//------------------------------//
// Chapter Three: Warped Expectations 
// Story: Twilight's Villain Reformation Clinic 
// by Mal Masque 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight trotted into her office, chipper as a blue bird with a cup of tea floating in her magical grip. Granted, the mare should have kept her eyes open when she trotted into the room to avoid running face-first into a large obstruction that took up a person-sized space in the room. Which is exactly what happened, leaving Twilight with a bruised nose and a tea-stain on her wall. When Twilight came to and stopped seeing double, she saw that a massive golden and bronze metal box, the top nearly scraping the ceiling of the room, with a trio of pale, scraggly, half-naked humanoids strapped to it with intricately designed bindings. Something was incredibly off about this box, and whatever was inside it was probably not friendly.
“What in Equestria?” Twilight asked, cautiously examining the box. Spike crept into the room behind Twilight after hearing the loud thud.
“Oh yeah, I was about to tell you.” Spike said, gesturing to the box. “A bunch of big blue guys showed up and dumped this box here. They didn’t say anything, except something about ‘fixing the traitor’ or something. It was kinda hard to tell because of their weird voices.” Twilight tapped a hoof on the box, hearing something shifting inside for a brief second.
“Probably someone here to be reformed to good, I bet.” Twilight said. She carefully stood on the other side of her desk, readying her magic with her glowing horn. “They might be dangerous, so you should probably stand back, Spike.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Spike exclaimed, immediately ducking out of the room and speeding off down the hall. Twilight’s magic encased the box, suddenly hit with an impact of several high-powered spells at once, sending a spike of pain through her skull. Twilight did not waver, for magic was her forte, and she could nullify many spells with relative ease, no matter how powerful they are! With a will of steel, a fortitude of iron, and a mind of gold, Twilight slowly weakened the spells on the box, peeling them off like skin off an onion. Eventually, she peeled enough away, the box rattling from the force contained within shaking with the ferocity of an overclocked blender. The box rocked back and forth, to and fro, even without Twilight’s magical grasp, until finally, the box couldn’t hold back any longer and exploded. Twilight immediately dove behind her desk, her wings only barely being grazed by the heated metal fragments. Once the storm had calmed down, Twilight nervously peered over her desk and saw what ungodly horror she had unleashed.
First thing she noticed was the size. The humanoid being that stood before her was massive, not in a weight sense, no, but in pure muscle. The top of his head only just barely scrapped the ceiling, and he appeared to have the strength to be able to stop a rampaging dragon in its footsteps. Her eyes were then drawn to his notable brimstone red skin, lion-like mane of red hair, and his face, oh by Harmony, his face, never before as Twilight seen such one-eyed malice before, one of his eyes notably absent while the other glowed an ominous bright red. Even his armor was intimidating, with golden plating on his torso, blue boots featuring tremendous scarab features, a large leather-bound book clung to his belt, and two sets of large horns, one set protruding from his abdomen and the other sprouting from his back. Finally, Twilight traced the source of the outrageous energy contained within the box to this newcomer. If anything could be said about this energy, this untapped power, it could be summed up in two words: Extremely pissed.
“NO FEEBLE BOX CAN CONTAIN ME!” The man bellowed, his voice ethereal and echoing with rage. “I, THE GREATEST PSYKER IN THE UNIVERSE, WILL NOT TOLERATE BEING IMPRISONED! IN THE NAME OF LORD TZEENTCH, I, MAGNUS THE RED, WILL DECIMATE YOU, ULTRAMARI-…” Magnus ceased his ranting and roaring, realizing he was outside of the box and inside a tiny office room. “Erm… Where did the Ultramarine dogs go?” Twilight slowly peered out from behind her desk, a slightly panicked look on her face.
“Are you talking about the blue people that dropped your box off here?” Twilight asked. “I don’t know, but they’re not here.” 
“Oh.” Magnus said, his earlier rage almost completely subsided. “Well, eh, I suppose that’s a spot of bother, isn’t it? Very well,” The red man clapped his hands together. “Tell me what Warp-forsaken planet I’m on, then I’ll be out of your Xeno hair in no time.”
“Xeno, what?” Twilight muttered, clambering onto her chair. “Actually, I think it might be opportune for you to stay and answer a few questions for me.” Those Ultramarine people he mentioned must have brought him for reformation. She thought. Might as well take advantage. “Have a seat, Mister Magnus.” Magnus glanced at the tiny chair right next to him, the little seat grossly disproportionate to his massive size. Reluctantly, he sat down, both the princess and the psyker wincing at the straining sound the chair made. 
“So… What exactly do you intend to do, Equine Xeno?” Magnus asked, gesturing to the lavender alicorn.
“Princess Twilight Sparkle, if you will.” Twilight said. “And I operate a program meant for reforming villains into proper members of society.” Magnus seemed to recoil in disgust.
“Villains? Reformation?!” Magnus spat. “Did my Father put you up to this?!”
“What? No, I don’t know anything about your father…” Twilight said, lips pursed together. “Although it seems that your problems seem to stem from that… Maybe talking about it will make things a little better.”
Magnus scoffed. “Pfft, I highly doubt that… However, I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Err… My apologies if I offended.” Twilight shook her head and gestured for him to continue. Shrugging his shoulders, Magnus opted to being. “Well, might as well start off at the beginning. I was born on the colony world of Prospero, where I was raised in the city of Tizca by a coven of psykers…”




