//------------------------------//
// The Parasprite Brain 
// Story: Filly Fluttershy: Uprising 
// by Phazon 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 17: The Parasprite Brain


“Let’s finish the Parasprites once and for all!” Fluttershy said. Her hoofbeats echoed against the floor as she ran toward a portal at the end of a hallway. The portal opened, leading to her next mission, and her wings began to glow with a yellow aura once she jumped through. Her wings, aided by Celestia’s magic, kept her aloft as she flew far above the earth’s atmosphere. Off in the distance, she could see about two dozen floating islands and a massive, spherical, mechanical structure, all hanging in low orbit.

“Commencing Underworld assault on the Parasprite central nervous system!” Discord announced.

“CHILDREN!” Luna bellowed. “OUR FINAL TARGET IS THE CENTRAL COMMAND OF THIS INVASION, THE PARASPRITE BRAIN!”

Fluttershy watched as several Gyrazors and Monoeyes, followed by Bladers and Nutskis, flew past her and lead the charge. Some of the Underworld and Nature forces destroyed a few Tribytes on the way. Above her and to her left, Trixie charged ahead as well and gathered her magic through her horn. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is onstage and ready to deliver her greatest performance yet!” she shouted. A beam of pale magenta magic fired from her horn, reaching as far as the spherical structure up ahead. Once her attack subsided, she descended to avoid a laser from one of the Parasprite’s battleships and continued on.

“With all of us gods—er, and Trixie—united, the Parasprite Brain doesn’t stand a chance,” Celestia said. Using her magic, she guided Fluttershy toward the spherical structure, as well as the scattered group of islands and small air fleet stationed in front of it.

Fluttershy flew past the remnants of the Parasprite’s air fleet, avoiding a laser from another battleship. Hovering above her shoulders were the Shock Orbitars, a pair of blue-green orbs with orange winglike projections extending laterally. Electrified projectiles fired from her orbitars, shooting down a number of Quoils that launched themselves at her. “It’s kind of crazy,” Fluttershy said. “The biggest egos in the universe working together?”

“Drive the intruders back into space, minions!” Discord commanded.

“WE CANNOT LOSE!” Luna said. “OUR PLANET’S VERY EXISTENCE IS AT STAKE!”

More Monoeyes and Nutskis flew past Fluttershy and joined the assault. Up ahead, Trixie was hovering above a small island and charging her horn. A second later, several blasts of magic rained down from her horn, covering the entire surface of the island with pale magenta flames.

“Everyone seems to be in good spirits, though,” Fluttershy said.

“Or they’ve finally lost their minds,” Celestia said. Two Kolmas were positioned ahead of Fluttershy, each one carried by a Parasprite Monoeye. Fluttershy fired a pair of charge shots from her weapons, destroying one of these pairs, and moved right to dodge the protective plates thrown by the other pair. A few smaller shots took out the other Kolma and Monoeye pair, and Fluttershy flew on ahead. Slipping past the fleet of airships and flying in between the islands, she began to approach the spherical structure. “Now that we’ve defeated the Parasprite Hive, we need to destroy that fortress.”

Fluttershy gazed at the mechanical structure in awe. The fortress was massive, gray in color. Though its overall shape was spherical, its entire surface was broken up into blocky pieces, many of which jutted out of the surface of the structure more than the others around them. In addition, several enormous projections also extended out of the fortress’s surface, and a few openings leading inside were barely discernible amongst the blocky sections forming the exterior. Most of all, Fluttershy noticed the sheer size of the fortress, which dwarfed that of the Parasprite Hive. “It’s huge!” she said.

“It houses the Parasprite Brain, which controls every single Parasprite unit,” Celestia said.

“How do you know that?” Fluttershy said. As she approached the fortress, she fired at several Parasprite enemies that attempted to intercept her, including Tribytes, Monoeye copies, and Jyoks.

“Trixie told me.”

“Trixie?” Fluttershy said. “She sure knows a lot about them.”

“That’s because I spend a lot of time of Divinipedia,” Trixie said as she moved in and grouped with Fluttershy.

“Divinipedia?” Fluttershy said. “I’m not sure what that is.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Trixie said. “The time for learning has passed. Attack the Parasprite Brain!” She flew on ahead again, discharging a few blasts of magic at a pair of Parasprite Miks, but ignoring a Rezda and four Parasprite Monoeyes that moved into position in front of Fluttershy.

Fluttershy swerved to avoid the shots fired from the Monoeye copies and returned fire with a pair of charge shots, destroying the Rezda that protected them. She then followed with a few smaller shots to destroy the other four enemies. Guided by Celestia’s magic, she reached the exterior of the fortress and began to fly over its surface, following Trixie’s lead. After shooting down a few more Jyoks and Monoeye copies stationed around the fortress, Fluttershy came across a recess in its surface. A battleship appeared to be emerging from it, but she flew around the vessel and made a left turn toward a small tunnel within the recess.

