Prisoners of War : A Beatrix Belladonna Tale

Clap.

Clap.

Clap.

Cerise Silhouette gazed almost aimlessly at the creature blocking her path, who slowly brought his hands together.

“Well done, Cerise,” Omen applauded with mocking cadence. “You figured it out by yourself! Bravo! We are all so very proud of you~.”

The dark dancer managed to steady her trembling hand, her voice mustering the strength to speak.

“… N-no,” she tried to deny it. “…it can’t be true! I-I’m just tired and seeing things. There’s no way you’re—!”

“Now, princess…”

Distortions of pixelated darkness obscured her surroundings once Omen suddenly glitched in front of her. Cerise stumbled back with an alarmed yelp.

“… Please don’t insult both our intelligence with that pitiful lie,” the nahtdyr said condescendingly. “You know in your heart what’s true. So go ahead! Say it.”

Her soulful hot pink eyes brightened, tears leaking, outraged by the nightmare stag’s sudden betrayal. Except… it wasn’t. Omen hadn’t been intentionally hiding his true intent. He didn’t need to. Not when everyone was distracted by the growing problems happening across the multiverse.

And with the spotlight never on him, the fiendish cervine could carry out his agenda behind the scenes, only stepping in when required.

Her heart didn’t ache because of Omen’s masterful deception. It hurt because she, Beatrix, Oona, and everyone else had been so easily tricked.

“Say. It.” The seer of black dreams repeated, a hint of impatience in his tone.

Cerise looked his maroon eyes, scornfully giving what the bastard wanted. Recognition.

“… It was you,” she seethed. “You’re the one behind everything. You’re the anomaly!”

His smile returned as he gave a theatrical bow.

“I’m much more than that,” Omen proudly said with a raised head. “I have the honor of being your nightmare for the evening~!”

Cerise scoffed. “I’m not afraid of you!”

“By the end, you will be,” he proclaimed as darkened sand materialized from his sleeve to manifest his staff, ominous energy flowing between the antlers of the twin stag skulls affixed to an ancient-looking hourglass.

“You, Beatrix, and all your friends will know what real fear tastes like.”

He stamped it to the crystalline floor, a loud echo resonating around Cerise as she backed away with her spear held high.

“But why?!” She demanded with a bitter tone, unable to comprehend how anyone could be so callous and evil. “Haven’t Oona and Beatrix shown you nothing but kindness? How could you betray them like this?!”

His smile stretched slightly. “Oh, I’m very thankful! None of this would have been possible if they didn’t let me into their lives. With the timelines altered and me as the destined father of the Child of Lightendark, I’ve harnessed more power and awareness than I could have ever dreamed! Plus… having two exquisite beauties to play with is just icing on the cake~.”

That made the princess’s blood boil, hissing through clenched teeth, “Fuck you!!”

“Mmm, tempting! You’re a delectable morsel yourself,” he complimented, running a tongue along his sharpened teeth. “But I have something better in mind. A simple game of tag to spice up this—”

“Who the fuck do you think you are!!” His smile disappeared at the loud interruption as Cerise angrily spat, “No one gets to do that to my friends! You can put on the whole scary overlord act all you’d like, but I will never show you fear! So quit spewing your bullshit and fight, you pathetic, cowardly—”

Her speech was cut short when reality glitched again, and the monstrous deer chomped down on her left arm. Cerise screamed shrilly, falling backward while wrestling to push Omen off. But he took another bite to lock his jaws into her flesh before ripping her limb free from the socket.

The armless thestral cried bloody murder, thick crimson puddling out her wound while her adversary mindfully chewed on her forsaken limb before swallowing it down with a gulp.

Omen allowed her to wriggle in agony for a few seconds before reversing the flow of events to an anchoring point. Cerise panted heavily before realizing her arm was back in place, yet the phantom pain lingered…

“Dnaagh?! Huh?! Wh-What happened?! What did you do!?!”

“So rude,” the gray cervine grumbled while wiping the blood off his snout with a handkerchief. “Now you’ve gone and spoiled my supper.”

The charcoal princess stood up with her spear in hand, but this time, she took a more defensive stance. “M-my arm… You took my arm!!”

“Is it sinking in yet?” asked Omen. “The only reason you’ve come this far is because I allowed it. Because I find the idea of a lazy, spoiled crybaby uncovering my entire plot mildly amusing. I suggest you get all those urges to fight me out of your system. Go on… I can wait~.”

Cerise eyed the stag’s finger tapping over the hourglass embedding his staff, grains of black sand steadily filling the bottom half.

Her glare deepened. While the dark dancer hadn’t prepared for a direct confrontation with the anomaly, she refused to give into his game. This was likely her only chance to take out the true threat to the multiverse!

So resolving her nerves, the princess twirled her crystalline spear around her body before aiming the tip at the nightmare stag’s heart, declaring, “You’re going to regret underestimating me!”

Omen’s lip curled the corner of his snout, shaking his head while humoring the dancer with his own battle stance. “Just try to keep this interesting.”

With zealous motion, she tossed her weapon like a javelin, her strike aimed true… but the fiendish deer used his mysterious chronomancy to slow its projection until it stood still in mid-air. And with a flick of his finger, the spear was flipped over to where Cerise stood before time resumed its flow.

Except it flew back at an accelerated speed, the thestral barely having time to fly out of its path, grazing her thigh with a red line.

She hissed, retrieving her spear, and went for a direct approach… only to find herself back to being in her tossed spear’s path. The sharpness sliced through her arm, splashing the crystal floor in blood.

“Naagh!!”

The nightmare stag taunted, “Having fun yet? Do let me know when you’re ready to move on.”

“You spineless cheat! Can’t fight me without such cheap magic!” She spat back while standing her ground with desperate defiance.

But Omen wasn’t phased by her insults and continued to loop her actions repeatedly. Slowing her speed just to reverse them or speed them back up. All while she danced around being impaled by her own weapon. One particular step made her dizzy, her eyes growing heavy…

Fortunately, the seer of black dreams was forced to cease his time manipulations when the sand finished filling the bottom glass, unfreezing the fatigued bat mare, layered with cuts and perspiration. Her wary pink eyes stared at the hourglass when it flipped itself within the staff, now filling the opposite end.

She managed a triumphant grin, dryly stating, “So there’s a limit to how often you can screw with time! Serves you right for playing with your food…”

“Unfortunately,” confirmed Omen. “Mandela’s Hourglass only allows me certain windows of opportunity. But despite this severe drawback, I’ve accomplished quite a lot. Wouldn’t you agree..?”

With a wave of his hand, the dark crystals lit up with displays of the battle happening outside Cerise’s barriers. Not just her friends and comrades against the forces of the Crystal Empire and Chrysalis’ swarm, but skirmishes between Zeloph, Shadow Scythe, and Mortis. And a couple of crystals depicted a fleet of unicorn paladins and soldiers, led by the sovereign witch, Tatyana, sailing over the seas towards the Isles of Parras, where its inhabitants were preparing for the upcoming invasion.

“Ahh, war,” mused the nightmare stag. “It casts life’s ugliness into sharp relief. Senseless brutality, inspired only by sophomoric performers. Desperate to supplant their future. Their purpose.” His smirk twisted. “But you see, the medium of cruelty demands nuance. And only a true visionary can wield its full potential!”

When the sorcerer’s open palm closed, the projections distorted into a red hue, now highlighting the anguish and suffering happening throughout multiple dimensions. Cerise watched with shrunken pupils while thousands of lives were ruined, pulled apart, or sliced into alternatives they didn’t realize they had. Forming horrifying amalgamations of what once was, while the old worlds crumbled into nothingness.

The charcoal mare glared back at the tall deer, utterly appalled. “So that’s your endgame? The total annihilation of everything?!”

“That’s where the Burning King and I differ,” corrected Omen. “He tried to end things because destruction was his nature. I’m doing this because it is my right to do so.”

“What ‘right?!’”

“I’ve lived too long between realms to be labeled a mere boogeyman. That’s why I had to put Oona out of commission. So that I would be the only one with the power to conjure dreams. My dreams.”

A gasp escaped her throat as realization sunk in. “T-That’s right! All this time… the only things we’ve dreamt have been-“

“ꋊ꒐ꍌꁝ꓄ꂵꋬꋪꏂꇙ!” the gray buck said with dripping enthusiasm, his shadow gradually creeping over the crystal structures surrounding them. “Precisely. And very soon, there will be nothing left to know except darkness and silence~.”

“Not gonna happen,” Cerise countered determinedly, putting on a brave face when she rose again, spear in hand. “When Beatrix and the others learn about your actions, we’ll stop you! Then you’ll be—”

A dark chuckle reverberated throughout the crystalline labyrinth when Omen slowly approached her. Gray fur gradually darkened, stature and antlers lengthened, and his face peeled away to reveal ivory bone.

“Bold of you to assume I would let you leave, Princess,” he said while shedding away his passive disguise, eyeballs, and mouths opening within his pitch-black body. “You’re going nowhere. In fact… ꌦꄲ꒤’ꋪꏂ ꋬ꒒ꋪꏂꋬ꒯ꌦ ꋊꄲꅐꁝꏂꋪꏂ~.”

As Cerise cautiously stepped back, she touched a crystal wall that lit up with another image. One that depicted herself collapsed on the floor, tossing around in a deep sleep with a tormented expression and black eyes.

Her hot pink pupils dilated. “W-what!? No! When did you-?!”

“꒐ꇙꋊ’꓄ ꓄ꁝ꒐ꇙ ꅐꁝꋬ꓄ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꅐꋬꋊ꓄ꏂ꒯?” Omen playfully mused while planting his staff into the ground, fissures spreading throughout the crystalline cavern. “ꋬ ꉔꁝꋬꋊꉔꏂ ꓄ꄲ ꉣꋪꄲ꒦ꏂ ꓄ꄲ ꏂ꒦ꏂꋪꌦꄲꋊꏂ ꅐꁝꋬ꓄ ꌦꄲ꒤’ꋪꏂ ꓄ꋪ꒤꒒ꌦ ꉔꋬꉣꋬꃳ꒒ꏂ ꄲꊰ? ꌦꄲ꒤ꋪ ꃳꋪꄲ꓄ꁝꏂꋪ… ꌦꄲ꒤ꋪ ꉣꋬꋪꏂꋊ꓄ꇙ… ꌦꄲ꒤ꋪ ꊰꋪ꒐ꏂꋊ꒯ꇙ… ꋬ꒒꒒ ꅐꋬ꓄ꉔꁝ꒐ꋊꍌ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꋪ꒐ꍌꁝ꓄ ꋊꄲꅐ!”

At their descriptions, Cerise observed their likeness manifested into shadow effigies. Their faces were obscured by darkness, save for the perpetual frown and leering eyes.

Her mind was screaming at her that it wasn’t real. That this was all part of Omen’s twisted prowess. His Onoma, perhaps?

