An Empress in Queen's Hooves
A
My Little Pony and World of Warcraft
Crossover
AN EMPRESS IN QUEEN'S HOOVES
"I... Have... Failed..."
Those were the last words Shek'zeer said. She was the Grand Empress of the mighty empire of the Mantid, a race of insectoid warriors with only one thing in mind: Global take-over.
Even the Mogu, the old rulers of Pandaria, showed fear towards her kind. A fear so great that they had to build a large wall to keep the them at bay. But the Mantid were not dumb, they were different than mere 'insects'. Every hundred years they would siege the wall and try to break it, paving their way to conquer the land and cover it in a hull of amber.
Yet, after thousands of years, their empire found no victory. The protectors of the wall, the Pandaren warriors of the Shado-Pan, caused more losses to the Mantid ranks than they could inflict scratches on the wall's granite.
Shek'zeer was but a larva when the Klaxxi, the elders of the Mantid, chose her as the new empress. From a young age she ruled the empire and from a young age she would lead them into battle, for the time to siege the wall again drew near. Her young mind couldn't bear it, she was afraid to lead the siege. She was afraid to fail like the empresses and emperors before her, she was afraid to fail her people and the Klaxxi. Little did she know that her fear would draw the attention of an ancient power.
One day, she was greeted by a monstrous being. One that called himself an envoy of Y'Shaarj, the elder god her kind worshiped, and offered to help her overcome her fear by lending her his power.
She accepted and the creature became one with the empress, unbeknownst that her decision would be the key to her downfall.
The young empress made a move none of her predecessors would dare to do, starting the siege earlier than planned. A decade before the initial attack, she ordered the new generation of soldiers to be hatched and to be infused with the energy of Y'Shaarj's envoy to compensate the lack of strength they would have if they were awakened later.
Her move would prove fruitful, for the Pandaren were taken by surprise and the overgrown forces took down the wall. Her victory was imminent.
But the Klaxxi were shocked. To them, Shek'zeer was leading the proud race into ruin and after a long debate they came to a mournful decision. Their empress would be deposed, with death.
The Klaxxi sought help from the Pandaren and warmongering forces that were foreign to the land. They helped them awaken the Paragons, shrink the infected forces and kill the empress in her own throne room.
"I... Have... Failed..." Were the last words she spoke, but the last words she heard came from Y'Shaarj's envoy who appeared out of the shadows.
"Useless! Fall limp and die before me, wretched insect. Your kind are worthless to me!"
She fell into despair. Not only was she about to die, but she would die betrayed by her own kind and used as a toy by the one that helped her overcome her fear. Tears filled her eyes as her body shivered, a cold feeling came over her as her vision turned black and her body numb.
Shek'zeer was dead, or at least she thought she was.
The sounds of quaking steps and thundering voices were replaced by the sounds of chirping birds and crickets.
"Eh... Wah?"
She opened her eyes, her vision was blurry and bright as it was still habituating to the apparent sunlight.
"Where am I?" She asked herself.
She gasped at the sound of her voice. The insect-like clacking and clicking of which her kind was known for using in their speech was absent. When she held her front appendages against where her mouth had to be, she gasped again.
"Where are my hands!?"
Shek'zeer was used to walking on four legs, but she also had a third pair of appendages that she would use as hands, they were gone. Although her walking legs were still there, she felt the urge to use her two front legs as her hands, as if it was natural to her.
She examined herself further and was shocked to find her appearance to be completely different. For one thing, she was smaller, much smaller. The body she now possessed was tiny and of foreign kind to her, although she could recognize certain similarities to some of the mounts her killers rode on. What were they called? Horses?
While some of those 'horses' had either normal hooves or ones that were set aflame, hers were filled with holes. Her coat was also black with a carapace instead of a coat. What was also peculiar was the addition of wings, which only her underlings had, and a bent horn on her forehead.
Her young mind was still victim to the emotions of her age, as fear crept up her spine. What happened to her? Where is she? What is she? Has she escaped the wrath of her killers or not?
There was only one thing she could do, and that was to run. Run from the possibility that her killers are still after her. Run from the swampy forest she found herself in. Hoping to find a way to answer her questions. She ran over moss stones and under unearthed roots. It didn't matter to her, all she wanted, all she could do, was running.
Her mindless running made her blind for what was coming, because she suddenly lost her footing and fell of a ledge. She rolled trough the dirt, groaning in pain with every roll. It took a minute before she finally slowed down and ended up at the foot of the ledge in a small pool of dirty water.
There she sat, with her wet manes covering her face and shivering due to the cold. She tried to hold herself from crying but to no avail. She wept, asking herself how her life could have turned in such a way, why she had to suffer. And the more she thought, the more she started to forget.
"Why am I suffering?" She said, "What have I done? And to who?"
Her memories of her past life started to drain and only vague images remained. She saw giant insects bowing in her direction. But for what? What did she do? Why did she see such things?
"Well, what have we here?"
Something came out of the nearby bushes. It was a creature reminiscent of the little empress' new form, only bigger and more masculine. It's eyes were an empty void of arctic blue. Another one appeared from behind him.
The little empress held her breath and before the two creatures could do a thing, she ran.
"Hey! Wait!"
