Entrenchment

by SFaccountant

War Footing

Centaur III - Bloodborne Caverns

Wyatt Daniels was quickly learning to appreciate that not all of Equestria was covered over in bright, sunny fields, pleasant villages, and cheerful talking animals.

"Hello? Anybody here? Or... 'anypony' is the word you lot use, right? Hello?"

Granted, that was in no small part due to the 38th Company erecting outposts, extractors, and temples here and there, and generally turning many pristine and idyllic landscapes into military and industrial centers. So the Iron Warriors and Dark Mechanicus bore a lot of the blame for that.

"Ugh... nothing but bats. Bats, bats, bats..."

But there were many places that remained untouched by the technology of the 41st millennium. Dangerous places where the wild magic of this world showed a darker side. The Everfree Forest was one such place, infested with many beasts of legend that incidentally shared their names with many of the vehicles of Imperial Armored Companies.

"Is that a centipede? Bloody hell, that thing's almost as thick as my leg."

There were others, too. Oily seas that hid sleeping monsters. Bubbling swamps that seemed to consciously suck trespassers into the muck. And huge, labyrinthine caverns that...

Well... that hosted lots of of bats. Daniels supposed that it was kind of creepy if compared directly to the villages and cities of Equestria, and he was definitely getting a subtle vibe of hostility from the place. But even so, it hardly impressed the mildly hardened soldiers of the 38th Company.

The ceiling of the cave was absolutely crowded with small, dark, furry bodies, and a constant undercurrent of squeaking rolled through the dark passages. Hundreds of tiny, glittering eyes stared down at the soldier as he tromped through the dark.

Daniels stepped up onto one of the larger guano-encrusted boulders, and he put his hand to his tri-optics visor. The passage ahead was sketched out for him in waves of neon green, and a rangefinder cursor sat in the middle of his field of view.

"Wait a minute..." he mumbled to himself as he caught sight of some movement on the ground. Something dashed out from behind a distant stalagmite, quickly breaking for a bend in the cavern where Daniels couldn't see.

Although the mercenary hadn't gotten a good look at the creature, he knew what it was. The sound of galloping hooves had become quite familiar to him as of late.

"All right, I know you're in here!" Daniels shouted as he hopped down and headed into the next tunnel. "You may as well come out and chat! I'm not here to hurt you!"

Despite his words, Daniels gripped his rail rifle tightly against his chest as he advanced. He didn't expect anything very dangerous to be here, but danger didn't always come when you expected it. He hadn't survived this long as a mercenary by blundering obliviously through his missions.

"C'mon, now! Let's love and tolerate a little! Eh? Eh?"

Daniels stopped at the end of the tunnel, placing his hand to his helmet again as he stared out into the gloom. It was quiet, unlike the cavern behind him, and he was pretty sure it wasn't because it was empty. He took another step forward, exiting the tunnel.

This area of ground was curiously smooth, clean, and level with a few large stone pillars here and there that rose about halfway to the ceiling. The walls were high, but not precariously so, and they too stopped and formed flat platforms well before they reached the ceiling.

Daniels got a sinking feeling in his gut as he stepped out into the open space, glancing back and forth and searching for movement. This space looked suspiciously like an arena.

A crash came from behind, and Daniels leapt behind one of the stone columns, slapping his back flat against it.

Creeping quickly around the obstruction, he raised his rifle and sighted the entrance to this new space. Or, rather, the spot where the entrance used to be. There was now a large boulder in his way, completely covering the tunnel entrance. Still no sign of anything in the cavern besides himself.

He had a krak grenade, so he could destroy the obstacle if he needed to, but Daniels turned back to the arena and crept across to the wall instead. He wasn't quite convinced that he was in over his head, yet.

The walls were mostly sheer rock, and had the same sort of clean, angled quality that indicated they were created through planning and labor rather than the whimsy of nature. There were also stone spikes that stuck out from them, spaced unevenly across the circular enclosure. Daniels spotted a group of them that could act as adequate hand and foot holds for something his size, and he slipped his rifle onto his back into its sling.

The climb up the wall wasn't especially trying, and it only rose some twenty feet before ending in a cliff that looked suspiciously like a viewing balcony. Daniels was confident that he could handle the landing if he fell from the top.

Which was good, because the moment his hand grabbed onto the top edge of the cliff, a hoof slammed down on top of it.

"Well, well, well. Looks like our new pet is trying to escape its cage." Daniels found himself staring up into a batpony mare's smirking muzzle, framed by a bowl cut mane and bearing a smile that emphasized her fangs. "You sure are good at climbing, aren't you? Just like an ape." Her voice was a soft, low-pitched caress against his ears, gentle but full of subtle malevolence.

Two other batpony mares crept up to the cliff on either side, their giggling voices bouncing around the cavern.

"So this is a human, huh? Smaller than I thought."

"Is that a set of goggles on its face? Lame!"

The one holding his hand down leaned down closer. "It's the first time we've seen one of you glorified monkeys, so you'll have to forgive our... curiosity." A light hum came from her throat, painting a sonic picture of the intruder for her ears at least as detailed as the images provided from Daniels' visor. "... I wonder how your blood tastes..."

Daniels silently looked over the three batponies for a few seconds, still hanging off the edge of the cliff.

"Okay, look, girls: I know you're trying your best," he assured the bat-winged equines, "but it isn't working. You're just too cute to be scary."

The mares all scrunched up their noses, which Daniels guessed was supposed to pass for grimacing angrily.

"We'll see how scary I look when I'm digging through your entrails, monkey!" snapped the batpony on top of him. Her voice had become shrill and high-pitched now, and the sound sent a needle of pain through Daniels' head.

"Look, I just want to talk. I'm not here to conquer and subjugate your little cave tribe or whatever. We have other people for that. Whaddya say we settle down and have a pint, yeah?"

Daniels was told quite frequently that he was among the most genuinely amiable and diplomatic souls in the 38th Company, but he didn't especially feel like it as the mares hissed down at him.

"We don't take solicitors," snarled one of them, "especially not ones peddling ruin, cultist."

"I'd tell you to take your weapons and blast off to the vastness of space where you came from, but that actually isn't an option for you, anymore," taunted another.

The one still standing on him spoke again, her voice returning to its earlier, deceptively friendly pitch. "Now, what to do with you? Gut you alive? Drain your blood? Or make you our pet, along with the other vermin that scurry around the caves?" She smiled down at Daniels. "What do you think, ape?"

"I think there are some important things you need to know about humans," he replied.

The mare leaned over further, arching an eyebrow. "Oh? Like what?"

"Well, for one thing, we ARE really good climbers. I can hold on to this ledge with one hand, in fact. Watch."

The mare didn't understand the relevance of this until Daniels' free hand shot up and seized her mane, yanking her off of the edge of the cliff.

The batpony shrieked and flapped her wings furiously as she was held in the air, trying to escape the man's grip. Then Daniels slammed the pony face-first into the wall, briefly stopping her flailing about.

He flung the mare onto the ground below before jumping down after her, landing in a crouch. Daniels could hear the other batponies screeching and shouting angrily behind him as he stood back up, but he focused on the equine struggling to stand in front of him. "You might want to be a little nicer to visitors, lass. That's why your brightly colored cousins outside do so well, you know."

He kicked the struggling mare in the side, striking the muscle used for wing control. She screamed in pain as she was flung into a stone column, and then fell into a heap at its base.

A sudden impact against his back and the sound of metal scraping against his armor alerted Daniels that the other two mares had joined the fight. He threw himself onto the ground and rolled away before jumping up into a sprint.

"Another thing you need to learn about humans!" he barked as he pulled out his rifle again. "Our wargear is better than yours!" He switched on the rail rifle, and a gentle hum rose from the device as the magnetic drivers energized.

He caught a blur of movement on his left, and threw his elbow up just in time to catch a charging batpony in the muzzle. She flinched backward, screeching, and Daniels swiped at her with his rifle's bayonet, cutting across a wing.

Another batpony hit him in the back, clinging to his shoulders as a blade scraped against his helmet. Another tried to take him by the shoulder, but he managed to slug it away as the screeching all around him intensified.

There were more than three batponies attacking by now, although he could hardly get an accurate count while surrounded by green blurs and shrieking. His carapace armor offered excellent protection from the small, crude iron weapons of the tribal ponies, but if they managed to completely surround him then they would have ample opportunity to find a weak spot.

Daniels threw himself backward against one of the stone columns, and he heard an agonized yelp come from behind him as the mare on top of him was slammed between him and the rock. He swiped and clubbed at the attackers in front of him with his rifle as best he could, but he could barely even tell if he was hitting anything. His vision through his optics was a chaotic flurry of bright green, and his helmet sonic dampers were working as hard as they could to keep the ear-splitting cacophony from deafening him outright.

"ENOUGH!"

The shrieks stopped with a bewildering suddenness, replaced by the much softer sound of beating wings as the batponies scattered. Dozens of them flew back up onto the cliff that surrounded the arena pit, landing on the edge and then turning around to glare down at the human that had intruded upon their territory.

Daniels remained where he was, breathing heavily. He was somewhat proud to see that four batpony mares were limping away from him on their hooves, apparently too injured to fly. They staggered around the stone columns, trying to escape the sight of the human in the center of the arena.

"Well fought, ape. But then, that's hardly surprising. Your kind is known for little else."

The voice was haughty and regal, and it boomed around the cavern such that Daniels hadn't the slightest idea where to look. One of the lenses to his tri-optics had been broken in the earlier skirmish, and he twisted that lens off as he replied.

"Really? That's it? Not for our spacefaring technology, impeccable style, or sense of humor? The Iron Warriors are really selling us short!"

"Hmph! Well then, ape: you wanted to talk, didn't you? Face me!"

"Just a second, just a second..." Daniels finished switching off the defective lens input, and then searched for the origin of the voice.

A tall batpony mare stood atop the arena's central pillar, staring down at him like all the rest of the batponies. She had a thick mane tied into two long braids that hung next to each shoulder, and a wild, unbound tail that hung below the edge of her platform. Her wings were big compared to the others - much bigger than their difference in basic body size would demand - and had a trio of long talons at the peak of each wing. A shadowy cloak hung off of her body, flowing in a breeze that Daniels was quite sure didn't exist. It reminded him immediately of Celestia and Luna's manes. He couldn't make out a color through his optics, since everything appeared in shades of green, but he presumed that she was a combination of dark, cool colors like every other thestral he had ever met.

"I am Empyra, Queen of Shadows! Mistress of the Bloodborne! Speak, intruder, and let us know whose corpse will soon feed the stone-crawlers!"

"Name's Wyatt Daniels. Call me Daniels," he started scanning the crowd watching from atop the wall as he answered, "I'm attached to the 38th Company Iron Warriors. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"I disagree," Empyra spat, "there is nothing pleasant about having to dispose of you monkey ver-"

"Question!" Daniels interrupted.

"What?" Empyra growled.

"I'm just taking a look around at your citizens here," Daniels mumbled, placing a hand against his helmet to adjust his optics, "and I'm pretty sure every single one of them is female. There's gotta be, what, sixty, seventy of them in here? Not a stallion to be seen. What's up with that?"

The batpony queen furrowed her brow. "Our breeding studs are secured elsewhere. Why would we bring them here, where they may be in danger?"

Daniels laughed. "Oh, wow! The cultural survey for this one is going to be FUN!"

"Silence, fool! You shall now receive the judgment of the Bloodborne!" Empyra flung her head to the side, and her cloak curled about to sweep over her chest and more fully wreath her body in darkness. "You have trespassed upon our tribal homeland, ape! As Queen and prime adjudicator of my ponies, I hereby sentence you... TO DEATH!"

Her voice boomed across the cavern, and the batponies watching ducked their heads and hissed quietly, ritually submitting to their queen's judgment.

Daniels snickered.

"What?!" Empyra demanded, her eyes narrowing. "What amuses you, simian?!"

"I'm sorry, it's just... I really want to just pinch your cheeks and give you a big hug right now," Daniels said, leaning against the column, "you are ADORABLE."

"SILENCE, ape!" Empyra screeched, her wings spreading to her sides as she bared her fangs. "I am VERY SCARY!" Her face flushed in embarrassment as she made this declaration, and her shroud quickly swirled over her muzzle to hide it.

"Okay, okay, sorry about that. Anyway," Daniels coughed, "putting aside the death sentence, I'd like to talk to you about becoming a protectorate territory of the 38th Company Iron Warriors."

"Protectorate territory?" Empyra snorted, her blush receding. "You mean a vassal state! I know well of your ways, ape! You do not come to 'protect us'! You have come to demand tithes and conscripts for your army of madmares and slavers!"

"Oh, good! You know how this works already!" Daniels said brightly. "That's a relief. I'm not very good at the pitch. I usually say something like 'nice town you've got here. Be a shame if something BAD happened to it.' it's just embarrassing for everyone."

Empyra sneered. "I'm sure. Anyway, the answer is 'no'. I will not submit to your army, and your corpse shall be nailed up in the caverns as fair warning to the rest of you glorified monkeys!"

"I don't suppose it would make a difference if I said that Luna, Princess of the Night, was on my side, would it?" Daniels asked, grimacing.

"Oh, why didn't you say so?" Empyra said, her expression brightening instantly. "Let's get you out of that awful death arena and then you can join me for mid-evening tea upstairs!"

Daniels blinked under his optics. "Really?"

"No." Empyra's expression did another flip back to an aggrieved sneer. "Why should we bend knee to the Princess of the Night? That madmare who went insane one thousand years ago and was utterly defeated, leaving us thestrals to flee and hide as outcasts from ponykind?" Her wings shuddered in irritation. "The ponies that bask in Celestia's light may have forgotten that desperate age and forgiven her, but we have not! We shall not return to being vassals of the dark Princess! Not now, not ever!"

"Oh-kay... looks like I kind of touched a nerve, there," Daniels mumbled, "would it help if I said we saved the world? Like, you've heard of the Orks, right? They would have been all over this place if it weren't for us."

"Meh." The equine queen shrugged, and then pointed a wing talon down at the human. "Kill him."

Daniels was expecting the batponies to rush back into the arena and swarm him, but instead he heard the sound of larger, heavier wings against the air.

Turning his head around, he saw an enormous shape glide down from the shadows and then land, hunched over, on one of the columns. It was about the size of a scout Sentinel, with teeth like knives and bladed talons on the peaks of its wings.

"Giant bat," Daniels said as he looked up into the beast's maw, "of course you have giant bats. Don't even know what I was expecting."

Two more of the monstrous flying mammals landed on pillars behind him, forming a rough triangle around the mercenary. Whispers and chuckles came from the crowd of equines watching the spectacle.

Well, not "watching" so much as "listening". There still wasn't a spot of light in the arena according to his optics readings, so he presumed that they were all keeping track of his execution via echolocation.

"Well, then," Daniels mumbled as he reached for his belt, "let's give 'em a show."

The giant bats dropped off of their respective columns, swooping into glides that were alarmingly silent for something their size.

