“GAAH!” Poe exclaimed as he suddenly shocked awake.

He immediately sat up, swiftly grabbed his blaster pistol, and almost shot B8.

The astromech flinched at having a pistol pointed at it, but after quickly beeping in distress. Poe stopped himself and recognized the droid in front of him. He then sharply exhaled, relieved, and lowered his pistol.

Putting the blaster back into its holster, he leaned forward and hugged B8.

“Boy aren’t you a sight for sore eyes, buddy,” Poe said.

B8 beeped and blooped in response, to which Poe pulled away and looked into B8’s eye. Dameron then turned his head and looked down beside him and B8 at the unconscious Holdo and other soldiers within the pod, who laid down on the floor.

B8 then beeped at Poe, which the starfighter pilot smiled at before saying, “Yeah, do it,” with an almost childish glee.

B8 blipped in response and turned himself around before rotating his body down towards Holdo, he then extended his ARC welder and zapped Holdo.

“GAAH!” Holdo gasped, flinching as she felt an electric shock shot through her entire body. She jolted up-right and sat there on the floor panting.

Her head jerked towards Poe and B8, staring at of them with wide eyes. Soon, though she furrowed them.

“Commander Dameron? B8?” Holdo asked.

“Yep.” Poe nodded. B8 just bleeped and made a nodding motion with his body.

“We’re okay. We managed to get away from the Flood in the escape pods,” Poe said.

“The what?” Holdo asked, holding her hoof to the side of her head until her brows jumped as she remembered. “Oh right, what the Doctor called those creatures that attacked us onboard the Ninka,” she said, which Poe nodded back at her.

“Do you now think he might not be interested in helping us?” Poe asked. “I mean, if he knew about the Flood then why wouldn’t he know about whatever attacked us in space?”

“Maybe…” Holdo replied, much to Poe’s confusion.

“’Maybe’?” he asked, shocked.

“Admiral, he-“

“…may not have known that was going to happen,” Holdo interrupted Poe. “Commander Dameron, we were already fleeing into the Unknown Regions when we caught the Doctor and his companion,” Holdo interrupted him.

“Also, did you take note of his reaction when the Flood attacked? He seemed just as shocked, if not more so, to see those things. If this was all part of his plan then why didn’t he just fool us into landing on the surface, so those things could attack us?” she asked.

Poe opened his mouth to respond, but as he thought answers to those questions he couldn’t come up with any answers. He just hung his head and sighed softly.

Standing back up, Holdo approached the soldiers to wake them up.

A little while later, the escape pod’s hatch opened, and several soldiers peeked his head out of the pod.

He looked around where they had ended up and discovered that they had ended up in some sort of cave deep underground. Randomly scattered throughout the cavern were multiple tunnel-like caves that went off in random directions.

Poe stepped out of the pod, accompanied by B8. Both of whom looked around the cave. A single beam of light shined down upon the pod through a circular hole in the ceiling, indicating that they were quite a bit underground but not that much.

“B8, use your scanners to find a way out. We need to find a way out of here, and fast,” Poe instructed.

B8 beeped in response and stuck out a small radar dish from atop his head; scanning their surroundings as instructed.

***

For a second time, the Doctor groaned as he sat up on a metal surface, only this time he had Twilight here to join him in groaning in pain; as evidenced by her sitting up and rubbing her neck.

“Doctor, is it possible that one can have too much stuff happen on an adventure?” Twilight asked, which the Doctor turned his head and looked at her. Staring at her for a couple seconds until he spoke up…

“Strange as it may sound, Twilight; yes. One can experience too much when they’re already been through a lot,” replied the Doctor.

Twilight softly winched at the stiff pain in her neck.

“I swear, this much adventuring is bad for my health,” she said.

Yeah, well, you’ve got a lot more where that came from, thought the Doctor as he hung his head.

Twilight then turned looked around the pod and noticed crumpled and sparks shooting out of the wall. Clearly, the pod had suffered some damage on impact with the mountain.

“So, what now, Doctor?” Twilight asked, curious about their course of action.

Turning his head, he looked towards Twilight with a confused expression. He then rose to his hooves and trotted up to the viewport and looked outside.

What greeted him, though was a view of the landscape surrounding the pod; laying atop a plain covered by a blanket of snow sat their crashed starship. Black smoke trailed up into the sky from the ship while snow slowly crept up along the body of the ship, hiding it away.

Looking outside, the Doctor raised a hoof and held his chin, thinking their situation over as well as what options are available to them.

“Hmm. Well, I’d say that we are rather high up in the mountains, so that makes scaling the mountain difficult. Not to mention the cold…or-“

“The Flood?” Twilight interrupted him.

His head jerked back towards the lavender mare, staring at her with wide and horrified eyes. Terrified at the mere mention of that name.

“Yes,” he said, hanging his head to hide the fear on his face, but Twilight isn’t stupid. She noticed it without even needing to try.

“What are they? The Flood?” she asked curiously.

The Doctor continued to hang his head low until he eventually furrowed his brows and raised his head, looking up at her.

