The Survivor
The trail of alien tracks led the six main mares through a good portion of the White Tail Woods at this point, their trek having lasted over an hour. The small amount of energy they had begun with had long since dissipated, and the six mares now walked in near silence. Even Pinkie Pie was quiet, discounting her persistent humming.
Twilight Sparkle was now quietly wishing she had asked somepony to go and get the balloon. Her hooves were getting tired from the long walk and while she wasn't about to break down over it, it was still there and annoying. She took a moment to look back at her friends. Rainbow Dash was clearly bored out of her mind as she flew in low, lazy circles around the group, her hooves behind her head as she tried to amuse herself. Pinkie Pie was still humming weird tunes. The rest just walked along, saying nothing and probably lost in thought.
At the very least, their excursion had given them time to stop thinking about the death. While the first leg of their tracking trek was wrought with worry and apprehension, they had calmed down considerably as time dragged on. Fear still held onto their minds, but they did have somepony they knew they could rely on: Fluttershy.
Fluttershy was a very valuable ally to have in a situation like this; whatever left these tracks would no doubt be put at ease by their animal loving friend's caring nature. And if worse came to worst, it would definitely crumble under the Stare, alien or not. Her presence helped put them at ease, whether the shy one realized it or not.
Applejack fiddled with her hat as she went along, shaking her head out after such and letting her eyes restlessly wander, occasionally watching her flying friend and sharing her boredom.
Rarity was fiddling with a small piece of the ship she had snagged when nopony was looking, mentally putting together patterns and designs for a new clothing line based of the ruined majesty of the craft she took it from. It could be her ticket to stardom!
Fluttershy intently watched the strange tracks still thinking about the poor creature that could have left them. They looked like whatever had made them was hurt and had to drag itself to wherever it was going. Could it be a survivor? Part of her hoped it wasn't; that Hydralisk was definitely scary, no doubt about it, so the thought that there could be more of them didn't sit well with her.
Speaking of whom, Fluttershy took a look forwards to see where the trail might curve when she saw something in a clearing ahead. The yellow pegasus stopped and looked back at her friends. "E-Everypony... look..." she uttered in that barely audible tone of hers. The other five mares ran forward to see what Fluttershy had seen and then gasped when they did.
In that clearing was a strange, orange, fleshy looking mound, twitching and throbbing in place. It gave off a subtle, but no less disgusting scent that filled the immediately surrounding air, but not reaching far enough to affect the Element Bearers.
"... What is that?" Rarity emitted, her brain likely still deciding whether or not to be disgusted. Then she turned her gaze a few degrees to the right and her eyes lit up. "And what are those?!" came her next query as she locked eyes on a collection of blue, shining crystals, beginning to gallop towards them with stars in her eyes.
"It looks like a big lava bubble!" came Pinkie's observation, beginning to bounce off towards the cocoon before anypony could stop her.
"Wait, Pinkie!" Applejack and Twilight called, beginning to chase the pink earth pony towards the mutating Zerg. Fluttershy began cautiously approaching the cocoon while fighting herself to keep going, and Rainbow Dash flew into the middle of the clearing, looking around for the alien. She honestly didn't think that that gross mound of flesh beneath her was it. Idly throwing her gaze downwards, she raised an eyebrow; she could see the silhouette of something moving around inside it... To her, it looked like a scorpion.
Twilight and Applejack pursued their airheaded friend all the way to the alien cocoon and the former used her magic to stop her from using it as a trampoline, making her float back down to solid, grassy ground. "Pinkie Pie, we don't know what that is! Don't touch it!" she scolded, giving Pinkie Pie a once over and sighing. Pinkie had managed to touch it, and her front hooves were now lightly coated in a thin, slimy layer of colorless goop.
"Relax, Twilight~!" the bubbly one chimed in reply. "I'm okay! And nothing bad's gonna happen! You worry too much." The bookworm could only shake her head and rub at her head with a hoof, letting out a frustrated groan as Pinkie Pie bounded away.
"So what do ya think it is, Twi?" Applejack queried, watching as Twilight pulled out her notepad and quill and began taking down observations about the organic growth before them. "It doesn't look like it could've left those tracks. Doesn't even look like it has legs."
Twilight nodded at that and began to walk around the cocoon, putting that question down in her notepad and flipping to a new page. "Your guess is as good as mine, Applejack..." she replied, looking back and forth between her writing and the orange bubble rapidly.
"Twilight! Come look at this!" That call came from Rarity, whom was beckoning Twilight over to that cluster of odd blue crystals. The purple unicorn began walking towards her fashionista friend, but stopped on her way there. There were more tracks in the grass here, but they overlapped with each other in many places. Some of these tracks were also slightly deeper than the others, but she wasn't sure why.
"... Looks like somethin' was goin' back an' forth here," Applejack observed, her eyes following the path between the cocoon and the mineral patch.
"I was thinking the same thing..." came Twilight's agreement, continuing on her way towards Rarity. The Element of Generosity met them halfway.
"Twilight! Can you believe this?!" she cried dramatically, pointing a hoof at one particular set of crystals. That set looked like something had been trying to break it, and several chunks of it had been forcefully removed. "That alien had the nerve to ruin these... beautiful gems!"
Applejack and Twilight walked closer to the partially mined minerals and examined them, the latter doing so more closely than the former. Twilight Sparkle had never seen these kinds of crystals before, but she could see why Rarity was outraged at their damage. The mid-afternoon sunlight hit those minerals and made them shine brilliantly. It wouldn't take a genius to deduce that Rarity was now fiercely brainstorming. "... Are these sapphires, Rarity?" Twilight inquired, derailing Rarity's train of thought.
