Overqueen in Equestria

by Xinrick

Genetech step's in

So after the party I went back to the Leviathan to see if there was anything Abathur figured out about the new materials. “Abathur, what did you figure out about the materials?” I asked, seeing the weird caterpillar-like thing come out of it’s hole in the Spawning Pit.

“Material strange. Consistency of Terran Obsidian, but density and hardness of unknown origins.” He explained

“Obsidian?” I asked, finding that very odd. “That’s weird, why would this mineral be Obsidian of all things?” I wondered. “Anything else?”

“Minerals of different densities, radiating energy at different frequencies.” Abathur explained.

“Is there a way to integrate this into the Swarm?” Zegara asked the big question.

“Possible, but difficult.” Abathur answered. “Minerals made for organisms of Equis, naturally produce energy signatures.”

“So we need to evolve to be able to use said minerals?” I asked curiously.

“Correct. Must evolve, produce energy, improve swarm.” Abathur said.

“Did you use any on your new partner?” I asked, remembering that the new Abathur was gonna be hatching soon.

“Yes, changes in Essence, Sequences expanding, radiating low amounts of mana.” Abathur explained.

“Interesting.” I said honestly. “Are there any evolutions you came up with while we were busy?” I asked curiously.

“Negative, must research more into energy signature.” Abathur told me.

“Alright.” I nodded. “But just a quick warning, don’t kill any of the locals. We don’t need a war here all because you wanted to.” I growled. “Got it?”

“Understood.” Abathur replied immediately.

“Good.” I nodded. “So, what kind of evolutions can I bring back here?” I asked curiously.

(on the Spear of Adun)

“Fascinating. These minerals are Obsidian, but they range anywhere from ten to ten thousand times denser and stronger than their normal counterparts.” Karax said in fascination at these materials.

”They also radiate Mana at a shocking rate. Some produce mana like an average Unicorn, while others produce an asinine amount of mana.” John said honestly, finding this material so strange and fascinating.

“It’s not the same consistency as Solarite, but just from these readings, this material can outperform Solarite on energy levels alone.” Karax said.

”But we need to remember that this material could have been made recently, to thousands of years ago. Who knows what time and pressure has done to these things.” John said honestly. ”Well...now we know why those guys were after those two places.” John said, now getting a bit worried about what these bastards could have done with such a material.

“Your right Friend John. I fear whoever wants these minerals might know what they are capable of...and I fear they might be able to gain our level of technology, if not even greater.” Karax said worriedly, both excited and fearful for what kind of potential these things have.

”That’s the key question here...the crates said ‘GeneTech’ but what would a Genetics company need this for?” John wondered, thinking the company was about genetics based on the obvious name.

“I do not know, and I fear what might transpire if this ‘Genetech’ gets more of these minerals…” Karax trailed off, worried as to what kind of incredible, or horrifying, things these materials can make.

”By the way...what do you think God meant by saying ‘you’ll figure it out’ when he mentioned Hybrid?” John brought up.

“I do not know...the only time I have seen such an Ancient Being was with the Xel’Naga...but just from the brief moments we were in that white void...that person seemed much stronger than even Amon at the height of his power.” Karax shuddered a little at that horrifying memory.

”I know what you mean...but if Amon was the forcing of Zerg and Protoss genetics together...what would be the natural?” The terran in the Templars head wondered.

“Let us not think of that as it is impossible.” Karax said simply, not wanting to know about any ‘naturally spawned Hybrid’ as he continued to study the ores. “That’s strange…” He muttered as he saw the scanners. “Scanners indicate that there is...ancient writing on some of the stronger materials.” He said while bringing up the almost unnoticeable writing.

”The hell is this?” John wondered, trying to read the writing but both the Phase Smith and his mental hitchhiker both felt a sudden chill as the words seemed to...just pop up in their minds.

We made the first of many...but at what cost to fight these monsters?

“What….what the?” Karax muttered, putting a hand to his forehead as a screen came up showing Zegara. “Zegara?” Karax inquired.

“I can tell you experienced the...same thing.” Zegara said nervously, something that honestly shocked the normally strong willed Zerg.

”Yeah so...whoever this ‘Genetech’ is...they are messing with something very wrong.” I brought up worriedly from inside Zagara's head.

“Incoming transmission.” A Templar called out.

“From who?” Karax inquired.

“Unknown sir, it’s coming from Planet side.” The protoss answered.

”Excuse me what?” Tanya questioned as even they got the same transmission.

“Let’s see who they are first.” Zagara stated simply as both races opened up their comm’s for this unknown transmission.

The screen flashed to life in a clear, if slightly hazy, display. Before them was an Equis Mare. She, like the others of Equestria were terrain in physical structure but with the equine features the planet residents are known for. Her coat was a neon purple with a contrasting sky blue mane and yellow eyes. She wore a rather classy dress suit. "Greetings. I am Helix Protein, this is the Protoss and… Swarm, correct?" She asked.

“Zerg Swarm yes.” Zagara stated. “I am Overqueen Zagara.” She said, wanting to at least try and make a good first impression to whoever had the psychic powers or technology to talk to them from outer orbit.

“And I am Templar Karax.” The phase smith said. “I must inquire, how did you manage to get a signal all the way up to us? From what I gathered from Ponyville, your technology shouldn’t have been past the Terran middle ages.”

Helix Protein smiled softly. "Ponyville is a rural, country town. While it's been slower to adapt to the modern innovations Genetech has produced, it is just one of the few to fully embrace the technological revolution our company has begun. I am Genetech's head representative for the Home/Equestrian branch of the company. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I would like it if you returned the Magicite ores you Acquired from those… undesirables that attacked Ponyville earlier, they are company property and worth a hefty financial sum."

