//------------------------------// // Companionship is Magic (MLP Loops 138 and a bit) // Story: MLP Time Loops // by Saphroneth //------------------------------// This is a special chapter. (Evilhumour, with help from Leonite, Custodator Pacis, Purrs, Zeusdemigod131, Wildrook, and Archeo-Lumiere.) The Misadventures of Lemon Rush: Companionship is Magic! "-and on the longest day, in a thousand years, the Emperor's sisters known shall return from their banishment, discover the reincarnations of the fallen Chaos Gods and bring forth Eternal Night for all of ponykind with the Chaos Gods behind Her," Lemon Rush finished reading as he Woke up. Groaning, the stallion sent out pings, hoping he wasn't going to deal with this insanity alone. With a sigh, he got five pings back, but before he could analyse them, he heard a cough next to him. "I just got the reply from the Emperor, Lemon," a young unawake Spike said, holding a letter up to him. "Shall I read it?" "Ye- yeah," Lemon said, trying to get his looping memories quicker as all the pings came from a greater distance than Canterlot, nearly all from Ponyville. "Read on Spike." To my dear faithful student Lemon Rush, I do appreciate your concerns about the anniversary of the banishment of my sisters' and the prophecy about Eternal Night Moon bringing the Chaos Gods back from the dead, but rest assured, the entire military is on the ready in case anything should occur, with several thousand Space Marines specifically trained to deal with such a thing happening and appropriately deployed in key locations. I do have a great and important task for you, Lemon Rush. You must go forth and make companions. Training and learning is perfectly acceptable, but one must have others to rely on if you wish to truly progress in our wide world. That is why I am sending you to the humble town of Ponyville, to prepare my first stop in the Imperium to reassure the population that all is well, as well as to mingle with the population voted to be the most pleasant throughout the entire Imperium. I have complete faith that you can accomplish these important tasks I set forth for you and need not wish you any luck as I know you will make me proud. Yours, The Emperor. Lemon sighed heavily as the chariot pulled away, looking at the two heavily armoured pegasi marine flying back to mountain mega city. Canterlot had encompassed the entirety of the mountain this loop, with the Grand Golden Garrison-palace at the top, the city circling downwards until it reached 'Old Canterlot', where the city was usually sat. "Come on Lemon, you still can't be worrying about that old prophecy?" Spike said, placing a claw on his flanks. "The Emperor told you not to worry about it, and we can't have a repeat the last time you panicked over something silly." "Spike," Lemon spat out, beginning to walk into the city as the more embarrassing loop memories came into focus. Thankfully, the Emperor decided to let him walk into the city so he could have a greater chance of finding 'companions' but there was a number of ponies looking at him oddly in the distance and this would make the whole thing bucking harder. "I told you, I thought that Blueblood was really a changeling drone who was recruiting ponies to his cult! How long will you hold that over my head?!" "Well, until it stops being funny," Spike laughed, remembering how Gleaming Shield and the Emperor had to save Lemon from the overzealous police after Lemon crashed the birthday party the noble threw for High Lady V. Scratch. It took several months for Lemon's coat to regrow after the incident, and the Emperor prevented him from regrowing it quicker as punishment for leaping without looking. "And besides, Vinyl still wants to share wubs with you, whatever that means." Facehoofing at his young dragon assistant's innocence, Lemon walked into the city with more ponies smiling awkward at him. While he wasn't wearing any armour like most ponies that came from Canterlot, he did wear the emblem of the Emperor's personal student. "Look Spike, I'll tell you when you're-" With a sudden gasp, a pink stallion leaped into the air in front of him. "THERE you are!" What looked like Pinkie Pie, but sounded like Tzeentch sneered at him. "Come with-" The pony's eyes darted to the rapid shut movement Lemon was doing as a confused Spike was tilting his head. Tzeentch proved to be himself as he instantly changed tactics. "me! I'm the primary party planner of Ponyville and you must be the Emperor's personal student and here to make sure everything is ok for the Emperor's visit and IswearI'llkillyouifyoubreathawordofthistoanyone-" "Wait what?" Spike blinked, looking at the pink stallion who was still shaking Lemon's hoof with tremendous energy and speed. "He said he wants us show us around town to the places we need to go, Spike." Lemon caught the glare from the pony across of him. "But I just remembered that I need to go do something else like finish making that lemon cake for Anathema. So bye Leman!" With that, the pony disappeared like Pinkie Pie, horrifying Lemon that Tzeentch would pick up Pinkie's abilities. Spike just blinked and shrugged. "Weird pony," With a roll of his eyes, the dragon pulled out a scroll and looked at it. "First stop is to see an Applejack for the food preparations at the apple farm." Lemon walked down the usual path towards the Sweet Apple Acres with dread, wondering and hoping if Applejack would the same mare that he often called his aunt. She could produ- "DAMMIT IT TO THE WARP YOU MORONS, WE NEED TO GET THINGS READY AND YOU FOOLS JUST DROPPED ANOTHER BUSHEL!" A loud, very familiar voice shouted, causing the dragon and stallion to jump. After a pause, the voiced continued to boom. "I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH I SAID I'D PAY YOU, GET OFF MY PROPERTY NOW OR I WILL BUCK YOU TWO OFF!" "Uh, Lemon, I think we made a mistake." Spike muttered very concerned. With a loud smack, two stallions went sailing through the sky before crashing into the ground in front of Lemon and the scared drake. Looking down at Flim and Flam, Lemon let out another tired annoyed sigh. "No Spike, I'm very sure we're at the right spot." Lemon muttered, wishing he had his wings so he could fly away from this insanity but as a unicorn of so-so power, that option was not available to him. "Come along, the sooner we get this done with, the sooner we can meet with the next pony." "Who is.....CANDY CANE?!" Spike shouted in surprise and joy, causing the two pony on the ground to groan in pain. "I can't believe we're going to meet the Candy Cane!" With another sigh, Lemon Rush walked beside his gushing assistance as he went on about the pegasus's many achievements into the farm with a very angry looking stallion staring at him. With all the resolve he could muster, and a promise to himself find the nearest bar after this, he made his way to the very aggressive looking Apple clan. Spike took a bite of the apple and looked at facehoofing pony next to him, muttering about drinks. Rolling his eyes, he bumped into the pony, catching his attention. "You know you're not allowed to drink Lemon, not after what happened last time," the pony grumbled at the drake, who shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, while the Emperor said it was fine and that buildings can be replaced, you know what High Priestess C-" "Yes, I know what she said, Spike," Lemon snapped, looking at the drake. Then Lemon recomposed himself and apologized after seeing the dragon flinch. "Sorry for that, just..." "Those Apples are kinda scary?" The dragon ventured with some hesitation. "...That's as good as anything I can think of Spike," Lemon said with a shrug as he couldn't really tell Spike the whole truth. Nor could he talk to Khorne as the pony was dealing with his family as well as the fact that no one knew that their Applejack was really a Chaos God. "Beside, I think their family is also famous for being on the front lines of the more deadlier of conflicts..." Lemon trailed off, biting into his apple with gusto. "Well, they're very good at their apples." Spike bit into his apple with a smile on his face. "Who'd think that ponies that aggressive would be that good as farmers and bakers?" "Yah," Lemon laughed to himself, remembering the death threat Khorne had given him if he told anyone about him making an apple pie. "Now where do you think we'll find Candy Cane?" Lemon winced, seeing the drake perk up at the mentioning of Imperium-renowned pegasus. Apparently, Candy Cane was the first pony ever to reach the Warp by his wings alone in five seconds flat, did something called the mega sonic rainboom when he was a foal which destroy an Ork infested planet somehow, fought his way back while somehow derailing over a dozen or so cultist plots in the processes until he was rescued by a passing ship that had stopped a rampaging daemon, among many, many other things. None of Candy Cane's exploits made any sense beside the fact he was the Imperium renown fastest pegasus and hero to many. It seemed like Yggdrasil or Fenrir was having fun with Ciaphas again without really bothering to make sure it made sense this time. "And remember what I said Spike; once we find him, you cannot glomp him or ask him to sign your face." Lemon found himself lecturing the now frowning dragon. "And don't lie to me, you were thinking of it, weren't you?" With a snort of smoke, Spike continued to walk down the forest path with his eyes darting upwards at the empty sky- "Oh. Right." Lemon slapped his face again, wincing slightly from the pain of continuously doing that all morning. "He's in charge of weather division here and it seems that he's done his job." With well trained eyes, Lemon spotted the stallion in the tree line; and by how his eyes were blinking, Ciaphas either had an eye problem this loop or just told him in Morse code that he will meet them up in the library. Lemon was inclined to believe the later. "Ok..." Spike pouted for a bit before shaking himself up. "Next pony on our list is a stallion named Butterscotch, who has planned to do an animal instrumental performance and after that we need to check out the town hall that a....huh, that's odd, didn't leave the gender for this one." Spike tapped the scroll, filling Lemon with dread as he realized something. "Rarity has designed for the Emperor's visit." The dragon looked over to him, noticing how pale Lemon just became. "Everything OK, boss?" Lemon had been panicking as the Little Mother had been replaced by someone, and he had a feeling it was either of the remaining Chaos Gods he'd yet to see. He was unsure of who would be worse to see wearing her face, him or hir, but both were equally unpleasant and terrifying thoughts. "Ye-yes Spike, I'm fine," He squeaked out, shaking his head. "Lead on, and let's meet this Butterscotch." Lemon blinked at the strange choir, with the instruments being a nice touch that the Little Mother didn't usually have. "Wow, that was really cool Butterscotch," Spike smiled at the yellow pegasus, clapping his claws together. With a blush, the not-Butterscotch pawed at the ground. "I've never seen an actual flea circus play like that before." "Yeah...." Lemon drawled out, watching Nurgle call out encouragement to his crows and vulture, all beaming with pride. "It was fantastic, I'm sure that the Emperor will love it too." "Thank you, little one." The Chaos God smiled at him, before turning his head towards the flies that were surrounding him. He gave small little chirps and buzzes to them, which seemed to make them happy. "I look forward to the visit as well as my friends do." "That's good to hear," Lemon bit his lip, then shuddered as a crow landed on his head. "Um..." Lemon tried not to flinch, with every lesson from the Little Mother threatening to leave his head as the bird began to nestle in his mane. "Oh, I am so sorry!" The pegasus continued to smile before turning his attention to the bird. "You know you shouldn't go onto ponies' heads-" "Caw!" "Well, be that as it may, not every pony likes it-" "Caw!" "Well, I'm sure he would be pleased to know that but-" "Caw?" "Well, if he doesn't mind, I'm sure you can stay." He turned his head towards the looper, who was trying not to run in a circle as the bird began to preen. "I'm sorry Mister Rush, but Charon really likes your mane and he put up a really good argument and-" "It looks really cool Lemon," Spike smiled, looking up at the bird in awe. "I think you should let it stay." "Why should I do that?!" Lemon whimpered as he felt the talons brush against his skull, the beak near his horn. "It'd make talking to other ponies a lot easier for starters." "And Charon will fly back here once he bores of your head, so I don't see the real harm." Nurgle turned his blue eyes at him, which reminded him of the real Fluttershy. Lemon did not stand a chance; sighing, he gave a light nod before walking back into town for the last pony to check up on. The bird was still on his head. With a hesitant sigh, Lemon walked back into the town's proper with Spike by his side and Charon still happily on his head, more than one pony doing a double take at him. Wishing beyond belief that he could sneak off for some booze, Lemon stepped in front of the town-hall and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Ivory Scroll poked her head out and smiled at the two before noticing the crow. Frowning, she stepped out to properly look at Lemon and Spike. "Are you the official inspector for the Emperor's visit?" She asked, eyeing his badge. "Yes I am and I can explain the bird on my head," Lemon muttered in the politest way possible for him. Apparently, it was not good enough for Spike or Charon as they elbowed and pecked him respectively. "Ow!" He whimpered from the peck as it was close to nerves to his horn, which were sensitive to all levels of Tartarus. "I see..." Ivory Scroll began to step back into the building. "No wait!" Lemon shouted, moving to stop her. