Black Horizons

by SFaccountant

Deep Hunt

Black Horizons
By SFaccountant

Chapter 10
The Deep Hunt

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Ulaisse capital moon
Hive city Adrast – system capital
Governor’s Palace

A fist wrapped in a silken glove swept over the desk surface, smashing aside a crystal goblet. Warm amber fluid splashed across the holovid emitters of the table, and dozens of floating images flickered and frayed. Papers and seals slowly floated to the floor, but the goblet reached it first. Bright blue shards were dashed across the tile, glinting in the beams of the high lumens above. The sound of the goblet breaking boomed through the room, echoing against the high ceilings. Hardly any other sound could be heard in the moments that followed, and the few grim sighs and cleared throats offered in reply to the outburst failed to clear the breadth of the hololithic strategium table.

“No more excuses. No more delays. NO MORE FAILURE.”

The man leaning over the table with his teeth clenched in fury looked to be in his 50’s, with a full head of dark black hair that dropped just below his shoulders. Augmetic enhancements were built into the side of his head, but they were of a remarkably high grade; relatively unobtrusive with wiring that matched very well with his hair as they wrapped around to the back of his head. His outfit was composed of fine crimson fabrics and ivory silks, and it screamed opulence and authority.

Across from him were half a dozen men and women, some in military dress. All looked haggard, as if they had not slept well in days. Given the situation, that was an entirely reasonable assumption.

“The alien claws at us from within, seeding our populace with their poison. It floods our sectors from without, consuming entire worlds while draining our naval reserves. And now, while we stand on the precipice, the Great Enemy emerges from nowhere and sweeps away our defenses with treachery and witchcraft?!”

“The situation is dire but not beyond salvaging, Lord Governor,” said an elderly woman stiffly. “Our armies have not been able to grapple with the foe directly, but-“

“Then what good are our armies?!” the Governor howled. “The God-machines of the Legion Titanicus proudly march a constant orbit around Adrast while alien monsters stalk the underhive and pirates pillage our refinery!”

“There is value in keeping the capital unscathed,” allowed another elderly advisor. He was about to say something else, but was interrupted when the Governor slammed another fist down into the strategium table.

“You have NOT kept my capital UNSCATHED!!” he roared. “Thousands lost to purges! An insidious cult holed up in the forests! Shortfalls and lost earnings beyond imagining as the other worlds are sacked! And… And now… THIS!!”

He pointed to the hololith being displayed above the strategium map. It was a high-fidelity, large-scale image of Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was in full armor and captured in mid-air, having just kicked off the side of a Valkyrie gunship. Bullets and lasers criss-crossed the sky around her, and several fighters were performing dangerous banking turns to avoid collision from chasing their target.

“What IS this?! Answer me!”

The officers and advisors shuffled their feet, glancing at each other and mumbling quietly for several seconds. The governor dropped back into his chair, awaiting an answer while looking like he was ready to shoot whoever provided it. One of his entourage eventually sighed and leaned against the strategium table, gesturing to the image helplessly.

“We only know that it’s some sort of aerial combat unit, Lord Governor. The iconography and armor colors have confirmed that it belongs to the Iron Warriors, a band of treacherous Space Marines that have aligned with the forces of Chaos against the Holy Emperor.”

“That is no Astartes,” the governor hissed.

“Correct, Lord. That is clear… The armor, however, bears numerous conventions of Astartes armor design. We have… few theories as to what is inside, unfortunately.”

“It can’t be an automata,” added a woman with her eyes replaced by an augmetic visor. “Both the Techpriests and the patrols agree on that. The armor design bears too may hallmarks of a living body, and the pilots claimed its flight movements felt highly organic.”

“Then WHAT is it?!” the governor snapped.

The aides were silent for several seconds, but then one cautiously coughed into a hand. “If I may, my Lord… I think it might be… a horse.”

“A what?” the governor asked, his voice dark.

“Well, a miniature horse, maybe. A pony.” The advisor spent a moment to wet his lips. “There… There was some talk of something very strange during the assault on Eschel… small, equine animals with colorful bodies were seen in the vid-relays among the heretic forces, wearing armor and attacking with lasguns just like the traitor filth. And… well… just look at it!” He leaned forward over the strategium table, pointing timidly to Rainbow Dash’s foreleg. “These resemble greaves. But there’s obviously four of them, and there isn’t the usual extended lower armor well for placing a foot. The power armor is shaped as one would expect for a quadruped. As strange as the idea is, it looks like they just encased one of the pony creatures in some kind of blasphemous wargear.”

“It’s FLYING,” another advisor pointed out incredulously.

“Well… yes.” The man looked embarrassed, but didn’t back down. “Men can fly as well, if you strap them into a jump pack.”

“Does this ‘pony theory’ account at all for the monstrous fighter craft that appeared out of nowhere and then never left a wreck site after it was shot down?”

“It… does not, no. There’s nothing about that report that makes sense.”

“ENOUGH!” the governor shouted, pressing a hand to his crown. “The reports say the enemy has hidden in the hive ruins, yes?”

“Yes, Lord Governor. The pursuit team advanced several kilometers into the smuggling tunnels, but-“

“But they found nothing and were unwilling to venture deeper,” the governor finished. “Cowardice. We have the manpower and the tools to clear the hive ruins. We have the technology and the will to purge our ranks of the alien’s poison. Time and time again we are set back by petty sabotage, tiresome diversions, and the weak of heart. But no longer.”

He pointed across the table. “I want the ruins purged entirely. If flamer squads and nerve-shredder gas are inadequate to the task, then we will escalate. No more scouting and no more middling incursions. Plant the Eradicator rad-bomb in the depths. Wipe them out. ALL OF THEM.”

Several of the advisors flinched. One of them raised a crooked finger. “Lord, the rad-bomb would poison the soil for decades, at the least. We-“

“Would lose much of the fine greenery that makes the hive outskirts so pretty and luxurious for my esteemed noble peers, yes,” the governor sneered. “It has not escaped my notice that these xeno wretches and their accursed slaves have been flocking to the plantations and resorts in Ulaisse’s wilds only to vanish without a trace, time and time again! Since my men have proven unable to locate all of the tunnels and smuggling dens being used to evade our patrols, I will simply cleanse them all with atomantic poison. Do I hear any objections?”

“The Techpriests have warned that using the Eradicator would very likely poison the water supplies as well. The subterranean springs run deep,” mentioned one man, wringing his hands.

“Then installing new purifiers shall be our next priority after the elimination of the xeno plague. We have restrained ourselves long enough and only suffered for our lack of conviction. Burn out the ruin, scour the tunnels, and leave any Chaos machinations to rot underground with the alien filth. DISMISSED!!”

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Ulaisse capital moon
Underhive complex sigma
Exact geo-coordinates unknown

Gunfire roared through the darkened tunnels, throwing light across the shattered walls with each burst. Ghoulish faces cloaked in bandannas and goggles were illuminated by muzzle flash, only to vanish an eye blink later after impact. Stone debris and barricades made of scrap salvage buckled under the hail of explosive shells, and again and again the front line broke.

The mighty Dreadnought walked forward steadily while its butcher cannon belched fire and steel and its main lumens splashed light over the tunnel ahead. Its bright pink armor helped it stand out substantially within the dimly-lit ruins and as a result it absorbed nearly all the counter-fire, with dozens to hundreds of bullets hammering uselessly against its hardened plate. Energy beams, plasma shots, and bolt rounds all came from behind the assault walker, picking apart the targets that had been left behind by the cannon.

“Hey! HEY! I see a missile launcher in the back! LOOK OUT!” Rainbow Dash shouted, peeking over the walker’s shoulder.

The ignition of the missile briefly lit up a point even deeper in the tunnel, and a krak warhead started rocketing down the passage toward the Contemptor Dreadnought.

A purple screen flashed in front of Pinkie Pie, intercepting the missile barely a foot from the walker’s head. The weapon detonated, instantly collapsing the screen, but left the Dreadnought unscathed. Pinkie paused only for a moment, raising her lumens and cannon toward the source of the missile. Then her main weapon was unleashed again, and the shooter was pulverized against the rockcrete wall.

“They’re approaching from behind again,” announced Serith, glancing over his shoulder. A bullet struck his shoulder pad, bouncing up and punching into the ceiling.

Howling aberrant monstrosities led the charge, swinging pipes and heavy tools within enormous, swollen fists. More cultists flowed into the tunnel behind them, burst fire lashing out from between the muscle-bound mutants. A few cultists, notably more alien in their posture and physiology, followed their larger kin closely while firing stub pistols ahead of them. In their off-hand – both of them – they carried jagged daggers and combat knives scavenged from imperial soldiers.

