//------------------------------//
// Burning Dreams 
// Story: Iron Hearts: Book 2 - Ferrous Dominus 
// by SFaccountant 
//------------------------------//

Iron Hearts: Book Two
Chapter 5
Burning Dreams


****


Ferrous Dominus - 2 days after Tau assault


Gaela stared at the new wall segment with approval, watching as the Dark Techpriests conducted the final reinforcement procedures and began their prayers. The edifice towered over her, while on the ground below armored hatches covered the entrances to stashes of ammunition supplies, repair materials, and the tunnel network that would allow the base's defenders to move from structure to structure without having to cross an exposed avenue. A system which, obviously, would have been of great use had it been completed two days ago.
Every Dark Mechanicus unit working on the final components of the fortress security did so with a persistent sense of embarrassment, quite conscious of the fact they were patching a gaping hole in their defenses long after it had been exploited. They were also using new or improvised equipment and a range of ill-constructed servitors; after having their best construction equipment destroyed by the Tau, much had to be brought down from orbit and dug up from deep within the cargo holds of the fleet.
The manufactorum, all but unscathed in the attack, had been pressed into service early, and Kaelith had been given full control over the facility in order to manufacture any parts or new equipment that might speed the repairs.
Gaela turned away from the walls and generated a data prompt, uploading the list of facilities left to repair in order of priority.
It was a long list.
"At least the septic cyclers have already been fixed. I wouldn't want to volunteer for that 'honor'," the Dark Acolyte grumbled as she boarded a Chimera to take her to the Mechanicus facilities.


****


Ferrous Dominus - sector 18


Twilight was seriously beginning to get tired of this "guest security clearance" she had been saddled with when she had arrived here.
"Access denied. This is a restricted area."
At first it had seemed fine; after all, she had to take what she could get. But now that she had confirmed that the humans were leaving the planet and it wasn't necessary to fight them after all, she felt like she could have been granted AT LEAST the same access level as Trixie.
"Access denied. This is a restricted area."
The alicorn clenched her teeth as she stared up at the edifice that decorated the primary data center. Evidently this was a Dark Mechanicus facility, which explained the relief of a half-cybernetic skull ringed by a Chaos Star. It also, apparently, explained why she wasn't allowed in.
"Come onnnnnn!" Twilight whined as she pressed the blank gunmetal card against the reader built in next to the massive double-doors.
A rude beeping noise came from the machine.
"Access denied. This is a restricted area."
As the purple pony fumed, a Dark Techpriest walked up to the entrance past her, his ID being passively scanned by the security monitors which recorded his identity according to his cranial implants. Really, there were exceptionally few members of the 38th Company that could access this data center who actually used a card rather than a system in-built into their body or armor. The inclusion of a card scanner was more a function of standardized construction design than anything else.
As the doors creaked inward to allow the Techpriest passage, Twilight quietly shifted to the side to stand behind him.
He took a step forward toward the entrance, and so did she.
And then suddenly the alicorn was staring down the barrel of a laspistol.
"Access denied," came the Dark Techpriest's voice, issuing from somewhere deep within the darkness under his hood, "this is a restricted area." his servo arm clamped shut menacingly as he held his pistol steady.
Twilight backed away immediately, her heart and mind racing. "S-Sorry! It's just that the secondary data center hasn't been repaired yet, so..."
Twilight trailed off. Not because she had nothing more to say, but because the Techpriest had turned away and walked in the moment she had backed up, uninterested in what she had to say.
Her muzzle scrunched up in frustration. There HAD to be a way for her to get into the data center. Trixie might be able to do it, but it was almost a two-hour walk to get here from the psyker dorms without the train.
"Maybe I could teleport into an alcove inside?" Twilight mumbled under her breath as she looked over the building. Unlike the secondary data center, this one didn't have windows, but she had glimpsed the interior before the doors had shut and it certainly seem cavernous enough to infiltrate.
Twilight was not so absorbed in her pursuit of knowledge that she had become oblivious to her surroundings, but she still hadn't paid any great attention to the heavy footsteps moving behind her until she had noticed that they all stopped.
"THIS is the security alert?"
Twilight was gratified, after she turned around, that least none of the Iron Warriors were aiming their oversized guns in her face like the Dark Techpriest had. But then, such a show of intimidation was grossly unnecessary with five Chaos Space Marines looming over you.
"Can I help you? Uh... my lord?" It had taken Twilight a moment to remember what Daniels had told her about addressing the Astartes. They had all pretty much ignored his advice since he gave it to them, but now seemed like a particularly good time to practice not offending the super-soldiers.
"The security cogitator issued an alert that someone with insufficient security clearance had made repeated attempts to gain entry to this facility," rumbled one of the Iron Warriors, his blood-red visor glaring down at her.
"Ha ha! Silly me! I didn't know that the machines conjured up a security team if I kept trying to get in! I am SO embarrassed!" Twilight laughed, although her voice came out rather high-pitched. "Sorry to bother you gentlemen! I'll just be going now! Er, my lords!"
"Hold," commanded one of the Chaos Marines, and Twilight froze like a statue. "This one has a horn."
"So what?" asked another, not particularly interested or worried about the pony.
"Dest said that these ones are psykers. The Dark Magi may wish to know that a psyker was trying to get into one of the Mechanicus facilities."
Twilight was marginally interested to hear the name of a familiar Iron Warrior mentioned, but her more immediate concern was that the Astartes apparently thought of her as a more serious security threat because she knew magic.
It was all the more worrisome that they were right, and she felt a deep pang of regret for considering sneaking in via teleport earlier.
"Sparkle, what are you doing?"
The Iron Warriors turned toward yet another figure stomping up to the entrance in heavy armor, although her gait was considerably less hefty than a Space Marine's. Twilight nearly shed a tear in relief, even if she still swore to herself that her intentions were innocent and completely justified.
"Dark Acolyte. Is this a... friend of yours?" one of the Iron Warriors asked, his voice hesitant.
"I know her," Gaela answered neutrally, "she's no security threat to anyone. Not anymore, anyway."
The more suspicious Chaos Marine would have certainly liked to hear an expanded explanation of that, but his squadmates weren't so willing to waste their time.
"Fine then. We have more important tasks to attend to," a different Iron Warrior said indifferently, walking off toward a Rhino idling on the side of the avenue. The others followed with varying levels of hesitation.


Gaela had her mask on as she walked up to Twilight, so the alicorn couldn't tell exactly what expression she was making, but Twilight was guessing "irritated contempt".
"Thank you, Gaela! That was a bit scary," Twilight admitted as she trotted up to the Dark Acolyte.
"I can hardly fathom how one feels fear after staring into the optics of the Warsmith and demanding that he and his army flee into the void," Gaela noted wryly, leaning on her power axe.
Twilight winced, glancing about to check if the departing Astartes had heard that. "This and that are two different things. Anyway, do you think you can let me into the primary data center?"
"Absolutely not," Gaela answered flatly.
Twilight seemed stunned by the rejection. "But... I mean..." then she lowered her head. "Is this about Rainbow Dash teasing you before? I'm really sorry, we didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
Gaela tilted her head to the side, obviously perplexed. "I really have no idea what you're going on about. You're not allowed in the primary data center because it's a Mechanicus facility. Its cores are much more comprehensive and powerful than the others, and it houses secret knowledge forbidden to outsiders. Even most Iron Warriors aren't allowed inside."
"Oh. I see," Twilight mumbled, feeling embarrassed that she had spent so long trying to get into such a place. "It's just that the data cores in the other center were destroyed."
"Yes. As you might expect, they're very low priority infrastructure," Gaela admitted, stepping past Twilight and walking down the avenue, "if they weren't part of the Mechanicus colonizer that we used as the foundation of the base, they wouldn't have even been constructed when you arrived here."
The purple pony moved to follow her immediately. "So those are the only two data centers?"
"No, there is a tertiary unit near the Astartes barracks," Gaela admitted.
Twilight's face lit up.
"But that one is for the exclusive use of the Iron Warriors and high-ranking human personnel, since it contains sensitive information about the Legion."
Twilight's expression promptly darkened, much to Gaela's amusement.
Considering the matter concluded, Gaela walked in silence with Twilight following behind her for some time.
While she was perfectly happy with the silence, however, Twilight - as usual - had questions for her.
"So you're not mad at us anymore?" Twilight asked cautiously.
"I was never mad at you or anybody. Such a useless outburst of dramatic emotion based in response to mere verbal provocation is entirely beneath me," Gaela said flatly, "any display of anger or petty petulance you may have interpreted in my words and actions are pure misrepresentation on your part."
Twilight was rather surprised to hear that. Not so much that Gaela wasn't holding a grudge as the fact that Rarity was so spot-on about her reaction.
"Oh, well, I just thought that might be the case since I haven't seen you since the attack," the alicorn mused aloud.
"I've been rather busy rebuilding the fortress," Gaela deadpanned, "I haven't even slept the last two nights."
Twilight chuckled humorlessly. When she put it that way, her concerns about not having anything to read seemed quite trivial.
"Do you have a rebreather?" Gaela asked suddenly, changing the subject completely.
"What? No, not really. Why?" Twilight asked, looking concerned.
"You might have noticed that it's standard equipment for every individual in the 38th Company. Aside from preventing longer-term damage from pollutants from the manufactorum, it also allows our units to operate in heavily contaminated areas and around certain individuals that also pose an obvious health risk," Gaela mused, "I have no idea why you and the other mares are still here, considering your original objective, but if you stay then I'll have respiratory protection designed for your facial anatomy."
"Really?" Twilight brightened considerably, so enthralled at the thought of being given a gift of human technology that she didn't really pay much attention to the reasons why it was necessary. "Thank you! I'd really appreciate that!"
Gaela didn't respond immediately, turning toward a large, unlabeled structure and sweeping her hand over the access panel. "Until then, it would be wise to keep a fair distance from the Warsmith. He is not especially infectious, but he is a devotee of Nurgle regardless."
The doors swept open, and Gaela entered immediately.
"Distance from who, now?" Twilight asked, following her in without thinking about it.


