Twilight blinked away the last effects of the teleportation, breathing heavily in an attempt to quiet her racing heart. No matter how powerful you became in the arts of sorcery, mass teleportation like the Princess had used always caught one off guard.
As the scene around them came into focus, the Unicorn suppressed a gasp of horror. It was a sight of utter devastation. Even from the Princesses’ tower-where Twilight and her brother had taken refuge alongside her mentor, Princess Luna and the few Royal Guards that had survived the brawl in the chamber-she had seen the smoke rising and heard the screams and clash of battle echoing up from Canterlot’s streets. Down here it was even worse; buildings were little more than rubble, having been dragged down under the weight of Changeling numbers. Streets were fire-blackened, the blazes having started as candles were knocked over or magic used irresponsibly. Twilight grimaced as she realised that her hooves were sticky. Raising her foreleg and looking down at it, she worked to force back her rising vomit as her fear was confirmed; the hoof was matted with dark green blood, just like the street they stood on. She was glad that Spike wasn’t here to see this.
The worst was the bodies. They lay strewn about the road, tangled, crumpled and rent apart. Many were missing limbs, or had bones crushed and pulped. The vast majority were Changeling, corpses still bleeding out in great piles where they’d been slain en masse. Those of the Royal Guard were only slightly less numerous, teeth marks alluding to where the Changelings had ripped into them. Less regular were ‘Iron Warrior’ bodies. It looked like they had been brought down by sheer attrition, clashing with the other invaders. From what Twilight could tell they had not been fighting Ponies; at least, not here. That, if nothing else, was a mark in their favour.
Not that, she guessed, it would help them much. They were standing in a loose circle, the big freaky-looking ones forming a triangle within. Classic defensive tactics, she thought idly. She’d read a book about it once. The Guards that remained had come down all around them, trying to block off their escape. Privately, having seen them in battle in the castle Twilight wasn’t certain that they could be stopped. Nervous twinges in her stomach started up, the butterflies dancing back and forth. Looking up, Twilight saw Rainbow hovering with the Guards. It shocked the Unicorn to see her friend’s face so twisted with fury and hatred-even at her brashest and most arrogant, this was not the Rainbow Dash she knew. In truth all her friends, as well as the Princesses, seemed to be giving way to hatred. Only Pinkie and Fluttershy acted like themselves.
It’s them, Twilight realised, looking at the Iron Warriors. They stared back and all around, fingers twitching in anticipation of violence. Whatever they are, wherever they come from…it’s them. Something lingers on them, driving madness into the minds of others. Where the hell have they been? What have they seen, what have they done, to leave them so tainted? She felt both her disgust, and curiosity rise. They looked…they looked tired. Ready to fight, but weary. For all her dislike, Twilight found herself almost pitying them. They hadn’t looked like friends back in the Castle chamber. She wondered if they even knew what that word meant.
“What hast thou done?” Princess Luna hissed, to no-one in particular. There was no answer, though the Iron Warriors had clearly heard her. They cast glances amongst one another, either in confusion or…amusement? Surely not. Surely they weren’t so stupid as to think this was funny.
“What hast thou done!” Luna screamed, bringing the Canterlot voice back with a fiery vengeance. It echoed around the streets with all the force of pain and loss of a leader who has lost too much too quickly. Celestia was silent, though the white-hot pools of sunlight in her eyes betrayed that she demanded the exact same answers her sibling did. Twilight had never feared Celestia, not honestly feared her. But now…now Twilight shifted uncomfortably, wishing more than anything that today could have just been a normal day.
For a moment there was no response. Then, an infuriatingly polite voice chimed up.
“Pardon me, my Lady…but I do believe we may have inadvertently saved the day.”
If the notion was absurd to Twilight, then it was the last straw for Rainbow Dash.
“Saved the day? SAVED THE DAY?! You…most of the city is pretty much destroyed, Ponies are dead, we’ve had a bucking Changeling INVASION…and you think you ‘saved the day’?!” Twilight could see her friend was barely in control of herself. If it wasn’t for Fluttershy’s presence, and Rainbow’s worry for upsetting her sensitive friend further, Twilight wasn’t sure she would have been able to hold back.
