Ill Tidings
Entrenchment
An Age of Iron story
Chapter 6
Ill Tidings
****
Ferrous Dominus - sector 22
Merchant Corp lounge
"Oh, Tigeraan! Please! You can't leave me! Not again!"
"I have no choice. You know this. Don't make this harder than it has to be, Angel Wing."
The lounge's holovid player hummed softly as it rendered the image of an unusually short Iron Warrior in embellished power armor standing at the edge of a balcony. Behind him, an orange pegasus mare stood against the balcony doorway, a silky gown draped over her withers.
The mare sniffled, rubbing a leg against her eye. "Time and time again, you leave for war! Slaughtering the innocent for the glory of Chaos! Time and time again I'm left here, alone! Gazing at the stars and pining for your touch! Oh, Tigeraan!"
The Chaos Marine hesitated, glancing over to the trembling pony. "Alone? What of your husband?"
"Speak not of that wretched creature!" Angel growled. "He won't come between us! Soon our marriage will be over!" she stepped up to the armored man and leaned against his leg.
Tigeraan shook his head. "Do not say that, Angel. He cares about you. He takes care of you in ways that I could not. Don't throw that away for your foolish lust."
"Foolish?!" Angel recoiled, scowling.
"Yes, foolish! I am an Iron Warrior! You, an equine duchess! It was never meant to be!" the Iron Warrior growled, striking a fist against the railing. "My vows are to Chaos. Yours are to your mate. We cannot continue this."
"My vows will soon be undone. My marriage is over," Angel said firmly.
"Don't leave your husband, Angel," Tigeraan insisted.
"He'll be the one leaving me," Angel Wing sighed, "for you see... I'm pregnant!"
Tigeraan flinched backward as a dramatic sting played.
"And YOU'RE the father!" the mare added, jabbing a hoof toward the Iron Warrior.
Rarity gasped, and she nearly dropped the glass magically floating next to her. Fluttershy recoiled in shock, her wings snapping open. Delgan rolled his eyes, picking up the remote control.
The title screen flickered in the holovid projection. "Next time, on All My Horses..." Delgan lowered the volume before the episode preview could begin.
"Absolutely ridiculous," the Trademaster snorted, "has the writer of this tripe ever MET an Iron Warrior?"
Rarity huffed and put down her glass. "Of course it's unusual. That's the whole POINT. It's forbidden love!"
"No, it isn't," Delgan retorted, pouring himself another glass of cider, "there is absolutely nothing keeping an Astartes from bedding an equine alien... aside from the fact that Astartes are entirely asexual. They have no capacity for romantic love. I don't think they even understand it."
The unicorn raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Does this knowledge come from... personal experience?"
"Don't start with that," Delgan warned her.
Rarity and Fluttershy were laying on a long couch on either side of the man, sipping cups of chilled cider while the trio watched soap operas. It had become something of a ritual for them, since Rarity felt she needed some "girl time" away from work and combat, and felt that Fluttershy needed some structure and regular relaxation to counter being around Tellis regularly. Delgan's presence wasn't strictly necessary, and when asked he insisted that he mostly participated out of curiosity. Rarity didn't believe him.
"It's just rubbish that they insisted on making the character an Iron Warrior rather than an ordinary human. Especially as they casted a human to play him anyhow! Nobody could seriously mistake that man for an Astartes just because they make him wear plate mail." the Trademaster said sourly. "This entire show is full of little annoying things like that. They made up absurd names for half the planets they mention in each episode, and made the character based on the Great and Powerful Trixie a GENERAL in charge of actual human soldiers! And the number of characters that contract amnesia is ludicrous! Nobody in that cast can turn over in bed without forgetting what planet they came from!" He crossed his arms over his chest. "If it weren't for Duke Eschil, I wouldn't even watch this program. He is a shining diamond in an otherwise banal and unremarkable lineup."
Fluttershy tilted her head to the side. "The devilish and cunning trade minister who drives his enemies to financial ruin and then forces them to work for him? Wasn't that character inspired by you?"
"My fondness for him is biased, yes. What of it?"
Rarity glanced back to the holovid display, and then tapped Delgan's leg. "Look, it's that new public service announcement you were in! Turn the volume back up!"
A young earth pony colt walked into his home and slipped off his saddlebags. He seemed preoccupied, staring at the floor and furrowing his brow.
"Hello, son! How was your day?" greeted a mare in the kitchen, turning away from the vegetables she was preparing for dinner.
The colt stopped, and then pursed his lips. "Mom? Can I ask you something?"
Looking concerned, the elder pony approached her child and sat down next to him. "Of course. What's wrong?"
"Well... I heard some of the other colts in school talking. About joining a... cult."
The mare recoiled slightly, her pupils shrinking. Then she relaxed and laid a single foreleg on the younger pony's withers. "I see. Son, I think it's time you and I had a talk... about Chaos."
An eight-pointed star flickered over the image, and then vanished from sight.
"Some of your schoolmates may already be experimenting with Chaos cults. They might even start pressuring you to join one. They might tell you about how cool Khorne is, about all the advantages of Tzeentch worship, or how Nurgle cultists aren't REALLY as horrible and disgusting as everypony says." The mare frowned and pulled her child closer. "You're going to have to make some difficult choices that will affect you for the rest of your life and afterlife. But no matter what happens, and no matter what your friends tell you, there's one thing you absolutely MUST remember."
The colt's ears perked up. "Yeah? What's that?"
"DO NOT WORSHIP SLAANESH," the elder pony said, her voice firm as stone.
The colt recoiled, surprised. "What? Why? What happens if I worship Slaanesh? Insanity? Psychotic breakdowns? Generally unfavorable mutations?"
"If you worship Slaanesh, heavily armed space men will break into our home and kill us all," the mare explained with cold, grim seriousness.
The young pony stared with wide eyes. "Oh. Uh... okay. I won't do that."
The ponies seemed to freeze in the display, and Delgan's image stepped into the picture in front of them, facing the viewers.
"It's never too early to start the conversation," he said, pointing to the viewer, "threaten YOUR children about the dangers of Slaanesh worship today."
The scene faded out, and then transitioned to a battery commercial.
Rarity clapped her hooves together in delight, grinning at Delgan. Fluttershy mimicked her more timidly. The Trademaster endured their attention with the look of a high school student being embarrassed by his mother in public.
"Ah, this is wonderful, isn't it?" Rarity asked. She rolled onto her side, sliding her head onto Delgan's lap. "No battles. No world-ending emergencies. At times like these, I could almost forget that I'm part of an army of space pirates."
Fluttershy nodded eagerly. "Yes, it's very nice. I wish it could be like this all the time."
"I admit I enjoy peacetime ventures more than I do piracy," Delgan said, rubbing Rarity's belly, "but it's always a temporary reprieve."
"Do you think it might not be, some day?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you think we might ever be rid of the Orks?" Rarity clarified. "That we might ever be free of war, at least on our own planet? That humans, ponies, and all the other races can live together, like we're doing now, in harmony and prosperity? It isn't such a terrible stretch, is it?"
While Delgan mulled that over, the doors to the lounge hissed and then slid open. Rainbow Dash poked her head in.
"Hey guys, just thought you should know: that peace conference thing was a bust. We're pretty much at war with the rest of the planet now."
Rarity pouted.
"What? What happened?" Fluttershy gasped.
"Kessler flipped out and killed everyone. Except for the ponies, zebras, and Saddle Arabians. I guess they're with us, now? I'm not really clear on how this alliance 'protectorate' thing is supposed to work." Rainbow frowned. "Actually, they seemed pretty confused about it, too."
"This is terrible! What's going to happen now?" Fluttershy asked, quivering.
"More war, more looting, more business," Delgan leaned forward and poured himself more cider. "Well, off you go, then."
"Me?" Fluttershy asked with a confused blink. "But I don't-"
"WHOOOOOOOOO!!" Tellis sprinted into the room, hooting obnoxiously and waving his arms in the air. Fluttershy instantly jumped off the couch and tried to bolt away to the window, but Tellis snatched her out of the air with ease and then held her up over his head.
"YEAH!! We 'bout to get our war ON!" the Iron Warrior cheered, oblivious to Fluttershy's panicked flapping and kicking. "C'mon, pegasi! We have to hurry before all the good murder is taken! We gonna sack us a village!"
"Doesn't Flutters need her armor?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"No time for that! Killing now!" Tellis ran back out the door, giggling and still clutching Fluttershy over his head. Rainbow Dash shrugged and followed after him.
Rarity watched them go, then looked up at Delgan. "Well, I suppose I should go get dressed. Will you be joining us?"
"No," the Trademaster said bluntly, leaning back again and directing his attention toward the holovid once more.
"Thank you for watching CBS, the Chaos Broadcasting System! Next up: Billy Bolt the Science Colt!"
An earth pony with glasses appeared in the display, trying desperately to handle a beaker with his hooves. After a few seconds he fumbled the glass container, and then leapt back as a flame shot up from the floor.
"Ugh. Fine. I'll go to war," Delgan grumbled, turning off the holovid player and standing up.
