A soft breeze blew through the trees, chilling the air as the sun’s rays of warmth cradled the land below. The gentle wind and the rustling of leaves surrounding the motionless mare was all that seemed to echo around the silent forest. All of these things quietly told of a peaceful moment that felt more eerie than safe. A quiet groan disturbed the tranquil yet otherworldly scene as the waking mare slowly dragged her hoof closer to her barrel.

The pegasus slowly opened her eyes, clenching her teeth together as she felt the spasms of her muscles throb in searing pain, screaming at her to resume the sleep that her body needed to heal itself. Ignoring her body’s plight, she trembled as she raised one hoof up before pressing it against the ground, shivering as she lifted her muzzle, staring at the foliage and glistening in the cold wet grass all around her.

Raising another hoof, she pressed it on the ground before raising herself up slowly, shaking as she lifted the upper part of her figure. Her front hooves wobbled violently as she forced herself up. ‘No… you’re not going to give out on me… not now.’

Moving her back legs up, she steadily rose to her hooves, standing still as she adjusted herself to the weight of her own body. The aching in her muscles persisted, pulsating through the entirety of her nerves. Slowly, she let her rump rest on the ground, her chest steadily expanding and contracting as she gazed down. Daring slowly blinked her eyes, watching the ground sway underneath her, the blades of grass seeming to almost multiply as she tried to keep herself from falling over.

Blinking once more, she gazed at the area around her, taking the time to note her surroundings. The open area around her was shaded, only a few streams of the sun’s rays of light broke through the covering of the jungle Daring sat in. Looking up, the large billowing cloud from the explosion was gone now. The only trace of it was a trail of light smoke that marked where the compound once stood.

Lowering her muzzle, she closed her eyes and sadly reflected on the events that took place. Two beings came in hazy images, a frown forming on her muzzle as she remembered the last moments she had with Dr. Caballeron and Ahuizotl. Daring recalled all the hard times her nemeses gave her, from trying to collect rare and dangerous artifacts to conquering the Tenochtitlan Basin. Now, Ahuizotl was dead, and Dr. Caballeron most likely was as well. It was an unsettling thought, as if something was gone, like some part of herself was taken away. Her whole life had been dedicated to stopping the crazed dog-monkey creature and greedy stallion, but she never imagined how she would feel if they just disappeared.

The images of her enemies disappeared and were replaced by friendlier faces, ones that brought a smile to her muzzle. She saw Rugged Muzzle, nodding to her in the silent yet stoic fashion she had come to know. Although Daring hardly knew him, she was sad because Rugged Muzzle deserved better, not to die and have his head be used as something’s personal decoration.

Black Arrow then appeared in the large earth ponies place, the maroon pegasus tipping his hat to her. Just as reserved as the larger stallion was, but kind in a certain way and wanted the best for everypony. The sickening sound of the spear pinning the stallion’s body to the wall after his selfless sacrifice sounded through her mind, tears threatening to leak out from her closed eyes as the memory of the maroon pegasus faded away.

A third pony, Roughneck appeared by her side in an ethereal form, as she remembered the night when he revealed his tragic story to her. He turned to face her with a toothy grin, smiling like the dork he was. Roughneck definitely was one of the weirder ponies of the group, but he was likeable all the same. She could feel the faint warmth on her lips as she remembered the very tame but intimate moment by the river after he almost drowned. Tears slowly leaked out from her eyes and trickled down her muzzle.

She choked up a little as she remembered the leader of the group. Crystal Rune wasn’t the nicest of ponies at the beginning, but she had changed so much since Daring herself came into the picture. Seeing a smile was something she never thought she would ever see coming from such a cynical unicorn, but it was worth it even more since she was the pony who helped her see that friends were important, even when she herself was still learning about friendship.

Opening her eyes, she murmured to herself. “I’m so sorry. I was supposed to keep you all safe. I was expected to make sure you would all return home safely.” Daring brought a hoof to her eyes and wiped away the tears, sniffling a little before standing up. ‘I can’t be crying now. Not after everything that happened.’ Princess Celestia still needed to be informed about what happened, and that the Alien was dead. ‘If Rune was still inside the building… then the Alien should be dead as well.’ Turning herself around, she began to make her way towards the edge of the clearing, but noticed something off to her right. She turned towards and sadly smiled as she recognized her hat. Moving over to the lone pith helmet, she picked it up, brushed it off, and brought it over top her head, placing it back in its rightful place before replacing her smile with a determined frown.

