Operation 4: Abomination
Sunset Shimmer; Sister of Battle
By Tundara
Operation 4
Sunset was in the middle of daily sparring practice when the Righteous Indignation transferred back to real space. She’d been in the process of getting her butt handed to her, again, by Rainbow Dash. Arms pressed in tight to her body, she tried to duck and weave, but her limbs were like frosted lead weights, and she was more or less Rainbow’s punching bag as a result. She took a hit to the ribs, and started to respond with a jab of her own, when warmth returned to her body.
All of a sudden she felt light, as if gravity in the compartment had been set to half Terra-normal. Her fist shot out and Rainbow’s eyes widened as realisation dawned that Sunset was suddenly fast.
Very fast.
Rainbow was fast herself, but very cocky, leaving herself purposefully open as if taunting Sunset.
A quick step forward brought Sunset inside Rainbow’s guard, and for the first time in months, she was on the offensive. Two rights followed, and then a left, and Rainbow was forced to back up. Rainbow attempted to counter with a quick jab of her own. Pivoting further inside Rainbow’s reach, she grabbed her opponent's arm and yanked as hard as she could. There was a little ‘whoa’ from Rainbow as she was thrown over Sunset’s shoulder. Collapsing down with Rainbow, Sunset dug her knee into the space between Rainbow’s shoulder blades.
On her stomach beneath Sunset, Rainbow blinked a couple times, and growled, “Throne, Sunset, have you been holding out on us all this time?”
Bouncing back onto the balls of her feet, Sunset offered a hand to help Rainbow up. After momentary irked hesitation Rainbow clasped her hand in return.
“No. Kind of, I guess? Just, all of a sudden, I felt the Emperor’s light.” Sunset cringed inwardly at the invocation of the Emperor.
She wasn’t sold on the religiosity of the Sisters, but saying so would have been nigh suicidal. Praying to a distant god, especially one that was a corpse interned on some golden throne on the other side of the galaxy, was pointless. She’d seen things that could be considered a ‘god’, at least in some semblance of the word. It wasn’t the Emperor who’d saved her during her plummet through the Warp, that much she was certain.
“Sunset!”
Drill Abbess Maria’s voice was like a chainsword tearing across the room, with the same level of dread associated with the grizzly weapon. Wrenched from her thoughts, Sunset
snapped to attention, eyes fixed forward, and sweat beading on her brow.
“Yes, Drill Abbess!”
“Good to see you finally applying yourself.” Maria peered at Sunset with narrowed eyes, a hand resting dangerously close to her neural whip. “Applejack, you next.”
Sunset grinned a little as she retook her stance. While Rainbow was fast on her feet and had quick hands, she was prone to rash mistakes, like the one Sunset had capitalised on.
Applejack, however, was different. Pure power, at the start of training she’d been simple, brutish, with sloppy execution to her strikes and grapples. Now, with only a couple months training, Applejack was turning into a fearsome brawler who clobbered everyone else one on one. There were only a few girls who gave her any sort of trouble, and they were almost exclusively in Squad Spitfire. Sparring with Applejack was like trying to grapple an angry moose. After what she did to Rainbow, Sunset was eager to see how she’d fare against the strongest fighter in the schola.
Things looked promising at first. As with Rainbow, Sunset was able to slide and move out of the path of the first couple punches. Wanting to test her limits, she darted in and unleashed a few jabs at Applejack’s stomach.
It was like punching ceramite.
Her escape only lasted a moment, the ring being rather small. A vicious uppercut narrowly missed, and Sunset countered with an open palmed strike aimed at Applejack’s throat. It was a dirty move, but Sunset was running out of options. Applejack shocked her when the larger girl managed to twist and bring her left arm up in enough of a guard to deflect the hit.
Anger flashed in Applejack’s deep green eyes and she came at Sunset in a full rush.
“So, that’s how you want it to be, huh? Well, I ain’t going to take it easy on you anymore, then,” Applejack rolled her shoulders, and Sunset had a sudden premonition of death.
Humming an opening bar as she forced Sunset towards the wall, Applejack broke into a psalm.
“His light doth shine where hearts be open, and the spirit calls him near. Lo, in glory do the faithful serve as witness and revere. Emperor, your might resoundeth O’er the Imperium!”
