The War in Heaven

by voroshilov

XVI. So it begins

“When I observed the mouth of the World Eater from the Spire for the first time I was filled with awe. There was such beauty in it, such incredible destruction. I could not help but shiver as the world in front of us shattered. Such violent beauty, I had wondered, why must the most beautiful experiences be the most fleeting?”

- The Leviathan by Princess Lotan Nephilim -

It hadn't taken much convincing to allow Penumbra control of her own vessel, with Emperor Nicholas stating he was going to grant her it anyway. The Truth class light cruiser Echo of Jubilation had entered the Rift exactly two hours and seven minutes after its commander was given her orders, with only a relatively small team aboard.

Penumbra's requests had been simple: Princess Formia, Rainbow Dash and a squad of Fusiliers. Nicholas had provided her with all of them, along with what he called a "token," in the form of a pair of Rangers. Initially, she had expected to be waiting quite some time before being called to action, so settled back in the captain's office just behind the bridge and pulled out Nicholas' tome from her bags, which she had dumped on the desk - intending to sort through later.

He called himself king, king of the Rift, king of the realm of souls, king of the angels and of the daemons. When a mortal challenged him for his crown, he delighted in the competition, inviting the mortal to his court. Three days after his invitation, a cloaked and hooded stranger arrived in the court of the daemon king.

"O, Luysifer," said the stranger, "you are called king, yes?"

And Luysifer laughed. "Indeed, stranger, I am king."

"And that throne upon which you sit" said the stranger, "it is called the Hell Throne."

Luysifer nodded. "You are knowledgeable, stranger, it is the Hell Throne."

"And the sword which you wield," said the stranger, "it is called the Whirlwind."

Luysifer smiled. "Precisely, stranger, it is the Whirlwind."

"And this court," said the stranger, "it is called the Blade."

Luysifer clapped. "Precisely, stranger, it is the Blade."

"And it is called the Blade," said the stranger, "because it cuts."

Luysifer rubbed his hands. “My court is an extension of my power. My magick cuts at reality, so too does my court."

"I shall build a court," said the stranger, "and it shall be the High Blade, for it shall cut even the Blade which cuts reality, in a great cycle of death and rebirth."

Luysifer rose. "Who are you, stranger? I know every soul in my kingdom, save yours."

The stranger cast off his hood, revealing The Devourer. The Devourer drew his weapon and announced his challenge.

"Let the blood we shed decide the fate of this kingdom," said The Devourer.

Luysifer brought forth Whirlwind and his court cut the face of reality. The Devourer brought forth Godsplitter and met Whirlwind and beat it back. Luysifer's court was cut, and its blood stained the face of reality. Luysifer was beaten back to his Hell Throne, where The Devourer pierced his heart with Godsplitter.

Luysifer laughed. "No weapon can harm me. I am king here, my will is law."

The Devourer sung upon his sword and its edge cut at reality, whose laws too were cut. Luysifer's Hell Throne shattered, as did his body, with the obsidian feasting on his blood and his heart being encaged by it. The Devourer brought together the obsidian to forge a crown, which he placed atop his head. The Obsidian Lord called to his followers, who set the Rift ablaze, cutting apart the old kingdom.

Kaurava, who would be Scourge of the Light, delighted upon the death. "Your song," she whispered, "I shall use it to create a killing song, we shall fight with songs over swords."

The Obsidian Lord nodded. "Our songs shall be our swords," he said, "I shall name my court the High Blade, for it shall cut at the Blade which cuts reality. When our songs overpower our swords the High Blade shall too be cut by the High Song, so our perfection shall never cease. This cycle shall continue, evermore, until we reach the final, perfect shape."

She felt the familiar burning sensation in her throat. Words flashed through her mind, making her feel sick with every new syllable. As suddenly as it had arrived, the deathly sensation faded, returning her to health again. Was this the killing song Kaurava had mentioned? She made a mental note to consult Nicholas before using it; given the danger of the spells in the tome, it was likely to have certain consequences.

A buzz from the door turned her away from the tome, which she packed away again before answering. "Come in."

The door parted, revealing an Imperial officer in the standard, grey uniform. "Ma'am," she said, audibly gulping, "you have to come and see this."

The moment Penumbra stepped out of her office she could see what the officer meant: it filled the whole view screen, even from millions of miles away. It wasn't a ship in the traditional sense, more a mouth, which was slowly ripping apart an entire planet. Its length was in the thousands of miles, with its "bridge" in the form of a city on the top of the bow, with a pair of small stars hanging above it. Surely, Penumbra thought, this couldn't be what the Emperor had intended her to find?

The world eater quickly became background to a transmission, which forced its way onto the view screen. After a few moments of static, the face of a blue skinned female appeared, with reddish-purple hair, shaved almost completely on the left side and brushed over to the right and glowing blue eyes. "Unidentified vessel," she said, voice almost ethereal and immediately enticing and convincing, "this is Lotan Nephilim of the Eater of Worlds, state your business, and why you bear the Emperor's personal sigil."

Penumbra - already embarrassingly attracted to the new figure - stepped forwards. "I am Sunless-Halo-of-Penumbra," she stuttered slightly, but managed to keep an authoritative enough face, "of the Echo of Jubilation, here on behalf of Emperor Nicholas. I wish to meet with the Imperial Loyalists and convey a message from the Emperor to them."

