MLP x ALIENS: Feuding Hives

The yellow-eyed guard gulped.

"Y-Your majesty," He whimpered, wings twitching nervously. The chamber echoed the changeling's fear back toward him, as he stared up at the looming figure in the darkness that had her back turned to him. Her head slowly twisted at an unnatural angle to address his presence, her eyes glowing a deep, unnerving green in the darkness.

"Make it quick, Empusa," The changeling queen muttered. "I haven't all day."

"There's been an accident with two of the scouts...One of them has passed, and I'm--"

The figure lept up into the darkness, and landed with a heavy thud in front of him, startling him. He stammered with fear at his queen.

"Well? Go on."

"The one who died...Something came out of her...A parasite...We're afraid the other has contracted this disease--"

"Then what are you waiting for?" Queen Chrysalis leered down at her guard. "Find the parasite, have the remaining scout quarantined outside the hive. If he is sick, no other subject of mine will contract this contagion."

"Yes, my queen."

And at that, Empusa hurriedly rushed out of the queen's chamber. Chrysalis walked back to her perch, her wings twitching with each thought that raced past. She sighed, her wings drooping with depression. The hive had been growing more desperate lately. Queen Chrysalis had collected some love during her invasion of Canterlot from years past to keep the hive going, but this supply was short-lived. She had been deploying scouts all over Equestria, having them collect vulnerable sources of love, with questionable results. There had been some successes, but the love collected only lasted enough for a day or two at most.

The sound of footsteps caught her attention. Empusa had returned, with Attacus in close pursuit.

"My queen, the surviving scout. Please do not worry, he is not infected."

The changeling queen turned, her glowing green eyes glaring down at Attacus in the darkness of her chamber.

"Talk, scout. What is it that killed your...Sister, was it? Ah yes, you must be Attacus."

Attacus whimpered, pausing before speaking. "W-Well, you s-see..."

"Spit it out, Attacus," Chrysalis commanded.

"It's...It's my fault..."

"WHAT?" The changeling queen's voice rose, moving her face close to his. She was close enough to see his reflection in the bumpy, compound lenses of her eyes.

"No, no, I mean...I mean...I should have helped her...She...I...Lost track of where she went...We found something out west, like, I don't know what it was...She called it a crashed spaceship..."

The changeling queen backed away, staring down at him.

"Speak no more lies," She said, pouting. "What did you find out there?"

"I don't know what it was, your majesty...It...It was like a large building...But that's where she found it, I think...She went down into a lower level and I stayed above, and when she came back she...she seemed fine, but..."

Attacus paused. He remembered back to the time they spent in the ruins, and the mural he uncovered.

"But what, Attacus?"

"She...She said she had a stomachache...So we decided to come back, and then...when we came back she..."

"That's when this parasite emerged," Queen Chrysalis stated with morbid confidence. "Is that what you're trying to say?"

Attacus nodded nervously.

"I see..." Chrysalis sighed, but nodded with understanding. "It seems you have the most knowledge about this parasite and its origin..." She slowly paced around Attacus, staring him down.

"There's something else, too, my queen..."

She paused, glaring at him. "Go on."

"T-There was a mural...In the ruins...I think it shows what happened to Andrena..."

"And what of this....Mural....leads you to believe that?"

"I think it's a life cycle of the parasite...It starts in an egg, then a crab-like creature attaches itself to your face, and implants the parasite..."

"So this creature hatches from an egg, and implants the parasite in its host. You found this egg inside of the ruins, yes?"

"I didn't find them...Andrena did...she said that there was a huge chamber...It could be filled with those eggs--"

Queen Chrysalis landed in front of him, cutting him off.

"If that is the case, we must not take any chances," She started, snagging Empusa by the scruff of his neck. "Spread this message: All further scouting missions are cancelled, and I want you and another guard patrolling the outer perimeter. And you," She continued. "These creatures threaten our very existence, and they must all be destroyed. Now go, leave me to my personal business."

