While the blue vortex of hyperspace surrounded the Ninka and the other Venators in its fleet, Admiral Holdo stood on the bridge overlooking it. Poe was there too, just standing against a wall with nothing else to do, along with his astomech droid B8. Soon afterwards, an officer trotted on the bridge towards the Admiral. The officer drew Poe’s attention.

“Admiral, we just detected two stowaways in the cargo hold,” the officer said.

Both Holdo and Poe sprung to life at hearing this, and swiftly turned around to face the officer. Nervous expressions on both their faces.

“What?!” Holdo exclaimed.

“Its nothing to be concerned about, Admiral. We discovered the intruders and detained them, but the strange capsule they arrived in just disappeared into thin air before we could inspect it,” said the officer.

Poe trotted up towards the Admiral and officer with an intrigued look on his face.

“What do you mean ‘it just vanished into thin air’?” Poe asked, confused. Both the Admiral and officer turned their heads and looked towards him, “How could something just appear and then immediately disappear onboard a starship?”

The officer shrugged, while saying, “No idea, Commander,” in response.

“They could be spies for all we know,” said the officer.

“That is possible yes, but we must also consider the possibility that they could just be travelled who accidentally stumbled upon our ship as we’re fleeing from the Alignment,” Holdo interjected, drawing Poe and the officer’s attention.

“Where are they now?” she asked the officer.

“Imprisoned in the brig in a cell,” replied the officer.

“Bring them to me, I wish to personally interrogate them,” she instructed.

“Of course,” the officer said before he nodded his head, then turned around and trotted off the bridge towards the brig, leaving Holdo and Poe alone on the bridge.

Meanwhile in the brig, the Doctor and Twilight sat with their backs to the wall.

The Doctor looked at the holoprojector while Twilight had a puzzled look on her face, like she was trying to solve some riddle.

Her eyes widened as she finally solved it.

“I’ve got it! I’ve solved the TARDIS’ riddle,” she exclaimed as she jumped up onto her hooves. The Doctor looked up from the communicator towards her.

“Yes, what is it?” he asked, to which Twilight smiled back at him.

“Your sonic screwdriver, she obviously wants us to use it to hack into the door and escape,” Twilight explained.

The Doctor silently stared at her with a blank expression on his face, much to Twilight’s confusion.

“What? Did I get it wrong?” she asked, but the Doctor just shook his head.

“No, you got it right. The TARDIS wants us to escape using the sonic screwdriver, and we could-” he said.

“But?” Twilight interjected.

“But I don’t think you’ve noticed, but we’re onboard a military vessel with frightened Equestrians. If we escape it would just make them more distrustful of us, and we’ll never find the TARDIS again or even help them with whatever the TARDIS wants us to help them with,” the Doctor explained.

“Our best option is to wait for a chance to prove our innocence to them, and maybe they will let us go,” he said.

Twilight stared back at the Time Lord with a shocked expression, almost like this should have been common knowledge and she just didn’t think of it. She hung her head and sharply exhaled.

“N-no, you’re right. We should gain their trust before we start looking for the TARDIS,” she said.

Their heads soon turned back towards the cell’ door as they heard several equines approach.

“Lower the force field. I am here to collect the prisoners,” a familiar voice said.

“Yes sir,” another voice replied before the force field was de-activated.

The officer from before stepped in front of the doorway, entering the Doctor and Twilight’s line of sight, and stared into the cell at them.

“You two, out now,” the officer instructed as he pointed his hoof at them.

Twilight and the Doctor exchanged a look and then nodded at each other. They looked back at the officer and slowly rose to their hooves, then approached him. The officer stepped aside to let them out. They trotted outside and was greeted by the officer and several soldiers – perhaps six or seven – who all had their blasters aimed at the Doctor and Twilight.

The Doctor and Twilight were then cuffed as the officer said, “Try anything and I won’t hesitate to put either one of you down” before then leading them out of the brig towards the bridge.

“Admiral, I’ve brought the prisoners as you requested,” the officer said as they eventually reached the ship’s bridge.

Standing half-way across the command walkway, Poe and Holdo turned their heads and looked towards the officer, though their attention immediately fell upon Twilight and the Doctor.