He stared at Twilight for a few minutes before he raised his hooves and touched them to the side of Twilight’s forehead.

She felt alarmed at first, but instead of pulling back allowed him to do what he was about to do.

Both of them closed their eyes, just before Twilight gasped as she felt a rush of thoughts and memories come pouring into her mind!

It was so overwhelming that she clenched her eyes shut…but upon opening them again found herself standing on the balcony of some sort of titular structure.

Out in front of her, she saw a vast landscape that was comprised of deserts and mountains. Towering skyscrapers rose into the sky, but despite their impressive height were overshadowed by a large structure in the center of the city; a structure that resembled a castle yet was encased in a large glass orb. Perhaps a large city.

“A hundred thousand years ago a great civilization existed in this universe,” a voice said behind her.

Sharply turning herself around, she saw the Doctor standing behind her, silently staring at her with a serious expression.

“Like all great civilizations they faced a sudden and dire turn of events,” he said, looking up into the sky.

Turning around, Twilight looked up into the sky to where he was looking. Up in the skies, she watched hundreds of fireballs hurtling from space towards the surface.

“A threat to their primacy from outside. Something they never expected, never prepared for,” he explained while she continued to look up into the sky. However, as Twilight looked at the fireballs, she squinted her eyes at noticing something about them.

Once the fire died down and they became easier to see, she saw that they were actually odd shapes with organic matter on them.

“A deeply alien threat known simply as; the Flood.”

As he said that, the odd shape crashed down into the city, blowing up a large dust cloud that came hurtling towards the balcony Twilight and the Doctor were standing on.

It passed over them, but nothing happened.

Once the dust settled, Twilight watched hundreds of other strange shapes fly through the air. All heading towards the crash site.

Hearing odd movements below the balcony, she looked down and saw a mass of sickly pale flesh crawl along the surface towards some of the larger structures.

“An unstoppable force with an unquenchable thirst. It devoured everything it touched” the Doctor narrated as the fleshy mass crawled along the spires till it reached glass. It then smashed through the glass and entered the building, where Twilight heard thousands of horrified screams as the fleshy mass entered.

“At first it seemed like our technology, our courage seemed like it might prevail…but we waited too long to see the threat, to join the fight,” said the Doctor, just as a swarm – of what looked like those tentacle creatures – flew through the air towards the building and entered it through the hole the fleshy mass had created.

After entering, the screams were soon replaced by feral growling…and then Twilight saw why that was, as hordes of equines wearing red armor– who sported the whip-like claw on their left arm and the creature rooted into their chest – emerged from the building. Others wore large red and orange robes and large golden shoulder pads. They poured into the streets and accompanied the flying creatures as they proceeded towards their next target, all while the fleshy mass continued spreading throughout the city.

Soon, those flying creatures hovered throughout vacant halls and corridors en route to the next populated area.

Twilight then turned around and looked back at the Doctor in wide-eyed horror, all while oblivious to a dark silhouette that arose behind her. She noticed the Doctor looking up and heard something snarl behind her. She turned around but gasped at what she saw.

A large blob of flesh towered over her, with multiple tentacles wriggling about. It lowered the front part of its body, so it was right in front of her. The front part then folded outwards, revealing a large eye and tentacles inside!

Twilight and the blob of flesh locked eyes, silently staring back at each other for the briefest of seconds.

“The Flood had grown too far, and too wide,” said the Doctor, just before the blob’s tentacles reached down and entangled themselves around Twilight before lifting her up towards the blob. A circular mouth opened on the blob’s body, and it pushed her inside. Swallowing her whole!

Again, Twilight clenched her eyes shut…but as she opened them again, only gasped at the sight before her.

She watched the door to some sort of shelter open, and that very same blob of flesh spill into the shelter. Tentacles reaching into the room and seizing hold of civilians and anything else it managed to grab onto.

The hovering creatures lunged themselves at the civilians, covering their bodies whole and merging together into single small blobs. None were spared by the parasite…!

Reality shifted to a building completely overrun by variously shaped Flood creatures; some sporting two legs, and others more. All of them grotesque to look at…

Once again, reality shifted to outside the city, where the Flood had begun spreading their mass across the city structures and buildings.

“It feed on intelligent life, and in doing so became ever smarter itself,” the Doctor said as Twilight witnessed the carnage and destruction occurring all around her. Watching as the Flood spread and grew across the city like a plague, all while the airborne creatures swarmed another building.

“The Flood was unique. It used our own strengths against us,” said the Doctor as reality shifted to show a chamber completely overrun with Flood.

In the center of the room, surrounded by the Flood creatures, stood round base – both on the surface and floor – and in the center of these bases hovered some strange almost hexagonal object with three glowing blue lights in its center. That same blue light then changed into red.

Once again, reality shifted to a chamber where several equines stood gathered around a table. All of them looked up at a hologram of one of those creatures that had Twilight, the Doctor and the others back onboard the ship.

All of the equines then turned and looked down towards a specific equine. An equine clad in black robes that while not sporting the same golden shoulder plate as the others in the room wore a stiff black collar with white edges. The equine also wore a black skullcap.

