Several days had passed since the Klyntar unintendedly revealed themselves to the Equestrian government. Blank Page and Tempest were told to remain in the castle until further notice, mostly so Celestia can have a sense of comfort knowing that possibly the only two ponies who know any weaknesses to these monsters are safe and secure. Luna was taken to the infirmary and, after being cleared of Klyntar infection, was safe to leave and resume royal duties. Except for the trauma of what she saw the creature do in her body—forcing her to eat royal guards, killing them...
It got to her.
As for the situation of the Capital, no-one is allowed in or out of the city, at least not without scanning and noise testing—something that most ponies chose to avoid. Princesses and prince Cadence, Twilight, and Shining Armor were due to arrive and the meeting was ready to start in a room that hadn’t been used in hundreds of years, a room that Celestia hoped would never be used again...
The War Room.
Blank took a seat in the massive council room with Tempest, Celestia, and Luna—the latter of whom was still shaking from the events of the day prior. Tempest noticed this and leaned inward of the massive table.
“I’ve been in the Badlands long enough to know for sure that you weren’t in control—it's what they do, they take living organisms and use them as hosts. I know it’s hard to believe, but it wasn’t your fault...”
Luna looked up and nodded, refusing to speak.
The doors opened and the two princesses and one prince finally arrived. The moment they entered, Twilight and Shining Armor turned to Blank, shocked at his presence.
“Uh... h-hey?” Blank nervously and awkwardly waved his front hoof.
Twilight didn’t say a word and waved back, bearing a faint, wavy smile. Shining, however, was a different story.
“Why is he here?” He asked Celestia, outraged at Blank’s return.
Celestia glanced at the two and remembered their troubled past.
“Blank Page saved Princess Luna’s life—he's one of the only few ponies who confronted a symbiote and trotted away unscathed. He can be trusted, Shining Armor.” She answered.
No-one knew what she meant by the word ‘symbiote’...
“Wait... symbiote?” Tempest asked, confused at the new title.
Celestia turned to Tempest and sighed, leaning forward.
“This is not Equestria’s first encounter with these creatures... we simply were lucky that there was only one last time.” Celestia gravely hinted.
Twilight was desperate to add her input to the situation.
“L-lucky? What does that mean?” She asked her mentor.
Celestia sighed and leaned inward, slightly holding her head down.
“It will have to wait until another day. Right now, we need to worry about the invasion.” Celestia dismissed.
Tempest began to notice that Shining Armor was staring daggers at Blank Page, who was looking as uncomfortable as possible.
“Hey, what’s the deal with you two? You’ve been trading glances from the moment that you entered the room.” Tempest decided to ask last-minute.
Both captain and explorer began stammering and dropping for than a few “wells” until Celestia decided to add her knowledge to the situation.
“Blank Page has a known past with Princess Twilight—she was his tutor in Magic School.”
Tempest was instantly intrigued, as well as surprised.
“Wait, what?!” She cried, slamming the table in awe.
“It wasn’t like that-- it was... well... we may have, uh...” Blank started.
“He and I have some... skeletons... in the closet.” Twilight stated, too embarrassed to look at Blank.
Cadence and Tempest both leaned inwards, both of them clueless as to what Twilight meant.
“What kind of... skeletons?” Cadence asked, raising a brow.
“This can wait until we come up with a solution for the symbiote invasion.” Celestia cut the younger princess off.
They all nodded in agreement—Blank and Twilight, more frantically.
“Okay... we need to find a way to identify whoever’s infected, first of all. I’ve seen ponies be used as carriers of the symbiotes—they can latch on to them undetected and infiltrate uninfected areas.” Tempest claimed.
“How do you know that?” Luna asked, quizzical of the ex-commander's knowledge.
“Blank isn’t the first one to wander into the Badlands—he's just the first to walk out unaffected.” Tempest answered.
“How do we know that he isn’t infected? I mean, he’s the perfect stallion for the job—he has a history with one of Equestria’s princesses--” Shining Armor started before his wife cut him off.
“We don’t know that for sure—if Blank were infected, why would he save Luna? Why didn’t he simply spread the infection?” She asked, shining wisdom on the situation.
