“Hey, I think I see them,” Twilight excitedly called out to the Primordial as she noticed something flying up into view.

The Primordial jerked her head towards Twilight, before stepping up beside her to look out one of the other windows.

It was true.

Something was approaching, and based on her memory of their host’s vehicle, it was Rey’s speeder.

Looking out the window, Twilight and the Precursor watched the speeder fly across the small stretch of snow towards the dome-home. However, upon closer inspection, her smile faded slightly as she noticed that something was amiss.

There were only three equines on the speeder, when there should be four.

A dark thought, that she did not want to even contemplate, began creeping into her mind.

One that she never wanted to think about in the first place, but just might have to…

“Oh no,” Twilight said softly, trying to hide the fear in her voice as she turned away and ran towards the hallway leading to the garage, leaving the Primordial standing alone in the living room by the window.

Oblivious to Twilight’s departure, the Primordial continued looking out the window and, just like Twilight, noticed only three equines riding the speeder, but unlike Twilight, she also noticed something lying in a net on the side of the speeder.

Turning her head to look beside her, she finally noticed Twilight was gone. She turned her head further and looked directly towards the doorway, which led to the garage, assuming that was where Twilight had gone…

On her way to the garage, Twilight ran down the hallway as fast as she could.

Upon reaching the door, she abruptly stopped in her tracks as she looked through the door’s window and watched the exterior garage door open. The speeder, then, flew inside and landed on the ground.

While looking through the window, she furrowed her brows as she observed the Doctor, Poe, and Holdo disembark the speeder and run around towards the other side of it.

She watched them lift something out of a net, but abruptly gasped as she noticed what they were carrying or rather who.

Rey.

They were carrying Rey, who, by the pained expression on her face, was not in a comfortable situation. In fact, while muffled, Twilight could hear Rey’s pained groans as the Doctor, Holdo, and Poe carried her up towards the door.

Twilight then opened that same door and rushed out of it towards them.

Rey’s painful groans grew louder, and subsequently a lot more difficult to listen to due to the suffering she was experiencing.

“What happened?!” Twilight asked concernedly.

However, the Doctor, Poe, and Holdo merely hurried past her without uttering a single word, carrying Rey into, and down the hallway.

Twilight was left standing in the garage, staring off after the group, until she followed after them.

They carried Rey into the living room, where they placed her down on the couch.

The Primordial stood by the windows, silently following them with her eyes.

Staring transfixed towards Rey, until she spoke out.

“Doctor, what happened?” she asked, stepping up towards the group.

Though, as Poe and Holdo saw the Precursor, their eyes, brows jumped, and they abruptly backed away from her. Taken aback by her inequine appearance.

“What the buck-?!” Holdo, and Poe, abruptly exclaimed at seeing the Primordial.

Behind them, Twilight trotted into the living room, seeing their surprise and shock as they saw the Primordial.

“No, you guys, it's okay. She’s one of us,” Twilight called out to Holdo and Poe, drawing their attention, though, probably not for the reason that she had expected.

Poe and Holdo froze in their tracks, then slowly looked back over their shoulder towards Twilight. Confusion plainly written on their faces as they stared at her, brows raised.

“’’She’’?” Poe and Holdo asked in unison.

“That thing is female?” Holdo asked, pointing her hoof at the Primordial, who huffed angrily in response.

“’’The thing’’ is the last of the near-extinct race, the Precursors,” the Primordial interjected, drawing Poe and Holdo’s attention back towards her as they heard her voice, recognizing the power and authority it held, merely by hearing her voice.

“The mass-seeders of all life in existence, so you would do well to respect your creator, Equestrian,” she sternly added.

Holdo and Poe’s eyes widened yet again, their brows jumped, and jaws dropped, hanging slack as they gawked towards the Precursor.

“It's true,” they heard Twilight speak out behind them.

They jerked their heads back towards the lavender unicorn, staring at her for confirmation if any of this was true.

Twilight nodded her head in confirmation, smiling softly at them.

“It's true. She, or rather her race, created all sentient life in the universe…possibly all sapient life too,” Twilight said, her excitement slowly mounting.

Turning her head, she looked back towards the Primordial, desiring to ask her so many questions after they escaped from this planet.

Poe and Holdo slowly turned back towards the Primordial, still stunned by it-er-her appearance.

It was still something they never expected to see after escaping from the Flood hive.

They silently stared at the Precursor, until they turned their attention towards the Doctor and Rey as she abruptly groaned aloud.

Hissing sharply as she tried to fight through the pain.

“D-doc, it hurts! My entire body feels like its burning!”

Rey said, trying her best not to scream or let the pain consume her.

