ExtraEquestrial

ExtraEquestrial

Twilight was not sure why she was nervous. But for Torcannas to meet them? She wasn’t sure how her parents would react to him, they had always been enthusiastic in her accomplishments. Maybe a bit too much, Twilight thought.

Even though nopony was out on the row of the large townhomes that were on this street,she felt slightly awkward standing next to Torcannas at her parent’s door, possibly more so with the six guards standing on the street behind her.

She had gotten used to the odd stare - what with being a princess and all - it only seemed odd for her to be known as a friend of an alien, and one so violent as Torcannas had shown himself to be. Even if he had used lethal force to save dozens of ponies. But Twilight had began to hear rumors that he was too dangerous; that he had unnecessarily killed zerg that had been doing nothing but searching for food, that there had been no need to kill them.

It pained Twilight when she heard these things. Unfortunately, Celestia and Luna had made any information they had learned from Torcannas to be classified, and any memory of the zerg specifically attacking ponies - like what had happened only a few days ago - to be erased. I suppose  times call for drastic measures, Twilight thought.

“For our subjects to know that one of the most dangerous races in the galaxy is being controlled by one of our recent enemies - that could induce more panic than we need, Twilight,” Celestia had explained to her when Twilight had questioned Celestia on the need for secrecy. “Believe me twilight, while some our past enemies may not be as dangerous as these monstrosities, they still have caused problems similar to this in the past. This best thing to do, my most faithful student, trust our judgement. The less that they know, the less afraid they will be.”

Twilight’s thoughts snapped back to the present as she saw the door open and reveal the faces of her parents.

“Twilight!” her parents said, almost in unison. “Honey, we’re glad to see you!” Their smiles faded for a moment as they noticed Torcannas standing next to her.

“O-oh my…” Twilight Velvet stammered slightly. “Well, Twilight, I see you brought a guest.”

Twilight nodded. “The girls couldn’t make it - they’re currently with their families, so I thought I should give you a visit, and bring along my newest friend. Torcannas - these are my parents. They-”

“Oh, Twilight,” her father butted in. “We can make introductions later.” He turned to Torcannas. “Though I’m sure you’ve heard this a thousand times by now-”

“Yes, I know.” Torcannas spoke.“You wish to thank me for risking my life to save the citizens of Ponyville” Twilight thought she heard sarcasm in the last sentence. And for him to be so rude!“Forgive me-” Torcannas began, but Twilight’s mother cut him off, this time.

“Oh, no need to apologize!” she said, smiling knowingly at Torcannas. “It’s obvious that the stress of all this fighting has gotten to you. But you’re so well known among us, that we couldn’t help but offer our gratitude for your actions,”  her mother said with a friendly smile. Torcannas said nothing as her parents led them inside, the guards outside as stoic as ever.

Everfree Forest

Chrysalis received the notification only seconds after she woke. What her zerg had found surprised her. Within a few moments, she had arrived at the discovery: an abandoned diamond dog mine - with gems aplenty. It was an even better discovery than the strange collections of harvestable gases found in the swamp not far from her location.

Chrysalis was fascinated to have found such a large deposit of minerals so close to their hive. After so much searching for a suitable pool of resources to build an army to crush Celestia, she thought she would never find it. And with all the time she had wasted not realizing that she could have simply used her mind to communicate with the zerg - she had gotten better at it - much better than when she had started, anyway.

With her newfound ability and such a large amount of resources at her feet, she would finally achieve that goal. Even if it caused so much destruction to the environment around her. She sent her commands to her zerg, and waited.

Canterlot

“Bye Dad, bye Mom,” Twilight said as she waved goodbye to her parents. The sun had reached its fullest height when Twilight stepped out the door of her family's home.  As she and Torcannas walked down the short flight of stairs to the street, the guards still in their positions saluted her and Torcannas and quickly formed two semicircles of three each on both sides of Twilight.

While Twilight was glad that they were here, she saw no reason for it. Nowadays, she rarely traveled to the city limits, and even if she did there was, yet again,  increased security; the need for guards was overdoing it, or at least in Twilight’s mind it was.

Twilight had been promised that her friends would only be checking up on their friends and family today, so she decided to go see if they were done by now. If not, she could always see her brother or the Princesses.

As they walked, Twilight remembered the question she had stored away to ask Torcannas. Well, now seemed like a better time than any other. Turning to face him, she asked, “Torcannas, when my father wanted to thank you, why did you cut him off like that? All he wanted to do was simply-”

“I understand, Twilight Sparkle. But that is the problem. Allof your kindwishes to thank me,” he said, stressing the work thank. “It had gotten extremely irritating to hear it from so many ponies wherever I roam the streets. I simply wish to not be recognized in such by such a large quantity for killing a few dozen zerg!”

“Oh. Well, ponies always appreciate help, and violence the likes of what we’ve seen over the past week hasn’t been seen in centuries!”

“I understand that, Twilight Sparkle. But it is simply wearing me thin to be awarded such high praise when what I have done is something so paltry with what others of my kind have accomplished.”

        Twilight was going to respond, but multiple voices cut her off. They had reached their destination. “Hey Twilight! Torcannas!” she heard Dash call, amid other greetings from her friends as they walked up to the double-semicircle shape that the guards had formed around them.

        As the friends exchanged pleasantries, Twilight noticed the guards turned and bowed to their right. Turning in the same direction, Twilight watched as Princess Celestia approached them, her own guards in tow.The six of them following the example of the guards, Torcannas standing, Princess Celestia finally reached the group, and motioned for them to rise. While doing so, Twilight asked, “Hello, my little ponies,” she said with a smile.

