Strange Bedfellows

by BRBrony9

The End Of All Things

Corporal Breeze slammed another magazine home into his rifle. The enemy attack was slackening, finally, but they were not giving up just yet. There were still numerous Chaos troopers trying to press the defensive line, and every so often they were joined by a small swarm of Changeling drones, who seemed content enough to attack whatever was in front of them. Breeze had no idea if the death of their Queen, reported over the human vox net to widespread cheers from the beleaguered defenders, had affected their behaviour in some way. A Hive Mind was still a Hive Mind, regardless of if it had a Queen or not, meaning that they could presumably still share information with each other instantaneously. But Chrysalis's defeat could equally have shattered some subtle psychic link, the one which meant that, though every drone was linked mentally to each other, they all obeyed their Queen instantly, unthinkingly, without question. Without her strong mind to guide them and issue orders, perhaps they had reverted to their natural state of aggression and uncontrolled rage?

Either way, they were happy to attack Chaos, Imperial and pony troops alike, all with the same zeal and anger, hissing and spitting and biting. Their numbers and their magic made them a potent threat, even to the advanced human weaponry, though las-fire could cut through their shields just as well as they could cut through those erected by unicorns. But when a horde of drones descended like a cloud of locusts, all but the most prepared defensive forces could find themselves overwhelmed in short order, demonstrated again in Canterlot as unsuspecting Chaos troops were set upon from behind and above. That in turn distracted them from attacking the pony and Imperial line, and as long as both foes were fighting each other, the defenders of Canterlot could pour fire into the enemy with glee.

Breeze was happy to do so, and that was why he was getting low on ammunition. The whole building was running low as they had been firing near continuously for- ten minutes? Twenty? An hour? The Corporal had lost all track of the passage of time, as was common in high stress situations, combat being a prime example. After action reports showed that some ponies would imagine an engagement had lasted a couple of minutes when it had actually been more than an hour, and vice versa. A brief firefight could seem to last an eternity when the adrenaline was flowing, coursing through their veins. He didn't know how long this particular battle had been going on, but the fight for the city seemed to have lasted a lifetime. He could feel the fatigue of the day threatening to creep over him. His limbs ached from holding his rifle for so long, and even adrenaline couldn't disguise that fact indefinitely. A rest would come eventually, no doubt, but for now he had to keep focus, stay strong and do the job he had been trained for. That was all.

There was a simplistic repetitiveness to the actions of a soldier or a guardspony, especially in combat. Aim, shoot, reload. Aim, shoot relead. Repeat ad nauseam. Time could fly under those circumstances, but it wasn't just time that was flying. The enemy were turning, running. All across the plaza, everywhere Breeze could see, Chaos troops were in retreat. There were some tentative cheers from the defenders, They were cautious. This could easily be a trick, but they were certainly not going to be lured into an ambush. This was a defensive line protecting the palace and the rest of Canterlot; it was not an engagement out in the fields or the plains. They had a specific objective- hold the line. It seemed that they had achieved that task. Why the enemy was retreating remained a mystery, but at least for now, there would be some respite for the beleaguered ponies and Imperial troops.

Breeze managed a few cheers as the enemy fled, and then he slumped down against the wall of the room. The exhaustion now washed over him like a wave, and he felt a sudden, intense thirst. It wasn't surprising, having been coated in dust and plaster from the collapsing hospital. He didn't have a canteen, but, to his surprise, one of the Imperial soldiers noticed his evident dishevelment and offered him a drink.

Breeze took it with a slightly shaky hoof. 'Thank you...' he muttered, bringing the canteen to his lips and gulping down several swigs of cool, refreshing water. There was nothing finer in all the land to quench a thirst, and it brought Breeze a new lease of life. He passed the canteen back to the human.

'Looks like they're on the run,' the man commented. 'I guess we've seen them off. Maybe they've finally figured out that we're not going to give up.'

'Yeah, maybe...' Breeze nodded, standing again slowly and looking out of the window. 'I hope they're gone for good.'

'No guarantee of that,' the human grunted. 'Chaos is like a bad rash. They just won't go away for good. But we gave them a good hiding either way.'

