing procedure to be carried out.

The dropship levelled out with the ground and slowed to a near halt as the ground came to meet them. The landing gear touched down with grass cautiously and the whole dropship deactivated the engines.

<Warning: Dropship C is damaged beyond take-off capabilities. Dropship cannot take-off until repairs are made to the following components: Flaps, Jet thrusters, Landing gear, Autopilot, Outer-plating>

The cryopod hissed as the lid slid open to reveal the four unlikely escapees from LV-426. Slowly, they stirred from their dreamless sleep. What was a day in the real world was a second in their world. The door of the dropship opened, letting in fresh air and waiting for the crew to leave. Ripley was clean but the grazes and scratches from the long battle on LV-426 still remained. Dwayne had the hastily fashioned bandage over his eye, covering it from further damage. Newt was as clean as she had ever looked since she arrived on LV-426 due to the Sulaco’s showers being better engineered than ones made for temporary use on Hadley’s Hope. Bishop’s wound had stopped bleeding fluids ages ago, but the tubes and wires inside of him still hung out and were still wet with fluid like a dog’s salivating mouth. His paint was scratched and worn from lack of maintenance.

Bishop, being an android, was the first to awaken from cryosleep. After confirming that they were not on Earth but still in the dropship, he looked through the ship’s log. He was not pleased by what he saw. First off, they were millions of light years away from Earth, and even a FTL ship would take a while to get here (which was confirmed by the long arrival time). Of course, Bishop questioned the integrity of the distance calculation because of the faulty condition of the dropship.

Secondly, they had landed on a completely unknown planet with no knowledge of the inhabitants of it. The ship’s sensors confirmed that this planet was majorly Earth-like. Bishop wouldn’t be surprised if there were some sort of sapient life on this planet. Perhaps that would be the first goal when the humans awoke, to find sapient life.

Thirdly, the ship was in no condition to take off, and even if they did, it would take years to reach Earth again. If they had any hope of getting home, it was that this planet had fuel and that they could find planets along the way to provide them with fuel.

Fourthly, if the inhabitants on this planet were hostile, they would have no way to defend themselves. There were no weapons on the dropship and Hicks had left his guns on the Sulaco. As the humans would say, they were screwed. At least a FTL ship was on its way.

The unknown tissue found inside Ripley worried Bishop, and the order given to him even more. He could not disobey an order. He was an android and taking orders seriously was in his programming.

He turned his head as he heard Ripley stretching out her muscles in her cryopod. ‘Ripley mustn’t know about the Alien inside of her. That would make Weyland Yutani’s job harder. Luckily, the dead facehugger is out of sight.’ At that moment, unbeknownst to Bishop, the other facehugger ran out of the open door of the dropship. It had sensed another nearby presence. One that knew not of it or anything about it. It was located some way off in a small treehouse near an Apple Farm.

Ripley sat up in her cryopod and breathed in the untouched, fresh air like it was the best drink in the world. She turned to see Bishop staring at her as she rose. He was still in a lying position as his condition did not allow him to be able to move very well.

“Hey Bishop.” She said wearily. “Did we make it to Earth?” Bishop looked at her as grimly as an android could.

“No.” He stated bluntly. Ripley’s expression changed from joyful to shock.

“What? Why? Where are we then?” She asked looking around her. “This place does kinda look like Earth’s countryside. Are you sure we aren’t back Bishop?” She asked as she stared out of a window.

“I’m afraid so. As far as the log tells me, we are 122, 394, 766, 991 light years away from Earth, but that is probably incorrect. I would say that the equipment is faulty. That said, we have arrived on a planet never seen or heard of before. But it is majorly Earth-like.” Bishop informed her.

“But that’s not possible. You told me these ships never go off course.”

“It didn’t. We aren’t on that ship anymore. Something happened that made the dropships release from the ship. As far as I can tell, it was an explosion caused by an overload.”

“Well what about the dropship? We can just get to the next planet and get to Earth from there.”

“I’m afraid not. There are two problems there. One, these ships do not have enough fuel and the journey has taken up most of it already. Two, the ship is damaged but within repair. I’m not sure if we will be able to repair even minor damages though due to the nature of our location.”

“Wait, can you scan the surface?” Ripley asked hopefully.

“Yes I can.”

“You said this planet is Earth-like. That means there is a chance there could be advanced life forms. Scan for a settlement of sorts Bishop.” She commanded.

“Very well.” A series of mechanical whirrs and beeps were heard for a few seconds whilst Bishop’s eyes were closed. When they opened again, Bishop had a few things to say.

“I found one!” He exclaimed.

“What? Really?”

“Yes. But it’s not modern. The buildings resemble late medieval houses made of wood and with thatched roofs. There are also settlements in the sky with strange winged equines. These equines seem to dominate the land and come in many varieties of colours. There appears to be three different species of equine. One with wings, one with no apparent mutations and one with a strange horn that seems to emit large amounts of controlled radiation.”

“Sorry wait a minute.” Ripley interjected. “Are you telling me we are in some sort of little girl’s book? Those sound like Unicorns and Pegasi. They don’t exist!” She complained completely forgetting about the unconscious Newt next to her.

“Well apparently they do now.” Bishop declared.

Meanwhile, the facehugger was closing the distance between it and its target. It had dodged and climbed the Apple trees in its way and had finally arrived at the tree which held the presence of a host. After trying to make sense of the unusual scent the host gave off, the creature scaled the bark and made it into the small wooden structure at the top of the tree. Through a window, the facehugger could see a small, yellow equine with a red ribbon on her head. The facehugger had never seen a creature like this before.

The facehugger wasted no time in finding the entrance to the house. When it found it, the facehugger crawled in, attempting to avoid detection. Unfortunately, the doorway was narrow and there was hardly anything inside the house to cover its approach. The equine spotted the facehugger and screamed.

Earlier, Applejack had finished bucking apples for the day. She hadn’t quite got the early start she usually got, and so it was getting dark by the time she finished. Applebloom was still in her treehouse, planning more crusades no doubt. Applejack made her way to the treehouse she had donated to her sister so she could go get her for dinner. Ponyville seemed a bit unusual lately, in the sense that nothing unusual had happened. Of course, the period of time that Ponyville was normal meant something unusual was soon to happen. The longer that period of time, the more unusual that something is. This time period of normalness had been particularly long. It was only a matter of time.

“Help!”

There we go. Applejack heard her little sister’s scream just as she was about to climb the ladder of the treehouse. Her climb was quickened by the outburst. As she reached the top, she saw the facehugger that was about to jump on her face. Quickly, Applejack rushed to her sister’s aid and bucked the facehugger. It hit the wall with a huge thump and quickly scrambled back to its feet. It stared at Applejack with its legs wide apart in an aggressive stance. In its rage, it briefly hissed and ran towards her to jump at her face. Applejack quickly bucked it again through the window as it leaped towards her.

Applejack breathed heavily in anger. She looked down at her sister who was trembling from the experience.

“C’mon lil’ sis. Le’s get outta here!” Applejack picked up her sister and carried her down the ladder of the treehouse. She galloped towards her house on the farm as quickly as she could in fear that there were more of these strange creatures ready to jump on their faces at the first chance they got.

She finally reached the house, and after frantically searching for a threat of any kind, she opened the door and jumped inside. She landed flat on the floor. Usually she wasn’t exhausted by a run that long, but the panic of being attacked had her adrenaline working hard.

“Now wha’s all the ruckus?” An elderly voice coming from the kitchen asked.

“Granny! There’s some sorta alien on our farm!” Applejack reported.

“An alien eh? What did it want?” She asked curiously.

“Ah dunno. But it tried to jump on my face!” Applejack replied. Granny Smith chuckled.

“Charming enough ta attract them aliens are we now? Tha’s wonderful!” Applejack sighed.

“Ah don’ think it wanted ta make out Granny. It was like a weird spider thing. It seemed more menacing ta me. Ah think it wanted ta kill me.” Applejack’s voiced trailed off.

“Na how would tha’ work? Was it gonna suffocate ya?”

“Ah dunno Granny, but ah don’ wanna find out if there are more of ‘em. Ah’ll ask Twi about it tomorrow.” And with that final statement, she picked up Applebloom (still shaking) and put her down on a chair at the table.

“Whelp, dinner’s served everypony.”

Meanwhile, the facehugger had recovered from its temporary knock out after being kicked out of a window. These creatures were strong. If the facehugger had any chance of impregnating one of them for the good of its kind, it would have to take it by surprise. Suddenly, it picked up a large amount of scents similar to the one it had just attacked. There was a whole village of these things. A Queen had already been implanted into a host; all there was to do now was to kick start the infestation. The facehugger scampered off in the direction of the village in hopes of impregnating one of these creatures.

Chapter 2: Just Another Bug Hunt

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Aliens: Consuming Equestria
Chapter 2

“So what you’re saying is that we are possibly stuck on an Earth-like planet with creatures that belong in Newt’s storybook?” Hicks confirmed what Ripley had told him.

“I’m afraid so, yes.” Ripley replied. Bishop looked between Ripley and Hicks as they both turned to him simultaneously.

“What do you suggest we do Bishop?” Hicks asked curious as to the simulations Bishop has possibly run through his mechanical mind.

“Well, we need to prioritise. Our first priority is to repair this ship. Even if we found fuel, it would be for nothing if we can’t even get the dropship airborne.”

“Did you run a detailed scan of the planet?” Ripley asked.

“Yes I did. I found no surface level sources of fuel and no advanced technology at all. The most advanced these equines have come to is components like light bulbs powered by the same radiation that comes off of the horned equines. There is the possibility that like on Earth, there are fuel sources below the surface, but there is no guarantee.” Bishop informed them.

“Great.” Hicks sighed.

“Our next priority is to find supplies. The dropship only comes with a small refrigerator of supplies. I think I speak for all of us when I say I do not want to find out if the creatures here are hostile.”

“I doubt it,” Ripley piped up, “You said that they are sentient. Sentient creatures don’t just attack for no reason.”

“A sound observation Ripley, but I didn’t mean the equines. I found creatures from Greek myth in the forests nearby. Creatures like Manticores and Hydras.”

“I would rather not run into them. I used to read Greek mythology when I was a kid. Without the weapons, we would be defenceless against them. The creatures I mean.” Hicks said.

“Indeed. However, there is Weyland Yutani FTL ship on its way. If we do not repair the dropship, we can rely on them to get us out of here. They are responding to a distress call sent by the dropship.”

“Wait a minute, I thought you said the radio-transmitter was broken?” Ripley enquired.

“Yes, but it had enough power to reposition and send a long range message. Now though, it is stuck. It will still send messages, but only to the same person.”

“How long till the help arrives Bishop?” Hicks asked. Bishop turned to him grimly.

“Approximately two months.”

“No. I’m not staying here that long. We may as well repair the ship and leave as soon as we can. Besides, after our little discovery with Burke, who knows what Weyland Yutani wants?”

“I agree.” Bishop was surprised to find himself saying. “It would be more beneficial if we left as soon as possible. It would be best not to draw attention to ourselves.”

“Alright then,” Ripley began, “Let’s head on outside and look over the parts that need repairing.”

The two humans, with Hicks carrying Bishop, stepped outside the dropship. Newt was lying on the grass outside. It was the most comfortable ground ever. It was as if each blade of grass adjusted so you were the most comfortable you could be. The sun was slowly making its way towards the horizon.

“I struggle to comprehend this place. It’s unnatural. The sensors detected no planetary movement at all, yet the day-night cycle still occurs.”

“Are you suggesting that there is something else moving the planet Bishop?” Ripley asked.

“I do not know.” Bishop admitted. Newt turned to them from her lying position.

“I presume that will be a problem?” She asked innocently whilst pointing to the Landing gear that was buried in the ground.

“Oh dear.” Bishop exclaimed. “This will indeed be a big problem. I did not see any way that the equines could lift heavy objects. There may be no way of getting that out of there.”

“There has to be. They must have some way of lifting heavy objects. How else would they have lifted the wood to make their buildings?”

“I suppose you have a point.” Bishop admitted. “But there is no evidence of any heavy lifting equipment.”

“What about the Unicorns?” Newt said, causing everyone to look at her.

“What hun?”

“The Unicorns. Unicorns have magic right?” Hicks and Ripley shared a glance before shrugging. “Maybe they use that lift things.”

