Epilogue
Light flooded into the void through a jagged crack in reality, spilling a wash of color into space. Rays of light colored like rainbows sliced through the darkness, erupting from the breach in a series of dazzling pulses. The opening widened, and a dark shape loomed from within and slowly pushed itself through the pool of impossible light.
The Harvest of Steel roared to life as soon as it was clear of the breach, its engines burning hot and its augur arrays sweeping the sector for threats and data.
Behind the megafreighter came more ships. Smaller freighters translated into the system one by one, leaping from the breach while great arcs of prismatic energy lashed from their spires. First came the vessels that had left with the fleet mere months ago, and then came more. A pair of light cruisers, featuring the dagger-shaped helms that characterized Imperium vessels and the swollen underbellies that marked them as converted cargo carriers, brought up the rear of the fleet formation.
After that came a different kind of ship. Larger and awkwardly shaped as compared to most of the fleet, it featured a bulbous head surrounded by boxy protrusions on all sides. Its hull was covered with scaffolding and exposed sockets, giving a strong impression that its exterior wasn’t finished. It was the last of the vessels, and the wound in the Materium slowly knit closed behind it.
This ship joined the others in the Harvest’s wake, settling into an approach vector toward the system’s third planet. As the other ships turned into high-orbital positions, however, it moved into a much lower and more stable orbital ring.
Once it was in position, the vessel’s hull started to shift: the boxy protrusions extended outward and spires started rising in key points. Servo constructors unfolded from the scaffolding, and crews in void suits emerged from airlocks to crawl out over the hull.
By the time the rest of the fleet started dispatching transports to the world below, the constructor craft had fully unfolded, and was well on its way to completing Centaur III’s first orbital void docks.
The 38th Company had returned.
****
Ferrous Dominus - sector 19
Lander lots
“Get out of the way! Move to the second block! Yes, all of you! Lightning Dust, get your team down here and keep them grounded! The air currents could become dangerous!”
Humans, equines, and cyborgs all moved to line up at the edge of the lander lots, standing in ranks and eagerly awaiting the descent of the cargo transports. The Dark Mechanicus took formation swiftly and gracelessly, standing still and offering nothing but a few short bursts of static in what passed for idle conversation among the cyborgs. The mercenaries and other human personnel who were attending - much-depleted and fairly battered though they were - milled about and muttered amongst each other. The ponies, as ever, were the most excitable, chatting and restless.
At the front of the equine formation stood Princess Luna, standing tall in her gleaming ebony armor. Behind her loomed Pinkie’s Dreadnought, and behind the assault walker waited Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy. The mares of Equinought Squadron were unarmored aside from Pinkie, and wore respirator masks over their muzzles (Rarity, naturally, had a heavy cloak and goggles on as well).
“There it is! Look!” Pinkie shouted, jumping up and crashing back down with such force that the ponies behind her bounced slightly.
The outline of landing transports was barely visible through the smog layer, descending rapidly toward the vast open lots that stretched through sector 19 of the fortress. Pinkie waved her Dreadnought’s power fist wildly while they approached, as if expecting the vessels to signal back somehow.
“Quiet down! Stay in formation!” Harlin barked just before the thruster noise drowned him out entirely.
The first transport lander was the largest, and this vessel slowly settled into the lot immediately in front of the assembled soldiers and personnel. There was a long pause once it touched down, and then a tense silence as an embarkation ramp opened up and lowered itself to the ground.
“Would anyone care to explain why there’sh a giant bear carcassh outshide the fortressh perimeter?” Solon asked, emerging from the lander and slowly lurching down the ramp. “Alsho, am I missing an anti-ship cannon? I thought there were shix of them when I left.”
A wild, raucous cheer rose from the gathered crowd, startling the Warsmith. Ponies started jumping up and down, and humans pumped their fists and weapons into the air. The Dark Mechanicus contingent were more subdued, although most of that group shifted to kneel before the Warsmith.
Solon, for his part, was fairly stunned. “... Huh. Not ushed to thish kind of reception.” Still puzzled, he sped up and clambered more quickly down to the ground.
Behind Solon came the other high officers of the fleet. Sliver stomped down the ramp, perplexed as anyone else that the mortals below were cheering their arrival rather than watching in silent dread. Kaelith followed, scuttling silently to the lots and then quickly slithering away through the ranks of his cyborg underlings. Tolken and a clutch of other Iron Warriors marched down next, lined up by rank, with their gait strong and tall. If they found the reception awkward or surprising, it wasn’t obvious.
Behind a line of Warpsmiths came the smallest of the figures emerging from the lander. Twilight Sparkle’s armor had been repaired and polished to a sheen, and a brand new force harmonizer - shaped like a golden Chaos star - was mag-locked to one leg. Spike waddled along behind her, carrying a bundle in his arms wrapped in a burlap cloth. Gaela followed behind Spike, pausing only briefly to give a tired sigh at Pinkie's Dreadnought waving at them.
The cheering instantly doubled from the equine section, and Twilight flushed within her helmet. As far as she knew, the ponies were just happy to see her again; none of them had any inkling of what she had accomplished on her long, treacherous journey with the Iron Warriors.
