Author's Note

I hope y'all have played heart of the swarm, otherwise this story might not make much sense to you.

First contact

Somewhere in outer space, far away from any inhabited planet, a massive, hideous creature sailed the cosmos. The only thing louder than the creature was the noise from the turmoil inside it.

"Izsha, is the Leviathan ready?" Kerrigan questioned her adviser.

"Yes, my queen. We are ready to make the interdimensional jump," the creature obediently replied.

"Excellent..." Kerrigan gazed outside the mouth of her living space ship and readied herself.

"However..." Izsha added.

"What?" the queen of blades asked in an impatient tone.

"My queen, I only wish to warn you," her consultant calmly explained herself. "This will be the first Leviathan in zerg history to travel between dimensions. It is uncertain what impact this might have on our forces. Perhaps it is best that we wait for the terran Raynor and..."

"We've wasted enough time already, we can't afford to wait any longer!" Kerrigan retorted and turned away from Izsha. "Not even for Jim..." she quietly added, right before turning back around and giving a firm order, "Make the jump!"

"At once, my queen." Without a second of doubt, Izsha replied and took control of the monster that they were all aboard on.

"Hold on!" Kerrigan shouted out to her crew as the Leviathan started shaking and gaining speed. There wasn't a soul nearby that would question that order.

The crew gazed at the space in front of them as the stars started passing by faster with every second, up to the point where none of them could even recognize the stars anymore. The space in front of them was black at first, but it started filling up with a light blue light as they gained speed.

A bright flash of light forced them all to close their eyes and cover their faces. By the time they regained their sight it was clear that they had reached their destination.

***

The entire crew was still a bit dazed after the sudden jump. Kerrigan was the first one to recover and take a few steps forward. She was ready to see a planet with a surface that would give nightmares even to her, and yet, the land she saw still managed to surprise her.

"What?..." Kerrigan froze up as she stared at the small town engulfed by the shadow of her massive, flying monster.

"My queen, is something wrong?" curious, her faithful assistant asked. "My queen?" she asked again after getting no reply for some time.

"Izsha, are you sure this is where Amon went?" Kerrigan asked, still unable to believe the sight before her.

"Without a doubt, my queen. Why do you ask?"

"This place..." Kerrigan gazed at the planet's surface once more. "It's nothing like what I thought it would be..."

The rest of her crew had recovered and walked closer towards their leader. They too were curious about what could have possibly been so breathtaking. Also ready to see something awe inspiring, they were left no less surprised than Kerrigan herself.

Not a shred of darkness, not a speck of fire, no sight of anything even remotely corrupted...This land was as pure and clean as the flourishing fields of flowers back at Earth, the exact opposite of what any of them had expected to see. The sight before them left them even more dazed than the jump between dimensions.

"Amon is up to something..." Kerrigan spoke up as she awoke from her state of trance. "We can't let him fool us so easily. Izsha!" she shouted out and turned towards Izsha.

"Yes, my queen?"

"I'm going down there to find out what I can about Amon. In the meantime, prepare the swarm for battle."

"As you wish, my queen."

As soon as she heard the positive answer, Kerrigan stepped out of the monster's mouth and started slowly descending towards the nearest town, landing right in it's center. She started looking around and noticed that the there wasn't a living soul to be seen anywhere, and yet, they were there.

The town was full of life, even though it couldn't be seen, it could be heard. It was no surprise that the ones inhabiting this place had barricaded themselves inside their homes...After seeing a monster no less than three times the size of their entire town right above their heads, who wouldn't?

The only thing that seemed odd was the fact that the barricading was already finished long before Kerrigan set foot on solid ground...It was almost as though they had foreseen her arrival. That didn't make her feel any better. Nevertheless, there was no time to lose. She made her way deeper into the town.

***

As she walked through the empty streets, she kept shifting her eyes left and right every time she heard something move, but she was always too late to see anyone. What creatures dwell inside these homes? That question remained a mystery to her until the moment she saw 6 of them bravely approaching her. They walked without shaking, and yet their eyes were full of fear.

