End of an Era: The Upheaval

A crash resounded when the front door and the walls around it caved in. Beatrix jumped and Cerise screamed, swarmed by the rhino beetle mutants that charged in through the rubble and dust. The fallen portion behind them blocked the exit as Shadow Haze shouted, “Block any escape routes! Cerise Silhouette! We are the sons of Sombra, and are here to claim you for our own!”

“S-sons of...?” Cerise's wrist was grabbed by Bea, who pulled her when they attempted to make a run for it. Gasps escaped them when one of them, Bane, blocked their path with his bulk.

“You're ours!” Gloom crowded them from another direction, as his pincers started to vibrate.

“Screw that!” Beatrix dropped more smoke bombs, and raspy coughs sounded when the colorful smoke clouded throughout the wrecked house. Glass shattered as their silhouettes moved amidst the miasma. Haze, Bane, and Gloom were instantly on the hunt, before the mists faded.

“Gotcha!” Bane's eyes had refocused, as his mandibles pinned the princess.

“Let her go! Or else I'll-” Bea froze up, as when her horn started to light up, Gloom's vibrating pincers hovered around it from behind, ready to snip it off and cripple her forever. A trickle of urine ran from her leotard, down her inner thighs, as the mutants chortled in triumph.

Cerise whimpered, “Wh-what do you want...? No!” The many mandibles of Bane gripped at her cow print bikini, and relieved her of the top and bottom pieces at once, as her medium-sized breasts jiggled into the open, her bright pink areola's perky pink tips dotted in leftover milk from her holstaur form which dotted the slits in her erect nipples. Immediately, he started to fondle her.

“Please...leave her out of this,” pleaded Bea, who shook and peed herself some more.

“Settle down bitches,” taunted Bane, who stood on two mandibles, while another pair played with each shapely buttcheek of the princess, sinking into the squishy, marshmallow soft flesh. His last set of mandibles mashed her milky melons. Jets of deliciously sweet milk rocketed from her nips.

Gloom's hardened member slid into Beatrix's leotard, where the flesh pillar traced over her smooth slit, and pulled on the fabric until it snapped. The mandibles he didn't use to stand seized her costume, and tore it away, as Bea's more buxom breasts were freed with a pendulous sway. Instantly, four mandibles were upon the witch, as they played with her tits and buttocks.

Moans were driven from the manhandled mares, their faces ablaze with dark blushes, as their pussylips swelled and moistened with anticipation to match their erect nipples. Haze made certain to strip away every last shred of clothing from them, other than Bea's gloves and boots, and the ribbons which held up Cerise's pigtails and the cow horned headband, in case they hid any more weapons or tools on them. Then, he tossed their junk into a corner, as his cock ached too.

“Make some room,” said Haze to Bane as he approached the princess.

“Not fair! I saw her first,” barked back Bane, who refused to release her as he felt her up.

“We can share her,” offered Haze to pacify his more thuggish brother. He'd noted Gloom was a bit smarter than Bane, but neither compared to him, their leader and most worthy heir to their father!

“...fine,” rasped Bane. “But I want her royal pussy!” Two of his mandibles lifted Cerise up by the waist, and spun her to face him as his mutant dick dragged across her wet slit and mashed on it, while another pair of mandibles settled on her black buns, and spread them wide open, her puckered pink asshole on display. “Do you think this slut princess can handle us both at once?”

“Let's find out,” said Haze, as he pressed his tip to her puckered rectum.

Beatrix cried, “Why don't you let me handle you three instead? I'll—ack!” Lifted by Gloom, he impaled her pony pussy deep as he dared, and she squirted on him, her belly distended with an outline of his hybrid tool as he'd mercilessly pierced open her cervix and claimed her uterus.

Whimpers rose from Cerise as she was skewered from both ends, barely able to handle their sizes even though they hadn't driven in too far, as a thin layer of flesh barely separated the duel cocks that practically touched when they mashed inside her and tried to further split their bitch open.

Gradually, the three mutants started to rhythmically hammer into their mares, fast and hard as they dared, with the constant threat of the vibrating set of pincers to keep them docile while their mandibles rolled circles around the tits and buttcheeks they squuezed, their lits rubbed, areola traced, and nipples pulled as breasts were fully distended them released with a wobble and a smack back into place, Bane and Haze rewarded with spurts of milk as they latched on Cerise's titties together and suckled. She winked, clenched, moaned despite herself, and came all over them.

