The Swarm of Equus

Chapters

A New Name and Fillynapping Best Pony (Edited)
Zerging of the Swarm
Steeled resolve, and a thief in the night.
Annoying Pest, and Coping Part 1
Annoying Pest, and Coping Part 2
Additionary: Davara's Zerg Strains
The Birth of a Broodmother (Edited)
Return to tragedy and Packing up

A New Name and Fillynapping Best Pony (Edited)

It had been a couple hours since I had made my way back to the mountain and I now found myself walking towards the back of a cave. It had been a few minutes since I had entered and I was quickly coming up on the back of the cave as it opened up into a large closed off chamber that didn’t seem to go any further.

‘Hm, not that damp, light enough to see, Smooth stone floor other than the occasional stalagmite.’ I said while looking around at my new temporary base. Not bad. Well, as far as caves go that is.

On instinct, I started searching in my mind for what zerg strands I had. Guess it comes with being a broodmother.

What I found was... disheartening to say the least, for some reason I only had the strands for the Larva, Drone, & Hatchery/Lair/Hive along with the Overlord. I guess we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way. I could sense how much resources my body had. Right now I only have enough for two drones. So calling on the strands I felt something course through me and looking behind me two eggs the size of beach balls popped out of my abdomen.

After just a little while of waiting the eggs hatched and out popped to newborn Drones as I felt the tingling sensation of my hive mind connecting me to them, then I heard them.

“What is preferred designation leader?” Blinking and shaking my head i realized this must have been the telepathic communication of the zerg hive mind. Thinking on what they said ‘I guess they’re asking what I want to be called? John isn’t exactly a fitting name for a zerg leader let’s see… OH I KNOW!’ “You my children may call me Davara.”

“Understood, leader will now be referred to as Davara. What are your orders?” The most important part was getting the base up.

“You!” I pointed to the Drone on my left. “Begin morphing into a Hatchery over there.” I said while pointing to the back of the cave where it would be safest.

As it went off I turned to the other one. “What do we gather for resources.”

After a moment it responded “We require biomass. They may be gathered from nearly anything, they are usually found in greater concentration in crystals and various metals along with living creatures."

“I want you to begin harvesting resources from the immediate vicinity once the Hatchery is finished, do not stray far the cave entrance."

“Understood."

*One week later*

‘There, I’m finally finished.’ I thought while wiping my head with my claws to mimic wiping off sweat.

“Abatha, what is the rejection chance of this batch of improved Hyper-evolutionary virus?"

“Rejection chance is less than 0.046% my queen.” Abatha replied in an almost auto-tuned voice.

Abatha was my first creation here to help with manipulating and storing different strains while I was busy directing the hive. Sorta like an A.I assistant as she unlike Abathur who inspired my creation of her, did not possess an actual body and existed solely in the hive mind to aid me personally.

“Good, we can’t let this fail.” I said while admiring my handy work. In the center of the cave now stood an opened chrysalis, surrounded by small pools of the Hyper-evolutionary virus ready to pour into the chrysalis when it’s occupant was put into it.

Over the past several days I had been refining the virus to give it a low as possible chance of failure since we were only going to get one shot at this, Since if it failed it would turn her into a mindless zerg zombie and we wouldn’t want that.

“Okay, it’s time then. We need to do this before anyone notices our presence.” As I approached the entrance of the cave I passed a few Drones dragging in felled trees to the Hatchery.

So far things had gone well, we had only lost one Drone to a manticore and now we had a dozen bringing in fallen trees.

Making my way out of the cave, I turned towards Twilight’s castle in the distance, since it was my only major landmark besides the mountains that dotted the area. Fortunately I knew It only takes an hour or two to reach the town because of my previous walk.

Since Twilight’s toyetic castle was here, that means she must have beaten Tirek by now which means there aren't any major threats that require the elements. Heh. Well, that is if you don’t include me. I thought jokingly for a few seconds. Well I'm not going to be Idle, I have the chance to create my own Zerg strains and I'm not going to squander the chance to make them.

“My Queen, I am curious. Why are we going after this “mare” named Fluttershy?” Abatha asked not really knowing much about her other than the basics that I told her.

“Because Abatha, she is the element of kindness and while the elements are with the tree of harmony, they still posses great power. It’s because of this very reason I’m bringing her to our side so I don’t get blasted with the orbital friendship cannon."

“I’m afraid i’m not familiar with this orbital friend ship cannon, what caliber is it?"

*sigh* “Its nothing Abatha, don’t worry about it."

Enjoying the rest of my walk to the edge of the Everfree in silence was quickly coming to an end, as the trees started to become less dense and it became easier to walk through the forest. Being six feet wide really has its drawbacks.

As I made it to the treeline, I saw the iconic cottage of best pony, In fact i even saw her outback tending to her animals. When I saw her, She looked better than I expected.

She was an anthro pony like Rainbow Dash, standing upright like a human along with her human hands, but her back legs still had hooves. She was wearing a light green turtleneck along with what looked like cotton jeans. She was currently hovering above the ground throwing bird seed to feed some of her pet birds.

Good it seems like she'll be taking care of her animals all day. When I finished my thoughts I started burrowing into the ground at the treeline.

And now we play the waiting game.

*Several boredom filled hours later*

‘OOOOOOOOOOHHHH THANK GOD FINALLY!’ I thought as I finally burst from the ground. That was without the doubt the worst thing I have ever had to do! After the sun had set a few hours ago I had to wait even longer doing nothing to make sure she had fallen asleep so she wouldn’t alert anyone.

I begun making my way to her cottage after making sure the coast was clear. The only sound was the soft thuds of my legs.

“My Queen, it appears that she keeps many animals. What will we do with them?"

“I put aside a few cocoons for some of them on the far wall so I can take them back and subject them to the virus. This way she gets to keep her friends and I get to add their essence to the swarm. Win win.” I knew Fluttershy wouldn’t like what I was going to do, but I needed to start aggressive strains of zerg and I couldn’t think of another way to get around them, they might tell someone I was here If they saw me. Besides, the zerg can store the essences of successful zerg, so I’ll just file them under successful so she can stay with her animal friends. You know, except zergified.

When I reached her door, it was thankfully large enough for me to be able to fit through. Probably because she even takes care of bears, I doubt I could fit through a normal ponies door.

I pushed open the door and entered. In the right corner of the room was Fluttershy’s bear Harry, with the other animals sleeping In the various corners of the room, birds sleeping In little houses, ferrets lying about lazily. I slowly made my way past him towards the stairs as quietly as I could. The little noise that my steps did make was muffled by sound of well over two dozen animals snoring.

I ascended the stairs and there sleeping in her bed in pink pajamas, peacefully unaware of what had happened downstairs moments ago. Then what I saw sleeping next to her in a small bed on her dresser made me scowl.

“Angel.”

Walking over to the evil little furball, I started thinking of what I should do with him. I don't want to Infest him and even If I did, I don't trust myself to not make him retarded by messing with the process somehow. If I killed him It would probably piss off Fluttershy or comeback to bite me In the ass In someway.

So for now I would leave him here. Walking over to his little bed I hit him In the back of the head with a *THUMP* after making sure he was still breathing In case I hit him too hard.

Then I walked over to Fluttershy and raised my claw hitting her in the side of her head with a thud, hard enough to knock her out but not hard enough to kill her.

With nothing else to do, I flung her body over my right shoulder and carefully descended the stairs making sure not to wake up her animals. Then I made my way back to the cave.

As I entered the cave that held our Hatchery, Abatha decided to speak up. “My Queen, are you sure this is a smart idea?”

“What do you mean?"

“Well from what you have told me my Queen, the leaders of these equines are comparable to living gods. Is making this country our first target really such a smart idea.” She asked as I finally entered the chamber.

“Hold that thought Abatha. I’ve some ideas for new zerg with the essence we’ve acquired, do you think you can make them? Since I will be preoccupied for the next seven days with guiding Fluttershy’s transformation.” I said while sending her mental pictures and thoughts about the ideas for new zerg I came up with.

“Interesting, the Hopper strain will take approximately four hours to make. The Rageling should take four days while the watcher will take two weeks.”

“Excellent get on it then!” I said aloud as I set the unconscious Fluttershy down in the chrysalis before weaving the opening closed completing it. Sending a command through the hive, mind the pools of the virus started emptying into the chrysalis causing her to float in the middle.

I made my way towards the cave exit to go collect the remaining animals. I probably wouldn't be able to grab them all but I can at least grab one of each. Harry will probably take his own trip. Fortunately my amazing luck seemed to stick with me

the closest call I had was when harry turned over and almost woke up.

I think because they were so tame their senses had dulled. Cause If I had tried that with wild animals they would have spooked the moment I got near them. On the bright side, I was able to scoop them up In my arms without them waking them up.

After I had sealed them up in their cocoons on the far side of the left wall, I decided to respond to Abatha's earlier question now that my hands were free.

“Now Abatha, for what you were asking earlier. Equestria will not be our first target, it will be last If at all In fact! We only did this to get rid of the threat the Elements of Harmony posed.”

“Then what shall it be?”

A grin started to grace my nonexistent lips at the thought.

“The Changelings.”

Author's Note

So yeah there was some mild gore in this chapter.

Now for some news this will probably be the last chapter of this I wright until I can find a Displaced author willing to collab.

Edit: I changed things a little so it goes better with the rewrite.

Zerging of the Swarm

Author's Note

This chapter is a Collab with the great Marsara & the amazing Bronyparasite & there own fantastic displaced fic The Zerg of Equestria. I gotta say writing a collab with these two was a real pleasure.

Zerging of the Swarm

So far things had been going well the sun was starting to rise and they would no doubt find what remained of Fluttershy’s animals soon.

Right now I was in the middle of using my psionics to alter fluttershy’s mind. I wasn’t going to change her, just cushion her mind so the transformation didn’t break her mind.

“My Queen the first hoppers are ready to hatch. As you ordered I simplified the genome of the strain to allow mutiple to hatch."

“Good I’m on my way to see them.” I could stop guiding Fluttershy’s transformation for at least a few hours without anything going wrong.

Nearby was new Hopper burrow which was required to make the Hopper.

Making my way to the back of the hive I saw various Drones carrying in felled trees to be broken down into minerals. Near the base of the Hatchery was a cluster of three beach ball sized eggs moving closer I could see the silhouettes of the soon to be born Hoppers moving inside them.

