Episode 1: A New Hope

Far on the other side of the planet, the Master Builder and Penitent Tangent re-appeared from their teleport inside a dark chamber.

The Master Builder dropped to his knees, catching himself with his arms, standing up on all fours as he panted heavily.

Penitent immediately floated down beside the Forerunner, hovering above his shoulder.

“Master Builder are you alright?” the Monitor asked.

The Master Builder arched his head upwards, looking out in front of him towards a large, vertically rectangular doorway.

“Monitor, they didn’t stand a chance,” said the Master Builder in a soft, stunned, and horrified tone.

“The Flood-… They were just testing us…”

“It was not a battle to them, but a test of strength!”

He raised his voice as he quickly stood up on his feet, staring out towards the bright light ahead of him – from the doorway.

Quickly looking back over his shoulder, he stared directly at the Penitent Tangent.

“Dispatch Aggressor Sentinels to eliminate the Flood horde located near the facility they just destroyed, the least we can do is repay the favor…” he said, putting his hands behind his back as turned back towards the doorway ahead of him, silently stepping up towards it.

“As you wish, Master Builder-“

“…and make sure to dispatch Enforcer Sentinels as well,” the Master Builder interjected, causing Penitent to do a double take.

“Enforcers?” the Monitor asked.

“Correct,” the Forerunner replied as he stepped out of the darkened chamber onto a balcony, leaving Penitent silently stunned.

“Very well,” Penitent replied, nodding back.

Vanishing in a golden light as he teleported off to enact his master’s orders, leaving the Master Builder alone in the new facility they had arrived at.

Unlike their previous facility, this one would certainly serve them as a better base of operations.

Stopping outside on the balcony, the Master Builder moved his hands in front of him, touching them atop the balcony as he looked out over the volcanic wasteland before him.

Dark clouds hung high in the skies above him, discharging bolts of lightning down towards the surface.

Some even shot down towards the Forerunner facility the Master Builder was but struck a force field that surrounded the structure.

The force field absorbed the lightning and became invisible once more.

Abruptly turning around, he hurriedly walked back inside the large, black structure.

Despite dispatching the Monitor, he could not wait for his return to begin the next steps in ensuring that the Flood never leaves the planet.

War has come to Liber…and a lot can happen in the chaos that will ensue…

A couple minutes later, the lights of hundreds of Aggressor Sentinels switched on as they activated.

Coming online, they detached from the racks they hung on and flew out of their storage spaces, making their way towards the surface.

As the Sentinels swarmed in the thousands, though, they separated into four, large groups that flew north, west, south and east towards the various sites where Flood activity has been recently detected.

Accompanying the Aggressors Sentinels were the larger, more armored, and armed Enforcers.

Begun, the Forerunner-Flood War has!

*******

Rey’s living room abruptly shook as a deep rumbling noise was heard in the distance, drawing Rey’s attention up away from the book she was reading towards one of the windows.

The Doctor and Primordial had been talking for a while now, but their conversation was brought to a swift end as they too heard the rumbling, feeling the couch they were sitting on shake as the ground shook.

Like Rey, their attention shifted towards a window.

“What the heck was that?” Twilight asked, peeking her head out the kitchen, only to notice the Doctor, Rey, and Primordial staring out the windows.

“Um, hello?” she asked before she also looked towards the window, staring outside.

A long silence fell upon the room, until Rey spoke up.

“Something has happened,” she said.

“I’ve only ever heard rumbling like that once or twice a month-” Rey explained to the others before turning her head and looking back over her shoulder at the two equines and lone Precursor.

“…however, I have never heard it that loud before. Nor did it ever shake the ground before,” she added in a nervous tone.

The Primordial shot her a confused look.

“Wait a minute. You mean to say…that this has happened before?” the Primordial asked.

Rey turned towards the Precursor and nodded.

“But something tells me that this time is different from the others,” she said as she turned back towards the window and looked outside through it.

“Well, in that case, what do you think we should do, Doctor?” Twilight asked.

Raising a hoof to his chin, he held it as he thought about their course of action.

“Hmm. Well, under normal circumstances I would recommend that we investigate…but seeing as we still need to find Holdo and Poe, we should focus our attention on finding them. Then, we can turn our attention to the Flood – and possibly the Forerunner that imprisoned the Primordial,” said the Doctor after thinking it over.

“Yes, that’s right!” Twilight exclaimed, slapping her forehead as her eyes widened.

Her shock and surprise, though, then gave way to confusion.

“Wait, I thought we stopped searching for them?” she asked the Time Lord.

The Doctor immediately jerked his head towards the mare, shooting her a serious, wide-eyed stare before trotting up towards her.

“Twilight, if you’re going to continue travelling with me, then you must understand that unless we have definite evidence that someone is dead, we never give up hope,” he said in a slightly stern tone, staring into her eyes, and her into his – eyes.

This abrupt change from the Doctor caught Twilight off-guard as her body froze, tensing up from his sudden attitude shift.

“What makes you think that your friends are alive?” asked the Primordial.

“Unlike you, who encountered young Rey, here, this Poe and Holdo that you speak of have been forced to survive on their own without shelter, without weapons, with no hope,” said the Primordial, pointing her finger at Rey.

“Our current course of action should be to use your TARDIS to leave this place and contact other races across the galaxy. Then, we return and combat the Flood together. Destroying the parasite once and for,” she said.

Sighing heavily, the Doctor hung his head.

“Even if I was willing to do something like that, my TARDIS is gone,” the Doctor said.

