Chapters Extraequestrian Xenomorph
"Uh, Twilight, I don't like the look of this," said Dash, her confidence completely drained by the distressing nature of the situation, "You think maybe, just maybe, it would be in my best interest to get the hell - "
The transmission was cut off; the last thing that was seen was some sort of creature that was unable to be made out in the split-second it appeared on the camera, flying towards the helmet. The transmission was followed by a crunching noise, then a high pitched scream. At this point the camera stream fizzled out into ear-grating static noises, and the Nostromo crew was unable to contact her again.
~
Extraequestrian Xenomorph
A Pony Adaption Of Ridley Scott's Alien (1979)
~
Commercial Starship: "Nostromo"
Crew: 7
Cargo: 20,000,000 Tons Of Mineral Ore
Current Course: Return Trip To Earth
~
Crew Members:
Twilight Sparkle ~ Warrant Officer
Rarity ~ Science Officer
Fluttershy ~ Engineer (Pet: Angel)
Rainbow Dash ~ Executive Officer
Applejack ~ Captain
Pinkie Pie ~ Navigator
Vinyl Scratch ~ Engineer
~
*Cerchuck!*
Went the pods in the ship, as they slowly opened up to reveal the seven crew members inside the pods, ready to be woken up from stasis. Rainbow Dash was the first to wake up, pulling cords and suction cups off of her chest as she slowly rose from her frozen coffin. She stuttered and coughed a bit, then regurgitated onto the floor, her body still in a state of shock for being in forced hibernation for an elongated period of time.
[Heh, welcome back, Dash.] she thought to herself.
~
"Hey, remember the shake Flutters?" Vinyl asked.
"Oh, um, you mean that hoofshake you taught me before we took off? Oh I think so..."
Vinyl and Fluttershy then leaned over the dinner table to perform their special hoofshake, an engineer to an engineer. It seemed implausible that the loud and crazy Vinyl could befriend the timid Fluttershy, but their jobs brought them together, as they did for many ponies of their profession.
The entire crew has woken up from stasis now, and they were all happily eating their first meals in a long time at the table.
"Wait Vinyl, did you have those glasses on the whole trip?" Twilight asked.
Vinyl then noticed them beginning to slide down her face, so she pushed them up with a hoof.
"Oh yeah, you betcha." Vinyl replied with a huge grin on her face.
"Vinyl! You know it is under strict protocol to not have any clothing items on during stasis!"
"Oh, so we were just supposed to be naked in there then?"
Twilight rolled her eyes at the comment.
[Typical Vinyl.] she thought in her head, resisting the urge to make a comeback.
"Besides Twily, what's the worst that could really happen."
"I'm not even going to begin counting the things that could happen. I'm surprised a pony so reckless could even get a job as an engineer, let alone somepony who was previously a DJ."
Vinyl jumped back, mocking shock, then held a hoof to her heart jokingly.
"Hey, ouch man!"
"Geez Twilight, looks like somepony forget to take their grumpy pills this morning." said Pinkie Pie.
Twilight rolled her eyes again, and Vinyl and Pinkie shared a high-hoof across the table.
"Oh yes, I almost forgot!" said Rarity
"Mother wants to see you, darling." Rarity said to Applejack.
"Yeah, yeah, ah saw the alarm go off. Yellow light means fer mah eyes only."
~
Applejack punched in a series of button combinations, and a small, glass hatch on the side of the hallway opened up. She removed a small card from the hatch, and put it into a small slot which opens up another hatch with a button inside. She pushed the button, and the door at the end of the thin hallways opened up.Applejack entered a circular room full of small, pastel lights, and a computer terminal monitor sat in the center of the lights. She walked over to the middle of the room, where there was a chair and a keyboard, and sat.
" 'ello Mother."
The main terminal lit up, and displayed a launch animation to Applejack.
After a series of launch protocols, the terminal displayed green text.
INTERFACE 2037 READY FOR INQUIRY
Applejack began to punch in words on the keyboard in front of her, careful not to fat hoof any of the keys.
[Applejack] WHAT'S THE STORY MOTHER?
~
The crew minus Captain Applejack were then in the ship control room, preparing to land on Earth after a long trip in stasis.
"Ready? Ok." said Twilight.
"Plug Us In." said Rainbow Dash
A terminal monitor lit up in front of Navigator Pinkie Pie's chair, displaying a map of the surrounding system.
"Wait a second... This can't be right! Where's Earth?" Pinkie said worryingly.
"You of all ponies I thought would know, Pinkie." Dash replies jokingly.
"No Really, guys, come and take a look at this, Earth is nowhere on this map!"
The crew rushed o over and creates a crowd around Pinkie's station, staring at the screen in disbelief and shock, not sure how to contemplate the distressing scenario.
After a long silence, Dash mutters "Where the hell are we..."
"This isn't our system..." said Twilight
"Ya think?" Dash said in a darker but still humorous tone.
"Contact traffic control." Rainbow spurted as a suggestion.
"This is commercial towing ship Nostromo coming out of the Solomons, registration number 1-8-0-9er 2-4-6-0-9er calling Equestrian Traffic Control." Twilight said formally into her headset.
"Do you read me? Over."
"This is commercial towing ship Nostromo coming out of the Solomons, registration number 1-8-0-9er 2-4-6-0-9er calling Equestrian Traffic Control." Twilight repeated into her headset.
"Nothing." she said hopelessly.
"Just keep trying darling, there is bound to be somepony out there somewhere." said Rarity.