Noticing the Doctor’s silence, Twilight looked back over her shoulder…but the Doctor had disappeared.

As she furrowed her brows in confusion, one equine around the table – that stood in front of her – turned around and faced her. Staring at Twilight until she looked back in front of her, only for her eyes to widen, accompanied by a loud gasp as she saw the equine in front of her.

“We were the Time Lords,” the equine, who she now saw was the Doctor, said.

The other Time Lords gathered around the table turned their heads and looked directly at Twilight.

The previously bright room then faded away into darkness…before tentacles reached out of the darkness and wrapped themselves around the Time Lords. They screamed as the tentacles pulled them away into the darkness, leaving only Twilight and the Doctor alone in the dark void.

A bright light erupted high above the Doctor, which shined a vibrant beam of light down upon Twilight and the Doctor. Twilight had to raise her hoof to shield her eyes from the light.

The Doctor turned around and looked up at the light, completely unfazed by its intensity.

He then watched as the form of light descended, and he turned around and approached it.

The brightness died down, revealing the source of the light to be a brown box with odd symbols on it. The box clicked and whirred like-…like a clock, until the top suddenly folded upwards and a silver block emerged from the box with a red diamond-shaped button atop it. Energy swirled around inside the button.

Twilight stared at the Doctor and the box in front of him, unaware of what to do or even what that this box was.

The Doctor silently stared at the button before he turned his head and looked back at Twilight, though he didn’t smile. Instead, he just stared back at her wearing a sad frown on his face.

He raised his hoof and placed it atop the button, and then closed his eyes as he pushed it down!

The button shattered, and fire erupted out of it into the void.

The Doctor calmly closed his eyes before the wall of fire consumed him, obliterating him!

Just before the fire hit Twilight, though her environment immediately changed into space.

She was adrift, but her attention fell upon the large planet in front of her…and the thousands of ships that surrounded it.

Her eyes widened, and she gasped at the sight that these ships were Flood controlled ships!

Thousands of ships that fired upon the surface of the planet in a merciless attempt to defeat their enemies…

However, a large explosion shot up into space from the planet’s surface, engulfing the Flood fleet and destroying ship and Flood bio-mass alike!

Suddenly, a final explosion of vibrant fiery light then destroyed the entire planet, creating a fiery shockwave that shot out across the galaxy, but not before the flames engulfed Twilight…!

Twilight loudly gasped as her eyes shot open, staring wide-eyed at the Doctor as he removed his hooves; breaking their mental connection.

She pulled back away from the Doctor and panted heavily. Taking everything in before she craned her head up and looked at the stallion in front of her. Sweat ran down along her forehead.

“What. Was. That!?” she asked, horrified.

“That was the Last Great Flood War between my…my people and the Flood,” the Doctor explained, staring into Twilight’s eyes with sad eyes before abruptly hanging his head, looking down at the floor.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak until she stopped herself as she noticed tears across his cheeks.

“That war cost me everything; my race, my home and myself,” the Doctor sniffled as he looked up at Twilight.

“When I pressed that button and destroyed the Time Lords and the Flood, I wasn’t the Doctor anymore. The Doctor that I used to know died in the inferno that ended the war...but now it seems that he and those lost died in vain,” said the Doctor, his tone getting sadder and angrier. Understandably frustrated by the Flood’s return.

Twilight hung her jaw slack, taken aback by these horrors that the Doctor had faced long ago. Events that had clearly affected him.

“That is why you saved us from the Daleks; you want to make up for the lives lost at the end of the Last Great Flood War;” Twilight said. The Doctor didn’t respond, aside from blinking his eyes.

“The Flood took everything from you, so you’ve tried your best to prevent what happened to you from happening to anyone else,” she added, looking at him with sad but understanding eyes.

The Doctor just stared down at the floor.

“And what did my destruction of the Flood yield? Billions of lives that died for nothing, only for the Flood to survive the end of the war and continue existing?” he asked.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but the Doctor to beat her to it and spoke up before she could…

“I wonder if this is why she didn’t tell me much about the mission; she didn’t want to demoralize me, considering my history with the Flood,” he said, to which Twilight raised her brow at him.

“But, isn’t that what you are doing now?” she asked, confused.

The Doctor shook his head at her.

“I mourn the dead because they remind me of what is at stake. They are a pain that I hold tight, because no matter how hard it burns me, I cannot let up, not for a moment…cause if I do then they will have truly died for nothing,” he said.

“Wherever we have ended up, we cannot allow the Flood to escape and spread across the galaxy,” said the Doctor with renewed vigor. The sadness and despair from before had transformed into courage and strength.

“But how are we going to get out of here and find Poe, Holdo and the others?” Twilight asked.

The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, he and Twilight abruptly heard knocking outside the pod.

Their heads jerked back, their eyes widened and concerned expressions formed on their faces as they looked out the circular viewport behind the Doctor…only to see the mare from before hovering outside.

The mare waved inside to them, and after the shock passed, Twilight and the Doctor waved back.