“We are trapped here until the fleet in orbit can land and retrieve us. Something I find highly unlikely once they learn of the threat the Flood, not just to them but all life.”

“’’Fleet’’? What fleet?” the Primordial inquired.

“I would have thought that the Master Builder would deny any non-Forerunner ships access to the planet,” she said.

The Doctor’s eyes widened as he jerked his head back towards the Primordial.

“Perhaps your right,” he said, pointing his hoof at the Primordial.

Twilight and Rey furrowed their brows, shooting him confused looks.

“Doctor, what do you mean?” Twilight inquired confusedly, to which the Doctor turned to face her.

“Think about it, Twilight. The minute we arrived, we were attacked by something,” said the Doctor, pointing his hoof towards Twilight now.

“We never stood a chance in hell of fighting it – whatever it was. What if it was the Master Builder’s orbital defenses that attacked us because we got too close to the planet?” he suggested.

“Now, theoretically, assuming this Master Builder is indeed the last Forerunner in the galaxy, what do you think he does to anyone that could pose a threat to him?” the Doctor asked.

Twilight looked down, off to the side as she thought about the question, coming up with an answer to his question.

However, she did not like the answer that came to her.

“He destroys them,” she said, horror struck.

The Doctor nodded back.

“Or worse, he subjugates them to serve him if one day he feels sufficiently threatened to step out of the shadows and enslave the galaxy,” said the Doctor.

“That does sound highly likely,” the Primordial interjected, drawing everyone’s attention to her.

“During their prime, the Forerunners did have a rather bloated ego about themselves as the supreme beings of the universe.”

The Doctor furrowed his brows confusedly at her, but still nodded in agreement at what she was saying.

“She is right,” he said, turning back towards Twilight and Rey.

Rey grimaced confusedly at the Time Lord, befuddled by why a single Forerunner – perhaps the last Forerunner – was so dangerous.

“But, wait a minute, Doc,” she interjected, drawing everyone else’s attention.

“I don’t understand this. It’s just one single Forerunner, what’s the big deal?” she asked.

Before the Doctor could answer, the Primordial spoke out before him.

“The Forerunners was a very technologically advanced race. In their prime, the Forerunners controlled nearly the entire galaxy. What little that was not under their control belonged to Ancient Equestrians – the closest thing the Forerunners had to a rival, aside from us, the Precursors,” she explained.

“The Forerunners were so displeased with our choice to pass the Mantle of Responsibility down to the Equestrians, so they rebelled against us; hunting us down to extinction.”

Again, the Doctor raised his brow as he shot her an odd look, though, it abruptly faded away as his attention shifted towards Twilight as she asked, “Um, excuse me, but what is the Mantle of Responsibility?”

The Doctor and Primordial silently looked at each other, then back towards Twilight and Rey.

“The Mantle of Responsibility, it is what dictates who governs the galaxy,” the Doctor explained, causing Twilight and Rey’s brows to jump. Surprised by this information.

“The Forerunner stole the Mantle for themselves, driving us to extinction –well, near extinction now – only to lose the Mantle when the Forerunner-Flood War began,” the Primordial added.

Hanging his head, the Doctor nodded in agreement.

Rey’s eyes widened, and jaw hung agape as she was surprised to learn of all these; the Flood, the Precursors, the Forerunners, and now this Mantle of Responsibility too.

After letting it all sink in, Rey eventually replied a soft, “Oh.”

“’’Oh’’ indeed,” said the Doctor.

“But dangerous creatures aside, we still need to figure a way off this rock, whether it be the fleet or using a ship found down here,” the Doctor added.

Silence fell over the living room as everyone looked at each other, only interrupted by Twilight speaking out…

“Wait a minute, Doctor, what about Poe and Holdo?” she asked.

“We can’t just abandon them.”

The Doctor’s face briefly contorted into a look of frustration, turning into a blank stare as he turned towards her.

“Twilight, I am sorry, but we have not seen any trace of Poe, Holdo, or anyone else really ever since we escaped from the Flood and got separated in the mountains. Anything could have happened to them; they could have died in the crash – though unlikely, but we must consider it – or worse, they were found by the Flood and assimilated,” said the Doctor in a sad tone as he grabbed and held Twilight’s shoulders.

“Now the Flood should be able to buy us some time, distracting the Master Builder long enough for us to escape – assuming they have the forces or intellect to pose a threat to him – though, we must be prepared for the possibility that he will consider us to be Flood attempting to escape the planet to begin spreading across the galaxy,” said the Doctor as he released his grip on Twilight and turned away from her back towards Rey and the Primordial, speaking in a more serious tone as Twilight hung her head dejectedly.

“The Master Builder may be our enemy, but he definitely hates the Flood as much as us and will most assuredly do anything to prevent another galactic-wide infestation.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Rey asked.

“How are we gonna get past both the Flood and the Master Builder?”

Much to the mare’s surprise, the Doctor sighed and hung his head.

“I don’t know,” he replied, defeated as he shook his head.

“I’d need information about the Master Builder’s facilities, and I very much doubt that his security cameras didn’t record us when we broke into the Primordial’s holding facility.”

“With the threat of the Flood, I doubt we’re gonna have an easy time sneaking into another one of his facilities again,” he said dejectedly.

However, while Rey turned towards Twilight, shooting her a concerned look, the Doctor abruptly furrowed his brows as he heard something.

A faint vibration coming from his waistcoat pocket.

Turning their heads, all four looked towards the Doctor’s waistcoat.

