Author's Notes:

Now before we begin with the next chapter, I would like to take a moment to inform you guys. Now this chapter, as you know, is the second part of chapter ten. However, what you should know is that at the moment, this chapter is the halfway mark. Yes. That means the next set of chapters is on way towards the end of this story. Now at the moment I have given you seventeen chapters. That means another set of seventeen should be coming. Which makes this whole story thirty-four chapters long.

But does that mean there shall only be this exact number? I am uncertain. However, what I do know is this. There are two chapters in particular that may get more parts added to them. (Mostly due to the fact of how long these specific chapters may be). Yet to conclude with this short Author's Note, this is the official halfway mark of the story. Now I hope you enjoy the chapter. The real fun is about to begin...

A silver light slowly glowed from the sky above; the moon had changed position with the sun in their daily cycle of day and night. A doorway slid open as some of the light seeped into the building’s front entrance. When the door parted, a chorus of buzzing resonated from a line of rectangular metal objects. Gears turned and bits of magic energy flowed over the exterior of the machine from time to time. “Here we are.” A stallion’s voice was audible enough to be heard among the racket of noise within the large building.

“What is all this?” Fleetfoot asked while she followed the Neighland scientist.

“This here, Miss Fleetfoot, is the power room. We here at Neighland-Yupony had a bit of a rough time trying to convert all the energy from the generator at the Admissions building all the way over here. But with time and patience, a value that is well received here at the company, we were able to connect the crystal’s magic and run it throughout the entire facility on the island here.”

“So all the power runs through here, huh? That’s actually kind of cool. Reminds me of Cloudsdale’s way of supplying power to our weather machines,” Fleetfoot spoke to herself. Her eyes never left the array of machines and gadgets. “But wait, how do crystals have magic inside of them? Aren’t they just gemstones?”

“Well you’d be surprised by what we’ve come to know about them. I can certainly show you to the main generator in here if you like. If you’ll follow me, it should only take a couple moments. And then I can answer your question.” The Neighland-Yupony stallion ushered them to follow him, likewise, Fleetfoot nodded to the guards at her left and right. As she followed, she noticed movement in the corner of her eye: a shadow from above. She hastily brought her gaze to the windows, but all she could see was the moon slowly rising up from the corner of the sky.

‘Huh… that was, odd.’ She shrugged and quickly dismissed it as some pegasus pony. And from what she had seen, there were quite a few here on this island. Fleetfoot returned her attention to the large warehouse around them. Ponies walked across catwalks dozens of feet above where they stood on the lower floor, most fully clothed by the looks of it.

“Fun fact, actually.” Fleetfoot brought her attention back at the stallion, who was glancing over his left shoulder. “This building here is close by the Habitation Tower, which is a building we specially designed for all our guards to go when they’re off duty. Which also insures a quick security force over here if we were to be in trouble with some of the electrical wiring around here.”

“Why would you need the security force for something like that? Break-ins?” Fleetfoot asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, of course there are situations like that which call for them. But mostly the reason why is to make sure that nopony comes in while the technicians are busy fixing the source of the problem.”

She raised a hoof, but stopped in her tracks at the sound of somepony above screaming. Fleetfoot glanced upwards, only to flinch with eyes wide at the sight of another stallion landing on the ground right in front of her. The bones in the pony’s body cracked with a frightening intensity. She took a quick step back with her left hoof covering her mouth. “O-oh my goddess…” Blood pooled around the dead pony, and Fleetfoot froze in place. The red liquid slowly flowed from underneath the stallion.

“O-oh, this is not good. This is not good!” She glanced at the tour guide and saw the same panicked expression that she was already showing. “I-I have to report this.” He looked up and quickly ordered, “Stay right there. I’m heading for the emergency phone. Just stay here and don’t move.”

While the tour guide quickly ran off into the mess of machines, Fleetfoot returned her attention to the dead pony right in front of her. She gasped when she saw two large wounds, which appeared like the stallion was thrusted through twice by a blade. ‘Y-yet both pierce wounds are the same… wh-what could’ve done this?’