****
Ponyville - Sugarcube Corner
"Daniels! Daniels, over here!"
Daniels was just stepping into the bakery when he heard Applejack calling him.
Nearly everyone in the building was clustered around a vid player on the wall, watching it in concern. That included the Cakes, who watched from the counter, as well as several members of the Apple family and a few other townsponies. Daniels walked up behind Applejack, having an easy view of the screen over the ponies' heads.
"You're watching CNN, the Company News Network! We're coming to you live with a special report!" said a blond, ivory-colored pegasus mare on the screen. She was seated behind a large wooden desk in front of a giant studio holo-screen, which itself displayed the Legion symbol of the Iron Warriors. Next to the pony was a man wearing a suit and tie. Despite the professional outfit, he also had a dirty brown sack mask over his head, complete with an optical augmentation.
"So I guess we have a news network now," Daniels mumbled. Braeburn quickly turned and shushed him.
"Crisis has engulfed Centaur III! For this special report, I'm your host, Scoops, and this is my co-host-"
"WAR!!" the man suddenly shouted, slamming his hands onto the desk.
Scoops stared at the man next to her, confused. "But your employment application said it was 'Kilroy'. Or is 'War' more of a nickname?"
"No! War is the subject of the news I am breaking before our audience, like the spine of a feeble Imperial warrior!" Kilroy snarled, shaking a fist at the camera. "Tensions between the 38th Company and this planet's many weak and probably edible races boiled over yesterday, leading to the declaration of WAR!"
Scoops nodded. "A peace conference in Saddle Arabia was sabotaged by a mysterious assailant, who set off a bomb in the main hall during the proceedings."
"Six diplomats were killed," Kilroy added, "not by the bomb, though. Warpsmith Kessler, who was escorting the Equestrian ambassador to the event, was so enraged by the assault that he slew most of the other envoys in cold blood. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha! All will now know and fear the might of Chaos! Your most helpless, unarmed diplomats are NOTHING before us!"
"We reached out to Warpsmith Kessler, temporary commander of the 38th Company's planetary forces," Scoops said, beckoning to her side, "he had this to say."
The screen transitioned to a vid of Kessler standing in front of a control station. He was tapping at hololiths and scrolling through veritable rivers of information even as he spoke.
"It is true. The feeble natives of this world think to defy us, and I shall..."
He trailed off as the sound of hooves came from behind him.
Hope Springs jumped up onto the control console in front of the Iron Warrior, trying to obscure the Chaos Space Marine as much as possible.
"No! Nuh-uh! You're not allowed to talk to the press!" Hope snapped, filling the vid screen with a hoof.
"What? We're not doing diplomacy things, it's fine," Kessler protested.
"Of course this is a diplomacy thing! Don't you know anything about public relations?! Go away! Shoo!" the unicorn swiped her hoof at the hulking warrior-engineer, and he reluctantly backed away from the console while grumbling in Binary.
Hope turned back to the screen, her face instantly shifting from irritated to detached and serene. "Sorry about that. What Lord Kessler meant to say is that the 38th Company regrets the outcome of the conference. However, the consistent acts of hostility and sabotage against Company assets must be answered for. So long as these aggressor nations refuse to reign in their hostile elements, the Iron Warriors have no choice but to take action!"
Kessler snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, turning away.
"The ineffectual and arrogant leaders of these territories will be deposed for the good of their own nations," Hope continued, "and their people will be inducted into the Equestrian protectorate, where they will be safe from the predations of the cruel and terrible aliens that infest our world!"
"Except us," Kessler interjected.
Hope turned her head to glare at him.
"... What?"
Daniels scratched the back of his head as the ponies in the room murmured amongst each other. "You know, it used to just be a joke that you pones were the ones bossing us around."
Applejack quirked an eyebrow. "Whaddya mean it 'used' to be? We ain't runnin' this show."
"Your coffee, Miss Apple," Dest rumbled, placing a mug down behind the orange mare.
"Thanks, sugarcube." Applejack flipped him a bit, which the Possessed Iron Warrior caught out of the air. "Do me a solid and get Danny here a cinnamon roll, wouldja?"
Dest bowed silently and plodded off. Daniels sighed and sat down.
"With news of the impending invasion spreading through the native territories like wildfire, kingdoms everywhere are scrambling to prepare," Scoops said grimly, "but will it be enough to offer them a chance at defending their sovereignty from the might of the Equestrian alliance?"
"NEVER!!" Kilroy snarled, slamming his fists onto the desk. "The weakling aliens of this misbegotten world shall fall before our indestructible armies! The corruption of Chaos shall spread across the globe! Anarchy! Destruction! Bloodshed!"
Then the human shifted back into his seat and gestured to the side. "Here to respond to the inevitable domination of the planet, we have a live interview with Blackthorn. He is representative of the feeble deer people of Thicket, one of the many victims awaiting eventual enslavement by the chosen of the Dark Gods."
Scoops arched an eyebrow as a holoscreen appeared off to the side next to her co-host. A stag appeared in the image, staring disdainfully at the man.
"Hello Blackthorn. How are you faring now, in your people's second-darkest hour?" Kilroy asked amiably.
Blackthorn snorted. "Second-darkest? Perhaps you refer to the Ork incursion which you SAY threatened the entire world, and which the 38th Company uses to justify its invasion!"
"Yes, that's the one," Kilroy replied. Scoops leaned over onto his arm and started whispering into his ear. "Hmm?"
"I fare plenty well, marauder! Thicket is well prepared to defy your cruel and terrible masters!" the stag raised a hoof toward the vid-capture unit. "Furthermore, I call on all decent and peace-loving creatures of the world to join me in REJECTING the forces of Chaos and their ridiculous creed of violence and domination! In particular, the ponies of Equestria should-"
"THIS JUST IN!!" Kilroy shouted, slamming his fists onto the table again. "Thicket is not a real nation, and nobody cares what you have to say!"
Blackthorn recoiled in surprised. "What? But, I-"
Kilroy suddenly brandished a laspistol, blasting the holoscreen projector and cutting off the signal.
"This live interview is now DEAD! Back to you, Scoops."
"Thank you, Kilroy." Scoops beamed at the vid-capture unit. "Despite strategic predictions tilting heavily in the Company's favor, the continual assaults on their assets by armed insurgents concerns tactical experts. They see these invasions as regrettable distractions from skirmishing with the Orks, and fear that without sufficient pressure, the greenskins may gather enough strength to launch an effective counter-attack. But only time will tell."
Scoops smiled and shifted away the stack of papers in front of her. "And now we go to Dark Acolyte Leverin, for sports!"
"They have the DarkMech do the sports newscast? Weird," Daniels remarked.
"Never mind that! Ya'll heard what the main story was about!" Applejack snapped. "We've got a real problem, here! War's a'comin'!"
"You do remember that you've been in as many sorties as I have since we made planetfall, right?"
"Still not the point!" Applejack groused. "Ah ain't gonna complain 'bout fightin' Orks or Tau, but this's different! These guys ain't tryin' ta destroy the world or bring in some other buncha critters to destroy the world for 'em! They're our neighbors!"
"Eeyup," Big Mac added helpfully.
"Well, that's the disadvantage of soldiering. You don't get to pick your battles," Daniels mused, "but hey, at least they did something to us, first. This space pirate gig usually isn't done in self-defense."
"We ain't had a war with the griffons in dang near a century," Braeburn sighed, pausing to take a sip of coffee, "hard to believe it could all fall apart so fast..." then he glanced at the holo-vid and instantly brightened. "Yee-haw! The Neigh Orleans Rainbow Riders are goin' to the championship! Ah just made fitty bits!"
There was much more hooting and cheering as the hooded figure in the holovid read off a list of match scores with a level of enthusiasm that most people reserved for eulogies. Dest approached Applejack and Daniels' table again.
"Whaddya think, Dest? How's this gonna go down?" Applejack asked.
The Iron Warrior placed a cinnamon roll in front of Daniels, then regarded Applejack with a long pause.
"If you're concerned for the fate of the enemy nations, then at least it is well that hostilities broke out while much of our forces are absent." Dest reasoned. "Our mightiest weapons are carried upon the Harvest of Steel, as well as our most ruthless soldiers. The enemy stands no chance against even our second and third-tier forces, but such... subtle military strength at least will not wipe their people out entirely. They will be subdued with some modicum of restraint."
Applejack grimaced. "Well, that's really the most Ah coulda hoped fer. Consarn it, Ah sure wish Twi were here. She'd know what t'do."
"True. I'm certain she would have her own plan to reconcile the concerns of the Iron Warriors with Equestria's desire for peaceful hegemony," Dest agreed, "and I would have enjoyed watching her hopes shattered upon the cruel realities of this conflict. A pity."
"Eeyup," Big Mac added, earning him a groan from his sister.
"At present, however, we have our own deployment orders coming in. Unless you have some futile scheme of your own, we should prepare to deploy." Dest's shoulder-mounted servo claws reached behind him and untied the strings of his apron with surprising dexterity and care. He placed the work apron on the table behind him, and then took up his boltgun.
