//------------------------------//
// Auxilia 
// Story: Adepta Sororitas: The Tale of Canoness Sunset Shimmer 
// by ratedoni 
//------------------------------//

Part 1: Train into the Battlefield

If the scene outside the window was beautiful, he didn’t even notice. The man known as Edmund Blackadder simply took a seat after walking through the other train carts, his job done and ready to take a breather. It had been simple; just take note of things that they had in storage, the soldiers that were ready, see if everything was where it was supposed to be and that’s it. Not exactly the job that was life altering, but he understood that organization was everything in the battlefield.

Sure, many soldiers would die this day, but it won’t be him. In fact, if everything went right, no human will end up harmed. Yes, they were fighting the forces of chaos and will have to hold the line as hundreds of ponies - he still laughed at those words - gallantly trotted across the frozen lands of the north and into the thick of battle. Why he wasn’t nervous? Because unlike Vastani, instead of going over the trench lines and be mowed down in an instant, this time the Astra Militarum were to hold the back, offer assistance and then spring the trap that their official had developed.

Looking into the data slate with the name and orders for the different units currently on the train, Blackadder let himself smile knowing that, at least this time, things weren’t that out of hand, or at least if you were a member of the Imperium of Man.

“Gentlemen, prepare yourselves, we will reach the North lands’ frontline in exactly a minute, that is if the railroad system in this backwater planet does work as promised,” he said taking a rather old looking pocket watch form the inside of his officer jacket. Captain Blackadder, he liked that title. Since they had no real organization, what with their officials currently lost among the void, at least hopefully,  a reorganization of the troops was required and he had been blessed with the luck of not being sent first into the fire.

“Then a minute until we fight for honor and die for the glory of the Emperor against those vile warp sucking monsters of Chaos!” The annoyingly cheerful voice at his side made Edmund wince in annoyance. Sadly not every soldier in the army had self-preservation in mind. Blackadder wasn’t stupid. He knew that any other commissar would have gladly, leave that, gleefully, kill him due to his heretical views on the battlefield, but here, under the guidance of a war tactician of the caliber of Canoness Sunset Shimmer, well, it was not cowardly to plan for victory.

Edmund was not a coward, merely an intellectual that wanted to win without having to lose 80% of his body on the battlefield. Sadly the rest of the universe didn’t share his views and had dealt him a bad hand.

He had come very close to dying already back in Britannia, since his military career had come to an abrupt end and he was stripped of his command, his lands and his title by his brother, becoming in the end a simple peasant and all the horrors that the word carried with. It was set up, he knew that, everyone knew, but nobody would talk in his favor.

Then, as if his planet was mocking him, he was swiftly redrafted by a man with more bravado than mind, something that afflicted half of the known universe and would have died a disgraceful death and buried in a mass grave, unremembered and without honor in Vastani.

“Tell me George, before you left the planet, who did you lend your only brain cell?” One of the worst things about being part of the Astra Militarum, was the fact that they were mostly the cannon fodder of almost every single battle, and so he hoped that this time things would work out different. “If you had a working brain you will know that we are not here to affix bayonets and blindly charge the enemy while dying by the billions. First of all, there are little more than three hundred of us and I’m sure our Holiness will find that distasteful. Second, the ponies are the ones ready to do that for us.”

At his last word, the train quickly decelerated and they could see something in the distance. From their location, they could see light reflecting on the obviously artificial construction of crystal and magic, but now the land was red and black, with thick clouds of ash and miasma engulfing the sky like the rotten void-infested place that the Crystal Kingdom had become.

“Now, let us go into the battlefield with the certainty of achieving victory without falling into such madness, shall we?” With those words he stood up, as the rest of his Britannia troops and members of several other planets that had been united for this siege.

“Are you all ready to die in the name of the Emperor? We are all going to rush the city!” And just as they all had their first taste of the bitter cold of the north, they had the pleasure of having the worst kind of reception, by someone that had clearly lost their mind.

