//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Swarm of the Millennium // Story: Falling Stars // by Ar0k //------------------------------// << First off, I'd like to apologize for the wait of this chapter, I know I said that there would be shorter chapters and quicker updates, but I didn't anticipate losing my job. So I had a wave of other priorities that brought upon this long wait. Hopefully I can get this situation under control quicker. So I hope you guys enjoy it. Feedback and Comments are greatly appreciated. >> Trixie stood tall, her navy cape fluttering slightly in the desert breeze. Garret and Gene stood before her, waiting. They could have flown around her and continued after Trot but they didn't. There was something other than their princess' orders to halt that held them fast. "Look at yourselves." Trixie snorted in disgust. "Your all acting like a bunch of school bullies." "What are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash declared, taking to the sky. "Did you see what he did to AJ? He knocked her clear out of his tent!" "What we saw?" Trixie interrupted, cocking an eyebrow and closing the distance between her and Rainbow Dash. "How about what actually happened? Rainbow Dash. What about that? Could it be possible that a LOT more is going on then what we saw?!" Rainbow Dash snarled, and swooped down stopping just short of Trixie. They were so close that they were almost touching muzzles. Trixie could feel the intensity of the stare from the cyan Pegasus, but she forced herself to hold her ground. "I saw my friend get hurt by somepony who just last night declared he would teach us all how to kill today! Can you blame me for making sure he doesn't turn Applejack into a demonstration!" Trixie considered this for a moment. Seeing her opportunity, Rainbow Dash darted around her, but didn't get far before a light blue aura surrounded and grounded her, dragging her back to her original position. Garret and Gene looked to Luna for orders but Luna paid them no attention, her eyes were fixated on Trixie, but her thoughts had wandered elsewhere. Something didn't feel right. Something in the back of her head told her to be on guard. But she wasn't sure if this ominous feeling was because of Trixie or something else. She shuffled her stance casually, the sand feeling strangely uncomfortable. The Great and Powerful Trixie brushed a strand of silver hair out of her face before responding cooly. "No. I suppose I can't. But I know what traumatizing, or life changing events can do to someponies..." Twilight approached Trixie carefully, eyes darting from Trixie to the subdued Rainbow Dash, who was thrashing about with such tenacity that Twilight could see Trixie straining to keep control. "Trixie." She began carefully. "You don't mean that time when we..." Trixie Interrupted her, not allowing Twilight to bring up the past. "Trot Steamer is a Trailblazer. Not just any Trailblazer, but the only pony who has ever ventured into the Land of Twisted Metal. But the experience changed him. Wanting to teach us how to kill proves that. He doesn't need your hate or distrust right now. He needs your help." Trixie let the statement hang in the air for a few seconds to let the reality of what she had said sink in. Even Rainbow Dash stopped her struggling and turned her head away in quiet resignation. Seeing that there was no need to restrain her any longer. Trixie let the aura around her fade away. Everypony was surprised when a soft and quiet voice added to the discussion. "Uhm...I don't believe Trot is a bad pony." Everypony turned to hear Fluttershy speak. The poor girl barely spoke, so when she did decide to add something, everypony turned to listen intently to what she had to say. "Earlier...When we were gathering supplies, I talked with him...and well...he was very kind and encouraging. He told me how much he didn't want to go on this expedition. But he felt that he had to. If it meant stopping evil creatures like those...'Hunters' from coming back and causing harm to everypony. Fluttershy flew to Trixie's side, as if to side with her. "What i saw...What I felt when I was with him...Was like talking to a wounded animal. Like a bird with only one wing..." Fluttershy shuddered at her own analogy. The idea of seeing such a helpless animal, broke her heart. Just like that, the voice that could soothe wild beasts, ended the standoff. Gene was amazed, as all mares attitudes suddenly changed, even rainbow dash stopped struggling. Despite the change of the situation, Gene still needed to be released from her order to stand down and pursue Applejack and Trot. If anything, to explain that the situation had changed and that they should return to camp. Gene looked up to the princess. "My princess? May we proce--" Gene stopped in mid sentence. Luna was frozen to the spot. Her eyes, fixated dead ahead. Dead and blank. Her mouth opened and closed, as if trying to form words. Gene spun around in shock. Garret did so a split second later, and everypony else looked on in horror as the princess spoke. She mumbled, loud enough that only her two guards could hear. Soon she stopped shaking, her eyes focused dead ahead and she spoke loudly and diffinitivley. "Assimilation Successfull." Jagged claws burst from the ground. --- Applejack's head hurt. Despite her armor, some sort of impact managed to knock her out cold. She could barely hear Trot, yelling at her from somewhere not far