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// Finis 
// Story: Adepta Sororitas: The Tale of Canoness Sunset Shimmer 
// by ratedoni 
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Part 1: Death Field

It was bloody. It was brutal, and it was something that ponies needed to remember. Many have died or been injured, but they were finally fighting and they were alive because of that. How ironic that while they were being ‘protected’ by their Immortal Princess, they had forgotten this part of themselves and had grown… weak. There was no other way to put it.

Ponies were pacifistic by nature, they said; that they were weak was widely known. They preferred to hug and prance around. That was not true in the past. Were they protected by virtually ageless royalty? Sure, but they needed the present situation to open up their eyes and go back to what they were, a true race of warriors, spell casters and warlords. It was a heritage that they had to win back with steel and aether.

For millennia they had existed as a civilization, surrounded by literal monsters that could tear down a city in minutes, but even then, they survived, they thrived and now… well, they fought for their right to exist on the planet. Of course, it was a lot easier to survive when you had behind you the powerful military arm of an alien species that seemed as ready to tear down these monsters as Equestria’s military branch. While ponies liked sweets and parties, there were still psychopathic bastards in all the militaries of every single freaking species in the multiverse, so a little bit of blood and gore was just what the doctor, or combat medic, ordered to gain back some of their old battle honor.

While many of the troops were fighting and dying in the middle of nowhere for a piece of land that, let’s be honest, was not that important in terms of tactical importance or even financial, they were fighting because well, it was theirs to begin with, even if technically it had been lost for a millennia due to dark unicorn shenanigans; but Celestia dammit, if they had a princess that had been lost for that same amount of time then things like one thousand years was not an excuse to let freaks of nature take possession of your stuff just because.

So they were dying, by the dozens, probably by hundreds if it weren’t for the superior cover of several mobile anti-air artillery Hydra tanks that were used expertly by the soldiers with the most experience in trench warfare in the whole fucking multiverse known as the Death Korps. There was artillery, there was fire and there was carnage, because in the dark grim future, there is only war. It only took a little longer for ponies to know that.

But, I have to give credit where credit is due; even if they were just a backwaters, dirty and horrifying xeno scum species, they were showing courage, they were showing grit, they were showing the honor of the Equestrian Forces, they were - “I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” Oh dear Man Emperor of Mankind, seems like not everyone was born for the battlefield.

This certain Pegasus was seen being used as a ragdoll by a particularly humongous red creature with big teeth and equally big sadism and equally opposite size of brain, as this poor young fellow was being twirled around as if he were a mace or a new dog’s chew toy. That is until the tail simply gave up the fight and the pegasus was launched through the air as the creature was left with only the colorful remains of a tail, just before an autogun round pierced its eye and exploded into gore and brain matter as the bullet laid waste to another monster in the wasteland.

The young soldier, one Zephyr Breeze had been chosen for the unenviable task of defending the land of the free, better known as Equestria. Sadly for this young stallion, the grim reality of it all was that there is no great honor in dying for your or another country. Neither was great honor to be an irredeemable coward that was just wasting space and oxygen, but by the looks of the hound like creatures that had jumped onto him as he landed from his impromptu trip, well, he won’t have to be a coward for very long.

And then.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

No tearing of mortal flesh or defenestration of the material creatures on this world. No, there was something else, something calling them… something more dangerous than them for sure.

 

Part 2: Know your Enemy

Things didn’t make much sense really, not in the attack. After all, Chaos forces usually didn’t have much sense beyond attacking new worlds and doing despicable, horrific things with fleshy stuff, at least as much as he knew about it since Architect never really did many jobs for the Imperium, at least officially of course.

The higher ups in the Imperium and people in charge in general around that galaxy were more likely to say he was a heretic and try to kill him on the spot, declare him a worthless Mon-Keigh or tried to slave him just to send him into the Flesh Laboratories. The last two situations always ended with their demise… more clientele lost. Oh well.

Even if technically he was a heretic, since he knew what the Emperor really was and where the idea of him being a god came from and considering dear Emps was a little indisposed for the last ten thousand years, things didn’t seem like it would change... Fucking Horus.

Going back to the creatures, well, they didn’t make sense in the way everything felt, with so many generic looking creatures attacking in hordes without any real idea of strategy. They acted more like automated flesh dolls than real forces of chaos. Sure, they were ugly, grotesque and usually had great scythes or mauling appendages, followed by serrated teeth ready to tear and chew everything in sight, but it was something that he already expected from these things. So, maybe Khorne’s creatures? They looked a little like them, but it was still a toss considering the forces of Chaos and the dangers of the Warp.