“I was about to ask you if you were mad, but the presence of the trench coat, gas mask and the fact that everything that you are wearing has been dyed bright blinding pink is enough proof of that.” Not to mention the hair that was also spilling from underneath the helmet and mask, bright pink that was completely straight.

“You in charge of these maniacs?” a rather rough looking and big-of-body pony trotted in the direction of Blackadder. “These fellas have been nonstop asking about storming the city.” The pony was one of the biggest Blackadder had seen since they arrived at the planet and although he wasn’t as tall as the description of the monarchs of the backwater planet, he was muscular enough to be an effective meat shield against bullets and fangs.

“First of all, while I command the Britannia forces, the one in charge is Canoness Sunset Shimmer, so if you have any complaints, I suggest you to direct them to her, although I am in the know that she has very little patience in the field. Last time someone bothered her for something menial, the ‘fella’ ended up being used to search for mines… manually.” Then, Blackadder simply ignored the pony and kept on walking in the direction of the newly made trenches.

If there was one thing the ‘quirky’ soldiers from Krieg were known for, were their fortifications and penchant for anything that signified attrition battles, so he wasn’t surprised about the preparations and how much the place already looked like the perfect place to prepare an initiative and be protected at the same time.

“Wait, what? Look, I’m just here to see everything runs smoothly until Princess Twilight arrives. It’s not my job to get involved into any actual fighting!”

“Well then, today is your lucky day and maybe you won’t die in a horrible and gruesome manner if you follow the plan, which includes the Death Korps too. Now, if you all could please stop ‘horsing’ around, maybe we can get this war on track, shall we?”

Part 2: The Frozen Trenches

The worst part of wearing the standard set of armor in the Astra Militarum was the fact that it was basically just for show when it came to stopping anything bigger than simple standard bullet. That meant that things like environmental hazards were not even a second priority. In fact, protection against those things were nonexistent.

Walking on the newly built trenches, made from digging rocks and ice in record time using Krieg troops and some knowledgeable Equestria stone experts, Felicia rubbed her arms to heat herself up. Her cheeks and nose were red due to the cold seeping through the whole place and not even breathing into her gloved hands helped her recover.

Looking around the trench, she watched the ponies already preparing for the first assault, with their shiny armor and medieval style weapons and quickly decided that even her armor was a better choice than that.

Looking at their groomed fur and brushed manes, she had half a mind of skinning one of them just so she could gain a fur coat. Thinking about it made Felicia remember her home and the days she spent hunting with her father. Of course, those animals were simply dokram elks, not ponies that were able to talk. Besides, it would be seen in bad manners to skin one of their recent allies so soon… maybe.

Resigning herself to the cold, Felicia resumed her walk along the trenches. She was nervous, but it was clear she wasn’t as nervous as the ponies that were preparing for the first part of the battle plan, and she thought she was a nervous wreck once she was drafted into the military. Well, it was clear that knowing one would die in the name of the emperor made one more ready to fight than being pacific quadrupeds that had no clue what will be their end.

Maybe that was the reason why she began to walk around instead of taking shelter underneath some of the installed tarps around the camp. She had changed in the last several weeks, no, what had changed was who was commanding them all.

It was not just a sergeant, a captain or a commissar. It was one of the daughters of the Emperor, a Canoness that had been tested by battles so harsh that many couldn’t believe that she and her main unit - those Sisters that had been with her since the beginning - were still alive and ready to fight at a moments notice in the name of the Emperor and his people. As a soldier of the imperium, she had brought with her the knowledge and certainty that the Emperor saw after them and that she would die in his name, protecting everything that the Emperor had created, that is if she ever died considering how good she was in the field.

It was this knowledge, her words, her presence and courage that made Felicia and the others follow Canoness Sunset on this world, on this assault. Felicia may not be that smart, or brave to be sincere, but there was something in the Canoness which resonated within her, as if her words had the light of the Emperor behind them.

She had to see with her own eyes how these ponies prepared themselves, how sure they were of their victory thanks to their own ‘sun goddess’ and she found them wanting. She, a mere soldier among trillions had more courage and conviction than them, so, if she was like this then, how much more amazing was the Canoness? She would have kept on going in her head, but she had to fight back a squeak of surprise as an object flew in front of her.