'Yeah...' Breeze watched the last few Chaos troops scurrying away. 'Thank you. All of you. You know, all of you humans...Imperials, whatever you want to call yourselves. Thank you for standing with us. I know this isn't your city or your planet.'

'No, but it is our fight,' the man replied. 'Those Chaos bastards are the same wherever they show up, whether they're fighting us or fighting someone else. A lot of other men would say that what we're doing here is wrong. Fighting alongside aliens...' He shook his head. 'To many people, that's anathema. Aliens are supposed to be our enemies, too. But Chaos? Chaos is the Archenemy. The way I see it, the enemy of our Archenemy is our friend...at least temporarily. But far be it from me to make that kind of judgement call. If my Commissar overheard me saying that, she'd probably have me shot.' he chuckled wryly. 'That's the way of the Imperium, unfortunately. But you fight well, for such...strange creatures.'

'I'll take that as a compliment,' Breeze chuckled. 'We do what we can with what we have. There's a lot of strange creatures on this planet. We're used to dealing with them, but not with humans.'

'Don't worry,' the Guardsman replied. 'Humans are the real experts at fighting humans. We've been doing it for millennia. I suppose we'll be doing it for the foreseeable future, too. Chaos isn't going to stop until we're all dead, and we're not going to stop fighting back, because the minute we do, that's the end of the Imperium.'

'Right...' Breeze nodded. He understood. Ponies fought other ponies, too; not as often as they had in the past, when open warfare had occurred on many occasions between unicorns and earth ponies and Pegasi, or even between individual city-states and other factions. But that was long ago, before Celestia and Luna had risen to power, even before the three races of pony had come together to form Equestria itself. This was a different time, when harmony was supposed to reign over the land. Of course, that was merely a hopeful notion, for Equestria had never truly known peace. Be it Chrysalis, Sombra, Discord, Nightmare Moon, Griffons, Zebras, or pony rebels, somewhere, somepony was always fighting to defend the nation and its ideals. That would never change, so long as there was but a single pony left alive. Breeze knew that, and he was proud to play his small part. No matter what would happen next, he had acquitted himself well in his first true engagement in full-scale combat. They had routed the enemy infantry- but what would become of the Daemon? What would become of the city? What would become of all of Equestria?

'Twilight!'

Princess Cadence called out across the rooftops again. 'If you won't listen to me, then listen to yourself! Listen to what you're saying! That's not you. Not the real you. The Twilight Sparkle I know would never say that kind of thing!'

'I am no longer the Twilight Sparkle you know,' the purple unicorn replied simply. 'Is that not obvious to you?'

'Of course you're still the same Twilight!' Cadence called despairingly. 'There is only one Twilight! No matter what you might believe at this moment, I know that deep down inside, you're still the pony I have known since you were a little filly. Don't you remember your life until now?'

'Of course I remember,' Twilight answered. 'I remember how I was used, manipulated, forced to follow the path laid out for me by somepony else instead of being able to choose my own fate.'

'Even if that was true, Twilight, how is that any different to what's happening to you now? You're being manipulated by that Daemon!' Cadence replied. 'Can't you see that? It's using you, Twilight. Messing with your mind, making you believe only what it wants you to believe!'

'And now that is what you are trying to do, too,' Twilight responded. 'Just as Celestia did for years, until she got what she wanted out of me. But now she is gone, Luna is gone, and soon, you will be gone, too. Then I shall become more powerful than any of you. That is my true destiny.'

'Twilight, your destiny is to lead your friends. To carry the Element of Magic into battle when it is needed. Not to usurp the power of all the Elements for your own selfish and misguided endeavours!' Cadence argued. 'You are a pony, not a Daemon. Think, Twilight! Think, and listen to me! Do not listen to that creature. Do not listen to whatever voices are in your head. They are leading you astray at a time when Equestria needs you most! Think why they would want that to happen right at this moment.'

'The time for thinking is past,' Twilight replied dryly. 'I have been thinking about the truth for weeks now, and it is all finally clear to me.'

