Sweet Apple Acres was quiet.
Then again, Apple Bloom supposed all of Ponyville was quiet at 0330 hours. It seemed the issue of Feudal worlds, once the sun went down, the lights were quick to follow, and the hemisphere went to sleep within the hour.
Then again, a Feudal world was perhaps an incorrect classification. They had functioning electricity, and she thought she remembered seeing gunpowder. Yet, even so, the main weapons of the world were simple bladed weapons characteristic of Feudal worlds. They even seemed to lack the internal combustion engine, which only made the advent of electricity all the stranger.
These thoughts and more ran through Apple Bloom’s superhuman mind as she lurked about the orchards of her childhood home.
As a Blood Raven, she could not sleep, and while this did not normally affect her, she found herself wishing she could one more time. Here, she quickly found that the quietness of the planet left her with only time to herself. This was...odd. Especially since her incredible intellect ran through a thousand subjects by the time a mere mortal was finished with three.
Before an hour had passed, she had already thought about too many things, most of which dealt with her own fate. What would happen to her? What would Holy Celestia, in all of her wisdom, do with herself and her two friends? Equestria was a place of...peace. Hideous, hideous peace.
She was a soldier, made for war, even now, some part of her mind was working through the thousands of possibilities of ambushes and traps that could have been laid against her. Her bolter still sat ready in her mechadendrites, and the Bolt Pistol at her side was eager for action.
Her grandmother “Granny Smith,” had ordered her to bed, and any attempt to help her understand that she literally could not sleep was met with the old matron telling her to get to bed. Unable to best the mare in stubbornness, Apple Bloom went to bed on the ground floor, and lay there, her eyes closed for an hour or so, before sneaking out of the house to patrol the orchard.
She walked through the orchard, passing the hundreds of Apple trees, with a faint sense of nostalgia hovering at the edge of her mind. She had passed an old, worn tree house a few hours back, and had found herself staring at it for...perhaps far too long.
Other than that, her patrol met no obstacles, and no other problems.
Other than her shadow, of course.
She didn’t know who the pony following her was, but she knew that whoever it was was flying, and was quiet. If her senses had not been so incredibly powerful, then Apple Bloom might have missed the soft beating of wings in the air.
Yet the figure following her did nothing, and Apple Bloom was not yet willing to sacrifice the advantage of knowing that someone was following to act. And so, the both carried on, walking through the orchard, each wary of the other.
As the night got deeper, and Apple Bloom continued to make rounds, however, things began to change.
Her shadow was getting closer, looking deeper at the Space Marine as curiosity took hold. Or so Apple Bloom inferred.
Yet still no action was taken against her.
Her patience wearing thin, Apple Bloom finally turned, and spoke. “I tire of this, intruder. Identify yourself.”
“You tire of us?” a feminine voice called from the trees, and Apple Bloom raised her bolter in the direction of her voice.
“I do,” Apple Bloom answered. “You have been following me for the past three hours and twenty four standard minutes.”
“Have we?” the voice asked amused.
“I heard you,” Apple Bloom said. “And were I wearing my helmet, my autosenses would’ve picked up your thermal signature. Now, I will ask only once more, identify yourself.”
A soft laugh floated through the trees, before a blue-furred figure approached. “We are Princess Luna, sister of Celestia,” the alicorn said.
Apple Bloom raised a brow, but did not lower her weapon. “I have no memory of you.”
Luna nodded. “We are used to the feeling,” she said, almost sadly. “However, Celestia warned us that your memory has been addled—”
“Refined,” Apple Bloom corrected.
“Yes, yes, of course,” Luna said, nodding. “Nonetheless, many sacrifices have been made for this refinement, no?”
Apple Bloom hesitantly nodded.
Luna then continued. “My sister told us of your coming, you and your friends, and we regret that we had not the chance to meet you before you left.”
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“We had helped both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, long ago,” Luna said. “They were troubled by dreams, and we offered whatever counsel and aid we could.”
Apple Bloom frowned. “You are a psyker?”
“No,” Luna said. “At least, not from what Sweetie Belle explained to us. We may see into another’s dreams, but no more. It is my own power, as Princess.”