“I’m gonna have to go with ‘no’.” Tanya brought up through Zagara. “Cause this material is…”

"The most powerful and potent substance on Equis." Protein cut in. "Those crates are worth fifteen trillion bits each and we just can't let a loss like that slide my dear. That ore is what begun this company and the technological revolution Equis finds itself in. Just a crumb of it, no bigger than a hair off my coat is currently powering all of Canterlot and will continue to do so safely and cleanly for the next seven thousand years. So I ask again, can you please return the ore to us, or at least, pay their worth back to cover the losses?"

“We’ll deliver the crates.” Karax said. “But did you know there is an ancient, Psionic language embedded into the minerals?” He asked curiously.

"We've known about the language adorning parts of the ores as they were dug up. Some complete, or so they appear. Standard protocol has us recover as much of the lettering as possible for molding, photos and analysis before they are shipped for processing. If you'd kindly return the ore we'd be more than happy to share the findings we have on it with you. Given it sounds like you can understand the language. I'll admit our attempts at Translation have been slow. Sound like a bargain?"

“Well...we would like to know more of your research on this material.” Karax said honestly.

“So where shall we meet to...deliver your crates?” Zagara asked, not liking how she was going to have to be a delivery zerg for this pony but knew she had to make a good first impression with someone of importance.

"You can bring them to Ponyville. I'll send a team over from our headquarters in Canterlot to exchange our research for the ores. Though… might I ask, how does your vessel soar space like that? Our current space flight technically branch is still new but yours looks much similar to the team's beta designs."

“Biological Evolution.” Zagara stated with pride. “Even the vacuum of space can’t stop the Zerg.”

“It’s really fascinating.” Karax started in joy.

(twenty minutes later)

“My head hurts…” Tanya groaned as Karax finally ended his massive explanation on how at least Protoss space ship’s functioned to combat the vacuum of space.

"Fascinating indeed." Helix said. "It definitely would save on resources and time. Now if only the ethical departments would allow such feats… oh well, maybe later on the public will enjoy the ideas of genetic modifications. I'll deploy the team to Ponyville now. I'll arrive personally as well. We could benefit from one another in so many ways." With that the transmission ended.

"Well, she is certainly interesting." John said.

”Yeah...but I don’t like how she was open to immediate genetic modifications when Karax was talking our ears off.” Tanya joked.

“I’m sorry...but I don’t have many people to explain complex space travel with.” Karax stated a little sheepishly.

”Either way, we should get going down to Ponyville, don’t want to upset the super company.” Tanya brought up.

“Correct.” Zagara nodded. “Izsha, ready a drop pod for Ponyville.”

“Yes my queen.” Isha acknowledged.

---

As the group arrived in Ponyville, the Genetech… ship. A flying device John and Tanya thought looked similar to a cargo plane but missing the engines, landed nearby and opened up. The mare herself walked out accompanied by several other ponies in laboratory gear. "Zagara, Karax." She said to the two with a nod. The laboratory ponies then walked up, carrying many boxes and several armored briefcases. "Our entire research. Copies of course and all un redacted." Helix said.

“Thank you ma’am.” Karax nodded

"Thank you." She said as they traded the data for the ores. "Now then, shall we talk business opportunities?"

“Business?” Tayna asked, causing some of the ponies to look at Zagara. “Uh...okay, just so you know, I’m Tayna, and I’m...sharing a body with Zagara.”

“Same with me.” John said through Karax.

"Fair. Now when I say Business, I mean trading technology and resources." Helix Protein said.

“I’d have to talk to my Hierarch about that part.” Karax brought up.

“And the Zerg have no need for technology, all we need is a sufficient amount of Biomass to evolve for anything and everything.” Zegara brought up.

"Biomass? Hmm. And what pray tell might that be?" Helix asked.

“The total mass of an organism in a given area or volume.” Karax stated.

“Basically Biological Mass.” Tanya stated in layman's terms.

"I see. And does any biomass work or is it specific?"

“It depends, any biomass can work to support the Swarm, but to evolve we’d need either the right conditions, the right biomass from that area, or both.” Zagara explained carefully, not sure if she should be telling this to this pony but thinking there was already enough information being shared to at least share some basic things about her race.

"Hmm… I'll Have to get back to you on that." Helix said with a smile. "And as for you Karax, anything in mind?"

“What is the level of tech you have in this world?” Karax inquired.

"Depends, which field of technology are you interested in?"

“Anything really.” Karax said, the pony seeing a glimmer of intrigue at learning a new world's technology. “I assume that your world fuses technology with mana, am I correct?”

"Why yes. While individually we have advanced both the fields of magic and science, combining the two is where our advancements really kicked off. Both in public and private use. Take the royal guard armor. Before, they were basic gold lines with gemstones that enchanted to add protection. The enchantments sadly only lasted a few years before needing to be recast. Thanks to our magitech the royal guard armor is made not only more cost effectively but the protection enchantments last two hundred times longer while all being powered by a single gem."

“Fascinating.” Karax said, completely intrigued by the work they can do. “But how does the fusion of mana and technology work? Terran history was rather...divided on whether magic worked well with technology or it was at odds with it.”

"Much like how electricity can do wonders depending on what the circuit board is designed to send it to which component, mana works very much the same way. Spell matrixes and runes designed and engraved in just the right way can accomplish the same effect with mana and that is when something special happens."

“Something special?” He inquired, trying to think of what this energy could bring about. “What special things can it do?”

Smiling, Helix brought up her watch. It looked like a simple watch, but once the side button was pressed, a flash of light gave a display of the planet, the Sun and Moon rotating around it. "It's nothing too spectacular, but it's an enjoyable toy."

“Even if holograms in small objects has been done before, it’s always fascinating to see how much small objects can do.” Karax said in pure, engineering joy.

"If you want better examples, you need only look at my cargo cart over here." She said, motioning over to the large engineless cargo plane. "The whole thing weighs ten tons, can carry double its weight in cargo and it is all flown by a single pegasus strapped into an omnidirectional pilot room where they lift and fly it from within."

