Princess Celestia let out a soft sigh as she nodded towards the noble that currently had audience with her, offering him a polite, sincere smile that she had perfected over many centuries of Equestrian politics. That wasn't to say this particular noble needed the less sincere "polite, sincere" smile. She realized the importance of funding equinitarian organizations like the "Blue Wings," if for reasons other than providing her little ponies with assistance where it is needed most.
It meant that she was slipping.
Equestria was beginning to very subtly deteriorate. More and more ponies were beginning to find themselves without homes and there had been a very alarming increase in Equestria's overall crime rate. In fact, the city of Manehatten was host to the first bank robbery Equestria had seen in very long time. If that wasn't a sign of the times, she didn't know what was.
"Thank you very much, your Highness, for your time," the noble emitted with a bow before turned about and left the throne room, leaving the Princess of the Sun alone with her guards.
"Who is next, Fine Print?" she quipped softly, getting the attention of her personal aide: an elderly unicorn stallion with a beige coat and black mane and tail with a magnifying glass appearing each of his flanks. His spectacle-adorned muzzle wrinkled in concentration as he examined the list floating before him, peering at the name of the next pony in line. "... That would be one... Marigold..."
"Send her in, please!" Princess Celestia replied, a pleasant smile adorning her muzzle. From what she remembered, Marigold was a very funny mare. Every time she met with the Princess, the two would part while laughing uncontrollably. "And I would like a kettle of tea, please."
"As you wish, your Highness," her aide replied, making a few gestures with a hoof and watching as a young mare ran out of the throne room to fetch the Princess said tea. As the door opened, a pegasus slipped in and smiled widely at the ruler, chuckling already. She was a mare of a brownish-gold coat and mane and tail, her wings folded neatly at her sides and her bright blue eyes locked firmly on the visage of the elder royal sister.
"Your Highness! It's been far too long!" she happily declared, casually approaching the throne and stopping midway between it and the door.
"It has indeed, Marigold. What's been keeping you away?"
"I have a coltfriend now, Princess. And he's a real doozy, if I do say so myself,"
Celestia giggled like a gossiping teenager, leaning in from her throne to demonstrate her intrigue. "Is that so?"
"Yep! But onto business first. I need to-"
Marigold was cut off by a sudden manifestation of smoke appearing to the side of Celestia's head, which spontaneously combusted and then formed into a rolled up scroll, as well as a small pouch. "That didn't take very long..." the Princess mused aloud, staring at it curiously while grabbing them with her magic. She wanted to put it aside until after her audience with her good friend, but upon seeing the label wrapped around the scroll, she sighed and opened it. "I'm sorry, Marigold. My student seems to be growing impatient with me..." she apologized, peering at the letter with a good humored expression.
"Oh, it's just fine, Princess~" Marigold emitted, shuffling her hooves and beginning to subtly bob her head to a nonexistent beat. Her blue eyes were fixed firmly upon the Sun Princess's countenance, watching her read the letter. Celestia's eyes scanned the paper with initial interest, but as she went on, her expression devolved into a very well developed poker face.
After reading the letter, Celestia rolled it back up and peered into the small pouch for a few short seconds. Drawing the cord on the pouch to close it, the ruler smiled apologetically at her subject and friend. "I'm very sorry, Marigold, but I'm afraid this requires my immediate attention."
The pegasus covered her muzzle with a forehoof as she giggled softly. "Alright, Princess~ I'll see you again soon!" Marigold replied calmly, turning around on her hooves without bowing and leaving the room.
Once she was gone, Princess Celestia rose from her throne and began to walk towards a side door that led to hers and Luna's chambers, as well as a few other rooms not open to the public. "... Tell them that I cannot see them today, guards. Promise them an audience tomorrow... Please give Date my apologies and permission to take leave tomorrow. I realize how hard his job is."
"Yes, your Highness," a guard replied, trotting to the main doors and breaking the news to all the nobles lined up outside the room.
Celestia entered a very well kept hallway and began to move towards Luna's room, shaking her head a little as she allowed her poker face to fade. She was disappointed that she couldn't spend time with Marigold, but this issue was much more important. Important enough to prompt Celestia to enter Luna's bedroom unannounced. To her surprise and slight dismay, Luna was very much awake, idly leafing through a book while lying on her bed. Celestia's entrance prompted her to put it down.