“Well…” The Iron Warrior leader, Lorkhan or whatever his name was, spoke now. With his tentacles and armour caked in blood, the bumbling figure she’d seen earlier was all of a sudden a lot more menacing. “We did slap the shit into Queen Bug-eyes over there.” He pointed over Twilight’s shoulder, causing her and the rest of the assembled Ponies to turn. A tower lay collapsed, covering half the road and surrounded by Changeling bodies. Twilight felt her eyes widen as the released dark magic from what was under there became more and more apparent. She couldn’t believe that they’d actually done it, that anything could kill Chrysalis. At the same time, she’d always believed in trusting hard evidence.
“Dangerous terrain, faggot.” Lorkhan deadpanned, red optics blazing.
“Just one more crime to add to your obituary, daemon.” Luna hissed, blue light beginning to envelop her horn as she turned back to face the Iron Warriors. Celestia’s horn lit up a moment later, though her face had softened slightly.
“Not Daemons, Princess.” The polite one said, bowing his head slightly. “Never that. We were never that worthy.”
“Sons of Iron.” His voice was no more than a whisper now. In spite of everything, Twilight felt a strange feeling of sympathy jab at her heart. “He never asked for us to be any more.”
Lorkhan cast a sideward glance at his subordinate, though Twilight could not discern his expression beneath his helmet. Turning back, he stared at Celestia. Twilight’s mentor returned it evenly.
“Wait!”
This new voice was high pitched, sounding out of place in the tense atmosphere that had descended. From out of a side alley, Twilight saw Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle push their way to stand between the Equestrian nobility and Iron Warriors. Applejack and Rarity moved forward a step, but a shake of the head from Celestia stopped them in their tracks. To everyone’s surprise, the Cutie Mark Crusaders moved to stand closer to the Iron Warriors, congregating about one’s legs. The horned warrior’s body language betrayed his embarrassment.
“Ya can’t execute ‘em! This one saved us from one of tha’ Changelin’s!” Applebloom called out. Now the rest of the Iron Warrior’s turned slowly to look at the one the Filly gestured towards. Twilight could hear a couple of them making noise. Were they…was that snickering?
“Yeah, and they took down the Queen! That was AWESOME!” Scootaloo said, pointing at the downed tower as Lorkhan had done a moment before. The Iron Warriors were still staring at the one Applebloom had singled out. They hardly seemed impressed.
“I didn’t mean to.” Twilight heard him mumble.
“Scoots, they’re the bad guys!” Rainbow Dash said, looking down at her young fan with disbelief. “Look at what they’ve done to Canterlot! That is NOT awesome, Scoots.”
“Maybe they’re just scared.” The orange Pegasi countered, obviously shaken by having to argue with her idol but not willing to concede the point. “If anypony turned up in a strange place they knew nothing about, surrounded by creatures they’d never seen and then told that they were going to be executed, they might flip out too…n-not that I’d be scared!” She added that last bit hurriedly.
“The Changelings did most of the damage anyway. It’s not these guys fault they got caught up in the middle.” Sweetie Belle put in. Some of the Iron Warriors were looking at the Cutie Mark Crusaders now, seemingly as bemused as Twilight was as to why the three little Ponies were defending them.
“Sweetie Belle, I cannot believe that you’re siding with these brutes over your own kind!” To her left, Twilight heard Rarity call to her sister. The last few words took on a higher pitch, sounding almost whiny.
“Well they did more than any of us!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “If it wasn’t for them the Changelings might have won! All you guys did was run away….”
“How dare you! We were running for our lives, what could we possibly have done to fight back?”
“Well I dunno, you’re the elements of harmony or something. There must have been something you could have done...”
Applejack’s stern voice carried across the conversation. “Alright, that’s enough now. AB, Scoots, Sweetie, we understand that you think one of these gahs saved yah. Maybe they did, and if so, then yah have mah thanks. But that don’t change the fact that they’re bad…whatever it is they are.”
“We thought that Babs was bad, and we were wrong ‘bout that!” Applebloom said. The other Crusaders began nodding furiously. Twilight saw that the Iron Warriors were looking more confused than ever.
“This ain’t tha’ same thing, sugacube.” Applejack replied, her voice tinged with sorrow.
“Why ain’t it? They could be good gahs, if we just gave ‘em tha’ chance!”
