A whistle blasted through the air with its loud pitch, the rail wheels spun and resonated with noise as they rotated on the tracks, and a light trail of smoke billowed out from the smokestack as the locomotive made its way toward Canterlot. Celestia’s sun poured its warm rays of light down on the earth below, heating the cold wind of the fall air. Inside the train, ponies sat on the benches of the passenger cars, most of them talking about normal day-to-day occurrences.

Inside one of the cars, six mares sat in a single row, two in each seat, as they conversed with one another. However, the mood that filled the room was less than cheerful. Their earlier discovery plagued their thoughts with what could have had happened to Zecora and where she had disappeared to. The only piece of evidence they had was a badge with the logo of the newly formed industry, “Neighland-Yupony,” sewed onto the fabric. This finding only seemed to raise more questions. While this clue didn’t allude to the creature’s involvement, none of the girls were calm about this situation. They knew all too well what had happened with the one Xenomorph that was alive last time. The signs were all there. Nopony liked the idea repeating the horrifying events from last month.

Twilight Sparkle sat on the window side of her seat, her gaze never moving from the scenery outside. She tried to pay attention to what the others were conversing about, but it was difficult due to all the thoughts she had rushing around her mind. Although everypony was equally worried, a sickening feeling formed in her stomach. What they all had found was too eerie. She couldn’t understand why there was a Neighland-Yupony badge resting on the floor of Zecora’s hut. Or, maybe she could and thought the possible answer was terrifying.

“Oh my goodness.” Rarity’s voice caught her ear, and Twilight turned to face her. Twilight watched as she rummaged through one of the ‘few’ saddlebags she carried with her on her trips, only seeing that she was wearing a scarf around her neck. “Please tell me I did not forget to bring the chapeau to match with my scarf.”

“Oh, listen to yourself,” Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head as she watched Rarity move her ensembles around. “We’re just going to meet with the princesses. It’s not like we’re visiting ponies we haven’t met before.”

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle a little. But instead of focusing on Rarity and Rainbow Dash’s argument, she returned her attention to the plains outside the train cart. The thoughts of the Alien’s return ran rampant through her mind.

A frown replaced her brief smile as she saw her muzzle in the reflection of the window. She brought a hoof to her image, and it changed in a blur of waves into her brother, Shining Armor. Tears brimmed at the edge of her eyes. She could hear the sound of her magic firing towards him in a magenta ball of light, the gasp that had accompanied his final breath. She felt the cold tears that dripped down her eyes and the painful ache in her heart as she watched his eyes close for the last time. Twilight watched him smile, and she smiled in return as a few tears dripped down her muzzle. His image faded until it took on her own reflection again. It shook its head before speaking in a low, subjective tone. “It’s all your fault. He could have been saved if you were faster.”

Twilight brought her hoof back to her side, looking away from the image. Every so often, when she looked into the mirror, there would be this replica of her negative emotions greeting her, talking her down and blaming her for what she couldn’t do. “Th-that’s not true,” she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion. “I did all I could--”

“And you still failed him in the end,” the negative replica of her said, furrowing her brow and lowering her eyes. “If you weren’t so apprehensive about finding the others, maybe you could’ve discovered the whereabouts of your brother more diligently, then you wouldn’t have blood on your hooves, now would you?”

“But I… I--”

“No excuses!” the negative replica exclaimed, interrupting her again. “Listen here, you, there is no right for you to believe that there was--”

“Twilight?” A voice disrupted the replica, and it faded into mist as she felt a hoof on her shoulder. “Is everythin’ alright?” She rubbed her eyes quickly, turning to face Applejack. The expression she saw on Applejack’s muzzle was filled with nothing but concern. “You alright there, sugarcube? You were mumblin’ somethin’ fierce over there.”

She was, however, quick to dismiss her friend. “Yeah, everything is fine, Applejack,” Twilight lied, a fake smile replacing her frown.

Her friend’s eyes darted up to her own, before her mouth opened a little. “Are you… cryin’?”

In her haste, she went to deny her friend. Before she could speak, she felt a tear trickle down her muzzle. She brought a hoof to her cheek and dabbed at it.

“It looks like yah ain’t doin’ so good,” said Applejack. “Come on, you can tell me. I mean, yah can tell everypony else here. We’re all yer friends after all.”