Twilight froze stiff once the doors shut closed behind her, realizing that this entire time she hadn't thought to ask where they were going or why.
The building seemed to be a dedicated storage house, with metal sheets and plates of various alloys and dimensions lying in tall stacks and aligned in neat rows, but all of the alicorn's attention immediately focused on Warsmith Solon. Which was only to be expected when the man was a tremendous, weaponized arcano-mechanical monster, really.
It took her a few seconds to relax her body, even though she logically had little reason to fear the 38th Company's supreme commander anymore. She still wasn't able to brush off the gut feeling of horror and revulsion that she felt when she beheld the Warsmith, and even if they weren't exactly enemies he was still the leader of a force that Celestia had deemed corrupt enough to be exiled from the planet.
"Warsmith, as requested I've come to inform you that the palisade wall is complete to your specifications. The region around that quadrant of the fortress has been cleared for mine fields, and the tunnels to the perimeter bunkers have been dug and rigged properly." Gaela dipped her head and banged a fist against her armored chest. "The iron without has been set. Ferrous Dominus is secure."
Solon swiveled slightly on his chassis to regard the Dark Acolyte. "Excellent, Acolyte Gaela! And the other repairsh continue on shchedule?"
"Indeed. The Dark Mechanicus is working at all speed to make General Gnoss' 'optimistic estimates' a reality." She raised her head again, and then nodded an acknowledgment to the only other human in the building. "Master Delgan."
The human, which Twilight had only just realized was there, nodded curtly in response. "Dark Acolyte, so good of you to join us. I think you may be of some help on this matter. Especially considering that you walked in with one of the xenos on your heels." He spoke through a small rebreather plate that fit over his chin and covered just his nose and mouth.
Gaela glanced at Twilight, wondering how she had ended up becoming the Company's pony representative.
But seeing as she couldn't remember the name of that mercenary they got along with, she nodded reluctantly. "How may I be of service?"
She noticed at about this time that Solon's biological arm was holding a stack of papers. She hadn't paid it any attention at first, but now that she was looking at the Warsmith more critically, the papers didn't seem like anything she might find among the Company's supplies.
"Mish Hoovesh dropped thish off today with the day'sh mail drop. It'sh a copy of the Cloudshdale Timesh," Solon explained.
Twilight's eyebrows rose. "Wait, so those reporters actually wrote the story?"
Delgan cleared his throat meaningfully as Twilight entered the conversation. "Pardon me, but I don't believe you've been introduced, Miss...?"
"Oh! Sorry! I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia," the purple pony said, pressing a hoof to her chest.
Delgan straightened immediately. "A princess? So you're a relative of your king?"
Twilight blinked. "Er, no. We don't have one of those."
"Ah. A queen, then?"
"Actually, Princess Celestia is our ruler," Twilight explained.
Delgan's brow furrowed. "You have the same title as your Sovereign?"
"Their political complexities don't bear taking seriously," Gaela snorted, "now what's this about a story?"
"Evidently we've been featured in an Equestrian newshpaper. The article ish shurprishingly poshitive and shympathetic," Solon said, shaking said newspaper.
Twilight's made a face. "Really?" She could list plenty of things she liked about humanity personally, but she would be surprised if many of those qualities were apparent to a pair of naïve pegasi looking for a dose of sensationalism to make a name for themselves. Especially in the aftermath of a battle.
"If I may, Warsmith?" Delgan asked, holding out a hand.
Solon relented, thankfully sparing them all from having to listen to the Warsmith butcher the article with his warped pronunciation.
"'The view of Ferrous Dominus looks every bit as one would expect of a city of space men: a fantastic edifice of futuristic metals humming with energy and amazing technologies. But today this dark, tranquil bastion of fun-loving humans and less-fun-loving super-humans was cruelly assaulted by a race of star-faring invaders known as the Tau Empire!'"
Twilight looked annoyed. "She does know that you're all technically star-faring invaders too, right?"
"She doesn't say we're not," Delgan pointed out with a knowing smirk, "ahem. 'Your correspondent was lucky enough to sit down with the Great and Powerful Trixie to get a detailed account of this harrowing conflict in order to share the grisly and heroic details with you, our reader.' What follows is a fairly unlikely account of an extended combat encounter by Miss Trixie and two unnamed pony lackeys of hers. Apparently she didn't want to give their names to protect their reputations. Needless to say, our little entertainer accumulates quite a grisly kill count by the end."
Twilight's eyebrow twitched.
"Anyway, after that the article talks at length about Ferrous Dominus itself, including a confirmation that the nation of Equestria sees the 38th Company as a neutral power that has temporarily settled in its lands. A much better reception than we're used to, as I'm sure you're aware," Delgan said with a wry chuckle.
Gaela found all this completely bizarre, but she had become mostly acclimated by now to the ponies' stunning naiveté regarding the darker powers and their place in the galaxy's never-ending conflicts. "Out of curiosity, what do they say about the fortress itself?"
"There'sh a quotesh from Mish Rarity which wash a bit shcathing, if completely accurate, and a much more favorable one from Mish Shparkle here," Solon explained, "but again it draws moshtly from Mish Trixie, who was very generoush."
Delgan continued. "Again, from the paper: 'The Iron Warriors run a disciplined society that sees efficiency as an end in itself. Obviously their technology is on par with our greatest feats of magic, even if it's really strange how they sometimes pray to it. Their darkly militant nature takes getting used to, and few humans are as polite and gracious as your average pony, but it must be considered that they are an alien culture locked in a struggle for survival against the ruthless and monstrous Tau.'"
Delgan and Solon snorted in amusement at that description of their enemies, and Twilight shook her head in exasperation.
"It finishes with the line: 'All things considered, the Iron Warriors run a decent enough civilization, putting aside all the slavery,'" Delgan finished.
Twilight sighed. "Well, okay, obvious biases aside, that-" then her eyes bugged out. "Wait! Slavery? You have slaves?"
"As you can see, it's something of an issue for them," Delgan drawled, handing the newspaper back to Solon, "but as the Warsmith said, on the whole it was quite agreeable."
"Hold on! Why do you have slaves? Are they talking about the servitors?" Twilight asked, her head snapping from one person to the next. Everyone ignored her.
"Look! They even put in a pict-capture of me!" Solon said, opening up the paper.
One of Gaela's optic lenses extended, and she focused on a grainy black-and-white image of Solon leading a defiler through the streets. Below it read the caption "A giant metal crab takes its young out for a post-combat walk among the ruins of the base, just one example of the strange and exotic space creatures found in Ferrous Dominus."
"Charming, Lord. I'm still not sure of the relevance of all this, though," Gaela admitted, looking up at the Astartes high commander.
"Why are you ignoring me? Gaela, do you have a slave?"
"It is relevant because we have developed an unexpected... 'rapport' with the natives," Delgan said, "and this could be useful."
"I'm not sure how," Gaela admitted, "although I'll admit the ponies have aided my own combats successfully, militarily their civilization is a joke. The camp hidden away in the Everfree probably could have conquered the nation if the Tau had a mind to. And their resource base is equally pitiable. They still construct buildings with WOOD, for Dark Gods' sake."
"The value of any given individual or group is not limited to their combat efficacy," Delgan said smugly, crossing his arms over his chest, "likewise, a civilization's worth is not limited to its technologies or piles of ores. The facility of trade can unearth treasures not apparent to the Iron Warriors or Dark Mechanicus."
"We're here to build engines, not acquire 'treasures'," Gaela countered.
"Do you use the slaves to build the engines? Guys?"
"The new timeline for completion of the Warp engines is two months, Acolyte Gaela," Delgan said with a shrug, "not a long period by any stretch, but more than enough time to explore our helpfully 'neutral' friends and search for any goods worth trading. Lord Serith, you may be aware, is having quite a time studying the local psykers. If someone of his considerable experience might find some interest in Equestria, then I have more than a fair chance."
Gaela frowned under her mask. "... I suppose I will have to yield to your superior expertise on matters of... economy... Master Delgan. I'm still unclear on what requires my attention, though."
"Why, you're the obvious choice to join me as envoy to the Equestrian nation," Delgan explained.
"I have seen and heard a lot of absurd things since we made planetfall, Master Delgan, but that tripe easily ranks among the worst," Gaela said flatly, "the Dark Mechanicus performing diplomatic functions is ridiculous enough, but even among our ranks there would definitely be better negotiators than I."
"Oh, I don't know," Solon disagreed, "you're already acquaintancesh with a Princessh. That hash to be worth shomething."
"Stop ignoring me! Why do you have slaves?!"
Gaela hung her head. "Warsmith, my relations with the ponies are entirely circumstantial. And if I might add, quite exasperating. I could certainly be of more use aiding the reconstruction."
Solon considered this point, tilting his head up. "That'sh a fair point. However, we could probably ushe another opinion. Mish Shparkle, what do you think?"
The humans and Astartes all turned toward the extremely nonplussed alicorn.
"I think you should free all your slaves," Twilight said flatly.
"Are you shtill on about that?" Solon asked. "I was ashking about Acolyte Gaela. If we're going to be negotiating with your people, then your ashishtance would be a boon. Would it help if the Acolyte were to sherve with Mashter Delgan?"
Twilight grit her teeth. "I REALLY want to talk about the slavery thing instead."
"We can make it an item of negotiation," Delgan said without a drop of sincerity, "answer the question, please."
Twilight frowned. She didn't really want to let the subject slide so easily, but she wasn't sure what she could do about it here and now. That, and she had to admit that the idea of the humans and ponies meeting each other in a setting OTHER than desperate firefights against a hostile third party sounded fantastic.
"Yes, I would appreciate it if Gaela was there," Twilight finally said, her eyes narrowed, "she's been very helpful and informative to us. And she's also so blunt and unsubtle that she's easy to trust. She would be a very good choice. Daniels is nice, but he isn't very well-informed, and your people don't really seem to value his opinion. And any Iron Warrior would probably make an awful diplomat. No offense."
A groaning noise came from Gaela's helmet, and the Dark Acolyte slumped over.
"There, you shee? So for now conshider yourshelf envoy of the Iron Warriorsh!" Solon said brightly before turning back to Delgan. "Mashter Delgan, I'm ashigning your people to handle any further contact with the poniesh in general. Sherith sheemsh generally unintereshted in the duty anyway, and it makesh shenshe to ushe the shame men we ushe to deal with piratesh and warbandsh."
"THAT'S a relief," Twilight muttered. She didn't know Delgan or any of his people, but he would have to make quite an effort to be less likable and more dangerous than Serith.
"As you wish, Warsmith. I will prepare immediately. Miss Sparkle, Dark Acolyte, you should expect to depart Ferrous Dominus early tomorrow. I will contact your rooms with the exact details this evening."
The trademaster bowed deeply to each of them in turn, and then briskly walked toward the exit.


