From what he had been told, the winter months had started to wind down in the past few days. He had been helping more around their house, though they still wouldn't let him go outside. In the meantime, he had started to be more involved in the familial habits of the Apple family.
He actually woke up at around the same time as them, internal clocks wired along the same lines. Somewhat somberly, they had given him the seat that had once been Buttercups. Fortunately, none of them had said anything, though he knew they were all working through what had happened; he had heard the crying and soft talks through the doors or around corners. The food had made up for the awkwardness, being general mixtures of apple products in forms that he had never heard of before. He was never even aware of what Apple French-Toast Casserole was, but it was now one of his new favorite foods.
Afterward, they all had spread out to perform various tasks. Many of them were outside, while he was restricted to the inside. That didn't mean he wasn't given a few tasks to do, after he had requested something to do. Mostly this involved cleaning things and sorting objects inside the house, though that wasn't always the case. These other tasks ranged from rather tolerable, such as helping Bright Mac in patching a hole by one of the windows. On the other hand, though, were some tasks that had been downright miserable, like when he had basically acted as a living resource stand for Granny Smith as she was making a blanket.
That mix of boredom and pain aside, it wasn't that bad. And that is what made it miserable.
He was completely surrounded by Xenos, and the urge to kill them all had faded. Not that he had done anything, but he had simply grown used to it by this point. Whenever one of them would give him a "Good Morning" or a "Hello", he gave them a nod. Nothing else! His mind, no doubt corrupted by the Xenos in some way, was twisting his actions and preventing him from doing anything against them.
These thoughts were the ones that ran through his mind as he was swept by the front door. He could feel a small amount of chill coming in through the door, though not enough for him to be discomforted. That said, he couldn't help but shiver and mutter to himself, especially as the thoughts of what kind of sins he had committed against the Emperor. He had earned the death sentence for numerous counts of both Imperial Law and Astra Militarum regulations.
He finished sweeping a decent-sized collection of dust and debris, he heard several knocks on the door. He looked over, an eyebrow raised. None of the Apple family ever knocked; it was their dwelling, so they just entered. That meant it was someone who wasn't affiliated with them; that white one, Rarity, perhaps?
He leaned the broom against the wall and set the dustbin onto a small table, before walking over to the door. He adjusted his undershirt so as to cover as much of his accursed fur as possible, before opening the door.
His eyes widened as he was greeted with perhaps the most garishly colored thing he had ever seen. Well, not a thing; it was another pony, lacking either the horn he had or the wings he had seen. This example of its damnable subspecies was vastly different from the numerous samples he had seen. She (as he had determined it to be) had a tangle curl of hair that reminded him of tangled wires, which was only a few shades of pink darker than the rest of her. She also had the biggest smile he had ever seen, with teeth so white they would've been blinding if not for several brackets of metal lacing her teeth.
"Hi!", she said, her voice sickly sweet and disturbingly chipper. "You must be Aquila! I'm Pinkie Pie! It's nice to meet you!"
Anton blinked, not really knowing what to say. "Um, Can I... help you?"
In the space of his blink, she appeared next to him. She wrapped a hoof around his shoulder, saying, "Not really! But, I've just got here, and I'm in the process of making friends with everyone I can. I heard about you, but never met you! So I'm here to make friends!"
Anton scrambled away, panic welling up in his throat. "H-how did you do that!?"
"Do what?", she asked.
"That! Popping up right next to me!", he said, his aura lighting up around the hilt of his sword.
Pinkie made a noise somewhere between a giggle and a snort. "Oh, that. It's nothing. Just something I can do from time to time. My dads tried to figure it out himself; called some really interesting ponies to talk to me and look at me creepily about it. Now, enough about me!" She bounced in place, before taking a big spring forward, landing right in front of him. "Wanna cupcake?"
He had a small item with a colorful top held up in front of him, seemingly pulled from nowhere. Anton only backed away as much as he could. He had grown more and more suspicious of her over the past few minutes, and her grabbing something out of thin air only heightened it. "W-what is wrong with you?"