She spun in the direction of the noise of other ponies running across the metal catwalk above, only to cover her head with her hooves at the sound of the glass windows above breaking. “Quickly, we must take cover,” one of the guards behind her said. Fleetfoot turned to follow the two guards as they led her to a small corner between two machines, which were more quiet than most of the other noise in there.

An explosion rang out. As Fleetfoot lowered herself to the ground, she caught a glimpse of a light blue flash that disappeared immediately after. She could hear screams of ponies in pain and panicked orders from some of the workers above. She looked over to the left and saw one pony standing on the crosswalk with a silver-like metal crossbow. For a moment, she looked like she was quickly searching. Then, she pointed it at something and began firing the weapon. Multiple shots rang out from the weapon, but then she exploded in a mess of blue light, blood scattering everywhere around where the mare once stood.

“W-what in Celestia’s name is ha--” Fleetfoot’s eyes widened at the sensation of a hoof over her mouth, but quickly breathed in and out as one of the guards shushed her. But the panicked feeling she had did not go away at the sound of more crossbows being fired, followed by the screams of other ponies, and she could only guess that more workers were losing their lives to this unknown force.

‘What are they fighting? I can’t see them!’ It was such an awful thing, to know that whatever was killing these ponies knew how to stay hidden from sight. And whatever it was, she was not ready to meet it face to face. She turned to the other guards and whispered, “We need to get out of here. Move it!” The two Royal Guards nodded; Fleetfoot led them quietly yet quickly out from their hiding place and back to the path back to the door.

She could still hear ponies dying behind her, but she would not look back at the horrible sight that could be awaiting her. ‘J-just be calm. Don’t let the noises freak you out.’ The building shook under her hooves; she fell to the ground with a yelp as an explosion roared behind her. Fleetfoot looked back and saw sparks fly upwards with a billowing cloud of smoke rising from one of the machines.

But that wasn’t her concern at the moment. She turned back to the path back to the door and followed it. She suddenly felt the world spin around her and crashed against one of the metal walls. Sliding back down, she brought a hoof to her stomach and squirmed at the stinging sensation. She swiveled her focus back to the guards, eyes wide at the sight of one of them on the ground. But it wasn’t the stallion she was looking at, but the near-visible creature standing above him.

The guard below it screamed in pain for a few seconds before going quiet as the creature pulled something out dripping with the guard’s blood from his back. Fleetfoot could only sit still at the sight she witnessed. She heard a yell to its right and watched another guard charge it with his spear by his side, but the creature simply turned and, from the looks of it, kicked the Royal Guard across the room.

She tried to get up but felt something push her down. She reached for her neck as the air left her lungs, grabbing at whatever it was holding her and felt a hand. The ground left her hooves and she kicked the air with her lower legs while she grunted and struggled against the creature holding her up. Fleetfoot turned her attention to the clear being in front of her, and her eyes widened as a blue surge of electricity revealed the hunter before her.

The being she saw was the one that Daring Do had mentioned before they left for this island. She tried to kick at the Predator, only to realize how far away she was from its chest. Fleetfoot yelped as an intense pain shot through her stomach, frozen in place at the awful sensation running through her body. The whole world began to darken around her. She heard this Predator utter a few clicks. She quietly let out one small whimper before the whole world finally went dark and eternal sleep greeted her.

Crystal groaned as she laid in her bed, rubbing her head with her right hoof before she opened her eyes. Time seemed to be a foreign concept to Crystal Rune; she had no idea how many times she had passed out during her imprisonment. If she could forget most of her waking hours spent with that monster, the Xenomorph, she would be the happiest mare alive. Unfortunately, that likely would never be the case.

She looked to the right side of her barrel and with a shaky sigh ran her right hoof over the dark green fur, thankful that Aquafrost had been able to heal her wound. In that moment, she felt all too close to death. What was even more of a shock was how far these ponies were willing to go to get information out of her. She knew they had the information now, which frightened her; now she could only guess what they might have planned for her.