Lotan was silent for a moment, a look of realisation crossing her face. "Approach the Spires, keep at a minimum 2000 kilometre distance."

The transmission vanished, with the beautiful woman vanishing with it, to Penumbra's disappointment. "Take us in," she said, hoping someone else could do her job for her for a while, with an Imperial Commander thankfully stepping in.

As the cruiser got closer, the true size of the "Spires," was revealed. Each had a radius of at least a kilometre, with the largest having a radius of around four, with the smallest standing at about three kilometres tall. The two stars hovering above were just that: stars, though condensed and held in place by some kind of forcefield. Everything shone: being either gold, a purple crystal, or marble. The Spires - save their decoration - were outwardly made of solid gold. The Spires probably didn't even need armour, Penumbra thought, they were so heavily embossed with crystal emblems, gold reliefs and marble carvings. The reason for their almost peculiar construction - especially for what was ostensibly a warship - quickly became clear, as the cruiser passed through an enormous energy shield, thick enough and strong enough the vessel almost became stuck in it.

The transmission returned, Lotan having similarly returned with a more regal looking woman, though they were still clearly related, her hair a white braid and slightly smoother than that of her counterpart. "I am Lilith Nephilim, I lead the Emperor's Loyalists, based here aboard the Eater of Worlds. The authority of the usurping 'Imperators' is not recognised here, they are not the Emperor..." She paused at Penumbra's visible confusion, though Penumbra could have sworn there was nothing to transmit her visuals.

"Emperor Nicholas sent me," she said, "with a message for his flagship's commanders. I can assume that is you?"

Lotan spoke up again, "I command the Eater of Worlds," she said, Penumbra blushing slightly - though she tried to force herself not to - "but the Emperor cannot have sent you, he has been dead for many years." She paused. "Send a transport to the landing pad on the central Spire, we shall await you there."

"Oh, great," remarked Rainbow the moment the transmission deactivated, "back down the elevator again." She turned, halfway in the express elevator's door anyway, Formia behind her. "You coming Penumbra?"

The dropship ride over was surprisingly steady, fast too, with the most uncomfortable part being the Rangers' insistence they check all of the entourage's weapons. "The Loyalists have had a kill on sight policy for a long time, no harm in being cautious," one had said, whilst the other had checked the action on a Fusilier's rifle.

The pilots waited a moment to open the deployment ramp, whilst everyone got up and ready. If anything went wrong, the Rangers and Fusiliers would give cover whilst Penumbra, Formia and Rainbow returned to the dropship, then would either board or let them evacuate back to the cruiser, which would activate its Rift drive immediately. Penumbra had nodded at the plan, hoping it would not have to be used in any regard.

The ramp lowered, revealing a regal purple carpet along a golden walkway, flanked by a guard of hulking soldiers, carrying weapons the size of ponies and wearing purple, white and gold "armour" that looked more for show than protection. The Rangers both tensed up as they walked, though the massive guards seemed to not pay attention, or their masked and helmeted faces simply didn't show it.

Four figures descended a staircase at the end of the walkway, clad in a white armour that looked not too dissimilar to a far more advanced version of the old knight armours she had seen in Canterlot's armoury. Unlike the knights, however, they stood both on two legs, with five fingers on each hand and their armour was completely solid - no view slits or holes. Two held halberds, whose blades were made of orange energy, they had red plumes on their helmets; one held a small, white rifle, with gold trim, they had a plume plume on their helmet; the final held no weapons, though on closer inspection had a longsword sheathed to their left, they had a black plume on their helmet.

The four stopped a few metres from Penumbra, who led the group and was flanked by the two Rangers, who held their weapons low but clearly ready. The figure with the black plume stepped forwards.

"I," they said, voice deep but oddly soothing, "am Watch Captain of the Spire Ezekiel. You have an audience with the Princesses, come."

Ezekiel led on, with the others parting before forming around the group, the red plumes on either flank and the blue plume behind. The Rangers seemed to stiffen, clearly ready for a fight. Fortunately, they were led into an immense garden, where Lilith and Lotan alongside a large contingent of guards Penumbra swore were identical to the ones who had taken her from Cradle - Praetorians, she believed they were called - as well as more of the figures who had brought them up, with varying colours of plume save black. Lotan was stood, arms folded, watching their approach and every move, whilst Lilith was sat back on a marble bench, smelling the various flowers behind her.

Ezekiel stepped up to her, bending down and whispering something in her ear. Lilith listened, nodded, then turned to the new arrivals and rose. "You are from the Empire," she said, "but, you haven't tried to arrest us, kill us or call us terrorists yet. So, why the change of tone?"

Penumbra gave a confused look, to which Lilith elaborated, "it was not too long ago that forces loyal to the Imperators attacked our ship, denouncing us as traitors to the Emperor's vision. So, why are you not doing so?"

"Because we're here on the Emperor's orders," she said, "to bring you to the Talon system, Emperor Nicholas wants you and the ship there two days from now."

Lilith huffed, before stepping over to Formia, who shied back a little. "I have never seen anything like you, all three of you. Are you new to the Empire?"

Formia nodded. "Emperor Nicholas saved my species," she said, "in the Great Exodus, he helped my mother and Queen, Chrysalis in her time of great need."

Lilith seemed to take the information in, readying a response, before Lotan broke in. "What are you?" She asked, "where is your home planet?"

