Iron Hearts: Book 3 - The Sept Lamman

by SFaccountant

Siege of Canterlot (Part Two)

Iron Hearts: Book 3

Chapter 10

Siege of Canterlot (part 2)

****

0.4 Kilometers from the train wreck

"Well, that's quite a story. It seems negotiations went even worse for you than they did for us," Delgan said with a slow nod of sympathy.

A semicircle of Chimera transports and idle guards surrounded Twilight and her friends as they told their tale to the Trademaster. He had led his convoy to the distress signal that Gaela had activated, and arrived long before the gunship that was ostensibly en route to pick them up.

He had also arrived long after the source of "distress" had been resolved, but there was little he could have done to get there faster. And honestly, most of the ponies were impressed that he had come at all.

"So long as the Tau control Canterlot unchallenged, they have a fortified base from which to launch attacks wherever they want," Twilight explained, "of course, their main target is Ferrous Dominus, but if they locate more vulnerable human targets such as your market or Sweet Apple Acres, I don't think they'll hesitate to attack them."

Applejack frowned. "Mah farm ain't a human target."

"It would certainly look like one from the cockpit of a Tau gunship," Twilight pointed out, "and really, given your luck so far with alien attacks, it would hardly come as a shock."

The orange pony started to grind her teeth in frustration, acknowledging Twilight's logic. Delgan scratched at his chin.

"And it's all to get this 'Warp core' into place, is it? Vexing."

Away from the tactical meeting of ponies and merchants, Gaela was seeing to the repairs on Crabapple. Most of the Maulerfiend's damage was superficial, and as a daemon engine it would regenerate much of its hull damage on its own like a living creature, but one of its power fists had stopped working at some point in the battle and several of its smoke stacks had been torn free of the exhaust ports.

Gaela only wished that she could attribute the damage entirely to the enemy Riptides. She was pretty sure the melted converter relays in the power fist bore no marks from either missile impacts or energy blasts. Which meant that Sweetie Belle had inflicted more debilitating damage to the daemon engine than a pair of the Tau's most powerful heavy combat armors.

It was almost enough to make her respect the little pest.

"There, there. Ya did real good, Crabapple. Ah'm really proud of ya," Apple Bloom cooed as she stood up to run a hoof along the underside of the Maulerfiend's head, "Gaela's gonna fix ya up good as new, and then we can go home."

Crabapple grumbled something in response, and the fillies turned their heads toward Gaela.

"... Well?" Scootaloo asked impatiently after the Dark Acolyte ignored them.

"Well, what?" Gaela asked as her laser welder worked at the cracked seam in the siege walker's enormous palm.

"What did she say?" Sweetie Belle clarified eagerly.

"Something about the daemon. I think it's trying to apologize," Gaela mumbled.

"You're not sure? I thought you spoke her language," Sweetie Belle said while cocking her head to the side.

"Crabapple doesn't speak Binary very well anymore," Gaela explained simply, "it's not easy to understand it."

"So you can't figure out exactly what she's saying?" Scootaloo asked.

"I didn't say I couldn't, I said it's not easy," Gaela corrected her, "and speaking frankly, neither you nor the machine is worth the effort or attention."

The fillies glared at her, and Crabapple craned its neck around so that it could stare directly at the cyborg as it growled.

Gaela's servo tools stopped, and she turned her head to stare into the maulerfiend's blood-red eyes. "If you so much as twitch these fingers before I tell you to, you'll end up as scrap before the end of the day."

It was rather strange to see the massive siege walker flinch back from the (comparatively) tiny woman, but Crabapple quickly looked away in a manner that gave no doubt that it took her threat seriously.

"Never forget, mechanical: I am the master. You are the tool," Gaela intoned as she returned to work. A few seconds later she released a sputtering burst of Binaric Cant, invoking the rites of repair.

"Well, you look like you're making friends as always," Daniels mumbled as he walked over to the fillies. Another Chimera APC, which Daniel had used to take the CMC out to the river in the first place, had been parked away from the others.

"Why's Miss Gaela always such a sour apple, anyway?" Apple Bloom asked, lowering her voice.

"Well, she can afford to be. She's so handy to have around that we'd all rather put up with her and let her work than have her stop and leave," Daniels reasoned, "I don't see you in any hurry to remove Crabapple from her care."

"Couldn't she be helpful AND nice?" Scootaloo asked bitterly.

"You know, looking back on all the Techpriests I've met - Adeptus and Dark - I think that might actually be against their rules," Daniels admitted.

"I can hear you, you know," Gaela noted, causing the young ponies to flinch.

It wasn't ten minutes later that a gunship screamed over the treetops toward the clearing, curling around the area and briefly doing a sweep for hostiles.

Delgan clasped his hands behind his back as the aircraft settled in for a landing, and then he turned toward his men.

"All right, I want one of the transports to go get the ponies left in the train wreck! The rest of you get back to the settlement immediately!" he commanded before glancing at a nearby guard. "You there! Take the lizard's melta gun."

"Awww..." Spike let out a disappointed groan as the armored man stepped forward and yanked away his depleted weapon. "I was doing really well with that!"

"You got your free trial. If you want to keep it, then you pay for it," Delgan said with an indignant sniff, "my establishments are markets, not armories." Then he returning to shouting at his men. "Park the vehicles together outside the village, and unload anything of value! Then you find some place to lay low, you understand? The Tau have supremacy over this region now!"

As Delgan's men nodded and began rushing for their vehicles, Rarity raised an eyebrow. "You're not staying with them?"

"No, I'm not," the Trademaster answered gruffly, "there's very little I can accomplish hiding out in your settlement with my traders. This situation may require some... personal attention."

Rarity rolled her eyes as soon as she was sure the merchant wouldn't notice. She was certain he simply wanted to get behind the heavily fortified walls of a fortress before the Tau had time to act, and she could hardly blame him.

"Gaela! Are you almost finished? We need to go!" Twilight shouted as the gunship landed.

Gaela was quite aware of the transport landing, and she stopped welding Crabapple's smokestacks back into place. "That will have to do for now. I dislike leaving a job unfinished, but you're a very low priority."

Crabapple shifted irritably on its haunches, a low rumbling noise coming from its metal throat.

"Yes, I still hate you even though you're useful now," Gaela confirmed as she walked toward a corpse lying near the edge of the forest. It still had her power axe lodged in its chest.

The CMC blew a synchronized raspberry in the Dark Acolyte's direction as she walked off, but soon Applejack approached them and Daniels.

"All right girls, y'all listen here. We gotta go save Equestria from an invading army and rescue the Princesses. Y'know, the usual stuff. So you three go stay in the farmstead and be good, all right? Ah might not be back before supper."

"All right, Sis," Apple Bloom said with a practiced nod. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded obediently as well.

"Daniels, can you take 'em home and keep watchin' 'em until this blows over?" the farmpony asked with a hopeful smile.

"Sure thing, AJ. Rather do that than help siege your capital anyway," he admitted.

"Thanks Daniels. Yer a prince," she said brightly before she turned away.

Then Applejack halted and twisted her head around. "Oh, and before Ah forget, no more monsters, all right?"

This seemed to surprise the mercenary, and the fillies let out a disappointed whine.

"But why not, Sis? Ya said it was okay as long as Ah took mah bath!" Apple Bloom protested.

"Come on, Miss Applejack! That's not fair! The last one got away!" Scootaloo reasoned.

"Tzeentch says you're totally overreacting," Sweetie Belle warned.

Applejack groaned, annoyed that she had to explain things like this. "Look, Ah don't have time to argue! No more... dang it, what'd Gaela call 'em... daemons! That's a rule now! No more daemons! Ah'll see y'all later!" Deciding that she got her point across, Applejack raced for the gunship that her friends were piling into (well, most of them were; Rainbow Dash had to practically carry Fluttershy inside as she tried to stay behind).

"Aw, phooey. NOW what are we supposed to do for the rest of the evening?" Scootaloo asked, kicking at the ground in annoyance.

Daniels considered the matter as he looked down at his temporary charges.

"Well, I suppose I could teach you how to ritually desecrate a building to make it a shrine of the Dark Gods. We don't seem to be running out of daylight. For some reason."

"BEST FOALSITTER EVER!" Sweetie Belle declared before clapping hooves together with her friends.

"C'mon Fluttershy, this is serious! The Princesses are counting on us!" Rainbow Dash insisted as she slowly pushed the other pegasus up the embarkation ramp.

"But Rainbow, what am I supposed to do? We don't even have the Elements of Harmony!" Fluttershy retorted. After seeing the kind of firepower the Tau had chased them with, she was perfectly convinced that there was no way for them to help outside of warning the humans, and it's not like her friends needed her for that.

"It wouldn't be much trouble to let her go along with my men," Delgan reasoned as he followed the ponies up the embarkation ramp.

"No way, man! We've gotta keep the team together!" Rainbow Dash insisted. She didn't look like she was making much headway on getting Fluttershy up the ramp, though.

The sound of approaching rocket engines made the ponies freeze, and Fluttershy began to flap her wings wildly in a panic.

"No! Oh no! They found us! They sent more giant robots!" the yellow pegasus starting flailing.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Shy, RELAX. It's just Tellis. You should be able to recognize the sound of his pack by now, you live with the guy!"

Curiously, Fluttershy didn't stop trying to wiggle out of Rainbow's forelegs after Rainbow identified the incoming flyer.

Tellis hit the ground hard, as usual, and then looked around wildly, his shoulder pads heaving under his heavy breaths. "Okay, I'm here! I got your distress beacon, but the last round of riddles ran long! Plus I had to take the guy to Shy's place! What am I fighting?!"

He noticed that the Chimera APCs seemed to be leaving, but he was distracted by the sight of a Riptide battlesuit sitting out in the open and kneeling in place.

"How about that? I'll kill that!" The Raptor Lord's flight pack flared, but he was interrupted by a familiar mare's voice.

"Naw, forget it! We already beat them!" Rainbow Dash called, still holding Fluttershy in place. "Come with us! We need help kicking the Tau out of Canterlot!"

Tellis calmed down immediately at the promise of future violence. "Bangin'." Then he walked up the gunship's ramp, pausing to pick up Fluttershy under his arm and carry her in the rest of the way. Her struggles immediately became useless, and she let out a helpless whimper as a tear crawled down her cheek.

"Thanks, Tellis! Between you and us, those alien freaks won't know what hit 'em!" Rainbow Dash chuckled as she walked up the ramp.

As Gaela finally entered the gunship and the ramp began to close up, Tellis spoke again. "By the way, does anybody know why the sun hasn't moved in, like, three hours? I'm usually not out murdering this late, but the lingering sunlight is totally throwing me off."

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, only to have Gaela's servo arm clang shut noisily, interrupting her.

"Don't. Just... don't," the Dark Acolyte growled.

Twilight rolled her eyes, but remained silent as the ponies all shared questioning glances. Delgan's eyes met Tellis's visor, and he shrugged.

Then the gunship's ramp locked into place, and the engines roared as the craft took to the air once more.

****

Ferrous Dominus - sector 24 landing platforms

The gunship dropped its embarkation ramp onto the platform surface, and Gaela was the first one out.

"Me and Master Delgan have been called into a strategy meeting," the cyborg explained as she glanced back into the passenger bays, "Lord Tellis, your presence is not requested, so perhaps it would be best if you gathered and prepared your squad."

"My what?" Tellis asked as he lumbered out of the passenger compartment.

"Your squad," Gaela repeated, "the Raptor unit Steel Reavers."

Tellis stared down at the Acolyte silently until Rainbow Dash hovered up next to his shoulder pad.

"You know, all the other Iron Warriors you used to roll with before you met me!" the racer reminded him, beckoning to herself with a hoof.

"OH, right. Those chumps. I wonder whatever happened to them?" the Raptor Lord asked aloud as he turned toward the distant Astartes barracks.

"Most likely they've been operating without you and experiencing significantly higher morale, effectiveness, and unit cohesion as a result, Lord," Gaela deadpanned, "perhaps you'd like to correct them."

Tellis dropped Fluttershy and leapt off the platform immediately, his flight pack igniting as he left to do exactly that.

"And please, just stay here this time!" Fluttershy shouted desperately as the Chaos Lord flew off.

Twilight cast an annoyed glance after Tellis, but then focused her attention on Gaela. "We should come with you to that meeting."

"Not that I necessarily disagree," Gaela mumbled, "but it doesn't work like that."

"Strategy meetings are by invitation only," Delgan agreed as he stepped past the ponies and adjusted his collar, "I'm sure you understand."

"I told you all we could've stayed home," Fluttershy mumbled quietly.

"How come nobody ever wants us around during their big, important meetings?" Pinkie asked sadly, her ears drooping as her lip quivered.

"Because you have no experience or training in strategic military planning, and we already have the data you needed to impart to us," Gaela answered simply.

Pinkie didn't seem to acknowledge her reasoning. "I know! We can sing a song!" the pink pony shouted in glee as she spontaneously brightened, bouncing in place repeatedly. "That'll have your troopers trooping like they've never trooped before!"

Gaela turned her optics toward Twilight. "Restrain her as best you can. You may request Astartes support if necessary. I have to go."

"I understand," Twilight mumbled in embarrassment as the Dark Acolyte left them.

"So... that's it? What do we do now?" Rainbow Dash asked as she hovered just outside the embarkation ramp.

Her voice was momentarily lost in the scream of heavy engines as a thunderhawk gunship took off from a nearby platform, and Twilight stuck her head out to look around.