‘That information was the only thing keeping me safe even if I already was in a precarious situation.’ And now with that info in their hooves, it was only a matter of time before something even worse happened than having a sword driven into her flesh. Slowly she got up from her bed and stretched out, yawning for a brief moment before turning to the door. She knew Aqua had left, but there was something important she had to check. ‘If she did leave it unlocked, then now would be the perfect chance for my escape.’

With a few steps towards the door, she raised her right hoof up to the handle and gently pulled down on it. A smile formed on her lips at the sound of a click in the door, and with a quiet pull, she opened the door before stretching her head out, peeking down the left and right hallway before she quickly made her exit. “Thank you, Aquafrost,” Crystal whispered to herself as she took off in a quick yet quiet trot.

She stopped at another intersection of the hallway and looked down the multiple corridors. 'Okay, before I go scurrying off , I have to check one thing.’ Crystal closed her eyes and felt magic surround her horn. A small smile graced her lips. ‘Oh, it feels good to be able to cast my magic again. Now, on to the important matter at hoof; where is the exit?’ It was the number one priority at the moment; Crystal wasn’t going to waste any time doing any unnecessary investigations.

She took a left and scanned over the entire hallway around her. She quickly hugged the side of the wall at the sound of two ponies’ hoofsteps, then sighed as they walked in the opposite direction. She quickly went down the way they came from. ‘If I can find out where they came from, it might help me find the exit. It will take a lot of time and patience before I get out of this accursed place, but I need to be cautious.’

Crystal stopped at the disturbing sound she heard. She looked up and saw a window just a foot above her. Cautiously she stood up on her hind legs and rested her forelegs underneath the window’s panel. She scanned the room, first noticing how dark it was, and then squinted her eyes. There was a figure standing in the room, and it looked big; too big to be a pony. She looked along the outline of this strange creature and saw a long tail and elongated cranium. ‘N-no… it can’t be.’

One of the lights flickered on, and she gasped and fell onto her back, crawling on her elbows to get back as far as possible from the window. Her chest rose up and down as she panted. The creature she had seen brought many unwanted memories back once more. ‘X-Xen-Xeno-Xenomorph… I knew they might have it, but that didn’t look like the one I was trapped with. Wh-what did they do with the other one?’

Going over the details she had gathered, it appeared to be about the same size as the one on the Nostromo, but unlike that one, this one had a dark olive coloring to its chitinous body. She had no clue as to what that meant, but Crystal was not planning on sticking around any longer. ‘That thing… it will get out sooner or later. I’m not sticking around when that happ--’ She yelped at a sudden force that pushed her down the hall, the world spinning around her as she rolled over and over across the floor.

She let out a weakened cry as all the air was knocked from her chest. She thudded against the hallway’s metallic walls, landing on her stomach. Stunned, she tried to raise onto one hoof but fell to the floor again. Hoofsteps neared where she laid until she felt hooves grab at her forelegs. She felt herself being forcefully brought back up on all fours. Crystal stared at the two guards, their crossbows pointed at her until she flared her horn up in an icy blue aura.

“You really want to try that, prisoner? There’s two of us, and if you knock one of us down, we’ll kill you with one bolt to the head.” Crystal growled at the two, but she knew they were right. If she tried to fight her way out of this, and at the distance they were from her with those crossbows, a simple pull from one of their triggers would quickly leave her a dead pin cushion. She could try to pull the crossbows away, but she did not know how fast their reactions would be, or even how close they were to pulling the triggers.

‘I could even teleport… but how far would I make it before one of them hit its mark? That, and I can’t teleport back to Equestria. I could be in the middle of nowhere. I can’t take the chance…’

“Well, what’s it going to be? Are you going to listen and obey our orders, prisoner, or do we have to end your life here and now?” The second stallion brought the crossbow up to her muzzle. Crystal growled again and looked away. The aura around her horn dissipated. “Good. Now if you’ll follow us, we’ll bring you back to your cell.”