The officer nodded his head to Poe and Holdo before stepping aside, so his superiors could interrogate the newcomers.

The Doctor, Twilight, and Holdo and Poe silently stared back at each other.

“So, you are the intruders we just heard about?” Holdo asked. The Doctor nodded back in response.

“We are,” the Doctor said, staring back at Poe and Holdo.

“Allow me to introduce ourselves; I am the Doctor, and this is Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.” He touched his chest with his hoof and then pointed it at Twilight, to which Poe and Holdo followed his movements with their eyes.

“Alright, “Doctor”, Mrs. Sparkle-“ Holdo nodded her head at them, “…please explain to me that it is that you two just happened to appear on my ship the moment we escaped the clutches of death?” Holdo asked him.

“One would call it quite co-incidental that you two just happen to appear on the ship after such an event, especially my ship,” she said, interested.

Poe silently looked from the Admiral towards the Doctor, staring at him with a quizzical look. The Doctor nodded back in agreement.

“It would seem that way to you, and I completely understand that you would be suspicious of anyone, especially seeing as your home was just taken away from you-“

“It wasn’t just taken! It was destroyed, Doctor!” Poe suddenly interjected, snapping at the Doctor.

“I know-” the Doctor nodded his head at Poe. He hung his head before shortly looking back up at Holdo. “Mine was taken too, long ago in a great and terrible war.”

Poe and Holdo furrowed their brows at him, taken aback by this revelation.

“S-so, what you’re saying is that you are the last of your kind, Doctor?” Holdo asked in a surprised soft voice.

The Doctor nodded back.

“Why would we believe you?” Poe interjected.

“Commander Dameron!” Holdo snapped at Poe.

“No, Admiral, what if he’s just saying that to let him go?” Poe asked. “For all we know he could be lying, and he and this Twilight Sparkle could be specially trained infiltrators. We don’t know if the Alignment have counter-measures set in place to dispose of the survivors from their initial attack,” he said.

Holdo stared at him, but ultimately changed her expression from one of anger to that of suspicion.

Turning her head, she looked back at the Doctor and Twilight.

“As much as I hope its not the case, Commander Dameron does raise a good point,” Holdo said.

“How do we know that you’re not these elite infiltrators with these prepared backstories intended to make us sympathetic towards your cause?” she asked.

The Doctor craned his head up and looked straight into Holdo’s eyes.

“Tell one of your soldiers reach into my pocket,” the Doctor instructed. Holdo furrowed her brows in response.

“Why?” she asked skeptically.

“Just do it.”

One of the soldiers closest to the Doctor turned his head and looked at Holdo. She looked at the soldier and nodded at him.

Turning back towards the Doctor, the soldier gently approached him and reached into his pocket. He reached around until his brows furrowed as he grabbed something. He pulled it out, only to find it was a small cylindrical rod of sorts. He looked at it but backed away from the Doctor all the same.

Holdo looked from the rod towards the Doctor and asked, “What is it?”. The Doctor shook his head.

“It's my sonic screwdriver, a device that allows me to hack into any piece of machinery,” the Doctor explained. Holdo raised a brow at him.

“Why would you do that? Why give up your only means of escape to us?” she asked.

“Show of faith. If I wanted to escape, I could have done so anytime I wanted but I didn’t come here to hurt you or any of the equines on your ship…but to help you,” said the Doctor.

“Help us?” Poe asked, confused.

The Doctor nodded back.

“We were sent to help you in this desperate hour, because whoever sent us knew that you won’t make it through this on your own,” he said.

Poe and Holdo looked towards each other. Both wore uncertain expressions on their faces, baffled by what was happening.

After a few moments of silence, the Doctor finally sighed heavily and hung his head.

“Look, I know you must find it hard to believe, so instead of trying to persuade you with words let me and Twilight prove ourselves. We deserve that,” the Doctor interjected, drawing Holdo and Poe’s attention back towards him.

They stared at him for a few minutes before turning back towards each other again. They then started whispering amidst themselves; they almost looked like they were arguing amidst each other, with them sneaking occasional glances at the Doctor and Twilight. Finally, they stopped whispering to each other and turned back towards the Doctor.

