//------------------------------// // 161. Emperor // Story: Short Shorts // by Coranth //------------------------------// "It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries The Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the Master of Mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die." Or so it was Written... until today. As His Adeptus Custodes endured their eternal vigil over Him, suddenly the golden-glow of sunlight filled the cavernous room housing the Golden Throne; then when it was gone the Guardians of the Emperor of Mankind beheld a most unusual sight. Sat beside His throne there were two winged unicorns from ancient myth! Immediately, the Adeptus Custodes made to end them - none would harm the Master of Mankind - but before they could move all found themselves frozen as they heard his voice. "CEASE." Stunned by His power, the Adeptus Custodes stowed their weapons, yet kept a wary eye on these... these... ponies... as they opened their eyes and beheld for the first time the Master of Mankind's desiccated form. The two ponies - one as white as snow, the other black as pitch - gasped... and then, they wept upon seeing His wounds. The horns upon their foreheads aglow with xeno magick, the thoughts of these odd creatures were as one even as their tears fell upon him and upon the Golden Throne. 'Save him. Faust, please save him...' Their prayers were answered. The Gods of Chaos - the Ruinous Powers - howled in agony as the Warp was rent asunder by the winged form of a mighty crimson-and-white phoenix of myth; it was all the Adeptus Custodes could do to maintain their vigil as the mighty bird of legend wept Her tears into a mechanism of the Golden Throne... and Lo, the Emperor slowly, gradually, began to heal... One year later, When at last He opened his eyes, saw His healed form and the two ponies who had stayed with Him... The God-Emperor of Mankind laughed, his rich, booming baritone filling the Throne-Cavern as they bunted Him with their muzzles! Gently pushing them away as they nickered and whinnied their joy, He made to stand for the first time and then - with a hand upon each Pony to support him as he took his first steps in 10,000 years, he exited the Throne Room, his Adeptus Custodes falling into step behind him, too stunned to utter a word. Princesses Celestia and Luna - the Emperor later discovered - weren't the only ponies to come from outside to the Imperium; they were only the first... * * * Years later... The young Adeptus Astartes watched in awe as the lavender winged unicorn - pony, not xeno - whinny-chanted as she inscribed powerful runes of xenos-magic upon his Mark VII Power Armour and whatever magic she was casting, it was powerful! Even as he finished his morning prayers, the Space Marine could feel the power of the magic she was casting from across the room, gentle and benevolent. That power... it seemed to revitalize him, empower him, even as it filled him with balanced, harmonious calm, as if the Emperor himself were saying, "All will be well." The young Adeptus Astartes, in battle, would later find that - whatever the xeno-unicorn had done to his armor - the effect on the daemons he fought was great and terrible indeed; they literally could not touch, nor even face him. They screamed in torment and crumbled to ashes before they could even come near him! * * * The Inquisitor, having gotten what information he could from the Cultist who had murdered so many children, tossed the unrepentant fool to his Pony Companion. The Thestral licked his lips--and then the man screamed as the pony drank him dry... before eating his drained corpse. * * * The Tech-Priest was nervous as he watched his pony friend undergo the procedure to get his first augmetics. Others kept a careful eye upon a Scholar leading a group of foals deeper into the Factorium, on an educational tour. * * * The human Adepts who would become Space Marines laughed openly at the Pony who walked out to begin their instruction--until said pony with the shield on his flank boomed "WHAT'S SO FUNNY RECRUITS? DID I SAY YOU COULD F***ING LAUGH?" When they immediately shut up, the pony continued, "WELCOME TO HELL, SHIT-MAGGOTS! MY NAME IS SHINING ARMOR, BUT THE ONLY NAME I WANT TO HEAR COMING OUT OF THOSE F***ING SHIT-HOLES YOU CALL MOUTHS IS 'SIR'! AS OF THIS MOMENT, YOU ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO RUN CRYING TO YOUR MOTHERS WHEN YOU INEVITABLY FUCK UP... AND YOU WILL FUCK UP. YOU'RE IN MY WORLD NOW SHIT-MAGGOTS. I OWN YOUR FURLESS PELTS! WELCOME TO YOUR FIRST DAY IN TARTARUS." * * * It didn't happen overnight... but gradually, gently - as more and more ponies appeared and became companions of humans - the Imperium of Mankind began to recover. Guided by the restored Emperor of Man - along with Celestia and Luna - Mankind and Ponies flourished. And so it was that the Master of Mankind's dream - man entering a new Golden Age - came to pass.