"I am a Changeling," she said, "a Changeling Princess to be exact. And, my home planet is destroyed, Emperor Nicholas has brought us many new homes, he is a good leader, and friend to my people."

Lotan's eyes seemed to glow a little brighter. "A Changeling? Is that just a fancy name or is it more descriptive?"

"Oh," Formia nodded, "descriptive," she wrapped herself in a blaze of green Changeling magic, causing the Praetorians to all instantly train their weapons on her and put themselves between the group and Lilith and Lotan. The magic subsided, with Formia having become a very near perfect copy of Lotan. The real Lotan stepped through a rank of Praetorians, coming close to Formia, investigating her - or, more accurately, herself.

"Incredible," she muttered, before her eyes glowed brighter again and she stepped back, "now, do Emperor Nicholas."

Formia nodded, becoming wreathed in a flaming pillar of magic again, which grew until about twice Lotan's height, revealing a slightly smaller Emperor Nicholas, without his crown and with darker eyes.

Lotan looked to her sister. "Almost exactly accurate," she said, "she even got the cracks of his lips correct."

Formia subsided, returning back to her Changeling self, with Lotan getting the guards to relax themselves and move back to their previous positions. Lilith stepped slowly towards Penumbra, eyes glowing at least twice as bright as they had been.

"This form," she said, "it was not always like this. Was it? I sense, yes, I am sure of it. I sense his power all over you, all through you. Your throat can bear the Voice, you are a student of Nicholas."

Her sister stepped forwards. "Sister," she said, "are you certain?"

"Yes." Lilith's eyes slowly faded. "Certain, he must be alive!"

"Praetorians," Lotan shouted, "prepare the Spire for our guests and a ship wide broadcast, my sister and I shall make the announcement." The Praetorians marched off in various directions, some up towards the vast tower in the distance, others towards the promenade that ringed the garden.

"Ezekiel." Lilith brought forwards the Watch Captain. "Have your Spire Guard return to the Spire and prepare themselves, we have waited millennia for this day. You yourself, come with us."

The Spire Guard nodded, before ordering a single Guard with a golden plume to carry out Lilith's orders.

"We had hoped," Lotan said to Penumbra, "dared to hope, even. We felt an immense release of energy nearly three decades ago, we thought it a result of Kyhron's destruction of the Archon's Forge, but the release must have allowed Emperor Nicholas to free himself. This is truly a wonderful day, I cannot wait to see father again."

"Father?" Penumbra questioned.

Lotan smiled. "Yes. Emperor Nicholas, our father, for millennia we had hoped to bear the mantle of his legacy, now it seems he shall bear it instead."

Penumbra's brain had short-circuited. "You're," she stuttered, "you're Nicholas' children?"

Lotan laughed. "Adopted daughters," she said, "though I suppose we bear enough of his power to be alike."

"Emperor Nicholas adopted?" Penumbra still couldn't quite get her head around the idea of Emperor Nicholas caring for children, even adopted ones. Something about his immense power, size, ferocity and his appearance made the image of him anywhere near children a strange one.

Lotan laughed again. "I like you, Penumbra," she held out a hand, "follow me, I'll explain as much as I can."

For the space of about an hour, Penumbra had entirely forgotten her mission, as well as her instant crush on the Herald of the Leviathan. Instead, her mind had been preoccupied with the image of Emperor Nicholas holding children, which she had been entirely unable to shake even after Lotan had explained his difference in body.

"He was smaller then," she said, "looked more like me. Didn't have wings, that was for sure, he grew those later."

She had found herself with a newfound respect for Emperor Nicholas. Not only had he personally led the Shadow of Sundered Star to end the corrupt and overall useless government on Lotan's "home" system, but, during the midst of the invasion, descended into one of the planet's slums and attempted to recover all of the eggs from an abandoned and filthy nesting site, though only two had survived. Whilst leading his Empire, one of the largest the galaxy - and later far beyond - had ever seen, he resolved to raise the two surviving children as best he could.

"And that was when Cecilia brought me to Tycan, to see this ship when it was just beginning construction. You could say I fell in love with this ship, had a weird phase where I'd sing to it every night." She chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head. "Even attached a little gold ring to one of the pipes in the engine deck. It's probably still there now."

They arrived in the central Spire in good spirits, with Penumbra regaling Lotan with a few tales of her time with Nicholas - though carefully avoiding her various mistakes. Before they entered what Lotan said was the meeting room they stopped, Lotan turning and whispering to Penumbra, "wait," she said, simply.

"Why?" Penumbra mouthed.

Lotan pointed to the small open crack in the double door, "Lilith and Ezekiel are inside, they're really cute but they'll get all awkward if you just walk in, leave it to me."

She slunk off up a small staircase, leaving Penumbra to wait by the door. At first, she resolved to not eavesdrop, which lasted for all of about half a minute before she stuck her eye through the gap and listened intently.

Lilith and Ezekiel were both sat, with their chairs quite obviously having been moved closer together. The Spire Guard was helmetless, revealing a surprisingly smooth face with long, flowing black hair, deep brown eyes and pale skin. Lilith had her head rested on his armoured shoulder, with closer inspection showing that either Lilith or the Spire Guard had placed a small cushion on his shoulder, giving her more comfortable support.

"I hope they take their time," Lilith murmured, staring up at the Guard, looking at a statue on the wall, his legs outstretched.

