PONYHAMMER 40,000. The Warp Incursion.

by Duskrunner

Chapter One - Afterparty

CANTERLOT CASTLE
THE ROYAL DANCE FLOOR

"There's no party like a Canterlot Party when the Canterlot Party won't stop!" Pinkie cheered.

The ballroom hadn't been so lively in a hundred years.
Crashing the Canterlot Garden Party last year, and the disaster at the Grand Galloping Gala before that, had alerted the castle staff -and everypony who was somepony in Canterlot- that the Ponyville gang roughhoused like hoofball fans.
For that reason it was the garden that received the honor of being the area decked out and decored in the finest taste while Canterlot's most esteemed musical quartet provided the ambiance for the appreciation of the genteel.

Inside the warmer and significantly more soundproofed ballroom, DJ Pon3 was "in da house".
Because the coronation of a princess was a national event delegations from every great city had arrived. At that moment Manehattenites rocked to the music while their delegate DJ and his crew prepared for their next slot in the night's musical program. Remembering the dismal evening that she had spent personally greeting everypony at the Gala, Twilight had instead scheduled time for each city to pay their respects as a group presentation, sharing a taste of their culture through food, fashion and song. The evening turned out like nothing else and while Twilight had been gracious to all she couldn't help but display greater warmth to the towns that had earned a place in her heart during her journey, dear friends from Appleloosa and Cloudsdale that even now mingled with their kin from Ponyville and the Crystal Empire.

But now the formalities had finished and everypony with a taste for metal was getting down as magical lasers pierced the foggy air to impact on walls and the clouds brought in for the party. The doorways had been enchanted to grant cloudwalking the same way a ring produced bubbles and anypony who wanted could join the pegasi for a dance in the air through either cloudy staircases or conveniently placed trampolines.

"Not bad Twilight but when are you gonna cut lose with some real moves?"

Twilight Sparkle laughed. The center of the ballroom had been kept clear and the alicorn of the hour had been the main audience for every individual dance, group dance, and choreographed routine Equestria's elite had planned in her honor.
Now it was her turn on the floor.

"Rainbow." she laughed. "I don't have any real moves."

The former unicorn had come into her own. Where once there was an introverted filly, oblivious to the world around her, stood a confident young mare who was comfortable with the love and adoration the land bestowed upon her.

"You will. I might be a little busy with the academy but no way I'm gonna let Equestria's newest princess look bad in the skies."

The music shifted from the flighty tunes of Cloudsdale, perfectly arranged for individual Pegasi to show off dynamic acrobatics. DJ PON3 took the mic.
"Ladies and gentlecolts a round of applause for this year's Wonderbolt Academy cadets!
And now let me yield this mutha to a pony who knows something about music to set fancy moves, give it up for DJ Alexs- performing on vocals Ashcorp!"

"YEAH I OWN THIS BEAT!"

Cheers went up as a Manehattan beat brought everypony the dance floor. Groups formed quickly and in the blink of an eye Twilight found herself surrounded by her five PFF's.

Halfway through the song all but Dash had subtly inched away and all the floodlights focused on her. Alone, in the center of the ballroom as the music abruptly stopped, Twilight froze.
So much for thinking she was immune to moments of supreme self-consciousness.
She grit her teeth and whispered out without moving her lips.
"Rainbow what did you do?"

"Heh heh, chillax Twilight, your friends got you."
Twilight heard her but all she saw was a rapidly flying pegasus leaving a rainbow trail.
"Now hover and spin."

Twilight obeyed without thinking and began flapping her wings to rise off the floor. As soon as she started spinning the floods began to strobe light.
Ashcorp blared out the lyrics for the crowd: "BRING OUT THE BACARDI"
"TWILIGHT SPARKLE UP IN THE PARY!" Everypony chorused back amid a roaring crowd. The energy of their adoration was palpable in the air and, in the case of the crystal ponies, literally illuminating the floor.

The rainbow ribbon vanished and a three-dimensional hologram matching the six-pointed star of Twilight's cutie mark materialized, slowly spinning in tune with the princess.

Six sparkling lights formed at the appropriate locations and began to orbit the cutie mark randomly like planetary satellites.

The sparkles blossomed into pony-sized eight-sided diamonds.

The diamonds exploded into swirls of glitter and confetti, reforming into the sparkles again as Twilight snuck away from the center. The hologram continued spinning lazily around, fading into a background by the time the final line echoed "GETTING COOLER BY TWENTY PERCENT!"

The crowd cheered, loud noises and whistling sounds accompanied the multitude of hoofbeats stamping the ground.

"Rainbow! You guys... you should have warned me." Twilight giggled, her head dizzy with such a public show of affection.
Heady wine indeed, but Twilight decided she had had enough for that particular sitting.
It wasn't easy but in the general fog and the darkness of the laser show when the spotlights wandered off of Twilight to roam the dancefloor she and her friends took the opportunity to get out of view.

