End of an Era: The Upheaval

Beatrix valiantly faced the odds, outnumbered, and thanks to the eldritch monstrosities that enhanced the troika, ultimately outclassed in raw power. Sure, she'd surpassed her mother after various adventures, and while Lavender and Fuchsia weren't normally on their level, their indoctrination into the 'Cult of the Nemesis' had quickly advanced their mystical talents.

She was forced on the defensive, thankful Cerise was able to slip away, at least. With horns and hands, she weaved her spells and voiced a few with her lips to focus the arcane energies. Her illusions were nearly worthless on them, as Trixie had taught her sidekicks how to see through the deception. Their robes fluttered around their otherwise nude bodies as they floated around her in circles, cackled, and launched prismatic beam-after-beam, Bea barely able to fire back or raise a shield.

“You've improved a lot my little hellspawn,” noted Trixie. “But so have we!”

The invisible barrier Beatrix conjured blinked and faltered, unable to maintain itself under the strain of a constant barrage between the three of them. It burst like shattered glass, and she yelped, knocked onto her butt as they rushed in to surround her. Their horns lit, and translucent coils rose around Bea, snapped around her wrists and ankles, and lifted her up while she squirmed.

“Nuh-uh,” warned Trixie, who seized Bea's horn when it lit up. “Try it, and you may lose that horn!” Granted, she would likely lose her hand, too...but it was a risk she was happy to take!

With a sour expression, Bea powered down her horn. How could she escape this trap...?

Around her, the trio dropped their robes and allowed them to pool below. From their smooth slits slithered the nests of eldritch tentacles, moist and rubbery when they started to slid all over Bea's body.The tendrils slipped beneath her leotard, where they traced all over her shapely curves.

The tendrils violently yanked in all directions. Bea's costume and cape were torn away to leave her denuded, aside from her fingerless gloves and heeled boots, since her pointy, wide-brimmed hat had already fallen off. The tentacles resumed their molestation, while she squirmed and mewled.

A blush crossed her face when they wrapped around her tits, and encircled them completely as they spiraled around-and-around her titflesh, which squished between the tentacles when they pulled on her tits and nipples until they were distended. Groans rose from her, as her pussy dripped and winked, as more coils slipped over her slit and between her asscrack as they massaged her lower holes, which puckered up. Worked over, she breathed heavily, eyes crossed as more twisted around her horn, and slipped into her lips when she moaned louder, her bliss muffled as it swabbed her throat. “Suck on it,” commanded Trixie, and Beatrix bobbed her head to suck off the intruder.

“Time to make her one of us,” said Fuchsia.

Lavender said, “But we don't have another of these creatures! And without ours, we'll die!”

“Doesn't matter,” decided Trixie, who spread her daughter's thighs open further when she pressed their cunts closer together. “Our mistress has decided she's far more valuable than any of us, me included. She was meant to be our 'Dark Messiah'. Mmm~.” A small, messy orgasm rocked Trixie when she felt the entity attached to her womb walls squirm inside her. “It's ready to be birthed into a new host! So open up wide~!” Her thumbs hooked on the sides of Bea's labia, and parted the soft flesh to reveal the pink, moist treasure within, which shimmered and dripped down her butthole.

Gradually, the tentacle nest slithered into Bea's cunt, who cast back her head and moaned around the one stuffed down her throat, while more continued to stretch her titties about. The eldritch abomination prepared to detach itself from Trixie's womb, which would leave its hostess a shell that would eventually perish, and instead the symbiotic entity would instead bond with Bea's womb.

Trixie 'birthed' the monstrosity from one cunt to another, to bless her beloved hellspawn!

“Universal peace in eternal darkness,” murmured Lavender and Fuchsia in unison.

“D-don't...oh~...!” Bea's muffled words were lost in a deeper moan, when she squirted anew over the nest of tentacles that wiggled deeper inside her, and traced all over her sticky folds and spongy g-spot, while another tendril slid up her asshole. Indescribable pleasure threatened to overwhelm her when the tendrils widened her cervix, and the creature started to worm into her slippery womb.

“Almost there~,” teased Trixie, who held Bea's hips, and leaned over so that their nipple tips touched and their breasts mashed amidst the drenched tentacles that played with them. Once the entity fully detached from inside her, and entered Bea's core, she would be born anew!

