• Published 19th Sep 2015
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Entrenchment - SFaccountant



The Iron Warriors have seized the planet. Mostly. Peace has returned to Equestria. Kind of. Now all the 38th Company has to do is return to its normal course of operations... or so they hope.

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Pieces on the Board

Entrenchment

An Age of Iron story


Chapter 9

Pieces on the Board


****


Changeling hive

Prison chamber


Voidsong gasped as shards of rock crumbled around her face, dropping to the floor into a rapidly growing mound of gravel.

For a brief moment the High Commander was caught in a terrifying stasis between flesh and stone, with her head and brain restored but those organs in her torso inert. A few seconds later the spell was broken, returning her vitals to their normal functions. She promptly collapsed onto the floor, desperately sucking in air amongst the bits of rubble.

“That… That was much less pleasant than last time,” Voidsong groaned, grasping her head.

“So sorry,” said an unfamiliar voice from behind her, “the alchemist that provided the potion didn’t offer a list of side effects. Very hard to rhyme. Zebras, am I right?”

Voidsong looked behind her to see an equine-shaped creature with a black carapace, long fangs, insect-like wings, and numerous holes in her body. She stared for several seconds, then looked around at her surroundings. She was in a small, dank cavern illuminated by a small yellow globe set in the wall. There was only one exit to the cave, and it lay directly behind the unfamiliar creature.

She turned back to said creature, looking supremely annoyed. “So, what now? What are you supposed to be? Are you some kind of twisted, broken descendant of the ponies, centuries after submitting to Chaos? I’m a little fuzzy on how much time has passed since I was petrified. Did my sentence actually expire, or what?”

The creature looked moderately surprised at the guess, but shook her head. “No. No, my name is Queen Chrysalis, and your sentence is far from served, Miss Voidsong.” Then she grinned. “I decided, however, that you have more to offer than passing amusement to ignorant foals and gawking tourists.”

“Yeah, great. What are you?” Voidsong demanded. “You resemble the horses, but…”

“I am a changeling. A mighty, proud species long shunned by the self-righteous creatures of Equestria and their neighbors.”

“Equestria…” Voidsong grimaced, turning over to sit down properly. “Does it still exist? Have the Orks demolished Centaur III yet? Last time I was restored, the white one told me that the Emerald Dawn Project had succeeded. The Iron Warriors were planning some ridiculous defense of the planet to try to stave off the Ork assault.”

“Ridiculous as it was, it was successful,” Chrysalis said somberly. Voidsong looked honestly stunned at the news. “Through a combination of black sorcery, the sacrifice of a few crucial magic artifacts, and sheer military might, the forces of Chaos have turned back the green tide. The Orks still infest this world in… unfortunate numbers, but they are scattered and consumed with infighting.”

Voidsong took several seconds to digest this information. Then she took another look at the cavern around her.

“What happened, exactly? And where am I?” the Tau Commander asked, standing up.

“Please, my dear, calm yourself. Have a seat and a drink,” Chrysalis chided with a wide smile full of curved, razor-edged teeth. A pair of changelings entered the cavern behind her, one of them levitating a stool and the other a flask of water.

Voidsong grimaced at the small, pony-like insects, and she backed away as the first one placed the stool. The other sat down nearby, holding the flask patiently with its magic. Chrysalis sat down herself, and then gestured to the stool with a hole-ridden hoof.

“We have a great deal to discuss, Miss Voidsong. Please, sit down and let’s talk…”


****


Things were bad.

“You cannot be serious.”

“Indeed I am, Miss Voidsong. Chaos is triumphant. The Iron Warriors are ascendant. And the Tau of your ‘Lamman Sept,’ abandoned by your military and left to die on this world…”

“Have become their conscripts?!”

Things were very, very bad.


Voidsong paced across the breadth of the cavern, her hand gripped tight around the flask.

It was only half-empty, and she had drunk from it sparingly. As far as she could tell it was nothing but distilled water, but she was wary of being drugged. She had no idea of why someone would break her free just to incapacitate her, but her experience on Centaur III had been bizarre enough that she wasn’t willing to trust her strange benefactors so easily.

“This is absurd… Fire Warriors, serving under Chaos? WILLINGLY?” the Shas’o seethed.

“Not just the Fire Warriors, as I understand it. Your other compatriots have joined as well.”

“The Kroot! The Vespid! The EARTH CASTE! By Tau’va, we have engineers willingly working for the enemy, dropping our technology right into their corrupt hands!” Voidsong flung the flask of water toward the wall, absolutely furious. The resin container bounced off the rock without much effect besides spilling its contents. “Cowards! What greater betrayal of the Greater Good could there be than selling our lives to CHAOS, of all things?!”

Chrysalis found the gesture hilarious, but hid her mirth. She had to stoke and guide Voidsong’s anger, not belittle it. “It is a sad state of affairs, indeed.” The Changeling Queen shook her head. “Your warriors, sworn to uphold your noble ideals, pressed into service as slaves to your enemy. It-“

“Don’t feed me your simpering platitudes, insect!” Voidsong snapped, whirling around.

Chrysalis recoiled, surprised.

“To the Tau people and our allies, the Greater Good is more than just a slogan or ideology!” the Shas’o growled, pointing at Chrysalis. “It is our guiding light, our promise of a better future! Our reason for fighting, for dying, in a galaxy filled from edge to edge with horror and destruction!” Her face twisted into a grimace. “But to you? To you it’s the excuse we used to sacrifice your entire world – changelings included, I’m sure – to a tide of billions of Orks. You do not understand the Greater Good, much less believe in it.”

Then the alien Commander crossed her arms over her chest. “Which brings us to the point you’ve so artfully danced around so far in this conversation: Why have you freed me? What do you WANT?”

Chrysalis didn’t respond right away, staring at Voidsong with an unreadable expression. Then she sighed.

“Is it really so hard to believe that I wished to help you out of the concern that you’ve been treated unfairly? Or at least the concern that Chaos is the greater threat?” Chrysalis asked, tilting her head to the side innocently.

“Yes, absolutely. I was the military commander directly responsible for almost dooming you all. Chaos is the military force responsible for and perhaps even dedicated to your world’s survival. Even if you’re right about Chaos – and you are – I’ll tell you the same thing I told the white Princess: you’re a fool to side against them.” Her eyes narrowed. “But even that simpering idiot horse wasn’t so stupid as to risk setting me free for long. What are you planning, Queen?”

Queen Chrysalis grinned widely, and her long, curved fangs glinted in the dim light. “Oh, Voidsong! You WOUND me!” she giggled. “Very well, let’s do away with false pretenses.”

The Changeling Queen stood up and leaned her head closer to the Tau. Voidsong was clearly uncomfortable with the invasion of her space, but refused to flinch away.

“My plan is to break the 38th Company,” Chrysalis said softly.

“Easier said than done. I would know,” Voidsong drawled.

“Oh, I don’t doubt it. And that’s why I need your help.” Chrysalis started circling the alien, softly whispering all the while. “The Company is weakened. It’s mightiest warriors are away. It is distracted fighting enemies that it hardly need bother subduing. And in the shadows, an ever-growing army of their victims awaits, seething, ready to lay down their lives to strike back.”

A nefarious chuckle came from the changeling. “But that will not be enough. Brute force cannot overcome the humans. Their weapons, their power, their mastery of war… it is too much. I need an edge. A new playing piece. A hoof inside their door.”

“The Tau,” Voidsong mumbled.

“Yessssss…” Chrysalis let the word ride her breath to the Commander’s ear. “The Tau. Not trusted by the enemy, perhaps, but not shunned. With no place to go, with no other master to turn to, little trouble is expected from the infamous grayskins. Even the ponies have been mollified, and have come to accept your presence. Hundreds of tools, just waiting to be used…”

“So you want me to turn them against the humans secretly. So that you can launch a surprise attack without having to fight head-on,” Voidsong mused.

She deliberated silently for a short while, turning away from the changeling.

“… I’m not opposed to this strategy, as it stands. I too want to see Chaos wiped out. But I have questions,” the Shas’o mumbled.

“I don’t expect you to take orders from me as a matter of course,” Chrysalis replied immediately. “After the humans are crushed, your people will be freed from their control and will be under no further obligation to serve me. You can go live on your own. Or, if it doesn’t especially please you to live on an Ork-infested world where most of the inhabitants loathe you, you can contact your people to pick you up. If that’s possible.”

Voidsong turned back around. “That’s nice to know, although I don’t really believe you. But that wasn’t my question. I was going to ask why you want to fight Chaos in the first place.”

Chrysalis blinked. “Isn’t it obvious? The humans are a serious threat! And these… ‘Dark Gods’ of theirs are clearly dangerous!”