"Sister? What troubles you?" she immediately quipped, not needing any words from the Sun Princess to know what she was feeling. A deep sigh left Princess Celestia's lips and she approached the other alicorn, magically shutting the door and opening the letter. She cleared her throat and began to read aloud, though not before casting a quick sound dampening spell to keep things private.
Dear Princess Celestia,
This letter is not to nag you about the tardiness of your troops, but of something far more grim. I now understand why they have not come. The Zerg have killed them. My friend, Rainbow Dash, was brave enough to fly to the site and to check on the Zerg. Her account of her experience will, I'm afraid, likely be the subject of mine and her nightmares for a long time. According to her, the Zerg have also attacked her, though she managed to escape unharmed.
What's worse is that the Zerg are now expanding their territory. Rainbow Dash discovered more Zerg at the bottom of the Ghastly Gorge near Ponyville. Their reasons for doing so are anypony's guess, but I fear for the safety of Ponyville with them drawing so close. That's not to say I'm not preparing, though. There will be an assembly at the town hall tomorrow morning to inform all of Ponyville of the Zerg, the threat they pose, and to acquaint them with an evacuation plan I put together in case the Zerg attempt to attack us.
If you have any advice for me, please do send it quickly. I need to prepare a speech for the assembly to try and minimize the panic that I'm confident will follow. This assembly will take place at 10 AM tomorrow morning at the town hall, in case you wish to make an appearance.
-Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
Celestia and Luna stood in silence for quite some time, eyeing each other and the pouch awkwardly. Eventually, Luna shook her head out and took a deep breath. "... We think, at the very least, a doubling of the guard is in order," Luna suggested, making an accompanying gesture with her front left hoof. "If these Zerg creatures are dangerous, we mustn't take chances."
"Agreed," Celestia replied in short order, though she did not attempt to say anything further when she heard the subtle but telltale sound of Luna inhaling to continue.
"And we believe that thou must change thy arrangements with the Griffon Empire," the Princess of the Night added, closing her eyes for a long time as if in thought. "The time for such excursions for the sake of diplomacy is no longer."
Celestia nodded in agreement. She had already begun worrying about the relations with the Griffon Empire. Were it not for the Zerg, she would be on a chariot heading east towards the Griffon Empire to negotiate over... over... Hmmm... What am I negotiating for again...? she found herself thinking. But now with a potential enemy now apparently growing within Equestrian borders, leaving would be, for lack of a better word, stupid.
She shook her head out and exhaled deeply through her nose, turning to leave the room. "... I must make preparations, then," the sun princess relayed, hearing the rusting of sheets as her little sister rose from her bed and did a quick trot to catch up. It wasn't like she was going to get any sleep at this point.
---
A new cocoon burst open to form a second hatchery for the Zerg's first base, larva already beginning to spawn from the breeding structure while the original seemed to be... growing somehow... The top half of it was being engulfed a messy mass of slime, flesh, and slimy flesh. The eggs surrounding it were full of activity, though. So much that the eggs burst out to release three creatures. New creatures.
They were insect-like, six legs extending horizontally from its underside with hardened spikes for feet. Standing at just over a meter and a half tall, most of their body was comprised of a thick armored shell, lined with spines and spikes. Said shell was also topped with two small, hooked appendages similar to those of a Zergling's (though much smaller by comparison). Its head was low to the ground, lacking a complete lower jaw. Instead, a thin, slimy membrane was stretched between two ball jointed lower mouthparts, perfect for allowing streams of acidic saliva to be forcefully ejected.
The newly hatched Roaches let out rapid, wet cries before beginning to head towards the eastern side of the base. Upon reaching the edge of the ring, they stepped onto the grass and began tearing at the ground, burrowing into the rich Equestrian soil and disappearing from view... If anypony was walking in the White Tail Woods and was paying attention, they might feel gentle vibrations beneath their hooves... Especially as more and more Roaches hatched.
---
... It hurts... it hurts so much... make it stop... Please... No... No! NO!
