The Coming Tide

Chapters

Chapter 2: Xenoarchaeology
Chapter 3: The Marker
Chapter 4: A Bad Dream
Chapter 5: Psychotrope
Chapter 6: Escalation
Chapter 7: Sharquoi
Chapter 8: Rumors and Warnings
Chapter 9: Nightmare Express
Chapter 1: Scientific Curiosity

Chapter 2: Xenoarchaeology

“Watch your step now, everyone. I may have said she was of sturdy construction, but this ship is still unbelievably ancient.” Daring Do cautioned as the six prepared to venture inside the alien wreck.

The entrance was a large, perfectly rectangular opening on the side of the hull. The ponies had navigated a length of catwalks and scaffolding to reach it, given the vessel’s immense height. In all, the visible portion of the craft stood around at least four stories tall.

Everyone stood in place and gawked quietly for several seconds.

“So, how ancient exactly?” Pinkie Pie inquired. “One thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand?” She started bouncing, anticipating a guessing game in the making. “Ooh, I know! Is it a million years?”

“My archaeologists aren't sure exactly, Miss Pie. The best we've been able to triangulate is anywhere in the frame of five hundred thousand to five million years old.” Daring Do finally replied, running a hoof inquisitively over the metal frame of the entrance.

Pinkie Pie gasped. “Darn, I nearly had it right!”

This merited a friendly chuckle from the pegasus adventurer. “Close enough.” Daring Do said, patting Pinkie’s shoulder.

“This ship in some ways is like Princess Celestia.” Rarity remarked suddenly.

“How so?” said Applejack.

Rarity scanned the surfaces she could see from vantage point, as well as the exterior. “Well, it just seems so larger than life, what with its incredible age and thickened mystique.”

“Yeah, I hear ya on the larger than life part.” Applejack agreed, looking at the exterior from her point of view.

Being the first of the group to intrepidly set her hoof forward, Rainbow Dash ventured further inside. What greeted her eyes was a long and gloomy hallway, illuminated only by the welcoming gleam of portable spotlights and lanterns. Further on, lantern-based illumination was augmented by the faint bluish glow of alien light sources that symmetrically lined the floors and upper bulkhead walls.

Rainbow put a hoof to her lips and whistled. “Anyone home in there?” The only response she received was her own echo, to her slight discomfort.

Daring Do chuckled. “Nobody’s been in here since dawn, we all have the place to ourselves.”

“Umm, who’s going in first?” Fluttershy asked.

“Erm, after you.” Pinkie Pie said to Applejack.

Applejack shook her head. “Oh no, no! It would be rude for me to go in first! How ‘bout you sugarcube?” She turned her green eyes on Fluttershy, who retreated under her mane.

“N...n..no thanks.”

“Aww man, I can’t believe you three are afraid of a hallway! So it’s a little gloomy, it’s not like a bunch of monsters are lying in wait inside or something! Ya darn scaredy cats!” Rainbow Dash jeered, her bravado growing.

Daring Do watched their exchanges with a hint of amusement. “Why don’t you go in then, Rainbow Dash? I’ve already been in there at least seven times, so I know what to expect.”

For Rainbow, this was enough. “Alright, I’ll take point then.” She trotted inside, and one by one the others followed her. “Here..here we go.”

The metal felt strange on Rainbow Dash’s hooves. Even through the hoof wrappings, she could sense an unnatural cold radiating from the plating, which sent sharp daggers of chill through her lower legs. The others noticed the temperature change as well.

“What on earth? Did we just find an alien portal linking the darn infernal Badlands to the Frozen North? Horse feathers!” Applejack muttered.

Pinkie Pie got some of the worst of it, shivering uncontrollably as she went on. “D....d..do you g..guys suppose this p..place needs a Winter Wrap...Up? Huh?”

“More like a giant furnace! It’s never been this cold in the past.” Daring Do said. “I’ll have to get the engineers to get in here sometime and punch holes in the ship’s dorsal structure, and cut windows into the sides.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened at the prospect of managing to cut holes in such a massive structure, while Daring continued. “That way, the top decks will get some sunshine, and the sides will get that warm magma-heated air trickling in whenever the ash storms die down.”

“It would also cut back on our electricity bill.” Daring Do added jokingly.

While everyone continued onward, bantering about the interior environment and temperature, one of the party was trailing far behind.

Fluttershy was even more effected than even Pinkie Pie. The cold of the metal was like an impassable wall. Every time she tried to take another step further inside, she let out an involuntary squeak. Her friend’s shapes were quickly disappearing up ahead. Without them, the metallic corridor was as silent as a tomb.

The pegasus wondered whether she should call out to them or keep trying to catch up. Fluttershy did not have enough time to decide. Something made a sound behind her.

Whatever it was, it touched her back and almost made her jump out of her own coat. “Fluttershy, what are you doing standing around here?”

It was just Twilight and Spike. Fluttershy felt her heart skip a beat, more from relief than fear. “Are you okay?” Spike inquired, his eyes widened.

Five seconds passed before Fluttershy finally found her own voice. “Oh, I’m fine I, I guess. It’s just the atmosphere of this place, it doesn’t seem very safe at all.”

“C’mon Fluttershy. You’ll be fine, me and Spike will look after you. I’m sure whatever built this ship might have just preferred cold environments, nothing to fret over.”

“But it’s so cold in here, I couldn't even keep up with the girls.”

“Look, tell you what, I’ll cast a cloak of warmth spell over you. How does that sound?”

Fluttershy seemed to agree with the idea, a strong part of her still wanted to explore the ship and learn about its builders. “Okay, I guess.”

“Good.” Twilight itched slightly at her chin, then ignited her horn. For a brief moment, a red magical shell winked into existence around Fluttershy’s body, before it became invisible. “Let’s go catch up!”

The two ponies, with Spike on Twilight’s back, galloped onwards to catch up with their friends. Going several feet, Twilight and company came at an intersection. Luckily for them, one of the two forks was sealed off. The alien door’s controls glowed red, and a crudely hoof-painted sign, obviously placed there by one of the dig crews, read ‘restricted area-Engineering Bay currently unsafe’

The other fork had its door opened, and a welcoming green light hung above them, set into the crown of the doorjamb. Following Twilight, Fluttershy found another hoof-painted panel sign, this one with the words: ‘To Elevator Shafts, Bridge, and Communications’.

“They must be on the bridge, Twilight.” Fluttershy said, keeping pace.

“Sounds like where I would start too, let’s hurry up then.”

As they went, Spike took note of the architecture. “Say, Twilight, these hallways and doors are pretty huge! Do you think these were big aliens who built this stuff?”

“I don’t know Spike. That would be a reasonable hypothesis based on the observable evidence we currently have available. Very good.” Twilight replied. Spike turned around to look at Fluttershy and beamed.

“I think the builders most have been bipedal. These doors could only be opened by somepony standing on their hind legs and reaching for the buttons with fingers.” Fluttershy said, partially lost in thought now that the cold was no longer effecting her.

“Whoa, you mean like me?” Spike said, astonished at the possibility.

Fluttershy smiled sweetly. “Yes, but much bigger, Spike.” The blue alien lighting on the ceiling above her cast her face in a slight glow, causing her eyes to radiate and twinkle in the almost otherworldly gloom.

“Alright, we’re at the vessel’s bridge.” Twilight declared, bringing the trio to a halt.

“How do you know, Professor Psychic?” Spike quipped.

“Because, the sign says so!” Twilight snapped back, nearly causing the dragon to fall off her back. Both Spike and Fluttershy looked at her fearfully.

Realizing what she had done, Twilight’s eyes widened. “Oh, I’m sorry you two, I just don’t know what’s come over me!” She itched at her muzzle fiercely. “I haven’t been feeling right for almost half an hour now, maybe I’m just dehydrated from all this walking.”

Fluttershy’s fear changed to worry. “Let’s hurry up and go talk to Daring Do about getting you some water then. If you think you’re too sick to explore with us, then it wouldn't do at all to have you limping around and suffering!”

“If you need us to get you to the first aid tent back at camp, just say so!” Spike added.

Twilight wasn’t willing to let some flu bug or head cold get in the way of potentially making the greatest discovery in the history of ponykind. “Really you guys, I’m fine. Just a little bit of water and I should be good to go!” She gave Fluttershy the best smile she could muster.

Fluttershy seemed only partially convinced, but nevertheless chose to believe her friend. She advanced ahead of the hesitant unicorn. The door to the bridge opened up for her, and they all entered.

Rainbow Dash, Daring Do, and the others noticed them in an instant. They were all clustered around a bank of control consoles that lay at the far end of the room. It was situated at the nose of the alien ship, and a single curving window above the consoles gave a view of nothing but ashen rock. Tables around the room and nooks in the walls held devices and instruments whose true functions or purpose the ponies could only hint at.

Massive pilot’s chairs, each one larger than two ponies combined, rotated as Rainbow rushed frantically past them towards Fluttershy. “What the heck were you doing back there? We were worried we lost you!”

“It was too cold, so I stayed towards the entrance.” Fluttershy murmured back. Rainbow Dash nodded in understanding, then finally noticed Twilight and Spike.

“Hey guys. You’ve missed some interesting stuff, even if it is for...well, eggheads.” She darted back towards one of the chairs, still spinning, and caught it still with her foreleg. “Look at the size of these things! The E.T.’s must have been giants!”

Spike threw his hands in the air, jumping off Twilight’s back. “That’s what I think too! The more time I spend in here, the more I want to know what they must look like!”

“Perhaps this, might shed a bit more light on the mystery, darling!” Rarity proclaimed, pointing her hoof at a specific piece of technology she had just noticed. Everyone besides Twilight and Daring Do crowded in to examine it. Twilight asked for a canteen of water from Daring Do, giving Rarity’s find only a passing glance in the process.

It was a flat metallic surface, but with one notable feature: the outline of a large hand possessing four digits and two opposable thumbs sat prominently at its center.

“Definitely bipeds.” Fluttershy said.

“Perhaps they had all hands instead of hooves or feet, and walked on all fours like us!” Pinkie Pie suggested with a grin.

“That wouldn't make any sense at all, Pinkie! How in tarnation would they be able to balance on their hind legs when they gallop, erm sprint, whatever?” Applejack asked.

“Like a monkey maybe?”

“Well, maybe. I think ya just got me there.”

“But what non-erect primate species would possess two thumbs on each hand?” Twilight said skeptically, having taking a long swig of water. “It would be a completely unnecessary vestigial limb.”

Nobody had an answer to that, save for Daring Do. “Until we find a specimen of the crew, alive or dead, they might as well have been a race of living rocks for all we know.” She waved them out of the room. “C’mon folks, next stop is the cargo bay.”

Everyone filed out of the bridge and out into the triangular vestibule. To either side of them were twin doors with signs reading ‘elevators’. Daring led them to the door on the left.

“Elevators, but where the heck are the actual lifts?” Rainbow Dash inquired, looking into the shaft with confusion.

“Yeah, about that...We’re not entirely sure if we should actually call them that. They carry you up and down, but not in the way you or I would expect.” Daring Do stepped into the shaft, much to the other’s chagrin. “Observe. Lift, down! Cargo Deck!” Instantly, Daring Do was levitated downward.

Perplexed, Twilight next stepped forward into the tubular shaft, peering upwards. Another deck laid above her, before the space terminated at a circular ceiling, which had a smaller circular opening cut into it. A small beam of quietly humming blue light emitted out from the aperture.

“Unbelievable, a form of gravity manipulation, non magical!”

“Are you sure about this, Twi?” Spike questioned warily.

“You better belief it Spike! Well, here goes nothing then.” Twilight said, entering the gravitational field. “Lift, down. Cargo Deck!” Obediently, the technology responded to her request, lowering her and Spike both. Her voice quickly growing fainter, Twilight shouted up at them, echoing as she did so. “C’mon girls, its perfectly safe! Just don’t go more than two at a time!”

Reluctantly, they all went after her. First Fluttershy, with a little ‘encouragement’ from Rainbow Dash, followed by the flier herself. Soon after, Applejack and Pinkie Pie entered the lift simultaneously. Pinkie Pie enthusiastically said. “Cargo Deck!”

They did not move, and hovered in the field. “Lift down.” Applejack dead panned.

“And...Cargo Deck!” Pinkie Pie added. Her cheering as she descended could be heard all the way from the bridge.

The two earth ponies landed gently down at the cargo deck, resting atop the ship’s ventral structure. Much to them and the others’ surprise, this floor was far more illuminated by the alien light than previously visited areas.

Daring Do lifted her wings and waved them around dramatically like a salespony hawking their wares. “Well then. Ladies, behold!” She motioned towards the massive metal door sitting ajar in front of them.

“This area is what we call simply, the Cargo Deck Lobby. We obviously don’t know what the aliens called it, since we can’t access their mainframes yet, and the only way to enter this deck beyond the two gravity lifts is via the Engineering bay, which we cannot yet access either.”

To the side of the open vault door was a much smaller room, separated from the lobby by a screen of glass, where another bank of computer consoles sat and another large chair rested. The holographic interfaces were dormant, awaiting interaction or commands from their likely long gone creators. Alongside the alien tech were bits and pieces of Equestrian origin the archaeologists, diggers, and engineers had left behind when their shifts ended, such as bits of scaffolding, more lanterns, field kits, tools, and yellow hard hats with goggles.

“Will you guys be able to access all that stuff soon, you think?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“Sure, as soon as we get the proper explosives, muscle, and necessary equipment.” Daring replied.

Dash grinned. “Awesome. I’d enjoy seeing how well this cold, evil butthead metal would stand against a couple pounds of TNT!”

“But what about the artifacts that could be damaged?” Twilight shouted in outrage.

Daring Do chuckled at the unicorn thinker. “Don’t be ridiculous. This species obviously built their stuff to last. Only the hull will be damaged, and hey, we already have plenty of scrap to analyze, anyhow!”

The adventurer started walking forward. “Let’s go see where they kept the rest of the booty, shall we?”

Rainbow Dash followed her in an instant, leaving behind a slight rainbow trail in her wake. Pinkie Pie hurried after the pegasi, bouncing. “Hey Dashie, wait up!” She called out.

Applejack watched them go and scoffed in mild exasperation. “Hero worship, ain't done nobody any good no how. C’mon girls, Ah’m itchin’ to find out what else besides a bunch of containers of space salt and pepper these Extraterrestrials were shipping!”

“You and me both AJ.” Twilight agreed, following.

“Perhaps they were hauling clothing, wouldn't that be interesting.” Rarity said, sauntering in the other unicorn’s wake.

“I bet the aliens had impeccable fashion sense, Rarity!” Spike suggested.

Fluttershy hurried after the unicorns, not wanting to be the odd one out again. Joining her friends inside, Fluttershy chanced a look around. The cargo hold was easily the largest section of the wreck, and for good reason. While just as well illuminated as the entrance lobby, the hold was still fringed with darkness in its farthest reaches, concealing its remaining secrets in shadow.

“Umm, girls? I’ve kinda got a bad feeling about this...” Pinkie Pie said, fear creeping into her voice faster than she could even bounce.

Daring Do raised an eyebrow at her. “What makes you say that, there’s nothing harmful in here, or else we would have...”

Twilight lost her control against whatever was happening to her and snapped again. “Pinkie Pie, you always have a damn bad feeling about something!” Her normally pleasant voice degraded into little more than a bark.

To make matters worse for her, the itch had returned. “This bucking ITCH! Gnah, AHHH!”

Spike jumped off her back in an instant as Twilight started flailing about, itching frantically at her muzzle. “Twily!”

“Twi, what the hay is happening to ya?” Applejack shouted. Next to her, Pinkie Pie watched Twilight with a bizarre combination of confusion and worry.

“Daring, we might need a doctor in here!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“Uh, right! You all stay put, I’ll be back with our head field physician!” Daring Do vanished through the vault door.

“Twilight, you’re starting to scare us darling!” Rarity murmured, slowly backing away as if Twilight were becoming a rabid animal.

While the others slightly seemed to keep their distance, Fluttershy surprisingly rushed towards the distressed mare, seizing her with her wings. “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Hold still Twilight, I need to get a good look at you!” She looked at Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “Help me out here, now!” Her voice had an uncharacteristic amount of authority in it that was quite unlike the norm.

“Let me go Fluttershy!” Twilight growled. “I’m alright, it’s just an itch!”

The duo rushed over. “Hold her hind legs down so she can’t buck one of us! I need to get a good look at her face, chest, and forelegs!” Fluttershy instructed, ignoring her friend’s fierce protests.

Reluctantly, both mares grabbed hold of the nearest leg in both of their own. This bought Fluttershy precious seconds to perform an impromptu medical examination. What she saw confounded, amazed, and frightened her all at the same time.

Spreading out from Twilight’s hoof, up her leg and neck, and ending in her muzzle, was a massive rash, just barely visible beneath the unicorn’s lavender fur.

This was no ordinary rash, for it glowed with a faint green light. The light was most intense at Twilight’s hoof. It was almost as if something were slowly working its way through Twilight’s circulatory and lymphatic systems, attacking her immune system and inducing the intense itch.

“Celestia have mercy, what is that stuff on her neck?” Applejack inquired, finally seeing the rash at an angle.

“It’s nothing, just please let go of me!” Twilight said in a pleading voice, calming down slightly. Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other and Fluttershy with uncertainty. Fluttershy herself sighed in resignation.

In her normal soft voice, she said. “You can let her go girls.” She relinquished her own wings from Twilight and backed away timidly. “Whatever it is, it’s spreading through your body fast, Twilight!”

“I can control it, trust me.” Twilight retorted in a shaky voice. Her mane was now frayed and erratic in places, and the glowing rash seemed to retreat slightly back down into her foreleg where it had started, pushed back by a spell Twilight was casting. “Let’s just continue on searching this damn hold and find out what...”

Twilight was cut off by a loud metallic banging coming from the immense bulkhead wall to their far right, at the edge of the cargo hold. The girls and Spike tensed up, fearing potential monsters lurking about.

Instead, another resounding bang tore through the room, before a section of the bulkhead gave way under a gout of magical fire. Harsh sunlight spilled in, fighting intensely with the ancient alien lights that still miraculously functioned. With the new light, there accompanied a small cloud of smoke, ash, and dust from the ship.

Through the cloud, two unicorns and two earth ponies in explosive-proof suits and goggles trotted in, accompanied by Daring Do and a medical pony clad in white medical robes that clashed with the surrounding grey and black ground. "Miss Sparkle, are you alright?" Daring cried out.

"Yeah, mostly." Twilight shouted back.

"C'mon, you need to get a check up. If you were exposed to any organic material on board this vessel, we need to know about it now!" The physician instructed urgently. "To the tent with me now, double time it!" he ordered again, stamping his hoof impatiently.

"You should probably go and do as he says, Twilight." Fluttershy suggested.

"Fine, fine." Twilight said in resignation. She parted from her friends and stepped out through the hole, which itself had apparently been an exterior loading bay door of some kind, emphasis on the past tense. Daring Do watched her pass her and nodded in approval, then looked to the stallions standing idle next to her.

"Alright gents, time to collect the other artifacts we have on today's quota! Girls, do you suppose you could help us out?"

Despite Twilight's strange behaviour, most of them were still willing, and even eager to continue exploration. They helped the dig crews haul out several more cylinders of the alien powder, as well as more interesting items of noteworthiness.

Daring Do sat down in the main command tent an hour later, writing down on the manifest the numerous new finds brought back to camp. At her back, Twilight was present, having been dismissed from the infirmary tent by the doctor with advice on plenty of bed rest and a potion of herbs to fight the strange rash.

The unicorn was now working on injecting a powder sample into a test subject one of the resident scientists had graciously retrieved for her - a hardy breed of indigenous mole that thrived in the volcanic soil. Meanwhile, her friends chatted with each other nearby.

As for Daring Do, she continually scribbled away, reading her words aloud. "One cylinder containing alien egg of unknown origin, containment tier one. One metallic crate containing a spiraling onyx black statuette, possessing runic etchings not resembling any languages on known linguistic records, containment tier five." She sighed in boredom, wishing for alien gemstones. "One cylinder of luminescent organic yellow liquid, vapor emitting. Containment level two. No further findings to report today. End of artifact manifest, priority mail to Canterlot."

Chapter 3: The Marker

"Your Highness, Princess Celestia! News has arrived from our..erm...project in the Badlands." A Royal Guard Pegasi declared, sprinting into the throne room. Nearing the throne itself, he slowed to a brisk trot before finally coming to a stop a respectful distance away from the Alicorn monarch.

It was morning over Canterlot, and fresh sunlight radiated in from the various stained-glass windows lining the vast expanse of the exquisite room. The light settled in places and glimmered subtly off the Pegasus' silver and gold armor as he patiently awaited the Princesses' attention.

Celestia looked up from a less than entertaining diplomatic document she had been scrutinizing. She smiled at him pleasantly. "Princess, it's Daring Do. The treasure hunter has found even more artifacts, not just the mystifying cylinders of late!"

"Splendid. Let me see it, please. I would like to know the specifics."

The guard bowed and produced a piece of finely-rolled parchment held fast by an official wax seal. Celestia eagerly floated the new document toward her. Hastily stamping the previous document, she tossed it almost nonchalantly onto a lectern beside her gilded throne.

She hummed a light angelic melody as she deftly broke the seal with a penknife from her lectern and began perusing the report's contents.

"An alien egg it says, oh my! Something live has been found, then?" Celestia murmured to herself, reading on. "One spiraling onyx statuette or sculpture-like object with strange runic inscriptions, and finally, a container of unidentified luminescent organic material. Hmm, this shipwreck is unwilling to provide us answers, but it's never hesitant to confront us with new questions, it seems."

"Indeed, Your Highness."

Celestia lowered the paper to look at the idle guard, and she had her head tilted slightly in thought. Still smiling at him, she asked, "What of the artifacts themselves?"