“Got a couple of nice squirters,” chortled Bane, as he forced a deep kiss on Cerise.

“This one's nice and tight too,” said Gloom as he lifted Bea up-and-down, and slammed her back onto the mutant tool that impaled her. “Of course, all mares are, with our sizes! She too gripped and winked around his intrusions, as he milked more deluges from her twat as he fucked her raw.

The sound of the witch's and princess' cheeks clapped echoed throughout the caved in home, while the distant sounds of battle resounded outside as the armies continued to charge further into the capitol. Finally, the three of them came for the first time, as Bea and Cerise screamed out the pleasures forced on them, their wombs rocketed with such force by the hot volumes of spunk them squirted on the mutants and each other some more, as their bellies swelled to unbelievably sizes.

“Take it! Bear all our foals you sluts,” yelled Bane as they unloaded into them.

“You like that, don't you bitch?” Gloom hissed into Bea's ear, as his cock throbbed in her core.

“I think the poor princess passed out,” observed Haze, as she'd slumped between the rhino beetles as they continued to fire off into her, and the excess sluiced from her ruined fuckholes. “You'd better not be dead, princess.” He playfully slapped one of her tits. “We have such plans for you...!”

Outside the partially demolished home, the streets were mostly emptied by now, aside from the corpses strone about, most of them changelings and a few cultists, although a number of Amazons and minotaurs were lost, too. Roads were cracked or torn up, caked in blood as an eerie silence started to settle over parts of the mostly abandoned battlefield, as the armies thundered onward.

“It worked,” snickered Beatrix, as she and the princess peeked in from a window, unharmed. “Some of the old tricks my mom taught me! Mixed a few hallucinogens into a smoke bomb, and combined with some clever illusions,m and voila! The poor fools think they trapped us!”

“Creeps,” muttered Cerise with a shudder, as they witnessed Haze, Bane, and Gloom, trapped in their delusions, violently humped the furniture around them as they imagined their assertment of dominance over the mares. “I...I know my father did lots of bad things. But I hope he was better than this!” Silence fell between them for a moment. “We should move on. What do we do with-?”

“We'll burn down the house,” said Bea. “Finish them off! They're monsters. You know they'll do the same or worse to any mare they meet.” Gently, she asked, “Do you want me to...?”

“N-no. I'll do it.” Her hand trembled around the unicorn wand, which started to heat up at her will, until its tip crackled and smoked. “It's only fitting that another child of Sombra finishes them off.” They took a step back, as Cerise pointed the wand and funneled flames all over the building. The magic fires licked across the flammable surfaces of the structure, and quickly spread, directed by her will.

She winced when the tool burned crimson and started to crack and blacken, the reserve power of the dead unicorn that once bore the horn almost spent. She tossed the tool into the house, as the inferno spread to the furniture and enveloped the mutants. Her ears flattened at their shrill screeches, as they were immolated and blackened, and dark smoke clouds arose from a funeral pyre.

“Farewell,” she whispered with wet eyes, as Haze, Bane, and Gloom were consumed.

Beatrix held her 'niece', who returned the hug. “You're nothing like them. Your half-brothers, either. I really wish White Shadow Penumbra and Ashen Dunes were here. They'd be so proud of you! Let's help the others, okay?” With a sniffle and nod, Cerise set off behind her 'aunt'.

When they neared the entrance to the arena, three hooded and cloaked acolytes awaited. Beatrix pushed Cerise behind her, as her horn and hands lit up, her snout drawn for the battle ahead.

“Hello there my little hellspawn,” said the one at the center with a wicked, subdued smile, as their hoods were cast back in unison to reveal Trixie Lulamoon, Lavender Lace, and Fuchsia Blush.

“M-mom?” Despite her doubts, Bea knew this wasn't simply a Trixie, but it was her Trixie! The same mare who'd raised her, showed her all her tricks, and even bestowed her beloved hat on her!

“Join us,” said Lavender. “You, too, princess! You've proven your worthiness!”

“We can give you eternal peace. A sense of belonging that will unite the world,” said Fuchsia, as the three women open their robes to reveal their naked forms beneath, and from their snatches they partially 'birthed' a nest of tentacles that wiggled around the wetness that dripped from the lustful mares, as the eldritch entities attached to their wombs both empowered and enslaved them.

“Gross,” cried Cerise, who clutched her spear harder as she took a step backwards.