However as i got closer something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye, it looked like a lifeless drooping egg sitting in between a pair of stalagmites. Strange there shouldn’t be any eggs that far away from the hive?

Making my way over to the egg I picked it up and quickly dropped it as I was startled by the voice of another Broodmother.

“To any who fight for family or against Celestia. I will aid you for I am Broodmother Marsara! Queen of the Zerg!”

“Another Broodmother? If there egg is here then that means they must be close by. Maybe I can use the hive mind to find them.”

Reaching out on instinct with the hive mind I tried to mentally grasp the egg concentrating as hard as I could on it. Then without warning I felt something like a shock from it.

The egg fell to the ground and opened, when it did a rather large portal opened above it, out of it came another Broodmother but about six or so inches taller than Davara, next came a infested Pegasus stallion with glowing red eyes and skeletal wings that spasmed every few seconds. He had a mostly grey coat where the infection hadn’t marred, and a red and black mane. The portal then closed behind them in a flash of light.

I wish I could say I held my ground or didn’t show a reaction like a real man but alas I did not. As the portal closed I shouted at the top of my lungs as I backpedaled flailing my arms, “AAAHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE FUCK!”

The Broodmother looked to him, then the Pegasus, “You would think fellow Zerg would be happy to see us, but even here we get this reaction.” It told him, it’s voice much like my own but less distorted.

Looking them over I started to speak. “That was more about the weird giant glowing portal!”

“It isn’t uncommon…” The “Pegasus”, if it was even that anymore, stated. His voice was slightly more distorted than the new Broodmother, but carried far less presence, as if he were a mere servant. “You seem far less cool headed than Mother.”

“Oh no, yeah it’s just an everyday occurrence that a giant portal opens up in your base and two zerg come through.” I started letting no small amount of sarcasm into my voice.

“I dislike your sarcastic tone, whelp.” The Pegasus scoffed.

“And I dislike your face.”

The new Broodmother moved in front of the Pegasus, “I apologize for Paranoid’s behavior, he and most of my children seem to have the idea that I am the only leader of the Swarm and that others who say they lead one have an… even lesser control the Drones.” it explained, hoping to calm both parties.

‘Paranoid’ only glowered, muttering under his breath. “I’m not that ugly…”

“Well I can only assume that you’re Marsara. I am Davara leader of this small Brood.” I said while gesturing to the Hatchery behind me. “Now would you care to explain to me why that egg just turned into a portal?”

“That was my Token, an object that holds a message from a Displaced.” ‘Marsara’ explained as she picked up the egg and began closing it, “I must ask you, were you a human before now? If so I can explain a few more things.”

I was a little taken aback at the question if I used to be a human, showed by my slight backpedaling. “Yes but how could you know that?”

“Simple, I am like you, I was once a human like you until I dressed as a Broodmother and bought one last part for my costume and was Displaced as said Broodmother.” She set the egg back down and turned back to me, “You are also a Displaced if you had a similar experience.”

“I did I went to Comic-Con as a Broodmother, bought the last piece of my costume from a guy dressed like the merchant from resident evil 4. Next thing I know I’m falling through the air and waking up in a crater. But what exactly is a displaced?” I asked while tilting my head.

“A Displaced is a human who, like us, dressed up as a character and normally buy and object that goes with their costume and becomes said character, they are then normally sent to an Equestria. Meaning both you and I are Displaced.” Marsara explained for me.

“You’re transformed into something else and wake up on another world, yet you’re freaked out by a portal.” Paranoid added.

My gaze shifted to Paranoid as i glared at him while thinking. If it weren’t for the fact that I need things to go peacefully, I’d gut you like a fish.

Turning back to Marsara I asked, “What exactly happened when you ended up in Equestria?”

“I looked at my surroundings, found a Zerg Queen that I assume was the plushie I had before I was Displaced, had a small freakout, learned how to use the Hivemind, found Paranoid, then began work on my first Hive Cluster.” she listed off, however her eyes had gained a slight red tint, barely noticeable by most, while sending a glare at Paranoid..

“I landed in the Everfree about a week ago had my own little freakout, laid some drone eggs found out I have almost zero zerg strains and that I’ll have to make my own, started making this colony, made a Chrysalis filled with my own improved zerg Hyper-evolutionary virus with an almost 100% acceptance rate, then I kidnaped Fluttershy.”

Paranoid rolled his red eyes before looking around the area and grimacing.

Marsara turned to him with her arms across her chest, glaring even harder at him.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if his weaving is as inferior as his usage of space…” Paranoid grumbled aloud. “He’s not even using the ceiling…”

“Just going to ignore that for now.” I stated while glaring at the infested pegasus like a paragon of control, before turning back to Marsara. “Now what is this token you mentioned?”

Marsara’s eyes changed back to pure green as she turned back to face me, “A Token is an object that introduces a Displaced with a message, it also allows other Displaced to summon you. For example, my Token is the egg that you picked up before.”

Well consider my interest piqued. “How does one make one of these ‘Tokens’.”

“I’m glad it interests you.” Marsara stated, “First, you need to find an object that you want to represent you, then speak your message, and then simply focus on sending it out. The Void will do the rest.”

Hmmm “I have an idea.” I said as I started weaving together something akin to an organic test tube in my hands. After it was completed I pierced the top with my claw and began filling it with the Hyper-evolutionary virus.

Holding it in my hands I said, “My name is Davara, to all who hold this token call and I shall help whether it requires me to just be your friend or destroying a world you will have my aid!”

As I finished my message I begun concentrating on it and it disappeared in a flash of light from my palm.

“So now the void takes care of the rest now.”

“Friendship isn’t really something I’d associate with our kind.” Paranoid stated. “No matter how hard I- we would try.”

“Eh, they’re other Displaced I assume they’ve seen some weird stuff.” I said with a shrug.

Paranoid smirked, “Unless they’re like you… And freak out because of a portal.”

Completely ignoring that the infected pegasus even existed I turned to Marsara and asked. “So is that it the only other thing I can think of us doing now is an exchange of strains, I’ll take anything really since I didn’t arrive with any from the game.”

“That wouldn’t be required…” Paranoid said in an uncharacteristically anxious manner. “You couldn’t handle the complexity of my- Mother’s strains…!”

Reaching out to Marsara’s hivemind a new voice made itself known in the conversation. “My Queen I greatly dislike the arrogance of this waste of biomass.”

Chuckling I quickly said. “Now Abatha that may be a bit harsh.”

“What?” Paranoid asked, raising an eyebrow. “There’s another intelligent mind in this hive?”

“That is Abatha she can be thought of as an A.I helper. I made her consciousness in the hive mind though so she does not have a body. She handles making the strains and the micro tasking while I’m busy.” I said smugly at the hint of jealousy I was getting from Paranoid.

“Strange...” Marsara started, “Nothing has broken through the Hivemind’s static defenses since I first put them in place...”

“That’s because it hasn’t, I merely had my hive mind make contact with yours. Breaching the defenses of your hive would be like tapping a phone line, this is just more like calling.” I explained through my own hive mind.

“Interesting… I’ve never had another Hivemind to connect to without a third party to link through, so I was unaware this was possible.” Marsara stated through the Hivemind.

“I don’t like outsiders in our hivemind… He isn’t family.” Paranoid added, a dark tone to his thoughts.

Sneering at Paranoid I sent another message through. “I’m not in your hive mind we can just merely hear each other’s hive mind due to them being so close to each other."

“Mother, we aren’t trading strands, are we? I mean, what could a week old hive offer us in return for so much?"

“I admit I’ve only made three strains other than the improved virus.” I stated while looking back at my colony. “I just want to know what you have.”

“I’ve made thousands of strains, each one devastating with the right Queen. My work has taken me lifetimes to make.” Paranoid seethed.

Marsara put a hand on Paranoid’s back, a look in her eyes that seemed to show she was speaking without a voice.

Paranoid sighed, “I’ll give you three of my strains. What are the ones you’ve made?”

“The Hopper I made to serve a role similar to the zergling, since as I said I landed here without the strains most usually have however it can jump up to forty feet horizontally and thirty feet vertically due to much more powerful back legs.” I said while sending images through the hive mind of what looked like a bunny lost it’s fur was partially turned into a zerg and given rows of serrated teeth.

“Next is the Rageling Made from the essence of a bear the Rageling posses great strength & tough leathery skin covered by a tough insectile carapace. The Rageling is capable of flying into a rage where its strength & regeneration is greatly increased.”

“And the most unique of my creations the Watcher is made from the essence of hummingbirds killed at Fluttershy’s cottage. The Watcher has one large orange slitted eye in the center of its head giving it ultraviolet & thermal vision along with the ability to detect cloaked units. Its wings are insectile & has a small serrated beak, they serve as the detectors & scouts.”

“They could use upgrades, but they’re acceptable specimens. Here are the three I’ll give you.” Paranoid said. “The Pike. An amphibian strain collected from swordfish, the fastest creatures in the ocean. Easy to create, but are fairly strong.” Paranoid generated the image of a purple “swordfish” with a glowing green pod on it’s back.

The Mimics can take the shape of Ponies from the Pegasus race and are able to pretend to be a Pony. The only flaw with them, if you can call it that, is they're only shells for stronger minds to take over. They can also be infiltration and suicide bombers, and I mean that in the same sentence. They’re not meant to last forever, and in twenty four hours explode. If in a crowd of enemies, this could be a devastating way to disorient them, or if you want to act as a pony, then use it as your body or a decoy.” Paranoid stated. “I use them a lot to gather information on current times…”

I scoffed, “I bet I could make a better strain.”

“Cute. And if you’re thinking that cloaking is a better idea, I’ve already made a strain of those. The Mimic’s allow you to live among ponies, and like I said, can be a decoy, as a way to fake your death since you can alter the appearance and if any Unicorn were to scan your brainwaves to see if you were the right one, they’d find it was you and not a Mimic. They’re also less costly than Zerglings.”

I smirked as he spoke thinking about my first target the Changelings and what I could do with their essence and how I would soon be winning this unofficial bet.

“I even used certain Changeling strains to make the Mimics, though anything more than what I put in could potentially take them out of the hive.” Paranoid added. “I’ve made many more advanced versions of this strain, but I’m giving you this one because I think you need my first version of the Mimic.”