“Alright, Doctor,” Holdo said, “We have little reason to trust you, but I will give you your chance to prove that Mrs. Sparkle and you don’t serve the Alignment.”

The Doctor nodded back.

“Okay, what do we need to do?” the Doctor asked.

“Using your…sonic screwdriver, you will help us hack into the Alignment’s database and obtain the plans for their superweapon. With these plans, we will destroy this new weapon of theirs,” Holdo instructed in a serious voice.

“Okay.” The Doctor nodded back. “Should be easy enough to access this “Alignment’s” databanks using the sonic screwdriver and obtain the information you require to destroy this superweapon,” said the Doctor.

Poe, Holdo and the soldiers’ brows jumped. Stunned by how easily he’d agreed to co-operate with them.

“Ok-ay then?” Holdo said in a shocked tone before she turned her head towards Poe.

“Soldier give the Doctor back his screwdriver. I assume he’s going to need it,” she said.

Poe jerked his head towards the Admiral, shooting her a skeptical look as the soldier – that had the screwdriver – trotted up towards the Doctor to give it back to him, putting it back into the Doctor’s coat pocket. He and another soldier then unlocked the cuffs on the Doctor and Twilight’s hooves, freeing them from their bindings.

Twilight and the Doctor rubbed their hooves after they were freed from the cuffs.

“So, where is the Alignment’s main database and how do we get to it?” the Doctor asked as he looked up towards Holdo.

“We…don’t know,” Holdo sighed heavily.

“The Pentastar Alignment were originally just a band of terrorists that attacked Republic colonies and cities, which we believe evolved into an alliance composed of various alien races that we suspect had it out to destroy us,” Holdo explained.

“The Alignment could have multiple databases for the various races that have joined them, but we suspect that the primary Alignment database is in a region of the galaxy we dubbed the Unknown Regions. We suspect that is where the “original” Alignment formed before they attacked us, and the most likely spot for their intelligence and data to be stored,” she said.

“Hmm…” the Doctor grumbled as he touched his hoof to his chin.

“Well, it’s not much to go off but it’s a start,” he sighed. “We will find out where the Alignment’ databanks is stored and then obtain what information we need to destroy this new superweapon of theirs,” he said, to which Holdo nodded back at him.

“But, Admiral, you can’t be serious!” Poe interjected.

“The Alignment managed to beat us because they formed alliances with other races, so if we are to stand a chance of defeating them, we need to forge alliances as well,” Holdo replied as she turned her head and looked at him.

“Yes, it is a risk but what choice do we have?” she asked him. “The Alignment won’t wait forever before sending out ships to hunt we few survivors down and destroy us. Fortunately for moment they’re too occupied with reveling in their victory over us, possibly buying us enough time to strike back at them.”

Commander and Admiral meet each other’s gaze as they locked eyes, staring at each other until they soon turned around at hearing the Ninka drop out hyperspace. Poe, Holdo, Twilight and the Doctor looked out in front of each other at an ice planet in front of them.

Holdo trotted up towards the beginning of the command walkway and looked down into the crew pit, asking, “Where are we?” to the technicians and officers.

“Unknown, ma’am,” replied one of the officers.

A moment of silence passed before the same officer spoke up again.

“Ma’am, scans reveal that the planet is almost devoid of life aside from a few readings,” said the officer.

“Hold on, we’ve just detected another signal- No, correction, multiple signals,” the officer followed up as his monitor suddenly started beeping.

“Are they coming from the surface?” Holdo asked.

Looking at the screen, the officer’s eyes widened in surprise.

“No, ma’am, it’s outside in space, and its growing stronger…but if these readings are to be believed, then its charging up,” he replied.

Holdo’s brows jumped, and she quickly looked up and out the viewport into space.

Outside in space, Holdo frantically searched for whatever they had just detected, but it was impossible to see anything amidst the thousands of stars and countless moons surrounding the planet.

“Where is it? I can’t-!” Holdo asked until she abruptly froze as a bright light shined out in front of them.

Lines of blue energy out of nowhere formed a hexagon shape…before that hexagon shape then fired a beam of energy at one of the Venators, cleaving right through it in a single swoop. The entire ship erupted into a single large ball of fire, obliterating it!