“I don’t know, but it may explain the strange radiation given off of them.” Bishop declared. Of course in everyone’s mind excluding Newts, all they could think was: ‘Oh dear god no. We really are in a children’s book.’

There was a knock on Twilight’s door.

“I’ll get it!” Spike shouted to Twilight upstairs as he ran over to the door. “Hey there Applejack! Anything I can do for you?” Spike asked cheerily.

”Can ah see Twilight privately? I got something real important to tell her.” She claimed.

“Sure thing, come right in.” Spike moved to the side to allow the farmpony to enter. “Twilight! Applejack wants to see you!” Soon after, a tired looking Twilight shuffled down the stairs. Her mane was unkempt and bags were beginning to form under her eyes. Applejack chuckled silently at what rarity might say to Twilight.

“Whoa Nelly! Ya’ll look like a tired old pension mare.” Applejack giggled.

“Gee, thanks Applejack. What is it? I had a late night trying to put a hyperactive dragon to bed.” Twilight scowled at Spike who smiled nervously in return.

“Ah need to tell ya something privately. Don’ wanna cause panic or nothing.” Twilight nodded and trotted up to her room. When the two mares were alone, Applejack began. “Okay. Earlier today, ah was rounding up Applebloom for dinner. She was in her treehouse when ah heard her scream. Ah ran up ta find a weird spider lookin’ thing about to jump at ‘er. I bucked it before it could, but i’s got me worried.”

“Sorry. An alien? Don’t you think this is all a bit too conclusive?” Twilight criticised.

“Ah dunno Twi. It ain’t nothing like ah ever seen before. Its skin was all white and gooey. It looked about ready to jump at my face and eat it.”

“Sounds ghastly.” Twilight commented dreaily.

“Tha’s one way a’ putting it. Ah dunno where it went, but ah don’t like it none. We need ta find it ‘n fast before it causes any damage. Maybe we should give it ta some scientists or put it down.”

“Well if it truly is an alien, there is so much to learn from it! I agree. We should find it and give it to the Research Facility in Canterlot. What was that place called again? It was in the news recently.”

“Ya mean that Neighland Yutani business?”

“Yea! That’s the place. I should imagine they would find this creature very interesting. We will gather Ponyville and inform them of the creature and then conduct the search tomorrow. Right now, it’s late. I don’t think the populace would be very appreciative of a search party gathering at eight o’clock. Go on now Applejack, you’ll need your rest for tomorrow.”

“A’ course Twi. Thanks for being so understanding an’ all that.” Applejack thanked as she left the room.

“No problem Applejack!” Twilight called after her.

‘This is exciting! Applejack never lies, and even if she does she does it very poorly. If she is right, and there really is an alien here, we could learn so much from it. We could learn about how it survives and what it does to adapt. We could improve our understanding of biology so much. We could even domesticate it! It could be like a guard spider!’ Twilight chuckled at her own little joke. ‘Plus, we could be paid quite generously for such a discovery by Neighland Yutani. I could use the money to help Applejack renovate the farm. I could use it to expand the library a bit. I could even use it to promote Rarity’s business a bit. She has always been so generous, I feel obligated to repay her. She always refuses though. I could use the money to help Fluttershy with her animals. Maybe we could buy some more medical supplies for injured critters. Even Rainbow Dash could use the money. I could see if I can’t help her into the Wonderbolt’s team with it. Perhaps I could make an air show stadium for her to perform at every now and then. So many possibilities. I feel like I felt when I had to decide who to give that ticket to.’ The more Twilight thought about helping her friends through this discovery, the more excited she got.

Of course, like everypony outside, she had no idea what really went on inside Neighland Yutani. Much like the human Weyland Yutani, Neighland Yutani researched on how to improve home defence through advanced forms of warfare. Biological warfare included. The company had hidden their research from prying eyes, particularly the Princesses, as they knew nopony would approve of their immoral research and research methods.

Twilight needed an early night tonight to catch up with the lost sleep. As the sun lowered to the horizon, she tucked herself in bed, anticipating the wonders of this new discovery.

The facehugger was outraged. So far, none of these strange new creatures had given it any chance of attacking. It had at first tried the stealthy attempt. It had followed a single creature, with a mint green coat and mane, until it was all alone in its home. Then, it crawled through the window silently as the creature lay in its bed, and just as it turned to look towards the facehugger. The creature screamed so loud that it would have deafened the poor facehugger if it had any ears. The facehugger’s anatomy meant that it needed no ears or eyes (although it still had eyes). It used ultrasound to detect objects and animals and followed scents to find suitable hosts.

The creature scrambled out of its bed and ran to the window, slamming it shut. It took a few times before the facehugger’s long legs were out of the window frame. The facehugger made one final hiss before it ran off in search of a different prey.

It soon came across a single creature walking along an empty street. The creature had a blue coat and a rainbow coloured mane. Seizing the opportunity quickly, it charged at the creature and leaped at its face. The facehugger had indeed thrown caution to the wind and the creature saw it coming miles off. The rainbow creature leaped into the air and spread its tiny wings. The creature became a dot in the sky as it flew off. The facehugger’s lack of caution had caused it to miss its opportunity. It decided to wait until morning, when there would surely be a lot more creatures roaming about and a lot more opportunities. The facehugger cared not about being spotted, for as soon as it latches onto something, there is no getting it off. It crawled into a small gutter where it would wait until the sun rose up.

“Citizens of Ponyville!” Twilight began her speech that she had prepared in her head the night before and written down before lunch. Twilight had asked the Mayor to gather everypony in Ponyville to the town centre for an announcement. She could see her friends in the crowd, and a few faces that obviously knew what was happening. “We are gathered here today to discuss a serious matter. Last night, my good friend Applejack was attacked by a creature possibly alien to Equestria. The creature had a pale white body that resembled a spider and it tried to jump on her face, possibly harming her.”

Mumbling began in earnest in the crowd. Some ponies shouted their displeasure. Some ponies didn’t believe her:

“She’s lying!”

“She’s gone crazy again!”

“Somepony get her off of there!”

But others knew that she spoke the truth:

“I was attacked to!”

“I saw it at my window!”

“It’s true! It tried to jump on my face!”

“Quiet everypony!” Twilight shouted amidst the chaos. Everypony returned their attention to her. “Thank you. Now, I am not sure if her claims are true, but I propose a search party. We shall find this supposed ‘alien’ and observe it. If we have truly being visited by an alien species, this could be an amazing scientific discovery.”

“That spider could be the aliens scout!” Pinkie cried out suddenly. “We should capture it and interrogate it.” She said deviously, rubbing her hooves together. Twilight sighed.

“I shall organise parties and then we shall scour Ponyville for this ‘alien’.” The next hour or so was spent organising all of the Ponyvillians into groups.

A certain group, containing Lyra (a mint coloured Unicorn pony), Derpy (a lazy eyed, grey Pegasus pony) and Time Turner (a brown Earth pony stallion). The trio trotted down a side road of Ponyville that eventually led to Sugarcube Corner.

“I’m not entirely convinced this thing actually exists.” Time Turner began. “It seems too abnormal to me.”

“What? And the other things this town is subject to commonly aren’t abnormal? I’m telling you, I saw it at my window. Whether you choose to believe that is not my problem, so stop complaining.”

“What if it just wants to make friends?” Derpy asked. “Who knows, maybe it just wants a kiss?” Lyra giggled at Derpy’s suggestion.

“I highly doubt that dear. I have never heard of a smooching spider-alien. I suspect it might want to extract something that it requires for its survival.”

The trio were just about to reach the end of the road, when Lyra screamed.

“What on Equus is it?” Lyra pointed a hoof at a small gutter. They all stared at it for a while before Time Turner broke the silence.

“What are you up to Lyra? There is nothing there.” Suddenly, the spider-like alien ran out of the gutter and turned to face the three ponies. Lyra shook even more and pointed at the facehugger. Time Turner turned to face the alien.

“There it is!” Derpy cheered. “What do we get?”

“Stay behind me!” Time Turner instructed, forming a wall between him and the mares. “I’ll get it.”

The facehugger approached menacingly towards him. Time Turner could feel his heart skip a beat each time the creature stepped closer. Sweat could visibly be seen on Turner’s head as the facehugger drew nearer. What was bravery was really a refusal to move from the spot in terror.

“Stay back!” Time Turner shouted at it, his voicing shaking.

Suddenly the facehugger leapt.

Lyra and Derpy dragged Time Turner back to the library, where Twilight had asked anypony to return to if they found the alien. Twilight opened the door cheerily.

“So you found it?”

“Yea! We got it as well!” Derpy said cheerily. Lyra was on the verge of tears and shaking violently.

“Really? Well where is it then?” Derpy and Lyra dragged Turner’s body to the sofa in the library and plopped him onto it. Twilight gasped as she saw the alien latched onto Turner’s head.

“It really likes him!” Derpy giggled. Twilight stood in horror as she stared at the alien attached to Turner’s head and wrapped around his neck. She had never seen anything like it, and it certainly wouldn’t be pleasant having it on your face. Turner appeared to be unconscious which was to be expected. He was still breathing somehow and generally seemed to be in good condition. The only thing that was wrong was the creature on his face.

“We need to get it off.” Twilight boldly declared. When the two mares nodded in agreement, Twilight went off to fetch some tools.

She first held out a pair of tongs. She tried to pry the tail off around Turner’s neck. It wouldn’t budge. It didn’t even show any signs of moving. Twilight was not much surprised and pulled out the next tool.

This went on for a few minutes before Twilight eventually brought out the crowbar. She tried to lever it off, but nothing worked.

“Why won’t you move?!” She screamed in agitation. At that moment, Twilight’s friends came in.

“Twilight? Has anypony foun – Augh! Good grief!” Rarity exclaimed. The five mares stared horrified at the creature latched to the stallion’s face.

“It won’t move at all! Can you help quickly?” Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie rushed to their friend’s side and pulled. It was to no avail.

“Girls? May I? I mean, maybe it needs to be pulled off gently?” Fluttershy piped up. Confident that her skills with animals would help in this situation, the four mares stepped aside. At first Fluttershy used one hoof to try and scoop the alien off, but eventually resorted to trying to stroke it off. Unlike her friends, Fluttershy got gently with each passing moment before she collapsed in frustration.

“Look, Turner seems to be in good condition. The alien isn’t doing any harm to him, so why don’t we just wait and see if it comes off by itself?” Derpy suggested.

“How can you suggest that? Look at him. He is unconscious with a spider thing on his face and –“

“Good idea Derpy.” Twilight interrupted Lyra. “Girls, let’s all just wait around and see if it comes off. I’m sure we have a lot of things to do while we wait.”

The next several hours were spent eating snacks and playing board games, although they soon became bored games as four hours past and nothing had changed with the alien.

As Twilight began to suggest that they try and pry the alien off again, its legs loosened and the alien fell off. The mares ran to investigate it and Fluttershy tried to find any signs of life on it.

“It’s... it’s dead.” Fluttershy stated. The mares gasped in shock. It had just fallen off and died.

“Was it the fall that killed it?” Lyra asked.

“No.” Twilight said after observing the corpse closer. “It just died. I can’t determine why it died yet.”

Indeed the alien had died after it loosened from Turner’s face. It was of course because it had lost a great deal of its energy performing a task necessary for its kind’s survival.

It was a few minutes later that Turner suddenly spluttered to life again. Lyra ran over and hugged him tightly, practically suffocating him more than the spider did.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Ugh... yes. I believe so.” Turner replied.

A few minutes of asking what it was like and what happened by the mares in front of him, Turner began coughing.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Twilight asked again.

“Yes, I’m just *cough* just um... a bit thirsty from the whole *cough* bus... *cough*” Turner began coughing more violently. Lyra placed her hooves on his shoulders comfortably. Suddenly, Turner screamed out in pain. He held his chest in agony. He could feel something forcing its way out. In a burst of blood and fur, his chest exploded. The mares screamed as the gory scene occurred in front of them. Turner’s body fell limp back onto the sofa and his eyes closed for the last time. A small, serpentine creature emerged from his chest and screeched for the first time.

Chapter 3: He's Gone! Forget Him He's Gone!