“W-what did they do to me?!” she asked, hissing sharply as she clenched her eyes.

“Yes, Doctor, what have the Flood done to cause her such pain?” Twilight asked, trotting up beside the Time Lord.

In spite of becoming still, motionless, the Doctor slowly raised his head, turning around as he looked back towards Twilight, Poe, and Holdo. A sad and defeated look about him as he faced them.

“She…has been infected,” he said.

Twilight, Holdo gasped, and Poe’s eyes widened, brows jumping at this shock revelation.

“B-but how is that possible?” Poe asked.

“I thought the Flood needed one of those tentacle creatures in order to infect someone?”

The Doctor slowly turned towards the starfighter commander, shooting him a serious glance.

“You are a fool if think that the Flood are limited to mere Infection Forms,” said the Doctor.

“Once a host is found and under the Flood’s control, it only takes being wounded by them – be it through getting bitten or scratched – to begin the transformation into a Combat Form,” he explained.

“It’s that disturbingly simple.”

Twilight, Poe, and Holdo’s eyes widened, and jaws dropped, hanging slack as they stared towards the Doctor at this shocking revelation.

“But there has to be something that you can do, Doctor,” Twilight stuttered as she spoke out, almost begging the Doctor to help this mare that had helped them through so much.

“You’ve fought the Flood before. Isn’t there something you can give her to stop the infection? A vaccine?” she asked.

However, the Doctor just sighed heavily and slowly shook his head.

“No,” he said

“No cure, or biological means, has ever been discovered capable of stopping or even halting the parasite’s infection. And the few that have proved successful, failed due to the Flood’s greater numbers.”

“It is impossible to stop…and yet, “she” is somehow resisting it,” the Doctor said, making a sudden shift from sad to surprised.

This bit of news caught Twilight, Poe, Holdo, and the Primordial’s attention.

The three equines furrowed their brows confusedly, while the Primordial did something of a double take towards the Time Lord.

“What?!” Twilight exclaimed.

“But, how is that even possible?” she asked.

“Yeah, you just told us that there is no cure,” Poe interjected, equally as confused as Twilight.

“It is yet, but…something is fighting the Flood supercells,” said the Doctor.

“Some unknown force is keeping the Flood at bay-” he added, turning his head and looking back down at Rey, who continually groaned loudly in pain, “…at the cost of subjecting Rey to an unbearable torment.”

Silently staring at Rey, the Doctor, Twilight, Poe, and Holdo watched her as she laid on the couch in agony.

The pain throughout her body getting worse with every bygone second.

None of them could stand to watch Rey like this, none more so than the Doctor, who bit his lip.

He was having such sympathy for Rey at this moment, wishing that there was something he could do to help her…or is there?

His eyes widened, and he gasped internally, yet his jaw hung slightly open, as a thought popped into his head.

Certainly, a very risky thought, but one that just might save Rey from being infected…or very well kill her.

Hanging his head, he looked down towards his hoof.

Looking back up, he turned and looked back over his shoulder towards Twilight, who noticed his expression.

“What is it, Doctor?” she asked.

The Time Lord hesitated a little before answering back with, “I think I know of a way to save her.”

His response caught Poe, Holdo, and the Primordial’s attention. Especially the Primordial.

“Doctor?” Holdo asked confusedly.

“I think, I may have a way to save her, but I’m 'gonna need your help if this is to work,” the Doctor replied, much to Twilight, and the other’s surprise.

Without wasting one second, all of them nodded back, saying, “Whatever it is, we’ll do it!” in unison.

The Doctor smiled back at them.

“Alright then,” he said.

“What I need all of you to do is hold her down, tightly. Twilight, you are more qualified to do it on account of your magic, but this could possibly kill her, so I need everyone to give it their all in holding her down. Got it?” he asked.

Twilight, Poe, and Holdo nodded back.

“Loud and clear,” Holdo said.

“Then let’s save Rey, like she saved all of us,” said the Doctor before he turned back towards Rey.

While the Doctor extended his hooves towards Rey’s wound, Twilight, Poe, and Holdo nodded back towards each other before Poe and Holdo hurriedly trotted up on both sides of the couch and grabbed Rey’s hooves.

Holding her down, while Twilight’s horn glowed with a magic, lavender aura. A similar aura appeared around Rey’s body and held her down on the couch.

“Rrng-what is-hrng-happening?!” Rey asked in a pained tone, confused by what the Doctor and the others were doing.

“Rey, this is going to hurt a lot, but it's for your own good, I swear,” the Doctor replied as he pressed his hooves against her wound.

Rey grunted softly at the touch.

