POV: Simon
I watched as Princess Celestia and fifteen Equestrian soldiers neared the edge of my base alongside Drone four and twenty-five of my Zerglings. I saw that a third of her soldiers were either almost too young or too old to be in the military.

"This must be a side effect of their war..." I said to myself as another bullet emerged from my rapidly healing body. "I really should've invested more in giving myself some Carapace armor, those nine-millimeter rounds hurt."

The skirmish that took place several hours ago saw me take over a dozen hits from those accursed Gryphon AP5 SMGs, which essentially destroyed my suit's cloaking device, something I wanted to be able to utilize in an event where I am forced to use stealth instead of raw strength.

"Good day, Equestrians." I said while dispersing my Zerglings and ordering them back into defensive positions. "I am Simon, leader of the Zerg brood you see before you."

"Hello Simon, I have heard many things about you and your Zerg." Princess Celestia replied before noticing the Creep that covered the ground around my base. "Is this the 'creep' that your drone has told me about?"

"HOW MUCH DID YOU TELL HER?!" I shouted at Drone four over the hivemind, causing the worker to recoil in shock before I recomposed myself enough to answer Celestia's question. "Yes, it is."

"I have informed the princess of every aspect of the Zerg swarm necessary for her to understand our strength." The drone replied as it floated over to me. "However, I have not granted her any insight on how to counter our forces."

"You know, some might consider it rude for somebody to communicate over hivemind without informing them beforehand." Princess Celestia interrupted as her soldiers inspected the purple flesh on the ground.

"Don't worry about the creep, I've designated you all as friendly, so it won't impede your movement." I said, before turning to the Alicorn. "I do not care for pleasantries, I just want to get this over with, either through peaceful means or through violent ones."

As I finished speaking, Celestia put her hand on the hilt of her sword while her troops raised their guns, only to hesitate when every Zergling in my army emerged from the ground around them, something I had organized as the group approached and was still preoccupied.

"I requested for you to come with my drone." I said to Celestia as I walked towards the surrounded ponies. "Yet you insisted on bringing your warriors with you, so I did the same."

"Stay away from her!" One of the soldiers shouted as I neared the Princess, but I ignored her even when she pointed what appeared to be an M14 battle rifle at me.

"I have no intention of harming anyone, I just want to talk with your princess." I said before drawing on my psionic power. "Alone."

The soldiers and even Princess Celestia herself were surprised my display of psionic ability, as most of the former backed away from me, while the latter flinched ever so slightly.

"If you don't want to lose any of your precious little ponies, I suggest you come with me." I told Celestia before another report came in, this time from one of the many drones mining minerals. "Excuse me."

"The Hatchery's evolution to Lair is complete." The random drone informed me before returning to its work.

"Drone twenty-two, stop collecting Vespene Gas and morph into a Hydralisk Den immediately." I ordered before returning my attention to the Princess. "My brood grows as we speak, I would suggest we talk before I begin fielding my newest units."

"My lord, permission to speak freely?" Drone four asked out loud.

"Permission granted." I replied, curious as to what my sentient companion wanted.

"Might I suggest that we allow one of the Princess's soldiers accompany her?" The Drone continued before giving me its intentions via hivemind. "This will help the Princess relax and allow us to communicate more effectively."

"Fine." I answered the drone out loud before returning my focus to Celestia. "What do you say Princess? This arrangement is something that I can agree to."

"Lieutenant Scorcher, would you kindly join us in our discussion?" Celestia asked the soldier pointing the M14 at me.

"If it means I get to keep this... thing from harming you, I would do so gladly." The soldier replied before lowering her M14 before turning back to me. "Just know I'll be watching you."

POV: Sol Scorcher
"If you say so." The creature that calls itself 'Simon' replied before walking deeper into the monster-infested nest alongside the 'Drone'. "Come, we'll discuss things in the lair."

"Follow me, Equestrians." The Drone then gestured for us to follow them.

"I don't trust them." I whispered to the Princess as we walked through the collection of living structures. "They attack Princess Twilight then seek to establish diplomatic relations? Something's not right here..."

"If you don't trust them, then trust me." The Princess replied before we noticed the large building-sized cocoon that was growing. "That must be was what he meant by 'his brood grows as we speak'."

"This drone is mutating its body into a Hydralisk Den." Simon said when he noticed we stopped. "The structure will allow me to strengthen my army against air units by granting me the ability to grow Hydralisks."

"What's a Hydralisk?" I asked before remembered who I was talking to, but it was already to late.

"Hydralisks are the backbone units of the Zerg swarm, serpentine beasts equipped with two arms that end in scythe-like claws and possess the ability to fire poisonous spines at high speed." Simon answered as he ran his hand over the exterior of the cocoon. "But enough explanations for now, come on."

As we neared the largest structure in the nest, we noticed that multiple other drones were working at bringing different things into the building, with some holding large gems while others carried what appeared to be egg-like objects.

"Do not bother with these drones, they're vastly different from number four here." Simon said as he gestured to the drone that made contact with us. "They aren't as smart and can't talk normally, so I just have them gather resources and build structures."