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me." Lemon blushed, looking to the side. "My name is Lemon Rush, and I am the pony sent by the Emperor to make sure that everything for his visit is appropriate for him. Spike, my assistant, can give you the paperwork if you need further proof ma'am, but I must compliment your ponies. Everything so far was flawless and I can see why Ponyville has the rating it has." He tried to smile at her, but felt forced and it looked forced by the flat looks he was getting from Spike and the mare. Blushing again, he rubbed the back of his head as Spike gave her the right scrolls. "'m sorry, not that good at smiling." "That's for sure," Spike huffed, causing the mayor to chuckle. "He's tried practicing so much in the mirror that some thought that it was a code for cultists. It took him months to grow his coat back after that incident." "Thanks Spike," Lemon muttered as darkly as he could, with Ivory trying to hold her laughter back to little success. Charon cawed loudly in his ear, which made Lemon huff loudly. "Oh get stuffed bird." "Caw!" "Why you-" "A-hem," Ivory cut the two off, Spike just rolling his eyes in exasperation. "Would you care to examine the town's hall?" "Ah, yes, of course." Lemon blushed again, stepping in the town hall that had the normal banners of the Imperium flying proudly, the normal stage, but the colours and patterns of the room were done in such a way that Lemon was blushing even more. He wasn't even sure how one used such peaceful colours like blue or green or yellow in that way! "I-uh," he gulped, "It's very inspiring, to say the least." "I know it might not be the straight laced designs of Canterlot, but our good friend Elusive really restrained themselves and produced this conservative masterpiece!" The mayor looked desperate, chuckling weakly as she looked at him for assistance. "This is conservative for Ra-Wait a second," Lemon paused mid rant, looking at Spike. "I thought the name of the pony was Rarity?" "Well..." Ivory looked at the confused Spike before looking back at Lemon. "Our good friend responds to either name; some days it's Elusive and some days it's Rarity. We don't mind here in Ponyville as it's just another thing that makes us so special." The mayor gave another weak laugh, trying to tiptoe around some issues that Lemon didn't even want to think about. "That's kinda cool, I guess," Spike scratched his head. "Let's go tell them the good news Lemon." "Actually,- Spike is it?" Ivory said with her eyes widening and panic on her face. "Why don't you come with me to set up your guys little base of operation, hm? We've got the old Golden Oaks Library set up for you two to make any final preparations, but I'm sure a mighty dragon assistant can sort anything out us little ponies missed?" "You've got it!" Spike shouted with glee, smiling broadly at Ivory's praises to his ego. "If that's OK with you Lemon, I mean. I know-" "No no Spike, it's alright," Lemon said with a strained voice, knowing whatever Slaanesh had done was bad enough that the mayor was actively preventing Spike from going. "I need you to handle this job for me while I tell this pony what a wond-interesting job they've done." "Ok..." Spike pouted, before going to hoofbump Lemon. "If you're sure, I'll see you later Lemon." Leaning in, Spike grinned. "Just try to make sure you don't get shaved again." "Har-har," Lemon muttered, holding the drake close and giving him a little noogie. "I'm sure I'll be fine; what's the worse that can happen?" Lemon's jaw fell, and he was instantly glad, for the first time this loop, that he did not have his wings. He knew that if he had them, he would not be able to get out of the Carousel Boutique without some serious trouble or breaking a window. He also knew if Rarity ever saw any of this, Pinkie Pie would become the second most feared pony in the multiverse after she got through Slaanesh. Luckily, Twilight would not be killing him as he did not bring Spike here, or he would be in trouble beyond comprehension with the mare for bring the unAwake baby dragon here. "Oooo, see something you like, good sir?" The androgynous voice called out from behind him, thankfully tearing his eyes away from the…clothing offered and into the predatory, grinning face of the white unicorn. Said unicorn had a very fashionable scarf around the neck and was floating a measuring tape. "Maybe I can even create you a nice suit." The pony licked hir lips as the tape flew close to Lemon. Lemon in turn backed away from the tape with serious fear in his eyes. "Oh Lemon, you know that us ponies don't wear pants so the tape won't be going down there." "I know that, and that's what scares me; that you will make it worse!" Lemon said with trembling legs as the tape went closer to his body, the crow sitting deep in his mane now. "You're no fun," the pony pouted, still eyeing him. Lemon now wish he did have his wings so he could cover himself, as having Slaanesh eye him was unnerving as all Tartarus. "So you've met the others already?" the unicorn asked as fabric began to fly around, glancing at them before dismissing them. "Ye-yes," Lemon's voiced cracked, as he looked at the wares offered, his face turning red again. "I wasn't able to really talk to them as Spike was there but-WHOA!" Lemon squeaked as something went around his neck. Jumping, the young stallion landed into a standie with the crow cawing, flying above as he waited for his roost to clear up. "Oh Lemon, you're so jumpy," The unicorn chuckled as hir magic began to lift the pony out of the mess of fabrics. "It was just a bowtie, you'd look so cute in it." Another chuckle and a lick of the lips, the unicorn looked at the frowning Anchor. "Slaanesh," Lemon said with strained voice. "You know how ponies lift others with their magic around their body, correct?" "Yes," The unicorn giggled, still holding the other pony by hir magic. "And that's what I'm doing." "Yes, but they go by the sides first to lift, not under and over and certainly not from behind the tail!" Lemon's voiced cracked again, his face beet red now. "Oh hush," the pony turned other around in their magic to boop his nose with hir hoof. "I was merely curious, and I must say that your Nyxie is one lucky mare." With a gentle plop on the ground, the owner of the Carousel Boutique placed a bright pink bowtie around his neck. "You know what my nature is; being the Chaos God of love and lust, and all those fun emotions. Like Chrysalis and Cadence, I can tell when beings really like each other. And before you get all huffy, I don't peek in on you two, or anyone else, when they're alone and Awake anymore unless they're OK with it." With a tilt of the head, the white pony began to tug on the edges of the bowtie before stepping back. "There we go, all done." With a smile, Slaanesh stepped back and pulled out a mirror for Lemon to see himself in. He had to admit that the pink bowtie did look good on him and he would definitely save it for Nyx to see. Blinking, Lemon looked at the unicorn that was humming as they put away the material, with a sway on their hips. "Two things I've got to ask you," Lemon frowned at the scene, as Charon flew back down and nested onto his head, "When did you Wake up?" "Oh, sometime earlier this day," the white pony smirked, flicking their tail in a very provocative manner that required Lemon to think of Nyx and remind himself that it was Slaanesh in front of him. "It seems that my wonderful personality bled over nicely in this role," With a gentle laugh, the pony began to saunter over to him again. "What's the second one, Lemon?" "Are you a stallion or a mare this loop!? I can't tell and it's really bothering me!" Again, the white pony laughed. "Oh you sweet little thing," the pony caressed his face, leaning in to breath into his ear. "That's something I'm holding close to my chest; so far no-one in this town knows and I plan to keep it that way. A lot more fun when they don't know your gender is." "Because if they don't know if you're a mare or stallion, then you'll get hit on by all-Oh come on Slaanesh!" Lemon squeaked a third time as he voiced cracked again. "That's -" "My choice," The white unicorn glared at him. "You may not like it but I do and as I am not tricking anypony in the end, I don't see anything wrong with it. Now do you know where the others are so we can get Luna free and we can move along with this little show?" "Ye-yeah," Lemon looked off to the side, with Charon lightly pecking at him for being rude once more. "The library is the go-to place if someone replaces the girls like this, and I'm sure that Ciaphas will get the rest there." "Good," The unicorn smiled, opening the door for Lemon. "After you." With a weak smile Lemon walked out the doors with Slaanesh eying his flanks, licking their lips once more before following out. Meanwhile, back in Canterlot, a young acolyte moved her way around her fellow acolytes, biting her lip in concern. It was rare when High Priestess Chrysalis summoned her, but the High Changeling Queen of Equestria called for her, it either meant something very fun was about to happen or something very bad was about to happen. And considering how everybeing was on edge for the prophesied return of Eternal Night Moon, and end their golden age of peace and harmony, and the rebirth of the Chaos Gods, even a pony like her could tell that everybeing was one stupid college student prank away from full out panic and chaos. The blue mare stopped in front of the humble doors of her old friend and raised her hoof to knock. "Come in, my child," the changeling called, irking the pony a tiny bit before calming herself. "You know that you don't need to knock Trixie, and certainly not in times like this." Opening the door, the unicorn walked over to the other mare, clothed in simple robes as her height and stature alone marked as a Queen changeling. Said changeling was looking at several texts, both new and old, along with recordings, pools for scrying and a couple of maps. Trixie bit her lip and leaned against the mare, dropping her bags to the floor. "It's going to be bad, isn't?" For any other acolyte that was not part of the changeling hivemind, Chrysalis would have lied and said that things were fine. For any member of her hive, she would let them know things might be a bit rough. For her oldest friend before she replaced her mother as High Priestess of Equestria and the being in charge of making sure that the Warp was not getting fed bad emotions by the population, she would tell her the truth. Using her magic to seal the room in silence, she sighed and looked at the humble Trixie before letting herself sigh. "They are coming, with their own army of cultists and Orks but that's not worrying me," Chrysalis magic grabbed a simple tape recorder and pushed play. There were the sounds of pops in the recording that, while they could easily be explain as static expect after hearing it played, Trixie was soaking in her own sweat and trembling in fear she could not explain by the time the tape finished. "I cannot explain it either and that's what worries me. Something bad is coming, something potentially even worse than Eternal Night Moon, their armies of cultists and Orks and I cannot tell what it is beyond this tape." "Sh-should we tell the Emperor?" Trixie asked, trying to keep her body steady but she was still shaking from that tape. "He knows but he cannot place it either," Chrysalis sighed. "He told me that he has something in the works to prepare for Eternal Night Moon with his student but he wants me and my best acolyte to try and discover who this unknown ally is and prepare for them." Trixie smiled at the praise, before looking at the tomes. "So let us start reading, my good friend." Smiling, the mares began to read side by side. Lemon bit back his sigh, and nodded his head again as he was welcomed by more ponies of the small town during his welcome party. Tzeentch hadn't wanted to do it but it was expected of him and with everyone on