Entrenchment
An Age of Iron story
Chapter 2
Departure
****
Ponyville - Sweet Apple Acres
"C'mon! Go fer it!" Applejack shouted, literally bouncing up and down on her hooves.
"On the left! The left! Hit it!" Braeburn threw his forelegs up, accidentally knocking his hat off onto the ground behind him.
"Go! Go!" a merchant corp guard thrust her fist into the air, grinning widely.
The hololith display on the Apples' back porch flickered briefly, displaying numerous ponies racing about in a chaotic flurry. A small sphere, helpfully marked out in bright red, bounced from one equine to another with such speed that it left crimson streaks across the green of the field beneath it.
The sphere was suddenly kicked up into the air, shooting up toward a pegasus that was flying near the goal net. The orb slammed into his chest and then bounced off into the net, sending the pegasus flailing through the air and the goalie pony stumbling uselessly in her attempt to block.
"GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAL!!!" screamed the humans and ponies surrounding the hololith. Bottles of synthehol clashed against each other as the spectators cheered and laughed.
"And Swift Striker takes the goal with her trademark 'Pinball Punch' The Canterlot Sunbeams race further ahead!" shouted the announcer from the hololith caster. A single earth pony mare broke from the ranks of the other players and started doing a victory dance on the field.
"Did y'all see that?!" laughed a mare as she stamped the ground. "That pegasus wasn't even on her team!"
"Crack shot, that one!"
"Wonder what she could do with a grenade! Ha!"
The Apple farmstead was unusually crowded, with nearly a hundred ponies and humans milling about or chatting within the great bunker complex. Many were clustered around the hololith player on makeshift seats of hay or wood, but others were gathered in smaller groups to chat, eat, play music, or dance to said music. There were even a few other hololith tables set up for games; or, as the Iron Warriors called them, "strategic combat simulations" that looked a lot like games to everyone else.
Most of Equinought Squadron was there as well, and generally taking the opportunity to relax outside of their power armor. Some of their friends were present as well, and Dest was dressed up in his apron and handing out baked goods as part of the catering team.
"I do not understand the strategy used in this game 'hoofball'," Dest confessed as he lowered a plate of apple tarts down to pony-head level. The equines descended on the platter ravenously, swarming around his legs and nabbing the treats like a flock of ducks.
"Well, shucks, it ain't that complicated," Braeburn insisted as he put his hat back on, "ya kick the ball into the other team's net."
"I understand the objective, but these players' tactics are curiously passive." A bottle of synthehol levitated through the air toward him. He took the bottle, pried off the cap with one of the horns on his shoulder pad, and then let the bottle float away again. "Why do the players not attack the opposition when they do not control the ball? If they caused sufficient damage, then the other team would be unable to protect their net."
"'Cuz this is hoofball, not hockey," Applejack drawled, "ya ain't supposed to hurt the other team."
"Curious. And you still find this... entertaining?" the driver mumbled.
"Sure. It's a lot of fun," Daniels said.
"I was talking to Vel," Dest replied.
Sunbeams have been having an awesome season, but my money's on the Germaney Thunders. Their lead bucker's special talent is never missing a foul shot! The daemon started rattling off sports statistics in Dest's head, and the Iron Warrior sighed before returning to work.
"Oh, I personally can't abide sports as entertainment. Never could. It just bores me to tears." Rarity paused to drain some amasec into her glass, and then floated the bottle a little higher. "Would you like some? It's quite tasty!"
Fluttershy shook her head quietly to refuse the offer. She was sitting next to the white unicorn and generally trying not to interact with anyone she didn't already know.
"Oh, but speaking of entertainment, I've seen some of the customers ordering up new vid-capture units! There are all sorts of studios aiming to broadcast new programs now that ponies are buying up holo-screens and vid-players."
"I think it would be nice to see a nature vid," Fluttershy said between sips of tea, "I really liked those playbacks in the restaurant yesterday. Maybe something from a forest?"
"I don't see why not. Mount the unit on an automaton and set it free into the wild," Rarity took another sip of her drink, and then quickly dropped the glass as she grew suddenly excited. "Oh! Or maybe you could go yourself! Our armor visors have vid-capture units, and you have a stealth field, too! You could make your own nature vid-journal!"
Fluttershy blinked. "Oh, uh... that does sound very nice, but... won't the Iron Warriors mind me spending so much time away from base? I mean, Applejack says it's a lot of trouble for her to get clearance whenever she wants to come back to the farm, and I don't want to cause trouble..." she trailed off weakly, shrinking back.
"Oh, you let me take care of that," Rarity scoffed, "it's foal's play to get a guard or two deployed when and where I want. On Mister Delgan's authority, of course."
She winked, and then tapped her glass against Fluttershy's.
"This is just amazing! I mean, I've seen a few of the humans with bionic limbs, and I heard they were giving them to ponies, too, but... well, just LOOK at this thing!"
Big Macintosh silently fought the urge to sigh as he stepped among the crowd with a basket of blue moon apples on his back. The humans that wanted a fruit would grab one from the basket without comment, and occasionally gave him a pat on the head. The other ponies, however, tended to be more impressed, and not by the genetically engineered produce he was carrying.
"No wonder they call you 'Ironside'! Hah... so, uh, can I touch your leg?"
"Nnope."
"Oh, okay! That's fine. I totally understand. Didn't mean to make things weird. Heh! They are REALLY cool, though."
He was glad that at least this mare wasn't a unicorn; they had a tendency to cast spells on his augments to see if they had any special effect on a bionic limb, or check if he'd notice. An angry grimace always put a stop to such experiments, but that usually just further developed his reputation as a brutal, die-hard badflank. Big Mac supposed he could have much worse problems than a reluctantly deserved reputation as a dangerous cyborg warrior, but he still didn't appreciate the attention.
"Big Mac! Hiiii!" a sing-song voice pre-empted the next question from the pony following him, and Big Macintosh winced. More unwanted attention.
A lime green unicorn mare with an ice cream cone for a cutie mark practically jumped in front of the other mare, grinning at Big Macintosh while she monopolized his field of vision.
"I'm so happy I could see you today! You've hardly been seen in town recently!" Sweetcream Scoops prattled on rapidly, seemingly oblivious to the disappointment of the mare behind her and the silent discomfort of the stallion in front of her. The former shrunk back and walked off, unable to get a word in edgewise.
Sweetcream paused in her torrent of small talk to smirk at the departing pony, and then fluttered her eyes at Big Macintosh. "I'm so sorry about that, Big Mac. It must be so tiresome to always have ponies pestering you about your bionic limbs. As if they're some kind of souvenir you 'picked up' on a battlefield."
"Eeyup," Mac said hesitantly. Then he shifted, tilting the basket on his back to be more accessible. "Apple?"
"Oh, I'd like an Apple, all right," Sweetcream grinned and leaned closer, coming nose-to-nose with the workpony.
Big Macintosh gulped.
"Okay, so Raptor unit 6 and Berserker unit the other one are firing on your pegasi," Tellis mumbled as he drew a line between the shooting units and the flock of armored ponies rendered in hololith below him. The images were scattered over a wide, rectangular field of illusory terrain, and there were randomizer cubes of various colors scattered across the surface.
The hololith's logic engine beeped at him. "Range insufficient."
Tellis beeped back as he spat a profanity, which was automatically censored by his vox filter.
"Those guys just have pistols. ALL your guys just have pistols," Rainbow Dash pointed out. She was sitting opposite the Chaos Lord, occasionally sipping from a mug of apple cider while Tellis took his turn. "You should really mix up your army list a little, dude. Your entire force is just guys with swords and pistols."
"Don't you get all smug with me! I have, like, a million times your combat experience!" the Chaos Lord growled.
"Sure you do. But you still take an army of ALL close-combat guys. They're not good against flyers."
"Everything in your army is a flyer!" Tellis complained. "And your OC is ridiculous. Alicorn super-psyker Princess of Destruction with daemon armor AND the Heart of Discord? Psh."
"Hey, my OC is awesome! Leave Starshatter alone!" Rainbow shouted angrily, aiming a hoof at the armored alicorn Princess hovering in the center of the board.
"Hee hee! Rainbow, that's a stallion's name!" Pinkie Pie popped up on one side of the table carrying a plate of apple tarts on her back. "Hey, guys! Take a break from being all meta and try these tarts! They're great!"
Rainbow eagerly did so, but Tellis shook his head.
"Eh, I can't really eat those," the Iron Warrior explained, "daemon armor, you know?"
