In the aftermath of dealing with the Primal Zerg Pack Leader, Brakk, Sweetie and Kerrigan noticed that the Zerg who followed Brakk were in disarray. Without its leader, Sweetie knew that it was only a matter of time before one of the other Pack Leaders comes along and claims the essence of the rest of the leaderless pack.
Izsha was concerned about awakening Zurvan when the creature was more powerful than Sweetie and Kerrigan combined.
“The Ancient One is key to unlocking the power of Zerus, and I need that knowledge,” Kerrigan said.
“Would it not be more prudent to simply ask the Overmind? Its knowledge should be sufficient to suit your needs.”
Sweetie’s consciousness shifted, ~”It is not the knowledge possessed by Zurvan that you need, but its essence. By claiming the essence of the most powerful creature on Zerus, you will be ready to face Amon’s army.”~
“Amon’s forces can wait. Mengsk comes first,” Kerrigan said.
~”Carry out your vengeance with due haste. The End War draws near. You must seek the first Spawning Pool where our kind originate. You must let it remake you both. Zurvan will lead you to it.”~ Sweetie’s consciousness returned. She clutched her head as she was struck with a bout of dizziness.
The Overmind gave one last warning to Sweetie, ~”When Zerus remakes you, you and I shall decide who is most fit to wield the power you shall gain. Should you emerge victorious, the entirety of my knowledge shall be yours, including all secrets of the Zerg. My victory shall allow me to claim the essence of your people and I shall create a new Swarm that shall conquer the universe.”~
Sweetie already knew the stakes and knew that a battle with the Overmind was inevitable, though some part of her was going to miss the unfortunate being.
Once Kerrigan and Sweetie made their final preparations, they called Zurvan to them to lead them to the first Spawning Pool. Once located, Sweetie and Kerrigan boarded a drop sac and landed near the Spawning Pool.
Zurvan, who was nearby, said, “You have come to this place seeking power. You must feel the power. It calls to you. Go to it.” Its attention turned to Sweetie. “You must overcome the Overmind or lose everything. The power of your world will be your strength.”
Sweetie wasn’t sure what Zurvan meant, regardless, the two pressed forward.
The two were alerted to a small group of Primal Zerg headed in their direction. Abathur, who had been studying the Primals as much as the Primals had been studying the Swarm, sent a few Swarm Hosts, a strain that walks on four pointed legs while they bear a Locust nest on their backs.
The Swarm Hosts burrowed in front of Sweetie and Kerrigan and began spawning Locusts, large beetle-like creatures that spat bits of acid. The Locusts made quick work of the incoming Primal Zerg group.
Sweetie and Kerrigan arrived at the first Spawning Pool. Zurvan asked Kerrigan one last time if her hatred was still strong enough to survive the changes. Kerrigan was fully resolved to take the risk if it meant that she could kill Mengsk.
“You will have your power, and you will lose yourself. Evolve. Transform. Transcend. Overcome.”
Abathur gave the two one last chance to turn back because he was uncertain if either of them would survive the experience.
Kerrigan gave Zagara command of the hive cluster near the pool for the duration of their metamorphoses. Once ready, Kerrigan and Sweetie stepped into the center of the Spawning Pool. Sweetie tossed her rifle to the shore.
Large, chitinous tendrils emerged all around the two and surrounded them. The tentacles enclosed both into their own individual spaces. Each isolated from the world around them and each other, they wondered what would happen next.
It was then that Sweetie’s space was filling with a fluid that she had never seen before. The tendrils made sure that the fluid would not escape by tightening their grip on the small space around her. The fluid continued to rise and was soon above her knees, then her waist, then her torso and finally immersed her fully into the organic fluid.
After what felt like several minutes since she was placed under the fluid, she started to lose consciousness. When she fully relaxed herself, she began floating in the amniotic fluid before fully losing consciousness.
Zagara watched the two become wrapped in their own respective chrysalises. Just by looking at them, she could see how vulnerable they would be in such states. A small part of her wanted to take advantage of their vulnerability and kill them both, but she knew better than to let secrets that her teachers have yet to teach her become lost because she was eager to take the Swarm for herself.
Zagara started morphing more Swarm Hosts to increase the security around the area. She had plenty of Drones morph into Spine and Spore Crawlers in preparation for a Primal Zerg attack.
As expected, the packless Primals began gathering near the area in preparation to attack the hive cluster and the chrysalises. Zagara moved the Swarm Hosts and Spine Crawlers to the western position to deal with the leaderless group. Swarm Queens acted as support for the operation.
Zagara detected another pack. This one declared that Brakk’s pack would be claimed by its pack, territory and essence.
