//------------------------------// // Questionable motives // Story: The collapse of the universe // by KRissCHu573 //------------------------------// The collapse of the universe Chapter 6: Questionable motives Chrysalis and her army managed to pass through the equestrian defenses, using their shape shifting spell, and were already infiltrating the Everfree. Soon they made it to the old castle ruins. As they were walking through the empty halls, they found themselves on a broken balcony. Chrysalis looked around with frustration. The very moment she looked up she saw a bug like creature falling through the air, directly at her. During the confusion, one of her changelings jumped in front of his queen to protect her, and got cut in two, as the creature landed. The next minute it and the changelings, led by their queen, were about to charge at each other. Right before the collision, Discord emerged between them. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s the wracket all about?” “This filthy lowlife attacked me, and killed one of my subjects!”Chrysalis’s anger poured over him. ”Seriously? I told you we were expecting guests.“ The spirit of chaos turned to the Voidreaver. “You said: ‘Kill anyone who infiltrates.’ , and you didn’t specify who those guests would be.” Kha’Zix hissed at him. “Alright, alright.” Discord sighted. “Ugh, I can’t believe I am saying this, but calm down! We’ve got business to attend to.” “You surprise me Discord, since when do you talk business?” Chrysalis asked with a chuckle. That quickly ended, when the spirit of chaos gave her a cold stare. He then walked slowly towards her, until they were an arm’s length from each other, and he kept the grim expression on, without breaking eye contact. Tension was ripping through the air. The changeling’s queen’s smug attitude had completely vanished. She froze in place from the chills she felt when the slow wind touched the small sweat drops on her neck. A moment after, Discord raised his eagle arm. Chrysalis’s heart began to beat quickly. The draconicus slowly reached at her, still bearing his terrifying expression, and pinched her nose. The next second he flashed behind Kha’Zix, rolling on the floor, laughing his guts out. After a while he slowed down and spoke. “That was priceless!” He got up, took a deep breath and continued. “Right. Now, let’s get boring. We forgot introductions. Chrisy, this is Zixy. Zixy, this is Chrisy.” “Charmed.” Chrysalis said with distain, before continuing. “Now what’s the business you want to talk about?” “First off, we’re going on a little road trip, inside the forest, to get the rest of our troops.” “Armies, boring planning. What happened to the almighty spirit of chaos, who leveled cities with a finger snap?” The queen of the changelings mocked him. “Drastic times call for drastic measures. This time I want to be certain that everything goes in my liking. As for my power, well…you don’t know a simple fact about the Elements of Harmony, given the fact that you have never had the chance to stand against them, is that when their power strikes you, you’re stripped from all of yours. It doesn’t remove it permanently, just drains you dry from it. Eventually you regain it back. After a thousand and so years I returned all of my power. How do you think I escaped the first time? So you see, I haven’t regained much for three years.” He disappeared. Then he flashed next to Kha’Zix and patted him on the head while saying. “That’s why I needed this guy to get me out.” Chrysalis sighted. “Fine. Seriously, when did you get so talkative? Just lead the way to those other troops you spoke of.” With a giggle, Discord began to flash to the north-west, followed by the changeling army. Chrysalis stayed behind. She searched for Kha’Zix with her eyes. In a moment the Voidreaver landed next to her. His cargo stunned her. ‘Twilight Sparkle? What have these two been up to?’ She thought as she saw the unconscious mare. She quickly got a hold of herself, put on a warm expression, and began to speak with a seductive tone to him. “You know…I know Discord pretty well…” “And I should care because?” He snorted. “Listen you overgrown cricket, I don’t know in what backwater he found you, but you won’t find a greater liar than him! Whatever he promised you…” She slowly came closer, put a hoof under his chin, moved her lips close to his ear and whispered. “…he won’t deliver.” She gave him a moment to process her words, then sweetness continued to drip from her mouth. “But I can. Your deepest desire, your greatest love, I will make it so.” The next moment Kha’Zix pushed her on the ground, and Chrysalis found herself pinned down, with a scythe claw put bellow her throat. “So you can change shape and say that you can grant my desire?” He spoke slowly. “My true love is the hunt! How will you grant that? Should I kill you right on the spot, or give you a head start? If you wish to meddle in Discord’s affairs, leave me out of your plans. Don’t worry, I’m not going to spill this little talk of ours in front of him.” Afterwards he pulled his claw back, allowing her to breathe, and jumped after the rest, with Twilight on his shoulder. -- [Dominating. SHUT DOWN!] The loud voice announced when Elise sunk her fangs in Aramanis but was then shot down by Moradar. In the mid lane a battle was raging. T’Nodan took on the blows of magical energy, sent by Malzahar, while he was taking on Cho’Gath. During that, Zeratul was fighting the Demacian and Noxian posterboys, with Sona, doing her best to aid him. Soon after, the stalker arrived from the river, after helping the minions push bot. He immediately began to blink around and harass Malzahar. The Prophet of the Void was forced to remove his attention from the golden crab, and left him on Cho’Gath’s mercy. The zealot was reanimated at the starting altar. He made a quick purchase of two crossed red blades. After he took them, they disappeared, and he clould feel their effects adding to the ones of the big yellow and blood covered swords, the giant axe and the curbed white boots. After it was done he rushed for the lane. Elise had already reached there and the fight was going on in full force. Garen had Zeratul pinned down, and Darius leaped into the air, ready to chop the Dark Prelate in two. Just as he began to fall, Aramanis charge-jumped and pushed him away. That gave Zeratul enough time to land a quick elbow hit on Garen’s chin and blink away. Sona was finally ready. She stunned all of their opponents but Elise. T’Nodan jumped and shot off the left rib cage of the fully grown Terror of the Void. The giant mass of flesh and bone dropped on the ground with a feral scream. As he tried to get up, the Maven of the strings unleashed a triple cord, powered by her Hymn of Valor, which cut through Cho’Gath’s skull, ending his torment. Malzahar grew tired of this. He found Aramanis battling the Hand of Noxus, and prepared to unleash his Nether Grasp on him. Just as the purple energy got out from his eyes, Moradar blinked out of nowhere, grabbed the zealot and blinked away. Darius swung his axe at them, but they vanished too soon. The next thing he saw was the ray of magic that had headed his way, and stuck him dead. Moradar blinked above the mage and dropped Aramanis, who shoved his blades in between Malzahar’s shoulders and head. With his hands, the zealot grabbed the prophet’s cloak, back bended in mid air, flipped the mage, and smashed him into the ground for good. Zeratul took up a steady stance and swung at Garen. The demacian tried to block it, but the energy blade went through his sword like a hot knife through butter. With the build up momentum, it had the same effect on the human’s armor and upper body. The Spider Queen tried to escape. She took on her human form, so she could stun her chasers, but the very moment she shifted, Aramanis charged, grabbed her, stuffed her, head first, in the immortal’s right cannon, after which T’Nodan fired. Without hesitation they pushed along with the upcoming minion wave. After the inhibitor fell, they smashed the nexus turrets. By that time they were very exhausted. They saw how their opponents revived and charged at them. They pounded the nexus, trying to secure the win, but it was too late. Darius and Garen cut down Aramanis and Sona. Malzahar, Elise and Cho’Gath made quick work out of Zeratul and Moradar. In the end all five concentrated on the immortal, and eventually took him down. When the nexus was but a hit away from destruction, T’Nodan fell. However, one of his items’ effect had just refreshed. The enemies failed to notice that and began pushing back the swarming super minions. In a few seconds the power of the winged gold armor brought T’Nodan back to life. He stood up, and fired. [VICTORY! / DEFFEAT!] The announcer yelled. The battle which lasted for almost an hour was finally done. In a few minutes all of the champions were returned to the Institute. After the connection to the summoners was disbanded, the ten went out from the summoning chamber. “Dumb luck.” Garen snorted quietly. When she heard it, with a smirk on her face, Sona thought. ‘No luck, just skill!’ High Councilor Vessaria Kolminye met with the victors. “Impressive display Dark Prelate.” She congratulated them, with a slow clap. “And you were so negative on siding with them, because they were new.” She remarked to the Maven of the strings. The only thing, which expressed what was going in Sona’s mind was an angry frown. ”I believe now is not the best time for chit-chat.” Zeratul spoke. “What has the General Assembly decided about me and my people?” “You’ve caught their attention non-the less. They agreed to fund the making of another rune with which you can return.” While saying so Vessaria seemed like the very avatar of confidence, but Zeratul noticed the clouded thoughts in her mind, and asked with annoyance in his voice. “There is little you can hide from me councilor. What’s the catch?” The unbreakable person before them disappeared, and Kolminye sighted in defeat. “Even with the funding, the making of the rune will take some time.” “Go on.” He stirred her up. “And the Assembly wishes to see you and your companions, participate in more matches.” She finished with a discouraged tone. “So we finally go to the bottom of things. I can’t promise you that we will continue to entertain you.” ‘Forgive me Prelate Zeratul…’ Aramanis spoke to him in his mind. ‘…If I may. When we return, we should have collected data about this world. If the zerg, or the hybrid invade, we need to know how to prepared they are for them, and if they fall, what good will they be to our enemies. Apparently their best forces are these champions. The best way to study them will be to actually meet them in combat. Besides we need to find as much information as possible about this… “Void” these terrants speak of. From the facts beared before us, it’s a strong potential enemy. It’d be best if we neutralize any infiltrators, if they are any, and prepare against any other attempts of corrupting us, as soon as we meet with military command.’ The zealot ended his monologue. To that Zeratul sighted in his thoughts and, and answered. ‘You speak accurately true Aramanis. All right, for the good of this world, our people and the balance itself, I shall allow for our continuous participation in this “league”.’ T’Nodan and Moradar listened to all of that, and gave approving looks to the Dark Prelate. Thw whole thing lasted moments in their heads, and after another second the templar turned to the councilor. “But if it’s necessary for our return, we will.” “Wow.” She was very surprised. “I didn’t think you would agree so easily.” “When something needs to be done, so it shall. If the Prelate thinks that this is the right decision, so be it.” T’Nodan said with a heavy tone. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we will take our leave.” Zeratul said, before the four protoss headed for their quarters, and left the two women alone. ‘What in the nine hells are those guys up to? If anyone, I’m the one who recognizes inner conflicts, and with their so called “psyonic” power, I won’t be surprised if they had a telepathical debate.’ Sona thought when it seemed like they were far away to not hear her thoughts. Vessaria Kolminye had similar things on her mind. ‘Something strange is going on with those four…and I don’t like it one bit!’ -- The “road trip” took them deep into the forest. Soon they stopped flying, and began walking. Chrysalis and Kha’Zix were a few steps behind Discord. The changeling queen caught up with him, and asked with annoyance. “Where are those troops? We’ve been going for hours.” “Don’t worry your holed head Chrisy, we’re already here.” He remarked with a chuckle, and pointed at the ground with his eyes. When she looked down, she saw that they were now walking on some sticky, purpleish goo. In a few minutes they came ontop of a small hill amongst the “trees”. All the flora and fauna was very disformed. The trees were covered by slimy skin, some even had eyes and moving limbs. The small creatures tried to attack them(with no success). They had disfigured limbs and heads as well. What they saw from the hill were a building in the form of a cup, filled with green liquid, a throne shaped cavern, covered in spikes, a giant castle like, spiny mass and several towering Hydropods, with bone heads, surrounding the other structures. In the midst of it all, they spotted a large pack of changeling sized creatures, with spiked front arms, another pair of limbs on their backs and a set of wings. They looked like the combination of lizards and insects, and Chrysalis noted the