Serith flung his free hand toward the attackers, and a lightning bolt struck the first aberrant. The mutant howled in agony, tripping onto the ground. The cultist behind it hesitated only a moment as its cover quivered on the ground, and then it felt an invisible force lift it off the ground.

“Such feeble minds,” the psyker taunted, pulling his hand back as if he was yanking on a leash. The hybrid hurtled through the air toward him, and Serith caught the flailing cultist on the blade of his halberd.

Shotgun fire and plasma bolts cut into the next aberrant, and then a purple beam ripped its leg apart. The mutant tumbled onto the ground, a howl gurgling from its misshapen jaws. Serith swung his halberd at it, flinging the hybrid’s corpse at the wounded monstrosity. Then he thrust his weapon up toward the ceiling.

“Come, fools! Rush to your deaths! The alien demands your sacrifice, and I shall slake its thirst!” lightning surged around the halberd, crackling all along the haft and collecting along the blade edge. Autogun slugs cracked against his armor in constant bursts, leaving trails of sparks and chipped ceramite across his body.

Another hybrid reach the Sorcerer, and the halberd swung down. The blade struck with a fantastic thunderclap, and the flash of light briefly illuminated the entire tunnel, blinding most of the combatants on both sides. The cultist disintegrated, his body turning white-hot and then breaking apart into warm dust.

Twilight flinched back from the light, half of her visor display blurring into a senseless wash of color. Her bionic eye adjusted almost instantly, maintaining enough of her vision to see a Purestrain Genestealer drop onto the ground in front of her.

“GYAH!” She recoiled in shock, and one of the alien’s claws swung for her head. Clearly the Genestealer was also disoriented from the flash, however, and its attack went wide. Twilight’s horn discharged a violet blast of power, and the Purestrain was sent flailing back into the gloom.

“Applejack, give us some space back here!” Twilight ordered before hurling another magic bolt into the fallen alien. The Genestealer was blasted aside, but started scrambling to its feet again.

“Comin’ through!” Applejack raced past the humans sheltering behind a pile of rubble, her hoofsteps grinding bits of crumbled rockcrete to powder.

Her tail aimed toward a charging hybrid, and then the gravity lash struck the enemy with a gentle crackle. The cultist stopped immediately, its momentum drained, and with a twitch of her tail the warrior was flung across the tunnel.

The warrior landed safely on his feet, sliding to a stop before the wall of the tunnel. Then a shotgun blast struck him in the chest, knocking him over with a furious shriek.

Autogun slugs bounced uselessly off of Applejack’s shoulders while she advanced, illuminating twisted, snarling faces with each muzzle flash. One shot struck her helmet directly in a visor lens, and the projected glyphs and targeting overlay briefly scrambled into static and random color patterns. The farmer didn’t miss a step and kept trotting forward until another aberrant came charging out of the darkness.

With a wordless shout Applejack triggered her heavy flamer, completely enveloping the mutant hybrid in a river of fire. A heavy pipe slammed clumsily into her cowl, but it merely dented itself before bouncing off and tumbling to the ground. The aberrant staggered away, flailing weakly, and then collapsed while it burned.

The heavy flamer washed over the breadth of the tunnel, rolling over debris and fallen bodies to reach the cultists sheltering in the dark. The hybrids that weren’t torched directly flinched back from the wave of heat, and their positions were fully illuminated by the wall of fire.

“All right, these fellers ain’t goin’ no further!” Applejack’s tail whipped forward, and her gravity lash yanked one enemy gunner off his feet and into the blaze. “Let’s git a move on!”

“Wait! In the tunnel ahead! I see a blasting pit in the ceiling!” Byron Hess shouted to be heard over the gunfire. “It looks like a mining charge placement! This path is rigged!”

“Is it wired or signum-detonated?” Twilight called back while shooting down another hybrid.

“Signum! I don’t see any detonator cabling!”

“Got it!” Twilight galloped to the other end of the group, autogun fire still whipping overhead to strike the Dreadnought at the front. “Pinkie, advance at half speed! Increase suppressive fire!”

“Okie day!” Pinkie chirped, her high-pitched voice booming from the helmet of the Contemptor. The butcher cannon stopped firing, and a series of three clunking noises came from the ammo hopper.

Then the walker stepped forward, its main gun blazing in full auto-fire. The shells sawed back and forth across the width of the tunnel, ripping apart debris and piled junk that were being used as improvised barricades. Several Genestealer cultists were surely pulverized under the barrage, but Twilight’s focus was on the ceiling.

A small hole, barely wider than her leg, was drilled into the rock that made up the ceiling. It would have been very easy to miss, and Twilight had Byron’s experience with explosive traps to thank that it hadn’t been. Her bionic eye pulsed within her visor, conducting an active scan while she stared at it. A square of bright orange appeared over the rock, and then an image of the small, cylinder-shaped bomb was rendered in the same color.

An autogun round struck her helmet, and then another two cracked against her chest. The impacts shook her concentration, and Twilight squeezed her eye shut while focusing on the mining charge. Her horn casing thrummed with power, and a thread of magic wormed its way up into the trap.

“Almost… just… a little-“

Her horn flashed just before a shotgun blast pitched her head to the side, knocking her off-balance. Pinkie Pie stepped forward, dropping the Dreadnought’s power fist onto the ground to cover the young Princess.

“I’m okay! It’s fine! I got it!” Twilight shook her head while she stood up again, hearing the sound of voluminous rifle fire bouncing off of the Dreadnought plating next to her. “Pinkie, why did you stop firing?”

“No more bullets! Sorry!” Pinkie said. An empty clunking noise came from her butcher cannon, demonstrating the problem as it tried and failed to shoot again.

“You don’t have ammunition reserves?” Twilight asked, sounding strangely incredulous.

“I had one box, but that was it. Where would I keep more of them?” boomed the Dreadnought, a stitch of autogun fire cutting across the helmet face.

“Since when does the strict physical volume and mass of objects matter to you? Can’t you just-“

A grenade went off in the rear of the unit, and Dest’s voice roared through the tunnel to be heard over the gunfire. “Sparkle, stop arguing and do something!”

“Right! Sorry!” She jumped out from behind Pinkie’s power fist, and her flight pack engaged. “Dash, Pinkie, on me! Attack!”

“Let’s gooooooo!” Rainbow Dash whooped, zipping over the Dreadnought’s shoulder before the assault walker also lurched forward.

A gurgling scream came from a Genestealer cultist as three shuriken cut into his arm and shoulder. His autorifle tumbled to the ground, landing in a growing blood slick left by the rest of his squad. Corpses practically carpeted the tunnel now, a testament to the desperation of the defense.

A bright purple ray passed overhead, briefly filling the darkened passage with violet light. Another cultist screamed, his autorifle spraying fire into the ceiling before he landed next to the other bodies. A metal cylinder glinted in the light of the energy ray, and the wounded warrior felt a sudden, irresistible impulse seize him.

The cultist threw himself toward the object, his one good hand snatching it off the ground. He didn’t know what the device was, but his fingers closed around it and his thumb depressed the button on one end. A sharp click and a beep issued from the cylinder, and then a tiny green lumen shined through the blood and muck splashed across its casing.

The explosion was deafening, and even flat on the ground the soldier felt the massive pressure wave roll over him. His senses were confused enough that he couldn’t immediately tell what had happened, but after a few seconds passed the man felt a sudden fury fill his thoughts. Frustration, regret, and hatred, soaked with deep concern. Perhaps even… fear?

The alien will that had seized him suddenly vanished, leaving the soldier alone with his own thoughts. Adrenaline and blood loss had taken its toll, but as he gathered his wits the failure of this particular countermeasure became clear. The explosion had come from behind him, on the side opposite the enemy’s advance. Furthermore, there had been no cave-in after the charge had detonated; without being placed in a blasting hole, the explosive had merely ripped up the floor and probably obliterated the remaining Genestealer cultists trying to hold this stretch of tunnel.

A massive metal foot landed next to him, and the cultist rolled over onto his back. The massive pink walker stood over him, rearing back its power fist. He closed his eyes.

“You can’t kill all of us. The venom of the voidborne seeps into every crevice and shadow. In time you too will find the crooked blade of the master in your back.” Despite his injuries the cultist’s voice was strong and clear, and spoken with cold certainty.

Pinkie hesitated, and the power fist didn’t move.

Then another armored body walked up beside her, lacking the mass of the Dreadnought yet hardly any less intimidating for it. The visage of a daemon, eyes aglow and spines protruding every which way, glared down at him.