The marshmallow-y pony peered up at Twilight, then at the mineral patch. A moment later, she let out a quick, gentle sigh. "I'm afraid not. I'm not sure what kind of gems these are," she admitted, seeming just a smidgen embarrassed that she didn't know. "Could they have come with the..." She trailed off, searching for the word. "... ship?"
Twilight frowned and looked down thoughtfully, then at the crystals. She eyed the bottom of said crystals, then dug gently at the ground near the base of said crystals. It was then that she noticed how the grass seemed to stop growing a few feet away from the minerals, leaving simple dirt to surround them. Oh well. Easier to dig.
A brief bout of digging at the base of the mineral patch revealed that they were firmly stuck in the ground. "... Well, they go down a little deeper, but I don't think they came from the ship," Twilight observed aloud. "Besides, I don't think they would be all the way over here if they had come with it."
"But how could they be here for so long without anypony findin' 'em?" Applejack posed, trying to dig the hole a little deeper. "Ah mean, the Runnin' of the Leaves goes through most of the Woods. Somepony shoulda seen 'em before if they were here."
Twilight nodded at that; Applejack had a point. But then again, the last Running of the Leaves competition was nearly a year ago. It wasn't entirely impossible that they could've formed in that time. "... Rarity? I suppose you're going to anyways, but make sure you can take home some for me, too, okay?" she requested, receiving an "of course!" from the fashionista, who then set about to attempting to try and mine off some pieces.
The purple unicorn then turned around to face the cocoon, walking towards it while Applejack set about to assisting Rarity. She could hear grunts of exertion and comments on how tough it was to break as she walked away. She could see Rainbow Dash flying just a few feet over the top of the cocoon, watching the movement inside as if she were in a trance. Fluttershy had worked up the courage to begin checking the morphing Zerg for injuries. And Pinkie Pie was poking and prodding it all over with her tongue stuck out the side of her mouth. Who could possibly guess what she was doing?
Twilight noticed Rainbow Dash first, trying to get her attention with a quick "Hey, Rainbow Dash?" She didn't respond at first, so the unicorn tried again. "Hey, Rainbow Dash?!" This time, the rainbow maned pegasus shook herself to attention, looking to her sides before down at Twilight.
"Oh, what is it, Twilight?"
"What are you watching?"
Rainbow blinked once at her friend before answering. "Watching? ... Oh, uh... It looks like there's some kind of bug moving around in there. Looks kinda like a scorpion," she answered, looking back down at the top of the cocoon. Her eyes shot wide open. "Whoa! It just got huge!"
Twilight sorely wished she could fly; she would have loved to see what RD was seeing. She imagined it would explain why the cocoon suddenly stopped moving. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had elected to start flying back upwards; she could see the cocoon's occupant getting bigger and bigger and her gut told her not to be so close to it.
It was a good gut feeling. The cocoon suddenly burst open to make way for some sort of... living structure... It looked like a sort of pyramid, but it had odd, large "teeth" sprouting from around its base and a mouth-like opening at the top. What's more, it pulsed and throbbed with life, its frame appearing to be firmly planted in the ground... Speaking of which, as soon as its cocoon opened, an odd, disgusting, but familiar purple substance coated about an inch of ground around the new "building."
A collective chorus of disgusted noises emitted from the main six, eyeing the alien structure with varying levels of intrigue and discomfort. Fluttershy began to back away from the newly sprouted hatchery while the other five mares slowly drew closer to it.
"Eughhh... Is this it?" Rainbow Dash queried, flying back and down to hover close to the ground near her friends. "There's no way that huge thing is our alien!"
Twilight had to wonder what the speedy pegasus was expecting to see. Then again, she was expecting to see creatures that were tall and wore bright, shining garbs. She was hoping against hope that they'd be intelligent, possibly sentient... You know, like the Protoss. Oh well. A giant fleshy tooth pyramid was what they had, so she'd make the best of it.
Inwardly chuckling as she saw Rarity deftly stopping Pinkie Pie from touching it in the corner of her eye, the Bearer of Magic started taking notes again, walking in a circle around it as she attempted to make a rough sketch of the gross growth. And as she neared the other side of the new hatchery, she saw Fluttershy very slowly approaching it again. Her expression was, of course, fearful and apprehensive, but there was also that look in her one currently visible eye that Twilight recognized. Whatever she was looking at, she cared about.
"Fluttershy? What are you doing?" she asked, approaching the yellow equine and seeing her freeze in place, looking back and forth quickly between Twilight and... whatever it was.
"Shhhh! ... Look..." came a hasty reply before she beckoned for Twilight to come closer.
Upon doing as quietly instructed, Twilight came to see what Fluttershy had seen. She wasn't entirely sure of what to make of it. The thing looked like some sort of armored worm... It was small, only a little over a foot tall, covered in a segmented, hard looking carapace with spines and spikes lining the top and sides. Its head was adorned with rather sizable mandibles and... it seemed to lack any obvious eyes. There were little indentations in its head with a green glow contained within, and perhaps they were it? Either way, the little larva had its head turned towards the mares and made easily audible hissing and chirping noises. Whether they were friendly or not was up for debate.
"It looks like a worm..." Twilight commented as Fluttershy stood beside her, trying to coax the little larva closer. And the little guy acted as if it wanted to, but it could not seem to get its little legs to take it there. Fluttershy seemed slightly discouraged, but approached the creature anyways, a soft smile curving her mouth. The Bearer of Kindness got close to it and spoke quietly to it, making it squirm wildly and hiss and chirp loudly.
In its squirming, one of its mandibles ended up hitting the sweet pegasus in her front right leg, piercing it and getting her to let out a sort of yelp as she drew back. "Owww! ... Owwww..." she let out, sitting on her haunches and looking at her now lightly bleeding leg.