Outside, the mare pulled her speeder up and flew out of sight.

Sighing in relief, the Doctor turned back towards Twilight and trotted past her up towards the door.

He opened in, and steam hissed as cold air entered the pod. Aside from the cold, the mare also entered the pod.

She pulled the scarf down and her goggles up, smiling back at the Doctor and Twilight. She then tossed two fur coats – like the one she wore – their way.

“Sorry for the delay, but it took me a lot longer than I thought to evade the Flood and get back to my speeder,” said the mare as the two equines put the coats on.

The Doctor scoffed and shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it. The only thing that matters is that you survived,” replied the Doctor.

“Come, we need to leave before “the Flood” begin searching the crash sites of your escape pods,” said the said as she waved the Doctor and Twilight out of the pod.

They disembarked the pod and followed the mare over to her speeder, which she had parked beside the pod.

“I know she doesn’t look like much, but she’ll get us home in one piece,” the mare said.

Twilight, the Doctor and the mare all climbed onto the pod and sat down at the back. The Doctor reached around Twilight and held her tightly.

The speeder then moved forwards, speeding through the air as it flew away from the mountain towards the mare’s home.

A cold wind blew across Twilight and the Doctor’s bodies...

***

Meanwhile deep underground, Poe and the rest of the soldiers stood gathered outside their escape pod. Holdo sat inside the pod, trying to raise a channel to the other escape pods. Simultaneously, B8 scanned the nearby surroundings – with a radar dish sticking right out of his head – until he finally found something. Many things…

He nervously bleeped, retracted the dish, and then slid across the floor towards Poe. He beeped and blipped, grabbing Poe’s attention.

“Oh good, buddy, you’ve found some caves…” he said, smiling at the astromech.

However, his smile faded as B8 beeped again, adopting a nervous expression as his eyes widened.

“What do you mean you’re detecting multiple life signs out in the caves?!” he asked, the fear mounting in his tone.

Poe quickly looked up from his droid companion towards each of the caves surrounding them the pod, his eyes widen in horror.

“Oh my Celeste!” he said in a softly terrified tone.

Poe then quickly turned around and ran back inside the pod towards Holdo.

“We need to go, now!” he said. “B8 has detected a lot of life signs, that are coming our way!

Holdo’s head jerked back, looking over her shoulder at Poe in wide-eyed terror.

“He’s found a possible way out, so we need to go now!” He extended his hoof towards Holdo, and she took it. Together, they both hurried out into the cave.

“Alright, B8, you go ahead and lead us ‘outta here,” Poe urgently instructed to the droid.

B8 beeped and quickly turned around, gliding across the cave floor towards the entrance of one of the tunnels. He stopped and rotated his dome back towards Poe, Holdo and the others.

“Come on!” Poe called out to the soldiers as he and Holdo ran towards B8.

While running up a small slope to reach the droid, B8 rotated his dome back and slid inside the tunnel. Poe, Holdo, and the soldiers followed him as he led them into the cave, illuminating the darkness with light.

After they had left, the central cave started shaking until a large crack suddenly split the floor open, cracking it in half and creating a vast crevice in the center of the cave. The escape pod and large chunks of rock and stone fell into the dark abyss, below.

Then, large tentacles slithered out of the crevice. Followed shortly by Infection Forms, that scuttled across the floor. Chattering as they headed for the tunnel where Poe and the others had gone, while a few broke off from the main group and headed for a few of the other tunnels…

Back in the tunnel, Poe, Holdo and the soldiers hastily followed B8 as he led the way through the tunnels…until they suddenly froze in their tracks as they heard a loud feral roar back from the opposite end of the cave.

Holdo and Poe turned to face each other and shot the other a horrified expression.

“We need to get ‘outta here, now!” said Poe.

“I couldn’t agree more, Commander Dameron!” replied Holdo.

“Quickly, B8, lead us to the surface!” Poe instructed to the droid.

B8 bleeped and booped in response before he immediately resumed the task – of leading Poe and the others out.

However, as Poe led ahead of the group, Holdo turned back towards one of the soldiers at the rear of the group.

“Quickly, give me a few of your grenades,” she instructed to a few of the soldiers. In compliance, the soldiers gave her their grenades.

“Now go,” she instructed to the soldiers.

They shot her confused looks, but that confusion turned into fear as they heard that feral roar again. Without hesitation, they ran ahead of the admiral.

Her head jerked up as she heard the Infection Forms’ screech, and her eyes widened at the sight of a horde of those Infection Forms coming straight for her.

She quickly activated and threw one of the grenades down the tunnel at the Infection Forms before turning around and ran in the opposite direction.

Behind her, the grenade exploded. It obliterated a majority of the Infection Forms, while at the same time triggering a cave-in that blocked the tunnel – that blocked the other creature…

Ahead of Holdo, Poe and the soldiers abruptly stopped as they heard the Infection Forms’ screeching down one or more of the tunnels.

“There!” Poe repeatedly shouted as he pointed his hoof down several tunnels, where the Infection Forms had appeared.

