Queen of Blades
Chapter Five
Not a sound, except for the steady footsteps of a bipedal shape, could be heard in that particular area of the Everfree forest. The Queen of Blades noted that any remaining animal life had promptly chosen to stay even further away from her, following her little encounter with the timber wolves earlier. Glad that her show of animalistic ferocity had at least had some positive outcome, the Queen took her time to concentrate on healing and restoring her body.
As she walked through the forest on her way to her destination, her many wounds were slowly closing themselves, and before long she was completely restored. It wouldn’t do to meet another sapient creature without looking her best, a good first impression was important after all.
It took her no longer than ten minutes before she arrived at the foot of the mountain, or at the very least a part of its cliffside. In front of her was a cavernous mouth, opening up into a large tunnel of almost pitch blackness. She could sense the mental signature of its inhabitant’s mind, and there was only the one entity.
With a steady, confident stride, the zerg Queen made her way into the cave, soon exiting the tunnel into a large, naturally formed chamber. Stalactites and stalagmites littered the area, great pillars of stone connecting ceiling and floor in several places. All around her were huge piles of gems and crystals, a multitude of colours reflecting the light given off by a number of greenish crystal formations protruding from the cavern walls.
She could sense another presence nearby, and already her mind was working at incredible speed, forming any number of plans and retaliations to whatever might happen. Needless to say, when a great beast of green scales stepped out in front of her, its yellow-red slitted eyes narrowing at her, the Queen of Blades couldn’t help but lift a brow. It was a dragon without a doubt, and she couldn’t help but be impressed by its massive size, powerful scales, and razor sharp claws and fangs. It almost looked like something she would have created, had she had a sufficiently fitting template creature.
The things she could do with its Essence.
“What are you doing in my cave?” its voice boomed, resounding loudly off of the cavern walls.
Already she could see steam escaping its mouth, and according to Zecora’s knowledge it was quite capable of breathing fire. Fascinating.
Before answering, she took her time to gaze around the chamber, almost appraisingly. “I was simply admiring it, I believe it will make an excellent temporary home.”
If the dragon was surprised by her nonchalance, it did not show it, instead bending down towards her. “You must be joking, and I do not find it funny in the least.” Snorting a cloud of warm steam through its nostrils at the arrogant being before it. “I suggest you leave, little creature. Before I lose my patience and decides to eat you.”
The Queen of Blades dispersed the steam with but a thought, returning the dragon’s hard gaze in full. There was no sign of fear in her, and the dragon couldn’t help but take a step back in uncertainty as her eyes glowed with otherworldly embers. It might have been more feral than the rest of its kin, but even it could sense the sheer power radiating off of her at that moment.
“I was not joking, dragon.” She took a step closer towards it, entirely ignoring the dragon’s claws being readied for battle. “I am not leaving this place,” A grim smile adorned her face. “and neither are you.”
That last statement, filled with so much malicious intent and power, sent the dragon flying into a fit of rage. As it fell upon her, fangs bared and claws fully extended, the dragon failed to notice energy forming around her, almost as a cloak of ethereal, crimson flames. In the next moment she released a mighty wave of kinetic energy, the full force of it slamming directly into the dragon at point blank, sending it flying through the cave with a mighty roar. The wyrm’s great body crashed into the opposite wall with a resounding boom, sending a rain of rocks and debris flying in all directions. Already the Queen of Blades was in movement, propelling herself forward with a burst of psionic energy, straight towards the dragon.
The beast proved more resilient than she had expected however, and she was barely halfway towards it before its eyes focused on her, and suddenly a huge torrent of flames was released from its maw, washing over her with great intensity. The Queen merely gathered power, not even slowing down her charge as she whipped out her hand, warding away the raging inferno with a shield. Just as she made her way out of the fire, she thrust her clawed hand towards the beast’s abdomen, sending a focused blast of red energy at the creature’s mostly unarmoured stomach.
With a roar of pain as its flesh was torn open, the dragon quickly whipped out its spiked tail, catching the still airborne Queen and sending her crashing into a nearby stone pillar. Yet soon enough she was back on the ground, seemingly unharmed despite the great strength of the dragon’s attack.
The dragon roared once more. “You will not kill me! I will kill you!”
