Equestrian Black Crusade: Wardens

by Titan Commander Sebaste

The Spark of Strife

“Hey metalheads, pick on someone your own size!”

“Seb, they're breaking through, we can't hold on for much longer!”

“NOOOOOO!”

Sebaste jerked awake as the scream rang through his head. The bed he laid on creaked as he sat up and groaned. “Uuugh…. Third one this month…” he muttered. He then looked up at his bed room ceiling. Nearby, Rainblade shifted in her sleep, but otherwise didn't react to the creak of the bed.

The Spartan closed his eyes in an attempt to slow down his heart rate.

“I wish I could tell the others what had happened in my original universe… but they'd probably think I'm crazy.” he said quietly. “I’m the only one here that remembers that war… I remember who made Rainblade who she is now.” Giving his head a shake, he laid back down. As his eyes closed, he swore he heard a voice in his head say, “You will get your chance for redemption soon enough…”

---

Equestria, a month later…
Stalliongrad

“Take them down!” an Earth pony screamed before a bullet struck him in the shoulder. A few miles away, Alexandra scoffed as she reloaded her sniper rifle. The red and silver Spartan Scout rammed a fresh clip into the magazine chamber before taking another shot

“Aim’s getting a bit sloppy.” Sebaste commented as gunfire raked across the wall he was behind.

“Can’t exactly help it, every time I peek out, they target me instantly!” the female Spartan retorted.

Sebaste snorted before activating his comms. “Alright, Vik, Sasha, you're up.”

There was a roar of turbines before a dark green blur smashed into the Rebel's position, bladed gauntlets crackling with power.As the ponies turned to the foe in their midst, three were gunned down as a silver and red Orbital Spartan deactivated his active camo. “Surprise, Mothertruckers!” he shouted. Between the two of them, the squad was wiped out.

“Heh, old Hook and Bait works every time.” Viktor smirked as he walked up to where Alex and Sebaste were holed up. Sasha rolled his eyes under his helmet. The massive dark green Astartes lightly clonked the Spartan on the back of the helmet.

“We got lucky that time. Would've been a different story entirely if you hadn't been nearby.” he grumbled. Rainblade soon flew in and landed, looking the worse for wear.

As the three walked up to their teammates, the world around the five of them suddenly began to blur. “Um… What the hell is happening?!” Sasha yelped as the landscape began to change before their eyes.

“I don't know….” Sebaste replied, readying his weapon. “But get ready for whatever happens!”

As the world began to solidify, Sebaste’s breath hitched in his throat. He recognized where he and the others were. They were in Manehattan, the day Ahriman had launched his Black Crusade.

“Seb? Why are we in Manehattan? And how is it not a smoking ruin right now?” Viktor asked as he looked around in shock.

“Because this… this is my old universe… the day Ahriman launched his first attack.” Sebaste said, looking up at the sky.

“Your what?!” Alex asked before the whine of jet turbines were heard. Soon, a small group of thunderhawks flew into view. They were painted black, with a golden star of Chaos adorning their sides, and as they flew overhead they launched a salvo of their assault cannons into the city, tearing up concrete and punching hundreds of holes in the buildings. Screams of pain occasionally followed.

“Tear down this city!” A voice roared from the left. The group turned to find Khârn, leading a group of two dozen dragons and griffons adorned in blood red power armor as they chased down fleeing citizens, baying and roaring for blood. “It shall be a shrine to the Blood God once we’re through with it!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Sebaste snarled as he sent a gryphon sprawling with a single shot from his assault rifle. The others watched in shock as he brazenly stepped forward. “Fighting in the War of Shadows is one thing, but bringing your war onto my world was a bad move on your part!”

Khârn growled, Gorechild roaring angrily in his grip as his apparent Khorne Berserkers continued after the citizens, though some remained, awaiting his orders.

“The Warmaster has ordered me to annihilate this city.” He declared angrily, his voice amplified by his armor, and the restraint in his voice evident. “Even now, many more of my soldiers are butchering this town! What fool believes that he can stand against the might of the New Black Legion?!” He suddenly lunged forward, far faster than what his bulk should allow, and brought his Chainaxe down upon the group, only to find his strike blocked by a dual pronged energy sword.