The guard prepared to reply, starting to motion towards his saddlebags, but it would seem Celestia was not quite finished "I understand all of the organic powder samples are currently being left on-site for convenience and safety measures, but what about the statuette, egg specimen, and this mystery liquid that possesses lambent qualities?"

Clearing his throat, the guard bowed again. "If you'll pardon me, Princess, I was just about to address that very matter. One of them, the statuette, Daring Do bid me to deliver here, directly to you!" The Pegasus reached into his bag again, and this time produced something weighty and solid, obviously not another paper document.

His words caused Celestia to positively seize with a most alarming degree of sudden wariness. Her magenta eyes fell upon the artifact in the guard-courier's hoof, and they widened.

"Your brought one of the alien artifacts...here? Under no level of magical containment!" Celestia reeled back slightly in her throne.

Her courier grimaced apologetically. "Your Highness, my apologies for frightening you! But if you recall just moments ago in Miss Do's report, this artifact has been rated by the specialists over on in base camp at a containment tier five. That mean's its safe to transport with minimal safeguards. It's also non-organic, and the scientist who handed it to me stated that no known magical forces could detected from it, physical contact is almost guaranteed to be non-harmful."

"I, I don't know what exactly to say then." Celestia stammered incredulously. Seeing the Pegasus still standing with the statuette in his hoof awkwardly, the Princess sighed and took the artifact from him. She levitated it closely in front of her. "It's just so otherworldly. Surely my caution is understandable, wouldn't you agree?"

"Um, yes Your Majesty."

"Now," Celestia put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully for a few seconds. "I want to call it a statue, but some part of my mind tells me that wouldn't quite be accurate. Now, that aside, what must its surface be comprised of? What does it feel like? For some reason, I have an urge to just..."

Tentatively, Celestia raised a foreleg and made physical contact with the artifact, gasping as her hoof touched it's carved surface. "Goodness, it feels as if it's been made of pure ice! How in the world could such a thing have been found near the lava of the Badlands?"

"What's cold, my sister?" Another regal voice inquired from the other end of the room.

Celestia removed her now freezing hoof from the artifact and turned to look at the newcomer. "Luna, it's lovely to see you, good morning." Celestia smiled at the younger Alicorn, ever so gently setting the artifact down at the foot of her throne in the process.

The Royal Guard eye-balled the alien object strangely, almost warily.

Luna nodded to Celestia, smiling slightly in return. "As to you as well, Tia." Inevitably, she pointed her hoof insistently at the artifact. "That thing, is it the source of this cold you speak of? The alien artifact is safe to touch?"

Celestia looked to the guard, who was still wary. "Our scientists in the Badlands said it is safe, yes."

"Let me chance an examination, then."

"Sure thing Luna, just please be gentle with it, It likely predates us by millenia." Celestia frowned. "And it's extremely cold to the touch."

Luna flashed her sister a bemused frown. "You know you can trust me with delicate things, sister. I'm not some brash, careless adolescent mare. Give it here."

Celestia's smile diminished slightly, but she promptly sent the artifact over to Luna. "Here's Daring Do's description of it in the report, she identified it as a 'statuette', but I'm hesitant to give it any label of sort, as of yet."

The words were met with only a casual nod, as Luna read the report, then carefully floated the artifact towards her face, giving it a detailed visual analysis. True to Daring Do's words, the artifact was made of an onyx-black substance akin to both metal and stone. It had a wide circular base, which spiraled upwards in graceful curves before terminating with four prong-like structures at its apex.

Like her sister, Luna also found it to be shockingly cold to the touch. "Ah, 'tis heir apparent to diving in a frozen lake! It's almost as if it sucks the heat right out of the body."

"Your Majesty, whilst carrying it, I noticed the strange cold as well, as it effected me both when I was in direct sunlight, and in close proximity to my campfire, the night previous." The guard added with a mystified frown.

"The curiosities only mount." Celestia murmured, glancing about the room absentmindedly.

It was then that Luna finally took notice of the runic etchings on the freezing alien surface. They had not been visible before, but were now illuminated by a pale red-orange light where they rested, highlighting their presence for all to see. "No, not a sculpture or statuette..." Luna said finally, looking at the artifact again. She prodded at it, grimacing each time at the sharp cold.

"Don't poke it, Luna! Even if it's non-organic or magical, it could be some kind of explosive waiting to go off!"

"Nonsense, sister! Why would a warlike species waste time making their bombs or grenades so ornate like this?" To that, Celestia appeared to have no rebuttal. Luna then got a new idea, and scanned the object with a spell from her horn.

The spell ceased, and Luna grinned briefly in triumph. "Aha, a discovery! I would be more inclined to label it as a 'marker' or pylon, Tia.." Her ears perked up as her thoughts came to consensus.

"Yes, a marker, I would call this." Luna declared with abject certainty. "I have no hope of translating these runes sister, I suspect nopony anywhere close does. However, one thing is quite clear, this particular piece actually labeled itself in my mind as a 'marker'. The word just appeared, spontaneously upon the ending of my magic stream making contact with it."

"Quite strange." The Guard courier murmured. "So very, very strange."

Celestia looked from the guard back to her sister and said, "Well, this is one discovery but many, I'll leave it up to you to decide what you want to do with it, Luna. Since it's not organic, it's likely benign enough. Do be careful keeping it near any magic, however. Any errant telekinesis could shatter it, then whatever mysteries it does contain would never be known."

Luna nodded again. "Of course, Celestia. I'll find a safe place to contain it, until I decide what to do with it."

"Alright." Celestia said. They shared a final brief smile, then Luna turned to leave.

Upon her younger sibling's departure, Celestia glanced at Royal Guard courier. "Now, what of the egg and the encapsulated glowing liquid, where are they exactly? And will Twilight Sparkle and her friends be arriving soon with their own findings?"

"Daring Do has kept possession of the liquid for independent study back at camp, citing it's apparent similarities to the powder. As for the egg, Twilight Sparkle has formally requested to return to her lab in Ponyville with the egg itself and several dozen of the powder samples to perform experiments with."

For a moment, Celestia was hesitant. These were unknown organic materials they were dealing with. Materials, that very well could have been present in the wreck when the earliest ponies had only just begun migrating out of their ancestral grasslands, mountains and forests to establish their civilizations.

After further thought, the Alicorn finally settled. "Have someone send word to her that I approve." This was Twilight Sparkle after all, Celestia reasoned. If any mare could safely crack the aliens' eons-old mysteries in the safest, fastest manner possible, it would be her.

The Pegasus bowed and nodded. "That's not all however, my lady." He said.

"Oh?"

"Sparkle has also requested several hundred cylinders be transported to secure labs in Manehattan and other cities. She feels that dividing out the work will produce answers and results, far faster."

It was a step further into risky waters Celestia wasn't quite fond of, but the pursuit of science and the possibility of making further discoveries that would change the world forever were far too compelling to be ignored. With a cautious optimism for the future of Equestrian science, medicine, and technology, Celestia approved.

"Please ensure that Twilight is notified that she has my blessing. She may do as she wishes with the alien artifacts. I'd tell her myself, but I wish to dedicate some time later with Luna and some scholars to look into this, 'marker' as she seems so fond of calling it now."

The Guard hesitated for a moment, watching Luna stroll away with the black alien marker in her telekinetic grip. Snapping back to attention with the sudden clearing of Celestia's throat, he bowed hastily. "Of course, Your Highness. I'll get right on it! As the Pegasi guard left, Celestia stretched her wings and settled in her throne. She was preparing for the late morning's usual daily flow of incoming documents and subjects all vying for her attention on affairs of state, economics, culture and the like.

Lunch, was when she planned to rejoin Luna and conduct some Royal archaeology of her own with the aid of Canterlot's most eminent scientific minds. Celestia looked forward to the new activity fondly as her workload slowly made its presence known on her nearby desk, teleported in by her unicorn aides.

If the marker turned out to just be little more than an alien-made paper weight, Celestia decided she would just give it to Prince Blue Blood as a sort of impromptu gift. It was her distant nephew's birthday in a few weeks, and such a gesture from royalty was likely to appease the bothersome aristocrat for at least a month or two.

It didn't take long for Celestia's message to be relayed to Twilight Sparkle back at camp.

"So Twilight, how's your rash doing?" Spike inquired, moving travelling packs into place at the front of the tent for their imminent departure from the Badlands.

Twilight, reclining on one of the tent's mats, peeked up from the container she was just examining to smile at him. "I haven't been itching for the entire day, and my hoof seems to be back to normal." She bent her hoof back and forth experimentally. "I think the herbs might have cured it."

Spike chuckled. "Always leave it to the docs to know the right kind of remedy for any situation." He heaved the last contents of the saddlebags into place with a grunt. "Fluttershy and the others are all ready to go out there. You ready?"

The container's occupant distracted her slightly as she replied, peering into it curiously again. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be out in a sec, Spike. Just let me gather up the rest of the stuff and get everything tidy."

"Suit yourself." The dragon replied with a shrug, disappearing with the packs in talon through the canvas flap.

Just before getting up to go herself, Twilight took final note of the container. Sequestered within it's glass surface, was the native Badlands mole she had introduced to the alien powder just the other day. Having been ferocious and difficult to work with at the start as expected, the large rodent was now strikingly placid.

It stood largely in one spot, staring straight ahead and twitching various muscle groups seemingly at random. Occasionally, the mole would casually scratch parts of its body or move to occupy a different corner.

Twilight took it in with a thoughtful 'huh', before picking up the glass container and hurrying after Spike and the rest of her friends, leaving the Badlands by carriage to Ponyville. As they went, the alien cylinders holding more powder and the unidentified egg followed along in another wagon, sealed tightly from the outside world by a magic stasis field that was cast on the vehicle.

Daring Do and some of the off duty excavation crew watched them go. Daring squinted under her beige pith hat from the harsh sunlight and waved jovially after them.

As they disappeared over the ash dune fringing the camp, Daring Do turned back and pulled something from her own saddlebag. It was the alien jar containing the lambent liquid. "I can't believe I got left with the alien glowie stick, it's barely more than an over glorified nightlight!" She exclaimed, slightly disappointed.

"Maybe the biologists over at tent B will find something to do with it later." Daring thought aloud, heading back to her work place at the main tent. "One thing's for sure, I better not hear of Manehatten or some other city being taken over by some sentient shape-shifting fungus like in that crappy horror flick I saw last weekend. I hope Twilight Sparkle knows what she's doing with that creepy stuff."

The treasure hunter entered the tent with still lingering hopes of priceless alien gems and intact ray guns on her mind, while the glowing liquid continued radiating from within the container in her hoof.

Chapter 4: A Bad Dream

"Behold, fair scholars and researchers! Feast thy eyes, and prepare thy minds!" Luna declared in a high, firm voice as she filled occupied the air next to her sister at the center of the room. She hovered in the air, slowly beating her wings in a steady rhythm and raising her right foreleg to punctuate her address. "Here, an ancient runic sculpture, a marker, discovered aboard the alien wreck in the Badlands has been brought to us for study."

Luna's audience, a carefully selected intellectual group of over a dozen unicorns and one earth pony from Canterlot Academy, sat down across the various bleachers and desks of the lecture hall, listening with rapt forbearance. They were in a circular room, in which the bleachers formed a graceful amphitheater that stood tall, brightly lit by sunlight from the massive gilded, wrought iron and glass dome. The innumerable rays of golden sunshine the dome provided radiated upon the surface of the marble floor, which was accented by a colored inlay of red, magenta, and azure tiles formed from magically-treated limestone.

A few well-placed wrought iron electric wall sconces served to bolster the great hall's illumination, and helped to draw one's attention to the flanking carved marble columns and the blue, white, and golden royal banners that swayed gently in the humid indoor air. Stunning vines and mosses that hung gracefully on their trellises or the surrounding marble walls, towering palm and weeping willow trees, and quietly babbling waterfalls combined with the other elements to produce a stunning interior that easily rivaled or surmounted beautiful locations all across Canterlot.

"The runes shown to exist on its unnaturally cold surface are completely unknown to us, since we first laid our eyes on it only a few hours ago." Celestia added, shifting the audience's focus to her. "We have invited you all here to request that you each give it a look. Perhaps with your wisdom, you will succeed where we cannot."

Some of the group patted their foreheads with handkerchiefs as they listened, while others loosened the fastenings and neck ties on their academic robes and suits. Others still, mares in particular, levitated folding fans lazily back and forth towards their muzzles.

Their lecture hall was situated in the heart of Canterlot's Royal Conservatory, which housed a diverse plethora of different plant and bird species, both temperate and tropical. The Conservatory itself was kept at a constant warm temperature via both magical and technological means. This combined with it being noon, and Equestria being in her late month of rain and bloom, caused some within the group to become noticeably irritable and restless. Not even Luna and Celestia's combined royal presence was not enough to keep the eggheads complaint free for long.

"With all due respect Your Majesties, pardon my interruption and not to sound impertinent, but just what in blue blazes are you talking about? What is this 'marker' you speak of...? All we see are you two, and the same floor we've been staring at for the past agonizingly sweltering ten minutes!"

Both Alicorns turned to the owner of the voice. It was Doctor Hooves, the sole earth pony of the group. Within seconds, several of his colleagues unhappily murmured that they shared in his sentiment. Luna took the group's chatter with slowly mounting annoyance, while Celestia herself remained serene.

"Patience, please. If it better suits you all, we shall show you now, without further pandering." Celestia looked at Luna expectantly, and she nodded at her.

Luna turned around and proceeded intently towards an orb of cobalt light that had been resting relatively unnoticed a few feet from her older sisters' hooves, until now. With a gentle tap of her horn, Luna released the magical stasis field, revealing the black marker for all to see. The scholars gave a collective gasp of intrigue and curiosity as the marker flared red, revealing its intricately cut runes. They rushed forward to get a closer look at it.

"What skill and magics must have been used in its design?" One scholar wondered.

"How exotic! Colder than an iceberg though, it's true!" Another observed.

"Your Majesties, umm, please forgive my earlier impatience." Doctor Hooves asked sheepishly, straightening his neck tie and rubbing at his rich brown mane as he paced down the steps to the polished floor. The area was quickly becoming crowded with enterprising researchers. "Truly, what you are sharing with us now will change the face of archaeology and science as we know it!"

Luna's features hardened at his words. The Princess quicky assumed a sterner air, leaving her annoyance behind. "Thou shalt speak nothing of what they have seen here to outsiders, only amongst thine colleagues and other servants of the throne."

Doctor Hooves, bemused and slightly taken aback at Luna's sudden command, look as if he were going to inquire as to why. Celestia, however, beat him to the punch."It's not that we don't trust you, Doctor Hooves." She said, laying a reassuring wing on his shoulder. "The discoveries both you and the others stationed at the wreck site will make could prove both beneficial and disruptive for Equestria and the world at large. Right now, things are just too..." Celestia cocked her brow as she stumbled about in her mind for the right words.

"We believe the word you're seeking out would be 'sensitive', Tia." Luna interjected.

Celestia half-smiled, allowing a quick giggle to leave her lips. "Ah yes, thank you Luna. It would be far too 'sensitive' and could cause unforeseen troubles. If word spread out that alien shipwrecks and artifacts were being unearthed and shipped across the Kingdom like cake, without the public being informed."

"For as long as these materials require study, they shall remain in our approved halls of science and academia only, nowhere else." Luna said. "Once we have gleaned most or all usable information from them, and they are deemed depleted of interest to us, then the populace at large may be granted discourse and public viewing in due time."

Nodding, Hooves seemed to agree with Luna's on-the-spot decree, as did Celestia. All three turned to the marker, which the others were taking turns scanning with their horns, writing down testing data on clipboards or parchment.

"Goodness, how dismally boring of a plan, Luna! Why be so stingy with a little bit of star junk?" A mischievous voice declared from seemingly out of the thick, muggy atmosphere. Luna and Celestia paced around and scanned the room in confusion, while Hooves simply stood, too entranced by the marker to pay any significant notice.

Suddenly, a mare gasped as her folding fan suddenly grew a pair of intense yellow eyes and a wide, grinning mouth. The fan fell lightly to floor as the unicorn shook it free of her hoof, her telekinesis failing from the distraction and clipboard clattering on the tiles in the process.

In a magical poof, the large, grinning form of Discord took shape where the fan had once lain. He tented his mismatched digits together as he looked from the little marker on the ground to the Princesses. Celestia rolled her eyes at him, while Luna gave Discord a highly impatient glare. He shuffled casually towards them.

"What would you have us do then?" Luna inquired, only half willing to hear Discord's likely tongue-in-cheek response.

Surprisingly, he seemed rather disinterested in the marker. "Pshaw. To tell you the truth, I do not know." He thoughtfully rubbed at his narrow silken silver beard. "Probably use it to crack coconuts shut, perhaps. So, Lulu, you ready for that game of outdoor magical dodge ball you promised me earlier this week?"

In an instant, Discord had poofed into summer garb, complete with a headband, sunglasses, and a whimsical pair of athletic shorts. He held a dodge ball at his side, and he grinned at Luna expectantly. "Well?"

Luna groaned in irritation. "Very well then, meet us at the court in a few minutes. We must make ready, and then ensure you have not meddled with the field of play. We will have no tolerance for any alterations, however amusing they may be to you!"

"I'll see you later Luna, I'm staying behind to observe as the scholars perform their investigations." Celestia said. Luna nodded and took her leave. Discord broke into a hardy chuckle as he followed Luna toward the large, reinforced double oak doors at the edge of the amphitheater. Watching them go, Celestia sensed something wrong in the air. The Princess of the Sun grimaced involuntarily as a loud ringing sound suddenly bounced around inside her skull. She clambered about, looking for the potential source. A few unicorns noticed and asked if she was alright. Celestia could see them talking, but no words could be heard over the deafening ringing.

Just as Celestia began to feel as if her forehead would surely split open, the ringing sound inexplicably ceased. The sound gave way to worried voices, murmuring sharply amongst themselves, inquiring Celestia of her health.

Celestia however, ignored them as she caught a final glimpse of Luna. She was opening the exit doors, and for a fleeting moment, the Princess swore Luna looked exactly like Nightmare Moon. Hushed whispering echoed in a language indiscernible to Celestia. At the same time, Nightmare Moon seemed to turn her gaze towards her, boring into Celestia with fierce, feline-like eyes. Her lips pulled back to reveal a sneer of razor-sharp teeth. Celestia's own magenta eyes widened, and she staggered back to the floor in shock, ears pressed flat in alarm. Luna and Discord disappeared behind the doors, not aware of Tia's troubles. As soon as they departed from view, the whispers ended.

"Your Highness, are you not well?" Doctor Hooves stammered with worry.

Celestia shook her head, pulling herself up on all fours. "Uhh, no. I'm fine, it's nothing serious, Doctor Hooves." She spoke quickly. " Just a...just a headache is all. I fear I will not be able to remain with you all."

She smiled apologetically. "I must retire to my quarters for the day. I'm leaving you in charge of studying the marker, Doctor. I'll also leave a small detachment of guards to keep the curious from bothering all of your work. I know I can trust you, can I not?" Celestia maintained her smile as Doctor Hooves nodded with a puzzled frown, his eyebrows raised.

"Aye, Your Majesty. You bloody well can!"

Celestia inclined her head appreciatively, then hurried out at a frantic pace, politely brushing off any and all offers of assistance from the researchers. Her smile faltered the very instant she no longer felt anypony's eyes upon her. Doctor Hooves mentally dismissed Celestia's behavior with a shake of his head. While Alicorn psychology was a potentially intriguing field of study, Hooves already had something to focus his attention on.

The Doctor turned around, watching his colleagues chat and pass the marker around amongst themselves, taking turns examining it. The red runic inscriptions flared a bright red. Doctor Hooves had ideas of his own for experiments to conduct upon it, and made his way towards the marker. The potential discoveries their work would yield, left him grinning from ear to ear, and his eyes burned with a new-found intensity.

"Right. Well, let's hurry up and crack the enigma of this alien writing, chaps, and be back to the Academy in time for tea!"

The Unicorn galloped as fast as she could down the metal corridor. Her treacherous legs threatened to give out under her from the vast muscular strain, only soldiering on from the sheer amount of adrenaline coursing into them through her bloodstream.

Pursuers roared and screeched in unnatural patterns and tones behind her, a cacophony of pure chaos; a symphony only the truly deranged and psychotic could appreciate.

Just as she swore she could finally reach the harsh sunlight at the nearing doorway in front of her, the mare's limbs dished out their last as she leapt for the salvation of the world outside. The alien blast door flanking her exit sealed shut with a resounding metallic boom. Behind its thick plating, the pursuing horrors were forced to halt. They pounded, wailed, and screamed rage and vexation at their would-be prey, whom so narrowly escaped from their ravenous clutches.

Their incomprehensible garbling gradually faded away as the monstrosities left, one by one back into the dark depths from whence they had arisen.

Sensing freedom from danger at last, the Unicorn felt a surge of relief flood into her mind as she basked gratefully in the Sun's warming glow. She laid still for several moments, listening carefully as the last of the un-pony screaming finally died down, leaving her with only the quiet serenity of bird songs and the babbling of a small brook nearby to contemplate.

Rising to her hooves, the mare rushed over into the creek as fast as her exhausted limbs would allow. Slowly, she drank the cool effervescent water, sighing with pleasure as the calming liquid soothed her parched throat and flowed around the fur of her hooves.

Emerging from the water with new-found strength, the Unicorn dried herself with a spell, then cast another to heal her ghastly but non life-threatening wounds, which marred the silken lavender coat of her back. As soon as the itch from the machinations of the healing spell had faded away, the mare pondered what she should do next, where to go and who to look for.

Her thoughts were cut short by a deep, echoing voice that seemed to resonate from everywhere at once. She widened her eyes as she was forced to listen.

