End of an Era: The Upheaval

Dawn started to break over the campsite, which signaled they would soon move out. Not that it mattered much to the succubi, who needed far less sleep than a mortal and instead drew most of their strength from sexual contact and seminal fluids. Other than a sense of satisfaction and awareness she was full, Bellatrix Primadonna didn't feel any different. However, her fellow succubi cheered and started to practice their abilities, which Zafire Heart had strived to awaken.

Bella dipped a finger into her smooth slit, and scooped out the Amazon Queen's seed, which she stared at. “Why didn't it work on me? Is it because they're natural succubi, while I'm mere fiction?”

Maybe Grayscale Carnifex could answer that. Yet she spotted no hint of him.

Zafira beamed with pride at her apparent success. “It worked! But why now, when I've tried so many times with Panna and Chezka before? Did I start to doubt myself that much, after I lost so many of my Amazons? Nonsense! I'll simply have to try some more! But we're out of time.”

The succubi were engaged in a playful scrap, as they put their new powers to the test. None of them had bothered to redress, still stained in some cum that ran from them, still not so different from wild animals when they warred for dominance. Unfortunately, Bella too knew time was up.

Already, the minotaurs started to pack up in preparation to move out. Once they made the final cross into enemy territory, the assault would commence, with the objective to retake the Crystal Empire, restore Queen Cadance to power, and find the source of Chrysalis' personal hive.

“Last chance for anyone to turn back,” announced Moon Hammer. Like the chieftain expected, there weren't any takers, a number of his most loyal bulls, Redrum included, by his side.

“We're proud to serve beside you,” said Redrum, a fist balled to his chest.

“Me too!” Cerise Silhouette knew she really wasn't one of them, and hadn't seen a sole female warrior in the ranks of Hammer's army, as they apparently came from a very traditional, old-fashioned society, yet they accepted her help without question. Maybe the holstaurs simply weren't wired for combat in most cases, since they appeared to be very passive and docile?

With a flourish of her cape, Beatrix proclaimed, “Time to strut our stuff!”

Gathered around the crystal alicorn were her Amazons, ready to sacrifice themselves for their queen. At Zafire Heart's own sides stood her two lieutenants, Panna and Chezka. The real test of this war paint's enchantment awaited them, the battle ahead far beyond that skirmish with the cult.

Unseen by those below, Grayscale Carnifex kept his army of Valkyries at the ready. He'd seen so many tragedies play out across the multiverse, as he and his order silently bore witness to history as it unfolded. But now, he had no choice but to act. In every version of this Equestria, he'd seen it fall. Already, the cascade had started, and none of them realized the full implications.

Whole continents, erased by the cosmic storm. Celestia, Luna, the Mane Six, Discord, the Dragonlands, and so many other allies...none of them could come to rescue the Crystal Empire, even if they'd been aware, as the cosmic storm had either displaced them or wiped them out. The true horror was that anyone could have their memories erased or be wiped from existence in a moment, as the delicate cosmic threads were unraveled by unseen, likely eldritch forces.

He'd write a new history for this Equestria. Or rewrite it, to be more accurate.

*****

The coliseum in the Crystal Empire was packed, attendance mandatory. The one exception were the crystal ponies that hadn't matured, taken in secret to the hives below, where they would be kept prisoner until they were either fertile for mares, or proper sustenance in the case of stallions. By the time the ponies realized what had been done, it would already be far too late to mount a rebellion!

On a raised platform at the center of the arena, Cadance was placed in a stock, forced into a bent over state and denuded, like all the prisoners here. Chrysalis, too, sat naked in her perch above, and the machines that the cult provided amplified her voice around the area. “It's time the ex-queen was properly broken in! Worry not, you'll all have a turn with her! Guards, help them form a line!”

As usual, the 'Four Swords' would be first, led in by the drones that prodded at them with spears that poked at their chiseled butts to send them forward. Her husband was to be first, Shining Armor second-in-power to his queen, then the order would descend until the most 'lowly' ponies would fuck her raw. Directed to use her pussy, he reluctantly reared up and stoically mounted her.

“It's fine,” whispered Cadance when she felt his familiar, black horsecock slide into her velvet depths. “I'm relieved you'll be my first today, at least. Just pretend like we decided to roleplay.”

“Y-yeah.” He swallowed hard and started to buck, forced to perform before the masses they ruled. The last day was mostly a blur, as the aphrodisiac venom robbed their memories of how they'd all senselessly fucked in the showers, Cadance unaware of who's foal she'd potentially carry.

