//------------------------------// // Tidings of Doom // Story: The collapse of the universe // by KRissCHu573 //------------------------------// The collapse of the universe Chapter 4: Tidings of Doom Leona and her companions woke up in the middle of a heated battle, that was going on in a desert. They were teleported to a world of crimson rock, covered in orange sand lands. At first they thought they had been sent in the Void, given the fact that one of the fighting sides were creatures, who had a striking resemblance to the voidlings they knew. The sun warriores had to use her shield to protect them from several explosions that happened very close to them. All of a sudden, a big creature erupted from underneath them and attacked. The black/purple monster had two limbs, armed with bone blades, coming out of its back. It spat acid at them, which gladly, Leona’s magic shield managed to block, without dissolving. The creature jumped at them, and was shot dead in mid air by an energy blast. As the body fell and squirted out lots of blood, several mechanical golems (what they assumed they were) passed by them. A gray creature wearing gold armor was giving them commands. When it looked at the group it said with suspicion. “Terrans? What are you doing here? Evacuate immediately to the core nexus NOW!” That was more of an order than a request. But without hesitation the four turned and walked towards a giant pyramid the creature had pointed to. The battle was raging on in full force. Many of the armored creatures, as well as their mechanical troops fought off waves and waves of voidlings. The skies were far from quiet. Flying terrors reaped through it. Giant bats and flying squids fought against big golden birds and gray ships which carried giant crystals. The biological flyers were also opposed by gigantic ships, from which flocks of smaller ones came out. Blood, dust, beams of energy, body parts, both mechanic and organic flew throughout the battlefield. Another creature, that was more serpent like emerged from the ground to bar their way. Leona jumped and smashed its head with her shield. A pack of smaller creatures with wings and limbs coming out of their backs surrounded them. Caitlyn took aim and shot down several with a single shot. Ezreal on the other hand was blinking around and blasted them with his skill shots. They resumed running towards the pyramid. All of a sudden a gigantic monstrosity with four scythe like limbs coming from its front charged at them. It was probably the size of the Institute, or even bigger. Heimerdinger managed to hit it right in the eyes with a few CH-1 concussion grenades. Even of not hurt at all, the creature definitely became blinded by the explosions. It stopped and began shaking its massive skull in order to regain its vision. In that moment a prismatic vessel flew above their heads, and a big golden crab dropped from it. The second the monster could see again, the crab was at the very level of its eyes, and blew its face off. Afterwards the golden creature landed, not showing any kind of damage, even after falling from such height, and pressed forward. The group continued. They could see in the distance how several tall, golden colossi, and a dozen other robotic contraptions with energetic spheres on their back, that emitted some sort of force field around its five allies, turned what seemed to be hundreds of the serpent and acid spitting creatures to ash. Some of the bat and squid like creatures were trying to destroy them, but were massacred by a squadron of the bird like ships, and a few of the ones with the giant crystals. A few minutes later they reached a wall of buildings. Some of them had some sort of a black hole on top, others were round with rotating towers. There were some which had a spinning contraption on their back sides, and others who were kind of small, with floating spheres which released round bolts of energy against enemies. From behind there could be seen gigantic crystals, surrounded by a ring. Before they were able to cross, they saw a massive gathering of rolling green. Ezreal blew one of the creatures and it exploaded in a pool of acid. Heimerdinger set up a dozen turrets. The machines, Caitlyn and Ezreal took aim and began taking them out. Leona was also helping out with the clearing. She brought down the rays of the alien sun to vaporize quite the lot of the green threat. Despite their efforts however, the living bombs of acid were far too much for them to handle. As they awaited their end a giant beam of energy decimated a large portion of them. And another, the rest. Such beams could be seen all over the battlefield. When they looked up they saw a massive fleet, consisting of the giant ships with crystals. Someone shouted from behind the wall, and his words somewhat startled the champions. “THE EXECUTOR HAS ARRIVED!” Many more of the gray creatures across the sand land cried out in rejoice as they heard that. “ENTARO TASSADAR!” In a matter of moments a bigger version of the ships with the drones coming out of them pierced the sky, surrounded by other ships like it, the ones with the crystals and the bird like ones. The great number of ships massacred most of the void like creatures with great precision. Until the concentrated firepower of several crystal ships obliterated a ginormic, spiked building in the distance. As they stared with stunned eyes, one of the armor wearing creatures called them from behind the wall. “You Terrans, come. The Executor wishes to speak with you.” Not the kind of message they had hoped to receive. The pyramid seemed more humongous from the inside than the outside. They were led into a spacious hall. There they were introduced to a group of gray creatures, one of which seemed to be a female. Her voice confirmed it. She and their guide discussed something in an unknown language. Judging by the sort of bow, the creature who walked them through the corridors did, that the woman was an important