“So basically a very lighter version of regular Cargo Planes?” Tanya brought up. “It’s effectively the same thing, just with that one being pegasus drawn at that point.”

“It’s still incredible to have such a machine be light enough but strong enough for all of that.” Karax brought up.

After some talk the two groups parted ways for the moment and Karax and Zagara were reviewing the data they had on the mysterious ore, or Magicite as Helix Protein called it.

It was definitely once part of a much larger structure, the estimation of how big though was yet to be seen.

"Whatever this thing is, or, was, it was definitely big." John said, seeing notes of various estimations of the original structure size. All pointing to at least it being several dozen miles in length and height.

“These notes prove our previous readings before, Magicite can be just as strong as Solarite, if not thousands of times stronger.” Karax said in surprise, looking over all the data.

“It says here that there’s Equins in the North that bonded with this material as an evolutionary trait.” Zagara brought up.

“Seems like Magicite is a whole lot more important than we first thought.” Tanya said simply.

"No wonder she didn't want to lose any of it." John sighed. "Odds are we might just have to do business with her and Genetech to get anymore samples or information."

"Which might cause certain problems if we're not careful…" Karax brought up, really not wanting a repeat of the previous war and terrans stealing their tech.

"We might not have too. Didn't that Princess Twilight mention something about other Princesses?" John asked. "If we can get some kind of relationship and contract of agreements to work as mercenaries for the crowns then Genetech can't steal anything and we don't have to give up any tech unless it falls into the agreed terms." All eyes looked at John. "What? My uncle was a lawyer, I picked a few things up."

“Well...best to have someone that knows more about contracts.” Tanya said nervously.

“It would...help in our peace negotiations.” Zagara admitted.

“We should prepare for our talk with the princess’s at least.” Karax brought up. “If memory serves, Twilight said she sent a letter to them, so they should probably be receiving it by now.”

"Well, let's get over to her castle then. Odds are that's where the others will all meet us at." John said.

The group made their way to Twilight's castle. It was a large crystal structure that almost seemed like Magicite as well, but it was… different. Much more… alive than the ores.

“The hell is this place?” Tanya asked in shock.

“Fascinating…” Karax said, studying the structure and gathering some readings on it. “This entire structure radiates the same magical frequency as ancient Magicite, but it has life signs as if it were a normal Oak Tree.”

"Yes. Shame the princess prefers to keep that research private to herself." The group turned, surprised to see Helix there walking up to them. "Greetings." She said with a nod. "I've already written up the contracts." She said, holding up several thick stacks of paper in her arms. "The terms are agreeable, and negotiable if need be." They stared at her. "What? Giving you the data I had was just the incentive you needed to come to the same conclusion, partnership. Come now, Princess Twilight is waiting." With that she walked passed them and into the castle.

"... She's good…" John said.

“How did she…” Zagara started in concern, having been able to sense Terran Ghosts who were designed to be stealth operatives including their cloaking tech but...was unable to even detect she was even there.

“I mean...either through tech or...well, they already did some Genetic experimentations…” Tanya brought up nervously.

The group then walked into the central room, once inside Zagara and Karax were in awe of the living crystal around them. When they reached the throne room, they froze. The table surrounded by seven chairs was like a heart, and brain. It irradiated energy as it displayed a map of the planet's surface.

“This...this psionic energy…” Karax muttered in awe.

“It’s...like my Queen…” Zagara started, remembering only one being that could have either this much power or this feeling of...closeness than with the one that taught her.

“This...is one hell of a board room, that’s for sure.” Tanya muttered.

"Hi." On one of the seats, sat Princess Twilight. The Alicorn was looking over the paperwork Helix Protein bright. "So, Helix Protein here says you wanna make an arrangement?"

“Yes…” Karax nodded carefully. “Now...if I may inquire...do you have any idea where we are right now?”

"My… castle. Why? Do you have questions?" Twilight asked.

“Do you not feel the psionic presence radiating from this room?” Zagara asked bluntly. “All radiating from that?” The Zerg Queen pointed at the table specifically.

She looked at the table. "Well, I know it's powerful magic. It did come from the Tree of Harmony. But all in all… not really?"

“Strange…” Karax muttered, only to shake his head. “But onto more pressing matters, like the negotiations we must talk about.”

"Yes, well so far the terms Helix Protein has laid out state that while working as mercenaries under the Equestrian government, you would be obligated to share technically relating to medicine, space flight travel, colonization, terraforming, and navigations. In return the Equestrian government will decree that Genetech give you an allowance of ten Magitech ores a month for your own research and uses and the Equestrian government will give you an allowance of ten million bits per month for expenses and all public and some private documents on the nature of magic." Twilight read allowed.

“That seems...a little too easy…” Tanya frowned.

“Hold on.” Karax started. “Did you hear that Hierarch?” He inquired as a small screen showed up from one of Karax’s extra robot arms.

“Yes I did Karax.” Artanis, the Hierarch of the Protoss, said from the screen for the entire room to see.. “En Taro Adun young princess, I am Hierarch Artanis of the Protoss.” The leader introduced himself.

"Oh! Uh, Hi, Hello… wasn't expecting to see you." She said.

“Strange, I thought I brought up my Hierarch when talking to Ms. Protein.” Karax hummed.

“That aside, I believe we have some negotiation’s to talk about.” Artanis said in the careful and calculating tone of a leader, but Twilight noticed it also had a kind and friendly tone to it like with Celestia.

"Is there something not to your liking?" Twilight asked.

“It’s nothing like that, I’d like more of an explanation on some of the terms.” Artanis said. “Medicine is one thing, space travel can be a bit tricky but I’m sure we can help you figure out the more difficult aspects, but I’m more curious about the colonization and terraforming aspects of it.”

"Genetech has been looking outwards Mr. Artanis." Helix Protein said. "It's one thing to evolve the way of life on our own planet, but to truly evolve as a species one must learn to move out of the house. There's an untapped resource and scientific gold mine amongst the stars. I imagine when your own race took for them, the science and resources discovered were to your liking?"