“True. And yet, from what you’ve told me, none of that threat was directed at you. They saved your world from annihilation, and now you want them destroyed so badly that you’re willing to turn to me for help? That doesn’t make sense. What are you trying to accomplish, Chrysalis?”

The Changeling Queen chuckled darkly. “Oh, my… I can’t get anything past you, can I?”

“You’re inviting destruction on your people by opposing Chaos. You must know that. Why? Why fight them, rather than just… I don’t know, hiding out or something?”

Chrysalis suddenly looked grim, and her eyes narrowed. “Because I want their power.”

Voidsong took a step back. “What?”

“Their power. Their strength. Their knowledge. Their tools. Their weapons. Their devices. I want it. I want ALL of it. Everything the apes possess must become mine or be destroyed.” Chrysalis grit her teeth, glaring at the alien. “These warriors come from nowhere in their vast machines and build grand cities in a matter of days. They can strip the land of resources, reduce vast tracts of land to ruins, and sail between the very stars. They have tamed Equestria and leashed the mighty Princesses to their armies! These humans have power beyond my understanding, and I WANT it.” Her wings vibrated irritably. “At first I was content to learn about the apes, and entertained plots and schemes to infiltrate their ranks. I sought to control them from within. That strategy has failed.”

She leaned in closer, much to Voidsong’s discomfort. “Events are accelerating, and opportunities are few. If I do not act quickly, then this Chaos army will stamp out my many pawns among this world. As I lose control of the other species and the humans’ grip on this world grows tighter, my only choice will be to hide my people in the shadows, desperately isolated, and only one slip-up away from being exposed and annihilated… if not by the Company, then by their equine pets.” The thought brought an enraged sneer to her face, although she backed away from the Tau Commander. “That is why I seek to destroy the 38th Company, Voidsong. Left unopposed, they will surely crush the remaining resistance on this planet. But if I prevail, I just may find the power to do it myself. That is the gamble upon which I’ve staked my hive.”

Voidsong stared hard at the changeling. “… And what of the fleet? You seemed sure they would return. Even if we break their fortress and destroy their minions, do you think you can stand against the Iron Warriors?”

Chrysalis shook her head. “Of course not. I do not ‘stand against’ my enemies. I take my place behind them and stab them in the back. What will the warriors of Chaos find when they return to ‘their’ world? A deserted fortress, littered with traps? Hundreds of enemies, waiting in the shadows to lash out at them? A wasted crater where their city used to be, so barren of life that they simply elect to leave?” She snorted. “Perhaps, if my campaign ends well enough, I can even force my will upon Celestia or her sister, and use their command of the sun and moon to simply smash the ships apart in space or something. I don’t know just yet. But there will be ample time to plan for their return AFTER their base has been crushed and my people have picked through the ruins.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game, Queen,” Voidsong warned.

“I don’t know any other kind of game, Commander,” Chrysalis replied. “Now, you have a choice to make. Will you help me? Will you turn your people against their captors, and deliver this world from the grip of Chaos?”

“To return my people to the correct path and ruin the monsters that nearly destroyed the Tau Empire? Absolutely.” Voidsong nodded sharply, sitting down. “You get me to Black Point unnoticed by the humans and give me a way to contact you, and I’ll have the Tau ready to strike. We’ll tear the heart out of the Chaos fortress on your command, if you possess enough warriors to storm it.”

“Excellent,” Chrysalis hissed. Another changeling trotted up beside her. It had a small, rolled-up paper in its mouth. “This drone will assist you. Should you wish to contact me, it will facilitate communication, and serve you in any other way it is able.”

Voidsong frowned. “I don’t think I can march into my people’s main war camp with one of you by my side…”

The changeling levitated the paper out of its mouth, and then unrolled it. It was a pict-capture of a Fire Warrior, and it stared hard at the image while a shroud of crackling green surrounded its carapace.

Voidsong recoiled after the changeling’s body changed shape within the aura of emerald light. When it cleared, she was looking at a Fire Warrior identical to the soldier in the pict, with the exception that the changeling didn’t have a pulse rifle.

“… Psykers,” the Tau Commander grumbled uncomfortably. She had guessed as much when she’d seen an object levitating, but to see the full extent of their powers was disquieting. “This will do, then. Shall I leave immediately?”

“Soon enough,” Chrysalis said soothingly, wagging a hoof at her. “First, eat and drink, please. I have no idea what it’s like to be trapped in stone, but I imagine it must leave you rather hungry.”

Another changeling walked into the room, a plate on its back. It was piled with fruits and nuts, and the server gently levitated the meal to the floor at Voidsong’s feet.

“I have shared much with you, Commander, but now I have many questions of my own,” Chrysalis said. “Most of what I know of the humans, Orks, and others I’ve learned thanks to rumors traveling through various kingdoms into the ears of my spies.” She paused. “Well, that and CNN.”

“What’s CNN?” Voidsong asked while reaching for a piece of fruit.

The changeling disguised as a Fire Warrior jumped in immediately. “The Company News Network! The only modern news network for the discriminating viewer looking for an interstellar perspective! Or at all.” It giggled. “I like Kilroy.”

Voidsong and Chrysalis stared at the changeling.

“You’re going to have to talk a lot less, going forward,” the Tau Commander grunted before biting into her fruit. It was bitter and starchy, but she wasn’t one to complain about the quality of food. She addressed Chrysalis again. “What is it you want to know about the humans and Orks?”

“Their strengths. Weaknesses. How they think. Their hierarchy. Their technology. Everything,” Chrysalis grinned.

“Get me a better chair, then. There’s a lot to cover…”


****


Canterlot City


Rainbow Dash swooped down between the spires of Canterlot on her approach into Equestria’s capital, buzzing towers and blowing banners about with the jet wash from her flight pack.

She had her armor on, but had her helmet disengaged. She loved the feeling of having the wind in her face while still experiencing the raw, spine-tingling power of her armor’s flight pack. Rainbow could fly very fast and precisely without it, of course, but unlike most of the other mares of her combat group she very much enjoyed being attached to a hefty, personalized war machine.

The steering fins of her flight pack tilted downward, and she laughed in delight as her central thruster ignited. Rainbow Dash blasted upward into the sky on a trail of rainbow-colored exhaust, whooping loudly the whole time. Down below, she spied several ponies staring up at the sky and pointing. It was nice to know that even in a world of technological wonders and alien creatures, she was STILL the most awesome thing around.

On the topic of technology and aliens, a barn-sized transport aircraft was veering in for a landing on the air platform set up in the former royal gardens. Rainbow angled up over the vehicle, and then cut off her thrust before activating her impulse blasters. She jumped through the air and landed squarely on top of the transport with a heavy clang.

After a few seconds of being mag-locked to the hull, the vox system on her armor collar blinked on.

“Did we just hit a pegasus? And why does it have a vox system? Who is this?”

Rainbow Dash grinned and hammered the top of the aircraft with her boot. It did no actual damage to the vehicle, but did succeed in making a horrible racket.

“Yarrr, I be Rainbow Dash, the fastest pirate in the seven sectors! Gimme yer cargo or prepare t’be boarded, planet-lubbers!” Rainbow Dash shouted her threat into the vox receiver, recalling a few key lines from a Daring Do book that featured pirates.

“… You do know that none of us talk like that, right?”

She banged her hoof onto the roof of the hull again. “No more o’yer lip, matey! Surrender yer treasure, or it’s out the airlock ya go! Don’t be testin’ my-“

Rainbow quickly lost her nerve when a small defense turret popped up ahead of her.

“Okay, okay, never mind! It was just a joke!” Rainbow quickly jumped off the transport and reignited her flight pack. The aircraft moved on without her, with the turret exposed but unmoving. After a few seconds the lumen on her vox system winked off again.


“Yeesh. Nobody in this army has a sense of humor except Tellis,” Rainbow griped. Then she frowned at a small metal compartment that was mag-locked to her leg. “Although I guess his sense of humor is what got me into this mess in the first place.”

“Hey there, soldier! What’re you doing, harassing the traffic at this hour?”

A familiar voice came from above, and Rainbow twisted about. Her face instantly broke into a grin when she saw who was flying leisurely through the air above her.

“Spitfire!” Rainbow Dash twisted upward with a quick puff of her jets, and the Wonderbolts’ Captain actually flinched back out of fear of a mid-air collision. Skilled flyer or not, Spitfire never really trusted Rainbow’s control over the cluster of rockets bolted onto her back. “Hey, what’re you in town for? I don’t see any of the others!”

“Nah, it’s just me. Making a little supply run.” She tapped her chest. “Like the new suit? We’re upgrading!”