“Don't knock it until you've tried it, sweetheart,” said Trixie with a snicker, and the three mares moaned and their eyes temporarily rolled into their heads, clenched around the monstrosities inside them which rewarded them with a small climax that washed out of their pussylips.

“Just take one of these inside you,” said Fuchsia. “And your troubles will all disappear!”

“We'll spread this token of our mistress across the multiverse!” Lavender tittered between mewls.

“Go on,” shouted Beatrix, who suddenly tossed another smoke bomb at their feet. Immediately, everyone rushed into action, as the witch's prismatic beams collided with the trio's.

Trixie yelled back, “Those tricks won't work on us!”

Cerise hesitated only a moment, but placed her faith in Bea when she rushed into the coliseum, where the main action now took place. She'd find someone, Bellatrix maybe, and send help!

Behind her, there were repeated flashes while Beatrix attempted to hold off a troika of skilled mares.

*****

Chrysalis screamed at the sky. “Where did these bitches come from? Terminate them!” She shouted orders at her changelings around her, while she repeatedly crossed swords with Cadance, driven back by the love queen's skillful blows. Since Cadance had further polished her skills with the 'Four Swords' over the years, she was no slouch herself, Chrysalis barely able to keep up anymore.

Driven into a corner, she yelled, “Call in more reinforcements!” She didn't care whether she had to leave her hive undefended anymore, as she'd build a new, better one in the Crystal Empire!

Sweat poured down the bare, voluptuous bodies of the queens, who heaved. “Call them off and surrender,” demanded Cadance. “Or I'll take your head and put it on display atop a spire!”

“I'd sooner die! Everyone will either worship or scream my name!” The ground started to rip up around the coliseum, as marble fractured and caved in to reveal the torn up soil below, as more changelings swarmed into the scene, and parts of the arena collapsed inward. Screams filled the air when some stallions and mares were pulled into the pitch darkness below by more drones.

Once she'd seized power, the dark queen had her minions build more tunnels below. Just in case.

Now her plans paid off, since more of her swarm arrived to aid in battle, while they rose and flew up to match the Valkyries. They hoped to overwhelm them with sheer numbers, no unit a match for the Valkyries. The cultists, too, continually fired off spells with their horns, hands, and wands.

The earth quaked. Cadance pitched forward, her sword crossed with Chrysalis'. They tumbled into the abyss, unable to fully break their fall with their spread wings as they dropped their blades, their hands clutched in a shared, hateful snarl, while they vanished into the black depths below.

Fiery bellowed in fury when he saw the twins snatched up by drones that buzzed by. “Bastards!” He'd taken up a sword he'd set ablaze, and furiously cut down enemies as he tried to reach them. With a leap, he also sailed into the air, only to be swarmed by a thick mass of the changelings.

“I-I can't hold on anymore,” admitted Shining Armor, as his horn sparked and his shield finally crumbled. He took up a blade to help his fellow 'Swords' as they too were overwhelmed.

“It's not enough,” murmured Night Blade, as his saber dripped blood. “Is this how it ends?” The scene appeared Apocalyptic, not unlike the hellscape he'd seen before he'd been frozen.

Thunder Storm, too, felt his mysterious power wane, as did Snowy Blizzard's. His heart raced as he used his own blade to protect her, Moonflower, and the cadets. “No! At worst, the odds are even! Get the cadets inside, men! It's too dangerous out in the open with these craters around!”

“I don't think it's safe anywhere,” replied Shining, but he helped direct the cadets inside. He attacked the changelings with sword and spell, unable to conjure up anything more advanced than a basic beam attack, which nonetheless zapped a few drones from the sky to meet their swords.

A number of cadets were funneled inside the building as it rocked and threatened to collapse. Dust rose around them, as Midnight, Moonlight, and Lightning choked on the thick clouds, forced by the 'Swords' to abandon the field, even after they tried to slip past the soldiers and stay behind.

Lightning balled up her fists and cried, “This isn't fair! We can still help out! We-” They were forced to fly away in a blur, as the corridor they were led into crumpled with a thunderous boom.

“Great. We're trapped,” said Moonlight, once the cave in stopped and they saw piles of debris behind them, uncertain whether any of their fellow cadets or soldiers had been crushed.

Midnight tried to cover himself with his massive, feathered plumage. “Still naked, too! At least we picked up some weapons! Maybe we can find some uniforms in the locker rooms here?”

“Well, we certainly can't turn back.” Moonie exhaled as their footsteps echoed in the hallways. After all they'd seen and been forced to do, the mares barely minded their nudity anymore.