She watched the first guard take the lead and felt the cold sensation of something metallic against the back of her neck. She glanced over her left shoulder before she was forced to move forward. Crystal sighed to herself and frowned. ‘Well… that went about as well as expected.’ Unfortunately, she could only imagine that it would be that much harder to escape the next time. Crystal turned her gaze forward and could only do what she was ordered, following the stallion as he led her onwards.

Even with being guided back, she glanced around the hallways and noticed labs with multiple ponies at work on liquid and powdery substances the likes of which she’d never seen before. ‘What kind of mad scientist’s dream project are they working on in there?’ A new plan begin to swirl in her mind about her next escape attempt. She had been too hasty in trying to find the exit, which was the reason why she had been caught. The next time she would try this, she would slow down and gather all the information she could. ‘If I can leak this information out to the public, who knows what would happen to these guys.’

She swiveled her ears forward at the sound of a door sliding open and turned her gaze back to the front, only to frown when she saw that same doctor from before. “Well… this is a first for you, isn’t it?”

“Oh, ha, ha. Laugh it up while you’re safe, doc. Because the next time I find you alo--” She yelped at a painful sensation in the back of her head, glancing back to the two guards and glaring at them as they pointed their crossbows at her in response.

“Yes… quite a brutish response for you. Something new instead of the silent treatment.” He brushed his left shoulder off with a hoof before returning his gaze to her. “I’m actually quite glad they brought you here and…” He leaned to the right and stared at the side of her barrel, in response to which she raised an eyebrow at the stallion. “You do not have the wound from earlier. Who healed you?”

“Does it matter who healed me? What if I fixed it myself after escaping? Did you ever think of that in your scenarios?” Crystal sneered, frowning with lowered eyes at the doctor.

“Hmm… I suppose. But it also makes me wonder how you escaped. The door was locked the last time we were there. And you somehow managed to get out after such a wound… unfortunately, that scenario has been written off, Miss Rune. You would not have the strength to make such an effort after the wound you received. In fact, I might add that you had somepony help you.” He raised a hoof to his chin and continued, “Yes… help from the inside. Somepony in our facility has broken a rule about helping the prisoners. We shall find whoever this pony is.” He returned his gaze to Crystal. “Meanwhile… I’m afraid we must dispose of you. And what better way than the one I have plan--”

Crystal lunged and punched him with her right hoof, but felt her forelegs get pulled back. She felt a strong blow to her stomach, flinching with a groan of pain. She struggled against the two guards, but looked at the sound of coughing from the doctor in front of her. She watched him rub the area where she had hit him before gesturing towards the two guards. She felt herself being dragged across the floor into another room.

She tried to fight them both, but she couldn’t get a strong enough grip on the floor with her hooves to resist. The ground suddenly left her lower hooves, and she frowned at the sight of a light blue aura surrounding her body. Crystal grunted and struggled to try and break free. She felt the cold metallic surface of a table beneath her and looked to both sides as restraints clasped over her fore and back legs. “If I weren’t as kind as you describe--” Crystal turned to the doctor and glared at him “--then I would simply let the guards have their way with you. But even I could not stomach the thought of allowing them to simply rape you. No, for your punishment, we’ll let something else have that honor.”

When she heard that one word, she pulled against the metal restraints but felt them hardly give way to her attempts. With an angry cry, she fell flat against the table and breathed in and out. “You may leave me.” She looked back to the doctor and watched as he dismissed the two guards, who nodded and walked out of the room. “Don’t worry though,” he said again. “Your sacrifice will help us build the army we’re striving for.”

‘Sacrifice? What the heck is he going on about?’ But the sound of it did not resonate so well with her. She continued to push against the restraints, but again, there was no luck to be had. She stopped at the sound of a conveyor belt and raised her head, glancing over her stomach and chest at the sight of a few black flaps slowly lifting upwards. She tilted her head at the sight of this odd object in front of her. Slime drizzled down its fleshy exterior, and recognized it as the same substance produced by the Xenomorph.