“We will kill enough of you,” Dest said, stepping forward. “Your master will die, your weapons will break upon our plate, and the rest of your comrades will be rooted out and exterminated like the vermin you are.”

The Iron Warrior fired a single shot from his boltgun, executing the wounded soldier. Then he took a moment searching the smoke-filled gloom ahead. The sounds of combat had stopped, and without the constant din of gunfire the noise that dominated were heavy greaves grinding loose pebbles underfoot.

“We’re clear. The charge seems to have removed the last rank of defenders. Hess, search for further traps.”

“Y-Yes, my Lord!” the refugee stuttered, nervously following Applejack forward into the ravaged tunnel.

“Have the assailants at our rear been dispatched?” Dest demanded.

“They fell back when Lady Sparkle called to advance, no doubt hoping we would be caught in the trap,” Serith mused, strolling leisurely toward the Dreadnought. “I do not expect they will return until we encounter further resistance.”

“Their defense seems desperate and slipshod now. These were even weaker than the earlier ambushes,” Erin Whyd said.

“We’re fortunate they were being deployed against the Imperium’s forces,” Serith mused while Trixie and Suuna rushed by him. “Their numbers are spread far throughout the underhive, no doubt planning ambushes and scouting the tunnels. Many of their best weapons and strongest warriors are directed elsewhere or expended. There is little left to stand between us and the master of these poisoned slaves.”

“There have been a surprising number of Purestrains relative to simple hybrids,” Dest mumbled, stepping through the bodies and scattered carnage on the ground. “I was under the impression the full-blooded xenos were less common among the dregs.”

“Their strategic purpose means they’re often kept back from the front lines and reserved for ambushes or hunting survivors. Only in dire circumstances do they dare to deploy so many of them into open combat,” Serith explained.

“Trixie is flattered they consider us so dangerous,” Trixie mused, “and gratified that the more dangerous aliens are also the ones that can’t use guns.”

“Everyone, hold position!” Twilight shouted suddenly. “Byron found some more traps!” She was hovering a ball of violet light in the air overhead while the explosives expert was very gently sorting through a bundle of wires.

Pinkie Pie stopped her Dreadnought well behind Twilight and beamed her lumen deeper into the tunnel. “Is this path caved in? It looks like a big rock pile is blocking the way.”

“The way forward is deliberately obscured. The debris is not impassible,” Serith assured her. “Once the traps have been disabled, move the rubble and advance. Our prey is close.”

“FINALLY,” said a third Iron Warrior, his voice positively gleeful. “Can I turn into something bigger yet?”

Twilight took a calming breath before she responded. “Please stick to Astartes-sized creatures until we get to a larger space, Chrysalis. I don’t want you trampling anyone.”

“Shouldn’t we have the shape-shifter ranging ahead to join the enemy and sabotage them?” asked Erin. “I feel like there must be a better use for her than a rearguard.”

“I could do that if you want,” Chrysalis agreed, the green tint of her visor pulsing in the gloom. “I think there was a crawlspace above this one. I saw one of those four-armed monsters drop out of it.”

“It won’t work,” Serith said. “The Queen cannot join the xenos’ psychic network. Mimicking appearance and mannerisms of a cultist or Tyranid is enough to fool the Genestealer’s pawns milling about in a faraway labyrinth, but so close to the enemy’s lair the anomaly will be noticed swiftly.”

“Hmph. If I had a few more live subjects, I could probably find a way to disguise that, too,” Chrysalis grumbled. “But this is fine. I’m rather enjoying cutting loose with the Nemesis lock open!”

In a flash of green, one of her arms reformed into a rotary cannon with an ammunition belt running around to her back. Erin took a step back at first, but then shined her lumen directly onto the gun as Chrysalis gave it an experimental spin.

“How do you DO that? Make weapons out of… uh…”

“Magic?” Chrysalis finished, her voice impeccably smug. “My powers are beyond your comprehension, girl. And I prefer they remain that way.”

“She doesn’t understand them either,” Rarity confided with a tired sigh. “The Warsmith plugged that red thing into her chest and gave Twilight a passcode and now Chrysalis can turn into robots or something. None of us have the slightest idea how it works.”

“Would you miserable equines stop telling the humans my secrets?!” Chrysalis complained, swinging around to glare at Rarity. “We can’t trust them!”

“We can’t trust YOU either,” Rainbow Dash retorted.

“That’s not the POINT! You have a countermeasure against me! What are you going to do if we find out these wretches have been secretly giving warning to our target ahead of time?”

“Your grave concern for our operational objectives is noted,” Dest grumbled. “Hess! Hurry up with that trap!”

“I’ve got it, my Lord! We should be clear to proceed!” Byron stood up clumsily, a clutch of severed wires in his hands.

“Serith, the entrance is straight ahead?” Twilight asked. At his nod, she beckoned forward with a hoof. “Pinkie, see if you can dig through it.” Then she turned to Byron again. “That was a melta charge, right? My bionic tagged it before you took it apart.”

“Yes. Hard to come by down here, and very deadly.” Byron grimaced behind his mask. “Could have taken the leg right off the Dreadnought, to say nothing of what it would do to you or me.” He shook his head. “I would have liked to recycle it, but it wasn’t possible. I had to dismantle the fuse.”

The sound of rocks shifting and tumbling across the ground filled the tunnel as Pinkie started shoveling away the blockade with her Dreadnought’s power fist. “Hey, I see the other side! There is another tunnel through here!”

“It won’t be long now,” Serith said, his voice almost reverent. “I can feel it already. The voice in the darkness. It calls to its servants, demands the blood of the intruders, and sings litanies of vengeance and fury through the Warp. Its peons answer… but they are few. And they are fearful.”

“Are they on the other side of this hidden passageway?” Pinkie asked as she pushed aside another boulder.

“I believe so, yes,” the Sorcerer answered. “They know their time is short. The alien’s grip on their minds grows ever tighter and yet their will hangs by a smoldering thread!”

“Do you know what that big gun is that they’re aiming at me?” Pinkie asked, scooping up more rocks. “It’s glowing.”

A low-pitched whine filled the tunnel, and then a beam of hot orange slammed into the leg of the Contemptor Dreadnought. Pinkie yelped as the armor layers melted and buckled, and then she stumbled backward, slamming her heel into Applejack.

“Hey, watch it!” the farmer shouted, jolting backward. The walker started to tilt backward, threatening to fall over onto the heavily armored mare. “PINKIE, NO!! LOOK OUT!!”

Dest bolted past Serith to slam his shoulder into the Dreadnought’s back and help hold it up. Serith calmly observed the damaged leg, staring at the steaming hole in the chassis even while the others started rushing into action around him.

“That was a heavy mining laser,” Serith noted while Twilight teleported away and Rainbow Dash flew overhead. “Not that I could take that detail from their minds at this distance, but the sound of the distributor lenses cycling is quite distinctive.”

“Go kill the operator!” Dest snarled, pushing the Dreadnought upright. A piece of metal popped loose from the damaged leg, and the walker lurched uneasily to the side.

“I’m sure lady Sparkle and the noisy one have everything under control,” the Sorcerer confided.

A tremendous crashing sound came from the adjacent tunnel, followed by an enraged roar.

“WHAT THE HAY IS THAT?!”

“It’s not the Patriarch! Just keep-GYAH!”

“Oh, fine,” Serith sighed as Rarity galloped into the breach. “Remain here in case the vermin attack from behind again. I will resolve this.” The Sorcerer hoisted his force halberd in both hands and advanced into the next tunnel.

The first thing that Serith noticed when he entered the next stretch of the Underhive was the heavy mining laser. It was bolted to a tripod in a defensive emplacement, with crude hardboard barricades around it that were shielded with random junk. A few bodies were draped over the barricade and a portable power cell, all of them badly lacerated with Eldar shuriken.

The second thing he noticed was Twilight Sparkle bouncing across the ground past him, her armor scraping and sparking against the rough stone floor.

The third thing was the enormous mutant Genestealer roaring in anger.

“Ah, I believe the vermin of the cult refer to this creature as a Genestealer Abominant. A sort of particularly radical mutation that favors hyperactive muscular growth. As you’ve probably noticed,” Serith said conversationally.

“STOP TELLING US ABOUT IT AND KILL IT!!” Rainbow Dash screamed, veering back and forth desperately to evade the monster’s enormous fists within the restricted space of the tunnel.

