Twilight paced back and forth, a look of worry on her face. Her friends watched her as she walked in silence.
"Twilight, are you alright?" Fluttershy asked, breaking the silence.
"No, I am not ok!" Twilight said, fear in her voice. "Shining Armor is fighting those things alone! I have to help him!"
"Twilight," said Cadence as she walked up to her. "I'm as worried as you are, but worrying will get us nowhere. We need to believe in him. Besides, if I know Shining, he'll be walking into this room any minute."
Just as she said that, the door suddenly opened, almost throwing it off of its hinges. Standing at the doorway was none other than Shining Armor, but something didn't look right about him.
"See? I told you he would be alright," said Cadence, letting out a sigh of relief. Shining Armor just stared at the ponies in front of him, not making a sound.
"Hey, uh, anypony else getting a bad vibe from him?" asked Applejack, fear creeping into her voice. "Or is it just me?"
"Come to think of it, he does seem a little... different," said Twilight, before taking a step towards the unicorn. Suddenly, Shining Armor jumped up and fired a volley of magic spheres at Twilight. She barely had enough time to cast a shield spell before they hit. The balls of magic exploded on contact with the shield, sending clouds of smoke and dust across the room. Shining Armor charged though the smoke, attempting to take Twilight by surprise, but was soon blindsided by Rainbow Dash, who charged into him and knocked him away.
"What has gotten into him?" asked Rarity, not being able to comprehend what just happened. "Why did he just try to attack Twilight?"
"Twilight, do you remember what the scroll that Princess Celestia gave you said?" she asked her. "I think it mentioned something about these creatures being parasitic." Twilight thought for a moment, before putting two and two together.
"Oh no, you don't mean..." she started to say, before stopping, not wanting it to be true.
"I'm afraid so, Twilight," Starlight told her, before looking back at Shining Armor. "Somehow, one of the creatures must have been attached to him, and is now controlling him!"
"How are we supposed to get it out, though?" asked Twilight.
"I think I may have an idea," said Cadence as she walked up to the two. "One of my subjects was possessed by one of those creatures earlier, and because of that incident, I found out how to rid a pony's body of these creatures. It takes a lot of concentration, however. Can you and your friends hold him off while I get ready?" There was a pleading look in her eyes as she said this, but also a look of determination.
"You can count on us!" said Twilight, before getting into a fighting stance.
Shining Armor charged towards Twilight, but before hitting her, she teleported away in a flash of light and reappeared behind him. Shining Armor skidded to a stop and was about to charge again, when he felt something hit his hoof gently.
"Cosmog!" yelled Fluttershy. "Get back here! You might get hurt!"
Shining Armor tried to kick Cosmog away, but the small creature dodged his kick. As he was distracted by Cosmog, Applejack ran up to him and kicked him in the side hard, sending him flying into a wall. Fluttershy then went over to Cosmog and picked it up.
"Don't run off like that again, ok?" she said quietly, before putting Cosmog back into her mane. "You made me very worried."
Shining Armor slowly got up, before getting hit by a magic blast by Twilight, which brought him down.
"Alright! I'm ready! Stand back everypony!" yelled Cadence. Her horn was glowing with energy, and a few seconds later, she fired it all in one beam of magic straight at Shining Armor, engulfing him in it. After a minute or so, she stopped, and fell to the ground, the spell having taken most of her energy. The group looked at Shining Armor worriedly, before seeing a small white light emit from his horn. The light lifted into the air and grew bigger until it had transformed into one of the creatures. As soon as she saw this, Twilight fired a magical beam at the creature, which countered with a green glob. The attacks collided, resulting in an explosion of white smoke.
"Keep your eyes open and find it!" said Twilight. "We don't know when it will attack!"
A gem suddenly came out from the smoke and almost hit Rainbow Dash. Soon, more gems flew towards them, narrowly missing before Twilight cast a shield spell to block the rest of them. Rarity grabbed a few of the gems in her magical grip and flung them back. There was a sudden screech from inside of the smoke cloud, before four tentacles shot out, grabbing Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "Let go!" She hit the tentacles with her hooves, but that did nothing to make them let go. Cosmog suddenly came of out of Fluttershy's mane and saw the two pegasi struggling to get free. The small creature closed its eyes, and a blue light enveloped it. The same light enveloped Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
"H-huh?" asked a surprised Fluttershy. "W-what's going on?"