“Sorry…” Twilight murmured, sniffling a little. “It’s something personal that… I have to deal with.”

“I completely understand. But we’re all here fer yah.” Applejack looked to the other four Element Bearers. “Ain’t that right, y’all?”

Their focus shifted from the conversation to her, and their expressions changed as they saw what a mess Twilight looked like. They all nodded, smiling at their friend. “Of course. Twilight, you're the most important and special friend we’ve ever had.” Fluttershy was the first to speak, her quiet tone conveying nothing but the unconditional kindness she gave off.

“Yeah! There’s nothing we wouldn’t do for you, Twilight. I mean, we all care for each other,” Pinkie Pie chipped in, beaming gleefully as she moved in her seat.

She looked up, her frown changing into a sad grin. Of course she was glad to be reassured by her friends, and their words did help put her at ease, but Twilight still felt that she had to deal with this problem on her own and didn’t want to get them involved in it. ‘Besides… it’s my own personal problem. Surely they would understand.’ Yet, when she looked at them, out of all of them only Pinkie Pie seemed to have her real smile showing. Her other friends’ smiles merely seemed forced, like they still wore that fake expression they did when they were hiding something. Twilight knew that they too were battling their own demons.

However, it didn’t feel necessary to bring up the pain. Instead, she continued to smile. She wiped her eyes again before saying, “Thank you… all of you.” Their grins brightened, like they were themselves for once. They went back to their other discussion, Applejack finally joining in and laughing at Rarity’s expense. But Twilight turned back around, looking out the window once more. She did so for the rest of the trip, not looking back except when her friends got loud.

It was a couple moments later when the train came to a slow stop as it arrived at the station, its brakes screeching as it came to a halt. Steam poured out of the engine, and a gray mist engulfed the platform. The girls walked out through their door and raised their heads up to the faraway palace of Canterlot. It had been sometime since they were here; Twilight frowned when she went to talk with the Princesses after Tirek had escaped from Tartarus. Thankfully, Canterlot hadn’t been damaged then, and none of the ponies here had been injured during that stressful time. This city also brought memories of Rarity’s surgery, where the poor mare had needed to be operated on to take the dreaded embryo out of her chest before she could be killed by its birth.

They all looked to one another before making their way up the streets of Canterlot. After a few moments, they made their way up the steps to the castle, where guards patrolled the walkways and bridges of the citadel. The group walked through a door, the sun’s light bathing the hallways with a warm feeling. It was not often that they had such an inviting feeling inside the castle.

After all, this place brought forth horrid memories that took place in the Royal Sisters’ castle when the Xenomorph made its home there. And after the events they had gone through, it was utter chaos.

As they neared the throne room doors, a guard walked past them make a left, turn down some stairs, and disappear around the corner. Although they all wondered where he had gone, they had much more important issues to attend to. Twilight peeked her head around the corner of the throne room door, then walked in with her friends close behind. They all smiled as they saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna made their way to the group from the lone cathedral at the end of the expansive chamber.

The two princesses stopped and smiled at the group of friends. “Good afternoon, everypony. It is wonderful to see you all again,” Celestia said. She tucked her wings in and nodded to them. Twilight noticed her friends bowing behind her, so memory kicked in and she hurriedly bowed as well. She heard Celestia chuckle a little before she looked up. “Twilight, you do not have to bow to me and my sister. You yourself are a princess.”

She stood up, rubbed the back of her head, and giggled a little, blushing slightly. “Sorry, just a habit I haven’t been able to break yet.”

“It is alright. I am glad that you are all here.” Celestia looked over Twilight and the others, and her smile brightened a little. However, her former teacher’s happy grin faded away into a frown. This was a little unsettling, but then she began speaking again. “My sister, Luna, and I have been waiting to disclose something to you all; information that I previously thought would have been better left unsaid to all of you.”

“Information?” Applejack murmured, tilting her head as the other girls lost their smiles. Twilight could feel it too, a horrible sensation writhing in her gut. There was a deeper yet terrible meaning behind her words.

“If it’s so important, why haven’t you told us about it yet?” Rainbow Dash asked. She crossed her forelegs and raised an eyebrow as she took flight into the air, hovering above the others.

Luna stepped forward, nodding to her sister. “Celestia and I were going to contact you ourselves, but we received your message about these disappearances. Can you tell us first what has been going on in Ponyville?”

