Chapters It had been about a week since the incident, since they were abducted from their homes... Taken from their land of peace... Now all that remained were the ruins of their civilization... They were being changed... No matter how hard they fought... How much they struggled... How they screamed... Nothing would be able to stop it... They each had names and each a new purpose as well...
Twilight Sparkle, a very intelligent and magically gifted unicorn, soon to use her intelligence to assist the Swarm with their invasions. Pinkie Pie, an extremely energetic pony with a passion for parties, now she would have a passion for slaughtering those in her path. Applejack, a simple apple farmer with a very strong and honest personality, she will use her strength to crush her foes. Rainbow Dash, very fast and headstrong pegasus, she'll now use her speed to scout and attack in the name of the Swarm. Rarity, a unicorn with a talent for finding gems, she will now locate rare mineral clusters for the Swarm. Finally Fluttershy, a shy pegasus with the unique ability to speak with animals, now she will be able to raise broods of Zerg for the Swarm's use.
Each with their mission, each with their loyalty to the Swarm. When they were captured they had six strange artifacts with them... The Zerg had no use for the artifacts, but was able to bond the artifacts with the ponies, making them a permanent part of their anatomy. While the artifacts serve only the purpose of strengthening them and increasing their power... They will still be useful... However the Swarm is facing a terrible loss. Their Queen has been missing and many of their Zerg on Char were now dead. They knew she was not dead, so they would wait for her to return...
Twilight gasped for air as she awoke, she found herself in a strange cocoon like object, which frightened her. Although she felt different, she could remember everything. The strange monsters invading from the sky, killing thousands of ponies... She had seen her brother die before her eyes. He was melted to a green puddle of acidic sludge by those monsters, the Princesses were next to die. Princess Luna was decapitated by one of the large monster's long scythe like claws. They had it easy compared to what Princess Celestia went through. She was partially eaten and left alone to die slowly and painfully, with her organs exposed and blood pooling around her mangled form. Twilight tried to push back those memories and thoughts, but she found that no matter how hard she tried they wouldn't go away. She began to weep, and pressed her hooves against her head, but her eyes widened. Twilight needed to find something reflective and quick, for she wised to see why she didn't feel the softness of fur, but instead the hardness of an exoskeleton. However, when she found nothing that could reveal her appearance to her, she knew that she needed to escape her prison. Twilight began to wiggle and squirm, pushing on the edge of the cocoon, but found it was too strong. She kicked and flailed, but the cocoon's walls remained solid and sturdy.
She tried to call out for help, but a liquid flooded into her mouth, filling it with an awful taste. However she knew that it had some form of nutritional value, for it must have been sustaining her while she was unconscious. Twilight began to push again, but this time the cocoon felt different. Now it was soft, not quite ready to tear, but it would be soon. Twilight would just have to be patient and test it from time to time. She was just now becoming aware of several voices, not speaking but echoing through her mind. The voices spoke over each other, overlapping, screaming, whispering, and it was starting to scare her. She wanted it to stop, she wanted the voices to cease speaking, she wanted to go home... Twilight pressed her hoof on the side and it began to give, she heard a wet tearing sound and the cocoon split open, sending her forward with the liquid that was inside. Twilight looked up and let out a scream as she noticed several of the monsters around her. She waited for them leap at her with their horribly sharp fangs and curved claws, but they didn't. The monsters stared at her and did nothing else, which confused Twilight. She remembered that she wanted to see her reflection and began to search for anything and looked into the liquid that had spilled from the cocoon. Twilight's eyes widened in horror as she saw what had happened to her.
Twilight was no longer a pony, she was one of them... Her skull had been elongated, for a larger brain. She now had a hard carapace where her lavender fur once was, and there were several long spine like objects attached to her. She still retained her horn, but that was the only thing that she had kept. She had a pair of clawed limbs reaching from her shoulders, and her teeth had become sharp and more suitable for eating meat rather than her previous herbivore diet. Finally she noticed the Element of Magic had been fused into her head, now a part of her bone structure. She was horrified, she could no longer be considered a pony. There was nowhere she would be welcomed by her own kind... Then she remembered that there were no more of her kind. She needed to find out where she was, so she turned and bumped into another cocoon, however it was slightly translucent, and she could only see a pony like shape inside. Twilight could only wait until the pony inside awoke, but soon noticed four other cocoons place nearby.
"What is going on? Who are these ponies?" Twilight asked, she sighed when no response had given but the voices began to return, so she covered her ears with her hooves to no avail. The voices were once again in her mind... However she noticed something peculiar, as the monsters passed by some of the voices would grow louder, and she then realized what it was. Those voices were the thoughts of these creatures, and the very thought terrified her. She know shared some form of mind link with these creatures. She went to speak again, but was interrupted by the wet tearing sound again. She whipped her head to the left and saw the cocoons splitting one at a time.
The figures that emerged let out gasps of fear and shock upon seeing each other and themselves. Twilight wasn't sure if she should feel glad or sad, for they were her friends, but they had suffered the same fate as she had. Pinkie was covered from head to hoof in spikes, with a few tentacle like growths on her face. Applejack seemed to have a harder carapace, meaning that she was more heavily armored. Rainbow Dash had a lighter carapace, much more flexible for quick movements. Rarity seemed to have a variety of sensor organs around her hooves, with several sharp pincer like limbs. Finally Fluttershy, who had a purple membrane between her legs, with a pair of small wings, most likely incapable of flight, and a ridged spine. Perhaps the most disturbing was that now their Cutie Marks were identical: A swirling object, with the outer edge lined with large spikes, and the entire things dripped with a purple liquid. While it was shocking to them, they seemed to understand that they were at least alive, but had no knowledge of where they were. Twilight took a few steps, and she became aware of a wet noise coming from underneath her hooves. She heard Rainbow Dash start giggling and looked back in confusion.
"When you walk the ground makes fart sounds." Rainbow Dash said, trying her best to stay quiet. However they didn't have to move far to find that they were blocked in. Before them was a door, if it could even be called that, for it appeared to be a pair of muscles or some kind of defensive system pressed together, the crack between them lined with tiny sharp spines. While it was obvious that they could not leave at the moment they at least knew that they were inside of some creature, but perhaps something would come along and open the way, but for now they would have to wait.
Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie were sitting the chamber, they tried to make sense of everything that's happened so far, but nothing seemed to calm them. They heard a wet sound as the 'door' pulled open, leaving small strands of mucus between them. They seized the opportunity and ran through as quickly as they could, for they did not know if they would have another chance. What they found was many of the monsters, each one staring at them as they moved past. Twilight heard something and before her eyes a creature showed itself to them. It was greenish, its torso curved upwards into the darkness, but it didn't seem hostile. Twilight was able to pick out more details as they approached. It had two arms that were crossed, its eyes were black with brown irises, two large tentacle like limbs spread from its head and had a large spine on the end. It now noticed them and turned to face the former ponies.
"You have awakened." Its voice echoed and was clearly female.
"Where are we? How do you know us?" Twilight asked, but the creature didn't respond, for something caused a disturbance. They all turned to see a large machine landing near them all, this machine was like nothing the Mane Six had ever seen before, capable of flight and obviously with some combat capabilities. However what shocked them most was the creature that exited. It was a human, the very thought of that was absurd. After all they only saw humans in fantasy books and fairy tales.
Warning. Zerg life forms detected. A voice came from the large machine, but they saw no one to speak the words.
"That's why I'm here. They'll either accept me as their Queen... Or I'll kill them one by one until they do." The human said, which filled the Mane Six with fear. The human walked towards them, she wore a skin tight suit that was white and gray. Her hair looked more like tendrils that grew from her skull. She was in the simplest of terms pretty.
The human walked to them, but focused on the other creature first.
"What are you?" She asked.
"I am Izsha. You created me to store your memories... Do you not remember?" It asked, which at least gave the former ponies a name.
"Yes... I do remember. More importantly... You remember me." The human's eyes turned a glowing yellow, and Izhsa's eyes did the same.
"You are the Queen of Blades... I serve you, my Queen." Izsha said, her eyes slowly returning to normal. It was then that the human faced them.
"What are you?" She asked, but they were unsure of how to respond.
"We aren't sure... All we remember is these monsters invading our home... Then we woke up in strange cocoons... And we looked like this..." Twilight explained, but that seemed to be enough for the human.
"I remember... I ordered you to be captured... To be made Zerg... To serve me..." Her eyes flashed yellow again and their eyes did the same. They felt something forcing its way into their minds, they knew that it would prove useless to fight, so they allowed it to happen.
"Yes, my Queen... We will serve..." They said in union, but the Queen seemed intrigued.
"It is obvious that you somehow retained your personalities... Interesting... You can express your emotions and thoughts beyond that of pure violence... You may be more useful than I intended. Feel free to call me by name if you should wish. I am known as Sarah Kerrigan." The Queen, said just as their eyes returned to normal.
"My Queen... We have a few questions... I mean... If you don't answering them..." Fluttershy said nervously.
"I will answer." Kerrigan responded.
"Why are we all so different?" Rarity asked, but Kerrigan began to chuckle.
"You each serve a different purpose. You are that of a military strategist." Kerrigan pointed at Twilight. "You are a heavy soldier." She pointed at Applejack. "You are a scout and aerial fighter." She pointed at Rainbow Dash. "You are an infestation specialist." She pointed at Pinkie Pie. "You are a locator of Minerals and Vespene." She pointed at Rarity. "You are a form of Brood Mother." She pointed at Fluttershy.
"A Brood Mother? What's a Brood Mother?" Fluttershy asked, a small amount worried about what she had been turned into.
"A Brood Mother is a specialized Zerg Queen that has the ability to spawn and raise an entire Brood of Zerg." Kerrigan answered.
"So you're saying she'll birth these Zerg creatures? How?" Rarity asked.
"She'll lay eggs. It's a simple and painless process. The eggs hatch very quickly. For now however she can only lay two types of eggs. Drone and Zergling eggs. Drones collect Minerals and Vespene. They also morph into every Zerg structure. Zerglings are the easiest to create soldier, they fight quickly and kill swiftly." Kerrigan explained.
"You mean we'll have to kill?" Rainbow Dash questioned.
"Do not fear, we will only kill those who pose a threat to us. We do not kill randomly... Not anymore at least." Kerrigan said before turning to face Izsha. "Call the Swarm. We move on Korhal."
"The Swarm is in disarray and will not answer your call. You will need to reclaim the Swarm before they will listen." Izsha explained, but Kerrigan let out a sigh of annoyance.
"Fine, take me to Char. We will begin there." Kerrigan said, and they felt the creature they were inside begin to move, as it traveled through the stars to the volcanic planet. Leaving the ponies confused, but loyal to their Queen.
Author's Note
Warning! This chapter does contain things that don't happen in the StarCraft 2 game. Only a tactic of taking the eggs back to the Birthing Pond. I'm also going to be giving each of them an "ability", it can only be used for a limited time however for that would make them too OP. They will be as listed below.
Twilight: Magical Burst, causes a large explosion that damages enemies with area damage.
This is just something that I am adding to make things a bit more interesting.
Zagara (Updated)
The large creature now known as a Leviathan approached Char, a volcanic and harsh planet that the Zerg call home. The Leviathan stopped and opened its mouth, showing the landscape and terrain to them all.
"I've never seen a place like this before... It's... Amazing... This is the Zerg home world?" Twilight asked, but Kerrigan shook her head.
"The Zerg use this planet as their primary base, and it looks like the Dominion's made themselves at home while I've been gone." Kerrigan answered.
"Is there more to this Leviathan? Should we explore a bit more?" Rainbow Dash asked, not quite ready to kill something for the first time.
"The Queen's chambers are not yet accessible, but you may visit the Evolution Pit. There the creature Abathur evolves and mutates the Swarm." Izhsa said, which prompted them to enter. One they got inside of the Evolution Pit they noticed several large green masses that moaned and squealed. However a large creature began to rise out of a hole in the Leviathan. It was green with four eyes, each one with a red pupil in the center. It used two large scythe like appendages to assist its rising, while another pair with large stingers poked out of the hole. It had four arms, the top one being smaller than the bottom, each arm ended with a three fingered hand that had very sharp claws. The creature placed its four hands together and looked at the seven that approached.
"What are you!?" Twilight asked in horror.
"Abathur. Evolve Swarm, spin strands and sequences. Served Overmind, then served Queen of Blades. Now serve her." Abathur pointed at Kerrigan who looked offended.
"I AM the Queen of Blades." Kerrigan said, but Abathur began to argue.
"Different. Examining genetic strands. Queen of Blades was efficient, ancient Zerg qualities. Minor Terran influence. Queen of Blades efficient. Can give it back. Better." Abathur said before reaching his hands towards Kerrigan whose eyes flashed yellow.
"Don't touch me!" She shouted, and Abathur swayed back in shock and fear, before regaining his calm stance.
"Can mutate Swarm from Evolution Pit. Changes not permanent, can change at anytime." Abathur said, motioning to the only Zerg creature in the room besides himself. It was a Zergling, short and vicious. It's claws were sharp and ready to kill, its eyes perfect for seeing in the darkness, while a set wings appeared to be for appearance only. They each had a pair of horns curling around their face. However a different Zerglings was next to Kerrigan, its right horn was broken about half way.
"What mutations do you have?" Kerrigan asked.
"Adrenal Overload, can increase size of Zergling adrenal gland. Increase attack speed. Hardened Carapace, improve armor on Zergling, increase life expectancy. Metabolic Boost, increase Zergling movement speed." Abathur explained, and Kerrigan chose Hardened Carapace.
"Come we have to reclaim Char." Kerrigan ordered. They left the Evolution Pit and Abathur continued with his work hoping that the Mane Six would prove useful to the Swarm, it had consumed much of his time to infest and change them.
"We have word that a Brood Mother named Zagara wishes to create her own Swarm. She will not join you willfully. She is currently in Char's Acid Marsh, where you stored millions of eggs for future use.." Izhsa told the seven.
"Then we go and collect as many eggs as possible before killing her. Let's go." Kerrigan said, as she walked out of the Leviathan, with the Mane Six following.
The Hive Cluster was created by sacs, they dropped from the sky and left the structures, with a few Drones to collect the Minerals and Vespene Gas. Seven more sacs dropped from the sky with their tendrils flailing in the air until it made contact with the ground, rupturing it, causing Creep and blood to fly in several different directions. It cleared to show Kerrigan and the Mane Six.
"Izhsa what do I have to do?" Kerrigan asked.
"It is simple my Queen, collect at least one hundred eggs, and place them in the Birthing Pond that I have located our Hive Cluster next to." Izsha said, while Kerrigan and the ponies approached it.
"Good let's start collecting..." Kerrigan began, but noticed an approaching Zagara.
"You are NOT the Queen of Blades, you are a weak and pathetic Terran creature!" Zagara shouted as she approached the Hive Cluster with four Zerglings. Then they heard the sound of something bursting from the ground, they could only watch as the bulbous and wobbly creatures broke through the surface, tucked into a ball, and rolled at Zagara, exploding on contact showering her and her Zerglings in a splash of acid.
"What was that!?" Rarity asked, but more of the creatures approached.
"Baneling. Filled with acid, explodes to attack. Explodes by self, or when killed." They heard Abathur say through their mind link.