The Guard looked at her for a second, smiled, then turned back. "As do I," he said, "the gardens can be quite distracting."

"To think it took me centuries to get you to actually enjoy this." She smiled.

The Guard chuckled. "Took me centuries to show it."

Lotan emerged behind her, giggling quietly. Penumbra, slightly startled, managed to keep silent and pull back from the door. "What's up?" She whispered, causing Lotan to giggle even harder.

"I've set a localised alarm for that room," she whispered back, "look through the door."

After a few seconds of silence, a blaring alarm sounded, causing Ezekiel to throw himself up, draw his sword and have his helmet on inside of a second, with Lilith almost knocked to the floor. The Spire Guard lifted the Princess, holding her close to him, using half his body to shield most of hers from the door, sword ready. "Are you alright?" He asked, to which Lilith nodded, when the alarm fell silent again.

Lotan burst through the doors, skipping with every step, "hello!" She yelled, arms outstretched, "wonder what that alarm was for?" She asked, giggling, Penumbra sheepishly trotting up behind her.

Ezekiel let go of Lilith and straightened up, seeming to take it well, whilst the other Princess gave a fuming face and started to hit the feathery half-tunic and shawl on her sister's chest, obviously not intending to wound.

"Bastard," Lilith swore almost completely silently, "you were watching, weren't you?"

Lotan nodded, before giggling again. "Well, mostly her, I just set the alarm off."

Lilith gave a deadly look at Penumbra, before sighing and shrugging. "Just don't tell father," she said, "don't even want to know how he'd react."

"Sister," said Lotan, "shall we go and make our announcement now?"

Lilith and Lotan's faces appeared on screens all over the ship, with both announcing, joyously, the return of Emperor Nicholas, and the intention of the Imperial Loyalists to rejoin the Empire. Lotan directed her pilots to the Talon system, with Penumbra giving her Nicholas' exact orders on a hologram, the looks of elation on her and her sister's faces seeing their father again meant Penumbra couldn't help but crack a smile herself.

---

Major Exa, first Changeling officer of the Imperial Combined Arms Ground Forces and co-founder of the Imperial Combined Arms Ground Forces Changeling Corps, had only a few minutes earlier received a formal and informal congratulation from Queen Chrysalis, co-architect of the Great Exodus and her own mother. Now, in contrast to what could have been a cushy life as Queen of her own hive on some rural world, she was being strapped into a drop pod by a grizzled looking technician, who, despite only having one working eye, as the massive scar down the side of her face and the perfectly white sphere where colour should have been emphasised well, seemed to see better than most two-eyed Changelings. The bindings were incredibly tight, though she would rather endure the slight discomfort and breathing constriction they gave rather than become wallpaper paste. Five other Changelings had been placed into her pod, all drones, granted, though she trusted them as decent frontline troops.

"When you hit the ground," the technician said, voice husky, "the door will burst open. If it doesn't, pull this lever. If that fails, pull it again. If that fails call a friendly over to open it from outside. If that fails, consider sending out your last will and testament. If, however, the door opens, run like hell into cover, then work out where you are. Best of luck."

The door of the pod closed quietly, plunging it into near total darkness, save two small red lights on the central pillar. A moment later, the walls seemed to fade away, presenting real time images of the outside. Screens on the central pillar flared to life, revealing a Fusilier in a control room. "1 Company, 2 Company, control issuing directives now." The pads on their left forelegs flared to life, containing runes listing their objectives. "Activating pre-drop check sequence." The pods shunted, pulled forwards on cranes to their drop points. "Drop target, set; comms, set; objectives, set; pod status: flight control, set; ignition control, set; approaching deployment zones now, begin mission countdown.” The pod shook slightly as it suddenly came to a halt at the end of the crane, a number rune flashed up just below the screen, counting down. "Mission commander." An image of Exa's face appeared on screen, awaiting her speech.

"Alright," she gave her best commanding voice, trying to mask her excitement, "we are green and very, very mean. Let’s hit ‘em hard."

The Fusilier's face returned. "Deployment zones reached. Initiating drop sequence." With a clang, followed by a rush of silence, the immense doors below them opened out, revealing the plains of Talon II Secundus, with their tiny, grey rectangle of a target directly below them, the number rune ticked by, until, with a final, echoing tick, it vanished entirely. "Drop confirmed, all pods, go."

The pods silently detached from the ship, passing its hull within seconds. Exa's excitement reached a peak as she looked up and saw the Sin of Damnation slowly shrink, then looked down and saw her target slowly, then quickly, start to enlarge. Their descent took barely longer than a minute, before they began to buffet as they hit the atmosphere, the all around view from the pod's walls becoming half covered by fire.

The centre pillar lit up again, though no face appeared, only a robotic, female voice. "Ten seconds to drop point."

At Exa's feet, through the clearing orange fire, a blue target symbol appeared with a faint ping. The fire cleared less than a second later, with the pod's all round view vanishing five seconds after that.

With a heavy thud, the pod impacted ground, burrowing in to stabilise itself. The restraints binding Exa and her fellow Changelings detached with a release of air, before, with an explosion, the door was blown outwards, revealing the blinding light of midday.