“Doc, w-what are you doing?!” Rey stuttered, growing more nervous by the second, but the Doctor did not respond. Instead, he merely stared at her wound, closing his eyes as he began concentrating.

“I’m sorry,” the Doctor said, before he tightened his eyes.

His hooves started glowing as he focused all of his energy on summoning regeneration energy, pouring it out into his hooves; making them a vector for the regeneration to enter Rey’s body.

Rey’s eyes widened, and her jaw dropped, hanging slack as she abruptly and loudly gasped.

Holdo, Poe, and Twilight immediately held her down, preventing her from moving around.

A bright, golden light began glowing on Rey’s wound.

One, that as it glowed brighter, Rey clenched her eyes shut, and gritted her teeth as she screamed in pain, even as the wound slowly resealed itself back up. Eventually, it was all but gone, looking like she had never gotten injured before.

Next, thousands of particles started glowing the same golden light throughout Rey’s body, appearing all over her body.

At the same time, however, Rey tightened her face as the pain intensified; causing veins to appear across her forehead, then her body, and she began sweating due to the physical stress put on her body.

Standing over the Doctor, the Primordial watched him heal try to heal Rey, though, the process was very slow and delicate. Soon, the Flood cells coursing through her body would be all gone.

This cannot be allowed to happen.

So, without hesitation, the Primordial abruptly swung her right arm towards the Doctor.

However, before the Precursor hit him, the Doctor abruptly reached his left hoof into his waistcoat and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. Then, quickly turning around towards the Primordial, but still holding one hoof against Rey’s wound, he pointed the screwdriver directly at the Primordial, creating a wave comprised of a loud, high-pitched, buzzing noise that the Primordial staggered back away from.

Holding her arms out in front of her face the Primordial shielded herself from the waves upon waves of that loud noise hit her.

Twilight, Poe, and Holdo were taken aback by the Doctor’s sudden action.

Their eyes widening, and jaws dropped as he attacked the Primordial.

“Doctor, what are you doing?!” Twilight shouted at him confusedly.

Though gritted teeth, however, as he tried to keep the Primordial at bay, he said, “Keep her still, Twilight!”

“Whatever happens, you keep Rey still!”

Poe and Holdo looked at each other, then back towards Twilight.

Looking to her for answers, even though she had none to give.

The only thing she could say was, “Keep holding her down.”

“Remember what the Doctor said; no matter what happens, we hold her down.”

Holdo and Poe turned back towards each other, their confusion giving way to determination as they nodded at each other.

Looking back down at Rey as they did as they were told and held her down, even as her screams grew louder by the second.

Seeing them complying with his instructions, the Doctor smiled, but it soon faded away as he turned back towards the Primordial.

Glaring at her as she continually struggled against the constant waves of noise that blew against her.

Slowly forcing her further back into a corner of the living room, in spite of her attempt to move forward and stop the Doctor from healing Rey.

Though, due to using one hoof, he was forced to increase the output of regeneration energy from his right hoof into her body.

But much to the Doctor’s surprise, the Primordial abruptly held her arms out beside her, allowing the full force of the wave to hit her, and push her back against the wall.

However, even as she slammed into the wall, the Primordial suddenly stretched her arms out, elongating them as they shot towards the Holdo, Poe, and Twilight.

Her hands split apart into three large tendrils that coiled themselves around Twilight, Poe, and Holdo, pulling them away from Rey.

“No!” exclaimed the Doctor.

“DOCTOR, WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” Rey screamed aloud, noticing that something was happening.

“Nothing!” the Doctor shouted as he turned back towards Rey, failing to notice the tendrils from the Primordial’s right hand reach out and tangle themselves around him, then abruptly pull him backwards, jerking him away from Rey.

“NNOOOOOO!” he screamed as his hoof no longer touched Rey’s skin.

All of a sudden, Rey’s clenched eyes shot, and jaw dropped as she uttered the loudest, most agonized scream of these last few minutes.

A tormented shriek.

As she did, the pain coursing throughout Rey’s body increased tenfold, becoming so unstable that all the power locked away within Rey suddenly exploded to the surface, releasing a powerful shockwave that shot out across the entire living room!

Windows shattered, scattering shards of broken glass out onto the snow.

The shockwave slammed the Primordial, Doctor, Twilight, Poe, and Holdo back up against the wall.

Continuing to press them up against the wall as Rey continued screaming.

Still lying on the couch in intense pain, Rey raised her hooves, holding her forehead as something inside of her snapped, or rather, something was cracked.

Something that she had never seen before but was bleeding through the fault lines into her mind…

Rey’s clenched eyes shot wide-open and she loudly gasped, but reality around her had changed.

