Iron Hearts: Book 5
Chapter 13
The Way to Hell
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Twilight Sparkle had to reflect for a moment that she'd really had no idea what she was getting into when she had embarked on this personal venture.
That in and of itself was actually quite expected. Twilight knew that the Warp - in its undiluted, raw, planar-dimensional state that housed Chaos - was very different from the ambient mana that unicorns used to work their magic. It was almost a living thing, reactive and malevolent, and it could, and often did, consume the minds of psykers less fortunate in their evolution than the unicorns.
As Twilight Sparkle submerged her mind and soul into the nightmare realm of the Empyrean, she finally understood the fear humanity had for this place.
It was not something that she could have properly described to other ponies. The best metaphor she could think of was that she was swimming through an ocean of churning emotions. Thoughts and feelings rushed around her, pushed her, touched her, and clawed at her mind. For some time she feared she might literally lose herself; that the foreign psychic emanations would invade her soul and meld with her own thoughts and feelings until Twilight Sparkle as her friends and loved ones knew her was mentally annihilated.
But the power was held at bay, washing around her spiritual body while a nigh impenetrable ward pushed it back.
The Element of Magic.
She could feel it. Within her, around her, and on top of her. Where Twilight Sparkle was a novice in the Immaterium, stumbling around blindly with ridiculous hopes of accomplishing the impossible, the Element was made for this. It shielded her soul as she searched the abyss of power, both from the psychic currents, and from predators.
There were a surprising amount of predators.
Twilight perceived - not saw, as her eyes didn't exactly work in this state - a great morass of condensed energy beneath her. She darted toward it, extending her magical senses, trying to draw some fragments from the pool. Memories and emotions brushed her mind, flickering into coherence before vanishing into shadows.
Twilight recoiled, bursting free of the morass. She felt images of casual brutality wrapped in feelings of warmth and contentment, of horrendous warfare and carnage combined with childlike glee.
Orks.
Her presence shifted away from the pool of souls, disgusted. She didn't particularly care what happened to the Orks after they were dead, so long as the brutes weren't harming or threatening her friends and allies. She left the spirit cluster alone.
"Chaos..." Twilight spoke into the miasma of power, trying to enforce her own will upon the tides churning around her. "Chaos claims their souls. Bring me... to CHAOS."
A falling sensation engulfed her, and Twilight Sparkle was swept away.
As Twilight tumbled through Warp space like a ping-pong ball caught in river rapids, she tried concentrating on her spiritual body. As she considered the energies that made up her soul, linked to the Element of Magic and the psychic realm she was traveling through, she began to give that soul definition. The cloud of psychic presence that was Twilight Sparkle distended and hardened, forming legs, wings, and a head. Sensory organs shifted into place and opened, giving her a view of the Empyrean that was still not really "sight", but was close enough for her purposes.
Monsters swam all about the sea of the Immaterium as she rushed through it. Daemonic presences of all sorts and levels of power surged through the Warp, clearly distinct from the shimmering echoes of the real world that represented mortals like her. Insofar as she was mortal, anyway. Thoughts for another time.
The daemons were strange, "solid" masses of hate, anger, and other emotions of discontent. They were intelligent, too, and the predatory spirits easily noticed the bright, shining pony soul darting between them. Yet each monster observed Twilight and reluctantly pulled away, like a hunter animal that decided its target was just a little too big and strong to be worth attacking.
The passage of time was naturally hazy within the Warp, and to Twilight it felt like she was spinning and tumbling for hours before her psychic presence slammed into something and came to a dead stop.
Motes of lights swirled within a vortex of void, like fireflies caught within an ink whirlpool. Souls. Perhaps her friends' souls, although it was impossible to tell from here.
But what had she run into? Twilight looked up at the unexpected barrier, trying to discern what it was.
Said barrier reached into the pony's mental presence at the same time she was observing it, dragging questions and ideas from her thoughts. It began to reshape itself in accordance to her expectations, and at the same time fed those mental images back to her.
Twilight floated back uncertainly when she found herself staring at the Star of Chaos wrought in green fire. It stood flat in front of her, like a runic shield, flickering softly.
What was this? Some sort of Warp gate? A cage door for the trapped spirits? That seemed about right. She supposed that fallen warriors given over to Chaos couldn't spend their afterlives free-floating around the Empyrean like they owned the place.
She reached out to touch the barrier, and tried to figure out a way she might cross it.
Twilight was quite surprised and disturbed when the barrier reached out to touch her back.
A pure soul, peering into the void...
No tribute to darkness, this one...
Devour it nonetheless. All belongs to Chaos, either in allegiance or as prey...
Twilight flinched back as multiple voices whispered to her, invading her mind and mixing with her own thoughts. She took a moment to calm and steel herself against panic; the more emotional she became here, the more susceptible she would become to enchantments and other forms of magical harm.
"What are you?" Twilight asked.
Many names... by so many victims...
Daemon... Guardian... God... Death... Chaos... Fear... Mortality...
I am your hope... and your enemy... and your end, little one...
Twilight floated silently before the Warp presence for a few moments.
"This is one of those things where your function and presence is actually quite straightforward, but you rattle off a bunch of cryptic-sounding nonsense to make it seem dramatically complex and unfathomable, isn't it? I read a lot of books, I can tell."
Oh, well, since we're all on the same page then, SCREW YOU.
Pain suddenly jolted through Twilight's senses, as if she suffered a dozen migraine headaches at once in the space of five seconds. As she writhed in agony, she idly wondered if her physical body back in the castle was screaming. She hoped not.
The torment ended as suddenly and inexplicably as it began, and Twilight's senses snapped back into focus.
"Okay! Did NOT like that!" the alicorn growled. "Was kind of hoping that the Element of Magic would fully protect me from psychic attack, but here we are!"
The Chaos Star flickered.
You. Will. Be. Consumed.
"You had your shot when I shoved aside fifteen years of teachings about magic and harmony to slaughter a bunch of aliens in the most expedient way possible," Twilight retorted, "now give me answers. I came here for my friends. Are they there?"
Answers?
You have all the answers...
What you're missing is the questions...
"You're doing it again," Twilight groused.
You know why you're here...
You know what lies beyond the veil...
The question is not what must you do...
Or where must you go...
But, what must you PAY?
Twilight grimaced. "I have the necessary magic power. I can provide the energy to recover and reanimate-"
You offer magic to a being drowning in it... the voices hissed.
Pain wracked Twilight again, although she was better prepared this time and braced herself. It was more like just five migraines now.
Insufficient...
The price must be more...
More finite...
More... PAINFUL...
"I didn't come here to argue," Twilight snarled, "I came here to get my friends back!"
She paused.
"Also, Serith."
Twilight's psychic presence expanded, drinking in the surrounding energy and throwing currents of magic into the surrounding Warp. Spells that would have been cast in seconds, one at a time, and taken considerable concentration all rolled out of her in an instant, cascading into place at the speed of thought. In the Immaterium Twilight's potential was unbound, and physics held little sway to restrain the arcane.
As such, it was especially frustrating for her to see the daemon/gate/Warp thing do the exact same procedure and generate its own array of magical formations, but much better and faster than she did.
Mana lashed between the two Warp presences, and Twilight felt the Element of Magic strain under the weight of the Chaos magic. Her own spells withered away in the currents of power surging around her, and Twilight was quickly forced to shift her entire effort to defense.
"All right! Minor miscalculation! You're not some random daemonic goon standing guard, here! Fine!" Twilight yelped while her barriers strained. Huge, crackling tendrils of literal daemonic fury wrapped around her bubble of resistance, and the mental surge of pain returned.
This time it didn't stop.
"AAAAUGH!!" Twilight's ethereal body squirmed and thrashed as the daemon tore at her mind, threatening to rend her consciousness apart.
Souls do not leave the clutches of the Dark Gods easily, Twilight Sparkle.
Cruel, cackling laughter echoed behind the whisper, and Twilight's psychic defenses slowly crumbled before the onslaught of psychic might.
A price will be paid. A soul for a soul. YOUR soul.
"N-No! Wait!" Twilight struggled against the pain, trying to see past the suffocating power that was tearing her apart, thought by thought. "I can't! You don't understand!"
I understand...
I do not care...
Your fate, your future...
The lives of the pawns of Chaos still clinging to their laughable mortal coil...
An insignificance before me...
"No! It's just..." Twilight fought down the agony long enough to order her thoughts properly. "We really need to revive Serith! But there's no way I'm going to die for HIM! Can you just release two souls in exchange for mine?!"
The pain stopped, and for a moment the entity ceased shredding apart Twilight's mind.
... Nah.
The pain returned, and Twilight screamed in agony and frustration.
Really, when you think about it...
I'm about to consume your spirit anyway...
So you should be pretty thankful I'm offering you anything in return...
