The War in Heaven

by voroshilov

VII. Shield World

“The Dauxite Assembly once lorded over much of the Sea of Stars. Their power was ancient and immense, but, regardless, they fell. Their strength made them weak, imprudent and unwise. The Irenton Empire will not succumb to this same fate. The Irenton people must be kept fighting, kept strong but reminded keenly of their weaknesses. There can be no room for imprudence in my Empire.”

- Lessons from the Dauxite Assembly for the development of the Empire by Emperor Nicholas -

The first pony encounter with Rift travel, a method of transportation by which a portal through the dimension known as the Rift is opened to allow near instant transportation from one place to another, should, and indeed would, have been a more celebrated occasion. Instead, it happened when nearly all were asleep, save Twilight Sparkle, who was reading in the Hand of Fate's library, and Luna, who was being briefed on their destination.

"Luna," Kyhron called, "our briefing is not yet finished."

The alicorn ignored him, pressing her hoof to the observation window as the swirling mass of multitudinous colours that was the Rift came into view. Though it was only there for a second, Luna could sense the voices within. She listened to their wisdom, which told her of a certain event during the previous night.

"Nicholas," she said, not turning from the window, which steadily faded to the void of space as they transitioned, "where is my sister?"

Nicholas remained silent, with Kyhron answering in his stead, "dead," he said, "for her sake, I would hope so."

"Why was I not informed?"

"Because," Nicholas said, "you would have tried to stop me. Celestia betrayed us both, but her status is still needed."

"Then who gave that broadcast?"

Nicholas considered lying, but eventually deigned it prudent enough to tell, "Queen Chrysalis, a Changeling. I did not save only ponies."

"Regardless." Kyhron brought them back to the briefing. "The Shield World awaits. As I was saying previously, Cradle is what the Empire refers to as a Shield World."

Nicholas interrupted him, "Cradle holds a great deal of ancient artefacts, and it is what ties our world to the Aether via the Beacon of Abaddon. Though it may appear like a broken world, it is a construct of an ancient empire, far advanced to our own. It holds the key to accessing the Aether and will provide us a suitable base of operations with which to advance our plans."

He paused a moment, allowing Luna to absorb the information, before continuing, "the Light's forces, whether its daemons or those it has fooled to fight for it, currently control the one part of Cradle we need, the Core. The Core contains all of the control systems, including the activation facilities for a series of portals that will allow us to access not only the Aether but any area of material space. Also contained within the Core's outer layers is the cartography facility, this is what will allow us to navigate the area. Luna, you will be landing to secure the portal controls, this task must be completed quickly, to prevent the Light destroying the Shield World completely. Kyhron will accompany you, along with Marshall-Commander Tyor and his Quadrant Legion. I, meanwhile, will move on the cartography facility, supported by Commander Traal's Division. Luna, Rarity will be with you, and Twilight and the rest of her friends with me. If our scans are correct, securing the cartography facility will be easy, with the portals being far harder. That's why I'm also assigning you Rear Admiral Warren's Battlecluster, they will provide fire support wherever you need. The both of you must complete this task with the utmost care, the portals are delicate and we do not have the capacity to fix them should they be damaged. Once the activation facilities are secure, contact me and I will begin landing more troops."

Luna nodded, as did Kyhron, and Nicholas gestured for them to leave and prepare. Luna left last, shooting Nicholas a glance as she did so. "I hope," she said, not entirely looking at him, "that it was worth it."

Nicholas didn't answer, Luna leaving the room the moment she finished her sentence. He knew it was, his simulations confirmed that, but there was still a strange twinge of guilt deep within him. Celestia had definitely trusted him, at least up until recently, and had he just sold her out, so to speak? She may have betrayed him, or been trying to, but had he protected her from Luna would she have? He hadn't even checked the simulations as to that, he'd become complacent. His complacency with knowing his end result would be what he wanted had made him make such decisions. He wouldn't admit it to Luna but he knew that there could have been another months worth of evacuations from Equestria. He could have saved almost all ponies, along with the majority of other species on the world before it needed to be destroyed.