The platforms hadn't been very busy the only other time she had been here, but now they were a flurry of activity. Squads of Iron Warriors marched around and onto the platforms, geared for battle (not that she'd ever met one who wasn't) and occasionally followed by hefty armored walkers boasting heavy weapons and giant hammers. Menials raced around the place dragging cases of supplies or thick hoses to fill the cargo holds and fuel tanks of the airborne transports.

"Well, we should probably find some place out of the way for now," Twilight reasoned, "Gaela will tell us everything when they're done."

"Some place INSIDE," Rarity corrected as Spike dragged a tarp from the supply stash. She hadn't forgotten Gaela's warning about the pollution potentially damaging her coat. She probably never would.

"So, a security station, or...?"

Applejack perked up suddenly. "Hey, Ah got an idea! Big Mac's still hangin' around here on account of trainin' with his new gear! Let's go track 'im down!"

"Oh, cool! Let's do that!" Rainbow Dash agreed, immediately rising in the air and looking around the platforms.

"Well... okay. I suppose I don't have any better ideas," Twilight admitted, "let's go find an Iron Warrior or a Dark Techpriest who doesn't look busy. I think they should be able to help."

****

Ferrous Dominus - sector 10

Finding someone who didn't seem busy who also had a head full of electronics had taken longer than they'd expected, but eventually they'd found an Iron Warrior who wasn't dedicated to some important task or simply willing to ignore them outright.

Unfortunately, that had led Rainbow Dash to wonder aloud how some random Chaos Space Marine knew Big Mac's current location halfway across the fortress; in fact, it was noted, the Iron Warrior had seemed somewhat surprised himself to locate the stallion.

This idle question had proved the catalyst for their current dilemma.

"The access nodes are actually built into the system engines that generate the noosphere network, you see, meaning that the access points form the network itself! This is as opposed to a centralized databank core that would hold all the data in one place, like the data repositories. Or, to use an example closer to home, a library. No pun intended! Ha! Anyway, the noosphere engine nodes are built into the neural implants in the Dark Mechanicus clergy, but the Iron Warriors can access it too. Or, parts of it, I think. Their connection seems to be of a different scale, though, since they don't generate a noosphere network everywhere they go just from proximity. But as I was saying, with the nodes within network range, each engine is actually electronically linked to the other, sharing data, messages, and even computing power!" Twilight paused in her explanation. For about point-eight seconds. Then she started speculating about noosphere generator ranges.

Applejack's ears hung against her head as she trudged through the streets, and her eyes were half-lidded in a sleepy expression that was usually associated with her stoic older sibling. Rarity and Spike - the latter still levitating a protective tarp overhead - seemed more at ease calmly ignoring the long-winded lecture, which had jumped from its initial topic of location markers to speculated power armor features to electronic networks and sensor signals.

"But really, what underpins all these technologies and makes them viable is the capability to discharge minute amounts of electromagnetic radiation in consistent and stable patterns completely at will! The Tau apparently use systems that are similar in their function, but their mechanisms tend to rely on photon-pulse transmission."

Rainbow Dash's head hung low, her eyelids straining to stay open. Each step felt like it might be her last, and she could feel her willpower faltering as her legs strained to keep going.

"Hang in there, Dashie," Pinkie groaned, her usually chirpy voice coming out low and weak, "you have to stay awake. It's like a snowstorm... if you fall asleep... you'll never wake up..."

Fluttershy was bringing up the rear of the group, per usual, and looking largely unaffected by the lecture. She didn't understand a thing Twilight was saying, of course, but she naturally paid polite attention so that nopony might think she was ignoring them. "Um, I don't think that's true, Pinkie," she protested meekly, "although I suppose if you fell asleep in the middle of the walkway something might step on you." She thought it terribly unlikely, given how colorful they were against the dull gray of the ferrocrete ground, but she had to admit that Rainbow looked like she could use the motivation.

"Apparently the different basis in their preferred basic energy transmission is the cause of most of the divergence between human and Tau technology. Or so Gaela theorizes. There's more to it than that, I'm sure. Dark Techpriests who know how to handle Tau technology more complicated than a hand lumen are undeniably rare, and Gaela told me that the 38th Company raids the Tau as much as they can. I think it has a lot to do with their respective cultural attitudes toward the sciences..."

Spike jumped slightly as Applejack staggered to the side, almost colliding with him before she caught herself and then continued trudging forward. "All right, this is getting bad. We might have to physically stop her."

A dull thud came from behind them.

"Rainbow Dash! No! Get up!" Pinkie Pie begged, wriggling her head under the pegasus so that she could hoist Rainbow's foreleg over her neck. "I'm not leaving you here! No way, no how, no why, no where, no when!"

Fluttershy quietly took Rainbow Dash's other foreleg, wanting to help but being rather embarrassed by the display.

"I'm not gonna make it..." Rainbow Dash said weakly, her back legs dragging across the ground, "brain turning... to mush... feeling less awesome... every second... I'm sorry... you guys... tell Tank... I'll feed him... tomorrow."

"Seriously, why can't Trixie go a single week without stumbling into you, Sparkle?" a loud voice suddenly interrupted.

Twilight stopped, startled, and for the first time in half an hour her lecture halted for more than a few seconds.

Every other pony seemed curiously relieved, but the purple alicorn frowned. She didn't have a good idea of where the voice had come from, and her eyes tracked left and right as she spoke again.

"Trixie, do you mind? We're not here to bother you, and I was trying to have a discussion with my friends about the metaphysical legitimacy of mechanical spiritualism."

Before Trixie's voice could answer that, a desperate, wailing chorus beat her to it. "YES, SHE DOES MIND!! LET'S LISTEN TO WHAT TRIXIE WANTS!!" shouted Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack. Spike and Rarity weren't willing to scream about it, but nodded emphatically.

"Oh... kaaaay..." Trixie's rather uncertain voice seemed to come from multiple directions, leaving the ponies and dragon without a clue as to where the unicorn was hiding.

"Behind you," Trixie said suddenly.

Fluttershy squeaked like a rubber toy and leapt into the air, while the others managed to simply turn their heads without giving any sign as to how startled they were. Sure enough, there was Trixie, smirking at them with her nose in the air. The unicorn had evidently taken a walk without her hat and cape, or even her rebreather. Twilight found that a bit unusual for somepony who was living in the fortress, but decided it didn't really bear thinking about.

"Did you want something?" Twilight sighed.

"Please don't leave," Rainbow Dash whimpered.

Trixie started walking a slow circuit around the other Equestrians, one eyebrow raised. "Trixie was just wondering what brought you in this time. Not another injured pony, Trixie hopes?"

"No, not quite," Rarity admitted, "close, though."

Twilight sighed. "Canterlot has been seized by the Tau, who plan to use it as a base to attack Ferrous Dominus. We're here to enlist the 38th Company's aid."

Trixie's other eyebrow rose. "Oh. That does sound pretty troublesome. Wouldn't you say, Trixie?"

"Trixie agrees completely. Trixie is also guessing that has something to do with the sun freezing in place, correct?"

The Equestrians snapped their heads around, and their eyes grew wide as dinner plates. Another blue unicorn was sauntering out from behind a parked lifter wearing the same, distinctly Trixie-ish, smirk.

"Trixie hopes Celestia is okay," mused the Trixie behind them.

"Trixie wouldn't worry. Her go-to heroines are on the case and the Iron Warriors are on the march. This will be resolved before supper," assured the Trixie in front of them.

"No. No. NO. No no. NononononoNO," Twilight said, her eye twitching as her mane started to fray.

"What's the matter, Sparkle?" asked yet another Trixie off to the side. "You look upset about something." Twilight looked like she was biting her lip to keep from screaming as her eyes fixed on the third Trixie to appear.

"Did somepony mention supper?" asked a fourth Trixie that began to cross the street. This one was wearing a star and moon-patterned chef's hat. "Trixie's been working hard to get it ready!"

"What are we having, Trixie?" asked a separate Trixie. Twilight wasn't sure exactly which one it was; the terrified howling within her mind was quite distracting.

"Tasteless, slimy nutrient gruel! Just like every day!" Chef Trixie announced.

Twilight's friends had pressed into a tight cluster, each of them bearing expressions of horror as they stared from one Trixie to the next.

"Do you think... the mirror pool?" Rainbow Dash asked, her wings trembling against the urge to flee.

"No way! It was sealed up!" Applejack shouted, covering her head with her hooves.

"This can't be happening!" Rarity moaned as she cowered with Fluttershy. "We could barely tolerate one of them!"

"Shoot the clones, Twilight! Hurry!" Pinkie Pie begged as she and Spike clung to each other.

The Trixies snickered as they slowly walked closer, apparently enjoying the overreactions of the other mares. "Mirror pool? Trixie's never heard of such a thing," the Trixies said in eerie synchronization as they drew closer, "mere multiplication magic is no challenge for the Great and Powerful-"

Twilight let loose a terrified screech as one of the blue unicorns came within leg's reach, and a purple lance of energy speared through it. Right through it, in fact, as if it wasn't there; the magic projectile didn't detonate or even slow down until it slammed into the side of a storage compound, carving a crater into the armored surface.

"What the blazes?!" came a nearby shout. There weren't many humans in the immediate area, but those that were had been quite engrossed by the strange spectacle and quite surprised to see one of the ponies launch a magic attack. Those that had lasguns quickly drew them, but they weren't completely sure who to shoot or why.

The confusion of the encounter wasn't helped by a vox-distorted belly laugh coming from the same parked lifter where one of the unicorns had emerged. All at once the Trixies faded away, and then a metal panel on the bed of the lifter flickered and vanished as if it were never even there.

"Oh, you should have seen the looks on your faces!" Trixie laughed as she dropped down from the lifter bed. Her metal-clad hooves clanged noisily against the ground, and the servos around her legs whirred softly as they absorbed the short fall. "That was priceless!" her laughter boomed from behind a golden vox grille for several seconds, and then suddenly cut off.

"Seriously, though," Trixie said as she glared at Twilight through the blood-red optics lenses in her helmet, "shooting at Trixie like that was seriously messed up. What the hay is wrong with you?"

The other Equestrians could only stare, dumbfounded. Before them stood Trixie, dressed in pony power armor that boasted the usual colors of the Iron Warriors Legion and the showmare's cutie mark on one shoulder pad.

Twilight couldn't help but compare it immediately to Big Mac's armor, and the differences were numerous. The helmet piece boasted a single, sharply pointed horn that was run through in irregular patterns with tracks of glowing blue, and was obviously placed to cover Trixie's natural horn. It was otherwise much more compact than the stallion's head piece, lacking the heavy filter drums and extended neck plating. It also had her wizard hat sitting on top of it, and her cape clasped at the back.

By now the humans watching had holstered their weapons, having decided that Twilight wasn't going on some kind of mad psionic rampage. Most of them hurried along their way, although a few were intrigued enough to keep watching.

It took some time before any of the ponies could think of anything to say or decide their particular feelings about the sight being presented to them. The first was Rainbow Dash, and she went with "enviously peeved".

"Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!" the pegasus growled, leaping up into the air and beckoning to Trixie with her front hooves. "How the hay does TRIXIE get a suit of power armor before any of us do?!"

"Gosh, that's a really good question," Trixie answered sarcastically, "it's not as if Trixie actually lives with the 38th Company or works for them directly or anything. Trixie couldn't IMAGINE why the humans aren't falling over themselves to give stuff to the ponies that snuck into their fortress with the aim of getting rid of them."

Twilight had to admit that logic was fairly sound, even if Rainbow Dash still seemed upset at the explanation. "It still comes as a surprise, though. They don't even give power armor suits to veteran soldiers like Daniels... and didn't you say you were hired on as an entertainer?"

A hissing noise came from Trixie's gorget as she unlocked the suit's environmental seals, and the neck and underside of the helmet split open as she levitated it off of her head (in the direction the horn was pointing, obviously, so as not to damage it). Trixie's wizard hat levitated up as the helmet was dropped onto the armor gorget, where it mag-locked onto the collar and hung in front of her chest.

"Trixie is indeed an entertainer," the blue unicorn affirmed as she shook her mane out and then settled her wizard hat onto her head, "and this armor can aid that. Behold!"

Twilight yelped and leapt back as she found herself suddenly staring at... herself. A second Twilight stood in front of the ponies, looking exactly like the original down to the heavy bolter round hanging from a chain around her neck.

"Trixie scanned you while you were all freaking out," Trixie said with a smirk as the new Twilight spread her wings and stretched them right in front of the original, "this armor contains a series of high-resolution hololith projectors and... well, Trixie won't bore you with all the obscure egghead-speak, but Trixie can project false images with perfect detail." There were several lenses set in Trixie's armor, Twilight could see, although they were placed to look like decorative gems. There were no apparent threads or beams of light between the lenses and the hololith that she could make out, however.

The hololithic Twilight turned around in front of the real one, its hooves moving smoothly and silently over the ground. In the process the illusionary alicorn suddenly whipped its tail across Twilight's face, and Twilight flinched back even as she felt nothing from the swipe.

"The voice-throwing was Trixie's own magic at work. A basic showmare's cantrip. Trixie can even do impressions!" the unicorn cheered. Her horn started to glow and she cleared her throat briefly.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle!" the hololith chirped in Twilight's voice as Trixie's mouth moved in a lip-sync. "Books books books science books magic books books friendship books!"