"You kill me with minions?!" Zagara asked, although she wasn't dead. Kerrigan smirked as she led the ponies forward, and saw a large green egg, which Kerrigan quickly collected.
"Fluttershy, can you hold onto these?" Kerrigan asked, holding the egg out to her.
"I don't know how I would..." Fluttershy replied, but Kerrigan sighed and watched as a Drone approached and took the egg before depositing it into the Birthing Pond.
"Good. Now then let's find out what you six can do..." Kerrigan said as she noticed a large group of Zerglings rushing towards them.
Twilight let out a gasp as they neared and Kerrigan ran behind them. Twilight closed her eyes an heard a loud splat. She opened them to see one of the Zerglings had been slammed into a large stone by Applejack, she was now covered in its blood.
"It's obvious that we're gonna have tah fight! Get ready!" Applejack shouted before she jumped into the air and squashed the group of Zerglings beneath her.
Twilight fired several large spine from her back, which shocked her. This must have been her natural weaponry. She watched as the Zerglings continued to come at them. She began to charge up energy in her horn and fired it which caused a large explosion. Pinkie began to cough and began to shoot small parasites out of her mouth, they were razor sharp and ripped the Zerglings to shreds. She then started to gag and vomited up a large pool of acid which injured any hostile Zerg that touched it. Rainbow Dash began to fire several spike from her hooves, where they came from she was unsure. She then released a pair of miniature eggs that hatched to reveal small flying creatures. They fired objects from their tails at the approaching Zerglings. Fluttershy let out a gasp and covered her eyes, but she felt something strange happen. She uncovered her eyes to see four small round pearl like objects on the ground. They exploded to show four smaller creatures with tiny claws and teeth. They rushed forward and began to spit small globs of acid at the Zerglings, killing the attackers.
"So that's what you do... Abathur did come through..." Kerrigan commented which, got their attention.
"Abathur did this to us?" Twilight asked, and Kerrigan nodded. Kerrigan moved forward and began to collect more eggs with another Drone coming to collect them. It left and placed them in the Birthing Pond. They continued on and found themselves once again face to face with Zagara.
"Enough! While you've been stealing eggs I've been making soldiers. Attack!" She shouted.
"Warning a huge wave of Zerglings is approaching our Hive Cluster! We should defend with all available forces." Izsha warned, and the Zerglings approached. They were quickly killed by the multitude of Spine Crawlers that were built to defend the base. This shocked Zagara.
"You don't even return to defend your own Hive Cluster!? How strong are you!?" She asked, now fearful of this Terran, however she was able to compose herself and quickly regained her confident attitude. Kerrigan and the Mane Six continued collecting eggs until they finally had enough.
"There. Abathur, infuse the Birthing Pond." Kerrigan ordered.
"Simple. Catalytic supplement, accelerated quickening. There." Abathur said as the pond began to glow, and the eggs burst open in a large spray, showing hundreds of Zerglings and Banelings.
"Now to destroy Zagara's Hive Cluster." Kerrigan said as she ordered her soldiers to attack. They began to move through the marsh, but even this massive amount of Zerg wasn't enough to push Zagara to fear, she continued to send her own Zerg to attack. Zerglings rushed at them, Hydralisks and Roaches attacked from a distance, but they were being slaughtered by Kerrigan's Zerglings, Banelings, and the Queen herself. After fighting their way through the marsh, the Mane Six noticed upon attacking a building for a small while it began to bleed, shooting blood out like a geyser it eventually exploded revealing organs and bones. Zagara was out of soldiers... Out of a Hive Cluster... And out of luck...
"Kill her." Kerrigan ordered, and the Zerglings rushed forward and began to tear at her flesh with their teeth and claws.
"I only did as you ordered, my Queen!" Zagara cried out, halfway between pain and sadness.
"Halt... I ordered you to rebel against me?" Kerrigan asked, now suspicious of what she was planning.
"You told all your Brood Mothers to stay strong. You said the Swarm leads by force of will. Your will is strongest so I will serve." Zagara answered, bowing to her Queen. Kerrigan was pleased with this, for she had reclaimed a Brood back into the Swarm.
Kerrigan, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie had returned to the Leviathan to see Zagara was already here. So Kerrigan approached her.
"Zagara, do you know why I defeated you?" Kerrigan asked.
"Because you were stronger than I." Zagara answered, however Kerrigan was not pleased with this.
"No." Kerrigan said.
"Faster then." Zagara said, confident in her answer.
"No." Kerrigan said.
"Do not toy with me, my Queen!" Zagara shouted, now feeling angry.
"Go to Abathur." Kerrigan instructed, which confused the Brood Mother.
"He will tell me?" Zagara asked.
"He will improve you." Kerrigan answered, and the Brood Mother left to speak with Abathur.
They followed soon after to the Evolution Pit and saw no sign of Zagara.
"Where's Zagara?" Twilight asked, but Abathur didn't respond.
"Tell me about the changed you've made to Zagara." Kerrigan said and Abathur began to answer.
"Increased brain matter, muscle density, many good changes." Abathur replied.
"Maybe I should do this with all my Brood Mothers." Kerrigan commented.
"Increased brain matter results in increased independence. Cause threat to Queen, cannot pose threat to Queen." Abathur said, expressing his worry.
"I need my minions as dangerous as possible." Kerrigan argued, before she turned and left he Evolution Pit, which caused the ponies confusion.
They followed to see Kerrigan speaking with Izsha and Zagara.
"Zagara, how would you drive the Terrans from Char?" Kerrigan asked.
"I would attack them on the Dauntless Plateau, but the only way there is through the Bone Trench..." Zagara answered. Kerrigan nodded before she began to explain the plan.
Several sacs dropped from the sky again, they made contact with the planet, dropping a hatchery, Kerrigan, and the Mane Six. They heard Zagara begin to speak.
"I remember taking my Brood through here once before. The Terrans attacked with their Gorgon Battle Cruisers from above. We were slaughtered..." Zagara said, and suddenly a vision flooded their minds, startling the ponies.
They saw a Hatchery, being bombarded by a large flying ship, firing its weapons quickly and relentlessly, not allowing a single Zerg to escape. The image faded, and they were unsure of what happened. However they heard a loud siren in the distance and saw the first Gorgon Battle Cruiser rising into the air.
"No wonder they can't send out more than one of these things... They're huge!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"They only need one..." Zagara commented, but that wouldn't stop Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash took off towards the Gorgon before she could be stopped, she avoided the shots fired from the ground soldiers who were confused to see this strange Zerg. Just as Rainbow Dash was approaching the Gorgon it began to fire its weapons at her, the blasts of energy were scattered and being randomly fired, from place to place, until she felt one make contact with her wing. She let out a gasp as she plummeted towards the ground and landed in the middle of a Dominion base. She opened her eyes to see several Gauss rifles pointed at her, and she swallowed her spit nervously. There were a few loud bangs and a scream, which horrified the ponies.
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight shouted, knowing that her friend was dead. However, a large cocoon appeared at the Hatchery and when it burst open, Rainbow Dash was standing there, dazed but very much alive.
"What... Happened...? The last thing I remember is crashing..." Rainbow Dash said as she wobbled with the first few steps that were taken.
"Rainbow Dash! How are you alive!?" Twilight asked, although it hadn't come out the way she wanted.
"I saved all of your genetic codes within Izsha, anytime you are slain in battle you'll be remade at the Hatchery." Kerrigan answered, but she noticed something further ahead. "Isn't that a Scourge Nest? If we place a Creep Tumor near that we can awaken it, then the Scourges inside will tear that ship from the sky." Kerrigan said, and the single Creep Tumor nearby began to pulse and released a snake like object that squirmed into the ground and created another Creep Tumor. The Creep Tumor had small tentacle like growths come out of it and through the ground they connected with the Scourge Nest. It rose up and began to eject the Scourges that exploded upon contact with the Gorgon.
"The Scourge Nest used up its entire life force. We must find another to destroy the remaining Gorgons." Zagara said, which made Twilight's eyes widen.
"There are more!?" Twilight asked, and as she finished the question, another Gorgon lifted off and they could hear the angry voice of General Warfield.
"Get another Gorgon onto the fight! Crush Kerrigan!" He yelled, and the Gorgon began its path to the Hive Cluster.
"We need to hurry!" Kerrigan shouted, as they ran forward, but something stopped Rarity. She looked around as something hit her nostrils, it was unmistakable, the scent of the richest minerals that were here.
"Wait... I smell something... Minerals!" She shouted running off, with a single Drone following.
"Let her go. This is her purpose after all." Kerrigan said as they moved forward and were met with several Dominion Marines.
"Zerg! Blast 'em!" One shouted as the they began to fire their weapons. Fluttershy let out a shocked cry and closed her eyes. She felt a pressure moving down her abdomen to the end of her tail. She looked back and blushed as she saw a Zerg egg, that burst open and released a pair of Zerglings. The Zerglings were different from the ones that Kerrigan created however, these ones were a pale yellow with blue eyes and their wings now matched that of a butterfly.
"Oh... My..." Fluttershy muttered as the Zerglings rushed forward and joined in the killing of the Marines. Once they were all dead, another Creep Tumor was placed next to the Scourge Nest and it released many Scourges. They knew that they had to move quickly if they were to secure the next Scourge Nest. However Fluttershy's Zerglings went back by her and stayed at her side.
"Well... It seems you've begun to spawn your Brood. Once this is over you can come up with a name for it if you wish." Kerrigan said as she ran down a ramp to the next Scourge Nest. There they noticed that the nest was more defended, and there were some soldiers shooting fire into the large mass of decaying flesh and bloody bones.
"Attack!" Kerrigan shouted, and the Zerg charged forward to slaughter all who were in their path, and another Creep Tumor was placed. They heard a soft clacking as a Swarm Queen squeezed her way out of the bones.
"Thank you my Queen. There are more of my Brood buried among the dead." She said bowing.
"I may want to keep you along the front lines, to spawn more Creep Tumors." Kerrigan said and the Swarm Queen bowed.
"Oh, I get it! The more Creep Tumors you have, the faster Creep will spread!" Twilight exclaimed, which made perfect sense to her.
"Right now focus on the Scourge Nests!" Kerrigan yelled, as she killed two more Dominion soldiers. They moved forward with the Swarm Queen joining them. However Fluttershy was thinking heavily about something.
"My Brood? I laid an egg... Does that make me their mother? I think so..." She thought and turned to face the Zerglings running next to her. "They are kind of cute... My precious little babies..." She thought with a smile, but was jolted from her thoughts when she felt a sharp pain. She noticed a Marine nearby was only focusing his attacks on her, and he was firing constantly. Blood began to pour from her sides, and she felt agonizing pain as she began to wobble. The Zerglings noticed this and rushed forward to attack the Marine, who let out screams of fear and pain. Fluttershy could barely walk, she ached all over and each step brought discomfort to her, until the Swarm Queen turned to face her and began to walk back. Fluttershy wasn't sure what the Swarm Queen had done, but she felt her wounds heal and the pain fade away.
"T-Thank you..." Fluttershy said as she, the Zerglings, and the Swarm Queen rushed to rejoin the group who had stopped to wait for them.
"You are with the Swarm now. I will help those in the Swarm." The Swarm Queen replied. When they had made it, another Scourge Nest was awakened.
"That's another Gorgon down. Leave this planet to me Warfield." Kerrigan said, but another Gorgon rose into the air.
"I claimed this planet in the name of the Terran Dominion! I'm not gonna lose it!" Warfield shouted, while they made their way forward to the next Scourge Nest.
"How many more are there!?" Applejack asked, noticing that they were getting a little too close to the Gorgon for her liking.
"Not very many!" Kerrigan responded as the next Scourge Nest was awoken.
"I sense something... They have two left..." Twilight said, but Rainbow Dash turned to face her.
"How can you tell?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I don't know I just have a feeling." Twilight replied.
"Let's see if you're right!" Kerrigan shouted as another Scourge Nest was woken.
"DAMMIT! YOU'LL NEVER WIN KERRIGAN!" Warfield shouted, his anger now pushed past its limit.
"Really? This is your last Gorgon isn't it?" Kerrigan asked, before facing Twilight. "You had better be right about this, there's only one Scourge Nest left." They made their way to the last Scourge Nest and heard the shouts of several soldiers.
"There they are! Kill them!" One Marine shouted as they began their attack. However the Swarm would prevail, for they were quickly slaughtered. The last Scourge Nest was woken, and the last Gorgon destroyed.
"Retreat! Kerrigan, I know you can hear me! I have a message for you!" Warfield shouted, which intrigued the ponies. "Bring everything you've got. Bring your entire Swarm. I don't wanna be taking out stragglers after I kill you!" Warfield finished, but his troops fled, allowing the Swarm to move closer and closer to the Dauntless Plateau.
Author's Note
I will be introducing a new "strain" of Zerg in this chapter, or rather give them a name. They will all be a part of Fluttershy's Brood. They will also have new abilities.
Twilight: Magical Lift, the target is lifted into the air and compressed while taking damage for three seconds. (fifteen second cool-down)
Also I will be upgrading the Swarm, but you will not see the evolution missions, instead you will see something else. I'm not sure what yet.
Reclaiming Char
There was chaos. As the Marines fired their Gauss Rifles, and the Siege Tanks fired their explosive shells the Zerg still managed to attack the gate. It seemed like they would never give up, and they wouldn't. Only one would survive this confrontation and that would be either the Swarm or the Dominion. Kerrigan began to run to the large metal gate with the Mane Six following closely behind.
"Zagara. Set up a Hive Cluster and send me reinforcements when you can." Kerrigan ordered, and she felt Drones begin to build their base of attack. The Hive Cluster was close to the gate, in a large crevice nearby. This however would not save them from what would inevitably happen.
"Prepare for nuclear launch! I want the only thing left of these bugs to be glowing corpses!" Warfield shouted, while several nuclear missiles were being prepared. Kerrigan knew she had to act fast, and destroy as much of the Dominion forces before the nuclear weapons could be launched. Then they charged. The Zerg ran forward with complete determination to obliterate every single Dominion soldier within this compound.
"Fluttershy, take your Brood and the others and attack the eastern part of the base!" Kerrigan ordered, and Fluttershy nodded in response.
"Let's get this over with!" Rainbow Dash shouted before they began to attack the bases. Marines fired their weapons, but were met with the claws and teeth of ten Flutterlings (Fluttershy's Zerglings). Fluttershy herself hated to see her children in such danger but it was for the greater good: The Swarm's survival. The six fought, while they took damage they felt knew abilities awaken inside of them.
Fluttershy began to feel strange before ejecting a red cloud of dust that healed her friends wounds. Pinkie felt something moving in her mane and out jumped a small pair of Locusts, each one with a tiny pink party hat. Rarity, knowing that the minerals she carried would only slow her down threw the sharpened stone, much to her emotional pain. Rainbow Dash flew higher into the sky and shot down, and with every last bit of strength in her to attack a Siege Tank destroying it instantly. Applejack, felt something in her snap, she let out a loud and vicious yell before slamming into a Marine, crushing him against a Barracks, causing much of his blood and organs to launch out of the suit covering her. Finally Twilight began to use magic again and this time she lifted up a Marine, and he began to get crushed, blood shot out of the metal suit. It was like watching a cannon ball crush a can of tomato soup.