Cradle came steadily into view, like a glowing eye against the twinkling darkness of space. It was like a world half finished, a giant gap inside of its crust which revealed a hollow space holding a small star caught in an energy shield. It was clear that, just below the natural appearance of the outside, that the world was artificial. Massive girders of metal, larger than cities, created grids to stabilise the upper crust. The Core, made up of a series of massive platforms floating within the hollow space, attaching themselves to the energy shield around the star to refuel and recharge, was visible, giving the tasked Fleets their targets. Warren's Battlecluster, eleven Truth class light cruisers, led by a Sovereign class carrier, broke off from the main fleet and closed in on the world. Closely following them was the Night Truth, with Princess Luna aboard, and the Crown of Ash, with Kyhron aboard. The Crown of Ash looked near identical to a Sovereign Class, but was twice the size: a Judgement Class Supercarrier.

Emperor Nicholas, meanwhile, would be taking solely the Hand of Fate. The cartography facility, unlike the Core, would be easily accessed, sitting comfortably just within the crust of the world. The Fusiliers aboard would be more than a match for any forces in the facility, though any more than a division would likely cause unnecessary and unwanted traffic and supply issues.

The Hand of Fate turned slowly towards its target, which its scans had identified as a large platform approximately twenty five kilometres long and fifteen wide. It was predominantly artificial taiga forest, with a large construct housing an underground bunker in the perfect centre, where the map room was almost certainly located. The soldiers he had enlisted for this mission had already been briefed, though the ponies would need to be awoken and then brought up to speed. Fortunately, it did not take long for the former to occur.

The ship rocked suddenly as three projectiles impacted the port side bow. The previously invisible shield rippled orange all over, areas of damage appearing more red. Within a second, alarms were blaring, the lights were reddened and automatic calls of "battle stations," began broadcasting on all decks. Nicholas rose from his chair, making his way to the observation deck's door as a further five projectiles impacted, in similar locations to the previous. As he made his way through the gunmetal grey corridors of the Hand of Fate, squads of Fusiliers, engineers and any spare crew members ran by, and the halls were filled with the throaty rumble of the ship's cannons returning fire.

The residential suites were deep in the ship's belly, far from the guns and bombardment. They were, however, still a hive of activity. Soldiers ran back and forth, some assisting engineers performing scans and maintenance on various components, whilst others escorted ponies to safety zones. Nicholas was soon joined by an armoured up Commander Traal, along with a squad of Fusiliers. The Emperor informed the soldiers who they needed to bring to the library, where his briefing would be held, whilst he would attend to Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight's room was crammed with books, everything from fiction works to historical texts were scattered over every available table space, cabinet and shelf. Twilight was on her bed, levitating a pair of books with her magic, with a third laid out on the bed in front of her as her horn provided light.

"Twilight," Nicholas said, drawing the alicorn's gaze, "I require you in the library, come, we have no time to waste."

The library was noticeably darker and every so often shook as the result of impacts on the hull dozens of kilometres away. Four ponies sat around a table, Emperor Nicholas above them, surrounding a holographic projector. With a flash of blue, a holographic model of Cradle appeared, showing the current location of the Imperial ships moving towards it, as well as their minuscule size in comparison to the enormous construct. Twilight studied it intently, whilst Rainbow immediately began blurting out questions.

"Is that us?" She said, pointing to the minute, bulbous silhouette of the Hand of Fate. At Nicholas' affirmative, she mumbled, "cool," before asking another question, "what's happening outside?"

"We are under attack," Nicholas said, "the Light's forces have managed to activate some of Cradle's defence systems. These are designed more for point defence, so our shields will easily hold them off. However, we must secure our objectives before they are capable of activating the more dangerous systems."

It was Twilight who spoke next, silencing Rainbow just before she spoke again, "what are our objectives?"

Nicholas, with a gesture of opening his hand, zoomed the projector in, focusing on the area surrounding the cartography platform, with the Hand of Fate's bow slowly coming into view. "Here." He pointed to the platform. "This is a cartography facility, essentially a map room to the whole of Cradle. This is our personal objective. We shall be supported by a division of ground troops, along with air support from the Hand of Fate. Meanwhile."

He made another gesture of closing his hand, zooming the projector back out again, before repeating the zoom to a separate area, around the Core. A series of platforms, far larger than the cartography platform, hovered around a miniature star surrounded by an energy shield. Many of the platforms were covered in structures that were clearly buildings, with each having a large, cylindrical complex in the centre.

“This," Nicholas said, pointing to the largest of the platforms, with five smaller cylinders on the vertices joined to the centre cylinder by beams of light, "is the portal control facility, essentially the most important structure in the planet. Luna, Kyhron and a large force of troops are headed there to secure it."