Eyes wide, she tried to fight even harder against the metal braces holding her down, crying out loudly in fear at what this egg would do. She heard something squirm inside the egg and stopped as multiple legs slowly revealed themselves to her. She cried louder than before, yet even with all her might, she could not break the restraints. ‘This can’t be how I die! This just can’t be!’ The light above her flickered quickly before it completely died out. Crystal stopped struggling for a moment and felt the braces pull away.

She looked up and screamed as the spider-like creature jumped out from the egg. Quickly she encased it in her magic aura and cried out at the sight of its slimy ovipositor trying to stretch its way towards her mouth. She threw it to the side and, as fast as she could, got up from the table and ran past the doctor, pushing past him as he tried to stop her. Crystal glanced back and watched in horror as the spider-like organism latched onto the doctor’s face, who struggled to pull it off.

Tearing her gaze away from the awful sight, she ran. Seeing that the lights were off, a horrible thought popped into her head, and she ran even faster. ‘No… no, no, no! That creature! The Xenomorph is going to get out!’ She kept going and tried to find anyplace to hide from this monster. Words began to repeat over and over in her head, words that she had heard back on the ship when she had been trapped all alone with the one Xenomorph. Words that were the only thing that repeated in her attempts to evade the creature. ‘Hide, survive. Hide, survive. Hide, survive. Hide! Survive! HIDE! SURVIVE!’ Louder and louder until it drowned out every other thought she had. ‘Need to survive! Need to HIDE!’

It was dark Inside the room with no lights. But the room was far from empty. Slow and heavy breathing came from a creature within. She stared at the ground, unable to move her arms, legs, and tail bound in metallic restraints. The Xenomorph looked up to the room before her, prey to the same old scenery she had witnessed before, and with her body trapped in a large circular machine-like bond, she couldn’t even wander the room.

As she looked back to the ground, she let out a quiet growl, lips parted to show a snarl of metallic teeth. Her eyeless gaze then turned to the only source of light in the entire room. There she looked at the pony, but the stallion seemed to pay her no attention. She shifted her weight around; once she had tried to escape, but these bonds had always held her back from her attempts to flee.

She quickly turned to the light as the bulbs began to flash on and off. The stallion inside looked up at the source and turned his gaze towards her, frowning. Moments later, the light finally shut off only to be replaced by a red light. The stallion in the room got up from his chair and began to press a few buttons on the panel inside the room. The Xenomorph turned to the braces around her arms and hissed, pulling with all her might. She screeched in frustration as the entire metal containment unit shook under her movements. She roared as she pulled her right arm free, the brace snapping loose from the pressure.

The Xenomorph brought her right clawed hand to the left brace and broke the other metal restraint, then began to kick with all her might to snap the leg braces as well. When she heard the pony’s voice, she quickly turned around and reached for the tail brace, roaring as she broke that one. The stallion’s voice repeated. “Alert! Alert! Specimen Six has broken free from its containment unit! I repeat! Specimen Six has broken free from its containment unit and is free within its room. Somepony send in backup immediately!”

With her tail free, Specimen Six turned to the closed door in front of her and roared, then slammed into the metallic entrance. The door slightly budged but didn’t break loose, so the Xenomorph brought her hands to the gap and roared again as she forced the door to part open. She stood up on her back legs and walked out of the room, hissing as she looked down both red-illuminated hallways before sprinting down the left one. As Specimen Six reached another corridor, she ducked down at the sound of a ‘thwip’. Hearing metal meet metal, she turned to her left, hissing as she saw a few guards far down in the hallway.

