Author's Note: This is a songfic, using Blink 182's song 'Aliens Exist'. The song is copyrighted to the band themselves, while the usual disclaimer applies to everything else. If you're looking for more Lord Fluffypants, you'll have to wait-he doesn't appear in this chapter. On the continued thread of songs, if you'd rather not listen to 'Aliens Exist', the 'Black Rider' track from the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack fits the forest scene. Now, back to our regularly scheduled fanfic:

Hey mom there's something in the backroom
I hope it's not the creature from above

"I'm telling you, I saw something out there. It wasn't a pony..it wasn't a Raal..it wasn't natural. It looked like some sort of twisted, deformed beast!"

"Been falling asleep on the parchments again, Horus? I've heard that some of those old dyes can cause you to see things if you accidentally swallow some, and-"

"Are you implying that I drool in my sleep?"

"Well..yeah. Besides, what could be out there?"

"I don't know, but it can't be right. Something unnatural is out there. And I have a little more experience with the unnatural than I'd like, so I think I know what I'm talking about!"

"If you're that stubborn, we might as well go on a patrol-look for Raals, at least."

Riptide trotted towards the group, giving them a curious look.

"What's this about a patrol?"

Vesper looked form Riptide to Horus.

"Horus says he saw something that wasn't pony, Raal, or anything else around here. I guess we should go on a patrol to look around, if only to see if there's any Raals nearby."

The unipeg stallion flattened his ears back.

"I still say I saw something unnatural."


You used to read me stories
As if my dreams were boring
We all know conspiracies are dumb

Meanwhile, Nova was busy in the library, sorting through the parchments and occasionally trying to adjust his reading glasses without breaking them. His ears twitched slightly as he heard the sound of hooves against the floor, mixed with an odd 'WHUNK' sound every so often.

"Hello, Spitfire."

"How'd you know it was me?"

"That easel of yours is incredibly loud when you're dragging it. Let me guess-chipmunks invaded your cavern again."

"Yep. Mind if I set it up in here?"

Nova set down the parchment, shaking his head and carefully taking off the reading glasses.

"As long as you don't get paint on anything, no. And tell me if you see any parchments with mentions of rodents in them. There might be some sort of information on past incidents with chipmunks..or it could be linked to something-anything-else odd."

Spitfire raised an eyebrow as she set up her easel and paints.

"You don't think the whole chipmunk thing is some kind of conspiracy, do you?"


What if people knew that these were real
I'd leave my closet door open all night
I know the CIA would say
What you hear is all hearsay

I wish someone would tell me what was right

Horus gazed down at the snow covered forest below him, looking up for a moment to call to the mares.

"Have either of you seen anything yet?"

Riptide glided towards him, shaking her head.

"Not yet. Vesper?"

"Nothing. Not even one Raal, thankfully. Horus, are you sure you saw anything?"

The gold unipeg snorted, going back to watching the ground.

"I swear, that pony is too skeptical for her own good. For all we know, there could a be a herd of fakies down there, or wor-"

With a raised eyebrow, Riptide glanced downwards.

"Fakies? You think you saw a fakie?"

"Positive, or something very close to it. It was like no pony I've ever seen before."

Vesper suddenly darted towards the pair, sending some ponyfeathers flying.

"Hey! I saw something move down there, and it's moving faster than anything I've ever seen. It made a flutter look slow."

Up all night long
And there's something very wrong
And I know it must be late
Been gone since yesterday
I'm not like you guys
I'm not like you

Nova's head hit the parchment with a slight thud, the writings not providing very good padding against the wooden desk.

"Ow.."

Spitfire glanced up from her painting, curious.

"Any luck?"

"None at all. There seems to be no mention of chip-wait…oh dear. This is bad. This is extremely bad."

"What's bad?"

With a snort, Nova suddenly took to the air, flapping out of the cavern.

"Assemble a group of ponies, as well as owls. We need to do some chipmunk hunting, /now/."


I am still the skeptic yes you know me
Been best friends and will be till we die
I got an injection
Of fear from the abduction
My best friend thinks I'm just telling lies

"Erk-"

"Ouch-"

"Gods, my hoof-"

The trio was (rather uncomfortably) huddled together on a tree branch, watching for any movement below. At the snap of a branch, the group froze, waiting to see what came out of the brush. With a rustle of brush, a skeletal figure walked across the snow, its hooves making the powder crunch softly. The figure was equine-but nothing like any pony which had visited Icestorm Point before. The yellow pony slowly lifted its head up, eyes scanning the forest. Wings fluttering nervously, the trio barely held back a collective gasp.

Up all night long
And there's something very wrong
And I know it must be late
Been gone since yesterday
I'm not like you guys
I'm not like you

The pony's eyes were dead. There was no spark of life in them, no sign of thought behind the cold lavender eyes. Keeping its apathetic expression, the skeletal pony slowly glanced around, the creature's gaze finally coming to rest upon the group. It reared onto its hindlegs, suddenly creating an unearthly screeching noise. The unipeg trio stared for a moment before finally snapping out of it and taking to the air.

"I don't think ponies are supposed to make that noise, no matter what breed they are!"

"Less talking, more flying!"

"Do you think there's more of them?"


Dark and scary, ordinary, explanation
Information, nice to know ya, paranoia
Where's my mother, biofather
Up all night long

Vesper looked at the other unipegs, all of them panting slightly from the effort of flying away as fast as possible.

"I hope not. What /was/ that thing, Horus?"

"I believe I've heard of them before, but it would take too long to explain now. I would suggest getting back to the caverns before trying to sort all this out."

And there's something very wrong
And I know it must be late
Been gone since yesterday
I'm not like you guys
Twelve majestic lies