Laughter echoed off of the walls of the buildings of Ponyville. The fragile rays of light pierced the veil of sound, the lamp poles gently buzzing. Two ponies walked under one of the poles side by side as one leaned on the other. “T-that was a funny one, Kettlepot,” a light grayish lavender mare murmured. She hiccuped afterwards, her legs wobbling while she leaned against the stallion to her side.

The stallion, Kettlepot, smiled and nuzzled the left side of the mare’s muzzle. His dark cobalt-blue mane and fur coat contrasted against her lightly-tinted purple hue. He gazed into her eyes with his own dark blue-violet eyes, pulling away from the mare. “Well, I mean, it wasn’t too bad of a trip. Then again, I’m sure that the stump I fell over was already there, Berryshine.”

“But how you explained it -hic- w-was just too -hic- funny.” Berry giggled and stood up straight. Her hooves landed in unsteady rhythms when she tried to steady herself.

He raised a hoof to her shoulder, which she returned the gesture as he helped stabilize her. “So…” Kettlepot smiled. “What do you want to do now? I can take you home and call it a night?”

Berryshine chuckled, turning her droopy-eyed gaze to the stallion. “S-sure… and *hic*, we could totally keep the night *hic* going.”

“Keep it going?” He raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“Like…” She trotted up in front of him, shifting in place, lowered herself before him and giggled. “I can show you something cool…” She giggled again. “But…” She turned around and quickly took off. “You’ll have to catch me first!”

Kettlepot could only laugh at the antics Berryshine was pulling. “Alright then, I’m going to get you!” He went from a pace to a sprint, his marefriend disappearing behind a building. He reached the corner she went behind and saw the end of her tail vanish behind another. “Don’t think you can hide from me, Berryshine!” he called out, laughing all the while. He slowed down to a trot once he reached the next corner. He peeked around the building’s side to see a dark alleyway.

“It seems you’re trapped, Berry. Nowhere to hide now.” Kettlepot continued to laugh, catching his breath as he slowly trotted down the alley. “Where are you? I’m going to find you.” He stopped at a sudden noise, a small tiny gasp. Kettlepot raised an eyebrow. “Berryshine? A-are you there?” A small squeak, almost sounding like somepony was out of breath echoed behind him. He swiveled his ears, only to hear a squelching noise.

“B-Berryshine?” Kettlepot turned around and looked into the darkness. He sighed when he saw his marefriend’s face. “Oh, thank goodness. Don’t scare me like that.” He tilted his head at the sight of her pupils, shrunk to pinpricks. “Berry… are you okay?” Her face floated higher at the mention of her name. Kettlepot slowly took a step backward. “Berry… you’re freaking me out. Please tell me, what’s wrong?”

His eyes widened, and he stiffened at the sound of a growl. Yet this didn’t sound like an ordinary animal. He looked to his marefriend and noticed that her mouth was open, yet the noise didn’t come from her. “B-Berry…” Kettlepot noticed a glint of light out of the corner of his eyes. As he turned to face the light, his breathing began to shudder at what he saw. Silver-like teeth glinted in the darkness, but that was all he could see. He turned to Berry and gasped at the tail that pointed outwards from her chest. Blood dripped down onto the ground while the mare’s body continued to slightly move in sporadic fashion.

He then turned to the creature, but flinched again at the squelching sound. He felt a warmth wash over him. Kettlepot coughed at the smell and brought a hoof up to the right side of his muzzle. He lifted his right hoof in front of his gaze; his chest tightened at the sight of a crimson liquid. “B-Blood? Blood…” A hiss echoed from the creature he saw, which returned his gaze as it took a step forward. Kettlepot fell onto his back, quickly righting himself up and running away from the scene. ‘I can’t believe what I just saw!’

“Help!” he called out. “Help! Somepony help me!” There seemed to be no answer. His breathing came out in short bursts. He scanned the surrounding buildings in haste until his attention stopped at the Ponyville hospital. ‘Yes! They can help me!’ Kettlepot ran across the bridge, hurrying in his approach to the hospital. He barged through the hospital doors. “Somepony help me!”

He turned his gaze to the pony at the front desk, who stared at the stallion with wide eyes. Kettlepot hurried over to mare and leaned on the desk with his hooves. “Please, you gotta help me. My marefriend, Berryshine, she’s hurt. I need help!”

