End of an Era: The Upheaval

So many Eldritch were dead at Grayscale Carnifex's scaled hands. The ancient dragon's own army, the Valkyries, were also all but wiped out in the conflict. Around him, more Amazons, minotaurs, and ponies fell on occasion, the reaper unable to defend them all, even when he wielded his executioner's sword and breathed a flurry of elements in cones from his wide open maw. Gray robes, a shade darker than his muscled scales, were soaked in the blood and innards of his foes. He flew above the cavern, bombarded the psychic aliens that tried to mount a suitable defense.

He'd have to clean up the mess he'd created, and hoped the introduced paradoxes that led to this latest, ahead-of-time time loop would potentially settle this Equestria into a better world.

The combined psychic assault wrapped around Carnifex, weighed him down with gravity, and slowed his movements. The Eldritch dragged him towards the moist earth. “Clever bastards aren't you,” he hissed when his sword carved into more of them. “Think you can...ack~...!”

A knife unlike the others sank into his back. A dimensional weapon, carved from the cosmos.

It bypassed his natural armor and barely missed his two hearts when he twisted to avoid it. Its touch alone inflicted his prophetic visions on him, made him aware that Ocellus had fallen at its edge, and the twins could follow a similar fate when they returned from the afterlife to save more people here. A reaper's wounds naturally healed..but this terrible weapon severed this ability.

He butchered the Eldritch closest to him. Noted more Eldritch wielded similar knives.

They'd rendered him vulnerable. Did he retreat now, and leave everyone to the whims of fate...?

What dripped from his wound wasn't blood, but a colorful, prismatic trail. The very substance that made up his spirt would bleed out until he found some way to seal the deep cut. Groaning when he seized a thick scale, he tore it off, patched it over his wound, and spat up molten spit to seal it in place. A temporary measure, at best, while more of his attackers closed in with knives out.

More visions crossed his eyes, which blazed white. Potential consequences, were his gamble not successful. The Order of Reapers, no more, him included. The Planet Eden, one more part of the multiverse swallowed up when it collapsed. This Equestria, also obliterated from existence...

*****

More crashes sounded, the crystalline barriers that Cerise struggled to raise anew penetrated. Wind and thunder rippled across the battlefield, but Midnight and Lightning began to tire, too, alongside the 'Swords which still remained on the field after Fiery's inexplicable disappearance. “Hold the line,” shouted Thunder Storm over-and-over while his sword cut a swath to protect his allies. “Hold-” He was cut off when a beam struck his chest, and his blade slipped from his hold.

The swarm moved in. Drove their weapons at them. He threw his body in the way.

“Dad,” cried his children in unison, when a number of blades sank into his torso. His fellow warriors, wife, and friends also called for him, their voices faint when his vision darkened. Over-and-over, they stabbed into him, while Thunder turned himself into a shield to defend them all.

With a final burst of effort, he strained to call on his powerful one last time. Released another sound wave ahead of him, which pushed their numerous foes back, before he collapsed, bloodied.

“S-son,” he whispered. “Save...them...Please...”

“Father,” the teary-eyed hyper-stallion answered, who squeezed his blade's hilt harder. “Grah~!” Gales roared out harder and louder from the sweep of his plume, even while his heart pounded faster in his barrel chest. His eyes turned white, reduced to his most primal sense of fury.

His winds produced an unexpected effect amidst the tremors. More tunnels collapsed.

“Middy,” cried Moonie in her attempt to reach him. “You'll tear the whole hive down! With us in it,” she reminded, yet he appeared not to hear her, as he furiously poured on more winds.

“Bro,” called his twin. “Cerise's in trouble! Listen!” When he didn't, she zapped him.

Midnight snapped back to awareness, and saw his father in a bloody pool once more, while a number of his allies cowered from the storm and a barely conscious Cerise slumped. At least the devastation he'd unleashed had pushed many of their enemies away, or buried them under the collapse and stone and soil, while more of the hive continued to rapidly sink around them.

“Let's find shelter,” he called, uncertain what else they could do anymore. Green eyes turned to an untouched tunnel. “That way, everyone! I'll watch your backs while you head inside!”

“Don't be a hero,” reminded Moonie, who pecked his cheek.