“How can you say that!” To Twilight’s surprise it was Fluttershy who cut in now. The Unicorn had quite forgotten her timid friend was here. It seemed Flutters had finally gotten sick of biting her tongue. “They destroy my home, kill poor little Angel, murder all those innocent Ponies, and they won’t even admit that they’ve done something wrong! How dare you side with them!”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders retreated backwards into a small huddle, moving towards an Iron Warrior’s legs. Twilight frowned; Fluttershy was usually good with kids, after the whole sleepover incident, and it was rare for her to lose her temper with them like this. Twilight made a mental note to get that Pegasus booked for some sessions with the psychiatrist when all this was done.
“Easy there Fluttershy, we don’t wanna condemn tha’ littluns for somethin’ they ain’t done.” Applejack’s steady voice again. The yellow Pegasus was still fuming, but there were tears of sadness rather than anger forming in her eyes now.
“Just…just get this over with…I mean, if that’s okay with you…” She descended to the ground and wiped her face with her hoof, sobbing gently. Luna walked forwards, still glaring at the Iron Warriors with malice burning in her eyes.
“T’would be my pleasure, fair maiden.” Her horn began to spark with eldritch blue light again as the power charged.
Iron Warriors brought their fists upon into ready stances. Guards lowered their spears. The big creatures made a sound again to a crossbow being primed for firing, aiming the devices in their arms that had spat death in the throne room earlier at the Princesses and their entourage. Rainbow Dash snorted. The polite Iron Warrior flexed his fingers by his sides. The Cutie Mark Crusaders covered their eyes. Twilight gulped.
“No.”
The voice was authorative and sagely, carrying a sense of finality with it. Twilight turned to look from where it came, her gesture mimicked by ever other creature present. Celestia stood in the centre of the throng of Ponies unbowed and unmoving. Her eyes were alight with fire, and her horn was surrounded by a rainbow of hues and power. Twilight took a step back in awe.
“I am Equestria’s judgement.”
Something was wrong. Twilight, along with ever other Pony bar Luna and the hovering Pegasi, pressed their muzzles to the ground in deference, but even so the lilac Unicorn could tell that something wasn’t right. This did not feel like the build-up of any offensive spell she had read about or practiced. It felt a lot more powerful than that, but not designed to hurt. Twilight’s mind moved at a thousand miles a second, trying desperately to figure out what Celestia was doing. Luna beat her to it.
“Sister, nay!”
But Celestia would not be stopped. She rose from the ground slightly, eyes still burning and the nimbus of power still forming over her head. The Iron Warriors watched her rise, unsure of what to do or if there even was anything that could be done. With all the grace that would be expected of a Pony of her rank and her years, Celestia inclined her head and let out a narrow bolt of rainbow coloured light straight at the Iron Warriors.
Twilight screwed her eyes closed, the second brilliant flash of light searing her retinas. She did not see what happened, what the bolt of light had done. No-one did.
Well, almost no-one.
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“What in Olympia’s name was that?!”
Lorkhan sat up from where he had been laying on his back. That had hurt like a bitch. For all his years of warfare, even after all the thirteenth company had done and seen, Lorkhan hadn’t expected death to be quite that painful; in truth, he was almost impressed. He hadn’t thought the Xenos had it in them.
“You’re not dead, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
In seconds he was on his feet, Mecha-tendrils snapping to attention. Celestia’s voice, that had been Celestia’s voice. It didn’t mean she was telling the truth, but it was something to focus on. He looked all around for the source of the voice, trying to discern where in the hells he was. That wasn’t easy, because he didn’t seem to be anywhere. Everywhere he looked there was stars and blackness, and precious little else. Looking down, Lorkhan saw he was standing on white. Not white anything in particular. Just white. The whole place reminded the Warsmith of the Eye more than a little, and he wished that he still had his Power Axe. Surrendering to those Ponies was the stupidest thing they’d ever done. He couldn’t believe he’d let Rorke and Mordecai talk him into it.
“You should consider yourself blessed. In a reign of a thousand years, only five souls have ever seen this place. It is quite wondrous, isn’t it?” That voice again. It was starting to annoy the Warsmith.
“Did you zap them with rainbow lasers too?” Lorkhan asked, trying again to pinpoint where it originated. Celestia laughed, but it seemed to echo from all around him.
“Alas, no. They were willing, and they didn’t tear apart half the city before they were brought here.”
