//------------------------------// // The Wrong Side of the Bed... // Story: Not Another Invader ZIM Crossover! // by theRedBrony //------------------------------// Zim stared blankly at the rustic wood ceiling through the darkness. All the other less intelligent beings in the room were already fast asleep. And so were the little vermin. The Dib human occupied another space on the floor, comfortably out of smelling range from Zim. The scary human female had claimed the couch. The yellow pony beast that owned this filthy vermin-ridden residence was upstairs in her bedroom. And thankfully the little fur monsters gave Zim a very wide berth, they practically scattered as he entered the place, except for that little white one with big ears. That one stood his ground. Zim rolled over to his side (laying on his pak was less than comfortable). The blankets strewn on the wood floor that he lay on were actually fairly cozy. Zim contemplated what he should do next. It had been many Earth years since Zim had partaken in this 'sleep.' Irken biology (with the help of their paks) did not require it. He had always thought it to be a waste of precious time. But right now, laying there in the silent darkness with nothing better to do, he decided to try it. Zim woke slowly to the sound of clanging metal. As he came too, drooling on his pillow, he realized he had no idea where he was. So naturally, the first thing that came to mind was, "AHHHHH!!!! I'VE BEEN CAPTURED!!!" He screamed as he jumped up and starting running in a circle. Dib couldn't help himself, after his third or fourth time around, Dib stuck his leg out in Zim's path. Zim tripped and faceplanted on the floor, sliding forward a few feet, his face stirring up some dust from the hardwood floor. He removed his face from the floor, shook his head to make his eyes point the right way again, and looked up. "Whaaaa?" Fluttershy and Gaz stared at him, from next to the home's stone hearth, Gaz was snickering a bit from that epic faceplant, and she was holding a cooking pot of some kind. Fluttershy actually displayed a look of concern for the poor hurt alien. The Dib human was standing behind him a few feet, whistling, with his hands behind his back. And even that furry white vermin stood on the floor in the middle of the room, staring him down, with his tiny arms crossed. Zim got up and chuckled in nervous embarrassment, and goose-stepped over to the couch and sat down. Dib joined him, with an adequate amount of personal space between the two, of course. "You didn't see that," Zim said, pointing at Dib. "Yes I did…" Dib retorted. "SILENCE!" Zim barked. "Man, Zim, looks like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed!" "Eh? I wasn't even on a bed!" "It's a figure of sp… oh, never mind." Desperate to change the subject, Zim asked, "What are THEY doing?" "Making breakfast, I think." "Brek-FESSSST?! I don't suppose they're making… wafflessss…?" "I dunno." "Hmm…" Zim got up and walked to the breakfast makers. "YOU! Scary human child and filthy wing-ed horse beast!" He received a blank stare from Gaz but Fluttershy just looked away. "Are you making waffleSSS for brek-fest???" Zim inquired with wide eyes and a look of anticipation. Fluttershy squeaked out an "Um…" And Gaz answered, "Oatmeal and eggs." Zim responded with a disappointed grunt, and hung his head low as he meandered back to sit on the couch. He had grown quite fond of these human 'waffles' over the years. It was one of the few Earth foods that did not make him wretch, but after he got used to them, he actually started liking them. "Your… sibling… she seems to be quite friendly with the horse beast," Zim noted. Dib took notice of his sister, over by the fireplace, cooking breakfast with the yellow pegasus. "Yea, she…" He trailed off as he noticed something very, very wrong with his beloved sister. She was smiling. Not an evil smile, a diabolical grin, or even a smartass sarcastic smirk. But a real, albeit small, quite genuine smile. Dib was rendered speechless. Gaz was never the cheery type, quite the opposite, actually. To see her smile was… frightening. Even more so than her usual scary demeanor and very real threats of bodily harm. Zim waved his little hand in front of Dib's face. It did not faze him. "HEY! HELLO?!" Zim shouted at his dazed enemy. Dib shook his head and looked at Zim. "Wha?" "Where's GIR?!" Zim demanded. The human boy looked around the room briefly and shrugged. "HEY! WHERE'S MY DOG?!" Zim shouted over to the cooks. "Who cares?" Gaz casually responded. "Um… I think he went outside, um… a while ago…" Fluttershy answered. "Eh?" Zim ran to the front door in a panic, knowing full well what that little robot was capable of when left alone. He swung the door open, got a glimpse of what was outside, and then slammed it shut. He grit his teeth and leaned his back against the door, as if bracing it. RRRRROOOOOOOAAAARRRRR A ferocious lion's roar was heard by all inside the cottage. Most of the small critters scurried back to