We cowered together in the rising twilight, Mia and I, watching with wide eyes as James scanned about alertly. The slithering sound overhead gradually increased in volume.

I reluctantly unwrapped myself from Mia so I could stand beside James, readying my SBR and waiting fearfully for the queen to make an appearance. While I positioned myself, Mia put a hand on my shoulder and pulled herself up next to me with a groan.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" I asked her in low tones, trying to keep the tension out of my voice.

"Yeah, good enough as long as I can lean on you for a bit. Give me your pistol, babe. I don't have a weapon."

"Here." I quickly reached down and released the pistol from my back holster, handing it to her.

"Thanks." She pressed up against me, and we waited for the creature above us to make an appearance. Odd shadows and light fluctuations came from above, along with the increasingly creepy slithering noises that made my fur stand on end. But, despite the strange illumination, nothing appeared.

Then I heard Celery scream.

"Oh shit, it's after Turf!" I squawked. "Hurry!"

We rushed towards the sound of commotion, Mia leaning heavily on my shoulder still and holding the pistol in one hand. As we rounded the boulders, I saw Turf crouched low in front of his little family, the knife held outstretched in one hoof and the flashlight in his mouth.

In front of him, hanging down from the ceiling on ridiculously long spidery legs, was the queen. It wasn't anything like the drones we had encountered before. This monstrosity had a body like a fat black pancake, with pulsing raised veins across the surface. In a glaring difference from the other creatures, massive frog-like eyes blinked down, two at each end of the body. Bundles of tentacles hung from below, and several mouths snarled along the rim of the squat body, seemingly placed at random. Patches of what appeared to be glowing moss across the surface of the dark flesh released the glow that was now illuminating the cavern. To make matters worse, I could see the telltale shimmer of a protective magic field around her. Hopefully the imbued ProteC bullets would work as well as they were supposed to.

Stallion and monster faced off, his eyes narrowed with determination as he protected the mare and foals behind him, and the big, malicious orbs of the creature sizing him up while the three closest mouths hissed at him.

Then the massive tentacles began to weave towards Turf.

"We gotta do something!" Mia exclaimed, raising her pistol.

"No, wait! You might hit the ponies!" I used my telekinesis to push her hand down. "Just use your weapon lights! Shine them in her eyes!"

I switched the light on my SBR on, and pointed it at the nearest eyeball. The giant pupil constricted, and the tentacles reaching for Turf quickly altered trajectory, covering the offended organ instead. Mouths opened to snarl in rage, and the queen forgot all about Turf in her sudden anger towards us.

"Well that worked," James observed as the giant hissing bundle of tentacles and hatred came swinging towards us menacingly. "Maybe a little too well? Jeez she's ugly. We should probably shoot her or something."

"Lead her further away from Turf first," I instructed, tugging at Mia, who was shining the pistol laser directly into the queen's nearest oversized pupil.

"S'okay," she gently brushed me off and started moving alongside me. "I can walk on my own now."

We ducked around the boulders and pulled back a bit, watching the lurching mess of ugly appendages follow us eagerly but tardily.

"Good thing she's kind of slow," I commented as we waited. "Once she clears that edge, blast her."

We waited a few moments longer, then the creature peeked around the rocks and saw us standing patiently. It clucked cheerfully, the row of slavering mouths spraying ribbons of drool, seemingly pleased that we were allowing ourselves to be caught with such ease. She hissed and leered, slowly wobbling into view and reaching greedily for us with the nasty tentacles.

We raised our weapons three across and fired a storm of glowing bullets at her killer peppermint patty of a body. Even with the ARHUD noise protection, the sudden snarl of gunfire was loud. I like to think she was unpleasantly surprised when our crystal-enhanced bullets passed through the magic field and then into her gaping mouths, but I'm not entirely sure because she was dying already, her tentacles and limbs collapsing in a messy tangle on the floor while her body remained suspended from the ceiling. A final ear-piercing shriek of pain and rage erupted from her trembling mouths, then she fell silent, green blood and slimy eggs dripping onto the floor beneath her.

"Well that was easier than I expected," I exclaimed, releasing the breath I'd been holding as I crept towards the misshapen hulk. I shone my light into one giant eye, then clicked my safety back on, satisfied by the lack of any iris response. "Do you think the rest of her brood died too? In the movies killing the alien queen usually-"

A distant commotion of outraged shrieks and the tramping of hundreds of feet came drifting from the tunnel entrance.

"kills the whole hive," I finished awkwardly. "Or not."

Amid a chorus of angry noises, the first giant members of the ugly horde appeared at the cavern entrance and froze, waving their tentacles about as if smelling the air. It was apparent they were working from a simple rage into a full frenzy, the tentacles oscillating with increasing speed as they scented the death pheromones of their mother.

"Well, they sure aren't disabled," James commented mildly. "If anything, they look even more pissed off than before."

"Almost as if someone just killed their queen or something," Mia added. "So much for Hollywood logic. Any ideas?"

"Yeah, how about we-" I started.

The creatures began trundling towards us, hissing angrily.