Exa forced herself up, pushing out of the door and shielding her eyes from the light, looking around frantically in the few metres she could see for cover. She found it in the form of an impact crater, barely a metre high, enough space to keep her covered if she lay down. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust, showing her the almost completely flat, grassy plain her pods had landed in, with only the odd small impact crater for cover. The reliquary building, a large, rectangular based grey pyramid, was a few hundred metres directly forwards, about 200 from the nearest pod.

Gunfire was clearly coming from the general direction of the reliquary, emphasised by the bolt that screeched half an inch or so past Exa's right ear, causing her to throw herself down to the ground of the crater again, hoping her limited protection would be enough for the time being, at least until backup arrived.

And arrive it did, in the form of two massive Changeling morphs, each armed with twin heavy cannons - essentially walking artillery pieces. Only one round of shots from them and the gunfire was cut in half, giving Exa enough courage to run towards the nearest pod, which she quickly skirted behind and started yelling into her communicator.

A pair of drones came up behind her, one with the painted red shoulder pad of a Leftenant, the other an ordinary soldier. "Major," the Leftenant yelled over the din of fighting, "all pods are on the ground, thirty reported casualties."

"How's the sky reporting?"

"Cloaking fields detected around the base of the reliquary, should I advise a bombardment?"

A slight smile broke through Exa's face. "Definitely."

The Leftenant nodded, opening his communicator. "This is 1 Company," he said, "we need an orbital strike against cloaked troops outside reliquary."

A voice crackled back, "affirmative, authorising Category II munitions, give us a line."

Exa flicked a switch on her left vambrace, revealing a small, pen like contraption built into it. Slowly and carefully she peaked around the edge of the pod, lining up the end of the pen with where she assumed the cloaked shooters were. She tapped her vambrace again, which pinged, giving her the signal to retreat back to cover.

"Affirmative," the voice in the Leftenant's communicator returned, "targeting now. Shot."

A streak of orange burned through the air, exploding where Exa had targeted.

"Shot. Shot."

Another ten seconds of shots turned the ground outside the reliquary into a cratered and burned mess. The second shot broke the cloaking field, revealing a badly mangled group of daemons, whose body parts were quickly flung in all directions, whilst the Changeling onlookers roared in triumph.

"Confirming fire mission effectiveness."

As one, the Changelings rushed forwards, the front ranks practically leaping over the craters to access the wall, searching for a door or any other sort of entrance to use. By the time Exa had arrived, Changelings were beginning to try and batter the walls down, confused as to how the cloaked soldiers had exited the reliquary if there was no door.

"Where's the door?" Exa took a step back and observed the whole wall, it was covered in various small ascents and descents and patterns but none that looked even vaguely door shaped. "Come on there has to be a door."

Soon, however, a door arrived. More accurately, two doors arrived.

The heavily armed Changeling morphs, who had allowed Exa to run to cover, lumbered up, with one grunt enough to convey the message for the other Changelings to step back. The two heavyset morphs launched an all out bombardment against a point on the reliquary's wall, which was obscured by dust and smoke almost immediately. After two whole minutes of firing, their cannons went silent, ammo depleted for the moment.

As the smoke and dust cleared, it became apparent the doors had done their duty well: a large hole, large enough to fit one of the morphs at a time, had been opened in the side of the wall. A pair of Changelings, saddle-mounted rifles primed, jumped inside, scanning about with flashlights and their senses enhanced for the darkness. Another pair followed them, then another, checking it was absolutely clear before giving the order to enter.

"Clear," one drone finally shouted, at which the other Changelings surged forwards again, entering quickly, until all were within the confines of the reliquary.

Exa was immediately granted by a view that, under any other circumstances, she would have thought was heaven. Weapons, from swords to cannons larger than she was lined the walls, filling up nearly every available space. Further in, suits of armour designed for who knows what species stood on racks, polished to a shine. In glass cases stood on pedestals were various orbs or pyramids that she knew had some sort of hidden, powerful purpose, concealed in such a tiny box, though her attention was quickly torn away from them by the immense, skeleton-like construction above her.

Looking a little like the skeleton of a large whale, but with the head of a hammerhead shark, the brass coloured construction hung from the ceiling, suspended by black metal cables. It bristled with what she assumed were guns, with two large but squat cannons on the ends of its wide head, with other, small cannons on cables wrapped around each of its body segments. Whatever it was, it was old, even though it was polished to perfection it still showed signs of battle wear. Dents in its segments were common and several places had scratches that had completely discoloured the metal.

While Exa marvelled like a child seeing a new toy, a Changeling was communicating with the ship above. At first, Exa didn't pay them any attention, until a look of worry crossed their face and they began shouting to everyone who could hear, "we have incoming," they yelled, "hostiles coming from all sides!"

The Changelings went immediately to battle stations, taking up positions around the breach they had made and around the various rooms of the reliquary. Whilst her comrades prepared to defend, Exa decided she would try and activate whatever the construct above her was. Hopefully, she could drive it, if not hopefully it would see the attackers as a threat and not her.

With a buzz of her wings, she rose up to its head. There was more than enough space to land just above the eye, which, whilst off, was clearly designed with seeing in mind. Exa realised it was not driveable, most likely it was automated. All she needed to do was find the on switch, which was easier said than done considering what it was. She did, however, find a panel of some sorts, opening it up revealing a number of buttons around a small blank screen. She had no idea what the runes on them said, they were completely different from the ones she had seen on the Sin of Damnation, but she pressed a button at random regardless. It made a ping sound, then nothing else happened. She pressed another button, this one making a slightly more lower pitched ping. She pressed another, which made a slightly higher pitched ping and switched the screen on, which was filled with runes she couldn't read and a graph of some sorts.