No longer was she in her living room, but instead a large field that stretched on for an unknown distance, surrounded on all sides by a thick wall of fog.

An eerie silence hung over the field as Rey nervously stared at the fog.

The silence was then interrupted by a tall, humanoid creature with massive arms and short, stubby legs suddenly charging through the fog directly at Rey.

She gasped and quickly jumped out of the way, the creature paying her little to no attention as it continued onwards, vanishing into the fog.

While looking towards the part of the fog where the creature had disappeared, she abruptly froze, and eyes widened as she heard a guttural, inequine roar behind her.

She slowly turned back towards the fog, only for a horde of creatures to come charging straight at her through the fog.

Creatures, that unlike the first one, she all but recognized.

Combat Forms…and thousands of them!

Gasping in fear, Rey turned around and ran away from the Combat Forms into the fog.

She ran through the fog for what seemed like an eternity, until she finally came out the other end, where she abruptly stopped in her tracks as she saw a large battle in progress between the Flood and a group of equines.

The odd thing that she noticed, though, was that the equines did not wear similar attire.

One group of ponies wore white armor, while the other group wore tanned uniforms.

Appearance aside, they fought together against the various Flood forms that charged straight for them.

The more offensive of the Flood forms included several massive, humanoid, Flood forms with a bulky upper body with two massive tentacled arms, that appeared to co-ordinate the smaller Flood forms…

Scattered throughout the Flood horde were several four-legged Flood forms that sported a large abdomen, along with long tentacles that snatched either living or already dead equines up into itself. The growth pods on its abdomen began growing before the Flood form then spat back out a new battle-ready Combat Form. Unlike the others, this appeared to be more of a support form…

Another Flood form that Rey saw on the battlefield was one that sported three legs and whose upper body sported two circular growths protruding from the side of its “head” – for lack of a better word. Like the other Flood form, this one spat out Infection Forms at the equines.

While shooting its Infection Forms, the Flood form’s leg was shot off and it fell down on the ground, though, mere seconds after being shot off, the Flood form’s leg began regenerating in full, returning it to full effectiveness as it stood back up and proceeded onwards like nothing had happened…

A shadow passed over Rey as something that resembled a crimson-colored squid with a pointed head fly towards the battlefield. Its pointed head opened up as it fired something at the equine soldiers, striking and killing them.

The airborne Flood form, then, threw itself at some sort of four-legged, mechanical vehicle, attaching itself to the vehicle’s head, spreading its biomass across the head of the vehicle till it reached the neck. Then, the vehicle turned around and fired upon other non-Flood-occupied vehicles, destroying them after several blasts.

There were countless more horrific shapes littering the battlefield, but Rey did not want to see them, so she clenched her eyes shut, and covered her face with her hooves.

In a second, everything around her fell silent, and there was only darkness…even after she lowered her hooves and looked around at her surroundings.

Now, instead of a Flood-ravaged battlefield, she stood inside a dark void. Nothing but blackness surrounded her.

Out of the darkness, however, two robed and hooded equines suddenly appeared, grabbing Rey’s hooves.

She tried to resist, but the equines’ grasp was just too strong.

The darkness faded away, becoming a long tunnel illuminated by torches along the walls.

As the tunnel appeared, a third robed equine did too, now leading the two that held Rey down the tunnel, until they stepped out of the tunnel onto a walkway.

Stepping onto the stone platform, the robed equines hauled and then dropped Rey onto the center of the platform, then backed away from her.

Sitting up, Rey turned and looked back over her shoulder at the robed equines, shooting them a confused glance, while the trio – of robed equines – silently stared back at her.

Without uttering a word, the lead equine turned its head and looked towards the two beside it, both of whom nodded back.

All of them then turned their attention back towards Rey, then slowly raised and pointed their hooves at her, allowing her to see a hexagon with three lines at the center bottom and sides of the hexagon, there was also a smaller hexagonal in the center of the main hexagon. Rey furrowed her as she saw the strange symbol on the underside of their hooves.

She had, however, little time to focus on the peculiar symbol as she was abruptly lifted up off the ground, rising a few inches above the stone platform.

The robed equines, then, strode forward, slowly pushing out over the edge of the platform, leaving her suspended above a dark chasm.

A chasm so dark that no light escaped it, and yet, Rey furrowed her brows…as she could swear that she saw movement down in the darkness.

Movement then stopped, but then followed with her feeling like something was looking at her from the darkness.

There was something down there.

Something all but confirmed as a deep voice exhaled from the chasm.