Following behind the Cobalt 19th, he had ample time to notice how… left alone the whole place was considering this was supposed to be territory under the occupation of forces from inside the Warp. It was still a solid construction so that was… bizarre? No bleeding pile of flesh, no ripped spines and impaled skulls, no writing, spasming and howling bodies of tortured beings, so, yay?

Even if he hadn’t really toured the ample galaxy that was consumed by nothing but war and death extensively, no matter how profitable that action would be for him and the forces of the Imperium, he knew a little about attacks from Chaos and had some experience helping a group or two of their groups, so this was just ringing so many alarm bells on his head and as they went deeper and deeper into the palace he kept wondering, who really was behind this job?

Why was he summoned exactly into this place? It wasn’t weird to get a job inside one of these strange locations from time to time. After all, his clientele was usually those that had to do dangerous jobs, but not something this secretly.

Still, if this was supposed to be a special delivery inside the palace, he will finish the job and deliver the special item. After all, this was his job… his self-appointed job, but it was a job nonetheless. Taking down monsters like the ones in front of the group was simply a bonus considering how much knowledge he was getting, from their body physiognomy to the way they broke apart with enough bullets, and not even the strong calibers that most Space Marines and Sisters used, these were a little more powerful than the usual ones the Imperium gave to its soldiers, which Architect knew very well that any weapon on his armory was stronger than anything they could pack.

So, strange creatures that were powerful enough to destroy technologically deficient societies, but weak enough to only present an obstacle to warmonger species. This did not seem normal, even for the weird things that kept happening all across the multiverse. It just felt inorganic enough. Still, a job was a job and he was all for helping take down whoever was behind all this.

One more bullet and the group quickly reached the main entrance of the palace, just to see the incoming plowing train leave its mark on the ground as it quickly rammed against the front door and in a shower of snow and debris, the secure and ancient relic made on the first era of the first Empress was no more than a pile of crystals in the path of progression, or just a steel machine of several tons of weight driven by some of the most destructive creations since forever.

“No matter what happens, that woman keeps surprising me. Who else would use a train like a battering ram?!” he exclaimed while kicking one more monster as the snow that the train had kicked upwards came back slowly almost like a winter miracle... if you didn’t take notice of all the blood and viscera around the place.

“Haven’t met the commander for a long time, but I can say that her tactics are effective.”

“Of course Sunset Shimmer is effective, but if there is a problem, there is ALWAYS a Sunset involved in it. I swear, they are a freaking magnet when it comes to stuff like this.” And just like that, the siege of the Crystal Kingdom had skipped some parts of it, like the long siege, but at least they had jumped to the fun part.

 

Part 3: Inside the Crystal

As the Cobalt members plus one where doing the last sweep outside of the gleaming and towering castle, from the train came out several power armored forces, one masked soldier and a robed woman that held a shell shocked alicorn on her long griping tentacle. It would have been a little comical if Twilight Sparkle wasn’t so completely confused and flabbergasted at the whole situation.

Thankfully, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at things, there was no welcoming group inside the castle. In fact, everything seemed quiet, surprisingly so considering the amount of carnage at the outskirts of the city. Not that there wasn’t inside the castle.

It was grotesque to see what kinds of sadistic and malevolent actions had taken place, with many still rotten bodies of ponies littering the floor, their still crystal like skin looked out of place in the middle of the blood and gore in the floor and the walls.

Bodies hanging from hooks, rotten corpses half eaten that had never been cleaned, maids that had been killed still showed the damage they had suffered before being killed, with many showing blood and marks on their hind legs and crotch and many other horrible things were still proudly shown on this carnival of destruction.

“Chroma, Siivet, check the perimeter, Tabitha and Starlight, hold the front,” The four Sisters quickly took positions and took their places with aplomb and professionalism. This was not their first battle and they had the training and experience to do something like this automatically. Just as she was about to take position and advance, a glaringly pink colored trench coat called her attention as the user was animatedly waving her arm and pointing at herself, “while you stay at my side and… affix bayonet?” The happy squee was high enough that it could have blown windows as the soldier quickly did that and joined Sunset in their first steps into enemy territory.

