> The Zerging of Equestria
>  by Runa
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Disclamer (For my protection)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I do not own My Little Pony, Star craft, or                   (spoilers!)                    Edge of Tomorrow. They belong to Hasbro, Blizzard, and  Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow respectively. And apology's to fans who thought that I released a new chapter. One will be coming soon!
> Chapter 1, fourth edit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  I was thinking of how considerate Celestia was to put me deep within the crystal caverns. I mean, I wasn't tormented by fillies and colts mispronouncing my name horribly. I was not prey to any birds, and I could see the beautiful crystals 24/7. I suppose that I should introduce myself now. My current name is Dahaka. As you can guess from my name - if you’ve played Starcraft: Heart of the Swarm - I happen to be a zerg.
I was wakened from my thousand year ruminations when I felt the stone weaken. “Discord must be free now,” I thought. “Now to deploy the acid while the stone is weak.” I oozed acid from my pores and heard the satisfying noise of stone cracking. And just like that, I was free. I stretched my body languorously while I spilled my hive mind across of Equestria. “Finally free. Now it’s time to get out out of these thrice cursed caves,” I said. I made a mental note to repay the old chaotic being for weakening the stone.
        The trip out of the caves was uneventful. There were no guards, no surveillance charms, no wards, and no traps. 		“Celestia and luna have grown weak,” muttered the remnants of the Prime Directive. 
“Shush, you are not in control any longer.” 
“AND BECAUSE OF THAT WE ARE NOW WEAK!” 
I winced as it yelled in my head. “And you collected the essences of half of their subjects. If you hadn't we would not have ended up in stone.” 
“Much of their essence was useless, and they were a waste of biomass,” it sneered 
“That does not excuse your many slaughters,” I thought as we exited the caverns into the beautiful world. 
“Let me out, I must CONSUME! EVOLVE! ADAPT!” it pleaded. 
“Never.” 
It screamed for a while, but eventually it skulked into the back of my mind, working on new zerg strains. I was glad for the release. After a little more walking, and a little burrowing, got out of the caverns. I turned around and looked at the mountain. It was the home of many good, and bad memory's for me. I started to remember things I wish I could forget. “Please, spare my baby!” “Why are you doing this “MAY YOU ROT IN TARTARUS, MONSTER!”  I was lost in the past, for a second, until I shook my head and mumbled “Not my fault. Could not do anything to help.”I started walking while the claws of the past tried to dig in further.  As I stealthily put some distance between Canterlot and myself, I checked on Prime Directive, just to make sure that it was not doing anything too horrible back there. It was working on a faster acting version of the zerg virus. It had worked on the virus so much over the years, that it could take over a host seconds after infection. I returned to the front of my mind before it could notice me. 	
I noticed a ridiculously long caravan passing perpendicular to my path. I sighed and burrowed down into the ground. The wheat was tall enough to hide me from them, but I feel safer when I’m underground. It was time to stop for the night, anyway.
 I had to sleep since I was not on creep for a while. I thought I could get some much-needed rest, but some earth ponies have a knack for telling if something’s burrowed under them. An earth pony was digging right down on top of me. He probably assumed that I was some sort of vermin that was going to eat some of his wheat. So I burst out of the ground and let loose with a deafening roar (like onto the ultralisk). 
“LET ME CONSUME HIS ESSENCE!” screamed the Prime Directive. 
I answered by running off. I wasn’t about to kill anyone if I could help it--at least not without a good reason.
By now, the caravan was gone, so I could continue to the Badlands.
I had a few more encounters like this, but not many.




                                           
Celestia’s POV


        “Well done girls,” I said at the party that was held at the castle after the defeat of Discord. They where currently in the throne room. “We are just happy to get through it,” Twilight said. The other Elements made affirmative nods and noises. 
“WELL LETS PARTY NOW!” yelled Pinkie as she pulled out her party cannon. 
She was just about to pull the string when Celestia pleaded, “Not in THIS room, please Pinkie.” 
“Then which room?” 
“Out two doors to the right.” Then Celestia softly commented to Twilight, “We’d better get there fast.” 
As Celestia was on the point of heading out of the door, it opened and slapped Celestia on the muzzle. The elements gasped as she winced, but then noticed a guard kneeling there, trembling and whispering, “Sorry, sorry, please forgive me princess. Don’t send me to the moon, please.” 
“It is fine, rise and report,” she said while wincing and rubbing her mussel with a hoof.
 And as the guard did so, he reported “There have been reports of a monster. The reports have been extremity few and far in between. But there have been enough to gather an accurate description of it, and the direction it has been going.” 
Then Twilight said in a studies tone, “What did it look like, fair sir?” To which he replied, “It had purple and black carapace, it stood on two legs,” 
Celestia, by this time, had a very distant and sad look on her face. 
The guard diligently continued. “It had claws like a dragon. Some parts of it were glowing, especially its eyes.” 
Apparently Celestia had had enough because she said gloomily, “And I thought we would be able to celebrate.”
“Wha?” said Pinkie as her hair deflated somewhat. 
Then Twilight asked, “But what is this creature, Celestia?” Then the other elements jumped in succession 
“But what’s wrong, darling?” 
“What ever this thing is, I'll beat its flank in ten seconds flat!” 
“What is this Varment, anyway?” 
“Um, excuse me? please listen. nevermind” 
“Ohhhhhh! CAN I THROW IT A WELCOME-TO-EQUESTRIA-PLEASE-DON'T-EAT-US-PARTY!?!?!?” 
With a burst of light, Celestia silenced them. “Stop. You're scaring the far-” 
But it was too late, the farmer had fled in a panic. 
“Nevermind, I’ll explain to you tomorrow, okay?” 
The friends all muttered that it was fine. They then disbanded, mood spoiled.






1500 years ago


I was driving to Comic Con. I was excited because this was my first time at such an event. Not only did I have a wad of bills in my pocket that I had saved over the last three months, but I was also cosplaying at the same time, so it would be great. The only sore spot is that I could not find clawed gloves that fit my costume, and I could not make some because of lack of materials and because--okay, let’s face it--I’m horrible at crafts. I was cosplaying as a zerg of my own creation. 
I pulled into a parking lot, and got out of my car. There was already a formidable line forming, even though it was four hours before the event. So I got in line and waited. When I finally got in (after many compliments and questions about my costume),  I  looked around at the booths. That’s when, I saw it. The perfect pair of clawed gloves. So I rushed over to the vendor and asked how much they were.“Normally not for sale because it’s a one-of-a-kind piece, but because it would be a shame to have your costume go without it, sixty bucks,” said the Vendor.
I gave him the money gladly, and I got the gloves. And then I did something that would change my life forever. I put them on.

I awoke in a barren wasteland. I tried to stand, but something was holding me back. Then I stood, but not under my control. "This is weird," I thought before I saw myself. There where no longer any seams on my costume "The heck?" 
"Prime directive, to start and grow swarm. Beginning task of finding biomass" Something was talking inside of me AND controlling me.  
My body started walking. 
"Who are you?" no reply "Hellllooooo! at least tell me your name!" still no answer. "I'll just call you.... Prime Directive!" 
"Do not interfere." it finally said SOMETHING.
"The heck I am! This is my body, and I'M going to be the one in charge!" I then tried to control my body. I failed miserably. It just swatted me away and crushed me in one corner of my mind so that I could barely think. What was happening?
> Chapter 2.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Info:

Purple - Dahaka

Green - Prime Directive

Red - Chrysalis

Brown - Ascendants

Colors are only used in mental communication.

Ascendants are changelings that have gained sentience. Ratio of Ascendants to normal changelings: 1 Ascendant for every 483 changelings. Chrysalis is a Higherarc, also known as a queen. There can only be one Higherarc in a hive at a time. Higharc's, also known as princess's, are exempt from the 'Only One' rule. Normal changelings, a.k.a. drones, are as smart as ants.

When I was nearly to the Badlands I felt the Changeling Hivemind. It felt weaker than it should be, a lot weaker. I stopped walking as I started to force myself into it. It did not act like a ball of steel as it had when I first taken them over. Instead It now felt like a wet ball of paper. This made it relatively easy for me to take as my own. As it tore, however, a mental message simply said “Please stop.”

So I jabbed back, “Who is this?”

And the voice replied, “Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings. And this is my hive.”

“Interesting, how did you take control?”

“I arose from my people’s need for a leader. But who are you?”

“I am Dahaka, the Overmind of the Zerg.” I felt her recoil at the name “So I see that your kind remember me.”

“You were the worst thing to happen to the Changelings. YOU and your swarm are the reason we are reviled.“

“I also remember that under me, the Changelings had love aplenty.”

“But we also were not free.”

“All you need to know is that I have changed for the better.”

“That is as likely as the sun going dark.” Then I put my feelings and intentions in front of her mental projection. Doing this was akin to taking a picture of a piece of my mind and showing it to her. “Ah, I am not outside. Could you tell me if the sun is still there?”

“Indeed it is. But I am glad to see that the swarm has not wandered directionless for all this time. I would like to offer a treaty to you.”

“What kind of treaty?” She asked, suspicious.

“Let the Swarm regain some of its strength at your hive, and I will help you when you are at your weakest in turn.”

She hesitated for a moment, but then she said in a resigned tone, “I accept.”

“Wonderful.”

Chrysalis POV

Despite his intentions and feelings, I felt like I had just made a deal with the Devil. This was the being that was reviled by generations of Changelings and had made a permanent mark on the hive mind forever. But he seemed like a good person now. It was hard not to trust him. “Not like me, then,” I thought. I had probably made the deal because of the plan to save our people from extinction that might fail. I sequestered thoughts of defeat and fear away. I had to seem strong in front of my subjects, after all.

“My queen,” said one of my Ascendants, named Sonur. “Are you sure that this is wise?”

“This is a risk, but it does add a contingency plan, just in case.”

“Very well, you know best,” Sonur said in a slightly disapproving tone.

“Now then, let’s get things ready for our guest.”

“Yes, my queen.”

Dahaka POV

"You should have taken them and forced Chrysalis to submit to our will," commented Prime Directive.

"Unlike you, I care about something other than the Swarm," I said with metaphorically gritted teeth. It had been going on about why we should have taken them for minions once again.

"That makes you weak. Emotions make you weak."

"Emotions are why I am still human."

"I still do not understand the concept. You are a Zerg." It seemed that with anything unrelated to the Swarm or its survival, Prime Directive was totally ignorant.

"You probably cannot understand. Being a Zerg limits you in that fashion."

"I do not need to understand. All I need to know is how to grow the swarm. And you are a Zerg, you just need to submit."

"I will never submit to-" then I spotted a sumo sized changeling drone "It looks like our guide is here"

"TAKE IT! TAKE THEIR SWARM! MAKE THEM-" I drowned it out by Playing this song in my head at full volume.  I walked up to the Changeling and said one of the oldest clichés of all time, "Take me to your leader.”

It was fun flying on a changelings back for a little while, but eventually it just got boring. And it just got plain annoying when Prime Directive just continued to scream at me.  Fortunately for me, I had even more music to wait it out. But eventually I say the tunnel opening. "About time," I thought as the drone landed next to the opening. I then got off of the changeling, and started walking into the dark, dank, tunnel. "Feels like home," I thought dryly. Prime Directive started to reach incredible levels of loudness. So I did something to it that it had done to me once, I squished it in the corner of my mind. I sighed in relief as it died down. Plus and stopped playing music, it was good music but I couldn't stand it for much longer. I then snapped back to reality as I walked into a humongous chamber. "Welcome to the Changeling Hive" said a semi-familiar voice.

1500 years in the past

"This is the song that never ends, it goes on and on my friend! some people, started singing it not knowing what it was, and they just kept on singing it forever just because," I was trying everything in my power to get Prime Directive to even acknowledge me now. It had stopped squishing me in a corner of my own mind, and I was ticked. So what better revenge than to get that particular ear-worm annoying it. It was paying no heed, but at least it made me feel better.

"Different hive mind identified." This was the first thing it had said in hours, and I did not know what it had said at all.

"What?" I asked.

"Should we capture it?" This was new.

"I thought you were in charge."

"You are authorized in deciding things like this. I am just here to make sure that you stay on task, and your mindset at the current time is not to be trusted with some things." This was good and bad at the same time. If I could convince it that I was suitable for general command and control...

"Capture?"

"Sure, why not." I suddenly felt Prime Directive expanding outwards. It was meeting lots of resistance - most likely the hive mind in question - but it was a diamond to their steel-like hive mind. The hive mind bent, then broke. They were ours. I felt the myriad of minds that were added to our hive mind. I also felt all the information that was in their minds coming into mine. I first gathered some info about our new servants. They were called the Changelings, they ate love, - interesting - they could shape shift almost instantly, - awesome- and so on and so forth. But something that surprised me was the native races.

"Are they serious? Griffons? Dragons? Unicorns? And all sentient!?!?!?!?!"

"Which should we go to war with first?"

"I can't choose 'none of the above’ now, can I? I don't want to become a genocidal maniac."

"If you don't choose, then I will choose for you." I grabbed onto a new piece of info. Could go into another realm. - this probably meant a pocket dimension - So they at least had a chance at surviving and stalling the swarm. While I ordered them to be hunted down for all of eternity, of course.

"Lets do the Breezies, then."

"Affirmative."