He wasn't allowed to leave until they both came. Eventually, she clenched up and moaned when she soaked him, and as her cunt milked him, he too cast back his head and fired off into her.

“Next,” ordered a drone nearby, as he was replaced by Thunder Storm. He also tried to keep a neutral expression, as his own dick split her open and he started to hump her. His palms rested on her heart-shaped asscheeks for support, unable to deny how wonderful she felt.

“Give it to me,” whispered Cadance. “The sooner you finish, the sooner we can move on.”

“I'm sorry we all failed you,” he lamented, even as her hot, moist insides welcomed his intrusion.

“No...I'm far more to blame. I deserve this. I only wish my ponies wouldn't have to share in the consequences.” She'd learned to hold back any tears, almost in a trance-like state while her twat winked around him, her more lustful side happy to take every cock that filled her fuckholes. She wanted to curse her more amorous state, a by-product of her cutie mark, which made her a nymphomaniac. Her cunt winked more dollops of love nectar on him, aware every stud would have a turn with her, perhaps a few, by the time the tyrannical queen bored of this charade.

Fiery muttered, “Does she plan to have the mares rape her too, with strap ons?”

“Probably with actual proper penises,” said Night Blade, who subtly nodded at the cult members that floated about on watch. “You know they have potions for that. Hm, you're almost up.”

Groans rose from Thunder when, with a final clap of her cheeks, he shot off into her womb.

“Damn it,” muttered Fiery, tempted to call up his flames and immolate as many changelings as he could before they took him down. But not only did they still have hostages, but the damage he'd do wouldn't be worth his sacrifice. Gruffly, he clambered up and drove himself into Cadance, too.

“Do it,” said Cadance, as he snarled and started to pound her soft cheeks like they were stress balls.

A drone nodded at Night Blade's hung equipment. “What's the matter? Can't get it up? Sure looks like it works.” He pointed a mandible at his flare, his urethra caked in a dab of precum.

“Just find this all distasteful,” he answered, even more disciplined than Thunder Storm proved.

“Maybe what you need is some inspiration!” The drone whistled, and a trio of mares were led from the stands above, Ocellus, Foal-Bearer, and Wet Nurse. In an almost robotic fashion, the crystal triplets dropped to their knees before him, and started to service him like pro fluffers.

He winced and hardened around their licks and kisses, aware that were he to blow his load all over them, he'd be punished and they likely would be, too. Thankfully, it appeared Fiery was already prepped to burst with how wildly he pounded into Cadance, who screamed out her euphoria.

The mustard-stallion seeded her, too. Then popped out and walked off the platform.

With Night Blade up, he repeated the process in a mechanical manner, and tried to think about his dear Moonflower instead, his love for the ex-queen different. “I'm sorry our reunion ended up like this,” he murmured as he slid in-and-out of her foal-hole, which clamped around him in appreciation. “And I'm sorry what's so cruelly taken from you can never be returned.”

“Thank you,” she whispered back. “But I...I can't afford to lose all hope.”

“You do your people credit. A true queen.” His face crinkled and he twitched, unable to deny the pleasure, or the baser urges which took hold and made his hips all but buck on their own. Her hiked tail swished back-and-forth, and wafted the saccharine musk of her pussy into his flared nostrils.

Grunting once he wasn't able to hold back anymore, he buried himself balls deep and came in her, his palms sunk into her hips and buttcheeks as she moaned and sprayed him, too. Yet even as he finished and withdrew, they were aware she wouldn't be able to rest with the next line up of studs.

From her perch, Chrysalis masturbated with one hand to the sounds of schlicks, while she watched the army at her doorstep from the crystal ball. “Almost here,” she heaved and played with herself more furiously. “Now, I'll be able to wipe out the Amazons and minotaurs at once!” Guards posted at the Crystal Empire's gates rushed to meet the first wave, backed up by the cultists. Yet since she demanded the crowds cheer whenever Cadance was ravished, no one heard the battle from here.

However, the drones perched at the topmost parts of the arena's rims buzzed, ready to fly into action. Given the same orders as always, they were to try and take all the females alive!

“Come closer,” she beckoned to the cadets she'd ordered Shadow Haze, Bane, and Gloom to herd her way. The faces of the ponies bristled in the presence of the dark queen, ready to spring into action, were they not aware of the consequences. “Midnight Blitzer, wasn't it? Mmm, you've become far more studly in a short amount of time! Curious. And these two are-?”