Thundering in like a dreadnaught, Applejack began with a series of tight strikes as she closed the distance and pushed Sunset towards the edge of the mat. Each block left Sunset’s arms momentarily numb. Abandoning blocking, she darted away, slipping beneath Applejack’s powerful swings.
Bouncing off her toes, Sunset sprang back on the attack. Darting around Applejack she managed to land a quick succession of stinging hits. Applejack just shrugged through the blows. Used to fighting Rainbow, who was much faster than herself, Applejack pressed onward, cutting off Sunset’s avenues of retreat. She began to adapt to Sunset’s speed and agility, varying her attacks with quick strikes of her own that were far more effective.
In the back of her head Sunset knew that the match was over.
Sunset saw the punch coming like a bolter round right for her jaw, began to dodge, but even then her movements were a touch too slow. With a resounding crack and burst of pain she took the full force of the hit. White light flashed across Sunset’s vision as she was knocked off her feet. A half-second later her breath whoosed out of her as she hit the thin matts, hard.
Head ringing, she was dimly aware of the praise being heaped on Applejack.
“You alright, sugarcube? Didn’t mean to deck you so hard.”
An offered hand appeared in Sunset’s view. Brushing it aside, Sunset snapped, “I’m fine! I was just tired from sparring with Rainbow.”
Her cheeks burned and a tense knot of embarrassment encased her wounded pride. She felt fine. Like her old self. And it hadn’t been enough to beat Applejack. The excuse that she was sick, lethargic for some reason, was gone, and with it there was no denying the simple truth that Applejack was simply the stronger fighter.
“Fine technique Applejack. Fluttershy! Twilight! On the matts! Pinkie! Octavia! You as well! Spitfire, keep your hands up. They are dropping again.” Drill Abbess Maria barked as she moved around the sparring girls.
Nursing her bruised body, and ego, Sunset sat down on a bench. Frustration bunched her shoulders.
“Next time,” She muttered to herself, going over in her head the fight with Applejack to find a way she could have won. Dozens of ideas popped into her head before it was time to head back to the barracks.
“Throne, you did a lot better than usual, you know,” Applejack stated as they made their way through the now familiar lower decks. “Slippery as a greased snake. Just, once you get a little pressed you don’t back down. If you’d kept moving more, you’d probably have worn me down.”
“I don’t need your lectures,” Sunset snapped, and swiftly headed towards the communal shower units.
Warm water splashed over her face, and she kneaded sore muscles, slowly allowing herself to relax.
It was galling that Applejack had come to the same conclusion as her, but probably while they were still fighting. She should have noticed the trap she was falling into and reacted better.
“Well, at least I made the right choice in her, at least,” Sunset cast a sidelong glance over at Fluttershy and Twilight. Both had large welts on their backs and shoulders from previous sparring sessions, and a bruise was forming over one of Twilight’s eyes.
“Sit still,” Fluttershy quietly ordered as she applied some ungeant to Twilight’s bruises.
They didn’t have Sunset’s excuse, and now that she was feeling like her old self again, Sunset knew that she’d quickly improve. She would overtake Applejack and Rainbow, and everyone else. She had to. Fluttershy and Twilight, however, were just useless, dead weights on the squad when it came to anything physical in nature.
Toweling herself off, Sunset changed into her progena robes and headed towards the chapel for afternoon prayers. The corridors, with their rust and miles of rattling pipes, were so familiar that Sunset hardly looked where she was going, losing herself in thought as she walked. Moving down an outer corridor she caught a flash of blue and green out of the corner of her eye where there was usually a blast-shield.
Coming to a sharp halt Sunset stared at the planet framed in the high-arched porthole. Mostly ocean, there was the hint of continents on the eastern fringe and near the southern pole. A chain of islands formed a loose semi-circle where tectonic plates impacted each other. It was on those islands, near the equator, that the sisters had their monastery fortress.
Around the planet hung a small number of space stations and a battle barge like trinkets on a Hearth’s Warming tree. They twinkled in the light cast by the system’s orange sun. Between a few large asteroids zipped a number of craft, hauling mined materials to orbital factories or to the nearby moon where the Mechanicus kept a small Biologus outpost. As she stared she caught sight of a massive, golden Imperial eagle being ferried to a waiting ship where it would be placed in front of the command tower.