"Yeah, Ah'd better go git mah armor on," Applejack agreed. Then she eyed Big Mac. "As fer you, seein' how this ain't no 'end o'the world' war, can ya stay home and work this time instead o' fightin'?"
"Eeyup."
"Good. Brae can really use the help. And Celestia knows Apple Bloom needs somepony with some sense around," Applejack said, reaching up and giving the stallion a pat on the head. "Now, don't ya worry 'bout me none. Ah'll be home lickety-split!"
The Apple siblings shared a hug, and then Applejack turned and shouted toward the back of the store.
"Hey, Pinkie! Move yer tail! We're goin'!"
"Okaaaaay!" A banging noise came from upstairs, and then Pinkie rolled down the steps as if she had tripped and fallen. On the last step she suddenly bounced upright, landing on her hooves.
"Goodbye again, Mister and Missus Cake! Want me to get you anything while I'm out pillaging?"
"Oh, no, that's okay. We don't really need anything," Cup Cake insisted.
"Although if you could loot something nice for the kids, we wouldn't say no," Carrot added.
"Okee-day!" Pinkie chirped, following the other soldiers out the door. "See you after we take over the world!"
****
Unknown sector
"All right! We're almost there!" Tellis crowed while he blasted through the sky. "I think the Dark Nerds said there was a trading settlement around that mountain! Let's go, let's go!"
Fluttershy mumbled something from within his arms, but with the combination of his high-speed flight and her weak voice, Tellis didn't notice.
"Hey, Tellis, I have to ask: why are you so gung-ho about this, anyway? This place is run by diamond dogs, right?" Rainbow Dash asked. The swift flyer was zooming along at a slightly higher altitude, sweeping the ground with her visor systems and searching for anything cool.
"What do you mean? I'm ALWAYS up for a good massacre!" the Raptor replied.
"Yeah, sure, but why are you so excited about THIS one? We've been fighting Orks constantly, so it's not like you don't get enough combat in!" She dropped in next to the Iron Warrior. "If you're hoping the diamond dogs are going to be fun to take on, I think you'll be disappointed. They're pretty lame."
Tellis spotted something and leaned backward, his flight pack spreading out to stabilize his flight.
"There we are. Good. Looks like we beat the rest of the army here," Tellis mumbled.
Rainbow Dash swung about and hovered in front of him. "And that matters because...?"
"We don't have to split the loot with them! All that sweet moolah is all ours!"
Rainbow Dash continued to stare. Fluttershy, who was still squeezed between the Raptor's vambrace and chest plate, looked up at him with a quirked eyebrow.
"And that matters... since when?"
Tellis sighed, deflating. "Okay, fine. Look... I have gambling debts. I need the money to pay them off."
"What are you talking about? You paid me the other day," Rainbow pointed out.
"Yeah. So I paid off my debt to YOU," Tellis explained, "and that was obviously the most important one. But now I have others. I'm three-thousand and fifty bits in the hole right now." He paused. "Wait, hold on."
Shifting Fluttershy under his other arm, he used his free hand to tap the side of his helmet. His visor scrolled through a list of broadcast channels, and then connected to the CNN signum feed.
"...... Shit! Three-thousand and one hundred! Damn you, Braeburn! And damn YOU, Sure Shot! Apparently your special talent is ACTUALLY giving the ball away when your team is only a goal behind!"
"Tellis... do you have a gambling problem?" Fluttershy asked hesitantly.
"Yes! Because apparently I suck at it!" he groused. "Now let's go earn me some dough! I have a poker tournament tonight."
Fluttershy squeaked in fright as Tellis began diving toward the ground, and she squeezed her eyes shut. The ground below was a sparse cluster of small wooden buildings, and Tellis aimed for one such structure on his descent.
"IRON WITHIN, BECOME THE IRON WITHOUT!! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!"
The armored berserker crashed feet-first through the roof, slamming into the ground hard enough to unsettle the building and cave in what was left of the ceiling.
The diamond dogs inhabiting the camp were already quite startled at having a missile fly screaming at them from above, and they promptly fled upon seeing the fiery object crash into a storage shed. Their caution was vindicated when Tellis burst from the wall a moment later. The rickety walls of the shack quivered for a moment, and then collapsed behind the armored marauder in a dusty heap.
"Attention, canine filth! I have come for your blood and booty! Preferably in that order!" Tellis roared. He held Fluttershy over his head as he shouted for some reason, as if he was brandishing her as a weapon. "The 38th Company lays claim to this village's riches, and Chaos will take your souls! Flee, hapless mortals, for your end is neigh! No, wait, it's nigh. Damn it, I'm so used to those stupid horse puns that I'm doing it myself, now."
"Um, Tellis?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yes? Make it quick dear, I'm in the middle of something," Tellis reminded the pegasus over his head.
"I think we found the treasure already," Fluttershy mumbled, staring down at the ground.
Tellis looked down himself. The dirt around his boots was littered with gleaming gemstones, with some of them crushed to shards under his armored feet. Behind him was a great mound of the jewels, likewise greatly disturbed by his entrance.
"Huh. I was kind of hoping to do the murder first and THEN the stealing. Oh well," the Chaos Lord mused.
Rainbow Dash swooped in next to him, carefully landing so as not to step on any valuables herself. "Okay, so did you bring a sack or anything? What do we do now?"
"I don't know. I'm new at this," Tellis admitted.
"You've been a space pirate for LITERALLY thousands of years!"
"Stealing stuff was never my department! I have people for that!"
"People that we left behind because you didn't want to share with them!"
"Rainbow Dash, please, your criticism isn't helping," Fluttershy gently chided the other mare, "also, please don't say anything that might upset Tellis while he's holding me like this. He could squish me like a tomato."
"True dat," Tellis admitted, making no move to release his timid teammate. "Okay, so here's the game plan. We need to steal a bag or crate or something to help us steal the other loot. Rainbow, you go do that. In the meantime, me and Shy will go kill some villagers. I'll start with the children."
"WHAT?!" Fluttershy yelped.
"Ha! Kidding! I'll save the kids for you, Fluts. You need the combat practice."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes behind her helmet visor. "I have a better idea. You have actual hands, which is way better for handling stuff, so why don't YOU do the thieving, while me and Flutters terrorize the mutts?"
"Ugh. Now YOU'RE getting all tactical on me? Geez," Tellis groaned and finally lowered Fluttershy toward the ground. "Will you at least make Fluttershy brutalize some younglings?"
"I'll try. No promises," Rainbow Dash assured him.
"I'll take it." Tellis finally dropped the yellow pony, and then swiftly walked off in a random direction.
"You all right, Fluttershy? He's been holding onto you for a while," Rainbow remarked.
"Oh, no, I'm fine. I'm actually pretty used to it by now. And he almost never tries to juggle me anymore." Fluttershy smiled reassuringly, and Rainbow chuckled.
"All right, then. Let's get to conquering the town!" Rainbow adjusted her visor scope, zooming in on the main cluster of structures ahead. Her targeting auspex picked out the many diamond dogs sheltering next to windows and peeking out at the invaders from behind corners. None made any aggressive moves or seemed to be waiting in ambush, and she saw no indication of any weapons more advanced than a wooden cudgel.
"This'll be easy. We just have to find the mayor or whatever the dogs put in charge of their villages, and make him surrender. We probably won't even need to hurt anyone." Rainbow trotted down the main road, her armor servos humming with every step. Fluttershy followed behind her, creeping fearfully in the other pony's shadow.
"Do you really think we won't need to fight them?" the meek pegasus asked hopefully.
"Probably. I mean, what're they gonna do? Just look at me!" Rainbow Dash pounded a foreleg against her chest plate. Then she pointed a leg forward, toward a larger building that had a playground out front. "In the meantime, you check out that school. If you find any kids, take their lunch money."
Fluttershy gasped. "I couldn't! That's terrible!"
"Well, yeah. Barely," the armored pegasus reasoned, "look, you have to at least TRY to do something aggressive and pirate-like, or Tellis is never going to get off your case. Do you want to turn into some kind of blood-drinking lunatic?"
"No! Never!"
"Good, because we have plenty of those around. So go intimidate some pups for their pocket change. It's pretty much the weakest form of piracy there is," Rainbow Dash reasoned, "it'll also keep you away from any of the guards, since you don't have your armor on. Picking on little kids is pretty much all you're equipped for right now."
Fluttershy glanced over to the rickety school building nervously. "I suppose you're right, Rainbow..."
"Of course I am! Between us and Tellis, we'll have this place locked down in two shakes of a feather!" Rainbow gave her childhood friend a hearty pat on the back to encourage her. Fluttershy quickly jumped forward toward her objective, perhaps because "hearty pats" from ponies in power armor tended to bruise more than encourage.
Once Fluttershy was creeping toward the school building at a nice solid snail's pace, Rainbow Dash jumped into the air. She shifted her jets to a hover, and then started a low-speed sweep over the settlement.
There were a few diamond dogs hiding among the exterior of the shabby huts rather than inside, although they quickly moved to remedy that as soon as they spotted a gleaming suit of armor zooming overhead on a set of rocket boosters.