person. “EnTaro Tassadar, Terrans.” She greeted them. Leona decided it would be appropriate to act, as if speaking to the king of Demacia himself. She put down her shield, kneeled, and as her companions followed her example, she responded. “EnTaro Tassadar milady.” The creature gave them a confused look. “No need for formalities, arise.” “Thank you.” “I must say, you are the first Terrans I see, which bow down to their superior. Well I guess that meeting the Protoss Executor face to face, has that sort of effect.” The so called “protoss” spoke with a tame tone. “What brings you here. Has your kind laid eyes on the Xel’Naga catacombs and the energies there, sealed beneath the husk of this dead world.” It seemed that because of making first contact, the champion of the sun was appointed as a speaker for their group. “Forgive us milady, but we do not know what are those…Xel’Naga of which you speak. We came from another world, seeking a few of our lost companions.” “Why did you emphasize so much on you coming from another world? We all know that Terrans do not hail from the Koprulu.” The Executor continued to be clueless. “Well it is a little complicated…” Leona grunted. “Excuse me, my head hurts a little.” Not only she, but the rest of her group shared a strange pain in their craniums. “You are not from the Koprulu like the Terrans, but are not from their world. No, you hail from a planet known as…Runeterra. You are champions from some sort of League, and you are looking for two others who share battle with you. A mechanical construct, in which life has taken root, and a warrior of great skill and ferocity.” Those words struck them. “How do you know about that?” Ezreal couldn’t hold himself. “You did not seem the talkative kind. That headache you felt was me, searching through your minds for information, about your intentions.” “Who in the bloody hell do you think you are, to have the right to dig in people’s brains?!” The Prodigal explorer waved his finger in her face, until Caitlyn slapped him in the back of the head. “Shut up kid, grownups are talking.” She cut him short. With a grump and a puff Ezreal quieted down. “Sorry for that.” Leona tried to fix his mistake. “Look, yours is a noble quest, but this world is under heavy research, and I would prefer if there were no one but protoss on it.” She became serious. “Commander, how long will it take you to trace the vessel known as the Hyperion?” The Executor turned towards another protoss who was working on what seemed a star map. “It will probably require several hours Executor Selendis.” He replied. “Alright, in the mean time send a research patrol down in the catacombs to retrieve the artifacts, emitting the psyonic energy. Analyzing the scripts there might take us quite a while.” “Excuse me, but I could help you in your research, if you would grant me permission to view some of your overall data on the subject.” Heimerdingers scientific interest had kicked in and escalated at full force. “Nothing personal, but I don’t think a human can manage to bear the knowledge in the lowest quantity of our overall data.” A protoss that was passing by talked all smug like. To Heimerdinger that sounded more like a challenge than an insult. “Well, good thing I am not a human. Executor could I have your permission to extract whatever knowledge I can and help you in the quicker solution of your problems?” She gave out what could be described as a sight. “Permission granted. Allow him clearance to our overall data. If other races wish to learn from us, so be it.” -- A bright light pierced through his closed eyes. When Nocturne came to, he saw how Kha’Zix approached the knocked out Rengar. Just as the Voidreaver was about to slice the throat of his so considered equal a flying blade of darkness cut him from the side. He grunted and kneeled. He looked at his wound, and then at the nightmare. “Come now bug, a hunt is no fun if the prey can’t fight back.” He mocked him. Kha’Zix roared and disappeared out of plain sight. When he emerged he took the fallen on the ground rune, and leaped away running at the nearby forest. Nocturne hovered over to their unexpected hitchhiker. He was still breathing, nothing was done to him. What startled the nightmare was that the Pridestalker had undertaken a horse like form. Several quick slaps on his face, woke Rengar up and got him on his feet. Afterwards the darkling turned his attention to the others from his group. He and Hecarim hadn’t changed at all, but the same could not be said about the Demon Jester and the Master of metal. Both were also transformed in to horses, and looked rather strange. Mordekaiser was yet again fully covered by metal, with a cape that covered his back. There were still spikes coming out from his armor, but for some reason, he had a metallic horn coming from his helmet which was much larger than the rest. His face was still covered completely by the helmet. Shaco, on the other hand, was a completely different story. He had on his jester dress up, but for some reason had wings, made out of daggers, and was flying around them, backside. If Nocturne had a mouth, it would have probably been dropped to the ground. After the shock passed a little, he forced himself to speak. “Okay…so you three are horses, and you can fly. Instead of asking why, I will only ask, how?” The fact that Shaco was striding through the air with ease was the most astonishing thing that had happened. “Well let’s just say that I like you dig through the champion’s medical files when no one is looking.” He giggled. “And what does that have to do with it jester?” Mordekaiser was still confused. “I thought it was pretty obvious. I know exactly how the bodies of most of the champions work. I know which muscle and tissue to cut in order to disable them. The summoners had made quite the specific description of Kayle’s wings. I’m simply putting that knowledge to use.” Was the “short” description for it. “So, you mean to tell me, you can