"I found it! just short of Zeta II Reticuli, er something like that." said Pinkie Pie.
"But what are we doing all the way out here, we're supposed to be right next to Earth! What are we doing next to Zelda II?"
"Zeta II, Pinkie Pie." corrected Twilight.
"I don't know; what are you talking about Pinks?" Dash asked.
~
"You notice how they never come down here Flutters, you know, they never come down here where the work is?" Vinyl asked as she walked through the corridors of the ship.
"This is the same reason we get a half-share to their one!"
"Oh, well, I don't really mind actually..." Fluttershy responded.
"Flutters, you never mind anything, do ya."
Vinyl chuckled and gave Fluttershy a joking but gentle push, remembering how sensitive she is she wouldn't want to hurt her.
~
Fluttershy and Vinyl entered the dining room, where the crew and Captain Applejack were, patience running thin among the group as they waited for them to return from their standard maintenance run. It was a relief to finally see them walk through the door, and give the all clear.
Vinyl then walked up to Rarity who was sitting at the table and leans on her shoulder, Vinyl beginning to sprout a grin.
"Hey. You're in my seat, could I have it back?"
Vinyl then held up her hoof which was covered in debris and filth, and snickered.
"Oh yes! Um, certainly!" Rarity said quickly, and stepped out of the seat.
Everypony was now seated at the table.
"Well, as sum of y'all may have already figured out, we're not home yet." says Applejack.
"Really? Nooooh." Rainbow snaps quickly in a sarcastic tone.
" 'nfact, it looks like we're only halfway there."
"Why?" asked Dash.
"Mother seems to have interrupted our journey."
Extraequestrian Xenomorph
A slight breeze of air swept past Dash, as the creature scuttled through the walls.
*Scuttle Scuttle*
"Twilight, I'm picking up some movement on the tracker here, I think it might be alive..." Dash said worryingly into the mic built into her helmet.
A shadow could be seen through the helmet's rear camera for a fraction of a second, displayed against the walls of the hollow cavern, as the creature scuttled from rock to rock.
"Hey, Did you guys see that? There was something there, and it wasn't Dashie!" Pinkie said back at the Nostromo, watching the situation unfurl through the helmet's cameras.
Twilight spoke into her mic. "Dash, there was something I saw behind you through your rear camera, I think it's hiding behind one of those rocks over there, over."
"Oh no, Twilight, I am not checking that out. I'm getting out of here. For god's sake I just help pilot the ship, I shouldn't be out here dealing with bucking aliens!"
"Sorry, Rainbow, but you're under contract, over."
~
extraequestrian a. 1. a word used to describe anything not from or pertaining to Equestria.
xenomorph n. 1. the name given by the Weyland-Yutani corporation to the hostile alien life forms that reside on LV-426.
~
"Y'all see, Mother's been programmed to stop tha ship, if it picks up certain things." Applejack explained.
"And it looks like Mother has gone and picked ap a transmission from an uncharted planet, which it's our job to explore."
"Wait wait wait." said Rainbow quickly.
"This is a commercial ship. Not an exploratory vessel. It is not our job to take care of this, we should just mark the point of origin and continue on our merry way back to Earth."
Vinyl then let out a rude yawn, in her typical fashion.
"Oh yeah, she's right. Why don't we all go back to sleep in our naked prisons."
Rainbow shot Vinyl a disapproving glare, not liking to be interrupted.
"Oh what. I was agreeing with you! Besides, I'm just an engineer. I'm not trained to do this kinda stuff."
"None of us are! We shouldn't have to go out there hunting for some freaky-deaky aliens!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Oh, um, it sounds really dangerous... I'm not sure if I want to go..." Fluttershy said quietly.
"Listen up, y'all agreed to this when ya signed that darned contract! It's our job no matter the training to go investigate!" Applejack shouted, slamming a hoof on the table and making Fluttershy jump slightly.
"Besides, it's just a transmission. We don't need to go an' frighten everyponeh by making assumptions it's an extraequestrian life form! What if it's an S.O.S. signal?"
"Oh yeah, sure," Rainbow said sarcastically, "just some random pony in the middle of nowhere on an uncharted planet. Ok, sure."
"It's still a possibility! Tha point is, Rainbow, that it's our job to check it out! If you don't go, ya lose all your shares! No money!"
"We settled that? Good, cuz we're goin' in."
~
A large avalanche of dust and debris swept over the then unnamed LV-426 as the Nostromo and it crew gently set down on the surface of the planet. It was decided that Twilight, Vinyl, Fluttershy, and Rarity would stay behind on the ship, while Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack would go out to explore the planet, searching for the origin of the signal.
"Is it working Twi? Can ya see though tha helmet?" asked Applejack.
They all had front and rear view cameras built into their helmets, and mics built into the interior, for easy communication.
"Nice and clear, Applejack, over." Twilight responded from the interior of the Nostromo with her headset.
The hatch at the back of the ship opened up, greeting the 3 travelers with a bombardment of gasses and speckles of silicon, and the gritting noises of the silicon among other things colliding with the material that made up the interior of the ship.
"Alright Dashie, better get a move on!" exclaimed Pinkie.
The three stepped out of the ship, and onto the rocky floor of LV-426.
"Alright, I think that large dome structure is what we're going for, over." Twilight said to Applejack through the headset.
"Copy that."
~
*Drip, drop*
As they entered the large, hollow structure, this was the noise that was heard, as drops of fluid slowly drizzled down to puddles below.