“And lastly, the Unnerver… This strain is a snake-like creature that can induce fear in any being outside of the Zerg’s race that has the ability to feel it. It’s a special strain that I’m proud to say I didn’t use ordinary essence.”

“Is it expensive.” I asked knowing power like that comes at a price.

“It is, but all you need is one in an army at a time. This strain particularly, since it has a more advanced mind than a normal Zerg. I don’t often use the strain, but when I do, it’s the perfect watchdog.” Paranoid said, smirking diabolically.

“I have to warn you though the Rageling and Watcher are incomplete. Though I’m sure you can complete them.”

“I can improve in multiple regards. I suggest you make yours’ wings quieter. Hummingbirds can be loud when you’re close enough. Perhaps an Owl’s Essence would work.” Paranoid suggested, cradling the strains in his hooves.

“A good idea but the Wachter is meant to be a fast scout not a spy.”

“But the Owl’s essence would increase the likelihood of its survival.”

“You make a good point, I’ll be sure to take it into consideration.”

“I make many, such as using the full extent of the ceiling and walls. It was an insult and a suggestion. We may not be family, and I may not think you’re impressive, but that’s because I’ve had a thousand, lonely years to come up with mine.”

“Paranoid, it’s time we go.” Marsara quips.

“Alright, let’s trade.” Paranoid said, weaving his strains with a strained look on his muzzle, before handing them over.

I begin weaving copies of the strains effortlessly holding one complete strain along with the uncompleted strains of the the Rageling and Watcher handing them over to Paranoid since he appears to be the weaver of Marsara’s brood.

Once the transaction was done, Paranoid groaned. “My head’s hurting from this… And you better be grateful, Queen Davara.”

Awwwww he called me Queen. “I’m very grateful for the strains. Now how do you return home?” I asked.

“Just say ‘contract complete’, and we’ll be gone.” Marsara said.

“And out of your… Whatever you replace mane with.” Paranoid added.

“My insectile dreads are awesome!” I huffed while crossing my arms before adding. “Contract completed.”

“Note to self, the word ‘awesome’ doesn’t mean what it used to.” Paranoid added. And just like that they disappeared leaving a fuming Davara standing alone in her cave other than her drones and the chrysalis.

I started making my way back to the Hatchery to greet the soon to hatch Hoppers while also going over some of the new info I acquired.

Okay so I’m not alone there are other out there like me and we’re called displaced. Also the're differences between the worlds since Paranoid wasn't anthro like the pony's here are. As I was thinking about the implications of this and arrived at the clutch of Hopper eggs.

As if on cue the eggs hatched dropping the six newly hatched Hopper’s looking up at me for orders. Using the hive mind I commanded them to escort any Drones for the time being. As they scurried over to the drones I started walking back to the chrysalis holding Fluttershy.

“Abatha I want you to start making more Hoppers after they’ve hatched I want you to send them hunting in groups of six followed by one Drone to harvest their kill."

“It will be done my Queen the larva are already morphing. Harvesting from animals will also lead to an increase in mineral income."

“Good.” Now standing in front of the chrysalis holding Fluttershy I started working on her mind with my psionics again while I looked at some of the changes already happening. Her pajamas had started corroding away, her wings had lost some of her feathers, there was a bump forming on each of her arms about halfway between her wrist and elbows, her fingers now starting to shape into claws.

Now lets finish that cushioning and tying those maternal instincts to the zerg.

Steeled resolve, and a thief in the night.

I looked out at the vast expanse of dry, cracked earth, the only vegetation dead and wilted. Right now me and the Zerg I had brought with me were standing on the edge of the badlands. Despite my scare when I spotted the guards In the Everfree, luck had seemed to favor us. We had to stay on the move constantly, or else the guard started to gain on us. I was pretty sure we had gained enough ground to lose them back at Appleloosa, but I had no way of knowing for sure.

However I will admit one thing I didn't expect was the city on the border of the badlands. One of my Hoppers had been scouting when some ponies almost saw It. Fortunately It had been able to hide In some bushes before It was spotted. On the bright side I was able to pick up from their conversation that the city was called Oakvale. Looking back from the waste of the badlands to the city, It was clear why It was called that too. In the center of the city was a massive oak tree that was grown using I assume magic. Because the tree was much larger then any tree on earth could ever be naturally. It was as tall as a small skyscraper, and the canopy was so large that It cast a shadow over the entire town. Flowering vines snaked their way along Its roots. The roots seeming to form a "natural" wall around the town.

Honestly It was a pretty big contrast. The lifelessness of the badlands, and just a turn away the overwhelming life of Oakvale.

Without warning, as I took one last look at the... strange city, Abatha spoke up. My queen, I suggest coming back to this location at a later date. This tree could possibly provide a large amount of biomass. Not to mention the possibilities Its essence could add to larger Zerg units.

As she finished I just remained silent. I wasn't sure I could destroy It. After coming from earth, and seeing this. I mean, well back on earth this thing alone could be considered an eighth wonder of the world. It was pretty awe Inspiring.

"We'll talk about It later Abatha. Right now we have to focus on finding the hive, and getting the cocoon somewhere safe." I stated for a couple reasons. One I didn't want to tell Abatha I was against destroying It, and two we really did need to get the cocoon somewhere safe. About a day ago the shell started to harden, now you couldn't even see Inside It.

I gave the command to my Zerg to start moving again. We still had to make our way to the changling hive.

*Celestia First POV*

I sat In the empty throne room. One hand supporting my head, as the other clenched the arm of my throne. I read the report suspended In my magic.

Your majesty, Princess Celestia.

I regret to Inform you that we have lost the creature we believe to be responsible for the kidnapping of the element of kindness. The hounds you provided proved to be a tremendous help.

However even with them I'm afraid we were not able to keep up with the kidnapper, or as I should say kidnappers as It appears. Following them we found more tracks then could be made by one creature. The only way I can think to describe It Is like chasing a stampede. There were dozens of tracks pounded Into the dirt, all undergrowth trampled Into the ground like that of a game trail. It was only through a combination of unfortunate factors we were unable to lose them. Such as the fact that they seemed to be gaining ground, little vegetation as we drew nearer to the badlands meaning less evidence of their passing, and the final nail In the coffin the night before there was a rainstorm.

I personally apologize for our loss of the trail. However If I may note something strange, It was almost as If those we pursued did not sleep? Otherwise I do not know how they could gain so much ground.

With regards from your loyal servant, Sergeant Rapid Stream.

I sighed deeply as I teleported away the piece of parchment. First the whole debacle with the ambassador, and now this? Why can't things just go right for a change.

Before I had a chance to dive deeper Into my thoughts Luna burst through the doors, the relatively large doors slamming Into the walls, the force so strong they bounced off the walls and back to their previous closed state. I'm glad I decided to get those hinges reinforced with Luna back now.

Luna walked up to my throne as I got off It. She had been In a rather foul mood because of the whole business with the "ambassador", ever since opting to wear her armor. Her armor I admit was almost like a piece of art. It was pitch black with silver trim, and filigree adorning It. Forged by some of the best smiths In Equestria. Made from the metal of meteorites.

As I approached Luna I decided to ask. "Let me guess sister Its about the ambassador?" As I asked I walked past her, she quickly joined me by my side. "I know you're upset but It's out of our hands now. There's nothing we can do about It."

Luna took on a look somewhere between confused, and angry at my words. "Nothing we can do! At the very least we could send someone to bring her back."

"She's probably already back behind their borders. Sending someone could possibly be seen as an act of aggression. The Griffin Imperium has already made It clear they do not like us." I looked away from my sister, and frowned it was true that the young warlord Black Talon who had risen to power in the last couple years was very anti-Equestrian. Despite this though we had still accepted their request to house an ambassador. But now it was clear that it was nothing more then a ruse to get a spy into the castle.

"Tia, you know we cannot allow her to leave our borders." She said through gritted teeth, before leaning into to whisper the rest. "She stole from the Vault, you know as much as I do, if she so much as took even a single weapon out of there there will be trouble for us all. Mother help us all if she took designs."

While I believed my sister is not handling this as well as she should, I did agree with her on this. 'The Vault' Thinking about it alone was enough to send a cold shiver down my spine like lightning. It was a relic from a more violent period of Equestria's history. A massive sealed Vault located in the deepest levels of the canterlot dungeons. Under guard 24/7, and only able to be opened by another alicorn. It just raises more questions about how she got in!

"Tia you know just as well as I do that if she took artifact it’s bad enough. But the real trouble is if she took a weapon, or blueprints.” She said close, still holding a serious tone. But it was unnecessary, I knew the dangers just as well as her. It held weapons that made those currently used look like children's toys. There was also the matter that seizing a deadly artifact was in a completely different league from disarming an entire nation.

Walking through two large ornate golden doors. We find ourselves in the dining room. I signal across the room to a maid, barely coming up to my stomach. Taking a seat I look to Luna as she takes the seat across from me. “Now, there’s nothing we can do about it now. So we can sit here and complain, or we can enjoy some tea with a slice cake.”

Letting out a slight humph, Luna admits defeat. “Very well, we will leave this matter be for now.” She says before a mischievous smirk breaks across her face. “Are you sure, about that cake though dear sister, at this rate all those sweets will go to your hips.” I let out an indigent huff as she tilted her head as if to look behind. “On second thought it seems I’m too late.”

I bolted into the air as I felt a burning in my cheeks, as Luna burst out laughing.

*Davara First POV*

Ash, and smoke. That was all that greeted me as I walked through the street surrounded by burned out husk that used to belong to those who lived here. A stray body here or there, covered in armor so I assume they were guards.

Abatha told me earlier that she saw smoke earlier. Since there isn’t much around here to burn, I rushed over figuring it was a camp or something. The reality was much worse.

It was a town a small one, but still large enough to be a town. Nothing was left but the burnt out husk of buildings, and the occasional armored corpse. I didn’t need to investigate who attacked, because next to a couple corpses were those of changelings. If I was still human I might have been a little revolted… Okay maybe not revolted by them! But you could still just from a glance that this wasn’t something that wanted to be your friend.

I few laid face up with split jaws lined with razor sharp teeth. Sharp blue eyes that seemed to lack a soul, there color matching that of their mouths. Thin interlocking plates of chitin running along their bodies. Small cold puddles of almost luminescent green blood forming around them.