“Twilight! Twilight, over here!” Pinkie Pie waved the arm of her Dreadnoughts wildly, as if their friend and leader might miss the enormous pink walker.
“Hi, girls! It’s great to be back!” Twilight said once she was in earshot. She turned to join her squadron with Spike in tow, while Gaela silently broke off to follow Solon.
“Salutations, Sparkle!” Luna shouted in the not-quite magical noise spectrum. “We art most pleased to see thou hast returned unscathed!”
“Yeah! Heh… uh… sorry again about helping Tellis trick you into a deadly voyage into the Eye of Terror,” Rainbow Dash volunteered. “No hard feelings?”
“Not at all! It was actually very interesting,” Twilight said with a dismissive wave of her armor-plated wing. “A little deadly, with the odd attacks from daemons and frequent suspensions of the laws of space and time, but still less stressful than fighting Ork Dreds, so…”
Rarity suddenly noticed something was off, and her lips tugged ever-so-delicately into a frown. “Twilight, darling, did… something happen to your helmet? It looks different than I remember.”
Twilight laughed. The helmet to her power armor suit had been adjusted so that the left side of her visor would interface directly with her augmetic eye rather than simply generating a screen for it to look at. From the outside the change had been very minor, replacing a regular lens with a block-shaped sensor, but it obviously broke the symmetry of the design. Leave it to Rarity to notice.
Her helmet cracked open and lifted off, and the other mares gasped and recoiled. Even Luna clearly flinched when she saw the optical augmetic. Twilight smiled.
“T-T-Twilight, your eye!” Fluttershy stuttered, lifting her hooves to her chin in horror.
“Oh, this thing?” Twilight swung her head sharply to the side, moving her bangs out of the way of the optics band. “Do you like it? Solon made it for me!”
“Uh… what happened to yer old eyeball?” Applejack asked bluntly.
“A bolt pistol.”
“Someone shot you? In the HEAD?!” Rainbow Dash asked, gaping.
“Yeah. Don’t worry, though; I got him.” With a wink of her remaining eye, Twilight walked past the stunned mares. “I have to drop off some souvenirs to my room, but after that we can catch up! Unless we have any assigned duties, of course! There’s a lot to do now that we’re back!”
“There is? How’s that?” Applejack asked, furrowing her brow.
“Wait, what was that about souvenirs?” Rarity asked.
Twilight walked on without answering, but as Spike followed her he flipped a corner of the cloth he was using to carry the objects in his arms. After a moment he pulled the cloth back, smirking, and rushed after the purple Princess.
“... We art at a loss,” Luna confessed, tilting her head to one side. “Did she not travel to the Eye of Terror? The dread world of Medrengard? A place of nightmares and fell magic? Surely Princess Sparkle encountered greater artifacts than… that.”
“Yeah, I don’t get it. What were those things, anyway? It looked like junk,” Rainbow muttered.
“I think there was some kind of metal plate? Like a nameplate, I guess?” Pinkie said. Her power fist reached up and scraped a finger against her Dreadnought’s helmet. “And I’m pretty sure the other thing was a… broken sword?”
“General Harlin. I have reviewed the cashualty logsh on the nooshphere.” Solon stomped up to the mercenary officer standing at attention in front of the other mercenaries. “They’re high. Alarmingly high.”
“Yes, Warsmith,” Harlin agreed. “We have a full report available, but suffice to say the general absence of the Iron Warriors was sorely felt. Morale is fine after pushing out the last assault, but our attrition is becoming a hindrance to launching operations.”
“We have accounted for thiss already,” Sliver grunted, walking around Solon’s chassis. “Although I’m quite interessted in the ssiege that ssealed Kesssler’ss fate, you will have your troopss, General.”
Sliver gestured vaguely to the air, where another pair of landers were slowly descending into open spaces behind the first transport.
“We have reinforcements?” Harlin asked eagerly.
“Yesh. And more,” Solon said happily. “We acquired new voidshipsh to replace our losshesh, and a new conshtructor vesshel to build a shervice and defenshe orbital! We’ll be able to off-load material in orbit and conduct expedited repairsh!”
"Efficiency gains of having a stable orbital dock for rapid cargo transfer and repairs should exceed 47.31 percent. It will also allow us to put our abandoned ship back into service by the time we deploy for raiding duty again," Gaela interjected.
Harlin looked surprised. “An orbital? That seems like an unusually rich boon for a standard shipment, is it not? Are the Warsmiths supporting our operations more directly?”
“In a manner of sspeaking,” Sliver drawled, walking past the others.
Solon chuckled. “Ash it sho happensh, the other Warshmithsh were quite generoush to me. It sheemsh that with the shudden and tragic dishintegration of the 63rd Grand Battalion, my peersh shuddenly had an abundance of new combat asshetsh thirshty for shuppliesh and raw materialsh. They alsho wanted to enshure there wash no… hard feelingsh about earlier dishagreementsh.”
Harlin nodded slowly. He understood that the disbanding of a Grand Battalion would leave numerous men and weapons open to being requisitioned up by other Warsmiths, but couldn’t make anything else of the explanation. In particular, such circumstances certainly didn’t seem “tragic,” and Solon’s tone made it clear he was very happy about it.
“Well, this is a most fortuitous turn. Despite our losses, we should be able to return to full productivity, and stave off any further assaults.”