"Fluttershy!" Twilight exclaimed, tempted to pick up the larva with her magic and fling it somewhere. She only restrained herself from doing so when the tiny Zerg approached the hurt equine with low, almost concerned sounding noises and a lot less energy. Using her magic, she pulled out a bandage and placed it over the small wound, also using said magic to stop the blood flowing until the plaster had been stuck over her leg. When Twilight was done, Fluttershy gave a soft smile, gently patting the apologetic Zerg with the other hoof.
"It's okay, little guy... I'm okay..." she reassured it. The little Larva let out a higher chirp, rubbing its head carefully against Fluttershy's other leg while ignoring/not noticing the glare Twilight Sparkle was giving it. Nor did it react when the rest of the Element Bearers came around the hatchery to see where their friends were. And while they started to try and ask what they were doing, they all shut their mouths the moment they saw that... thing.
A minute passed between them all and nopony said anything, the only noises being the occasional breeze or a random noise from the alien. And before anypony could try, the little larva stiffened up. All eyes turned to it as it shook very slightly, and then... well, exploded. Its organs burst from its body and meshed together with each other, rapidly forming a hard egg-like cocoon around itself.
A collective cry of shock and revulsion emitted from everypony present. Rarity fainted right there and then from the display while Applejack and Rainbow Dash backed away from it slowly. Fluttershy began tapping softly on the egg and trying to peer inside as it began to pulsate. Pinkie Pie started to grin wildly and then bolted off somewhere, going unnoticed by her friends. And Twilight stood there with a look on her face like she wasn't sure whether or not to be fascinated or frightened. Regardless, she took out her notepad again and began hastily taking down notes.
"... Ughhhhh... That's just not right..." the farmer mare commented, still eyeing the egg. Then she glanced at Twilight, raising an eyebrow and then turning to Dash. "... How'd'ya think Twilight's not feelin' queasy from all this?" she muttered, earning a nonchalant shrug from the cyan one.
"Hey, Egghead's probably seen worse in those caves under Canterlot or something. Or in that..." She paused again, not sure if the word "ship" really applied here. "... thing that crashed here last night..." Another pause. "Scratch that, she definitely saw worse in the thing," she then concluded, remembering the look on Twilight's face when she had emerged from the Protoss vessel's wreckage. Another, much longer silence passed over the two ponies before Applejack finally spoke up.
"Ya think we should go home? Ah know Twi won't want to, but Ah'm startin' to think this place's bad for her."
Rainbow looked away, thinking about it for a moment before replying slowly. "Weeeell... maybe ask the others?" she posed, shrugging again. "I dunno. You know how she gets." The farmer simply nodded and went to try to wake Rarity while scanning the horizon for a certain pink pony.
"Consarnit, where'd ya get off to, Pinkie..." she said to herself as she began fanning the unconscious fashinista with her hat, impatiently eying the white mare. Her green eyes scanned the horizon, lingering on the mineral patch at the edge of the clearing a little longer. "... Rainbow Dash! See if ya can find Pinkie Pie!" she then called, both getting the flyer to salute and get airborne and making Rarity come to.
"Please don't shout like that, Applejack..." she groggily mumbled, rubbing at her head as AJ replaced her hat upon her head. As the Bearer of Generosity got back on her hooves, she turned her gaze to the egg, watching it jostle and wobble while Fluttershy fussed over it. She opened her mouth several times to say something, but could not, and after getting a look and a whisper from the orange mare, she followed her over to Rainbow Dash instead.
---
... Tapping. It heard tapping. It heard faint scratching. It heard speech. It wanted desperately to see what was making these sounds. And so it began to fight.
---
Fluttershy had since climbed on top of the egg, rubbing at the very top to see if she could peer inside at the creature within. She didn't seem to notice that half of her friends were now gathered in a circle several yards away and were having a hushed conversation without her.
Twilight Sparkle was still taking down observations and questions on paper with her quill, only pausing to dip for more ink every now and then. She was so focused on this that she had forgotten about most of the world around her... and with good reason. She was beginning to remember the scene back into the Daelaam Ark, and she didn't want to. Note taking was as a good distraction as any.
At least until the egg began to rumble. Fluttershy barely had time to register what was happening before the egg she had perched herself upon had suddenly burst open like a balloon, leaving her flailing in the air before landing on something hard, damp, and... floaty.
---
Minerals. Must mine. Multiply.
---
Fluttershy found herself being carried upon an odd, bony, fleshy creature while her friends stared at her. She looked down and saw it. It was an insect-like creature, with six large eyes and crab claws. Its back was lightly armored, and a strange orange-ish webbing connected four bone appendages sprouting from both sides of its body. And it was floating away from her friends, headed straight for that mineral patch.
"Fluttershy!!" her friends called out, making her look back at them with a slightly panicked expression. Even the previously absent Pinkie Pie was there, now chasing after the creature carrying her friend.
The shy pegasus trembled as she rested atop the Drone, looking down at it and managing to turn enough to get a look at its head and eyes. "... Um... excuse me... can you let me off? Pretty please?" she asked in that soft voice of hers, making the Drone slow down a little. It only did so, however, because it was reaching its destination. Fluttershy watched as the former Gashyrr Wasp approached the most mined crystal cluster and began picking away at it with its pincers and occasional use of its mandibles.
---
Meanwhile, in Ponyville, a certain draconequus was having a rousing game of one-on-one table tennis with himself, rapidly smacking the plastic orb back and forth between himself and himself. It was a long, intense rally, both selves repelling the ball from their side with semi-practiced finesse. But it finally came to an end in the table's net when both Discord and Discord froze up. The offending Discord vanished in a puff of nothing while the original turned to face a wall to the west. The absurd creature felt something.
"... Kekekekekekeke..."
---
Twilight and company chased down the pegasus-toting Zerg, reaching it and Fluttershy just as it began mining at the minerals. "Fluttershy! Are you okay?!" Twilight exclaimed, her horn glowing as she prepared to defend the yellow mare.