striking resemblance with Kha’Zix. However, she was shocked when she saw another pack, of what she could only recognize as timber wolves. They also had limbs sticking out of their backs, the back sides of their front legs had sharp spikes on them. The weirdest part was that their jaws opened sideways. Inside there was another set of jaws with five inch long kaynines. Their wooden skin seemed more rugged and stone like, with a purpleish color. “Friends of yours?” Chrysalis turned to Zix. “Never seen them in my life.” The Voidreaver replied. The two packs saw them and ran in their direction. The queen ordered her changelings to prepare themselves for battle. That was quickly disformed as two giant hydras unburrowed from right underneath them. They were also changed. Aside from the darker coloring, each head had two sets of jaws, like the wolves. The necks had a line if bone spines from both the back and front sides. On their chests they had bony ribs, they formed a cage, which opened sideways, and revealed a big gaping mouth, full of teeth, which roared along with the heads. The ret of the body was heavily armored by a though exoskeleton. The first hydra grabbed a few changelings with two of its heads, and the other swallowed a dozen of them with its chest mouth, while doing so, both of them crushed a dozen more with their tails and legs. The two packs were drawing closer by the minute. Kha’Zix was about to drop the purple mare and charge into battle, when Discord signaled him to stand his ground. With a satisfied smile, the spirit of chaos opened his hands, and after a flash of light, both the hydras and the packs stopped their onslaught. Chrysalis dropped on the ground, hyperventilating and bore and expression of terror. The sight of so many of her subjects getting torn apart softened her legs, until they could no longer hold her. Discord stood next to her, and said with a smirk. “Magnificent, aren’t they?” Because of her anger and lack of breath she didn’t say anything. While she tried to grab a hold of herself, Kha’Zix picked her up very fast, put her on his shoulder next to Twilight, and leaped away, as Discord flashed away. The very next moment the sport they stood on, was obliterated by a concentrated shot of force. The trio got together and saw how a figure landed in front of them. It had the form of a pegasus. Its mane was brownisly green, each hair was from bone rings, that made them look like spider legs. The tail represented lots of such long and straight spider legs. The whole body, except for the face, was tightly covered in a purpleishly-brown layer of bone. On her flank, where there should have been a cutie mark, the bony cover, with a more obvious purple, formed a strange symbol, which seemed like a curbed spiked worm. Unlike the body, the face was light green, with glowing orange-yellow eyes, which burned like two suns, and were currently grimly staring them. The two packs turned their ferocious growling from them to her, but stopped as Discord spoke. “Down boys, daddy’s got this.” If all that wasn’t enough, the next thing the spirit of chaos said, nearly gave Chrysalis a heart attack. “Why hello there Fluttershy, long time no see. Have you done something with your mane? You look amazing!” “What the buck are you talking about?! This can’t possibly be the Element of kindness! And how can you find her amazing?” The queen of the changelings yelled. “Look at the hydras and the wolves. Is that their typical appearance? Whatever happened to them was done to her, only in a more advanced way.” He said. With a chuckle he answered her other question. “As for why I find her amazing, well it seems that I enjoy the company of horrifyingly disformed mares.” To that Chrysalis responded with a frown. “You…” Fluttershy’s voice sounded deeper. Unlike her usual frightfulness, her eyes leaked determination…and concentrated anger. Discord looked at her with questioning eyes. ‘What will you do now?’ He thought. The mare flew back, still locked on them, pulled her front legs back, and then thrusted them at the trio. Two waves of force headed their way. They dodged them, but right after that the disformed pegasus charged at the spirit of chaos. She either tried to tear him with her teeth, hit or kick him, and even fired some more force shots at him, but he dodged it all, and was getting a bit tired. After another force push miss, Discord flashed behind, grabbed her head, and infused it with some sort of spell. Then he let her go, and flashed back to his group. In a moment Fluttershy landed in front of them. She bowed down, and spoke calmly. “The colony is yours to command.” “Splendid.” He said, and led all of his followers to the lair in the distance. When the spirit of chaos and his newly found ally arrived in front of the ginormic living structure, which he measured with a quick look, and then asked the infested pegasus. “You’ve been here for a while now, you are the second most informed being in the world when it comes to these creatures. What have you accomplished thus far?” “After the hatchery was morphed we had enough DNA savings to create a spawning pool.” She pointed at the filled with green liquid building. “The zerglings…” She referred to the lizard/insect , wolf sized creatures. “…brought in plenty of low tier DNA( the timber wolves ). With it we produced the wolflings. When the number of the two light packs was high enough we targeted larger creatures.” She pointed at five infested manticores. Their back legs had merged with the torso, making the tails stronger. They no longer had stingers, now they could use their tails as cannons with poisonous charges. Their pawns had turned to bone scythes. The two sets of jaws were different. The outside ones were like those of ants, and the inside ones were short, filled with dozens of needle like teeth. “Mantalisks. We only managed to evolve five, because they require a lot of genetic supply to produce. Instead we used it to evolve a lair.” The giant building in front of them. “At first it was a bid unstable, but we managed it. After we morphed a roach warren…” The throne shaped building. “…the mantalisks, the two packs, and a few roaches brought the hydras. We lost our only hydralisk before I was even infested.” “How?” Discord asked. “The protoss Klastanar killed it, when it attacked me and my friends.” She explained before continuing. “We tried to evolve a spire, but the manticore, bird, bat and insect DNA is not enough. We need a large amount of genes from flying creatures.” The spirit of chaos smirked and laughed quietly. “I think I can arrange that.” “Oh Chrisy.” “What do you want?” Chrysalis was still mad, about the loss of so many of her subjects. “I have two tasks for you and your changelings.” Discord said with a complacent smile. Fluttershy was beside him, and that worried her. “There’s this dark-purple ruby necklace, I need you to get me.” The changeling queen laughed quietly. “Since when are you into pricy jewelry?” “This one is special. A living scarecrow, residing in Ponyville, has it inside a spirit of a bird, in his soul.” “How am I supposed to get it then?” “Simple. When I had myself a laugh back in the castle, I imported on you the necklace’s energy signature. Get the scarecrow, use a soul splitting spell on him, while you concentrate on this signature and the bird will come out. Then rip it open with magic and bring me the necklace in the castle.” “And what is the other assignment?” She asked confusedly. Discord chuckled. “I need your changelings to get a little bit of an upgrade.” Her eyes filled with terror. “You want them to become like those things?!” “Don’t worry, I’m not asking you, only the rest of the army. Not only will they get stronger, but their DNA will help with developing the colony, which means faster domination.” “NO BUCKING DEA- -“ The spirit of chaos stopped her, before she could finish her statement. “Careful what you say. If good isn’t cutting it, then I will be bad. Either you order your troops to step in line on their own, or I order the creatures from the colony to kill them all. ALL! Both ways the genetic material will be supplied.” Chrysalis barely held back her tears. After a minute of silence she spoke quietly. “Half. I will only give you half of my army.” “That works too, now prepare for your trip to Ponyville.” She ordered half of her forces to head inside the lair, so they could be infested. The other half flew with her to their other destination. A flight most unpleasant. For a full five minutes of their journey, they were decimated by the horrifying screams of agony, given off by their brethren. ‘Soon, you damned bastard! Very soon you will pay for this!’ Chrysalis raged in her thoughts, with small tear drops, dripping from her eyes. Author’s note: Hello there my good readers. Sorry for the big delay. You know what a big bitch school is. Mid-year exams are upon me. So, what I would like to ask of those who enjoy this fic, is to leave a comment or so. You do know that progress is unachievable without any sort of feed-back. Thank you again, and I wish to you all happy holidays. =)