“Alex, Viktor, Sasha, try and thin their numbers a bit. Rainblade and I will handle big and ugly here.” Sebaste growled out.

“But…” Sasha began, but Sebaste cut him off.

“NOW!” he yelled. The Spartan then slammed his head into Khârn’s helmet, stunning him long enough to push him off balance. Rainblade's front hoof split open as a built in bolter spat its anger at the Berserker.

“You heard him, let's deal with these guys.” Alexa said as she unsheathed her blade, her clawed gauntlet glowing with arcane power. Shoving her hand forward, a claw made of magic shot forward and grabbed a nearby Gryphon before then shooting herself forward and delivering a flying strike with her sword. While the blow caused the berserker to stumble back, the blade barely did any damage. Sasha meanwhile targeted another Berserker, his own melee weapons having much better success in tearing through the armor. Viktor hung back, laying down suppressing fire to prevent the rest of Khärn’s group from getting any bright ideas.

Unfortunately, it had a bit of the opposite effect. The Berserkers rushed towards them madly, crying out dozens of litanies to the Blood God as they charged, even through grievous wounds as some shots found purchase. Chainaxes and many other weapons roared, filling the air with a crescendo of whirling teeth as they entered the fight.

Holstering his assault rifle, Viktor took up a ready stance as a massive hammer formed in his hands. As the first Berserker closed in, the Spartan swung the hammer in an uppercut like motion. But as it struck the Dragon, a massive shockwave sent it flying into its compatriots with a sound of several suits of armor crashing into a tile floor. “Now that's a strike!” he joked, spinning his weapon around. This almost cost him, as a berserker came up from behind, his Chainaxe striking against his armor and would have torn a deeper gash into his armor had he not sent the hammer into the Berzerker’s skull-face helmet. “Oh, sorry, did I do that?” the Spartan said as he planted the hammer into the ground.

Meanwhile, Sebaste ducked and weaved beneath Khärn’s attacks,his own weapon leaving thin gashes in the Traitor Astartes’ armor. But he was not without his own scratches as his shield managed to deflect those blows that did land, but had been drained in the process. “You know, you remind me of a certain symbiote, the two of you thrive on Khärnage… and I’m making quips like Spider-Man…” he deadpanned beneath his helmet. Rainblade snickered at that.

Khârn roared in response, his suit amplifying the sound to earbursting levels as a bright hot energy pulse blasted into Sebaste’s shield and overloaded it, a Plasma pistol in the Berserker's once free free hand. “Blood for the Warmaster and the Blood God!”

“Geez, where’d you go, foghorn school?” Sebaste quipped, before summoning a plasma rifle and sending Khârn stumbling backwards from the hail of plasma bolts, though his armor seemed to be mostly unscathed. Rainblade soon unloaded her own hail of fire, knocking him down.

Before Khârn could get back up, a bolt of what looked like lightning slammed into the ground between them, temporarily blinding the two. Before Sebaste’s sight could recover, a crackling horned staff swung into his side and threw him straight through a nearby building. “Sebaste!” Alexa yelled, finishing off the Berserker she was fighting with a headshot from her sniper rifle at point blank range.

A slim and feminine figure had appeared from the lightning, coming to a stop in front of them. She was equine in many ways, such as her legs and hooves, with dark purple fur coating every inch of her body. A long horn sprouted from her forehead, which lightly glowed with unnatural energies, while two massive wings tucked themselves away behind her back, and they almost constantly shifted color, going from black, to blue, yellow, red and every color in the spectrum. She wore dark blue and gold armor around her chest and limbs, though she left a lot of her body revealed.

“Greetings, mortals, from the Warmaster of the New Black Legion.” She said, tapping her staff against the ground next to her hooves. “I, Midnight Sparkle, shall be his messenger for today. Surely, even with your puny intellects, you must all realize by now that we have declared war upon you.”

“Get in line, we’ve got jackets.” Viktor said acidly. “Did you want XXXXXXXXXL or something? Actually, scratch that, a shirt wouldn't work with those wings.” Midnight turned her attention to Viktor, and suddenly it was as if two blades had stabbed straight into his torso, the pain almost like the wounds were on fire. Looking down, he saw two puncture wounds that hadn’t been there before, and blood trickled out of them profusely.