Seeing red, the wyrm charged at the intruder once more, unleashing a barrage of powerful claw swipes and finishing off with another burst of flames. Panting heavily, blood seeping freely from the wounds on its stomach, the dragon peered through the smoke produced by its breath, trying to spot the hopefully dead creature.
It was not quite so lucky.
“Impressive, I will have to take a closer look at your fire breath once I’ve restrained you,” her voice reverberated through the chamber. “After all, wouldn’t want to waste such a wonderful ability.”
In the next moment, a wave of energy exploded from where she was standing, dispersing the smoke and dust left in the wake of the dragon’s attack. Before the dragon could react properly, a blast of crimson energy impacted it, sending it flying once more into a nearby wall with a wail of indignation. The attack did not stop there however, as the Queen motioned with both her hands, enveloping the beast’s body in the mass of red energy, flinging it with great velocity into the ceiling, then into the ground. Like a puppet on a string, the prideful creature was smashed into walls, slammed into the ceiling, and thrust into the ground. Each impact resulted in another roar of pain, the sound of snapping bones, and the cracking of scales.
Panting from exhaustion, the Queen of Blades gathered her energy once more, picking up the barely conscious dragon and almost lodging it into the wall with a mighty slam of kinetic force. As the dragon grew silent, its wings and other limbs torn and mangled, the Queen made her way to it. She lifted herself into the air with kinetic energy, levitating closer until she could reach out and touch its stomach.
“Please... kill me...” The dragon was fighting to stay awake, and the zerg Queen was once more impressed by its resilience. Truthfully her entire body was aching, she might have looked mostly fine after its attacks, but she certainly felt the strain they had left on her.
In an almost motherly gesture, the Queen of Blades swept her hand over its wounded stomach. “No, no, that simply won’t do,” she cooed. “I need you very much alive, makes things a lot easier on me after all.”
As the dragon looked down at her, pleading despair obvious in its eyes, the Queen thrust a clawed hand straight through its chest with a sickening sound. “I’m afraid it’s going to be quite agonizing for you however. My apologies.” There was no sympathy in her voice though, and as her hand found its way to the creature’s heart, it gave a low whimper.
Without a moment of hesitance, the Queen pierced the great wyrm’s heart, releasing and infecting it with a mass of mutative zerg bacteria. As the zerg organisms started twisting and warping its DNA, the once prideful dragon gave a last whimper of pain, before it found itself in an existence of profound agony.
<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>
“Are you sure this is such a good idea, Scootaloo?” The white unicorn filly said, tentatively trotting along with her two friends.
The pegasus sighed in response. “Of course I do! This is a perfect chance for us to get our cutie marks,” She said as she nimbly leaped over a fallen log. “How often do you think something like this happens? I bet we’ll find something awesome.”
Sweetie Belle looked between the two other fillies. Scootaloo was obviously excited, but she usually was when they were doing something reckless. It usually just ended up with them in a bad, or sticky, situation. Apple Bloom on the other hoof was following in silence, but Sweetie knew her well enough to know that she was even more nervous about the situation than she was.
“But Zecora doesn’t make this part of the forest safe, what if we run into a timber wolf? Or a manticore?” She had heard her sister tell the story of how she and her friends had once encountered a manticore, and she very much doubted they’d be able to calm it down like Fluttershy had.
“Manticore, schmanticore. We’ll be able to get away from one of those no probs, Rainbow Dash told me how dumb they are.”
Despite her worries, the small group continued on their way through the Everfree. Once they’d cleared another small hillock, passing by a patch of blue Poison Joke, Apple Bloom turned a worried frown to the orange pegasus.
“Maybe Sweetie Belle is right, Scoots. This here part of the forest ain’t safe.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re scared too, or are you the chicken this time?” The last part was said with a sly smile, and Apple Bloom couldn’t help but turn her head away in a huff.
“Who you callin’ a chicken? Ahm not a chicken!”
“You sure? I thought you were good at sounding like a chicken.” The filly pegasus said, bawking in mock imitation of Apple Bloom from the time when they had been out looking for one of Fluttershy’s lost chickens.
Apple Bloom was just about to disagree, strongly, when Sweetie Belle’s voice brought them out of their discussion.
