Author's Notes:

Here's the second part to the third chapter. I'll see you all later!

(Edit: Oh! Which reminds me! Here's a warm welcome to one of my fan characters. The owner of this character is DerpyHooves320. Also this was just a shout out to him as well. But other than that, I hope he is happy about how this came out).

A laugh broke through the echoing voices in the room as ponies in various sets of grayish black armor sat around tables, their chairs rocking as they spoke through mouthfuls of various foods, the clattering of silverware on plates signaling those who were done. Metal trays rattled against a rail as some were standing in line, getting their food and joining the others as stallions and mares alike discussed the activities of their busy day.

Sitting on one of the benches was lonesome Taciturn Furtivo in her light cornflower blue armor. Bringing a hoof to the bangs of her mane, she moved it aside to reveal her strong aquamarine eyes gazing down at the gray metal tray filled with food that was, surprisingly, a slice of lemon meringue pie. Taking her fork, she pulled another piece of the pie into her mouth, a smile forming on her lips as the flavors dancing across her tongue. However, she quickly replaced it with a frown, glancing to her sides to make sure nopony saw her.

Taciturn shuffled her wings, glancing at the others and seeing that most of them were just here for the money and astonishingly good services. It still felt odd that their boss had made a point of treating them all like they were more than just simple guards or workers, and to hear that she didn’t have to talk to anypony else was fine with her.

She glanced to her right, watching a shadow move closer. Sighing, she returned her gaze to the pie on her plate as Sparkdust sat down on the bench next to her. “Hey there, Taci.” Sparkdust greeted, smiling as Taciturn rolled her eyes at the nickname.

“Hello there, Sparkdust. What brings you here?” Taciturn inquired, her eyes meeting Sparkdust’s for a moment until focusing back on the pie slice in front of her.

“What, I can’t talk to my friend? Jeez, you’re always such a downer,” chuckled Spark as she brought a sandwich up to her muzzle in a cyan aura, taking a bite out of the grilled pepper jack cheese and pickled jalapenos.

“Sure your mouth isn’t going to catch on fire?” Taciturn deadpanned with a frown.

“Oh, please. Spicy foods are my thing. The only pony I know who can’t handle them is Aquafrost,” Spark snickered through a mouth full of food.

“What does this discussion have to do with me?” Taciturn turned her gaze to see Aquafrost with Blazing Ash by her side, the two ponies sitting down on the adjacent benches as Aqua smiled, a curious glimmer in her eyes.

“Sparkdust here said that you can’t handle spicy foods,” Taciturn murmured, eating some of the pie slice again as Aqua raised an eyebrow at the other Spark.

“Well… Sparkdust isn’t wrong about that. I never did enjoy those types of food that burned your mouth.” Aquafrost turned her gaze to the salad on the tray below her, lifting a fork with her pale scarlet magic and brought a small portion of the salad to her mouth. It glistened with some vinaigrette liquid, dried cranberries and glazed walnuts adding to the flavor as she took a bite, smiling and closing her eyes as she hummed at the taste. Laughter caught her ear, quickly swallowing the bit of salad before giving the stallion a glare.“What’s so funny, Blazing Ash?”

“You seem like you’re enjoying that piece of leaf there a little too much.” Ash teased, taking a bite out of his hayburger.

“I’ll have you know that the salad I picked is rather quite enjoyable. What’s so wrong with enjoying your favorite food?” Aquafrost frowned at the stallion, her eyes glinting with a little hint of annoyance.

“Nothing. There’s nothing wrong with that kind of thing.” Ash murmured, picking up a cup of tomato juice on his tray, taking a sip of it as he chuckled. Putting the cup down, he continued. “Besides, you’ll need all those veggies to keep that smart brain of yours working.”

“Just because I eat healthy foods doesn’t mean that I am always going to eat vegetables and fruits. Besides, it keeps you fit. That and I may be a scientist here as well as a guard, but that doesn’t mean I always need to eat nutritious foods all the time.”

“You two sound like some couple that’s just been bickering way too much.” Sparkdust goaded the two, laughing as she saw their eyes widen.

“Blazing Ash and I are not stallion and mare friends, if you were wondering. Besides, I’ve never felt that way towards him.” Aquafrost admitted how she felt, moving her gaze away.

“Thanks for the moral support, boss.” Ash murmured as he frowned, turning his own attention to the burger as he took another bite.

“I didn’t mean it like that, Ash. It’s just that I only feel like you’re a good friend.” Aqua reassured, a soft smile replacing the frown on her muzzle.

“I think you should know when to stop talking,” Sparkdust laughed as she watched Aqua throw a glare her way.

Ash met her gaze for a moment, a grin returning to his lips. “Yeah, yeah. I gotcha. Don’t worry, I know what yah mean.”

Taciturn broke the silence, “So has the day been just as normal for everypony here?”

“Pretty much. It got so boring after our assignment a week ago. All I did here was patrol before dinner,” Sparkdust complained, leaning back in her chair as her gaze moved over her friends.