The power of flight intensified around Fluttershy’s wings as she flew into the tunnel and inside the massive fortress. The tunnel was small and unlit at first, but after a few seconds, it opened into a much wider channel leading toward the center of the fortress. Much like on the outside of the fortress, several blocky sections of the surface of the channel pushed outward. In addition, some of these projections gave off a luminous cyan glow, bathing the entire channel with their light. As Fluttershy flew through the channel, three Sios, enemies formed from clusters of blue and green bars, and four Claxes, floating enemies that seemed to resemble alien symbols, hovered ahead of her. She dodged a series of shots fired from the rotating Claxes and swerved away from a slow-moving miniature black hole launched from one of the Sios before returning fire with a pair of charge shots.

Trixie rejoined Fluttershy once again and flew with her through the channel. She fired a blast of magic from her horn, destroying one of the Sios. “This path will take us directly to the Parasprite Brain,” she said. “It’s time for us to take this space junk to the space dump!” Trixie flew on slightly ahead, throwing a few magical blasts at two Claxes, and began to lead Fluttershy through the channel. Fluttershy used another pair of charge shots to take out the last Sio, which tried to rapidly spin its body into her. She dodged a missile from one of the Claxes before firing at them, taking them out with smaller shots.

With the channel cleared of enemies, Fluttershy and Trixie continued on ahead. Some of the channel’s architecture reached across from one side to the other, partially obstructing their path and forcing them to maneuver around as they made their way through. After a few seconds of flight, they finally reached the end of the passageway, which brought them to an enormous chamber within the center of the fortress. The surrounding walls, gave the chamber a rounded shape. Interconnecting lines adorned the walls, and light rose up the walls every few seconds in a ringlike pattern around the chamber. At the center of the chamber was a large translucent orb with several blue-gray rings around it. A glow emanated from within the glassy orb, seemingly contracting toward the center of it. The blue-gray rings, some of which were closed and some open, formed concentric circles around the orb. Additional sets of concentric rings were set away from the orb, though their edges came into contact with the set of rings surrounding the center.

“So this is the Parasprite Brain,” Fluttershy said as she approached the orb at the center. Focusing on the orbitars above her, she opened fire on the structure. At the same time, Trixie hovered around to another side and began to attack the Parasprite Brain with her magic. One by one, several sections of the orb would start to glow. Holes formed in each of those sections, and Parasprite troops emerged from these holes to defend the Brain.

Fluttershy concentrated on the magic flowing through her wings, and started to channel it through her orbitars. A second later, she unleashed that power, and several fireballs launched from her weapons. The fireballs spiraled in their trajectory, colliding with and destroying several Rezdas, Tribytes and Jyoks before hitting the Parasprite Brain itself. A small smile crept on Fluttershy’s face, and she followed her Special Attack with a pair of charge shots and a barrage of smaller shots. So far, it seemed that the only defenses the Parasprite Brain had were the standard Parasprite troops, and she was having very little trouble shooting them down. In fact, between short spurts of dealing with Parasprite grunts, she was getting quite a few hits on the Brain itself. She briefly glanced at Trixie, who seemed at bit distracted, but was also managing to attack both the Brain and the enemies coming from it. At the rate this was going, Fluttershy thought that she might be able to complete this mission early. With Trixie’s help, she even might have been done before the power of flight ran out.

On the other side of the Parasprite Brain, Trixie stared in astonishment at Fluttershy. She had seen, and narrowly avoided, the stream of fireballs that had both decimated all of those Parasprite troops and damaged the Brain. ‘Of course,’ Trixie thought to herself as she looked back on the last twenty four hours. ‘She destroyed their invading force back on the planet, and she destroyed their Hive. If this keeps up, she’ll destroy the Parasprite Brain too… and where will that leave me?’ After destroying another three Tribytes, Trixie turned back to the Brain, where she noticed a glow around a section of the central orb. ‘No, I must take matters into my own hooves.’

After taking out another two Jyoks, Fluttershy resumed firing at the Parasprite Brain again. Surprisingly the Brain was still operational, even after taking a lot of damage from both her and Trixie. Estimating that she had a little over two minutes of flight time left, she wondered if she should try another Special Attack. The power for one was still stored in her Shock Orbitars, and the power of flight would eventually give her enough for a third one. Off to her left, the only other enemy around was a Plixo, a harmless collection of multicolored squares that periodically assembled into a different pixel image. Despite the lack of other enemies, she decided to unleash the next Special Attack. But before she could focus on it, she saw Trixie making her move.

“It’s brain-frying time!” Trixie shouted. Gathering as much of her magic as she could, she flew around the Parasprite Brain, barreling through the lone Plixo as she moved toward a hole that was opening in the central orb.

“What are you doing?!” Fluttershy said.

It was one of those moments when time itself seemed to slow down. Fluttershy watched, unable to do anything as Trixie charged at a hole leading directly into the Parasprite Brain. The hole closed up the moment that Trixie entered, almost as if it was accepting her into it. But Trixie was still visible through the transparent orb, and with a smirk on her face, she unleashed all of her gathered magic into casting a spell.

The central chamber began to shake. Individual Parasprites fell around as pieces of the walls and ceiling came loose. Trixie was no longer visible inside the Brain, not through the flash of pale magenta light that emanated from within.