“It’s...a bit more complicated than that.” Artanis said carefully. “But I can see where you are coming from Miss. Protein, space always seems so vast and amazing...and to be perfectly honest, we didn’t even know your world existed.”

"Then would we not make a grand entrance to our neighbors amongst the stars with your guidance?"

“Uh…” Tanya started nervously.

“There are many dangers in Space, many of which we still don’t know about.” Karax shook his head.

“And your ‘grand entrance’ might cause...problems for you.” Zagara stated. “Especially with Alarak…” She grumbled.

"Then who better to teach us the ways of the stars than you two experienced individuals. Imagine the public opinions when you launch our race into the heavens! The positive publicity will make your alien, intimidating appearances a mute argument in the eyes of the public."

"Oh she is good!" John repeated.

“Well...I can see your point.” Karax said with some thought.

“Shouldn’t we be focusing more on the Void Rifts that has appeared twice on this planet before we get to helping you leave it?” Zagara pointed out.

"Why not both?" Helix said.

"So…Any other questions?" Twilight asked awkwardly.

“When have the Void Rifts started appearing?” Artanis inquired.

"Just today actually. We've never seen thIs until today." Twilight said. "There was no warning or anything, just poof, it was there and those monsters flooded out."

“Then what about those...Changelings were they?” Tanya brought up. “Did you get any reports about them dealing with Void Rifts?”

"What? No! Is Thorax and everyone okay?" Twilight asked, looking worried. "They just barely started rebuilding after liberating themselves from Queen Chrysalis."

“So you didn’t…” Tanya muttered.

“Don’t worry, all the Changelings are alright.” Karax said with raised hands. “We stopped all the Void Rifts and helped the Evacuation go smoothly.” He explained.

Twilight took a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. They've had it hard enough lately as it is… if only Chrysalis hadn't done that invasion then maybe we could have moved them all here for safety…"

“What is ‘magic’?” Zagara asked simply. “It’s nothing like Psionics that we’re accustomed to, it feels...more alive than most other energies.”

"Well, most scholars on the subject all agree on that actually. Magic itself is a form of living energy, each variation of magic is different in it's own way as plants and animals. Be it simple Unicorn Magic, Chaotic Chaos Magic or even Dark Magic it's all alive in some way. We don't know too much about it's base nature or even if it's intelligent, but after receiving this castle from the Tree of Harmony I am beginning to think it likely is."

“Fascinating.” Karax said in pure amazement. “Have you ever had to handle Psionics before?” He inquired to Twilight.

"I don't believe so. Can you tell me what it is exactly?"

“Psionics are abilities based purely on the mind.” Karax started. “Like how Unicorns can use magic from their horns, races that are psionically capable, like Zerg, Protoss, and even some lucky Terrans, can do many things like minor levitation, mind reading, create electrical storms, even controlling prosthetics.” He explained happily.

"Hmm. It does sound like several spells and such. With luck we can work together on the comparison and differences between Magic and Psionics."

“Thank you princess.” He nodded. “I can’t wait to start working on figuring out the similarities between magic and psionics.”

The meeting went well, though Zagara grew a large Dislike for Helix Protein. Tanya also grew a dislike for the mare. She was clever, too clever.

To Zagara and Tanya's relief Helix did leave and after a while the other Princesses arrived.

John and Tanya's mental jaws dropped.

While Twilight, body wise was fairly above average, the other three were very surprising.

Princess Cadence was well above Twilight's height, possibly six feet and sporting a well curved and healthy body that a model would deem the ideal figure. Her pink coat somehow added to her overall shape.

Princess Luna was even taller, easily six and a half feet tall and her body reflected her height in healthy, slightly larger proportions than Cadences.

Lastly was Celestia. The solar princess was easily seven feet tall and her form made that of the 'amazonian' type put so shame as her figure looked larger than her body type would warrent yet she wore it well in all the right places.

"You are the Protons and Zerg?" Celestia asked.

"Yes." Karax nodded. "I am Phase Smith Karax." He said politely with a slight bow.

"And I am Overqueen Zagara." The broodmother said, giving her own slight bow just for courtesy's sake to the three royals.

"I am Princess Celestia." She motioned to Luna. "My younger sister Princess Luna." She then motioned to Cadence. "And this is my niece Cadence. You two already know my student, Twilight. I hear you two and your armies saved my student and her home."

"And signed these." Twilight added, leveraging the papers to Celestia.

She took a look at them, nodding and smiling as she passed them along to the other two. "This is definitely grand news. I have the utmost faith in my student and her friends capabilities, but hearing about these monsters made me worried for their safety."

"We also saved the Changelings but that doesn't seem that important." Tanya said through Zagara.

"And who might you two be?" Luna inquired after Tanya said that.

"Sorry, but I'm Tanya Blake, I...was a human, before I started sharing a body with Zagara here." The former human said sheepishly.

"Hi, I'm John." John said through Karax. "Same boat as Tanya here."

"I see, how interesting." Celestia said.

"We do thank you for saving the Changelings. They are becoming good friends with us, trade has been well, and politically their integration has been going rather smoothly."

"Glad to hear that." Tanya nodded simply. "So, onto the fact Void Rifts are opening on your planet…"

“Their energy is quite unique, and seems somewhat similar to a threat we have faced before.” Princess Luna said. “From what I was able to analyze, the energies were roughly fifteen percent similar.”

“What have you faced that could have any semblance to Void Energy?” Karax inquired to Luna.

Nodding, Celestia lit her horn up, a semi transparent image of a grey stallion dressed in an armored regalia with a red cape and a bent red horn atop his head floated before them. “His name was Sombra. He was the last living member of the race of dark magical beings known as the Umbrum. Their race was so attuned to darkness that even physical light could harm them in their true forms. A thousand years ago he conquered the Crystal empire, and when my Sister and I went to face him, his defeat was inevitable, so he cast a curse, banishing himself and the entire empire away, lost to time… until several years ago. The empire returned, but Sombra was weak and the locals were scared deeply by the events. Twilight and her friends managed to save the empire and banished Sombra to the Ethereal Plane, a realm of imprisonment where the spirits of pure evil remain until the end of time itself.”