"YOU!" Rarity subsequently shouted, glaring daggers at the drone. "YOU DID THIS?!"
"Simmer down, Rarity. It's not doin' anythin' bad," Applejack said to try and calm the Generous one, though her own voice was uncertain.
"I-I say we send it packing!" came an also unsure voicing from Rainbow Dash, hitting her front hooves together as she hovered next to it.
"Is it floating?" Twilight Sparkle's off-topic quip got the other girls to give her an inquisitive glance, wondering how Twilight could be thinking about that when Fluttershy was so clearly being held captive by this odd creature.
"Twi, priorities," Applejack reminded, sounding disappointed.
"I-It's okay, everypony... really... I'm okay..." Fluttershy insisted, politely smiling at her friends while the Drone she was lying on mindlessly attempted to gather minerals. "It just wants these... crystals..." she then added, beginning to gingerly get back on all fours and to watch the Drone work. The other five ponies present began to observe as well, having to marvel briefly as the little guy dug at those stones.
The next several minutes were spent trying to figure out what exactly it was doing, what it was doing with Fluttershy, why Fluttershy was so content to ride the Drone, and even trying to communicate with the creature.
"My name is Twi-light Spar-kle!" came one such attempt, loudly and slowly from the bookworm pony. Nothing but silence.
After all that time, though, progress was made. A sizable chunk of crystal's broke off in the Drone's mandibles. Seeming satisfied that it had gathered such, it then turned to float back to the hatchery, its prize in its mandibles and its rider firmly holding on. Fluttershy had to admit one thing: riding around on its back was, if nothing else, fun. "Weeeeeeeeee..."
All but Rarity turned to follow the floating drone (she was intently examining the Drone's handiwork), and in doing so, they noticed two things about the Zerg hatchery. First off, there was now a ring of that same dark purple mush surrounding the "building", its scent pervading the air around it. The same that had coated the floor of the Protoss colony ship before, that is. And secondly, looking at the hatchery now, it was obvious that the structure was, indeed, a hatchery of some kind. More of those armored worm things - probably larva, mused Twilight - had appeared around the base of the structure, though they did not go very far from their Creep-ringed birthplace.
Perhaps the Zerg functioned like insects? Maybe this structure was their hive? Twilight took a mental note to make a written note of that in a moment. Besides, she got to see the Fluttershy-toting Drone as it dropped the mineral chunk... somewhere. It did not enter the hatchery, but merely dropped it into some sort of opening. Probably. None of the main six could see where it went - not even the airborne weatherpony. As soon as the minerals were dropped, the drone reversed its course towards the minerals and Rarity, turning around while moving.
Twilight stayed at the hatchery this time, whipping out her notepad to take down that mental note and to make more observations about the Zerg. "They seem to spawn from this structure, which seems alive, but they appear on their own... They don't have an obvious egg stage, and instead seem to appear on their own from this 'hive'," she wrote, drawing her attention to the slowly expanding Creep. "The 'hive' also has a ring of a dark purple substance surrounding it, which seems to be spreading out evenly from the structure."
She took another glance at the coated ground and frowned slightly. "It covers the ground, possibly feeding on grasses." Twilight stepped closer to the structure and prodded the Creep with a hoof, gritting her teeth. "This is the same growth that I encountered on the crashed object, smell and all. While it was disappearing on the object, it is growing here. It is unknown if this substance is dangerous or not, but caution is recommended for any further observations."
The unicorn then set about to examining the sparse remains of the Drone's egg, her quill scrawling even more information at a slowly building rate. She intently examined them, noting that while the egg was hard as stone previously, what was left of it was now flimsy, thin, and extremely slimy. Good; more to write about, more to distract. It wasn't so much that she was going to start thinking about it. No, it was mostly her being afraid of thinking about it and not wanting to think about it, which always leads to thinking about it.
Sparing some magic to wipe off her hooves, she took to writing again, only to be scared half to death by a prod to her barrel. "Gyaaa!" came the obligatory startled cry, whirling around to see Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash standing (and flying) beside her. "... Gosh, you scared me!" she then gasped, putting a hoof to her chest. After a very brief recovery, she then looked between her gathered friends, noting the intent, concerned looks adorning their faces. "... Is... something wrong?"
The four mares looked at each other, wordlessly debating who should start before Rarity finally began. "Twilight, dear, I think we've all seen enough for today," she said in an assertive manner, stepping towards the lavender pony.
"We should go home and have some cupcakes! That'll cheer you up!" the baker added cheerfully, bouncing closer to Twilight. Said unicorn raised an eyebrow and put her notepad and quill back in her saddlebags, noticing that Fluttershy was now calmly flying over and leaving the Drone to its mining.
"... Cheer me up...? Girls, I'm fine..." she tried to reassure them, shaking her head and softly laughing an unconvincing laugh. They weren't convinced.
"Twilight, c'mon. It's gon-" Rainbow Dash stopped in mid-sentence as she remembered something, nervously chuckling and ascending slightly. "I'll be right back." She promptly zoomed back the way they came, a rainbow-y streak following in her wake. Before Twilight could question why or stop her, Applejack sat down and sighed. "Twi, Ah don't know what ya saw in that thing, but yer not okay. We're goin' home."
Twilight frown became more pronounced as she heard that. She wasn't a filly, and was very quick to remind everypony of such. "I'm not a filly, Applejack! I'm just. Fine." As she said this, she stamped a hoof on the grassy ground, glancing down and noticing just how close the Creep was getting to her now. "... And I really don't think I should g-..."
"... Umm... Twilight...?" Fluttershy's voice to her left got her attention, turning her head to look at the meek pegasus. "... Um... sorry for interrupting, but everypony's right...we should get back before it gets..." She paused to gulp. "... dark..."