“Uhm, girls? I think we’re... here.” The last word was laced with quite a bit of fear, and when the other two crusaders turned around, they discovered that they had made it to a small clearing in front of a large cavern entrance.
“Huh, this doesn’t look too bad,” Scootaloo said as she took another step towards the cave, stopping when she noticed the other two weren’t following. “You coming or what?”
Gulping simultaneously, the two fillies started trotting with Scootaloo towards the opening. They could just barely see a faint multi-coloured glow from the inside, and Sweetie Belle suddenly got a bad feeling. This cave was familiar to her somehow, but she just couldn’t put her hoof on where she’d heard about it.
Apple Bloom on the other hoof, had managed to pull herself together in necessity. “Listen, girls. If we find anythin’ bad in there, we run, okay?” The gaze she sent the other two dared them to argue, but both of them nodded their heads, Sweetie Belle a bit more eagerly than Scootaloo.
Slowly they inched their way into the tunnel, keeping somewhat low in order to make themselves less visible. Soon enough they had trotted all the way to the tunnel’s exit, which seemed to open up into a large room. They all gasped when they noticed the literal mountains of gems spread about, and suddenly Sweetie Belle remembered where she’d heard of this place before.
“Wait... Spike told me about this place, this is where that big, mean dragon lives!” She couldn’t contain her outburst, a slight cracking in the last part of her sentence.
“Correction, little ponies. This is where that big, mean dragon used to live.”
The strange, female voice rang clear through the room, yet the three fillies couldn’t locate the speaker. With trembling bodies they started backing out, hoping to get away before they were spotted. They didn’t know who was there, but her voice sounded so intimidating, reverberating in an unsettling manner.
Suddenly the crusaders stopped, but not because they wanted to. Before they could even utter a yelp of surprise, each of them were lifted from the ground by an invisible force. Had any of them been paying attention, they would have noticed that no magical aura surrounded their bodies.
As it was however, they were all yelling in fear, wildly shaking their limbs in a bid to escape the telekinetic grip they found themselves in. Yet it was hopeless, and soon enough they were dragged into the illuminated chamber, in full view of whatever awaited them, and they quickly fell silent in sheer surprise.
Their captor turned out to be something they had never seen before. In front of them stood a creature on only two legs, tall and slender, with two arms and accompanying claws. They looked a bit like Spike’s, but only a little. Nearly her entire body was covered in a thick layer of carapace, almost like the one they could find on bugs, but the intelligence in her eyes bespoke of something very different. She regarded them with light curiosity, almost like one would if they had just found something interesting in the dirt somewhere.
Apple Bloom was the first to speak, blurting out before thinking. “Please don’t eat us!” She quickly brought her hooves to her mouth, suddenly afraid she might give the creature any ideas.
The creature however, did not eat them. Instead she merely tilted her head slightly, looking at the small filly with both surprise and disgust.
“Eat you? What a ridiculous idea,” She motioned with her hand, turning around and levitating the crusaders further into the cave. “Do I look like some pony eating monster to you?”
The three fillies looked to each other with cocked brows, before Scootaloo turned back to the creature. “Uhm... sorta?” She ventured with a nervous chuckle.
For a long moment, the Queen of Blades was silent, regarding them with her red eyes. She had never been a cold blooded killer, not really, and unnecessary killing was so very inefficient. True, she had been the cause of deaths for millions, including women and children, but that had all served a purpose. Killing these three would serve none, and they were far too immature to experiment on.
“Well, I’m not.” Her emotionless expression didn’t change as she looked between the three. “I’m going to put you down now, do not try to run. Understood?”
All three crusaders nodded eagerly, and the Queen felt no deceit in their minds. With another hand gesture, she levitated the fillies down, settling them back on the ground. They all gave a sigh of relief when they were back on their hooves, and soon enough they were looking up at her with wide, curious gazes. There was little fear left in them, replaced with a desire to learn about this strange new being in front of them.
The Queen of Blades didn’t care much for their intrigued gazes, snapping them out of their silence with a sharp, “What?”
Instantly she regretted that action, as no sooner had she said it before the floodgates opened, a stream of chaotic words escaping the three small noisemakers. With a twitching eye she pinned them with a smoldering gaze, causing them to shut their mouths quickly.