“… After I had slain the Psychneuein that plagued our planet, I was on my path to become leader of Prospero and uniting the squabbling Cults of Sorcerers…”




“… When the God-Emperor of Mankind first set foot on my planet, I knew deep within my heart that he was my true progenitor and father, he who created me as one of Primarchs to aid him and the Imperium of Man…”




“… All the other bloody Legions hated my own Thousand Suns, just because we have kickass psykers and a connection to the Warp! Especially goddamn Leman Russ and his SPACE WOLVES, those furry illiterate bastards….”




“… So what if I lost my eye and made a deal with a Chaos God? I stopped the mutations in my Legion and finally got to join the Great Crusade. Certainly showed Russ on that one, that bigoted jackass…”




“… Maybe things got a little out of hand when my own men started turning into Chaos Spawn, and maybe Father was right to get mad at me, but how was I supposed to know at the time?! Honestly…”




“… My Book was coming along fairly nicely via throughout most of the calamity of war. You seem like the bookish type, Princess, perhaps I could loan you one of my copies after this, who knows? Maybe your magic is similar to Psyker powers…”




“… And all those moronic jarheads can shove their ideals up their arses! Pursuit of knowledge is a viable asset in improving, it’s just as important as gaining territory and planets for Tzeentch’s sake…”




“… Lorgar was the only thing keeping me this close  from crushing Russ’ wolfish head like an ego-inflated grape, I swear…”




“… Ever since that damnable Council of Nikaea happened, it was like EVERYONE started turning against me! Like it was my bloody fault Chaos was becoming more rampant! They even had the gall to call psyker powers ‘sorcery’ and forbidding my Thousand Suns from using it! Utterly stupid…”




“… I tried to warn Father about Horus’ betrayal, but I was too late, and yet somehow, people made it seem like it was my fault! Well… I did know that wall was there in the Warp, and maybe listening to a disembodied voice offering me power wasn’t the best idea…”




“… PROSPERO WAS IN FLAMES WHEN RUSS AND THE DAMNABLE SPACE WOLVES SHOWED THEIR FACES, AND IT WAS ALL ON MY FATHER, THE CORPSE-EMPEROR’S WORD! I had to react, my home and my Legion were being destroyed, I had to do something… Even if it meant giving in…”




