All was peacefully calm as the winds of fall slowly breezed through the town below. The starry night sky gave way to a beautiful world lit in the pale light of Luna’s moon. The patter of hooves against concrete echoed softly across the streets while lamps offered their artificial light to the few ponies walking through the silent streets of Ponyville.

However, all of it was a guise; the once-peaceful feeling that roamed these streets was filled with an apprehensive and uneasy atmosphere. A door swung open from the Sofas and Quills store with a lavender alicorn walking out.

“Thanks again for the quills, Davenport. I really appreciate it,” Twilight said, waving as she looked back. She turned to face forward, and her smile disappeared just as she was a few feet away from the building. A sigh followed while she slowly made her way home, her satchel shifting gently against the right side of her barrel.

She looked between the buildings, her hooves clacking against the concrete sidewalk as she scanned the alleyways. Frowning slightly, she murmured something under her breath. She had told herself over and over that the Xenomorph was gone and that it was no longer a threat. Still, even with the nightmarish beast gone, the calm and safe feeling of sanctuary that this town had once was gone. Even if the alien had been the only creature responsible for the devastation of lives here in Ponyville, it was gone and she would have had an easier time feeling safe. But a pony tried to have his way with her while she was unconscious, and the process of trusting others again was much more of a challenge than she had fully anticipated.

As she scanned the buildings and alleyways, her eyes rested on Sugarcube Corner. After the horrifying turn of events, Pinkie Pie seemed to have changed so little, or maybe there was no change in her demeanor at all. It was like nothing the Xenomorph had done had affected her joyful and overly energetic nature. Even throughout the subsequent adventures with her friends, her cheerfulness never seemed to diminish. The thought itself was rather heartwarming; a faint smile formed on her lips. Given the circumstances of what could have happened if they had not come to Carrot Cake’s rescue in time, she feared what hidden changes could have affected Pinkie Pie.

Another one of her friends came to mind: the shy pegasus, Fluttershy. She was undoubtedly one of the most terrified of her friends during the events about a month ago. This encounter with a beast beyond their imagination had left the already-frightened pegasi even more reclusive, her trust of unknown creatures had all but completely disappeared.

Yet, it was also surprising to see her grow from such an experience. It was as if the terrible moments had given Fluttershy a strange amount of courage and bravery. This was especially the case when Rarity had asked her if she would join the Pony Tones since they had lost a member, Big Macintosh, to the Xenomorph. She expected Fluttershy to be apprehensive and refuse the offer, and she never anticipated her to end up joining the group. It truly was another sign that the others were somehow finding ways to fight off this lingering depression.

A third pony came to mind: the hotheaded cyan pegasus, Rainbow Dash. It seemed like the dangerous encounter with the alien had shaken her friend’s mind to its core. Rarity had helped her friend hide the scar where the Xenomorph’s spear-like tail had punctured through her stomach with a casual garment, one that she hoped Rainbow Dash would like. Whenever she would greet Rainbow, there the top would be; hiding the scar from that terrible encounter.

There were times where she would always act like herself, tough and unafraid of anything. Yet it seemed to be fake; that bravery faltered at a moment’s notice. And there was this even greater drive in her to overwork herself to the point of exhausting her body to a dangerous level. And it was even worse too, especially since she now had asthma because of the damage that was done to her lungs. On multiple occasions in the last couple of weeks, Fluttershy had found her unconscious. Of course everypony had been worried for her, and Rainbow kept reassuring them she wouldn’t drive herself into the ground. However, it didn’t feel like she was going to stop no matter how many times she said she would.

Even so, she had become increasingly loyal to everypony. Twilight had noticed this during the qualifying events for the Equestrian Games at Rainbow Falls. As they were arriving at the train station, she had inspired both Bulk Biceps and Fluttershy to perform at an astonishing level. When Soarin had sprained his wing during practice, Wonderbolt captains Spitfire and Fleetfoot had tried to convince her to join the winning side. Rainbow Dash had downright refused to do so and Ponyville’s team had finished with one of the best times. Of course, it was a good sign to see that her lazy side was still around, but sadly, it didn’t appear as often as it used to. Rainbow Dash barely got any rest; Twilight knew that if she didn’t tone down on her exercises, the effects could pose a serious threat to her already weakened lungs.