"Alright y'all," said Applejack to the other two, "I think we should all split ap to check this here place out."
"Copy that, AJ." said Dash.
"Okie Dokie Lokie!" said Pinkie.
~
"Hm? What's this?" said Rainbow, as she bent to pick up an object on the ground.
"Dash, could you hold that closer to the camera?" asked Twilight from the Nostromo.
Dash held the curved object next to her helmet, which she knew was the vague location of the front camera as well.
Twilight then slid her headset down her neck and called to Rarity.
"Rarity!"
"Oh, yes darling? Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Can you find anything peculiar or maybe try and make out this object Dash is holding next to the screen?"
Rarity squinted a bit, and got closer to the screen, and then picked up the headset to talk to Dash.
"Uh, could you just rotate that just a tad?"
Dash then rotated the object slightly, and Rarity then had some idea of what it was.
"Oh dear . . . "
"I think what we have here is a rib bone, but is seems to be curved in such a peculiar manner, as if something had pushed it outward from inside the chest without snapping it."
"EUGH!" Rainbow exclaims, then quickly drops the rib.
Twilight took the headset from Rarity and put it back on her head, wanting to know the situation.
"What the hell is . . . " went Rainbow, before Twilight even had time for questions.
Rainbow looked ahead to see the ground is littered with curved rib bones; they looked to be fossilized.
"Twilight am I clear to go? I wanna get the hell outta here."
"Not yet Rainbow, we still need to find the source of the signal, and the crew members still on the ship are working on deciphering it, over." Twilight said.
"For now, keep heading deeper into the cave. If there is anything there still alive, the tracker you currently hold in your hands should pick it up for you nice and easy, over."
"Copy that, Twilight," Rainbow said annoyingly, and then lets out a sigh.
~
"Rainbow? Come in Dash!" Twilight said into the headset.
"Yes yes, I'm here, what do you need, Twi."
"We have managed to decipher part of the signal."
"And? What did you find?"
"We think . . . " Twilight trailed off.
"We think it might be some kind of warning."
Extraequestrian Xenomorph
*Bzzzzt*
Went the laser, as it was held in Rarity's trembling hooves, slowly slicing open the outside of Rainbow's helmet. Rarity shuddered as a drop of bizarrely colored sweat slid down the side of her face, only for her to quickly wipe it off with a hoof, and check nervously to make sure nopony had seen it out of the corner of their eye.
*Kerchuck*
Went the helmet, as it was pulled apart, like a suction cup from a window, or an octopus from a rock. Nothing could prepare the six crew members, for the cosmic horror they would witness, as the helmet was removed, and dropped to the floor, revealing the condition of Dash.
Applejack and Rarity's mouths both dropped open simultaneously, Rarity a look of mortified terror, as Applejack slowly muttered to nopony in particular with cold, trembling lips.
"Mother of god..."
~
Extraequestrian Xenomorph
Applejack ~ Alive, Nostromo
Twilight ~ Alive, Nostromo
Vinyl ~ Alive, Nostromo
Fluttershy ~ Alive, Nostromo
Rainbow Dash ~ Alive, LV-426
Pinkie Pie ~ Alive, LV-426
Rarity ~ Alive, LV-426
~
"A warning? Oh ain't that just dandy then." Rainbow said.
She was genuinely terrified at this point, but she wasn't about to let anypony know.
"We don't know for sure. For now just keep searching the place, the signal had to have come from somewhere, over." said Twilight, worried for the three but keeping in mind this was all part of the job.
"Uh, yeah, sure. No problem, Twi." Rainbow replied, desperately holding back the nervousness in her voice.
After all, nothing could scare the brave and fearless Rainbow Dash, right?
*Beep Beep*
Dash jumped slightly at this, quickly turning around to make sure nothing had come up behind her, but then realized it was just the tracking device.
[Keep is together, Dash. It was just the tracking device. Just the tracking device.]
Dash's ear twitched, and then she just realized what she was saying and began to freak out once more.
[The tracking device! Oh no... That means there is an alien here! No, Rainbow! You gotta stay cool. You have the advantages here. A tracking device, and a pulse rifle. What's the dinky little alien gonna do huh? Huh?]
Rainbow slowly entered a large hollow room, that looks to be the center of all this.
A slight breeze of air swept past Dash, as the creature scuttled through the walls.
*Scuttle Scuttle*
Rainbow quickly turned around in reaction to hearing this.
[Oh no it's here it's heeeeere!]
Rainbow was becoming less like her brave, heroic and egotistical self by the second.
Her ear and eye began to twitch.
Her attempts to hide the nervousness in her voice were becoming more and more futile, as she spoke to Twilight via the mic.
"Twilight, I'm picking up some movement on the tracker here, the alien is here and it is alive, I repeat, it is alive." Dash said worryingly into the mic built into her helmet.
Twilight, who was working on deciphering the transmission, quickly turned around and gazed at the terminal monitor, hoping to get a glimpse of an unearthly creature.
A shadow could be seen through the helmet's rear camera for a fraction of a second, displayed against the walls of the hollow cavern, as the creature scuttled from rock to rock.
"Hey, Did you guys see that? There was something there, and it wasn't Dashie!" Pinkie said back at the Nostromo, also watching the situation unfurl through the helmet's cameras.
Twilight spoke into her mic. "Dash, there was something I saw behind you through your rear camera, I think it's hiding behind one of those rocks over there, over."
