Chapter 005
Starcraft: Queen and Country
By Wanderer D
Chapter 004
2503, Koprulu Sector █
Sweetie woke up with a start.
"Food! They must feed us!"
"Foolish! We must consume!"
"Eat them! Eat the pain-bringers!"
"The hive must grow! We must feed the hive!
"Crush them!"
"Feed! Feed!"
Shortly after hearing that voice, so distant and yet so… close… in her mind, Sweetie had started to slowly understand that the monsters around her were capable of thought. Even if it seemed single-minded, an obsessive, almost religious belief in feeding and propagating.
Funnily enough, she had been the object of several feeding-frenzies in the minds of the zerg around her, able to hear them constantly hungering and promising to tear into her still-breathing, blood-gushing body and feed on her moist, warm innards.
Well, it hadn't been funny at first.
Then, she had shouted out from her telepathic link. "I'm not your food!" and immediately, that had stopped. They had simply somehow perceived her as one of their own, and the Big Guy behind her—who she had nicknamed "Big Bug", because he was as gentle with her as Big Mac was to others—seemed to be rather protective of her now.
'Not that they don't have a reason…' she thought morosely, looking down at her forelegs. What had started out as simple, thin, icky-looking… almost branch-like chitin appendages had now grown slowly, with much molting as well, into equine-like chitinous legs.
Worse, they were somewhat familiar-looking to her. Equine-like, yes. But… the chitin and the holes on them… it reminded her too much of Chrysalis, although the Queen's legs were well rounded, these… these had serrated spikes all around the holes.
She was now able to control them too, much like her normal legs prior. She could also sense other parts of herself changing, but she was unable to actually see them. Her magic was also getting stronger. With every painful injection, or cut, or infusion into whatever she was floating in… she felt herself getting stronger and angrier.
If she knew how, she was sure she was strong enough to teleport. If she knew how, she felt she was strong enough to rain magical mayhem outside. If she knew how. If only she knew how.
Helping Quantum with the portal was a far, far cry from pulling off that trick herself. Knowing the basic theory of teleportation was not the same as being able to do it. Having seen Starlight and Twilight shoot blasts was not the same as doing it herself.
'Should've learned how to fight. I'm a Crusader, dammit. We should know how to fight! Or cast shields! Or attack spells! If I ever get home… she trailed off, looking down at her legs with a sudden pang of doubt. 'When I get home, I will make sure we get trained or something.'
She felt a mental nudge and turned to face the gigantic Zerg behind her. She was smaller than its eye, but she didn't feel afraid now. Surprisingly the giant was the gentlest of the Zerg in containment, at least with her. The others were frenzied and angry, but this one had really developed some empathy for Sweetie.
"I'm okay, Big Bug… just sad."
The large eye blinked slowly, but she could feel it was less anxious than before.
How much time had passed since she arrived to the lab? She shook her head, warily watching through the liquid and the glass as the bipeds that captured her and were experimenting on her walked about doing things. Terrans. That's what Zeratul had called them.
There was a sense of something happening, however. And that was new. A sort of… anxiety from her fellow zer-prisoners. Their hunger was higher than usual, their aggressiveness was increasing, and worse, the Terrans were noticing.
If the voice had been real—and Sweetie had no reason to doubt it—then they could also sense whoever was coming. But they would alert the Terrans if this kept up. But how to stop them? She wasn't Fluttershy. It's not like she could tell them to be quiet, or put them to sleep…
Sweetie blinked.
"Hush now, quiet it now, it's time to lay your sleepy head," she sang in her mind, opening her mind to the others. "Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed."
Did they even have beds? The song was coming out more melancholic than she intended, bringing memories of happier days with her friends and family. "Hush now, quiet now, close your sleepy eyes."
Slowly, the Zerg around her slowed their frantic movements, and the cries for murder, destruction, crushing, cannibalism and general feeding slowed down. First with those around her immediate prison, then slowly, as is her message was being transmitted beyond the ones around her, the whole cave grew silent.
The Terrans outside—both in lab coats and in armor—turned around in place, confusion evident in their movements. Some ran to their devices, others approached the tubes hesitantly. "Hush now, quiet now, my how time sure flies…"
Sweetie turned around looking at the Zerg as they placidly floated in their containers… all focusing on her.
'Oh ponyfeathers.'
There was a commotion outside of the tube, where she could barely hear loud noises and unknown words. The Terrans in lab coats were all gathering there and were looking at machines, occasionally pointing at Sweetie.
A machine whirred somewhere and soon she felt her tube shudder as it attached to the top. A grinding sound… she looked up to see a section of the top open. She could try and escape a—her thoughts fled when long, mechanical arms sunk into the tube, restraining her, and something else… Sweetie's eyes went wide. A drill! A small drill made its way down to her head.
It started whirring, creating a small current around her and Sweetie shook her head in horror.