Rather than the normal blue and yellow jumpsuit that Rainbow Dash had spent the better part of her life fawning over, Spitfire was wearing molded segments of armor padding. The pads were attached to a suit that resembled the old jumpsuits in their color pattern, although they looked quite a bit heavier. It almost resembled carapace armor, and left only the mare’s head, wings, and tail exposed.

“The fancolts are gonna cry themselves to sleep when they see you’ve ditched the skintight look,” Rainbow giggled.

“Not an easy decision, mind you!” Spitfire said with mock seriousness. “But I’m pretty sure they’ll miss my flank less than I’d miss my organs. The ‘Bolts are seeing a lot of action nowadays, so we can’t take our survival for granted.”

“What’s the material? Flak plating?”

“Better. Tau poly-something-or-other. The grayskin armor. The cyborg goons have so much of that stuff now, they practically jump at the chance to make it into something useful.”

“Huh. Wish they’d start with the Chaos mercs! Those guys are always complaining about their armor quality!”

The pegasi lowered themselves down into the castle courtyard as they talked. Several ponies gawked at the sight of an armored Wonderbolt and Element of Harmony casually chatting on their way toward Canterlot Castle, but the pair paid them no attention.

“Yeah, we’re setting up a complete reconnaissance center now! Auger stations, vox node, data stacks, the works!” Spitfire grinned. “The biggest issue we’ve had is training pegasi to handle the sophisticated human tech! Between the hooves and the… rarity of academic cutie marks among pegasi,” she coughed lightly into a hoof, “it’s been tough to find capable staff. We might have to locate it someplace other than Cloudsdale in the end. Which would be a shame, you know, since it’s apparently invasion-proof.”

The Captain smirked at Rainbow. “I don’t suppose I could talk you into a Wonderbolts desk job, could I? You look like you handle the gear pretty well!”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “No way, filly! It’s the pirate’s life for me! I’m in this gig for life, not until I find a better offer!” Then she pounded a hoof against her chest plate. “Besides, I’m pretty sure they’d take my suit away if I tried to leave the Company. Can’t have that. Just LOOK at this thing.”

“Thought I’d ask,” Spitfire shrugged. Then she glanced away. “Anyway, if you’re heading into the castle, then I’ve gotta split. I’m just here to put in a request at the armory for more ordnance and weapons. We’re putting the Reserve to work full-time, nowadays, and we need the extra guns and ammo.”

“All right, Captain! Catch you later!” Rainbow trotted happily toward the castle gate.


Spitfire turned toward the Royal Guard barracks, striding past the soldiers heading to and from the training yards and mess hall. Despite what she’d said earlier regarding her armor suit, she still enjoyed plenty of appreciative looks from the army stallions she passed by.

Making her way behind the main barracks, a slightly smaller building sat under the guard of two hefty earth ponies. The Royal Guard’s armory used to be a forge and warehouse for the plate armor, swords, and spears that ponies had used to defend their lands for millennia. Almost overnight, however, it had been turned over entirely to warehouse space in order to hold crates of lasguns, grenades, and the weak but ubiquitous flak armor.

“Hey there, colts!” Spitfire shouted, stopping to salute the guards. “I’m here to get a shipment sent to Cloudsdale for the war effort! Could you get the armory master for me?”

One immediately turned to enter the armory, unlocking the door and slipping inside.

“Master Coals will be right here, Captain,” said the other guard, “I believe he’s taking inventory right now. There’s been a lot of turnover.”

“Oh? Have we been taking heavy losses?” Spitfire asked in concern.

“No, no. Nothing like that. Casualties are as low as ever! Duck and cover, and never let the greenskins get close!” He chuckled. “Anyway, we’ve always been better at running away than the humans. More legs, you know?”

“You realize that’s not exactly a good thing, right?” Spitfire drawled.

“It’s gotten us this far,” the guard shrugged. “Besides, you’ve seen those Iron Warrior people, right? HardCORE. I’m not standing between one of those guys and any freak who actually thinks they can beat one.”

“Such is the courage of our Princess’s noble guardians.” Spitfire rolled her eyes. “It’s quite surprising she’s survived this long.”


The door to the armory opened again, and an earth pony stallion stepped out.

“Ah, Captain Spitfire,” rumbled Forge Coals, “here for a wargear pickup?”

“Yeah. Got a pretty hefty order.” She dipped her head to a small pouch strapped to her leg, and dug through it with her nose. “I know it’s a little below my pay grade, but we need this stuff right away. I figured it would help avoid any complications with paperwork or whatnot if I did it in person.” She pulled out a small scrap of paper.

“Yes, I know. You don’t need to tell me again,” Forge Coals mumbled as he looked over the list hanging out of Spitfire’s mouth.

“Again?” the Captain mumbled, wondering when she’d done that before. She couldn’t recall using her personal authority and presence to request equipment, because equipment hadn’t been so important to the Wonderbolts until recently.

Forge ignored her while he studied the items. “You sure have been moving a lot of gear to Cloudsdale lately. At this rate we’ll have a larger air force than the griffons.”

One guard chuckled. “After the tail-whooping the Griffon Kingdom got the other day, I’m pretty sure we already do.”

“Whoa, hold on, back up. When did we start moving wargear to Cloudsdale?” Spitfire asked. “Do we already have some stuff up there I don’t know about?”

The three stallions looked at her with arched eyebrows.

“I doubt it, since you’re the one who authorized the shipments,” Forge Coals retorted.

“When did I do that?” Spitfire asked in alarm.

“You mean the last time? Just last week. Took like two hundred lasguns and a bunch of grenades.”

The list of wargear fell from Spitfire’s slack jaw, momentarily forgotten.

“Or did you mean the first time? That was almost a month ago,” volunteered a guard.

Spitfire recoiled, stumbling backward in shock.

“… Is there a problem, Captain?” Forge Coals asked.

The pegasus quickly collected her bearings, and then tightened her jaw. “Yes. Yes, there is. You see, today is the first day I’ve requested modern wargear for my unit. I haven’t been expanding the Wonderbolts or any other pony air force until very recently, and as far as I’m aware there have been no shipments of wargear to Cloudsdale.”

The guards stared at each other and shrugged in confusion. Forge’s face underwent a rapid and silent plethora of expressions, starting with irritation, then doubt, then concentration, then realization, then denial, then realization again, and finally settling on dawning horror.

“… Uh-oh.”


****


Canterlot Castle

Celestia’s study


“Thanks for doing this, Princess. I know I screwed up big this time.” Rainbow Dash said while opening the box attached to her armor.

Celestia sat across from the armored pegasus, a polite smile on her muzzle. “We all make mistakes, Rainbow Dash. To err is equine. It is how we take responsibility for our mistakes that is the true test of character.”

Rainbow Dash paused to mull that over, tilting her head to the side.

“… Although you shouldn’t take that as an invitation to replace good judgment with apologies,” Celestia quickly added, “you really shouldn’t be tricking ponies like that.”

Rainbow clicked her tongue. “Yeah, you’re right. Still, if it wasn’t for the trip being way more dangerous than we thought, I think it still would have been pretty funny.”

She slid the opened box over to Celestia, and the Princess of the Sun levitated two scrolls out of the box.

“Two? They both go to Twilight?” Celestia asked.

“Yup!” Rainbow nodded, and then Celestia’s magic aura began to build. “The second one is from Tellis, believe it or not.”

Celestia blinked. “Tellis?”

“Yeah. I told him what happened and that I was going to write an apology letter, and then he wanted to write one too. I’m kinda proud of him! He usually doesn’t apologize for anything!” She paused. “Except not murdering enough.” Celestia made a face, and the pegasus chuckled. “Long story.”

The scrolls vanished from sight, whisked away into channels of magic separate from the corporeal flow of time and space. Princess Celestia nodded in satisfaction.

“I am indeed surprised that Tellis wrote an apology letter. Perhaps we are having a better influence upon the forces of Chaos than I thought.” Then she tilted her head to the side. “I’m curious as to how an exemplar of the Blood God apologizes, though. What did it say?”

“I dunno. I didn’t read it,” Rainbow confessed. Celestia looked alarmed at this news, for some reason. “I wasn’t going to read his mail, Princess! That’s totally uncool!”

“Are you sure it was an apology, then?” Celestia asked anxiously.

Rainbow shrugged. “Well, why else would Tellis want to write Twilight?”


****


Harvest of Steel – Warp space

Isolation cell


“I can’t believe this!” Twilight growled, pounding a leg into the floor. “All of this was a prank! A PRANK! I’m sitting here in the middle of a nightmare galaxy manifest being hounded by space monsters because Rainbow Dash made a stupid bet! RRRRRRGH!!”