“… So I became a Daemon Primarch, my own advisor Ahriman turned a portion of my Legion into dust, so I had to banish him, and now I live in my castle of Warp-stuff in the Eye of Terror as an adherent of Lord Tzeentch. Lots of stuff has happened after that, and now here I am, on some unknown Xeno planet telling my life story to some Royal Xeno I only just met.” Magnus finally finished his story, leaning back in his chair. “Everything make sense?” Twilight looked up from her papers, a little surprised to see that the Daemon Primarch had finally stopped talking.
“I suppose it does…” Twilight softly said. She briefly glanced at the clock, noticing the hands had advanced a solid five spaces. “Wow, it’s three in the afternoon! I had no idea we were discussing for so long!”
“Well, I have a fair bit of history, Princess.” Magnus chuckled, rising a bit from his seat. “If I have wasted your time, I do apologize.” Twilight noticed this and waved her hoof to keep him seated.
“No, no trust me, this was a very good session compared to the last few.” Twilight said. “Although, I’m a little confused on a few things…” Magnus sat down as Twilight took a deep breath, ready to send her torrent of questions. “Why did your Primarch Siblings hate Psykers, even though your Father was one? Why did you knowingly ask Tzeentch for help saving your Legion, even though your mentor and your Father said to not do that? Why did your own Father order Leman Russ to destroy your planet when he had no desires to see his Primarchs die? Why did you exile Ahriman for being so dangerous, when it seems more logical to imprison him? And, here’s the big one, can I get a copy of that Book? I’m genuinely interested in seeing how Warp Powers compare to Equestrian Magic.” A little caught off guard by the question, Magnus sat in silence for a moment. Eventually, his Warp-addled mind managed to piece a few answers together.
“Okay, starting from easiest to answer: Psykers have a nasty habit of attracting Daemons from the Warp if not properly trained and controlled, and plenty of worlds have been ravaged by Daemons because of it. I didn’t know it was Tzeentch at the time, just multiple disembodied voices yelling at me. I exiled Ahriman because I knew he would fail in everything he attempted for making my soldiers into walking dust coffins. I’ll see if I have any spare copies of the Book of Me that won’t melt your face off just by reading it. Lastly, the damn Corpse-Emperor ordered Russ to kill me and destroy Prospero because he thought I was the traitor when it was really Horus’ fault!” He folded his arms and pouted, almost childishly. “Damn golden-plated, thick skulled, jar-headed, blind-sighted faithful of the Imperium, can’t see two inches in front of them through that Gellar field of bull…” Twilight pursed her lips together, mentally putting together the pieces of the jagged puzzle the Daemon Prince provided.
“Might I say what I think on the whole situation?” Twilight asked. Magnus simply shrugged his shoulders, quietly muttering under his breath something about Space Wolves and ‘being illiterate’. “It seems to me that you think your Father was conspiring against you, when in all actuality, your brother and your new Leader are the ones who tricked you.”



Elsewhere…	

A gigantic indecisive space mollusk covered in various faces that happened to have been listening to his Daemon Prince tell his life story to some Xeno, and did not like what he just heard.
“THAT’S NOT GOOD.” Tzeentch’s many voices proclaimed in worry. “NOT GOOD AT ALL.”




“It seems to me that Tzeentch intentionally implanted a corrupt Chaos thing into your Thousand Suns, seemingly curing them, and yet years later, they start mutating again. Sowing seeds of mistrust amongst your brothers’ legions.”




“YOU CAN STOP NOW, XENO PONY, SERIOUSLY!”




“And Tzeentch gave you the strength to break that Warp Barrier, letting a bunch of Daemons into your Father’s palace, causing you to take the fallout for it.”




“SHUT UP NOW! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! SHUT UP!!!”




“And when Leman Russ attacked your home planet, which was after Horus’ secret betrayal, isn’t it possible that Horus was the one who told Russ to destroy Prospero instead of your Father?”



 
“NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!”




“Doesn’t that make a bit of sense?” Twilight was a little upset she didn’t have a camera with her, because the kind of reality-destroyed, awestruck look on Magnus’ one-eyed face was the kind you send to friends as a Nightmare Night card. It was as if Magnus’ brain were a record player and the needle not only skipped, but the record flew off at warp-speed, orbited the entire planet, and came back with postcards from the opposite end of the globe.
“… Holy crap…” Magnus muttered, running a hand through his hair. “The past 10,000 years of my life were all a lie…”




“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“WILL YOU SHUT UP, TZEENTCH?!” Bellowed the monstrous Chaos God of Blood and War. “YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH ISSUES!”




Seeing how distraught Magnus was, Twilight hopped off her seat and gently placed a hoof on the large Primarch’s forearm. “I’m sorry the truth had to hurt, but the path to recovery is accepting the facts.” Magnus lifted his head up and offered a little smile to the lavender pony.
“Thank you, Princess.” Magnus said. “I have so many things that I need to fix now. I need to get my soul back from Tzeentch, find some way to make amends with Father, rewrite my Book a bit… Baby steps and the like.”
Twilight giggled a bit. “Well, know that you have a friend to help you out every step of the way.” She extended a wing over the big red Daemon Prince’s lower half, surprising him from the impromptu hug, which Magnus responded with a gentle pat on the head. “I suppose we can bring this meeting to an end and call it a success.” 
“Indeed we shall.” Magnus said, rising from his seat, horns scraping the roof a bit, and preparing to exit the room.
“Oh, and Magnus!” Twilight called out, prompting the Primarch to stop. “I have a book club later this week, and we’re always looking for new members! Now that you’re on the path to reformation… Maybe you could join?” Before Magnus could leave the room, he gave an earnest smile no daemon could give, but an honest human.
“I’d like that, Princess.”
"Call me Twilight."