Yet panic gripped the charcoal mare’s beating heart. The awareness of her vulnerability while trapped in his nightmare, with no means of waking up or warning her friends, overwhelmed her senses. Everywhere she turned, the princess was met with the illusionary glares of her peers and family while her foe crept closer, the sound of his antlers scraping along the ceiling hurting her ears…

“N-no… this isn’t right! I’m not… I-I’m not—”

Omen’s towering form loomed over her, and he took a long inhale of her scent, exhaling with ravenous joy. “ꋬꁝꁝ, ꓄ꁝꏂꋪꏂ ꒐꓄ ꒐ꇙ~,” he practically salivated. “꓄ꁝꋬ꓄ ꇙꅐꏂꏂ꓄ ꓄ꋬꋊꍌ ꄲꊰ ꄞꈼꁲꌅ!!”

All of Cerise’s courage quickly dwindled the longer she spent in the nightmare stag’s presence. Her grip around her spear shook once she slid her youthful body along the wall, until she stumbled into the corridor. Their eyes remained locked until her foe coldly uttered her only option.

“ꌅꐇꋊ!”

Cerise broke into a desperate sprint, no longer caring about beating the seer of black dreams as she fled into the labyrinth of her own design. He let out a sinister snicker. “ꌦꄲ꒤ ꂵꋬꌦ ꁝꋬ꒦ꏂ ꅐ꒐꓄ꁝꇙ꓄ꄲꄲ꒯ ꂵꌦ ꓄꒐ꂵꏂ ꒒ꄲꄲꉣꇙ… ꃳ꒤꓄ ꋊꄲꅐ ꓄ꁝꏂ ꋪꏂꋬ꒒ ꊰ꒤ꋊ ꃳꏂꍌ꒐ꋊꇙ~!”

Omen dropped to all fours and pursued his prey into the crystals and white noise. The fear and torture were just like the corridors Cerise traversed through. Endless.

Every path she took, every corner she turned, more lengthy halls greeted her. The crystalline walls stretched to the blackened ceiling, caging the panicking princess.

And no matter what distance she put between them, Omen was never far behind.

His hungry roars and lunges drew her attention, the gangly-limbed monstrosity running with the fluidity of a demonic insect. Belly to the floor, outstretched arms grabbing at his surroundings to get him closer.

Whenever Cerise had a moment to erect a barricade to slow down her relentless pursuer, Omen would burst through it with little trouble.

The view ahead wasn’t any better since every crystal alit with a blood-red glow. Rapidly moving eyes within toothy maws scattered through the fragmented stones, the nightmarish void filled with wicked laughter.

The charcoal mare was in hysterics. Outside the sound of her frantically beating heart, Cerise heard the voices of her family and friends circling around her head, taunting her in a child-like chant.

“Omen’s gonna get you~♪”

“Omen’s gonna kill you~♪”

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!” Cerise cried, covering her ears as the noise and anxiety worsened. Her eyes skipped a beat when she spotted one crystalline hallway that wasn’t in darkness, faint light pouring through an exit.

Whether it was an ill-hoped deception or not, the princess didn’t waste a thought on it. She just wanted out of this nightmare!

Beating her membrane wings as fast as they could carry her, Cerise flew out of the labyrinth of turmoil and found herself rolling over a dune of pale sand. When she came to a stop, she caught her breath while her hot pink eyes observed her new surroundings… only to immediately recognize the pyramid structure in the landscape.

It was the palace. She was home!

“Mom..? Dad..?! Brother!?!”

Her voice reverberated across the barren desert, the only accompanying sounds being crackling distortion, the wind brushing against the sand. The utter absence of everything, just like the starless skies above.

After suffering that dreadful ordeal, one might find the silence comforting. But to Cerise, it was the most horrible thing she could listen to. The pyramid looked forsaken, the stone worn and withering into dust. All the lush plant life that had grown around their establishment was gone.

It was like what Zeloph once tried to accomplish with her world… yet far worse than she could have imagined.

“Okay, girl, time to calm down and wake up,” she said uneased, running her fingers through her curled pig-tailed locks. “It’s only a dream; it isn’t real. It’s only a dream; it isn’t real…”

Yet no matter how many times she repeated this mantra, nothing changed. No awakening to the war she had been fighting in. No demonic deer entity chasing her in a crystalline labyrinth. Just this desolate space that vaguely resembled her home.

“It’s only a dream; it isn’t real!”

Cerise’s voice cracked with sorrow.

“It’s only a dream; it isn’t real!”

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“ It’s only a dream, it isn’t —”

“ꋪꏂꋬ꒒?”

Her body went cold when Omen spoke behind her, his elongated fingers gripping her shoulder in an almost comforting gesture.

“꒐’ꂵ ꋬꊰꋪꋬ꒐꒯ ꒐꓄ ꒐ꇙ,” the nightmare stag continued. “꓄ꁝ꒐ꇙ ꒐ꇙ ꅐꁝꋬ꓄ ꋪꏂꂵꋬ꒐ꋊꇙ ꄲꊰ ꌦꄲ꒤ꋪ ꁝꄲꂵꏂ꒒ꋬꋊ꒯. ꓄ꁝ꒐ꇙ ꒐ꇙ ꓄ꁝꏂ ꊰꋬ꓄ꏂ ꄲꊰ ꏂ꒦ꏂꋪꌦꄲꋊꏂ ꋬꋊ꒯ ꏂ꒦ꏂꋪꌦ꓄ꁝ꒐ꋊꍌ ꒐ꋊ ꏂꉧ꒐ꇙ꓄ꏂꋊꉔꏂ. ꓄ꁝ꒐ꇙ… ꒐ꇙ ꓄ꁝꏂ ꏂꋊ꒯ ꄲꊰ ꒯ꋬꌦꇙ.”

“No…I-It can’t be! We stopped it from happening! You’re wrong!”

Omen shook his head. “ꅐꏂ’꒦ꏂ ꋬ꒒ꋪꏂꋬ꒯ꌦ ꃳꏂꏂꋊ ꓄ꁝꋪꄲ꒤ꍌꁝ ꓄ꁝ꒐ꇙ, ꉣꋪ꒐ꋊꉔꏂꇙꇙ. ꒯ꏂꋊ꒐ꋬ꒒ ꒒ꏂꋬ꒯ꇙ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꋊꄲꅐꁝꏂꋪꏂ. ꒐ ꁝꋬ꒯ ꓄ꄲ ꏂꉧꄲꋪꉔ꒐ꁴꏂ ꌦꄲ꒤ꋪ ꂵ꒐ꋊ꒯ ꇙꄲ ꓄ꁝꋬ꓄ ꅐꁝꏂꋊ ꒐꓄ ꊰ꒐ꋊꋬ꒒꒒ꌦ ꃳꋪꄲꀘꏂ, ꅐꁝꋬ꓄ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꓄ꋪ꒤꒒ꌦ ꊰꏂꋬꋪꏂ꒯ ꅐꄲ꒤꒒꒯ ꉔꄲꂵꏂ ꓄ꄲ ꊰꋪ꒤꒐꓄꒐ꄲꋊ. ꓄ꁝ꒐ꇙ ꒯ꋪꏂꋬ꒯ꊰ꒤꒒ ꇙꏂꋊꇙꏂ ꄲꊰ ꒐ꇙꄲ꒒ꋬ꓄꒐ꄲꋊ? ꒻꒤ꇙ꓄ ꇙꏂꋬꇙꄲꋊ꒐ꋊꍌ ꊰꄲꋪ ꓄ꁝꏂ ꂵꏂꋬ꓄ ꄲꊰ ꅐꁝꋬ꓄ ꓄ꋪ꒤꒒ꌦ ꃳꋪ꒐ꋊꍌꇙ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꒯ꏂꇙꉣꋬ꒐ꋪ.”

His snout lowered to her shell-shaped ear to hypnotically whisper in a husky tone.

“ꁲꋖꐞꀯꍩꂑꉣꍩꂦꋰꂑꁲ,” proclaimed the hart of darkness. “꓄ꁝꏂ ꊰꏂꋬꋪ ꄲꊰ ꀘꋊꄲꅐ꒐ꋊꍌ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꋬꋪꏂ ꋬꋊ ꋬꃳꇙꄲ꒒꒤꓄ꏂ ꋬꋊ꒯ ꒤꓄꓄ꏂꋪ ꊰꋬ꒐꒒꒤ꋪꏂ. ꓄ꋪꋬꉣꉣꏂ꒯ ꅐ꒐꓄ꁝ ꓄ꁝꏂ ꋬꅐꋬꋪꏂꋊꏂꇙꇙ ꓄ꁝꋬ꓄ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꁝꋬ꒦ꏂ ꋬꉔꆰ꒤꒐ꋪꏂ꒯ ꋊꄲ꓄ꁝ꒐ꋊꍌ. ꓄ꁝꋬ꓄ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꅐ꒐꒒꒒ ꋬꉔꁝ꒐ꏂ꒦ꏂ ꋊꄲ꓄ꁝ꒐ꋊꍌ. ꋊꄲ ꒒ꏂꍌꋬꉔꌦ ꓄ꄲ ꉔꋬꋪꋪꌦ. ꋊꄲ ꊰꄲꄲ꓄ꉣꋪ꒐ꋊ꓄ꇙ ꓄ꄲ ꒒ꏂꋬ꒦ꏂ ꒐ꋊ ꓄ꁝꏂ ꇙꋬꋊ꒯ꇙ ꄲꊰ ꓄꒐ꂵꏂ. ꋊꄲ ꄲꋊꏂ ꓄ꄲ ꋪꏂꂵꏂꂵꃳꏂꋪ ꌦꄲ꒤.”

The sobs in her throat were suffocating, the charcoal bat mare struggling not to cry in front of her tormentor. She managed to whimper, “… What made you this way? Why… w-why do you want this?”

“꒐ ꁝꋬ꒦ꏂ ꓄ꄲ ꒯ꄲ ꒐꓄,” his voice echoed. “꒐ ꁝꋬ꒦ꏂ ꓄ꄲ ꉣ꒤ꋊ꒐ꇙꁝ ꏂ꒦ꏂꋪꌦꄲꋊꏂ, ꉔꏂꋪ꒐ꇙꏂ. ꏂ꒦ꏂꋪꌦꄲꋊꏂ ꋬꋊ꒯ ꏂ꒦ꏂꋪꌦ꓄ꁝ꒐ꋊꍌ ꃳꏂꋬ꓄ꋪ꒐ꉧ ꉔꋬꋪꏂꇙ ꋬꃳꄲ꒤꓄. ꇙꄲ ꓄ꁝꋬ꓄ ꒐ ꂵꋬꌦ ꉔꋪꏂꋬ꓄ꏂ ꓄ꁝꏂ ꉣꏂꋪꊰꏂꉔ꓄ ꏂ꓄ꏂꋪꋊ꒐꓄ꌦ… ꅐꁝꏂꋪꏂ ꇙꁝꏂ ꉔꋬꋊ ꇙ꒤ꊰꊰꏂꋪ ꊰꄲꋪꏂ꒦ꏂꋪ…”

Cerise’s puffy pink eyes widened as she felt the hand on her shoulder let go. And when she turned around, Omen was no longer there.