edge, Lemon could not blame him for it. Although, leaving him stuck with an unAwake Lyra that believed that humans existed and since Lemon was close to the Emperor's private knowledge he would know was a mean prank. Then again, Bon Bon was there to stop the sightless seapony from going overboard. After holding her hoof and whispering something into her ear that made her mutter 'Shoo bee doo' while blushing enough to be mistaken for Khorne's big sister, Lyra finally stopped asking him questions, allowing the candy maker help the blind seapony around the crowded room, and let Lemon move around again. "So Lemon, are you enjoying this little par-ty?" Tzeentch asked, barely holding back a sneer as he bounced over with a cupcake in his hoof. "Yes, Bubble Berry," Lemon tried to smile back, keeping up with the show for the other ponies walking by. "It was very kind of you to do so on such short notice." "Well Bubbles here is the number one party pony!" A seemingly intoxicated Roseluck laughed, throwing an arm around Tzeentch to pull him close for a hug. "A real cutie too! HA!" Roseluck leaned inwards to try and kiss Tzeentch but an exasperated Berry Punch dragging her away. "You know Bubble, if you keep on spiking the punchbowl, you should expect ponies to get drunk and hit on you." Berry lectured the pink stallion, with Khorne, Nurgle and Slaanesh smirking from their own private little areas in the library. "Wait, the punch was spiked?" Lemon blinked, looking at his cup. He had been drinking several cups this evening and he had not even tasted the hint of alcohol. "Well, of course I spiked it Lemon," Tzeentch grinned at him again, less forced this time. "But I counter spiked yours to neutralize the booze in it." "Very funny," Lemon said through clenched teeth, watching Spike talking to Applebloom and Scootaloo; apparently Sweetie was living with her parents in this loop instead with Slaanesh for reason that were very obvious. "Spike, it's getting a bit late. Time to go to bed." The young drake pouted, but Lemon shook his head and pointed to the bedroom. Spike sighed, rolled his eyes before walking over to hug the pony before whispering, "Promise me not to do anything too dangerous?" "I promise Spike," Lemon face softened, holding the drake close to him. "I'll be fine." "You sure?" Spike looked up at him with wide eyes. "The last time you said that, you -" "I know Spike, but trust me, I'll be fine." He ruffled the drake's head. "You'll wake up tomorrow and you'll see that I will be one-hundred percent still together." "Ok..." Spike sighed before hugging Lemon tighter. "I just have a feeling something bad is coming and I thought if-" "Spykoranuvellitar, you're becoming to sound like me," chuckling, Lemon began to push Spike towards the stairs. "Now go to bed before I teleport you there." "Ok, ok, sheesh." Spike grumbled as he walked up the stairs with Charon flying away from his perch from one of the bookshelves to follow Spike upwards. Lemon turned his attention away from dragon to face the dawwing mares, snickering Chaos Gods and Caiphas Cane facehoofing off to the side. Huffing, Lemon rolled his eyes and spotted the time. "Ok, it's time to get ready, the Emperor will be here as soon as the moon rises." Lemon said, using his magic to usher people out of the Golden Oaks, with Tzeentch, Khorne, Caiphas, Nurgle and Slaanesh close beside him. Lemon groaned with Tzeentch, as Slaanesh began to telling them about their fling with Naoki again. Khorne, Caiphas and Nurgle were shuddering too, as Slaanensh was going into very descriptive details about what they did with a broken watch, among other disturbing things. "Must you continue in this perverted tale?" The pink stallion shuddered, with soft muttering under his breath. "Seeing one segment was horrifying enough; must you always share with us what you did?!" He snapped out in a soft whisper; making sure that they would not be overheard by other ponies. "Oh shush," Slaanesh huffed in a seductive manner, forcing Lemon to think of Nyx over and over again. "You cannot fault me for my perversions. I am who I am." The white unicorn then strutted forwards, swaying their hips in a provocative fashion. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd enjoyed your time with the Naoki boy." the pegasus hero muttered, causing several different reactions. Slaanesh's ears flicked upwards, there was a pause in their steps and their body tensed up. For anyone else, it would have passed unseen but for the other three Chaos Gods, Leman and Caiphas saw it and they grinned. Slaanesh blinked for a few moments, cheeks reddening before the pony rolled their eyes. "He was a really good fling, OK?" Slaanesh muttered as they walked towards the town hall. "I wouldn't be opposed to a second round." "By the Warp," Tzeentch was laughing loudly now, shaking his head. "Is our little friend beginning to settle down?" "Before we know it," Khorne was chuckling, elbowing Caiphas. "Our dear friend will be in an apron, bringing breakfast to Naoki." "Do I hear wedding bells?" Ciaphas question set off Tzeentch and Nurgle into a fit of laughter. "Screw each and every one of you!" Slaanesh huffed, blushing madly. "Will you be thinking of us or Naoki?" Lemon asked sarcastically, causing the rest to roar out in laughter as they entered the town hall, with Slaanesh muttering death threats to each of them. “Are you sure about this?” The High Priestess looked at the Emperor of Ponykind who was pacing back and forth in her private studies. Trixie was still going over the ancient texts, already going back to the Age of Chaos, when the Chaos Gods were still alive and the Royal Family was still whole. “We’re still trying to decipher the recording, and the scouts say She is on Her way.” “I know, my little changeling, I know.” The Emperor responded, looking at the blue mare. It was not often a pony took to the role of monitoring and maintaining the Warp, but if Chrysalis trusted her, then so did he. “And while we cannot learn the identity of this ally, we shall prepare for what we can.” The Emperor paused in his golden power-armor and used his magic to create a three dimensional image of Equus with tiny ships floating around it. “I already have the home fleet in position and ready to deal with a force around five hundred thousand. Once I finish my little visit in Ponyville and everybeing sees that things are under control, I will join them to add my might against the enemy.” “Sir… Emperor,” Trixie bowed, averting her eyes away from him. “What of Her?” The Emperor looked at Trixie for a long moment before sighing. “You do know of the Elements of Harmony, correct?” Trixie shared a confused look with Chrysalis before turning to face him and nodding. “When She came to be, the power to use the Elements was lost. Over the last ten thousand years, there have been beings that one of the Elements chose to be their Bearer but never all at once. Now, I can sense that they are all awake and they will find each other. I believe that they can do what I was unable to do all those ages ago if Eternal Night Moon comes to attack me.” “Wait, are you saying that Lemon Rush is one the Bearers of Harmony?!” Chrysalis shouted in disbelief. “Oh please tell me he is Laughter, or Honesty, or something. Just not Magi- oh by the Warp, he is, isn’t he?” The Emperor had the decency to at least blush before nodding his head. Chrysalis placed a hoof to her head and began to mutter some changeling curses before calming herself. “I understand that the Elements would not have chosen Lemon if he were not worthy of the title?” “Correct.” “And you are putting yourself as bait; to draw Her in and create a situation where the other Bearers will be put to the test where friendship will be born under the heat of the moment.” Trixie narrowed her eyes at the alicorn. “Yes.” The Emperor looked out the window at the setting sun before stretching his wings. “It’s a risk, a potentially dangerous one, but we will need the Elements if we are to defeat Her.” “I take it that Warmistress Gleaming Shield knows nothing about this?” Chrysalis asked, frowning. “No, as she would tell me the same thing you would: that such a risk is unneeded, that I could not show up and let Eternal Night Moon attack Ponyville to try and flush me out. But then I would be putting my citizens in greater danger and that is something I cannot stand.” With a weary look, he turned his attention back to the two mares. “Please, keep on researching that recording. I know I heard it before but I simply cannot place that sound.” “Will do Sire.” The two saluted the Emperor as he walked out of the room, his bodyguards flanking him, and made his way towards the hanger to the chariot that would take him to Ponyville. A creeping sense of dread followed them all. Lemon looked around the room with minor concern, watching the ponies walk around the small stage as several unicorns and pegasi went over the last minute checks of the cameras that would be broadcasting this across the entire Imperium. Lemon should have been talking to them to make sure thing were really going ok but he was more concerned about four stal- no, three stallions and a ma- ‘Dammit Slaanesh!’ Lemon thought to himself, still unable to place Slaanesh’s gender this loop. The unicorn in question walked past him with a couple of drinks in hir magical hold, smiling at Bon Bon, who was helping her blind marefriend across the room to some seats off to the side that were designed specifically for a seapony. The other three Chaos Gods were behaving themselves more or less, with Tzeentch, Khorne and Nurgle all huddling around the far end of the buffet table, talking to themselves about something. Ciaphas was surrounded by a couple of reporters, but thankfully for him, Derps flew past and knocked them away with a loud sorry over his shoulder. Slaanesh decided to give them a curious look before moving on to the other three to join their discussion. Groaning, Lemon started to walk over to them, as anything they were planning could not be good. “-feel right either.” Khorne muttered as Lemon came within listening range. The orange-esque pony grumbled a greeting towards him as he noticed Lemon, with the rest looking away. “What feel right either K-Applejack?” Lemon asked, scolding himself for almost slipping in public. “If you must know,” Tzeentch drawled out, taking the cup that Slaanesh held out for him, reaching into his mane and pulling out a flask. After a considerable amount of time of pouring the alcohol into his plastic cup, he pulled it up and hoofed it over to Khorne, who began to do the same. “Something feels off.” “We can sense more or less the normal essence of your girlfriend Lemon,” Nurgle said, using his wing to spike his cup of punch now. “But this presence is both foreign and familiar.” “He means,” Slaanesh took over in talking and drink pouring, noticing Lemon’s scowl. “That we we don't know it but pre-we did know it.” “And whatever it is, it’s big.” Khorne said calmly. “You can feel it on the very essence of the Warp itself, and with magic being so connected to it this loop, you can feel it at the back your mind, something scraping at your very sense of being. You have felt it too, right?” Lemon frowned, and then let himself focus on the magic for a moment. Nyx had been good to convince him that magic usage was not all bad, with her helping him nab some high placed cookies when his wings were actually foal-like, among other things. His magic well was calm, a bit deeper than the average unicorn but there was noth- Blinking, Lemon’s eyes shot open as something cold ran down his spine, making him shudder. “Th-that was it, whatever it is, right?” He asked them, with the four walking away all of a sudden. “Sorry Lemon, but I need to check something with the food!” “Ooo, I need to go make sure my pets are ok!” “I, er, need to make sure Lyra is ok!” “Um…. I need to go hit on somepony!” the white unicorn shouted, running off. “What the bu-” “Lemon, what have we said about swearing?” A voice from behind made Lemon jump. Turning around, he saw the Emperor smirking at him from behind the curtains. “Need we to have a refresher about this particular lesson?” “Si-sir!” Lemon sputtered out, forcing himself not to blush as he bowed before the stallion. “I’m sor-” “At ease, my loyal student,” The pony chuckled, his horn casting a minor spell to block out any other pony from their little discussion. “I merely wished to see how this evening progressed, and I must say I am greatly impressed with you.” “Thank yo-” “Do you know why?” “Um,” Lemon blinked, ears folding backwards. “That I did everything without any fires being started?” The Emperor merely laughed at this before shaking his head in the negative. “You still have much to learn, my precious student,” the Emperor said softly. “Now let us proceed with this little show, shall we?” With a nod of his head, Lemon walked off to let the rest know that the show about to begin. Lyra Heartstrings was