A number of facts popped into Sunset’s head, drilled into her over the past few months, such as how Steinsmar was about the same distance from its sun as the planet Venus in the Holy Sol system. It had point nine-nine standard gravity. The planet’s main export was iconography for the Imperial navy or merchant ships. That, once each year—
She jumped as a claxon sounded above her head, followed by a voice crackling through the vox-speaker.
“Ave Imperator, sisters,” spoke Canoness Celestia. “A Short time ago our transition through the foul Warp was concluded, and we returned to real-space. The chronometers tell us the journey was a mere two years of real-time. A quick, clean journey. Praise the Throne and the light of the Astronomicon.”
Reflexively, Sunset made the symbol of the Aquila and repeated, “Praise the Throne.”
“All sisters are to prepare for disembarkation. We are home. May the Emperor's light illuminate our way, now and forevermore.”
As she straightened, Sunset just barely heard a rustle of movement over the heavy clanking of the Righteous Indignation’s machinery. She tensed, beginning to turn to the source of the noise. Someone threw their arm around her neck in a headlock. Her head was yanked back in a sharp jark that left Sunset momentarily disorientated. She wasn't given a chance to recover as her knee was kicked out and she was driven into a crouch. Breaths were almost impossible to steal through the iron-taught pressure on her throat.
“You disgusting filth,” hissed a feral voice in her ear. “I know what you really are! You should have just died with Equestria.”
Sharp pain lanced deep just below her shoulder blade and through her chest. Glancing down, Sunset saw obscenely a long knife jutted like a silvery finger out of her chest. Blood filled her lung and bubbled up into her throat. A hacking cough broke from Sunset, blood splattering over the window in a crimson spray. With a malicious twist her attacker yanked the blade free. Sunset’s legs gave out and she collapsed onto her face. Desperately she attempted to suck in fresh breaths, but all she inhaled were her own vital fluids.
The only thought that resonated like the tolling of a bell was that she was about the die. That she’d accomplished nothing with her life. That she was a failure and her true destiny had been snatched from her. Stolen by the cruel whims of callous princesses and crueler gods.
Darkness encroached on the edges of her vision as she was released and fell like a sack of potatoes to the unforgiving deck. There was a clatter by her head, and in the corner of her eye she saw the long knife as it was dropped and shadows shifted around her. Voices echoed in the corridor, and Sunset tried to cry for help, but only blood bubbled from her mouth. She tried to gasp fresh air, but her lungs were filling with vital fluids. Boots thumped on the deck, and the shadows shifted again as someone leaned over her, pawing at Sunset’s tunic to open it.
“Hey! What’s going on over there? What are you doing?” Sunset blearily heard someone shouting from down the corridor.
There was a flurry of steps. Soft hands prodding at her chest and then squeezing tight over the wound.
“Oh n-no, this is bad. Oh, Emperor, this is bad. Twilight, go get Sister Elizabeth! Twilight, don’t stare! Go! Now!”
On her back in a spreading pool of blood, Sunset gazed up into Fluttershy’s determined gaze, the darkness encroaching further and further.
“Stay with me Sunset. Throne, don’t go to sleep! You need to stay awake.”
Shouts came echoing up the corridor. Feet pounding on the deck.
Sunset’s last thought before the dark fully enclosed around her was if Princess Celestia ever cared, or even noticed, that she’d run away.
‘Of course she knows,’ echoed a beautiful voice that swept away the dark with a wave of spectral hues. ‘Only a fool would be blind to your absence, and she is no fool.’
Twisting around Sunset tried to find the source of the voice, but all she saw was a dazzling swirling display, like multihued ocean currents colliding in a confluence of colour. Gingerly she reached out a finger, and the currents reacted, coiling around her hand playfully. It was calming, and she felt at peace.
Weary muscles tense for months relaxed, stress leached by the confluence from her body as mud draws poison from a wound.
She wished she could remain in the blissful ocean forever. Sighing, she surrendered herself to the gentle currents.
‘You mustn’t,’ thundered a second voice, deep and powerful, that resonated in her chest like the shockwave of artillery shells. ‘You have a purpose, and it is yet unfulfilled. Unless you are too weak to grasp greatness.’
Sunset’s eyes shot open, and she beheld twin suns above her. Or in the near distance. Close enough that if she chose she could reach out and caress them, but also further than the non-existent horizon. Their light tingled across her bare skin, one cool and soothing, the other hot like the summer glow on a beach. Slowly at first, their light grew in intensity. One side of her face went cold, the other began to burn.