Daniels tucked his rifle under his arm briefly as he twisted the head off of the emergency flare.

"Here's some better light for the audience!"

The flare lit up, suddenly filling the darkened arena with bright light. The three giant bats screeched in shock, pulling out of their dives and flapping desperately to turn away.

One burst from Daniels' rail rifle cut into the giant bat immediately ahead of him, shearing off one entire leg and puncturing its chest and splattering the ground with fans of blood. The winged monster sputtered angrily as its flapping grew more desperate and erratic, and then it collapsed into a shrieking, bloody heap.

"Next!" Daniels whirled about to find another target, only to see large shadows darting between the outermost columns and generally staying out of sight. He slowly stepped out into the open, ignoring the confusing cacophony of screeching that came from the spectating crowd and - probably - his immediate enemies. It was impossible for him to make any sense of the noise in the arena this point, so he ignored it.

A shroud of dark smoke appeared behind him, and Empyra's form appeared before scooping up the flare in a shroud of shadows.

"Hey!" Daniels shouted, turning around just as the batpony queen vanished again into the darkness. "No fair! It's supposed to be me against the monsters!"

He whirled around again just in time to see one of the bats careening toward him, and fired a panicked burst from his rifle. One projectile ripped through the creature's wing membrane, but it left a fairly small, clean hole and didn't stop the beast's charge. Daniels was pushed to the ground as large, clawed feet wrapped around his waist and shoulders, and his rail rifle bounced away out of reach.

Daniels grunted from the impact with the floor, and his free arm went for his pulse pistol. The giant bat opened its toothy maw to feast, only to have an energy bolt slash through the side of its face. It flinched and jumped back off of its prey, screeching and trying to shield its head.

Daniels jumped up, firing his pistol with one hand while grasping for his sword with the other. Two more pulse shots bored into the bat monster, and it staggered back along the ground while shielding itself with its wings.

"Dark Gods, be my strength!" Daniels shouted as he vaulted toward the wounded bat. He plunged the blade through its wings and into the stiff, muscled flesh underneath, piercing the creature's chest before another pulse shot burned off more of its wing. The bat shrieked and leapt away, throwing itself into a full retreat.

"One more, then!" Daniels whirled around, but caught sight of a trail of inky darkness on the edge of his optics view.

Something cut into his pistol arm, punching through the armor on his sleeve. He hissed and swung in that direction, but his sword sliced only air before the pulse pistol was tugged out of his hand.

"Let's see how well you fare when we take your space weapons out of the equation!" snarled an angry, feminine voice.

Daniels rushed after the pulse pistol, not especially wanting to fight the last monster in such "fair" circumstances. He spotted it lying at the base of one of the stone pillars, and promptly made a break for it.

He didn't even catch sight of the final giant bat before it snatched him up by the shoulder, and the mercenary was picked up clean off his feet. Daniels made a rather awkward over-the-shoulder stab with his sword, striking barely hard enough to break flesh. Still, it was enough to loosen the bat's grip, and the mercenary tumbled to the ground from a tolerable height.

"What's the matter, ape? No more nasty toys for us?" Empyra snarled. She was riding on the back of the third giant bat, leaving trails of darkness in her wake that obscured even the night vision display. The beast alighted upon a stone column, glaring down at Daniels as a high-pitched squeal cut through the noise of the arena.

"Oh, I might have a few left," Daniels grunted, rolling over so that he sat upright. His hand fumbled at his belt for his remaining tools, and he discreetly unclipped his only krak grenade.

"Enough of this!" Empyra cried. The giant bat hopped off of the column and landed on the ground just a few meters from Daniels with its jaws snapping hungrily. "Kill him! Leave nothing but bones!"

The giant bat lunged.

Daniels tossed his krak grenade at it.

The giant bat adjusted its course instantly, twisting to snap up the explosive in its jaws.

The arena immediately went silent as all cheering and conversation in the "stands" ground to a halt.

"Oh. Wasn't expecting that," Daniels admitted, "guess that's how you feed 'em, huh? Conditioned response."

Empyra blinked, likewise surprised. "I... wait, what? What was that?"

The krak grenade detonated, instantly collapsing the bat's abdomen in the implosive blast. The bat jolted back sharply, throwing Empyra off its back and slamming her into a stone column.

The monster quivered, wheezing, and then started vomiting onto the ground; Daniels couldn't identify exactly what was pooling onto the stone floor, given the poor resolution from his optics, and he was all the more thankful for his ignorance.

The monstrous bat keeled over moments later, its organs too ruined to even release a death scream.

****

"The target's name is Empyra. She claims title as the 'Queen of Shadows', and claims these cavernous networks as her tribal homeland."

Princess Luna stood before a hololithic projector, glaring down at a display of hundreds of interwoven threads of light that represented the deep scan of the caverns. Opposite the armored alicorn were Applejack and Rainbow Dash, also in full battle gear. Several Lunar Guard thestrals stood in a line next to them, all of them bearing rank markings in addition to their own wargear. Behind the meeting around the hololith, dozens of squads of Lunar Guard soldiers milled about or conversed in hushed tones near the mouth of the cave. A few squads of Chaos mercenaries and a small group of Dark Mechanicus worked behind the ponies, unloading supplies and taking care of those pre-mission tasks that generally required hands.

Rainbow Dash snickered softly. "Queen of Shadows, huh? Real edgy."

"Aye, she shows much talent for showmareship and spectacle," Luna agreed, her eyes tracing the many paths represented by the hololith, "and as suggested by the title of 'Queen', she hath defied all attempts to bring her tribe into the Equestrian nation." Luna looked up at the other ponies. "The Equestrian nation, consequently, made no great effort to reclaim the batpony tribes that resisted assimilation and wished to remain independent. Such is why her so-called 'Bloodborne' hath been left alone thus far." Her eyes narrowed. "The 38th Company feels the time for their unification is nigh, and hath ordered this warlord subdued. The thestral tribes shalt march under the banner of Equestria, or that of Chaos! No other!"

"Understood, my Princess," breathed one of the batpony Lieutenants, her voice a metallic shriek as it emerged from the layers of augmetic constructs that had replaced her natural muzzle, "the tribes WILL serve... either in the Guard, or in the mines. The choice is theirs..."

Dusk Blade spoke up next. "Are we going in hot, or should we be... diplomatic about this?"

Luna pursed her lips. "We wish for the mission to be completed with minimal casualties. These ponies art our cousins, not fell beasts or cruel aliens. We do not wish a single equine to die by our hoof." Luna paused. "However, their resistance shalt no longer be tolerated. They WILL be returned to our service. If it should come to battle, then we hast permission to do what we must."

She frowned as she returned her attention to the hololith. "Such resistance is likely to be more evasive than violent, however. We outclass the tribal ponies in every military respect. Finding them will be the challenge."

"Yer tellin' me," Applejack grunted, staring at the tunnel network, "it's like a termite nest in here!"

"Aye, and the thestrals are well-suited to strategies of ambush and setting traps." Luna paused while the batponies nodded in agreement. "We shalt need to locate and corner Empyra herself. All else hinges upon her capture."

"Easier said than done, I presume?" hissed another Lunar Lieutenant.

"Aye. She is not one to stand fast against a foe of equal measure, much less one of much greater strength." Luna set her jaw. "She is cunning, treacherous, and possesses intimate knowledge of the caverns. It could take days of patrols and scouting before we uncover the barest hint of her location, and even then, it shalt likely be a ruse. It will require all of thy skills, my mightiest magic, and the humans' technology working in perfect concert. But eventually, with perseverance and wit, we shalt track down the Queen of Shadows, and we SHALT-"

"Found her," Daniels said before he dropped Empyra next to the Moon Princess.

Luna stood shock-still for a few seconds, and then twisted her head around to look next to her.

Empyra winced as she met the gaze of the dark alicorn, and then whimpered pitifully. Her phantom cloak was nowhere to be found, having been stripped off and discarded during her capture.

"So, I'm, uh, here to offer my tribe's formal surrender to the 38th Company. Apparently," Empyra mumbled, averting her eyes from the Princess.

"Wut." Luna replied.

Daniels, for his part, kept on walking past the meeting, stepping around the clusters of armed and armored thestrals standing around the cave and staring at him. "Hey, AJ! You got any blue moons left? I'm pretty hungry right now!" he called out, looking over the transports parked outside the cave entrance.

"They're in the Scav Crawler!" Applejack shouted over to him. Then, after a brief pause, "Hey, Wy?"

"What?"

"Ah thought ya just left to take a leak!"

"Got lost. Like a bloody labyrinth down there. Never would have found my way back without her help." He turned and grinned, waving back to the group surrounding the hololith. "Thanks, Empy!"

"Hate you so much," the thestral queen grumbled.

****

Entrenchment

An Age of Iron story

Chapter 1

War Footing

****

+Analysis indicates ultra-dense composite silicates and carbons. Approximate portion of local soil is twelve-point-two-six-four percent.+

A trio of Dark Acolytes were surveying a large field of dark soil among the lowland hills. Gemstones of various colors stuck out of the ground at their feet, and a mechatendril snaked down from one of the cloaked figures to snatch up a ruby.

+Such an... unlikely mineral lode,+ one of the Dark Techpriests buzzed hesitantly as he brought up the jewel he had picked up. It was nearly the size of a grenade, and already seemed to be cut and polished. It looked as if a jeweler had simply passed by and stuck his wares into the ground, but judging by basic scans there were even more deposits underground. +This planet is bizarre.+

+At least it's bizarre in a way that is convenient to us, in this case,+ chittered a third Techpriest as its optics glimmered.

A massive mining rig on treads slowly crawled over the hills, followed by a train of supply vehicles. Servitors and Scavurel were being loosed on the fields by the dozen, and menials started unloading materials from hitched wagons.

More unusually, a Chimera transport was unloading several ponies into the area. Most were earth ponies laden with digging gear - both of the Equestrian sort and that made by the Dark Mechanicus - but a few pegasi and unicorns also trotted out into the fields of gems, ready to work.

"Work groups 3, 6, 7, 10, and 12 will begin on the barracks area! Groups 1, 2, and 4 shall begin laying down infrastructure cabling for the foundation!"

A Dark Acolyte foreman barked orders to the workers lined up before him even as servitors began work according to pre-programmed labor inputs.

"Once the ferrocrete foundation is set, we will begin establishing substructure footprints. Labor camp 09 will be secure as of 1600 hours, local chrono. It is estimated to be fully operational as of 2000 hours. Rest periods and ration supplies have been allotted appropriately. Are there any queries before construction shall proceed?"

One of the earth pony mares raised a foreleg while leaning on a shovel for extra height.

"Speak," snapped the Acolyte.

"Why do we call it a 'labor' camp rather than a 'mining' camp? It kind of gives the impression that the facility isn't so much here to supply mineral resources as it is a place to park unneeded bodies where they can still do something productive for us."

"That is precisely why," the Dark Acolyte confirmed.

"Well, sure, but we don't have to be so blatant and cynical about it," the mare protested.

"We know that you guys really like to own the whole 'tyrannical army' thing. Trust me, we get it," interjected a stallion from a different group, "but you could use SOME window dressing. There's a middle ground here, I'm sure."

"Like the name," a pegasus said, jumping up and hovering over a group of human laborers, "the camps should have real names rather than just numbers. At least that way they'd sound like places where people might live, rather than places where they're just stored, you know?"

"Hey, that sounds like a pretty good idea," agreed one of the humans.

"Yeah, and can we get a name that isn't 'Iron Something-or-other'? Seriously, the metal theme is so overplayed by now," complained another man.

The Dark Acolyte considered the statements, and then turned toward a Techpriest waiting behind him.

+Are we seriously putting up with this? Requesting permission to have the petitioners beaten for insolence, Techpriest.+

The Dark Techpriest considered the request briefly before it replied. +Negative. Implementation of suggested changes constitutes negligible expenditure of resources. Seek recommendations for facility designation.+

The Dark Acolyte groaned under his respirator mask as he turned back to the crowds of workers. "Do we have any... suggestions, then?"

"Camp Rocky!"

"Gemstone Strip!"

"Crystal Fields!"

"Happy Hills Unification Complex!"

"Ha! Irony. I like that one."

+Dark Gods give me strength...+ blurted the Acolyte.

+Cease your dramatization and...+

A sudden tremor cut off the exchange of static-laced bursts of code, and the Dark Mechanicus clergy fell silent as they immersed themselves in torrents of incoming data. The workers milled about uncomfortably as the ground shook, silently searching for any potential safe spots in case of serious danger.

The quake wasn't so strong as to knock anyone over, so there wasn't much in the way of panic when the shaking finally receded after a few minutes.

"Seismic event registered at magnitude three-point-three-seven. Damage prospects negligible," the Dark Acolyte declared.

"That event was curiously localized," interjected a Techpriest, "and the timing is auspicious. It is likely that the seismic event was artificially generated."

A loud creaking noise came from the mining rig, and the tech-clergy whirled around.

A moment later the ground under the rig collapsed, and the machine started sinking into the ground. Huge clouds of dirt were flung up into the air, and everyone could hear the groan of straining metal.

Eventually the shaking stopped, and when the dust cleared, the rig had sunk some five meters below the surface.

"Sabotage," said the Dark Techpriest in an angry buzz. Although partially burying the equipment was a decidedly low-key sort of attack, digging out the heavy rig would require yet another rig to be moved in, and that could set back production schedules by a day or more.

"The diamond dogs did this," growled another voice. Prince Blueblood stepped up next to the Acolyte, sneering. He was wearing an officer's jacket and had a bolt pistol strapped to his hip, while a peaked cap sporting a Chaos Star sat just behind his horn.

"And what is a 'diamond dog'?" demanded the Acolyte.

"Are they like those alligators made of rocks?" asked a menial, gripping a spade nervously.

"No, nothing like that. The diamond dogs are a race of idiot canines that populate this region. They mostly occupy vast tunnel networks underground where they constantly mine and hoard gems," Blueblood explained, glaring at the mining rig, "they're dull-witted, but excellent diggers."

"If they are dull-witted, then how did they come to disable the most crucial machine in our convoy without even exposing themselves?" the Dark Techpriest pondered.

Blueblood hesitated. "That's... a good question, actually. They normally prefer much less subtle methods of confrontation. Odd."

"This is their territory? It was not claimed according to your political maps."

"That's ambiguous. They have little legitimate political structure of note, and tend to consider any land they wander onto 'theirs'." The Prince snorted.

"That much we have in common, then," hissed the Techpriest, "the difference is that WE possess the strength to hold our title." He lifted his power axe and thrust it toward a larger vehicle in the back. "Deploy the automata. And get me seismic sensors established. I won't have any more of our machines lost to mere sinkholes." He turned his head back toward the workers, the emerald light of his optics glowering from beneath his coal-black hood. "All laborers are to proceed with construction as scheduled. Happy Hills WILL be operational on time."

"Oh, God damn it..." the Dark Acolyte slapped a gauntlet against his face and groaned.

****

"Well, that went better than expected," mumbled a diamond dog as he watched the distant convoy through a telescope.