“His color’s seem to denote some similarity.” Karax admitted.

“But he looks like a coward.” Zagara stated bluntly. “If he was truly of the Void, then he wouldn’t...what do you Terran’s say?”

“Look like he’s overcompensating for something?” Tanya asked.

“Exactly.” The queen of swarm nodded. “If he truly was of the Void, there wouldn’t need for the Regalia, or his current form.”

“He was overly confident, and with good reason.” Luna sighed. “His magics rivaled ours, and his magic felt similar to that of the portals, if even slightly.”

“Interesting…” Karax hummed. “What do you know of this Umbrum? Are they native to this world?”

“They were. THey once ruled over half of Equis, but our mother managed to banish their whole race to the Ethereal Plane. Sombra only got out because he was the youngest and his race managed to pull enough magic together to conjure him a physical body and open a rift large enough for him to slip through. He was just a child at the time, and had no knowledge of his heritage until years later.” Celestia said.

“Truth be told we knew him before he turned… he was such a nice stallion.” Luna sighed.

“Did you make sure he was truly dead?” Zagara asked carefully.

“We don’t kill.” Cadence stated rather swiftly. “Death is never the answer, there’s always another route to take.” She said, her voice confident in her statement.

“Oh how naive you are.” Zagara shook her head.

“I mean, they have a point.” John said. “Not every enemy should be killed.”

“War...does many things to skew that philosophy…” Karax admitted bitterly.

“In any case, let’s play by the Equestrians rules.” John said. “We can kill monsters, but nothing sentient.”

“And deal with any Void Rifts that might appear.” Tanya brought up. “Cause if there’s one thing we’re good at, it’s dealing with those pesky bastards.”

“In any case, with the agreements signed, we should start getting to work.” Celestia said. “Where shall we establish a place for you all to reside while on the planet?”

“There’s no need for housing for us Princess.” Karax said with a raised hand. “The Spear of Adun is already housing enough as long as we stay within this planets orbit.”

“And my Zerg can live either within the hives we’ve built, the Nydus Worm tunnels, or the Leviathan in Orbit as well.” Zagara stated simply.

“Landing pads might be nice though.” John said. “Just in case.”

“So just start plopping down Pylons for you guys?” Tanya asked curiously.

“That would indeed help swiftly deploying our troops though…” Karax said, softly rubbing his beard chin with some thought.

---

“So you want to test us… because?” John asked as He and Tanya were before a large empty field of the badlands. Only themselves and their mental roommates were present. For now.

“Because I want to see what the four of you can do.” A voice came out as the protoss and zerg, yet again, spun around to see another Equestrian, this time a pegasus pony, but unlike the pegasi they’ve seen in Ponyville where they seemed to be more slim and streamlined, this pegasus looked like if Big Macintosh grew wings and was trained in the military. “My names Steel Wing, and I’m the assistant to Genetech’s Armor and Weapons division.”

“This is the second time…” Zagara hissed.

“How are you so sneaky?” Tanya asked incredulously.

“We have to.” Steel stated. “Especially with Dragon’s, no matter what race you are, Dragon’s have the best senses on the planet.” He shrugged. “Now, I’m here to oversee a test on our weapons and armor against you.” He stated as he brought out a tablet and started looking over things. “The opposing commander will be here shortly.”

“So...besides testing out your arms and armor...why are we doing this?” Tanya asked carefully.

“Simply put, we agree with you.” The two war hardened aliens jumped as behind them was Helix Protein. Her formal suit dress now replaced by a laboratory coat and casual clothes underneath. “Equestria needs to evolve. We can handle the technology side, but you two need to help with the philosophical evolutions.” She said, walking over next to Steel Wing. “Sargent.”

“Boss.” The pegasus nodded to her.

“You want us to teach you how to kill?” Zagara asked carefully.

“From my brief conversation with Twilight on the history of this world, it’s said to have been over a thousand years since the world's last war…” Karax started. “Why do you want to bring back the...philosophical aspects of it?”

“Because.” She said, taking out a folder and opening it before us. One side showed slayed beasts on laboratory tables, the other showed a few photos of ponies. “On one side, is our enemy, on the other, Ponyville Casualties. Four in total. Manageable in the grand scheme of a war, but to our people, it’s gotten about half the town on a stand still from grief and loss. It’s time for Equestria to grow up.”

“Death is never pleasant, even when you’re accustomed to war.” Karax shook his head.

“For most races anyways.” Zagara nodded, having learned how...personal death truly was from races that didn’t weren’t the Zerg. “Grief and Loss...I’ve only ever experienced it once, and that was when my Queen left to the Void, even as she granted me control over the Zerg.” She explained carefully, showing the two Genetech agent’s that even after bloodshed, the two still had a heart even through war.

“Better to understand death and be better through it then let it either crush you or turn you into the monsters you're fighting.” Steel Wing stated simply.

“You have experience then?” John asked.

“I typically work the Equestrian border to the badlands here. I’ve seen enough.”

“So this will let us test some of our defence weapons and armors.” Helix said.

“So who’s the enemy commander going to be?” Tanya asked. “And what’s the objective?” She asked.

“The enemy commander should be here in… three… Two… One.” The air began vibrating as above them, flying high above and revealing a large flying metallic fortress revealed from cloaking in the clouds. When it landed the two aliens were surprised that the vessel was rather well armed along it’s form. “That will be our base for this combat simulation. In the spirit of the Princesses wishes, this will be non lethal combat so the guns are set as such.”