"Is that where Rarity is?" Applejack asked, pointing with her hoof.

"It's where she will be," Nicholas zoomed out again, before focusing in on the advancing Battlecluster, "she is aboard this ship," he pointed to the Night Truth, which looked functionally identical to most of the other ships in the cluster.

"Woah," Rainbow exclaimed under her breath, before pointing to the largest vessel, "What's that one?"

"That is the Crown of Ash, Kyhron's personal vessel. It is a Judgement Class Supercarrier, this particular model a little over 4,000 years old. It replaced his previous vessel, the Shattered Throne, after he rammed it into a hyperweapon. I always thought the name was a little tasteless."

"What do we do?" Twilight asked.

Nicholas looked over the ponies for a moment, as if contemplating how best to assign them. "Rainbow Dash." He pointed to the flier, who immediately perked up, raring to go. "You will assist the landing of the ground forces, and ensure that we retain our airpower. Applejack, you shall assist the ground forces in the second wave, ensure at the very least we have a logistical corridor. Fluttershy, you shall be working with the medics, I shall assign you a partner and the necessary supplies."

The ponies nodded at their assignments, with Fluttershy looking concerned as to what a medic would exactly entail. Twilight, meanwhile, sat and waited, with Nicholas looking her over for about a minute before deciding.

"Twilight, you shall come with me. We will move into the facility and secure the map room. If you're lucky, maybe you'll be able to find something to decode. The makers of this Shield World had a language specifically used by their machines, I'm sure you'll find translating that an intellectually enriching experience." He paused before saying intellectually, immediately filling Twilight with joy. Hesitation on that point suggested difficulty and she very much enjoyed intellectual difficulty.

When they reached the hangar bay, they found it alive with action, Fusiliers boarded dropships and loaded vehicles. The group was cut off by a tank as it trundled forwards towards a transport. Rainbow expressed a great interest in the fighters, especially when their engines roared out and they sped through the hangar's shield. Applejack, meanwhile, took similar interest in the tanks, in particular a Mauler class, the size of a building. She broke off from the group, trotting up to a pair of Fusiliers, with brown capes on their shoulders, who were standing at its back.

"Erm." She drew the attention of the two. "Can ah get in?"

They looked at her for a second, before one turned to Nicholas and elbowed their comrade. "Hop aboard," they said, "we're launching in 5."

Applejack took a tentative step up the tank's extended ramp, before a squad of Fusiliers marched past her to take seats in the troop bay. She pushed on, taking a seat as more troops piled in. Finally, twelve soldiers, all with brown capes on their left shoulders, stepped in, marching up the stairwell in the centre of the bay to access the controls. After a few minutes, the engine roared and the ramp slowly lifted and closed. The tank shook as two metallic clunks echoed through it and Applejack tensed as she felt herself lift off.

Rainbow tried similar with a fighter, a Rapture-116, but Nicholas pulled her back by a wing. "No," he said, "there is no atmosphere outside the shield, you will die." Rainbow appeared to get the point.

Nicholas led them to a dropship, with a handful of soldiers within, one of which greeted Fluttershy as she entered, handing her a white metal box marked with a red rune. "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, this dropship will transport you to the platform. I shall take Twilight personally. Go."

The dropship lifted slowly, its doors shutting and speeding off through the shield, surrounded by dozens of others and joining a swarm of advancing fighters and transports. Twilight and Nicholas, meanwhile, marched towards a bulkhead near the hangar's main door. Stepping through it, an airlock was revealed, with a collection of suits designed for the larger and bipedal soldiers hanging to the walls.

Nicholas brought Twilight close to his chest. "I will project a field," he said, "it will keep you safe until we land on the platform. Stay as close to me as possible and try not to move around too much."

He wrapped his wings around her, with Twilight then feeling a tingle on her fur as a thin black sheen covered her. She kept her breathing steady and calm, she recalled as best she could her depressurisation training when she was back on Equestria, keep calm, keep still, keep your eyes closed and hope. She caught a glimpse of Nicholas grasping a red lever out of the corner of her eye as she closed it, a second later hearing a thump, followed by a whoosh and quickly finding herself the wrong way up.

Foolishly, curiosity got the better of her and she opened her eyes. She saw, through a tiny sliver in Nicholas' surrounding wings, the vaguely green platform fast approaching. Tiny orange and golden flashes covered it, likely the gun fire of the troops fighting for it, as well as a swarm of locust-like ships surrounding it. She recognised Applejack's tank, or a model similar to it, flanked by a pair of sleek, silver fighters and four regular dropships. She smiled slightly, it was an incredible sight, space travel.