Twilight nodded as she stepped forward, speaking for the group. “It was Applejack who brought this situation to our attention. She gathered us at my castle in Ponyville. There, she and Rainbow Dash told us about the three ponies we learned were missing: Cloudchaser, Thunderlane, and Bulk Biceps.”

“So, you haven’t found any trace of them?” Luna asked. Twilight and her friends shook their heads.

“We did go take a gander at whether or not they were preoccupied somewhere else, but our luck wasn’t as good as we would have hoped,” said Rarity.

“After we learned about their disappearance, Pinkie Pie pointed out that Zecora didn’t come into town earlier today. We went to search for her, but she wasn’t back in her hut, nor was she anywhere in the Everfree Forest,” Twilight added, looking down at the ground. During their search of the forest, she had hoped to find Spike as well, but there was no sign of him anywhere. She sighed quietly before looking back up. “After our search, we thought it was best to come and report to you after we discovered a clue in Zecora’s hut.”

“A clue?” Celestia looked to her sister before going on. “So who do you believe it was that took them?”

“We… have a clue as to who it was,” Twilight said before nodding to Pinkie Pie. Her pink friend bounced up to her side before handing her the piece of fabric. She encased it in a magenta aura, moving it before Celestia. The surrounding aura changed into a light golden field as Celestia looked over the badge. “All we know…” Twilight began, letting her former teacher study the item before she looked back up, “...is that the ponies responsible for this are known as Neighland-Yupony.”

“Isn’t their name Neighland Industries?” Twilight looked back to see the source of voice that spoke, her eyes widening as she saw Daring Do standing at the doorway.

“Daring Do!?” Rainbow Dash flew right towards her and gave her a hug, Rarity and the others not far behind. Twilight herself finally joined the group in a hug.

After they all separated, Daring smiled before speaking again. “Nice to see you all again.” Her attention then turned to Rarity as a frown replaced her smile. “I’m glad to see that you’re doing alright.”

“I see that your escapade was rather… daunting, Daring Do,” Rarity murmured as she looked over the bandages. She wrapped her hooves around Daring as she gave her own hug to the adventurer.

“Escapade? You mean you saw Daring Do before all these bandages were wrapped around her?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow to Rarity as she floated above her friend.

“I saw her conversing with Fancy Pants after I finished my conversation with a few friends from Canterlot’s finest. I met her as I went to say goodbye to him.”

Twilight too noticed how the mare was patched up, a few bandages placed on her muzzle and chest with one larger one covering her right foreleg. “Daring, what happened to you?” Fluttershy spoke up, asking one of the questions everypony else was wondering.

“And what are you doing here? I thought you were still over by the Tenochtitlan Basin?” Rainbow added to their list of questions they had.

Twilight noticed a glimmer in her eyes, like there was some horrible event she had gone through. “I… I was tasked to bring something back to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Something that she wanted to be destroyed.”

“Beg yer pardon, Daring, but what did the princesses actually want yah ta destroy?” Applejack asked. The others looked to her, but Twilight kept her gaze on the adventurer. She felt off, like she knew exactly what Daring was sent to go after. She looked back to the princesses, only to see that they were looking away, withholding something from the others. She turned to face the girls, only to see that they all had the same worried expression.

“It was I who requested her to go, although I wasn’t able to contact her until she appeared this morning,” said Celestia.Twilight noticed a faint crack in her voice. “I had learned of a terrible revelation after interrogating the doctor that helped your friend, Twilight. And so, I planned to send Daring Do to find and kill the… Xenomorph that was inside Rarity.”

There was dead silence in the throne room. The wind outside was the only noise as the girls stared at the two princesses. Twilight was in complete shock and so were all of her friends. The terrible thoughts and nightmares she’d had of the alien came rushing back to her mind at the horrifying announcement. She heard laughing at her right: Applejack was cracking up. “That’s a good one, Princess. For a minute there, Ah thought you were actually serious.” The farm mare slowly ceased her laughing. Celestia and Luna had nothing but guilty frowns on both muzzles. “Y’all… are serious?”

It was quiet once more until Fluttershy quietly spoke up, hiding behind Rainbow Dash. “Um… i-is it still a-alive?”