As soon as he finished speaking, the 'door' (if you could even call it one) to the structure opened and the four of us went inside.

What I expected the interior to be was a damp, gross, interior made of flesh, bone, and blood; but what we saw was both surprising and confusing.

The immediate inside resembled the living room of an average Canterlot house, constructed of stone, wood, and metal; a vast departure from the exterior of flesh and bone.

"Do you like it? I had my drones construct this within the Lair while it was still a Hatchery." Simon asked as he sat on a chair. "I originally made it so I had a reminder of my first home, but I suppose it can work as conference room as well."

"First home?" Princess Celestia asked as she took a good look around.

"I wasn't always an infested Terran, I once had a house much like this one and lived a life much different from the one I live now." He answered before gesturing for us to sit down. "I made these chairs myself, so I can assure you they aren't made from anything disgusting."

"So, where shall we begin?" The drone asked as the two of us sat down.

POV: Simon
Two hours later...
"Finally! They're gone!" I thought to myself as I watched Celestia and her forces leave with Drone four. "Drone four, remember what I told you."

"Yes my lord." The Drone replied via hivemind. "I shall complete your mission as soon as possible."

After two hours of 'negotiations' I had finally gotten rid of the Equestrian force breathing down my neck. The catch was that I would now have a diplomat sent by the Equestrians watching over me for the time being.

At least I could do the same, if not more, with my ambassador drone since I could literally see, hear, and communicate through it.

"I wonder who the Equestrians will send to observe us..." I thought out loud before I went back to building my forces, starting with growing more drones and overlords to gather more material and provide control over my coming army respectively.

POV: Princess Luna
Three Days Later...
"Sister! What were you thinking?!" I exclaimed after my sister explained what had transpired during her expedition. "Allying ourselves with the creatures that harmed your student?! Have you gone mad?!"

"I understand what you're saying, but they were the ones who wanted to talk." She replied calmly before taking a sip of her tea. "I will not deny someone the chance to redeem themselves from their mistakes, like I did for you, sister."

"I see." I said with barely concealed fury, since she had just brought up my 'Nightmare years' infront of the ambassador, who was just floating around the nearby gardens. "And where will we house the ambassador? I doubt he will fit in one of the guest quarters."

"I do not require such wasteful living quarters, Princess of the Moon." The 'Drone' answered from outside before pointing to an empty patch of land that was being prepared to house a rose bush. "All I require is some land and this."

The ambassador then revealed a small glob of living flesh from within its wings and placed it onto the barren ground, the flesh immediately rooting itself and spreading until it completely covered the barren soil.

"What was that?" I asked my sister, who watched the entire process unfold without a change in her expression.

"That was a Creep Tumor, your highness." The Drone answered before laying down on the flesh. "It creates Creep, a substance us Zerg use as both food and housing."

"They also seem to use creep as a foundation of sorts for their buildings." Celly explained further before finishing her tea. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to catch up on how the war is going."

"Finally, she's gone." The drone suddenly spoke with a voice not that was not its own as its eyes began to glow a brilliant yellow. "I wanted to speak with you alone, Princess Luna."

"Who are you?!" I asked the now-possessed drone as I flew over towards it, my magic ready to disintegrate the creature before me. "And what have you done to my sister?!"

"Same thing that I will do to you... Your highness." I suddenly felt as if my head was being crushed as I was brought to my knees by some kind of powerful spell.

I wanted to scream for help, but my mouth didn't move. I told myself to stand up and run, but my legs refused to listen. I tried to call upon my magic, but it felt like it was just out of my reach.

As darkness began to obscure my vision, I tried everything to escape or counter whatever spell the creature was casting, only for my body to not respond to my commands or for my magic to ignore my pleas.

"Why are you doing this?" I finally managed to say as I felt my eyelids grow heavy.

"I care not for alliances or treaties with your kind, but until my brood has grown strong enough to survive on its own..." The drone then took out a small insect-like creature from inside its body and placed it on my shoulder. "I have to use you to defend it for me."

As the insect began to crawl up my neck and towards my open mouth, the last of my consciousness slipped away and I was forced into a dreamless slumber...

POV: Simon
I watched through my drone as the Advanced Neural Parasite I had developed made its way inside the Lunar Princess. While it would not allow me complete control over her, it should make it that I can influence her decisions in a similar manner to what I did to Celestia and the soldier Sol Scorcher.

"Infestation complete, my lord." Drone four said as I felt Princess Luna's presence within the hivemind.

"Good, now keep a low profile and do your best to keep what has just happened a secret." I ordered my drone as I woke Princess Luna up, giving her minor amnesia before letting her continue on for now.

Now I have two Princesses unknowingly working towards my goals of consuming this world in an endless swarm of tooth and blade...

Author's Note

I was reading the AMAZING story ‘Guardian of the Swarm’ and was so sad that it wasn’t completed. So I decided to take a similar route with this story.

If you want to see a peaceful Zerg story, leave a comment and I will make a version of this where the Ponies and Zerg actually work together.