---
Luna's moon hung high in the Equestrian night sky and cast its soft light down upon all of its inhabitants, alien or not. And the aliens were certainly up to something. Their base in the White Tail Woods was coming along nicely, but, spontaneously, a portion of the Creep in the northern part of the base began to develop a bulge... A slight bulge at first, and one that many a Swarmling patrolled around. But to an observer, it would be obvious they were taking care not to step on it...
---
Twilight Sparkle and Spike made their way towards the Ponyville Town Hall, the latter perched upon the former's back and munching a muffin. Twilight, on the other hoof, was clenching her teeth so hard that she'd probably chip a tooth if she did so any more. She was nervous, to say the very least. Really, anypony whose job it was to inform an entire town of dangerous alien visitors that were extremely close to home would be nervous, too. She read over her meticulously written speech as she walked, despite having memorized it nearly perfectly from the long hours she had spent trying to perfect it.
She wanted to, at the very least, seem confident in her words.
She took a glance to the side and saw a large poster plastered on the side of a building, one meant to inform the citizens of Ponyville of the assembly. Already, she could hear the town crier running around to try to tell every pony he saw of it. His voice was perfect for it, too. Absurdly high pitched for a pony like him and juuuust irritating enough to be noticed.
"Important assembly at the Town Hall at 10:00 AM! Attendance is MANDATORY!" he repeated from behind several buildings. If anypony hadn't heard him at this point, she would be shocked. But judging by the number of ponies emerging from their homes, obviously listening to the stallion's yelling, it wouldn't be an issue.
"Twi'!"
A familiar, accented voice behind her got her attention, turning her head to see Applejack galloping towards her with her family following at varying distances. Granny Smith was far behind, being escorted by Big Macintosh while Applebloom followed much more closely. "What's this all about, Twilight?" the farmer mare quipped.
Twilight's expression became one of awkwardly and desperately searching for an excuse, looking away nervously as she felt Applejack's sister's eyes locked on her. How could anypony accurately describe the purpose of such an important assembly without details that might scare a little filly? "Um... Well... you see, it's... about that object from the other day..." Twilight gingerly replied, shooting her friend the best "please don't ask any more" look she could manage.
Thankfully for her, Applejack seemed to understand. "Gotcha."
"Tha's it?" Applebloom suddenly protested, a disappointed expression adorning her face. "Tha's what this's all about?"
Twilight then decided just a little more couldn't hurt. "Well, it's more than that, but... I really don't want to say it twice, so... just wait until the assembly." For better or worse, this answer pacified the young pony, though it clearly didn't satisfy her. Instead, she just walked off ahead as Big Mac galloped to keep up with her.
"... Wha's the matter, sugarcube?" AJ keenly observed and quipped, getting Twilight's attention before starting to walk again. Twilight matched her pace, though made it slow enough for Granny Smith to keep up. "Somethin's gotcha wound up real tight."
It was clear by her uncertain reaction that she was right, and the unicorn let out a soft sigh, nodding. "... I don't know how I'm going to do this... I wrote a speech and I've got lines prepared for some questions, but..." the bookworm began to try to think of the words to continue, but eventually just released an anxious sigh and posed a question of her own. "... How would you tell Applebloom that dangerous aliens are in Equestria and just a stone's throw away from Ponyville?"
The farmer raised an eyebrow the question, then shook her head at the unicorn. "Twilight, didn't Ah tell ya not to worry?" Applejack replied, earning a head shake from Twilight.
"If you did, I didn't hear you."
"Well, they ain't dangerous. We sa-"
That one seemed to hit a nerve that Twilight didn't know she had. "Yes they are!" she practically screamed, shutting her eyes tightly as she did so. Poor Spike narrowly avoided jumping out of his scales, but didn't avoid falling off of his caretaker's back. Twilight continued, albeit in a lower, more hushed tone. "... Rainbow Dash flew over there... They've killed ponies, Applejack... Four of them were guards!" Applejack grimaced. "Royal guardsponies! How am I supposed to explain that to everypony!?"
The Bearer of Honesty looked down and away, her stetson hiding one of her eyes from Twilight's view. "... A-Ah don't know, Twilight..." she answered in a subdued tone, gritting her teeth.