"What do you mean?", Pinkie asked, seemingly deflating somewhat. Disturbingly, that was literal; her color dulled to a darker shade while some of her unnatural curls straightened. "I'm just trying to be friendly."
"Pinkie?", a voice said from behind her. Looking past Pinkie, he saw Applejack coming in through the still-open door, shutting it behind her. "What are you doing here?"
She perked up at the sight of Applejack, saying, "Oh, hi Applejack! I was just saying hi to Aquila here. You know, since I've arrived, I've been trying to make friends with as many ponies as I could, and you mentioned him during one of your trips into town. I mean, Rarity also mentioned him, and didn't have all that nice things to say about him, so there's that. But, if one pony is saying he's a good pony, then he can't be all that bad, right? So, I came over to make a new friend. But, he's been a bit mean and not all that friendly, so-"
"Alright, alright", Applejack said, cutting Pinkie off with a hoof waved in her face. "Ah get it. Let me talk ta him."
Applejack came up to him, grabbing him by the arm and leading him into the next room. As they came to a stop, she asked, "Did ya threaten 'er or somethin'?"
"What, no", Anton said.
Applejack said, "Ya got yer magic wrapped 'round yer sword. Ah just wanna cover mah bases."
"No, I did not threaten her", Anton said. "I just... she's off. How do you know her?"
"She's the apprentice of the Cakes, the owners 'a Sugarcube Corner. She's stayin' wit' the Mayors secretary; apparently, she's a relative of 'er Pa. Ah met her when ah went ta the Corner, when she was workin' the counter. Now, what do ya mean she's 'Off'", Applejack asked.
Anton bit his tongue, trying to word this. He had his suspicions, but nothing that he could convince her about. Besides, these Xenos were social creatures, and they wouldn't be willing to throw their own under a Taurox. Even if she was a servant of the Great Enemy, then he couldn't... He didn't know. And it terrified him to no end.
"She's just creepy", Anton said, sucking in a breath. "Ok?"
Applejack nodded. "Yeah. Don't worry; ya ain't alone. She's gotten quite a few weird looks when she started comin' here. Just... give 'er a chance."
Anton looked over at Pinkie, eyes narrowed slightly. She was idly staring off into space, tapping her hooves against the floor. He nodded slightly, saying, "Alright." That didn't mean he had to like her, or even not hate her. If she was indeed Servant of the Enemy, then he needed to keep an eye on this one so as to prevent harm from coming to oth-To cleanse this stain upon the Emperor's name.
Yeah... when viewed from an outside perspective one can see just how utterly nonsensical the Imperium and its Cult really is. Some stories are okay, trying to bring a bit of hope to a "Grim Dark" place -- but others are written by idiots who can only see the sizes of the ridiculously impractical weapons. There IS no Heresy. The Emperor wanted to annihilate religion because he saw that this was exactly what would happen.
... and all-the-while, on a planet of outcasts far, far away... a young Guardsman and his Eldar-lady-friend sit atop an old stone wall of their property, watching the sunset.
First,
I just want to say I am enjoying your story keep up the good work
11000175
Spoken like a true heretic. May I interest you in the religion of The Grandfather? He accepts all...
11000175
I thought it was a Vindicare Assassin who had the Eldar girlfriend?
Calling it, he'll try to finish Luna off while the others were busy
11000175
I'm sorry to take up your time, but would you mind clarifying a bit? You say 'Imperium and its Cult' but then refer to 'stories' and their authors (eloquently referred to as 'idiots'). So I don't know if by 'cult' you're referencing the actual Imperium or the cult-fandom that Warhammer 40k has, which has weight even amongst the authors. I was going to do a proper response, but I got caught up in trying to figure out where those first two sentences were going.
11000503
The Imperial Cult, which the Emperor did not want but then the Lectito Divinatus was written...
