Strange Bedfellows

by BRBrony9

Light And Darkness

Aboard the Emperor's Judgement, Auspex crews monitored the fighting below. They were used to tracking combat formations, identifying enemy units and relaying coordinates to friendly forces. Following single combat was not their usual purview, and it proved considerably trickier than their normal duties. For starters, there were only two combatants to track- or at least, there were to begin with- and that was a lot harder than following huge columns of men or vehicles. To add to that, there was interference, some obviously from the warp energies the Daemon was using. But there was some other cause as well, and it seemed to peak every time the princess made use of her so-called magic. Emissions of the unknown particle also peaked at those times, cementing the theory put forward by the Magi of the Ferrus Terra that some property of the particle, or of the pony magic, was causing the interference, which had been mostly low level, but had been affecting their sensors ever since they entered the system, especially when trying to scan planetside.

Both General Jahn and the Lord-Admiral were monitoring the fighting, gathered around the holo-map and vid-screens. There was footage being broadcast both from orbital cam-units and from those on the ground, albeit at quite a distance and at maximum zoom. It was of great interest, as there was a chance to learn much about their adversary, as well as their ally. They had seen the princess fight massed enemies alone before, and they had seen her fight a single strong adversary in conjunction with her sister and her armies, but they had not seen her face both at the same time, alone. A Lord of Change, a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch, was a foe that almost none could stand against, as much for its psychic and mental powers as its physical strength on the field of battle. Yet Celestia was proving its equal, only showing any kind of difficulty when she was faced with overwhelming numbers of lesser Daemons to fend off, as well as their mighty master. Even then, she was more than holding her own, where even holy Astartes Librarians, mighty Inquisitors, or Eldar Farseers might struggle.

Marcos was more impressed the more he watched, as was the case every time he observed the princess, whether she was fighting or not. Even the more sceptical General Jahn had to admit to being impressed also, by the fluidity and grace of her movements and the power she was exerting. Every indication supported Marcos's judgement, that the princess was best kept on side. Making an enemy of her would not be wise, given the control she seemed to have over the system's star, despite the apparent impossibility of such a fear. But the galaxy was a large and confusing place, and the more humanity explored, the more bizarre and seemingly impossible things they had run into, time and again. This was no different. A horse who was a princess and also an extremely powerful psyker, able to fight a Greater Daemon alone and control a star from millions of miles away? Who was to say there were not even more strange things awaiting on the next planet along?

Of course, the Crusade would not explore any more planets. This was as far as they would go, Marcos had decided. Lord-General Galen had agreed, before his untimely demise. Attrition had taken a heavy toll on the fleet, as well as the ground forces to a lesser extent. Many men had died during the journey, and more had died here on this planet, but there were still enough guardsmen to take another planet, maybe two or even three. There were not, however, enough ships to do the same.

The princess had continued to fight, striking back against the hordes of lesser Daemons as well as trying to defeat the Lord of Change, but the numbers of the smaller creatures continued to grow, swarming her. Despite valiant attempts, she could not get clear of them for long enough to attack the greater Daemon. Suddenly she teleported away, and an arcing blast of magic erupted from her horn and into the sky, soaring into the blue before bursting like a red flare.

'My Lord!' the junior Auspex officer called. 'The Xenos princess has signaled for assistance!'

'Very good,' Marcos nodded. 'Contact the liaison team in Canterlot. Inform Princess Luna at once.'

'Yes, My Lord!' the vox officer replied. He sent the signal over the vox, alerting Atter and Mons, the liaison team stationed in the palace. As Marcos had promised Celestia, her sister was informed immediately of the signal. From the throne room of the palace, Luna was gone in a heartbeat.

Celestia turned her attentions back to Malaranth and his horde. They were charging at her again, having picked up her scent or simply spotted her magic flare to discern her new location after she had teleported away. A moment's respite had allowed her to send the call for aid, as well as gain distance from her foes. This latter fact was to prove particularly important a moment or two later.

Through careful movement and manipulation of the battle, Celestia had managed to draw the fighting away from Fillydelphia and back over the open ground to the north of the city. That protected the city from what was about to come, as the human gunners on board the two capital ships in orbit above opened fire again. Huge lance blasts and plasma beams struck down from the heavens, catching the massed ranks of Daemons by surprise and massacring them in droves. The target area was pounded by dozens of shots, targeted between Celestia and the city, and the Daemons were charging blindly into it. Though the attacks were striking the ground and the Daemons were flying, they could not stand up to the intense heat and energy of the lances and plasma beams through the air around them. Malaranth, however, could, as it had already demonstrated clearly, and again it resisted the power of the orbital strike. It continued its advance toward Celestia, but within a few moments, she was no longer alone.