their hiding places. A moment later, the door opened, with Zim still attached to it. GIR (in his dog suit) merrily strolled inside, turned back and yelled out the door, "BYE MISTER MANTICORE! I'll seeya later!" He waved his little hand briefly and closed the door, taking Zim with it. Zim stepped away from the door, "GIR! What are you doing?! That beast tried to eat me last night!!!" "I dunno, he seems nice!" GIR innocently responded. Even Fluttershy seemed put off by what was implied. After breakfast, Zim didn't touch his (GIR happily ate it for him), there was a knock at the door. Fluttershy answered it, and two ponies, who had previously introduced themselves as Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie, cantered into the cottage. Well, the pink one more 'bounced' than 'cantered.' Greetings were said by all but Zim. Twilight then announced the reason she was present, "Well, we came to the conclusion that you all should come to town and we'll introduce you to everypony..." "Uh… Twilight… do you think that's a good idea? We might kinda… freak out the natives…" Dib suggested. "Especially Zim," he deadpanned as he pointed a thumb behind him to the little invader. "Don't be silly!" Pinkie gleefully answered. "I thought about that. That's why Pinkie here is going around town inviting everypony to the…" "PARTY!!!" Pinkie jumped in front of Twilight and finished her sentence. Twilight nudged her friend out of her view. "…And she'll be explaining to them the nature of your… nature." "This is SO exciting! I've never been so excited! I've never thrown a party for ALIENS before! This is going to be super-duper-FUN!" Pinkie bounced around the room. "That sounds um… nice," Fluttershy commented with a small smile. Dib noticed that Gaz was smiling again. Perhaps even more than last time. Since when did she like parties? Especially parties thrown by alien equines? "Well we just dropped by to tell, er, invite you," Twilight started, "I'm afraid you'll all have to wait here until sundown, then we'll walk you into town for the welcoming party." She ended with a smile. 'These ponies sure are nice. They're throwing a welcoming party for aliens…' Dib thought to himself. If aliens were ever found on his own world, they'd probably be captured and dissected. He would know, he planned to do that to Zim when he first discovered him. Then again, at the time, he knew Zim's race was planning on multiple hostile planetary takeovers. Of course, over time, he discovered that the Irken Empire had no interest in his Earth, but he still had to protect it from Zim. 'These FILTHY horse beasts are actually quite hosPITable. I wish the Earth humans would have thrown ME a party when I got there.' Zim thought to himself. He knew from factual human media, such as movies, that aliens were hated on Earth. He would surely be dissected if he were ever found out and captured. His human nemesis had intended to do it himself when they first met. Despite the threat of capture, he had to stick to his mission. He had to take over his Earth. He did not want to disappoint his Tallest Leaders, who had entrusted him with this highly secret mission on the mystery planet. Pinkie stopped bouncing. "Oh yea! The party! I have to get started inviting everypony! I don't have much time! I'm inviting the whole town!" She made for the door. "PINKIE! Can I come with you?" GIR gave Pinkie his best set of puppy dog eyes. Not terribly difficult considering he was in a dog suit. "Aww… of course you can come with me, GIR!" Pinkie smiled at him. GIR jumped up on Pinkie's back. "YAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!" He clapped his nubby hands together in excitement. The pink mare walked out the door and bounced on her way, humming a merry tune, with GIR riding on her back. Twilight watched as her bouncy pink friend and the alien's mischievous robot-slash-pet dog faded into the distance, headed towards town. She wondered what kind of trouble those two would get into… Later… An air raid siren wails in the distance. The sun is darkened by a blanket of grey smoke, being continually replenished by the many house fires throughout the town. Thatched roofs are quite flammable, apparently. The townsponies run wild in the streets, in a full on panic. 'Help!' 'Save me!' 