I slowly opened my eyes to a dark unfamiliar place. My head was throbbing so bad and I couldn’t remember what had happened earlier today, or was it yesterday? I couldn’t remember. It took me a moment to realize that I was in my bed at the hotel, covered in a blanket. I turned to the side to find a completely naked Twilight covered with the same blanket in the same bed. ”What the hell happened last night?” I thought.

I backed away from Twilight and fell out of bed landing on the hard floor. To my relief, I was fully clothed. “Oh thank god," I muttered. I still didn’t understand why Twilight was in my bed naked. She had her own after all. I wasn’t even sure how we ended up back here in the first place. I walked to the bathroom, turned on the light, rinsed my hands in the sink water and began washing my face. Thump-thump-thump. I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and to my surprise Applejack stood right in front of me. “Ya fellin’ better Sunny?” she asked. Applejack had long blonde hair, soft green eyes, a stretson on her head, and one of the most beautiful smiles I had ever seen. I never paid too much attention to those features until now. She was wearing a plaid shirt with a tan skirt and light brown boots. She must have taken Twilight’s bed, putting her into mine. She looked amused.

“Does my pain amuse you AJ?” I asked.

She laughed. “Ah still can’t believe Twilight knocked you out! God, that’s hilarious.”

“What?” I said in disbelief. “Did we get into a fight or something? I honestly can’t remember.”

“No sugarcube,” Applejack said still laughing. “she thought you were a Xenomorph.”

“A Xenomor—“ I froze. A sudden rush of vague memories started flooding back to me. The image of the bloody girl and Snips and Snails began creeping back into my mind. “What happened after she saw the Xenomorph?” I asked, trying to hide my concern. Applejack didn’t notice the urgency in my voice and continued.

“She said that after you two left the zoo, you kept on walking and eventually ended up in the commercial side of Canterlot. There, you two heard a woman scream bloody murder and apparently witnessed two Xenomorphs trying to eat her.” She paused to yawn, not because she was bored, but because she was tired. “Then, she hit you thinking you were a Xenomorph. She brought you back and told us everything. She even took us back to the alley where she saw the Xenomorphs.” She stopped and rubbed her eyes. She didn’t continue.

“And?” I finally asked. Applejack looked confused. “What happened then?”

“We went to tha’ alley and found nothing there. Then I brought ya here.” She answered. “What’d ya think we’d find sugarcube?”

I paused for a moment. I wasn’t even sure what to make of all this information. I had just seen a girl being eaten alive, but there were no traces of her around. What did that mean? Was I just going crazy? But then how did Twilight see them too? Nothing about this situation made any sense at all. How could it? Creatures from sci-fi movies don’t come to life and make people turn into them like zombies. That thought alone was just plain ridiculous, but the fear of what I just saw still found its way back to my reality. There was now only one way to be sure what the living hell was going on. “We have to go back to that alleyway.”

“Ah don’t think that’s a good idea Sunset,” Applejack said.

“Yeah well, try and stop me.”

“Sheesh, I liked ya better when you were knocked out. Y’all aren’t even in the condition to drive back there anyway.”

“I’m not drunk,” I said frustrated. “I just—“ I wasn’t sure what to say. How could I even explain what I saw? It was just something I had to see for myself again. “I just need to go.”

“Okay,” Applejack said reluctantly. “but ah’m going with ya.”

“Fine.” I tried to sound as apathetic as possible, but I secretly wanted AJ to come with me. I knew it wasn’t a good idea, and this way I had another pair of eyes to keep us safe. “What time is it anyway?” I asked.

“About 3:30AM,” Applejack answered. “Do ya wanna wait till mornin’ to see your crazy ass delusional nightmare proven wrong?”

“Be in the car in five minutes,” I said coldly. I wasn’t in the mood for AJ’s mocking tone and bullshit. I walked to the door and half turned to her. “I’m leaving then, whether you’re there or not.”

I opened the door and began to walk through the hotel to get to my car. I wasn’t sure if I had been a bit harsh or not with AJ, but I didn’t really give a damn. I knew what I saw whether she believed us or not.