Suddenly, a golden blob impacted the tank-laden dropship, which detonated silently and careered off into the darkness below, flaming and gradually collapsing, she slammed her eyes shut and hoped to everyone who would listen that it wasn't Applejack's tank. The fighters that had shadowed it sped forwards, engines glowing a deep orange, towards the source of the missile. Meanwhile, another formation, made up of a dozen fighters in a diamond, flew in front of Nicholas and Twilight. As they neared the platform, one of the fighters was hit, its wing shearing off and its left engine bursting into blue flames, venting a dark purple gas into space. Regardless, it continued, before eventually veering off to return to the Hand of Fate. Its fellows, however, arrived safely, firing off a hail of blue trailed rocket fire and orange energy bolts. The landing zone, a small, snow covered clearing ringed with trees, was blown apart, the crater giving Nicholas a covered place to land.

Considering they had just fallen from space, the landing was surprisingly graceful. Nicholas slowly lowered Twilight, who regained her footing slowly and carefully. To her immediate relief, a tank, identical to Applejack's, rolled by the edge of the crater, the ramp dropping in its front to reveal a wall of soldiers, a familiar orange earth pony amongst them. Nicholas had climbed to the edge of the crater, surveyed the battlefield and beckoned Twilight forwards. She emerged to a scene of chaos.

The first wave had experienced clear difficulties, not least in that half of them were dead. Tanks, of the smaller but no less dangerous Skirmisher class, identical to those seen in the firing pits on Equestria, lay broken and burning all around. Several of their fellows, dropped with the second wave, thundered from the forest, firing off bolts from their twin cannons and laying waste to the tree line ahead. In their attempt to cross the open field and reach the trees, where the enemy were likely dug in, nearly a thousand Fusiliers had been killed or otherwise incapacitated. Soldiers, some missing limbs and others covered in burn marks, carried their badly wounded comrades from the field and into makeshift foxholes, where medical personnel, Fluttershy amongst them, waited.

The opposing tree line exploded, two dozen bombers having sped overhead. As the grey streaks returned for another pass, and new streaks of silver, marking the fighters, began to arrive, Twilight caught a glimpse of cyan, which she knew without doubt was Rainbow Dash. As she took in the battlefield in its entirety, Nicholas was already rallying for an attack.

From the small ridgeline that marked the start of the field, a few hundred Fusiliers rose, charging forwards, covered by everything from tank shells, to rockets and cannonfire from fighters. Golden pellets, no larger than a tooth, came in a vast wall from the opposing tree line, slamming into the advancing Fusiliers and knocking down at least a hundred. In response, the tanks roared, firing as they too began an advance. Medics, identified either by being a yellow pegasus, or by the red rune on their left shoulder plate, sprinted behind them, assisting whoever they could find as Nicholas and Twilight marched forwards.

Several blobs were fired at Nicholas, each about the size of Twilight's head, each one effortlessly deflected by a single flick of Oathbreaker. Soon, Nicholas broke into a run, scooping up Twilight with one hand and placing her on his shoulder. It took only a few strides to reach the advancing soldiers, whose rifles sang a shrill and deadly song. Shapes appeared in the tree line, strange creatures clad in gold and white clothing, odd in its seeming lack of armour value. They all had a lack of various facial features, some with no ears, others with no eyes or even some without lower jaws. In their hands, they carried sword-like implements, though used them like guns. They stood, kneeled or lay in a thin layer of golden white goo, which Twilight estimated, from previous encounters, was the result of their deaths.

Nicholas slowed, easily keeping up with the advancing soldiers. Several would fall, being left behind in seconds as the group continued its frontal charge. Medics swarmed in the rear, like bees to a flower, tending to the injured and pulling them off the field into the safer surrounding trees. As the advancing troops hit the tree line, a thousand bayonets and swords blazed to life, the chorus of electrical crackles drowned out all noise as they swung in to their targets. The malformed creatures defending the line were cut apart with ease, screeching into the void as they died. Despite their proficiency at range, they were next to useless in the melee, their sword-like rifles proving to be range weapons only. The defending line collapsed in moments, the physically larger and better equipped Fusiliers overpowering them.