"It's just like the real thing!" Pinkie Pie said, her hooves slapping her cheeks in a mix of awe and horror. "How can we ever tell them apart?!"

Twilight's ears fell flat as she adopted a distinctly bemused expression. "All right, fine, very funny. We're all-"

"Wait, I know! If one is a hololith then solid objects should go right through it!" Rainbow Dash said with a determined nod.

"Grrr! You no mock me! Me super smart because books!" the hololith declared, its face shifting to match the real Twilight's current expression. "I'm grumpy now!"

Twilight's eye twitched as her friends started fighting to restrain giggles. "Yes. Great. VERY FUNNY. Could we-" Twilight halted as she felt a hoof press into her side, and she turned her head to see Applejack pushing against her.

"Ah found the real one!" the apple farmer declared with a grin. "Trixie, now don't you go tryin' to fool us like that! Gave us quite a scare!"

Twilight seethed quietly while the other mares and Spike busted out laughing.

"I'll just wait here until you're done," the alicorn grumbled as she sat down on her haunches. As nice as it was to see her friends getting along with the unicorn that had once antagonized them to put on a show, it seemed that Trixie's favored form of entertainment was still humiliating others.

"Oh, you're no fun," Trixie said with a smirk as she let the false Twilight vanish, "anyway, was there a reason you were stumbling around this place? Trixie would have thought that you'd have something better to do, with Canterlot seized and all."

"We're tryin' to find mah big brother," Applejack informed her, "he's supposed to be wanderin' around here somewhere. Ya seen him?"

"Trixie has not," the unicorn said as she levitated her helmet up over her head, "however, Trixie can find him easily enough." She guided her horn into the head gear as it slid over her face, and then the helmet snapped shut and pressurized.

"Trixie honestly wasn't sure what to expect when offered a power armor suit, and the nerve socket surgery was anything but pleasant, but she finds this contraption quite handy now." She blink-clicked through a list of other active friendlies, and found Big Mac's signal register.

A locator rune appeared on her visor display, pointing behind her.

"Follow Trixie," the unicorn commanded, turning around and trotting down the street.

There was a long silence as the Equestrians walked along the main avenue, each of them either searching the streets for Big Macintosh or staring at Trixie's new armor.

Twilight had a great many questions she wanted to ask, obviously, but she restrained herself. Partially because she didn't want to seem envious of Trixie and partially because she didn't want to give the egotistical unicorn any reason to show off in front of them. She hadn't really considered the ramifications until now of ponies being granted suits of powered combat plate; Big Mac's suit had seemed like a one-off event despite Rainbow Dash's requests for one of her own.

But now Trixie had been gifted with one as well, and without getting horribly injured first. Twilight couldn't help but wonder just how absurd it was for Rainbow Dash to hope for a set of powered armor of her very own.

"It looks like things have been plenty busy here," Rarity said, breaking the long silence, "or are the humans in a hurry because of Canterlot being invaded?"

Trixie shook her head. "No, they've been like this since the Tau fleet appeared. They've started running patrols through the badlands, dropping auger beacons, and generally keeping very busy. Trixie, on the other hoof, has had practically nothing to do at all. Trixie's shows have been suspended until the Company is no longer worried about having to take off into space at a moment's notice." The self-absorbed unicorn let out a scrambled sigh. "It's been terribly... well, okay, it's not actually BORING. There's always something interesting around here to do or watch, and Serith always seems willing to help Trixie learn a spell or two, but it's not what Trixie signed up for."

Twilight made a face. "You learn spells from Serith?" the others likewise made sour faces at the mention of the Chaos Sorcerer.

Trixie chuckled to herself. "Of course Trixie does! Serith has a number of tricks that he thinks lie within Trixie's psionic specialty, and promised to show Trixie spells that would complement the power armor's abilities."

"You two sure do get along well," Rainbow Dash grumbled, "I would have thought that two egotists wouldn't be able to stand each other."

Trixie paused, glancing back at the other blue pony. "Serith? An egotist?"

This seemed like a very strange response to the other ponies; if anything, they'd have expected Trixie to deny the label describing her.

Trixie held her gaze on Rainbow Dash for a few more moments, and then continued walking again.

"Yes... Trixie supposes you might see him that way," the unicorn mumbled.

"That's not how Ah see 'im," Applejack snorted, "Ah got problems with much more than just his ego."

"Yes, well, feel free to keep them to yourself," Trixie said as she stopped short, "there he is."

The other Equestrians halted as well, watching as a distinctly pony-shaped figure stepped around an intersection, turning to head toward them.

It was Big Macintosh, in full power armor, and the stallion was hauling a large metal trailer behind him. The trailer was clearly designed to be pulled by motorized APCs, and was filled with supply crates, menials, and even a pair of Iron Warriors.

Big Macintosh noticed his sister and her friends immediately, and his head rose higher as he picked up speed slightly.

"Oi, here's my stop!" shouted one of the menials as she banged a fist on the wall of the trailer.

Mac slowed himself, letting his cargo's inertia bleed away before he came to a full stop. A pair of menials opened the trailer's gate and then they each grabbed a crate as the crowd of mares (and a dragon) approached.

"What's all this, then?" Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow. "Ya workin' as a taxi now?"

"Eeyup," came Big Mac's reply as he nodded a greeting to everyone.

"And been a huge help for it!" said one of the menials that wasn't piling out of the trailer. "The Company never wants to waste fuel, so it takes bloody hours to requisition a vehicle to haul anything!"

"I thought you were only sticking around this place to train, though," Rainbow Dash mentioned.

A loud snort came from one of the Iron Warriors, and the super-soldier leaned over the side of the trailer. "As I hear it, he asks Armsmaster Tolken for additional tasks as soon as he completes each day's drills. He doesn't stop laboring until the sun sets. And that isn't happening any time soon."

Big Macintosh turned his head toward the distant sun, which was still cresting the mountaintops.

Trixie stepped up next to the stallion in an unsubtle bid for the others to compare their armor suits. "Trixie understands that Mister Macintosh has become fairly popular around here."

"Mac? Popular?" Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow. She thought her brother was the best, obviously, but even she had to admit that he wasn't exactly charismatic.

The other Iron Warrior spoke. "He spends every waking hour either training or laboring, he asks for no reward, and he never speaks unless spoken to."

"Best pony," declared the other Chaos Marine before he bumped fists with his squadmate.

"Okay, we're done unloading!" shouted the woman from before. "You can go!"

Big Mac immediately tugged the trailer forward, his augmetics squealing briefly as the hefty iron wheels behind him overcame their inertia.

"Hey, girls? Ah'm gonna go with Mac fer a spell. Gotta tell him about the crash n'all that's happened with the farm," Applejack explained.

"All right, AJ. We'll meet up with you later," Twilight assured her as the apple farmer started trotting alongside her sibling.

"Well, mission accomplished, I guess. Now what?" Rainbow Dash mumbled as she watched the Apple siblings leave.

"Trixie could help pass the time by mocking Sparkle some more," the armored unicorn volunteered, "Trixie needs the practice. With her suit mechanics, not mocking Sparkle. Well, maybe both."

"I'm still waiting for us to find someplace protected from the poisonous, radioactive AIR," Rarity grumbled as she wrinkled her snout.

"Ooh! Ooh! The dessert shop! Let's go to the dessert shop again!" Pinkie Pie said as she bounced in place.

"I kind of wanted to go watch Tellis mess with his squad," Rainbow Dash admitted with a giggle, "that guy's a riot."

"Oh, aren't we close to the daemon engine pits?" Fluttershy asked. Every one of the Equestrians had to suppress a shudder at the words "daemon engine pits" being said in Fluttershy's gentle, chirping voice without any hint of fear or trepidation.

"I'm not THAT desperate for a roof over my head," Rarity mumbled.

Twilight glanced over her shoulder at a squad of Iron Warriors walking up the street, and gestured for her friends to move out of the way. "Well, if it's just to kill time, I actually wouldn't mind taking a look at the daemon engines, especially after seeing Crabapple in action for the first time. And Pinkie, maybe you and Rarity... uh..."

The alicorn trailed off as she noticed that the approaching Chaos Space Marines weren't passing by, but were stopping in front of them. Fluttershy had already retreated behind Rainbow Dash, and Trixie shot Twilight a look that was mostly lost behind her helmet.

"Twilight Sparkle," barked the lead soldier, his gaze sweeping over the Equestrians.

"Yes? Can we help you?" Twilight asked, before hesitantly adding, "My lord?"

"You're coming with us," the Iron Warrior growled, turning around on his heel, "your presence has been requested in the strategium."

****

Ferrous Dominus - sector 17

Twilight wrinkled her nose as the doors to the strategium opened, spilling a wall of foul air into her face. The effect was all the more severe because she was currently inside the heavily fortified command center of the fortress, and not really expecting to have needed a respirator.

"Oh, Celestia's mane! It smells worse in here than it does out there!" Rarity hissed.

"Er... do you want the tarp back?" Spike asked, holding the thermoplastic sheet under his arm.

"Ugh... no, no. I'll manage. Somehow," the unicorn mumbled morosely.

Trixie walked past the others, happily oblivious to the awful smells within her pressurized shell of metal.

It wasn't hard to spot the gathering that had requested their presence, especially considering that it contained the two largest Iron Warriors Twilight had ever seen. Solon and Sliver were parked on one side of a large hololith projector, with Serith to one side and Tellis standing behind them with his arms crossed over his chest plate. Gaela, Delgan, and some tattooed man Twilight didn't know were lined up on the other side of the display.

The hololith being projected was an image of Canterlot.

"Well, here goes everything," the alicorn mumbled, stepping forward. She wasn't sure what to expect, but she knew what her goals were and she knew most of the individuals here. They just had to be polite and helpful, and everything would be fine.

With that objective established, naturally, Rainbow Dash zipped ahead of everypony else, flew through the hololith, and then landed a high-speed brohoof against Tellis' gauntlet.

"Hey, you're back! Done bugging your guys already?" the pegasus asked, completely ignoring the others at the hololith table.

"Eh, most of 'em were on patrol, actually. Then I saw an alert that you guys were being brought here, so I thought I'd meet you," the Raptor Lord explained.

"Oh. Wait, wasn't this big, important meeting invitation only?" Rainbow Dash scratched her head with a hoof.

"Invitations are also extended to anyone who can rip the doors open while they're still locked shut," Tellis explained, pointing to a heap of shredded metal on the other side of the room.

General Gnoss pursed his lips as he glanced at Delgan. "I'd heard what you said about them, but I still wouldn't have believed it without seeing it for myself."

"'Obliviously friendly' was the term that we used initially," Delgan said as he rolled his eyes, "quite appropriate, as you see here."

Solon and Serith turned toward the other ponies, the latter bowing with his usual feigned politeness.

"Lady Trixie, Lady Sparkle, Lady Rarity! We have been eagerly awaiting your appearance," said the Sorcerer.

Before Twilight could think of an appropriately venomous response, Trixie answered first.

"And Trixie is most pleased to provide assistance, as always," the unicorn said, dipping her head in a brief approximation of a bow, "what do you need of Trixie or these other ones?"

Serith took a moment to appreciate how some of the others were grinding their teeth at Trixie's offer to help before he continued. "Oh, just a few details. Largely in reference to Canterlot."

Trixie's helmet, fortunately, hid her disappointed expression. "Ah, of course. Twilight Sparkle would naturally be the pony of choice for those questions."

"But the rest of us can help too!" Pinkie Pie declared, suddenly jumping onto the tactical hololith with a grin on her face. "I just came up with the most fantasti-mazing song to sing to your soldiers! I call it 'March on to Happiness', and it's gar-uhn-TEED to put a spring in their step and some jab in their stab! I have a demo version prepared to show you too! I would sing the whole thing here, but the choreography uses a lot of space, and also the occasional bursts of cannon fire would probably-"

Suddenly a small air burst interrupted Pinkie. Not that the soft noise itself was loud enough to even be heard over her excited ranting, but rather the large dart that it stuck in her hip caused the pink mare to yelp and jump into the air.

"OW! Hey! What's that?" Pinkie demanded, twisting her head to look at the needle and attached tube sticking out of her rear leg.

"Horshe tranquilizer," Solon said as a mechatendril slithered back behind him, "I had that modification prepared after the firsht time we met."

Pinkie's head jerked back, looking offended. "Well, that seems a little unnece-"

Pinkie's body fell to the table like a sack of rocks, and the hololith flickered from the disturbance as a soft snore rose from her lips.

"I think I would have preferred ssomething more... permanent," Sliver gurgled. The Nurglite Lord was resting his arms on his hammer as he quietly fumed at the displays of foolishness and insolence.

"Now, Shliver, let'sh be polite. We do want shomething from theshe creaturesh, after all," Solon chided as he casually pushed Pinkie off the table.

Twilight stared with wide eyes as her insensate friend tumbled onto the floor in a heap. "I can't believe... you did that." Then her expression became more intent. "Is there any way I could get one of those?"

"Twilight, focus," Rarity warned.

"Right! Sorry!" the purple Princess said, straightening up. "How can I be of service, Warsmith?"

"Well, at leasst one of thesse creaturess knowss ssomething of tact," Sliver growled as he leaned over the hololith table. The fish eye lens of his helmet glowed softly. "Then let'ss get to it. You claim that the Tau have ssomehow dissabled pssionic abilitiess over the area of your capital?"