Spike watched Twilight freak out in her cell, stomping angrily around a letter laid out on the floor. Another letter was rolled up next to it, as of yet unopened.

“Geez, what is Dash’s problem? She couldn’t send us a message before we actually left the system that it was a lie? Did we have to really take off into space to convince her that we fell for it?” Spike griped, arms crossed over his chest.

“I’m not even mad at Rainbow Dash!” Twilight growled. “I’m mad at myself!” She paused, her eyes narrowing. “And Tellis. But mainly myself! In retrospect that letter was OBVIOUSLY a fake, and I didn’t even question it! Just because it had Princess Celestial’s name on the bottom!”

Spike blinked. “Wait, Princess who?”

“Exactly! He didn’t even spell her name right!” Twilight snapped.

Spike shook his head wearily, and then pointed to the other scroll. “So what’s the other letter say?”

Twilight impatiently pulled the other letter open, reading its contents with clenched teeth and simmering anger.

Her expression swiftly calmed as she read, shifting to one of grim determination. “It’s from Princess Celestia.”

Spike blinked. “Really?”

“Yes. It says that she wants me to…” she paused and looked around cautiously, and then stepped closer to Spike so that she could whisper. “She wants me to get rid of Lord Sliver.”

“REALLY,” Spike deadpanned.

“She says here that he’s a threat to the future of Equestria, and if he isn’t dealt with, it’s only a matter of time until he starts a pandemic or clogs up the royal toilet,” Twilight relayed with an expression of the utmost concern.

“Twi.”

“I can see her point, actually. Sliver has always been opposed to the Company’s alliance with ponykind. How long could it be before his distaste for ponies leads to one of us being killed? Or thousands of us being killed, for that matter? I’m pretty sure he doesn’t care!”

“Twi!”

“He DID save my life when I attacked the Imperial cruiser, but he was also WAY too happy to send me off to do that to begin with. He knew I’d probably die. I’m pretty sure he would feed me to the ship if I didn’t keep proving myself so useful.” Twilight suddenly brightened. “Wait! The Harvest’s reactor! That’s how I can assassinate him! I’ll just-“

“TWILIGHT!!” Spike shouted, startling her.

“Shush! Not so loud!” the alicorn hissed, drawing closer to her assistant. “What is it?”

“Did ‘Celestia’ spell her name right this time?” Spike asked flatly.

Twilight looked back at the letter, her gaze fixing on the signature at the end. Then she crushed the parchment into a crumpled ball with her telekinesis.

“Son of a MULE!!”


****


Canterlot Castle

Celestia’s study


“I’m sure it’s fine,” Rainbow Dash scoffed.

“Well… all right,” Celestia said uneasily. “Did you have any news about the 38th Company’s war efforts? How fares the Griffon Kingdom?”

“The Griffon Kingdom is pretty much done for. After their Prince was locked up and Griffonstone was taken, most of the other cities didn’t even resist. There were even a few thanes or dukes or whatever declaring themselves independent and then declaring themselves un-independent by swearing allegiance to the Company so that we wouldn’t hurt them.”

“I see. And how is the new governor faring?” Celestia asked.

Rainbow shrugged. “Don’t really know. I don’t pay much attention to politics.”

“If you’re going to be liberating nations from their rulers, you may wish to start,” Celestia said wryly.


The door to the study creaked open, and the two mares turned to look as a stallion poked his head in the door.

“Mister Forge Coals? Is something the matter?” Celestia asked. She noticed that the burly smith looked somewhat nervous.

“The matter? No! No. Why would anything be the matter? Everything is fine!” Forge insisted, glancing left and right at the study interior. “So, just wondering. Totally random thought here. Do we have any, I dunno, changeling tests?”

“What do you mean? Do you suspect somepony of being a spy?” Celestia asked, arching an eyebrow.

“No, no, no… But, you know, MAYBE.”

“There is no simple magic spell for instantly detecting changeling magic, although certain spells may yield clues. They can also be revealed through suffering enough physical trauma, although I cannot condone that as a test for obvious reasons.” She stood up and approached the doorway. “The easiest way, of course, is to simply ask the suspect a question that few other ponies would know the answer to. Changelings are not sophisticated spies. For example: how many years have you served as the master of the armories, Forge Coals?”

“Twenty-two years,” he replied immediately. “Ah, okay! I get it!”

“Indeed. You are no changeling,” Celestia said with a wry smile.

Forge looked away, then glanced back toward the mares. “I don’t suppose either of you would know how long Spitfire has been Captain of the Wonderbolts, would you?”

“Six years.” Rainbow Dash replied just as fast as Forge had. “Uhm… why?”

“No reason! Just curious! EVERYTHING IS FINE GOODBYE.” The stallion ducked away and slammed the door behind him.


“That was weird,” Rainbow mumbled before turning back to Celestia. “You guys having problems with changelings? I remember you mentioned it the other day, when I came clean about the letter.”

“No, not at all. They’ve been very quiet, as far as I can tell.” Celestia tilted her head to the side. “Granted, it always seems that way before they reveal their plots, but I can’t imagine Chrysalis or her hive bothering Equestria now. The Royal Guard is stronger than ever, and our allies could probably demolish their home with ease. They cannot even make common cause with the other foes that rally against us, since the other creatures of our world fear and mistrust the changeling race. Any attack they made would be sure to fail, and invite a terrible reprisal.”

“Yeah! That’d be really stupid of them!” Rainbow laughed, pushing the door open. “See you later, Princess!”


****


Changeling hive


“Things are progressing adequately.”

Chrysalis strode through the halls of her hive tunnels, Gox at her side and a small cluster of changeling soldiers trailing behind her.

“Voidsong is already on her way to her army. All the pieces are falling into place. We have a fighting force, we have the information we need, and we’re preparing the dagger to plunge into the enemy’s heart.”

“Are you sure we can trust the grayskins, my Queen?” Gox chittered, her wings buzzing. “They thought they could sacrifice our planet to save their own people!”

Chrysalis chuckled warmly. “Oh, Gox… trust is for those who don’t have leverage. We don’t trust the Tau, and we don’t need to. To do what I say is in Voidsong’s best interest, and any attempt to betray me will lead her and whole swathes of her people to a bloody end.”

The Changeling Queen snorted. “If nothing else, let that be the lesson you learn from this, child: ideology, empathy, and trust are signs of weakness and vulnerabilities to exploit. They are obstacles on the path to power and control. Voidsong could very easily turn coat like the rest of her soldiers and submit to the humans, and she’d be better off for it, but she won’t. Her ideology doesn’t allow it, and she can’t condone the suffering of her people. She will fight humanity for what she believes in, even to her obvious detriment and ultimately to her death. The imbecile.”

“I see, my Queen…” Gox trailed off. “Then, are we ready to strike?”

“No. Not yet. While the subversion of the Lamman Sept creates a key advantage, I am concerned that it will not be enough.” She grimaced, staring up at the jagged, dripping ceiling of her hive tunnels. A thick, green film decorated patches of the tunnel, with young changelings quietly resting within the ooze.

“Even if we begin with the upper hand and severely wound the Company war machine, even wounded it will be a dangerous foe. I have gathered many puppets to my cause, and they have brought many equally gullible servants willing to die just to spite the space apes. But I have little use for martyrs. Even with guns and armor, diamond dogs and griffons cannot measure up to human warriors and their machines. Minotaur are strong, but few. And yaks are mostly just obnoxious. We need more power.”

“The dragons?” Gox asked.

“A difficult prospect,” Chrysalis admitted. “The dragons are a very… impolitic species. It did not greatly shock or infuriate them that their diplomat to meet the Iron Warriors was killed, and they are loth to commit their own lives toward a proper war effort. I cannot expect to rally the dragons in significant numbers.” Chrysalis tilted her head to the side so that Gox could see her grin. “But the humans have yet another enemy. One not only dim enough to be fooled into fighting for us, but dim enough to ENJOY it.”

“The Orks,” Gox breathed, “of course!” Then she hesitated. “Uh… how, exactly, do you aim to control them, my Queen?”

“While I would prefer to do so at leg’s length, they are too dangerous and volatile to wield with a light touch,” Chrysalis admitted. “We will need direct control. Luckily, you have found that the greenskins possess a uniquely… competitive chain of command.”

“Yes, well, it’s just that, if you wanted me to take charge, I don’t think I could manage that,” she said nervously. “I can only make myself as big as the Nobs, and, well, most of the Nobs would want to fight me if I was the same size, so-“

“Relax, Gox,” Chrysalis said soothingly, smiling at the guardian, “I will not throw you to those beasts alone.”

Gox sighed in relief. “Then what shall we do, my Queen?”

