//------------------------------// // Chapter 23: A Canterlot Mêlée à Trois - Part 2 // Story: Of Archon Toilets and Bioballs // by MiniPsyker //------------------------------// The scenery was no longer the same as in Equestria. Now, instead of lush forests and fields, with creatures and rivers, a lone and desolate wasteland was present. The ground was dark, almost pitch black, covered in a thin veil of ashes that spread to the horizon. The few rivers that were present were not of water, but of lava and molten rocks, with smoke of the boiling elements striking against it by the force of the tectonic plates shaking for a short while. In the skies, only dark clouds were seen, giving the red tint of the scenery an even darker colour as they blocked the sun. The air was heavy, hot enough to make it difficult to breathe for anyone who did not have a breather, and with little burning sparks littered in the air. "Nngh..." Mike grunted as he woke up. Conscious at last, he used his arms to help him slowly but surely stand up. The first thing he saw was the desolate wasteland, hardly believing his own eyes as he stared around. Wherever he looked, only ashes and fire remained. At the same time, Kra'Ser regained consciousness and stood up next to him. "This place reminds me of Char." Mike stated. "You were in Char?" "Yes, back in the Alpha Squadron." "So you were in the Alpha Squadron..." Kra'Ser remarked, just before grunting of pain and holding his head with one hand. "What is it? You hit your head on something?" "No, that's not it. I feel something weird in this place, a strange psionic presence." Mike, confused, simply looked around the scenery once more. He found nothing that would be related to Kra'Ser's statement. "We won't find anything standing around, and we still need to find a way back." Mike stated. "What do we do? There isn't any hint of where to start looking, if there's a way to begin with." "Look over there." Mike pointed to the horizon behind them, next to Kra'Ser. "All around us there are rivers of lava, they'll block our way eventually. That way is clear, and I see some high ground. We can start looking there." "You might act like an idiot, but you still know a few things." Kra'Ser complimented him. The Terran and the Protoss started walking in the general direction of the high ground. On their trip, they could see nothing but ashes and fire in the distance, a deserted landscape void of life and activity. Their steps, as if they were walking on snow, dug themselves into the ashes. Once reached, they were stopped by the cliffs of the high ground they had seen, too steep to be climbable. Their common sense dictated they should walk around it, and so they did. Eventually they found a natural ramp that headed up to the high ground, at an angle that made it easily walkable on. Immediately, they walked up and walked further, finding something particularly familiar. They had found a destroyed Terran base. Kra'Ser's eyes sparked up by the implication. They were no longer in Equestria, that was sure, leaving one alternative for him. "...We are in our universe." The templar stated. "Indeed we are." Mike acknowledged, walking past the ruined buildings into the heart of the terran base, where he found the command center and dead SCVs lying around. The mineral patches and vespene geysers were almost untouched, as if the Terran base was destroyed barely minutes after being set up. "This command center is still operable. Shame about the SCVs, though, I could've used them. Seems like a new expedition, too." After his statement, and seeing as he had no minerals to spend on an SCV, and no SCVs to dig up minerals for him, he walked up to a mineral patch. He took aim with his rifle to the base of the mineral patch and fired a short burst, but to no effect. Silent and defeated, he simply walked back. "...What were you attempting?" Kra'Ser questioned. "Was trying to get 50 minerals to get an SCV. Seems I can't without one to begin with. Shame it's a normal command center too, if it was an Orbital I'd call down a MULE." "Without an SCV and without resources you'll get nowhere. That command center is useless as it is. Might as well-- Hold up..." "Hm?" "My minimap is flaring up, it's... Pointing at something in the fog of war." "Where exactly?" "That way, seems to be in the high ground too, next to us." Curious, Mike followed Kra'Ser to where his minimap guided him. The same scenery was ever present: Ashes, ashes, and more ashes, but as the fog of war was lifted, strange rubble began appearing. Further and further, horrifyingly damaged Protoss buildings came into sight. Worse yet, it was being razed down by a very small group of zerglings. The base was defenceless. The sight of the zerglings was enough to send a cold chill down their spine. The Zerg were present, and they were