"So... NOW can you explain to me what this slavery thing is all about?" Twilight asked, turning back to Gaela.
She and Solon shared a glance before looking down at the alicorn.
"I don't know what needs to be explained. We take prisoners and make them slaves," Gaela said, "then we make them do any unskilled tasks that require brute force. And of course, trade them to other parties as necessary."
"Shlaves are quite a common currency acrosh the galaxy," Solon confirmed.
"That's an atrocity!" Twilight complained.
"I think we know a BIT more about atrocitiesh than you do, Mish Shparkle," Solon said with a grim chuckle.
"Just think of them as the Company's assistants," Gaela suggested.
Twilight's eyes narrowed. "What's THAT supposed to mean? Spike's not a slave!"
"Fine. Whatever you say," Gaela mumbled, her patience starting to wear thin against the pony's moral outrage.
"Mish Shparkle, ish there shomething you wanted? I couldn't help but notice you entered with the Acolyte deshpite having no particular bushinesh here," Solon asked.
Twilight clammed up immediately, since she didn't have any particular reason to be there, but Gaela spoke for her.
"She was in this sector trying to get into the data center. Needless to say, she was rebuffed rather harshly."
Solon seemed intrigued at this, his torso shifting lower to the floor so that he could more easily look the pony in the eyes.
"Oh? What were you looking for?"
Twilight winced, shrinking back. "Oh, just some reading material. I thought it might be good to learn more about the Company. And the Astartes. And human technology. And-"
"She's a natural-born adept," Gaela mused, "apparently she manages a data repository for ponies back in her settlement."
"I shee. Do you have a datashlate handy, Mish Shparkle?" asked the Warsmith.
Twilight silently fished the item out of her saddlebag with her mouth, unsure where this was going.
A mechatendril snaked out and snatched up the dataslate, bringing it up to the Warsmith's head.
"Let'sh shee now. An essay on the Primarchsh ish a good shtart, the hishtory of the Great Crushade, and then... hmm."
He looked up at her, having noticed the topics already downloaded. "Sho you take an interesht in Chaosh, do you?"
Twilight smiled shakily. "An ACADEMIC interest, yes." That her interest was mostly in how to stop and defeat such a power didn't really need to be brought up.
"A shtudy of the darker powersh can eashily transhform into an obsheshion, young xeno. I'll upload a few excerptsh from the Book of Lorgar and itsh brother text, the Lectitio Divinatush. For reference. Have fun."
Twilight wasn't completely sure how he had uploaded things onto the dataslate by looking at it, but then the man's entire body was a work of techno-wizardry that defied explanation.
She couldn't keep the grin off her face as the creepy mechatendril - seriously, why did his tentacles have eyes and mouths? - lowered the dataslate back down to her, and she took it eagerly in her jaws.
"Thank you! I mean, I would rather be able to browse the data centers, but this is okay too!" Twilight said as she stuffed the electronic reader into her bag.
"You might want to disinfect that before handling it with your mouth anymore," Gaela mumbled, "just saying."
"Wash that all you needed, Mish Shparkle?" Solon asked, turning away. He made a short gesture with his hand, and one of the truck entrances to the storage area started to rumble open.
"Well, actually, I did have one question for you. If that's okay," Twilight said hesitantly.
"Shpeak."
"Weren't you going to get that vox grille cleaned?" Twilight blurted out.
Solon's shoulders slumped. "Yesh, well... it proved more difficult than anticipated without being able to take the helmet off."
Twilight's head cocked to one side. "Wait, you can't take it off? Why not?"
"My armor long ago fushed to my dermal layersh," Solon said, knocking a fist against his breastplate, "it ish now a part of my body, not unlike your fur. Jusht far, far more usheful."
Twilight didn't think the analogy adequate, and it showed on her face. "So you can't even take it off to bathe?"
"We should probably end this conversation here," Gaela interjected quickly, "Sparkle, it seems we'll be leaving tomorrow. I know the others have been stuck here for lack of available transports out of Ferrous Dominus, so you should let them know that they can go back home now."
"Oh, right! Good idea!" Twilight turned away toward the exit and started heading out.
Then she paused and turned back toward the Dark Acolyte. "And Gaela? I'm really glad you're coming with us. Thank you." She quickly rushed out into the streets, quite aware that she had a long walk to get back to the sectors where she and her friends were staying.


"She'sh quite the charming one, ishn't she?" Solon asked as the alicorn dashed out of earshot.
Gaela frowned under her mask. "I don't know. She didn't seem especially grateful that you personally addressed her lack of reading material. What does she think your job is? The Warsmith of the Company deigns to hold audience with her and she acts as if such an honor is to be expected."
Solon waved his hand dismissively. He had long grown numb to the casual ingratitude of his peers and underlings. Many considered it another sign of his weakness, but he didn't especially care.
"Ash long ash we're on the topic, Gaela, I've looked over your debriefing notesh, and I'm intrigued. You really think Centaur III ish an old human colony?"
Gaela briefly turned her head toward the doorway, checking for any signs that Twilight might have returned. "Almost certainly, Warsmith. The presence of equines and many other forms of old-Earth fauna and flora are but the first clues."
The Dark Acolyte brought up several pict-captures she had taken with her optics, linking them to Solon's noosphere register. "Their technology level represents an almost classic case of post-colonization tech regression, although there's no way to know if the regression occurred before or after the original human colonists vanished. I favor the latter theory, as it does make a considerable amount of sense that a group of intelligent but uneducated equines might have cast aside the technology that was too complex for them to figure out and maintain. They would have kept those tools whose use were obvious, and over time they would have replicated these tools using less advanced materials."
Solon generated a hololithic image of the Apple family farm from the pict-captures he was being sent. The hololith flickered, and sections of the image were separated and then zoomed: the homestead, in its previous form before it was destroyed by a greater Gnarloc. A hammer. A door. A book. A spoon.
"As you can see, their tools and architecture are clearly human derivative. It's unfathomable how a purely terrestrial, quadrupedal species would have come to design multi-story buildings without sufficient population density pressures. And even more unlikely that they would have developed handles and door knobs clearly designed to be manipulated with digits. The fact that these designs still exist after all obvious traces of the original colony has vanished indicates that equine 'society' at large has never quite developed the penchant for human innovation and efficiency, even to the point of changing their common tools to be more easily used by their fingerless populace."
"Fashcinating... but might the Tau have shomething to do with it inshtead? Thish region ish in their territory, technically," Solon noted.
"The Tau Empire, being much smaller and better unified than the Imperium, keeps a much better hold on its colonies. They would not have claimed this place and then abandoned it so easily. In addition, there's one significant cultural artifact that is uniquely human."
Solon turned off the hololiths. "They shpeak and write Gothic."
"Precisely, Warsmith. The evidence thus far points overwhelmingly to the presence of an old human colony. The Tau presence here is extremely recent, and their influence upon the native species here negligible." Gaela shifted her posture to lean on her power axe. "Of course, these are all idle observations that have nothing to do with our mission here. It does not affect our objectives if the ponies originated from a human settlement or not."
"Oh, where'sh your shenshe of adventure?" Solon asked with a chuckle. "Related to our mission or not, I find it mosht intereshting. Sho long ash you're going to be out exploring the native shettlementsh, I'd like you to reshearch the topic. Who knowsh? Shomething good might come of it."
Solon started heading out of the building, and Gaela followed him.
"Warsmith, may I make an inquiry?" Gaela asked hesitantly.
"Of courshe. Shpeak."
"On our way to the fortress, I spoke with an Iron Warrior named Dest. He informed me that sometimes Astartes from other Legions join the Iron Warriors and are sent to the Company because they are not trusted by the Legion masters," the Dark Acolyte explained hesitantly, afraid she might be venturing into some kind of taboo subject.
Solon turned his torso to the side and his helmet tilted down to make optic contact. "That'sh true, if not mishleading. Mosht of the 'outshidersh' taken in by the 38th Company are obtained through trade. We often find Chaosh warbandsh in deshperate need of shuppliesh, and quite often they have nothing to offer ush in trade but themshelvesh. I think it's a rather pleashant arrangement, given the difficulty of shecuring new Chaosh Shpace Marinesh. Shliver hatesh it, though."
"I see, Warsmith. So then, Lord Tellis is...?" Gaela trailed off as Solon sighed heavily.
"Ash much ash I would like to blame him on an inferior gene-build, Tellish ish an Iron Warrior and alwaysh hash been. The blood of Perturabo flowsh through him, if not a shred of hish intellect."
Solon turned away as he continued down the avenue. "Desht, however, ish a different shtory. He'sh very young, and hish capture wash recent."
"He certainly gave that impression. If I may ask, Warsmith, what Legion did he come from?" Gaela asked curiously.
"Not a Legion. Not anymore. The Chapter that created him ish called the Imperial Fishtsh."
Gaela almost fell over in shock.
Solon stopped, sounding out the Chapter name in his head. "Fishtsh. Fisht. Blasht it all, I shound like I'm trying to shpit out my vox grille! Ugh."
"He... was a loyalist? And he is... trusted?" Gaela asked pensively. Putting aside the bitter enmity between the Iron Warriors and Imperial Fists, she was surprised that a Legion as infamously security-heavy and paranoid as the Iron Warriors would be willing to accept Space Marines from loyalist Chapters.
"I was a loyalisht once too, Acolyte. Ash were you. Mosht of ush were," Solon mumbled, seeming distracted, "few humansh are born into the darknesh. The path of the damned ish a choice. Shometimes a choice made before the shightsh of a boltgun, but a choice nonetheless. Remember that."
"Yes, Warsmith. Of course..."