'The horror!' These are the cries heard amongst the sounds of raging fires, screams, and galloping hooves. In the town square, a lone light-purple unicorn filly with a blonde mane sits crying. She looks up and sniffles, "Where's mommy?" An explosion is heard in the distance. Twilight shook her head to clear these thoughts. A little smirk played its way across her face. "Nah, that'd never happen," she said to herself. Meanwhile, on a different Earth… Professor Membrane was looking at all the clutter in his garage. Tools and parts were strewn everywhere. Several large bundles of wires connected to computers on one end, were all hanging loose at the other end. All these wires' loose ends lay in a circular pattern on the floor. Something was there, something that all that stuff was hooked up to. And it wasn't there anymore. Still, though, the amount of work and technology going into whatever was there was way more than what Membrane expected. This was truly on par with even his own personal projects. He looked around. Nothing there was out of the ordinary. Screwdrivers, wrenches, hammers, band saw, belt sander, weed whacker, electrical components… what was this? Professor Membrane picked up a pink cylindrical item. About the size and shape of an energy drink can, it had a few wires coming from the top. And some… foreign… writing on the side, with what appeared to be a manufacturer's logo. A black triangle with a circle in the middle. He pocketed the device in his lab coat and left the garage, flicking the light switch off on his way out. He walked back to his computer and sat in front of it. With elbows on the desk, he meshed his gloved fingers and rested his chin upon them, his lab coat's collar still somehow managing to hide his nose in this position. "Computer, play last transmission from Gaz's communicator." The screen displayed some white noise, then a view of a very irritated Gaz. She turned her squinty eyes to the screen, and addressed her audience. "Hi dad. We should be home by seven." She was interrupted by a loud maniacal laughter. After it, the same voice said something incomprehensible. "Pause," ordered Membrane, "Replay last three seconds." Membrane could barely make out a few words, namely: moon, tidal waves, his son's name, and doom. While contemplating what those words implied, the professor noticed a black smudge in the picture, just above his son's hair. "Zoom in. Enhance. Zoom in. Enhance. Enhance." There it was again, the triangle logo, on a wall (or something) behind his son. He pulled the pink device from his lab coat's pocket to double check. "Resume play." Gaz looked back at the screen. "Sorry dad, Dib's friend Zim is being annoying. Gotta go." And that was it, the last thing he heard from them. 'Zim' was familiar. Indeed Membrane had even met his deranged son's very normal green foreign friend. Membrane ruminated on his last thought for a moment. Particularly the part about Zim being green and foreign. 'No.' Membrane thought to himself. He refused to believe that his son's friend was an alien. That notion was just ridiculous. He knew Dib wanted to be a 'paranormal investigator,' but he figured that he'd give in and turn to REAL science eventually. Not wanting to think about this any longer, he decided to go investigate his son's room. Once inside, he looked around. The place was a mess. Not the usual teenage boy's messy room, but something more akin to what the Professor's room looked like when he was his son's age. He smiled behind that high collar of his. 'Chip off the old block' he thought. Papers and books were scattered everywhere. A massive corkboard along the wall above the desk held papers with diagrams, schematics, and equations. The desk itself had several computer monitors. Two of which were displaying camera feeds. All but one camera feed were displaying some kind of factory or laboratory. The one that wasn't was showing the outside of a house. A house with freakishly large lawn gnomes. He wondered if this was Zim's house. He figured it was as good a place as any to start looking for his children. The last thing Gaz said was that Zim was 'being annoying,' so they must have been with him. Membrane shifted some papers around on the desk, hoping to find a clue where Zim's house might be. He looked around some more before he gave up. Sighing, he scratched his chin. As he turned to leave, he spotted a huge map on the corkboard. 'How did I miss that?' The map was of a few residential streets, with a cul-de-sac right in the middle, and a red circle around a property. He un-tacked the map from the corkboard and took it with him. He left his house, got in his car, and drove to the address. Parking in front of the strange house, Membrane got out of his car and approached the residence. This was the place with the freakishly large lawn gnomes. There were also a pink lawn flamingo, a blow fish, and a sign that read 'I <3 EARTH.' He approached the door and couldn't shake the feeling that the gnomes were watching him. 'Men' the sign on the door read. Now very intrigued by the owner's taste in decoration, he pressed the doorbell button. Almost immediately, the door opened to reveal two robots. "Welcome home, son!" They said in unison. The robots looked like cliché parents, almost caricatures. Membrane easily saw right through the guise, but still went on to talk to them as though they were real people. Perhaps they were built for the precise purpose of answering the door. "Excuse me, is 'Zim' home?" He asked. Receiving only a blank stare from the slightly sparky robot pair, he was about to decide what to do next when all of a sudden, a small purple blob with moose antlers floated up from behind the door answerers. "MEEP!" The blob squeaked.