"Our Tide is Coming. Upon this day, the Sun's fortress shall sunder at dusk's last light. Know this, however. The impending army of corrupted flesh shall not hinder our currents, for Magic shall soon call us her kin."

The voice lowered to a whisper, seemingly addressing only the mare now. "Prepare for our arrival, young horned one. It is close." The alien voice chuckled with a deep echo, before fading out entirely. Silence prevailed, then everything faded to black...

Twilight awoke with a startled jolt. She panted rapidly, beads of cold sweat rolling and falling from her forehead onto the blankets like raindrops before a coming storm.

Seeking to calm herself down, Twilight ran a hoof slowly through her tangled mass of purple and lavender mane, while cupping her muzzle in the other. She remained like that for a full minute, regaining her bearings.

After spending another minute looking around scanning the room, Twilight finally clambered out of bed. Two things set her internal alarm off in an instant as they finally made themselves known to her. Firstly, Spike's bed was vacant of the young dragon, usually the last occupant of the household to awaken. Secondly, and far more startling, Twilight's rash had returned, and with renewed intensity.

Emitting a sharp gasp that sounded more like a squeak, Twilight frantically cast one of the few spells she knew that could force it to recede back into her hoof. Slowly, the green-glowing irritated tissue beneath her lavender fur eased back to apparent normalcy as the anti-toxin spell ran its course.

While the rash had gone, it had not done so without fight. Some of Twilight's fur fell to the wooden floor in copious tufts, leaving a few patches of visible skin.

"What?" She exclaimed nervously, as she began fumbling around for something. "I don't believe this, what was I thinking opening that stuff? I must be terribly allergic to it!" Twilight became paranoid of somepony witnessing the apparent allergic reaction and becoming overly worried.

Holding the hoof wrappings that she had equipped in the Badlands two days ago, Twilight wove them around the afflicted limb. Unsatisfied with their area of coverage, she grabbed a hold on a nearby window drape, and then levitated a pair of scissors to her mouth, and held the drape out.

"Now it's starting to give me nonsensical nightmares? I better talk to Princess Celestia and Luna about this soon." Twilight murmured with the scissors handles held fast in her teeth. Quickly, she got to work. Upon completion, she looked at her foreleg in the mirror. Her coat seemed rather paler than she remembered, but other than that everything seemed to be in satisfactory order.

Confident that enough of her leg was hidden enough from view that nobody would notice, Twilight straightened her mane as best she could, and scanned the room a final time, before heading downstairs in search of her assistant.

"He better not be in the lab poking at the stasis field for the alien egg jar again, or else there will be trouble." She muttered irritably.

Chapter 5: Psychotrope

"So Spike, you say the alien powder we hauled out can actually alter the behavior of animals?"

"Oh boy, does it! Ever since Twilight slipped some into this little guy, he's been as lovable as a kitten."

"Intriguing, darling."

Rarity and Spike were standing in the middle of Twilight's cellar laboratory, curiously examining the transparent cage containing the Badlands mole under the light of several arc lamps hanging over head.

True to Spike's description, the small mammal was no longer behaving like itself. It had gone from an aggressive wild animal into an almost domesticated pet, practically overnight. Inside the cage it wandered about, prodding curiously at various corners with its specially-formed pink nose. On occasion, it attempted to 'dig' through the tempered glass floor with its shovel-like claws, long since bored of its new habitat.

Its claws were adept at digging through rough dirt, volcanic soil, and even the more brittle types of stone, but the magically-fortified surface was able to resist them easily.

"I've named him Digger." Spike proclaimed, poking at the glass.

This elicited a giggle from Rarity. "Oh really, should I start calling Spikey-Wikey 'Dragon' then?" She let out a good-natured quip. "You really are a master at devising names, aren't you?"

Spike's face blushed into a dozen furious shades of red. "Yeah, yeah. I know he's a mole, and moles dig. But it's simple, and it makes sense. Should I have named him 'cupcake' or something?" Spike opened up the lid and put his hand in, drawing Digger's attention.

The mole ambled over slowly, reaching up his claws towards Spike's talons and pawing at them experimentally. Digger sniffed at the hand, analyzing the new object entering his territory.

"Hey, that tickles!" Spike said with a light chuckle. When Digger appeared to grow bored with him, Spike withdrew his hand and put the lid back on.

"Intriguing." Rarity repeated, leaning in to peer at Digger. "A powder that can make any animal behave like a perfect little angel, Positively awe-inspiring." Rarity hummed for a second as she broke into thought. "Spike, do you suppose Twilight would be willing to test this on..."

"What are you two doing down here?" A low, stern voice asked from behind them.

It was so unexpected that Spike nearly jumped. Rarity likewise turned around rapidly, startled. "Oh, Twilight, there you are." Rarity greeted her nervously.

"Hey...hey Twi. Just showing Rarity..." Spike gulped, fiddling with his thumbs. "...your work."

Twilight Sparkle stepped slowly out of the shadowy area fringing the entrance, the lights casting her form clearly into view. Twilight had one eyebrow cocked, and her lips were pulled in a frown. Her violet eyes appeared partially bloodshot and her coat was noticeably paler, but despite this and the cloth wrapped around her right foreleg, Twilight seemed her usual self.

"Darling, what in the world is that hideous thing doing on your leg?" Rarity asked.

Startled by the urgency in Rarity's voice, Twilight practically jumped as she instinctively moved to cover the limb with her left. "Huh?" She flattened her ears as she grinned sheepishly, abandoning her stoicism. "N...nothing. I...I just figured I'd try a new uh...fashion. Yeah, that's it!"

Twilight sauntered forward like a model, quite awkwardly. "See? A new type of...leg warmer!"

"Mmm-hmm." Rarity replied skeptically. "I can tell that's a curtain drape, dear. Isn't that strange rash of yours cured yet?"

Frown returning, Twilight groaned irritably and stepped back. "Why didn't you guys ask me before coming down her? This isn't exactly a place that's one hundred percent safe." She ignored Rarity's question. "I mean come on, we have an alien egg here that could hatch into any number of things, what if it's dangerous?"

"Sorry Twilight, I thought you wouldn't mind!" Spike interjected.

"You know what? Don't worry about it, Spike. You're not in trouble." Twilight began pacing, first towards them, then around the cellar. "Nobody needs to worry about anything. Clearly, if something bad were going to happen..." She paused and rubbed her hooves together. "...It would have already happened." Twilight giggled to herself quietly, resisting the urge to itch at her leg. She then looked back up at them, growing calm and smiling. "So, what would you like me to test the powder on?"

"Why Opalescence, to be exact. You know how feisty she can get at times. Normally I would never consider such a thing..." Rarity paused and put a hoof to her muzzle. "...but Spike's shown me what this powder can do, and well, if it can help Opal behave better, and you get a chance to further your work, everyone wins. Right, darling?"

Several seconds passed while Twilight gave her friend's request consideration. "I don't know, Rarity. This was a case with only one species. For all we know, the powder might affect each species or individual differently, possibly even in a negative way! Are you sure you want to take a chance?"

Rarity seemed to reconsider for a moment. "Ah, well when you put it that way, hmm..." Recalling a particularly unsavory exchange with Opalescence several days ago, she finally made up her mind. "Yes, I'm sure dear. If you're willing, stop by the Boutique whenever it suits you."

As the two continued to talk, Spike listened intently. Behind him, he heard a slight noise coming from one of the magical stasis fields. It sounded vaguely like an orange being peeled open, or an onion. He shrugged, dismissing it as his overactive imagination.

"Alright." Twilight agreed with a sigh. "I know I said we needed test subjects, but my friends' pets weren't at all what I had in mind!" She laughed incredulously. "Me and Spike will be over after lunch. I'll be sure to have a sample ready to be administered when we get there."

Rarity closed her eyes and smiled. "Thank you, Twilight. See you then!" She turned to go. "Bye Spike."

The dragon waved at her slowly with a dreamy look on his upon his face. Twilight rolled her eyes at the display. Rarity disappeared at the top of the staircase, leading out into the backyard of the Library. No sooner had she gone, Spike let out a loud yelp.

On instinct, Twilight spun around with lighting speed to see what was wrong; the young dragon was pale with fear. Spike pointed a talon at one of the contents of the room. It was stasis field containing the alien egg.

It's topmost portion had opened up off its own accord, with four fleshy flaps bent back in the air. Several arachnid limbs were rapidly flailing about like fingers, clearly belonging to something alive inside.

Spike realized with a sickening lurch of his stomach, that this was what had made the peeling sound earlier. Twilight observed the phenomena with bewilderment and fascination. Eyes widened, she slowly approached the contained specimen.

"Twi, no! Stay away from it! It could do anything!"

"Calm down, Spike! It's surrounded by one of my force fields, it's not going anywhere!" Twilight replied with an annoyed growl, her itch flaring up again underneath the fur covering it. It felt as if a million insects were crawling beneath her fur and skin, attempting to get out.

Twilight paused to cast another anti-toxin spell as the creature finally emerged. The spider-like organism leapt with frightening speed into the air, only to be stopped a second and a half later by the field.

"You see...?" Twilight said, gritting her teeth as she coursed her magic through her own body. The beige, fleshy alien clung to the field, facing in the direction of Spike. "Its not going anywhere!"

A proboscis-like protrusion emerged from what the duo assumed was the creature's mouth, situated in the middle of its abdomen. The repugnant appendage prodded at the barrier. Four arachnoid limbs extended out on either side of its body, and two fleshy lobe-like structures flanked a long, spindly segmented tail at the rear.

With the way it gripped and clung to the energy barrier with its fingers, the repulsive alien almost seemed to be hugging the surface.

With her spell complete, Twilight resumed her composure and walked up to the circular stasis field. Spike watched her nervously. As soon as the Unicorn was less than three feet away, the alien reeled back from her, emitting a hissing noise.

Suspicious, Twilight got an idea. "Spike go around to the opposite side of the alien's containment unit and see what he does."

With a reluctant gulp, Spike obeyed and circled, sidestepping and maintaining his distance. Instantly, the thing closed the distance and leapt towards Spike's direction again. "Alright, now trade spots with me." Spike dashed towards her, while Twilight stamped her hoof and trotted around to the alien's current position. Once again, the alien hissed at her, as if in revulsion at her presence.

"Amazing!" Twilight proclaimed. "Spike, again!" They repeated the action, and the alien cryptically repeated the same behavior.

Twilight decided to perform the simple experiment one final time. This time, she took Digger out of his cage, levitating him into her place, with Spike again on the opposite side of the alien's prison. To their shock, the alien avoided the mole as it did Twilight, instead trying to aggressively make a beeline for Spike.

"Man, I'm not gonna be able to sleep for days now!" Spike declared.

"Don't worry!" Twilight said, repeating herself. She put Digger back in his cage, then ignited her horn and touched the force field trapping the alien. "I'm strengthening the stasis barrier. So long as nopony interferes with the power source, this little guy isn't going anywhere." Seeing that he was starting to shake slightly, she put a foreleg–the uncovered one–on his shoulder reassuringly, and spoke in a soothing tone. "Why don't you head on up to the kitchen, I'll make some lunch for the both of us."

Spike looked up at her, dumbfounded. "You still have an appetite?"

"Yes, actually. Go on ahead, I've got to check on a few things first." Twilight sensed he was about to argue, and pointed towards the stairs. "Go." Spike begrudgingly left the room, muttering to himself.

As soon as he was out of sight, Twilight unraveled the fabric around her effected foreleg. It was resurgent once again, a tiny tinge of bio-luminescent green spreading slowly under the skin. "Seriously, I'm getting real tired of you!" She shouted.

Twilight prepared the anti-toxin spell again, charging it up to a level higher than any previous. "I'll sterilize it, if nothing else!" For good measure, she called upon other medical spells she knew that could strengthen the immune system, and kill all known non-magical pathogens. Her lavender aura meshed with the golden aura common of medical spells, and soon a large aurora-like formation was drifting in the air above, casting a spectacular light show that danced across the entire cellar laboratory.

Nearby, the hatched alien organism hissed and curled itself up in a defensive position. Digger meanwhile, observed and sniffed at the magical energies warily. When the spells reached Twilight's desired charge level, she released them all at once with a fierce shout.

The magic coursed through her body as well as the entire room, charging and distorting the air whilst leaving everything in the backwash of intense magical radiation, before slowly fading out.

Now panting with exertion, Twilight unraveled the rest of the fabric and examined her hoof. While the fur was still either gone or faded and pale, it was otherwise completely devoid of any sign of infection, with the original cut long faded away, having completely healed. Twilight sighed, gathered her remaining energy up, then made her way out, feeling as if she hadn't slept in years.

With the room now vacant, something began to stir.

Inside the powder canisters, the energy residue from Twilight's magical discharge permeated the ancient amino acid chains, reigniting metabolic processes on the molecular scale that had previously ceased eons ago. Startlingly, the same was occurring within the volcanic soil-dwelling mole.

Deep inside Digger's body, the no longer dormant alien particles were forming into complex super cells. New nuclei within them were already communicating with their brethren in the canisters, coordinated by an unknown force as they initiated cellular division and multiplied. They were working in tandem, slowly re-writing the mammal's DNA into a new recombinant strain, while preparing themselves for acquisition of more biomass to further their evolution.

The process would have taken generations to unfold normally, but Twilight's magics had accelerated things exponentially. Now twitching his nose about and noticing the presence of the alien, Digger tensed up into a defensive posture, his claws ready to dig his way to safety, regardless of the glass surfaces.

Instinct was ordering his brain to either get away from, or eliminate the unrecognized organism at all costs. Meanwhile, the alien resolved to continue to exist in its curled up state, awaiting a suitable host to approach and free it from its magical prison.

Twilight and Spike sat down to a brief lunch, before soon setting out for Carousel Boutique to work on Opalescence.

The procedure was straightforward. Twilight injected a minute amount of powder from her cellar into the feline's bloodstream. To Rarity's joy, Spike's amazement, and Twilight's supreme relief, the feline quickly went from irritably spitting and hissing at the syringe and everyone, to a gentle purring exactly seventy seconds after exposure.

Rarity had declared she was in their debt, while Twilight then went home to tidy up the Library, and then work some more in her lab. Examining the mole, she recorded her observations of Digger's sudden change from earlier in the morning. His claws had grown longer, and sharper. This had brought even more wonder to Spike upon mentioning of it at dinner. He wondered if Digger would eventually become a 'super' mole.

Twilight giggled, waving her now normal leg around in delight. "Maybe the powder is like some type of superhero serum, but it only works good on non-ponies!" She declared jokingly.

Spike chuckled loudly. "Yeah! But for ponies, or at least unicorns, it causes..." He held out his palm and counted with his fingers. "...rashes, mood swings, unreasonable irritability, paranoia..."

"Whoa there, mister! You might not even want to state what the fifth effect is, if you still want dessert tonight." Twilight interjected, glaring disapprovingly at him.

"...and I will just be shutting up now." Spike nervously starting shoveling bits of amethyst into his mouth with the spoon at a far faster pace, causing Twilight to giggle again.

After spending the rest of the evening sorting books, playing board games, and discussing alien life, the duo retired to bed.

Twilight inspected her hoof one final time for the day. Seeing that it was unchanged, she rested easy, content that she now knew the alien powder substance couldn't be tested on ponies if her case and experience were anything to consider. It was an area of scientific ethics she was not all eager to have to explore.

Moonlight shined on her face, and finally her now heavy eyelids fluttered shut.

While things were returning to normal for Twilight in Ponyville, Doctor Hooves and his colleagues were still working intensely on breaking the enigma before them that was the Marker.

It had been two long days since Celestia and Luna had introduced them to it. Since then, they had it set it on a table in the middle, where they each took turns conducting tests, while the rest observed.

By now, it was becoming far too tedious, but still they continued. They watched each other with tired, weary eyes. So mesmerizing the artifact was to them, that they refused to sleep, and only took two breaks per day, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon, for meals or to use the lavatories. Nopony, not a single one of the scholars would leave, until the mystery was finally put to rest.

The Marker would be theirs, and they would be heralded as the greatest scientific minds in Equestrian history, Hooves mused, sitting down with the others and watching. Even Star Swirl the Bearded would have bowed before them in awe.

"Wait, why must I share it with these simpletons?" Hooves murmured to himself out of earshot. His eyes grew wide and he rubbed his hooves together as he pondered the possibilities. "Greatness yes...but greatness can't be shared. No, no, no!"

Hooves was rubbing at his mane fervently now, as he focused attention back on the black Marker. "No...the others are greedy." The runes beckoned to him ever more intensely. Celestia was lowering the sun, and moonlight shined through the dome above, casting an ethereal glow over the amphitheater.

"Greedy, dirty, fat little foals! Steal my fire will they?" He blurted out suddenly, causing the scholars nearest him to turn and gawk. He regarded them with shock, feeling as if he were just possessed by something.

"Erm, excuse me everyone..." He chuckled nervously, trembling from mane to tail. "Just uh...just lamenting over my most recent poker defeat and all...yeah, ha-ha!"

They looked at each other, shaking their heads and shrugging, then returned their gaze to the Marker.

Shifting between rubbing his hooves together, and his mane, Hooves glanced sidelong at the table of tools near the marker and its own table. His blue eyes locked onto the rightmost tool with absolute intent.

It was an air-powered drill, originally meant for burrowing through layers, and into the middle of the Marker to take core samples in hopes of learning its mineral composition or perhaps even its inner working. That was before the object had been discovered to be...completely indestructible.

But as far as Hooves was concerned, the instrument would suit him perfectly for what he was about to do.

Getting up with a loud clearing of his throat, the good Doctor casually made his way down to the table, grinning savagely from ear to ear as he went.

It would be so easy, and it would only take but a second. A little price to pay, for greatness. Hooves mused. They're all so very, very, greedy.

Dawn arrived like normal. The sunshine filtering through the windows was enough to wake Twilight up from her pleasant dreams, now free of monsters and alien voices from beyond the veil. She yawned lightly and stretched her limbs, then clambered out of bed, shaking off the sleep.

As Twilight raised her hoof to inspect it for the day, her heart almost leapt from nervousness. Her gasp was rewarded with the calming sight of a still normal, healthy limb.

"From now on, I'm wearing a HAZMAT suit before handling this powder." Twilight declared. "If I were to drop a canister, shatter it, and inhale the stuff...well it'd probably do far worse then induce an allergic reaction."

One of the more morbid sections of Twilight mind began conjuring up bizarre images of myriad mutations. Shaking the thoughts off along with the remainder of her torpor, Twilight decided to let Spike sleep in a little more, and she descended down into the cellar once again, adding a protective mask and a bio-suit to her mental checklist of things to procure when she did her shopping later today. True, not a whole lot of shops in Ponyville carried such things, but she'd find one that did, eventually.

She didn't notice as she made her exit, that his small bed was occupied with nothing more than his blanket pulled over a stack of pillows.

It was in the cellar, that she discovered Digger the 'super mole' had escaped. Somehow, the animal had managed to dig his way out of the thick glass, scurry through the lab, and break through the bedrock under the floor, leaving behind a system of tiny tunnels in his wake, as well as a hefty amount of damp soil and rock fragments.

Twilight peered into the small opening with puzzlement.

Meanwhile, the alien spider was still crouched into its posture from when Twilight had last seen it. She added an inspection of it to her checklist as well after her worry had subsided from Digger's escape.

Emerging from the cellar with her mind full to capacity with thoughts, Twilight noticed two things of noteworthiness. First, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity were all clustered near her door with their pets Winona, Angel, and Opal. Spike was standing next to them. He waved at Twilight cheerfully as he noticed her gawking at the sky.

The second thing, was that while the Sun had indeed arisen as normal, the Moon was also in its primary location during the middle of the night. But now, it was already mid-morning, and Luna for some reason still hadn't moved it.

Chapter 6: Escalation

Canterlot, the night previous...

Celestia's guard retinue stood quietly at their stations around the expansive antechamber of the Royal Canterlot Conservatory. A cloud of pure boredom hung above all, permeating the room almost like a foul, invisible gas.

After two whole days of taking shifts patrolling the same stretch of humid, plant-lined marble space, anything and everything to do with the Conservatory instantly made many of the armored stallions want to yawn and roll their eyes on principle. Indeed, the only breaks to this monotony were the much celebrated 'past times': stuffing one's muzzle with hay fries and donuts, and retiring briefly to nap on one of the many comfortable benches that lined the room.

One such guard had just partaken of the former activity, when he had heard the first of the disturbances from deeper within the building.

It was a bloodcurdling scream, one the stallion prayed he would never have to hear again in his life. The reverberating chorus of ghastly shrieks and shouts that soon followed, sparked the guard and his fellows into action.

With one deft motion, the Princesses' warriors forced the bulky amphitheater doors ajar, and immediately wished they hadn't. The stallion in particular spilled his lunch onto the tiled floor with a vile retching, as the thick wooden doors groaned open and thudded loudly against the stone walls.

In the heart of the room, under the moonlit dome, sheer carnage dominated the scene. A brown-maned earth pony, one whom the guards instantly recognized as Doctor Hooves, stood shaking like a leaf next to a table of tools. His blue eyes were wide and glaring with shock, looking almost like twin copies of the moon shining in the exposed sliver of sky above them.

He held onto an drill between his teeth, the mouth itself pulled into a grimace of disbelief upon his face. Hooves' lab jacket and coat were splattered in blood, as two ponies struggled on the ground near him. A third pony lay dead beside them.

They were all nearest the other table, the one which held the Marker.

One, a pegasus, was sprawled on his back, trying to shield his face with his forelegs and wings. The other pony, a unicorn mare, was atop him. She was assaulting his limbs with a geological hammer she wielded in the air before her, and she had her forelegs pressed to his chest, restraining him.