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Aliens: Consuming Equestria
Chapter 3

The serpent creature screeched. The eight mares screamed. Fluttershy, Rarity and Lyra all ran out of the room (preferably to empty their stomachs upon seeing an open chest). The five other mares huddled together in fear as the serpent scrambled out of the open chest and ran in a random direction as fast as its little legs could carry it. As the serpent disappeared, the mares calmed slightly, but were soon overcome with sadness at their friend’s death. They all rushed to his side in tears.

“Please Doctor, wake up,” Derpy begged. She shook him by the shoulders, urging him to wake up from his eternal sleep. He did not respond.

The other three mares tried to return, but no matter how sorrowful they were, the open chest wound was too much for them to handle. Fluttershy had seen many animals die, and she became upset with every passing, but she accepted that it had to happen. Not once had she seen a pony be so violently ripped open and killed by such a small, horrid little creature.

As the mares stood in sorrow and disbelief next to Time Turner, a small part of Twilight awoke in her brain. This small influence reasoned with the rest of her mind and eventually overtook it. It was the part of her brain that wanted desperately to contain, research and learn from the small alien that had erupted from Turner’s chest. She desperately fought it, reasoning that grieving and planning a funeral was much more important. Unfortunately, she lost the battle.

It was not till an hour later that the mares felt that they could calm themselves. The mares put Turner’s body upstairs underneath a thin blanket for the time being. A funeral was likely going to be held today as ponies are surprisingly good at planning things only hours before. It was almost dark, but the dark wasn’t going to stop them from giving Turner a funeral. Cremation was a common way for ponies to go as they believed it helped the soul to leave and go on to paradise.

Suddenly, Twilight saw something in the corner of her eye. The table in the corner of the room definitely moved slightly on its own. Spike was still holed up at Rarity’s with Sweetie Belle. He was told not to come back on his own, so the table couldn’t have been moved by Spike.

Cautiously, Twilight crept up to the table, curious about the small but strange anomaly. When she reached the table, she saw a small, pale creature run past her and up the stairs. Of course! How could she have forgotten about the alien!

“Going ta the bathroom Twi?” Applejack asked as she saw Twilight rush upstairs.

“Uh, yea! Sure am!” Twilight called back before continuing up the stairs.

When she reached the top, she just caught a glimpse of the creature run into her bedroom. ‘I have you now’ she thought.

She slowly snuck up to her bedroom door, hoping to take the creature by surprise. She peeped into the room and saw the creature looking out of the window. It was significantly bigger than she had remembered. She could also see it a lot more clearly. It had a pale, chitin-like outer layer. It didn’t have any visible eyes and it had rather thin legs and arms for its limbs. It was able to stand on two legs rather easily, but would occasionally go on all fours for more balance. It had no lips, only a menacingly sharp set of teeth. Saliva was dripping from its maw, making it easy to track. It was growing so fast, Twilight could almost see it getting bigger.

Twilight silently crept up behind the creature and grabbed an empty vase. She reached above the creature and brought the vase down on it. Before it knew what was happening, it was surrounded by the empty vase. Twilight could hear and feel it trying to escape by attacking the sides of the vase. It was surprisingly strong, and Twilight had to struggle to keep it down. She frantically looked for something to put under the creature to keep it in. Eventually, she laid eyes on a book on the small bedside table. She levitated it over with her magic and placed it beside the windowsill. A thought suddenly struck her. ’Why didn’t I just suspend the creature with her magic?’ Twilight mentally facehoofed and suspended the vase with her magic. She then plucked the creature out of the vase and trotted downstairs with her capture, which was angrily screeching and screaming, in tow.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, the screeching was not unnoticed by her friends. Most of who acted rather negatively.

Rarity’s mood darkened as she saw it.

“That horrid little beast! We should destroy it!”

“What?” Twilight exclaimed in utter shock at the suggestion.

“You cannot seriously consider letting it off! It murdered one of our friends without remorse! It must be punished! Put it down I say!”

“Wait! We can’t do that. We don’t even know what it is.”

“Surely it does not matter?”

“Yes it does Rarity! If it suits you, I am giving it to Neighland Yutani for research.” Rarity knew that she couldn’t disagree with that. Neighland Yutani had discovered most animals in Equestria, and no animal that even went in ever came out.

“Fine. I hope it is never seen outside of that awful facility again.”

“But Twilight, what about Turner?” Pinkie complained “You have to come to the funeral. He was our friend.” Pinkie pouted for emphasis.

“Of course I’m coming Pinkie. I never said I would do it today.” Pinkie brightened up as much as she could (as much as she could in the current situation).

Twilight quickly dashed off into the kitchen and found a glass jar. She held the creature in place, lowered the jar over it and placed a strengthening spell on the jar. She also froze the jar in place so the creature couldn’t escape. She would find a box with holes in it later. The funeral was happening soon and everypony had been invited to come.

A small brown bunny hopped out of a bush it had been resting in and sniffed the air. There were other animals nearby, and quite a few that would want to eat the bunny for dinner.

The bunny was living in a pony’s home on the edge of the Everfree Forest. He had been staying there ever since a yellow Pegasus had found him lying tired on the grass. It had been two weeks of absolute bliss. He got fed every morning and afternoon. He had a nice little hutch to retreat to every night. He even got to run around free with other bunnies.

Today, the Pegasus hadn’t returned home to feed them, so the bunny went off into the nearby woods to eat. He decided that a look around the area would be a relaxing exercise for the day.

The bunny began to chomp on some grass when he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He sniffed the air, but all he could smell was grass, dirt and some faraway animals. He went back to eating, dismissing the rustling as the wind picking up.

Meanwhile, a dirt covered Hicks was contemplating the creature before him. He had a crudely made spear in one hand and his other hand on his pistol, just in case any bigger creatures attacked him. It was certainly a bunny, but its size was incredibly small. Its limbs were practically sticks and its torso looked starved. It was no bigger than his index finger!

‘There’s no point in killing this and eating it,’ Hicks thought. ‘It could barely feed Newt on its own!’

Hicks slowly side stepped around the bunny. He didn’t want to cause a disturbance and possibly alert the whole forest to his presence. He held his breath as if it were an alarm that would set off if he failed to keep it in.

His boot gently rolled onto a small twig behind him. It snapped. The bunny immediately turned and saw him right behind it. Despite being an animal, Hicks could definitely saw fear in the bunny’s eyes, as if it were a sentient being with true feelings that he could also feel rather than just basic sign language and a good memory to copy sign language.

Immediately, the bunny ran off in the opposite direction. ‘Shit!’ Hicks cursed as the bunny ran off possibly to warn other animals. He had to act fast if they were going to eat anything.

Hicks began to speed up his pace as he crept through the thick forest. He had to find something bigger, perhaps on the edge of the forest. He now began to run to the edge in hopes that a larger animal may be grazing in the open. The forest around him was a blur as he dodged and weaved in and out of trees to his target location.

Finally, the blinding light of the sun hit him as he emerged from the forest. Immediately, he stopped himself so as not to draw attention, that is if the other animals hadn’t already been warned about him.

Hicks turned to his left and laid eyes on a small group of deer grazing as he suspected. The sun was slowly approaching the horizon, so the animals were eating for the last time today. This would be Hicks’ last chance to hunt today before all the animals disappeared to their abodes.

Hicks slowly approached the deer with both his hands on the spear. He made sure to keep inside the tree-line so he had less chance of being spotted. He counted six deer, one of which was a buck. The buck was likely the leader of the group and would protect the does with his life. It was common animal behaviour to defend each other. Hicks crept up behind the closest doe, pulled his spear back and patiently waited.

He waited for the most opportune time to strike, preferably when the doe had its head down and when the buck wasn’t looking. But this doe was suspicious. It had caught his scent and was trying to find him.

In its curiosity, the doe turned around to face the tree-line. It would have spotted Hicks if he hadn’t noticed that he was about to be found. He quickly thrust the spear horizontally into the doe’s neck. It briefly cried out in agony but the blood soon filled its throat, silencing it. The other deer had lifted their heads to see one of their own get killed violently by a long stick with a sharp stone on the end of it.

Panic set in and the other does scattered with the buck covering their retreat. They already knew that the doe was dead, and there was no point in trying to get it back now. Hicks would have just killed them if they tried to attack. Hicks and the others, except Bishop, were hungry and the fruits in the opposite forest were bright and colourful and therefore possibly toxic. Meat was therefore preferable at the moment.

The doe was by this point dead on the floor. Satisfied that he had been successful in his task, Hicks began to carry the dead animal back to the dropship.

Everypony gathered around the pyre that stood in the centre of town. Some were sorrowful, even crying. Others were that and confused. Confused about what had happened and why. Nonetheless, all were respectful. Derpy had lived with Turner for a long time and had been hit the hardest. She stood in the front of the crowd, her eyes wet with tears.

Mayor Mare stood next to the pyre, another pony with a lit torch besides her. The sky was gloomy and grey, only adding to the depression that ran deep in the crowd. Atop the pyre was a coffin, ready to be burnt with its inhabitant.

“We are all mournful at the loss of this good pony,” the Mayor began. “He lived well and protected those he loved. He was humble and kind to all others at no cost. His passing is a tragedy to us all, as we knew him as a friend, and a loyal one.”
The Mayor nodded to the pony beside her.

“The least we can do now is help him on his journey. We part soul from body with Celestia’s benevolent flame and pray for him. May he receive Celestia’s blessing in death as he did in life.”

The pony beside her lit the pyre with the torch. It burned with a bright, calm flame that engulfed the pyre and the coffin. All the ponies stood in heart-broken silence as the flame began to roar.

“He was an honourable pony, and we honour his passing.”

The flame slowly consumed the pyre and coffin, reducing them to naught but dust. Embers danced in the wind above the fire before fading away as quickly as they had appeared. The flame wandered with the wind and in the ponies’ eyes, like tiny furnaces in blacksmith workshop.

After half an hour, the flame had consumed most of the wood and was dying down. Some ponies had left and even more were still leaving. Those that remained were the closest of Turner’s friends, Derpy included. She still sat at the front, head hung low. Soon, she was the only one left apart from six other mares.

Twilight placed her hoof on Derpy’s shoulder. Derpy only looked over at her, her eyes clearly telling her that she needed more time. Accepting this, Twilight led her friends away from the fire.

The bunny ran in fear of his life. That thing could’ve had him! It was right behind him, with a spear! It was no animal of simple wit, it was clever and dangerous. He had to tell the yellow Pegasus. But how? Angel seemed to communicate somewhat with her. Perhaps he could tell Angel to pass on the message?

The bunny desperately hopped at full speed towards the cottage. It was getting very dark now and predators emerge at this hour to hunt unsuspecting prey.

At last, the bunny made it to the cottage. By this point, he was breathing heavily from his exhaustion. Angel was outside, relaxing in a small white sun bed that very nearly camouflaged him. He immediately saw the bunny and became curious. He hopped off of the sun bed and bounced over to the bunny.

“What’s wrong?” He asked in the universal animal language. It was really just a bunch of gestures and noises that made up a small, simple sentence.

“I saw *huff* a big monkey thing! *Huff* It had a spear and was about to kill me!”

“Are you sure?” Angel asked. “I never took monkeys for the carnivorous type.”

“This wasn’t an ordinary monkey,” the bunny replied. “It had clothes like the ponies sometimes do. It was smeared in mud the disguised its scent. It snuck up on me like a wolf!”

“What do you want me to do about it?” Angel asked curiously.

“Warn the ponies. You can talk to that yellow Pegasus. You have to tell her about it! It could be dangerous to Ponyville! There might even be more!” Angel was beginning to see the importance of this strange new creature. It was intelligent, could make basic weapons and wore clothes.

“Okay. I will tell Fluttershy about this tomorrow. Right now, she just got back from a ceremony and has gone to bed. You’d better be right about this!”

Fluttershy had awoken late that day. When she saw the time, she worried about her animal friends and rushed downstairs to check on them after she got ready for the day ahead.

Thankfully, the animals had taken to grazing on the grass before she came down. Angel, however, stood on the table in the living room, waiting for her. Fluttershy knew immediately that he wanted her attention.

“Why hello Angel. Did you want something?”

Angel nodded. He pointed to the forest off in the distance past Ponyville. He then made a gesture that involved putting one paw to the floor and the other above his head. He then grabbed a matchstick and pretended to look menacing with it before thrusting it forward. Normally Fluttershy would warn him against playing with matches, but after Angel had finished his little act, she more or less knew what he was talking about.