Princess Luna, having made the trip rapidly down to Fillydelphia via a pair of teleportation jumps, arrived by her sister's side, floating above the ground below. Her expression betrayed the anger she felt toward the creature that would not simply leave the planet and leave them alone, but also the concern she had felt for her sister during the time she had been fighting alone. But now she had help, and the fight had suddenly become a lot more even.

'Ah, Princess Luna, how delightful that you could find time to join us here,' Malaranth greeted her. 'You need not fear. You have not yet missed all of the festivities. I am sure I can entertain you both at the same time.'

'Enough talk, Daemon!' Luna spat, her first words since arrival already aggressive, as she was ready to fight to aid her sister. If it would take two of them to stop this threat, then so be it. Luna had left Princess Cadence in charge back in Canterlot, as was the correct line of succession. It was not ideal, but if anything happened to the two sisters, there would at least be a command structure still in place back home to take over the running and ruling of Equestria.

'But talking can reveal so much about a person,' Malaranth pointed out. 'Or a pony, I'm sure. Then again, I have learned plenty about your sister just by fighting her. What a fine creature she is, and so powerful, too. I wonder if you will have the same skill and strength, Princess Luna?'

'I have been here mere moments and already I am tired of your prattle,' Luna replied angrily. 'We have nothing to say to you, Daemon. If you will not leave, then it is time for you to die.'

Luna's horn glowed, and battle was joined once more. Celestia joined in, and both sisters, together, struck back. Gold and blue lightning leaped across the sky toward the Daemon. Both Princesses fanned out to try and outflank Malaranth, who could only focus on one of them at a time. But a shield emanating from its staff held the lightning at bay, though it wavered under the combined force of the two sisters and their extremely powerful magic. One Princess alone was formidable, but both fighting together was a sight to behold, a force of nature being unleashed upon their foe.

Yet Malaranth was equal to the task of resisting them, even combined, at least in conjunction with its minions. Out of another gash in reality they came, pouring onto the field of battle, seemingly endless in number despite Celestia and the orbital bombardment having inflicted huge casualties upon them, thinning their ranks significantly. Now they had two targets instead of just one to focus on, but there still seemed to be more of them swarming over each Princess than there had been before when Celestia was the only pony involved in the fighting.

Celestia went high, while Luna swooped low. Their advantage in numbers had been rapidly offset by the appearance of a multitude of lesser creatures, which, while little more than distractions, did just that; distracted. It was hard to focus on Malaranth, but the two of them kept on trying, firing off blasts of magic in the Daemon's direction, while its staff deflected anything that came too close with a glowing shield wall of energy.

As the fighting drew closer to the city once again, a smattering of anti-aircraft fire suddenly added to the confusion, and to the problems facing the Princesses. Again it was not a threat by itself, but combined with the thousands of lesser Daemons and the power of Malaranth, the shields that Luna and Celestia were using to protect themselves were wearing down gradually, a war of attrition with so much energy striking their exterior. They did away with large swathes of the smaller creatures using their magic, killing by the dozen, much as they might wipe out Changeling drones in such a fashion.

Malaranth continued to observe, even as he fought, taking note of what he faced and what their capabilities seemed to be. It paid special attention to Luna, as it had already observed her sister in action and wanted to learn more about the younger sibling. Broadly, her power was similar. She utilised many of the same attacks, though with slightly less variety than Celestia; that was to be expected, as the younger of the two siblings. Luna most likely had learned less about combat, or perhaps simply chosen to specialise in certain areas of it. It seemed she might be slightly more agile than her sister, though perhaps that came at the expense of being less durable. Luna's shield could be the weaker of the two. That seemed common across the galaxy, wherever Malaranth had been and whatever species it had faced; faster things were more vulnerable than slower things. Whether it applied here would be interesting to see, a factor that could determine the battle, or play no part in its outcome. That was the beauty of change, after all, and of unpredictability. Everything Malaranth was reasoning about his opponents could be completely wrong, and that was a feeling that had a unique, interesting spice to it, a subtle flavour of entropy and uncertainty that was one of the most delicious sensations a follower of Tzeentch could hope to experience.