****


Ferrous Dominus - sector 6 mess hall complex Delta


Rarity tried to conceal her distaste for the slop that was being dropped on the plastic tray in front of her, but such a monstrous effort of will was ultimately beyond her.
"Is there any way to obtain something a bit more... fresh?" asked the unicorn, her forelegs holding her upright against the lunch counter in front of the cooking station.
The mess cook, a hulking, greasy mess of a woman with a Chaos star engraved in the side of her face out of scars, stared down at the equine with about the same level of affection she had for insects nibbling on her supplies.
"You asked for no meat, xeno. Boiled greens it is."
Rarity glanced at the steaming lump of pasty sludge. "And what kind of vegetables are these, exactly?"
"The green kind," the cook answered flatly.
"That's not funny."
"I'm not much of a comedian."
They held an annoyed staring match for several seconds after that, apparently oblivious to everyone else in the line behind the unicorn.
"You know, I'm a personal friend of Lord Serith," Rarity half-lied, tilting her nose up, "do you know who that is?"
The cook looked surprised. "Oh, yeah! I saw the Great and Powerful Trixie's show the day before the attack." Then she smiled. "Well, if you're friends with him, then I guess you don't need to eat this crap after all!"
Rarity smiled graciously. "I'm happy to hear that."
"Just go find him and have him summon you a fresh meal from the void, or whatever it is you witches do."
Rarity's expression fell, and her ears fell flat against her head.
"Either way, you're holding up the line. Move along, xeno."
Rarity levitated her tray along the counter top, mumbling irritably under her breath.
Rainbow Dash came next, floating above the counter. "Yo! Gimme two cans of that nutrient goop!"
The cook grunted and flung two ration tins at the pegasus, one at a time.
Dash caught both of them, one in each hoof, and then flashed the cook a wide grin. "Thanks! Later!"
The blue pegasus darted off after Rarity, leaving the woman rather shocked.
"... How the hell did she catch those with no hands?"


Rainbow Dash overtook a very grouchy Rarity to land on a metal bench where most of her friends had settled to eat lunch. Every pony was there except Twilight and Trixie, and Daniels and Spike were also in attendance (the latter with the backpack he'd been practically attached to since they'd arrived).
Rainbow landed next to Applejack, noting that the farmpony was sitting with her head resting on the table and her hat down over most of her face.
"Hey Applejack! You feeling better yet?!" Rainbow shouted far louder than was strictly necessary.
Applejack grit her teeth as the pounding in her head intensified, but otherwise did not acknowledge the flier.
"I warned her not to drink more than I did. Gaerim's synthehol is powerful stuff," Daniel muttered in-between bites of his steamed meat.
"I didn't even know drinking a lot could give you a headache," Fluttershy mumbled, "I've never heard of that happening with cider."
"Drinking way too much and then complaining about the predictable consequences is a staple of human culture," Daniels noted sagely, "as is forgetting about the experience the moment you have another bottle in front of you."
Rarity finally reached the table, letting her tray fall onto it with a rattling clacking noise. Daniels had to physically stop himself from laughing at her angry pouting expression.
"I have no idea how your species manages to feed itself on this slop," the unicorn grumbled to Daniels, glaring as if he were personally responsible.
"Rarity, what're you complaining about? It's a free meal!" Rainbow pointed out as she slammed one can on the edge of the table, popping off the lid.
"Which is entirely too high a price for something of this quality," Rarity insisted, levitating a fork uncertainly over her food.
"I'm telling you, you should just suck it up and eat the rations. I've only had a couple, and I feel better than ever!" Rainbow Dash paused to lift the can up over her muzzle, gulping down a thick wad of the tasteless ooze. Then she wiped her mouth and continued. "I haven't even thought about taking a nap since we got here! And yesterday I flew five circuits around the base and I wasn't even winded!"
Then she made a face. "Well, I was a LITTLE winded, actually, but I think it was from the pollution, not from the effort. It's pretty nasty up there."
"I still don't understand why my Pinkie ration didn't catch on," Pinkie Pie mumbled, copying Applejack's pose with her chin lying flat on the table, "I offered it to lots of different people, but every human that tries it eats one spoonful and then gives back the rest!"
"Um, I think it's because they can't eat a meal of cake frosting, Pinkie," Fluttershy offered, "if a pony were to eat that and nothing else, then we'd get sick."
Pinkie's head rose up off the table. "But I've been eating them and nothing else since I got here!"
"That's actually a little terrifying," Daniels said, glancing at the pink pony.
"Pinkie is a special case. Her body is like mostly sugar or something," Rainbow Dash insisted before swallowing the rest of the nutrient paste.
"You know what Twilight said," Rarity warned.
Pinkie sighed. "I'm not allowed to use myself as an example of decent or sane behavior."
Rarity finally worked up the courage to take a bite of her meal, and she immediately cringed as she forced it down her throat, the fork shaking in the grip of her levitation.
"It tastes worse than it looks!" the snow-colored pony cried, tears welling up in her eyes. "How is that even POSSIBLE?"
Spike started panicking immediately. "The kitchen is open now, right? Maybe I can-"
"Oh, give it a rest. Both of you," Rainbow Dash grumbled as she popped the lid on the second ration tin, "the humans have to eat this every day, right?"
"Not EVERY day," Daniels admitted, "sometimes we have creamed maize as a nice change."
"Creamed what?"
"Maize."
"How can you cream a maze?"
"No, it's a vegetable. Small, crispy edible bits arranged all over a long core. Usually yellow."
"Oh, you mean corn."
"What does the Blood God have to do with this?"
That particular miscommunication probably would have gone on longer, but Pinkie spotted a certain purple pony coming in from the entrance.
"Hey, look! It's Twilight!" Pinkie cheered, her mood brightening instantly as she starting climbing up Daniel's shoulder and waved from atop him.
"Hey! Careful!" the mercenary shouted. Earth ponies were not especially light.
"Hey everyone! How are you?" Twilight asked as she approached.
"Miserable," answered Rarity, looking shaken and haunted from having eaten half her meal so far, "please tell me you have some idea on when we can depart this glorified scrapyard."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "It's not like anypony is stopping us from leaving, Rarity."
"Perhaps the distance between here and Ponyville is trivial for a pegasus, but I can't travel that far on hoof!" the unicorn insisted. "Especially not when I've barely eaten during this whole trip!"
Rainbow seemed quite unsympathetic, but Twilight nodded. "Well, then I have good news! We're leaving tomorrow!"
Rarity's overdramatic expression of joy made her want to giggle.
"Finally! Back to my home and away from this industrial blight!"
"That's good," Applejack said quietly as she raised her head up, "Ah wanted to check on how mah farm's comin' along anyhow."
Twilight nodded as she levitated Rainbow's second ration tin toward her.
"Hey! That's mine!" the pegasus complained.
"I see the empty can next to you, Dash. I told you to stick to one a day like the humans," the alicorn chided, "anyway, the Iron Warriors have decided to negotiate with Equestria formally. So they're sending out Gaela and another human, and we can go with them."
"Negotiate formally? What does that mean?" Rainbow asked.
"It means we meet your ministers and leaders and cut deals with them, rather than random ponies we run into while out on sorties," Daniels explained.
"Awww! But I liked the old system!" Pinkie complained. She was now laying on top of Daniels' head, with her back legs braced on his shoulders and her forelegs hanging in front of his face.
"Frankly, I'm surprised that the Iron Warriors care," Daniels admitted, having mostly given up eating while Pinkie was climbing on him.
"I'm not sure they do, but that man Mister Delgan does," Twilight said with a shrug as she started eating the nutrient paste she had swiped, "the important thing is that we can get back home safely tomorrow."
"Are you and Spike coming with us?" Fluttershy asked.
Twilight's expression soured. "Well, yes. I would stay, but the data center is still broken and they won't let me into the other ones." Then she pursed her lips. "Also, I'm a bit worried that I haven't heard back from Princess Celestia. I wrote her a letter after the Tau attack and another last night, but I haven't gotten a response. I want to meet with her in case something's wrong."
Twilight went back to eating the ration she had seized, and for a few long seconds they ate their meals in peace (more or less; Pinkie was still on Daniels' head).
Then the door to the mess hall were smashed open, sending the heavy plates of metal flying into the room and bowling over several hapless diners.