Now...
Die...
Twilight knew she couldn't hold out much longer. Further resistance was impossible. Whatever wellspring of power she had tapped into to finish the Orks was either depleted or simply unavailable to her now. It was even possible, if not quite depressing, that she WAS tapping that source of magical fury and it simply wasn't enough to challenge a powerful Warp denizen on its own turf.
The Element of Magic pulsed around her.
She could escape. Her artifact, protecting her since she had entered this manifest nightmare, could spirit her away from here and return her to her body, safe and sound in Canterlot.
Safe and sound...
To face an alien army that couldn't be stopped, without the aid of Gaela and the others. Even Solon might abandon them, at that point. Why wouldn't he? After they had failed to get Serith or even Delgan, what use were they to him? The 38th Company might just evacuate the planet and risk diving into the Warp storms themselves, considering the alternative.
If she gave up now, there would be no future for Equestria. They would become just another notch in some Warlord's belt, and another collection of trophies to be shown off as the Orks marched on to their next atrocity.
"Please..." Twilight moaned against the pain. "Release-"
Laughter echoed through the Warp currents.
At first Twilight assumed it was from her current opponent, who very well may have found it amusing that she was begging for a final boon while having her soul devoured.
But the laughter wasn't like that. It was warm, and cheerful, and free of malice. The tendrils of magic surrounding her slackened, as if confused.
"Oh, wow, you're way bigger than our usual ghosties," chirped a new voice before a pink light flared into being at Twilight's side, "but rules are rules! You are in for SUCH a giggling!"
Twilight was perfectly perplexed to feel and hear Pinkie's spiritual presence burst into existence next to her, obviously boosted by the Element of Laughter. The Chaos guardian was merely annoyed. Several tendrils of magic unwrapped around Twilight and surrounded the new intruder.
Useless...
Begone...
The bargain will be completed...
"Yeah, no. We ain't here fer no bargain," said a new voice, strong and clear, before an orange light winked into being on Twilight's other side.
"You can think of this more as a jailbreak, really." A blue light swirled into place above the others.
"Somewhat appropriate, seeing as we're technically pirates, now." A white soul this time.
"Uhm, I realize this probably isn't at all okay with you, but we're going to force our way in and rescue our friends anyway," said a yellow light in a meek, apologetic mental voice, "sorry about that."
The Warp guardian snarled, and Twilight felt its fury quiver around her.
Unacceptable...
The price will be paid...
In souls...
In suffering...
In DEATH.
New spells surged forward. New tendrils of pure psychic agony curled around the intruders. Waves of fury buffeted the Elements of Harmony, washing over them, clawing at their minds.
But through that torrent of hateful power, Twilight saw weakness. The Elements fought back, shielding the ponies from the psychic assault as best they could, and the entity's attack was divided. Distracted. Surmountable.
She focused her mind again, drank in the power of the Warp, and this time five other minds bolstered her abilities. The tendrils were unmade, the entity's fury beaten back. The tides of darkness and raw emotion that swirled about the Elements of Harmony became calm, and the Star of Chaos shuddered.
You will not overcome me!
You will not survive!
Such is the will of the Dark Gods!
"I'm agnostic, actually," Rarity quipped while the two psionic forces strained against each other.
You...?
Wha...?
But...?
They're...!
"Oh, wow, I think that broke something," Rainbow Dash chuckled as the whispers turned to incredulous stuttering.
"Ya better get outta the way, sugarcube. Last chance, 'fore somethin' bad happens to ya," Applejack warned the Warp creature.
A wordless snarl manifest as a blast of sheer anger ripped through the Warp. Twilight launched her own projectile, deflecting the blast and dissipating the power back into the surroundings.
"You want to know what Chaos is to me?" Twilight asked as she pushed forward, digging hot spikes of mana into the rivers of energy to part it ahead of her. "Chaos is a lesson: that survival is always possible if you're willing to fight hard enough for it. That there's no rule or natural law that can't be overcome with enough power. That hope can come from the most awful of places, be it the barrel of a gun, a dark Sorcerer's spell book, or the most miserable parts of your own heart. And as of late, those lessons have been pretty useful!"
The Elements of Harmony pushed forward. Great storms of magical energy burst into being and shriveled to nothing around them, and the flames of the Chaos Star, the face of the guardian daemon, wavered.
"But here's a lesson from the Harmony playbook!" Twilight shouted.
"You may think you're bad because you've got all this crazy magic power," Rainbow growled.
"But yer also alone, cowboy," said Applejack. Twilight could literally feel her smirking.
"We brought friends," Rarity's voice was like velvet over cold steel.
"And friendship," Fluttershy said, bringing her voice to a much stronger squeak than usual, "is..."
"MAGIC!!"
"Although, as a daemon, you're ALSO magic, so then, technically, you're also friendship, which means-"
"Pinkie, stop."
"Okay."
The Elements of Harmony blasted forward, hammering their spirit bodies into the entity that stood against them. Howls of pain ripped through the Empyrean and brushed Twilight's mind, but this time it was not her own. Bursts of emotion and imagery fought back against her. She heard pleading, threats, incoherent fury, fanatical ranting, and visions of bloodied and tortured loved ones flashing before her mind's eye. She did not relent, nor did her friends.
The arms of the Chaos Star flickered and fragmented, and then a condensed energy mass darted away from the equine spirits.
All right! Fine! Take the stupid souls! GEEZ! There are like a zillion other ones around, anyway! I don't need this!
The entity shrunk to a green flare not much bigger than the ponies, floating away through the haze of power. Twilight stared after it in disbelief.
But mark my runes, fleshbags, there will be a reckoning for this trespass.
The daemonic spirit halted in the gloom, pulsing furiously as it whispered its parting threats to the intruders.
The Dark Gods do not suffer such insolence lightly, and you-
Pinkie's Element spark suddenly bashed into the entity, and it screeched and bounced away from the contact.
Ow! Shit! What are you doing, you psycho?! I already surrendered!
"Giggle giggle giggle!" Pinkie chirped before ramming into the green flare again.
No! Quit it! You're getting Laughter all over me, you freak! Go away!
"Aw, c'mon! Gimme a hug, ghostie! I just wanna be friends!" Pinkie said as she hovered behind the guardian entity in a way that apparently seemed threatening to it.
Eww! Eww! Eww! Get away from me, you sickos!
The green light vaulted upward into the ocean of colors and power, leaping beyond Pinkie's reach. The angry whispers and disgusted thoughts faded, and soon they vanished; a distant memory of a memory.
"It is AMAZING how quickly that went from terrifying to silly," Twilight remarked before turning toward her friends. They were starting to shift from sparkling blobs of color into actual equine forms, like she had.
"Thank you. All of you. I didn't think you'd follow me into the Warp like this." Twilight paused uncomfortably. "Did I start screaming or start losing my pulse or something?"
"Nah. There just wasn't much fer us to do back in the castle, what with you conked out and most everyone else dead," Applejack admitted.
"We tried putting Serith's armor back together into funny poses, but then Trixie started crying," Rainbow Dash added as her head formed and a pair of wings sprouted from her back, "so we figured we might as well try to help out. All the Elements of Harmony are linked and stuff, right?"
A sparking pink blob floated over to Twilight's side. "Don't worry, we convinced Princess Celestia not to interfere! She still thinks this is a bad idea, but she's willing to at least let us try!"
Twilight nodded slowly. "... Pinkie Pie? Are you going to shift into a pony body like the rest of us?"
"Nope! I always wanted to know what it was like to be a pixie!" Pinkie said excitedly as she wobbled up and down. "Especially traveling through an ocean of nightmares given form in a high-stakes quest to restore life to a dead friend!"
"We're all glad that you could fulfill your bizarrely specific wish," Rarity quipped as her mane formed, shifted, and then dissolved again. It seemed that even when creating her physical form was a matter of mere thought, it STILL took her forever to do her hair.
Fluttershy gulped as soon as she had generated the anatomy to do so. "Um, girls? I think we should get to finding everyone, now."
The others turned toward the vortex beyond, and Twilight growled. Daemonic spirits were descending through the tides of the Immaterium into the pool of souls, snarling hungrily.
"Ponyfeathers! That thing we just drove off was acting as a guardian of these dead souls! Without it, every random predator within earshot... er... thoughtshot? Yeah, okay. Every predator within thoughtshot is coming to feed!"
"That's terrible!" Rarity gasped. "We've condemned them to be devoured by daemons?"
Twilight shrugged. "Well, actually, that was what was going to happen anyway, as I understand it. Just, you know, later. And with specific and more powerful daemons. But as far as our immediate goal is concerned, this is very bad!"
"What do we do?!" Applejack shouted.
"Fluttershy, can you search for our friends? We'll try to hold off the daemons!" Twilight said before she veered off to intercept the spirits.