AJ's reaction brought another sigh from the stressed librarian, the latter bowing her head. "... I'm sorry, Applejack... I've been running on two or three hours of sleep for the last few days..." she attempted to apologize. "... I just... I... nghh... I'm really not looking forwards to this..."
---
Fluttershy finished spreading feed for her chickens and spread her wings, carrying her basket away to be placed inside a shed where she kept most of the food for her animals. The mare wiped her forehead with a forehoof, letting out a satisfied sigh as she finished her work. She'd just check in on Angel Bunny and be off.
And yet, the little rabbit was nowhere to be seen! "Angel? Where are you?" she called and called at the "top of her lungs," trying to get him to call back. After about five minutes of thoroughly searching her slightly-out-of-the-way cottage, she ventured back outside, and rather quickly found the little bunny. Angel was frantically scampering towards her, a panicked look on his face as he reached her.
"Oh my goodness! Angel, where have you been?" she let out, picking up the panting rabbit while he frantically gestured back the way he had come. "What is it?" Angel Bunny promptly leaped down and began miming his best impression of a giant monster, his back arched upwards and a very odd, rather comical "hiss" eking its way from his open maw. Fluttershy didn't laugh, though.
The rumbling under her hooves got her attention. Almost immediately, she tapped her front hooves on the ground three times, lowering her head to speak. "Um... Mr. and Mrs. Mole... Please dig deeper... You're s-scaring Angel Bunny..." The rabbit in question hit himself in the face with a paw, tossing a pawful of grass uselessly at his owner.
Again, Fluttershy found herself talking to the ground as the vibrations grew more intense. "Oh... Okay... You need to hear me better... right..." she uttered softly, more so to herself than any other. Seconds went by, and the vibrations continued to intensify, prompting Fluttershy to pick up Angel Bunny and get airborne. The rumbling was making the occupants of her chicken coop go wild in their homes. Birds flew away, sensing the newcomer and deciding it was for the benefit of their skeletal systems to flee.
Fluttershy watched as a few little pebbles began to jump around as the very BIG mole tunneled its way to the surface, and then subsequently gasped when something about as big as her emerged from the disturbed dirt. "Oh my!" she gasped, not noticing her pet hiding in her mane. Fluttershy took a moment to look it over and subsequently elected to fly a little bit higher. It definitely looked like a predator, and judging by the movements of its very strange head, it had clearly noticed her. The fact that it looked like some sort of... giant alien spider wasn't helping her opinion of it. At the same time, though, it was doing nothing. "... W-What are you...?"
The creature let out a sort of hiss in her direction, low in tone and volume. If it had hostile intent, it wasn't showing it... The kindly mare took a chance: she began to descend, much to Angel's horror. When her hooves touched the ground, the Roach approached her carefully, a low, guttural... coo sounded from its oddly shaped mouth.
"... Are you hungry...?" Fluttershy quipped hesitantly, not seeing any obvious reaction from the armored digger. Food was as good a place as any to start in befriending it, though... "W-Wait here..." she then instructed, flying to her shed and beginning to search for something to feed it... Whatever it was that Twilight had to say, she was sure it could wait...
---
Ponyville's population was now congregating in the large, open plaza surrounding the town hall, leaving most of the town empty. And so the plaza was a sea of ponies, all murmuring to each other about the purpose of this important assembly, or about other various, unrelated topics.
Twilight Sparkle emerged from the town hall and immediately felt the eyes of hundreds of ponies locking onto her as she approached the podium, donning the best smile she could manage as she set her speech down on the pedestal. She then attached an improved and well labeled diagram of the town to a stand that had been left for her, magically attaching it to said stand.
Then she turned and approached the podium again, stepping onto a short, raised platform behind it so that everypony present could see her over it. She cleared her throat and began focusing her magic into a voice amplification spell.
"Good morning, everypony..." she began, getting the attention of the town's populace and silencing their conversations. "I apologize for calling you all here on such short notice, but this is a matter that cannot be ignored... So let's cut to the chase.
"I'm sure a lot of you are aware of the object that crashed in the White Tail Woods two nights ago." There was a brief murmur of acknowledgement and agreement from the crowd. "It turns out that the object was carrying alien creatures... these creatures, known as the Zerg, have now made their home in the western half of the White Tail Woods and at the bottom of Ghastly Gorge..."