The shockwave from the ship’s destruction pushed the Ninka and the other Venators away, sparing them from meeting a similar fate!

“GET US OUT OF HERE!” Holdo screamed as she recovered from the explosion.

“Yes, ma’am, right away!” the officer frantically replied.

Rising onto their hooves, the Doctor, Twilight, Poe and the other equines looked out the viewport, where they watched the Ninka turn away from the ice planet-

KRA-BOOOM!

… but before they managed to turn away from the mysterious planet, the unknown attacker fired a second beam.

The bridge violently shook, and sparks shot out of the walls and ceiling as the beam hit the Ninka!

The Ninka’s engines exploded, causing the ship to tilt to the side as it plummeted downwards.

Caught in the mystery planet’s gravity, the Ninka trailed smoke as it fell out of space towards the planet, below.

“Hold on everyone, we’re going for a ride!” Holdo shouted back to the Doctor, Twilight, Poe, and everyone else that could hear her.

Soon, flames engulfed the Ninka as it pierced the outer and inner atmospheres, picking up more and more speed as it shot towards the surface of the ice planet.

Back in space, two more ships burst into large balls of fire. The mystery attacker’s assault on the fleet continued!

After penetrating the atmospheres, the burning Ninka resembled a large fireball as it shot down towards the surface. It penetrated the clouds, which revealed to Holdo, the Doctor, Twilight and Poe large snowy mountains. Hundreds of giant peaks that pointed upwards into the sky.

The bridge shook as the Ninka’s ventral surface grazed the tops of the mountains, destabilizing whatever of an orbit the ship had and causing it to descend faster towards the surface.

While it managed to get past the mountains, the Ninka violently slammed down onto a large plain of snow, blowing up large waves of snow in the process!

This final impact was by far the most intense; as it threw screaming around the bridge, and sparks erupted the walls and ceiling as they exploded and were destroyed!

As the Ninka eventually slowed to a halt, nothing but silence filled the devastated bridge.

***

Someplace amidst the dark veil of night covering the planet and atop a hillside there stood a dome-shaped hut. The hut’s generator hummed as it provided heat and power, keeping its sole occupant warm as she slept.

KRA-BOOOM!

A mare gasped as the loud explosion startled her awake.

She tumbled out of her bed, but quickly stood back up and ran over towards a nearby window. She looked out into the night sky, and for a second gasped as she saw a bright light high in the sky. Soon, she glimpsed fire raining from the sky towards the surface.

KRA-BOOOM!

She flinched as a second smaller explosion and three more explosions, gasping at the explosions’ vibrant lights. She had seen explosions in the sky before, but this was unlike anything she’d ever seen before.

Her attention abruptly shifted towards a large object that fell from the sky. It plummeted towards the surface, grazed the top of several nearby mountains before crashing behind them.

Instinctively, she turned around and quickly ran for the door, grabbing her jacket in the process, though she didn’t close it.

She opened the door and ran outside into the snow before holding the binoculars up in front of her eyes.

Using the binoculars’ night vision, she searched the mountains for any sign of the crashed ship. Scouring the surrounding mountain peaks, until she finally spotted black smoke trailing up into the sky; marking the crashed ship’s impact site.

Lowering the binoculars, she stared at the mountain peaks with a determined look on her face before she turned around and ran back inside the hut – closing the door behind her.

Putting on proper clothes, she grabbed her quarterstaff, and ran out of the primary dome to a secondary dome – that was connected to the primary dome.

Flicking a light switch and illuminating the smaller dome’s space revealed her speeder.

Pressing a button on the wall caused a door to move upwards.

She affixed the staff to the speeder and sat herself down near the back. She flicked a few switches and pressed a couple buttons on the console, causing the engine to hum to life.

Smirking to herself, the mare then operated the speeder out of the second dome. The door automatically closed by itself a couple minutes after she’s left.

A short while later, the mare finally stopped the speeder atop a nearby hillside overlooking the downed object.

Through use of her binoculars, she was confirmed as correct in assuming that the object was a crashed starship.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” she thought aloud. Her speech muffled by the scarf covering her face.