"And it put you on a diet?" Pinkie gasped. "Tellis, your figure is perfect! You don't need to cut back!" She reached behind her and (somehow) took up a tart in her hoof.
"That... That's not-"
Pinkie jumped onto the table, opened up the vox grille of Tellis's helmet like the door of an oven, and then stuffed the tart into his mouth. Then she slammed the helmet grille closed and hopped down.
Tellis was stunned for several seconds. Then, slowly, he started to chew the tart.
"Say, why isn't Twilight here yet? She said she was going to be here!" Pinkie turned to Rainbow Dash.
Tellis swallowed his food, and then gripped the chin of his helmet with his hands. "... How?"
"Yeah, Twilight said there was some kind of announcement she had to make. She'll be here," Rainbow said.
"No, seriously, how did that just happen?" asked Tellis.
"Why isn't she here now? I know she left the fortress ahead of the rest of us!" Pinkie started scanning the crowd again, searching for a coat of purple among the crowd.
"My helmet has hinges on the mouthpiece? Where are they?"
Rainbow Dash shrugged her shoulders. "She and Gaela had a thing somewhere else today. 'Outreach', she called it. One of Twi's ideas on improving pony/human relations or whatever. She still has that announcement to do, though, so I'm sure she'll be back."
Tellis was now actively trying to pry the vox grille off of his helmet, grunting in frustration and mounting anger.
"Oh, well, as long as she isn't spending the whole party reading alone or something! Bye, Dashie!" Pinkie bounced away with the dessert platter still balanced on her back.
Rainbow turned back to Tellis. The Iron Warrior was now trying to pry his vox grille off with one of his lightning claws, and having absolutely no success. "Hey, dude, are you going to take your turn, or what?"
"SERIOUSLY HOW THE HELL DID SHE DO THAT THIS THING WON'T COME OFF GAAAAH!!"
****
Ponyville - Ponyville Elementary School
"The primary point of divergence between equine and sapien biology - at least as it concerns this world's unique strain of equinity - is in the development of manipulating digits: hands. While equines on this planet have developed intelligence and social organization that approaches humanity's in complexity, humans have evolved primarily as tool users. Our hands allow for far greater dexterity in handling useful objects, and our upright stature makes it much easier to use said objects while remaining mobile."
Gaela and Twilight stood in front of a large hololithic screen that had replaced the classroom's chalkboard in the school. The room they were lecturing was packed to bursting with a mix of the younger and older students that attended the elementary school as well as the few teachers, and it seemed perfectly split between ponies who were intrigued by the actual lecture and those who were too busy gawking at Gaela and Twilight's power armor to listen to what they were saying.
"Interestingly, several elements of Equestrian technology show signs of design preference for creatures with hands." Twilight took over the presentation as several objects appeared on the holo-board. "Bowling balls, door knobs, and cutlery are all objects rather infamous for their curious designs. Ponies have long suspected the holes in bowling balls, for example, were simply cut out of them to make them lighter."
"That's stupid," Gaela declared flatly, "they're for fingers." She clenched and unclenched the smaller of her bionic hands in demonstration, and a diagram of a human arm appeared on the holo-board.
"Right. Well, for some time, equinologists had assumed that such objects were simply designed by unicorns, who can move and manipulate any small object regardless of its shape and so neglected to fashion them conveniently for other ponies. However, the introduction of humans and their own technology raises the possibility that many pony-made objects are actually descended from human artifacts! It's entirely possible - especially given the age of humanity's star-faring civilization - that the current alliance between humans and ponies is NOT the first contact between our races!"
"And yet, in all the time you've been using our technology, surprisingly little of it has been properly modified to fit your physiology," Gaela added, "seriously, the very first building we ever built for you equines was designed with foot pedals to open doors rather than knobs. It's not a complicated mechanism. Are engineering cutie marks unusually rare?"
"That's very interesting, Miss Gaela!" Cheerilee interjected suddenly, stepping up to the front of the classroom to stand next to Twilight. "We all appreciate you taking time to come to our little school and teach the young ones about your species! Thank Miss Gaela for her time, everypony!"
"Thank you, Miss Gaela..." chorused the younger ponies with varying levels of volume and sincerity.
"It was either this or attend a Pinkie party," the Dark Techpriest grumbled before checking her chronometer, "are there any questions? I wish to delay my return to Sweet Apple Acres as long as possible."
Diamond Tiara, who was seated near the front, raised a foreleg.
Gaela's servo tool immediately focused a pointing laser on the filly, beaming a bright red dot onto her forehead. "Proceed."
"Do you think humans are smarter than ponies?" Diamond asked suspiciously.
"Yes," Gaela answered curtly, "any other questions?"
"Well, ACTUALLY, there's no definitive evidence that humans are more intelligent on average than ponies are," Twilight quickly interjected, "obviously their technology is far beyond ours, but they had the advantages of time, convenient physiology, and a hyper-industrialized society that prizes production and academic achievement at the expense of personal health and happiness. AND we have significantly better magic technology, which they consider an unpredictable and dangerous scientific field!"
The students stared blankly at her, looking completely lost.
"In other words, humans are smarter than ponies. But if you work hard enough and stop wasting your life having fun, then someday you could at least be as smart as Sparkle, possibly."
Twilight was very discouraged by the distinct lack of excitement or interest this generated from the younger equines.
"Blech! No thanks! I can do well enough without being a total egghead," Diamond Tiara scoffed.
"Your loss. Any other questions?"
Scootaloo raised a foreleg, and Gaela centered her pointing laser on her.
"What do you want?" she asked, sounding slightly more annoyed than usual.
"Why do some humans worship Chaos as an undivided force when that force includes Slaanesh, who sucks?"
This question got the orange filly a lot of bizarre and uncomfortable stares, but Gaela found it quite reasonable.
"Unfortunately, Chaos theology hasn't advanced to the point where we can excise Slaanesh's influence from the pantheon. In time, perhaps, after Chaos has conquered all mortal life and spread its blight across the stars, we can finally destroy the Prince of Excess and all its craven followers. For now, however, to cut that cancer from the ranks would weaken Chaos too much." She paused. "Besides, Slaanesh DID kill most of the Eldar race, so we can't claim it's COMPLETELY useless. Next question."
A slightly older filly raised her leg, and Gaela's laser marked her out. "Speak."
"Where do human foals come from?" she asked, blinking her eyes adorably.
Twilight and Cheerilee blanched, and the latter quickly moved to interrupt.
"Actually, it seems we're almost out of time, so-"
"Be silent," Gaela said, cutting Cheerilee off by slamming the jaws of her servo arm shut, "I am attempting to instruct your students."
"But, Gaela, I think-" Twilight began, only for her too to be dismissed sharply.
"Curiosity is a virtue, both to your ideology and mine. There is no reason to withhold such mundane data."
Gaela passed a hand over the holo-board, and an image of a human fetus in a large glass tube flickered into place.
"Humans reproduce using factories. When a human reaches a certain level of development - usually occurring after twelve to fourteen standard Terran years - then his or her reproductive organs are harvested and used to produce another generation of individuals. The flawed organisms of each generation are culled before reaching maturity, and those that survive their amniotic development become human younglings."
There were a great many ponies in the room that were stunned by the explanation, including Cheerilee. Twilight smiled nervously, uncertain as to whether that explanation was better or worse than the teacher expected.
Another filly spoke up. "My mommy said that pony foals are made when a mare and stallion have sex."
Cheerilee blanched again, while Twilight turned red. Several of the young ponies in the room giggled.
"That is true," Gaela admitted, "as you have not had access to reproduction manufactures, your kind has had little choice in methods of propagation, and as such you are all the products of such acts." Then her eye narrowed. "However, it is a primitive, repulsive, and unsanitary procedure, and you should all be ashamed of having such a disgusting origin."
Nearly every pony in the classroom wilted sadly, their ears drooping. "Awwwwwww..."
****
"Really, Gaela, why did you have to go there?" Twilight griped as they approached Sweet Apple Acres. "Some of them seemed really hurt!"
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were following along behind them, talking amongst themselves and occasionally glancing over to the cyborg.
"I did not suggest that any of them were to blame for having come from an inferior reproductive scheme," Gaela protested, "I do not stand in judgment of them, I merely recognize their inherent inferiority."
"No, that isn't..." Twilight groaned and dropped her head. "What do you have against love, anyway? Do you really object THAT much to the concept of two individuals having a deep affection for each other?"