“Canoness, what about the pony?” Dangling from the metallic claw, Twilight was clearly still trying to process the destruction and savagery of the invasion, while the Tech-priest Tara was obviously recording data to review later if the lights coming from her other metallic appendages was any indication.

“Keep it close, we may still find some use for her in all of this.” And they went, walking across the apparently empty entrance hall. The once polished floors and perfectly maintained glittering walls and pillars were now a rotten hive, with no light bouncing the building, but still, it did not have the feeling of chaos in it. As the armed arm of the Ecclesiarch and trained day and night to combat the heretic and the chaotic forces of the Warp, they were attuned to the call of daemons and the treachery of their lords, but this place, it had no stench of chaos, no whispers of darkness and promises of power, blood and pure debauchery like any other time they purged that cancer form the Imperial worlds.

It was all consuming, but no god of chaos had their hands on this place and that worried Sunset Shimmer. If this had been just Chaos, then no problem, just burn everything onto the ground, but this, well, this was mysterious and Sunset Shimmer hated mysteries. They only led to more trouble to her and the rest of her troops.

Just as their footsteps took them far enough into the depths of the hall, they all were ready for the doors breaking open and the hordes of monsters barreling in their direction.

“Sisters of Battle! Make them pay!” If there haven’t been enough light before, now the flashes and flames were enough to blind others, but not these fighters. As one of the monsters jumped into their direction, their head was completely blown apart, Sunset’s pistol cut it down before it could do anything.

The sound of static was enough to tell the others that their most savage warrior was ready to intercept and guard their flank as Siivet used her monstrous strength to make her Power Hammer swing, catching a creature right on the left side, sending it flying, then readied herself before hitting downwards, cracking the skull of one more. At her side, her companion went into the air with her jetpack. That was her natural element, using her twin automatic guns she rained lead upon the battlefield, moving everywhere, never staying in place for more than a second, as if she had too much energy to keep calm.

There was an unofficial rule among the Adepta Sororitas organization, which said that everything could be solved with the judicious use of fire… which basically meant BURN EVERYTHING. Nobody followed that creed quite like Tabitha who pressed the trigger on her Multi Melta and with the craziest smile on her face, creatures turned into simple ash, being ripped apart by a weapon that could easily disintegrate armored vehicles. Instead, they were cooked into oblivion.

At her side, being used as the vanguard, Starlight Glimmer held her ground as shot after shot was being vomited by the huge weapon on her hands at such ludicrous speed that it simply ripped apart anything and everything on its path, the bodies falling into the floor as they were cut down by the Heavy Bolter as the warrior kept walking ahead, stepping upon one of the monster’s cadaver in her zealous desire to purge these monsters.

Although she was a researcher at heart, or whatever passed as heart on that kind of body, Tara was a fervent defender of the Omnissiah, and as one, she was more than capable of defending herself and those around her from danger and destruction, with great mechanical retribution. It would have been hilarious in any other situation to see the violet and magenta haired cyborg dispatch the monsters around her with plasma and lasgun coming from her metallic claws coming from her back as one of those claws held up a screaming pony princess. What irony. After all, Twilight was being manhandled by her own human version.

From the back of one of the creatures, a blade ripped through the body and splattered guts and blood across the already defiled floor of the castle, letting go of her lasgun as the monster went down with her bayonet, Diane of the Death Korps unstrapped the shovel on her back and with a mighty swing hit another enemy in its head, hearing the satisfying crunch, then turned around and sliced the head with the edge. Taking something from inside of her coat, she threw a grenade and turning around, she raised her fist as if celebrating the explosion of shrapnel and pink glitter destroying the enemies of mankind

Their leader, the Canoness of their Order was also busy. Already a veteran of many campaigns, the redhead shot each enemy in front of her with cold precision, before unsheathing her power sword and in one hit sliced completely in half another. It was bloody, it was carnage, but it was incredibly elegant the way she moved without wasting time or movements. For years she had honed her abilities becoming a killing machine that was unstoppable as fire. Steel and courage took over the battlefield. That was, until all the warriors were sent flying alongside the remaining of the chaos forces.

Then, everything was silent. No creature got up. Instead, whatever enemy was still alive, stopped and simply turned into dust as steps echoed through the hallway, and Sunset then felt it. A presence so dark it made her wince and quickly get up, her bolter ready to destroy whatever was coming before it had a chance to do anything, her sisters at her side, holding the line, preparing themselves to end this battle right now.



