Chapter Six
Queen of Blades
Chapter Six
“How dare you not tell me in person that you were getting married! I'm your sister for pony's sake!”
Twilight Sparkle was angry still, the otherwise unremarkable trainride to Canterlot had only served to rekindle her previous ire. In her eyes it had been a betrayal on part of her brother, and she was going to make sure that he knew just how much, the presence of his subordinate guards be damned.
The brother in question quickly changed from happiness at seeing his sister, to apologetic sadness at her accusation. It was very hard for him to see his sister angry like this, and he knew that he’d need to explain himself.
“It's not my fault! Princess Celestia has requested a major increase in security. Didn't you see all the guards at the train station?” he said with a downcast gaze. It might have been the truth, but he still felt bad about the entire thing.
Twilight turned away from her brother, snapping at him in her annoyance. “Yeah, there's a big wedding coming up. Maybe you heard about it?”
Before the situation could become further out of hoof, Shining trotted around to face his sister, who had lowered her head to avoid looking at him.
“It has nothing to do with the wedding. A threat has been made against Canterlot. We don't know who's responsible for it, but Princess Celestia asked that I help provide additional protection,” he stated as he lifted her head with a hoof. “This, you need to see. “
With a last glance at his sister, Shining Armor took a stance, closing his eyes and directing his horn towards the sky. What he was about to do was no easy feat, even for one as skilled in barrier magic as himself. A feat of concentration later, the captain of the guard had focused his magic into the desired spell, sending a bright purple beam of energy at the sky, colliding with and bolstering the large protective bubble surrounding Canterlot.
A sudden onset of headache caused him to grunt and rub his head with a hoof, before he looked back at his sister with a determined gaze. He had failed in protecting Canterlot from intrusion earlier, and he would never let the Princess down like that again, even if he had to strain himself like this.
“The burden of keeping Canterlot safe and secure rests squarely on my shoulders. Staying focused on the task at hoof has been my top priority.” He sighed, looking at his sister with a hint of sadness in his demeanour. “I’ve already failed once, I won’t do so again.”
The statement caught Twilight by surprise, she could understand the need for heightened security if Canterlot had been threatened, but what was this about her brother having failed once already?
Twilight moved to her brother worriedly. “What do you mean? I haven’t heard anything about this, has Canterlot come under attack already?”
Unwilling to keep it a secret from his sister, and knowing that the Princess would likely tell her student about it anyway, Shining Armor sighed before starting on his explanation. “Yesterday, a creature of unknown origins appeared inside the Vault of the Elements.” He continued despite the look of disbelief that had appeared on Twilight’s face. “She was powerful enough to destroy a wall of the Vault, as well as overpower and defeat a large group of guards, myself included.”
“But that’s impossible!” The purple unicorn exclaimed. “The Princess herself enchanted that Vault, nopony should be able to enter it!”
Thoughts became a jumbled mess in her mind, the very idea that something had the power to bypass her teacher’s magic, and destroy a piece of magically reinforced wall, was simply preposterous to her. Yet she knew that her brother hadn’t been lying, something had actually managed to do just that.
Suddenly, the impossibility of the situation was replaced by worry. “Oh no, did she hurt you? Did anypony get hurt!?”
The fearful look in her eyes pained Shining greatly, and he decided not to tell her that the creature had been close to actually killing him. Instead he directed a reassuring smile at his sister, placing a hoof on her shoulder.
“I’m fine Twilight, don’t worry. She gave us a beating, but everypony will be able to recover without any permanent damage.”
“But what about the creature? What happened to her? Will she come back? What if-...” Shining Armor quickly cut off her rambling by bringing a hoof to her mouth.
“We have it under control, Twilight. The creature left, and the Princesses are working to prevent her reappearance, or at least warn us if she chooses to return.” He removed the hoof from her mouth, giving her a calming smile. “Now, do you think we could concentrate on my wedding, best mare?”
The look of joy he saw appear on her face after that statement quickly made their entire earlier argument worth it.
<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>
In another part of Canterlot, three young fillies were sharing a room in the guest wing of the castle. The youngest Apple and Belle sisters had been invited alongside with their older siblings, and the invitation had been extended to Scootaloo to participate in the wedding. Her parents hadn’t needed much convincing, it was a royal wedding after all, and being a part of it was a great honor.
Not that the orange pegasus saw it that way, and if it hadn’t been for her friends pestering her about going, she never would have. Really, who wanted to be a flower filly?