Glancing back to her wings, she ruffled her feathers without so much as a wince. Spreading them out slowly, she steadily began to flap her wings until lifting off the ground and flying into the air. Rising above the treeline, she looked up to the sun and took a moment to calculate the direction she needed to go before making her way southeast. Daring swiveled her ears as a loud whistle pierced the air. Turning, she frowned as she spotted a ship, but it wasn’t just the ship she glared at, it was the large “Neighland Industries” logo on the side of the ship. ‘Princess Celestia needs to know about Neighland. He needs to be stopped before he does something even worse.’ Glancing at the ship one last time, she hurriedly flew towards Canterlot, hoping that Celestia would be ready to hear the events that she went through.

A loud whistle pierced the silent sloshing of the waves against the beach as the Neighland Industries cargo ship slowly pushed through the water towards its destination. Upon the deck, the crew of the ship was busy loading cargo carriers in certain areas of the deck. Inside, ponies were rushing about as the ship radioed the destruction of the facility.

Down below in the cargo hold, hiding away in a dark area was a cloaked unicorn leaning against the wall, eyes closed as she tried to rest. However, her mind was restless as all the moments she had treated her former team members so badly haunted her. Crystal fidgeted, groaning as she tried to shake them away, but each thought forced its way back into her mind, reminding her of every single time where she could have treated her crew better.

Finding it hard to rest, she opened her eyes. A fresh wave of tears dripped down her muzzle as remembered the last moments she spent with each of her team. ‘I’m so sorry… Rugged Muzzle… Black Arrow… Roughneck… I’m so sorry… I should have been… more considerate… I should have been a better leader...’

After the hallway she ran into collapsed behind her, she peered through the dust that fogged her vision, a small pain rippled through her chest as she coughed silently after inhaling the smoke that surrounded her. Moving forward, she got out of the haze but could not see where the Alien went. Crystal hurriedly looked everywhere for the little monster, but could not find a trace of it anywhere. She flinched as debris from the ceiling above fell to her right, splitting apart on the ground as a wave of heat rushed around her body.

Seeing how the building around her wasn’t going to stay up for much longer, she quickly ran out as fast as she could, finding an exit and rushing out into the cold sunny morning outside the compound. She looked back, hoping that Daring had gotten out in time before facing forward once more. A loud whistle thundered through the air, grabbing the mare’s attention as she turned to look for the source. A large freighter ship was docked at the loading bay of the facility, with ponies quickly hurrying aboard.

Rune glanced at the compound behind her and didn’t want to run back in, knowing it could collapse on her if she did. Looking back at the ship, she quickly ran towards the it and ducked behind a few barrels as she approached the loading ramp. Seeing that the guards and the rest of the crew were scrambling about to evacuate the collapsing facility, Rune crept out from her hiding spot and sneaked behind them while they weren’t looking.

It took some time before she finally managed to make it up the ramp that boarded the ship, slowly making her way past more guards that were running about. Rune scanned the deck of the ship, stopping as she saw the door going into the ship itself. A bright blue light appeared out the corner of her eye accompanied by a deafening explosion, making her turn to face the direction of the building. Her eyes widened as she gazed at a large blue energy, engulfing the entire building and more. An alarm echoed across the deck of the ship, ponies running towards doors that led inside, as the ship slowly set sail away from the wave of blue light that steadily came closer. Rune looked back to the harbor and saw that there were a few ponies still trapped on the docks. They waved their hooves in the air in hopes the ship would return for them. Rune looked up to the bridge, watching the crew behind the glass simply do nothing. The ponies on the dock kept waving in hopes the ship would turn back for them, but they were ultimately consumed by the searing light.

“Daring…” Rune whispered hopelessly before shutting her eyes and looking away. Silently, she made her way over to the door, opening it quietly and shutting it behind herself.

As she curled up behind stack of large shipping crates, Rune mournfully thought of the light gold pegasus and of the last time she saw her. ‘I hope she got out of there.’ In an attempt to cheer herself up, she reminded herself that Daring Do was a capable adventurer, recalling all the stories of her past adventures. Surely she could handle the hunter that had killed her entire team and escape in time. ‘And if that Alien was still there… it would have gone up with the facility. It has to be dead. But not Daring. Not her...’ Rune wasn’t, however, too optimistic about that belief, but it was all she could go on for now. As sleep finally proceeded to take her in its gentle grasp, she knew that wherever this ship ended up, she would need to get out of there as fast as possible when it docked. ‘I can worry about that later.’ She soon went to sleep, faintly breathing as she was relieved that the nightmare was over.

