"Have you warned the other leaders yet?" I asked Celestia.
It was the day after I had discussed things with Auric. I was in Canterlot Castle, discussing things with Celestia. She didn't trust me by a long shot yet, but she was fairly certain that I wouldn't stab her in the back before the Slitherers were defeated.
"I have sent word, but I am unsure that it has not been intercepted in some way."
"You did send it by air, didn't you?"
"Yes, but the Pegasi that I sent wouldn't have returned by now. So even if they have been intercepted, we would not know."
"Didn't you give them magic mirrors or something?"
"No, it would require Unicorn's to operate. And why don't you let us use your transportation?"
"Because they would most likely ether injure themselves rather drastically, or they would go insane. Our nydus worm are not to be used lightly by anyone who is not a Zerg." Celestia began to look annoyed. All of our meetings had been like this. Her mistrust made it so that every time I withheld something like this, even with good reason, made it so that she thought that I might be playing some angle. I was glad that she and her sister had some paranoia, but this level of it is just harmful. I sighed and said, "Look, Celestia, I realize that you don't trust me. And you have reason to. But the fact is, we won't survive if we don't cooperate."
"Forgive me if I don't trust the creature that slaughtered millions." She replied sharply, but her tone softened, "I am sorry, but I just need to be sure." The corners of my mouth would have twitched up, but I no longer had the ability to do so.
"It's fine. I just hope that you come to trust me. Now, may I go?"
"Yes." She was probably thinking about if she could trust me further then she had so far. But I left the room and was escorted by the guards to my nydus worm out side the city. I was engulfed by the maw, and was transported back to the Hive. Once I was out, I looked at the embassy that was being constructed. The ponies who were building the small fortress looked extremely nervous. That was to be expected of course. Even though I had ordered my army not to attack unless they were attacked first, almost all of them were staring at the ponies.
"Prime Directive?"
"Yes?"
"Do you have the essence for a Brood Mother?"
"What do you refer to?"
"A zerg who is intelligent enough to command my Zerg when I go to fight with Auric."
"I do not have anything of the sort, but I will create the essence for such a thing, if you wish."
"I do wish it." I brought a picture of a Brood Mother to the front of my mind. "Make them to look like this."
"Very well." I was glad that I had thought to ask before Auric called. I didn't want my swarm to be leaderless when I was gone. I contemplated the general state of my hive and the embassy for awhile. But I was alerted by one of my scouts that two ponies where making their way to the Hive on hoof. They were still a few miles away, but their course was in a strait line to the Hive. So I approached one of the work pony's and asked him, "Do you know if the delegate is here yet?"
He jumped in surprise, turned around slowly, then fled screaming into the embassy.
"I was only being polite." I thought. I realized that the guard ponies were surrounding me. So I said, "Do any of you know if the delegate is here yet?" They looked at me with bewilderment in their eyes. They then retreated slightly, and then huddled and started talking. I could still hear them of course. It went like this.
"Is that Dahaka?"
"Probably, I don't know of any other abominations that can talk here."
"We are so screwed."
"No, we are not. We just need to answer its question."
"Did the delegate arrive yet?"
"I don't know!" One of them started sobbing slightly.
"For the Celestia's sake, will you stop that!"
" *Sniffle* sorry."
"Gah, why is he here anyway?"
"No time for that now, someone go inside and see if the delegate is here!" They pushed one of their unit out, with much protest from the chosen. He turned to me, smiled in a panicky way, and said,
"J-just need to C-check, one minute." Then he galloped into the embassy. The huddle kept on whispering. Eventually the guard came out, knelt, and whispered, "The ambassador isn't here yet."
I sighed and said, "Well, that's problematic. Good day." And I walked away. I heard relieved sighs from behind me.
"Well, it could be the ambassador, but he or she probably wouldn't travel on hoof. And if it isn't the ambassador, I have no idea who it could be. Perhaps I'll send an escort." So I commanded a group of twenty zerglings to bring them to me, I was also going to use the Message Distributor to tell the trespassers what was happening when the zerglings got to them. I waited until my zerglings were in sight of the ponies, then dropped this message into their heads.
"This is Dahaka, and my zerglings are here to escort you to the hive. Do not resist unless you want to lose your life. I thank you in advance for your cooperation." They nervously complied, and I studied them through my zerglings eyes. They looked like news reporters, one even had an old fashioned camera hanging around his neck. I resolved to ask them about that when they got here.
They dragged their feet as much as they could, but eventually they came. I met them at the entrance, it was still covered by a wall of flesh. I smiled at the memory of when the workers and supply's arrived. The trespassers had almost the exact same expressions as the zerglings pushed them through, and almost certainly gave them enough nightmare fuel for the next couple of weeks. Their expressions told me the sight of me, and the army that was swarming behind me did not help at all.
"Well, why did you come, and how did you find me?" I said. One of them pulled herself together and stammered,
"W-w e ar-re from t-the Cant-terlot T-times." She then rallied around the name of her Employer, and gained a professional tone. "We were just wondering if we could ask some questions." I noted the one with the camera start to raise the camera halfheartedly. I snapped,
"No pictures." The camera pony almost dropped the camera as he hurriedly lowered it. I briefly argued with myself about the merits of subjecting myself to the questions, then decided to go with it. "You may ask, but I might not answer." The reporter nodded her head vigorously.
"So, Dahaka, why are you helping us after the multiple genocides you committed?"
"What can I say, I'm a changed person." The reporter didn't look happy with that answer, but moved on.
"Do you have any family?" I almost laughed at that one.
"Technically, all of the zerg that you see behind me are my family." She looked shocked, so I put in a question of my own.
"So, tell me miss... what's your name?" She mumbled,
"Ink Jot."
"Ink Jot, could you tell me how you found the hive?" She immediately replied,
"I am not able to tell you that."
"Well, I guess that will not be able to answer anymore of your questions. Good day." I started walking away, and let Ink Jot think about how she was letting the report of a life time go down the drain. She quickly blurted,
"We have people in the construction crew." She slowed down as she said more, and turned a glare on the camera pony. As if to tell him to never tell anypony about this. "We cast tracking spells on them beforehoof." I turned and said,
"Next question?" She looked relieved as she asked,
"How do you plan to interact with the other nations?"
"Right now? Not at all." It went on and on like this for an hour, during which I was asked various questions. The last one was,
"What's your favorite spoon?" After which I orders some zerglings to shove them out into the desert once more. I also sent a zergling with a big jug of pure, if not appetizingly cleansed, water. And you also do not want to know what the jug was made out of. I sat back and sighed. I promised myself then and there that I would never let reporters get close enough to ask questions again.