“One at a time... if you don’t mind.” The last part was nothing short of an absolute order, and the three fillies seemed to get the message. Truthfully she had understood every intermingled word they had said, her brain and sensory perceptions capable of processing information on a far higher scale than most other beings. She cared nothing for the noise it had created however.
After a moment of looking between themselves, the fillies seemed to reach some sort of agreement, and when they turned back to the Queen it was only Apple Bloom who talked.
“Pardon, miss. But what exactly... are you?” There was a slight uncertainty in her voice, almost as if she thought the question might be an insult.
“I am an evolved being, to try and explain it to you would be pointless, but you may call me the Queen of Blades.” There was no arrogance or dislike in her voice, just the stating of facts.
The crusaders didn’t look like they appreciated her thinking they wouldn’t understand, but none of them voiced that particular opinion. Instead Sweetie Belle stepped in with her own question.
“So if you’re not a...monster, what are you doing in a dragon’s cave?” She pawed the ground nervously with a hoof, afraid she might upset this ‘Queen of Blades’. It didn’t sound like a very nice name either.
“I already told you, this is not the dragon’s cave any longer. It is mine.”
Her statement brought looks of disbelief from the gathered ponies, and Scootaloo was quick to interject. “I’m pretty sure the dragon would disagree, you do know what a dragon is, don’t you?” Her question was brash and straightforward, it was clear that she thought the entire thing odd.
The Queen simply gave her a knowing smirk however. “What is a dragon? A miserable little pile of flesh and bones at the moment.” With that she gestured with a hand towards the back of the cave, and the three fillies turned to where she was indicating.
They instantly wished that they had not. On the wall hung the body of a once great dragon, though it was nearly impossible to discern its former nature. It had almost completely merged with a mass of something that seemed to have originated from its chest, a purple fleshy substance covering most of its body and pinning it to the rocky wall. The disgusting growth seemed to pulsate, as if it had a heartbeat, and was already expanding through the cave with the dragon at its center. The whole thing looked absolutely disgusting, but what was worse, it seemed that they dragon was still somehow alive, its slitted eyes wide open in a gaze which almost begged them for an end to its misery.
As one the three filles turned from the sight, retching heavily as the disturbing images swam through their minds, almost causing Sweetie Belle to faint. It had only been for a second, but in that second they had seen something so alien, so bizarre, something which should never have been seen by an innocent filly mind.
Apple Bloom was the first to recover enough to form words, as she looked up at the Queen of Blades with teary eyes. “Why... why...” She was obviously trying to ask something, but was unable to finish the sentence because of her sobbing.
The Queen of Blades gave her an unamused cock of her eyebrow. “Why? I thought you ponies would be happy, a dragon is a dangerous and wild beast after all. Truly you’re better off with the threat of its presence gone, are you not?” The question was asked with not a shred of remorse, so emotionless that it sent a shiver down their spines. How could somepony talk about killing, no, torturing another creature so easily?
Unknown to the crusaders, the Queen had not shown them the dragon only to scar them. No, in fact she had done so in order to gauge their reaction, to see how they would handle the situation. She was somewhat disappointed, but not too surprised, to discover that these ponies were extremely innocent. Already she was using her psionic abilities to suppress the mental scarring, not wanting to give the ponies another reason to demonize her.
Besides, she knew of these three from Zecora’s memories, and it would be detrimental to her plan if she were to damage the minds of the sisters’ of Twilight Sparkle’s friends. The pegasus filly had no such family bond in the group, but she doubted she’d be able to use that as a valid excuse.
Her mental influencing obviously had an effect, for no longer were the ponies looking like they were about to throw up their lunch. Instead they just looked slightly unsettled... and perhaps a tiny bit mentally unbalanced. Really, no one is entirely perfect.
“Deep breaths, little ponies. It’s going to be alright.” The last part was accompanied by a psionic suggestion, calming down the fillies and taking their minds away from the earlier sight.
Sweetie Belle was the next one to speak up. “Well... I suppose it’s a good thing, Spike told me it tried to kill him the last time he was here.”
“A good thing, are you kidding!?” Scootaloo almost cheered. “She took down a dragon! How cool is that!?”