The Dark Techpriest actually stopped to consider this.
"... Perhaps you're right. I may have devoted more energy to my objections than is strictly necessary," she admitted, much to Twilight's surprise, "I will endeavor to act with a proper degree of apathy in the future."
"It actually scares me that this qualifies as real progress in your social conduct," Twilight muttered.
"Hey, Miss Gaela!" chirped Apple Bloom suddenly. "We had an idea! Maybe ya'd be happier if ya got a special somehuman!"
"I'd be happier if you stopped talking."
"Well, that isn't happening," Scootaloo chuckled as she trotted up next to the Dark Techpriest, "so, what do human couples usually do together?"
"How would I know?" Gaela replied with increasing irritation.
"Maybe we could ask Daniels?" Apple Bloom suggested.
"Who?"
"Oh! Maybe Daniels would make a good special somehuman! He seems like fun!" Sweetie Belle giggled.
"I am ACTUALLY weighing the advantages and disadvantages in my head of killing the three of you right now."
Twilight almost gasped in relief once she spotted Crabapple waiting at the edge of the farm. "Look, girls! Crabapple's here! Go play with her, quick!"
The fillies suspected they were being driven away to spare Gaela's nerves, but nonetheless raced off to greet the Defiler standing sentinel in front of the farm.
"Thank you for getting rid of them," the cyborg said curtly.
"Thank you for not 'getting rid of them' yourself," Twilight replied.
It wasn't long before Applejack spotted Twilight and Gaela approaching, and the apple farmer pulled herself away from the cheering party-goers to greet them.
"Hey, y'all! Ya finally made it!" the orange mare galloped up to Twilight and then punched a hoof lightly against her chest plate. "Why're ya still in yer armor, Twi? C'mon, relax a little!"
"All right, all right!" Twilight chuckled and cast her dimensional wardrobe spell, banishing her power armor to its magical storage space. "There. Applejack, is that sports game almost over? I have an announcement to make to everyone."
Applejack raised her eyebrow. "Yeah, it just finished up. Ya want me to round up the others?"
"No, I'll be fine. Thank you."
Applejack nodded and then glanced up at Gaela. "Ah don't s'pose YOU wanna strip down and relax a little, do ya?"
"Negative," Gaela said, staring at something off to the side, "I will retain my usual armaments."
"Thought so. Well, Ah'll get ya some water, then, since that's all ya seem to drink."
Applejack started to turn around, but Gaela raised an arm to stop her. "That is not necessary. I will not be here long. Also, do you know why Lord Tellis is smashing his face into your residential complex over and over?"
"Gah! Come off, come off, COME OFF!" Tellis relentlessly hammered the chin of his vox grille into the ferrocrete wall, either ignorant or indifferent to the various ponies staring at him.
He stopped and started trying to pry off the face of his helmet. "I don't get it! She took this thing off in a second! She doesn't even have fingers! The HELL?"
After a few more seconds of scraping his fingers against his vox grille, the Chaos Raptor went back to slamming his face into the wall repeatedly. "Come OFF! I wanna eat cake, too!"
"... Not the slightest idea," Applejack admitted with a shrug.
"Just curious. You may go," Gaela said.
Twilight headed around the perimeter of the party, occasionally stopping briefly to wave at ponies who noticed her and shouted greetings. On one side of the gathering were several Chimera APCs parked side-by-side.
She hopped up and took to the air, landing on one of the vehicles and then facing the crowd. Her horn flashed, and the purple alicorn took a deep breath.
"IF I MAY HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!" Twilight's voice boomed over the yard, and all conversation instantly stopped. Everyone turned to look at the Princess, and those inside the Apples' home started filing out to see what was happening. Tellis even stopped banging his head against the wall to listen.
"FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO MAY NOT KNOW, MY NAME IS TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" There was a great deal of chuckling from the ponies in attendance, none of whom could imagine not knowing who Twilight Sparkle was. Even the humans in attendance thought the idea was pretty unlikely.
"THERE HAVE BEEN MANY CELEBRATIONS SINCE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SPACE HULK. TODAY'S PARTY, THOUGH, ISN'T JUST TO CELEBRATE OUR SURVIVAL, BUT OUR FUTURE TOGETHER! TO SEE HUMANS AND PONIES LIVING, WORKING, AND PLAYING TOGETHER AS FRIENDS IS AS MUCH A VICTORY AS ANY MAJOR BATTLE AGAINST THE ORKS! I'M SURE I DON'T NEED TO REMIND YOU THAT IT DIDN'T START OUT THIS WAY, AND THINGS COULD HAVE EASILY TURNED OUT VERY DIFFERENTLY!"
"Good thing we didn't bump off Shmithy!" Pinkie chirped from the watching crowd.
"YES, THANK YOU. LET'S NOT BRING THAT UP AGAIN. EVER." Twilight cleared her throat and continued. "TODAY WE REACH A NEW PHASE IN THE 38TH COMPANY'S OPERATIONS, AND THE FLEET IS EVEN NOW MAKING FINAL PREPARATION TO LEAVE! TO THE HUMANS, OF COURSE, THIS IS LARGELY BUSINESS AS USUAL! BUT TO PONYKIND, AND THE REST OF THIS WORLD, IT PRESENTS A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY!"
Rarity and Fluttershy shared an uncertain glance.
"I HAVE BEEN GIVEN A NEW MISSION BY PRINCESS CELESTIA, MY MENTOR AND SOVEREIGN OF EQUESTRIA! I AM TO TRAVEL WITH THE COMPANY FLEET TO THEIR ORIGIN POINT, IN THE EYE OF TERROR, AND OBSERVE CHAOS IN ITS HOME AND AT ITS HEART!"
A great many ponies in the crowd gasped.
"I WILL BE DEPARTING SOON, BUT BEFORE I DO, I WANT TO SAY: THANK YOU! YOU ALL MADE THIS POSSIBLE! NOT JUST BY FIGHTING THE TAU OR THE ORKS, BUT IN KEEPING YOUR MINDS AND HEARTS OPEN TO FRIENDSHIP! THIS IS ANOTHER STEP FORWARD FOR THE COMPANY AND FOR EQUESTRIA! THAT IS ALL!"
Twilight jumped down from the vehicle to the sound of heavy applause. Humans clapped and cheered, while ponies pounded the ground with their hooves. She offered an awkward smile to the crowd, and then saw Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack racing up to her from the side.
"Twi, what's goin' on? We're goin' to space now?" Applejack fretted, looking back and forth at her home and making a mental list of things she needed to get done right away.
"As... happy as I am to be further advancing human/pony relations, don't you think this is rather short notice?" Rarity asked anxiously.
"It was short notice, yes, but you don't need to worry," Twilight assured them, "this isn't a mission for Equinought Squadron. It's a mission for me. I'm going on my own."
The other mares were further shocked by the admission as Gaela approached the group.
"Not entirely alone," the Dark Techpriest corrected.
"Yes, of course," Twilight smiled, "I'll have you and most of the 38th Company there, and for them this is a routine matter."
"I... was actually referring to Spike, but yes, that's true as well," Gaela mumbled, "the gunship is already on its way for our ascent to the main fleet. We will be in Warp space before morning."
"So, what is the place you're going to, again?" Fluttershy asked nervously.
"Medrengard, the Iron Warriors' central bastion in the Eye of Terror," Gaela replied, causing the pegasus to flinch back.
"'Eye of Terror', huh? Ah'm guessin' they don't call it that to keep out the tourists," Applejack drawled.
"It's a region of real-space that overlaps with the Warp," Twilight explained, "and while it certainly has an ominous reputation, the Iron Warriors and their allies make the trip all the time. I'll be fine!"
Rarity shook her head. "I suppose I'm just surprised that Princess Celestia asked you to do this. I know she's come around somewhat in her attitude toward our human friends, but it wasn't very long ago that she didn't even want to TELL you about Chaos. This is quite a stark reversal."
"Well, I think it's super!" Pinkie said, bouncing in place. "It's like you're bringing the shiny-squishy happiness of friendship to the farthest reaches of the galaxy!"
Twilight laughed. "I don't know if I'll get the chance to spread much love and tolerance there. I think I'll settle for getting in and out okay."
"Which is by no means assured," Gaela said grimly, "but I will aid you to the best of my ability."
"Hey, girls! We have a gunship incoming!" came a shout from above.
Rainbow Dash swooped down over Twilight's head, grinning widely. "That's your ride, right? Looks like you're headed out!"