"Oh no, Twilight, I am not checking that out. I'm getting out of here. For god sakes I just help pilot the ship, I shouldn't be here dealing with bucking aliens!"
Rainbow was now truly freaking out, she had never been in a situation where she was absolutely petrified like this, and she certainly did not like it.
"Sorry, Rainbow, but you're under contract, over."
Rainbow gritted her teeth together at those words.
[There is that damned contract again! Ugh, why did I even agree to go on this trip. Oh yea, because there wasn't anything in that stupid contract about bucking aliens! What, do they want us to kill ourselves over something a trained professional could do easily? Why not mark the location of the planet now, and buck off? Why can't we just do that?]
Rainbow pulled out her pulse rifle, and tried to tell herself there was nothing to be worried about.
The entire crew that was still at the Nostromo, was now watching through the helmet cameras, totally forgetting about the transmission. The situation was too captivating for them to just sit idly.
*Pitter Patter*
Went the creature, as it scuttled around the room. The large, hollow, cylinder-shaped room was littered with jagged rocks, perfect for easy travel and easy cover, as the alien slowly crept closer towards Dash with caution.
Dash glanced down at her tracker, and then fired a couple shots in its vague location, causing it to to find new cover, whilst scuttling ever closer to the unstable Dash.
"Uh, Twilight, I don't like the look of this," said Dash, her confidence completely drained by the distressing nature of the situation, "You think maybe, just maybe it would be in my best interest to get the hell - "
The transmission was cut off; the last thing that was seen through the camera was some sort of creature that was unable to be made out in the split-second it appeared on the camera, flying towards the helmet. The transmission was followed by a crunching noise, then a high pitched scream. At this point the camera stream fizzled out into ear-grating static noises, and the Nostromo crew was unable to contact her again.
Extraequestrian Xenomorph
Special thanks to:
Wishy Washy of Cloudsdale for great suggestions.
Indigo Rave of Cloudsdale for lots of support.
Shivvy of Shivvy for being Shivvy.
~
Extraequestrian Xenomorph
Applejack ~ Alive, Nostromo
Twilight ~ Alive, Nostromo
Vinyl ~ Alive, Nostromo
Fluttershy ~ Alive, Nostromo
Rainbow Dash ~ Condition Unknown, LV-426
Pinkie Pie ~ Alive, LV-426
Rarity ~ Alive, LV-426
~
"Open ap tha hatch, Twilight, Dash is here and she's got sumthin on 'er face, we gotta get 'er medical attention stat." said Captain Applejack.
Applejack and Pinkie were both standing right outside the Nostromo, holding Dash by her hooves. Pinkie clutched Dash with all her might, afraid she might lose her best friend.
"Wait wait wait Applejack. If we let you bring in Dash, that risks all of our lives. We need to follow standard quarantine procedures." responded Twilight formally.
"What? She can't just let us leave Dashie out here!" Pinkie exclaimed, worried for her friend.
"Listen here, Twilight. I wantcha ta ferget about all yur contracts, protocols, procedures... We're all ponies here; Dash might not live for more than a 24 hour period! Now open ap the hatch, this is a direct order from your captain. Open ap."
"I'm sorry AJ, but we can't put in jeopardy the whole crew. The answer is negative."
Rarity then walked to the hatch, and pressed the open button, letting in Applejack and Pinkie, along with the infected Rainbow Dash. Twilight, noticing this, threw down her headset down and walked down to the hatches.
"Rarity! We had to follow standard quarantine! Now Rainbow is here on the ship, with something attached to her face! It could be dangerous!" Twilight nearly screamed, getting right up in Rarity's face.
"Oh come now, darling, you weren't really planning on leaving poor Rainbow out there, were you? Besides, it was an order, standard chain of command - " Rarity then emitted a strange sort of whirring noise for a second, then repeated the last four words of her sentence, "- standard chain of command."
Twilight stared at Rarity with a blank expression for a bit, begin a little thrown off by the sudden unusual speech impediment.
"Uhh, Rarity, are you alright?"
"What um, no, yes, I mean um, I'm fine." she said unusually quickly.
"We best be going to the medical room to examine the specimen, then."
Rarity then shot Twilight a faint smile and trotted off quickly, wiping a tad of oddly colored sweat off of her head as she walked away.
~
*Bzzzzt*
Went the laser, as it was held in Rarity's trembling hooves, slowly slicing open the outside of Rainbow's helmet. Rarity shuddered as a drop of bizarrely colored sweat slid down the side of her face, only for her to quickly wipe it off with a hoof, and check nervously to make sure nopony had seen it out of the corner of their eye.
*Kerchuck*
Went the helmet, as it was pulled apart, like a suction cup from a window, or an octopus from a rock. Nothing could prepare the six crew members, for the cosmic horror they would witness, as the helmet was removed, and dropped to the floor, revealing the condition of Dash.
Applejack and Rarity's mouths both dropped open simultaneously, Rarity a look of mortified terror, as Applejack slowly muttered to nopony in particular with cold, trembling lips.
"Mother of god..."
What lay on Rainbow's face was a sort of greenish crab looking thing. Eight long tendrils, divided equally among both sides of the symmetrical creature, were clutching to Rainbow's head with impeccable ferocity. The tendrils had 2 joints in them each, like knuckles in a finger, and there where spiky, bony tips on the end of each "finger", for extra grip. A long, green, tail, divided into segments like that of a snake's body was wrapped around Dash's throat, tightening and loosening the grip by however much the creature deemed necessary. The creature had a long, bony spine, that stretched the moist, pulsating skin of the creature to the point where you could see the outline of the spine aswell as the rest of it's bones through the skin.
