Twilight had awoken from the sound of rain sprinkling her window, like small insects landing on a surface.
She had gotten out of her bed sheepishly and was greeted with an antsy Spike, who must have been awake all night, as he had bags under his eyes and his conjunctivas were deeply bloodshot. He had possessed a look of anxiety.
“My Celestia, Spike! Have you been up all night?” Twilight said with a worried look.
“I couldn’t sleep last night. Every time I had tried to go to sleep, I’d end up having nightmares of those... Zerg? I think that’s it.” His voice was weak and stuttered.
Spike had a look of horror in his eye when he had said Zerg, like it was a poison threatening him if he had ever said the word.
“I know it was frightening, but don’t worry, we will be fine. It’s not like they can attack us from here, they would be completely outnumbered. If we got enough ponies, I believe we could remove them entirely from the Everfree Forest, and everything will be back to normal.” Twilight had smiled, showing no sign of doubt.
Although, in Twilight’s mind, there was in fact some doubt. What if they couldn’t succeed in purifying the forest? The thought made Twilight have the urge to shiver.
“I guess you’re right, I just hope they won’t come here.”
On their way to Zecora’s, the ground was covered in mud, like it had been raining for quiet sometime now. The forest was completely saturated in water, and the brightness of the area was close to that of last night.
The two had reached Zecora’s hut, where she was still in one piece.
The rest of the witnesses had arrived in Zecora’s hut, along with the extra Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, both eager to know what happened the night before.
“It sounded like super duper fun last night! Why didn’t anypony invite me?” Pinkie Pie had a look of sadness.
“Because, you wer’ too busy workin’.” Applebloom had answered, as she had attempted to tell her the day before to come along.”
After the group of ponies had told the two mares of what had occurred the night before, there was already almost immediately a breakout of questions.
“So, I don’t get it, a ‘tentacle’?”, Rainbow Dash was completely confused about the entire situation.
“Spine Crawler.” Zecora had corrected her, followed by a group of surprised faces by the name of the now known structure. The name of the organism gave them shivers down their spines, as the name even describes.
“Doesn’ see, raht, the way it was actin’. It could have injured one of us bahdly.” Applejack had a look of anger and sadness, of what could have taken place.
“It could have done more, it would poison you, leaving you quiet sore.” Zecora had changed her mood over the past day. The once known happy Zebra was now a deep in thought wreck that hadn’t had a clue what to do.
“What do you mean, sore? Do you mean like we’d get sick?” Pinkie Pie had tilted her head, still full of happy emotion.
“The Spine Crawlers have a poison they apply, for it could even make the strongest colt die.” She had started to shake, almost like she was about to burst into tears. “I have a story, of one with Zebras and all of there... Glory.”, Her face had an emotion of disgust, like defining her own race as ‘glorious’ was like saying Pinkie Pie was the worlds most serious pony.
“A story? Is it a story of happiness?” Rarity had questioned, but Zecora’s eyes said it all.
Zecora had a dark chuckle, like she had lost some of her sanity,”Far from happiness, my stylish mare friend. It is more like my origin’s end.”
The sky was a dark tinted orange, the ground, aside from all of the rotting corpses, ravaged and destroyed. There was a complete onslaught of Zerg rallying towards the Zebra’s frontal region, which had been repaired numerous times.
“We need more frontal defense!”, Zerul had shouted, he was in deep panic. He had scouted the defense;, only several hundred Zebras as opposed to the thousands they had before the attack. “Goddamnit! If we can’t hold them off quick enough, we will all be slaughtered in seconds!”
The Zerg army came in large waves; many different mutations had rushed to the front, trying to destroy the fortified wall, which was almost completely destroyed. They ranged from small to large, flying to ground.
Zerul was just about to give up before a few other Zebras had come to aid their lone Commander, ammunition at hoof.
