From: Kieran O'Leary Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: New: Equus (1/1) Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 18:20:06 +1000 This is my first attempt at fanfic, so be gentle with me/it. Also,as I am Australian I have marginally less than no knowledge of the geography of the USA, so if my location seems a little wierd, please forgive me. Disclaimer:Special Agents Mulder and Scully, AD Skinner and the Lone Gunmen belong to Chris Carter and 1013 Productions. They are not mine...yet. I am using these poor hapless characters without permission and will return them more or less unharmed. Equus COLORADO 5:45 am The ranch-hand's breath fogged the cold spring air as he brought the first two buckets of feed to the waiting horses. For some reason unapparent to the young man, the horses seemed distracted and did not begin to eat. "Whatsa matter? Don't like cold mornings either, huh?" asked the ranch-hand, scratching one of the horses over the paddock fence. Suddenly he heard a soft neigh from behind him and spun to face its source. "Whoa, where'd you escape from, baby?" he murmured to the white filly, standing free outside the paddock. "C'mon, lets get you inside..."He advanced slowly towards the horse, a soft loop of rope in his hand. As he drew near, the horse reared and swung its head at the young ranch-hand, piercing his chest with its single horn. WASHINGTON D.C. 2 DAYS LATER 9:06 am "Did you have a horse when you were a kid, Scully?" said Fox Mulder as he tossed a slim file onto his partners desk. "No I didn't Mulder," replied Scully, leafing through the file, "Horse stealing? Isn't that a bit dull for the FBI?" "How many horse thieves have you heard of who use razor sharp swords to cut fences and disembowel witnesses?" "OK, FBI then, but why us?" "This case has that ole paranormal bouquet again Scully." "Alien horse abductions, Mulder?" retorted Scully, feigning innocence. "Very funny," replied Mulder, spreading a map in front of him,"Look, all seven incidents have occured on land bordering this national park." "So?" "In the past four weeks, eleven women, all in seperate groups, have reported sighing unicorns in the park..." Scully straightened, turning to face her partner, "Mulder, the only odour this case has is that of horse manure." COLORADO The agents returned to their car after examining the crime scene at the final ranch. "So Scully, no footmarks, no finger prints and all the witnesses are dead, any suggestions?" asked Mulder, looking more than a little defeated. "Well, I could request to do the autopsy on the fourth victim, see if that turns anything up." "Good idea," replied Mulder "Take the car, I'll get a lift to the park office an try to set up interviews with some of the women who reported the sightings." As Scully turned to the car, she muttered to herself "How did I know he'd end up interviewing women?!" Scully drove carefully along the heavily wooded mountain road, humming quietly to herself. Suddenly she braked violently as a white flash blurred its way across the road in front of the car. Fumbling for her phone she hit the speed dial button, still staring at the unicorn peering at her from behind a tree by the roadside. The phone rang softly for a few moments and then was answered with a brisk "Mulder." "Mulder, it's me. I've seen it!" stated Scully, almost under her breath. "The unicorn, Scully?! Don't approach it or startle it, it could be dangerous." The unicorn seemed to sense something, turned and trotted off into the trees. "Oh, it's gone!" said Scully, sounding somewhat surprised. "Dematerialisation, fantastic" exclaimed Mulder."Was there a light? Did you lose time?" "No, no, no." said Scully, slightly irritated." It ran away. On foot" "Oh" said a somewhat disappointed Mulder, "Ok, I'll ring around and see what I can find out. Why don't you still do the autopsy? Look for ivory in the wounds. Bye." The phone went dead and Scully continued on down the road in a vaguely amazed state. As Scully left the autopsy room her cell phone rang sharply in her bag. She removed her gloves and answered the phone. "Scully." "It's Mulder, how'd the autopsy go?" "OK, slivers of ivory in the wound. How did you know they'd be there?" "Unicorns were supposed to have been hunted into extinction for their ivory. Anyway, I rang the Lone Gunmen. It was a bit outside their field but Byers said there are a few things we're going to need. Is there a rope maker in town?" "Sure, I saw one on the way in.Why?" "You're going to need to get some golden rope." "What?!?!" "Byers thinks it doesn't need to be entirely gold, it just needs to contain some. Stop in at a jeweller and pick some up." "Skinner's going to love this on our expenses report. What're you going to do?" "I'm going to phone 'round the FBI and try to get the other thing we need. Meet me at the far park gate when you've got the rope." Scully drove through the national park towards the gate where Mulder waited to meet her. Coiled on the seat beside was a noose of rope with a single strand of gold running through it. As she passed through a leafy valley, a flash of white in the rear view mirror caught her eye and she pulled the car to a swift halt. Scully could see the unicorn in the mirror walking towards the car as she pulled out the phone and called Mulder. The line clicked open and before her partner could answer she cut in, "Mulder, it's here again. It's walking towards me." "Don't get out of the car Scully, it could be dang-" Mulder stopped as he heard the phone hit the car seat. Scully walked towards the nervous unicorn, the rope looped in her hand. As she approached the unicorn reared and swung its horn at Scully as she swiftly slipped the noose over its neck. The unicorn instantly quietened and whinnied softly as Scully scratched its mane gently. Scully lead the legendary horse back to the car and picked up the cell phone. "I've got her Mulder, now what am I going to...Why are you laughing?" she asked in response to the soft chuckle coming down the line. Scully could feel an outrageously large blush rising in her cheeks as her partner answered, "The legends all say that to catch a unicorn, the golden rope must be wielded by a pure, female, virgin..." Finis. Kieran O'Leary o3029636@student.anu.edu.au P.S. I *know* Scully had a previous boyfriend in Jack Willis, and I *know* that she was in bed with a guy named Ethan Minette who was written out of the pilot episode, but so far, in Australia at least, there is no evidence of Scully having done "the wild thing". Of course, she'll deny everything, but maybe she's just a good Catholic girl... All flames, criticisms(constructive or otherwise), letters of praise and so on, gratefully accepted.