Twilight sat at her desk. Yet another image of last nights stars to aid her investigation. After she had received the letter from princess Celestia, her and the girls had been working very hard to decipher the meaning behind the mysterious star pattern.
It was nearing midnight and they still hadn't had a breakthrough in the pattern. Spike was the only one keeping Twilight company while the girls slept in their beds after a stressful day of work. However, Twilight was not going to give up on the princesses any time soon, no matter what her friends would say about the importance of sleep.
Suddenly, Spike came in to the study room, holding two claws over his mouth and looking extremely uncomfortable. He looked like he was choking on something and as Twilight started to hit his scaly dragon back an enormous amount of lime green dragon fire spewed out of his mouth in waves. As the flame settled Twilight could see a large box labeled 'fragile' with a letter neatly stuck on the top.
She barely had time to catch it with her magic before it hit the floor with the sickening sound of smashed glass ringing in their ears. Twilight and the surrounding area were coated with whatever had been contained within the box, and shards of glass stuck into the aged wooden boards at all angles. Spike stood in the epicenter in shock, dripping with what looked like water. As quickly as she could, Twilight wrapped her magic around the dragon's scaly body and lifted him away from the mess.
Twilight only registered the actual spillage of the contents of the box when the precious few fluids started seeping through the floorboards. "No!" she screeched as she dived toward the remaining few puddles that were steadily getting smaller. Fluids were far harder to manipulate or grasp in magic, and as she fumbled for control against the shifting particles, she felt something.
A heartbeat.
Something's alive in there.
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In the Celestial sea, two eyes opened.
Blue. Blue, hungry? Hungry, hungry, hungry, run!
The thing squirmed, not used to having the ability to think. The world was no longer dark for the being, instead the alien sun filtered through the waves that would eventually crash onto the nearest shoreline. The thing sensed others, the kin, floating around in suspension, attempting to gain control of the new thoughts that plagued their body. They were the biggest, they were. They had sharp mandibles and piecing spikes, waving tendrils and frilly fins. Truly, they were the top of the chain, cream of the crop, lords of the sea.
However, the fire of ambition grew inside of their little heads, filling it with thoughts of land, eat, grow, spread. Slowly, they felt their smooth scaled undersides give way to large points of skin and bone, their body adapting to the new appendages like they were born with them. Clawed toes flexed into the sand at the bottom of the shallow beach, sending what would eventually be called shivers of delight through their membrane as their newly adapted lungs flexed in the salty air.
The beings- no, the creatures fought against the waves valiantly, and all though some were unmercifully drowned by the shifting expanse, the majority of the creatures lived to see the dry sand, plants and trees. Ahead of them, there was a break in the treeline, a sandy hollow sheltered by it's steep walls and arching palm fronds. The creatures eagerly stumbled or rolled into the shelter, not entirely used to the wind battling their sides, and the sun actively attempting to turn them into steaming hunks of flesh.
With only a handful of kin left, they dug holes and carried foliage into the center of the hollow, forming a ring of sticks, with leaves in various stages of decay padding the inside. When the creatures had finalized the nest, a familiar feeling overtook their stomachs. Hunt, eat, eat, hunt. With new murderous intent, a pack of the creatures set off deep into the forest, previously drooping tendrils thrashing with aggression.
The first unfortunate prey of many was found in the form of a flock of Equestrian birds, basking in the sunlight and reveling in the peace that Equestria seemed to always have an infinite supply of. ...Well until now that was. Claws scraping the ground impatiently were the only warning these unfortunate avians got before five creatures jumped out of the surrounding bushes, snapping their fragile necks without a second thought, only taking time before eating to harvest the unfamiliar genetics.
They would share the wings and feathers with pack, yes they would. The ability to fly would be theirs, along with sharper, harder beaks and sturdier legs. They would dominate, grow, spread through the ecosystem. In an ideal world, they would rise unchallanged, paving the path to the stars. This, however, was not an ideal world. There were sentient life forms, a civilisation in the way, an obstacle on the road to glory. This civilisation must be destroyed.
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Twilight fired up her state-of-the art microscope, peering into the recovered droplets. The letter she received with the package was soggy and was too mushy to make out the letters. At first glance, the water seemed mundane, however, at a deeper and more calculated glance there were thousands of cell like creatures, that seemed to be growing at an accelerated rate that was only dreamed about. Already, what had been the size of a speck of dust was now the size of her hoof, tiny beady eyes gazing back at her, tendrils frantically trying to get a grip on the smooth glass of the container.
Frankly, it was incredibly unnerving.
She watched others of it's kind with horrid facination, as they consumed the algae growths that had formed around the inside. It was frantically sucking up the plant matter, seemingly in a race against the other various life forms for total domination of the container. Some of the creatures were attacked and killed by others, their flesh either being consumed within a heartbeat or left for the scavengers.
The most dominant being proppeled itself in short bursts of speed, it's pores sending out an unidentifiable purple sludge that seemed to extinguish all life that remained in it. Despite these murderous tactics, it was almost entirely a herbivore, preferring the flora to the red trail in it's wake. Twilight could almost relate. Though one question still rang out in her mind, above all the others.
Why had Celestia sent this?
It was obviously from the princess, being sent by dragonfire, but why? The letter attached had been soaked beyond repair, withholding the knowledge Twilight desperately needed. Was she meant to study the life forms? Raise them? Transmutate them into something else? Were they a threat to Equestria? Or was it a test? With that worrying train of thought she settled down with some parchment and a quill, and wrote to the monarchy of Equestria, making sure to watch the beings through her magic.
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Now they had moved inland, further and further. The pack had spread, gleefully taking the genetics of all they gorged on, allowing the pack to evolve, grow and spread past the forests that lined Fillydelphia and Baltimare. The trail of death eventually halted at a quaint village named Ponyville. They had accidentally managed to steer clear of any traces of civilization, until now.
The first noticed death of any life came in the form of a high-pitched wail as a buttercup coloured Pegasus mare discovered one of her bear friends lying face down in a pile of clawed earth as a pool of sticky liquid slowly spread out from gashes that littered the poor beast's body, turning the dirt into crimson sludge. The mare had seen many deaths before; this was not the first, nor would it ever be the last. However the death was so brutal, she had to wander what had caused it.
Meanwhile, in a secluded corner of the White-tail woods, the pack licked their wounds and bared their teeth as the new, unfamiliar genes rushed through their body, turning their paws into claws, and increasing the stature and strength of the pack. As one creature wiped the blood off it's maw, a newborn beast cried out. They would rule over all.