Quickly looking around to see if anyone had heard her rather humiliating sound, she found one of the many servo-skulls flying right in front of her, one of the sockets blinking red and apparently… pointing somewhere? Looking in that direction Felicia saw that there was a point in the distance. No wonder she didn’t know what was going on considering that the object still seemed so far away.

As it got closer, Felicia could start seeing several dots appearing alongside it, dots that grew bigger until she could see why the servo-skull, a machine that had better things to do than pointing to the sky, had started beeping. It was a chariot pulled by pegasi and Felicia almost rubbed her eyes wondering if what she was seeing was right.

Since arriving at the bizarre planet of Equus (seriously, who names their planet like that), Felicia had been surprised time and time again at the strange things going on. Give her a normal lasgun or even make her ride on top of a Rhino, it would be less weird than seeing two flying horses getting closer as they pulled a golden cart with the smallest princess of the bunch.

Seeing it get closer to the trenches, Felicia turned around at the other side, at the city that was a cesspool of monsters, demons and destruction and was half expecting an artillery strike, maybe some AA fire. Here was one of the highest ranking members of the local society and nothing was happening? Maybe she was just a little paranoid.

As the two white guards landed in front of Felicia, she saw that many of the pony soldiers made some kind of weird bow; it was maybe a bow since Felicia didn’t understand how a horse could bow. Meanwhile, the humans were busy transporting things here and there and didn’t even blink at the new guests.

Only Felicia stood there, watching how the purple winged pony came out of the cart, with a look in her face that was strangely familiar. In fact, it was a look that Felicia saw every single morning in the mirror. It was the look of certain doom and not knowing what will happen next. Felicia would have felt pity and certain camaraderie, if it weren’t for the fact that it was a xenos and that would be heresy.

Part 3: Princess in the Frost

“Thank you gentlecolts, I will be alright from here.” Twilight’s smile, or attempt of a smile was as clear as the snow falling down on the trenches, but the guards that had escorted her didn’t even blink before going once more into the air and starting the long journey back to Canterlot. As she watched them go, Twilight Sparkle felt a little lost. Last time she had seen guards flying away with the golden cart, she had been with Spike and they had just arrived at Ponyville. It felt like a lifetime ago; it was probably a lifetime ago since she had ascended.

Last time, they had been delivered on the best place she had ever known, a place that had truly become her home and where all her precious memories had been made. Now, she had been transported to another place, one so far removed from her home that made her shiver and it was not because of the cold.

The Northern lands were as inhospitable like the last time she had visited the place, with winds that never stopped blowing and snow accumulating everywhere. It was a reminder for Twilight that even with all the advancements in weather control, there were places that will never be tamed.

The last time she had been in this place, her brother and babysitter had been there, ready to defend the crystal ponies alongside the rest of her friends. This time, there were only soldiers ready to march into what could very well be their death and she could do nothing but watch.

It was true that she had been asked - more like forced - to participate in this historical event, the day where ponykind once more marched into war, but Twilight didn’t find this historical or important. It was only madness and she was trapped alongside every single pony. She just wasn’t sure who to blame; the mad pony in the crystal spire, or the mad human that had been once a pony.

She knew the truth now, but she wasn’t sure of what to feel; betrayed maybe? Put aside? Non-important? It was hard to say with so many emotions mixed and no real time to process everything that had happened. That’s why she knew the world was falling into madness.

Around her, soldiers newly conscripted, veterans that had been recalled from Equestria’s borders and ponies that had joined to protect their land, they were all together, moving around, prepared as they stood in the trenches made out of snow and rock. As they saw her, they saw the wings, the appendages that had been glued to her body and quickly bowed down at her, in reverence to an ideal that she was not even close to. She was only a mockery, a forgery of an alicorn and she felt this was a huge joke from destiny.