“Hold on, Fluttershy!” Celestia said. “I’m getting you out!” Turning Fluttershy’s body around, she fed more of her magic into the power of flight just as the Parasprite Brain started to explode. She guided her as fast as she could out of the chamber and back out through the channel. Fluttershy looked back for a moment, only to wish she hadn’t as the explosion of Trixie’s magic rushed after her, consuming everything in the channel that it passed over. She flew past a few enemies, enemies that were consumed as they fell behind, as she approached the narrower tunnel that she had first entered through. “Just a little farther!” Celestia said. With one last push, she managed to pull Fluttershy out of the fortress and veer her left just before the explosion shot out of the passage as a fiery stream of magic. The battleship Fluttershy had passed on her way in was still there, and was blasted by the stream.

Fluttershy could feel her heart beating through her chest as she stared back at the fortress. “I don’t even know what happened in there,” she said. “Did Trixie make it out?” Suddenly, she began to hear Trixie’s laughter telepathically. The laughter grew louder, even as she flew further away from the fortress. When she looked back, she saw Trixie’s magic forming in front of the fortress. The magical energy shaped itself into a massive equine form, and when it was done, an enormous hologram of Trixie was being projected in front of the fortress. “Trixie?”

“Nicely done!” Trixie said. “Thanks to you, Trixie has leveled up! Trixie is no longer just a goddess of magic! Ultimate power is now Trixie’s!”

“What are you talking about?”

“This is what I’m talking about!” Trixie said. As her hologram vanished, two Taklaxes, Parasprite troops resembling metallic white chocolate chips, positioned themselves in front of Fluttershy. Each Taklax opened its body, splitting in half with both halves still connected at its vertex, and revealing six cannons on its inside. However, instead of the black and binary green normally associated with the Parasprite troops, their insides glowed with a pale magenta.

Behind the Taklaxes, Fluttershy saw several flashes of magenta light. Those flashes were revealed to be Quoils, which shot at her one by one. Fluttershy jerked left as one Quoil shot past, and found herself frantically dodging all of the others. The Quoils were quickly joined by the Taklaxes, which fired a series of shots in her direction, and Parasprite Miks which lashed at her with magenta-glowing tongues.

“The Parasprite troops changed color?!” Fluttershy said. She descended to avoid the assault, and fired back with twin charge shots, taking out the Miks and one Taklax. However, even as she took care of the other enemies, she was also set upon by Tribytes and Blits, which had changed to pale magenta as well.

“Trixie’s pulling the Parasprite’s strings now!” Trixie said. “Not even the combined power of the gods can stop me!”

“Oh, snap,” Discord said. “Poor Flutters got duped.”

“This might not be the best time to rub salt in the wound,” Luna said.

“You tricked us?!” Fluttershy said. “What kind of pony are you?!”

“What was that?” Trixie said. “The Great and Powerful Trixie can’t hear you over her newfound power!”

Even after shooting down dozens of Parasprite troops, Fluttershy was still struggling against wave after wave of enemies. She frantically tried to evade a barrage of fire coming from Tribytes, Blits, and copies of Monoeyes and Miks while returning fire from her orbitars.

“So, anyone have any bright ideas on how to take her out?” Discord taunted.

“I suppose we have no choice,” Luna said. “This is it, my single remaining jewel.”

Fluttershy looked up and saw something that looked like a comet streaking above, on a collision course with the fortress. “Wait a second,” she said. “Is that a Reset Bomb?!”

“Time to let nature take its course,” Luna said confidently. The Reset Bomb struck the fortress from above, and a rose-colored flash radiated from the impact site as it exploded across a section of the fortress’s surface. The force of the explosion knocked back several Parasprite enemies. Within the impact site, a rose-colored haze formed, and a massive collection of vines, branches and bramble materialized, forming a dome.

“This is out of control!” Fluttershy said.

“Who’s great and powerful now, Trixie?!” Luna said. As seconds passed, the dome rapidly expanded over the outer surface of the Parasprite fortress. The one-part weapon, one-part terraforming device appeared to be performing its task, and it seemed that the Reset Bomb would overtake the fortress and the Parasprite Brain in a matter of hours.

Unfortunately, Trixie’s laughter echoed a second time through the telepathic link. Before long, the impact site of the Reset Bomb stopped growing, and pale magenta flames erupted throughout the plant-based dome. “Is that really all you’ve got?” Trixie said.

Luna watched in utter disbelief as the flames spread across the entire dome. “How could this happen?!” she said. Within seconds, the flames completely incinerated all of the plant matter created by the Reset Bomb, leaving nothing behind at its impact site.

“Yes, who would’ve thought that a plant-based weapon would fail to stop a pyro?” Discord mocked.

“I hate to be the bearer of more bad news,” Celestia said, “but the power of flight is running out.”

“So now what?” Fluttershy said.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy,” Celestia said. “I have to pull you out.” Using her magic, Celestia began to extract Fluttershy from the Parasprite fortress. A ray of yellow light shone down on Fluttershy, just as she was shooting down a group of Tribytes and copies of Miks and Monoeyes. However, something felt odd about the spell to Fluttershy. Normally, Celestia’s extraction spell levitated her for a moment, but she was still being carried by the flight spell. Seconds later, the light faded away, and Fluttershy was still there. “Oh no!”

“What’s wrong?” Luna asked.

“I can’t extract her,” Celestia said. “I don’t understand why.”

“Sounds like the Goddess of Light has a lot to learn about telepathic interference,” Trixie said.