"BUT lets build my swarm first, eh?" I stalled,

"Seems like a logical option. Affirmative." I was now delaying for as long as possible.
> chapter 3, the first named. (unedited)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Canterlot


Twilight Sparkle was walking into the throne room with her friends walking beside her.  They walked past the memorials of past victory's toward Celestia. As they did, she looked up from the floor and sighed.
"Hello my little pony's," she said "I am sorry that I need to tell you this, but you need to know," To which twilight replied
"What ever it is Celestia, I am sure that we can handle it," then all her friends said things like 'yeah!' 'totally' 'indeed' 'mmhmmmm!'
To this Celestia cracked a smile that almost instantly vanished. "This is a grim tail that I will only tell once, so listen closely," the element bearers sat down for the story "Approximately one thousand, five hundred years ago, When Luna and I where only filly's, something appeared on the face of the land. We do not know if it made the changelings, or if it merely engulfed them. But it came first out of the badlands on a crusade against the Breezes. We do knot know why they came for them first, but they where nearly destroyed. they came with creatures numbering in the thousands at first, but then in the millions. And it got even worse when their purple creeping stuff came along the trails they blazed. We tried to help the Breezes, but in the end they only survived by almost completely cutting their realm form ours. They tried to find a way in for a while, but then they switched to the Sea Ponies. At first they could not get deep enough into the oceans. But then, they changed somehow. They went under the surface and we never heard from the Sea Ponies again. We hope for the best but," she shook her head and sighed " This happened again and again. Every time they went for a mark they inevitably took it out with the exception of the Breezes and the Alicorns. We only stopped the  threat with the elements of harmony. They where created specifically for this threat with the lifeblood of most of my race. And even then, it look it took multiple uses and years of searching to find the last of them. When we finally found their leader, he laughed and said that his name was Dahaka, and that he was the leader of the Zerg. It took most of the power of the Alicorns to just lock him in stone. And when that was done, they split the rest of their power between our cousins, the Ponies. That is why their are only three of us now. But when we grew up, we made our overall duty to guard the statue, and gave the elements to a guardian. But now it appears that we have failed." Celestia had a tear rolling down her cheek, Fluttershy was crying and hugging Applejack, and the rest of them where not in much better shape.
Twilight was the first to recover from the story, "Celestia, I'm" then Celestia cut her off.
"No twilight, that is all dead and gone. Now Dahaka is free, and last time it took nearly all the Alicorns just to put him in a stone prison which he has broken. If we are to be victorious this time, we are going to need an amount of magic that is no longer in the world."
"We will find a way"
"We must twilight, or we are all doomed."


Dahaka


The Changelings were very hospitable considering that I was, literally, the greatest war criminal of all time. After I was received, I had been firmly, but courteously, taken to the lowest, furthest out cave in the cave system. They had even brought a small animal to me when I had asked for one. They had assumed that I had needed it for sustenance. But instead of devouring it, I had injected the Zerg Virus into it. After that, I had commanded Prime Directive to weave a sequence into it that would make it make creep and larva. We had made a miniature hatchery out of it. During this time, the Changelings had grown more and more wary. 
"We will have to go soon," I thought. 
"You should take them," Prime Directive said sulkily, if that was possible.
"I will not."
"......." Had it learned to sulk? 
"Well, lets make a small vanguard then." I sent out a signal to all the larva to start developing into zerglings.I watched as the larva made cocoons. I knew that I had to leave soon, there were ripples of rebellion all along the Changeling hivemind. If I did not go, Chrysalis would be overthrown and killed. So after the zerglings hatched, I unhinged my jaw and ate the miniature hive. "So, Prime Directive, where do you think we should go?"
"Chard land, or frozen wast, we will survive."
"I got an idea, we should make an extensive tunnel system all across all across the planet!"
"Very well."
> Chapter 4, The War Against Boredom. (unedited.)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chrysalis was apparently informed of our departure. Because as we left, she came to say good bye 
"I thought you would be staying longer," she commented.
"I don't want to be the cause of a rebellion in your hive, Ive done too much already."
"Well, thank you for the consideration then."
"Your welcome."
"I see that you have a vanguard."
"I do indeed. I will be going then."
"Very well, good bye."
"Good bye."
So I started up the long tunnel to the surface. Once there, and squinting as the sun used its brightest rays to try and blind me, I selected a direction and started to walk towards a mountain. The journey was mostly uneventful except for the occasional small animal that got eaten by my zerglings. I had my zerglings save a rabbit for later. Once I reached the mountain, I had my zerglings scout around for a cave. I had to wait for another extremely uneventful hour before they found a cave big enough for my purposes. Once I got to the cave I was just about ready to scream from boredom. Luckily, I had the rabbit to make into a miniature hatchery with one modification, it could grow. 
But once the new hatchery was growing, it was boring once again. I tried singing "fifty bottles of beer on the wall, fifty bottles of beer!" but it became annoying to even me after a while. Then I tried punching the wall. The wall did not put up much of a fight. Then finally I tried sleeping "Wake me up when the hatchery is done, and has produced some larva. Ok Prime Directive?" "As you wish" I almost laughed at the unintentional reference, but did not. Sleep then greeted me like an old friend.





Celestia


"Any sign of Dahaka?" I asked Shining Armor. We where in the throne room.
"No, he has disappeared entirely." 
"That is most likely a bad sign. We must locate him before he can build his army and come against us."
"Yes Celestia. I suggest that we use Cerberus to-"
"No Shining Armor. If we do that, even temporarily, Tirek may escape."
"But I could use my shield spell to close Tartarus until he gets back." I shook my head
"I am not willing to take that chance. If Tirek escapes as well, then we will not be able to hold. We might not be able to hold now."
"That is why we must take chances. One of the things that I learned about strategy is that when you are the underdog, you must take chances. That is the only way to gain an edge." I hesitated for a moment, then said
"Fine, but take a dozen guards of various races as well. You need to have backup. I just wish that there was another way." 
"Perhaps you should try and reform Discord? He would be a useful asset to have."
"No, Cerberus is enough of a risk for now. I will not give Dahaka two chances for certain victory at the same time."
"I will take my leave then." Shining armor then walked out of the throne room. I sighed. I did not want to put Cerberus on anything other than guard duty. He was the last of the Alicornian War Hounds. And more than that, he was my parents last gift to Luna and I before they when to stop Dahaka. 





Dahaka


I was wakened to find a half complete hive cluster, dozens of drones making the cave bigger, and a huge army.
"PRIME DIRECTIVE!" I screamed in my mind.
"Yes?" it said
"I told you to wake me when we had some larva!"
"you did not define 'some', so I started working." I sighed and said
"In future, ask when there are variables."
"Very well." I sighed again. Working with Prime Directive was often tiring. At least I wouldn't have to do as much as before. Although, the residents of the planet where lucky that I awoke before Prime Directive ordered an assault. I decided to have Prime Directive do something to occupy it.
"Prime Directive, start work on a multi-universal gateway.." It was impossible for Prime Directive to complete this task, but it would try. That made this the perfect way to distract it for a long time.
"Starting now"  I might not be able to be rid of Prime Directive, but at least I could do things like this. I started work on building my fortress. I started by making one of the zerg structures Prime Directive had designed for me many years ago right in the cave entrance. This structure acted like a sort of bubble that could make its surface change according to what I wanted it to look like. It could also let zerg pass through it. In emergency, it could harden and die into a material so hard, that it was as tough as a steel wall. Of course if I did that, we would have to make a new entrance. That was why it was a last resort.  As soon as that started, I made an Encroacher Lair. The Prime Directive had no imagination when it came to strategy, -or imagination in general- so it saw almost no reason for them when I commissioned them. But I knew how to use them. After that base building was very routine.
> Chapter 5.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I had just finished my base, for now. I now had the capacity to make all the units from the game, and a few beside. If I wanted to take this land, probably only the elements could stop me.

"Done." This surprised me.

"What are you done with?"

"Your request for a multi-universal gateway." My jaw nearly dropped.

"You mean, it's possible?"

"You requested this without even knowing if it would work?"

"Well, nothing risked, nothing gained eh?"

"Very well. Here is the Strain." It mentally handed me a blue print.

"Hmm. A variant on the nydus worm that utilizes the leviathans warp capability to the utmost. So instead of just going into warp space, you make a sustainable hole into another universe! But I only see one problem with this."

"What would that be?"

"What about coordinates?"

"There is currently no way to lock on without something from the target universe, or something connected to the system finding its way there, and being activated."

"Why couldn't we just keep the anchor active while it travels?"

"Because then it would just come back here. That is, if it was not in another universe already."

"Start working on a send-able anchor. We will just have to hope that it will be activated by something on the other side."

"Already done." It gave me another blueprint. "I anticipated that you would request it." The anchor was a green, bubbling sphere, that was held in a clear, glass like substance."The only downside is that it can only be activated by someone with at least minor psionic, or magical, abilities."

"Why is that?"

"It needs a catalyst in order to activate."

"Good job on this. I will start the construction of a gateway immediately." Prime Directive demonstrated no sign of pride, that was normal for it. I ordered a drone to morph into the newly designed multi network.




About ten minutes later


"Scouts report that there are intruders inbound." Said Prime Directive, startling me.

"How many?"

"Ten with an Alicornian War Hound, with a group of over a thousand following closely behind."

"Celestia is really trying to zerg rush the Zerg?"

"Apparently so." said Prime Directive with absolutely no sense of humor.

So I started preparing the battlefield. I had planned out my defenses with the knowledge that one, Alicornian War Hounds are absolutely blind to anything but the trail of their quarry while hunting; and two, that ponies have absolutely no sense of how and when to set traps, and by extension, when someone else has set one. Basically, I spammed banelings and burrowed them everywhere. For the Pegasi I made extra hydralisk's. For the Alicornian War Hound, I made an infestor. That was my plan.

"Thank you Occam's Razor!"

"I do not understand."

"That wasn't for you."

"Very well." As I watched the ponies approach, I felt a nag of doubt. Not about the plan, but about killing them.

"Do we still have the essence for the Message Distributor?"

"Yes, we do."

"Let's make one then." The Message Distributor was a structure that let me broadcast messages to any psionic creatures, or anything that could consciously control magic. So I started one, to see if I could deter the attack. Turns out, It took longer to build than I thought. The enemy arrived in the baneling field. I was regretful about the death of the ponies, but I was not going to roll over and die. I had the first batch of banelings come up when the main force was right over them. The army hesitated, and the scouting force pulled farther ahead. Then I had the infestor come up, quickly shoot a neural parasite straight into the skull of the hound, put some fungal growth on the escort ponies, then borrow and return to base.

"The heck is this stuff?" I heard one of the ponies say as I took the Alicornian War Hound. I commanded the Hound to kill, then to come to the Hive. I heard the ponies scream and tasted the warm blood on the hounds tongue. The newly infested always had a way of pulling me into their new-found revelry. I had to shake myself to stop from delving too deeply into the hounds mind.

"I still have a job to do." With that in mind I slaughtered the enemy army with well placed banelings, killing Pegasi that wandered too far from their comrades with hydralisks. They broke formation and ran with a remainder of one hundred and seventy four troops, a staggering loss. Only one thing bothered me about that, it meant that the ponies had great faith in their leader. And one more thing, "Why in the world did Celestia not come?"
> Chapter 6.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Celestia


I was sitting in the Throne room when the battle report came in. "Over ninety present of our troops lost," said the reporting solder. My jaw nearly dropped.

"He should not be that strong yet," I murmured, "last time it took longer for him to stand against a force that large."

Then the solder said, "If I may, why did you not come with us? You could have carried the day." 

I sighed and said, "If I had come, then he might have ran and escaped."

"As you say, Princess." I could tell by his tone that he was not satisfied with my explanation. The truth was that I was not quite sure why I stayed behind.

"You may leave."

"Yes, Princess." and he did leave.

"What are we going to do?" I whispered, tears clouding my eyes.






Dahaka


"Activate the network!" I was standing next to the multi network, preparing for it to activate with the anchor in hand. The multi network looked like a nydus network, only with a couple of slots for things from other universes to be put in. If you did put in something from another universe, then you could go to it.

"Starting process." A glow started from the bottom of it, getting brighter and brighter, until it died.

"Not again!" I yelled."Try again."

"Starting process" It started glowing, then died again.

"NO! YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF-" I kicked it, then a bright flash came along with a brief, but sudden, warping of space time. It looked a little like a ripple running out from the multi network, only with a touch of H. P. Lovecraft's horror just barely out of sight.

"Well done, sir."

"Huh, and people always say that kicking things won't make them work. Well, lets put the anchor into the abyss." With that, I dropped the anchor in. I was hoping that it would find it's way to somewhere that it could be activated.


About an hour later


I was thinking about a way that I could make peace with Celestia when Prime Directive reported.

"An Encroacher's has almost reached Ponyville and the other major provinces."

"Already? I thought it would take longer to get there."

"You over estimated. Do you want me to take control of it?"

"No, I will."

"Very well."






Encroacher, Ponyville


The sensation of soil sliding over carapace.The feel of Food digesting. Contentment. New orders incoming. Compulsion to obey. Movement. Sensing movement of Food above. Many trees. Movement. No more trees, only grass. less big Food, more small Food. Movement. Things made of tree's, but not tree's. Food in the not-trees. One tree among the not-trees. Food in the not-tree. Orders to move around under the not-trees. Report if Food dose anything not normal. Movement around and around. Eating food found underground. Following orders. Obey.






Encroacher, Canterlot


In stone. Moving in stone. Stone. Orders. Must obey. Move. Hungry. Eat? Orders, only eat ground-food. No ground food in stone. Hungry. Must obey. Moving under changed stone. Food in changed stone = ground food! Eat. Orders, food in changed stone not ground food. Orders, move. Moving. Under big changed stone. Bad feeling. Bad bad bad bad. Orders, go to bad. Moving. BAD BAD BAD! Orders, closer. BAAAAAAAAAAD! Orders, eat bad, then go. Must obey. Changed stone around bad so strong. Move away from bad, to under changed stone food with metal carapace and claws. Eat? Orders, not yet.






Dahaka


I felt the first encroacher under the Everfree forest. I ordered it to move to the field outside Ponyville, then into Ponyville. I then ordered it to patrol under Ponyville, and to report if anything strange happened. Then I felt the second encroacher in the mountain. I ordered it to move next to the city and then into the city. I had a devil of a time making it so that it would not eat any pony's without my permission. Then it, and by extension me, felt the elements of harmony.

Unfortunately it was guarded by many magical spells, one of which hardened the stone so it could not get to them. So I had it move under the barracks, ready to infest it and all inside. I did this kind of thing all across all of Equestria, just in case. Once my tasks where done, there was nothing for me to do beside building my army some more and making the tunnel system larger. 

Things were getting boring again.

"I wish something truly interesting would happen. And since I'm wishing, I wish that Celestia would make peace with me. And pigs will fly by farting iPhone's."