There were three of the large canines crouched atop a hill, all of them wearing dirt-colored cloaks to disguise themselves from a distance.

"So then the big machine sunk, right? What are they doing now?" demanded the dog in the back. This one was a female, thick-muscled and squat, with short, sharp ears and a reddish-brown coat.

"I think... yeah, they're going to work anyway." The dog with the telescope grunted as he continued spying on the distant workers. "Wait, they're unloading something from one of the trucks." He twisted the telescope to magnify the distant vehicle. "... Wow. That is a BIG robot."

"Hmph," the female dog scratched at her chin, "so they're going to shrug that off? Fine. That was just a warning. They ignore it at their own peril." She started chuckling.

The other two diamond dogs shared an uneasy glance. "Uh... so what do we do now, Boss Mox?"

"Keep watching the humans. They may have all those shiny guns, but that doesn't do them any good on the surface. And if they think they can come down into our tunnels to get us..." she chuckled darkly, and the idle diamond dog chuckled along with her. When she stopped, so did he.

"... So what if they think they can come down into our tunnels?"

"Then we'll trap and ambush them! QUEEN ALIVE, do I really have to spell out every little step of this thing?" growled Mox. The male diamond dog flinched back, wincing.

"Hey, Boss Mox, you said to watch the humans, right? What about the ponies?" asked the dog with the telescope.

Mox snorted. "Forget about them. Or do you think the ponies are going to be the ones to shoot you with laser guns?"

"We just might, furball!"

The three canines jumped into the air at the voice, and the one holding the telescope fumbled it onto the ground.

Mox whirled around first, having easily the best reflexes of the three, and she growled as she spotted the newcomer.

"This is Lightning Dust! I have three enemy contacts on the southern hill!" the pegasus shouted into her headset. In her optics view, she tagged each of the diamond dogs with an eye blink each, feeding their location to the Dark Techpriests and the automata.

"Drat! We've been seen!" Mox snarled.

"Roger that, Dust. Reinforcements incoming," Lightning's vox headset crackled, "can you engage the targets?"

The pegasus grinned as she levered up her foreleg, setting the lasgun into firing position. "Thought you'd never ask!"

"Run! Move it!" Mox shouted, sprinting down the hill.

The other two broke into a run after her, dropping on all fours to make a mad dash for safety. "But Boss, I thought-"

"Stop thinking! You're not good at it!" Mox snapped as she spied their exit point. A small mound of dirt was clustered around a large hole in the ground, just like a huge anthill entrance.

A spear of hot red light shot past her ear, and Mox felt her heart leap into her throat. From what she'd heard, the lasguns were among the very weakest weapons in the humans' arsenal, but the way they turned patches of the ground into smoldering black spots boded ill should any of the projectiles reach her flesh.

"YEEP!" a pained yelp came from behind as one of the diamond dogs behind her took a lasbolt to the back. The canine collapsed onto the ground and curled up into a ball, whimpering.

"Snowball! No!" screamed the other dog, slowing down his flight.

"Forget about him, you idiot! Follow me!" Mox dove into the hole in the ground, squeezing through the sandy entrance and disappearing into the tunnels below. The remaining diamond dog hesitated for a moment, but then relented and leapt after her.

"Feh. Only got one of them," Lightning Dust complained as she slowed to a hover. The injured canine was immediately below her, and she landed right next to his head.

"Nn-nn-nnh..." the diamond dog whined pitifully as Lightning prodded it with her lasgun.

"Good, you're still alive. That means you can still answer questions." She shifted her optics visor up onto her forehead. "Believe me, the Dark Techpriests are going to have LOTS of questions for you."

The dog suddenly lashed out with his paw, aiming to swat the pegasus aside. Lightning Dust leapt smoothly over the desperate swipe, and then slammed a hoof into the canine saboteur on her landing.

"YIPE!" the diamond dog spasmed in pain, and then curled up again.

"Yeah, go ahead and try it, mutt," Lightning Dust spat before tapping her headset again.

"Yo, I've got a live one, here. Injured, but nothing fatal."

A chuckle came from the vox. "Then it looks like we have our first resident of Happy Hills! Why, they're practically beating the door down, and we haven't even installed it yet!"

"Cool. Thing is, there were two more mutts, but they escaped down into the tunnels," Lightning explained.

"Not a problem. We're deploying a tactical solution."

Lightning Dust spotted two more pegasi flying her way in a careful formation. The reason for their precision was that they were wearing a special two-pony harness that carried a fairly large metal sphere between them.

"Ha! Oh, man! Can we get a pict-feed on that thing?" Lightning Dust laughed.

"Affirmative, Dust. Should be quite a show..."

****

"S-Snowball! The-hic!-They got Snowball! Bwaa-hah-aaaugh!"

Mox massaged her temples as the diamond dog behind her bawled openly, rubbing his giant paws against his cheeks.

"Oh, will you STOP? He's dead already!" Mox snapped. "Whining about it isn't going to bring him back!"

The male canine whimpered and flinched back.

"It doesn't matter, anyway! We accomplished what we needed to, now we need to get out of here!"

Mox glanced about at the branching tunnels, working out the mental map in her head of the vast subterranean labyrinth.

"Boss, I don't like this!" the other diamond dog whined, "that wasn't a human or an otto-mata or anything like that! If just the Company ponies are that dangerous, then how're we going to fight these 'Iron Warrior' guys?"

Mox clenched her teeth. "Well, we're going to start by NOT CRYING over every one of you lunkheads that gets himself shot! Seriously, you didn't think any of us might die resisting Chaos?"

"But... But, Boss!"

"Shut it!" Mox growled, whirling around and glaring at the trembling canine. "If you're so scared of the big, bad humans and their little pony friends, you can crawl right back out there and give yourself up! Does that sound like a good idea? Do want to scout out their work camp from the OTHER side of the fence?!"

The other diamond dog trembled and wrung his paws as Mox dressed him down, and then he shook his head.

"Good! Then stop your sniveling and-"

A heavy, repeating clunking noise came from further on down the tunnel, as if a metal object were hitting several stones in a row.

"Well, it seems like they're not looking for surrender anyway," Mox mumbled as a metal sphere dropped down into the main passage.

A whir-click noise came from the iron shell studded with spikes and blades, and then the sphere quivered. The spikes and blades extended away from the armored body, revealing long, powerful metal tendrils that pushed the orb-shaped body of the Butcher-pattern automata up into the air.

"It's... It's some kind of death robot!" shrieked the male dog, his tail flipping down between his legs. "Boss Mox! What do we-"

When he turned his head back toward his superior, the diamond dog found himself staring at an empty tunnel.

"B-Boss? Where..."

****

Mox paused briefly as screams started echoing through the tunnel, and the barest hint of a smile crossed her lips.

"I was getting sick of that one, anyway. No guts. Other than the gunk spilling around the tunnel, I guess," she chuckled as she passed into a larger open area.

This room acted as a link for several interconnecting tunnels. Its width made the ceiling less stable, and as such there were several wooden supports holding up the cracked ceiling. The diamond dogs' aptitude for digging, however, did not extend to the structures they used to aid their operations; the supports were thin and barely held together with rope and rusted nails.

Perfect for her purposes.

Tapping each of the supports at their weakest point, Mox smiled and walked across the room, stopping just before the entrance to another tunnel that she had selected as her primary escape route.

Before long, she heard it: the whirring noise of shifting mechanical tendrils and the muted bleeping from the automata bearing them.

"Hello, little tin soldier," Mox whispered as the Butcher automata clambered into view. Wet globs of fresh blood were splashed over its body casing, and the whipping motions of its tendrils threw bits of viscera every which way, leaving a trail through the tunnels behind it.

"Goodbye, little tin soldier." The diamond dog said before her eyes flashed a brilliant green.

At once the various supports holding up the ceiling buckled, dropping to the ground in pieces just as the hunter-killer robot lunged into the room. A shower of dirt and pebbles instantly dropped down, and the automata stumbled as a rock almost as big as its body slammed on top of it.

The initial drop was only the beginning of a complete collapse. Before the automata could regain its bearings, an even greater downpour of dirt and small rocks fell down on top of it, trapping its appendages and obscuring its sensors.

The last thing its vid-feed captured was the grinning face of the diamond dog as she watched the ceiling fall, her eyes gleaming like emeralds in the darkness.

****

Canterlot City

Princess Celestia looked out over the vast crowd of ponies and humans standing below her balcony as trumpets blared all around her, announcing her arrival to the spectators. Her expression was calm and serene, and for once that expression didn't falter when she looked upon the many Chaos Stars scattered throughout her audience.

Twilight Sparkle stood behind the white Princess, almost giddy with anticipation. She was wearing a silvery dress rather than her power armor, although she still had a vox headset on that fed into one ear.

After a few more seconds of trumpet music, Princess Celestia raised her head and spoke to her city.

"My little ponies. Thank you for coming here today to hear this royal address in person," Celestia said, her soft voice booming across the plaza with a sudden spark of magic, "and to the humans here, thank you for taking the time out of your plundering and murder long enough to take an interest in Equestrian affairs."

"You're welcome!" shouted a mercenary from below.

Celestia cleared her throat lightly before continuing. "We have overcome a great trial in this kingdom, and survived the onslaught of two alien powers. The Ork threat has passed, and soon the Warp storm will cease. Canterlot has been restored, and once again stands as a beacon of light and hope to all of Equestria and the rest of the world."

She took a deep breath. "But this beacon now sits under a shadow. The forces of Chaos claim this planet as their own, and all nations within it are mere protectorates; territories to be stripped of resources to feed their war machine. As we look to the future of our kingdom, it is a future that includes not just humanity, but a particular strain of humanity that is vile, violent, and corrupt."

She paused, and her eyes met one of the humans staring up from below.

"... No offense."

"None taken!" he shouted back.

"As we take to the future with the black banner of Chaos flying overhead, it is more important than ever to keep love in our hearts," Celestia's voice rose higher as she reached the crux of her speech, "harmony cannot prevail through dominion; the Iron Warriors are our rulers now. But as we are carried into a future of warfare and strife, a future where aliens wage constant battles of genocidal scale and evil gods demand tithe in souls and blood, I ask that you not lose hope! Keep harmony within you, wherever you go, and whatever horrors you may face, and never allow hatred to take hold of you! Draw your strength from each other, the bonds that tie our destiny together, and look upon our enemies with mercy and compassion! Friendship will be our way forward as we ascend to the stars!"

Celestia raised a wing to the side, and great crimson banners were unfurled from towering flagpoles. They sported the image of the Iron Warriors' Legion emblem with the royal sisters circling it, in imitation of Equestria's national flag.

"The Age of Harmony has come to an end, my little ponies!" Celestia declared as dropships rose from behind the castle, speeding off toward the fleet locked in orbit. "We stand now on the brink of a new era! One of exploration, industry, and strife! The Age of Iron has begun!"

The crowd exploded into cheers. Humans lifted their rifles toward the sky and fired into the air. Ponies pounded the ground in applause with such force that the ground trembled.

Twilight Sparkle almost shed a tear as her heart swelled with pride. Although the words came from Princess Celestia, Twilight knew that this was her achievement. Her tireless efforts to manage relations between the militaristic Company and her peaceful home nation had finally come to this, an alliance that had stayed the hand of the Iron Warriors and twice saved the planet from annihilation already.

She could honestly only think of one way this day could get any better.

"Also, this is somewhat off-topic," Princess Celestia continued, silencing the crowd, "but the Chaos Lord Tellis, the Mad Angel, has been declared outcast from the 38th Company. Even now he is being hunted down by the Company's warrior elite, and will be put to death in short order!"

The crowd's reaction made the earlier applause seem tepid. Wild cheers boomed through the city, pegasi started doing crazy, excited loops in the air, and a flurry of fireworks whistled into the sky and exploded.

This time, Twilight couldn't hold herself back. Tears of pure joy dribbled down her cheeks, and her lip quivered as she stared up at her mentor.

"This is the happiest day of my life!" Twilight sobbed.

"Really, Twilight?" came a voice from behind her.

Glancing back, Twilight saw Spike standing nearby. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he sounded really annoyed, for some reason.

Twilight thought about her declaration as she wiped off her cheeks with her hoof. "Well, okay, I suppose the day I hatched you and became Princess Celestia's student would be the happiest, technically. But today definitely ranks-"

A burst of static in her ear interrupted her.

"We have a bead on Lord Tellis! He's pinned down by gunships just outside of Black Point!" snarled a vox-distorted voice.

"This is Shas'vre Jerriha. We have Broadsides deployed and the target is in sight. We've got him, Command."

Twilight sniffled as a fresh wave of emotion overwhelmed her. "No, I take it back. This is DEFINITELY the happiest day of my life!"

"Too bad. Wake up," grunted Spike.

The purple pony blinked. "What?"

"Wake up, Twilight!" Spike shouted more forcefully.

"I don't..." Twilight stumbled backward as the world started to turn fuzzy all around her. "Spike, what are you-"

"WAKE UP, ALREADY!!"

****

Ferrous Dominus - sector 22 guard barracks

Twilight Sparkle's quarters

Twilight yelped and rolled out of her bed, falling onto the floor and landing painfully on her wing.

She righted herself quickly while blinking away the sleep from her eyes, and then she took in her surroundings.

There wasn't much to take in. Long, bare metal walls loomed around her, and thin lumen strips set into the ceiling cast pallid light across the room. A single shelf laid against the wall, filled from edge to edge with dataslates. Next to it was Spike's bed, conspicuously empty. A table stood near the door, holding an assortment of papers, inks, and other conventional writing supplies. The room's cogitator console stood next to the table, providing a curious contrast to the primitive writing tools adjacent to them.

"TWILIGHT!!" shouted Spike, causing Twilight to swing around in alarm. "WAKE UP!! SERIOUSLY!!" The shout came from the adjoined restroom.

Twilight quickly rushed for the door, groaning. She already had a good idea what was wrong.

When she opened it, she was treated to the sight of Spike floating in mid-air, right in the middle of the bathroom. A spherical cage of luminescent purple encircled him, and a magic circle on the floor flickered unsteadily. The young dragon looked every bit as irritated as he had in her dream, although at least here he had an obvious reason.

"Finally!" Spike groused. "A little help?"

Twilight grimaced as she dispelled the magic construct that was keeping Spike levitated. Her horn was swallowed in a quivering purple aura, and Spike was slowly lowered to the floor before the magic faded entirely.

"Spike, why do you keep stumbling into these?" Twilight asked. "You KNOW about the traps and their locations."

"Well, excuse me if I'm not thinking clearly the minute I get up! The toilet has a way of taking top priority first thing in the morning!" Spike snapped. "I don't even know why you bother with the traps! It's not like Dusk Blade ever trips them! And why does one need to be in the bathroom, anyway?"

Twilight's cheeks flushed. "It's just, well, there are... certain things in here that an... uh... impure mind like his might want. Maybe."