“Moonlight River,” said the thestral, her snout drawn in a line, fully nude like the rest of them.

“Lightning Spark!” The electric blue pegasus danced on her heels, and her wingspan tensed, prepared to launch into action, but a snap of the pincers behind the cadets made her freeze back up.

“Pony names are all so melodramatic. What really matters to me is your bodies!” The dark queen's aura surrounded Midnight, and lifted the stud up, until she sat him beside her. He cocked an eyebrow quizzically, then swallowed hard when the voluptuous ruler mounted his lap. “Go ahead. Split me open stud, and show me your secret! Otherwise, your friends will pay the price!”

Weight settled onto the backs of Moonlight and Lightning, forced onto all fours by the rhino beetles that also mounted them, Bane and Gloom. Blitzer shouted, “Get off them!” Groans were driven from him when Chrysalis rubbed her wet slit over his member, which hardened.

“Do what the queen commands,” warned Haze. “Or my brothers will sever the heads from their broodmares with their pincers!” Bane and Gloom split their snatches open, and the mares moaned, forced to take their mutant cocks. Lucky for them, the sons of Sombra dared not dive in too deep.

“D-don't look,” pleaded Moonie with a deep blush, as her breasts swayed below under each hump.

“What she said,” added Blitzer's twin, her own supple physique rocked by each piston into her twat.

Without any other choice, Midnight allowed his hyper-horsecock to slide into the royal pussy. He clasped her wobbly hips and voluminous ass when Chrysalis started to ride him. He tried to hold onto his sanity, but his hyper-stallion instincts already threatened to take hold over him.

She cackled as she bounced atop him. Pressed her snout to his, as she forced a deep kiss on him.

“By the holy shit of Celestia, this bitch is nice and tight!” Bane chortled while he rode the bat mare, pinned by his bulk and mandibles, which wantonly explored her pliable, toned flesh.

“This one too,” said Gloom, as his mutant cock also mashed on Spark's cervix. “I can't wait until our queen dumps her clutch in these slutty broodmares! I hope she'll let us inseminate them!”

Haze watched his brothers fuck the mares silly and rasped, “And what about me?”

“Mmmm~.” Chrysalis considered, then reached back with her palms and spread her asscheeks wide, to put her puckered asshole on display. “Help yourself. You've earned a reward for obedience!” He bristled at the idea they were merely her pawns now, yet he approached her anyhow.

He clutched at her midsection, reared up, and slipped his tool into her ass. It would be so easy, he realized, to assassinate her now. But to do so would be a death sentence. He tried to think up some way to turn this around, to stop the de evolution the brothers faced, Bane and Gloom content to simply wet their dicks in fertile mares. Yet the cult made him realize they were destined to die as lessers copies of their father either way, trapped in Sombra's shadow until death claimed them.

The mutants rode their mares with as much speed and force as they dared, careful not to break them, even while their monstrous cocks split them in half. “Bitch soaked me,” chortled Bane.

“Mine too,” taunted Gloom, as they forced unwanted climaxes from their breeders.

“Sh-shut up...!” Sparks blushed and snarled, even while she was raped and put in her place.

“W-we can handle it! Be brave,” cried Moonie, as her eyes fluttered from unwanted pleasure forced on her. Both mares winked and clamped around the intruders, betrayed by bodies that welcomed them in, driven a little mad from bouts of estrus awakened even after the venom had subsided.

Not helped, unknown to them, by the hyper-stallion's musk, as Midnight and Haze fucked Chrysalis between them. Grasping more firmly onto the dark queen's hips and ass, his thrusts rose to meet her bounces, as her massive breasts swung in his face and their tongues continued to wrestle, his eyes now partially whitened when his instincts screamed to knock her up!

“Yes! You're even better than your father,” she mused. “I wanted to see which of the 'Four Swords' was most worthy to inseminate my next clutch...but I think that delicious cock has answered that!”

“Sh-shut up,” he yelled between his own muffled moans, as he tried to hatefuck the murderous bitch into submission. His palms smacked down on her asscheeks, left with furious red handprints as he marked her and made her yelp and clenched harder around him as he thrust up into her.

The slaps of wet, tender flesh resounded. Cervices were battered by the flares mashed on them.

