Twilight stepped forward, not wanting to startle Rainbow Dash as she absorbed what had just happened. Applejack was now truly dead. The damage that the tiny creature had done was enough to confirm that. She looked at the blood, slowly making its way down Applejack's still body. Rainbow was completely still, utterly in shock. She didn't know why she felt the emptiness in her heart. That wasn't Applejack, it couldn't have been. Even she wouldn't give in to death that easily... right? She looked at the strange, orange mare's body, and found it was an exact copy of the mare she had loved. But she couldn't accept that it was her. She knew... she knew that Applejack must have had a quicker death than that. But no matter how long she kept her eyes closed, the body was still Applejack. Nothing was going to change it, and nothing was going to bring her back.

"A-AJ...?" her voice cracked as soon as she tried to speak, "AJ...?"

A hoof landed on her shoulder, gently, and she heard Twilight's voice next to her. "I'm sorry, Rainbow... she's gone..."

"No... Th-that wasn't Applejack..." Rainbow still couldn't accept it. "It can't have been. She died long ago..."

"Rainbow..." Twilight pulled her into a tight hug, and finally, she broke.

Her sobs were long and loud. So loud that Twilight had to put a sound protection spell around them to keep the aliens from hearing while Rainbow accepted that Applejack was dead. Her body shook with each sob, and Pinkie had joined the hug to comfort her friend. Rainbow couldn't handle it. She had watched her oldest and closest friend die, and she had just watched as the one mare she wanted to protect most in the world died. It was too much. Nobody was supposed to die. It was supposed to be a mining trip, nothing else. This wasn't supposed to happen.

Rainbow's sobs slowly died down, and she pulled away from Twilight as she lowered the sound spell. The other two mares said a silent goodbye to Applejack, Rarity's mascara dripping down her cheeks again as Pinkie was, once again, flat-maned and silent. The four started to walk along the cavernous nest that the creatures seemed to have built themselves, and they heard the feint hum of the ship's engines as they felt the air around them become more moist and warm. They hadn't encountered any of the creatures, which was a good sign. Though being in their territory didn't make anyone feel any better.

The four entered what appeared to be the engine room, and saw dozens of the leathery eggs all around them. Surrounding something big hanging from six long struts attached to the walls. It looked like a bigger version of the creatures, but with a huge, sort of crowned head, and two tiny arms between two much larger ones. At the base of the massive creature was a long, translucent sack which ended in a small tube. Said tube was slowly ejecting one of the eggs onto the floor, slime and a slight film of tissue connecting it to the ovipositor as it moved away from the egg.

The head of the creature started to move, and a large mouth with clear teeth slid down from the crest at the front of its head. This seemed to be the monster's true head, as it turned to face them, letting out a long hiss as it spotted them.

"My god..." Twilight said, as wide-eyed as the other three as they examined the creature. "That must be the mother..."

"Or their queen, look at that... somehow marvelous headpiece..." Rarity said, dumbstruck by the odd beauty of the creature before them.

The four heard what sounded like cracking around them, and they turned to see that the four nearest eggs around them had opened their triangular flaps, and something was moving around inside them. Everyone backed away from them... except for Rainbow Dash, who watched them with angry eyes as what looked like fingers started pulling the small body out of the leathery egg it was born from.

"Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?!" Twilight yelled at her.

"I'm done, Twilight," she replied, looking back at the purple unicorn sadly. "I can't save you. I couldn't protect Fluttershy, I couldn't save Applejack... This is it for me..."

"This isn't up for debate, Rainbow," Twilight's horn started lighting up, Rainbow Dash being wrapped in a magenta glow as she started being lifted off the ground. Then she was dropped as one of the beige, spider-like creatures leaped out of its egg and latched onto her skull, it's spindly legs and long tail creating a vise-like grip around her head and neck. Twilight struggled for a second before going limp as the creature shoved something into her mouth, past her teeth and down her throat. She passed out while the other three watched on.

Rarity screamed and turned, running away as fast as she could. Right into the path of a passing xenomorph. It grabbed hold of her, screeching loudly as it opened its mouth and using the tongue-like appendage to put a hole through the side of her head. Her body went limp as her blood and brains splattered against the slimy wall. Rainbow lay on the ground, crying to herself before one of the spider-creatures latched itself onto her head, as well.

Pinkie was the last one.

She was alone now, and she did the only thing she knew was right. She ran. She used her Pinkie Sense to avoid the bigger creatures as well as the eggs, and, in effect, the facehuggers inside them. She made it to an elevator, and hit the button as quickly as she had entered.

Author's Note

EVERYBODY'S DEAD NOW.