Chapter 11: The Purge

Chris made a call back to the gate team, informing them of the current situation and letting them know there would be some gunfire and other unusual activity.

"Be ready, what we do down here may inadvertently flush things towards you. Take up defensive positions and be ready to fight, just in case. But do me a favor and try not to shoot us, okay?" He finished speaking and watched while Celestia organized the Equestrian troops into small teams and had each perform a head count.

She addressed her leaders. "Make sure you keep an eye on the ponies in your group. We don't want anypony lost in the forest, or worse. We will perform another overall head count afterwards to make sure everypony comes back out safely." She turned to the police officers. "Please keep this road blocked until our return."

"Yes, Princess."

Celestia looked at Emmy, Twilight and her friends. "You should all come with me in the lead, to keep an eye out for anything unusual. With our combined experience, we should be able to spot a trap before we walk into it."

Celestia, Twilight, Zecora, and Chris positioned themselves at the front of the pack. The humans activated bright lights on their headsets and firearms. Marky switched on a light in his gear. The unicorns cast beams of light from their magic horns. Soon they were moving down the road at the head of the formation, cones of light scanning the road and tree line for any sign of the invaders.

By unspoken agreement, their talking was minimal and in low tones. Even Pinkie was uncharacteristically quiet, her narrowed eyes scanning the trees closely. With the only sound the crunching of gravel under hooves and boots, they continued on for some distance at a cautious pace.

Hamilton whispered to Celestia. "Didn't you used to live in Everfree Forest with Luna?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, we did. Our old castle is still out there."

"By the way, where is Luna?"

"She is coordinating from our castle in Canterlot. With myself being down here, somepony needs to be there, especially now. There is, frankly, a lot going on."

Chris signaled a halt. "Guys? I think I see something." He pointed.

Sure enough, several dimly glowing flowers bobbled near the edge of the road ahead.

"Yep, that's one of them." Sanchez checked his gun reflexively. "I'd remember that damn flower anywhere. Watch where you step."

They approached slowly, checking the underbrush for tentacles. It was difficult to see in the tangled plants, even with the numerous beams of brilliant light.

"Should be right in the underbrush... Yeah, there."

Green tentacles twitched slightly, stealthily laying in wait along the ground.

Celestia waved her hoof at a team of Equestrians. Several Earth ponies stepped forward, carrying something on their backs.

Chris squinted. "What are those things?"

Emmy smiled up at him. "Just watch. You're gonna enjoy this."

"Torch 'em," the squad leader ordered his soldiers. Several large jets of flame billowed out of the devices, scorching the grass and the tendrils hidden in it. The response was immediate. Shrieks and wailing came from the trees off the road, and tentacles lashed about in panic. The ponies swept the flamethrowers back and forth, igniting the underbrush and causing the trees to burst into flame.

"I see you are taking no chances," Chris commented calmly, watching the growing inferno with satisfaction.

Several unicorns moved forward and cast ice cloud spells to put out the fire, and they moved forward carefully off the road and towards the clearing.

Fluttershy shrank back. "Um, I'm just going to stay here... I don't want to go into those awful, dark woods."

Celestia followed the flamethrower brigade. "Twilight, can you please stay here and keep a watch on our rear?"

Rainbow Dash chuckled mischievously. "Heh, phrasing!"

Hamilton shook his head disapprovingly. "Who taught you to say that?"

McAllister stifled a laugh.

"Oh, I mighta known it would be you."

Leaving Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy behind along with some Equestrian military forces to cover the road, they methodically pushed into the woods.

"No way you are leaving me behind while you guys are lighting everything on fire!" Rainbow Dash said as she followed them in. "I have GOT to see this."

"Fine, but be careful, you're unarmed." Chris said.

"I may be un-ARMED, but I am HOOFED!" Rainbow Dash performed a rapid succession of air punches and kicks. "Awww yeah! Who wants some?"

Chris cocked his head at her display, and Rainbow Dash eyed his rifle covetously.

"So, I still want to see that gun," she said.

"Uh, okay fine. I'll show you how to use one later on, okay?"

Rainbow Dash squinted at him suspiciously. "Promise?"

"Fine, I promise."

"Awwww yeeeeaahh! That's gonna be the coolest!"

"Maybe, if you can figure out how to pull the trigger without any fingers."

Rainbow Dash puffed her chest out. "Oh, I can ALWAYS find a way to do things and... Oh my GOSH what is that SMELL?"

Sanchez wrinkled his nose. "I'd say we're getting close to the spot."

The smell of death had worsened greatly as they stepped through the trees. Several ponies made retching noises. Rainbow Dash scrunched her face up in disapproval.

"It only gets better fellas!" Marky said sarcastically, then gagged himself. "Oh, yum. Did anyone bring some Vick's VapoRub?"

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash asked, her face all scrunched up.

"Never mind." Marky drew his pistols and turned the weapon lights and lasers on, treading carefully into the brush. "Fee fi fo fum... Hey guys, there's a few up there in the tree canopy. Look out below!" His pistols popped, and two screeching monsters fell to the ground with a sickly splat.