Chapter 4: Silver and Blood

As soon as the outline of a creature appeared at the other side of the hall they all unleashed hell upon it, sending dozens of bolter rounds and then… nothing. Every single round stopped in mid air as the figure stepped into the light pouring from the broken windows showing a tall beautiful woman with a shaved head and a flaming halo slowly rotating above it. Her ragged green and yellow robes left nothing to the imagination to the incredibly toned body.

Her crazed eyes and sickening grin basically mocked Sunset and the Sisters as she simply touched one of the floating rounds and it too turned into simple dust, floating away in the stillness of the corrupted castle.

Sunset was surprised at the abilities of what was obviously behind the attack at the Crystal Empire. She must be an incredibly powerful Psyker to have such a defense against their attacks and then, she noticed what she was holding in the other hand, a long chain that connected to a collared pony, but not just anypony, but the dark coated unicorn that had been once the mighty ruler of this land. It looked emaciated, with patches of fur missing and there was obviously something very wrong with the collar on his neck if the wisps of smoke coming from there was any indication.

“When Father told me to have fun in here, I never thought I would be face to face with one of you, sugar,” the woman said, as if she was enjoying the situation. It was obvious which Chaos deity she followed considering the words and the clothes.

“You better return to Slaanesh at this moment and leave this planet alone you monster, before I send you back to the warp in a tinderbox.” The answer that Sunset Shimmer was expecting did not coincide with the reaction of the woman to her words, as she stood looking at Sunset with a face of deep confusion, as if she didn’t understand what was being said.

“Hold on, what are you talking about? Slaanesh? Oh dear, oh dear, I’m pretty sure there has been a horrible misunderstanding of the situation. I do get the idea of those little things called chaos gods by others, but really, taking me for a follower of something so inconsequential, that is not a very nice thing. I’ll have to teach you a lesson, little girl.” As she kept talking, her face was being contorted more and more into a feral grin, just before the woman seemed to have disappeared on the blink of an eye. 

The woman’s hand about to close around her neck was the next thing Sunset saw as she somehow had dashed their distance so fast she wasn’t able to see it, her mind made everything look almost in slow motion as around her, the rest of her Sisters had absolutely no time to react as the woman’s fingers were about to close around her neck ready to snap it and then, the woman was sent flying into the air.

As the would-be killer of Sunset Shimmer reoriented herself on the air, the redheaded woman let out a gasp, her body sagging in relief and surprise at what had just happened. How had that creature attacked so fast? But before she could try to get answers, the whole unit noticed what had saved their leader.

Floating in the air, there was an object that clearly was projecting some kind of force field around Sunset Shimmer and it was the most inverosimil source that any of them had ever seen.

“By the Omnissiah… is that a briefcase?” The digitally augmented voice of Tara was the first one to be heard as they all watched with open mouths the object currently floating in mid air and obviously creating the force field, a translucent blue energy bubble currently protecting the Adepta.

“Well, you don’t see this everyday.” As soon as Sunset spoke the shield then disappeared and the briefcase flew back into the entrance of the castle just as the rest of the troops she had sent as scouts appeared, accompanied by a man wearing a long red military coat, who simply grabbed the briefcase with one hand.

“The amount of times I end up helping a Sunset Shimmer these days keep piling up. I should start charging a premium. Seriously, it’s getting ridiculous,” the man said just as the demonic looking woman was assaulted by rapid discharges of auto guns and lasguns.

“What in tarnation is that thing?” the unmistakable voice of the leader of the Catachan troops exclaimed as the shots kept being fired with no real damage to the demon. Everything was being stopped by what could only be her own personal energy shield. As all this was happening, both the Mechanicus tech-priest and the Princess of Friendship kept looking at the creature barely being pinned by the constant barrage of lead and energy beams.

While one of them kept recording all the information with her cybernetic parts, the alicorn instead was in awe at the incredible amount of energy that the demonic woman had in her, but it felt wrong. In a way it reminded Twilight of the first time she used the dark magic required to dispel Sombra’s illusion door the time they were searching for the crystal Heart.

“I have no idea and I certainly don’t care, so just unleash everything you have at her!” As Sunset said those words, all soldiers present began to attack the shield, with bolter and melta joining the wave of destruction but with a mighty screech that pushed everyone back due to its power, the woman was once more on the offensive, throwing Sombra’s body ahead of herself, allowing his body to be torn to pieces as she used her clawed hands, ready to maul and cut into pieces every single creature that dared to oppose her.