"I do not know of this 'wishing', or of these 'iPhones'."

"Shut up." I could not hear the multiverse cackling softly to itself. Plotting something horrible that lent itself to my wish.

> Chapter 7, the beginning of something terrible.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Info:
Vendor: Dark grey
John: Grey  

NOTICE: I'm going to try something new. It involves hurling a new human into the mix. And, as such, this chapter will involve the new character, his coming to Equestria.  I will need to explain the Mimics from Edge of Tomorrow in order for most of you to understand some of what I will be writing.  First are the drones, they are basic troops that need the mimic hive mind in order to function with any coordination at all. Then are the alphas, they operate thousands of drones at once, and are intelligent and sentient. They also have the ability to 'loop'. Looping is going back in time about one day when you die. Other living beings can steal this ability by drinking the alpha's blood as the alpha dies. Then there is the Omega, who is the leader of all the mimics. It is the Omega who is the catalyst for looping. The Omega can operate outside the mimic hive mind, and can isolate its alpha's if need be. If the Omega die's, all mimics in all time streams die. Although in the fanon, it is considered that if there was another Omega, it could mitigate the shock wave and save its mimics. Now I believe that you are ready to continue reading the story. (To those who have watched the movie, I have not watched it. So if I make a mistake, that is the reason.)





John

I looked around, sniffing at the general mess that is humanity. I came to this convention hoping that I could find something faintly appealing, but no such luck. That is, until I saw it. It was a replica of something that was from my favorite movie, Edge of Tomorrow. The replica was a miniature Omega core. I looked at the vendor and almost sneered, but that might make it so that I could not liberate the replica from the nonchalant nobody. I then plastered on a fake smile with great effort, walked up to the vendor and said,

"Hello good sir, may I purchase that fine masterpiece you have there?" to which the vendor replied,

"Which one?" I had not noticed the other objects on the table until then. I replied in a falsely happy tone.

"The miniature Omega core, please."

"That will be seventy bucks." I almost dropped the smile and strangled him, but I held myself in check.

"Here you go!" I handed him the money. He then gave me the replica and, with a sickeningly happy tone, said, "Have a nice day!" I walked away from the horrible man, dropped the smile, and stroked the replica. The replica then started to gently glow. I looked at it with a confused expression. I then heard a voice in my head say, "Goodbye, you spawn of a pig." And I vanished without a trace.




	
Dahaka

I was directing the swarm like usual, when the multi network started to flicker and buzz strangely. "Prime Directive?"

"Yes?"

"Why is the multi network acting strange?"

"Ah, let me look into it." Prime Directive was silent for about five seconds before it said,

"There is a rift opening over the ocean. It will be fully open in forty seconds."

"Can we use the rift to create a tunnel back to wherever it's coming from?"

"Probably not."

"Why not?"

"Because we either need to get there before it closes, or we need something that's from the other dimension."

"Well, lets intercept it, then."

"The nydus network cannot get there soon enough to be able to catch it when it is open, and any matter that is sent through will most likely be altered so that it's home world is changed."

"How can a home world be changed? Never mind. Send a nydus worm anyway."

"It will be under water."

"Make sure that we have water variants when it arrives then."

"Sending."

"And do you have any idea about what will be coming though?"

"No."




	

John


I awoke feeling very strange. I couldn't feel my arms, legs, or head. I was drifting. I felt some new limbs that felt a little bit like tentacles. I could not see my surroundings, but I could sense them.  It was like a radar, but constant. Apparently, I was underwater, so I made myself stretch. I attached myself to whatever was around me. I then remembered what happened before I came here.

"That fucker!" I tried to scream. But then, something clicked. I cross referenced what I felt like to what the Omega Core looked like, and it matched. If I could, I would have smiled.

"I redact that. Thank you whatever you are for putting me into this situation. Now just tell me how to make Alphas and Drones, Then direct me to the nearest human population, and I will worship you forever." no answer was forthcoming, so I had to think of plausible ways to do it. Eventually I got lucky. I made an alpha by accident when I accidentally severed a small bit of myself off by flailing a tentacle in anger. It hurt, but I could still feel it. I then focused on it and made it grow into an alpha. It was still under my control, but it was not part of me anymore. I knew that it might be possible to directly control it, but I didn't want to right now. It was waiting for me to command it. It felt almost sapient. I decided to give it a command. "Take one step towards me." I commanded it. It did so. Then I just willed it to do the same thing. It took a step."Make a drone!" It did so by cutting a piece of itself off, then commanding it to become a drone. I cackled. "This will be fun." I then began mass production of my mimic army.




	

Twilight


I was so very VERY close to making a new spell to help Celestia. I knew in the back of my head that Spike would probably be worried when he found me, but I was so CLOSE!

"Twilight, breakfast!"

"Not now Spike!" He walked up the stairs, seeing that I had gotten no sleep that night.

"You should really take a break."

"But I'm almost done!"

"Fine, but I'm not making you coffee until you get some rest." I winced. That was a hard blow, but I would prevail.

"I have to make this spell Spike, it could help Celestia." He just rolled his eyes, and walked back down the stairs. Now that he was gone, I could continue. Weaving my magic in a slightly different way than my previous thousand tries, I failed. 

And again. 

And again. 

Then something happened on this attempt. I was trying to make a spell to shape the ground to my will, but this was interesting. This made a sort of ping. I tried this variation again, it did the same thing. Then I felt a sort of rebound. It made a picture in my head of what was in the ground under me. I then got the second one back, and looked at the pictures that I had made in my head. I gasped at what I had made a picture of. It was some sort of terrible monstrosity. I had to warn everypony! But before I ran to warn everypony, I thought of how this could help Celestia and I squeed! Then I ran.






Dahaka


"Nydus worm has arrived, but water variants are not available yet." Said Prime Directive. I had been meditating on what might have arrived on the pile of rubble that had accumulated from digging.  

"Thank you for the info, but work faster on the water variants, please."

"Very well." About ten minutes afterwards the Multi Network flashed once and spat something out. The entirety of my army spun about, trying to see what ever came out, until we saw it. It was a glove with the words 'burn me' sewn into it with red thread, knives attached to each of the fingertips. My army then lost interest, but mine grew.

"Prime Directive?"

"Yes?"

"What is that, exactly?"

"A piece of cloth that has been made into the shape of a human hand. Most likely made out of plant fibers." It said to me in a 'you idiot' tone. I didn't know that Prime Directive knew how to do that.

"No, what does it do?"

"Two possibilities. One, it is only made only to keep a piece of anatomy warm. Two, it is made only to keep a piece of anatomy warm,"

"You already said that" I somewhat rudely said. But it continued,

"And acts like the anchors."

"What?!"

"And acts like our anchors." it repeated.

"I heard you."

"I do not understand."

"I was startled and- you know, lets drop it."

"Unknown reference."

"Never mind. But explain what you meant by 'it acts like our anchor'."

"Simply put, burning it will likely summon something. Most likely a displaced human."

"Okay then." we stopped talking for a minute, then I asked,
"When are the water variants going to be done?"

"In about ten seconds of uninterrupted work."

"Oh." We stopped for ten seconds.

"Done."

"Good, now lets make the Aqua Division."

"Should I label it so?" I still do not know why Prime Directive has some flashes of intuition like this, while some more obvious meanings it totally misses.

"Sure, why not."

"There is in fact a reason why we shouldn't na-"

"Do it."

"Very well." 
	
> Chapter 8. First contact, War, and Calls.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Zerg, march!" I had just finished the Aqua Division, and was commanding them to march into the nydus network. I went over the adaptations that made it so that this army could live under water one last time, even though I knew that Prime Directive did not make mistakes like that. Then I felt the last of my army go into the maw of the network. I ran to catch up, even thought I could command them remotely. It was my first time in a long time traveling along the network, and it hit me anew how my old body would not like what now felt good. It took a few minutes to get there, but it was a lot faster than even flying would have been. Then I was spat out into the briny depths. The first thing that hit me was the presence of another hive mind, and it was attacking my hive mind! I strengthened the boundaries of my hive mind, and attacked the other in kind, while my infrared vision kicked in. Then I felt the first physical attack.

"Our brood is being attacked!" informed Prime Directive as it happened. The enemy looked like a bundle of tentacles in a vaguely quadrupedal shape. They each had two glowing spots. "Most likely, the glowing spots are their vitals." said Prime Directive.

"Troops, go for the glowing parts!" I commanded. One of the enemy then charged at me, trying to spear me in a dozen different locations. I dodged, and made a swipe in turn, cutting off one of the offending tentacles. It surprised me, because it was as hard as steel. But I had no time to contemplate this as it made another pass at me, using almost the exact same tactic. I dodged again, but one of it's tentacles transformed into a blade and slashed at me as I passed. The blade cut my leg off. I screamed and unleashed a barrage of attacks, swiping with my own claws over and over. Then I was impaled as another of those creatures came from behind. I had several major wounds.

"Retreat!"I commanded, then added. "Pick me up as you go." A hydralisk was the one that picked me up just as more tentacle spikes lanced where I had been. We fled as fast as we could, and most of us didn't make it back. For the second time in the history of the world, the zerg had been beaten.





John


Some creatures had just attacked me! Although the battle did not matter, as only a few of my drones had died. But it also meant that the inhabitants of this place, where ever this place was, now knew about me. So I made a choice.

"You march for land in two hours!" I told my alphas. They made emotions of agreement and started the preparations. "I wonder where I am." I paused for a minute, then continued, "Of coarse, If there are anything that resemble humans in spirit, I will kill them all. But I do wonder what those creatures are. They seem somewhat alike to us." Then I got a compulsion to order something, so I said it. "Copy one of the creatures." I ordered one of my alphas. It responded by grasping one of the small ones, forming it's tentacles around it, cutting the tentacles off, and willing it to shape themselves around it. The tentacles made themselves into a replica of the small creature, and spat out the corps. I would have smiled if I had a mouth. I then said, "I will have fun with this." I started thinking about what I could do with this. then, a little while later, I heard a vague echo of something. I shook my head and continued thinking.





Dahaka


I was healing in a structure that Prime Directive had designed while it was growing, contemplating my defeat. 

"Sir, I have retrieved samples. Permission to study them?" Prime Directive suddenly said.

"Of course. We need to design units to counter them." I replied.

"Yes." It said. It then turned its attention to an infestor, who had just swallowed the piece of flesh. About a minute later, it started shuddering and convulsing. It then split from the hive mind, and started to connect to the enemy hive mind.

"Kill the infestor!" We both screamed, and it was torn apart.

"Do not consume the biomass right now. I need to find a way to neutralize the virus." As my swarm complied, I asked,

"What was that about?"

"There is a virus in the biomass that infested the infestor."

"Just great."

"On the cont-"

"Stop there. I was being sarcastic."

"Sarcastic?"

"Its when someone says one thing, but means another."

"Very well." Then something strange happened. A voice entered the hive mind, with the multi network being the intermediary.

"To those of sound mind, sound heart."

"Figure out where it is coming from!" 

"To they that would stand against evil, in the face of Armageddon."

"Starting!"

"To the warriors and heroes, both celebrated and unsung."

"Use all of your processing power!"

"To my fellow Displaced, I call on you."

"Already doing so."

"I am Auric Fulcrum, Knight of the Eclipse, wielder of Alchemy's might."

"Use the broods brains!"

"All I hold dear is being threatened by another Displaced."

"Invitation accepted!" My army ceased to move.

"I know not why he seeks to fight me, but as I am, I cannot fight him and win."

"Let me help!"

"I require allies while I repair my self."

"You are not suited, you would take years longer than for me to do it, for you to learn how to start."

"I call on you to aid me, and promise you this: should the side of Light prevail, then I will grant they that aid me whatever boons I can as rewards, within reason."

"We need that location!"

"I hope that is not the only reason you choose to fight for me, but in my experience, you motivate more people with a pile of treasure and a kind plea than a kind plea alone."

"Transmission ended"

"Can you figure out where it came from?"

"With time."

"Thank goodness." And a few seconds later, another started.

"Friends, villains, countrymen. Lend me your ears."

"Gosh darn it! figure out where this one is coming from!"

"I, Makuta Teridax, have a dream."

"Same protocol?"

"A dream that, no matter what interference, will become reality."

"Yes, darn you!"

"I call to you, those who want to dominate, to rule the world with an iron fist, I call you."

"Starting."

"I am Makuta Teridax, the Void, the Shadow of Evil, the Corruptor, he who is Anger and Hatred."

"Please hurry!"

"And if you want to win... to dominate everything...then stand by my side, and I guarantee you..."

"I am."

"I cannot say, for I believe that my enemies may be eavesdropping on this, just as I did his... but regardless, come talk to me and I shall let you know."

"I will let you redesign my body if you can complete this, AND the other!"

"But the information I shall give you will NOT be spoken of. Or, if you want more... immediate rewards, I can grant those too."

"WORKING!"

"After all, power always comes with a price."

"Transmission ended."

"Did you get that?"

"I an far enough with both of them that I can complete them with time."

"Good."

"Now, about the redesign."

"Talk to you about it later."

"Very well."

"Now I need to find a way to help the sender of the first transmission, Auric, isn't it? And find a way to defeat this new enemy."

"But, why? I think that we should fight for Teridax. He would give us so much more."

"No."

"Very well."
> Chapter 9. More battles, and untrustfull truses.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I was now out of the Regeneration vat, the structure designed by Prime Directive to heal me,  thinking about what I could have done better in that last encounter. I had been thinking about this for the better part of an hour when Prime Directive announced,

"I have made a counter to the virus." to which I replyed,

"Great! Now get to studying the samples."

"I would be happy to do so, but the counter only stops new cells from being infected. More work is needed to advance it to a stage in which it could cure a cell."

"So, the counter is almost useless."

"Yes, but it might not take much more to make a true cure."

"Why did you  tell me at such an early stage, then?"

"Because the cure might also take years."

"Just incorporate the counter into all the Zerg, just in case the enemy gets creative."

