//------------------------------//
// Starting Out Small 
// Story: Invasion of the Ecosystem: Rebooted 
// by Cipher800 
//------------------------------//

The Amazon Rainforest, located in Brazil, is one of the biggest hotspots for life, it's there everywhere you look. No matter where you are in this place, there's always something alive there, plant or animal. Monkeys swing in the trees as birds fly at the emergent layers. At the forest floor, all sorts of creepy-crawlies ran about, but in this case, there is a wave of death that had one purpose in mind: survival of the colony. They may seem small and cute from a distance, but that's not the case.

That was Ection Burchelli, commonly known as the army ant. Now, these little boogers may not do any harm by their lonesome, but you know what people say: strength in numbers. They cut apart any creature they can find and bring their remains to the colony nearby. These guys have left their mark on the Amazon and dominated the forest floor. When against these ant's it's best to stay completely still and play dead. Nothing seemed to stop them.

But suddenly, in a bright flash of light, the whole colony disappears without a trace. A quick look will tell you that nothing has changed, but a keen eye can tell you otherwise. The lack of army ants or anthills on the forest floor was one such thing. Where did they go, and what was happening?





Sandy, a green snake that live on the outskirts of the Everfree, enjoyed a simple life along with the other animals that lived in the cottage. The meals Fluttershy prepared were extremely nice, so much as all the other animals, save for a snarky white demon. Currently, she on a tree branch, her noodlelike body constricting around it as she enjoyed the sun.

<So, Sandy.> a familiar voice said. She looked to see her old pal, Rodney, a grey squirrel. <Now that Fluttershy's teaching at some magic school, can we go with her?> the squirrel chittered.

<I'm not really sure.> the snake said before another voice came.

<Don't worry about it now,> Rina, a cardinal, said. <I'm 100% sure that she'll come back every day after the school day's ended. Wait, what's that?> the bird chirped as she pointed her wing to what looked like a bunch of red and black ants covering the floor. <Ants? There's a whole bunch of them.> Rina tweeted in confusion. Never before, have they seen so many ants in one place.

<Okay, here goes nothing...> Rodney said as he went down the tree to greet the newcomers. Sure, he knew some good jokes, but what happened next horrified everyone who was watching. The ants crawled onto the poor squirrel like a wave of death, with hundreds of sharp little mandibles biting through the poor guy, tearing bits of flesh from him. His screams of pain and terror only enhanced the horror of the scene. No matter where he would run off to, there were ants. And in no time at all, he was brought down, and the ants only left his skeleton behind.

<Rodney!> the animals screamed simultaneously. But it did not stop there. Soon enough, the ants came marching one by one, climbing up the trees by hundreds, no, there were thousands more. Whatever small animals and insects in their vicinity got caught in the massacre, screaming in pain as they met their fate. Their needs for mercy fell upon deaf ears. Not even the birds were safe, and they were forced to either fly away or become victims themselves.

Throughout all this Sandy watched with wide fearful eyes and her body frozen stiff like it would always do whenever something bad happened. Then she felt tiny feet across her body. Sandy closed her eyes and waited for them to bite, to bring her death in the form of hundreds of tiny mouths ripping her apart. However, nothing came.

She opened her eyes and moved ever so slowly to see that the ants were ignoring her, yet these little devils were still crawling on her own body. It made absolutely no sense for the cute little snake. She saw them butcher all her friends for whatever reason, yet they spared her life. She couldn't even think about why this is, and all she can do was watch a large amount of her friends die by the hands of those monsters, and only their skeletons were left behind. She knew some of them her whole life, some of them were very close to her, no matter how much time she spent.

And then, the ants all went back into an anthill that wasn't there before, taking the flesh with them, some even ate the spare bits just laying around. How is that even supposed to be moral? These guys took her friends and they were nothing more than buffets with legs for them. <I have to warn Fluttershy...> she said as she went down the tree, making sure that there were no ants left in the place. They were all in the anthill.





Later, Fluttershy hummed a tune, already returning from the School of Friendship, ready to feed her animals their lunch for the day. She went to her cottage to check on the animals there. There were a few laying around, like Angel Bunny and several other animals. "Okay, time for lunch, everyone!" Fluttershy said, calling out into the outskirts of the Everfree.

"Where is everyone? Rodney! Salty! Kyle! Andy! Anypony in there…" she said before a familiar green snake slithered right to her, but she looked traumatized, eyes already red with tears.

<Fluttershy, something bad has happened in the Everfree!> she said, slightly startling Fluttershy. <Me and my friends were hanging out as usual, when suddenly, the ground was littered with ants. Rodney came to greet them, but they KILLED him and ATE his flesh. They came by the thousands, mutilating my friends. They did not care whether they were young or old, sick or well, weak or strong, they just kept coming.> the snake said.

"But... how did you-"

<Survive? I don't know why, but I was keeping perfectly still, waiting for them to bite, but it never came. Why would they spare me and butcher so many others!? WHY ME!?> Sandy said, crying until Fluttershy came up to her.

Fluttershy's eyes went wide as tears starting to come down from them, body visibly shaking as Sandy told her what she was forced to witness. Fluttershy hugged the snake, trying to cheer both of them up. How could ants, who were so cute with their little homes, would do something a horrid as this. Any creature that would do something so monstrous likely couldn't be doing it willingly! It was unnatural even by the Everfree's standards.

"Wait, Twilight must have a book about this in her castle! I'll be right back!" Fluttershy said, coming out of the door, but not until she fed her animals some lunch.

<Fluttershy, wait. Can I come with you?> Sandy said as she slithered towards her pegasus friend.

"Alright, Sandy. If it makes you better for me to bring you, then you can come with me. I'll take Angel, too." the butter yellow pegasus said as she let the snake and the rabbit hop onto her back as she went to the Castle of Friendship.