The alicorn blinked, somewhat surprised by Rainbow's reaction. "Oh, yes, I'm sure it is."
"Well, then I guess it's time to bring the awesomeness of ponykind into space!" the racer pointed a hoof to the sky as she hovered in place. "To bravely go where no pony has ever gone before! Except Princess Luna. But I don't think she counts. She didn't make it very far out there."
"Thanks, Dash. I'm sure I'll be back before you know it!" Twilight looked up as the sound of a gunship engine became more apparent. A Thunderhawk transport was speeding over the edge of the orchard, and seemed to be coming around for a landing.
Twilight turned back to her pony friends. "I really do wish I could have given you more notice, but I didn't have much time to get my affairs in order. The lecture I gave at Ponyville Elementary had been scheduled weeks ago, and I had to write some letters to my relatives, too."
"Ah hope those affairs includes yer last will and testament," Applejack said, "Ah don't wanna jinx nothin', but ya ain't exactly goin' on vacation."
"Actually, yes, but I'm trying to keep a positive outlook, here," the alicorn said, "there's also going to be a lot more time to study my notes and dataslates during void transit, since I won't have to run combat patrols. So, you know, there's a bright side."
The Thunderhawk swung around on its approach, kicking up waves of dust while it positioned itself for landing.
Twilight pursed her lips. "On that note, I'm hoping that the departure of much of the Company's forces will mean a drawing down of combat operations while I'm gone, but obviously Equinought Squadron may still have to fight without me."
Pinkie Pie immediately produced an officer's cap with a Chaos Star pinned on the front, and started fitting it on her head.
"While I'm gone, I'd like Rarity to hold operational command, in case that issue comes up."
Pinkie clicked her tongue and tossed the officer's cap away.
"Obviously, I'm the one heading into the relative unknown, here, but Equestria isn't completely safe these days either," Twilight continued, "be careful, girls."
The Thunderhawk gunship landed behind the line of Chimeras, and the ponies heard the familiar hiss and whir of the embarkation ramp opening up.
"Well, I should-" before Twilight could get any further in that sentence, Pinkie Pie dove in and tackled her into a hug.
"Goodbye, Twi-Twi! Bring us back something, okay?"
"Okay, okay! I'll see if the giant tear in reality fueled by nightmares has a gift shop," Twilight smirked as Pinkie released her, and Fluttershy came up next to give her another, much less aggressive hug.
"Please, be careful! If something happens here, I'll get Discord to tell you, okay?"
"I was, uh, really hoping that the vast distances involved in this trip would strand him here, away from me. But okay." Fluttershy withdrew, and Applejack pulled the alicorn into a hug that was just short of bone-crushing.
"Y'all take care of yerself. And you keep Solon outta trouble too, y'hear? Don't let him get in no duels."
"I'd really expect he could avoid almost dying on a routine trip back to the bulk of his own army, but I'll keep an eye on him." Rainbow Dash was next, and she landed next to Twilight before slinging an arm over the alicorn's withers.
"See ya, Twi. Good luck!"
Twilight glanced over her friends' heads. "I don't suppose Tellis is coming with the fleet, is he?"
"He considered it," Rainbow said, grinning, "for, like, three seconds!"
The blue pegasus laughed and jumped away, clearing the way for Rarity.
"Well, I wasn't expecting to say goodbye to a friend, today," the unicorn sighed, "do take care, Twilight."
"I will Rarity," Twilight said as she hugged the snow-colored mare.
"You realize that Lieutenant Dusk Blade is going to be crushed that he couldn't even see you off."
Twilight nodded. "If you see him, tell him I hate him."
Rarity stepped back, and then Pinkie trotted up to Gaela. "Well, so long Gaela! Gimme a hu-"
Gaela grabbed Pinkie's head with the claw of her gun-arm, and then she threw the pink mare away to the side.
"Let's depart," the Dark Techpriest said, walking toward the Thunderhawk.
Spike was waiting at the bottom of the ramp, and he gave a cursory nod toward Twilight and Gaela as they walked up into the waiting vehicle. Then he walked over to the mares waiting behind the gunship, focusing on one in particular.
"So, uh, Rarity," Spike began, fidgeting with his claws, "I know we don't really know how long this trip is going to take, and we're going to be really, REALLY far away, but Twi says there's a good chance that my fire teleport will still work even at intergalactic distances, right? So I was thinking that maybe we could send each other letters? They'd have to go through Celestia, obviously, but I just think-"
Gaela walked back down the ramp, picked up Spike by his tail, and then walked up the ramp again while carrying him.
"I'll write you!" the young dragon shouted as the embarkation ramp started to rise.
The other mares of Equinought Squadron backed up as the gunship took off again, shielding themselves from the dirt churning beneath the Thunderhawk's mighty engines. After rising above the treetops the transport took off, and its nose started to tilt ever further upward in order to set a course to leave the planet.
Within minutes, the gunship had ascended beyond the clouds and started its final exit from the atmosphere, aiming for the metal behemoths that awaited in the void beyond.
****
Harvest of Steel - Twilight's quarters
"Well, this is... cozy."
Twilight had found the trip from the planet pleasantly uneventful, which was never something that could be taken for granted with Chaos forces. Gaela had separated from her as soon as they'd disembarked within the flagship, stopping only long enough to give Twilight a room assignment.
Said room assignment was an eight by four foot space with a compartment built into the wall to hold her things. Two beds hung from the wall, one on top of the other.
"I call top bunk!" Spike said, dropping a suit case onto the floor.
"Spike, you can barely even get up there," Twilight pointed out as the young dragon started climbing up a vent built into the wall.
"Hey, isn't this ship supposed to be special, somehow?" Spike asked as he pulled himself up onto his mattress. "Like, besides being huge beyond all reason?"
"Yes, well, I don't have many specifics on that," Twilight admitted before she started unpacking the small suitcase at her hooves, "there are no actual blueprint diagrams or technical diagnostics for the Harvest of Steel in the general archives. Apparently Solon designed it himself - surprise, surprise - but I don't know much more than that."
She opened up the wall compartment, and then floated the dataslates from her luggage into the opening.
"Gaela said that the Harvest is alive," Spike said. He rolled onto his back and then poked at the wall next to him. "Feels like regular old space metal to me."
"Gaela also thinks that all mechanical devices have souls, so I'm not sure our definitions of 'alive' align perfectly." Twilight shut the storage compartment and then kicked the luggage container under the beds. "It's not like the ship literally has a mind of its own."
Spike stared up at ceiling, squinting into the dim lights of the lumen strips. "It DOES seem pretty normal in here. But still... aren't machines with minds of their own kind of common around the Iron Warriors?"
"Well... okay, yes. You may have a point there," Twilight admitted, "but still, I'm pretty sure this vessel is different. If it were truly a living thing, even with just a daemonic soul, then I would be able to communicate with it using magic. Here, watch."
Her horn began to glow, and Twilight cast the same spell she had used earlier to make her announcement at Sweet Apple Acres. It was a crude form of telepathy, straddling a middle path between the precise, directed whispers of Serith's mental invasions and the specifically non-telepathic magic that Luna used to project her voice at absurd volumes.
"HELLO, HARVEST? THIS IS TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" Spike winced at the volume of the shout and covered his ear fins. Even if she wasn't projecting her voice anywhere near the "glass shatter" spectrum as Luna sometimes did, Twilight was still yelling inside a small, enclosed room.
"CAN YOU HEAR ME? THIS COMMUNICATION IS AN EXPERIMENT TO DIVULGE THE POSSIBILITY OF TRUE SENTIENCE!"
Twilight's horn dimmed, and she and her assistant waited for any response.
When they didn't get one, the alicorn nodded.
"See? Whatever machine intelligence this ship possesses, it isn't... uh..." Twilight shuddered after she trailed off, feeling a strange, foreign sensation settle over her. A deep, gnawing hunger started coming from her belly, as if she hadn't eaten in days, and she swore she could hear a heavy, irregular heartbeat thumping all around her.
"T-Twi? Did you...?" Spike shivered and then coughed, suddenly finding it hard to breathe.
"This effect is... is temporary, I'm sure," Twilight squeaked as her stomach did little flips in her belly, "exposure to Chaos plays all sorts of tricks on the mind, and-"
A seam in the metal ceiling above spread open, revealing a gigantic, bloodshot eyeball staring down at them.
And there was much screaming.