Since they’re a hive species I didn’t expect any females. However life seems determined to prove me wrong at every turn it can. Because about the fifth one I came across had short blue hair, along with breast, and a silky black dress with green designs imprinted upon it. I guess she must of been in a high position because unlike the rest she was clothed.

I suddenly recoiled, whipping my head to the side as one of the hoppers I was looking through was smacked hard in the face with something. Hmmmm, that’s interesting? “Abatha gather a few hoppers to go with me, I’m checking that out.” I commanded aloud as I started making my way to the Hopper’s location. It seems to have been knocked unconscious.

I picked my way through the rubble blocking the road, and sure enough near a collapsed burned building was the hoppers unconscious body. If I was still human I might have missed it, but because of my enhanced vision of my Zerg body I could make out small fast moving shapes hidden under the rubble. Consider my curiosity peaked.

I made my way over to the mostly collapsed house, a single fallen beam be the only thing stopping it from finally giving the last few feet. Trying to be as quiet as possible(well as quiet as possible for a giant seven foot tall Zerg).

When I got over to the rubble I could hear a slight shifting coming from under it, along with rapid breathing. Normally I would never had noticed, but my new Zerg senses were a lot better then my old human ones.

Hoping to take whatever was under the rubble by surprise, I ripped the beam holding the rubble up away. As soon as I moved the beam the rubble it was supporting crumbled away to small pieces. Bathing what was underneath in the light of the sun! What was underneath made me visibly flinch, and made my heart feel like it was about to shatter.

It was foals… at least a dozen foals, some with matted fur and covered in filth, their clothes torn to pieces and filthy. I swear I could even see the ribs of a few who definitely looked to be starving.

It took me a few moments to snap back to the situation at hand, because I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A small cobalt colored colt was standing in front of the rest. He was gripping a broken piece of wood like a bat. Despite the brave face I knew he couldn’t do much, his legs were shaking like they were made of burnt sticks. Which considering our surroundings was a bit fitting.

Though to be fair to him he was doing a lot more then I’d be able to do in this situation. I mean standing up to a 9ft tall Zerg Broodmother took guts. Hell! If I was in his situation I’d probably have shit my pants.

“It’s okay I’m not going to hurt you.” I said slowly walking closer to them, the colt shied back as I reached for the wood. I easily took it from him, being to petrified in fear to do anything. “Don’t worry I know I don’t look it but I’m friendly. Do any of you know what happened here?” I asked hoping they’d be brave enough to talk soon.

Eventually one filly holding a younger filly started talking through broken sobs. “A *Hick* a bunch of changelings came. Ou… our parents told us to hide and went with the guards and… and.. And!” She couldn’t get anymore out she broke down into hysterical sobbing again.

I walked through (and in some cases over) the small crowd over to the filly, and placed a hand on her head. I admit it may not be the smartest decision considering my current form. But dammit! Even now I had a soft spot for kids, and if you think you could handle the sobs of small pony children and not have your heart break into two you're a lier!

Summoning up my most base maternal instincts I spoke in the softest voice this this body would let me muster while petting her head. “Shhhhh. Don’t worry as long as I’m around nothing’s going to hurt you.” Abatha we can’t bring them with us, but we need to do something with them!

I would suggest we simply dispose of them. But I feel you would not agree with that.

Damn right I wouldn’t!

I could feel some slight agitation from her before she responded. The only other course I can think of is to take them to the city of Oakvale. HOWEVER! This would be a risk your discovery my queen.

*Sigh* We’ll take them back. But first since we’ve made it this far at least send out some Hoppers to scout the Badlands. We don’t even know where the Changeling Hive is, and we need to find a place to make our own for the attack. Cause I’m sure as hell not going to let them get away with this!

Obviously they didn’t want to come at first, but eventually they agreed to come. I led them back along with most of my Hoppers and Drones. The ones that couldn’t walk I carried.

I stopped walking with them a little after the city came into view, since in the barren landscape I stood out. But as we were parting ways they surprised me. They actually hugged me. Now saying I was surprised would have been an understatement, but what happened next shocked me more. I felt one of them pull closer and whisper. “Thank you.”

If I still had tear ducts I would have cried. Now I didn’t want to say goodbye to them but I knew I had to. “Be safe, all of you. My Hoppers will see you most of the way. Once you reach the city find a guard and ask them to take you to the orphanage, okay?” Nods all around.

With that I sent them on their way with four of my Hoppers, that would come back about 3/4’s of the way there. I passed the village again, as I was looking through the eyes of the Hoppers I sent out, for possible hive candidates when Abatha informed me. My queen the chrysalis is about to open.

Shit. Well I guess we have to find some real estate quick.

Author's Note

Ha! I got it out before the month was over!.

Now this chapter was originally going to much longer, but I decided I had to split it up because there just wasn't time for it.

Annoying Pest, and Coping Part 1

Chrysalis sat on her throne swaying back and forth eyes closed, listening to the gentle singing of one of her Maidens. Chrysalis reluctant to admit it as she was, had to say that they’re company was soothing to her.

While being the queen, and mother of a near 5000 idiotic children was tiring, it did have its perks. One of them was the queen’s Maidens who took care of her personally. It was such a shame she was only able to birth 20, they were the only other females in the hive, and the only others capable of powerful magic. Naturally she had to keep their numbers low to stop potential rivals from forming.

19. She thought suddenly. Her mood taking a turn for the worse as she remembered. She had destroyed a Pony village to keep up her end of the bargain. But those damn ponies had put up more of a fight then she thought they would, and for it she paid the price.

Her down mood didn’t last long however. A slight smile tugging at her cheeks. Well at least those Ponies are going to get what’s coming to them soon. She thought. The smile breaking out into a fully formed wicked grin.

The thought of what was to come to those damn ponies sent pleasant shivers down her spine.

Just as she relaxed once more she felt a surge of panic, and in the hive. She felt a rallying call go through it. She took a deep breath and felt a part of herself pull away, she saw lights and images flashing past her as she moved from Changeling mind to Changeling mind. First there was confusion, then panic, then… pain?

She wasted no time and teleported herself to the bottom floor of the hive. She found her senses overwhelmed. All around her was chaos, something was attacking her hive. Smoke clouded her vision and she heard the shrill death shouts of Drones unlucky to be caught unaware. “Enough of this.” Lifting her hand above her head she channeled her magic above her and released it in a powerful wave, clearing the smoke.

A hoard of a hundred small insectile creature lashing out at any Changeling was what was revealed. She felt like mentally slapping herself for her stupidity, now that she reached out she could clearly feel the presence of another hivemind brushing against hers.

For a second she was distracted, she just couldn’t stop herself from studying them. They seemed slightly larger than dogs, and appeared to be belching up smaller versions of themselves after eating like Parasprites.

One broke from the main body made it’s and wondered off looking for a new target. It stopped and looked to her. Two long antennae following most of its body began to twitch and vibrate as it looked at her. It took her only moments to figure out that it was sending a message to her hivemind, her own drones did something similar when they’re less experienced.

She sent a shot of magical lightning out from her palm frying the creature. But she could tell it was already too late to stop it. Others like it farther back had stopped trying to push forward and now stared at her. Instead of charging at her however like she expected they began to retreat through the hole they made in the wall of her hive. Some scattered, some burrowed through the ground. But it didn't concern Chrysalis her Changelings were natural trackers.

One of her guards in his royal purple chitin armor flew over to her from the previous heart of the fight. As he feel to a kneeling posture before her she spoke. “Send a group of Drones after them. I want to know where they came from.” Looking at the hole in the wall with mild distaste she added. “Patch up that hole while your at it.”

“It will be done my Queen.” He said lowering his head as he left.

There is the matter of how many she lost but It was a simple matter of making sure to lay enough eggs to replace them.

Chrysalis clicked her tongue in annoyance as the missing presences she felt told her she had lost around 400. Well whoever did this will be a corpse soon so it matters little. At least it will allow me to get some use out of my new livestock.

*Davara First POV*

I nervously bounced the psychic lightning I found out how to make between my hands. I had discovered I was psionic to some degree when I first came to this world. But with between everything going on and my own stupidity I hadn’t had time to try it.

Suddenly everything fell out of focus as I felt my attention being pulled somewhere else. My attention pulled to what a Hopper was seeing. My eyes bulged as I saw what it had found. Standing before us was Chrysalis, she stood imperiously before our eyes. Long green hair flowing over her body, standing a good 4 feet above the others. I wanted to say she was beautiful, but as if something was stopping me I just couldn’t. Something in the air seemed to prevert and taint any real beauty she may have had.

That’s enough of my gawking. I thought. I still had plenty to do. I sent a command to retreat back to our temporary hive. They would split up and go several ways while covering their tracks to try and throw off pursuers. I knew I had to remove her, but I had bigger concerns right now.

“Abatha I thought you said she was going to emerge soon!” I said with a hint of annoyance in my voice. Crushing the lightning in my hand it fizzled out.

I left the entrance of the cave for the deeper chamber which held the chrysalis containing Fluttershy. I couldn’t see her progress inside anymore. Earlier the virus within had begun to thicken, and now the chrysalis had lost all transparency.

Forcing her to emerge to soon could be damaging… Though I do not think you have to worry about that. She seems to be gaining consciousness. Sure enough something seemed to start pushing against the chrysalis as cracks formed and spiderwebbed across the surface. Slowly pieces fell and the whole shell let out a slight cracking noise. Without any sense of grandiose the rest of the shell fell to the ground, releasing the virus and with it a coughing transformed Fluttershy.

She sputtered and spit the substance out of her mouth now that she’d regain consciousness, and wasn’t being supported by the chrysalis. As she was distracted I moved closer to take in the changes that had a occurred. She was about a foot taller then she had been previously! Most of her body had been covered in strong plates of chitin, the skin not covered was also now significantly stronger than it had been. As she gasped for breath I could see lean muscle flexing beneath the plates as well. What little fur was left appeared a duller yellow, and had taken on a more coarse appearance.