"Come on, Twi. The guy may be an evil slave-owning assassin, but that doesn't mean he's some kind of pervert, too," Spike noted, "also - and I don't mean to keep harping on this point - the traps don't seem to WORK on him, so he can still do whatever he wants and get away with it."

"Just do your business, Spike," Twilight grumbled before she stepped out and closed the door.

Twilight walked to the end of the room and then slapped a hoof against a button on the wall.

A set of blast shutters creaked open, giving her a peek outside. Not that there was much to see. Normally her window afforded her an unimpressive view of a munitions loading bay, but today even that much was obscured by sheets of rain.

"Acid rain. Great," she sighed and closed the shutters. The materials used to build Ferrous Dominus were generally able to withstand the corrosive storms caused by its pollution, but the rain was highly toxic nonetheless.

The Princess turned toward her room cogitator and activated it with her horn, brushing against the control pad with her telekinesis.

"Let's see... day's schedule: Combat patrol, standby for strike force, study period, combat patrol, dinner with Rarity, study period." Twilight frowned and checked for any messages sent to her console. "Report on Tau battle strategy. Later. Invitation from Rarity to try out the new spa. Later. Ah! A reply to my request for a diplomatic assignment!"

She opened the message. "... Rejected so that I can be on standby for the strike force," Twilight said bitterly.

She supposed she should take pride in the fact that the Iron Warriors took her seriously enough as a fighter to request her support directly. Rainbow Dash and Applejack certainly did. But there were other duties that she would have much rather preferred.

"Every day it's just 'kill Orks', 'kill more Orks', and then 'burn the area where you killed all those Orks'," she complained, "it's like the war never actually ended."

Which it hadn't, really. Twilight had read up on the Orks thoroughly enough to know how difficult it was to exterminate the green-skinned aliens through attrition. She also knew that there was no other way to prevent them from becoming a serious threat over time that didn't also involve effectively destroying the planet.

"Hm? Wait, is this a message from Tellis?"

"A message from who?" Spike asked as he exited the bathroom.

"It's from Tellis. He's never messaged me before," Twilight explained, sounding curious.

Spike's eyes bugged out. "Twi! No! Don't open the-"

The console screen blew up before he could finish the sentence, throwing Twilight back and blasting her with bits of debris. A thick arc of electricity leapt from the ruined machine onto her, eliciting a loud yelp from the prone pony.

Spike winced as he stared at the sparking remains of the console. "Yeah, so... Tellis does this thing where his armor tries to upload a dangerous virus code into every logic engine he connects to. Gaela isn't actually sure he even does it on purpose anymore; she thinks it was a one-time prank that infected his suit system that he doesn't know how to stop."

Twilight sniffled. "It was such a BEAUTIFUL dream..."

****

Ferrous Dominus - sector 1 main gates

"Sparkle. Check in."

"Equinought Squadron, unit code 33915. Ready for active deployment."

Twilight stood at attention in her power armor, watching the rain run down her visor. An Iron Warrior stood in front of her, completing the personnel check.

Next to her stood ten mercenaries, all of them wearing thick overcoats or ponchos to ward off the poisonous downpour. There were a dozen armed ponies next to them, also in ponchos, and one unicorn was projecting a thin barrier overhead to act as a magical umbrella for the equines.

The pegasi looked particularly miserable in this weather, being unable to even stretch their wings under the ponchos, much less fly. None of them were willing to test out just how poisonous the acid rain was, however.

The Iron Warrior finished registering the mission group, and then he glanced at a black-robed figure approaching the transports. "Dark Techpriest Gaela," he rumbled, "we are prepared to deploy."

Gaela turned her head toward the assembled troops. Twilight had one foreleg raised and was waving enthusiastically at her, as if she might have missed the only power-armored equine in the combat group.

"We are ready, Lord," Gaela said, inclining her head toward the Astartes.

"Then get in and let's go!"

****

Patrol route 33 tertius, 6 kilometers outside of Saddlebrook

"I'm just worried about the expansion plans, that's all. I really wish the Company would let Equestria take a greater role in the colonization phase!"

Twilight almost had to shout to be heard over the rumble of the Rhino's engine combined with the rain pounding against the hull outside. Gaela stood over her, one hand gripping a ceiling hook to keep steady.

"The Company leadership is consumed with preparations to complete the latest supply run. You know that," Gaela said, "their priorities lie elsewhere, and anyway none of them take your sovereign seriously."

Twilight fumed. "Well, they should! Princess Celestia has been running our nation and dealing with Equestria's neighbors for over a thousand years! If the Company wants to annex our planet's governments to form a united protectorate, it doesn't make any sense to cut her out of the diplomatic process!"

Gaela paused in her response. "... 'United protectorate'? That's the line we're using now?"

"It was Trademaster Delgan's idea," Twilight mumbled, looking away, "I wish Solon would at least put HIM in charge of contacting and dealing with other nations, if he's not going to let us ponies do it. Instead he just lets the Dark Mechanicus go where they want and take what they want!"

Gaela tilted her head to the side. "I don't see a problem with that."

"I think all the griffons, dragons, buffalo, and various other non-ponies do," Twilight countered.

"I don't see a problem with that, either."

"Sparkle, do you really think any of them will go for that, anyway?" asked another of the ponies in the transport. "You have to admit, it's a pretty hard sell. 'Oh, hey, you see these big armored guys with guns? They saved the world so they own it now.'"

Twilight glanced at the earth pony stallion, gleaning his name from the encoded identifier chip in the Chaos Star amulet that hung around his neck.

"Stone Grinder, the Orks have been spreading CONSTANTLY since we destroyed the Space Hulk and stopped the Waaagh. They threaten much more than Equestria, and the Company is still the only force that can feasibly eliminate them. I think there's room for an approach more sophisticated than sending in armed cyborgs to carve up the ground wherever they find enough metal ore."

"Well, I don't think-"

The Rhino suddenly tilted forward, and Twilight instinctively mag-locked to the floor of the passenger bay. The other ponies, who had neither magnetic greaves or hands with which to hold on to a secure point, stumbled as the transport lurched upward again and leveled out.

"What was that?" Gaela demanded, linking with the transport pilot. "My lord, what happened?"

"A pit was hidden along the patrol route," growled the Rhino's interior vox, "prepare to disembark! We may have an ambush coming!"

"A pit trap? Ambush?" asked a shaken pegasus mare. "Since when do the Orks fight like this?"

"They don't," Gaela confirmed as the rear ramp of the vehicle started to open, "we may not be fighting Orks."

The Rhino had been sunk into a muddy pit almost half of its total height, and the ramp was only able to open partially in order to let its passengers out. The ponies left first, being small and limber enough to easily get free. Gaela took more time to escape the confines of the passenger bay, quietly mumbling curses in Binary as she climbed the ramp's incline.

"So, this is non-acid rain, right?" asked Stone Grinder as he dropped down into the muddy ground. "No face-melting chemicals?"

"We're far enough away from Ferrous Dominus that the air pollution shouldn't be affecting the local precipitation!" Twilight confirmed as she searched their surroundings.

"Of course - urg! - given your planet's tendency toward Warp-based phenomena - oof! - I wouldn't be entirely surprised if you had some sort of ridiculous 'magic rain' just to make our work more difficult."

Gaela finally pulled herself free from the Rhino access ramp, dropping down behind the equines. Two other Rhinos and a Predator attack tank made up the patrol convoy, and the other soldiers had already disembarked from their transports to investigate the hold-up.

"Well, if this is an ambush, they're sure taking their time in springing it," mumbled one of the ponies.

"No, they have," disagreed the Iron Warrior manning the Rhino's combi-bolter, "we are under attack."

This got the Chaos Marine a few stares.

"... Are you sure? I don't see any-"

A dull ricochet came from the side of the vehicle, and Twilight whirled around to see the damage. This was difficult, because there wasn't any.

"Muzzle flash detected from the tree line. About eighty meters," the gunner declared. He didn't seem particularly worried about it.

Twilight searched the ground next to the Rhino, and she figured out why: there was a small, marble-sized piece of metal in the mud that was flattened on one side.

"A lead ball bullet? Are they attacking us with MUSKETS?" Twilight asked incredulously. Another impact struck the side of the vehicle.

"And why are they attacking the Rhinos?" asked another pony. "We're all just standing here waiting for them."

"At this range, and with the rainfall obscuring us, a primitive firearm would have abysmal accuracy. Our assailants are probably aiming for our infantry and simply missing," Gaela explained blandly. A bullet streaked into the mud at her feet, splattering her robe with muck.

"Mercenaries!" The Iron Warrior Champion in charge of the patrol gestured to the forest next to the road. "Find whatever is shooting at us and kill it. Techpriest, get the transport moving again!"

The humans saluted and hoisted their rifles. The ponies were more hesitant, looking at Twilight in askance.

"Lord San'toh!" Twilight said, rushing up to the Astartes. "My lord, is it necessary to kill the attackers on sight? We have almost no information about them and appear to outclass them technologically to an absurd degree. There may be other, less... wasteful options!"

Twilight forced herself not to fidget as the Iron Warrior glared down at her through his blood-red visor.

"Other options. Like what?" growled the Chaos Marine.

"If I may, Lord," Gaela interjected, "we do have new prison camps available and under capacity, and the Dark Mechanicus is in need of additional bodies. The additional labor would be far more useful."

Twilight blanched. "Well, that's true, but that isn't what I-"

"Soldiers!" San'toh snapped, cutting Twilight off. The humans all stopped instantly. "Belay that last order! You are to equip non-lethal equipment and capture the attackers!"

Twilight repressed a groan as the mercenaries started pulling large, club-like weapons from the transports. They resembled swords, but had a blunt edge and they ended in a pair of prongs rather than a point. One of the soldiers pulled such a weapon from Twilight's Rhino, and then pushed a switch near his thumb. Thick arcs of electricity ran up the length of the device, and then lashed between the prongs at the end for a few seconds.

"Set the taser goads to level 2 or 3 to effect non-lethal submission discharges," Gaela instructed.

The pony recruits were fitting shaped metal shells over their hooves, one for each of them. One pegasus slapped the hoof against the Rhino's side, eliciting a burst of electricity and an obnoxiously loud thunderclap.

"Shock gauntlets are harder to control in terms of discharge strength, but you should do fine as long as you stop attacking once they stop moving."

"Good call, Princess Sparkle," Stone Grinder said as he slipped his optics visor down, "this way we don't have to kill anyone!"

"Y-Yeah," Twilight mumbled as the ponies galloped away toward the trees, "that's... better." A musket ball smacked into the side of her helmet, uselessly. She didn't even flinch.

"Sparkle, go check the road ahead for any more pit traps," San'toh commanded, "keep an open vox so you can warn us of any further... 'ambushes'. I will have the Iron Warriors in reserve."

"Yes, Lord," Twilight said as her flight pack gently lifted her into the air, "right away."

****

"Are they IGNORING us?" squawked a griffon angrily as she peered through the scope of her long musket. "They are! Those big, silver space monkeys are just standing out in the open while we shoot at them!"

A male griffon standing next to her was growling as he reloaded his rifle, trying to keep his gunpowder supply dry under his cloak.

"And why shouldn't they? I can't shoot straight in this storm! I don't even know if I've hit one of them yet, much less hurt one!"

The female bristled before she fired her weapon again. A sharp crack came from her musket, followed by a puff of white smoke that was quickly swallowed by the rain.

She took a moment to wipe off her scope and check her view of the convoy. The Iron Warriors still weren't advancing toward, covering from, or even acknowledging the assault.

She whirled around to glare at a pair of figures behind her. One was a hulking minotaur wrapped in tribal fetishes and carrying twin battleaxes. The other was another female griffon. She was tall and lean, with a patchwork leather vest and dark feathers all around her head and neck that eventually formed an upward-tilting crest at the top of her head.

"Why did we have to run the attack today, with this weather?! You know we can knock out those clouds, right?"

"Or we could have at least brought some of those alien weapons you said you scavenged! I may as well be flinging spitballs at these guys!"

The griffon in the back waited patiently as the others complained, her tail swinging slowly and steadily in the downpour.

"Nox, are you even listening?" barked the other female, gripping her gun tightly.

"I am," the dark-feathered griffon replied, "the weather conditions and your weapons are sufficient for the job. You don't need to shoot down any of the Iron Warriors. That's not the point of this."

"Maybe not, but getting the shiny freaks' attention IS the point of this, and these pop guns aren't doing it." The male griffon lifted his weapon again and stared through the scope. "At least the little ones took the bait. They'll be on top of us in a second. We have ponies and humans charging through the forest."

"All together, like a big, happy family," the other gunner chuckled, running her tongue over her beak, "how cute."

"The pegasi, too?" asked the minotaur suddenly.

The griffon gunners hesitated. One raised his musket again to check.

"Uh... shoot, it's really hard to tell. None of them are flying, but with the armor on, they-"

"Got 'em!" shouted a voice from above.

"Well, that answers that!" screeched Nox. The four creatures scattered as a sizzling flare tumbled down through the branches above, marking their location.

"Let's go! Fall back!" shouted the male griffon, leaping into the air and flapping his wings.

"No! Don't! Stay down!"

Before the airborne gunner could respond, a pegasus dove down into him, slamming her shock gauntlet into his side. Any shriek of pain or surprise was utterly eclipsed by the ear-splitting crack of the gauntlet discharge, and a moment later the griffon was careening back toward the ground.

"Blast! Pony traitors!" snarled the other gunner, snapping up her musket. The pegasus didn't answer her insult, simply building altitude again over the treetops. She followed the equine with her scope, but then found her weapon pushed aside.

"Forget it! We have to run!" Nox barked. "The pegasi are just here to keep us grounded! Let's move!"

The minotaur was already sprinting, and the two conscious griffons took off after him with nary a glance back at their fallen comrade. It was merely seconds later that an earth pony broke though the brush and almost tripped over the stunned guerrilla fighter.

"Found a capture!" Stone Grinder shouted as several other soldiers followed him into the clearing around the flare. "Griffon, looks like!"

"Kellin, you take the beaked sod back to the convoy. The rest of you, spread out and pursue. Pegasi, keep a bead on them!"

"Roger that, Sarge!"

Stone Grinder nodded and hopped forward through the brush, his hooves pounding against the ground and his optics showing three heat signatures far ahead.

Then he slipped on something, and scrambled to keep his balance. He managed to stay standing, and glanced down at the forest floor under his hooves to see what had tripped him up.

"... An oil slick?"

****

Nox kept her eyes and thoughts focused ahead as she rushed through the forest, keeping pace with the minotaur in front of the retreat.

"Nox, can we call in the freaking lizard, already? Those monkeys are right behind us!" demanded the other griffon.

Nox snapped up a small pistol from under her wing, and briefly checked the payload. It was an enchanted bullet, with tiny runes etched into the ball surface, and the powder was still dry.

"Kee, stop them here," Nox ordered as he raised the pistol.

The minotaur ground to a halt, and steam puffed from his nostrils as he turned on the spot. The two griffons gave him plenty of room, rushing past and leaping over a thick stripe of oil laid across their path.