away. "Applejack! Wake up! You have to wake up now!" Applejack's eyes fluttered open, trying to make sense of her surroundings. But her vision had not completely cleared itself yet. "T...Trot? Wha...What happened?" "You hesitated, that's what happened!" Trot's words were mixed with a sigh of relief and agitation. At the word 'hesitate' Applejacks' memories started flooding back to her. They were surrounded, and outnumbered, by at least half a dozen of what Trot had called, zerglings. They circled them, waiting and watching. Applejack knew that they could tear them apart limb from limb if they wanted to, but something gave them pause. Suddenly the first creature attacked. Trot expertly sidestepped and bucked the monster in the ribbcage, avoiding it's extended claws that were aiming for his throat. She remembered being frozen in fear, being so stiff that Trot had to shove her out of the way of a pouncing zergling. After it's failed attack, the creature backed off and resumed to circle them.  Trot was in the middle of telling her to "snap out of it", when the ground gave way and they plummeted through the sand and onto a rocky floor. Applejack jumped up as the flashback finished. She didn't care if her head hurt anymore, all she could think of was finding Trot and hoping to Celestia that they were out of danger. She swung her head left and right looking for him and almost immediately found him Stuck to a wall, subdued by some sort of mucus like substance. In the initial fall, Trot was able to catch himself, and land without receiving too much damage. But as soon as he recovered, he was pinned to the wall by something in the shadows. "Don't come any closer! Stay in the sunlight! You have to be able to see them." He cautioned. Fear and anxiety obvious in his voice. Trot noticed some movement in the shadows to Applejack's flank. "Behind you!" He yelled, just in time for Applejack to jump out of the way, of a charging zerg. Applejack panted heavily. The zerg quickly surrounded her, following the same pattern as before. Applejack had no choice, she had to fight. The horrible creatures would tear her to shreds, but what other choice did she have? She was surrounded and outnumbered, and if she didn't act soon she might as well lay down and let them devour her. Trot didn't know why he was still alive. The zerg were merciless killers, and almost never took prisoners. Unless... His eyes grew wide, suddenly understanding their motives. He watched the zerg circle around Applejack looking for an opportunity to strike her. One of them managed to catch her in her blind spot and almost sent its claw straight through her armor. Applejack bucked in retaliation but the zergling had jumped back and continued to circle her along with the other zerg. Trot had to help her somehow. "Applejack! You have to listen to me! You can do this! Fight them!" "Ah can't." She replied almost yelling. "There are too many of them." "Just listen to my voice!" At that exact moment, Trot saw one of the Zerg double back and move behind her. He saw exactly what it was trying to do and warned Applejack. "Applejack! To your right!" Applejack spun around and kicked without looking, and to her surprise her kick connected. The power of her buck was magnified by the iron greaves she wore, and it was strong enough to send the sizable creature barreling back and slamming against some of the collapsed stone. It slumped to the ground before standing up in an apparent daze. "You are NOT weak!" Trot exclaimed. He couldn't help but feel hopeful when he saw the damage Applejack had done. Applejack could not believe it herself, but the fear inside was slowly leaving her. Feeling her kick connect, combined with Trot's encouragement, gave her just enough confidence to feel like she could do this. Applejack took a deep breath and bent low, mimicking Trot's fighting stance. "LEFT!" Trot yelled. Applejack turned and bucked. --- Gene launched himself back while Garret took to the skies. The girls who were still around Trixie watched in shock as several terrifying creatures emerged from the ground around Luna. For a moment they looked like they were going to rip her apart with their ferocious claws, but their focus was directed solely on them. "EVERYPONY! GET BACK!" Garret yelled. The girls obeyed only to find out that more of those creatures were emerging from behind them. They were surrounded. "Around me girls! Don't panic!" Twilight yelled, although she herself was on the verge of panicking. She and Trixie were pressed together side to side with Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike and Rarity squeezing in on them. Rainbow Dash hovered in the air above them, while Garret flew down and pounced on Gene, who looked about ready to make a suicidal attempt at reaching the princess. "Unhand me brother! or have you forgotten your oath!?" He struggled against Garret who kept him firmly pinned to the ground. "I will never forget my oath to protect the royalty of Equestria! But we cannot protect her by rushing to our deaths!" Garret grunted hoping to slap some sense into his brother. This seemed to calm Gene down slightly, which allowed Garret to successfully drag his brother back towards the huddling mares. Garret looked over at the Princess, careful not to let his grip loosen on Gene should he decide to take matters into his own hands again. Her eyes were glowing white, and her demeanor was calm, as if the monstrous creatures