'It's not as simple as you think, Twilight,' Cadence shook her head. 'Whatever you might think happened in your life, however you now feel things were caused deliberately to push you down this path, that is the path you have been walking, and it is the path you must continue to walk. Equestria needs you. Your family and your friends need you!'

'And I need you, Twilight Sparkle.'

This voice did not come from Cadence, or from the Daemon. Instead it rang out across the city, as though it were being broadcast from some loudspeaker, perhaps over the network of warning sirens. But it was no siren calling out to the unicorn.

It was her Princess.

There were cheers of joy, audible even over the slowly receding din of battle. Those who had not seen the earlier fight cheered merely for the sight as they often would, but those who had seen the shocking sight and had gasped in fear and impossible horror, now found their voices once more in a resounding roar of triumph.

Princess Celestia was battered and bruised, but unbroken, despite the violence with which Queen Chrysalis had seemingly dispatched her. Those who had witnessed it could only imagine the power required to cast their Princess aside with such ease, and assume that it must have been enough to kill her. But Alicorns were resilient, their bodies were powerful, and their magic was strong, and Celestia's was the strongest of all. It had taken her time to recover from her experience, from her wounds. But Alicorns healed rapidly, even without using any magic to speed things along, and it would take more than being thrown across a valley and into a mountain to defeat Princess Celestia.

Even Princess Cadence, however, had to admit some surprise to herself. She had worried that she was the last Alicorn, the only survivor of her kind, but it was not so. She was no longer alone against the Daemon and its unlikely unicorn ally. There was another voice to be added to the conversation, a voice many, Twilight included, had thought lost.

'Twilight,' Celestia spoke, calmly and coolly, the weight and gravitas her voice carried not diminished in the slightest by her ordeal. 'I need you. We all need you. You know this, no matter what lies have been fed into your mind.'

Twilight replied quickly, her voice still the same monotone drawl it had become ever since she had stolen away all six of the Elements from her friends. 'The lies planted in my mind were seeded there by you, Princess Celestia. If you want somebody to blame for this, you need only look in a mirror.'

'You know that I did what I did for the future of Equestria,' Celestia answered, moving to float beside Cadence. 'You know that the Elements are vital for our defence. You have used them yourself, this very day, no less. I saw the rainbow from across the valley, Twilight. I know you have clearly defeated Queen Chrysalis. You have already shown their power, and you know what power they hold, perhaps also against forces that are not from this planet, or even from this plane of existence. Would you truly now hand them over to our last remaining foe, and throw away everything you have worked so hard to defend?'

'If I deemed it necessary, yes,' Twilight replied simply.

'And why would you deem it necessary, Twilight?' Celestia called. 'Think. Just think! Why would you consider this enemy to be your friend, yet happily defeat Queen Chrysalis? Did she not try to poison your mind with similar thoughts when you were her prisoner?'

'She did,' Twilight replied. 'But I did not believe what she said. Now, it seems, that I should have listened, for she was correct all along.'

'But if you did not listen to her, then why are you listening to the voices in your head? Why are you listening to whatever it is that only you can hear?' Celestia asked. 'You know that you are not alone in hearing things. You told me and my sister many weeks ago, when the invasion first began, that you felt something in your mind, a disquieting presence, something that did not belong there. We told you that we also felt the same thing. It rapidly became clear to us that our new enemy, Chaos, was responsible in some fashion. It is now evident that the source of that is your new ally.'

Celestia narrowed her eyes and looked at Malaranth, who, in a most incongruous fashion for such a foul-looking creature, yet in a most fitting fashion for a servant of the Changer of Ways, was content to simply float nearby and let the exchange of words continue. Perhaps no intervention would be necessary; after all, it had already won the battle for Twilight's mind. Surely nothing could be said to break that sway now. Her soul had broken, finally succumbing to the incessant whispers and half-truths at the most opportune moment- just as Malaranth had foreseen. What it had not forseen was Celestia's return. The blow from Chrysalis had seemed decisive, and the Queen had seemed so confident that she had emerged victorious against her old foe, that Malaranth had to admit to a brief moment of what might be called letting its guard down. of assuming that the Princess was dead. Never having come up against Alicorns before arriving at this planet, however, Malaranth had clearly underestimated their strength and resilience. It was a correction that would have to be kept at the back of the Daemon's mind until all of the Alicorns were definitively dead.