"Yes, they have," Twilight answered immediately, "whatever did it, the area seems to be fixed over Canterlot, and it activated without any obvious projection or source. All of a sudden, when I tried to use magic - or, my psychic powers, rather - I just... couldn't. And it was the same for every other unicorn and alicorn in the room, regardless of their power." She adopted a rather bitter expression and then added, "If it weren't for that, I'm certain we could have put up SOME kind of fight, especially with all four Princesses there, but with the effect in place we don't have much to defend ourselves with besides spears."

"Pitiful," Sliver growled, "ssuch iss the weaknesss of the pssyker."

Twilight didn't really like hearing that, but Serith spoke before she could offer a rebuttal.

"There are ways to foil the psyker specifically, true. But they are few, and mostly rare," the Sorcerer mused, "more importantly, the Tau could not have created such a thing on their own. Their understanding of psionics is paltry, their species being weak of soul and mind."

"Sho how did they manage it?" Solon asked, deeply intrigued.

Twilight chewed her lip anxiously. "We have no idea. We tried getting them to tell us before we were imprisoned, but they wouldn't say anything about it."

General Gnoss frowned. "An anti-psyker field doesn't affect our operations much, but it would be nice to know how they did it. There are plenty of times I've wished to rid the playing field of witchcraft." Then his eyes tracked nervously to Serith. "Ah, no offense, my lord."

Serith chuckled deeply. "Your fear does not offend me, General. It is well-deserved." He again turned his attention to Twilight. "Lady Sparkle. Describe how it felt, please."

Twilight blinked. "How what felt?"

"When your powers failed you. Describe it, if you would."

Twilight wet her lips as she thought back to those terrifying first minutes in the throne room. "I felt... scared. Really scared. Completely helpless, really. I'm not very strong, and my magic is just as much a part of me as Rainbow Dash's wings! And I didn't know at the time if it was permanent or anything! The anxiety over such a big part of my life suddenly-"

"I meant PHYSICALLY," Serith said flatly, "I'm trying to determine the cause, not provide therapy for your ordeals." Trixie snickered quietly behind him.

Twilight recoiled, and then laughed nervously. "Oh! Right! Of course! Sorry!" The purple pony wrung her hooves anxiously for several seconds as the humans and Iron Warriors stared down at her. "It felt kind of like my spells were being undone as soon as I tried to cast them. I could gather my magic, but I just couldn't get it to do anything useful."

"Vague," Serith mumbled, "but that rules out a Silence field, at least. The Tau have not managed to recreate their own Pariah carriers."

"Miss Rarity, I don't suppose you could add anything?" Delgan asked. "You would probably have a more... sensitive impression of it."

"Well, let me think," Rarity mumbled, "... we definitely felt the... effect when it started. It was like a cold chill going down my back. And when we tried to use our magic, it didn't simply cease to function. It felt..." the white unicorn placed a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. "Cool. Wet, perhaps? Like a thick, damp mist. If using magic normally would be compared to sunlight, then it felt like we were in some kind of..."

"Shadow," Serith finished, causing Rarity's eyes to widen.

"Tyranidsh," Solon said, "my, but theshe graysh are a clever lot. They're working with Tyranidsh? How ish that even poshible?"

Serith chuckled. "The Lords of Chaos know better than most that any being can be used. Whether by coercion, bargain, or... other methods."

"Like friendship?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"We usually end up trying 'enslavement under threat of annihilation' first," Tellis admitted, "and that's usually a 'final option' kind of deal."

"In any case, we know the nature of the field. The effect will be centralized, with a limited radius of effect, and an entirely destructible generator. To affect a whole city is quite a feat, but it means the field can be easily neutralized if we but find the creators of the Shadow," Serith explained.

Sliver snorted. "I doubt it will matter. Which of you knowss the layout of the city besst?"

Twilight immediately beckoned to herself. "I grew up there. What do you want to know?"

"Materialss. Ssupportss. Gapss. Accesss," Sliver demanded.

Twilight lifted herself up onto the hololith table with a single flap of her wings, landing lightly outside the image. She noticed that the hololith was grainy, and most of the image detail was on the top, as if it was viewed from above but hadn't been observed from other angles. The underside of the city platform, and much of the detail of the castle especially, was a shapeless gray mass.

"Most of the city is carved marble," Twilight began, recalling her studies of the capital's architecture, "but the platform that the city rests on is supported by slats carved directly out of the mountain. Or grown, rather. With magic. There's a gap here that acts a reservoir..."

For the next thirty minutes, Twilight explained the structure and layout of Canterlot in great detail, pointing out the features with her hoof when possible. The humanoids seemed to hang on every word as they made adjustments to the hololith, although at times Sliver snapped at her when she rambled on for too long about certain aspects of the city that weren't relevant.

Twilight idly realized near the half-hour mark that Gaela hadn't said a single thing since they'd arrived in the strategium. She found that strange. Not that the Dark Acolyte was especially talkative, but usually she managed to interject an irritated comment or tired explanation about her friends' behavior. Also, she had personally been to Canterlot very recently, so it seemed like she might have her own information to add. Or maybe she had already divulged it? Twilight supposed that made sense.

Still, Twilight couldn't help but notice that Gaela - with her helmet on since they had arrived - had been staring intently at her since she'd stepped up onto the hololith table. She hadn't spared even a moment's glance at the image itself. Strange.

"I think that's enough," General Gnoss said as Twilight paused in her lecture, "my lords, I believe this will be an ideal point for the muster." He placed a finger on a plain some ways from Canterlot that was boxed in by the surrounding mountains. "I advise the artillery be moved in with the rest of our forces so that they can be positioned quickly and the attack begun with minimal warning. If the grayskins catch wind of what we're doing, they'll either try to ambush the artillery en route or move most of their assets out of the capital before we can strike."

Twilight's ears perked up, and she felt uneasy. Artillery? Why would they bring in artillery for a mission like this?

"So how are you going to get all your dudes into the city, anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked. "That spot is on the opposite side of Canterlot from the train tunnel."

"We won't be moving any troopsh into the city. No point, really," Solon admitted as Sliver started pointing a finger at various spots on the hololith of Canterlot.

As the Chaos Lord's finger points were marked in red, Twilight felt her uneasy feeling turn into an icy lump in her gut; he wasn't pointing at the various temporary Tau structures that had been spotted and identified from orbital pict-captures and Gaela's data upload. He was pointing to spots on Canterlot Castle and points in the city that lay over the hefty support struts that maintained the city's hold on the side of the mountain.

"I don't understand," Rarity said cautiously, "if you're not going to put troops in the city, how are you going to take it from the Tau?" Her tone suggested that she did, in fact, understand, but was hoping against hope that she was wrong.

"Taking the city from the xenoss iss pointlesss," Sliver informed the equines. He paused in his speech, taking a moment to savor the expression of horrified realization on Twilight's face. "But the city is poorly fortified, and itss location precariouss. We will bombard and bury it from a distance. The capital will be collapssed against the mountain sside, and all that shelterss within it will be crushed."

"WHAT?!" the shouts of shock and dismay had come from Spike, Trixie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Rarity clenched her teeth and averted her eyes, while Twilight could only gape silently in horror.

"Whoa! No WAY are you doing that!" Rainbow said angrily.

"Yesh, actually, we are," Solon said, as if he really needed to defy the pegasus, "it'sh by far the besht tactical option available."

"Tough break," Tellis admitted with a shrug.

"But all those ponies!" Fluttershy said fearfully, trembling as she approached the table. "There are hundreds, maybe thousands of them still trapped in the city!"

"Tragic," Sliver drawled.

"No, no, NO! You can't do this!" Twilight gasped out desperately, her heart thundering in her chest. "There are too many innocents there! My brother! My parents! The Princesses!" Tears started crawling down her cheeks as she looked at the structural weak points that she had pointed out for the siege masters. Had she really just helped murder her entire family?

"Ah, right. The Princeshesh," Solon mumbled, briefly raising Twilight's hope that the leaders of the 38th Company might reconsider. "That'sh a shame, all right. Poor Luna."

Gnoss raised an eyebrow. "Who is... 'Luna', if I may ask?"

"Collateral damage, evidently," Solon replied, "anyway, let'sh dishcush the defenshive perimeter." Twilight let out a sobbing gasp, trying to form words but unable to think straight through her panic.

"Actually, I have a quesstion for the Princesss currently in attendance," Sliver slurred, his visor lens centering on Twilight. He had the alicorn's attention immediately, desperate as she was for any way to avert the massacre they were planning.

"What, exactly, did you THINK wass going to happen?" Sliver asked, his rusted bulk leaning over the hololith table and causing the machine to creak under his weight. "Did you think we were going to charge into your capital, sslay your enemiess at grievouss cosst in men and munitionss, and then hand back your city unharmed? Did you ssupposse we would be your ssaviorss, fighting heroically in your defensse without a thought as to our own goalss?"

"W-Well, we were kind of... hoping for that, yeah," Spike said nervously.

"You were misstaken. I will not trade my ssoldier'ss livess for yourss, nor will I allow the Tau a ssafe haven. The city will die," growled the Chaos Lord as he stood up straight again, "guardss, remove these creaturess. They are no longer needed."

Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to go berserk as she saw several new Iron Warriors step into the room. "You can't do this to us! I thought we were friends!" Even as she complained she restrained herself from actually lashing out; she was still sore from the LAST time she tried to attack an armored behemoth, and even she wasn't stupid or cocky enough not to recognize the amount of killing power standing within arms' reach of them.

Tellis was uncharacteristically silent as the pegasus shook her hoof impotently at his masters, his visor set on the hololith that displayed their target.

Twilight also noticed that Serith and Delgan seemed to be keeping to themselves more than usual, but as the soldiers behind her advanced, her eyes locked onto the only humanoid who hadn't spoken yet at all.

"Gaela! Gaela, please! Say something! Help us!" Twilight begged, tears washing down her muzzle. She knew that her pleas were probably hopeless. She knew that Gaela had no authority over the super-soldiers who had just signed the death warrant of every living soul in Canterlot. And Gaela herself hadn't shown the slightest bit of concern for the lives of ponies she didn't know. She barely showed much concern for the ponies she knew best.

"Don't let them do this!" Twilight cried out as cold, metal-clad hands seized her around her hips and forelegs.

"Oh, by all meanss," Sliver said, raising his arms magnanimously as the guards halted in taking away the Equestrians, "do you have anything to ssay, Acolyte? Ssome tactical nuance that hass esscaped uss? Enlighten your massterss!"

Gaela turned away from Twilight, her mask optics meeting Sliver's for a few silent seconds.

"I do," Gaela said softly. Twilight's heart almost stopped on the spot.

There were a few more moments of silence, and everyone else in the room could hear the woman taking a deep breath in preparation.

"As you are all aware, the planet has ceased its rotation and solar orbit," Gaela began again, her hand tightening around her power axe, "the cause of this is... is the..." she had to fight to get the words out, unable to believe she was admitting to such a thing. "The cause is... the disruption of Princess Celestia's psionic powers."

Twilight blinked rapidly, clearing away the tears from her eyes.

"... Shay what, now?" Solon asked after a tense silence dominated the room.

Rarity looked up at him strangely. "You mean you didn't know that?"

"The sovereign is... EVIDENTLY... the force that maintains the planet's ordinary solar cycles," Gaela said with no small amount of bitterness, "when her power was disrupted, it halted. I have verified the timing of the event."

"That'ss abssurd," Sliver noted.

"Why is that absurd?" Rainbow Dash challenged. "Who did you THINK raises and lowers the sun?"

"Is that a serious question?" Gnoss asked. "I can't really tell if we're being serious about this or not."

"It's true! She's serious!" Twilight affirmed as Rarity and Fluttershy nodded emphatically. "Princess Celestia controls the entire solar cycle and orbit!"

"As such," Gaela continued, "I must advise against any plan that ensures her destruction."

Sliver and Solon shared a glance.

"Well, that doesh change thingsh," Solon mumbled.

"I dissagree," Sliver countered, "as sstrange as thiss phenomenon iss, it doess not affect our operationss to any ssignificant degree."

"Well, sure, it doeshn't NOW, but if we kill the shovereign, who knowsh what will happen?" Solon grumbled.

"Logic ssugesstss that the planet will remain in its current possition," the Vice-Commander offered, "unfortunate for thiss world, but irrelevant to uss."

"There'sh nothing logical about it," Solon pointed out, "with celeshtial objectsh freely ignoring gravity and inertia, the effectsh could be catashtrophic. What if the shun goesh out? And what about the moon? It'sh orbit hash halted ash well. For all we know it might shtart shwinging around the planet and crash through our fleet."

By now the guards had let Twilight and her friends go, and were waiting behind the ponies as the two enormous Chaos Lords argued.

Rainbow Dash had settled on Tellis' shoulder and was whispering harshly to him, although the Raptor Lord didn't seem to be responding to her. Trixie had placed a foreleg against Serith's greaves and was staring up at him anxiously, even if her expression was hidden behind her helmet. Rarity was staring hard at Delgan, and the pair seemed to be having a sort of silent conversation involving pointed glances and shifting eyebrows.

"Even if thiss planet witherss to nothing, the manufactorum will sstand," Sliver growled, "and more to the point, we have no way to take the capital. The railway tunnelss and bridgess en route to the city are too ssmall for our transsports. We cannot march infantry through them without walking right into choke pointss that will be eassy for the foe to defend. We cannot attack with airborne transsportss without massive losssess from the air defensse network the Tau have esstablished. And a teleport sstrike force will be eassily overwhelmed." His strategic assessment complete, Sliver snorted. "Bombardment iss the besst and ONLY viable tactic."