Abandoned to this abysmal plane that was once her world, the distraught bat mare gave up all composure and wailed her sorrows and helplessness into the desolate void. Her determination to cure her husband, and her aspirations to become a respected leader amongst her family, were now the hollow wishes of an abandoned mare who knew nothing.

Cerise continued to scream for hours, days, maybe even a year until her throat was sore. And when the last of her anguish depleted, she allowed the heaviness of depression to lay her body in the cool sands surrounding her.

Eventually, her perception of time faltered. Time became meaningless when the daughter of darkness had no way of returning to her friends and lover. And by then, it wouldn’t even matter.

For she had already surrendered.

*****

Omen solemnly watched as his robed henchmen used the power of the lacquered unicorn wands to encase Cerise in a crystalline coffin. Upon its construction, the color and light faded from the sparkly stones surrounding the surface area, reflecting their maker’s dire state.

The anomalous cervine rubbed a hand over the amethyst casket and said with a sly smile, “You would have made a stunning and noble queen. But I can’t have you give away the ending I have planned for Beatrix and her band of misfits. Rest now, sleeping beauty. It’ll all be over soon.”

“The crystal should be twice as strong now,” said Vox. “Nothing shall interfere with her slumber.”

“Then my part in this world is done,” declared Omen, looking to his staff to see that Mandela’s Hourglass had come off its cooldown stage, the ancient artifact ready to manipulate the time and space around him.

His ear flicked up at Midnight’s voice, calling out for his wife. “Ahh, right on cue! Time for our friend to come and collect his prize~.”

The nightmare stag ascended to the air, drawing a portal from pixelated darkness and crimson static. Omen turned to the Cult of the Nemesis and told them, “I await your arrival at the Isle of Parras. Until then, you know what to do.”

The cultists nodded as their leader vanished into the closing vortex. They gathered in a communion circle, reciting an old incantation that invoked an ancient spell, summoning red mist to enshroud the area.

Midnight Blitzer rushed into the scene right as the Cult of the Nemesis was enveloped by the thick miasma, where he found his wife perfectly preserved within the crystallized coffin.

“Cerise… how could I have let this happen?” He berated himself. “Hold on! I’m gonna get you out!”

The hyper-stallion strained his muscles, bulged, and lined in thick veins whenever he tried to pry the lid open with clenched teeth. He dared not smash it, fearful that the princess would be torn into chunks under the hyper-stallion’s efforts. “Honey, please! I’m sorry! I-”

Something struck Midnight from behind, discombobulating him until a flash of white was upon him. A balled-up fist hit his face with such aggression it almost dislodged his jaw. The blue pegasus gazed up at his attacker with widened eyes, and blood trickled from his lips. “Penumbra? Wait, w-what are you doing?! Your sister needs-” He raised his arms to ward off repeated blows.

“You caused all this,” Penumbra barked, refusing to see reason. “You were supposed to stay by her side! Protect her! Love her!!”

“I-I know I screwed up! You can take it out on me later,” he pleaded while repeated blows from a flesh and metal hand rained over his body. “But we have to rescue Cerise!” It was completely unlike the usually level-headed Penumbra, so lost in rage, he pummeled away at his brother-in-law.

“STOP IT! I DON’T WANT TO HURT MY FAMILY ANYMORE!”

He swiped his massive wingspan forward and unleashed a strange blue gust of wind that temporarily knocked Penumbra away. Midnight stared at the blue energy that dissolved from his feather tips and wondered aloud, “What was that?!”

Snowy Blizzard and Thunder Storm manifested elemental powers, as did his twin sister. Could it be that he…

Unfortunately, there was no time to think it over as Penumbra rushed at him with his white scimitar arced, bellowing with outrage.

That’s when the blue knight recognized the power flowing off Penumbra's body. The familiar violet vapors wisped out his eye sockets. The umbral magic and apparition of King Sombra.

Midnight barely recovered his spear to block the whirlwind of destruction the whirling dervish unleashed. “Penny, stop! You’re my brother!”

“I only have one brother, and you’re not him!!”

“You’re losing yourself! Don’t let the same evil that consumed your father...ack!” His foe’s blade snaked out and bit across his chest, his white armor partially broken after he’d fought his way through changelings to make it here.

Sombra’s deep baritone was interlinked with Penumbra’s, the white pegasus saying with tranquil fury. “You’ve made my sister cry for the last time, unfaithful cur! With you dead, she’ll finally have a stallion worthy of her affection. Worthy of guarding her tender heart!”

“W-what..?!”

With all the energy expended, white consumed Midnight’s spiky mane entirely. His reflexes were dulled, unable to keep up with the master swordsman’s slashes and stabs; cut repeatedly and saved from a mortal wound merely by what remained of his broken white armor, drenched in fresh and dried blood alike while he was continually driven back.

His wingspan pushed Penumbra back again, but he was almost instantly on him again.

“Forget about the hyper-stallion, Lord Sombra,” came the voice of an acolyte behind him, which made Penumbra pause his assault. “Secure the princess and return to the hive at once.”

The pale pegasus heaved, eying the crystalline casket that housed his sister. “… Yes, of course,” mused a voice now clearly Sombra’s. Through Penumbra’s mental state and shared blood, he was inhabited by and all but wholly subsumed by the tyrant’s will. “I’ve wasted enough time on this feeble cripple.”

“F-feeble cripple?” Midnight managed to croak.

The pegasus shakily stared at himself through the reflective wall, visibly aged a decade at least. With so much of his strength spent, he struggled to rise. Nonetheless, he protectively threw himself over Cerise’s coffin just for Penumbra’s boot to smash his jaw with a sharp crack. The blue pegasus knight whimpered, helpless before his foes.

With a triumphant laugh, Sombra and the cultist recovered the amethyst casket and disappeared into the scarlet fog. Midnight tried to crawl after them, agony pouring out his mouth before succumbing to his withered state.

Perhaps the most painful thing about this was that his foes considered him so helpless they didn’t even bother finishing him.

And instead left him to wallow in misery…

*****

With Cerise forced into deep stasis, the crystalline walls she erected began to crack and dissolve.

“Huh? Oh no!” Beatrix cried out at the implications, worried that her friend had been knocked unconscious...or worse. But she couldn’t focus on that as she, Iclyn, and everyone else in the village had more immediate concerns.

The volleys of cannon fire and changeling acid compromised their defenses, easily breaking apart the last barriers. The changeling swarm took immediate advantage. As did Fiery’s battalion, since more of the opposing sides spilled into the once peaceful sanctuary proper.

Wherever the witch turned, people screamed for help. A swarm tore the roof off a home, and a holstaur pulled out had her clothes torn off by a changeling. The voluptuous bovine bawled, dragged across the bloodied grass naked so the drone could carry out its insidious purpose.

Seething, Beatrix raised a hand, archaic magic wrapped around her horn and conjured into a vast ball of darkness, warping to intercept the bug’s path before blasting the black bug away.

Another changeling smashed another hut, with another captive cowgirl lifted into its web. She and others like her screamed all the while, attire shredded from their spotted curves; ovipositors raised to penetrate their fertile wombs, before Iclyn flung icicle spears to impale the insectoids through their craniums in splashes of clear blood.

Tactics rapidly fell apart, and everyone was forced into a desperate, all-out battle for survival. Kitsune’s katana chopped away at the swarm that converged on her, slaying several before a limb seized one of her nine tails and pulled. A blood-curdling scream escaped the vixen’s snout when the tail was torn away in a bloody spray and chomped down by the drone’s razor mandibles.

Kitsune stumbled and attempted to escape, the loss of cybernetics returning her basic senses, amplified and overly sensitive...including her pain receptors. Agony, the likes she couldn’t remember, flared on every nerve. Nonetheless, the kunoichi clenched her teeth and arced her curved katana, lopping the drone’s head off in a discolored splatter, her snout fiercely drawn.

Minotaurs rushed to her aid and chipped away at the swarm. “Arigatōgozaimasu,” she said and hopped off the shoulders of the bugs to escape, her remaining eight tails wrapped close around her waist like a belt. They urged her to rest and recover… but Kitsune refused to stop now!

Not when so many depended on them, and victims were everywhere as the enemy pressed their assault, more holstaurs stripped, seized…

The war left nothing untouched, as the house Arcanum Folklore and the twins took shelter in was shaken with thumps. The wards around the area held, but the warlock doubted they could withstand the overwhelming pressure.

Every instinct in the erenn stallion told him to run out and help. But Iclyn had insisted he finished the ritual, the circle drawn and empowered by the magic he poured into it. Besides, he had another unspoken reason to hide out here...Moon Hammer trusted him to protect his wives. They were out of the room to leave him space while he completed his delicate work.

“Augh, bloody hell! I need more energy than this,” he cursed, his hands and horn aglow. Much as Iclyn proved difficult, the scruffy detective wasn’t about to risk the possibility of her atoms scattering across the cosmos by his crudely constructed portal. He took pride in his craft!

Arcanum tossed off his coat and rubbed his sweaty mane, lost in thought, while he knelt before the magic circle. “Think, dammit! There’s gotta be a way to conjure more magic out of—”

“You already know one way,” whispered a familiar feminine voice behind him, the crush of bared breasts and nipple nubs felt on his shoulders. The manifestation of Bloody Merry was back, attempting to push the temptation of the Necronomicson’s power on him. “Use the portal to find the tome. Read its text, and the doors to all knowledge will be opened. Whatever you desire can be yours. Simply-”

“Fuck off with that shit,” he growled, fighting his momentary relapse of fulfilling that urge to shove the brick-red nude earth mare away. “Ain’t nothing worthwhile can come from that book!”

“Oh! We’re sorry!” The twins stood in the doorway, steaming coffee cups hand in hand. “We thought you could use a pick-me-up!”

“… wait, what?” Arcanum shook his head, the Bloody Merry apparition no longer in sight. “Ohh, it’s… it’s fine. I could use the bean juice, actually.” He stood and approached the cow-print bikini-clad, half-holstaur, half-crystal mare sisters.

Strawberry Moon half-lidded her eyes and offered, “You need more energy to activate this, yes? Maybe we can provide some assistance!”

“Ehh, no offense, but you’re not magicians,” he replied coolly. “Not sure how you’d be able to-”

“We meant a more physical solution,” Blue Moon corrected with a coy smile, shaking her mountainous breasts side-to-side with a titter.

“…Ohh.” His face heated up as he cleared his throat. “See, that’s more Beatrix’s field of work. Plus, we really don’t have time for that, and besides, I don’t wanna be a homewrecker!”

Arcanum knew Moon Hammer and his wives had an odd open relationship when they were apart, but it felt too wrong for him to have a casual fling so soon after poor Merry’s loss.

“Aww, that’s too bad,” pouted Strawberry.