"We don't have much longer!" Twilight shouted, as she heard a soft beeping, with her new psionic powers. She frowned before saying "Oh no..."
"Time for the nuclear option! Kill them all!" Warfield shouted as red circles began to appear on the ground, many Zerg passed by unaware of what it meant, some jumped and attacked at the dot, seeing it as a threat. Others simply stopped moving knowing what it meant, finally the missiles landed, exploding with a force that the Mane Six had never seen before, Zerg were slaughtered, blood, acid, and organs covered the ground, it was truly sickening. Fluttershy however had the most look of horror, for many of her Flutterlings had been killed as well. She looked like she would cry but then, her eyes turned red.
"I WILL SLAUGHTER THEM ALL!" She yelled, and began to lay more eggs, but when the Flutterlings hatched they were wrapped in yellow cocoons and hatched to become pale yellow Banelings. Which would be known as Explosive Flutterlings. The Explosive Flutterlings ran forward while the nuclear missiles still rained down from above, killing them, and the others barely got Fluttershy out of there before several missiles landed where they had once been standing.
"Wow Fluttershy... What happened back there?" Twilight asked, now that her friend had calmed down.
"I don't know what came over me... I just saw my babies get hurt." Fluttershy responded, pulling one of the surviving Flutterlings close to her.
"Your babies?" Rainbow Dash asked, but to the others it made sense, she laid the eggs, they often stayed near her, they protected her like she was their mother. However Kerrigan rejoined with them at the Hive Cluster.
"Our Hive Cluster barely survived that blast..." Kerrigan muttered, but they became aware of four strangely shaped objects in the ground. They burst out to reveal strange creatures that towered over them, the appeared to be a combination of Zerg and Humans.
"I have made something for you, my Queen. The Aberration." Zagara announced with pride in her voice.
"Sequences sloppy... Yet effective..." Abathur commented, which made Twilight giggle in her head. He always seemed to need to get the last word in.
"Good they will be useful in our attack." Kerrigan said, while she turned to face the Mane Six.
"Let's show Warfield not to screw around with the Zerg!" Rainbow Dash shouted, which made them all smile.
They began to move forward and continued their attack, destroying any Dominion forces that got in their path, and no matter what happened they killed everyone, Marines, Medics, scientists, even civilians, what had at one point been taboo for the Mane Six now felt good, they began to enjoy the feeling of blood under their hooves, they enjoyed its taste and the flavors that flesh filled their mouths with. Eventually they fought their way to Warfield and broke into the main Dominion base.
"General! Should we send a team to get you?" A voice spoke through a communicator. There was a coughing, it was loud and hard.
"No... I'll find another way out... Just focus on those civilians..." General Warfield replied, he looked down to his chest and using his left hand he grabbed onto the metal beam that pierced his torso. He began to pull while breathing heavily and when it moved a small amount, he let out a loud cry of pain. He heard a soft growling and looked up to see the Broken-Horn Zergling, Kerrigan's little pet. It move close to his face, and screeched, flaring out its wings, however it didn't attack, instead it turned and walked away, but it had been merely a distraction for Kerrigan and the ponies had approached.
"Kerrigan... You listen to me... There are men on those ship too wounded to ever be a threat to you... Husbands... Fathers... You let them go right now..." Warfield said, while his right robotic hand began to change into its weapon, and he pointed it at Kerrigan's head. "You bitch. You're not even human anymore..." Warfield said angrily. She let out a yell of fury, filling his body with psionic energy until he stopped moving and lied on the floor motionless. Kerrigan placed her hand on her temple, turned and began to walk away, but the ponies didn't follow for they heard the young man speak through the device again.
"General the Zerg... They're pulling back! We're going to make it! General... General...?" General Warfield didn't respond and the Mane Six turned and left, just as the lights on his combat suit died out, covering the remains of the base in darkness.
Thoughts of Home (Twilight)
Twilight laid down on one of the Leviathan's softer and dryer organs, for they had been told that it would be a while before they arrived at their next destination, she still remembered something that happened before she found this location.
Zagara had begun to approach Kerrigan, coming back from the last of Abathur's sessions. She walked with new found confidence and then began to speak.
"I feel so powerful now... I feel like I am a threat to you..." Zagara had said, but Kerrigan didn't turn to face her Brood Mother.
"If you think you can take the Swarm then make your move... But next time we fight it is to the death... Understood?" Kerrigan asked, and Zagara backed away raising her hands into the air.
"I will continue to serve you my Queen and learn from you. Maybe someday I will rule the Swarm, but it is not today." Zagara said, bowing to her Queen.
Twilight sighed, she followed the Queen because she couldn't really do anything else. She wondered what she would be doing in Equestria right now, should the Zerg have never attacked. She then thought of the others in Ponyville, what had become of them... Most likely killed like the Princesses and her brother. Then she realized that something else had been with them when they black out. She shot upwards.
"What happened to Spike!?" She asked, now worried about her assistant. However she lied back down and looked up at the roof of the Leviathan's insides, there was something interesting about this creature, how it had the ability to travel through the stars like the Overlords did. Could other Zerg travel through pure space as well? Twilight wasn't sure, but she wanted to ask Abathur a question later, and for now she would sleep.
Twilight walked along the streets of Ponyville, with a large smile as she waved to several ponies that passed by. After all I was a great day. She let out a giggle as she saw Derpy do little flips in the air. She was happy for today the Princesses and her brother were visiting. She let out a happy gasp as she saw them waiting outside of the library and she ran to greet them.
Twilight had said something, and Shining responded. They both began to laugh as she noticed something falling from the sky, she became confused and her face showed it. The other three turned to look at the object as it fell and landed nearby, causing a large crater to form. Then out of them came the monsters. They rushed at them with their claws ready, some taller than others, some flying in the air, others with large scythe like weapons that dwarfed the entire library. It was then that they realized they were under attack. Ponies began screaming as the monsters started their slaughter, killing randomly with no signs of regret. Spike ran out of the library in a panic, and grabbed onto Twilight, she was like a big sister to him. He pointed in fear as a shape made itself clear to them. Large boney wings moved behind it, its tendril like hair fell to the sides of its head, its pure pink eyes glowed with power and anger. It was their leader. Then the strange creatures began to attack them. Shining let out a cry of horror and pain as some shot out acid, that began to dissolve his flesh until he was nothing more than a puddle of green sludge, with small amounts of blood floating in there. The giant monster approached and with one swing of its natural weaponry, sliced Princess Luna's head off, with a cut so clean that a professional surgeon would never be able to accomplish. The smaller monsters swarmed Celestia, biting and clawing at her, until her entire back half was gone. Twilight could see her intestines hanging out of her half while her heart still beat, but suddenly stopped when it was pierced by a large spine. Spike tightened his grip on Twilight's leg, and she could hear him crying. Then the leader approached her and Twilight began to scream, then everything went black.
Twilight woke up screaming, she stopped and covered her mouth with her hooves. She looked around and felt a wetness on her face, she had been crying in her sleep. She got up and wiped away the tears before approaching the Evolution pit.
"Abathur...? I have a question... When we were brought to you... Was there a small lizard like creature with us?" She asked, and Abathur paused, he placed his hands together and soon answered.
"Affirmative. Took and stored. Perhaps useful sequences within." Abathur responded, which made Twilight both happy and angry.
"Let him out! He's my friend!" Twilight shouted, but Abathur leaned forward and his voice turned malicious and dripped with venom.
"You cannot order me! You are not the Queen! I created you! I can destroy you!" He shouted, swiping at her with his claws, but she managed to avoid the attack.
"What is going on here!?" Kerrigan asked, startling both Twilight and Abathur.
"Abathur has another friend of mine stored somewhere! I just want my friend back!" Twilight shouted, and Kerrigan looked at Abathur.
"Abathur, is this true? Was there something you were hiding from me?" Kerrigan asked, stepping forward.
"Was supposed to be surprise. Make Queen of Blades happy with new creature. Use essence of strange animal." Abathur explained, but this didn't seem to please Kerrigan. Her eyes flashed yellow and Abathur reeled back in pain and let out a cry of shock and agony. Twilight took a step back, while she was angry at Abathur, she didn't want to see him injured or killed.
"My Queen, please stop. Just help me get my friend back." Twilight said, and Kerrigan nodded.
"Abathur you are to release the creature immediately." Kerrigan said and Abathur disappeared into the hole and crawled back up holding a green cocoon.
"Subject inside. Cocoon used for stasis purposes. Break to release creature." Abathur instructed placing it on the ground. Twilight stepped forward and began to slam her hooves on the cocoon until it shattered like glass, and inside was Spike sleeping soundly, but stirring and beginning to awake.
"Spike. Wake up! It's Twilight!" Twilight shouted, and the baby dragon opened his eyes, and looked at her before yelling in fear.
"It's one of the monsters!" Spike shouted, attempting to climb out of the now bowl shaped cocoon.
"Spike! Calm down!" Twilight said, and the dragon stopped.
"Twilight? Is that you?" Spike asked, as Abathur reached inside of the cocoon and lifted Spike out.
"Interesting. No other creature matches. No other creature like. Must take sample." Abathur reached his second set of hands towards Spike and plucked a single scale before setting him down before Twilight and Kerrigan.
"Twilight what happened to you?" Spike asked, hugging her.
"The Zerg happened... We were captured and we were changed... We were made into them... However we're different than most other Zerg. We can think freely, and we can make our own decisions, but we still serve our Queen." Twilight explained.
"Your Queen who is that?" Spike asked, but Kerrigan stepped forward in awe.
"A real dragon... Here I thought they were nothing but fairy tales... I guess that I should have expected this, after I found a planet of talking ponies, griffons and other creatures. To answer your question I am the Queen of Blades, but you may call me Kerrigan should you wish." Kerrigan explained, getting on one knee to speak with the dragon.
"Ok... Where are we...?" Spike asked, but Kerrigan and Twilight began to head for the exit. "Wait! Where are we going?!" Spike asked, chasing after them.
Kerrigan chuckled before saying "We've arrived at our next destination. The frozen moon known as Kaldir."
Spike had been reunited with his friends and although they were different, he still cared about them. However their time to visit would be cut short when Kerrigan could be heard talking with Zagara.
"You said you have wished revenge on the leader of the Terrans... There are no Terrans on this moon..." Zagara said, looking out at the frozen wasteland and the large frozen hatchery that towered over the Leviathan's mouth.
"We need Nafash's brood they have many useful adaptations." Kerrigan responded.
"Surely my Brood will be sufficient. Terrans are weak creatures." Zagara argued.
"Isn't that what you thought of me?" Kerrigan asked with a smile.
"This moon has intense pockets of cold storms called Flash Freezes. Almost all thermal temperature will be lost." Izhsa said, but Kerrigan noticed something.
"If I can the DNA of that Ursadon Matriarch then Abathur can use it to improve the Swarm." Kerrigan said, which the others agreed to.
Kerrigan, Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie landed on the moon, with four Zerglings (now the Swarmling strain) and four Flutterlings. They began to move forward and came across a peculiar sight. It was a Zerg that much was obvious, but the peculiar part was that it was frozen solid, but as they approached it broke free and approached them.
"This Roach is feral and not under the control of a higher entity." Izsha informed, but they moved onward and found another one.
"Another feral Roach? Something isn't right." Kerrigan muttered.
"Ah agree with yah there. Something awful suspicious is happenin'." Applejack said, but as they approached a large wall of ice, the wind picked up and they felt themselves getting colder, and colder, and colder. Soon they were covered in a thick shell of ice, and were unable to move.
"A flash freeze storm has arrived. While frozen you and your troops will be unable to do anything." Izsha said.
Several large furry creatures jumped down from a ledge and began to break the ice, and Abathur had something to say.
"Local Ursadon. Led by Matriarch. Collect essence. Can use to improve resistance to flash freeze storm." Abathur said, and the moment the ice wall broke, they unfroze, collecting two more Roaches into the fight. They attacked the group of Ursadon and killed them all. However they would now be able to resist the freezing effects of the flash freeze storm.
They continued onward and saw something that truly disturbed them, an entire Hive Cluster frozen solid, with several Overlords stuck on the ground and Drones frozen carrying minerals. Kerrigan moved forward and took control of the Hive Cluster, giving it their immunity to being frozen.
"The Protoss have sensed the Hive Cluster's awakening. They know we are here." Izsha informed.
"Protoss? What are Protoss?" Rarity asked, confused about this.
"The Queen of Blades!? But what has happened to you? Frail and human! Warn Shakuras! The Golden Armada will strike her down!" A Protoss Expedition Leader shouted.
"Izsha, please tell me the Protoss are out of range..." Kerrigan said, and the answer pleased her until she heard the entirety of it.
"Yes, but they have several structures that enhance their psionic powers, with them they can contact Shakuras." Izsha answered.
"Then we destroy the Protoss." Kerrigan said, pointing forward. "You six go and attack the Protoss. I'll stay behind and protect the Hive Cluster." Kerrigan ordered. The Mane Six nodded and rushed forward with Fluttershy's Brood which now contained Roachflies. Roaches with large decorative butterfly wings, they were a bright pink color. They encountered several Zealots who charged to attack, them and were quickly slain.
"A flash freeze storm has arrived, the Protoss will be vulnerable. We should attack while they are defenseless." Izsha said to the ponies who took the idea and began to attack. The Protoss unable to fight were being destroyed and the first Psi-Link Spire was in view. The Roachflies began to fire their green acid in an attempt to destroy the Spire, but the shields proved to be very strong, and it took a while to destroy the structure. Rarity noticed the large cluster of Minerals nearby and gasped.
"Um... Izsha... Do you think you could drop a Hatchery? I mean... If it's not too much trouble..." Fluttershy asked, and soon a Hatchery arrived by Sac, and was collecting the Minerals and Vespene. They began to continue onward but Abathur's voice filled their heads.
"Additional Ursadon Matriarch essence can be collected, improve Swarm during flash freeze." Abathur said, and they moved uphill and claimed the essence of another Ursadon Matriarch. Upon nearing the next Protoss base they heard Izsha speak to them.
"The flash freeze storm will end soon. You should burrow until the next flash freeze storm. Then you can continue your attack." Izsha suggested, they burrowed and began to wait for the next flash freeze.
Spike watched the distant Hatchery and could barely make out the shapes of several Zerg and Kerrigan, but what worried him was that Twilight and the others hadn't returned. Each time a flash freeze hit the Leviathan would close its mouth, when Izsha wished, to protect Spike. Zagara was close by and had been asking many questions about not only his pat, but the past of his friends as well.
"So those artifacts that were fused with them are known as what?" Zagara asked, showing a true and genuine interest in their previous lives.
"They're called the Elements of Harmony. They amplify the power of their friendship and use them to protect Equestria." Spike replied, but this only seemed to confuse Zagara.
"So they were weapons? Used to destroy your world's enemies?" Zagara asked, but Spike shook his head.
"They were only used in emergencies, like when Nightmare Moon attacked or when Discord broke free." Spike explained.