Tellis stomped into the mess hall, the wings of his flight pack scraping the top edge of the doorway.
The Raptor Lord halted once inside, his helmet scanning the mess hall interior as everyone nearby scrambled to get away from him. He spotted his target fairly quickly; the brightly colored ponies stood out a great deal, after all.
"Why would you do that?! The doors open automatically!" cried a man pinned under one of the metal plates.
"It's hard to make a good entrance with automatic doors," Tellis explained absently, "you can't slam them, so it's hard to draw attention to someone entering, you know?"
Considering the subject concluded, he stomped over to the table where Rainbow Dash was already waving at him.
The other ponies were considerably less welcoming; aside from Pinkie Pie, they were wincing and trying to avoid eye contact with the metal giant as he approached.
"Hey Telly! What up?" Rainbow asked, zipping over and slapping a hoof into the palm of his gauntlet.
"Heya Rainbabe. How're you liking the grub?"
"It's positively awful. How does your kind grow so big on this rubbish?" Rarity volunteered.
"Don't answer that. It only encourages her," Rainbow Dash warned. "Anyway, it looks like we'll be heading back to Ponyville tomorrow."
"Sweet! So am I!" Tellis said happily.
"You have orders to deploy to Ponyville?" Twilight asked.
"Meh," the Raptor Lord answered with a shrug.
"Never mind," the alicorn sighed, turning back to her ration, "stupid question."
"Yes. Yes it was," Tellis agreed immediately, "anyhow, Lord Sliver is going to hold an assembly for most of the Company's Iron Warriors in a little bit, and I'm just checking in to see if you wanted to come."
Rainbow Dash looked confused. "Why would we want to go to that? I've never even heard of that guy."
"I thought you might want to see four hundred super-soldiers getting chewed out for being morons, that's all," Tellis said with his arms crossed over his chest.
Rainbow Dash brightened instantly, giggling with her hooves to her mouth. "That sounds awesome! I'm in."
"Actually, I could stand for a little schadenfreude myself," Rarity said, finally shoving the scraps of her lunch away, "I'll join you as well."
"Whoa, whoa, hold on," Tellis said quickly, holding up a palm, "this is an Iron Warrior event, snowball. That means cool kids only."
"Well, I'll just be on my way, then," Daniels said promptly, dropping Pinkie Pie onto the table and then quickly scurrying away.
Applejack looked disappointed to see him leave, but then returned a wary gaze to Tellis. "So yer sayin' the rest of us can't tag along?"
"Nah, I'm just saying that I'll need to have Dash here vouch for your cool factor," Tellis said with an absurd level of seriousness, "naturally, pegasi are cool by default. Her and Shy are definitely coming."
Fluttershy winced. "Um, I don't mean to be rude, but I don't really want-"
"The rest of you need to be cleared, though," Tellis finished, ignoring Fluttershy's timid protests entirely.
Rainbow Dash's brow furrowed in thought as she eyed her friends, apparently taking the responsibility thrust upon her shoulders quite seriously.
Finally, her expression shifted to a more solemn one. "Sorry, Twilight."
"Hooray! I'm cool!" Pinkie cheered.
The alicorn rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I have new dataslates I have to read anyway. I didn't even want to go."
"You'd rather read than watch a small army being yelled at like naughty children?" Tellis asked, snorting. "Good call, Dash. All right, the rest of you follow me. It's a long walk to the training arena, and apparently evolution was really pissed at most of you when it was deciding who gets wings."
Tellis started heading out, and the others quickly and with varying levels of remorse said good bye to Twilight.
"You're staying here, Spike," Twilight deadpanned when the young dragon tried to bid her goodbye.
"Why? He's cool enough. He breathes fire!" Rainbow Dash insisted.
"That is super metal. He's in," Tellis agreed, looking back.
"Spike..." Twilight said as her eyes narrowed.
Spike sighed. "Yeah, okay. I'll see you guys tomorrow."


****


Canterlot Castle - Celestia's study


Luna entered Celestia's study at a brisk trot, stepping into the room before quickly levitating the door shut behind her.
"Sister, thou called for us?" the younger Princess asked, standing at attention at the entrance.
Celestia didn't answer her immediately; she was standing over a writing desk with an extremely perturbed expression on her face. A quill levitated in front of her, its tip wet with ink, and a sheet of parchment was pinned to the surface of the desk.
Celestia wet her lips briefly as she returned the quill to the ink pot, and then heaved a weary sigh as she turned around.
"Yes, Luna. I need to speak with you. It's about the humans."
"Indeed, We assumed as much. The dark bastion and its armies hath been a topic of great diversion to everypony as of late," Luna snorted, "rumor abounds, and the Royal Guard nervously spins tales of exotic and invincible weapons. 'Tis quite a mess."
Celestia nodded grimly. "Everypony knows by now that war has descended upon our fair nation. Most are reasonably concerned as to where Equestria will stand as battle lines are drawn." She shook her head sadly. "However, that will have to wait. I'm very concerned about Twilight."
Luna quirked an eyebrow.
"I have heard nothing from her since she departed for the human fortress," the white alicorn admitted, staring down sorrowfully at the parchment.
"Dost thou not have methods to spy-pardon, observe Twilight Sparkle's whereabouts?" Luna asked.
"I do, but they're not working," Celestia complained, her horn lighting up with magic power, "I believe some outside power is thwarting me, because every time I use the scrying spell it is redirected."
Celestia cast the spell to show her, and Luna recoiled in surprise as a floating image of an utterly unfamiliar landscape appeared in a small translucent window in front of her.
"KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN!"
Luna blinked. "Who is that?"
"I have no idea!" her sister said, clearly frustrated. "I've tried this spell six times now, and in each case it just shows me this psychopath in red!"
"KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN!"
"By the ancients... look at him go," Luna mumbled.
"Every time I've seen him he's in a different place, so I don't think it's some kind of prepared image," Celestia sighed, "he's been hacking away at people every single time, though. I think he's actually been fighting non-stop since this interference began."
"Hark! There be some sort of giant metal contraption approaching!" Luna shouted, as if to warn the character from the image. "How will he overcome tha... ah. Never mind. 'Tis quite an axe he has." Luna sat down, her eyes fixed intently on the magical image. "This is actually quite fascinating. How long can he keep this up for, dost thou think?"
Celestia cut off the image, much to Luna's disappointment. "Focus, Luna. I can't contact Twilight through magical means. I fear the worst."
"Well, we can rule out the worst," Luna said immediately, surprising her sister, "thou hast not read today's Cloudsdale Times, I take it. It hath caused quite a stir."
In a flare of magical power, Luna summoned her own copy from a magical pocket.
"The Cloudsdale Times? Hardly an example of journalistic excellence," Celestia grumbled. Equestria had very few decent news outlets. In her opinion, anyway.
"It hardly needs to be in order to confirm that Twilight Sparkle is alive and well, Sister," Luna noted, floating the paper over to the larger alicorn and peeling it open.
Celestia raised an eyebrow at seeing a picture of a comically grim-looking Pinkie Pie standing upright over the corpse of a Fire Warrior, an unloaded bolter in her hooves and an unlit cigar clenched in her teeth.
"Well, that's a relief. But why are newsponies touring the evil death factories of a race of alien invaders?" Celestia asked, frowning at an image of some kind of mechanical crabs.
"Because the invaders let them, t'would seem," Luna said with a shrug, "the rest of the article is quite sympathetic to the humans. Suspiciously so. But certainly the Elements of Harmony yet live."
Celestia frowned, looking toward a chest where she kept Twilight's friendship reports. "Then why has she not contacted me? Perhaps she is still looking for an opportunity to confront the invaders' leader?"
She shook her head and turned back toward her sister. "It doesn't matter. So long as my faithful student is all right then there is yet hope. I will send her a letter requesting an update. Luna, I wish for you to attempt to contact her as well, if we receive no immediate reply. Enter her dreams and speak to her there; she may not be able to write to me openly, but you should be able to speak freely that way."
"Excellent idea, sister," Luna said, standing up sharply, "We shalt make preparations with all haste!"
"Thank you, Luna," Celestia said as she went back to her parchment, "I fear that even if she has survived so far, even more terrible fates can befall a pony that trifles with the darker powers."
Luna snorted as she walked out. "Aye. Thou needn't tell US that."
Celestia winced, but quickly went back to writing.


****


Ferrous Dominus - Serith's quarters


"The primary difficulty in this technique is focus. Mainly in that it requires much less of it than expected."
Serith stood off to the side of the room, his hands clasped behind his back as he observed and recorded the current trial being undertaken in his study.
Trixie was sitting in a corner opposite him, poring over several sketches of a butcher automata's internals.
Between the two was a live butcher-class automata, swaying slightly back and forth as it remained locked in idle mode. It looked much like the one that Serith had sicced on Trixie during her first magic show, although many of the limb weapons were different.
"Focus must be maintained to seize control of the object, to force the mind within the matrix of metal and energy," Serith warned, "but as soon as it is achieved one must let the mind wander. Focusing on one element will serve to make the effect end sooner; as soon as you have crippled whatever particular item has your attention, your concentration will break with the sense that your task is concluded, and the damage will be limited. Let your imagination rummage through the machine like a child searching for a toy. Turn servos to clay, wires to water, and extinguish the flames within that power the device."
Trixie took a deep breath and then closed her eyes, her horn glowing as she began.
"To take hold of the machine, you need only project your will to a single part; your knowledge of the inner workings of the device must necessarily include that part, in order to anchor your will. From there such knowledge is irrelevant; you needn't know how a body works to make it stop working."
"Is that how you can use this spell on vehicles belonging to alien species?" Trixie asked as she concentrated on the automata.
"Indeed. The technology of the Tau is an utter enigma to me, just as it is to all Astartes." Serith stopped, and then corrected himself. "Most Astartes. I believe the Warsmith is wholly comfortable with such bizarre devices. Yet no matter how advanced the alien becomes, certain simple devices do not bear upgrading. The Tau vehicles use servo assemblies for their turrets and weapon mounts. They are easy to mass-produce, reliable, and resilient. From there I unmake the vessel."
The butcher automata started to tremble as Trixie's magic poured over it, and it blurted several irritated-sounding strings of binary.
A sudden sucking noise came from a different corner of the room, and Serith turned his head toward his ensorcelled cage as a scroll fell back into reality, having been plucked from the flow of the Warp.
"Another one? It's not even evening yet," Serith said, walking over to the cage and reaching in to get the parchment.
"What's that?" Trixie asked. Her spell was still going, and the automata was shaking even more than before.
"I set up a ward over Lady Sparkle and Rarity's room to intercept any teleportation and send the teleported subject here," he explained as he stood up again, "I was expecting Lady Twilight to try to teleport out of Ferrous Dominus, but all she's been sending is letters, so I've been intercepting and reading them." He broke the seal on the latest scroll.
Trixie's brow furrowed, although it was mostly from her magic exertion rather than concern. "Why would you do that?"
"Well, given that Lady Sparkle has already proven herself to be hostile to our presence here, I could say that I'm checking her communications for any sign of sabotage or any hints of other plots against my Warsmith," Serith said with a disinterested tone as he slowly unrolled the parchment, "but if I'm being honest, I'm mostly doing it just to antagonize her."
Trixie snickered. "You're awful."
"Oh, I know. Now let's see here..." he tilted his helmet to the side. "Huh. This isn't from Lady Sparkle, she's the recipient." He looked up. "Fascinating. I didn't even know the ward worked both ways."
A fizzling noise came from the automata, and Serith's attention quickly focused on the machine as it sputtered and blasted sparks out of its sockets.
Its tendril limbs quivered, and then the body collapsed as its sensor lights flickered and went dark.
Serith tossed the parchment aside. "My, my... and on your first real attempt, too..."
Trixie huffed desperately, sweat trickling down her brow as the magic finally faded from her horn. "Was there ever... any doubt?"
"Well, it did take you FAR too long to break it down," Serith noted, "on a battlefield you would have been shot long before you took apart any vital systems. And of course, automata are small and easily crippled with most weapons. Still, it is a superb first step."
"For now, Trixie will take it," the unicorn gasped, her breath evening out as she stood up, "Trixie will practice more, but for now Trixie is going back to Suuna for a belly rub."
Serith chuckled lightly as he placed the letter in the same iron box as the others. "You're going to become addicted to those, at this rate."
"Pff. Trixie already is," the azure unicorn said shamelessly as she stepped toward the foyer.
Then she halted and looked back. "On that note: Trixie knows that Trixie is easily the most fascinating, amazing, and - let's face it - beautiful pony you'll ever meet, but from now on do not record Trixie without Trixie's permission."
"Oh, fine. Just break that big red bubble in your room, then," Serith said as he turned back around.
"No, that's okay. You have permission. Trixie just wants to know about it ahead of time." She idly smoothed out her hair before she headed out of the room, a smug smile on her face as usual.