Fluttershy lowered herself above the inky vortex, her wings flapping gently and pointlessly as she searched the swirling depths.
"Um... Twilight? How do I tell our friends from every other soul?" the pegasus asked.
"I'm not sure!" Twilight admitted as she fired a stream of bright purple darts into the advancing daemons. "This is way outside the realm of contemporary magical theory!"
The darts cut into the Warp creatures, slicing through their psychic bodies just as easily as a material knife would carve through flesh. The beasts screech angrily, veering away as their rage filled the tumultuous seas of power.
"Can't we just take all of them?" Rainbow Dash asked as she slammed a kick into a luminescent skull-thing. "They're all Chaos, right? They're on our side!"
"That option IS covered by contemporary magic theory! The more energy we try to convert back to realspace, the exponentially greater the magical energy required in order to-"
"Okay! I get it! You could have just said 'no'!" Rainbow Dash replied before she kicked another daemon and then zipped toward another at high speed.
"Besides, I think it's wise to practice some discrimination when plucking lost souls from a giant pit of evil," Rarity remarked, "they're not ALL our friends, after all. We don't even know if they all came from our world." She formed a blade of crystalline light as a pair of daemons started circling her, and then the unicorn bisected one in a slash of blazing magic. While STILL redoing her mane.
Fluttershy nervously went back to searching the pool of generally similar spots of light. "Ohhh... I just don't know!" Then her eyes widened. "Wait! There! That one! That big, red soul beating up on those three little souls! It's Tellis! I can feel it!"
Rainbow Dash whirled around and immediately zoomed for the vortex. "Got him!"
Rainbow flew to where Fluttershy was pointing her leg, slowing before the one crimson mote of light bouncing all over three other ones. She nodded once she floated over the dark spirit, feeling it radiating blood-lust and off-color humor. "That's Tellis, all right! I can feel it too!" She paused. "So... what do I do now?"
Suddenly, almost without warning, the spark of red energy leapt into Rainbow Dash, vanishing into the chest of her psychic representation.
"Oh! Uh... wow." Rainbow Dash's expression twisted to something between a grin and a grimace. "This is a little closer than I really wanted us to get, buddy." She shuddered, feeling a well of foreign thoughts and emotions churning about inside her. "Look, don't touch anything in there, all right? We're almost done!"
"Ah see Wyatt!" Applejack shouted, breaking her attention away from bucking daemons across the Empyrean. One serpent-like Warp predator took ample advantage of the diversion and slithered past the avatar of Honesty, darting in the direction she was looking.
"Consarn it! No! Stay away from him ya stupid Warp varmint!"
The daemon didn't listen, as expected, and its jaws opened as it neared the vortex.
"STOP THAT," Fluttershy snapped, slipping between the daemon and its prey. Her eyes narrowed into slits, and the Warp serpent instantly froze in place.
Then it went sailing into the luminescent mists after Applejack caught up and smashed it aside.
"Thanks, Shy!" the farmer shouted before she reached out to Daniels' soul. It floated at her hoof uncertainly, then plunged into the orange mare's chest.
"Okay, yeah. That does feel pretty weird," Applejack mumbled as the foreign soul settled within her.
"Oh, right, like it's the first time you've had a piece of Daniels inside you," Rainbow chuckled as she returned to fighting off the predators.
"CONSARN IT, DASH! WE AIN'T LIKE THAT!"
Rarity gasped as she too pulled away from the rush of daemons. "I see Norris! Cover me!"
Twilight grunted as she fired a constant stream of violet bursts into the oncoming swarm. The lesser daemonic spirits were quite easy to damage and drive off, but the sheer number of them and the way her friends kept stopping to search the vortex was leaving her overwhelmed. "I can't hold them all off! They're getting through! Hurry!"
Rarity didn't waste any time watching for nearby hostiles, diving straight toward Delgan's soul and scooping it into her chest.
"Hmm. Not as bad as I thought," she remarked. Then she paused. "Did anypony else hear a cracking sound, just then?"
"Yeah, when Ah grabbed Wy Ah heard somethin' like that!" Applejack replied as she rammed head-first into a flaming skull.
"Ominous!" said Pinkie's glimmering spiritual presence. "Oh, hey! There's Desty!"
As Pinkie darted toward the Iron Warrior's spirit, Twilight spared a moment to look over the vortex herself. Even that moment of inattention allowed dozens of cackling daemons past her, and by the time she spotted a particular lost soul there were already numerous predators rushing by and diving into the vortex to feed.
"Fluttershy! Near you! That one over there! It's Gaela!" Twilight shouted before sliding over and smashing away a daemon that got too close.
Fluttershy looked somewhat puzzled as she glanced around at the quivering points of light.
Then, she felt it: a deep, soul-gnawing terror that exceeded anything she had felt when looking upon mere dragons or ancient horrors like Discord (before they had become besties, that is). It was Gaela.
"Okay, I see her!" Fluttershy frowned as she hovered over to the woman's soul. "Uhm, I can keep her safe, so you can come down and-"
"No time!" Twilight shouted. "Here!"
Fluttershy's eyes widened as a bubble of purple wrapped around Gaela's spirit. "Wh-What?"
The bubble snapped toward the yellow pony, who frantically tried to evade. "NonononoNONONO-"
The soul was pushed into her, and Fluttershy froze in horror as the rush of emotions and foreign images invaded her senses. A moment later she immediately curled up into a quivering, whimpering ball.
"Awesome!" Pinkie Pie said as she gathered Dest's soul into her own. Then several eel-like daemons slithered past her, diving into the inky darkness and snapping up the unprotected spirits. "Soooo... now what?"
"Serith," Applejack put a name to their next objective while the daemons fell into a complete feeding frenzy. They had all but given up trying to hold back the predators by now. "Whadda we do? Can y'all tell his soul from the rest of 'em?"
"Look for an unusually big one!" Twilight shouted as she started preparing a new spell. "I have an idea for the Sunsworn!"
Rainbow Dash blinked. "Oh, we're bringing them back, too?"
"It would be nice. They DID die specifically to help us," Rarity pointed out.
Twilight's spiritual body exploded into light, and golden rays of crystalline power showered into the inky storm below. "Servants of the Sun Goddess! Come to me! Follow your goddess's light to salvation!"
Numerous motes of light started peeling away from the vortex, riding up the beams of magic toward its source.
Applejack growled irritably as she punted away a shrieking daemon, and then she stuck her head down into the whirling darkness. "Dagnabit, Ah can't see nothin' that might be Serith. We sure he's here?"
"We're not sure of anything!" Twilight admitted. The Sunsworn souls were diving into her spiritual body now, seeping into her psyche and desperately increasing the strain on the Element of Magic. "But this is our only chance! We have to find him!"
"Well, I've got nothing," Pinkie Pie admitted while her spiritual presence swooped through the vortex, "hey, do you think General Gnoss is here? And if we revived him, would he just reappear in the mass grave under the Nethalican, or would-"
CRACK
"Okay, I KNOW I heard that!" Rarity shouted.
"Ah FELT that!" Applejack replied.
The sound of shattering glass filled their ears, along with a faint cry of distress.
The six enchanted souls paused, and then, in an instant, they vanished from the tides of the Warp.
****
Canterlot Castle - Hall of Elements
"Whoa, nelly!" Applejack cried out as she jerked back to full consciousness. She blinked repeatedly, taking in sensations from her mundane senses once more.
"Oh, DRAT," Rarity grumbled before she looked around at the castle, "what happened?"
"That's what Trixie wants to know!" The blue unicorn jumped in front of Twilight, who recoiled in surprise. "Did it work?"
"I hope so," Pinkie remarked, "'cause I don't think we're going to get to go again."
As she said this, her hoof nudged some shards of metal and shattered crystal lying on the floor in front of her.
Twilight's eyes widened as she recognized the remains. The Element of Laughter.
"Oh, dear," Fluttershy winced as she shifted uncomfortably in her armor, feeling broken pieces of her own Element settled in her gorget.
"The Elements of Harmony weren't powerful enough to sustain such an event." Princess Celestia stepped up next to Twilight, her tone solemn. Within her golden aura of magic floated a shattered tiara, and Twilight cringed. "Or perhaps their use within a Chaos ritual unmade them. In any case, they are no more."
"Okay, that sucks, but did they WORK?" Rainbow Dash asked in frustration.
"Trixie doesn't think so," the blue pony wilted as she glanced over to Serith's disembodied helmet, "Serith is still gone."
To call the pause that followed "awkward" would be an act of understatement of the same magnitude as saying that Canterlot Castle currently needed some cleaning up. It was thus an incredible relief for all sorts of reasons when a familiar man's voice came from the throne room.
"Has anyone seen my gun?! It's a rail rifle with a bunch of irony on the barrel! And possibly my intestines."
