Prologue

The first of what came to be known as a rilok arrived in Equestria in a great explosion of light and fire. Metal chunks, and something more dry and organic burned as it screamed down and leveled a chunk of forest.

For almost a week nothing happened. The forest fires went out, and the lump just sat there until it rained. If you were close by, and could hear over the hollow metal sound of the rain, you might hear the first sounds coming from inside. However, eventually, as the rain pooled in the as yet undisturbed crater, a low rumbling like a tired engine emanated from the wreckage.

Something inside the ancient, pockmarked amalgamation of steel and fossils was still alive. It started to bang around inside its metal meteorite shell, forming dents until it finally found a weak point. Then the first invader from outer space burst its way onto Equestrian soil.

The creature looked haggard, almost like it was starving and dehydrated at the same time. Its muscles moved strangely, as if they hadn’t moved in far longer than the creature should have lived in the first place.

It had a long angled body with four thick but short legs that almost couldn’t be seen in the mass of bony layered scales and hair that covered its body. It seemingly had no face and no eyes, and its entire body was covered in a fungus that tangled in with its hair and stuck off its body at odd angles. The fungus had roots that were nearly indistinguishable from the creature's hair, and sticks stuck out, with bulbs on the end that resembled grey blown glass.

Its mouth was not visible from the front, being hidden underneath its body among the bone scales. Inside was a set of clearly omnivorous teeth. On either side were two clawed trunks that folded back down along its body, but right now hung limply, as if the thing were exhausted.

As it stumbled out of the wreckage awkwardly, it stopped to slurp at the mucky water in the crater. The entire creature looked worse for wear. Scales were missing, dents were apparent in others, and even the strange fungus bulbs looked oddly deflated.

The creature didn’t appear to be concerned to see some of its own fossilized and covering holes in the wreckage, nor the other bodies contained within. It only groggily acknowledged the thunderstorm above it when lightning crackled out of the sky. It ‘saw’ the lightning before the thunder even arrived without any visible eyes.

As it began to wake up, though, something was clearly different about the scales as compared to most reptiles. The scales raised up slowly at first and each one had a small spot on the tip of each. As the creature stretched them out, it became apparent that the bristling bones sticking out of its back could all be raised and lowered individually.

As it climbed out of the crater, the rilok spat out a lump of mud from its mouth in obvious distaste. Even as it did so, it seemed more aware now, prone to turning its body to face small movements. It even jumped and faced down another lightning strike from miles off, even before the sound hit.

After determining the lightning was no threat, it wandered off into the forest and began to voraciously eat anything that came into sight. If it was green, if it was alive, even if it was moving, the creature’s hunger appeared to know no limits nor restrictions.

Then as its stomach slowly filled from its swath of grazing anything, from grass to small animals, there was an urge coming into its simple mind. It needed to dig, find a place underground to lay its eggs.

Author's Note

This is the story that I will be working on in the off time between chapters of "The Last Changeling Queen" basically I can almost feel myself getting burnt out on that story and the chapters are taking longer and longer. I'm hoping that by bouncing back between this and that I will be able to put out chapters more frequently, after this has been posted I will go back to the Last Changeling Queen's next chapter.

As per usual don't post comments, I don't read comments and I will delete them. If you need to contact me send me a PM through Fimfiction.