For a second time, there was movement, but it got clearer, more visible, as whatever was down there slowly ascended from the darkness; revealing hundreds of blue-gray tentacles that raised up into the air towards the platform, however, Rey’s eyes widened as she realized that the tentacles were coming up for her – and her specifically.

Fear overtook her, and she began flailing her hooves in a useless attempt to try and reach for the edge of the platform.

Unfortunately, the hooded figures had her suspended far enough out over the chasm that she could not reach the edge.

“No… No!” Rey began shouting as she desperately tried to get away from the encroaching tentacles, helplessly watching them inch closer and closer to her.

Ultimately, the tentacles reached her, though, oddly enough, kept their distance as they merely lingered in the air around her; almost like they were examining her.

Wide-eyed from fear coursing her body, Rey stared at one particular tentacle that hung in front of her…unaware of a large, blue-grey, serpentine form arose from the dark chasm.

Towering over Rey by the time that she finally noticed it…but when she did, her eyes widened as her fear was reinvigorated by the familiar form of the Gravemind.

However, unlike the Gravemind that she had seen prior in the Flood hive, this one looked different. There was something, off, about how its mouth looked. It had these strange lines through it.

Then, Rey discovered what the lines as the Gravemind suddenly opened its mouth, splitting apart to reveal a six-fold maw comprised of four small ones on the sides, with the top and lower jaws being the last two.

Rey’s eyes shot wide-open, just before the Gravemind lunged forward and swallowed her whole, clenching her maw around her body!

She fell down the through the Gravemind’s tube-like body, only for the fleshy, blue-grey walls to become begin giving way to multi-colored beams, which formed a colorful, spiraling vortex.

Growing brighter, the light envelops Rey’s entire body.

For a brief second, there is silence.

No sound.

No sound.

Just silence.

Silence filled the air, even as the white around her eventually passed away.

Soon, the white fog cleared, pulling back like a veil as it revealed that Rey was no longer falling down the vortex, but instead standing up-right on a flat, rocky surface.

Turning her head, Rey looked around her surroundings to find that she was now on an island.

An island surrounded by vast oceans that stretched far into the horizon, seemingly without end.

While looking, Rey abruptly jerked her head back in front of her as she heard a child’s voice. Her attention, though, fell upon the steps in front of her.

The steps ran up along the side of a small mountain till they reached the very top. Then, Rey saw something run away as her gaze reached the top of the steps.

Something small like a child.

“No, wait-!” Rey called before she gave chase after the child, running up the steps as she fast as she could.

Upon reaching the top of the steps, Rey, without hesitation, entered a doorway that had been hewn out of the mountain, itself.

Running down along a similarly hewn tunnel, Rey abruptly heard countless noises as the sunlight shined in through holes in the wall. Holes that had differently colored gems in them, which flashed their respective colors in her face…

As she saw blue, a vision flashed in Rey’s mind of a hooded mare out on a vast battlefield, who Rey saw was terrified of being here. Especially as she watched armored equines charging right towards her, firing their blasters at her. However, in spite of her fear, the mare drew and ignited her lightsaber, using to fight off the armored equines, killing them one by one…

Seeing green, another vision flashed in Rey’s mind, this one showing a pod shooting up into a shaft from a platform within a chamber. The pod sped up along the shaft till it shot up out of a hole in a mountain into the sky. The pod ignited its engine, gaining more and more speed as it flew up into the inner and outer atmospheres, eventually reaching space where it passed by a fleet of wedge-shaped ships that surrounded the planet it – the pod – had taken off from.

As red flashed in Rey’s face, she reached the end of the tunnel and stepped into a large chamber, however, she abruptly froze in her tracks and gasped at the sight before her.

Abruptly flinching, Rey hurriedly backed away into a corner of a chamber, hiding from sight. A look of pure terror on her face as she panted in a cold sweat.

Slowly peeking out from her hiding spot, Rey looked back towards the center of the chamber, where she saw a young stallion with a short, blonde mane clad in black robes holding a green lightsaber out in front of him.

He was a Jedi.

A Jedi fighting off…Flood Combat Forms!

These Combat Forms, though, were different from the ones that Rey had fought before.

For one, while a minority of the Combat Forms had the claw-whip typical of a Combat Form, a majority did not. The majority of the Combat Forms actually wielded lightsabers.

Physically, they also stood out, but in a rather disgusting way; instead of being rooted in the equine’s chest, the Infection Form had instead inserted itself into the equine’s jaws, where their antennae stuck out.

Together, these standard and lightsaber-wielding Combat Forms charged at the lone stallion, swinging their lightsabers and claw-whips at him, but while the Jedi managed to evade the regular Combat Form’s attacks and deliver a killing blow, slicing them in half with his lightsaber, he struggled with lightsaber-wielding Combat Forms.