Blackish-purple fire exploded around the witches, and burned cold when it collided with them. They screamed and were forced to withdraw, the tentacles withdrawn amidst a slurp from Bea's slit, and likewise her binds were broken as she landed on her bare butt with a cry of surprise.

“Step away from her,” warned Xanadu, as the succubi approached with a swivel of her hips. An inky blackness wisped around her, and formed a dress that appeared painted onto her curves.

“A demon,” cried Lavender. “Aren't they incompatible with our symbiotes?”

“Demons can't play hosts to them,” said Fuchsia. “But that doesn't mean they can't harm them!”

“Amateurs,” hissed back the horn she-demon, who swept about to evade the magical blasts and tentacles that fired her way. “Your naïve friend sent me! Are you able to stand, witch?”

“Y-yeah,” said Bea as she stumbled to her heels, and with a hand wave clothed herself. With the odds more even, Beatrix redoubled her efforts, as her own beam intercepted and collided with Trixie's, and the colorful explosion shook the area and tossed the pair of them apart.

Xanadu's obsidian 'dress' whirled about and whipped at the acolytes. Lavender and Fuchsia cried out when the lashes tore a strip from their bare skin and soaked them in blots of blood.

“She's too fast,” cried Lavender, who retreated from more lashes.

Fuchsia's hands and horns were ablaze with her aura as she replied, “So we keep our distance!”

“No, yelled Trixie. “We retreat! We've already missed our chance with our 'Dark Messiah', but there will be other times!” The three witches took to the air, and flew off back towards the arena.

Xanadu called over her shoulder, “Are you able to follow them?”

“Sure,” admitted Beatrix. “But I think we have other worries. Our allies could be in trouble!”

“True,” admitted Xandau, who exhaled sharply. “What a bother. My mistress and sisters can surely look after themselves fine, but you mortals are so fragile and sensitive. It's a wonder you've kept demon kind down over the millennia. It must be because we're always at war with each other.”

With a coy smile and nod, Beatrix followed the succubus back into the mess further beyond.

*****

Green illumination bathed the moist labyrinthine caverns, which pulsated in rhythm, like an uneven heartbeat. Even the cool air harbored a certain thickness. To the ponies that braved it to liberate their loved ones, it was like they'd descended into some alternate form of Tartarus itself.

“Watch out,” warned Thunder Storm, who brandished his sword at a stray drone. The creature skittered into the dank darkness, and he raised an arm to halt his allies. “Could be a trap.”

“True,” said Moonlight, thankful she at least had some ill-fitted armor to wear. “We have no idea what could await us down here.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, as their voices carried.

“You cadets should've stayed behind,” said Thunder. “But I knew we couldn't stop you.”

Night Blade, who beat his bat wings as he sailed close to the ground, nodded slowly. “It's why we let you come. You're safer by our side. But we expect you to keep up, and pull your own weight.”

“Yes, sir!” The three cadets took a stiff posture and saluted.

“At ease,” said Thunder with a somber chuckle. “There's barely a chain of command anymore.”

Midnight was at the forefront with his sister, and he looked more like his father than ever, especially after like the rest of them he'd scoured the battlefield for armor. “We won't let you down!”

Lightning beamed and laughed with her brother. “Yeah, especially with those cool new wind powers! Somehow, I have to learn how to tap into my own! They have to be part of our bloodline!” She'd tried to will back up power of her own since then, but with no results.

“Bloodline...does that mean I don't have one?” Moonie frowned.

Cerise squeezed her hand. “Who knows? Until a while back, I didn't know I could form crystals!”

Moonie forced a small smile. “Thanks, Cerise. Middy will be lucky to have you.”

Cerise smiled back. “It's too bad Shiny couldn't come too, what with his poor wife trapped down here! But I know it's more important he help protect the other cadets and mares.” A wet sucking sound arose when she stepped across the floors. “Yuck. It's kind of like this place is alive...”

“It could be,” admitted Night Blade. “Especially after the changelings have apparently made an alliance with demon worshippers. Foul, arcane corruption may have suffused this hive.”

They had entered a crater where the swarms didn't currently pour out of, in the hope it interconnected with the network of tunnels, and eventually lead them into the innermost depths of the evil queen's lair. Aside from their words and movements, the insides were eerily quiet, and it felt like more eyes observed them from the deepest shadows. Even so, they pressed on.

Of course, they were far from the first one to infiltrate the hive.