11000647
Is all Lorgar fault
11000244
pbs.twimg.com/media/DxmVZe4WsAAZC7Y.jpg
11000246
aaah i rememberthis story, it was "bloom", still one of my favorite story, don't get me wrong i like the "grimdark" of 40k but from time to time it's good to see some light in the far futur
11000647
11000175
Okay. But you can't exactly say with a straight face that the Emperor was not willing to influence others into believing he was a God. The imagery and language he used, the appearance he took... that's always been a dubious point in the lore. For being such a Positive Atheist, he sure followed the script of an organized religion; language that denoted singular truths and visions, like 'Imperial Truth', additional language that continued the old terminology he supposedly despised so much, like 'Crusade', Iconography that was held as sacred and was plastered everywhere, like the 'Aquila', and images as well as appearances that were always in splendor with Gold, Silver, and Gems, to denote status and wealth. Lorgar aside, the Imperium was already heavily entrenched in conditions that would have resulted in the kind of actions that the Emperor claimed were so prone to being of a religious origin. In fact, the Imperium was never that far from a institutionalized faith in the first place. Hell, the Emperor and his closest advisors were already the subject of the Cult of Personality early on, which was literally how the lectitio Divinitatus got so popular in the first place. So I think saying the Imperium under the Emperor was meant to be void of religion is something to be debated, as it seems to me that the Imperial Truth was nothing more than another institutionalized belief system with prettier colors.
And on the note of what the Emperor wanted, forcefully removing religion on all levels, organized or not, is the answer? I've never understood that take. It didn't solve tribal issues. We see what it led to. Where that got the Imperium in 40k. It's not that I don't think the Emperor couldn't have had good intentions, but his take on religion ended up being a monumental screwup that was the thing that almost singlehandedly unraveled the Imperium. And, in a twist of fate, something like the Imperial Creed is now the belief that holds the Imperium together. The Imperium that is one of the few factors that stand between every species in the Milky Way and annihilation, simply by being a doorstop for all the big badies.
And to top this ALL off: religion is not the reason the Imperium is so damned Xenophobic. The Imperium really hasn't changed its view of Xeno's much since the Crusade started. Anton would be just as paranoid and distrustful if he had been taught the Imperial Truth over the Imperial Creed. So when you say that "The Emperor wanted to annihilate religion because he saw that this was exactly what would happen.", I'm gonna have to hard disagree. I totally respect your points ( I mean, it's 40k so who knows ) but I disagree nonetheless. This might end up being my most least popular post ever on this site, but F it. I didn't just spend half an hour typing this for nothing.
11001091
Not to mention that it is hinted that he is a hypocrite by orchestrating whole machine cult religion. This is a part taken from mechanicum book.
11001177
Didn't even consider that. Nice catch.
Nice chapter
11001177
Well... damn... I always thought that the Emperor wanted to remove religion/the concept of their being gods because no religion means no worshipping either 'good' gods or chaos gods -- but that with his death/ascension to the Throne it of course all blew up in his face with Mankind 'reverting' to religion again, not that he orchestrated it all...! Fuck. Mind you, who knows what's truly cannon or been retconned to heck now, (thanks a lot Games Workshop /s)
11001336
Technically, 40k lacks any real capacity for canon or retcon. So you could 100% be right, since objective answers don't exist for the things you're talking about. We only really have general 'truths' in 40k; like if something with a consistent description, like a Leman Russ battle tank, is constantly referred to as a 'Leman Russ', then we can conclude that it is indeed a Leman Russ. This is the closest thing to canon we have. In essence, most, if not everything is canon, but that doesn't make it true. That's why lore is taken so seriously in 40k, since we all collectively, even the writers, have to scrape the proverbial bucket to find any shred of truth. Your conclusions are thus perfectly rational, so don't take it as you being wrong or anything.