“Magnificent!” Karax said as he saw a marvelous feat of enginuity. “How did you manage to get a command center of that size of volume, not only to fly with such speed, but to have it both be quiet enough during transport and invisible the entire time?” Karax inquired with as much enthusiasm as, in Helix’s personal opinion, like Twilight Sparkles when she first caught a glimpse of what Genetech was manufacturing.

Smiling, Helix simply shrugged. “Magic.” She laughed. “Now then, shall we begin?” She asked the two. “Your goals will be either to survive twenty minutes, or capture the flag in the command center in the middle center of the base.”

“Sounds simple enough.” Tanya nodded. “Any handicaps besides non lethal;?”

“Depends. Will it just be the two of you in this exercise or your armies as well?”

“It will be our armies.” Zagara said.

“With a fortress like that, we would need an army, plus whatever forces you throw at us.” Karax brought up.

“Okay. Call what you feel you’ll need then.”

“Sounds fair.” Tanya nodded as the ground rumbled a bit, as a ways away a massive bout of mineral’s and two gas geysers appeared. “And there’s our starting positions.” Tanya said.

“Who’s going to be the referee for this battle?” Karax brought up.

“That would be me.” Steel Wing nodded. “I’ve overseen many mock battles, as Helix can attest.”

“He’s good at what he does.” She stated. “Now then, shall we begin?” She asked.

“One moment, just need to set up our home base first.” Tanya said as she saw a drop pod descending towards her area, as John and Karax already saw a Probe calling in a Nexus Point at their area. “So, get ready at our positions?”

“If you wish.”

“Fair enough.” Tanya nodded as Zagara headed off towards their Hive Cluster and Karax headed to his Nexus Point.

Once the two arrived at their respective starting points Helix and Steel Wing moved out of the way between the two. Helix smiled, reaching into her lab coat and pulling out a small radio. “Send them out.”

From the battleship launched ten large plumes of steam, each traveling between the base and the two aliens. When the steam cleared, ten large, thirty foot clockwork robots turned on, their inner gears white hot as if still under fire and their ‘eyes’ glowed a shilling blue as large hammers constructed themselves along their arms of the machines.

“Uh...huh…” Tanya muttered as she and John saw the Starcraft HUD roll over their minds. ”Alright, John, can you hear me?” Tanya mentally called out to her Co-Op partner as she already started assigning her Drones to get to work.

”Yeah. Those things are not what I was expecting.” John replied, making sure all his probes were mining efficiently and already started making pylons. ”So what’s our strategy going to be? Test the waters to see how things go or immediately try to rush heavy hitters?”

”I think we should start off testing the waters, they have clockwork golems for crying out loud.” Tanya said honestly, as she already has Overlords floating around the battlefield to get a better view on things from the sky. ”Going in blind of a Co-Op mission, when was the last time that happened?” Tanya mentally joked to John.

”It’s been a long time.” John chuckled, having managed to get a Stargate up and was starting to make Stalkers.

“It looks like they’re capable of setting up bases and just spawning in their troops…” Steel muttered to himself as he wrote down what was going on with both aliens and their human hitchhikers, watching carefully how they build their structures and what tactics they might bring up.

After about a minute Tanya and John had made quick headway into getting a solid economy and unit building as both sent out Stalkers and Zerglins to test out the Golems, the 20 Zerglins moving much faster on the ever growing fleshy Creep as they charged at the Golems and trying to circle around one of them to start attacking.

When one Zerglin got close enough, the Golem moved, faster than the four expected as it slammed the hammer into the Zergling, sending it flying back and in front of their feet more or less. The four were surprised, not just as the force but as far as they could tell the Zergling was completely fine, just paralized.

”Sweet god!” Tanya yelped.

”Bastards got one hell of an arm.” John said in shock.

“Uh...huh…” Zagara was...honestly dumbstruck at how that Golem effectively bitch smacked a Zergling over a hundred feet.

“Well…” Karax looked over to see the 6 Stalkers move up and fire energy bolts at one of the Golems.

The golems took the hits. Their HP… it was a noticeable… nice. The hit golem slammed the ground, the earth shaking violently as suddenly the Stalkers were all suddenly… dizzy? Two golems took this opportunity to effectively go golfing, sending them back to their masters, healthy, just paralized.

“Well...they are armored...but still very powerful.” Karax hummed

”Good thing I picked up the Vile Roach strain…” Tanya said nervously as she started to morph a drone into a Roach Warren and a Spire.

”While you do that, I’m going to start going for some big hitters.” John mentally told Tanya as he started to order his probes to build a Forge and Robotics bay

After another minute or two both teams we're set up with more diverse army between Zagara's Vile Roaches, armored units that had the special ability to slow down anything they hit with their attacks, and several Guardians, long range air to ground siege Zerg that hit like a truck, and several Mutalisks, fast all purpose Zerg fliers that shot ricocheting glaives.

While Karax had a steady mix of Immortals, heavily armored and shielded units that can tear through armored units with ease, Sentries, support based units that can deal minor damage or boost allies attack damage and speed, and more Stalkers for consistency as they all researched their abilities for combat and was ready to storm the base.

"Subjects seem to be able to amass strong armies in the matter of minutes if given enough minerals and 'gas'..." Steel muttered to himself as he continued to write this down. "Also, the humans, I speculate, are the real tactical geniuses as they realized that anti armor weapons deal more to the golems as well as immediately compensating for it after only two quick fights…" he muttered as he saw both groups go into a pincer formation against the golems, Zagara's Guardians firing their extremely long range blasts and hitting the golems with accuracy.pinpoint accuracy.

The Golem’s HP went down more noticeably, but they still stood. Four then walked together, almost disassembling themselves as they began to merge and form into a large stationary cannon that aimed itself at Zagara's Guardians, firing several fast shots that all hit the area near her troops, a cornea of energy hitting her army and paralyzing them all.

“What!?” Zagara shrieked in surprise at how the cannon hit all of her units rather quickly and precisely, only for the 4 Protoss Immortal’s to walk close enough and fire their cannons, dealing an insane amount of damage even past the combined four golems defenses.