She lowered the binoculars and stared at the crashed ship.

Small fires had sprung up all over the ship, and there were large cracks and holes in the hull. The bridge also appeared to have suffered some damage. It was still intact, but for how long?

“Better get up there and see if anyone survived, and if not then fetch whatever’s worth salvaging and get outta there before the ship collapses on itself,” the mare thought aloud, while staring at the crashed Venator’s command superstructure.

She traversed the snow plain to reach the large starship, eventually approached it, and then climbed inside it – whether it be a large or tiny hole in the Venator’s hull; navigating the large vessel.

Inside of the ship, the hull creaked and groaned all around her, like its structural integrity was coming undone due to the damage it had sustained – both from the crash and having its engines destroyed. She witnessed that corridors had been completely disheveled and destroyed by the impact; corpses of countless dead equines laid strewn about the corridors – she did her best to ignore the dead and continue onwards to the living – bursts of sparks shot out of destroyed walls and ceilings. And several sections of the ship had collapsed, creating obstructions that forced her to take a different route.

… However, despite being forced to choose a different route, she failed to notice several small tentacled creatures that scuttled about the ship, following her wherever she went throughout the ship.

***

“OHhhh…!” the Doctor groaned as he regained consciousness. He raised a hoof to the back of his aching head and massaged it as he sat up on the floor.

The Doctor opened his closed eyes and turned his head, looking around the bridge which was now in shambles.

Parts of the walls and ceilings were destroyed, causing cables to hang down towards the floor, sparks randomly discharged from various parts of the walls and ceiling, and monitors and consoles had been damaged.

He looked around him and spotted Twilight, Poe and Holdo lying unconscious on the floor, surrounded by multiple soldiers. He smirked to himself at seeing they hadn’t been flung around the bridge too much, still the groaning and creaking was something to take seriously.

As Poe rose to his hooves, he gasped as he saw that B8 had been knocked over onto his back and ran over to help his droid friend up.

B8 beeped, shocked and confused about what had happened. Poe just chuckled in response at seeing that his droid was still functional after the crash, hugging his friend, relieved.

Standing up on his hooves, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. The screwdriver began making noises as he pointed it at Twilight, Poe, Holdo and the soldiers on the floor. Once he had scanned them all he looked at the screwdriver before sighing in relief.

“Ah good, they haven’t suffered too much damage,” he said.

He put the screwdriver back into his pocket and approached Twilight. Using his hooves, he gently nudged her awake. Soon, her eyes opened, and she looked up at him.

“Doctor, what happened?” Twilight asked.

“What attacked us?”

The Doctor’s optimistic look changed into one of fear.

“I don’t know. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” He shook his head as he replied.

He extended his hoof to her, which she accepted and let him help her up off the floor.

“Everyone seems to be okay, Twilight, but we shouldn’t wait before waking them. This ship has suffered extensive damage to the command superstructure, so we’d best get a move on before the bridge collapses,” the Doctor instructed.

“Agreed,” replied Twilight before she trotted towards Poe and Holdo to wake them up, while the Doctor approached the soldiers.

A couple minutes later, Poe, Holdo, the soldiers and some of the command staff were up and about. Soon, the soldiers and command staff had gathered around Holdo and Poe.

“Gather what supplies we can and prepare to move out. If none of the other ships survived the onslaught then we must be prepared for a prolonged stay until, well, anyone finds us on this cold rock,” Holdo instructed to Poe, the soldiers and command staff.

“Yes, ma’am,” the soldiers and staff replied in unison, nodding their heads in response to the admiral’s orders.

Turning away from Holdo and her group, Twilight looked at the Doctor who stood near the bridge’s door and held the screwdriver out in front of him. Even from this distance she could hear the noises it made. She then trotted up towards him.

“What are you doing, Doctor?”

“Scanning the ship for lifeforms. Since one has come to investigate our crash that must meant that we might be the only intelligent life forms on this planet…at least this side of it,” replied the Doctor.

Twilight’s expression changed into one of confusion, and she raised a brow at him.

“Then why are you scanning for lifeforms if you think there’s no intelligent life?” she asked.