"It appears to be supplying our dear Rainbow with oxygen, so it looks like Rainbow herself is fine." Rarity said, after visually examining the unique specimen in awe.
Pinkie quickly clung to the glass at the sound of hearing this.
"OhthankgoodnessyouralrightRainbowIthoughtsomethingextraordinalyhorribleandterriblehadhappenedtoyoubutitlookslikeyourok, yay!" Pinkie said quickly in a single breath, relieved that Dash was still ok.
Pinkie, Twilight, and Applejack were all sat on a bench outside of the lab, where they could peer into the lab through a glass wall and watch the procedure.
Applejack picked up a pair of tweezers from the medical tray that sat next to her and carefully held it in two trembling hooves. She inserted one end of the tweezers between a tendril and Dash with much trepidation. She had to be very cautious dealing with an unknown specimen, for one mistake could easily kill Dash in the situation she was in. Applejack clamped the tweezers on the tendril and began to pry it off.
In response, the creature constricted its tail around Dashie's neck, starting to choke her. Applejack quickly removed the tweezers and the tail loosened its grip.
"Well shoot then. How in tarnation are we expected to get this here thing offa Dash?" Applejack questioned.
"I suppose the only logical thing to do at this point would be and try and cut it off, as repulsive and nasty as that may be." sad Rarity.
"It's all part of the job Rarity. If you don't like being dirteh, you shouldn't have signed up for science officer."
~
Applejack carefully warmed up a sort of super-powered soldering iron of sorts, ready to cut the creature off of Dash. She gently inched and inched the burning metal closer to a tendril.
Closer.
Closer.
*BZZT*
It pierced through the flesh of the tendril, and at the same time a green goo spurted out from the wound, and onto the floor. It made a very loud and unpleasant noise as it dissolved and fizzled through the floor.
"Ohhh Crap!" Applejack shouted. She threw down her medical gear and slammed on the open button of the door, frantically running out into the hallway and hitting the wall.
"It'll bleed through the hull! That acid'll bleed through tha god damn hull!" Applejack shouted at the others, as a signal to get moving.
The acid had already bled through 1 floor of the ship.
Extraequestrian Xenomorph
Extraequestrian Xenomorph
Applejack ~ Alive, Nostromo
Twilight ~ Alive, Nostromo
Vinyl ~ Alive, Nostromo
Fluttershy ~ Alive, Nostromo
Rainbow Dash ~ Comatose, Nostromo
Pinkie Pie ~ Alive, Nostromo
Rarity ~ Alive, Nostromo
~
Applejack and the other crew members ran sloppily down the stairs, chasing after the corrosive goo that threatened to melt through the hull and suck out all of their oxygen.
"Ohh, I found it! I FOUND IT!" Pinkie shouted as she noticed a hole in the ceiling.
"Don't get under it, anypony." Twilight said.
The acid slowly drizzled through the last layers of the ceiling, and down to the floor where it began to melt through it.
"Quick, to tha next floor!" Applejack shouted.
Everypony quickly rushed to the next floor, though none of them had a true plan for stopping it other than to just wait it out, and pray to Celestia it would whither away as it melted through layer after layer of hard grated floors.
"Looks like it's stopped." said Twilight, before letting out a sigh of relief.
The acid slowly peeled away at the grates on the ceiling before letting out a last breath and stopping.
"Well shucks then." said Applejack, sounding perplexed.
"Constrictive tail, acid for blood, Heck ah think the best we all can do for 'er is just wait and see what happens."
"But what if she doesn't last 24 hours?!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"I Don't want Dashie to, *gulp*, Die!"
"Oh don't worry darling, I'm certain Rainbow will be fine. The creature is giving her oxygen, so no need to worry."
"Rarity, we know nothing about this creature. I don't think it's safe to assume -" Rarity cut Twilight off.
"Hush darling, can't you see I'm trying to make the poor dear feel better?"
"The fact of the matter is, Pinkie, is we know nothing about the creature or her future condition, but we do know it's not killing her. Alright?"
Pinkie let out a sorrowful sniffle.
"Alright." she said weakly.
~
"Where is it?" asked Twilight to Applejack.
"Ah don't know, i just noticed it's gone."
"Sum thin musta happened to it while we slept. Applejack responded, just as confused as Twilight.
"Let's split up as search the room; we kept the door sealed so it couldn't have went anywhere outside this room."
Applejack and Twilight searched the room for about a half hour, not finding anything, but they never gave up, knowing that the creature had to be somewhere in the room. Applejack, at the 33 minute mark, accidentally knocked over the cart of medical tools the had used to examine the creature on Dash onto the ground, nearly hitting the bed that the unconscious Rainbow Dash still lie in. The force from the blow also caused the room to rumble and for the creature to fall from a deviously hidden burrow in the ceiling and onto the startled Twilight. She shrieked in terror, and swept around in a 180, sending the creature flying from her shoulder into the window, where it stuck for a second then plopped down onto the floor.
"It's ok Twilight, it looks like it's dead." said Applejack in an attempt to calm Twilight down, who was panting heavily.
"Dead?" asked Twilight, sounding very baffled.
"But why would a creature supply oxygen to a host, detatch, and just die?"
"Well, ah guess it's out job to find out."