Another example of this new disposition was when she desperately wanted a limited-edition Daring Do book. Yet when she had finally worked her way towards trading it for an Orthros, Rainbow had completely changed tracks when Fluttershy was the final trade item and instead exchanged the Orthros for a bird whistle. It was a nice change in one of her friends, yet worrisome all the same. Twilight hoped that the change wasn’t just a veil for her friend’s depression.

In the distance, she saw a farm standing rigid upon a hill. Twilight’s frown deepened when she thought about her hardworking earth pony friend, Applejack. It seemed like she was one of the hardest hit among her group of friends. She had lost her brother, Big McIntosh, to that horrible nightmare while sustaining an injury on her right shoulder from the Xenomorph as well. When her brother had died, Applejack had become furious to the point where she blindly blamed the insane stallion, Kettlepot, for killing Big McIntosh, although they later found out that the Alien was responsible for his death. Because of these events, she had become more straight-to-the-point and had developed a no-nonsense attitude, tirelessly working on the farm and losing all enjoyment for relaxing activities.

Her little sister, Apple Bloom, hadn’t been spared of this harm either. The little filly had been distraught for a week after their family buried Big McIntosh, and she didn’t seem to come out of her state until some time later. After she had shown signs of recovery, there was something new that resonated from Apple Bloom. She seemed to be more relaxed, calmer and even a bit distant from everypony else at school. Her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were the only two to show mostly on the day of their lessons; they told Twilight that she was too busy working on the farm and felt like she needed to fill the shoes of her older brother.

But she still made time for her friends, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, to go Cutie Mark Crusading. It was nice to know that she had still retained at least some of her adolescent innocence after everything that happened. But there were moments, Twilight noticed during Apple Bloom’s alchemy studies, when she would stop smiling. She would slink down, hiding her eyes behind her mane, and fall into this deep depression, like she finally couldn’t hide her sorrows from the world anymore. She just hoped the little filly could break this dejected state, hopefully with the help of her older sister, Applejack.

Granny Smith had grown reclusive, never venturing out from Sweet Apple Acres. But when Twilight was able to visit Applejack, Granny Smith still maintained the same wise and caring composure. The only time she ever saw her come down to Ponyville was if Applejack and Apple Bloom were able to convince her. She had shown little emotion over her grandson’s death, but everypony knew she struggled with concealing her pain, although she never let it be known.

Twilight had heard from Pinkie Pie after her trip with the Apple family that they had gotten into a very heated argument when they went looking for Golden Delicious, trying to see if the pink earth pony was related to their family or not. It had turned out that, on Golden’s genealogy scroll, the name she was looking for was smudged out in the book as well. But Applejack and the others still accepted her as a family member.

Twilight had also heard from Apple Bloom during her time with the filly about a trip delivering pies one day. The little filly fought with her big sister about how overprotective Applejack was. Apparently, it was bad enough that Apple Bloom broke down in tears, which normally only happened when the memories of Big McIntosh disrupted her emotional balance. She was glad to hear that the two sisters were able to work everything out in the end, but Twilight worried over Applejack, wondering if she would isolate herself like Granny Smith had done and become too overprotective of everypony else.

A moment later, a familiar boutique caught her gaze. She sighed as she knew how bad Rarity and Sweetie Belle had it. The beautiful unicorn had been with the monster’s disgusting embryo, and her little sister had almost shared that same fate. Twilight was glad that Rarity had survived the surgery, but since then, she had seemed to grow so distant. She spent countless hours in her boutique working on new fashion designs and rarely came out to talk with them. Even then, whenever Twilight had the chance to speak with her, there always seemed to be this fake expression of her normal demeanor covering Rarity’s face. Twilight could only hope that Rarity would break this habit, but she could not foretell how long that would take.

