Author's Note

Okay, so since the LAST attempt for "The Outsider: Tales of a Space Technician"'s replacement didn't pass for some odd reason, I've decided to go with this one.

Please note that THIS story is more on the horror/action side, and doesn't focus on comedy at all. (Not even Pinkie Pie can smile, while Equestria went to Hell, after all. (Metaphorically!))

I will go on ahead and say that NO important MLP characters have died in this story, and I don't plan on killing any of them off! (But for suspicions' sake, I'll go on ahead and emphasize the word "PLAN".)

This story contains extreme gore, language, brief, mild sexual references, and nightmare fuel. If you disapprove with any of those, please turn back now. You have been warned!

Enjoy!

Chapter 0: The First Encounter.

|The First Encounter|
|Chapter 0|

"Justin? Hey, Justin! Are the two of you there, yet?" Twilight Sparkle's voice rang through a small speaker.

A young, Caucasian man with short hair, and a slightly stubbly goatee, smiled at the speaker, while his blue-green eyes looked closely at the device. Then in a medium-pitched, slightly western voice, he replied, "Yeah, Twilight... I'm here! But no, we aren't at Equestria, though... Flash and I are still in our pods."

A high-pitched man's voice interrupted the two of them. "Hey, you two love-birds! Can't y'all change to channel 3 for your chatter? Lyra and I are already on 2!"

Justin groaned, then replied, "Oh can it, Flash! You know that we can't change the channels, because 2 has been reserved for scientific research! And besides... we ain't even in love!"

A young noble-like female's voice giggled in the speakers. "Oh come on, Flash! Can't we just chat on a private network?"

Flash groaned, then replied, "Alright then, Lyra..."

Twilight and Justin chuckled lightly, until Twilight spoke up. "Good luck to you both, by the way... gosh, I can't even imagine what you're gonna find down there..."

Justin nodded his head, and replied, "Well, it looks like we're about to see what Equestria does have to offer... 'cause it looks like we're about to reach it!"

Looking out of the window to the long metal pods that they were in, Justin and Flash looked at the planet that they were about to land on. Flash gasped at the sight of the once colorful planet. In its current state, however, it looked a lot more darker than it once did... almost like a shadow loomed around the whole planet.

"By all that is holy..." Flash whispered, before gulping, and looking nervously, as the two pods entered the atmosphere.

The next thing they knew, the pods stopped in midair, and the doors started to slowly open.

When the doors were opened, Justin and Flash jumped out of the two pods, both wearing silver-coated armor with a black jumpsuit below it. The chest plates were diamond-shaped, but had a flat tip in the center of their chests, where a green-glowing diamond rested in the centers of each, while below them, long circular plates rested over their stomachs, with a flattened octagonal plate below them. On their waists, they wore thick, metal, circle-centered belts with a blue light in the centers of each of them. On their shoulders, they wore pairs of smooth metal shoulder pads. Justin's shoulder pads had a green circle painted in the centers of them, with a red gear painted in the center of the circle. Flash had a blue circle painted on his shoulder pads, with a white sword painted in the centers of the circles. Their arms were covered in long layers of thick plates that protected most of their vital organs, while giving their joints enough space to move naturally.

The second they landed on the ground, they crouched onto one leg, while holding their hands out to catch themselves. Then, when they stood up, a neck piece that rested on their heads opened up, lifting a helmet over their scalps that, once landed, opened on the sides, which unfolded a pair of metal folds that covered the sides of their faces, and projected over their mouths. Then, once they landed in the centers of their mouths, a pair of goggles fell from the front of their helmets, and over their eyes, which was followed by a thin metal piece that went over the centers of their goggles. When it landed, another thin strand started unfolding itself from the centers of their neck pieces, both of which had a circular object that, once on top of the tips of the folds, spun in clockwise circles, which sealed their helmets shut. Finally, when the helmets were completely on, their goggles started glowing, Justin's glowing green, and Flash's glowing blue.

Justin looked to his right, and faced Flash. Then he nodded his head, and asked, "Ready?"

Flash nodded his head, and replied, "Yeah." Finally, with their laser pistols drawn, the two of them began walking in the same direction, looking for a good sign of where they landed.

Slowly, Justin looked around the dark streets of Ponyville, while Flash covered his back from a short distance. The two of them were aiming their pistols in front of their views, while slowly walking through the silent roads, on a direct route to "Ponyville Castle". Currently, their missions were to investigate the library for a book that could, hopefully, find a way to stop the Plunderbeast infestation... which the two investigators still have yet to discover.

After reaching the front door, Justin stood at the right side of the door, while Flash stood at the left. Both of their backs were facing the wall, while Justin pressed a button on his left gauntlet, which opened a holographic menu for him to cycle through the features his armor could do. Then he opened the "Scanner" application, and scanned the door, only to find that no movement could be seen inside the library.