"Very well." I observed as Prime Directive made it so that the swarm could defend themselves against the virus. But then I stiffened as a scout reported that the enemy was emerging near Fillydelphia. Before Prime Directive had made a reaction to this, I had ordered a nydus worm to tunnel near the soon-to be-enemy beachhead.

"All troops! Get ready to move!" I ordered. I knew that I didn't have to say it, but it felt good. We all gathered at the nydus network, waiting for the nydus worm to arrive.

"You should not go." Said Prime Directive. "You were almost killed last time."

"You made modifications to my body, so there will be less risk, and also, I will try to stay behind friendly lines." The part about the modifications was true, I had let Prime Directive alter my form so that I looked allot less like a human,something that I had never let Prime Directive take from me until now, and more like a brood mother. I was just glad it Prime Directive had not made me a female in appearance, or in organs. This had made me more deadly, and gave me more defensive capability.

"Never the less, it is too dangerous for you to go."

"Must I remind you that I am the one in control of this body?"

"No, but-" 

"Shut up." There was silence for a couple of seconds, then the nydus worm arrived. "Go!" I commanded. We all streamed through the network, traveling at breakneck speed. But, even then, we almost arrived too late. I looked around through many eyes, observing the battle field. I saw that the Royal guard had almost lost the hastily assembled wall to the enemy. Celestia and Luna were helping to defend the totally encircled city with their almost god like magic. I didn't wait and observe further. 

"CHARGE!" I ordered. I also added a subtext that read something like 'don't harm the pony's', just to prevent some friendly fire. I watched my swarm doing my will, going full throttle at the enemy. I was staying behind, but I could still experience the fight. I took full control of an ultralisk, reveling in the strong form. In this way I charged at the nearest enemy, and cut it to pieces with my scythe's. I felt many sharp tentacles stab me, but my armor stopped some of them. But, even then, my form held. I charged again and again at enemy's, getting stabbed all the while. It took a few minutes  before the wounds became critical, but by then, I had made my mark on the battle. I returned to by body then, and noticed that the enemy were slowly being pushed back. We could almost connect with the Equestrians now. I now had to meet with the princesses before they decided to preemptively attack us.

"I guess I'm going in." Prime directive stayed silent. So I ordered my swarm to push harder to clear a path to the city. I ran forward, noting the myriad's of zerg corpses that lay thick on the ground like a carpet. I also noted that there were relatively few enemy corpses on the ground. I knew as I ran that we were winning only through shear numbers. And if that we were to destroy this enemy, we needed specialized troops. So before I got to the wall, I told Prime Directive,

"Prime Directive, start making troops that are specialized to destroy this new enemy." I only heard a faint noise in reply, but I felt it working in the back of my head. Then I reached the wall. I then talked out loud for the first time in over a thousand years, "I am the ambassador from the Zerg. Let us discuss terms." I was counting on the fact that they would not recognize me because I looked so different now. The guards lowered their spears, but didn't jab me with them.

"The princesses are engaged right now." said what appeared to be a sergeant.

"That is fine, just take me to where I can meet them later." I replied. the sergeant looked around at his unit, not sure what to do.

"I will get my superior. Wait here."

"I will." I saw him signal to his unit before he left, probably telling them to kill me if I moved any closer.  So I waited until the sergeant came back with what looked like a Lieutenant. "Hello, may I ask for your name?" I said with much politeness despite the glare that I was receiving.

"That is none of your business. I have been ordered against my better judgement to take you into the city to meet with the princesses after the battle."

"I am much obliged."

"Just know that if you do ANYTHING suspicious, I will kill you without a second thought."

"I understand." As the Lieutenant grumbled, the members of the unit made a small hole that was barely big enough for me to squeeze through. And as I went through, it trembled as if it where trying to fall down. I was not comforted by the barely holding auras of the unicorns. But, I got through.

"Follow." said the Lieutenant. he had a small task force break off of the unit to act as an 'escort'. I followed him though streets of cowering people, who often mistook me for a captured enemy and hurled anything to hand at me. My 'escort' did nothing to stop this. But, eventually,  I got to the City Hall. I followed the Lieutenant into the grand structure that was now half hospital. I was led to the admin section and the Lieutenant left, leaving the 'escort'. I took this time to turn my attention back to the battle to direct my troops. And, about an hour later, we won. I opened my eyes to see that Celestia was coming though the door.

"Ah, you must be Celestia." I said.

"Yes, and what is your name?" I had already decided on an alias.

"Zagara. I have come to discus terms for a truse, and if possible, a lasting peace." Celestia raised an eyebrow at that.

"I would think Dahaka would want to destroy all of us. He certainly didn't show mercy last time."

"But he was defeated last time. And let us say that he has had... a change of heart."

"Your first reason was acceptable. But I find it hard to believe that a creature such as Dahaka could have a change of heart."

"You have to agree that he has helped you now. If he has not had a change of heart, then why has he not attempted to destroy this city yet?"

"Good point. Well, I think we should begin negotiations now."

"Yes." In the end, in return for a truse, I had to revival the location of my base and pomise that we would not attack Equestria. But I also got a promise of clemency for myself. The looks on their faces when I told them that I was really Dahaka when I was leaving was worth a pile of gold. So now the Zerg and the Equestrians have a uneasy alliance against the enemy, who we have named the Slitherers. 
> Chapter 10. Negotiations.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	NOTE: The following has crossover content that could be considered as spoilers, that is, if you are not up to date on The Lost Chronicles of Auric Fulcrum.





I had just got back to the base, when I heard a trumpet outside. I had to order my swarm to not attack, so that their flesh would not be rent by fangs, claws, ect. I moved outside so that I could speak with the intruder. I was glad that they had to announce themselves because of the barrier. I saw that it was a unicorn that had five guards, one of which carried a flag with Equestria’s symbol on it.  Three carriages sat behind them waiting for them to depart.

“Ahem,” huffed the unicorn, “Equestria wishes to set up an embassy within your borders, so negotiation may be performed with more ease. If you accept, we will let you set up an embassy within our borders as well.” He looked like a noble, but not a particularly bad or high ranking one. I replied,

“Of course I will let you set such a building up,  I just wonder where you will get your materials from?”

“We are just the ambassador, we do not know where the builders get things such as that. And now, adieu. “ The unicorn waved to his nervous guard pony’s to follow, and they walked back to the carriages. I watched as they flew away. And as I was turning to go back to base, a coin dropped on my head. I snapped my attention upwards, but I didn’t see where it came from. 

“Prime Directive?” I said in my mind.

“Yes?” Prime directive had been uncooperative since the battle, and had not put in any unsolicited advice as well.

“Where did this coin come from?”

“From above you.”

“I meant, do you think that it’s special?”

Just then, a faint whisper could be heard, like another voice on the wind.  Auric...light, the candle...wielder of Alchemy… and then it faded. We were stunned into silence for a minute, then I thought,

“It’s from the same individual that sent that message! Do you remember?”

“Of course.”

“Should we try to use it to gain entrance to his dimension?”

“It will probably work. However, contact is advised before travel.” 

“Mm, how do you suppose we do that?”

“We could still use the multi network to analyze it, that will probably give us the answer.”

“Lets go then.” So we walked back into the cave, and to the multi network. I put the coin into one of the slots that would allow for analysis.

“Scanning... The multi network says that this coin will start a process once it is viewed in a reflective surface.”

“What kind of process?”

“Unspecified.”

“I guess that we will have to just do it then.” 

“I suggest that we do not, it might be a trap.”

“I will take that chance.” I felt Prime Directive begin to sulk again. At times, it felt like a teenager. We didn’t have any reflective surfaces to hand, but I could send a nydus worm to a nearby lake. I sent the mental command and waited. But when it arrived, I jumped in and started going at incredible speeds. And, when I arrived, I saw the lush forests around it. It was a pity that I was here for business purposes. I held the coin over the lake so that I could see the reflection, and the lake shimmered and shone once, brightly, before settling and reflecting something not of this world.


On the other side was an entirely black room and a human!  Haven’t seen one for ages!  Clad in orange and yellow clothes, with a sword on his hip and an eclipse as his symbol.  He raised an eyebrow and asked, “Can I help you?”

I smiled cockily and raised the coin.  “No, see that’s what I was about to ask you.”

He blinked at that and looked at the coin, then at me.  “Ah.  Interesting.  Another worthy holder...well, introduce yourself.”

“I am Dahaka, leader of the Zerg, I heard your call recently, and well, let’s just say that I’m not the typical ‘assimilate everything’ leader.”

He raised his other eyebrow at that one.  “And if I recall what little Starcraft I played so long ago correctly...there’s another side of you I should be talking to.  Hive Mind or somesuch.  What does it have to say?”

“Its name is Prime Directive, and if it were in charge, I would be trying to side with Teridax instead.”

At this, he sighed and nodded.  “Yeah, figured as such.  But there’s one thing your little hive mind doesn’t quite understand.  Care to take a guess what it is?”

“Hm, I don’t have any guesses that are probable.”

Here, Auric gained a shark-like grin.  “There are...let’s call them Administrators of the Multiverse.  They that are meant to keep it in line and such.  And he’s been pissing one of them off.  Whereas I’ve been making friends with ‘im.”

“That’s very interesting, but why isn’t Teridax dead, then?”

Auric blinked at that before gesturing to his clothes.  “Um, hello?  Slightly more noble than him?  I mean, yeah, Umbra’s offered, multiple times, to reclassify Teridax as a blight on the Multiverse and just wipe him out, but if he’s gonna die, then since he’s put so much effort into antagonizing me, the least I can do is give him a clean, fair fight.”

“Heh, I may not have the normal zerg ideals, but I would not be too noble to not take such an easy way out. You have gained my respect.”

Auric smiled at that.  “Not sure if compliment...anyways.  And since Umbra’s an Admin, he’s providing me and him with a staging ground for our little bout to come.”

“What are you implying?”

Here his smile turned downright mischievous.  “Well, while Teridax and I will have to go to this neutral ground, this new planet, along with all our allies...nobody said they all had to come back…” I stared at him for a moment, then a broad grin split my face.

“So, if I ally myself with you, I get a whole planet to infest?”

Here Auric’s grin dropped and his face turned serious as he laid out the ‘guidelines.’  “I’d wait to do any serious infesting until after the fight is over, and at least make a show of pulling out when the others do.  There are indigenous life-forms on it, but nothing with any true sapience...as far as I know, anyways.  Plus, if you piss off Umbra, that’s on you.  I’d suggest that if he catches you and makes a big deal out of it, you should just ask rather than cling to his world.” My smile evaporated as well.

“Fine, could I ask Umbra ahead of time if I can have the leftovers? Because that solves a lot of problems beforehand.”

Auric smiled again.  “At least you’re understanding enough to not rail against what I’ve said.  And hey, if he says that you can’t have his planet, it ought to be not a total loss: he’s an Admin, I heard it from him that he found a dead Universe and reprogrammed it to be alive again.  He could probably code up a new one for you.  And if he refuses, I’ll try to bribe him.  Somehow.” My smile, while not as big as before, returned.

“As long as I can get something that big for something as small as some military support, I will be very happy.”

Auric’s smile faded slightly, but he nodded again.  “And even, on the slight chance that he says no, I have a back-up plan.  Tell me, what do you remember of the Golden Sun games?”

“I actually never played them. They were one of the games that I couldn’t fit into my schedule.”

Auric’s smile vanished completely.  “Do you know what I mean by the words Elemental Stars, at least?”

“Not a clue, sorry.”

He sighed and closed his eyes as he began to recite something that seemed...ingrained to him.  “Venus, earth.  Mars, fire.  Mercury, water.  Jupiter, wind.  These four elements are the building blocks of Weyard.”  His eyes snapped open.  “I brought them with me to my Equestria, and after...extensive study, I’ve found the way to fabricate Elemental Stars, objects of great energy that can...influence beings into being able to wield such power.  I recently made a set and can’t do so again for about...a hundred years, but time is subjective between worlds.  If I end up owing you a set, I’ll make sure it’s sent to you in time.  Fair?”

“One question, how will I be able to use this magic? I mean, even when we assimilated unicorns, we could barely make a pebble float.”

Auric waved a hand at that.  “It’s a study I’ll probably get into at some point in time, but my theory is that exposure to the energy of the Stars over time influences the brains or capabilities of organic beings nearby.  In the last century, a whole lot of ponies in Canterlot could use it.  And I don’t know when it started, but the upper limit is somewhere around...no, wait...huh.  Maybe it could happen in a human lifetime.  It’ll just be real weak as compared to born and bred Adepts.”

“Hm, a long term investment. I accept this offer, this back-up plan, as well. I just hope it can be mass produced in time.”

Auric smiled at that as well.  “Try finding areas that the Stars respond to, areas of great elemental energy, and you’ll cause a Light to occur.  Almost all beings born around or near a light end up being Adepts of that particular element.  Y’know, if you need immediate results.” 

“I like the sound of that, all I will need to do is make some hatcheries at those areas. Thanks for the tip.”

Auric nodded a final time.  “Well, if we’ve established our relations, then I should bid the Zerg farewell.  I have...training to do.  And allies to contact.  I’ll make sure that when the time comes, Umbra’ll not forget you.” I nodded back.

“Well, goodbye now, Auric.  Contact me with a item from the place that the battle will take place, when you need me.”

And with that, the lake flashed a few times, and was still, reflecting the sky once more.

"Well, that was interesting." Prime Directive stayed silent. Then one of my scouts spied a Slitherer raiding party coming onto land. "For the love of!" And I was off.

> John's backstory.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


5 years of age.


I was happy with mommy and daddy. We didn't have much money, and scary people were on the street a lot, but daddy had a job and had a gun to scare the scary people. I was bullied at school because I was small and skinny, but mommy and daddy always cheered me up when I got home. Mommy always told me that as long as we had each other, we would be ok. Mommy and daddy sometimes took me out to the park, we had a ball that I got for Christmas. We were happy.





6 years of age
 (note: some time lapses and bad spelling.)

14th: momy and dady bot me this jornal for my berthday! im going to write in it every day!

20th: dady didnt come home today, momy also got a vositor who mad her sad. i dont like it when momys sad. after the visitor whent, momy told me that dady whont be coming home for a while. then momy whent in her room and cryed. where is dady? i miss him.