Squirming she tried to pull away, but the twin suns followed her. Thunder crashed, and the mild currents were whipped into a frenzy. Lightning arced, and there was a deep thoom in Sunset’s chest as she tried to flee.
‘No matter how far you run, you will never escape, Sunset!’ Boomed the clouds.
“Leave me alone! I don’t need your help! I don’t need anyone’s help!”
The suns darkened, dim light turning the space into a foreboding hellscape, like a sandstorm at dusk. A sharp breeze slapped Sunset across the cheeks.
‘Then fight. Grasp your true potential. Or die. See your fate should you falter.’
Wind and rain tore across Sunset, and a low groan echoed through the ethereal realm. Riding on the wind came screams, hundreds of them, thousands. Ponies and people emerged from the storm. Black ichor leaked from sunken eyes set in sallow faces, broken, mangled hooves or hands reaching out for her. Among the many faces were those of Sunset’s squad, Princess Celestia, and the ponies she’d known in the palace, as well as the other girls of the scholla. Maggots wormed beneath taught flesh as they shrieked her name.
And behind the screaming was a laugh, long and rumbling with blasphemous intent.
For a long time there was only that long, thirsting laughter.
The world resolved slowly around Sunset. Warbling, at first, as if pulled over a vast gulf, were voices. Some soft, others harsh. There were clanks. A long roar of an engine. And then a period of quiet that slowly resolved into a gentle, rhythmic beeping that was somehow comforting.
Warmth washed over her face.
Birds twittered.
Slowly, with great effort, Sunset opened her eyes.
She was met by the leering face of a stone gargoyle perched above her bed, long tongue lolling from its round head as it kept corruptive entities away. Iconography covered every available surface. The walls held nooks with statues of saints surrounded by purity seals. The ceiling held a massive fresco of the sisterhood at war, large numbers of battle sisters with all manner of wargear surging into disorganised clusters of hideously mutated cultists, scattering them with the Holy Trinity of bolter, flamer, and melta guns. Placed between the statues were beds, with simple curtains that could be pulled to create some level of privacy.
A pleasurable haze fogged Sunset’s head, making it hard to focus on any one aspect of the room, or figure out why or how she’d been brought to it. With ponderous difficulty she attempted to piece events together. The corridor. The planet. Being stabbed. The nightmares. Wait… stabbed?
Oh. Yeah. She’d been stabbed.
Right through the chest. And she was alive.
Huh.
Blinking and with a dopey grin, Sunset settled deeper into the soft pillows.
She drifted in and out for the next while. How long was hard to tell. Hours, minutes, or maybe days. The drugs made it difficult to discern.
When she next woke it was dark outside.
Her head pounded, stomach churned, and her chest was tight, constricted. Feeling the wound she discovered bandages wrapped tight around her. Each breath sent fresh flares of fire through her right side. It was agony.
Tears pricking her eyes she rolled out of bed. Cold stone tingled against the soles of her feet. A sharp tug almost caused her to fall as tubes popped out of the crook of her elbow. Hissing sharply she pulled the case off her pillow and wrapped it around the seeping holes. Softly she padded her way through the ward.
Most of the beds were empty, but here and there was one occupied by a sister of the order in a medicated sleep. Tubes connected them to medicea altars, terminals clutched by granite statues flickering with numbers and reading in High Gothic. Fluids dripped in hung bags, fed into the injured or sick woman, or were drawn out.
Picking up her pace, Sunset hurried out of the room and into a tall corridor built with the same vaulted ceilings and iconography as used throughout the Imperium. Echoing from down the corridor, Sunset’s superlative hearing picked up the traces of conversation between Sisters Maria and Elizabeth.
“Cannoness Celestia should have purged the abomination the moment you’d completed the initial tests on the Righteous Indignation.”
“While I would love to more thoroughly poke around her insides, you know why she spared the girl.”
There was a grunt, and a clunk of something hitting a table. “I know… I was there, afterall. Me and Arabella. Sole survivors of what was meant to be a milk-run. Us, and… Sunset. A child. Alone. With the artifact. Wearing Sister Helen’s helmet. Of course it was a sign. Sunset survived while everyone else in the squad was torn apart.”
“Is that why you hate her?”
“Hate is the Emperor’s greatest gift, Elizabeth.” There was a chidding note that was also playful in Maria’s voice. A short pause followed with the clink of glasses being refilled. “If that was all there was to things, yes, I would still hate Sunset.”