nervous. Lyra Heartstrings was also a seapony, beings that were usually sent to scare away Khorne cultists members, among other threats as they choose to both embody the element of Laughter and the elite strike force against enemies of the Imperium. Lyra Heartstrings was also the daughter of Old Stallion Henderson Heartstrings, who most seaponies thought was completely crazy, who loved her even more than his garden gnome collection -killing several cultists and daemons he thought stole them when it was a bunch of idiot kids that were told by Lord Helix to never ever do it again. Lyra Heartstring was also completely blind. Her father raised to be like any other seapony: teaching her all of their songs, which one to use for each situation, and how to fire and use nearly all types of weaponry. Apparently, he balked at his little filly going into anything chemical just because she was blind. Lyra Heartstrings was also a very determined seapony, leaving Kitezh to travel to Canterlot as she had heard there were specialists that could possibly help her. But a layover in Ponyville turned out to be the best thing ever for her. She had made her way through the town by smell alone and ended up in the candy store. After talking with the owner, Lyra found it difficult to leave and ended up postponing her appointments, something she could do as her father had offered to go explain things to the doctors. In response to the infamous seapony’s suggestion, they offered an extension for Lyra as long as he stayed away from them. He didn’t stay away technically, going to check up on his daughter and the friend she had become so attached to. After a lovely meal, a wonderful and terrifying sing along incident, Old Stallion Henderson Heartstrings had declared Bon Bon to be an honorary seapony, much to Lyra’s embarrassment and joy. Seaponies didn’t have secrets between each other, so he brought the baby pictures with him. Lyra still argued he did the whole thing to tease her, but Bon Bon usually countered it by kissing her cheek, promising sweets, or throwing a bit of guilt if the first two options failed. Lyra Heartstrings, as such, was a very happy seapony, often singing several songs as she helped out around the shop, playing her lyre, or when she was doing her research on the mystical humans, but mostly when she was near Bon Bon. But now, Lyra Heartstrings was trying her hardest to sing several songs of comfort to herself as that oppressing presence in the back of head was getting stronger. For a while now, a few months, Lyra had noticed something poking at her mental mind, something that was slowly chipping away at her species’ natural ability to laugh and sing anything off. She had mentioned it to Bon Bon a number of times; which the mare said it was more than likely just a guilty conscience over something she did. After a while she stopped talking about and did her best to ignore it. Most of the time, she was able to manage just fine. But now Lyra was fidgeting in her special seat, the kind ponies of Ponyville made for her lower half, trying to sing the songs of her people while not alarming Bon Bon. Something was coming. And there was no song to fight back the fears she was feeling. Chrysalis smiled and welcomed in the Imperium renowned occultist expert. “I greet you, Lady Zecora.” Chrysalis bowed before the zebra, glad that she was able to come on such short notice. “It's nothing, truly, I insist. What's wrong, and how may I assist?” “You must understand, this is top secret and classified information.” Chrysalis said, her eyes narrowed. “You cannot breathe a word to anybeing, understand?” The zebra nodded her head. Trixie then carried the tape over to her while still examining the old texts. “We have serious reason to believe that Eternal Night Moon is coming and with an unknown ally. Our only clue is this tape.” Chrysalis eyes flicked up in concern.”I must warn you, whatever is on this blasted tape will be very unsettling.” “We’ve listened to at least fifteen times and it still scares me beyond comprehension.” Trixie answered, levitating over a towel. “You will need this once you are done.” “Thank you for the cleaning aid, now let this dreadful tape be played.” With that, they hit play once more. As the tape with the strange pops was played, Zecora’s face began to fall. Long-dormant instincts were screaming at her to run away, that staying still was a death sentence. Her heart was racing in her ribcage, sweat pouring down from her face as her legs threatened to give out. Before Zecora could even think about what was happening, the tape was over. Still stunned, Zecora used the towel to clean herself up as her mind raced to find an answer. "That awful thing all hope destroys. What could create that wretched noise?" Zecora mused, shaking her head as she found nothing that matched up to the tape. “This foe will conquer all around. What knowledge have you two yet found?” Trixie showed her the books and theories they had come up with, moving to the side as the zebra sat down between her and Chrysalis and they continued to go through the old texts. All the while the looming dread was continuing to grow as the strange pops were echoing in their heads. Warmistress Gleaming Shield was doing her best not to pace back and forth across the bridge of the Defiant, the flag warship of the Imperium’s home guard fleet, but it was very hard. She was very unhappy with the orders she had been given and how the Emperor was handling this crisis. Eternal Night Moon was coming, and had managed to slip past nearly all their scouts and patrols, with a massive army of cultists and Orks flying behind Her. Not only that, but the rest of navy was still out on distant planets and too far away to help defend Equus if She were to attack within the month, or hours if she were to believe the rumours there were flying around! She was angry with the Emperor forcing her in this position; leaving the planetside and himself mostly unprotected with him going around on a PR campaign to calm the populace when it was obvious She was coming and that seeing their Emperor take down a few battlecruisers would do far more for morale than making a few speeches. The fact her family was not all safe within Canterlot was another sore spot with the Emperor sending her brother on a little errand run to Ponyville where there was not even a garrison in place and her fiancé was off doing some charity work in Prance. Thankfully, she knew her Bolero was safe there as the Prance division was almost as fierce and deadly as any seapony scouting team, which were only second in pure ferocity when it came to fighting off the enemy with the old seapony army dwarfing any other force out in the known universe with their love for fighting. Also, that annoying popping sound in the back of her head was back, and she was fighting back the wave of nausea and dread. She was trying to dismiss them as pre-battle nerves, but they still would not go away and they seemed to be getting lou- “Warmistress?” Snapping her head, she saw her second in command Flash Sentry looking at her with mild concern. “Is everything alright?” “Yes, sir Flash Sentry,” she lied with a straight face as she was aware of the other officers looking at her for guidance now. They knew that they were going to be experiencing some kind of fight soon, and they were judging how bad it would be on her actions. She had to be calm so they would be calm. If she were to panic, then it would be pure havoc for everybeing aboard. She had set herself up as a stern but respectable leader; addressing every soldier by name and title had made them more loyal to her and much more likely to follow her orders to the letter. “Miss Gilda, please turn on the feed and send it through the fleet. I expect an attack to occur after the Emperor’s address and I want to boost up everybeing's morale before it happens.” Gleaming Shield blinked and then continued to say, “If you can, have a few seconds delay for everybeing's feed beside ours, please.” The griffon gave her a proper salute. Her talons clicked across the controls and suddenly on the screen was a simple stage. Hopefully, the speech would be short, the battle would be easy to win and that annoying headache would be gone. Bon Bon stamped her hooves with the rest of the ponies, smiling at the show that Butterscotch and his animals did for the Emperor, before frowning again. Lyra had been squirming a lot, clearly troubled by those strange headaches again and they were getting worse. While she had been teasing her marefriend about having a guilty conscience, Bon Bon had kept a close eye on her ever since she spoke of it and she was very worried for the seapony she’d come to love. She had been sleeping less and less now, muttering about the horrible pops when she was sleeping which she could only do now when Bon Bon held her close, and with Lyra singing her songs more often now which Bon Bon quickly pieced together was a security blanket for her precious marefriend. Placing a hoof onto her shoulder, with Lyra nearly jumping out of her seat made Bon Bon ignore the Emperor walking past her. “Lyra, are you ok dear? Do you need some air?” Bon Bon poured all her concern and love in her voice, unsettled to see Lyra trembling in fear now as she had believed there was nothing, not even all four Chaos Gods, could make a seapony truly afraid. But Lyra was scared, very scared. Holding back sobs, Lyra latched onto her, begging to get out, to leave, that it was coming, it was so close, they needed to get out right now or they will all die! As Bon Bon stood up to help Lyra out of the town hall, the roof exploded as Eternal Night Moon blasted her way in. As Chrysalis and Zecora’s eyes flicked to feed that was showing the ending of a pony’s special musical piece for the Emperor, Trixie suddenly shouted in fear and horror. Jumping around Chrysalis and Zecora looked at the pale mare. “What’s wrong Trixie?” Chrysalis asked, her heart pounding as well as her head, something making her feel tremendous dread, fear and horror, with every instinct screaming at her to run away. “I’ve just figured out what the ally is and the Emperor’s in grave danger!” Trixie shouted, pointing at the picture in the book. Both Chrysalis and Zecora came quite close to passing out with pure horror on their faces as the facts began to click. Chrysalis, forcing herself to remain calm despite everything inside herself screaming that it was too late, that she should just give up as she already lost, began to order the guards to fly towards the Emperor when Eternal Night Moon blew the roof off and landed on the stage in front of the Emperor. Gleaming Shield held back a gulp, as not to worry the already terrified soldiers. She was sure that seeing the Emperor was only thing keep the fleet together as all of the other captains were reporting their crews were nearly in full panic, with the senior officers constantly reminding them that they were the best of the best of the Imperium and so as along as the Emperor was standing, everything was ok so long as they were there to protect the innocents from the terrors of the Warp and beyond. Rubbing her head, as the headache was even worse now, Gleaming Shield looked over the reports of the incoming fleet once more. Millions of ships were making a beeline for Equus, of all kinds and models; an unsettling number were stolen battlecruisers refitted by the cultists to praise their daemonic deity. Flying with them were large bands of Orks, and if the reports were correct, Eternal Night Moon managed to band together all of them for this attack that they were woefully underequipped and understaffed to face. She was about to let out a prayer when Eternal Night Moon suddenly ripped off the roof of the town hall the Emperor and her little brother were in with a horrible mixture of blue, black and purple magic that made Gleaming Shield physically sick looking at, barely holding back her own vomit. Eternal Night Moon had landed in front of the Emperor, covered completely in a cloak with horrific smile on Her face as She began to speak. The Emperor of Ponykind had put on a fake smile for the crowd as they applauded for the pegasus’s interesting musical number. His mind was on other matters as he began to walk past his little ponies, watching their faces to see if they were feeling it too. The answer was obvious. That crazy seapony’s daughter thrashing about meant what he feared: whoever this ally was was bleeding over the entire Warp and touching everything connected to the Warp, which meant all life in existence was at risk. And if the torment the seapony seemed to be in was anything to go on, along with his own growing headache, that meant that the ally of Eternal Night Moon was getting closer, if not already in the town. As he stood on the stage, he looked at Lemon Rush, wondering briefly what right did he have to put him and nearly all life at risk to beat this Eternal Night Moon this way instead of outright trying to remove