"But I c-"
"No buts, sugarcube. We're takin' ya home."
Twilight let out a frustrated growl, turning towards the hatchery in time to see another Larva burst into an egg. Twilight began to try to approach it, but was stopped by a flanking Rarity, standing firm in her way. "Twiliiiight..."
"Girls, you don't understand!" she angrily huffed, stamping her hoof again. "This... stuff is spreading! Don't tell me you haven't noticed!" Not noting Fluttershy's slight cringe, she saw them all look at the Creep, sizing it up and trying to remember where it was last time they saw it. "What if this stuff keeps spreading? What if it spreads all the way to Ponyville?! It could be dangerous! Those things could be dangerous!!" Twilight then added, her voice rising steadily as she began to push back against the advancing mares. "I have to stay! I NEED to be here!"
A slightly out of breath Twilight Sparkle looked between her friends to see their thoughtful expressions. She knew she had gotten the wheels in their heads turning.
"M-Maybe she's right..." Fluttershy quietly emitted, landing next to the unicorn and looking down at the ground. "... I don't want to see anypony get hurt..."
"But it's gonna get dark soon!" Pinkie Pie protested, including the travel time back to the balloon and the flight home. "And I promised Mr. and Mrs. Cake I'd be back tonight! C'mon Twilight! Pleeeease?"
"Promised them what? What could be more important than everypony's safety!?" came Twilight's less angry reply.
"I dunno!"
Twilight Sparkle had to take a long pause before answering; that Pinkie Pie seemingly thought an unknown task was more important than these aliens infuriated her. And she was mostly used to Pinkie's antics.
... Still... she knew Pinkie. If something was going to happen, that "Pinkie sense" of hers would be driving her crazy right now, wouldn't it? Twilight took a deep breath, and exhaled sharply, closing her eyes and suppressing her worry. Everything would be fine... But still...
"... Fiiine... I'll go," she started, lowering her head in defeat, though she quickly raised her voice again to cut off any incoming replies. "But I'm coming back first thing tomorrow morning, with or without you!" She hated to be so strict about something, but this entire situation made her unbearably nervous.
The fact that a giant, bulbous creature burst out of that newly formed egg and into the sky didn't help matters. Nor did the slightly loud, guttural, throaty roar it let out upon its escape. Everypony present gasped and screamed and darted away from the hatchery as the newly born Overlord came to hover above its birthplace, its bulbous, gross, lightly shining form casting a shadow onto a soon-to-be-covered patch of grass near the five ponies.
"SEE?!" Twilight quickly asserted, unable to keep the shock and fear out of her voice. "That thing could eat us!" It seemed as if she were correct, too, as the controlling beast began to float over to them. Once it was directly overhead, it....... did nothing. It didn't descend to devour them, it didn't shoot acid at them, nothing dangerous. All it did was emit a series of deep, sloppy sounding groans and growls, as if it were trying to say something. Then it turned around and floated back to the hatchery, staying there for a moment before beginning to follow the singular Drone around.
Everypony stood there for a minute or two, quiet. Then Pinkie Pie giggled and began to comically attempt to imitate the Overlord's saliva spewing speech. Rarity took a quick step to the side to avoid the inevitable spit storm. Then Twilight Sparkle let out a deep, defeated sigh. "... Come on, everypony... let's go home..." she decided, starting to walk back the way they had come with her head slightly hung. She didn't want to leave and the prospect of what could happen in her absence scared her to no end, but... on the other hand, she was exhausted from the long walk, worried out of her mind, and her heart and stomach just couldn't take any more surprises or stress.
So to take a quick glance upwards and see her balloon peeking out over the treeline was something of a relief. She could see Rainbow Dash waving to her from the balloon's basket, never mind how she was screaming to her. "Twiliiiight! I can't land this thing!" The other Element bearers couldn't help a giggle as the unicorn in question teleported into the basket and brought it down to land in the clearing. They made a great effort to steer clear of the hatchery, the Overlord, and the Creep. Once they were on the ground, the rest of the main 6 ran to the balloon and boarded it. Before long, they were airborne again and floating off towards Ponyville.
Poor Twilight could still see the Overlord patrolling the clearing, even as her balloon carried them away. She rubbed at her head with one hoof and groaned. Lack of Pinkie's twitching aside, she couldn't shake that gut feeling. You know, the "something bad's going to happen" one. Still... one floating jellyfish couldn't destroy Ponyville, could it? All it had done to them was make Pinkie Pie spit a lot.
Her gut wrenched at her and another, lower groan escaped her lips, looking back at her friends to see them all either watching her or watching the increasingly distant Zerg. "... Thank you, everypony..." she managed, trying to suck up the pain that her nerves were stirring up. "You're right."
Only then did Applejack express her opinion. "... Ah'm leavin' Big Mac with the chores tomorrow mornin', Twi. Ah'm comin' with ya," she replied, straightening her hat. "Jus' cause Ah'm worried 'bout ya'll don't mean Ah like those things..." Twilight allowed a slight smile to appear upon her countenance, nodding her thanks to the farmer mare. It was good to know that somepony else was on her side of the matter.
"They need a name," Rainbow Dash added immediately after, getting a look from the others. "What? They should! And we get to! We found 'em! ... Right?"
The other mares nodded, all thinking of names for the creatures for all of... 20 seconds.
"Oooh! Oooh! I got one! Zany Eating Rawr-y Grossies!" All others gathered in the basket gave Pinkie Pie looks as if she had said something funny that had just fallen flat.
"Naaaah..." Rainbow dismissed. The party pony looked back and forth between them all, then giggled softly and briefly.
"Z.E.R.G. for short~" Again, they all stared, but only for a second, having to nod and admit their liking of the name.