“Are you saying that there is a very tall thing with a spear was roaming the forest?”

Angel nodded in confirmation. That worried her. If it was dangerous (and she knew Angel wouldn’t have told her if it wasn’t) then it could place all of Ponyville in danger.

Fluttershy was of course still suffering the aftermath of yesterday’s events, so she was both worried and upset about the news. This meant that there was danger of more deaths, and she couldn’t handle that. Two new creatures in one week seemed suspicious, but Fluttershy didn’t notice that. All she thought about now was taking care of her animals and telling Twilight what Angel had just told her.

Chapter 4: I Like To Keep This For Close Encounters!

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Aliens: Consuming Equestria
Chapter 4

It had finally reached sunset and darkness had overtaken the landscape. Newt had been sent inside the dropship for the night alongside Bishop. Bishop had been laid inside the dropship mainly to maintain it and check if any messages were being sent by Weyland Yutani. The darkness camouflaged any creatures that might want to viciously rip them to shreds and eat them, so Newt and Bishop were really sent in the dropship because they would be defenceless if such a beast did emerge. While Newt had survived in Hadley’s Hope without any outside help, it was enclosed and she hid in small ventilation systems. In the open ground, there was no way she would outrun anything bigger than her. At least if Newt and Bishop hid in the dropship, they might have the safety of the beast not wanting to expend energy on tearing it open.

Hicks and Ripley sat in the grass outside, gazing wordlessly at the star-dotted sky. Both of them were lost in the beauty of the night. The silence between them hung like a noose in the wind. It was frighteningly silent. If either of them were paying attention to the silence, they might have been suspicious about it.

Ripley mercifully broke the silence.

“So, a spear through the neck huh?”

“Yea,” Hicks replied, taken aback by the atrocious attempt at small talk.

“I never took you for the hunter type.”

“You have to know how to do a lot of things in the Corps,” Hicks replied, returning his eyes to the stars. “It’s not all about rescuing stupid colonists from their own mistakes, or sweeping through a facility full of terrorists. The terrorists did have their own headquarters, and we had to infiltrate them. Before I joined the squad, I felt like there was a satisfying feel of discipline and organisation. People were actually worried about dying as soon as they stepped forward. It was that sort of thrill that kept things exciting.” Hicks sighed deeply.

“Then I joined the squad. Immediately I felt too invincible. I was just surrounded by a bunch of meatheads who saw all of it as a game where they were the gods of creation and destruction. Boy were they proved wrong on LV-426,” Hicks chuckled. “I feel kinda bad about feeling good that they were taught otherwise, but they were gonna be taught one way or another. Guess it just had to be the hard way.”

“You sound as if being invincible in battle was a bad thing.”

“Yea well, I guess I just got bored of winning.”

At that moment, a low snarl was heard in the darkness. It was a quiet, menacing growl that said “Get off of my territory”. Ripley and Hicks both jumped to their feet and readied...

Readied for what? A fight?

While they both got into a defensive stance, they both knew that whatever that was, they were not going to be able to put up much of a fight against it.

Something in the darkness began to move around in front of them, taunting them. It approached closer and closer until it almost felt like the entity was right on top of them.

Suddenly, a load roar signalled the attack of a gigantic lion, its mouth the size of a van, with purple bat wings and a scorpion’s tail. It pounced at Hicks who in turn rolled out of the way and onto his back. The Manticore shook its head wildly and growled angrily at its prey. Hicks, still on his back, crawled away desperately before the Manticore could try again. Hicks was not crawling fast enough to escape the Manticore for long and soon, he could feel the wind rushing against his legs as the Manticore barely missed because of the dark atmosphere. Hicks suddenly heard the Manticore roar in pain. He turned to see (barely) that Ripley had found the spear and had thrust it into the Manticore’s leg. Ripley was knocked away and into the dropship by the Manticore which in turn knocked her unconscious. The Manticore roared again in triumph before turning back to Hicks again. It snarled before approaching Hicks, ready to tear him limb from limb. Hicks reached into his pocket and pulled out his pistol. He aimed it directly at the beast’s head.

Twilight had stayed up late that day. She was still affected by the sudden death of Turner. He was a good friend and a fellow scientist at that. Twilight and Turner occasionally conversed generally about certain scientific subjects. They were pleasant, intelligent conversations that she rarely ever had. Twilight leaned against the balcony at the top of the library, relaxing and staring longingly at the stars.

At that moment, all of the peace and serenity of the night was interrupted by six loud thunderclaps, each timing perfectly in succession. It startled Twilight and she almost fell over the edge of the balcony. Immediately, she was in a state of befuddlement. What were those loud bangs? There was no way it could have been thunder. A storm hadn’t been scheduled, and there was no way any thunder could occur in such succession with only a millisecond in between each of them. Something else was going on here.

Twilight had heard roughly where the loud claps had come from. They were in the direction of Whitetail Woods, opposite the Everfree Forest. She observed closely the area in which the claps had come from, but the dark night obscured any vision of the area she might have from her balcony. Immediately, she went for her telescope in hopes of seeing something. She needed something to go on. Anything!

She peered through the small eyepiece and checked the area. At first, there was nothing but darkness. But then, Twilight could definitely say she saw some sort of shape or form. It was a bolder black than even the night itself. On the dark object, Twilight saw a small glint. A metal object had reflected light reflected by the moon. Something metal was over there! This was something worth looking into! So many new things were happening. A strange alien that lays a small egg in one’s chest. Another strange alien that burst from this egg. And now a strange metal object in the long stretch of fields between the Everfree and Whitetail Woods. Twilight wasn’t sure if she could take all of these new discoveries. She had spent most of the night pondering why the egg didn’t hatch a younger version of the layer. Perhaps it was a part of some sort of Biological relation between two species?

Twilight was extremely excited. She wanted desperately to find out what metal object was sitting in the fields, but it was too late. The darkness harboured many dangerous animals; all who would want to eat you for dinner. Of course, she could wake Fluttershy up and ask her to stop any wild animals that might be considered dangerous, but that would be inconsiderate. Fluttershy had been the most tired out of all the ponies, and one of the most upset. Her poor little heart couldn’t take the death of other ponies as well as others could (not that anypony could really take death well).

Reluctantly, Twilight made a mental note to wait for tomorrow to investigate the metal object.

Hicks sighed in relief as he emptied half of his magazine into the monster’s head causing it to collapse to its side. Three bullets lodged into the Manticore’s jaw, one other into its eye and two more went straight through in random positions, making the beast’s head a bloody mess. The beast would have closed its eyes if one hadn’t been blown out. Hicks felt a small sense of familiarity. He knew exactly what it was as he wiped his forehead of sweat and felt the bandage covering his eye.

Hicks knew that the shots would have gained unwanted attention. Panic set in and immediately, he jumped to his feet and scooped up Ripley in his arms. He activated the door on the dropship and stepped inside, unaware of the set of eyes locked on the small glint of moonlight the door had reflected upon opening.

As the door shut behind him, he set Ripley down on in a Cryopod and checked her pulse. Thankfully, he found it quickly indicating that she was still alive and well. Hicks decided that it was late enough and avoiding anymore run-ins like that was the best option. He was only going to save his pistol for emergencies and after shooting out half a magazine, he was on three and a half magazines left. Sleep was a nice thought right about now. There was too much to think about tonight, one thought being how they were going to convince the natives that they weren’t carnivorous bloodsucking demons from outer space? Another thought was quite concerning. If the natives were practically horses, how were they going to communicate at all? Hicks hoped that through some divine miracle, the two species spoke the same language.

Soon, all the thinking had Hicks extremely weary, and he fell asleep hoping another Manticore didn’t decide to rip open the dropship.

Twilight heard a knock on her door. She had only just recently got out of bed and had forgotten about the strange metal object. She of course hadn’t forgotten about the alien which was now in a metal box with holes that resembled a cheese grater at the top. It was rather small and compact, and the alien inside didn’t like it one bit. This was evident as it would constantly smash against the side. It seemed to be getting bigger and small by the hour. Soon, Twilight wouldn’t have a container strong or big enough to hold it. She planned on reporting the creature the Neighland Yutani so they could come and pick it up themselves.

Twilight opened the door not too eagerly. Her mood brightened when she saw Fluttershy, but it was dampened again when she saw her expression. It was one of ‘nervous worry’ if that was even a proper expression. She was clearly worried about something, but she seemed timid about either the situation or the fact that she had visited Twilight at quite an early hour.

“Hi Fluttershy!” she greeted happily “What brings you here so early? Do come in!” Fluttershy silently obliged and trotted straight over to the couch as Twilight sat down.

“So, what is it?”

“Well... um,” she began. “I think there’s... something bad near Whitetail Woods.”

“What makes you say that?” Twilight asked curiously, her memory of last night slowly coming back to her.

“Angel bunny told me,” she stated quite bluntly. Twilight was quite doubtful. She wouldn’t expect a bunny to know whether something was good or bad unless it was trying to eat him.

“What did he say about it?”

“That it was really tall. That it had a spear and was about to kill something, I’m not sure what though. It could have been... him or somepony else.” Fluttershy struggled to suggest the danger could have possibly tried to kill Angel.

Suddenly, Twilight fully remembered the events of last night.

“Actually, I did see something strange last night. It was in the fields between the Everfree and Whitetail Woods. I think we should be able to see it now that it’s daytime.”

Twilight led Fluttershy up to the balcony where her telescope still stood tall, pointing down towards the fields. Neither pony even needed the telescope to see the black, out of place dot on the fields. Whilst it was quite far away, it was still rather big and conspicuous. Even so, Twilight looked through the lens to see the object in clearer detail. She gasped in amazement.

The object was definitely metallic. It had what looked like a large door on the front that Princess Celestia could easily fit through without having to duck. It had several windows on the sides indicating there was indeed an inside. The object was clearly on small little legs, but the legs were half submerged into the soil. Some of the parts on the object were hanging loosely in the slight breeze. The object itself had very flat surfaces and very sloped surfaces that looked rough to touch. Next to the object, obvious signs of a fire laid in the grass.

Something else gained Twilight’s attention. Just beside the strange metal object was a horrific sight. It was less horrific, more terrifying, than Turner’s chest exploding outwards with a small creature inside. Beside the object, was a Manticore with six visible holes in its face. It was terrifying in the sense that something had the ability to do that ghastly act, and it was right inside that metal box.

Twilight stood back from the telescope, shaking. Upon seeing Twilight, Fluttershy barely wanted to look through the telescope. Unfortunately, she did anyway. Twilight had left the telescope so it was still pointing towards the Manticore’s corpse. Fluttershy immediately felt even sicker inside than when Turner died. She too drew her head away from the telescope, shaking with fear (and attempting to keep her breakfast in).

Twilight looked over at Fluttershy.

“Your right. Whatever it was, it’s dangerous. But remember, it might just be carnivorous. Just because something eats meat, doesn’t mean it’s evil. Besides, it didn’t eat the Manticore. Maybe it was out of self defence.”

“You’re... you’re right,” Fluttershy barely said. “We should... we should talk to them. Maybe we can convince them... not to eat all of Ponyville.”

Ripley stretched as she stepped out onto the grass outside the dropship. All the others were awake, and Bishop was actually designing a new pair of legs for himself. He didn’t show this, but occasionally staring longingly at his nonexistent legs and spending long periods of time staring at nothing in particular with strange whirring noises coming from his head clearly showed he was planning something. Also, a strange pile of useless metal and useless wires had appeared next to Bishop’s cryopod.

Newt appeared by Ripley and hugged her arm. The dead Manticore was still there, but carnivorous animals had obviously come along and eaten some of it. Huge bit marks and rips were visible on the Manticore’s skin and blood had poured out onto the grass. Newt caught sight of the Manticore, and as soon as she had seen it, she sharply spun her head around in disgust and utter horror. Ripley chuckled inside. ‘She just escaped a planet full of blood-thirsty aliens who very nearly killed her twice, but she still flinches at the sight of blood? Fair enough I suppose. I don’t think I’ll ever get fully used to seeing someone’s guts hanging out. I very nearly puked when Bishop’s legs were torn off.’