"You have mentioned these two before and told me much about them. However I doubt they could defeat the Swarm." Zagara said, which had began to annoy Spike. Zagara seemed to compare everything to the Swarm and nothing was better than it.
The Leviathan began to close its mouth, and they knew that a flash freeze storm approached.
Twilight was the first to unburrow, and the others followed, before charging into the frozen Protoss base and attacking. They eventually destroyed the second Psi-Link Spire and killed the final Ursadon Matriarch. Then the flash freeze storm began to end, so they burrowed. However the Protoss were unaware and continued to assault the Hive Cluster which Kerrigan was able to protect. Another storm began which allowed them to attack the final Spire and destroy it. The Protoss were cripples, now unable to contact Shakuras they would have to find another way to get home.
Kerrigan and the Mane Six reentered the Leviathan, only to see a female Protoss being held in a strange mound of flesh.
"We captured a prisoner in the wastes. She says she is a researcher." Izsha informed, but this confused Kerrigan.
"I never ordered you to take prisoners." She said, before Izsha began to explain.
"Abathur requested it. He wants to dissect her." Izsha said, which disgusted Spike.
"Why would he want to do that? From what Zagara's told me Protoss can't be used by the Zerg." Spike said, which surprised Twilight.
"He likes to try." Izsha replied, but Kerrigan looked at the Protoss and an idea came to mind.
"Actually, keep her around, she might be useful." Kerrigan said, before moving to the Protoss. The Protoss struggled and tried to wiggle out of the flesh that held her in place, but she could not escape it.
"What are your people doing here?" Kerrigan asked, and the Protoss began to explain.
"We study this moon to see if its rotation can be altered, its climate improved. Do you understand? We are only colonists and you are killing us." She said, leaning forward, but the ponies and Spike were amazed at how it could speak without a mouth, for they had not seen the Expedition Leader.
"Yes, and if I let you live then you will call your Golden Armada and they will kill me." Kerrigan argued, but the Protoss seemed offended by this statement.
"Kill thousands just to save yourself? Is that how you justify this!?" She asked, now furious.
"I justify nothing. Your people have killed billions of Zerg. There is blood on both our hands." Kerrigan replied, before she turned and began to walk away. Spike looked at her and the Protoss seemed interested in them.
"I have never seen Zerg like you before. You do not seem hostile." She said, which made them smile.
"We just follow our Queens will. We were taken from our homes by the old Queen of Blades. Then we were made Zerg. We were scared at first, but then we came to accept this. We were special... We retained our ability to express thoughts and emotions... Beyond random anger and destruction that is..." Twilight explained, but then the Protoss turned her attention to Spike.
"You are not Zerg. Why are you here?" She asked, and he scratched the back of his head.
"I was taken to be used for their experiments... But Twilight helped me get released. I've known her all my life. Even though she's now a Zerg, I still care about her and all my friends." Spike answered. They had to leave for the Queen summoned them.
Author's Note
In this chapter I will be making the Protoss send a whole lot of Shuttles, for I have a plan. I just wanted to give a little warning.
Escape Attempt
The Protoss began to power the Warp Conduits, for they would be their last chance of escape, they needed to get as far from the Swarm as possible. The Swarm had already set up a Hive Cluster with several Hydralisks and Roaches nearby, each one ready to tear the Protoss apart. With the Mane Six ready to follow their Queen's orders. They looked at the Conduits with shocked expressions, and Twilight was tempted to place her hoof inside the spinning machine, but Kerrigan placed her hand on Twilight's shoulder.
"Don't. We have to focus on the Protoss. They'll try to escape through here. We need to destroy their shuttles, we cannot allow a single one to escape." Kerrigan said, and Twilight lowered her hoof before looking to see a Hydralisk approach her. She took a step back but the Zerg creature slithered forward and leaned towards her before licking her face with its thin and snake like tongue. She enjoyed that strangely, it was like letting your pet dog or cat lick your face, it means they care, but whether this was just to find out what she was or not, Twilight didn't care.
Hydralisks suddenly began to move away from them, towards the open Warp Conduit and they stopped moving in front of it, knowing that the Protoss would send shuttles through here. They waited while the Protoss began to prepare.
"I sense a Hive Cluster nearby... Frozen... We could use the resources that it can produce." Twilight said, to Kerrigan who nodded.
"Fluttershy, take your Brood and control the Hive Cluster. You'll send troops to attack their base. Understood?" Kerrigan asked, while Fluttershy quickly began to run off and her Brood followed. They made their way to the Hive Cluster, just as Kerrigan had said it was frozen solid, with three Zealots guarding it. Fluttershy looked at the Roachflies and Flutterlings that soon nodded and quickly broke into a run. The Zealots were take by surprise and had no time to attack, and the ranged spine and bursts of acid hit them, breaking their shields and killing them. The Hive Cluster shook and the ice broke, allowing the frozen Drones to continue collecting Minerals and Vespene.
"I suppose I should start making troops... Perhaps... Can I make some form of Hydralisk?" Fluttershy wondered, before she looked at the Hatchery's Larva who were wrapped in a green cocoon and eventually burst revealing a Hydralisk like creature. They Hydratrice had been born. It was a Hydralisk with e chicken comb on the top of its head, its arms were more wing like, and finally instead of a mouth it had a large beak filled with razor sharp teeth.
Fluttershy sent out groups of Hydratrice and Roachflies, they moved on the Protoss base and found themselves getting slaughtered.
"Oh... My... I may need more soldiers... Maybe more Hydratrice? They did have a lot of flying machines..." Fluttershy muttered, and she began to create more Zerg to assault the Protoss base, hopefully to destroy the Docking Bays and halt the Protoss from escaping. Fluttershy left a small amount of Zerg to protect the Hive Cluster and began to lead her Brood to fight the Protoss. Her ranged attack would allow her to help in attacking the air units that threatened her Flutterlings and Roachflies. Fluttershy felt something inside of her begin to move and felt a sudden change in her mind. Her eyes turned red.
"Go my Brood! Destroy them in the name of the Swarm! Don't let a single Protoss remain standing!" Fluttershy shouted, surprising herself. "What was that!? I just felt something in me... Snap..." She said, now a small amount frightened, but her inner Brood Mother broke out once again.
"Slaughter them! Destroy their docking bays! Leave no survivors!" She shouted, as they destroyed the first of three docking bays. She turned and began to return to her Hatchery in order to build up her forces and fight the Protoss once again.
Twilight barely had time to avoid the attack of the Stalker, and quickly killed it. She let out a sigh as the Protoss attack dwindled down. "How many more Shuttles?" Twilight asked, but she received no response. She turned to see that she was alone, for the others had left do other things. Twilight turned around to see Rainbow Dash approaching.
"I found something!" She shouted, before describing a large clear cylinder with a strange green substance inside. Knowing that this may be of some importance, Twilight left to investigate this tube and heard Abathur speak to them.
"Protoss collected Biomass. Collect, can use." Abathur ordered, and they began to destroy the cylinders and collect the biomass contained within.
The second docking bay fell, hindering the Protoss from launching more Shuttles, meaning that they had only a single Docking Bay left. Fluttershy was pleased with the work her Brood was doing, for none could defeat the Swarm. Fluttershy watched as her Brood marched forward killing Protoss as they passed, not once looking back and dying to protect the Queen. Finally the third and final Docking Bay was destroyed forcing the Protoss to leave, and preventing them from escaping.
The Queen and her loyal subjects entered the Leviathan to see the Protoss still struggling to escape from her prison. However she was unable to wiggle her way free, and looked up to see them approaching.
"Your people will never leave this miserable ball of ice." Kerrigan said, the Protoss narrowed her eyes, but said nothing, instead she began to struggle again, but was still unable to escape. The Protoss stopped and let out a sigh before, Kerrigan left to speak with Abathur about evolving the Swarm. Leaving the ponies and Spike standing with Zagara, who approached the Protoss.
"I have always wished to feel Protoss bones snapping in my claws... May I?" Zagara asked, but Twilight shook her head.
"Our Queen ordered to keep her alive." Twilight responded, which seemed to anger Zagara.
"Surely you do not think to show mercy!" Zagara shouted, but Twilight took a step forward and began to shout back.
"We were ordered to keep the Protoss alive, unless you want to anger the Queen, I'd recommend leaving the Protoss alone!" Twilight said, her eyes flashed purple, which startled the Brood Mother making her back away.
"You are correct. I should obey the Queen's orders. My apologies." Zagara bowed to Twilight, which confused her, but she knew that it wouldn't really solve anything to argue with another Zerg. She broke off from the group to go and rest, after all she needed it.
Thoughts of Home (Fluttershy)
Author's Note
I will not be putting in the mission involving Niadra. I am not sure how to involve the ponies, for eventually Niadra goes out of Kerrigan's reach, meaning that they would be unable to recover.
Thoughts of Home (Fluttershy)
Flutterlings run around in circles, Roachflies let out yells and screeches of boredom, finally Hydratrice groom themselves due to their bird like instincts. They were all centered around Fluttershy who was petting a Flutterling. She began to think back of the events that had transpired. She wiped out a large portion of a Protoss base, helped to reclaim an entire planet, and found out she was now an alien monster. She sighed and began to remember what had happened before the Zerg had found her.
Several rabbits, mice, and birds, all moved towards the house. They each moved at a steady pace and entered. There Fluttershy worked on something. She was helping an injured creature that she had found nearby, and although she wasn't entirely sure what it was, she just had to help it. It appeared to be an insect of some kind, it had large teeth though, most likely used for hunting and self defense. It looked at her with its horned head and let out a soft and gentle screech. Fluttershy smiled and began to speak with it, but it jumped away from her and began to run off towards Ponyville making the mare gasp in shock. She took off after it and managed to stop the creature from entering the town, for it could scare or even hurt somepony. It struggled in her grip and attempted to run away, but she managed to keep her hold on the creature and returned to her home, but let out a gasp of horror. The corpses of animals littered the floor, there were birds, cats, dogs, rabbits, mice, and even some animals she had never seen. The killers were still there feasting upon their kills, and they turned their attention to Fluttershy, who let out another gasp. They matched the creature she had helped exactly, and they rushed at her, but the one she held let out a few screeches and roars, and the monsters stopped. They moved to her at a slower pace and with their natural weaponry lowered. They were each covered in cuts and scratches, with wounds and scars covering their bodies and faces. Fluttershy moved forward and heard the floor squeak behind her. She felt large claws rest gently on her side, but she was too afraid to move and see what creature was touching her. It finally moved in front of her and was tall with large scythe like claws that had several hooks and curves in them. The creature had a pair of mandibles with spines lining the top, and it was obviously muscular. The creature moved forward and began to lick her face with a tongue that slithered around like a snake. She did nothing, but allow the creature to give her its "kisses" and became aware of more shadows appearing on the wall before her, more and more began to pour in and they began to surround her slowly.
Each one let out cries of happiness and joy as they began to fight for her attention. Fluttershy was both honored and scared, for she had no idea what these creatures could do. They suddenly stopped and turned to face her before the hundreds of creatures began to push and herd her outside of the building, they formed a tight circle around Fluttershy preventing her from running away, many clung to her body weighing her down, which meant that she couldn't fly away. She was at their mercy and she hoped they wouldn't hurt her. Fluttershy could do nothing more than move with the crowd of creatures as they led her away, and eventually they came to another creature, but all that she could make out was a large pair of boney wings. They let out a loud and joyous screech, and the creature responded in an unknown language. It turned to face her and Fluttershy let out a loud shriek as it reached its hands towards her. Then everything turned black.
Fluttershy just didn't understand it. Looking back she now knows those monsters were Zerg, but who the leader they brought her to? She began to look at her Brood and pulled some of them close, for they sensed her worry and confusion.
"Don't worry. Mommy's fine. She's just a little... Confused... I'll be fine." She tried to comfort her Brood and they calmed down, but not by much. They still knew that Fluttershy was upset, and they shared her emotions. Fluttershy heard a shouting and ran to a chamber to see Kerrigan fighting a Protoss, one she had never seen before. Fluttershy saw the rest of her friends were there as well, and they had the same baffled expression as to how this creature managed to board the Leviathan. Kerrigan took a running start and prepared to attack, but the Protoss grabbed her by the face and soon all their mind were filled with an image.
"Kerrigan. I have seen the beginning. Behold Zerus. Birthplace of the Zerg." The Protoss said, and a planet came into their view, it was covered in plants, water, and even had some locations with lava. "Here some Zerg remained. The Primal Zerg. They hunt, they kill, they evolve." A small creature was running from something, it ran into a hollow log, and began to glow but a large clawed appendage broke through the lag and grabbed the creature. The large creature killed and began to eat the smaller Primal, but then it grew another set of eyes and began to glow. The vision ended there. "Just as you will have to, if you wish to survive." The Protoss was wrapped in a cloud of dark smoke, and it disappeared, leaving them sitting in silence.
"My Queen...? What are we going to do?" Twilight asked, and Kerrigan didn't respond, instead she began to move towards the Leviathan's nerve center where Izsha and Zagara waited for their next orders. The ponies followed and felt the Leviathan begin to move, it took off towards the sky at a slow pace and built up speed as it traveled, they were heading towards an unknown location and were unsure of what would happen next.
The Leviathan landed on Zerus, where they saw dense forest ahead of them, with the Protoss nearby, he waited for Kerrigan to approach.
"Kerrigan, the power of Zerus called you here!" He exclaimed, but Kerrigan frowned.
"The need to see Mengsk dead brought me here." Kerrigan replied, but then had a question. "Why are you helping me Zeratul? You have more cause to hate me than most." Kerrigan asked, which gave them the Protoss' name.
"The Xel'Naga wish to see you restored as ruler of the Swarm." Zeratul answered, which angered and confused Kerrigan.
"You know I don't believe in your mad prophecies." Kerrigan said, and Zeratul cocked his head.
"But you will do anything to have your revenge?" He asked, and Kerrigan nodded.
"Anything. Wait... I sense something... A Primal... Sleeping..." Kerrigan said, and Zeratul took a few steps forward.
"The Ancient One. A Primal Zerg that witnessed the creation of the Overmind." Zeratul spoke, and Kerrigan began to place pieces together and came up with a conclusion.
"You want me to wake it, don't you?" She asked and Zeratul nodded.
"You will need the Ancient One's help if you truly seek the power of Zerus." Zeratul responded, but Kerrigan and the ponies heard Izhsa speak to them.
"My Queen, Primal forces are gathering nearby, they want to prevent you from speaking with the Ancient One." Izsha said, which Kerrigan already began to plan an attack force.
"What will you do?" Zeratul's voice broke her concentration and Kerrigan smiled.
"What my enemies fear most... Always..." Kerrigan replied, and Zeratul nodded.
"Good. You are on the right path. You will not see me again Kerrigan." Zeratul said and began to leave, which left Kerrigan and the ponies ready to fight back against the Primal Zerg.
The head of the Ancient one stuck out of the ground, although it was sleeping, it had its many eyes wide open, with its mouth agape. They began to feel the presence of a Primal, a very strong one, and it revealed itself to them.
"Brakk speaks now! We will not let you speak with the Ancient One, Broken Zerg. We will feast upon your essence!" The Primal shouted, before sending strange looking Zerg flying at their Hive Cluster.