Not only were the lightsaber-wielding Combat Forms able to keep up with his force-augmented speed, but they also exhibited far more tact than the standard Combat Forms. They displayed similar saber skills to that of their host, making them far deadlier.

Observing the battle, Rey was not only disgusted by their appearance, but horrified by their tact and intelligence, unlike normal Combat Forms.

Their attacks were brutal and ruthless, but also sophisticated and intelligent.

Every swing of their lightsabers towards the stallion were planned. Intended to exhaust him and exhaust him they did.

Minutes passed as the Jedi held his own against the Combat Forms, but it became clear to Rey that his prolonged battle with the Flood forms were beginning to take their toll on him.

The force may be giving him the energy to fight, but it can only do so much on its own before his body begins tiring…and at this rate he is not going to last much longer.

All the Flood has to do is wait, and the Jedi will fall.

After their latest clash, the lightsaber-wielding Combat Forms back away from the Jedi.

Growling and snarling at the Jedi as they circle, sensing his fear through the force.

Like with Combat Forms, Rey senses it too.

Not the fear that he is going to die here, murdered by the Flood, but that his death will allow the parasite to escape and spread across the galaxy. Consuming everything in their wake, including…her.

Well, Rey cannot allow that to happen.

Too many have lost their lives to the Flood, so she will save him.

Removing a lightsaber from her belt, she held it close to her chest and closed her eyes, inhaling a deep breath before she quickly ran out from her hiding spot and lunged towards the nearest Combat Form.

Drawing the Jedi and the Flood form’s attention, though, she held her saber out in front of her towards one of the lightsaber-wielding Combat Forms, activating it as she impaled it in the back.

The Combat Form roared in pain, but before it could act, Rey loudly shouted as she slashed the lightsaber upwards, cleaving the Combat Form in half.

Now lifeless, the Combat Form collapsed onto the ground, but as it fell, Rey leapt back off it, landing back on her hooves.

However, the second she was back on her hooves, Rey immediately raised her lightsaber to block the incoming attack of a Combat Form, causing their blades to clash.

“…!”

During the clash, Rey heard the Jedi call out to her, though, was unable to make out what he said due to it being muffled, inaudible, and yet she knew to duck down, evading a Combat Form’s slash.

She quickly pushed back against the first Combat Form, interrupting their clash before spinning back around towards the other Combat Form, entering into another clash with it.

The first Combat Form charged straight at her, intent on stabbing her with its lightsaber, only to suddenly be force-pushed back through the air into a wall by the Jedi saving Rey before he resumed fighting the rest of the lightsaber-wielding Combat Forms.

Despite initially thinking that she could the take Combat Forms by surprise and then overwhelm them, Rey was beginning to re-think her strategy of engaging the Flood forms head-on.

Usually, she could take a single Combat Form on her own without trouble, but now, one of these lightsaber-wielding Combat Forms were proving to be quite the challenge…perhaps even a little too much.

The longer their duel went on, Rey tired.

Her defenses waned, and her attacks lost their impact.

So much so that, upon its final attack, the Combat Form knocked the lightsaber out of her hoof.

Fortunately, as it slashed its lightsaber at her, Rey managed to jump back away and thrust her hoof out against the Combat Form. Unfortunately, the Combat Form thrust its hoof out towards her, countering her force-push with its own.

The air around Rey and the Combat Form blew intensely, growing stronger as they focused all of their strength into overpowering the other.

Eventually, though, the Combat Form’s superior strength overwhelmed Rey.

A bright light shined in her face was sent flying backwards through the air, momentarily blinding her.

Once the light died down, however, Rey’s eyes widened, and her jaw dropped, hanging slack as she saw that the one that had sent her flying was not the lightsaber-wielding Combat Form…but the lone Jedi that she had helped!

An exhausted, strained look on his face as he stared back at her.

The Jedi’s eyes were wide, and teeth gritted as he force-pushed Rey off the cliff, though, the intensity in his eyes remained the same as he watched her fall down towards the surface.

As Rey fell, time slowed down for her, allowing her to see the rage on the Jedi’s face as he watched her fall.

She fell until finally hitting the ground, the impact of which caused everything around her to shatter into thousands of glass shards.

Rey, along with the shards of glass, fell into a dark void, where the only source of light was the cracked hole that had been created when she shattered reality.

Still seeing the Jedi standing atop his cliff, glaring down upon her as she fell deeper and deeper into the darkness.

She tried calling out to him, reaching out with her hoof…but black tendrils shot out and wrapped itself around her hoof.