Nox raised her pistol to the air and fired.

****

Twilight snapped her head around as her visor sensors picked something out in the distance. A bright yellow spot of light was shooting straight up through the treetops.

"A signal flare? Do our soldiers need help?" Twilight asked as she started turning around.

"Negative, Sparkle," crackled her vox, "that wasn't one of our flares. Proceed with your mission objectives."

She hesitated. "Wait, so that was from our attackers? They could be signaling for help! Our soldiers might be walking into a trap!"

"Given the destructive power of enemy ambushes thus far, I'm not especially concerned," rumbled the Space Marine, "what threat, exactly, do you suppose these primitives could bring to bear on us?"

"They could have a dragon waiting nearby to swoop in and kill them all," Twilight pointed out, "and by 'could have', I mean 'do have', because I'm looking at it."

Giant wings lifted an enormous serpentine body from the thickets of trees, tearing away the branches that had obscured its bulk. The rainfall worked to obscure and muffle the beast's flight, which naturally headed straight for the airborne flare.

Twilight's visor bracketed the departing dragon as her flight pack boosted her higher into the air.

"I'm moving to engage! Gaela, could you get some drop rigs deployed near the convoy?"

"I don't see why not. Do you have a plan?" the Techpriest asked.

"No, but the attackers do," Twilight replied as she zoomed after the massive serpent, "let's see what I can do about that."

****

The first three soldiers to catch up to the fleeing attackers were all ponies. Being small, four-legged, and not possessing the years of deadly combat experience that taught the humans to advance more cautiously under cover, the equines had a much easier time breaking through the forest terrain at high speed.

That said, they weren't all that proud of their agility once they found themselves staring at a massive, axe-wielding minotaur standing in their path. Their human allies were probably still a minute or two behind.

"A minotaur? What're you doing here?" Stone Grinder stumbled to a halt at the sight of the huge biped, snapping his lasgun up into a chambered position.

"Doesn't matter! Take him down!" shouted a unicorn mare as her horn sparked.

Both stallions with her looked more hesitant. Most minotaurs were as big as Astartes, with a muscle mass that was easily on par with the Space Marines. This one was even bigger than most, with a size rivaling the larger varieties of Ork. Its fur was ash white, and its massive horns boasted spiked metal bands.

Unlike an Ork, the minotaur seemed to be in no rush to fight. He simply stared silently at the equines with his arms held loosely at his sides, and his gaze dared them to advance on him.

"Okay, so, uh... s-surrender, minotaur! We have orders to take you alive!" Stone Grinder said, his voice cracking slightly.

The bovine warrior narrowed his eyes. "So the enemy wishes to divine our purpose here?" His voice was a deep rumble that cut through the rain with ease. The ponies started backing away.

"Well, not really. I mean, your purpose here isn't all that mysterious," the unicorn admitted, "and it's not like we don't understand WHY you might fight the Iron Warriors, either. But still, we're on their side. So you should really give up before we have to hurt you!"

The enormous warrior looked more bored than threatened as the unicorn levitated her shock gauntlet into the air. Her horn pulsed, and then the stun weapon shot forward toward the minotaur.

He smashed the gauntlet aside with one axe, knocking it away with a flash of light and clap of thunder.

This was followed by ANOTHER flash of light and clap of thunder when the shock gauntlet slammed into another pony. He shrieked in pain as he was flung to the side and out of the fight.

"Dang it, you're supposed to wear the gauntlet, not throw it!" Stone Grinder shouted to the mare.

"What are you, crazy? I'm not getting near this guy!" she snapped back.

The minotaur slammed an iron-shod hoof down, and the ponies flinched as a rock was ground to powder underneath him. "You two. Fight, or flee."

"Orrrr... we could sit here and discuss the matter until our friends get here to surround you," Stone Grinder suggested, making no move to approach, "say, I didn't catch your name! We're going to need that for registering you with the work camps."

"My name..." the minotaur's eyes narrowed to slits of cobalt blue. "My name is Killer Instinct, equine."

"Ooh, nice! I'm Stone Grinder, and this is Bright Bubble. The pony over there on the ground is Black Hammer."

"H-Hello..." mumbled the disabled stallion weakly before he coughed.

"You wear the garb and sundries of soldiers, but you lack a warrior's will," Killer Instinct said with a snort, "come, pony! Face your foe with courage and honor!"

The bushes around them rustled as more Company soldiers reached the standoff. Their taser goads crackled and sparked loudly in the rain as the humans silently approached, their weapons extended carefully.

"... Call me a coward, but I think I'd rather face my foe with laser guns and a ten-to-one advantage," Stone said, pawing the ground with a hoof.

The minotaur grinned. "Coward."

The human soldiers closed in as a team, surrounding the target's front and each aiming a goad at a different height. Killer Instinct bounded to the side with surprising agility, his battleaxes arcing down at the same time toward one of his opponents.

A loud spark gave way to a scream of pain as both the mercenary's goad and his arm were cleaved apart. The man stumbled to his knees, and was silenced a moment later with a short chop that removed his head.

Killer had to immediately parry another stab from a taser goad, and whips of hot electricity lashed from the contact before he knocked the weapon away. He twisted away from another jab, and then leapt backward, evading the goads that were reaching for him through the rain.

"Got him!" Stone Grinder shouted as he leapt at the minotaur's side, lunging for a knee with the shock gauntlet.

Killer Instinct lifted one leg to avoid the swipe, then stomped it down on top of the pony, crushing the stallion against the ground.

"Pathetic," the bovine warrior grunted before kicking the pony forward.

Stone Grinder landed in a groaning heap as the other soldiers advanced on the minotaur, although some of the mercenaries were securing their taser goads and taking up rifles.

The fight was brought to a standstill, however, when a terrible roar cut through the storm above.

"The hell is that?" mumbled a trooper as he peered up into the rain. His vox headset crackled in his ear a moment later.

"You guys! Dragon! You've got a freaking dragon over you! Get back to the convoy, before-"

Another roar cut off the transmission, and this time a flash of light lit up the darkened forest. A thick stream of fire poured down into the forest some distance away, and gave the soldiers their first glimpse of the monstrosity swooping in toward them. It was about the size and shape of a Maulerfiend, with thick, dark red scales and huge wings. It was also attacking an area where there were no soldiers, much to the confusion of the mercenaries.

Killer Instinct smirked as the rain dribbled down the braided locks of his hair. "Awareness of the battlefield is the difference between life and death," he jumped backward, leaping past a thick stripe of thick, black oil that laid across the ground, "a lesson learned too late, I fear."

Fire rushed across the oil stripe, jumping up to nearly five feet high as the falling rain created a shroud of steam rising over it.

"It's magic oil!" yelped a unicorn. "Don't let the fire touch you, or you'll never be able to put it out!"

"Damn, the flames are behind us, too! We're surrounded!"

"A gesture to your leaders," growled the minotaur's voice from behind the wall of flames, "they think to take this world? To be the masters of-OW!" Killer staggered back as a lasbolt pierced through the barrier of fire and burned into his chest.

"Shoot the son of a bitch!" shouted a mercenary as more lasers started stabbing through the fire and steam.

"I'm pretty sure he's the son of a cow!"

"No arguing! Just kill him!"

Killer scrambled away from the bursts of lasers, and another beam managed to cut into his leg before he stumbled behind a tree.

"And as the trap is sprung, the hunter's decoy is withdrawn," the minotaur hissed as he flexed his leg. He grit his teeth against the pain that resulted; intense, but not debilitating.

"'Flashlights' they call them. Hmph..."

Within the ring of fire and steam, the soldiers of the 38th Company fired blindly after the minotaur as a mood of rising panic took hold.

"Did we get him?"

"How would I know?!"

"Well, can we stop shooting, then? I'd like to think about how we might not get cooked alive, here!"

A human mercenary who was checking on Stone Grinder's injuries stood up and ran a hand through his hair anxiously. "Okay. Okay, I have an idea. We need a Rhino over here. It'll park on the flame wall, and we can walk over the transport out of the trap!"

"Got it!" snapped another mercenary before tapping his vox headset. "My lord! We request immediate evacuation! We're trapped behind..."

The man stopped speaking when the dragon that had ignited the fire ring swooped down on the unit, landing heavily on one section of the blazing wall. Neither the flames nor the abundant steam seemed to bother the creature as it stared down at the stunned mammals, and small puffs of white smoke blasted from its nostrils as it chuckled.

"... Trapped behind what?" growled the vox. "What's wrong?"

"H-Help..." the mercenary replied weakly.

"And here Nox claimed you apes were clever." The dragon's voice was a deep, resonant rumble, and his conversational tone didn't change even when lasers started spraying across his chest. "I hope you pests taste better than you fight."

The dragon opened his maw, and a quivering red flame flickered over its tongue. The mercenaries backed away, almost tripping over each other to escape the coming flames.

A screeching whine came from above, and the dragon hesitated at a critical moment.

"HUARGH!!" The monster was blasted in the side by a thick purple beam, and it collapsed onto the ground with a furious howl. The plating under the attack buckled in moments, cracking open and drooling hot blood onto the ground.

Twilight Sparkle settled into a hover overhead as the dragon stumbled to its feet. The water rolled over the repulsor engines of her flight pack unevenly, spraying droplets about in thick fans, while her force harmonizer blazed purple and psionic hoarfrost shimmered about it.

"You're hungry, are you? Chew on this!" Twilight shouted. The force harmonizer flashed again, and a shrieking purple ray slashed across the dragon's wing.

The beast roared again, and the trapped soldiers leapt away as he jumped into the air and beat his wings against the stormy sky.

Twilight had a moment to spare while the dragon got airborne, and her horn casing glowed while she pinpointed a part of the flame wall. The ground underneath the burning layer of oil rose up and peeled away in opposite directions, rolling into the surrounding flames and leaving a muddy trench through the fire.

Content that the soldiers would take the chance to exit, Twilight concentrated fully on the dragon.

"Ambushing a squad of under-armed humans and pony soldiers after you have them trapped in place. Aren't you brave?" Twilight said with a scowl.

The dragon reached even height with the alicorn and stopped in a hover, flames leaking from its maw. "Not as brave as you, certainly. That's probably while I'll fly away ALIVE!"

Twilight summoned a sphere barrier just before a jet of fire speared through the rain at her. The blast left a thick cloud of steam behind it that washed around her after the fire was gone, and her visor switched to thermal mode in an eye blink.

Tracking the dragon's approach, Twilight teleported away seconds before he reached her, snapping his jaws shut on a cloud of empty vapor.

"See this? This is why I don't let Spike hang around with other dragons. You're a bad influence." Twilight's horn flashed, firing a spread of magic blasts at her opponent.

The magic missiles struck the dragon's scales harmlessly, failing to so much as scratch its natural armor.

"Cheeky little equine! Do you think that little piece of tin the humans gave you will keep you safe from me?"

The dragon swept close to Twilight, and she had to teleport behind it again to avoid the beast's claws.

"No, it probably wouldn't!" she shouted as the dragon turned around. "But it has other advantages! If you want to get out of this alive, then this is your last chance! Either surrender or flee!"

The dragon hovered for a moment, sneering through the rain at the purple Princess. "The human filth and all of their corrupt allies will burn, equine. If the Iron Warriors and Equestria would fight together, then you will die together. This world will NOT submit."

"Don't we get ANY credit for saving the planet and everything on it?" Twilight griped. "I didn't see YOU fighting any Orks!"

The dragon's response was a fireball, which Twilight turned away with the shield barrier of her harmonizer. "Right. Silly me. Of course we have to do this the hard way." Twilight cut her flight pack, and then cast a spell to soften her landing as she plummeted back into the forest.

****

"Geez, that lizard is making a racket. Wasn't he supposed to toast the soldiers and leave?"

Nox remained silent as the other griffon complained, listening to the dragon's shouting through the storm.

"Can't believe we lost Ferrel, though. Poor guy." The gunner looked down at her musket, her forehead feathers ruffling. "I can't imagine what it's like to actually be captured by those freaks."

"In a few hours you WILL!" growled a voice from above.

The griffon gunner hit the ground in a roll as a pegasus swooped down through the branches, evading a swing from the pony's shock gauntlet. She snapped her musket up and fired at the pony's back, striking its wing.

"Quick! Finish it off!" the gunner yelled as the pegasus crashed into the ground. She quickly turned her attention upward, spying the other pegasi approaching overhead.

Nox glanced down at the wounded pony, and then up at the three other pegasi who were circling around and looking for good paths through the branches.

Without a word, she turned and ran.

"Nox? Hey! Where are you-" the other griffon yelped as she leapt over another attacking pony, and her wings pushed her higher as she instinctively sought greater altitude.

That instinct proved her undoing, as it brought her directly in the path of yet another equine soldier. A shock gauntlet struck her with a thunderous crash, and the griffon girl screamed before she was thrown back into the mud.

She writhed on the ground for several seconds, her muscles going numb and spots dancing over her eyes. Though her vision wasn't so bad that she couldn't see the pegasus she had shot earlier stepping within leg's reach.

"This is Sky Sweeper," the mare spoke into her vox as she raised her shock gauntlet, "target secured."

"This is White Wing. Confirmed Sweeps, hold position. I'm tracking the final target," replied another pegasus as a shock impact boomed through the storm.

"Well, the final target aside from the dragon and minotaur," mumbled the wingmare flying behind him.

"Hey, if you want a piece of that, you go ahead. I'll be going after the guys that are only TWICE my size, thanks." White Wing tapped a hoof against his headset, and his optics mode switched to thermal vision. "Okay, I've got something! Zephyr, circle around and get ready to follow-up when you see an opening! Let's go!"

Centering his view on the upright blob of bright orange below, White Wing switched vision modes again and swooped down onto the figure.

"Whoa!" the figure shouted, holding up an arm to shield himself.

White barely managed to veer away at the last second to avoid hitting his target, and stumbled into the mud instead. The creature he had been lining up to hit was a human man, wearing their typical outfit of a red overcoat over a flak vest. He was leaning against a tree and held an arm against his side, suggesting that he was wounded.

"A friendly? How did you get here?" White Wing asked, lifting up his optics.

The mercenary shook his head. "I circled around hoping to cut off the snipers. And I did. For all the good it did me," he spat, "one of those bird-cat things cut me and ran. She made damn good time, too." He pointed off to the side, into the thickets.

The pegasus clicked his tongue as his wingmare moved into a hover directly above him. "Aw, haystacks. We might've let her get too much of a lead on us."

He spread his wings again, but then hesitated and glanced at the human soldier. "Hey, do you need help? We can stay if you need us..."

"I'll be fine," the man grunted, "get that damn bird! Uh... cat. Thing."

"On it!" The stallion jumped into the air and flew up above the trees again, followed by his partner.

The two pegasi soared deeper into the storm, switching vision modes frequently and winding their paths to cover a greater area. Minutes stretched by with no sign of their quarry.

"Shoot. I think we really lost her," grumbled White Wing.