The diorite mining tool, normally used by earth ponies, was designed to crack through solid granite to extract gemstones, and the hollowed nature of pegasi bone structure yielded no resistance. It slowly shattered with a sickening crunch with each consecutive blow. While the guards rushed forward to intervene, the rest of the scholarly group had merely stood and watched, transfixed and paralyzed with fear at one of their own's sudden turn to savagery.

"Die Changelings, die Changelings, die Changelings!" She shouted, over and over again, in between hammer strikes. Doctor Hooves had never even gotten the chance to perform his own intended deed; the unicorn had beaten him to it, appearing out of nowhere. The first one had gone down instantly, her skull caved in by the blunt tool the unicorn wielded. A heartbeat later, she had turned on her pegasi colleague like a rabid beast.

Hooves meanwhile, felt as if he were slowly breaking out of a trance as the drill clattered to the ground loudly. He felt himself growing disoriented. A high frequency ringing began to fill his ears, and his head felt as if it would split open. The air surrounding the Marker's vicinity fluctuated, as if the artifact were 'broadcasting' something.

Guards were surrounding the three now, subduing the rampant scholar, attempting haphazardly to question the Doctor, and keep everyone else away from the gravely wounded pegasus. They were all nearly panicking, eager to get themselves far away as possible from the terrifying scene.

"The ringing, somepony please quiet the Celestia-cursed ringing!" The mare begged with heavy sobs, having dropped her hammer, and now held fast by the guards. "Make it stop...it's in my head." She was in hysterics, spittle flying from her muzzle. "Changelings, monsters, everywhere! Slay them, gotta slay them!"

The mare scanned the room frantically as she was unceremoniously hauled away. At the sides, the crowd of researchers were still filing out in a panicked fervor, while the guards were barely able to maintain order.

"Clean this lot up. Get the Doctor and this pegasus to the nearest hospital, remove the deceased, and have the Marker put under heavy guard until we can inquire Their Majesties as to what we should do!" The Royal Guard officer shouted.

No sooner had the order been uttered, the guards sprung to action. Careful not to slip on the slowly expanding pool of blood across the floor, they carried the pegasi gently out. He moaned and murmured incoherently, his now ruined and bent limbs dangling down uselessly in the air. Hooves himself was no medical doctor, but even he could tell that the pegasus would be lucky to ever walk again, let alone fly. This was assuming he did not die of blood loss.

While Hooves sat on the floor, the guards tried their best to keep him calm, cleaning the blood off of his body and preparing him for departure and questioning. Two unfortunate guards were tasked with cleaning up the blood spilled, as well as carrying out the bludgeoned corpse of the other mare. Another four unicorn guards channeled their spells together, forming a single magical barrier around the Marker.

Hooves felt the ringing abruptly cease as they did this. He sighed, both mentally and literally, in relief. Moments later, he too was lead out of the building. As he passed the corpse, the guards were in the process of laying a sheet over her. Where they had gotten it, Hooves could only guess.

The final observation he made, one that left Hooves feeling paranoid in addition to his existing trauma, was that the mare's exposed leg underneath the sheet seemed to be flexing in short spasms, as if she were still alive. Theories of what this implied or might be foreshadowing, haunted Hooves for hours to come. Discussing it with one of his more medical-oriented colleagues after meeting up with them at the local doughnut shop, they eventually dismissed the spasms merely as the byproduct of remnant chemical processes burning themselves out in the mare's body. As to the mystery of the other unicorn mare's sudden heightened aggression however, none of the ponies who had been present could deduce an answer.

Later on around midnight, when the Moon was the highest in the sky, more violence inexplicably broke out. It started first with those guarding the Marker. Then, like a virus, multiple instances of psychotic rage were reported spreading throughout Canterlot's citizens without any hope of explanation.

"Hey Twilight! Whatcha looking at?" Spike greeted, a clearly puzzled look on his face.

Twilight took turns staring at him and the odd features in the sky. Shaking her head in disbelief, she looked at him in confusion. "What are you doing out here? And the Moon...don't any of you see? It's not supposed to be high in the sky like that during the day! Something weird is going on with the Princesses, I can just feel it."

Spike waved the others over from the front door as he let out a dismissive chuckle. "Relax, Twilight. I'm sure Princess Luna and Celestia might just be playing a prank on each other, or some kind of silly game, maybe. Alicorns are weird that way."

Our Tide is coming.

The Sun's fortress shall sunder at dusk's last light.

Quickly, Twilight shook her head. She was aggressively clearing her mind of the memory of her disturbing nightmare. "Maybe." She murmured back with poorly disguised uncertainty.

For Spike, his friend's vexation was not lost on him. He stammered nervously. "Is this about me waking up and disappearing without leaving a note? Or is something else on your mind?"

Before Twilight could respond, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy joined them at the entrance to the cellar with their respective pets in tow. "Mornin' Twi!" Applejack was the first to speak, smiling warmly. She had Winona at her side, who was panting happily and wagging her tail. "How are you feeling, sugarcube?"

"Hello. I hope that scary rash of yours has gone away." Fluttershy greeted.

"A good morning to you, Twilight!" Rarity sang, stroking her cat's head with the tip of her elegant hoof as he lay on the ground, purring contentedly.

"Good morning girls." Twilight murmured back. Her sense of confusion grew as her overactive mind slowly processed Applejack's question, her friends' combined presence, and Spike's disregard for her authority as of late. "Yeah AJ, it's gone...whatever it was." She held up her foreleg, now perfectly healthy, then waved it and motioned towards the three animals. "What in the world did you bring your pets over here for, though? The park is on the other side of town, remember?'

Applejack stepped up, looking slightly coy with a reasonable amount of concern. "Ah'm glad to hear you're feeling better. Uh, actually, we're not here for a get together or anything, to answer your question though. We were wondering if you'd be willing to see what the alien stuff might do for Winona and Angel here, if you're not too busy and such."

Twilight silently gawked at the trio. Fluttershy smiled nervously back, Applejack raised an eyebrow, and Rarity spoke. "They've seen what it can do for Opal, darling, so it was only fair that I..." Rarity let out a brief giggle. "Well, let the cat out of the bag, as one could put it."

"Spike had so many wonderful things to say about it." Fluttershy threw in. She glared mildly at Angel. "Maybe it could help Angel here to control his mean little temper. Oh, perhaps the little dear will even listen to me more often!"

By now, Twilight's gawking had ceased. She looked down at Angel bunny, who returned her gaze with a saucy narrowing of his beady eyes. He folded his arms across his chest, stamping at the ground impatiently. Twilight glared back, nodded at Fluttershy, who's face lit up with delight, then she turned to peer at Winona and her owner.

"What could you possibly need the powder tested on Winona for? What's wrong with her?"

Applejack prodded at the cut grass uncertainly. "Well, I dunno. Heck, the way Spike was so enthusiastic about, I'm mite curious to see what wonders it might work on her!" She patted Winona affectionately on the head. "Ain't that right, girl?" Winona replied with a lick, then let out a happy bark. "Ya see? Curiosity, it might as well be an Element!" The mare declared jokingly.

Twilight nodded at Applejack as well, but frowned. She dragged Spike off to the side, excusing the two for a moment. The others shrugged and turned their attention to their pets in the meantime.

"What in harmony's name did you tell them, Spike?" She hissed.

"Nothing too fanciful, I swear!" Spike whispered back.

"Spike!"

"Okay, okay! I might have...told them the powder was magical and capable of...well, capable of..."

"Of what?" Twilight's eyes narrowed fiercely as she shouted, and she held his shoulders in a vice grip.

"Making whatever thing somepony desired...possible, okay?" Spike relented with a shaky voice.

Judging by her glare, Spike reasoned that Twilight had several choice unpleasant things to say him. Fortunately for his nerves, she dismissed them all with a heavily drawn out groan of frustration. "You told them it can grant wishes?" Twilight said incredulously. "Using this powder on living creatures carries risks, Spike. I can't emphasize this fact enough!"

"What's going on here, you two?" Applejack asked out of the blue. The trio had seemed to practically teleport near them. "Are we still going along with the plan to use the powder again?" She eyed the two uncertainly. "Or are things too...Shucks! What's the word Ah'm looking for? Are things too tense, right now?"

"Oh no, no, no!" Twilight replied all too quickly, forcing a smile. "Sure, I suppose I can give Angel and Winona a dosage each. But, just this once!"

Fluttershy and Applejack grinned, and leading their pets, they each followed Twilight as she went around and descended into the cellar. Spike, Opal, and Rarity trailed in behind them. Rarity commented on the dreariness of the place, and declared its need for a potential make over to, 'liven it up' as she put it. Spike nodded his head vigorously in agreement, for more reasons than one.

The confined alien greeted them as it registered their presence. Fluttershy almost jumped out of her fur when the spider-like organism leapt against the barrier, facing her direction.

"What in tarnation, did that egg thingy hatch an actual live alien?" Applejack inquired with a mixture of fascination and wonder.

"Yep." Twilight replied, approaching a metal table set up with syringes, a microscope, several other tools, and three neatly stacked powder cylinders. The underground lab's electric arc lamps buzzed quietly above when Twilight turned them on with her horn. Fluttershy, shoving Angel along, dashed over to Twilight's side, eager to be as far from the alien as possible.

"Ugh, a spider, it's positively revolting! Thank heavens its confined behind magic!" Rarity remarked, twitching her muzzle at the alien. Applejack let out a hearty chuckle. She approached the alabaster unicorn, and curled her foreleg around her neck playfully.

"Aw shucks, she looks like she wants a hug, Rare! I think she likes ya!" Rarity stared at her wide eyed, flabbergasted.

Twilight gingerly listened to the pair's banter, and observed the alien, whilst she stood next to Fluttershy and Angel, the former of which had just finally calmed down.

"Alright Fluttershy, go ahead and set Angel down here." She tapped the tabletop gently. Fluttershy nodded, and after a few seconds attempting to catch the rabbit, she succeeded, only via threatening to use her stare. Angel stood next to the syringe, glaring intensely at the both of them.

Twilight wasted no time getting to work administering the powder. The organic particles were so minute, that they flowed into her syringe almost like water. Angel struggled as the needle met his fur, and hopped around with irritation for some time after as the agents coursed through his little veins.

"Hey, where'd Digger run off to?" Spike asked worriedly nearby, while the others joined Twilight in observing the effects of the powder. It was astounding, especially for Fluttershy.

Long gone was the usual snooty, defiant expression Angel bunny seemed to wear by default. He twitched slightly, as if just waking up, then he approached Fluttershy. Instinctively, she held out her hoof to him, and the small mammal nuzzled it affectionately. Fluttershy and Rarity cooed in adoration, and Applejack whistled, impressed. Twilight was equally impressed.

Angel abruptly ceased his nuzzling and looked up at his mistress expectantly. Fluttershy gave him a stern frown. "No, you've had enough carrots today, Angel." Much to her furthered delight, Angel elected to not pout, and cheerfully shrugged. 'Fine by me', he seemed to say.

"Alright, Spike wasn't fibbing. It's Winona's turn now!" Applejack declared, swiftly managing to scoop the fully grown dog up and onto the table. Winona panted happily, looking around at everyone. She was clearly not bothered by her sudden involuntary change of location.

The border colly scarcely even noticed as Twilight stuck the next needle into her fur, introducing the alien powder into a canine for the first time. Almost immediately, the magically-modified powder got to work making alterations. Winona's fur grew even shinier and silkier than before, her tail wagged with a renewed fervor, and overall she seemed as if she had enough physical energy to outlast even the likes of Pinkie Pie.

While Twilight eagerly got to work recording the exciting new observations, the others, along with Spike, chatted and gave the animals close examinations, remarking on the pleasant new changes. Like most conversations, the main topic shifted over time.

"Say, I haven't seen such pleasant fur since my last visit to a Canterlot spa." Rarity enthused, scrutinizing Winona.

"Yeah, Winona sure looks all the better for it. Now she'll be twice as efficient keeping the cows and other critters in line!" Applejack agreed, beaming with pride.

"Speaking of Canterlot, have either of you heard some of the strange rumors coming out of there last night? I've heard there's been rioting in places, somepony may have gotten hurt pretty bad! Ponies are acting strangely towards one another." Fluttershy said, growing more distressed as she recalled what some of the traveling merchants had told her an hour ago.

"Rioting...in Canterlot?" Rarity asked in disbelief. "Not at all possible, darling, surely!"

"Maybe whoever ya talked to might have been have had a bit too much hard cider, sugarcube." Applejack interjected.

"Oh no, the stallion looked quite sober to me, girls." Fluttershy replied with worry.

"What do you think, Twilight?" Rarity said. Not expecting to be called upon, Twilight whirled around in surprise, dropping her inkwell, quill, and parchment onto the ground. She let out a squeak as she discovered ink spilled on her otherwise immaculately-kept lavender fur. "Oh, sorry dear!" Rarity added.

"About what?" Twilight asked quickly, fussing over the mess.

"Why, the Canterlot riot rumors, of course!"

"Rumors are rumors." Twilight replied simply. She finally cleaned up the spilled ink, and neatly replaced the quill and parchment. "Something weird might be going on with Celestia and Luna, but rioting? There are very few ponies left in this land who even still have the stomach to try such things."

Thankfully, her written observations were left intact from the spill. Twilight gratefully scratched off one thing from her mental list of worries. "Now," She said. "I've got some shopping to do, girls. Clearly, I'm allergic to this stuff." She levitated one of the cylinders in the air. "So, I'm gonna go check the nearest military surplus store to see if they have any of them masks or chemsuits the Army used to wear in gas attacks, you know, during the Changeling War."

"You sure you're really willing to wear some...moldy...ugly...old combat suit...in the name of science, darling?" Rarity asked slowly, with mounting disbelief.

"Yes, in the name of science, Rarity." Twilight answered back, making her way out of the cellar. "C'mon Spike, I could use your help. Feel free to come with if you'd like, girls. Maybe we can all stop to get some lunch later."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Applejack said jovially.

"Sure, just let me stop at the cottage to drop off Angel." Fluttershy agreed.

"Digger better pop up again soon!" Spike muttered to himself under his breath. The dragon was theorizing that Twilight might have hidden his new pet in retaliation for his sneakiness.

"I'll go and see if Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie would be interested as well, it is a pleasant day after all! I'll just have to get Opalescence back to the Boutique first." Rarity agreed as well, following Spike and the rest hurriedly out, putting as much distance as possible from herself and the creepy arachnid-like alien with the segmented tail, laying in the now vacant cellar.

Twilight followed after Rarity, after closing the cellar doors firmly shut. She didn't expect anyone to come blundering in and trespassing, so she didn't lock it.

No sooner had the party left on their way to their various destinations around Ponyville, a uniformed aquamarine pegasus arrived and touched down on the lawn of the Library.

A package was laden carefully in her hooves, and she grasped onto it as she peered around at her surroundings. She wore her goggles below her fine amber mane, and her silver armor denoted her as a Royal Courier. Quite unlike most Couriers however, who were renowned for their beaming smiles as their clients opened the door, this one donned an impatient sneer as she knocked on the door.

"Hey! I have a package for a miss Twilight Sparkle, open up!"

Thirty seconds passed with no activity, then the pegasus mare rapped on the door once more, this time with greater force. There was still no response.

Lighting Dust growled in anger. Her superiors had been quite clear in their orders. The delivery: cylinders full of what Lightning assumed to be some kind of weird snow or something, were top secret. That meant that only Twilight Sparkle was allowed to receive, and sign for, the package.

With the unicorn gone, it wasn't as if Lightning Dust could simply leave them on Twilight's front stoop.

It was her understanding, that Sparkle kept a laboratory in her cellar. "What a giant egghead." The Courier said scornfully. "She's probably hunched around down there, tinkering with some useless gizmo, thinking her brains are SO useful to society!"

"Sure, my ass!" Lightning Dust went around to the cellar door, tested it, and found it to be unlocked. Opening the door, careful not to drop the pair of cylinders, she descended into the poorly lit basement. "Sparkle, priority package delivery for you! Hello?" She shouted.

Only silence greeted her. With another growl, she descended down, and looked around. Seeing that nopony was present, Lightning elected to set the cylinders down on the nearest table. With that done, she took a moment to reflect on her life situation.

How did she end up going from Wonderbolt's candidate...to a lowly Courier? True, the Royal Courier Service was a renowned establishment, but Lightning Dust was forced to serve in the lowliest ranks, having been demoted time and time again for her consistent recklessness and lack of courtesy. "Rainbow Dash." The name almost made her want to retch in disgust. In her eyes, the pegasus mare was the root of everything wrong in her life. "Sparkle's a friend of hers, isn't she? Now I hate her absent ass twice as much."

For a second, the pegasus' curiosity was ignited by movement nearby, and her intense spite for the other pegasus and all she surrounded herself with was momentarily forgotten. "What was that?"

Lightning Dust inched her way slowly across the room, approaching a large cylindrical energy barrier. She almost had a heart attack when something inside the barrier jumped out at her, attaching itself to the surface.

"What the fuck is that?"

In her panic, Lightning felt herself trip over something. It was the wire hooked up to the power source Twilight had left running. The pegasus inadvertently disconnected the source's connection between itself and the containment unit, releasing the organism.

Wasting no time, the alien sprung into action, anxious to finally fulfill its biological purpose after years trapped in stasis. Before Lightning Dust could fully realize what was happening, it had already latched itself tightly to her face. Her screams were muffled as she flared her wings, attempting to pry the hostile organism off. It clamped its eight legs around her head tightly on both sides, and it circled her neck with its lengthy tail.

Lightning felt something thick and slimy force its way past her muzzle and down her throat, preventing her from calling for help. With her vision obscured by the alien's body, she felt herself growing numb, no doubt thanks to the activities of her extraterrestrial assailant. The fact that she could still draw breath shocked her. It was one of her final thoughts before she finally slipped into unconsciousness in a heartbeat.

It didn't take long. The alien promptly fell off of her head after several moments, cold and still. It's purpose had been served, and its duty to the future queen fulfilled.

The pegasus came to with a groan soon after. Lightning Dust looked down at the withered husk of the alien in horror. She didn't feel quite right as she reeled back from it with disgust and revulsion. Sensing that she still had enough strength for flight, she quickly fled the cellar and took to the skies, heading straight for Cloudsdale as fast as she could manage.

A thousand miles away from Ponyville, Daring Do and a hoof-picked crew of archaeologists stood in front of what appeared to be a large stasis pod, deep within the cavernous bowels of the Badlands Alien Shipwreck.

They had finally gotten around to exploring the engineering bay, and the other decks beyond. For Daring, this part was the most exciting. She was anticipating to find crew quarters, a cryostasis bay, perhaps even intact specimens of the crew itself. While none of the latter had been found or confirmed yet, her efforts were not all fruitless.

The stasis pods were clearly occupied. Moreover, whatever was inside was massive, and was still alive, if the green floating light above the unit was anything to consider.

First Contact with an alien species was now inevitable, and while Daring Do normally preferred to work alone, even this entire project had proven from the start to be too big, even for her, to carry out alone.

Before she and her colleagues set about finding a way to open the pod properly without breaking something or harming the being inside, Daring looked down at the small vial of luminescent liquid hanging from her neck, holding the necklace in her hoof. It was pretty, and Daring Do had decided to turn it into a form of decorative pendant to wear. She consulted the lambent-like fluid, swirling it around and preparing her mind for the single greatest moment in Equestrian history.

The other ponies looked at her expectantly and anxiously, tools and writing implements ready.

"Alright everypony, let's awaken the hushed casket, shall we? Pop em' open!"

Chapter 7: Sharquoi

"Yes ma'am, awakening the 'hushed casket' now." Came the reply of a member of Daring Do's Party. The physically fit earth pony archaeologist deftly twirled the pry bar in her right hoof, shuffling around with anticipation as she and the excavation crew inched closer to the alien stasis unit. To a neutral spectator observing the scene out of context, they would almost more closely resemble tomb raiders, rather than simple mares and stallions of science. To the credit of a would-be observer, Daring Do was in fact an actual treasure hunter, far more so than she was an archaeologist.

Out of the small mob of grinning, beaming ponies, Daring Do's smile was by far the largest. For almost the entirety of their careers, all but Daring had their sole occupation be only to uncover and interpret history. But now for everyone here, things were far different. Today, history was not merely being studied. It was being made.

As for Daring Do herself, the glory and prestige of discovery would be largely hers, the others currently around her being mere footnotes in her next memoir, or 'Daring Do novel' as the less informed of the public back in the Kingdom would know it as.

Daring Do's grin spanned nearly from Equestria's west to east coast by the time the ponies' pry bars finally made contact with the alien metal. One second, the tips were forcefully wedged into the grooves formed from the sealed stasis door. The next, a shrill hiss of cold, stale air filled the room while the seals gave way under the leverage of brute force, causing more than a few ponies to cough and cover their muzzles with their cloth wrappings.

The door slowly, climactically, slid up and back, disappearing into the shadow of vents and frost-lined piping that laid behind all the stasis units. Daring's heart performed flips and rolls in her chest as the ancient air slowly faded away in hazy white-blue eddies, revealing the unit's occupant within.

On instinct, the others of Daring Do's party backed away as more of the being was seen, its true size revealed. The bravest of them valiantly held their quills and parchment out to record a potential conversation, still anticipating the being inside to be benign, if not benevolent. Bravest of all, Daring herself, actually got closer to the now open expanse, getting better scrutiny of her mystery alien. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, and her anticipation was nearly euphoric.

It wasn't yet much to see, as thick frost and ice still obscured most of its features. But more detail was being exposed with each passing moment, as an unseen heating system kicked in to aid in the revival processes.