Fiery's ablaze sword lit the way, an intentional beacon to any enemies that dared attack him. He'd already cut down and torched many on his trek to locate his beloved twins. However, when he traveled the tunnels, which served as shortcuts across the interconnected hives, he was unaware they transported him about like teleportation, due to enchantments placed on them by the cult.

Due to this, he eventually came upon a chamber. Inside, he saw a clutch off eggs, which sat in small pits surrounded by slimy nutrients. He narrowed his eyes, as his boots crunched when he strode.

“W-wait!” A familiar, lovely face met him from the shadows.

“You're not them,” he barked cruelly, the Protoquen forced to wear the face of his lovers.

“N-no I'm not,” said Ocellus, whose nude, crystal mare form shivered. “But that doesn't matter! I know where Foal-Bearer and Wet Nurse are! Of course, I can't rescue them by myself!”

“Shut up! It's your fault this all happened!” The flames around his blade burned taller, hotter. “Every stallion that was tortured and killed, every mare that was raped and had your filthy kind forced inside them, you're to blame! I should carve you up from crotch to sternum, traitor!”

“I-I...” She took a step back and sniffled, unable to deny his bitter words.

“But you were never on our side, were you? You were never one of us.” He crossed closer, past the shells where new life waited to blossom. “Why did you come here? These are yours, aren't they?”

“Y-yes,” she whispered. “I...didn't want my queen to harm them-”

His free hand carefully scooped up a sphere, which was warm to the touch. “But you didn't care what the consequences would be for us. I don't know much about the eggs you bugs lay, but in my experience they're pretty sturdy. Takes quick a hard blow to crack one. Hell, they've even survived a toss off a mountaintop!” He raised it close to the flame. “But I wonder how well they'd cook?”

“Please don't! Do that, and I would've done all this for...for nothing!” She slumped to her knees, and tears spilled down her cheeks, her heart heavier than ever with the bitter taste of despair.

“Shut your mouth, you damned insect! How dare you wear the face of the mares I love! The ones you hurt and backstabbed! For that, I'd put you to death a thousand times over!” With that hateful bellow, he swept his flame sword across the chamber, and swallowed it within an inferno.

Ocellus screamed. She desperately ran to her clutch in an attempt to save them. The shells cracked.

For a horrified moment, she believed yolk spilled out of the fractures. Instead, the ovums burst. Yet what hatched from inside weren't what she expected, but instead a hybrid between her insect form and tentacled eldritch abominations, which squealed and buzzed when they took into the air.

Fiery took a swipe at one, forced to throw the sphere in his hand when it hatched. “What the-?”

“Ch-Chrysalis lied to me! She betrayed me!” Furious tears poured from Ocellus. “She must've handed my clutch over to that cult, and allowed them to perform their dark experiments on them!”

The creatures zipped out of the chamber, which burned around the pair. Fused with the dark arts, he wondered whether they would evolve into creatures similar to those rhino beetle mutants.

Ocellus whimpered and wobbed while she clutched an empty shell to her bosom. Her entire world tumbled around her, and her head swam, unable to think about what she'd do next. She looked to the fires...and closed her eyes with a sniffle, ready to let the inferno consume her.

“I should leave you to die...” Instead, he punched her in the midsection, where she doubled-over and he tossed her over a shoulder when he carried her out. “Don't pass out on me. Lead me to the twins and fast, or so help me, you'll wish I'd finished you off back there, you monster.”

Winded, Ocellus weakly pointed at a tunnel. He rushed on inside. Her beautiful bare butt bounced beside his head, which filled him with ambivalence, a constant reminder of the twins he adored...and her betrayal of them, now ironically trapped in their shape. She'd lost her identity, her children, and yet to him, it would never be enough punishment for what she'd done. He'd smoke out and burn down every hive, until he'd completely wiped her abominable race from Equestria...

*****

Back in her element, Queen Chrysalis had summoned her changelings to assist her. They were swift to overwhelm and web up Cadance, the alicorn helpless to resist with her magic neutralized. She led them to her throne room here, where she'd also trussed up a number of captive ponies, who were suspended by cobwebs above them. Then, she settled her wide butt onto her throne with a plop.

“Curious creatures, aren't we? Not quite ponies or insects. Hell, some hives have even taken on arachnid characteristics, as you can see!” She waved at the network of webs above them.

Glares shot back at her when Cadance was lifted and webbed up, too. “You won't win!”

