Twilight slightly raised a hoof up to her friends as they all exited in different groups. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack were in one group with Spitfire and three royal guards behind them, who were being led by what looked like a Neighland scientist. She looked over to the next group, with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy walking alongside Soarin with another few guards, along with a scientist as well. But watching her friends walk away, she winced. Was this such a good idea to split up in a place that could be completely hostile? She could never forget that mistake she made during the search through the Everfree Forest. That mistake had cost three Royal Guards and nearly killed Applejack and Rainbow Dash. And she knew this could all be a bad idea.

“If you will all follow me, we can continue our discussion in my office.” Bishop ushered the group up the stairs, his guards following close behind as they moved up to the next level.

Hooves echoed in the stairway as Bishop Neighland walked ahead of the group behind him. Twilight stared at the expansive open area in the middle of the building, mouth agape as she marveled at its structure. “Wow…” It still was a surprise of how massive this building was. Sure, it looked a little smaller from the outside, but on the inside it was open. She looked down from the side of the railing, gulping a little at the sight, and shivered while she kind of thought it'd be if she could see the bottom floor. ‘Then again… would I really want to know how far up I am?’

“Indeed.” Bishop glanced over his shoulder. “Here at Neighland-Yupony, we pride ourselves on making sure everything's running smoothly. But we also take care of our surroundings. As you can imagine.” He gestured with a wave to the building surrounding them. “This building we are standing in took a decade to complete. But the results were remarkable.” He chuckled afterwards. “And do not worry. Although the structure appears weak with an open area as you see before you, support beams have been built at the bottom of of this building and on the sides, able to withstand even the strongest earthquakes.”

Daring snorted next to Twilight, shaking her head. “Yeah, this place isn’t that impressive.” Twilight frowned as she heard what Daring said, ruffling her wings as she felt the tension from Daring go up.

‘Just what happened between you and Bishop?’ Whatever Daring experienced, it must have left a bad impression on her. Which was another thing that Twilight and the others barely knew about. After she had returned from this mission she had been sent on, although they had discovered that it was Prince Blueblood who was behind it all, Daring Do had not fully explained what had happened while she was on her adventure. Could it truly have been that bad like she once thought?

The group came up a darkened hallway ending with a door at the far end. Two pony guards stood at the sides of the door, standing still and staring at the group that was in front of them. Another set of ponies that wore the same armor like the pony that had been standing at the front of the administration building. ‘Huh… are these Bishop Neighland’s normal guards?’ Yet Twilight couldn’t help but negate the thought that they weren’t possibly any normal guards of his. And all the while, she could not help but feel odd about them, like she couldn’t trust them with her life.

The stationed guard on the right opened the door, allowing the group to enter the other room. The door closed behind them; Twilight looked back with a quiet sigh. She returned her gaze to the front to see Bishop Neighland setting himself down in a chair behind a desk, grunting a little until he sat up straight with a smile. “Welcome to my humble abode.” He gestured to the room around them.

It was quite fancy, Twilight had to admit. But it was a little too dark, if she was to be honest. ‘I wonder how he can still be able to see in the light with how long he stays in the dark like this.’

“So…” Princess Celestia finally broke the veil of awkward silence around them. “Would you care to elaborate on why you brought us all here?”

“Indeed, Your Highness.” Bishop nodded and turned around in his chair, his back facing them. “You see, I’ve met with quite a few ponies in my time. From the conversations we had, we always started the meeting with getting the questions out of the way before the real talks began.” He glanced over his shoulder. “So. I thought it would be best to hear what questions you may have. If that is alright with you all?”

Twilight looked to the others. Her eyes met with everypony else. They all nodded in unison and turned their attention to Bishop. “Of course,” Princess Celestia murmured.

“Excellent.” He softly clapped his hooves only once until turning around to face them all again. “Then I shall start with you, Your Majesty.”

Princess Celestia smiled. She took a few steps before standing a couple feet away from the desk. “I have already learned about your history, and when you first started your business ventures. But how were you able to come up with such advanced technology? And where did you get it from?”

Bishop smiled and looked down to the desk. He brought his hoof to the pedestal that held the headphones that Twilight had seen on the other guards. He pulled it back, and a small square on the desk opened up. He pulled it aside and brought out a very thin rectangular object. The device lit up; everypony flinched to see holograms appear. “You see… I may have been far ahead in the advancements of everypony else, but I was still stuck with the same technology that most other companies have.” He swiped his hoof across the holographic device in front of him. Everypony else’s gaze was completely transfixed to the alien-like device.

“So you mean to say that you were not as advanced as you are now?” Princess Celestia asked, her mouth slightly agape at the sight of the device in front of her.

“No, my company wasn’t.” Bishop poked the holographic surface with his hoof. The symbols disappeared and were replaced by a ship, one that Twilight gasped quietly at.