“Indeed,” Solon agreed. “And I look forward to returning to our raiding operationsh ash shoon ash our new forcesh are eshtablished.”
“Pardon, Lord Warsmith.” Serith’s voice seemed to come from nowhere and Harlin jumped in surprise, his hand twitching toward his sword.
The Sorcerer made a shallow bow as he approached, using his force halberd as a walking stick. “I apologize for demanding your attention so soon after you’ve arrived, but there are certain outstanding tasks for which only you are suitable.”
Solon swiveled around to glance at the pink Dreadnought and the largely naked mares standing around its legs. Then he swiveled back toward Serith. “Would theshe tashksh happen to be armor repairsh?”
“Many are, and sadly they are not limited to your equine servants.” Serith raised an arm and activated the psykant occulus. Only two of the dispersal rods slid out of their casings, with the entire gauntlet shaking and sputtering like an engine struggling to start. One of the rods trying and failing to deploy fell out of its slot entirely, tumbling to the ground and shattering into glassy flakes.
“By the Eye, you lot did have have quite a shcuffle while we were gone,” Solon muttered.
“Oh yes, Warsmith. However, our victory in your absence may have borne… unexpected fruits.” Serith turned on his heel, beckoning to the larger Space Marine. “Let your servants see to the new recruits. We’ve already moved the materials I spoke of to your forge. I think you’ll be VERY interested in what we have acquired.”
Across the lots, several light transports slowly touched down, locking heavy landing skis with the loading clamps that lined the sector. Embarkation ramps creaked open, releasing a wash of pressurized air and cold mist.
“Brother and sisters of Chaos! Our long wait is over!”
Cultists marched down into the lots, laughing and chanting prayers to the Dark Gods. At the front was a large, pale man with a Chaos icon attached to his back like a battle flag. He was shirtless, and his upper torso was covered in tattoos and ritual scars, several of which matched the star suspended over his head.
“A fresh world, ripe for despoiling! So many souls who must know the eight truths!” The head cultist threw his arms up in the air, and the others following him raised their voices in an incoherent chant. “Let Chaos consume this feeble planet! May darkness creep into every corner and hatred seed its very core! More blood! More pain! More DEATH!”
“Hello everyone! Welcome to Ferrous Dominus! It’s so nice to meet all of you!”
The march of the new soldiers stopped, and the head Cultist stumbled to a halt. A pegasus trotted up to the ramp wearing a respirator and a pair of saddlebags, with a Chaos Star amulet hanging loosely from her neck. She walked right up to the first man, and then her wing slipped into one of the bags.
“What manner of pathetic xeno is this?!” the Cultist growled, drawing a long, jagged knife from his belt.
“I’m Wind Chime! I’m a pegasus pony! Here, this is for you!”
While the man held out his blade, Wind Chime held out a glossy pamphlet with her wing.
“This gives a brief rundown of some of the services, activities, and stores we offer here in Ferrous Dominus, and where you can learn more!” the mare chirped, not obviously distressed by the weapon in her face. “You might be particularly interested in our apparel shops, since you seem to be lacking a shirt! You humans do love your clothes!”
The lead Cultist, fairly baffled, hesitantly took the pamphlet from the mare. “I don’t… um, but the…”
“If you guys hurry with your base registration, and aren’t detained for psychic scouring, you can still make today’s spin class! And please, make sure you use the trash receptacles placed at most grid intersections and don’t litter! Helping keep our death fortress clean is everyone’s responsibility!”
Wind Chime hopped forward and hugged the lead Cultist on the leg. Then she jumped away and took to the air, flying off toward the next lander.
The shirtless man watched her go, and then looked behind him at the other warriors, still holding a blade in one hand and a pamphlet in the other with little idea what to do with either of them.
“...... The hell just happened?”
****
Canterlot - statue garden
Wraithstar stood at the edge of a circle of stone tiles, waiting silently with his hands clasped behind his back. In front of him stood a great open-topped sarcophagus made of pearly marble. The sides were elaborately carved with strange, elegant runic patterns; not any language that a speaker of Imperial or Tau languages would understand, but some sort of script from the Equestrian magi. It went well enough with the statue holding a silent vigil over the tomb: a non-descript pony warrior in archaic equine half-plate, holding a spear - somehow - in the crook of its front knee.
In front of the Tau officer marched a procession of real Equestrian guards. Modern ones, of course, bearing the armor and weapons of their unlikely allies from the stars. Carried on a set of wooden planks was another statue, or so it seemed. A near-perfect likeness of Shas’o Voidsong’s body, laid flat with her hands resting on her belly, done in fine granite. Or whatever rock that petrifying spell purported to transmute into.
The absurdity that the corpse of Voidsong should be returned to the Equestrians, the ones responsible for losing her petrified body the last time, didn’t escape him. Between the Iron Warriors and Lamman’s own Fire Warriors the ponies could certainly take the least credit for her defeat. But Wraithstar didn’t care, and the 38th had no interest in Voidsong beyond confirming her fate once and for all. Even ritual corpse desecration was a meaningless chore upon a species with such weak souls, apparently.
“Would you like to say a few words? Is there some funeral rite we can help you with?”