fly, just by knowing how Kayle’s wings work, without having to try it out ever before?” Nocturne wondered. “Hell, I can make a better fish that Fizz…if I had gills.” This time Shaco full on laughed. “Good, we got that cleared. Now, why did we become horses, and why you, Hecarim and that bug did not?” Mordekaiser was all out of humor at the moment. “You guys look ridiculous.” The nightmarish horseman laughed. “Well you look just as ridiculous every day.” Rengar spoke. The smile on Hecarim’s face burned off. “Speaking of which, why did you two tag along?” Nocturne raised the question. “I overheard Malzahar and Kha’Zix talking. The purple bastard ordered the bug to follow you, and begin preparing whatever world you end up on for the Void. I couldn’t let my prey escape me, so I tagged along.” The Pridestalker explained. “How quaint of you, is it now?” Shaco showed up, hanging from Hecarim’s shoulder. “So let’s not waste time. High hooo Silver! HAWAAAY!” His clone, or the real one, saddled the Spirit of war and speared him forward. The ghostly centaur threw off his saddler, who turned to daggers once he hit the ground, and grabbed the throat of the jester, hanging from his shoulder, stared him straight in the eye and said slowly. “Do that again, and you won’t make it back to Runeterra!” Shaco struggled to break free, but having hooves instead of hands wasn’t helping at all. He nearly suffocated when Hecarim released him from his grip. The Demon jester hit the ground, face first. Mordekaiser made a few attempts to use his magic. The energy was concentrating in his rather strange horn. All of a sudden his giant mace, began to levitate, until it was again in his control. Rengar used some rope to tie his oversized dagger to his right leg. And Shaco eventually managed to breathe again. “OK! Now that all of that is done with lets search for our targets. Afterwards, Rengar it’s your job to track down Zix down, so we can get back the rune.” Nocturne summed up. “Don’t worry, I can track him in a day’s time.” “Soo…Noc, you’re the one who knows the scarecrow best from all of us, where do you s’pouse he’ll be?” The jester asked. After a moment of thought the Living nightmare answered. “He’s probably found a town, or village where he and Annie can reside for a while.” “Long story short, we find a populated stretch of land, we find them?” Hecarim asked. “Yes. Now let’s get a move on. This place is way too sunny and cheerful for my taste.” Nocturne said. -- It was pitch black. Dark clouds rained tons of water on top of Ponyville. The wind was really strong, it began to root out small trees. Twilight Sparkle was headed towards Rarity’s boutique. When she arrived she saw a purpleish gooey substance, coming from underneath the door. She gasped, fearing that it was what she thought it was. She slowly opened the door and screamed as loud as her lungs could allow. She saw the lifeless bodies of Rarity and Fluttershy hanging from the claws of the serpent zerg creature, as it feasted upon them. The monster gazed at her with bloodthirsty eyes and roared. That instant Twilight turned around and ran. Ran as fast as she could towards Applejack’s farm! She was exhausted and slowed down her pace a little, until she saw a red puddle. Her nerves were pulled to their limits. As she got closer to see what it was a red drop hit her face. Shocked the purple mare looked up. There the sight of Klastanar ripping, cutting, dicing and draining Rainbow Dash’s corpse almost did not give her a complete mental breakdown. She slowly stepped forward, until the protoss turned his empty eyes towards her. Then she resumed galloping in full force. The wind and rain were bashing ferociously at her. She saw the farm in the distance. She ran to the barn, and opened the door, just as Fiddlesticks, in his so called “humanoid” form, pulled his scythe out of her orange friend’s head, and the body dropped right on top of the ripped open Pinkie Pie in a pool of blood. She wanted to run away again, but this time…this time it was too much. She was entirely frozen by fear. After a few seconds, her legs failed her and she dropped on the floor with a blank stare. She could hear crows…lots and lots of crows. A giant flock of them landed around her. They stared at her for a moment, gave out a loud caw and began to eat her alive. The scarecrow’s eyes were zealous red. He began to laugh maniacally. Twilight felt that she had already snapped. On what was left of her face, a crazed look appeared. She barely managed to think to herself. ‘Forgive me Princes.’ Not even knowing what she wanted forgiveness for. As flesh and blood came off her body she began to laugh together with the scarecrow. Twilight woke up with a loud gasp. After hyperventilating for a while, she took a deep breath and rubbed away the sweat from her forehead with her hoof. “It was all a dream.” She thankfully sighted. When she turned her head she saw that Spike was turning all around in his bed, probably from a bad dream of his own. She got up and petted him on the head. He somewhat calmed down. She smiled and went downstairs. Apparently Fiddlesticks’ last night exit was a dream as well, she thought, after finding the ghostly scarecrow sleeping on the very same spot he got knocked out by sleep, with the same book on his face, on the same page. After she was sure everything was okay, she went up and cuddled into bed for a few more hours. -- Fiddlesticks slowly picked up the book from his face and looked at the sealing with an uncertain stare. Then he got out the necklace, he got from the castle, from underneath him and closely observed it. ‘So this thing emits such powerful dark energy, that it can affect people’s dreams, but not the one who holds it.’ He reasoned in his thoughts. The glowing spirit of a crow came out of him. The scarecrow gave it the necklace and it swallowed it. Afterwards it flew back inside of the spirit of its master. Fiddlesticks had found out that this was an effective way of carrying magical items. The soul of the crow would keep the magic contained without effecting the scarecrow at all, and while inside his spirit nobody and/or nothing could get it. He returned to the position he was supposed to be sleeping in, put the book on his face and awaited the dawn. -- As Celestia brought day to her subjects, Twilight was awoken by a loud knock on the door of the library. From it she guessed right on the spot, who it was. “Oh Pinkie, don’t you ever sleep?” She asked with a little bit of annoyance, before getting up. Fiddlesticks was knocking it out in a fine dream. When Twilight went downstairs the pink typhoon on her doorstep shouted. “TIME TO PAAARTEEEH!” The purple unicorn was used to that, but the sleeping scarecrow awoke in an instant, jumped from being startled and hit his head in a bookshelf. Despite the moment of irritation, he smiled and asked. “What? Breakfast so soon?” “Believe me, this is absolutely not out of the ordinary. We should open quickly before she rams through the door.” Twilight giggled. After doing so, Pinkie trotted in and began rambling about the party. Fiddle asked the two mares if they could go and get his body, because staying in the form of a spirit drained a lot of his powers. They agreed without hesitation and set out to Rarity’s boutique. On the other hand, Twilight was feeling kind of awkward around his “humanoid” form. When they stepped out of the library, the scarecrow felt some kind of magical spike. The energy was strangely familiar, but nothing much, so he decided not but much thinking on it. The sun was shining, there were no clouds in the sky. Rainbow had done her job for the week. Upon arriving, the purple mare knocked on the door and called her friend. “Rarity, it’s us. I’ve brought your customer.” A loud thud was heard. As if someone fell down the stairs. From inside the fashionista replied. “Be right there.” After a few minutes Rarity came out, but not with her usual glamour. Her mane was a mess and she was still with her working wear. “What happened to you?” Twilight asked confusedly. “You look funny!” Pinkie giggled in addition. “I’m sorry for my looks darlings, but our friend here gave me quite the inspiration. I was up all night.” The white mare explained. “Wait, you stayed up all night just to stitch up that old bag of hay? Wow, I’ve really let myself go if it took so much.” Fiddlesticks surprised himself. “No, no, no. Not at all. I was done stitching in about ten, maybe fifteen minutes.” “Then what took you so long?” Twilight wondered. “Come on in and see for yourselves.” Rarity proudly invited them in. Once in her working office, they could not believe their eyes. She had made a completely new body. “Wha…how’d…when…what?” Fiddlesticks stuttered. “As a fashionista I always try to create something in which ponies to look good. While stitching your old body, it hit me. Making clothes is one thing, but to create an entire body as a form of wear, was probably the highest possible reach in my profession.” She was very excited by the looks of it. “I took one of my old unicorn mannequins, made it some joints in the legs and neck, added a fine looking tail made from cloth. For the face I tried to copy the one from your body, but forgive me if I was unable to capture its magnificent charisma. And for the last of all, a tux to make you shine next to any jentlecolt. It was from an older collection of mine. I couldn’t find a buyer for it, so in order for it not to go to waste I stitched it on to the mannequin.” “You even got the cutiemark done too?” Her purple friend was deeply surprised when she saw the four black crows, that colored the white flank of the body. “But of course. I even added something at the front.” The scarecrow took a look. Where once used to be a bowtie on the tux, stood a big crow, which had opened its wings, and had a green gemstone as an eye. “Do you like it?” Rarity asked with a worried voice. The buyer replied “Like it? I LOVE IT! It looks amazing!” The warm words of acceptance brought a smile on the face of the hard working mare. “But I don’t think I can pay for it.” “Oh don’t worry dear, that’s on the house.” “Thank you very much miss Rarity.” “Try it on.” Pinkie urged him. He touched the mannequin and in an instant the ghost disappeared. After a while the eyes of the doll opened, glowing in bright green, and it took a several steps around the room. “Well, how is it?” Twilight wondered. “Feels good. Looks stylish, and not that I had a problem with it, but it definitely feels better without the half scythe arm.” He chuckled. “Might wear it for today’s party.” He added but was instantly given worried looks by the two unicorns. “Yeah, I think it will be better if you don’t wear it tonight. Pinkie’s parties can get very…out of hand, if you know what I mean.” Rarity recommended. A little bit confused, Fiddle agreed. “And here is the dress you requested for the little one.” It was outstanding as always. It was in the shape of a blooming flower. The color was cotton pink. White laces were going around, creating many different forms of flowers. And the widest part was surrounded by roses made from crimson rubies. “Whoa.” Her three guests’ jaws dropped. “I couldn’t let you both come to The Gala in the state we first met you.” Rarity stated. “What Gala?” The scarecrow was confused. “Oh right, I forgot to tell you. Tomorrow night is The Grand Galloping Gala. It’s the biggest festivity of the year. And it was also a perfect occasion to get you to meet the Princes. I bet that she can think of a way to get you guys back home.” Celestia’s student explained with a smile on her face. “Ok I will trust you on this one Twilight.” “Alright we should go and get the others.” Pinkie was overjoyed that the party neared. “Rarity, if you don’t mind I would like to leave this spiffy new outfit here, and get my old one. Don’t want to damage it until this…Gala.” “But of course. I have no trouble with that.” After a quick