~
"Ah think y'all should come and see Rainbow, 'er condition has changed." Applejack said over the intercom to the anxious crew, as they sat in the dining room twiddling their thumbs.
"For better or worse?" Twilight asked.
"Ah think it's simpler if ya just come and see."
~
"Are you ok Dash? You really had us all worried." Rarity softly asked Dash.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Next stupid question." Dash responded typically.
"I guess this means we can eat, and then go back into stasis for the return journey. We can work out all this alien nonsense when we get back." Twilight suggested.
"Sounds great, I feel like I haven't eaten in days..."
~
The ponies where now all seated at the table, having a meal to celebrate the return of Dash, with hopes that soon after they could return to sleep in their stasis pods.
"And so I said oatmeal, are you crazy?!" shouted Pinkie, only to crack up at her own joke moments after.
"Could you pass me the salt, please?" Rarity said to Vinyl, who bucked it across the table at Rarity.
"I'll tell ya, the first thing I'm doing when I get home is going to Sugarcube Corner; the food is the worst thing on this ship!" Rainbow Dash said jokingly, and everypony, even Fluttershy, let out a hearty chuckle at the comment.
Rainbow then began to cough a bit, and Applejack gave her a pat on the back to ease the coughing.
"Well shucks now, the food ain't that bad Rainbow!" Applejack said in a humorous tone, but her expression darkened, for the coughing did not ease.
"Are you ok Dash?" Twilight asked.
Dash could not respond, she was busy coughing it up frantically, uncontrollably more like. She let out one more terrific cough, as a bit of blood flew from her mouth onto the table. The then collapsed onto the table and began to fidget around. The six crew members minus Fluttershy, who was understandably too freaked out to even move a muscle, tried to constrain Rainbow Dash, only to be kicked away by powerful bucks and forceful punches. She screamed in intensifying agony as she thrusted her chest upwards, as if something was pushing it. Her chest begin to pulsate, as she flung her chest up into the air again, screaming in distress. She continued to struggle on the table, until she flung her chest up one last time and a spray blast of blood emitted from her chest, splattering the ponies who were close to Dash. She waved around frantically like a madmare, until a monstrosity exploded from the inside of her chest, in an eruption of blood. Her ribs were all curved outward from this explosion, and one of them snapped under the pressure, flying out of her chest and ricocheting off of the wall. After the initial eruption, the creature festered around a bit in Rainbow's exposed chest, until it let out a bone-chillingly distressing noise, and slithered across the table and out of the room. The aftermath was only intensified by Rainbow's blank, dead stare, and the twitches of her limbs as her nerves reacted to a sudden oversurge in pain.
All that was left in the room now were six ponies, whose nightmares had only just begun.
Extraequestrian Xenomorph
Extraequestrian Xenomorph
Applejack ~ Alive, Nostromo
Twilight ~ Alive, Nostromo
Vinyl ~ Alive, Nostromo
Fluttershy ~ Alive, Nostromo
Rainbow Dash ~ K.I.A., Body Ejected Into Space
Pinkie Pie ~ Depressive State, Nostromo
Rarity ~ Alive, Nostromo
~
Happy Nightmare Night Aftermath, Everypony :P
~
Vinyl held up the prod to show everypony.
"This here is just a regular prod." Vinyl explained.
"It's insulated all the way up to the top, so make sure you don't put your hoof on the end."
"It should show the little bugger a little incentive, but it won't penetrate his skin unless he's weaker than us."
"Ah think our best course of action wood be ta' split up into teams." proposed Captain Applejack.
"Twilight, ya can take Fluttershy and Vinyl, I'll be wiff Rarity and Pinkie Pie."
"We can each take a tracker and try to locate 'em. Once we got 'em, we can launch tha little bastard right out inta space."
Pinkie quivered a bit at the sound of those words. She was understandably traumatized from the horrible incident, where she witnessed a monstrosity explode from her closest friend's chest; and the whole crew had to wrap up the body and launch it into space. The whole process of disposing of the body was extremely morbid, and the crew had to help hold Pinkie down as she cried and reached out for her lost friend. At least Dash's pain was already over. Pinkie's hair had been straight for a while now, but the crew couldn't restrain progress for one crew member's problem, they needed to work fast. Who knows what that thing could do to the ship and crew if they just let it thrive.
~
Beep, Beep.
"I've got movement here!" Vinyl said.
"And this bugger looks to be awfully close."
They continued to follow the tracker down the hallway until they reached a dead end.
"There!" Vinyl shouted suddenly, pointing a hoof at the grate at the end of the hallway.
"It's right behind that grate."
"Alright," Twilight began, "Here's the plan. We'll prod the grate, forcing it off. Once the creature can be seen, we'll prod the creature, and Fluttershy will toss the net over it. Got it?"
"O-ok Twilight..." Fluttershy said, in her usual shaky voice.
They all got into position, ready to put their plan in action.
"Now!" Twilight shouted, making Fluttershy jump.
Vinyl and Twilight got the grate open and shoved their prods inside. A screaming noise came from the inside, and the creature slithered out of the grate and between Fluttershy's hind hooves, escaping into the ship again.
"Fluttershy! Why didn't you drop the net!?" Twilight boomed at Fluttershy, making her cringe and cower back in fear.
"It was..." Fluttershy began.
"It was Angel."
Twilight and Vinyl began to lightly giggle.
"Oh, uh, sorry Fluttershy. I think the tension is starting to get to me." Twilight said respectfully.