Curious, the Doctor trotted up towards it – the waistcoat – and reached inside his pocket, fishing out the holoprojector. He clicked it, causing the ghostly image of the TARDIS’ humanoid avatar to appear before him.

A confident smile on her face, while she held a hand on her hip.

“Good thing I hacked the Forerunner database, so I now know about the Master Builder’s other facilities,” said TARDIS.

At hearing this, the Doctor furrowed his brows confusedly, shaking his head.

“Hang on a minute, when did you manage to hack the Master Builder’s data systems?” he asked.

“Remember back when you used your sonic screwdriver to scan the mechanism that released the Primordial?” TARDIS asked.

“While you scanned, I established a wireless connection to the Forerunner systems, and managed to access the facility’s database; discovering the location of the other facilities scattered across the planet,” she explained.

The Doctor’s brows jumped at her explanation.

“Huh,” he remarked.

“Did not know that you were connected to the sonic.”

Smiling, TARDIS shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, both your sonic and the holoprojector are tools I’ve given you, Doctor, so yeah,” she snarkly replied.

The Doctor stared at her a couple moments before shaking his head.

“Anyway, you were saying something about knowing where the Master Builder’s facilities are located?” he asked, bringing the topic back to the information she had obtained.

“Mm-hmm,” TARDIS nodded.

Extending her arm, she held her hand out in front of her towards the floor, conjuring a blue holographic representation of the planet – they were on.

Red dots appeared across the hologram, marking several locations on the hologram as it slowly began spinning, showing Twilight, Rey, and the Primordial the marked places. TARDIS then lowered her hand, and silently looked towards the hologram along with the Doctor.

However, despite most of the dots being red, one was white, and another was blue.

“Now this, here, is us,” said TARDIS, pointing her finger towards the blue dot on the holographic map.

The Doctor and others looked towards the blue dot, seeing it was located deep into the mountains.

“Though, while there are many other facilities we could go to, I recommend we go here first,” she said, pointing her finger towards the one white dot on the map.

“Why?” inquired the Doctor.

TARDIS turned her head – right – looking directly at the Time Lord.

“Because scans show two Equestrian lifeforms inside the facility’s remains,” she said.

“Uninfected lifeforms,” she added.

Twilight, Rey, but especially the Doctor’s, eyes widened at hearing this, and the Doctor’s head jerked towards TARDIS, staring wide-eyed at her.

“What!?”

He and Twilight exclaimed in unison, both equally shocked by this news.

“Yes,” TARDIS said.

Amidst the Doctor and Twilight’s surprise, though, Rey furrowed her brows at TARDIS as she shot her a serious glance.

“What do you mean “the facility’s remains”?” Rey asked, drawing TARDIS’s attention towards her.

TARDIS sighed heavily as she looked towards the mare.

“Yes, there is a one small complication,” TARDIS said before she looked down towards the holographic map.

Extending her arm, she pointed her finger at the white dot, selecting it.

Selecting it, they zoomed in on the white dot’s location, showing a tall, titular, mountain peak at the edge of the mountain range.

While it looked like a normal mountain, the Doctor, Rey, and Twilight noticed something upon looking closer to the side of the mountain.

Perched atop a mountain side was what looked like a ruined structure…along with some sort of odd growth that was spreading across it, and large, thick, tentacles that coiled around several ruined towers.

“That facility was recently attacked by the Flood,” TARDIS explained.

Without skipping a beat, the optimism on Rey and Twilight’s faces faded away, leaving them terrified by this news.

None more so than the Doctor.

However, as he hung his head and sighed, he soon looked back up towards the map.

Silently staring towards it with a determined look on his face before he turned his head and looked towards the TARDIS’s avatar.

“Of the Flood activity in that region, is any of them Combat or Infection Forms?” he asked.

Turning her head, the TARDIS looked beside her towards him, folding her arms over her chest.

She shook her head at him.

“No” she answered.

“In fact, I detected a nearby Flood army, but it appears to be moving out,” she said.

At hearing this, the Doctor’s head jerked back towards the map.

Silently looking towards the map before his attention shifted towards Rey.

“How comfortable are you flying close to a Flood hive?” he asked her.

Twilight’s brows jumped, and eyes widened, surprised by his inquiry.

“Doctor,” she called out to him, only to interrupted by Rey.

“Sure, should be easy enough to do,” she said, smirking confidently back at the Time Lord.

The Doctor smiled back before he turned back towards the TARDIS.

“Now, I’m going to need the schematics for that facility, the layout, the whole thing,” he said.

The TARDIS nodded back, hanging her head as she looked down towards the holoprojector, causing the center of it to beep, softly flashing a blue light.

“There,” she said, smiling at him.

The Doctor returned the smile before he jerked his head back towards Rey.

“Perfect. Now, Rey, let’s going,” he said, nudging his head towards the hallway leading to the garage.

As Rey nodded back, the TARDIS’ avatar disappeared back down into the holoprojector, and the Doctor put it – the holoprojector – in his pocket.

While putting his coat on, Rey hurriedly trotted into her bedroom, where she grabbed her quarterstaff before trotting up towards the Doctor as he stood by the hallway doorway.

“Doctor!” Twilight loudly shouted, finally grabbing the Doctor’s attention as he and Rey froze in their tracks. Even the Primordial looked towards her.

“What, Twilight?” the Doctor asked, confused by her outburst.

Twilight, though, sharply scoffed at his response. Her eyes widened, and jaw dropped as she gawked at him.

“What do you mean ‘’what, Twilight’’?” Twilight asked, outraged.

“You’re about to leave to go into a Flood hive, hoping to find Poe and Holdo in it,” she said, calming down a little.