I reached the lobby and quickly made my way to the front doors. I stopped right in front of the door. I looked outside to the darkness ahead of me. I put my hand on the handle of the door, hesitating. ”Are you really ready for whatever is out there?” I thought. ”You could just go back to your room and leave first thing in the morning and never come back. You don’t have to go.” I looked at the ground for a moment. My friend’s faces flashed in my mind. I just couldn’t stand by and do nothing if there was something dangerous in Canterlot, not with my best friends in danger. ”I have to go, no matter what’s out there.”

The streetlights dimly lit up most of the street. There were, however, sections of road that were untouched by the dim lighting. There was a small breeze passing through the streets, calming me with every second I stood in it. I always liked the wind. I slowly made my way to the parking lot, making sure not to stand too close to the sections of darkness in the road. ”Maybe that girl went too close to the dark, and then they found her when her guard was down,” I tried to push the thought of what happened to the girl aside for the moment. It was still very possible that she never even existed. That she was just a dream. Maybe, just maybe that event never even happened at all. I could only hope.

I had arrived at the parking lot of the hotel and, unfortunately, it wasn’t as well lit as the front of the hotel was. I took a deep breath and sprinted through the parking lot towards my car. Luckily, it was fairly close to the entrance. I made my way to the car, opened the door, and sat in the driver’s seat all in a matter of seconds. I exhaled heavily again. The fear was starting to feel ridiculous. I was a grown ass woman; the dark shouldn’t scare me, and yet now it did. I searched my pocket for my keys, but they weren’t there. I checked the ignition in case the previous driver had left them behind, but they weren’t there either. I searched around but still couldn’t find them. They might’ve still been in the room. The thought of having to go back to my room only to see AJ’s smug, “forget something?” face wasn’t pleasant. I put my head on the steering wheel and just rested for a moment. My head was still throbbing and not having the keys didn’t help. Konck-knock-knock.The sudden sound of knocking startled me. I saw Applejack just outside the passenger door with the exact same amused look on her face. I got out of the car and saw the keys in her hand. She noticed I saw them. She held them up to her face, and began shaking em. “Ya forgot these when you were acting all fearless.”

“Thank you,” I said feebly. “Now can I get them back?”

“Nope, I’m drivin’.”

“Fine,” I sighed. I didn’t want to argue. You do know where we’re supposed to go right?” I asked as I walked to the other side of the car and climbed into the passenger seat.

She turned on the car and began to drive away. Neither of us spoke during the ride, instead I took the time to look through the streets. There weren’t any people up at this hour, it seemed. Every street was still and strangely peaceful. The fear I felt began to fade away and reason took its place. It began to become harder to believe that there were Xenomorphs lurking around. Maybe I was just seeing things that weren’t there. Maybe everything in this city was as it should have been.

The car suddenly stopped. AJ looked at me, catching my attention. “We’re here,” she said.

I nodded and took a deep breath. We got out of the car and began walking to the other side of the street. Applejack walked to another alleyway to the right of the one Twilight and I had been in. “What are you doing?”

“Goin’ ta show ya the alley Twilight showed us.” She seemed confused by the question.

“That isn’t the right alley. Twilight must have taken you to the wrong one.”

“Well she was drunk. I mean, she did hit you by accident.”

“Yeah,” I said as I scratched the area of my head Twilight had struck. “Hey, remind me to get her back for that.” Applejack pulled out two flashlights from her duffel bag and gave me one. We turned them on and continued to walk down the alley. At first glance, the alley looked empty for some reason. We walked through to the midpoint, when Applejack stopped. “See what ya needed to see?”

“Just a little further,” I replied.

We were a few feet away from the place where the girl’s body should have been. We made our way to the spot, only to see it empty. I walked a few feet forward, and kneeled down next to a few cardboard boxes that were hidden in the dark before. “I guess I was wrong,” I said with a mixture of relief and shame. “Well, Let’s just go back.”

“Now your speakin’ mah language,” AJ said. “Let’s go get some sleep. I feel like ah’m gonna—“ Applejack stopped mid sentence. Her eyes widened. She was staring at something I wasn’t able to see. I walked towards AJ’s line of sight and saw large marks of blood over a wall.