Wraithstar glanced behind him. Princess Celestia stood close by, her expression somber.
Then he turned back around. “No. No ceremony is needed. This will be enough. More than enough.”
The ponies reached the sarcophagus, and several of them pushed Voidsong’s body into the shallow stone box. She fell in with a dull thud.
“Obviously I have no reason to honor her. To Equestria she was a merciless villain who condemned us all to extermination without a second thought,” Celestia replied. “To the Iron Warriors, she was a canny foe, but eventually one more victim among thousands. But to you…”
Celestia left the proposition hanging, and Wraithstar sighed.
“To me she was a leader, a teacher, and a hero. Her efforts may have saved the Tau Empire. I can’t claim that doesn’t matter to me, no matter what happens after this point.” He unclasped his hands and then crossed them over his chest while the soldiers marched off. “But I have no rites to offer her. I don’t know any. We rarely hold funerals for our dead. The only one I’ve ever seen was for the Lamman Sept’s last Ethereal, and I’ve seen so much death since then that the memory is a cold blur.”
“I’m surprised,” admitted Celestia. “Your people seem rather egalitarian and empathetic… incidental genocide notwithstanding.”
He shook his head. “Funerals are generally considered testaments to ego. Individuals are celebrated for their achievements in life, not the loss felt by their deaths. And few on this world are very thankful for what Voidsong accomplished.”
He walked up to the stone coffin, running a gloved hand over the edge of the opening. “Her interment here is more a warning than an act of ceremony.” Wraithstar turned his head toward the white Princess. “The survivors of Lamman will forget her soon enough. The soldiers of the 38th Company only ever saw her as another target to be dispatched and logged in their archives. But you, Princess… there’s a lesson here for you and your people.”
Celestia’s brow furrowed. “There are many lessons the Lamman Sept taught us, although we’ll be hard-pressed to forget about the capricious wars of the alien while Chaos hunts Orks through the hinterlands.”
Wraithstar smirked, his lip curling humorlessly. “If nothing else, then, don’t let your people forget that it could have been worse. Have them remember that their struggles are the price of power; the cost demanded for any race that would dare stand firm in the face of this galaxy’s numberless cruelties. And, of course, remember that at least one alien empire besides your so-called allies claims this system and every living thing in it as rightfully theirs.”
Celestia listened intently, staring at the sarcophagus amongst the garden’s immaculate hedges. “... I think we’ll need a bigger plaque,” she said eventually, walking closer. “That aside, would you like me to commission something of you to stand next to the stallion? Or some other, anonymous Fire Warrior? It was mostly your efforts that defeated her, and given that Voidsong has tried to doom us all TWICE now and the natural increase in suspicions this causes, I think it would be wise to have a… Excuse me, are you listening?”
Wraithstar wasn’t listening, in fact. He was staring up at the sky, facing away from Voidsong, with his hand shading his face against the sun.
“It’s still there, even now,” he said, his voice dry and grim. “They failed. I knew they would.”
Princess Celestia squinted up at the sky in the direction he was facing. There weren’t any clouds, but she couldn’t tell what Wraithstar was looking at. The tips of Canterlot’s towers? The pegasi soaring through the air? The Arvus Lighter transport swooping into the city?
“What are you talking about? Who failed?” the mare asked.
“Nobody you need to worry about any longer,” he sighed, dipping his body into a bow. “Thank you for granting me this boon, Princess. As little grace and forgiveness as Equestria has shown us, we have done little to earn it. Farewell.”
****
Ferrous Dominus - Solon’s forge
“Nurgle’sh beard, what did thoshe girlsh get up to while I wash gone?” Solon asked, looking down into a metal cart.
Inside the cart were armor pieces. Pony armor pieces. The loose collection of helmets, boots, and plating were in various states of disrepair, but each had clearly suffered calamitously in protecting its user. Rarity’s finely polished armor had been riddled with holes and some of the frame was burnt away from sustained pulse fire. Applejack’s heavy armor had been cracked at the helmet, partially melted, and one of the boots had suffered a disintegration event over the sole.
“Godsh alive, how did Rainbow Dash shurvive thish kind of impact without breaking her neck?” the Warsmith asked, plucking a particular helmet from the cart. It was partly flattened on the face, and one of the visor lenses was missing.
“Bad luck, I suppose,” Serith said.
“Bad luck that she shurvived?” Solon asked.
“For the rest of us, yes.” The Sorcerer made a waving gesture with his hand, and the helmet floated out of Solon’s grip and dropped back into the pile. “Unfortunately, those armors have suffered damage to systems that only you can repair, Lord. But you may attend to that at any time; what I wished to show you is more… delicate.”
“You shaid you fought shome short of mashter pshyker in the Nethalican?” Solon asked, scuttling around the pile of armor.
“Indeed. She claimed to be the master of the changelings that attacked us,” Serith explained. “I’m still uncertain as to her aims, but this ‘Queen Chrysalis’ leeched power from the Dark Portal at will, and sought to use that energy for some greater end. Then the farmer shoved a power sphere into her torso and annihilated much of her chest cavity.”
“Ha! Applejack never dishappointsh! I’ll have to give her another heavy bolt on her trophy chain for that kill.”
Serith made a dismissive sound. “Her performance was passable. But she did not kill the Queen.”