also reminded that, being in their own universe, the possibility of death loomed over them. "I can cast a psionic storm over them, you deal with them once they run to us." Kra'Ser stated. "You got it." Mike answered, readying his rifle and aiming at the zerglings. Kra'Ser focused and, immediately, engulfed the zerglings in a storm. As soon as the first spark struck them, they were alerted of their presence and quickly rushed past the storm towards them. Kra'Ser's storm was not enough to kill any of them, but it was enough to damage them. Mike easily dispatched of them with his rifle before they came close, eliminating the threat. Before anything, Kra'Ser quickly teleported next to the Nexus and placed his hand on it, simply to figure out what happened. What he had not expected, however, was for the Nexus, and the entire base, to change allegiance to him in an instant. The remaining buildings were now his, comprised of a nexus, three pylons, and a gateway. Two probes were also his, who were hiding behind the mineral patch from the zerglings' attack. "That's it!" Mike exclaimed. "Get those probes mining, give me 50 minerals when you have them, and we'll start our bases again." "It will be done." It didn't take long for their two bases to be reinforced as much as they could. It was obvious the presence of the Zerg was the most threatening factor in this world, and so they could not take chances in being caught undefended. From a simple base, and thanks to the unnaturally great supply of minerals and vespene geysers in their two bases, they managed to fortify their positions to defend against any potential assault from where it may come. Along the cliffs, siege tanks, bunkers with marines, turrets, and cannons covered the fields, with the two ramps that led to their base holding most of their effort: One of the ramps was next to Mike's base, and the other was next to Kra'Sers. Those were the only two choke points where land units would be forced to cross if they wished to arrive. Mike and Kra'Ser knew this very well, as their years of military experience had shown. They both stood outside, in the ground between their two bases in front of a crude sketch of the map drawn on the floor with Mike's rifle. Mike, of course, now had a proper Ghost helmet to fit his Ghost outfit instead of an incompatible reaper gasmask. Fashion be damned. "We can expect the Zerg to attack from points A and B." Mike stated, pointing at the two ramps. "My siege tanks and bunkers can take any ground assault by themselves without problem, although with this 200 unit cap that returned, that's the only thing I can defend against properly right now." "I've spent my resources on a fleet to defend against the aerial units. The skies are ours, you can leave it to me." But as soon as Kra'Ser finished his statement, a piercing pain struck his mind. The intensity of the pain was enough to force him to bow a small amount and bring his hand to his head, closing his eyes and letting out a small yell. "Kras, you okay?" Mike questioned, worried. In the next instant, both the Terran and the Protoss could hear and feel a strange voice inside their minds, as if it came from nowhere but at the same time, everywhere. They could feel the vibrations of a voice as if someone was talking to their ears, but at the same time the distance of hearing something from far away. It was an uncanny mixture of sound, unnerving and terrifying the same. "The more I get rid of your kind, the more they appear elsewhere." The voice spoke, taunting, insulting them. The fear of this unknown situation, added to the fright of having never felt such a presence or event ever before, made Mike and Kra'Ser quickly and desperately look around for the source of the voice, if there even was one. No moment had passed until Mike had encountered a strange, eerie aura as he stared to the cliffs kilometres away, as if an entity or horror awaited there. He experienced a feeling that could only be describes as being trapped in a nightmare or suffering a night terror, just by looking in that general direction. Before anything, Mike zoomed in his vision with his Ghost's helmet to be sure that it wasn't his sanity slipping away, but as soon as he scanned the scenery he had, unfortunately, found the source of his horror. A tall woman dressed in ghost armor without a helmet, but with zerg features being clearly apparent all over her body. "Th--Th--th...That's..." Mike stuttered, attempting to inform Kra'Ser but being left horrified. "You--...Time travel--...Future--...Woman--" "...That's the infested terran we saw back then!" Kra'Ser completed his sentence with the same fright, staring at the same direction as Mike. "Is... Is th-that the... Queen of Blades...?" Mike kept stuttering. "We're going to die..." Kra'Ser sighed, defeated. "Hmph." The Infested