'Perhaps you are mistaken, Princess,' Twilight replied. 'Perhaps the source is merely my conscience telling me what I have always secretly known. That you used me for your own ends, just as Queen Chrysalis tried to explain to me. I refused to believe her because I knew she opposed me. Not because she opposed you. She was afraid of the Elements, and rightly so. She was not afraid of you, and neither am I.'

'I have no wish to make you afraid of me, Twilight,' Celestia sighed. 'You are my student and you are my friend. Until today, you considered me a friend also. Clearly something has changed. Something has affected you and made you think differently. If you take a step back and think about this objectively, you will see without doubt that it is the Daemon that has caused this.'

'That is what you will tell yourself, Princess,' Twilight answered back. 'That is how you will try to justify this, how you will try to convince yourself that it is right to attack me. That it is right to take the Elements away from me by force. You will tell yourself that your loyal student must have been led astray by outside forces, that there is no possible way she might simply have seen the light for herself. I am afraid you are mistaken, Princess, but so be it.'

'Do not be foolish, Twilight Sparkle,' Celestia cautioned. 'Do not throw your life away needlessly. You are a vital part of the defence of Equestria, with or without the Elements. Whatever else may have entered your mind, you know this. You know that your family and your friends love and care for you. They want you to return to them, safe and sound, and so do I.'

'My sister speaks nothing but the truth, Twilight!'

Eyes snapped round, taken by surprise once again, the second time in several minutes. The voice came from the streets below, but within moments, its source revealed herself. Princess Luna was in much worse shape than her sister. Her burns had not healed, despite medical attention and her Alicorn physiology, nasty red and black welts covering much of her body. She was able only to stagger along, and her wings seemed to be barely able to support her weight once she took to the air. But she was alive.

Celestia and Luna shared a long glance of mutual relief and understanding. There was no time for a proper familial reunion at the moment, but Luna had feared Celestia dead after Chrysalis's attack, and while Celestia had not seen her sister fall victim to the Queen, her evident absence from the field of battle had suggested some similar fate had befallen her. Clearly, Luna was badly hurt as a result of being caught in such a powerful blast of magic, but she was soldiering on through the pain out of sheer necessity. As far as she knew, Chrysalis might have still been active- when she was hit by the Queen's magic, it knocked her unconscious, and the medical staff inside the palace only had limited knowledge of what was going on outside of the shield. The battle had been at a pivotal moment, and Luna had mustered her depleted strength to get back out there and help the Elements.

The landscape had drastically changed since she had been taken to the hospital, however, and Luna had emerged into a different world to that which she had inhabited before being wounded. The Elements were no longer in the possession of their bearers- or at least, five of them were not. The Element of Magic still resided atop the head of Twilight Sparkle, where it belonged, but now she held the rest of them, too. Moreover, she was with the Daemon, not attacking it, and Luna knew instinctively that something had gone badly wrong in her absence. At least now her sister was present, as well as Princess Cadence, the full might of Equestria's Alicorn rulers being brought to bear against this final threat. Either the Daemon fell, or else it would be the end of all things so far as the nation was concerned. If the Daemon defeated all three Alicorns, and had possession of the Elements, Equestria would be finished, utterly helpless and incapable of defending itself against either the Daemon or the many other potent magical threats that would surely threaten it in the future. It would be the end of ponykind, if that was what the Daemon desired.

Twilight looked at Luna as she took her place at her sister's side. Despite Luna having saved her life, and the lives of her friends, a short time before, there was not even a glimmer of recognition in the unicorn's eyes, which were still glazed over, glowing white. She seemed to have forgotten everything except that which the Daemon wanted her to remember.

'Your sister is a liar,' Twilight replied straightly. 'She merely desires more power for herself. You know that. That is why you rebelled against her all those years ago, isn't it?'

'The past is another country. They do things differently there,' Luna replied. 'Ponies can change, Twilight. Ponies do change, of their own volition, and not because they are being forced into it by powers beyond their comprehension. You are under the sway of a force we know little about.'