Shining tried to form a comeback, but failed and grumbled to himself.
“I still don’t trust him.” He mumbled, glaring at Blank.
Celestia sighed, seeing the conversation wander off-topic once again.
“Back to the topic at hoof—we need to find an effective, time-saving way to identify those infected. Sonic waves are too expensive, take too long, and could harm innocents. Fire is out, it will kill both symbiote and host...”
Blank cringed at the memory of using fire against the symbiote in the Badlands.
“...Anypony have any ideas?” Celestia asked.
Everyone took a moment to ponder, not having any clue as to what to do. Tempest had an idea, but realized the repercussions of it.
“What’re you thinking, Tempest?” Blank asked, tilting his head slightly.
Tempest sighed and formed her idea.
“I’m thinking that we could collect a sample, see what else can weaken it, maybe find a way to point them out.” She suggested.
Everypony hummed in agreement.
“But the drawback is that we would need to run tests—we would need a host to volunteer for experimentation.”
No-one said a word after that, how could they respond to such an unethical idea?
Blank knew what he had to do and sat upright, drawing everypony’s attention.
“I’ll do it.”
They all gasped, Shining most of all.
“Wait a minute, that isn’t necessary--” He started, trying to shut down the idea.
“But it is, Captain. Let’s face facts—I'm probably the least important pony in this room— the Four Princesses, the Captain of the Royal Guard, and the former commander of the Storm King’s Army. Me? I’m just a unicorn from Manehattan—if anyone’s more qualified to make that sacrifice, it’s me.” Blank stated, shocking everypony in the room.
No-pony said a word until Celestia leaned to him, her voice wavering and her eyes spasming.
“We are not trading lives, here, Blank. We will find another way to study these creatures without making sacrifices.” Celestia warned him.
Blank went to respond but caved and sighed.
“Very well, Your Highness. But if that sacrifice needs to be made, I’ll be there.” Blank stated.
Celestia sighed, raising from the chair and glancing out the door.
“You and Tempest will be assisting our top guards in collecting a viable sample of a symbiote. There’s no time to waste—every second we’ve wasted in here, odds are that more ponies had been infected. Move out!” Celestia ordered.
As the team moved out, Luna collapsed her head to the table and once the doors closed, Luna began to sob. Celestia moved to her sister and set her hoof on her shoulder.
“What that thing made you do was not your fault—just like it wasn’t when--”
“You saw what I did that night, Celly... I... ate those guards, and... we tried to kill you...” Luna started.
“That wasn’t you, Luna--”
“...just because I was jealous. I was angry and upset and I let that... thing feed off of my anger. She was my fault... this is all my fault.” Luna confessed.
Celestia sighed and set her head on Luna’s, feeling her own eyes begin to water.
“Nightmare Moon is gone, Luna-- she will never see the light of day again, and you will never be bonded with another one of those things ever again. That’s a promise, sister.” Celestia whispered.
Luna looked up at her sister and choked back a sob.
“Don’t make a promise you cannot keep.”
Blank and Tempest had arrived in the camp set up just outside of the Badlands, assisted by seven of Canterlot’s Royal Guard.
“So, what’s the plan?” One of the guards asked Blank.
Blank backed up slightly, confused by the guard’s question.
“Whoa, whoa—I'm not the boss, here. I’m just here to help collect samples.” He clarified, much to the guard’s confusion.
“But... we’ve been given direct orders from both Princess Celestia and Shining Armor to follow your command. Sorry, chief, but for the duration of this mission, you're our Commander.”
Commander... The word rang in Blank Page’s head over and over again—he was no commander, he barely had any training to begin with...
But these guards didn’t know any better, they were just following their orders.
“Okay... Tempest, do you know where the symbiote we killed came from?” He asked her.
Some of the guards let out a few “oohs” at the mention of Blank killing a symbiote.
“Yeah-- there’s a hive of them not so far from here, they go deep into cave systems in the Badlands—deeper than the Changelings ever dared go into. There’ll be no air there, and there could be hundreds or even thousands of them, so going down there is suicide. We’re gonna have to draw them out.” Tempest instructed, beginning her venture to the caves.