Those could probably be considered the most minor changes too. Her hair had been turned into chitinous dreads like mine or Kerrigan’s. The feathered wings she had once had were gone now, the new ones in their place were leathery and batlike. And located on each of her arms about halfway between her elbows and her wrist were large chitin bumps with holes leading down them in the front. They didn’t seem like much but I knew that if she wanted two razor sharp blades of chitin would shoot out of them. I’ll admit I took inspiration from another game I liked with those, giving them to her was also away to make up for the batlike wings since she lost a way of attacking with them. Arm blades instead of bone wings… Yep fair trade!... Well in my book at least.

I reached out my hand out for her to grab as she rubbed the remains of the chrysalis out of her eyes. Then she screamed…

*Fluttershy First POV*

I was scared everything was dark. At first I tried to thrash about but couldn’t move, like something I couldn’t see was holding me in place. I tried to scream but nothing filled my lungs.

All around me I could feel dozens of eyes on me. I still couldn't see anything, but it was like I could sense them. I stopped thrashing slowly, their presence made me feel calm and safe for some reason.

I floated calmly for several more seconds before I felt like something was pushing on the back of my brain telling me to move forward to walk out of here. I threw my arms out on instinct. They smacked into something hard and stone like. But I kept throwing myself against it.

I realized I couldn’t breathe anymore. I grew more frantic, till finally I felt something give. Light poured through a webbed crack in whatever I was in. Everything tinted a sickly green. I reared back my fist, trying to remember how to throw a punch. I really should have taken Applejack and Rainbow Dash on their offers.

I grabbed on to the wall or whatever it was, and punched with everything I had.

The wall burst open dumping me with the rest of its contents. As I was thrown to the floor I frantically rubbed my eyes to clear away the thick goo. My breath was shaky, and I was still occasionally coughing more goo up.

As the last of the goop fell from my eyes, I sensed something off to my left and turned.

I know I’ve always been easily scared even with all the big mean looking animals I take care of, but the creature beat all that. It was huge, and armored like a insect. It thrust its claws at me and I screamed as loud as I could.

I slapped the claw away, and bolted to my feet. I heard a struggled sound behind me as I turned. But it was to late as I was already running, my heart pounding to loud in my ears to hear anything.

I ran as fast I could. I was clearly in a cave, a surprisingly well lit one too. But none of that mattered now as I ran from whatever was behind me. So I just kept running hoping the exit was this way.

Author's Note

This chapter was meant to be longer, but with how long it's been since the last chapter I decided I just needed to get this broken up and out while I figured how to refine my writing for Fluttershy in the next part.

It was originally going to be one chapter. But it was either this now and another part sometime later. Or till I was able to get in the right mood to write the rest. Sorry if any of your are disappointed.

Annoying Pest, and Coping Part 2

I had been running for what felt like hours. These tunnels just went on and on. Some of my mole friends had told me how tunnels ran all below equestria but I had no idea they were THIS big. For some reason I still wasn't tired though, my legs didn’t even hurt after running for long. Suddenly I felt a tingle in the back of my head. “You’ve run far enough. Return to me.” I knew going back wouldn’t end very well, I doubted whatever was speaking was nice. But it was still better than wondering these tunnels for days and it was almost as if something was tugging me back.

I trekked back to where I felt the voice coming from faster then I thought I could almost like something was guiding me. What I returned to was the chamber I originally ran from with the large insect and smaller ones still there. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared, but there wasn’t much I could do either.

The chamber was so quiet and tense if a pin dropped I would have heard it. After watching me for a few moments it moved towards me in a spider-like manner. “Please don’t do that.” I thought. On my little spider friends it was cute, on this thing it was downright terrifying!

To my surprise it actually stopped! Almost as if reading my mind. It continued shortly after though. As it slowly closed in on me I moved further back. But there was nowhere to go as I felt my back brush against a damp cave wall, it felt… weirder than normal, but I didn’t turn around as the big insect was just a few feet from me. I closed my eyes as it was inches from my face.

“I’m glad you’re safe. I was worried there for a moment.”

*Davara First POV*

Fluttershy looked at me slowly as it dawned on her that I was the one speaking. Though her legs were still shaking. “You… you can talk?” She asked me in a scared voice.

“Yes I can talk… well in a manner of speaking.” It was more a broad net of telepathy any in the area could hear. But she probably didn’t care for the details.

The effect of finding out I wasn’t just some mindless monster was apparent on her. The shaking stopped… or at the very least wasn’t as bad. “Where am I, and what are you!” She questioned.

“Please calm down. I know you’re confused and have questions. Don’t worry they’ll be answered.” I said holding my claws up. “First as for why you’re here. My race isn’t from this world. We were brought here by some magical accident, and are the only ones of our kind. What I’ve done I did to help my people survive.”

I feel pity from her. “Wait so you’re the reason I’m here but why!”

“I know you’re a wielder of a powerful artifact. I know this makes you something of a figurehead to Equestria.” I say in an excited voice.

“The elements… but that have to do with this! Your not evil are you!” She says in increasing panic.

“No! But as you’ve seen my species isn’t exactly… friendly looking. I’ve also seen your kind aren’t the most accepting to strange creatures. But if you would vouch for us. Then, just maybe, we would have a chance.” I told her with some sincerity.

“You’re exaggerating. I mean sure some aren’t the most inviting, but ponies are really nice I promise!” She said in an eager voice. She seemed genuine in her belief that others would be so accepting.

“Really now?” I say with sarcastic disbelief. “Ponies have never widely reacted with panic or made things up when encountering something strange. Perhaps judging others without knowing them and jumping to conclusions.”

She looked at the ground with a sheepish chuckle. “Okay maybe we can overreact…” She paused as she finally noticed the changes to her body. I felt panic rising in her, but just as soon the measures I’d put in place during her transformation kicked in. It didn’t stop her panic completely but enough to stop from overwhelming her.

“WHAT… WHAT IS THIS!” She screamed.

“I made some changes that would help you see things from our point of view.” I told her in my most soothing voice.

“It’s, it’s not permanent is it!” She looked up with fright.

“Of course not. I could change you back but it would take a lot of time.” Okay I may have been lying there. But I suppose with enough work it might be possible. Though right now the possibility was all she needed to hear.

The relief was immediate which is exactly what I needed right now. Though I couldn’t spend all my time here, there were scouts out now and I needed to sort through the information.

“Fluttershy. I know things are confusing right now. But there‘s something I need to do right now, so I’m leaving you with Abatha.” Probably not the smartest choice but screw it. “She’ll help you adjust.”

With that I made my way to the entrance of the cave to focus on the scouts. Abatha was blunt, but wouldn’t reveal anything counterproductive. Plus it would give Fluttershy sometime to adjust

I spent some time at the edge of the cave looking through the eyes of various Hoppers out in the badlands. The flora and fauna was actually quite interesting when you could find it. Massive wolves made of stone patrolled rocky outcroppings. Occasionally you’d feel vibrations from something tunneling. Some Hoppers duck and dodged as they ran past tall cliffs where large winged reptiles swooped down to try and pluck them anyway to their nest.

I was pulled to the particular vision of one as the trembling in the earth grew stronger. Suddenly the ground began to fall out from under it into a massive black sinkhole. It became quickly apparent this wasn’t a cave in though as large teeth filled its vision.

A nearby scout skidded across cracked dry earth as a massive worm burst forth from the ground devouring several scouts. Its massive body shot up from the ground slowly like a living pillar of flesh. As it reached its pinnacle it was as if a small skyscraper had sprouted from the ground. As quickly as it emerged though it left, widening the hole as it fell back into it like a whale breaching the ocean surface.

Now, that is something I could make use of especially with my upcoming attack! But I could never kill one, at least not in my current state. I didn’t like my odds of attacking what was basically a meat train… but maybe I didn’t need to kill them.

If I remember correctly worms back on earth felt their way around with vibrations, so some birds made vibrations that tricked them into coming up to the surface. I could of course be completely wrong, but! If I’m not it could be a huge help for attacking that hive. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to at least try to make something that could do it.

“My queen I believe the Infested is in a calm and reasonable state.” Suddenly came through the hivemind.

“Abatha this is actually perfect I have an idea I’d like you to create. While I work on Fluttershy and myself.” My eyes fluttered as I focused on and visualized the mental blueprint I’d made for Abatha.

“A building that creates localized vibration disturbances. The applications are interesting. If I could be allowed to upscale it in the future I could perhaps amplify the effect to create localized tremors and earthquakes.” Well… damn. I’m honestly kinda upset I didn’t think about that. I guess that’s why I have her. But at least now I could leave it in her metaphorical hands.

I made my way to where Fluttershy sat. To my surprise she was stroking a small Hopper, which let out a content purr. ‘They can purr? Wait no I’m getting distracted!’ I cleared my throat to announce my presence. “Oh!” she said looking up embarrassed. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”

“No its fine. I’m glad to see you like them.”

“Are my animal friends here?” She asked softly.

“Yes they are, but I’ve put anything that might change them on hold.” She let out a small breath of relief. Putting them on hold was probably for the best. She probably cared more if they were hurt or changed than about herself. We stood silent for a second not knowing what else to say. “Fluttershy walk with me.” I said breaking the silence.

We left the cave entrance towards a tunnel that led to a chamber which was a dead end. The chamber was illuminated by a soft green glow. The source was a large glowing pool in the center of the room, with the same color as the glow.

“What is this stuff.. Thing.” She asked looking at her reflection in a the pool of murky liquid. She was a little grossed out by the flesh surrounding it.

“We Zerg are our buildings. Don’t worry though the drones don’t feel a thing.” She was still disturbed by it. “This is something that I’ll use to change myself. You can use it too if you want.”

“Wait your going to use this!?” She said in shock looking up from the pool.

“Yes, and I know it’s asking a lot but I’d like you to watch after the hive.”

“What! I can’t do that! I don’t even know how this stuff works.” She stated between panicked breaths. I needed to calm her down before she started hyperventilating.

“Don’t worry. Abatha will watch over most of it. I just want you to make sure they” I pointed to a few Hoppers behind her. “don’t get hurt. Is that okay.”

She looked down at the Hoppers who she seemed to have a soft spot for. “Oh, okay. If you just need me to make sure they’re safe I guess I can do that.”

“Good.” I said entering the pool. “Abatha will help you with anything you need.” I say as I finish lowering myself into the pool rolling onto my back.

Through my ears the last things I hear before I drift off is. “Take care of these critters. Make sure their home is safe. Do a good job, get fixed. Go home. Simple!... I hope.” From Fluttershy, who was about to chew her fingernails before remembering they were now claws.