The Queen gave them a reassuring smile, fake though it was. “See? I’ve done you a favor really, now, how about you join me over here? I’d very much like to hear more about you all.”
The crusaders looked between themselves before nodding, trotting with her to a slightly better illuminated corner of the cave, well out of sight from the dragon. With a slight smile, the Queen of Blades sat down on a flat, rocky protrusion, crossing her legs and looking to the small fillies with interest. It wasn’t that she wanted to talk to something actually intelligent, not really, but these three could at least serve as a source of information about Twilight Sparkle’s friends.
Getting away from the dragon, and having their minds subtly stabilized by the Queen, the crusaders were more eager to talk than they had been before. Scootaloo especially was ecstatic that they were in the presence of a dragon slayer, despite how odd she looked.
“Oh, uhm, no offense.”
“None taken.” It was true enough, she was well past the stage of being insulted by her ‘odd’ looks. Most creatures were unable to appreciate her perfection, and she had come to terms with that.
“But it’s so cool! Not even Rainbow Dash could take down a dragon, how did you do it? Can you use magic?”
‘There’s that word again... magic.’ She gave an involuntary shudder at the thought, magic was just such a preposterous idea.
Before she could answer however, Sweetie Belle spoke up. “Yeah, you lifted us with magic earlier, right?”
The Queen of Blades gave a strained smile to the inquisitive gazes of the small ponies. “I do not have... magic.” She waved her hand dismissively. “No, my power is the power of a Psionic. The ability to influence the world around me with my mind.”
“Well, my sister Rarity says that you have to concentrate real hard to use magic too, so isn’t it sort of alike?” She quickly continued when she caught the annoyed glare from their host. “I mean, I can’t really use magic myself yet, so I don’t really know...”
“From what I’ve been able to tell, your unicorn ‘magic’ is drawn from your surroundings. My power comes from within myself, not an outside source.” Truly she was only slightly annoyed at the questions about magic, she was in fact rather interested in the subject. She was something of a knowledge seeker after all.
“So, QB,” Apple Bloom suddenly said, earning herself an expression of stunned disbelief from the Queen. “What are you even doin’ in Equestria? You don’t seem the tourist type to me.”
The Queen of Blades could only sit there for a moment, until eventually she pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. These ponies were simply too friendly, and what the hell was up with that nickname?
“Apple Bloom...” The pony in question looked at her obliviously. “Do you think you could not use that nickname? It makes me feel... sick.”
“But ‘Queen of Blades’ is such a mouthful, I don’t wanna say that every time, and it sounds like a weird name.” She gave the zerg Queen a smile. “Besides, Applejack told me that nicknames are a good way to make friends, and we like meeting new ponies! Even if you’re not really a pony.”
The other two nodded in agreement, and the Queen realised that she obviously couldn’t reason with their logic. She was once more tempted to simply alter their minds, but something that big could often have severe side-effects. Instead she decided to simply give them something else to call her, in fear that they’d just make up another nickname if she forbade them from using ‘QB’.
She sighed. “You can call me Kerrigan then, gods knows most everyone else calls me that anyway.”
It wasn’t her real name, not any longer, but it seemed an unavoidable part of her past. And a more ‘normal’ name might work in her favor, in order to ease the minds of these ponies. Once more she was reminded of the future dealings she would have to have with them, and a very small part of her dreaded those encounters. If they were all as happy-go-lucky and carefree as these three, who had only been scared of her for a few seconds, she knew that she’d get a major headache before it was all over. The royal guards had at least had the common decency of being terrified of her.
This seemed to appease the ponies somehow, as almost immediatly she was assaulted with another question, this time from Scootaloo. “So what’s up with your wings, can you even fly with those?”
The question made her twitch her wings subconsciously, and she turned her head to regard the bony protrusions. “Not really, they are a weapon.” Scootaloo looked a bit disappointed at this revelation, but the Queen continued. “I can however lift myself with my power, allowing for some measure of flight.”
“Really!? Think you could show me?” The small filly flapped her wings excitedly.
“I’d rather not, it takes a lot out of me. I would much rather preserve my energy than use it unnecessarily.” Her answer was straight and to the point, and also caused the pegasus to frown slightly.