"Well, we wouldn't want him to be picked up on the tracker again, and we certainly don't him running around with that... that thing on the ship. I'll go and get him, alright? You two keep looking for the creature, I'll be just fine." Fluttershy said, with a hint of confidence in her voice, an unusual occurrence for the timid Fluttershy.
~
Fluttershy trotted through the inner corridors of the ship with much trepidation, but she pressed on. She had to find Angel, she couldn't just let him wander around on the same ship as that creature unsupervised.
"Angel! Angel? Oh, please come out Angel Bunny!" She called out.
She was deep into the ship now, who knows what could be lurking around here. She continued to walk, it was just like going through the Everfree Forest, only with something much more dangerous lurking about. All the tall machinery and contraptions dwarfed Fluttershy in comparison, as the small slivers of light seeping through the vents cast distorted shadows on the wall. Fluttershy then stopped walking, as she noticed something peculiar on the ground.
[What's this?]
She bent over to get a closer look, but still couldn't make it out. She clamped it between two hooves and held it up. It was a translucent sort of rubbery thing, very thin and with a lightish brown tint. It seemed to have a big tear in it, as if something had ripped it open.
[Could it be... Maybe like a snake? Did it shed it's skin? Oh no!]
Fluttershy then heard a pattering, and let out a squeal of fright.
[Oh no, who knows what could have happened to it if it shed it's skin! Oh I have to find Angel quick!]
"Angel? Angel come out, you're scaring me!" Fluttershy spoke tremblingly.
No response, not even a sound to indicate Angel had heard her, or was even there. Fluttershy walked forward into the next room, a large cylindrical shaft, much like the one in the cave Rainbow was first attacked in. You could look all the way up and still not see the end, the only indication that the shaft even came to a close were the longs chains that hung from the fog-ridden ceiling. She saw the distorted shadow of a figure displayed against the wall, then it quickly disappeared as whatever caste the shadow took refuge behind some machinery. Fluttershy's heart skipped a beat, as she squealed again. She took a deep breath, and walked into the room. Slowly, with shaking hooves she silently walked over to the machinery, and took a peek around. What she saw was the cowering figure of Angel Bunny, backed into the corner and petrified with fear.
"There you are, Angel!" Fluttershy exclaimed with a sigh of relief.
"You really had me worried for a second!"
Fluttershy reached out her hooves, signaling Angel to hop in so Fluttershy could carry him back to safety. Angel slowly began to let down his guard, and hop towards Fluttershy. His eyes suddenly widened, and he backed further into the corner, as he saw a dark, foreboding figure descending behind Fluttershy.
"Now now Angel, there's nothing to be afraid of!" She said, as she heard something touch the ground behind her.
She slowly turned around, and found herself looking in the face of death. The creature was now very large. It was a sleek black figure, with two legs and two arms. There was no eyes, or at least anything that resembled an eye. All it had was a mouth full of sharp teeth, on a curved, elongated cranium. There were sort of pipe-like tubes emerging from it's back, and it had a long segmented tail with a smooth spike on the end. It also seemed to have a strong exoskeleton. Fluttershy was absolutely helpless and petrified. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words would dare leave her mouth in the presence of this towering behemoth. The creature stared at Fluttershy, it's face almost touching hers, creating a menacing atmosphere. It's lips began to curl back, and it began to drool. It's mouth slowly opened, to reveal a hard tongue with another mouth on the end of it. It intimidated Fluttershy like this for a bit. Then, it let out a chilling bug-like howl, and swung around, impaling Fluttershy with it's tail. Blood flew out of her chest and her mouth, as Angel watched the horrifying sight. She let out a sound scream, a cry of agonizing pain, as she felt the sharp tail twist and penetrate her flesh.
"Fluttershy!" Vinyl called, hearing her screams as she ran down the hallways with Twilight.
"Fluttershy, we're coming!" Twilight boomed through the hallways.
But when they arrived at the scene, all that remained of poor Fluttershy, was the blood slowly drizzling from the chains on the ceiling, and her cry of pain as it echoed through the Nostromo.
Extraequestrian Xenomorph
Extraequestrian Xenomorph
Applejack ~ Alive, Nostromo
Twilight ~ Alive, Nostromo
Vinyl ~ Alive, Nostromo
Fluttershy ~ Status Unknown, Nostromo
Rainbow Dash ~ K.I.A., Body Ejected Into Space
Pinkie Pie ~ Depressive State, Nostromo
Rarity ~ Alive, Nostromo
~
Gak Gak Gak.
~
"Disappeared into one of the ducts." Twilight said to the remainder of the crew. There was only five out of the starting seven of them now, and the whole crew was becoming anxious.
"It's using tha air ducts. That's how it gets 'round tha ship so fast." said Captain Applejack, her voice filled with confidence and certainty.
"C-Could it want F-Fluttershy alive?" asked Pinkie hopelessly. She was in a shaking frenzy, couldn't stand still, and shivering all the while. It was obvious that even if she made it off the ship alive, she wouldn't be the same Pinkie Pie that arrived on the ship previously.
"I don't know. None of us know much about the thing we are dealing with here, and those unfortunate enough to encounter it aren't here with us now." Twilight said solemnly.
"Ah think our best course a' action would be ta follow in inta the ducts. Drive it into an airlock so we can blast it out inta space." Applejack proposed.
"Most animals." Rarity said, as if she were speaking out loud, but never finished her thoughts.