A cackle met her. “Haven't I already? Just like last time, you've failed your little ponies! Look around you!” A number of ponies were bound around Cadance, the crystal twins included.

“You've become a flunky for that cult,” shot back Cadance.

Chrysalis rose from her throne, flew up, and backhanded the fallen queen across the face. “We're allies! I do not serve them! You hear me bitch?” She hissed and spit, as she seized Cadance's nipples, and twisted them until she cried out. “Don't worry! My minions have already knocked up a number of your mares, and you'll be next!” She pointed at the swollen bellies, which included the twins and Autumn Gem. “Gestation works faster than ever, thanks to that cult's efforts! Legends say that an alicorn can birth an endless supply of foals, so let's see how many clutches you birth, whore!”

“You're sick,” said Cadance, who could barely squirm in her binds.

“No. I'm a predator, and you're prey,” purred the wicked queen. “Do it,” she commanded her changelings, and a couple buzzed up and spread Cadance's thighs open, her glistening cunt exposed and ready to receive cock. Chrysalis shifted her crotch, until a twin pair of insect-and horsecock hybrids flopped out, thick and half-erect as they pulsed and oozed. “Get fucked, bitch!”

She drove her dicks into the alicorn's pussy and asshole, Cadance's head cast back with a sharp moan. Chrysalis held her conquest by the ankles, and started to violently clap her cheeks. “Do you feel me inside you? First, I'll pump my clutch into you with my ovipositor, then inseminate them!”

Rocked by her thrusts, Cadance's breasts bounced, rolled about, and smacked, taken so deeply Chrysalis swiftly punched beyond her cervix to dominate her womb. Her cunt winked when she messily came the first of many times all over her conquerer. Chrysalis buzzed and happily hummed while she fucked her into submission, once more determined to prove she was the superior queen!

Inspired by their queen, who nodded at them, her swarm rose around her in a buzz to rail the captive mares some more. The pony-insects drove their eccentric tools into the unprotected snatches, the twins and Autumn Gem included, reduced to more anonymous incubators.

The stallions were force-fed sticky nutrients to fatten them up. Evidence of their predecessors littered parts of the caves, in the forms of skeletons which were scattered about.

“Take it!” Chrysalis hovered her snout close to Cadance's,their breasts mashed as she leaned over the fallen queen, hands still around ankles as she pressed them around the sides of Cadance's head and violently hammered away at her pink ass and puss. “Feel my entire clutch dumped into you!”

Cadance squealed, and came harder than ever when the ovipositors rapidly started to deliver their payload. One sticky sphere after another shot into her uterus walls, which were forced to stretch to hold the sizable clutch, as Cadance's stomach swelled and she drenched Chrysalis more.

“It-it's too much...!” Cadance's eyes crossed, then rolled into her head, as her tongue drooped from her open snout amidst an uninterrupted moan that sounded more like a hysterical howl.

“Try not to melt your brain,” taunted Chrysalis, as she felt her own pleasure from her release. A prelude to what came next, as she dumped as many sticky spheres into her core as possible.

Given permission, a number of the drones implanted their own clutches in the mares. The cutie marks of the crystal twins shimmered in resonance with wet orgasms of their own, as the eggs stretched out their own wombs, unloaded into them by the drones as their bellies bloated.

“S-sister...!” Wet Nurse tried in vain to reach out to her as they climaxed.

“Hold...on...!” Foal-Bearer strained to touch her hand, as they winked and squirted.

They tried to focus on Fiery, when more forced orgasms were wrenched from them. Whenever one of them threatened to finish and come down from their euphoria, their shared feedback loop assured there was no escape, as they screeched out their unwanted pleasure, terrified they would dehydrate. Goo would be force-fed to the breeders, honey-like nutrients to nourish them.

“This is only the start,” warned Chrysalis, as her twin cocks throbbed. “Time for insemination!” They started to pound them anew, as the ovum rolled around their insides, ready to be cummed on. Fiercely, they claimed their holes, made them whimper and bounce beneath their movements.

It didn't take long before they all started to cum. Splooge rained over the eggs, which sloshed about in the further overstuffed wombs of the incubators, each primed to birth a new generation of changelings. Whatever losses Chrysalis suffered in this fight were about to pay off! Soon, her numbers would far surpass what she harbored before, a massive army ready to conquer Equestria!

“N-no~...!” Somewhere between a whine and a moan, Cadance came some more.