The combined four returned fire, but soon fell to pieces. Zagara’s smile was short lived as the parts of the defeated four soon traveled to the other remaining six golems and merged into them, making them larger, taller and giving some a long ranged attack and others thicker defense.

“Magnificent!” Karax said in pure awe. “What outstanding engineering.”

”Okay…” John wasn’t sure what to say.

”Uh...okay, so I still have Roaches buried and going underneath the thing…” Tanya said nervously, seeing the roaches going underneath the massive golem carefully to get to the base.

As if some cosmic being was playing with her, the base lit up red then sent out a pulse that uplifted the earth around it, letting it glide safely in the air as her Roaches all were surface side, also paralized.

Zagara groaned, performing a Terran facepalm in response.

”Okay, you know what? Fuck it.” Tanya thought to herself as the ground started to rumble. ”Ultralisk time.” She said as ten Ultralisks, massive Zerg about the size of a five story building, built like a tank, and had four massive razor sharp claws, immediately slammed into the golems and swinging down with their powerful claws.

”And while your Ultra’s deal with that, my Stalkers will go past them.” John mentally told Tanya as he saw his squadron of Stalkers teleport past the fighting and rushing towards the base to at least get inside the damn thing.

As the Golems dealt with the Ultra’s, The Stalkers got up and close to the base… only to be fired upon by multiple high rate of fire paralyzing shots from the base itself. The time limit was reaching near though as the two aliens and two humans had only five minutes left to either survive or capture the flag.

”Alright, fuck this, fuck you, and fuck everything that’s going to be in this badlands.” Tanya said.

“I see what you want.” Zagara said in joy as another set of rumbling came.

”When the hell did you manage that!?” John yelped as his minimap showed an asston of units suddenly rushing out of her base.

“Zerg Rush!” Tanya commanded as a massive swarm of Zergling’s burst forth from the ground and started to rush in, their numbers ranging to about...five hundred, with a supply of two hundred mutalisks as aerial support all bolted towards and around the command center, all the Zerglins moving a hell of a lot faster than before, and this time they had wings on their back.

“Well...when in doubt…” Karax muttered, always remembering how Zerg truly fought, and that was with overwhelming numbers.

”Might as well send in some reinforcements.” John said as he sent in his less sizable, but strong army of ten Void Ray’s, five Carrier’s, and fifteen Tempests, all powerful long range Protoss Aircraft moving swiftly through the sky’s to take down anything the base had to offer if the Zerg Rush didn’t handle it.

As the armies rushed in on the floating base, the floating base moved and evaded with surprising agility and speed as it fired from every angle. Taking a few hits but responded by putting up shields of its own. Soon the clock was reaching a minute but the base was still flying.

To the two aliens and two humans' surprise, the base flew up higher, bringing it’s shield down as it’s lower half opened up. The two aliens froze as they sensed Magicite irradiating from under there… And soon from under the flying base formed a swirling F5 tornado pulsating with energy that paralized all it sucked in… and soon a second followed… then a third…

The four all had one singular thought… Shit.

“Hold up!” Tanya shouted through Zagara. “Nobody said we’d be fighting a god damn Gundam here!”

“The fact that you were able to destroy six of our Golems is already a feat in and of itself!” Steel called out from his position. “And having caused the Command Center to initialize it’s defense mechanisms is even more astonishing than that.”

“That’s at least a plus given we destroyed several fused versions.” Karax said honestly.

”Well...at least some of our fliers have been spared…” John mentally brought up as a Tempest managed to fire off a bolt of energy towards the base.

The time was up, and Tanya and Zagara both proceed to take part in a classic terran tradition when one loses. Kicking and Screaming.

“Does not take defeat well does she?” Helix said as she and Steel Wing entered the alien base. “And this was on stun mode. Imagine how it would have been set to live fire.”

“You expected us to manage to deal with literally any of that!?” Tanya asked bluntly.

“Not even Hybrid could have dealt with half of your forces, and you expected us to do more than just stand there and look pretty!?” Zagara snapped, feeling her pride in the strength of the Swarm slammed into the ground by forces no one even dared mention.

“This was a mock battle, a test run to see how strong you were.” Steel Wing stated. “And to be perfectly honest, you did exceptionally well.”

“Is it because we weren’t meant to win this to begin with?” John asked, causing Tanya and Zagara to stop their fussing a bit.

“To be honest, it was more to prove a point.” Helix said, tossing a Magicite ore shard to Zagara. “Half that size powers the base, and fuels the golems. Had you not broken them they’d be operational for the next seven hundred years. In short, you need an upgrade. Or, would you prefer Evolve?” She asked, looking over at Karax.

“Evolution is for the Zerg, upgrade is for us.” Karax said as Zagara took the ore. “But this truly was an unwinnable match.” Karax started. “I had my suspicions when the first few golems fused together to form that energy cannon before…”

“It’s a simple trick actually. We’ll gladly share it with you.” Helix said. “And that was just one scout ship.”

“And so you need our help how?” Tanya asked bluntly.

“Simply put, both of you have stated you were in a War, and considering you’ve traveled the stars, you’ve been in a Galactic war.” Steel Wing stated. “This was just as much proving a point as it was to show us your own capabilities. Not many can destroy our golems, even less could destroy fused golems, and far fewer have caused our Scout Ship to activate it’s Nexus Tornado defense.” Steel Wing stated. “You have the skills to be a formidable foe to anyone considering you were able to amass strong armies of varying degrees in such a short amount of time, and able to quickly change up tactics on the fly.” He said as he went through his notes again.

“But strategy and army strength can only go so far when you’re up against the unknown.” Helix brought up. “There’s an old Equestrian Saying, While resting in peace, stockpile for war. Not many aside from the oldest of the guards remember it these days, and Equestria has been at peace for a thousand years, but in recent years it’s been desturbed and shaken yet everyone from the citizens to the Princesses don’t see the looming threats on the horizon. In the past eleven years Genetech has operated, we like to think we have prepared for a thousand years of war in the short time we’ve been in operation. Only you Four can prove if that is true.”