around her were her closest friends. Garret noticed something coiled around the princess' hoof, sticking out from beneath the sand. He didn't know how... but there could be only one explanation about what was happening to their beloved princess. "Mind control..." He growled, loud enough for Everypony to hear. At that moment, the monstrous creatures all attacked at once. The girls screamed in terror, not knowing how to react. "Trixie!" Twilight yelled, horn already glowing. "I know!" Replied a shaken Trixie. And the two unicorns unleashed their spell. A bubble of magic exploded outward from the center of their huddled mass. All the monsters were thrown back at once by a massive light blue and purple sphere. The sphere remained and acted as a barrier between the ponies and certain death. The monsters only took seconds to recover from their shock and began to test the bubble for weaknesses. So far there were none, and the ponies relaxed however slightly. Spike was the first one to break from the huddle, wiping away a drop of sweat from his forehead. The rest of the mares followed suit reacting to the sudden ambush in their own way. Garret let go of Gene, who got up and immediately started pacing the perimeter of the bubble. Garret himself moved passed Pinkie Pie and Rarity to reach Twilight Sparkle. Twilight and Trixie weren't straining to keep the barrier up, despite the attempts by the monsters to claw their way through. They were holding off pretty well against the beasts. Surrounded by the protected bubble, the ponies recollected themselves. "Our princess is being controlled." Garret stated plainly, and calmly at Twilight Sparkle who sank to her haunches in exasperation. "I know, I heard you... But what are those things?" Twilight replied Garret shook his head; indicating that he didn't have the slightest idea. "I bet Trot would know..." Rainbow Dash grumbled, landing next to a curled up and crying Fluttershy. She nuzzled her a couple of time's but Fluttershy would not move from her spot. "It makes sense..." Trixie said, hoping to direct the discussion away from Trot. "If they had the ability to subdue minds, it would make sense that they would target the strongest of us. But why not all of us?" Garret pointed a hoof in the direction of Luna and Trixie walked up to the wall of the bubble, to get a better look. There was what looked like a tentacle griping the hoof of princess Luna. Twilight soon joined her and inspected the tentacle herself. She frowned as she watched two of the creatures stand guard next to her. Twilight noticed that Luna was beginning to move slightly. Her head tilted to one side, and then to the other although it looked like her muscles were straining. Was she fighting it? Twilight couldn't tell. "They are not going to get away with this..." It was a voice she didn't recognize. She turned and was surprised to see that it was Gene. She had heard him speak before, but never with such anger. The royal guard wasn't bothering to hide his rage, and Twilight couldn't blame him. She herself found that her fear was replaced with her own feelings of anger and feelings of injustice. Why did creatures like this even have to exist? Why couldn't they just leave them alone? "They won't." Twilight speaking with every ounce of determination she could muster. "We need a plan." Trixie added, after doing a lap around the circle barrier. Twilight nodded in response, but before she could even begin to think of a plan of action, something hit the barrier with such force that it threatened to break through it. Twilight and Trixie refocused their attention on the barrier, but the force was too strong. Both Twilight and Trixie had their eyes closed in concentration so neither of them saw what hit them. But everypony else did, and a cry from Rainbow Dash was the only indication as to who struck them. "Luna, NO!" The Princess was slowly walking forward. Her horn seemed to glow a brilliant white and purple. With each step she took, the force against the barrier grew stronger and a mere seconds later a crack appeared in the barrier. ---- Applejack panted heavily, she was doing damage but not enough. "The little critters just keep coming." She said out loud to herself. She was growing weaker by the minute and recognized what they were doing. They were wearing her down, trying to drain the last bit of strength from her. But then what? Applejack had a feeling that these creatures were playing with their food. As she sidestepped another swipe from one of her closest attackers, she risked a glance at Trot, who was still struggling against his mucus-like shackles. She had to reach him somehow, but that would involve breaking through the circle of monsters and charging through the darkness of the cave, which Trot had consistently warned her to stay away from. The zerglings stopped their attacks and circled Applejack once more. She used this time to quickly come up with a plan to reach Trot. It was a long shot, and she didn't like the plan one bit, but there was no other option. Applejack purposely fumbled in her step, showing signs of weakness, after a little while longer she started to breathe heavier, and finally after one of their attacks nicked her on the left side of her armored flank, she collapsed to her knees barely able to keep herself standing. "Applejack don't give up!" Trot yelled out now on the verge of panic. Applejack pretended not to hear him and continued to sink lower