Chapter 8: Retrieving the Elements Part One

They stood just outside of the Hive Cluster, the royal sisters, a married couple, and six friends. Several guards were with them, but they were here for a certain reason, to reclaim the Elements of Harmony. Celestia will admit it, she had let this gone too far. Now it seemed the only way to get rid of these foul creatures was with the power of the Elements. She had not yet seen this Queen of Blades, but she somehow knew that she would. Call it a hunch, but she had a feeling that she would encounter the Queen of Blades soon, far too soon. However that was something that may be, for now she had to focus on getting back the Elements. The Hive Cluster was basically defenseless, a few Zerglings and a single uprooted Spine Crawler, but based on the information that Rainbow Dash had given, she now knew that the Zerg had the devious ability to hide underneath the ground and surface at any given moment, but she didn't feel something waiting underneath the ground at the moment. "Shall we attack?" Shining Armor asked, and Celestia nodded.

The guards charged forward with the three princesses, the Captain of the Royal Guard, and the Bearers following, for this would determine the fate of Equestria. They took the Zerg by surprise, and began to fight with the Zerglings and the Spine Crawler, which had to root in order to attack. They took the opportunity and killed the Spine Crawler before it could root, meaning now all they had to deal with was the Zerglings. The guards stabbed and threw their spears, while the Princesses used magic, Rainbow Dash slammed into her foes with her hooves outstretched, Pinkie bounced around, leading the Zerglings in circles until Guards took care of them, Applejack managed to capture some with her lasso, while Fluttershy took care of wounds the best she could. The Zerg were being reinforced, they ran and flew in from several different directions, strangely the Drones paid no attention to the fighting around them, and they focused on collecting the gems and green bubbles of gas, almost as if they could only focus on one task at a time.

The Zerg rushed in to fight, they even trampled their own wounded and dying. Celestia was disgusted by this, but the Zerg continued to come, they poured in from every direction not stopping the onslaught. However a loud roar got their attention, a large Zerg beast began to approach, while not as large as the Brutalisk, but it was one of the largest Zerg to exist: the Ultralisk. It was a sickly purple color but it seemed perfectly healthy, it attacked with its bone like scythes and rammed into them, but even the Ultralisk fell leaving a large purple cocoon like object that seemed to throb with life. The Zerg onslaught slowed, and eventually trickled down, leaving them with the throbbing purple cocoon like mass. Twilight was the first one to approach it, and she pressed a hoof on its side. "What is this thing…?" She asked herself, but it began to throb more violently, making Twilight back away in fear. It began to throb harder, move faster and faster until it burst revealing the Ultralisk had survived the attack. "It got back up! That just ain't right!" One of the guards yelled, and they began to attack the Ultralisk one again, however it had been fully restored, allowing it to slaughter many of the guards before it one again fell this time leaving nothing.

The remainder of the group turned to face the Hive, it was very large and tall, possibly holding who knows how many larva inside. "The Element is inside. Destroy the Hive." Luna ordered and the Guards began to stab the living building with their spears, if they left wounds none were visible, but several holes around the bottom began to spray blood like a fountain, that is until it burst in a mess of flesh, bone, and gore, it had splattered onto the group and left a terrible smell that would be imprinted into their brains forever.

Lying in the middle of the mess was the Element of Generosity. Rarity slowly lifted it using magic with a disgusted face, for it had been soaking in blood and other strange fluids. How it had gotten inside the Hive was a mystery, but there was a theory made by Twilight. "A drone must have held onto it when the Hatchery was created, over time the Hatchery became a Lair, then a Hive." Twilight spoke in a serious tone as Celestia, Luna, and Cadance began to think about the location of the other Elements. They used their magic to search and informed that it would take a while to locate the next one. They had no choice but to wait for the results and search again.

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"They've reclaimed one of the Artifacts. I can feel its power is no longer in the Hive… They must not reclaim the others! Set up Impalers and Brood Lords at the Hives. Keep those Artifacts out of their hands!" The Queen of Blades ordered Izsha who sent out Zerg forces to help defend the Hive Clusters for when they came for the rest of the Mysterious Artifacts.

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They had found the location of the next two Elements, both in the same Hive Cluster. This would prove to be dangerous, as they had new and different forms of Zerg waiting to protect the Hives from them. Brood Lords had been added into the fray, while Celestia used magic to see under the ground, for she had a feeling that something sinister lurked beneath. Impalers waited underneath the ground, for they could only attack while burrowed. She now had to focus on using magic so that the guards could see the buried Zerg threat, meaning that she would be unable to help in the fight. Celestia thrust out a hoof and the Guards began to rush at the Zerg while shouting. The Zerg had been expecting them however, and they prepared to attack. The Guards were near the edge of the Hive Cluster when a large tentacle burst through ones entire body, spraying blood and chunks of bone in all directions, his comrades moved on to the fight, for they were in war and had no time to mourn his loss. Tentacles continued to shoot out from under the ground, killing guards each time, but they finally made it to the Impalers and began to attack. The Impalers were being destroyed, during this time the Brood Lords had begun their approach and began to birth their Broodlings, they fired them and watched as the guards were ripped apart.

"Destroy the Brood Lords! They create the smaller creatures!" Cadance shouted, the guards having destroyed the Impalers now focused on the Brood Lords. The Brood Lords continued to fire Broodlings creating a gap between them and the guards, but the guards were slaying the Broodlings too quickly, and they quickly closed the distance and began to attack the Brood Lords, killing them. "Now we need to focus on the Hives." Twilight muttered as she began to attack the Hives with magic, they once again began leaking blood and with a wet disgusting splorsh the Hives were destroyed. Lying in the middle of the blood and gore were the Elements of Laughter and Kindness. They were quickly scooped up by Guards to be cleaned and then returned to their proper owners. Celestia already knew where the other three were and they were very close to where the Queen of Blades has her Leviathan, and most of her Swarm. Just getting to those Hives would be an accomplishment on their own. However she could not give up for fear that the Swarm would swallow this world with their hungry maws and bottomless stomachs.