"Pardon?"
"Most animals tend to retreat from fire." Rarity said.
"We could get an incinerator, and use that to drive the creature to where we want it. Once it's in place, we can shoot that rancid thing into the cold from which it came from."
"So... So who is going to go into the vent?" Pinkie asked almost silently.
"What now?" Applejack said, signaling her to speak up.
"Who'll go into the vent?"
"I Will." Twilight said.
"No, ah'll do it." Applejack quickly responded.
"You can stay bahind an' close the doors in the ducts behind me as ah progress. That way ah'm not surrounded bah openings. You could alsa pick up me and the creature on tha tracker, so all progress could be monitored and I would know exactly where ta go."
~
Applejack typed on the keypad in front of her, careful not to spill her coffee on the machinery. Text came up on the screen, as Mother booted up.
INTERFACE 2037 READY FOR INQUIRY
Applejack typed on the keyboard.
REQUEST EVALUATION OF CURRENT PROCEDURES
TERMINATE ALIEN LIFE-FORM?
She sat there a bit, taking an occasional sip of her coffee and then resting it gently back on the counter as she eyed the screen, patiently awaiting a response.
UNABLE TO COMPUTE
DATA INSUFFICIENT
She was confused a bit, then typed again with persistence, trying to get an answer out of the machine.
REQUEST OPTIONS FOR POSSIBLE PROCEDURE
She got the same response.
UNABLE TO COMPUTE
DATA INSUFFICIENT
She decided to ask Mother one more question.
WHAT ARE MY CHANCES?
UNABLE TO COMPUTE
DATA INSUFFICIENT
She sat there a bit, pondering, then got up and walked over to the door and slammed a hoof down on the [OPEN] button.
"Ugh, stupid machine." Applejack muttered to herself as she walked down the barren hallway.
~
"Alright, ah'm at tha first junction." said Applejack into her headset.
Twilight, Rarity, Vinyl, and Pinkie Pie were all gathered together. They would all communicate to AJ through the headsets, while they would open and close the hatches behind her, and keep track of her progress on the map. Pinkie and Vinyl also had a tracker close to them, so they could also keep track of AJ, as well as the alien.
"We're still trying to get a reading over here, AJ." Vinyl said.
"Ok, Twilight." said AJ, signaling her to close the hatch behind her.
The circular hatch closed with a series of spiraling shutters; the metal shutters created sparks as they clashed together and spiraled shut. The shaft was full of ruddy air, and the only thing visible in the shaft now was a faint outline of AJ's face, light cast upon it from the small flames of the incinerator.
"Open tha hatch to tha third junction."
Pinkie jumped a bit, at the sound of Applejack's voice breaking the silence.
"Wha- What was that?!"
"Pinkie, calm down." Vinyl said.
"You've been so paranoid recently."
"And you're saying I have a reason not to be paranoid?" Pinkie said sheepishly, but with a hint of anger.
Vinyl had no good answer to the question, so she turned back to the headset.
"Twi, ah want ya ta close all tha hatches behind me." Applejack said.
Twilight did as she was instructed, and all the hatches behind AJ sealed shut.
"Hold on, I think I got it AJ." Vinyl said to Applejack, eying the tracker.
Sure enough, a second dot appeared far away from Applejack on the tracker.
"It's around the third junction."
"Alright, ah'm mavin' on." said Applejack.
She began to move west until she saw a ladder.
[This should take me to tha third junction.]
She leaned over the ladder hole, and pulled the trigger on the incinerator. A burst of flame shot from it's tip, and it sent a blast of heatwaves through the third junction.
"All clear, I'm goin' down then." said Applejack, as she began to climb down the ladder.
"Be careful, please Applejack. It's right around there somewhere." Pinkie pleaded.
"What a sec, hold on AJ." said Vinyl.
She leaned over to look at the tracker then spoke back to AJ.
"Were going to need you to hold your position for a sec, we've lost it."
"Mine? I'm not showing up on tha tracker?"
"No, the creature isn't. It was here a second ago."
Upon hearing this, AJ stepped in a thick liquid. She took a step back after feeling the coldness of it, then took a closer look. It was a thick, transparent gel-like substance. She examined it with a look of disgust, and decided not to mention it to the crew.
"Are you sure it's not there, Applejack?" Pinkie said.
"It's gotta be around there somewhere."
[Celestia, I can't believe this is happenin'.] Applejack thought.
Applejack could hear Pinkie beginning to freak out on the other end.
"Pinkie? Pinkie! Are ya ok?"
"Oh noooo," Pinkie squealed, "Applejack, get out of there quick!"
"What is it Pinkie?"
"It just showed up on the tracker, it's moving right towards you!"
The creature had shown up a a blue dot on the tracker again, and was moving at a fast pace toward Applejack.
"Move, Applejack! Get out of there!"
Applejack began frantically climbing down the ladder that was right next to her. She had to get out quick, or that thing would get her. She planted her hooves on the floor and began looking for a way to go.
"No, not that way Applejack! No, The other way!" Pinkie screamed into her mic, sweating profusely.
Applejack was confused, she was in a frenzy and had no idea which way to go. She began walking in one direction, turned around, and heard an ear-piercing sound, like a rabid cicada. Then, two slender, black, anthropomorphic hands reached out of the darkness and clenched Applejack's head. The long, black fingernails on it's hands dug themselves into the sides of Applejack's head, as they pulled her towards a black figure with no eyes and an elongated head, and into the darkness.