Celestia halted in the sky. She flapped her wings once, and a concussive wave of air pushed back a swarm of Daemons that were trying to envelop her, hurling them across the sky before they recovered their stability. In the gap afford her, Celestia let fly with a lightning-fast burst of golden magic which grazed Malaranth, its attention momentarily fixated on Luna. The Daemon spun around to engage the elder sibling instead, and with a flick of its claw, a wall of rock suddenly appeared, hanging in front of Celestia as she started moving again. She narrowly avoided slamming into it, and retaliated with a magic blast to destroy the wall. It went straight though; there was nothing truly there, all just an illusion to distract. By the time she flew through the wall herself, Malaranth was gone.

Her aura spell kept her on track, however, and the Daemon could not escape her gaze. Malaranth was still focused more on Luna, as he sensed a potentially easier target in her compared to Celestia. But Luna was keen to prove the Daemon wrong, and teleported behind it, firing a strong blast of magic, teleporting back in front of it, repeating the process, and doing the same half a dozen times, trying to rapidly hit the target with multiple bursts in an attempt to break through its shield. It was not enough, with Malaranth withstanding the onslaught. The Daemon immediately retaliated, catching Luna as she teleported behind it, with a huge fireball of warp energy that engulfed the younger Princess.

Celestia sprang to her aid, firing a focused beam of magic at Malaranth, striking its shield bodily and sending it reeling back a little. It was not enough to break through, or to harm the Daemon, however; a blast that would have destroyed an airship or an entire battalion of infantry did nothing to the creature. It was still there, still alive, and still fighting.

But so was Luna. Despite the enormous blast that had enveloped her, her shield had held firm and not buckled. Despite both Celestia and Malaranth being reinforced, the stalemate seemed to be continuing, with neither side able to gain an upper hand on the situation. The continued arrival of more Daemons always threatened to tip things in Malaranth's favour, and every time a rift opened, either Celestia or Luna would hurry to close it, while the other Princess covered them and tried to draw Malaranth's attention to them and away from the other. It continued to work well, but the Daemons continued through. Perhaps they were the same ones that had already been killed; essentially nothing was known about their true nature by either Princess, save for the few words Lord-Admiral Marcos had used to describe them. Seeing as how they seemed to come from another dimension or some other spectral plane that could neither be detected nor visited, so far as they knew, it was rather hard to find out any information on the Daemonic, their home, their origin or their powers.

Marcos had filled Celestia in with some brief information, as much as he could spare in the short time he had, but even he knew little about their true nature. Apparently such knowledge was heavily restricted within the Imperium, due to the deleterious effects that even simply studying Chaos could have upon a man's psyche. If men went mad just from reading about the Daemons, then it was no wonder they had not been able to fight them effectively.

Celestia knew that Malaranth the Infinite had tried to probe her mind, tried to cause a similar outcome as it might expect from most humans. But that was never going to happen. Her mind was too strong for such things, for she carried the will and the love of millions of ponies within it. They looked to her, and she provided, as she had for centuries. She would continue to do so, for eternity if needed. Ponies relied upon her. She was their leader, their hope and their inspiration, their light in the darkness and their guiding star in times of strife. In a situation like this, an unprecedented invasion from the heavens, she was all that many ponies could turn to, and she would not let them down. She, and the Equestrian military, may have been caught cold by the arrival of humans and their dark counterparts, but none could have realistically expected such things. Even Celestia had been surprised, and while that unnerved many under her command since the Princess was normally ahead of the curve, they had remained confident she would correct matters, perhaps even more confident than she herself had been.

Malaranth's attempts to infiltrate Celestia's mind had failed, and would be set to fail again if the Daemon should repeat the trick, but its physical attacks were very potent indeed. Only Discord and Chrysalis at the volcano Hive had offered a similar level of strength and trickery, but Malaranth had the added benefit that Celestia and Luna knew almost nothing about it. They could not predict its movements or actions, since they knew nothing about its mindset. That made it very hard to know what it might do next. Its ability to conjour up tear in reality to summon its fellows, for example, had been discovered the hard way. What other tricks it might possess could only be guessed at, at least until it revealed them.