"Warning! Primal flyers approaching!" Izsha warned, but winged creatures swooped downwards and began to fire smaller creatures from their tails, which bounced from Primal to Primal, killing them.
"Reconstituted Mutalisk into Swarm. Mutalisks flying unit, deals damage many targets." Abathur explained, while Kerrigan stood before the Ancient one.
"To wake this creature, we must feed it." Izsha instructed, and Kerrigan noticed a group of strange creatures nearby. She quickly killed them and a single Drone appeared and began to use its pincers to cut around the destroyed corpse, until it had a large chunk of meat, which it then brought to the Ancient One, and threw it inside of the large Primal's mouth. The Ancient One chewed and swallowed the meat, which confused the ponies since it was sleeping.
"We can kill these Quillgor and harvest their meat. Rarity, I'll need to ask you to so this job." Kerrigan said, which made Rarity gag, however she could not refuse her Queen.
"Yes, my Queen. I will do this... No matter how foul it is..." Rarity said, while her friends were nearby. Although they had fought against it, Spike was allowed to leave the Leviathan and stay near the Hive Cluster.
"Good luck you guys! I'll be rooting for you!" Spike shouted, as they left with Fluttershy's Brood. Kerrigan would be joining them, they approached the first Quillgor nest and quickly killed the Alpha, which allowed Rarity to begin collecting the meat with her various pincers and claws. She made quick work of it and moved to place the meat in the Ancient One's mouth, and once again it ate the flesh that was thrown into it maw.
"Destroy the meat! Leave her with nothing!" Brakk shouted as his pack began to approach a herd of Quillgor and slaughter them, allowing them to begin destroying the meat. However Twilight moved forward with her friends and her Queen, and quickly killed the Primal Zerg that attempted to destroy the meat. Twilight noticed that some of the creatures resembled those found in the Swarm. Were the Primal Zerg copying these designs, or did the Swarm copy them?
Rarity was quickly able to harvest the biomass and threw it into the mouth, allowing them to seek more. They came across a small green pool of liquid that had a few Primal Zerglings guarding it, and Kerrigan began to drain the pool of its essence and strength, making her feel stronger.
"This must be the power that Zeratul spoke of." Kerrigan said, while they harvested more Quillgor meat. Which the Ancient One promptly devoured. Brakk had sat there long enough, they had gathered the meat necessary, but they could not speak with the Ancient One if they were all dead.
"Brakk comes for you Corrupt Zerg!" Brakk shouted as he gathered a small amount of Primal Forces and began to march towards the Hive Cluster. However they would make it there before Kerrigan and the others would, so it was a race to see who could return there first. Brakk and his forces managed to beat Kerrigan to the Hive Cluster and began to attack, but noticed a small and pitiful creature cowering nearby.
"Please don't hurt me..." It said, clearly afraid, which filled Brakk with satisfaction. Brakk began to approach the creature.
"New essence. You will fuel my evolution!" Brakk shouted, swiping at the creature with his giant claws, while Brakk could feel the thickness of its armor, it wasn't strong enough to keep the claws from breaking through the scales, and cutting deeply into the flesh. Twilight let out a gasp of horror as she saw Brakk attack the creature, and she felt anger rise in herself. Twilight charged forward and quickly caused several explosions with Magical Burst, which caused the smaller Primals to be killed instantly. Twilight fired spines at Brakk, who let out loud groans of pain, but still managed to attack. Brakk slammed into Twilight his shoulder, knocking her to the side. He approached Applejack who slammed into him, but was unable to move the giant Primal. Brakk was injured, but could still fight. Until Kerrigan moved forward and with a psionic bolt of lightning managed to kill Brakk, his body exploded, causing blood to rain down around them, while they heard the Ancient One begin to laugh. Kerrigan moved to speak with the Ancient One while the Mane Six looked down at the wounded and dying creature, which they knew as the young dragon, Spike.
"Spike, you have to stay with us! Don't close your eyes!" Twilight shouted, and Spike was barely responding. "There has to be something we can do!" Twilight yelled, and an idea came to mind. She lifted Spike with her magic and bolted towards the Leviathan, where she approached Abathur. "Can you do something to save him?" She asked, while Abathur began to think.
"Yes... Possibly... Can heal... Slight side effect..." Abathur explained, which made Twilight nervous.
"What?" She asked, while Abathur told her. The result made her heart sink, but she nodded and left Spike with Abathur who began to work on the young dragon. Twilight was approached by the rest of the Mane Six and they formed a group hug, with Fluttershy's Brood even partaking in the embrace, Twilight began to cry while her friends did their best to comfort her.
The sacs fell from the sky and landed in a small clearing, they released Kerrigan, and the Mane Six, who were still upset about Spike's injury. Abathur had been doing what he could to help the dragon, but it came at a price that Twilight never wanted him to pay. Kerrigan and the Mane Six heard the Ancient One, now known as Zurvan speak to them.
"You will be tested, if your hate is not strong enough you will be torn apart." Zurvan said, which made the Mane Six fearful for their Queen. "What are you willing to give up for your revenge?" Zurvan asked.
"Everything..." Kerrigan replied, before Izsha gave them a warning.
"Primal forces incoming." She said, but Kerrigan began to speak with Abathur.
"Abathur, send me the creature you've been working on. The Swarm Host." Kerrigan ordered as more sacs fell to the ground and revealed creatures with mushroom like backs, each one with several eggs inside of them. The creatures appeared to have no form of weaponry and were basically defenseless, that is until they burrowed into the ground, the eggs were ejected and hatched to reveal Locusts which rushed forward and killed the on coming Primal Zerg, allowing them to move forward. They moved forward until a large pool of green liquid was spotted.
"It's... A pool..." Kerrigan said, she was annoyed and in disbelief, until Zurvan began to explain.
"The first Spawning Pool. It existed before names. From here one essence split into many, one devoured another and grew stronger, the first Zerg." Zurvan said, while Kerrigan moved to the center of the pool.
"Recommendation. Avoid pool. Queen not strong enough." Abathur said, with evident worry in his voice. However Kerrigan would not be persuaded to leave the pool.
"The Queen's hate is strong enough. If I survive I'll be more powerful than the old Queen of Blades. Zagara, protect the Chrysalis until my transformation is complete, or I'm dead." Kerrigan ordered.
"Yes my Queen." Zagara's voice could be heard speaking.
The Swarm began to build a Hive Cluster, creating an Infestation Pit, which Pinkie took great interest in, and created many Spine Crawlers. They had the Swarm Hosts move and root into the ground, then made a wall of Spine Crawlers behind them, with a Swarm Queen to heal the injured Swarm Hosts or Spine Crawlers. They heard Brakk's pack approaching, the remaining Primal Zerg began to approach and attack the Swarm, but the defenses held. Once they stopped, Zagara sensed a disturbance.
"Hear me Broken Zerg! I am Yagdra! Brakk is dead, I will collect his pack's essence and I will collect yours!" They heard a voice shout, and red lined Primal Zerg began to charge, but found themselves fighting with Brakk's pack, which seemed to please Zagara.
"The Primal factions have engaged each other." Izsha informed.
"Let them kill each other. Our focus is the Chrysalis." Zagara replied, while the Mane Six prepared to fight. Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy took the left side, while Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash took the right, then they heard Yagdra begin to speak again.
"I have not forgotten you Broken Zerg! Your leader sleeps, she will not wake!" Yagdra shouted, and members of his back began to approach the Hive Cluster and the Chrysalis. Both Primal forces were leading up the sides, meaning that they were going to be attacked from both angles.
"Prepare for a pincer attack!" Zagara warned, and Abathur began to speak.
"Brood Mother Zagara, made important discovery. Can spawn special locusts from pool. Recharge very quickly." Abathur said, and Zagara seemed frustrated.
"These Primals are relentless, spawn them now!" Zagara shouted, and winged locusts began to fly off from the Chrysalis and attack the Primal Zerg, but they eventually dissipated, turning into a green slime that fell onto the ground. The Primal Zerg continued to attack, until Brakk's forces were ultimately wiped out by Yagdra's pack.
"Now we come for you Broken Zerg!" Yagdra exclaimed, as his pack began to advance on the Hive Cluster, but it would not be long until the Chrysalis opened and their Queen was revealed. Twilight fought with every ounce of strengths he had, these things had taken away her assistant, her best friend, the one she saw like a little brother.
"This is for Spike!" She shouted several razor sharp spines fired from her back and dug into the flesh of the Primal Zerg. Then there was a large surge of power and all the Zerg stopped fighting. The Primals began to back away in fear, while the Swarm approached the Chrysalis in awe and wonder.
Kerrigan sat in the liquid, her hair flowed freely, and her eyes shot open. She let out a loud yell as the Chrysalis burst, revealing the Primal Queen of Blades, she had regained her previous form, complete with the bone wings that Fluttershy and Twilight immediately recognized. A large pillar of pink light shot upwards from the Queen, while she yelled in anger and fury. The Zerg go close to the ground, almost as if they were bowing to her, while the Primals had fled completely. Twilight was filled with a feeling of hope and pride, knowing that her Queen had survived the transformation and was now more powerful than ever before. They approached and bowed to the Queen who began to speak.
"Rise." She ordered, and they rose onto their hooves, before moving back towards the Leviathan, where they were greeted with a shocking sight. There next to Zagara was a Primal Zerg, but there was something different about him. He seemed more calm, more willing to speak and negotiate. He had a beard and was missing his right arm, but a smaller arm had begun to grow. "Izsha. What is a Primal doing on my Leviathan?" Kerrigan asked, but the Primal stepped forward.
"I am Dehaka. One-who-collects. I seek essence. You bring essence. I will follow, when you do not bring essence, I will not." He said, pausing slightly between each word while clicking his tongue on every "cah" sound in the sentence.
"I've forge alliances on grounds shakier than that. Very well. Betray me and I will collect your essence." Kerrigan warned, her eyes flashing pink as she spoke. Dehaka nodded before Twilight and the rest of her friends approached the Evolution Pit.
"Abathur! Is he ok? Is he alive?" Twilight asked, and Abathur pointed towards a small area in the back. There they could hear a quiet breathing and a soft sigh. Twilight began to approach and saw Spike who was now one of them. Spike had grown a few feet, he now stood as tall as Dehaka, with claws that could retract. His snake like tongue would slip through his lips every few seconds, while he now had six eyes, each one with a thin slit pupil. His tail had a large spike on the end, perfect for spearing through tough armor.
"Twilight? What happened?" Spike asked, his voice had deepened and had a small echo.
"This was the only way to save you... You were dying Spike. One of the Primal Zerg attacked you, sliced through your scales like they were paper. I never wanted this to happen to you, I just wanted to you stay safe." Twilight replied, she looked down at the floor in disgust at herself. She had never once thought about what Spike would have wanted.
Spike moved forward, got onto his knees and hugged her saying "Thank you."
Author's Note
In this chapter Spike will be the equilivent of a Viking, able to change from air to ground unit at will. I will be telling Spike's ablilites below. I will also be including the passive abilities of him and the ponies.
Active Abilities: Spike
Flame Stream: Spike shoots fire out of his mouth in a straight line and does damage to all ground units within fire. (Fifteen second cool-down)
Fire Ball: Fires a large orb of fire that does area damage. (Thirty second cool-down)
Passive Abilities:
Also includes Easter-Egg for the level. If you want to know how to get it Ask in the comments.
Primal Slaughter
Kerrigan, the Mane Six, and Spike ran towards the edge of the ground, blow were rivers of lava that flowed at a slow pace. The Primals were attacking the Leviathan, and they were moving to attack the Primal Pack Leaders, who had sent out their packs to fight the Swarm. Kerrigan noticed a Primal Hydralisk, it didn't see them which allowed her to leap at the Zerg, landing and crushing it beneath her feet. Spike had something that they hadn't noticed before, a pair of wings, which allowed him to fly and glide, but for now he leapt across the gap, while the Mane Six followed. They moved from place to place until the encountered a small group of Primal Zerglings and they charged at the group. Kerrigan slid forward with her wings outstretched, killing some of them. Spike inhaled deeply and let out a large stream of green fire that burned the Primal Zerglings alive.
Spike noticed something ahead, what appeared to be Primal Hydralisks battling Primal Roaches, one bore Yagdra's color while the other was a light orange color. They ran forward and began to kill Yagdra's Hydralisks and turned to face the Primal Roaches who quickly changed colors to match their own.
"Primal Roaches. My pack helps." Dehaka said, which made Kerrigan smile. They moved on to find an empty expanse of land, covered in rock and dust. The ground began to shake beneath their feet and they found themselves faced with Yagdra who seemed shocked and angered to see them.
"LEADER OF THE BROKEN PACK!? NO!" Yagdra shouted, which filled them with confidence, knowing that their foe was afraid.
"Is that fear Yagdra? You do know you never had a chance right?" Kerrigan asked, but noticed a glowing in his mouth and barely avoided a blast of acid.
"Your change means nothing! I will melt the flesh from your bones!" Yagdra yelled, before he tunneled a few feet away from them. They charged at Yagdra, and began to attack him while he fired his red acid at them in large orbs. Eventually Yagdra burrowed and left a cluster of eggs. Which they began to destroy. Yagdra burst through the ground and fired a ball of acid at them, but they managed to avoid the attack and continued attacking Yagdra, who soon fell. His head exploded in a burst of blood of and bits of flesh that rained down on them. Kerrigan moved forward and began to absorb a purple energy that seeped from Yagdra's corpse. She moved on with the others following closely behind.
Twilight noticed a large group of Primal Hydralisks ahead, which made her nervous, until the began to join them, which meant they were a part of Dehaka's pack. They moved, and this would reveal a large cluster of eggs, which began to pulse and throb at their presence, meaning that they would hatch soon. Kerrigan's eyes widened as she began to give orders.
"Destroy the eggs! Start with the large ones first!" She shouted and several of the eggs burst open to reveal Primal Zerglings and Primal Roaches. Kerrigan growled in anger and began to attack the Primals that threatened her. However she made sure to focus on the eggs first, seeing as how the large ones could have many or large Primal Zerg within. They wiped out the eggs and offending Primals before moving on and getting a single Primal Hydralisk from Dehaka, but Kerrigan noticed something strange. She noticed a turning path and out of curiosity followed it, which led to what she could easily identify as Dehaka's right arm, it still bled profusely, and whatever tore it from his torso didn't find him tasty... She shuddered before turning and rejoining the group, and they marched on towards the next Pack Leader. It was a large rock like monster with a single horn on its face, several spines moved down its back, and it spoke in a low gruff voice.
"I feel your strength... You will be worth killing, worth the blood!" Kraith shouted before he began to fire hundreds of tiny creatures from his mouth, they bore a striking similarity to Pinkie's parasites, but had more of a Primal look. Kraith ceased firing and took a few steps back with his hook like feet, before charging forward, crushing several Primal Zerg against the walls of the den, covering him in blood and gore. Primal Zerglings dropped from the roof with large rocks, which prompted Twilight to look upwards. What she saw was hundreds if not thousands of primal Zerglings clinging to the roof of the cave, they seemed oblivious to the battle going on just feet below them. Twilight looked back to see Kraith charge at her, which she had no time to avoid. She was slammed into the cave wall, but her strong carapace allowed her to survive the attack, although she had heard a loud crunch when he made contact. Kraith fought until he fell, causing his body to explode outwards, with his heart still beating, Kerrigan absorbed his essence and turned to leave the cave.