Her wing brushed against the wall, slowing her slightly while she struggled to keep directional control in the air. The hulking giant lunged, and Rainbow boosted out of the way right before a fist nearly as big as she was crashed into the rock behind her. The stone buckled under the impact, leaving a substantial impact crater before the monster tugged its arm free.

The Abominant was nearly twice as big as a Space Marine, with hideously swollen muscles that seemed to pulse with every motion, as if its carapace struggled to contain their power. Three arms bore thick, gnarled fingers, some of which ended in chisel-like fingernails while others turned to long, bladed talons. Its head was almost absurdly small in comparison to its body; a lumpy, melon-sized ball sticking out of a wall of muscle and misshapen chitin. Drool dribbled freely from its twisted mouth, and a single, beady eye twitched back and forth constantly from within folds of overgrown chitin. Large plates of metal stripped from Imperial war machines were bolted, tied, and in places even glued onto its body, creating a suit of crude but serviceable armor. It dragged behind it a broken metal pipe wrenched from the underhive’s aborted sewers; a huge and unwieldy club, yet it seemed perfectly comfortable hauling it with its upper-left hand alone.

“What a pitiful, feeble-minded beast. I’ll tear your thoughts open,” Serith proclaimed, pointing his glaive at the creature.

The Abominant lurched backward, moaning in pain while a hand rose to clutch its head. Its eye twitched back and forth, seeking the cause of its pain, but seemed unable to focus on the Sorcerer. Rainbow Dash zipped around behind it and fired a spread of shuriken into its back, but the mutant seemed not to notice; it quivered and stumbled, a mournful howl coming from its throat.

“Twilight! Are you okay?” Rarity helped push the young Princess upright, her greaves scraping against Twilight’s (somewhat dented) torso plating.

“Y-Yeah… Yes. I’m f-fine,” Twilight said uneasily, finding it difficult to hear anything over the ringing in her ears. “It just k-kicked me. About thirty feet.”

An autogun shot struck Twilight’s wing casing, and the mares quickly whirled around to see a trio of hybrid cultists charging at them with stub pistols and blades. Another bullet slapped against Rarity’ shoulder pad, and then she and Twilight brought their own weapons about in a flash of magic.

“Keep them off of Serith while he finishes off the mutant!” Twilight commanded, cutting down one of the enemies with a magic beam.

The other two closed on Rarity, lunging at the unicorn with their swords in rapid succession. Her power sword spun in a circle, whipping around her head, and parried the first and then the second attack in a flash of blue light. The enemies staggered backward, each blade having lost roughly half its length to the power sword’s disruption field.

A pair of purple energy darts struck one of the soldiers, cutting through the improvised scrap armor and knocking him to the ground. Rarity advanced on the other one, her power sword spinning in graceful, delicate loops. A high-pitched whine came from behind her while she calmly turned away another slash, and the unicorn cleared her throat.

“Twilight, darling, there’s no need to overdo it. Byron seemed worried about cave-ins, so let’s keep the heavy beams in reserve,” she advised before lancing her target through the leg.

Twilight’s horn crackled dangerously with magic power to summon another burst of psychic projectiles, but at Rarity’s warning she hesitated. “That sound isn’t coming from me. What do you-“ then a gasp escaped her helmet. “The mining laser!”

The mares spun around just in time to see the flash of the weapon’s sparking capacitors. A gasping, bleeding cultist was manning the emplacement, one arm swiveling the emitter into place while the other hung limp, riddled with shuriken blades. Twilight shouted and discharged her horn into the gunner, but it was too late.

The laser fired, and a bright orange ray punched through Serith’s outstretched arm. The seals melted before he could even recoil, and the gauntlet tumbled to the ground with molten metal drooling around the elbow. The Abominant surged upright immediately, an enraged snarl escaping its throat. It twitched its eye to focus on Serith, and its fingers tightened around its makeshift club.

“Useless,” the Sorcerer hissed, stepping back and raising his halberd with his remaining arm. “Your will fa-“

The Abominant’s pipe smashed into him mid-sentence, scattering the pieces of power armor like bowling pins. One of the greaves struck Rarity with enough force to knock her to the ground, and Serith’s helmet flew inches past Twilight’s nose before embedding itself in a sandbag.

“I’ll take it down, just keep it off of me for a second!” Twilight shouted, scrambling backward with her force harmonizer quivering in the air.

A moment later she was tackled to the ground, a snarling hybrid stabbing his knife desperately against her back. The blade scraped uselessly against her armor, unable to find a weak spot, but the young Princess completely lost her concentration as she tried to shake her assailant off her.

“Twi?! Aw, ponyfeathers!” Rainbow Dash jolted upward in the air just before the Abominant lunged at her, and then whirled around to shoot another spray of shuriken into its back. The blades sunk into the battered armor plating and over-muscled flesh easily enough, but the enormous mutant swung back around to swipe at the pegasus. Its fingertips barely brushed her leg while she dodged away again, and still the sheer force behind its arm sent Rainbow spinning chaotically down the tunnel.

“Somepony help me with this thing! I’m just making it mad!” Rainbow yelped, her flight taking her into a wild corkscrew while the mutant gave chase. The Abominant roared and seized a chunk of crumbling rockcrete, tearing it straight out of the wall and then pulling its arm back to throw.

A gentle pop came from the ground ahead of it, and a small egg-shaped cartridge emerged from nowhere and arced through the air. The monstrous xenoform hesitated, and then it flinched back as the cartridge exploded in a burst of intense light and ear-piercing sound.

The Abominant reeled backward, slapping its hands over its eye and groaning pathetically. Rainbow Dash got sufficient clearance to stabilize her flight and Rarity shook off the ringing in her ears, but Twilight was still wrestling with the hybrid trying to find a soft spot with its knife.

A shotgun report boomed through the tunnel, and the cultist stopped struggling. The wing of Twilight’s flight pack lifted sharply, throwing the man off of her while blood washed down her flank. The cultist landed in some twisted rubble, but the young Princess dismissed her attacker and focused on the force harmonizer again. Erin fired another shot into the cultist to ensure it would not be getting up again, and then swung her weapon around to face the more obvious threat.

“Okay, everyone follow my fire!” Twilight shouted, bracing her legs while a swirling shroud of violet washed around the enigmatic weapon. “Aim for-“

“Well aren’t YOU a big one?” Chrysalis sang, galloping into the passage while murky green power surged around her. “Let’s play!”

“What?! Chrysalis! Stop!” Twilight complained, holding the harmonizer back as the changeling’s body swelled and obstructed her line of fire.

The Abominant peeked out from between its fingers, and its sight had recovered just enough to see an enormous fist arcing for it. The mutant turned sharply, lashing out with its third arm, and the two punches struck each other with an almost explosive crash. The hybrid monstrosity staggered backward, an angry moan building in its throat.

Motes of green light peeled away from a segmented shell of hardened ceramite and bladed metal fins. Chrysalis stood before the Abominant in her Maulerfiend body, very nearly filling the tunnel from wall to wall with her bulk. Her long tail of bundled cables and wires swayed back and forth, accidentally sweeping several pieces of Serith into the wall. Rarity and Erin scrambled away as the Changeling Queen reared up, unable to get a clear shot and reasonably worried about getting squashed in a sudden melee.

“What kind of monster is this?” Chrysalis taunted as she threw another punch. The Abominant blocked it and stumbled backward, a stuttering snarl coming from its throat. “Nothing but confused fear and anger and so much pain! Killing you would be a mercy!”

She slammed her massive fists together, knuckles-first, and arcs of bright green energy crackled between the fingers. The Abominant groaned pitifully in response, its single eye darting back and forth. Twilight growled in frustration and kicked Serith’s shoulder pad toward his greaves.

“Rarity! Dash! Help me find Serith’s parts and gather them together!” the other mares jumped into action, and she turned her head to Erin. “Miss Whyd, do you know how to use a heavy mining laser?”

A shrieking laugh came from Chrysalis as she slowly advanced on the Abominant. The power fields on the Maulerfiend’s enormous fists crackled against the dirt, and dusty smog puffed gently from the rows of smokestacks on her back. A chain-like metal tongue flicked from the war machine’s steel jaws, sliding over her teeth in a grim, mechanical mockery of a hungering predator.

The mutant lashed out, suddenly swinging for the Maulerfiend’s head. Chrysalis threw up one arm to protect herself, seizing the twisted claw mid-swing. She was surprised by the sheer power behind the attack, and the servos in her wrist and elbow squealed sharply while she pushed back. Nonetheless, the mechanical beast won the contest of raw strength, and the Abominant’s bones and chitin cracked under the pressure.