Chunks of ice melted rapidly away with a hiss and a cloud of steam that overwhelmed the freezing eddies, revealing a tall, lithe, and extremely sinewy biped. Its legs were vaguely similar to the hindlegs of an equine, given the intriguing angle at which they were bent where the knee met the thigh. The head and hands thawed last, exposing thick, almost leathery reptilian skin and six, talon-like fingers on each slender hand. Like its legs, the alien's arms, long ago flash frozen in a crossed 'X' position across its chest, were long and gangly. They were built for dexterity.

The alien was enshrouded in a set of onyx black robes decorated in many incomprehensible red runes. Intricate and esoteric in fashion, the garment fanned in many tastles, sashes, and other loose bits of the exotic fabric the entire ensemble consisted of. At a detailed glance, the robes gave the being a priestly or monk-like visage. Most intriguing was that the onyx 'fabric' had an almost liquid-like quality, flowing across the surface of the wearer's body and leaving behind a sheen when exposed to the harsh rays of lights above.

The archaeologist' hopes at the creature being benevolent were largely dashed once they caught glimpses of its facial features. In fact, they took further steps back in response to the view of a large angular jaw likely full of dagger-like teeth, high pronounced cheek bones, a spiny 'beard' of scaly skin along its neck and chin, and a more than intimidating forbearance about it. Daring Do, however, remained in place with her confident smirk, her own courage was adamantine and unbreakable.

Everything was quiet for a second. Then, the creature opened its eyes.

A pair of feline-like irises peered out at the ponies. When the eyes registered them, they did not convey hostility, nor exultation, but rather an intense form of curiosity. Another second passed, and the being had completed its observation of the group of indigenous creatures that had so blatantly awoken it.

Without warning, it hauled itself out of the stasis pod and onto the icy metal floor. Daring Do was still rooted to her spot, and as a consequence the alien's gangly form was now mere inches from her own muzzle. Were she to take one step forward, she wood surely bump into it. The alien peered down at the pegasus with its continually curious expression, slightly vibrating its body and shrugging off the last vestiges of cryosleep. Daring finally decided to take a step back in the interest of practicality, and managed to meet the alien's gaze with her own face awash in wonder.

Her wonder increased when the alien suddenly unfurled its stiffened arms with such speed that they cracked in the freezing air like a whip. Rolling its shoulders around, it slowly awoke its musculature to better allow for its normally fluid and agile movement. It stood idle then, still peering down. The alien's regular drawn-out breathing pattern and expectant facial expression indicated it was waiting for her to speak first.

Daring Do had professionally observed the ensuing muscular actions down to the most minute detail, and was quick to compare it to an average well-rested pony awakening at dawn. With this innocuous vision in mind, it made the monumental task of opening up verbal communications far less nerve wracking for her. Daring then imagined herself conversing with another pony, rather than an ancient, frozen extraterrestrial who may or may not eventually turn hostile to the revelation that her own people had been taking its materiel without permission, and damaged its ship further with magical explosives.

Stumbling over its own words, Daring's mouth was finally able to find its voice. She spoke slowly, carefully. Every syllable was uttered in as nonaggressive a manner as possible. "Uh...G...greetings extraterrestrial." she raised her foreleg, pointing to herself. "My name is Daring Do," Daring then pointed to the others. "And this is my crew." Her unintended rhyme caused the creature to chuckle mirthfully; a low raspy sound deep within its chest.

For a moment, the towering alien seemed far less foreign and unknowable. The group of ponies around Daring even broke into a faint, slightly nervous laughter amongst themselves. Some stepped forward and returned to their original places, getting closer to the alien in the process. Those with writing implements were already fervently scribbling down every detail they could about the ongoing first contact.

As the E.T. continued to chuckle and stare at her curiously, a thought crossed Daring's mind. "Wait, can you actually understand me? Please, nod if you can!" Daring began to feel a pang of disappointment for several seconds as the alien showed no sign of response, until finally, it inclined its head slowly. Disappointment all but vanished from Do's face when the alien uttered a single word with its shrill voice in garbled Equestrian.

"Continue..." The final syllable of the word seemed to vanish, lost into the sound of the alien's long-gravelly breaths and equally raspy voice, but everyone had heard it clearly.

The treasure hunter and her excavation crew smiled, with twinkles in their eyes. An extraterrestrial, straight out of cryosleep and from a place light-years away, could actually understand them!

"Whoa! This is amazing, it's straight out of a science fiction movie!" she collected herself. "Ok, anyways, me and my crew here are happy to humbly welcome you to uh, to Planet Equus, and welcome to the Kingdom of Equestria." Daring Do made a broad swishing motion with her left wing indicating she was referring to the entire world. "Oh, and speaking of Sci-fi, I'm going to skip on the whole 'we come in peace' cliche. You're species is smart and advanced enough to travel through space, you know it's already heavily implied."

At this rate, Daring might as well have been conversing with an old friend. Her words once again elicited a chuckle from the robed alien being. No doubt the mare's smirk might also have played a role in the alien's growing sense of amusement. "Kingdom...?" it murmured in between chuckles, analyzing and comparing the mares to the stallions in the group. "No. Matriarchy."

It, or he, as it seemed to Daring that the alien gave off a masculine smell and presence, stopped chuckling for a moment. He touched something on his wrist, which responded with an electronic sound. Then, the alien promptly spread his arms out as the wrist device began to project an arc of vibrant red light out before them.

To Daring Do and the archaeologist' further astonishment, the light turned into a hologram, the revolving globe of a planet. "Equus..." He declared, involuntarily exaggerating the 's' with a hiss. Then the alien pointed a talon at Daring, who put a hoof to her chin, interested. "Equine."

"Yes..." Daring began. The excavation crew around her oohed and awed at the hologram in the mean time, approaching it to see the geographic details of their own planet from such a unique, high-tech perspective. A few even reached out to touch it, gasping as their hooves went right through it. "You are on Equus. But uh, Equine is a rather formal term, you can just call us ponies, or Equestrians if you like." Daring continued. "In fact, if you have any questions about us, we'd be glad to answer them; and of course we have some for you as well."

Daring Do's robed alien chuckled again, as she finished with, "Quite a lot of questions, actually." she somehow failed to register the being activating something else on the device as she ran a few choice questions she had for the alien through her mind. "Okay, let's see..." she said finally. "What does your species call itself? And how did you end up crashing here so long ago? What was your purpose, what are your numbers?"

The alien tilted his head this time, considering her inquiries. After a few moments he said, "We are...Sharquoi."

"Sharqoui...hmm, Shark-oo-oi...Am I pronouncing that right?" Daring's tongue felt strange and muddled, attempting to articulate such a guttural-sounding word. He inclined his head affirmatively towards her again. Daring smiled triumphantly. "Ah, so I am. Interesting. Please, go on."

"Empirical directive." He declared. "Grand experiment. Sharqoui, numbers...many!" Suddenly, the hologram changed shape as the Sharqoui waved his hand broadly. An animated wave emanated from the wreck, their present location, and branched deep out into space. The wave continued on until it bounced off projected objects holding position in orbit, near Equus' oddly stationary Moon. The blips flickered, and then an entire armada of vessels is brought into focus, each bearing a resemblance to the very one Daring Do and the others were inside.

All of Daring Do's group gasped at what was being revealed. Daring herself looked at the new projections, then back at the towering robed Sharquoi. Her smile was long gone from her face, replaced with a mixture of anger, paranoia, and disbelief. More of the spacecraft were being uncovered even as she continually glared, and the archaeologists murmured warily. Daring had seen these types of things in various science fiction motion pictures as well; every pony in her group had.

They all knew what this meant.

It was then that Daring Do realized something else, something that sent a chill down her spine and deep into her wings. All this time, the Sharquoi had not been peering at her with curiosity and amusement, as one would towards a clumsy friend who had just done something funny. In reality, he was staring at them all like a manticore, anxiously eying her prey.

"Oh...crap." she muttered, her ears falling flat against her skull like trampled paper soaked in the rain. Daring Do's alien contact drank her anxiety in like wine, and chuckled once more, his true nature now obvious.

"We're so screwed." One of the stallions whimpered, observing the other stasis pods opening off their own accord, as slowly as the original.

The Sharquoi continued his chortling as both species stared at one another. His slitted eyes twinkled with a cruel, calculating glee, and his reptilian tongue lolled out amongst razor sharp teeth. Before Daring or the others could say or do anything else, he held his arms out high and craned his slender head and neck forward.

Then, without warning, the living tangle of sinewy tissue and onyx fabric emitted an agonizingly loud shriek, his beard unfurling menacingly. A piercing orange light emanated from his esophagus to glare out at them as well. The alien waved its outstretched arms around in various gestures, as if giving a passionate speech or sermon.

Daring Do and the others winced instantly, doubling over and covering their ears with frantic abandon. Crowbars, quills, pens and other tools clattered to the floor. The ponies were being assaulted with both sound and vibration. It was a piercing wail that seemed to nearly tear their entire world asunder. Even the unicorns of the group were rendered helpless, their magical concentration shattered by the pulsating auditory attack.

When the shriek finally abated in a high pitched howl, and the Sharqoui resumed his default stance, many of the Equestrian excavation crew were already beginning to faint.

Other stasis modules had opened by now, and several more Sharqoui had appeared in the space behind the first.

The pegasi treasure hunter could barely see much of them as she too gradually faded into unconsciousness, breathing heavily and laying on her stomach. Her beige pith hat lay on the cold metal floor beside her.

"You bastard. If you freaks...try to do anything to our world, don't think...its inhabitants aren't going to go down without...without a fight." Daring's voice was slurred and labored, until she finally became too drained to even speak properly.

The robed Sharqoui snarled at her, then chuckled again as it leaned down, noticing something around Daring's neck. It was her necklace, containing the small vial of glowing liquid Daring kept as a curious trinket during the day, and as a work and reading light come dusk.

Daring Do gasped as the alien grabbed at the vial, feeling the cold skin of the creature make contact with her fur. The unnatural onyx fabric draped over parts of his wrist almost seemed to leech the warmth right out of her own body, more so than the Sharqoui himself or the metal floor combined. He yanked the vial off with little effort, holding it up aloft, appraising it in the harsh glow of the ship's artificial lighting.

"...Imulsion." he said. The word caused the Sharqoui to form a sort of grin, for reasons known only to him. Much to Daring's mortification, the alien then made a fist to crush the vial open, causing the viscous luminescent fluid to run across his talons. He then unfurled the fist and flung the liquid around towards the hapless Equestrians.

Daring constantly shifted attention between the other Sharqoui behind her new enemy, and the liquid he called Imulsion. She twitched her eyelids in shock as the Imulsion started to move on its own. It slithered like a slug, towards her and the other ponies. Normally she would have given it a wide berth, but her traitorous limbs, all six of them, refused to obey her increasingly panicked mind.

The Imulsion absorbed itself into her and the others' skin, just as she finally fell unconscious. Daring Do's body uncomfortably thudded against the metal as it tipped over onto its side.

Snarling triumphantly, the Sharqoui waved his other hand to his kin behind him. "Collect Equines for analysis." Two of the waiting party strode forward, each of their footfalls creating a loud succession of thumps and vibration. The two new beings were slow, lumbering giants.

"Drinol!" The duo proclaimed. Both chuckled in baritone voices as they got to work. They gently scooped up Daring and the other unconscious ponies as if they were little more than a filly's stuffed animals.

They each had a set of powerful arms, thick as tree trunks, with hands that possessed five stubby digits each. Each hand was cuffed in a gauntlet, that ended in two protruding spikes on the knuckles, longer and larger than the hands themselves. Equally powerful legs rested at their bottoms, leading up to a hulking body that could almost dwarf a minotaur's.

Both Sharqoui wore body suits and thick, form fitting black and red breastplates. The armor was decorated by glowing red lights symmetrically placed at various intervals to accent the polished onyx surface. Ostentatiously, their arms were left bare and without plating, revealing the rippling musculature underneath. Their faces were liked the robed Sharqoui, but far blockier and devoid of their gangly comrade's intelligence. They breathed and wheezed heavily as they labored.

When the Drinol–as the giants seem to call themselves–had collected as many ponies as they could over their shoulders, the smaller Sharqoui, around six foot in height and equipped in similar body armor but covered more of their bodies, took over.

Like the Drinol, these Sharqoui had blocky faces and cruel, beady little eyes, but had more in common with the robed one. The way their mouths were sculpted left them with seemingly permanent sneers, adding to their already imposing figures. Their skin was a thick, leathery-scaly hide only a chainsaw-like device could likely breach.

The robed Sharqoui was already striding purposely out of the cryo chambers with his kind's weird gait. The pair of Drinol lumbered out after him. He stopped as he encountered another of the sneering Sharqoui, this one as tall as him and wearing a more ornate and bulkier version of their body armor.

"Leader." Both aliens greeted one another, a simple matter of inclining one's head.

"Equines secured, Kantus?" The other's voice was a high pitched hiss, resembling a chilling wind in a winter sky during a raging blizzard.

The Kantus bowed his head again. "Yes. Noble Theron. Imulsion was dispersed." He squawked out.

With a hiss of approval, the Theron turned and watched as the Drinol passed by with their live captives. "We must contact General Krotan. Powder has been acquired by Equines, experiment begins." The Theron leader waved his massive hand authoritatively towards the far end of the cryo chambers. "I will analyze Equines with the drones. You, prepare the Precursor for deployment."

While the Kantus nodded and prepared to take his leave, the group of half a dozen Sharqoui drones passed by with the unconscious ponies slung over their shoulders, chuckling and snarling with amusement. "Precursor, Flood!" One declared.

"Equines tested, in coming tide." Another added mirthfully, breaking out into coarse giggle that could peel paint.

"Subjugate." One of the Drinols duo muttered idly up ahead of them.

"For the Queen. For General Krotan!" All Drones declared in unison, heading out and into the access junction between Cryogenics, Engineering, and Personnel Quarters. Their destination, the bridge and command deck.

Throughout the Cryo bay, the rest of the crew awoke. Dozens of stasis units cracked open just like the first, letting their occupants out for the first time in centuries. That is, all units but one.

A single module, far larger than the others and secured with a time-bolt device incomprehensible to Equestrian science, and not of Sharqoui manufacture, stood still and away from the others. And now, the Sharqoui Kantus was approaching it, intent upon releasing the primordial creature that lay dormant within.

Chapter 8: Rumors and Warnings

Daring Do slowly awoke with an agonizing groan. Twitching her body experimentally, she felt an intense, searing pain tearing through her in waves as she regained consciousness. Every muscle in her body felt as if were ablaze, and her brain was a jumbled morass of half-completed thoughts and feverish delirium. Gritting her teeth as she struggled to move, the pegasus attempted to discover the status of her group, to make sure they weren't deceased...or worse.

Vision was a confusing haze; Daring was unable to properly perceive her surroundings. Her other senses however, seemed unaffected. Daring Do could hear voices, and her ears perked up to listen in on them.

"Do we possess a report from the Armada?" one voice inquired with a shrill hiss.

It must be the Sharqoui commander of the vessel, the one I heard the shrieking Kantus alien refer to as a "Theron". Daring mused.

A more baritone voice snarled out a reply. "Checking..."

"Received!" Another gravelly voice added a second later, this one with a hint of triumph.

Had to be those "Drones". Daring figured. Their verbal pitch is still not low enough to belong to those big hulking dumbasses with the oversized knuckle spikes: the Drinol.

"Explain." The Theron instructed.

"Our war with the Great Enemy, continues across the star ocean." a Drone snarled nearby. "GARM reports Planet Sera experiment, failure! Seran warriors activated a countermeasure, they killed the Seran Horde, and the Luminous Brethren!"

Why don't you freaks just call it outer space, like you ought to be?

"Inferiors!" The Drone's nearest comrade growled.

"Noooo..." the Theron lamented. Daring Do heard a pounding of fists on metal, while the Drones roared in outrage. Clearly, this news from their unseen comrades in high orbit was unsettling them all.

Daring meanwhile, was bracing herself, trying with all her might to ignore pain while she flicked her tail about. She was building up physical momentum, and tentatively flexed her wings and legs. The pegasus had something else in mind to "startle " the Sharqoui with.

If I manage to get my hooves on one of them, and need to do so, I swear I'll make them pay, dearly. Daring paused to keep her temper in check. She only needed to get herself and the others together. Fortunately, her vision was already coming back into focus. With a few blinks of her eyelashes, came new found clarity. Good, now where am I?

A brief scan of the room told Daring Do she had to be back in the bridge of the aliens' starship. To her relief, her fellow explorers and archaeologists were all alive, but still unconscious. A few rolled around, moaning irritably. Other than omnipresent muscular pain, they seemed unharmed and normal, save for a faint but noticeable bio-luminescent yellow glow emanating from their bodies. They almost resembled some strange species of equine jellyfish.

That was when the Imulsion materialized into her mind, and Daring Do shuddered violently. That alien slime that had entered our bodies, not only had a lambent glow – it was alive! Daring shook her head with disbelief. "N...no! This is just my imagination! Simply a hallucination caused by the Kantus' shriek attack. Nothing more!" she concluded, with a frantic whisper.

The Sharqoui, active and very much unthawed, stood all around her on the bridge. They were positioned at their holographic consoles, sitting in the massive chairs, and making frequent rounds back and forth between various stations. Sidearms, equipment belts, and glowing armor straps jangled with their strides and heavy footfalls.

Daring Do was flabbergasted to notice that the aliens were paying no attention to her or the other ponies at all. The few that did, only threw apathetic grunts Daring's way, stepping over her and the others as if they were nothing more than nondescript stones that had spontaneously appeared on the floor. A few Sharqoui not watching the report were brushing off the thick dust that was settled in places, and throwing the misplaced Equestrian excavation equipment around and out of the way in annoyance.

One Drone curiously picked up an archaeologist's flashlight to examine it, then carried it over to his station. "Shiny! Mine!" he declared with approval, before turning his attention to what his fellows were so worked up about.

A single large display sat in the middle of the bridge, with most of the command crew facing its front, and the forward bow observation windows and helmsmen's stations at its back. Daring hadn't remembered it being there before, it must have been a holographic projection. She looked up from her inactive comrades to see what exactly was provoking such bitter gall from the aliens.

The Theron and his underlings were watching the image of an alien planet on screen. It looked quite like what Daring imagined Equis to be, but the landmasses were completely different. Cross referencing what the aliens were saying with what everyone was looking at, Daring gathered that the world in the video must be the same one the Drone had referred to as "Sera".

The feed was playing on a loop: orbiting satellites were firing some kind of laser, burning Sera's continents below to flickering ash, then a spectacular blue light is shown to be sweeping across the now battle-scarred planet's surface from a small equatorial archipelago. It spread out in timed pulses to cover every corner of the globe. From what she saw, Daring was quite certain the shining blue light was what truly had the aliens blowing their own tops, like whistling tea kettles on a burner.

Interesting as the whole event was, whatever the significance of Sera and the light must have been to the Sharqoui, was completely inconsequential to Daring Do. For now, she had to build up her energy. "Just give it some time." she whispered with a wince, flexing her right wing with a bit more energy than last time.

It was at the precise moment she spoke those words, that the Theron rose from his chair with a flourish, facing his crew. His sudden movement caused the tails of his robe-like armor to flutter in the air, while he crossed his arms over his massive chest.

"The Horde of the Seran Hollows." It could have been Daring's imagination, but the Sharqoui leader seemed to have pronounced the words with disgust. "Inferior half breeds, to be bested by the Sapiens. This is why we have moved here, Equis." The Theron gestured to the archaeologists.

"Equinoids?" a Drone proclaimed, seeming to finally notice Daring Do and the others for the first time. The Theron's underlings grumbled out sounds that sent mixed messages of both agreement and uncertainty. He continued.

"Yesss. The Equis experiment, continue it as planned!" A couple of Drones looked at him curiously, waiting to hear more. "I have already scanned the Equines' anatomy." The Theron casually waved a talon in Daring's direction again, causing her to involuntarily tense. "GARM will surely approve of our ultimate living weapon to come. Now, provide Equis reports. First section, the extricated Brethren Moons Marker. Determine status of the recombinant bacteria, designated Necromorph."

Daring Do watch as several of the Drones turned their beady reptilian eyes to their monitors. "Scanning." They replied in unison, with a tone she considered all too enthusiastic to take as a good sign. Daring was getting anxious.

The pegasus' overriding focus was, and is, to get her and everyone else under her charge off the alien ship alive. That would be via force if necessary; a monumental task. Then, they had to warn the Kingdom and the rest of the planet of the imminent danger. That's assuming it wasn't already too late.

In Ponyville, the day continued on into noon; a noon seemingly as idyllic and pleasant as any other. Except for the Moon strangely maintaining the same unorthodox orbital position over the horizon, everything seemed to be in normal order.

In the town's local hayburger restaurant, Twilight, Spike, Applejack and Fluttershy were sitting down to a causal lunch. Rarity had arrived minutes ago with Rainbow and Pinkie Pie in tow, and all seven were now clustered around one of the larger circular tables, eating and trading bits of conversation with one another. It was the peak of the lunch rush in town, so the restaurant was bustling and full of murmuring customers.

Sunlight filtered through the front windows, glistening on the shiny checkered floor and well cleaned tabletops. Dishes and utensils dinged and clattered, and telekinesis spells softly hummed in the background.

At their table, Rainbow Dash was devouring her hay fries at a speed much faster than was socially acceptable, while AJ and Rarity gave her funny looks. Fluttershy was placidly fiddling with a bowl of salad, and Twilight set about attacking her two hayburgers with a fervor that rivaled Rainbow's own, causing Pinkie Pie to giggle uncontrollably at the both of them and neglect her extra-sugary fruit smoothie (Pinkie's own personal request). Spike was beside Twilight, with their purchases for the day in Twilight's saddlebags on the checkerboard pattern floor at his feet.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said suddenly, looking up from her empty pile of hay fry bags with a toothy grin. "I know us weather ponies have a reason to cram and eat like parasprites, erm, because of our required cal count for cloud control and all, but what's got you so hungry?"