to the ground. The zerglings stopped circling her, and after a moment's pause they all moved in on her slowly. Just as one looked about ready to finish her off, Applejack sprang into action. Trot watched in surprise as Applejack used her crouched position to launch a kick that sent the offending zergling sailing through the air. Before the zerglings could react, Applejack sprinted through their gap. One of the zerglings dove for her, but their claws merely glanced the side of her armor. Applejack's heart was pumping. Fresh sweat poured down her forehead threatening to block her vision. She charged to where the sunlight ended and the shadow of the underground tunnel's began. To her great relief, nothing in the dark was waiting to ambush her. She reached Trot and looked over her shoulder, the zerglings had surrounded them both. More zerg from the shadows moved to encircle them "Impressive Applejack." Trot whispered, watching their odds for survival dwindle with each extra zergling that came to join the fight. "I don't suppose you have a plan to get me out of here?" Applejack, tugged on the gooey like substance with her teeth, and then subsequently gagged and spat the contents of it out of her mouth. Her mouth burned as the taste lingered, it didn't take any sort of genius to know that this slime was toxic. "Ah...Ah'll think o' somethin..." She said nervously, watching the massive amount of zerg closing in around them. "Well you'd better think quick, otherwise lets hope all they do is kill us..." Trot swallowed, trying to look defiant against certain death. "Whaddya mean?! How can anything possibly be worse than death?" Trot didn't answer. As if on cue, a strange gurgling noise reverberated around the cave. Trot felt his hair stand on end. From the shadows emerged a large, grotesque, wormlike creature. Its head was discernible from its terribly disfigured body. A jagged hard shell covered its face, with two orange glowing eyes visible around the sides of its head. Its mouth was an array of different sized tentacles that didn't seem capable of staying still. Close to it's head were two massive claws that carried the majority of the creature as it crawled its way towards them. There was no mistaking it. It was an Infestor. Trot scowled, and struggled against his bonds. The infestor moved towards him, the gurgling noise increasing in intensity. The creature was only a few feet away from him when it suddenly let out a mangled howl of pain. Applejack had leapt over it's claws and delivered a well placed buck to the creatures exposed eye, before retreating back to Trot. "Don't you touch him! " She growled menacingly. Applejack didn't know what caused her to act, or where this sudden burst of courage came from, but she didn't care. Trot tried to stop her, but his instructions fell on deaf ears. "Ah'm sorry sugarcube." Her voice was steady and devoid of fear. Something that unnerved Trot very much. The Infestor gave a garbled order and all the zerg around her attacked at once. Applejack only had time to brace herself, as the claws came tearing down after her, then, the world exploded. ---- The magical barrier was at it's breaking point. Princess Luna relentlessly sent beam after beam of magical energy, each shot getting closer to destroying the barrier. Trixie and Twilight's efforts to maintain the barrier were supplemented by Rarity who stressed her own magical ability to it's limits. Despite their efforts, the magical barrier was still failing. Twilight and Trixie Reduced the size of the barrier so they could focus and consolidate more of their energy, but the bubble was now so small that everypony was piled on top of each other to stay within the magical barrier. "We need to do something or we're done for!" Trixie exclaimed. "Tell me something I don't know!" Twilight retorted, trying to balance coming up with a plan and maintain the magical barrier. Think Twilight! She thought. Forget any sort of complex strategy! Just think of your basic needs! Twilight grit her teeth. Survival. But that wont happen if I can't maintain the barrier. The problem is the Princess. Snap her out of it? Unlikely. I don't know what method they are using to control her, besides that tiny tentacle attached to her hoof. Divert attention? Fine. How? "Twilight!" Pinkie Pie yelled at her to try and get her attention, But Twilight ignored her, focused on her multitasking. "I can't...I can't take much more of this..." Rarity said out loud, tears escaping her closed eyes. "Don't give up! Concentrate!" Garret commanded, letting go of his brother to lay a comforting hoof on the lady like unicorn who was not used to using her magical ability to this extent. Twilight thoughts continued to race. How? Think Twilight! Mass Teleport? No, too much magic needed. Split up? No. None of my friends are going to get hurt today! We have to stand together! But Maybe...The air? Rainbow Dash! She is the fastest among all of us, but what can she do to get Luna's attention away from us? That will have to be up to Rainbow Dash. I trust her. But what if she gets hurt? Well all get hurt if I don't do anything now. I trust her abilities! I trust her! "Rainbow Dash!" Twilight half-yelled, the strain of using her so much magic made it difficult to speak. Rainbow Dash made a gigantic effort to pull herself free of Spike and Fluttershy who were hanging onto her for comfort at the bottom of the pile. "What's the plan! I'll try anything!" She