“Yes, I am,” the Doctor nodded back.

“And what’s the problem?” he asked.

“Well, Doctor, I don’t want to be the voice of reason – because like you, I very much hope that they are alive – but after hearing how you talked about the Flood, I’m sorry that the burden of reminding you falls to me, Doctor; but they are not alive,” Twilight said, frowning sadly at him as the anger in her voice gave way to sadness.

“They are not alive,” she continued, almost sobbing as she frowned back at the Doctor.

Looking back at her, the Doctor slowly hung his head and nodded in response.

Staring back at him, Twilight tilted her slightly as she felt sorry for him.

She did not want to be the one that reminded him of the horrors of the Flood, and the danger they posed.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said.

“You may be right, Twilight-” said the Doctor as he stopped nodding, but kept his head hung low, “…but this is not a normal situation.”

Craning his head back up, he stared back at Twilight, shooting her a serious look.

“The Flood have begun their conquest of this planet, which gives us an incredibly rare opportunity to save someone – possibly two individuals – from being assimilated by the Flood,” said the Doctor as he smirked confidently at the lavender mare.

“Trust me, Twilight, we are going to save Holdo and Poe and bringing them back safely,” he said before he turned around and trotted down the hallway.

Turning around, Rey joined the Time Lord as both equines made their way towards the garage to depart.

As the Doctor – and Rey – left, Twilight almost trotted off after him, but stopped in her tracks as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head and looked back over her shoulder, seeing the Primordial standing over her.

“Let the Time Lord go,” said the Precursor.

“If it is his wish to try and save this Poe and Holdo, then there is nothing neither of us can do to change his mind. Me least of all.”

Twilight silently stared blankly up at the Primordial, its words calming her – a little bit.

“If there is anyone more qualified to deal with the parasite it is the Doctor.”

Averting her gaze from the god being, Twilight hung her head as the Primordial’s words sank in.

It was true.

Twilight had personally witnessed the Doctor defeat an army of homicidal blobs inside armored casings, and all by merely giving them what they wanted, thereby allowing them to destroy themselves.

Hearing the garage door open, she looked up from the floor towards one of the windows. She then trotted up towards it and stared outside as the Doctor and Rey flew off on her speeder.

As the speeder flew above the ground, it blew up snow.

“Come back, Doctor,” she softly said.

“Please…come back with Rey, Holdo, and Poe in one piece.”

Twilight said as the Doctor and Rey flew down and then out of the hidden cliff-side cave.

*******

Meanwhile in another corner of the planet, a dead silence hung over a Forerunner city.

Not a living soul resided within the vacant city…and yet a deep rumbling filled the city as the ground shook.

Without warning, multiple large tentacles burst through the walls and floors.

They flailed in the air, before calming down to allow Combat Forms to emerge from the tunnels they had created, pouring out into the city’s many hallways and corridors.

Alongside the Combat Forms, the tentacles continued burrowing throughout the city, advancing through it a lot faster than the Combat Forms.

One part of the swam of Aggressor Sentinels were close to the city and flew inside to combat the parasite.

However, while Enforcer Sentinels accompanied the Aggressors, they were unable to fit inside enclosed spaces like corridors or hallways, forcing the Aggressors to go in and combat the Flood forms without them – the Enforcers.

While in the first few hours of the attack, the Aggressors managed to hold their own against the Combat Forms, their line eventually started to stagger as the Flood made a sudden push.

Replacing the smaller and weaker Equestrian Combat Forms with bigger and stronger Sanghelli and Jiralhanae, taking the Aggressors by surprise.

Overwhelming the Aggressors, the Flood spread throughout the city.

Once the Aggressors engaged the Flood in an open enough area, the Enforcers joined the frey.

They were, however, given little time to act before being suddenly beset by large Flood tentacles bursting through the ground, and/or walls. The tentacles grabbed the Enforcers, crushing them in their grip, rendering them useless.

Next, the tentacles attacked the Aggressors, bringing their weight down on the Sentinels and smashing them.

With nothing standing in their way, the Flood continued through the city till they reached the primary mainframe in the central control room.

Once fully secured, the Flood accessed the mainframe…

At the same time, the Master Builder watched the Flood infestation of the city through the security cameras on a large, cylindrical monitor that hovered in front of him in mid-air.

While obstructed by his armor’s mask, the Forerunner nervously watched the Flood gain control of the city.

Turning his head right, he looked towards another monitor, where he watched the Flood invade another city.

One of the monitors showed one Aggressor Sentinel’s point of view, as it and its brothers swarmed to another infester city.

Each abandoned Forerunner city had become its own war zone.

Turning his head again, the Master Builder shifted his focus towards another monitor, where he watched another Aggressor’s point of view as it fired its Sentinel beam at an Equestrian Combat Form, killing it. This took place in another city, where the Sentinels had engaged the Flood forces.

Penitent Tangent teleported behind the Master Builder and floated over towards the Forerunner.

“Master Builder, all Sentinels are being deployed to fend off the constant Flood attacks,” said the Monitor.

While obscured behind his mask, the Master Builder furrowed his brows confusedly as he observed the war raging across his planet between the Flood and his Sentinels.

Despite being undoubtedly more coordinated – indicating the presence of a higher Flood intelligence – no Pure Forms were present at any of the cities that the Flood had attacked, which unnerved the Master Builder.

Normally, when the Flood were coordinated Pure Forms would be present, but this time there was a distinct lack of any Pure Forms participating at any of the contested war zones.