Ghost boasted with a smirk, amused at their reaction. Afterwards, she simply bowed, bringing her hand to her chest and extending the other to the air besides her. "My name is Charlotte. I'll be the last person you'll get to know." "Oh, she's not the Queen of Blades. We're safe." Mike stated, regaining his composure completely in an instant. "...What." Charlotte muttered as she returned to her previous posture, perplexed at his sudden change in behavior. "Well if it's not Kerrigan, we can focus on a way to return." Kra'Ser told Mike. Charlotte became furious at them, as their attitude had indirectly insulted her. "Enough games." Charlotte stated, with her voice still echoing in Mike's and Kra'Ser's minds. With a single command from her mind, she had summoned behind her an innumerable horde that slowly came to view in the distance. Zerg lifeforms, even Ultralisks and Broodlords filled the horizon. Mike and Kra'Ser stared with their undivided attention at her doings, aware that she would have no reasons to not attack them at this point. "If you give up now, your deaths will be swift and painless. Otherwise... Infestation is coming to you--" At a moment's notice, Mike gave an order. Immediately, a single siege tank turned its gun and immediately fired at Charlotte's general direction, missing her but striking an ultralisk that remained besides her. The gigantic beast had remained wounded, giving a loud howl as it slowly but steadily began regenerating with its Zerg attributes. It seemed as if the siege tank's range was not great enough to hit Charlotte. "We surrender!" Mike yelled, taunting. "Come a little closer!" "...So be it." Charlotte answered, furious, just as she and her Zerg backed off out of sight. All that remained was the unnerving silence of the field, with not a single Zerg in sight as of yet. Mike snickered and brough his hand to his helmet. "Man, the things we put up with, huh." "You were in the Alpha Squadron, I'm sure you think this'll be easy." Kra'Ser remarked. All of a sudden, a new objective appeared in their tactical view. It was a simple objective, almost too simple, even comprised of just a single word. And the objective was... 'Survive'. Mike and Kra'Ser were aware of the new objective, but had no words to share. Both were surprised and, at the same time, barely knowing of the implications of the objective as they silently stared at eachother. Until... "Your forces are under attack." Mike's robotic Terran advisor stated. Mike was dumbstruck and with a blank mind. All he could do was just turn around to see the source of what was engaging his forces in the ramp. There he saw them, hordes and hordes of Zerg that covered the fields, as if there were no end to them. Even the horizon itself was made of Zerg organisms, and even then it was hard to see past a short distance because of the Zerg swarm covering the skies. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, as soon as his forces killed one little Zerg, twenty more took its place in the frontline. The entire population cap of his base consisted of Siege tanks and the marines in the bunkers fortifying both his and Kra'Ser's ramp, but even then they could not even hold the line. The Zerg were too close, close enough to start destroying his bunkers and flood through the ramps, even using themselves as cannon fodder for the siege tanks to cause friendly fire. "That's... Way above the population cap for any zerg..." Mike stated, seeing no end to the Zerg swarm. As if the ramp being overwhelmed painfully fast wasn't bad news enough, he could see the line of siege tanks being destroyed even as the bunkers protecting them remained intact. Brood Lords were massacring them from afar, with no way to retaliate with anything Mike had. "Kras!!" Mike yelled through the drowning sound of the conflict. "Send them in, every single one of them!" Kra'Ser yelled to his forces. In an instant, a fleet of phoenixes and void rays supported by carriers rushed to the frontline, with the phoenixes flying low enough to generate the vibrations and wind that forced Mike and Kra'Ser to brace themselves, lest they would have fallen to the ground. And so it began. Mike's ground forces and Kra'Ser's air fleet against the fury of the Swarm. A painfully one-sided battle. "How long do we have to survive for!?" Kra'Ser questioned, referring to the objective. "I don't know! It doesn't have a timer!" "Adun dammit, we need to find a way out of here, now! Listen, I just had an idea, I have my forces in Equestria and so do you, we can see them, we can use my teleportation and a battlecruiser's hyperdrive to jump to the other universe!" "Why a battlecruiser!? You have carriers already, why can't we use them!?" "Because the carriers use the same psionic energy as mine, they'll just cancel eachother out instead of merging! A