In a shower of light, two mighty powers crashed against each other as from behind the Catachan regiment, a woman had intercepted the demon, her leg hitting against the clawed hand, sending snow and silver sparks into the air with the force that both hits had.

As soon as it happened, the two opponents disengaged, retreating backwards as the rest of the battlefield were left astonished at the kind of powers that had been shown. Sunset got a good look at the woman and found herself astonished at the strange attire; a full bodied silver armor alongside a long cloak and a silver filigree masquerade finished the strange attire, but in a way, it fitted the woman as a complete antithesis to what they were fighting against.

“Where is your master little puppy? None of you ever get far from Noche’s grasp,” Sunset was sure that everyone else was as confused as she was at this moment considering the last minute’s happenings.

“Wouldn’t you all like to know? My dear Father gave me the tools to have fun this time! it was just my luck that the stupid redhead got involved into all this! Figures Sunset Shimmer would appear on Equestria,” So these two knew each other and somebody named Noche was involved? That seemed like an Umbrum’s name. What was going on and where did this woman come from? Looking at the blonde woman towering over them she just got a raise from her shoulders.

“Ah have no idea who that is Canoness. She just appeared outta nowhere and started to kick ass! Ah thought she was an agent of the Emperor considerin’ she was helpin’ us and all!”

“Is anyone else as confused as I am with all of this? Anyone?” Turning around, all the eyes not currently engaging into furious combat in the middle of the castle looked at the unknown  man. “Is that just me then?”

“No, I’m seriously confused too about all of this and it’s not even the kind of confused like when you go to the mess hall and then forget what you were going to the mess hall to begin with,” the rapid fire words spewed from behind the mask, just added to the whole ridiculousness of the situation.

“Yeah, you are definitely Pinkie Pie!”

“Who in the name of Sanguinius are you and what is going on around here?” For all her training and experience keeping calm around the rather eclectic forces of the Imperium and Equestria, this was reaching new levels of insanity.

“Name’s Architect, at your service. If what you need is a new weapon, building or artifact, I am the person you ask for them, and you must be Canoness Sunset Shimmer. As for what is going on here? You would have a better idea considering I’m just here for a delivery, not to get involved in a battle zone! You’ll have better luck asking her!” he said, quickly raising another shield as powerful flames then were expelled in massive quantities from the demon’s mouth.

At the last second the silver armored woman got inside the shield as she rested for a bit. It had been a long time since she had been in combat against a creature as powerful as this.

“I am Madeleine… that is not my real name, but it’s the one that I took for myself and that, well, that used to be a young woman once by the name of Anna Marie LeBeau.”

“Wait wait wait, that thing is Rogue?! What the hell happened to the freaking world!?” Just as Architect finished saying those words, the shield finally broke, sending them backwards.

“I woke up! I was chosen by our Father! I will make this world into a seed for him and I’m going to enjoy destroying you all!” Her claws, her flames, her sight, everything in her was wrong, created and reshaped by a madman with no regard for existence in general. Bullets did nothing, attacks did nothing and while Madeleine was powerful, she was still new to her form. That’s the reason she was here. That’s the reason why Architect was here. That’s why I brought Sunset and the rest of her squad here.

“Cereza! You better pay me in some freaking way because this was one weird project and even worse place!” Throwing his briefcase, this one opened and something was expelled. It was a beautiful silver winged spear and a shield with a butterfly flew through the air. In the blink of the eye, Madeleine held her new weapons as around her, the energy of the artifacts exploded into hundreds of beautiful butterflies, glittering around the desecrated castle, cleansing it of the darkness. “Silver and Sapphire, twin butterflies. What better weapons for you?”

“I told you, the name is Madeleine now, but I must thank you for this beautiful work. Indeed, butterflies do look good on me. After all, what girl would pass on beautiful accessories, am I right?” The shield was obviously one of a kind, because it not only stopped the claw attack, but it did not buckle against the enormous pressure.

“Cereza, Bayonetta, Madeleine, you change names like you change outfits at this point. So, Miss Nun with Guns, I hope you had a plan coming into this place, because the way I see it, this was an even bigger deal than probably all of us thought so.” The armored women were looking at each other, analyzing the situation that they were in, the enemies and… apparently allies that they had.

“There was… a plan. There is a plan still, it just got a little bit more complicated to enact,” the redhead answered, something that Architect knew would happen. After all, the redhead was always in charge everywhere he went.