The Fusiliers left a corridor for Nicholas, who cut through dozens of creatures with just one swing of Oathbreaker. The creatures practically threw themselves at him, allowing time for their brethren to retreat towards the grey metal of the cartography facility's building. Sure enough, those that died slowly melted into puddles of white and gold goo, slowing the Imperial advance somewhat as the Fusiliers waded through. Eventually, the Fusiliers parted, allowing the tanks to cut a path through the forest and towards the facility.

The base was an octagon of grey metal, with a large spire extending some fifty feet above it and topped with a pulsing blue sphere. The Light's creatures swarmed over it, with several hundred outside and the rest fleeing within. With guttural screams, the creatures slammed the bulkhead door behind them, before charging the tanks.

A pair of Skirmishers were boarded, the creatures tearing into their compartments and pulling out the soldiers within. Armed only with pistols, the crews desperately fought off their attackers. Loud zaps filled the air as red laser bolts erupted from the opened tanks. The infantry sprinted forth to assist, dragging and beating the creatures off their comrades. A pair of brown caped tank crew survived, one with their left arm removed, the other with a gash through their helmet, revealing grey eyes and pale skin. The light grey and purple pistol was covered in lumps of death goo, clearly having discharged it at close range.

Three hundred infantry quickly joined the battered lead tanks, supported by another pair of Skirmishers. Even with the vehicles clearing space, there was room for little more in the approach to the entrance, the Fusiliers having to squeeze past the derelict vehicles. Nicholas, Twilight behind him, flew overhead, observing the battle and firing off writhing bolts of darkness whenever the opposing creatures began to clump together. Below, Fusiliers clambered on top of the damaged tanks, some climbing within to fire the cannons. Other of their comrades entered the driving seats, putting them into drive and charging into the enemy lines.

These creatures were far more adapted for melee combat than their fellows, the first few Fusiliers in the line attesting to that as they were grappled and torn at by dozens at a time. Several fell before their comrades pulled them back, letting off hails of orange rifle fire as they moved with the cover of the tanks. A dropship flew in over head, firing off large, blue blobs of plasma which blew holes into the horde of creatures. The combined strength of the infantry's volley fire, the tank's straight advance and the gunship above quickly broke the line, the infantry pushing until they reached the closed entrance to the facility.

Nicholas and Twilight landed, stepping up to the front of the line as two Fusiliers in heavy power armour attempted to pry the door open. Their armour was steel grey and essentially widened them by twice. Each stood a head and shoulders above the largest Fusilier, with the shape of their faces somewhat evidenced in their rebreather-like helmets, which held black, soulless lenses. One noticed Nicholas approaching, tapping his comrade on the shoulder, the two rose and separated from the door, before being joined by several others.

"Door's locked, sir," one said, voice robotic and modulated, "it'll take a lot to break in."

Nicholas raised a hand, tendrils of shadow extending from it. The tendrils touched the door tentatively, before diffusing into its inner workings, eventually causing a click to arise from the wall panel. "Fortunately," Nicholas said as the door parted, "I have a lot."

Two heavy armoured Fusiliers entered, bearing massive rotary cannons. The ammunition alone, in a circular drum below, was about the size of Twilight's torso, with the cannon itself nearly double her length. The atrium they entered in to was pitch black, though it was clear something was moving within. Whilst Twilight couldn't see anything, apparently the Fusiliers could. "Sir," one shouted back to Nicholas, "you should come and see this."

Nicholas stepped forwards, quickly all but vanishing from sight save for the thin glow of his three, cyan eyes. Twilight heard a huff, before something cold and metallic grabbed her arm. She tried to jump back and yelped in fright, but was halted and silenced when Nicholas spoke, "it is me," he said, "follow."

He led Twilight through the darkness. Whilst usually she would have simply lighted her horn and continued moving, strangely, her horn made no effect. Nicholas eventually stopped, before guiding her hoof towards a point. What she touched felt like a piece of cold glass, which quickly lit up bright blue. The console, as it was revealed, was mostly a white alloy material, with a thin stem linking it to the ground. The blue screen was covered in various white runes, unlike those that Nicholas had already shown her. She could, however, make out one word, 'Exultation'.

Suddenly, the room lit up. The floor was the same white alloy as the console's rim and stem, as were the walls, the roof was of similar material, but was silvery and lined with blue dots that Twilight assumed were the lights. Ahead of the console was a large screen, looking like translucent black glass. Three thin golden trails led off deeper into the facility, likely guide-lines for walking around.