The guards then looked to Blank for a response, who was dumbfounded over how long his commandership had lasted.
“Uh, wha—what she said.”
After a few hours’ trot, the team had arrived at the large, rocky cave entrance.
“How many ponies were taken in here? How many did we fail to save?” A lone guard pondered.
Tempest didn’t respond and looked around for a way to draw the symbiotes out.
“W-we should stay focused on the mission...” Blank ordered both the guard and himself.
The team then began to enter, Blank using his horn to light the way and Tempest keeping an eye out for the symbiotes. As the crew got closer to the end of the safer region of the caves, every sound attracted their attention—from every drop of water to every sound they could’ve sworn sounded like growling.
“Stay focused, soldier. We’re almost running out of air as it is.” Tempest ordered.
The guards again turned to Blank.
“Uh... what she said, again.” He responded.
“Yes, sir.” A guard answered.
The crew continued until they felt their lungs struggling for air. As soon as they stopped, they heard something approaching them—something that was shifting off of the walls.
“Alright-- our job is simple: Tempest, you know how to fight these things, make sure that our... soldiers don’t get infected. As for you guys-- if anything goes wrong, clang your spears together—make as much sound as you possibly can.” Blank ordered.
“Yes, sir.” They all whispered—even Tempest.
As the team rushed to position, Blank used his magic to detect the solo slime that emerged from the cave walls and slowly moved around, searching for prey. Once it did, it began to rush at Blank, who was ready to use his magic to secure it.
“Come on, symby-symby-symby... I’m not gonna hurt you.” Blank baited.
As the symbiote got closer, Blank prepped his spell, his horn glowing a strong green. He focused, determined to capture the symbiote. As he activated his spell, nothing happened... he tried again, but his horn didn’t even glow.
He looked up to see a light blue tendril looking back at him.
“Oh, Sweet Celestia...” He whispered.
The tendril lunged at his forehead, entering through his pores. He felt his mind go numb and his joints begin to move on their own, but Blank fought the symbiote back, trying desperately to call out to his teammates.
“Blank? You there?” Tempest called out.
“Ah! Hel--” The symbiote wrapped around his mouth, silencing him.
“Commander?! Oh, no...” A guard muttered as he galloped to see Blank being trapped by the symbiote while the other looked on in disappointment at missing its host and seeped back into the wall.
“Make noise, come on!” Another guard screamed as he started clanging his spear against his comrade’s.
Blank felt the slime wrap itself around his head, and he was gone...
Blank woke up to a black, void landscape—rubbing his head from the fighting.
“Hello, Blank Page.” A voice called out to him.
He looked around and saw no-one, worrying him all-the-more.
“Somepony there?” He asked, slowly raising his body up.
“No... pony.” The voice clarified, forming itself behind Blank.
Blank heard the sounds and turned around to see the symbiote, facing him as a bipedal being consisted of tendrils.
“I... am Indigo.” Indigo claimed, leaning in to Blank, who was backing away in fear.
Blank couldn’t register his words—he simply backed away from the being that was staring him down.
“I will be honest-- you... are my first host. I will be gentle with you—but I make no promises.” Indigo laughed as he let out a 5-foot long tongue and lick his face.
Tempest and the guards slowly backed away after the noise had failed to separate Indigo from Blank. The guards hesitantly prepped their spears while Tempest struggled to activate her horn in order to try and start an electrical fire.
“Fall back! Get to the outside, now!” Tempest screamed as the guards followed her orders and galloped to the outside.
Indigo soon followed, galloping in pursuit of his next meal.
As the group saw the light, a long tendril wrapped itself around a guard and pulled it back into the dark.
“Keep going! We’re almost there!” Tempest cried.
The group made it to the entrance, only for Indigo to leap and land in front of them on two legs. His front hooves soon bent outwards and the ends began to turn into claws, along with his hind legs straightening out and feet forming at the end.
“Uh, oh...” Tempest muttered.
Indigo unhinged his jaw and let out a loud roar, his teeth laced with saliva and driven with pure hunger.