Slowly, awkwardly, Twilight looked up wide-eyed from her food at the others. Ketchup was running down her muzzle, and a bit more of it was splattered on her cheeks and the table top. An awkward few moments of quiet followed, then Twilight smiled sheepishly. "I just like hayburgers; I really like them. Nothing wrong with that, right?"

The giggling from Pinkie Pie increased in intensity, causing her to snort a few times. She nearly fell out of her chair as she clutched at her belly. Both Rarity and Fluttershy beamed at Twilight, and Applejack chuckled. "You shoulda' seen the look on your face a second ago, Twi!"

"Yeah, your eyes were like purple dinner plates." Rainbow Dash jeered. "If they'd gotten any bigger, the busboy might have accidentally put you on his cart with all the dishes."

Crinkling her muzzle in annoyance, Twilight suddenly got an idea. She turned to Spike while she wiped her face clean and the others shared a laugh at her expense. Spike was eating his burger in a far more polite fashion than her; the little dragon would never dream of eating in the way Twilight had, in front of Rarity, that is. He noticed her gaze and perked up, setting his food down. "Yeah? What do you need, Twilight?"

"Spike, fetch my copy of The Traveler's Encyclopedia of Mundane Magics, please."

Spike nodded. "Okey dokey."

"Lokey!" Pinkie Pie chirped. Spike shot her a blank look, then started rifling through the bags. He soon produced the tome in his hand. It was a small and weathered travel book, faded red and about the width of a horseshoe.

Twilight smiled conspiratorially as she levitated the encyclopedia over, and began leafing through its pages. "Ah, thank you Spike." The dragon nodded slowly, suspicious as to what she was up to. Twilight hummed to herself as she read. The others exchanged wary glances.

"Just what are you doing, dear?" Rarity wondered.

"Aha!" Twilight pointed at something on a specific page and grinned savagely, ignoring Rarity's question. "I found the proper transmutation spell!"

Rainbow Dash shrugged and muttered, "Eggheads." More bags of hay fries then inexplicably appeared in front of her with some ketchup. Rainbow grinned in shocked delight, and she began obliterating them without further ado. Twilight watched her put a ketchup-dipped fry in her mouth, and grinned. Dash gave her a double take and mimicked Twilight's own reaction just moments before, then her face turned beet red.

"Hot! Hot-hot-hot-hot, HOT!" It apparently wasn't ketchup. Her rainbow blur zoomed off and away towards the nearest pitcher of water.

Fire was practically coming out of Dash's mouth like a dragon's. It was now Twilight's turn to laugh. The rest of the girls started to guffaw once they had enough time to realize what had happened. They were still laughing a bit, even as all seven of them finished up there food and got ready to go.

As everyone was exiting the restaurant, something loud caught their combined attention.

Groups of ponies were murmuring, gasping, and causing a general ruckus over something neither Twilight or the others could yet see. The crowd quickly shifted around, as whatever they were looking at apparently drew closer to Twilight's position.

After a moment of craning their necks to see what the hub-bub was about, Rainbow Dash rose up and pointed her hoof. "Hey, I think those four ponies might be in trouble over there! Someone might be hurt."

Fluttershy was the first one to snap to attention. Her body tensed up and her ears flattened. "What? Where, show me!"

"Simmer down there, Fluttershy! Let's see what's going on first before we rush in and try to do anything bout' it!" Apple Jack cautioned.

"Where are they?" Twilight asked, now as equally alert as Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash pointed again, and everyone followed her worried gaze. What they saw chilled their blood, and a few of them felt their fur stand on end.

Three Royal Guards appeared from the crowd. It was a pair of unicorn stallions and a bat pony mare, accompanied by a fourth: a pegasi courier. The group slowly approached the girls. The confused crowd swiftly parted to grant them room for passage.

One of the stallions was walking normally but warily, while the mare–one of Luna's Nightguards, judging by her short silvery mane, tail and coat, fangs, leathery wings, and dark violet armor–was carefully hauling the other stallion on her back. The Royal Courier pegasi was next to the bat pony, her blue uniform in tatters and a mud-slicked saddlebag dangling at her side.

All four of them were haggard and dirty, with their fur matted and stained with sweat and blood. Dust and grime covered their legs up to the joints. Twilight could not see any open wounds on them at first, strangely enough. However, a second glanced yielded sight of an unusual injury on the leg of the unicorn the Nightguard was carrying.

Twilight and the others rushed up to meet the mystifying newcomers. Fluttershy and Applejack gently helped the bat pony lift the unicorn off her back and onto the soft grass in the shade, without being asked. Like the other two who seemed uninjured, the Nightguard seemed to have a burning fire of desperation in her amber eyes as she met everyone's stares, as if she had recently seen something disturbing. Something so unnatural, that no thinking creature should ever have to bear witness to. Nevertheless, she seemed collected and calm enough.

Twilight had a million questions running rampant in her mind as she bent down to examine the soldier pony's injury. He groaned deeply, his eyes flittering open, then shutting every few seconds. "These, look like teeth marks. From a small mammal." Twilight said slowly. A couple red flags were starting to fly free in her mind.

Rarity, Spike, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, meanwhile stood to the side, looking dismayed and distraught. Like much of the crowd, they were unsure of how to help.

"Heavens! Quick, somepony get to Ponyville General Hospital! Tell Nurse Redheart to have a room ready and some medics out here as soon as possible!" Fluttershy instructed. "I need somepony to help me look after him until then." She started inspecting him for further injuries while Twilight stood up again.

"Rainbow, Pinkie Pie, you two are the fastest, could you–"

Rainbow held up her hoof. "Say no more Twilight! We'll head over to the hospital, pronto!" she assured her. Pinkie Pie nodded eagerly in agreement, then the two sped off to get help. The crowd parted for them, while a few even offered their assistance to Fluttershy and Applejack, should they be needed.

Twilight and Rarity decided to get some answers in the mean time. "What happened to you guys? What's going on in Canterlot?" Twilight asked.

"Is there actually a riot going on, in Canterlot? Surely its not possible!" Rarity added, flabbergasted.

The pegasus stepped up, shaking her head. "I don't want to believe it either, but Canterlot has become a waking nightmare! Everyone in the Royal Castle has sealed themselves off from the rest of the city. We've heard nothing of what's going on inside, other than the fact that Celestia, Discord, Luna, and all their soldiers were fighting and exterminating something within its halls. But in the streets..."

"A riot wouldn't even come close to this. Perfectly normal citizens just started turning on each other. It was a bloodbath when we fled." The bat pony stated grimly. She saw the look on Twilight and Rarity's faces, and hastily continued. "Our entire garrison was overrun, first by rampaging citizens..."

The pegasus cringed and covered her ears as the Nightguard continued, lowering her voice to a whisper so the crowd would not her what she had to say next. "Then these undead creatures. Twisted, gory abominations. Sharpened bone, unnatural limbs, teeth, tendrils, all tangles of rotting flesh."

"Dead things...like zombies, but far worse! Not even ponies anymore...!" the Royal Courier whimpered.

"Our officers gave the order to retreat from the capital once those creatures started showing up." the Nightguard explained, looking forlorn. "A few of us thought they were some new type of Changelings at first. But Changelings don't tear fully grown guardsponies in half, like it were nothing...they just don't!"

Twilight felt every hair stand on end, and the field of red flags in her mind was now as big as the entirety of Sweet Apple Acres. She remembered one of the alien findings having been sent to Canterlot. It hadn't been one of the alien powder canisters, but some kind of dark stone carving. However, the two could somehow be connected all the same, along with her nightmare. Twilight's eyes narrowed, and her pupils became dilated with adrenaline.

"Cr...creatures you say? What else happened, can you truly be certain that the Princesses are alright?" Rarity urgently asked.

Spike folded his arms and took a deep breath, managing to remain calm. "I'm sure they're fine, Rarity! The Royal Guards would never let anything happen to either of them, plus they have Discord on their side! They could stop anything!" he assured her.

"The Princesses are indeed alive, fighting those things." The Nightguard flashed the ghost of a smile at Spike. "You're right about Discord, little dragon. There's no way in Tartarus anything except Chrysalis or Sombra themselves could best Mistress Luna, her sister, and the Draconequus' combined might."

"About the crisis: as far as I can tell, everything began in the Royal Conservatory, then spread outward from there as the night panned out." the unicorn guard interjected. "There were large numbers of civilian fatalities and rampaging lunatics, but there wasn't a whole lot of those creatures, later on." The unicorn paused, shaking his head as he recollected what he had seen.

"What else can you tell us? " Twilight inquired.

The bat pony took over again. "A lot of the monsters seemed to explode or disintegrate whenever one of the others tried to make a new creature out of a deceased pony, especially if the reanimated host was a former unicorn. Besides that, the officers mentioned the military was mobilizing, and that they had lost contact with the expedition in the Badlands. Meanwhile, a bunch of lights in the night sky have started popping up. Weird ones, and a lot of them, too."

"The entire military?" Applejack questioned, looking up from the wounded guard's bite wound with shock. "Why, the last time that happened was when muh Granny Smith was still my age!" Fluttershy was working to keep the bite clean, until the medics arrived. She didn't look up, but she had an ear cocked, listening carefully.

The bat pony nodded at her. "Oh yeah. The Royal Army, the Guard, the Battlemage's Corps; I even saw a half-dozen air ships with the Air Force insignia, speeding in from Cloudsdale and Vanhoover while we were going down the mountain. They had pegasi sky chariots and a few infantry squadrons escorting them; a fully armed air fleet!"

"Once we received our orders, and saw those fly boys coming in, we got out of there as fast as we could to the rendezvous point out by Saddle lake. Then on the road in the early morning, these...these things, they ambushed us! One of em' bit our guy over there." The uninjured unicorn guard interjected, his voice trembling. "He's been odd like this ever since."

"These 'things', are they the same unidentified organisms you encountered in Canterlot? If Daring Do's people have gone silent in the Badlands crash site, that means this problem extends well beyond Canterlot itself. I need to know everything, now!" Twilight demanded.

The guard held up his forelegs defensively. "Believe us, those creatures were definitely undead! But these things on the road...they were something else. They looked like mammals...small woodland creatures, but something was wrong with em'. Their blood was kind of green and viscous, and they had these creepy growths all over their bodies. Sick with something, probably. Only Celestia knows what." He pointed at his bat pony comrade. "Me and Sable here had to slay the darn things after Blitz got bit."

By now, Fluttershy had risen up from tending to the unicorn named Blitz. His mithril armor, its golden finish covered in rivulets of blood but still able to reflect the Sun's light, was off and laying in the grass beside him. A group of medics had appeared with Rainbow and Pinkie Pie in tow, and the crowd was already parting to make room. Most of them had already dispersed, having seen their fill of the morbid sight a thousand times over.

Fluttershy shook her head slowly as she stared at Sable, the other unicorn, and their Royal Courier companion. "Umm, your friend will survive, I don't see any sign of an infection at the moment. But...Canterlot...the monsters you described...Those animals...oh!" Her eyes started to mist over, and her lip quivered. Rarity quickly stepped in and put a foreleg around her shoulder, looking at Twilight worriedly, while the medics took over.

They were rapidly firing out questions and working Blitz onto a stretcher. Applejack sighed and bowed her head in bewilderment, ears flattened, as Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash came up asking her for details.

In the meantime, Sable instructed the pegasi courier to fetch something from her bag, and she eventually produced a Royal Guard's helmet. Sable took it and held it out for Twilight to see. "About the Canterlot creatures. I think they're dying off quickly, and won't be a problem soon, thanks to the Sisters. But we believe this, is how they created more of themselves." she declared, before tossing the helmet to Twilight. Sable and the others were then lead away towards the hospital for evaluation. Twilight's eyes widened in horror as she analyzed the helmet itself.

It was stained heavily with dried, congealed blood. At the top of the helmet, near the Corinthian plume, was a jagged hole, punched straight through the metal with violent force. A proboscis type limb, likely from one of the undead beasts themselves, fell from the helmet when she tipped it to the side. Upon inspection, Twilight discovered it, unsurprisingly, to be an exact match for the puncture hole.

Twilight shook her head slowly as she gave the helm a final cursory glance, then gathered up Spike and headed back home. Fluttershy and the others did the same, while Twilight planned to go about analyzing the mysterious monster's limb, and see if she could track down the escaped mole, Digger. She was hoping with all her might, that the other creatures the Guard described had nothing to do with her powder experiments, or Spike's pet escaping to who knows where.

In fact, Twilight was already convinced that whatever had bitten the guard named Blitz, was nothing more than a rabid animal. Or, at the worst, one of the Canterlot abominations his healthy comrades had so vividly described.

A Drone shifted in annoyance at his station, as he felt the Theron breathing down his neck. The much taller Sharqoui was looking at the data on his console screen. The Theron was silent for a moment, as he took in the reports on the creatures they called Necromorphs. With a deep rasping hiss, he finally spoke.

"Already, in the Equine's capital city?" He and the Drones shared a sinister laugh, one that could only come from cold-hearted beings whom Daring Do guessed must enjoy crushing pretty flowers underfoot as a past time.

"Anomaly!" One Drone snarled. "Something's preventing reanimation in hosts. Marker spreads waves of madness. But, few Necromorphs!"

Nearby, Daring Do winced as she heard fists pound against a hard surface for the second time that day. "Worthless, empty husks!" the Theron hissed with annoyance. He paused and fumed for several seconds, then said, "Minor inconvenience. Section two! The Xenomorph parasite. Status!"

With their ever present sneers, the Drones replied, "Scanning!"

Zooming through the cloud banks over Northwestern Equestria, Lightning Dust was in a bad way.

Not only had she barely survived an attack by some unknown creature back in Ponyville, it had done something to weaken her. Sweat beaded on her fur, only to have it turn to tiny ice crystals, which fluttered off into the air.

Lightning's muscles and abdomen burned fiercely, as if she had been standing up against a piece of half-molten metal. Was it a poison perhaps? Lightning Dust presumed so, but all she could do to deal with her present situation, was bury it under a tirade of profanity, curses, and bitter mumbling at everything around her. The legitimacy of the parentage of several clouds' moms had been brought into question, some had been compared to quite vulgar things, and many more clouds had been accused by Lightning of being Rainbow Dash's "spies", who had come to mock at her misfortune.

To make matters worse, a small fleet of aerial warships had slowed her down with reporting back to her post at Cloudsdale. They said they were inbound towards Canterlot, and nobody from that direction was allowed towards Cloudsdale airspace without official business. They had told her to divert to a Courier depot at the nearby Rainbow Falls, high in the Smokey Mountains after she made her delivery in Cloudsdale, where she was not allowed to remain for too long. They never stated why, although Daring guessed Twilight's alien might have something to do with it.

Since they were clearly Air Force, Lightning Dust had begrudgingly obliged. She delivered the remaining powdery-snow canister thingies (which she called, for lack of a better term) to Cloudsdale, and was now en route to the lofty hamlet.

When she touched down in the town's square, Lightning started to feel something strange stir inside her rib cage. It felt almost as if she had eaten an oversized meal. A few of the locals noticed her sickly complexion, but didn't think much of it. Nobody there had yet heard of the incident in Canterlot, but everyone was aware of the sudden military mobilization. The entire town was buzzing about it, a few assumed that a foreign power from overseas had begun to invade.

Nobody could have expected that a completely different type of invasion was under foot. No sooner had Lightning Dust entered the depot for her next mail run, it had begun.

The young Xenomorph Queen that exploded out of the pegasus' chest was already of impressive size. Unfurling her black armored body, and standing at her true stature, it had been a miracle of biology that her host had been strong enough to carry her this far. Ponies screamed in terror as she shook blood off of herself like a wet dog, regaining her bearings and analyzing her surroundings.

Underneath her massive, elongated dragon-like head, the Queen experimentally flexed her two pairs of segmented arms. Next, four powerful hoofed legs stamped at the ground, causing Dust's now limp form to jolt about, while a long barbed tail bobbed back and forth behind the Queen. Lastly, with a flourish, the Xenomorph opened up her pair of wings: as black as night and rimmed with acid-tipped spikes. Raising her head, she emitted an ear piercing shriek that echoed loudly down the mountainside, before setting about destroying and attacking everything and everyone around her vicinity.

In the alien environment of Equis, Rainbow Falls would be the epicenter for this Queen's new hive. And in time, her armies.

Back on the crashed Sharqoui vessel, their comrades up in the Armada were relaying them orbital images and recordings of scenes from both Canterlot, various stretches of wilderness, and Rainbow Falls. In Canterlot, the remains of failed Necromorph hosts twitched and flailed about on the ground, convulsing. Citizens, still very much alive, were ranting and raving as they attacked both the Necromorphs and each other with a myriad of weapons, and some with even their own bare hooves.

Only one slowly moving image from Rainbow Falls was produced. The Theron recognized it instantly as a variant of a Xenomorph Queen, almost fully matured. Daring Do could see the Queen from her position, and could not identify her, but she could easily tell what her victims were.

The Queen was in the crushed remains of a structure, and she had her head reared, her inner jaws punching through the skull of a Royal Guard she was grappling, who's glittering blade was falling limply from his teeth. Blood gushed everywhere. Another one, a courier, was hanging lifelessly from a spike in the alien's right wing. A third pony was dangling, unconscious, in one of the Queen's free arms.

Taking the image in, Daring could almost swear it must have been symbolic for something. Whatever that might be, the implications for Equestria were surely not positive. Her rage grew as The Theron continued to laugh. A faint yellow glow popped up all around her circulatory system.

"Xenomorphs are like kin. They are not those mindless husks, built only to infect." the commanding Sharqoui proclaimed. "They are cunning. Warlike. Majestic." He moved away from the Drone's station and proceeded back to his throne-like chair. Sitting now, he clasped his talons together in contemplation. "Perhaps they will be the source of the living weapon, we sought for centuries."

That was when Daring Do snorted out air, building up aggression in her mind. It made a loud enough sound to bring attention to herself.

At last, the Theron slowly turned his sneer and piercing eyes onto Daring Do for the first time. Her aggression and anger did not abate, but her blood still chilled when she looked him in the eyes, beady slits full of wild savagery. Daring felt like an idiot, having originally mistaken the Sharqoui's stares for curiosity. In reality, their stares conveyed a cruel, almost condescending delight in the suffering of what they deemed as "lesser" sapient creatures.

"Equine..." he hissed, addressing her. "I am aware you have taken some of the Precursor powder off our vessel for study."

Daring Do glowered at him as she stood up on all fours. "What's the matter, you mad we stole some more of your precious 'weapons'?"

"Nooo, pleased. You have served section three of our experiment well, equine. However, your task remains incomplete for three, as well as section four."

Immediately, she knew what the alien meant. "We're not moving the rest of the powder off your ship and onto our native soil. I don't know what in Tartarus that stuff is for, or what it does, but if it's causing the carnage in Canterlot, you can kiss my uncooperative–"

"You have no choice." The Theron hissed with an ever higher pitch, rising from his seat. He sounded like wind, whipping through a desert.

"What's going on?" A pony suddenly asked. All the other archaeologists were now either alert, or beginning to wake up. Like Daring, their blood vessels and arteries were beginning to subtly glow. "Daring Do, did these extraterrestrials capture us?" The pony who asked the question tensed up, sensing Daring Do's body language to be a sign to prepare for a fight. "Those barbarians..."

All Drones noticed the rising aggression in the bridge. Two of them rose to subdue the pegasus before she could try anything. The second one closed in, just as the Imulsion inside Daring Do's arteries flared to life. She let out a bloodcurdling roar, then spun in a wide arc. Her hind legs met the chest of the advancing Drone. The Sharqoui let out a gurgling groan as he went flying backwards into a console, smashing it to pieces. The Drone was dead, every bone in its body having been completely shattered by Daring's impact.

For a few seconds, the Sharqoui stared around in dismay, unsure of what was happening and confused. The Equestrians seized the advantage. "Overrun the crew, take their weapons!" Daring shouted, flaring her wings. At once, the two species began springing at each other in confusing, jumbled melee. Two more Drones were smashed to death in a similar manner as the first, and the third was about to be killed by his own shock baton a unicorn was levitating, before a loud burst of energy tore through the room.

The unicorn screamed as his body disintegrated into an ash pile. Daring and everyone else froze, then looked up. It was the Theron. He held an energy pistol of some design in his talons, its barrel still burning white hot.

"There is beauty in struggle." The Theron declared. "Strife breeds the mightiest of a species, rooting out their weakness. You, Daring Do, are you the mightiest of your race?" The Theron stowed his sidearm away at his hip, then waited patiently for her response. His poor pronunciation of her name with his shrill, raspy voice would have been comical, under different circumstances.

"Just what nonsense are you getting at now?" Daring Do demanded. Drones had drawn their own pistols, and few were aiming bulky rifles with wicked bayonets affixed to them.

"What the Kantus revealed to you. Imulsion. Section four." Daring noticed a jagged sword on the other side of the Theron's belt that she hadn't seen before. Without warning, the Sharqoui drew the blade. It's metal ringed in the air, then made contact with the softer hide of his palm. It slid across, carving a small gash from which a lambent yellow ichor flowed out freely.

Then, in the span of a heartbeat, the Theron seized Daring's foreleg, and slashed a similar cut. The pegasi treasure hunter's pulse quickened as she let out a yelp. Daring Do waited for the crimson rush that would surely pour out. To her amazement, it was shown instead to be like the alien's, yellow and bio-luminescent like that of a deep sea creature. The wound soon closed itself, further suspending her disbelief. Clearly, the Imulsion had not been merely her imagination. "What's happening? What does this mean, alien?"

"We are one in the same now, Equestrian Daring Do. You will fulfill sections three and four, and disperse the rest of the powder around this world. Your land will bear witness to the rise of what Sapiens and other inferiors would know only as, the 'Flood'. Our Kantus is already seeing to the rest." The Theron pointed to the armed Drones. "Get them to the cargo hold, ensure every canister is accounted for. Our entire payload must be deployed to the ground, along with the Primordial, before we can rejoin the Armada!"