That gave Solon pause. “Queen Chryshalish shurvived the annihilation of her chest cavity?”
“She did. As she lay there, on the temple dais, I saw her soul cling to this world, sustaining her body’s cells through a combination of the Nethalican’s power and sheer will. She could not move, or even maintain basic consciousness amid her desperate final bid for her life, but she did remain stable long enough for… well, this.”
Serith reached a console and tapped a button at the edge. In a corner of the forge, a large metal cylinder stirred, lifting its duralloy cover to reveal an armorglass tube within. Monitors flickered to life all around it, flooding the local noosphere with bio-data and measurements. Some of them started running vid-capture from Serith’s helmet, showing off frankly bizarre scenes of a giant squid and cragodile fighting within a Chaos temple.
A light went on behind the tube.
“I present to you Queen Chrysalis, Warsmith,” Serith said, bowing and gesturing toward the tank. “Her fate, and that of her misbegotten hive, is now in YOUR hands.”
Solon stomped up to the containment vessel, peering at the body within. It was a shattered, twisted mess, covered in holes and disfigurements, most of which seemed to be unrelated to the obvious battle damage. An expression of unblinking horror stared out through the oxygenated stasis gel, frozen in the moment of its defeat. Withered, broken, and helpless, and yet not quite dead.
The ancient Warsmith reached up to the glass, slowly sweeping a grimy metal hand over its surface to clear some of the frost. He leaned close, and his optical cluster rotated its active lens with a soft whir.
“Magnificent…”
Entrenchment End
And here it is. Done in time for Christmas.
There'll be more chapters, because hey, why stop here? Might as well ride this train until I run out of ideas completely.
Happy holidays to all you bronies and heretics!
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Oooo, surprisingly fast. Though with the shorter chapter that’s not all that suprising.
The newbies are in for one hell of introduction, though I wonder if the numbers taken from the 63 battalion included any Iron Warriors of note? Even if not, then it’s certainly a source for other writers to draw from.
And yeah, something tells me. Chrysalis may very well wish she was never born soon, though I guess that is depending on how much of her mind is actually left from the attack and how much of her mind Solon is going to let her keep for whatever he has planned for her. With how her body is broken, I almost want to say she’s about to get turned into a Dreadnought of some form.
Well, until the next installment! For The Dark Gods!(minus Slannesh, of course)
So Solon has a Chrysalis. I wonder what deranged feat of warp-tech he'll achieve? I'm sure Chrysalis is just dying to find out.
Ahh Solon, how everyone had missed you and your speeches. Too bad the other Mane 6 don't understand Twilight's souvenirs as War Trophies just yet. Still, an eye for a Chaos Legion Commander right? Or at least I think that's how the saying goes.
Now with the introduction of their new orbital dock, one had to wonder if the other planets in the system will yield plentiful resources for the Company. They might, though I can't for my life remember how many there are. And besides, they have the best orbital defence system readily available. The Sun! Hey Celly, would you mind smashing the enemy with that giant flaming ball of gas so that our new dock doesn't get scratched of its new paint job? Thanks!
Hmm... Now that I think about it, that would apply more to Tyranids since they're mainly biological and don't have many useful raw resources for the Company.
Oh, I just imagined the sun being moved right in front of a warp portal and then everything coming right out of it flies straight into the sun. Could that work? I hope it does, that's be funny to see.
I love it. But, I have an important question... will there be more?
Nice chapter I think this settle the story nicely and I think it's best not to cover all the players in the story to save on time. Still it would have been nice to see a few glimpses of what happened to the rest of the changellings, what was the fallout of the insurrection of the other species, Is Tellis irreversibly contaminated by the ruinous forces of Friendship, what are the next plans for Centaur three? I can't wait to see what will happen next, will there be another invasion or with they bring the fight to the enemy this time around?
Still as shot as the chapter was it was interesting
Also hope there will be an update on the other story with Gears in the Machine, can't wait to see what shenanigans Gears is going to find himself in next.
<3 What a nice early christmas present.
Maybe an adventure episodic story about them going on raids, and a certain way Inquisitor tracking them down before a final showdown?
tl;Dr. M O A R
We definitely need more of Gears though. His story has so much potential.
MOAR GEARS!
Please?
This was some of the best Heresy I've ever read.
I forget what's with the nameplate Twi has, though...
Looking forward to more!
I thought you said I'd be disappointed in this chapter? I am anything but that. This was a great chapter. A bit short, but I loved it all the same.
Solon and Twilight are back, Equus is getting some very useful orbital defenses and dockyard facilities constructed, and many reinforcements are en route. Seems like a great chapter for me.
I am surprised that Chrysalis is still alive, but now that she's at their mercy, it's time to properly introduce her to Grandfather Nurgle...
Edit: You know as an afterthought, I had really thought Twilight would've been speaking more to the Harvest of Steel, getting on friendlier terms with the ship since she did get Solon back like she promised.
I'd expected her to play games like chess with the Harvest, and in the process teach the Harvest how to be a better hunter. Maneuvering your prey into a favorable position, and all that...
I'm so sad that you unexpectedly posted a chapter while I was drinking.. c'est la vie
At least I have something for my breakfast/hangover!