****


Ferrous Dominus - sector 9 training arena


"Is that the guy?" Rainbow Dash asked as a hulking, rust-encrusted figure stomped onto a raised platform in the center of the arena.
"Yeesh! What the hay happened to him? He look like he's about to keel over!" Applejack exclaimed.
Tellis snickered. "Nothing happened to him. He always looks like that. That's Nurgle for you."
Tellis and the ponies were currently standing on a raised balcony above the spectator stands that held most of the Company's Iron Warriors. It had an excellent view, and was reserved for the Chaos Space Marine officers.
Tellis was technically an officer, but the balcony had been occupied already when he had arrived, and its occupants had hardly been willing to leave for the sake of Tellis' pony entourage.
And that was why Warpsmith Kessler and his Lieutenant Torrin were lying in a heap in the stands below.
"Ooh, I think he's starting!" Pinkie said excitedly.


"I ssuposse I should offer you congratulationss," Sliver said suddenly, silencing the murmuring crowds as his weak, raspy voice boomed over the local vox, "to thosse Iron Warriorss assembled here before me, you are the ssurvivorss. The Sspace Mariness sstill sstanding after a xeno sstrike force sstormed through our basse and killed everything it ssaw. You are the cowardss that fled the danger, or the incompetentss that found time to play in this world'ss foresstss while Ferrouss Dominuss wass sstill vulnerable. You imbeciless have presserved your livess at the cosst of much of our basse and the dignity of our Legion."
Sliver's single eye slowly scanned the crowd as his voice halted.
"Congratulationss, wormss."


"Are all your leaders revolting metal monsters with speech impediments?" Rarity asked, turning her gaze up at Tellis.
"No, not all of them. I don't have a speech impediment," the Raptor Lord pointed out.
"Heh! Look at 'em squirm down there," Rainbow Dash giggled.
"Just as a disclaimer, none of this lecture applies to me," Tellis insisted, "since I was on deployment elsewhere, I have an excuse."
"But didn't he also include the guys who were goofin' off near the Everfree instead of helping out here? Ah think that would include you, too," Applejack noted.
"As a second disclaimer, shut up or I'll punt you into the next sector."


"Never before have I sseen ssuch weaknesss in an Asstartess battle force," Sliver continued, stomping across the raised stage, "forty-one brotherss dead. Twice that number wounded. Half the fortresss, ruined. Iss thiss all you are? With all your experience, might, and the power of the Dark Godss running through you, thesse pitiful blue inssectss have run circless around you."
Sliver reached the edge of the stage, his eye glaring down at the Iron Warriors there. "The Dark Mechanicuss reacted with sskill and sspeed to keep the Tau filth out of their facilitiess. Even the human mercenariess, the lowest of the low, performed well under ssuch conditionss, sslowing the xeno advance and capturing their leader with lesss than two hundred cassualtiess."


"Speakin' in the technical sense, that was me. But Ah let Daniels take credit fer it," Applejack confided in the others.
"I helped too!" Pinkie said brightly. "The Tau have no defense against my face grapple technique!"
"I feel like the pony contribution in general is kind of being ignored," Rainbow Dash complained, crossing her forelegs in front of her.
"Whatever. How many xenos could you have possibly taken out during the assault?" Tellis scoffed.
Pinkie snickered. "More than you did."


"But you, our Iron Warriorss... my Legion... you were sslow. Clumssy. Dissorganized. Iss thiss the army raissed by the great Perturabo, the greatesst ssiegemasster to ever live, and the Warmasster'ss right hand?"
"WHEEEEEEEEE!"
Sliver paused in his lecture to glance upwards as something bright pink flew through the air overhead, but quickly dismissed the distraction.
"You dissgrace your father with your incompetence, and in your folly you vindicate every Legion Warssmith who lookss down on the 38th Company ass a warband of imbeciless and weaklingss."
Sliver's breath came heavily as he gazed at his troops. "Ssome among you were at the foot of the wallss of the Imperial Palace itsself when it wass ssiieged on Terra, at the height of our great Legion'ss glory."
Sliver made a noise half-way between a snort and a cough. "And look at you now. Sstruggling to hold our own fortresss againsst a graysskin force barely a tenth our ssize. You dissgusst me."


"Dude, harsh," Rainbow Dash noted, although she was snickering.
"He does make some valid points," Rarity admitted, "even if I don't know the events he's referring to."
"I think he could be a little nicer about it, though," Fluttershy noted quietly, "I'm sure the Iron Warriors tried their best."
Tellis glanced down at the ponies, confusion evident despite his helmet. "Okay, seriously, NONE of you care that I just booted your friend across the whole freaking arena?"
"We've all wanted to do that at some time or another," Applejack assured the Raptor Lord, "Ah'm sure she's fine."


"I've ssaid what needss to be ssaid. Return to your dutiess. And know that today, at leasst, your humiliation iss fully desserved."
Sliver turned away and stomped down the stairs leading away from the platform, pausing only briefly as the pink creature from before galloped across his path back toward where she had come from.
As for the Iron Warriors, not a peep issued from the gleaming ranks of the super-soldiers as they digested their lecture.
Some seethed quietly, furious that their own sacrifices and flawless efforts had to be judged in sum with the performance of their unskilled peers. Others rationalized away Sliver's judgment, figuring that they had followed their orders as given and performed their duties as should be expected given the quality of the Company's leadership. The majority of the Chaos Space Marines, however, internalized Sliver's shame and began considering their actions during the assault with a more critical lens. Things they could have done differently, consequences they should have foreseen, and tactical decisions they had made in error.
None of them spoke, each warrior descending into his silent prison of doubt or self-pity.
Well, most of them, anyway.
"HA! What a bunch of losers!" Tellis laughed, pointing at the gleaming masses below and guffawing at high volume.
"Telliss, you're the worsst of all of them," Sliver said flatly as he walked toward the edge of the arena to join his bodyguard.
"Pf! Whatever! You would have LOVED to have me around when the Tau broke in!" the Raptor Lord shouted down.
Pinkie popped up from behind his flight pack. "But you weren't around when they broke in. You were hanging out with pegasi from Cloudsdale. And when you think about it, that's a much worse failure than being here and not being able to fight off an enemy fast enough!"
One drop-kick later, Pinkie was again flying through the air, somersaulting with her legs bunched up underneath her.
"WAAAHOOOOOO!!"