Whispers of suspicion and curiosity came from the crowd. The bookworm continued, her smile faltering slightly. "We don't know very much about these creatures, as we haven't had a substantial opportunity to study them yet... However, we know enough to say this:" Twilight paused as she said this, taking a deep breath as quietly as she could manage. "... The Zerg are dangerous."
As she predicted, the crowd began to stir uneasily. Twilight found herself pausing for several seconds, needing to muster up the courage to continue... this was about to get ugly. She raised her speech a little to hide part of her face. "... Earlier this morning, Princess Celestia dispatched a research team to the Zerg's home in the White Tail Woods, accompanied by four royal guards... They were meant to stop by the library and to take me with them to assist with their research.
"For whatever reason, they never came for me... After my friend Rainbow Dash spotted the aliens in Ghastly Gorge, I asked her to fly over and take a look at what the Zerg were doing and to check on the research team." Twilight Sparkle paused again, bracing herself. "... The research team was killed."
Again, as she predicted, everypony in the crowd gasped and began to express their worry, yelling questions and loudly conversing with their neighbors. Twilight did not try to continue this time, picking out her friends in the crowd. Rainbow Dash was staring at the ground at the front of the crowd. Applejack was glancing back and forth between Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, her expression... surprisingly unreadable. Rarity looked ready to faint, and Pinkie Pie seemed like she was ready to go and make those Zerg pay.
The purple unicorn's eyes scanned the crowd for the last of her friends and came up with nothing. She turned her attention to Rainbow Dash and was about to try and ask her to get Fluttershy, but a sudden surge in the crowd's collective chatter's volume stopped her.
She raised her head and opened her mouth. "Everypony, please calm down!" she called, her amplification spell making her voice echo across the town plaza.
"Calm down?!"
"Those Zerg killed ponies!"
"What are we going to do?"
"We've got to do something!"
These were just some of the many angry, frightened, panicked cries that rose from the town's population, accompanied by the stamping of hooves and the occasional bout of loud weeping. Twilight grit her teeth and pumped more magic into the amp spell, and unwittingly found herself shouting anyways.
"EVERYPONY CALM DOWN!" Twilight Sparkle's voice briefly blasted, the spell enhancing her shout's volume to a level far beyond the "Royal Canterlot Voice." Even its source grimaced, the ringing in her ears breaking the spell. With a nervous expression, she recast the spell at a slightly below average level. "... I'm so sorry... But please, if everypony panics, then we won't have a chance..." At this point, Celestia's Faithful Student was no longer reading her speech, improvising what she didn't remember in favor of attempting to calm everypony down.
"... I've created an evacuation plan, in case the Zerg attack Ponyville... Please pay attention everypony..."
---
The streets of Ponyville were all but empty, with its usual inhabitants currently occupied with whatever the loud, annoying stallion had been calling them for. Even the guards had gotten in on it, taking care not to let a single pony miss the meeting. They found those that would rather skip it easily and handed out face masks to those that were sick. Nopony was allowed to miss it. Not even the guards.
The only exception to this was a single pony, making their way towards the town hall at a slow pace.
---
"... If some of you aren't sure what group your home is in, don't worry. Maps and instructions will be given to everypony in Ponyville just in case." Twilight Sparkle was feeling a lot more confident about what she was saying after going over the plan with the crowd. Granted, that still wasn't much... She could still feel tinges of disbelief and anxiety from the crowd, but at least she could handle it.
"Are there any questions?" she then asked, looking out over the crowd. A hoof raised in the very front of the mass of equines, belonging to Miss Cheerilee of all ponies.
"Can I get these materials now? I'd like to start making drills for my students," the mare called out, earning a nod and a genuine smile from Celestia's student.
"Oh! Of course! Come to the library after this and I'll get you what you need," Twilight happily replied, satisfying the teacher. Almost immediately after that, another hoof shot up somewhere in the middle, belonging to a pony that Twilight could swear she knew, but didn't have a name to go with his face.
"Shouldn't we be getting more guards!?" he yelled.
Twilight nodded in reply. "I'm very confident that Princess Celestia will be sending more to Ponyville very soon."