The soldiers immediately assumed defensive positions at the many tunnel entrances and opened fire on the Infection Forms as they charged towards them. A small volley of laser fire shot down the tunnel at the creature. The bolts tore into the Infection Forms’ bodies, instantly cauterizing the wounds as well as killing the Infection Forms.

Many of the Infection Forms collapsed dead once they had been struck enough times by the bolts. However, another of the Infection Forms just replaced it within seconds.

As the many hordes of Infection Forms drew closer, it dawned on one of the soldiers why the admiral had wanted some of their grenades.

“Quick, collapse the tunnels!” the soldier called out to his fellow soldiers.

“If we trap them, then we will have fewer to deal with,” he said.

Compliantly, the soldiers grabbed their grenades, activated them, and then threw them down the tunnels at the Infection Forms.

The grenades exploded, and shook the tunnel before causing multiple cave-ins.

A few Infection Forms managed to get past the cave-in, but the soldiers made short of work – since they didn’t have many to deal with.

“Great, now let’s go!” Poe called out before he, B8, and the soldiers continued down along their current tunnel.

Holdo continually activated and threw grenades as she followed the tunnel, hearing the explosion behind and feeling the vibration through the ground. Still, she didn’t slow her pace for anything, especially once she heard the unnatural screeching of those Infection Forms get closer.

Having seen first-hand what happens when those Infection Forms get up-close to you, and she had no intention of being turned into a puppet for those things to use against her own kind. Even if she was to be caught, the best she could do was slow those things’ progress…maybe even use a grenade to take a few of them down with her, but she hoped it wouldn’t have to come to that…

Like Holdo, Poe, B8, and the soldiers ran down the tunnel until they saw a sudden shift from the compact tunnels to a large-open cave. A vast chasm awaited them beneath the edge of the cliffside.

Poe and the other soldiers frantically turned their heads, looking in various directions for where to go next. Unfortunately, it was so dark that they were having problems seeing in it. Fortunately, B8 drew Poe and the other’s attention with some bloops and bleeps. B8 also switched on his light, so Poe and the soldiers could have an easier time seeing in the darkness.

“B8 says he’s found a way out. Come on,” Poe called out to the soldiers behind him. Poe, B8, and the soldiers ran as they followed the cliffside.

They ran for a few minutes until they rounded a corner. In doing so, Poe smiled as he spotted something in the distance;

“Look, a bridge!” he called out to the soldiers, pointing his hoof at a nearby bridge.

He, B8, and the soldiers picked up the pace as they headed straight for the bridge.

Soon, they once again heard that horrible screeching, yet none of them slowed their pace. Not when a break from these abominations was so close.

They eventually reached the bridge, to which Poe stepped aside to let his soldiers past.

As the soldiers ran across the bridge, B8 shined his light back the way they had come, only to be meet another horde of the Infection Forms.

At the sight of them, Poe quickly drew his blaster and started firing on the Infection Forms, blasting one after another.

Half-way across the bridge, the soldiers stopped and turned around. They raised their rifles and without hesitation fired upon the Infection Forms, cutting them with a volley of laser bolts, and since the cliffside was so narrow it forced the Infection Forms into single-files. Making them easy pickings for the soldiers, which the soldiers gladly took advantage off.

Poe and the others’ attention though abruptly snapped behind them as they heard a loud roar behind them.

While the soldiers resumed firing on the Infection Forms, Poe’s eyes widened at the sight before them…!

Running through the tunnel, Holdo yelled as she leapt out of the tight tunnel into a vast-open cave and slammed her body against the atop a cliffside that ran along the cave’ wall.

Holdo quickly stood back up, but sharply groaned as she tried to take a step forward. Experiencing discomfort in her left hoof.

Despite the pain, she winched in pain as she continued forward. She fought through the pain as she followed the cliffside.

She followed the cliffside for some time until her ears perked up at hearing voices ahead of her, which was then followed by laser fire.

Her smiled weakly and hobbled forward much faster.

She soon rounded the corner and not only smiled at seeing Poe, B8, and the soldiers, but the despair that had begun to take hold over her weakened and gave way to hope.

Holdo opened her mouth to call out to Poe, but before she could a loud roar interrupted her.

Her head jerked back, and she looked over her shoulder, only to freeze in her tracks at the sight of a large behemoth that towered over her.

The creature was a large, bulky quadruped with tentacles on its upper body that flailed wildly. It possessed no head, just a spot on its body that had an extra-large concentration of antennae-like tentacles.

Holdo silently stared at the abomination in surprise, shock, but most importantly; fear.

The Thrasher slowly stepped forward, but then-

“HOLDO!”

The familiar voice of Poe Dameron called out. Followed by a series of blaster bolts that rapidly struck the Thrasher’s torso, stopping it in its tracks as it looked up from Holdo towards its attacker. Once it did, Holdo quickly turned around and ran away from it; heading straight for the bridge without delay, in spite of the pain that tormented her with every step she took.

The Thrasher attention shifted back down towards Holdo, but it noticed her running away and crawled forward in pursuit of the mare.