"... I wonder what happened to all his wargear," Zephyr said, turning her head back where they had flown from.

"What?"

"That guy had no weapons. No rifle, no goad, no sidearm... There wasn't anything on his belt, either. Did the griffon manage to strip all his gear during a hit-and-run attack?"

"...... Huh. Weird."

****

"The 38th Company is a perfectly valid government entity with a..." Twilight galloped to the side as a fireball exploded against the tree next to her, peppering her armor with mud and bits of wood. "... A serious claim to this planet!" She continued racing forward, and then teleported across a clearing such that she was facing her pursuer.

"I don't CARE," growled the dragon as he pushed through the trees and rain, "stop talking and FIGHT ME."

"That sort of attitude is only going exacerbate-"

She teleported again to avoid a stream of flame, re-materializing behind the massive beast.

"-the problems that drive you to resist Company dominion in the first place!"

Twilight jumped into a hover as the dragon's tail swept about to try to swat her away. "Besides, you can't seriously think you can defeat the Iron Warriors militarily!"

The dragon hissed as he turned around. "I have to admit, I'm more of a 'short-term' thinker. I cannot fathom how such a war would end. But this BATTLE, at least, can only end with your death!"

Another tongue of flame blasted out toward the armored pony, and she was briefly swallowed by flame and steam.

Twilight emerged a moment later, however, blasting higher into the air against the constant downpour. "Unlikely! I've already analyzed and figured out your ambush plan!"

"Congratulations," the dragon snorted as he launched himself up to follow her, "it really wasn't that complex."

"No, but it did have certain important subtleties to it!" Twilight countered as she continued to blast higher up over the treetops. "Specifically, you were obviously going to great lengths to avoid the actual patrol convoy and its armor escort!"

This gave the dragon pause. "... Wait, why does that-"

The sound of anti-air fire cut off the beast's question, and a furious roar emerged from his throat after he found himself being hammered by powerful armor-piercing shells. Chunks of scaled plating were blasted away, and his flapping became more desperate as his wings were shredded apart.

"BRIMSTONE!! A thousand curses upon you, pony!" he snarled, glancing at the patrol convoy out of the corner of his eye. Evidently he'd been led much closer to the road while he'd been chasing the armored equine through the forest, and now the humans' heavier guns had a bead on him. They had even called in some extra ones, it seemed, since a pair of drop-deployed quad-cannon turrets were thundering against his hide.

The patrol's Predator tank fired its twin-linked lascannon into his torso, searing through his body at a temperature that made a mockery of his draconic, fire-resistant hide. His wings faltered and the dragon fell.

Twilight heaved a vox-scrambled sigh once the dragon hit the ground, generating a hefty wave of mud. Then she angled around for a descent.

Twilight's helmet scanned over the fallen dragon while she landed, marking out the numerous bleeding wounds and analyzing them to determine cause and severity.

"So, now that you've felt a small sample of the Company's weapons, are you ready to surrender?" the force harmonizer flashed as it engaged its blade mode, and the arrow-shaped wedge of magic power crackled against the falling rain.

The dragon shifted weakly to twist its head around and look at the pony that had outmaneuvered him. "I will NOT submit, equine," he choked out, "you and your Princess may bend knee to the iron tyrants, but you will come to regret your cowardice."

"Not nearly as much as we would have regretted the 'courage' of letting them leave, but apparently you don't care about that," Twilight grumbled, "look, it's not that I can't sympathize with your resistance. I do. But you should be helping us build a new world that we can all tolerate, not dragging us all into a war that you can't possibly win!"

"Build a new world? Ha!" The dragon coughed painfully after the attempt at laughing, and his vision started spinning as ever more hot, steaming blood oozed into the muck below. "A world where Chaos rules the planet and you ponies wait on them like loyal hounds? You can have it!" He coughed again. "But you'll have to fight for it first, Princess."

"... So be it," Twilight said sadly as the force harmonizer floated forward, "show me your neck, dragon. The Twiblade with finish-"

"That's a stupid name for a weapon," the dragon interrupted.

"Oh, just shut up!" the alicorn shouted as she scrunched up her muzzle. The humming purple blade darted forward.

****

Ferrous Dominus - sector 25

Chez le Saddle

Twilight walked into the restaurant uncertainly, her armored gait feeling more and more out of place with every step.

She had never been in this place before, as it was a fairly new establishment. Unlike the other eateries in the fortress that she'd seen, this one conspicuously avoided sharing the same aesthetic as the rest of the fortress at large. The flooring was layered with a plush ivory carpet, the chairs were all delicate wooden constructs (in different sizes and shapes for different species), and the walls and ceiling were covered over in textured wallpaper that hid the armor, pipes, and riveting that usually "decorated" the building interiors.

The most impressive - and obvious - attempt to escape the general atmosphere of the base, however, were the windows. Rather than actually letting customers see out into the dreary cocktail of smog and rain that Twilight had just walked through, each window was covered over with a vid-screen. These screens displayed high-fidelity images of far nicer places, giving the restaurant a bizarre but effective sense of displacement from the fortress-factory. On one side of the restaurant one could see endless stretches of ocean occasionally broken by a breaching whale or sea serpent. The other walls boasted other peaceful environments, from jungle canopies to grassy savannas.

"Welcome to Chez le Saddle, Princess Sparkle," said a greeter at the front. Twilight quickly turned her head around, suddenly quite aware that she had been standing in front of the entrance and gawking at the decor.

Sitting behind a small podium was a unicorn mare possessing the same vaguely disinterested semi-sneer that seemed a permanent fixture on the wait staff at these sorts of places. "It is an honor for Chez le Saddle to serve you tonight, your Highness," the greeter said, somehow managing to perfectly combine her haughty expression and tone with her fawning words, "will you be claiming one of our VIP rooms this evening?"

"I'm actually meeting with Rarity. Is she already here?" Twilight asked, looking over the dining floor. The restaurant was half full, with the vast majority of the customers being ponies. There were a few humans here and there, however, and one table where a pegasus was evidently having a very intense conversation with a pair of Kroot.

"Let's see... ah, yes. Under Delgan, party of four. Very good." The mare gestured to the side with her hoof. "Our dress code, unfortunately, does not allow for powered armor at the table. If you would like, we can have your suit disassembled and stored until your departure."

Twilight looked where the greeter was pointing, and she was rather impressed to see a tile-floor alcove off to the side with servo arms hanging from the ceilings and walls.

"No, thank you, I can take care of it," Twilight said as she turned back around. With a flash of purple light, her armor seemed to disintegrate around her, and soon the alicorn was naked.

"Ah, very good," the greeter unicorn walked toward a stairwell, seeming utterly unfazed by the feat of magic, "this way, your Highness."

The unicorn led Twilight Sparkle up the stairs and then into a new hallway with soundproofed doors leading to a series of private dining rooms. She knocked on one of them, and then waited for the indicator lumen to turn green.

"There you are, Princess Sparkle," the greeter said as she stepped aside, "if you need anything, please notify your waitress via the vox link at your table." With a brief nod, she started heading back down the stairs.

"Thank you," Twilight managed before the other mare walked out of earshot. With a momentary glance at the green lumen, Twilight pushed the door open.

"Twilight, darling! I'm so glad you could make it!" Rarity said brightly.

"Greetings, Princess Sparkle," said Delgan before sipping a glass of amasec.

Fluttershy mumbled something unintelligible in greeting, and then went back to lapping at her tea.

Twilight sat down next to Fluttershy while twisting her head around to stare at the walls. Rather than the windows being covered with vid-screens, they covered three of the walls entirely. The image they played was of an underwater vid-capture, making it seem like the dining room was surrounded by schools of fish, sharks, and the odd kraken.

"Wow. This is really nice," the alicorn mumbled, quite surprised and impressed.

"Isn't it just a world apart from the filth and blight outside?" Rarity asked with a grin. "This room uses some of the lowest technology available to the fleet, and look at how much they've done with it!" She sighed. "I'll have to ask Solon if he can install a similar system in my room."

Twilight winced. "Rarity, if the technology isn't that sophisticated, couldn't any Acolyte install the system? Why would you have to bother the Warsmith?"

"So that it responds to my magic, of course!" Rarity tapped a button on the table, and a hololithic panel appeared in front of her. "These hololith menus are neat, of course, but hard to use with hooves. Everything is built with fingers in mind. And you know how the tech-clergy get when asked to accommodate psykers. Solon should be able to come up with something more convenient for me."

"At this point I'm quite certain he's only refrained from killing you as a favor to me, Miss Rarity," Delgan drawled.

The white unicorn scoffed. "Oh, please! Solon complains, but the man is an absolute dear beneath all his grumbling! I'm sure he doesn't really mind!"

Twilight and Fluttershy chuckled nervously as Rarity gingerly tapped a spot on the hololith. "Go ahead and order, girls. Tonight's feast is on the Merchant Corps."

"As free with my money as always," Delgan said as he rolled his liquor glass about in his hand, "on the subject of the Warsmith, though, I don't think he'll have time to build anything for anyone. The fleet is finishing final preparations to depart."

Twilight blinked. "So soon? I thought there was going to be another week's delay, at most."

"Lord Sliver decided to abandon the Triumph of Baal to this system for now. The materials it holds are being shifted to other vessels as much as possible, but the priority, evidently, is to get our supplies to the Legion armies immediately."

"How long until they depart?" Rarity asked thoughtfully.

"They're aiming for tomorrow."

Fluttershy tapped her order into the floating hololith. "So does that mean you're all leaving until you can drop off your supplies?"

"Not all of us, no," the Trademaster said, "almost all of the Iron Warriors will go, and a fair majority of the Dark Mechanicus. The humans that aren't strictly necessary to the drop off - including myself - will be left behind to protect the manufactorum and keep up production while the fleet is gone. A good deal for everyone; the Eye of Terror can be rather... hard on us mortals, and the Iron Warriors dislike having to deal with the additional disruption among the human troops when we're not even needed for combat duty." He paused to sip his drink. "The Nethalican is to silence the storm tonight."

"Well, that's a relief. Kind of," Rarity put her own order into the hololith screen, "I'll be glad that those 'mana surges' will finally stop, but it's somewhat nerve-racking that our planet could be subjected to a new alien invasion at any time, and without having the Astartes on hand to help fight."

"How many Iron Warriors will be left here?" Twilight asked as she too ordered her dinner.

"From what I heard, merely a dozen. That includes Lord Serith, Lord Dest, and Warpsmith Kessler, who will be in command of the skeleton crew." Delgan finished his drink and put down the empty glass. "It does NOT include Lord Tellis, although he's liable to end up staying here anyway. We imagine that he'll show up the day after the fleet departed and start asking around about where everyone is. So, you know, we can look forward to that."

Twilight pursed her lips as she thought that over. "That means the fortress will be vulnerable..."

"Vulnerable? To what? The Orks?" Rarity asked.

"I wouldn't worry about them too much; even if they could muster the numbers necessary to be a threat to Ferrous Dominus, it's doubtful they could lay a successful siege. And they probably won't even try, since they're busy running rampant over the countryside."

"Also, we'll still have the Tau," Fluttershy pointed out.

Rarity and Twilight gave her an exasperated look.

"Wh-What?" the pegasus shrunk back, afraid that she had said something wrong.

"Nothing. I'm just not sure whether the Tau are an asset to our defenses, or a threat," Twilight mumbled.

"Oh, come now. Love and tolerate a little," Delgan said before the entry buzzer rang.

"Appetizers are here!" Rarity said gleefully as she cleared the waiters for entry. "You're going to LOVE the salads, Norris! This chef is quite famous for them!"

"No doubt. Although I'd really hoped human and equine integration had reached such levels that I could get a steak. You're going to turn me vegetarian at this rate."

Twilight tuned out the small talk as the group's salads were distributed, thinking on the fleet's impending departure.

She supposed that she shouldn't be seriously concerned. Ferrous Dominus was easily the most heavily militarized location in the world, and the soldiers that were to act as its garrison were still perfectly capable. The Tau hadn't shown much capacity for rebellion so far, and still possessed no obvious route off-planet. Luna and Equinought Squadron would be ready to defend the base. And - just maybe - a general lack of Iron Warriors might allow Equestria to take a leading role in dealing with matters of expansion and integration.

Nothing to worry about at all...

"Twilight, how did your patrol go today?" Rarity asked, snapping the Princess out of her thoughts.

"Oh, not too bad. I killed a dragon," Twilight levitated her fork up to her plate.

Delgan quirked an eyebrow. "Did you, now? I'll bet that skull would make quite a trophy. Would you be willing to sell it?"

"The unit champion took it. I think he's going to mount it onto the Predator." Twilight shrugged. "Which is fine by me. It DID score the first mortal wound."

"I miss our old conversations, about flowers and friendship," Fluttershy murmured before the group fell silent to eat.

****

Ferrous Dominus - sector 22 guard barracks

Twilight sighed happily to herself as she walked back to her room, feeling quite contented after a fine meal and relaxing atmosphere.

"Subsisting on nutrient gruel most days really makes you appreciate good food like that," she said to no one as she reached the door to her quarters.

The ID scanner read her armor identifier, and the door thumped loudly before it slid open.

"Spike? Did someone fix my cogitator console yet?"

The young dragon was sitting next to his bed, tapping at a dataslate. "Does it look fixed?" he asked without turning his head around.

Twilight had to admit that it did not. The screen was just a hole in the wall that had been covered over with strips of thick tape, and the controls were a mess of twisted metal.

"I called in the DarkMechs, but they said they were busy getting everything prepared to go with the fleet and didn't have time for it today," Spike explained.

Twilight groaned. "Drat. I thought you had some special pull with them?"

"That's probably what it looks like to you since they don't literally throw me out of the temples, but no, not really," he finally turned his head to look up at the Princess, "do you want me to ask one of those Earth Caste guys? They've had more free time lately."

"No, never mind. I'll just use my helmet unit until a Techpriest can come around," Twilight sighed as she cast the spell to banish her power armor again.

"Your call. Also, you got mail." Spike pointed toward her desk.

Twilight saw a rolled-up scroll waiting for her, tied closed with string, and her eyebrow rose. "A letter? From who?"

"Don't know. It came by regular mail, apparently. Servitor dropped it off this afternoon."

Twilight picked up the scroll with her levitation magic and untied the string. Then she unfurled the parchment and looked at the signature at the bottom.

"It's from Princess Celestia!" Twilight gasped.

Spike jerked his head up. "What? Really?" That seemed very odd to him. Why would Celestia send Twilight a message by ordinary mail rather than his fire teleport? "Does she not trust me now because of those messages that Serith intercepted? He doesn't do that anymore!"

"The Princess can't know that for certain," Twilight pointed out as she read the letter, "and come to think of it, we can't either, really."

Spike groaned and folded his arms over his chest. "Oh, fine. So what's SO IMPORTANT that the Princess had to send it by Pony Post, but not so important that she couldn't just get anypony with a vox system to tell you?"

Twilight didn't respond for several seconds. Then she didn't respond for several more seconds.