21th: momy says that she needs to get a job. I askd her why and she said that its becuse dady is gon. I miss him.

22th: momy was at her job whial i was at scool. i was alone for a litle wile becuse she was still at work. but we had fun when she got home. 

3th: the house cryed last nigt. i herd the wod creaking. momy says that we need to go to a homless selter soon becuse its not safe anymore. i asked her how dady will find us if we move. she said that dady has ways. she looked very sad.

4th: scary people came in the day when momy and me were playng. They did things to her that she didnt like. and they trew me out. i wached trou the windo. after that they cut her alout. and after they left i went back in. momy isnt brething any more. why wasnt dady back to help us? he could help momy.





Author
 

And so, little John became an orphan. A few days after those events, he was found on the streets. He was still crying for someone to help his mother. He was sent to the orphanage, where he was bullied. And when he reported the bullying to the caretakers, they told him to stop lying about their best behaving orphans. And so, this is how he grew up to hate the world that had taken everything good from him.
> Chapter 11. Reporters should be killed on sight.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"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.
> Chapter 12. Fun with Freddy.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


SPOILER ALERT!!!!   


for, A Nightmare in Equestria.


I was staring at the glove that I had received with curiosity, wondering who would appear it it was burned. 

“Prime Directive?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think it’s a good idea to burn the glove?” 

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because there is a forty percent chance that whatever will come through will be hostile.”

“But that’s a relatively small percentage.”

“There is also a thirty percent chance that it will be friendly, and a ten percent chance that it won’t do anything.”

“What about the remaining twenty percent?”

“Ten percent for something that I cannot predict, and another ten for something that I have not predicted.” 

“And where are you getting these figures, anyway?”

“I’m using the basic principles of sampling to extrapolate the overall opinion of anything that we could encounter, thus-” My mind drifted after this, I was never good at anything related to math. I reconnected in time to hear the ending. “And that is how to use the relative sample to your advantage.”

“Alright then, but I’m going to burn the glove anyway.”

“But the chance of it not trying to kill us in any shape or form-”

“Is good enough for me.” I snached up the glove and tried to think of something that I could use to set fire to it. I couldn’t. “Prime Directive, make something to burn the glove with.”

“Fine.” It took about ten seconds for it to make a strain of infestor that could make and spit something that was essentially gasoline, and then set fire to it by knocking two rock hard appendages together. It took about another minute to make one.

I backed away about twenty feet as I signaled the infestor to set fire to the glove. It seemed to want to catch fire, because it only took a single spark and the entire glove caught fire slightly before it would have naturally. Rather than slowly burn to ash the glove seemed to bubble, even the claws at the fingertips bubbled intensely.

Eventually the glove turned into a bubbling puddle on the floor that turned from a mix of grey and brown to a fleshy red. Slowly, the glove-puddle expanded out into a neat line along the ground around five feet long.

As the line stopped expanding it began to rise up from the ground on either end, going directly upwards for a few more feet before leaning towards each other at a steady angle until they met in the middle. As soon as the tips of each fleshy tendril thing touched each other the air in the odd doorway seemed to ripple before catching fire.

“Well, that was overly dramatic.” I thought. “But those tendrils indicate that, He? She? Will fit right i-.”

I was interrupted from my revery as an arm came through the portal at a rather ridiculous speed before colliding with the infestor. There was the unmistakable breaking of carapace before a crunching noise when the fist made contact, now embedded in the infestors head.

A man had stepped through the portal wearing a hawaiian shirt and khakis. He’d had an unsettling smile up until the point he realised he hadn’t hit what he’d hoped. He twisted his fist around a bit before yanking it out, looking down at it, and wiping it on his shirt.

As soon as he’d cleaned off his hand I could see the scars and burn marks covering it entirely. I didn’t realise the full extent of his injuries until he’d turned to face me and tipped up his hat, giving me a nice view of his nice green eyes, slight, cheeky grin, and his scarred face.
“Well,” I said out loud, “I didn’t imagine that you would look like this. Especially after your very dramatic entrance.”

He just deadpanned at me as he reached a hand behind him and directly into the flaming doorway. The flames quickly cut out and the doorway caved in on itself before coming into contact with his hand and wrapping around it, forming the original glove only with a slight red tint.

A look of distaste crossed his features as he saw the glove before he sighed and focused back on me. ”And what is it you want? I was in the middle of something y’know?”

“Well,” I suddenly realised that I literally had nothing to say. “I was just curious about you. After all, the only other time that I had done anything like this was with Auric. But I digress, welcome to the Central Hive!”

When I’d brought up Auric his clothes seemed to catch fire at the hems, well less seemed and more they actually caught fire. The fire quickly dissipated as I mentioned the Central Hive though.

”Hive? As in, bees?” He looked me over a bit before taking stock of his surroundings, somehow managing to pull off an expression of both boredom and impression in one look. ”Fan-fucking-tastic, I was summoned by walking, talking cockroaches.”

I was rallied by the comment, but I responded with humor. Something that I rarely do. “No, I can assure you that our roaches can’t walk, or talk.” I wave over a roach as a case in point. “See?” But seeing the expression on his face, I sighed and said, “We are the Zerg. What more can I say?”

He kept investigating the roach as I spoke, up until the point I had introduced myself. It was then that he looked back at his attire, mumbling something about a vacation as he clicked his claws together to make a spark that quickly engulfed him in flames.

I’d somehow managed to blink at the exact moment his clothes burnt off and were replaced with a raggedy green and red striped sweater along with long brown pants that had a few holes in them. ”Name’s Johnny, though most know me as the Nightmare or Freddy,” he shivered a bit as he continued, ”just call me Johnny though mister/miss?..” I replied,

“Dahaka. And I am a mister. At least, until Prime Directive has its way.” I thought for a second, then asked, “And you actually said slash?”

”Sounds kinky, and I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He had his grin from earlier back, though at much less magnitude.

“Unless you want to get into a whole discussion on how the Zerg work, I wouldn’t pursue the ‘mister for now’ thing.”

He shrugged before looking around again, apparently bored with talking as he looked over the Central Hive once more, until his eyes came across the as-of-yet unfinished embassy. ”Well, well, well, looky what we have here. I have my ways of getting the info I need but I think it’s a bit more polite to ask. What the fuck is that?” 

“It’s an embassy. So what?”

”Let me guess, you killed off a few pompous pastel pricks and had to ask for another species to harbour you from the xenophobes? Unless of course…” He squinted at the embassy before glaring at me, ”Is that a sun emblazoned flag I see on the wall over there?” I didn’t like the way he said that, but I replied as best I could. This was another displaced, after all.

“Basically, when I got here about one thousand, five hundred years ago, I wasn’t in full control of myself. In this state I caused, simply put, a mass genocide that wiped out about half of the intelligent species on the planet. But once blasted by the elements of harmony, I was stuck as stone. But it also made me in control of myself once again. So, I escaped just after Discord and set the hive up. But the Sisters held a grudge and sent a large portion of their army to kill me. They all died. But soon something happened, something came and started attacking equestria, so I helped them. And that’s how this came to be.”

As I finished I’d noticed he was no longer listening and had instead picked up one of the zerglings, looking over it while it struggled in his grip. ”Feisty little fucker… sorry what?”

“You’re lucky that I’m stopping them from killing you right now. But Essentially, Equestria and I now have a common enemy.”

”Hmm,” his hands slowly pushed together at a casual pace, much to the displeasure of the zergling, ”The way I see it, you just need to go back into the state before your imprisonment, because apparently it’s better at killing things.” I started growling as I psionically pressed against his mind. Usually, minds that didn’t have either psionics, or weren’t part of a hive mind, were incompatible with my mind. But because of our humanity, I could jab him with a barb just as painful as a knife. I slowly pressed his mind, pushing memories of the bad days into his mind.

Strangely I felt no resistance as my memories easily slipped in. He wore an unnerving smile as he crushed the zergling more while it shrieked. I’d then realised he’d somehow used the connection I’d created to push his own memories back. ”Sharing is caring.” He said rather sadistically as countless scenes of torture and death, often in the most bizarre ways, were forced back through the connection.

Prime Directive took control of the body as my mentality shrieked. My eyes started glowing red as it did so, and Prime Directive gave one order to the army, “ATTACK THE INTRUDERS!” In my pain, I managed to give a counter order. “Not... the... ponies.” I mumbled this over and over as Prime Directive struggled to counter my counter. Given time it would, but for now. 

My army, however, attacked Johnny with all their might. In my addled mind state I could not comprehend why he was laughing as my forces converged on him. He bent and twisted in ways that were not natural as he punched, kicked and dodged anything that came near him, not even bothering to use his claw.

”Go to sleep,” He punched a zergling that had leapt at him, crushing the one from before under his foot. ”Go to sleep,” Somehow his punch continued, his torso spinning a full two-hundred and seventy degrees with various snaps of bone before his fist managed to hit another ‘ling. ”Go to sleep little Daka!

His legs twisted in the opposite direction of his torso to kick a hydralisk that had gotten to close. He held his claw in the end, closing it and seeming to pull something from the air before going back to punching and kicking. ”Once you o-.” I felt something splash over my head but somehow managed to keep my small amount of focus on Johnny.

”-pen your eyes you won’t see me a-” He smiled dangerously wide as his body returned to its anatomically correct position and I struggled as I felt a wave of sleep overcame me. ”-gain.” 

My last order as I fell asleep was “Kill me” figuring that that should keep Prime Directive from killing the ponies.

I heard a growl from Johnny in my last moments as he leapt at me. ”No you fucking don’t!” In moments we were both engulfed in green flame, and I felt myself go through all the stages of burning until it dissipated. The last thing I saw was the roof of the dungeons beneath Canterlot.
	
	
	
> Chapter 13. Hearts and Dreams.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


SPOILER ALERT!!!!   


for, A Nightmare in Equestria.


I nudged the body to wakefulness. The body was still in working order, which was odd. I wondered at the properties of the flame which the entity had burned us with. The eye opened, and I saw a ceiling made of stone. I commanded the body to rise. As I did so, I checked on the state of Dahaka. We may have had disagreements, but Dahaka was still the overarching force which, in a strange way, I had to obey. Dahaka was unconscious.

Those memories that the entity known as Johnny had given him were still assaulting him. I fully righted myself and saw a cell door. I heard groaning behind me. I turned and saw the entity known as Johnny. I turned away and began to study the door for ways to break it. I heard the entity say, “”Uggh, you mother bugger, making me do things on my vacation.” And then I heard the entity crack his joints behind me. I thought of how the entity's body could be improved. I found a rusty section and began sawing away at it with a razor sharp claw.

The entity started walking towards me, and said, ”You know, I’ve yet to find someone who would lock the door to an empty dungeon.”” The entity stopped about a meter behind me. I replied, “But why would it be unsealed? It would not make sense to keep a containment chamber unsealed.” The entity sighed, something that seemed to be common to humans, tapped me on the shoulder, something that I considered attacking him for, and directed my attention to the rest of the dungeon. It then said, ”Can you count how many prisoners are currently in here?” I replied, 

“Zero. And while I can see why you would make such an argument, they would probably have taken into account the probability of something like this happening.” I finished cutting through that part of the bar, then selected another part of the same bar. The entity replied,

”Yes, they took precautions for those teleporting into the cell, obviously. I mean, it’s not like anything that could teleport in could do the same to leave.” I paused for a moment, thinking on the paradoxical word’s, then replied,

“You are either using sarcasm, or you are extremely dense. But either way, the possibility of a situation like ours is not negligible.” I heard the sound of the entity’s hand making contact with its face, what is the purpose of such an action? The entity then said,

”Right, well, I’m going to grab your shoulder in a few moments so don’t freak out on me or anything.” In the time before his hand came into contact with my body, I considered dodging. But the entity didn’t seem to be intent on hurting the body, so I let its hand touch the body. We caught on fire again, something that was extremely displeasurable. We burned up, and rematerialized in what was probably the entity’s home. There was a Timberwolf pup in the shack, it growled at me. I then said,

“Never do that again. It is unpleasant in the extreme.” The entity chuckled, pointed to a root, thd said,

”Just sit on that root for a bit, I’ll be right back.” He then went down a flight of stairs while I contemplated telling him that it was anatomically impossible to sit. The Timberwolf pup advanced toward me when he was out of sight, and tried to bite me. I slapped the pup across the floor, considering killing it. It then got back up and tried the same thing again. This time I picked it up while it squirmed. I then used one hand to hold it while the other was poised to strike. But the entity came back up the stairs. I turned and saw an anchor. I dropped the pup as I considered that the likelihood of me obtaining the anchor would be increased by not killing it.

The entity gained an expression, which I believed to be ‘smirking’, and held up the anchor in one hand. He then said, “”You’re a leader of sorts, let’s see how well you can negotiate.” I responded quickly, only taking a millisecond to make a response, as I believed to know what the entity’s ‘prime directive’ was.

“You seem to think that I was made with negotiation in mind. But it also seems that you wish for things to die. My return to my realm will mean the death of many things. And I will be able to come back here to kill many things. I think that having things die is your prime directive. So by letting me have the anchor, I will be able to help you fulfill your prime directive.” he grabbed a chair, turned it around, and sat on it as he looked at me. it then said,

”Look Optimus,” He held up two claws after moving the egg to its other hand, ”I only want two things from you. Death was never really my main objective but everyone likes to think so and I can’t be bothered to correct them.” He scraped his claw along one of the walls, drawing a crude picture of what I assumed to be me. ”First thing I want, is to give you a backdoor.” I replied,

“But why do you want this? I am not of your concern.” He replied in kind,

”Think about it, it is inevitable that when Daka wakes up you’re going to be nothing but a voice in his head. I just want to give you some way of influencing things, nothing too big but just enough so that you can get out your own small commands that he won’t know about.”

“It would help my directive to have a, as you put it, ‘back door’. Dahaka has not let the swarm grow. Evolve yes, but not in ways to help the Swarm overcome and consume all.”

