Rise Of The Empress

by Mystic Sunrise

Newborn Life

This was not something Twilight wanted to be doing right now, but apparently, someone could not wait a little longer. Why now of all times this had to happen was beyond her.

It was now time in the waking world. Her daughters were now ready to be born. She and Midnight, along with a gaggle of the best scientists she could find, had been standing around the incubation capsules, waiting for the right moment to begin the awakening process. While Twilight had never been a mother in the true sense of the word, Midnight really being the closest she had ever come to the role, she looked forward to her role to come.

And then had come a voice. One only she had heard. But it was enough. "You are taking a huge risk by doing this."

Twilight knew the voice, even if it had been a long time since she had last heard it. With an annoyed sigh, she had closed her eyes, and let her magic take her away from where she was. When she opened them again, Twilight found herself, not in the laboratory, but a cave. Behind her she could hear the sounds of a forest, long turned to ash, but one she still remembered well.

In front of her stood the Tree of Harmony, the Elements of Harmony themselves glowing softly as a new form took shape before her eyes. One she knew rather well in fact.

"Hello Harmony," Twilight said evenly. "Could you not have waited until after all of this? I have more important things to worry about."

Harmony frowned, a rare sight for her. "This will not wait, Twilight. You risk everything on a dream. On something that might not even work. Look at what it did to the Imperium. You risk unleashing the same here."

Twilight chuckled, but there was no mirth to it. "Risk? That is funny coming from you. I remember a certain someone who took a risk with six students of mine once upon a time."

Harmony flinched but did not back down. "I had no choice. Cozy Glow and Tirek would have won if not for them."

Twilight nodded her demeanor lightening for a moment. "And I will always be grateful to them for that, and what they did for Equestria and all of Equus. But it did more than that. I am sure you remember it all too well. It was your fault after all."

Harmony's ears fell. "Do not go there, Twilight. Please. Do not bring that memory back."

But Twilight was not done. Not by a long shot. "It killed them. It ripped them apart from the inside out. They were not ready for the power you gave them. Not then. Maybe in time, they would've been ready." Twilight let her tears fall now as she remembered those long-ago days. "I was the one who had to tell their families. How do you think Queen Novo and Ocean Flow, King Thorax, Dragon Lord Ember, Prince Rutherford, Sandbar's parents, and that useless sack of feathers Grandpa Gruff, took the news that their family was dying, and there was not a thing we could do to help?!"

Twilight sniffed as her tears came in full force now. "I was this close to closing the Multiversal School of Friendship down for good. Of sending all of the students home. Celestia talked me out of it in the end, but I never forgot those days. I never will." She growled as one particular memory surfaced. "I took more pleasure than I should have when I plucked all of Gruff's feathers and threw his useless carcass off Mount Canterhorn."

Harmony hung her head. As much as she wanted to deny it, much of the blame was laid squarely at her hooves. Maybe she had done it too soon for the six of them. "I wish every day that I could take back what I did then. But even though it was brief, they still left their mark on the two of us." She grinned. "Gallus' snarkiness rubbed off on you I see. Or you spent far too much time with Rainbow Dash."

Twilight managed a giggle at that as she dried her eyes. "That it did. It did for all of us." She sighed. "I am sorry I snapped like that, but I know am taking a risk now. I took a risk by letting Cozy Glow come back."

Harmony gave her a look. "Do you think it will work out with her? The Emperor thought the same with Horus and his brothers and look what happened."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Cozy is not even half of what Horus was. Not by a long shot. Those around her barely trust her at the moment. I know what they say about the two of us. That is good. Let Cozy earn their trust on her own. She no longer has what she did once upon a time."

While that did reassure Harmony to some degree, she still had worries. "And your daughters? You know that they are not yours in the traditional sense of the word."

Twilight nodded. "But I will treat and love them like they are my own flesh and blood that I gave birth to. I will not repeat the mistakes of the Emperor if I can help it. We both know where that lead in the end."

Harmony nodded, even if she tried not to think about it. After a moment, she smiled as she felt something stir in the waking world. "Then go. I feel it is time."

With that, the scene began to fade away as Twilight's consciousness began to return to the real world, and the distant sound of voices talking excitedly.

---

Twilight blinked as she reoriented herself to the waking world. Around her, everything proceeded as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Midnight gave her an odd look as if guessing something had occurred but did not comment on it.

Inside the capsules, she could see movement, the ponies inside beginning to wake up from their long sleep. It was all Twilight needed as she nodded to those around her. "Begin."

Immediately, the amniotic fluid began to drain from around the awakening forms. For a moment, their heart rates rose dramatically, before returning to normal. Twilight smiled as she finally began to see her daughters as the last of the fluid drained away.

"Stand clear!" Somepony shouted. Twilight and Midnight stepped back as the capsule lids opened with a hiss of escaping steam and the smell of new life. A moment later, the pair looked inside the first capsule as the filly within opened her eyes for the first time. Blinking for a moment, she finally smiled up at them.

Twilight's heart melted. Was this what it was like when a mother first laid eyes on her children? If it was, then Twilight finally understood what her mother had told her so long ago. "That first moment when you look at your child, when you see the love in their eyes, then all of the pain was worth it. No matter what happens later, that feeling of love will never go away, and a part of you will never want to let them go."

Seeing her daughter now, Twilight understood that statement more than she had ever had before in her life. The earth pony's coat was a beautiful milk-white, which stood out in contrast to her pink mane and tail.

"She's so cute!" Midnight squealed as she leaned in closer, only to receive a boop on the nose from the filly, who giggled as the Pegasus went cross-eyed.