“Just taking pre-cautions in case something with hostile intentions sneaks onboard the ship. We wouldn’t want to be just aimlessly wandering about if that is the case,” he replied.

Several seconds passed before the screwdriver suddenly started beeping, having finished its scan. The Doctor’s brows jumped in response.

He turned around and hastily trotted back up towards Holdo.

“Admiral, we are not alone. I detect multiple lifeforms throughout the ship,” he told the admiral.

Poe and Holdo turned towards each other and exchanged nervous looks before then turning back towards the Doctor.

“Are you certain?” Poe asked, skeptically.

“Mm-hmm.” The Doctor nodded back.

“My sonic screwdriver have detected a large group of life readings moving through the ship, heading towards the bridge fast,” said the Doctor.

“Do you have reason to suspect they are hostile?” Holdo asked.

“No, but-“

The Doctor’s attention abruptly snapped down towards the screwdriver as he heard it beeping again. He took it back out and looked at the light on the end of the Sonic, watching it beep faster and faster. His expression changed from confusion to shock, which grabbed the other’s attention.

“What is it?” Poe asked. The Doctor looked up away from the Sonic towards Poe.

“The life readings, they are growing!” replied the Doctor in a soft but stunned voice. Twilight, Holdo and Poe’s eyes widened at hearing this.

“But how is that possible?! How can life readings just appear out of nowhere?” Holdo asked.

The Doctor briefly hung his head and stared down at the floor. During which his brows jumped, and his eyes widened as a thought dawned on him. A horrific thought that made his head jerk back up and look straight at Holdo.

“Admiral, a ship of this size, how many serve aboard it?!” he urgently asked Holdo in a concerned voice.

“Seven thousand four hundred, why?” Holdo replied.

The Doctor sharply gasped and staggered backwards, nearly losing his footing and falling onto the floor.

Breathing heavily but slowly, he stared down at the floor in fear.

“Doctor?!” Twilight asked, concerned, as she trotted up to him.

“What is it? What is it about the crew number that scares you?” she asked, putting a hoof on his shoulder.

His head jerked up towards her, breathing heavily as he looked up at her. The fearful expression even more visible on his face now.

“I hope I’m wrong, I really do…but if not then we are all in grave danger!” he said in soft horrified voice. Holdo slowly approached the Doctor at hearing this, shooting him a concerned look.

“Doctor, what are you talking about?” she asked. “Do you know what’s out there?”

With sweat running down his temple, the Doctor slowly turned his head and looked towards Holdo.

He opened his mouth to speak when he, Twilight, Holdo, Poe, and the others suddenly heard a loud cluttering noise behind them.

Everyone of the equines turned towards the ruined doorway – from which the sound had come from, the soldiers raised their rifles, the officers, Poe and Holdo raised their pistols. Twilight’s horn was enveloped in its magical lavender aura, and the Doctor pointed his screwdriver at the door.

An eerie tension rose as they heard something heading towards them from outside in the hall-

…until their attention abruptly snapped up above them as they heard scuttling noises coming from the ceiling.

Suddenly, before they could react several pale-yellow creatures dropped down from the ceiling and attacked them!

The creatures resembled cephalopods, only with a more pointed tip at the top of their bodies, they had several ridges along the top of their bodies, they moved around on several tendrils, and sported a different set of tendrils that resembled antennae’s.

“Blast them…whatever they are!” Holdo shouted, stunned by the sight of these odd creatures as she raised her blaster pistol and fired a shot at one of the creatures.

The creature screeched as the blast hit, knocking its dead form onto the floor.

Poe drew his own pistol and fired a blast at one of the creatures, killing it instantly.

Twilight charged up a blast that she fired at several of the creatures, destroying five or six at once.

The Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver at the creatures and repeatedly shot energy beams from the end of the screwdriver at the creatures, causing them to collapse onto the floor after being shot.

B8 used his ARC welder to electrocute the creatures, although it served as more of a distraction to lure the creatures away from Poe and the others.

The soldiers and other command staff fired their blaster rifles and pistols at the creatures, gunning them down without hesitation.

And the creatures screeched as their enemies’ magical blasts and/or blaster bolts struck them down. Killing them with ease…though, it didn’t matter if they were able to kill them for the creatures just continued to swarm them. Their hordes seemingly endless.