Author's Note

I finally found the time and inspiration to get that out, yay! Sorry if my grammar took a dive in the last paragraphs or so. I was writing that at like 3 AM.

Join us next December for the next chapter. Hopefully that's a joke.

Additionary: Davara's Zerg Strains

Author's Note

This is additionary is meant to help keep track of the various Zerg strains that Davara's brood posses at any given time and will update along side the chapters as they are released.

Additionary: Davara's Zerg Strains

Drone:
The Drone is the only original Zerg strain that Davara arrived with. Absorbed into the Zerg Swarm to serve as resource gatherers. Over time they became drones, engineered with the larvae's ability to break down their own genetic coding and transform themselves into rudimentary zerg structures. A transforming drone needs creep to provide nourishment and mass to support its new form.

Overlord:
Overlords were evolved from the Gargantis proximae, a species of giant space-faring and semi-intelligent creatures which volunteered to be assimilated in order to avoid extinction. Overlords possess a large, bulbous brain which is protected by a heavily armored weave of bone and cartilage. It is a large organ, with millions of nerves and synaptic contacts. Unlike most other zerg breeds, overlords have a greater capacity to act on their own judgement, though their mental flexibility is still severely limited. Overlords typically only relay orders. They are technically capable of directly controlling lesser zerg, but only with extreme difficulty.

Hopper, Splinter strain:
The first new Zerg Jonathan made is derived from the rabbits living at Fluttershy's they serve as his Zerglings. They have three rows of sharpened serrated teeth, Enlarged adrenal glands for aggression & to null pain. They stand around knee height. They are extremely fast with their powerful hind legs able to jump great distances. Under Davara's orders Abatha simplified their DNA, allowing for two to hatch from a single egg with an almost 70% success rate.
Splinter-
Upon further Improvement to the strain using parasprite essence. Five now hatch from a single egg much quicker then before. Also upon eating three times there weight In biomass, they will barf up a new hopper, which will grow to full size In a period of ten seconds.

Rageling:
Made from the essence of Harry the bear, the Rageling posses great strength and tough leathery skin covered by a tough insectile carapace. The Rageling is capable of flying into a rage where its strength and regeneration is greatly increased.

Watcher:
The Watcher is made from the essence of hummingbirds taken from Futtershy’s cottage. The Watcher has one large orange slitted eye in the center of its head giving it ultraviolet & thermal vision along with the ability to detect cloaked units. Its wings are insectile & has a small curved serrated beak, they serve as the detectors & scouts of The Swarm.

Pike:
Created by Paranoid an infested Pegasus that serves the Displaced Broodmother Marsara. Gained through a trade with said Displaced. Amphibian strain collected from swordfish, the fastest creatures in the ocean. Easy to create, but are fairly strong. Looks like a mutated purple swordfish with a glowing green pod on its back.

Mimic:
Mimics can take the shape of Ponies from the Pegasus race and are able to pretend to be a Pony. They've no minds of their own and serve only to be shells for stronger Zerg minds. They are meant to be used as infiltrators and suicide bombers, in twenty four hours after creation explode. Less costly than Zerglings.

Unnerver:
The Unnerver has a snake-like appearance. It can induce fear in any being outside of the Zerg’s race the ability to feel it. It is very expensive, while it also posses a more advanced mind than normal Zerg.

The Birth of a Broodmother (Edited)

You ever stop and ask yourself how what WAS supposed to be such a awesome day could go so wrong? Well that was pretty much exactly what I was asking myself about now. I stopped again, looking at the trees and bushes surrounding me to make sure some giant predator wasn’t stalking me. after a quick look and confirming I was still alone, I continued my ascent up the small mountain I had seen in the distance a quite while ago.

But to know why things were wrong, I guess we would have to start my story several hours ago i suppose.

*Several hours earlier*

I was psyched it was finally time! Comic-Con had come, I mean sure it was full of overweight sweaty nerds... Well, I can’t really call them nerds without being hypocritical now can I? and the merchandise cost way more than it should have I MEAN SERIOUSLY LIKE FORTY BUCKS JUST FOR A FUCKING T-SHIRT? JUST WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?!? OH and don’t even get me started on the unbearable heat stroke inducing heat inside one of these costumes. I feel like I could cook eggs in here.

But my moaning and bitching aside, it was MORE than made up for with what I was wearing and the compliments I was getting on it. Oh what was I wearing I hear you ask? Well, I was cosplaying a leader of the zerg a broodmother! The zerg were without a doubt one of my favorite scifi/fantasy races of ALL time! I mean I LOVE any race that mutates and adapts or evolves by eating things or growing from them. Zerg? Xenomorph? Flood? Prototype? I eat that shit up like candy!

Also I don’t mean to brag but my costume was pretty awesome. I had gotten the idea for the costume around seven months ago from a game in starcraft 2’s arcade mode, where you played a broodmother trying to create a fledgling zerg brood while you fought other broodmothers for dominance.

I pitched the idea to my friends and with them all also being zerg players, like any decent human beings, they thought that it was a great idea. They had all agreed to help me with it to make sure it got done on time and so that it was the best it could possibly be. Which brings me to the coolest thing about the costume, it was part animatronic or at least the four other legs were. My friend Dominic had a masters in engineering, he had set it up so my other legs moved when my actual legs moved. It was worth the looks on some people's faces.

But in all that time to prepare, all that time searching for materials we still couldn’t make THEM. I thought letting venom drip into my mental voice as the perfectionist in me frothed with rage.

The one piece missing from my costume, one of the coolest parts of the broodmothers and queens. The insectile dreads on the back of their heads. but my costume had none. They should have been easy, but with all the time devoted on the animatronics in the legs and blowing most of our budget just because this thing was so fucking big! I mean seriously, wearing this thing made me like seven feet tall and six feet wide.

For a hour or two I just continued around the con like this, seething in silent anger. Knowing my costume was unfinished, at least that was until something caught my eye.

Looking over I saw a man dressed like the merchant from resident evil 4 waving over to me, which wasn’t that hard to notice since I was a good two feet taller than everybody else.

I figured I might as well see what he wants and decided to walk over to him. You know looking back on it, I don’t know if I would deck him for sending wherever the fuck i am or deck myself for my own stupidity.

When i finally reached him, he looked up at me for a brief moment. “Hey there pal I can’t help but notice your costume is missing a piece.” Damn, he even had his voice down, that was commitment.

“Yeah so What.” I won’t lie, I let some anger slip into my voice since I didn’t exactly like having the one flaw of my costume pointed out.

“Woah settle down there friend. I think I have something that might interest you.” He then started walking off without another word before turning back and making a follow gesture with his hand, I decided it couldn’t hurt so i followed him.

After a while we came upon a sight that made my jaw drop. His stall was full of perfect replicas from all sorts of anime, games, comics, and movies. He seriously just left all this stuff here unattended, how did none of this stuff get stolen? Cloud’s buster sword, A vial of the blacklight virus from prototype, John-117’s helmet, the nemesis from resident evil's rocket launcher and that was just SOME of the stuff I saw. It was enough to make a true nerd like myself water at the mouth.

And then i saw them there in the center of the table. It almost brought tears to my eyes. It was the insectile dreads my costume lacked, i swear there was god rays shining down on them.

“Ah, i see you found them!” The merchant spoke before looking his next victim up and down. “I’ll tell you what since it looks like you put so much time and effort into your costume, I’ll sell them to you for just fifteen bucks!”

My heart leapt in my chest! fifteen bucks was a small price to pay to complete my costume. Without even asking a single question, I quickly slipped my hand into one of the folds I made in my costume to hold my things. Pulling out my wallet and the money i quickly handed over the cash.

In return, he handed me the dreads and I attached them to the back of my head. They even fit into the holes I made for the ones I tried to make.

Then I heard the merchant chuckling and before i could even face him everything turned to white. Next thing I know is that i’m falling, like.. really fast.

*Several minutes later*

I woke up in a small crater in a small grassy clearing with a splitting headache, but i guess falling a few hundred feet will do that to ya. I Started crawling over the edge of the crater when I realized something was off. my body felt… different. It didn’t feel wrong, but it just felt off.

I lifted up my hand and what greeted me was the two clawed hand of my broodmother costume. Except it was real.

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” What came out was even the voice of a brood mother.

Wait calm down you idiot it’s reasons like this people who get lost die! Getting a hold of myself, I calmed down and noticed a small pond nearby. Walking over to it and looking at my reflection pretty much confirmed my suspicions, looking back at me was the face of a broodmother. The only difference between the ones in game and me was instead of my eyes being orange or green was that they were blue.

Then I realized something that made me want to bounce up and down in joy. I’m a zerg I can create my own strands of zerg! I won’t lie, making my own custom zerg had always been a sort of personal dream of mine.

Which lead to a slight two sided war in my head. On one side, you have my “rational” and fearful side running around into walls screaming about how we’re going to die. On the other side of the spectrum, you have the fanboy in me screaming about how awesome it is that i’m broodmother.

Wait focus! Okay I guess I should get a bearing on my surroundings. Looking to my right i could see i small mountain in the distance, probably around a few hours away. *Sigh* I guess it’s better than nothing.

*Present Time*

*Pant* *Pant* Only one thought went across my mind WHY IS THE TOP OF THIS MOUNTAIN SO FUCKING FAAAAARRRR!!!! I had spent probably the last five hours trying to reach the peak of this mountain. I was almost there too, it was in my sight. Eventually, when i almost reached the top I collapsed and crawled the last bit of the trek for dramatic effect.

After creasing the top of the mountain and righting myself I saw a sight that made my jaw drop. It was Twilight Sparkle’s giant fucking eyesore crystal castle, Yeah i'm a brony so sue me! Though looking at it i couldn’t help but think. Are you fucking kidding me!?!?

I mean don't get me wrong, I don't hate the castle. It actually kind of grew on me, but I mean you could see this thing from MILES away, I know because I am.

Honestly? I don't know how long I just stood there on the mountain peak like a slack jawed idiot, but it was honestly all a little overwhelming. "Okay get a hold of yourself John! lets review the facts 1. Your in Equestria. 2. Your a zerg broodmother."

"Well that certainly is something... I guess. Guess this proves the multiverse theory."

I started making my way down the side of the mountain and through the trees towards what I assumed was ponyville.