Twilight giggled. "I think that means she likes you, Midnight." She looked around as she began to hear signs of her siblings waking up as well. "How are they?"

One of the technicians nodded at a display. "For the moment, all are healthy and showing no signs of unexpected deviations from the norm. But seeing as how different they are from most ponies, I cannot say for sure if this will continue."

Twilight nodded as she began to circle the room. Her daughters represented all three pony tribes. Earth pony, Pegasus, and unicorn. While some engineering had gone into assuring that all three were represented, they had been mostly left to develop on their own, the most engineering going into their super pony physiology and abilities.

Stopping by one pod, Twilight felt her breath hitch as she looked at the Pegasus within. She was strikingly beautiful, the kind of beauty that took pony's breaths away, and Twilight said this not as her mother. But something more. For a moment, she saw the face of someone long departed.

The Angel Sanguinius. Her beautiful blond mane and deep red coat were almost an exact match for the Primarch of the Blood Angels Legion. Could it be a coincidence? Twilight didn't know, but she felt there was something more to it than what she saw

The pony that had addressed her a moment earlier frowned, however, as she looked down into one pod in particular. "Something strange, however, ma'am. I have never seen a pony like this before."

Twilight gave her a look as she walked over and looked down as well, and her eyes widened in surprise. The fillies inside looked nothing like any normal members of the three tribes. Yet Twilight recognized their tribe instantly, though she had only seen a scant few of them in her life.

Midnight blinked in shock as she looked inside. "Twins? When the hay did they become twins? And what are they? I've never seen this kind of pony before, and I thought I had seen them all."

Twilight nodded, surprised by this as well. "You would not have, Midnight. They are Chiroptera. Bat ponies if you want to use the vulgar term for their tribe. They were never a numerous tribe, to begin with, and the last member died millennia ago. I had not expected this, though. But I do not care."

Midnight rolled her eyes, before blinking and looking worried. "Um. Where did they go?"

Twilight blinked before her jaw dropped in horror at the empty pod. "Where the hay did they go?!"

Everypony froze, before starting to look frantically around. Before Twilight could move more than three paces though, she heard twin giggles as she felt something plop down on her head. Looking up, she found the twins looking rather proud of themselves as they rode on the top of her head, surveying the entire room, and taking in every detail.

Midnight sighed in relief, before smirking. "Well. This is going to be fun with these two. I hope the others aren't as bad as they are."

Twilight's eyes twitched. Oh, so that's how it was going to be, was it? "I am glad you find this funny, Midnight. Because you're going to need all the help you can get with them."

Midnight's eyes widened in horror. "What?!"

Twilight giggled as she set the twins down, even as their sisters began to climb out of their pods. "Oh yes. I may be their mother, but that does not mean you don't get to experience the joy of raising them as well." Twilight smiled down at her daughters, who had congregated around her. "Go on, girls. Go say hi to your aunty Midnight."

Midnight groaned as she was all but pulled down by the fillies. She glared at Twilight, who only smiled widely at the spectacle. But it was hard to stay mad at ponies so young, and so cute, and finally, she gave up trying to escape and accepted her fate.

The other ponies in the room chuckled at the adorable sight, shaking hooves and congratulating each other that everything seemed to have worked out for the best. "Do you have names for them?" One asked Twilight.

The alicorn thought for a moment before her smile softened. "In fact, I do have names for them."

Author's Note:

Time to get back on this story. The delay was I lost most of my interest in Warhammer. How Games-Workshop has treated the fans did not help matters (looking at you, Cursed City). But reading the Siege of Terra series has gotten me back into it. We will meet the rest of the girls later, but here are the ones we have met so far, and which Legion they will lead.

Ivory Fire- Daughters of Fire.
Crimson Wings- Crimson Angels.
Tenebris and Termina- Shadow Legion and Doom Wardens.

Each of the girls is based heavily on one of the Primarchs. Both in the Horus Heresy and the Robutian Heresy. Let's see if anyone can figure them out. You don't win anything if you do.

Comments

[Chibalt]

Hopefully some alien race doesn't mass-orgy a freaking tear in space open in the future, or things are going to get pretty shitty.

[Starlight Nova]

If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?

[Mystic Sunrise]

11166532
Dude. Does it really matter? You seem fixated on that question, judging by the number of stories where you've asked it.

[midnight arrow]

great chapter

[manacar]

Oh a update and a good one at that, thx glad to see this is alive

[Warrior of Virtue]

Ivory Fire- Daughters of Fire.

Vulcan- Salamanders.

Crimson Wings- Crimson Angels.

Sanguinius- Blood Angels.

Tenebris and Termina- Shadow Legion and Doom Wardens.

Alpharius and Omegon- Alpha Legion

[Maulet Paya]

The important question is , are we gonna get a Kitten?

[Mystic Sunrise]

11166787
You got 1.5 of them right.

11166841
By all of the powers of the Warp, no. Nothing from TTS will be in this story.

[Maulet Paya]

11167099
Oky

[SuperSaiyanDiclonius]

11167099
You named two legions for the twins, and considering that they're bat ponies, and their first consciences act was a jumpscare, I'm gonna say one of them is Konrad Curse and the other is Corvus Corax.

[cealdra]

anyone else getting an malchador-vibe from midnight? if i`m remembering my lore correctly i believe he was the only person the emperor ever truly saw as a friend

[Mystic Sunrise]

11209746
You're not the only one. No comment just yet though.

11175543
No comment.