Panting, Holdo ran along the cliffside towards the bridge, but a sudden swipe from the creature’s right arm knocked her to the ground. She sharply inhaled from the immediate pain that followed.

While groaning in pain, the Thrasher reached out towards her with its tentacles…but before it could reach her, B8 suddenly flew up and zapped it with its ARC Welder. The Thrasher jolted back at the abrupt pain.

The Thrasher raised its right arm to bring it down on Holdo and the droid, but B8 quickly ignited his boosters and flew up towards the Thrasher, taking it by surprise.

B8 quickly flew around the hulking abomination, distracting it while Poe and another soldier ran up towards Holdo. They lifted her up and let her put her hooves around them before they ran back towards the bridge.

The Thrasher slashed its tentacled forearms through the air at the quick-moving astromech droid, its frustration growing with every miss.

“Come on, B8!” the droid heard Poe call out to it. It rotated its dome towards Poe, and saw that he, Holdo and the soldier had reached the bridge.

B8 immediately turned left and flew straight towards Poe and the others. However, as it did, the abomination swung both of its tentacled forearms out towards the droid…and hit B8!

B8 whined aloud as he was sent flying through the air. Both Poe and Holdo abruptly stopped in their tracks and looked out across the chasm, their eyes widening as they watched B8 being flung through the air, spinning around until he violently slammed into the cave wall. B8 exploded upon impact!

Poe gasped at the explosion and stared at the wall. His jaw dropped, and tears formed in his eyes. Those tears ran down along his cheeks at witnessing B8’s death.

“…!”

A muffled voice shouted, drawing Poe back to reality.

“COME ON, COMMANDER DAMERON!” Holdo shouted at the entranced squadron commander. Two soldiers ran over towards them; one that helped the other carry Holdo onto and across the bridge. Another soldier ran up towards Poe and pulled him onto and across the bridge. Once Poe, Holdo and the other soldiers were across the bridge, the two remaining soldiers – back across the bridge – started running across the bridge to join their comrades. However, Infection Forms suddenly leapt on their backs, knocking them to the ground.

The soldiers struggled to get free from the Infection Forms’ grasp, but due to sheer number of Infection Forms there was nothing they could do. Infection Forms crawled to the front of their bodies and ripped off armor plates covering their chests before they violently burrowed into the soldiers’ bodies. They found the soldiers’ nervous systems and assumed control of the victims. The soldiers screamed in agony as they lost control to the Infection Forms, shortly before Flood biomass started sprouting up across their upper body. Their left hoof violently mutated into a whip-like claw.

Soon, those agonized screams turned into feral growls.

The new Combat Forms stood up on their hooves, their bodies twitched as they stood in their tracks. Then, they charged forward across the bridge along with the horde of Infection Forms. The behemoth abomination accompanied them across the bridge, trudging towards the other side in pursuit of the Equestrians.

Half-way across the bridge, the soldiers carrying Holdo looked back over their shoulders at the horde pursuing them. Their fear growing as they heard the Infection Forms’ eerie screeching. One of the soldiers, though suddenly stopped in his tracks as he got an idea.

It was a stupid idea, but their situation wasn’t exactly looking too good either way.

He quickly dropped Holdo and swiped the other soldier’s grenade before he turned around. Running back across the bridge towards the horde, much to Holdo and the other soldier’s shock.

“What are you doing?!” the other soldier called out, but the first soldier didn’t respond.

The first soldier smirked as he stopped at the center of the bridge. He looked up at the tide of horror heading straight for him, but seconds before the Infection, Combat Forms and Thrasher reached him, he activated the grenades.

“YOU. SHALL. NOT PPAAAASSSSS!” he yelled, before raising the grenade high into the air before swiftly throwing it down towards the bridge.

KRA-BOOOOM!

A massive ball of fire erupted outwards across the bridge, sending a wall of fire out in every direction around the bridge’s center. The flames consumed the two Combat Forms, and the horde of Infection Forms; destroying them all!

The Thrasher stopped just short of the flames, but the part of the wall that it stood upon cracked. It broke off from the rest of the bridge, sending the Thrasher and several Infection Forms plummeting into the darkness, below.

Back across the bridge, Poe, Holdo, and the seven remaining soldiers abruptly froze in their tracks as they heard the explosion. They managed to turn around just in time to see the ball of fire destroy the bridge, and despite the flames not destroying them, the Thrasher and several Infection Forms fell down into the dark abyss, below. Now, nothing but a vast gap separated the two sides of the bridge from each other.

The silence that befell following the destruction of the bridge was abruptly interrupted by a loud feral roar that echoed throughout the cave.

“What. Was. That?!” asked one of the soldiers in a soft, frightened voice.

Poe slowly turned his head and looked out across the chasm towards the other side. He trotted out onto the bridge and furrowed his brows as he noticed movement on the other side…but the movement was from the Infection Forms along the cliffside. Instead, it came from underneath the cliffs.

Tentacles; long and thick slithered up along the wall towards the cliffs.

Soon, another roar was uttered, which this time shook the entire cave.