replied, panic evident in her voice even though she tried to look brave and collected. "Get to the sky and draw the Princesses' fire! I don't care what you do! Just don't get hurt!" There was only a slight pause in hesitation before the cyan pegasus saluted. "I'm on it!" She spread her wings and was about to take off before Trixie stopped her. "Wait for a lapse in her attacks!" Trixie grunted. "What do you take me for, a foal? Of course i know that!" Rainbow Dash gulped, watching Luna smash the barrier with powerful magic beams in rapid succession. Any opening to fly through the barrier unscathed was paper thin. "I can feel her attacks coming! Wait for my signal!" Trixie once again spoke, digging her hooves into the dirt and sand. Rainbow Dash looked at the beams of light and then back down at Trixie who who seemed to be in some serious pain. Again, Rainbow Dash gulped and then gave a shaky sigh. "Don't make me regret trusting you Trixie!" Rainbow Dash spread her wings and gave them a few flaps to warm them up. She spared one glance around her and noticed. Garret, trying to hold Rarity upright. Dash felt something flip inside of her, but shook it off. She had to focus. "Wait for it!" Trixie yelled, feeling each of Luna's attacks break on their barrier. She could trace the magic from the damage she received to its source. It was just a matter of being well practiced in the art of magic. She had no doubt Twilight could sense the same thing as well, seeing as she was fluctuating the barrier strength to just before the attacks connected to preserve energy. But Twilight was the stronger of the two and needed to focus on maintaining the barrier. This was solely up to her. The Great and Powerful Trixie swore to herself that she wouldn't let her new friends down. Feeling the right moment approach, Trixie opened her eyes and shouted with all her might. "Now!" Rainbow Dash took to the air with a burst of speed, just barely dodging a few stray magic beams from Princess Luna. She flew higher and higher, before leveling off and then darting towards the ground. She did a fly by, complete with agile barrel rolls to dodge a series of Luna's attacks, but after a while the princess just went back to bombarding her friends. Rainbow Dash growled, she had one idea that could maybe buy the others some time. It involved kicking up the dirt and sand with her flying speed to create some sort of dirt cloud her friends could maybe use for cover. But this involved getting dangerously close to the ground, and with that many monsters surrounding her friends, she doubted if it would do any good. This left one option. Rainbow Dash gulped, but decided to try it anyway. Rainbow Dash propelled herself high into the sky, for a brief moment enjoying the wind in her mane. She hovered for a moment before saying silently to herself. "So much for not getting hurt." Rainbow Dash dropped sharply towards the ground, flapping her wings as hard as they could go. Her mind focused, her body ready and eyes fixated on Princess Luna. -- "Go after the Trail Blazer ya said! It would be fun ya said..." Malt whined in an almost sing song voice, dragging his hooves across the barren desert. Two saddlebags were strapped across his flank and a empty canteen hung around his neck. Several hoof-steps away, Braeburn rolled his eyes, and only increased his pace. "Ah never said it would be fun! Now hush and try to keep up will ya! We gotta find some trace of where they went!" Malt grumbled but picked up his pace to match Braeburn's. They had been traveling for a full day, in the hopes of catching up with the expedition. But so far all they had managed to find was sand, dirt, rocks, and more sand. Braeburn stopped and held up a hoof to block out the rising sun from his eyes. He spotted mountains in the distance and wondered if that was where the Expedition had gone. "Ya know, the coin we flip landed on tails the first three times. Maybe that was the fates warnin' us not ta go on this 'ere adventure." Braeburn had just about had enough. "Then maybe ya shouldn't have kept flippin the darn coin!" He yelled out exasperated. "Heads we go find Trot, and Tails we don't! Yet we both kept flippin' it hopin' for it to be heads!" Malt grunted and then collapsed on his haunches, giving a sigh of defeat that ruffled his already messy mustache. Braeburn sat next to him staring at the sunrise. "We come too far to back down now. We WILL find Trot. Why? Because were his friends." He gave Malt a pat on the back before standing up. "Friends don't leave each other behind." Malt looked up at Braeburn with an annoyed look on his face. "Ya wan't some crackers with that cheese?" The annoyed look remained, but Malt got up nonetheless. Braeburn rolled his eyes once again at his friend's comment and turned to continue on their journey. Then they felt the ground shake. Off in the distance was a giant mushroom type cloud formed that nearly blocked out the sun. It looked colorful, almost like a rainbow. "Mother of Celestia..." Braeburn and Malt said simultaneously. After a moment's hesitation, they darted towards the rainbow colored mushroom cloud. ---- NOTES: *Back in the day, there was a bug in starcraft 2 where an infestor could perform its neural parasite ability while being burried. Im taking that bug and running with it.* *I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and again, sorry for the delay. Comments and Feedback are greatly appreciated.*