Oddly, I actually give Games Workshop some credit for this. Their corporate bullshit is really the main thing holding this narrative together. They have a decent enough monopoly on what's considered 'official' lore by the writers, who often work together, and have managed to keep 40k from being overrun by fan-made narratives like Star Wars was. Though, they can still go blow themselves over their new 'policies'.
Below is a quote from a former designer and writer at GW, Gav Thorpe:
"With Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, the notion of canon is a fallacy. [...] Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 exist as tens of thousands of overlapping realities in the imaginations of games developers, writers, readers and gamers. None of those interpretations is wrong."
Gav Thorpe, Lead Designer GW
Luetin09 did some great videos on canonicity in 40k. They're long but I really recommend them. But a good summary of most of it is that there's an unknown number of factors in-universe that affect not only the reality of characters in-universe but also our reality when trying to perceive it all. There's more obvious stuff like faction-based propaganda, the effects of the Immaterium on the Materium, etc. but there also exists lesser known stuff like the ongoing Chronostrife which asks the question of whether 40k is even in the 40th millennia at all. It's a bit of a bumpy ride though.
11001459
Equestria very might well be a world within 40ks universe. Maybe not the milky way galaxy, but somewhere deep in the warp in another time/space. Discord is a minor warp entity. Magic? Psykers. All the other demonic entities like the shadow pony, nightmare forces? Daemons. I also recall somewhere in the lore there was a paradise like planet somewhere in the warp, humans lived on it praying to the chaos gods, at least their benevolent/positive sides (khorne: strength, nurgle: life, tzeentch: knowledge, slaanesh: passion) and when imperials landed on the planet daemons started to come out of everywhere attacking them.
Equestria might be a world where whatever tiny percentage of the galaxy's collective "good" thoughts and emotions coalesced into being.
11001177
The Emperor works in mysterious ways. Any writer could come up with a story where ponies/equestria is somehow part of his plan, thus you can excuse the imperium not going exterminatus on them.
11001640
You know what's interesting about that? If most of what we know about the Imperium's size and planet composition is to be believed, then the vast majority of Imperial worlds are 'Agri' worlds, and a majority of those aren't really what we'd expect of the 'Grimdark' Universe. These planets wouldn't be too dissimilar to our own. However, almost all 40k literature is around that 'Grimdark' material, leaving a lot of these simpler stories behind. Even Agri worlds that do show up do so during a conflict, and despite the ongoing war we still often see lots of really beautiful things on these planets (I'm specifically thinking of that Tau-invaded world from the Ultramarines Omnibus that Uriel Ventris defended). And the Imperium appears to have pleasure worlds of their own, even if they're low in number. Most of these planets generally end up being former worlds that the Eldar (Aeldari) helped cultivate and maintain. On that note, if the lore continues to remain reliable, the Eldar Exodites make up a vast majority of the Eldar population, and are located on worlds like this, untouched by any form of industrialization, all across the galaxy. So yeah, ol' Eques ain't that far off at all in terms of the planets conditions. It's kind of humorous, but for all that 'Grimdark' there's probably a lot of behind-the-scenes Star Trek levels of comfortable and happy living in 40k.
Damn, but I should really learn to shorten these post's.
11001091
Might it be a bit like Muad'Dib, looking at the (possible?) outcomes and thinking it was awful but least bad? Not up on 40k lore to any great extent.
11001091
My knowledge of 40k is limited... But how do we know that is the iconography that he chose? It's been what, a thousand or so years since he was sealed on the golden throne? Jesus went from a slightly ugly jewish man to a ripped cockasian in the span of a thousand years, how much do you think the emperor's image has changed over that time by people trying to hold the civilization together?
We know that the emperor wanted there to be no religion, but most of our info still comes from the view of characters within the 41st millenium. You really can't verify how much of what they say is technically cannon to their own universe due to deviation from the truth.
As for 'crusade', you could argue that, since humans in the 41st millenium don't use the english lexicon, that it's just the best translation for what the actual word is. It could just be 'holy war' to them, but we have a proper word for it, that being crusade.