Chrysalis seized another arm with her remaining hand, pinning the cult monster in place. Her magma cutters, a pair of melta torches on articulated servo arms, unfolded and stabbed toward her prey, burning into the thickened muscle and iron-hard bone.

The Abominant, however, had three arms, not two.

Roaring in agony, the mutant’s free hand lashed out and grabbed one of the magma cutters by the arm. The metal squealed in protest for but a moment before the hinge was torn apart completely, and Chrysalis flinched in surprise. She didn’t manage to react further before the Abominant shoved the sputtering tip of the torch into the side of her head.

The magma cutter had started disintegrating into green mist the moment it was removed from the rest of the changeling’s body, but there was still a tremendous amount of energy being carried by the nozzle. The heat sliced into the outer layers of the Maulerfiend’s head, and Chrysalis shrieked as pain surged through her transformed body. She recoiled, shoving the Abominant away, but before her hands even touched the ground she was completely consumed by green light.

The body burst apart into sparks of glittering green, which themselves quickly vanished into the gloom. Chrysalis staggered backward, her legs quivering weakly and a steaming scar on the side of her head. The Abominant snarled, rearing back its remaining good arm to dash her across the rocks.

“FIRE!”

At Twilight’s command, a bright orange beam shot over Chrysalis’s head and bored into the Abominant’s belly. A purple ray slashed across its chest at nearly the same time, knocking it back far enough to throw off its balance and spoil the punch. A bolt round hammered its forehead, splitting open the thickened flesh over its skull, and then a plasma shot burned into its shoulder.

Chrysalis scrambled backwards, her head low and her ears pinned back while a furious barrage sliced past her. The Abominant lurched backward, a whimpering groan escaping its throat while its body was ravaged by projectiles. A line of shuriken cut across the side of its head. Laspistol shots sizzled against its leg. A swirling purple arrow stabbed into its shoulder before bursting into sparks.

The muscle-bound giant died not with a howl, but a tired gasp. Its legs gave out and it slumped to the ground, smoke curling around its mass and blood pooling around the rubble beneath it. The single eye in its head paled, blinked, and then finally closed.

“Life signs negative! It’s down! We’re clear!” Twilight announced, heaving a deep breath from behind her helmet. She turned around and looked up at Dest. “How is Pinkie?”

“We stabilized the walker, but it suffered critical damage to a leg assembly. It cannot move at a viable combat speed until repaired, and its primary cannon has no more ammunition,” Dest admitted, looking toward the breached tunnel wall. The Contemptor Dreadnought stood on the other side of the opening, and it lifted its power fist and waved sheepishly. “As an aside, I realize that we were not expecting many combat engagements when organizing this mission, but it was a grievous error to deploy without Mechanicus support.”

“I agree. Sorry about that.” Twilight turned her head the other way. “Serith, are you okay?”

“I am not,” the Sorcerer spat. He had only managed to assemble one of his legs so far, and his upper torso was sitting on the ground next to it, only one arm attached. Rarity had the psyker’s helmet on her back, and it fumed angrily while she searched the tunnel for more parts. “I’ve suffered severe damage to several armor seals, and my left arm is functionally disabled. I will not be able to use the psykant occulus.”

“Is that important?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Of course it’s important, you insolent beast,” Serith snapped. “The Patriarch is a psyker of deadly ability. Without being able to nullify its abilities, and without the assault walker for a vanguard, the xeno poses a serious threat to us! This is no longer the simple hunt Lady Sparkle imagined.”

Twilight chewed that over for a few seconds, and then finally turned to face Chrysalis. The Changeling Queen flinched, her teeth clenched as if she was expecting a blow. There was still a gouge on one side of her face, although that wound seemed to be filling up; very slowly, to be sure, but still enough to be visible to any given bystander.

So close… I can feel it… its rage… its hatred… its… fear… whispered a voice from the shadows only Twilight could hear. KILL IT

“Chrysalis, are you okay?” Twilight asked.

Chrysalis hesitated. “I… I’ll be fine. The wound will not slow me any further.”

“Do you feel well enough to join the attack on the Patriarch?”

Chrysalis blinked. “Yes. That will not be a problem.”

“Good.” Twilight saw that Suuna and Trixie were cautiously entering the tunnel, and she turned up the volume on her vox. “This is the last stretch before we meet the Patriarch, and some of us aren’t in any shape to fight, so this is what we’re going to do: Pinkie, you’re going to hold here. Suuna, Trixie, Byron, and Dest will stay with you and help reassemble Serith. The rest of Equinought Squadron, plus Erin and Chrysalis, will come with me to neutralize the Patriarch.”

“I should accompany your team,” Dest protested immediately.

“I’d really like that, but I expect more cultists to return here to try to help our target. I need you to intercept them and protect everyone here,” Twilight explained.

“Can’t we just LEAVE?” Trixie grunted while trying to jam a knee socket onto one of Serith’s greaves. “We did our best, they put up a decent fight, and now it’s just not worth the risk! Who cares?”

“We can’t just leave, no,” Twilight replied curtly. “We’d be slowed and vulnerable on our way out, and the cult would have plenty of time to regroup and corner us. We have them off-balance and we’ve crushed every desperate defense they threw at us. The time to finish the job is now.”

Erin kicked over the mining laser and fed a shell into her shotgun. “Then let’s kill ourselves a messiah.”

Applejack snorted and rushed ahead down the tunnel, and Rainbow Dash whooped enthusiastically before flying over her. Rarity reached out to empty air, and Fluttershy shimmered into the visible spectrum. She gave the pegasus a comforting pat, and then they headed after the others.

“Keep a link to my armor so that you’ll know if I… well, if I don’t make it,” Twilight said solemnly, turning around.

“Try to say something over the vox if you become disabled or immobilized without being killed immediately,” Dest warned her. “Death isn’t the worst fate these creatures can inflict, and we’d appreciate some warning.”

Twilight seemed to squirm inside her armor for a moment, and then nodded. “Right… Erin, Chrysalis, let’s go.”

“Bye girls! Sorry I can’t destroy the head bad guy easily for you!” Pinkie called, limping her way through the passage linking the two tunnels. The Contemptor’s right leg was set rigidly in place, several of its pieces melted and fused together. The foot scraped against the ground while it was dragged forward with each step, digging a furrow through the rubble.

“Don’t take too long! This place stinks and Trixie hasn’t forgotten that the daemon Astartes was going to kill her for no reason!” Trixie demanded.

“It was NOT for no reason. I explained my reason very clearly,” Dest retorted. “Furthermore, I still want to know why the Sorcerer apparently wounded you.”

“As long as we’re on the topic of Lord Serith, can we go over why he seems to be an empty suit of armor?” Byron asked hesitantly.

“No,” Serith replied curtly, levitating his helmet over his armor’s torso piece. It settled down into the gorget, and then dropped sharply to one side. A groan issued from the psyker’s vox grille.

---

“Keep alert, ladies. This is the final stretch before the lair, but there could still be traps. Tripwires, loose rocks, proximity mines, or another ambush. Scanners on.”

Twilight suited action to words, her bionic eye fixed on the ground ahead of her. A green vector swept from one side of her visor to the other, picking out details and searching for hidden anomalies. Applejack was at her side, the farmer’s armor casting a wide beam of light down the tunnel ahead.

The path was narrow and twisted back and forth constantly such that it was never possible to see more than twenty feet ahead. It was also damp, with a trail of wet footprints that all ran together into long streaks against the stone. Other than the trail of moisture the path was almost suspiciously clean, with no scattered debris or large deformations in the terrain.

“Rainbow, when we make contact I want you mobile. Try and get behind the target and take any shot you can get, but your job is to stay alive and divide the target’s attention. Applejack, I want you on the lookout for alternative threats; if reinforcements start pouring in or you find some trap, block the area with fire. Rarity, stick with me and try to keep your sword ready; you’re much better at close combat than I am. Fluttershy, stay quiet, stay invisible, and wait for your moment. Erin, unload as much ammunition as you can as quickly as you can, but stay behind me. I can resist its psychic powers.”

“What should I do?” Chrysalis asked.

Twilight twisted her head to face the changeling, and Chrysalis spent a few seconds peering into the mismatched lenses of the helmet visor in silence.

“Well, if you feel like following orders this time around, I’d like you to break off from the rest of us and try to flank the Patriarch. It depends in part on the size of the room, though,” Twilight said evenly. “What you should absolutely NOT do is take a body that fills so much of the available space that we can’t get a shot and have to scurry around to keep from being stepped on.”

