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Dark Scribe of the 38th Company, Iron Warriors Legion, come to bring the glory of Chaos to the realm of Pony.

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This story is a sequel to Iron Hearts: Book 1 - Planetfall


An MLP/Warhammer 40K Crossover, part 2.

Celestia has handed down her order. The Iron Warriors must be defeated and driven from the planet, lest the corrosive grip of Chaos infect their world. With great reluctance, Twilight and Company depart for the Iron Warriors fortress-factory in order to confront the Chaos Warsmith. However, in this mission it is not the might of the enemy that will be their greatest challenge, but their own burgeoning friendships with the admittedly less-than-saintly members of the 38th Company.
At least until the Iron Warriors actually consider them a threat. Then it's totally their military might that will prove to be their greatest challenge.
All the while, the Tau forces lick their wounds and plot their next move. They are far from defeated, and the Iron Warriors have little inkling as to the aliens' true purpose.

MORE EXPLOSIONS!!

(Dark humor warning; minor grimdark)
(Cover art by Nicholas Kay)
(This series now has its own TVtropes page!)
(This series is a contestant in the Tournament of Canterlot, a charity event to raise money for Syrian refugees! Go here for details and donations!)

Chapters (8)
Comments ( 272 )

Superb story. 5 :moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache:

Best 40k crossover I've read so far. Keep going.

3588474

Such praise!
I certainly hope you read a lot of 40K crossovers, then.

3589293
A decent thirty our forty of them, yes.

The Great and Easily Pleasured Trixie! With how quick she is to fall to the depredations of fingers, Slaanesh would have a field day with her!

*Cackles*

Love the chapter, and now I am even more intrigued as to what happens. What were the Tau planning, what will Serith do, did Twilight know they were listened in on...will Sunna require a mop?

All this and more hopefully in the next chapter.

Thought for the day: Blood runs, anger rises, death wakes, WAR CALLS!

3617248

Everypony knows fingers are the best.
(Searches for Lyra icon. Finds none)
Crap.

I can only answer two of your questions: One, Twilight had no clue they were being spied on, and two, no, Suuna won't be doing much mopping... on account of being Trixie's assistant. There will be a great deal of cleaning up to do otherwise, however. But they have servitors for these things.

3619949 Indeed. Makes you wonder how Trixie would react to tentacles? *Grins madly*

But the Tau have the advantage now. The Iron Warriors believe them to be on the back foot but nobody knows how long the Tau have been there. We've only ever seen one continent of the planet which leaves an awful lot of room for the Tau to operate unhindered.

For all we know, the Tau base may have just been a tiny splinter of the force there. They've lured them into over-confidence, everyone is in the base...a simple artillery strike and boom.

For all we know, the disruption field may have just been a decoy. A very...Tzeentchian move.

I'm being judged.
And I don't care.

Mont'ka! Killing Blow!

I knew it, the Tau have been there longer than the mere few days the story suggests! I wonder if Celestia is aware of them?

So many questions!

Heh, Suuna. Smart girl.

Keep it up!

Cheers
GM

3624575

Pft. Celestia doesn't know squat.
Well, okay, she knows that all the large men with enormous guns and skulls hanging off of them are bad news, but you don't need to be an immortal horse-goddess to figure that out.
Let's just say the Tau are up to some serious Greater Good around these parts, and they don't know what the Hell a bunch of extra-grimdark Space Marines are doing here mucking it up.

3625264 Does make you wonder what plans they have for the natives. The entire world offers some amazing weapons in terms of natural creatures.

And how they found the world. It can't be in the Damocles Gulf...can we get a rough location of the planet in the WH40K galaxy? Which segmentum? Or are they in the Halo region?

3625272

Plans for the natives... right...
Centaur is a system on the Eastern Fringe, I've decided. It lies within what an Imperial officer would call "Tau space" even though the planet is obviously not a Tau colony and has not been explored by their colonization fleets.

3625403 Psykers who can escape the danger from the warp, have a pre-industrial society and can clearly be impressed by flashy things and shiny things! *Grins* Basically perfect for Tau assimilation.

I assume that the Firetide warrior or whatever is a Gue'la?

Segmentum Ultima then, huh? Same region of space as the Ultramarines who have had quasi-cordial relations with the Tau. Consulting my map, that would place Centaur either on the opposite side of space from Macragge or very near it. Unless it leans more towards the east or west of the Tau homeworld in which case it is closer to the galactic edge or closer to Terra.

http://unequivocalhorizon.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/liberastartesstarmapver2.png

Beautiful map.