The screen flared to life, glowing a bright red. “Welcome," a deep, masculine, robotic voice spoke from the screen, "I am Exultation-001, custodian of 268-SHIELD. You do not appear to be Assembly constructs. Please hold still for scanning. Detecting species, Vortexian, Valkyr, Herian and Xayanthan. Scans indicate at least a Basileus-Class construct present. I am detecting sub-spatial anomalies. Subspace ruptures detected. Initiating diagnostic scan. Scans indicate I was placed into extended hibernation for a period of 4.6 billion years. Curious, I am detecting no Assembly signals in the entire galaxy."

Nicholas spoke up, "the Assembly has been gone for a long time."

"Reports indicate Chronove was accessed as of approximately 16,000 years ago. Residue indicative of Chronomatrix displacement detected around Basileus-Class construct. You are of the Assembly, yet you say it is gone? Explain."

"The Assembly fell," Nicholas said, simply, "destroyed itself."

The AI was silent for a moment, before continuing, "scans indicate combat within 268-SHIELD, detecting sub-spatial anomalies. Shield World defences offline. It appears I am separated from most of the facility. Basileus-Class, I advise you to reconnect me to the rest of the facility, co-ordinates to the main core system are in the cartographer. Be advised, I am detecting multiple sub-spatial anomalies below, I shall provide what WarSynths I can to guide you."

From previously invisible panels on the walls emerged a dozen identical white robots, about the height of each of the tallest Fusilier. They had spindly limbs, with an upturned triangular torso with a glowing blue panel on the abdomen, their heads bore a large, angular fan, with a singular blue eye slit in the centre. Each one carried a long rifle: two long, silver spindles with a red field connecting them. They advanced with near silence, forming a neat six by two block and marched down the corridor.

The now lit facility was nowhere near as derelict as its age would suggest, in fact, it looked practically brand new. The WarSynths, as Nicholas and Exultation-001 had identified, looked similar. Twilight had been awestruck that the facility was so old, with Nicholas' conservative estimate being over the age of Equestria's star. She had also been confused by the species' names given by the AI, with Nicholas explaining as they walked. Nicholas himself was originally a Vortexian, though exposure to something he called The Great Experiment had turned him into what he was currently. Why he had been called a Basileus-Class construct, he was unsure, but he had told her he would ask the AI when they were finished.

They emerged from the corridor into a much larger chamber, with a reinforced glass cylinder in the centre with a pair of consoles in front and behind it. The room was swarming with creatures, who all turned to the entering droids and soldiers and screeched, knocking Twilight down with the noise. The walls began to part, revealing invisible chambers like those in the main entrance, revealing even more WarSynths, twenty in all. With uncharacteristic thumps, their rifles opened fire, long bolts of red energy tearing through multiple of the creatures at a time. The WarSynths communicated with each other in bursts of static, coordinating their attacks perfectly so that none of the creatures could get within 5 metres. Nicholas carefully lifted up Twilight, with the Fusiliers with them just looking on in surprise.

"Twilight," Nicholas said over the din of combat, "once the WarSynths have cleared the room, head to the first console, place your hoof on the rune on the right, I will do the same on the other side. That should reconnect Exultation to the Cartographer, then he can give us the map."

The room was cleared with incredible speed; barely a minute after their arrival everything within was either allied or dead. Not even the golden goo that had characterised the deaths of the other creatures was present, just a faint scattering of white dust where the majority had been concentrated. The Imperials advanced inside, the Fusiliers covering all of the doors whilst Twilight and Nicholas worked the consoles. Twilight pressed her hoof onto the right hand side's rune, a massive circle with a pair of dots in its centre. The rune lit up, followed by its fellow on the left lighting as well. The reinforced glass cylinder flared blue, which gradually faded to purple and finally red.

"Excellent," Exultation-001's voice boomed over hidden speakers, "initiating diagnostic scan. Cartographer online. You have now been granted access to the map room."

At the far end of the room, a door slid open, revealing another dozen WarSynths. The robots parted, showing the path to what the Imperials assumed was the map room. The room was, in stark contrast to the other rooms so far, pitch dark in its colouring, with no light save the large projector in the centre of the floor, which flared to life to show the image of the entire planet. The core gradually zoomed in, revealing the Imperial Battlecluster and the troops landing on the platforms.