Luna swooped down upon Malaranth as Celestia attacked from the front, trying to land a blow that would at least stagger the creature, if not finish it off outright. Magic blasts and psychic energy that missed their targets were chewing up the grassland around the edge of Fillydelphia, though the trio, along with the swarms of Daemonic minions, were getting closer to the city itself, almost fighting overhead, which drew gunfire from the Chaos infantry below whenever they could get a clear shot at one of the two ponies, trying their best not to fire near their Daemonic protector, not that it mattered much if they did, as Malaranth would shrug off such minor inconveniences just as easily as it had shrugged off the deadly touch of the lance beams from orbit. Neither side were easy targets, and neither side were going to go down without a fight. The numbers advantage of the smaller Daemons was telling, but not decisive, in the course of the battle.

The Princesses could rely only upon each other for support, but they made a formidable team. To bring along any infantry or air support from the pony military would have been a needless waste of life, and the human ground forces were staying well clear for the same reason. No doubt the Lord-Admiral wanted partly to use the fighting as a gauge on Celestia's strength, and Luna's also. He had not seen the younger sister in action thus far, and the sensors of the Emperor's Judgement were indeed paying close attention to Luna as best they could from orbit. But the truth of the matter was that the human infantry and all of their vehicles were seemingly useless against this creature. They had delivered massed firepower that far outclassed anything Equestria could field save for through magic. Not only that, but they had then topped even that with a display of deadly accuracy from above, striking from orbit, and that had seemingly done nothing either.

Nor, in truth, were Celestia and Luna achieving any progress. Occasional strikes were landing upon Malaranth, but it was able to absorb of deflect them with its psychic abilities, controlled through its staff. Perhaps if it could be separated from the staff? But no, that would not be enough. Some of its attacks were clearly not being channelled through the peculiar object it carried, but rather were being launched directly from its claws, or from its mind. Whether it acted as a conduit or as some form of booster to its power, neither Celestia, Luna nor the Lord-Admiral knew. Perhaps there was no staff at all in reality; perhaps it was an illusion, as convincing as the stone wall it had thrown up in Celestia's path.

Malaranth turned its attentions onto Luna once more. This time, it tried the same mental tricks it had attempted to play on Celestia, probing and searching for some chink or crack in her mental armour. Luna had been banished, it seemed, betrayed her sister in the past, as Lord Tzeentch no doubt had predicted- although nothing about these strange ponies was entirely certain. Yes, that could be a way in, Malaranth decided. Play on those insecurities, keep pressing and pressing, turn blood against blood, just as Horus had been turned against the Emperor. It had already happened once to Luna and Celestia- why could it not happen again?

Simply put, it could not happen because Malaranth could not gain access. Just like her sister, Luna's mind was closed to him, resistant. The two pony Princesses were quite unlike any of the countless other creatures Malaranth had fought in the past, directly on the field of battle or through pulling the strings behind closed doors. They were inscrutable, just like Discord, though rather less confusingly than in his case. Both Celestia and Luna held that same infuriating spirit and goodness that the Emperor possessed, which was part of the reason that Chaos had never been able to turn him against his people, nor his people, in their entirety, against him. The fact that their minds were not present in the warp the way other sentient beings were just made things harder. It did not matter too much, Malaranth decided. No doubt there would be others among the pony ranks that would prove more receptive to his ideas, with weaker wills or more flaws and vulnerabilities to exploit, and without the ability to resist that these Alicorns seemed to possess.

Perhaps it would not matter anyway. After all, the plan would proceed regardless of whether the two Princesses were defeated or not.

The Destroyer Leader Panthera Rex held station some twenty million miles from the planet, along with the two other Cobra-Class vessels of destroyer section Quintus. As part of the distant picket line of escort ships, section Quintus was patrolling the space around the planet which was out of view of the sensors of the main bulk of the fleet. There task was one where boredom was hoped for, longed for, because it meant that nothing was happening and that there were no threats to the fleet, nothing to concern the Admirals and commanders of the main task force. The crew and captains of Quintus well remembered what had happened to section Tertius- destroyed by the rogue Chaos battleship that had apparently been still lurking in the outer system, just waiting for a chance to strike out and kill. The ships of Tertius had fallen to its guns, but then curiously once it had reached the main fleet, it did not fire upon them, but rather just destroyed itself, overloading its reactors. Nobody aboard Tertius knew why that should have been the case, but many had seen it with their own eyes, or at least through their own sensors.