With that, Brakk’s leaderless pack went to war with the other pack, led by one who called itself Yagdra. The giant worm-like Zerg leader sent its pack against both Brakk’s pack and Zagara.
Sweetie awoke to find herself in a grassy field with Ponyville in the distance. Some places around her appear to have been decimated as a result of powerful magical blasts. The Everfree Forest was also nearby.
What interested Sweetie the most was the black stallion with a crimson mane in a crimson suit with a black tie. He looked around as if inspecting the aftermath of a great battle.
As Sweetie approached him, his distant gaze remained for a short time before he said, “This battlefield is a testament to your people’s potential to overcome great challenges. I looked through your memories and saw the battle between one who took on the burden of power they were too inexperienced to control, and one who sought power and conquest. I witnessed the courage that she displayed when she gave it up to save her friends.”
He turned to Sweetie. “This battlefield shall be used once more. You already know the stakes. Our wills shall clash one last time. Only one of us may survive. The power of Equus and the power of Zerus; which will prove superior this day?” The Overmind assumed a combat stance. “Prepare yourself!”
Sweetie and the Overmind charged at each other to begin their battle.
Yagdra’s and Brakk’s packs began pushing against the hive cluster from opposite entrances, forcing Zagara to divide the Spine Crawlers and Swarm Hosts appropriately for each entrance.
Abathur made a discovery about the Spawning Pool, with the right stimulation, it could spawn a swarm of flying Locusts that would devastate a wave of Primal Zerg. Since the essence in the Pool gathered quickly, Zagara took full advantage of the Locust swarms.
Occasionally, Yagdra would send Primal Mutalisks to attack the chrysalises. Thankfully, Zagara anticipated this and had a number of Spore Crawlers and Mutalisks guarding the edges of the Pool.
Zagara soon began to notice that the two chrysalises were growing.
In preparation for the fight, the Overmind replaced his suit with a chitinous carapace while his fingers were sharpened as claws. A number of sharp tendrils grew from his back.
Sweetie still had her rifle and her psionic power. She hoped they would be enough to handle the ancient being.
The Overmind thrust one of his tentacles and Sweetie’s direction which was easily dodged. He didn’t bother trying to dodge the shots fired at him. He ran forward and started slashing at her with his claws. She dodged most of the swipes and had to block the rest with her rifle which sent her flying a short distance.
Sweetie recovered quickly enough to hit the Overmind with a Mindblast which momentarily stunned him long enough for her to fire a few shots at his face. He recovered from the attack and the damage to his face by regenerating the damaged tissue.
While regenerating, Sweetie hit him with a Psionic Lash which sent him flying backwards.
The Overmind counterattacked by driving a tendril into the ground and caused it to emerge from below Sweetie. She felt the tremors, which came easy to her because of her Earth Pony attribute, and skillfully dodged it.
The battle continued for some time in that fashion.
The Primal attacks continued to intensify. Both packs were continuing to attack each other and Zagara’s position.
Abathur detected the presence of a creature with some decent essence and wanted Zagara to send a force to bypass the basin where the two packs were fighting and kill the creature to acquire its essence. Zagara was able to handle the task by sending a swarm of Mutalisks after it.
Meanwhile, the two packs attempted to attack the hive cluster simultaneously in a pincer attack. Zagara reacted by unleashing a swarm of Locusts on both packs.
Zagara was still managing to hold the line.
Sweetie was becoming frustrated because she was having difficulty landing strong hits on the equine representation of the Overmind. Her abilities didn’t seem to do much as he brushed himself off after a hit from her Psionic Lash.
She would need to use a new strategy if she wished to emerge victorious.
It was during this time that she began to think about Lyra and how she could really use her help dealing with him.
Suddenly, one of the Overmind’s tendrils got slashed off, leaving a smoldering burn on the stub. Lyra suddenly appeared next to Sweetie. “Lyra? What are you doing here?” Sweetie asked.
She didn’t respond.
After a moment of thinking, Sweetie realized that she was looking at a representation of Lyra in her mind. That’s when it clicked; she needed to use the power of Equus to defeat the Overmind and that power was in her own memories.
Since she was in her own mind, she would make use of it. She imagined herself as a unicorn. A moment later, a horn grew from her forehead. Remembering the magic spells that Lyra showed her, Sweetie fired a magical blast from her horn. The Overmind reeled from the attack for a moment before picking himself up.
Sweetie’s battle truly began.
Zagara was being put through a stress test by facing the increasingly frequent Primal attacks from both sides. At this point, she had both sides heavily fortified with Spine Crawlers and Swarm Hosts.