"Well, I don't like it," Tellis said suddenly.

Sliver released a tortured groan as the Raptor stepped forward.

"Guarding the big guns while they pulverize a city from afar is lame," Tellis said decisively, "not to mention that the grays will probably just leave before we can hit 'em. I say we capture the city!"

"Your unssolicited opinion iss noted," Sliver drawled, "but it iss of no help. Your Raptorss can get into the capital with little difficulty, but you are few. We need a way to get many infantry into the city if we are to even conssider the option."

"I must also express some... reservations about the current stratagem," Delgan added. The Trademaster was no doubt feeling braver after Tellis had challenged the Vice-Commander. "Besides the issues already mentioned, a great deal of the resources I've acquired on this world so far are tied up in Canterlot. To destroy the city would generate a loss."

Sliver's helmet twisted to regard the merchant. "Your petty concernss matter to uss not, mortal. Thiss iss WAR!"

"I have my own petty concerns, as well," Serith said, tilting his head ever so slightly to look down at Trixie, "a psionic ritual to regulate and control the movement of celestial bodies is of CONSIDERABLE interest to me. And, if I might add, rescuing the ponies' capital may provide just the right leverage to acquire such knowledge. I must insist that the city be captured, and then handed back to the Equestrians."

Hearing Serith vouch for their case directly very nearly floored Twilight. If he hadn't deliberately provided a selfish pretext for his opinion, she might have fainted.

Sliver looked back and forth among the other officers and agents of the 38th Company, a wet growl building deep within his throat.

"Sso you come to me with objectivess, but no planss," the Nurglite snapped, "your reasonss for ssparing the equiness do nothing to aid uss!" He slammed a massive fist onto the table, causing the hololith to flicker and making Twilight bounce an inch into the air. "Give me an attack plan, then! Go on, foolss! Tell me how we might take thiss pitiful hovel with our current sstrength, and I'll ssee it done!"

The others looked away or stared hard at the hololith, but none of them answered him.

Twilight chewed her lip anxiously, knowing that it was now or never. Someone here had to come up with a plan that the rather embittered Chaos Lord would accept, or the Iron Warriors would almost certainly settle for "Plan A".

But what could she offer him? Given enough time to study the Company's dataslates on strategies and their unit capabilities, she was sure she could have come up with SOMETHING, but at present she simply didn't have enough data. Never mind the nagging feeling in the back of her head that she wasn't really likely to come up with a better idea than the bloated super-soldier who had been planning and conducting wars for longer than she'd been alive. Much longer, probably. How old were these Space Marines, anyway?

She looked over at Solon, only to see the Warsmith with his helmet tilted upward, staring obliviously at the ceiling. No help there.

"There must be a way to disable their anti-air defenses," Gaela mumbled.

"No easy way," General Gnoss refuted, "with temporary turrets deployed, they'll be using small generators and individualized targeting engines rather than a central nexus. It'll be near-impossible to knock enough of them out without either getting soldiers into the city - which is the problem we're trying to solve - or smashing the city flat with artillery, which is apparently unacceptable."

The ponies felt their guts wrench as Sliver spoke again.

"Naturally. The Tau may be foolss, but they are not TOTALLY incompetent in the wayss of war." A disgusting snorting noise came from the Terminator's helmet before he leaned back. "As expected, you have no ssolutionss, only worthlesss complaintss."

"Well, you're supposed to be the tactical genius," Tellis scoffed, "just infiltrate our Baneblade into the castle or something."

Tellis was forced to leap backward as Sliver lashed out at him with a fist, causing Rainbow Dash to yelp and jump away into the air.

"I tire of your idiocy!" the hulking Nurglite snarled as he advanced. "You talk down to your betterss when you've wassted away your time on thiss planet playing in the foresstss! I will not be mocked by you, Mad Angel!"

Tellis seemed singularly unimpressed by the accusation, but the humans and ponies started backing away, quite alarmed.

"All right, I've got it," Solon said suddenly.

Sliver halted, his helmet turning toward his superior. "Got what?"

"Our battle plan. I've uploaded it into all the nooshphere logsh. You may begin deployment ash shoon ash you've reviewed it," the Warsmith elaborated.

"I... what?" Sliver's optics lens glowed briefly as new readouts spread over it, and General Gnoss blinked as all the markers on the hololith vanished and were replaced with new ones.

"You have your ordersh. Deploy the Dark Mechanicush and the firsht combat detachment, and then prepare the aerial transhportsh. In shix hoursh, we begin the attack. In eight hoursh, I expect Canterlot to be purged of the Tau."

Twilight's eyes were wide, and she quickly turned back toward the tactical display to see what miracle had been assembled to save the Equestrian capital. The hololith was a flood of data, and unit registers that she couldn't make immediate sense of were tagged all over the map with arrows showing their route into Canterlot. There were a lot of arrows, and many of them followed somewhat... unintuitive paths.

"Come now, Princesh. Let'sh leave the preparationsh to them," Solon said, suddenly wrapping a mechatendril around Twilight's midsection and carrying her into the air. The alicorn suppressed a shriek at having a grimy metal tentacle wrap around her, and allowed herself to be carried out.

"Acolyte Gaela, pleashe pick up Mish Pie and follow me. Mashter Delgan, you come ash well." The rest of the Equestrians hurried to follow, not particularly wanting to stay and try to make sense of the Company's strategy.

The Iron Warriors that had previously moved to eject the Equestrians stepped aside as Solon led the train of mortal creatures out of the strategium.

"Oh, and Shliver," Solon paused as he reached the doorway, his optics glimmering as he looked back toward his second-in-command, "do tell the troopsh to watch their fire out there. Killing civiliansh would be quite a washte of ammunition." Then he continued on.

The last thing Twilight saw before the door slid shut behind them was Sliver slowly approaching the hololith table, a gauntlet pressing against the side of his helmet in bewilderment.

"All right, spill it: what's this amazing strategy you came up with?" Rainbow Dash demanded after a few seconds of silently walking down the corridor.

The pegasus squawked painfully as Gaela jabbed her in the back with a servo arm. "Show some respect, imbecile. The Warsmith just saved your entire sorry capital."

Rainbow Dash swung around and stuck her tongue out at the Dark Acolyte.

"Oh, uhm, it was very nice of you to do that, Mister Solon, Sir. Thank you," Fluttershy said meekly, "but I think Twilight would like to be put down now, if that's okay with you."

"Hm?" Solon looked to his side, and he saw that the purple alicorn was looking a few shades darker than usual in the face. This was probably due to his mechatendril wrapping tighter around her than was strictly necessary. "Oh, shorry about that."

He swatted the metal appendage near the base, and it hissed briefly before it dropped the gasping pony onto the floor.

"Twi, are you all right?" Spike asked in concern as he helped Twilight to her hooves.

Twilight took several deep breaths, and then glanced up at the pincer-headed mechatendril that had nearly suffocated her. "Wait, are those tentacles sentient? Or at least, do they possess their own independent will?"

"THAT'S the first thing you have to say to him after that debacle in the strategium?" Delgan drawled as Rarity rolled her eyes.

"Right, sorry!" Twilight took another few breaths before she continued. "Thank you for agreeing to save our capital and my family at your own expense, even though you had a much more brutal and expedient option," she said before taking another breath, "so, are those tentacles sentient? Or at least, do they possess their own independent will?" Spike groaned and slapped a hand against his face.

Solon chuckled. "You're welcome, Princesh. After sho many of my trushted advishorsh thought to liberate the capital, it sheemed neceshary."

Twilight almost broke into tears again as she smiled up at Gaela, who quickly averted her gaze while mumbling something in binary.

"Alsho, the mechatendrilsh have a will of their own, yesh," Solon added.

"Going back to Rainbow's question, would you be willing to tell us just what your plan is?" Rarity asked gently.

"Oh, nothing all that shpecial. Shliver probably would have come up with it himshelf, but he didn't sheem to be trying very hard."

Rainbow Dash growled as she crossed her forelegs. "Yeah, what's that jerk's problem, anyway?"

"Hish problem ish that he caresh more about the livesh of his brothersh and our shervantsh than he doesh about your people," the Warsmith explained, "thish ish not a rare attitude."

Solon turned toward a side passage. "Mish Gaela, Mashter Delgan. With me."

The Equestrians halted, recognizing the unspoken order to leave them. Gaela leaned down to lay Pinkie Pie on the floor, and then dutifully followed Solon and Delgan out of the hall.

"Well, that was exciting. Now what?" Trixie asked, poking an armored hoof at Pinkie's snoring, insensate form.

Twilight sat down on her haunches, releasing a deep sigh. "Well, what I'd really like to do is join Pinkie for a nap. The physical stress of being captured and fighting the Tau combined with the mental stress of convincing the Iron Warriors not to murder everypony is starting to get to me."

"Plus, it's probably past our usual bed time by now, even if the sun hasn't set," Spike pointed out.

"Right. But on the other hoof, the 38th Company is deploying right away. If we don't move out now, we'll be left behind," Twilight noted.

"I would like to point out that I'm totally okay with that," Fluttershy offered, raising a hoof.

"Another good point," Twilight admitted, "I suppose there's no reason we should all have to go back to Canterlot. And we do need somepony to take care of Pinkie when she wakes up."

They all took a moment to stare at the normally exuberant earth pony. Pinkie had rolled onto her back at some point and started drooling onto the floor, and one of her rear hooves twitched every couple of seconds.

"I REALLY want to get one of those dart throwers," Twilight said anxiously.

"You want a creepy metal tentacle with a will of its own attached to you?" Spike asked. "You know that's what shot the dart, right?

"There's probably a more conventional version!"

The door at the far end of the hall slid open, and the ponies halted their conversation to see if they should be moving out of the way.

"Hey y'all!" Applejack greeted them as she stepped into the hallway. The armored bulk of Big Macintosh followed behind her, his hoofsteps clanging noisily against the metal flooring.

"Applejack!"

"It's busier'n the apple press during cider season out there all of a sudden! You girls done stirred up the hornet's nest, Ah reckon!" The farmer grinned. "What'd Ah miss?"

"Well, the 38th Company almost decided to destroy Canterlot completely and kill everything in it, pony or Tau," Twilight admitted.

Applejack blinked. "But... they're not gonna do that, right?"

"Nah. We talked them out of it," Rainbow said with a shrug.

"Phew!" Applejack wiped her forehead with a hoof. "That woulda been real awkward."

"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed.

"As for what the actual plan is, I'm not sure," Twilight said as her ears drooped, "all the humans seem too busy carrying it out to explain it to us."

"Well, Trixie's been looking it over, and Trixie has some serious concerns," the armored unicorn mumbled, "for one thing, Trixie-"

"Wait, you've been looking it over? How?" Twilight demanded, peering closely into Trixie's visor.

"It's not hard. Trixie just uploaded it to her visor display," the showmare scoffed, as if that sentence would have even made sense to most ponies, "but the problem-"

"Let me see!" Twilight demanded, clamping her hooves onto the sides of Trixie's helmet.

"HOOVES OFF!!" Trixie shouted. The blue seams in her horn casing glowed brightly as Trixie pushed the alicorn away with her magic.

"Trixie, I think it's time to drop your pretenses of rivalry and antagonism and learn the true value of friendship and harmony," Twilight said calmly. Then her horn flared and distorted the unicorn's telekinesis field, allowing her to push forward again. "Now pony up and give me your helmet!"

"You know, this wouldn't be an issue if they'd just give the rest of us power armor too," Rainbow Dash noted as she and the other Equestrians watched the magical slap-fight.

"Right. I'm sure you want to be encased in a hundred pounds of space metal so that you can READ," Rarity smirked.

Applejack gave a soft kick to one of Big Mac's augmetic legs, and the stallion tilted his head to look at her. "Mac, you got any inkling as to what's goin' down?"

"Eeyup," Big Mac confirmed. After a few seconds, he elaborated. "Me and her are headin' into the field, seems like." He jerked his head in Trixie's direction. Applejack recoiled at that, and she frowned.

Twilight blinked in surprise, turning her head away from where she was trying to unseal Trixie's helmet with her hooves. "Wait, you have deployment orders? Oomph!"

Trixie had used the diversion to shove Twilight away, her servo-motivated armor easily overpowering the alicorn as soon as Twilight's telekinesis weakened.

"That's what Trixie was complaining about!" the blue unicorn groused. "According to this, Trixie is supposed to be teleporting right into the heart of Canterlot!"

"Neat!" Rainbow Dash opined.

"It is NOT neat, feather brain," Trixie hissed, "Trixie had enough of the Tau the first time Trixie met them, thank you very much! Why is Trixie being drafted to save Canterlot? Isn't that what the Princesses keep you around for?"

"Sadly, we find ourselves somewhat under-equipped at the moment," Rarity said, walking up to the other unicorn's right flank and running a hoof over Trixie's cape.

Then she flipped the cape up, revealing a rectangular cannon mounted on the hip plate. "Besides, don't you want to give your new toy a try?"

Trixie recoiled, surprised that anypony had spied the weapon. She'd deliberately adjusted her cape so that it covered her right side better than her left, obscuring the gun and its power cabling.

"Aw, sweet! What's that?" Rainbow Dash asked, landing on Trixie's back and leaning down to stare at the gun.