Which is why the filly in question was rather bored, rolling around on the guest room’s single large bed, doing her best to ignore the constant rambling of her two friends. She was happy for them, really, it was obvious that they were both looking forward to it. But did they have to get so... excited about it?
“I can’t wait! Walking down the aisle ahead of the bride and spreading flowers is going to be so much fun!” Sweetie Belle was the most excited of them all, obviously. At least Apple Bloom managed to keep her voice from squeaking with every sentence. “Rarity even made us matching dresses, and they’re so beautiful!”
Scootaloo gave a shiver at that remark, it was bad enough that she had to attend, but they were actually planning to dress her up and style her mane. Style her mane!
“Yeah, I betcha we’ll have tons of stuff to do! It’s a wedding after all, and the Apple family loves weddings! Even if they’re the prissy sort.” Apple Bloom said. The last remark surprisingly not causing a reaction from Sweetie Belle.
A quick glance around the room presented no means of escape for the young pegasus, making her groan in exasperation and roll around on her back. Staying indoors for longer periods of time never sat well with the athletic filly, and she hadn’t even been able to bring her scooter. Not that she’d ever be allowed to actually use it on the castle grounds anyway.
She found her thoughts wandering to their earlier encounter with the strange creature in the Everfree, the Queen of Blades, Kerrigan. Her head was still muddled when she thought about the meeting, and if what Kerrigan had said was true, she might have lost more memories than just how they had gotten there. It was hard to tell, but she was sure that something else had happened.
It had all been very strange, being able to meet such an alien entity. Especially considering they had actually been able to have a conversation with her. Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel sad for Kerrigan, there had been something about her, but she just couldn’t put her hoof on exactly what it was. She recalled the last question she had asked her, and for some reason the answer to it had hit her rather close to home.
She couldn't fly with her wings.
“Scootaloo!” The voice of her unicorn friend brought her out of her thoughts, making her snap to attention. “Did you hear what I said? What are you looking forward to the most?”
The pegasus filly had to take a moment to register the question, but when she opened her mouth, she found herself answering with a question of her own.
<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>
In the Everfree forest, a certain dragon was in overwhelming agony. For almost a day the zerg infestation had changed it, converting its very organs and flesh into usable biomaterial. Despite this, the dragon was incapable of expressing itself in any way, its very body no longer responding to any command. It was almost as if only its head remained, allowing him to witness the painfully slow process unfolding before it.
It no longer feared the Queen of Blades, no, it had already gone way beyond that. It wished for nothing more than to die, to have its misery end and finally find peace in that empty void after death.
There was no solace to find in its captor either, the Queen of Blades treating the entire ordeal like some big experiment. No longer was the dragon’s former body discernable as that, reduced to nothing more than a large mass of fleshy material, pulsing with a heartbeat it no longer felt. From time to time it could feel its insides churning, rearranging themselves at the wishes of the alien monster.
The worst, however, had started only earlier that day, when things had begun growing inside it. And despite not being able to move its body, it could feel the larvae moving inside it, twitching, growing, eating. It had already given birth to half a dozen of the things, worming their way out of what was once its guts, to answer the call of their Queen.
The Queen of Blades however, was not pleased with the results. All of them had been ‘wrong’ apparently, quickly killed by the Queen when she discovered that they did not live up to her expectations. Once, one of them had even been allowed to mutate, consuming more of the growing biomass creeping throughout the cave, in order to become something different. It had been a disgusting thing, large fin-like protrusions at its sides, long claws at the front, and a multitude of eyes looking out from between the smaller claws of its mouth.
“No.”
It had been a simple statement, yet it carried an absolute. In that instant, the ‘imperfect’ creature’s very existence had been discarded, like nothing but a piece of useless trash. It hadn’t even tried to fight back when the Queen dissolved its body with a psionic blast, returning the biomass to be used again.
No, the dragon no longer feared the Queen of Blades, for such a petty emotion could not describe what it felt during those last hours of its life.
<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>
The Queen of Blades gazed in annoyance at the latest failure of a larvae, it was wrong, different from the perfection of her Swarm. The dragon had turned out to be less compatible with the Zerg bacteria than she had thought, whatever natural energy allowed it to fly was interfering with the conversion process. She didn’t want to use the term ‘magic’, but she was certain that it was the issue.
“One... just one pure specimen...”
If only she had one perfect Zerg being, she would be able to more easily convert the alien materials of Equis. Yet very little progress had been made with the dragon, and she feared that she would never be able to regrow her precious swarm on this wretched planet.