“You too,” he replied with a forced toothy smirk, despite the pain he felt. He didn't want to believe it, but his father was no more. Grief clearly dawned on the faces of Snowy Blizzard, Moonflower, Shining Armor, and Night Blade, too. He'd be forced to take the position of his replacement 'Sword' much sooner than expected, as Cadance likewise failed to hide the melancholy she wore.

His instincts were true. At the end of the tunnel, loomed a prismatic sea. All they needed to do was step into it, and they'd cross over into the unknown, saved by the latest induced time loop.

Yet he couldn't leave his father's body behind. He scooped Thunder Storm up, and carried him.

Unfortunately, in his bid to cover the escape of his allies, more of their opponents that hadn't been separated by the cataclysm closed in on him once more. His winds had started to die down.

The hyper-stallion brandished his blade and announced, “I swear to hold the line! Like my father did to his last breath! Like any of Cadance's fabled 'Swords' would sacrifice their lives for...!”

He puffed up his fluffy, feathered breast, and counter-attacked with the wind and his sword. Outnumbered many times over, he refused to turn tail and run, Thunder Storm's body placed beside him while he strained to hold back impossible numbers that overwhelmed him...

*****

Cerise huffed when she stumbled, pulled by Moonie when they ran ahead. “We have to turn back!”

“No way,” the other mare answered, despite her own moist eyes. “He sacrificed himself to save us!”

“My bro's not dead yet,” called his twin, even while her doubts played across her features. They ran down the tunnels, where a void shimmered ahead, the final destination into the unknown.

Moonflower pointed ahead. “What's that? Is it safe?” In answer, two familiar, nude coral-pink twin mares manifested at the end, and beckoned to them like a lovely pair of sirens. “Wait. These are-”

“Ghosts,” answered her husband, as they'd seen a similar phenomenon in ancient days. “Come to take us from this world. I believe we can trust them.” His wife nodded, as they held hands.

Snowy Blizzard asked, “What will happen when we cross over? Will we die, too?”

“No,” came the voice of the twins. You and the survivors will be looped into a new timeline.” The sisters appeared serene, their hands linked. “Please, hurry! Die here and you all may not be reborn!”

“We'll have to have faith,” decided Night Blade. “Something we're familiar with, when we served under Nightmare Moon. Remain here, and we'll perish for certain. Equestria appears at its limit.”

Cerise cried out, “But my future husband's back there! Not to mention Bea, Bella, everyone else...!”

With a pained frown Moonie faltered and admitted, “Maybe there's still a chance we can save them.” She too wanted to turn back, whatever the odds, and noted Sparks already started to!

“Please,” called Wet Nurse. “We already saved Fiery but lost Ocellus! We have to leave!”

“Seems like some of them have already made up their minds,” noted Foal-Bearer. “Not that I blame them. Do what you must, but once this world collapses entirely, it will be far too late.”

“The civilians first,” decided Night Blade, who helped the twins direct them into the colorful void which shimmered over the tunnel. Every time a pony stepped in, they blinked out of this reality.

Already, they'd started to split into two parties, one which would stay here, the other who'd return to back up the final 'Sword' despite the potential consequences. Among them were Cerise, Moonlight, and Lightning, while Shining Armor and Cadance helped ferry in more bystanders. One-after-another, more of them escaped the doomed planet, unaware they were watched.

“So they all plan to escape,” mused Chrysalis, who watched from her crystal ball. She knew these caverns intimately, and could easily find them with more mutant drones in tow. The rhino beetles started to tunnel away at her command, where they would soon link up with the dank cave.

From the crystal, she witnessed Snowy Blizzard and Moonflower disappear into the ether. Mere trifles compared to the real prize! Cadance still carried her clutch, and couldn't be allowed to exit...

*****

Cut off by the collapse, clouds of dust and sediment rolled around a number of acolytes and succubi when they'd landed in another section of the seemingly endless, underground hive. Almost like they threatened to descend into Tartarus itself, at Equestria's core. Trixie turned to her sidekicks. “Everyone okay?” Lavender and Fuchsia nodded. “How about you, my little hellspawn?”

Beatrix visibly paled, lined in a cold sweat. The drone embedded in her core stirred uneasily. She stumbled her way over to a mossy, smooth stone, and reclined on her back with a low moan.