Twilight began to follow, but found it difficult to walk, upon examination her leg was broken, but Abathur's voice soon filled their heads.
"Queen can twist strands, heal self and nearby allies." Abathur informed. Twilight smiled as Kerrigan had them all huddle around her, and an orange mist was shot outwards, however it made Twilight feel tingly, and upon inspection her leg was fixed, even facing the right direction once again. She moved forward and found a large Primal beast waiting. It had claws that flipped backwards so that it could walk on them, with several plates lining its back, and most impressive was the natural armor. It appeared to be simply skin, but upon touch it felt just like a carapace. Twilight had become enwrapped in her thoughts and felt Spike's hand touch her shoulder.
"We need to keep moving. From what Zurvan said all that should be left is Slivan..." Spike said, but they were all unaware that an ancient presence watched more closely than they thought, waiting for the perfect moment...
Now with the Primal Ultralisk in tow, the group continued onwards only to find themselves, a few feet away from strange Baneling like creatures.
"What are these things? Primal Banelings?" Rainbow Dash asked, but they heard Dehaka begin to explain.
"Creeper. This one explodes when it senses you..." Dehaka said, which prompted Kerrigan to approach. The Creepers turned to face her and slowly began to move towards her, and once they got there exploded in a rain of acid and flesh that burned like fire. Kerrigan quickly healed and dashed through the remaining Creepers, killing them. Unlike Banelings upon their death, they did not cause any damage, instead the acid seemed to disappear, which confused them. They moved forward and found themselves in an ambush, for dozens of Creepers slowly moved towards them, while Primal Zerglings, Hydralisks, Ultralisks, and Roaches rushed at them ready to kill. The Swarm fought and slaughtered all of the Primal Forces, and they approached Slivan who resembled a large light green Swarm Host.
"Welcome..." Slivan began, which made Fluttershy smile, but Slivan wasn't finished speaking. "To your demise!" Slivan shouted, before the eggs on her back began to pulse and hatch, releasing Creepers. Fluttershy frowned and began to help kill them, but they were being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Creepers, until Spike fired a large orb o fire that hit the ground and exploded, with a large blast that killed many of the creepers allowing them to attack Slivan directly. She let out cries of shock and agony as claws, spines, acid, and other things dug into her flesh and left large wounds. Slivan took a few steps, before the back half of her exploded, and the front half attempted to crawl way, but was unable to escape. Kerrigan absorbed Slivan's essence and turned to hear a voice.
"You have grown powerful... You are Zerg... I... Thirst..." Zurvan said, which shocked all but Kerrigan.
"Zurvan. I wondered when you'd make your move." Kerrigan said, as the massive Primal broke through the surface of the ground, destroying all but a crescent shaped area that they stood on. Large tentacles waved behind their backs, while his giant maw was directly in front of their faces.
"You will feed my evolution... My first in millennia." Zurvan said, but Spike moved forward.
"Why did you help us if you planned to kill us all anyway?" Spike asked, but Zurvan seemed to be in a trance.
"No allegiance but to self... Kill or be killed... You know this... At the end of the day one will consume the other and become something greater than either..." Zurvan muttered, but Kerrigan had heard enough. She began to attack with her Psionic lightning, while the Swarm fought with her. Zurvan slammed his tentacles over them, crushing many Hydralisks, and Roaches, but the Swarm sill remained. Zurvan then began to crawl upwards, with his feet panted on the platform he opened his mouth and began to inhale, which allowed them to see the lightning that was being built up. However he was unable to unleash this attack for he was knocked back by Kerrigan, who floated in the air and began to send her psionic energy into him. Zurvan let out loud shouts of pain, but he was silence when the top of his head exploded, the remainder of his head landed on the platform, with his tongue hanging loosely around his bottom teeth. Kerrigan then began to absorb Zurvan's essence, and turned to face the others.
"It is done... We have conquered Zerus..." She said, which caused the Primals and the Swarm to break into cheers and celebration.
They boarded the Leviathan and approached Izsha for they needed to move on, and head for the Koprulu Sector, where they would advance on Mengsk. However Izsha showed them something.
"One of your Brood Mothers gave this to us... It is not a weapon..." Izsha said, and the machine suddenly began to activate, and it produced the image of a man.
"It's a two way communicator!" Kerrigan exclaimed.
"Kerrigan... Back to your true form it seems... A monster. Listen here, if you care about James Raynor you'll keep your Swarm away from Korhal and away from me." The man said, but before Kerrigan could reply he began to speak again. "That's right he's alive. Oh how disgusted he must be with you. After everything he went through, after everything he sacrificed to bring you back, you once again become a monster. Why I bet he'd be first in line to kill you." The image disappeared, and Kerrigan was left standing there in both disbelief and anger.
"My Queen, I am receiving a message from an unknown source. It wishes for you to come to these coordinates." Izhsa said, but Kerrigan didn't say anything.
"Take us there. We'll deal with that first. Then we're going to find Jim." Kerrigan said, and Izsha gave a quick nod before the Leviathan began to travel.
"Who was that guy? Who is James Raynor?" Spike asked, now curious and worried.
"That man was the one who ruined my life, Arcturus Mengsk. Before I was the Queen of Blades, I was a human... I worked for that man, until he used the Zerg to murder an entire planet... He abandoned me there after I said something about it being wrong." Kerrigan explained.
"So that's the leader of the Dominion? The one you want to get your revenge on?" Rainbow Dash asked, and Kerrigan nodded.
"Now what about this James Raynor fellow? Who is he?" Rarity asked, but Kerrigan sighed.
"He's the man I love... I doubt he would love a Zerg creature like myself now..." Kerrigan muttered.
"There's still a chance that he loves you. From what Mengsk said, he returned you to your human form. That has to mean something." Fluttershy said, stepping next to Kerrigan, who didn't seem to notice or care.
"If he didn't love yah than he wouldn't have done anythin' but save his own hide when you were the old Queen of Blades." Applejack added, and Kerrigan nodded. She began to move to her chambers, at the moment she needed to be left alone.
Fluttershy and Pinkie's Special Mission
Author's Note
Warning I will not get everything everyone says one hundred percent throughout the entire story. I am cool with that, if you are not then I am sorry.
Fluttershy and Pinkie's Special Mission
The Leviathan moved and approached a large structure. Kerrigan had left her chambers to notice a Terran standing on the Leviathan.
"Who are you?" Kerrigan asked, and he turned to face them, which showed that his entire left half was Zerg like. His eyes glowed orange constantly and the same glow came from his mouth as well. He wore a black coat, black pants, had black facial hair, and a black cap.
"You do not recognize me? I am Alexi Stukov. We were enemies once." The Terran explained, and Kerrigan remembered him.
"What are you doing here?" Twilight asked, and Stukov began to explain.
"I was recovered after Kerrigan killed me, and I was brought back from the dead, infested, cured, infested again and went through years of experiments and torture. This is a Dominion lab, where I had been held captive for many years, so I will see it burn." Stukov said, his serious tone had made Twilight nervous, for she was unsure if he could be trusted.
"Infested, cured, infested again, experimented on, and hunted... We have a lot in common... What can we do?" Kerrigan asked, and Stukov smiled.
"We need to infiltrate the Station, but the entrance is heavily guarded." Stukov replied, and Kerrigan noticed the large amount of garrisons, where the soldiers would live while on the station.
"We can infest those garrisons, use their own against them." Kerrigan suggested, but that raised a question.
"How are we going to do that?" Spike asked, but then they all looked at Pinkie, who was tapping a Larva on the head periodically.
"Who's a little cutie? You are! Who's a little cutie? You are! Who's a little cutie? You are!" She said happily, but then noticed the stares of them all. She frowned before asking "What?"
A sac dropped onto the station undetected, and inside it was Pinkie. She jumped and did a few flips before landing on one hoof in a classic ninja pose.
"I have made it on the metal thingy. Now what?" Pinkie asked, and she heard sacs splat behind her. A single Infestor had joined her, and it moved forward before stopping at her side.
"I've provided you with an Infestor. Use it to plant Virophages around the garrisons, that will infest the Terrans inside, and they will fight for the Swarm." Kerrigan answered, and Pinkie crept forward to see a cluster of Marines. She smiled and launched her small pool of acid which began to melt the soldiers before they could alert anyone. Pinkie ran down with the Infestor following closely behind, it stopped and moved towards the garrisons and placed down a object that began to pulse and throb until a Virophage burst from it, the Virophage began to pump a green liquid onto the buildings and they grew tentacle like growths, and several infested Terrans began to exit the building with their claws ready and their Gauss Rifles loaded. Pinkie was shocked at first, but then grew to like the idea, while the others had different opinions.
Twilight who was watching from the Leviathan felt sorry for the Terrans, they had lived nice and normal lives, now they were being turned into weapons of the Swarm, but what really made her heart sink is what she heard one say to its former team.
"Please... Kill... Me..." One said, before it got shot several times, causing it to die, and it was able to muter one last sentence. "Thank... You..." Pinkie watched as the Infestor moved forward and began to do its work, it fired a small spine at a Terran Vehicle and soon the same tentacle like growths sprouted on the outside. Pinkie took a while to realize what this meant, but it eventually came to her: The Swarm was taking over their minds without infesting them. The Infested continued their attack and two more Virophages were placed. One an area for the Swarm to place a Hive Cluster had been cleared, the Dominion opened several vents on the floor of the station and began to pump out a yellow gas, upon contact the Infested began to explode and burst, killing them.
"The Dominion is venting gas to kill the Infested." Izsha informed, but Abathur also had something to comment.
"Clever. Chemical warfare. Gas unstable. Will take time to synthesize more." Abathur said, and a Hive Cluster was dropped via sac, allowing them to begin harvesting Minerals.
"The Dominion will try to destroy our Virophages. We need to keep them defended." Kerrigan said, which meant that they would need to split up their forces. "Fluttershy, take Pinkie and your Brood then attack alongside the Infested. We'll defend the Virophages." Fluttershy nodded and waited for Pinkie to join her.
"Let's go! We've got us a Dominion to crush!" Pinkie shouted. Fluttershy began to lay several eggs and soon out came large groups of Flutterlings, Roachflies, Hydratrice, Mutaflies (Mutalisks with butterfly wings), and Swarm Rabbits (Swarm Hosts with rabbit ears, Locusts known as Bunnies, also have rabbit ears). They waited near the Hive Cluster while the gas was still being vented, while the Dominion began to send forces against the Virophages, however they would be eliminated. The gas stopped, and the Infested began to emerge from the garrisons, and they continued moving forward to hunt down the Dominion and break into the laboratories down below.
Pinkie, Fluttershy, and her Brood broke into a run, the several Infested paid them no mind, but instead focused on the Dominion. The Dominion was only able to watch in horror as the new Brood rushed forward and began to kill them. Fluttershy's Brood left no survivors, and continued to attack, until they managed to break through to the laboratories that lied below. Kerrigan approached with the Mane Six and Spike, then they entered knowing that something here was being used to help Mengsk.
Twilight entered the lab, instantly the smell of oil, strange chemicals, and the fear of Terrans hit her nostrils. She was disgusted, the Terrans had built all of this to create some Protoss and Zerg monster. Stukov had warned them of the lead scientist here: Dr. Narud. A shape shifting beast that serves the one that corrupted the Zerg. He serves the fallen Xel'Naga. She was the first one, but waited for the others to arrive. She heard their footsteps behind her, and she knew that they were ready to continue their assault. Kerrigan entered to hear a voice with an accent that she couldn't place.
"You are not velcome here Kerrigan." Dr. Narud said, but Kerrigan began to ignore him, as one of the Hybrid began to awake, and a special aura wrapped around the creature, then it moved around Kerrigan.
"GAH!" Kerrigan cried out in pain, which made the ponies and Spike rush to her side.
"My Queen! What's wrong!?" Rarity asked, worried about Kerrigan.
"It's attacking me with its psionic powers! Kill it now!" She shouted, which prompted them to take action.
"Let's go! We need to destroy that Hybrid!" Spike yelled, and they began to rush towards the Hybrid's location. The Hybrid floated above the ground and it was obvious that it had a Protoss shield. They jumped at the Hybrid and began to attack it, but it wouldn't go down without a fight. The Hybrid lifted up Pinkie with its Psionic abilities and slammed her onto the ground, it created four more of itself, all of which began to fight. The ponies were shocked at the raw power that these creatures held, and that they could easily destroy us. Twilight inhaled and her horn began to glow. She launched a large orb that exploded on contact with the Hybrid. It stopped attacking and raised both of its hands towards the sky, before it exploded in a flash of blue light.
"One down... Who knows how many more to go..." Applejack muttered.
"Twilight. I sense something... A Zerg mind... Captured and powerful... I don't know what its called, but it could be useful." Fluttershy said, and Twilight nodded before they began to search for the Zerg creature. They eventually found it, and it was chained down to a platform. They rushed forward and began to kill the Dominion soldiers that guarded the beast. Upon their death, Fluttershy was able to take control of the beast.
"Zagara told me about these things... They're called..." Spike said, snapping his fingers trying to remember. "Brutalisk! That's it! This is a Brutalisk! Even bigger and stronger than an Ultralisk! They can even attack flying foes, and not to mention they move pretty quickly despite their size." Spike shouted, just as another Hybrid woke.
"Oh damn! We need to move now!" Twilight yelled, and they quickly moved destroying Hybrid after Hybrid, not leaving anything that crossed their paths alive. Eventually they learned that only two Hybrid remained, and after a brief discussion they located and destroyed them, saving not only themselves, but Kerrigan as well.
"Good. Now we go after Narud." Kerrigan said as they moved deeper into the lab, soon joined by Stukov.
Author's Note
WARNING! CRAPPY CHAPTER AHEAD! WARNING! CRAPPY CHAPTER AHEAD!
Kerrigan will not be participating in this mission. I thought I should have one focused completely focusing on the ponies and Spike, so stay with me.
Stukov and Kerrigan led the group, making sure to scan for any signs of hostility and danger, they moved through and found two oddly colored Zealots, who seemed to be blocking the path. "Oh great... More Protoss..." Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes.
"Not just any Protoss. The Tal'Darim. Fanatics that worship Amon as their god." Stukov said with a grin.
"They worship a dead god?" Fluttershy asked, gently petting a Flutterling. It let out a loud screech as the Protoss took notice of them and charged.
"That makes them all the more dangerous..." Kerrigan replied, watching the two approaching Protoss with little interest.
"Stop them! They cannot be allowed into the Temples! " One of them shouted, but this foolish rush would prove to be their doom, for the didn't stand a single chance against the multitude of Zerg, and were quickly killed.
"Well, we just gonna sit here or we gonna git rid of this Narud fella once and fer all?" Applejack asked, and they continued down the single corridor that twisted and turned. They eventually came across a large and horrifying Zerg creature, one that Twilight had been dying to see, and she finally would. It was the corpse of an Ultralisk, tethered to a large machine by its Kaiser Blades, its head hung low, eyes glassy, with a large hole in its chest, most likely from taken organs.