Trixie growled at being used as a perch, even though the armor meant that her actual muscles bore none of Rainbow's weight. "Actually, no, Trixie is in no hurry at all to test Trixie's new Fireburst Launcher on targets that will be shooting back. Although if you ponies keep rubbing your hooves all over Trixie's wargear, Trixie might end up practicing on you instead!" She shook herself to try and throw Rainbow Dash off, but the pegasus seemed to have no trouble keeping her balance.

Trixie was occupied enough that she didn't notice a nearby door opening and someone stepping out until Twilight identified the intruder.

"Gaela! You're back!"

Trixie's head whipped around to face the Dark Acolyte.

"Indeed. I'm here to take Macintosh and Trixie," Gaela said, nodding to the stallion.

"About that!" Trixie barked suddenly, stepping forward with Rainbow Dash still on her back. "Why is Trixie being flung into a war zone?! A war zone where Trixie's magic won't work, no less!"

Gaela paused as she brought up the relevant data files. "You're to function as a guide for one of the assault teams to find the source of the Shadow in the Warp and eliminate it."

"The hay Trixie is! Trixie didn't sign up for this!" the unicorn insisted angrily.

"You did," Gaela countered, "the contract you signed explicitly stated that were you called to arms for any reason, then you are obliged to obey orders just like any other contractor."

Trixie was glad that her helmet was on, as it kept the other ponies from seeing her jaw hanging open in shock.

"I can list the penalties for disobedience if you wish, but I'm sure you've been with us long enough to guess," Gaela deadpanned.

"Whoa! Tough break, Trix!" Rainbow Dash laughed, banging a hoof against Trixie's helmet obnoxiously.

"B-But, Trixie hasn't ever fought without Trixie's magic before! Or used this suit's weapons!" the unicorn was even more nervous now that she realized that refusing this mission would likely be more dangerous than carrying it out.

"Both you and Macintosh lack effective combat experience, but neither of you are completely new to it. You reportedly fared quite well when the Tau attacked Ferrous Dominus, and Macintosh wasn't wounded for being a pacifist," Gaela noted, "you'll simply have to manage as best you can. Weakness on the battlefield will be its own punishment."

"Great pep talk," Spike said sarcastically, giving the cyborg a thumbs-up.

Gaela ignored the dragon, turning to Big Mac. "Macintosh, you haven't obtained full proficiency with your heavy bolter yet, and you technically have no obligation to the fleet. Were you to refuse deployment, I would not advise your execution."

That was hardly a welcoming invitation to stay behind, but Big Macintosh hadn't considered such a thing anyway. "Nnope." Applejack frowned deeply at him, but for now she held her tongue.

"So what are the rest of us doing?" Rainbow Dash asked, her wings flapping in excitement even as her hooves were still planted on Trixie's back.

Gaela paused. "You can do whatever you want."

"Well, then I should really stay here and watch Pinkie Pie, who will also be staying because she is mercifully unconscious," Fluttershy volunteered eagerly and with a surprisingly clear voice.

"Okay, fine. Spike, can you stay with them?" Twilight asked. Spike saluted firmly, stepping backward to stand in front of a snoring Pinkie.

Big Mac and Trixie lumbered toward the side exit behind Gaela, the latter mumbling incoherently behind her vox grille.

"Well, unless you guys need me, I'm gonna go in with Tellis," Rainbow Dash said as she finally jumped off of Trixie and into a hover, "I'd feel way better in the air. And you know Tellis needs somepony to look out for him."

"That's... sure. All right, Rainbow. Good luck," Twilight said grimly.

Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack galloped through the side door after Gaela and the armored ponies, heading into another long hallway and past several other rooms that filled the space with muffled chatter.

As they caught up, they heard Gaela once again lecturing Trixie.

"Putting aside your armor, and thus greater survivability, your ability to sense the Warp 'normally' was given as a reason for your inclusion."

"What does that even mean?" Trixie grumbled as she plodded along behind Big Mac.

Gaela spoke without looking at the entertainer as she led the equines toward the exit. "According to Lord Serith's observations, the sensitivity of most unicorns to the Warp is muted. This is apparently why your kind never seem to suffer Warp corruption or daemonic attack. You, apparently, are different. You can perceive the Empyrean as our psykers do. That will allow you to sense the source of the Shadow so that we may find and disable it."

"Yes, fine, Trixie knows she's very talented," the blue unicorn said, rolling her eyes, "but if any so-called 'normal psyker' can do the job, wouldn't it make more sense to send in one of yours? Like Serith himself, maybe?"

"I agree," Gaela said, almost causing Trixie to stumble in surprise, "but the battle plan calls for you instead. Serith will not be deploying."

"Dang shame," Applejack mused with a half-smile, "love to see how well he fares in the field when he can't mess with no one's head all he wants."

Gaela halted and twisted her head to look behind her.

"... You're coming with us?" the Dark Acolyte asked, surprised.

"Well, o'course," Applejack replied, "no offense to Flutters, but Ah don't like sittin' back and lettin' y'all do mah fightin' for me."

Twilight nodded in agreement. "Did you think we were going to ask you to send your people to risk life and limb saving our capital while we sat back in in your fortress in complete safety?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I expected," Gaela admitted before she started walking forward again, "especially given that your psychic powers will be nullified."

"Gaela, dear, we have got to get you in on a friendship lesson one of these days," Rarity said as she shook her head, "anyway, where exactly are we headed?"

Gaela didn't respond, opening up a large door that led out of the complex. She stepped outside, and most of the ponies followed.

Twilight was one of those ponies, but she stopped suddenly as Rarity magically took hold of her tail and stopped her.

Rarity cleared her throat as she stood in the exit, pointing a hoof at the sky.

Twilight sighed and generated a shield bubble around the two of them. With a silent smile Rarity followed as well.

Twilight turned away from the snow-colored unicorn to look where they were headed, and was surprised to see Gaela and the other ponies walking toward a massive landing craft parked on a vast, open area of the base. The vessel was still relatively far away, but given its size it was impossible to miss.

"Gaela? Why are we heading toward one of the cargo vessels? Didn't Trixie say something about a teleport?"

"She did. And she is correct," Gaela assured the alicorn, "there are no teleportarium facilities in Ferrous Dominus, however. And Lord Serith insists that psionic teleportation won't work with the Shadow over Canterlot." The Dark Acolyte didn't slow her pace at all.

"So then, where are we going?" Rarity repeated her earlier question.

Gaela tilted her head upward. "We're going to the Harvest of Steel."

****

Canterlot Castle - throne room

*How many?* Voidsong demanded.

*We... We can't get an accurate count,* grumbled the Fireblade as he looked over the report, *their patrol activity has jumped since we made planetfall, and Shas'el Wraithstar has been hesitant about committing units to scouting duty with the gue'la so agitated. We know there are a lot of them, though, both air and ground forces, and they're not headed to Black Point.*

*Then they're headed here,* Voidsong groused, *the Company got word after all.*

*They're even showing fleet movement into a tighter orbit. We're going to have the bulk of the gue'la ships right over us soon.*

The High Commander considered this tidbit for a moment. *Our analysis of their fleet's weapons suggest they aren't equipped for orbital bombardment. Of course, with these bastards we can't take anything for granted. Set up garrisons for our infantry and make sure our transports are ready to go in a hurry. We may need to send out strike teams or evacuate quickly.*

*Yes, Shas'O. We will be ready for anything.*

"Huzzah! We hast spelled 'graviton'! How many points do we receive?" Luna shouted suddenly.

Voidsong turned her battlesuit head toward the rear of the throne room. Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were all gathered around a game board playing Scrabble, and occasionally interrupting her deliberations with a shout of happiness or frustration.

"I've never heard of that. What does it mean?" Cadence asked suspiciously.

"'Tis an artificially produced gravitational... uh... beam? Aye, we believe it is a beam. Of course," Luna answered with a smirk.

"Is that another human word?" Celestia asked with a frown. "I'm still skeptical about 'Astronomican'."

"What doth it matter? Humans and ponies share a common language. Don't be a sore loser, Sister."

"You know, you three are just RUINING the dramatic tension around here," Voidsong deadpanned. "Do any of you care that a counter-attack has been launched on your capital?"

Princess Celestia shrugged. "Well, of course, but it's not like we can do anything about it like this."

The Tau leader couldn't easily replicate an eye roll with her suit's sensory equipment so she turned back to her officers.

*Much will be decided in the next few hours. Prepare transport group Pandora for deployment on my order.*

*Aye, Shas'O. The Greater Good will be triumphant. No matter the cost.*

****

Ferrous Dominus - sector 17

Pinkie Pie yawned as she stretched her forelegs up above her head. "Oh, wow. That was a good nap." She blinked her eyes sleepily. "Well, actually, it was completely involuntary, so I suppose it was really a bad nap. Not bad in the sense that it wasn't refreshing or anything, but non-consensual naps seem like a bad thing in general."

Spike and Fluttershy waited patiently for Pinkie's monologue to finish before either of them bothered trying to explain the situation.

"Of course, even if forced nappy-time was okay, I'm not really a fan of being shot with chemical darts in the first place. Do you think there's a visitor satisfaction survey somewhere I can fill out to help them address this issue?"

"No, Pinkie, I don't think there is," Spike said flatly.

"Well, then I don't know how they'll ever improve their customer service rating! Especially after the one-star review they got that complained about Tau soldiers breaking into the fortress and trying to kill everything! Oh, hey, we're outside."

They were, in fact, outside the main command center, and the two ponies and dragon were sheltering next to a battle cannon turret, mostly out of sight of the clusters of guards around the building. This had allowed them a good vantage point to watch the various vehicles roll through the base without being likewise watched by the soldiers, which of course unnerved Fluttershy to no end.

Not that the timid pegasus was comfortable anyway. In her haste to stay away from the upcoming battle, she had completely failed to realize that her chosen solution effectively left her stranded in Ferrous Dominus, which was very nearly the scariest place she knew of. Never mind that it too stood a fair chance of being swallowed up into open warfare.

And her only companions in this wretched, evil place were Pinkie Pie and Spike. One would happily drag her into all sorts of trouble for her passing amusement, and the other... well, Spike wasn't a terrible choice, actually, but Fluttershy still wished she had asked Rainbow Dash to stick around.

"So how are we gonna get to where all the ACTION is?" Pinkie Pie asked, rubbing her front hooves together and grinning while simultaneously vindicating Fluttershy's sense of dread.

"Actually, I think we're the 'non-action' team," Spike pointed out, "the others already left. As did most of the human army."

"Whaaaaa?" Pinkie looked quite distressed to hear this. "But we're going to miss out on the most explodey rescue of Equestria EVER! Do you have any idea how much the movie rights will be worth?"

Spike rolled his eyes. "No. I'll make sure to ask Twilight when she gets back."

"Uhm, Pinkie, maybe we should give up on getting to Canterlot before everything's over. I'm sure the others will be fine," Fluttershy reasoned.

Sadly, Pinkie was quite immune to reason, and the earth pony snorted. "Of course they will! I'm not worried about them! But we're going to miss everything unless we catch a ride out that way!"

Fluttershy grimaced. "Well, I don't really want to go to Canterlot right now, but I wouldn't mind finding a way out of here."

Pinkie hummed to herself as she pondered. What Fluttershy meant by a "way out" was, of course, a transport out. None of the 38th Company would try to keep any ponies from leaving the fortress, but for a pegasus like Fluttershy who didn't fly long distances the prospect of traveling back home by foot or wing was slightly more perilous than staying.

"Hey, it's those big walking robots!" Spike said suddenly, pointing to the streets.

Fluttershy brightened as she followed Spike's finger. A train of daemon engines were stomping down the street toward the gates, spewing a veritable blanket of smoke from their exhaust pipes. At both ends of the procession was a transport vehicle bearing the symbols of both the Iron Warriors and the Dark Mechanicus and boasting large welders and servo claws over its hull. Notably absent were any other escorts of infantry or armor.

Pinkie raised an eyebrow, and then a light bulb turned on over her head.

Spike and Fluttershy flinched away from the sudden and inexplicable light, and then they cringed as Pinkie suddenly slung a foreleg over each of their shoulders and pulled them in closer to her.

"I have an idea!" the pink mare said with a smirk.

Spike chewed his lip briefly. "Can we hear and discuss this idea before deciding whether or not to carry it out?"

"No, because I finished part one while you were making pointless noises with your mouth-hole!" Pinkie explained, beckoning upward.

She was pointing her hoof at a passing defiler. Passing by just a few feet away, actually. Close enough that Spike felt his teeth rattle in his skull when its leg hit the ground. He really had no idea how they had gotten so close so quickly and without his noticing.

Fluttershy didn't either, but she wasn't nearly as disturbed from being so close to the massive war machine. Moreover, she could guess what Pinkie wanted to try. She had her reservations, of course, but decided to go along with it; she certainly didn't have any better ideas.

"Mister Crabby!" Fluttershy called as she launched herself off the ground.

The daemon engine almost stumbled at the familiar voice, and it turned the grinning iron mask that covered its sensors toward the flying equine.

Fluttershy landed on the barrel of the defiler's battle cannon, her head craning upward to look at the monstrous daemon engine.

"It's nice to meet you again, Mister Crabby! We'll be going with you, okay?"

The defiler released a loud, high-pitched groaning noise and started snapping its claws absently. Behind it, a forgefiend slowed gradually to a halt, its head leaning from side to side as it wondered what the hold-up was.