The silence continued, and Spike started to get worried. "Twi? Is... everything okay?"

"...... Interesting," Twilight finally mumbled, "this changes everything."

"Wh-What? What do you mean?" Spike asked nervously.

"Start packing our things, Spike. We're going on a trip."

Author's Note:

And the saga continues. I decided to go with "Entrenchment" after all.
I'll be writing up a more general (and constantly expanding) character roster soon rather than doing the usual thing where I post everything at the beginning. I'll also be posting most of my notes and story discussion topics in the Age of Iron group rather than in my profile blog, so if that doesn't convince you to join the group, then I'm completely out of ideas!

Comments

[nothing_to_see_here]

To the Iron Shelf with you!
I really liked this, and I can't wait to see what Sunbutt is going to have them do. Probably something like 'kick the rest of them off the planet while they're gone' which I'm sure would go great for the ponies. And Twilight's dream threw me off for a second, I legitimately thought that was happening.
And I'm really hating how this is already putting ideas in my head for a chapter of the story I'm writing when the first one isn't even done. It's not that the chapter is even that long, I've just lacked the will and time to write as much as a I want to.
I really want to write a chapter where my character and some mooks meet that one 1984/Anthem village from season 5, and just wreck the place after they try to mess with the Chaos mark.
Can I ask you for advice? I'm just having trouble with writing transitions between scenes, like, should I go into a lot of detail? Or just a bit before moving on to the next scene?

[The Warmaster]

YAY! THERE IS MORE STORY! I LOVE IT ALREADY!

GLORY TO THE DARK GODS!

Except Slaanesh.

[Neece]

Another fave, another like.
Also, Twily the Dragon Slayer!! Now with 20% more Twiblade action!

XD gotta love your works.

Poor flutters... Well, at least the conversations are just like your future. Bleak and riddled with pain, suffering and death. And Telis, let's not forget him XD

[SPudRum]

This please me. Also when will Gear become mechapon?

[MareDoVVell]

Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssss let's rock bitches!

[Mitch H]

Dude. And it even looks like another novel, I got the impression earlier from earlier comments that you'd be doing short form vignettes in the near future.

Although I never got the impression that Twilight ever gave Tellis enough thought to wish his death before. That seems more like a Fluttershy, Sliver or Gaela sentiment. If he's prank infecting her tech, I can see her souring quickly on him though. Speaking of which, is Twi teaching herself binary yet? I would think that the Mechanius black balling her would just inspire the book horse to start trying to reverse engineer their methods and information

[Aziraphael]

Words can not express how happy I am to see this.

And I was suspicious when that diamond dog took out the Butcher automata, but the fleeing "griffin" that the ponies lost sealed the deal. Looks like the changelings are back to stirring up trouble. This can only end well.

[Ninjab33z]

6439795 Well to be fair he did throw her at an ork warboss. I think most people would be pretty miffed at that

[Mix-up]

And here I though that you completely abandon the story. I am so happy that I was wrong. I like how the tone of the story has chance so far, I like how he Diamond Dog, the Griffins, the Minotaur, the some of the Festrals, The Dragons and the Changelings have "banded" together to fight th 38th Company and there Pony lackeys. All doe I believe that the Diamond Dogs are more tools rather then allies, seeing that there leader was in actuality a Changeling. Seeing that most of the 38th forces are going to Leave Centaur 3 soon, with most of the Space Marines, the Ponies, the human mercenaries, and the Tau are going to to fend for them selves against the allied forces of Centaur 3. I am looking forward to see how the battle between the two factions are going to go about. But in all my heart I know this will be a Saga for the ages, full of desperate fighting and horrors as well a comedy to offset the last two.

It's going to be a great ride...

[snowblind]

you got featured... lol btw i think this whole series of stories is the longest i have ever seen...

[Heitomos]

A lot of this was certainly interested! I'm pretty sure I noticed Queen Chrysalis a few times in there, doing subtle things. I'm curious as to what's going to happen with that now that she's a merc with access to Ferrous Dominus.

All in all, a really good start to this whole thing! I'm very interested to see where this goes. Still gunna miss the Elements though. :P

[SFaccountant]

6439369
Oh, it's nothing so stupid as that...
Although it's still pretty stupid.

If you want to chat, send me a PM and we'll see if I can help.

6439383
Yeah, screw that guy... girl... thing!

6439413
"Riddled with Tellis"? Yes. Yes, I'm liking that.

6439436
Gear Works is getting his own little mini-series. Probably.
I do have to find a use for that awesome new picture Bakki made me.

6439795
Binaric Cant, unfortunately, isn't a language that can just be "taught". It requires special cortical implants to understand and special vocal implants to speak. Some Iron Warriors have undergone these modifications, and some power armor suits have systems to translate basic machine code, but it's not the sort of thing Twilight can pick up with dedicated studying.

6439881
Whaaaat? Changelings? I think you're reading a little far into thi- (notices character listing) oh, right.

6439937
That's the plan!
Although ONE pony may find herself... otherwise occupied while that happens.

6439982
What? Featured? No way did this-holycrapthereitis.
Huh. Suffer Not the Alien to Live didn't make the cut, but the sequel did?
I'm guessing that EQD feature is to blame for this.

6440053
Well, they were put to good use. And hey! Maybe Equinought Squadron will stumble upon a generic magic shop during their rounds and pick up a new set of game-breaking plot devices! It worked for Trixie.

[SPudRum]

6440150
Ah I see, also Suffered Not Alien to Live actually get featured. Though if I wasn't wrong only for 2-3 hours before other more higher viee story overtake it.

[Mitch H]

6439912
Hey, this is MLP. Throwing waifus at Big Bads is practically a declaration of romantic intent. Which could, I suppose, inspire a turbo tsun response, given Twi's recent run of luck in beaus...

[Liqwidice]

TY ever so much for continuing this awesome series.

[Architect Ironturtle]

And here I thought you'd wrapped this up. I'm really happy you're bringing the other races into it now, as their absence from the earlier installments was starting to break immersion, and am looking forward to more Chaos silliness.

P.S. As great as the action is, it's the humor that I stick around for.

[Commissar Derpy Hooves]

"Limited grimdark themes"

I shall watch this story closely to see if it fucks up.......

[Aziraphael]

6440150
Pssh, you looked at the character listings? What a filthy casual. Authors use foreshadowing for a reason. Get on my level.

...Also, I totally didn't forget that those were a thing that I could look at. Totally.

[Mutalist Alad V]

Wait...a changeling tag? Are you finally going to answer my question?

[Adin]

Haven't even started it yet, but preemptively liked and favorited. You sir have earned my readership with the rest of the series, I was just worried you were done with it forever.

[Rhaenys]

Wouhou! more power (armored) ponies !

The very best kind of ponies

[Vaderman]

Hello again dear author! Vaderman here! Hope you still remember me, because even If it seems that I am not here, it most of the time means otherwise (Hydra Dominatus) and it also means that I need more time to sometimes fully complete my criticism on your work! But today I am not for that exact purpose, I am here to thank you for those (hmm I think 2 or even 3) years you kept me entertained with your stories! Because of my way of life I have to travel a (f***ing) lot, but I can say those things became more bearable because of (guess who?) YOU! You can just wave my words away, but I am sincerely grateful to you and your work!

Hope you will still magically post new chapters magically just before my departure somewhere else again!

Your faithful reader
Vaderman

[lebowski42]

Worst thing about this was I thought Twilight was safe from Dusk Blade; you've built it up so much and I liked that they didn't end up together. Now there's a new story and were starting right off with the "relationship" drama. I'm on to you author!

I'm rooting for the natives; and not just to be an awkward git like I normally am. They have some real balls attacking chaos space marines with muskets knowing full well they will do nothing. Mind you every creature in the world has some sort of magic and magic has been proven again and again to actually be safe physic powers. So they aren't as hopelessly out gunned as it would first seem. They just need to dig around for the right maguffin.

Twilight has become a real monster ; she may rationalize it, but she's basically just killing all who don't submit to chaos now. It's fun to make quips in your invincible evil future armour killing a thing defending its home from the servants of the chaos gods, huh ? Just shrug your shoulders and nonchalantly talk about it's skull getting mounted on a tank and carry on I guess. Would she do the same if it was a hold out earth pony village?

I'd bet Celestia is working with these heroic rebels; she's got the motive and the means ; can communicate with them easily via changeling spys and knows first hand that friendship magic beats chaos when the chips are down. She knows how pathetic any resistance they could have put up with till now would have been, and would have been planning some way to get rid of them surely? She's got the long term plans and would totally have the connections to get all the other races working with her. Plus i'd love to see her working with Chrysalis for the greater good.

[spinner335]

We all love you and this story.

[SFaccountant]

6440340
Not unless the question was "how does an army of shape-changing bugs go about murdering the hell out of a bunch of humans with tanks and laser guns?"

6441215
Protecting one's bedroom from intruders counts as "relationship drama"? What kind of relationships have you been in?
I'm glad (and unsurprised) that you're cheering for the resistance! They're going to need all the help they can get...

6441318
Aw, shucks. You guys are the best.

[GBscientist]

This looks like another excellent start! I look forward to seeing where you take it.

Is Dest going to be one of the IW left behind? Because I don't know what Sugarcube Corner would do without him.

[SFaccountant]

6442762
He sure is!
He can't leave the cakes hanging to go do pretty much nothing in the Eye of Terror!

[GBscientist]

6443557 Excellent news! Even for a daemon-infested Chaos worshipper, Dest is a stand-up guy.

[Nightweaver]

Woo! Start of another great story.

On a side note, will the Iron Warriors discover the beautiful Poison Joke plant? That would be an interesting encounter, for sure...

[SFaccountant]

6443669
Poison joke flower...
Huh. That gives me some ideas. The native forces do need a couple tricks up their non-sleeves if they're going to give the Company a good fight.

[Nightweaver]

6444621
It would be interesting to see how each of the Chaos cults would be affected by it.
Nurgle cultist? Make them clean and healthy.
Khorne? Totally unable to express any form of anger.
Tzeentch? Nothing, he fucks around with them already, I doubt they'd even notice.

[Aatxe360]

"That's a stupid name for a weapon," the dragon interrupted.

What last words!

[Warsmith Davgar]

Devros? Why does that name sound familiar? [SARCASM INTENSIFIES]

[SFaccountant]

6445076
Twilight may have won the battle, but the dragon got in a burn that can't be treated by any medicae.

6445981
Er... I don't know. I made it up on the spot. Is that the name of a canon character? Or is this about it somewhat resembling your name?
I mean, the guy was only addressed by name twice because it was too awkward for me to avoid giving him one entirely, and I don't really plan on using him again. I can totally change it.

[Warsmith Davgar]

6447228 A major character on the British TV show "Doctor Who" is named Davros,and he's also one of the biggest enemies

[SFaccountant]

6448318
Oh. Never heard of him.
I'll go change the guy's name, then.

[Hey its that Pony]

That opening. So casual and fun yet still sets the serious mood perfectly. I loved Empyra. She almost feels like a younger Luna.

So it seems the curiosity on whether or not the "zero deaths" clause the ponies enjoy would extend to the other local races has been answered. Resistance is going to have it rough but "Happy Hills" will be there to sooth things out.

Took me some time but I finally sat down to read this and I'm so happy with the start.

6448589
Meh, I don't feel like there's a real need. Darvos is a real big bad in the show but he doesn't show up very much. Actually, he may be dead now, but don't quote me on that. (Time Shenanigans ahoy!) But my point is, I'm a Dr. Who fan and I had to look him up before I remembered who he was.

[Warsmith Davgar]

6448589 Oh,you don't have to change it. I doubt BBC'll notice,much less care

[SFaccountant]

6450243
Well, apparently I have people picking up Dr. Who references in my fic. I don't want that.
I mean, you guys might start expecting Time Turner to actually DO something (I hear the Doctor has some experience with alien invasions), and I can't really accommodate that.

6450105
Sorry, sentient animals! You must be this cute to be invincible ->

[ayh]

Now I sort of want to see Spike complain to Solon how 'lucky' the guy is to get spend so much time around Rarity. Cue Solon forcefully cutting open Spike's head and implanting a mini cognitor core with designs for various tools and such so Spike can have the 'honor' of once again being Rarity's butt monkey. Twilight complains that Spike isn't a servitor and Gaela points out that he still has full freewill and that she's jealous that Solon didn't bless her with such a gift. Spike gets dragged into the mechanicus temple to begin training to understand everything that's been downloaded into his brain as well as used as a talking reference book.

Just with Solon going with the fleet, someone has to be the poor sap that constantly has the mane 6 dump their broken armor and weapons upon and is made their personal slave -assistant/mechanic.

[SFaccountant]

6454163
Well, that's just sill...
(Long pause)
(Crickets)
... Huh. Actually, that's not bad at all.
I kind of lost direction with him after deciding not to make him into a furious berserker Chaos dragon. That would actually be a good way to ensure his relevance to the plot (albeit in a way that makes him interchangeable with several of the Dark Mechanicus characters). And I'm all for abusing Spike in ways that actually make him look useful and competent.
Tech-aide cyber-Spike... I'll have to think about that one.

[Wingnut]

Wait, you're continuing this? Sweet! Pretty sure I read in some blog post you were only going to write the five books.

[SFaccountant]

6454413
I said the Iron Heart series was going to be five books long. And it was. So now I've moved on to sequels and side-stories and whatnot.

[Dragon Dred]

"I miss our old conversations, about flowers and friendship,"

Lol

[Sinestere]

I saw the mad angel flying in to fight either killer or the dragon. Either way, I am very happy to see the story continue. I also see mental crash in the future for twilight, to many changes, too deep and quick. Fluttershy might flee being too far from her home and pets...

Solans missing fear aura is sure to come up in the future, as well as whatever ponies he brings with him to "show and tell" with his peers when the supplies are dropped off. Or the ponies that stow away to see the universe in pony. I expect him to bring a few wonders like a cragodile. And chaos forces will return with him seeking an audience with Discord... if Discord lives there, it must be sacred to chaos. Salon might not be allowed to keep the world for his own. Where else can such audiences be sought so freely?

Wouldn't the orcs see the diamond dogs as edible pets?

[SFaccountant]

6479435
Why would Discord be sacred to Chaos? Chaos Space Marines in general display very little tolerance for "fun" (except for the Emperor's Children, but we don't talk about them), and likewise wouldn't tolerate him. And even if he was important for religious reasons, the Iron Warriors are one of the least religious of the Traitor Legions.
And the Orks pretty much look at all other creatures as aliens or edible pets. So, yes.

[Your Local Daemonhunter]

6479625 Eh, the Word Bearers might be nutty enough to believe that before they meet Discord (After is a completely different story, however)

[ayh]

I love your work, and trying to do two separate crossovers like Ranma and WarHammer can't be easy. Props to you.

But I also got bored and wrote a little scene that I'll just toss out here and see if anyone likes it.