Fuchsia asked, “What's the matter with her?”

Lavender offered, “Morning sickness? It took us a while before we were used to these creatures inside us, too! But these drones are different! They don't permanently attach to their hosts!”

“We'll replace it with a more permanent implant,” reminded Trixie. “When we have time!”

“I can help locate a few spares,” offered a lazy voice. Tree Hugger stepped fully naked out of the shadows, forced to escape when Zafire Heart had taken out her old friend, Fluttershy.She was from another chapter of their order, which was scattered across the multiverse to serve their cause.

“Go on then,” demanded Trixie. “Fetch them!” Yet another moan from Bea pulled their attention.

The denuded, violet mare spread her supple thighs wide open, and a black, inky slick mass started to dribble from her cunt. The excretion started to take shape, into tendrils, which pulled Bea's pussylips open and exposed the moist, pink interior of her glistening birth canal down to her cervix when her contractions began. She moaned and pushed, while everyone looked perplexed. Inch-by-inch, the drone embedded deep inside her womb started to be birthed out, head-first.

Lavender asked, “What's that black slimy stuff...?”

Gasps collectively rose from the acolytes, who watched wide-eyed. The Demiurge, all of them quickly realized, the cosmic eldritch entity that was among those they worshiped, with Beatrix Belladonna, cursed by the entity she housed, once destined to become their 'Dark Messiah'. Yet the creature, who'd formed a symbiotic union with the witch, now rebelled at its own fate, too.

The entity helped Bea push out the dark arts-warped drone that had invaded her core. With a pop, the bloated insect, covered in her feminine excretions, squeaked and practically fired out of her cunt. It buzzed and attempted to escape. The tendrils wrapped around it, squeezed until it was squashed.

“We've upset one of our masters,” declared Fuchsia, as they bowed in worship.

The black mass continually poured from Beatrix when she stumbled to her feet. Shaped itself into tentacle-like extensions, dozens of them, and whip-like the coils snapped around the cavern. None of the onlookers dared resist their 'Dark Messiah', scooped up and lifted, their clothes torn away.

The tendrils drove their way into their exposed fuckholes. Forced them wide open, took their mouths, pussies, and assholes like, driven to feed on their lust to further empower itself. Wet squishes and squelches filled the arena, while they were harshly ravished womb-deep.

Amidst this, the tentacles plucked out the insects from Bellatrix, Xanadu, Nymphette, and Kismet, too. These creatures were also popped, as the entity couldn't accept the lesser, rival parasites.

Over-and-over, the still doll-like Beatrix fucked her prey into submission, as their explored cunts spewed their lust all over the numerous tendrils that invaded their holes while they squeezed and molested their supple bodies all over. They moaned and squirmed, forced to submit to their mistress. Not that the possessed Bea showed them any mercy, now a slave to the entity inside her.

Yet the creature sensed the void that spilled across Equestria, ready to consume them all.

Thus, 'Beatrix' stalked her way down the caverns to find anyone still around, the tendrils that spilled from her twat still used to keep her prey lifted while she repeatedly drilled their stuffed holes. Bellatrix and her fellow succubi, woken up after their insects were removed and crush, were nonetheless helpless to break the iron hold of the tentacles that coiled around their breasts and buttocks, pinned them by the wrists and ankles, distended their throats like their cunts and rectums.

Bellatrix tried to weave her spells, only to have the tendrils envelope her hands, too. Her cries of distress were muffled, forced like her sisters to clench up and squirt while they were taken. The black tentacles explored all the females completely, while any men had their necks snapped before they were tossed aside, considered unworthy by the fiend which used its hostess like a vessel.

Beatrix, too, closed in on the place where the hyper-stallion made his last stand.

*****

The companions of Midnight Blitzer rushed back to save him. They were too late. The 'Fifth Sword', with his saber and air elements, had ripped apart a number of drones and cultists left behind before the weapons that stabbed at him and the beams fired in his direction struck home. The hyper-stallion was able to tank a number of blows, far beyond most stallions, but he too weakened.

“Gah,” he cried and spat blood when a spear sank into his midsection and he doubled over.