Specimen Six screeched at the ponies and lowered herself onto all fours as she ran at the three guards. She jumped to the right wall and kept jumping from wall to wall to avoid the metal crossbow bolts being fired her way. Once she closed in on them, Six leaped onto one of the ponies, knocking the mare back before swinging her tail and hitting another guard, sending the stallion back into one of the walls. She turned to the last guard and jumped out of the way as the mare fired another couple of bolts. The Xenomorph landed on the left wall of the corridor and turned to the mare. She twirled her tail over her head and struck the mare through the chest. Her screams were cut short before Specimen Six slammed her into the wall. Her head cracked with an audible crunch.

The Xenomorph threw the mare violently to the side and jumped from the wall to on top of the stallion, forcing him back to the ground before she clamped his head with her clawed hands, opening her mouth open and screeching as a second mouth shot out from inside. Gore spattered against the walls before she dropped the stallion to the ground. Specimen Six glanced over her shoulder and hissed as she watched the other mare try to make a break for it. Quickly, she stood up on her back legs and ran after the mare, catching up with her and forcing her to the ground.

She growled before biting down on the mare’s neck, shaking her head violently back and forth and tearing the flesh off in one violent shake of her head. Blood sprayed onto her eyeless head as the pony’s blood mixed in with the slime dripping from her mouth. She growled at the taste of warm and fresh flesh, gulping the chunk she took down her throat until she quickly took off again. Specimen Six ran down another set of hallways, then stopped and sat in a dark corner, watching ponies run by her hiding spot. There were too many to take on alone. She had to set her sisters free.

With a silent hiss, she waited for the ponies to run past before quickly making her escape down the right corridor. She came upon a door to her left and watched it open. Specimen Six slowly crawled into the room and could hear roaring behind a window. Standing up, she saw her siblings struggling against their restraints. Walking over to the panel, she slammed her tail down upon the array of buttons, breaking the metal with one blow. She looked up and saw her five siblings break free from their restraints before they sprinted towards the door and rammed it down with their combined strength. Specimen Six could hear the panicked screams of more equines as her sisters crashed into the hallway outside.

Quickly she ran out of the control room and past the corridor where her siblings tore into the group of ponies, the cries of the equines intermingling with her sisters’ snarls in a horrible cacophony. But she would not join in with her kin, for she had to find the matriarch. Six could feel the presence of her Queen close by, and as she moved towards the presence, she felt another one of her kin near their queen. She screeched in pain as she felt a bolt pierce her left side. She tripped over herself and rolled across the metallic floor. She hastily stood up and roared at the few ponies approaching her from the left hallway.

Standing up, Specimen Six ducked under a bolt that the first pony shot. She hissed as another shot was fired and dodged the second shot before descending into the shadows. She stopped for a brief moment and bit down on the metallic bolt, yanking it out before continuing forward. She approached a door to her right and busted it down. As she ran into the room, she spotted one equine standing at the control panel. She landed on top of him, then grabbed his head and bit through the back of the equine’s head with her second mouth.

She stood up and spotted the matriarch inside a much larger room struggling against her restraints. Specimen Six looked down at the panel and lowered her muzzle to one of the buttons, biting down with her second mouth and destroying the button itself. The Queen freed herself from the braces and landed on the ground below her. The building shook from her weight. The Queen’s tail slammed into another cell, yanking her tail free from the door as another Xenomorph jumped out and onto two ponies, smashing them into bloody bits under its crushing weight. It was bigger than herself, nearly the size of the Queen, and it let out a spine-chilling screech as it raised its crested cranium up into the air. As Specimen Six watched on, she saw her Queen grab for any of the equines within her reach.

She grabbed one and ripped the pony apart with terrifying ease. The Queen reached for another and bit his head off, resulting in the stallion’s blood spurting across her muzzle. She swiped the rest aside with her tail. Specimen Six screeched and bashed against the window separating her from the Queen, taking another run and jumping through as glass shattered around her frame. Landing next to the Queen, she roared at the ponies running away from her Queen and the Praetorian. As she joined the Queen, Specimen Six roared and ran after the ponies, ready to eliminate all threats that presented themselves to her Queen.