By contrast, the hyper-stallion noted how his body continued to develop with each mare he bred with. Appreciative looks often met the stud, who'd bulked up and couldn't fully hide his sizable, productive tool, a true virile specimen of masculinity that it was difficult for mares to resist. Even his sister wasn't immune, as the electric blue twin would steal an occasional look at his horsecock.

It didn't help that they were forced to inhale his residual musk, after he'd bred two of the most fertile mares, Chrysalis and Cadance, which made their taut mare pussies hot and sticky. They would squirm uncomfortably when they walked, with a wet squish as their lower holes clenched up.

“D-damn it,” muttered Moonie, as his presence started to put them back in a state of estrus.

Lightning also bounced on the heels of her feet, as a similar warmth spread throughout her athletic form. “Hey, what's that?” She pointed at a shadow which crossed by one of the corridors ahead. “Let's check it out!” Before they could stop her, she shot off ahead with her spear in hand.

A mare's shrill cry echoed. Her friends flew to help her.

“W-wait! I'm a friend!” Cerise raised her hands, a spearpoint pointed at her heart.

Sparks demanded, “How do we know you're not a shape-shifter? I sure haven't seen you before!”

“It-it's complicated. I'm Cerise Silhouette.” Her blush deepened when the other ponies arrived, the three of them nude, and she tried not to stare at her future husband in particular. I'm part of the liberation army that's come to save the Crystal Empire! But I had to slip away on my own!” She'd run into one of the succubi on her way in, Xanadu, and sent her to back up Beatrix with the assurance she'd be fine on her own. But the dancer was relieved she'd run into some old friends!

“Hmmm...suspicious,” she replied, as her eyes narrowed and her lips were drawn.

“I think she's on the level,” decided the bat mare, who relaxed her posture.

“Thanks, Moonie!” Cerise's blush darkened further.

“Huh? You know me? I don't believe we've met before?” Moonie quirked an eyebrow, her arms folded beneath her bunched up, medium-sized breasts as she studied the newcomer.

“S-sort of,” whispered Cerise, who looked away as the spear was lowered from her heart. “Like I said, it's complicated, and I doubt you'll believe me no matter how many times I explain it.”

“Try me,” said Moonie sympathetically. “But not here. Huh, let's see if this office is open.” When they found the door was locked, Midnight kicked it in, and they made their way inside. The found a desk with a chair, and shelves, but as they rifled about them no clothes were uncovered.

“This sucks!” Lightning klicked a drawer, then winced and bounced on the foot she stood on.

“It's not so bad,” admitted Moonlight with a grin. “I'm pretty used to it by now!” She wasn't certain whether it was her estrus, or all the sex around her, but she felt a certain exhibitionist streak.

“We do need some armor to fight though,” replied Midnight, who couldn't help but check out the mares around him, Cerise included, since she teased him with the scanty co bikini she wore. He used his plume to hide his crotch, as the scent of estrus from mare pussy made him swell up.

Cerise couldn't help but feel a little bad she was the only one dressed, but she hesitated to hand over what scant clothes she wore. “Guess I should explain myself.” She pulled up a chair and sat. “Um, where to begin? You've heard about how some people here are displaced, right? Well, I'm also from another world. My friends, too. Where I come from, I...I'm a princess, and the daughter of Sombra. I'd already met a couple of you there. Actually, Middy, we-we were about to be married.”

“Huh?” He furrowed his brow, his emerald eyes wide.

“S-so I don't win out in the end,” murmured Moonie softly, crestfallen.

Sparks inquired, “What about me?”

Cerise looked away and didn't speak for a moment. “...deceased, far as we know. Middy lost his entire family when the changelings invaded, according to what we've been told. I'm sorry. Maybe that's what we were sent here to prevent! My friend, Beatrix, travels about and fixes problems!”

“About that...” Moonie shifted her stance, arms still crossed. “We can't do much. We're still cadets. Middy here has bulked up whenever he, er, partook in some 'private time' with mares?”

“Y-yeah,” he admitted, and rubbed the back of his neck. “I do feel much stronger each time!”

A devious snicker left Lightning's lips. “I have an idea! But I'm not sure you all will go for it?” They turned to her. “You see, we have one stud here that can bulk it even more, and three mares...”

“Wh-wha...?” Cerise's face went fully red. “But you're his twin sister?”