****


Ferrous Dominus(?) - later that evening


Through the twisted mirror lens of the Warp, all reality was subverted into nightmare and senseless emotion. Walls of iron became flame or darkness. Individuals were mere motes of light, flickering within a sea of boiling power. Thoughts and images were given form, manifest into horrifying, twisted, and - most often - extremely angry avatars.
The world of dreams lay in-between the Warp and reality, both in metaphysical terms and in its illustration of the waking world. Matter had consistent form, but was permeable. Souls stood stronger against the flow of power, but were still little more than spots of candlelight against the gloom. Thoughts, or more specifically, dreams, held power here, but fell short of coalescing into willful monsters.
It was familiar territory for Luna, but even in this twilight realm, safe from the lethal reality of guns, lasers, and plasma, Ferrous Dominus was an intimidating bastion. The soldiers manning the walls were far from its only guardians, and its masters were all too knowledgeable about the dangers of the realms beyond.
Just getting within the walls was quite unpleasant, if not actually challenging. As Luna neared the fortress, soaring through the air on an astral wind, her fur began to stand on end and her vision began to get murky, as if she was seeing through oily water rather than the clear, crisp winds of the dream world.
The effect only got worse as she glided over the walls, and once she landed on the marsh-like ground within the fortress her visibility had been reduced to a mere few meters. The ferrocrete below sucked at her hooves like it was trying to drink her up, and she had the distinct feeling that something - or perhaps multiple somethings - were not only aware of her presence, but watching her intently.
Luna set off at a trot, her body blurring through the dark, gloomy avenues as she sped her search. Even with her physical sight hindered by the gloom, finding Twilight would be a simple matter. Alicorns and even unicorns shone brighter in the dream realm than other ponies, and she could already sense the surging power of the Element of magic even through the haze of living darkness that sought to foil her.
She moved faster as her body was further displaced from the Materium, unbound to its generally stable flow of time. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of minds at rest zipped by her.
She had to focus everything on finding Twilight to keep her attention to her task; not because of any sort of psychic trickery or dark interference, but merely because Ferrous Dominus was honestly intriguing. Despite her many years of experience (albeit much of it on a barren, intemperate rock) she had never seen or heard of anything like the human fortress-factory, and if she gave in to her curiosity she would have certainly taken her time to observe the place and perhaps peek into the dreams of its inhabitants.
But the Princess of the Night was focused on her mission, and she paid the distractions no mind.
Soon Luna had crossed much of the base, and as she slowed her pace the flow of time likewise returned to a more sedate pace.
She frowned at the sight of the building before her; heavily damaged, with its front door and windows smashed apart and the interior pock-marked with craters. The empty, shattered lobby was merely the front-most part of the structure, however, and she could sense both Twilight and Rarity inside.
Luna didn't bother going in the front entrance; her body could seep through the hazy matter-image of the dream world like water through a sieve. Walls and such were purely obscuring obstacles, no more a hindrance than the branches of a puny shrub.
Which was the reason Luna was so surprised when she smacked her face flat onto the wall of the secondary data center.
The Princess stumbled backward, completely stunned. Had the humans created some sort of dream-metal that could shield them from the spirits of the night? If so, she found such a precaution absurdly wasteful, if not grudgingly ingenious. Very few dream-creatures were any sort of threat to anypony.
Frowning, she moved over to the gaping, ash-strewn entrance and walked into the doorway.
As her face once again smashed flat against an inexplicably hard surface, she concluded that something was in fact amiss.
Pulling back from the point of impact, Luna raised a hoof and placed it flat against the invisible barrier.
With her hoof resting against it, she tested the strength of the barrier by leaning against it, trying to push through. In the back of her mind she knew that the idea of forcing her way through something relied on assumptions of applying force that didn't work in the dream world, but then, things like magic barriers weren't supposed to work here, either.
Either way, she pushed and strained against the psychomantic shielding with no effect, and after a minute of fruitless labor the Princess backed up to consider her options.
The first idea that came to mind was lighting the shield up with magic to try to get through, but the further she thought on that plan, the worse an idea it seemed. She didn't know anything about this defense, and using magic in the dream realm, outside of the consciousness of a single individual, was almost certain to have unexpected consequences. What if it leaked over into reality? What if the shield collapsed suddenly and some excess magic hurt Twilight and her friends?
What if it started attracting huge flies, like the one staring at her from the sidewalk?
It took Luna several seconds to properly process the sight of a filly-sized fly hovering next to her just out of leg's reach, its wings beating silently in the murky, corrupted air.
It took several more seconds for Luna to actually acknowledge the thing; first she squeezed her eyes shut, counted to ten, and then opened her eyes again, hoping that the anomaly would be gone.
But the insect stubbornly continued existing, its compound eyes gleaming in the pale light cast from the dream-image of lumen strips and bulbs.
Luna wasn't sure what to do. Insects, obviously, weren't really supposed to be in the dream realm. Their mental presence was so slight as to be literally beneath her notice. And that was referring to real-life insects that would have appeared as blips of light. This creature had a very well-defined form, possessing the body of a common housefly grown to monstrous proportions.
As revolting as it was, however, it wasn't actually doing anything to bother her besides floating nearby and being far too ugly to deserve the privilege.
"Can we... help thee?" Luna asked awkwardly. It was weird enough talking to a gigantic insect, and more so in the dream realm. She had never spoken to a creature in this plane outside of its actual dreams.
The fly bobbed up and down briefly, and then turned away to hover down the street.
Luna didn't budge, and before the fly was obscured by the poor visibility it stopped and turned back around to stare at her.
"Thou wishes for us to follow thee. Lovely," Luna said, her voice dripping sarcasm.
She gazed back at the data center, and the beacons of magic power that lay within. Without focusing exclusively on Twilight's, she could feel others as well, but nonetheless the minds all lay inexplicably out of reach.
Luna reluctantly turned to follow the fly. Her original goal may have been foiled, but she would at least investigate the human fortress herself and the anomalies within. Perhaps she could aid Twilight that way, or stumble upon one of the other Elements of Harmony.
As soon as she picked up a cautious pace the fly started moving again, leading on through the streets as the flow of time dilated around them.
Luna followed, but did so without the steadfast urgency with which she had sought out Twilight.
Without her attention focused, she began to take in some of the other details of the place, or at least what details she could make out through the haze of darkness and insubstantial nature of the dream realm.
There was something undeniably grand about the grim, Gothic architecture that towered overhead, riddled with hateful symbols and dedicated to evil beings from beyond the veil. It took considerable dedication and resourcefulness to build something so large, and even in the current twilight dimension between reality and the Empyrean it hummed with energy and activity. There were enormous cranes shifting nearby as they worked tirelessly to rebuild a structure that had fallen, and everywhere the flickering lights of waking souls moved in great eddies through the base. Evidently there was much to do at night for the humans, for so many to still be awake and active.
Soon she noticed that the fly had stopped again, this time despite her following it. It was hovering in front of the wall of the manufactorum - not that Luna knew what it was called - while bobbing excitedly and rubbing its forelegs together as if it was looking at a meal.
"We wish thee to know that we art only refraining from wiping thee from this and every other realm of existence because we art curious," Luna warned the insect, "do not suppose that thou art beyond our power."
It was doubtful the fly understood any of this, and the gigantic dream-insect eventually landed softly on the wall of the manufactorum before sinking its head into the surface and squirming through it.
Luna grimaced at the sight of the hairy, wriggling abdomen vanishing into the wall surface.
"Well... here goes naught," the Princess grumbled before pushing forward.


****


???