“We will address them together.” Chrysalis stepped out of the exit and onto a stone platform that overlooked the wilds surrounding her caverns. The wind caught her hair, whipping the long blue mane about her head. She grinned, showing the full length of her fangs. “I think it’s time the Orks met… Warboss Krystallis.”

“That name won’t work,” Gox said immediately.

Chrysalis felt her hair fall back into place as the drama of the moment was completely shattered. “What’s wrong with Krystallis? Do you think they might suspect something?”

“It’s not stupid enough. They won’t be able to pronounce it.” Gox sighed. “There could be massive confusion in the ranks from unit leaders trying to explain where an order came from, just because your name is too bizarre to them.”

“Oh. Good point.” Chrysalis frowned. “How about just Kryss?”

“That won’t be hard to pronounce, but it’s not an Ork name. We’ll lose a lot of time from Orks wondering what kind of a Warboss is named ‘Kryss.’ Most of the Warboss names reference violence, or popular parts of anatomy to destroy.”

Chrysalis scratched her head with a hoof. “Warboss Incinerator?”

“Dumber, my Queen. It must be dumber.”

“How about Warboss Firestorm? Magic Blaster? Magic Blaster sounds pretty stupid.”

Gox sighed. “I’m sure we’ll think of something on the way. Please, my Queen, follow me.”


****


Minotaur village Hornstead

Elder’s hut


It all began with the sound of a warhorn.

The horn was a warning of impending attack. For centuries, the minotaur villages had relied on such alarms to rally their fighters on short notice. In times of old it had been dragons harassing their towns. In time the dragons had become more civilized and less prone to warfare, and the biggest threat soon became wandering beasts such as chimeras and hydras. As of late, the threat had changed again, and Ork raiding parties and Gretchin scavengers were the most common cause for alarm.

None of those forces were moving on the village today. The inhabitants weren’t that fortunate.


“Matriarch!” A hulking minotaur warrior bearing a greataxe the size of a man pushed his way into the central building of the village. He towered eight feet tall, and patches of his body had plates of tarnished metal tied to them in a slipshod attempt to armor himself. Numerous round scars marked old bullet wounds on his chest and arm, an entirely novel form of injury that had been introduced to their world by alien invaders. Judging by a pair of bleached Ork skulls that hung from the warrior’s belt, said invaders hadn’t gotten away with it.

Another minotaur, this one old and female, sat in the middle of the hut, facing away from the entrance. Smoldering pots of incense sat around her, and she stared at a large circle of jade ornaments arranged on the floor in front of her.

The elderly minotaur tilted her head to the side as the heavy hoofsteps came closer.

“They’re here?”

“Yes, Matriarch. The apes come on their flying machines,” spat the warrior. “They were spotted crossing over the barrier forests that way. They’ll evade all our traps and ambushes and strike the settlement directly.”

“Mhm. Clever.” The Matriarch turned back to her stones. “You will fight them?”

“Of course, Matriarch.”

“You will lose.”

“There is no shame in fighting a losing battle, Matriarch. If the equines and their human puppets want this village, they will need to bury me and my bulls, first!”

“What of those who cannot fight?”

“They’re already being moved out of the village. When the enemy arrives, they will find no civilians to butcher, only hardened foes.” He paused, a moment of uncertainty flickering across his eyes. “Sox is leading the evacuation. She would not stay to fight.”

The other minotaur’s eyes narrowed. “That one… I warned the others to be wary of her. She is deceitful, her words dripping with pleasant lies and quiet malice.”

“You just don’t like her name,” the warrior scoffed.

“Well, what kind of a name is ‘Sox,’ anyway? You young ones have no respect for tradition! It’s no wonder the entire world is crumbling beneath our hooves! Let me tell you, back in my day-“

“Matriarch!” the other minotaur barked. “We don’t have time! Will you flee, or fight?”

The Matriarch snorted. “I have nowhere to run. I will not die on foreign soil. Go now. I must prepare.”

“Yes, Matriarch.” The warrior bowed, and then jogged out of the hut.


The elderly minotaur started rearranging the jade stones in front of her, sighing as she did so.

“So this is how the noble minotaur tribes meet their end. Swallowed by a storm of flame and iron. Consumed within the black tide of Chaos.”

She finished by pressing the center-most stone, and the incense burners suddenly flared in their intensity. A dark smoke leaked from the clay dishes, and sparks of eldritch energy flowed around the elder in an invisible current.

“Ah, well. May as well take some of them with us…”


****


Hornstead outskirts


“I’ve got twenty… thirty... more keep coming. Look like fighters.”

A unit of ten pegasi soared around the perimeter of the village, circling it like a flock of vultures. Their optics visors searched the ground, taking numerous picts and marking out movement.

“Windy, I’ve got a group moving out of the village opposite our approach vector.”

“Copy that. Get us an image but do not engage. We’re here for the town, not the townsfolk.”

“I’m seeing a combat formation at the front… defensive barriers… lots of axes. No sign of Company tech, though. If they had guns, they’d probably be shooting at us.”

“Well, sounds like they’re ready to welcome us! Don’t keep them waiting, boys!”

Gunships swooped down from above the clouds, leaving long contrails behind their wings. Five such vessels descended on the village, their on-board cogitators already assigning target priorities based on the scouts’ reconnaissance.

“Acknowledged, Windy. Beginning area pacification. Glory to the Iron Warriors and the forces of Chaos!”


The first transport to reach deployment level was a hauler for assault walkers. Large, claw-like legs hung from the two heavy Kaion automata held under the vehicle’s main body, and those legs shifted into a standing position while the transport slowed to a hover.

The two mag-winches holding the robots in place released, and they landed heavily in the dirt. Sensor lights flickered on, and their power relays hummed with energy.

“Unit 22B-106 online. Beginning area sweep,” announced the first automata before turning toward the village proper. Its voice was soft, feminine, and decidedly pleasant.

“Unit 24V-331 online,” added the other Kaion with an extremely un-machine-like giggle. “Targets detected. Beginning diplomatic outreach.”

Two missile pods snapped upward behind the main torso.

“Kidding!” laughed the automata. The missiles started blasting into the air, curving into tall arcs toward the village.


Behind the pair of assault robots, another walker was being lowered to the ground using the transport’s rear winch. This one was bigger than the automata, and boasted a distinctly humanoid body as opposed to the crab-like forms of the Mechanicus support robots.

It was also pink.

“Let’s PAR-TAY!” the Contemptor Dreadnought roared when it finally touched the ground. “I’m here to stomp minotaur and chew bubblegum! And I’m all out of gum!”

Pinkie Pie aimed her butcher cannon at the distant barricades, and a hefty clunking noise came from the ammo hoppers. Her visor marked out a series of targets in bright red boxes, most of them laying low under the barrage of missile fire.

There was a long pause.

“… Wait, hold on. I found more gum,” Pinkie announced, her walker standing still, “give me a minute.”

A light wheeze came from one of the Kaions, imitating a tired sigh. “Isn’t she supposed to be part of some other unit?”

“Try to ignore her, dear,” the other automata said gently while its lance weapon screamed. “With that coloration, I’m sure she’ll be the first one to absorb any incoming fire.”

“Hee hee hee!”


Behind the spearhead, more gunships lowered themselves to the ground to deliver their deadly cargo around the village. Mercenaries and Cultists rushed from the transports with dark prayers on their lips while unit commanders shouted orders. Next to the human gunships, Tau Devilfish APCs floated to a stop to set up a firing line on the settlement’s flank. Fire Warriors rushed behind toppled logs and carved boulders, while Pathfinders crept ahead to get a bead on their targets.

Between the two forces came the ponies. Unicorns and earth ponies charging across the ground, with a ring of pegasus scouts joining up overhead. Nestled between the Vicious firepower of the Tau Fire Warriors on one side, the hardened mercenaries of Chaos on the other, and the heavy armor at the front, the equines formed the center of the infantry push toward the minotaur village amongst a storm of burning lasers and crackling plasma.

“Take those barricades down! Pegasi, cover our approach! I don’t trust the grays’ fire discipline!” barked an earth pony stallion before his unit galloped forward.

The defensive walls had already been mostly smashed by the time the Kaion walkers reached them, shattered by missiles and pierced by energy lances. Nonetheless, the assault walkers slashed their claws through the walls of wood and stone, demolishing the barriers entirely.

The minotaur that weren’t already limping from the first line of defense or dead made a quick calculation at the sight of the hulking robots. Then they discarded said calculation and charged anyway.

“Perish, invaders!” roared a young bull, swinging a great maul over his head and leaping for the side of one of the robots.

He struck with precision, smashing the weapon against the base of its dark lance. The mounting was torn off from the strike, but the impact was just as notable for its effect on the maul. The weapon’s head dented inward, and the shaft splintered in the warrior’s hands.