body swap the four went out and headed for AJ’s farm. When they got to the center of town, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, the Cutiemark Crusaders and Annie were waiting for them. The three fillies got frightened out of their skins at the sight of the scarecrow and jumped to hide behind Apple Bloom’s big sister. To which their friend in a dress giggled. “Now don’ worry ya’ll. This guy is a nice fella. He ain’t gonna hurt ya.” The orange mare calmed them down. After a brief introduction Scootaloo said with a little bit of jealous frustration to her friends. “Man I can’t believe she is younger than us and already has a cutiemark!” Later tonight the party started. Pinkie had made sure to invite everypony in town. The mayor had allowed her yet again to use the town center for the occasion. Tables were brought out, full of sweets and other meals. And of course…dinks. Lots. Everypony had their fills. Played some of the many games the pink mare had organized. Fiddlesticks met many ponies, won himself quite the fortune from drinking games. The liquids he had consumed had no effect on both his body and spirit, so despite he outdrank everypony that put on some bits, he was as sober as ever. At the end of it all he entertained the large crowd with his magnificent skills with the fiddle, as the little Annie and Pinkie danced around him. ‘With an evening like this, I can’t wait to see the Gala.’ Twilight thought to herself. -- “Don’t want no shiny protoss…flying machine. I’d rather have a clunky funkie, rusty SCV!” The song filled the entire cantina. “Hahaha! Oh I can’t believe we actually pulled that off.” Raynor laughed. He, Tosh, Matt and Pantheon were sharing a drink on a single table. The rest of the crew was celebrating like there was no tomorrow. “Indeed. Not only did we push the Dominion back, but we destroyed quite the number of their capital ships. Not to mention we captured some for ourselves. I bet Swann is in heaven boosting our tech with the latest upgrades Mengsk’s boys had installed in theirs.” Matt joined in. “True that brotha’. Me and my boys captured some of the ghost gear so we can use it to… “upgrade” ourselves as well.” Tosh chuckled. “I can see you are in a cheerful mood, but I grasp not what you are rambling about. Victory is ours this day, that’s all which is important. And once again I had the pleasure to see a field of enemy dead by my hand.” The warrior stood up, raised his cup and cheered, followed by everyone in the cantina. “Well someone seems to have lifted their spirits. Why not come out of that shell Panti?” The Commander asked. “This armor allowed me to taste what I was trained to do my whole life. The only reasons I would take it off would be only if it was completely necessary, for nature’s duties, and to bed a woman!” He gave out a laugh. His newly found drinking buddies joined in. The doors opened and Blitzcrank entered. “What is up people?! Barman, a chug of your finest engine oil, stat!” The golem shouted. “Comin’ right up.” He received as a reply. After getting his drink he joined the four. “What are you so happy about tin can?” Pantheon mockingly asked. “Seriously? Don’t you notice the new paint job?” While closing him up, Swann could not resist giving the bot “a few” upgrades. Blitzcrank was silverishly grey from top to bottom. Swann covered him thoroughly with the same metal Pantheon was wearing. “So we see.” Raynor took a swig from his drink before asking. “What’d that nut ball put in ya?” “Some kinda plasma generator. Remember my energy shield?” He pushed the Artisan of war. “Well now guess which metallic golem has two thumbs and releases a plasma shield. THIS GUY!” He pointed at himself with his thumbs. “I am willing to bet on a card game that that isn’t all.” Matt chuckled. The golem showed them his pulling hand’s palm. It had some sort of openings. Then he explained. “Now whatever I grab, I can fry it with concentrated raw energy, if I so desire of course. Also…” Two mini turrets filled with rockets came out of his shoulders. “Shabam!” He yelled. “Now I am a threat from range, not only melee. He also installed some sort of hyper engine. Now both my acceleration goes faster, and the electricity emitted from my left hand when I hit someone is increased by sixty percent. I even got magnetized feet.” It was obvious he was really excited about everything, until Pantheon said. “And still you did absolutely nothing during the battle.” “Oh shut up.” Another laugh came from the table. Unfortunately it quickly ended when someone called from the message station. “Commander Raynor. Sir, could you please come to the bridge. It’s preferable if your associates come as well,…but better tell captain Horner to lay low for a while.” Matt’s eyes filled with fear, as Raynor smirked and said. “Mira Han.” When they arrived on the bridge, Mira was already on a monitor waiting for them. “James, nice to see you again.” She said. “Always a pleasure Mira. Now what is it that you want to tell me?” He replied. “Not so long ago I got a call from a protoss fleet. They mistook my ship for yours and asked me to deliver a message.” “What kind of message?” “As I see you’ve got some new recruits.” She referred to Pantheon and Blitzcrank. “It seems those protoss have found some too, and want to give them to you.” “More?” Pantheon was surprised. “You better hurry up. The person who “called” is one you really don’t want to piss off.” “And who might that be?” “The protoss Executor.” Raynor flinched for a fraction of a second. Mira finished the conversation. “I’m uploading the coordinates where they appointed a meeting. Talk to you later Jim. Oh and tell Mathew that I might come around for a visit sometime.” [END OF TRANSMITION] The communication monitor announced. Raynor sighted. “I didn’t think I would have to deal with Selendis so soon again.” Pantheon got curious and asked. “What are these “pro-toss” and why are you so afraid of their Executor. Selendis doesn’t sound