Izsha suddenly warned Zagara that Yagdra’s pack was trying to break through the wall of rocks that were blocking an entrance from the basin where the two packs continued to fight. Zagara sent her Mutalisk swarm after the Primals digging through the rock pile.
Zagara was also abusing the Locust swarms as much as she could to keep the Primal Zerg at bay.
While all this was going on, the intense battle was watched by a curious set of eyes. What was seen was plenty of essence being devoured and the creature intended to collect what was left in the aftermath.
The battle intensified in Sweetie’s mind as the Overmind used the denizens of Sweetie’s inner world by infesting them and sending them at her, forcing her to kill those that she had come to know over the years: customers, friends, families of friends.
Sweetie countered the Overmind’s moves by imagining an army of Royal Guard equipped with the latest in Terran weaponry: gauss rifles, flamethrowers, grenade launchers and cluster bombs were brought against the infested Ponies.
The Overmind cleared the battlefield by planting his tentacles into the ground and made them branch out into countless sub-tentacles which all erupted from the ground and impaled the infested and Royal Guard as well as the image of Lyra.
Sweetie thought fast by imagining herself with wings so she could lift herself out of the range of the impaling tentacles. She fled into the Everfree Forest to find something she could use against the Overmind. After a few minutes of searching and a mutated equine chasing her, she finally found something she might be able to use to catch him off guard.
When the Overmind finally caught up to her, Sweetie was standing in one spot in a clearing and facing him with determination in her eyes. He knew Sweetie long enough to know that she was plotting something. “I hope for your sake that this plan of yours will save you from your impending demise.”
As the Overmind cautiously walked closer to Sweetie, she gave a wicked smirk and executed her plan. A large number of Cockatrice flew into the clearing and completely ignored Sweetie. The Overmind was confused about what the creatures were and how they fit into Sweetie’s plan before he realized too late what she planned. The stare of the numerous avian lizards began causing his body to become stiff and heavy and began to turn into stone.
The Overmind reacted by using his tentacles to crush the creatures but there were too many to deal with and the number of petrifying stares was accelerating the process.
When the process was complete, Sweetie planted a number of charges on the statue and detonated them, shattering him into many pieces.
The landscape suddenly turned black. Sweetie looked around until she saw the kneeling form of the Overmind in his fully equine form without any growths. “You have bested me, you may claim everything that you wish from me. It is your right. Finish me.”
Sweetie smiled, “I’ll claim what I want, but I won't erase you. I think I know what I want to do with you. For now, I claim your knowledge and essence and all of your powers. I’ll need everything you can give for when I face Amon’s army.”
Sweetie absorbed the parts that she wanted, leaving a powerless Overmind with no memories behind.
Yagdra’s pack had just finished wiping out the last of Brakk’s pack and began pushing all of its forces against the hive cluster and the chrysalises. The constant pressure on all fronts eventually allowed Yagdra’s pack the opportunity to break through the rocks guarding the third entrance.
Zagara had the Mutalisks defend the third opening until she brought a number of Swarm Hosts and Spine Crawlers to defend it.
The constant stream on all fronts was placing a lot of stress on the defenses and Zagara was only barely managing to keep up with the attacks. She unleashed the Locust Swarm one more time to push the pack back. Zagara was given a small respite from the attacks but it was long enough.
Zagara’s efforts were rewarded when Kerrigan’s chrysalis began cracking like an egg where the cracks displayed a powerful, violet colored energy. Kerrigan pierced through the shell with the edge of her wing before swiping through the rest and emerging from her shell with a powerful roar of primal fury. Everyone on Zerus felt the power of the new Queen of Blades.
When the maelstrom of power died down, everyone looked at Sweetie’s chrysalis with anticipation. The life inside the chrysalis began to stir and the shell began to crack with a blue light. A long, cream-colored, chitinous horn punched through the shell before slicing down and a pair of hard cream-colored wings pulled the opening apart, allowing Sweetie to emerge from her chrysalis.
Her Hostile Environment suit had dissolved while the features it provided were integrated into her body which was fortified with chitinous armor colored in blue and pink to match her mane colors. Her hands had razor-sharp claws at the end. She had huge cream-colored wings which, unlike Kerrigan’s, had a layer of membrane to allow for flight. While her mane was unaffected, possibly due to the magical properties within, the most notable changes on her head was a long, chitinous horn and razor-sharp teeth. Her hooves had become sharpened with the keratin reinforced with chitinous blades around her ankles. The biggest change, however, came from her flank. Where once there was an image of three candies in striped wrapping, the image changed to three helical strands of DNA.
Sweetie fired a powerful magical blast from her horn into the sky. The blast hit one of the moons and created a massive hole on its surface.
Everyone stared in amazement at Sweetie’s newfound power.