Her head. But he squashed those thoughts and focused at the matter at hoof: he expected Her to attack any moment and the ally to come in from some unknown direction. As he started to say his boring and rather pointless speech, She flew in, completely covered in a cloak expect for her head which was covered in an unnatural shadow, after literally ripping off the roof with blue, black and purple magic that seemed to violate his very core of being. And then, even before he could think, he was drawn into a Heartsong with Her. “Dear little ponies Dear little friends Are you ready to meet Your dear little ends?” Eternal Night Moon began to sing in a perverted mixture of different voices while moving in a circular fashion, with each step creating those awful popping sounds. “Just give up Just give in Just watch as we win You've no chance to prevail You're hopeless Afraid Our victory is made All you will do is fail.” The Emperor, struggling to stay aware, fired a beam of his alicorn magic at Her, only for Her to chuckle and dance away again, making the popping sounds that were slowly becoming a lot more familiar. She turned to face him now, her smile blinding him ever so slightly with her pointed fangs. “Greetings dear brother How far you've come But sorry, it's pointless We've already won Just give up Just join in Taste the darkness within You've no chance to prevail You're hopeless You see Become One with Me All you can do is fail.” “You will not win, for my ponies stand strong!” The Emperor shouted, trying to break free of the Heartsong, blasting Eternal Night Moon once more with his golden magic only for Her to dance away from it again. But this time, she flew into sky, shedding her cloak. She was flying against the moon, painting picture of Her clear to all. Instantly, the Emperor knew he failed horribly. Snapping his head around, he ordered his ponies to flee in a shaky voice. But he made one fatal mistake. He took his eyes off of Her. “Just try to stop us We'll laugh when you lose” Snapping his head around, he realized his mistake too late. Eternal Night Moon blasted him with all three strands of magic, each one eating into his soul, as he was sent flying backwards. Dimly aware, he realized he had crashed into his golden throne back at top of Canterlot mountain with the magic already fighting inwards, with his awareness being engulfed by the horrible popping of his ancient, forgotten foe. “My ponies, Lemon,” he wheezed, his eyes growing heavy, “I’m so sorry.” And then all he saw was darkness and all he heard was the popping of his old foe. The town hall was complete and utter chaos; with ponies screaming and crying as they saw firsthoof their invincible Emperor smacked clear across the sky, just before completely breaking down in fear of monster in front of them. The monster laughed, with the purple goo encasing it’s body continuing to make the horrible popping sound as it moved around with new faces coming and going, with a hint of something reflective underneath it all. “We’ve already won, FOR WE ARE THE SMOOZE!” And then, Eternal Night Moon unleashed a part of itself into the crowd before laughing again and disappearing into the sky. Lyra was crying, scared beyond all comprehension, beyond nearly all strains of consciousness. She had to get out, had to get home, get in the nearest seacave and hide with Bon Bon until it was gone. The screams were so loud it hurt her ears, causing her to whimper loudly. She wished she never left her home, that she was home with Bon Bon and papa, she wanted her papa and her Bon Bon, she had her Bon Bo- All of a sudden, Bon Bon’s guiding hoof was gone. Somepony ran into her, ran into Bon Bon, she ran into somepony, Bon Bon had ran into somepony, she ran Bon Bon, Bon she- “Bon Bon?!” She screamed, hiccuping and crying as she was jostled around, falling to the ground, the screams were too much, where was Bon Bon? She need her Bon Bon, somepony just ran over her, wherewasBonBon, the hoofs were getting heavier, more hurtful, wherewasBonBon!? And while she and others screamed for their loved ones, the Smooze was closing in on its prey. Chrysalis ran with Trixie and Zecora towards the Emperor. The guards were either fleeing their posts or trying to aid the panicking servants. She stumbled as another batch of drones died of a sudden overload of fear. Shaking her head, she let herself be helped up by Trixie and Zecora as they fought against the stream of terrified beings to reach the unguarded doors of the throne room. Pushing them open, the three mares gasped at what they saw. The Emperor was thrashing on his fallen golden throne with his own golden aura enclosing himself and the Smooze. It seemed, despite everything, the Emperor was still fighting as the Smooze seemed to be struggling to reach his horn, its body wrestling to encompass the golden power armor of the alicorn. “Against the Smooze's awful might there must be some crusade.” Zecora said, looking over the Emperor with a worried face. “For if it and the Emp'ror merge, we will not live the day.” “Agreed,” Chrysalis said, shuddering as another cluster of her drones died as part of the Warp flickered unpredictably, destroying their minds. “But how do we fight something that we can’t touch, something that the Emperor was powerless to fight and if we can’t, how do we-” She stopped herself as her mind went to areas that usually meant execution for treasonous thoughts. Trixie dropped her bags and pulled out the books on the Smooze. “Let us see what we can do then,” she said solemnly, avoiding the issues. “Before we have to think of that.” She turned her attention to the Smooze that was staring at them now, laughing and popping. Fighting back a wave of fear, Trixie forced herself to look away from the Smooze. “It’s the only thing we can do.” Gleaming Shield was doing her best not to panic as she began to yell at the next captain that was starting to break out of formation again. Their long range scans showed that all the reports were correct, there was a massive fleet coming to kill them all or worse and every single officer almost soiled themselves and was close to deserting. It was taking all of her focus to make sure that everypony was still together in a defensible formation that she couldn’t focus on a solid plan of action for them to take! What had she been thinking in ordering to have a feed go up? She knew an attack was likely to happen, so why had she order for everypo-being to see the Emperor being attacked?! She was entrusted with the safety of the Imperium and Equus, and she’d singlehoofedly destroyed all hope out there for their survival with her blunder! It didn’t help that she was still hearing the Smooze in her head. She knew she wasn’t crazy, as other high level magic users and Warp experts were removed of duty. The pops were too painful for them to handle, and they couldn’t be trusted in performing their duties. A few had already snapped and tried to blow the Smooze out of their heads with their guns. She wasn’t crazy. But she was getting there, with its pop and its words taking its toll on her mental state. Soon, she’d turn her gun onto herself, and then- NO! Shaking her head, she yelled at captain Tender Hoof to stallion the buck up this instant or so help her she would shove him back up his mother and find another being that could do his bucking job! Biting her lip, she turned off the feed with a furious captain of the Endurance yelling at her, no longer caring. She knew she was going to die, but she was going to make sure to make them pay for it every inch. And then She appeared in the middle of the sky, floating in space as the massive enemy fleet flew in behind her, smiling at them all, the Smooze thundering through the ship now with its sickening laugh and pops. Narrowing her eyes, squaring her shoulders, and thinking of her family and her Bolero one more time, she sat down in her captain’s seat, buckled up, and prepared for her last battle against a monster that not even the Emperor could defeat. Gleaming Shield looked at her crew, took a deep breath as she fought back the Smooze in her head, and nodded her head. “Never give in, never surrender, and if possible, act like a bucking seapony; wear a smile as we fight the Smooze and spit in its face as we kill every last one of those motherbuckers and send the Smooze back to whatever hole it came from!” Her voice was shaky, her nerves showing and her youth was showing against the experienced veterans in her crew. But her soldiers simply yelled for the Imperium, for the Emperor, and for life itself! Smiling faintly to herself, morale was back to some degree. Now she needed to do the impossible and defeat a fleet of millions with an unknown number of Orks and a monster that was able to touch every single soldier she had under her and had knocked the Emperor out with ease. Maybe with a miracle, they would survive the night. The Smooze's laughter breached the Defiant as its tri-colored magical beam completely obliterated the Endurance, the Defiant’s sister ship, going through its shield as if it weren't even there. Gleaming Shield didn’t need a miracle to survive the night; she needed at least six to survive the hour. Lemon panted as they ran out the town hall with Tzeentch, Khorne, Slaanesh and Nurgle around him, almost shielding him from the panicking stampede of ponies running away from the Smooze, screaming in utter fear. After being shepherded off to a empty area of their own, Lemon looked at the four before noticing that Ciaphas had vanished, unsurprisingly. The primarch groaned, trying to think of what to- “So what’s the plan, squirt?” Tzeentch asked, giggles threatening to leave his mouth. All of them turned their heads in confusion at that before Tzeentch groaned, rubbing his head. “I think the Pink is getting to me.” “Wonderful,” Lemon said bitterly, the screams were getting louder. “And the plan: unleash hell on it with stuff from-” “If you are going to say subspace pocket, don’t bother," Nurgle cut him off, rolling his eyes. “There’s not much in Yggdrasil that can fight the Smooze and I know that I don’t have the firepower to hold it back without crashing the loop.” There was a nod of agreements from the rest of the Chaos Gods, causing Lemon to facehoof. “So let’s grab the Elements of Harmony, find whoever is suppose to be the Bearers this loop and make sure that they blast the Smooze far away.” “One problem with that plan,” Khorne muttered, looking upwards as explosions were going off-his sister Gleaming Shield was up there! The thought slammed into Lemon’s consciousness. “Among other problems, to be honest.” “Such as?” Lemon snapped, rubbing his head as he was beginning to get a headache from all of this. “That if we go after them, it will notice us and we’re back to square one,” Slaanesh said, a frown on hir face. “It won’t take the Smooze long to pick up on our magic and figure out what we’re trying to do.” “So what can we-” “I believe I have a solution and a plan for this," Khorne said, grinning as he leaned over to whisper something into Tzeentch ear. “Ooo.” Tzeentch stopped bouncing in place, tapping his chin. “That could work very nicely, very nicely indeed.” “What can work nicely?” Tzeentch leaned over to Nurgle and Slaanesh, whispering the same plan to the both of them. Both of them perked up and grinned, with the later giving Khorne as surprised look. “Colour me impressed. I didn’t think you had it in your plans going beyond straight up attacks," Slaanesh said, wiggling hir hips. “Oh shut up Slaanesh," Khorne snapped back with a grin. “Let’s go-” “Let’s not go until you tell me what the Oak you four are planning!” Lemon shouted, causing them to jump. “Lemon Rush, Leman Russ,” Khorne’s face became still, looking straight at him. “We simply do not have time to explain everything to you right now as the Smooze is getting stronger by the second. You must trust me, and us, in this.” Lemon looked at Khorne for what felt like a long time, staring into his eyes before seeing nothing but truth. Sighing, Lemon nodded his head towards them. With that, the four of them glowed for a moment before staggering a bit. “There, that should buy us some time," Khorne said, shaking his head and pushing his hat on tighter. “What will?” “Just look up, sir," a panting Ciaphas answered, flying in beside them. He was battered and a bit bloody, but still intact. Lemon complied, and his mouth fell at what he saw. Lyra was still crying, curled up into a tight ball. For the last few seconds, she had been hearing loud bangs, unlike any firearm she ever encountered, and they were getting closer. The thought of the Smooze having unknown firepower was too much, the idea of her Bon Bon being shot dead flashing over in her mind constantly. All she wanted was to hide under the blankets in her old bed with her stuffed dollies, with her Bon Bon and her papa telling her everything would be fine, that this was one horrifically bad dream and everything would be ok when she wo- Something