//------------------------------//
// Cambrian Chaos 
// Story: Invasion of the Ecosystem: Rebooted 
// by Cipher800 
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While the gang was focusing on the termite problem in Ponyville, the seas were teaming with new life. A pony diver was observing the local fauna that had appeared lately. She was originally on a friendly visit, but when a flash of light brang a bunch of new plants and animals a few hours ago, all of which were really bizzare. Along with the recently-appeared trilobites, there were other animals that would have been perking the interest of the mare. As she gazed at the new occupants, she found something that she thought looked very funny. It was a wormlike creature with eight pairs of legs, each fitted with slender claws. On it's back, a bunch of spikes sat. That was Hallucigenia, one of the first armored animals to exist, and the evolutionary ancestor of today's velvet worms and their relatives. They may have died out on Earth, but they and several other extinct species will shine again on Equis. The likes of Plectronoceras and the Nautalis family were also here. 

The diver swam along the reefs, which fortunately haven't sprouted new coral instantly, and began looking at the new fauna in the reef, taking pictures with her waterproof camera, which she was thankful she had. She documented the Hallucigenia and several others like it, such as Microdictyon and Cardiodictyon. "This is Seashell speaking," Seashell said jokingly. "It appears that I have found strange new animals, including what appears to be worms with legs and sometimes spikes. Another specimen looks like horseshoe crabs, but appear to be wider. And there are some weird things that look like tiny little fish swimming by me, aren't there?" Seashell said as she observed the "fish."

The primitive Pikaia now swam in the reef, a whole school of them passing the diver. She decided to follow the school of primitive chordates and see where they wound up. Unlike what's happening in the land, the seas were teeming with even more of Earth's life. A school of similar-looking creatures, the Haikouichthys and the Zhongxiniscus, swam along with the Pikaia, and Seashell swam closer and reached her hoof at them, only for them to swim away from her in terror. Seaside knew fish were shy, but what she saw next was what really made her horrified.

The new creature looked like a shrimp, but its length was long enough to match her own. The creature's movement was propelled by the lobes on its sides, and its head had a single pair of compound eyes and a mouth that was accompanied by a pair of barbed "arms". That was one of the Cambrian age's predators Anomalocaris. At first, she thought it was just another animal, but as a predator, it eats other animals. Of course, an Equestrian fish attempted to greet the bizzare organism, waving a fin at it to say hi. Bad move. As soon as he was close enough, he met his fate as the Anomalocaris's armlike appendages grabbed him and pulled the poor fish to the mouth of the creature, which scarfed him down without a second thought whatsoever. Seaside had no words, only staring with her eyes wide open and in fear as the abnormal shrimp turned to the school of prehistoric fish and took its pick.

Equestria has never heard of predators, and all the animals lived in peace and happiness. But unlike Equis, every species of plant and animal on Earth were adapted to fight to survive, equipped with spikes, armor, sharp teeth, you name it, and you got it. Seashell has never seen this kind of life before, but she had a duty. "Barbaric actions have been taken. It looks like, no, there is a massacre going on here." Seashell said as she observed. She didn't know it or have a way to know, but it is completely normal for them. Another Anomalocaris swam to a group of trilobites, and looking directly at the scene, she saw it turn one of the trilobites over with its mouth arms, gorging at the defenseless soft tissue.

"Oh dear, this isn't good." Seashell said as she swam away from them as fast as she can. Once she thought she was far away enough. She heard a scream come from the distance as she was tackled in the back by a sea pony with silver fur and a dark grey mane. "What's wrong?" Seashell asked as she observed the sea pony, who had scars on him, already staining the surrounding ocean red with blood.

"Oww! I was minding my own business... when a flash of light came, and then... ow, a sea scorpion... IS RIGHT HERE! RUN AWAY!" the sea pony said as he pointed a hoof behind her. Seashell slowly turned her head around, and saw what appeared to be a giant sea scorpion, even bigger than Princess Celestia, feasting on what looks like a large fish. That sea scorpion was a powerful predator from the Ordivician period, Pentecopterus decorahensis. "Oh, and by, run away, I meant SWIM AWAY!" the sea pony said as he and Seashell immediately went the other way, where the sea pony was going. "We must go to Seaquestria. It's our best chance to survive this." he said as they swam deeper into the coral reef.





Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, in Twilight's castle, Applejack was a bit bummed about the harvest. It was just fine a minute ago, but then this flash of light came into play, and the next thing she knew, termites were eating on the trees of her family's orchard. "It's just not fair. First thing, ah was bucking apples from the orchard's trees, and then, the harvest went downhill. All that cider was lost." she said before turning her head to Starlight. "But thanks for the help, Starlight. If you haven't cast that spell of yours, those darn tree varmits would've eaten the whole orchard."

"It's always a pleasure to help a friend." Starlight said as she handed the termites over to Twilight. "Hopefully, with these samples that I brought, we can find the source of the problem pretty easily." the lilac unicorn said as she and Twilight went into another room along with the other two ponies.

"You sound confident there, Starlight. Thanks again." the orange farmpony said as Twilight put the bag of termites on the table next to them, along with the jar of stingers left from the Africanized bees.

"Angel and Sandy were worried sick when they saw the bees and these weird insects. We really should give a name for those things." the Element of Kindness said. "Let Twilight do her thing. She is one of the most talented magicians I've ever met." Fluttershy said before putting her mouth to Applejack's ear. "I bet she even has a crush on Starswirl the Bearded ever since he returned from Limbo." Fluttershy whispered into the Element of Honesty's ear, electing a giggle from her.

"Let's see how this winds up." Applejack said, more on all three things than either one of them. The other two ponies nodded in response. "The sooner Twilight can get this done, the sooner we can figure it all out."

Just then, a familiar pink mare came trotting about, jumping right onto the couch. "Hey, 'whatcha doing here?"