//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: The Blood Ravens Last Flight 
// by Nobodyslament 
//------------------------------//

	I opened the door to my house slowly, admiring the furniture I had built myself as the inside came into view. Fluttershy's door was leaned against the wall. The red and grey looked industrial, while furniture looked utilitarian. I wouldn't have had it any other way. I went to the make shift armory. It was the biggest room in the house. It had a gym, which was bare due to my lack of funds, and a mesh cage with a small amount of supplies in it. A quick inventory showed my ammo was at a maximum of four filled magazines for my bolter. I only had a main and a spare for my pistol. More than enough to kill a xeno on this planet. I walked to my bedroom and plopped down on my bed. It took about thirty seconds for the noise to wake up Scootaloo, and she instantly stuck her head in my doorway. I didn't want to scare her so I pretended to be asleep. She jumped up and landed on my armor, "You must have been really tired." She walked in circles on my armor before lying down. "Good night daddy." My armor warmed slightly as a single drop of moisture landed on it. "I hope you can hear me papa, because now I have someone to protect me, maybe he'll be as awesome as you were."

I felt her body slow, and eventually fall into the natural sleep-cycle of all species. This wasn't something I could forget, this was something that I had to avenge.

The morning came quickly. A lapse in judgement caused me to sit up, spilling my small, orange roommate into my floor. I felt bad for a moment, until I realized she was still asleep. I picked her up with as much grace as I could manage, before placing her on my bed. I ran of to the kitchen. There were only three things in the kitchen. One, a small table and chair set in the exact middle, all with ravens. Two, a shelf mounted on the wall, filled with apples from the box that Pinkie Pie gave him. Third, a counter space. I thought of the apples and remembered I was supposed to meet Pinkie for a party last night. I mentally berated myself, I had forgotten about building the house and the party. Memory and documentation were needed to keep things in order.

Before I had finished berating myself a high, bubbly voice sounded behind me. "MARXIE, I knew you'd be here. I had to throw a 'Marx-is-out-chopping-down-a-tree-for-Fluttershy-party! Now I'm planning an, introduce 'Marx-to-everyone-party', so you gotta show up." 

I grimaced, my hunt would have to wait. "Very well, when is this party and where? I'll be there." 

Pinkie Pie jumped up and summoned a cannon from nowhere. I rolled backwards and brought my bolter to bear. Pinkie pushed a button and confetti fired everywhere, when it cleared I was in the middle of the sweet shop from yesterday. Pinkie jumped up and screamed. "The party is here and now! Get some cake and celebrate!" 

After that line, everything was a social blur. My helmet was still locked onto my waist, and I tried the cake I was offered. it was delicious. I sat there, meeting new ponies, with nothing of interest happening until a brown pony took notice of me. He walked up with a dead expression. "Hello there, I'm Doctor Whooves. If I may, why is the Imperium here?"

The question was quick, precisely worded, and made to spark my interest. I fought to make the surprise invisible. "Well, I was following a Chaos cruiser and got a bit of a crash landing for my trouble."

The good doctor didn't flinch. "I'm willing to bet you aren't a normal marine. You had a named ship, you aren't purging all of us, you aren't in a corner stroking you bolter, so that's a no to being a techmarine. AHA, your a champion, armor is of Blood Raven design, you must be Crucius Marx. I know you, you know me, and I have an ultimatum. I know what you are, and where you come from, if one of these ponies die, because you bring more of your kind her, I will go back and purge EVERY TRACE OF YOUR NAME FROM HISTORY. Do we understand each other?"

His reasoning was flawless, with my only confusion being from the fact he knew what was going on. I didn't want to let him feel superior though. "Right on all counts sir. Now allow me to do some conjecturing of my own. You look like a pony, but you know of humanity, and the Imperium. You talk with a slight accent, and know enough records to sink half of the Imperiums military operations. I myself am rather learned in history. You know of most marines initiate a purging of xenos on sight and you have taken a species under your wing now that humanity defends itself. You must be the famous Doc-"

"Clever little boy aren't we? No, here I'm Doctor Whooves. You figured me out, but I have the same stance, this is my species, if you hurt them, I will burn you to the ground, and put the ashes on the most distant planet I can find. Now that we've got formalities out of the way, have some more cake. It's great."

I grabbed the cake without hesitation before a horrible thought struck me. I stood up and ran towards Pinkie. "Pinkie, I need to get Scootaloo, I'll be back in a minute." Pinkie exuberantly waved and screamed something about how I have to come back or something will die. I exited the building and started jogging back to my house. 