“Also, you’ve really gotta stop doing the thing where you’re kicking butt and laughing about it and then the enemy counter-attacks and takes you down instantly,” Rainbow Dash advised, shifting to hover over the changeling. “Seriously, it’s getting old, and we’re the ones that need to cover you afterward.”

Chrysalis craned her head to the side so she could glare at Rainbow out of her augmented eye. “… I’ll see what I can do,” she drawled.

“Good! Then I think we have our battle plan,” Twilight announced while she and Applejack turned the next corner. “And here is our destination.”

A small, metal door barred their path, worn but in much better repair than the other such barriers they had found throughout the underhive. Twilight walked up to it, and her horn started to glow. Then she stopped, thinking better of it.

“Applejack?” the Princess asked, stepping back.

A snort came from the helmet and Applejack walked up to the door. Then she swung around to face away from it.

“Knock knock,” she drawled, right before bucking the barrier off its hinges.

The dented hunk of metal flew through the air, scraped across the rockcrete ground, and then dropped into a pool of fluid. Applejack turned back around, and then she and Twilight walked into the heart of the Genestealer cult.

The room was on the large side, about the size of a house but without any interior walls dividing it into separate rooms. Many large pipes ran from floor to ceiling in the room; some had spouts, diversion pipes, or regulators built into the sides, but others seemed to run through the space uninterrupted. Most unusual, however, were the several holes that had been dug into the rockcrete and scattered among the lair. These holes had been filled up with fluid to form pools, but the liquids filling them were a murky, disgusting ooze. Filth was splashed around the rim, and some of them actively frothed and bubbled as if something was moving within them.

There was only one individual immediately visible in the room. A bent-backed old man stood in the middle of the space, leaning on a tall cane that had the strange coiled wyrm emblem crafted from beaten copper and set on top. He was surprisingly well-clothed, wearing clean, well-stitched robes that wouldn’t have been out of place in a noble’s villa. He was also apparently unarmed.

“And so you have come after all,” the man said, pressing his lips into a thin line. “An error tilting toward catastrophe. But it doesn’t have to be this way.”

“Is this the Patriarch?” Chrysalis asked while the others entered the lair behind their vanguard.

“No, it’s not,” Twilight replied. “Who are you, and what ‘error’ are you referring to?”

“That’s Lord Johan,” Erin answered before the old man could. “He’s a long-time benefactor to us underhive scum. Brings us food and taught many of us important survival techniques. And is an infected cultist, apparently.”

“Miss Whyd, how did you come to turn against your kin so easily?” Johan asked, his face contorting in sorrow. “Do you-“

A shotgun blast cut off his question, and the old man howled as the shot cut into his leg and hip. He was thrown to the ground in pain, and several of the mares flinched in surprise.

“Silence, Lord Johan. I’m not here for snacks or scavenging tips.” She took a quick glance around the room, and then returned her aim to the gasping cultist. “Where is the Patriarch?”

The old man sputtered angrily on the ground, quivering in pain and fury while he bled. “You think you can cast us aside? You think you can lay low the Gods from the stars? You think-“

Again the shotgun fired, and this time the man was silenced for good.

“I… I feel like we could have handled that better,” Twilight mumbled. “You should let me do the negotiation from now on.”

“We’re here to kill a monster, not parley with its lickspittles,” the deserter retorted, her voice on edge. “So is the Patriarch here, or did it flee already?”

“Ah don’t see nothin’, but this place's got a few hidin’ spots,” Applejack advised.

“… It’s here,” Chrysalis said, her eyes darting between the pools.

“You can see it? Or… smell it? Or what?” Rainbow asked.

“I can taste it,” Chrysalis corrected. “Its mind… is all over this place. Filling it up, like one of those mechanical engines vomiting smoke into the air as it works.” Her tongue slipped out from between her lips and flicked at the air like a snake. “It’s very strange. I don’t understand some of its emotions. But it’s… upset.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Twilight grumbled. “Can you tell where it is?”

Chrysalis smacked her lips, her eyes staring off into nowhere for several seconds. Then her gaze snapped onto one of the bubbling pools of ooze. “There!”

As if in response to her shout, a large hand bearing long, blade-like talons emerged from the surface, gripping the pool’s edge. A shotgun blast struck it immediately, but it barely twitched as the shot scraped against the hard chitin protecting the limb. Another claw grabbed onto the edge, and the middle of the pool started to swell and rise.

“Rainbow, you know what to do!” Twilight shouted while magic started flowing to the force harmonizer.

The Patriarch broke the surface of the pool, emerging fully from its resting place. Dark red armor plates of hardened chitin protected an ivory body that the pirates immediately identified as a Genestealer. It was much larger than the typical specimen, of course, with much longer claws, a long, fully developed tail, and a head that had swollen to outrageous proportions. Shimmering yellow eyes glared across the room at the intruders, and those who met its gaze directly felt their stomach lurch and their vision swim.

Rainbow Dash was not one of them, as she blasted over the alien’s shoulder at high speed.

The Patriarch whirled, lashing out with a claw, but even its speed and reflexes weren’t fast enough to catch the pegasus. Rainbow hit her impulse blasters after she was clear, curving sharply to the side and barely turning in time to avoid the wall. The Patriarch turned as if to give chase, but hesitated. A critical moment of indecision at a most unfortunate time.

Shrieking blasts of energy mixed with the sound of a shotgun discharge, and the Patriarch was bombarded on its flank. A purple ray slashed across its arms, heavy shot cut into the side of its head, and a ball of plasma burned into its thigh. A howl of pain and anger erupted from the Patriarch’s throat, and the attackers were suddenly struck by intense, inexplicable headaches and blurred vision.

The Patriarch surged forward but stumbled; the plasma wound had burned through critical nerve and muscle tissue, crippling its movement. A spread of shuriken cut into its back as Dash pass behind it, and the alien snarled and hopped aside on its good leg. This placed one of the large pipes between it and most of the attackers, allowing it to focus on the airborne enemy.

“Keep… Keep the pressure… up!” Twilight forced the words through her throat as the disorientation passed and her vision became clear. Her horn casing flashed, and targeting brackets floated across her visor to pinpoint the enemy.

Something pulled hard on her wing, and Twilight stumbled backward a few inches. “Not now, Erin! Keep shooting!”

“What? Not now for what?” asked the refugee, scrubbing her forehead with her free hand and standing at least a meter out of reach of the Princess.

Twilight glanced behind her, and a panicked shriek came from her helmet grille. A slimy, writhing tentacle was wrapped around her wing, extending back to the nearest pool of unidentified goop. A creature was emerging there: something twisted and emaciated that may have been human at some point. One arm was the tendril that had seized the young alicorn, but the other arm boasted fingers and serrated talons instead. Thick, foul slime dribbled from those claws as they reached for the mare, and a head draped in ooze released a stomach-churning groan.

That groan turned to a pained wail as Applejack stomped on its clawed arm, crushing the limb against the ground.

“Twi, keep yer eye on the big feller! I got these little varmints!” Applejack declared, kicking the mutant back into its pool. Another body started to rise next to it, but rather than waiting for it to emerge the farmer turned on her flamer, blanketing the strange fluid in fire.

“Back! BACK, you repulsive beasts!” screamed Rarity, slicing the arm off another such creature with her power sword. Chrysalis was behind her, having turned into a Terminator-armored hulk that was pouring fire into the other pools like Applejack was.

More shambling mutants were emerging from the goo, but Twilight quickly guessed it was mainly a diversion. The slime-covered beasts didn’t move with the aggression or agility that the other cult-warriors did, and their weaponized limbs were undoubtedly much less dangerous than those of the massive Genestealer.

A feral, alien howl erupted from the far end of the room, followed by a scream of fear and confusion. Rainbow Dash was flailing painfully in midair, her flight pack throwing her back and forth seemingly at random. The Patriarch leered at her from where it was sheltering behind cover, its eyes blazing with psychic energy.

“Erin, come on!” Twilight shouted, charging straight for the alien. A purple lance of magic erupted from her horn, slicing across the pipe and cutting deeply into the Patriarch’s arm. It flinched, breaking its efforts to unmake Rainbow Dash’s mind, and water started to dribble out of the ruptured pipe. The pegasus sputtered in the air, a gasp of relief coming from her helmet, and then she dropped limply onto the ground.

Erin fired her shotgun over Twilight as the young Princess ran, but the gun seemed useless against the Patriarch’s shell. Scrapshard razors scraped against reinforced chitin, but the ascended Genestealer ignored it and shifted its weight onto its good leg.