‘It’s the ship from the crash site. But… how did he get to it?’

“But a month ago, we found something extraordinary.” Bishop glanced up at the ponies to see frowns upon their muzzles. “I take it that you have seen this alien vessel?”

“Yes… yes, we have.” Celestia murmured. “Let me just say that it brought some… unwanted loss.”

Twilight turned her gaze away. The memories of what it held began to make her heart ache. ‘That’s where it all began… where the Xenomorph came from.’

“I see…” Bishop stared for a moment longer before setting down the device. “The ship you see before you was the company’s ticket to becoming something greater. It is what led to our surge in technology, and what I hope will push us further into the future.”

“So what do you plan on ‘making’, then?” Daring Do narrowed her eyes as she walked up to Princess Celestia’s side.

Bishop only raised an eyebrow at the momentary approach. “Appliances, furniture, electronic devices, a whole multitude of items that a pony could only dream of having.”

“Yeah. So what else would you plan to build? Like, oh I don’t know, weapons?” Daring leaned forward as she approached the desk, her lowered eyes meeting Bishop’s calm and unblinking pupils.

He chuckled a little, covering his mouth with a hoof as he coughed. “Y-you are mistaken. I have no plan to militarize this technology. In this day and age, we are not prepared for what items of war this technology could bring.”

Daring let out a quiet growl, but Celestia gently pushed her back with her right hoof. “I am sorry, Mr. Neighland. My friend here tends to become overprotective.” Celestia lowered her eyes at her, and Daring grumbled as she took a couple steps back next to Twilight.

“It is alright. I’ve just never seen a pony so dedicated to the protection of her country.” Celestia looked away, and Bishop smirked at Daring.

Daring only gritted her teeth and raised her wings as she glared back at Bishop.

“Now then… is there anything else you would like to ask, Princess Celestia?”

“No. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Neighland.” Celestia nodded and backed up to the others. She turned to Daring and whispered. “Please. Remain calm, Daring Do. We must not blow our cover.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You didn’t see what I saw over at the Tenochtitlan Basin. This stallion isn’t to be trusted,” Daring argued.

Celestia let out a sigh, glancing behind her shoulder at Bishop. “As far as I am concerned, we must remain an investigation group. Our true intentions must not be revealed.”

Daring snorted and looked away. A small nod gave way that she understood. Twilight turned from the minor setback and walked up to Bishop’s desk. “Mr. Neighland, I would like to ask you something as well.”

“But of course, Your Highness.” Bishop nodded. “You must be Princess Twilight Sparkle, correct? The most recently crowned princess of Equestria?” She nodded after he spoke her name. “I must admit that you are very beautiful.”

Twilight looked away, blushing a little. “Thanks, but I’m not that great.”

Bishop let out another short chuckle. “It is alright to be modest, Your Highness.” He glanced up, only to see Flash Sentry roll his eyes. It only brought a small chuckle, followed by a tiny bout of coughing before he continued. “So… what is it that you wanted to ask?”

Twilight shook herself out of her stupor and retained her composure. “I was hoping to ask you about this.” She pointed to the device that sat on the pedestal. “What is that? I saw one on a guard before we walked in, and when I asked, he told me nothing.” ‘Besides being rude and so secretive about it…’

“I am glad you asked.” He lifted up the object in question in a greenish-gray aura and placed them upon his head. “This device, something I simply named a ‘headset,’ allows a pony to be able to talk to somepony else from a long distance away. However, it is still in a bit of its prototype stage, and can only be worked by unicorns and alicorns.”

“Really?” Twilight’s eyes widened as she stared at the object. Her gaze did not turn away from the headset, not even to the tiniest noise.

Bishop lifted it off and smiled. “Would you like to see it?”

“Would I!?” Twilight bounced up and down like a foal in a candy store, excited to investigate this new piece of technology.

“Twilight Sparkle?” Twilight flinched at Celestia’s voice, a frown on her muzzle as she was stopped from getting to see this headset. She turned her attention to Neighland. “Are you certain of this?”

“If I may, Princess Celestia,” Bishop murmured. “I have many more headsets than this one. And they all look the same. So I won’t be missing this any time soon.” Twilight’s eyes sparkled, smiling brightly as she levitated it to her front.

She turned it around and upside down, scanning the headset like it was a new book. “This is so incredible. You said this device is turned on by magic, correct?”

“Indeed, Princess Sparkle.” Bishop nodded. “As I have stated, only alicorns and unicorns can activate the headset. We have run tests for a non-magic version of this very headset. However, we simply have not been able to replicate the extraterrestrials’ more advanced version of this device. But, in time, we hope to unlock the secret to making it accessible to everypony.”