“Middy! No...!” Cerise, in desperation when they raced onto the scene, froze more changelings in solid crystal. Lightning and Moonlight sailed in amidst a blur, as volts fired into a number of acolytes and drones, who shook and cooked while the volts flooded across their bodies.

“Hold on bro,” cried Sparks, tears in her eyes.

Moonie whimpered, “Had a come with more toxins prepared...maybe then...!”

“Turn...back,” warned the hyper-stud with a mouthful of blood, barely able to stand after all the wounds he'd taken. Even so, his plume helped fan out more waves to knock down their foes.

“We never should've left you,” whined Cerise, who worked to freeze up more drones.

“Had to...save civilians,” he mumbled weakly. “Be with...dad soon...”

“Don't talk,” barked Moonie in desperation, while she impaled another drone on a claw. “Ah-!” A hurled spear slammed into her back, and she stared wide-eyed in shock when the tip exited her chest. She barely heard her friends cries, forced into a spiral as blood splashed from her.

“Hold on,” yelled Lightning when she raced to catch her, only to have one of the beams she weaved between crash into her side. Sent off-balance, she crashed into a rocky wall and screamed when a wing bent at an awkward angle and her bones cracked. Changelings raced to finish her and Moonie off, only for Blitzer's winds and Cerise's crystals sent in their direction to hold the horde at bay.

It all started to fall apart around them. Cerise screamed too, bashed by a shield a drone raised. “Ours,” he hissed in triumph, when his mandibles sank into her scany bikini and tore it away.

“Don't...touch them...!” The 'Fifth Sword' fallen, reached for his loved ones, the body of his father Thunder Storm nearby, who the drones started to beset with teeth bared, ready to feast on his flesh.

Salvation came from an unexpected source. An explosion rocked the hive.

Beatrix Belladonna appeared from the caved in portion, her horn and hands ablaze, while the inky tentacles that oozed out of her birth canal held her prisoners aloft and pumped in-and-out of them. She snapped up the female acolytes in the same manner, the females for her own use and the males slain, a fate which likewise befell the drones in her path which she dispatched with ease.

“Beatrix! Please! Wake up!” Cerise found herself scooped up too, tendrils violently forced up her fuckholes. Similar fates befell the wounded mares, their wounds blotted by the inky darkness pressed onto them. Limply, the weakened mares rolled in the tendrils, violated without mercy like every mare bundled up in the obsidian, cool oil-slick mass, while Blitzer started to black out.

Hot blood ran around him. Tears wet his emerald eyes when he muttered, “I've...failed...”

Before his half-lidded eyes, Grayscale Carnifex manifested, and the reaper offered a scaly hand. “It's not your time yet, poor boy. Like Zafire Heart and Moon Hammer, you'll be reborn!” Despite his attempt to impose himself on the scene, his muscular bulk was forced to hunch a tad.

The dimensional blade bled him out. The wound could be permanent. He'd be forced to hide. To try and heal, while he watched the drama continually unfold from the shadows.

At least he'd dispatched every Eldritch he'd come across, before he bowed out of this play!

He vanished before Beatrix could assail him. The 'Fifth Sword' smiled sadly, and drew his last breath. Someday, somewhere, he'd meet them all for the first time, to love and to lose.

Elsewhere, before everyone else could cross into the dimensional void, rocks split from the vibrations of pincers from the mutant rhino beetles. One of them ferried a nude Chrysalis, who straddled atop its shiny black carapace when they cut off the sole escape route.

“Chrysalis,” spat Cadance, who snarled in her direction.

“I'll handle this monster!” Shining Armor leveled his blade at her, the power couple of the Crystal Empire the only ones in the tunnel that hadn't left yet. Even the twins had taken their leave to make certain everyone else made their escape. The Paladin could barely stand.

“Your bitch is mine. She already carries my brood,” reminded Chrysalis, who slipped off the beetle's back. “Mutants, tear her husband apart. Slowly. Let the cunt watch while he screams and dies!”

“You sick...at...!” Cadance cried out, as she tried to work a spell on instinct, and pain rippled across her horn. Thankfully, she'd started small, or else she may have shattered her horn entirely!

“Pathetic slut. Your sole worth is as my broodmare.” Chrysalis licked her chops.

The mutants rushed them down. The Paladin lit his horn, and raised his sword to meet them.