*******

A little while later, a cold wind blew across two equine figures as they stood on the edge of a mountainside, staring towards a mountain peak where the ruined remains of a Forerunner facility stood upon a mountainside.

Flood biomass had begun spreading across the ruined structure, covering a quarter of the Flood facility still standing atop the mountainside, and large Flood tentacles had coiled themselves around the few towers still standing on the facility.

Standing on the edge of their mountainside, the Doctor and Rey stared back across the vast gap between them and the infested Forerunner facility as the wind howled as it blew.

Turning his head, the Doctor looked towards Rey, and she towards him.

“You have done enough merely bringing me here,” he said.

“You don’t have to go any further with me.”

Rey, though, merely smirked confidently back at him.

“Yeah, no, Doc. I’m going in there with you. You’ll need someone to watch your back,” she said.

“You do realize that this is a Flood hive?” asked the Doctor.

“You might not come back out with me.”

Her smirk changed into an enraged scowl.

“The Flood took the one pony that mattered to me,” she said sternly.

“I’ll go down fighting any day if it means they suffer for what they did.”

“Alright then… Onward into the breach,” he said as he turned back towards the infested ruin.

After a quick fly over the canyon between them and the Flood controlled facility, Rey parked her speeder, and then she and the Doctor disembarked it to begin searching the hive for Poe and Holdo.

They crawled inside a cracked hole in the wall, where they were greeted by the sight of what must be a corridor, though, it was completely covered in Flood biomass – from the walls to the floors and ceilings.

In the short time that they had destroyed, and subsequently taken control of this place they had made good on turning it into a fully-fledged Flood hive.

A bad sign, thought the Doctor, frowning worriedly at the disgusting flesh.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the holoprojector and activated it.

However, unlike the previous times, the TARDIS’s avatar did not appear this time.

Instead, a holographic miniaturized map appeared, displaying the entire facility.

Looking over the map, he checked their surroundings to see where they were. Then, he looked back ahead of him, and trudged forward.

Accompanying him, Rey kept a close eye out for any Flood in case they tried to surprise them as they proceeded down the flesh-covered hallway.

They are now at the very heart of the parasite.

At present, this is the most dangerous place on the entire planet.

An eerie silence filled the Flood hive as the Doctor led the group down along the tunnel.

The group nearly jumped whenever they heard a noise that sounded like movement, the Doctor most of all, as he constantly watched both the walls and numerous tunnels for any sign of movement.

Any at all…

*******

In spite of how she had heard the Doctor talk about the parasite, Twilight’s inner curiosity and fascination with the Flood hive caused her to trot behind the group, staring at the Flood biomass covering the walls.

Large and small, root-like tentacles spread across the walls, leaving only a few tiny, tiny glimpses of their original metal walls, floors, or ceilings visible underneath it all.

In addition, there was also these big gelatinous broils, that looked like they split apart and open five-ways.

The broils shook occasionally, but as Twilight stepped a little closer to them their shaking intensified, and she quickly backed away from them.

Probably best to avoid those things, she mentally told herself before she turned and ran up after the rest of the group, not wanting them to know that she had briefly slacked behind them…

A little further along down the tunnel, Twilight furrowed her brows as she noticed a side-tunnel on the left side of the main tunnel they are following.

Stopping in her tracks, she momentarily looked up ahead at the Doctor and Rey, ensuring they did not notice her, before turning back and looking inside the side-tunnel.

Inside, she saw a room, that while covered in Flood biomass, had not been overtaken to the same extent as the rest of…whatever this place used to be before the Flood came.

However, what caught Twilight’s interest was the large shattered glass tanks.

Many of which looked to have contained liquid, as well as something else, based on the liquid dripping off the cracked holes in them.

Freshly made holes, by how liquid is still dripping from the glass’s tracked tips.

Twilight nervously swallowed, not just from the thought of there possibly being something on the loose hunting them, but also by the various sizes of the glass tanks.

A few of the tanks were pony-sized, but others were 7 ft, and even 8 ft, but the tank that caught Twilight’s attention the most was a single tank standing in the center of the room.

It was 14 ft!

Her eyes widened, threatening to pop out of her skull, at the sight before her, and she gawked unable to move an inch from where she stood.

The sight of the tank literally petrified her.

Twilight finally snapped out of her trance when she felt something on her shoulder and she flinched, gasping aloud as she jumped back away from whatever had approached her.

Before she could fire up a protective spell, though she felt a hoof on her mouth, preventing her from making any sound.

Without hesitating a millisecond, she resisted and struggling to free herself from who or whatever is attacking her.

Her attacker then slammed her up against the wall, standing itself in front of her.

‘’Shss! Be quiet,’’ Rey sternly instructed through gritted teeth as she held Twilight back against the wall, allowing the lavender mare to see her attacker, thus calming her down.

Twilight inhaled, and subsequently exhaled, a deep breath, relieved to see that her ‘’attacker’’ was just Rey.

‘’Fool!’’ Rey softly but sternly berated Twilight.

‘’Are you trying to get yourself or us infected by wandering off like that?!’’ she angrily asked.

‘’S-sorry, I just-‘’ Twilight stuttered, attempting to explain herself, but Rey wasn’t having of it as she turned away from the unicorn to look over her shoulder towards the Doctor back in front of them.

‘’See anything, doc?’’ she softly asked.

The Time Lord shook his head in response.

‘’No,’’ he replied, ‘’We haven’t attracted any Flood.’’

Closing her eyes, Rey sighed heavily, relieved that Twilight’s foolish act had not attracted any Flood to them.