Twilight lifted it up to her head, only to raise an eyebrow at the weird structure. “How… do you put it on? I understand it goes on your head, but… I don’t want to risk any damage to it.”

“Here.” The aura changed to Bishop’s as he slowly fit the headset on Twilight’s head. She raised a hoof to her horn; the odd coils wrapping around it was an odd sensation.

“It… feels so… well, weird.” Twilight adjusted the headset, but the coils remained around her horn, shifting only slightly so.

“Do not fret, Princess. It will take some time to adjust to its odd positioning. But that feeling will go away within a few minutes.” Bishop faintly smiled. “As I said, it has only recently come out of its prototype stage. It works well, but we were unable to successfully adjust some frequencies. Another flaw is that this headset’s strength is only so strong. It can certainly work in a forest region, or even underwater. However, the magnetism of our planet’s magnetic field tends to… hinder its ability in elevated places.” It was possibly true. Plus she could imagine that the signal would be bounced around while trying to locate the device.

Twilight looked up and lit the coil up in her magic. The headset turned on with a few quiet beeps. She could hear a little bit of static, but that did not hinder her excitement for this new type of technology. “Wow… it’s so amazing.” She lifted the device off her head and nodded to Bishop. “Thank you, Mr. Neighland.”

“Why of course, Princess Sparkle. It is my honor to let you have such a unique gift.” He sat up straight in his chair and crossed his hooves on the desk. “Any more questions?”

As Twilight backed up to Celestia’s side, her ears swiveled to a voice on her right. “Yes. I have a question about your guards.” Flash Sentry took a few steps forward.

“Ah… the newly appointed Captain of the Guard, Flash Sentry.” Bishop blinked once. “It does pain me to hear about your brother’s unfortunate, not to mention untimely death, Princess.”

Twilight looked away at the mention of Shining. She felt something wrap over her back. Turning her gaze towards the source, she smiled when she met Celestia’s own eyes. She nodded a silent ‘thank you’ to her.

“So what is it that you want to ask about my own guards?” Neighland continued.

“I’ve noticed that you have your own unit of guards stationed here. How did you set up a system like this? And where did you get the pony power to do so?” Flash stood up straight, and his gaze never left Bishop’s.

Bishop only stared back with a faint smile on his muzzle. “Well… to be quite frank, I took what I knew from the Royal Guard system and implemented it for my own purposes,” he began, chuckling a little. “After I began my search for ponies eager to join the Royal Guard, I established a base for my security force in another building on the island here.”

“To join the Royal Guard? What do you mean by that?” Flash raised an eyebrow.

“Ponies who were deemed ineligible to join the Royal Guard came to me for help, so I set up a system that teaches the importance and daily routine of a Royal Guardspony, from earth ponies to pegasi and unicorns. They are all welcomed to join, much like the Royal Guard.” He raised a hoof as Flash was about to speak, silencing him in what he felt was an appropriate interruption. “And in an odd fashion, unlike the Royal Guard, I treat these ponies as how they would want to be treated. But do note that like the training regimen, I have ponies ready to break them in to experience how real training is like in the Royal Guard.”

“B-but… isn’t that against Royal Guard statute?” Flash took a step back at the news. “Surely you possibly can’t use such tac--”

“I assure you, Flash Sentry.” Bishop lowered his eyes. “I have read and reread the Royal Guardspony rules and codes of both combat and law. I do not send them on missions that are strictly for the royal force, nor do I intend to do so. So do not take me for a fool that is only in politics for one’s selfish desires, for I have none and will never resolve to such low degrees of treachery.”

The room went silent after Bishop spoke. Flash backed away slowly. Even Twilight was astonished that Bishop would talk down to a Captain of the Royal Guard. “Do not mistake me, Flash Sentry. I intend to follow the laws of the Royal Guard. However, if Equestria was to go to war, then the ponies I train here will already be suited for any combat purposes, especially ones that require these ponies to defend their home country.” His smile disappeared moments after. “But I will not hesitate to support my own ideas otherwise. You have your opinions… and I have my own.”

How much confidence Neighland had was interesting, Twilight thought. She looked to Daring Do, who had brought a hoof to her mouth. ‘This Bishop Neighland… his way of thinking is so… progressive.’ Surely Bishop had dreams of the future, but how he worded them was disturbing. Grandiose imaginations that seemed to hide meaning for something that Twilight would consider to be almost impossible to pull off. But it sounded like Bishop was intent on seeing his visions to the end.

“Now,” said Neighland. Twilight returned her attention to Bishop. “I want to begin our tour over at the Medical Center. If you will all follow me.” Bishop stood up and walked past the smaller group of ponies. The guard by the door opened it for him, and he walked through with a quick step to his pace.