“No.” Daring said, walking next to the Princesses. “I couldn’t find it anywhere after the explosion at the compound where I found it.”

Although there were quite a few questions still unanswered, everypony was quiet. Twilight, however, felt uneasy. She looked up to her former teacher and her sister, and then to her friends. She saw angry looks on the faces of Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity and realized how upset by the news they must’ve been.

“Good.” Rarity suddenly spoke up before she took a few steps forward. “Because if I remember correctly, that… ‘creature’ inside of me was supposedly dead after the doctor removed it. And you all led us to believe that the monster was no more.” Her right eye began to twitch slightly, but it stopped as her frown became more apparent. Only now did Twilight realize that Applejack and Rainbow Dash had moved to both sides of Rarity. “But you three...” she said as she looked to Daring Do and then back to Celestia and Luna, “kept this little secret from us? Why? Why!?”

Twilight flinched as she heard Rarity’s voice raise in pitch. She was surprised that her more composed friend would even consider yelling at the princesses. “It was because of that beast that I was impregnated, and my sweet, innocent little sister almost shared the same fate!”

“That thing punched a hole in my chest and almost killed me!” Rainbow Dash cried, glaring at the two Princesses, not even looking at her favorite adventurer.

“That monster almost ripped mah dang shoulder out, and killed mah brother!” Applejack snapped as well, stomping a hoof on the floor.

“We did not feel it was necessary to let you deal with the Xenomorph again. It was better that you were all left in the dark than to go through more terrible nightmares.” Luna stepped forward. Twilight was surprised that both alicorns remained calm and allowed the aggravated mares to shout in their faces.

“Not let us deal with the problem!? I was hoping to give that freak a piece of my mind!” Rainbow lifted herself off the ground with a flap of her wings, putting her hooves on her hips.

Twilight stepped forward, stopping next to Applejack before calmly suggesting, “Maybe it was for the best. She knew how painful it was after all the strain this event put us through.”

“Maybe fer the best!? Yah lost yer brother ta that nightmare, Twilight! Ain’t yah still mad about that!?” Applejack asked.

Twilight flinched at Applejack’s words, faltering for a moment. ‘W-why would she say something like that…?’ The ache she had felt the day of his death returned, and her tears threatened to trickle down to reveal her pain. “Of course,” Twilight said, her gaze still facing the ground. The first words cracked with emotion. “Of course I’m upset about losing my brother.” She turned her gaze up to her former teacher. “Of course I’m hurt that Celestia kept us in the dark.” Celestia winced at these words, but she understood the betrayal her former student must have felt. Twilight faced her friends again and said, “But I would have rathered not to go through such a terrible experience ever again. Last time, I lost a brother. Who else would I lose if we faced it again? Nyx? Spike? Cadance? One of you?”

It went quiet again as Twilight finished. She looked back to see Fluttershy hiding behind Pinkie Pie, who wore a wide-eyed expression. The room felt heavy with unease and uncertainty.

“Yes.” Twilight turned to face Celestia, who looked up at the group before her. “I did keep you all in the dark… but I did so to protect everypony. I didn’t intend for any of you to go through that horrible nightmare another time.” She closed her eyes, breathing a little until she opened them again. “Although I can see that not informing you of the events taking place wasn’t a good idea, I still stand by my decision, as it was to keep everypony here safe. I know it will take you all some time to forgive me, but I was certain of this choice and that it would be in your best interests. All of you.” Celestia turned to Daring Do, murmuring, “You may explain to them where you have been and what you have seen.”

The adventurer nodded before speaking up. “To tell you all the truth, I can’t say that my trip was exactly… ‘lovely'.”

“You… said you were tasked to recapture the Xenomorph?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. My mission was to secure the Alien from Dr. Caballeron. But at the time, I thought I was tasked to protect the little beast, not destroy it like the princesses wanted me to.”

“So who was it that sent you?” Rainbow Dash asked. The other girls looked to her intently.

“I still haven’t figured out who it was yet,” Daring admitted. She shook her head before continuing. “I don’t know much, either, but I’m betting it was somepony close to the princesses.” Twilight saw the shock in Celestia’s eyes that somepony else could have betrayed her. “Like I said, I was tasked to secure the Xenomorph. I was even give a team to do this. While me and the team were doing that, we encountered… something else.”