Rainbow Dash couldn't help but snort while she watched the town's dogs yelp in fright and bolt for their houses.
"Geez, is the whole war going to be like this? We send a couple ponies in and everyone shuts themselves in their homes and cowers? Why didn't they just surrender to us on the spot, then?"
She found a larger building that seemed like it was built to slightly more robust standards than the majority of the village, and was also clearly larger than a regular house needed to be. There was also a diamond dog with a helmet peeking out through the window.
"Really, the dogs should be GLAD I'm doing this! If the Orks showed up they'd all be dead! And if the Company armies showed up they'd be marching these losers right into the slave camps!"
She landed in front of the larger building, her flight pack steaming and her targeting auspex coming alive. "Knock knock, mutts!"
One shot from an impulse blaster caved in the door. Rainbow Dash stepped inside, counting the number of scan targets scrolling up her visor display. There were several more diamond dogs within, although they were covering behind furniture and walls while nervously clutching crude melee weapons. She couldn't really blame them.
"Yo! Who's in charge around here? I want to talk to them about a limited-time offer on complete military surrenders. Act now and I won't even take your sad little spears." The pegasus glanced left and right, searching for something that looked like the mayor's office in Ponyville. "C'mon guys, let's make this nice and painless. You give up, we swipe a few shiny things, and then you're with us. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? Hello?"
Rainbow entered another room, and she heard the sound of footsteps rushing off into an adjoining hall.
"You know that if you all run away, we get the town by default, right? I'm just gonna plant a flag in the middle of town and you'll have soldiers running... hm?"
She briefly scanned the table, and then noticed that a paper map was spread out with several pins marking certain points. She hopped up onto the surface for a better look.
Aside from the pins, there were other marks over the map. Markers, ink blots, and tiny flags created a confusing variety of labels across the parchment. Rainbow Dash couldn't make sense of them off-hoof, but noticed that the biggest "marker" of all was a dagger plunged into the center of the map, pinning it in place. The dagger was poised over a certain city that had only recently been added to most maps of the region, on account of it having been built mere months ago: Ferrous Dominus.
"What is all this? It looks like a war room," the pegasus mumbled. There were sheets of paper pinned to the wall, and notes laid about the table as well. She placed an armored hoof on one such sheet, and read off the contents.
"Thirty-one. Sixteen A. Three OP. Weap ship, four. Twenty, zero-three. What's 'weap ship'? Whatever... Twenty. Eight A. One OP. Exp ship, six. Twenty-one, zero-three..."
Rainbow trailed off, staring down at the note. There were many more lines of numbers below that one, and all of them led her to one inescapable conclusion.
"This... is WAY too complicated for diamond dogs to be working with," Rainbow said aloud. "What is all this stuff? Some kind of code?"
She was distantly aware of some shuffling noises coming from down the hall, but she had long since stopped caring about the canines skulking about.
"Okay, wait. This is supposed to be a trading village, right? Maybe it's like an inventory?" She tapped on the side of her helmet. "Hey, a little help, here?"
Small squares spontaneously appeared over several numbers in her visor, and the power armor's logic engine started analyzing them for context. Before long it began labeling the data.
"All right, so the last number is the date, these numbers are objects... what objects?" the pegasus mumbled. Another marker appeared on a different note that contained a different list. Rainbow Dash peered closer.
"More numbers?! This is ridiculous! Why couldn't they have a nice, simple memo lying around to explain things rather than their dumb math homework?" the armored pony griped.
Another marker flashed on her visor, outlining a sheet of paper pinned to the wall.
"Oh, hey. I wasn't even serious." Rainbow hopped off the table and trotted up to the note, reading it as soon as she got close enough. "Reminder: do not leave empty cartridges behind after practicing with laser weapons! And STOP 'testing' the human explosives! We can't afford to waste any more! This means YOU, Golma!"
Rainbow Dash blinked and furrowed her brow. "Wait... so... this place is-"
Then the numbers "3.2" started flashing on her visor, along with an arrow that pointed to her side.
"No! Quit it! Stop it with the numbers! I... wait, is that a cool factor?"
"NOW!! Get her!" shouting an unfamiliar and rather angry voice.
Rainbow Dash had been expecting resistance in the village. Mostly in the sense that she expected diamond dogs to pelt her with spears or crossbow bolts. If the village leaders had been investing a lot in security, then it was even plausible that she'd end up fighting guards with magic weapons or crude bombs that could pose a serious threat to her armor.
What she had absolutely not expected was to get flanked by someone with a boltgun.
Rainbow lurched to the side as mass-reactive rounds hammered her legs and wings, throwing up flashing red damage alerts. Then new alerts started coming from her OTHER side, and the crack of lasguns joined the ferocious roar of the bolter. Albeit at least the lasbolts didn't toss her around from the explosive impacts.
Rainbow was already in a panic, and a dozen questions shot through her mind as she stumbled around for some kind of cover or path of retreat. That panic reached a peak when a grenade bounced onto the floor under her nose.
"EXIT STAGE UP!!" the pegasus hit all of her impulse blasters at once, launching her straight into, and through, the ceiling. The poorly-constructed roofing proved little impediment to her ascent once her thrusters kicked in, and, most crucially, presented a less dangerous impact than a grenade explosion. After tearing through the clay tiling and bursting into the sky, Rainbow kept flying upward until she could hear the sound of her flight pack over her own heartbeat.
"Okay. Okay! I'm clear! Great." She finally leveled out her flight and started sorting through all the damage indicators on her visor. Meaning she discarded all of them with barely a glance. "So. What's going on here? We have diamond dogs, Company weapons, and apparently some kind of planning table. This... This must be some kind of secret military hideout!" She frowned. "But where did they get bolters and lasguns?"
Her musing was cut short by another visor alert. It clocked in at a 2.1, and was captioned with the label "neato".
Spinning about in the air, Rainbow Dash was treated to the sight of a pair of griffons rushing up toward her while bearing swords. It was pretty neat, to be honest.
"All right guys, look; I'll give you an 'A' for effort, but you should stick to jumping me when I'm on the ground, indoors, and surrounded." Her flight pack spread open, and the rumble of her impulse jets rose while she bracketed the lead flyer with her visor. "Last chance to give up! And I'd like to point out that I'm making this offer AFTER you already tried to kill me!"
The griffons slowed their ascent, scowling at her. "And serve as the humans' slaves and attack hounds, like you cowardly equines? Never! We'd rather die than submit to Chaos!"
Rainbow's eyes narrowed dangerously at the term "cowardly". "Well, glad we have that cleared up. I'ma smash your beaks in, now."
The griffons split up in the air, one ascending straight toward the armored pony while the other swooped in lower with the intent of coming in from another angle. It was a classic tactical maneuver for airborne melee fighters working in pairs and something that Rainbow Dash knew about from her days of studying Wonderbolt flight techniques. A pretty good move, if one wasn't an aerial ace encased in a shell of rocket-propelled ceramite shielding.
Rainbow blasted toward the first attacker, moving her trajectory as if she was going to barrel headfirst into him. Which wasn't a bad strategy itself, since she would obviously "win" that kind of collision, but she had something better planned. When it came to flying, at least, Rainbow Dash could think more than one step ahead.
The griffon started shifting his pose, ready to dodge out of the way as he adjusted his flight for her velocity. He spun and slashed at just the right moment, an impressive flap of one wing pushing him out of Rainbow's path. At the same time, Rainbow hit one impulse blaster, launching her to the side. Then another, swinging her ahead. An eye blink later, another one of her boots fired, throwing her backward straight toward her opponent. By the time the mare's boot impacted the griffon's side, he had barely completed his swing and was just starting to wonder how she had evaded.
As the first of the insurgents spun away with several ribs pulverized, Rainbow swung easily around to the second. This one was almost as shocked by Rainbow's agility as her actual target, and hesitated on her assault path.
"And YOU get ninja stars to the face!" Rainbow Dash declared, bracketing the remaining foe and firing a spray.
Unfortunately, the spray was less "concentrated rifle burst" and more "out-of-control water hose". Her shuriken catapult spasmed and flailed while firing dozens of ultra-sharp blades every which way, with absolutely no respect for where she had been aiming.
"Hey! Whoa! What the hay is this?! Why isn't it working?" Rainbow demanded. A diagram immediately flashed on her visor, displaying a wire-frame image of her shuriken catapult and helpfully informing her that a critical servo assembly had been damaged earlier. Not only was the machine's efforts ultimately futile, but it also obscured her vision at a moment when she was still facing an enemy in close quarters.
The griffon warrior slashed at Rainbow's belly, and the pegasus flinched at the shriek of tearing metal. Then her opponent grabbed onto her helmet, rearing the sword back for another strike.
Another burst from her impulse blasters broke the griffon's grip and sent Rainbow Dash hurtling away. She quickly hit her boosters and corkscrewed, trying to gain some time and distance to think.
"Okay, fine. So the gun is broken. I can do without it. These guys are a little better armed than I expected, but they're still no Orks!"