Terran Battlecruiser's hyperdrive has more chances of fusing with my psionics!" "...Alright, I'll get to it!" Quickly, he used his tactical view to select the starport and quickly order a battlecruiser built. Simple as that. "It will take 90 seconds!" Mike stated. "90?! We don't have 90 seconds! We'll be dead by then!" Because of Kra'Ser's statement, Mike decided to take a look at the frontline once more. Holding the line was far from reality, instead being seen as delaying the inevitable. The zerg were slowly pushing forward at a steady pace, with newly made siege tanks coming is as fast as they were being destroyed. The amount of ordinance thrown at the ramp would have rendered it concave against the ground if it wasn't for Koprulu physics. But even then, the Zerg were endless and kept on coming, pushing forward little by little. "Send two nukes!" Mike ordered, losing his composure. At his command, two Ghosts who were recruited by Mike's desperation rushed to a ramp each while cloaked, then began aiming their lasers at the ramps where the Nuke's blast range would not harm his units, but destroy the Zerg. Depressingly enough, it would only serve to gain time, for in the fields as far as the eye could see, there were still millions and millions of Zerg. The amount of Zerg in the planet was incalculable at best. "Nuclear launch detected." Kra'Ser's protoss advisor stated, twice. "If we weren't in this situation, I'd think you are insane, Mike." Kra'Ser remarked. "Fools..." Charlotte's voice echoed in their heads at the very same time the Zerg horde broke into a retreat off the ramp. "I will just pull them off until they both land." "God... Fucking..." Mike ranted, furious, seeing the Zerg retreating to barely outside the nuke's range. "Keep those tanks coming!" In that instant, however, Mike could hear a static coming from his helmet's radio. Even Kra'Ser heard it from his transmissor. "Kra'Ser?! Is that you?!" The voice asked, a voice that seemed to echo several times but giving a faint feeling of safety, contrary to Charlotte's aura of horror. "We thought you were dead! This is Aldiir, Executor of the 29th expeditionary fleet looking for survivors of the 27th. I didn't think we'd find you here! We will come out of hyperspace in 60 seconds, defend yourselves as best as you can!" "Pfft... Sixty..." Mike muttered, knowing his battlecruiser would be finished in less than half that amount. Still, he caught Kra'Ser staring into the void with a joyful expression after that transmission, something that he found weird. The two nukes fell. The last thing that prevented the zerg from advancing had ended, and resources were too tight with unit production to produce any more nukes. The Zerg, like a tidal wave, rushed against the Protoss and Terran bases unhindered by anything thrown at them. "Your base is under attack." Mike's advisor stated. "What?!" Mike questioned, already having enough of the battle and knowing that there weren't any bunkers remaining to trigger that alarm. Turning around, he faced the scenery of his factories and barracks being destroyed by Brood lords that had been flanking his base while the nukes fell. "Fuck, no! the starport!" He yelled, seeing as the only thing between the Brood lords and the starport were the barracks and factories themselves. "Kras! Get them!" Kra'Ser's air fleet immediately moved in to defend the starport. There were barely more than a couple phoenixes and void rays remaining, the Swarm had killed the rest, and no carrier had survived. The Swarm, now with complete air supremacy, laid waste to the fortifications on the two ramps as the Zerg flooded in. The line had been broken. "Fall back! Fall back to the starport, that thing must not fall!" Mike yelled. From Kra'Ser's base and his, the remaining ground and air units regrouped on the starport. In an instant, undefended, Kra'Ser's base was completely demolished. Even a great majority of Mike's base was destroyed, his command center included and his scvs pulled in to repair his units with the last resources he had. Now both Protoss and Terrans made their last stand, with every single loss they took now being irreplaceable. Their last stand was all but glorious. As soon as they backed off, the Zerg poured in from the ramps and were able to surround them completely, allowing them to start massacring their way to the core of the formation: The starport, Mike, and Kra'Ser. All of that, happening in less than five seconds. But one thing remained. The battlecruiser had finished its construction and slowly appeared from inside the starport, rising to the roof of it. A giant ship, the pinnacle of Terran technology, which was their last hope. "It's here! Everyone get in, we are leaving!" Mike yelled as he rushed to the Battlecruiser's bridge hatch and stood besides it, shooting his rifle at