Then, the light turned white, and the two pegasi vanished from the creatures grip. Cosmog had vanished as well, but in a a few seconds, the three of them reappeared a little ways away from the rest of the group.
"Wait, did Cosmog just teleport us out of there?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I think it did..," said Fluttershy. She looked at Cosmog and picked the small creature up in her hooves, placing it back in her mane.
The creature in front of them screeched, before launching a colorful wave at the group. Starlight and Twilight fired beams of magical energy to counter it, and after a few seconds, the beams broke through the wave and hit the creature in the head. The creature screeched in pain, before falling to the ground, weakened. Starlight then used a spell that that trapped the creature in crystal, making it unable to move.
"We... we did it..," Twilight said, panting. She walked up to the now crystallized creature and studied it. "It's amazing how a creature like this can even exist.." There was a sudden cracking sound that echoed through the room. Cracks began to cover the crystal that the creature was contained in, before it broke apart. The creature rose into the air, screeching so loudly that everyone in the room had to cover their ears. Suddenly, a bright flash emitted from the creature, before it disappeared in the light. The light died down, before it too disappeared.
"it's gone..," Fluttershy said quietly as she walked up to the spot the creature had been moments ago. Cadence walked over to the group, a small smile on her face.
"Shining Armor is going to be alright," she said. "He just needs to rest. I am so grateful that you helped to stop the creatures from invading."
"Think nothing of it, dear," Rarity said. "We only did what was right." The rest of the group nodded.
"We should go back to Canterlot and report back to the Princess," said Twilight. "I think that she will be glad that we got rid of these creatures. However, I wish that I could have learned a bit more about them.."
"It's alright Twilight," said Rainbow Dash. "Besides, how were you going to study them if they kept on attacking you?"
"I guess you're right," said Twilight, before turning back to Cadence and smiling at her. "I really hope that we can see each other when things aren't too hectic."
"Me too," said Cadence, before hugging Twilight. After the hug, Twilight and her friends left the castle and made their way to the train station. Cadence watched as they left, before a small frown came upon her face. "I just hope that you and you're friends stay safe..," she whispered to herself, before going back inside of the castle to take care of Shining Armor.
A woman sat on a rock, petting one of the jellyfish creatures, when there was a sudden flash of light. Another one of the creatures came through the light and fell to the ground, exhausted. The woman got up from the rock and walked over to it.
"Oh, you poor, poor thing," she said as she put its head into her hands and stroked it. As she tried to comfort it, the creature had bruises and scratches all over its body. "Who could have done such a thing..," the woman whispered. A man soon came into the chamber. He had white, spiky hair and was wearing a white t-shirt under a black jacket, black pants, and white shoes. Around his neck he wore a golden necklace with a symbol etched into it, and on his head were a pair of yellow glasses.
"Lusamine," he said, worry in his voice. "Don't you think you're taking this a little too far? I mean, seriously, thinking that these things are your children? That's just weird." The woman looked up at him, a cold gaze in her eyes.
"You know as well as I do that these creatures need my help, Guzma," she said. "And I will do anything to help them. Even if it means wiping out an entire species." She took her hands off of the creature, which proceeded to float away. "This new world that I have found is perfect for my children, and I will not let anybody stand in my way of taking that world."
"Yeah, but killing off an innocent species?" asked Guzma. "Even by my standards, that's just plain cruel man."
"They are not innocent..," Lusamine said quietly. "You saw what they did to my child. Those ponies are not a species to be underestimated." She got up and walked over to two nearby portals. One showed a small western-looking town near a giant apple orchard, and the other showed a large city by an ocean. "I believe we should show them what my children are really capable of," she said, a smile forming on her face as she turned around. "Don't you agree?"
Guzma didn't say anything, but nodded and walked out of the chamber. Lusamine then turned back to the portals, her smile growing wider. "This new world.. I am giving it all to you my children..," she said quietly as she looked through the portals.