Exa, pretending she knew what she was doing, pressed another button, which pinged and made a set of four small bars appear on the graph. She pressed another button, which pinged and made the third bar from the left go up from a third of the way up to half of the way up. There were only three more buttons, pressing another yielded a ping and for the first and second bar to increase to the half way mark, another made the fourth bar increase to the half way point. The final button, Exa assumed, was the on button. She pressed it, causing it to ping and for the bars to increase to three quarters of the way up. She paused a moment, which made her suddenly aware of the yelling and gunfire from below. She resolved to help the moment she switched the contraption on.

She pressed the first button again, which pinged and pushed the bars all up to the top point. Surely, she thought, the second button she pressed was the one to switch it on. She pressed it, eliciting a ping and for all of the runes to flash bright red, the graph to disappear and a sudden mechanical wail to emit from the machine's head.

Exa stepped back from the panel. "Erm, hello?"

A burst of loud, deep static came from the machine, with its eye suddenly blaring red, eliciting another, longer burst of static. The machine's weapons powered up next, small points on them flashing red as they swivelled, as though testing their movement. Another two, short bursts of static came from the machine, causing its head to shake slightly. Another burst of static.

Two of the gun carrying cables around the first body segment flared to life, glowing light blue, and began to move around, testing the air. One of them struck one of the holding cables, another short burst of static came from the machine and it sliced the cable in half, causing it to sag a little on the left side. Exa recognised what it was doing and cut one of the cables supporting its head, just as another burst of static, this one a lot louder, came through, with the middle spine between each body segment suddenly lighting up, creating a sort of visible forcefield between each. On each segment, the gun cables came to life, found and cut their supporting cables, whilst Exa removed the final one holding up its head.

With the sound of rending metal, the construct came free from the ceiling, falling a few metres before coming to rest a comfortable two metres from the ground, hovering in place whilst it seemed to be thinking, Exa clinging to its head. One of the gun cables wrapped around her body, lifting her from its head and bringing her in front of its eye. It seemed to regard her a moment, before making another burst of static, as though asking a question.

Exa decided to take the initiative. "We need help," she said, "we're under attack, this facility and us."

Again the construct seemed to think, before making another long, burst of static.

"Help," Exa said again, "we need it."

The construct brought one of its gun cables forwards, moving Exa back slightly to allow it room to move. It pointed at her head for a second, before moving up and down in a nodding motion. The machine made a few short bursts of static, before lowering her to the ground, passing her from cable to cable to get her close enough. The construct rose slightly, causing the pyramid's walls above a few metres up to open outwards, revealing the air outside.

Slowly, the construct floated upwards, then forwards, hovering over the battlefield a moment. Though a great many daemons were dead, so too were a number of Changelings. One of the large artillery morphs was collapsed on the ground, a large chunk of its abdomen destroyed, its comrade stood next to it, firing wildly and roaring with rage as it tore apart every daemon that tried to get close. Wounded Changelings were being dragged inside the breach by their fellows, many of whom would also be hit as they retreated.

The construct emitted a bellowing burst of static, before levelling all of its guns against the hordes of daemons and fired. Within a second, two immense holes were blown into them, scattering body parts and individual daemons everywhere. The construct floated forwards, slowly coming down the pyramid, firing as it went. With flashes of light, WarSynths teleported into the gaps, giving supporting fire with their long rifles, melting away dozens of daemons at a time.

---

Celestine recognised almost immediately her facility was under attack. At first, she had assumed it was by the quadrupedal insectoids that she had detected on her first ping, though that was quickly revealed to be false. One of the insectoids had even assisted in freeing her, helping to cut the cables that had held her up originally. At first, many of the insectoids seemed fearful of her, though they quickly realised they were both fighting a common enemy and moved to assist. She had considered requesting they retreat, but a little help for her WarSynths would never go amiss, nor be unwelcome.

The Aetherspawn she faced were not particularly resilient, though they made up for their lack of strength in their sheer numbers, looking more like a field of wheat than an attacking enemy force. She sent out an order to her WarSynths, telling them to slow advance, standard, tried and true tactics for dealing with Aetherspawn. The insectoids followed up with them, fortunately having enough sense to keep behind the advancing wall. Celestine moved forwards, certain a nexus was nearby, jamming her senses beyond a mile or so. Sure enough, a large Aetherspawn, its connection to its master clear, stood at the back of the horde. Celestine fired a pair of shots from her main guns, hoping to at least destabilise it so no more reinforcements could be brought in. Exactly as predicted, the Aetherspawn was staggered, instantly stopping the flow of enemy combatants. As the Aetherspawn gathered itself, Celestine blinked towards it, before activating her close combat module and blowing a twenty metre radius circle into the horde, firing her close range scattercannons into the nexus' thorax, blowing it apart.

She gave an order for her WarSynths to halt their advance, but to continue mopping up the Aetherspawn. She would push the horde forwards, where they would break on the line of WarSynths, destroying their forces in a few minutes. She sent off another pair of pulses from her close combat module, cutting the horde in half instantly. Her scattercannons mopped up the survivors of the blasts, whilst her WarSynths tore apart the horde on their side with perfect efficiency.