I walked into my house noisily and went straight to my bedroom. Scootaloo was sitting on the bed rubbing her eyes. "Hey Mister Marx, where were you? I was asleep on your armor and I woke up without you here." 

I lost some of my good mood, but still had a grin on my face. "Why, making a party of course. You coming?" Scootaloo's wings jutted open and she fluttered up, floating above my bed for a few seconds before slowly descending back to the ground. She started pouting. "Darn, I'll never learn to fly at this rate."

I thought for a moment, [I'm a scientist, I know how to run the math and teach her to fly.] I smiled down at her. "I can give you a hand with that, but Pinkie still wants us at the party. So let's go." I walked towards my door while scooping up Scootaloo. "Scootaloo, I've been meaning to ask. Why did you leave your house and move to Ponyville?"

Scootaloo moved in my hand, her eyes shifting across the landscape. "Well, I guess since papa always took me here, I just kind of, liked it. That and, well, I didn't really have anywhere to go."

I nodded sagely, despite my lack of knowledge on the subject. She didn't seem to want to give me much more information, so I dropped it. "Well my dear, I worked it out so you can stay with me until such a time as you think you can make it on your own. How's that sound?"

She stood up, still in my hand. "Really? You talked to the princess and she said it was cool. YAY, you can teach me how to fly too. This is gonna be awesome."

By that point we were nearly deafened by loud noises. It appeared as if Pinkie's party now had a DJ. I opened the door and instantly, Scootaloo was gone, lost among the party goers. I didn't worry and instead focused on the music. It was interjetic, yet promoted no ill thoughts. Most music I heard was battle songs, or songs of mourning. This was a kinder beat, and had given many ponies a reason to dance. A quick look showed me that even Doctor Whooves was dancing with a wall-eyed mare. I saw the musician, wearing glasses while perfecting her track on the turntable. I reasoned that I should just relax, and let the music flow through me.

My plan to relax was interrupted almost instantly. Twilight felt it necessary to come and talk to me as the song switched."Marx, I was wondering if you could help me with something. I was hoping to learn how your equipment works."

My interest was piqued. I couldn't say no to a quest for knowledge, even if the heresy in that statement could have called for a complete exterminatus. "Why not. I won't show you how it works, but I only moved the essentials over to my house. If you help me carry the rest of my mobile equipment, I'll gladly let you see all of it."

Twilight's ears perked up. "Yes! Alright then, when should I help?" 

I picked myself up as the DJ left and a different pony took the stage, carrying a large cello. If I stayed I would be here until the end of the concert. "We should probably go ahead and get it done. I'll tell Scootaloo and meet you outside." Twilight nodded and cantered off towards the door, leaving me in a party alone. the next song started up.

After a moment of shocked silence I looked to Doctor Whooves. He simply nodded and smiled. This fingerless pony was playing one cello as if it were fifty, and to top it all off she played some ancient Terran music. I was flabbergasted. At least, until I saw my target. Scootaloo was sitting at a table with the rest of her friends. I walked up. "Hello crusaders. How goes the day?"

They all three looked at me with smiles. Applebloom jumped up on my head. "Y'all gonna take care of Scootaloo now right? That's amazing, Ah mean, we always had tah look around town fer her, but know we can just ask yah yerself." 

I smiled at how they welcomed the news. "Yes, well ,I just dropped by to say I'm going to be running an errand. Scootaloo, don't burn down anything important while I'm gone." 

Scootaloo stood up and saluted. "Yes sir." she ran up and hugged me. "See ya later Marx." I patted her on the head before turning around. Facing the horde of ponies to get to the door would take time.

The door was so close, yet so far away. The last of the group that stood before me appeared to be deep in conversation. I went around them and opened the door to a familiar voice. "Ah don't know Ms. Sparkle, seems like a bit of a silly idea to me." 

I thought for a moment. The only pony with a voice like that was Big Mac. Twilight spoke up, seemingly scolding him. "Now Big Mac, I had to get Marx to stop calling me that. You should already know better, But the main point still stands. We have to find a way to fix up the farm. You're the smartest of the Apple clan, so you're going to the library tonight to learn some advanced agriculture. No 'ifs' 'ands' or 'buts'." 

I remembered the armorer on my first mission. I was a scout, and was going out for the first time. I had grabbed a random rifle of the rack and started to move out before he stopped me. "Hey, scout. If you survive this mission you have to come back to me for a proper lesson on weapon selection. That spirits gonna annoy you to no end." I was so young that I didn't know what he meant by spirit, but I showed up anyways, which is how beautiful got strapped to my waist here. 