Blue Moon nodded and added. “We understand. But should you change your mind…~”

The sisters drew aside a bikini cup and bared an udder each, the heavy flesh left to bounce out and wobble to an eventual stop, incredibly wide nipples dotted in milky beads from their tit slits. “Tell us, handsome stud, what flavor do you prefer? Strawberry? Blueberry?” They shook their pliable titties at him with a shared giggle.

The warlock sighed before shrugging his shoulders. “Persistent bitches, ain’t ya? Well… guess a bit of both wouldn’t hurt?”

Their titters increased, bared tits held in one hand and poised over the coffee cups, after which they squeezed their udders and fired a creamy spray that splashed and sizzled into the dark drinks. He tried to keep a steady head while he worked, but he couldn’t help but stare at the saucy show the pink twin sisters put on for him.

Milk dripped down the slope of their udders after they finished, and Arcanum accepted the cups and took a drink of each. “Mmm. Good stuff,” he admitted. “I can see why folks consider bovine dairy a delicacy.” It was more than delicious, however...he felt a rush of invigoration as the lactation and caffeine combo settled into his empty stomach. “Now, to empower the circle!”

The unicorn shuffled back to the circle and knelt before it, his horn and hands lit to pour in more raw power. His mane whipped behind him.

The twins set his empty cups aside after he finished and also sat before the circle. Normally he’d dismiss them, but their company somehow helped him focus, even when the twin sisters fully removed their cow-print tops to let their milky udders flop free. They then shimmied out of their bottoms, pastel pink forms now fully naked save for collars with cowbells that adorned their necks.

“It’s about time for more milking,” whispered Strawberry Moon. “If you can’t help us...”

“... we’ll have to do it ourselves~” finished Blue Moon, as their fingers interlocked and their mouths met until the twin sisters became one. They had always been able to share their thoughts and feelings; their cutie marks, a pair of intertwined female symbols, began to glow from the pleasure they shared and doubled when they started to hungrily make out.

Arcanum shook his head with a subdued chuckle. “How the blue hell does Moon Hammer get any shit done with you two needy bitches around?”

It was more than physical bliss they sought; however, as to the warlock’s surprise when he raised a brow, the circle drew upon their strength. Perhaps it was due to the cosmic storm’s influence, but they helped him channel more power, letting their desire help fuel his ritual as their hands started to wander, bountiful flesh squeezed and kneaded between them.

Lust wafted around the half-bovine, half-mare crystal maid twin sisters, the tinkle of cow bells echoing as their wide hips and butts shifted closer across the floorboards until their puffy, inflamed pussies connected between their spread legs. They started to scissor slowly, heart-shaped clitorises rubbed and throbbed, their moist pink slits connected by a feminine trail of raw need.

Their maws darted forward, an udder hefted under a palm, presented to their double. Lips closed around the wide areola where they suckled down the creamy, sugary treat presented to them, driving their hips and buttocks faster into each other as they humped away, cutie mark’s shining blindingly bright as they funneled all they could muster to help complete his spell.

Arcanum whistled, sweat pouring down his matted brow, seconds from finalization as the cow maids fucked away. “C’mon! Almost there..!”

“U-us too~!” The twins spoke, moaned, and shuddered in unison, and a splash of their mixed fluids shot from twats across the floorboards.

“Strawberry~!” “Blueberry~!” They screamed their bliss as one, supple flesh left to violently shudder, trapped in the throes of a shared, wild climax.

Another violent blast rocketed the home. Arcanum shot to his feet, the twins a moment behind, still blissed out from their wet climax as they stumbled onto their bare feet. A wall burst open, an infected drone rushing in, its antenna flicking when wood and dust blossomed about it.

Arcanum didn’t waste any time, magically driving his Kurdish dagger into the monster’s skull, the drone letting out a dying shriek before it lay half lodged in the wall it had smashed through. He pressed a boot to it and yanked his weapon free.

The denuded sisters huddled close. “We must have drawn it with our smell. Sorry…”

“Couldn’t be helped,” grunted Arcanum, peering out the newly made window with furrowed brows. “Looks like the barricade’s fallen!”

Did that mean Cerise was dead? Were the others not that far behind, either? He couldn’t spare a moment to dwindle on such thoughts, the defense of the pregnant twins left in his hands while more drones chewed their way inside.

Fortunately, the crude portal he built answered his will and spat out a few familiar weapons from his home dimension. "Hell yeah!" The erenn unicorn snatched up a rifle and started to blast away at several more bugs on their way in, their heads popped like cantaloupes, and limbs were torn off under the spray. He spared a quick glance over his shoulder once he watched the twins retreat and breathed a sigh of relief, wondering if anywhere was safe anymore...?

Instead, the sisters returned with two-handed axes hefted in their hands. “Are you nuts?!” he yelled desperately over his shots. “You’re carrying babies in your bellies! Go run and hide! Now!”

“No! We won’t abandon you,” promised Blue Moon, her soft features hardened.

“Holstaurs are stronger than we look,” added Strawberry Moon. “We’ll watch your back!”

Another shell exited his rifle. “Why do I always get stuck with such stubborn-headed women?!”

Banishing the image of Bloody Merry from his mind once more, Arcanum inspected the wards, questioning if the Necronomicon had somehow helped weaken the magic and drew the Mi-Go to them? The monsters swarmed from every direction, mandibles openly salivating at the knocked-up twins, eager to rip the calves from their wombs and fill their bellies with eggs.

Gunshots erupted while Strawberry quipped, “Look at us! Caught with our panties down!” She shimmied her wide bare hips, her axe held aloft.

“Not too unusual for us, sister!” Blue Moon shared a nervous titter with her, aware of what could happen to them and their unborn calves should they fail. Fertile broodmares like them would be quite a prize for the enemy to seed...

A click sounded. Arcanum tossed the emptied rifle aside. Corpses of drones flooded the caved-in wall, chunks torn from them. Another clawed its way in while he reached for a fresh weapon, fired it, and watched the chain rip into the monster’s torso. The invader half-dead, he withdrew the bladed chain and, with his free hand, readied his dagger. Only to be bowled into by another drone that flew in amidst an angry buzz. The knife tip sunk into its heart, but the momentum carried him across the ruined room.

Its body weight smashed him into a wall, which cracked under the impact...alongside several of his ribs. The warlock stallion grunted, bit his bottom lip so hard he tasted coppery blood and tried to kick off its weighty corpse as another bug skittered its way in, its eyes on the holstaur prize.

The sisters rushed to their defender’s aid. Hefted axes chopped down. Piece by piece, the twins dismembered the drone, severed limbs cast around the bloodied interior as their bared, ample curves were splashed by sticky, colorless blood. Soaked, matted fur dripped down their voluptuous flesh. They didn’t stop their combined attack until the last piece no longer twitched.

The duo huffed their slick, slimy udders. Goo dribbled down their voluminous, glistening flesh. Blue asked, “Is it...over?” It had gone eerily quiet, the sounds of warfare once more distant. “Mr.Folklore!” They hurried over and carefully chopped at the carcass slumped over him.

Strawberry called, “Arcanum, sir? Are you okay? Perhaps a spot of milk will help perk you up?”

The scruffy stallion shot them a shaky thumb up and tossed off the remains of the half-chopped-up, oversized drone. With a relieved sigh, Arcanum noted the magic circle was somehow unbroken, thanks to all the ethereal power they’d poured into it. “Not bad for a couple of gravid cows.”

Blue Moon smiled, a twinkle in her pastel pink eyes. “Told you we weren’t brainless bimbos~!”

Arcanum held his ribs and looked around the ruined home for further signs of trouble, met by a low whistle of wind. “Oi! I never said-”

“No, but you thought it,” replied Strawberry Moon. “That’s okay! Most people think we’re simple wenches and can’t see past our charms. Ample as they are.” The sisters playfully shook their slime-slicked assets at him. “You think Moon Hammer would have married us if all we could do was cook, clean, and bear him calves? He wants more than that! We’ve always been dedicated to our duties, and to the service of others.”

“It’s not something everyone can understand,” noted Blue Moon. “Especially guys, who are obsessed with their egos. No offense.” She winked at him. “Admit it; you like to play the errant knight that rescues damsels in distress!”

“… Eh, maybe a wee bit,” he admitted, rubbing his blood-slicked mane. “You helped me complete the circle and saved me arse. So thanks.”

“You saved ours, too~!” They turned and shook their heart-shaped, sizable coral-pink derrieres at him. “You could always reward us later~!”

He rolled his eyes. “Geez, at least try to show some restraint! Besides, we don’t know what’s happening out there. Outside of trouble…”

“Yes,” said Strawberry, suddenly sobered up from any cheer left. “If poor Cerise has fallen...”

“Let’s have faith in her, Beatrix, and company,” encouraged Blue at her side, who squeezed her elder twin’s hand and maintained a pained smile.

“Y-yes. Of course,” she replied, momentarily shaken by what they’d seen and been forced to do. Survival was at stake, and they’d bloodied their hands. With haste and reluctance, the twins reclaimed and redressed in their cow-print bikinis, thankful it helped wash away the slime.

Blue rubbed down her curves and complained, “We stink now! The blood of those insects-”

“Just be thankful their infection doesn’t appear to be contagious,” noted Arcanum, who hissed more when Blue Moon checked his wounds. Using her medical knowledge and supplies, she helped set his ribs and clean his scrapes with a wet cloth. Her milky bust pushed into him while she worked, comforting him in an almost maternal manner as body heat radiated from her, and his taut muscles relaxed on instinct.

However, there was no time to screw around. Once he was set, Arcanum recovered what weapons he could while the twins reclaimed their axes. He shuffled through the wreckage and bodies with their help, then rushed into the open.

“I ain’t losing more people on me watch! Follow me!” His rifle freshly stocked, he took aim.

*****

Crystals crumbled into a sparkly shower that rained down over the villa, and every last trace of Cerise’s labyrinth dissolved. Fiery’s army had spilled into the village center, engaged in battle with the changelings that attacked in masses. Loose cannon shells lobbed over the land and struck a few buildings in explosions that left scorch marks, the acrid stink of burning amidst air that sparkled with crystalline and carried ashes and embers, no place safe anymore from the clash of steel and flesh as smoke blossomed.

Beatrix and Iclyn continued to fill the skies with spells, the former wrapped by the Demiurge’s inky blackness like a gown as they drew upon their Onomas. The witch also kept her rapier in hand to deal with anyone who came too close.

They primarily focused their efforts on the changelings, but were sometimes pushed to attack Fiery’s men, who were under orders to raze the village so their bodies couldn’t be used to feed and breed the hive. She hadn’t slain any of the soldiers that assaulted them....but didn’t hesitate to cripple them with her spellcraft, either. Not when what they planned for the villa apparently amounted to outright genocide!

The Crystal Empire wasn’t faring too well, either, overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Panna, who’d recovered and was back on her feet, twin knives in hand that she tossed into drones, was eventually hit head-on by one that buzzed overhead. The doe stumbled backward. “M-my horn!” Acid spat by one of them ate into the unicorn horn on the forehead of the fawn and devoured half of its length, which sizzled and melted. She cried out in mixed pain and horror.