“Oh, you are just ADORABLE!” gushed the Kaion, swiveling toward the minotaur defender.

Its combat claw plunged into the warrior, tearing open his chest before flinging him away. A brilliant arc of crimson slashed across the ground behind the body before it broke through the wall of a nearby hut.

“Enemy engaged!” chirped the other automata before it drove an arrow-shaped leg down into a wounded minotaur. “Don’t worry dears, I’ll be gentle!” It’s burst cannon fired a veritable stream of burning destruction across the path between huts, and minotaur warriors sprinted desperately to get behind the next row of defenses.

The Kaion walker passed by one dwelling, and a moment later it lurched back from a considerable amount of weight suddenly landing on its back.

“Vile machines! We’ll send you back to the garbage heap where you belong!” roared the minotaur warrior, rearing back a hand with a sparking battleaxe in it.

The Kaion made an entirely superfluous gasping sound as the weapon descended, striking the armor of the battle robot with a flash of blue light and a screech of tearing metal.

“Hey! Stop that! You’re playing too rough!” the Kaion complained, swinging back and forth to try to throw off her unwanted passenger. The axe struck its rear plating again, digging through the adamantium layers and carving a shallow swathe into the sensitive systems within. “A little help, anyone?”

“The minotaur tribes will never bow down to the corrupt aliens of-“ the bull’s monologue was cut short when a giant metal hand plucked him from the automata’s back.

“Gotcha covered, creepy robot lady!” Pinkie said. She smashed the minotaur warrior into the ground without ceremony, reducing him to a bloody mush.

“Oh, dear… that barbarian actually managed to break my armor,” the Kaion fretted. “This was NOT part of initial strategic projections!”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is magic.” Pinkie Pie’s Dreadnought reached down and pinched the haft of the battleaxe between two giant fingers. “This stuff is kind of all over the place. I don’t think our crazy space metals are magic-proof.”

“Well, that’s just not FAIR!” the robot huffed.

“… It… kind of IS, though…” Pinkie retorted hesitantly.


Gunships roared overhead in front of the infantry advance, sawing across the village with spreads of heavy bolters and slicing through buildings with lascannons. The mercenaries and ponies swarmed in behind them, lasguns spraying wild bursts across the shattered walls. Minotaur warriors emerged from the battered defenses and launched desperate charges at the invading soldiers, but each one was mercilessly brought down by fierce bursts of lasers before staggering into the dust. The bovine natives, with only simple weapons to defend themselves (magical or no), could not manage to reach their enemy, and with every minute their losses mounted at a terrifying pace.

Pinkie stomped through the front line of the assault, humming a tune that could scarcely be heard over the crack of lasguns and the defiant war cries of their targets. She didn’t bother firing her own weapons or charging into the minotaur lines; it didn’t seem remotely necessary to add the killing power of a Contemptor Dreadnought to what was already shaping up to be a complete massacre.

She scanned the surrounding buildings in thermal vision mode as she strolled through the village, eventually finding a minotaur warrior crouched within a hut and ready for ambush. She reached right into the wall, cracking through it like it wasn’t even there, and seized the warrior before it knew what was happening.

“Hey, quick question!” She held up the struggling minotaur – a female grasping a short spear – so that the warrior was at eye level with the oversized head of her Dreadnought. “Is there like a toy store or souvenir shop around here? I’m looking for something to take home for a couple of foals.”

“Die, invader!” the minotaur snarled, trying to pry her arm loose enough to use her weapon.

“That isn’t helpful,” Pinkie noted. “Do you guys even have shops and stuff? I seriously have no idea what kind of economy you guys work with. I mean, some of you travel across the continent giving self-esteem seminars, and others have this sort of ‘noble savage’ thing going on, which makes you, I guess-“

Her victim finally managed to get her weapon arm free, and she grunted angrily before driving the spear into the wrist of the Contemptor’s power fist. The spearhead flashed a brilliant blue, and a spark of cerulean energy lashed around the haft.

Pinkie paused to observe the weapon now firmly lodged in her Dreadnought’s wrist. It had punched right through the outermost armor layer, and dug deep into the servos that controlled the hand’s articulation. The minotaur warrior stared up at the Dreadnought’s head uncertainly, as if waiting for a reaction.

“Okay, you know that my hand isn’t actually in the power fist, right? For starters, I don’t even HAVE hands. They’re completely optional for piloting Dreadnoughts.”

The minotaur started swearing under her breath and took hold of her spear again, trying to pry it out of the Dreadnought’s wrist.

“Yeah, actually, I guess that isn’t totally obvious,” Pinkie allowed. Then she flung her close combat arm to the side, hurling the warrior into a barricade. “I’ll just keep the spear, then. Maybe I can trade it for an automata? I mean, Apple Bloom got one and she LOVES that thing.”

While Pinkie Pie observed the enchanted polearm, her vox system crackled to life.

“Pie, you have a forward position. Are you seeing anything unusual up there? The Kaions are reporting some strange readings.”

“Unusual? Well, I’m seeing some magic stuff. Does that count?” Pinkie turned around, searching the scattered defenses. Spears and the odd throwing axe battered against her torso plating uselessly, but for the most part the minotaur warriors were keeping low to avoid the constant fusillades of lasgun fire.

“It might be magic; we don’t know. That’s why it’s strange.”

“Are you sure the Kaions aren’t just messing with you? Those bots are WEIRD.”

“Oh, like you’re one to… wait. Okay, no, we’re definitely getting some kind of activity!”

A minotaur started hacking at the shin of Pinkie’s walker, and she took a moment to swat the warrior away before she replied. “Okay, where is it?”

A pulsing bolt of lightning surged into one of the larger buildings in the village, and a fierce crack of thunder rolled through the battlefield.

“Oh. Never mind, I think I see it now.” The lightning bolt wasn’t dissipating, as such things tended to do. A continual stream of power lashed through the suspiciously clear sky and into the central hut, and the walls of the structure started to tremble ominously.

“So… should I… like, shoot it or something? I’m really at a loss over here,” Pinkie admitted.

“All units, clear the area! Regroup at the village perimeter!” shouted the vox.

“Uh-oh...”


The central hut of Hornstead village suddenly exploded, and the surge of power from above finally waned.

Standing upon the ruins of the building was – as far as Pinkie could tell, anyway – a giant brass bull. It’s “skin” gleamed just like metal, as did the two enormous horns that jutted out of the sides of its head and curved forward. Each one was bigger than the arm of Pinkie’s Dreadnought, while the bull itself was only slightly smaller than an Ork Squiggoth. The minotaur warriors began cheering and bellowing enthusiastically, waving their axes in the air and clearing a path for this new monstrosity.

“WOW. Did NOT see this coming. Way to go, Pinkie Sense.” Pinkie’s Dreadnought started backing away. The bull was still some distance away, and it started hoofing at the ground as a blast of air came from its massive nostrils.

“Defensive perimeter, now! Gunships, initiate a strafing run immediately!” shouted the commander.

Pinkie continued backing up, eventually stepping into – and through – a home that was in her path. “Hey, now. Easy, now. Let’s not do anything rash…”

The brass bull launched forward, but not at Pinkie Pie. It sprinted past the shattered building and the Dreadnought stumbling through it, huffing angrily. Its hooves shook the ground as it ran, and a tide of minotaur defenders followed its wake toward the enemy assault line.

“Huh. That’s weird. I would have thought that it would charge right at me. I mean, pink is just a step away from red, right?”

“That’s just an common myth,” the vox replied, “bulls are actually colorblind.”

“Including magic avatar bulls from space?” Pinkie challenged.

“Well, obviously we-AAAAUGH!!” A crash came from deeper in the village, and the vox system returned a burst of static before it went silent.

“… I should probably go help out,” Pinkie mumbled. A clunking noise came from her butcher cannon, and the Dreadnought took off at a run.


“This was not covered in the mission briefingggggg!” howled a Kaion automata as it scuttled across the ground at full speed.

Full speed, as it happened, was not enough. The brass bull chased the assault robot and twisted its head right before impact. Its horn punched through the rear armor and impaled the entire machine, ripping out through the front in a shower of sparks and crushed components.

The Kaion made a vox-garbled groan, and its legs twitched before the active lumens dimmed for good. A howling red mist streamed from the breached shell, twisting upward into the sky.

Laser bolts and pulse fire battered at the giant bull with little ill effect. The energy bolts managed to leave small spots of intense heat upon the metallic “skin” of the monster, only to fade away in seconds. As for the bull itself, it pawed angrily at the ground with the Kaion still impaled on one horn.