Another diagram flickered on the corner of her visor. Rainbow glanced at it briefly, and her eyes widened.
"Holy hay! How did that guy actually damage the plating?!" She growled and twisted around, spotting the griffon coming up on another attack curve. It seemed that even these guys' melee weapon technology had been upgraded. Where had they gotten all this gear?
She successfully dodged aside as the griffon sliced through the air where Rainbow's head had been. Her body twisted around sharply, and she hit her boosters again at precisely the worst time... for her opponent. A jet of flame scorched the griffon badly, and she squawked in pain and started flailing in the air.
Rainbow zipped around in a wide circle, aiming to knock her foe out of the sky and force her to land. Before she could, however, new readings on the "coolness sensor" started popping up, and spears of red light started darting up around her.
"Seriously! Why do these guys have our weapons? Tell me they don't have an autocannon or something too!" she griped, barrel rolling to throw off the firing line on the ground.
"Damn it, she's too fast! We can't hit her at this range!" complained a diamond dog, raising his lasrifle. Four other canines were spraying fans of lasers into the air uselessly, crouched behind a line of crates. None were marksmen under ideal circumstances, and trying to hit a supersonic target zig-zagging through the air some one hundred meters in the air was far from ideal.
"Just keep the tinhead away from Gella! We only need a few more minutes!" Another griffon was moving up to the barricade, carrying the warrior that Rainbow Dash had swatted out of the sky over his shoulder. "I'm heading into the tunnels! As soon as Gella gets back here, we're in full retreat! Move into the tunnels and collapse them!"
Another of the diamond dogs stopped shooting and turned toward the conscious griffon. "What about the cargo?"
"We're moving as much as we can, but we have to get out of here!" he snapped back. "Unless you think some laser gun is worth your lives, you..."
He trailed off when he heard the sound of another flight pack approaching from behind a nearby building. "Oh, Tartarus, not another one!"
Indeed there was 'another one', and a gleaming figure in silver and gold rocketed over the roof of the central trading house while trailing smoke and flame. One diamond dog spun around and raised his weapon, but didn't even get to fire a shot before the new combatant landed a short distance away. The impact threw the bipedal canines off their feet, as well as blasting a wave of dirt into the fighter's faces.
When the obscuring smoke and dust passed, the insurgent fighters found themselves staring up into the mask of a Chaos Raptor.
"Hey, any of you guys have a bag I can steal?" Tellis asked.
Nobody answered right away, or even dared to move. The diamond dog that had been about to shoot at him slowly got to his feet, slightly bewildered that the Iron Warrior wasn't attacking.
That dog snapped his lasgun up into firing position. Tellis swatted the gun aside with a backhand that sent the gun bouncing away across the ground before the canine had even realized what had happened.
"I guess a crate or barrel would also work," Tellis informed them. "Anyone? C'mon, it can't be THAT hard to find a stupid sack around here. What do YOU guys use for looting the weak and helpless?"
"There's... a crate over there..." the griffon said slowly, having some difficulty understanding the current situation. He pointed toward the large wooden cubes making up the barricades.
"Cool. Thanks." Tellis walked past the native warriors, not seeming to notice as they all bolted for the nearest buildings while whimpering in terror. He grabbed one such crate and lifted it, only to notice that it was already full.
"Oh, hey, are they already stuffed with treasure? Because that would make this even easier!" The Iron Warrior pried off the top and looked inside the container. "Damn. Just military equipment. I don't need this crap." He upended the crate, dumping about twenty helmets - with cuts at the top for equine ears - onto the ground.
Tellis was still determining whether he needed to keep a hand free to carry Fluttershy or if he could put her in one of the loot crates when something hit the ground behind him. He glanced back and saw a badly crippled female griffon curled up in the dirt, and a mono-molecular-edged short sword lying next to her.
He tilted his head up. "Hey, Dash. How's the conquest and subjugation going?"
"Lousy!" Rainbow Dash snapped before she swooped down into a hover. "Did you know these guys have Company weapons? I almost got torn in half by a boltgun earlier!"
"Nope, didn't notice," Tellis said while dumping fragmentation grenades out of a second crate and onto the ground.
"Well, they do! There's something fishy going on!" the pegasus said. "We have to take a few of these chumps back for interrogation."
"And how are we supposed to do that? I can't carry the loot and Flutters AND some dying enemies!" The Chaos Raptor held up the two empty crates. "Look, we have to make a decision here. Which is more important: my short-term financial stability, or whatever you were talking about that isn't that first thing?"
Rainbow clicked her tongue. "I'll bet if the others were here, they'd come up with some way to steal valuables AND figure this out. I feel like this could be important!"
"Speaking of others, where'd you drop off Shy? She didn't get captured or anything, did she?" Tellis started looking around the various crude shacks to spot the other pegasus.
"Nah, she's off shaking down some children." Rainbow smirked and tapped a boot against the Chaos Lord's shoulder pad. "It's not quite pillaging a town, but it's a start, right?"
"Only if she wins," Tellis pointed out. He was staring at something off to the side.
"Come on, Tell! Even Shy can handle a bunch of little puppies!" the mare snorted. Then she turned to look where Tellis was looking.
Fluttershy was bound and gagged, and being carried through town by a half-dozen excited young diamond dogs. The meek pony managed to spot her allies as she was being hauled through town, and she desperately wiggled her hooves and lashed around her tail to try to get their attention.
"... Okay, but technically this is still your fault for not letting her put her armor on, first," Rainbow muttered.
"True. She would have been able to hide from the helpless younglings then," Tellis admitted. "Can you go rescue her? I still have to go steal stuff."
"Yeah, okay, fine..."
****
Ponyville
Tox had gained a surprising amount of respect for the Cult of Nurgle during the course of her operation.
Not that she considered the tenets of the disease-based religion anything less than madness incarnate. Nor did she admire the filthy creature that she had come to replace in any way. She still loathed the idea of dealing with swarms of parasites, diseased growths, and assorted filth for its own sake.
Which was ultimately the point. This cult had come up with a remarkable defense against infiltration and subterfuge. Tox was positive that any lesser changeling would have abandoned their mission or completely blown their cover by now. She couldn't guarantee that SHE wouldn't still do that as she progressed further, and she was one of the changeling elite and had access to an apparently unlimited supply of magical power and nourishment. She couldn't possibly imagine any enemy standing against the Cult of Nurgle with anything less than overwhelming power and purely murderous intent. And who knows if even that would work?
Tox staggered through the streets of Ponyville like a cripple, completely miserable. The stench was nearly unbearable. Her tears had gathered in little pools in her goggles, and her body was nearly on fire underneath the vile robes of her victim. She had used every method - magic or mundane - that she could think of to remove the colonies of parasites within Kruss's clothes without damaging the garment itself. Evidently it had not been enough. Twinges of pain and a fiery itch crawled over her skin. She believed Kruss about the power of his god, Nurgle, simply because nothing short of divine intervention could make this tolerable when she knew damn well he had access to non-infested clothes and chose not to get any.
On the other hand, her efforts were working. Tox's vile stench had the denizens of Ponyville clearing a wide swath of ground in front of her, but otherwise paid little attention to her presence. Which was good, because she couldn't be sure if she was up to a conversation as Kruss just yet.
"All right. You can do this," Tox hissed under her breath, standing in front of the Nethalican, "I just need to get this fool's access card and inform the other priests that I'll be leaving for Ferrous Dominus. After I'm in the fortress, I can choose another human and replace him, perhaps. but first I need the access card."
Kruss had revealed that such identification was necessary to get into secure facilities, and that the entire city of Ferrous Dominus counted as such. The card was also keyed to a specific individual, and apparently included something called a "gene mapping test". He had been clear that he had no idea if shape-changing magic would be able to fool such a check, but at the very least he was sure she would have to enter the fortress under the guise of whoever's card she had.
It was all so strange... he had revealed everything she wanted to know, except why he was being so forthcoming. She had to assume there was something he wasn't telling her; some aspect of her mission or obstacle that had not occurred to her. But even then, she was going into this next phase of her mission much better prepared than she had hoped.
The front gates of the Chaos temple cracked open, and Tox shuffled uneasily. A man in black robes soon emerged, pausing in surprise when he spotted Tox.
"Brother Kruss, hello. You're late for evening services." His tone suggested he was quite ambivalent about missing the Nurgle Cultist. Good. The less questions and complaints, the better.
"I had some errands to run," Tox mumbled, shuffling past the other clergyman.
She paused in surprise and no small amount of awe as she stopped and beheld the interior of the Nethalican.
Black iron and carved ebony was the order of the day, composing by far the greater portion of the temple's interior. A wide stairway descended into the ground where a huge pit held the temple's pews for the worshipers. Walkways and bridges surrounded the pit, and other alcoves held small libraries, desks, and what appeared to be prison cells. High above the prayer pit was a massive chandelier in the shape of a Chaos Star (naturally) suspended by massive chains and covered in candles and skulls.