They were promptly incinerated the by the Equestrian military flamethrowers.

Chris fired a few shots, knocking some more hanging creatures out of the trees, then clapped Marky on the shoulder. "Nothing like a good bonfire cookout, eh?"

Marky wrinkled his muzzle at the noxious fumes rising from the well crisped corpses. "They don't smell nearly as appetizing as a nice marshmallow s'more though."

Chris scanned the trees with his rifle for a moment. "What was that about s'mores?"

"I was trying to be funny. You know, like, we're cooking them like marshmallows over a campfire or something"

"Oh. Uh, sorry I was looking up in the trees."

"It's okay. It was a piss-poor joke anyway. Oh look. TIMBER!" Marky shot up into the trees, and another dark form fell out.

"Now THAT was pretty funny," Chris said with a chuckle. "And we seem to be mopping them up like nobody's business. These Equestrians are nothing to be trifled with."

"Agreed. I'm impressed."

Flames, frost, and bullets cleared the way through a forest of shrieking monsters as they pushed on into the clearing, which was now thoroughly carpeted in animal skeletons and decaying animal matter.
Egg sacks hung low from the trees. The Equestrians moved in, and the flamethrowers ignited everything. Trees, foliage, and silky egg sacks burned to a crisp. Some of the eggs dropped writhing larvae onto the ground in flames.

A powerful hiss from came from the woods, like a steam engine.

"Uh oh," Rainbow dash said. "That doesn't sound so good."

"BROODMOTHER!" Chris yelled as a dark form crashed through the trees.

Lights and weapons turned towards the enormous, armored creature. It froze in the beams, mouth working like a lobster.

"I don't think she's going to be happy about what we did to her babies," Marky commented matter-of-factly. "And judging from the amount of egg sacks we just incinerated, I'd say there may be more than one angry mommy."

As if on cue, multiple long hisses came from the woods around as more of the giant insect-like creatures came into view.

"The flamethrowers won't even slow them down. Look how thick their armor is," Emmy said nervously. She looked at Celestia. "Can you deal with them, Princess?"

"Step aside, please." Celestia moved forward and made a sweeping motion with her great wings, while the Equestrian military moved out of her way. She walked confidently toward the hideous creatures, and gazed into the cold malice of their insectoid compound eyes, seeing only hatred and hunger looking back at her.

The foul beings hissed in unison, then charged Celestia as a pack, mandibles clacking with greed.

Celestia instantly reared up and spread her wings, her horn glowing like a yellow beacon in the night, reaching towards the sky.

Chris held his hand up to block some of the overpowering light, and squinted to see what happened next.

Celestia came down to earth hard and fired an immense blast of magical energy from the tip of her horn, the wide beam lancing out into the night like a fire hose spraying plasma, bright as the sun.

Everything in front of her burned. The bushes and undergrowth incinerated instantly, and the monstrous insect-things in front of her glowed and exploded, meat and slime burning in the vortex of Celestia's searing power.

The attack faded, leaving more fires behind it and a path of scorched earth that stretched on for at least a hundred yards, populated by blasted tree stumps and steaming pieces of the monsters.

Celestia stood still for a moment, then staggered to the side and almost fell. Sanchez and Hamilton rushed forward to her aid.

"Are you okay?"

She blinked and steadied herself, putting a hoof to her head.

"Yes, thank you. I just overexerted myself a bit. I don't think I can do that again for awhile."

"That was the COOLEST thing I have seen in days!" Rainbow Dash was thrilled. "I am SO glad I came along!"

"What the hell was that?" Marky was shocked. "I've never seen anything like that in my life. How is she so powerful?"

"Duh, she's a PRINCESS," Rainbow Dash said. "And she's an Alicorn Princess, to boot."

Marky sighed resignedly. "I see I have a lot to learn."

Emmy patted him on the shoulder. "Life is all about learning, my friend. Just between us, I've never actually seen anything quite like that, either."

The Equestrian military troops moved in and finished mopping up the stragglers with flamethrowers.

Chris answered a call from the gate. "Yeah, that was us. We engaged the creatures from earlier. Nope, everything is okay, they used... uh, an energy weapon. Yeah, a lot of smoke. Flamethrowers too. No, fires are not a problem. Situation is under control. More to follow."

He hung up and approached Celestia as the Pegasus troops took to the skies to perform recon on the area, checking for any additional monsters the ground troops had missed.

"That was a lot more than were here earlier," he commented. "I'd say there were ten or so at tops before, and we only saw one brood mother."

"By the amount of waste bio-matter here, I'd say they were eating and multiplying at a high rate," Emmy added.

"You mean the dead animals?"

Emmy gulped a little. "Yes. The remains, while fragrant, haven't decayed much, meaning they have all been dropped here fairly recently. Judging by the number of creatures we just dealt with, I'd say they reproduce and grow very quickly."

"Probably a good thing we came back and wiped them out."

Emmy nodded. "Yes, I would say so. Who knows how many of them there would have been by morning."

They both watched as one of the Pegasus soldiers landed and approached.

"Princess Celestia!"