Ripley’s thoughts were interrupted by seeing four strange figures approach over nearby hill blocking their sight from the village. The creatures were colourful and varied. One had a horn and one had small but visible wings on its side. What was curiosity was now dread. ‘They’ve found us.’

At that moment, the four creatures spotted them and Hicks emerged from the dropship. Ripley noticed something about their faces. They were each varied in emotions for a start. Two looked what one could describe as angry and horrified at the same time. This belonged to the blue winged one with rainbow hair and an orange one with a Stetson. One face actually bore intrigue. It hardly seemed to notice the corpse of the Manticore and seemed more interested in them. The last one... they couldn’t quite tell. The smile on the pink one was bigger than anything the humans had ever seen before. It looked as if it were to get any bigger, the pink equine’s face would actually split in two.

The two adults - due to the faces on two of the ponies – mentally prepared to fight. Hicks put his hand on his pistol in preparation. Both didn’t want this to come to a fight. They knew that they had to make a friendly first impression to the inhabitants of the village.

At that moment, Ripley realised why two of them were angry (or at the very least suspicious). ‘If we really are in some sort of children’s book, these creatures surely wouldn’t be familiar with the concept of death. There is a dead giant lion next to us that has been ripped to pieces by wolves or something like that. If that isn’t suspicious, I don’t know what is.’

Twilight had already seen the dead Manticore, and she couldn't see the bite marks through her telescope, so she paid no attention to it. Of course, that meant she didn’t see the biting all over it that definitely would have made her suspicious. It did not take long for Rainbow Dash and Applejack to spot it though. Pinkie didn’t seem to notice the Manticore at all. That or she just didn’t care. She just looked extremely happy to see the strange new aliens. She was probably already planning a Welcome-to-Ponyville Party. No, scratch that, a Welcome-to-Ponyville-and-all-of-Equestria party. Twilight would consider adding Please-don’t-eat-or-kill-us on that title.

After gaining confirming nods from her companions, they all set off down the hill towards the metal box. The aliens seemed to become more and more suspicious or curious as they got closer.

Finally, when they got in range, Twilight spoke.

“Hello. I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

The aliens looked startled to say the least. They probably didn’t expect Twilight to speak at all. Twilight just hoped they spoke the same language. When there was no answer, she continued.

“We are ponies from Ponyville – the village over there - and we have come to welcome you to Equestria,” ‘In hopes that you are actually friendly.’ Twilight smiled nervously at the aliens.

“Well it’s nice to meet you Twilight,” one of the aliens with a female voice said. “We apologise if our arrival here was unnerving at all, but trust us when we say we don’t want to have any fights here.”

“Trust you?!” Rainbow Dash shouted angrily. “How can we trust you when there is a half eaten Manticore right besides you?”

Hicks looked over at the Manticore curiously before looking at Ripley quizzically.

“Was that you?”

“Ah c’mon. Don’ act all innocen’ to us. I’s obvious tha’ ya’ll did it. Do ya’ll think we i’s stupid or som’thin?”

“No!” Ripley answered back. “We genuinely didn’t do it. I mean yea, we killed it. But that was in self defence, but we didn’t eat it. I suspect wolves or something ate it.”

“I have seen a very nervous friend of mine befriend one of those things before! She didn’t have to kill it!”

“Rainbow Dash please, we don’t want any fights here.”

‘Heh, fitting name’ Hicks thought to himself, chuckling inaudibly.

“Yea. Besides, if these alien-guys can take down a Manticore, we sure don’t wanna make ‘em angry, right?”

“Exactly Pinkie. So, who are you?” Twilight asked, pointing towards the humans.

“Well, I am Corporal Hicks, and this is – “

“Wow! You’re in the military?” Rainbow Dash asked pointing at him.

“Why yes, I – “

“What’s it like? What kind of adventures have you had? What’s that in your pocket? Is that your weapon? Isn’t kinda small? Did you kill that Manticore with it?” She asked all of these questions whilst flying around Hicks’ head. He didn’t look very happy to say the least.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight scorned her friend. “You can ask Hicks about his career later, for now, introductions must be made.” Rainbow Dash reluctantly landed besides Applejack, who didn’t look as intrigued about his career but rather the object Rainbow Dash pointed out in Hicks’ pocket, which he still had his hand over.

“This here is Ripley. This little one here is Newt. She has been through a lot recently. Back in the ship is Bishop. He is an android, but he prefers Artificial Person.”

“You have an android!” As soon as Pinkie practically shouted that at the volume of a massive amplifier, she shot into the dropship at the speed of light, leaving behind a pink pony shaped cloud.

“Ah’ll get ‘er,” Applejack told them before trotting inside.

“What do you mean Newt has been through a lot?” Twilight asked glancing at the little girl who looked curiously back at her, still clutching onto Ripley like a small child would to her mother.

“We recently escaped a derelict facility upon a planet that was in the middle of Terraforming,” Ripley explained. “Paraterraforming had already begun on the planet, but it was still in its early stages as far as I could tell. Terraforming takes a long time.”

“Why did you have to escape from it?” Twilight asked curiously.

“The colony on the planet had disappeared. I had tried to tell them that it was dangerous to go on the planet, but they insisted on sending me with a dispatch of Colonial Marines to investigate the facility. I was there primarily as an advisor, because I had dealt with the threat before.”

“What threat?” Ripley paused to consider whether she should actually tell her or not.

“The Xenomorphs,” she replied with venom dripping from her tone. “Horrifying creatures that live for nothing else but to eat and bring back hosts for their Queen to impregnate a small Xenomorph in with her facehuggers.” Suddenly, Twilight noticed something. She was referring to the serpent-like creature she was harbouring before the scientists at Neighland Yutani came to get it. That creature could be one of the greatest discoveries of all time. If she let this new creature see it, she would surely kill it.

“Come to think of it, you didn’t happen to see any did you?”

“No! Nope, certainly not. I haven’t even heard of anything like that, it sounds awful.” Twilight interrupted Applejack who very nearly blurted out the whole thing as she exited the dropship.

“I thought you were keeping one in a convenient metal box you found in your basement?” Pinkie said as she walked out of the dropship. Immediately, the three humans stared down at Twilight, irritation spread across their features. Even Bishop who was unwillingly riding on Pinkie’s back stared shocked at Twilight.

‘Oh dear,’ Twilight thought, ‘this isn’t going to end well.’

Chapter 5: The Ultimate Badass (Special Chapter)

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Aliens: Consuming Equestria
Chapter 5

Even after the great Terraforming machine was annihilated on LV-426 in a gigantic ball of flame that consumed the facility, all was not quite on the barren surface. The ominous winds only strengthened their gales and the scraping choir of metal work continued singing.

The explosion had utterly obliterated the facility, but had not completed what the remaining human survivors had hoped it would achieve.

Somewhere, deep inside one of the many complicated complexes, a battered marine awoke with a gasp. His head swayed to the side slightly before he shook it vigorously in an attempt to regain lucidity. Slowly, his vision cleared and his surroundings were beginning to become slightly more obvious to him.

The marine could clearly feel his armour still tight around his body. The armour was made of a thick Kevlar layered with a light yet dense metal for extra protection without being incredibly heavy. It felt the equivalent of having three cats holding on to your clothes with their claws and a small kitten doing the same in random positions dotted around on your body. The marine also noted the strange disappearance of his helmet.

A hanging smell of puke could be clearly distinguished in the air, but the marine was fairly certain it was anything but puke. Despite having been knocked unconscious at some point in time and being slightly disorientated, he knew where he was.

The marine at first tried to sit up, but was pinned by a heavy weight, like a two ton truck holding his limbs back and only succeeded in straining himself. He soon became aware of a slimy yet tough substance covering his entire body, all apart from his head and appendages. His mind filled with horror as he remember the colonists cocooned to the wall; waiting to be hosts for the terrifying Xenomorph creatures that would inevitably burst gruesomely out of their chests.

Upon remembering this, the marine also realised that he wasn’t on the floor at all. He was on the wall.
A slimy flop suddenly came from in front of the marine. To his dismay, a slippery looking egg shaped object sat in front of him. And it just opened.

The marine didn’t have to guess twice about what was in that egg and he didn’t want to be cocooned like this when it emerged. He began to struggle ceaselessly in an attempt to free himself, but it seemed to be in vain. The marine continued to struggle fruitlessly whilst keeping an eye on the egg in front of him, but he was beginning to lose hope.

A loud explosion erupted somewhere nearby, likely caused by something full of pressure overheating due to the initial explosion or by excess electricity overloading a generator, and a large flame flooded the corridor. It was at this moment that the marine realised he was cocooned to a wall in a strange sort of concave. He was looking down at the floor rather than looking at the parallel wall. In fact, he was quite high up.

The flame raced towards the egg at full speed. The marine hoped that the flame would not fill the concave as it would soon shoot past and blaze the facehugger. Soon, as it flooded the corridor, the flame consumed the egg along with the ghastly creature that resided inside of it. All that was left was a scorched, fleshy object with a small spider-like creature, which also had more than a few burns, curled up dead next to it. Luckily, the flame raced right past the marine. He had survived thanks to coincidence. And he was grateful.

The marine decided that the only escape from this was to continue his struggle, since no other options had presented themselves, and sure enough, the infestation holding his right arm broke. He then ripped the infestation cocooning his left arm with his right before freeing his legs in a similar fashion. The marine forgot to consider his height, and so as soon as he was free, he plummeted downwards towards the cold, hard metal grating – legs first - which resulted in a loud thud, rattling of some loose grating and a stinging pain shooting up the marine’s legs.

The marine groaned as he struggled to lift himself up and fight the urge to stay on the surprisingly relaxing cold floor. Unfortunately, his rest was interrupted by menacing hissing coming from nearby. Realising that the noise he made must have attracted attention, he quickly stood up and began looking for a route of escape.

He was standing in a long metal corridor with a curve in its path - creating an arc shape if one looked at it from above – meaning he couldn’t see the whole corridor and that anything could be waiting for him down either way. The walls and floors were burnt, and the majority of the path was made of a metal grating that hung above a dark chasm that went a few metres down into the facility where the main generator was. Large parts of the grating were missing from the explosion and the tiny computer screens that opened the doors were sparking with electricity. The screens hung off of the walls and wires hung down from the ceiling like nooses at the gallows. Panels on the walls were missing and some were even covering the grating where they had been viciously ripped off by the explosion or by the dark, serpent-like aliens. There were many exits in the corridor, but his gut told him that these would only lead to the dreaded Xenomorphs.

The marine soon remembered that a large part of the facility down the corridor had exploded but a few moments ago. The explosion was a lot bigger than the explosion of something like a small computer exploding, so the marine assumed that the explosion would have killed anything living down there.

Not thinking twice, the marine sprinted down the corridor in the direction that the flames had come from.

The marine’s sprint only created more noise as he clattered down the corridors and hallways that were painted with scorch marks from the recent explosion and up exhausting stairwells. The ominous hissing only got closer with each passing second as he dashed through the facility. Soon, the marine began to find it hard to breath. He inhaled and exhaled raggedly and heavily, becoming exhausted by the surprising lack of air in the corridor and the large amounts of strenuous activity the marine had put himself through in the past few minutes.

As the marine turned the corner, he felt himself being tugged; he soon realised why. In the side of the facility, a wall had been obliterated by the explosion. A large hole also created by the explosion, created a gaping chasm in between the marine and the hole in the wall. A heavy vacuum was pulling the marine out of the facility. The marine could not stay on his feet and was pulled towards the wall. He quickly grabbed the gap on a doorframe of an open door and held on. His body turned sideways, with his legs facing the cavernous hole. Hissing soon became screeching as Xenomorphs flew past, not expecting the sudden tugging. Some flew off of the roof, others along the floor.

The marine drew his eyes away from the sight and back to his predicament. The vacuum was pulling too hard for the marine to stick around for too long. The marine pulled himself as hard as he could towards the open door. He had to get fully into the room before he could close the door. The struggle was getting too hard for the marine and he could feel his grip loosening. In an act of desperation, or a miracle, the marine pulled firmly one last time. He lifted up gratefully towards the door. He lifted his leg with great effort over the doorframe. He pulled his other leg over with it.

The marine felt relief as he reached the other side of the door (still sideways, only the other way round now), but, as he was about to press the lock option on the screen, he was horrified to find there was no screen. Panicking, he desperately tried to locate the screen anywhere using the wires leading from the empty hole where the screen used to be. It only led to the end of the wire. Thinking of no other solution, the marine checked the other side of the door.