“I’ve just been over at the outdoor shooting range by the Weapons Research facility, practicing with my crossbow since this morning,” Blazing Ash reported, putting his hayburger down on the tray.

“I caught up with my reading. Nothing else much to do unless I’m on patrol.” Taciturn closed her eyes, a faint smile on her muzzle. ‘Who could have guessed that the pony’s own quill could have led to such an important clue?’

“Well, I was over at the Medical facility helping the guards that were injured in the latest experiments over at the Research and Development building.” Aquafrost moved her gaze to the window, a soft smile on her lips as she remembered a mare she reassured would be alright earlier this morning.

“You always spend so much time over there. Why didn’t you become a nurse instead?” Sparkdust mentioned, raising an eyebrow at her commanding officer.

“Spark’s right. Even though we’ve all known yah for a year now, you’re a little too soft to be a guard. Let alone a commanding officer of a group here,” Ash added to the fact, watching Aqua frown as she looked between both the stallion and Sparkdust.

“Hey! Even if I am the commander of this group here, that doesn’t mean I have to look the part.” Aqua insisted, rubbing her chin. “You all know Crimson Sprite, right?” She sighed as she watched her friends nod. “She’s not big and tough, but she has quite a temper. I may not be well toned, and only eighteen years old, but am I threatening or scary? No. I gained respect from you all by giving you respect and even becoming great friends with you all.”

“She’s got a point there.” Taciturn glanced up at Aqua, siding with her leader, getting a smile from the light azure unicorn. “By the way.” Watching her friends turn their attention to her, she continued. “Has anypony here heard anything about our stowaway?”

Gazing at her friends, Taciturn's frown deepened as she watched their smiles disappear. Aqua’s gaze dropped to the table, her mouth hanging open a little as she began, “I only heard that she woke up just recently. But that was until the doctors had to sedate her, saying she completely lost her mind after the nurse inside the room with her mentioned the freighter Nostromo.”

“Wow… She must’ve had a horrible time with whatever that thing stuck to the wall was.” Sparkdust murmured, sitting upright in her chair as she picked up her tray with her magic.

“Yeah… I feel bad for what happened to her. Whatever she went through that made her this upset.” Aqua closed her eyes. Although she barely knew who this mare was, she couldn’t help but shiver at what this mare possibly went through.

“Alright. I’d better get back to my patrol or else Nenne Seion will throw a fit. See you guys later.” Sparkdust waved as she levitated her metal tray to the cleaning area behind the lunch aisle, walking out as she pushed the door open.

“Same here. Got to get back and work on my aim some more. Catch all of you later.” Blazing Ash stood up from his chair, wiping his muzzle with a napkin.

“Hey, Aqua.” Taciturn watched as her leader met her gaze. “Don’t worry about that mare. If she’s at the medical facility, everything will be fine. The doctors will make sure that she gets the treatment she deserves.” The unicorn nodded, a faint smile replacing the frown on her lips. Taciturn stood, nodding a silent farewell before bringing her tray up to the lunch aisle.

Sighing, she walked out the door and moved on down the hallway. Whoever this mare was, she was probably going to be detained for sneaking aboard the ship. But at least she wasn’t dead, and hopefully she would put an end to the mysterious case of the Nostromo. At the same time, however, she didn’t really care or want to know what was responsible for the massacre.

Crystal groaned as she slowly woke, the same soreness running over her body from the impact of being thrown against the wall. She covered her eyes as the light stung her vision, her eyes adjusting to the bright luminescence. However, as she rubbed her eyes and looked around, this room was different from the last one. It was a little more furnished, surprisingly, with a desk at one corner of the room along with a chair. The walls were a bland frog green, a sight she shook her head at.

She closed her eyes, frowning as she remembered what had happened earlier. She was put to sleep by that doctor after that nurse told her about the vessel she was on. The memories filtered back into her mind , breathing slowly as she tried to calm her thoughts, knowing the Xenomorph was gone for the moment. ‘So… this is one of Neighland’s facilities. If that’s the case, then I need to get out of here… somehow. But then… what about that Alien? If it was on the ship… then they must have-’

She heard the creaking of the door, looking up to see the doctor that put her asleep walk through the door with the nurse from before right next to him. She tilted her head, a frown forming on her muzzle as she wondered what these two wanted.

“Good morning, madam.” The doctor levitated the chair at the right side of the room and brought it to the front of the bed before sitting down. The other stallion stood next to him, fidgeting around with what she saw to be a nervous smile. “I do hope you have calmed down since the last time we met.”

‘Who does this stallion think he is?’ She wasn’t expecting the doctor to be nice at all, considering he threw her at the wall after she freaked out. Thankfully, she was more collected this time. When he spoke, however, she remained silent and stared him straight in the eyes.

The doctor chuckled, “That’s good to hear.” He lifted a clipboard with a few papers in a dark blue aura, the pen writing away until he spoke again. “So… how did you get on the freighter, the Nostromo?” Crystal remained quiet, gazing away from the doctor as she lowered her eyes, her frown deepening at the question. She could hear the stallion murmuring to himself, however it sounded more like a frustrated grumble. “I expect somepony like you to cooperate, or else you’ll never get out of here and this will be just a waste of my time.”