“But she is also half-aeldari.”
“Throne! Just hearing that blasphemy again makes my skin crawl and bile fill my mouth! Half-Aeldari? Throne and Emperor preserve us, such a monstrosity should be impossible!”
“There have always been stories, Mi-mi. Rumours that swirl in the dark underbelly of the church about certain planets or individuals having a touch of aeldari blood.”
“Put no stock in such whisperings, especially as they filter out of treacherous lips. I half suspect such heresy is merely a test.”
Another long pause followed, and Sunset sank to the floor, back pressed to the wall and hands clasped over her mouth. Her heart thudded in her chest so loudly that she wondered how the sisters in the adjacent room failed to hear it. Sunset wanted to run away, or march into the room and scream that they were wrong about her. That she didn’t choose to be a freakish half-human half-aeldari mutant. That she had been turned into this by an entity while she travelled through the warp.
Without a Geller Field.
Or even a ship.
A tiny groan lodged itself in Sunset’s throat, fingers tensing in her thick hair knowing what would happen if she ever mentioned that she wasn’t even from this reality, but a mirror one. The sisters would burn her with the other heretics, mutants, and cultists deemed too loathsome for even use as a combat thrall.
Assuming they just didn’t put a bolter round through her right then and there.
“It is a shame, as being around her is so calming,” Elizabeth sighed, her chair scraping as she pushed it back. Boots clicked on stone, and a hinge squeaked.
“Yet another worry! I thought it was an effect of the relic, or that the Emperor was reaching out to us. And maybe it is Him. But…” There was a sigh, and then, “Even I can hardly deny that something has touched Sunset. Every sister feels it. Just being in the same room is soothing.”
“Peaceful.”
“...Wrong.” A disgruntled rumble filled Maria’s throat and echoed over Sunset. “For an abomination to have the same presence as a Saint is an affront to all that is holy. All the progena sense it, if just instinctually, and I worry about the effects of exposing them to Sunset. If she should taint them as well…”
“Then the canoness will purge the entire class. It will be a shame to see some promising candidates lost, but Steinsmar will replace them with far stronger daughters. As the Emperor wills.”
“Aye. And to determine if she is a threat or a blessing, I will work Sunset. I will make her bleed and sweat and scream in the Emperor’s service, just as I will all the other progena. If this is truly the Emperor’s will, then I will ensure that Sunset is truly worthy of the honour of being our sister. With faith and fury. Isn’t that right, Sunset?”
Eyes widening, Sunset looked up to see Sister Maria in the doorway, hand resting on her neural whip and a deep scowl etched onto her hardened face. She hadn’t even realised Maria had been approaching the doorway.
How had Maria known that she was listening in on the conversation?
Across the hallway a cherubic homunculus grinned, oddly large teeth flashing white in its pudgy face. It skittered behind the head of a saintly statue, nubby fingers clinging to stone as vestigial wings twitched. A large, round mechanic eye whirred as it focused on Sunset. She’d been so focused on the conversation she’d tuned out all other sounds, leaving her vulnerable to the spies and security that would naturally be throughout the monastery.
Gulping down sharp terror, Sunset leapt to her feet. “Drill Abbess, my apologies for eavesdropping. I—”
“How much did you hear?”
“E-Enough. Too much.” Sunset wasn’t sure if she should be defiant, angry, or submissive. No matter what she did, she was going to be punished, and that meant only one thing. Her gaze flickered to Maria’s neural whip.
“Well, the truth is out.” Maria ran her fingers through her hair and she glanced up at the ceiling as if seeking the Emperor’s guidance. “You will never speak of this to your sisters. If they were to learn the truth about you…”
“They’d despise me.”
Maria laughed. “No, they despise you already, for the most part. Except for Applejack, and Fluttershy, but that girl has a screw loose. It is unlikely she will reach induction into the order as a full battle-sister.”
The side of Maria’s face twitched, her momentary good humour burnt away by hate. Her hand tensed on her whip. For an instant Sunset thought she was about to be whipped, but Elizabeth appeared, and placed a hand on her sister’s arm. Her dark eyes were calculating as they swept over Sunset, settling briefly on the new wound in the crook of her elbow.