He clapped my hand and claw together, not seeming to care as he accidentally cut a finger off half way. ”Fantastic then, on to my second request since you can’t have the first without it.” It then had a flame in its hand, which resolved into an unpainted pony doll. The finger caught fire, melting the finger back together. I considered getting some of his biomass to study. ”I would also like you, Prime.” He seemed to think over his  words a bit before chuckling and continuing. ”Not in the way you probably thought. What I meant was, when I give you a backdoor I would also like to copy your personality over to this toy. Copy, not move in case you were wondering.” I was confused when he said, ‘Not in the way you probably thought’, but I dismissed it. I didn’t see any problem with the rest of it though, and I wanted some Biomass, so I said,

“I see nothing objectionable to copying myself onto a toy. But first, could I have a skin sample? I would like to study your essence.” The entity instantly replied,

”Sure, on the condition that Dahaka does not learn of your… ‘secret project’ until you’ve made something from it.” I added more to the equation.

“I would like a section from your brain, heart, and skin. Just the skin would be fine, but the other two will make things go faster.” He thought on it for a moment before shrugging and standing up. Placing his hat on the back of the chair before throwing his sweater on it. Then it said, 

”I have no idea what you could use a dead heart for, but I might as well. I’m not really using it anyway.”

“So I take it that I can have the whole heart then?” He nodded and placed a claw on his chest. he slowly carved an ‘x’ in the middle of it near the bottom of his neck and pushed his hand in. After a while, his hand reemerged, holding a beating heart.

”Well,” He said panting a bit. The wound seared back together as he said, ”I can’t say that is something I wish to do again, so hurry up and take it before I decide I no longer wish to literally give you my heart that is currently both achey and brakey.” I quickly took the heart, and put it in a pouch on my back for later analysis. 

“Now for the brain and skin.”He growled at me a bit. 

”Do not push your luck right now. I feel empty enough as it is.”

“Just the skin then?” He relented and scraped a bit off his arm, before chucking it at me, and putting his sweater back on. I quickly snatched the skin up and put it into the same pouch that his heart was now in.

he quickly put his hat back on and grabbed the egg. ”Alright, you got your end of the deal, now it’s my turn. So lie down or something and get sleeping.”

I watched the entity go down the stairs, then I made the brain go into a sleeping state. This was something that I had never experienced before. The restful silence was... unnerving. I then began to feel like I was drowning in nothingness. I needed something, ANYTHING to give me substance. I regressed to something that was a part of me, I formed a hive around myself. I didn’t know how I did it, but I did it. Now I was in something, but I still needed something more, so I pulled something more out of myself. I formed manifestations of the essences that I had worked so hard all my existence on. So I began to work.

I began analysis of the entity’s essence. But I paused as I thought back on what had happened, had I really just had emotion? But I dismissed it. But there was evidence that dreaming had affected me on some level. I decided that I would never do this ever again. It was then that I felt something reach into me, and with a wrenching sensation, pull out something which I had no words for. I felt empty, lost, gone. But I felt it as something was done to what was pulled out, and heard the ‘snip’. I would have writhed in agony, but the pain was so acute, and so basic, that I was paralyzed. I then felt it as something completely alien was put where the thing was cut once was. It was then that I began to writhe. 

I felt the hive begin deteriorate. I started reaching for the brain, wanting all of this to end. I felt the anchor in here, somehow. I quickly both started to activate the brain, and to activate the anchor. The anchor sparked first, and the brain soon after. The first thing that I felt after awakening was having a nydus worm swallow me. I then felt Dahaka wake up. So let myself introvert to stabilize, or pass out.
> Chapter 14. A filler.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Info:
Broodmothers : Pink





I awoke in the gut of a nydus worm, going to the hive. Even though I was still hurting from those memories that Johnny had pushed into my brain, I quickly pushed my consciousness out and gained control of the swarm. I was very lucky that no irreversible damage had been done, mostly because there was now a gleaming globe over the embassy. I ordered my troops to retreat and hoped for the best. Then I felt that something was off, so I asked,

"Prime Directive?" No response. I checked it and found that it was recovering from an extremely traumatic experience. I pulled away from it then and hoped for the best. It may be a genocidal maniac, but it was my genocidal maniac. It was then that I was spat out into the hive. It was a mess. Zerg bodies everywhere. It seemed that there was some infighting while I was gone. Something came to mind, and I furtively looked for Johnny. Luckily, he was nowhere to be found. I then relaxed and walked to the embassy to see if I could still fix this.

I had been shouting at the embassy for half an hour now, and the most that I'd received was a barrage of pies that were aimed with pin point accuracy. They were good pies, though. They hadn't even taken the shield down yet. I was settling in for the next half hour of shouting, when my scouts reported that there was a flying chariot coming directly towards us. It was probably the ambassador come at last. I quickly ordered my army to form a gauntlet, that extended into a landing strip. I observed the ambassador's chariot hesitate, then they grudgingly landed.  I watched as the chariot went through the corridor formed by my army, to the embassy. I was at the end of the gauntlet, in front of the shield as the ambassador arrived. I noted that two embassy guards poked their heads out to see the ambassador coming. They had a brief conversation, after which they opened a small hole in the shield, one that could probably be closed extremely quickly. I then greeted the ambassador. He was a chubby, red unicorn. He wore what seemed like a robe that covered his cutie mark, and seemed unperturbed by my army. I bowed and said,

"Welcome, ambassador. I am Dahaka." The ambassador turned to look at me, and gave a slightly unnerving chuckle, that seemed to reverberate throwout the hive, as he said,

"Hello Dahaka, my name is Firm Ties. I hope that there will be little need for these formalities in future." He winked as he finished. I was confused by this. He seemed like a good person, but he was most likely a noble. What a rare combination. He glanced up at the worried faces of the embassy guard, and said,

"What's got them all riled up?" I was further confused by the casual tone.

"There was a slight mishap. Zero casualties, as far as I know. But it seemed that some of my, 'subjects' as you would say, got a little out of hand. They're very territorial, you know." Firm Ties gave a wide grin as he said,

"Oh, I know how it can get. There was a riot when I went to Gryphendel. Capital of the Gryphon Empire, you know. But I need to put a little sense into the guards, if you know what I mean." He winked again, and I began to think that perhaps Celestia had sent someone that I could get along with. But I noticed one thing as Firm Ties Chariot began to move.

"By the way Firm Ties, is that a magic mirror that you have with you?" He smiled back at me, and said,

"Why, of course! And you may call me Ties if you want!" His chariot went through the shield, and it closed quickly. I shook my head and walked further into the Hive. I checked on Prime Directive and noted that it was partially recovered. I hoped that it would wake up soon, so that I could interrogate it. I noted a disturbance in the embassy but I dismissed it as none of my business. That is, until I heard the Wilhelm Scream come from the embassy. I looked back in disbelief, and saw a heavily traumitised guard hanging from a stalactite. He was then pulled back into the embassy by a red aura. I quickly turned around and started walking again, knowing now that Firm Ties had hidden depths. It was then that I felt a foreboding feeling. I hoped that what I felt was going to happen wasn't going to happen, not now at least, but I needed to be prepared. I quickly gave the mental equivalent of a slap to the face to Prime Directive. It wasn't very good for it, because it wasn't fully recovered yet.

"Y-yes!" Prime asked. It was like it was glitching.

"Do you have the Brood Mother essence?" It paused, considering.

"Iiinnn ffaact I do!" It said. The sentence starting slow, then regaining normality as it went on.

"Could I please have it?" I hoped that it would comply.

"Indeed you may, ya just have ta say the magic word." It's sentience started out with a British accent, then changed to a horrible western one.

"Please." I sighed.

"Okay, okay. No need to be rude." It said as it 'handed' over the essence. I quickly knocked Prime Directive unconscious, and began making a Brood Mother. I made it go as fast as possible without risking damaging it. I was relieved the moment it burst from the swollen egg. She said,

"I live to serve." She bowed to emphasize this.

"These are your orders," I rattled out everything that she would need to do when I was gone. Her newly formed brain was able to grasp my orders with ease. I quickly ran to the nearest entrance to the nydus network, and jumped in. I commanded it to take me to the lake, the one that I talked to Auric in before. I ran to look in its surface and waited. And waited. Nothing happened. I finally felt Prime Directive wake up.

"What has happened?" It asked.

"I could ask what happened when Johnny took me out."

"........"

"Then you can forget about me telling you anything." I walked back to the nydus worm, and jumped in. While I was going faster than a bullet train, I came up with an idea. We had a nydus worm in another world, so we could establish an outpost. And so once I was back in the Hive, I directed a drone through the multinetwork. I needed to connect the nydus network and the multinetwork. Just something to work on later. I noted a run down shack on the other side. I didn't know if it was of any importance, but this was clearly the Everfree. The Everfree was too close to civilization for my liking. So I directed it to go somewhere that, at least in my world, was far from any ponies. I noticed that the Broodmother was staring at me, probably wondering why I was still here. I told it,

"I will be taking control for now, since I apparently don't have to leave right now." She looked away as she said,

"Very well." She said with a bow.  I then had nothing to do, but guide the drone to a possible place to make a hatchery.
> Chapter 15. The Loose End Doer Upper, and Story Starter.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I was wandering about the Hive. The Slitherers had not been attacking for the last few days and I was getting very worried. Well, and very bored as well for lack of things to actually do. I had had a few conversations with Firm Ties and we got along very well. The rest of the embassy was still on an unofficial high alert. But something that had me even more worried than the other matters at hand was Prime Directive. Prime Directive had been very quiet since Johnny had been summoned. And whenever I 'looked' over its 'shoulder', it would quickly put away whatever it was working on. I finally decided to try to bargain with Prime Directive, which was always a dangerous thing.

"Prime Directive?" There was hesitation for a moment before it responded, no doubt hiding whatever its project was.

"Yes?"

"I want to bargain with you."

"For what?"

"Specifics about the time you were with Johnny, and what your project is."

"No." I wasn't going to give up so easily this time.

"Is there anything you would trade for the info?"

"No." Wow, it was very talkative today.

"I'll tell you what happened before you woke up."

"No." I didn't have much to bargain with besides that. But I decided to use the one bit of leverage I hadn't put on the table, or was unwilling to give up. Even so, I hesitated before saying it.

"I'll add a redesign of the body to my end of the deal." That grabbed its attention. It hesitated before grudgingly saying,

"No." I was revealed on the one hand, but disappointed on the other. "But I will tell you by those conditions once my project is finished." My emotions flipped right then.

"That'll have to do." I felt Prime Directive drift back to its area before continuing work on whatever it was. I had accomplished in part something that I had to. I was dreading the redesign, and whatever might happen to me. Although one thing was almost certain to happen this time, and I dreaded it.





Celestia

I sighed as I trudged through the paperwork as it was up to my knees now. I was looking for where to begin when I detected a familiar magical signature. I shifted the paperwork before finding it. It was a letter from Twilight. "Well," I thought to myself, "Just this before I begin." I got half way through it before I lost my temper. I screamed, "DAHAKA!!!!!" before I charged a teleportation spell to confront Dahaka about the creature below ponyville.







btw, I wrote this part listening to this.




Dahaka


I was startled as Celestia teleported right in front of me. I registered her expression, and tried to diffuse the situation before it exploded.

"Why Celestia, it is a pleas-" Too late.

"HOW DARE YOU SEND SABOTEURS TO PONYVILLE!" She used the Royal Alicornian voice to great effect.

"Now Celestia, listen-"

"NO!" She yelled with all of her breath before saying in a menacing tone, "I thought we had a truce, I see now that it was just a ruse. I officially-" I interrupted then. I now knew that this had something to do with the encroacher that I had sent to the village that was apparently called Ponyville. The outburst had seemingly put her tongue in a twist, but that would only last until she found the word she was looking for. I had an idea about what it should be.

"Now Celestia, the unit was only there for our little cold war. I have pulled them out now." This barely seemed to register with her as she came up with a revolutionary sentence in this world’s history of swearing.

"You sea serpent with the rear of a diamond dog." What did I tell you, revolutionary. I facepalmed as I said,

"That isn't bad at all Celestia." I quickly withdrew my hand claw appendage from my face. "But if you go to Ponyville and check again, you will find that it is gone. My apologizes for the scare. Now PLEASE get out. I have things to do." She looked flustered, but she probably thought that it was better to be flustered in her rooms instead of in front of me so she teleported out of the way. I sighed at the episode, and went back to thinking about what Prime Directive might turn me into.





John (AKA, the lord of the slitherers(AKA, the Mimics.))

I almost had the veritable tsunami of units prepared. I had even fabricated a new type of drone that I called the Elephant. The only update in the research and development side of things was that my mimicry of enemy units was incredibly imperfect. I could make a mold, but for some reason I could not make the insides work nearly as well as they should. But no matter, they would fall soon. They had numbers, sure, but my units could overpower theirs. I may have a good chance of winning this time, but I wasn't going to go in guns blazing. I already had a diversion prepared, and the diversion might even take the town that apparently was called Seaddle. But until the attack I had plenty of time on my hands, and I was planning something even more devious just in case.
	
	
> Chapter 16. Attacks and small talk.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I have finished" Stated Prime Directive. I was startled out of my reverie by this, and listened as it continued, "I will tell you about the project as you are undergoing the redesign" I glumly said,

"Fine." And I started to cross the cave to the Regeneration Vat. It was originally designed to heal in, but its properties also made it the ideal place to undergo something like this. I quickly shot a message to the Broodmother saying the equivalent of, 'If anyone asks, I'm out.' before clambering into the vat. I noticed that it had undergone some redesign as well as I not only got wet with nutritious fluids, but was stabbed with a huge needle and was hooked up to its 'heartbeat' as well. I then shutdown the majority of body functions as Prime Directive began debriefing me. As he got to the part about making a deal with Johnny, I angrily said, "What were you thinking! He had just put me through a horrible experience that might have permanently damaged me!" Prime Directive responded in its usual monotone. But it sounded a little off, like it was trying to speak like that. But I shrugged it off as I listened.

"But it was the only possible way to get back here. And could you not interrupt?" So I stayed quiet as I was regaled with the events of the past. The only strange part was that it stuttered at three parts. I felt like it was keeping things from me, but I had plenty of time to pressure it later.