“Sorry for the delay, Boss, we were tending to the numerous injureds scattered across the defenses.” This Zebra was a well-built, but short stallion, he had several injuries but was still in good shape; Zebras were strong, they did not give up without a fight for sure. His voice was deep, and had a thick accent, one that you would find in the tropics.
“No times for apologies, General, we need to defend as long as we can!” Zerul was the Commander of the forces, he was tall, vicious, and a straight out brute. He had a short greatcoat, representing all of his achievements and accolades while being in the battalion, which were covered in a thick, purple liquid - the blood of the Zerg he has vanquished.
The defense was a large, round open area, with a few huts here and there. The surface of the base was covered in many Zebras that were injured, dead, and medics that were healing the injureds. In the center was an unusual structure, one of which you would see in a science fiction movie, was powering up. The nexus was glowing a pure white, almost like it was near full power.
“We just need to hold on for a few more minutes!” The other colt had said; he was tall and skinny, like he hadn’t eaten in days.
The three had just barely held them off before there was a shout coming from the Nexus.
“It is at full power! We need to leave now!” There was a young colt, he must have been at least 16 or 17. He was standing right outside of the Nexus, his eyes fully bloodshot.
The survivors had all filed into the large structure known as the Nexus. It had taken at least ten minutes, due to the injured ones that had limped or dragged themselves into the building.
The three defenders had leaped right off of the platform leading to the enclosed bunker that held them throughout their barrage. Right before the three could make it, the Nexus had formed a sealed force field.
“What in Tartaurus, why did you secure the Nexus before everyone was finally in?” Zeraul had shouted in frustration and panic.
The Zerg had breached the defense and were now rushing towards the Nexus at full speed. It was all hopeless for Zerul and his two colleagues.
They all had kept shouting until the Nexus had finally vanished into thin air, it all seemed so surreal.
The three had stared at the swarm that was sprinting towards them. This was it, they had watched their final seconds in complete fear. The Zerg had kept at it as they travelled towards the trio.
“Boys.”
Closer.
“It has been a pleasure knowing you.”
Closer.
“I am sorry that you won’t be able to say your goodbyes to your loved ones on this day, but know that you will see them again soon.” A tear had escaped the Commander’s eye.
--- --- ---
A young mare had awakened in a small room, one of many inside of the Nexus. She had looked about the age of ten, her hair in a small Mohawk, with earrings in both ears.
She had travelled down the stairs and into the main area of the Nexus. She had spotted a few Zebras arguing in the main control room, where she had eventually heard her father’s name in the dispute and she had finally walked into the room, with unknown whereabouts of her father.
“Where is Papa Zerul?”
Zecora was streaming in tears after the explanation.
Hundreds of questions lurked through the minds of everypony, as it was all so sudden. How could this have happened? Where did they get the technology to construct the Nexus? And how did Zecora end up in the outskirts of Ponyville after living in that wasteland?
After a horde of chattering, Twilight had decided to ask the first question,”What exactly happened? Did they just come in with the massive waves out of no where?” She had pretty much just taken one of the questions out of everypony's mouth.
Zecora sighed,”Sadly, no. We had thought they wouldn’t do much, as they had been very secretive about their society, we thought they wouldn’t grow. We had once thought they were the peace bringers of worlds, but we were sadly mistaken, as they had taken over our home in a swirl, it didn’t make much sense.” She had finally stopped sobbing and had a serious face like she had before on, like a sergeant preparing for war.
“And that Nexus thing? How did you zebras make a thing so... advanced?” Rainbow Dash had raised an eyebrow, almost as if she though Zecora was making the entire thing up.
“Your guess is as good as mine, my mare friend. But however, it did save us from the end of our Zebra existence.”
“And how exactly did you descend onto our, might I add lovely, planet?” Rarity came out of no where after being so quiet for so long.
Zecora had been patient answering these questions, as the Zerg had already started to build hostile defenses,”According to the Nexus, it had landed on whatever near inhabitable planet it could reach, In which it had landed on a nearby beach. The Zebra civilization is located on the other side of the Quiet Sea. But-”
“Why did you leave them then?” Sweetie Belle had interrupted, which was followed by a sigh from Zecora.