"Yes leader!"

As the Sharqoui marched their prisoners out of the bridge deck, the Theron kept Daring Do around for one final moment. He gave his sword and its sheath to her. She blinked at it, uncomprehending. "What in the world are you doing?"

"Consider this blade, a token of my admiration for your fierce tenacity."

"What's to stop me from burying it in your gut right now, you towering reptilian freak?"

He chortled, and merely continued as he pointed to his sidearm. "However futile, that tenacity may have been. If any of your species survives the Equis experiment, you will likely be visited by our Great Enemy, with time. If that time so dawns, then you will have your chance for vengeance, equine."

The Drones started to lead Daring Do away to join the others. As they did so, the Theron said his final words. "You, all of you who blundered into here this day, you are section four, our control variable. The Imulsion will render you immune to all other sections of the experiment. An experiment, that will show our true might as a master species, capable of harnessing the multiverse's most deadliest species. Remember this, equine. Through our evolution, we have become as timeless and powerful as any of the beings you may fear and worship."

Daring laughed bitterly as she exited the bridge. "Then you must not know of the magic the inhabitants of this world wield, and what types of entities that magical energy attracts. It's something your arrogant alien ass will never be able grasp!" The Drones marching her out chuckled, misinterpreting her words as some kind of taunt, given their own complete indifference to both the Equinoid alien and her people's languages.

Engrossed as he was with the data from his leader GARM, the Theron had not heard any portion of her warning.

After several minutes, everyone was lead off the crashed ship, with the remaining powder cylinders in hoof. Daring Do rushed back to her command tent, where many of the other heads of the xenoarchaeological project had been sitting paranoid for quite some time.

"Where in Celestia's name were all of you? We've heard nothing from the outside world, I think something's jamming our wireless!" One of the scientists stated frantically.

Another was standing near the entrance flap, pointing out at the bright afternoon sky above. "The Moon is still out of whack, and I think I see things moving up there. Some kind of unnatural lights, a whole swarm of em'!"

Others bombarded her similar questions or observations. Daring Do, however, remained quiet as she stared at some of the powder cylinders. Suddenly, a massive shaking of the earth around them silenced everyone. The tent rattled, and great cloud of dust kicked up in the camp outside. They all rushed out to see what was happening. It was the Sharqoui spacecraft.

The ship was rising from its crash site, levitating in the air and orienting itself at new altitudes. Finally, with a massive firing of its thrusters, the cylindrical starship sped off into the atmosphere, disappearing behind a large blanket of black clouds one of the volcanic vents in the distance had belched forth a few hours ago. The sound barrier ruptured in the vessel's backwash.

With it gone, Daring got to work explaining everything she now knew, to the entire camp. Just the ship taking off without warning, and her slightly glowing body alone, were ample proof for them all. After that, other things had to be done, urgently.

Before the entire ship had vanished, a smaller light had appeared from its hull, likely some kind of pod carrying cargo. Tracing its trajectory back in her command tent, and cross referencing it with her map of the Kingdom, Daring estimated that the object would make impact somewhere in the Whitetail Woods, the great forest bordering Ponyville's western extremes.

Whatever it was, she only knew that it had something to do with what the Sharqoui had called section three, of their genocidal experiment. Something involving a race, or entity, known only as the Flood. Whatever their origins, the canisters not only contained a desiccated alien powder, but also the secrets behind the mysterious and potentially deadly Flood, and perhaps what was happening in Canterlot.

"Miss Do, the radios are working again. I'm hearing nothing from Canterlot or Princess Celestia, but Cloudsdale and Stalliongrad are urgently requesting a status report from us; the army is on high alert, possibly over the aliens. They won't confirm that, though." A pony wearing a comm headset explained, hesitating. "What should we tell them?"

Daring had to regain contact with Twilight Sparkle as soon as possible, they both had to warn the entire planet, before time ran out. She gave a quick glance at the alien's sword she had brought back, which was laying on the tabletop next to her. Seeing it caused Daring's many veins to glow subtly with Imulsion under her fur, which startled a few of the ponies nearest her.

Parting her lips to speak, she gave her order firmly, her voice slightly different from normal. "Tell them to prepare, and to try and get Twilight Sparkle on the horn ASAP. The 'Flood', whatever it may be, will soon be upon us all." Daring then looked at the alien cylinders nearby.

"Screw the Flood's secrets. Toss every one of these damn things into the magma."

Chapter 9: Nightmare Express

“That uh, that can't possibly be a good sign,” Spike said worriedly.

“Oh no! How, in what manner, how exactly…did it get out?” Twilight stammered, standing on the stair landing with a horrified look. Her saddlebag dropped onto the ground where she stood.

Both stormed into the cellar laboratory, heading towards the middle of the room. The receptacle that had once housed the alien specimen was now without its magical shield. All that remained was the opened egg, a small pool of strange slime, and the shriveled body of the alien itself. A mere sight of it was enough to cause Spike to take several steps back.

“Oh man, that stuff stinks!” he said, pinching his nose. The dragon could barely keep his last meal down.

“Maybe the alien turned into something smart enough that it knew how to escape the barrier,” Twilight guessed, mortified. She did a double take at the corpse. “Nevertheless, our environment must have killed the thing. How unfortunate.”

The tone of her voice and her appearance registered wrong with Spike, who eyed her with a worried expression. “Twilight…forget the alien for a moment, take a look at yourself!”

Spike picked up a small mirror lying on a dusty shelf, and Twilight levitated it over to her face. She gasped.

Looking into the mirror, Twilight was tapping and rubbing her two forehooves together with an almost neurotic fervor, and her coat looked noticeably paler, with patches having changed from the color of a mulberry to faded pink. However, there was no sign of any green bioluminescent glow from the past few days.

“Ok, keep it together Twilight,” she muttered to herself, sighing. “You’re just under a lot of stress.”

“A lot,” Spike agreed with a frown. “Are you okay, do you need anything? Just say the word!”

Twilight set the mirror back on its shelf and gave her assistant a small smile. “I’ll be fine, Spike. Head back up if you want, I just have to clean this up and perform a few brief tests.”

“Ok,” Spike replied, hesitantly making his way out.

Twilight followed him up for a second to retrieve her bag, and then descended back down to the location of the former alien containment field. After taking tissue samples of the alien egg’s external shell and the organism’s body, as well as a vial of its gooey slime, Twilight disposed of the entire specimen with contained magical fire, removing any trace of it.

With that complete, Twilight took the proboscis from an unidentified Canterlot creature and the punctured helmet she had both received from the retreating guards out of her bag and set them on a table. She took a brief gander at them, took down some notes, and then walked over to a magic-powered communication device she seldom ever used.

The screen projector flickered on, catching dust motes in the light of its beam. Twilight made a mental note to clean the place thoroughly once everything was sorted out.

Twilight was still apprehensive over her alien’s escape and subsequent demise as she pondered over who she should try to contact first. Canterlot was her first choice, she could hopefully learn more about the situation up there in addition to reporting recent findings on the aliens straight to Celestia.

Not only that, but talking with her mentor would bring ease of mind as valuable to her as water is to travelers in the Saddle Arabian deserts.

Twilight accessed the known channels used by Royal Officials. There was a brief thirty seconds where she was expecting the calm and composed faces of Luna or Celestia to appear, to no avail. Each additional channel Twilight tried greeted her with nothing but dead air, emergency alert icons, or ghostly white screens of blank oblivion. She hit the table in frustration, causing the communicator and everything else on the table to jolt slightly.

“Come on, somepony pick up. Pick up!” she grumbled. For a moment, her thoughts drifted to Shining Armor and Cadence. At least they were safe in the Crystal Empire, far from whatever was afflicting Canterlot and the surrounding countryside. However, whatever reassurance that fact provided was nearly outdone by the realization that Twilight’s parents were likely still in the capital.

In addition, A.K. Yearling – Daring Do, if one was privy to insider information – and her entire expedition had chosen the most inopportune time to drop out of contact with Canterlot. Despite what Sable and the other guards had said, Twilight partly suspected that it was the other way around. Perhaps Canterlot was the one deliberately cutting off contact with them.

Twilight attempted to contact several other channels in the city, both public and private. Nothing, not even a whisper was apparently coming out of the capital city of some one hundred thousand Equestrians. Just as she was about to give up, an incoming message from Cloudsdale caught her attention.

“Twilight Sparkle?” A blue uniformed female pegasus had appeared on screen, seated behind a lightly cluttered white desk.

“Yes, that’s me!” Twilight replied quickly, with mounting urgency in her wide-eyed gaze.

“This is Captain Spitfire of the Wonderbolts, Royal Air Force,” the pegasus proclaimed with a disciplined tone, stiffening her posture a bit and putting her forehooves together. “A.K. Yearling and her expedition regained contact with us some time ago, and she mentioned you by name. Are you and the Elements of Harmony in Ponyville?”

“We are, actually. Why, what’s going on in Canterlot? What were those hostile ‘undead’ creatures the retreating guards told us about?”

Spitfire remained largely stone-faced. “This ongoing crisis is very complex,” she answered simply. “The details are too sensitive to discuss over the network. But don’t worry, Canterlot is secure and we’re in the middle of cleaning things up. We’ll have to disclose the info to you and your friends in person there.”

“Sensitive?” Twilight replied, scowling at Spitfire’s insistent ambiguity. “Captain, by leaving me in the dark like this, you’re only making things more complicated!” Her previous urgency was giving way to frustration, as evident by the fire in her eyes. “Guards fleeing Canterlot spoke of unknown, undead creatures that I bet could put a bloodthirsty hydra to shame!” She levitated the proboscis and helmet into view. "Look at this!"

Twilight’s expressions seemed to have some effect, as the Wonderbolt relented a bit. “Alright, I will give you this: Yearling’s outfit has stumbled upon something huge after you guys left, and it just so happens to pertain to all the rumors I’m sure the Ponyvillians have been hearing. Also…uh…something Yearling dubbed ‘the Flood’ is wreaking havoc. She told us to prepare, and mentioned you by name.”

Twilight could tell by her body language that Spitfire had much more to say, but her position must not have allowed it. “I see…ok. So, where do the Elements and I come into the picture?”

“A train will arrive and send you all straight to Canterlot tomorrow; all the railroad lines in the region have been put under military control to help us secure the capital.” Spitfire sighed. “Long story short, once you’re there, we’ll all be on the same page. Maybe you six will be able to help us, somehow.”

Spitfire drank from a coffee mug next to her lamp, and then set it down. Twilight noted that her grip on the cup had been noticeably shaky, and that the officer was going to great lengths to try and control it. To make it unnoticeable. What Spitfire would never admit, was that she was beginning to see more and more desperate, wild stares like Twilight’s with each passing hour. It was a trend propagating itself like wildfire among her Air Force comrades.

“Well, I won’t take up any more of your time, Twilight Sparkle,” Spitfire said. “Send Rainbow Dash my warm regards, Spitfire out.”

“Wait, I…” Twilight held up her hoof, but the screen had already changed to display an image of the Equestrian flag. She sighed as the national anthem echoed around the confines of the lab before the channel turned to static.

“‘A very complex crisis.’ ‘Too sensitive to discuss’. Yeah, that’s wonderful to know,” Twilight muttered. “I better break the news to the girls.”

When Twilight did just that a half-hour later, the others had nodded, and insisted that she take a load off. It was one of the best ways to ensure that she would be ready for the following day’s trip. In an attempt to stop herself from worrying so much and follow her friends’ advice, Twilight decided to spend the rest of the day running errands and performing her duties as the town’s librarian. All the cares of the world seemed to fade away for a time while in the musky smells of old tomes, and the paragraphs of generations of Equestrian authors and scholars.

Evening came and the Sun began to set. Just before retiring to bed, Twilight discovered at her window, much to her relief, that the Moon had finally begun to behave normally again, which must have meant Celestia and Luna were still performing their Royal duties as usual. At least, this is what Twilight deducted.

Whatever the case, it helped her get some much-needed sleep.

“Ah’m telling you, Twi. Something ain’t quite right with Winona,” Applejack stated as she, Twilight and the others made their way towards Ponyville’s train station. “Some of her fur started falling out overnight…Ah’m really startin’ to regret given her that alien powder.”

“Indeed, I do as well with my Opal,” Rarity added with a note of despair. “Cats and dogs must be allergic to the powder like yourself, Twilight.”

Given Spike’s recent shenanigans, Twilight had decided to leave him, Owlowicious, and the Golden Oak Library in the safekeeping of Cheerilee while she and the others were gone in Canterlot, since school was out for spring break.

“Well girls, I tried to warn you that it would be risky.” Twilight replied. “I’m…I’m sure they’ll be fine. Just be sure treat any rash or other symptom you see when we get back, and it should go away like mine did.” She turned to Fluttershy. “How is Angel? Please tell me he’s an exception.”

To her relief, Fluttershy smiled. “Actually, Angel bunny is doing as good as ever. There’s no sign in the world that anything’s amiss with him.” She looked at Rarity and Applejack sadly. “Unlike your animals, girls. Sorry to hear.”

“Ah shucks, Winona’s tough, and Opalescence has enough feistiness in him to stave off an army. Our pets will be fine in no time.” Applejack assured Rarity.

“Should have listened to Twilight in the first place,” Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath, strolling alongside Pinkie Pie. “Never expose your pets to alien narcotics!”

“Rainbow!” Pinkie Pie hissed sharply, causing everyone to look at her. She smiled. “Everypony knows the powder wasn’t that, silly. They were obviously canisters of baking soda, and the aliens were space dentists who didn’t care for toothpaste!”

“Right…okay,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned.

“Girls, Spitfire was extremely vague about what we were going to find up there in the city,” Twilight informed them, pausing for a second. “Considering what we saw with Sable and her fellow guards, try to prepare in whatever way you can, preparation never hurt anypony.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack nodded firmly. Fluttershy gulped, and both Pinkie and Rarity had uncertain frowns.

“Just ready yourself and everything should go fine. We’ll then, off we go.” Twilight gestured ahead, hearing the sound of a locomotive engine.

They had finally reached the station. As expected, the train was already waiting at the platform. What was less expected, however, were the groups of soldiers and police officers that populated the cars and the platform, as well as the gun turret emplacement installed on the roof of the caboose.

Assorted military equipment and supplies were festooned about the Friendship Express, their forest camouflage sharply clashing with the vibrant paint schemes of the civilian vehicle. Rarity’s eyes narrowed at the visual disparity, but she said nothing, observantly noting that most of the mares and stallions in front of them were armed, and the Royal soldiers were garb in full body armor.

All strict business.

“Quite a welcome wagon,” Rainbow Dash remarked, noticing that there were far fewer citizens bustling around the station than usual, instead replaced by the soldiers and cops now guarding it.

“Uhh, this is the train to Canterlot, right?” Fluttershy asked no one in particular. She was a bit hesitant by the sudden presence of the Equestrian Royal Army, which typically kept to itself on the frontiers of Equestria in peacetime, where it maintained many forts, bases, and border outposts.

Pinkie Pie made eye contact with the soldiers nearest her and rubbed at her mane, puzzled. “Weird, none of you guys are sad looking, but you aren’t smiling happy either! What gives? You remind me of my sister, Maud! I bet you would all like her!” Given their limited contact with civilians over the years, some of the soldiers were rather phlegmatic. Those in earshot met Fluttershy’s question and Pinkie Pie’s comments with curious looks, or simply retained their impassive expressions that almost made them seem bored.

As the six friends waited for the conductor or someone else in charge to greet them, a duo of military police wearing silver guard helmets blew their whistles. They stood at the entrance to the front most passenger car, and parted to make way for an officer, standing at attention as they did so.

“Colonel Davenport, sir, great to see you!” One of the royal soldiers greeted. He and his comrades gave him a salute, clunking their hooves against their green helmets. Davenport returned the salute, and then approached Twilight and her friends. Surprised, she studied his uniform as he strode towards them.

Davenport had traded the blue vest he ordinarily wore while running Quills and Sofas for a blue officer’s jacket and a matching peaked cap. Compared to the camouflaged ballistics vests and silver mithril sets of body armor worn by the ponies under his command, Davenport’s appearance stuck out quite considerably.

“Davenport? Since when were you a soldier?” Twilight asked.

“Since before I opened my store,” the Colonel replied. “When Canterlot went to Tartarus for one reason or another, the top brass over in Stalliongrad offered me my old post back.” He gestured to the patrolling soldiers around him. “Business has been slow lately, anyhow.” Davenport looked to the girls behind Twilight, and smiled lightly. “Well now, look’s I’ll be you’re conductor for the day. No need for tickets, we know the Elements of Harmony when we see em’. All aboard!”

Applejack nodded to the Colonel and led the others to the nearest passenger car while Twilight lingered for a moment. “Spitfire told me next to nothing about what’s really going on up there,” she explained to Davenport. “Is it really safe to enter?”

The Colonel was quiet for a moment as he looked at a nearby group of police ponies. One of them was talking into their radio about something, and the other two were scowling. When the stallion clipped the radio back to his belt, the police officers all nodded soberly at each other, notched their hats, and left the station in a quick trot for their squad carriages.

Davenport’s attention then returned to Twilight. “Haven’t seen it myself yet, Miss Sparkle, but I know for sure my comrades secured it,” he answered in a low voice, his face unreadable. He gestured to the train. “Relax, enjoy your ride. Holler if you need something. I’ve got the dining car serving up an all-you-can-eat omelette bar, if you’re interested. Hey, you fellas get ready over there, time to muster out!”

Twilight frowned as the earth pony left to order a large group of soldiers handling baggage. She made her way onboard the train, frustrated at the military’s continued ambiguity. Inside, she was able to make out Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s voices excitedly announcing their discovery of the breakfast buffet. It was enough to put a smile on her face, even despite the recent predicaments.

After a mountain of egg dishes, sundaes, orange juice, and many other treats of the morning, the six friends took seats in the middle passenger car. Twilight decided to sit near a window by herself, feeling the subtle rattle of the tracks beneath her as she watched the outskirts of Ponyville dart passed. Some rather unusual sights caught her attention. On her side of the train – the eastern side – Twilight could see everything from Saddle Lake to Canterlot.

Many of the roads had little of the typical civilian traffic, and were occupied by the occasional military convoy or checkpoint. A quartet of zeppelins, silver-colored hulks, held position above Canterlot, with a fifth using the tallest spire of Canterlot Castle as a mooring mast. A few patrol boats dotted the pristine lake, and roving squads of soldiers, police, Royal Guards, and armed volunteers could be seen patrolling the countryside while pegasi kept watch overhead.

“Twilight!” Hearing her name caused Twilight to jolt with surprise.

“Whah! Huh?” Turning to look at the aisle, Twilight saw Pinkie Pie staring at her. The jovial mare wore a conspiratorial grin on her face.

“Twilight, the radio ponies left their door cracked open!” She pointed down at the end of the car to small closed off compartment. “You can hear all kinds of super cool secret stuff if you’re quiet!”

Twilight lowered her voice to match Pinkie’s whisper. “Really? Show me!”

“This way!” Pinkie slinked away towards the compartment. Twilight looked in both directions nervously, and then followed her friend’s lead.

Sure enough, the door had been left ajar. Twilight could just make out the shadowy room beyond. A monitor screen showed a tactical map of the entire continent, and the smaller lights of several instruments and communication devices glimmered like Hearth’s Warming Eve decorations amidst neat bunches of wiring. Two unicorns wearing headsets were seated in front of the consoles, operating the equipment. True to Pinkie Pie’s word, she and Twilight could make out snippets of radio chatter and the voices of the two radio ponies themselves.

“Blech, just like popcorn at the ol’ carnival…”

“Wait…look sharp, look sharp! We got Twitchers coming out of the tree line.”

“Hang in there, 31st. Heavy air support is inbound.”

“What do you mean lay down suppressive fire? We can’t suppress these things! That one doesn’t even have its fucking head anymore!”

“It’s a hit! The bridge is down. Let’s see those freaks try and get to Rambling Rock now!”

Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie with an uncertain frown. “Twitchers?”

“I dunno.” Pinkie Pie shrugged, then cupped a hoof to her ear. “But now I want some popcorn!”

“Affirmative, Cloudsdale, we’ve got a positive IFF on Bandersnatch. Coordinates received, t-minus sixty seconds out. Please confirm?”

“Confirmed. Prepping for assault.”

“This is Capital, reporting in. Looks like Discord has things in the bag up here. Suggest you keep close watch on the tracks, though. Things are about to get real bright out there.”

“Copy that, Capital.”

“Looks like Canterlot might be safe after all,” Pinkie Pie said to Twilight, smiling. “If Discord’s helping, I feel sorry for whatever baddies decided to give Canterlot a nasty day!” Before Twilight could answer, Pinkie let out an involuntary sneeze.

“What was that?” One of the radio ponies asked.

“Beats me,” his compatriot replied.

The first one got up, and approached the door. Twilight and Pinkie Pie froze as the soldier spotted them immediately. To their surprise and relief, the unicorn said nothing, and only glared at the two for a second before firmly closing the door shut.

“Oops, my bad,” Pinkie Pie said. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry, Pinkie. At least we know for sure that Canterlot is safe.” Twilight answered.

Both of them made their way back to their seats, when Rainbow Dash caught their attention. “Guys, you gotta see this! It’s the Air Force!” She and the others were gathered around a window, and Rainbow pointed towards the sky. A squadron of warplanes was speeding off to the west at full speed. “I think they’re bombers…”

Some soldiers drew the girls’ attention away from the window. “Trust me, Elements; you might want to cover your eyes for a sec,” a sergeant declared.