****
Harvest of Steel - munitorium deck 16
+Ensure that all ordnance is secure as we proceed to the translation point. This area will remain on lockdown so long as we are on alert status tertius.+
Gaela walked among a small crowd of chittering, spider-like automata and a few lurching servitors while she inspected the deck, bringing up hololith screens with a wave of her hand and then matching them against the count composed by the serviles around her.
+Affirmative. Ordnance secure. Perimeter control active, engram designation 66-theta. Confirm status.+
A hololith flickered into place, and a harsh, electronic voice returned a blurt of Machine Code to her. +All systems operational. Trans-Warp anomaly detected.+
Gaela paused. The security systems were designed to detect concentrations of Warp energy and trans-Warp bleed, mainly in order to find and contain daemonic presences. But given that the Harvest hadn't yet entered Warp space, there was no particular reason for daemons to be stalking the decks.
Of course, the auger systems could also be detecting other kinds of Warp coalescence. Such as, say, psychic powers.
Gaela didn't get much further along that line of thought before Twilight flashed into being above her head and clamped onto her face.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!" Twilight screamed unhelpfully.
"... What was the reason that I don't wear my helmet all the time anymore?" Gaela mumbled into the alicorn's belly fur. "I really don't remember."
Twilight continued screaming for several more minutes straight, and Gaela waited patiently for her breath to slowly peter out until she was left gasping for air.
"I must confess, I'm surprised," Gaela said, "I didn't expect this reaction until AFTER we entered Warp space, at the earliest."
Twilight leaned back far enough that she could look the Dark Techpriest in the eyes/optics. "Gaela! The ship is alive!"
"I'm POSITIVE that I've told you this before. You shouldn't be this shocked," Gaela reasoned.
"No! I mean it's ALIVE! There are giant eyes appearing in the bulkheads! And it wants to eat me!" Twilight cried in terror.
"I don't believe we covered that part, but I still contend you shouldn't be so surprised," the cyborg muttered.
A second wailing scream came from behind her, and Gaela felt someone latch onto her robe.
"Gaela! Ship! Alive! Gonna eat me!"
"Hello, Spike," Gaela greeted as the young dragon panted for breath.
Gaela's blasé attitude helped Twilight calm down to the point of using intellectual reason again. "You don't understand! I felt the Harvest's mind! It LITERALLY wants to kill and devour me!" She shuddered. "Even now, I can still feel it! This isn't like the daemon engines!"
"True, it is not." Gaela's servo arm lurched forward and grabbed the alicorn Princess, pulling her loose. "The Harvest is far beyond the relatively simple mechanical horrors you've seen before. It literally feeds on souls and flesh to fuel its power core. Other daemon-machines may wish to kill out of hate and fury, but they do not feel true hunger or the satisfaction of consumption. The Harvest of Steel does."
"Yes! Exactly! And that is TERRIFYING!" Twilight explained, loudly. "What's to stop it from just opening up a giant mouth in the floor of my quarters and devouring me?"
"More than you'd think, and less than you'd hope," Gaela replied. "In any case, you needn't panic about becoming a particular target of the ship's predations. The Harvest wants to kill and eat everyone on board, with the exception of Warsmith Solon. Obviously this is detrimental to our operations, and its appetite is restrained."
Twilight was dropped onto the floor, and then she immediately yelped and jumped up before hovering in the air. "Restrained how?" the alicorn demanded.
"For one, we feed it other creatures," Gaela explained, "shipments of wounded Orks and the odd Kroot malcontent have been ferried here and sacrificed to the living core of the ship. There is no shortage of fuel at present, and as such it will not seek to sate itself with crew and passengers."
Twilight considered the claim. "Okay, I guess that's a..." she stopped speaking, and then dropped onto the floor again as her wings seized up. Her expression was one of horrified epiphany. "I... I was about to say that it's a relief."
"Is it not?" the cyborg asked.
"You're taking living, feeling creatures - not just animals, but sentient, relatively intelligent creatures! - and burning them to death in a horrible evil power generator!"
"'Burning to death' is a fairly inaccurate and euphemistic term for what actually happens to them in there," Gaela interjected, "it is not nearly so clean, and probably far more painful."
"When did I become okay with this? When did I get so jaded that the revelation of being in a monster ship that eats people doesn't bother me as long as there's a big enough supply of helpless prisoners to keep it from troubling me?!" Twilight's eyes were wide as she spoke, and she had a haunted look about her as she stared up at her cyborg friend.
+Omnissiah help us, we haven't even breached Warp space and she's already snapped,+ Gaela spat a burst of Binaric static before she replied a moment later in Gothic. "Given that you clearly ARE bothered by it, I'm not sure what the problem is."
"But I almost wasn't!" Twilight protested.
"Then you are still much too sensitive to the suffering of others. You may very well encounter greater atrocities on this voyage than simple mass sacrifice forced upon prisoners of war." Gaela started moving past Twilight to continue her survey. "I'm almost done here. Soon we will have everything prepared for Warp translation."
"Can we stay with you?" Spike whimpered.
"As long as you do not hinder my work."
"No, I mean, can we sleep in your room?" Spike trembled. "I don't want to go back to ours. There's an eyeball in the ceiling."
"It's probably gone by now," Gaela advised.
"It is of EXTREME concern to us that the space ship has large, functional organs appearing in the bulkheads at will," Twilight insisted.
"Please don't leave us," Spike begged.
A nearby vox caster suddenly crackled with static. "Shparkle, report in. I'm not detecting your shuit identifier node."
The Princess pony almost jumped at hearing Solon's voice, and then quickly worked the spell that banished and summoned her armor.
After several seconds, the segments of banded metal and heavy plating appeared in a series of purple flashes, and Twilight quickly activated the vox system in her gorget.
"Yes, Warsmith?"
"Ah, there you are. I wanted to invite you to the bridge ash we prepare for transhlation."
Twilight blinked in surprise. "Really? Do you need me for something?"
"No, nothing like that. But shince your shpeciesh shtill findsh void travel novel, and you in particular take interesht in great featsh of technology, I thought you might appreciate the opportunity."
"That sounds great, actually," Twilight replied, "and an excellent way to distract myself from dwelling on your horrible monster ship that feeds on souls and misery. I'll head straight there."
Twilight started trotting through the munitorium deck toward the hall. "By the way, how did you know I was here if you couldn't detect my suit signal? Did the ship see me and tell you? Or did you play that summons over the entire ship?"
"Neither. I jusht ashumed you would be with Dark Techpriesht Gaela. You and your shquad tend to clushter around her like she'sh your herd alpha." The vox line was cut.
Gaela sighed miserably, and Twilight stopped to offer the Dark Techpriest an apologetic smile. "Come on, Gaela! Think of it as a compliment!"
"It's hard to appreciate the virtues of 'friendship' with a dragon clinging to me like I'm his mother," the cyborg grumbled as she continued inspecting the hololith displays. "Go. I will see to the lizard."
"Thanks, Gaela! I'll be back soon!"
****
Harvest of Steel - bridge
"Oh, dear Celestia, WHY?"
Twilight trembled as she stepped into the bridge of Solon's flagship, her ears pinned and her head whipping back and forth.
She had held out hope that the ship's bridge would be more technological than daemonic or monstrous, reasoning that, as the nerve center of the entire vessel, its systems needed to be more predictable and mundane.
As it turned out, not so much.
Thick, pulsating cables and tubes covered the ceiling, occasionally dripping dark, viscous fluids onto the floor. Enormous eyes were a common feature: there were several poking out of the wall here and there, and there was an especially large, bloodshot one in the middle of the ceiling. Twilight couldn't help but think that, had she forced her way into this ship with the intention to destroy it, that particular organ would probably be a weak point.
The most harrowing aspect of the bridge, however, was undoubtedly the desiccated, mummy-like people in the walls, moaning and whispering to themselves and watching her with dark, empty eye sockets. Their writhing spoke of pain beyond her imagination, and their bodies betrayed how long they had suffered this extraordinary torment.
"Well? Are you coming, Princesh?"
Solon stood near the "front" of the bridge, in front of a high-fidelity projection of the void that represented the view from the bow section of the Harvest of Steel. The only other individuals in the cavernous room were a pair of Warpsmiths, neither of which gave the pony the slightest glance.
Twilight walked across the room hesitantly, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor. When she reached Solon, her gaze slowly crept up to look at the void ahead.
"... There's nothing there," Twilight mumbled, perplexed, "where's the Warp Storm? Did Serith calm it already?" The field of stars that stretched out before the flagship was unmarred by clouds of energy or violent electrical surges, which were both very common during her one previous trip to the Empyrean.