What dominated the temple, no doubt, was the Dark Portal. Tox had never known much about it, but had gathered that it was the "power source" of the building and probably also the reason that it apparently imparted a contact high to changelings. Behind the pulpit, supported by a dozen hefty chains, was what appeared to be a circular wall of fire within an iron ring. It was suspended off the ground and surrounded by glowing runes on both the floor, walls, and the chains themselves. It was beautiful in the way that only a magical abomination could be, and the changeling guardian felt a happy tingle roll through her body that actually let her forget about the repulsive insects burrowing into her skin.
"Uh... Brother Kruss? Is something the matter?"
Tox started, almost jumping in surprise. She had been standing in place gawking at the temple and soaking in the Nethalican's energies. Probably not a very human thing to do. "Yes, sorry. Lost my train of thought for a bit." She coughed to clear her throat. Then she coughed some more, as clearing her throat seemed to take a bit more effort than she had expected. The other priests seemed unbothered, luckily.
Once Tox had her breathing under control, she looked back and forth to try to reconcile the layout of the Nethalican with what Kruss had told her. She spotted the area which was supposed to hold his quarters, and that of the other Cultist personnel.
"I just have something to collect, and I'll be on my way," she assured the other Cultist, "I have business in Ferrous Dominus, so I'll be transferring there immediately."
The man quirked an eyebrow beneath his hood. "I see. Well, that's something of a shame. You were making some great progress here. These ponies seemed slightly vulnerable to Nurgle's attentions, and I know Apple Bloom was looking forward to seeing Gardenblight completed."
"That... uh, yes. Sure. Quite a pity," Tox mumbled, fighting the urge to clear her throat again. "Oh, one more thing: where is Father Virgil?"
"Right behind you," said an unfamiliar, monotone voice.
Tox yelped and jumped in surprise, and then immediately doubled over into a coughing fit again.
"Brother Leonard, are you okay? Nurgle's gifts seem to weigh heavily upon you today," remarked the Cultist. Virgil simply watched silently until Tox got her breathing under control and stood up straight again.
"Y-Yes! I'm fine! Just a... a new infection! It's great! Since I just LOVE being horribly, horribly sick!" Tox gasped out.
"Heh. Yeah, you sure do. Anyway, what did you want to see Father Virgil for?"
Tox finally turned to look at the Chaos Priest. He was tall and lithe, with dark skin and a pair of heavy shackles on his wrists that didn't seem to be attached to anything. Most obviously, there was a metal Chaos Star that appeared to be attached directly to the top of the priest's skull.
"I... just wanted to let you know that I would be leaving for Ferrous Dominus today." She quickly brushed past Virgil, hoping against hope that both the Chaos devotees would be too glad to be rid of her to examine her story or behavior any more closely.
"Hold," Virgil commanded, dashing that hope. Tox froze in place, already working out in her head which spells to use to disable these two.
"Brother Leonard Kruss," Virgil continued, "or whoever you are. We two must be leaving immediately. There's a daemonic infestation at the edge of town in need of exorcizing."
Tox flinched.
"We're exorcising a daemon?" asked the Cultist, looking surprised.
"No. There's an equine priest and pair of mages heading to the location to do that. We're heading out to watch and manage wagers on who dies." Virgil reached into his robe and pulled out a single heavy iron key. Then he tossed it to Tox, who snatched it out of the air on reflex. "You will be here on your own. Make sure that the incredibly powerful and important Dark Portal is not disrupted. And if you head out, lock up before you leave."
Virgil turned sharply and headed toward the door, leaving behind the bewildered infiltrator. The other Chaos clergyman followed, glancing back at Tox before heading out through the front gates.
"So... what did you mean when you referred to Brother Leonard as 'whoever you are'?"
Virgil shrugged, closing the gate behind him. "Probably nothing."
"Probably...?"
The gates to the temple creaked shut, leaving Tox alone with nothing but her thundering heartbeat and the parasites in her robes.
"Well... that was..." she trailed off, words failing her. Had Virgil just acknowledged she was a spy, and then ignored her?
She shook her head and rushed to the office Kruss had told her about. Then she headed to the desk in the back, isolated off in the corner. Nurgle's Mark was carved into the surface, and it was covered in musty scrolls and bottles full of dubious fluids.
Tox opened one drawer, and then immediately recoiled as tiny dark shapes started crawling out of it. "No, no, NO! Disgusting!" She almost loosed a firebolt into the drawer before remembering that there was probably something important inside.
"Hive Mother help me, why didn't I use a Khorne Cultist?" She moaned to herself, opening the drawer the rest of the way. "Got it!" She reached in, picked up a blank, silver card, and then shook it to rid it of the insects crawling on it as best she could. "Stupid, ridiculous, vile, HAKK!" Tox started coughing violently on the spot, merely adding another token discomfort to the current awful situation.
Once she got her breathing under control, Tox leaned against the wall and observed the security card. She couldn't see any identifying markings or features; if it weren't for her ability to sense dishonesty in her captive, he could have easily been lying to her.
She turned away and headed back toward the main antechamber. There may have been more useful objects in the desk, but she couldn't bring herself to dig around in the hideously infested furniture.
"I've informed them that I'm leaving, and I have everything I need," Tox mumbled, stepping out into the hall, "putting aside that one priest might know... something, I'm clear to access the fortress."
Then she paused, glancing back behind the temple pulpit. The Dark Portal sat there, humming and burning with untold power. Alone and unobserved.
Tox licked her lips.
"What would it be like... up close?" she wondered. There was no one to catch her this time. And even if there was, it didn't seem odd to her for a Chaos Cultist to be mesmerized by an arcane portal.
She quickly scurried up onto the altar, gazing hungrily at the flickering lights within the swirling disc. Tox already felt energy seeping into her. The power that she normally leeched from unwilling, unaware individuals clinging obliviously to their emotions poured freely like a river. It was like soaking in a pool of power and nourishment, and the feeling only grew stronger as she advanced. The itching of her skin, the weariness in her body, and a quite new and rather dubious pain in her chest all seemed to fade away in proximity to the creeping light.
What might it be like to touch the portal, she wondered. What new miracles would she witness? What power would be hers? Tox vaguely recalled being warned about the Nethalican. Something about disrupting it? Would touching it disrupt it?
Tox decided to find out.
Dipping her hand into the Nethalican produced a few alarming effects right away.
For starters, her hand became a hoof again. She wasn't sure how, or even precisely when, she changed back to her natural form. She was simply distantly aware that it had happened.
The reason that such an alarming and potentially dangerous thing was at the back of her mind was because her mind was filled with a lot of other things all of a sudden, and most of them were screaming at her. Otherworldly shrieking pierced her brain in ways that no ordinary sound could, carrying with it terrible secrets and images of fantastic ruin. Hatred, pain, love, and pleasure surrounded her and rocked her thoughts with phenomenal violence. Her world was a dizzying array of colors, feelings, and the furious roars of a thousand dead souls.
Tox couldn't exactly tell her own, discrete thoughts and emotions from the hundreds of other ones invading her brain while she was connected to the Dark Portal. But after the fact, she decided she definitely panicked at some point and fired a spell desperately into the Nethalican.
A pulse of force blasted out from the portal, wrenching Tox free of the magical rupture and flinging her across the altar. Her body slammed into the podium at the front, which she was quite unhappy to learn was ALSO made of reinforced metal.
"Augh! What... What's going on?!" she shouted desperately. Her senses were completely off-kilter, and the changeling flailed desperately on the ground as if in the throes of the most terrifying nightmare.
Eventually, the cacophony of insanity in her mind stilled to the point that she could differentiate the images in her thoughts from the ones provided by her eyes. Even then, voices in her head continued speaking and shouting, and she laid on the floor trembling, willing them to fall silent.
The Nethalican suddenly crackled, and the chains rattled. Tox snapped her head toward the Dark Portal, her eyes wide.
The portal's eye was shifting and spiraling in a wash of colors now, where before it had been a solid, furious red. She had no idea what that meant, exactly, but by now the changeling spy was quite sure that toying with the portal had been a terrible mistake.
Tox clambered off the floor. Or tried to, anyway. Her legs got tangled in the filthy robes she was wearing, and besides that her body felt weak.
Not weak as in malnourished, or under power. She had ample energy. Even more than she thought she was capable of containing, in fact. But some sort of other condition seemed to weigh upon her. Her lungs burned, and drool seemed to be seeping from her mouth in unusual quantities. Her muscles responded sluggishly and with constant twinges of pain.
At first she was tempted to blame the parasites, but they shouldn't have been able to affect her changeling physiology like this. If any of them even survived the Nethalican's mana pulse, that is. Most lesser changelings would have been scorched to a wispy husk after a shock like that.
"What is this?! What's happening to me?!" she screamed, her legs shaking.
"Welcome, insect!" bellowed a voice from within her head. It was but one of many, yet Tox immediately focused on it as being the clearest and most coherent of the insane chorus. "Before, you were lost. Alone. Apart. Now you are one of us. Part of our family. Come to us. Let us make you whole."
