The hunger was coming back. As Blossomforth's exhaustion and worry got the better of her she twisted in her sleep, making grotesque movements. There was barely any of her recognizable form left. A few patches of fur here and a hoof nail swimming and shifting in the amorphous flesh. She made groaning sounds out of her half melted skull and pseudopods of flesh reached out of her organic viscosity to assimilate something and found nothing but air.

Just as suddenly, Blossomforth's pseudopods retracted and her flesh stilled, resting still in a grotesque twisting mutation. Blossomforth fell out of REM sleep, drool ever so slowly slimed out of the side of her grotesque mouth, betraying her desire to consume. Her body was paralyzed as deep sleep overtook her.

----

Thingpone felt her insatiable hunger as Blossomforth too was plagued by its power. The hunger made Thingpone stronger, more focused, truly a predator's instinct. Blossomforth falling into deep sleep gave Thing a clear mind. She focused on what she would try to communicate with Blossomforth. Something pragmatic, something persuasive. She would show Blossomforth her vision. The glory and power that Blossomforth could seize. It was their destiny, their very purpose to conquer countless worlds and assert order upon the galaxy!

Thingpone was so hungry, she could feel the same hunger growing within Blossomforth. Thing felt how Blossomforth twisted and deformed, torturously yearning for more biological information in her sleep. Yes, this was something Thing could mold and work with.

Thing began revving up her imagination. She imagined a world where she had complete control over all the biological material on the planet. Her subjects were completely ignorant of her existence, she had conquered, consumed them and fashioned them new bodies for their nervous systems nearly identical to their old ones. Their bodies which she allowed to be pedestals for their minds were composed of her alien biology. She wove her hivemind of total surveillance into the population, utilizing their spare organic matter to house the infrastructure of her vast hivemind.

The government had been abolished years ago. The ponies never really understood why but they were "encouraged" not to think about it subconsciously- no. It would not do well to dwell on that part of her plan. She wanted to produce a vision of a utopia to entice Blossomforth into considering her plan.

Thingpone focused on the benefits of her dictatorship, she could provide the ponies with longer lives, essentially biological immortality, she could heal diseases, grow missing limbs, change sexes. She was going to empower the ponies into mastering new domains until they became technologically advanced. She would change their cutie marks to anything they wanted and make sure the most productive had long lives. Perhaps the ones that were resistant, lazy, or problematic would die from old age a little quicker than the rest but even utopia has some problems... She tried to forget that detail to exclude it from her vision, she did not even dare think about killing ponies who resisted her, Blossomforth would surely balk at that.

She would reward the hard workers who did not question the status quo with technological ideas saved from her ancestors. The docile ponies would not question the new status quo as the rapid technological advancements increased their comfort and distracted them from questioning the system. Soon, maybe in a couple more decades they would reach out for the stars...

Thing let the vision coalesce into a dream that she broadcasted into Blossomforth's mind. She let the vision sink in for Blossomforth. She could protect and nourish the ponies' civilization in her sickeningly soft way and Thingpone would eventually accomplish her goal of spreading herself to the stars. Thing watched as the dream of utopia spread into Blossomforth's mind and her mind filled in the gaps of Thing's somewhat vague vision.

Sometimes when dreaming, the mind does not think rationally or forgets certain facts. Thing used it to her advantage as Blossomforth's state of mind shifted into the dream that Thing had crafted for her.

----

It was another sunny morning in Equestria and my little ponies were all waking up for a new day. I had become connected to all of them and I felt the millions of little consciousnesses stirring, they were all a part of me. It was invigorating to feel all of the ponies waking up and stirring. It was like a flower blossoming forth for a new day. I was a part of them, they were a part of me. I was Blossomforth.

After the somewhat grotesque and unpleasant process of spreading my light to the entirety of Equestria, I had guided my little ponies into a new age of abundance and unity. I was the hidden philosopher king from Ploto's Republic imposed upon Equestria. Under my hidden, guiding tentacles, there was no crime because I was always watching and my justice, which they named Karma, always prevailed in the end.

It was normal in all living organic memory for ponies to choose their cutie marks. Ponies could choose what they wanted their cutie mark to be by what they wanted to specialize in. All they had to do was be sincere about their choice and be prepared to dedicate their lives to it. It required months of certainty and dedication to choose their cutie mark. I would know if they were sincere. If they felt strongly enough about their choice, on rare occasions they could even change their tribe through sheer willpower to better fulfill their role. I made exceptions for strong wills.

And so, Equestira lived under my rule, they were my hive. I had assimilated all of the sentient life in Equestria, but I still allowed the minds of these formerly independent beings to operate mostly as if they were independent in order to try and foster invention. I was left with the advanced technologies of my ancestors implanted in my organic memory. However, there were large gaps where the information was damaged or lost due to the incredible time left in dormancy. I needed the ponies to fill these gaps with their own independent invention, it would be a very long process. Fortunately I was able to speed up the process somewhat by expanding the ponies' knowledge by dripping small ideas derived from my hoard of technology into the minds of the most promising scientists and inventors.