"Not quite, no. He'sh shtill working with the Nethalican," Solon assured her, "the Warp shtorm mainly exishtsh, ash you might expect, in the Warp. Shometimesh itsh effectsh bleed over into realshpace, but not alwaysh. The Nethalican ish a shurprishingly shubtle tool. Even when we take to the Warp, Sherith ishn't sho much calming the shtorm as shweeping ush along in itsh currentsh upon a shpecific path."
"Ah, I see," Twilight mumbled, staring out at the stars, "and is that... safe?"
"Meh."
One of the crew entombed in the wall suddenly shrieked, and Twilight jumped in fright. She landed back on the floor with a metallic crash of her greaves against the deck plating.
"The Empyrean! It's churning! Direction! The way forward! It's... It has appeared!" gasped out one of the shriveled crewmen.
"The Harvest sees the path! It wishes to swim the dark currents!" cried out another. The pitch of the desperate, straining cry suggested the second speaker was female. Twilight certainly couldn't tell by her appearance.
"Preparing Warp drive for activation," growled one of the Warpsmiths.
"Void shields falling. All main decks secure," said the other as he leaned over a console covered in glowing lights. His mechatendrils darted and slithered over the controls, and numerous glowing lumens shifted from red to green.
All the while, the bodies entombed in the walls groaned and writhed even more, to the point that they sounded like a choir. If the choir were performing while simultaneously being tortured.
"Open the path, but hold poshition," Solon commanded.
"Warp drives engaged. We have breach, Warsmith."
Watching the translation breach from the bridge of the Harvest was hardly the first time Twilight had looked into the face of the Warp. She had seen daemons claw their way from the heart of the Nethalican. She had plunged into the Immaterium in order to literally steal her friends' souls back from Chaos. And she had watched a Space Hulk come apart around her from the fury of a Warp storm.
Still, there was something especially fantastic about a Warp breach that was much easier to appreciate when she was viewing it safely from hundreds of kilometers away without an imminent threat to her life. The Empyrean was a terrible thing; a literal nightmare realm where the predominant form of "life" was hate and anger incarnate. Ponykind had only escaped its horrors so far by whatever miraculous feat of evolution had created their horns, which seemed to have developed explicitly to shield them from the dangers inherent in their own power.
As a vortex of rainbow-colored light opened up in the inky blackness of the void, Twilight felt her fear and disgust melt away. It was beautiful, soothing, and almost hypnotic.
"What the blazing Hell ish THAT?"
It was also wrong. Apparently.
Twilight looked up at the Iron Warriors in the bridge, wishing not for the first time that most Chaos Space Marines didn't have their helmets fused to their very faces. She could tell that they were all staring at the Warp breach, but couldn't read their expressions any further.
"So... is it NOT supposed to look like that?" Twilight asked. "Is it the rotation? The surrounding energy feedback? The size?"
"It'sh the bloody RAINBOW," Solon informed her as he brought up a communications hololith, "there ishn't shupposhed to be RAINBOWSH in the Warp."
"The Harvest speaks!" hissed one of the entombed crew.
"She is pleased by these so-called 'rainbows'. We feel the daemon's fury waning!" cried another. "That... That's kind of new..."
"God damn it," Solon cursed, connecting the shipboard vox system to the network planetside. "Sherith! Are you there?"
"Yes, Lord," came the smooth, serpentine sound of Serith's vox system, "how may I serve?"
"You may SHERVE by explaining why our path into Warp shpace looksh like THISH." He fed a pict-feed through the connection, displaying the view from the bridge in the Chaos temple planetside.
"Well, that... Huh..." Serith's voice hesitated. "I... can't. I actually can't explain that."
"Is it a Tzeentchian effect?" asked one of the Warpsmiths.
"It can't be. The color pattern is stable," murmured the other, "this section of the Warp appears to be... simply... wrapped in... rainbows." The Iron Warrior seemed to have some difficulty finishing that sentence without choking.
"It washn't like thish earlier!" Solon complained. "We entered the Warp shtorm to engage the Ork Shpace Hulk, and it wash ash ugly and nonshenshical ash ever!"
"Indeed, Warsmith," Serith confirmed over the vox, "but the tempo of the Warp around this planet has always been... strange."
"Well, FIX it!" Solon raised a fist to slam onto a length of railing, but then thought better of it and calmed down.
"Is this really a problem?" Twilight said suddenly, reminding the Iron Warriors that she was still there. "Is some pretty colors really going to impede our travel?"
"... I shupposhe not. Probably," Solon admitted, "although a shtorm like thish ish shure to attract the attention of every Navigator within ten parshecsh."
"Which isn't going to be many," pointed out a Warpsmith, "most of the fleets in this sector that would have a Navigator are Rogue Traders and lesser pirates. A warfleet wouldn't dare approach a Warp storm, no matter how... pretty."
"Warsmith? The fleet is ready for translation," grunted the other Chaos Marine.
"The Harvest is prepared," moaned one of the crew in the wall, "although she's fine just watching the breach like this, if you so wish. She, uh... She's actually feeling unusually mellow, right now."
"Sherith, shee if you can do shomething about thish before I return." Solon deactivated the connection with an annoyed grunt. "Let'sh get the hell out of here."
The vortex of swirling color loomed closer as the Harvest of Steel engaged its main drives, accelerating rapidly for its trip into the Immaterium. Ordinarily the process evoked the image of a great morsel being drawn into a gaping quivering maw, with tendrils of eldritch power reaching out to guide the ship into the furious ocean beyond the void. This Warp storm, on the other hand, showered glittering, prismatic sparkles over the surface of the enormous megafreighter as it dove into the breach. The other vessels hesitated in following, each one wondering what new oddity their army would endure next. Still, threats from Warp space tended toward the unsubtle, and no instrument could find anything particularly dangerous about the bizarre sight. The escorts relented and followed their flagship.
Soon the fleet was gone, and the breach closed. Only two vessels remained in orbit around Centaur III; one a cripple, the other a ghost ship.
The 38th Company was gone.
****
Sweet Apple Acres
Tellis stared silently at the data readouts on his visor. They were somewhat hard to read, because his left lens had cracked from his trying to pry his helmet apart, but the message was clear enough. He gazed up into the night sky, spotting a patch of darkness colored by a tiny splash of multicolored light.
"WOW. Really?" the Raptor asked. "She seriously went with them? Gods, what a tool."
A snicker came from behind him as Rainbow Dash landed on the wing of his flight pack. "Twi made it out, huh? I guess somebody owes me 300 bits!" She smirked at the Iron Warrior.
"Yeah, I guess I do," Tellis admitted. Then he crossed his arms over his chest. "Huh. You know? It suddenly occurs to me that I shouldn't be making bets with resources I don't have. Where am I going to get bits?"
"It's not that hard, dude. Heck, I'll even take your credits or thrones or whatever. They're easy enough to trade into bits," Rainbow offered.
"I don't have those either! How does one acquire money, anyway?" the Chaos Lord complained.
"Most of us get a job," Rainbow answered, "like fighting for the Company. You know, like what you've done for centuries? All the humans get paid for that."
"They do? Do you get paid?"
"Me? Well, no, but it's different. I'm saving Equestria! So it's more like a quest for me, even if the saving is mostly done with now."
"For me it's more of a hobby than a job, to be honest," Tellis said, "I only do it when I feel like it, rather than when my superiors want."
"Oh. Gotcha." Rainbow hopped off of the Iron Warrior and hovered in front of him. "Well, I'll give you some time to come up with the bits, but I'm not letting you off the hook!"
"Ugh. Fine."
On the other side of the farm, Applejack and Daniels were cleaning up after the celebration, scooping dropped items into a plastic sack. Braeburn followed behind them while balancing a few folding chairs on his back.
"Boy howdy, that was a good game!" the stallion said brightly. "Gotta hand it to ya, Cuz, you and Miss Pie sure put on the best shindigs!"
"Yeah, it went pretty well," Applejack mumbled. It was impossible to miss a note of concern in her voice.
"Jack? Ya all right?" Braeburn asked. "Ya seem a mite distracted."
"Just worried 'bout Twi, that's all," Applejack mumbled. She certainly seemed distracted, and every few minutes she would glance up at the stars above and frown.
"Ah don't see why. Y'all jump into fightin' them Orks every opportunity ya get. She's not headin' inta battle, she's droppin' off supplies," Braeburn reasoned, "Ah mean, it's like yer seasonal trips to deliver pies!"