“Accursed monsters!” Chezka trotted up on her four hooves as the centaur rapidly released arrow-after-arrow, bugs impaled to tree trunks as she delivered death. A white wavy ponytail whipped behind her, forced to fight alongside Moon Hammer and his men to save her Amazon sister as she drew more shafts from her quiver.

Moon Hammer bellowed when a drone bit into his back and tore off a chunk of leathery skin. He turned and swung with such force that he splatted the backstabber completely, where a hail of exoskeleton chunks and slimy innards rained over him. “Don’t you see there’s no end to these bastards?! You need to persuade your men! We can’t afford to fight amongst ourselves anymore!”

Panna wheezed and huffed, the fawn barely conscious. “B-but we swore to Fiery-”

His nostrils flared. “JUST DO IT!”

At his barked order, Chezka reluctantly nodded and pulled Panna onto her armored horse portion. “I’ll ride ahead. Help cut me a path!” The minotaurs that weren’t downed snapped to help Moon Hammer cut a swath into the forest as the centaur raced onto a path littered with corpses.

A couple of minutes later, Fiery’s wives arrived at the cannons and persuaded the commanders there to enact a temporary truce, their word considered second to the supreme commander’s own. He was busy in the village, unable to shoot their pleas down. Beatrix breathed a relieved sigh once the cannons turned on the swarm exclusively and started to help drive them away.

“Maybe we can still win this,” mumbled the witch to herself. Flames crackled in the distance, the air blossomed with smoke, and she spotted a familiar caravan past the scorched earth and trees. “W-wait! That’s-” She burst into a wild run.

“Wha-hey!” Iclyn snapped, “Beatrix? Get your stupid ass back here!” Yet her words went unheard, forcing the icy doe to unleash a cold flash that instantly froze the swarm closest to her, and her strength drained after hours of an all-out battle. Luckily, bursts of cannon fire swallowed up more drones and vaporized them instantly.

Despite the knowledge it was likely a trap, Beatrix couldn’t abandon her mother if she was somehow still alive in this world of war and madness. The caravan was overturned in the thick of the forest, which resurfaced memories of her own home, where her mother, Trixie Lulamoon, had raised her. Trained her, while the pair traveled the world and performed fantastical shows to help boost morale om a wartorn planet.

“M-mom...please be alive...!” She kicked in the door and peeked inside. Belongings were scattered everywhere, but she found no signs of life in the cramped space. Not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed, she stepped back out.

“My little hellspawn,” came a feminine voice which made her turn back. “Looking for me?” Three female figures stood in the thick woods, each cloaked and hooded. “Come, my sweet child. It’s been so long…” The three women vanished into the red mists with muted, feminine titters.

Beatrix screamed, “Mom?! Wait~!” She used her Onoma to hover after them, trying to follow the troika of silhouettes, until they stopped amidst a clearing, glowing under a hellish crimson moon that cast them all in an unsettling glow. While the witch paused, the three cultists removed their hoods to reveal Trixie Lulamoon and her stage partners, Lavender Lace and Fuschia Blush. She choked out, “Y-you called me ‘little hellspawn’....only mother...my actual mother....ever calls me that...b-but...”

“Who else would I be? I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, after all~!” proclaimed the boastful unicorn with a wicked smirk. She waved an arm at their surroundings. “This world is a hodgepodge of various planets you’ve traveled to! Like a bunch of thrown-together jigsaw puzzles you’ve somehow managed to hastily assemble , my little hellspawn. Forming a Frankenstein’s monstrosity that always threatens to fall apart!”

Beatrix sputtered when her Onoma withdrew, reduced back to her usual leotard costume, sans her hat and cape, her mouth dry. “Wh-wha-”

“Don’t play coy with us,” came the sultry voice of the blonde Lavender Lace. “You wanted this!”

“Your Prima Materia connected these dimensions,” purred Fuschia Blush. “Enabling old friends and family alike to come here!”

“No! I don’t want to put anyone I love at risk!” Beatrix shook at these revelations.

“Maybe not consciously,” reminded Trixie. “But it’s too late, my little hellspawn. Far too late.” The three unicorn mares undid the strings to their cloaks, letting them fall to reveal their completely nude, supple bodies underneath. Curves glistened under the hellish moon’s demonic light. “It is time for you to join us, my sweet. Serve the Cult of the Nemesis!” With that, the three unicorn mares began to chant an incantation in unison.

Black clouds converged overhead and broke with a thunderous crack. Rain the color of blood drizzled down over the foursome. Beatrix shivered as her eyes watered, more people she cared about pulled into one of her adventures.

Yet she found little fun in this one. Only the promise of eternal misery and melancholy.

Her shoulders slumped, the violet mare tempted to surrender, reminded that evil would follow her no matter where she turned. The Cult of the Nemesis. The Eldritch race. The Vice Lords. Not to mention all the other enemies she’d made.

What did it matter...?

Trixie waved a hand, and Beatrix’s clothes dematerialized with a heavy bounce of the witch’s violet bust. “Mmm, I remember when I first taught you that spell.” She licked her lips and drank her nude daughter in. “My little hellspawn has grown into a competent witch and fine woman. Such a shame those birthing hips are wasted by a sterilized womanhood!” She leered at said hips.

Beatrix blubbered, reduced to an almost child-like state when she petulantly insisted, “My mom… would have been proud! She’d... she’d never....!”

“Nothing we can’t fix,” assured Fuchsia once she and Lavender closed in, their nipples painfully erect. “We’ll have her sire offspring in no time~!”

“Our leader managed to break our old selves,” assured Lavender, her eyes hazed over. “Indoctrinated us! Wipe away our fear and pain!”

“And they will do the same for you, my little hellspawn,” intoned Trixie with a sickeningly sweet voice. “Forget about your friends. We’re your family now. We’re all you’ll ever need~!”

At once, the older unicorn and her sidekicks allowed their hands to wander freely across Beatrix’s curvaceous body. Greedily they kneaded and squeezed her curves, their manes drenched under the red drizzle that sluiced from above.

Blissed out by euphoria, Beatrix moaned and whimpered, putty under playful but firm hands that made sure every inch of her flesh didn’t leave unmolested. She yelped when they pinched, pulled, and twisted her erect nipples, traced her moist slit between the crack of her buttocks, and teased the pucker of her asshole, which clenched and radiated the lusty heat of her feminine need.

Her mother’s fingers buried knuckle deep up her birth canal, crooked upwards to rub her spongy g-spot, while a thumb rubbed her swollen clit in circles. Beatrix clenched her lower holes and came a little over the intrusion as her pussy violently winked. “M-mom~! Oh wow~! No~...”

“Don’t expend yourself too soon,” cooed Trixie as she finger-fucked her daughter, digits soaked in fresh marecum. “We’ve only just started.” She, Fuschia, and Lavender shared a playful nod.

A delirious Beatrix slackened, brain melted by pleasure, enthralled by the three beautiful women as Trixie lifted her daughter up and laid Beatrix’s legs over her shoulders, her snout pressed close to her daughter’s sticky, well-lubricated cunt. Fuschia and Lavender helped support her weight, their palms still molesting the witch, all the while with lustfully wicked giggles. Beatrix’s cunt continued to wink into Trixie’s face.

“She’s been primed,” assured Fuschia, her horn lit, her aura wrapped around Beatrix’s pussy lips. Her petals were forced open to expose the glistening pink flower within, wetly winking and dripping from the cervix down her asshole. The sweet and spicy scent of her musk filled them.

“Become one with us, sister,” whispered Lavender into Beatrix’s ear, which she nibbled and sucked on, a palm cupped on Beatrix's squished buttock.

Color momentarily drained from Trixie’s eyes as her fertile belly squirmed, and its surface writhed like it was filled with a nest of snakes. Her maw opened, and larva-like parasites arose from her throat. A pair of the worms that wiggled and teased before Beatrix’s aura-opened wide fuckholes, ready to penetrate them, to invade and fill her womb to make her one of their own.

Similar grubs emerged from the cunts of Fuschia and Lavender, then wrapped around Beatrix’s tits and squeezed them, dripping over her as they started to push into Beatrix’s mouth. “That’s it,” whispered Fuschia when she and Lavender rested a palm on Beatrix’s head and made her lips bob down on the fat worms to service them. “Swallow and drink it all down. Welcome it into your womb. Let it fill you with abundant life,” she declared once Trixie’s worms violently shot forward.

Beatrix arched her back and squirted hard all over her mother’s face at the sudden, savage penetration. "Holy fuck~!" She could hear the coy taunts of Fuschia and Lavender, reminding the witch of her fetish for more monstrous paramours, especially of the eldritch variety.

Like she had been shaped from birth to one day take the seed of a primordial abomination, swell up proudly and then bear its powerful spawn.

The protrusion teased her winking, squirting cervix, and struggled to wriggle its way into her slippery, slimy uterus as tentacled beasts rolled within the wombs of the three unicorn mares around her, making them let loose their own watery climaxes. They moaned and blushed, eyes rolling into their heads as if lost in a religious experience, albeit a perverted one. The larva squirmed inside her stretched snatch and anus.

Beatrix squealed and climaxed. HARD!

A whirling gale of snow suddenly swallowed up Lavender Lace, who dropped Beatrix while the parasites that jutted from her withdrew and squealed, cut off by the icy chunk that formed around her. The creature hit the earth and partially shattered. Fuschia and Trixie were forced to withdraw once Iclyn walked onto the scene, a cold wrath formed by a blizzard whirling around the witches. Her eyes and antlers glimmered with auroral light when the atmosphere chilled.

“My sister! How dare you—naaaaugh!!” Fuschia screamed, cut short when she too was turned into a blue statue, which also shattered upon the deighdyr bashing the side of her fist into it.

Beatrix landed with a thud on her bare butt, shaking off the supplanted ecstasy to realize what was happening with a pained cry. “Iclyn, wait!”

The snow fawn ignored the witch’s protests and continued to weave her Onoma, ready to imprison Trixie in a glacial tomb…only to have her hand seized by Beatrix. “Take your hands off me!”

“That’s my mom! I have to save her!” Beatrix shakily bumbled to her feet.

With a sneer, Iclyn shoved her back to launch her icicle spears, which only grazed Trixie’s shoulder when she fled into the clouds of scarlet miasma.

“Mom, wait! Come back!”

“Fucking idiot! You let her slip away!” The cyan cervine bristled. “Get it through your skull, Belladonna! Your mother’s dead!”

Tears slid down Beatrix’s cheeks as her color drained away. “But… b-but you killed them! Fuschia and Lavender were-”

“Dead. The moment those parasites claimed their wombs,” rebutted Iclyn. “Those weren’t the mares you knew. Just mere flesh puppets manipulated by those grubs to infest you!” Her features softened a little as Beatrix covered her face and wept into her hands. “The kindest thing you could have done was put Trixie out of her misery...”