"Stop!" the creature in front of the pack shouted out to her. Kerrigan stopped walking and made eye contact with it.

Ponies?...Rainbow colored ponies?...What trick has Amon got up his sleeve...I don't like this one bit. Kerrigan did a lot of thinking while staring at the small equine in front of her, but she did not say a word. Not just plain ponies...pegasi and unicorns as well...and this one leading them even has the strengths of both...interesting.

Wow...I didn't actually expect that thing to stop. Twilight thought to herself. The way Kerrigan obeyed her order was almost shocking. It left her speechless for a moment. "Khe khem..." Twilight continued after clearing her throat. "In the name of princess Celestia, identify yourself!" Twilight tried to sound firm and convincing, this was no time to be scared.

This one has a fire in her, I can feel it...Aah, but I can also smell her fear. Kerrigan swiftly spread her vicious looking bone wings and leaned towards the pack leader of the ponies, startling her and forcing the five ponies behind her to back away a bit. "Who's asking?" she asked back in a voice no less firm and three times as fearsome.

Twilight gulped loudly before answering. "Twilight Sparkle...princess of friendship." Her tone had lost it's convincing attitude. She answered as though obeying an order.

Princes...of friendship...This is priceless. Kerrigan thought to herself and laughed loudly. Even though her laugh was without ill intentions, it still sent shivers down the spines of all the ponies that heard it.

"I wish I would have found this place when I was but a little girl...I would have loved it here," Kerrigan said in an amused tone and lowered her wings. "My name is Sarah Kerrigan. Leader of the swarm and Queen of Blades," Kerrigan formally introduced herself.

The sudden change in her tone suggested she wasn't hostile, but the titles she went by didn't sound too appealing. The purple alicorn got back on her hooves. She had lost balance after Kerrigan threatened her when she released her wings. "Umm...A pleasure to have your acquaintance...Miss Kerrigan..." Twilight sounded unsure and stuttered a lot.

"Likewise," Kerrigan replied for the sake of her own amusement.

After a moment of silence, Twilight finally mustered the courage to ask a slightly less polite sounding question. "Not to sound rude or anything, but...why are you here?" The fear inspiring humanoid took a small pause before answering. All ears were open. Even some of the ponies barricaded inside their homes had poked their heads out the window.

"I am looking for someone...a stranger to this world, just like me," Kerrigan politely explained.

"An outsider?" Twilight's face lit up. "You don't mean the creature that passed by here shortly before you arrived?"

Bingo... Kerrigan smiled as she realized she had found what she was looking for. "What did he look like?" she asked just in case.

"Well..." Twilight rubbed the back of her head. "It's hard to say, really..."

"What do you mean?" Kerrigan impatiently asked. "You did see him, didn't you?"

"We did, but..."

"But what?" Kerrigan interrupted and took a step towards Twilight.

Twilight paused for a moment. Kerrigan's dreaded look made her forget what she was about to say. "It's just that many of us saw it, but when we talked about what we saw, our stories didn't match..."

Her voice sounded unsure, but she didn't seem to be lying. "Please...explain," Kerrigan requested.

"Well, among all the stories that we heard there were two that were more common than the others...They also matched with what we saw," Twilight clarified.

"And what exactly did these stories sound like?"

Twilight wasn't sure whether the creature she was consorting with could be trusted, but she sure as hay didn't feel like standing against her.

"Well, just as it happened when you arrived, the six of us stood here to confront the creature, but as soon as I told it to stop it just tossed all of us to the sides without even moving a muscle!...It was as though it used it's mind to do this..." Twilight was slightly nervous as she thought that Kerrigan might think she is being played for a fool...but the idea of moving something with it's mind didn't sound all that bizarre to her.

This would explain the barricades already being here by the time I arrived... Kerrigan realized. "And then what happened?" Kerrigan encouraged Twilight to continue.

"The thing is, he tossed three of us to each side, and when it was gone we talked to each other about what we saw..." Twilight paused for a moment. Kerrigan didn't say anything and only kept staring at Twilight with a look that made her feel uneasy.