"No! NO! Nononono!"
A pair of additional mechanical arms went in, just as the familiar taste of sedative went into the liquid. They restrained her head, but she was too terrified for the sedative to work so quickly this time.
She felt the drill touch her horn.
"No! PLEASE NO!"
The pain shot through her, like a whiplash of burning flames. "IT HURTS! MAKE IT STOP! I'LL NEVER SING AGAIN! JUST STOP! RARITY! HELP ME!"
She couldn't even curl up against the assault, held in place by the mechanical arms as she was. She struggled, and felt something tear from her back, she couldn't see them, but she could feel them. She struck at the drill and the thing was dragged away. She could see it spinning wildly as it fell down, striking the glass.
She glared at one of the arms, and used her new appendage to strike it, watching in satisfaction as the metallic contraption was sheared off, followed soon after by the other arms holding her.
All around the the other zerg had woken up from their short nap and now were violently striking their containers. The Terrans outside were frantically pointing and shouting, but no matter how much sedative, there was no change.
"Well done, my zergling," a familiar voice echoed in Sweetie's mind, stopping her from striking the tank herself. "Now… it's my turn."
'Her turn?' the statement made Sweetie shake her head and get a hold of her overflowing emotions. The pain was still there. Her horn felt like it was about to break off, but now that she had heard the voice again… there was something else… energy was slowly flowing into her, as if her body somehow was reacting to this presence…
The cavern shook, and the zerg around her roared in glee. Sweetie could feel her hearts pounding.
'Hearts?! Why do I have two!?' the thought was fleeting as her attention was driven to what was happening outside. There were flames and explosions, felt and seen through the liquid. She could sense her body reacting to the battle.
Around her, as if infused with new strength and power, Zerg smashed against their containers, heedless of the damage they were doing to themselves, but somehow, now that the owner of the voice was here, able to do so with enough force to crack and break through.
Behind her, Big Bug groaned and… stretched, or pushed, but whatever it did, the tube broke, massive pieces of glass, as thick as her own container smashed to the ground as a veritable tsunami of liquid splashed against her container and rolled over smaller zerg and terrans alike.
"Get out of there, little zergling."
She felt herself infused again with strength. But as angry as she was, the combat outside scared her. Fresh memories of Quantum being torn to pieces, blood splashing from Gallus' shoulder, her legs disappearing in a meaty, splash of blood… all those images blurred across her mind, alongside happier memories… her sister, the princesses, the other crusaders, Gallus' adorable way of being uncomfortable when flirted with, Silver Stream's over-the-top eagerness to please. Apple Bloom's encouragement when she ran out of steam during their adventures. Scootaloo's endless energy to please and more recently just downright impress Rainbow Dash…
"You are not one of them anymore, zergling," the voice interrupted her thoughts, "and what you do now will decide your fate. I will not suffer a cowardly zerg. I will not suffer a zerg that is not prepared to kill, destroy, eat… evolve. I will not break you out of the egg. You have to do it yourself. Or die here."
Sweetie opened her eyes. She didn't even realize until then she had closed them. Her hearts beat faster, her body was tense. Whoever it was, they were right. Was she just going to be another victim? Was all her bravado about learning to fight just wishful thinking?
Or was she going to take action? Outside of the glass the terrans that had caused her so much pain awaited. They had almost killed her. They had torn half her body away. They had cruelly transported her and… done things to her.
They had been about to drill her horn away.
With a growl and a scream, drowned by the liquid down to a muffled gurgle, she kicked with her hind legs and smashed onto the glass facing the terrans below. Her two new appendages, two scythe-like, serrated extensions of her will, slammed into and through the glass, not only cracking it on the point of impact, but penetrating through.
Despite how hard they were, she could still feel the changes around them, as she noticed the liquid starting to drip through. She slammed her holed, chitinous, forelegs against it, again and again, holding herself to the glass with her scythes, then alternating between one and the other, repeatedly striking and breaking through the tube until, with a mighty crack, the thing broke.
Chunks of glass flew out, along with the liquid and Sweetie herself. She landed on a heap, struggling to stand up, and cutting herself on the pieces around her. She saw some of the scientists. Three, terrified looking terrans, staring at her in horror and surprise.
Instincts took over, she dashed from where she had fallen, surprisingly fast, and slammed hooves first onto the chest of the middle scientist. Her two scythes, almost acting on their own, flew forward, slamming through the heads of the other two with no problem, the sound similar to when she had dropped a watermelon by accident.
The middle scientist was screaming something in a language she did not understand. It was shaking its head trying to push her off. "YOU DIDN'T STOP WHEN I WAS BEGGING!" she screeched through her telepathic link, slamming the thoughts and their intent into the terran's mind. "YOU DIDN'T STOP WHEN I WAS CRYING FOR MY SISTER! YOU DIDN'T STOP WHEN I HURT!" She snarled, and felt… something pushing out from behind her gums on bot sides of her mouth.