“Pretty sure we already crossed that line thanks to the aphrodisiac venom or whatever that Chrysalis said she pumped us full of,” she confessed with her own dark blush, as her estrus made her inhibitions and any taboos she held break down further. “Th-this could be what we need to win the war!”

“Doubtful,” said Moonie, yet her own pussy winked at the idea. “Still, we may not have any other options. A stallion is supposed to protect his herd, and...and maybe we could pretend?”

His feathers and fur fluffed up when she caressed his barrel chest. All his instincts demanded he bend all the mares over that desk and take them, but reason still won out. “Only if you're all for it. I don't want to pressure anyone.” He smiled at Cerise, who appeared torn at the idea.

Cerise stood and said, “I...I'll do it.” She undid the string to her top, and allowed it to fall, as her medium-sized breasts, topped by wide pink areola, toppled out with a playful wobble. Her soulful eyes shyly turned aside when she stepped out of the bottom piece too, her body fully bared.

Sparks whistled with a smirk. “Wow, you're hot! Granted, we all are! So, who wants to bend over first?” She landed a sharp slap on Moonie's butt, which rippled, the mare sent forward.

“You're so crude,” said Moonie. “But I think you should be up, Cerise. You two are about to be married in that other world, huh?” Gently, she led the princess over to the desk, where she bent her over and with a subdued titter landed a playful spank on a shapely, supple charcoal bun.

“It-it does make sense,” admitted Cerise, since he'd already had a turn with them before. “I wanted to wait until we were married. But...” Grabbing her buttcheeks, she spread them wide open to present her lower holes to Midnight, who took his place behind the princess and mounted her. Inch-by-inch, he fed himself into her hot, moist depths, as the pair of them moaned, united.

“Give it to her,” teased Sparks, who landed another playful spank on Cerise's other bun, which rippled. The hyper-stud, who took Cerise by the hips and buttocks, started to pound her pussy. The electric blue mare asked, “Huh? Is that milk?” She squeezed a titty, which squirted lactation.

“M-moo~,” came an instinctive cry from Cerise, as old habits died hard and pleasure spiked in the tit. He clapped her cheeks with reckless abandon, as his hyper-cock punched past her cervix to claim her womb. Cerise didn't worry about that as her twat winked, sure Bea's potions would do the trick!

Grunts and snorts came from Midnight, as he rocked the desk each time he hammered into what he'd been told would be his future wife. Firm hands wandered all over her supple physique, pulled and squeezed at her tender flesh, as she moaned even louder and drenched his furry crotch.

“I can't deny this is hot,” admitted Moonie, as she started to furiously rub her twat with squelches.

“M-me too,” said Lightning, who also played with herself as she and Moonlight pressed their breasts into the sides of the hyper-stud, his eyes partially white as he inhaled musk from all their pussies.

The combined smell of all their musk simply made them even hornier, their heads fuzzy. Balls deep in his would-be wife, the hype-stallion's boldness grew since he wanted all of them in his herd. “Bend over,” he commanded, as his firm palms rained down on the asses of the mares at his side.

Titters escaped his twin. “Bold, aren't we? Well, I don't mind!” She leaned over the desk.

“Me either,” his crush admitted with a blush as she presented herself, too. They mewled when his fingers sank into their cunts, which spattered over his hands when he started to blast them in a blur, while the tips to his plume continued to feel up Cerise while he furiously railed her with a snarl.

Much as she enjoyed this treatment, Cerise hoped the payoff would be worth it. How much, she wondered, could one soldier do to help turn the tides? But she'd seen him in action back in her world, noticed his potential immediately, and had hit on him in fear another mare would lay claim to him first. She hadn't known about Moonie or her one-sided crush on him, at the time!

She never would have moved in on him, had she known. But she'd hoped to invite the bat mare into a herd once they were married, as the two mares quickly hit it off after they'd met.

The three mares moaned, rocked on the desk, their tails hiked and toned asses upraised. Any stud that liked mares would be happy to put a foal in them. With one last thrust, he fired off into Cerise. A continuous, euphoric cry escaped her, as the three mares squirted and marked their stud.

The princess felt her womb and belly swell with his cum, and wondered if they'd have foals someday. Not until they'd spent lots of time on romantic adventures, she hoped!

Gaped open when he popped out, her snatch oozed his seed. Moonlight and Lightning wiggled their butts in anticipation for their own turns, and he lined up with his childhood crush, and skewered her deep while she mewled, too. He went to town on her, as he bulked up more.

“Pound that pony pussy,” teased his twin as she rubbed her twat.