“Are… Are you blocking me?” Celestia said.

As Fluttershy fought off more of the Parasprite forces, her wings became increasingly warm. The aura around her wings flared and changed from its usual yellow color to a bright orange-red. “My wings are getting hot!” she said.

“I’m sorry,” Celestia said. “I can’t carry you any farther. I have to cut off the power of flight.” Nearly a dozen Quoils positioned themselves ahead of Fluttershy, behind the energy barrier of a Rezda. But before any of them could shoot themselves at her, the aura around Fluttershy’s wings vanished. She fell from her position in the sky, screaming as she plummeted toward the planet. “Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy looked down as she hurtled toward the planet. All those years she had spent living above the clouds, unable to fly, always worried about falling from Skyworld. Those fears came back to her all in an instant, all she immediately shut her eyes. “Somepony, help me please!” she yelled. “This isn’t how I wanted to die!”

“Pull thyself together,” Luna sighed. “I have this under control.”

“Luna?” Fluttershy said. When she opened her eyes, she saw two Bladers circling around her. Using the talons on their legs, each Blader caught her by one of her hind legs. They slowed in their descent and began to carry her toward a small rock platform. Meanwhile, Fluttershy found herself hanging upside-down as the Bladers carried her by the hind legs. She could see her Shock Orbitars, which would normally hover dutifully above her shoulders, below her head and following after her. Before she knew it, the Bladers unceremoniously released her above the platform, and she grunted as she landed on her back.

Celestia breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad that you’re alright,” she said.

Fluttershy slowly rose onto her haunches. Looking around her, she saw that she was on a small platform. Two Nutskis were underneath the platform, using their bodies to push it in the direction of the fortress. “Why did you save me, Luna?” she asked. “I don’t get it.”

“There’s nothing to get,” Luna said. “Just be quiet and prepare to fight!”

Fluttershy stared up at the Parasprite fortress. The area surrounding the fortress was peppered with sporadic explosions and laser fire, telling her that the Underworld Army and Forces of Nature were still fighting. “By invading our world, the Parasprites have declared war on all of us,” Celestia said. “And with Trixie on their side, they’ve become even more powerful.” Small groups of Tribytes and Blits moved toward Fluttershy’s platform. Fluttershy stood back up on her hooves and fired at them with her orbitars. “If don’t defeat them today, we may not have a tomorrow.”

“Celestia is absolutely right, even if a bit overdramatic,” Luna said.

“If you want me to lighten the mood, perhaps I should bring my twenty-sided dice and x-ray glasses,” Celestia quipped.

“I… I know not how to respond to that.”

More and more enemies, particularly Tribytes, Jyoks, Blits, Quoils, and Monoeye copies, moved to attack Fluttershy. Fluttershy stood her ground, willing the Shock Orbitars to fire upon the advancing forces. The electrical shots from these weapons seemed to diverge from one another as they traveled, but because of the number of enemies she was dealing with, most of them still took out something. At the same time, a few enemies managed to fire a shot back at her. Fluttershy either ducked or sidestepped to dodge, but every time she evaded an attack, she found herself stepping very close to the edge of the platform. “This isn’t much space to fight on,” she said.

“Hmm,” Luna said. “I will see what I can do.” After a few seconds, Fluttershy noticed a larger platform ahead being carried by three Nutskis. The two Nutskis underneath her picked up speed, moving her current platform toward the second one.

Both platforms collided, tossing Fluttershy off of the smaller one and onto the larger one. Her new platform gave her roughly twenty feet to move around in any direction, and she took a few steps around. “Thank you, this is much better,” she said.

“Luna has also donated some of her forces to carry the platform,” Celestia said. “But since this platform is bigger, there is more room for enemies. Stay on your guard.”

The two Nutskis that had carried the first platform grouped with several more Nutskis and Bladers and flew elsewhere, attacking Parasprite enemies as they went. Meanwhile, the other three Nutskis continued to push Fluttershy’s platform toward the fortress. Fluttershy began defending the platform, taking out a Zaurum and Parasprite Skuttler that appeared on it as well as several surrounding Tribytes.

One of the ships in the Parasprite air fleet flew ahead of Fluttershy. Fluttershy noticed the ship flying overhead, and kept an eye on it as she shot down Blits, Quoils, Parasprite Miks, and a Taklax. After a while, the ship descended, positioning itself directly ahead of Fluttershy’s platform. “What is that ship doing?” she asked.

The ship began moving toward Fluttershy’s platform. An opening leading into the ship was visible, and with the ship’s trajectory, the platform would soon go in through that opening. “Strange,” Celestia said. “It appears to be attempting to swallow your platform. Luna, can your troops carry Fluttershy away from it?”

“No, that ship is moving too quickly,” Luna said. “But there is path leading through it.”

“In that case, you will have to go through,” Celestia said. “We don’t know what trap the Parasprites are setting, so keep your guard up, Fluttershy.” Three Tribytes hovered directly ahead of Fluttershy as her platform was pushed toward the narrow passageway through the ship. The passageway was just wide enough for the platform to fit through, though the walls on either side glowed a bright orange-red. “Be careful, Fluttershy. Those walls are extremely hot.”