“Gonna blow soon,” rasped Bane, as he hammered hard as he dared into Moonie, his crotch and her knees below saturated in a puddle of the lust he repeatedly forced to messily squirt from her slit.

“Me too,” admitted Gloom. “They're so hot and wet, and milk us like a couple of bitches in heat!”

Haze continued to wreck the dark queen's pucker and said, “Why don't we fill these sluts all at once, brothers? I can tell the hyper-stallion's really close, too...” The sons of Sombra agreed, they prepared themselves for their release, as their swollen balls churned with excessive production.

Chrysalis, lost in the moment, milked the hyper-stud harder. “Cum inside me...!”

Gasping as he shuddered, Midnight lost it and fired off into her cunt, while Haze quickly followed and burst inside his queen's ass, while Bane filled Moonlight and Gloom dumped himself into Lightning. The force of their explosive cumshots drove more messy orgasms from their mares, as their overfilled uteri and bellies swelled from the insane amount of virile spunk they all released.

Joyous shrieks filled the atmosphere, the brains of the females almost broken by bliss. Not so different from Cadance below, as stallion-after-stallion ran a train on her heart-shaped ass. By this point Cadance had taken a couple dozen horsecocks, her belly wounded as cum sloshed in her.

She stood in a puddle of excess splooge and her own girly goo, which rocketed out of her slit as the latest stud once in her royal service pounded the absolute shit out of her. While most remained loyal to their fallen queen, there were a few that resented and blamed her, happy for the opportunity to 'punish' her, as they took her forcefully to relieve their stress into her cunt.

Chrysalis sailed onto the platform. “Move aside,” commanded Chrysalis, as the Sons of Sombra and the three cadets were instructed to follow and landed behind their dark queen. Grumbles rose from the stallion that had barely finished, but he stepped away as the formed line was broken.

Bane carried his 'conquest', Moonlight, over one shoulder, where he nuzzled her soft, upraised ass. “Does this mean we'll have a turn with lovebutt? I want to help put that bitch in her place!”

“Me too,” said Gloom, who carried Lightning in a similar manner as his mandible rubbed circles around a plush buttock. “We'd be happy to fill all the holes of this slut up at once!”

“Whatever our queen wishes,” said Haze, with no choice but to play along for now.

“Hmph. Why don't you play with those triplets?” Chrysalis nodded over her shoulder at Foal-Bearer, Wet Nurse, and Ocellus. Bane and Gloom dropped their cummed in mares like sacks of potatoes, where they beset the twins, while Haze followed to take Ocellus. The stallions stroked and sucked off by the triplets were driven away by the mutants, when they pinned and fucked the maids. Chrysalis instead led the hyper-stallion over to his former queen with an evil smile.

Midnight's hung member couldn't help but twitch when he saw his queen's pussy ahead wink, and her asshole pucker up, as her slit leaked and carried the scent of her pheromones. He was pushed forward by Chrysalis, so that he was lined up with Cadance, and ready to sheathe himself in her.

He swelled back to fullness despite himself, and his horsecock slid between the queen's pink buns, which drove a soft coo from her lips as his flare slid across her rectum and smeared the ring in his precum. The sensation was amplified each time his flare throbbed and her taut asshole pulsed.

“She won't admit it,” murmured Chrysalis. “But she wants you! No doubt because you're a stud~.”

Cadance wore a blush, and her teardrop breasts swung like pendulums when she swayed a little in her stocks. “Midnight Blitzer, is that you? I didn't expect one of the cadets would be up so soon. But you don't have to feel ashamed, or hold back. I won't put any blame on any of my ponies.”

He swallowed hard. “S-sorry about this! All I ever wanted was to be a hero!”

Chrysalis butted in beside them as she leaned on the side of the stock. “Maybe the boy needs some more motivation, hmm~?” In another flash, she took on the likeness of Celesita in all her glory and raised her arms to pose naked by them, the solar queen more voluptuous than any other mare, with her statuesque, feminine beauty. She then bent back over to lean on the stock, and her suspended breasts swayed below her when she reached out and started to fondle Cadance's titties.

The hyper-stud winced as his flare throbbed and spurted precum, which either dribbled down Cadance's asscrack or settled into her hot pink sphincter. He could feel her warmth radiate, smell her lust, her plume extended like his, her tail hiked up as she winked to welcome him inside her.

“Better hurry up,” reminded Chrysalis. “Or I'll let my entire hive take a turn with your family!”