"WYATT!!" Applejack screamed before she sprinted from the room.
****
"I am very confused," Gaela admitted as she stood at the head of the throne room. Unlike many of the men in white robes picking themselves up off the floor, the Dark Techpriest was still horribly maimed despite her revival. Both of her shoulders ended in clusters of shredded wires, her servo arms had been ripped off, and her augmetic eye was still shattered.
"We all are. But confused is a big step up from where we were," Daniels said while he dug through a pile of dead Orks.
Dest was also alive and in one piece, but the Iron Warrior stared into space rather than marveling at his condition like the others or searching for dropped gear.
The reason was completely inscrutable to anyone else, but had they been able to listen to Dest's mind at the time, they would have heard a long series of desperate, gasping sobs.
I really thought I lost you, bro! Vel said, his mental voice somehow sniveling in perfect imitation of a wailing man. I was so scared! Don't you EVER do that to me again! No more dying! You got that?!
"... Why are you still here?" he asked out loud, not caring if the others heard him talking to himself. "I was dead. My soul was lost. Did you actually just sit inside my ruined body hoping that I would come back?"
An obnoxious mental sniffle came from the daemon. I have nowhere to GOOOOO!
Dest grunted in disgust.
"Wy! Ya made it! It really worked!" Applejack cried as she swerved into the throne room and leapt for the mercenary.
Daniels dove out of the way, and the farmpony fell onto a dead Nob in mega armor instead. The extremely heavy plating caved inward from Applejack's impact, and a small web of cracks appeared in a circle underneath the body.
"... Good call with the dodge," Applejack said.
"Gaela! You're all right!" Twilight said as she entered next, albeit at a much more reasonable pace.
"An estimated thirty-nine percent of my body is inoperable, and without my arms or servo limbs I am a net liability in combat and mechanical utility. I am far from 'all right'," the Dark Techpriest corrected.
It was all Twilight could do to keep from bawling. "I am SO happy to see you!"
"Mister Delgan!" Rarity said brightly as the Trademaster picked his way through the shattered barricades into the throne room. "I almost thought our time together had come to an end for good!"
"Remind me later that I owe you a raise," the Trademaster said curtly as he passed by the ponies, "where's Miss Flair? I have to give her a pricing list."
"Down the hall, to the right and down the stairs," Rarity directed the man.
"Thank you. And well done, Miss Rarity," Delgan said as he passed by.
"Excuse me, Sovereign," he added as he passed a shocked and bewildered Celestia in the hallway.
The white alicorn was no less startled when she peeked into her throne room and was immediately bombarded by shouting.
"THE SUN GODDESS HAS GIVEN US HER BLESSING! SHE HAS BREATHED NEW LIFE INTO THE FALLEN!" Farian shouted before he and several other Sunsworn bowed. Their white robes had been scorched and stained with blood, but otherwise the sun cultists were completely free of injury.
Princess Celestia entered the room hesitantly. "Farian... you're really alive. I... didn't think it was possible..." she shook her head. "This was no miracle of mine. Twilight Sparkle was the one who brought you back from the abyss."
The Sunsworn glanced over at the smaller alicorn, who grinned bashfully.
"... Isn't she your student, Goddess?" Farian asked.
Celestia blinked. "Well, yes, but-"
"THE GODDESS HAS REVIVED US THROUGH HER VESSEL, THE ACOLYTE SPARKLE!" shouted the cultists, throwing their arms up as they surrounded Celestia. "BLESSED BE THE LIGHT! GLORIOUS SUN, BE OUR SHIELD AND SALVATION!"
"No offense, but you're not really worship material," explained one of the men to Twilight as an aside.
"Sure, whatever," the purple pony rolled her eyes, "by the way, I revived you all on a hunch back there, but the fact that you were stuck with all the Chaos worshipers indicates that your souls still belong to the Dark Gods when you pass away. I don't think simply proclaiming a different faith is enough to protect your spirits from them."
"Huh. Good point," Farian admitted as his brethren kneeled in front of Celestia and bowed repeatedly, "we should probably leave that part out of the holy literature, though."
"All right! Then that just leaves one more!" Rainbow Dash cheered before engaging her helmet. "Hey, Tellis? You back, buddy?"
After a few seconds of static from the vox, her helmet connected properly. "Hey, Rainbabe. Thanks for the rez."
"Hah! No problem, man!" Rainbow said, thankful that her visor hid the tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Yay," squeaked Fluttershy.
Rainbow spent a moment to take a deep breath and make sure her voice wouldn't catch. "You wanna join us down here in the castle?"
"Nah. I'm stacking up dead Orks in the city square so that I can fly up and fall onto them like a huge, blood-filled leaf pile. Later." The vox cut out, and Rainbow struggled to hold back a surge of girly sentiment that she was definitely too cool for, thank you very much.
"Then it's official! Everyone's back!" Pinkie Pie said with a grin while she clung to Dest's leg. "The Orks are dead and all of our friends are alive and everything is PERFECT forever!"
Clang!
The sound of a metal gauntlet hitting the stone floor brought all the happy reunions to a dead stop.
Slowly, everybody turned toward the hallway entrance. Trixie stood there, sniffling, with an expression of enraged sorrow on her face and a piece of power armor at her hooves.
"Uh... oh..." Pinkie whispered, her ears flipping down. That expression was quickly mirrored by the rest of the members of Equinought Squadron.
"That is Lord Serith's augmetic hand. The psykant occulus," Gaela said, arching an eyebrow, "why is it not attached to his body?"
"Trixie doesn't know!" Trixie said while glaring daggers at Twilight. Actual daggers. That appeared in a flash of pink light and quivered in the air over her head. "Tell us, TWILIGHT SPARKLE, why isn't Serith's hand attached to his body?!"
Twilight gulped and started backing away from the blue unicorn. "Now, Trixie-"
"Don't you 'now, Trixie' Trixie! You left him! You ungrateful mule!" the entertainer raged.
"No! We didn't leave him!" Twilight protested. "... Well, okay, obviously that's TECHNICALLY accurate, yes. But we didn't leave him behind on purpose! We looked for him!"
"Eventually," Applejack mumbled.
"Wait, I am confused," Dest interjected, "the ritual was obviously a success. The Orks are defeated. How did the Sorcerer die?"
"Good question! Any ideas, Sparkle?! How DID he die?!" Trixie snapped while tears dribbled down her cheeks. "Trixie doesn't suppose it had anything to do with you going completely insane with magic power right next to him when he was mid-ritual, does it?!" Trixie kept glaring down at the purple alicorn, and Twilight whimpered as she cringed back and lowered her body closer to the floor.
"Hey, you can't pin that on Twilight!" Rainbow Dash rushed to her friend's defense. "We don't know! Maybe he could have... uh... maybe, you know, the Orks... er..."
"Do we have ANY other working theories as to what happened to him?" Rarity asked, looking worried. "We really didn't know anything was wrong until Trixie bumped him and he collapsed into pieces."
"Unrestrained magic is very dangerous," Celestia noted grimly, "particularly when guided by one's anger. I was there when Twilight forced her power upon the ritual. The mana backlash was tremendous."
Twilight had her boots over her face as she lay on the floor now, afraid that Trixie might actually start hitting her. "I'm sorry! I'm SO sorry! But we tried! I swear, we tried to bring him back!"
"AFTER you found everyone else! You even brought back the bucking SUN CULTISTS, and nopony even asked for that!" Trixie snarled. "Hay, at least two of them are just going to die again anyway because they were buried under the rubble in the back hall after they were killed!"
Celestia's eyes widened. "Farian! Sunsworn! With me! Hurry!" She galloped off toward the hall.
"At once, Goddess!" Farian replied, all too eager to leave the showdown in the throne room.
Trixie ignored the humans rushing out of the room past her, completely focused on the alicorn trembling on the floor in shame and regret. "Serith was the only reason that we had a chance to survive in the first place, and was Trixie's best friend! He even saved Princess Celestia's life because YOU featherbrains were too slow in getting here!"
"Lord Serith was also our primary mission objective, and may be key to stopping the Orks for good," Gaela pointed out. "If I had arms right now, I would be crossing them while looking at you sternly."
"AND it was his ritual that you used to force your way into the Empyrean when you went to revive everyone else! And you didn't have the basic decency and foresight to save him FIRST?!" Trixie raged, slamming her greaves into the floor.
Twilight whimpered pathetically from the floor as she contemplated incinerating herself on the spot.
"Wow. Okay, yeah, those are some good points," Pinkie said as she walked up behind Twilight, "I feel like there's a friendship lesson in here somewhere."
"All right, fine. We MIGHT have found him if we handled things differently," Rainbow Dash admitted as she too joined their squad leader, "but c'mon, we totally looked and couldn't find his soul down there! Maybe Twilight accidentally killed him SO HARD that he couldn't be revived. Ever think of that?"