As they bowed in respect others walked in her direction, creatures that towered over her and truthfully, even before knowing the truth about Sunset Shimmer, the redheaded woman scared her. She had faced dark gods, crazed ponies and monsters without flinching, but this woman was different. It was the presence of a creature that not only had killed, but it was comfortable doing it and that was scary in another level. Is because of her that ponies were trapped in this situation or at least that’s what part of her heart told her.

“Well, her highness is finally here, I believe that will be the last piece before we start the invasion,” The way Sunset looked at her, how she talked, her body language; she may be another species, a biped that had clearly evolved from primates, but she wasn’t one of Princess Celestia’s best students for nothing. Her body was alien and her mannerism as well, but she was capable of seeing the meanings behind them, at least a little bit. Sunset did not look at her with any respect, nor was she that glad to see her and she knew why.

Celestia and she didn’t have the greatest talk after Discord dropped the information bomb on her; it was probably the closest she had been at being mad at the princess, but what she had learned was eye-opener. Was Sunset Shimmer truly helping ponykind due to her real ancestry or was just one last favor for her mentor? She wasn’t sure.

“I received your letter and I am ready to help Equestria in any way I can.” She wanted to show why she had become an alicorn, that she had a responsibility as one of the princesses of the kingdom, even if she herself wasn’t sure if she deserved the wings.

“Alright then, your mission in this battle will be… I’ll tell you in a moment.” Sunset simply turned around at that moment before barking orders to the rest of her people. “Alright everyone, Blackadder, take control of trenches. Also, try to restrain the Krieg Korps. I don’t want them to start the festivities before it is time.”

“Well, seems like I exchanged one trench for another, just instead of the usual mud and vermin I will have to take the ice and horses. Not only that, but I will have to reign in our trigger happy friends. Joy.”

“Keep being that cheery, it will be useful. Chroma, take the other Seraphim and get in position. Siivet, take position with the rest of the squad. What’s the situation with Catachan and the First Fangs?”

“Uh, I’m sure they are in position as well.” Siivet shyly raised a hand, knowing very well how focused their Canoness became when she was about to go into battle.

“Perfect. You, Felicia, congratulations. You are going to be accompanying me in the battle,” Sunset said with her terrifying grin growing the more she thought about what will happen in the battlefield.

“But, I mean, what? Why me?” If anybody asked, she was definitely not whining at that moment.

“Because you were here,” she said laughing at the way in which Felicia basically lost all the self- confidence she had been able to amass the last couple of minutes.

“And me? What will be my part in this battle Sunset Shimmer?” At the world of the purple pony, Sunset’s grin grew even more, which was not a good sign.

“You princess, will stay here and wave around like the nice ornamental princess you are.” The grin and the eyes were a clear indication of how much she enjoyed the words, alongside the baffled and confused looks of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Excuse me, what?”

“Well, isn’t that your only role anyways? It’s a job you are so good at doing from what I’ve heard. Besides, it’s the only thing you are even able to do as princess. Why not do it in front of your adoring ponies?” She then just turned around, leaving Twilight behind as she was trying to recover from the humiliation. After years away, it was nice to finally put the silly little pony back in her place.

“Pardon, my lady.” The distinguished voice of her subordinate made Sunset pay attention to the sister walking on her left. It was a voice she knew very well considering she had become one member of her inner circle, a woman that had been a partner in all the insanity that had become their daily lives as loyal soldiers of the imperium. Her hair had the strange colorations of her birth planet and the sub sector that humans populated in the space controlled by the Empire, but the deep regal purple fit her well.

“Yes Tabitha?” She was not going to make her soldiers quiet down. They were always welcome to comment.

“Not that it wasn’t satisfying to see you put down a dirty xeno, but, was her presence required at all? Or was it only so she could be humiliated? At the least we could use her as a sandbag, not that she has much meat to be useful anyways.”

“Well, it was a little about humiliation and part of a bigger plan that I have. Let us see how that will go on, shall we? It seems things are starting to heat up at last,” The Canoness smirked at the whirling clouds of ash and filth that were starting to move faster on top of the Crystal Kingdom and nightmares were about to be unleashed upon this planet like they have never seen before.