"Fine. Zerg it is then..." Twilight Sparkle decided, shaking her head out and looking back to the west. Part of her was glad she couldn't see the floating Overlord anymore. She closed her eyes and began to think ahead... Princess Celestia would be getting a letter as soon as they got back, after all.
---
The Ponyville library's door swung open as the purple unicorn returned, resting her saddlebags on a hook and promptly removing her notepad and that odd cylinder from such. She briefly gazed at the container and the weird liquid it held, but she didn't dwell on that. Not now.
"Spiiiiike!"
She heard a banging from behind a table, seeing a certain baby dragon rubbing his head and giving Twilight an annoyed look. "Ow... Hi Twilight..."
"Oh, there you are... quick, take a letter, Spike," she told him, clearing her throat as the dragon raced to get a quill.
---
Dear Princess Celestia,
As you are no doubt aware by now, something fell from the sky last night and crash landed in the middle of the White Tail Woods. The object was massive, covered in what we believe to be gold, and filled with disturbing... things. I was able to enter the object (I am still unsure of what to call it myself. My friend Rarity said it was a ship, but I can't see this thing floating) this afternoon and... I wouldn't wish the experience on anypony. Everything inside was destroyed and dead, gore was everywhere, and the stench was nothing short of overwhelming.
After I left the object, my friend Fluttershy found a trail of tracks leading from the crash site to a clearing within the woods, where my friends and I found a cocoon and a large patch of odd crystals. These crystals don't concern me. What does is the cocoon. When it burst, it became huge! It must be some sort of hive. It was producing larvae that very quickly transformed into these floating crab... fly things that It had this slimy purple growth coming from it that covered the ground and spread very quickly around it (I found the same thing inside the object). When we left it, it was roughly 6 feet away from the" hive", whereas it had started not even an inch from such. It is spreading quickly, and I'm afraid it might not stop spreading.
I believe somepony should be sent to watch the site. I don't know if the growth is dangerous or not, but I just have a terrible feeling about all of this. I intend to revisit the site early tomorrow morning. I am going to have Spike send my notepad along with this letter so that you may read more about what I've seen.
Please reply to this soon, but any time will be fine. I'm not expecting to sleep very well tonight anyways... What I saw inside the object was... disgusting and haunting, to say the least...
-Your Faithful Student
Twilight Sparkle
P.S. I would like my notepad back when you're done, please.
Twilight Sparkle sat on her haunches as she read the letter over one more time, then handed the letter to Spike along with her notepad, to be promptly sent to the Princess.
"Thank you, Spike... now please put on a pot of coffee... I'm going to be here a while..." she then said, taking a deep breath and beginning to magically pull books from the shelves... She knew there wouldn't be any books on the aliens, but she figured insect physiology was as good a place to start as any...
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Which one besides Fluttershy would make the best Zerg queen, obviously Fluttershy, the others would be pushing it, unless you told a really convincing story as to why Twilight Sparkle would make a good changeling queen.
Make Fluttershy the new Queen of Blade. The element of kindness commading the most ruthless species in the Koprulu Sector. Does she a protector or a destroyer. When the pricesses want to destroy the Zerg, Fluttershy defended them thus becoming thier leader.
For sheer power, efficiency and going bat shit insane, Twilight. She's got the Kerrigan level mojo for the job.
For hilarity, Rarity. I'm sure she'd guide their evolution towards fabulosity. The zerg would be very shiny indeed.
AJ and RD.. Well, RD would probably try to create the Zergbolts and AJ would start having serious family issues.
Pinkie is just too Pinkie to pull off a Zerg Queen.
Twilight Sparkle is a suitable queen.
Nice chapter, and Twilight is right about that bad feeling. I can see this story possibly going very dark very quickly with the Zerg involved...
I don't know that much about the Zerg virus, but Essence appears to be very similar to DNA. It just gets assimilated into the Swarm when creatures are consumed, while Abathur removes unnecessary evolution to get closer to perfection.
Also, the unit count looks fine, except you forgot the adorable roly-poly Banelings and you probably shouldn't use Abberations. I know that they just had them mutate from Larva in Heart of the Swarm for some reason, but they're just incredibly mutated Terrans.
Pinkie pie
Do I need to continue
I'd have to say you're pretty accurate with how the zerg work thus far, discounting the possibility of the new 'brood' being feral. However, keep in mind that creep doesn't just suffocate grass; it can also wither away trees that happen to touch it.
For the zerg virus, keep in mind that with the most recent strain seen in 'Outbreak', it is capable of mass outbreaks of infestation. My head-canon for the virus is that the more specialized it is, the higher quality the infested being will create (the original and the primal Queen of Blades being an example of this.) There's also compatibility issues with the virus, but that's for another time.
As for the whole 'essence' thing, it's what the zerg consumes in order to evolve into more dangerous beings. The evolution missions from Abathur involving such things is an example. for more info, check out the wiki here. The wiki can also answer any questions you may have (PM me if you need a second opinion if it matters to you.
)
For units and the 'sequences', if we are talking about an advanced version of a unit (i.e. Raptorlings), having at the very least the zergling evolution there, as it applies to Niadra since she was capable of spawning units with such mutations. If it's the 'minor pick-what-you-want-and-can-change-it-later' type, then sure, it can be ignored (unless it's the zergling speed boost. godda have them fast mofos). also, if you choose to have aberrations, banelings are also there, otherwise no.
For Pinkie Pie, I wonder that myself in my story, so can't help you there.
Besides fluttershy, Twilight would be the best suited. If unicorn/alicorn magic capabilities are anything like Terran psionics, Twilight would be the only one possibly compatible enough with the virus to make it out without losing her mind. On top of that, she is also a great leader, if a bit OCD at times.
Keep up the good work, and don't rush!
Well given what Niadra could spawn, Zergling's Hydras and Roaches are the most likely units. Though I have to wonder if Equestria could provide some unique mutations?