Solon squinted as he turned a micro-driver, his gen-enhanced vision refocusing the surface of the circuit board at a much finer resolution as he drew electron paths to be reinforced later.
The Space Marine was stooped over a square table on a veranda, his mighty hands moving minutely around a cube-shaped device of no obvious purpose.
Behind him, rolling hills turned into numerous rocky outcroppings, each of them mounted by great towers of various purposes. Some boasted enormous windmills that trailed thick power cables down to the ground. Others were arcologies packed tightly with tenants and overrun with idyllic gardens and ornately carved furniture. One of them was a farmstead, surrounded on all sides my fields of grain and grazing animals. Water trickled down from heavy moisture engines mounted atop the tower, drinking from the dry air and draining into grand, precisely constructed aqueducts that irrigated the fields below.
Solon turned the cube around as he finished his previous work, and then glanced up at the view from the veranda.
"Beautiful, is it not?" He said aloud, his eyes dropping back to the cube. "When most think of the home world of the Iron Warriors, they assume it would be a fortress world, like the ones we build now. Guns and bulwarks built into every mountain and entire continents turned over to silos, batteries, and the reactors to power them."
In the hall behind the veranda, Luna cautiously stepped out of the shadows, saying nothing. She had no idea how the man had known she was there. She didn't even know exactly who he was.
She had an inkling, though.
"Olympia was more fortunate than that, however. After it was pacified our Primarch was free to mold it in his own image. His true image, not the hard-nosed goliath that he presented to outsiders."
Solon still hadn't turned toward the Princess, rolling the cube around in his hands and observing the minute imperfections carefully. "I often retreat here during rest cycles so I can toy with the designs in my head. It's a wistful, sentimental image. One that has been rejected and forgotten by most of the Legion. Much like the world itself."
Luna stepped up to the edge of the veranda, her eyes scanning the towers. She had to admit it was a breathtaking sight: a shining example of human architecture and brilliance without the sickly feeling that one experienced gazing upon the spike-studded edifices of Ferrous Dominus.
"This place is not polluted by thy hatred?" Luna asked, still staring at the hills.
"Olympia wasn't polluted by hate, it was burned by it. This is but a memory fragment, preserved for my own use," Solon explained, putting his device down. He reached over the table toward a brass goblet full of dark wine.
Luna turned her attention fully to the man. He was clearly an Astartes, matching the size and proportions she had seen in images of the Space Marines, but rather than bulky powered armor this man had on only a thick white toga and sandals. His head was shaved bald, and sections of his skin were drawn over with tattoos of strange, esoteric scripture and runes.
He was heavily muscled, unnaturally so, yet even as his body was shaped like a brute his eyes gleamed with a deep intelligence and his fingers moved with a cautious dexterity, as if he was afraid of breaking the things they touched.
"... Thou art the leader of the humans, yes?" Luna finally asked.
Solon took a sip from the goblet, and then rewarded Luna with full eye contact.
"I am Warsmith Solon, high commander of the 38th Company. It's fleets and armies answer to me. And who are you, to step into my dreams like a child wandering through an unfamiliar structure?"
Luna frowned, not liking that he had compared her to a child. Her relative immaturity compared to her sister was something of a sore point with her. "We art Princess Luna, Guardian of the Night! We hast not 'wandered' anywhere, invader!"
True, she'd had no intention originally of meeting this man and had been led here by some bizarre third party, but he (probably) didn't know that.
"Another Princess. How many of you are there?" Solon asked between sips from his goblet.
"Last We checked, four. But that number hath been rising of late, so who knows," the blue alicorn mumbled before clearing her throat, "on the subject of Princesses, We demand to know what thou hast done with Princess Twilight Sparkle!"
Solon quirked an eyebrow at the Princess's narrow-eyed glare. "I held audience with her, acquiesced to her requests, and then gave her some reading material. Why?"
Luna made an incredulous expression. "Dost thou take us for a fool?"
"Yes, but that has nothing to do with this," Solon admitted as he rolled his goblet about in his hand, "just this afternoon I spoke to Miss Sparkle and she was fine. The only occasion in which she has been restricted from leaving the premises was the xeno assault two days ago. That is all I know about her presence in our fortress."
Luna kept her deeply suspicious expression. "Then why hath she been unable to contact our sister?"
"Why would I know or care?" Solon asked before turning away toward the view of the hills.
Luna bristled at his dismissal, but at the same time his indifference seemed perfectly genuine. She decided to shift topics slightly.
"If thou hast agreed to Equestria's demands, why art thou still here? We saw little signs of departure within thy fortress, only rebuilding of that which hast been razed."
Solon turned his attention back toward Luna, his eyes narrowed. "I don't much appreciate being interrogated, Princess Luna. You infiltrate my fortress, intrude upon my rest, and then think to demand answers from me?" He took a long drink from his goblet. "For a species that prides itself on its peaceful, harmonious nature, your kind's approach to diplomacy is unwisely aggressive."
Luna made a dismissive expression. "We seek no diplomacy with thee, Warsmith. Thou constructs bastions of war within our borders and spreads corruption through the air itself. Thy soldiers march amongst our people as if this were thy land. Our very world weeps at thy presence, and the hate and destruction thou brings! Thou art our enemy!" Luna insisted, raising her head high in defiance.
"Yes, yes, war, hate, blood, pollution, corruption, blah blah blah," the Warsmith said with a roll of his eyes as he walked past the table to get a pitcher of wine, "I've heard it all before, Princess. The situation remains the same. We are staying until we've constructed our engines and eliminated the Tau. After that, we leave. I will not leave prematurely and abandon my starships for the sake of your people, so you have little choice but to bear our presence until such time comes." He refilled his goblet and then once again locked eyes with Luna. "Or... you can try to defeat us."
An explosion sounded behind Luna right after Solon finished speaking, and she turned her head to glance behind her.
The previously peaceful countryside had been completely shattered. Towers burned or crumbled before her eyes. Great columns of light lanced downward in the distance, carving the ground apart and swallowing entire structures in death. Groups of Iron Warriors, armored in brushed steel and beaten gold plate, but lacking the horns and trinkets acquired over millennia of Chaos worship, marched in lockstep down hills with bolters and blades drawn. Crowds of people, unarmed and lacking any military dress or identifiers, fled before them. With every few steps, the Iron Warriors would release a coordinated volley, and a great swath of the crowd would fall.
"Your people remind me of the Olympians, in some ways," Solon remarked as he leaned against the veranda railing, "idyllic. Privileged. Content. Curiously insolent."
The crowds were driven down toward each other, and the Iron Warrior advance slowed as the super-soldiers identified the wounded and finished them off. Eventually the tides of people coming from different directions flowed into each other, confusion and paralysis overcoming the momentum as the great mass shifted and swirled in search of escape.
The report of distant artillery sounded in the distance as the advance of the Space Marines halted entirely.
Luna turned back toward Solon, not bothering to watch as the crowd of civilians was pulverized. She looked singularly unmoved.
"Is this tripe supposed to impress us?" the Princess asked flatly. "Art We to watch thy 'mighty army' in battle now?"
"Battle? This?" Solon asked, moving his hand with the goblet in the general direction of the slaughter. "Miss Luna, this is not battle. Battle implies combat. It requires resistance. Opposition of lethal means." He gulped down some wine before continuing. "This is massacre. Nothing more, nothing less. No more a battle than the butcher faces when plying his trade against the lamb."
Luna quirked an eyebrow. "We do not know what this means."
"Right, herbivore. Never mind. My point is that organizing the murder of Olympia was less a sortie and more a chore. The closest thing to a challenge was optimizing the use of ammunition. Using mass-reactive rounds to cut down fleeing civilians is an utter waste of good bullets."
Luna once again looked at the carnage taking place outside the veranda, noting that the scene had now completely changed since she had last looked. Now she was witnessing the destruction of a town, its finely sculpted architecture shattered under massive siege guns.
A couple dashed through the clouds of smoke and dust flowing through the town, falling against the door to a homestead and beating desperately against the door.
After a few seconds it cracked open, and the pair were bundled inside quickly, arms drawing them to safety before the door was closed and latched once more.
Then their sanctuary vanished in a burst of fire.
Luna tilted her head slightly as she watched a Vindicator siege tank drive through the dark spot where the home used to be, its dozer shield parting the scorched rubble before it.
"Dost thou regret it?"
Solon looked surprised as the alicorn turned back toward him. Her gaze was softer now, for some reason.
"Regret what?"
"Doing this," Luna clarified, nudging her head at the scene of destruction, "this world was thy home, yes? T'was this... 'Primarch's' legacy. And thou destroyed it. Dost thou regret this decision?"
"It was not our decision," Solon said firmly, his hand tightening on his goblet, "we were pushed here. By the Imperium, by the Emperor, by our so-called citizens, by Horus, by Lorgar, by that thrice-damned worm Erebus..."
Solon trailed off in his rant, aware that his goblet was starting to deform in his hand. He was also belatedly aware that none of his excuses would even mean a thing to the alicorn princess, and he brought his mind back to the question.
"... No. I regret nothing," Solon said finally, putting his goblet down, "self-destruction is in our nature; our father, mighty in body and mind, seemed damned from birth only to destroy, and his efforts to create turned to ash before him time and time again. Only his weapons, his wars, persist. His fury and dark intellect are his gifts to us."
The Warsmith turned his gaze on Luna. "But regret? That is not in our blood. I'll not color our sacrifices and suffering with doubt and shame."
Luna's expression hardened again. "There art no shame in admitting fault and making amends for thy crimes."
"Bah! We can make no amends," Solon decided, turning around to face the veranda and lean on the railing as he crossed his arms over his chest, "my Legion has been hunted ever since our betrayal, and our sentence is annihilation. So our grievances and crimes are sorted on the battlefield, vindicated or rebuked with the thunder of boltguns. Do I regret the slaughter of Olympia? Should I regret the hundred genocides before that? Should I turn my gun away from the battles to come as my enemies hunt me down across the stars? No. Regret is useless and there are tasks before me that require completion. Wallowing in self-reflection and doubt is a meaningless diversion for private moments far from the battlefield."
"Like now?"
"Until you showed up, yes."
Luna raised an eyebrow again as she sat on her haunches. "We hath not considered thine ilk to be so... philosophical. Might the corruption of Chaos fall lightly upon thee?"
The Iron Warrior snorted. "Perhaps it does. Or perhaps your understanding of my 'corruption' is flawed." Then he paused and turned his head back around. "Ah. This is my favorite part."
Luna turned around as well, and a small gasp escaped her lips. She was staring at a distant city, its towers stretching higher than any in Canterlot and numbering in the hundreds.
Above the city, a vast metal vessel slowly sank through the air, leaking fire and smoke from dozens of massive wounds.
"That was the Magnificence of Irud. We deliberately avoided destroying her right away to position her over the city, and then cut away her engines," Solon explained as he pointed to the dying starship, "her orbit decayed and she sank into the atmosphere, right on top of Barellas, a major city on the southern continent. More than thirty million souls, crushed by their own defender, and without a single extra bullet fired. Only the Iron Warriors can manage murder with that kind of economy."
Luna didn't have much to say to that, so she silently watched as the space vessel reached the towers, smashing through them as if they were made of cards. As the ship impacted the ground the shock waves began to tear the surrounding buildings apart, ripping their substructures out from under them before a wave of dust and rubble washed through the city.
A nearby gunshot distracted her from the sight of a city's deathblow, and Luna's attention focused instead on the estate behind them.
There were several men and women fleeing through the halls, wailing desperate pleas and protests as they staggered away.
Iron Warriors walked after them. The Space Marines shouted no battle cries. They answered no questions or pleas. There was no sign of any sort of tactical acumen or military effort in their movements.
They walked after their victims, eventually caught up with them, gunned their chainswords, and then carried out their orders.
Luna watched it all with a detached expression. She could hardly feel anything for the dream images in front of her, and she hardly felt like condemning the Warsmith for crimes he committed however long ago against people she knew nothing about on a planet she would never see.
"We will not let thou do this to our citizens," Luna said firmly.
Solon stared at her with a bemused expression. "I've already insisted that I don't intend to do so, but since you don't believe me I find myself curious as to what you think you can do about it."
Luna's dour expression shifted slightly into a smirk. "We art the Princess of the Night, Warsmith! Dreams art our element, and no villain that slumbers is safe from our power!"
Luna stood up, her wings spreading before her eyes flashed a solid white and her horn lit up with magical energy. "In the realm of dreams, we hold dominance! Should thou challenge us, thou shalt find thy mind undone by our terrible power!"
Solon looked entirely unimpressed, and he took a drink from his dented goblet before speaking again. "Really, now? You can harm me in my dream and cause tangible damage to my waking self?"
"Indeed!" Luna barked. "And in contrast, thou shalt find us quite invulnerable within this dream state! So We say to thee: leave our world with all haste, or prepare to face our wrath!"
"Let me think about that," Solon said dryly before gulping down the rest of his dream wine. Then he set the goblet down. "Cogitator Assidium three-seven-zero, terminate rest cycle."
Luna blinked her still-glowing eyes. "Pardon? What dost that-"
And then the world collapsed under her.


****


Canterlot Castle - Luna's study


A magic circle flared to life under Luna's semi-conscious body as she was shunted out of unreality, and with a flash of light and a cracking noise not unlike thunder the alicorn's eyes snapped open.
Gasping, Luna reflexively staggered to her feet, her head jerking back in forth in a panic as she tried to ascertain where she was.
Her heartbeat slowed as she realized she was back in her study. She often began her journeys into the dream realm from here, as it was the safest place to keep her true body while projecting her powers.
Luna grit her teeth, her wings trembling in fury. Solon had rebuked her. HER! The Princess of the Night! Flung her across time and space and tossed her back into her real body with nothing more than system command. How was that even possible?
"Son of a MULE!"


****


Ferrous Dominus - Solon's forge


The hiss of steam came from a dozen devices at once as the arrays of neural uplinks pulled free of the sockets on Solon's helmet and spine. Those sockets then slid closed as the Warsmith cycled back to full awareness.
"Bloody hell, you can't even shleep on thish planet without being accoshted by talking horshesh," Solon grumbled as the locking bays for his legs cracked open one by one, freeing his heavy metal appendages.
Stepping out of the rest bay, his legs clanging hard on the iron floors, the Nurglite stomped past several piles of scrap materials and esoteric components salvaged from the Tau ships and various bits of wreckage. There was quite a bit, and the piles were growing.
"Ah, well, nothing for it. Ash long ash I'm awake, I think I'll build a new train. With a shield thish time! And an ionic cycler engine! Hmmmm!"
Lumen strips turned on and actuators twitched to life as if the factory mechanisms sensed his intentions, and soon the Warsmith's forge was alive with activity as the smell of burning metal mixed with the ejections from the noxious censers hanging from the ceiling.
"Build, build, build!"