A stronger force suddenly pulled on the marine and he almost flew head first out of the door towards the hole. He landing face first on the wall on the other side, but kept his grip. Having no time to worry about his bruised nose, he hoped to see a screen to close the door on the other side. There was a screen, and it was working.

The marine knew he would have to be fast; otherwise he would be crushed by the closing door. Without giving himself time to think about this choice of action, he quickly tapped the screen in the right place to close the door. He quickly grasped at the door frame and hauled himself up through the rapidly closing gap. He made it through just in time, only managing to very nearly clip the end of his right boot off as he flipped into the room head first. More importantly, there was no longer a fierce force pulling him into a vacuum.

The marine took time propped up against the wall – the right way up this time – to think about what could have caused the vacuum. He was thoroughly aware of the savage storms that raged on outside on the desolate landscape of LV-426, but he never remembered them being able to pull him into the atmosphere. The marine glanced out of a window a few feet away from him; just quick enough to catch sight of a Xenomorph lose its grip on the window frame and fly off into the distance. The marine stood up in shock at what he witnessed out of the corner of his eye. He cautiously moved towards the window to see what was creating the vicious vacuum. What he saw shook him to the core.

Everything, including heavier objects like gigantic metal tankers, was being flung about the facility. Some objects were flung into buildings, tearing chunks of metal out of the side of both the flying object and the building. It took the marine only two seconds to figure out what was happening. The scorched walls and floors; the exploded walls and facilities... the Terraformer had overloaded. The safe, stable atmosphere was gone, and now chaos was free to rule LV-426. The storms on LV-426 were harsher than ever, harsh enough to rip a smaller building off of its foundations and LV-426. With the facility now exposed to LV-426’s true atmosphere, tornados and hurricanes began tearing the facility apart from the outside. The destructive weather was creating a vacuum effect in the area, sucking everything in the nearby vicinity away and throwing them miles off.

The marine looked on in despair, knowing now that escape was impossible. He could only look on and remember his life before the glass or the wall was ripped asunder and he was flung into space: his home; his family.

No! The marine was not one to give up that easily. He would not just give up in the face of certain death, not today. He knew there had to be a way out of this. Even the stupid-ass colonists would have prepared for this situation right? The marine knew there was the development of something similar to the ‘gravity boots’ in old sci-fi comic books he had found way back as a kid, so if there were some of them in this facility, he could escape, right? There was bound to be some sort of oxygen masks and tanks somewhere, right? That was it!

The marine, suddenly full of confidence, picked himself up out of his dreary state and looked for a way out of the room. The room was full of empty boxes and punctured and dented gas tanks, like a storage room for broken toys, so the marine saw no use in staying here any longer. He spotted a vent in the corner of the room and immediately knew his route of escape. All he had to hope was that no Xenos bumped into him on the way out.

The marine quickly scoured the seemingly desolate room for a thin object of any kind. Finding none, he became slightly frustrated imagining that he would truly be stuck here. Then he remembered his dog tags. He slid the dog tags over his helmetless head and stuck them in the slot in the screws. He found he could do it after a bit of force was applied to get the dog tags into the slot, which also meant the dog tags were firmly secure in the slot and it was hard to slip with them. He then twisted the dog tags which undid the screw, allowing it to just fall out of the vent grill, before pulling the dog tags out. He did this with each individual screw so he could place the grill to the side without it getting in the way.

With the grill now removed, the marine pushed his head into the vent with his flashlight aimed forward into the empty tunnel of the abyss. Satisfied that the Xenos were not secretly laying in ambush in the vent, the marine wriggled into the vent head first and crawled onwards. To where? He didn’t quite know yet.

The marine crawled on his back, so he could see behind him if he became suspicious. The vent was tight and claustrophobic, only just big enough to fit him and all of his equipment inside. The metal was freezing cold on his skin and even frosted patches showed up even now and then, making the marines life even more of a living hell. A putrid smell of raw sewage lingered in the ventilation system, hinting to the marine that the ventilation was in fact not working. It also told him that he was heading straight for the sewers in the facility – not where he wanted to go at all. The marine had to find a way of navigating towards some sort of emergency storage room that might have emergency equipment in it, preferably oxygen tanks, oxygen masks and a piece of equipment that will save him from being carried by the storm’s heavy winds into the distance.

Without warning, the marine dropped down from the ventilation through a layer of grating. He landed with a thud on a concrete floor; causing his armour to slam and scrap as he fell and tried to stand up again. The marine rested one knee on the floor whilst he rested his arm on another, assessing any sort of damage. The fall was particularly short and he was on his back as he collided with the ground. The grating did not fall with him; it only opened on one side. The marine wouldn’t admit to anyone – if anyone else were around – but he was pretty sure that he had bruised a bone in his right arm on the way down.

The marine stood his full height - to show the nonexistent people around him that he was unharmed – and observed the room he had happened upon. The smell of rotten sewage was still evident, meaning that he was probably somewhere beneath the main complex. The marine, however, soon beamed with relief as his eyes fell upon a rack of colonist weaponry. His relief was turned to joy as he then saw several metal chests and racks of emergency equipment and several stacks of oxygen tanks. It took no time for the marine to leap into searching through the racks and chests.

After a few minutes of searching through the endless layers of equipment, the marine found several useful items amidst the unidentifiable objects the marine saw. He discovered a packet of flares, the flare-gun to go with them, a long-range radio with a headset, and a strange suit that stood straight and tall – like a monument to Zeus – on a wire mannequin; clearly designed to go over his entire body. The suit looked to be made of a very thick and heavy fabric coloured in a dark blue dye. There was a hard plastic window just big enough for his whole face to show; the plastic pane was an oblong shape clearly designed to fit the shape of one’s face. On the back of the suit was a rectangle fitting that had a thick tube running in between the two sides out of the back of the suit. The marine saw this to be the holster of the oxygen tank.

The marine, satisfied with the equipment despite having never used it, quickly grabbed one of the colonist rifles and fitted an oxygen tank to the back of the suit. The marine put the suit on and discovered some more features of the peculiar suit. The palms of the hands were very rubbery so the wearer of the suit could hold on to most objects whilst in harsher areas. The boots of the suit – which he wore with his boots still on – were also extremely heavy, probably so the wearer could stay on the ground rather than in the air. The marine tried to lift the boots, but no matter how hard he tried, the boots stayed firmly planted on the ground. The marine even tried to lift the boots from the outside of the suit, but to no avail. The marine soon realised that there was an Exoskeleton that fitted around one’s legs in the suit. He didn’t feel it before as it was loosely hanging on the edge of the suit. As the marine clamped the Exoskeleton around his legs by flicking a small switch near his thigh where there is usually a pocket in most trousers, he found he could lift the boot like it wasn’t there. He also found that the boots of the suit dug into the ground slightly when you took a step, making the boots harder to lift without the Exoskeleton.

The marine exited the suit which stood at least seven foot tall and put it into a compact bag (after some effort). He then inspected the gun. It had a very different design to the pulse rifle he was used to. The front of the butt was hollow and made of four thin plates of metal that lead from the gun to the back of the butt, which was made of a similar metal and was thankfully not hollow. The body of the gun was long and jagged in certain places either where the metal work was worn or where the gun was so narrow; certain pieces inside of the gun had to protrude slightly in order to fit. The barrel was standard, but it was slightly smaller than the pulse rifle’s barrel; this lead the marine to believe that it was a CQC gun and not a rifle as he had previously believed. Finally, the marine bagged a few spare magazines for the gun.

With equipment, a gun and, some ammo, the marine felt prepared to take on whatever was thrown at him. No more excuses.

The marine pushed the thankfully intact screen and stepped out of the room. The revolting smell suddenly amplified and he very nearly let his insides escape. It took one look to his right to see a lavatory with an unfortunate aftermath of the explosion to know where the smell was coming from. The marine took one look at the name of the room – ‘ARMORY AND STORAGE B2’ – and headed off to the left, avoiding the rotten mess covering the floor.

The marine changed his mind on his location and decided that he was actually quite high up in the facility after remembering that it would be unusual to find an armoury and storage room in the underground parts of the facility. Also, ‘B2’ would suggest that he was on the second floor of the facility, or that he was in section B2 of the facility.

A venomous hissing signalled danger near the marine. He halted his movement quickly to avoid creating much more noise. His actions were soon to be seen in vain as a group of Xenos crawled round a corner in the corridor. The marine turned to see another pack of Xenos approaching him from behind him. Trapped.

The marine had to come up with something fast. There was no way he could take on two sides of Xenos. The marine cursed himself for not properly running through his new rifles features: for all he knew there could be an under-slung flamethrower or motion sensor on the rifle – at least then he would know how many there were.

The marine knew that he could only take on one side of Xenos at a time, so he quickly chose a path to take and began unloading bullets into the Xenos in front of him. High pitched screeching drowned out the sound of semi-automatic firing as lead filled the bodies of acid-filled Xenos. Soon, the hiss of acid blood and surviving Xenos could be heard as the marine reloaded as fast as he could. In quick succession, the marine began unloading the new magazine into the horde whilst slowly advancing forward before unclipping it and slamming in a new one. The marine quickened his pace as the anxiety of the oncoming horde grew more and more overwhelming. As he stole a glance behind him, he nimbly dodged his anxiety’s attack as it swiped at his face. The marine quickly aimed in the general direction of his attacker, fired a quick spray, and turned his attention back to the horde in front of him.

Fire. Unclip. Slam. Fire.

Fire. Unclip. Slam. Fire

The marine was so engrossed in his repetitive cycle that he failed to notice the gaping hole in the grating in front of him. The marine lost one foot through the hole and the rest of him tumbled down with it. The confused Xenos above – startled by the sudden disappearance of their prey – immediately began climbing down the walls into the convenient room the marine had crashed into. The marine had fallen into a tiny, closet-like room with janitor equipment and a scorched power box.

The marine quickly rubbed his sore head and quickly clambered onto his feet and stumbled out of a significantly warped door before slamming it shut – unaware that he had left his gun behind until it was too late. The Xenos were already near to the ground and soon began to attack the door with their claws, heads and tails.

As the marine staggered out of the closet, he found himself in a vehicle bay. A long bay door took up an entire wall of the room. A small door on the other side of the room signalled the marine’s escape. He rushed over to it and pushed the screen, to which it replied: ‘CAUTION: Door Obstructed’. The marine growled audibly and kicked the wall viciously. He soon resorted to slamming his full force into the door itself. The slamming was coupled with the slamming on the other side of the room from the Xenos. The marine soon accepted that the door was not going to budge an inch. There was no escape.

The marine quickly noticed the three thick-plated buggy-looking ATVs - standing parallel to each other facing the closed bay door - right in front of him. The colonists didn’t have the more advanced equipment that the marines did and the marine was fairly confident that the ATVs would be pulled around or flipped in the huge storms. Huge surges of wind would be winding in between the facility’s buildings, and the wind would simply sweep across the open plains: anywhere the marine drove the ATV was a hazard.

The slamming at the door behind him reminded him of the imminent danger he had to escape from.

The marine knew that as soon as the Xenos came through the door, he was doomed. There was no other way out of the bay, and he didn’t even have the protective suit on yet, so walking outside was suicide. With little time and no other option, the marine took to one of the vehicles.

The marine ran to the side of the ATV and opened a metal door that led into the rather spacious cockpit of the vehicle. He hastily jumped in - causing the suspension to bounce heavily – threw his bags into the back and quickly tried to start the engine before realising he couldn’t: he didn’t have any keys for the vehicle. Panicking, he quickly ripped the casing off from underneath the wheel and began looking for the right wires. The marine had grown up in a fairly poor area and he had his past of hotwiring cars. Finally finding the right wires, the marine created a spark with them which made the ATV rumble. Despite the engine spluttering slightly, it seemed stable to drive.

The marine quickly hopped out of the open door of the ATV and rushed to the bay door switch. A loud clattering from the marine’s right halted him. The Xenos were through the door. The marine waited no longer to grab the switch box and push the open button so hard he nearly sent his finger through it. Satisfied with the low sound of the bay door opening, he charged back to the ATV; not even looking to see if the bay door had actually opened or where the Xenos were.