Twilight watched him leave. She saw a shadow move over her and saw Celestia slowly tailing behind with the three Royal Guards she had following alongside. Flash Sentry walked behind them at a slower walk. She took a step forward until Daring Do walked past her, whispering, “I told you… this stallion’s crazy. We need to do something soon… otherwise you’ll regret not ending his plans here and now.” Her eyes gleamed with that hatred. Twilight took a step back when she felt some of that energy being directed to her as well.

This truly was something else, and Bishop Neighland was a whole different kind of pony. Twilight could only imagine what Bishop ’s true goal was, but whatever it was… she only could feel that it would not end well. For all of them...

“Weeee!” Pinkie Pie’s voice echoed in the tunnel. Pinkie did not truly worry about what was taking place, for she felt that if she began to imagine what this place possibly hid, she thought that it was best not to let those fears overwhelm her. Instead, she would just enjoy this experience in whatever way possible, in hopes that she could at least help the other ponies in her group relax.

And in truth, she saw that it was working. Whenever she would glance to her friends, the three Royal Guards members had faint smiles showing from within their helmets. Soarin was shaking his head, but he grinned all the same at her odd antics. Even Fluttershy was no different; she had on a bright smile and giggled quietly. Seeing that her job was being done, she had to keep their spirits up and hide her worries in the back of her mind. “Come on, everypony. You gotta try raising your hooves up!”

Pinkie turned her attention to the window and moved a hoof up to it. “Ahem!” She quickly brought her gaze to the pony working the tram. His deadpan expression made her rub the back of her head with a faint smile. “Do not stand outside of the tramcar, Miss Pie. You can seriously hurt yourself if you’re not careful.”

“Oops.” Pinkie quickly sat back down with a nervous giggle.

“So…” Soarin turned her gaze to the stallion driving the tram car. “Aren’t these… ‘things’ supposed to be safe? I mean, how many of these cars have you made?”

The stallion just kept his gaze forward. However, he sighed. “It is alright. It’s not exactly confidential.” He said before continuing. “Basically… let’s just say our earlier models caused a few… casualties.”

Silence quickly took over after the driver gave this revelation. “How is that not kept under wraps?” Soarin asked, turning himself around and kneeling against the seat with his right side.

“Mr. Neighland… likes to keep these reminders for us, so we know what will happen the next time we fail.” The stallion did not look back at Soarin when he spoke.

‘But why would this big boss stallion like to keep memories like that for them? Hurtful, unfrosted, and blood caked memories?’ It certainly was a strange action that this, Bishop Neighland, would take against his own workers. Why would he keep on reminding them of their past failures? Was it just for business reasons, or that they should have never made a mistake in the first place?

All in all, Pinkie did not feel like Neighland was telling the whole truth. And she made sure to keep a lookout for any signs if he was holding an Xenomorph here. ‘Rarity certainly won’t like that surprise…’ She lurched forward as the tram came to a halt, its brakes screeching on and off until the tramcar came to a stop. The stallion driving it nodded to the group and opened the doors.

Everypony stepped out and waited for their guide, one who looked like a scientist that walked up in front of the group with a smile. “Good evening, everypony. As you all know, Mr. Neighland has tasked me with guiding you all through a part of our fine facilities.”

“That’s… very kind of you,” Fluttershy murmured with a faint smile. “Where are we now? If that is an alright question?”

The stallion ushered them to the door. “Come with me, and I’ll show you through our Medical Facility.” The group of ponies slowly but surely followed the scientist through the door. They approached two doors near the end of the hallway, and the stallion pressed a button, which lit up with a yellow light, an arrow pointing up within the button’s light. As Pinkie saw this, she thought back to the room that she’d stood in earlier.

It was something the scientist called an elevator, one that she had heard about before, although they were not frequent around Equestria, usually only being in hospitals and larger buildings as such. She swiveled her ears to the stallion when he spoke. “We’ll start with the upper floors, where we have patient care. There we have our rooms for any staff member that has received any injuries during work, mostly guards during practice sessions. And then on the lower floor we have something unique for a hospital setting, which is a set of recreational rooms for our patients during their time here.”

The elevator door opened, and the group of ponies entered into the large room. Its moving door closed when the scientist pressed the eighth floor button. The room shifted, and Pinkie just stared straight ahead while the room moved up. “We also have a lower room we’ll head to later when everypony else is together to show you our lab for experimenting with pharmaceutical drugs, along with animals where we--”

“Y-you experiment with animals?” Fluttershy’s eyes widened before she frowned. “How dare yo--”

“It’s alright, Fluttershy,” Soarin interrupted her. “They probably don’t do anything with the animals, do you?” He raised an eyebrow at the scientist.

The stallion looked between the wonderbolt and the pegasus, her frown deepening. He chuckled and pulled at his collar. “D-don’t worry. We never harm the animals with our experiments. Every animal is well cared for here at this facility.”