The threat clear, Midnight repeated his apology while he drove his cock into his queen with a squelch, immediately enveloped by her warmth and wetness as her velvet-soft, pliable folds conformed to his size. His hands sank into her hips and buttcheeks as he started to piston.

“Very nice~,” said Chrysalis, still in the shape of Celestia, as she bent to meet his snout and kissed him. Cadance moaned her brains out, her amorous stirred up from the moment she'd taken her first horsecock today, let-alone a few dozen, her lust driven to its absolute limit as her cutie mark savored the arousal of her people, amplified by their nudity and their own desire for their queen.

While this went on, portions of her swarm around the arena took to the skies. The armies clashed around the Crystal Empire, while they made their way further in, breaking through the blockade the first waves of the swarm put up in the hopes to delay their entry. Since Chrysalis had captured numerous hives, her armies were made up from many types of insects, many also warped by the cult's magic. Weapons collided, and magical bursts filled the air. However, even with the war paint to enhance the Amazons, they and the minotaurs would eventually be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Especially when the cultists moved in to aid the twisted armies of Queen Chrysalis.

As more of her minions hurled skyward from the coliseum, Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “I hoped they could hold off my enemies until the grand finale. But it appears we may have to cut this short.” Her aura seized Moonlight and Lightning, who she pressed into her sides, still in Celestia's shape while the molested the mares. She played with their tits, as she forced them to watch Blitzer breed Cadance.

Between moans as her ass was clapped, Cadance dared to hope. “H-has help arrived...?”

“More like lambs to the slaughter,” laughed Chrysalis. “All my enemies on this continent will be drawn here, and wiped out at once! A whole tribe of Amazons to serve as my incubators! Oh, I want to celebrate already! Thunder Storm, Fiery Kickstart! Get your studly selves over here!”

The two stallions approached. Fiery snapped, “What is it?”

“Watch the attitude,” she purred, as her palms played with the boobs of the mares, who blushed and tensed up with muted mewls. “Why don't you two wet your dicks with these two cuties~?”

Thunder visibly balked. “What? We can't do that! She's my daughter! Just leave her alone!”

“Would you prefer I hand them over to my hive? I'm sure they won't be so gentle,” warned Chrysalis, who nodded at the menagerie of different insects which came from a number of hives. “Besides, it wouldn't be your first time. You don't remember due to the venom's effects, bvut-”

“You lie!” An explosion like a sonic boom suddenly struck the area. The sound wave bowled over everyone on or around the platform, the stock that held Cadance split by the screech of noise. His eyes widened in shock for a moment, in realization he'd done that, before he tried to repeat it.

Chrysalis snarled as she'd risen to all fours and pointed at him as she shouted, “Stop him!”

“To hell with that,” shouted Fiery, convinced this was their only chance as with a flick of his wrist he summoned up a wall of hateful fire which weaved and crackled to hold the rhino beetles and drones back. He strained to control the blaze, as he immolated a couple more of her minions.

“Here!” Moonlight had picked up a spear from a fallen foe, and tossed another to Midnight, as they and Lightning soared into the air to join the assault. Around the arena, fights broke out all over.

Snowy Blizzard, too, chilled a few drones to their core, which enabled some of the guardsmen around her to pilfer the weapons from the frozen changelings. However, it was clear they were at a severe disadvantage, most of the crystal ponies naked and unarmed. She formed an ice slick around a stand where drones rushed in, and watched them slip and fall with subdued mirth.

“I can't let my children be hurt,” the curvy mare called.

“I'm with you,” whispered Moonflower, who'd managed to smuggle some of the flowers she'd taken with her in her mane. She crushed them to a fine powder, which she blew off her hand like a fine dust into a drone and knocked him out. “I taught my daughter some of what I know about botany, which included knowledge of certain poisons which she uses in her darts. Unfortunately, I couldn't hide much on my person.” She looked on in quiet despair at the bloody brawls nearby.

Snowy continued to subtly ice any drones she could, careful not to directly draw attention. “It's fine!” They took shelter behind a stand. “Can we obtain any more of those flowers?”

“Not here. They are preserved on Nocturne's Peak,” lamented Moonflower. She huddled naked and shivered, reminded of the ancient battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon, where she and her husband bore witness to bloodshed and death on a massive scale, Night Blade partially responsible for the bloody conflict. The child he'd fathered on his mare had altered him for the better.