3625435
Yeah, see, the thing is: this isn't a colonization drive the Iron Warriors are facing, and they've pretty much JUST realized that. The Tau weren't any more concerned with the local aliens than the Iron Warriors until they started having pegasi dive-bombing them. :rainbowwild:
Jerriha is a Tau (or T'au, I don't really know why they needed to complicate that) Fireblade, not a human. Up until this very chapter, there were no gue'la in the Centaur contingent. Now there are quite a lot.
That's a neat map you have there; I was using the one from the rule book. I don't feel the need to work out a precise placement of the Centaur system, but it's close enough to the Tau Empire that any Imperial forces trying to honor their grudging cease-fire with the hated xeno wouldn't want to wander close, and it's remote enough that it's pretty much escaped Tau attention up until now.

3626687 So we're talking border world then. Possibly on the edge of the Damocles Gulf perhaps? Raises the intriguing question as to whether the Warp-Storm of Van-Grothe's Rapidity caused the Equestrian evolution. Even more intriguing is if they were in it.

Follow my logic here. Craftworld Ulthwe boasts such a high number of psykers, warlocks and far-seers due to their proximity to the Eye of Terror. Following that thought process, could not proximity to the Rapidity cause the Unicorn race to emerge?

Makes me wonder though...for an omake...what if Tartarus...was actually a Necron tomb? Equestria as a Tomb World? Ponies emerging as Necrons like Macabee was?

Looking forward in how they will deal with the chaos fortress and ships in orbit. Such a daunting task for the mane 6 to rescue there world from being entangled in galactic war or getting it destroyed/mined for resources.

Serith actually scares me, I just hope the mane 6 get out of this untainted by chaos. Also him re arranging pieces on the board does not sound like a good thing for the ponies. He is the kind of sorc that Tzeenth would be proud of with his subtle means, which just makes him all the more terrifying since he would be highly intelligent. But from what I can tell, the only thing i can think of him getting taken down is if becomes to arrogant or underestimates them.

3654857
Oh, don't worry about that. This story isn't about ponies getting corrupted by Chaos or Chaos cultists getting redeemed by friendship (although those things might happen here and there).
You probably should worry about Serith, though. That dude's got mad villain cred.
Although he's not necessarily intent on stopping Twilight and co...

So if the element of laughter counters Nurgle and his followers, that means that kindness and generosity should empower them...

I don't see his voice as being drunk. Whenever I read it, I read it as the blue guy's voice from Final Fantasy 10. "Imposhibibble!"

3696300
Nah, it's nothing so formulaic as "X Element is strong again Y cultist".
Solon just happens to sound so stupid that it erodes the effect of his fear aura very quickly, and having Pinkie almost laugh herself into a coma made him seem even less threatening.

Slippery sluts slander syrupy Slaaneshian servitors.

*Grins*

Loved this chapter, good to see the Tau actually kicking some ass. Shame about the Tau commander though.

Can't wait for more!

Cheers
GM

3696991
The Iron Warriors do not approve of Slaaneshi alliterations. All literary devices that promote the whore-God are punished by firing squad.

And the Tau Fireblade is the one that got away, actually. She might end up losing, but I wasn't going to have her die off-screen after giving her a name and everything!

3697465 That may be so, but a Slaaneshi cultist would enjoy it so they would in turn be serving the Whore-God, no?

Shame. Were this a true and proper Expeditionary force then they'd have the Crisis Suits with Void Shields.

3697683
Now there's something to puzzle over. If a Berserker kills a Noise Marine, but the Noise Marine enjoys it, does the kill still go to Khorne?

And is there actually a Crisis Suit (not a Riptide or anything bigger) equipped with actual void shields in canon or in the game?

3697745 I suppose whichever occurs more. Blood or pleasure. If there is more blood than pleasure then Khorne.

As an amusing little tidbit, Khorne and Slaanesh aren't that different. Slaanesh is the Chaos God of excess. Khorne is the god of blood and demands it. His followers seek an excess of combat and slaughter and blood.

Now other stuff.

I am surprised we saw no Broadsides. Those could have really laid down the hurt on the enemy. Or a few R'varna type battlesuits. They could have quite literally shredded any Space Marine or possibly Daemon Engine.

XV9 'Hazard' Close Support Armour could have quite simply curb-stomped a lot of the enemies, but I have to assume that the Tau aren't operating with the full resources of the Empire and are more along the lines of a splinter sept in terms of resources.

Made a mistake, wasn't void shields but Riptide Shields.

Part of me, a small dark part of me, is very curious if Equestria is a Tomb World.

3699103
I dunno about that. Khorne's single-minded ferocity and emphasis on bloodshed seems pretty different from Slaanesh's depravity to me. It's hard to think of them as being alike simply by terming Khorne's violence "excessive".
The lack of broadsides was a necessity of the speed of the attack. They have no jet packs, and can't fit in standard transports, so they would have gotten there late and then gotten left behind after they arrived. The Tau were hopelessly outgunned from start to finish, but when every vehicle you have is a skimmer then you have other options.
Thanks for clarifying the shield type.
And while I'm not yet planning on making Centaur III a tomb world, who knows what the future holds?!
Besides Tzeentch, I mean.