My remembrance was cut short by Big Mac. "Eyup. Guess I don't have a choice. Meet you at the Library tomorrow Ms. Sparkle." 

Big Mac rounded the corner at the same time as me. We did our customary nods before walking off. I waved to Twilight before gesturing for her to follow. It was already getting late, and the sun was beginning to set. "So Twilight, whats up with Big Mac?" 

My attempts at small talk were pitiful, but succeeded in keeping the journey from being silent. "Oh, his farms been doing badly and I need to teach them how to use their land more efficiently." Her face flushed red while she said this. I figured that that was a personal matter and left it at that.

We reached the ship without much more conversation. I handed Twilight all the lighter, less important things. I myself took the radio, which occupied my full attention. In the end, she simply had my drawings and writings. She seemed to find this acceptable. "Hey Marx, how do you get the lighting on this?  Even the Vincent Van Hoof couldn't get something to look like this." 

I looked over the tangled mess of my radio to see her looking over my drawing of the Emperor. I had to control my reaction to snatch it from her grasp. My incomplete magnum opus, was currently being scrutinzed by a xeno, which was almost unacceptable. I simply calmed myself before responding. "It took me a few centuries to get it right. Even then, it still doesn't do justice to the man in the painting. He is as close to a God as one can get. Nearly immortal, unbeatable in battle, and can destroy planets with only his mind. Yet, he is the best of us. He show's kindness when others show anger. Mercy, when others show cruelty. Truly, if one could ascend to godhood, it is him."

Twilight seemingly stopped paying attention after the centuries comment. She was intensely staring at all my paintings, while making notes with a quill and scroll she apparently brought aboard. I simply shrugged to the best of my abilities and started to trek back to my house. 

Twilight was behind me as I exited my ship, now with at least a quarter-mile of paper purely on my brushwork. I wanted to be complemented, I really did, but I was concerned of where she got the paper from. She continued asking insufferable questions though. "Hold on, you said that you perfected it over CENTURIES of drawing. How old are you?"

I sighed, this might get complicated. "I am an Adeptus Asartes. I am immortal, though, not invulnerable. I will live as long as no one kills me, and through that time I will constantly seek to better myself."

Twilight simply tilted her head. "The immortal thing I get, but everything else flew right over my head. What's an Adeptus Astartes? Why would anypony want to shoot you? What does all this have to do with this guy?" She held up the portrait of the Emperor with her magic. I sighed, it was one of THOSE conversations.

I had to explain for almost the entire trip. "So you see Twilight, I am bred to fight. I may not be the most angry, or violent of specimens, but I am one of the strongest. I was made in the face of a genocide on humanity, and forged in blood. I was strengthened in war, and finished in knowledge. The battles I have participated in were all in defense or assault of something that wanted all of humanity to die. So I am here, as protection, and as a weapon. Now do you understand?"

The little purple pony simply sat there numb. "So... your'e saying, that somewhere up there," She gestured her hoof up  to the now orange sky. "in Luna's sky, there's armies of different species in a never ending battle to the death?" I nodded as I continued to walk. "That's awful. The worst fight I've ever seen between two ponies was a drunken bar fight. How can a species thrive like that."

I adjusted my grip on the radio and kicked open my door. "Simple, we don't. While we've made advancements in our technology, they have been slower as of late. We simply must find a way to live, that doesn't always equal thrive." Twilight simply shook her head.

"OK, I need a subject change before even trying to understand all this alien stuff. What are you carrying?"

I put down my radio in the armory, adjusting the straps before removing the mobile power source I cooked up long ago. It was, as all of luck would have it, burned out. I held it up. "If this thing was working, then that would be my radio. I could contact other's of my species, or hear where things were happening. As it stands, it's a bunch of scrap metal." 

I flipped the battery around my hand until I saw a purple aura envelop it. "Well then Marx, I have a proposition for you." I really didn't like the glint in her eyes. "If you teach me how to make one of these, I'll charge up your thing-a-ma-bobber here."

I looked her over. What harm could there be in teaching them the secrets of a radio? I took out the guide book from the inner guts of the radio and opened it up. "I'll only go through this once, alright. Take some damn good notes." I instantly regretted my word choice as a pile of parchments appeared in my house.

***


>This is Scout 1-1 reporting. Now within radio range of Crucius Marx's last known location. Broadcasting hail message on all frequencies. Response shall be monitored and notarized.