“This is beyond what could normally constitute a normal war by Terran Standards…” Karax started nervously.

“What are you really preparing for?” Zagara asked, staring at Helix specifically. “This amount of force could easily take over a planet.”

“Dragon’s first of all.” Steel Wing stated. “Don’t know how or why, but those old bastards still manage to outpace our developments whenever we try and test them out…” Steel Wing grumbled.

“We suspect there is a spy leaking data, and the Dragon Lands are the only other place with Magicite in high volumes aside from the Crystal Empire. The real question is how? For as long as any race can remember the Dragons cared nothing for technology and modern conveniences, yet suddenly in the past six years they caught up and are risking surpassing Equestria in this revolution. Someone or something is helping them and I for one don’t like it.” Helix stated. “This has all the makings of a possible world war.”

“Or it means those Void Rifts are appearing at a faster rate in the Dragon Lands?” John brought up. “Cause both cases where the Void Rifts spawned was where Magicite was, first was with the two crates the Changelings had, and then the dozen crates you were getting shipped from Ponyville.” John suggested.

“All things considered, it would make sense…” Tanya started. “If you said Magicite is that powerful, than whatever thing is sending Void Rifts here must want it, and want it bad.”

“Who knows.” Steel Wing shrugged helplessly. “But...thankfully there is at least an avenue we can take to stop a possible world war.” Steel Wing said honestly.

“And what’s that?” Tanya inquired.

“The dragon’s had their annual ‘Gauntlet of Fire’ a few years back, a test to see who will be the next Dragon Lord, and through it, an Equestrian Dragon named Spike was able to befriend the current Dragon Lord, and was able to start bridging the gap between the Dragon’s and Equestria.” He explained.

“Interesting.” Karax said with some though. “But wouldn’t the Dragon’s have called for Aid during the possible Void Rift’s appearing?”

“Dragon’s are long lived, prideful bastards that would sooner give up their hoard than ask for help ninety percent of the time.” Steel rolled his eyes.

“And even then they prefer death over surrendering a horde.” Helix added. “Thankfully, Dragon Lord Ember is nothing like the previous Dragon Lord. She’s smart and thinks before acting. With any luck Spike can get her to attend a meeting to inform us on our missing information.”

“Why did this have to get so much more complicated?” Tanya groaned.

“Reasons…” John sighed out.

“So, shall we get started?” Steel Wing asked.

“We shall.” Karax nodded.

“Hopefully Abathur finished with his successor…” Zagara grumbled.

“Hey everyone!” Someone called out, while a buzzing noise could be heard from the sky.

“Who the hell?” Steel Wing frowned. “We’re in the middle of the Badlands for Celestia’s sake.”

“That sounds like Zerg wings…” Zagara started, only for something to whizz past the group and skid on top of the creep that’s been spread through the arena.

“Hello everyone!” The new person said, spinning around to show that it was...a cute bee girl in a lab coat, wearing specialty glasses.

“And...you are?” Karax asked.

”Oh my god! She’s adorable!” Tanya squealed in joy.

“My name is Hope!” She cheered, the new being having a majority of their features of a Terran Honey Bee, which splashes of Zerg parts like her legs looking more like a Zergling’s, and her wing’s from a Mutalisks, but more streamlined for faster flapping, yellow and black fur intermittent with Zerg Chitin, but strangely enough to Zagara and Karax, was the fact she was what Terran’s would deem ‘Anthropomorphic’, a more humanoid looking version of an animal or plant, the Lab coat she was wearing looking just a might too big for her even though it looked custom made for her physiology. “And I’m Abathur’s successor, here to help Evolve the Swarm to much greater heights!” She said enthusiastically.

To be continued...

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Why is this on hiatus after only three chapters?

[Xinrick]

10712372
Well, I just posted the third chapter, and it is/was on Hiatus because me and BioQuillFiction are going through...all the stories we both have and going through them all so it takes a bit

[Black--Soul]

Isha must be edited with Izsha.

"Much like how electricity can do wonders depending on what the circuit board is designed to send it to which component, mama works very much the same way. Spell matrixes and runes designed and engraved in just the right way can accomplish the same effect with mana and that is when something special happens."

mana

“It’s...a bit more complicated than that.” Artanis said carefully. “But I can see where you are coming from Mis. Protein, space always seems so vast and amazing...and to be perfectly honest, we didn’t even know your world existed.”

Miss

"Just today actually. We've never seen thIS until today." Twilight said. "There was no warning or anything, just poof, it was there and those monsters flooded out."

this

Exchange 'Zegara' with 'Zagara'.

“Simply put, we agree with you.” The two war hardened aliens jumped as behind them was Helix Protein. Her formal suit dress now replaced by a laboratory coat and casual clothes underneath. “Equestria needs to evolve. We can handle the technology side, but you two need to help with the philosophical evolutions.” She said, walking over next to Steel Wing. “Sargent.”

Sergeant

[Black--Soul]

This Genetech seem to be a Mobius foundation reference / copy.
Helpfulness in the first game, a enemy in the next...

Karax and Zagara have access to campaign and co-op benefits?
I guess they could ask for Talandars help? His A.I. nature and that of his army would be perfect to stand guard in expected hot zones to buy civilians time until the Commanders arrive?
Maschines and Zerg unit losses are effectively without consequences. The Spear of Aduns crew is still limited even space to house legions of Protoss...

[Xinrick]

11386286
Don't worry, Genetech is going to be remain good guys.
They would have both cause, technically, this would be 'reality' in this story so they would have both.
I completely forgot that Talandar might have been on the Spear of Adun but I assumed not due to him being his own 'Commander' and the like.
Yeah, tis a bit of a bitch but they have help