More tendrils shot out of the darkness and wrapped themselves around her hooves, restraining her, before they, then, punctured her skin, burying themselves deep into her body.

Clenching her eyes tight shut, Rey screamed aloud in pain as black veins spread throughout her body, changing her body.

Her flesh became sickly-pale, rotten, with certain parts of her body becoming almost like a form of carapace. The skin around her lower jaw and neck vanished, revealing red flesh underneath, as well as her disgusting teeth, which – when closed – would give the impression that she was grinning.

Two bones violently erupted from her right hoof as it mutated into a long, double-sided, blade-like claw.

The final part of her transformation was her vision disappearing, leaving only darkness and pain.

There was so much pain coursing through her body, as well as her mind.

Pain was all she knew, but there was also something else.

From out of the darkness, a mutated reached out and touched her shoulder.

A voice; supernatural and deep, but strangely commanding authority.

“These are your first steps.”

The voice said, to which an image flashed in Rey’s mind that terrified her.

The image of a ship flying away from her and her father’s dome-home, shooting up into the sky.

“NOOOOOO!” Rey screamed.

While Rey’s powerful voice – amplified by the force – kept the Doctor, Twilight, Poe, and Holdo pinned against the wall, the Primordial gradually managed to resist it.

She slowly raised and extended her arm, holding it out in front of her face, shielding herself as she moved away from the wall towards Rey, wave after wave hitting her during her trek.

From the wall, the Doctor watched as the Primordial managed to resist Rey’s intense voice, though, grew concerned as she drew closer to Rey’s unprotected body.

In spite of how Rey’s amplified voice grew stronger the closer one got to her body, the Primordial managed to actually get closer and closer with every step.

It was a slow process, but one that yielded results as she closed in on Rey.

Once close enough to not be blown away, the Primordial thrust her right arm out towards Rey, rapidly changing her fingers into sharp claws that pierced her flesh.

Rey’s eyes shot wide-open, and her jaw dropped, hanging slack as she uttered a final, loud gasp.

“NO!” the Doctor and Twilight shouted in unison at seeing Rey getting stabbed.

However, the waves – generated from Rey’s loud screaming – died down, causing them, Holdo, and Poe, to fall down on the floor.

Quickly looking up, the Doctor’s eyes widened, and he gasped as he saw the Primordial standing over Rey’s body. Twilight looked up too, and she too gasped at the sight before her, but unlike the Doctor, she was snapped out of her stupor by Poe snapping her out of it.

“Come on, Twilight. We’ve got to go, now!” he shouted at her, which drew the Primordial’s attention, who’s head jerked up – from looking at Rey – towards them.

The Doctor, Twilight, and the Precursor locked eyes, staring at each other for the briefest of seconds before the Primordial was suddenly bombarded by soundwaves, pushing it back up towards the wall behind it.

The Primordial’s sudden yanking made Rey’s eyes widen, and jaw drop as she uttered a chocked gasp from feeling the Primordial’s claws moving around inside her wound.

“Come on you guys, we can’t hold it forever – if recent events are any indication!” Holdo shouted at them.

The Doctor and Twilight’s heads jerked from the Precursor towards Holdo, who was holding the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver and pointing it at the Primordial, firing the same sort of waves at it as the Doctor had done earlier.

Turning back towards the couch, the Doctor stared at Rey, who had raised her head and was looking directly at him. A pained and frightened look on her face as she weakly raised and held her hoof out towards him.

“P-please, help me,” she winched, practically begging him.

Their eyes meeting, the Doctor frowned sympathetically back at her, saying, “I’m sorry” before he quickly stood back up on his hooves.

Helping Twilight stand up before he, Poe, and Twilight, along with Holdo, ran out of the doorway, following the hallway that lead to the garage.

Once the soundwaves stopped, the Primordial dropped down onto the ground, standing up on her three arms.

She leapt forward, landing in front of the doorway, though, was abruptly yanked backwards as it tried to pursue the Equestrians down the hallway.

Her head jerked back towards the cause, where she saw that her claws were still impaled into Rey’s body. She snarled at this, and immediately pulled her claws out of the mare’s body, causing Rey to gasp aloud in pain, holding her hooves over her wound as she winched.

Blood pouring out of her wound onto the couch.

Ignoring Rey, the Primordial jerked her head back down the hallway before charging down along it towards the garage.

Leaving Rey to bleed out on the couch…

*A couple seconds earlier*

Running down the hallway, Twilight, the Doctor, Holdo, and Poe reached the garage, slamming the door open as they entered it.