She saw them extend past her muzzle. Two pincers, pale white and chitinous. And of course. Serrated.
"I begged you!" she snarled as she dove on, tearing at the man's chest with her pincers, her scythes releasing the dead scientists to slam into this one's shoulders pegging him in place. "I begged you to stop! I had a family! I had friends!" she tore through bone, snapping it as if it were twigs, warm blood splattering about and tasting metallic in her tongue. "I was going to go back! I was going to hug my sister and tell her I was okay! Look what you did! Look what you turned me into! I can never go back!"
She felt her pincers grab something still moving weakly and with a shrill growl, she tore it out, holding the terran's heart in her pincers, just above her head.
She crushed it and crumpled on top of the body, shaking and fighting tears. "I can never go back."
Sweetie took a deep breath and stepped off the carcass, just noticing that all was silent around her. She looked up, now noticing all the Zerg… and there were a lot of them, more than she had originally sensed in the lab.
They were quiet, surrounding her on all available surfaces of the cavern. Witnessing as she had killed and carved and raved and cried.
"A zerg does not shy away from eating, or killing."
Sweetie turned around to face the owner of the voice. She looked… almost terran. Almost. She was tall, powerful… Sweetie knew that she should serve her, on some instinctual, visceral level. She knew this zerg… this Queen… was hers to follow.
Sweetie flattened her ears and lowered her head in deference. "I was just a pony before this. I had friends. And a family."
She felt razor-sharp claws gently stroke her mane. "You are zerg now. Or becoming zerg. I do not know yet what experiments these terrans were doing, but they are incomplete. And that is good, because I can give you something they would take away… purpose. Free will to follow me."
There was a pause.
"Will you follow me?"
Sweetie felt like there was a force holding her back. Like a rope around her heart. She saw Rarity and Twilight. Her mom. Her dad. The crusaders. She felt, for a fleeting second, Gallus' wing around her shoulders, like when he had comforted her not so long ago.
She looked down at her chitin legs; her scythes. A piece of glass nearby revealed that her two pincers made it look like she was grinning savagely. Her teeth were now fangs. Her mane… it was segmented, much like the Queen's.
That was not Sweetie Belle. Not the one they had known.
She extended her hoof to her Queen, who took it and helped her up. And in that movement, she could feel the rope of memories and emotions holding her back… snap.
End Chapter
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Poor Sweetie Belle.
ALL HAIL THE PRINCESS OF BLADES!!!
Hmm, Sweetie has become a tragic monster that may become a threat to her own home.
This seems like the story should have a tragic tag, I only hope it doesn't end in Rarity being forced to kill her sister to save their home or something.
Rip, Tear, Burn!
Time for some sweet, Sweetie revenge!
Forgot a bracket near the top at [i"Feed! Feed!"
But this one, huh.
A little locus of psionic power, and aww, quite the adorable ultralisk for this living psi emitter.
I want to sympathize with Kerrigan, but...
Well, I'm just a bit too horrified by the "serve and forget, or die" and "free to serve me" parts. Not that that isn't perfectly in-character.
I get the impression that Sweetie is stuck with Kerrigan till Jimmy boy gets his act together in a few years.
Sweetie is now reminding me of the zerglings from the Starcrafts animation. Rampaging cuteness inbound!
this sweetie would test equestria's penchant for friendship quite a bit i feel. specially if she brought her budy big bug
9349654 Somehow, I doubt this scenario. It doesn't really fit Kerrigan's MO-- not now that Mengsk is dead and her entire reason for causing so much carnage originally is out of the picture
9349835 It is especially in character once she undergoes her second transformation into the Queen of Blades but keeps more of her Terran spirit as opposed to Amon's will.
9349878 Except as far as I'm aware, this is already taking place after Kerrigan re-evolved herself on Zerus. In Chapter 003 Zeratul mentions "Narud's Terrans", which weren't a thing in Wings of Liberty. Narud didn't reveal his true colors until Heart of the Swarm, when Kerrigan had to deal with him and his Hybrid. In Wings of Liberty he was still masquerading as the head of the Moebius Corp, mainly in an effort to siphon Kerrigan's energy off to Amon once she was returned to her Human form (we learn this later in Legacy of the Void when discussing the source of Amon's newfound power and why he's able to make an attempted return). As of right now and unless the author reveals otherwise, I'd say the timeline for this is after Kerrigan visits Zerus but before she's able to mount her rescue operation for Raynor.
9350306 Someone needs to get Carbot over here, stat!
9350839
It's before Wings of Liberty, I messed up originally and wrote down Nerud when it should have been Duran. And then I forgot to change it.
