Specter Swarm

POV: Simon
It was an exciting and terrifying day for me. After months of planning and preparation, I'm finally here at BlizzCon in person, wearing a cosplay of the standard male Terran Ghost from the StarCraft Franchise.

I was excited because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, since I don't live in the US and saving the money necessary as well as getting the Visa is something I will never do again.

But I was also terrified because I have heard many rumors centered around people disappearing in conventions like this one, each one ending the same way, with the person involved never being seen again.

Despite the irrational fear lingering at the back of my mind, I made sure that my homemade HES (Hostile Environment Suit), body armor, and helmet were all on properly before heading off to the Con.

Several hours later...
"So, you don't have the rifle?" One guy asked me as the two of us took a picture together.

"Sadly, no." I answered him. "I'm from out-of-town and they didn't allow my prop through my country's airport security."

"Damn, it would've completed the look." He said before thanking me and disappearing into crowds.

"Hey, you." I heard someone call out to me, somehow hearing him over the noise of the convention. "Come here."

I turned towards the source and found an unmarked stand selling multiple props and other Blizzard-related trinkets. The one selling all of these things wore a costume resembling the merchant from the Resident Evil series, which I found out of place compared to the rest of BlizzCon.

"What do you want?" I asked the merchant, who constantly appeared in the disappearance rumors, a fact that I ignored in favor of looking through his various wares.

"It is not what I want, but what you desire." He answered cryptically, in a way that reminded me of Xur from the Destiny games.

"Whatever." I replied before my eyes landed on a one-to-one scale replica of the C-10 Mk. VI Canister Rifle, the standard issue weapon of the StarCraft Ghost. "How much for the rifle?"

"The C-10 costs one hundred and fifty bucks." He answered, which shocked me since I could probably 3D print for two-thirds the price.

"That's too much, could you do one hundred?" I asked, knowing full well I will probably end up buying it for an extra twenty-five dollars.

"One hundred and twenty five, final offer." The Merchant replied, confirming my prediction before pulling out a box from... somewhere. "I'll even throw in a trinket of your choice for free."

"Let me see the options before I make my decision." I said as he opened the box, revealing nine different StarCraft-themed accessories, three rings, three necklaces/pendants, and three bracelets; each one of the three representing one of the three playable races. "I would probably take the Zerg ring."

"You're a Zerg fan?" I nodded as he placed the rifle and ring on the (somehow) now empty table. "Anyway, do we have a deal?"

"Fine, deal." I said as I payed the Merchant before picking up the rifle and putting on the ring.

"See you on the other side..." I looked up and was about to ask what he meant, only to black out as soon as I made eye contact with him.

POV: Simon
"Ow, my head." I said to myself as I regained consciousness in what appeared to be a forest clearing.

"My lord, are you alright?" I ~~heard~~? No. ~~Thought~~? No. Felt? Yeah, that's seems correct. I felt someone ask me as I stood up before noticing that my C-10 rifle was by my feet.

"Yes Drone, I'm fine." I said as I picked up my rifle and waved off the Drone... Wait, what?

I turned around and found myself face-to-face with not one, but four Zerg Drones, each one looking at me with what I could only describe as worried expressions.

But instead of being terrified by the fact that there were four large alien creatures right in front of me, I actually felt calmed by their presence.

I had read enough Isekai manga and watched enough Anime to know the basics of what's going on. So I decided to just go with the flow of things and finally live out a small fantasy of mine, which was to watch a world burn before me (yes I'm a psychopath, I've known that I was since the age of ten).

"What's going on?" I reflexively asked the Drone while I inspected my new canister rifle, which seemed to now be a fully functional copy of the fictional weapon.

"We do not know, my lord. We seem to have been separated from the rest of the Swarm, however." The Drone replied over what I assumed was the Zerg hivemind. "Orders, my lord?"

"Follow me for now." I said as I scanned the treetops for any sort of reference point. Finding none, I decided to just travel in one direction until I found something of note.

POV: Princess Twilight Sparkle
I could have sworn that I felt some new kind of magic emanating from the Everfree earlier, but I just couldn't put my hoof on it. So I made the decision to journey into the wild forest in order to find what this new magic is and see who was wielding it.

But after almost nine hours of searching, I was no closer to discovering the source of the magical energies I felt.

"Maybe I should have brought the girls along..." I said to myself as the sun began to set over the horizon, only to remember that Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity were busy providing combat training, food, and uniforms respectively to the Equestrian Military while Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were busy with refugee aid.

"Really? I'm a near-perfect hybridization of Terran and Zerg genetics?" I heard a voice say from the bushes to my right. "I'm guessing that the imperfections come from my appearance, don't they?"

After the voice asked that question, I felt that strange magic once more, this time much stronger than earlier. I then deduced that the source of the magic came from whatever the voice was speaking to.

"Well, it's getting dark, let's stop for now..." The voice then paused as I began to walk closer, causing me to freeze in place. "And say hello to our new friend."