A pair of gunships swooped in beside the brass bull, unleashing a salvo of lascannons into the creature’s body. The heavy lasers burned several deep pits into the brass skin before the aircraft turned and broke off for another pass. An underwhelming result, to be sure, but the first sign of permanent damage to the beast’s inexplicably tough armor.

The bull seemed annoyed at the assault, and it eyed the gunships for a moment before pulling its head to the side.

With a sharp twist of its neck, the wrecked automata was flung through the air and struck the lower-flying gunship in its tail. The vehicle swung wildly from the impact, trying to level out, but dipped just low enough to the ground for the bull to make its move. With a snort and a growl, the brass bull raced for the gunship, positioning its horns to spear through the cockpit.

A series of explosions stitched across the ground beneath its hooves while it charged, eventually catching up to the beast’s front legs. Shells the size of liquor bottles crashed into the enchanted brass skin, tearing through it with explosive force. Three such impacts hammered the bull before it stumbled, falling over to one side and spilling onto the ground with an earth-shaking crash.


“This is my first time bullfighting,” Pinkie said as the ammunition hoppers reloaded her butcher cannon, “am I doing it right?”

The brass bull surged upright, but almost stumbled again immediately. Its leg was damaged; the metal skin was shredded and released a bright white mist from the wound. The magical monstrosity was far from defeated, however.

The gunship swung up into the air, surging out of reach of the magic war beast. The bull immediately turned away, bolting down another path away from Pinkie Pie.

“Hey! C’mon! Now you’re ignoring me on purpose!” Pinkie complained, dashing after the bull. “Is it because I don’t have a cape? I figured that since that thing about bulls getting mad at the color red was wrong, the cape was probably made-up too! This is hard!”


The brass bull sprinted through the village, adjusting its gait as well as it could for its damaged leg. The bodies of fallen minotaur decorated the ground beneath it, and the shining metal hooves of the great beast managed to avoid every one as it charged.

There was a firing line of soldiers, humans and ponies, stretched between two buildings ahead of the bull. The line broke in an instant when it was clear the bull was charging for them; none of the soldiers possessed a weapon that could challenge such a monster. The bull, in turn, ignored the scattered infantry; the other minotaur warriors still chasing behind it would take on the troops now that they had abandoned their formation. The brass bull had a greater objective.

A dark lance screamed over the bull’s head before it turned around one of the larger buildings and picked up speed again. Its target scuttled away immediately, seeking protection from the enormous mass of metal racing toward it.

“Oh, blast! Those bovine wretches damaged my lance mounting earlier!” complained the remaining Kaion battle automata. With its lilting, feminine voice, it almost gave the impression it was pouting even as it fled from the fifty-ton magical avatar trying to tear it in two.

The brass bull turned to intercept, steam blasting from its nostrils with every impact of brass hooves on hard dirt. It plowed straight through the intervening buildings, shattering the huts as easily as paper, and lowered its horns to skewer the battle robot just as it had done to its partner.

“Gotcha!”

The magic bull’s head exploded to the side as a cannon burst pegged it in the jaw, throwing its horns out of alignment for impact. The bull struck the Kaion with its shoulder and knocked it out of the way, immediately prompting a string of high-pitched complaints from the daemonic war machine.

“Boom! Headshot!” Pinkie cheered, stomping up to the (other) metal monstrosity. “What now, brass cow?”

The bull turned its head back around. The side of its head was gouged out below its eye, or at least the gleaming metal surface where its eye should have been. More of the mysterious mist poured from the wound, and the magic beast paused even while the Kaion automata scuttled away.

It immediately turned away again, however, and jumped onto the battle robot. The Kaion screeched in anger, slashing at the bull’s face with its combat claws while the monster battered it with its hooves and horns.

“Stop ignoring me!” Pinkie shouted, running up to the brawl.

“Yes! Yes! Stop ignoring her!” agreed the Kaion automata.

The butcher cannon hammered the bull in the side, punching more holes into the magical monster’s gleaming hide. The bull managed to hook one horn under the Kaion walker and swung its head up, throwing the battle robot high into the air.

It seemed like the bull was going to gore the automata on its way down, but Pinkie reached it first. The pink Dreadnought barreled into the brass monster, knocking it to the side with an explosive punch. Her power fist boomed from the contact of its power field and the magical metal skin, and another hole was ripped open in the monster’s body.

“Oof!” the Kaion fell onto the ground without further interference, and bits of torn metal bounced away from its clumsy impact with the dirt. “You damned cow! That really hurt!”

A grunt came from Pinkie’s vox grille while she tried to hammer the bull over onto its side. “Why do you even feel pain?!”

“Because I was programmed by sadistic lunatics, obviously,” the robot pointed out while struggling to get upright again. “Why do you think I talk like this?”


The brass bull made an aggravated noise as it fought to keep its footing against Pinkie’s efforts. Then it sucked up a deep breath and tilted its head back toward the sky.

The sound of a war horn blasted from the monster’s mouth, rolling over the village and beyond. It sounded much like the horns that the minotaur used for their defenses, but with a strange reverberation to it.

It also set off Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense like CRAZY.

“Yipes!” She pushed away from the bull just before a huge bolt of lightning crashed down into it. Electricity lashed across the brass skin of the beast, and Pinkie’s sensors flickered just from her proximity to the electromagnetic pulse.

The bull jumped away, the ground shaking under its movements while it curved around. Ribbons of power snaked across its ruptured hide and curled around its horns, and its eyes flashed a furious white. It faced Pinkie at last, its head shaking from the energies surging through it, and its jaws yawned open.

“Oh, so NOW you’re focusing on me?!” Pinkie complained. The power build-up was giving her a rather severe full-power twitch, and her controls were still being sluggish. There’s no way she could dodge in time.

The combat claw of the Kaion automata slammed into the side of the bull’s head at the last minute, turning it away from the Dreadnought. A split second later, a huge, screaming beam of magical lightning blasted out of the creature’s mouth, tearing across the ground with a heat that rivaled the Company’s plasma guns. A trio of mercenaries that were being chased by a pair of snarling minotaur happened to be in the way of the misdirected beam, and both the men and their pursuers were scorched down to the bone in seconds, falling to the dirt into a pile of ash.

“Oh, hey! Nice save!” Pinkie said brightly as the Kaion struggled to hold the bull’s head away. “You’re pretty nice for a super-creepy, annoying killer daemon robot!” She paused, glancing over at the black trench burned into the dirt. “Well, nice to me, anyway. Too bad about those other guys.”

“BEDYNKJSHGFGLLZ!!” The Kaion’s systems were going haywire from its proximity to the electric discharge, but Pinkie had the definite sense that it was trying to express frustration.

“Oh, right. Got it.” Her butcher cannon thundered to life, sawing across the shoulder of the beast. Blasts of flame and shards of metal blew out of each impact, leaving a stretch of shredded holes in the brass hide.

The bull lurched backward, allowing the Kaion to stagger away as well. For a moment the three combatants paused, hesitating. The bull swung its head toward one walker and then the other. The Kaion twitched, sparks blasting out of its lance mount. Pinkie switched off the Pokémon battle music that had been playing in her cockpit since the bull appeared.

Then the gunships finally came back around for another pass.


Spears of crimson light blasted into the bull’s legs, cutting gaping holes in the enchanted metal. The enormous beast already seemed to be wavering in its aggression, and the attack caused it to stumble when the legs buckled.

This, in turn, gave the Kaion automata enough time to line up its severely damaged lance weapon. The dark lance screeched furiously, punching through one shoulder of the bull and tearing straight through it to emerge from the opposite side, over the rear leg. Plumes of black gas bloomed from the exit wound, and the lance weapon sputtered pitifully for a few seconds before blasting apart entirely.

The brass beast lurched forward, summoning enough strength to swing its head horns sharply into the offending robot. The Kaion was smashed off its legs, and it flipped over completely before it struck the ground again.

“Okay, hold on! I have an idea!” Pinkie shouted, running up to the metal monster.

The bull swung its head around to strike the Contemptor in the same fashion, but Pinkie’s power fist grabbed onto one of the massive horns. Already weakened from the damage to its body, the beast was stopped dead and found itself immobilized. It snorted angrily, blasting jets of the curious white mist from its nostrils.

Then the head of the Dreadnought popped up.

Pinkie pushed aside the enormous helmet that topped her Dreadnought, climbing out of the neck of the assault walker. “I hope this works. I only have one of these.” Her voice was somewhat muffled, as she was biting onto the handle grip of a melta bomb.

The bull blinked its glossy eyelids, understandably confused. It watched as the pink pony dashed across the arm of the Dreadnought and onto its horn. Those same gleaming brass orbs bulged when she dove into the hole in its shoulder and wriggled into its body.

“Hey, it’s kind of nice in here! I guess I was expecting a bunch of metal organs or something.”

