Chapter 9: Retrieving the Elements Part Two

The Zerg were furious, they had lost three of the six Mysterious Artifacts, they need to protect the remaining ones, they may not know what these things are, but they could sense the power emanating from inside of them. They knew that they were powerful and they could possibly wipe them off the face of this planet, they knew that they were used for something, but as for what was unclear. The Zerg feared them, for their power was close to that of the Queen of Blades, but which one was stronger? One of these Artifacts was being held tightly by a Hydralisk, it had it coiled in its snake like body. This one was in the form of a crown, a tiara to be more exact, but nonetheless it radiated with power. Perhaps they would learn in the near future, but until then all they could do was protect them from any harm.

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"We must be careful, I do not believe the remaining Elements are inside of Hives… We can't risk anyone getting hurt…" Luna said to the group moving deeper into the Everfree Forest, however they came across something that hadn't been seen in a long time. It was a Hive, however it was almost abandoned, but a single Swarm Queen remained and still seemed to guard it from any harm, but it hadn't seen them yet. This location stood out to Fluttershy for one reason, there were chunks of wood scattered around, and shreds of a blue ribbon. This was where she had offered food to the Queen, where the "Dogs" which she now knew were Zerglings had chased her, where one had latched onto her tail and tried to slow her down by dragging its feet along the ground. She couldn't help but feel even more nervous than usual, she feared the Swarm Queen would recognize her, and attack. The Guards prepared to fight and they did, moving forward and stabbing with their spears, they killed the Queen and destroyed the Hive.

They didn't see a single Drone, further proving the fact that the Hive had been abandoned, but as to why the Queen hadn't left was a mystery. They all were puzzled until a roar broke them free from their thoughts it was a roar that Twilight recognized. "We need to hide now!" Twilight shouted, she dove into a bush and hid while the others stared at her hiding place confused. The unseen creature roared again, this time it was closer, so the group, except one guard, decided to hide and watch. They each took cover while the pegasus guard stood there looking dumbfounded. "What are you all doing? We can take on this monster after all, we have to in order to protect Equestria!" He said while the creature revealed itself. The Brutalisk growled loudly and looked at the guard who had no idea about the beast behind him. It roared again, getting the guard's attention and attacking, but the blow didn't kill the guard, only injure him. He began to fly off when the Brutalisk fired a green blob from its mouth and began to melt the guard alive. Not seeing any more targets the Brutalisk moved past them and went back to whatever it had been doing.

"See why I wanted to hide now?" Twilight asked poking her head out from the bush. "There aren't enough of us to beat a Brutalisk. If it comes back we need to hide again." Cadance said looking at the others who slowly came out of their hiding spots. "Now then we need to get back the remaining Elements, let's go." Luna said leading the group off towards the next Element. They found themselves at what appeared to be a large mass of Zerg, they ran in different directions chasing each other, and fighting to pass the time. The Zerg turned to face them and began to growl before slowly edging towards them. "Ready… Attack!" Celestia shouted allowing the guards to move on and fight. They attacked with their weapons while the Zerg didn't fight back. They stood there and allowed themselves to be slaughtered. Which was strange, but it all made sense once the ground began to rumble beneath their feet, and large worms burst through the planet's crust and set themselves into place.

Seeing as the Zerg were not fighting, they continued their onslaught and killed all but the worms as they appeared to have no form of attack. One guard approached and began to stroke one of their faces saying "I think it's broken. Shouldn't it be trying to kill us?" Celestia quickly scolded him shouting "We don't know what that creature is! Don't pet it!" Fluttershy was frightened by the large creatures as they seemed to be producing Creep, but as she backed away she bumped into something and turned around to apologize but screamed in fear. A single Zergling stood there, however its right horn was broken about halfway, it turned and walked away. Fluttershy's eyes tracked the Zergling, not daring to look away, but she felt something grab her by the throat. She was thrown towards the group, and crashed into Rainbow Dash. "Fluttershy! Are you alright? Who did… That…" The mare began but slowly stopped as she saw the perpetrator. A human like creature stepped closer to the group shocking them all. "Who are you? Why have you harmed one of my subjects!?" Celestia asked infuriated at this. "You will not reclaim those Mysterious Artifacts. For my Swarm will stop you." The human said in an echoing voice. "Yer Swarm? Yah mean…?" Applejack had begun but the human finished for her. "I am the Queen of Blades." The group of ponies was shocked, while this creature was Zerg like, it was obviously part human, meaning that the Zerg had done this to her. "Now… I'm feeling generous today, I'll give you all to the count of five to leave." The Queen of Blades said, her eyes began to glow with a purple light.

"One… Two… Three… Four… FIVE!" The Queen of Blades shouted in anger before she turned and began to walk away. "What happened to destroying us? Huh? You scared?" Rainbow Dash asked, having found her courage. "No, I wouldn't kill creatures as low as you myself. For that I have the Swarm." The Queen of Blades said before she left, but the worms began coughing and hacking, spitting up green slime that had no effect on anything it was almost as if it was going to vomit, but Twilight saw the red eyes appear deep in their throats and she realized what was going on. The Zerglings erupted from the mouths of the worms, swarming over the ponies and attempting to kill as many of them as possible. "Destroy the worms! They will continue bringing reinforcements!" Luna yelled, and the guards began to focus their attacks on the worms and killing them shortly. The worms let out deafening shrieks of pain as they died, moving upward a small amount then, falling over and sinking back into the ground. Now all that remained were the Zerglings and there were few left, so they were killed quickly and the next two elements found. The Elements of Honesty and Loyalty had been dropped by two Zerglings, most likely sent out to fight by mistake, or the Queen of Blades wanted them to have the Elements. Only one Element remained and that one was not too far off from where they stood now, but it was very close to the Leviathan, where the Queen of Blades and her allies waited for them to attack.