Fluttershy shot down the Tribytes, but two Rozzes and two Rezdas were positioned behind them, blocking the path. The Rozzes hurled themselves at Fluttershy, forcing her to dodge them, while the Rezdas floated in place one behind the other, their energy barriers cutting off much of the path forward. Fluttershy shot at the Redzas’ centers, destroying one after the other and allowing her to advance. The Nutskis pushed her platform forward, but as the passageway snaked through the ship, they often brought it too close to the walls. Fluttershy backed away from the edges of the platform when this happened, keeping as far back from the superheated walls as possible.

Soon, Fluttershy reached the end of the passageway and emerged from the Parasprite ship. The ship did not try to pursue or attack her afterward, and her platform continued to move further away. “I made it out of the ship,” Fluttershy said.

“Good, but there are enemies closing in from all directions,” Celestia said.

“That unicorn must have a thing for you, Fluttershy,” Discord said.

“Of course she does,” Luna said. “Fluttershy’s the only one that lunatic considers an equal.” Fluttershy continued to defend the platform as it made its way toward the fortress, shooting down Tribytes and Parasprite Miks as they approached the platform from all sides. But even as the platform drew closer to the Parasprite fortress, a few of their ships were still moving around her.

Suddenly, one of their destroyers positioned itself ahead of Fluttershy, causing her platform to slam into it. The platform tilted during the impact, throwing Fluttershy off of hooves and making her slide toward the other end. She was stopped from falling off the edge, but only when a second destroyer rammed into the other side of the platform, leveling the platform, but trapping it between both ships.

“You’re being sandwiched between those two airships!” Celestia said.

Fluttershy got back on her hooves, but in addition to the two ships, several more enemies were moving toward her. Four Tribytes and a Taklax positioned themselves on another side of the ship, while a Rezda moved in front of them as protection.

“Ah, the old sandwich tactic,” Discord said. “How delectable!”

“Be quiet, Discord!” Luna shouted. “FORCES OF NATURE! PUSH THAT PLATFORM UP AND OUT OF THERE!” Fluttershy rolled to the side, dodging the Taklax’s shots while her orbitars sprayed two of the Tribytes with electrical projectiles. The Rezda had already been destroyed by a pair of twin charge shots, and the spray of smaller shots took out the Tribytes. But before she could focus on the remaining enemies, the platform shook underneath her. A second later, the platform came loose from between the two ships and shot upward. The two destroyers slammed into each other a few seconds later, crushing the Parasprite troops in between them.

Now past most of the air fleet, Fluttershy was getting closer to the Parasprite fortress. Several Quoils positioned themselves ahead of her platform, along with another Rezda. But as Fluttershy started shooting at them, she heard Trixie laughing through the telepathic link. “I see you’re hard at work,” Trixie said.

“Trixie!” Fluttershy muttered.

“I believe that hard work should always be rewarded. Which is why I have a present, for me, to destroy you.”

“Huh?!” Fluttershy said. Pale magenta light shone from a narrow opening on the surface of the Parasprite fortress. The light grew brighter, and after a few seconds, Fluttershy that it was rushing toward her and her platform. “Uh-oh!”

“Hold on!” Luna said. Less than a second before Trixie’s beam of magic reached Fluttershy, the front side of the platform tilted upward to meet the attack. Fluttershy stumbled again, causing her to fall from her hooves just before the beam struck the platform’s underside. Fluttershy dug at the platform with her hooves, struggling to keep herself from sliding down. Wisps of pale magenta flames kissed the edges of the platform, and Fluttershy held her head down, feeling the air around her heat up as Trixie’s magic surrounded her. “Fluttershy, stay strong!” Luna shouted.

After a few seconds, the flames died away, and Trixie’s magic ceased its assault. The surface of the platform became level again, and Fluttershy slowly stood back up again.

“See?” Luna said. “Thou art unharmed. Though I cannot say the same for my troops that were carrying thy platform.”

“Our Forces of Nature allies made the ultimate sacrifice,” Celestia said. “Fortunately, I’ve called for reinforcements.”

Suddenly, the platform crumbled beneath Fluttershy’s hooves. Fluttershy cried out as she found herself falling again. As she fell, she saw a few of the reinforcements that Celestia had referred to. Several ponies, some unicorns, some pegasi, but all equipped with golden barding, flew around her. “Centurions?” Fluttershy said. From among them, two pegasus stallions flew toward her and caught her with their hooves. Carrying her by the forelegs, they brought her down to another platform. They released her soon afterward, and she touched down safely onto the platform.

“Glad to see you’re safe, captain,” one of the Centurions, a gray unicorn, said. Using his magic to levitate both himself and his bow, he turned his attention toward the Parasprite forces. Over a dozen Centurions were already fighting, firing arrows at oncoming enemies.

“The Centurions are in way over their heads!” Fluttershy said.

“They mean well,” Celestia said. “They’re just not very effective.”

“Harsh words to describe thy own troops,” Luna said.

Two pegasus stallions, one with a dark gray coat and a cyan-gray mane styled in a mohawk, and the other with a gray coat and a dark brown mane, appeared at the front of the platform, each wearing a harness. Their harnesses were attached to the platform, and they pulled the platform with them toward the fortress. Meanwhile, Fluttershy stared up at the rest of the Centurions as they fought. Though they had already shot down a few enemies, their rate of fire with their bows was slow, and more Parasprite troops were moving in. “Pull them out!” Fluttershy said. “I don’t want them to get hurt!”