Attacus trotted out, gulping nervously. Chrysalis sat down upon her perch, re-entering her deep thought. Her mind raced with horrific visions of what would become of the hive she had worked so hard to build up. She shuddered at the thought of her subjects being slaughtered. Despite her false front, Chrysalis, at the end of the day, still cared deeply about her subjects.

Out in the forest, two changeling guards trudged through the thick undergrowth.

“I’m getting tired…I don’t know why Queen Chrysalis sent us out here…” Empusa buzzed, staring at the bush he’d just accidentally wandered into. The guard in red began to speak up.

“We’re out here to find that monster--“

“I know that, Vespula,” Empusa snapped back. “It’s just…it ran in the other direction from the hive, what damage could it do to us…?” "If that scout was right," Vespula continued, "Lots. Now zip it and keep your eyes peeled."
Another five minutes passed, then ten, then twenty, and then, hours. By this point, Empusa had begun to grow very tired of this search.

“I’m about ready to give up and head home…There’s nothing out here…”

At that, he turned around, and started flying in the direction where they had come. Vespula had no choice to follow.

But he wouldn’t have to follow for long. It wasn’t even five minutes before he found Empusa…

And something infinitely worse...

”Is…Is that--”

“I think so," Empusa replied, his wings twitched at the horrific sight that lay before the pair. Then came the stench. The odor of rotting meat, a horrific miasma of death. Before them lie the scene of a crime beyond any creature’s, wildest nightmares. Thick, black resin coated the ground and the nearby trees, surrounded by large, fleshy deposits: eggs, all open.

Among the nest were the corpses of Five mares, all dead.

One was an earth pony who lay on her side with her mouth twisted in an expression of pain. Her cream-colored coat, as well as her curly, pink-streaked, dark-blue mane were stained with dried blood. Her entire lower abdomen looked as if it had been torn apart from the inside out.

Another pony, a bright turquoise unicorn, with a shorter mane, lay nearby. Her cutie mark was visible from this distance. It was a small, golden lyre, glimmering in the moonlight. She died the same way, judging by the similar gaping abdominal chasm. The lifeless corpses clutched at each other's arms, their heads leaned against each other. It seems they had died together.

The third corpse was that of a Mint-colored Pegasus, with a gaping hole in her skull, as if something had plunged into her forehead. Blood stains ran from the wound down her face, into her eyes. Out of the five cadavers, she likely died with the least amount of pain.

The fourth corpse was the most horrifying to look at. The cause of her death was undeterminable, because her entire lower body was encased in a large, ovoid cocoon, secured to a tree. The cocoon pulsed and oozed liquid around the hoof and head of the corpse, which were the only visible parts of the corpse. The pony wasn’t a unicorn, but other than that, there wasn’t much they could determine from the bloated, melted, gooey face of the deceased mare.

Without warning, the eyes of the fifth corpse shot open. She was another pegasus, with a dark purple coat color and pinkish mane. She was secured to the other side of the tree, her limbs spread out and secured tightly. It was now the pair realized something horrible about her.

What they had mistaken for a lump on the tree in the darkness, was actually the bloated, monstrously swollen abdomen of the pony in front of them. To their horror, they could see something underneath the skin...moving…

“Please…Kill m-me," The mare begged, pleading to the two changelings. “C-Celestia, it hurts…kill me…”

For once, the changelings felt bad for a pony…But as much as they wished to help her, there wasn’t much either of them could do…Vespula felt he had no other choice. He slowly walked up to her, his wings buzzing with anxiety. His twisted horn began to glow a deep blue, and for the last time, the mare in front of him closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."

There came a thick, fleshy sound as Vespula worked his magic, twisting the arteries and vertebrae in her neck to relieve the pony of her suffering…

“L-Let’s get out of here," said Empusa, clutching the tail of one of the many dead crablike creatures on the ground with his hoof.

"We’ve got to bring this back to the Queen and tell her the bad news," Empusa stammered.

"It’s multiplying…”