A cold wind breezed through the Everfree Forest. All was silent in the haunted forest. Not a single creature was in sight, yet the undergrowth had an eerie feeling about it, one that nopony ever could shake off if they ventured too far into its depths. However, a small bipedal being moved through the foliage, brushing branches and leaves aside with its clawed hands.

Lavender and green scales covered it well within the thickets of the forest. Every step it took was cautious, breathing quietly as it moved its head from side to side, checking for danger. Nodding as it saw that the coast was clear, it looked up to the starry sky. The small creature sighed, frowning as he turned his attention towards his back. It was a week ago that he first saw those two small bumps on his back, and the pain they brought was almost unbearable at times. Humming to himself, he tried to ignore the burning sensation at the moment. He still had no idea what these two objects were, but he sure didn’t enjoy having them on his back.

Even if it had been a week since he left Ponyville, he didn’t regret making that choice. He needed to find a way of getting stronger, so he could protect those that were most important to him. He let out a deep sigh, recalling the failure he felt when the Xenomorph attacked, blaming himself for not being able to protect Rarity, his adopted younger sister Nyx, and even his older sister, Twilight, who he felt sometimes was his own mother. ‘If I had been stronger… then everypony would be alright. They wouldn’t be scared of their own shadows and every little noise that they hear.’ He looked down to his right clawed hand, clenching it into a fist.

He sat down on a log and exhaled, running his claws over the bark. Looking down at his hands, a faint smile appeared on his muzzle. His nails had gotten sharper, one of the few outcomes he was happy about. Running his right hand up his back, he gently ran a clawed finger up one of the spines that ran down his back, glad that they too were much longer than before. He didn’t feel so chubby anymore, bringing his gaze to his more slender gut, feeling that he had been able to move around much faster lately. He nodded, smiling at the changes this growing process had brought before letting out a quiet sigh. “I’m… just a failure.” Spike murmured, his frown deepening as his eyes drooped a little.

“What do we have here? Is it a dragon’s sorrowful words that catches my ear?”

He didn’t need to look at the mare to know who was speaking, the frown softening as he responded. “Hey, Zecora. How have you been?”

“All is well, Spike, for all has been quiet. However, you appear to have changed, like somepony on a balanced diet.” The zebra moved closer to the young drake, smiling as she continued, “What is it that upsets you so? Because it seems you have hit a low.”

He closed his eyes, breathing in slowly before glancing in Zecora’s direction. “I’m fine… just taking a stroll through the Everfree Forest.”

The striped mare raised an eyebrow, shaking her head. “What I see before me is a young drake who seems to think he is clever. But I do not agree, for the ponies of Ponyville haven’t seen you in what they deem to be forever.”

Spike huffed a cloud of smoke, looking away. “Well, it’s not like I’ve been far away. I’m just right here in the Everfree. Besides, I’ll be back soon, once I get stronger.”

He glanced back, seeing Zecora tilt her head slightly. “Stronger? What makes you believe that you aren’t any longer?”

“Didn’t you hear about what happened to the others?”

“Why, of course. News from my dear friend, Apple Bloom, was my source.”

“Then you know how hard it’s been since the Xenomorph caused Ponyville problems. Every one of my friends can’t seem to stop shaking in terror because of that monster. Even if Nyx and Twilight are fine, I wasn’t strong enough to protect them. Not from Kettlepot, or even that nightmare. I couldn’t even help Rarity. All I could do was just watch helplessly and hope for the best.” He crossed his arms, snorting steam out of his nostrils. “Well, I’m done with sitting on the sidelines. That’s all I seem to do. I want to protect my friends, and make sure that they’ll be safe.”

He didn’t hear the zebra speak for some time until he turned to face her, seeing a frown on her own muzzle. “True… you have grown. But do you really expect to change your own fate? The past is already sewn, even when you think you have a clear slate.” His frown deepened as he looked away, listening to her as she continued. “You cannot make yourself believe there was something you could have done. Because in the end, you’ll only end up leaving something that is undone.”

His eyes narrowed, frowning as he spoke. “But there must’ve been something that I could’ve done. My friends needed me, and I should’ve been able to help them.”

“There is no need to blame yourself.” He felt the log slightly shift, feeling a hoof on his shoulder. “For you see, Spike, you are trying much too hard and your true greatest enemy is one’s self.” He raised an eyebrow, seeing the zebra chuckle. “You are trying to prove that you can handle a deadly situation, yet you are only bringing yourself negation.”