Apple Bloom did not like it.
“We have already met with the others,” Luna continued, “and our sister had told us that we would need to see you ourselves, to gauge your power and ability now that you have returned. Yet…”
“Yet?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Yet you have not fallen asleep. We could not enter your dreams for you have not rested. This made if far more difficult to meet you, and we had to fly out ourselves to see you.”
Apple Bloom smirked. “Nor will I.”
This time it was Luna’s brow who furrowed. “What do you mean by this?”
“I cannot sleep, it is…” Apple Bloom said, a smile growing on her face, “another of the many sacrifices I made.”
“You...you cannot sleep?” Luna asked.
The Space Marine nodded. “I have not slept these past twenty-six years.”
The lunar princess blinked. “B-but how? How do you rest then?”
“My mind does not function like those of mere mortals,” Apple Bloom said. “Sections of my brain may rest at a time while I continue to function. I only just woke the section of my mind that can speak before I turned to face you.”
Luna blinked. “So you truly cannot sleep?”
Apple Bloom nodded once more. “A soldier cannot perform well if he is constantly in danger of facing fatigue.”
Luna stared at the space marine in front of her for a long moment, before a smile began to grow on her face. “Apple Bloom, we think that perhaps, we will come to enjoy your company, very, very much.”
---=][=---
As the sun began to rise, Granny Smith rose as well. She was always an early riser, and getting old only really ever changed how many naps she took in the day. Her joints creaked as she got out of her bed, and groaned as she began to head to the kitchen.
Using her walker, she moved forward, into the hallway, with the stairs.
She slowly moved past, taking another look at the broken stair Apple Bloom left last night, which was all the sign they needed to see that Apple Bloom should probably stay on the ground floor of the farmhouse.
She’d have to get Big Mac to fix that.
She soon found herself in the kitchen, and was surprised to see Apple Bloom hovering over the stove.
“Apple Bloom?” Granny asked. “What’re ye doing up this early?”
“I cooked breakfast,” Apple Bloom answered as her mechadendrites carried a massive pot to the kitchen table.
Granny blinked. “Is that mah Chili Cauldron?”
“Is it?” Apple Bloom asked.
The giant pot was cast iron, and almost as big as Granny Smith herself, and was so blackened that other pots didn’t talk about it.
“Apple Bloom, we can’t eat this much food. Ya’ve gone and wasted three days worth of oatmeal!”
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “You underestimate both my stomach and my appetite, Grandmother.”
“Don’t call me grandmother!” Granny Smith yelled. “It makes me sound old!”
Apple Bloom blinked, before she sighed, and proceeded to serve herself her first bowl of oatmeal.
---=][=---
Twilight Sparkle yawned as she stepped into her work room, ready to start the day with a brand new project.
Or, she was, until she saw Sweetie Belle standing in the middle of the room. A thousand wraithbone arms streaked across the room, moving pages and notes back and forth. She cross referenced her cross references, and Button, the strange insect that followed her, chirped excitedly as she moved.
“Um…” Twilight began, looking about the room as everything spun about her.
“Ah! Good morning, Twilight!” Sweetie Belle said, as she turned to face her, arms still hard at work.
“Um...good morning?” she said.
“Sorry to jump in like this,” Sweetie said, “but when we came back, I noticed your notes, and it caught my attention.”
“Um...good…” Twilight said.
“They are fascinating!” Sweetie said. “I’m afraid that, with my attention being focused into psychic abilities, my magic studies fell through. That being said, I was going through these notes, and I noticed a few things.”
“I see…” the lavender princess said, sliding towards the edge of the room, avoiding the many wraithbone arms as they moved about.
“You see, I think what happened was that you were counting on a solely magical resonance, when it encountered the solely psychic energies of the Warp. Those two created a destructive wave interference, which briefly cancelled both the psychic and magical radiations of both galaxies, creating a sudden void in each of locations, which resulted in the two realms trying to fill the gaps caused by the sudden void!”