The Patriarch leapt, its one leg propelling it nearly halfway across the room. One arm extended, and a pair of talons cut across Twilight’s shoulder pad. The claws sliced through the outer ceramite shielding with frightening ease, ripping across the armor and cutting into the superstructure frame of her arm. Twilight was thrown to the ground from the force of the blow, and a streak of red splashed across the ground under her. The Patriarch landed on its hands and good leg, and then pushed itself upright again.

Another shotgun blast struck the side of its head, and the Patriarch turned its glowing eyes to the only human in the room. Hatred pulsed within its gaze, as if malice itself had taken on an energetic form and bled from its pupils. Erin Whyd looked into the alien’s eyes and she felt her senses start to unravel; colors started swirling together in a useless blur, and noises from the surrounding combat sounded distant and hollow.

Erin pulled the trigger again, presumably firing her weapon in the same direction as before. She couldn’t tell if it even discharged this time; the nerves in her hands had gone numb as well.

Then a photon grenade exploded between her and the Patriarch, and the color swirls were drowned out by pure white.

The alien flinched away from the blast, its eyes losing their eldritch glow. Fluttershy squeaked and re-engaged her cloaking field, but she could feel the psychic pressure building already now that she had been noticed. It was an intense, distracting roar, like rushing water, that filled her mind and threatened to drown it.

A purple beam slammed into the side of the creature, ripping through the outer carapace and forcing the Patriarch onto its injured leg.

“Keep fighting!” Twilight shouted, blood dribbling from her torn leg casing. “Don’t give it an opening!” Her horn unleashed a volley of magic missiles, and the projectiles swirled chaotically through the air before curving sharply to strike their target.

The Patriarch leapt, bounding off its good leg toward the young Princess. Twilight didn’t have time to teleport. She couldn’t dodge quickly enough with her own leg injury. Her flight pack was already active, but didn’t have the necessary acceleration. The Patriarch’s talons descended, aimed to split the pony straight through the forehead.

A power maul crashed into the alien’s side mid-leap, striking the Patriarch with a sizzling green flash. The not-inconsiderable mass of the alien was flung hard onto the ground, and it rolled across the rockcrete before slamming into a pipe. Twilight stumbled backward from the impact, physically pushed aside by the shock wave and mentally shaken by the close call.

Chrysalis ran by the wounded pony, a triumphant snarl coming from her vox grille. Emerald-colored energy lashed across the surface of her armor and trailed similarly colored sparks behind her heavy footsteps. The power mace in her hands was absurdly embellished even for a Chaos weapon, boasting a massive skull for a head with an eight-pointed crown that formed an octahedron of spikes pointing outward. Fumes leaked from the eye sockets and open jaw of the weapon, and Twilight could swear the ground started to shake as Chrysalis raised the maul for another two-handed swing.

The Patriarch shoved off the ground with two of its arms, bounding to the side with shocking speed. Chrysalis struck the pipe behind it, and the waterway ruptured. Dirty water gushed over the changeling, shorting out the power weapon’s disruption field in short order but otherwise having little effect. The Patriarch stood up and Chrysalis turned to meet it with a quicker swing.

This time the alien attacked to meet it directly, smashing the weapon aside. Without its power field the Patriarch’s talons proved able to parry the mace, leaving the shape-shifter open. The Patriarch’s eyes pulsed, and the visor of the terminator armor pulsed back.

Chrysalis snarled angrily as her magic tried to fight off the psychic assault, and a web of arcing whips of power lashed between them even as the alien infiltrator made its next attack. A claw went for the queen’s helmet, but she shielded her face with her arm. The talons cut deep gouges into the vambrace, but Chrysalis pushed them back and then seized that arm by the wrist. Another claw was rearing back to impale her throat, but this one was suddenly struck by a plasma shot, and the limb was seared through the elbow at a critical moment.

Something impaled Chrysalis through the leg, and she felt a shudder of agony ripple through her body. The Patriarch was a veritable mess of bladed limbs, and its tail had snuck inside her guard and pierced her thigh plating with its stinger. She struggled to keep her focus as the Genestealer Patriarch pushed her back; Space Marine armor and muscle was the only thing keeping this monster from tearing her apart in an instant, and she couldn’t let her concentration lapse.

A shotgun blast struck the Patriarch, and then another plasma shot burned into its torso. The light in its eyes flickered, fighting its own battle of wills. The alien’s secondary limbs clawed at Chrysalis’s breastplate, leaving deep tracks in the outer ceramite layers. The ground continued to shake and water pooled around them, but this was hardly noticeable among the intensity of their struggle.

Then the force harmonizer punched its psykant blade into the side of the Patriarch’s head.

The alien’s psychic assault faltered immediately, which was a tremendous relief to Chrysalis. Then a power sword sliced through one of its primary arms, relieving most of the physical burden as well. Chrysalis tossed away the disembodied claws she had been holding back, and then hammered a fist into the gasping face of the Patriarch, throwing it back to the ground.

The alien quivered, broken, bleeding, and burnt from a dozen severe wounds. Chrysalis ripped the tail stinger from her leg and then pulled sharply, yanking her opponent closer so that it was on the ground immediately in front of her.

“I’ve tasted enough of your pain. Your empty black soul curdles my appetite,” she snarled, lifting her boot over the alien. “Now PERISH.”

Her greaves landed upon the Patriarch’s head with a sound akin to rock cracking apart. A final spasm shook the alien’s body, barely detectable among the slight tremor that still shook the ground.

“That’s… That’s it. We did it! We killed it!” Twilight gasped, her heart still racing and her leg still in quite a bit of pain. Then she lifted her head and barked “Status report!”

“All the other critters in them pools’re dead,” Applejack offered. “They were a bit more, um, flammable than Ah expected, so we should probably skeddadle quick-like ‘fore this room heats up too much.”

“I think Dash is okay,” Fluttershy piped up. She was sitting next to the other pegasus and had a boot placed on Rainbow’s shoulder pad.

“I don’t FEEL okay,” Rainbow Dash groaned. “It’s like someone unplugged my brain and jumbled it all up before putting it back! I didn’t know headaches this bad were possible!”

“Well, you have a telepath psyker with you, right?” Erin asked. “Can he fix it?”

Rainbow yelped and stood up fully, spreading her flight pack. “Never mind! I’m good! Brain’s better! Everything’s fine now!”

Chrysalis sighed contentedly as she returned to her true body, the Astartes armor and weaponry vanishing in a puff of green sparks. “Say, I was busy fighting at the time it started so I barely noticed, but should we be concerned about this earthquake?”

The ground was still trembling, albeit not enough to cause any serious damage to the room or its occupants. Occasionally bits of rock and dirt would shake loose from the ceiling, but Twilight saw nothing that might indicate a greater cave-in. She was about to voice that opinion when her horn suddenly crackled and a burst of violet energy materialized without conscious effort.

“Oh! A message from the fleet!” Twilight recognized the magic immediately, and caught the scroll with her levitation before it could drop into the murky water below. “Come on, let’s get out of here! We need to meet up with the others!”

Her flight pack lifted her off the ground to spare her injured leg, and she headed for the exit. The other ponies followed, while Erin and Chrysalis waited until Fluttershy had recloaked and trotted ahead of them. Her path through the pooled water made a series of disembodied splashes across the room, which were all the more noticeable when the tremors finally stopped.

“Huh, the earthquake is over,” Chrysalis mumbled as she followed into the tunnels. “I guess it wasn’t a problem after all.”

“It wasn’t a quake,” Erin replied.

“What? How do you know?”

“There are no earthquakes on Ulaisse,” Erin explained. “This moon has no tectonic activity. Its crust is completely stable.”

The others stopped and looked back at the deserter.

“Sorry, I was going to mention that earlier when you asked about it but then your, uh, witchcraft happened,” Erin explained. “Any tremors on this world are caused by detonations or mole rigs. That one felt like a mole rig.”

“What’s a mole rig?” Applejack asked. “That don’t sound too scary.”

“It’s a machine used to burrow at high speed. The rig isn’t very scary. What it’s carrying usually is, though.”

The armored ponies heard a crackle in their ear, and then Dest’s voice came in over the vox.

“Equinought Squadron, come in. Have you slain the target?”

“Yes! We did!” Twilight replied brightly. “We’re on our way back now! I’m a little banged up, so we’re going to take a break so Fluttershy can treat my arm. Unless you need help?”

“Negative. We were attacked by another group of cultists while you engaged the Patriarch,” Dest explained, “however, something happened and their tactical behavior changed. Lord Serith believed the cultists’ psychic network has been decapitated. While that doesn’t cure the infected, it did impact their immediate cohesion and morale. The survivors have fled.”