"It's a shame... We could have used this Ultralisk..." Stukov muttered, he placed a hand against its carapace and traced the various rises and dips, moving along the grooves with his fingers.
"Organism Stukov, misunderstands. Death irrelevant. Only essence matters." Abathur's voice filled their heads, and before their eyes the Ultralisk began to reanimate, the hole in its chest began to close, the various wounds that covered its body healed, and the glossy look to its eyes faded, becoming bright and full of life. It let out a loud roar, and with a quick and forceful tug of its Kaiser Blades, managed to break its restraints, joining the large group.
"That's amazing! If Abathur is able to do this, why can't he do it with all Zerg? Reanimate the corpses, we'd have a never ending army!" Twilight exclaimed, but noticed Kerrigan shrug as a response.
"Abathur is... Complicated... You can't really read what he's thinking all the time." Kerrigan said, before moving on and locating a second Ultralisk, this one living. Once it was brought under their control, it too joined them, breaking free of its restraints. They continued to follow the corridor and found a small Protoss base, with only a few Proton Cannons and a Gateway or two.
"This is Narud's base? That's really anti-climactic..." Rainbow said with a frown, and felt Stukov's hand grab her face, before turning her head to face the multitude of Protoss forces that moved around, blissfully unaware of their presence. "Never mind... This may be a good fight after all..." Rainbow Dash said, grinning.
"Let's start with getting rid of this base first." Rarity said, before rushing forward, to attack and kill any Protoss that cross their path, with each one muttering phrases that praised Amon's name.
"Glory to Amon! " "Our deaths are not in vain! " "We gladly die for Amon! " "Our god will slay you all! " "You will not survive! " The different voices of the Protoss began to fill the air, shouting their messages of glory and hate.
It hadn't taken long for the base to get destroyed, and Kerrigan began to climb along a long thick arch, and she found herself wondering something. "Why would Narud build this lab on a Xel'Naga temple?" She asked, but from a long distance away heard Narud shouting.
"Silence! You fools know nothing of the Xel'Naga!" Narud yelled, and then a large green energy began to take shape around him, forming a creature that resembled the Hybrid, and it began to steadily fire a beam of energy towards Kerrigan. She retaliated with her own beam of energy, this one a bold hot pink, the two beams collided and it was apparent that Narud had the upper hand, for his beam steadily approached Kerrigan, while the struggle to keep her attack going was evident from the expressions she was giving.
"Narud is driving a null-void towards you! If it makes contact, you will be vaporized instantly!" Stukov shouted, before running to the edge of the newly grown Hive Cluster. The tips of his boots were off the Creep. "Narud is getting his extra strength from several Temples nearby! If we can shut them down, then you will easily overpower him!" Stukov added, motioning for the ponies and Spike to follow. There was a short silence, before Kerrigan groaned.
"Shut them down... NOW!" She shouted through gritted teeth, trying her best to keep the null-void from reaching her.
"Twilight!" Stukov shouted, getting her attention. "You, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash follow me! We will not allow Narud to destroy Kerrigan!" He shouted, before sprinting towards the structure with several Hydralisks, and one of the two Ultralisks following. They raced to keep up with Stukov, who had already reached the first temple. He ran up the small ramp and began to slay the Protoss that guarded it. It was at that moment that Twilight heard a loud and mighty roar, a roar that chilled her to the bone.
Twilight whipped her head around to see an approaching Hybrid. Where the Hybrid in the upper labs were more Protoss like than anything, these Hybrid showed more Zerg traits than anything else. It was steadily getting closer, and closer, and closer. However the moment it saw them, it broke into a run, massive feet hitting the ground in a heavy rhythm. "I can deactivate the Temples! I need to focus my Psionic energy into it!" Stukov shouted, but the Hybrid raised a large clawed hand and let out another roar, before it reached the incline of the slope and began to attack. It was very quick, the claws slashing through her flesh and possibly her bones, but it wasn't enough to kill her, just horribly injure.
"I can still help, do not worry!" Stukov yelled. A green orb began to form in his and and without hesitation, threw it directly at the Hybrid. The orb burst and began to eat away at the armor, quickly dissolving anything it touched, including the Hybrid's flesh. It let out roar and screams of agony, but this didn't stop it from attacking. Several Hydralisks had been killed, while more and more continued to join from the Hive Cluster. The Hybrid continued to fight, despite its jerking movements, it let out a third scream and exploded in a large blue wave of Psionic energy. The Hybrid was dead, and they heard Stukov approach.
"You are injured? Just stay close. I can't explain why, but whenever a Zerg organism is close to me they heal much more rapidly." Stukov explained, before they continued to shut down the remaining temples. It didn't take long to shut down the remaining temples, quickly diminishing Narud's power, while he let out his yells of disapproval and disbelief. Kerrigan let out a loud yell and began to force the null-void towards Narud, and just as quickly as he appeared he vanished.
"Badda bing, badda boom! Let's get back to the Leviathan!" Rainbow Dash shouted, but noticed Kerrigan moving towards a large set of stone doors. "What'cha doing? We got rid of Narud." Rainbow Dash said, just hoping to get back to the Leviathan and sleep for a while.
"Getting rid of him isn't enough. I want Narud dead." Kerrigan replied, before moving to enter the room, but Stukov grabbed her shoulder.
"Be careful. Narud is much more dangerous than he looks." Stukov said, and noticed Kerrigan grinning at them.
She forced the doors open and left the room, but not before leaving one last sentence. "So am I."
Author's Note
The next few chapters will not be missions from the story considering they mostly focus around the Hyperion. So it will continue with the "Thoughts of Home" chapters.
Thoughts of Home (Rainbow Dash)
Rainbow Dash, for the first time in a while was not flying, she ran across the soft and squishy flesh of the Leviathan's insides and still gave an occasional giggle at the sounds that were produced. She was heading past the Nerve Center, where Stukov, Dehaka, and Zagara waited for Kerrigan to return, she ran past the Evolution Pit, but quickly backed up and let out quick bark, startling Abathur, and moved past the Queen's Chambers, a place which none of them were allowed, before jumping and landing onto a large jiggly organ. While she wasn't sure what it was, it made a perfect bed. It was the softest, comfiest, and driest of the various organs that the Leviathan had, and she just wanted to rest. It didn't take long for her to nod off and dream about the vents before her freedom from her cocoon.
It had been hot that day, with no rain scheduled for about a week, it hard to find something to do. So Rainbow Dash had decided something: It was time for a prank. It was one of the simplest ones as well, which was to slam a cream pie in somepony's face, and she had the perfect pony in mind. It was easy getting the pie, considering she had one in her house, but it would be hard to prank this pony, considering she and Rainbow had been caught in a friendly prank-war for years now. She would have to be fast, careful, and... Her thoughts were interrupted by a low rumbling growl. She turned and felt her jaw drop as she was the large creatures fly near her. They were large and ugly, with no visible eyes and a round mouth filled with curling teeth. It moved by flapping the sides of its body, which ended in large leathery wings, the most noticeable feature was the fact that it had two miniature versions of itself flying at its side. Rainbow Dash made a mental note to ask Fluttershy about these things later, but for now the prank. It was then that she felt a sharp and sudden pain in her rear left leg. She flew up and saw one of the miniature creatures had bitten her, and taken a small chunk out of her as well. However it made no movement to try and fly after her, nor did the parent creatures that seemed to be making more. She slowly lowered herself onto a cloud, mostly to test something and found that her suspicions were correct. The moment her wings ceased flapping, the large parents flung the smaller creatures at her with a forceful slap from their wings. Before the smaller creature could do any damage to her, she flew upwards and looked at the two smaller creatures and found herself confused when one suddenly ruptured, like an over filled balloon, if balloons were filled with blood, organs, and bones. She wondered why the parents made no move towards her at the moment, while she was flying, could they not see her? She let out a sigh and decided that the bite was more important than the prank, and began to fly towards Ponyville, only to hear a loud, shrill, screech move through the air. Another creature flew towards her at a rapid rate, it was disk shaped, with a strange looking appendage on its face, with several smaller tentacles flailing behind it. It had no wings which should have made flight impossible, yet it didn't.
The new creature took chase, somehow nearly able to keep up with Rainbow Dash who continued to fly from the creature, scared of what it might do. She still held the pie in her hooves, she wasn't sure why, she just did. She let out a sudden gasp of pain, when something collided with her wing, snapping the bone, causing her to plummet towards the ground. She saw the creature still chasing, now moving at an angle, hoping to get her but it stopped. Rainbow Dash felt herself hit the ground and something gooey slammed into her face, upon thought she realized it was the pie, she had pranked herself. Quickly using her hooves to wipe the cream from her face, and noticed something horrifying. A tall creature stood over Fluttershy, who was surrounded by several large, and monstrous creatures, each one with teeth and claws that rivaled a manticore's. She had to do something, and fast. Without thinking, Rainbow Dash was running towards the creature, before taking a large leap intending to tackle the creature, but felt something make contact with her, knocking the wind out of her. Rainbow Dash noticed one of the smaller creatures had once again been flung at her, meaning the large flying creatures had followed. Rainbow Dash turned her head to check on Fluttershy and instead found the creature towering over her, with its large boney wings and its flaring yellow eyes. It was then that Rainbow Dash blacked out.
Rainbow Dash felt something shaking her, while shouting as well. "Rainbow Dash! Wake up! Wake up!" The voice went silent, then began again. "Just wake up!" The voice was getting louder and louder.
"Five more minutes..." Rainbow Dash moaned, swatting a hoof at her waker.
"No! Get up!" Rainbow Dash was finally able to place a name with this voice, it was Twilight.
"Move!" A second voice said, and Rainbow Dash felt a sharp pain in her side, snapping her awake. Zagara stood near her, obviously upset by something.
"What?! Couldn't you let me sleep!?" Rainbow asked, rolling over with her back turned to them.
"It's the Queen..." Twilight began, but found herself unable to continue.
"The Queen had been horribly wounded." Zagara finished, this statement made Rainbow Dash leap onto her feet, before looking them in the eyes.
"Will she be all right? She's not dying is she?" Rainbow asked, and Twilight shook her head.
"We had to drag her back to the Leviathan. There was a Terran next to her... Dead..." Twilight explained.
"That was no Terran." Stukov said, startling the two ponies. "It was Narud. Who he was at the moment I'm not sure, but I know that he's dead... And Amon lives. Kerrigan told me herself." This made the three's eyes widen.
"Amon? The fallen Xel'Naga? Are you sure?" Zagara questioned, and Stukov nodded.
"Like I said, that's what Kerrigan told me." Stukov turned and began to leave the room, but stopped and said "Kerrigan has requested that we all gather in the Nerve Center."
Rainbow Dash was the last in this line, which was strange considering she would fight to be the first, but hearing about the Queen being injured had upset her. She moved through the familiar tunnels and corridors of the Leviathan, before stopping outside the Evolution Pit and peeked inside to see Abathur had his back turned to her. She grinned and sharply, but quietly inhaled, she went to make a loud sound and saw Abathur whirl around and throw something at her. The object connected with her face, causing a small amount of green goop to splat on her face. Abathur glared at her, and pointed towards the Nerve Center.
"My Queen, are you healed?" Twilight asked, and Kerrigan nodded before speaking.
"We're heading into Terran territory. You are to attack no Terrans unless I say otherwise. Is that understood?" Kerrigan asked. She received mixed responses from the groups and sighed.
"Why not? I thought we wanted to destroy the Dominion? Isn't that were we're going? To destroy the Dominion?" Pinkie asked.
"No. We're going to find Jim. There's only one person I know who can help us." Kerrigan answered.
"An' who would that be?" Applejack asked.
Kerrigan turned her back to them and said "Matt Horner, Jim's friend and captain of the Hyperion. There are to be no more questions, we move now."
Thoughts of Home (Applejack)
Applejack stood in the Evolution pit and looked at the several evolved Zerg. So far the only Zerg to go through any major evolutions were the Zergling, the Baneling, the Roach, and the Hydralisk. The Zerglings were now a violet color, with a large spine on their back, the Roaches were a deep purple and had several crystals growing off their backs, the Banelings looked barely any different but now were a deeper shade of green, finally the Hydralisks were a light shade of green. From what Applejack understood the Zerglings hatched almost instantly, and in threes instead of twos. The Banelings now split into two smaller creature's upon death. The Roach's acid would now make movement very difficult. Finally the Hydralisk could morph into a completely different creature known as an Impaler. While all of these were interesting, perhaps the thing that Applejack found herself mostly attached to would be the Ultralisk, this was because they shared a large amount of features. Both were used for heavy combat, both had extra reinforced carapaces, and both were able to kill very easily. It's been through fighting that Applejack had come to realize certain things about herself, mostly how good she was at it, but how much of her strength focused in her legs. She even recalled a few times fighting where she'd bucked a human or Protoss like it was an apple tree, back at Sweet Apple Acres. She found her memories fuzzy and sometimes ever forgot her family's names, this confused and upset her.
"Why is it so darn hard tah remember anyhtin'?" She asked herself, but heard Abathur respond.
"Memory unimportant. Present all that matters." Abathur said, which made Applejack's eyes widen.
"Are yah saying yah did somethin' tah mah memory?" Applejack asked, and noticed Abathur bouncing slightly, almost as if he was laughing.
"No, side effect." Abathur responded.
"Side effect tah what?" Applejack questioned.
"Infestation. Clouds mind, corrupts judgement, takes over body. You several key differences. Retained ability express emotions. Capable of thought. Unique, but inefficient." Abathur replied, not once looking to face her, his arms most likely working on some strange project of his.
"Inefficient...? Inefficient!? What do yah mean inefficient!? Me an' mah friends have done more for this Swarm than we'd ever done for anypony else! What exactly makes us so inefficient!?" Applejack asked, getting angry at the larger Zerg creature.
"Those factors lead to increased independence. Increased independence lead to questioning Hive Mind. Questioning Hive Mind lead to disobeying orders. Disobeying orders lead to threat to Queen. Swarm cannot pose threat to Queen! Cannot!" Abathur said, his voice slowly rising and rising.
"You mean tah tell me, that because we can act on our own, you think we're gonna try to git rid of the Queen? If that ain't the most ridiculous, paranoid thinkin' I've ever heard!" Applejack shouted, and then another question came to mind. "Well what about you then? You seem more independent than anything else in this critter. Why ain't you a threat?" Applejack asked.
"Follow Queen's every order. Without Hive Mind, am beast, less. No purpose. Also, Organism Dehaka more independent than I." Abathur responded, and Applejack had taken enough, she stormed out of the Evolution Pit, pushing aside several Zerglings, Roaches, and even Rarity.
"Applejack? Are you feeling all right?" Rarity asked, but received no response from her friend. She looked into the Evolution Pit and went inside, determined to find out what had happened.
Applejack just needed a place to cool down at the moment and couldn't stand to be around anything else, at the moment however she found that no matter where in the Leviathan she went, there seemed to be other Zerg around, and her search led her to the Nerve Center, where she began to look out the Leviathan's open mouth. She sighed and tried to make sense of everything. Did this mean that Abathur hadn't wanted to make them Zerg? Had he not foreseen this happening? Does he regret making them? She would be left to her thoughts, knowing that Abathur would never answer these questions, but heard the squish of footsteps behind her. She turned and saw Stukov entering, but the moment he noticed her, he went to leave.