“You're next,” he reminded her, his voice a little deeper, his posture more dominant, and the mares were happy to submit to his sexual prowess when he spanked their bottoms like drums. Sharp cries met his ears each time a slap landed, his red hand prints imprinted on their wobbly buns.

A short time later, coated in Moonie's lust some more, he emptied his balls inside her.

Lastly, he moved on to his sister. All his hesitations had eroded. She spread herself open, welcomed him into her, It was like they were perfectly compatible, both unaware that in primordial times, when the hyper-stallions were at their height, they would often mate with their kin whenever there were a lack of females to preserve their bloodline, as his musk made it seem reasonable to them.

He finished up inside her, too. Her head craned to meet his snout as he filled her up.

After he'd taken a turn with them all, he certainly felt a little more powerful, almost worthy of a role as 'Fifth Sword', were he to master swordplay. “I-I feel it!” With wonder, he felt a hidden power in him awakened, which ran in his bloodline, as wind picked up around the room and fluttered about pieces of paper and their manes and tails. “What is this? The power of wind, huh?”

“Feels pretty nice~,” said his sister, both from the wind and his horsecock still buried in her. “Hey, we saw our father unlock a weird power too! Wonder whether I have some untapped potential?”

“We can't stick around to find out,” said Moonie, who sat on the desk, as more of his fuckslop mixed with female lubricant poured from her slit. “We've wasted too much time already.”

Cerise sat up too and embraced her. “Time with loved ones is never wasted. But yes, they need us!”

“I'm a one-stallion army,” boasted Midnight in a playful manner, as he removed himself from his twin with another wet pop, and manipulated the soft wind around them. “Whoa, I'll probably be able to tear apart a bunch of swarms with this stuff! Let's clean up and head on out!”

“Still no clothes,” lamented Moonie, who wiped her cunt with a napkin and threw it in the trash.

“Guess we'll have to hide behind our stud~,” teased Sparks, who wiped herself up too.

Guilty at their words, Cerise nonetheless wiggled her hips and bottom when she pulled back on the cow bikini bottom, then laced back up her matched top, which squeezed a bit more milk out which absorbed into the special fabric. They took back up their weapons, and headed back to help.

A pitched battle awaited outside. More reinforcements continued to pour from the craters of the torn up coliseum. By this point, a number of the Valkyries had fallen, as stingers made their way between the rifts in their armor, the armored women filled with toxins that paralyzed or killed.

Gales swept over the arena, and bowled a number of drones over. Midnight Blitzer was now almost the twin of his father, with his well-chiseled musculature and proud stature, as he took up a large, discarded sword and raced to defend the wounded like a chivalrous pegasus knight, followed by the mares that arrived with him. Unfortunately, a number of ponies had been pulled down into the hive. He focused the winds, causing the flyers that buzzed above to crash into each other.

“I'm proud of you son,” said Thunder Storm. “We could really use your help!”

“I'm on it,” he answered, as with his wind and blade, he helped dispatch their enemies. He noted the minotaurs and Amazons, who struggled around them to help the Valkyries. Behind him, his friend and sister both scavenged the fields for whatever clothes they could find, mostly mismatched armor which barely fit them. Thankfully most of his loved ones appeared okay. “Where's Fiery?”

“He descended into the hive to rescue the twins,” answered Thunder, as he cut down a foe. “Shining Armor, too! The queen fell deep down below while she was locked in a duel with Chrysalis!”

“Dispatch their queen and we've all but won,” surmised Night Blade, who helped dispatch their enemies in the skies. He'd recovered some armor too, but his body was lined in small cuts.

Gazes turned to what appeared to be a bottomless black pit, where an army constantly poured out. They would have to brave the hellish hive itself to claim the head of Queen Chrysalis. And they would either have to take Snowy and Moonflower with them, or leave them behind.

A shirtless minotaur with an axe soaked in blood marched up. “We'll look after them. Redrum.”

Thunder Storm furrowed his brow. “Look, it's not exactly easy to trust you, what with-”

“Enemy blood,” assured Redrum. “We're here to help. See her?” He nodded at Zafire Heart, in the midst of a pitched battle, with Panna and Chezka near her. “That's Zafire Heart, Amazon Queen, and former ancient ruler of the Crystal Empire. She trusts us, so I hope you can, too.”

“Guess we'll have to trust you,” said Thunder, aware they couldn't debate it in the middle of a war.

With that said, they left Snowy and Blizzard with their new allies, and descended into the hive...