“Then how do you plan to make it to Trixie?” Celestia asked.

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy said. “I’ll think of something!”

“Captain, your mission is to defeat Trixie and eliminate the Aurum forces,” said another Centurion unicorn. “We dedicate our energy and resources to helping you reach that goal.”

While Fluttershy thought about it, three Parasprite Monoeyes and a Claxis appeared ahead of the platform. With a pair of charge shots, a barrage of smaller electrical projectiles, and some help from a Centurion’s arrow, she took out the four enemies. “Okay, fine,” Fluttershy said. She turned to the rest of the Centurions and pointed toward the Parasprite fortress. “Then charge, soldiers!”

Except for the two pegasi pulling the platform, the Centurions stayed a distance away from Fluttershy to deal with the oncoming enemies, though close enough that she could also fight and give orders. Along the way to the fortress, they shot down Blits, Tribytes, and Kolmas that approached them. Before long, they were directly in front of the Parasprite fortress.

“It seems as is our previous path into the Parasprite Brain is, well, aflame,” Celestia said. Fluttershy looked up at one of depressions in the fortress’s exterior and saw flames raging throughout a small tunnel inside it.

“You can thank Trixie for that,” Discord said.

“You’ll have to go around,” Celestia said. The two pegasi pulled the platform away from the blazing tunnel and around the outside of the fortress. Several Quoils and Parasprite Monoeyes moved to attack, but Fluttershy fired at them with her orbitars. “I see you’re trying the orbitars again.”

“Oh, yeah,” Fluttershy said. “I like how they handle, but it’s hard finding a pair you can bring into battle. And I’m still not sure why they float in the air.”

“Would you like a set of saddlebags to carry them in?” Celestia said.

“Um, no… that’s not what I meant,” Fluttershy murmured.

“If thou like those, thou should try the orbitars I made from my troops,” Luna said.

“… You meant for your troops, right?”

“No, these orbitars are made from my troops, so they are all natural,” Luna said. “They are very energy efficient and 100% compostable. And if thou are hungry, they are also edible.”

“That sounds nice,” Fluttershy said. “But if you’re at a point where you’d eat an orbitar, wouldn’t you already be doomed?”

“Hmm… good point,” Luna said.

Fluttershy soon reached another entry point on the other side of the fortress. “Going in,” said the dark gray pegasus. He and the other pegasus pulled the platform toward the entry point and into the Parasprite fortress. Fluttershy moved toward the back of the platform, where one of the Centurions, a pegasus stallion with a caramel coat and a brown mane, was positioned.

“Um, excuse me,” Fluttershy said. The pegasus turned to her and gave her an annoyed look. “Oh, um, I just wanted you to tell most of the troops to stay by the entrance.”

“Right, and that’s how you’re giving orders to one of us, Captain?” the stallion said. He emphasized the word ‘captain’ with a sneer.

“Well, I need a rear guard to keep the Parasprites from attacking us from behind and…”

The pegasus stallion squinted at Fluttershy, still unimpressed. Eventually, another pegasus stallion with a brown coat and a white mane approached them. “Come on, Hoops,” he said with an eyeroll. “This is Fluttershy you’re dealing with.” Both stallions flew toward the rest of the Centurions to relay Fluttershy’s commands, while Fluttershy gave a deep sigh. After a moment, most of the Centurions stayed behind at the entrance, though the two pegasi she had given the orders to remained with the platform as it went into the tunnel.

Very few enemies attacked the platform as it made its way through the tunnel. The Parasprites didn’t have any forces stationed within the tunnel, and the only ones that made it past the rear guard were two Tribytes, a Jyok, and a Parasprite version of the Fire Wyrm. Both Tribytes were shot down by the two pegasus Centurions, while the Parasprite Fire Wyrm was taken out with Fluttershy’s Shock Orbitars. However, the Jyok moved ahead of the two pegasi pulling the platform, and began to open itself up. Fluttershy noticed what it was doing, and she fired several shots at it, shooting it down.

As soon as the Parasprite enemies were taken out, a massive lockdown door slid into place ahead, blocking off the rest of the tunnel. “There’s an obstacle ahead!” said the dark gray stallion nervously.

Fluttershy looked at the door up ahead and noticed a glowing node embedded in the center. “Keep moving forward,” she said. “I’ll take care of it.” As soon as the platform came close to the door, Fluttershy fired a pair of charge shots at the node, blasting a large hole through the center of the door. Several more lockdown doors slid into place ahead, attempting to seal the tunnel, but Fluttershy shot through the center of each of them using her orbitars. With the doors shot down, the pegasi pulling the platform accelerated. They soon reached the end of the tunnel, which opened up into a larger passageway within the fortress.

“We are closing in on Trixie,” Luna said.

“I hope she’s decent,” Discord said.

Suddenly, the walls and structures within the passageway started to glow, bathing the entire area with a pale magenta light. The two pegasi pulling the platform came to a stop, and Fluttershy and the Centurions looked around nervously. Parasprite enemies appeared in the room and moved toward the platform. “Fluttershy, destroy those enemies now!” Celestia said. “Do not let anything happen to the Centurions!”