Pinkie Pie’s smile began to slowly deteriorate. Something did not feel right, not one bit. She didn’t know why, but she felt that the scientist was lying to them about the animals. It wasn’t that she believed that they did hurt them, but that they had animals here in the first place. All she knew was not much to go on. But that feeling did not go away. ‘Something bad is here… I just hope it’s not cuckoo crazy… that’s the worst kind of crazy.’

The elevator door opened, and the tour guide walked out of the room with the group behind. Everypony except the scientist stopped and stared at the room a few feet away from them. It was a sizeable square glass room, the windows about eight feet tall with what looked like only a few ponies inside. They all wore labcoats, along with plastic masks that covered their muzzles and clear goggles over their eyes. “This here, fillies and gentlecolts, is part of Bishop Neighland’s experiments with pharmaceuticals. In a case where somepony might need something drastic or a pill to ease the pain, he invested in the technology and resources to see this happen.”

“But won’t that put other businesses out of a job? He’ll just own everything else.” Soarin raised an eyebrow at the Neighland stallion.

“Well, he knows that business is sometimes harsh, but the pills won’t be introduced to the public until much later in the future. But unfortunately, some sacrifices will have to be made for the greater good.”

“But nopony likes to sacrifice stuff. Especially if it’s good for the mind and soul of everypony else,” Pinkie Pie argued with a frown, taking a slight step back.

“In any case… We can go down to the animal pens if yo--”

“Animal pens!? You heartless monster!” Fluttershy moved muzzle to muzzle with the stallion, wings flared up. “Why are you containing them? Why are you keeping a bunch of poor defenseless animals!?” When she yelled, it registered above her normal talking voice.

“N-now, n-now hold on a second. We don’t dare touch the animals with any of the harmful test serums. We use the minor and non-lethal liquids and see their effects. They only last a little while before the side effect is gone completely.” He stretched his collar slightly, smiling a wide smile before Fluttershy backed off and rejoined the group. “Now before we can head down to the lower levels, I need to go speak with a few ponies before we can move further into the facility. However, I want you all to head into the waiting room over there, down the hall and on your left.”

With that, Pinkie and the others watched as the stallion left them. Hesitantly, they all turned around and walked down the hall. Pinkie stopped before she entered the room and let out a sigh. ‘I’ve got a bad… very unpasty and dry bread type of feeling here.’ She winced and looked down at her forelegs. ‘My knees are shaky… something bad is really going to happen…’ Whatever it was, she just hoped it would not affect her group, or anypony else in the investigation.

‘This is just stupid.’ Rainbow Dash thought to herself as she walked alongside Applejack. It was only moments since they had gotten off the tramcar, a ride that, although was alright in her view, was annoying when Rarity began fretting about her hair for two straight minutes. ‘I know she doesn’t always go on about her mane as much as she used to, but seriously. It’s sometimes the only thing she ever talks about.’

Rainbow looked to Applejack and then to Rarity; both mare’s gazes barely moved an inch while they kept their attention on the pony ahead of them. She could only roll her eyes, bored and disappointed that there was no fun to be had. Sure she knew this whole investigation was going to be boring from the start, but she at least imagined being able to ruffle somepony up or at least get a chance to knock some heads together. ‘Besides. If these ponies did ponyknap everypony else, why can’t we just arrest them on the spot?’ As she would say, this was basically ‘lamesville’.

But that wasn’t even the worst of it all. Rarity and Applejack had remained quiet throughout the whole beginning of their separation; besides when Rarity was vocal about the dishevelment of her mane. And from the occasional question that Applejack or Spitfire would ask, nopony else spoke up at all. This trip was slowly devolving from an action filled adventure that Rainbow Dash imagined, to what she felt would have been a boring trip to the library. ‘From the amount of history and questions Applejack and Spitfire keep asking, it might as well be a library. A boring, lame, and book-filled snorefest.’

Her frown deepened when she looked back to Applejack and Rarity. Could she really blame them for being quiet? Rainbow Dash herself wasn’t any better than these two. After all, it had been only three hours ago when they were practically at each other's throats. Rainbow slightly shook her head, images from that heated argument still was very clear and visible; with three mares debating which one of them had the worst of last month’s experience. ‘I… why am I so sad all of the sudden? It wasn’t my fault that Rarity was the first pony to start it.’

Yet had she done anything to stop the fight from escalating into a full blown quarrel? The frown fainted a little at the thought of what she had said. She too became fully invested in the three way debate, letting herself become riled up at what could have costed them their friendship. ‘Still… I’m not the only pony to blame.’ But she was the Bearer of the Element of Loyalty: Rainbow closed her eyes for a brief moment, her ego had gotten in the way of her devotion of being a good friend. They were all better than this, and Rainbow felt she should have at least done something to stop the argument.