“Hey, did you hear about the facility? Advisers said that the generator blew up.” A Neighland worker mentioned, leaning against a wall as she informed the stallion to her right, watching him load up the last of his crates.

“No kidding? I thought the crystal that powered the generator wouldn’t have done something like that. What could have ruptured it?” The stallion inquired, heaving a crate onto one of the shelves.

“Don’t know. There was another explosion, bigger than the generator, that’s for sure.”

“Wow…” The stallion looked over to the mare and raised a single eyebrow before asking. “Say… are you one of the guards that worked in ‘Containment’?”

The masked mare tilted her head a little, before answering. “Yeah, why?”

“I heard quite a few tales about that sector. Some ponies said that place was filled with all sorts of weird items. Was there anything in particular you were guarding?”

The mare rubbed her chin thoughtfully before speaking. “Well, there was this pretty creepy… ‘creature’ that I and a few others were guarding. Goddess, it was awful looking.”

“Oh yeah, how bad was it?”

“No eyes, no fur. Blood covering it and a tiny pair of forearms and legs with a long, fleshy tail.”

“Ugh.” The stallion shivered. “Wow, that definitely sounds like something I wouldn’t want to meet. Has the boss heard about it yet?”

“You mean Neighland? Oh yeah, the adviser just got his ear chewed off. Never heard anypony use such colorful language before. Was pretty irate that we lost it.” The masked mare chuckled slightly. “He said it was important for a top secret bio-weapons division that he had conjured up. Don’t know why he thought something like that could be used as a weapon. Then again, he could be right.”

“We may never know what the boss is thinking.” The stallion murmured, marking off the items on the checklist he had in his hooves. “Everything checks out here. Nothings been taken or misplaced.”

“Good. Let’s get out of here. I don’t like hanging around the lower decks of this ship. Always give me the creeps.” The two Neighland workers continued their conversation as they walked through the door, shutting it behind them with a ‘clang’. Everything in the room was eerily quiet, before the screech of a rat echoed. The mammal’s cries of pain were punctuated with a loud crack before silence ruled the room once more.

A little further back in the room, there laid the rat, blood pooling from its body. A red light illuminated the small being standing still, its eyeless head pointing downward before it lifted its muzzle. It held the rat inside its mouth as blood poured from its teeth. The alien thrusted its head forward as it gulped the small rodent down, the body of the deceased mammal was jerked around violently until its tail slithered past its incisors and down the nightmarish creature’s gullet. A red liquid continued to drip from its mouth, accompanied by the saliva that trickled out from its jaws. The small Xenomorph breathed heavily as it looked about the large room, scanning its surroundings.

Small tears ran through the skin on its body, flaking off. Standing up on two legs, it looked at the closed door, the red light casting the alien’s large shadow, its height increased after the molt. It raised its tiny eyeless head and screeched, a high pitched shriek echoing around the room as a mist like breath poured out of its mouth like a fog machine. It tilted its head, the light tapping of its feet hitting the ground silently resonating in the room as the creature moved towards the door. It would find more prey to help it grow, and then continue its predecessor’s work. All that mattered was the Hive.

Author's Notes:

I am terribly sorry about the wait everypony. My proofreader didn't get my messages and it seems now that he has all but completely vanished. I am very worried about him, and I do hope he hasn't gotten hurt or injured at all... or worse. It has been proofreaded by him, but I hope it is in good shape. Thank you all for patiently waiting for the last chapter to this story.

Now to announce who won the contest. Ahem... I would like to congratulate Derpyhooves320. You were the first to guess that it would be Daring Do and Crystal Rune who would survive at the end. So of course, congratulations are in order. I shall discuss the terms of your award later on.

As of right now, The True Nightmare's third story is underway and I am already five chapters into it. Hopefully by the time I have gotten them proofread, edited and prereaded by my choice, I shall have them out for at least either once a week or something along those lines.

As for another little shoutout, I would like to thank EdCOM02 for generously creating the group The True Nightmare: (Aliens/Predators) Group. Thanks again, for that was completely unexpected of you. To whoever wants to join the group, I have left the you link there.

And of course... thank you to all who have continued to follow the series. I am deeply grateful for you, the readers. And of course, to DiabloGuapo and TehSporkBandit for their generous help as well. So until I have submitted the third story to this lovely series, I bid you all adieu.