Satisfied the attack had been neutralised, she returned to her line, ordering her WarSynths to stand down and return to their previous duties. One by one, they teleported back to the core, whilst her sensors finally freed up. With a ping, she located the insectoid who had helped free her, floated up to her and attempted to communicate once again.

"Why are you here?" Her translation matrices seemed to have failed - strange.

The insectoid seemed not to understand her, odd but not entirely implausible. Apparently, she had no implants or training to recognise her speech. Her species also did not appear in her database, very curious indeed. The Great Rebellion must have succeeded, there was no other explanation for why the Plan had failed and no one could understand her.

Sure enough, in the multitude of ships above, there was a number of Daux, though each was far removed from the machines they had once been. They had flesh and blood, rather than metal and wire.

---

The Eater of Worlds' entrance into the Talon system was relatively slow, owing to the fact it was too big to fit through a Rift Generator's Rift. Instead, it was carried atop a massive Rift storm, like a surfboard on a wave, though increased by millions of times. Penumbra was told that, originally, it was only Emperor Nicholas whose psionic power carried the ship, now it was a host of so-called Illuminaries whose combined psionic power could create the storm and move the ship. Apparently, however, the storm's magnitude had more than tripled when Kyhron's report of the destruction of the Archon's Forge had come through, which Lilith and Lotan now realised must have been the Emperor's psionic might driving the ship once again.

Talon III and its three moons slowly came into view from the Spire, where Penumbra and her entourage stood. The Echo of Jubilation had been taken into one of the Eater of Worlds' hangars. Initially, Penumbra had wondered how a cruiser would fit into a hangar bay, to which Lotan simply reminded her of the size of the vessel and said, "there's enough empty space in this ship to fit an entire fleet of just carriers. The hangars, they do carry entire fleets."

The Echo of Jubilation emerged from the hangar, hovering a few thousand miles from the Spire, as they neared Talon II. Penumbra couldn't quite imagine how the world eating ship looked from the surface, though she had a decent idea from her first encounter with the vessel.

"This is Emperor Nicholas," a message, apparently pre-recorded, blared over the communicators of each of Penumbra's Fusiliers, "come to the reliquary on Talon III Secundus, there I shall deliver your further orders."

Lilith, Lotan and Ezekiel practically jumped to fulfil the message, Ezekiel barking out orders to his Spire Guard to ready a "barge," whilst Lilith and Lotan prepared themselves physically and mentally.

Penumbra took her dropship, which flew alongside the golden hemisphere of the barge, covered in so many sculptings and gemstones she thought this was what Rarity must delight in herself over. When they landed on the surface of Talon III Secundus, they were greeted first by Luna and Rarity, who very awkwardly avoided Rainbow Dash, then Emperor Nicholas, who nodded at her, then a massive, brass coloured Strategos class construct, which apparently was friendly.

When the barge landed, on thin legs which emerged from small holds, Rarity first viewed it with absolute awe, then couldn't remove her eyes from it. As its ramp descended, a purple carpet descending with it, Rarity seemed to get more and more excited, before she fainted entirely when the first pair of the Spire Guard, red plumes marking them as the silent First Plumes, descended the ramp.

The First Plumes were followed by a pair Bejewelled Ones, their shoulders each with a large gemstone inset and cyan plumes on their helmets, then a Master Commander with a yellow plume. Finally, emerged the black plumed Watch Captain of the Spire Ezekiel, along with Lilith and Lotan, looking as regal as could be hoped.

The Spire Guard assembled in an honour guard at the bottom of the ramp, with Ezekiel stepping aside slightly to allow the Princesses access to Nicholas. The two stood still, watching the neutral Nicholas, allowing Rarity time to arise again. Penumbra whispered the gist of the situation into her ear.

It was Lilith who broke down first, a tear rolling down her cheek as she rushed towards her father, grasping his suddenly reduced form in a hug. Lotan quickly followed, practically diving onto the pair, both of the Princesses immediately crying their eyes out.

To both Rarity and Penumbra, it warmed their hearts, until they saw Nicholas' face. The Eternal Emperor of Irenton, the Master of Time, whose immense power Penumbra had only experienced a fraction of, was crying. Not outright sobbing like his daughters, but still clearly crying, a pure smile of joy on his mouth. Penumbra found herself in Rarity's position, as the world suddenly felt out from under her as she fainted.

When she awoke a few minutes later, Lilith and Ezekiel were speaking to Nicholas, whilst Lotan was shouting at the Strategos to Penumbra's right. The corrupted alicorn decided to check on Lotan first, curious as to what the Strategos was doing.

"I asked," Lotan yelled, "if you spoke Irenton."

The Strategos gave only a burst of static in reply, which Penumbra found she could, oddly enough, partially understand. "No," was the apparent translation.

Penumbra stepped up to Lotan. "It says no, specifically’ no cannot’."

The Princess gave her a look. "How,." She stopped herself. "Nevermind. Can you translate for me?"

"Sure."

She nodded. "What is your name?"

A burst of static. "Celestine." Or something of the like.

"Righ." Lotan rubbed her head. "What is this facility?"

A long burst of static, with pauses of only a tenth of a second to indicate spaces between words. "Storage world. Orbit mind world."

Lotan nodded like she knew what that meant. "And what is that?"

Another long burst of static. "Think world."

"Think world?" She laughed. "The world thinks?"

Static. "Yes."

"Who made you?"