With a nod, Justin signaled to Flash that it was safe, much to his relief. Then the two of them slowly opened the doors, staying behind the wall as they did so. Finally, with their pistols aimed forward, they rolled from the wall to the entrance, and slowly stepped inside. While aiming, they also turned the flashlights of their pistols on, improving their views inside the darkness.

Justin motioned for Flash to follow him, seeing how he's lived here before. Then the two of them slowly walked through the dark hallways, and into the library.

For about an hour, the two of them looked through many different books, streaming what they saw to Twilight and Lyra, while being told when to check the next book. Finally, when they went through all the books, they sighed.

"Well, Twilight... it looks like there's nothing in here that could help us. Any other ideas?" Justin asked.

Twilight replied through his radio, "Sorry, Justin... I don't have any ideas, as of right now. When we discover something on the scanners, though, we'll be sure to let you know."

Justin nodded his head and replied, "It's alright, Twi. Maybe when we're done with this, some else will-"

"Come in, Justin! Come in, Flash! This is General Wilson! Can you hear me?!" A low-pitched male's voice rang through Justin's and Flash's radios.

"Yes, sir?" Flash replied.

"What's wrong, Mr. Wilson? Why do you-" Justin began, only to be interrupted.

"Justin, Flash, we're picking up massive numbers of movement surrounding your areas! What do you see in there?"

Both of their eyes widened, as they quickly raised their pistols, and started looking around in circles. "Nothing, sir! Are you sure that-"

Before Flash could continue talking, however, the floor busted open, and through it, a pair of thick, black, thorny vines rose from it, attacked to a knot that had countless roots below it that moved like legs. In the center of the knot, a large gaping hole was open, with smaller thorns circling inside it. Quickly, it started whipping its vines after Justin and Flash, but before it could even reach them, they shot one of the vines off, and ended with the hole in the center of it.

The next thing they knew, more holes started getting busted open from all around them. "Twilight, we need our drop pods!" Justin loudly and nervously stated through his radio.

"Alright, typing in your coordinates, and... got it!" Twilight said, sounding panicked through the radio.

"JUSTIN! FLASH! GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!" Wilson shouted through the radios.

Without even replying, the two of them rushed through the dark hallways, where walls began breaking, revealing taller forms of the creatures. When they looked like they were getting too close, Justin and Flash began shooting at their mouths, causing some of them to fall to the ground, and incinerate, while more simply ran in front of their fallen brethren, and continue charging at the two investigators.

Finally, when they made it to the exit, they jumped into their pods, while the doors closed, and in the matter of seconds, the pods started flying up.

Before they could celebrate, however, a large group of the creatures rushed out of the higher windows, and caught onto Justin's pod, where the rockets started getting torn out.

Looking at his partner, Flash's eyes widened, as he yelled through his radio, "JUSTIN!"

Justin, at this point, started looking around the inside of his pod, and breathed heavily out of fear. The alarms around his pod started buzzing, and the inside of it started turning red with the lights that continuously flashed. When Justin looked up-right, he quickly grabbed onto the handle of an "Emergency Exit", and twisted it counter-clockwise. Then the top of the pod flew open, while the chair of his pod flew out, causing him to fly away from the library. When he was far enough, the pod exploded, causing the force of the explosion to send Justin further away. When he landed on the ground, he grunted in pain, as he rolled onto the ground.

Without hesitation, Justin stood back up, picked his pistol back up, and ran away from Ponyville, and towards a shelter that he built the first time the Plunder Berries started growing. As he ran, he heard the roars and screeches of the countless creatures behind him, but he didn't bother to stop and look.

Soon, he was standing in front of a door that belonged to a two-story long metal building that looked like it belonged to a futuristic movie. Around the walls, a few red and green neon lights still managed to give the entire place power; making it the only source of light for miles. Apart from that, the entire building was basically a large metal box that was entirely metallic, but rooted to the ground to keep electricity from becoming a threat.

Quickly, he held his right hand in front of the scanner, which quickly scanned, and opened the doors. Finally, as soon as he stepped inside, he slapped his left hand onto a large red button that rested on the right-hand corner of the room. Then he turned around, revealing the massive swarm of creatures that covered the entire streets of Ponyville, and were now running his way.

As the doors started to close, he saw a plant-like biped with two long arms that had fingers made of thorns, and two glowing red eyes that hovered over a large mouth filled with even longer thorns that projected from it's mouth. From its back, three large, thorny vines stretched out, two over its shoulders, and one over its head, angled slightly like a scorpion's tail. With a loud roar, it ran his way, and rushed towards him, right as he took aim with his pistol, and in the blink of an eye, he shot at the creature right as the doors to the building started to close.

OPERATION
|D.E.C.A.Y|

| DEATH | EAGERLY | CREEPS | AROUND | YOU |

By Justin Daniels