“Sweet Emperor! This is worse than Aurelia!” Tarkus said as the blizzard engulfed him. “You cold?”
“Nope. Pegasi have a natural resistance to the elements! So.... any of those guys out here?”
“Negative.” Martellus replied. “No contacts.... yet.”
“Alright. Stay alert.” Solomon said. “This way, everybody. Last thing I need is to have an entire mob of havocs upon us.”
They trekked for a while. In the distance, an object glowed. Judging from the way Solomon was walking, he intended on going there, to where the light was coming from. They approached it, until it grew brighter and brighter.
“I can see the sun.” Tarkus said after a while. “Know how?”
“Eh... yeah. See those clouds? No pony really bothered to move them. See that bright shiny thing?”
Nod.
“Yeah, that’s the crystal empire! Twilight’s brother and sister-in-law are staying there.”
“Tell me about it.” Tarkus said as the band of space marines continued their way.
“Well.... I dunno much. Except for how some evil unicorn took it over like a long time ago and then got defeated, returned and got killed.”
“Remind me never to ask her to explain things.” Tarkus voxed.
“Holy..... Terra......” Solomon said as he gazed at the view that lay in front of him. The massive spires of pure crystal, and a large blue dome that surrounded this massive metropolis of crystal. He began to walk faster to get a closer view, all that happened was him hitting a straight wall of crystal.
“So... someone going to open up in there?” Solomon asked. “This is the location of the first artifact.”
And right on cue, a certain white unicorn strolled out. He eyed the band suspiciously until he finally gave a nod. The forcefield came down in a flash.
“Greetings. My name is Shining Armor. Welcome to the crystal empire. If you’re not like any of those brutes that came here in the past few days then we will be glad to have you around.”
“My pleasure.” Solomon said bowing politely. “My name is Solomon, chief librarian of the blood ravens. I seek to obtain a certain artifact of immense power that is located in your empire. Will you permit us to go and seek it out?”
“You have my best wishes.” Shining Armor said. “Why not warm up in here? The bitter cold surely must take it’s toll on all creatures. You too Rainbow Dash, go warm up.”
“Glad to get out of the cold.” Tarkus said. “Well, best start searching.”
The blood ravens all nodded at one another as they continued down the street. Many of the crystal ponies eyed them with mixtures of apprehension and anxiety, but after a while, seeing they weren’t here to bash everything to bloody pulps, the eyeing and the suspicious glances ceased. Some even walked up to greet the astartes.
“Harder than adamantium....... wow.” Martellus breathed doing a scan of a building. “I am not sure you are aware of it yet, but this entire place could potentially be an impenetrable fortress.”
“Tell that to the ones that nearly lost their lives yesterday.” Shining remarked. “That was the first time I used that new spell I learned.”
“Ne..... oh.” Tarkus said. Looking over, he see the dismembered remains of a chaos space marine that was being thrown into a ditch.
“Impressive.” Solomon said. “I recall correctly you are a sort of fighter amongst your people.”
“Indeed. My special talent was defending my friends and family. I’d rather die than see them get hurt.”
“And stop!” Solomon said stopping a few blocks from the crystal palace. “It is here. You five, dig.”
“No need. Even then, I doubt you’d even make a dent in the ground.” Shining Armor said. “I have a feeling I know what you’re looking for. It’s deep down in the vault. A few foals had found it and given to me.”
“One of the elements of harmony?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Yep! And guess what? That one is yours.”
“Nice! Perfect for me to come here.”
“Anyways, Shining, if I recall correctly, how many of the chaos wretches were there?”
“Like eight.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“Well.......”
“Alright, so anyways, I just got another letter from Twilight.” Shining Armor said shaking his head while staring at the ground. “They say that a bunch of human maniacs started attacking Equestria.”
“Yikes..... they weren’t possibly...”
“No.” Shining Armor replied, reading the mind of his wife. “They weren’t part of the Blood Ravens. In fact, the Blood Ravens say that these guys are their worst enemies.”
“So.. is war going to fall upon Equestria?”
“Absolutely no doubt about it. They say that the Blood Ravens transformed Canterlot into a fortress in just a few hours and are now deploying their men en masse to hunt these guys. Thank heaven for that. I doubt any of....”
The door opened loudly a messenger came in, panting heavily with a panicked look on his face.
“Sire! There is a family that is in danger! They are being attacked!”
“Oh no....”
When Shining Armor arrived on the scene. He had found Chaos Space Marines trying to force entry into a house. Some were mindlessly hacking at the walls (which were harder than adamantium) and others were just sending bolter rounds at the walls. A family was trapped inside, screaming for help.
Acting quickly, Shining Armor charged up a new offensive spell he had learned. The beam easily tore it’s way through the power armor of the closest chaos space marine. Almost as soon as this had happened, all the other chaos space marines began to start screaming, as if in pain. Some of them fell to their knees, others made strangling noises, one even dropped dead outright. The weakened chaos space marines were no match for Shining Armor’s wrath as he obliterated the group in a fit of rage, scattering body parts and bits of armor everywhere.
At first, Shining Armor had felt happy. He told the family they were safe, and smiled at the fact that he had just absolutely destroyed several of the barbarians, when months ago, he had trouble merely injuring one of their kind.
Then... guilt.. had seized him. He had just committed murder. An absolute atrocity in Equestra. Those brutes clearly meant harm to the family trapped within their home, but... was their truly pride in killing?
There shouldn’t be. But he had to do it anyways. He recalled the first time when he crossed swords with the Blood Ravens. He was scared of them. And that had prompted him to become violent. Like these attackers.
“You know....” Shining Armor said when he finished his story. “How do you manage to sleep at night, knowing that you’ve killed?”
“What we do is righteous.” Tarkus said. “But... I’d never harm anyone that never meant any harm to me....” This was a lie. He that time on Typhon when Kyras had manipulated he and his brothers in killing the seer council. This spelled doom for the planet, and he along with Diomedes and the others, were the ones to blame.
“I had always been brought up that killing was a bad thing to do, and that wars should only be fought with words.”
“You’re right. Winning a war without fighting is far better than winning one with bolters and chainswords. But unfortunately, the universe as we know it offers little choice. Where I come from, it’s kill or be killed. On your planet, that’s not the case. A gift in this harsh universe.” Solomon said. “And we’re here?”
“Welcome to the crystal palace!” Shining Armor said. “Tell Cadence we got guests.” He said to a messenger.
“Here we are again!” Rainbow Dash said happily. “C’mon! You guy’s will love it!”
“Speaking of which, I think I have means to aid you in your quest...” Shining Armor said. “Perhaps it can protect you in your mission against chaos. If the situation becomes as bad as it does... then... I promise, I will fight with you. Hopefully that never becomes necessary.”
“The enemy of my enemy..... is my friend.” Solomon muttered remembering an ancient Terran proverb. “I wonder how long he will be my friend.”
“As long as I draw breath.” Shining Armor said. How he was able to hear him, made Solomon jump.
“He who stands by me... may not be my brother... but I know... he will be my friend. To the end.” Tarkus said. Partly to his brothers, partly to himself, and partly to Equestria.