Pain. Everything was pain. My body was in agony, from my extremities to my very heart. My soul was aflame as well. What was over was over. For eight years, the Horus Heresy has destroyed my Imperium. Worlds had burned as the archtraitor himself had pillaged them as an afterthought of his passing. Or perhaps, it was not so much as an afterthought as a warning: “Soon, Terra will be likewise.” Now there was peace. Why did I not feel it? I had killed my most favored son. He had nearly killed me. Soon, I suspected, I would be dead. I would die, because every organ in my body had been shattered by Horus. I was barely able to strike him down when the final moment came. Heh, it was oddly fitting a death for the Emperor of Mankind, was it not?
Then there was light. From behind my eyelids I could see and feel the warmest light that I had experienced. Impossibly, the physical pain seemed to fade. Was I in heaven? Why would I be there? I had done more in my life deserving of hell than any human being. I did not even believe in either. There was the warp, certainly. But the dead were barely conscious of their continued existence there. Was I still alive? I opened my eyes.
“Xenos!” I cried as I saw the face staring down at me.
The face blinked. It was long, equine. It was pastel colored in a way that defied the laws of reality. The sheer existence of such bright color almost disgusted me of the world. Colors that bright were colors of the warp indeed! This was no daemon, certainly for I could sense the foul evil stench of those, but it was certainly chaos affiliated. The abhorrent creature was poking my golden plated armor with its hoof, tracing the fine inscription. It had a horn protruding from its head, like the Unicorni of old mythology, and eyes far too large for its head.
“Away, thou foul aberrant!” I roared, lashing out with my arm.
The Xenos hadn’t the time to flinch when my fist connected with its skull. There was a sound of rending flesh as the force of the impact removed the Xenos’ head from its shoulders. The removed cranium spun away comically sporadically spurting blood, bone fragments and brain matter flying from where I had crushed it. The body collapsed as gravity embraced it. The enemies of man would not be victorious this day, for I was the Emperor! I was dimly aware of screaming. The blow was pathetically weak on my part.
I stood, strangely free of the agony that had racked me but a few seconds earlier. Coming to my full height, I looked down towards the source of the screaming. Several terrified Xenos stared up at me with their disgustingly large eyes, rooted to the spot by terror. Almost all were garishly coloured. I dwarfed them by a great magnitude. They barely came to my knees. Several were weeping. These were strange, evidently spineless creatures. Creatures such as these were part of the reason for the Great Crusade. Creatures as pathetic as these ones did not deserve to live. They scattered. Watching them, I noted that they were running into a small village.
The village eerily reminded me of villages from the Medieval period, roughly twenty-eight millennia before I founded the Imperium of Man. It was hard to remember. However, this village deferred from the grey, depressed towns of medieval Europea. It was just as disgustingly colourful as its inhabitants, lacking all of the simple grandeur of Imperial architecture. Six of the creatures stood in my path.
My eyebrow quirked up at the sight of these creatures. Fear radiated from them, yet they stood their ground, stony faced. Naturally, fear was to be expected. One simply cannot see the Emperor of Mankind and not feel awe. This was not pride speaking. It was truth. Few men could bear to look upon me. They claimed behind my back that my armor was “too shiny”, and I “too glorious.” It became, at one point, disturbingly close to worship, which I abhorred and still do. The Cult of the Lectitio Divinitatus was something that I had been trying to exorcise for some time. I was not to be worshiped. Nothing was to be worshiped. I was no god.
I noticed that these creatures wore pendants. I make a correction. Five wore pendants, one wore a…what were they called. I hadn’t seen one of those in millennia. Ah, yes! It was called a tiara. Disgusting implements of inbred nobility, it was an attempt to assert command among those who were unworthy of it. The creature that wore the tiara had both horn and wings. I finally noticed that these creatures had marks upon their haunches. Ritual tattoos? If that was the case, these abominations had far more to worry about than before. Ritualism was and is disgusting.
“I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. Surrender, and we won’t use the Elements on you,” Her voice quivered, and I could sense that she was unused to the usage of threatening. But, I could sense some power…radiating from her. It was well spring of psyker energy potent as a Librarian’s.
I do not know why, even now, but I spoke, “The Emperor of Mankind does not surrender. Thou shalt kneel to us, and die painlessly. If thou refuseth to bend the knee, we will destroy thou and purge thy kind from the face of this world in a torrent of fire and agony.”
I should not have given them the honor of hearing my voice. Only my sons and Malchador had ever truly heard me speak. Certainly, many soldiers had heard my commands upon the field of battle, but I had never spoken to them specifically. I know not why I spoke to these foul creatures. All xenos had to die. They were eternally the enemies of man, from the barbarian Orks to the arrogant Eldar. These were no different.
“Girls, formation!” The so called Princess ordered.
Warp energy began to bleed off of them. It was not like Horus’ though. The opposite, in fact. It was almost…pure. This was thought that rattled me to my core. I had seen many things come from xenos, yet they had one thing in common. Their magiks always stank as putrefying flesh of rotting impurity. Yet, this signature almost felt human. This was an abhorrent consideration. I had spent two centuries killing creatures as these, yet these were a dimension apart.
Disgusting.
A rainbow beam of energy lashed out from the creatures, whose eyes were now glowing. The beam struck me in the chest, having no effect. My body simply absorbed it, empowering me. I saw their leader’s eyes widen.
“Twilight, why isn’t it working?” Cried a white colored Unicorni. She had a highborn accent. How strange.
“He’s…too pure? Wait, what? How could he be to pure this is impossible. Nothing that kills could be good enough to absorb the elements. No! No! No! No! No!” She kept repeating the words, twitching slightly.
It occurred to me how odd it was that I could understand them. Why did they speak low gothic? It was nigh impossible that they could have the same language as humanity. It was utterly inconceivable. I was now utterly certain that the chaos “gods” were having a laugh at my expense, as they had been during the Horus Heresy.
“ I have to go get Celestia!” she cried, rushing towards a building in the shape of a tree.
I shrugged and continued, drawing my sword, Worldslayer. It was the brother weapon to Horus’s mace, Worldbreaker. There was a certain comfort as I looked upon the Aquila upon the pommel, and the high gothic inscription upon the blade. I almost smiled as I read the words.
“Per Ignem Puritas”
“Purity Through Flames.”