Fluttershy shot down a Rezda and two Parasprite Monoeyes with her weapons, but a Jyok and a Parasprite Fire Wyrm quickly took their place. “I’m trying my best!” she said.

“A certain some-goddess needs to go through leadership training,” Luna snarked.

Fluttershy fired at the Jyok first, and then turned her attention to the Fire Wyrm copy. However, she could only destroy a few segments of its body before it reached the gray pegasus at the front of the platform. The Parasprite Fire Wyrm came into contact with the stallion, electrocuting him on contact. Fluttershy destroyed the rest of the enemy seconds later, but by then it was too late. The pegasus lost consciousness in midair. He fell out of his harness and plummeted toward the bottom of the passageway.

“Oh, no! We’ve lost a Centurion!” Fluttershy said.

“If you lose them all, you won’t be able to proceed,” Celestia said.

“I’ll be more careful, I promise,” Fluttershy said. She shot down another Jyok that positioned itself in front of the platform. Behind her, the other two Centurions were also busy with Parasprite enemies. Fluttershy fired twin charge shots and a few smaller shots at a Kolma and two Tribytes, but two Claxes took their place and hovered in front of the platform. A barrage of projectiles from her orbitars destroyed the first Claxis, but when she turned to the second, it had already started shooting at the dark gray pegasus. She hastily fired another barrage of shots, destroying the second Claxis. Though she saved the dark gray stallion, he still had several wounds and energy burns on his body, and he clutched his hoof against his wounded chest.

Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief, but then noticed a Parasprite Skuttler rushing toward her. She rolled sideways to dodge its attack and returned with a pair of charge shots, only for them to strike a Parasprite Urgle that was rushing toward her. A second Skuttler copy had also dropped onto the platform, and both rushed at Fluttershy. Fluttershy jumped back, firing several smaller shots and taking out one enemy. The second reached her and attacked, but Fluttershy sidestepped it. She then willed her orbitars to strike the Parasprite Skuttler, taking it out with a few melee attacks.

Two more Tribytes and a Rezda appeared, along with one more enemy, a large flying saucer with a nozzle on its underside. Fluttershy recognized the enemy, a Dohz, having seen one of its kind during the initial Parasprite invasion. She first destroyed the Rezda with twin charge shots, followed by the Tribytes with a barrage of smaller shots. But as soon as she turned her attention to the Dohz, it sent out a beam of energy from its underside. The beam aimed downward and struck the dark gray pegasus, slamming him into the platform behind him. The pegasus’ harness came loose, and his body fell down toward the bottom of the passageway.

“What have I done?!” Fluttershy gasped. “All the Centurions are…”

“Actually,” Celestia said, “we still have the two behind you.”

“Oh…”

“But these are the last of them, so be careful this time,” Celestia said.

The Dohz launched three more beams from its underside. Fluttershy sidestepped each one and retaliated with a pair of charge shots, destroying the nozzle underneath it. Fluttershy continued to spray the Dohz with smaller shots from her orbitars, and with a few arrows from the remaining two Centurions, the Dohz’s body finally began to crumble. The Parasprite enemy came apart as its remains fell, clearing the path for Fluttershy to the center of the fortress. The remaining two Centurions flew in front of the platform and, fitting the harnesses to themselves, began to pull the platform forward.

“Trixie is right up ahead,” Celestia said.

“Halt. Halt,” Trixie said. “Stay. Away.” Trixie’s tone was much different from what it usually was. Her speak was a bit delayed, and her voice seemed to come across as a robotic monotone.

“Does something seem a little off about Trixie?” Fluttershy asked.

“How can you even tell?” Celestia said.


* * * * * * * * * *


Fluttershy finally reached the center of the fortress, where both Trixie and the Parasprite Brain resided. Now that she was here, the two Centurions removed their harnesses and hid under the platform. Rather than carrying the platform forward, their task was now to keep it rotating around the Parasprite Brain.

Pale magenta flames coursed through the Parasprite Brain, with hundreds of individual Parasprites swarming underneath. Trixie’s body was now bound to the Brain, her hind legs and front hooves embedded within the clusters of Parasprites moving around while the rest of her body, covered in bright blue and white lines, stuck out. She barely seemed to notice Fluttershy when she appeared, and a vacant expression was visible on her face as she uttered a long sequence of numbers in a robotic monotone. “01101011011010010110110001101100 (KILL)…”

“Trixie!” Fluttershy said, a horrified look on her face as she stared up at Trixie. “What are you doing?!” Trixie’s head jerked a few times as she spouted the sequence of numbers. As soon as she was done, bright blue markings formed around the Parasprite Brain. The markings extended from the Brain at four points and connected to four green orbs of light at the corners of the chamber. As Fluttershy continued to stare up at Trixie, the look of horror was replaced with a look of determination. “Are you controlling the Parasprites, Trixie? Or are they controlling you?!”

For a moment, Trixie’s eyes reverted to their original violet color, and she struggled against the Parasprite Brain. “I… I… I will not be controlled…” she said. She stopped struggling a second later, and her eyes changed to a bright neon blue before she spoke again, this time with a robotic monotone. “We will not be controlled.”