She turned towards him. "Yes? Have we eliminated all the invaders?"

He saluted her. "I believe so Princess, however we have also located something unusual not far from here."

Celestia's eyes narrowed. "Unusual?"

"Yes Princess. It's, a hole of some kind. In the air. It's nearby, we can walk there."

Celestia nodded. "Please show us."

They followed the Pegasus as he picked his way through the forest.

After several minutes of pushing through the low shrubs, they arrived at another clearing. This one had an odd glow to it, as if foxfire were illuminating the trees. Several other Pegasus stood on the far side, along with a few flamethrower ponies.

"You can only see it from this side," said the Pegasus. He guided them around towards the other group. As they moved around the edge of the clearing, they stepped into the flickering glow.

"What in the hell is that?" Sanchez said.

In the center of the clearing was a shimmering, pulsing tear in the fabric of space. It shifted and glowed, giving off colors that neither the humans nor the Equestrians had ever seen before.

Chris put a hand to his head. "It hurts to look at it."

"Yes, try to not look directly into," their guide said. "Also, I wouldn't get too close, I think that's where the monsters came from." He pointed a hoof at a burned area around the rift. "Some larvae dropped out. We roasted them."

Celestia stared directly at the rift for a moment, then turned her eyes away and closed them with a slight groan. "That is indeed uncomfortable." She opened her eyes again. "And I sense no magic here, but I see what looks like magic before me."

As they watched, a larval form fell through the crack. It was like the hatchlings they had incinerated in the clearing. The Equestrians moved forward and shot a jet of flame onto it, burning it to a crisp.

Emmy looked at the rift, and quickly away again. She turned to Chris. "You said your people had created a gateway?"

"Yes. That is how we got here."

"And that gateway malfunctioned?"

"Yes... that is also part of how we got here. We never knew this place existed before."

Emmy sat on her haunches and stared up at the stars silently for a bit.

"Your technology is not based on magic." her voice was soft, and she kept looking at the sky. "The rift here is not magic..."

She glanced back at Chris. "I wonder how your gate malfunction caused the appearance of this hole in space?"

"I'm not sure. I didn't design the gate. I think our scientists back home would have a better chance of figuring it out."

McAllister picked up a rock. "Has anyone tried this?"

"Tried what?" Chris asked.

"Throwing a rock through it."

"I don't know if that's a good idea. In fact, it's probably a terrible idea. But screw it, I'm curious to see what happens too."

Emmy and Celestia didn't say anything, but watched as McAllister hurled the rock at the crack.

He missed.

"Well that was anticlimactic."

He tried again, and missed again.

"Oh come on!" Rainbow Dash said. She picked up a rock herself and hurled it at the rift. There was a slight flash as the rock vanished. Nothing else happened.

McAllister shrugged and dropped the rock he was picking up. "I woulda got it this time!"

For a while they stood around, waiting to see if anything would come of the rock. Eventually another larvae fell out and was promptly roasted by the Equestrians.

Celestia sighed. "Well we aren't accomplishing anything further here, and it's getting late." She looked at the rift. "Obviously it's not a good idea to leave that thing open, but I don't think I can close it."
She moved a little closer to the rift, and aimed her horn at it. A beam of yellow magical energy came out and contacted the surface, with no effect.

"As I expected... My magic has no effect." She leaned forward again. This time, her horn glowed and an interlaced orb of magic came into being around the hole. It formed a transparent yellow globe around the rift that remained after Celestia's horn stopped glowing. "I've placed a containment spell. It will keep anything from passing through that hole for some time." She turned back to the Pegasus. "Have a small camp set up here, with some guards to keep an eye on things. Use Pegasus guards. If anything seems dangerous, have them fly out of here at top speed and report back to Canterlot."

"Yes Princess."

Celestia turned towards the rift again. "As for that thing... I know someone who may be able to help. I will return to Canterlot and contact him. But for now, let us return to the road." She led the way back through the forest.

Soon they had reached their waiting friends and given them a quick rundown of events.

"Well, we can't accomplish much more tonight," Twilight said. "Anypony who wishes to is welcome to stay the night at my house. I have extra rooms. A lot of extra rooms." Her voice was slightly wistful.

Chris looked at his team and shrugged. "That's a really kind offer, Twilight. I think we may just take you up on it."

Hamilton looked in the direction of the Gate. "What about the guys down there?"

"I will send some of the soldiers down there," Celestia said. "It's not every day they get to engage in activities like this, they will be happy for the change."

Chris called up the gate again. "Yeah, we are spending the night. What? No, not a camp. No, a castle. Yes. YES. A CASTLE. Uh huh. Yes, it's nice. What? It belongs to a princess. Yes, an alien princess. I'm not answering that you asshole, she's standing right here! Oh, by the way, there are some friendly troops inbound to help with the gate, they should be there shortly. No, they are not human, they look like little horses. They're cool, you'll see. What? Seriously? Okay fine, I'll pass it on." Chris disconnected his call and looked up.

"Well, what did they want?" Celestia asked.

"They wanted to know if your guys can bring some snacks on the way over to the Gate."