His frown disappeared, crossing his arms as he kept staring at the ground. “So what, then? What am I doing wrong?”

He felt her hoof slide off his shoulder, turning to look back up to Zecora. “When you believe that it is a burden you must face alone, you will only discover what you have previously known. In your quest to find the strength to protect your kinship, you forget that it is not strength you need but what you already have, friendship.”

Spike’s eyes darted across the ground, before he opened his mouth. He remembered that friendship is what had always gotten them through the tough times, even if the odds seemed stacked against them. He chuckled quietly, before turning to face the zebra. “Thanks, Zecora… but I don’t feel ready to go back to Ponyville yet.”

He saw a small spark in her eye, like she already knew what he was going to say. “Then you are welcomed to my humble abode, if it makes you feel less alone.” He nodded, a faint smile forming on his features. Spike rose to his legs, his eyes widening a little as he realized that he was about the size of Zecora, if only a couple inches below her height. “My, you have grown since we last met, but be assured this will not be pertained to any debt.”

He watched her walk away, following only a few feet behind. ‘I wonder what everypony else will think about me?’ chuckling as he thought of the reactions of his friends when they saw how much he had grown. Spike looked down to the ground, closing his eyes. ‘I just hope they’re not too mad about me leaving them like that.’

Spike grunted as a tree branch hit him in the face. Growling, he broke the limb off the tree and threw it to the side. Catching up to Zecora, it was only a few moments later that the brush began to thin out, seeing Zecora open the door to her hut. With a silent wave, she ushered the drake in. He nodded and moved through the wooden door, hearing it close behind him.

Seeing the zebra move to another part of the hut in the corner of his eye, he gazed at all the decorations inside, bottles filled with various ailments and elixirs. He heard the hoofsteps on the floor before seeing Zecora walk over with a clear jar in her right hoof. Pointing to the chair next to him, he looked to it and sat down.

“You are certainly growing faster than I expected, however, it seems this was a process that you felt was unexpected.” He heard the cap come off the jar, looking down at the floor as he wondered what she would do. Spike flinched, groaning at the feeling of the zebra’s hoof move over the nubs on his back with a weird cream-like texture. “As it would be so that you don’t seem to complain, a dragon should know that he would face a growing pain.”

“What are these things on my back? I’ve never felt them there before.” Spike murmured, looking back to the zebra and flinching again at the pain.

He noticed Zecora tilting her head in the corner of his eye, chuckling a little afterwards. “Have you not figured out what causes you these stings? For these objects you feel, are in fact, your wings.”

His eyes widened before he looked off into the distance. “My… wings?” A giddy smile formed on his muzzle. Whenever he saw Twilight or Rainbow Dash moving through the air, he was always stuck on the ground, thinking that it would be this way forever. That, and when he met Garble and the other dragons after trying to find out if he really was a dragon, he felt kind of jealous of them since he himself was flightless and had no wings, although he wasn’t so envious of them after they made him the butt of their jokes.

“Now, for added measure, I shall add another ointment to ease your pain better.” Zecora said, recapping the jar and shelving it back in its spot. He heard the crack of glass, shielding himself for a moment.

Spike heard something collapse to the floor, quickly looking back up to see Zecora lying on the ground with a small dart protruding from the left side of her barrel. He shuffled in his seat as something shuffled against the outer wall of the hut, catching a glint of light in the corner of his eye. He looked up, seeing shadowed objects speeding towards him. Spike threw up a arm to protect himself, feeling the projectiles bounce off his scaled body. He looked down, flexing his clawed hands before looking back up to where Zecora lay. He gasped as two ponies lifted her onto their backs, their bodies armored and faces masked, except for their eyes.

“Hey! Let her go!” Spike ran towards the pony, but was shoved to the ground before he reached the zebra’s captors. He felt something wet press against his mouth, a weird smell floating into his jaws. He struggled until throwing the assailant off his back.

Growling, he slashed at the pony behind him, hearing the tearing of clothing and flesh. The pony yelped, jumping back with his hoof pressing against the left side of his chest as blood ran down his arm. Spike looked at his claws, his pupils shrinking at the warmth of the scarlet liquid move down his hand, seeing a patch with the letters ‘N-Y’ stitched on it. Seeing the blood, he shook at the sight of it, terrified that he was responsible for the wound. Yet something else clicked inside, licking his lips as felt a hidden fascination at the red liquid. ‘No! I… I’m not supposed to enjoy this. I don’t want to eat ponies.’