Twilight blinked. “That’s…” she said, before slowly approaching. “That actually...makes sense…”
“Doesn’t it?” Sweetie Belle asked, proudly. “It wasn’t until my first time interacting with psychic fields myself, that I really discovered how magic and psychic abilities react poorly with each other, and only years later that I found out how and why they reacted like that. Here, look at my notes.”
Twilight blinked as she was handed a large notebook, filled with intricate equations and notes that made her head spin. “W-w-woah...this...this is amazing!” she said, staring at the notes, before flipping through a few pages.
She suddenly shook her head. “N-now hang on! Hang on! Why are you here, instead of with Rarity?”
Sweetie Belle sighed. “Twilight, I’m forty-one years old. I don’t look a day over twenty. Tell me why you think I’m not with Rarity.”
“She...wants beauty tips?”
Sweetie nodded. “And I really don’t have the heart to tell her that it takes having a second skeleton grow in your body, leaving in you in such pain that you want to physically die for the next two weeks.”
Twilight slowly nodded. “Alright, fair enough, I suppose. N-next, I suppose, where did you learn this?” she asked, motioning to the notes.
“That’s more of the wraithbone,” Sweetie said. “It’s spent a good couple of decades acting as my skull, and the close contact with my brain may have boosted my IQ by a few hundred points.”
Twilight blinked.
Sweetie started back. “I can’t impress on you how much the pain wasn’t worth it, and that is taking into account the thousands of years I’ll have with this IQ.”
“Huh…”
“That being said, there is a good thing,” Sweetie said. “I can create, and have been working on a new wraithbone farm.”
Twilight blinked. “What?”
“Well, the entire point of injecting me with wraithbone was to make me ‘safe’ in the presence of wraithbone, what it actually did, was meld my DNA with that of the wraithbone, which probably also happened with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, now that I think about it.” She shook her head. “Anyway, if magic is a sine wave, and psychic fields are cosine, then my magic and my wraithbone have become Tangent, which allows both energies to react with constructive, rather than destructive interference. Do you follow?”
“I believe I do. But why?”
“Well that’s my preferred medium,” Sweetie answered.
“For what?”
And this time, Sweetie hesitated. She slowly opened her mouth to answer, before closing it again. “Well...well Twilight…” She sighed again. “Twilight, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and I...we’re broken...we can’t go back to our old lives.
“We don’t have old lives. Our best hope here...is to find something to do that somehow relates. Apple Bloom is probably going to be a guard for her entire life. My best hope is to reverse engineer the simplest Eldar machines to make Equestria the most powerful nation on this world, and I have no idea what Scootaloo is going to do…”
The unicorn slumped forward, and the ivory studs that ran down her back became more and more pronounced as she leaned.
“This...this is the best we can do.”
And Twilight nodded, set Sweetie’s notes aside, and hugged the poor mare.
Hugged her for all she was worth.
---=][=---
Scootaloo was bored.
Incredibly, mind-bendingly, disgustingly bored.
For the past thirty years, whenever there was a lull in something to do, she could always kick a grot or start a fight.
Here, however, she knew otherwise. Ponies were too soft to fight with on a regular basis, and she’d probably get in trouble with who-knows-how-many ponies. So, for the first time in thirty years, she had nothing to do.
And so she was bored.
Now, true, she was finding a good bit of joy roaring at ponies that she thought deservered it. “Hey, Mr. Breeze! Remember when you yelled at me for parking my scooter too close to the store? I do. Waaagh!”
She’d admit, she was enjoying the looks of shock and terror that followed her wherever she went, and even more the looks of faint familiarity if they figured it out. It was so fun to watch a pony go from absolute terror to that “Wait...hang on…” look.
Of course, that could only go so far for a mare that had spent so long inundated in violence, and whose main source of entertainment came from beating on beings as big, or smaller than her.
So, with little else to do, Scootaloo wandered Ponyville. She had already wandered over to Sweet Apple Acres, to speak with Apple Bloom, but she was busy gathering apples.
And accidentally knocking trees over and scrambling to put them back in the ground, as the pegasus had witnessed first hand.