Beatrix wiped her heavy eyes, her face suddenly twisted in pure rage. “The Cult of the Nemesis already took everything I had! Whoever’s behind this, I’ll rip them apart atom-by-atom!” She waved a hand to clean her body and again to redress herself as the red rain continually spattered them. “Th...thank you, Iclyn.” She went for a chaste kiss, but the doe slapped her face away.

“Our friends need us,” she said bluntly before forming an icy path to the burning ville for her to skate across. “Get your butt in motion already!”

Rubbing her cheek, Beatrix took a moment to look at the frozen solid forms of the stage magicians, smashed into pieces on impact. “Fuschia Blush… Lavender Lace… forgive me. I’ll avenge you; I swear on my life!”

With that declaration, Beatrix levitated after her comrade, and the duo made their way back toward the raging war. Cannonfire streaked across skies blackened by smoke and swarms.

*****

Moonlight River shrieked with fury while trying to land a single strike on Equinox, who deflected her punches and kicks while avoiding those poison-tipped needles. Lightning Spark was focused on zapping any bug-faced fiend descended from the stormy skies. It was the most she could do without accidentally electrocuting her friend and their comrades while they battled invaders below.

When the cadet threw another punch for the face, the marauder caught it, twisting her wrist in her grasp. Moonlight yowled, her bones threatening to snap beneath her iron hold.

“Even with your fancy new wings, this is the best you’ve got? Please,” spat Equinox, delivering a hard fist in the gut that knocked the air out of Moonlight’s sails.

She chucked the more miniature bat mare into the muddy ground, her steel boot heel pressing on her head. The muscular thestral glared spitefully at her opponent, saying, “When are you gonna learn this isn’t how the world works! Matter of fact, let me give you a crash course~!”

Spotting another wave of changelings, she ripped off Moonlight’s bottoms, exposing her inflamed marehood. Realizing what Equinox was doing, the bat mare screamed into the muck, squirming to free herself as she was betrayed by a pussy wink.

But some drones had already caught a whiff of her heated scent and began to buzz toward them, determined to swell her womb with a fresh batch.

“That’s it, grubs! Come and get it~!” Equinox beckoned, giving the bat mare’s bared, toned rump a harsh smack. “This cunt’s primed and ready for—”

“GET OFF OF HER,” bellowed Lightning, soaring down to wrestle the marauder off Moonlight. But Equinox proved too strong and experienced, and managed to shake the pegasus off and bash her left plumage, causing her to cry out and crash into a nearby shrub with a series of whimpers.

“Know your place, changeling whore!”

Equinox leered down at the thrashing thestral, eying her augmented wingspan. With a toothy grin, she gripped them tightly, ready to tear them off Moonlight’s back… when Lightning rushed in to deliver a rapid roundhouse kick to the face.

The impact forced her back, her glare deepening. “When are you gonna learn that your-huh?!”

In a flash of light, the electric blue pegasus transformed into a mirror image of herself and lunged at the confused batmare, using her natural strength against her with precise strikes.

Only when she caught a crane kick did she discover who she was fighting, as Kyube's furry ears and bushy tail managed to poke through the yokai magic disguise.

“You!!” She bellowed, pulling back a clenched fist until one of his clones, also disguised as Equinox, secured her arm in a chicken wing hold. The vulpine winked before lifting his free foot to kick her square in the jaw, rotating himself to land by Moonlight and help her up.

“What in the..?!”

Kyube removed his glamor to reveal his true face. “Forgive me. I was detained due to a distraction… I should have-”

“Hey, it’s okay! At least you’re here now,” Lightning said as she limped towards them, favoring her injured wing.

“Yeah… t-thanks,” Moonlight added while rubbing the dirt and mud off her bruised face as she reclaimed the bottom portion of her outfit.

Lightning then noticed the number of tails swaying behind the bandit. “Wait a minute… since when did you gain five tails?”

“Never said I didn’t possess more than three,” Kyube replied cheekily.

“Oh, wow! So impressive,” Equinox praised sarcastically while struggling to weasel out of the two clones of herself, pinning her to the ground. “Now get off of me! Or else you’ll be SO sorry when I—”

Moonlight fired a sleeping dart that landed in the marauder’s neck. She spat a few slurred profanities before succumbing to the tranquilizer’s effects and falling unconscious.

“Lights out, bitch,” the bat mare muttered. “After what you pulled, I should leave you for the hive!” Instead, she turned to Kyube. “If you’ve got any other tricks, foxy, now’s the time to use them!”

Nodding, the vulpine and his clones assembled and warded off the incoming swarm of Mi-Go changelings using their martial arts, mystical yokai magic, and wooden staves. Within moments, he’d helped them drive a cloud of drones away amidst the flurry of activity.

By then, the reality-breaking storm above had finally dissolved, and the devilish red fog layered the battered warzone. Lightning, Moonlight, and Kyube fought bravely against the waves of seemingly endless changelings, while more of their troops were overpowered and eaten by the crush of mandibles. Wherever they looked, wounded and dead from all sides were visible once the battlefield had finally quieted down.

An unnatural silence hung in the dense atmosphere once the buzz died away. Even the cannons stopped, the last shells spent.

Fiery Kickstart walked past the rubble, one of his wings bent unnaturally after his bout with Deinos, who writhed on the ground with one arm chopped off and cauterized. Even with his superior size and tactical advantage, the rogue changeling severely underestimated the strength of the supreme commander and his flame sword.

“Mmmara… thyssa…” he weakly shrilled, pushing his seared body, carapace badly burnt to a crisp.

For his part, Fiery struggled so much to light up his vermilion saber with the weak sparks he emitted, but that didn’t deter his obsessive quest from seeking Marathyssa and Shining Armor. He wouldn’t let them escape. Not after the fallen paladin took this world and all he loved to ruin!

Sweat-soaked and delirious, blood trickled from a wound on his skull and between his eyes. Memories from many hours before resurfaced. After he’d left the morgue, Snowy Blizzard and his old friendship with Thunder Storm and Shining Armor had been on his mind. When he’d stopped before a stained-glass window in the Crystal Palace, he remembered when the three of them, like sworn brothers, crossed their swords high here before a depiction of the late Queen Cadance, and promised to defend Equestria until each of these stallions drew their final breaths.

“And now look at us,” lamented Fiery as he stumbled onward. “What an utter disgrace.”

He recalled the rumors circling the hallways that Moonlight River had escaped. A sketch of the two-piece maid costume she supposedly wore was shown to him, and he approved it as the mandatory outfit for the staff from this moment forward. Within the hour, seamstresses hastily modified their uniforms to better match what he had in mind before more suitable revisions could be made. Crystal maids adorned said costumes wherever he looked, displayed like trophies.

Two maids, punished for their negligence, were forced to scrub the walls of a blood-stained corridor clean after Moonlight escaped on their watch. Not to mention the guards found dead. The pair were down on all fours, tails hiked up, plush hind ends exposed, since aside from tiny thongs they were forbidden to wear underwear. The first maid muttered, “This is humiliating!”

“Hush," pleaded the second maid, their sponges soaked in soap suds and blood. “They’ll hear you!”

“So? The guards are more interested in checking out our goods anyway.” She tried to readjust the thong panties, which crawled up her buttcrack and left the sides of her plump pink butthole visible, not to mention their moist cameltoes. “I swear, they even put aphrodisiacs in our food! My estrus flares up way more often than it should! Ever since Fiery took over, it’s like he wants to turn every mare here into a foal factory!”

“Is...is that really so bad?” She blushed as their pussies enthusiastically, wetly winked at the idea.

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to spend my life as breeding fodder! I don’t care how much we’ll be paid! He’s obviously set this up to tempt everyone, hoping we’ll finally surrender to our needs and bear the troops a new batch of foals!”

“Could be worse,” lamented the second mare. “Remember what happened to Cadance’s personal twin maids? Rumor has it Chrysalis had them snatched up to teach Cadance a lesson, and pumped the broodmares so full of eggs their swollen wombs and bellies eventually popped…”

Their cunts enthusiastically winked from estrus at the idea of sex, soaked panties pulled into their slits when puffy pussy lips seized at the lacy silk.

“Yeah, Fiery did a fine job protecting those poor twins....eep!” The crystal mares balked at the sound of his footsteps, drained of all color.

Fiery cupped his hands behind him and allowed a dry chuckle to pass his lips. “That… is a misconception. It wouldn’t have happened if Cadance and Shining Armor hadn’t forced me to hold back. But that won’t be a problem from now on. Go on, speak freely! Help me improve the Crystal Empire! We’re all ponies here, aren’t we?”

“Y-yes, sir!” The maids rose to their knees and bowed before the supreme commander.

With a shake of his head, Fiery discarded that particular encounter. Just as he discarded their charred remains, after one of them became too vocal about a mare uprising. He couldn’t afford to divide his land while he built up his dictatorship.

The flames that licked around the supreme commander gave him a bit of nostalgia. Of the day he saved a pair of Amazons, the last of their tribe, and took them as his wives, Panna and Chezka eternally honor-bound to the tyrant.

Of course, the mustard stallion didn’t value them outside of their strength and fertility. Simply more pieces on the board to use. To ensure the safety of all Equestrian life, with ponies above all.

The sound of stuff breaking made Fiery snap his head in that direction and spotted his prey by an abandoned pottery cart in the distance. Brow furrowed, he stumbled into a haphazard run.

“Get up,” implored the badly-beaten Marathyssa, her eyes dim and unable to shapeshift anymore.

“Trying,” replied Shining Armor, his blade soaked in slime. He’d managed to dispatch a lone changeling....and had his prosthetic leg ripped away by its maw for the effort, now forced to lean on what shelter he could find or his bent sword.

“Leave this one before you’re slowed down further,” pleaded Marathyssa with a tremble.

“N-no way! I’m supposed to be a hero,” the fallen paladin added with an ironic chuckle, uncertain whether anyone else survived. That was answered when he spotted Fiery in the distance, the mustard pegasus marching their way. “G-Get behind me!” Shakily he readied his busted blade.

Before the two swordsmen could exchange blows in another duel, a wounded minotaur limped between them. “H-help me,” pleaded the bull. “My wife and children-” Fiery swiped his sword to behead the wounded soldier, only to be matched by Shining, who desperately launched forward and raised his saber, which rattled and sparked when he narrowly blocked the death blow.

“You dishonorable cad!” Nevertheless, the effort had knocked the paladin to the bloodied dirt.

“Honor died the moment you tried to lead our nation into the ground!” Fiery yelled while ignoring an arrow feebly thrown by Marathyssa. Shining Armor was all but entirely at his mercy, when the bellows of the saved minotaur pulled all their attention. Ground ruptured like a bloody birth canal, and massive inky tentacles shot up from the stygian darkness to entangle said minotaur, where it started to drag him down into the hungry earth. He cried, reached out. Before anyone could intercept, he vanished in the dark.

Wherever they looked, more tentacles ripped up from the scorched soil and sought out fresh prey. A holstaur shrieked, plucked from her hamlet, freed when Shining hobbled forward and diced the wiggling appendage into giblets. Fiery was forced to hack away at the coils that writhed around them while the red mist continually spilled over an area blanketed under the bleeding moon. More tremors reverberated across the land, scarred and torn under more tremors.

