//------------------------------// // The Ancient One // Story: MLP: Kerrigan's Journey // by King Xeno //------------------------------// The Leviathan landed on Zerus, where they saw dense forest ahead of them, with the Protoss nearby, he waited for Kerrigan to approach. "Kerrigan, the power of Zerus called you here!" He exclaimed, but Kerrigan frowned. "The need to see Mengsk dead brought me here." Kerrigan replied, but then had a question. "Why are you helping me Zeratul? You have more cause to hate me than most." Kerrigan asked, which gave them the Protoss' name. "The Xel'Naga wish to see you restored as ruler of the Swarm." Zeratul answered, which angered and confused Kerrigan. "You know I don't believe in your mad prophecies." Kerrigan said, and Zeratul cocked his head. "But you will do anything to have your revenge?" He asked, and Kerrigan nodded. "Anything. Wait... I sense something... A Primal... Sleeping..." Kerrigan said, and Zeratul took a few steps forward. "The Ancient One. A Primal Zerg that witnessed the creation of the Overmind." Zeratul spoke, and Kerrigan began to place pieces together and came up with a conclusion. "You want me to wake it, don't you?" She asked and Zeratul nodded. "You will need the Ancient One's help if you truly seek the power of Zerus." Zeratul responded, but Kerrigan and the ponies heard Izhsa speak to them. "My Queen, Primal forces are gathering nearby, they want to prevent you from speaking with the Ancient One." Izsha said, which Kerrigan already began to plan an attack force. "What will you do?" Zeratul's voice broke her concentration and Kerrigan smiled. "What my enemies fear most... Always..." Kerrigan replied, and Zeratul nodded. "Good. You are on the right path. You will not see me again Kerrigan." Zeratul said and began to leave, which left Kerrigan and the ponies ready to fight back against the Primal Zerg. The head of the Ancient one stuck out of the ground, although it was sleeping, it had its many eyes wide open, with its mouth agape. They began to feel the presence of a Primal, a very strong one, and it revealed itself to them. "Brakk speaks now! We will not let you speak with the Ancient One, Broken Zerg. We will feast upon your essence!" The Primal shouted, before sending strange looking Zerg flying at their Hive Cluster. "Warning! Primal flyers approaching!" Izsha warned, but winged creatures swooped downwards and began to fire smaller creatures from their tails, which bounced from Primal to Primal, killing them. "Reconstituted Mutalisk into Swarm. Mutalisks flying unit, deals damage many targets." Abathur explained, while Kerrigan stood before the Ancient one. "To wake this creature, we must feed it." Izsha instructed, and Kerrigan noticed a group of strange creatures nearby. She quickly killed them and a single Drone appeared and began to use its pincers to cut around the destroyed corpse, until it had a large chunk of meat, which it then brought to the Ancient One, and threw it inside of the large Primal's mouth. The Ancient One chewed and swallowed the meat, which confused the ponies since it was sleeping. "We can kill these Quillgor and harvest their meat. Rarity, I'll need to ask you to so this job." Kerrigan said, which made Rarity gag, however she could not refuse her Queen. "Yes, my Queen. I will do this... No matter how foul it is..." Rarity said, while her friends were nearby. Although they had fought against it, Spike was allowed to leave the Leviathan and stay near the Hive Cluster. "Good luck you guys! I'll be rooting for you!" Spike shouted, as they left with Fluttershy's Brood. Kerrigan would be joining them, they approached the first Quillgor nest and quickly killed the Alpha, which allowed Rarity to begin collecting the meat with her various pincers and claws. She made quick work of it and moved to place the meat in the Ancient One's mouth, and once again it ate the flesh that was thrown into it maw. "Destroy the meat! Leave her with nothing!" Brakk shouted as his pack began to approach a herd of Quillgor and slaughter them, allowing them to begin destroying the meat. However Twilight moved forward with her friends and her Queen, and quickly killed the Primal Zerg that attempted to destroy the meat. Twilight noticed that some of the creatures resembled those found in the Swarm. Were the Primal Zerg copying these designs, or did the Swarm copy them? Rarity was quickly able to harvest the biomass and threw it into the mouth, allowing them to seek more. They came across a small green pool of liquid that had a few Primal Zerglings guarding it, and Kerrigan began to drain the pool of its essence and strength, making her feel stronger. "This must be the power that Zeratul spoke of." Kerrigan said, while they harvested more Quillgor meat. Which the Ancient One promptly devoured. Brakk had sat there long enough, they had gathered the meat necessary, but they could not speak with the Ancient One if they were all dead. "Brakk comes for you Corrupt Zerg!" Brakk shouted as he gathered a small amount of Primal Forces and began to march towards the Hive Cluster. However they would make it there before Kerrigan and the others would, so it was a race to see who could return there first. Brakk and his forces managed to beat Kerrigan to the Hive Cluster and began to attack, but noticed a small and pitiful creature cowering nearby. "Please don't hurt me..." It said, clearly afraid, which filled Brakk with satisfaction. Brakk began to approach the creature. "New essence. You will fuel my evolution!" Brakk shouted, swiping at the creature with his giant claws, while Brakk could feel the thickness of its armor, it wasn't strong enough to keep the claws from breaking through the scales, and cutting deeply into the flesh. Twilight let out a gasp of horror as she saw Brakk attack the creature, and she felt anger rise in herself. Twilight charged forward and quickly caused several explosions with Magical Burst, which caused the smaller Primals to be killed instantly. Twilight fired spines at Brakk, who let out loud groans of pain, but still managed to attack. Brakk slammed into Twilight his shoulder, knocking her to the side. He approached Applejack who slammed into him, but was unable to move the giant Primal. Brakk was injured, but could still fight. Until Kerrigan moved forward and with a psionic bolt of lightning managed to kill Brakk, his body exploded, causing blood to rain down around them, while they heard the Ancient One begin to laugh. Kerrigan moved to speak with the Ancient One while the Mane Six looked down at the wounded and dying creature, which they knew as the young dragon, Spike. "Spike, you have to stay with us! Don't close your eyes!" Twilight shouted, and Spike was barely responding. "There has to be something we can do!" Twilight yelled, and an idea came to mind. She lifted Spike with her magic and bolted towards the Leviathan, where she approached Abathur. "Can you do something to save him?" She asked, while Abathur began to think. "Yes... Possibly... Can heal... Slight side effect..." Abathur explained, which made Twilight nervous. "What?" She asked, while Abathur told her. The result made her heart sink, but she nodded and left Spike with Abathur who began to work on the young dragon. Twilight was approached by the rest of the Mane Six and they formed a group hug, with Fluttershy's Brood even partaking in the embrace, Twilight began to cry while her friends did their best to comfort her.