“Fluttershy saved your life, Sunset. Without her quick thinking you’d have been dead long before I reached you. Anyways, enough of all this chatter. Mi-mi, my patient should be in bed, and asleep. I swear, I thought I’d given you enough sedatives to put a kilguar into a coma. Come on, Sunset, let’s get you settled.”
Firm hands took Sunset by the shoulder and half pushed, half guided her back to her bed. Her head rang with thoughts as she was settled and a fresh dose of painkillers administered. It was a long, troubled sleep she fell into, plagued with worries and dread over what would happen when the other progena inevitably learned the truth about her.
No matter what, she had to keep this secret.
For as long as possible.
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Or an indication that she's not quite as abominable as you may think, but there's probably a Thought of the Day about doubt being the first step to heresy or some such.
In any case, here's hoping the next time Sunset gets stabbed—and I'm sure there will be a next time—it isn't by one of her would-be battle-sisters. And that she can learn to accept a little help. She'd be dead without Fluttershy, but I fear that may only make her hate the other girl even more.
So... Is this version of Warhammer 40K going to have human counterparts of My Little Pony characters in it?
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"An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded." -Dawn of War Librarian
On a more serious note, I enjoyed this chapter! Though curious who it was that stabbed our Sunny! In regards to her aura... It sounds like something the more psychically powerful Eldar could do?
And to our good Author, I would like to see the progress of your painting!
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Yes. There are human versions of the characters in the story.
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That's the standard Sunset character arc. Starts off very proud and arrogant, boasting she is the best and doesn't need any help until reality smacks her in the face a few times and realizes that everyone needs help, and that it is better to have friends than to be alone.
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Thanks!
I wish I could get pictures of them on a board all displayed with terrain and everything, but, you know, covid and all that jazz... I've been trying to get some milliput and make the bases nicer... but you can't find it anywhere around my area anymore.
So Sunset is half Eldar, has the aura of a Saint and seems to fell sick inside the Warp.
While some characters introduce in very early lore as half Eldar are now retcon out by GW, there are still some that are hinted as, so the possibility still exist.
Though her being a living Saint, I don't think so. Living Saints are more or less daemon princes, so being negatively impact by the Warp should not happen. I'd say it has to do about her being saved by the Emperor, even if she didn't know, or that she's a Unicorn.
Anyway, Sunset being possibly considered a Saint might be for now her best chance at survival. After all if I recall correctly, Saint Celestine was, prior being a Saint, branded a Pariah since she was among the Sister Repentia.
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There is a lot of guessing and supposition being made by Elizabeth and Maria in their conversation. Neither also indicated whether they'd actually met a living saint before, so, it could also just be a guess on their part. What I'm trying to get at is just a reminder that characters are unreliable and are often wrong about things. All that is certain is that Sunset has an aura that makes the Sisters near her feel calmed/is soothing.
I don't want to spoil things so I wont say any more at this time. I want to be a bit slow to reveal this aspect of Sunset, but also needed/wanted to get the ball rolling so she has something to figure out about herself.
Not doing set up for story arcs early was an issue in some of my other stories so I'm trying to get out the necessary hooks nice and early. This is one of the ones that might take a while to pay off.
First at all, this was a very good chapter. I like it very much.
Yes, I think that the Adepta Sororitas are, togehter with the Space Marines, the new poster girls for Warhammer 40k. I have the Codex from the 8th edition and I must say that the lore ist very epic and grimdark. I collect and paint a Sororitas army and my inspiration are a Luna/Celestia combination in a white armor.
I like your story very much and it gives me a idea for a Sunset model.😁
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I currently have a Canoness Viridian model painted up to be Sunset. Flaming orange and red hair. I'll probably use her as a Palantine, since I can't afford the box-set that model comes in right now.
I have plans to have other models be other characters. I just like giving them bright hair when I don't give the models helmets. But, I mostly use helmets because the sisters models faces are kind of... bad, being honest. The 40k sculptors are not as good as the team on AoS. 
This is a great read, I wonder if it was the warp causing Sunset issues or the ship's gellar fields. She could be a form of psyker, there have been plenty of weird effects people have had just based on that. Not surprised somebody stabbed her either, I suppose it'll be a plot point since she didn't notice who it was so it'll come up again. I just hope it wasn't Rarity, best pony wouldn't do that!