"I'd say I gave you enough of a heads-up ha ha"

"I bet, And I'd also wager a certain somepony picked out that particular song to honor me with."

"Who me?" Rainbow teased still giggling. "That couldn't be helped. Old Alex remix-master had that tune in mind back when my fan club was still in style. Still, even you have to admit it's a totally awesome groove."

"Very catchy. And I assume the rest of you aren't going to play innocent either?"

"It was FUN!" Pinkie gushed.

"Well absolutely darling. The chance to add some of my personal flair to a piece of performance art: how could I resist?" Rarity added.

"I can't believe it. It's so flattering, and it really is starting to feel like it's too much." Twilight said as she made her way to a window overlooking the gardens. Even the stiffest shirts at the garden party were peeking through the windows at the light show performed in the princess' honor.
"It is too much... but I'm so happy. I really wish this night would never end."

A large shape that blend into the shadows far more easily than the mane six did abruptly joined the conversation.
"As do we, Twilight Sparkle. But I fear it really must."

"Princess Luna."

Luna entered very quickly, exploiting the same dark corners Twilight and her friends had.
"I am sorry to interrupt, especially under the current circumstances, but my reasons are serious. We have need of you and your friends."

Twilight's friends exchanged looks with her, wondering what could possibly have happened.

"Twilight, this must be hurried, but it would not be inappropriate if you wish to interrupt the proceedings to formally appreciate your guests one last time and bid them goodnight."

Twilight thought for a time.
"No. This night... this night has been wonderful, and I know I would be disappointing everypony if I sneak away early, but they're all having a wonderful time and it will all end very quickly if I make an official exit. Let them stay on as long as they want to. It's been a wonderful party and nothing else I can give them tonight could compare."

Luna smiled looking over her shoulder as the bands played on. As the six exited Luna hesitated, watching how Equestria itself adored this night.
She turned and followed them into the hallway, closing the door behind them.

CANTERLOT CASTLE
CANTERLOT TOWER

The girls walked into the stained glass window hallway where a war council had formed. Celestia was a welcome sight along with Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. Prince Blueblood's presence was unexpected but not inexplicable.

"Please, follow me through here."

Celestia opened the magically sealed door between two pony statues, the door to the same room that served as the repository for the Elements of Harmony. They stepped inside and the door sealed shut. The inner chamber was a strange place, alive with the glow of magical lines flowing like water along the etchings on the walls. The real surprise, however, was its current occupant. Perched on his side like a pony reclining on a sofa, a draconequus lay atop the flat of a throne.

"Discord?" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.

"Yes. I apologize for the haste.
There were other matters I hoped would be the first use we made of Discord's magic but it was not meant to be.
Twilight, the situation is dire. Something unexpected happened when you created new magic.
You entered a new world and opened it to new possibilities. Unfortunately one of those possibilities is beginning to manifest and its consequences-"

Discord's voice interrupted as his body and the throne vanished. He quickly reappeared in front of Twilight.
"Yes yes, very bad, very big. In a hurry, let me cut through it."
Discord snapped his fingers and in a flash the mane six were transformed.

I don't know what happened... I don't wanna know what happened. I don't wanna remember. Leave me alone!
An inebriated Applejack with bruised eyes sobbed into her lap.

There is something beautiful to be made, beautiful and brief. All your colors... I don't care how long your livespans are, those brief moments are worth more than the whole of your miserable lives.
Rainbow Dash' nostrils flared as she hovered in the air, a deranged workaholic in a labcoat.

You'll do what I say and you'll like it. You'll see what I do and get out of my way. Poor baby; can't stand to hear what I think about you? Because you know it's true? Live with it! Everything big and small knows I'm the alpha bitch and you WILL obey!
Fluttershy showed no changes in her appearance or body language. Her eyes were the windows to a soul of cruelty.

There is still so much to be made... things to eat, things to wear, things to serve as decor. It doesn't matter really, what happens to you once you're no longer you. All that matters is When. Your. Number's. Up.
Pinkie's hair was deflated, her clothes were a suit that appeared strange for no immediate reason. Her eyes glowed with inner intelligence even as the rest of her spoke of expertly hidden secrets...

Rarity's body was disfigured: one eye was discolored black and her body fur barely hid a multitude of scars but even these things failed to keep one's attention when compared to the two halves that formed a branded heart over her chest. One hundred different emotions raced through her but behind them all was the same superego
Mommy's still pretty...

"- - -"
A paralyzed Twilight Sparkle stood in her place. Immobile, she had no wings, her pupils were dilated, hair disheveled and her mind completely devoid of thought.

"DISCORD!"
Celestia screamed.

With a snap of his finger a bright flash of light enveloped the six and restored them to their true selves.
"I am sorry Celestia, truly I am. But a picture is worth a thousand words and one second as these ponysonas will tell them more about what's at stake than anything you could ever say."