Holdo, Poe and the remaining soldiers’ eyes widened, and fearful expressions formed on their faces as they looked down towards the ground; feeling vibrations in the ground.

Poe slowly backed away from the bridge towards Holdo, where he quickly took over for one of the soldiers. He looked up in front of him, where he spotted several tunnels; all of which looked to head upwards.

“Come on, we’ve got to keep going,” Poe said as he hauled Holdo towards the nearest tunnel. The seven soldiers followed after them into the tunnel.

Behind them, large, thick tentacles with spikes on the side slid up along the side, blocking nearly half of the open space – that led to the tunnels the Equestrians had used.

Poe, Holdo and the seven soldiers followed the tunnel until they finally reached the end of their journey through these dark caves.

Darkness gave way to light, and Poe sighed as faint beams of sunlight shined on his face. Together, he and the others trotted out of the dark caves into the warm rays that shined upon them. The light seemed to banish the cave and replace it with warmth.

“Come, let’s put some distance between us and these caves,” Poe instructed to the soldiers. He, Holdo and the soldiers moved away from the cave entrances. They managed to haul Holdo all the way to a small grassy hillside, the hillside was flanked on all sides by several cliffs that towered over the field. In the background, one could see the snowy mountain peaks.

He gently lowered Holdo onto the ground and smiled at the mare.

“Shsss. It’s okay, we’re out of that hellhole,” he said to her in a comforting tone, gently stroking her mane.

However, despite escaping the cave in one piece, Poe’s joy soon turned into sadness as he was reminded of how that abomination had killed B8. Murdered his best friend in the entire galaxy, and yet, he smiled back at Holdo.

Holdo smiled back at him…though, her warm smile abruptly contorted into a wide-eyed look of fear and horror as she noticed movement behind Poe.

Noticing the distressed look on her face, Poe quickly turned around and looked to where she was. What he saw, though made him freeze in his tracks. Upon seeing their commander’s fearful look, the soldiers looked in the same direction, only to be paralyzed by similar, fearful expressions. Their eyes widened, and jaws dropped in terror.

A horde of Infection Forms poured onto the field, where Poe, Holdo and the others had sought refuge. Accompanied by what looked like a normal Combat Form, but one that had infected a humanoid creature. A large humanoid by the looks of it, with the Infection Form nestled in its jaw of all places!

Its left arm was a standard whip-like claw, but it held something in its right hand. Something that made the remaining soldiers really scared; a blaster rifle.

This new Combat Form lumbered forward at the back of the horde, while the Infection Forms charged directly at the Equestrians. One of the Infection Forms at the head of the group leapt into the air, unfurling its tentacles as it shot straight for Poe’s chest.

Instinctively, Poe raised his pistol and blasted the Infection Form. Its body splattering on the ground.

Without hesitation, Poe and the other soldiers fired upon the horde of Infection Forms. Blasting them away, one after another, while a few of the soldiers retreated towards the hillside – where Holdo, Poe and the other soldiers had situated themselves.

The Infection Forms leapt into the air onto several soldiers, knocking them to the ground, all while the soldiers screamed. Their fearful cries were shortly replaced by screams of pain, which then turned into feral growling.

The new Combat Forms quickly rose to their hooves, turned around, and immediately charged towards the hilltop; intent on either killing or infecting the remaining survivors.

The soldiers threw grenades at the horde, which destroyed a lot of the Infection Forms, though it only slowed the Infection Forms as they still kept coming. A giant wave of unstoppable, sickly pale flesh and flailing tentacles. The Infection Forms’ screeches echoed throughout the surrounding cliffs.

While they didn’t have many grenades left, the soldiers threw the few they had left at the horde, with the final one being thrown at the Combat Form. However, several Infection noticed the grenade and jumped into the air. They wrapped their tentacles around the grenade and pulled it down towards the ground, much to Poe and the soldier’s surprise and shock. The Infection Form exploded, destroying several nearby Infection Forms, though the new – humanoid – Combat Form was left unharmed; their weapons were harming it, but nowhere enough to kill it.

As the – humanoid – Combat Form advanced towards them, several soldiers shifted their aim towards it, but Poe noticed this and immediately called them out…

“Focus fire on the smaller ones! Ignore the big one,” he shouted at the soldiers.

“But, Commander Dameron--“ a soldier called out, but was interrupted by Poe.

“The smaller ones are faster than that juggernaut! If we don’t focus on them, then they will swarm us,” Poe shouted as he raised his blaster pistol and opened fire on another Infection Form, killing it after a few shots.

The Equestrians continued firing on the Flood Forms, but despite their efforts were unable to slow the Combat Form.

However, the Combat Form, then raised its blaster and fired several – superheated – spikes at the equines, pinning them to the ground.

Despite being pinned, the equines tried to free themselves, but the spikes had struck them in a vital place that attempting to move the spike caused them excruciating pain. Fortunately – or unfortunately – an end to their torment came as an Infection Form leapt onto them; infecting and turning them into a Combat Form.

The – humanoid – Combat Form, its army of equine Combat Forms, and Infection Forms advanced up along the hill towards Poe and Holdo’s position; infecting equine after equine along the way.