An excellent end to the story. I eagerly await the next adventure for the Equestrians and the Iron Warriors.
I love this story. It's funny, its epic and it has soul, undead and filled with chaos, but eh, the Ponies can even fix that.
Truly I want to hear what is next for this group and how their future will be. Equestria is conquered and in the process of becoming a dark forgeworld. A nice one thanks to the ponies involvement and there is an entire galaxy that needs to be introduced to the brutal cuteness of the ponies, all for the good of the galaxy and chaos by the way.
I'm playing Gear Works in a black crusade game, he's a human shoved into a horse servitor because he needed a body but he's still got that same personality, everyone at the game loves him even though they don't read this. I just wanted to thank you for that.
Haha; if Chrysi ends up as one of the cast Iron Warriors that will be awesome. Solomon, Celestia and Chrysalis can all sit around and talk about how despite been the most over powered members of their species they always seem to lose.
I loved it
I've got to reiterate that I simply love this story, the entire universe you created. It's unique in a way I've only seen you do and I can barely wait for more
I wonder how much street cred Twilight got with the company for what she did. Killing a Warp Smith for friendship? Fighting for Solon, the company and equestria when no one else would? Defeating a veteran astartes in personal combat, even with guile and tricks? That's no mean feat, and the rewards she reaped for them were beyond what any but the high echelon ever accomplished. She might be a xeno horse witch, but even the Dark Mechanicus would be forced to recognize her valor.
At least Gaela and Solon did. Hell, how long has it been since we last saw her?
I'm kinda disappointed with the chapter though, not nearly enough conversation shenanigans for what you've gotten us to expect from this story. But it certainly leaves us waiting for more. Just don't make we wait too long, please?
Now all we need is a decent story about what happens when the Iron warriors and the Equestrians go out to raid the Imperium of man :3
Just imagine the reactions of Guardsmen when they realize Chaos is beating them with tiny cute ponies XD
And now I must wait for the next arc of this wonderful story....like an addict hoping for his next hit of his favorite drug.
But it is a pain I can bare....for it is a good pain.
This was good, really good.
So... here ends, at least for now, the fic that got me into MLP. I actually stumbled there after looking for 40k crossovers, after reading one between the imperium and the blue things fron Avatar. After a "wtf is this" i gave it a chance and got hooked. Good epilogue! I cannot imagine the faces of the mane 6 and Luna hearing Twilight's tale about her travel to and from Medrengard.
I have no doubt the author has something whirring in his cogitators
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Yeah so hyped and welcome to the heard and mind the local Chaos God Discord.
Another good read, well done.
Of course not, that would mean going thru cadian gate switch is impossible with single ship. And what is with these cultist? they are less zealots and blood hungry and less corrupted in mind that in the lore. I have read that one time when single guardsmen was okay in one moments and next he was carving his flesh and chanting and clawing his eyes, here they are more normal humans, how?
Pretty much the worst fate one could have.
Now that this part is done I can give my full thoughts about it. This one felt like an intermission story, more tame at least when compared to the last one. I liked Twilights adventures in space and found it very interesting. The events that went down in the planet were.. a little on the weaker side for me.
Chrysalis was an okay bad guy, but she never actually felt like a threat. Her plan was doomed to fail and you could see her absolute smackdown coming from the start. I actually felt more bad about her than the defenders, because I knew something brutal would happen to her. The usage of other factions in a suicide squad mob was pretty entertaining, but it just lacked the necessary components to be a danger to our heroes.
Though I could have interpreted things wrong and the true purpose was to show that our defenders can hold the planet without help and portray Chrysalis as more of a comedic type?
I still enjoyed the story, but it felt a little more weaker when compared to the others.
What now? They have survived the Tau, and a ton of Orks. Another Chaos faction perhaps? Like the servants of Tzeench for example, because the influence of Nurgle seems to rapidly expanding on the planet and the two hate each other. Necrons are also a good candidate for a technology vs technology battle with Silent King, Trazyn or C´tan dickery.
As for Tyranids... they are used in so many story as the ultimate bad guys so I really don't root for them myself. A faction that just screeches and gets blown by guns is not the most interesting thing to read about ( no offense to Tyranid mains).
Either way, I will eagerly wait for the next part.
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Perhaps Inquistor Locus will stumble across Equestria, and we can have a few “happy” reunions
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common missconception, the Cadian Gate is the most stable, but not the only one way to get into the Eye of Terror. A big fleet needs to go through that gate due to the stability, warp turns more unstable with each ship passing by, a small fleet can try, at its own risk, to use alternative ways to get into the Eye. Or at least this was the deal before 8th edition came with the Cicatrix Maledictum....
Same stuff with cultist, sure, some are quite deranged but it doesn't apply to all, also keep in mind that most of these accounts come from imperial POV. Reminds me of "Traitor General" where a handful of guardsmen are stranded in a chaos held world and to their surprise, especially from the Colonel-Comissar Gaunt, that they keep a civilization by themselves, only sucked if you were native of the (former imperial) conquered planet. Oh, and also gave the imperials a chance to convert instead of mindless purge...