The sudden realization of how stupid looking for Xenomorphs without weapons hit me hard. “Let’s go,” I said in a low warning voice. She turned to me in utter disbelief. “What? We can’t just go. We need ta find out what this is about.”

“No, we can’t stay here. It isn’t safe.”

“Ah’m not leavin’,” she said firmly. Applejack was clearly set on seeing this mystery through. I took a moment to think. The only way she would go voluntarily was if I had a better plan.

“We can come back in the morning with more people. Safety in numbers.”

Applejack thought about her plan for a moment. “Fine,” she said reluctantly. “Ah need sleep anyway, but we’re coming back first thing in the morning.” I smiled at her and she smiled back. She was actually more adventurous that I had thought; that or just plain foolish. We began making our way back to th street. it was still empty as it was earlier, with the exception of four stray dogs wandering around a far distance away from us. Applejack noticed them and began calling out to them. “Here boys,” AJ said. She was obviously trying to relax herself from what she saw.

“I never knew you were an animal lover.” I said

“Yeah,” she said. “I’ve also been studying to be a veterinarian so I could work with Fluttershy.” Applejack now got the dogs’ attention after a few seconds, three of them looked straight at her. The fourth dog, and the biggest of the bunch, was just roaming around. Seeing the dogs relaxed us both. The three smaller dogs now looked towards the bigger one. The biggest dog finally stopped and turned towards me. It only took me a second to realize that the dog wasn’t just looking at me; it was glaring at me.

“Maybe we should get back to the car,” I said hesitantly.

“Why? Ya scared of dogs Shimmer?” AJ asked.

“What ever happened to sleeping?” I counter asked. I took a step towards the car. Suddenly, the biggest dog started growling and broke into a sprint towards us. The other three dogs quickly followed. Panicking, Applejack and I now made a mad dash for the car. The distance between the dogs and us was closing fast. The car wasn’t too far away, but the dogs were running with god-like speed. They would be on us soon if we hesitated long enough. I realized as I ran that they weren’t even dogs at all, they were god damn wolves, no even worse, Xenomorph wolves.

“What tha hell just happened!?” AJ exclaimed.

“I don’t know,” I said right on the verge of panic. I tried to steady my breath. “I sure as hell didn’t see that coming. Did you even see how they ran?” I asked with panic and disbelief in my voice.

AJ exhaled and looked back towards the wolves. She froze. A look of pure and true terror spread across her face. “They’re still followin’ us.” She said in a low disbelieving tone, “and they’re pickin’ up speed!” She was panicking now. I glanced at the rear view mirror. The wolves were much bigger than I had even realized. They were easily bigger than wolves should ever be, and much faster too. I looked at the speedometer. It was marking near 90 mph. The wolves looked much different the closer they were to us. Apart from being larger and faster than they should be, they looked much more Xenomorphic and had glowing red eyes that pierced the darkness around them. They instantly reminded me of the creature Fluttershy described. "Wait. Were they the same thing? Are these the creatures that killed those joggers?" They could have very well been. They weren’t dogs or wolves, they were like blood beasts.

The howls coming from behind the car were becoming louder as the Xeno-wolves continued sprinting towards us. “Do you think they can…” I paused, not sure what to even ask. “Do you think they could get in?” I asked, fear and concern stemming from my voice.

“Ah don’t know,” AJ said quickly, luckily the street I drove through had been empty for the most part. I didn’t want to put anyone in danger or get any attention from any nearby cops. Unfortunately, I was coming up to a stoplight that had a few cars passing through it. I looked back through the rear view mirror. The wolves were further away now. It seemed like they were slowing down for some reason.

“Stop!” Applejack yelled. I slammed my foot on the brakes. We had just barely slowed down in time to avoid any traffic. I turned my attention back to the wolves. The pack leader put his head up in the air for a few moments. It looked like he had caught another scent in the wind and ran in another direction. The other three followed. They now disappeared into the darkness.

I was breathing heavily. I wasn’t sure what to say about what had just happened. “What the fucking fuck just happened?” were the only words that I could form.