'Just look at us, Twilight,' Celestia urged. 'Look at us, and think. Think, think, think. Remember. Remember who you are. Remember who you used to be, not what this creature wants you to be. Remember your family, your friends. Remember us! I know you are still in there, Twilight. I know you can hear me. The real you.'

Twilight said nothing in reply. There were still voices in her head, the same ones from before, whispering to her, reinforcing their message, telling her she was doing the right thing by abandoning her responsibilities and turning against her rulers. Keep the Elements for yourself, they told her. Kill Celestia! Kill Luna! Kill Cadence! You have the power now!

But Celestia was correct. The real Twilight, her true self, was still present. The power of the Daemon's subtle persuasions was great, able to turn lesser ponies' minds completely, to build and build the mental pressure like bending the branch of a tree, until at a critical point, it would snap their consciousness and render them utterly helpless to resist the next stage. For ordinary mortals, that would manifest itself as a simple act of treachery, turning their weapons on their fellows until they were gunned down. But for psykers, it was highly likely that they would be exposed, once their mind was broken, directly to the powers of the warp, which would engulf their psyche, destroying any remaining shred of their soul and turning them into a conduit for some other Daemonic entity to take over their body and burst forth into the physical plane.

Equestrian magic, however, was not psychic energy in the same way that humans, Eldar, and the other races exhibited. It was a different kind of essence, one which could not be truly understood by any outside of the pony race- or indeed by most within it. There were things in the galaxy that even Chaos itself did not know in full, and, despite their attempted manipulation of the threads of fate over the years, pony magic was one of them. Twilight's mind, and her magic, while overwhelmed by the manipulation, was not gone. She was not brain dead. Her psyche was still there, marginalised in one corner of her being, and it could still hear the voices. All of the voices, both within and without.

She had thought Celestia and Luna both dead, sapping her of her mental strength, which was what had allowed the Daemon's whispers to finally overwhelm her defences. But now she could hear them. She could see them, looking through eyes that she no longer controlled. It was enough to hear her mentor and Princess addressing her, the real her, not the simulacrum which now occupied her body. It lit a spark inside her, the same spark she had felt only once before, when she first united with the other Elements and realised her true purpose. It was a reminder to her. Celestia's words rang loud and true in her mind. Remember who you are.

With an immense mental effort, Twilight fought. She fought against the darkness that threatened to consume her whole. She pushed back against the encroaching pressure that wanted to crush her very soul and extinguish her light from the galaxy. She threw off the shackles that were confining her to the deepest recesses of her own mind. Perhaps any other pony would have not been equal to the task, but Twilight had two advantages- her magic was stronger than almost any other unicorn, and she had the unique connection with both her friends and her Princess, forged in fire and blood as they had fought time and again to protect Equestria. Twilight knew that was what she had to do once again. They needed her. Equestria needed her. Her family, her friends, her Princess, they all needed her, now more than ever.

With a silent, internal roar of anger, Twilight's true self burst forth, overwhelming the dark forces which had taken over, and regaining control of her own mind and body. Her eyes returned to their natural state, no longer all milky white. She blinked a few times. There was Celestia. There was Luna. There was Cadence. Down below, there were her friends. And there, beside her, was the enemy.

Twilight had the Elements, and she knew what she had to do. She teleported away, down to where her friends were gathered, appearing next to them to gasps of surprise. 'Girls!' she shouted. 'Quickly, to me! Take your Elements!' She used her magic to levitate each Element toward its appropriate bearer.

'Twilight?' Applejack exclaimed. 'What...hold on a second, you're workin' with that thing!'

'No, no! That wasn't me,' Twilight replied. 'Not the real me. I just...something took control of me. But then I saw you all and I heard Celestia and Luna and Cadence...now hurry! We have to...before it can act!'

But the Daemon was already acting. Having seen the Effect of the Elements on Queen Chrysalis, Malaranth knew it needed to stop them being used. Once it knew where Twilight had gone, it immediately assumed that she had regained control of her faculties, and that meant she needed to be stopped. The Daemon raised its staff and unleashed a blast of psychic energy, straight from the Empyrean and directed at the cluster of mares down below.