"Buck." I thought to myself as several glowing eyes then pierced through the shadows and stared me down, with the coming night making it seem like there were dozens of creatures hidden in the trees. "H-hello?"

"Well I'll be, it's Princess Twilight Sparkle!" I heard the voice say as a lightly armored bipedal figure revealed itself from trees, only for several shrieks and roars to seemingly echo throughout the forest. "Stand down! I'm fine!"

"Who are you?" I asked as I took a step closer, only to freeze once more when I noticed that the figure was armed with some kind of scoped assault rifle.

"Greetings, my name's-" The figure suddenly stopped and turned its head to look back into the forest behind it. "Shit, we've got incoming."

"What do you mean?" I asked, only for him to raise his rifle and fire several rounds into the forest moments before all Tartarus broke loose.

Four massive creatures over twice my size charged out of the forest in front of me and took defensive positions to the left and right of the figure before a squad of six Gryphon Special Forces soldiers appeared, appearing to give chase to the four creatures.

"FOR THE SWARM!" The figure let out a battle cry as he fired his weapon into the now-surprised Gryphons, with the two closest ones being unable to evade the incoming fire.

I could only watch in horror as the first Gryphon was hit in the head, which exploded in a shower of blood and brain matter, killing him instantly. The other was hit two times in the chest and once in his left wing, the latter of which was blown clean off by the sheer power of the bullets being fired from the figure's rifle.

The rest quickly recovered from their shock and began firing their Submachine guns at the figure, only for one of the massive creatures to jump in between them and shield the figure from harm.

As soon as the four remaining Gryphons had to reload, the creature that acted as a shield charged the enemy soldiers, using its large claws to grab and tear a Gryphon in half before the last three enemy soldiers took to the air in an attempt to avoid the creature.

"Oh no you don't!" The figure said as he fired at the now retreating trio, clipping the wing of one and taking out another before the last one escaped into the darkness. "Drone three, retrieve the enemy soldier who lost his wing."

I only recovered from my shock when I felt the strange magic again, which seemed to be emanating from the four creatures the figure calls 'drones'. One of these 'drones' then went off into the forest in the direction of the wounded Gryphon.

"Sorry about that, but those Gryphons were harassing my drones." The figure said as he looked over the 'drone' that became a living shield. "Little-to-no damage, you'll be fine."

The 'drone' then nodded and went over the other two and just stayed there, seemingly doing nothing to entertain or keep itself occupied.

"Now let's try that again, greetings, my name's Simon." He said as he offered his hand to me. "I already know who you are, so there is no need to introduce yourself."

"What are those things?" I asked Simon as I hesitantly shook his hand before pointing at one of the 'drones'.

"Those are my Drones, the worker units of the Zerg Swarm." Simon answered as he slung his rifle over his shoulder. "They are used to harvest materials and create the structures necessary for a Brood to survive."

"But enough about me for now, what's going on with those Gryphons? Why were they armed and this deep in Equestrian territory?" Simon then asked me before the drone that had left returned with a badly injured Gryphon. "Excuse me for a moment."

Despite not possessing a horn, Simon seemed to be able to use some form of magic since the Gryphon's eyes began to glow bright yellow moments before he succumbed to his injuries.

"Never mind with those earlier questions, I got all I needed to know from Corporal Longclaw here." He said before turning to the drone still holding the now-lifeless Gryphon. "Consume, process, and store."

"Wait!" I shouted as the drone began to eat the dead Gryphon. "What's it doing?!"

"Simple extraction and storage of essence." Simon explained as Drone completely devoured the Gryphon corpse. "The Zerg Swarm requires the essence of living creatures to grow and spread, without a hatchery to store the essence, I will just have the drone carry it until one can be built."

"Now if you will excuse me once again..." He said before I was wracked with immense pain. "I must go and build my army, something I cannot do while you are here."

The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was one of the drones closing in on me.

POV: Simon
"My lord, why must we spare that creature?" Drone four asked me as drone one carried Twilight off to the edge of ponyville, which lay to the northwest of our current location. "It would have been more efficient to consume it and harvest its essence, would it not?"

"And since when do Drones give out orders?" I asked as I psionically strangled the Drone's mind, only to release my grip mere moments before it died. "Do not ever question my judgement again."

"Yes, my lord..." The Drone replied with new sense of respect for my power, something I had spent the entire day learning how to control. Even though most of it felt like I had used it my entire life, I was seemingly unable to use any abilities more powerful than the one I called 'psychic strangle'.

"Task complete." Drone one contacted me through the hivemind before I gave it orders to return. "For the swarm!"

"Why does drone one act like the in-game drone while drone four seems to be sentient?" I silently asked myself as I watched drone one begin to make the return trip through it own eyes before turning to address the other three drones. "Once drone one returns, we'll head south and establish a base somewhere in the mountains, that should allow us to build our forces in relative peace until we're ready for battle."

"And once we've amassed a proper army..." I smiled as a Manticore finally decided to make itself known, foolishly thinking I would be an easy target. "We will show this world the full might of the Swarm!"