Rey’s relief, however, changed into a stern glare as she turned back towards Twilight, shooting the unicorn an annoyed scowl.

‘’Next time you go on your own like that and endanger the group, we’re leaving your ass out there to the parasite,’’ she sternly whispered to Twilight, shoving her back against the wall.

Rey removed her hoof from Twilight’s mouth before she turned around and trotted back up towards the Doctor, shaking her head annoyedly.

Standing by the wall, Twilight watched the two trotted off.

Briefly hanging her head, disappointed with herself about putting her own curiosity over the group, she closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath.

Come on Twilight, pull yourself together! she mentally told herself.

You are not in Equestria anymore. You are someplace where every choice you make is a matter of life and death. You must value life over potential knowledge!

‘’I will…’’

Twilight accidentally finished her thoughts aloud, drawing Rey’s attention, who stopped in her tracks and looked back over her shoulder towards the unicorn.

‘’Now what are you going on about?’’ Rey asked.

‘’Nothing,’’ replied Twilight, shaking her head as she trotted up to join Rey and the Doctor.

As Twilight trotted past her, Rey followed the lavender mare with her eyes, staring skeptically after her as she trotted up towards and beside the Doctor, accompanying him as they continued onwards.

She raised an indecisive brow at Twilight, uncertain of how the unicorn is going to react when they finally encounter the Flood down here.

While Twilight has certainly proven herself as a capable warrior where fighting the Flood is concerned, but how great of a warrior is she?

Is she able to contend with a small group, or will she buckle if, and when, they are attacked by a horde?

*******

Following the holoprojector’s constant beeping, the Doctor allowed it to guide him and Rey through the Flood hive to where Poe and Holdo were being kept.

Soon enough, however, they finally reached their journey’s end as they tracked the signal to a vast, large-open chamber.

The chamber had a round shape to it and curved upwards at the ceiling with a majority of the bottom of the chamber’s walls being covered in Flood biomass. There was a hollow, half-circular hole in the center of the chamber.

Rey and the Doctor kept their distance from the ledge, not wanting to fall down inside it.

“Alright, they should be here,” said the Doctor as he turned his head, looking around the room for any sign of Rey and Holdo.

“Holdo! Poe! Where are you!?” he called out to them.

His voice echoed throughout the chamber, but he got no response.

A deathly silence hung on the air of the chamber, which did not sit comfortably with Rey or the Doctor.

Both were nervous from the lack of response, until-

“D-doctor, over here!”

An all-too familiar voice called out, stuttering in its voice.

Turning their attention to where the voice came from, the Doctor and Rey’s eyes widened as they spotted Poe bound to a wall by multiple vine-like tentacles.

Hanging on the wall beside him, Holdo raised her hanging head and looked out in front of her towards the source of the new voices.

Her eyes widened at seeing Rey and the Doctor, but especially the Doctor.

“Doctor,” she exclaimed.

Rushing up towards them, the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver.

Activating it as he pointed it towards Poe and then Holdo, scanning both of them.

Once done scanning them, he looked down at the sonic before exhaling a relieved sigh.

Looking back over his shoulder, he smiled back at Rey.

“They’re both clean,” the Doctor said.

Closing her eyes, Rey exhaled a similar sigh.

Relieved that their journey had not been in vain.

Opening her eyes back up, Rey smiled as she trotted up towards the two equines.

Electrifying one end of her quarterstaff, she held the other – non-electrified – end.

Thrusting the electrified end out towards the tentacles. Upon being hit, the tentacles screeched, releasing Poe’s hoof as it flailed in pain before slithering away.

She struck the remaining tentacles holding Poe and Holdo up, dropping them forwards onto the floor.

Using their front legs, Holdo and Poe caught themselves – preventing them from falling and hitting the ground.

“Poe, Holdo, are both of you okay?” the Doctor asked as he trotted up and put his hooves on both Rey and Holdo’s shoulders, giving them concerned looks.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” said Poe.

“Good, then let’s get outta here-“ the Doctor said before he was interrupted by a loud, bellowing laughter.

The laughter echoed throughout the chamber, causing Poe, Holdo, and Rey to look up around them, searching for where the laughter was coming from.

As they did, all but Rey failed to notice several humanoid figures silently entering the chamber.

“Doctor!” Rey shouted, assuming a defensive position.

Preparing to defend herself and the others, the Doctor, Poe, and Holdo looked down where she was looking, only for their eyes to widen at the sight that greeted them.

A pair of large Jiralhanae Combat Forms strode into the chamber before turning their attention towards the four equines, whom they then approached.

In response, the Doctor, Rey, Holdo, and Poe slowly backed away from the Flood forms.

The Combat Forms forced them into a corner and surrounded them, cutting off any potential escape routes for them.

Large tentacles arose from the large hole in the center of the room, drawing the Doctor, Rey, Poe, and Holdo’s attention.

“Now the trap is sprung. Walls closed, and enemies surrounded,” a voice spoke out from the hole that the tentacles had emerged from.

A deep voice, that Rey, Poe, and Holdo could tell had a commanding presence.

The tentacles did not attack the group, but merely lingered in the air.

Everyone of the group’s eyes widened, and their jaws dropped at seeing the tentacles tower over them.

While the others were stunned in fear, the Doctor was positively terrified.

Both from seeing the Combat Forms, the tentacles, and hearing the voice speak.

And if its words were anything to go by, it had known all along that they were coming, and thus planned for this!