He felt a pressure against his back, the air rushing past him before hitting the wall of the hut. Spike shook himself, looking back up to see two ponies with crossbows pointing at him, standing on either side of a larger pony at the front door. He stumbled forward as he tried to get up, his eyes heavy, the ponies blurring in his vision. Again, the wet rag was pressed against his face, forcing him to breath in the fumes.

‘What’s… h-happening to… me...?’ His whole body felt like it was underwater, slowly moving around until he collapsed onto the ground. All senses leaving him as the darkness of the forced sleep took him.

Water dripped onto the floor, echoing in the dark, damp metallic room. Chains lazily swung side to side against the wall and the light from the walls were buzzing as they lit the chamber. It was quiet, until the pained moan of a pony filled the chamber. Zecora slowly opened her eyes, muttering something in her native language as she gradually took in her new surroundings. On the sides of the walls in the room were ponies strung up in chains, all unconscious like she had been. Five of them were earth ponies whom she didn’t recognize. Her eyes widened as she realized the fifth earth pony was just a filly. ‘What lunatics would dare bring harm to such an innocent soul!? When she is only just a little foal!?’

She raised her eyebrows as she saw a Diamond Dog, the canine shackled like the ponies. She tilted her head towards the next one, a buffalo, and a gasp escaped her at the next two prisoners, a griffon and then a minotaur. ‘Why would anypony need to capture such different creatures? What is the purpose for all these species?’

Only then did she see somepony familiar, a slight frown forming on her muzzle as she recognized the showboating unicorn, Trixie, and the swindling Flim Flam brothers. ‘W-what?’ The mystery grew when she noticed three pegasus ponies that resided in Ponyville: Bulk Biceps, Thunderlane and Cloudchaser. However, she didn’t see Spike with her fellow captives. What could all of this mean, and who would capture and imprison any of these poor creatures?

She tried to move, but something pulled at her forelegs. Looking up to her sides, she noticed two chains strung up against the wall, dangling loudly against the metallic surface. Zecora looked down to find two more restraints tied around her legs. Muttering to herself, she pulled against them, grunting before swinging back into the wall, out of breath as she had no such luck in the attempt.

Her ears swiveled as she heard something slide open and looked up to see three ponies standing in the middle of a doorway. She could only see their eyes as the ponies scanned the room, covered in white lab coats as one held a checklist in her right hoof. They moved into the room, two of the ponies rolling in a gurney in with them. They gazed at the restrained ponies before focusing on one in particular. Moving to one of the earth ponies, two of the masked ponies lowered him down from the wall.

Gently moving him onto the gurney, the pony with the checklist lifted it and a pen in an light green-cyanish gray aura as she spoke. “Subject 1, or Ol’ Salt as he is known in the town of Appleloosa. Occupation: unknown, but he is described by the townsfolk as a stallion who has too much salt and has gotten in trouble for a few ‘situations’, as they have said.” The mare wrote on her clipboard as she spoke, the pen scribbling against the paper as she continued. “Subject has no current living family members. A perfect participant for our first trial of the experiment.”

Zecora tilted her head before speaking. “Who are you ponies that have strewn us up against this wall like trophies? Do you have no respect for your fellow ponies?” She watched as the mare that spoke turn to face her, until going back to her scribbling. She frowned and spoke up again. “Why would you bring harm to that young pony,” Nodding to the filly as before proceeding, “when she is only a young filly?”

“She may be a foal but she was a witness. We can’t have any of those, now, can we? Besides, in a large city like Manehattan, little fillies like her go missing all of the time. What’s one more?” The masked mare simply answered, not even looking up to the zebra. With that, the three ponies looked to one another until the mare spoke again. “Bring this stallion to the test chamber. We need to move along with our experiments as we are behind schedule as it is.” The other two nodded and took the gurney with them, exiting through the door.

“Why are you doing this?” Zecora simply asked, furrowing her brow as she glared up at the masked mare.

“It is simply for a project, Miss Zecora.” The mare finally turned to face her as she spoke, zecora recoiling at her own name. “We did our research and carefully chose which ponies and other creatures would be perfect candidates for helping us with our experiment. The ponies we’ve selected will go unnoticed. Manehattan is a large enough city to not notice a few missing ponies. As for Ponyville and Appleloosa… well, who cares about backwater villages like those?”

The mare’s eyes looked down at Zecora as she noticed that there was almost no emotion in her voice. “You were also one of the few chosen, because you, like the griffon and the minotaur, are far from your home. That aside, you mostly spend your time in the Everfree Forest.” She turned away and murmured. “Besides… nopony would be missing you. The residents of that town barely even see you. You all will be helping a much greater cause now, however.” With that, the mare walked out and the door slid shut, a red light flickering on.