Static, a lot of it, going on for about three minutes. "Assembly. Defend anti large rebellion. Build from foal queen. Last strategy build."

Lotan blinked. "What in the fuck," she mumbled, before turning to Penumbra, "I'll be honest, I don't know shit about Assembly Binary, I think father does, but he's a little preoccupied with the lovebirds. I want to know what a foal queen is, mostly because I want that to be a mistranslation. Come to think of it, how did you know that?"

Penumbra had an epiphany. "Apparently my soul was around at the time of the Dauxite Assembly. My memories, according to Emperor Nicholas, are still present but locked away within it, maybe I knew their language when they were around and am just getting the memories back."

"Huh." Lotan nodded. "That's unreasonably sensible." She looked over to her father. "Go get him over here, will you, I want to know what's going on."

Penumbra nodded and trotted over, only to immediately trot back when she heard what they were talking about. "I think I best wait," she said, "or else your sister might fry my brain or something."

Lotan laughed. "Ah, I see. Well, time to question it some more then."

---

As night fell, Nicholas assembled everyone together again, around a fire Rainbow Dash had made, with the PHALANX pony outright refusing to even acknowledge Rarity or Luna.

"The final phase of my plan," said Emperor Nicholas, form still reduced to just five metres tall, "begins soon. Lotan, have the Eater of Worlds consume Talon III once it and its moons are evacuated."

"Consume it?" She asked, "but, it's not just an ordinary planet or an empty crust, it's full of Assembly constructs."

"Exactly," Nicholas said, "we must draw out the Progenitor Construct at the planet's core, only then will we be able to access the Veiled Edge with our ships, allowing us to open a sustainable portal through to the Aether."

Lotan clearly didn't fully understand Nicholas' plan, but her trust for her father ran deeper than could be imagined. She nodded her head in acknowledgement of his orders.

Nicholas then turned to Rainbow Dash, completely encased in PHALANX armour. "Return to your friends," he said, pointing at Rarity and Luna, who Rainbow didn't even look at.

Rather than answer with words, she just shook her head.

"Your past squabbles or disagreements do not matter anymore," Nicholas roared, "you are stronger together, together you can defeat the Great Light. Countless have died so we can have our moment, our one chance to smother the Great Light once and for all. I will not have such sacrifice be for nothing because you could not look past your differences."

Rainbow, armoured and hardened as she was, was visibly terrified by Nicholas. She, albeit reluctantly, turned and walked over to where Rarity and Luna sat, with Nicholas' gaze constantly reminding her of his presence. "Hey," she said, awkwardly.

"Hey," Rarity replied, in a similar manner.

Rainbow paused for a moment, unsure of what exactly to say. "So," she said at last, trying to strike up a conversation, "how about this armour?"

---

The forces of the Talon system had all evacuated to the Shadow of Sundered Star, which held position twenty thousand miles from the Eater of Worlds. Rarity, having caught a glimpse of the flagship's Spires as they passed via dropship to the Night Truth, was overcome with wonderment, she had bombarded Nicholas with questions, all of which Nicholas had answered in surprising detail.

"Darling," she began her final question, "just how did you find so much gold? And, come to think of it, so many gems?"

Nicholas had laughed, "my Empire stretches far beyond what you can comprehend. The wealth of the Eater of Worlds is the wealth of many planets. I could remake the Eater of Worlds out of gold alone with the amount that remains unmined in just the Core."

All had been silenced when the Eater of Worlds began its task.

A small chunk, little larger than Penumbra's foot, of dirt rose from Talon III's surface. It was followed by several more chunks, then more and more. The planet's atmosphere became a tornado the size of a continent, acting like a vortex into the Eater of Worlds' mouth, tearing up chunks of earth and pulling them up. Slowly, but very, very clearly, even from an immense distance, the world began to crack. As the Eater of Worlds drew ever closer, continents began to rise from where magma had held them, crumbling as they entered the atmospheric vortex. A jet of magma, about as wide as a mountain, rose up next, widening as the Eater of Worlds drew even closer. Until, surprisingly, the magma stopped entirely, replaced by massive chunks of brassy alloy.

Through the zooming cameras of the Night Truth, could be seen individual constructs, from the thin WarSynths to much more sprawling constructs: made up of dozens of Strategos body segments without their weapons and covered instead with various terminals and computer equipment. Eventually, even they stopped, as the world's crust finally fully cracked, pushing a large, smooth, black sphere towards the Eater of World's mouth. As the sphere disintegrated, inordinate numbers of transistors were shattered, their remains being dragged into the hungry furnaces of the world killer.

The sphere was hollow, within being a construct that looked like an enormous Strategos class, though covered in cables and attached to the sphere like a baby in the womb. A few minutes after the construct entered, the world eating stopped, a transmission coming through a second later from Lotan.

"We're jammed," she said, "whatever that thing was, it's jammed us up."

Nicholas growled. "Precisely as planned," he muttered under his breath, "hold off your soldiers," he said to Lotan, "I shall deal with the Progenitor Construct. Penumbra." He turned to the corrupted alicorn, who didn't want to admit that machine had terrified her. "Ensure Talon III's moons are destroyed by the time I return."

Rather than take the elevator to the hangar, he opted to simply teleport over into one of the Eater of Worlds' mineral collection bays, an offshoot of the main chamber where the Progenitor Construct had been pulled to.