"That trip is pretty dangerous," Applejack retorted.
"Oh. Well, then it's like yer trips to deliver pies if ya made the delivery in a giant armored boat with a small army behind ya," Braeburn amended with a chuckle, "mah point is, Ah think she's safer out there with them Iron boys and no Orks than we are down here."
Applejack made a frustrated noise and looked up at the stars again. Then she turned to Daniels. "Hey, what's this 'Eye of Terror' place like, anyhow? It really that bad?"
"Probably," Daniels murmured, picking up another apple core.
"Ya never been there?" Braeburn asked.
"No, I have. Once," the man mumbled. He was looking away as he spoke, trying to avoid eye contact with the equines. "I don't remember much of it."
"How's that?" Applejack asked. "Ya sleep through the entire trip?"
Daniels tossed the apple core into the garbage bag, his expression strangely perturbed. "No. I mean, I don't THINK I did." As the other ponies stared up at him, the mercenary sighed. "The whole thing seems like a nightmare, now. I mean, literally; it felt just like a bad dream, and all I can remember is a bunch of weird phantasms and fragmented images. Bloody claws and weird lights and whatnot." He shuddered. "After we had left the Eye, I woke up in the medicae chained to a table with a broken arm and a stab wound. Got off real lightly, apparently. The Biologis Techpriest said that some three percent of our humans died during that trip. Another five percent were injured so badly that... well, they died AFTER the trip, one way or another."
"Ten percent, huh?" Applejack mumbled uncomfortably.
"That's eight percent, Cuz."
"Quiet, Braeburn."
Daniels shook his head. "I'm pretty sure that Sparkle will be okay as long as she keeps her head down and does what the Dark Techpriest says. You ponies have always handled Chaos surprisingly well."
"Ah guess Ah'm more surprised at Princess Celestia than anypony else," Applejack admitted, "sendin' Twi out into the depths of space like that. Twi don't even work fer her no more, and she still ran off as soon as Spike coughed up her orders."
"I know, right? What a loser," Tellis grunted.
Everyone else stopped what they were doing and stared behind them. Tellis was leaning against the bunker complex, staring up at the sky and generally trying to look casual. His effort was entirely lost, although to be fair, it was extremely hard to look casual in daemonic power armor.
"Can Ah help you?" Applejack asked. "Usually yer the first one to jet on outta here when the party's over."
"Yeah, well... uh... look, Hat Pony..." The Chaos Lord stood up straight, looking around. "You run this agri-facility, right?"
"Mah name is Applejack. And yes, Ah do," the farmer replied suspiciously. "Why? Ya break somethin'?"
"No. I need a job," Tellis replied.
This earned him a few confused stares.
"Wait, Ah thought ya had a job. Don't ya kill Orks fer a livin'?" Braeburn asked.
"Yeah, but now I've got gambling debts. This is probably why the Imperium doesn't let Space Marines participate in civil society." Tellis pointed over to one of the apple trees by the side of the road. "Look, your thing is these trees, right? I can be an agri-worker! Just watch!"
Applejack frowned as the Chaos Lord walked up to the tree he had pointed out. It was one of the older trees that had so far survived the crashes on her property, although its harvest had been ruined and it currently bore no fruit.
"Ah'm not sure Ah can take on another worker, Tellis. Ah've still got a lot of mah relatives livin' here to pick up the slack, and ya ain't exactly experienced with this kinda thing."
"Pft, who needs experience? I have the fury of Khorne!" Tellis shouted as he reached the tree and laid a hand on it.
Braeburn quirked an eyebrow. "Fury of corn? Why's the corn so riled-"
"STOP THAT RIGHT NOW OR I WILL PUNT YOU." The stallion flinched away, and Tellis returned his attention to the bare tree. "This is no problem. I can harvest this apple tree way better than some puny horse."
"Uh huh. Yer gonna need to back them words up, cowboy," Applejack drawled, "but really, Ah don't know what yer gonna do with a tree that don't got no-"
"HYAH!!" Tellis shouted and swiped his claws through the trunk of the tree in front of him. The ponies gasped in surprise as the upper half of the tree started to topple over and scorched disks of wood tumbled onto the ground.
"Got it!" Tellis said cheerfully as he caught the trunk and held it firmly over his shoulder.
"WHAT IN TARNATION ARE YA DOIN' TO MAH TREES, YA IRON GALOOT?!" Applejack was red-faced with anger, and her tail twitched sharply as she instinctively tried to use her gravity lash. She didn't have her armor on, however, which was almost certainly a good thing.
Tellis looked back over his shoulder, clearly perplexed. "What? I'm harvesting your apple trees."
Applejack was rendered speechless by the combination of her rage and Tellis's stupidity, so it fell to Braeburn to make the obvious correction.
"We don't harvest the trees themselves, we harvest the fruits FROM the trees."
"Oh. Well... I can still get the fruits from the tree like this." He shifted the trunk in his arms, preparing to shake the entire thing like a massive club. He stopped when he glanced over at the branches, though. "Wait, this tree doesn't even have any fruit," Tellis pointed out, "what's up with that?"
"It ain't grown any yet!" Applejack snapped. "So much alien junk has been crashin' onto mah orchard that this year's harvest was ruined! Almost the only crops we got left are from the apple spines! And yer not helpin' bah comin' round and cuttin' up what's left!"
"Geez, okay, fine. Chill." Tellis snorted through his vox and then put the tree trunk back down, placing it upright onto the severed stump he had made.
He let go, and then watched as the top half of the apple tree teetered over and collapsed onto the ground.
"... Farming is WAY more complicated than I thought," the Chaos Lord remarked, "no wonder you joined us to go kill things in space, Hat Pony."
Tellis turned around, shrugging his huge, armored shoulders. "Well, whatever. I'm sure there's SOMETHING I can do around here for money."
"Ah'll give ya twenty bits to leave and never come back," Applejack said through clenched teeth.
"YES!"
****
Changeling hive - Queen's chamber
Queen Chrysalis smiled softly as she sat upon her throne, watching her children scurry across the floor of the grand hall. A dozen young changelings were clustered below her, all circling around a single unicorn mare. The pony was trapped in a translucent green pod, and suspended within a solution that maintained her life and kept her in a subdued, dream-like state.
The small, quadrupedal creatures scampered around the base of the pod, occasionally lifting their twisted, hole-ridden legs up and pawing at the outer skin of the prison. Warm, nourishing feelings of love and affection came from the trapped pony, like some sort of emotional space heater, and the changelings basked in the energy eagerly.
Chrysalis continued to watch the feeding quietly, positioned just close enough to absorb some small degree of the unicorn's waning love herself. It was a ritual she had observed thousands of times, and hardly needed to be present for personally, but the Queen of the Changelings very much enjoyed seeing it. Her young minions chittered in joy and grew stronger, while the pony within the pod was - literally - emotionally drained. She became colder, lonelier, and her memories of her family and lover began to fragment and become hazy. The mare would eventually be spent, and then thrown out into the wilderness where they could make their way back to pony civilization. Probably.
Chrysalis didn't really take much interest in depleted foodstuffs, so long as the ponies were brainwashed so that they couldn't figure out what had happened to them and find their way back to the hive. Even if some didn't actually make it back home, there was hardly any shortage of hapless equines that could be snatched away with minimal effort. This was an old game, but one that Chrysalis never tired of.
Which isn't to say that she didn't have newer, more challenging games to occupy her time nowadays.
"My Queen. The guardians have arrived," hissed a guard as he clambered into the chamber.
Chrysalis smiled even wider. "Enter!"
The guard quickly shifted to the side, moving away as several larger creatures entered behind him. A minotaur, a yak, a griffon, and a diamond dog, all of them female, walked into the throne room. Then, one by one, they knelt before the queen.
Chrysalis concentrated for a moment, and then the pod that was being used to feed her children floated up and into an adjoining room. The smaller changelings scrambled after it, chittering and whining the entire time.
"Welcome back, my children. You may dispense with your disguises," the Queen said happily. She then made eye contact with each of them, one by one.
"Mox." The diamond dog started to glow a bright green.
"Nox." The griffon's body twitched and quivered as her skin shifted from fur to chitin.
"Sox." The minotaur fell forward onto her arms and started to shrink.
"Rox." The yak seemed to collapse in on itself, the fur falling away and then vanishing into green flame.