The brass bull struggled, thrashing its head within the grip of the Contemptor. Eventually it manage to wrench its horn free of the immobile walker, stumbling as soon as it was loose.

“Okay, this looks important. It’s all glowy and stuff.”

The bull twisted its head around, now free to move but uncertain what to do about the pony clambering about in its belly.

“All right, so I really hope this hole I’m escaping through here is the exit wound from the lance and not… you know… a different hole. It’s hard to see in here.”

Pinkie’s head popped out above the brass bull’s thigh, and she quickly sighed in relief before squirming the rest of the way out. The metal beast rounded on her as soon as she touched the ground, scrambling to turn despite its bulk and injuries.

It didn’t quite make it.


Pinkie flinched away when a blinding flash came from the brass monster. A loud hiss filled the air, followed by an agonized moan that seemed to roll over the entire village.

When Pinkie Pie opened her eyes again, the bull was gone. Sitting in the blackened crater where it used to be was an elderly minotaur female. She looked shocked and confused, and lying around her hooves were several smoldering jade stones.

“Ooh, pretty!” Pinkie said, trotting up to the stones. “I’ll bet those would make a nice gift!”

The minotaur elder suddenly narrowed her eyes, and her hand shot to her belt. A long dagger with a wavy-edged blade slid out of its sheath. The matriarch snarled, her lips peeling back and a blast of steam puffing from her nose.

Then a huge metal claw caught her from behind, cutting into her side and holding her up.

“Dear, you really shouldn’t go scampering around without your armor.” The remaining Kaion fretted gently while the minotaur struggled. “It’s dangerous out here.”

The battle robot clenched its combat claw, digging the bladed fingers deep into its victim. Then it threw the elder to the ground and stamped a leg onto her.

Pinkie flinched away from the blood splatter, and then gagged as she saw the fan of crimson spread over the ground. “Awww! You got some on the pretty rocks! I have to carry things in my mouth, you know!” Pinkie stuck her tongue out in disgust.

“Speaking as a daemonic killing machine, there is something seriously wrong with you,” the Kaion declared. It promptly swiveled around and stumbled off, one of its legs dragging uselessly along the ground.

Pinkie Pie sighed and started pushing the jade stones across the ground with her hooves. As she did so, a blast of static came from the headless Contemptor Dreadnought nearby, heralding a vox message.

“All assault groups, prepare to make a final push for the village center. Fire Warriors, ensure that the flank is secured. I want any one of these beasts that tries to run cooked alive.”

A brief pause interrupted the message, followed by a loud whistling noise. Artillery shells crashed down on the wooden huts near the middle of the settlement, blasting them apart into showers of flaming wood. The gunships that had strafed the great brass bull swept into attack formation, sawing the ground apart around the impact craters.

“Advance into the village!” barked the commander through the vox. “Cut down the warriors and sweep the buildings! Secure prisoners for transport and form a perimeter! This settlement is ours, and the next hovel awaits!”


****


“I see the flag going up… Iron Skull emblem.”

Killer Instinct frowned, staring through the scope of a longlas rifle. He was crouched next to an outcropping on a hillside, with much of his bulk concealed behind a tree.

“Another one. Other end of the village. I see them marching the wounded toward the transports. The Company is victorious.”

There was a slight undercurrent of anger in the minotaur’s voice as he explained what he was seeing, but otherwise the bovine warrior maintained steely control. He shifted the rifle down slightly, scanning the village perimeter.

“They’re consolidating. It looks like they’re preparing to move on already. Little of the village is still intact.”

“Well, can you hit one of them from here?” snarled another voice.


Killer Instinct glanced behind him. Three more minotaur were waiting, crouched amongst the obscuring brush. Two were bull warriors, each of them wrapped in belts of ammunition. They carried heavy stubbers on their backs, as well as combat blades that were clearly designed for much smaller fighters.

“Don’t,” said the third minotaur. This one was female, wearing a suit of thick armor made from several pieces of flak armor sewn together into a larger, more complete piece. “Let them go.”

“Sox, you can’t be-“

The female silenced the dissident with a glare. “We cannot reveal ourselves. Move back with the others to the evacuation site. Then head into the tunnels I showed you. Go!”


The two warriors turned and raced off, snorting angrily. Sox watched them go, fighting hard to keep a twisted smirk from her face.

“The pegasi are taking to the air again. Scouting for ambushes and resistance,” grumbled Killer Instinct. He lowered the rifle, and his hand slipped to his waist. A battered power axe was attached to his belt by a leather strap, and his fingers brushed the activation stud for the weapon’s power field.

“Easy, Kee.” Sox placed a hand on the warrior’s shoulder. “Now isn’t the time to fight.”

“If not now, when?” the hulking bull asked, backing away from his vantage point. “If we cannot resist when they are sacking our home, then what is the point?”

“Vengeance,” Sox answered smoothly, pulling the other minotaur back. “We will take the fight to them, soon. Patience, Kee. The 38th Company will pay for this transgression in blood… Trust me.”


****


Black Point

Perimeter Watch Tower 3-9


*We have incoming. Devilfish group. Two units. Checking registration keys.*

A raised bunker sat at the edge of a ravine, tracking the approach of two Tau APCs. The bunker was camouflaged, painted a dull mix of grays and browns to mimic the blasted color of the surrounding badlands and protected by a web of energy fields designed to foil more sophisticated means of detection. All told it resembled a jagged boulder rather than an armed emplacement; a common feature of the Lamman Sept’s defensive line.

*Units identified. Diver Squadron, you’re two transports down. Casualty report.*

Within the bunker, a Fire Caste technician manned a communications alcove while a gunner kept his sights on the approaching vehicles.

*Negative. No casualties. Transports were re-directed to Ferrous Dominus.*

*Why? Wounded?*

*Negative. Prisoner transfer. ETA, four hours. Data transfer incoming.*

There was a pause as the comms link submitted a data packet. In seconds the bunker’s computers decrypted the information and compared them to local sensor scans.

*Confirmed, Diver Squadron. You are cleared for pad 16. Defensive matrix is standing down. Proceed.*

*Affirmative. See you in the mess, Watch.*


The link terminated, and an irritated grunt came from the technician manning the station.

*Disgusting. I can’t believe our units are being diverted to fill the Iron Warrior’s damned slave camps.*

The bunker’s gunner turned toward his partner. *You can’t?*

*You know what I mean,* grumbled the technician. *Not even an Ork warband, this time. Our resources are being diverted to suppress and enslave the local species!*

The gunner shrugged and turned back to his targeting screen. Then he frowned and peered at it more closely.

*Hold on, I think we have something. Targeting vector 9. Set. Enhance.* The gunner tapped the screen, and it swiftly zoomed in on the subject.

*What is it? Hostile? I’m not reading anything.* The technician started checking his sensors.

*I’ve only got two bodies. Must have slipped through the sensor net,* mumbled the gunner. His eyes narrowed. *Wait, those are our colors… I think we have a pair of Fire Warriors coming in on foot.*

*Are you sure? You remember what happened last week with the-*

*YES, I remember! I’m SORRY! Those Orks were damned sneaky, all right? None of us saw it coming! Let it go!*

He returned to his scope, grumbling under his breath.

*All right, I have a clear visual. First contact is a Fire Warrior, definitely.*

*Not an Ork in disguise? Definitely?*

*… First contact APPEARS to be a Fire Warrior. Second body isn’t wearing combat armor. Looks like a pilot suit? Hold on…*

Seconds passed in silence. The communications technician started drumming his fingers against the top of his station.

*Shas’la, contact Command,* the gunner suddenly ordered. His voice was tight, as if he was struggling to figure out what emotion to express. *We need these contacts picked up immediately and taken to base.*

*Why? What’s out there?*

*I think… I think that’s… Shas’o Voidsong.*

Author's Note:

Sorry that I haven't been as active lately. USA's presidential campaign has me wasting excessive time on Twitter and various news articles.
Also, I changed the character tag from "changeling" to "Chrysalis" since she'll be taking on a more central role going forward.
Also, lookie! Bakki did another picture for me! It's for a different story but it's still great and I'm still happy and you should be too!
Also, mix-up did some great pictures of a prototype pony walker that I'll probably have to do an extra Codex for, but I guess it's not done so it isn't posted to his DevArt page yet but it's still pretty great!
Also, writing Pinkie Pie without a sane foil character is hard. Should have had another main character in that battle scene.
Also, I read on Wikipedia that yaks are actually unusually calm and non-violent animals that are very easy to domesticate. What the hell, Hasbro?!
Also finally, give your suggestions for Chrysalis's Warboss name below (yes Hey its that Pony, you totally called it)!