Hope swelled further when Shining Armor reactivated his shield, which he formed over the cadets to protect them. The paladin's men fell into line to protect him as he worked his spell.

A crystal sword twirled in circles when it fell from the sky, and with a thunk embedded itself into a drone, who screeched when it fell and died. Cadance barely hesitated to question it as she withdrew the blade, and with both hands leveled it at Chrysalis. “Face me, defiler! One-on-one!”

Chrysalis cackled. “We've done this before!” Yet she brushed aside the changelings that came to support her, aside from a heavy sword she also accepted from one of them. “But, very well! No one better interfere!” With the ex-queen's power neutralized, surely she was no match for her!

The two queens clashed once more, their blades crossed, aware that since they battled naked, any blow could easily prove fatal. But Chrysalis wanted to humiliate her further before her ponies! Clangs sounded when their weapons collided and sparked. Thrusts were met with ripostes, slashes were either evaded or bit into their skin with a nick, small slivers of blood drawn. Chrysalis knew she could batter her with her spells, too...yet she needed to prove to everyone she was superior!

Cadance, too, wanted to inspire her ponies, to prove to herself and them hope still lived. It didn't matter, she decided, whether her power as an alicorn had been robbed. She still had all her skills!

Fiery and Thunder placed their trust in their queen, and instead unleashed their elemental powers to aid those around them. The mustard-colored swordsman cried, “Let's scatter them like roaches!”

“I don't understand this power,” admitted Thunder. “But I'll do whatever it takes to save my home!”

Ocellus waved at the twins. “This way! We can't stay out in the open!”

“But we're trapped,” reminded Wet Nurse, as people traded blows everywhere. While the drones took care to subdue rather than slay any mares, some of them were trampled in the pandemonium like a number of stallions, amidst a stampede once a skirmish spiraled into an all-out brawl.

Foal-Bearer followed Ocellus' eye and said, “I see.” The three of them took shelter where Snowy and Moonflower were, up in the stands, where Night Blade had taken up a sword from a fallen foe and used it to help a number of soldiers protect Shining Armor as his shield spread over the cadets. Midnight, Moonlight, and Lightning also pitched into the battle, yet they were forced to take defensive measures to survive, since their opponents were armored and far more numerous.

“This may be a losing battle,” warned Night Blade. “But if we all must die today, we'll take as many of them with us as we can! We shed blood on behalf of our people, our nation, our queen!” He raised his blade, and cheers resounded, uplifted with a renewed sense of morale, bound by duty.

The sons of Sombra were the first to run from the arena, once Fiery summoned an inferno they knew could melt them with ease. Instead, they blundered past anyone that tried to halt their escape. Even most of the swarm parted to allow them to exit, aware their pincers, when they vibrated, could turn them to mush within seconds. Haze, Bane, and Gloom swiftly burst out into the open.

However, outside the coliseum awaited another clash between two armies. Zafire Heart, Moonhammer, and Redrum were at the forefront of the Amazons and minotaurs that thundered into the capitol, aided by the succubi, a witch, and a holstaur. “That's her,” said Bane.

Gloom studied the curvy cow and said, “The fruit of our father's loins? What was her name?”

“Cerise Silhouette,” answered Haze. The rhino beetles took shelter for the moment in an abandoned building, as they weren't about to throw away their lives for the changelings or the cultists. “We wait until she's near and mostly alone. Jump her and claim her for ourselves.”

Gloom twitched his pincers when he asked, “What about that witch-bitch?” His beetle eyes focused on her. “Wait a minute, she's practically the twin of that cult leader, Trixie Lulamoon!”

Haze mumbled to himself, “I wonder what that could mean? I have to find out.”

“We'll claim her sweet little cunt too,” chortled Bane with a rasp. Their plans fell silent when the sky darkened over the Crystal Empire. At first, it appeared to be an eclipse...until the blackness parted, and an army of winged women with a metallic sheen on their armor descended. They rode on horses that sailed the skies, and lanced the drones in the air, which spiraled as they fell and died.

Haze cried, “What are those? Where in the hell did they come from...?”

A similar curiosity and trepidation beset many of the onlookers, from the capitol to the coliseum. War cries screamed from the Valkyries, who only dived to attack the changelings and cultists, no mercy shown when their lances ran them through and they descended like a murder of crows. They were the scavengers of the battlefield, once tasked to collect the souls of the worthy. Yet the world they'd come from had fallen, collapsed like so many others as the multiverse unraveled.