One of the vessels, a Truth class cruiser, was listing, trailing plasma from its far left engine; another sported a large gash on its left bow. Only one of the platforms appeared to have been fully secured, having been covered in artillery cannons and rocket launchers. The larger platforms were swarming with creatures, fighting the Imperials in close quarters. Both Luna and Kyhron were clearly visible, the former coordinating attacks from just behind the line on the second largest platform, with the latter wading through the swarming creatures on the largest.

Nicholas reached out with his power, contacting Kyhron. The enormous knight stopped moving, the creatures at his feet flailing in vain to bring him down. Whatever message Nicholas had sent, it had a clear effect. Kyhron turned, casting off a few hundred of the creatures without even noticing, he swung his sword upwards, cutting a swathe through his living surroundings. With a gesture forwards, something tore through the ground, swarms of opposing creatures tearing at each other. Others, appearing almost as smaller versions of Kyhron, appeared through portals, cutting their way forwards towards him as the Prince of Darkness advanced towards the main building.

Meanwhile, in the map room, a pair of portals, black wreathed in dark, swirling green, opened. From each stepped a figure, at least four metres tall, grey chitinous skin covered almost entirely by black bone armour. In their hands they hefted heavy swords, of similar class to Oathbreaker though far smaller. Like Nicholas, they had three eyes, though theirs were fiery orange, with their mouths small and filled with jagged, rust coloured teeth. They both bowed before Nicholas, strangely remaining in total silence.

"Karavon," Nicholas said, looking to the left hand figure, then to the right "Azin. Where are your brothers?"

Both looked up, with Azin speaking, his voice deep and gravelly, "Qirin is with Lady Luna."

"And Tyak?"

"Dead, for a thousand years. The Light ended him during Lady Luna's attempt in Equestria.”

Nicholas seemed to breathe out, "very well. Rally every warrior you can and prepare to enter the portals once they are activated. Ensure that the Light cannot send any more troops through the filaments, ensure this Shield World is totally defensible. Karavon, contact Chronove and bring me whatever soldiers are available, I want at least a Crusade sized force in orbit by the end of the week."

The two nodded their affirmatives, before their portals opened again and they vanished. Looking back to the map, Kyhron and those with him were at the entrance to the main building, the swarming Light creatures being held back by a combination of larger and smaller Imperial creatures. The larger, near identical to Azin and Karavon, held the rear of the line, with smaller creatures with spindly arms and thin, husk-like bodies at the front.

"Kyhron shouldn't take too long," Nicholas said to Twilight, who nodded without quite knowing what he was doing. "Exultation," he shouted out, "do you have WarSynths near the Core? My forces will require whatever assistance you can give."

The AI was silent for a moment, contemplating. "I am activating the facility's defences now," he said, "what WarSynths I have are moving now. Can your forces reactivate the Core?"

"They are working on it," Nicholas turned back to the map to see the tell tale signs of WarSynths, emerging from both within and without the facility. Where they emerged, a long corridor of death followed in their wake, their weapons invariably superior to those of their enemies. "Is there any other support you can give them?"

The AI contemplated again, "I am activating a Strategos-Class Construct. Stand by."

Luna and Rarity were, fortunately for Rarity, behind the protective wall of Imperial soldiers. Whilst the odd stray shot passed nearby to them, none came close enough to prompt genuine worry. Rarity was, however, still on edge. When a sound not entirely dissimilar to a very high pitched explosion was followed by a flash of light from behind, she ducked into Luna's wing, who turned to view the source of the noise.

"Qirin?"

Rarity moved out from the wing cover to view Qirin. He stood at around four metres tall, with grey chitinous skin, night black bone armour covering most of him and three burning orange and yellow eyes. He held a sword in his right hand, similar in overall appearance to Oathbreaker, and a large, black bone shield in his right.

"Lady Luna," he bowed, dropping to one knee and placing his sword tip down into the dirt, "word from the Emperor, Kyhron is activating the Shield World's AI. He has ordered me to assist you in taking the facility on this platform."

Luna walked up to Qirin, who she still dwarfed despite his enormous size. She looked him in the eyes, silently ordering him to rise from his kneel. When he stood tall, she pulled him into an embrace, which he seemed almost confused by.

"It has been so long," she whispered, pulling back, "Rarity, this is Qirin, a very old friend of mine."

Qirin bowed his head to her, before marching forwards, wading through the lines to slice a path through the creatures. The Fusiliers parted, giving Qirin a straight shot forward to the entrance of the facility.