She ran but how hard she tried, it felt like she wasn't moving at all. Suddenly she lost her hoofing and was held in the air by a brilliant green aura, which also surrounded one of the creatures' horn. It came closer towards her.
"Now," It said, "Tell me where you came fro-"
His eyes widened, as if he saw something miraculous.
"Those eyes... They have pupils..."
The other one heard what he said, "You mean... She's a pureborn?"
The creature holding the empress aloft nodded in agreement, "She must be taken to the queen."
By hearing what the creature said, little Shek'zeer started to struggle in fear, trying desperately to escape her predicament. She didn't knew who this queen was and she certainly didn't want to know what they would do to her.
"Ho, ho," The creature said, "Let's make travel a bit more easy, shall we?"
His horn started to glow brighter and the aura surrounding the little captive started to materialize into a green, slimy form of amber. Shek'zeer's struggling came to a halt as her sight turned dark again, falling in a deep sleep while the amber covers her entire body.
"Wake up little one," Someone said.
The little empress' eyes opened when she heard those words, they sounded soothing but still malevolent. She looked up to find herself in a giant chamber similar to the her throne room. She was surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of those insectoid creatures, both on the ground and in the air.
"Finally."
She turned her head to beheld a giant throne made of amber and wood surrounded by a couple of iron boxes of which the content wasn't visible. Sitting on the throne was another one of those creatures but larger, more feminine and old. This was the queen. Unlike the others, her eyes had slit pupils like a serpent who had seen many things in many ages. Her manes were long and arctic blue in color like her eyes and they partly glowed in the darkness of the room. Just like Shek'zeer's new body and the other creatures, she had a horn protruding from her forehead but it was longer and more twisted. It started to glow in a cold blue aura.
"You must be hungry," The old creature said while a small bunny, surrounded by the same aura, appeared out of one of the iron boxes. It was as if the bunny was controlled by the queen. It was thrown right in front of the little empress.
"You must be hungry," the queen said, pointing at the bunny.
The bunny cowered in fear but Shek'zeer didn't care about it. She was overwhelmed by a strange feeling she never felt before but was somehow still familiar to her. The bunny was soft and cute, so lovely, so full of love.
Suddenly she lost all of her senses. Her horn and eyes started to glow in a brilliant green aura. Mindlessly and without control, she lifted the bunny in the air and sucked that love and cuteness out of it. All the creatures awed and looked in amazement. The little empress dropped the bunny, now crippled and near death. She coughed, shocked about what she did and surprised of her ability she never knew she possessed.
The queen held her hoof up high and roared in a loud, thundering voice: "All of you! We wish to be alone, leave at once!"
The creatures followed her order without question and hesitation as the room started to get empty with only the little empress and the queen in it. The old thing got off her throne, walking slowly as a sign that she has aged and has seen better days. Her wings became visible and were torn, making her unable to fly but seeing how old she was, she couldn't fly anyway.
She stood right before the little empress and lied herself beside her, as a mother would do to her child.
"I know all of my subjects, little one," She said, "Most of them are bred by me, but you... You are a mystery. Where did you came from?"
P... Ria will fall!
"I... I don't know..." Shek'zeer answered.
"Really?" The queen was surprised, "No hive? No parents? No queen?"
"N... No..." She said.
"Do you remember your name, little one?"
All hail empress S... Zeer!
The little empress didn't answer, clearly paining herself with thought.
"Will it help if I say my name? I am Nympha, Queen of the Changelings."
Em... of the Ma...Ti... Empire
"I... Don't know..."
Queen Nympha made a small grin when she heard that. "Follow me, little one," She said while slowly standing up. Little Shek'zeer then did what she was told and followed the queen. They walked towards a door with green amber as windows, Queen Nympha opened it and the two found themselves on a balcony watching over a large society of insectoid creatures. One could see that this used to be a forest but turned into a swamp due to the large amount of Changeling influence. None of them took note of their queen standing on the balcony, keeping their heads on their work.
"These, little one, are Changelings," Nympha said while holding her hoof above her kingdom, "We feed on love and positive emotions and expand our empire to suit our never-ending hunger and thirst for survival. One day, this will all be yours!"
"What?" The little one said, surprised at what the queen just said.
"You, little one, are a special kind of Changeling. Haven't you noticed that we are the only ones with pupils? Only pureborn have pupils and only pureborn are destined to rule."
The queen's back made a small cracking sound, another sign of her age.
"Your arrival has given me hope, for I thought that my kind would go mindless after my passing. I don't know how long I have left but know this, I will use the last ounces of my strength to train you, to lecture you and to make sure that when I pass away, that you will be ready."
Her back made another crack.
"Ow ow... We only need a new name for you," She said, "Let me think..."
The little one didn't know what to think, this feeling of responsibility felt familiar to her but she couldn't put her tongue on it. She also wasn't sure if she was ready to rule. What if she would fail? She would fail her kind, her queen and all the other queens that came before her. Nympha held her hoof around the little one.
"Have no fear, our kind will prosper under your rule," She said.
"R... Really?"
"Yes," Nympha answered, "And when that day comes, it will be perfect. All will be yours to control, every stallion, mare and foal."
The little one's eyes started to glow in wonder, her fear started to drain and visions of glory took their place.
"Rise up, princess Chrysalis! For when that day comes, you will have it all!" The queen yelled in new found hope, "And you won't fear but be feared by all!"