“Okay please calm down, sir.” The mare picked up the phone as she dialed a sequence of numbers. “Hello? This is the front desk speaking. Yes, I got a stallion here that needs help. This could be a possible M-165 scenario.”

“Please… please hurry,” Kettlepot pleaded, leaning over the desk.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to calm down. Our medics will be--”

The mare’s voice began to dim, and Kettlepot’s pupils shrunk when he looked at the mare. ‘C-calm down? C-calm down!?’ He began to chuckle, that chuckle slowly growing into laughter. “Calm down? My marefriend’s dead. She was killed by some… creature… I s-saw it with my own two eyes!”

The mare stared at him, her gaze never wavered once before she picked up the phone again. “Scratch that… this could be a T-66.” She nodded at the voice resonating from the phone. “Thank you.” She put it down and kept eyes on Kettlepot.

Kettlepot sighed and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he began to wonder, ‘W-what happened? Where are those ponies that are supposed to help me find Berryshine?' As the doors opened up out of the corner of his eye, he let out another sigh. “Thank you… please, I need your he--”

He felt wind rush past his fur, the cold ground behind him knocking the air from his breath as the force pushed him to the ground. “Quickly, we must sedate this stallion before something else happens.”

Kettlepot couldn’t see who had spoke. ‘No, they can’t do this to me!’ He struggled and cried out as he watched the front door of the hospital move farther away. “No! Berryshine needs me! No!” He yelled and disappeared behind the next set of the doors, his cries growing distant over time. All had been in vain, and Kettlepot felt something click in his mind. His eyes grew heavier until he fell asleep. The last thoughts he had were of his precious Berryshine, and how he would find her… no matter what.

Zecora hummed to herself, her voice muffled by the spoon in her mouth as she swirled it around her large black cauldron. The aquamarine green liquid slowly formed a whirlpool from the gentle force of the stirring. She scooped up a small bit of the mixture, sniffed it, tasted it and nodded. “The mixture is finished.” Zecora turned to the being that slept on her extra bed and sighed while she put the spoon down on a wooden desk next to the cauldron. “Yet at a moment too soon, for somepony’s rest is still has not finished since last noon.”

It had been a single day since the arrival of this new creature, one that Zecora could only speculate whether or not it was from the Everfree Forest. In her time living in this place, she had seen many interesting animals, from the predatory chimeras and timberwolves, to even a rare glance at a cockatrice. Yet this one was different from the rest, for it had no claws or sharp teeth and didn’t even look considerably dangerous at all.

‘Yet where did this creature come from? It’s as though it fell from the sky like a plum.’ There was no telling where it came from, as Zecora felt that it may have been better left unsaid. She swiveled her ears at the sound of a groan, turning to the end of her small hut to see the creature had its fingered limbs over its eyes. ‘These are like minotaur hands; if I recall, they are not dangerous at all.’

Zecora slowly approached the creature and said, “It is good to see you now awake, for you have given me quite a shake.”

The creature stood still, slowly removed its hands from its eyes and opened them. They widened at the sight of her. “I can understand your surprise, but do understand that I am here to advise.”

The being slowly stood up, though its eyes never left her for a moment. Its mouth opened, and what came out was a surprise. “A… talking zebra?”

“You know of my kind? The striped breed of equine?” Zecora took a step back, tilting her head at his question. “And your language seems to be the same as mine. A helpful technique that may help you further align.”

The being blinked once before it looked around the room. “Is this all a dream? If so…” It brought a hand to its arm and pulled back the sleeve covering it. A number was tattooed on its skin. It sighed. “Well… then this is no dream then. I am still alive.” He took another look around the room. “A bit primitive… but this accomodation will do.”

‘Primitive? My humble abode? How crude.’ It was rather a bit insensitive to call her house such a thing. ‘This… creature is rather rude.’ But she let it slide. She had saved this being’s life, after all. “You can thank me Mr…”

It returned its attention to her with a small smile. “Please… you can call me Dr. Makoy Markovich.”

“Dr. Makoy Markovich, it is a pleasure. You can spend your time here at your leisure.” Zecora nodded. She turned around, went to the cauldron and dipped the spoon in the liquid. With a careful steadiness, she walked over to the being and nodded the spoon to him.

Makoy stared down at the liquid. He took the spoon from her grip and poured it down his throat, coughing after ingesting it. “That is some very strong liquid… is this medicine?”