Heat and fouled smoke filled the area around Solon's Forge as the Warsmith himself went over the final departure schedule. Everything needed to be planned out and executed perfectly, every detail carried least something go wrong and cause a cascade of delays for the rest of the fleet. So important was this task that all others knew better than to intrude upon the Warsmith. And so it was with little surprise that Solon found himself yet again interrupted by a tiny squishy horse. And not just any tiny squishy horse, but the marshmallow one that caused him perhaps the most amount of grief for his time upon this planet.

"Solon darling~! I can't believe it is almost time for you to go. I believe I will truly miss our little get together's and thought I'd make one last stop for old times sake to drop off my list of repairs and requests for you to fill out before you leave."

A growl of hate rumbled deep within the Chaos Marine's frame at the sound of that voice.

"Oh! And I've brought another gift for you as well, I'm sure you'll definitely love this one!"

Her perky voice grating on his very essence Solon gave a disgusted snort as he finally turned around to face the pony that had once again violated his sanctum. In some sick sense of 'fairness' and 'generosity' the annoying one had taken to bringing him so called gifts. Normally that would have only been a somewhat irritating and rather redundant gesture that he would have simply passed off to a servitor to accept the tributes and then melt them down into their base materials to be re-used for the war efforts, but Rarity had managed to screw even that up. She constantly insisted on bringing her trinkets directly to him in person, and worst of all, they were just that, trinkets. Useless trinkets. Some how she had managed to bring all manner of materials and supplies that thwarted even his ability to turn into viable weapons or components. And she continued to insist that they were as some form of payment for the extensive lists of demands and repairs she never stopped asking for.

Honestly, the difference of value between what he did for her and what she brought to him only served to further deepen his dislike for the being before him. It was like someone was trying to exchange beads for a star ship. Rather than feel flattered, each 'gift' felt more like a spit in the face.

"Honestly, I can't believe you didn't like the tuxedo I brought to you last time, what ever will you do if you're invited to a fancy engagement?"

"You broughtish me ragsh and demanded a new plashma rife in return."

"Asked darling, I simply asked. And then asked again and kept on asking until you said 'yes', but the point still stands that all I did was ask."

"I could crusssh you like a bugsst!"

Tittering at the massive Warsmith's posturing Rarity simply waved him off with her hoof, a pleasant smile still upon her lips. "Oh Solon dear, we both know you are too much of a softy to ever harm anypony important."

"It frightensh me thash in shome ashpects the pink one hash a greater grashp of reality than you do."

Sighing wistfully Rarity gazed fondly upon the towering figure before her. "I think it'll be this, our playful little banter that we have that I will miss the most."

"It'sh not play."

"But before I get too distracted," Rarity continued seemingly not hearing Solon. "I would like to offer you this." Within her psycker field was held a an odd assortment of devices connected to each other by wire.

"The factsh that thesh are actsual devicesh and not ragsh or foodshtuffs inshtantly makesh these mush better than anything elshe you have brougsht me."

"Wahahaha! I knew you would like these!"

"That'sh not what I shaid."

Floating the device above the Warsmith Rarity continued, "I had dear Delgan commission this for me, honestly, I'm amazed you never made one for yourself earlier."

"Whatsh ish thish?" Solon asked, scanning the object before him and determining that it was not some explosive or other assassination tool. The entire assembly seemed to consist of two triangular head mounted speakers and some mini-congnitor wired between them.

"I believe it was called 'Text to Speech' though I'm not quite sure the person making it was using the term correctly. Anyway lets see how you look in it!"

Surprised by the sudden burst of psycker energy the unicorn before him put into her assult Solon was caught unawares as the device slipped onto his head. The two speakers attaching firmly to the top of his head and the congnitor over his mouth grill.

"Shhtop! Whatsh do you think yoush doing! Get this off of me at once you insipid little nuisance! What do you think you're ...do....ing?"

Halting his command for his auto cannons to open fire at the happily prancing white pony Solon took a moment to run his last sentence through his head.

"Scheduling of ship systems should precede ordinance supply shipments by at least six hours."

"It works! How does... it .... feel?" Trailing off Rarity's gaze took a slightly far away look as something in her being seemed to pass some inner threshold. Within her mind it was still Solon before her, but things seemed to just ever so slightly shift. The little triangular speakers became ears, the cognitor upon his grill morphed into a more muzzle like shape, the billowing infectious smoke spewed by his smoke stacks curled around his head like a flowing ephemeral mane. His multitude of legs clattering about seemed less grotesque than they did a moment ago. In fact, such a multitude seemed more reminiscent of legendary steeds like the Bagri Maro or even swift Sleipnir! And finally within her minds eye the various arms mounted upon the Warsmith seemed to wave in a non-existent wind like some modern tail swept forward by some mighty gust! In that instant hundreds of new dress designs with forward swept tails popped into Rarity's mind.

"I think this is actually the first time you've actually done something I can almost appreciate. I actually feel less inclined to see you murdered for bringing me your new list." Solon replied, missing the fashionistas earlier halted speech.

"List? Hm?" Shaking her hear Rarity looked down to the dataslave she had brought with her list of repairs and requests. "Oh! Oh no no no no no, I can't give this to you!"

"What?"

"No no no no no, this won't do at all," the unicorn replied with a look of aghast horror on her face. "You're much to busy to be bothered with such a trifle matter."

"What?"

"I'll simply have to take this to the Mechanicus people or whatever those robbed machine cult worshipers called themselves. You probably have so many more duties to attend to your Majesty," Rarity continued, BOWING to the Warsmith before her.

"What?"

"You enjoy your gift! Tata your Highness!" Rarity called out behind her and she excused herself from Solon's Forge, new dress patterns and designs dancing within her head. To think! She had a whole new addition to her Princess Line!

"What?"
*****************************************
Striding out into the polluted air of Ferrous Dominus, Solon ran the odd encounter with Rarity through his mind again. Once again failing to determine what had caused the change within the annoying unicorn, and thus determining a way to make it permanent and replicatable.

A thundering boom rocked across the sky as a circular rainbow spread out over FD and temporarily cleared away the clouds of pollutants for all of five minutes.

"Um, lord Tellis, I don't think Twilight will like it if she hears that you're throwing ponies again," Fluttershy muttered as she crouched down and hopfully out of reach from the mad Khorn worshiper.

"Nah, Rainbabe's cool with it, I'm sure. Plus, this is all science and shit. I'm experimenting to see how ponies explode when I throw them. That reminds me, I never got to toss you and see what you do when you hit something."

"Eeep!"

Trudging along Solon did what he always did when presented with Tellis. He ignored him and kept walking. Unfortunately his passing was noticed by Fluttershy as the yellow pegasus raced towards him in search of sanctuary.

"Princess Solon help!"

Time seemed to stop for all the humans as Fluttershy made her way to the Warsmith and hid beneath is mechanical legs.

".........what did you call me?"

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! I KNEW IT! It finally happened! Oh man, and I thought it'd be Gaela that'd get the tiara treatment!" Tellis bellowed as he fell over laughing.

"What is going on?"

"Evening Princess!" A stallion bowed to Solon before going on his way.

"Princess," another pony bowed deep before also going along his way.

"Good Evening Princess!" A pair of mares chirped, bowing deeply before also going along their way.

"Thank you Princess," Fluttershy whispered before engaging her invisibility and slinking away from the laughing Tellis.

"Damn it Tellis, shut up! Something seems to be affecting the ponies. Who knows how this might affect Ferrous Dominus if this is some prelude to an attack."

Standing up, the mad chaos worshiper actually did stop laughing, unsettling the Warsmith as this was perhaps the first time the lunatic had actually followed an order.

"Wait, you're suddenly a lot less funny, what gives?" Tellis asked, peering close at Solon.

"Rarity fixed my speech, but now is not the time-"

"That bitch! How dare she!" Exploding with furry Tellis's jets began to roar and spark, hissing to match their masters furry.

"What?"

"You're almost normal now! It's like I've got to start respecting you and crap!"

"What?"

"I'm going to find her and get her to fuck you up again!" And with that Tellis blasted off into the sky in search of the white unicorn.

".....I hate everyone."

"Don't say that Princess, we love you!"
Looking down Solon watched as a small blue and green maned pony in a environment protecting cloak polished his chassis.

"Why do you keep calling me Princess?"

"Huh? I did Warsmith?" the un-named pony asked, looking perplexed.

"Yes, right before, you called me -"
*clink*

Looking up, the Warsmith saw to his growing dread the edge of a golden tiara resting up on his head.

"There you go your Highness," proclaimed another unicorn mare with a jewelers glass as a cutie mark stitched onto the outside of her cloak.

Reaching up, Solon took the tiara and crushed it like a paper crown within his grasp.

Still this act of destruction did little deter the mare and she returned to a blacksmith anvil that Solon knew hadn't been there a moment ago. "Didn't like it huh? Well don't worry, me and the girls promise you we'll make something suitable for you before you can say 'ascension'!"

All around him Solon could see work benches and crafting tables set up with nearly a dozen ponies working at them on various jewels and wires of precious metals. Off to the side by the anvil a small forge had sprung up with two ponies melting down ingots of gold, silver, and platinum.

"Has everyone else gone insane or is this some kind of new bio-weapon?" Solon mused, his sensors taking in air and soil samples.

He had even managed to take several blood samples from willing volunteers around him, an actual line of ponies forming for him to take their blood when a buzzing in the air occurred, all the ponies around him licking their teeth at the sensation.

From out of a burst of light General Sliver strode, his imposing bulk causing several around him to backpedal to get out of his way.

"I heard fromsh that foolsh Telish that you have gained shome meashure of reshepct, ish it true?"

Straightening up Solon turned towards his commander second in command. "Sliver, it is good to see you. There seems to be some sort of contagion affecting the ponies .... and Tellis. We need to determine if it has spread to the human population as well."

"...... Ish thish shome short of joke?"

"Sliver?"

Pointing an accusing finger towards his leader and commander, the Nurgle worshiper spat as he looked on with disgust. "Jusht when I thought I could shtop being asshamed of my posshition sherving you, you take that hope and rip it away fromsh me!"

"Et tu Sliver?"

"I thought for oncesh I could hold my headsh up high in my shervice to you,"

"You know you have the same speech impediment as I did don't you?" Solon pointed out.

"but you thensh do thish!" Lord Sliver bellowed, knocking off several ponies that had climbed over Solon.

"What are you talking about Sli-" Solon began before a small platinum tiara fell in front of his eyes, the rubies within it doing much to compliment his optics. Looking down Solon saw gems adorning his multitude of servo arms, wisps of lace and silk woven between them. And around his chassis a toga wrapped around him, though whether due to lack of material or because the universe hated him, and he strongly leaned towards the later, the shortness of it resembled more a short dress than toga. "..... I have honestly no idea how this hap-"

"Enough! Bad enoughsh I sherve under a fool and losher like you," Sliver bellowed.

"Ow Sliver, I'm still your Warsmith, right?"

"But now you go and become a crossh-dressher ash well!?"

Backing away from the infuriated underling, each of his platinum shoes dug into the soil as their Nurgle green emeralds and rust red garnets glittering in the dim light of Ferrous Dominus. "Stop doing that!" Solon cried to the various ponies trying to adorn their liege.

"Everyday you makesh it harder and harder to keep my oath to hish holynessh Primarsh Perturabo to not shimply kill you not matter how mush I wissh to, but to protectsh you inshead," Sliver ranted, foam bubbling from his masks grill.

"Wait so your loyalty isn't to me but to -"

"But alwash you findsh shome new waysh to humiliate me even furthersh!"

His back hitting a wall to a near by building Solon sought some way to pacify his general.

Halting, Sliver seemed to shudder as he tried to swallow his rage. "You know whatsh? I can't even dealsh wish you right now. I am leaving, but we willsh have a LONG talksh when thish ish over." And in a flash of light the Nurgle Marine was gone.

"..... what the hell is going on?"

"FATHER! I HAVE COME TO AID YOU IN YOUR BATTLE!" Swooping down, the princess of the night landed gracefully next to the confused Warsmith. Looking him up and down, Luna nodded in approval at his attire, her mind having made the sub-conscious connection of Solon=Big Pony long ago, around their fifth or so meeting within his dreams.

"I see our subjects have finally bestowed you raiment's befitting our respect towards you."

"THIS IS HOW YOU SHOW Resp..e..c.t?" His anger fading, a sense of wonder began to take hold within the fallen Marine. Even when he had his fear aura, Warsmith Solon had always had some ... difficulty with .... morale within his company. Many (all) of those under his command seeming to not take him seriously after a few words. But somehow, after Rarity had placed the dubious text-to-speech device on him, ponies had been ....respecting him. Not one had laughed at him the whole time, even Rarity had RESPECTED his personal time and left him alone! He could see it now, he could split the 38th company in half. Everyone going with Sliver, with Geala and maybe one or two others that didn't laugh at him remaining with him. Sliver could then have the command and respect he had always wanted, Tellis could be shot into the sun, and Solon could take these pathetic little ponies and with hard work and augmentation, a LOT of augmentation, remake the entire race as loyal and RESPECTFUL members of a technologically advanced and innovative race of chaos beings! It would take time, a lot of time, but if these ponies continued to worship *tap* him as they were now, he could see a vision, a vision of *tap* a race of beings loyal onto him, obeying his every suggestion and working *tap* towards *tap* -

"Yes, what is it?" Solon groaned, his mind being brought back to reality. Below him a small pony with a dataslave in his mouth tapped on his leg.

"Is it time for court your highness?"

"What?"

"Ah yes! Court! It is indeed time for you to entertain the requests from the peasantry Father!"

Turning his head Solon could see a line of ponies, all of them with parchment or dataslaves in their mouths forming before him, the end obscured as the line snaked around building corners and out of sight.

And just like that the vision became a nightmare. An endless stream of ponies making requests of him to improve their lives. Already his nights and hours of his week were taken up by just seven and a half (Big Mac didn't really bother him too much) ponies. But all those hours of useful work time lost still grated on him. But now, he could see a parade of pretty pony petitioners prancing purposefully into his forge. Any hope for productive work time gone under the tsunami of inane work orders. In fact, maybe Rarity hadn't really respected his time, maybe she just assumed he was already working on other pony requests and it'd be faster to have someone else work on her orders.

"Father? Will you not preside over your court?"

Solon raised his arm, ponies backing away instinctively as they sensed the displeasure radiating from the Princess before them. Grasping the device responsible for all of this, Solon ripped the text-to-speech device off. Blinking their eyes all ponies except Luna around FD shook their heads and looked at the Warsmith before them. Ripping off the tiara, shoes, and all other raiment's, Solon's right arm twisted and reconfigured itself in moments before firing a sphere of pure destructive power at the remains of his brief Pony Princesshood.

"Fuck thish planetsh. I can'tsh leave fasht enough." Solon muttered, stomping off towards his forge.

"Warsmith?" Luna called out after him before she noticed that the line of pony petitioners had switched over to her. Sighing Luna sat down and began a long night of tending to her subjects.

[ayh]

I'm sorry! It was only supposed to be a couple paragraphs and then a joke but turned into this mess.