//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: I am the hammer. The edge of his sword... and unfortunatly, the partner of a purple unicorn with wings. // by ThatRarityIsaSpy //------------------------------// Aboard his flagship, Lufgt Huron waited. He entertained himself by glancing over at the skulls that adorned his trophy rack. The skulls of several champions of the false Emperor who had been sent to kill him. The doors were flung open and the mutilated remains of the hamadrya were flung into the room, followed by the severed heads and limbs of Huron's personal bodyguards. "Welcome." Huron said as he rose from his throne and grabbed his axe, watching his foe enter the room. "I see the false Emperor has sent me another worthy opponent." "Too bad it can't be said for the same for my case." The Grey Knight replied. "I give you one chance. surrender and your end will be quick and painless." "You threaten me?" Huron asked. Amused. "Me? The greatest champion of the Dark Gods?" "I threaten you. Do you know who I am?" The Grey Knight asked. "Another champion of the false Emperor who is all to full of himself?" "Fool. My name is Kaldor Draigo! And my name will be the last thing you hear! After I have killed you, tell your dark gods that I am coming for them next!" _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "I have received word from Draigo, sire." Cypher said to his master. "Lufgt Huron lies dead. His army shattered." "Very good! I knew the Grey Knights could do what needed to be done against our arch-enemies." "Grey Knights?" Cyhper asked. "You mean, you sent an entire team?" "Yes.... at least two dozen of them to kill Huron." "The story was.... it was just Draigo. He fought his way through Huron's entire ship and slaughtered every last one of the blackheart's men before finally killing the devil himself." "Impressive....." The Emperor said. Deep in thought. He tapped the edges of his throne for a second before returning to the present. "Tell Draigo that I won't be needing him for some time. Make sure to tell him he did well." "As you wish." "Get me Luna." The Emperor whispered to one of the custodes. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "Same dream?" Luna asked as she met The Emperor in his personal quarters. "No. Not a dream. A nightmare." "It must really trouble you if we are to speak in this much private." Luna said, observing the fact that there weren't any custodes in quite a few paces. Something that could probably be put in the guinness book of world galaxy records "Yes. Now as I heard, you have a talent of walking into.... dreams?" "Yes. But.... are you positive this is something serious?" "It may be a warning Luna. One does not have the same nightmare for two weeks in a row for no reason. I ignored a warning ten thousand years ago, I can not do the same now lest it destroys all we have accomplished so hard for." "I see..... I will get started." "Thank you. First, I think I should give you something though." "What is it?" "Your memories. You see, we can only verbally describe to you what Malcador was like. The primarchs may only describe to you what they can decipher of an ancient language. How about I give you memories back from your past lives?" "Fine by me. Will Tia get this too?" "Already done." "Then give it to me." The Emperor tapped Luna on the horn, and in that instant. Luna was flooded by the echoes of the past. Her time on the golden throne, where mere hours seemed like eternity under the excruciating pain. Her second life, walking through the meadows of Equestria, meeting the two lost primarchs and conversing with them. Stumbling across what her past self would describe as an "ordinary, but somewhat small and colorful equine." Discord's creation. His body warped into a monster until he became lost forever, no longer knowing who he once was. (This was ironically fortunate, had Discord remembered, he may have been a murderer as much as a trickster.) Harmony's death and sacrifice. Splitting his soul into the six major fragments of the elements of harmony. Malcador's actions of planting the elements of harmony in the tree which had been created by a massive combined effort of all who had dreaded chaos. Malcador's frustration at his inability to harness the elements, and his final decision to die two times over just to defeat chaos. How he made a plan that would put even Vect's to shame. Only to not even know, that his define prodigy would actually be prodigees. His soul split to breath them life. Yet his memories were lost. Until now. "I took a deeper look into your birth. I am rather surprised to tell you that you don't have a father. I guess one could say you are your own father and your own self AT THE SAME TIME." "It's a miracle I guess." Luna said. "Now should I take a look now?" "Yes, please." _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hell. It had to be hell. Deep within the rapidly shrinking eye of terror, was a single world. A hellish world. A world where the air reeked of fire and ash, where the ground trembled and where massive portals to the immaterium hung. Here sat the daemon legions of Khorne. Their purpose was unknown, save to spill blood. Who's? When? For now, it was all unknown. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Luna practically jumped at seeing this. "What can you make of it?" The Emperor asked. "Nothing. Could it just be a simple recurring nightmare? I don't know. But all I can say is that I feel like it does mean something. But how?" "There is only one being who may at all know what is it to come. I loath to do this, but only one being in the entire universe will know what is to come." "Who?" "Fateweaver. Greatest servant of Tzeentch. His location? Deep within the crystal labyrinth. I know but one man who may even come as close as to deducing these puzzles." "Draigo?" "Draigo. He managed to destroy the eternal city. Perhaps he may find a way to navigate this all. Get a hold of him. Tell him, that I will send him to the warp. He will navigate the maze and go to Fateweaver. And he MUST get the answers we need. Whether by force or by persuasion, I do not care." "But in the realm of ch...." "I know. He will need help. If any two other beings can grasp what Tzeentch is.... it'd be Twilight." Luna shook her head at this suggestion. "You can't possibly be serious! You're going to send her to the dimension of the dark gods?! How do you...." "I have faith in her abilities Luna, plus, she'll be with Draigo. What troubles you though?" "What troubles me?! How do we know they will return to us in one piece? How do we know they will return at all?! How do we know that they won't be made into some plaything for daemons?! That's what troubles me. A million things can go wrong in this! And why is it that you think they'll be able to take this through so easily? We're not all gods here!" "You know how I feel about being called that." The Emperor said giving a sigh. "Draigo is far from being a god, and he spent hundreds of years within the warp until he managed to break M'kar's curse." "The point is, Draigo can take care of himself. I've seen him turn entire daemon armies into mincemeat. Twilight? What can she do besides from the fact make the first few daemons she meets wrinkle in disgust before devouring her? She has no idea what the warp even is like! The experience she has in combat is NOTHING compared to what will be needed of her!" "I think it's time we changed that." The Emperor said. "Oh no...." ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight let out a low groan, her vision was rather blurry. She could only make out large and dark shapes in front of her. Probably a dream. "Awake..........just a second......" "....all day....." Twilight blinked. The figures were coming into better view now. They were all silver and gave off a slight shine. Armor? Yes. Reality slapped her like a lightning bolt as she found herself in a heap on the ground in a place she was unfamiliar with. She found it rather difficult to stand, and somewhat difficult to comprehend what the three things were saying. Her vision was still a black haze. It took a while, but she finally made out the shoulder pad, the helmet, the armor. The two legs. Humans. Not just ordinary humans. The silver armor could could only mean one thing. They were the Grey Knights. "What happened?" Twilight mumbled as she struggled to stand. She realized she couldn't remember a single thing about what happened, save for being at sugarcube corner with Pinkie Pie, taking a bite into a cupcake. "Nothing." One of them said. "Can you stand?" "Yeah. Now seriously, what just happened?" "First things first, promise me you will not reveal any details of what is it to happen." "Yes! Now tell me what's going on here!" "Welcome to Titan." The Grey Knight said. "You're wondering how we got you here? We slipped a sleeping draught in your food and had you taken here undercover. Rest assured, no one was injured within the task, though we will have to administer a few memory wipes on any witnesses." "WHAT?! You mean you pretty much ponynapped me here an...." "Calm down Twilight." A voice said. "There is no need to be afraid. You are safe here." There was only one person who spoke with just a tone of reassurance yet firmness. It was The Emperor. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "So let me get this straight? You ponynapped me here in a place where nobody knows?!" "That'd be putting it bluntly. There's good news and bad news." One of the Grey Knights said. "We had our agents place a sleeping draught within your food and the food of everyone around you. I recall you were at the place known as sugarcube corner. Rest assured, your friends and those within close proximity will find themselves in the local hospital with absolutely no idea of what had happened." "So what's the good news?" "That was the good news." The Grey Knight replied. "You want the bad news? Let me brief you on it. Khorne is planning something. Unfortunately, we don't know what. There is only one being in existence that can potentially know of this. His name, is Fateweaver. Chief Lord of change, second only to the architect of fate himself." "You want me to go to the place of those chaos gods to fight daemons? Isn't that what you're for?!" "No." The Emperor said waving the Grey Knight aside. "I need to get you in there, and to find out WHAT Khorne is planning. This will be no easy task. First, you will have to navigate the labyrinth of Tzeentch. I brought you along because I believe ONLY you have what it takes to deduce the maze and make your way through. You will promptly arrive within the domain of Tzeentch, where you will meet both him and his vizier, Fateweaver. You will ask Fateweaver my question, "What is Khorne's next plan about the material universe?". It is likely he will ask you to perform a task for him. Fulfill whatever he may ask of you, save for any that will harm you, Draigo or anyone else. When you have performed his task, he will give you two answers. Give me both, and I will see which one is truth and which one is false." "Two answers?" "You see, Fateweaver has two heads. One will tell you something plausible and likely. The other head will do the same. unfortunately, the two will contradict one another, and it will be difficult to tell which is which. That's why I need you to give me the answers so I may personally think on them." "Okay.... but I am still not too...." "I'll make you sure of yourself." The Emperor said. "Only you can accomplish this keep in mind. I will have Draigo accompany you. Though you will need to learn a thing or two yourself." __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "How in hell is this a good idea?!" One of the Grey Knights asked rhetorically to his battle-brother. "The Emperor decided upon it, and that's final." His brother replied. "Never doubt him or his wisdom." "Who said I am doubting him? He has ideas. He has wisdom. That equine? What does she have? She won't last three seconds within the warp!" "And The Emperor wants to make it so she lasts for more." Someone else said over the vox. "She will be with us on Titan for some time before she departs will Draigo." "The grand master won't like that." "Aye, he won't like that one bit." Draigo hated it as a matter of fact. Though he made no indication of this when the Emperor told him of his next mission, his mood for the days after were more than enough to tell everyone how he felt. "This certainly will make my last journey in the warp look like a vacation." Draigo muttered underneath his breath as he took a look at Twilight. There was a lot he disliked all into one thing. The equine in front of him. Weak. Poorly skilled fighter. Naïve. A color that looked a lot like a slanneshi cultist's clothes. And let's add in "smartass." Draigo took a look at Twilight who only stared back. Her facial expression were more than enough to tell Draigo that she was amazed of him. Large. Shiny. Old. Silent. And perhaps.... a bit stabby. No wait.... Very STABBY. After record time fast introductions, The Emperor approached the two. "You know of your task?" "I do milord." Draigo said. "I will go to Fateweaver, and have him tell m..." "Us." Twilight said. "Us....." Draigo said seething with contempt. "Us..... what Khorne is planning." "Good. Now you are aware that he may have an errand for you?" "Yes milord." Draigo said. "I will be prepared to go and burn Nurgle's garden if that be his wish." "Right. But never but yourself or your partner or anyone else in danger. Fateweaver will definitely cook up a damn good one to irk all of us with. Don't be afraid to return empty-handed. I may actually expect it considering what we're dealing with." "Understood. But I promise not to disappoint milord." "Good. The two of you will be training for two weeks before going into the warp. I will send you there myself. I understand two weeks is pretty much nothing..... but that's all I may spare for you. Good luck to both of you." Draigo turned to Twilight who had a mix of a nervous and joyful grin. He hated it already.