What had been made abundantly clear by that incident was that their task was a vital one. Early warning for the fleet was a necessity, as an unprepared ship could be struck a deadly blow before they could even get their shields up, if they were unlucky enough, or the enemy fast enough. It was exactly that tactic that Dark Eldar raiders and pirates tended to use; lightning fast strikes out of nowhere, straight from warp usually. They knew their ships could never stand up in battle to a craft of the Imperial Navy. Only through the tactics of a coward, hitting and running, could those foes ever hope to inflict any meaningful damage.

The men and women of the Panthera Rex's bridge crew were on alert, despite it being towards the end of a twelve-hour shift on duty. Auspex arrays had to be constantly manned to be effective, and the trio of destroyers were busy scouting out an asteroid cluster from long range. Such clusters were highly unusual- most asteroids, even those classified as being in groups or belts, were usually thousands of miles apart at the minimum. A cluster of objects such as this one would suggest that perhaps two extremely large asteroids had collided at some point in the past, or perhaps a small planetoid had broken up due to tidal forces from Kuda Prime or from the system's star, which the debris now orbited.

As had been ably demonstrated by the Daemonfate, such asteroid clusters could provide ideal hiding places for a ship that was on the run, evading detection or fleeing a battle. Even though this cluster had been checked before, it had to be checked again. The Daemonfate's location had not been picked up during several sweeps of the point where it eventually was to be encountered by destroyer section Tertius, and it was never possible to be too careful.

Long range scans were being conducted by the Auspexes of the Panthera Rex as the other two ships provided cover, their torpedo tubes loaded and ready to engage in case anything should leap out at them. The scans picked up metallic signatures, but they were consistent with the class of asteroid being scanned. Nothing untoward. No sign of the enemy. Sector all clear, move on to the next.

The three escorts proceeded through space, their engines silently humming in the void, driving them onward. Their sector would be in vox-sight of the relay picket, one of the light cruisers, the Brigand's Folly. A routine report was made; sector 7, all clear, proceeding to sector 8. The message was relayed to fleet command, just another patrol with no substance, no contacts.

The ships reached sector eight, bringing them back closer to the planet. It was just empty space, with no need for deep investigations or anything other than routine scans. Those scans had been conducted dozens of times before. But this time, something was different.

The warp fluctuation sensors of the Panthera Rex reported unusual readings. Those of the other two ships confirmed them moments later. The readings were coming from behind them, from farther out in the system. The Panthera Rex's captain ordered a turn, and the destroyers began to come about, but before they could bring their bows more than a few degrees around, hell erupted behind them.

Out of the Immaterium they came, one, two, half a dozen, more. The threat grids lit up with blood-red sigils, triggering an automatic alarm from the tactical consoles. The Rex's captain called for battle stations. His first instinct was to continue the turn, to face the unknown threat. A quick glance at the tactical map told him otherwise. Instead, he ordered full speed ahead, and shouted over to the vox officer, who responded rapidly, sending out a signal.

'Brigand's Folly, this is destroyer section Quintus! We have hostile contacts! I say again, we have hostile contacts!'

Comments

[Booster Spice]

The fight is acting as a Chaos Beacon in the Warp?

[Bronzer]

10171723
10095859
Monarchy built the civilizations that today effectively rule/lead the world. Democracies only maintained what kingdoms and empires built. Plus, as the US proves, the only way to prevent a democracy from collapsing is by making it such a beaurocratic nightmare that so long as there is resistance in the senate, little to nothing can get done without unified decisions.

The most successful governments in history usually had a monarch who was raised from birth to rule or raised from the intellectuals of their civilization and whose government had little to no allowance for wasting time or philandering (or had a safety net for such individuals to not ruin everything). Under the monarch was a council of experts in various fields important to governance and the monarch in these successful nations mostly supervised said council to make sure they were doing their jobs and not wasting anything or abusing their power. Other than that, the active ruling was largely delegated to said council while the monarch focused on leading the nobility (who operated as a microcosm of the monarch’s methods) and presiding over the ruling council. This was largely done throughout the most famous and powerful empires to ever exist such as various Chinese dynasties, Persia, Greece, Rome, and basically any empire you remember for lasting thousands of years.

Modern democracies weren’t even intentional. They were either “Oh shit we accidentally won independence, now what” or “Oh shit we killed the king and nobility, now what” solutions to prevent society from collapsing in those places.