Also remember that in this fic the bulk of the human troops are mercenaries, so they are much less into the cults than proper cultists
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But expecting khorne worshippers not to go full on rampage, on a planet as a garrison force doing nothing even thou they could just go killing like they all ways do.It would be impossible to control huge number of cultist from causing chaos on their own, switch is chaos stradegy of using them, drop then in huge numbers on a planet to do anything they want, and using chaos they cause to make lighting attacks to other positions. And having 38th company going in and out from eye of terror constantly without any problem to a world where they organise raids switch is a forge world whom need high number of resources to work, start to raise questions why is there cadian gate in a first place if Abbadon could just let small number of ships constantly out from terror in a conga line. If it would be some where else like in ghoul stars where no one goes really it would be more plausible.
And traveling without gellar field will either turn humans completely crazy or will end up having demon burst out of your chest holding your heart in his hand. Demons would kill either way be you worshipper or not. And don't get me started on that imperial fist, his training regime is completely different compared to sons of Dorn book.
Sholon hash a pet changeling. Thish will be of shome interesht in the not-sho-dishtant future.
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khornate doens't come in a single flavor, just check the Blood Pact, blame GW for the narrow sighted codexes and rulebooks. They can keep garrison, uneasy indeed and with many inner fights, but that's the sauce of it, hard military discipline is as khornate as it is mindless savagery, and khornates very often switches between them when time is right, remember that there's only one legion with nails throught their brains that keep them somewhat locked between bilious anger and frenzied bloodlust, all the rest keep their brains intact... one last details is the fact that Equestria will never be the same, after all Orks died in rows... that means spores which means constant streams of orks for... centuries? millenia?. Khornates in garrison duty on Equestria will not get bored for sure.
wha'ts this about Gellar Fields? of course they need it active, i didn't say otherwise. Abaddon's Conga line as you say
, are due to the massive fleets this guy seems to be always commanding, needless to point that his last known target was Cadia itself. Night Lords for example has been known to go through the warp from ultima segmentum straight to the eye. Again, the gate of Cadia is the biggest and most stable path to the eye, not the only one. But perhaps the only one known for sure by the imperium.
Black Crusade RPG rulebook for an example, throught the hadex anomaly in ultima segmentum in the middle of Jericho's Reach you can acces to the warp and have a relatively safe route to Calixis sector, which is neighboring Scarus (where Cadia is).
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Well i don't play chaos sou i don't know exact strenght of some small warp anomaly, but there is still differences from all the book at least what i have read, either chaos has push thru cadian gate like in "Cain's last stand" or had cultist made ritual where line between material and warp become sou thin that chaos forces can attack that way like in "shadowsword" book or in "pandorax" ( switch has a moment where a baneblade goes 120km/H because of a jokaero space ape). There is still differences of a cultist corrupted in a material universe and one living in a demon world.
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Possibly, though I wouldn't put it past Solon to bind Chrysalis' soul to a suit of armor. Shapeshifting demon armor with Psyker powers...
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that's somewhat even more dangerous in my opinion. On the other hand i can see Solon put her into an utility automata and make her fix the fortress...
ufff that sound nasty... even if there's no demon in such armor, but a scowling and enraged Chrysalis...
Also give kill switch to Twilight for maximum changeling REEEEEEE!!!
I wanted to sleep, but this was better.
You made me laugh so hard that I am in pain now XD.
I really want to see what happens to the new members of the 38th in FD. How they react and adapt to the new situation.
What will you do next? Ponys in space? Raiding Planets of imps, Tau and others?
Oh please give us more!!
PS: Merry Christmas
Great stuff! I mean it. I have enjoyed this story very much, and it gives me something to look forward to in the evening when I see a new chapter has been posted.
Keep up the good work!
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They didn't really get any troops of note, no. As Solon suggested, the "real" Warsmiths got their pick of the good loot. The 38th Company got the cast-offs, as usual, in return for the supplies to manage all the new additions.
9343684
Celestia doesn't so much move the sun as she does... aim it, say.
I maintain that while the diarchs could use their space-object-moving powers to destroy enemy ships, such things are extremely difficult to use in such a way and Centaur III, never mind the 38th Company fleet, could be devastated by the slightest mishap.
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Yes.
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The fate of the changelings will be covered. The other residents of the planet exist in varying states of oppression and fear, mostly. Gear Works does too, actually, but he's used to it.
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Well, you asked for Voidsong to be further humiliated and Chrysalis to die, and I didn't really deliver on either of those, so...
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Oh, the equinity!
9343951
OOPS
I completely forgot Gaela
Geez, that's embarrassing. Okay, I added her into the Epilogue. I mean, everybody who already read it might think she's still locked up in Kaelith's quarters or something, but, uh, she's not
9344130
"wtf is this" while searching for cool Warhammer stuff is also how I got into MLP, only for me it was a picture of a Plague Marine pony XD
9344300
Erm, did you just read this Epilogue and nothing else?
9345086
Eh, the new soldiers' introductions won't differ much from how the old soldiers reacted. There are only so many "bloodthirsty villain meets adorable cartoon animal and awkwardly calms down" scenes I can play with before it starts to get tiresome.
There will be more Ponies in Space, though.
Eventually.
But wait... Where's Techpriest Waifu Gaela?
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No offense to Nurgle but the way you've described him has made me give him the voice of Odin from Avengers Assemble.