Tox scrambled away from the Nethalican, ignoring the voice. She threw off Kruss's diseased robes, not noticing as the access card - the entire point of her coming here - bounced out of an interior pocket and onto the floor. Only the amulet bearing the Mark of Nurgle remained among the trappings she had stolen from Leonard Kruss, and the metal pendant rattled around her neck while she scrambled, gasping, for the door.
She didn't change her form. She didn't cast any spells. She burst from the temple and took flight, soaring into the cool night sky, hacking and wheezing desperately. She barely had enough sense of mind to change her heading toward her "home base" where Kruss was imprisoned.
At no point did she notice that the Mark of Nurgle on Kruss's amulet was glowing a sickly, luminescent green the entire time.
****
Everfree Forest - "abandoned" lair
"Kruss! KRUSS!! Kru-HGK! Kack! Hakk!"
Tox staggered into the cave she had refashioned as a home base, pausing only long enough complete another coughing fit. They were getting worse: more painful, for one, and more common. Also, she'd started coughing up fluids that she didn't recognize. That probably wasn't good.
"KRUSS!!" she screamed, walking further into the cave.
"Why are you shouting like you're expecting me to come to you?" Kruss answered from deeper within the cave. "I'm chained to the wall, remember?"
"Shut up!" the changeling wheezed, finally rounding the bend that put her within line of sight of her captive.
"Hello, infiltrator. Did you recover the key card?" Kruss asked amiably.
"The... The key...?" Tox wondered at that for a few seconds, trying to grasp the memory of her main objective through the haze of pain and misery. Eventually she discarded it. "Forget the key card! What's happening to me?!" she snarled. Then she collapsed into another coughing fit.
"It looks like you've come down with something," Kruss deadpanned, "congratulations."
"Come down with... what? What are you going on about?" Tox stepped up to the Cultist, snarling angrily. "Something happened! It started after I put on your robes! My lungs started to hurt, and I feel cold, and I can't stop coughing!"
"Okay, so you're sick," Kruss shrugged.
"I'm what? Sick?! Like, with a disease?!" Tox looked absolutely stunned.
"... Yeah. Like, with a disease," Kruss replied, "you seriously didn't consider that until I pointed it out?"
"Impossible!" the changeling shouted. "I am a guardian changeling! One of the master breeds! Our kind do not suffer illness! I cannot get sick!"
"You're not the first one to think that," Kruss pointed out, "and Lord Nurgle takes it as something of a challenge."
Tox started to say something else, only to descend into another violent coughing fit. Leonard Kruss watched, his lips turning into a small smile.
"It is all right, guardian. Illness is a natural part of the great cycle. It is nothing to fear."
"Nothing to fear?! I'm dying!" Tox gasped. "How does one recover from being sick?!"
Kruss barely managed to keep from chortling in amusement. It was bad form, what with the infiltrator being so earnestly terrified. "Well, if you don't normally get sick, then your body probably lacks the mechanisms to recover on its own once you actually DO catch a disease. There are medicines, but you'd have to pose as me again... and even if you were up to that, a Nurgle Cultist buying medicine would raise some eyebrows."
Tox whimpered. "Then... Then this is it? I die here? Not to the human security or pony magic or that accursed priest who maybe COULD tell that I was a spy but refused to call me out on it for some reason, but because YOU choose not to wash your clothes?!"
"You don't HAVE to die, guardian. There is... another way." Kruss was grinning openly now. He had the creature right where he wanted her.
Or rather, where Nurgle wanted her.
"How? What can heal me?" Tox demanded. Her eyes flashed green, but the glow weakened almost immediately.
"You don't need healing. This is a BETTER way," Kruss whispered. "You can stay sick without feeling a thing. You can be put at peace with your disease. You can contract further illness, and only get stronger from them."
"H-How? What do I-" a wave of dizziness struck Tox, and she stumbled as the room seemed to spin around her.
"Join me, Tox. Become one of my many children!"
"The voice! What is... that VOICE?!" the changeling demanded.
"Join us, Tox. Become part of our family," Kruss said softly.
Tox couldn't remember telling Kruss her name. Had she done that? her memory was a little fuzzy right now.
"I... I have a family! The hive mother! My sisters! Our drones!" she protested, quivering.
"And yet, none of them are here for you," Kruss pointed out.
"We will protect you, child. Open yourself to me."
The voice was so cheerful and inviting. Almost... grandfatherly? Was that the word? Tox didn't know where it came from, but it sounded right.
"I can't! I can't join you!" the changeling wailed. She stumbled onto the ground, weeping openly and increasingly delirious. "I can't betray Mother Chrysalis! She is everything to me! I won't leave her! EVER!!"
The voice paused. Kruss hesitated with it.
Then Kruss cupped the side of Tox's muzzle with his free hand. Tox didn't remember getting within arm's reach, because that was just not a smart thing to do with a prisoner, but somehow the man's touch felt WONDERFUL to her. As if a brush of his fingers could make every ache, itch, and twitch of pain vanish in an instant.
"You needn't leave her," the Cultist assured her.
"I... don't?"
"She can join us, too," laughed the voice.
"She... can?"
"ALL your people can, Tox."
"They... can, can't they? We can all... be a family! We can all share this power!" Tox started panting, her breath becoming ever more heated and more drool spilling onto the rock below her.
"You need only open your heart to Nurgle, Tox."
"Spread my wonderful plagues, and my love shall swallow your hive and run rampant over this beautiful world! All creatures, big and small, living in harmony and united in my garden of pestilence!"
Tox could feel the voice now. Not just in her head, but digging through her entire body. It didn't feel as bad as she'd thought it would. It felt... rather nice, actually.
"Yes... thank you, Grandfather!" Tox gasped. Her eyes started to close. "Please... free me!"
"We will free ALL your people," Kruss assured her, stroking her head as she lost consciousness, "rest, now. There will be much to do tomorrow."
****
Ponyville - Nethalican
The following morning
"Father Virgil, what did you say to Brother Kruss before we left last evening?"
"I instructed him to lock up the temple before he left for the night."
"And what did he DO, Father?"
"He left the premises with the front gate wide open."
"That IDIOT!"
An assembly of Chaos clergy, ranging from Virgil to apprentice monks, all stared at the interior of the Chaos temple in exasperation and anger. Farm animals had gathered along the pews, braying and running around in circles insanely. In the hallway, a few ponies were sleeping among clusters of empty bottles, having apparently wandered in during a drunken stupor.
"The Apples aren't going to be happy about this," mumbled a monk.
"NOBODY is happy about this!"
"I don't know about that," another Cultist stepped out of the offices, "there's a pair of teenage ponies knobbing on Velmon's desk. They seem pretty happy."
"Damn it all!"
"Also, I think some Sunsworn got in here last night, too."
"Why? What makes you say that?"
"I don't know anyone else who would paint a mural of Princess Celestia's arse in the library."
"GAH!! Bastards! As if it doesn't look ENOUGH like a Slaaneshi whorehouse in here!" He gave one of the sleeping vagrants a solid kick in the side, and the pony woke up with a pained yelp. "This is a place of worship, damn it!"
"So is a Slaaneshi whorehouse, technically..."
"Shut your useless mouth and find a mop!"
"Hold on... is that Brother Leonard's robe?"
"So in addition to the temple being wrecked, the Nurgle Acolyte may be running around town in the nude. This has 'long day' written ALL over it."
The Cultists started cleaning up the place, dragging the livestock outside and gathering up the empty liquor bottles.
All the while, Virgil remained silent and stood in place, staring up at the Nethalican. The portal shook with unusual violence, and the angry red colors that normally pulsed within the containment iris were instead a shifting, vibrant cascade. Virgil also noticed that the Dark Portal was radiating a much higher level of psionic energy than normal. The dark clergy, long used to the insane whispers and occasional hallucinations, barely noticed any difference, but it was no coincidence that the nexus of corruption had attracted so many creatures too stupid or inebriated to know better.
"... This isn't good," the priest sighed. "The fleet..."
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Oh my god.... That opening scene....
I think Chaos insanity is contagious... it just affects the Ponies differently.
I'll probably update this post once I finish the chapter.. I had to post something after seeing that scene.
Edit:
Tox put on a Nurgle Cultists's robes, unwashed mind you, and poked a font of Chaos power... yeah saw that coming. I am not surprised it's Nurgle. After all, Grandfather Nurgle loves all his children. I'm sure he's been watching the planet for a while and seeing the changelings desperately in need of love, shared it in the way he does best.
Isn't Serith still present on the planet? Shouldn't he be the first notified of changes to the Nethalican?
Tox apparently, is now a nurgle cultist. I wonder what will happen to the changelings now.
Telis, admitting that you have a gambling problem, is the first step on the rode of being cured.
For Tox I was seriously was expecting her to go with Slaanesh, seeing that the horre god takes after lust which is the pretty mush what the Changelings need to exist.
I would live to see more chaos commercials
A tech priest reporting the sports? how was he roped into this?
I wouldn't be surprised that Dulgan's Delgan might have been willing to sell weapons to both sides for profit. I dough that is was stolen by the mut's them selves, all doe they do dig well enough or the Changelings, seeing that they have just barely started payed attention to the humans, I don't think that they started selling weapons from them yet. The ponies themselves have show no real sigh of wanting the to help get rid of the human in any meaning full way.