9350847 Oh, well damn.
Still though, now I'm getting mixed signals from Kerrigan. I realize Blizzard's writing of her is pretty atrocious, but it doesn't feel as though she'd show some empathy towards Sweetie while her head is still full of Amon's influence.
9350847
Well, that makes things a little more interesting. And, oddly, tempers the horror slightly.
9350847
Unless I missed the cue here, We are what, within the Brood War segment of the timeline? Or mid to late first game at the earliest. Since he is going after a crystal.
Puts all of their ages within perspective really.
Pony + zerg ~ changeling. Makes sense to me.
Hmm. A song, a great feat of magic, two new appendages sprouting from her back... It's certainly a far cry from "Magical Mystery Cure," but it's something.
Oh, Sweetie... The worst part is that they probably would still accept her. This is hardly the strangest thing the Mane Six have ever encountered. Still, that free will and her incomplete evolution may shape her in ways Kerrigan can't imagine. I suppose we'll see in time.
9350306
Given the "gentle giant" characterization, I can't help but imagine Big Bug as a Carbot Ultralisk in all its adorable, gallumphing glory.
9351976 We're just as Wings of Liberty is taking off. Zeratul started his search for information and is following the trail to eventually figure out the prophecy, and hasn't met with Raynor about it still. Sweetie is the one that detected the psychic gems on his gauntlets, not an actual device on the planet.
9352773
Ok, so we don't get the suave, young, hotshot 29-yo Raynor, we get his grittier older self. (Did you know that Kerrigan is 3-years younger than Raynor?)
And Zeratul, just because your in your 600's doesn't mean you don't make mistakes anymore... christ guy.
9352806
All I know is she's my Queen of Blades,
even if she doesn't skate anymoreand that's all I need to know!Seriously though, yeah, I'm skipping early SC except for useful references/flavor text. The story will focus on Wings thru Legacy.
9352811
Awww but I have their bios! I wouldn't mind sharing
"Foolish! I we must consume!"
1. Huh, some weird wording here. We or I?
Can't believe I missed this heart stopping action a couple of days ago. Work was keeping me occupied sure but this chapter really drilled the situation into us. Eat your heart out D because we're hooked.
Also seems like I was wrong earlier timeline wise, quite off by a few (in-game) years. Oh well, now we have a general idea.
Interesting how Sweetie Belle can affect the Zerg like so with her telepathy. I wonder if she's going to become a commander/support type unit, maybe even a bard of sorts. I could see her leading a swarm of Zerg, singing a telepathic battle song to encourage her forces and strike fear into her enemies.
Also, Kerrigan's inner five year old must be squee'ing at having a cute little Zerg pony under her command.
In Wanderers multiverse being sweetie belle is pain and misery.
9349616
I am actually going to use a name given to Scarlet (a female esports pro who typically plays zerg) when she proved she could use her off race (protoss) at a professional level.
"The Queen of Psiblades."
Because you can guarantee she is going make Protos level use of her magic. Sweetie, if she manages to figure out how to use her more powerful magic is going to be one of Kerrigan's greatest tools.
9356273 Scarlett is my hero :P Seriously, every time she plays it's a treat.
9356277
Agreed. She is utterly amazing and is far less afraid to use (to quote Whitera, who was my favorite Protos) 'Special Tactics' then other Zerg. And the path she took to get where she is, given the discrimination she almost certainly faced, both being female and trans on the Internet....brave and resilient don't begin to cover it.
I really need to watch more SC2. I still haven't seen the end of the WCS finals yet. Given a Foreign player won, I really need to make the effort.
Hugs Sweetling
Damn! That one dark story. Im confused as hell...
Great chapter.
Hurt a pony and the herd will strike back.
Hurt a free Zerg and the Swarm will rip and tear until it is done...
9349616
O yeah. Time to evolve ♡
9349672
Indeed, Mengsk and Duran/Narud will pay with their lives!
9349835
Well... Kerrigan need to be freed herself in the Wings of Liberty Campaign before she can become the true queen and later become - so - mutch - morrrreee...
9350306
Sweetyzerg filling the Zergling with broken horn as pet and Zagaras slot in Heart of the Swarm. Awesome
9350966
Full of a dead god taint but while taibted still free to a degree...
9351976
Good point. But Sweety is probably in that Vat for years...
9352751
So Sweety is free of Amons influence i guess?
Having a guardian Zerg big as a house? Neat
9352811
Neat. Sweety will help Kerrigan search the Xel Naga artefacts? Or perhaps build her armys? Mayhaps we see her collecting feral Zerg for the comming conflicts? Kerrigan can't be everywhere at once...
9352821
Really? Shot! When i google it i only get Wikipedia stuff...
9699163
Dawww... Heart melting imminent
9631500
I am surprised they survived Foalhood with the stunts they pulled...
Sweety Belle is alone, yet not alone.
She is weak, yet strong.
Her new future just started.