“Pull back! PULL BACK!” Poe shouted.

He and another soldier grabbed Holdo and pulled her along the ground towards the center of the hill. Doing whatever her could to put as much distance between them and the Flood as possible.

The few remaining soldiers broke their lines and ran back towards the center of the hill. However, nothing was able to save them from the Infection Forms that pounced on their backs, knocking them forwards on the ground, where the Infection Forms then swarmed them. Their terrified screams were drowned out by the constant chittering before eventually being replaced by the feral growls of a Combat Form.

From their little spot atop the hill, Poe looked out across the field in horror. His eyes wide, and his jaw dropped at the sight of the unstoppable menace that now circled the hillside; cutting off any potential escape routes that Poe, Holdo and the two remaining soldiers might have used.

As the Infection Forms crawled along the hill, the abomination stopped and stared at the four Equestrians. Despite possessing no eyes, Poe knew that it was looking directly at them. Waiting for its Infection Forms to reach the top of the hill and convert them into Combat Forms. Even as Poe and the two soldiers continually fired upon the Infection Forms, desperately trying to slow their advance.

However, despite Poe and the soldiers’ efforts, even their feeble attempt to buy time was failing as the Infection Forms were too numerous. They were eventually forced back to back away from the edge towards the hilltop’s center, standing back-to-back as chittering Infection Forms crawled up from the edge.

Poe scrunched his face at the sight of the first Infection Form to reach the hilltop. He almost wanted to congratulate the thing for being the first to reach them, if it and its kind hadn’t just infected and his comrades and killed B8.

While its Infection Forms scaled the hill to reach the Equestrians, the – humanoid – Combat Form roared and charged straight at the side of the hill, slamming its bulk against it. The hill shook, creating a crack that travelled up along the hilltop towards where Poe, Holdo and the two remaining soldiers stood. Part of it broke off and fell, causing one soldier to fall screaming down into the horde of Infection Forms. All of whom swarmed the soldier as he screamed in fear, then pain, and finally growled ferally.

The newest Combat Form then stood up and looked up towards Poe, Holdo, and the remaining soldier.

Time seemed to slow down for Poe, allowing him a final moment to stare at this single Infection Form in contemplation…

I am sorry, Doctor. I am sorry for mis-judging you, thought Poe. I now understand why you were scared, Doctor. These things, Flood or whatever they may be, are truly creatures to fear…for it is fear that will allow you to survive their terrible onslaught. To buy you another day to fight back before they turn you into their puppet…like they did your friends before you.

In this moment of thought, he closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath. He exhaled and opened them again, furrowing his brows as he glared at the Infection Form. He then repeatedly blasted the Infection Form until he knocked its dead body off the edge of the hill…only for another Infection Form to take its place…

However, before it, and several other Infection Forms, could pounce on Poe and the others, several blue beams shot from the sky and blasted the Infection Forms!

Several beams shot down and hit the Infection Forms crawling along the side of the hilltop, rapidly tearing smoldering holes in the Infection Forms, leaving many to plummet lifeless to the ground.

The – humanoid – Combat Form looked up into the sky at the Equestrians’ saviors and watched as swarms of Aggressor Sentinels swooped down towards the hill. The Sentinels unleashed a volley of laser fire upon the Infection Forms, burning them away with their incredible heat.

Roaring enraged, the Combat Form raised its arm to fire upon the Sentinels…but before it could, a beam suddenly shot down from the sky and hit it!

The Combat Form staggered backwards from the explosion but wasn’t given a chance to respond before it was blasted a second time by multiple beams, that tore numerous holes in its body. The Combat Form dropped to its knee, standing up on one knee before it ultimately collapsed onto the ground, slamming into the ground.

Poe, Holdo and the two soldiers looked around them in shock and surprise as the Aggressor Sentinels attacked and incinerated the remaining horde of Infection Forms on the battlefield, overwhelming them with the loss of the Combat Form.

The Infection Forms scurried about the hill until they soon turned and fled back the way they had come; fleeing back to their caves.

Hundreds of Aggressors flew around and patrolled the area, making sure that the Flood had been defeated; securing the few Equestrians that had survived the Flood’ attack.

As the Sentinels patrolled the area, Poe and the soldiers slowly turned their heads, looking at the mysterious drones – or whatever they were – that had just saved them from the Flood. A look of awe on their faces at these strange machines, if they even were machines. They could have metallic bodies but have organic brains. Who was Poe to say that such feats couldn’t be accomplished with technology?

As they looked at the Sentinels, neither of them noticed a chrome, metal orb descended from the air behind them.

They turned around and froze at the sight of the shiny, blue objecting hovering in front of them.

“Greeting, Equestrian.”

Author's Note

Feedback and comments are appreciated

Link1 - Game of Thrones Season 4 Soundtrack -14 The North Remembers
Link2 - 1. "Lily's Theme" - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (soundtrack)
Link3 - Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare OST - Corroded
Link4 - 12. The Darkest Hour - The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Special Edition Soundtrack)