grabbed her, pulling her somewhere. With a scream, she bit whatever grabbed her; a seapony would welcome Death with either a song or a fight, and Lyra Heartstrings was still a seapony. And she was all out of songs. Clamming her jaw down on the appendage, she heard it swear to an oak tree before hearing another of the strange bangs. “Let me go!” Lyra roared, her flight or fight instincts finally ticking over to the latter, as her teeth found more flesh. “LETMEGOLETMEGOLETMEG-” “Lyra?!” And with that, everything in Lyra’s mind turned off. “Are you sure this will work?” Trixie asked the zebra, eying the closed doors. All order had fallen in the city, and for everything they had, they were still three undefended mares. One had no direct magical powers, the other had limited magical skills, and the last was occupied with a far greater task. Zecora gave a her a nod. “The Smooze does grow when met with fear and pain, to send it peace and love is only sane.” “Let’s hope you’re right,” Trixie said, looking at the sweating changeling queen, her horn glowing green as she fed every positive emotion she had into the Emperor and the Smooze to very little effect- “LOOK!” Zecora shouted, pointing at the night sky as something began to form which made Trixie’s legs weak. “Oh, what next!?” she shouted at the heavens. And the heavens answered in the form of several burly looking stallions breaking down the doors. If Gleaming Shield managed to live through this, she would resolve to never ask for a miracle again, let alone six. Without any warning, the bucking Chaos Gods had stepped out of the stars and were right behind them! The Armored Being, dressed in bloodstained metal with the sword that had caused irreversible damage to the Warp hanging over her entire fleet. The Twisted Mutant, ever changing its form and body with two wicked blades in its hands. The Bloated Corpse, body covered in sores and rot, the revolting stench from its decaying body breaching the hull as it held the simple but massive stone blade in one hand. The Seducer, an impossibly beautiful entity that had been born from the Flutterponies' descent into depravity without equal, held a simple slender sword in its hands. All the while, the Smooze was laughing and bouncing on the spot. “We have won, The battle is over, The Chaos Gods are born again, And they serve onl-” “SHUT YOUR DAMN UGLY BUBBLY FACE, YOU SHOGGOTH REJECT!” Without warning, Khorne brought his sword down onto the Smooze. With only milliseconds, the Smooze summoned a shield around itself, the residual energy causing several of the opposing fleet’s warships to explode. “WE ARE THE TRUE GODS OF THE UNIVERSE, WE ARE SLAVES TO NO BEING! YOU DARE TO ATTACK WITHOUT HONOUR, WITHOUT MERCY, WITHOUT HONESTY IN BATTLE?! I SAY NO!” Holding its blade upwards, it began to address Gleaming’s fleet. “IT IS THE TIME TO FIGHT AS YOU MORTALS HAVE NEVER FOUGHT BEFORE! IT IS TIME TO SMITE YOUR FOES AND BREAK THEIR SPIRIT FOR DARING TO STRIKE DOWN THE TRUE ENEMY OF THE TRUE CHAOS GODS, SHOW THEM NO MERCY FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND DARE TO DO TO THE REST OF YOUR KIND! IT IS TIME TO SPILL THEIR BLOOD AS THE TRUE WARRIORS OF HONESTY AND BRAVERY I KNOW YOU ALL ARE! FOR THEY ARE NOT FIGHTING FOUR GODS BUT AN ARMY OF GODS!” With that Khorne brought his blade down against the Smooze once more, with the other three lending their swords to shatter the shields of the Smooze. And for a split second, the Smooze stopped laughing. Gleaming Shield shouted with the rest of her crew as they began their assault on the enemy fleet. Maybe they would live through the hour. Lemon blinked, still under the spell of seeing the Chaos Gods in the sky fighting the Smooze. The spell was broken when someone slapped the back of his head. Letting out a yelp, he turned around to see the Chaos Gods glaring at him. “If you are done gawking at us, something I cannot understand to be honest, we need to move!” Slaanesh snapped, shuffling on the spot. “Fine, as long as you will explain that.” Lemon gestured upwards as the group began to run towards the Everfree Forest. “And what the hell happened to you?” Lemon looked at Ciaphas, who was still keeping up with them despite his injuries. “Saving people, sir,” Ciaphas said with a wheeze, as they went through the back alley of the town. “Damn seaponies can really bite hard.” “Wha- that’s doesn’t make any sense!” Lemon snapped as they approached the bridge. Looking upwards, he looked at the four loopers and glared as Tzeentch and Slaanesh vanished. “Explain, now!” He stopped in the middle of the bridge, preventing them to go further With a sigh, the four began to explain. “-and that’s how I made my thermite grenade launcher!” Trixie laughed as she fired another round at the few stallions left alive after they tried to take advantage of Chrysalis, Zecora and her, causing them to run faster in the streets as her aim had was still a bit off. Instead of killing all of them as she had been trying to do, she merely sent them flying through the sky and landing painful on the ground below. “I say, that tale is truly cinematic,” Zecora said with awe still on her face. "You do have quite the flair for blasts dramatic." Trixie blushed at the praise, and looked at the floor. She then looked over at Chrysalis, whose green magic was still arched towards the Emperor. It seemed that their attempts to fight the Smooze was correct, but nowhere near enough to actually drive away the Smooze. Her eyes flicked upwards, watching the Chaos Gods defend Equus and the Imperium with a smile. Somehow seeing them, of all things, inspired her to fight onwards. All of a sudden, Slaanesh and Tzeentch vanished from the sky, leaving Nurgle and Khorne alone with the Smooze. Without warning, the doors slammed open again, revealing the Chaos God of Lust. Slaanesh had a wicked grin on its face. Pointing its sword behind it, the Chaos God laughed, “There they are!” With another laugh the Chaos God swung its sword towards the mares as the beings behind it fell into the room. Tzeentch started to laugh uncontrollably, startling Gleaming Shield as it popped in beside her. “On your left flank maggot! Enemy inbound!“ Tzeentch shouted, with Gleaming Shield staring dimly at it. With a strained sigh and giggles, Tzeentch glared at her. “Did you not hear me? I said on your flank! Get that lead out of your ears or you'll end up pushing space daisies!” Numbly, Gleaming Shield turned to Gilda. “Prepare for enemy engagement incoming on the left." Gilda simply stared at her, blinking slowly. Gleaming Shield’s training kicked in at that point. “Dammit soldier, I gave you an order!” That caused Gilda to snap out of her daze. The griffon thrusted her chest out, sneering at Gleaming Shield as she began to relay the orders across the fleet. Gleaming Shield smiled as the tide began to turn in their favour when Tzeentch laughter caused her to turn around. “I understand now! I understand the Pink!” And the Chaos God simply laughed and laughed as it began to give more advice to fight their enemies. Gleaming Shield sighed; this was going to be a long night. “We tore ourselves in half, in a sense,” Nurgle responded, casting his eyes to the side as the rest of them were eyeing him with a seemingly disappointed look on their faces. “We’ve put nearly everything we had up there without causing too much damage on this plane.” “Yes, and it’s very annoying to try act in two places at once at this level of existence.” Khorne grumbled while standing on the bridge. “It doesn’t help that I’m the only one fighting the Smooze now, with you Nurgle making sure that your diseases and gifts are given to the foes, Tzeentch giggling like a loon and guiding the fleet, and how many more drones are you going to look for Slaanesh!?” “I always give my gifts!” “Do you think I want to laugh constantly and know the Pink?!” “Drones for the drone throne-OW!” Slaanesh rubbed hir head, glaring at the furious earth pony and fixing hir scarf. “Ok, enough, let’s just get going already,” Ciaphas Cane grumbled, rolling his eyes. “I don’t like being the centre of anything, much less voice of reason or logic if I can help it. Now if you don’t mind sir, please get out of the way!” Lemon blinked slowly, turning around to continue into the forest with the Chaos Gods still behind him and with Ciaphas still running with them, following the beaten pathway towards the old castle of the Royal Pony Siblings. Standing near the cliff edge, Lemon began to scout a way down when a very sharp and very recognisable whistle caught his attention. Snapping his head upwards, he saw the remains of a wing coming straight towar- “FORWARDS!” Lemon shouted, running down the cliff side with the rest on his tail. Normally, such an action as running down a cliff side with debris falling on your head would not be a problem for Leman Russ, certainly not for a looper experienced in conflict as a human or as a pony. But there was still one thing no warrior, no matter how efficient and train he was, could account for and that was random, unknown surprise element. As they reached the bottom of forest floor, something happened. Maybe it was the wing crashing into the ground or maybe it was just poor luck but as Lemon right forehoof touched the wall, he slipped with a loud crack. Following his training instincts, Lemon tucked and rolled the last few feet as the pain seared through his entire body, dimly aware of people shouting his name. Closing his eyes as he tried to fight the pain, he felt someone move his body to a more exposed position, with someone moving his left forehoof away. All of a sudden, he felt a wave of calmness and was aware of someone hovering over him. “-nk you Nurgle, now he won’t be passing out like a little kid,” Slaanesh muttered, leaning down to look at -OH Lemon was no novice to injuries; suffered countless in his own loops and he was good at not passing out when he needed to amputate a limb in the odd loop or when he replaced one of the Skywalkers. It was still a shock to the system to see his pastern like this and it would be a long time before he could think of putting any real pressure on it. “-ou’ve sprained it Leman.” Blinking, Lemon saw Slaanesh break off a branch from a tree and float it down to his leg. At the same time, Slaanesh removed hir scarf and looked at longingly. Spoken in a low tone that only Lemon was able to hear Slaanesh said, “Sorry Naoki, didn’t mean to ruin your gift this fast.” With a pained look on hir face, Slaanesh tore it down the middle and began to secure the branch to his leg with the straps. “Do you think you can stand sir?” Ciaphas asked softly, lending him a wing to lean on. Lemon pulled himself upright, letting out whimpers of pain as he was forced to put some weight on the sprained pastern. “Da-dammit,” Lemon swore, biting his lip. “This damn injury will slow us down far too mu-” “We’ll get to the castle once we do, Lemon.” Khorne cut him off, seemingly not in a foul mood for once. “It’d be pointless and futile to force you to move at top speeds right now. What we need to do is keep moving.” The other Chaos God nodded their heads, moving closer to Lemon as if to shield him as they began to trot at a speed that Lemon was able to match comfortably. Still, something was poking at the back of his head and it was not the headache. The four ponies around him, they were- “Why are you four acting so weird?” That question caused the four of them to stop dead in their tracks, their faces unreadable as looked at him before each other. Tzeentch sighed, “Of all times he asks, he asks now.” He then elbowed Khorne to speak, thrusting his head towards Leman. Sighing, Khorne spoke slowly to him. “Leman Russ, do you know what we are?” Lemon frowned, trying to piece together what scheme the four of them were planning. “You’re the Chaos Gods.” “NO!” Khorne snapped, stomping his hooves before shaking himself and started to move forwards with the rest of the group following him. “That’s who we are, not what we are!” “That doesn’t make sense, how you can not be the Chaos Gods yet be them at the same time!” Lemon shouted back, glaring at them as Nurgle slowed down to address him. “What he meant to say was do you know what a Chaos God is?” “Huh?” Lemon blinked at the question before he found his tongue again. “Ye-es, you’re the embodiment of Warp’s negative emotions.” Slaanesh huffed, rolling hir eyes. “And good ones. I’m suppose to a Love God, after all, and several of emotions I embody are not that bad. Pleasure and Mastery are under my domain, something all enjoy and I know that you’ve praised the Beauty of a certain pair of moons more than once in the past. But that’s besides the point; what we are is the embodiments of emotions felt in the Warp made into a physical form.” “Or were,” Tzeentch said without turning his head around. “Were?” Lemon asked, blinking as he started to walk on his own. “We’re like SkyNet, in a way,” Tzeentch sighed. “For everything we were before