“This War has been a long time coming, and sought after by many of us.” Midnight said as she turned away from Viktor. “Of course, this war won’t be contained to a single planet…” A small grin grew across her lips, and she continued. “Several planets have appeared in this system. The Warmaster was generous enough to give you all only two weeks to gather your allies and armies. We shall see if you blubbering fools can withstand a full on Black Crusade.” Three Thunderhawks And a Stormraven suddenly landed behind her, the Berzerkers boarding them while Khârn and Midnight jumped aboard the lead Stormraven. Above, dozens of other transports rose from the ruined city, likely ferrying other groups of warriors back into the heavens.

“This is mental! First Flame Tail, now this whacko and his goons!” Sasha burst out in anger.

“That ‘whacko’ is Ahriman, leader of the New Black Legion.” Sebaste said, limping up to them, one of his legs broken. “You three wanted to know what happened to my universe? He is the reason it was destroyed.” Alexa soon bent down and cast a healing spell on the Spartan, his leg soon back to full capacity. “Somehow we got transported to the start of his Crusade against me and a former friend of mine.”

“So we’re now in your universe, at the start of a war against a bloody lunatic… Anything else you'd like to tell us?” Sasha asked sarcastically.

“Yeah, we’re heading into space.” Sebaste said with a smirk as a fleet of Imperial warships appeared above the planet, a Retribution-class battleship at the forefront.

Viktor facepalmed. “You have so much explaining to do…” he groaned as a flash of light signalled Twilight and the rest of the element bearers teleporting into view. “Sebaste, Sasha! What happened here?! And.. who are they?” the alicorn asked, looking at Viktor, Alexis and Rainblade.

“I’ll explain on the ship. Right now, we should head up there.” Sebaste replied, cutting off Sasha's question of how she knew about him.

“Ship? What do you…” The alicorn's voice trailed off as she noticed the fleet floating in the atmosphere. Fluttershy let out a tiny *eep* of fear, while the rest of the mares stared up in shock.

Sebaste then continued, “As of right now… we are at war with Ahriman and his faction.” The Mane 6 looked at Sebaste in surprise.

“You’re kidding, right?” Rainbow asked shakily. Sebaste shook his head.

He then put a finger to his helmet communicator and radioed the fleet. “Retribution’s Hammer, requesting pick-up from Manehattan. Send in a Thunderhawk.”

‘Roger that, Commander. Thunderhawk ETA thirty minutes. Retribution's Hammer out.’ came the reply.

Sebaste then looked up at the now changed star patterns. ‘I’ll make sure you regret your decision, Ahriman… count on it…’ he thought.

Nearby, Viktor, Alexis and Sasha held a hurried conversation. “Are you sure we should be getting involved in this?” Alexis asked, her voice unsure.

“From the looks of it, we got no choice.” Sasha replied. “Besides, Seb knows more about what's going on than we do, so we may as well learn more about this war.”

“In any case, I think our ride’s here.” Viktor said as the roar of turbojets reached them. Soon, a massive aircraft descended to where they were, armed to the teeth with 4 pairs of heavy caliber guns, wing mounted missiles, and a large back mounted cannon. As it landed, the front hatch opened with a hiss of hydraulics, revealing the cavernous interior.

“Alright boys and girls,time to gear up and prep for take off.” Sebaste announced, as he stood on the loading ramp. He was soon knocked down by Rainbow streaking into the troop bay.

Alexia chucked as Sebaste picked himself back up, muttering to himself in an annoyed tone.“C’mon, we’d better board.” she said as the two Spartans, Rainblade and Sasha walked into the Thunderhawk troop bay, followed, albeit very nervously by the rest of the element bearers.

“It’s so... big.” Twilight said in wonder.

Sebaste chuckled. “It’s capable of holding bikes and up to 30 soldiers.” he replied. He smirked at the dumbfounded expression on her face.

He then banged on the hull with his fist. “ You guys go on ahead, I’ll see you on the ship.” he said to the group before heading outside. and summoning a Broadsword fighter jet. Jumping into the plane, he was soon lifting off and streaking towards Canterlot.