Not heeding his words, she kept her stare aimed away from the doctor. As the questions continued, she could hear the frustration build in his voice. She secretly smiled, hearing the doctor seeth as his patience wore thin. Crystal heard the chair shift, glancing to see the doctor get up, cursing under his breath as he walked out, slamming the door as he left.

It was quiet for a time after the doctor left in a fit of rage. The faint smile brightened on her muzzle. Giving him the silent treatment seemed childish and gaining a small victory from his displeasure was petty, but she would take it. She heard the other pony chuckle, glancing up to see the Connermaran stallion give her a nervous smile. “Sorry abouh the doctor putting you ta sleep yesterday. H-he jush wanted ta make sure you didn’h hurh yourself.”

Crystal didn’t respond, moving her gaze back to the floor as she replaced her brief smile with a frown. She heard him chuckle a little softer this time, going silent a moment later. She looked back to him, hearing the chair skid across the floor, the stallion gasping as he stood from his seat, opening the door and closed it behind him. ‘What has him so worked up?’

It was quiet for a little while, Crystal found the peace and quiet to be a little refreshing. Quickly scanning the room, she tried to cast a spell, an ice blue spark shooting from her horn. Grunting, she tried to keep it up but felt the energy in her horn fade away. Rubbing a hoof on her chin, she guessed that they possibly had a magic inhibiting shield around the perimeter. The idea was plausible, and even she would have done it if she was holding a unicorn prisoner.

Looking to the door, she hummed for a moment, shaking her head. The thought of breaking the door down didn’t sound like a good idea either, seeing that the frame was made out of a metal, likely iron or steel.

She sighed, closing her eyes and concentrating on her breathing. The door clicked open, squeaking a little as it was pushed. Crystal opened one eye, watching the Connemaran pony walk through with a smile on his muzzle. “Sorry about the wait there. I was just trying to find somepony that you’d probably like to see.”

‘Somepony I’d like to see? Yeah right...’ Crystal heard another set of hoofsteps, glancing up with both eyes opened to see one of the masked guards. ‘What, am I supposed to be forced into talking?’ The pony brought their right hoof up to the mask, the visor lifting off the pony to reveal a mare, one that she thought looked familiar. Her eyes were closed as she lifted the mask off her muzzle, opening them to reveal a set of dark orange eyes.

Crystal’s eyes widened a little, the mare’s tone was softer than she anticipated. “Hello there. It’s nice to finally meet the mare that survived on the ship, awake, of course, and not losing her mind to hysteria and fear.”

Crystal blinked at the familiarity of the voice. The image of this blurry mare standing over her flashed through her mind. She frowned, glaring at the mare who was responsible for putting her to sleep in the ship and must have taken her out of there and brought her here. But why? She was a pony who worked for Neighland-Yupony, one she couldn’t trust. “Sorry about what the doctor did to you. Heard he threw you against the wall with his magic.” Aqua murmured, leaning back as she chuckled nervously.

She raised an eyebrow, tilting her head at the two while they talked with one another, the stallion sounding more worried then the mare. What were these two planning? Was this some way they were going to get her to talk? It certainly was an interesting choice of strategy, but she wasn’t going to fall for it. “Well… I can understand that you don’t trust us.” Aqua murmured, Crystal fixed her gaze up to the pony in armor. “But, please. We aren’t here to hurt you. We just want to talk with you.”

“Yeah.” The stallion reassured, his gaze softening a little, although she didn’t feel that it was as gentle as the other mare’s. She appeared to be honestly speaking the truth, yet Crystal wasn’t sure. “I mean, we can introduce ourselves. My name’s Patchy McHeart, at your service, madam.” The Connemaran pony greeted, nodding to her.

Crystal felt the bed move. Turning to her right, she saw a hoof rest on her shoulder. She looked up from the hoof to see the mare smiling, her eyes gently gleaming as she murmured. “My name is Aquafrost. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She averted her gaze, closing her eyes and breathing out through her nose. ‘What’s the plausible idea? Not telling them my name is one option… but these two haven’t given me a reason to distrust them. And this Aquafrost hasn’t thrown me against a wall yet.’ Opening her eyes, she murmured, “My… name is… Crystal Rune.” She knew she couldn’t trust these ponies, knowing that they worked with Bishop Neighland.

“It’s nice to meet you, Crystal Rune.” Aqua nodded, smiling until she continued. “I am terribly sorry, though, for what happened. I do hope you are alright.” She looked to Patchy and he nodded at her, she sighed before continuing, “I would stay here and talk with you, but they’re not giving me much time.” Getting off the bed, Aqua secured her helmet. “It was nice meeting you face to face, Crystal. I was hoping to get to introduce myself to you.” Aqua waved a hoof before walking out of the room with the stallion.

There was something different about this mare. ‘She didn’t ask me questions.’ Not once did she try and ask her anything relating to the ship. Maybe there was a small possibility of trusting this mare, but that has yet to be seen.