Instead of pristine snowflakes, the air around them started to feel like home to Sunset Shimmer. The air was starting to fill with the tension of the battle and ashes and cinders traveled across the sky instead of the clear snow.

There was the smell of smoke and blood in the air, a smell that filled the ponies with uncertainty, but for the human warriors, it was the beginning of just another Tuesday.

“I suppose this is IT sir,” one of the men said, a tall soldier wearing the Britannia uniform.

“Yes George, we are about to battle the forces of chaos that will gladly tear us apart and do unspeakable things with our orifices. Instead of dying in the middle of mud and barb wire, I suppose we will have to make due with icebergs and snowstorms.”

“Bunch of babies. None of us are going to die, that I can assure you of.” And with those words out of the way, the screaming began, the sky filled with the roar of monstrosities as these began to bloat the sky.

Flying creatures appeared over the skies of what remained of the Crystal Kingdom. Dots were also appearing on the border of the crystal city. Red hooves with no fur stomped on the road until they began to thread the snow that had been piled outside. The roaring husks that had once been citizens now were quickly approaching the direction of the trenches.

“All ponies! Prepare!”  The sound of drums started, a barbaric form of communication on a grand battle making most of the humans sneer in derision. As the drum beat began, ponies of all colors readied their weapons. Putting their right front hoof over their chest something appeared. A blue light appeared in all of them, their hooves now armed and protected by runic technology.

Sunset may have been impressed once, what with the technology in Equestria advancing enough to make swords held by pony’s teeth a thing of the past. They were now light based swords hidden in their hooves as a simple bracelet. Instead, she held her Godwyn-De’az Pattern bolter at her side, a faithful companion in many missions and would still work for many more.

And like that, in just a second, ponies in armor took flight, shoot spells or charged at the incoming enemy.

“Well, it’s showtime.” Sunset’s smirk only grew.

Part 4: The Monster in the Spire.

If one saw into the throne room of the Crystal Kingdom, they would see a woman of beautiful proportions leave bloody footprints on the once reflective floor, the wet sounds of blood slapping against the floor and the droplets being consumed by crazed pets as the endless suffering and feasting continued day by day on the returning kingdom.

Her beautiful face contorted in a grin as she felt the hundreds of creatures appearing on the borders. It was like a feast that was just out of reach. It was a maddening and a torture to hold herself instead of jumping out of the window and begin ripping apart every single one of the small pathetic and cute little ponies in the world.

It was such a punishment what her master had done, letting her fester alongside useless toys instead of taking her on the most fantastic travels across the universes. It was punishment and she loved it. Oh, how her master loved her. After all, she gave her such a cute little toy in the form of Sombra.

Master Noche had said it was an ironic punishment to use Sombra, whatever that meant. She only cared about what she could do for her lord, the one that had saved her from the humiliating existence as a mere ‘mutant’ back when she was just human. Now she was even more and she was going to show these toys what kind of monster she was.

She raised a hand, and hundreds of her creations woke up, their bodies full of sutures, eyes and teeth, gnashing and violent, with hunger born out of the darkness. They were ready to follow their orders without asking why, without thinking about the reasons. They just attacked.

Just seeing the abominations going into frenzy made something in Sombra break. He now knew that whatever kind of hell was prepared for him after being defeated the first time was nothing compared to the existence he had been chained to. He was only a little collared toy instead of the monarch he had been born to become.

His beautiful city now lay in ruins, destroyed and sullied with the rest of what once were its citizens. Sombra may not have loved its citizens. After all, what is a plebeian in comparison with a god like him, but they were his and his to command. Now monsters roamed his city and only Faust knew what will be the fate of the world he had once dreamed of conquering.

And like one, all the monsters rose from their pits and blood pools and like a stampede they all rushed the battlefield, a mass of rage and hunger, all in fervor of their master, an animal that will kill or be killed in the frozen wasteland.

The drool falling from their mouth fell into the snow, dirtying it with every step. The wave of flesh and teeth then got to the place Sunset Shimmer wanted them to be and her smile grew, showing a face that most of her sisters had seen before. It was the look she had when she was about to start her plans.