Zecora stared at the door until her gaze fell to the floor, shaking as her eyes shrunk to pinpricks. Her uneven breathing echoed the clattering of chains as her eyes closed with a frown. ‘What do they plan for me and these others here? I fear that whatever it is, it is something we should truly fear.’

In an adjacent room, the masked ponies wheeled in the gurney with the brown earth pony stallion from Appleloosa. Ol’ Salt had a white mane that had some of its original tan coloring to it and a cutie mark of a pickaxe. He was known in his town for telling tall tales and having an addiction to salt licks. The more licks he had, the crazier his stories became. He was often thrown out of the Salt Block Saloon for causing trouble and had spent quite a few nights in Sheriff Silverstar’s jail. The sheriff couldn’t understand how anypony could get drunk from salt, but the old prospector managed it on a weekly basis.

Just the other night, he was thrown out into the dusty streets of Appleloosa and was headed back to his cabin, but then found himself waking up in stark white clinical room. He blinked, shielding his eyes from the overhead lights as he tried to look around the sterile room.

“Wha… What’s goin’…” He tried to ask, falling back down onto metallic surface as he looked to his forelegs, blinking at the metallic straps holding him down to the table. He struggled to free himself, but the restraints held fast. Two masked ponies came up beside the table, neither one of them bothered to look at or even address him and went straight to work inclining the table until Ol’ Salt was vertical. “Where am I? Who are yah ponies?”

Again, they ignored him and wheeled the table closer to the wall which had a conveyor belt extending from a sealed chute. When their prisoner was in place at the end of the conveyor belt, the masked ponies retreated from the room. He swiveled his ears as he heard the door behind them lock shut. Just as he began to struggle against the restraints once more, the chute on the wall opened with a hiss and the conveyor belt began moving. Ol’ Salt watched with amazement as something emerged from the dark hole and was brought before him. On the belt was an egg-shaped pod about a meter tall with slime slowly dripping down the fleshy exterior. The putrid brown object came to a stop at the end of the belt and Ol’ Salt was left staring at the foreign object with curiosity.

Unsure what to do or say, Ol’ Salt continued to watch the thing as it sat in front of him. After a few moments, the top opened like a flower blooming, four petals peeling back to reveal a fleshy interior. Ol’ Salt’s curiosity grew, his eyes widening as it quickly turned into panic as he noticed something squirming inside the pod. Eight bone colored digits crawled out of the egg and Ol’ Salt barely had time to scream as a spider-like creature leapt from the egg and latched itself to his face. Cutting off the screams as he struggled in his restraints.

The ponies observing took notes, making sure to keep a close eye on the proceedings. It was moments before they noticed the stallion cease his movements, his chest slowly moving up and down. The other scientists turned to a mare, her eyes eagerly locked onto the sight before her as she murmured. “I want two scientists to go in there and see why our patient has passed out.”

Two ponies to her right nodded and waited for the door to open, quickly moving in as they cautiously approached the stallion. Once a few inches away from the table, they looked at the the creature on the pony’s muzzle, the tail of this small being tightening around the stallion’s neck. “Dr. Nenne Seion,” one of the scientists spoke, turning to face the window looking into the test chamber, “we believe the creature has knocked Mr. Salt unconscious.”

“Interesting… why would it knock its victim out?” Nenne murmured to herself, looking down to the ground for a moment until returning her attention to the chamber. “Anything else?”

“Yes. The Facehugger’s side muscles keep contracting. We believe this may be how these creatures transfer the embryos into their host's body.”

A smile formed on her muzzle as she realized it was true. The video her boss had confiscated from the wreck showing the test trials these “humans” performed had remained spot-on. “Excellent work, you two. Go ahead and exit the chamber. We shall wait for the Facehugger to fully deliver its embryo before returning Mr. Salt to the test chamber.”

As the two ponies exited the room, she looked down at her notes, her grin brightening at the prospect of the potential these creatures had. What a bountiful amount of information she would get from being able to study these lifeforms and even might even figure out how to continue and complete the work that these humans were unable to finish. This was a most exciting opportunity indeed.

Author's Notes:

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! As always I hope it was fun for you.

And as per the usual... I hope you all have lovely dreams. (To be honest I don't know why I do this? I know the story isn't that scary, but still. I guess it's like this story's motto or something. But anywho. I'll see you all later)!