“Correct. A recipe that took a while to perfect.” Zecora returned the spoon to the wooden desk. “I wish to know… what bores you so?” she asked before continuing, “And… the name of your species; what is it that makes you so uneasy?”

As Makoy looked up to the stars, a frown formed on his lips. “Humans… I am a human being. Not from your world.” He took a breath in before exhaling. “And I am not bored. I am just… taking this all in slowly.”

With this new information, Zecora turned her attention to the blinking lights of the night sky as well. This seemed to be more of a situation her friends could deal with. After all, they might need to speak with this creature who claimed he was not from this world. “Tomorrow, my friends I shall gather to meet. There, you may find the answers you seek.” With that, she went over to the door and closed it tightly. While she did so, she saw how important this would be. Yet at the same time, she couldn’t shake the feeling in her gut that this being was a bad omen. Whatever storm would come, she feared it would be disastrous, whatever the consequences might be.

Crickets chirped over and over, bringing the Everfree Forest to life. It seemed to be the only noise that brought an unsettling peace to this mysterious place. A spark of electricity flashed from the large vessel’s entrance, a sign that there was still some power left, although how much was left was unknown. A spark of magenta light lit up the surrounding area, and Twilight appeared, standing a few feet away from the entrance of the ship. She scanned the area around her, glancing behind her to make sure that nopony saw her. “Okay… here we go.” She breathed in and slowly exhaled out.

She took one step forward through the entrance of the ship. Twilight glanced around in an effort to keep a good awareness of her surroundings. ‘From what I’ve gathered about the Xenomorph so far, it tends to stick to the shadows.’ Even if Princess Celestia had affirmed that it was indeed quarantined, she still felt that being careful was at least somewhat necessary.

Her hooves echoed in the room she had deemed to be a “lobby room”, someplace where these aliens seemed to gather and relax during their travels among the stars. ‘I’m still surprised that they resemble the beings where Sunset Shimmer is at. Their similarities are uncanny.’ It certainly was an eerie resemblance, one she wasn’t entirely fond of at the moment.

Twilight walked over some of the dead aliens, gagging and shaking a little while she moved through this room of death. “Ugh… s-so disgusting…” it definitely wasn’t pleasant to know how these poor aliens had died. But it was something that Twilight didn’t need to focus on too much. As she walked down the long hallway, the voice of that human reappeared in her mind. “Poor April…” The thoughts that swirled around her head, everything that related to this human, was just an unhappy feeling. She reached the front of the ship and turned to her right. She stared at the dead female alien and sighed.

“Well… at least she hasn’t been touched by the wildlife here.” Something that Twilight was surprised by; she assumed that any predator that did come in would not have reached the front of the ship. Her eyes followed the pole that stuck out from the top area of her chest. ‘Well… I, I just hope you’re alright with this, April.’ The pole was encased in her magic, lighting up the cockpit in her magenta light.

She groaned as she pulled the pole from the alien’s body. It slowly yet surely began to slide back out. Twilight stepped back when it came out and gagged again at the sound of flesh squelching against the pole. “O-oh… s-so gross…” Twilight lifted the pole onto the control panel and rested it on the top of the array of buttons. The next part, Twilight thought was going to be a little more difficult.

“Please… just let my study of magic healing have an effect.” She frowned, still not so confident in her abilities in this field of magic. Yet she had to try. Twilight slitted her eyes and focused on the hole in April’s chest. The magenta light returned while a magic field appeared over the wound. She groaned as beads of sweat slowly trickled down her muzzle. The open hole of flesh slowly began to pull together again; Twilight smiled at the sight of skin reappearing. ‘Note to self: a dead body can still be repaired after three days of passing.’ It was not such a happy thought, but it was at least a new fact she had learned.

Twilight breathed slowly. “T-there… it’s done.” The hole was gone, replaced by just pale-colored skin. Her clothing, however, was not so fortunate. It revealed the interior sides of those two odd appendages that females had on their chest. ‘I still think that they’re… well, what we mares have. But if I want to find out, then I’ll just have to examine her another time. But first…’ Another field of magic encased her whole body this time. Once the magenta light disappeared, Twilight nodded. “There… she shouldn’t decompose anymore. Now… I just need to teleport her back, find someplace to hide her in lab downstairs and everything should be fine.” The magenta light returned one last time before Twilight disappeared in a flash of light, as well as the body of April O’neal, leaving the ship to return to its quiet and peaceful silence.

Author's Notes:

Hope you like the new added changes!