The Thunderhawk's ramp soon slid up as the transport lifted into the air, the sound of the engines reaching a fever pitch before the aircraft lurched forward, its destination: The Retribution's Hammer.

It would be here, that the plans for the defense of Equus and the surrounding planets would be made. And the Equestrian Wardens would be born.

---

As reality bent around the massive chaos warship, a Space Marine armored in the bulky frame of aged gold and black Terminator Armor sat back in his command throne as the Scion Of Prospero entered the Immaterium. “High Admiral Starcatcher, you have the helm until we return home. I am to be alerted as soon as that happens, is that understood?” He asked. He wore no helmet, so his deep and commanding voice was unmarred by the rasp of a vox. His unnaturally pale skin stood out the most amidst the golden hood of his armor surrounding his head. He stood up, grabbing the massive mace to his side and left the bridge, walking through the grand doorway.

“Warmaster Ahriman.” Midnight spoke up from the side of the door. “I have returned from the mission you have set upon me.”

“Good, Midnight. Walk with me.” He continued walking as she stood, and took after him, moving rather quickly to keep up with the Warmaster’s pace.

“My lord, I do have to ask… why do we not simply break their planet in two?” Midnight asked, looking up at him. “We could have easily broken Sebaste’s forces and utterly annihilated them, so why do we sit back and wait?”

“A simple answer, Midnight.” Ahriman smiled. “I want to truly establish the New Black Legion as one of the mightiest forces in the multiverse. Our name shall strike fear in the hearts of all those who would dare call themselves ‘hero,’ and simply destroying them would not make our power as well known.” He turned to her. “It is also for that purpose I have enlisted her help.” He gestured behind them to a very petite human girl with light blue hair that seemed almost bleached trailing down until it reached her thighs, and a pair of mischievous green eyes. She wore a pure white robe with golden embroidery at the edges, topped with a matching nun cap held in place by a golden band. It also had several oversized paper clips keeping several places from falling apart.

“Index Librorum Prohibitorum. That’s my name, try not to forget it.” She spoke with a child-like voice that squeaked whenever she raised it even a bit. She looked very unhappy, for whatever reason.

Midnight looked at her, and then back at Ahriman. “Are you sure this mortal child will be of any sort of help? While you rarely make bad decisions, this one seems… of a terrible sort.” She told him, one of her eyebrows raised in confusion.

“Don’t act like I can’t hear you!” Index grit her teeth, face turning red out of anger. “I may not look like much, but neither do you, Horny!”

“H...horny…?” Midnight asked incredulously. “My lord, what purpose could you possibly have for a child such as her?”

“Index here is tasked with recording the Crusade in its entirety.” Ahriman replied. “I want this Black Crusade to be recorded so that all may truly know what happened here, though she will, of course, be properly compensated for her efforts once her job is complete.”

“I’m not sure what, though.” Index shrugged casually, “And don’t think I’ll paint you in a flattering light, Horny!”

“H-Horny?!” Midnight growled, her wings flaring behind her. “You insolent… d-do you even know what you’re saying?!”

“Enough, you two.” Ahriman intervened. “Index, for now I want you to remain on the bridge. Midnight, find Rainborg. When we return home, I would like the two of you to be the first people of the NBL our allies see.” He ordered.

“Yes, Warmaster. I would be honored.” Midnight bowed, shooting Index a dirty look before walking away.

“Very well. Expect detailed work, Lord Ahriman!” Index puffed out her chest pridefully, grinning to herself.

“Of course. I expect only the best from you, Index.” Ahriman said, before walking off, his enhanced mind already filled with hundreds of different thoughts on the upcoming Crusade. He would need to make many plans if he wanted to win, and he had many new weapons that would need the chance this war gave him to test them.

Author's Note:

I never thought I'd be redoing this particular war again...

The original, to put it bluntly, was an absolute mess. I should've coordinated things better, and instead what we got was an absolute shitshow. I pretty much got put off writing just from bloody seeing it.

But, Kirito eventually convinced me to try and do a remake of it, and so with his help, (alongside Brony Parasite) I bring you the first chapter on the Warden's side.

If you want to see the NBL side, here's a link: Equestrian Black Crusade

Comments

[Blackwatch9]

What does Sebaste look like again?