Now, lumbering down the streets, Scootaloo sighed, before her bionik eye caught the sight of a sign. The word “Gym” stared back at her, and Scootaloo grunted as a smile spread across her face.
She could afford to show off. At least once.
She burst through the front door, getting the attention of every pony in the building before she also had their fear. Body builders seemed to shrink as her massive bulk walked past. Stallions who already felt inadequate almost whined as they saw her scarred skin and rippling muscles.
Weights and equipment became free before her, and soon there was not a pony in front of her. This suited her fine, of course, as she found the largest piece of equipment, and set the weights to the heaviest she could, a good three hundred pounds. With that, and a slight smirk, she began lifting, pulling the cables with a single hoof, and listening with pleasure as the weights slammed to the top of the machine.
And she didn’t even grunt.
The stallions around her gaped and cowered as she continued to work, never slowing, and never stopping as the weights rang with every powerful pull.
And then there was a new sound.
The sound of weights hitting the ground.
Scootaloo turned, and saw a large, bulky pegasus with a pair of tiny wings. Bulk was his name, if she remembered correctly.
The barbell at his hooves looked to be almost six hundred pounds by itself, and he glared back at Scootaloo with a glint in his eye.
Ah...A challenger approaches.
Scootaloo let the weights back down, before approaching the stallion. She was far bigger than him, both in height, and width, but he stared up at her with a smirk on his face.
Scootaloo grabbed the barbell with a single hoof, and lifted it above her head with ease.
Bulk nodded, before he prepared a new barbell, this time doubling the weight before he lifted that over his head, muscles rippling as a mighty cry erupted from his throat. “Yeah!”
Scootaloo smirked as the barbell hit the floor, and once more lifted it above her head with ease, but she would not let the challenge go unanswered and returned his cry with her own. “Waaagh!”
Bulk grinned, before he moved to first barbell, upping the weight to a thousand, seven hundred pounds. With a powerful grunt, he lifted that as well, with his victorious cry echoing in the room. “Yeeaah!”
Scootaloo let him finish before she answered with her own lift. “Waaaaagh!”
Back and forth they went, lifting more and more weight.
“Yeeeaaah!”
“Waaaaaaagh!”
“Yeeeeeaaaah!”
“Waaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
“Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaah!”
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
Three thousand pounds were soon over Bulk’s head, the bar was bending under the weight. “Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” he roared, veins bulging in his muscles. He dropped it with a grunt, stomping with victory.
Scootaloo looked down at the bar, and decided that it simply wasn’t enough. She needed more. Her eyes danced over the gym, before they settled on one of the machines.
She smiled grabbing the bar as her klaw opened enough for her to grab the machine by its frame. With a heave, she lifted the machine, weights and all, into the air, holding it above her head in such a show that the stallions in the back of the room cowered at the sight of her.
“Waaaaaagh!”
And Bulk, that crazy body builder, ran up to the orkified pegasus by the legs, and strained as he tried to lift her, even as she held everything in her hooves.
And he actually got her into the air.
It lasted only a second, but Scootaloo felt her hooves leave the ground as Bulk literally lifted her from the ground.
And then everything exploded in a mess of weights, steel, and muscle.
Scootaloo burst from the wreckage, laughing, even as she pulled herself and bulk free. “Yous ain’t bad, ya grot!”
“Yeeeaaah!” Bulk answered as he came free.
And Scootaloo laughed.
This wasn’t too bad.
Unfortunately, the gym’s janitor thought differently.
---=][=---
When they were eventually called before Celestia, the Princess finally seemed ready for whatever the girls had for her.
Unbeknownst to all but Sweetie Belle, she hoped so, at least.
“Now, ladies,” Celestia said, sitting as regally as she could. “You three present me a great challenge. Not in this age have I had three of my subjects so changed from their experiences. Never before had we to live with these abilities and mindsets.”
Apple Bloom remained silent.
Sweetie Belle nodded.
And Scootaloo picked through the food in front of her.
“But, both I and my sister have evaluated you, and done our best to determine what duties you will have going forward. Apple Bloom,” Celestia said, addressing the armored Space Marine. "You are to become the head of the Royal Guard. Your training, unfortunately, outmatches that of even my best guards, and Luna has assured me that your loyalty is beyond question. Thus, I find there is no greater duty for you.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Give the Primarch my thanks.”