like a though guy.” “Because Selendis is not a guy. She’s a female.” The Commander replied. The Artisan of laughed loudly. “You’re scared from a woman? What kind of guy are you?” Everyone from the crew gave him death cold looks. Then Raynor spoke with threateningly calm voice and a stone expression. “That woman, can destroy an entire planet, by just uttering a word.” “Ok, she is special. But come on, how tough can these protoss guys be?” The warrior continued. “Ok I’ll try to explain how tough they are. So you are the best warrior from a tribe, which’s soul purpose for decades has been to produce the finest of the finest warriors?” “Without a doubt!” Pantheon stated haughtily. “Yeah, don’t take this personally, but the lowest ranking protoss warriors outclass you 3 times, or probably more.” “Oh BURN!” Blitzcrank said loudly. If he wasn’t wearing a helmet, Pantheon would have probably shown a very angry expression. Matt got up on the bridge and asked. “You done?” “Don’t worry Matt, your lady hung up. She also said she might come and visit.” Raynor replied with a chuckle. “Just perfect.” He sighted. Pantheon saw an opportunity to change the subject. “Wait, you’ve had a go with that woman from the screen?” He asked confusedly. “What, one night go and she thought you would call again?” The full-metal warrior received another death stare from the captain. “Matt here, once entered a card game, not knowing the stakes. In the end he was forced to marry Mira.” Raynor said with a smirk. “What? You married her? HER?” Their guest emphasized on that. “Wow, you must have been dead drunk that day my friend.” Awkward silence emerged in the group for a few moments. After that The Commander began giving orders. They were going to pick up the ones Mira told them about. No one told Pantheon to hold on, so when they warp-jumped he got rammed in to the wall behind him. The magnetized to the floor Blitzcrank turned around and laughed at him. -- It was a nice, cool and clear night. Carriages came one after another and many important ponies came out and headed towards the Canterlot Castle, down the red carpet put there for them. From the next carriage the six bearers of the elements stepped out and continued down the carpet. After that Fiddlesticks and Annie came out too, but stopped for a moment. “What’s wrong little one?” He asked. “I don’t know. I just…feel that if we go in something bad is going to happen.” She sighted. Her uncle chuckled and calmed her down. “Now now, this is the palace of the Princesses that rule here. Not to mention there are many important ponies here. This is the most well guarded place in the country. Besides us two playing the bedtime game with the ponies inside I don’t see anything bad that could happen tonight.” Annie nodded, but still had a sad look on her face. Fiddle reached out and turned her head so she could look at him. “Hey, don’t worry sweet pea. Everything will be alright. We are just going to go inside, meet the Princes, Twilight talks about, and in a few days we will be back home. And if something bad does happen, I promise I’ll keep you safe. Let’s make a deal, shall we? After we get back home I’ll get Veigar to play with you, and I’ll take you to see your mom and dad?” He ruffled her hair with his hoof, and the little filly laughed quietly and responded. “Do you promise?” “Promise!” “Ok, I trust you uncle Fiddle.” Yet another smile colored her face. “Shall we go in then, milady?” The tuxedo scarecrow reached his hoof, she held on and giggled. “Let’s.” And the two made their way over the red carpet and into the castle. Klastanar leaned back in his seat. He had done every possible way of sending a message, which the ship had, to his people. All he could do for the moment was to wait. All of a sudden an alarm began to honk repeatedly. The Protoss turned his head towards a monitor. After a few moments his eyes opened wide with terror. The energy radar in his ship showed him where the nearest town was. He downloaded the coordinates, broke out of his ship and rushed forward towards Ponyville. In a few minutes he was already in town. The first being he saw was a small purple creature with green spines. Without a moment’s notice he grabbed it and asked in a hurry. “Do you know where the one called Twilight Sparkle is?” The little one was shocked and barely managed to explain with a thin voice. “She-e-e and the others took the train to Canterlot.” Klastanar dropped him and charged at the train station, to which the purple creature pointed him to. There he saw a train turned in the direction of the Equestrian capital. Its engine driver was conversing with another pony, over a window. “Take me to Canterlot immediately!” He demanded, as he approached them. “Sorry pal, but this baby ain’t moving, even if you said please.” The engine driver replied. Klastanar got close, grabbed the piece of cloth, around his neck and threw him out. He got on the engine wagon. The machinery on this world was very simple, if nothing else. The two stallions from the outside began to yell at him to stop, get out and such, but he had shut them down from notice. After a few moments of pressing buttons and pulling leavers, the already full with coal engine started and the protoss hijacked the train to get him to the capital. The castle was amazing. The building looked big on the outside, but as Fiddlesticks and Annie stepped in they were stunned by how humongous it really was. Rainbow Dash had gone to look for the wonder bolts, as she did every year. Fluttershy was going to give it another go with the animals in the garden, and Pinkie just disappeared in the crowd, doing, goodness knows what, mischief. That left Twilight, Rarity and Applejack to introduce the two to the two Princesses. “Milady, it is both a pleasure and an honor to meet you.” The scarecrow modestly said as he and the little filly bowed down before the two gigantic alicorns. Unlike her sister, Celestia had put on a sort of a mistrusting expression. After what her student told her about the outworlder who ended a creature’s life before its time, she knew not how to react to these two. Still she managed to get a hold of herself and tried to act a little bit modest. “Arise. It is a pleasure to meet you as well mister?” She asked. “Fiddlesticks milady, and this little precious here is Annie.” The filly gave the Princes a warm smile. ‘Who knows what actually hides behind it.’ She thought to herself. “Twilight had told me about you, but not in full detail. Would you mind joining me for a drink and tell me more about yourself, and the place you come from?” Her face shined hospitality. “Most certainly.” The scarecrow replied. From the outside the two guards on the Castle gates saw something in the distance, coming their way. When it got closer they discerned a two legged figure, dressed in gold that was rushing at them. They began to slowly gallop towards it. One of the guards shouted. “HALT! In the name of the Princesses I order you to stop! State your name and buis--“ Their minds flashed blank, and the two stallions dropped unconscious on the floor, as the figure passed them by. Klastanar kicked open the enormous gates. In an instant all eyes were on him. He looked around until he noticed Twilight, two of her friends, a strange looking pony with a green eyed creature on his chest and two larger ponies. ‘Those must be the ones in charge.’ He thought. With a quick pace he made his way to them, as the crown stepped away from him with scared expressions. When the protoss got to the stairs they stood on Twilight asked with much surprise in her voice. “Klastanar, what are you doing here? Princes this is—“ She got cut short by him. “There is not time for introductions.” He turned towards Celestia, who was looking with a bit of anger at him. “A terrible fate has leaned over your world.” “What has happened?” She asked. “I have discovered a zerg colony in the forest next to the populace you call Ponyville. You must evacuate everyone from there as soon as possible!” “What have my subjects to fear from these zerg? Creatures from the Everfree never leave the forest, Ponyville is safe as far as I know. And who are you to order around the Princes of the sun?” Luna was getting worried because of the growing anger in her sister’s tone. “I am a Protoss, one of the firstborn of the gods! And you would do well to listen to me.” He stated before continuing. “As for what you should fear, the zerg are savage beasts which consume entire worlds, and are now descended upon yours. They are not from your forest and will begin an onslaught in order to assimilate your people in a matter of days.” “Can’t you do anything in order to stop them?” The Princes of the moon spoke. “Not alone. I require your help. You must call your army, or any form of standing military to arms, and prepare them for the most horrifying thing they could ever go up against.” ‘Most horrifying? Yeah right.’ Fiddlesticks thought to himself. All this talk of arming an army and otherwise was making all the guest ponies in the courtroom on edge. Several mares had already fainted. “Another thing you should do is give me access to any kind of information regarding the forest. Flora, fauna and everything.” “Why would you need that?” Celestia asked. “As I said, the zerg consume every living thing on every world they come across. But not everything is destroyed in the process. Whatever the swarm decides is good in the species that has been assimilated it becomes part of their gene-pool, either evolving their current specimens, or creating entirely new sub-species. I need to know everything you know about the things that live in that forest, so I can see what we might be dealing with.” The protoss explained. At that point everypony in the castle was in the courtroom and listening to the conversation, the three missing bearers of the Elements of Harmony included. “Can’t ya use them explody things that wipe out zerg DNA, or whatever like with that serpent thing?” Applejack asked. “If it were only that simple. I would need time to set them up at key locations, but time is something we don’t have. The colony would be too big for only that to handle it.” “Alright, for the sake of my subjects I will trust you Klastanar. Twilight Sparkle take him to the Canterlot archives and give him everything you can find on the Everfree.” Celestia spoke. “The rest of you my little ponies.” She referred to the other bearers of the Elements. “I need of you to evacuate Ponyville in the fastest way possible.” “I shall gather the Royal and Nigh Guard, and the mages from the University sister.” Luna stated. “Do so, sister.” “Pardon me milady.” Fiddlesticks interrupted. “But perhaps me and Annie can help you.” “And how if I may ask?” Celestia was in a bitter mood. “Forgive me, but I wasn’t entirely honest with you Twilight Sparkle. Remember the bedtime game my little companion mentioned two days ago? In that game, in order to put others to sleep, we had to kill them.” He said with a calm voice. The six mares looked with terror at them. The thought that they had let murderers shared time with them was rather unnerving. “I can see that those news are not by your liking, but someone with talents like mine can be of use to you in order to defend your world.” “You think we are just going to allow you to help us? Like that? You lied to us, why should we trust you?” Rainbow Dash began with her loud talk. “I knew there was something off about you!” “So be it.” Celestia stated. “What?! Princes, you aren’t really going to allow them to do whatever they want?” The blue pegasus was shocked. “In any other situation I wouldn’t. But given the circumstances I have no choice. Every capable ally we can get is needed.” Half an hour later Twilight and Klastanar headed for the archives. The five mares, along with Fiddlesticks and Annie returned to Ponyville. It most certainly was a night they would soon not forget. -- “I demand to know why have