A long trail of Trixie’s magic began to snake its way from Trixie’s horn and toward the platform. Fluttershy sidestepped away as it moved across and looked back at Trixie. “Oh boy,” she said. “What’s she gotten herself into?”

“It’s just as you suspected, Fluttershy,” Celestia said. “The Parasprite Brain has overtaken Trixie.”

“Intruder must be purged,” Trixie said. “We must consume all.” She launched three fireballs at Fluttershy. Fluttershy moved left to avoid them and returned fire with a pair of charge shots. But instead of hitting the Parasprite Brain, her attack stopped at the blue markings surrounding it. She fired a group of smaller shots, but they too were stopped at the blue markings.

“Just like bugs, the Parasprites are powerful as a swarm,” Discord said, “but not very bright.”

“The Parasprites may have been drawn to our conflict, but they live only to consume and destroy,” Celestia said.

“We will multiply,” Trixie said. “We must be all.” Fluttershy focused on the blue markings surrounding the Parasprite Brain. Her eyes followed them where they extended from the Brain, stopping where they connected to the four green spheres of light. She shot at one of the spheres with her orbitars, destroying it. Her platform was moving toward another sphere. She moved across the platform to get closer and shot it down as well.

“In that sense, they are like any other living creature,” Luna said. “They are concerned with their own survival and propagation. Each species influences many others, thus the cycle of life. But this…” A scowl formed on Luna’s face, and her tone filled with disgust. “This is too much. It is too destructive and too unnatural.”

“Well, they are an alien species,” Celestia said. “Of course they’re not natural.”

“They’re an invasive species,” Luna countered. “We must uproot them, before they consume everything.”

As soon as Fluttershy took out the fourth glowing sphere, the blue markings vanished, exposing both Trixie and the Parasprite Brain. Trixie tossed four magically charged spheres, scattering them across the platform. Fluttershy kept her distance from the objects and fired a pair of charge shots, which collided with the Parasprite Brain.

“Fluttershy, you may be able to cause more damage by attacking Trixie rather than the Parasprite Brain itself,” Celestia said.

“Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked.

“Not entirely,” Celestia said. “But at the moment, Trixie is the one attacking you.”

Fluttershy stared up at the vacant, emotionless expression on her face. Trixie’s head continued to twitch, leaving Fluttershy feeling uncertain and guilty. “I’m sorry, Trixie,” she said. “But in a way, you did have this coming.”

Fluttershy fired another pair of twin charge shots at Trixie. The shots collided with Trixie, sending a powerful electrical current through her and the Parasprite Brain. “Ow,” Trixie said, still in the same robotic voice. Fluttershy followed with a barrage of smaller shots, each one hitting Trixie directly. “Receiving pain.”

“One does wonder how long Trixie was planning to betray us,” Celestia said bitterly. “Perhaps this was her plan all along, and she has been using us ever since the invasion started.”

“That depends on how long it took for the Parasprites to take over her,” Discord said. “You remember her last words before she flew into the Parasprite Brain, don’t you? Maybe she was planning to take control of them. Or maybe she was trying to light them up and take all the credit for defeating the Parasprites for herself.” Discord’s tone then became more gleeful, even mocking. “Not that it matters. Either way, she failed miserably.”

“Leaving us to clean her mess,” Luna seethed.

Fluttershy dodged three fireballs from Trixie. She then fired one more pair of charge shots. The charge shots struck Trixie, electrocuting her once more. Trixie’s body slumped after the electricity finished coursing through her, and her attacks finally stopped. Fluttershy approached the edge of the platform, staring up at the barely-conscious Trixie. A second later, Trixie’s eyes opened wider, revealing two violet irises. Magic charged through her horn, and the chamber began to shake as she prepared her spell.

“What’s she doing this time?” Fluttershy said.

“I need to extract you, now,” Celestia said.

Underneath the platform, the two Centurions put there harnesses back on. They turned back toward the passageway and flied as quickly as they could, carrying the platform out of the chamber as a wave of magic exploded from Trixie. “This seems familiar!” Fluttershy said, staring at the wall of magical energy rushing toward her.

“We’ve been doing this a lot,” Celestia agreed.

The Centurions quickly reached the end of the tunnel and exited the fortress. They carried Fluttershy as far from the fortress as possible, shortly before Trixie’s magic shot out of the tunnel. The force of Trixie’s magic turned the Parasprite fortress on its side, and then began to propel it away from the planet.

“With any luck, Trixie will push the Parasprites to the other end of the galaxy,” Celestia said.

“She finally does something useful,” Luna said.

Celestia channeled her own magic, focusing it on Fluttershy and her Centurions. Within seconds, she had them extracted back to the planet. “Luna,” she said. “Now that the Parasprites have been dealt with, we can turn our attention to the real enemy, the Underworld Army.”

“How can thou be certain that I will maintain an alliance with thee?” Luna said. “Discord and I do see a common foe in thee and the earth ponies, Celestia.”

“Maybe so, but over the course of this invasion, Discord has proven to be our least cooperative ally,” Celestia said. “And you said yourself that the Underworld Army is worse than the earth ponies.”

Luna paused for a moment to think. “Very well, Celestia,” she eventually said. “We will continue our temporary alliance and join forces against Discord.”