Like Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle had retained some of her innocence, but she was so much more wary and uneasy of her surroundings afterwards. The path of recovery wasn’t as easy for her. There were times she heard from her daughter, Nyx, that Sweetie would indiscriminately break out into tears at school and mutter that something was going to find her and infect her like her sister. The poor little filly even had to go through counseling to help reassure her that everything was going to be fine. Twilight knew that Sweetie would probably need this counselor to keep her sanity in check. It took the longest of times to comfort Sweetie Belle during her own time in helping her practice her magic, but even then, Twilight didn’t know how long she would be able to retain this temporary state of mind, seeing how psychologically damaged she was.

Both Rarity and Sweetie Belle had their ups and downs, from Rarity almost losing a fashion design competition to having an argument with Sweetie Belle after the younger sister tried to sabotage an order after old wounds from the past were brought up. Of course the two sisters made up, but she was still so afraid for them. Rarity had almost lost it entirely when Spike gave her the enchanted book from the Royal Sister’s castle, but thankfully he was able to snap her out of it. But would Rarity be able to escape this lingering melancholy state, or would she remain a miserable mess for the rest of her life?

As she moved on, her thought of Nyx had brought up another pony a week earlier. Silver Spoon, an earth pony classmate of her daughter, was without a friend after Diamond Tiara had been murdered by Kettlepot. Twilight heard from her daughter about how Silver Spoon would spend her time at school all alone, but she later found out that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had jumped in, befriending her even after she and Diamond had bullied them profusely. Of course they still had their rough moments, including when Silver Spoon accidentally revealed to the other students that she was teaching them one day a week, calling it “Twilight Time.” Twilight gave them one more chance after they showed that they did learn what she was teaching them. A memory she couldn’t help but chuckle at.

She frowned again; those three fillies had been almost inseparable before the Alien had been brought here. Thanks to the massacre it wrought, Sweetie Belle had been asking more about defensive magic. Even Apple Bloom began to pry for information about invisibility potions for “just in case” situations. Scootaloo began to split away from them, focusing on her own projects. Twilight had done her best to keep their friendship together, although even then she had known that only they could be the ones to mend their friendship. There was hope that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would recover. She just didn’t know when.

Twilight yelped as a sharp pain struck her muzzle. She rubbed it with a hoof and shook her head, then looked up to see the door to her home. As she stepped forward, the sound of paper crunched quietly underneath her hoof. She returned her gaze to the ground to see the morning newspaper, the one she paid no attention to like all the other newspapers as the weeks passed. Exhaling once more, she picked it up in a raspberry aura and gently placed it in her satchel. She opened the door and closed it before sliding against it onto the floor.

She too, was badly affected. Being the Princess of Friendship, she had a duty to help those in need. But regaining that ability to trust was so difficult. Sometimes she liked to think that she had gotten it the worst, even if she hadn’t been impregnated. When they had first met this creature, it had almost killed her; luckily, she had been saved by the other princesses. She had lost her brother, Shining Armor, after he had taken a group of Royal Guards in an effort to try and kill the Xenomorph. It had failed, for when she found him he already had one of those nightmarish creatures inside him. It was there she had been forced to kill him after her sister-in-law, Princess Cadance, couldn’t go through with it. Not only did she lose a brother, but the stallion Kettlepot had found a way inside her home and had almost had his way with her after he had knocked her out with sleeping magic. It was hard to forgive him, even after his death, when she knew he had been psychologically traumatized by the Xenomorph killing his marefriend, Berryshine.

Her adopted daughter, Nyx, had been captured and had almost shared Rarity’s fate; trying to retain her sanity was challenging enough. Twilight stayed up many nights comforting her daughter whenever she heard her crying in her room. Sometimes she even had Nyx sleep with her, not only helping her daughter, but soothing herself as well when she had nightmares. Nyx eventually recovered from her ordeal, although not fully reassured that she wasn’t in any immediate danger.

And then there was Spike. Her charge that was both like a younger brother and a son to her had changed so much. It felt like he had lost all the innocence he used to have after the creature’s mentally destructive wake. The young drake became so cold, so distant. It was hard to even talk to him or to get a word out of him. He kept repeatedly blaming himself that he wasn’t able to save Nyx from the Xenomorph, even though she was alright in the end. Spike also condemned himself for not being able to save Twilight when Kettlepot had knocked her out and when Rarity had been captured and impregnated. He felt he wouldn’t have saved her in time, even though the fashionista had almost perished.