Before Scootaloo could say anything else however, Sweetie Belle broke in with another question. “Where are you from then? Do you have any family back home?”
Sarah’s gaze suddenly grew dim, a tiny ember growing in her red eyes. Her head was pounding, unpleasant and long forgotten memories rushing back in an instant.
“...family.” The word was barely a whisper, but it carried so much grief, so much sorrow, that the fillies couldn’t help but feel a coldness seep into their bones.
She saw images, visions of her mother clutching at her temples and screaming, of her father standing frozen in terror, watching as his daughter’s out of control power tore open his wife's head, splitting it apart in a torrent of gory mess. Sarah could remember crying, trying to stop what was happening, but to no avail. Even when her father dropped to the floor, his mind damaged beyond repair, even when her mother’s headless corpse joined him, she could not stop it.
Crying. Pain. Fear... Powerlessness...
Sarah was frozen in place, staring into space as she relived that night in her mind. A quake of energy tore through the air, a great stone pillar nearby cracking and splitting into two, falling apart like a stack of kindlings. Crimson energy started swirling around the motionless psionic, lashing out in unguided torrents of power, ripping apart rock and blowing up piles of gems.
“Kerrigan! Stop!”
The sound of Apple Bloom’s panicked voice snapped the Queen of Blades out of her pained remembrance, her psionic energies calming down as she took back control of her mind. With a groan of pain she started rubbing her head, trying to dismiss the thoughts that were still running through it. Those were memories of her old life, they weren’t hers anymore, they couldn’t hurt her anymore...
With a dull gaze she looked at the trio of ponies, all huddled close together in obvious fear. For some reason she was thankful that she hadn’t managed to hurt them.
‘That’s right... the plan... mustn’t hurt them.’
She shook her head, casting an apologetic glance at the crusaders. “Do not be frightened, little ponies. I simply... remembered a bad memory, is all.”
The crusaders looked at her with uncertainty, there was clearly more to it than she was telling them. But they had been taught not to pry too far into another pony’s life, especially if that pony was capable of taking down a dragon by herself.
Yet the Queen of Blades seemed different when she spoke, almost as if she was tired, or lacking a certain ‘life’ about her. Her voice was dull, and empty. “Perhaps it would be best if you were to return to your homes, I’m certain your... families, are waiting for you.”
They cast another worried glance in her direction before nodding their heads, it was true that they had spent more time in the Everfree than they should have, and their friends and families were probably getting worried.
“Thank you for letting us visit, Kerrigan.” Sweetie Belle said worriedly, placing a hoof on the Queen’s knee in a comforting gesture. It made her flinch, but she did not brush it off.
The other two quickly added their own thanks, and eventually the Queen of Blades got up from her seat, looking at the three ponies with a contemplating look.
“Yes, it has certainly been... an interesting encounter.” She observed them for another moment before continuing. “Perhaps I should help you on your way, wouldn’t want you to get hurt wandering home after all.”
After a few seconds of looking between themselves, the crusaders finally nodded, intrigued as to exactly how she was going to help them.
“One more thing, I’m afraid I’ll have to remove the knowledge of my location from your minds.” They looked up at her incredulous eyes, clearly not thrilled about the prospect. “Do not worry, you will still be able to remember our meeting, but I can’t have you telling anyone where you’ve been.”
Sweetie Belle looked to the other two. “That’s probably for the best... nopony would believe us if we told them anyway.”
Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom rolled their eyes, obviously agreeing with that particular sentiment.
“Well then, my little ponies. Stand still, I’ll deposit you as close to Zecora’s hut as I can manage.”
This caused Apple Bloom to look at her questioningly. “Deposit us? And how do you kn-...”
The rest of her words were cut off however, as the Queen’s eyes flared yellow, and space started distorting around them, creating a purple vortex of energy which swirled in an almost paradoxical pattern. The three ponies felt a sudden sensation of being sucked into it, and in a flash of light, found themselves falling from a foot off the ground onto the path near Zecora’s hut.
Slightly dazed the three of them got back on their hooves, shaking the last blurry aftereffect of the warp travel out of their heads. They looked to each other, then more or less said the same thing.
“Yeah, nopony’s going to believe us...”