I can't say that I'm surprised Tox ended up a cultist. I mean, her name is Tox for crying out loud. This is the plague ponies all over again.
Though the thought of a shapeshifter with nearly limitless power and the gifts of Nurgle is absolutely terrifying. Who needs power armor when you are power armor? Though I'm kind of worried about what her objectives will be from now on....
Though the thing with the diamond dogs concerns me. They're getting Company tech from somewhere, and as far as we know none of the changelings have infiltrated the Company. But on the positive side, a traitor in the legion would make tracking the changelings way easier than trying to hunt them down otherwise.
I mean, while her name wasn't Rot Blossom, or Poison Kiss.... it is Tox. A subtle hint, that a'int.
As always, I'm eager to where the crazy train goes next! Thanks for the reading material boss!
With the amount of insanity going on, I'm sort of expecting a cultist-chan reference but that would be to unoriginal for this story
So what happens now?
It's too late!
I like this part too much for some reason. Maybe Slaanesh.
I laughed too hard.
Fluttershy would still lose...intentionally.
Nurgle is the Borg. ALL of the changelings? Ambitious.
7034240 Chaos is by definition infectious. It is a big part of why the Imperials are so rabid in their ideological hygiene protocols. The Inquisition is a strong proponent of heroic treatment of Chaos infestations.
7034570 Probably a hidden Slaaneshi cultist. They seem to spontaneously generate in the Company like maggots in meat. Except less... Nurgle-y.
Tellis can't be bothered to notice his tactical environment any more, I guess. How did he manage to survive thousands of years of combat like this? Or is it an afteraffect of being resurrected by sorta-Harmonic means?
Speaking of sorta-Harmonic Chaos, what's up with the Narthiwhatsit going Rainbow Power? Is it breaking or something weirder?
7035012
Well, the Nethalican bit I think I can answer, if nothing else.
In this chapter it was freaking out because of Tox. She caught the eye of a very powerful being, and all of the energy in that attention is being focused through the portal. I'm not sure why that would affect the Harvest of Steel, since it's theoretically a long ways away by now, but when dealing with the warp things tend to get more than a little weird, so who knows.
But in general I think it's just a side-effect of Harmony. Periodically throughout the story, whether it's the planet itself or some force bound to the planet, Harmony just seems to alter the way things work in favor of those who support it. It's almost like ponies have a mass psychic presence in the wrap, almost like the Tyranids or the Eldar or something.
Awesome chapter, but you don't leave cliffhanger like that!
Changelings ars simmilar to Nids, aren't they? Hmmm.... Nurgle's hivefleet Chrysalis... O_____________O Sweet Celestia....
Man, this chapter was several kinds of hilarious. I'm a little sad that Tox ended up with Nurgle instead of Tzeench, but it's not like I couldn't have guessed it would go that way.
Ah, good old Chaos....
We always need more enemies.
Those Diamond Dogs and the Company weapons trouble me, however. Though, I doubt they can face the might of Chaos!
BURN! MAIM! KILL! BURN!
7034240
Serith IS on the planet, and he absolutely should be informed that someone messed with his super-important Chaos MacGuffin. But, y'know, Virgil isn't really the super-responsible sort.
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He doesn't want to be cured, he just wants to start winning!
Changelings could probably be associated with any Chaos Cult except Khorne. Slaanesh because of the implied seduction of their victims, Tzeentch because of their shapeshifting powers and strategy of deceit, and Nurgle because of his association with love and insects. Unfortunately, Tox didn't really get a choice.
7034570
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And here I thought I was being all clever :p
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Now we get a Twilight-in-space chapter, and then go back to the war effort as the planet is "reorganized". Yay!
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I had a lot of fun with the Chaos TV parts. Glad you did too!
7035012
Tellis hasn't always acted like this. In Iron Hearts, he was half-way clever about fighting the Tau. Over the course of the story his behavior has gotten increasingly ridiculous.
I think Rainbow Dash is a bad influence on him, honestly.
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That wasn't a cliffhanger! It was foreshadowing!
... I think...
I love how nonchalant and downright cheerful the ponies are about all of this.
7035418
The bizarre thing is that this chapter kinda mirrors current optimism and ambivalence of current culture and it makes me terrified.
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I think they're just glad that they don't have to be on the receiving end of the evil invaders for once. It was getting a little old.
Hilarious as always. And now I wonder if secretly some of the iron warriors are secretly watching ahem.... chaos broadcasting of the love story of Tigeraan and angel wing. I mean the parody pun towards the brony fandom watching a little girl show and Badass genetic killing machines watching a romance TV show could easily been made if you catch my drift.
All Hail Dark Harmony !!!!!
One of the fumiest chapters you've done great work.
7035418
Huh, this made me think of which Chaos Gods the various villains of MLP would have affinities with:
Nightmare Moon: Tzeentch, because she loves complicated, magical battle plans.
Discord: Chaos Undivided
Chrysalis: Tzeentch, if she has any choice, though Tzeentch could offer her "protection" from Nurglite Changelings... she'd be a hive of one while Tox led the
Tryanidsother Changelings into a new era.Sombra & Tirek: Probably Tzeentch, though they could be Chaos Undivided since they do love War and Violence as much as a Khornate.
The Dazzlings: Probably as close to Slaanesh worshippers as MLP can get, especially with the use of Sound as a weapon.
Love the holovids. If he isn't already, Prince Blueblood should be running the Company News Network... it fits his narcissism, even if there are less slaves to punish. A war correspondent should interview Dusk Blade at some point, where he hams it up in hopes that Twilight will see his heroics.
When Delgan criticized the soap opera writers, I almost expected a cutaway to Flim and Flam. It seems to fit their usual standards of work. ;)
Dark Acolyte Leverin obviously loves sports data mining, which is why he's covering sports. He probably also runs all the sports betting pools.
"Counterfactual: You do owe 50 bits. Threatening Observation: We take gold and/or organs."
My favourite parts of this chapter were the oft-mentioned Chaos TV bits and the Cakes' reaction to Pinkie's offer of 'souvenirs'.
Does anyone else watch 'If The Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device' on YouTube? It makes me laugh just as much as this story does, and is possibly even more absurd.
Seeing the human newscaster made me think of Morbo from futurama
Also, Tox, excellent job breaking the thing keeping the whole planet from being overrun with every nasty the universe can throw at it.
Now we just have to wait for a hive fleet or something. Or better yet, a crusade.
Does anyone else read Tellis in Mr. Torgue voice?
7036778
ing a horse.
They probably do. I mean, Astartes are generally not as concerned with being macho as massive, muscley men probably would be.
Although I'm sure they agree it's super weird that the show has one of them
7038833
He also runs the 38th Company's Fantasy Hoofball League. Which Tellis is ALSO losing at.
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Text-to-Spech Device is a staple of the 40K fandom. I got into it a little late, but it appeals to me for the obvious reason of having the characters stand around talking about how ridiculous their universe is. Definitely feels like something I'd make.
7040642
You owe the sudden deluge of Chaos Television to Futurama, yes.
TV shows within TV shows are the BEST.
Oh... oh man. That opening. I was reading this in a public place and I shouldn't have. Almost doubled over in laughter. I could barely handle it, it was so good!
This chapter has definitely been on the fun side for sure. I really, really enjoyed it, and it makes me wonder who the traitor is! Or the mysterious 5th? party benefactor is!
Either Tox has become delirious with illness and has begun talking to herself, or I have spotted a typo...
I'm betting on the former.
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What? Typo? Nonsense! That quote absolutely does not correspond with this chapter (as of 9:45 AM Pacific Coast Time 3/18/16).
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Drat, you're absolutely correct! My plans to defame you with false typos seem to have been foiled again...
The Nurgle Changelings are genuinely scary. If some of them make it into the Imperium they can lay waste to entire sectors.
Another very enjoyable chapter. Great job.
Welp, now my brain can only play Tellis' dialogue in the voice or Mr. Torgue from Boarderlands 2. But with the Blood fr the Blood God stuff instead of EXPLOSIONS!!!
Patrica Tannis voice seems to be a nice fit fr Galea as well.
At some point the raven lord will ponder using the Pegasus weather control to create tornadoes and other weather to kill. Then he will want to do it himself and seek out one of the princesses to give him the power, with many unintended results, perhaps making him part Pegasus. Herd mentality might make him more of a team player?
7058191
Uh... Raven Lord?
You mean Tellis? Or is that a canon 40K character?
Tellis, auto correct doesn't like his name.
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Tellis is totally a team player. He's the only Iron Warrior with a fighting technique that requires other soldiers, and also the only one straight-up eager to fight alongside ponies.
It's those ponies who have a problem with being on his team.
Man I love this story never stop writing it.
Nurgle Acolyte walking around nude. This has long day written all over it. These lines where simply hilarious.
I very curious to see how the channelings development through this. Also I like you adding in the deer from the Everfree forest.
And what did he DO, Father?
Chrysalis has just doomed everyone - except for the ponies and Iron Warriors... and their allies.