And because of the disastrous moments of this encounter, he had grown a little taller. Spike had lost all signs of his baby fat over time and anything cute with it. His spines and claws had grown longer. His fangs had even grown an inch or two as well. These physical changes gave him a more predatory and intimidating look, one he shared with his own kind. She just hoped that other ponies wouldn’t become frightened or nervous when being around him.

Picking herself up, she slowly walked up the stairs and headed for her room. She opened the door and heard a faint breathing sound coming from the bed. Twilight stopped with a gasp as her eyes fell onto the lump under her bedsheets, her eyes widening as they glimmered with fear. She cautiously moved over to the side, gently pulling away the bed sheets. She exhaled and relaxed as she saw Nyx's sleeping face come out from under the covers. Realizing there was nothing to be scared of, she silently moved over to a desk next to the window and put her satchel down.

Twilight looked over to a corner of the room, closing her eyes and looking away from the empty bed that belonged to Spike. Her number one assistant had suddenly disappeared one day. Twilight blamed herself; she had started a fight after she had tried to reassure him over and over that she and her friends weren’t hurt. When he went missing, she and her friends went looking for wherever Spike could have gone. Nopony was able to find anything within the first week, but even though some of the citizens of Ponyville gave up, her friends kept looking with her, still trying their hardest to locate the young drake.

She opened her eyes, a glint of light catching her attention. Moving her gaze over to the top right side of the desk, her breath caught in her throat. There sat a picture of Shining Armor and Cadance along with herself next to her brother. Her mother and father both stood on opposite ends with Nyx and Spike in front of the picture. When the funeral began, she had found her mother and father next to Cadance, the three of whom were weeping and crying over the loss of their husband and son. She had told them what she had done, profusely grieving over what she did all the while. She had worried over how her mother and father would have taken the news, and she was surprised that they understood why she had to end his suffering.

When the Equestrian Games took place, there was a long moment of silence and recognition for the deceased Captain of the Royal Guard, with a few ponies including herself breaking down into tears because of the event. Seeing the picture again, she questioned her own motives and contemplated whether her brother actually could have been saved.

Thinking of the Equestrian Games brought a memory of Spike again. The dragon was revered as a hero in the Crystal Empire and had been asked to perform the torch lighting ceremony. During the opening ceremony, stage fright got the better of him, and he’d been unable to even produce a simple flame. Twilight ultimately stepped in and secretly lit the torch herself. When Spike found out that he didn’t somehow miraculously light the torch with his mind, his already-weakened self-esteem took a serious blow. Despite her and her friends’ best efforts, they were unable to reassure him that it was okay. Not even Cadance’s gratitude towards him single-handedly saving dozens of lives from a cloud that was frozen in an ice archery accident managed to raise his spirits.

On the topic of Princess Cadance, her former foalsitter now had to run the Crystal Empire alone, with no support from a husband, all the while being an expectant mother. Of course, Twilight visited her from time to time, and during one of these little get-togethers, Discord decided to crash their bonding time. Despite this, however, she demonstrated surprising patience with the Draconequus. Ultimately, this helped her in receiving her Friendship Key, one that all her friends would later get as well. In the end, when Tirek broke free, he told them that he didn’t hesitate to capture the centaur. Not only did she and the girls discover a new power that put Tirek away, but she had gained a castle as well while still being able to run the Golden Oaks Library now and then.

She opened her eyes, tears slowly trickling down her muzzle. Twilight didn’t make a sound, but she had a hard time controlling her emotions by this point. She and her friends had experienced so much loss, and it was all because of the Xenomorph. It had done so much damage to them and still continued to do so, even with its physical presence gone. She looked down to the newspaper in her satchel, unfurled it, and read its contents. Even if she didn’t truly care much about the current events of the world, she still needed to be updated on a daily basis. Besides, it would help her get her mind off of these more depressing thoughts. When she began with the headlines, the first thing she noticed was talk about a company merger.

‘What’s so important about a company?’ Shrugging to herself, she decided to look it over and see what she would find. As her eyes slowly darted from one side of the page to the other, another part of the paper caught her attention. There was a title in bold letters stating the event.