"Dash! Not helping!" Twilight wailed.
"It was really strange and scary in there, though," Fluttershy insisted as she timidly joined the others, "and we didn't know what to do. Really, it's amazing we managed to save anyone at all."
"Strange and scary how?" Trixie demanded, her eyes narrowing.
"Oh, uh... well, there was this big Chaos thing that we had to drive away to get to the place with all the lost souls," Fluttershy mumbled while she recalled the harrowing experience, "and even after we got rid of it, there were all these hungry daemons around! We had to fight them, but then they swarmed around us and... uh..."
Trixie growled after Fluttershy trailed off with her fur going pale around her face. "And what? What happened? They obviously didn't get any of you, since YOU'RE still here!"
"Naw, they weren't after us, they were after the souls," Applejack explained. "... So Ah guess we kinda abandoned them to the daemons when the Elements broke." She chewed her lip for a moment. "Oops."
Twilight peeked up between her greaves to see that Trixie's blue complexion had turned bright red in her face, and her hat was trembling on top of her head like the lid on a pot of boiling water.
"Does it help my case if I tell you that I'm pretty sure Serith was going to be eventually devoured by daemons anyway?" Twilight asked hopefully.
Trixie honestly debated smashing Twilight's stupid purple face in for a second, but she took a step back instead.
"TRIXIE. HATES. ALL OF YOU," she hissed before she grabbed gauntlet in her mouth again. Then she turned around and trudged into the hallway, sobbing as she went.
"... Expression of useless sentiment aside, it was unwise not to prioritize Lord Serith's revival," Gaela said as Trixie left. Twilight groaned.
"Really? YOU'RE getting on our case, too?" Rainbow Dash groused. "We brought you back from the dead!"
"My survival is not a primary objective," Gaela said blandly, "the mission is vital to the war. The success of the war is more important than individual lives. This is not a military philosophy unique to Chaos or to humans."
"More to the point, the current strategic situation suggests that a failure to bring the Orks to heel will eventually result in our deaths again, reversing your recent efforts," Dest said, crossing his arms over his chest. Twilight groaned again.
"Speaking of which, can you do that every time someone you care about dies? Just swim into the Warp and yank us out?" Daniels asked.
"Not unless you can find us another set of Elements of Harmony, darling," Rarity said with a sigh, "I'm afraid we're fresh out. Bringing you all back destroyed them."
"Resurrection is anyway not entirely rare among the Chaos Legions, although usually the domain of the more spiritually inclined armies, such as the Word Bearers and Black Legion," Gaela said, turning toward the mortal soldier, "the practice is simply inefficient. The cost required to revive the dead, both in lives and energy, is simply too great to justify for any but the most powerful and hallowed individuals."
Daniels pursed his lips awkwardly as the dismembered woman finished her explanation.
"... I'm going to go look for your arms," the mercenary mumbled, walking past the Dark Techpriest, "sorry, but I can't take you seriously like this. You look ridiculous."
Gaela sighed after Daniels left. "No matter. What are we to do now? After all our efforts, and the expenditure of your artifacts, we have still failed."
"We'll need to talk to Solon," Rarity admitted, hanging her head, "there may be some way that Serith can be replaced by another psyker."
"Doubtful," Gaela grunted as she sat down on a hunk of twisted wreckage, "if Solon needs Serith, it is because of his unique link to and knowledge of the Nethalican. How are we to control it without the High Sorcerer?"
"Maybe Discord could do it?" Fluttershy asked.
"I wouldn't trust Discord to carry my ammo," Rainbow groused, "and we're supposed to rely on him to save the world? No thanks!"
"Fine, be that way," Discord said, popping up behind Rainbow Dash, "here, TAKE your ammo!"
Rainbow yelped as she was suddenly showered with boltgun magazines, and she shielded her head from the downpour of metal. "This isn't even my ammo!"
His most recent gag complete, Discord dusted off his hands and walked into the entry hall, ignoring the bewildered stares that followed him.
"Was he here the whole time?" Dest asked.
"Best not to think about it, darling," Rarity sighed.
"Oh!" Discord poked his head back in. "That reminds me! If you want to talk to Solon, you'll get your chance soon! He's landing in the city right now!" the draconequus gave the ponies a thumbs-up. "So, good luck explaining the dead Sorcerer thing!"
Twilight slumped to the floor miserably. "Gaela? How far would I have to bury myself under the castle foundation before the Warsmith couldn't find me?"
"There isn't enough mountain on this planet, Sparkle."
****
Canterlot City - city shelter access
Luna waited patiently in the plaza while a pair of Thunderhawk transports touched down in the ruined city, and she read the passenger manifest uploaded to her visor.
"Hark, warriors! Father approaches, and our deliverance is at hoof!" the dark Princess declared. "Soon the Orks shalt be cut off from this system, and our victory shalt be complete!"
"... Wait, who?" Rot Blossom asked, tilting her head.
"The Warsmith! It is he!" Luna repeated as Iron Warriors started pouring out of the transports.
"... You call him 'Father'?" Poison Kiss asked.
Luna gave her a confused look. "Nay, We do not. Why dost thou suggest such a thing?"
"Uhhh... but, you just..."
The awkward discussion was gratefully abandoned when said Warsmith scuttled into the plaza, a squadron of Chaos Marines following behind him.
"Well, thish ish quite a pleashant shurprishe," Solon confessed as his legs pulped the veritable carpet of green bodies underneath him, "here I thought I might have to reshcue the reshcue."
"We hast secured Canterlot, as ordered," Luna said as she bowed her head, "thank thee, Warsmith, for offering us the chance to save our people and Celestia."
"You're quite welcome. It'sh alwaysh nice when our shtrategic goalsh coincide," the Warsmith allowed, "what of Sherith?"
"Princess Sparkle took Equinought Squadron and our sapien allies to secure the castle, and my sister," Luna explained, "it was there that they struck upon the possibility of purging the Orks en masse using fell magics."
"The best KIND of magics," Poison Kiss interrupted smugly.
"Excellent. Let ush proceed. Phage Shquadron, remain here and protect the gunshipsh while my Iron Warriorsh shweep the city for shurvivorsh."
The Nurgle-marked ponies bowed deeply. "Of course, Warsmith. By your leave," declared Kiss reverently.
Luna and Solon turned to leave. Big Macintosh started to follow, but a cringe-inducing squeal came from his augmetic legs and they locked up.
"Got shomething shtuck in there?" Solon asked as he stepped over to the stallion.
"Eeyup," Big Mac replied, terse as ever.
"We put the full might of our magics to ward off the aliens, but their numbers and persistence exceeded even our power," Luna griped, "had Twilight Sparkle not purged the city in time..."
Solon scooped up Big Macintosh with his servo claw, and then carried the stallion along as they walked to the castle. Big Mac wasn't exactly okay with this, but he failed to protest before Luna caught up and started speaking again.
"If We may inquire as to thy strategy, Warsmith?" Luna asked, stepping between the scattered green corpses. "How art we to stop the foul xenos?"
"Well, we've activated the Tau Warp beacon and are feeding shignal pulshesh into the Empyrean. The data we're collecting ish conshtructing an image of the shtable Warp pashage the Orksh are ushing to advance. Once it ish complete, we will determine the mosht likely mechanishm ushed to create it and deploy a shtrike force to deshtroy it."
Luna nodded. "And the Sorcerer's role?"
"After the Warp ish reshtored to its intended shtate of deshtructive tumult, the Warp shtorm will deshtroy the Ork veshelsh traveling through it. I need Sherith to open a shtable eshcape route for the Harvesht of Shteel, sho that it ish not deshtroyed ash well."
"Aye! A fine plan!" Luna said brightly, smashing the knuckles of the the Iron Gage together in front of her. "We duly request to be assigned to the strike force! The greenskin savages hath much to answer for, and We would see their debt repaid personally."
"Shure, why not," Solon replied as his servo arms picked at the cracks and punctures in Big Mac's armor. Crackling welders and whining drills dug into the stallion's bionic limbs, carving out the shrapnel impeding his motion. "The greenshkinsh had a lot of fun with you, I shee. Shome of thish damage will not be eashily repaired. You've shuffered shevere tissue damage ash well."
The crimson pony didn't reply this time as he was carried along, feeling that even a regretful "eeyup" would be a waste of breath.
"Aye, thou should hast seen him!" Luna laughed. "Macintosh fought like a beast uncaged, hurling the Orks about like mere children! No hide or armor was proof against his might!"
"Good to hear! I'm quite proud of that particular shtimulant formula! And it shpeaksh well of your conshtitution that you've shurvived ushing it, Mishter Macintosh."
Big Mac's eye twitched. He didn't remember anyone mentioning that it was potentially lethal.