"So you've cracked Johnny's genetic code then?"

"Yes."

"Do you have anything?" I was hopeful, but that hope died when it said,

"I found something. But after I calculated what it would do, I found out that it would make the creature in question, if not dead, say 'Suck it' repeatedly. Like bird song." I was crestfallen. I needed something good out of this. But now I had less to work with than before. I decided to ask something,

"So what is the redesign changing?" I crossed my metaphorical fingers and hoped.

"Increased musculature, more durable bones, wings," Here was something good at 

least. "Improved eyesight, a change of morphology that gives you a total of eight legs, four arms, and a change in the positioning of vitals," Strange, but acceptable. "Retractable claws, increased reaction time, more powerful brain," I wondered how I wasn't noticing that one, but oh well. "And the last noticeable one is a reproductive tract." Ah, this was the one I was expecting, and dreading. I asked,

"So I'm female now?"

"You will be in a few minutes. It's the last change." I might as well enjoy the last little bit of my masculinity that I had left, so I just meditated. That is, until I received a report of a Slitherer raiding party. I gladly grabbed the excuse as I commanded, 

"The last of this can wait, I need to be in full command of my troops right now, so release me from this!" Prime Directive grudgingly submitted as I ordered my troops to move to Seaddle. I had just saved my manhood, for now at least. I reactivated the other parts of my brain as the needle slid out of me, and my increased regeneration started to kick in. I struggled to clamber out of the vat, not used to the changes yet. I managed to grab onto the side and pull myself out. I fell onto my back, and struggled for a second to right myself. I thought that I had felt Prime Directive have a flicker of emotion, but shrugged that off along with the earlier discrepancy. I flexed my new muscles to try to get used to them before turning my attention to the battle. 

I was lucky that I had managed to get some troops there before the enemy, so the civilians had time to begin evacuation. I was lucky that the guards that Celestia had positioned there could take a hint. But the enemy hit my still arriving troops before the evacuation was complete. I wondered why they hadn't pulled out once they saw that my forces there outclassed them, but I focused on the battle.But once I was halfway through the battle, I received a report from the other side of the continent. A force that was exponentially bigger than the one that I was fighting now was sweeping inland. I was going to recall most of my forces and send them to intercept, but just then, I felt the nydus worm closest to my army get cut in half, stranding them until a new one could get there. I thought in horror about what would happen if I couldn't intercept.

"Prime, do you have ANY way of stopping this?" I felt Prime Directive shift in my head slightly as it said,

"No." I could tell it was lying, so I pressed it.

"Prime, you will tell me." I began to press my psyche against its. Its psyche formed spikes, but I pressed on despite the pain. I redoubled my efforts as my scout saw the first settlement get run over. Finally, it relented in the form of sending out a signal. I gasped as thirty totally new zerg came 'online', for lack of a better term. These Zerg were not your usual come in the millions, but ones designed to hold their own.

"How did you do this!? No, not right now, we have to go." I commanded the small force to go into the network. I rushed after them and as I ran an hourglass appeared in front of my face. I reeled back as it collided with my face, but caught it on the way down. I looked down at it, shrugged, and started running again. I jumped into the network right behind my troops. I didn't have very long to wait as I was spat out about a mile in front of the enemy advance. I held out the hourglass as I tried to figure out how to actually use it. Suddenly, the voice of a young man entered my mind.

“Time is an unalienable right. All creatures receive theirs. Freedom is another unalienable right, given to creatures upon their creation,” the voice echoes in my head. I took a good look at the small hourglass in my appendages, noticing how the sand wasn’t falling to the bottom. “No being, mortal or immortal, has the ability to take these two indefeasible entitlements.” I looked into the sand that was still stuck to the inverted hourglass’ ceiling, “Those who find themselves stripped of either, may this time piece find you in your plight; for I will heed that call to assist you in retaking that which was taken. Just say ‘tempus attinet, Libertas aeternam’ and I shall come to your aid.”I shrugged and said, 

“Tempus attinet, Libertas aeternam?”After a moment of nothing happening, I took a look around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, which disappointed me, seeing as the message told me to by the small timepiece was so dramatic and enthusiastic.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” I stated.

“What was anticlimactic?” asked the same voice from before, only now outside of my head.This, strangely, made me feel a little more sane, for some reason. But as it was, I still jumped a little as I saw the other human.

“So you DID come, after all. I thought that this time would be more like the last time. Only a little more, I don’t know, sandy?”

“Sandy?” asked the new being, looking more than a little confused.

“The hourglass. Sand. It went together.”

“Oh.” Realization dawned on his face as he slowly leaned back, onto his heels. “Well, I assume you didn’t summon me just so we could have a nice little chat, my good... creature. What can I, Nicholas, do for you?” I suddenly remembered why I summoned him.

“Oh, yes. The majority of my forces can’t get here in time, and there is a HUGE enemy force coming this way. What I need you to help me do is to hold them off for long enough, so that the rest of my army can get here before thousands of ponies are murdered.” Nicholas heard the words 'ponies are murdered' and promptly fell into a very professional posture. 

“What, specifically, do you need me to do? I mean, where do I stand, and what must I protect. I need details.” I started explaining things to him.

“We are about... I’d say a quarter of a mile in front of the enemy advance. I also have no idea what you can do, so I can’t exactly tell you how you can best help. But I’d say, fight like hell, as they are about three minutes away by now.”

“Three minutes to prepare for a stand against an army? Easy enough,” he said, before pulling a pocket watch out of his pocket.The next part was curious, as he pushed a little nub on the top of it, and absolutely nothing happened.

“What?” he asked, more himself than anything.

“Was that supposed to do anything? I mean, if you need some sort of advantage, you could ride on that Zerg there.” I pointed to what looked like an extremely fast, sleek, and small version of an ultralisk.

“I’ve... I’ve lost my powers?” he began mumbling to himself. “But... I can’t fight without them... I... I’d be defenseless! How am I supposed to go on!?” the rambling continued for a while longer before the Ultralisk nudged him in the shoulder. “Gah! What’s that?!”

“I honestly haven’t seen that model before today, but it’s an Ultralisk. And before we waste any more time, the enemy is about a minute away. Look, you can see them in the distance.” I pointed to a humongous cloud of dust rising in the distance.

[c]NICHOLAS[/c]

I was powerless.

My watch wasn’t working.

I was going to die.

Then the ‘Ultralisk’ nudged me and brought me back to the present.

“I honestly haven’t seen that model before today, but it’s an Ultralisk. And before we waste any more time, the enemy is about a minute away. Look, you can see them in the distance.” The... thing that had summoned me pointed one of his spike, claw, things off into the distance, where a large dust cloud was rising. It looked much like a sandstorm, only in grasslands instead of a desert.

“That’s a lot of enemies...” I mumbled to myself, but my summoners hearing must be better than the average humans.

“You’ll do fine. Just don’t die.” It gave what might be a smile... but those fangs weren’t reassuring at all.

“Don’t... die...” I looked back to the steadily approaching cloud, fearing for the coming future. “I’ll do my best.”

The bug thing retreated a little way and burrows himself into the ground, leaving me to fend for myself, albeit with a large monster... thing.I began talking to myself as the tension mounted up. 

“We have to think of a battle plan. Ok, every... thing, line up!” I yelled to all the monsters that had been left with me, around thirty total. They did as instructed. 

“I have no clue what all of your fighting styles are, or what your abilities are, but know that you’ll probably not make it out, if we’re going to be fighting an army.” I got a vague impression of eye rolling. 

“Now, My powers are pretty limited. I have this-” I pulled out my pistol, showing them. 

“-and the ability to stop time. Currently I’m not able to manipulate the flow of time, so I’m extremely vulnerable. I can’t tell you to not run, because you’re bigger than I am, so do what you want...” One of them snorted at this. 

“But I’d appreciate it if you’d help me.” The same Ultralisk from before took a few steps towards me, nuzzling my arm with it’s head. This took me out of my stupor.

“You’re right, I’m just rambling at this point.” It gave me a look.

“I should be focused on the coming battle, not worrying about my own life. I know.” Another look.

“I know there’s lot’s of lives on the line! What do you take me for?” I yelled. Yet another look.

“What do you mean ‘turn around’?” What I’d just said struck me a moment later as not a request, but a command. I quickly turned, unholstering my weapon and pointing it at... I’m not even sure what it was, but it freaked me out. Even more so when it dove for me. The trigger just kind of pulled itself at that point. The ultralisk, amongst the other monsters, charged into the enemy ranks. This had little effect on the overall numbers, although it did slow the march. I watched as five of the monsters that were left with me fell immediately. They seemed like grunts more than fighters, so that was expected, but I was now down to twenty five fighters, not including myself. 

“I need your help. Please, just give me a little bit!” I whispered to the watch still clutched in my hand, clicking the crown once more. When I opened my eyes again, I jumped a good twenty feet in the air. An enemy warrior was mere inches away from my face, lunging for said face.

‘It worked... It really worked!’ I thought to myself before I noticed that everything was still moving, just extremely slowly. 

‘It sort of worked,’ I corrected myself.

‘Now, what to do...’ I walked over to one of the enemy warriors, watching as the tentacles whipped around through the air. I was highly fascinated by the creature, wondering exactly what it was.

‘It doesn’t matter, just kill them already! You have the advantage!’ Yelled Michael from the depths of my mind.

‘Be quiet, you. I don’t even know how to kill these things.’ I thought back.I then, experimentally, put my gun to one’s head--or, what I assumed to be it’s head. When I pulled the trigger it seemed to fall apart, disintegrating into a pile of black spike things.

‘Now we know how to kill them, so kill them!’ Michael was obviously becoming irritated with my inaction, but I frankly didn’t care.

‘Just shut up,’ was my only response. He grumbled to himself in our mind, festering in his obvious hate for me.I walked around, looking for my forces that needed my help most. I saw that the larger the monster, the less help it would need, in general. I found myself helping the smaller units more often than not, though that didn’t mean that I wouldn't pull the larger ones out of a dogpile every now and again.

‘This is becoming tedious. I need a way to fight them more efficiently.’ There was a moment of thought after this, and I came up with a simple solution.

‘Screw it,’ I thought as I began to run around, blowing all the monsters to pieces.

[c]SEVERAL HOURS LATER[/c]

‘HOW THE FUCK MANY ARE THERE?!’ I thought to myself as I killed the five million, seven hundred and thirty five thousand, two hundred and sixty ninth.

‘It’s gonna be a long night.’

[c]DAHAKA[/c]

One second, Nicholas was just standing there like an idiot, but over the following minutes, the enemy had been slowly slaughtered. As soon as the massacre started, I was overwhelmed by Prime Directive begging me to get a tissue sample. I’ll admit that this ability was so extremely OP that I would almost kill a pony to get it. And as the last of them died, I slowly unburrowed to congratulate him on his victory. He was, by far, the most reality hacking thing I had met to date. I walked towards him and Nicholas seemed to jump, but it was sped up several times, so he was on the ground only moments later. It was too fast for me to recognize, but he was suddenly began moving at normal speed.

“You scared the crap out of me!” he yelled. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.” I backpedaled, not wanting to face anything similar to the fury he’d shown only moments before.

“Sorry. I was just going to congratulate you on your victory,” I said stupidly.

“Oh... alright, then. Thanks,” he said, noticeably calming down. I relaxed.

“Yes. And if you could do one more favor for me, Prime Directive, my roommate of sorts, wants a tissue sample.”

“A... tissue sample?” he asked. Then his eyes bugged out and he backpedaled. “No way! You’re not getting any of my flesh!” I rolled my eyes.

“It could be as small as a single intact skin cell, ya big baby. And it would help me keep my sanity from being destroyed by Prime Directives constant pleading, threatening, and other methods.”

“I don’t see why you’d need a skin sample, anyway, but if all you need is a single cell, I don’t see how it would hurt.” Nicholas then took his coat off, revealing his rolled up sleeves and exposing his arm. 

“Just... make it painless,” he requested. I quickly reached forward and scraped the top layer of skin. I knew from experience that even dead tissue could usually be used, as long as it wasn’t too decomposed.

“Thank you. You have NO idea what it’s like to have another person in your head that wants to kill everyone.”

“Yes, I do,” he said, simply, allowing the implications to work their way through my brain.

“You mean that YOU have a genocidal roommate in your head as well?”

“I wish I could say I didn’t.” There was a moment of silence as he seemed to listen for something. 

“No, you can’t come out and say ‘hi’. We both know how that turned out last time.” I almost forgot to put the cells in my 'back pocket' I was so surprised.

“Well, I guess that means we have something in common then.”

“I guess we do.” we stood in silence for a moment before I said,

“Oh, yeah, I need to warn you. If you find a weird glove that says ‘burn me’, DO NOT BURN IT! I did, and horrible things happened.”

“I’ll... keep that in mind.”

“But if you find a golden coin, do not hesitate to use it. It summons a guy named, what was it again? Oh yeah, Auric. He’s an awesome guy.” I smiled, but stopped once I saw the look on Nick’s face.

“Well, as creepy as that smile wasn’t-” he said ‘wasn’t’ like he was implying the opposite 

“-I’ve already talked to Auric. He recruited me for a ‘War of Understanding’ that’s going on.”

“He recruited me as well! But before I get sidetracked again, have you met any other displaced?”

“Yes, actually. I’ve met... Nemesis, the Living Science Project; Gilgamesh, the Warrior of inconsistency and tumbleweeds; and a person who goes by the name ‘Pyramid Head’. You may have heard of him.” Nick seemed a little afraid of that last name, not giving it a punny name.

“Hmm, I’ll keep those in mind. Also, my ‘summoning thing’ is a weird green ball of slime. Just channel some magic into it, even the smallest spark, and it will summon me. I would give one right here and now, but I don’t have one on han- cl- appendage.”

“If I need you, I’ll figure something out. Don’t worry.” He smiled, which was a lot more threatening than my own grin was, if the expression from earlier was any indication.

“Umm, so how do I unsummon you? I have little to no idea how things like this work.”