Just then, Beatrix and Iclyn arrived, fresh spells at the ready. However, the magic they channeled to thwart the eldritch horrors below was countered by a barrier raised by a mass of cloaked figures that also made their way onto the chaotic scene.

“Beatrix Belladonna,” the spokesmen greeted. “We have been expecting you.”

The violet witch seethed. “And I’ve got a score to settle with you, Cult of the Nemesis!”

The hooded men floated forward. “I take it you enjoyed your little ‘family reunion’?”

“What did you do to my mother!?” demanded Beatrix, a hand on the hip and a spell readied.

The head cultist chuckled. “You’ll learn in due time. But I can assure you, we are not merely a ‘cult’ like before. That label you’ve placed on our order is meaningless.”

Iclyn asked, “And what is it you’ve all become, mister..?”

He held his decrepit hand over his chest. “Please. Call me Vox. And we answer a higher calling. One who puts Belladonna’s gifts and abilities to shame.”

“The anomaly…” the deighdyr presumed.

Beatrix sporadically launched a spell of mixed elemental magic that Vox absently brushed aside with a psychic barrier, the land struck by it. “I don’t give a rat’s ass what you call yourselves or who you work for! I’m taking you both down!!”

Vox tilted his head to the side slightly. “Is that a challenge?”

“You’re damn right it is!”

“Very well. Show me how far you’ve come!”

The rest of his acolytes stepped back to allow the spellcasters space. None of the other cultists intervened, but instead set themselves on Iclyn and anyone else they discovered around the shattered village. Beatrix was further sickened to find the severed unicorn horn he used as a lacquered wand to channel his high-tier magic. Anger fueled her Onoma, empowering her spells and imagination against Vox’s borrowed power.

Eventually, Arcanum came across the red-robed magicians and relaunched his hook-like weapon despite his busted ribs, where it ripped open an acolyte’s chest. Around him, the wail of holstaurs who’d lost their calves or husbands and the cries of children resounded. “This is a nightmare,” he muttered as he and his twins made their way across the chaos to reunite with the others.

Blood soaked the grass and earth, dried on it. The reek of decay filled their nostrils, cries of agony in their ears. Flies buzzed around a minotaur corpse, half fallen into a cracked well that oozed out brackish water mixed with darkened blood.

Blue Moon agreed, “It’s horrible! I—oh no!" The twins pulled to a stop. “I’m pretty sure...”

“...our water just broke,” lamented Strawberry Moon as wetness sloshed between the sisters’ thunder thighs. Their greatest strength, the ability to draw on each other for support due to their cutie marks, also proved their greatest weakness, as their stresses were shared and thus doubled.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” he replied, though he supposed it was inevitable. They tried to keep to the shadows, in no condition for a head-on fight. Hell, the erenn warlock could barely stand up, pushed on by sheer will alone. He realized it wasn’t mere lust that had driven their salacious actions back in the room, but a need to support and take comfort from one another. "Let's take a load off here."

The hardy body of a holstaurs made sure their unborn calves were physically safe, their flesh designed to take any punishment a bull like Moon Hammer could dish out when they made love. Still, the continuous stress of a warzone was another matter. While he placed them in what shelter he could find to deliver their calves, Blue Moon choked, “I-I’ll direct you! I’m a nurse!”

“Good. Because I only have half a clue about this kind of thing,” he admitted and squeezed their hands to comfort them when they reclined, hidden behind a half-torn hut. They slid off their bikini bottoms. Without proper tools to help them deliver, he carefully lit his horn. He used his aura to carefully, gently open their birth canals to expose slick pink; the twin sisters on their backs on bushels of hay when they parted their thighs wide, then started to push with a shared moan.

Blood and juices shot from them, which he blocked with a minor shield spell, undeterred. He gritted his teeth with a sharp grunt and ignored the crunch of his fractured ribs, wondering what Bloody Merry would do if she were here to help.

The masochistic mares blushed hotly, skin soaked in perspiration as they also ripped off their tops, and their nipples ached with fresh dribbles of milk. “T-talk dirty to us! It’ll help loosen us up-!”

He rolled his eyes with a snort but nonetheless complied. “C’mon! Push harder, you silly bitches! HARDER!” They winked fiercely in response, cooed harder, and dripped down their assholes.

Unfortunately his gloves were fingerless, forced to roll up his sleeves and reach into their birth canals directly. Another barrier raised by his lit horn blocked streams of urine they unintentionally voided, their faces on fire.

"Nothin' I haven't seen before," he reassured them. "Now, focus on your calves and PUSH!"

*****

Hours of agonized fighting passed, until the battle at the Minotaur Ville finally ended. The cultists and changelings retreated into the dissolving scarlet fog like ghosts, their mission accomplished and their scattered opponents terribly wounded. Another empty silence dawned.

The body of Vox lay lifelessly on the stained earth, his robes burnt and tattered by Beatrix’s plethora of spells. The wayward witch hunched, heavily winded after her duel, her Onoma exhausted, leaving her mostly bare. Iclyn was equally fatigued, sweat dripping off her face and brow.

“At least that’s one less problem to deal with,” the icy doe proclaimed, kicking the splayed-out cultist to ensure he was dead with her snout drawn.

But Beatrix knew better, brows furrowed as she leaned down to inspect the body. When she pulled off the hood, both women recoiled in disgust at the hideous face underneath. It wasn’t anyone they recognized, but their skin was deathly pale and clinging to bone. The eyes were sunken in, mouth agape with chunky blood painting their chin. The tongue was also missing, and, much to her dismay, so was the wand.

“Yeah, figured as much,” the violet unicorn said with a shudder. “Just another puppet on a string. I doubt we’ve seen the last of Vox or whoever…”

“Most likely,” said Iclyn with a low heave. “Come on. Let’s go find and help the others.”

Equinox stirred, awakened, despite the paralysis drug pumping her veins. The moment she had feeling in her wings, the bulky thestral flew unsteadily back to the village and almost crashed when she landed, sore all over and sluggish. She stepped over the corpses of minotaurs, changelings, and stallion soldiers swarmed by bloated flies, her snout drawn in a snarl.

“Moonlight? Sparky?! Come on out, you fucking cunts!” She spat and kicked one of the corpses, ignoring all pathetic the crying and pleas for help. “Survival of the fittest, chumps. First rule of a warband,” muttered the one-eyed raider.

She spotted one of Deinos’ arms on the pathway, the one embedded with her fish hook gauntlet. Flashing a smile, Equinox retrieved her departed weapon, ripping it off the forsaken limb and strapping it back where it belonged.

“Now that’s what I call an upgrade~!” She said, admiring the bio fusion of changeling anatomy before placing a wet kiss over the carapace steel plates. When she felt one dying drone grab onto her foot, the marauder simply extended her hook claws through its head in a splash and audible rip.

“Fuckin’ bugs...bet all you saw was another walkin’ womb, huh? Well, I’m not easy pickings like the rest of these losers! Always been a survivor!”

But no matter where she turned, there was death and destruction, some of the Mi-Go’s influence already infecting the ground and soil from the bacterial blood of the most contaminated drones.

“Fuck me, where’s a good drink and lay when you need it? Guess I’ll have to settle for a few more notches on my kill list!” Equinox didn’t care whether it was Fiery’s troops or the Mi-Go swarm; she needed to sate her bloodlust, starting with that pesky little bitch, Moonlight River!

But before Equinox continued her self-appointed seek-and-destroy mission, a massive, familiar changeling slammed down to block her path. “Haven’t you done enough damage?” glowered Deinos, who, amid the chaos, lost track of Fiery after he disarmed him and his makeshift flamethrower.

Equinox’s cruel smile widened upon seeing the monstrous arachnid missing a limb. “Aww, what’s the matter, freak? Did they cut off your third leg, too~?”

“I’ve grown tired of your prejudice and sexism,” cooly replied Deinos, his remaining limbs raised and ready to finish her off as the fires died down in the backdrop. “I doubt anyone will mourn you.”

“Like anyone would mourn you, cockroach!”

They moved to throwdown when the ground rumbled again, and a black shadow eclipsed the entire villa. Everyone alive and aware gazed up to the multitude of lights and spherical orbs flashing down rhythmically, the entire sky swallowed up.

“What the hell is that?” Questioned Equinox, shielding her eye as illumination spilled down.

“Is… is that a flying saucer?!” Moonlight exclaimed as she, Lightning, and Kyube huddled together.

“There’s no bloody way,” Arcanum said with disbelief, taking in the saucer-shaped body of the enormous entity. Moon Hammer was focused more on his wives while they went through labor, since he’d finally tracked them down.

Beatrix surveyed the more organic-looking portions of a spiraling underbelly and wondered aloud, “Wait… could it be an eldritch beast?”

“Or something overtaken by one,” mused Iclyn at her side as she stroked her azure chin. “It could be another weapon of the cult for all we know! Like we haven’t been screwed alread—”

Her words were cut off once the bottom of the saucer opened up, and light streams descended to shine over several people gathered there, Iclyn and Beatrix included. Their clothes and manes fluttered when they slowly lifted up towards the luminous mouth that awaited to devour them.

“H-hey, wait! H-hold on! Waaaah!!”

Beatrix tried to pull away with her Onoma, but the creature’s gravitational pull proved more powerful, especially in her weakened state. She looked about to see who else was being swallowed up… Arcanum, Moonlight, Kitsune, Kyube, and Lightning were flailing uselessly. Midnight groaned with pain, deliriously believing he was being lifted into heaven’s gates. Deinos and Equinox were pried apart from each other, demanding to be released as they too ascended.

“Moon Hammer!!” cried Moonlight, trying to reach out for the minotaur blacksmith as he, his wives in labor, and his people grew smaller and smaller.

All of them were helpless as they disappeared into the space beast’s orifice, which closed with a series of warbles and clicks before it ascended.

Chezka started to train an arrow on the spacecraft, only for Panna to weakly seize her hand. “Not...a good idea.” Reluctantly, the centaur lowered her bow, and stomped a hoof with a snort, doubtful she could make the shot now.

Everyone not abducted watched as the extraterrestrial ship disappeared into the black aether, leaving the survivors in ruin and perplexion in the aftermath of the invasion.

“What does that mean… for us?” The centauress questioned as she protectively cradled Panna.

“Guess we weren’t chosen,” scoffed Fiery, amused by the absurdity of it all. “Left to die in this doomed world. All because you all wouldn’t follow my lead.” He glared at Shining Armor, taking large gulps of air while Marathyssa cradled him close to her bust, stroking his mane in a tender manner.

The mustard pegasus looked back to where the UFO had disappeared, armor and mane matted in blood, and surmised, “We’re on our own…”

*****

“Let me out! Take me back!!”

Beatrix screamed, slamming her fist against a see-through window as the ship left orbit. The planet was half submerged in darkness, while what wasn’t covered gleamed beautifully from the view of starry space. However, that gorgeous sight was spoiled by the apparent hodgepodge the world had become, formed of many others the witch once visited. She could see parts of the unstable planet crumble before her heavy eyes...