        Turning to Torcannas, “Torcannas, you must come with me at once,” she commanded. Obliging, he said farewell to Twilight and her friends, turned, and followed Celestia towards Canterlot Castle, the guards forming their ever-specific formations around them.

        Torcannas walked alongside Princess Celestia, not asking any questions, and Celestia not seeking answers. It was obvious that Celestia was formidable. If she could apparently control the sun with her magic, he wondered why she herself did not go to eradicate the zerg. But he supposed he would ask questions later, in relative safety of not being overheard.

        It was a long while before they entered through the massive gates of the castle. As they walked through the elegant yet empty hallways, Torcannas noticed that the path they were following was a familiar one: they were walking to the war room.

And, unsurprisingly, his prediction was correct. They entered the room and the faces of the three pony commanders and Luna greeted them. Torcannas took his seat across from the ponies. “Greetings to all,” Celestia began. “You all know what we are meeting here for. The ever-growing zerg problem.”

“I believe it's more than a problem, Princess,” Iona said.

Celestia glanced at her before continuing. “Be that as it may, we still need a solution. Today. By tomorrow, I want to know that our citizens are safe yet again from the menace that Chrysalis has supposedly wrought on us. The three of you, generals all, and you, Torcannas, with your knowledge of the zerg, as well as Luna and myself hope to finally end this,” as Celestia went silent, discussion erupted around the room.

Everfree Forest

Chrysalis was finally ready.

It amazed her how fast these zerg spread and multiplied. Before her was the army that she had created: more zerg than she knew the ponies would be able to handle, even if the brief glimpses through the eyes of her zerg a few days ago had been correct and they did have some kind of powerful alien it would not save them.

Spread throughout the collection of zerglings and hydralisks were the creatures that had come from the latest DNA bank - or so she understood it. The roache’s armor would undoubtedly be useful against the ponies without magic, and the mutalisks were sure to shred any pegasus to pieces.

And then, towering over them all, was the one thing that she knew that not even Celestia could defeat. It was too big to fail. The ultralisk, she knew it would be stopped by nopony and that she would finally have her victory.

With the sun overhead, she sent her orders to the zerg, and watched as they moved towards the direction of Canterlot. Where Celestia would finally fall.

Canterlot

        The sun had begun to dip below the horizon, coloring everything a lighter shade of blue from the moon’s light. After more pointless arguments than Torcannas could bear, he spoke up. “Why do neither of you Celestia, or Luna, with your so-powerful magic go and eliminate the zerg?”

        “Because we cannot,” Luna said simply.“We do not have an infinite amount of magic to draw from, Torcannas. If the zerg spread as fast as you said they do, then we would have to bring more than just the two of us to destroy it all. As well as after defeating whatever zerg Chrysalis has positioned at the main colony.”

“But still believe that you cannot intervene in any way?”

“Of course we can, and will,” Celestia responded. “When the time comes we will fight alongside you and our soldiers, Torcannas. Now, what strategies do you have for fighting the zerg strains we have yet to encounter?”

Canterlot, Outer wall

        Hawkeye had always liked being a guard. It had been his dream to wear the golden armor of the royal guard, and protect the ponies of Equestria from harm.

        Months after becoming a guard, however, he thought slightly differently. All he did was stand in place here, stand in place there, put on some kind of routine with other guards. While it wasn’t exciting, it wasn’t what he had imagined, either.

        Now that they were in a war with some extremely deadly alien race, he was finally living his dream - in a place he’d rather not be.

        While the view from the outer wall was pretty, it didn’t make up for the fact there was nothing to do there. He thought he had once seen some bloodstains on the floor below them, but he dismissed it; none of the other ponies seemed to notice. But then again, it was his talent to see things nopony noticed. It was why he had become a lookout.

        As he watched over the plains in front of him, the moonlight making everything a dull blue-gray, he thought he saw something by the slope that led access to the main road. He rubbed his eyes, then looked again. No, it was not lack of sleep, but it was actually something real. He called the other guards over; they were as tired as he was, with sleep cut short for extra watchponies.

He pointed in the direction of the disturbance, but his hoof dropped as he saw what he had seen before was now a massive amount of what he supposed were zerg. And they were heading right for the main gate. Alerted, the pegasi took off to warn the Princesses and guards, as the others blew into alarm horns or readied themselves for battle.

Hawkeye gulped - this was going to be something, all right.

Canterlot

Torcannas was frustrated - he could see they were making little progress, and the constant outbursts from all the ponies in the room were not helping-

        The arguments and discussions stopped as a distant sound rang throughout the room. A guard burst through the door. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, the zerg are attacking with a larger force than what we’ve ever seen before.”

        Celestia looked around the room. “It is time,” she said. Turning to the guard, she asked, “are the soldiers prepared?”

        “Yes,” the guard responded. “They are already positioned at the main gate, the zerg have almost reached us.”

        “And the Elements of Harmony?” Celestia asked

        “They are prepared in the need arises for them to participate, Princess.”

        “Very well. You all know what you must do,” Celestia said. And with that, the ponies rose and sprinted out of the room. Torcannas followed moments later, easily catching up with the ponies, and racing toward the balcony where he had landed his vessel.

Reaching it in moments, he opened the cockpit, became airborne, and took off at full speed to the main gate, where the fate of these ponies, and his newfound friends hung in the balance.