I wouldn't be super worried about keeping 'true' to the lore. There are 30 years of rewrites, and a lot of people don't seem to catch that the books are often written as Imperial propaganda, not in universe fact. The whole setting is meant to be satirical, nor is the Imperium meant to be 'good'. You don't need to treat it super seriously, it's full of exceptions if you want to find them.
I actually like a lot of the face sculps for the new Sisters, their are some standout bad ones but most of them I like. I've been putting off painting until the next Codex just in case I want to modify any wargear (and not because of laziness, I swear). Not like I'm getting any games in with the plague.
Anyway, I'd love to see a blog post showing your collection when you feel you have a good example. It can be a good motivation to get some painting done if you need it.
Two different powerful entities spoke to Sunset while she was presumably in surgery from her attack, they both seem to know of Princess Celestia, both seem to shine like suns. One is definately the Emperor, probably his Star Child entity, though it could have been his throne-bound form, the other I'm going to guess is either Isha, the proto-form Ynnead, the Spirit of Harmony, Sigmar(I know it's a little lore-breaking, but there is a chance he might be assisting the Imerium in it's struggles against the ruinous powers) or the Equivalent of the pony god. Of course both the throne-bound Emperor and the Star Child may have conversed with her. And that brings up a question: Does Big E know of the ponies?
As far as whom attacked Sunset, I'm thinking it's either a Dazzling or an agent of the ruinous powers who has received a vision of what she could become.
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Some interesting guesses on who the entities are, and what they know. My plan is for that to be a bit of a slow roll/reveal. The two entities wont be appearing all that often.
As Sunset herself quickly figures out.. the list of possibilities on who attacked her is rather long.
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Sorry for being so late to respond.
Keeping to the lore and feel of 40k is one of the things that is making the chapters so slow to come. I have a lot of worries when it comes to this story. I don't think those will go away any time soon, being honest.
I posted a blog with my current army. I finished not long ago the painting of my first 5 Zephirym. A friend just got me another set of them, as well as 2 more Mortifiers, as a moving away gift.
I'm a bit sad we'll never get the chance to play against each other.
I'm liking the new Sisters models for the most part. The face on the one revealed last Monday (with the huge banner) is another cringe face. I prefer using helmets anyways though, so not too concerned about it. Painting helmets is just easier.
This story is great! I love a good 40k crossover. I wonder if, eventually, things will go similarly to canon and Twilight will follow Sunset at the behest of Princess Celestia. Unlikely, as the statue was destroyed with the planet, but it would be interesting to see Twilight's reaction to her friends being angry religious warrior space nuns.
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That was my take on things as well. Also, could just be hair dyes?
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I just hope I can maintain the quality without one side or the other feeling weakened or watered down. I'm having a bit of trouble, I'll admit, with the next chapter, and probably the ones after it, with the grimness, the integration of technology and how to describe it, and the 'School Life' aspects. My anxiety is running rampant with the story.
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If it was hair dye, then the Sisters probably wouldn't stand for it. They're pretty strict.
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Well you're doing great so far, and I have faith you can keep it up.
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Well, I just hope I manage to live up to expectations.
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Don't pressure yourself man, you're doing great.
Sunset saw the punch coming like a boltor round right for her jaw, began to dodge, but even then her movements were a touch too slow.
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Apparently I used the wrong spelling 3 times in the chapter. Oops.
To bad it seems like this Sunset Shimmer doesn't have the journal otherwise she might have tried to write to Princess Celestia to save her
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She had the journal in earlier drafts of the story. I've subsequently kept it ambiguous the items she brought with her from Equestria.
All Sunset fics have a bitch sunset fase, a insecure fase and a , fucking awesome fase. I'm waiting for the evolution with glee
This is where your religion hurts you. She has done nothing to harm tge imperium yet you want to destroy her for being different. Perhaps the imperium wouldn't struggle so hard if you didn't make unnessecary enemies
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I've said as much myself. But then, it wouldn't be 40k, would it?
Heya! I’ve just started reading, and this is pretty good! I’m loving how Sunset is written, and the 40k aspect is doing good too! It’s going to be interesting having Sunset work her way through arguably the most evil faction in the imperium and how that affects her. By the way, if you’re looking for a good way to learn about how scholla’s are operated and their general vibe, might I recommend listening to some Adeptus Ridiculous? They’ve got some really good, easy to get through lore episodes on 40k, and the scholla one would likely help a lot! Keep up the wonderful work!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ7TvaO1wYo