As for best Zerg Queen, I'd go for Fluttershy or Rainbow.
If you want a logical answer, Fluttershy is the first obvious choice. She loves animals and would be first to love them. The second choice would be Pinkie as she's not feeling ill will towards them in this story and is fairly open minded. Twilight would be an effective leader in most situations, but you've made it clear she doesn't like them sooo she's out. Rainbow Dash's agenda has nothing to do with Zerg, don't get me started with how grossed out Rarity would be, and Applejack would just make them do farm work lol. Thus, the prime candidates for being a Zerg Queen would be Fluttershy and Pinkie.
I've entertained the concept of peaceful Zerg/Tyranids entering Equestria. Whether this is your intention or not, I look forward to see how this pans out.
Oh right! As for things you did right and wrong, I felt the ponies behaved a little too suspiciously of the Zerg and were a little quick to behave aggressive. Humans have always been very curious about aliens, and have gone so far as to welcome them. I believe that if an intelligent species found an alien spacecraft, they would be enthusiastic about finding another intelligent race, (I know the scientist in Twilight would) and not preparing to kill the first thing that came out. They just seem a tad too suspicious of the Zerg. They crashed and could need medical attention and Applejack immediately thinks they're suspicious. Speaking of Twilight, I thought she would be ecstatic about the opportunity of learning the vast amount of knowledge arrayed before her. Space travel? Ponies are far from it! Proof that they are not alone in the galaxy? Where did they come from?! Advanced technology? How does it work?! Twilight would be drooling over the fountain of learning before her! Even more so if the Zerg communicated with her!
As for what's right, Fluttershy and the Drone were adorable lol. I love that the Zerg have done absolutely nothing wrong yet, and have just minded their own business while the others gawk at them. The behavior of the Zerg is believable and endearing, (with the "must multiply" and the Overlord just floating around making squishy noises) and you've definitely left room for interest, as the Zerg were meant to be controlled, even humans controlled them at one point. Or, they might just say "they must be destroyed because they have claws and no brains roar"
And the descriptions of the Zerg (Hive, eggs, larvae) are immersive as well. I didn't think of the outer cocoon being slimy.
And lastly, no. You are doing Pinkie right. Doing and saying silly things is her job.
Twilight for Zerg queen!
Well if magical power = Psionic power Twilight might give kerrigan a run for her money as zerg queen
Pffft yeah right Kerrigan is too fucking overpowered for that shit. She'd probably get hit with friendship nuke and yawn.
Rarity for queen - she will gather all the pretty minerals, and be just as perfection-driven as Abathur
On a more serious note - I believe the talk about "Essence" is the zerg's ability to copy genetic traits of what they devour, allowing them to evolve at an insane rate, and rapidly adapt to just about any environment. For example, if they gather the essence of/eat a unicorn, a strain of zerg capable of using magic could technically be developed
4827829
Actually every Zerg has every strain of Zerg species, including the infamous Leviathan and possibly Broodmother strain too.
What the fuck? When did this turn into a comedy suddenly? Goddammit I want to see ponies murdered, not this happy silly bullshit.
Yes, you are. One of the things that pisses me off the most is when people write Pinkie to be this ADHD-addled retard with godmode powers.
4828268 I agree with you on that a Zerg story with only zerglings roaches and hydralisk would be quite upsetting that the Zerg have no airpower or the awesome ultralisks or to see infested ponies and the mane six reaction to them.
4828268 you are very correct , if we are going by Starcraft cannon though it is only with the evolved hatcheries that most strains are avaliable.
The Zerg virus from the missions spoken of is basically a insta-zombie thing, the 'essence' that is always spoken of is nothing more or less than DNA or genetic material
you're not missing anything really by not remembering much about BroodWars, sinse it was little more then a sick joke that opened up the storyline to the Starcraft 2 games
Actually I think you're doing a pretty good job with Pinkie's personality, as to the new queen? The for mentioned Pinkie or Rarity sinse you have AppleJack and Rainbow to aggresive and suspicious, Twilight? Just no with that!
MOAR! NEEDING MOAR OF THIS!
what will they encounter first, I wonder, Zergling? Or Hydralisk?
I'm voting for Rarity as the Zerg queen. She already has the crystal obsession and she'd be FABULOUS.
Also why is it that in the letter Twilight sent to Celestia only the first paragraph in in Italics?
4828837 Because I'm unfathomably silly.
One slight complaint. Twilight's group would have no way of knowing what the creatures are called, nor about the Protoss or the like, and yet their thoughts keep referencing them. Though, understandable if it were Pinkie Pie doing the thinking. XD
4828896 She doesn't know what the Protoss are. I do.
4828901 Ah. lol
Well, still liking the chapter thusfar.^^ *still in the middle of reading it* ^^
4828664 I think Zerglings most likely or a Spawning Pool
Another excellent chapter.^^ As for Pinkie.... well, she's definitely not stupid, but she's definitely eccentric, so I think you got her right, overall.^_^
I wonder how Celestia and Luna will react to what's been revealed. Since it's approaching nightfall, and Luna's the one whose job it is to protect Equestria's night, she likely will be the one to be sent to keep track of it through the night. Especially if the notes in Twilight's notepad points out the incredible growth rate that the larvae have, and the fact that within a relatively short time, the same type of larvae evolved into two different creatures.(Knowing Twilight, she kept record on the exact amount of time. XD)
I'm also guessing that writing the letter for Twilight likely would have gotten Spike worried, since he heard all the details Twilight said and could tell that Twilight was both disturbed and not telling everything in the letter.
Oh, and as for the infection... not for certain about it, but I think only specific types of Zerg can spread infection.