The marine dived back into the ATV and slammed the door shut. He put the vehicle into gear and slammed his foot down on the pedal. The bay door hadn’t even opened properly; the ATV smashed through the opening door, snapping it off of the raising mechanism completely. As soon as the marine took off into the harsh environment, he could feel the vehicle being smashed back and forth by the giant hurricane-like winds. Behind him, Xenos were being flung about in the air immediately. A few retreated back into the closet and up the wall just in time, but the rest were left to slam against the walls and floor wailing and screeching in terror and agony. The marine did not let off of the pedal however; soon the bottom of the vehicle was beginning to get battered and scraped.

After at least two minutes of ploughing forward, the marine eased down on the pedal until the vehicle came to a halt. The violent winds were still nearly taking the vehicle off of the ground. The marine looked down at the control panel and looked for anything that could steady the vehicle. He soon found two buttons: ‘Protective Wind Screens’ and ‘Steadying Legs’. He pressed the ‘Protective Wind Screens’ and flat metal screens came down on the sides of the ATV making it look more like a pyramid with wheels but without a tip. He then pressed the ‘Steadying Legs’ and metal poles emerged at the bottom of the vehicle and screwed themselves into the ground. Already, the wind was having less of an effect on the vehicle.

The marine stood up shakily and went to his bags and went to collect the suit. He slipped into it, making sure that there were no rips or openings in the suit, clipped the exoskeleton on his limbs and opened the door of the ATV. Immediately, a huge gust of wind blew into the vehicle and the bags of ammo flew out of the door. The marine felt the exoskeleton send the resilient screws into the metal floor of the ATV, making an inaudible whirring sound. He raised his foot to find the screws had lifted from the floor.

The marine sighed heavily calming himself before he stepped outside onto the surface of LV-426.
The storms thundered about him and attacked him, but the suit did not give in to the weather and kept strongly planted on the ground. The marine smiled at the suit gratefully. With nothing else to do, the marine simply walked onwards.

Unbeknownst to the marine, a ship had been following him since he hotwired the vehicle. It had been flying above the clouds, tracking him with the still barely stable link between the facilities network and the network on the ship. Now, it descended in front of the marine causing him to stop and nearly fall to his knees in awe and relief if not for the suit.

As the ship landed and Weyland Yutani scientists came rushing out in similar yet more advanced versions of his, the marine chuckled to himself.

“Hudson, you are still the ultimate badass!”

Chapter 6: Did IQs Just Drop Sharply While I Was Away?

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Aliens: Consuming Equestria
Chapter 6

As Ripley stormed through the streets of Ponyville towards the towering treehouse in the distance, she could sense the odd stares the citizens were giving her; she didn’t care, she only cared about making sure another living planet didn’t get fed to the Xenomorphs. Meanwhile Dwayne was walking directly behind her – occasionally trying to calm her down from the distraught state, but even he felt the need to exterminate the threat at all cost. Newt was clutching onto Ripley’s leg in embarrassment and Bishop was unwillingly riding on Pinkie’s back.

Twilight was behind with Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash apologising to ponies that had nearly been stepped on and explaining what was going on briefly.

Pinkie had conveniently blurted out the Xenomorph’s location, and Ripley planned to rip it in two before it got too big. Twilight had on several occasions tried to reason with her, saying it would be locked away in a secure quarantine and kept under close observation, but Ripley paid no attention to the unicorn and simply marched onwards to her target.

As Ripley reached for the library door, Twilight jumped in her way and blocked her from the library.

“Ripley,” she began in a stern tone, “Listen to me. I know what you want to do, but please hear me out. I can understand what you have been through was horrible and traumatic, but please put aside your hatred for this creature’s kind. It hasn’t done anything to you, so why should it suffer for what its predecessors have done? Maybe we can domesticate it, give it a safer, more productive and meaningful existence. It doesn’t deserve this.”

“That’s exactly what everyone else has tried to do,” she sharply replied. “Everyone else who has tried to tame or study them has been annihilated by them. I’m not getting rid of it because of some grudge. I’m destroying it to prevent it from killing everybody on this planet.”

A choir of mumbling began instantly and more ponies joined the crowd, including Rarity and Fluttershy. Whispering in the crowd transitioned from being about the group of humans to the carnivorous alien in the library that was prepared to wipe them off of the face of the planet. Twilight knew what risks were implied by the holding the Xenomorph for study, but the scientific potential and curiosity far outlived any danger. Besides, Neighland Yutani was well prepared in the ways of containment, so Twilight barely saw what there was to worry about.

“She’s right, Twi. That critter’s dangerous. Plus, i’s responsible for the death of Turner. It ain’t nothing but a filthy varmint that gotta be put down!” Applejack was crossed off of Twilight’s mental list of ponies that might side with her.

“She’s right; it’s been nothing but trouble. I have no sympathy for a creature without a heart.” Fluttershy also saw a line drawn through her name on the list.

“I agree! We can’t let it just kill Turner and get away with it!” There goes Rainbow Dash.

“Yea! It killed our friend!” And Pinkie. Twilight’s list was getting surprisingly short for a change.

“Quite right! We’re with you Ripley. It should be put down!” And thus, Rarity disappeared from the list too. Twilight was helpless from here; she had to delay the now rowdy mob of ponies and humans trying to budge past her – likely to put the Xenomorph’s head on a spike.

“Listen, all of you. I know you really want to the specimen’s neck, but this doesn’t have to happen. Neighland Yutan will be here any minute to pick it up and contain it, and you all know what–”

“Wait a minute,” Ripley interrupted. “Did you just say... Neighland Yutani?”

Twilight had no time to answer as Dwayne had found an adequate distraction to barge in through Twilight to kick open the front door. Once inside, he, Ripley, and a large group of ponies searched for the Xenomorph’s container. At that moment, Spike returned from the Boutique to see what all the commotion was about.

“Twilight?” he called worriedly to the purple unicorn trying to conceal the metal box from the intruders. “What’s going on? Is this about that alien you found?”

Twilight turned to the familiar face of her assistant. She silently beckoned him over to the door to the basement which had a large shelf stack pushed in front of it. She had initially done this to prevent the Xenomorph from getting out if it broke out of the metal box, but now it served as a nifty disguise. As he approached her side, Spike looked up expectantly at her, but received no order or even any notion of why he was here all of a sudden. He just assumed he was here for his own safety in case he was trampled.

Without warning, a group of four unicorns in blue sagging Hazmat suits – complete with gas mask – parted the crowd outside and marched towards where Twilight was sitting. They then pushed the shelf stack aside and opened the door before throwing active incapacitating gas grenades into the basement. A moment later – another two Hazmat unicorns with a large metal container, considerably larger than the container Twilight had trapped the Xenomorph in – charged down the stairs confidently to capture the specimen.

A long while had passed since the capture team had disappeared behind the now reputably ominous, closed door, and the library had remained silent. Soon, it was too much for Twilight’s patience and she swung open the door. As she did, the limp lifeless body of one of the Hazmat ponies flopped to the floor splashing a pool of blood into the library. All but the humans flinched in horror.

The fully grown Xenomorph crashed down from the roof above the deceased pony, saliva dripping from its ravenous jaw. When it had regained its stance, it directed its full attention to Ripley. It locked with her eyes, despites its lack thereof. She did not see the usual hungry expression in its stare, but rather a submissive, relaxed one. It didn’t even seem to notice the either tense or running and screaming ponies around it. It didn’t even seem to have any intention of getting even close to her; in fact it almost looked to her like a maternal figure of sorts: a Queen.

It was at this point that Ripley noticed a cold stream of blood running from her nostril. Everyone still around her looked on in awe, taking the blood as a sign of some psychic ability or connection the alien.

The Xenomorph screeched suddenly as a sack was thrown over its head and the Hazmat unicorns began shocking the Xenomorph into submission. Ripley’s vision was lost suddenly as a sack was thrown over her head too. She heard the screeching of the alien, the violent threats now being thrown by Dwayne, the uproar of the Ponyvillians, and – subconsciously – she heard the evil chuckle of Twilight looking gleefully at the rich specimen as it was carried away before Ripley blacked out.

Ripley awoke with a hazy vision, but a clear memory of what had happened. The ‘Neighland Yutani’ unicorns had chucked her in a sack, taking her by surprise. She gathered it was because of what happened between her and the Xenomorph, but she wasn’t sure whether Newt and Dwayne or even Bishop had been taken forcefully either. She swore that if they hurt any of them, she would find the pony in charge around her and show him what it was like to be wrapped in a bag – a body bag that is.

She was lying in what felt like a hospital bed with a bright ceiling light right above her, blinding her momentarily.
As she tried to sit up and gather her bearings, Ripley felt queasy and very faint almost immediately. Her head felt dizzy and her vision fooled her into thinking she was falling. As she put her hand out to stop her from tumbling, she felt material next to her. She lay back again and looked over to the side to vaguely see Dwayne asleep on a chair next to her. Next to him was Newt, also asleep. There was no sign of Bishop however.

“Are you alright?” The sudden appearance of the android on her other side startled her. Bishop was in fact in a hospital bed as well, much to Ripley’s brief amusement. “The Neighland Yutani scientists took you and the Xenomorph here. They saw you staring the thing down and thought there was something in your brain that could control them, like a mastermind of some sort. You’ve been here for approximately two days.”

“They didn’t do anything with my brain did they?” Ripley asked, panicked.

“No, but they did perform an X-Ray and find something... extraordinary.” Bishop proceeded to point to Ripley’s chest. Her vision had cleared well enough to see a line of stitches above her stomach. It dawned on her quickly.

“There was an alien inside of me?” Ripley almost screamed.

“Yes, but not just any alien. I identified the Xenomorph in question to be a Queen, the same kind that detached my locomotive components.”

“You identified it? What, were you there with them?”

“Indeed,” Bishop admitted.

“Well, didn’t you tell them to kill it?”

“Of course.” And he wasn’t lying. Logically, the Xenomorph is now property of this ‘Neighland Yutani’, and Weyland Yutani could only acquire it by force, presuming this doppelganger was as stubborn as Weyland Yutani and would refuse any sort of proposition for the Xenomorph’s ‘purchase’. As a result, the doppelganger became a rival which had valuable research material which it must be deprived of. The immediate and most effective strategy Bishop calculated was to destroy the specimens and any samples Neighland Yutani might take. Officially, Bishop was now fully siding with Ripley.

“They refused to harm or dispose of either of the Xenomorphs they now have in their possession.” Ripley groaned in frustration. She had to find some way to either convince them to kill the Xenomorphs – which was unlikely – or she had to kill them herself.

As she successfully sat up at last, a pair of scientists, one male and one female both brown hair and a white coat, came into the room.

“You...” The scientists didn’t expect the venomous greeting Ripley had given them. They looked up at her from their documents they were levitating in front of them with startled expressions. They had halted in their approach, but now advanced cautiously before stopping just outside of her reach – just in case.

“You’re Ripley?” one of them asked pointing to Ripley who held a silent glare on them. “We’ve come to tell you that the surgical operation we performed on you whilst you were knocked out has provided no major side effects or concerning problems and you may go as soon as you are ready.”

“Where is that awful creature?” The scientists were taken aback by her interrogative question.

“Are you referring to the specimen?” the other scientist replied.

“If that’s what you want to call it, fine. Now where is it?”

“It is currently in the main research bay in quarantine. There is absolutely nothing to worry–”

“Damn it, there is everything to worry about!” Ripley shouted at them, her outburst waking Dwayne and Newt instantly. “You won’t be able to contain it, especially that Queen you took. They’re smart, not just animals. They will get out, and then you will be sorry you ever tried to study them.”

“Whoa,” Dwayne interjected, trying to make sense of the situation. “What’s going on? You said there’s a Queen?”

“Yes,” one of the scientists began, “We found a specimen growing inside of Ripley. It was fully developed when we found it, but it would’ve taken several more days still to hatch from your chest. Through extensive study, we found that it takes a larger amount of time for the embryo to hatch from you humans than from ponies.”

“Oh yea?” Dwayne piped. “And how did you figure that out?”

“That is classified, I’m afraid.”

“Of course it is!” Ripley violently responded, pointing an accusing finger. “Because you’ve tested it haven’t you? How many subjects did you impregnate, huh? I can’t believe you could be as heartless as everyone else trying to get a hold of some data that I can’t even imagine what you would do with!”