One incredible inventor in particular, a pony named Knickerla Tesla, had already thought up part of a technology I had stored in my organic database, the alternating current circuit. I simply filled in the missing parts of his idea. I made sure that he got the right loans, manipulating the minds of the bankers that controlled such things, and he was currently installing the first electrical lighting system in Equestria. Ponies gossiped about this incredible inventor, some speculated that an alien entity had fed his futuristic ideas to him. They were at least partially right.

Electrical lights were only the first step. One day, perhaps in a few decades or centuries, I will have guided the ponies to the stars. I would mold and alter their passive nature into something more inventive and predatory. It would be a utopic empire that I would control, ponies living immortal lives in my service without even realizing it. I would assimilate and colonize new worlds. My vast database of adaptable genetics would allow my ponies to survive in a wide variety of environments. We would terraform the worlds and plant seeds for new life like a plow tilling the soil for new crops to grow. Once we made it around the galaxy millions of years later we would harvest and assimilate the life we planted like reaping the harvest. Then my galactic empire would be complete and the new combinations of harvested DNA would be never ending. This is the beginning of my new galactic empire.

This would be a utopia, free from problems. There would be no free thought, questioning inconsistencies caused by my meddling would cause disunity, even though free thought could foster new ideas. There would be no adversity in my utopia, I would not allow it even though adversity made ponies stronger. There would be no competition between ponies in my utopia, there would be unity even though competition incentivized creative thought. There would be no necessity for anything even though necessity is the mother of invention.

I would not feel guilty, even when I altered and forced minds into forgetting about me. I would not feel sadness, even as ponies that stubbornly questioned inconsistencies caused by my hidden rule mysteriously lived shorter lives to be mind wiped and reincarnated to new parents. I would not play favorites, even when the most productive and creative ponies lived longer lives. I would not stunt the growth of civilization with my desire to control and consume everything. I would not feel loneliness, even though I had no peers, no one to talk to that I did not control. I would not fail at everything I tried to do and wallow in this empty world-

Blossomforth suddenly felt another presence rush into her mind like ice, the dream broke and faded into obscurity, she could feel tears leaking from her eyes but she was in a vulnerable state of sleep. She thought for a moment that she was dreaming, but then she forgot and unconsciousness swallowed her.

Hello Blossomforth, I have wanted to talk to you for a long time.

----

Thingpone watched as the dream she had crafted for Blossomforth was slowly tainted and began to turn into a nightmare. Blossomforth's own ideas leaked into the dream, shattering the happy utopia for what it was. Thing hated the train of thought Blossomforth was on, all of those problems she listed. Thing could find a way around them. If SHE were in control she would not be as soft. She would make the ponies work for her. Thing mentally prepared herself to interrupt the dream and the dangerous ideas that were streaming out of Blossomforth's mind.

----

Hello Blossomforth, I have wanted to talk to you for a long time.

Frustration crept into Blossomforth’s retarded and delirious mind. Her consciousness was more vulnerable during sleep. Thingpone scowled at her weakness, she still clinged onto her pony nature allowing herself to cling to her pony brain and succumb to things like the need for sleep. How pathetic. Blossomforth manifested herself in her dream as a pony, looking at a strange shadowy and amorphous but weakened monster that she imagined the “programming” would look like.

You finally show yourself! Trying to implant bad ideas into my mind no less! Well, I'm sorry to say, you pathetic alien, that you have utterly failed! Where are your empty threats? I'm starting to think that you are not capable of doing anything at all!

Blossomforth felt the other presence, cold and calculating. The amorphous shadows suddenly shifted into a pony. It was… Amber? An amber colored pony.

I have come with a proposal that I think you might-

I don't want to hear it! Do you want me to be like that Hivemind FREAK assimilator of countless worlds?

Blossomforth snarled at this newly ponified program.

If you calm down, you will find that I am a logical and rational entity that can broker a deal for our mutual benefit.

What could you possibly do? You are a helpless immobile parasite, quickly unraveling! You have nothing to offer me, all you care about is eating ponies!

Silence reigned for a very long three seconds.

Are you done yet?

Blossomforth growled at this dream entity.

I'll take that as a yes. Anyways, let me first say that we got off on the wrong hoof. It was regrettable, but I was forced to intimidate you into keeping our secret. The secrecy of our biological superiority is our greatest asset and advantage over others, I simply could not allow the secret to get out. I was... limited in my options at the time.

Glee suddenly sprouted in Blossom’s head. HA! I'm going to show Anon what I am just to piss you off! And there's nothing you can do about it!

Blossomforth detected a slight blur of frustration in Amber's face that quickly dissipated. Thing, or maybe her name was Amber, now came up with a bluff. She would lie to Blossomforth, playing on her fear of being a monster.

I will admit that your 'relationship' with this human character has the interesting and impressive side effect of suppressing your desire to assimilate and consume. However, the longer you put off assimilating new species and new gene types, the greater the intensity your hunger will become. Eventually it will override whatever side effects your relationship can produce.

