//------------------------------// // Interlude: The Calm Before the Storm // Story: Starcraft: Warriors of Purity // by Xarmar13 //------------------------------// One week before Sweetie’s and Lyra’s departure from Equestria… Princess Celestia, benevolent ruler of Equestria and mover of Equus’ sun, had just finished Day Court for the day and retreated to her chambers. Just like most days, she had to put up with a number of outrageous requests from the nobility to have lavish additions made to their mansions that create suffering for the lower class. It took a lot of willpower to stop her from casting aside all formalities and simply scream her denial of their requests in their faces. It was nearly time to lower the sun when she heard a knock from her chamber door. “Enter,” Celestia said. The door opened to reveal her sister with a look of concern on her face. Celestia approached her sister while brushing her ethereal mane. “What is the matter, Lulu?” she asked. Luna gave a deep sigh before she spoke, “I am deeply concerned for the well being of one of our subjects, sister. I have peered into her dreams for quite some time and found that she is being haunted by a recurring nightmare. Each time she has this dream, your nephew is at the center of it. I can sense her deep-seated hatred toward this stallion.” Celestia’s ears drooped and her head lowered in sadness. “It has been years since that tragic incident. And yet, the only survivor of the ill-fated organization is now shackled to her past because she could not receive the justice she deserved. My nephew has covered his tracks too well and has left no evidence that we could use to connect his involvement to the incident. It pains me to look at a family member as a criminal, even worse to do so without being able to do anything about it.” “I fear for young Sweetie Drops’ fate if these nightmares continue. She may ultimately end up doing something drastic that will end up getting her killed or force us to arrest her.” “You have been watching her dreams, Lulu. Can you not do anything to ease them?” “Alas, I cannot. Nightmares such as hers would require either a confrontation with the subject of the dream, Blueblood, or a far less reliable method of rewriting her memories of her years as a member of S.M.I.L.E.” Celestia knew that the latter option was not an option because there were too many ways the method could backfire and end up with Sweetie going after them instead. There was little they could do for Sweetie’s dilemma and would have to wait until the situation developed. The Royal Sisters decided to change topics to something more important. Celestia cast her wards all around her room to prevent any eavesdroppers from listening in. Luna began, “Tell me sister, how are your latest attempts at creating Xel’naga? I pray Cadance and Twilight are acclimating well to their forms?” “They appear to be getting used to being Alicorns, but I have said that with our previous students as well. I intend to take my time in nurturing them; let them live a normal lifetime’s worth of memories. Hopefully, some good memories with friends and family will reduce the likelihood of them becoming Fallen Ones.” “I pray that you are right, sister. It pains me to see each one of our students reject the cosmic duties of the Xel’naga. Thanks to Amon, we must create even more Xel’naga to fulfill those duties and our failures are not making this easy.” Luna sighed, “I suppose that tis a good thing that we figured a method of giving some of our essence without the need to forfeit our lives in the process a long time ago. It still requires a Pony’s lifetime for our essence to regenerate through this method though.” Celestia gave a small smile, “Perhaps it’s for the best. We still need to find a potential candidate who not only possesses the will and power to become a Xel’naga but is also capable of bringing great change to our society. And no offense to you, Cadance or Twilight, but I don’t think any of us possess the means of ushering in a golden age of technology, not without leaving Equus to explore the stars. Discord is the only Xel’naga who is free to go where he wishes without consequence to society but society itself finds him completely untrustworthy.” “Alas, even after a thousand years of banishment, Equus has changed so little. Part of me would have welcomed a case of culture shock upon my return. Sadly, we are still nowhere near the age of space travel.” “Then perhaps you should come to me for advice every now and then. You might just discover something you’ve missed,” said a voice that instantly gave the Royal Sisters a migraine from the annoyance. Discord instantly appeared in Celestia’s chambers. Celestia and Luna gave the Draconequus a deadpan stare. “What is it, Discord?” Celestia asked with a sigh. “If you have something meaningful to add to the conversation, then let’s hear it. Please, please, please be something useful,” she added in her thoughts. Discord smirked, “Of course I have something meaningful to add. I always have something useful to say. Never once had my words not had any meaning. It’s not my fault that you Ponies fail to look between the lines of my supposed nonsense.” Celestia and Luna intensified their stares. “Fine, since you two have no idea what you’re doing most of the time when it comes to Xel’naga experiments. Perhaps you could let me borrow one of your subjects in an experiment of my own.” “You know that we would never allow that, Discord. Our tests alone endanger the lives of our candidates. I don’t even want to imagine the hardships you would put them through.” Discord burst into laughter. When he calmed down after a full minute, he spoke, “You call finding an old relic in a crystal castle while a mad unicorn tried to take over the city and one of your other students helping her with a barrier a test? Puh-lease. If you want something big, you have to increase the risk. Put them through a situation where the risk of death is high and there is no safety net. “I will commend miss Sparkle for completing that test. She did demonstrate a willingness to do what was necessary for the test as well as her creativity when she turned a long trek up some stairs trivial by inverting her gravity. Her mind I do not question, but her combat ability was not tested...at least until Tirek. By my books she failed that test miserably. She had the power of four Xel’naga coursing through her and she still failed to defeat him without help from her friends. “I have seen distant worlds in my free time, Celestia. Many of them possess threats that make what you have seen on this world look like playground bullies. The magic of friendship won’t solve every problem in the universe.” Celestia and Luna looked at