“ARTILLERY! FIRE THE DRAGON BREATH!” The voice was strong, firm and almost jubilant. It was the sign the men and women with gas masks needed. As one, they pulled back white covers, snow being sent everywhere as monsters of metal were finally revealed, long tubes of death, cannons created on the ever burning Forge Worlds of the Imperium. These were the organs of death and destruction.

The human soldiers knew what they were supposed to do, they had been instructed by the Canoness. They prepared the mortars and with one action of a lever, dozens and dozens of objects were thrown into the air, arching over the trenches and over the soldiers rushing into battle, hitting the floor and in one second, the smell of burning material reached their nostrils as the sunless north erupted into light as hundreds of creatures began to burn.

It was a gruesome sight, but there was no pity for these creatures as the wall of fire from the grenades made their rush stop. Sunset arched an eyebrow at this, which was enough information about what was going on. These were not mindless creatures, cannon fodder that Chaos liked to use as shock forces. Somebody had put attention to them to give some sense of intelligence, or at least self-control to not charge blindly into the incineration bombs that they have prepared the last week.

As this happened, across the battlefield, both on land and air the two armies clashed. She had to be sincere, because while most civilian ponies turned around and ran away at the mere sight of a couple of bunnies, when they had a mission or wanted to fight they became a force to be reckoned. After all, they were in general stronger than normal human beings. Sword and spell clashed against the behemoths; blood and death turned the ice of the north into a red paste as the two sides fought and died, all according to plan.

Then she saw it, the beasts of wings were not looking at the pegasi with armor and lance, they were now looking at something else, something in the trenches, something bizarre, something that was out of place from what they were doing. They were not here just for death, they were here for answers and for power and the power in the trenches was out of proportion for beasts like ponies, and something that was beyond the power of the alicorns… it was the power of the end of the day.

Their screeches echoed. Like one they all opened their mouths and let out the sound, a signal to the one in the center of the city, her smile disappearing and instead of the smirk only surprise could be found.

“Father, you never said that a Sunset would find her way here!” The monster of blades and wings screamed as she ran to the barista, forgetting her toys. What was once only fun was now… a trap? An answer? Whatever it was, the fact that Sunset Shimmer was here, when none could be found before did not fare well. “Is this why you told me to come here? Did you know Sunset was here? Well, this make things so much fun!” But just as she was enjoying the new information, something happened. From the other side of the city, a convoy was coming closer, calling for the attention of those still residing in the city. Monsters of no soul heard it coming closer and were ready to jump on it.

Only bullets of a charged weapon were their answers as the man on top of its wagon kept firing, their bodies torn apart by the powerful bullets as it came closer and closer. The train kept on going with the front going through the snow with its special front. Its compartments alone, empty of anyone.

The man on top of the train quickly felt the change in the air, of the chaos and destruction in the city, but also the hair on his neck stood up, the sense of danger appearing and making him take sudden action, jumping from the top of the train as at that moment the city block that was close to the train tracks became rubble as the train and the wagons exploded becoming a ball of fire, killing all creatures that were close to it.

He was sent through the air, spiraling as he was rocked by the force of the explosion until he crashed into the snow. His body was thrown with such force that he began to roll into the piled up snow until at last, he stopped in the middle of it all. Slowly, he stood up, the glimmering lights of the shield around his body catching the light of the flames, the wreckage of the train and the bodies of the monsters being the only witness of such mayhem.

“Geez, shoulda known that a Sunset from 40K would be crazy enough to use this tactic, guess insanity is a common trait among all the Sunsets.” He cracked his back and as he stood on that position, he saw the monsters, creatures of chaos… and at the same time they weren’t. “So… you guys are the reason why this whole town was painted red.” He turned to his sides, but he couldn’t find the weapon he had been holding a moment ago, but just as the creatures were ready to pounce on him, his briefcase appeared from under the snow, opened up and spit a new weapon into his hand. “Well, what do you know? Name’s Architect, what should I get you?” And like that, with explosions, bullets and bombs, the War for the Crystal Empire had begun.