"Who is he?" Rarity asked, trying her best to make the question 'what is he' sound polite.

"A Tomb Guard," Luna said, "it is an old story, I will tell you when we are back on the ship."

Rarity nodded, turning back to survey the battlefield. She was no strategist, granted, but she knew when a battle was going well. The Fusiliers had advanced far since their landing, shown in the sea of death goo and bodies in their wake. Behind, the crumpled body of a Walker lay smouldering, its forest camo hull covered in burn marks and holes, its legs and arms were half buried, with its face totally submerged in the dirt. Its pilots, a pair of Fusiliers with cyan armour, had limped off into the thin woods that skirted the edge of the platform.

A horn blared out from beneath the surface and the ground began to shake. Luna instinctively lifted Rarity onto her back with a wing and began to hover, as a straight crack opened behind them. A fifty metre circle began to open, revealing a deep hole in the platform, lined with smooth white alloy and pock-marked with tiny blue lights. From the hole rose a platform, carrying a giant, floating robot, with one blazing red eye atop its upper segment. It looked similar to a centipede, though far wider, shorter and airbourne. Its individual segments were of a grey alloy, connected by cylindrical tethers of blue light. Small, metal tentacles lined the edges of each segment, with the top segment having a pair of massive cannons on its edges.

It seemed to speak in a burst of low pitched static, before its cannons opened fire. Two bolts of red fire launched out, impacting the creatures around the facility with rough bursts. The construct floated forwards, silently ignoring the guarded Luna, until it arrived over the Imperial lines. The Fusiliers kept their heads low as it fired again, floating forwards and using its tentacles to blast individuals with zaps of lightning. The fighters flying above had to increase their altitudes to avoid impacting the crown-like alloy crescent atop its head, which peaked its height at about eighty feet.

"What in the," Rarity breathed.

"I don't know," Luna replied, "but I think it's on our side."

Where the Fusiliers had taken a couple of hours to advance to their position, the construct pushed them to the entrance within minutes. The low, rhythmic rumbling of its cannons and the cracks of its lightning shattered the enemy lines with ease, and the construct's shields made it nigh impervious to damage. When they reached the entrance, what creatures had retreated inside came rushing out, harried by WarSynths from within, where they were quickly cut down by both the construct and the Fusiliers. Qirin made his way inside, followed by a platoon of Fusiliers, informing Luna he would reconnect the Shield World's AI to this particular facility.

An Imperial Army, with nearly three hundred thousand fully ready troops spread out across the expansive platform, quickly found itself without a job to do. The Fusiliers quickly began to rest, gather up the dead, tend to their wounded or observe the other battlefields.

"Night Truth," a Leftenant, with a heavy white pack attached to the back of his armour, aerial extended and a blue pad on his left wrist spoke, "objective secure, portal controls on our side are online. Any update on the other side?"

He listened to the answer, before speaking again, "copy that." He jogged to Luna, who was overlooking one of the closest platforms, where the Fusiliers had nearly completed their objective. "Ma'am, the Night Truth is going to come around to bring us aboard soon. They estimate twenty minutes before they're in position."

"Thank you, Leftenant," Luna replied, not turning to regard the Fusilier, "you are dismissed." The Leftenant saluted then jogged back to his platoon, leaving Luna and Rarity to continue observing.

Whilst Luna was making tactical assessments, seeing if she was needed or if she could invent a better strategy, Rarity was taking in the unconventional beauty of the scene. Against the background of a star wreathed in blue shimmering shields, dozens of biomes, suspended by nothing, hovered, flashes of light gave each of them the appearance of galaxies, whilst enormous vessels hovered between them. She thought about making a dress of it, maybe even a series, then recognised that her old boutique had been destroyed days earlier.
"Luna?"

"Yes, Rarity?"

"My boutique was destroyed with Equestria..."

"I shall get you another," Luna interrupted, "whatever materials you need I can get you, as well as a space. The Empire has a wealth of territory and with it an abundance of material for you to work with, from fabrics to the finest gemstones."

"Thank you, Princess."

"Excellent," Exultation-001 said, "connection to Core established, I am activating planetary defences."

“We have a pony down,” one Fusilier had shouted to another, “the yellow one.”

“How the hell? She was assigned to medical.”

“Stray shot caught her in the throat as she tried to help one of our guys, dead in minutes.”

“Emperor’s name,” they swore. “He is going to be furious.”