"What did you do to us?"
Twilight sobbed. She wasn't alone. Huddled tight Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were vainly trying to console each other. Applejack wrapped her arms around herself tightly, looking as if she were trying to shrink into a corner and Dash kept herself far away from the group, fluttered up in the chamber ceiling's corner, gritting her teeth as her vision jumped to each of her friends.

"That wasn't him." Celestia calmed as Cadance quietly approached Twilight and used her magic to rekindle feelings of warmth and safety inside her. One by one, she restored all her friends.
"There is a pattern in existence, one that has no place in Equestria.
Mortal beings across a hundred different realities speak of it only as 'grimdark'."

Discord picked up where Celestia trailed off as he brought down what looked like a star chart in pink.
"This is the galaxy that is the source. If we are to safeguard our world from the corruption their universe has suffered we have no choice but to enter."
He turned to them with a grim expression.
"Possibilities like that and worse await us if we don't succeed."

Twilight looked around her in fear. Her friends were recovering.
"This is such... I have so many questions, there is so much more I need to study to even begin to understand. I'm not ready for this."

"Twilight Sparkle, you have ever been my most faithful student.
But in the end every student must mature and take their place in the world.
It is the obligation and the peril of a princess to act even when she knows she is not fully prepared. The universe waits for no pony."

Twilight righted herself and stood as tall as could. Her friends surrounded her in a half circle, determined as they faced the Princess Celestia. "Where do we head first?" Twilight asked.

"The Starscape." Celestia answered.

Discord snapped his fingers and at once the case containing the Elements of Harmony appeared before them. They donned their apparel and made a star with Twilight at their center. She began to recite Starswirl the Bearded's masterpiece cypher.
The -entire- verse; she couldn't risk abridging the spell here and now.

"From one to another, another to one
a mark of one's destiny singled out alone fulfilled.
From all of us together, together we are friends
with the marks of our destinies made one there is magic without end."

The Elements of Harmony blasted energy from their gemstones into Twilight.
At the last moment the energy field surrounding her blossomed into a sphere that absorbed her friends just before she vanished from the castle leaving six ashen cutie marks behind.

Author's Note:

The first chapter of my crossover.

I think I'll use this space for commentary now that the general rules for how the writing is are worked out.
So this chapter is pretty much the 4th one I planned out. I decided fairly early I didn't want this to be a major plot dump but at the same time I felt the need to have a sort of softener for the transition... or failing that at least get all of Equestria stabilized so that the continuity deviates from a point in time that's solid in everyone's mind. So, moving forward, I'm going to anticipate a question or two.

Alicorn Twilight? Well yeah. Twilight's journey over the last 3 years has been a teenager's story in many ways. She's not a child, her parents aren't responsible for her and she is pretty independent. At the same time she doesn't have a career path planned for herself like her friends. If the show had ended one episode early you would easily envision the 5 continuing their lives exactly as they had up till then but Twilight felt incomplete for me. She's 'staying' at the library since the first episode but nopony seems to think of her as the town librarian. I don't appreciate the idea of perpetual adolescence that being an eternal student implies. One should always be learning but, again, like Twilight's friends that doesn't mean you don't have a defined role in society yet. For me, the alicorn princess seems the logical conclusion for an extended learning phase and the great responsibility that comes with it.

20% Cooler? Borrowed, copied, tribute? , old! I admit it freely yes. Brony Dance Party made an awesome pony music video for DJ Alex S' remix of Ken Ashcorp's song. [link] One that I have enjoyed for a year now.
Honestly, that song has raised my spirits and got me through a ton of inane reads, mundane tasks and (as you can tell from 40k) miniature painting.
I could post that on a youtube comment, true, and I did. But as I went through the coronation timeline and wrote in the party this scene went from one paragraph in the way into a full chapter I thought to myself: 'Hmm, Vinyl's here. You can add some on the pony musicians and it'll be appropriate.' and eventually I realized I wanted that video's party to be 'canon' in my story and decided to just go for it. I hope they both won't be too mad at me and it'll up their views and likes.

The 'Grimdark' poies was a nod i felt obligated to make. These tumblrs were some of the most impressive stories I'd followed and the corrupted six have interesting stories to tell... but they won't be told by me.

From here on out it's my voice.
The Warp is the truest source of corruption and evil I've seen in fiction; even as I read my mind kept repeating the same mantra: 'only one force in literature would make me believe these girls would stray this far.'

I included these nods because I felt compelled to. To humbly acknowledge the people whose stories gave me new feelings of trepidation and fear, marveling at the glimmer of hope within them all the same. You all helped shake a jaded adult out from his shell and taught him the joys of pure emotion again, and for that I am grateful.

Comments

[Exodus45]

The warp is neither good or evil. I believe you stated it well in your prologue. Would it change the ponies if they went in there? With out a doubt.

The warp is described through out the Horus Heresy as a power source. It is branded evil by the Imperium of Man because they are fighting to create a human galaxy. The Warp stands in the way of that "corrupting" humans and xenos alike.

Good story though, you managed to capture my absolute hatred of DJs. I look forward to reading more.