the mutalisks that now attempted to kill him. "Forty seconds!" Executor Aldiir stated through the transmission. "Kra'Ser! Come on!" Mike yelled. But Kra'Ser was immobile, silent. "Kras! The zerg won't wait for you to make up your mind, get up here!" "...We can leave, Mike!" Kra'Ser snapped from his silence, yelling. "Forget about Equestria, we can return home!" "...What?" "We can return to our normal lives before this all happened, to our people! To the lives we had before!" Mike simply remained silent at his words, letting them sink into him. What he had just heard from Kra'Ser was shocking in more than one way. "Don't think that Equestria is our home," Kra'Ser continued. "We just ended up there by accident! With Aldiir, we can return to where we belong!" "...Shut the fuck up, Kras! It might not be my home, but it's the closest fucking thing I have to one!" "Do you really think that!?" Kra'Ser yelled with more anger. "Do you really want to abandon the ones that need you the most--" "Do you?! We ended up returning to our universe just as the ones in the other faced a threat they might not overcome! I don't know what will happen there, but I'm not going to risk it! In this universe, even if we give it our all, we're just a pair of generals among millions, but in Equestria we can make a change! If we leave this universe, the Protoss and Terrans will keep fighting without us, they are not weak! But if we remain here, we would be leaving the others on their own! You and I are Protoss and Terran, we are not weak, nor are the others in this universe, without us they can still fight back! Just as they have fought until now! But the ones in Equestria? They might not even have a chance to properly fight back, and maybe they never will if we don't return!" At Mike's words, Kra'Ser remained struck silent. It was as if the conflict surrounding them had been drowned by the deafening silence that remained between them, as if time itself had frozen. "Listen, Kras..." Mike continued, yet now in a calm tone. "You might not think it's your home, that you cannot relate in any way to them, I can understand that... But even with our differences, even by being of entirely different universes, they have grown to accept us among them. Just like a family. I don't want to explain to them why I was the only one to return... If I even return to begin with." Kra'Ser simply lowered his head, tired of everything and letting Mike's words fill his mind. Thoughts and thoughts ran through him in an instant, clouding his mind and leaving him immobile. "This is Executor Aldiir, we are out of hyperspace! Hold tight, we are getting you all out of there!" Above in the skies, a Protoss Fleet came to view as it arrived. Past the Zerg Swarm's air units, the protoss fleet's fighters deployed from the carriers and began engaging the Swarm. Without delay, Kra'Ser made his decision. He quickly ran and entered the Battlecruiser with Mike, before all hatches were sealed and the ship took off. Hyperspace was achieved in a matter of seconds. "Kra'Ser, can you hear me?" Aldiir questioned. "Kra'Ser? Kra'Ser! ...Adun forgive us, we were too late..." Back in Equestria, in the Royal Palace, a great multitude was present, witnessing the union of both Cadence and Shining Armor. On both sides of the long, red carpet that led to the altar where Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were present, were two crowds of ponies that remained silent for Celestia's words. "Princess Cadence and Shining Armor..." She spoke with happiness. "It is my great pleasure to pronounce you--" "Stop!" A voice yelled from afar, from a distance great enough to lower its volume. All eyes turned to the voice, who had gained the attention of everyone for interrupting the wedding. Yet, what everyone found at the entrance of the room, standing on the red carpet with the doors wide open, was Twilight Sparkle. All gasped in surprise, until it devolved to chatter of annoyance at yet another of her attempts to disrupt the wedding. Cadence grunted in irritation at this interruption. "Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?" She rhetorically asked aloud, only to be met by Celestia's confused stare at her attitude. Shining Armor was too high on something to even notice, with his eyes green and unfocused reflecting his state. "...Why does she have to ruin my special day?" Cadence questioned, sobbing, as if trying to fit in with what Celestia would expect her to be. "Because it's not your special day!" Cadence answered. Cadence Prime. The real cadence. The one who seemed to had run out of L'oreal shampoo midshower and had to make do with soap. The Cadence who walked in through the door past Twilight. "It's mine!" All gasped. Again. "...What?!" The Cadence who stood next to the higher-than-Cloudsdale Shining Armor questioned, shocked. "But