A massive creature, much larger in size than any of the others, was chained to some kind of unearthly contraption that was the source of the green glow. Some kind of luminescent crystal provided energy to the contraption and produced a charge that induced the creature’s womb to secrete eggs.
“I’m startin’ ta figure that this here’s a giant anthill.” Hex observed, “Those monster things are tha ants, this here’s tha queen, an we’re tha food.”
“Sweet Celestia...” Applejack declared, “An here ah thought tha changelin’s were bad.”
The queen roared and snarled at the survivors and Apple Bloom hid behind her sister, quivering in fear.
“I wanna go home!” the filly blurted, bursting into tears.
“I wanna go home too, sugarcube.” Applejack agreed.
The queen roared again and Apple Bloom darted off in a panic.
“Sis! Wait! We gotta stick together!” Applejack called out as she ran after her.
Apple Bloom ran smack into a group of eggs, causing a facehugger to latch itself onto her face. The filly ran around in circles, making muffled screams and scraping at the creature with her hooves before succumbing to sedation.
“APPLE BLOOM!!” Applejack screamed in agony, trying in vain to pry the facehugger from her sister.
“Hex! HEX!!” she yelled, “You gotta help her! You gotta do somethin’!”
“There’s nothin’ I can do.” Hex admitted, “If you cut into one a’ them things, it’ll spew some kinda slime ever’where that’ull eat right through yer flesh.”
“No!! NO!!” Applejack pleaded, “That cain’t be! That just cain’t be!!”
Applejack hugged Apple Bloom as tightly as she could and cried into her fur. Jonah Hex scratched the back of his head and sighed when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He drew his six-shooter at young and rugged looking man in a blue shirt and hat who appeared out of nowhere. The man had a livid scar running from his jaw to where he was missing half an ear.
“Jake the Snake Curtis!!” Hex called out, “I’d know that scar anywhere since I’m tha one that put it on ya!”
Curtis rubbed his scar as if trying to remember and then gave Hex an odd look.
“Have we met before, stranger?” Curtis asked.
“Damn straight we met, almost two years ago, down in El Paso.” Hex recalled, “I found ya beatin’ on some Mexican girl, so then I beat some sense into you.”
“None of that’s important anymore.” Curtis remarked, “What only matters now is the glory of the hunt. The glory of the hunt.”
“What are you babbelin’ about?” Hex demanded, “What tha hell are you doin’ here, anyway?”
“We have come here for the hunt.” Curtis continued, “Humans are a sport enough prey, but you make better breeders for these superior prey, these xenomorphs.”
“You better start makin’ sense real fast.” Hex said, clicking back the hammer of his revolver.
“You’ve lasted a good bit longer than some of your fellow humans.” Curtis replied, “I wonder how much longer you can keep it up.”
“I don’t know why yer talkin’ like some kinda city boy hopped up on cactus juice, but since your posters say dead or alive, I’m aimin’ for dead.” Hex decided.
Jonah Hex fired two shots right into Jake Curtis’ torso, but instead of bleeding, Curtis seemed to flash with electricity until he disappeared and before them stood a very tall and very different humanoid creature with smooth brownish skin, wearing netting, metal shoulder armor with a laser cannon strapped to one shoulder, and its face covered by a metallic mask. Jake Curtis was merely a holographic disguise.
“I’ve haid just about enough of this. Fire! FIRE!!” Hex ordered and ended up firing his last shot out of six into the creature.
The one soldier who was not loaded his rifle as Col. Freeman drew his own revolver. Freeman fired three shots and by this time the echo of the cavern was dulling their hearing. The armored creature stumbled back as green blood oozed from its bullet wounds. It clutched its torso as it moved forward, charging its laser cannon. Hex saw three red dots of light aimed near his forehead and he instinctively jumped out of the way. The laser blast shot into the wall of rock and a large beam of sunlight shined through the hole.
“That might be our way out!” Freeman advised.
The tall creature continued to move toward Hex, only slightly slowed down by its wounds, as it extended a bladed spear in its hand and raised it to strike the bounty hunter. Freeman fired his remaining shots into the creature’s torso and it finally collapsed to the ground.
“Is it dead?” Freeman wondered.
“I doubt it.” Hex said.
More hissing and snarling from the queen xenomorph drew the men’s attention away from the other creature. The men looked on in horror as the queen began to break loose from her chains and free herself from her ovipositor.
“Climb up toward the sunlight!” Hex ordered as he attempted to do so himself.
The hole made by the laser cannon was too high up for any one man to reach so Hex grabbed the injured soldier who had been unconscious for some time and tried to push him up into the light.
“Freeman! Help!!” Hex shouted.
Freeman tried his best to ignore the advancing queen as he helped lift the injured man and push him into the light. The injured man awoke with a groan as he plopped into the dust on the other side and tried to hobble away.
“You next, I reckon.” Hex said as he tried to lift Freeman on his shoulders.
The other soldier dutifully ran over and helped Hex push his superior officer to relative safety.
“Applejack!!” Hex called out, “Git yer horse rear over here!”
“There ain’t no point.” Applejack said, “I don’t wanna live without Apple Bloom.”
“We ain’t got time fer that tripe, girl!” Hex scolded, taking Apple Bloom into his arms.
Applejack wiped her tears and helped prop up Apple Bloom. The little filly was soon over the side. The xenomorph queen finally shook free from her bonds and raised her tail to strike Applejack. At the same time, the tall predator creature managed to stand up and take off his mask.
Applejack gasped at the sight of the predator’s yellow eyes and four tusks. The predator let off a vicious snarl and ran toward the pony, only to be impaled in the path of the queen xenomorph’s tail. The predator vomited green blood from his mouth and reached for a device on his wrist. He gave some kind of victorious rasping laughter as he typed in a code and a digital countdown began.
“What in tarnation is that?” Applejack wondered.
“Somethin’ bad I reckon.” Hex guessed.
Applejack let Hex stand on her back, but groaned from the pain of his weight before he managed to climb over. He struggled to pull Applejack up by her front hooves but found her too heavy.
“Help!!” he called out to the others.
Freeman and his uninjured soldier all struggled to help Hex pull Applejack from the hole. Applejack sprang off of her hind legs and leapt out of the hole just as the predator’s bomb timer ran down.