Twilight picked up from where she left soon enough, "The three of us that he tossed to his left said that they saw a creature darker than the most pitch black of nights, and the three that saw him from his right side said that they saw an angel that shined so bright it almost blinded them."

"I see..." Kerrigan added. She seemed to believe every word Twilight told her.

"There is one thing though..." Twilight added in a quiet and unsure voice.

"What thing?"

"Well...three things, to be exact," Twilight corrected herself. "Three things that matched in everyone's story."

"Name them."

"One - It had wings...different from the ones you have, but not like ours either." Kerrigan didn't seem one bit surprised about that, so Twilight continued. "Two - it flew without flapping it's wings...It didn't walk, it just levitated through the town."

"And what's the last thing?" Kerrigan asked, she didn't seem amused by the second statement either.

"It's eyes..." Twilight said in a rather dramatic tone. "They were blazing red."

Kerrigan didn't need to hear more. So it's true. Amon really is here...What could he possibly be looking for in a place like this? She gave into her thoughts.

"Miss Kerrigan?..." Twilight spoke up after a moment of awkward silence.

"Which way did he go?" Kerrigan stopped thinking and asked.

"He went into the Everfree forest," Twilight replied and pointed at the woods near the edge of the town. "Do you plan to pursue him?"

"Yes. Although I'm not sure about what he's doing here, I know for a fact that it can't be anything good."

"He isn't planning on harming anyone, is he?" one of the friends of the purple pack leader asked. An orange-coated farm pony by the name of Applejack.

Kerrigan hesitated to answer. "Lets just say you can consider yourselves lucky that all he did was toss you out of his way."

Applejack got her answer. Although it didn't make her feel any better, she didn't feel like asking anything else.

"Do you plan to cause harm to us?" Twilight asked and pointed at the half-human that didn't seem too amused with such a question. "You might not be able to move things with your mind, but you don't look one bit more friendly than that thing that passed here not long ago...Aagh!" Twilight screamed as she stopped feeling solid ground under her hooves.

"Who ever said I can't?" Kerrigan calmly asked in an almost overconfident tone.

"Point taken!" Twilight nervously replied while fighting the air. "Agh...khe khe..." Twilight coughed a few times as she felt a weak grip around her neck.

"You let her go!" Another one of Twilight's friends stepped forward and took her side. Rainbow Dash was slightly braver than the others, so she was the first one to react. The other four repeated the same action after her and stared at Kerrigan with unfriendly eyes.

"I am not your enemy." Kerrigan released Twilight and gently put her back on the ground. Twilight's friends instantly walked closer to her to comfort her. "But rest assured - stand in my way and that grip will only get tighter." Kerrigan walked passed the six ponies while they were busy seeing if Twilight was alright.

"Do you plan to face him alone?" Twilight asked while Kerrigan was still close enough to hear her.

"Why?" Kerrigan tossed her head backwards and asked. "Did you think you can help me?" she asked in a tone that almost suggested she was mocking the harmless-looking equines.

"We might not look the part, but we've defended Ponyville from fearsome looking foes before." Twilight's friends confirmed her words by nodding all as one.

"Hmph." Kerrigan laughed without moving her lips. "And why would you help me?"

"If that being is planning on causing us harm, then this is as much our fight as it is yours!"

I was right...this one really does have a fire inside her. Kerrigan smiled at the young princess. "I thank you for the generous offer, princess, but I am more than capable of taking care of this myself." At least that is what I'd like to think... "And yet, I don't have to...I did not come here alone after all."

As Kerrigan finished her sentence, her feet disengaged from the ground and she started slowly ascending towards the same living spacecraft she arrived here on.

The six ponies kept watching Kerrigan up until the very moment she faded from their sights, and so did a lot of ponies from inside the houses as well.

"Boy...what a day," Applejack interrupted the silence.

"Something tells me we haven't even seen the worst part of it yet..." Twilight added.