The weak, stuttering coughs of one of the hosts alerts me. It's time. Moving away from the softly glowing crimson shell of the Queen's egg I pace towards the birthing chambers.
The hosts, the quadrupeds which I had discovered, resting in a clearing during one of my hunts were strong, quick and alert. I only chose the finest, the largest and the best, for the selection of a host has implications for the children of the Hive. Strong hosts produce strong children, and only the strongest and the best are fir to serve in Mothers name.
The thing brayed and snorted , struggling weakly in the sticky confines of the web as its movements became more frantic. As the first cracks of bones and popping rang out in the chamber, the host began to scream. A harsh bellowing cry that quickly faded into gurgled coughing as the New born tore itself free of the hosts chest cavity with a screech. Moving to the hosts side, I disregarded its weakening struggles, the river of gore that now pulsed from the wound. My attention was solely on my new brother.
Plucking him from the host in a six fingered grasp and cradling him in my arms, I held him up and inspected him, hissing and clicking as I cleaned the gore from his small frame. He was strong, healthy, perfectly formed, arms stretching and mewling in response to my ministrations. Already I could make out the smooth domed crest of his calling, marking him as a Drone.
Rising from the corpse of the host, I set him down in the bed of webbing I had been constructing over the past hours. Weaving and spinning a cocoon, he sets himself in place by the foot of our Queen and begins the transition into adult hood. I gaze upon his twitching form with love, the feeling of approval that emanates from my Queen making this first victory all the sweeter. Even now I can hear more hosts begin to writhe in the webbing, the New life making it's way towards the outside of their beings. The hive grow ever stronger, my Queens influence grows. Life prevails.
Fluttershy was worried. Very worried. Over the past twenty four hours the herd of deer she had been attending to had diminished rapidly, both in numbers, strength and spirit. Gone was the trusting attitude she had cultivated with the herd, as they were skittish and tired looking. Gone were some of the most handsome bucks she'd ever seen, the guard of the herd. Most of the fawns had gone as well and there mothers still broke off and called for them occasionally. The sound and sight of it all broke Fluttershy's heart. She'd never seen anything like it. Living next to the Everfree forest had it's advantages, especially for a nature lover such as herself. The wild animals, rare species of fauna and animals made the risks of living near such a place bearable in her mind. Needless to say, she knew how nature worked in that chaotic place. Things were killed and eaten all the time, the Everfree was an environmental war zone, where everything was trying to be bigger and badder than everything else in order to eat everything else and not be eaten by everything else. She knew that. She accepted that. So when a fawn was taken by a pack of Timber-Wolves, or when a Buck was snatched by a hungry manticore she was sad of course, but she knew it was only natural. But a thriving herd over thirty members strong being reduced to a shivering mess of little more than ten in a single night? That and the fact that the elderly and sick were left untouched on heightened Fluttershy's suspicions. No there was nothing natural about this. If anything, it was distinctly unnatural. With this in mind, she finished feeding the deer, locked up her cottage and headed of into Ponyville. Perhaps a visit to the library, and a talk with her friends could shed some light over what was going on in the Everfree.