Celestia blinked. “Who?”
“Primarch Luna?” Apple Bloom said.
“Do you mean Princess Luna?”
“Is that not what I said?”
Another blink, before the Princess shook her head. “Very well. Sweetie Belle.”
The unicorn looked up. “My sister’s and Princess Twilight’s analysis of your abilities, intellect, and ability with technology both agree that you should take a place amongst our scientists, and that you shall become the Royal Engineer, in charge of creating new technologies for the good of Equestria.”
“The witch is becoming the Fabricator-General?” Apple Bloom asked aloud.
“Are you questioning your Princess?” Sweetie asked.
Apple Bloom did not answer.
“Scootaloo,” the Princess said, trying to ignore whatever headache was about to develop between the two. “You were perhaps the hardest to determine. You came from a culture that only destroyed, and did not create. You have might, but not the discipline for my guard, and the intellect, but not the technology for the position of Engineer.”
“Probably for the best,” Scootaloo commented. “Don’t think ponies could use ork techy-ology.”
Celestia blinked at the not-word that just came from Scootaloo’s mouth before continuing. “It took many hours, but it was finally Discord that came with an answer for us.”
“Glad I could help,” a new voice said, and all eyes turned to the draconequus that stood behind them.
Botler, klaw and wraithbone blades were suddenly bared, all pointing at Discord.
“Is this how you thank friends?” Discord asked.
“Sorry,” Sweetie Belle growled. “Force of habit.”
“We have been taught the forces of Chaos are not to be trusted,” Apple Bloom finished. “Much less tolerated.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Discord said, before floating across the room. “As the good Princess was saying, I found a very nice opportunity for our orange-feathered friend.” He slithered in the air, snaking around the throne as he smirked. “As you might have noticed, or remember, Ponyville is quite the interesting place! All sorts of fun things happen there, but...as dear Celestia continues to remind me, ponies don’t deal well with Chaos.
“As it so happens,” Discord continued, “Chaos lives in all sorts of little places around this lovely country. Everfree Forest, Ghastly Gorge, Froggy Bottom Bogg, even the San Palomino Desert has a few monstrous nasties that need dealing with, and while I’m sure that dear Fluttershy would berate me to no end on sending such a powerful fighter to attack ‘such defenseless, noble creatures,’ I’m sure with some proper direction, however, you would make an excellent Protector of the Realm.”
“So…” Scootaloo began. “My job is fighting things?”
“Big, monstrous, scary things, with many, many teeth,” Discord confirmed.
The pegasus grinned. “Dat sounds propa orky!”
“I’m glad you agree,” Discord said with a smile. “You have one last day of freedom before your duties begin, plenty of time to get settled, make plans...all of the...usual items,” Discord said. “Personally, I think you are all going to enjoy this. I know I will.”
And with that, he popped out of existence.
---=][=---
Apple Bloom was quick to get to work.
As would any Space Marine given charge over the Emperor’s armies.
She immediately called for the guard to gather, and was quick to take stock. “So this is it? Celestia’s finest warriors?”
They said nothing, their discipline keeping them silent as Apple Bloom criticized them. They stood in a small courtyard in the castle proper, with training dummies and archery targets to one side.
“I have seen penal regiments with more discipline,” she continued, watching as they grit their teeth. “If you had to live one day of the battles I faced you would be dead for sure.”
Still nothing. The guard stood with an acceptable amount of discipline, and Apple Bloom was pleased with the thought that, at least, she would not need to reform that part of their training. Still...she would be remissed if she didn’t push that to its breaking point.
She walked down the line of soldiers, looking the up and down as she passed them. She stopped before a guard, staring at his spear before ripping it from his grasp.
He was shocked by the utter strength of the mare, and released the spear haft before he even really knew what had happened.
“What is this?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Ma’am, a spear, ma’am.”
She took the spear in two hooves and snapped it like a twig. “This is a toy,” she corrected. “The tip is dull, and I could see your sorry attempt to secure the head with tape.”
