"Who the hell was that...?" Rainbow said once the scream had died down.

"It sounded like..." Pinkie didn't want to believe it.

"A-AJ...?" Rainbow didn't know what to do.

"Rainbow, don't even think--"

Rainbow was gone before Twilight could finish, zooming through the vents and following the scream.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called after her, but it was too late. The remaining three exchanged a glance and immediately followed their rainbow haired companion through the vents.

Rainbow flew downward, the rungs of a ladder beside her as she flew down, then pulled up as the vent turned in front of her. She flew as fast as the cramped space would allow, and eventually found an opening in the floor of the shaft that led to a dark room. Applejack's scream had stopped long ago, but she knew she was through there. She dropped through the opening, and landed in cold water up to her knees. The walls were not like the rest of the ship; they were black and looked... strangely natural, which made no sense in a ship like this. It reminded her of a spider's web, and the walls were slick with a slimy substance that shone a little in the dim light.

"Applejack?" she called into the darkness.

"R-Rainbow?" came the response, and Dash instantly bolted in the direction of her voice, splashing a little in the deep water.

Rainbow Dash turned the corner, and saw Applejack's weakened body. Restrained to the wall by the spiderweb-like black substance coating the walls. She went to her and jumped to hug the orange mare whom she thought had died, only to stop in midair when she realized she was unable to get her hooves around her. She slowly lowered herself to the watery floor, and looked at Applejack sadly. Applejack looked back at her, and tried to free herself from the hardened, black material surrounding her. She was stopped only by the pain in her gut, which caused her to cry out in pain.

"Rainbow..." Applejack started. "Y-ya gotta kill me... I can't leave... and..."

"No way! I'm getting you out of there!" Rainbow started prying at the stuff holding Applejack down, and got one of her front legs free.

As soon as her leg was free, Applejack slowly and gently put her hoof to Dash's cheek, stopping the mare in her tracks. "Dash, it's too late for me," she said sadly. "Look around, at the walls."

Rainbow did, and saw several of the aliens restrained in a similar fashion to Applejack... all of which had huge, gaping holes in their chests. The weird thing was, it looked like something had been getting out of their chests, instead of something going in. She also noticed several round, leathery things on the ground around them, all but two of the few dozen had four triangular flaps opened on top of them, revealing the emptiness inside.

"Dash... I have one inside me..."

"Wh-what?" Rainbow looked at the strange, spider-like creature next to Applejack, its legs curled up and still. The long tail that started between two strange sacs was also curled into a tight spiral next to it. "What do you...?"

"It's how they're made, Dash... That thing... put somethin' inside me..." she looked down at her chest. "It's only a matter o' time, now..."

"No..." Rainbow couldn't accept this. Applejack couldn't die. She couldn't. "No, I-I can't believe this..."

"Rainbow..." she looked up at Applejack, and the sad smile told her it was true. "You know I love you, so please... get outta here... for me..."

Rainbow didn't know what to do. She heard what sounded like splashing in the water from where she had come, and she turned to see Pinkie, Rarity and Twilight turning the corner.

"There you are!" Twilight almost yelled, making her way over. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

"I..." Rainbow looked down, and then the others saw Applejack.

"Oh dear," Rarity gasped. "Look what they've done to you..."

"Get outta here, all of you!" Applejack said.

"Not a chance!" Pinkie started to think of a way to get Applejack out of her predicament, only to be shoved off by the orange mare's hoof.

"Pinkie, stop... I'm already dead anywa-AHH!"

All eyes went to Applejack as she started shaking and convulsing, gritting her teeth and groaning in pain as her chest started to bleed. Rainbow could see something pushing against the skin in Applejack's chest, and she simply watched in horror as the beige head exploded its way through Applejack's ribs and skin, spraying the four with blood as a high pitched screech could be heard. Applejack's body went still, and the small, beige head resembling that of the bigger monster that they had managed to avoid poked out of the gory hole it had made. Applejack's eyes had rolled back into her skull, and a steady stream of blood had managed to make its way from her mouth down her neck and chest... and all Rainbow could do was stare at the creature that had killed the one thing she had.

The smaller creature had silver teeth, much like its older counterpart, and it hissed at them before slithering its way out of Applejack's destroyed chest and disappearing into the cavernous tunnels that the monsters had created for their nest. Rainbow's eyes didn't leave Applejack's body, she was completely numb. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe. She wanted nothing more than to join her lover in death.

Author's Note

welp.