Luna's chuckle took on a more suggestive, throaty tone. "Sir Ironside hath much in the way of endurance, We hast found."
Mac hung his head from embarrassment. As much from the nickname and new title than from the innuendo.
"Excellent. I alwaysh thought-"
"CANNONBALLLLLLLL!!"
Everyone stopped to watch as Tellis dropped from the sky, screaming, into the Canterlot city streets. He had his arms wrapped around his knees and his flight pack inactive, and was somersaulting through the air while he plunged downward.
The Chaos Lord crashed into the side of a building, tearing through the wall and then breaking through several floors below it. Wood and stone vomited from the new hole in the apartment tower, and rained down onto the massive pile of green bodies piled up onto the street.
"... I THINK I MISSED!" Tellis declared. "... OWWW..."
"I shee you took Tellish with you," Solon said as he continued walking again.
"T'would be more accurate to say he followed us," Luna deadpanned, "We can assure thee that nopony requested the Mad Angel's help."
They reached the castle courtyard, or at least what was left of it. Two wrecked Killa Kans and an undamaged Mega Dread stood in front of the ruined gates, along with the crushed remains of a pair of small battle automata.
Luna moved forward ahead of the Warsmith, magically pushing the green bodies away to clear a path as she entered.
"We hast returned!" the dark Princess declared before she stepped into the throne room. "Twilight Sparkle, the Warsmith shalt now hear thy report of glorious victory!"
It was strange, Luna thought. The way that the Elements of Harmony shrunk back while looking ashamed of themselves, it was almost as if they hadn't secured glorious victory at all. Which was silly, of course.
"My Iron Warriorsh are reporting zero contactsh in the city," Solon said after he followed Luna into the room, "well done, Equinought Shquadron. You have shucceeded beyond my expectationsh! By which I mean Mish Rarity ish SHTILL alive, shomehow!"
Said unicorn sighed, and Solon shifted over toward Applejack. "Here. Thish ish yoursh, I believe." He placed Big Macintosh down next to the farmpony.
Twilight was sweating silently while she sat next to Gaela, her eyes darting back and forth to avoid optics contact.
"Now, then: you can belay Luna'sh order. There will be time for debriefing later," said the Warsmith, "where ish Sherith? We musht proceed immediately. The fate of my Company - ash well ash your world - dependsh on it!"
Twilight made a noise that reminded Applejack of a steer being strangled to death. She'd heard it several times before during rodeos. Then the purple alicorn collapsed onto the floor and curled up into a ball.
Solon and Luna were understandably perplexed.
"Sparkle? What affliction ails thee?" Luna asked, tilting her head to the side.
"She's come down with a bad case of horrified regret," Rarity admitted.
"I'm not following," Solon replied.
Gaela stood up from her seat. She would have knelt, but changing stances was proving awkward without any arms. "If I may provide an explanation, Warsmith: we have failed you."
All was silent in the room for a few seconds, and then Solon's head swiveled about to take in the Ork corpses laid in piles against the walls.
"You have a curioush definition of 'failure', Dark Techpriesht."
"Our primary objective was to secure Lord Serith. He did not survive the Ork assault," Gaela declared.
"The Sorcerer perished?" Luna gasped. "How did this occur when thou hast all survived the onslaught?" Twilight made more strangled animal noises on the floor.
"We didn't, really, but that can be left for the debriefing," Dest interjected, "as for the cause of Lord Serith's death, well..."
Another grim silence settled over the room.
"IT WAS MEEEE!!" Twilight shouted suddenly, unable to bear the guilt quietly. She leapt up to her hooves, sobbing hysterically. "I KILLED SERITH! HE PUT EVERYTHING ON THE LINE TO SAVE US AND IT WASN'T ENOUGH AND THEN I SAW THAT GAELA WAS DEAD AND I LOST IT AND TAPPED INTO THE VAST RESERVES OF POWER THAT LIE DEEP WITHIN ME..." she paused to suck in air.
"Pft. Amateur," Pinkie Pie mumbled.
"... AND I KILLED ALL THE ORKS IN CANTERLOT BUT I GUESS THE MANA BACKWASH KILLED HIM TOO AND I BROUGHT EVERYONE ELSE BACK TO LIFE BUT COULDN'T BRING SERITH BACK SO IT WAS ALL POINTLESS AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE AND WE CAN'T EVEN USE THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY ANYMORE!!"
Twilight gasped again, and then collapsed flat on her face.
"Yeah. So, that happened," Rainbow Dash said, bashfully, "... sorry."
Luna shook her head. "Without the Sorcerer, the Warsmith's plan is a suicide mission. It cannot be so..."
Solon himself had been silent since Twilight started ranting, as he had been processing multiple data streams since then.
After Luna trailed off, his optics zoomed in on Twilight. "You shay Sherith hash been shlain?"
Pinkie Pie burst into a fit of giggles, only to quickly stifle them as Rarity glared at her.
"Show me," Solon demanded.
Twilight duly trudged down the hallway to the castle's inner sanctum, looking for all the world like a prisoner making her final walk to the gallows.
When they entered the Hall of Elements, the purple alicorn stepped to the side and hung her head in silence while the others entered.
"Hey, Techpriest! Found one of your arms! And my gun!" Daniels said happily.
"Superb. At least we'll be fully equipped when we make our next final stand against the xeno horde," Gaela said blandly.
Solon focused on Trixie immediately, who was slowly and miserably floating pieces of Serith's armor into a small wagon that the castle's servants used to carry things about the premises. It wasn't QUITE the saddest and most pathetic thing Twilight had seen that day, considering what she and the others had been through, but it came close.
"Oh, dear. The poor wretch," said the Warsmith as he walked over to the pile of armor, "it'sh been a while shince thish hash happened to him."
Trixie sniffled and looked up at the mechanized horror. "Wh-What do you mean?"
Solon's servo claw reached into the wagon and picked up the central torso armor. "Well, I can confirm that it wash Shparkle that did thish to him, at leasht. Thish hash 'pshychic hyper-shaturation' written all over it. Sherith musht have blown a fushe."
"Trixie knew it!" the blue unicorn snapped, pointing a boot at Twilight as the alicorn flinched back. Then she paused. "... Wait, he blew a... what?"
Solon broke open Serith's torso plate, which everyone else in the room was reasonably expecting to be empty. It was not. Within the interior of the unusually thick chest shielding was a metal box about the size of a small backpack covered in wires and circuit etching. Solon opened the box carefully with his hand, revealing even more wires and arcane gadgets, along with several small glass tubes.
"... What is that?" Twilight whispered up to Gaela. To her surprise, the Dark Techpriest looked even more shocked than the equines; they, at least, were quite used to being exposed to unfamiliar technologies and expected to be surprised by the more unique aspects of the Chaos Space Marines. Gaela had thought she'd already sorted out what was and wasn't possible for the Iron Warriors, and was obviously having to revise that assumption.
"Nurgle'sh beard, you almosht shtripped hish shoul clean of the phylactery," Solon mumbled, holding up one of the tubes in front of his optics and examining a hairline crack. He shifted the tube under another small servo arm, and a low-powered laser started sealing the breach. "There might be shome way to weaponize that."
"Wait, wait, wait. Is Serith a ROBOT?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Because if so, then my visor was way off about his cool factor."
"Of courshe he ishn't. That'sh ridiculoush," Solon scoffed as he replaced the tube in the box.
"Then what be the non-ridiculous explanation for this, exactly?" Luna asked.
Mechadendrites spread from Solon's fingers and slithered over the device, making subtle and minute repairs that the equine eye could not detect (from spectating distance, at any rate).
"Sherith shimply requiresh a mechanical veshel for his shoul rather than a biological one, that'sh all," Solon explained, as if such a thing were a condition that anybody else in the room had ever so much as contemplated, "think of him ash a Shorcerer Dreadnought."
"Good enough for me!" Daniels declared, dropping Gaela's dismembered ion blaster at her feet. "I'm going back to the farm. Mac, AJ, you coming with?"
Applejack shook her head. "Ah think Ah'm gonna see this thing to the end, Wy. You take Mac and go ahead."
Big Macintosh nodded reluctantly, still feeling needles of pain all around his augment sockets as he followed the man. He didn't want to slow the others down if there was any chance of still succeeding in their mission.
On their way out, Luna happened to glance away from Solon's work, Mac's eyes met her's, and his steps faltered.
"Thou hast done well this day, Macintosh," Luna said quietly. Big Mac felt himself start slightly in surprise; not at the acknowledgement, but from hearing Luna whisper. He had honestly thought she was incapable of that level of volume control. "Now, please, rest. Thou hast been invaluable thus far, and We would see you aid us again in future, after this threat hath been vanquished."
The stallion gulped. He was naturally inclined to think that the Princess was giving him a pitch for some sort of bodyguard duty, but...