The guard said nothing.
A stallion down the line pawed the ground.
Apple Bloom smiled. “Ah...there’s the weakness.”
The armored mare marched down to the pawing guard, and stared down at him. “Do you have something you wish to say soldier?”
The guard glared up at her, teeth grit. “Ma’am, I think you are setting an impossible standard. I doubt that you have seen a real penal regiment, much less a disciplined one.”
The Left Hand of Gabriel shot forward, and it’s stubby barrel pressed against the guard’s helmet. “Are you calling me a liar, soldier?”
The guard laughed. “What even is this? Some kind of toy?”
Apple Bloom smiled, before her mechadendrite aimed at one of the training dummies at the end of the yard. And she fired.
The guards shook as the sound of thunder roared in the courtyard, and fire spat from the mouth of the bolt pistol. The sound was so deafening, that nopony noticed the sound of shattering wood as the dummy exploded.
When they looked, all they saw was the wooden debris of the dummy, and the smoking stake where it once stood.
“Any further questions?” Apple Bloom said, pointing her bolt pistol back at the guard.
“Y-you wouldn’t…” he muttered, staring down the barrel with fear.
“I would,” Apple Bloom growled. “But I won’t. Not yet. Equestria does not have the intergalactic population required to simply be rid of every failure we come across. Of course, if you continue to fail your Princess, then I’m sure we can find a replacement.”
The guard cowered, even as Apple Bloom raised her bolt pistol. “You shall begin your new training with training your heart, for the heart is the center of the man. Er...pony. If the heart is strong, then the pony is strong. If it is weak, then the pony should not live. Begin with five laps around Canterlot Castle. If you do not complete this within ten minutes add another five laps.”
There was a groan from the guards. “That’s impossible!”
Apple Bloom towered over the soldier who had spoken out. “Correct! It is impossible! But you are Celestia’s chosen!”
The guards went silent.
“You are to be her tools, her voice, her hooves! If she wishes something done you must complete it! If she wishes the impossible, you must do it!”
Not a word from the guard.
“If you are to serve her,” Apple Bloom continued, “then you must serve her better than anyone else can. You will do the impossible for her, understand?”
There was nod.
“Good,” Apple Bloom said. “When you finish, you shall begin your second exercise. You shall attempt to kill me. That is an order. Begin.”
The guards ran away, beginning their laps even as Apple Bloom watched them go.
“You’re going to have them kill you?” a voice asked behind her, and Apple Bloom turned to see Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo approach her.
“I am going to have them try,” Apple Bloom said. “If they are to face creatures many times their size, then they will need practice.”
Sweetie Belle sighed. “Shall I inform the palace doctors?”
Apple Bloom smiled. “It would not be unwise.” The Space Marine clipped the bolt pistol to her side before returning her sight to the Royal Engineer. “What of you? Have decided to begin working?”
“I have been setting up wraithbone gardens around Canterlot, simply to prepare a supply before I begin.” Sweetie Belle said.
“An’ she’s promised me a new choppa!” Scootaloo told her.
Sweetie Belle sighed. “I said eventually. The first things I need to do are begin to recreate the city’s power system, and attempt to recreate the power generators.”
“This still seems wrong,” Apple Bloom said.
Sweetie Belle turned to the space marine with a raised eyebrow.
“But the worries of the past galaxy are not necessarily present here,” she said, in a tired, practiced voice.
Sweetie nodded, approving. “As I was saying, once I do that, then I can work on Equestria’s armament. Speaking of, Apple Bloom, may I have one of your bolts?”
“My bolts?” she asked.
Sweetie nodded. “Well, you have a very limited number of rounds, and while I will not be able to recreate them perfectly, I do intend to do my best to keep a steady supply of ammunition flowing.”
Apple Bloom slowly nodded. “Well, you are the Fabricator-General…” she said, ejecting one of the .75 caliber rounds from her bolter.
“Thank you!” Sweetie said, snatching the bolt from the air. “This one’s going to be interesting.”
“I’m glad you find such joy from this,” Bloom replied in a deadpan.