"SHOOT THEM!" I finished. I raised my SBR, switched back into automatic fire mode, and pulled the trigger. Purple bullets streaked out into the advancing horde, ripping through chitin and splattering monster bug guts on the walls, the ground, and the other bugs. Unlike their late parent, these uglies didn't even have any magical protection at all.

James joined me, and we picked targets rapidly, firing short bursts. Mia popped away on the other side with the pistol. Tentacle-faced bugs kept coming, tromping over the thrashing corpses of their hivemates in their single-minded efforts to get at us. I glanced with dismay at the rapidly dropping ammo counter in my ARHUD. A hundred rounds goes very quickly in full auto.

"Focus on the base of the tentacles!" I directed. "It seems to knock them down fast!"

"Got it!"

We continued firing in short busts, the green lasers on our weapons combining with the automatic tracking reticles in our ARHUDs to give us highly efficient targeting. Even so, we were about to be overrun.

"Reloading!" I dropped the magazine into the dirt, simultaneously pulling a new on from my belt pouch. I swung it up into place using big movements, the adrenaline making me shake pretty badly.

"Eris! I'm out now!"

I was too busy to acknowledge Mia, and the monsters closed in while I fumbled with my weapon. Finally the magazine clicked home. I quickly held it out, pulled the trigger.
To my horror, nothing happened. I whacked the bottom of the magazine again desperately. No dice.
"Oh, crap! My gun is jammed!"

"RELEASE BOLT" started blinking in my ARHUD.

I was too freaked out to understand. I couldn't remember what the hell that meant with these monsters closing in on us.

I heard Turf's foals crying, I heard his wife whimpering in fear.

"Fucking hell." James, who had been in the middle of reloading, had fumbled his mag, dropping it on the ground. He was now trying to snatch another out of his pack. I knew there wouldn't enough time for him to finish before we were buried under a mass of tentacles, and something told me they weren't taking prisoners this time around . I let go of the pistol grip of my own weapon, dropping it against my body while I stood as erect as possibly on my hind legs. I thrust my right forehoof into the air and quickly prepared a spell, pushing a massive surge of power from my horn to build a glowing, swirling ball of pink energy atop my raised hoof. I then swung down hard, hurling the orb into the dirt in front of the approaching creatures. A blast of energy shot forward in an expanding wave, clinging to the drones and causing them to stumble and slow. They hissed in frustration, their feet caught in the glowing web that now covered the ground.

I gasped, staggering to the side as magical exhaustion flooded into my body. James put an arm around my waist, his face lit up from below in the pinkish light of my magic field. "Are you okay babe? Wow! That was amazing!"

"I-I'm fine." Still standing on two legs, I leaned heavily against him. "That spell won't last long. Take them out while they're down. Hurry!"

Without letting go of me, James reached out with one hand and began executing targets with single shots to the tentacle base. They were basically sitting ducks as long as my spell held them.

With James holding me, I felt slightly calmer. I looked at my SBR again, and realized with a pang of embarrassment I had simply forgotten to slap the bolt release after inserting the new magazine.

"The tunnel is crawling with them. Literally. Any ideas?" James asked, his words punctuated by gunshots.

"I'm fresh out of ideas," I said glumly, then I noticed the ugly critters dying on the floor were not being replaced by new enemies. I looked into the tunnel, and I could see several black forms just barely peeking around the entrance. I took a shot at them, and they all withdrew.

"Hum, it looks like you've frightened them," Mia observed. "I guess that last massacre got the point across."

"They're still camped out in the tunnel though. We can't leave." I took a single shot at another peeking bunch of tentacles, which once again withdrew. "The bastards are just waiting on us to run out of ammo or something."

James grunted. "If we go out there, they'll get us for sure."

"If we stay here, they'll get us when we run out of bullets," Mia groaned. "We're screwed."

"We hang on for as long a we can, then, and try to think of a plan in the meantime." I fired another bullet at a nosy tentacle poking into the tunnel. It pulled back with great rapidity. I set up a relatively comfortable position shooting over a rock, James beside me. We took potshots at any bug monsters brave enough to make the occasional appearance. There was plenty of pattering feet and other activity from the tunnel, so we had no doubt the critters were waiting just out of sight.

"It looks like we're gonna be here for awhile," Mia said, leaning up against me. "Here's your pistol back. Sorry, it's empty," she yawned.

"Thanks." I stuck it back in my holster and sat back against James. "Are you okay honey?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm doing fine." He fired another shot. "You girls should rest a little. I don't know how long we're gonna be here."

"Okay," I yawned also, patting Mia's head. The poor girl was already out cold, gunfire or no gunfire, her upper body lying heavily against my muddy chest. "I'm just gonna sit here and think abou-"

"Eris. Babe, wake up."

"Huh?" I groaned, opening my eyes to Mia's voice. I turned my head and took in the dimly lit cave littered in giant insect corpses. "Oh, crap. I was hoping this was just a bad dream. How long was I asleep?" My mouth tasted like pure sticky ass since I hadn't brushed my teeth after dinner.