“So before we begin.” The tour pony turned around, her bright grin a little creepy, Rainbow thought. “I will take any last questions before we enter the elevator.”

Rainbow looked to the others, and they all stared back. Nopony said a word, and they slowly returned their attention to their tour guide. “I think we’re good.” Applejack nodded.

“Splendid. Let me call the elevator and we can get this tour started.” The mare pressed the top round button, the up arrow symbol lit up in a pale yellow light. A silence wrapped over the group of ponies until a quiet beep echoed above them, a bright yellow number decreased before it reached the number zero. The door slid open and the group walked into bland and square room before the door closed them in.

Creaking resonated from outside the elevator room, everypony gazed at the walls of the room as if it would fall down any minute. The same pale yellow number was inside the room, a beep echoed in the room while it went up instead of down. It stopped at three until the room came to a sudden halt, the door slid open and the tour pony walked out. The rest of the group followed suite, Applejack turned back to the room. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used ta a contraption like that.”

“Well, I actually find that it would be quite useful. Especially if your hooves were already carrying multiple items.” Rarity said with a faint smile.

“Eh, I’d still rather fly.” Rainbow Dash deadpanned, looking out the window to her right and surveyed the outside world from this building. The island was pretty cool, although Rainbow wasn’t too impressed. Coupled with the fact that she was on a so called ‘tour’ of an old stallion’s company; being shown around like it was his intention to impress them came off as a bit lame. That and the thought of the freaky alien being here did not help comfort her mind. ‘If it’s here though, I’ll make sure to give it one like it did to me.’ However, the last time she had her first encounter with the Xenomorph, could have been her last if not for the quick exit with her friend’s help.

But then she raised an eyebrow and glanced at her friends. It had been the first time they talked in about three hours together. At least tensions had died down, Rainbow thought, but her frown deepened and she didn’t want to get too optimistic. ‘They’re still probably sore about what happened… heck, I’m surprised my voice hasn’t faded after I yelled at them both.’ And in a way, she was glad that she had calmed down, as well as Applejack and Rarity.

A gasp resonated from her left, Rainbow turned to see Applejack and Rarity gazing through the paned window at their left. “Woah…” Spitfire stopped next to Rainbow Dash. They all stared at a much larger room beneath their hooves as they looked from the glass wall that separated them from the huge chamber six feet below. These ponies wore white and black striped labcoats. Some held clipboards in magic fields, while others were experimenting with different objects: ranging from metals to odd powdery substances of varying colors, and papers with complex design-like blueprints.

“My this is certainly… overwhelming to say the least.” Rarity murmured, her eyes glimmered slightly with a hint of caution.

“They definitely have the pony power to run a huge place like this.” Spitfire added, her eyes gazed from one section of the chamber below to another, eyes tracking the ponies below in a wary fashion.

“Now then everypony.” Rainbow turned her gaze to the mare tour guide, her bright smile continued to shine. It was creepy, for that same smile had not disappeared once during their tour. “The first room we’ll arrive to is our testing room. Now please do be careful. Due to this being our Research and Development compound, we have items; ones I cannot declassify that can be quite dangerous if disturbed. That is why I’ll ask you to stand at a specific distance from the glass windows to help insure your safety.”

The group looked to one another before they returned their attention to the mare in front of them. “We’ll make sure ta follow that advice.” Applejack slowly nodded.

“Excellent.” The Neighland-Yupony mare turned around and walked further down the hall. Rainbow Dash and the others soon followed behind. “While we’re walking, would anypony like to ask some questions?” She glanced behind her right shoulder before she continued. “Just to let you know, I’m only able to give some answers to certain questions, as to not reveal any information about Neighland’s prototype projects. He doesn’t want any information falling into the wrong hooves.”

“Yeah, I got one.” Spitfire spoke up first. “You said this is a research and development facility, right?”

“Yes. Yes I did.”

“And you also said that this place houses some dangerous equipment.” Spitfire tilted her head slightly before she asked, “How did Bishop Neighland get clearance for these projects if they’re a danger to ponies very live’s?”

“A good question, and one that I can certainly answer.” The mare in front of them stopped and turned to face the group. “You see, Neighland is a rather compassionate and very sensible pony. He’s always looked out for our home country Equestria, so in his way of thought, he desired to find a way to help strengthen our borders and our army. So the only way he knew how, was to build and manufacture tools that could help the two main focuses that the company works for.”

“So basically this is a weapons manufacturing company?” Spitfire raised an eyebrow.

“Not completely no. The company also builds every day items: from appliances to cooking ware, even beginning our research into more magic required ideas and advanced items that can run on crystals.”

“Crystal power?” Rarity murmured, looking to Applejack and Rainbow Dash before she continued, “I don’t think I’ve heard much on crystals ever being a power source.”