The comment about his beard by Solon just sold it for me
That somehow confirms what i suspected, the other Warsmiths followed her progress through Medrengard and eavesdropping via cameras surely. I suspect that possibly Sliver took charge of the situation and took Solon from his absolutely-not-prison chamber, or Twilight just "abducted" him away (possibly after "flipping the bird: now with hooves version" to the 100% sure hidden cameras in that chamber). And what i said previous chapters, the council had surely readed the Company's reports, unlike certain foolish warsmith, now demon chow.
Probably was like "we really want that purple thing messing around? Gods know what will she do next, blow the reactors? Just give the 38th a good cut and send them far far away..."
I'm quite sure Twilight now has earned a "reputation" in Medrengard
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Well there is now a new situation, new cultist coming to a world where they are hailed as heroes and where the other personal already is used to this. Seeing this contrast and the reaction of new and old members of the 38th to the ponies and how they interact with each other is quite different then just the old 38th members getting used to the ponies. If you where a crazy chaos cultist and suddenly you see another crazy cultist sitting on a table, drinking tea and eating a freaking colorful cupcake while conversing with a pastel colored horse without trying to kill it or it having any fear from the cultist. How would you react in this situation? And how would the old members react if one of the new guy trys to overstep the limits?
Yes more ponys in space!!!
Also something someone else has written in the comments already. I also would like to see how the relationship between the Harvest and Twilight changed after they worked together to free Solon.
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yes i have, like when you described Dest training switch is a complete and utter lie when you said that he barely know about his chapter history even thou they are teached that before they are even scouts.
And that imperial fist is fleet based sou they don't have fortresses scattered around the galaxy to train their aspirant or scouts, they simply go to a planet and take potential warriors ho in some cases don't even speak gothic, only after going thru hypno-casque they know basics about the imperium. And that imperial fortress fell way to easily because if you have heard about Perturabo: Stone and Iron audio drama, Perturabo actually congratulates imperial fist about defending their fortress and says to his own that they could have not done it better.
Then there is a fact that xenos are using space marine power armor switch is a complete lie, if it was something like sororitases power armor it would be more plausible. And the way Tellis speak is odd, i have not heard anyone in the lore whoam speaks with same tone as him, even thous from Khorne worshipper.
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It was really more like they heard Kataris was ate by the ship so the whole deal was off and there's a ton of soldiers without a Warsmith now and hey Solon's dudes still have all those supplies so it's probably best we just pretend this all never happened.
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None of the evidence you presented disputes anything I wrote, but okay
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being eaten by a ship sounds quite a lousy way to die "lets give the share to Solon, at least he's not bein eaten by a glorified transport"
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yes it actually does, Imperial fist go thru vigorous training before becoming a scout, psykers scour their minds for any weaknesses. They believe a god emperor is real sou that thous loyal ho dies for him will be granted peaceful afterlife. They should not fear of torture because they don't see pain as a bad thing, they believe that it links them with their primarch. They have been taught of their greatest victories, including thous in great heresy, switch most likely are siege of terra and iron cage incident.
They know about iron warriors and why they should hate them
,‘The hallmark of an Imperial Fist is discipline and self-control,’ Sergeant Hilts said, standing with his hands clasped behind him before the serried ranks of aspirants. ‘Allowing unchecked impulses to govern your action, or succumbing by giving into desire, is the path to excess, which is one of the principal doorways to Chaos
Sou how is it possible that some apostle just walks in and practically says to him "will you join chaos" and him going "yea sure" could possibly work in anyway possible. Imperial fist are know about their shear stubbornness and unflinching loyalty could possibly fall that easily? If he was that weak minded they would have never taken him in.
9346451
This is tedious and ridiculous.
Obviously Space Marines can fall victim to Chaos and turn traitor despite their training and conditioning. It happens all the time. The Imperial Fists are not immune because the Sergeants give gruff speeches. They're not even immune with all their psycho-conditioning and religious indoctrination. Canonically, only the Grey Knights have been immune to turning traitor, and that's only because their training is like 10X more insane than other Chapters.
Now, maybe there's canon evidence that Imperial Fist doctrine requires aspirants to learn all about the Horus Heresy before they undergo the genetic manipulation that turns them into Space Marines, rather than during the Scout training. The descriptions of Space Marine recruiting and creation I've seen don't suggest a lot of history lessons before they leave for their campaigns. But I could be wrong. So maybe there's no way for Dest to have become a Scout before learning about the Iron Warriors.
Even if that's the case, though, it wouldn't have changed the plot. So you'll just have to let this possible canon violation slide. Or don't. It doesn't matter to me.
In any case, none of the other "complete and utter lies" you pointed out even make sense. I explained how the Harvest of Steel moves into and out of the Eye of Terror. Solon custom-made the Centaur power armor suits for ponies. And cultists are obviously able to live for extended periods of time without murdering themselves or each other or there'd be no mortal cultist population for the Chaos Space Marines to draw from. They'd decimate themselves and never recover.
I hope that resolves your story questions, because I will not be replying to you again.
For a moment I thought the lead cultist was cultist-chan till I noticed it was a guy
Nice epilogue. Really looking forward to what the 38th will get up to next!
Eldar would be fun!
Fantastic chapter. I look forward to more.