“Ah don’t know. Dogs are never supposed to be that quick or that big.” Applejack began to steady her breath. “Why—why do ya think they stopped all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know AJ, but do you think those were the exact same wolves Fluttershy was talking about?”

“An hour ago I would have just laughed at ya, but now…” Applejack was honestly unsure. Which was to be expected because she was the Element of Honsety after all. I had never seen her so unsure of anything in my life. It was rather unnerving.

“I know,” I reassured her. “Now what do we do?”

“Let’s go somewhere else, anywhere but here.”

“We can go back to the hotel if you want to. Although I doubt we’ll be getting much sleep after this.” I said.

“Yeah I know sugarcube, but where else is there to go now?” AJ asked.

“You mean a place that those things are less likely to be?”

“Yea.”

“Well, weird things have been mainly on this side of Canterlot, so we should be safe anywhere but here.

“Then let’s just get out of here. I don’t care where. Let’s just go.”

---

It was now close to 8AM when Applejack and I came back to the hotel. After our encounter with the blood beasts, we decided to try and relax for awhile. The encounter left us tired and hungry, so going to a diner and eating was the first thing we did. Afterwards we drove to Fluttershy’s house to tell her about the events last night. She seemed to believe us. We then decided to stop at a fast food restaurant to get Twilight a burger before heading back at the hotel, we headed to each of our separate rooms and agreed to meet up later on. I opened my room door and stepped inside. Twilight wasn’t in the room anymore. I sat her food on the dresser and threw myself on my bed. I was still a little shaken up from the zoo trip early that morning, but I was more tired than anything.

“Sunset?” Twilight asked from the open bathroom. “Is that you?”

“Yeah.” I replied. I got off from my bed and walked to the dresser. “Are you okay?”

“No, but I think I’m done throwing up,” Twilight said as she walked out of the bathroom.

“Hang over?” Twilight nodded her head in response. “Good because I got you a nice, warm double bacon cheeseburger drenched in greasy oils.” Twilight ran back to the bathroom. I could hear her throwing up again.

“I hate you so much right now,” Twilight said miserably.

“Yeah well, that’s for knocking me out in the alleyway.”

“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that.” Twilight paused. I heard her flush the toilet. Twilight then staggered back into the room. “I was drunk and though you were a Xeno. The story I had just heard from one of the workers didn’t help at all.”

“Oh yeah, you’ll have to tell me that story later.” I had almost forgotten about the Xenomorph and everything else that happened before the wolf attack. “What else did you see around here?”

“Where? The alley?” I nodded Twilight sat down and brushed her head with her fingers. “I don’t remember. I just grabbed you and ran.”

“Thanks for not just leaving me behind,” I said. “So, do you think it was real?” Twilight stayed silent for a moment. She turned to me and said,

“It must have just been in my head.”

“Do you really think that?” I pressed on.

Twilight hesitated for a moment. “No.”

“I don’t think we were just seeing things either.”

“So you saw them too?”

“Yeah, and something else happened afterwards.” I then told Twilight about taking Applejack to the alleyway and everything that happened after. Twilight stayed quiet throughout the entire story. She was noticeably worried when I finished.

"Well we have to get out of here then." Twilight said.

"Okay, but first we have to meet up with everyone and tell them everything."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Where's AJ now?" Twilight asked.

"She's in her room getting ready to go," I answered. "Fluttershy said to be at her house around ten."

"You should probably change your clothes too." Twilight was right. My clothes had been dirtied from being dragged by Twilight away from the zoo area of town. Luckily though, I packed enough clothes for a month or two.

“Yeah I will.” I went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. After I was done, I went out of the bathroom. Luckily, Twilight had already left, so I would be able to get dressed in peace.