Either way, this is looking great so far, and I'm eager to see more.^^
I love this so far, I would prefer the Zerg to stay indifferent and neutral up until they start pumping out swarm queens (which if the campaign is correct can speak in Common) then have something like a funny scene in where Princess Celestia gets a notification something along the lines of "Nadria's remnants have changed their status with you to be: ALLY.
The Zerg may be squishy and gross but they do have brains and are not mindless killing machines, they are mindFUL DNA ABSORBING machines.
Keep it up mate!
Cheers!
4829262
Kerrigan didn't infest her in the normal terms, Protoss can't be infested. It was more that she just put the Larva inside her body and then later it tore its way out of her like a chest-burster. It's not like it took control of her or altered her or anything.
4828268 While that is true, that doesn't necessarily mean they have access to it. If we want to go by the game's logic, Kerrigan couldn't access the higher level Zerg units until she found one that Abathur could assimilate and unlock. With that logic, I believe it makes sense that this hive would be stuck with the basic units given what Niadra had access to.
4829262
A parasite was jammed in there, not actual infestation.
Let's see, the bit I don't care for is how when it's rather clear that a line is more of a thought in a character's head they use terms that they shouldn't know, kind of irritating to me.
Fluttershy riding a drone was adorable, and while I think the pony best equipped to run this here hivemind is Rarity, I want Dash to do it, as I think that would be the most interesting to read... only partially because I'm a Dash fanboy.
The virus and essence malarkey is pretty simple. The Zerg were given "purity of essence," which means whatever you want it to as the Overmind (talks like Old Testament God) wasn't too clear on what that actually meant. So he wanted to make the swarm better by eating(SC2 retconned this away) the Protoss and their "purity of form," and when the swarm stumbled on humans the stance was "Latent psionic potential, must nom to use against the Protoss." Then plot happens and the Overmind says "Kerri is now my waifu," and does super-secret-infesting-no jutsu to make the Queen Bitch of the Universe. Presumably the super-secret-infesting-no jutsu died with the Overmind, since you don't see a newer model.
My suggestion for getting cannon stuff right is download a copy of the SC1 manual, I prefer it to the wiki. Granted you miss the retcons, but so what.
So much thanks for the update, i really like the episode, i hope you continue soon, you make my day happy, by the way wich is your opinion, i beleive star craft 2 heart of the swarm didnt do justice to the zerg, and without te overmind are not as fun, thanks for this awesome storie and i hope you carry on
4829855 Glad to hear it, mate.
4829652
Do you mean that bit about Twilight's expectations? If so, Twilight does not know what the Protoss are. However, I do... My writing style can be confusing/irritating at times, I'll admit.
4829994 No problem and dont worry, i love your writing style, please dont give up, i love your storie, i am ding to read the rest, can you wiouth spoiler tell me all the zerg types are going to be here, or new types
actually, I think AppleBloom would be a good Zerg queen
4829994
Yes, that exact bit. It doesn't happen often, so it's not going to drive me off. And if there's more utterly adorable parts then I'm sure you could get away with doing it more often. Where's my Fluttershy on a drone emoticon!
I'm just waiting for them to come back, and find a bunch of lings and hydralisks. Also if you used the /dance command somewhere in this story THAT, would be F***ING SPECTACULAR!
4830243 Hahaha... if someone can draw that, I'd be so damn happy. Maybe use their name in the story at some point. ... of course, they'd probably get wrecked by the Zerg, but hey.
4830316 Sir... you have read my mind. There will be breakdancing Zerglings. There were already going to be breakdancing Zerglings.
no ultralisks? and here I was hoping for an immortal torrasque/omegalisk mutation to defend the base. ursa major? get that weak shit up outta here.
also fluttershy. just go with her if possible. other than that, twilight is the second by way of "none of the other candidates can so anything useful for the swarm"
edit: wait a minute niandra wouldn't have had to weave any new strains the torrasque and omegalisk are pre-existing strains present in all zerg.(save for primal zerg) If the swarm could justify the expenditure of resources then they would undoubtedly create one and escalate the conflict.
4830432
Breakdancing zerglings, this is turning into Zerg Quest isn't it. I approve, as that was an enjoyable time.
Warning to anyone planning to follow that link, it starts rather adult as someone thought sexual reproduction was the best idea, and the guy running it was drinking. By the 10th thread it got cleaned up.
Well technically due to genetic memory Niadra can be revived with her full mind set from a larva
4827787 or the best
Trixie for brood queen
4828391 are you retarded he hasn't done that at all. the only thing he has joked about with is the tunes she hummed and in this alterante universe she just created it at that moment with no connection to zerg at all so shut up it AU. she doesn't have any god like powers in the show? teleporting earth pony any one? kamehame ha yourself. and fuck you the longer he holds off on the senseless murder of our favorite background ponies the better.
4830605 there's no need for that, sir. I respect his opinion. You should too. Or t least ignore it.
I would strongly suggest taking out all the direct references, I.E., the names of the zergs and protess, until the mane six find them for themselves. I think it make the impression better.
Also, it is worth noting that the Overlords were a willing species that became part of the hive. Food for thought.
Also, loved the the wee from Fluttershy riding drone.
I seem to recall the possibility of a queen and some sort of commander, the cerebrates. Maybe Fluttershy could be queen, and some number of others could be cerebrates?
4830642 the overlords were willing? Where did you read that? Also, I'm glad you liked it.
4830468 Congratulations, good sir. You have given me procrastination material for the next several hours.
4830744 I believe it was in the guide that game with dulex pack of starcraft one and broodwar, I am not exactly sure where I read it but I know I did.
4830605
Your aspergers is showing. :^)
4830744
Hours? For two years worth of threads? You sir read fast. Fun fact, I went by TUCAMP in those threads, just be sure to give credit in an Author Note if you swipe an idea from there. I get the feeling Artisanlord is going to make an appearance.
4830980 Yes I am. I'm not going to name my overlords, though... probably.