Twilight stopped right after the end of the sentence. Her hooves were shaking slightly on the desk. It sounded so similar to the company that she had learned so much about during the events of the nightmarish creature’s rampage. It was the same company that the vile human scientist, Dr. Makoy Markovich, worked for: “Weyland-Yutani.”

‘Can… can it be? No… no that’s not right. You’re just worrying yourself too much. There’s no similarities to it at all.’ Reassuring herself, she continued on down and saw a quote written down from the journalists, stating what the owner of Neighland Industries said. But what it said stopped her dead in her tracks.

“Here at Neighland-Yupony, we are looking forward to creating new possibilities not only for ponykind, but for the rest of the nations that we call friends. We look forward to helping others out, making this world a better place. Neighland-Yupony… building better countries."

Twilight’s eyes widened and her breathing quickened as she recognized the similarities of the two companies. Both had a similar logo, with it being a yellow ‘N’ instead of a ‘W’ that was overimposed with a gray ‘Y.’ The catchphrase was eerily similar to Weyland-Yutani’s. Her hooves shook even more as the terrible nightmares came back. The aura surrounding the newspaper gave way, falling to the floor with a silent swish as Twilight leaned back into her chair.

‘No… this can’t be possible. It just can’t be...’ That fear began to overwhelm her. Images of Makoy laughing rushed through her thoughts. She blinked, shook her head and frowned. ‘This doesn’t mean that they’re like Weyland-Yutani. Even if their company’s motto is… eerily similar. I shouldn’t rush to conclusions.’ She quietly got off the chair and moved over to her bed, slowly and gently sliding underneath the covers of the bed sheets. Twilight’s breathing slowed down a little as she rationalized the situation. A muffled groan resonated from the filly next to her, and she looked over to her daughter. A smile formed on her muzzle as she wrapped a hoof around her. ‘I’m possibly overreacting… but I’ll keep a close eye on this new company. Just to make sure they don’t do anything rash.’ With that idea set in stone, she closed her eyes and exhaled, letting sleep wash over her.

Up above the mesosphere of the world, there floated the alien ship that had sent one of the hunters down to Equestria. Onboard the vessel stood one of the bipedal creatures staring out to the planet from the bridge. The land below was cloudless, giving the creature full view of the large landscape and oceans surrounding the continent on both sides. Above the dry and rocky landscape located on the planet below was a more lush and green terrain. The hunter, intrigued by this perspective of the land, looked up to the more forested region up north and gazed out across the area below.

It had not received any more messages from its brother since last week and was curious to the fate that had befallen its comrade, although it kept the idea of its brother’s death in the back of its mind. A beep echoed from behind the hunter. It glanced back towards the noise and noticed a red light flashing on the monitor next to the chair. Turning around, the creature made its way over to the light and pressed the button. The globe in the center of the area expanded as the hologram zoomed closer into the planet’s surface.

Smoke slowly floated into the enlarged three-dimensional image. The hunter tilted his head and made a clicking noise, curious to what was causing this. The image moved closer, small pieces of debris laid on the ground. A target appeared on a specific area on the map as the signal became stronger. When the image finally zoomed in to the maximum view, a scanner opened up as a faint pulse weakly echoed out. The hunter clicked again as it looked down at the floor.

The transmission signaled that his brother was dead; killed by self-destruction. Footsteps echoed on the metal flooring behind it before two other hunters moved to the first one’s left and right. It glanced to the other two hunters, muttering something with a growl. The other two clicked in response, and all was silent for a few moments. To honor their brother, the three creatures went silent. They were surprised that these equines were able to defeat their brother in combat. Surely, if they were capable of such a feat, they were more dangerous than the hunters realized.

It was some time until the first predator pressed a few buttons on the panel. The ship around them disappeared from sight, the sun’s rays of light almost completely pouring through its invisible body. It silently flew down to the surface of the planet, bright red and orange flames surrounding the ship’s front area as it descended through the atmosphere. They hoped to find the remains of their brother’s wrist pad and discern any information they could of their brother’s quarry. All of that would be decided if anything of their brother had survived the explosion.

Author's Notes:

Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter! And of course... I hope you all have lovely dreams.