ExtraEquestrial

ExtraEquestrial

Torcannas had been told that the city that he was currently in was one of the oldest in the entire country. Over the better part of half a day, he had been wandering through it, alone, as his new found "friends" were busy with other matters. Compared to the cities of his kind, this -supposedly grand- city faltered much in that regard. Ignoring the city, he was surprised at how the populous reacted to him. Rather than, when he had first been among them, they had been showing a large amount of awe and as well, fear, they now seemed to have heard tell of him and his deeds, for they no longer seemed to be as afraid of him. On the contrary, many came up to him to thank him for what he had done in... Ponyville, was the name. He hardly thought that a deed of such repeated thanks -he had started to become slightly annoyed with it, by now.

By the end of his exploration, he found himself at what he supposed was the main entrance to the city. It had obviously been built during times of strife, thick and tall and obviously designed to withstand attacks. As he walked up to the large gates, ponies making way for him, he noticed a group of ten soldiers spread out upon the battlements of the wall. "Princess Celestia must have increased their numbers," he thought to himself. As he made it to the entrance to the city, the amount of ponies began to decline, and the sun had set, giving way to a starry sky.

As he turned to head back to the castle, he noticed a movement on the dark, unlit road that led to the city, that could not have belonged to a pony. Torcannas knew it would be hard to see for the guards, but he knew what it was, or rather what they were -zerg. He walked inside the city and looked up at the guards stationed on the walls. "You must come down -I believe zerg are approaching the city ," he said to the group of soldiers.

"Are you sure, sir? I don't see anything over there," one of the soldiers replied. Then followed a slicing sound and a scream from one of the guards. After that eight soldiers descended the wall and ran to Torcannas. As they did, ten zerglings and ten hydralisks ran and slithered, respectively, to a stop at the entrance to the city, the gates behind them. As the few civilians that had remained there fled, one of the guards spoke. "What do we do?" the guard asked. "You've fought these things before, right? How do you kill them?"

"The small creature are zerglings, do not let them overwhelm you. The larger threats are tall hydralisks, they will launch projectiles -

"We saw," said another soldier. "One of them attacked us from the ground. It injured one of us, another stayed with him." As they spoke, the zerg remained still.

"Strange activity for zerg," Torcannas observed to himself. As soon as he had thought that, the zerg began advancing.

"Do you need a weapon?" one of the guards asked Torcannas. In answer, he raised his arms and summoned two psi-blades. The guards' eyes widened at the sight. "Wish I could do that," he said.

"You will not be able to dodge the hydralisk's spines, block them with your armor, Torcannas said as he ran forward. He heard the guards follow him. Three zerglings ran at him and two hydralisks followed suit. Torcannas slew the zerglings easily, and rolled to avoid some of the spines launched at him, and raised his blades to his head. The spines that hit were disintegrated by them. He swiftly stood and, leaping at the nearest hydralisk, decapitated it, his blades passing through it easily. He ducked as the second hydralisk swung its claws at him. He lunged forward and stabbed it in the neck, his blade sticking out the other side.

He turned to see where the other zerg and soldiers were. He saw six zerglings and three hydralisks dead. Likewise he saw one soldier dead, and another was sprawled on the ground, wounded, but apparently alive. The remaining guards and zerg were fighting viciously, but he noticed that there were mistakes that the zerg made, as if they were being controlled -and by a incapable leader, at that. He ran forward to aid the remaining guards. Two were fighting a zergling and two hydralisks. He swiftly killed the zergling, then turned and dispatched one of the hydralisks. The soldiers finally killed the remaining hydralisk.

The soldiers thanked him for the assist. He looked away, and saw that the remaining four guards had killed most of the zerg. Torcannas saw the last of the zerg moving for him; four hydralisks. He saw the guards start to run forward to help him. He charged at the hydralisks, and as the fired the spikes, he dropped down and slid up to the hydralisks. Two swung at him with their tails and claws, but he dodged and sliced, and efficiently killed them. The remaining two zerg fell swiftly after. The guards had reached him by now, and one of them ran up to the wall and the other went to the injured one lying on the ground. One of the soldiers turned to Torcannas. "You sure can fight... those things were terrifying. You've fought them before?"

"Yes, unfortunately, I have, many times," Torcannas replied. It was then that a large group of guards entered the plaza where the gate was located. From the group of soldiers, came Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, and Twilight Sparkle.

"What happened?" Celestia asked. Next to her, Twilight Sparkle stood with her mouth agape at the disturbing scene before her.

"We were attacked by a group of zerg, if that is not obvious enough!" Torcannas said.

"How many were there?" Shining asked them.

"I counted twenty, sir," one of the soldiers who had fought said. "Mr. Torcannas here most likely saved all of us here. We do have two who were injured during the fighting, however... and one dead," he added gravely.

"How... how did they come all the way here?" Twilight asked, looking specifically at Torcannas.

"Of that, I am not sure. I do have a few speculations. I will have to ask later."

"I suppose we all have questions to ask, Torcannas," Princess Celestia said. They called in ponies to deal with the cleaning, as well as keeping the public away from the area, and they retreated back to the castle.

An hour later, Twilight, the princesses, the three generals, and Torcannas met in the war room.

"So... let's start at the begging, shall we?" Celestia asked Torcannas. "Please describe exactly what happened. We know you had chosen to wander about the city while we were preforming our duties, so please start after that." Torcannas spoke of his battle, explaining everything from his arrival at the gates, to the first strike, to the actual battle, sparring no details. After he finished, he looked at Twilight, then Celestia.

"What I found strange, Princess Celestia was that the zerg made certain... mistakes and they behaved unlike even feral zerg. And as well, the zerg are too far away to happen upon by accident. I believe they are being controlled ."

"You're saying that these creatures have gotten something to lead them,now?" General Stronghoof asked.

"Yes... but I do not think that it is zerg."

"How are the zerg controlled, Torcannas?" Iona asked him.

"Through a psionic mental link."

Princess Celestia's eyes widened. "I... I think I know who is behind this. But I have to be sure," she turned to Twilight. "You've done research on Changelings before, haven't you, Twilight?"

"Yes... you think it's her?"

"I believe so, yes."

"Who do you think it, Princess?" Iona asked. "Do you think it is the Changeling queen?"

"Yes, I think it is."

"Who is this "Changeling Queen", Celestia? Torcannas questioned.

"She leads a race of creatures called changelings, who can replicate anypony they choose. From the limited knowledge we have of them, we know that they are led by their queen through mental communication. It could be possible that she has found this zerg colony and taken control over it. She attempted to take over Canterlot a short time ago, and it seems she will try to do that again, but this time it seems she has a new weapon against us."

"A weapon, yes, but it seems she still has yet to master using it," Torcannas said.

"Then let us hope that this fact can be the cause of her defeat."

Chrysalis was surprised. She hadn't expected her force to be defeated so easily. It seemed that while these zerg had strength in numbers, she still hadn't expected that to happen. That golden creature had been terribly strong. It seems that she would have to work hard on killing it if she was to win. Nevertheless, she still had to improve on her controlling of the zerg.

The current resource locations had recently been depleted. She would have to search for more, and the task was daunting, to say the least. She did not want to start destroying the forest to obtain the resources, but if it came to that, then she would. She ordered a few overloads to scout for them. She would also send drones to search caves and such for mineral deposits. It would be difficult, but she could manage. Once she had them, she wanted to see what strains were in this swarm. The "ultralisk" sounded very interesting.