“No!” Blank cried out after watching the group’s current situation.
“You do not need them, Blank... They’re just like everyone else you’ve ever known...”
Indigo attached a tendril to the back of Blank’s head, showing him a specific set of memories of when he was a filly—him at the playground reading a book on the bench, him trying to play with his classmates only to fall behind, and him and Twilight breaking up.
“Look at them all—completely unaware of what you-- of what we are truly capable of.”
Indigo began to wrap himself around Blank, whose eyes began to water from the painful memories of years of isolation.
“Let our bond become permanent—do what all of the others did not—together, neither symbiote nor pony will ever underestimate us again!” Indigo called as he was on the brink of wrapping himself around Blank’s face.
Blank took one last moment to look at the others again—Tempest, a mare who he never met who’s now fighting for him, and the guards—who followed him without complaint despite him not being anywhere near qualified for the position. As Blank saw them fight, Indigo began to detach from Blank.
“No! These emotions are all wrong! Stop this—please!” Indigo begged, feeling himself lose control.
Once the two were separated, Blank head-butted Indigo only for him to hiss in pain.
“It doesn't matter if they understand me or not-- I won't let your kind wipe us out!” Blank cried as he charged at Indigo.
Outside the caves, Indigo’s physical form was also reacting to Blank’s fighting-back.
“What’s it doing?” A guard asked.
Tempest knew right away what it was.
“Blank... he’s still in there!” Tempest said as she grabbed the guard’s spear and began to charge for the head, ready to free her friend.
Back to the inside, Blank and Indigo were entering an engaged fight—with Blank going on the head and attempting a chokehold similar to the one that Tempest attempted when they met.
“You do not want this! I know it’s not what you want!” Indigo begged, sensing the shift of power.
Blank didn’t respond as he tightened his grip, and twisted his hindlegs, resulting in a loud snap.
Outside once more, Tempest readied her charging stance, ready to charge—but Indigo dropped dead, the slime beginning to seep into the dirt, lifeless.
“What’s happening?” Another guard asked.
Tempest gasped in awe as Blank became visible through the light blue slime that had begun to settle onto the ground.
“Blank!” Tempest cried, dropping the spear and galloping over to him.
“He...hey.” Blank uttered, his entire body feeling weak and tender.
“It’s okay—you killed it...” Tempest stated.
“I... I did?” Blank asked, clueless to what she meant.
He then remembered—the fight with Indigo, the poor guard who was probably being used by the symbiotes...
“Oh... I did.”
Tempest held Blank in an embrace which caught him off-guard. He let out a sigh of relief and returned the embrace.
“I think this is a sign that we should head back.” Blank said.
Their agreement was cut off by growling coming from the cave. The team turned around to see the guard that Indigo had taken covered by another symbiote, pacing towards them.
“You have the container, right?” Tempest asked one of the guards.
“Yes, ma’am.” The guard responded, using his horn to hold out the large enchanted cylinder.
Blank used his horn to grab it and signaled the guards to get into formation. They held their spears out behind the symbiote, which seemed unaware of their presence—mostly because the symbiote was still attempting to bond to the guard, who was still whispering begs of denial.
“That’s a new one...” Tempest whispered.
“Yeah... it is. NOW!” Blank called out as he trapped the symbiote in a magic field.
The guards clanged their spears together, angering the symbiote. They did it again and tendrils began to shoot out. They kept going until the symbiote had no choice but to separate from its host, much to Blank’s plan.
Once symbiote and host were separated, Blank used his horn to trap the creature in the canister and closed the lid.
“Let’s move out.” Tempest said.
“But, what about him?” A guard asked, gesturing to the weakened guard.
No-pony said a word as the recently saved guard rose to his feet. Blank trotted over to him and set a hoof on his shoulder.
“You okay, soldier?” Blank asked.
The guard coughed out traces of black and nodded.
“My name’s... Flash Sentry... and I’m fine... Commander.”
Blank took a moment to accept the new title before calling the others to him.
“Then, let’s go home.” Blank said, sparking his horn and teleporting him and the crew back home after an overall successful mission.