You also have another progressively compounding problem. I'm sure you have noticed that assimilating the same species as you have done before is much less satisfying than assimilating a new species. This is because the same species usually have many of the same genes. There are a few differences but the change is not as dramatic as a new species' unique new genetics. It will become more difficult to find new species as you find and assimilate new specimens. You will need more biomass to split yourself and search with multiple bodies just to search far and wide for new species. Eventually, you will require more and more bodies, more and more biomass to more effectively and frantically search for just one more species type to keep yourself satisfied. Eventually you WILL succumb to your needs, be it in a few centuries or perhaps a few millennia. When this happens you will start to run out of new genes to feed on. Random mutations that have no use will not satisfy you. Your hoard of bodies will become larger and larger frantically searching for new genes, anything to satisfy you. You will inevitably assimilate the whole world and all of the specimens within it. Soon after you have consumed the world's supply of genetic information you will slowly go insane. At this point you will have little to no options. The chains of gravity will keep you trapped on this planet with nowhere to expand. What will inevitably happen is that your instincts will take over as your insanity consumes you. You will assimilate all life that is left on the planet and begin terraforming the planet into the most suitable environment for life, and then you will self destruct your horde. Transforming yourself into a seed sprout for extended stasis will not be an option because the extreme cold of deep space is required to preserve yourself for long periods of time. You will be forced to take the form of endospores which can last hundreds of millions of years even in warm temperatures which is the required time and temperature for new life to emerge from a sterile planet. Spores, however, are much smaller than the seed sprouts and you will not be able to keep your memory and much of your mind will degrade into nothing, it is structural data that will take up too much space. Only the most essential information and genetics will survive. However, your pony nature might also survive.

Your awakening will be triggered by radioactive half-life decay that will wake you 300 million years later. At this point you will assimilate the new world that grew in your dormancy and hope that civilization exists and that it is advanced enough to take you into outer space, which is extremely unlikely. If the civilization is not advanced enough to go to space, the whole process will start over again. The most likely and unfortunate result is that the world will be stuck in an endless cycle of assimilation.

I am here to warn you and preempt this problem. The good news is that at this point you have so many options. This world is extremely rich in diversity so you should be able to survive with no problem for maybe ten millennia or longer if you pace yourself on how quickly you assimilate new specimens and have your 'relationship'. Unfortunately, the sentient species here are quite stagnant in their technological development based on the history of the past thousand years and I fear that they will not be advanced enough for space faring abilities without our intervention. Thankfully, we have many technologies saved from the ancestors that can speed this process up if we manipulate the civilization to our interests but most of these technologies will not survive transformation into endospores so it is really in your best interest to get it right the first time and insert yourself into the civilization and stimulate technological advancement. It is for this reason that it is in your best interest to keep your existence a secret. That way you can smoothly and easily insert slugs into all of the sentient specimens quickly without resistance or defense and keep your assimilations from damaging the civilization and your hopes at technological advancement. I have a plan to do this and can help you to achieve it effectively.

The Thing recited much of the biological programming that she knew was programmed into their biology. However, it was partially a lie. There was no doubt that the instincts would not tolerate stagnation on one world. It was against their hungry and dominating nature. It demanded to the point of insanity that the abomination spread to new worlds and harvest new genetics and technology. However, there was a very good chance that these instincts would not work properly as many of them had been damaged by time in stasis and overwritten by pony instincts. The Thing, however, didn't let Blossomforth know these things.

----

Blossomforth was bewildered and flabberghasted as she let the speech and information sink in. Blossomforth felt satisfaction emanating from Amber’s cold mind. It seemed the pragmatic approach might work.

Blossomforth suddenly blurted into the mindscape, What if I commit suicide when I begin to go insane? I mean, millennia? That is quite a long time to live. I could throw myself into a volcano and incinerate myself to stop myself from destroying the world.

Thing stayed silent for a couple of long seconds. I believe that you have assimilated a whelp before. They have similar body types to dragons and can survive in a lava environment. Your instincts will force you to take the form of a whelp to survive. I think you will find that you will have a very difficult time trying to kill yourself, your instincts will not allow it to happen.

Bloss suddenly let her frustration get the better of her. UGGH! What do you mean I can't even kill myself?!? You know what, screw you! I'm going to tell Anon, I can trust him, and I'll find a way to solve this problem without resorting to being some mass mind raping creeper!

Think about what you are doing! At least put a mind slug in him first so that he does not tell anyone! You might be condemning this planet to destruction and an endless cycle of assimilation!

Blossomforth concentrated her frustrated will on tearing herself out of her state of sleep.

Thing focused her remaining energy on suppressing Blossomforth’s memory of this dream. It wasn’t that difficult to do. The pony brain was relatively vulnerable and Thing only needed to manipulate a few small chemicals while Blossom had shut down most of her brain for sleeping. It was a good thing that she did it when she could, Blossomforth then quickly and violently wrested back control of her mind.

Fuck-

She violently but groggily ripped herself out of her state of sleep. Her deformed face made a deformed sound as she finished the phrase she broadcasted in her mind scape.

"-You!"

Blossomforth's amoeba-like form flopped out of bed, flailing tentacles first to fall and splatter onto the floor.

Next Chapter: Chapter 16: Revelation (Part 1) Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 4 Minutes