“Unless...”
There was another option, the gestation of a pure Zerg using her own tissue. It would be painful, and cripple her for a while, but the result would be everything she needed to regain control of what was rightfully hers.
She looked to the remains of the once great dragon, its fleshy head the only part of it still recognizable. “You are in luck, my pretty. You get to serve me in yet another capacity, though I suspect you won’t enjoy it too much.” The flash of a smile appeared on her lips, it was slightly sadistic, yet held no real joy. “And I’m afraid it’s going to be rather... painful.”
With a last glance at the silent dragon, the Queen of Blades brought her right claw to her left arm, tracing an area with a single pointy finger. If she could, she would shield herself from the pain she knew was to come, yet such a thing would have been impossible. Without another moment of hesitation, the Queen tore off a large chunk of her right arm’s biceps.
She screamed in pain, dropping to a knee as green blood seeped from the grievous wound. With an effort of will, she dulled the still remaining nerves of her arm, setting her body to work closing the wound. It was much more than just removing a piece of flesh, she had to remove a piece of herself in its entirety, and it would take a long time to regrow it.
Not wanting to waste time, the Queen of Blades got back to her feet, moving to the proto-hatchery in front of her. After instilling her desire in the writhing lump of flesh she held in her hand, she thrust it into the Zerg structure in front of her, letting it become absorbed and integrated into its biological system.
Clutching her wounded arm, the Queen of Blades took a few steps back, observing the result of her action. The proto-hatchery began churning, its flesh glowing a bright purple, and soon it started expanding, drawing an increasing amount of minerals from the gems and crystals in the cave. Before long the entire mass started writhing and convulsing, the dragon’s head drawing its last breath as life left its eyes. At the point where the dragon’s body had once been, a new form emerged, stepping out from the hatchery with a loud, shrill screech.
In front of the Queen, one of her favorite children was birthed, as pure and perfect as the day she had designed them. Standing on six legs, its elongated body ending in a section of glowing green, fleshy mounds, a pair of long bony protrusions from its back, and a pair of sharp claws for arms. The newly born Queen was instantly connected to the Queen of Blade’s hivemind, and the Queen of all Zerg could not help but rejoice.
“Finally, I have been reunited with my Swarm.” Despite the pain she felt from her earlier action, she sent the Brood Queen a wave of affection, causing the Queen to shriek in joy at her mother’s show of approval. “Time to start our work, I will need more of my precious children.”
The Queen of Blades looked to the first of her true Zerg to be born on Equis, and smiled. “Many, many more.”
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Apologies for the long wait, I've been busy with this and that. On that note, a week is probably the longest you'll ever have to wait for chapters
Oooooooh dang!
Update faster dood! I wanna see the zerg action!
Now the Zerg are coming to play!!!
Smart move...at least everything making sense
and now the fun begins
something telling me... to expect zerg/changeling hybrids
1314375
No need for Zerg/changeling hybrids http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Changeling they already have their own changelings although the zerg could lern a bit from the equestrian changelings about durability and the quality of the transformation
Awww... I expected Q blade/Q Crystal Romance tag
WITH GORE
I always found the Zerg cute.
I wonder how much fun will they have with meeting the ponies? Bucket-tonnes, probably. Bucket-tonnes of blood.
So much specimens, so much bio-mass to be captured!
SO MANY PONIES TO KILL.
Love,
-Cortex Repository
Rated five out of five moustaches.
Dis is Guna be gud
YES! THE PONIES NEED TO BE TRANSCENDED TO PERFECTION.
inb4 happy happy joy joy time for zergs
Also I can't wait to see Kerrigans reactions to the changelings I bet she will want to include them into the swarm as they are kind of like zerg with their chitinus evolution and stuff like that.
Can't wait For QB to sense the other hive mind. Once it reveals itself in Canterlot she's so gonna freak.
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw5552-3fba4b62a5feea71172162dfd9dbd6bc.png
gifsforum.com/images/gif/dis%20gon%20be%20good/grand/this_gon_b_gud_gif.gif denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw4833_medium.jpg
This story has been rated ∞ out of 5
aww i was hoping for dragons to be Incorporated into the swarm/ ah well. Wonderful job so far! now to read on.:)
yes... YES....
Also i,m sad that the dragon could not be assimilated...
Well there plenty more to try on :D
Unless... its like the Protoss again...
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3793883 yeah it would have been cool.
Zerg dragon: okay, that was NOT cool Kerrigan. Still. KOLLECT ESSENCE,