"I can feel your anger... I'll just leave you to yourself..." Stukov moved to leave, but Applejack let out another sigh.
"Yah can stay if yah want. Just cause I'm upset, don't mean I got to treat everypo... Everybody like dirt..." Applejack said, and noticed the footsteps getting closer again.
"If you do not mind my asking... What has you so upset?" Stukov asked, and Applejack gave a soft smile.
"Abathur... He said some things that... Made me angry." Applejack responded, but found a question of her own forming in her mind. "What planet did you say you're from?" She asked, and Stukov began to chuckle.
"A planet very far from the Koprulu sector. A planet known as Earth. Looking out at the stars like this... I remember its green fields, its blue oceans, and finally its dark night sky..." Stukov said, closing his glowing orange eyes, and Applejack felt a similar sensation.
"Back home... In Equestria... I used to work on an apple farm... My family's owned and run it for years, but that doesn't really matter now does it?" She asked, and Stukov shrugged.
"It is good to think about your origins. As long as you do not allow them to consume you, you should be fine." Stukov replied. Applejack smiled and began to think about the orchard, began to think about home.
Applejack had been working for about an hour now, repeating the simple process of collecting apples from their trees, and placing them in their baskets, before moving back to the barn, leaving the baskets, and starting over again. It wasn't easy, but once you've done this kind of work for almost all your life, you really get used to it. She looked and saw Apple Bloom running off with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, most likely off to their little clubhouse, to try and find ways to get their cutie marks. She gave a warm smile and moved back to continue collecting the apples, when she stopped. Standing before her was a strange creature. Strange didn't even begin to cut it, she would have used a different word... Monster... It was short, and had a bulbous body that jiggled like gelatin when it walked. While it had no visible eyes it obviously able to see, for it racked her every movement. Whether she moved left or right, it kept its head on her, never once breaking its "gaze". Her mind was racing with possibilities for it being here, and the most rational one was that its just a curious animal. It wasn't doing anything to harm her, or the orchard, so maybe if she just left it alone, it would leave.
Applejack decided that would be the best course of action and tried her best to ignore the animal but found it following her, almost as if it... She slapped a hoof to her face and groaned. No wonder this creature was following her like this, it must think she's it mother. Applejack couldn't believe she hadn't thought of that, it made perfect sense. She moved close, hoping to at least be able to move it, but when she stepped forward, it let out a loud hiss. Applejack could definitely cross the idea of it thinking she was its mother off the list, but then why did it follow her like this? Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft scuttling, and turned to find more of the creatures, they had gathered in large numbers and each one blocked any path she might be able to take, and it was then that she realized what they were doing... Hunting. The one had simply been a distraction, to lure her attention from her surroundings, causing her to become trapped by the creatures. The slowly began to approach, all while letting out soft hisses and screeches of delight. Applejack was running out of options and quickly snatched and apple with her mouth, before launching it at one of the creatures, hitting one of the light green areas, causing it to burst like a balloon, sending green liquid going everywhere. A small amount hit her leg and she let out a loud cry of pain as it began to eat away at her fur and flesh, causing red blood to bubble out. The other creatures let out loud yells and rushed at her, intending to avenge their fallen brother, which cleared a small, but usable path. She pounced on the opportunity and quickly ran down it, leaving everything behind, including the brown stetson that she frequently wore. She heard several more bursting sounds and the splash of the acid, melting the trees and destroying her family's main source of income. However she didn't care about that right now, she cared about getting back to the house, and getting inside as fast as possible. The moment she broke through the trees and was able to see town, she let out a gasp. She saw nothing but monsters attacking anything that moved, animals, ponies, even the trees seemed to be dying. She just couldn't believe what was going on, and then she felt something collide with the back of her head, knocking her out cold.
Stukov placed a hand of Applejack's shoulder and sighed. "Home is a wonderful place, wouldn't you agree?" Stukov asked, and Applejack thought she saw something in his eyes, something sinister, as he knew what she'd been thinking about.
"It was... Until the Zerg arrived... Now I doubt Equestria is anything like it had used to be... Nothing but dead animals, ponies, and plants..." She muttered, but it was loud enough for Stukov to hear.
"You'll always have your memories. Memories of what your life was like before the Zerg..." Stukov slid his hand off her shoulder, and turned as Kerrigan entered.
"Well, you two are already here... I was just about to Izsha notify you that we've arrived. I'll tell Izsha to let the others know." Kerrigan said, before she pointed at a ship off in the distance.
Author's Note
First off, this is a substitute for Rarity's 'Thoughts of Home' chapter, because I couldn't really think of any way to connect Rarity to this, so that's that... I guess...
Rarity's Day
Abathur tried his best to ignore Rarity, but found one quality that he would never have been able to change: Persistence. She had been bugging him for the past twenty minutes and showed no sign of stopping. "Need to continue work! Need silence, quiet, no sound! Will drive mad!" Abathur shouted, pressing his four hands to his face, just hoping she would take the hint and leave.
"I will not be quiet until you tell me what happened!" Rarity yelled, and Abathur had only one option left. He began to retreat into the hole his body hung out of, which only angered Rarity more. "You get back here! That's very rude, and you should be ashamed!" Rarity shouted after him, but received no response. She continued to shout into the hole, for she could see his red pupils glowing in the darkness, and heard the occasional groan.
"What are you doing?" A voice asked, startling Rarity, making her jump. She quickly spun to face the owner of the voice and found Dehaka standing there, which confused her.
"I could ask you the same thing, and don't scare me like that!" She said, glaring at the large Primal.
"I was exploring this Leviathan, I have not seen much of it. Despite my presence here, I had taken to remaining in the Nerve Center, but now... I have grown bored." Dehaka replied, and Rarity raised an eyebrow.
"What led you to come here?" Rarity asked.
Dehaka looked around the room, at the several Zerg creatures that surrounded them. "The essence... I could sense it from nearby. Such essence being wasted on these creatures." Dehaka answered, and moved around the room, looking at the various changes made to the Zerg. However they were interrupted by a Swarm Host entering the room, it was now a light shade of green, with several red shading in certain places. Dehaka opened his mouth to speak, but heard Izsha's voice fill the room.
"The Queen of Blades has requested your presence in the Nerve Center. She says that it is important." Rarity looked back down into the hole that Abathur glared out of, and sighed before walking out with Dehaka following. Abathur slowly crawled out and pressed his hands against his temples.
His voice seemed to shudder with annoyance as he muttered "Organism Rarity... Cause massive headaches..."
"As you've no doubt been aware, we're entering Terran space now. We'll be pulling the Leviathan up alongside a Terran ship, remember that these Terrans are not to be harmed." Kerrigan's orders were clear, and threatening. She waited until she received some form of response from each of them. Although Zagara was hesitant to agree, she eventually did. "Now, I am going to my chambers to speak with the Terrans, you may resume whatever you had been doing." Kerrigan said, she left the Nerve Center, and everyone else had slowly began to do the same.
Rarity turned to move back into the Evolution Pit, to hopefully get the information out of Abathur, but a multi-toned voice stopped her.
Stukov approached, and began to walk along side the unicorn. "Rarity, you said that you were a tailor back on your world... Yes?" He asked, and Rarity nodded. "I was wondering... Heh... Nevermind..." He said, but Rarity grabbed onto his sleeve.
"Stukov, dear, you know that you can ask me anything. That's what friends are for after all." Rarity looked at Stukov who sighed.
"I was going to ask if you would be able to fix this." Stukov said, turning to show a large gash in his coat's side. "But... I guess that I had forgotten... You have no materials to work with." Stukov turned and quickly left before Rarity could say anything else. She rolled her eyes and continued towards the Evolution Pit.
"You know Abathur... I think we aren't that different, you and I..." Rarity said, while she had temporarily dropped what had upset Applejack, she planned on learning later.
"How so?" Abathur asked, he was working and Rarity couldn't help but watch as he moved his hands on a Zergling, slowly moving and changing its DNA. The changes were not obvious, and at first Rarity was confused, she finally had the nerve to ask Abathur what he was doing and his reply made her sigh in confusion. "Resolving Zergling lemon juice allergy."
"Right... So as I was saying, we aren't very different. You spin essence... I spin thread... You create life... And I create wonderful fashion!" Rarity exclaimed and Abathur stopped, he let out a sound that sounded something similar to a groan and shook his head. "Well... I suppose you're right... I can't exactly make clothing for the Swarm now... Or can I?" She asked, placing a hood underneath her chin. Suddenly, Kerrigan entered the room.
"Abathur, prepare a large force of Zerg. I'm going after Jim." Kerrigan said, and Rarity's eyes widened.
"Your friend is okay? That's wonderful news, my Queen! I cannot wait to meet the fellow! I must try to do something with my..." Rarity began, but Kerrigan cut her off.
"Rarity...!" Kerrigan began, but her hands clenched into fists, and she slowly unfurled her fingers. "You won't be meeting him... This is going to end badly, but I need to see it through. I just need to know that he'll be safe... Do... Do you understand...?" Kerrigan asked, turning to face her.
Rarity looked down at the fleshy floor, and slowly replied "Well... Y-Yes... I... Understand that feeling as well. I'm sure that Applejack, and Rainbow Dash would feel the same way. We would often feel that when we were worried about our younger sisters... I can't tell you how many times she had me worried, running off into the most dangerous forest in Equestria, doing dangerous things to try and earn their cutie marks..." Kerrigan didn't respond to this, she turned and moved to exit, leaving Rarity lost in thought, while Abathur quickly worked.
Thoughts of Home (Pinkie Pie)
Pinkie Pie bounced along the squishy floor of the Leviathan, and she felt her mane shake as a Party Locust poked its head out. These locusts were only one of the thousands of parasites and strange organisms that now called Pinkie home, but she didn't mind, instead she was happy to share with her new "friends". She couldn't help but feel happy, not for herself, but rather for Kerrigan. She knew that Kerrigan would be saving the "Jim" human, and she knew that they had certain feelings for each other. Pinkie smiled, knowing that they would be together again soon, but then slowly began to stop bouncing. She looked onto a chamber, to see Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all sitting in a circle. "So that's what happened?" Twilight asked, and Rarity nodded.
"I'm afraid that I wasn't very much help at fighting off the Zerg, but I tried... And you can see where that got us." Rarity added, and Pinkie bounded into the room.
"Hello!" She happily shouted, startling the group, but they all gave warm smiles to the Zerg-pony. "What'cha doin'?" Pinkie asked, and Twilight answered.
"We were discussing what we were doing before... You know... The Zerg attacked... Where were you when it happened?" Twilight asked, and Pinkie's smile only brightened, mostly because it was the first time in a while that they'd had the opportunity to have an actual conversation.
"Where was I?" Pinkie's smile began to fade, and was replaced with a puzzled look. "Where was I...?" Pinkie frowned, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Where was I...?" She looked up to her friends, and replied "I... I don't know... Maybe if I just..." Pinkie closed her eyes and let out a long groan.
The others looked among themselves confused, and Rainbow Dash leaned over to Fluttershy and asked "What is she doing...?" Then suddenly, Pinkie began to float above the ground, while gasping loudly.
"I REMEMBER! I REMEMBER!" Pinkie shouted, before beggining to explain every possible detail to her friends.\
Pinkie laid in her bed, gently snoring as the sun began to rise, and her eyes slowly opened. Pinkie knew that it was going to be an absolutely, without question, amazing day! Pinkie flipped out of bed, and quickly rushed downstairs to find some breakfast and-
"Uh... Pinkie? The Zerg didn't arrive until around noon, why are you starting off early in the morning? Could you skip ahead to a time closer to when the Zerg attacked?" Twilight asked, and Pinkie nodded, and inhaled before continuing her story.
The Cakes had tasked Pinkie with finding special berries that grew in the deepest part of the white-tail woods, and she wasn't one to shy down from a challenge. She had already gathered a basket full, and was on her way back to Ponyville, when she saw a peculiar creature before her. It floated a foot or two off the ground, and looked like a large crab, with a membrane between its 'legs' and several glowing yellow eyes. It seemed to pay her no attention and moved past her. Pinkie, with her curiosity now piqued, decided to follow the creature, after all the Cakes could wait a moment or two. She tried to be as stealthy as possible, just hoping that the monster didn't see her, she was unaware of the fact that it knew that she was following it. It's instincts told it what to do in cases like this, and it turned left sharply, and Pinkie followed. The creature led the pink mare around in circles, who was, after about an hour of this, was only just starting to catch on.
She shook her head and began to move back towards town, still holding the basket on her back, but when the tops of the buildings came into view, she instantly knew something was wrong. There was thick, black smoke rising over the homes and businesses and the mare broke into a run, the basket of berries fell onto the ground, forgotten among the worry that the mare felt. She wasted no time in making her way to Sugar Cube Corner, avoiding the attacks of monsters and beasts all the while. She was able to quickly slam the door shut after her, and for a safe measure locked it. Pinkie Pie noticed that the place was generally untouched, and as a result it was likely that the monsters hadn't gotten in yet. She moved around the building, calling for the Cakes, but she received no answer. Eventually she entered her room, and noticed a figure lying the the corner. She slowly began to approach, and began to reach out a hoof, when the figure let out a loud, wet, groan. Two red eyes opened, and the creature began to advance, while Pinkie backed away. It moved into the sunlight, and she was able to see that what approached her was not a pony, but rather one of the monsters. It was barrel like, with ten legs that helped it move forward, it had a large, rigid carapace, and many tongues that protruded from its mouth. It let out another rippling groan and began to make a strange sound. Pinkie noted that it almost sounded like it was going to vomit, but instead of what Pinkie was expecting, a large cocoon like object was launched between the mare and the door. She watched as the cocoon burst and a strange bipedal figure had hatched, with tentacle like growths spreading around what appeared to be armor, and it held a strange weapon, which was soon pointed at her. It muttered something in an echoing voice and Pinkie had to think quickly. She whirled around to face one of the windows in her room and leaped through it. Glass shattered, and Pinkie fell a story or two, but otherwise she was able to walk, or at least she would have, if it had not been for the strange creature that towered above. Pinkie's pupils shrunk to pinpricks and she let out a loud scream as the creature reached for her.
Pinkie had just finished telling them what happened, when they heard Izsha speak through their connected minds.
The Queen of Blades has returned, we are to move towards Korhal now.
The six quickly rushed off, and found that Kerrigan was staring at the Hyperion, she had her back turned and the others had concerned expressions.
"My Queen?" Zagara asked, but she received no response.
"Kerrigan? Did something happen? You rescued Jim didn't you?" Stukov asked, but he received no response.
"You do not speak?" Dehaka asked, but he received no response.
"My Queen? Your mind is closed off to me? I... I do not understand..." Izsha said, but once again Kerrigan ignored the speaker.
"We are moving to Korhal, and we are to drop our forces outside of the city, as requested by Valerian Mengsk." Kerrigan said, but despite the fact that they knew something was wrong, they knew better than to bother her. The pony/zerg creatures slowly left until only Twilight remained, and when she turned to leave she heard Kerrigan mutter...
"Oh, Jim...'