you brought us here!” Zeratul was filled by anger, as he spoke before the High Council of Equinity. “Our original intention was not to bring you here. We were trying to send several people to the place you were pulled from, so they could rescue two others who were sent there by mistake.” High Councilor Kiersta Mandrake tried her best not to provoke the being more than they had already did. “Well what is the problem to re-do the teleportation procedure with me and my people?” The Dark Prelate asked. “In order to conjure the summoning spell we had to create a special rune.” Councilor Heywan Relivash explained with a smug tone. “To make such a rune we had to use quite the amount of funds. And I highly doubt the leaders of the city-states would lend that amount again on a short’s notice.” Zeratul surrounded himself in smoke and disappeared, before materializing right in front of the man, with his energy blade pointed at him. “My people are dying, fighting a war, in order to protect the likes of your world from being consumed.” ‘Not only the Void, but now something else has set eyes on our world.’ Vessaria Kolminye thought to herself. The templar turned with confused eyes towards her. “What do you mean, the Void?” The councilor was surprised. “How did--?” “It matters not. Answer me, what did you mean by the Void?” She was shaken by a cold chill. The amount of energy this being gave out startled all of the councilmen. After she got a hold of herself, Vessaria spoke. “There is a dark, empty space between dimensions. It is home to nightmarish creatures which feast upon the magic energies of entire worlds. That space, and its inhabitants we call the Void. Why are you so interested in it?” She asked. “Then that is not the Void my people know.” “And what is?” Mandrake wondered. “My people follow two paths of power. The one I and others were born with uses energies compelled to darkness. That, or to be more correct, we are the Void.” “So you have no connection with the world eaters?” Relivash continued. “Not in the slightest. Now back to the matter at hand, how can those “leaders” be convinced to give you the resources necessary for making such a rune?” “Well..huh…I’m glad you asked.” Heywan began to speak, with a smug tone once again. “All of them will gather to observe a match from the League in two days. If you and your companions agree to participate in that match, and manage to impress them, they might consider lending us the funds required.” “You dare want us to fight for your entertainment?” Vessaria sighted. “As much as I don’t like to agree with him, currently that is your only option of returning.” After a few moments of thought Zeratul sighted as well. “Very well, so be it.” “I recommend that in for the time being you should learn the rules of such a match. I will send Nasus to show you the ropes. He is a giant jackal behemoth. Easy to spot, you can’t miss him.” Kiersta said. When he exited the hall, Zeratul was met by his brothers in arms. “Well Prelate, what is going on?” The stalker asked. “They know a way with which they can return us back Moradar, but…” “What is it dark one?” The zealot wondered. “In order to do so, we need to win the favor of the leaders of the city-states inhabiting this continent Aramanis. And to do so we need to fight in their so called League.” “Disgraceful!” The immortal stomped the ground, leaving a small dent in the floor. “They expect us to fight for their entertainment?!” “I understand T’Nodan, I dislike the idea as well, but there is no other way. At the very least they don’t seem like much. I doubt their warriors will put up a fight, so we can easily win.” The group stayed silent for a moment. Each was thinking the situation over. Then Zeratul spoke. “I know this goes against everything, each of us has been taught, but if we are to ever return to aid out people, we must do as the terrans ask.” With mixed feelings the other three agreed. Soon after they were approached by a large creature, which stood tall with but a head of height over the immortal. “Nasus I presume.” The templar said. “Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you, and I am sorry.” “For what?” Aramanis asked. “I know you held dear the place you come from. I did so as well, until I was teleported here by the summoners’ magic.” “Why have you not returned? If they can return us, they can you.” T’Nodan’s voice ran deep in the halls of the institute. The behemoth closed his eyes, giving a negative expression, when it came to the question. He said, as if the question was never asked. “If you would follow me I will introduce you to the basics of how matches in the League work.” He turned around and began walking, while the four followed him. Nasus did not know though that they had heard those painful thoughts of his and knew exactly what had happened to him. -- Everypony, but Twilight had returned to Ponyville. Rarity, Pinkie, AJ and Rainbow had started to evacuate everypony from the town. Fluttershy went to her cottage to pack her stuff and get Angel. The night had become very unpleasant, giving everything that had happened. The yellow pegasus was in the middle of packing when the window of her house shattered. A nasty looking creature about her size broke inside. It had wings, two strange limbs coming out of its back and a drooling mouth, full of sharp teeth. The mare was shocked but after a while she somewhat managed to get a hold of herself and used her special stare and strong words against the creature,…but with no effect. It jumped and pushed her in a nearby wall. She was knocked unconscious. After that the monster bit her leg, threw her up on its back, and rammed out through the door, and headed towards the forest. When Angel came back from the backyard, with his hands full of carrots, he dropped them all as his jaw dropped. The house was a mess, with a broken window and front door, and Fluttershy was missing. The terrified bunny ran out and headed for the town to seek help.