“I thought the same way when that idea was introduced a few years ago. But Neighland was able to discover that crystals actually have a hidden source of power buried deep within their hard exterior.” The mare reached a hoof into the interior of her lab coat before pulling out a small gem. “You see there were legends long passed down in some forgotten pony history. This lore in our own past was during the great war between our three pony tribes: the unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. Bishop explained that he delved into whatever old history book he could get his hooves on and discovered this hidden secret within earth pony lore. What he later uncovered was just completely mind blowing.”

“And… what secret does that there little rock have?” Applejack hesitantly asked, her eyes flicked from the gem to the mare in front of her.

“Well, what he discovered was amazing. In part of the early earth pony history, was that they had recorded several losses against the unicorns during the middle period of this war. They were completely up against the wall and had little supplies left to fend off the ever growing threat that the unicorns were slowly becoming.” Applejack and Rarity looked at each other, faint frowns relayed their worries to one another. “But then, one day, an earth pony by the name of Crevice Onyx discovered that these crystals here, now identified as Tourmaline, when presented with enough heat or pressure could create a magic charge that they later began using as a weapon against the unicorns.”

“Wait a minute. How can a rock produce magic? Seems kind of ridiculous if you ask me.” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at the mare.

“But it is not so odd as you might think it is. When we researched these rocks and tested them only a couple years ago, we found out that the electromagnetism found in each color variety of tourmaline, has been infused with the magic that unicorns have today. However, what eludes us still is the origin. History can only go back so far before we are forced to stop. So where or when this could have happened is still up for debate.”

“So what happened once the earth pony’s weaponized this tourmaline?” Applejack asked as she reintroduced the earlier topic.

“I’m glad you brought that back up. If you’ll follow me, we’ll continue the conversation as we head to our first destination.” The mare waved them to move forward before she turned around and continued onward. “So after the earth ponies discovered the tourmaline gemstone, they were introduced to a variety of these gems with different elemental effects. Which the gem had different colors: they were able to use red tourmaline that was for fire, blue for water, yellow for electricity, green for air, pink for telepathy and telekinesis, and even black for dark magic.”

“Wait a minute? You’re saying this stone has dark magic capabilities?” Spitfire spoke up, eyes slightly wide.

“Interesting right? The earth ponies began to push the unicorns back with this new weapon, which they implemented into their own hoof held weapons, bows and arrows, and other assortment of tools. But their lore goes further into this war and tells that the pegasi found out about this weapon and began digging for it and using it against both the earth and unicorn ponies. Pretty soon, the unicorns were on the run and had to resort to this gemstone to fight back when they ended up in the same position as the earth ponies.”

The Neighland pony sighed while she walked. “After reading through it and after the war finally ended, the loss of pony’s lives were far more tremendous than any other war in our history. When the three leaders of each tribe met, they banned the use of this tourmaline.”

“So how did y’all find this tourmaline then, if the ponies who used ta be in charge lost the information to these rocks?” Applejack turned her gaze to the outside room, her eyes widened a little at the sight of some of these gemstones. They were perfectly round, almost lined like a diamond with their tiny crevices.

“Another good question. Mr. Neighland actually read through the documents and found their location. Although that has been classified and is not known to us. We… oh wait, here we are.” The neighland pony stopped and pointed to the room below.

Rainbow Dash and the others stopped a couple feet behind the mare and turned to where she pointed, their mouths slightly agape. The room itself was completely silver and clean, yet at the end there were holes and black marks, from an explosion possibly. But it wasn’t the wall they were surprised by, their eyes focused completely on the sole object in the room, held up by a tripod and secured by some kind of brace-like objects. “What the heck is that thing?” Rainbow Dash asked, wings slightly raised up.

“That is one of the weapons we recovered from the crashed alien vessel from a month back. It was one of the few that were still intact. We also found ammo after discovering a dead alien body under rubble from a cave; most likely the one that was described by Princess Twilight Sparkle as a human named ‘Dr. Makoy Markovich’, who had planned to escape but was killed by what she said was the creature.”

“Good riddance.” Rarity whispered, Rainbow raised an eyebrow when she heard what her friend had said. Never before had she heard such words from the fashionista herself, although after what Twilight had shown her and the others, she was not slightly disturbed by Rarity’s hostility.

“When we discovered the weapon, and the items we found known as ‘ammunition’, we realized what a great opportunity it was to test the ‘gun’ as these aliens called it.” The neighland mare nodded to the chamber below. The group watched as two ponies walked up to the gun, one with a clipboard and the other wrapped the gun in a bright blue aura.