“And where exactly would that be?”
“My place.” That was definitely from behind him. Lorkhan span on his heels, and sure enough, there stood the Princess. She looked curiously less angry now than she had before. Lorkhan wasted no time; he pushed off his back leg, flinging himself at Celestia and launching a powerful right hook. Before the punch connected however, she dissipated into nothingness, leaving the Warsmith to land staring dumbly at his fist.
“As I said, this is my place. Why exactly did you think that attacking me in blind fury would accomplish anything of value?” To his right, Lorkhan saw a white shape reforming. Immediately he lashed out with a mechanical tendril at the Princess. She dissipated again just as before, her sigh filling the air. It set Lorkhan’s teeth on edge.
“You’re a really slow learner, aren’t you?”
“I prefer the term persistent.”
She appeared a third time, in front of him now and with an expression that implied that he’d be advised to let her finish talking. Lorkhan did not move to attack, instead folding his arms over his chest.
“So…if I’m not dead, which is still the theory I’m going with by the way, what exactly am I doing here?”
“You’re here because this is a place that you and I can talk freely, without being interrupted by my sister and more…shall we say ‘zealous’ members of my kingdom.”
“Talk? You want to talk?” Lorkhan couldn’t help but blink in surprise. “Gods of the Warp, if that’s how you execute people here then just cut my head off and be done with it I implore eyou. I get enough of an earful from Mordecai as it is.”
At this, she smiled, coming closer slightly. It wasn’t a friendly smile, but it wasn’t sadistic either, and that was a start.
“Why do you assume I’m going to execute you?”
“You were before.”
“You hadn’t shown some measure of goodness by saving the little one's lives and saving Canterlot from Chrysalis and the Changelings, even if neither of those things were intentional; that, and you weren’t useful to me before.”
Lorkhan unfolded his arms and tilted his head to the side slightly. Hate her as he did, he felt his respect for the Xenos Princess rise a fraction. He wouldn’t have expected her capable of such guile.
“I am a Princess, Iron Warrior.” She went on, circling him now. “And that means that sometimes, I have to make…difficult decisions. I cannot say that I ever truly wanted to execute you. We’ve never truly executed someone in Equestria, but with you we couldn’t see any other way. Our magic does not work on you as it does on creatures native to Equestria, it seems.”
“Urr…thanks?” Lorkhan watched her as she moved around him, unsure of where this was going.
“I am a Princess, and therefore by necessity a pragmatist, but I take no joy in death." She went on. “I condemned you to death because I saw no other option. But you have proven yourself capable fighters, if not strictly speaking competent, and I have use for creatures such as you.”
Lorkhan bristled at being called incompetent, but his interest was piqued. At the very least it sounded like Celestia was giving him a chance to survive even a little longer. That had to be worth listening too, if nothing else.
When he did not respond, Celestia continued. “There is a place in this realm called the Everfree forest. It is…not as it should be. My mastery of the sun, and my sisters of the moon, is irrelevant there; the heavenly bodies rise and fall of their own accord.” Lorkhan wasn’t sure why this was out of the ordinary, but decided to hold his tongue. “My subjects, with one or two exceptions fear to enter that place. It is the haunt of monsters and dark things from the old times. And recently, something has risen within its shadowed confines.”
“Why don’t you deal with it?” Lorkhan asked.
“My sister and I are kept busy with Royal Duties, Lorkhan. And we have no idea what this new threat is. If we possessed the time, I would go myself and crush it. But I cannot, and I dare not send my subjects, for I fear not even the best and brightest of them could triumph.”
“And that’s where we come in.” Lorkhan finished, all the pieces slotting into place. “We go and do your dirty work for you, whilst you sit back in your castle safe in the knowledge that we’ll probably have the shit kicked out of us by whatever fucked-up thing this bloody planet decides to throw at us next.”
“You are perceptive, Warsmith.”
“One thing.” Lorkhan asked, smiling despite himself. He drew in close to Celestia, so his helmet was no more than inches away from her face. “Why the FUCK would we do that.”
“Two main reasons.” She replied, unperturbed. “The first should be fairly evident; if you survive and complete this mission for me, I shall grant you a royal pardon based on service to the realm.”
Lorkhan was, only temporarily, unmanned. “After the magical mystery tour that we just had out there, that seems awfully generous of you.”