Bellatrix recognized the new arrivals from knowledge gleamed when she'd been a prisoner in the Necronomicon. “Valkyries,” she murmured to herself as she led her fellow demons into battle. “This must be the help Grayscale Carnifex promised. Most likely, he's somewhere nearby.”

Guided by their mistress, her sister succubi reveled in the fray, with their newly awakened powers.

At her side Beatrix called, “Let's clear house and liberate the ponies here!” By this point, most of her power had returned, but she helped reserve some of it with the wand that the blacksmith had repaired. “Huh, wonder if Middy and Moonie are here? This is their world, after all!”

Cerise, who kept her distance as she aided them with her spear, paled. “Th-they're here? I can't let them see me like this! I don't want my future husband to think I'm a cow...!”

“I have an antidote,” reminded Bea. “But it's a one-time deal! You'll be at more risk as a pony!”

“I-I don't care! I don't intend to die here today! I'll return home and marry him!” A colorful cloud from a smoke bomb blossomed and enveloped Cerise and Beatrix, as the latter dropped one to hide them while they made a stealth retreat into an empty house not far from them. “Bea, wha-?”

“Your antidote. Ta-da!” Bea removed a tiny vial from her cape with a flourish. “Just drink up!”

“S-so this'll turn me back,” whispered Cerise, who absentmindedly ran her palms over her udders, rewarded with another small smile of pleasure as her touch milked out a couple droplets from the slits in her nipples, which were absorbed into her cow print bikini. “I'll miss this form...a little.”

“Maybe I can learn to replicate the formula someday? It's pretty advanced, plus I've never seen most of the ingredients before! Guess they're either extinct or never existed in most universes! Even so-” As Beatrix droned on nonstop, Cerise uncorked the vial and swallowed its bitter contents with a frown. A moment later, with a final moo, Cerise started to rapidly shrink back into a mare.

She clutched at her bikini, which threatened to slip off her charcoal curves, as her snout also shrunk back to its normal size and the small cow horns vanished from amidst her hot pink mane. Finally, she settled back into her earth mare form, aware she could always turn back into a thestral hybrid, thanks to her father's dark arts which he foisted on her when she was still a baby to protect her.

Around them, their surroundings shook from explosions outside, thankfully distant from them. A reminder that the siege continued, and their allies likely needed their help. Nonetheless, Beatrix helped the mare she saw like a niece to a couch. “Do you need a few minutes to rest?”

“Just a few moments,” she heaved, winded. “Mostly, I need some new clothes!”

“Maybe this'll help?” Bea wiggled her fingers, which appeared to be surrounded by magical dust, as she shrank the cow bikini until it conformed perfectly to the mare's physique. “Better?”

“Guess it'll do. Thanks, Bea.” Cerise put her mane back up in pigtails, and noted the small bandana with cow horns had mysteriously returned after she transformed back. “Time to head back.”

Beatrix bent over while she checked out a larder. “Shame, I could use a short nap and a snack!”

“You know we all have responsibilities,” reminded the princess, who leaned on her spear for support when she hefted herself back to her feet. It took a moment, but she readjusted quickly back to her usual form. “The sooner we save this nation, the sooner we can return home!”

“Sure, sure. It's another adventure!” Beatrix forced a chipper smile, despite her unspoken worries. “Here.” She handed over her wand. “This could save that cute butt, you need it more than me!”

Cerise accepted the unicorn horn wand. “Thanks...I think?” She shuddered at the tool, which she feared was cursed, its touch cool in her palm. A reminder of the cruel experiments her father had surely done, before he'd settled down to father her. “Just concentrate to work it, huh?”

“Pretty much! But stick to 'basic' spells, it's power is limited to whatever unicorn it came from! You know, telekinesis, elemental blasts, that sort of stuff. Shame we don't have time to practice.”

“Hope I'm a quick learner,” murmured the sheltered princess, but she'd seen her handmaiden and sometimes teacher, Somnambula, often perform a few simple spells of her own, able to work them with her hands and lips. She wanted to learn magic herself, but was warned it would take many years.

The spoiled sweet princess knew she'd never been that patient when it came to such things, a quality she'd found Beatrix shared, since the adventurous witch preferred to learn on the field, rather than with hours spent with her nose in a book. A weakness they needed to work on.

They started to head to the door, unaware of silhouettes with pincers that approached...