“S-something… else?” Fluttershy murmured, shaking in her fur as she lowered herself even closer to the ground.

“Yeah… this creature was unlike anything else I had ever seen. It was different from the Xenomorph, but just as deadly. It even carried around equipment more advanced than any other nation out there.”

“More advanced?” Hearing that there was yet another alien species in Equestria was unnerving to say the least, yet Twilight was more concerned about what she meant by advanced. “What did this… alien look like, and what do you mean by ‘more advanced?’”

“This alien was about as tall as a Minotaur, and I’d say about as strong as one as well. And by how advanced… well, it had energy-based weapons, combat weapons that were pretty much like ours except technologically superior to most of the weapons we make, and the ability to turn itself invisible. Like a hunter, it picked us off one by one.”

Hearing that this creature was beyond them both in strength and technology, Twilight’s breath caught in her throat. What if more of them came? What if it was an invasion? With such weapons and abilities, the ponies wouldn’t stand a chance.

“So did you ever come up with a name, besides calling it a hunter?” Pinkie Pie asked, everypony turning to look at her with raised eyebrows. “What?” She shifted back a little, her eyes darting between her friends. “Hunter’s not cool and frightening enough of a name for this thing.”

“Well…” Daring shrugged. “After having fought and killed it, I thought of a name that fit with how it acted and what it did. From the way it continued to stalk me and my group even before we obtained the Alien and from how it seemed to be interested in the Xenomorph as well, along with its killing capabilities, I thought of an alias along the lines of the ‘Predator.’”

It was silent for a moment, until Pinkie Pie spoke up. “Predator… I like it. Sounds so fierce!” She proceeded to growl and act like this “Predator,” the others watching her warily.

“But, wait a minute.” Applejack brought the conversation back to the real situation, ignoring Pinkie Pie’s antics. “I still don’t understand how yah got ta doin’ this task in the first place. Yah said that somepony told yah that the princesses wanted you to retrieve the Alien when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna originally wanted you to kill it. Who told yah in the first place?”

“And you were talking about being with a team. What happened to the others?” Rainbow added.

Daring’s frown deepened even more. Was her secret mission so terrible, Twilight reflected, that it could trouble even a seasoned adventurer such as her?

“Nopony else survived,” Daring simply said, her hat concealing her whole face as she lowered her gaze to the ground. “I can only guess that Dr. Caballeron was one of the unfortunate victims. It took Rugged Muzzle and Ahuizotl’s heads for trophies, it pinned Black Arrow to a wall with a spear, it stabbed Roughneck in the chest, and Crystal Rune died when it blew itself up… along with the Xenomorph.”

“Crystal Rune!” Celestia exclaimed to herself. Everypony else looked at her, surprised by her outburst.

“Sister, is everything alright?” Luna asked.

Celestia looked as though she had seen a ghost, but she shook her head and said, “She… She was my student once, but that was a long time ago.”

‘Another student?’ Twilight thought, astonished that there were so many ponies under her former teacher’s wing.“We’re… sorry, Daring. You all sound like you were pretty close,” she murmured. While she spoke to Daring Do, she couldn’t help but noticed the heartbroken look upon Celestia’s face.

“It’s alright…” Daring whispered, moving her hoof underneath her pith helmet, like she was wiping her eyes when nopony else could see. She looked up before continuing. “As for the pony who contacted me, it was Prince Blueblood.”

“Prince Blueblood? Why on earth would that contemptuous stallion even consider doing a task for somepony else?” Rarity said.

“Wait. My sister and I did not send Blueblood to relay our message to you.” Luna raised an eyebrow to the adventurer. “Celestia and I sent a few Royal Guards, not our nephew.”

“If Prince Blueblood wasn’t told come to get you, Daring Do, then why did he show up?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.

Twilight watched as Daring replied back but noticed Celestia acting strange. She watched her look to the ground and bite her bottom lip in concentration as she thought. Suddenly, her eyes widened, like she had just realized something important. Without warning, she saw the Princess take off running through the large throne room doors and turn to the left.

“Princess, wait!” Twilight yelled as she was the first to follow after her.

She rounded the corner and caught Celestia running up the stairs above her. Twilight flapped her wings and took off, although a bit messily at first. She continued to flap her wings, the echo of Celestia’s shoes reverberating in the stairwell. When she landed, Celestia rushed past her and stopped next to a door in the middle of the hallway on the left of the staircase. A loud crash rang in the corridor, and Twilight flinched before making her way to the door Celestia had gone through.

