The Totally Awesome Guide to a Deadly Forest of Death

by TDR


Parasprites.

Twilight Gets a Puppy
Totally Awesome Guild to the Deadly Forest of Death
By TDR


Parasprites.




Names: Parasprite, Devourer bug, Eat Flies, Lunch,and 'Ugh'

Habitat: Mostly dense forests, though there are known variations adapted to cities, deserts and underwater.

CR: .1 for a single one and a 4 or five depending on swarm size

Type: Tiny magical pest

The vermin known as a parasprite can be described as a tennis ball sized furry creature with small dragon fly like wings, four small legs with exceptional gripping power, and large expressive brightly colored eyes. Their bodies are covered with a surprisingly soft layer of fur that has been noted as being any color from pastels all the way up to near neons.1

Internally the parasprite is little more than a small nerve cluster and rudimentary spine connecting the eyes to the wings. The rest of it is a little muscle for the legs and the remaining 90% is all stomach which doubles as it's reproductive organ.2

The soft cooing sound it emits is little more than the rumble of it's stomach

The main drive of Parasprites seems to be to eat and reproduce. Tests conducted have shown that if the parasprite eats double it's own body weight it will produce another parasprite. For something this small one would think that that might take a while due to size limitations, though with no bones to speak of the parasprite can unhinge itself and devour something nearly four or five times it's size in one gulp. The implications of this are terrifying when you compare the average size of a foal to the size of a parasprite.

Thankfully for ponies everywhere the parasprites don't seem to be interested in eating anything that could fight back in the slightest, the nature of the parasprites build shows that even if they decided to eat a mouse, that mouse would have time to chew it's way out, thus killing the parasprite, and that is if the mouse allowed itself to be swallowed without killing it's attacker in the first place.

The fact they are so frail means they are of little threat to anyone physically.3

However this does not mean they are not dangerous. A single parasprite can become a swarm in less than fifteen minutes if given a large enough supply of food. Several smaller communities have been stripped bare of all crops and food stuffs by a swarm in the past and required aid from the crown simply to make it to the next day. 4

The danger of these creatures is not just a threat to Equestria as there are known variations of them all across Equss. Due to this numerous counter measures for the creatures have been created from warding spells, to militia's designed to combat the threat of a swarm.

There is good news however, if a swarm is successfully warded off the parasprites paltry memories will remember that they were driven away from this location and will avoid it for at least a few years due to the odd shared genetic memory they have.

Another thing of note is that they will avoid what they consider known predators for even longer.5

Of which complete eradication of this pest species is not an option as despite their actions they are a prey species for a large number of creatures and thus have a vital part in the food chain.9

A census is taken often by the 666th Guard unit to monitor the levels of parasprite infestation in various forests around Equestria. If the numbers are too high the Guard tries to move some predators from lower numbered areas in to curb their growth before a swarm occurs.12

Through their efforts Equestria ha not had a swarm erupt in several years, and other nations are beginning to adopt this strategy, most notably the Griffons in recent years and Neighlantis.15

One of the strangest things about parasprites is the most common method to remove them.
Polka music.
Studies have determined no reason for why this works or why it is ONLY polka music that works.

When the music is played all parasprites within range of hearing it16 line up and follow after the player with little hops continuing on after it until the music stops or they themselves become too tired and pass out.17

This method however has it's draw backs as the swarm will often return to where they were lead away from unless they are lead to another area with lots of food to distract them. It is usually advised that if the music method is used that at least half the swarm is killed before they are led away to ensure that those left will remember enough to avoid the area for longer.



1 They also taste like various flavors of bubblegum based on the coloration Which is weird for a lot of reasons.~Rahs

2 This should not be physical possible, though numerous tests have proven that yes it very much is. ~Twilight.

3 A notable exception to this are Breezies, who are magically weakened while they are out of their home, and parasprites are one of the major threats to breezy migrations when they still happened. ~Twilight.

4 Another major issue is if you are camping or on a Guard training exercise you need to make sure your food is secure in something that they will not eat through like hardwood or metal. We learned that the hard way in basic training. Having to forge for food in the middle of an unknown location while the Drill Sergeant slowly eats a doughnut in front of you is torture.~ Shining Armor

5 Currently my siblings are both considered to be ancestral predators of the dang things and thus Ponyville has remained Parasprite free for several years. ~ Spike 67

6What ? They are tasty.~ Rahs

7 I find this insulting that they consider me such just for a bit of science. ~Twilight 8

8 This I find funny, more so that she doesn't know why. ~Shining Armor

9One of these species is the Crystal Dragonfly a sub species of giant dragonfly that migrated tot he frozen north and was adopted by the Crystal Empire for pest control. The species was thought extinct until the return of the empire, though breeding stock was low, though careful conservation the species has moved from Extinct, to Extinct in the wild, to critically endangered to simply endangered as of the time of this printing. ~Shining10

10I had to stop Shining here because he was going to go on and on about them given he is one of the driving figures in the restoration of the species. There will be more on them in a later entry.~ Twilight 11

11 That my sister had to stop someone else from going on a lecture should say something~ Spike

12 It is of note that at the time of this writing the last great damaging swarm was caused by PETA in Manehatten, something that particular branch has yet to recover from financially, and that all other divisions have distanced themselves from.~Rahs 13

13 I didn't even know they had divisions I thought they were one big group. ~Spike 14

14 More on PETA in another entry, as they do count as a threat, even if if it a stupid one. ~Twilight.

15 Why Neighlantis adopted this strategy was confusing at first until it was found out that there is an aquatic subspecies of Parasprite that is physical identical though it replaces it's wings and legs with fins.~ Twilight

16Which gets on my nerves as they have no auditory receptive function at all. ~Twilight

17 My studies have shown that if the music continues they will continue as well as soon as they wake up. I wished to continue the experiment to see how long it would go before they would be unable to continue but after three days of nonstop polka music my brothers destroyed both the record and the player before Rahs ate the test subject.~ Twilight 18

18And we will do it again in a heartbeat!~ Rahs