It never reached its target. Instead it found itself deflected off of a shimmering golden wall which had suddenly appeared in mid-air. Malaranth looked around. As it suspected- Princess Celestia's horn was aglow, holding up a shield to protect Twilight and her friends while they prepared the Elements. No matter. Teleporting to a new position would still give it a clear shot. Malaranth relocated, raised its staff, and fired again.

This time, a midnight blue wall of magic blocked its attack. Luna, though weakened and hurt, still had magic and an iron will. Malaranth was thwarted again, and tried another angle, reappearing in the sky just above the rooftops. But it was too late. Twilight had distributed the Elements to her friends, and reunited with their true bearers, they began to glow. A multi-hued blast of elemental magic erupted from them, combining into one great wave and swamping Malaranth, engulfing it just as it had done with Chrysalis and Parthax.

Unlike those two, however, it did not destroy or defeat the Daemon. Malaranth took a powerful blow that sent it reeling, but it was not enough to kill. Evidently, energy from the warp was as resilient to magic as magic was to the powers of the Immaterium. Even the Elements were not sufficient, for they had not been created to fight against forces from another dimension. Malaranth chuckled in its sibilant fashion.

'Your trinkets appear to be insufficient,' it commented. But the Elements were not the only weapons the ponies possessed.

'Together!' Celestia shouted, her voice booming across the city. 'On my signal!' Luna and Cadence teleported to surround the Daemon, with one Alicorn on three sides and the Elements on the fourth. 'Now!' the Princess roared, and it was too late for Malaranth to react. Three beams of magic, one gold, one pink, one midnight blue, slammed into the Daemon, forcing it to try and shield itself as each Princess strained every possible muscle and sinew, digging up every last reserve of magic they could possibly call upon. The Elements, recharged and ready, at full power thanks to being carried by all six bearers, fired again. The rainbow sliced through Malaranth's shield, enough to denude it of protection but not enough by itself to defeat the creature. But combined with the firepower of the three Alicorns, the most powerful magical beings in Equestria? That was enough.

Malaranth did not scream or cry out, offering no parting word or curse, no final laughter. The combined magic, united with one common purpose, wiped the Daemon from existence. It did not kill Malaranth, for no Daemon could ever truly die; but it was enough to banish it, to force it through the membrane of reality, away from this world, away from Equestria, and back to the warp from whence it came.

Comments

[ShiningBeacon]

Awesome.

Also, point of order:

Three beams of magic, one gold, one pink, one midnight blue

Cadance’s magic is also blue, not pink. Same color as the light blue streaks in Shining Armor’s mane, actually. Similarly, Shining’s magic is pink.

[Violagameboy]

The end of a long battle is near.

[Booster Spice]

Splash?

[Nosoni]

Darn and I was really hoping for a Chaos afflicted Twilight to at least give some grief before her eventual redemption but oh well happy ending to this one battle

[Josiador]

Glad Twilight didn't stay all chaos-y for long, it's not a good look on her.

It seems as if the battle will soon draw to a close, with the leaders of all enemy factions slain. Now the Astra Militarum and Equestrian forces will need to figure out what to do with each other.

I prefer when 40k crossovers treat the Elements like the ultimate anti-chaos weapons they are, it gives ponies a fighting chance and a reason for the Imperium to keep them around. But this is good too.

[OneAmongOthers]

Damn and I though twilight was going to wipe the floor with them! Are well... Chaos scum all the same. Rainbow beam of death!

[BATTLEBROTHERcarnage]

Nooooooooo!?!?! I was hoping for twilight sparkle to ascend and fully imbrace tzeench! Oh well that's a waste of potential.
Either way good story ! I am kind of mad though!? Seriously no representative to spread papa nurgle's pestilential love
Well I'm more of a khornite cultist myself so even if chaos fails on this world a great slaughter has occurred! Khorne is most pleased with the new skulls on his skull throne!?

And remember kids!! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!? SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!? LET THE GALAXY BURN!?