“Go back,” she demanded through sobs. “We can’t leave them behind! Cerise, Penumbra, Moon Hammer, and everyone else will die if I don’t—!”

“They’ll die should we return as we are now,” a familiar, husky voice answered.

Beatrix rose to her boot’s high heel in a whirl of her cape and mane to face a sight that made her fury drain, and her features soften. “Sister..?!”

Before her stood Bellatrix Primadonna, the statuesque succubus crimson-skinned with golden eyes, a waterfall of silky black hair, horns, and a spaded tail. Her leather wings funneled behind her bare back, ample curves adorned by a black leather dominatrix-style bikini and boots.

“You need to relax,” the devilish woman insisted softly. “The planet isn’t anywhere close to destruction yet. We’ll have time to go back and save those people, dear sister. That, I promise.”

Beatrix couldn’t help but smile and practically jumped into her arms when she hugged her. “I-I can’t believe you’re here, sis! Y-you’re safe!”

“Yes,” replied Bellatrix with a small, saddened smile. “I couldn’t allow myself to die before apologizing to you and everyone else. Because of my foolishness, the Glamorguis inhabiting the haunted mansion we once called home was...”

“Glamorguis?” Beatrix curled her brow, eyes lit in curiosity. “Like a glamourous disguise? Is that what these odd beasts are really called?!”

“Indeed,” came another, more cheerful voice. An even taller and more voluptuous woman wandered onto the ship’s ‘bridge,’ looking like a hybrid of devil, angel, and human. Angelic wings with eyes on her feathers fanned behind her, and a serpent-shaped tail wrapped around one plush thigh. “Welcome aboard my Glamorguis,” she greeted with a wave. “My name is Layla, and I will guide you on this journey through the cosmos.”

Beatrix furrowed her brows. “Layla?”

“You may know her better by her ancient name. Lilith,” stated Bellatrix while she withdrew from her sister’s embrace.

“Whoa, as in 'the' Lilith? The first woman and succubus, mother of all demons..?”

Layla tittered at this. “I was told you were quite gullible. You shouldn’t believe everything you’ve read or heard. Albeit, there is a truth behind all legends!”

The witch took a moment to survey her silky gray skin and archaic cheek symbols and recognized these traits that marked her as a demihuman, the otherworldly beings that became her most unlikely of allies. “Yeah, no kidding…”

“More importantly,” the motherly succubus continued. “I have some friends here you no doubt wish to catch up with! Come along now!”

Cautiously, Beatrix followed her sister and their benefactor toward the central station, where the other abducted allies gathered. The setting was arranged with white seats circling a large pool of water. The witch sat down to try and settle in while Bellatrix helped escort Lightning and Deinos, who were both heavily wounded, into a medical wing. Layla sat and explained, “The waters help speed up one’s natural recovery. But certain injuries are beyond its capabilities.”

“Where’s Zeloph when you need him,” muttered Beatrix, who watched Kitsune slump onto the comfy chairs while surveying her missing tail. Kyube sat beside her, doing his best to comfort her. Arcanum and Iclyn swatted away the jellyfish-looking creatures that attempted to examine them through their feathery tendrils.

“Oi, keep your feelers away from me!!” barked the erenn unicorn, who winced from his ribs.

Midnight was stuck in his seat, unable to fight off the ship’s maintenance due to how badly aged his body was. It would take time for the Glamorguis to undo some of the damage that crippled the once-youthful knight. “Where are Cerise and Penumbra,” he asked weakly, his hoarse voice broken. “D-did they not make it...?”

Layla responded with a troubled look. “Unfortunately, no. The ship wasn’t able to detect their life signatures anywhere.”

“What?!” Moonlight yelled with shrunken pupils. “No! I won’t accept that! Take us back now!”

“You can’t do anything at the moment,” replied Bellatrix, her mouth drawn in a thin line.

“They’re most certainly alive,” promised Layla to the large assembly that started to spill onto the bridge. “We’ll return to aid them and everyone else once we’ve regrouped! For now, try to rest.”

Moonlight huffed before sitting back down, arms and legs crossed. Her pale yellow eyes glared at her former friend, whom she cast the most blame for their herd mate’s disappearance. Midnight silently accepted this, his face lined and sunken.

Translucent sliding doors opened, and another pair of familiar voices called out in unison, “We can help take care of anyone in need!”

Everyone turned as the coral pink crystal mare maid and her twin entered. This set of twins were known as Foal-Bearer and Wet Nurse, who’d looked after Beatrix’s mansion before it had been stolen. Garbed in scanty nurse uniforms, transformed into half-succubi by Bellatrix’s magic, each was adorned with a single horn and bat-wing, their fingernails and toenails claw-like. “It took a while, but the tranquil waters here patched us right up!” The younger twin assured them when they took a flamboyant bow.

Beatrix rose up with alarm. “Foal-Bearer and Wet Nurse are here as well!? Then that must mean..!”

Giving a knowing grin, the pair stood aside to allow their burly lover to enter, earning elated gasps. “Well, aren’t ye a sight fur sour eyes,” greeted the warm baritone of Sir Dion, the warrior ram brother of her beloved Oona Ewe.

Tears of happiness leaked out her violet eyes as the witch rushed into his beefy arms, her marshmallow bust squished against his barreled chest. “Good tae see ya too, lass,” he murmured softly, a muscular arm wrapped over her shoulder.

“I’ve missed you so fucking much,” wept the unicorn mare, her snout nuzzling his neck. “H-have you heard anything about Oona..?”

“Aye, Ah have,” the muscular caprine nodded. “Which is why Ah have tae return home.”

“Good,” Iclyn butted in, arms crossed. “Maybe you can knock some sense into her skull for me.”

“Hey! You’re ruining the mood,” pouted Beatrix.

Before he could question what the deighdyr was referring to, Dion spotted the gurney that Midnight laid out on and approached with a grimace. “Geez, Middy. Ye look like mah grandpa’s taint! What th’ blazes happened tae ye!?”

“L-long story…” muttered the blue pegasus.

“His hyper-stallionism got the better of him,” the witch quickly summarized with a frown.

“Ahh…” Dion folded his arms into his scarred chest, sharing a look of disappointment. “Looks like mah lessons didn’t git through mah student’s pig-thick skull. Remind me tae butt heads wit him later.”

Moonlight shot Midnight a pained stare. “Gladly…”

She then turned her glare to Equinox, who stewed in a corner. The one-eyed raider spat blood and saliva on the floor, frustrated as her throwdown with Deinos had been interrupted.

“At least this place is safe from violence,” Kitsune sighed softly, shaky, her balance thrown by the loss of a tail and the forgotten pain of being non-cybernetic. “Where does this bloodshed end?”

Kyube gripped her hand and admitted, “Wish I knew. I feel like I’ve died over and over every time one of my ‘clones’ faces death...”

The fox woman mused, “I wonder if this is how my sister feels? Wispy Willow has always bristled with emotion. She...is good with people and at expressing herself. While I...I have always let my actions speak for me, as it’s all I know...”

“There’s more to you than just your actions,” he told her with a smile, then leaned in and stole a kiss from her. The vixen’s eyes widened momentarily, but she didn’t resist, her face lightly colored, savoring his touch. His taste. His smell. All the sensations that had once been dulled by her augmentations, forced on her by the organization that brainwashed her and her sister, turning them into doll-like weapons of death.

When their snouts finally withdrew, Kitsune’s cheeks were mildly colored, and promised, “I will help you find little Chisana, wherever she is.”

“And Wispy Willow for you…”

As the foxy couple cuddled closer, their tails coiling each other, Lightning Spark reemerged on the bridge. Bristles of her electric blue mane and fur still stood on end, the air thick with pockets of static around the athlete when she hobbled in.

Layla frowned, eying her crooked wing. “You should be resting.”

“But what about Fiery Kickstart? Won’t he-?”

“Ohh, he probably already has,” Equinox said with a cruel smile. “Knowing him, the minotaurs are either dead or under his command. Probably cooked a few charbroiled hamburgers and steaks! Sure gave that cockroach Deinos a run for his money! What are the chances he’ll die from—”

Lightning strode up and slapped her sharply across the face. “No, he’s not! He’s-”

Equinox moved to shove Lightning against a wall, a fist pulled back, intercepted by a glass barrier that appeared and sealed the marauder in.

“Hey! Let me out of here!!” The bat mare growled, trying to punch her way through the impenetrable tube.

“I will not have any fighting on my ship,” commanded Layla, her adder tail hissing. "That means all of you." That declared, she relaxed.

“How about some answers then?” said Arcanum, favoring the side of his ribs that wasn’t cracked. “I’m not familiar with you ‘demi-humans,’ but you must know a lot. Given you’re the supposed ‘first woman,’ ‘mother of demons,’ and whatnot.”

“Our history is a complicated one,” professed the angelic demon. “Are you familiar with the bible?”

“Read a few variations in me spare time.”

“Then you understand that the words I speak might sound unbelievable.”

“I’ve fought and seen plenty of cryptids and cosmic horrors that claimed to be ‘angels,’” the detective stated dryly as his eyes locked with hers. “Plus, I’m now riding through space and time in a fuckin' eldritch UFO, of all things. I doubt whatever you have to say will surprise me.”

Layla nodded her head. “Very well. I’ll tell you everything I know when we’ve reached our destination. Oh, and please refrain from smoking. I would rather my Glamorguis’ respiratory system not be compromised.” Her adder plucked his smoke from his lips before he could light its tip.

Arcanum let out a begrudging grumble before putting his cigarettes away and sitting back on the gurney. “Had to leave the other pair of twins behind during labor. Did me part… hope old Moon Hammer can take care of the rest.”

He’d seen his share of crime scenes, wars, and tragedies, his haunted eyes heavy with black circles. The fate of the minotaurs was another typical tragedy brought on by warfare. Curiously, he asked, “… Where are you taking us, anyway?”

Layla stood before the transparent window that offered a view into the starry ocean and elaborated, “A rogue planet, somehow completely unaffected by the deteriorating multiverse. Sacratera.” The eyes on her plume blinked as one.

“Say what? ‘Holy land’? And why are we headed there?” Gently, he brushed the twins aside, who cooed disappointment as they tried to treat him.

While she linked her mind with the Glamorguis to better navigate the spacecraft’s voyage across the galaxy, the mother of demons answered, “It’s my homeland. Birthplace of all demi-humans. And, more importantly, where Zeloph and his company of companions currently reside.”

Beatrix was flabbergasted. “Huh?! But last I heard, he and Shadow Scythe were preparing to fight Mortis in her world! Why are they not—”

Bellatrix grimaced when she revealed to her sister and all the people on board, “I fear that part of the multiverse no longer exists…”

Everyone was stunned into silence, while the saucer-shaped Glamorguis sailed through the beautiful void of space, leisurely traveling toward the enigmatic planet of the demi-humans.