“As I said Iron Warrior, death holds no great joy for me.”
“And the second reason why I should go skipping merrily along to what has a 95% chance of being a suicide mission?”
“The second reason, is that should you survive, I shall allow you to stay here in Equestria under my protection until we find a way of getting you home…provided you don’t turn on us, of course.”
Well, there went that option.
Lorkhan was suspicious. The IV Legion paranoia for which they were so famed was working overtime, yet it was tempered by consideration. Celestia had a point. He hadn’t thought about how they were going to get off this bloody rock.
“Let’s look at the facts.” The Pony continued, pressing her advantage now she saw he was interested. “I admit I have no idea what you are, or about anything you have spoken of since arriving here. I know not of the ‘Warp’, or this war of which you speak, or why you wear painted metal skulls on your shoulders and can snap apart spines like they were twigs. But I have observed enough to know what drives you. You want to get back to wherever it is you come from. You never wanted to be here in the first place. Your Warlock’s magic may perhaps work on a small scale, but not to the degree required to fashion an escape method through it. Your transport is smashed, beyond repair, and we have nothing capable of leaving Equestria’s orbit that you could plunder. What option do you have but working with us? You could betray us, of course you could. But then you would be stuck here perhaps indefinitely, and you’ve been here for two days and hate it. Work with us, and we will find a way to get you off back to the stars. Because believe me when I say that I don’t want you here more than anyone else does.”
Lorkhan gave a small growl of exasperation, staring down at the ground. As much as it pained him to admit it, Celestia was right. The Iron Warriors couldn’t stay there forever, and without the Ponies help they had no way of leaving unless by some miracle a Warp Storm popped up-and even that wasn’t a safe bet. They needed the Xenos’ aid. Then, they could leave, go back to Medrenguard and re-join the rest of the Legion.
And then…and then, the Thirteenth could come back. Re-armed and ready to fight a proper war. Yeah. Yeah, that would show his naysayers in the rest of the Legion. Slaughter the Xenos for Perturabo and the Gods, glass the world and erect a new fortress-planet of the IV. They couldn’t argue with that. Or even better; go deeper into the eye and find the faggot arse Thousand Son that had put them in this position in the first place. Then Lorkhan could tear the Sorcerer’s helmet off, empty the dust out, and take a nice big shit in it. That would at least be personally satisfying.
He twisted his head to look up at Celestia who was watching him intently. “Would we get our weapons back?”
“No.”
“Could we take the Obliterators?”
“Your large friends? Yes.”
“I see.” He turned back to looking at the floor, sighing and closing his eyes. “I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.” He raised an arm straight out to the side, still staring down to the white floor. Celestia mirrored the gesture with her hoof. Lorkhan grasped it firm in his gauntlet, and shook once.
Celestia’s horn began to play with radiant light again, and in a second they were gone.
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Nothing had changed. That was what hit Lorkhan first. Everything was precisely as it had been the moment Celestia had cast her spell.
It seemed that wherever they’d gone, it had existed beyond the boundaries imposed by time. The Ponies still stared where their ruler now stood again, and the Iron Warriors still looked up where she’d risen above them. Realising that the situation had changed, they looked back down at Lorkhan, none of them daring to speak. He didn’t face them, standing slightly ahead of the group and looking at the mass of Xenos. Celestia stood in the middle of them, smiling at the Warsmith knowingly. The blue Princess stared at her white sibling, her anger evident. The little purple unicorn didn’t seem to know what to think.
Slowly it became apparent to Lorkhan that everyone was waiting for him to speak. He sighed again-it occurred to him just how much he’d done that over this whole experience-and clapped his hands together in front of him.
“Brothers.”
He span round to face them, feeling their eyes burning into him as he looked them all up and down. Although Lorkhan could not see their faces, he could feel their initial bemusement change to almost expressions of almost pleading; as if they knew what was coming and begged him to have it be anything else. The Obliterators couldn’t hide their expressions, one of them shaking his head slowly in disbelief. Only Mordecai seemed unfazed.
Lorkhan opened his hands in an expansive gesture as he searched for the right words. Behind his helmet, he felt his features crease in his best shit-eating grin. When at last he spoke, his voice was at the very least enthusiastic.
“I’ve got excellent news!”