we started Looping, we still lacked one thing that all you mortals had. A true sense of self.” The four of them actually sighed sadly at this, with Khorne speaking again. “Everything for me was the battle, the fight, the honour, the blood, the victories, the skulls, but that was because that was expected of me, forcing the concept of what a blood crazed god would be.” “None of us had a true identity, a true sense of being until we began to loop,” Nurgle said with his head low. “Sure we did plan, scheme, fought, thought and a thousand other things, but that was all because that’s what we were forced to be!” “I couldn’t go on an all out attack like Khorne no more than Khorne could convince thousands to have one big orgy. It was simply beyond us.” “And then we began to loop.” Tzeentch said happily, his body relaxing. “For the first time, we were truly living. We could do as please without any of your notions defining who we must be. And once we learned of the reason why the time resets were happening and what it meant...” They all had a brief look of pure joy on their faces, as if tasting freedom for the first time in their lives before it vanished. “Then why do you act so....chaos gody all of the time?” Lemon asked as they were nearing the river. He was still trying to comprehend what the four were saying and whatever Nurgle did to him for his injury was starting to wear off. “Oh please,” Slaanesh laughed as s/he began to levitate tree trunks across the river. “Just because we can do stuff outside of our baseline selves doesn’t meant we won’t. I still like to find new partners to sleep with; I’ve even got a list of who to do,” Slaanesh paused, ears darting upwards. “My to-do list!” Tzeentch, Ciaphas and Slaanesh laughed, with Khorne and Nurgle groaning at the poor joke. “Why have you never told me any of this?” Lemon said with a bit more hostility than he would have liked to but what was done was done. “Would you have listened, or cared if we brought this up out the blue?” Tzeentch glared at him, ears flicking as Slaanesh placed the last tree in place for them to cross. “No, you would have shot at us, or just flat out ignore us which is very rude and I am sure Fluttershy taught you better than that!” “Like you four are any better!” Lemon snapped back, face a bit red as he began to think of what the Little Mother would say about his behaviour towards his loopers. “Half the time we loop here, you tease me and do your best to annoy the hell out of me with your stupid antics!” He leaned back on Ciaphas, as they walked across the makeshift bridge, his leg starting hurt. The Chaos Gods looked red in the face as they moved up the hill in silence when Ciaphas coughed. “If I may, I think I know the answer.” He looked at the four Chaos Gods who stared at him before nodding their heads. “A majority of the time, you four loop together, correct?” He was given a nod to this in the affirmative. “So you have formed as sense of comradery for each other, as that no one can try to mortify one but the other three, yes?” The Chaos Gods looked at each other, staring at each other’s eyes before turning back and nodding again at the pegasus. “And most of the time, when one of you loop here with Leman, you are related to the Emperor in some way, brother or sister or the like?” There was a pause before they nodded again before turning rigidly forwards to the rope bridge, Nurgle flying down to bring it up for them. “Sir, I do believe they were trying to act their roles then and other times because they feel that you are apart of that band of camaraderie they have for each other.” Lemon blinked at what Ciaphas said, and then turned his head towards the Chaos Gods in surprise when they said nothing to deny it. Then… “If you say the F word, I swear I will drop kick you.” Khorne muttered as they walked across the bridge. “Agreed. We’ve might have changed but not that much,” Slaanesh shuddered as they walked closer to crumbling castle. “You’ll never see me turn someone down, for example and we will not say the F word. Ever!” Nodding their heads in agreement, the four Chaos Gods pushed the doors open and walked towards the stone orbs of the Elements. Using hir magic, Slaanesh began to levitate the orbs to each of them to hold. “Good, now that’s done, let’s get back and find who the Elements are.” The white unicorn said when a blast of cold air entered the room as the Smooze flew in. Bon Bon shouldn’t be staring out the windows, but she had to. Something drove her to do so, probably because of her crazy, insane, curious, beautiful, lovely, sweet, wonderful, perfect marefriend Lyra. Said marefriend was resting against her, a fin still clamped tightly around her barrel with her head resting on her shoulder. Lyra had more or less tackled her over once Ciaphas brought her in the library and refused to let go since. Bon Bon couldn’t blame her as she was not letting her go again either, and was doing her best to convince herself that it wasn’t her fault she lost Lyra in the panic in the town hall, that Lyra was separated from the one pony that was able to help the blind seapony was not her fault, that Lyra nearly died was not her fault, that Lyra had nearly became one with the Smooze was not her fault. She was trying. Lyra mumbled something in her sleep, something about humans and cats, before leaning into Bon Bon’s side with a happy snore. Bon Bon had learned that the seapony had fit that spot beside her perfectly a long time ago, with her head belonging on top of the seapony’s head to complete everything. Smiling, Bon Bon kissed her head when she heard a series of gasps. The Chaos God Khorne was fighting the Smooze when he suddenly vanished. And then so did Nurgle. “Bon Bon, I don’t like this…” Lyra said, leaning into her side for comfort, apparently awake this whole time. She would need to remember this for later. If there was a later. “Me neither.” Bon Bon said, stroking her back as the Smooze’s laughter began to fill the room again. Still, if this was the end, Bon Bon would have Lyra, and for that, she was happy. “Alright you lot, come on, move on, keep it going!” With a clap of its- hir - hands, the Chaos God Slaanesh rushed more drones and ponies into the throne room, with Trixie by its-hir side to reassure the populace that it was not a trap or a bad idea to listen to a Chaos God. Normally that would be hard to sell, but thanks to Slaanesh’s tearing off the doors, everybeing walking into the room could see what they were saying was true and that they could help. Slaanesh had forced the first batch of surviving drones into the throne room before grabbing Trixie to find more ponies, with her being the reassuring carrot to the terrifying stick that was Slaanesh, to help them save the Emperor. And it was working! While they might not have enough emotions stored up to vanquish the Smooze completely, the positive emotions from all the beings in the room linked together was driving it back, ever so slightly. It was not much, with over seventy beings working together the Smooze only losing small ground against their attempts but they were giving their Emperor a chance to win, a chance to live! Then without warning Slaanesh groaned in pain and vanished. Gleaming Shield found herself yelling once more, with Tzeentch laughing beside her as it gave more outstanding orders that were keeping them one step ahead the enemy, and most importantly; her crew were in very high spirits. She wasn’t sure of it exactly, but it seemed at some point during the night Flash Sentry had proposed to Gilda to which the griffon shouted about bucking time. Hopefully they had a soldier take over their stations before they started snogging each other over. Tzeentch had to have fired a wedding cake at them for a reason after all. Right? Shaking her head, she order the Excelsior to fire when Tzeentch suddenly swore in pain as he vanished. The Smooze smiled wickedly from above them, the purple goo dancing around the body with glee. "Thanks, foolish ponies You led me here Your Emperor will fail And you'll tremble with fear" Khorne growled, pawing the ground as if to charge “I don’t think so, you anno-” but was caught off when the Smooze slammed a wave of magic into Khorne, knocking him into a wall. “HEY!” Slaanesh shouted, throwing some stone rumble at the Smooze above. “Only I can slap Khorne around!” "Watch as I Conquer all The mighty do fall You've no chance to prevail" Ducking and laughing, the Smooze grabbed the thrown stone and shot it straight back at Slaanesh while firing Smooze to entrap the pony. Slaanesh would have been stoned to death if not for Nurgle leaping up and tackling Slaanesh out of the way. Unfortunately, Nurgle got hit on the side with several large stones, knocking him into a corner of the room painfully. "That's right, Old man, cry Just curl up and die All you will do is fail "You imbecile ponies Think you can win? You're nothing to me You'd better give in" Slaanesh was furious now, turning many of the rumble into sharp small swords. “NO ONE TOUCHES THEM BUT ME!” Slaanesh roared, throwing every single sword at the Smooze. The Smooze didn’t even move as every single sword pierced itself but it laughed. Suddenly, the remains of Slaanesh’s scarf tightened around the pony’s neck as it began to float into the sky. "Horny colt Preen and prance And dance, pervert, dance You've no chance to prevail" The Smooze laughed as it slammed the asphyxiating pony into the side of a wall, with Slaanesh body slumping over. “YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE US ON AND WIN!? I AM TZEENTCH, GOD OF CHANGE AND BEHOLDER OF THE PINK!” "Delusion- Al foal I've total control All you can do is fail" The Smooze laughed as it launched the blades that Slaanesh created, and threw them at the pink stallion. Backing up to avoid being skewered, Tzeentch found himself back against a wall with a balcony hanging above. The Smooze laughed as it ripped off the balcony and sent it crashing down on Tzeentch’s head. "The cripple, the coward It's all down to you But soon, my dear friends You'll both be dead too" Ciaphas glared, shoving Lemon to the side as he flapped his wings once and then disappeared. BANG. The Smooze laughed as a bit of leaked to the floor as Ciaphas appeared on the other side of the room with a sharp knife in his hoof. "Simple fool You're no threat What, are you upset? You've no chance to prevail I'm invin- Cible I'll swallow you whole All you will do is fail" The ground under Ciaphas exploded, sending the pegasus across the room and into a pillar with a sickening thud. The Smooze then danced its way over to Lemon, smiling hideously at his prone form. "The warrior, defeated With mightier force The old fool was put in his place The lecherous pervert Fell prey to the noose The idiot got egg on his face "The coward resisted his betters By fighting us, death's what you choose You'll never win here Your end's drawing near For we're the all-powerful Smooze!" Something inside Lemon snapped. Snorting as he forced himself to his hooves, he summoned his magic. “SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!” Lemon sent a beam of magic against the Smooze’s face as he dashed forwards, temporarily blinding it. “Those are WONDERFUL people, far better than I can ever hope to be!” The Smooze laughter turned bitter as it shook its head to clear its vision, sending beams of magic towards the looper. “Khorne inspired people with true, power, honest words!” Lemon danced away from the bolts of magic, adrenaline surging through his body. “Nurgle, always giving his own gifts to any who would pass by, always thinking of other in his own unique kind way!” A form was planning in Lemon’s mind, something that he was dimly aware of. He just knew he needed to get closer. “Slaanesh might be a self-centered bastard that may care for hirself above all, but shi does care for those close to hir heart!” Jumping over a beam of Smooze magic, he waved his front right leg at the pony shape Smooze blob. “This scarf meant a lot to hir, but without batting an eye, shi generously gave this is up for me!” “Tzeentch is one of the smartest people I know, and with all that horrible knowledge he’s picked up, he learned the best way to deal with monsters like you,” Lemon snorted at the furious Smooze, “And that’s to take the piss away from freaks like YOU and LAUGH!” The Smooze laughter turned vicious, firing beam around the room in attempts to hit the unicorn now, throwing stone and rubble at him with most hitting the same spot in the center of the room. “Ciaphas is NO COWARD!” He yelled ducking under the beam of blue magic, and pushing himself over the black magic and diving behind the piece of the wall that the Smooze threw just a few second ago. “He went back again and again to save other people and unlike any sane person, instead of running away, he stayed by my side and help while knowing fully well the odds he was against! I can think of no one more LOYAL than CIAPHAS CANE, THE GREATEST HERO