“Personally, I think it’s wonderful she’s enjoying her work.”
Weapons were quickly brandished at the sound of Discord’s voice, and the draconequus smiled as he floated above them. “Is this going to be a habit?”
“Naw,” Scootaloo said. “One day we moight shoot ya.”
Discord nodded. “Yes, well it’s good to see you’re settling down, I wanted to check on you all before I let you loose and all, it’s just…” he hesitated, and his eyes narrowed. “Just...keep your ears open for anything...strange.”
The ponies all looked between each other, before Discord smiled.
“Well, have fun, my dears! I must be off! It’s guys night tonight, and Spike will kill me if I miss it! Toodles!”
And with that, he disappeared.
---=][=---
At an unknown location, at an unknown time, in a galaxy that was forever at war, Commander Kraagan strode into a room.
The room was large, ornate, and filled with screens and various machines that chugged a strange, purple liquid through glass pipes. The pipes ran through the room, filling it’s atmosphere with a chilling, violet glow. Black and green fabric ran across the ceiling, in a vain effort to hide the pipes from anyone nearby.
Kraagan sighed as he stepped inside, finally in a place that was not covered in Chaotic sigils, and took a moment to enjoy the air.
“There you are,” Kraagan said to Kraagan as he entered. “I was worried that you would have me face him alone.”
The one that entered stared at his counterpart. He stood in the center of the room, leaning over a desk and staring into a black screen.
“The thought crossed my mind,” the arrival said, before removing his helmet.
A handsome face met Kraagan. Bald, but chiseled, and...almost too handsome for a champion of Chaos.
The other the Kraagan shook his head, before removing his own helmet to reveal an identical face. “You would, too,” he said, before smiling.
“Has he called?”
“No, not yet,” the one at the desk said, before pouring two goblets of wine, “but give him enough time and—”
“No, no, no, Alpharius,” a new voice said, and both turned to the screen to see a draconequus staring back at them. “What you are supposed to say is ‘if you speak of the devil, he will appear.’”
“Discord,” Alpharius, Primarch of the Alpha Legion greeted.
“Omegon, how are you?” Discord asked.
“Well enough,” Alpharius’ twin answered.
“Good, good,” Discord nodded, “because I have some words for the both of you.”
“Was something wrong?” Alpharius asked.
“Wrong?” Discord growled. “No, no, you delivered. I asked for three soldiers to stop the war I saw coming, and you delivered. You also said that they wouldn’t be gone long.”
Omegon spoke up. “We did, however, almost every one of our teams failed to find the girls within the first few moments of landing. However, I think you’ll find the increased variability in their cultures to be more beneficial to your country.”
Discord did not look amused. “You were to have them for six years, train them, teach them, make them practically immortal, and prepare them for war. Instead, they have been gone five years on this side, and are absolute monstrosities! Thier sisters hardly recognize them!”
“We did what we could,” Alpharius said, “but more importantly, we made them ready. They will deal with whatever problem you have, and your country will be better prepared for any future events.”
“Yes,” Discord growled. “You have, and I will hold up my end of the bargain. Your little project will have everyone arrive on time, and where they need to be. But I want you two to know, that I am not happy.”
They nodded.
And then the screen went dark.
“Well,” Omegon said. “That could have gone worse.”
“Yes, yes it could,” Alpharius agreed, before raising his goblet. “Well, at least our plans will come to fruition. We were successful.”
“Barely,” Omegon noted, before taking his own goblet. “They could have died so many times.”
“You worry too much, brother,” Alpharius said, clasping his twin’s shoulder. “We succeeded. This marks the beginning of a new era, a new age. With the Cabal’s help, we will shape the future of the galaxy.”
Omegon smirked. “Hydra Dominatus,” he said, holding his goblet up for a toast.
Alpharius smiled as he met his brother’s chalice. “For the Emperor.”
---=][=---
“Abhor the Night, it is the Light that Endures!”—Imperial Thought of the Day
Just an epilogue to go!
"It's gonna be fun!"
By the way, if any of you wonder, the so called "project" Discord mentions.