"Okay, good. My friends are right there! Could you pick them up, please?" Fluttershy pointed a hoof down at Pinkie and Spike. The former waved happily, and the latter shuddered nervously.

Without wasting any more time, the defiler swept one pair of claws over Pinkie and Spike, picking them up clumsily before it resumed its plodding pace down the avenue.

Fluttershy frowned and then hopped down onto the claw, leaning her head over to look past the knuckle plating.

"Pinkie? Spike? Are you two okay?"

A grunt came from below. "It's a little cramped, actually, but it could be a lot worse!" Spike confirmed.

"This thing has great control over its hydraulic pressure!" Pinkie added. "Why, if it had closed its claws even SLIGHTLY more, it would have crushed us both!"

"You sound really happy about that," Spike mumbled.

"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be happy it didn't kill us? Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? We're both super-duper lucky!"

Fluttershy sighed as she looked around. "Okay, I'm going to hide on Mister Crabby now so that we're not spotted. When we're away from the fortress you can come out too. But you need to stay there for now." She had no idea what the Iron Warriors would do if they found ponies riding on their war walkers, but she didn't want to take any more chances agitating the grim super-soldiers.

"Okie-doki-loki!"

"Don't really have a choice, here..."

****

Heavy lander Beta-631 - low orbit over planet Centaur III

Twilight had accomplished quite a bit over the past several hours, she had to admit.

She had foiled an alien plot, escaped from imprisonment, broken out of a city under lockdown, defeated two heavy Tau battlesuits, assisted the formulation of a different alien's battle plans, and then managed to convince that alien not to commit incidental mass murder.

And now her day had reached a rather dizzying peak by having her ascend into outer space.

"Amazing..." the alicorn said for what must have been the sixth time. She was leaning up against a view glass, staring out at the giant blue orb of her home world as it slowly shrunk into the distance.

Trixie and Rarity were behind her looking just as impressed, if somewhat less enthralled. They weren't the sort to appreciate the implications of leaving their home atmosphere so much as worry about them. The Apple siblings were sitting at the far end of the officers' lounge they were in, apparently in the middle of a heated and quiet discussion.

Trixie sighed as she collapsed onto the floor, her helmet rattling loudly from where it hung from her gorget. "Trixie can't believe she got roped into this. Trixie is a performer, not a fighter!"

"Oh? But you're happy enough to boast of your martial exploits on stage," Rarity said with a slight smirk. Honestly, she sympathized a great deal with the other unicorn and had even forgiven her for her past misdeeds. But that didn't mean she would give up any opportunities to needle the arrogant magician.

"That's the POINT," Trixie snapped, "boasts and stories are a show, something to awe and impress, just like Trixie's illusions. And even if Trixie's stories were true, in a place where magic won't work Trixie would STILL be at a disadvantage."

Rarity had to admit that she had a point. "Well, you do have that armor. Warsmith Solon can perform truly amazing things with his technology."

"Yes, Trixie noticed," the entertainer mumbled as she looked across the room at the Apple siblings.

"Ah know how ya feel, AJ, but Ah'm goin'," Big Mac grumbled, his eyes turned away from Applejack and his jaw set firmly. Like Trixie, his helmet had been disengaged now that there was no more need for an air filter.

"Do ya know how Ah feel, Mac? 'Cause ya sure ain't actin' like it!" Applejack snapped back. She was keeping her voice down, but her tone was no softer for it. "Gaela said ya didn't have to go, so ya ain't goin'! If they need somepony to foalsit Trixie, then Ah'll do it!"

"No, ya won't. Ah don't even see why y'all have to go down there at all," Macintosh rumbled, "the humans've got this covered. What's the point?"

"Oh, yeah, they got this so wrapped up that they're dragging along the local stage magician and apple farmer," Applejack rolled her eyes, "ya were on Death's door the other day and you've barely got a few day's practice with that peashooter they hammered into ya! Ya ain't ready fer this!"

Big Mac raised his head higher. "At least Ah GOT a peashooter. Ya don't even got yer lasso. What're ya plannin' to do, nag 'em to death?"

Applejack clenched her teeth in an attempt to keep a physical rein on her temper. Most ponies thought of Big Mac as a passive, pliable sort of stallion, and for the most part, they were right. But occasionally a topic came up that would cause the hefty draft pony to dig in his heels and challenge his sister's decisions, and this was one of those occasions.

"Are ya sayin' Ah can't take care of mahself? You know how many of those grayskins Ah've taken down?" She pulled up the length of chain under her neck. "They don't give these things out fer pullin' carts, Big Mac!" At least, she was guessing they didn't. She and the others had pretty much gotten their "medals" on request, after all.

"Ya know this ain't about that," Macintosh said evenly, "If yer gonna go down there, Ah ain't gonna stop ya. Ah just think it ain't a good idea when ya don't have so much as a wet towel 'tween you and them aliens, s'all."

"That didn't stop ya from pullin' yer fool heroics back on the farm and nearly DYIN' on me!" Applejack growled, shoving her nose up into Big Mac's.

"That was different," the crimson stallion said calmly, lifting his augmetic foreleg and tapping it against the floor, "'sides, Ah got better."

"You...!" Applejack started to shout, but then tore her gaze away, once again beating down her urge to start screaming at her sibling.

Macintosh watched his sister's face contort angrily, and he felt a wave of guilt threaten to soften his position.

"AJ, Ah know why ya don't want me down there," he mumbled, "but if Ah can help, Ah wanna help."

"This ain't just work, Mac! They'll be tryin' to kill ya out there! Ah almost lost ya once already!" Applejack hissed, turning to face her brother again.

Macintosh forced down a groan as he saw tears welling up in the corner of Applejack's eyes. Applejack very rarely cried when she and him fought, but when she did it was a sure way to get him to back down. He just couldn't stand to see her that upset.

Stepping forward, Big Mac surprised Applejack by laying his head over her neck in a hug. "Ah know yer afraid fer me. Ah'm scared too. But Ah'm also scared every time you an' yer friends take off to Celestia-knows where to save the world or whatnot, ya know? Ah'm scared to see ya head down there with the others, even if there's an army goin' with ya this time. It ain't no better to lose you than me, ya know."

Applejack grimaced as her head bowed under the weight of her brother's hug.

"All Ah could ever do before was take care o'yer chores while you was out botherin' dragons or goin' to weddin's that were actually bug invasions and such. This time Ah can help see ya home safe, and Ah'm gonna do it, all right?"

Applejack's face bunched up as a cascade of different emotions overwhelmed her, and then finally she released an exhausted sigh.

"All right, all right, fine. You win, ya big lug. Now get offa me! All that metal 'round yer neck pinches somethin' awful!"

Macintosh chuckled deeply as he backed off, and he watched as Applejack sulked for a few seconds.

"If ya insist on goin' down there Ah'll let ya, but Ah'm goin' with yer group too. At the very least if ya get hurt again it won't be because Ah wasn't around to save yer fool neck!"

"Eeyup," Big Mac said softly, nuzzling his sister's cheek and further breaking down her efforts to be annoyed at this outcome.

"Oh, would you two get a room?" Trixie suddenly shouted, causing the Apple siblings' ears to drop flat.

"Trixie's armor looks pretty sturdy," Big Mac whispered down to his sister, "ya should probably use her as a shield when ya can."

"Sounds like a plan," Applejack chuckled.

The ponies' various mutterings ceased as the main entrance hissed open, admitting a single power-armored figure into the room.

"Gaela! I wanted to thank you for taking us along with you!" Twilight said exuberantly, barely taking her eyes away from the viewing pane. "I never thought I'd ever see something like this!"

Gaela could barely offer the alicorn a raised eyebrow as she entered. "I suppose to you void transit is a considerable novelty. As will walking within the flagship for the first time."

Trixie walked up to the viewing port, looking out an angle to see the distant megafreighter they were approaching. "So, besides being huge beyond all reason, what's the flagship like?"

"The Harvest of Steel is a cursed craft, as much a living creature as it is a construct of metal and machinery," Gaela explained, her tone reverent and solemn, "its reactor core thirsts for the souls of mortal beings, and its daemonic spirit yearns for nothing more than to rip other vessels apart and swallow their shredded hulks. It must be kept in a state of mild sedation, in fact, and be constantly restrained and appeased by its crew lest it lash out and destroy the rest of our fleet."

"How lovely," Rarity mumbled, wincing, "you know dear, you don't have to be so forthcoming with all the grisly details when we ask a simple question."

Twilight pushed the thoughts of living monster ships out of her mind as the Dark Acolyte joined her at the view port.

"Listen, Gaela... about what you did earlier, in the stra-"

"Don't mention it," Gaela interrupted.

"Now don't be modest," Rarity chided, "what you did was-"

"I'm not being modest," Gaela interrupted again, "I am sincerely embarrassed to have explained your planet's ridiculous nature to the Warsmith, and I am hardly thrilled at the prospect of rescuing your sovereign. Do NOT mention it again."

Twilight winced, her ears falling flat. "Oh. I see. Well, thank you anyway."

The cyborg grunted and then presented a dataslate to the unicorn. "Here."

"What's this?" Twilight picked the item up with her telekinesis, skimming the opening paragraph.

"A summary of the battle plan. If you wish to come with us, then you'd best secure the Princesses while the rest of us engage the enemy, at least until we've neutralized the Shadow in the Warp."

The Dark Acolyte turned away and started walking toward the entrance again.

"We will be docking within the hour, and then teleporting to the surface. The Tau have launched more landing craft and are moving to reinforce your capital. We will get there first, but if the assault falters we will be pushed out, and the toll to both our people will be much greater."

"We WON'T fail," Twilight insisted as she started to review the stratagem notes.

Gaela paused, her gaze lingering on the lavender pony for a moment. "Of course," she mumbled as the door opened before her and let her out, "I'll come get you when we dock."

****

Approximately twenty kilometers outside Canterlot

The train of APCs and escort armor rumbled to a stop as they approached their target, and the transports started disgorging soldiers and Dark Mechanicus personnel.

There were no orbital drops at this muster, for that would have given away their position quite handily to everyone in space and on the surface. While their convoy wasn't exactly stealthy, they were operating far enough away from the Tau forces that they could expect to remain undetected; they hadn't encountered any scouting teams, nor did they detect sensor relays.

Dark Magos Kaelith emerged from his transport and focused his optics on the battered wreck of a train that sat immobile on the tracks in front of them.

+Analysis: pathetic. An utterly inferior transport vehicle by any measure.+

A trio of dreadnaughts stomped past the Magos' APC, each one grumbling insanely to itself as they searched the field for targets. Iron Warriors followed at a respectful distance, spreading out into a firing line to protect the deployment site.

Kaelith released the electric equivalent of a sigh, and then scuttled forward. There was a lot of work to do.

****

Harvest of Steel - low orbit over Centaur III

"Well, Ah was a tad worried after what ya said back there about the ship, but this thing ain't lookin' half bad," Applejack admitted as she and the other ponies walked out into the docking bay.

Twilight murmured her agreement. She had been expecting the hangar to perhaps resemble the interior of a carnivore's mouth, complete with gnashing teeth and thrashing tongue. It was actually rather "normal", if not a sort of normal that was utterly new and deeply fascinating to her. Giant cranes assisted in the movement of cargo, soldiers and crew of every sort rushed about the decks in a constant rush of bipedal legs, and one entire wall of the cavernous area was separated from the vacuum of space only by a permeable, translucent blue force field.

"Ordinarily I would be happy to disillusion you by giving you a tour of the facilities, but time is of the essence," Gaela noted.

The ponies perked up as they heard the sound of Solon's distinctive, heavy gait approaching, and they all quickly turned around.

"Ah, it'sh good to be home again, even after a short time," the Warsmith mused as he emerged from the cargo transport. He was followed by several other Iron Warriors and - to Rarity's surprise - Trademaster Delgan.

The hulking Chaos Lord walked over to one of the cranes mounted on the deck, and he reached over with his left arm to placed his hand upon it.

"Hello, my dear," he said as he stared up at the ceiling, "I mished you."

To the ponies' growing unease, the bulkheads around them suddenly started groaning loudly, and the crane Solon had touched started twitching and shuddering as lights flickered all along its length.

"Okay, Ah take it back," Applejack said nervously, "this place is creepy as a swamp bog full of rotten apples."

"Trixie doesn't know what that even means," the unicorn grumbled as she put her helmet back on, "do all of your silly analogies have to be apple-related?"

"Well, they wouldn't make much sense otherwise, now would they?" Applejack replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Big Mac nodded silently in agreement.

Solon and the Chaos Marines following him moved to the entrance to the hangar, and Gaela guided the ponies to follow. Some of the Iron Warriors glanced behind them in confusion, but for the most part the super-soldiers paid rapt attention to their commander as Solon led them into a wide-open hall and then into an interior rail shuttle.

"Armshmashter Tolken, you'll be in charge of the Black Hammer shquad during thish mission. You will be deep shtriking into the heart of the enemy fortresh with me, but you will sheparate immediately to engage the enemy and purshue your mission objective."

The shuttle door slid shut as Rarity cleared the doorway, and the ponies almost staggered as the transport suddenly accelerated to send them deeper into the ship.

Tolken didn't notice the equines, his gaze locked to his Warsmith. "My objective is to locate the source of the Shadow, correct?"

"Correct. Damage it ash little ash poshible when dishabling it; I would like to shtudy the device once it ish recovered," Solon explained.

"How am I to find it?" Tolken asked as he hefted his plasma gun. "Do we have any data on what this device might look like or its approximate size?"

