Applejack filled a saddlebag with various medical supplies. Bandages, hypodermic needles, antioxidants, etc. She knew that they may not work the same way on equines than on whatever the indigenous crew of this ship was, but she also knew that she had to take her chances. While she got to work filling her bag, Pinkie was on watch for anything unknown.

Nothing unusual happened, until Pinkie's tail started twitching. Pinkie looked up at the air vent which was on the ceiling, closer to Applejack than to herself, and got a strange feeling in her gut.

"Uhh, Applejack?" she started. "Heads up, my tail's twitching."

"Got it, Pinkie. Thanks for the warnin'," Applejack responded.

She closed up the saddlebag and started walking back towards Pinkie, going right under the vent. She felt something dripping onto her hat and back as she passed under it, and looked at Pinkie incredulously.

"Come on, Pinkie. Really? A little water ain't gonna do mu--"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as what looked like a tail flew down from the vent and straight through her back, causing her to spit out a mouthful of blood. She looked up at Pinkie Pie, fear in her eyes, and dropped the saddlebag right as the tail contracted back into the vent, taking her with it.

Pinkie could only watch in horror as her friend was dragged away, and winced as she heard Applejack's terrified scream which faded away quickly. She hadn't noticed Applejack's Stetson lying on the floor next to the saddlebag, which must have fallen off when she was dragged away, and picked it up gently. She placed it inside the saddlebag and looked back into the vent.

She waited several seconds before leaving the room, making a break for it back the way they had come.

***

Rainbow Dash headed through the door as it hissed open, revealing Twilight and Rarity standing there waiting for her. Rarity had obviously been crying, streams of mascara were flowing down her cheeks with tears for Fluttershy. Rainbow's ears drooped and she hung her head in shame.

Twilight stopped pacing the room and looked at Rainbow with sad eyes. Rarity, on the other hand, started towards Dash with rage in her eyes. She got close to her and smashed her hoof across the unsuspecting pegasus' face. Rainbow took it with ease, and let her head fly back as she was struck. She knew it was coming, anyway.

"You dare to call yourself the Element of Loyalty? You're just a lowly coward," Rarity spat at her.

"You weren't there, Rarity. There was nothing I could do," Rainbow said. "If I had tried to intervene, we'd both be dead!"

"I don't give a fuck!" Rarity screamed. "Fluttershy is dead and you did nothing to stop it!"

"You weren't fucking there!!!" Rainbow screamed back.

"Rarity, leave her alone," Twilight said.

"Oh, you're one to talk, Twilight. You led us into this mess!" Rarity said.

"I hope you realize that if I knew that any of this was going to happen I wouldn't have obeyed Spitfire's orders, Rarity. Because there is no fucking way I would let this happen to us," Twilight defended herself. "If you want to blame anyone for Fluttershy's death, blame Spitfire when we get back. We're leaving as soon as we hear from Pinkie and Applejack."

As if in response, the door on the left side of the room opened, revealing a flat-maned Pinkie Pie standing there, huffing and puffing as though she had just ran a marathon. Rainbow's ears perked up at the sight of her, but dropped again when she realized that Pinkie was alone.

"P-Pinkie Pie? Where's Applejack?" She asked, fearing the answer.

"I..." Pinkie started, a sob catching in her throat. "I'm so sorry, Rainbow..."

Rainbow's eyes shrunk, and she collapsed onto her flank, sorrow clouding her mind as she realized what Pinkie meant. "You mean she's..." she didn't even want to finish the question.

Pinkie gave her a solemn nod in response, and pulled something out of the saddlebag: Applejack's hat. She layed it down in front of Rainbow Dash, who collapsed into a fit of sobs at the sight of it. She clutched the hat up against her chest and wept, tears pooling on the floor beneath her eyes.

Rarity, who had been looking at Rainbow Dash with nothing but contempt up until Pinkie's arrival, softened up at the news of Applejack's death. She realized that there truly was nothing Dash could have done to save Fluttershy if even Applejack had been killed by the same creature.

Twilight didn't know what to do. She wanted to comfort Rainbow Dash for her loss, and do the same for Pinkie for the amount of emotional trauma she was probably experiencing after witnessing such a thing. She was also very curious about the creature itself; what did it look like, how big, the questions ran on and on inside her head. She wanted to question Rainbow Dash about the creature, but, seeing that Dash was in no fit state to discuss it, left it be for the moment. She had to think of a plan.

Twilight looked at her communicator and checked the strength of the signal between her and the ship. It was fairly strong. She tried contacting the captain, and was relieved when she heard Spitfire's voice.

"Twilight?" she heard the captain ask. "Is that you? Give me a sitrep ASAP."

"I'm here, captain. The situation isn't good," Twilight said.

"Understatement of the century..." she heard Rainbow Dash mutter through her sobs, which had died down somewhat.

"We've lost Applejack and Fluttershy and need to evac immediately," Twilight continued.

"Negative," Spitfire said.

"What?!" Twilight gasped. "Captain, two of us are dead and you're denying our evacuation? Why?!"

"I'm not authorized to tell you," Spitfire said, sounding way too calm for the situation.

"Bullshit! We need to get out of here, and I don't care whether we're authorized to or not. No one else is dying on my hooves," Twilight said defiantly. There was silence on the line before Spitfire came back.

"Your team is to be considered KIA and we are leaving the system. Fare well."

The line went dead after that.

"So that means," Rarity started.

"We're fucked," Rainbow said dully.

Pinkie started hyperventilating as the gravity of the situation sank in.

"That's it, guys... Game over... The fuck are we gonna do?!" She panicked.

Twilight grabbed Pinkie by the shoulders and held her as she panicked, stroking her back lightly. "Easy, Pinkie. We'll be okay," she said.

"How the fuck do you know that, Twilight?!" Rainbow yelled. "We're totally fucked and you know it. Pinkie's right. Game over. We're done."

"Shut up, Rainbow Dash!" Rarity blurted out. "You're not helping the situation, here."

"Oh, and do you have any bright ideas, Rarity?! Didn't think so," Rainbow retorted.

Twilight didn't know what to do. She knew full well that the situation was dire, and the fact that even Rainbow Dash was loosing her cool meant that she had to do something. Fast. She quickly thought up a plan. It was probably risky, but it might work.

"We need to get to the bridge," she said, gaining everyone's attention. "It's the only way of possibly getting a distress signal out."

"But Twilight, how do we know anyone's gonna come for us? Spitfire had us declared dead, so who would respond to a distress beacon?" Rarity asked.

"I can't say that they will, but it's worth a shot," Twilight said.

"Okay," Rarity said, nodding.

"Might as well," Pinkie said, her mood returning to normal.

The only one who was silent was Rainbow Dash, who was staring at Applejack's Stetson in her hooves. Twilight approached her cautiously, and watched as Rainbow slowly placed the hat on top of her head.

"Okay," Rainbow said. She then looked at Twilight, fiery determination in her eyes. "Okay, let's do it."

Author's Note

Even the strongest of us can be broken... Trust me, I feel really bad for doing this. But the story called for it. See y'all next month!

-Devs