As she stopped at the entrance of the door, Twilight saw Celestia hurriedly looking around the room that she believed to have been Blueblood’s. It was certainly a nice room: the windows let quite a bit of light through, and it was well furnished.

“He’s not here.” Celestia panted, her eyes darting up and down the room. “Blueblood’s not here.”

“But why?” The others were finally catching up. Luna spoke next. “Why would Blueblood leave the castle? He has never been out much, except for whenever he went on one of his ‘trips’.”

Daring Do walked into the room, overturning the pillows on his bed. She moved on over to the dresser, pulling out three of the drawers before gazing into the fourth cabinet. Daring reached a hoof into the drawer, pulled out a notebook, and flipped open the cover. The pages rustled and crinkled as Daring scanned through each page. Her gaze darted across the words until her eyes stopped on one spot. “It was him.” Her eyes were wide as she stared at the book. “He was the pony who ordered Crystal Rune to find and obtain the Xenomorph. He was the one who wanted it.”

“What!?” Rainbow Dash flew up to the adventurer as she asked, “But why!?”

“My guess is that he possibly needed something like an Xenomorph for some foul motive. After all, one of those monsters killed about thirty-eight ponies.”

“That stallion’s insane!” The surprise hit Twilight like a train. “There’s nothing that can control the Xenomorph. If he needed it for power, he would have kept it to… to--”

“Right... “ Daring murmured, her gaze turning to Twilight. “He could have been planning a way to get rid of Princess Celestia and Luna.” A shocked silence filled the air around the ponies. “That way…” she continued, “he would ascend to the throne, and everypony would blame the Xenomorph for killing you two, while he would only need to act as if it were a tragedy and claim his “rightful” place as the ruler of Canterlot.”

“I knew that stallion was always a narcissist, but to use that monster for his own disgusting deeds is a line he should have never crossed,” said Rarity.

“But what about Twilight and Princess Cadance?” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “Surely they would take the throne rather than him?”

“That is true,” Celestia said. “But Cadance has the Crystal Empire, and Twilight has Ponyville. He would have been a likely choice to become the regent over Canterlot. Then again, he could have waited until all four of us gathered together. Although the four of us are more than a match for it, he could possibly unleash it while we were asleep. Nopony would have suspected then that it was foul play.”

“Never knew that fella was so cruel and heartless, even though he’s never been the best of ponies.” Applejack stomped her hoof on the ground.

“He’s a Meaner McMeany pants from Meany Town!” Pinkie Pie joined in, only giggling afterwards when she repeated the words again.

“But where did he go? That’s what I’d like to know,” Rainbow asked.

“I do not know,” Celestia said, looking to everypony else. “But when we do find him, I will talk to him and give him one more chance.”

“But Princess, he was possibly going to threaten your life. Why would you--” Rarity started to ask.

“Because,” Celestia interrupted Rarity, looking down to her. “I would rather give him a second chance. If I deem him to be incapable of responding or apologizing for his actions, then I shall cast him away into the dungeons for what he would have and will have done.” Everypony remained silent after what Celestia said, and it was quiet for a moment until she continued on. “Now, let us head to the conference room. We have much to discuss and to find out where this Neighland-Yupony company is. I still presume that, by your evidence, Daring Do, Twilight Sparkle, the stallion known as Bishop Neighland can be reasoned with.” Twilight watched Daring open her mouth, but Celestia interrupted her as well. “If I feel he is holding back more than he lets on, I shall consider a trial. However, I need conclusive information to make all the necessary rulings; otherwise, I will not have any affirmation to go on if we do bring him to trial.”

Twilight was a little taken aback by Celestia’s readiness to talk with this “Bishop Neighland”, but she knew that Celestia understood what she was doing. But even then, Twilight could only fathom the idea of talking with the director of Neighland-Yupony. And if he was holding these ponies hostage, what was the purpose of pony-napping them in the middle of the night? She shivered in dread at the notion of what he could be hiding. The reason for everypony disappearing last time was because of the Xenomorph. If this was the reason for all these pony-nappings, then this was going to be a difficult journey through memory lane.

‘Please… don’t let him be there...’