“Oh, yes, my dear! I can't wait to see the kind of foals we'll produce~,” taunted Chrysalis. She purred some more while her palms rolled lazy circles around Cadance's breasts. “I can't wait to see them swell with milk, where the foals will suckle at them, and once they mature fuck more clutches into this hot little oven~” One palm slid down to stroke Cadance's well-rounded tummy.

“Our precious~,” said an airborne drone, as they rubbed the swelled up bellies of the twins.

“Enjoy them,” purred the changeling queen. “Savor your conquests. Because they'll soon birth my new armies!” After she withdrew and flew away from Cadance, more of her followers beset the queen, where they swarmed her, drove themselves into all her holes, and humped into her face.

The fallen queen choked a bit around the cock stuffed down her throat, felt more of them spread her ass and puss, prepped to eventually be taken by the entire hive. Or would it be hives? She couldn't mount the slightest defense anymore, thankful her horn and wings hadn't been mutilated, at least. A small comfort with what she endured and what awaited her, her sole hope her 'Four Swords'.

Glazed over eyes weakly turned to Chrysalis, who rolled a hand across a crystal ball and parted the mists, as Cadance tried to ignore the savage cocks that skewered her from all directions and rubbed all over her voluptuous, precum and cum-smeared pink curves. From the sphere, they bore witness to the battles within the hives and above, where it appeared both sides were evenly matched.

The skies started to turn a prismatic shade. Hairline fractures appeared, then started to spread.

Chrysalis snarled and hissed, “What is this? The Elements of Harmony? Impossible!”

Cadance would have shaken her head, were she able. No, this was completely different...! Tears rolled down her cheeks while she watched her lovely nation crumble, unable to do more than take cock-after-cock, reduced to a broodmare like so many others that would swell up until ready to pop.

She winked around and dripped on the drones, who happily buzzed while they ravished her holes. Forced her to squirt and squirm like a mare that reached puberty and estrus for the first time. Pleasure threatened to melt her brain, yet she held on, determined to see out her world's end.

More images assailed them from the orb. Fiery Kickstart, with Ocellus on his shoulder, as his blazing blade carved apart anything that dared cross his path. Thunder Storm and Night Blade with the trio of cadets and Cerise, while they also battled their way in, on the cusp of imminent disaster, since the dark queen's numerous minions threatened to overwhelm the cornered warriors.

None of them could see Carnifex Grayscale observe them with a subdued snicker. The paradoxes he helped introduce across this Equestria continued to spread and multiply, yet he had to take care not to be too blatant, or else this universe would crumble instead. Beatrix Belladonna was the key, and she didn't even know it. Or more accurately, the Prima Materia she carried, which enabled the 'Wandering Witch' to influence reality subconsciously, and permanently warp it to better suit her. She was the pawn of his often unseen hand, an incarnate butterfly effect to enact his silent will!

To prevent total calamity, two thirds of this planet had already vanished, with it unknown whether they'd been whisked away to another universe or wiped out completely. The effects now reached the Crystal Empire. He'd make certain this universe survived its rebirth. But at a heavy price...

*****

The oceans rolled. Thunder cracked. Gales roared. The earth quaked. An apocalyptic scene which denoted this Equestria would soon reach its end. Blade in hand and his horn alight, Shining Armor attempted to protect the cadets with his men, barely able to believe what he saw. From the world's apparent imminent demise, to an ancient crystal alicorn, with her painted Amazon army. Not to mention the minotaurs and the Valkyries. “We can still win this,” he told himself with a snarl.

His heart ached beneath a breastplate stolen from the battlefield when he almost tripped over the body of a trampled student, little more than a boy. Another reminded of how he'd failed them.

Maybe Fiery was right. Maybe they should've charged into each hive and smoked them out long before it came to this! But they knew the sacrifices it would take, that thousands would perish in another nightmare war, not unlike when they'd overthrown Sombra! True peace appeared impossible, as the 'Swords' either turned away from a lifestyle of constant conflict or doubled down.

Zafire Heart's eyes widened when she yelled, “The cosmic storm...! Just like last time...!”

“I see it,” answered Moon Hammer. “But we can't overcome mother nature! We can only endure it! Take shelter!” Chunks of cracked marble above wore torn loose, and tossed about.

“There isn't much choice,” said Redrum, and nodded at the deep craters about.