"Hours," James replied. "It's about zero two hundred now. Things are about to get worse, too. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but we're almost out of ammo."

"Oh, crap." I carefully sat up, my butt and back stiff from the position I'd passed out in. I reached for my rifle, but it wasn't slung around me anymore. "Where's my gun?" I asked.

"I already used it while you were sleeping. They're both empty." James sat with his pistol out, aiming down the tunnel. He fired another shot at the opening, and I heard shuffling far down it. "I haven't even killed one all night. Think I winged a couple, but they've been playing it real coy."

I looked around. Both our SBRs sat in the dirt behind us, right in front of Turf and his family, who had apparently moved closer to us while I was drooling on James in my sleep. I looked at the farm pony, and Turf looked back at me alertly, his wife leaning against his shoulder with her eyes closed, and both foals sitting in her lap, deeply asleep.

"Bad?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied sadly. "We're about to run out of ammo and then... well. You know."

His ears drooped. "Any ideas?"

I racked my brains for a bit. "Well, maybe I can use my magic for something. It's real risky, though. I could try to do something to distract or slow the monsters in the tunnel for a few seconds, and maybe we can run past them."

Turf wrinkled his muzzle. "You're right. That's a terrible idea. Can't you just blast the tunnel shut with your horn or something?"

"I wish. It's solid rock, I'd never get it to collapse. Either we run, or we sit in here and try to take them on hoof to tentacle."

"That's an even worse idea."

I lowered my head. "I know."

James fired another shot, and the Glock locked back. "Fucking empty. I guess this is it," James said, standing up. He pulled out his folding knife and opened it, the blade looking pathetically small. "Better than nothing, I guess?"

Mia picked up a nearby rock. "I lost my knife somewhere in the woods."

"Somehow I don't think it really matters," I whispered. "At least we're together at the end. Sorry, Turf. It doesn't look like we'll be leaving here."

He paled. "Do you think we should...?" He looked at James's knife, then at his sleeping family. "I just don't want my kids to be monster food. You could make it quick for us, with that." He shifted his own knife in his hoof. "I couldn't do it myself. But-"

My mouth dropped open as I realized what he was thinking. "No. NO. Fuck no. Don't give up, Turf. Don't ever give up. Holy fuck, dude. Don't even think about it!"

"Ever seen Stephen King's 'The Mist'?" James asked, swishing his folding blade through the air.

"No?" I replied.

"Well, let's just say, while there is life, there is hope. That's a quote fro-"

Pebbles fell in the tunnel.

I turned at the sifting noise, and a tentacle extended into the corridor. Mia stood to hurl her rock at it. It jerked back as the stone clattered nearby, then stealthily reappeared. This time it didn't jerk back when she chucked another rock. More of the ugly monster shuffled out into view, tentacles waving adventurously.

"Oh jeez, here they come," Mia said, crouching down and squeezing me. "I love you, Eris. I love you, James."

James came over and gave us a hug. "I love you both, and I ain't giving up." He stood again with that crappy knife. "I'm gonna stab as many tentacles as I can. They're gonna regret the day they tried to eat the Triad. Right, Turf?"

"Y-yeah. We'll stab them together."

"That's the spirit."

I wanted to add something, but I just stared in silent horror at the tunnel and the carefully advancing monsters in it. Eventually another shitty idea occurred to me. "I can give us a few more minutes, I think," I said, standing up and putting my forehooves on the rock. I focused my magic and projected a simple barrier across the opening. The monsters reached it and flinched, tapping at the unyielding surface with their tentacles.

"How long can you keep this up for?" Mia asked me.

"Not... long," I gasped. "Gotta concentrate."

Mia put her arms around me and held me gently. "T-thanks," I chuffed, closing my eyes and holding the field in place as the creatures began battering it with their tentacles, their confidence increasing every second they didn't receive a bullet.

"Oooooh," I strained, squeezing every bit of magic out of my body into that barrier. It felt like exhaling all the air from my lungs, then trying to exhale even more. Every scrap of power I had went into that field, and I held it as long as I could, every second another second of life for the humans and ponies around me. I didn't want to see them die, and I didn't want to die either. I squeezed and squeezed until I felt like an old, empty toothpaste tube, the pain of overexertion and magical exhaustion building in my head until I felt like I would explode from sheer agony.

Finally the barrier flickered, then vanished. "Ohhh, ohhh," I moaned, my eyes rolling back in my head as I collapsed into Mia's arms on the verge of fainting. "S-sorry. I couldn't hold it. Ohhh."

"You did your best," Mia whispered in my ear. "I'm proud of you, baby."

The shadows of those vile creeping tentacles played over us, and I couldn't do a thing about it, my mind sputtering and flickering towards unconsciousness. As I floated on the edge of blackness, a strange rushing sound filled my ears, growing gradually louder. Flickering orange lights danced at the edge of my vision, pulsing sporadically with the pounding pain in my head. A rising shriek filled the cavern, the piercing, angered war cry of the tentacled ant-monsters. Fear washed over me. I struggled to stay awake, not wanting to leave Mia to die alone clutching my senseless body.

Then I passed out.