I began to wonder what we were going to tell the others. They wouldn’t believe us without any evidence. I took in the fact that my closest friends only planned on staying in Canterlot for a little while. They had lives to get back to after this reunion. Unfortunately, not everyone here was leaving soon. My doubts about convincing people were getting worse. I knew that if I told the news stations about the Xenomorphs and blood beasts, I would probably be thrown into an asylum. "But What if you do nothing and there is something bad going on?" I shook off the thought. What could I really do anyway? I sighed. For now, all I could do was tell my friends and convince them into leaving. Applejack, Twilight, and I arrived at Fluttershy’s house a little before 8:30AM. Fluttershy seemed surprised, but was glad we arrived early, because she wanted to hear our individual encounters again. She listened quietly, only interrupting with the occasional question. Fluttershy sighed heavily when we finished, occasionally wiping off a hidden tear. “I just don’t know what to say,” she said. “Rabid dogs are one thing, but Xenomorphs?”

“That’s what we saw Flutters,” Twilight said. “You asked for the truth and that’s the only truth we know.”

“Okay, so if there is something like that going on, what do you think we should do about it?” Twilight stayed silent. Even Applejack seemed unsure.

“For now, all we can do is just leave,” I said.

“Oh no, you guys don’t know, do you?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight, Applejack, and I exchanged confused glances. “The bridge out of Canterlot is out. We’re stuck here now.”

“What?” Applejack protested. “But a lot of us have ta get back to school after this visit. What’re we gonna do now?”

“I don’t know. The police have the bridge completely closed off. I haven’t the first clue for how long it will be like this.”

AJ just shook her head in irritation and disbelief. “It’s almost time to meet up with everyone,” Fluttershy said, trying to shift the conversation. “Sunset you wanna call the others and tell them that we’ll be on our way soon?”

“Alright.” I fished out my phone from my pocket and called Adagio. Adagio Dazzle was one of the many friends I came to see. I didn’t see her or her sisters yesterday at PON-3’s Turf, but Fluttershy assured me that they would be there. I waited shortly for Adagio to answer. There was a lot of static when she finally picked up.

“Hello?” She said.

“Hey, Dagi,” I answered. “Twilight, AJ, Fluttershy, and I will be heading out to Sugarcube Corner in a little while. Could you make sure everyone else knows where to go?”

“I’ll try and—“ the static on Adagio’s end was getting worse. “—we’ll tr——— arou——so hurry.”

“I didn’t hear any of that Dagi,” I said.

“Wha—“ the line went dead.

I put my phone away. “I guess this place has really bad reception.” She kept moving the iPhone around hoping to get a better signal.

“What?” Fluttershy asked. She then pulled out her iPhone and began to dial. “Great, I can’t even get a single bar right now.”

“Whatever,” Twilight said. “We still need to get to Sugarcube Corner on time.”

“Well let’s go then,” AJ said with a determination in her voice.

Twilight left with Sunset in her car. AJ had said that she wanted to stay behind and talk a little more with Fluttershy. Twilight was still having trouble telling the difference of what was real and what was fictional. She wasn’t even sure what to make of all the stories.

She thought for a moment that everything was just in her head. That everything she had seen was just an alcohol induced fantasy she had created, but that hope was shattered when Sunset and Applejack told her their veron of what had happened.

Twilight sighed. She thought about how boring her life had been and how much she wished for some adventure in her life. The words, "be careful what you wish for" kept swimming in her mind. Twlight’s head still hurt her a little from the hangover, but it was nearly gone now. The only thing hurting her brain now was the stress of trying to make sense of all the stories as she replayed them over and over again in her mind.

One of the stories Twilight wanted to tell Sunset resurfaced in her mind. “Sunset?”

“Yeah, Twi?” Sunset replied.

“Well its just—“ Twilight wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t want to sound stupid.

“Go on,” Sunset encouraged.

“Well it’s just, it might be nothing, but I remember a story I overheard Fancy Pants talking to Fleur De Lis about yesterday. He said that he had seen a friend of his, who had been sick most of the week before, go crazy and attack someone for no apparent reason. He said the police stopped him right away, but that no information was given to the guy’s family, and that the police denied talking to either of those people.” Twilight waited for a response.

“You think Fancy Pants’s friend was a Xenomorph?” Sunset asked.

“Yeah, and the Xenomorphs have to be the ones responsible for the animal attacks and random disappearances too.”

Sunset shook her head. “This is insane, none of this should even be happening.” Sunset sighed heavily trying to come to terms with everything that was happening. “It feels like I’m dreaming, you know? Like you aren’t sure what’s really going on.”