each other and contemplated what Discord had said. They had to admit that he had a point. Neither Twilight nor Cadance had ever been tested in combat unlike themselves who participated in their share of battles in the past. Since they didn’t have any better ideas on how to bring about the golden age that Ponykind needed to travel to the stars, they decided to give the Draconequus a chance. Celestia turned to him, “Whom do you intend for your candidate?” “There is one Pony in particular that I have been keeping my eye on. I believe that she has the drive necessary to endure all hardships she will be subjected to during the course of my test. She has the necessary indomitable will and is quite driven toward her goal. My test will determine her adaptability and her combat prowess as well as her determination. She is lacking in the power department but that can easily be rectified.” “Who is this Pony you have chosen?” Luna asked. “I’m afraid I’m no longer in an expository mood. You will have to wait and see,” Discord responded. “When do you plan to have your candidate take your test, if I may ask?” Celestia inquired. Discord removed his mouth and stuck it into a zipper bag which he put in a safe. The safe disappeared. Celestia and Luna realized that they were not going to get any more info out of him. All they could do now was hope that Discord’s experiment would produce the results they needed. Eight years had passed since Discord’s experiment began which translated into two weeks Equus time. A few things had happened between when Amon was cast back into the Void and now. James Raynor was gaining fame as a prominent commander of Valerian’s Dominion. He led his forces to victory over several insurgent factions that were either hardliners for the old regime or they wanted to gain their own fame. Whenever he had time off, he would spend them with Kerrigan. It took a few months to get used to her Zerg form, but their love grew over time. Matt Horner, admiral of the Dominion, had been gaining fame in equal measures. After a lot of encouragement from Raynor and Sweetie, he finally went on a date with Mira Han. The first date was all but a disaster as her crazy behavior had put him on edge. However, he soon got used to her hijinks and the second date went more smoothly. While Mira was joking about the relationship at first, both decided to give the other a chance. They have been in a relationship for three months. Tychus Findlay got arrested several times on several counts of drunken disorderly conduct and a couple of counts of indecent exposure. He is slowly gaining infamy as a public nuisance. Rory Swann had been taking occasional engineering jobs between missions. One day, Sweetie approached him with a request for his services in the betterment of her people. When the time came, she would have him come with her to teach a whole new generation of Equestrian engineers that they would learn from his mechanical expertise. He accepted on the condition that he be returned to Korhal when he was done since he wasn’t willing to make a lifetime commitment. Egon Stetmann was found on Bel’shir with an army of mechanical Zerg at his beck and call. Apparently, he had been inhaling a lot of Terrazine since he was last seen. When Sweetie found him, she forcefully gave him some Jorium supplements to return his sanity. Like with Swann, he was also given an offer to provide his scientific knowledge to Equestrian society. He accepted while, for some reason, he wanted to be more like his creations. The two reached a compromise on that matter and she agreed to turn him into a Changeling. He accepted the offer. After that, Sweetie gave Stetmann more Jorium supplements to make sure he wasn’t high on Terrazine anymore. Gabriel Tosh and Nova Terra were assigned to be partners in numerous covert ops missions and sometimes found mercenary work thanks to Han’s connections. At some point, Tosh blindsided Nova and had her exposed to the Jorium and Terrazine mixture to make her into a Spectre. Although Nova was pissed about what Tosh had done, she also began remembering things that were previously erased by the mind wipes, including the romantic moments she had with him. In the end, she decided to simply start over with the Spectre leader. The Daelaam leaders spent the next couple of years rebuilding their civilization. Without the Khala, the Khalai had to adjust to living with uncertainty in their thoughts. This was eased by the guidance of the Nerazim. They also had to get used to the Purifiers and Tal’darim walking the open streets. A lot of tension built between the factions but Hierarch Tassadar was able to act with fairness and became respected among the factions...to a lesser extent in the case of the Tal’darim. When Tassadar asked Lyra what her home planet was like, her description led some eavesdropping Protoss to call Celestia the Princess of Food as a joke. Tassadar was intrigued by Lyra’s homeworld and asked if it would be possible to build a small colony on Equus. Lyra said that he would have to take it up with the ‘Princess of Food.’ Zagara continued to learn from the examples set by Sweetie and Kerrigan. She had a feeling that the day that she would rule the Swarm was near. Even if she knew that she would never rule Sweetie’s Brood, she could live with that. She tittered excitedly at the thought of having the Swarm to herself. Dehaka returned to Zerus with his pack and began a war to gain domination over all other pack leaders. Izsha continued to serve her Queens with no goal of her own to think about. She focused all of her energy in being a servant. Abathur worked tirelessly to find a way for the Swarm to compete with Sweetie’s Brood. So far he has had no luck and often became frustrated. Alexei Stukov and Gerard DuGalle decided that once the Swarm changed hands to Zagara, which they knew was inevitable, they would follow Sweetie to Equus. In preparation for this, the two agreed to undergo the Changeling procedure so that they wouldn’t have to walk around scaring the innocent Ponies with their grotesque appearance. Sarah Kerrigan stared out into the vastness of space, wondering what the future will bring. Sweetie had informed her of her intent on finding a way into the Void to finish off Amon. Whenever Jim had time off from his work, he and Kerrigan would meet in secret and tell each other how their days had been with some romantic wordplay mixed in. Suddenly, Kerrigan received a telepathic message from a powerful, yet benevolent voice. It was calling her to Ulnar. She had a feeling that this was the moment that Sweetie had been waiting for. She began using her Zerg as receivers and transmitters to transmit a message to Tassadar and Raynor, telling them to come to Ulnar.