“But that'll take us to...” Moon Hammer nodded with renewed determination. “Into the hives, everyone! We take our war to the queen herself! Today we put an end to this!” The bulls rallied their people, while the fallen ruler of the Crystal Empire and Zafire Heart did the same.

The masses warred with the swarms while they retreated towards the depths below.

Bellatrix battled above. “Return to me,” she ordered her fellow succubi, exasperated. Her demonic sisters wandered off on their own, and reveled in the bloodshed and pandemonium. At least the new power's awakened in the she-devil's paid off, as they dispatched a number of changelings and cultists. Nymphette and Kismet whirled by her in a blur, but she couldn't see the others.

She sailed next to them and called, “We have to take cover below! It's too unstable here!”

“Yes mistress,” answered the two in unison.

Bella turned to the bloodied demons and demanded, “Where are Sanguine and Xanadu? I warned them not to wander off too far! I don't want to restrict your freedom, but we're supposed to act as one unit! Remember what I drilled into you!” With a furious hiss, she rained hellfire and brimstone.

“Uh...I think Xanadu went to explore the arena,” admitted Nymphette.

Kismet swallowed hard and said, “Sanguine said she wanted to fight Queen Chrysalis herself! But I didn't think she'd really do it! She must've already slipped into the hive to seek her out!”

“Damn it!” Bella found herself torn, uncertain who she should seek out first. However, further concerns forced her to stop in her tracks when a cosmic bridge smashed its way through the torn apart skies, and the riders of the storm made their way into this universe. “No. We killed them all!”

Nymphette yelled over the winds, “Who are these freaks?”

Beatrix, who'd arrived with Xanadu into the coliseum, also found herself frozen when she set her violet eyes on the alien species that had wiped out entire worlds. “The Eldritch...” Garbed in pale hooded robes, they resembled some form of death itself, and arrived in eerie silence. Worshippers of entities beyond every dimension, they had mutilated themselves, their eyes and lips sewn shut.

They attacked the Valkyries with a psychic assault, minds scrambled when the warriors were struck.

“We have to run,” warned Bea. “We don't have much in the way of defense when it comes to psychic attacks! A powerful will can resist it for a time, but it can tear your psyche apart!”

“Sister,” called back Bella with Kismet and Nymphette by her. “And Xanadu.”

“How fortunate that I went off on my own,” said Xanadu, who nodded at the witch.

“We'll discuss punishment later,” snapped Bella. “Follow me into the pit! It's our only chance!”

Zafire Heart took the forefront, a wide sword taller than her leveled with both hands. “I'll hold them off! Everyone, escape below!” When the Eldritch floated closer to her, and battered at her psychic defenses with metal projections that probed at her brain, her horn blazed and she deflected their combined assault. They too operated like a hive-mind, their combined mental powers amplified.

She flew in. Swiped with her blade, and carved many of them apart. Cut in half bodies flopped. Their severed limbs moved on their own, which she also dealt with by sword and spell. Changelings and cultists also assailed her, and met the same fate, as she defeated their many numbers with ease.

With every Eldritch extinguished, their abilities would weaken. Yet more poured from the rift, anomalies pulled out of their time like Beatrix and her friends, to enact what they'd do to Cerise's Equestria, reduced to a barren wasteland before that world's Sombra helped Beatrix save it.

Behind the Amazon Queen, her allies retreated underground. Would history repeat? Another world collapsed, her people tossed about to new lands, their memories stripped away...?

It didn't matter. She would save them all, or perish in the attempt. Pride demanded it.

The Valkyries that survived rallied around the queen to support her, as their full body armor apparently also served to counteract the psychic attacks. The Eldritch nonetheless swarmed in.

They were no match for her, and yet by sheer numbers, she would eventually be overwhelmed. Even her powers were limited, and over the hours spent in constant battle, they were slowly whittled away. Worst, the elements threatened to tear her beloved Crystal Empire apart!

Meanwhile, when Beatrix and Bellatrix escaped to the depths below to face Chrysalis and her followers, the two of them shared a concerned look. Was their benefactor behind the Eldritch's appearance? All part of his masterplan? Would he sacrifice them all to see his aims enacted...?

Deeper into the darkness they descended, to seek out the heart of this madness. Changelings arrived from a network of tunnels which made up every interconnected hive, like a tidal wave that threatened to sweep the new arrivals away.

Chrysalis welcomed the Amazons in particular. To her they were nothing more than future broodmothers, born to be preyed on by her kind and bear their spawn like all lesser creatures!