“Well, I’m all ears, because right now, I’m pretty sure my pay will vanish if things don’t go right. Most artifacts that I have that could deal with the crazy demon girl here... for a little while maybe, well, I’m pretty sure you won’t like the side effects of those things,” he said as the briefcase containing said artifacts zoomed to his side as if it were a robotic pet.

“Usage of any kind of alien technology is a clear offense to the Omnissiah.”

“Not to mention quite a heretical decision of your part darling.”

“Oh, just calm it down, Emps isn’t exactly someone to frown upon that kind of thing, not that he could, sitting down on that throne and all… Fucking Horus. Besides, I’m not from your empire. I’m just a simple merchant trying to help you deal with what is obviously your enemy. I’ll even do it for free, how about that?” The smile on his face and the finger guns pointing at her made Sunset doubt the words of the man in front of her.

“You look a little too gleeful at going after what is obviously an interdimensional monstrosity.”

“Miss Sunset Shimmer, believe me when I say, dealing with things like that is par for the course of what I usually do, just… not on this scale, because I’m sure that’s not the color the sky was just a few minutes ago.” Everyone then looked upwards, as the sky had not only opened, but something bizarre, or at least more bizarre than usual was happening. The wind had stopped, the monsters were quiet and every soldier on the trenches also saw that the eye of the storm did not show the endless sky or the red hues of the end of the day. No, it was worse than everything they had fought so far.

“By the Emperor… is a portal to the warp.” With these words from Canoness Sunset Shimmer, hell poured into Equestria, with what seemed like millions of winged beasts and horribly deformed creatures descending on mass onto the surface.

“Well, hope your plan had a contingency for whatever the hell is happening because I did not see that coming!” As the holocaust made flesh started their descent, every battery, every gun, every mage unleashed lead, explosive and concentrated mana into the heart of the deadly wave of horrors falling into Equus beneath it. In the heart of the city Sunset Shimmer quickly took out her communicator.

“Blackadder, initiate the countdown! Then retreat to the assigned location! We will try to reunite with the main forces as fast as we can! Everybody, move, move, move!” As every single member of the Imperium inside the castle began to run in the direction of the exit.

“Waitwaitwait, what is this plan you are talking about?” Firing a new weapon being dispatched from his trusty briefcase at one of the falling demons, Architect began to run alongside the human soldiers.

“In case we couldn’t defeat the creature in charge of the invasion, the plan was to explode the whole city to cinders to cut the infection in time from the caverns underneath the city! So now, unless you also want to die alongside these monsters, I suggest you run!” While it was true that the crystal caverns underneath Canterlot were much bigger and could contain much more explosive material, the tunnels underneath the frozen lands had been built by Sombra to contain most of his forbidden artifacts and grimoires.

“Yeah well, good choice as a plan B. Sadly I don’t think your bombs will do much with the new portal up top unless you torpedo the planet until it’s glass. Better alternative! Madeleine!”

“A little… busy… here!” With every stab, parry and dodge around the battlefield, it was clear that the silver armored woman was more than a little busy fighting against the once human Rogue in a deadly dance.

“Yeah, I know, tag me in and take these guys out of here!” As if they had enough time to practice the move, Madeleine did a flip backwards as Architect ran in their direction and quickly slided underneath the other woman, quickly tagging the fighter at the moment.

“Hope you have a good idea for what is going on, because unless we deal with the massive invasion at the top, this world is doomed.” The man dodged a clawed hand as the briefcase opened up completely vertically and a rocket was fired from the inside, staggering the corrupted woman and throwing her backwards, leaving them some time for whatever he was planning.

“I have one. Penny, come here, I need the Build artifact!” It wasn’t exactly the name I would have given to a moving briefcase, but I suppose it works as this one quickly dashed up to its owner and from the inside, three things were shot out. In this case, a strange metallic belt and two rectangular bottles. They glowed with eerie energy on the inside, one almost white and the other in deep blue. “Not courtesy of Sento, but I’ve seen his work enough times to try and make myself something similar. Just shake it, push the button on the top and then take everyone out of here.” He put the blue bottle on Madeleine’s hand.

“What about you?”

“I’ll deal with the big ones up top, but whatever the fuck Observer and the rest are working on, it’s clear that they need all the redheads they can get. So take her out of here,” His words were quickly followed by the start of the fight between him and the crazy pseudo angel.