Well, he had done several things for Princess Luna recently, and fighting hardly seemed to be an area where she needed help.
"Oi, Mac, step it up!" Daniels hissed, leaning back into the room. "I don't want to be around when all the Chaos mojo starts up again."
Big Mac gave a silent nod to Princess Luna before he followed Daniels again. He didn't say anything. She didn't expect him to.
Luna turned back to Solon's ministrations, a small, happy smile on her face.
"Okay, so... does this mean that..." Twilight wet her lips as she timidly walked up behind Solon, hoping against hope that her hunch was correct. "... Serith ISN'T dead?"
Solon started fiddling with some of the wires around the phylactery. "That dependsh on your exact definition of 'dead', honeshtly. But the anshwer to your ACTUAL queshtion ish: no, you didn't doom ush all with your shentiment and incompetence."
Twilight collapsed onto the floor again, this time out of sheer relief.
"There, see?" Pinkie Pie said brightly, bouncing next to Trixie. "Thanks to the power of SCIENCE, everything is just-"
"Shut up," Trixie said darkly.
"Shutting up, yes ma'am," Pinkie quickly slunk away, grimacing.
"Annnnd... there we are!" Solon said as he finished fixing the phylactery and snapped the device closed once more. "Let'sh shtart him up!"
"So, hold on, if Serith is actually just that little metal box and the armor is just some kind of armor shell, like a Dreadnought, why don't you ACTUALLY put him in a Dreadnought?" Rainbow Dash wondered aloud.
"He likesh to maintain the illushion of biological life," Solon confessed while he carefully pressed one switch after another on top of the phylactery, "I can't shay exactly why. He'sh privy to many shtrange impulshesh of shentiment and vanity."
"Does any other in the Company know of this?" Dest asked.
"Shliver doesh. Maybe Virgil, ash well. Never can tell, with that one. Now shtay back for a moment sho he can pull himshelf together."
Nobody but Solon knew what to expect when Serith was "revived", and they started backing away appropriately when several crackling arcs of energy rolled over the phylactery.
The rear half of Serith's torso plate trembled against the ground, and then began to float above it. Other bits of debris and detritus started to tremble too, and Trixie, who was still standing rather close, felt the onset of a severe hornache as she watched this fascinating and disturbing process.
Serith's exposed armor plate halted above the ground, turning softly while surrounded by motes of shimmering light. More electric arcs whipped about the phylactery, lashing out at the air as if searching for a target.
Then, the other pieces of Serith's armor suit started to rise from the cart.
Greaves snapped into position under leg sleeves. Elbow joints slammed home behind glimmering vambraces.
The equines and even Gaela watched in undisguised wonder as Serith's limbs re-assembled themselves in the air within currents of crackling psychic and material energies. Only Dest, having recently become a vessel for a daemonic spirit, could honestly claim he was unimpressed at the sight. And that was anyway mostly because he was having a mental argument with Vel about whether the Sorcerer would taste good.
The arms connected to the shoulders of the rear torso plate, which locked into place atop the pelvis and the two legs holding it up. The incomplete armor started to shift and bend its limbs, once again mimicking the movements of a living creature.
Serith's helmet hovered near the ground still, and Solon reached down and grabbed it.
"Good to have you conshcioush again, Sherith. Now that the immediate threat from the Orksh hash been neutralized, we musht shee to shtemming the tide."
"Eugh..." came the sound from within Serith's helmet.
Solon lifted up the helmet and held it upright so that he could look it in the lenses. "I'm shorry, ish there shomething wrong with your vox uplink?"
"No. That was an expression of general disgust," the disembodied voice grumbled.
The Sorcerer was surprised to hear a delighted squeal come from behind him, and was suddenly yanked free of Solon's grasp when a pink aura surrounded his head.
"It really IS you! Trixie is so happy you're okay!" the unicorn sniffled and hugged the decapitated helmet against her cheek, once again on the verge of tears.
"Awwww..." said Equinought Squadron happily.
"And Trixie is still mad at all of you for your stupidity and negligence, even if Serith turned out okay in the end," Trixie snapped at the other mares, shooting a glare at them.
"Awwww..." said Equinought Squadron sadly.
"I am... pleased by your concern, Lady Trixie," Serith said, feeling incredibly awkward, "if you could release my helmet, please?" His body shifted to hold out his hands, palms-up.
Trixie nodded and levitated the helmet into Serith's gauntlets, dropping it so that the Sorcerer faced his own body.
Serith paused with his helmet at chest level, his visor staring at the phylactery humming gently within his power armor. A mess of wires, metal, and glass tubing. His prison. Perhaps no more than a suit of daemon armor or even the flesh and bones of ordinary creatures, but those forms at least had some sense of life and feeling to them. His "body" could have been mistaken for a cogitator core.
He lifted his helmet up, and then turned it around before pressing it into his empty gorget. It clicked into place, and then his chest plate flipped up and covered his phylactery before the seals engaged with a hiss; a largely cosmetic function, since his armor rarely needed to be pressurized.
With a brief act of will his shoulder pads - as ever the largest and most obtrusive part of Astartes power armor - floated upward and then slammed home over his arms, and sparks blasted from the armor locks as his suit was again complete.
Then he turned to Solon, knelt, and spoke, his motions and voice calm as ever.
"What are your orders, Warsmith?" the Sorcerer asked.
Solon likewise didn't waste any time reflecting upon Serith's revival. "We have received enough data from the Warp to determine the shource of the Orksh' advance. There ish a shpace hulk that ish shomehow shtabilizing a tunnel through the shtorm. We will launch an ashault immediately to locate and deshtroy whatever mechanishm ish allowing thish."
Serith was silent for several seconds, and then he stood up. "You wish to assault a space hulk?"
"What's a space hulk?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking up at Gaela.
"You recall the relative size of the Harvest of Steel, correct?" Gaela asked. When the ponies nodded, she continued. "A space hulk is what you get when the Warp smashes some twenty Harvests together and turns them into one vessel that is more or less functional." When the ponies all possessed appropriately incredulous expressions, she continued again. "Orks are the only species that possess the sheer stupidity and engineering flexibility to attempt to turn one into a proper warship. Sometimes they succeed."
"We need not shecure or clear the veshel; we need only locate the device that shtabilizesh the Warp shtorm and shabotage it," Solon explained, "I require you to follow the progresh of the Harvesht of Shteel and ushe the Nethalican to generate an eshcape route for it when the shtorm closhesh in and the Ork flagship ish doomed."
"Even with these... limited objectives... success is unlikely," Serith mumbled. He looked down at his gauntlets as he spoke, slowly flexing the metal fingers. "There will be millions of greenskins within the space hulk. And there may be another vessel within the fleet that bears such a device."
"I can asshure you, Shliver hash already thoroughly briefed me on everything that can go wrong," Solon snorted, and a puff of foul gases blasted from his exhaust pipes.
"I can stop the Warp Storm. We might yet escape this world before the greenskins manage to set up a proper blockade. With the power of the Harvest, we could surely flee the system with some portion of the 38th Company's strength intact," Serith offered, "we need not risk further failure, Warsmith."
Twilight heard Luna suck in a breath, clearly forcing herself not to interrupt.
"No," Solon declared, "we will not run. The Orksh will be deshtroyed, and thish planet will be oursh. No other outcome ish acceptable. I have choshen war."
A pause settled between the Iron Warriors, and then the Sorcerer lowered his head. "If that is your wish, Lord. It shall be done." He stepped to the side and walked out the front door, ignoring everyone else in the room. Trixie trotted behind him eagerly, using her cape to dab at her eyes.
"Warsmith, I humbly request assignment with the assault force," Gaela said after the Sorcerer left. She still looked slightly silly being so dignified and serious with her arms ripped off, though.
Solon regarded the Dark Techpriest briefly. "... No."
She blinked. "Wh-What? But, my lord-"
"You have already died for me once today, Techpriesht Gaela," the mechanized Chaos Lord said, "that ish enough, for now. There are two Thunderhawk gunshipsh in the city. One will proceed to the Nethalican. You are to be on that transhport." He turned his head. "That goesh for you too, Desht. Should we fail, or should the Orksh break through our fleet while the Harvesht of Shteel is away, you musht defend the temple."
Gaela and Dest glanced at each other, and then they both bowed their heads in silent acquiescence.
"Then that jusht leavesh you shix," Solon mused, his legs slowly wheeling his chassis around.
Every one of the armored ponies, even Fluttershy, stood straight and locked eyes with his glimmering crimson optics. Luna remained by the Chaos Lord's side, taking in the smaller mares with an arched eyebrow.
"What are your orders, Warsmith?" Twilight asked with the darkest, most serious expression she could manage. It was adorable, really.