THE IMPERIUM EVER KNEW!” “Cease your prattle You're done" “They are wonderful and no one!” "You pitiful squirt" “IS GOING TO HURT!” Lemon shouted, seeing that his plan had worked, that there was a massive pile of stone and rubble in the middle of the room. "Now say goodbye!" Lemon ran up the debris, blood flowing through his veins like fire. He ignored the pain in his leg, ducking the last blots of magics trying to strike him down. Leaping towards the Smooze, pull back his left hoof, shouting, “ANY OF MY” "Did you think you could run from Your imminent ends? You cannot defeat me!" “FRIENDS!” he declared as his hoof made contact with the Smooze’s face. And then everything went white. CRACK! Bon Bon gasped at the massive rainbow extending from the center of the Everfree forest upwards to the very heavens. "That was-" "So beautiful." "That's it, Lyra." Bon Bon said, nodding her head. Then suddenly, the words clicked in her head. Snapping her head to the side, she saw her marefriend staring right at her, tears running down her face and her eyes were no longer white but the most wonderful shade of yellow she ever saw. "Lyra?" Before she could get another word out, the seapony grabbed her and pulled her in for a kiss. There might have been a list of the eight most wonderful kisses in the Imperium, but this one easily blew them all away. For a moment, there was nothing but just them, for an eternity of time there was only the two of them in existence. As the moment ended, and the two pulled away, Bon Bon was aware that everypony was applauding loudly for the two, cheering for them. There was only one thing she could say to all of this. "Shoo bee doo." “Reports, Gilda Sentry,” Gleaming Shield said with a grin, looking at the two that she kinda married on the spot. She wasn’t sure if they they were pissed or not, but she was going to attend their actual wedding if they had a ‘proper’ one. Then again, she would be very annoyed if somebeing pulled the same stunt with her and Bolero as she had been a very strict diet and she was going to walk down that aisle in her white wedding dress that she damn well deserved to wear! “Status of the enemy fleet?” “Gone sir,” Glida snapped a salute to her, her other wing wrapped around Flash Sentry. It wasn’t exactly regulation behaviour, but after surviving the onslaught and the night, everybeing deserved to be happy and the rules could be bent just this once. “All destroyed in that rainbow beam emitting from the Everfree forest.” “Very good,” Gleaming nodded her head, unbuckling herself. “Please put -” “~leaming? Can you hear me Gleamy?” The voice caused the Warmistress of the Imperium to gasp and look up at the static screen. “Bolero?” she asked in a shaky voice as the picture began to clear up. “Is that you?” “Sure is love,” The alicorn smiling down at her made her legs weak, her face red and heart race. “Just had to make you are still there.” “Bolero I-” “Warmistress!” Flash Sentry snapped to attention, holding a hoof to his head. “I would like to remind you that you have served your time on board and that you are officially off duty.” Biting back a smile, Gleaming Shield let Flash Sentry take over acting duties, knowing he would make sure that everyone else was alright. Walking to her quarters to continue her talk with Bolero in private, Gleaming Shield had only one thought on her mind. Please let nothing bad like this happen on my wedding! Trixie shook herself awake, vaguely aware somebeing was holding her tightly. “Good morning, my dear friend,” Chrysalis said softly, stretching out slightly. “It seems that morning has come, but did we managed to save the Emperor?” “No, my little ponies, for another did that task,” a loud, booming voice from behind them caused the tired mares to jump. “But without you, I would have been lost anyways, so I must thank you two for trying beyond hope.” The two of them turned around to see the joyful alicorn standing amidst the sleeping ponies, changelings and others races. “Do you feel it?” the Emperor laughed, filling the mares with a sense of joy. “The Warp feels purer than it has felt in a very long time.” Looking out the window, he stared at the fading massive rainbow beam of light. “And I believe I know why.” Flexing out his wings and grinning impishly, he tilted his head. “If you will accompany me, ladies, I believe I have to have a talk with my student.” Trixie snuggled her way out of Chrysalis' forelegs and stood by the Emperor and her oldest friend as they teleported away. The first thing Lemon felt was pain as he came back to the world of the living. Everything was sore as hell, his wings stiff with exhaustion and his right leg screaming at him from the sheer pain he had put it through. The second thing was that he was laying down on his back with his horn scraping against the floor. Before he could even open his eyes, he heard a loud gasp as someone grabbed his head. “Our saviour is awake!” A voice that sounded familiar shouted, cupping his head. “We are forever in your debt, but please, allow me to bestow my thanks unto you, dear knight.” Before Lemon knew what happened, a pair of lips met his. Flicking his eyes open he caught a hint of cyan which relaxed him. After a few second, a much more familiar voiced giggled from behind him. “Sister please, I know we hadn’t much chance to do much while we were trapped, but I do think suffocating our liberator is a poor choice.” “Oh Nighty,” the mare above him giggled, Lemon trying to blink his eyes clearer. “I doubt I could do that, but I suppose I should let him.” Finally clear his eyes, Lemon saw the dark navy alicorn look longingly at him from above, another mare with a black coat standing a few feet away. He had kissed Luna. With Nyx standing nearby. Oh buck him sideways, this was going to be bad when he told Nyx about this loop. Folding his wings inwards, Lemon rolled his head to the side and noticed something was off. “Wings?” He knew he didn’t have them before he entered the room, but why did he have them now? The last thing he could remember was punching the Smooze, and the only way he as a unicorn could get wings was to do something beyond impossible, which meant - “I became an alicorn by punching the Smooze?!” “And eliminating all traces of it, Lemon Rush,” a chuckling voice said from a distance. “I do not know fully yet, but you have somehow quite literally punched the Smooze to death.” The Emperor snickered, Trixie and Chrysalis beside him. “And of course, the Elements decided to be flashy this time.” Lemon looked at himself and saw that instead of his usual coat, he was wearing golden power armor edged with silver flames that burned constantly. The segment for his right leg was off to the side, showing his injured pastern for some reason. Feeling his head, he felt a crown in the shape of a wolf, his cutie mark. Element of Magic. He, Leman Russ, was the Element of Magic. Go figure. “I am very proud of you, my dear student." The Emperor smiled, nuzzling his student. “Now let's meet your friends that helped you win the nig…” The Emperor’s voiced trailed off as five ponies began to stir, very distinct markers hanging from their necks. “Th- the Chaos Gods are the Elements?!” he snapped, his horn glowing as he stepped towards the still very disoriented ponies. “No, I do not know how they gained the Elements but I will not stand for this.” Taking a step closer to them, he lowered his horn as he summoned his most powerful spells. He would be done with these monsters once and for all. “No," Lemon snapped, stepping in front of the Emperor and flaring his wings. “I will not let you do this!” “Lemon, you know who they are." The Emperor stared at him, eyeing him coldly. “And what they can do if left unchecked.” “I do, and I do not care.” Lemon said, lowering his horn, pawing the ground with his good hoof. “You would willingly fight me for them?” The Emperor looked at his student with a schooled face which hid his hope and building pride. “You know as well as I do that you have no chance against me. Your magic was never that grand, you are greatly injured and unused to the new magic and form that being an alicorn gives you. You would toss all that you just gained for them?” “Yes," Lemon growled, his coat standing on edge and the silver fire on his power armor flaring out. “Now and always.” The Emperor had heard enough. “Very well then.” The Emperor then turned his head away to look at Trixie and Chrysalis. “Ladies, I do hope you would not mind if I ask you to alert the hospital that we have some special patients for them. I will be sending Lemon and his friends to you shortly, I will just need Luna and Nightmare Moon’s help in removing the Powersuits of Harmony as not to alarm the citizens.” Turning his head, the Emperor had joyful tears running down his face. “I am so very proud of you, my wonderful student.” Leaning over, the Emperor of Ponykind pulled his student into a deep hug. “You have grown by leaps and bounds this night, achieving things I would never have thought possible and doing things I have hoped for you to do for so very long. Once we are done here, I am sure you will amaze everyone at the palace by this wonderful change.” “Actually,” Lemon said, blushing a bit from the praise. Some of it was due to his unAwake self but still part of it rang true for him despite how long he had been looping for. “I was thinking of staying here, in Ponyville, with them.” Lemon nodded his head to the Chaos Gods and Ciaphas. “Can’t just abandon them, now can I?” The Emperor only shook his head and laughed. “And then you do something like that, Lemon.” Pulling him in close for another hug, the Emperor ruffled his mane. “How much higher will you fly, my dear student?” Lemon was jostled by his loopers...his companions, who were smiling and laughing softly. Smiling himself, Lemon looked at them and turned to address the Emperor. “I do not know, but every day is a new day for the impossible to happen. And I’ve got the best ponies to make sure that happens.” “And that’s the story of our Nightmare Moon solo loop!” Lemon said to the table of his looping friends, Nyx leaning into his side. She wasn’t as mad as he had thought she would be, only giving him the Look that made him apologize immediately for kissing an unAwake Luna. Pulling his girlfriend closer with his wing, he used his magic to lift the mug of ginger ale to his mouth. “And that’s why I can go alicorn now,” he chuckled, nuzzling Nyx’s face. “So Shining, I expect Fenrir and Sleipnir to make us go through a Prince brother loop sooner or later.” “I’m looking forward to it, squirt!” Shining shouted, nuzzling Cadence. “I’m very interested in your designs, Slaanesh,” Rarity said, looking at the table of grinning Chaos Gods. “I wonder if we could mix our styles.” Smiling, Slaanesh took a piece of paper and began to do quick sketches while eyeing Nyx. Slaanesh floated the paper over to Rarity, but Twilight’s curiosity made her grab it. In an instant, her mane went grey and the purple strip turned snow white. “You are never to put my daughter in this!” she snapped, her wings twitching in anger. Rarity rolled her eyes at her overprotective friend and just chuckled at the design. A tad more risque than she would normally do, but this would be very interesting to make when Twilight wasn’t so uptight. “Now I am curious about this,” Lemon said, trying to float the paper over when he was pelted by rolled papers from the Chaos Gods’ table. “Oi!” “When you grow up, squirt, then you can see it!” Khorne roared, slapping the table in good spirits. “Otherwise, we’ll unleash the Little Mother on ya!” Slaanesh laughed, swinging hir mug in the air and spilling some of the alcohol onto the floor. “And I’ll sick BB on you!” Lemon grinned cheekily at hir, watching Slaanesh meep loudly before ducking under the table. Groaning, Slaanesh grabbed the bowls of peanuts and started to throw them at the giggling stallion. Nurgle, Khorne and Tzeentch reached over to the other tables to give hir some more ammo while booing loudly. “BB?” Rainbow asked, watching the Chaos God duck again at the name being mentioned. “What the-” “I’ll tell you if Slaanesh doesn’t mind.” Lemon said, poking his head above the table with Nyx still beside him. “You can tell, if you get us some more boooooooooooze!” Slaanesh giggled before falling onto empty tables. “Fine, fine." Smiling, Lemon pushed himself out of his seat and began to walk over to Big Mac when he was suddenly hugged from behind. Looking up, he saw the one mare he loved more than Nyx above him. Leaning into Fluttershys forelegs, she gave him a kiss just above his horn. “I am so proud of you, Leman, so very proud.” Fluttershy had tears in her eyes, her wings closing around the two of them. “Thank you," Lemon happily said, eyes closed and content. “You know why?” she asked him, nuzzling him like only a mother could do. Turning his head, Lemon looked at the rowdy table of the Chao-his loopers and nodded his head. “I do, Little Mother, I do.”