The creatures scurried across the bridge towards the nearest equine before they then leapt onto them, knocking them to the floor. The equine screamed in fear as they tried to hold the creatures back. The creatures’ tendrils, though pierced the equines’ flesh, reaching into the victim’s body for their nervous system. While taking control of the body, several tendrils tore off bits of armor covering the victim’s chest before violently burrowing themselves into the chest…all as the victim screamed in agony!

One of the soldiers was forced back against a wall, where the creature knocked the blaster rifle from his hooves before pouncing on him directly.

The soldier yelled at the top of his lungs as he caught the creature with his hooves and held it back away from his chest...but the creature’s tendrils wrapped around his hooves and snapped them like twigs, causing him to scream aloud in insufferable pain!

This distraction weakened his defenses just enough for the creature to get close enough to his body that it ripped the chest plate armor off his body and pierced his skin with its tendrils, burrowing them deep into his body.

It overrode his nervous system before pressing its body against his chest and violently burrowed itself in his chest, on top of introducing its supercells into his body.

Soon, the soldier stopped screaming, instead replacing it with a feral growling as he lost all control of his body and started mutating; sprouting growths on his upper body, and his left hoof mutated into a claw-like whip. Now rooted in his chest, the creature stuck its antennae’s out; using them to sense its surroundings.

The new mutant rose to its hooves and slowly turned towards an uninfected soldier.

This other soldier got the mutant in his scopes but froze in terror at the sight. Enough that he shakily lowered his rifle and stared slack-jawed and wide-eyed at the mutant before him.

“Mother of Celeste!” the soldier uttered.

The mutant twitched erratically before it looked straight up above it and uttered a loud shrieking, roar.

Frightened by the monster before him, the soldier raised his rifle to fire…but the mutant – being much faster than he expected – suddenly leapt forward towards. It pounced on and knocked the soldier to the floor.

The mutant stood atop him as he struggled to get free, but the mutant just slashed its whip-claw across the soldier’s chest. The soldier sharply gasped at the pain, and fell to the floor, clutching his wound as he started convulsing. While the soldier’s skin turned a similar sickly yellow as the creatures, the mutant turned away from him and ran off to its next target.

Despite their best efforts to kill these things, the Doctor, Twilight, Poe, Holdo and their forces were just being overrun by the creatures and the infected Equestrians.

The longer the battle went the more it turned against them. However, shooting down the infected Euestrians added a little more time to the clock…but not by much since another creature just assumed control of the dead Equestrians’ bodies; re-animating them to serve them again. Soldier or command staffer fell to the creatures, becoming another puppet for them to use against the ever-diminishing group of survivors. In addition to using their new whip-like claws, those infected also fired their hosts’ blasters at the Equestrians, brutally cutting them down and claiming even more victims at a faster soon. Soon, the few survivors were pushed into a corner.

“We need to get outta’ here! We are being swarmed,” Poe shouted, rapidly firing bolts at the charging creatures and infected Equestrians.

“I’m all ears if you have a plan, Commander Dameron!” Holdo called back, blowing away three of the creatures in rapid-fire succession.

Poe grimaced as he struggled to come up with a plan, trying his best to find out a way for them to escape…but nothing came to him; no plan, no strategy, no ideas.

He didn’t respond but resumed firing. The least he could do now was go down taking as many of these things with him as possible.

Outside in the corridor they heard more of these things heading towards them.

What is this? Just the first wave? Poe thought.

The creatures had finally stopped pouring into the room through the destroyed ceilings, but it didn’t matter anymore if they continued swarming the survivors. Supported by the infected Equestrians, even this small horde was enough to devastate the small band of survivors…and force them into a corner for the creatures and infected Equestrians to devour!

However, while the survivors and creatures were fixated on killing each other both reacted as something suddenly electrocuted one of the infected Equestrians.

Not only killing the infected Equestrian and the creature controlling it, but also burning the body, so that once the infected Equestrian collapsed dead on the floor it couldn’t be re-animated by another one of the creatures.

The survivors and creatures’ attention shifted towards the electrocuted mutant and saw another uninfected Equestrian standing behind it wielding a quarterstaff, whose top and bottom crackled with purple electricity.