The Doctor’s thoughts were interrupted, however, by the sound of movement from down in the cavernous hole. Then, a large, almost tube-like, silhouetted shape arose from the hole, drawing the Doctor and the other’s attention as it stood up to its full height.

“No!” said the Doctor, horrified, as the shape turned its attention towards him and the three Equestrians.

While the shape’s primary body was long and cylindrical – though, the rest is unseen inside the hole – its head resembled a Venus flytrap with pincer-like flaps on the side. Aside from these things, no other features were visible.

“It’s a Gravemind,” he said softly, drawing Poe, Holdo, and Rey’s attention, though, his gaze remained transfixed upon the Gravemind. Soon, even they looked up towards it, frightened of this creature before them.

“What is a Gravemind, Doctor?” Holdo asked.

Turning his head, the Doctor looked towards the mare.

“The Gravemind was-or is the central intelligence of the Flood,” the Doctor explained.

“It is essentially the accumulation of all the intelligence and biomass the Flood has gathered; which served to increase their intelligence, make them more coordinated, and far deadlier,” he said.

“To leave a Gravemind unchecked is to invite extinction,” he said sternly as he turned and looked back up towards the Gravemind.

“An accurate assessment, Time Lord,” replied the Gravemind, who had been patiently listening to the Doctor’s explanation, drawing the equines’ attention back up towards it.

The Gravemind looked towards the Equestrians before ultimately turning its attention towards the Doctor.

“Late is the hour of our meeting, Doctor,” said the Gravemind.

“Indeed,” replied the Doctor, still shocked by the Gravemind’s presence.

“I wondered if we ever would – meet again,” the Doctor said in a slightly more courageous tone, swallowing his fear.

Silently, the Doctor scowled up towards the Gravemind.

His chest quickly heaving and dropping in spite of his attempts to remain calm in the presence of this ancient evil.

“I must say, I am surprised to see you. The last time we meet, you and the rest of the Flood were destroyed during your final assault on the Ark,” said the Doctor.

“We were,” replied the Gravemind.

“We died when the Forerunners enacted their “final solution”, but we few survived. Weakened but alive, and rebuilding,” explained the Gravemind.

The Doctor grimaced back but furrowed his brows confusedly.

“How? How did you survive the “final solution”?” he asked.

“Not all of our ships were dispatched to the Ark during the final hours of the war. One ship survived, and it crash landed here, on the shield world of the last surviving Forerunner,” the Gravemind said, to which the Doctor furrowed his brows.

Frowning uncertainly at the Gravemind before him, before his eyes abruptly widened, and jaw hung slightly open.

“So…that means you’re the only Flood in the entire universe,” he said in a soft, yet hopeful voice.

“Destroy you, and we rid the universe of the Flood, forever!”

“HA HA HA HA HA HA.”

Holdo, Poe, Rey, and especially the Doctor flinched.

All of them jumped back away at the Gravemind’s sudden laughter, nervously looking straight up at the Flood’ central intelligence.

The Gravemind’s laughter died down, and it looked down towards the Doctor.

“Even now, at the cost of your own life, you seek our destruction, Time Lord,” the Gravemind said.

“Even after all these years, your fire burns brightly…and that is why you must be harvested!”

Before the Doctor could react, several vine-like tentacles suddenly shot out from the darkness and coiled themselves around Poe and Holdo’s hooves.

Both looked down – as they felt the tentacles – only to be abruptly pulled upwards; suspending them in mid-air.

Rey gasped as she jerked her head up, staring up towards Poe and Holdo as the two were held in mid-air. Then back down towards the Doctor, who also looked down – from Holdo and Poe – towards her. An alarmed look on his face.

However, as several other tentacles lunged out to seize her too, Rey quickly ignited her quarterstaff and swung it towards the incoming tentacles; striking out and electrocuting them.

The Gravemind jerked their heads towards Rey, where it watched her fight off its attacking tentacles.

Fending off one after another.

The Jiralhanae Combat Forms silently watched as this mere equine fought off the Gravemind’s attacks by spinning her quarterstaff towards and hitting the tentacles one after another, deflecting them away from her.

As she parried them, she pulled out her RSKF-44 Heavy blaster pistol and raised it towards the two Jiralhanae Combat Forms.

Taking aim, she fired off multiple shots, striking the Jiralhanae multiple times, though, this did not kill it.

Instead, the Jiralhanae Combat Form staggered backwards as it was repeatedly hit by Rey’s blaster pistol.

Sensing Rey as a threat, the other Jiralhanae roared aloud before it charged straight at her.

Seeing the charging Combat Form, Rey immediately put her blaster away and leapt out of the way of the Combat Form, evading it.

Stopping in its tracks, the charging Jiralhanae stopped in its tracks before it sharply turned around towards Rey.

It swung its large whip-like claw at her, causing her to grunt to as she had to quickly counter its attack by swinging its quarterstaff out, catching and deflating the Jiralhanae’s claw-whip away from her.

Quickly spinning around, she maneuvered her body in a way that it moved her quarterstaff away from the Jiralhanae’s claw-whip, as well as allowed her to get closer to the Jiralhanae, itself.

Without hesitation, Rey took out her RSKF – pistol – again and aimed it right at the Infection Form. However, before she could get off a single shot, the Combat Form roared and swung its claw-whip towards her.

Forcing her to swing her quarterstaff out to intercept the claw, but instead of clashing her staff and the claw, she pushed it out away from her. The Combat Form staggered slightly back away from her.

Instead of pulling out her RSKF – blaster pistol – she raised her staff and shouted loudly as she leapt up towards the Jiralhanae Combat Form.