Ripley’s brief rant was cut short. A rumble from below the building caused a shockwave to erupt all through facility they were in. Everything fell off of the shelves and surfaces, and the beds moved a considerable distance from where there were. Medical cupboards came smashing down after detaching from the walls, the light in the room crashed to the floor, leaving the group blinded. The two scientists lost their footing and collapsed to the floor in a bundle. The door slammed shut with a loud bang startling the group in the room.

When the shockwave subsided, red emergency lighting lit up providing a vague ability to see in front of one’s face. A loudspeaker cracked before a message began repeating itself.

“Security in Quarantine Zone breached: Evacuate all able personnel immediately.”

Everyone but Newt was too stunned to speak.

“Well that occurred rather fast.”

Chapter 7: How Could They Cut the Power Man? They're Animals!

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Aliens: Consuming Equestria
Chapter 7

There is a fine line where someone who has been though harsh suffering in the past and survived only to do it again snaps. It’s not quite anger, but anxiety. Ripley had seen it all before, twice, and she knew what was coming next. There was no stopping the same formula from happening again now. She had almost gotten used to the nightmare about to come, but she snapped all the same. She snapped because of that anxiety: she could have prevented history from repeating itself but fell short of doing so, leading it to happening again. You might have thought that she has become a veteran of this scenario – and in other circumstances she might have taken up that status – but the simple thought of these innocent, harmless, colourful creatures were the ones to die this time got to her. The humans she had seen die had long since lost her respect, but it became hard to hate these ponies, she could tell from the shocked and sometimes distraught faces of the ponies that there were many in their communities that upheld the same belief as she did; that there were only a few who had other intentions. The anxiety returned: this world was doomed already. Its people were doomed.

Ripley would not let that happen.

But first, she had to escape the situation she had found herself in now. In what she presumed was a medical section of a larger facility that she had had the Queen removed from her in; said Queen now likely laying more eggs after the lesser beings had escaped in record time; a collection of likely defenceless ponies that she is also powerless to save in time. The only ponies she had much hope of saving at the moment were these two scientists standing before her, and it wasn’t as if she particularly wanted to save these two anyway. They fell into the category of ponies not following her ideals.

“What are we going to do?” the scientists began to wail in despair. “How did it escape? How do we escape?”

“Look,” Ripley intervened, “Stop panicking! You’ll only attract them by making noise, which will only decrease the time it will take for them to find and kill you.”

That shut them up.

Ripley sat back for a moment to collect her thoughts on what to do. They needed to act fast, and if they execute a hasty plan correctly, they might have enough time to stop the infestation at the facility, stopping it from spreading to the entire planet – maybe even saving some of the ponies in this now probably eerie facility. Ripley can even picture it now. Each wall smeared with blood, a particular trail leading from the metal hall into a small window-less room with a strong sliding metal door. As she approached it, the desperate screams of hapless ponies became louder and louder, till the blood-curling screeching became nearly unbeara-

“AH!” Ripley jumped from her morbid vision. Everyone in the room looked concerned at her.

Ripley took no notice of them, only shaking her head to loosen the images from her mind.

Shortly, she announced a plan.

“Alright, if we act fast, we can contain the Xenomorphs in this building, assuming they haven’t already gotten out. You”, she said pointing towards the scientists. “How many Xenos did you create?”

“What?” the female scientist replied in confusion. “What do you mean ‘create’?”

“As in how many did you impregnate into ponies to get your specimens?”

“While we are aware of the specimen’s nature to impregnate, we don’t know how and don’t intend to impregnate a specimen.”

“Don’t talk bullshit. I can tell what you scientists are like. As soon as you saw the Queen laying eggs you would have put ponies on tables in seconds.”

“She lays eggs?”

Ripley had a brief epiphany. What if they genuinely weren’t like that? What if she had been wrong about their intentions all along?

She could think about that later, for now the plan.

“So, none is what you are trying to say?”

“Exactly,” the male scientist said.

“Right, well in that case we can only guess that there are ponies being cocooned at the moment so we don’t have to deal with many Xenos right now. What we need to do is get down to the where the Queen is and exterminate her ASAP. Do you know where the Queen is, and are there any safety measures that we can use to destroy her?”

“Yes.... and no,” the male scientist responded.

“You don’t have any safety measures here?” Ripley asked, her mouth gaping.

“We didn’t need any. The animals we research here are usually smaller than a timberwolf. They didn’t pose much of a threat and so we just hired a few guards with magically electronic rods. We didn’t expect the Queen to get so big, so we put her in an empty section of the warehouse out back fitted with harnesses to hold her in place and stationed most of our guards apart from the entrance guards there.

“No wonder it got out so fast,” Dwayne exclaimed. “It had practically no resistance to encounter. Electric rods? It took us the entire vacuum of space for us to defeat one of those things!” The scientists’ faces deflated.

“What is the level of security in this place other than useless guards? Are the doors metal and automated?”

“We have a much more advanced level of door security than even the Royal Castle because of our own individual technological advances. The doors are stronger and activated through a series of magical crystals that hook up to each door separately. If a breach in the sector is discovered by motion sensing magic, then the critical staff doors seal to avoid any creatures entering the staff only areas until help arrives.”

“Seems reasonable,” stated Dwayne. “The doors sound like they should be able to hold off the bugs till some form of ‘pony military’ shows up to deal with the problem.”

“Excellent!” the female scientist exclaimed excitedly. “We should head towards the hall that leads to the exit. It is currently working hours, so all of the doors will be unlocked. We can shut the doors with our magic, but you must first use a key to enable us to shut the doors. It’s just a little safety measure to make sure a random unicorn doesn’t just waltz in and shut or open all the doors without authorisation.”

“Well let’s get going!” Ripley hurried.

“Wait!” the male scientist called looking concerned. “What about the others in the facility? Shouldn’t we try and help them?”

“Don’t worry,” the female scientist said reassuringly, “The staff doors should protect them, remember brother? Your friends will be alright.”

“Of course... almost forgot about the doors.”

At last, Ripley jumped out of her bed and picked up Bishop while Dwayne shouldered Newt and the six exited the room into the hallway.

The hallway was clean with white walls with small slit windows and coloured lines with labels leading to different colour coded areas of the facility. A black line led them to a small, narrow corridor with a more worn feel to it. Some parts of the walls were cracked and the paint was severely damaged to the point where most parts of the wall were just completely black. In some corners and edges of the walls, nature was taking its course as small weeds and patches of green were showing and growing more prominent the close to the exit the corridor got.

The doors were as the scientists had said: they looked to be made out of titanium and through a double glazed window that went the entire span of corridor you could see small purple crystals each in a small pedestal on the wall. The room behind the glass was clearly some form of work station for a few receptionists with office chairs and a small opening in the glass to talk through. Besides each opening was a cash-machine, though each one was rusted and looked like abandoned.

“Did you used to be open to visitors or something?” Dwayne enquired.

“Yes, but due to an accident with a visitor who fell into an exhibit with a strange species of giant crab, the facility was nearly shut down, but instead only limited to not having any unauthorised visitors. The poor pony wasn’t killed, not even hurt that much. They had only suffered minor scrapes from the fall and emotional trauma. It’s hard to remain particularly calm when you have just fallen into a pit with at least ten giant crabs sitting next to you after all.”

They began their operation. The female scientist gave Ripley a key and a sheet of complicated manoeuvres to do in order to unlock the crystal’s locking ability. The series was very time consuming and made even more difficult by the lack of light bar a red flashing light accompanied by an annoying repeating recorded message.

There were three doors in the surprisingly short corridor, and after only seven minutes, they were still on the first. Despite Ripley’s haste to get everything done quickly, she was unable to complete the sequence quickly the first time round. However, after ten minutes of bending over and squinting at a sheet of paper, the first door was complete. Ripley quickly picked up Bishop and charged over to the second door before the unicorns had a moment to shut the first. Now more familiar with the sequence, Ripley was able to complete it a bit quicker.

Half way through the second door sequence, a low growling noise echoed through the halls of the facility.

“She’s ordering the mature Xeno...” Ripley quickly realised. “Where is the mature lesser Xenomorph?”

“That’s actually not too far from here,” the female scientist answered. Soon, she too realised what was amiss.

“We need to hurry.” The rest all nodded in agreement.

Ripley, despite now knowing the sequence, still had to glance at the paper but the light was dimmer nearer the centre of the corridor right in between the two red lights in the corridor. This meant they potentially took longer this time around than the last to lock the door.

In the distance, though inaudible to the rest, Bishop could hear a small scuttling noise. One part of him that was still fully intact was his auditory system which could hear vast frequencies others couldn’t. The Xenomorph was approaching.

“We need to hurry up,” Bishop stated, “And not for our sake either.” Ripley looked to see what he meant. She realised that if the Xenomorph came, the motion sensing magic would shut the staff doors and lock the two scientists in, their only asset to finding out how to get back to civilisation. The doors were also very slow, so maybe they might be able to escape, but the Xenomorph was also faster. The doors closed from the floor up, which would be no problem for the Xenomorph.
Ripley’s pace sped up considerably.

The second door was complete, and Ripley was very familiar with the sequence by now, or at least as familiar as she would ever be.

The scientists had seemed to work out by themselves that time was of the essence for them, so they had their horns prepped to activate the crystal way ahead of time.

One minute:

Ripley expertly twisted the key, but still didn’t have the sequence down to memory. At least the light was brighter here.

Two minutes:

Dwayne had the idea to read the instructions to her to speed up the process.

Three minutes:

The scientists were growing anxious by now, sweat visibly dripping from their foreheads.

Four minutes:

The sequence was almost complete. Only a few turns to go.

“I’m almost there!” Ripley announced.

Suddenly, a loud sound of metal grinding emitted right by them.

“No!” the scientists shouted in unison.

Finally, Ripley turned the key for the last time and ripped it out of the lock, breaking it in the process.

“Do it!” she screamed.

“We can’t! The key is still in the lock!” the scientists screamed desperately back.

Dwayne quickly looked down to see half of the key sticking out of the lock. He quickly pulled, but failed to pull it out. He tried again more cautiously, eventually pulling it out. The scientists hastily charged the crystal and turned to vault the door, but when they turned, it was too late.

Ripley and Dwayne grabbed hold of the top of the door and tried hopelessly to pull it down. On the other side, the male scientist had embraced the despairing female who was clutching at his chest, the male shedding a few tears of his own. A low growl sounded next to them.

Dwayne had stopped pulling, but Ripley pressed on with her assault on the door. She screamed at the door and punched it, begging it to move. Dwayne eased her off of her attack. She soon saw why.

The small window in the staff door was blood red, the liquid showing clear signs of being smeared across the glass. A small crack had appeared on the glass where something hard – a head maybe – was smashed into it.

Ripley’s anxiety had returned. She had once again failed to save someone. She did not allow herself to cry, but hanged her head dejectedly. All that made it worse was the silent disembodied cries of agony in her mind, her imagination giving her a noise to centre her guilt around. It tormented her, the anxiety. It was something she never wanted to experience again.

The four of them left the building through the exit which was a set of metal double doors, clearly recently polished to shine cleanly. It was like a beacon of hope; a light where it reflected the light so brightly. It was a change from the grungy corridor they had endured at least half an hour in. The outside was even more relieving. There were fields of long grass wet from morning dew that sparkled like stars in the slightly dim early morning. A few metres off were at least fifty ponies all with white coats and blue manes in bright golden armour that had a slight purple hue like an aura of sorts. A large cart carried by two more ponies in the same armour was being rushed towards them. It had a large red cross on it, like in a hospital on Earth.

A larger pony came beside them.

“Are there any other ponies inside?” the pony asked.

“We don’t know,” replied Dwayne, “But there are probably casualties. We know of two in the reception room. Be careful as well, the cause of their death is in there also.”

“The Xenomorph? Excellent, we won’t need to venture too far into the facility to find it then. Thank you for your cooperation citizen.”The pony then went over to a squadron of what one could only assume were a rescue squad and relayed orders to them: “We shall quarantine the Xenomorph and then head inside to find survivors. Check the staff rooms first.” The ponies all then entered the facility whilst the humans and android entered the large cart and headed back to Ponyville, leaving the military ponies to work.