"How soon is 'very soon'?" he then pressed, the crowd murmuring softly.
"... I'm sorry, what's your name, sir?"
The noise level raised very slightly, as if in disbelief. The stallion's following tone suggested as much, too. "Rich... Filthy Rich, if you must."
Twilight's expression didn't change beyond a slight widening of the eyes, but she recognized that name now. "I don't know. I can find out."
"You had better!" Mr. Rich sounded especially irate during that last yell, though Twilight could imagine why... his home was on the west side of Ponyville, closer to the White Tail Woods than most.
"... Right... Anypony else?" she sighed, looking over the crowd. Several seconds passed and nopony said anything or put a hoof up. "... Alright then. You can all go now. Thank you very much for your time." That last word left her lips and she immediately felt worlds better, stepping down from the podium and leaving the map she had made on the stand so that ponies could study it themselves (which many did). Others, namely her friends, ran up to her and surrounded her.
"I had no idea things were so grim!" Rarity emitted, obviously unsettled. "Are you sure this plan of yours will work?"
Twilight sighed and bowed her head, gritting her teeth. "Please don't take this the wrong way, Rarity, but I'm so sick of that question..." the bookworm replied, shaking her head.
"Is there anythin' Ah can do, Twi?" Applejack queried, her tone neutral.
"... Actually, yes. I need you to run to Fluttershy's place and see if she's home. I haven't seen her yet and I-"
"Oh my!"
"Gross!"
"What in Celestia's name happened to you?"
"Is she alright?"
"Rarity, who's that?"
The collection of ponies and Sweetie Belle's voices became suddenly dominant as something happened in the western part of the town plaza. The Elements glanced in that direction with Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle immediately tensing up.
"Who?" Rarity replied, beginning to approach the reforming crowd surrounding something that seemed to be moving... Or rather, somepony... A female (probably) pony with dirty blue fur and a messy, ruined mane... But that wasn't the focus... Her head was adorned with a brownish orange growth that covered most of her left eye, never mind the protrusions from her sides. These dragged heavily on the ground, limp and useless with an unsettlingly placed spike at the ends of each. Her pace was slow and her gait was sloppy, giving the impression that she was exhausted or hurt.
But the fact that she ignored everypony's attempts to learn her identity and to help her set off alarm bells in Twilight's head. She found herself starting to walk towards the crowd, her friends following her carefully and curiously.
Then they stopped. The strange mare had stopped, and so had the crowd, which was now closing in on the mare. "Are you alright, miss?" a little voice quipped. Rainbow Dash's eyes immediately shot open.
"Scootaloo!" A rainbow colored blur shot across the plaza landing next to the little filly and nudging her back into the crowd while looking back at the dirty equine. "Don't get too close to... it... T-... Trixie?" The little pegasus stared quizzically up at her idol, the flier's confusion and fear rubbing off on her.
"... What's wrong, RD?" she quipped, sounding nervous, but still trying to be "cool".
"... G-Go hang out with Sweetie Belle. She's over there," Rainbow Dash ordered, gesturing towards Rarity's currently-clingy sister. Scootaloo opened her mouth to protest, but the weathermare quickly cut in with a sharp "Just do it!!" Frightened by the transformed Trixie and the harshness of her idol's words, she ran away and started chatting with the filly in question.
Rainbow Dash turned her gaze back to the crowd, getting airborne quickly and regarding the scene from above. She could see Miss Cheerilee attempting to coax Nurse Redheart into taking Trixie to the hospital, but the nurse was refusing... But all activity stopped when a mare named Bon Bon spoke four simple words. "What did you say?"
Just then, the crowd quieted, and they could hear a mumbled, mangled bit of speech.
"F-... -rm..."
"... What?" Bon Bon repeated, getting closer to the mare. "I can't understa-"
Trixie's head suddenly shot up, her uncovered eye heavily bloodshot and the covered one... missing. "FOR THE SWAAAAAAAAARM!" Bon Bon and Cheerilee didn't have time to run. The two mares screamed in agony as the blast sent them flying into the crowd, bowling over several of Ponyville's residents as Trixie's... pieces flew everywhere.
For just a second, the entire town was engulfed in a stunned, horrified silence. The very next resounded with hundreds of screams.