how did you--..." Everyone was cut silent by an unforeseen event. It was not noise, it was not something visible, but a vibration instead. An earthquake, they all thought at first. The intensity of the 'earthquake' kept increasing and increasing at a considerable rate, yet all unknowing of the source. "Something is outside!" A pony stated loudly while staring out of one of the giant, stained glass windows. Immediately after his statement, everyone ran to the windows in unison, as if they had completely forgotten of what had happened before. Outside, they could see a small object in the distance, flying right towards Canterlot at a considerable speed. As if their confusion wasn't enough, they all received a chill down their spine once they realized that, no, the object was not small at all, it was just at a far greater distance than they had imagined. It was big. Enormous. Bigger than dragons, bigger than an Ursa Minor, even bigger than an Ursa Major. It was bigger than any single object they had eber seen in their lives, striking fear into their eyes by the sheer surprise. But, not so long ago, they had seen an equally terrifying object of the same size. And that was... A Terran Battlecruiser. At the same time, inside the Terran Battlecruiser who flew at alarming speed, fast enough to make atmospherical reentry nearly turn it into a giant flaming ball, stood Kra'Ser and Mike, with the crew manning their stations. Through the windshield of the battlecruiser, past the flames of reentry and the horrifyingly violent shaking of the speed at which they were going, they could see Canterlot, still engulfed in its protective shield. Such was the might of the Battlecruiser, that the only reason its crew were not cooked alive by virtue of it being almost a literal ball of fire, was because its AC unit was not built by Kel-Morians. "The shield is still up, we won't break it!" Kra'Ser yelled, holding onto anything he could find. It was an earthquake inside the Battlecruiser, and the noise of the vibrations and air scraping against the armor of the ship were almost deafening. "Prepare the Yamato Cannon!" Mike yelled at his crew. "It's not going to work, we can't damage it! It's not a protoss shield, it's not from our universe!" "Then we'll overload it with energy, it has to go somewhere!" "If that fails we'll end up ramming the shield, we'll be stuck outside for Adun knows how long!" "Yamato Cannon ready!" One of the crew stated aloud. "Are you sure this will work?!" Kra'Ser questioned, worried. "I have no idea!!" Mike yelled back. "Fire!" From outside the Battlecruiser, on the end of the Yamato Cannon's firing mechanism, particles of energy began appearing and concentrating into a single sphere. It grew in intensity and brightness, until its stability became critical, shaking and bleeding off energy. All the energy that was concentrated was then released, fired from the cannon towards Canterlot, increasing in size almost twofold by the limits that held it in place being eliminated. The energy of a small nuclear explosion was transferred to the projectile which flew at almost tenfold the speed the Battlecruiser was flying at. In almost the blink of an eye, it travelled from the Yamato Cannon's magnetic field to Canterlot's shields, impacting and making the shield flow, as if it was covered by a small amount of water all over it. Immediately, the shield became brighter and brighter until it turned completely white. Such was the brightness of the shield that Mike, Kra'Ser, and the entire crew of the Battlecruiser had to cover their eyes. In an instant, the shield gave in and exploded, showering the skies with bright, searing, white shards of energy that burned out as they flew. The shockwave that it released was intense enough to be felt through the battlecruiser, leaving it to be questioned what the ones on the ground felt. The shield was now gone. "It's gone!" Mike yelled, victorious. Immediately after his statement, the entire crew of the battlecruiser broke out in a victorious yell of joy and glory. "We're going to crash right into Canterlot!" Kra'Ser stated with eagerness. "All part of the plan! Everyone, brace for impact!" At his command, all of the crewmen fastened their seatbelts and held onto their helmets. Through the windshield and flames, past the blur and violent shake, they could see how the Battlecrusier kept descending and descending towards the ground, not losing a single fraction of its speed, but gaining it instead. The moment had come when the Battlecruiser finally struck the ground, right over the buildings of Canterlot that were conveniently empty. The force of impact, although not shattering the Battlecruiser, was enough to generate a vibration that rendered everyone almost blind for a few seconds by virtue of disorienting them. The massive