After about an hours walk, I was almost to the treeline of the sleepy town. Now I know they aren't the most welcoming people. Heck during Bridle Gossip they turned Into full blown superstitious hicks. I'm just hoping all that tolerance and friendship crap actually means something.

As soon as I finished my little Inner rant I cleared the treeline. Looking around the place, It honestly look like a ghost town. As I was about to start moving forward I heard a familiar raspy voice that made my inner brony cringe.

"Hey big monster stop right there!" As soon as I heard that voice I started screaming internally. Because I knew It belonged to the most arrogant and brash person/pony to ever exist, the one and only Rainbow Dash. Looking to my right and a little up I got my first glimpse of her.

Well color me gobsmacked, what I saw actually surprised me. She was a goddamn anthro. From the looks of it she was wearing a from fitting black short sleeved shirt which exposed her midriff along with a pair of ripped blue jeans. Well I honestly was not expecting that. I guess this means that this an alternate reality, or at the very least the pony's are anthro.

It's okay, I can still smooth this over. "Lo..." Before I could even finish what I was going to say, I was hit by a quick blur of cyan fur. I felt a quick buck from what I assumed were Rainbow Dash's back hooves AND LET ME TELL You, It felt like getting hit In the face with a bucket of wet cement. If I had a nose It would definitely be broken.

I managed to get a few words in before she was able to continue her disfigurement of my face. "If I was a monster would I be able to speak!"

Right now she was crouched close to the ground in a runners stance clearly preparing for her next attack. "What Is that suppose to mean something? There are plenty of monsters that can speak, like chimeras. Not to mention you're a monster If I've ever seen one you're like seven hooves tall and look like you could crush a bear!"

"Whi..." Once again she cut me off with a flurry of kicks to the face. At this point I could definitely taste blood even though I didn't have a mouth. "Loo..." "Ple..." "I'm just trying to tal..." every time I managed to get a word out she just pummeled me In the face again and I was at the end of my fuse.

"AAARRGGGGHHHHH!!!" I had finally ran out of patience. I swung my arm at her the next time she made a go for me and got a lucky hit in. When I swung I noticed out of the corner of my eye that there seemed to be lightning following my swing. "Is It possible that I'm psionic?"

Looking at how far she flew I may have swung a bit hard. Oh well she walks off crashes daily i'm sure she'll be fine. Now that I had the opportunity I made my way for the treeline before anyone else showed up.

After clearing the treeline I decided I needed to get things In order. First I needed to avoid the elements of harmony. "Second I need to find some shelter." I mumbled as I continued walking on. The best place Is probably to find a cave In that mountain I was on.

I cast one quick glance back towards the small town. Well this will certainly be... Interesting.

Author's Note

Hey there every one this was my first attempt at ever righting a fan fic if there is something you don't like let me know, but other i just hope you enjoyed reading it.

I know what some of you are asking "why zerg of all things?" well it's simply because i feel there isn't enough stuff on here about them.

Edit: Okay so I've rewritten the end of the chapter now he actually has a reason for wanting to avoid/dislike the pony's.

Another Edit: I've got a editor now yay!

Return to tragedy and Packing up

That was draining. I thought, as I took my first steps In a while away from Fluttershy’s chrysalis. The infestation had finally reached a stage where I no longer needed to guide It. So far what I was doing was like making a blueprint for It to follow, and cushioning her mind for the change.

Now that the hard part was done I started making way towards the cave entrance. Because now I had the free time to leave the chrysalis unattended.

Using the hive mind I called five drones to my side. Exiting the cave I looked for my target a mountain near ponyville. There was only about a dozen hoppers protecting the hatchery. I had lost about another dozen due to the manticores. I severely underestimated them because the and not having seen one myself.

They were much larger than one would expect, being around the size of myself. Strong enough to crush a tree. With a tough hide to wrap it all up. I was only able to kill one after I went with a group of sixteen hoppers. Though I still lost four of them. But I was at least able to take the essence of the manticore.

I started making my way through the forest, fortunately the mountain was a shorter walk than to ponyville. Despite what the show would have you believe the forest wasn’t that dangerous… well, you know except the giant manticores. But even then they stayed in the deeper parts of the forest. The timber wolves usually avoided us, because of my size and not being able to judge the capabilities of my zerg. So my zerg were usually safe from attack, In large enough groups.

On the bright side I had actually found out something interesting, when they got brave enough to try attacking some of my drones a few days ago. The timber wolves weren’t actually controlled by spirits, like most of the fandom thought. At least on this world.

When I broke one open I found out they were actually controlled by some form of sentient mold. I was already thinking of ways I could incorporate It into the swarm. Maybe some form of zerg mold spore, you spread over a battlefield after the fighting is done to animate/Infest the armor?

But still couldn’t fix the giant blunder I had made.

*Sigh*

“My queen, you appear to be distressed is everything okay?”

“No Abatha everything's not okay. I exposed us to unnecessary danger. I panicked after hurting Rainbow Dash, and kidnapped Fluttershy to remove the threat of the elements of harmony.” I stated not bothering to use the hive mind. Letting a little bit of exasperation into my voice. “But If had stopped for a few minutes to think instead of panicking, like a moron. I would have realized that If twilight has her castle. Then they’ve already returned their elements to the tree of harmony. So now I’ve made us a larger target for no reason at all.”

After finishing my rant I realized the sound of my steps had changed. Looking down I saw I was now walking on stone. Looking up confirmed my suspicions, during my rambling I had reached the mountain.

“Here’s hoping that dragon’s hoard Is still here. Faust knows I could use some good news.”

*Rarity Third POV*

The blaring noise of the train’s horn had woken up Rarity, after she had dozed off. Letting the passengers know they were approaching Ponyville.

Rarity slowly blinked her eyes as she righted herself. Stretching and yawning. Looking across from she saw Pinkie still asleep, having fallen asleep a few hours before Rarity. Pinkie was wearing her usual ensemble of a blue t-shirt and jeans. While Rarity was wearing a fabulous purple sundress.

Rarity thought back on their trip to Manehattan. While the “Pie Sisters' Surprise Swap Day” or PSSSD, had been a hassle. Everything was resolved in the end. Pinkie had gotten her party cannon back, and Maud had taught her that It was the thought and love that went Into picking the gift that truly mattered. In the end Rarity had also found the perfect spot for her new boutique. But It had all been quite tiring.

Now her and Pinkie were on their way home to Ponyville. They would be able to finally relax and see their friends again.

After a quick look through the window, Rarity saw Ponyville was quickly approaching on the horizon.

“Well, I guess that’s the end of my beauty sleep.” Rarity leaned over, towards Pinkie before giving her a few shoves to try and wake her up. “Pinkie, wake up darling. We’ve almost reached Ponyville.”

Pinkie merely turned to her left. “Umm… get back here cupcakes…”

“Pinkie wake up!” Rarity restated adding some more umph to her shoves.

She slowly started slowly blinking while sitting up. “Ummmm… Rarity where are we?”

“We’re pulling Into Ponyville station right now.” She said while looking outside their window.

Pinkie’s eyes shot open as she stood up In the blink of an eye, before she let out an earsplitting squeal of joy that made Rarity cover her ears.

“Um, Pinkie Pie dear, It may not be In your best interest to deafen everyone from here to Canterlot. Now help me the bags.” Pinkie’s grin turned Into a sheepish smile as she tried to hide behind her mane, while making her way over to their bags. Letting out a small giggle she quickly apologized.

“Sorry. I’m just really excited to see everyone again! I can’t wait to tell them how Pie Sisters' Surprise Swap Day went!”

Stepping out of the train car Rarity turned to Pinkie. “Speaking of friends, weren't ours supposed to meet us here when we got off the train?”

“Hey! That’s right where are they!” Pinkie exclaimed looking around the station. “Something Isn’t right here.”

“Let’s take our bags back to our places then meet up at Twilight's place to see why they stood us up.” Rarity said while making her way home, before splitting up from Pinkie. After dropping her bags off at the boutique and talking to Sweetie Belle. She made her way over to Twilight’s castle to only find Pinkie waiting outside.

“Pinkie darling why are you waiting outside?”

“I looked everywhere Inside and I couldn’t find anyone so I’ve been waiting for you!” Pinkie slightly yelled. Due to this being without a doubt one of the longest times she had ever had to stand still. “I went to Applejack’s, and well I couldn’t go to Rainbow’s place because you know. But Dash Is never at her place anyway.” As Pinkie mentioned her friends she counted them of her fingers.

“Well, maybe they’re at Fluttershy’s come on.”

Following the path out of ponyville to Fluttershy’s cottage. Soon they saw the cottage In the distance, and as Rarity had guessed she could see the silhouettes of her friends In the distance, though they weren’t alone. Are those guards? Rarity and Pinkie picked up their pace. Soon they were at the cottage and could make out the details. To the right of the cottage was a carriage from Canterlot. Standing around the cottage were at least three guard In their usual white plate armor. Meanwhile Fluttershy’s cottage looked to be surrounded by police tape.

As they got within a few feet of their friends, they turned around, and for the first time realized that Rarity, and Pinkie were back. As they finished turning around Rarity and Pinkie came to a stop In front of them. “Darlings what’s all this? And why didn’t you meet us at the train station!?”

Twilight was the first to speak up. “Oh girls, I’m sorry but with everything that’s happening we couldn’t come to pick you up.”

“What exactly Is, going on?” Rarity asked hoping to finally get some answers.

“Well I don’t know how to tell you this girls, but Fluttershy, and some of her animals have gone missing.” Rarity, and Pinkie both gasped at this.

“When did this happen, we were only gone for a few days!” It was shocking to them. It wasn’t normal for ponies In Equestria to up, and disappear. Especially their friend. “Do you have any Idea what happened to her!? Do you know If she’s okay?”

Applejack took this chance to join In on the conversation. “No to both. But I'm sure she’s fine. Everyone of us can handle ourselves In a fight, and It looks like she was taken by something In the Everfree, and we all know none of the animals would ever harm Fluttershy.”

Rarity had started to worry, edging close towards panic but Applejack’s words helped calm her. She decided to ask about the next thing that caught her attention.

“Rainbow darling, why Is your arm In a cast?” Rainbow was about a foot behind twilight hovering above her In the air. Around her arm was a noticeable lime green cast.