Movement caught Rainbow Dash’s eye and she looked up to the end of the room, and she tilted her head at the sight of three mannequin ponies, but with a gel exterior to them. One, however, had armor, a set that looked like the royal guard’s while the other two did not. “I’ve actually witnessed what happens when this gun fires.” Rainbow turned her attention back to the tour guide. “Although it is frightening due to its power, it is nonetheless amazing at the damage it can cause.”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to say something, but jumped at a loud sound coming from the chamber below. Turning her attention to the gun, she watched as the unarmored gel pony was ripped apart by the gun’s ammunition, blood from inside the fake pony sprayed across the white walls. After a few seconds of firing, the first target was in complete shambles. The pony was literally cut in half, its right foreleg was missing and its head was cracked open with half of its muzzle gone as well, blood dripped from the gel mannequin. ‘Wh-what just happened…’

The pony on the gun turned it to the armored pony, the loud racket of noise returned as the bright yellow blur of light hit the armor, going right through the golden metal. Holes appeared where the ammunition went through the armor, blood spurting onto the exterior of the armor from inside the gel pony’s body before the gun stopped firing. Again, the gun was turned to the last gel pony and its muzzle pointed at the last unarmored pony. “C-can you please stop this. This is too gra--”

Rarity was interrupted as a new noise, a small ‘pop’ echoed from the lower area of the gun, the gel pony exploded as the new ammunition made contact, blood scattering everywhere. The gel pony was completely gone from its spot, but parts of its gelatinous body were scattered across the room. Rainbow could hear Rarity gag beside her, yet she would not turn to face her friend, for the sight of the two somewhat intact gel pony’s retained her gaze.

“What… and you plan on using something like this?” Spitfire frowned and stood in front of the neighland pony. “Can you imagine the death toll coming from this kind of technology? It’s too dangerous.”

“We never did plan on using this exact model. We had one de-evolved version of this weapon... “ The mare glanced to her left and the group turned to where she looked, only to see a stallion walking past them with his mane and eyebrows singed off. “Unfortunately the technology has proven to be quite sensitive when reduced to its most primitive state. That stallion almost lost his life a couple weeks ago after the test went… well, about as well as you can imagine.”

Rarity let out a quiet exhale, calm and not about to vomit over the floor after the show she and the others witnessed. “And… you said this all came from a ship. Are you talking about the one next to the old Royal Sister’s castle?”

The neighland pony’s eyes brightened. “I’m glad you brought that up, miss.” The mare waved the group to follow before stopping at a couple windows down on the opposite side. Rainbow stopped by the tour guide’s left side and her eyes widened.

“Woah…” It was the first time Rainbow Dash had seen the ship; the ship that carried the freaky alien to their world. It was quite a large vessel, and although she wasn’t so good with math, it had to be at least a hundred feet or close to it. The exterior was still in disarray, although it looked like some of the Neighland ponies had gone to work on fixing parts of it. When she was able to fly, she thought it was best to avoid the castle from where the Xenomorph used to be since she still feared it would somehow come back to life.

“Amazing isn’t it?” The mare spoke with her usual bright smile. “This ship is something else. We found it after searching the surrounding area of the Royal Sisters’ Castle. After we lifted it over to the island, a feat that I still don’t know how Bishop Neighland managed to do, we were able to study it and see if we could repair it in any way possible.”

“In any way possible?” Applejack deapanned, raising an eyebrow at the mare. “That sounds almost impossible.”

“Quite so. But with the time we’ve had, our understanding of this race’s technology has gotten a little better. Although it isn’t by much, we were able to find metals that replicate parts of the exterior design. Unfortunately the inside is another story altogether. Due to it’s more complicated and electronic parts, we are unable to fully rebuild that. But with how far we’ve come along, I think in due time, Mr. Neighland will find the way.”

‘Let’s hope they don’t.’ Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure she would like the idea of flying alien machinery being able to travel in the air again. And she didn’t need to see the object that reminded her of that Xenomorph over and over again; it’d almost feel like the alien would be taunting her somehow. ‘Stupid freak…’

“Anywho.” The mare turned around, her bright smile still unchanged. “Our next visit is to the medical center. So if you’ll all follow me, we should hopefully meet up with the rest of your group.”

Everypony turned to one another, a faint smile on their muzzles. “It would be rather nice to be with everypony else.” Rarity nodded and returned her attention to the Neighland pony.

“Well then, let’s get goin’.” Applejack said her agreement and the group followed their tour guide back down the hall.

Yet Rainbow Dash turned back to the room where the ship was. She shook a little, that fearful feeling welled up in her chest. ‘This doesn’t feel right. Why are we just leaving that thing here with them. Who knows what they’ll do with it if they get it powered back up.’ But Rainbow could not blow her cover. Although, quite frankly, she didn’t think they were being too secretive at all and that these ponies knew what they were up to. Hopefully they could get out of here before it was too late.