Love this chapter good sir <3 , best part was Serith's reaction to Fluttershy taming his army of deamon warmachines as pets and even naming them LOL . Nothing flusterd the Chaos Sorc as much as him seeing brutal murderous machines listening to the orders of a adorable pink haired shy little Pegasus Pony. Daniel's reaction was spot on, it is disbelieving to tell it, even more so to see it for first hand. Love Solon's and Pinkie Pie's interaction as well and the surprising agreeing from him followed by the "...... Wait, what?" Though I can think of why solon wouldn't mind as he is all about efficiency and conserving munitions / manpower. To go to war with the local inhabitants would take a toll on his supplies as well trying to cover the planet right after their fortress being assaulted. At least that is what I think his reasoning is besides having to fight the Tau.

3699103

Why do you think it would be a Tomb World?

3699723 Well, a few reasons.

Firstly, there was that world, a former Eldar exodite world that had a shield on it that fooled the Necrons into thinking that the universe was still dominated by the Eldar and Ork's.

Equestria could be the next level in that kind of strategy, utilizing a peaceful psychic race to keep the Necrons buried. Could be because there is the worst Necron Lord ever to rise there.

3701264

Makes a lot of sense, No Tomb would wake with something as peaceful as the ponies living on the surface. Though I fear for the mane 6's psyche, being tarnished by war and killing/death. Hope Trixie doesn't get to involved with Serith, already bad enough. As much as some don't like trixie , no pony deserves to die or get corrupted. Think that is what Serith wants to do or try to keep them to play with/experiment on.

3701642
But Chaos is so much fun! All the cool ponies are doing it!

3707363
I'm sure Khorn and Tzeentch will be proud :P

That authors note was directed at me, wasn't it?

Loved this chapter and I'm glad to see that the Fireblade actually managed to hold her own for a bit before the orange one decided to rough her up.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DARK MECHANICUS!"

Or even more horrific...

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS AMPUTATORS!"

It does make me wonder...is there a STC on Equestria?

Twilight reading about the Tau could bring about some...et tu...complications. Though I am sure Celestia will become a bit concerned about Twilight. Can the wards stop INCOMING letters, that is the question?

And is dragon-breath really teleportation? It always seemed to travel, not bilocate.

Can't wait for the next part.

Cheers
GM

3760391
My paranoia over precise minutiae is not limited to any one individual. And really, it's mostly an acknowledgment that I should have such a spreadsheet myself.
I don't know if Spike's magic breath thing is teleportation specifically, but it's close enough that Serith's counter-ritual works to redirect it. Magic/Psychic power need not adhere to semantics.
I have no idea why an STC might be on Centaur III. All of the artifacts in Equestria seem to be magical doodads. If there are techno-treasures hidden on that world, they're buried deep.

Great chapter, but they are far from safe with Serith around ;~;. You can just sense the danger from that guy, sadly they are so naive . Well more like clueless of the power he has been hiding.

3763680
Not THAT clueless. By now they're all plenty aware of Serith's power, and they're appropriately hostile.
What they can't figure out is Serith's intentions. The villains they've faced have usually been quite straightforward in their nefarious goals. But so long as they don't know what Serith wants, the ponies have a hard time guarding against him.
Well, except for Trixie. She and Serith are BFFs. But she'll be fine. She's great and powerful!

3767498

Really? I thought it was cause her hat and cape gives +10 Health , +10 Defense

Loved it! The interaction between Luna and Solon was genius.

Keep this up and you'll be more of a legend here.

Cheers
GM

"Cogitator assidium three-seven-zero, terminate rest cycle."
I love that line.

what a awesome chapter <33

"Not at all," the unicorn assured him, "I'll have plenty of time to meet my deadlines. Assuming Twilight doesn't show up with some new mission to save the world."

"Rarity, I need your help! Serith stole the Elements of Harmony!"

Delgan winced as Rarity immediately slammed her face flat onto the table.

:rainbowlaugh::rainbowlaugh::rainbowlaugh:

Poor rarity xD , time for more backlog orders lol

why did mayor mare cry a little me no likey crying pony:fluttercry:

3940707
Mayor Mare is just a little too attached to her privacy.
Also, I suppose having her authority blatantly usurped by armed alien thugs also caused some emotional distress.
But she's a tough pony, she'll overcome!

Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment," the Dark Acolyte said as she started perusing the books again.

How could you not trust Tzeentch? He's the most honest and trustworthy guy in the whole setting!

3968323
What does Tzeentch have to do with anything?
I mean, eventually, he'll have something to do with everything, technically, but specific to this setting what does it have to do with him?

3968513
Tzeentch is sometimes portrayed as the god of hope.

3968550
That's a new one to me. If Tzeentch is the closest thing there is to a God of hope for Chaos, it's no wonder their sales pitch is "You could become immortal! But seriously though, y'all gonna die."

Book 3. The Mane Six became mercenaries for the Dark Gods. Apparently, the ponies are 'immune' to Chaos such as the Loxatl aliens but still fight for Chaos.

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