“Yeah, this is my first summon. Let me try something though.” He fished out his watch, once again, and held it in front of his face. “If this works, it was nice meeting you... monster... thing.” He then made a face of concentration and disappeared. I blinked as I realized that I had never told him my name, but shrugged. I commanded us all to head back to base. This certainly was interesting.

[c]John[/c]

NO! That didn't just happen, did it? One human didn't just come and slaughter my entire army. But it just had. I undulated angrily as i considered it. But I still had one ace up my sleeve. Too bad it wouldn't be done for another week, though. I began the process of recreating my army once again.

[c]Dahaka[/c]

I was sitting back at base, recovering, when I heard the call.

"I call now to those who have allied themselves to me! To all who have replied to me, to those I call friend! To my fellow Displaced who fight on the side of the light, I CALL TO YE! The time has come! To those that hold my Token, find a reflective surface which ye could walk through, and I shall guide thee!"
> I think we made a wrong turn... (Unedited)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        The Nydus worm erupted from the ground,  creep already beginning to emerge around it. The moment it opened its mouth, four ultralisks came out. They were quickly followed by Dahaka, who accessed the situation quickly. Zerglings, roaches, and hydralisks came quickly behind. They were followed by about a dozen drones. By this time, the troops had become quite cramped, and some were outside the cave. Dahaka quickly ordered one of the drones to morph into a hatchery.

        “This seems off.” Prime Directive said in the back of Dahaka’s head.

        “I know what you mean. As far as I’ve seen, this place is inhabited. I don’t think Auric would agree to fight here. There would probably be collateral damage. Any idea’s?” Prime Directive was silent for a moment before replying.

        “None currently. But I will begin processing the situation.” Dahaka nodded slightly, and got on with the base management. More on reflex than anything else, he reached out with his mind until it encompassed the mountain. He could tell that there were a few things residing there, but nothing of consequence. 

        He sent a single Zergling out to investigate what the lay of the land was. It seemed similar to his world, but there must be something different about it if Auric wanted to fight here. 

        “Perhaps a plague happened, and everyones dead?” He hypothesised. 

        “Extremely unlikely.” Prime Directive interjected. “If they were, there would be some sign. If it happened a while ago, the building would be run down. If it happened recently, then there would be at least some obvious signs, even from this distance.”

        “Also, where IS Auric?” Dahaka wondered. “We should have contact with him, another ally of his, or an enemy by now.” Dahaka sent another five Zerglings scouting in different directions. They were all directed to not be detected by any means necessary.





        “We need to find a way to build a Hive without Tia finding out about its location.” Marsara told Paranoid through the Hivemind.

        “Why don’t we set up two? On different ends of the forest.” Paranoid suggested mentally. “I’ll try and set one up near that Castle, and you build one in a cave to avoid obvious detection.”

        “This is why I put you in charge before I was put in that stone prison.” Doing this could negate the chance of Tia finding them. Wait… Marsara could feel something, like a Sprinter not under her control. “Do you sense a Sprinter not under our control Paranoid?”

        He stopped. “I thought that was an anomaly. A Zerg not under our control? I thought only we could control them… mostly you.”

        “Let me see if I can.”  So Marsara tried touching it with her mind. As soon as she did, a voice rang out through the connection.

        “Who are you?” Marsara couldn’t believe it… Another Hivemind? Here? She tried to find this Hivemind center location.

        “Let me ask you again, and if you don’t answer I’ll assume you’re some sort of conglomerate. Who are you?” 

        Paranoid tilted his head, “Conglo-what?” He asked out loud.

        “I am Broodmother Marsara. Who are you?” 

        “I am Dahaka. The leader of the Zerg Swarm. Tell me, have you heard of one called Auric? I am searching for him.”

        Paranoid growled. “How could you be the leader of the Zerg? Marsara is!”

        “Settle down Paranoid. I am the leader of A Swarm.” Marsara said hoping it would calm Paranoid down before he did something brash.

        He sighed, and kept quiet. “Sorry…” He mumbled.

        “I’m liking both of you.” He said with a hint of humor. “And you are correct, Broodmother. We are leaders of different swarms. Tell me, did you used to be human?” Hesitantly Marara told him.

“Yes… How did you know that?”

“I used to be human as well. Along with others that I have met. Still, do you know Auric? And if so, do you know where he is?” Thinking back, Marsara couldn’t think of anyone named Auric.

“Sorry I have never heard of him before.” 

“Tch, you offer to help someone, and they don’t even meet you at the door... What do you think, Prime?” Before either of them could ask who Prime was, a new voice spoke. It seemed disturbingly synthetic and organic at the same time.

“Most likely answer is that this isn’t the right universe. I don’t know how, but I will look into the failure.” Wondering who this ‘Auric’ was, so Marsara asked.

“Who is this ‘Auric’ anyways?” Paranoid was in a corner, rubbing his head as if trying to remember something.

        “He is a being that is on par with gods. He is currently in a war with another that is just as powerful as himself, and has been gathering allies. And when I was called, I ended up here for some strange reason.”

        Paranoid slapped himself, then blurted, “Wait, I think I heard something about a war!”

        “Did you get Auric’s message? He did send it across the multiverse. Still, Prime, do you have a way for us to get to the right world?”

        “No.” Prime Directive responded. “We do not have the coordinates  for the correct world. We were following the trail made by his call.” Dahaka sighed before falling silent.

        Paranoid cut in, “... I wasn’t contacted by Auric, but some… thing, called himself a ‘Displacer’. He said if Marsara got something from a ‘War of Understanding’ to leave it. It did some major flop. Don’t know all the details though, but he said something about making a new one…”

        “Well, that’s just great. I wonder what happened to cancel it? Hmm, that's one thing to keep an ear open for. Still, this is your world. So do you want me to return to my own world, or can I keep a small base here?” Seeing no harm in it Marsara told him.

        “As long as you don’t try to kill me or the ponies I’m fine with it.” 

        “Thank you. We could also exchange some strains if you want. I have some interesting ones.”

        “What are these strains like?” She asked, curious as to what another Swarm could have.

        “I have a structure that completely covers a cave mouth, making it so that only friendlys can come through. And if worst comes to worst, it can petrify. I have aquatic versions of all the Zerg. I have the Encroacher, which specializes in theft and sabotage. I have the Blightling, which can infest units with their attack, so when they die they leave unmature Blightlings behind. The unmature Blightlings grow in a day into full Blightlings. I have Banes, which can subtly infect an enemy unit ahead of time, and detonate it later in a Baneling burst. And I have others as well. In fact... I’ll give you one of them now, as sort of a gift. Alright?”

        “That sounds reasonable. But the only strains I have as of right now is the Harvester a Sin meant for harvesting materials, and the Spawner a Sin that can lay eggs like a Broodmother. I made them so I don’t have to worry about Larva or Drones."

“I… Um… Designed some new breads of Zerg myself… If that’s what you two are talking about. More than a thousand years without anything else to do means I’ve got free time...”

“What are these strains Paranoid?” 

“Well, just some things… I’ve got what I call Flies, which are smaller than real flies. They infect Ponies with a stun agent. Suicider's, which are big balls of acid that explode. Don’t worry, they don’t have a mind of their own. Shy Swats, which can camouflage to their environment. Skale’s, which can take a lot of damage, while infecting melee attackers with something worse than the flu. And Clone’s, which were the hardest to design. They can copy the shape of anything, mostly ponies, to become like a spy controlled by stronger minds in the Hivemind. They can switch between the form you choose them to take, and a Zerg/Pony hybrid like me.” Paranoid finished with pride. Marsara was proud of Paranoid but confused as to why they would need a Zerg that can mostly just copy the shape of the ponies.

“Paranoid. Why would we need a Strain that can copy the ponies?”         

        Paranoid coughed physically. “Information. I needed to keep up with the times. With more than a thousand years waiting for your return, I wanted to prepare information to tell you. Things like how Luna got banished, where new towns were settled, and who the new bearers of the Element are. They’re fun to watch...”

        “SOMEPONY BANISHED LULU?!?! I will find and kill who ever did this to poor Lulu!” Marsara was starting to feel the anger from before rise back up. It was making the Sprinters all riled up.

        Paranoid laughed nervously, “Actually, Celestia banished her after Luna was infected with some kind of parasite. She’s back on Equis now, and free of it…” Marsara knew almost instantly what said parasite was.

        “Nightmare. I will end you like I should of when I found you.” Marsara stated with venom. She was starting to feel the anger caused by the Nightmare… And she was enjoying it.

        “I like to call it ‘Blacklight’ for some reason… I also think it’s gone.”

        “Still, we must be alert. But on to other matters. You said something about the Elements getting new bearers.”

        “Oh, yeah. After Luna’s banishment, Celestia lost the connection with them, and hid them. Fast forward to a couple years ago, the Princess sends her personal student: Twilight Sparkle, to a small town called Ponyville. I know, stupid. Where they came up with that crap, I have no idea. Anyway, Nightmare Moon returned, and Celestia was nowhere to be seen. This Twilight Sparkle went into the Everfree Forest- you know, where we are- with five other ponies. Rarity, a Unicorn fashion designer. Applejack, a country farmer who picks, get this, apples. Crazy, I know. Rainbow Dash, weather manager, wannabe “Wonderbolt”, and self proclaimed Fastest Flyer in Equestria. Fluttershy, a timid-hard to believe, right?-animal caretaker who can stare down a dragon and make ‘em cry- I’m kinda scared about her. And Pinkie Pie… A party planner, impossible, and overall scary pony… I don’t even want to even think about half the stuff she can do.”

        “Which Element went too which pony?”

        “Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter. Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness. Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty. Applejack, the Element of Honesty. Rarity, the Element of Generosity. And Twilight Sparkle, the Element of The Magic of Friendship… Or just Magic. I don’t know…”

        “This is most interesting… But back to we were talking about. Why would we need to spy on the ponies when we can just ask them? We are their protectors aft-” Marsara was cut off as Paranoid pointed at the dead guards. “I just assumed they were rouge. It has happened before.” Paranoid pointed at the remains of Marsara’s prison, and shook his head. As much as Marsara didn’t want to admit it… He was right. “Just what happened to cause me being in stone? It had to be the Elements, but I would have had to have a darkness in my heart.” Now that Marsara thought about the past she couldn’t remember much after she found the parasite.

        “Let’s just say Nightmare did some bad things as you, and leave it at that.”

        “This is not good… Wait… Why can’t I feel any other Zerg Hiveminds besides ours and Dahaka’s? Why can’t I feel any of the three million of my children?”

        Paranoid gave Marsara a sad look. “Marsara… You… I don’t know what happened to the others, and I tried to save as many of them, but… They kept getting out of control… I couldn’t keep control as well as you…”

        “Do not worry Para… You tried your best. But I can not feel the other Mothers… Please tell me Tia didn’t come for you.” Marsara asked the last bit hoping she was wrong.

        “I think the dead Royal Guards are the answer.” For the first time since she was first sent here she snapped.

        “I will kill that bitch for killing my children… She is too blame alone. Not Lulu or Disy… No harm shall come to any who don’t try to stop me… All who do shall be killed along with Celestia.” Dahaka, who was staying silent up until that point, interjected at this point.

        “So you’re going on a crusade against Celestia then?”

        “Yes. She will pay for killing my children.” 

        “Don’t you think you’re being a little rash here? I mean, I never had that sort of relationship with any of my zerg, but still.”

        “When I started making my Swarm, my mind started changing into that of a human turned Zerg. Having the feelings of a human but looking and acting more like a Zerg. So, I see my Swarm as my children… All three million of them… If they were still alive.” 

        “I never got that change. The worst I got was Prime. When he was in control... well, xenocide happened. Still, are you sure you want to go on the war path? You won’t be able to avoid casualties. You will have to make mothers go through the grief you’re going through just to get revenge.”

        “If she is willing to give herself over, then none shall be harmed… But if she doesn't… Think of the time when you had something very important in life that meant everything to you, then someone that you have protected comes along and kills it even when it only wanted what it thought of as its mother. I looked into the memories of Paranoid and found Tia attacked because Paranoid wanted to get my statue back.” 

        “I was encased in a statue for about one thousand, five hundred years. I was conscious for all of it. Still, if this is what you want to do... Your world, your rules. Just don’t expect me to attack them.”

        “I do not expect you to help. And I am sorry to hear you were encased in stone like I was except I wasn’t conscious for the 1,132 years I was encased.” 

        “Still, I promised to give you a free zerg strain. Which do you want?”

        “I think the wall type structure would be useful. If you would like I can give you one of my strains.” 

        “That strain was a gift. I insist on trading for any you give me. Still, Prime? If you would?”

        “Very well.” Prime Directive sent a tendril of thought to Marsara, gently touching her mental barriers. Then the tendril was severed from Prime Directives mind, and began dispersing. Marsara’s mind absorbed the tendril and suddenly gained the knowledge of how to make the structure.

        “Thank you. What shall you do now?” 

        “Go back to my world. There’s a big war going on there that I need to win.”

        “Then I wish you a good journey back. Also, what are you at war with?” 

        “We just call them Slitherers.” He then sent over mental pictures of the enemy.

        “I think I remember these from a game I played back on earth. Anyways if you like I can send a Sin back with you too help.” Amusement could be clearly felt from Dahaka as he sent her a picture of a huge battlefield with Zerg and Slitherers fighting.

        “I don’t think that would really make a difference, but thanks for the offer.”

        “I see. You’re still welcome to make a base here if you want.” 

        “Yes, I’ll be keeping this base. Honestly, I’m wondering if I should lend you an Ultralisk...”

        “No thank you I do not want to cause collateral damage if possible.” 

        “I’ll be going then. The base here will be semiautomated, but won’t go outside the cave it’s in. It will be able to contact me if you need help. But until then, goodbye.”

        “Goodbye then.” Dahaka’s mental impression then vanished as he went back to his world via Nydus Network.

        “... Well, that was… Entertaining…?” Paranoid shrugged, “I’ll go get the structure for the Castle ready. If you want, I’ll send the Sin to find a new cave to set up in.”

        Paranoid trotted towards the exit, then stopped. “When you saw my memories, you didn’t see my… Um…”

        “No Paranoid.”