vibration turned into an earthquake as the Battlecruiser surfed through the houses, bridges and roads of Canterlot, losing speed as fragments of buildings struck the windshield with no damaging effect. The Battlecruiser, by force of several houses impacting one side of the front more than the other, began turning sideways and drifting through the earth, carving an even wider trail. Eventually, its speed diminished, until it came to a complete halt. "Alright, it stopped!" Mike yelled, standing up from the fall he had suffered when the Battlecruiser impacted the earth. "Open the hatches!" At his command, a hatch had opened from the bridge that led outside. At the same time, the almost deafening sound of whirring gears, and slabs of metal scraping against eachother could be heard from inside. Every single hatch in the battlecruiser was being opened, for Mike's forces to flood out. "Everybody go!" Mike screamed, running to the open hatch to the outside. "Let's go! This is not over yet!" Kra'Ser followed closely from behind, but as they stepped outside, all they could see around them was a giant swarm of flying entities. They looked like ponies, but insectoid, with their skin dark as ashes and their numbers, while not as great as the zerg, clearly outnumbered by an order of magnitude. Yet, at the same time, Mike's forces ran out from the hatches. Marines, hellions, marauders, vikings that took it to the skies, siege tanks, and even Thors that opened fire to the hostile creatures as soon as they saw them. "What the hell is happening?" Kra'Ser questioned. "Imagine if we had not arrived." Mike spoke, before readying his rifle and opening fire at the swarm of flying... Things. "Show them Terran ferocity!" He yelled at his men, who now saturated the skies with bullets and shells. By his actions, an insect had fallen next to him, unconscious. The two of them were reminded that it was not of their universe, thus being unable to be harmed, yet they could knock them unconscious. They could fight, despite their shortcomings. "You said you have your men here, did you not?" Mike questioned. "Go teleport to your base, get them here! We'll wait!" "Immediately." Kra'Ser acknowledged before disappearing in a cloud of electricity. The sound of cannons and guns kept pounding in the air, with the sight of tracers and falling insects being the only thing seen in the situation. There were enough insect to almost darken the skies, with only a few openings among the swarm for the sunrays to sneak through. Everywhere anyone may shoot, chances of missing their target was none. Despite the insane amount of ordnance thrown at the insects, it was barely enough to keep them from advancing, yet, the insects would not take a single step back. Until, breaking through the swarm and appearing seemingly of nowhere, entire squadrons of phoenixes arrived, carving a path with their guns. Eventually followed void rays, oracles, and even the dreaded carriers. Shortly afterwards, protoss ground forces broke through and linked up with Mike's men. Kra'Ser's forces had arrived. "You changed for the better." Mike whispered to himself, referring to Kra'Ser as he stared at the reinforcements. "Don't get excited." Kra'Ser stated through a transmission in Mike's helmet. "It seems that Twilight and the rest were in the palace, something happened in there it'd appear. They managed to escape, but the changelings have them surrounded." "Got it." Mike responsded through his helmet's radio before directing his voice to his and Kra'Ser's troops. "We are moving to Twilight's location, she and the rest are the priority as of now!" Acknowledging his order, both Protoss and Terran forces slowly began pushing through the swarm of insects towards the palace, a grueling march that could only be compared to a meatgrinding process. In unison they marched while fending off the insects, until the wreck of the Battlecruiser was left behind, abandoned. Eventually, even the swarm left, following the Terrans and Protoss who pushed their way to the palace and its surroundings. Yet, something remained. From under the burning wrecks, a Terran crawled out. A Terran unlike any other, a woman dressed in Ghost armor with her head uncovered, bleeding and exhausted. What differentiated her from other Terrans was one single trait, something no Terran would ever have by normal means, and that was her anatomy. Terran body, yet paired with Zerg DNA. It was an infested Terran Ghost, who kept crawling from under the Battlecruiser's wreck. Charlotte. "You're not..." She grunted and whispered to herself, remaining on the ground. "Going... Anywhere..." From under the wreck, following her as they crawled out, five drones came to light. "Go... Find a mineral patch, make a base... Move!" She order. Immediately, the drones scattered. To be continued, still...