Where before the assortment of furry creatures had knelt below the Queen, now four changelings stood at attention. They were obviously different from the ordinary drone workers and even the slightly larger changelings that functioned as soldiers. They had thicker carapace layers with stripes of green, and their horns and wings were much larger. Most obvious of all were their eyes, however; whereas most changelings had insect-like lenses of pale blue, these ones had complex green eyes like Queen Chrysalis herself that gleamed with malicious intelligence. Like all changelings, these ones had holes in their legs, wings, and manes, but the gaps were much reduced and less common across their bodies.
These were the guardians. The changeling elite. Creatures that Chrysalis had lovingly crafted from her brood to be stronger, smarter, and much deadlier than the average changeling.
"Report," Chrysalis commanded, crossing her forelegs, "how go your missions?"
The guardians shared an expressionless glance with each other, and then Mox stepped forward.
"The diamond dogs are a stupidly trusting lot. It didn't take much effort to get into a position where I could start leading them into the battlefield like lemmings. We have planned several sabotage missions against the humans robed in black." Then she scowled. "Their stupidity isn't exactly helpful in my missions, though. I have to lead the dolts by the paws to get anything done. I don't know if we're going to do any serious damage to the humans like this."
Nox stepped forward. "My infiltration has gone well, but I've had more trouble with getting soldiers to attack the humans when it's common knowledge that the kingdom hasn't declared war. The griffons aren't easily fooled, and I have to step lightly around their leaders." Nox frowned. "They, too, have proven largely helpless against the humans and their equine pets. Predators and warriors they fancy themselves, but I've seen how that measures up in the face of the humans' laser guns."
Sox shook her head. "The minotaurs are even harder to lead about by the snout. Without an organized military or strong government, I've been forced to simply build a reputation and try to convince my associates to join hunting squads." She scowled. "There are many tribal elders who speak out against me, claiming I'm trying to lead their people to ruin. Which, you know, is kind of true. Having to manage strategy and politics at the same time is exhausting."
Rox stood up straighter. "Rox in good place right now with yaks! Rox doing great! But yaks have problems carrying out ambushes and sabotage! Subtlety is not strong yak trait! Rox is working on it!"
The other changelings recoiled from their associate, and Queen Chrysalis frowned. "Rox, I said you may drop your disguise. That includes the voice."
"Rox having trouble breaking character! Yak accent kind of grow on Rox! Perhaps Rox acclimated too well to yak society?!"
"Oh, never mind," Chrysalis sighed, "in any case, it seems your missions are going well. Good. It is of extreme import that you maintain secrecy, however; we cannot let our dim-witted 'allies' know that we are pulling their strings or feeding their warriors into a meat grinder." She chuckled brightly at that particular bit of imagery. "Even if your mission results must suffer, you must ensure that you are not exposed, or that you kill any who discover your identity!"
Mox frowned. "Ah, Majesty? You said the mission is going well? Are you sure?"
"I think we've managed to kill a few humans in my ambush, but it was still pretty much a failure," Nox grumbled. "They killed a dragon. A dragon! Just shot it out of the sky. Embarrassing, really."
"Tut, tut, my children. You miss the point of all this." Chrysalis stood up and looked down on her guardians through a sheet of seaweed-green hair. "Although it would be nice if our cowardly puppets were capable of such feats, I never expected them to inflict any real harm as things stand now. If they kill a few humans or ponies, wonderful! If not, then they've at least served their purpose."
"And that purpose is...?" Sox prompted.
"To prod that big, metal hornet's nest that now occupies a point of central importance and power on our planet," Chrysalis answered, "I need to see how the humans react. How they think. How much pressure Equestria exerts on their alien 'friends' not to stamp out every species that dares raise a hoof against them."
"Ah, Rox sees!" shouted Rox. "But what if the aliens DO stamp out those kingdoms?! All Rox's stuff is still in Yakyakistan!"
Chrysalis winced at her yelling, and then replied. "This, too, serves our purposes. If the humans begin to attack the other nations, then those creatures can more easily be united against the space apes. And all the while we'll be waiting, and watching, looking for a chance to strike."
Her smile returned. "That day may come sooner than we'd hoped. I've learned much from our spies in Equestria, and it seems that the heart of this '38th Company' shall be absent for some time. Most of their mightiest warriors are gone, having sailed off into space to complete some asinine chore or another."
The guardians looked wary.
"With all respect, Highness, the cowardly rabble we've managed to lead so far won't be able to mount any kind of challenge against the human army, even if the apes are reduced in strength," muttered Mox bitterly.
"Even the smaller, weaker humans are skilled in the ways of war and armed much better than griffon warriors. And their fortress seems utterly impregnable," Nox claimed, "is it possible to overcome such a bulwark with an army of these useless pawns?"
"As we are now, no. It is not," Chrysalis admitted, "we need more soldiers. More information. More players on the board." She raised her voice. "Tox! Gox! Come out! Meet your sisters!"
"Really committed to this naming scheme, aren't you?" Mox mumbled as another pair of changeling guardians emerged from an adjacent chamber.
"As long as she doesn't name one of us 'Cox'," Sox retorted.
These two new guardians stood at attention facing the other four, silently sizing up their siblings. Physically the changelings didn't look very different from others of the same caste, but for creatures as complex as the guardians their personalities and magic specialties varied considerably. Each had studied the cultures and mannerisms of the species that they sought to mimic, and as a result their infiltrations were deeper and much more sophisticated than that of the common changeling. While most of the species copied the appearance of other races just to get close enough to drain some love or gather some general knowledge floating about the population, the guardians sought control and authority, and as such invited much more scrutiny.
"As you know, I created you each to help subjugate a population from within. Not too long ago I had intended to cripple these populations of ignorant and disparate feed animals while I seized control of Equestria. With control of the very sun, an endless supply of love to feed my changelings, and the closest nations infiltrated by my most capable agents, nothing could have stood in the way of our complete supremacy!"
There was a long, awkward pause as Chrysalis finished speaking.
"Things... didn't really work out that way," Chrysalis mumbled bitterly, "but now these aliens have arrived... the humans, Astartes, and the Orks... our world is changing, and the old balance of powers need not apply. Some see ruin and terror in the appearance of these creatures, but I see opportunity. However, we will need more information. More eyes, more ears, and more levers of power..."
She pointed a twisted hoof at Gox. "You, Gox, shall infiltrate the Orks. This should not be difficult, as they have quite a reputation for stupidity and inattention to detail. Still, you must be on your guard at all times; no matter how incompetent, the savages are still violent and extremely dangerous."
Gox bowed deeply. "As you say, your Majesty. The alien barbarians shall be yours to command."
"Also, be careful not to be so fully assimilated that you can't stop speaking as they do," Chrysalis added.
"Is that an indirect criticism of Rox's accent?!" Rox demanded.
"Speaking in the third person and yelling all the time is not an 'accent'!" Chrysalis snapped. "Now be silent, Rox!"
She turned toward Tox, who was awaiting her own orders. "Tox, I am giving you the most important and most challenging assignment." Her eyes glowed briefly, becoming pools of glimmering emerald light. "Your task is to infiltrate the 38th Company itself, and make your home in Ferrous Dominus."
Tox bowed deeply next to her sisters. "Indeed, my Queen."
"Be warned, however: We know little of the humans, but everything we've uncovered suggests your assignment will be very difficult. You cannot simply don the form of a random human and walk into their lands, as we may do with the other species. The other guardians have made their own identities, entering their victims' homes as unique individuals so as to create minimal suspicion. This is not an option for you. Every human on our world came from their ships in space, and they will expect to know you. They have incredible devices and strange magics. And the accursed ponies gather 'round them like loyal pets, and may warn them about us. You must study them, and then replace one of them. Only then will you have access to the fortress-factory, and then your true mission will begin."
Tox looked up at Chrysalis hesitantly. "If I cannot research the humans here, and cannot get into the fortress until I've studied and replaced one, how am I to do this, my Queen?"
"The ponies may be a nuisance, but they also provide a weakness." Chrysalis chuckled, drawing her long, pointed tongue across her teeth. "You will first go to Equestria, not Ferrous Dominus. Gather information from the equines, as much as you can, and then find a target to subdue. Learn from it, and then take its place. But remember that secrecy is paramount. If the humans learn of you, or worse, find that we are manipulating the weaker species into attacking them, all may be lost."
"It shall be as you say, my Queen," Tox said, lowering her head again, "did you have a particular target in mind?"
"Indeed I do, child." Chrysalis grinned. "Your target is the nexus of humanity's alliance with equine-kind. You go to Ponyville."