“Why, exactly? What’s happe…” Rarity’s question was stopped in mid-sentence as a blindingly bright light suddenly entered through the western facing windows of the traincar. Everyone instinctively ducked and shielded their faces with their forelegs.

“It's the Boom!” A soldier shouted.

“The what?” Applejack cried.

As the light faded, a large rumble shook the train. Luggage fell into the aisle from shelves hanging above, and some of the occupants of the train let out yelps and shrieks. Like the light, however, the shockwave was quick to pass, and soon everything was calm again. Rainbow Dash looked at the nearest soldiers, then to Twilight, bewildered.

“That must have been…”

“An Atomic Rainbomb!” Twilight finished for her, rushing back to the window. The others joined her. Everyone beheld the ominous sight of a rainbow-colored mushroom cloud rising over the distant peaks of the Unicorn Range. “AJ? Any idea where exactly they just dropped it?”

“Too far. Hard to tell, Twi. Ah think Rainbow Falls was out that way.”

Rainbow’s expression darkened, and she quickly closed the gap between herself and the army sergeant who had advised them on the light of the blast. “You just nuked own of our own towns, what in Tartarus! Have you jarheads all got a fucking screw loose?”

The earth pony mare held her hooves up defensively, taking a step back. “Hey, hey, take it easy!”

“Don’t you dare tell us to take it easy. An entire town of innocent ponies may just been destroyed!” Fluttershy growled, raising her voice for the first time in many months. “Explain yourselves!”

“Look, we know only as much as the Air Force and Intelligence will let us. I personally didn’t even know what province we were deployed in until I could see Canterlot from the train.” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash seemed to calm down a bit. “We’re in the dark like all of you.”

Before anything else could be said, Davenport burst in from the forward cars, brandishing a rifle. “Twitchers, in the tunnel up ahead!” he hollered. “Get to your posts!” The soldiers cocked their weapons, readied spells, and sprung to life. Twilight winced as she heard the turret on the caboose in back abruptly open fire at unseen targets. “Twilight Sparkle and company, you need to hold position here with these ponies. They got your backs. All of you, that means keep the Elements of Harmony and our radio room safe, is that clear?”

“Yessir!” Several soldiers chorused. Davenport nodded, and then filed past towards the caboose with his pair of military police.

“Alright everypony,” the sergeant mare said, catching the whole car’s attention. “Watch the windows. Twitchers pop up fast, and attack even faster. Some of them may be armed, so keep…” Before anyone could react, the window behind her shattered. A pony’s leg, gnarled and riddled with strange growths and patches of sickly greenish skin, appeared and put the sergeant in a vice-like chokehold. It dragged her out the window as bullets and energy bolts from the mare’s shouting comrades impacted the windowsill.

“Sarge is a goner! They got her!”

“Calm down, people! Hold this position!”

As the Friendship Express began to enter the darkness of the tunnel – part of the small network that crisscrossed the capital’s mountain – the infantry squad ushered Twilight and the others into the aisle, and took up formation around them, rising to their hind legs for firing stances. Everything was quiet for several seconds save for the click-clack of the rails and wheels below. Then, everyone’s gaze shifted to the ceiling.

Several sets of hooves began pounding across the roof, and the rear turret opened fire again. An alien shriek filled the air outside as figures and various melee weapons were seen falling off the sides of the cars.

One of the figures, however, seemed to be grappling itself rather than falling. His large size was apparent as he smashed his way into the car with a stone he wielded. The soldiers opened fire on the twitcher, managing to dislocate two of the stallion’s legs and bisect an upper corner of his skull. However, the mutated pony ignored them and continued without stopping as it stormed in Twilight’s direction. It nonchalantly batted the soldiers and her friends aside like toys, wailing like a banshee all the way. Many of them groaned from the impact.

Without hesitation, Twilight glared at the creature and fired an attack spell. The stallion finally halted and crumpled to the ground after the beam struck him square in the chest, damaging the fetid organs beneath and producing a foul stench.

While other twitchers continued to fall from the action of the train’s defenders, and the train itself finally exited the tunnel, flooding the cars with sunlight, Twilight was finally able to see in detail the features of the one that had eerily singled her out. This stallion was large, likely in the same weight range as Applejack’s brother. His tattered uniform revealed that he was – or had been – a royal soldier. Still slightly alive, the twitcher lived up to his military-assigned designation; the earth pony’s muscles spasmed at random intervals. Sores, fungus like growths, and patches of dead fur mired his body. More prominent growths lied on the back of his neck, in between the shoulder blades.

“What are you? The Flood that Spitfire spoke of? That Yearling and I found and retrieved from the starship?” Twilight demanded, seeing that the twitcher’s yellowed, dilated eyes were boring into hers intently. While Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the others helped the squad defend the car from more twitchers, it turned to look up at her.

“We? We are all things,” the creature proclaimed in a baritone pitch. “Prepare for the tides, for like water, we are.” The very way it moved its jaws to talk, suggested that twitcher was not speaking on its own behalf. Viscous green and white fluid exuded from its wounds.

Rarity let out a growl of disgust, and fired a beam of her own at the twitcher, killing it for good. Twilight blinked at her, surprised, while Rarity pointed to something. “Twilight, behind you!”

With a gasp, Twilight ducked. Rarity cast her attack spell again, but missed. A twitcher, clad in the remains of hiking gear, barreled towards them both and suddenly stopped to land on the corpse of the infected soldier. To both unicorns’ horror, the living twitcher shrieked and began consuming the fleshy growths of its deceased counterpart.

Twilight recognized the flakes of powder that seem to fall from its body as it continued its macabre feast. It was unable to finish, as someone in the car finally killed it with their pulse rifle. Everyone looked over at the shooter. Davenport stood at an entrance to the car once again, but from the opposite direction, the barrel of his rifle still smoking.

The Friendship Express’ two radio operators emerged from their closed compartment, wide-eyed. “Holy shit, so this is what we missed,” one said.

“Sweet Celestia, mother of mercy!” the other interjected, staring at the two dead twitchers near Twilight and Rarity.

“Colonel Davenport, what can you tell me about the Flood? Spitfire mentioned it when I talked to her yesterday,” Twilight said, narrowing her eyes and joining Rarity next to her friends.

“Far as I can tell, these freaks are it, your bona-fide ‘Flood’.” Davenport poked at the two corpses with his gun. “Not the same type of 'species' as the things that attacked Canterlot, that’s for sure. But then again, not too much different in behavior from them, either. The Twitcher Pathogen…whatever it is, spreads through bites, as far as we can tell.”

Everyone took an extra step back from the grotesque mess, at the mention of this.

“And the Rainbomb? Was it meant for the Flood?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“That? You'll have to take it up with Captain Spitfire or the higher Air Force Brass, Miss Dash. Your guess is as good as mine in that matter.” Rainbow Dash nodding begrudgingly, and took a seat next to Fluttershy.

“Once we reach Canterlot Station, torch these twitchers! All of them,” Davenport ordered to his soldiers. He then turned to the Elements of Harmony. “Speaking of which, we’re just about there. Just a heads up, pay close attention to wet floor signs in the city. I’ve heard reports that we've had more than a few injuries from soldiers slipping on all the leftover blood somepony still needs to clean up.”

Chapter 1: Scientific Curiosity

They could barely see the large alien object at first. The dust and ash of the region was in particularly high concentrations within this locality. The pesky particles billowed around everywhere, causing a thin film of grit and grime to form on the edges of the exploratory team’s goggles

Most of them had special wrappings around their hooves, both to protect them from particularly hot sections of terrain common in the Badlands, and to help them keep their goggle lenses clear.

This tedious process of moving, pausing to wipe one’s eyepieces, then resuming movement had been repeating on and off for several hours, until at last it finally paid off. The dust storm settled within the inactive caldera the ponies were currently situated. The Badlands were finally rewarding the group for their diligent march with a detailed glimpse of their quarry.

“It’s about friggin time we find that alien slag heap! This brimstone stuff is starting to really irritate my feathers!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed irritably under her hooded brown cloak, trudging alongside her friends through the volcanic sands as they approached the structure. “Couldn’t we have just taken sky chariots here?”

Rainbow was answered by a groan of annoyance from one of the unicorns at the front of their procession. “One word, Rainbow Dash. Dragons.”.

On the mare’s back, a purple-scaled young dragon chuckled as he craned his head to look at her, his face pulled into a impish grin. “Twilight’s right, Rainbow. Not every dragon is charming and harmless like me.” Being a dragon, Spike’s body was well adapted to the harsh conditions of the region, and didn’t truly need equipment.

“And not to mention adorable too!” Rarity cooed, as she kept pace with Twilight. Unlike most of the others, Rarity was not donning anything beyond an arguably over-the-top version of everyone else’s cloaks. Her own shield spell ensured that no invasive particles could get caught in her mane, coat, or eyes.

Spike seemed as if he were about to slide off Twilight’s back, smitten as he was. Muttering, Rainbow Dash rolled her violet eyes beneath her goggles. To Rarity’s credit, she was working as hard as she could to expand her shield spell over her friends, reducing the numbers of times that they had to stop and brush their goggles clear.

“Besides,” Twilight continued, “Celestia and Daring Do want to keep this little discovery here a secret. A squadron of chariots would have almost definitely caught unwanted attention, and Equestria simply isn’t prepared for groundbreaking proof that we aren't alone in the universe.”

“Yeah, well whatever’s inside better be worth our time. Maybe E.T. left behind some gold or diamonds, now that would make my day. Imagine all the cool flying gear I could buy with that!”

“Or all the parts of Sweet Apple Acres we could fix up.” Applejack interjected behind Rainbow.

“And the parties and desserts!” Pinkie Pie added with a pleasant voice and a grin at Applejack’s side. “Or instead, maybe we’ll find a humongous refrigerator full of pudding! Or, even better, cupcakes!”

From Rainbow Dash’s right, Fluttershy said, “Umm, Pinkie Pie, I don’t think aliens would necessarily know what those even are. Well, that’s my opinion anyway.” Her soft voice was almost lost in the wind that swept through the caldera. “Different animals have different diets, especially when they’re from very separate, very different habitats.”

Pinkie Pie frowned slightly with skepticism. With her one-size-too-big polarized goggles, and the single lock of curly pink mane hanging visibly under her hood, she slightly resembled some weird species of disk jockey, or perhaps an eccentric inventor.

“Pfft. C’mon Fluttershy, what type of smart creature around hasn’t heard of a cupcake? Everypony loves cupcakes!”

“Actually, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy’s got a point. Whomever left this spaceship here could have eaten anything, evolved in anyway imaginable, and arrived from who-knows what kind of environment and planet.” Twilight proclaimed.

“Somehow, that doesn’t make me all too crazy to just waltz in there now, darling.” Rarity remarked, keeping her eyes focused on their destination.

“Huh. Well besides, treasure and alien ‘cuisine’ aren’t the real potential things of value here, anyway.” Twilight smirked confidently under the shadow of her hood as she trotted. “It’s knowledge, girls. We just might be making history with what we’ll find in there.”

Pausing briefly to remove their goggles and peer at one another, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie simultaneously murmured, “Eggheads...” If Twilight had heard them, she did not indicate it.

On her back, Spike grinned as if to say, ‘tell me about it, I live with her’.

Staying quiet for a short awhile as they neared the site, the seven friends paused to take in the alien structure.

Precise to Twilight’s words, the anomaly in the ashen cliff face of the caldera wall, was indeed a crashed alien starship. From their perspective, the group could see what they could readily identify as thruster or propulsion systems of some kind, as well as several pieces of debris, namely hull plating.

The ship’s bow was buried deep into the rock, hidden from view. Her hull was a dull-silver or grey color, almost matching that of the terrain around it, were it not for the artificially smooth surface.

In terms of shape, the mysterious vessel almost resembled a beached orca. The stern ended in a fin-like dorsal protrusion above the housing for the propulsion systems, and the visible superstructure curved in on itself gracefully in an almost organic fashion as one’s eyes neared the direction of the bow.

For the mares and the dragon, the craft was straight out of an Equestrian science fiction flick.

“Look at that! Even in such a state of disrepair, this ship has such grace!” Rarity remarked, gazing at the craft in wonder, an expression Twilight, Spike, and the others shared.

Rainbow Dash however, was the least impressed, waving the wreck off with a flick of her foreleg. “Oh, pshaw! Looks like an oversized tuna to me.”

“Come on, I see Daring Do and her team’s base camp. Let’s get over there!” Twilight said.

“You know, one good thing about this whole expedition...at least I get to meet Equestria’s greatest treasure hunter and adventurer in person! Oh my gosh!” Rainbow Dash resisted the urge to squee as she followed the others.

Picking up the pace, the group galloped onwards. Much to everyone’s relief, the sand was barely to the tops of their hooves now.

Daring Do’s camp was a rather casual affair in the shadow of the alien creation cast by the midday sun. A half-dozen yurts-a type of tent designed to keep out dust-were clustered around one large tent, which was the current destination.

All around the camp, bustling bands of archaeologists, workers, geologists, and scholars, greeted the seven newcomers enthusiastically. Most of their faces and bodies were obscured by cloaks, muzzle wrappings, and goggles of similar fashions. The friends inquired of them as to where the pegasus adventurer could be found. Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be the largest of the camp’s structures.

The central yurt was roughly the size of a circus tent, and the entrance glowed from the large number of electric lights within. The light glare was almost blinding at first.

“Erm, Miss Daring Do? It’s me Twilight Sparkle. My friends and I have arrived to assist you with exploring the alien derelict for Celestia.” Twilight and the others wearing goggles had to adjust or remove them to adapt their eyes. Unfortunately, the goggle-less could only shield their eyes with their arms or forelegs.

“Ah yes, please come in. That wind must be driving you all nuts.” A suave, cultured voice greeted back from somewhere in the room. The tent interior itself was full of work surfaces, examining tables, shovels, bookshelves, and seating, among other utilitarian items and archaeological paraphernalia.

When her eyes had finally adjusted, Twilight quickly scanned the room for the source of the adventurer’s voice. Twilight found it in the form of a pegasus, whose coat was the same dusty golden brown of her and the others’ wind cloaks.

Daring Do turned around from something she had been examining to meet her new guests in person. Bearing a noticeable resemblance to Rainbow Dash, Daring Do’s mane and tail were a silvery black, and her violet eyes glowed with an inner tenacity and sense of adventure, that words alone would have trouble expressing.

Her ensemble consisted of an olive-colored buttoned-up khaki shirt, and a beige safari hat decorated with olive trim.

“If you haven’t received the welcome wagon already from region herself, then let me be the first to say, welcome to the Badlands, Equestria’s hottest tourist destination.”

Spike hopped off Twilight’s back and chuckled slightly, while Pinkie Pie suddenly burst out into a fit of furious giggling. Twilight and Rainbow Dash lifted their eyebrows at her, as the others sat back around various points near the entrance, watching Pinkie’s theatrics. Daring Do similarly watched Pinkie Pie roll across the heavily rug-laden floor, her mouth in a confused ‘O’ shape.

“Thanks for the kind welcome, miss Do.” Rainbow Dash replied finally.

Daring Do snapped back to attention and smiled. “Please, we’re not a bunch of snobs sipping tea around here, well not me anyway. Just call me Daring.”

Rainbow Dash looked as if she were about to faint at those last four words. She squeaked in reply, which merited a raised eyebrow from the pegasus adventurer.

Twilight returned Daring Do’s smile and averted her gaze from Pinkie Pie. “Well then, Daring. I see you were just scrutinizing something, what exactly might it be if you don’t mind me asking?” Twilight inquired curiously.

“Ooh, is it treasure? Please tell me its treasure of some kind!” Rainbow Dash added.

Still smiling, Daring Do took a step to the side and picked up a cylindrical object from the table. She held the thing in her hoof for all to see. “Not gemstones, I’m afraid. However, it’s got to be something significant, of that, I am certain.”

Rainbow frowned slightly in disappointment.

“May I?” Twilight said. Daring Do nodded and the unicorn summarily levitated the object out in front of her. The canister was made out of a transparent compound, either a type of glass, or something analogous to it. “This appears to be some kind of container, obviously.”

Twilight flipped the cylinder over, and something moved around inside. By now, Pinkie Pie had long since ceased her antics, and both her and the others had come close to examine the object as well. Pinkie oohed-and awed as the strange contents flowed back and forth, like sand in an hourglass.

“Full of....a white-grey powder. What in the world might that be for?” Rarity added with perplexed curiosity.

“How strange.” Fluttershy remarked.

“Where was this stuff discovered, ma’am? Inside the alien spaceship itself?” Applejack inquired.

Daring Do nodded to her. “The central chamber, actually. This stuff is everywhere in there.” She motioned one of her wings towards another table nearby, which was covered end to end by neat rows of over a dozen more of the alien containers. “There has to be at least several thousand more we haven’t moved out yet.”

Pinkie Pie was unable to contain her patience any longer. “Twilight!” The unicorn turned to her with a brow raised. “Can we go see the spaceship now? Oh can we, can we huh? Please?”

“I could give them a quick look-see in the excavation site.” Daring Do said. “There’s no real danger, the ship appears to be of sturdy construction, despite its age.”

This information was evidently sufficient enough for Twilight. “Hmm, I don’t see the harm in it then. Why not?” Pinkie flashed Twilight a grin, and Daring Do playfully put her hat on Pinkie Pie’s head, much to Rainbow’s slight annoyance. “You all go on ahead, if you don’t mind Daring, I’ll stay here for awhile first and examine this powder. Spike, you mind staying here to help out?”

Spike groaned in disappointment, but nodded, joining her. Daring shrugged and retrieved her hat from Pinkie Pie as they made their way out. “Alright, suit yourself. We’ll see you two inside later then.”

“Have fun Spike!” Rarity called out. The dragon waved longingly at her as they all left.

While the ponies trotted further and further away from the central tent, Twilight heard Rainbow Dash’s now faint voice ask, “Have you guys found anything else besides a bunch of old, weird jars inside the wreck?”

“Well, I guess will just have to see when we’re all inside now, won’t we?” Daring Do replied.

Now alone in the tent save for Spike and a few lingering teams of scientists, Twilight pick the cylindrical container up and wrapped up a few of its fellows in her lavender aura, before setting them all down on an empty artifact examination table.

“Spike, turn on that microscope for me, will you?”

“At your command, your highness.” Spike grumbled, fumbling with the device’s power button.

With the electronic microscope handy, Twilight carefully extracted a small sample of the powder onto a glass slide and viewed it at various magnifications. “Fascinating.” She said to nopony in particular. “These appear to be nothing more than simple strands of primitive organic molecules, completely inert. Hmm, yet very fragile.”

Glass snapped slightly, as Twilight accidentally zoomed in too far and cracked the slide. Picking it up in her telekinesis, a few rogue shards of the glass nicked her on the hoof, drawing a tiny amount of blood. “Ah, brother!” She groaned in frustration and disposed of the broken slide, then stepped away from the microscope.

“Such finesse, Professor Sparkle!” Spike jeered.

“Not funny, Spike.” Twilight quickly healed the scratches, then absentmindedly rubbed at her muzzle. “There we go. Now, what could these mysterious beings have needed desiccated organic powder for? Does this stuff even do anything?”

Spike shrugged, having no theories of his own at the moment. A scientist near her shrugged as well. “Our understanding of this substance is next to zero, miss Sparkle. As far as we’re concerned, the powder is nothing more than a scientific curiosity.”

The statement only left more questions than answers in Twilight’s mind, and her rubbing became more insistent. These questions, simply had to be answered soon, or else they would nag at her constantly for months afterwards. Recalling the time she had been tardy with a friendship report last year, Twilight would not allow such an occurrence of that type again.

“Has the powder been tested on a living creature yet?” Twilight said finally. The scientist seemed surprised by the suddenness of her inquiry.

“Uhh, well no, Miss. Given the unknown nature of the material, we’re hesitant to do anything with it until more information is uncovered regarding its true nature.”

Twilight’s ears flattened on her head, and her neutral, curious expression sank into a scowl without warning. “Have you rookies even tried checking any records aboard the ship? I’m fairly sure an advanced race of aliens wouldn’t have been carrying cargo like this aboard their vessel without data on what it was, what it did, and what it was for.”

Spike smirked slightly at the clueless-looking scientist. “She has a point with that, ya know."

This was turning out to be a bad afternoon for the scientist. “We have tried accessing their machines, Twilight Sparkle, but the um....the encryption...” He held up both hooves and bent them to form invisible quotations in the air. “We simply can’t find a way around them yet.”

Impatiently, Twilight sighed and resumed observation of the powder, still rubbing vigorously at her muzzle and chin, as if dealing with an itch. “Well, we all have to start somewhere. Princess Celestia left it up to me and whoever I brought with to assist you guys in learning more about these mysterious aliens and their ship. I'm not reporting back with nothing but some powder that for all we know does absolutely nothing!”

Twilight concluded by declaring, “Bring me something to inject this sample into. A small mammal, preferably. I’m not willing to put it into a pony yet. And have someone talk to Daring Do later about getting some of these canisters shipped to labs in Manehattan, Cloudsdale, and Canterlot. The more ponies we have working to ascertain this strange powder’s secrets, the better.”

“Oh, of course Miss Sparkle. I’ll uh, I’ll get right on it.”

“Now if you’ll all excuse me, I’ll be joining my friends in exploring the spacecraft now. Come on Spike.” Twilight replied, quickly putting her hood back on and donning her goggles.

“Coming.”

Once the duo were out of earshot, the unicorn scientist turned to his four colleagues, who had watched the entire conversation. His face had a bemused expression. “Is it just me, or did Sparkle start having an abrupt change in behavior after she made contact with that powder sample?”

They all shrugged nervously, before returning to their study of a small piece of alien metal plating. The first scientist rubbed at his mane and shrugged as well, returning his attention to his own work. “Meh. Probably just my imagination anyway.”