"No. But I shpoke to Sherith, and he explained that Mish Trixie should be able to locate the Shadow epicenter. You'll be taking her into your shquad."

The Armsmaster blinked behind his helmet, and then he turned around and looked down.

"Hi," Trixie grunted, adjusting her wizard hat over her helmet.

"You'll alsho be taking Macintosh," Solon explained, "he'sh far enough in hish weapon training that I think shome battlefield experience with hish wargear will do him good."

"Eeyup," Big Mac said as he stepped up next to Trixie.

"And Ah'm goin' too," Applejack said, stepping up next to her brother.

"And apparently Mish Applejack ish joining you ash well. I don't know why, though," Solon admitted.

Tolken stared down at the ponies, then glanced up at the other Iron Warriors that made up his unit. A few of them shrugged.

"I..." he hesitated as he glanced back at the equines, and then he looked up at Solon again. "I am okay with this," the Armsmaster mumbled.

"Shplendid. Jusht a moment," Solon said as his optics blinked.

A clicking noise came from Big Mac's armor while a humming noise came from Trixie.

"Your shafetiesh have been dishengaged. Once you are deployed on the shurface you may fire at will, although I musht advishe following Tolken'sh ordersh at all timesh." The Warsmith turned to face Trixie specifically. "Mish Trixie, obvioushly your pshionic powersh will not work until the Shadow ish dishabled. However, you should be able to power the Firebursht Launcher anyway. Shimply draw your power to you ash ushual, but fire the weapon rather than unleashing your powersh ash normal." Then he gazed at Applejack. "... Ash for you, did you want a gun, or a grenade belt or shomething? We have a lot."

"Nah, Ah'll be fine fightin' like this. Ah usually just kick them Tau in the face or break their necks," Applejack said dismissively.

"I like that one," an Iron Warrior mumbled to Tolken.

The shuttle slowed to a stop, nearly toppling the ponies that didn't have the benefit of magnetized footing. Solon was the first to scuttle out, followed by the squad of Iron Warriors, and finally the humans and equines of the group.

"I have to make some adjushtmentsh before I join you," Solon said as a sharp snapping noise came from his right shoulder. Suddenly his right augmetic tumbled free of its nerve socket, and it was caught by a cluster of outstretched mechatendrils. "Your shqaud may proceed as shoon ash a lock ish eshtablished, Armshmashter."

The ponies stared around the room as the Warsmith left, curiosity overwhelming them. The entire area was overrun with power cables and transformer towers, with a pair of raised platforms in the center that were surrounded by hook-shaped spires. The Star of Chaos was carved into the domed ceiling, and numerous chains hung from it without any obvious purpose.

Then a slight vibration came from the floor, and everyone could hear a muffled thumping sound coming from below.

"The riot drones have been deployed. It won't be long now," Delgan said, speaking for the first time since they'd seen him in the strategium.

Rarity looked him over. The man was wearing a slightly bulkier version of his usual uniform, but now had a pair of swords sheathed at his waist and a pair of ivory bracers on his wrists that bore some kind of bizarre alien markings over them.

"I have to admit I'm surprised that you're coming with us," Rarity said as she watched the Iron Warriors assemble on the platform in a circle, "I know that you know how to fight, obviously, but still, it's... quite heroic of you to come to our aid directly." She had to pause to physically stop herself from saying "uncharacteristically" rather than "quite".

"I made an investment in your civilization, and I intend to see it brought to fruition," Delgan said as he tugged on the wrist of his gloves, "besides, I dare say it takes no special courage to stride into battle on the heels of the Chaos Space Marines and the Warsmith himself."

Rarity was pretty sure his reason for coming along was similar to Trixie's, but still found herself impressed.

"So, should you guys get on the platform with the Marines, or...?" Twilight hesitated as she noticed that Trixie and the Apple siblings were still waiting.

"Give them a moment," Gaela mumbled, her optics fixed on the ring of Iron Warriors.

"FROM IRON COMETH STRENGTH," the Chaos Space Marines suddenly boomed, startling the equines.

"FROM STRENGTH COMETH WILL."

"FROM WILL COMETH FAITH."

"FROM FAITH COMETH DARKNESS."

"FROM THE DARKNESS COMETH IRON."

"This is the Unbreakable Litany, the rite of hatred that has forged our Legion for over ten thousand years," Tolken intoned.

"MAY IT FOREVER BE SO," barked the other Iron Warriors as they held their guns to their chests and bowed their heads.

"Well, you have fun with them, Applejack," Rarity mumbled as she moved a few steps closer to Delgan, "we'll be right behind you, darling."

"Thanks, Rarity." Applejack deadpanned as she, Trixie, and Big Mac stepped up onto the platform.

A sharp crackling noise came from all around them as the transformers warmed up, and the ponies flinched as their gums started to itch.

After several more minutes of tense waiting, a distorted, curiously angry electronic voice came from all around the chamber.

"Teleport beacon established. Locking on... confirmed. Readying teleportarium arrays."

A whining noise came from the spires around the platform and started to build, and Applejack unconsciously held onto her hat.

"Iron within," chanted the Astartes, "iron without!"

"Teleport engaged."

Author's Note:

Well, that almost got appropriately dark.
Lots of yapping in this chapter, and it took a lot longer than expected. I had to re-do that argument between Applejack and Macintosh like three times. But this should get all the EEEEMOOOTIONNNN out of the way so that the final part can be non-stop violence! Yay~

And don't forget to check out the new cover art for book 2! Big thanks to Nicholas Kay for bringing my vision of Warsmith Solon to life!

Comments

[AlphaThroughZeta]

and so the siege truly begins

[youtube=hEc-BZaPGA8]

[Heitomos]

Curiously, Fluttershy didn't stop trying to wiggle out of Fluttershy's forelegs after Rainbow identified the incoming flyer. (I don't think this is quite right...)

That aside, another crazy good chapter! This is soooo good. You hyped up part 3 so much that the only thing stopping me from reading is its physical non-existence! Great work! :D

[Vaderman]

Hell Yeah a new chapter!

Also...edit pls

It took some time before any of the ponies could think of anything to say or decide their particular feelings about the sight being presented to them.

And this one :

"It would certainly look like one from the cockpit of a Tau gunship," Twilight pointed out

P.S. Keep up the good work! I love it!

[SFaccountant]

4663311
Thanks for the help.
Man, three read-throughs and a round of editing from Setokaiva and there were still errors. Can't be helped in chapters this size, I guess.

[DOOMRIDER]

pinky pie is my favorite slaaneshie. I thirst for this story. The Duke of debauchery beg's you for new chapters.

[Setokaiva]

4663311 .....f***, I missed some errors? Darn it... I really need to amp up my game. Merfleflargle.
Anyways! THIS CHAPTER WAS AWESOME! Plenty of tension building up in preparation for the great siege of the century, whereupon the tyranny of the sun will finally end and the NIGHT SHALL RISE AGAIN! .....wow, it's amazing what being tired will do to your mind.
Hey, is there any chance that the Tau might try some of the pony food from the castle? It'd be hilarious to see a few Fire Warriors trying some cake they raided from the kitchen.
Right in front of Celestia.

[Hey its that Pony]

Really liking the new cover art for book two. I kept thinking that the cover art would be of Serith since that was the first book that we really got introduced to him but I'm loving Solon.

Everything is falling into place. The battle is set. Things are about to get nuts.

Honestly thought that Twilight might bring up the semi-forgotten caverns within the mountain itself during that little panicked moment in the strategy meeting. The ones where Chrysalis was hiding Cadence. Though I suppose those caverns were secured after the wedding.

[Setokaiva]

4665309 I know. The notion of an underground route through to the castle would be, to use Serith's parlance, of CONSIDERABLE interest to the Iron Warriors. But mass-scale teleportation right into the heart of the palace works just as well. IRON WITHIN, IRON WITHOUT!

[Moonreaper666]

Finally, the Imperium will now have a new enemy to face! Chaos ponies would make good cannon fodder for the Chaos Space Marines!

[SFaccountant]

4665309
4665369
For the purpose of filling this giant plot hole, you may assume that Celestia had an unusual moment of strategic clarity and had the cavern entrances and exits collapsed.

[Vaderman]

4665369
Hmmmm...
My shitstorm sence is tingling.

Plenty of tension building up in preparation for the great siege of the century, whereupon the tyranny of the sun will finally end and the NIGHT SHALL RISE AGAIN! .....wow, it's amazing what being tired will do to your mind.

Also, I wish to join you in your chaotic possession of mind soooo...
(cough) (cough) (dramatic pause) (heeeere we goooooooooooo)

OPEN! OPEN UP YOUR FOOLISH , MORTAL , UNGUIDED EYES, TO WITNESS THE TRUE POWER OF THE GLORIOUS NIGHT, FREE FROM THE BONDS OF THE TREACHEROUS SUN! SEE , AND BEWARE!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!
P.S. Felt kinda like a Talos worshiper in Skyrim...
(I can continue if you want)

[EverfreeSparkle]

The hulking Chaos Lord walked over to one of the cranes mounted on the deck, and he reached over with his left arm to placed his hand upon it.
"Hello, my dear," he said as he stared up at the ceiling, "I mished you."
To the ponies' growing unease, the bulkheads around them suddenly started groaning loudly, and the crane Solon had touched started twitching and shuddering as lights flickered all along its length.

So... Is he in love with the ship? Oh god, please don't tell me that the reason the ship is, relatively, docile is because Solon and it (her?) engage in regular physical (electronical?) relations?!

[SFaccountant]

4694010
Okay, I won't tell you that.

[Aatxe360]

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are starting to annoy me to no end. Same with the CMC. Applejack's kill count is still at one. I don't really know how to feel about that.

And as far as I can recall, there haven't any pony casualties that have been described. I fully expected those extras on the train to finally be the first, but... it's just been incompetent Tau(There's no shortage of them: HOW?) and unlucky 38th soldiers.

[Troscus]

"The Greater Good at all costs."

See, that right there is my main beef with Tau. At some point, the cost has grown to the point the entire engagement, no matter the outcome, has done nothing but destroy families and waste lives. The Tau don't seem to be very good at finding that point.

Another thing, if at any point the Tau opened a dictionary and looked at the word "good," I feel like the entire Empire would collapse in on itself. Presumably, the Ethereals changed it to "Whatever your friendly neighborhood Ethereal says."

[SFaccountant]

5390747
Well, defining what is just, proper, and "good" has always been a government prerogative for way longer than 40,000 years.
Also, considering that Tau "civilization" only really existed after the Ethereals unified the castes, they probably wrote the dictionary to begin with.
The Tau get credit for being the least genocidal major faction, at least, but like you said, living in a morally bankrupt universe does not excuse moral bankruptcy.

[Lesolan - Rest In Peace]

"Well, you're supposed to be the tactical genius," Tellis scoffed, "just infiltrate our Baneblade into the castle or something."

CREEE- I mean, SLIIIIIVVVVEEEEERRRR~!

[Flick Mare]

I loved Gaela, Tellis, Delgan and Serith stepping forward to save Canterlot. Whatever their stated reasons, I like to think the magic of friendship was there.

I also laughed hard at Tellis' suggestion of sneaking a Baneblade in using tactical genius. CREEEED!

Once again the build up of tension's great, I'm quite excited to read on.

[TheBlackPony]

I seriously want Celestia to just sun punch the tau fleet XD that would be awesome.

[Skyshield501]

I actually tiered up when they intoned the unbreakable Litiney

[DarkParable]

...This fic SERIOUSLY annoys me... It's a good read, sure... But for fuck's sake, DO SOMETHING ALREADY TWILIGHT! Bitch smack Trixie, tell your fucking friends off for that shit. I get that it would be out of character for her usually... But she's in a high stress situation, her family and teacher, home, and so on all threatened by an outside force that have come close to killing her friends and she STILL insists on doing absolutely fucking nothing. Yay, she teleported a grenade into a cockpit. Yay, she disabled a Riptide... Woop-de-doo Basil. She's supposed to be one of the most powerful unicorns (now alicorn) in a long ass time and she's done nothing at all but bitch, complain, and get dumped on at near every opportunity by just about everything.

[the other sans]

Wait, I know! If one is a hololith than solid objects should go right through it
If using magic normally would be compared to sunlight, than it felt like we were in some kind of

1. Then.
2. Then.

[A Wild Magikarp]

"Well, you're supposed to be the tactical genius," Tellis scoffed, "just infiltrate our Baneblade into the castle or something."

CREEEEEEEEEEED!

And her only companions in this wretched, evil place were Pinkie Pie and Spike. One would happily drag her into all sorts of trouble for her passing amusement, and the other... well, Spike wasn't a terrible choice, actually, but Fluttershy still wished she had asked Rainbow Dash to stick around.

Umm... considering RD and AJ’s track record thus far in this series, wouldn’t Rainbow fall into the exact same category as Pinkie here?

[StubobNumbers]

4694010
Ships need loving too.

[Animatorsnake]

IRON WITHIN, IRON WITHOUT!

[TacoBlend]

As an amateur warhammer person, is this appropriate for this situation:

[Wydril]

Kinda surprised they didn't plan to just try to take out the Zoanthrope as their only involvement. With Celestia and Luna empowered, they could clear a lot of the Tau out immediately, prompting a tactical retreat from Canterlot. Minimal risk to the Iron Warriors, maybe one or two squads of Astartes.

Still, excited to see this all go down!