Tightly pressing the end of her staff against the Infection Form with enough force to knock the Combat Form backwards.

Falling down, the Infection Form screeched in pain as Rey electrocuted it.

The Combat Form tried to swipe Rey with its claw-whip but missed her as she was too small and nimble to hit.

Breathing heavily, Rey gritted her teeth before she screamed aloud as she stabbed the end of her staff all the way into the Infection Form. Its screeching intensified, causing the Jiralhanae to convulse from the Infection Form’s pain.

Finally, the screeching slowed to a halt.

Then, the Jiralhanae stopped moving, becoming completely still.

It was dead.

Once Rey knew that it was dead, she exhaled heavily and closed her eyes. Relieved that it was finally over…At least where-

SLASH!

“Aghh!”

Rey grunted in pain as something slashed the side of her stomach.

“Rey!”

Holdo, Poe, and the Doctor called out.

Sharply hissing at the pain, Rey hung her head.

However, amidst the pain, her eyes shot open, and she jerked her head beside her.

Looking behind her towards whatever it was that had attacked her; it was the other Jiralhanae Combat Form.

Furrowing her brows sternly, she groaned in pain, gritting her teeth as she glared towards the Jiralhanae. Then, before it could react, she pulled out her pistol and rapidly fired upon the Infection Form, rooted in the Jiralhanae’s chest.

Shooting it again, and again, and again…

Each shot made the Combat Form stagger backwards, while roaring aloud in pain from the damage dealt to the Infection Form. With every shot that impacted it, dark-green liquid splattered – from the Infection Form – onto the Combat Form.

The Jiralhanae Combat Form, then, fell forwards and slammed its body into the ground.

It too was now dead.

Turning her head, Rey looked towards the tentacles holding Holdo and Poe and quickly drew her pistol, firing several bolts towards it.

Upon being hit, the tentacles dropped Poe and Holdo down on the ground, who immediately got back up on their hooves.

Both Holdo and Poe drew their blaster pistols, assuming defensive stances in case there were more Flood nearby.

Without missing a beat, the Doctor hurriedly ran up towards Rey, helping her stand as she grunted in pain.

She reached back and touched the wound the Combat Form had inflicted.

Keeping their weapons trained on the Gravemind, Poe and Holdo ran up towards the Doctor to help Rey.

“Come on, we need to get outta here!” the Doctor urgently told them.

Holdo nodded back at the Time Lord.

“The fly struggles in the web, but the spider inevitable consumes it,” the Gravemind said as it watched the equines head towards the nearest tunnel to escape.

Turning his head, the Doctor looked back over his shoulder at the Gravemind, scowling at it as he and the others exited the Gravemind’s chamber through the tunnel.

The last he heard was the Gravemind’s booming laughter, which echoed throughout the tunnel as they hurried back through the Flood hive towards Rey’s speeder.

Along the way, they encountered no Flood forms.

No Infection Forms.

No Combat Forms.

Nothing.

Despite this, they kept an urgent pace the entire time they raced back towards the location, where the Doctor and Rey had parked their speeder, with the Doctor at the head of their group, using the TARDIS holoprojector to quickly find their way back to their landing site.

All the while, Rey groaned aloud from the searing pain from her wound.

A pain unlike any that she has ever felt before.

One that her father had always spared her from by preparing her by preparing her, to the best of his abilities, so that she would never fall to the Flood.

Not even get a scratch…but now, for the first time in all the years that she has lived, the Flood has finally injured her.

In spite of her efforts, her best had not been good enough.

“OOHHH, Doctor, it hurts! It hurts so much,” she groaned aloud through gritted teeth.

“I know it does, but we’re gonna get you home. We’re not leaving you here,” said the Doctor, trying to calm her down and reassure her that in spite of her injuries they were not going to leave her here with the parasite.

The same parasite that she had just saved them from.

After a few minutes of navigating the Flood hive, they finally made it back to the place where they had entered the hive.

They helped each out of the cracked wall, especially Rey, they helped her into the net on the side of her speeder – the net that holds all of her things when she is out and about – before she instructed Poe on how to fly her speeder.

Without hesitation, they turned the speeder and flew away from the Flood infested ruin before any Flood could get to them.

Guided by the Doctor, Poe flew the speeder in the direction of Rey’s hidden home.

*******

Meanwhile in the mountains, the Ninka was gradually getting covered in snow.

Snow, which entered the damaged vessel through its destroyed hull.

Due to the presence of numerous holes, several corridors with steadily filling up with snow, cooling the ship down to uninhabitable levels.

However, while the cold bothered others, its chilling effects did not matter to several equine figures that entered the starship.

They navigated its many and long corridors, until they reached the bridge, where they looked around it.

Sparks erupted from the destroyed walls and ceiling; a testament to the damage the ship had suffered upon impact.

After locating the crew pits, the equines trotted up towards it and got down inside them.

They tended to and checked the Ninka’s communications, ensuring that they were not too badly damaged from the crash.

Meanwhile, several machines started beeping as an external force infiltrated the Ninka’s database.

Analyzing its star maps, logs, crew compliment, defensive and offensive capabilities.

It continued to learn everything it could, until its attention shifted towards the Combat Forms as they finished their check-up.

The conclusion;

The Ninka’s communications still functioned and would be able to broadcast a transmission to the fleet that currently orbited the planet.

“The cracks have weakened the foundation, the damn is failing, crumbling, and its collapse will bring the Flood,” the Gravemind’s voice echoed throughout the entire ship as all of the Combat Forms spoke in unison.