With the bottle on her hand, Madeleine reunited with Sunset and the rest of her soldiers, and with a quick shake of the bottle and the press of the button on top and the sound of what could very well be the release of gas from a bottle, almost like a soda can being opened, all the ones present on the castle disappeared on a flash.

“What’s the point of teleporting when Father’s minions will find them everywhere they go?” A swipe, a punch, both opponents falling back and one of them was smiling from ear to ear.

“They are not running, I don’t want them here for what’s going to happen.” Quickly placing the belt on his waist and shaking the bottle, he inserted it inside the missing place in the middle of the belt.

“Core Ready!” The clear, mechanical voice coming from the inside of the belt could be bizarre for others that weren’t quite used to eccentric and bizarre futuristic belts, but for Architect, it felt almost like home.

“Hope this works.” And just like that, gripping the handle at the right of the belt, which looked oddly like a bottle opener for some reason, he closed the center with a snap. “Henshin,” he turned the handle slightly and the sound of a bottle popping open was heard across the empty castle.

“Rider is O-O-O-OeRROR!” Instead of an armor appearing, arcs of energy ripped across the place, even injuring her this time. He screamed in pain, before trying to control the energy flowing through his body.

“Yeah, this thing still needs a ton of work, but is a good power boost. Penny, activate Gem Bomb, I’ll give you as much time as you need.” And with that, he jumped into the fray, his body receiving as much damage as he was unleashing, hitting, kicking. Both opponents continued their fight as the briefcase settled down.

Inside the miraculous work of science, something was searched for in the staggeringly huge library of weapons and artifacts, before what he ordered was found. The briefcase hissed and opened in the middle as a tubular container was revealed. The middle of the tube opened showing a sickenly green light while inside, a chain reaction was initiated and there was no turning back.

Far away, or very close, since the outside of the known universes was a strange place, a man and a woman were looking at the spectacle form the inside of their home. The man helps himself with dignity and aplomb, his dark rimmed glasses and pinstripe suit were immaculate as he observed the fight on the frozen wasteland. At his side, the woman with multi color hair tapped at something on a holographic keyboard in front of her.

“Relocating Sunset Shimmer and the rest of the fighters, including the ponies, take that as a bonus,” she said with a smirk on her face. While her voice was as raspy as the rest of her multidimensional versions, this particular Rainbow Dash did look quite gorgeous with her exquisitely designed white button up shirt, suit jacket and pencil skirt.

“Make it so they arrive at Canterlot, it would be much easier to take control of the situation there. Also, tell Collector to accompany us then.”

“Not worried about Architect? He may be capable of handling most situations, but we have never encountered a minion of Noche like this before.”

“Whatever the case may be, Architect will do something drastic and out of proportion. He will survive… he always does… you know what? I have a better idea of where to send Sunset Shimmer,” Observer said in his british accent.

Chapter 5: Goodbye Bleeding Heart

With a rumble, with screams of rage and bodies clashing against each other in battle, the strange tube was finally ready; the ignition started and with a tail of smoke, it rose into the sky and across the planet. They could feel it, how the world shook for a second and for those that fought on the ice fields, just before being whisked away by a woman with a silver filigree masquerade, they all saw a second sun appear in the sky.

Everything was destroyed… and finally… silence.

Until hours later, from the ashes and ruins of what was once a city, among the rubble and destruction, a hand broke the surface and with great work, the rest of the body followed suit; bloodied, burned, but most importantly, complete.

“Fucking hell, I’m still alive… goddammit, I’m still alive,” he coughed, before crashing into the ashes of what was once an ancient city, now, only remains. Rubble and ashes were present in what once was an ancient city with its traditions and history. His face still showed the ramifications of what he had unleashed upon the area, but for whatever reason, he was still there, still breathing, still alive...in a way that is.

Everything was silent as he tried to get his body working again, before a sound ruined his relaxation.

“Oh you gotta be kidding me!” From the ashen grounds, a body erupted from its grave. Her body was even more injured than he was, with her right arm missing, only showing a bloody stump. One eye closed and he wasn’t sure if due to all the blood leaking from her body or she was missing that part too.

“You… you are definitely missing several screws up there sugar… I don’t know what you did, but I haven’t felt my head this clear in years. Don’t know if to thank you or kill you right now, but whatever the case may be, I guess this time it is a draw,” and as she spoke a portal, just like those Madeleine and the rest seemed so fond of using, opened behind her and just like that, the War of the North came to an end.