All four of them poured into the garage before Poe closed the door shut behind them.

Knocking over several things to block the way for the Primordial, who was surely hot on their tail/s.

While the Doctor started up the speeder, Twilight unlocked the garage door.

There was a sudden pounding from the other side of the door – which Poe had obstructed – causing Poe to flinch and jump back away from.

Holdo jumped up onto the speeder, wrapping her arms around the Doctor as he looked back over his shoulder at Poe.

“Come on!” he shouted, the pounding getting stronger and more violent.

Twilight quickly got on the speeder, looking back over her shoulder along with the Doctor and Holdo at Poe.

“Come on, Dameron!” shouted Holdo, fear and concern prevalent in her voice.

Poe’s head jerked towards them, but the suddenly burst open, flinging him back against the wall.

Every one of the equines gasped in horror at the figure that greeted them in the doorway.

It was the Primordial…but instead of her normal appearance, she had become a large mass of flesh and tentacles with a large, round maw, whose edges were aligned with sharp teeth and a single, massive red, slit eye in the center of it.

The beast roared a loud, feral, screech-like roar at the group.

Once the Primordial Beast stopped roaring, Poe, overcome with fear and panic, pulled out his blaster and fired off several shots at the monstrous being. The Primordial Beast roared as his blaster bolts hit their mark, piercing its body, though, he froze, and eyes widened, as he watched new tentacles growing out of the Primordial’s wounds…all of whom hovered through the air towards him!

However, as the snarling Primordial Beast turned back towards the speeder, it was suddenly hit by another soundwave, pinning the primary bulk of its body in places. The newly spawned tentacles wriggled in mid-air. Poe, though, breathed heavily as he was consumed with fear.

Silently staring at the Primordial Beast’s tentacles.

“Come on, Poe!” Twilight shouted.

Without hesitation, Poe, wide-eyed and terrified, ran as fast as his body could carry him towards the speeder.

He jumped up onto the back, wrapping his arms tightly around Twilight, causing her to bump against Holdo, interrupting her continued fire of the soundwave.

With the soundwave ended, the Primordial Beast chattered its many teeth, roaring in an eerie, in-equine manner as its tentacles shot out towards the group, but just before they reached them, the Doctor ignited the speeder’s engines; shooting out of the garage like a speeding bullet, evading the tentacles at the last minute.

They sped across the snowy plains outside of Rey’s home, then dove downwards and flew out the hidden entrance, flying away as fast as they possibly could to get away from the Primordial Beast…leaving Rey behind with the Primordial.

Back in the garage, the Primordial Beast roared after the Doctor, Twilight, Poe, and Holdo. Angered by their escape, staring out after them as she reverted back to her normal form, though, she turned her head and jerked her head back, looking over her shoulder inside the garage door – which she had destroyed when bursting through it in her monstrous form.

Before the Primordial could return to the living room to retrieve Rey’s body, an explosion suddenly shook the entire dome-home.

She sharply turned around, only to stop in her tracks as she saw an orange light at the other end coming from the living room, followed thereafter by fire pouring out of the living room into the hallway and spread down throughout towards her from the other end.

Without any other choice, the Primordial rushed out into the snow, where she saw that the entire dome-home was aflame.

While stunned by the burning dome-home, she snapped back to her senses as she saw the burning living room.

“No, Rey!” she called out as she ran up towards the dome-home, only for a final, large explosion to erupt from within!

Destroying the entire home and knocking the Primordial backwards into the snow.

The Precursor swiftly sat up in the snow, only to freeze in place as she was greeted by nothing but a flaming ruin.

The main dome was destroyed, and a single, large flame sat in its center,

A fire that crackled, giving off a bright red and orange as it spread throughout what little of the dome-home, setting it aflame too.

“No!” shouted the Primordial, holding her arm out towards the burning ruin. However, she slowly lowered her arm as it dawned on her that Rey’s body was beyond saving.

Dejected that she would not be able to turn Rey into a Combat Form to serve the Flood, the Primordial silently watched the dome-home burn.

Eventually standing up from the snow, she watched the burning home for a few seconds before turning around and walking along the small field of snow towards the edge of the hidden entrance.

Holding her arms out beside her, she fell forwards down towards the rocky surface, below, where she grew wings.

Swooping upwards, she beat her new wings, climbing higher and higher into the air as she flew off.

She eventually passed over the mountains, continuing west towards the nearest Flood infested city.

As the Primordial flies off, a hooded figure watches the Precursor fly away, hiding a lightsaber within its torn, make-shift robes.

Author's Note

I would have used a gif for the Gravemind, but I had to settle for still pictures.

I may change that in the future.