Rainbow let out a slight huff, before speaking. “I’ll tell you what happened, so I was just going about my business, when all of a sudden this huge monster comes out of the Everfree.” Rainbow threw her good arm to the side while making a variety of motions to make the story seem more exciting than It actually was. “So no one else was around, and It was up to me to fight It off. Fortunately I was able to beat It up with my lightning fast kicks! But not before It broke my right arm. Twilight thinks that might’ve been what took Fluttershy. But there’s no way It’d ever come back here after the smackdown I put on It.” Rainbow finished, with a smug smirk a adorning her face. Applejack just rolled her eyes.

Before their conversation could continue, two detectives walked out of Fluttershy’s cottage the larger detective moving the police tape for his smaller partener so she didn’t have to duct under It like him.

The larger detective who stood a good head above all the girls expect twilight. Was smoking a cigarette, and appeared to be an earth pony male, with a fiery red mane, and orange fur. His partner was a good three heads shorter than him. She looked to be a unicorn, with a snow white mane, and gray fur. They were both wearing trench coats. The only difference being that the larger detective’s coat was brown, while his partner’s gray like her fur.

They made their way over to the group of girls. The larger detective offered his hand for a shake. As Twilight accepted the offering the detective Introduced himself. “It’s a pleasure to meet you princess. You can call me Wilde. I’m the detective that’s been put In charge of finding your friend.” Twilight’s smile turned to a slight grimace at the reminder of her title. She had thought It had finally become wide spread knowledge that she didn’t like being called by her title.

“Thank you, and please just call me Twilight.”

“Sure thing your maj-Twilight. This Is my partner Hopps, she’ll also be handling the Investigation.” He pointed over his shoulder to Hopps who just happily waved. “You’ve got nothing to worry about ma’am we’ve never failed to solve a case.”

“Now from what we can tell, something during the night came out of the Everfree, and took your friend, and some of her animals.” Rainbow just rolled her eyes. Wow thanks captain obvious. “Fortunately It appears that there are still some tracks left.” He said while pointing to several deep Impressions In the dirt, as If someone had stabbed the earth.

“You!” He pointed to Rainbow getting her attention. “I hear you’re the captain of the weather team, correct?” She just nodded In response. “Well delay the next rain for a few days.”

“I’ve sent a scroll to the guard In canterlot, requesting a group of guards, and some search dogs If lucks on our side we’ll find your friend In no time.”

“Oh thank you so much, you have no Idea how much this means to us!” Twilight shook the detective’s hand with both of hers.

Wilde just chuckled at. “No need to thank us ma’am just doing our job.”

*Davara First POV*

I had finally made It to the previous residence of the dragon. But what I found was... disappointing to say the least.

“It’s almost all gone!?” From the look of It, It’s hoard had already been pillaged. There was still a few small piles of gold, and gems scattered about. But they obviously had giant swaths taken out of them.

There were only three reasons I could think for this. 1.The most likely. Once the dragon realised It left Its treasure behind It came back for It, and It didn’t care enough to come back for these small piles. 2.Twilight told Celestia about It, and she decided to take It. 3.Random people had been taking from It.

“Well, this Is a bit of a let down.” I mentally frowned.

“My queen, there Is still enough to morph at least a dozen larva to Hoppers.”

Well then, at least this hasn’t been a total loss.

I mentally commanded the drones to gather up what they could before exiting, now that we’ve got that out of the way, we should head towards the changelings as soon as possible. I don’t feel comfortable staying In one place for this long. Now that the elements are probably going to be after me… and the entire guard.

Everything was going smoothe till I realized we were near the swamp of the Everfree. I commanded the drones to go on without me, then I sent the command for the Hoppers protecting the hive to come to me. I knew the drones would be fine, nothing short of a manticore would mess with them.

It took awhile but eventually the Hoppers showed up. We set off Into the swamp. I know It will be a long time before I have another chance to do this, so I’m going to try, and collect the essence of some of the animals here.

After about half an hour of searching I had found squat. I was beginning to wonder where all the creatures till I remembered It’s the swamp. They’re all In hiding In the water.

I remembered the fact that crocodiles hide beneath the surface of the water waiting for prey to come, and drink. I wonder. I sent one of my Hoppers to the edge of the water, and had It splash Its claws like It was about to drink.

Nothing happened for a few moments, but then suddenly a cragadile “Jumped” out of the water. Wrapping It jaws around the head of the Hopper In seconds. I could hear the crunch of It’s carapace as It gave out a shrill cry of pain, before It started to thrash, and try to pull back.

Before the cragadile could go back to the water I ordered the other Hoppers to drag It on land. All eleven bite down and started dragging out of the water. My best guess was that It didn’t see us as a threat, because It didn’t let go of the one It had In Its mouth. It’d soon realize that mistake.

With my help, we were able to flip It on Its back. Like a regular crocodile, It had a softer hide on Its stomach. Taking the chance I disemboweled It with my claws.

It died seconds after. I started collecting Its essence. The hopper that had acted as bait was dead, I felt Its death In the hivemind moments before the cragadile died. The only thing coming from It being the occasional twitch.

Once I was done gathering the essence from the cragadile I moved on to the next one since the essence was Incomplete.

As I finished harvesting the essence from the second, another of my Hoppers wandered over to the water's edge. Out of nowhere a huge spout of water shot out straight Into the air near the Hopper. Looking down on us, was a towering hydra. SHIT run!

I’d done a lot of stupid things, like kidnapping someone close to Celestia. But even I knew I couldn’t take on a hydra like this. All I had was myself, and some cannon fodder.

I sent the order, and we all started running as fast as we could me being the slowest. The hydra let out a loud roar, and started chasing us.

I looked back for a second, and I saw It slowly gaining on us. Taking the shot I fired a spine at one of Its four heads.

Like I’d expected the cut was a minor Inconvenience. However, on the bright side I found out like the hydra’s of myth they do In fact regenerate.

It had finally got close enough to where It decided to take the chance to try, and take a bite out of me. Instead It smashed Its face Into the ground. The hydra stopped, my best guess being that It felt like It was getting to far from the water.

After we rentered the forest I felt like we were safe to stop running.

“My queen, we are currently not strong enough to kill such a creature.”

“I know.” We needed something to tip the scales. I saw a small canyon back there. That could work. But we also needed some type of zerg.

As I was thinking of what I could do other than waiting for the Rageling to complete, my thoughts were Interrupted by a loud buzzing. “What Is that!?”

I looked up, and above me was something I had forgotten even existed. A small blue parasprite. I was standing under a fruit tree the parasprite was eating from. As It was about to take a bite out of an apple, the fruit fell to the ground which the parasprite followed. Of course It Ignored us, I was pretty sure these things had no sense of danger.

“That’ll do.”

“How can this creature help us?”

“Just watch.” It ate the apple that fell on the ground, and In a few seconds It looked like It started to gag. Then It spit out a fully grown red version of Itself. I could practically feel the excitement coming from Abatha, due to the Improvements we had In mind for the Hoppers.

Deciding to not waste anytime with the plan I killed the parasprites, and sent the order to the hatchery to start morphing some more drones now that the treasure was back.

*One Hour Later*

I felt stirring In the hive mind, so I knew the morphing Hoppers were finally done.

Me, and the drones looked to the cocoons the Hoppers were In as they burst forth. Four from each cocoon. They were smaller than before, so to make up for It I had Increased their muscle density. Their teeth were actually larger, AND sharper. Other then that the only other noticeable difference was their slightly larger eyes.

“My queen you let me have very little Input, what exactly did you do to them?”

“Our refinement of their first strain was sloppy. I refined It farther. Using the reproductive capabilities of the rabbit, and parasprite five now hatch from a single egg. Not only that but after devouring three times their weight In biomass they barf up another hopper.” I realized I was thinking to simple with the first strain. I rushed them, and paid the price for It. “Because of this I’ve named them, the splinter strain.”

“A fitting name.”

Now for the canyon.

*Thirty Minutes Later*

I looked at the base of the walls to the canyon I was currently standing In. Right now they were only being supported by small stone pillars. Because I had ordered my Drones to dig them away till they were near collapsing.

Everything was set, now all I had to do was wai.. ROOOOOOAAAARRRR

Hey what do you know right on time!

Looking down the canyon, I saw the same hydra from earlier chasing six Hoppers I sent to bait It. It continued till about thirty yards when I decided to spring the trap, I ordered the drones to destroy the stone pillars.

It only took the drones seconds, and even less for the hydra to be buried In rubble. Unfortunately I could feel the drones as they were crushed. There was nothing but stillness for a few minutes. Making me wonder If phase two was even necessary. But then three of Its heads burst from the rubble, the fourth apparently having died.

Okay so phase two, still necessary!

At my end, and behind the hydra I had burrowed the Hoppers. I ordered them to kill the remaining heads, and they charged In. I didn’t want to risk getting crushed so I shot my spines at them.

It occasionally crushed some of the Hoppers In Its flailing. But the splinter strain was paying off. They were reproducing faster than It could crush them. They’d keep eating It, and moments later they barf up another that grew to full size In about ten seconds.

Then I noticed the heads starting to have trouble staying up, like they were falling asleep. The next minute they crash to the ground, with a sick *whap* from all the blood they were covered In.

I’ll spare you the details but I’d got the essence from two of Its head. While my hoppers consumed It leaving me with about ninety. I’d also discovered from Its size how lucky I was because It turned out to be a juvenile.

As I entered the cave holding my hatchery with my new little army, I saw through the eyes of one the Drones that there were guards In the forest.

Fuck that Isn’t good. Looking at the cocoons holding Fluttershy, and her animals I ordered some drones to carry them. Exiting the cave I gave the last of my orders to this hatchery.

It was simple I was sending It Into a form of hibernation while leaving the Overlords, and about ten of the Hoppers. Along with all Drones that weren’t carrying cocoons. The Overlords, and Hoppers so we’d stay smaller. The Drones because their last orders before going Into hibernation was to collapse the cave entrance.

Looking at my group of about eighty Hoppers, and roughly Drones. I only hoped we could stay ahead of the guard, and make It to the badlands before them.

Author's Note

I DID IT! I FINALLY GOT ANOTHER CHAPTER OUT!!! So I'm sorry If the ending feels a little rushed, and that's because It was. I was determined to get this out TODAY!