“Great, just great… and who is gonna pay me this time?” At his side, as if listening to him, the strange briefcase, which seemed to only be dirtied by the ash, opened up, showing a certain jeweled heart that had been stashed inside “I guess I just answered myself… does that mean I won the war?”

-----

It was a flash and everything had changed. There was no cold, no screams, no destruction everywhere. The only thing Sunset Shimmer felt was calm, as if she was exactly where she needed to be. It was something she usually felt when her unit was resting back home at their cathedral/headquarters, although, considering they were part of the church it could mean the same thing.

“Did we survive? I think I saw a huge explosion before the world turned into light,” the soft voice of the guardsman at her side made Sunset Shimmer blink several times in surprise, because, believe it or not, Felicia had not only survived the battle, but here she was with Sunset in…

“Oh you gotta be kidding me,” it wasn’t possible, it just couldn’t, because this place had been a constant in all of her scriptures, in every single book, in every single prayer. Right there, in front of Sunset and Felicia was the most incredible vision for any member of the Imperium.

The God Emperor of Mankind, sitting on the Golden Throne, giving life and light to all of the Imperium as his soul guided the endless number of ships across the warp, and he…

“WHAT THE FUCK IS ALL THIS?!” Was… speaking through a text to speech device? What the fuck?

“It… seems like a guardsman and an Adepta Sororitas had just teleported into the throne room, did you do this my lord?” And what do you know? It was a walking bana… *cough* I mean, it was one of the personal protectors of the emperor, a Custodes in bright golden armor, probably the personal caretaker of the Emperor.

Standing up, Sunset was in awe at what was going on. Apparently Architect had been serious about the whole teleporting them away from the battle, but she didn’t think it was that powerful to not only send her to another freaking planet in another freaking universe!

“NOW I REMEMBER, THOSE CHICKS THAT WERE ALL CRAZY ALONGSIDE THE ECCLESIARCHY” Okay, this was weird, since when did the Emperor could talk? Looking at her side, expecting Felicia to be as confused as her, but the girl was in so much awe that it just stood there, looking at the Emperor with her jaw completely open.

“Yes my Lord, but, well, if I’m not wrong, I guess I remember her insignia; I think this must be Canoness Sunset Shimmer my Lord.”

“WHOM? YOU KEEP SAYING NAMES AS IF THEY MEANT SOMETHING TO ME, DO I HAVE TO REMIND YOU THE WHOLE TURNED INTO A FUCKING CORPSE BY MY SON? AREN’T THESE WOMEN AS CRAZY AS THE WHOLE ECCLESIARCHY THING I JUST DISBANDED?”

“I’m sorry, you did what?!”

“Well, yes, apparently we were all wrong about what the Emperor wanted. I guess I’ll explain it to you too. Anyway, my Lord, Sunset Shimmer’s group is not only loyal to you, but they also do a lot of work out there. They brought the Carolux system back into the Imperium and has been a staunch defender against Orks, Necrons and invading Dark Eldar. If I remember correctly from the reports, she has been winning more and more of the Sub-system, allowing Sunset Shimmer and her order, the Eternity Sun, to gain more and more planets in your name.”

“WELL, FINALLY SOMEONE DECIDED TO BE USEFUL, INSTEAD OF BEING ALL JUDGEMENTAL OF EVERYTHING AND GOING ALL CRAZY ON EVERYONE LIKE THE REST OF THE CHURCH, WHY COULDN’T MORE MEMBERS OF THE ECCLESIARCHY COULD FOLLOW MY STEPS?”

“I was… uh… following your example from the crusades my… Lord?” Okay, this was definitely bizarre, here she was talking face to.. skull? With the Emperor himself through the usage of a text to speech device, her life couldn’t get weirder now; and just as she said that, a portal at their side just opened up, but this one was different, it was not full of darkness, rage or the forces of the warp. From it, a very elegant man appeared.

“Sorry to interrupt this conversation, but I’m afraid I was the one who made it possible for all of us to meet. If I could speak with you gentlemen and ladies for a moment, I need to speak to you about a great danger. My name is Observer, it is more of a self-given title really, but I find that the word fits my place in the multiverse.

“There is a great danger that is aiming at everyone and everything in existence. The cannoness and guardsman here are witnesses of this terrible foe and I will need your help… everyone’s help to make sure we all survive.”

Well… if that is not fucking dramatic I don’t know what is.

Ah….

The End… I guess?

At least for now.

Something tells me all this will be important somehow.