“Don’t worry Sunny, we’ll get out of here somehow, and hopefully all of this will stay in Canterlot.” Twilight replied. “How much further?”

“Almost there.” Sunset turned a corner and parked into Sugarcube Corner’s parking lot.

They both got out of the car and walked to the front of the coffee shop. They heard the sound of another car parked by them. The yellow SUV obviously belonged to Fluttershy. Applejack and Fluttershy emerged from the car.

“Good,” Sunset said, “Now we might actually get some credibility in numbers.”

“Or we might all be thrown into the Canterlot asylum,” Applejack interjected.

“Well we have to say something regardless,” Fluttershy said, “I’d rather have friends that think I’m crazy than friends that became Xenomorphs because of me.”

“How exactly are we going to get out of Canterlot anyway?” Twilight asked. “The bridge is out, remember?”

“We’ll cross that bridge where we get there,” Sunset said. Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy turned to look at her. Each of them had a confused expression on their faces. “I mean the metaphoric bridge.” They each gave her a slight nod. Sunset sighed. “Let’s just go in there and lay our cards out on the table.” She paused. “Our metaphoric cards on the metaphoric table.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “They’re gonna think we’re crazy,” she said with a nervous laugh. “Let’s get this over with.” They all nodded and proceeded to the front door.

The four of them entered the coffee house and slowly walked through it. The person Twilight saw was Rainbow Dash. She sighed. Rarity, Adagio, and a few others were wide smiling at the coming group. Among them was a girl named Aria Blaze. Aria walked over to Sunset and gave her a bear hug. “Hey punk,” Aria said. ”Too cool to say hi.”

“Hey Ari.” Sunset replied. “Haven’t seen you in years.” Aria was one of the sisters to Adagio and an old friend of Sunset’s. She had purple pigtails and violet toned skin. She always seems to smile nowadays for an unknown reason but there was no need to complain. She was one of the most bold going girls Twilight ever met, other than Rainbow Dash.

“Well, I’m here now.”

“Hey there, Sunny,” Adagio interrupted. “I didn’t get your entire message earlier. The static was a bitch.”

“Yeah I know,” Sunset replied.

“It’s been happening with everyone’s phones, the TVs have been bad too. It’s really just annoying.”

“Yeah,” Sunset said halfheartedly. “Hey, we have a few stories to tell you guys.” Twilight, Fluttershy, Sunset, and Applejack each took turns telling their story to the group. When they finished they were now sitting still waiting for a reaction.

The silence was finally broken when one of the girls named Trixie yelled, “Bullshit!”

“It’s true,” Fluttershy said in an irritated voice. “Why would we ever lie?”

“Are you listening to yourselves right now?” Trixie asked irritated. “Do you honestly know how fricking crazy that sounds?” The majority of the group never really liked Trixie very much. She was only there because she was in their class. Twilight knew that Sunset and Applejack didn’t like her either. Twilight wouldn’t lose any sleep if someone as arrogant and annoying as her decided to stay behind. Twilight knew she should feel bad for thinking that way, but she didn’t care. It felt like Trixie was intentionally trying to be annoying, like when she keeps talking in third person.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it any less true,” Sunset said.

“Come on, haven’t you noticed anything bizarre going on?”

“Well yeah there have been strange things going on, but Xenomorphs? You really expect me to believe that there are real life Xenomorphs? How stupid can you be? Let me give you all the reasons why that is pure horse shit. Number one—“

“Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!” a shout of agony stopped Trixie mid-sentence. Before anyone knew it, Twilight was already running for the source of the noise with Sunset close by. They ran out of Sugarcube Corner and into the streets to a section by a group of idle spectators. Twilight was the first of her friends to arrive at the scene. She was frozen in horror by the sight.

Twilight’s mind couldn’t process what the holy hell she was seeing. The only other time she ever felt this way was when Twilight saw the two Xenomorphs with Sunset. Her eyes transfixed on the horrid sight. In that moment, all the doubts she had were completely shattered.

Next Chapter: Chapter 4: The Internecivus Raptus Dawns Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 25 Minutes