“I left them because... because” Zecora was starting to tear up,”Because they are selfish nobodies!” She had already erupted in tears, which had seemed so sudden. It was like a cloud had suddenly come over her head, blocking all of her happy thoughts and replacing them with depressing, sad ones.”They didn’t care about any of the casualties they lost, the Zebras had just did what they had once done before on the unoccupied planet before; Extract the world of it’s resources and kill the animals that had scurried around the surrounding area.”
With a gasp and near faint by Fluttershy, Zecora had continued.
“If anything, the Zebras is worse than the Zerg, and I am ashamed to be one of them. I ran away five years after our landing, after finally knowing the fate of my father. I had the idea of it, thinking it was a misunderstanding, that he was just scouting the area. But for five years? I think about it now, and I can’t believe how unintelligent I was back then, trying not to follow my beliefs in my own fears. What matters now, is that we need to deal with the Zerg before they infest this planet too.”
“So how exactly do we deal with these meatbags? They don’ seem too strong in their current form.” Applejack was determined on exterminating the Zerg as soon as possible, not aiming for unknown consequences and waiting.
“We need to armor to protect us from the Zerg’s vicious sting, and we will need some strong offense to bring.”
“Oh man, I can’t wait to do this!” Scootaloo was filled with adrenaline, this was a moment in her life that would be one of the greatest, or so she thought.
“I don’t think you four should help us, better safe then sorry, right?” Twilight replied with a small grin, talking to the Crusaders and Spike.
“Aww, c’mon! Ah think we can help lots! We can handle ourselves.” Applebloom had argued in reply, as she had wanted to help them in their attack.
“I’m sorry Applebloom, but you can be absolutely sure that this infestation will be over soon.” Zecora had smiled, something she hadn’t done in the past two days.
“But we’d be more support!” Sweetie Belle had added to the disagreement, saddened by the fact that adults had always tried to ruin the fun.
“Girls, please, we don’t want to take anymore risks than we are already taken.” Fluttershy was trying to persuade them into agreement, but their child minds would not quit without a fight.
Fluttershy tried as much as she could, until she had finally done something that even the strongest colt would be frightened at.
The Stare.
The four looked at Fluttershy, now much more aggressive than she was a few seconds ago. They all had come to an agreement and decided to leave the hut and retreat back to Ponyville, all having angry faces.
“Ah you really comin’ with us Fluttershah? You sure you don’ want to stay here?” Applejack said with a worried glance. She had never seen Fluttershy as an offensive type, let alone a participator in a battle. It was all too unusual to Applejack to see one of her shyest best friends going and engaging into battle, let alone playing an offensive role.
“I think I’ll be fine... Maybe.” Fluttershy didn’t realize what she had gotten herself into; she or her friends could get hurt. And who knows what is in the poison inside of their stingers, it placed fear into her. “On second thought, I think I might stay here.”
--- --- ---
The Bubbling inside of the pool of acid had stopped just as something emerged from the green liquid,
It was a Queen.
The Queen had a row of large spikes resting on her head, along with a column of scales, one spike on each column. It had two large claws coming from the back sides of it’s head, looking to that of skeleton bone. Her eyes were a glowing yellow, like an inferno burning in her eyes, and two small sets of fangs, and durable skin. Her body was covered in glowing green bubbles, most likely from the pool of acid still having effect on her skin. Finally, her six legs had the same durable bone as her claws; strong as hardened lava and dry as a desert.
She had made an ear busting howl as she had descended from the pool. She rallied herself towards the original structure where she had placed a few eggs inside of the odd building. It was made for birthing larvae; a hatchery.
The Queen had successfully birthed a set of larvae, to which she had just planted a few moments ago. The few larvae had formed into sickly green cocoons, but this time they were much more unstable inside of their cocoons than the norm worker mutation.
What torture were the larvae going through? And what were they mutating into?