"You've already completed them. Eventually, at any rate. But ash you have not yet shuffled off thish mortal coil today you may yet wish to asshisht relieving the Orksh of theirsh."
"You bet your metal butt, we do!" Rainbow shouted. Rarity gave her a soft kick in the side and a disapproving frown, and the pegasus fell silent again.
"The shecond of the gunshipsh waiting in the city will transhport me and my retinue to the Harvesht of Shteel, where we will proceed with the final phashe of our defenshive. Equinought Shquadron may chooshe which transhport they ushe to leave the city."
Twilight turned toward her friends.
"Hardly a choice at all, doncha think?" Applejack asked with a smirk.
"Let's finish those greenie meanies!" Pinkie slapped one hoof into the other.
"You already have my answer," Rainbow scoffed.
"Since Warsmith Solon is openly hoping that I'll be killed at this point, I can think of no better way to spite him than fighting and surviving," Rarity said indignantly while levitating a brush through her mane.
"We can't give up now. Not until Equestria is safe," Fluttershy said, her knees wobbling only a little bit.
Twilight turned back around. "We're ready, Warsmith!" She hesitated. "Well, actually, Dash could use some repair work on her armor, and I need a nap after magically flipping out like that. But after that-"
"There will be time for resht. It'sh not a short trip," Solon assured her as he lurched past the ponies.
"We shalt meet thee within the transport, Sparkle," Luna declared as she followed the Warsmith out, "We shalt-"
"LUNA!!" came a shout from deeper in the castle. "CAN YOU MOVE THE MOON, NOW?! YOU'VE HAD THE SUN ECLIPSED FOR HOURS!!"
"Ugh. AYE, SISTER!! GIVE US BUT A MOMENT!!"
****
After saying their goodbyes, Twilight led the other mares out of the castle and into the courtyard. Or what was left of the courtyard, at least.
"It's going to take days just to collect and discard all the bodies," Rarity said with disgust as she stared at the veritable carpet of green corpses.
"Hey, at least they have a home to rebuild. Bet all the folks in the shelter reckoned they weren't goin' home again," Applejack mused.
"Rarity has a point, though. I think I might have to hold our 'final climactic ultimate victory' party in Ponyville." Pinkie Pie was sitting atop the gorget of her Dreadnought, scratching at a dataslate with a stylus while the walker stomped after the others.
Twilight halted. Standing at the edge of a balcony that overlooked a main street, Serith was staring up at the moon. The lunar satellite was rolling across the sky with impressive speed, finally allowing the sun to return to its place of dominance during normal daytime hours. Critically, Trixie didn't seem to be with him.
"Hold on, girls," Twilight said, nudging her head toward the psyker.
The other mares fell silent and followed in mute agreement, trotting up to the Sorcerer. Or stomping loudly, in Pinkie's case.
They were somewhat surprised when Serith spoke as soon as they came within earshot.
"It's so strange... something as common, tremendous, and... natural... as the motion of a moon, given over to the whims of the psyker. Such a feat is quite beyond the strength of any other witch I have encountered before, and yet it is used to accomplish nothing of note beyond the maintenance and manipulation of orbit; something that is managed quite easily by the natural course of gravity in a billion other systems."
His helmet shifted downward, taking in the city below. Smoke poured from some buildings, but little actual fighting had taken place there. The damage could be repaired with relative ease.
"This is an odd world," Serith mumbled, "it welcomes us outwardly and resists us from within. We relentlessly hammer our corruptions into its surface, and it corrupts us back with gentle words and beneficent gestures, free of guile and extortion. We are unused to such..." he trailed off. "... I cannot even call it opposition. We have no opponents here, aside from the savages. Chaos is ascendant, completely dominant. And yet..."
A bird fluttered past, chirping happily and clearly oblivious to the massacre it was flying over. Serith raised a finger in the bird's direction, and the digit sparked dangerously.
Fluttershy gasped, her body going stiff.
A few seconds passed and the bird flew off unharmed. The sparks around Serith's finger died. Fluttershy deflated with relief.
"Did you want something, Sparkle?" Serith finally asked after he let his arm drop to his side.
"Yes, I did," Twilight said, taking a deep breath, "thank you, Serith."
"Hmm?" Serith turned his helmet toward the ponies.
"I know that we haven't exactly gotten along," the purple alicorn admitted, placing a boot to her chest, "and while that's mostly because of you being pointlessly antagonistic and generally awful, I haven't given you any of the credit you deserve for the things you've done for us." She ducked her head. "Trixie's rant earlier about how 'ungrateful' we were kind of drove that home for me, even if her actual complaint turned out to be a moot point. If it weren't for you, MILLIONS of ponies would be dead by now. That's a fact. Equestria would be overrun by Orks, and everyone I know and love would have been hunted down and murdered for sport or for food. It's incredibly selfish of me to disregard all the good you've done just because you seem to like tormenting me personally."
"See this? What you're doing now? This is what I'm talking about," Serith mumbled, "nobody else DOES this. It's weird."
"You're not a nice person, and it's very frustrating the way you treat non-psykers like garbage, but you have LITERALLY saved our world, and now you're doing it again. So, thank you," Twilight said sincerely, "is it possible that we can start over? As friends, I mean?"
Applejack stepped forward. "Yeah, Ah think-"
"Quiet." Serith snapped, pointing at Applejack. The farmer suddenly felt horribly dizzy, teetering back and forth. Then she tripped over her own forelegs, and the other mares cringed as Applejack collapsed onto the ground with her eyes spinning.
"... Yeah, so, that still bothers me. But still! Celestia's alive and Canterlot is free, and YOU made that possible. So, thank you. Really."
Serith sighed, turning back to the city. "You are welcome, Lady Sparkle. Although if you think yourself in my debt, I have but one favor I would ask of you: tell no one of my... condition. Too many others have learned of it today, and I intend to wipe the Techpriest and mercenary's minds. I know not if I could do the same to you, but I need not try if you would promise to keep this knowledge to yourselves."
"Okay, sure! And, also, we can make sure Gaela, Daniels, and Dest don't tell anyone else either, so you don't have to go out of your way to do anything horrible to them!" Twilight said with forced cheerfulness as sweat started rolling down her brow. "Everyone wins!"
"Hmph. Not my preferred remedy, but I suppose it might cause less difficulty this way. Very well," the Sorcerer grumbled.
"Perfect! We won't tell a soul!" Rarity said solemnly.
"From now on," Rainbow Dash added.
A long, tense pause ensued.
"... Why did you feel the need to qualify our agreement?" Serith asked calmly, turning back around.
"Well, we hadn't agreed to anything until just now," Rainbow shrugged, smiling nervously, "I mean, how was I supposed to know?"
"Solon told us SPECIFICALLY that Serith kept it a secret, Rainbow!" Twilight snapped.
"Well, sure! But up until you pointed out everything he'd done for us, I still thought he was a complete jerk, so... you know..." the pegasus chuckled and started backing away.
"Wait, Rainbow, who did you tell?" Fluttershy asked.
The group was suddenly aware of the sound of approaching rocket engines.
"YOU DIDN'T," Rarity growled.
"Oh, come on, who ELSE would I tell?" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
Serith was trembling in fury, and green sparks crawled over his arms and gauntlets as his visor flared. "You... insolent... brainless... avian wor-"
Any further insults were cut off when Tellis's boot connected with the back of Serith's helmet. The Sorcerer's head was torn from his gorget and flung high into the air, while the remaining power armor suit merely staggered slightly.
Tellis whirled about and landed, and then stared silently as he beheld the headless Sorcerer.
Then, laughter.
"OH, GOD, SHE WAS RIGHT!! THAT IS HILARIOUS!!" the Raptor bellowed, his shoulder pads shaking. "I'M TOTALLY SHOWING EVERYBODY THE VID-CAPTURE OF THAT KICK!! THIS IS AMAZING!!"
Serith's body raised one hand, which was gripped into a fist. Then it extended the middle finger of the gauntlet.
"Ha! Nice one!" Tellis chuckled, his voice ratcheting down slowly before he grabbed the Sorcerer's gorget and then peered down into the chest cavity. "So, how much room do you have in here? Can we store stuff inside you?"
"Wow. This has t'be the worst-timed karmic justice EVER," Applejack mumbled.
"Well, we have a mission to get to, so we'll just be leaving!" Twilight said anxiously before she turned around and ran. "Thanks again for saving us all! Please don't let the flagship get ripped apart by the Warp storm in order to get even with us!"
"Running, running, running, running..." Pinkie chanted as she and the others followed after their leader.
"Hey, if you find out where his head landed, kick it back here!" Tellis shouted to the equines. "I want to take pict-captures with it in funny poses!"
The mares didn't respond, but as they dashed toward the waiting Thunderhawks, each one heard a cold, terrible voice whisper into their ear.
"I. HATE. ALL OF YOU."