The creatures froze at the sight of the newcomer, allowing the Equestrian to jump forwards into the air. During which, it thrust it’s staff out in front of it and hit one of the mutants in the chest, hitting the creature controlling it. The mutant screeched as it was electrocuted, singeing both the Equestrian and its controller.

While amazed by the newcomer’s acrobatics and ability to kill these things, the Doctor, Twilight, Holdo, Poe and the survivors didn’t wait before they opened fire on the stunned creatures and infected Equestrians.

The newcomer landed on its hooves in front of them, and, just like them, didn’t hesitate to attack the creatures and mutants. Slashing its staff horizontally at them, which electrocuted multiple creatures at once.

Before the mutants could take action against the newcomer’s swift and devastating attacks, the survivors shot them and any of the creatures down. The tide of the battle had turned; now the survivors were on the offensive and the creatures and mutants tried to defend themselves.

They continually cut the mutants and creatures down until every last one of them was finally defeated, allowing the survivors to regain control of the bridge.

The newcomer – after making sure that the creatures and their mutants were dead – turned around to face Holdo, Poe, Twilight and the Doctor, silently staring at the four of them and the few remaining soldiers and command staff.

Raising its hoof, the newcomer lifted its goggles and pulled down the scarf covering its face, revealing itself to be a mare. A mare with a worried look on her face.

“Come on, we need to go before more arrive!” the mare said in an urgent tone, nudging her head back towards the door.

The Doctor nodded back before he turned back towards Twilight, Poe and Holdo.

“We should listen to her and get going before the rest of the Flood finds us,” he instructed, but only received wide-eyed looks from Twilight, Holdo and Poe.

“The what?!” Holdo asked, shocked.

The Doctor grimaced in frustration at his slip-up.

“Forget what I said. Our greatest concern now is getting as far away from here as possible,” said the Doctor.

“Yeah, I’d kinda listen to your friend there,” the mare interjected, drawing everyone’s attention.

“If you have a chance to escape, which I am currently offering, I suggest you take it,” she said.

Holdo looked back at Poe, then the mare, and back at Poe again before she finally uttered a muffled groan and said, “Fine! Let us just get out of here!”

The mare smiled back and said, “Alright then, follow me” before she turned around and hurried out into a corridor. The Doctor, Twilight, Poe, Holdo and the other survivors looked at each other before they hurried out after her.

Down at the other end of the corridor, the group heard the loud shrieks and roars of the Infection and Combat Forms getting closer.

“Follow me, we can use the escape pods to get away from the ship before those things catch up to us,” she said in a hasty voice.

Poe, Twilight, and the Doctor briefly looked at each other, but ultimately nodded in agreement.

“Alright, let’s go,” Holdo responded to their decision.

However, the mare abruptly froze in her tracks. This confused the survivors as they too stopped in their tracks and turned around, looking back at her.

“What are you doing?!” Holdo hissed sharply at the mare.

“I need to get my speeder, its my main mode of transportation,” said the mare.

“But those things could be crawling across the ship by now!” Poe said. The mare just looked at him and scoffed.

“Trust me, I’m a lot better at looking out for myself when I don’t have others to worry about. If you use your escape pods, then I can use my speeder,” she said, looking towards the Doctor and Twilight. Both of whom shot her concerned looks.

The mare, Doctor, Twilight and others’ attention then snapped back at the other end of the corridor as they heard the creatures and mutants’ roars and chittering. They were getting closer…

In response to this, the mare quickly looked back at the Doctor, Twilight and the others before she turned and ran off. Leaving them behind as she ran off. The Doctor and Twilight followed the mare with their eyes until they, like Holdo, Poe and the rest of the survivors, turned around and continued for the escape pods.

They soon arrived at the escape pods and hurried inside them. The pods’ hatches closed shut behind them before being jettisoned from the Ninka. The six pods shot out of the side of the Ninka’s bridge, flying high into the sky before they curved downwards, and headed straight for any of the nearby mountains.

Some of the pods crashed against the mountains, while others overshot them…and vanished into the dark crevices behind those spire-like mountains.

Author's Note

The story continues...

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