“Great! Is everyone okay?” Twilight asked.

“Affirmative. However, Hess seems to be… upset.”

“What’s wrong with Byron? Was it that tremor? Erin says it was something called a ‘mole rig,’ not an earthquake,” Twilight explained.

“Whyd is correct. You’re going to want to see this, Sparkle.”

---

“Okay! We’re here! What’s the problem?” Twilight was moving more naturally now with her wound sealed and a numbing agent dulling the pain in her shoulder. The armor still bore the rather serious breach painted with dried blood, but the injury was no longer hindering. Chrysalis was at her side, while Erin and the other armored ponies followed behind.

“ERADICATOR!!” Byron bellowed. “We’re all going to die!”

“That is the gist of it, yes,” Serith sighed.

The Iron Warriors were currently flanking Byron Hess, who seemed to be hyperventilating in the middle of the hallway. Trixie was seated off to the side next to a pile of scavenged autoguns and a pool of bullet casings, while Suuna stood behind her. Suuna had the mysterious artifact under one arm, while her other hand scratched Trixie behind her ears. Pinkie Pie stood next to the entrance to the tunnel where they had come from, the pink armor of her Dreadnought now sporting a lot more black scoring than Twilight remembered.

“Well whatever that is, we can leave it behind,” Rarity said. She was levitating the scroll that Twilight had received and was holding it open triumphantly. “Our evacuation vehicle is in orbit and ready to collect us! We need only reach the surface and then transmit our geo-coordinates via magic!”

“I’m not sure we have that much time,” Dest confessed.

“What? Why? What’s an Eradicator?” Erin asked, revealing that it was apparently not common knowledge among human soldiers.

“See for yourself,” Trixie said, jabbing an armored hoof toward the hole next to Pinkie Pie.

Twilight raced over to do so, beaming a spread of bright light ahead of her to illuminate the way. The path they had left behind had been littered with debris from makeshift barricades and the bodies of the overrun defenders, and that route had been broken by a large pit carved through the surrounding stone and rockcrete. The mole rig, a massive series of drill bits topping a long metal frame, rested in the pit at a downward angle. Bolted into the cage was a large metal cylinder. It was not obvious at a glance what the object was; the outer plating was mostly bare sheet metal with several hinged panels and obvious seams, and there was a large yellow trifoil emblem stamped near the end. The twin-headed eagle, the Imperium’s most conspicuous symbol, was pressed into the top above it. Twilight was initially worried it was another gas dispenser vessel, but it looked very different from the vat she saw before and had no apparent nozzles or valves.

“Did they just shoot this thing straight down through the ground? And nearly landed right on top of the enemy lair? Why didn’t they do that to begin with?” Rainbow Dash asked while the other Equinoughts stepped up next to Twilight.

“Well, ah reckon it kinda depends what this gizmo is,” Applejack admitted. “What’s it gonna do, and how close does it need to be to the varmints to do it?”

Twilight narrowed her eye as her bionic scanned the object, placing data tags at key points on the casing. “This is a Stygies-pattern Eradicator rad-bomb.”

Rarity was alerted immediately. “Rad-bomb?! Isn’t that the particle contaminant that Miss Gaela keeps saying will ruin my mane?!”

“It’s going to do more than ruin your mane, it’s going to KILL US!!” Byron approached from behind the ponies, ripping the mask and respirator off his face. The others were with him, and Dest was helping Pinkie’s Dreadnought limp through the exit to follow.

“Shouldn’t we be leaving, then?” Fluttershy asked, alarmed.

“There’s nowhere to go! You don’t understand!” Byron shouted. “When this device detonates, it will spread an utterly lethal, multi-spectral array of rad particles over 20 kilometers in every direction! The pulse will pass through the massed soil and rockcrete walls with ease! There’s nowhere to hide! It will wipe us all out! No armor or barricade can protect us!”

Twilight frowned at the device, and then looked up. The mole rig had tunneled in at a nearly 45-degree angle to the ground, and there were still bits of rock and dirt tumbling down into the pit it had made. She couldn’t see any light in the tunnel this far underground, but surely the Imperial forces had deployed the machine from the surface.

“Byron, correct me if I’m wrong, but if this weapon is so deadly then they would have abandoned the deployment site after launching the rig, right?” Twilight asked.

“Yes… Yes, definitely,” Byron replied, trying to swallow his rising panic. “Mole rigs don’t have the range to carry the bomb outside its kill radius. They would have set it up, turned it on, and then retreated immediately. Why?”

“This tunnel probably goes straight to the surface!” Twilight exclaimed. “And it’s not even that steep! Pinkie will need help, but otherwise this is a perfect way out!”

“The rigs are usually deployed to dig at an angle, which reduces the damage from loose debris falling on top of it and allows a more measured pace of descent,” Dest explained, “so yes, this is likely a viable exit. How quickly can the exfiltration vessel rendezvous with us?”

“Solon’s estimate says twenty minutes,” Rarity announced.

“So how long do we got until the big bang?” Applejack asked.

Twilight again fixed her bionic eye on the Eradicator bomb. “Identifying counter… just a moment…” A number flashed in front of her, and Twilight’s heart leapt into her throat. “Three hundred and eighty-nine!”

“We can make it topside in that amount of time!” Rainbow Dash said. “What’re we waiting for?! Let’s ditch this creepy hole!”

“… Seconds. Three hundred and eighty-two seconds,” Twilight said grimly.

“Oh. Uh…” Rainbow Dash gulped. “Well, I could probably still make that time…”

“All right, look: we’re either disabling the bomb or we’re dead, right?” Chrysalis announced angrily. “So let’s break it!”

“I can’t deactivate it! It doesn’t have a complex data engine!” Twilight said, her voice rising with her panic. “I have no way to input an override codex!”

“Then I shall unmake the detonator,” Serith announced, leaning his force halberd against the wall.

“There are multiple detonators!” Byron said, scrubbing at his head with his hand. “There are three separate accelerator cores that are each triggered by a proton beamer to generate a simultaneous rad-pulse! Destroy one and the others trigger the failsafe!”

“But the explosion would be less powerful then, right?” Trixie asked.

“Yes! It would probably reduce the range of the lethal effect by half! Very fortunate for the cultists and refugees skulking about on the perimeter of the underhive, but hardly useful to us!”

“Can YOU disarm it?” Rarity asked. “You seem to know a great deal about it.”

“With WHAT? A combat knife and a shotgun?!” A choking sob came from the deserter’s throat, and he slumped to the ground once more.

“Again, we find ourselves at a loss without a Techpriest,” Dest growled.

A green flash came from behind him. When Dest turned around, he was looking into the masked face of Dark Techpriest Gaela. A green pulse came from the optics cluster in the visor, and the armored figure shrugged her shoulders.

“I won’t be giving any prayers to machines or gods,” Chrysalis admitted while servo arms unfolded to present an array of welders, torches, drills, and claws, “but if you need tools, I can provide those.”

“Byron, get up!” Twilight shouted. “We don’t have much time!”

Byron Hess blinked and wiped at his face briefly, and then looked up at Chrysalis. “… Do you even know how to use any of those things?”

“No,” Chrysalis said honestly. As if in response, a laser welder on a secondary servo arm suddenly turned on, scoring Dest’s chest plate. She swatted the offending limb to turn it off, and then cleared her throat. “I’m pretty sure we’re out of options though, unless you know of any daemon engines that are immune to this ‘rad’ thing it uses to kill.”

“Unfortunately the more exotic particulate emissions will also overload non-biological power cells and scour daemonflesh with their intensity, so I believe our chances – unfortunately – rely entirely on you, mortal.” Serith shook his head sadly, and then held out an upraised palm.

Byron seized up, and then awkwardly lifted himself up to his feet as if someone were pulling on his shirt collar.

“Get to work,” Serith commanded, his visor pulsing within his helmet. The Sorcerer pointed to the Eradicator, and Byron staggered toward it as if pushed. Chrysalis followed, the arms of her servo harness slowly unfolding one by one from her back.

Byron approached the bomb nervously, clearly afraid to touch the outer casing. “All right… well… first I need to find the safety bypass panel. Ah… it isn’t clearly marked, because, well, we generally want to make it hard for people to disarm our bombs.” He tugged at his collar and started to walk around the side of the mole rig.

“Safety bypass! There!” Twilight shouted, generating a big, glowing arrow of purple light that hovered over a section of perfectly inconspicuous plating. "My augment can pick out the components!"

“I don’t see any panel. How will he open that?” Rarity asked in concern and steadily increasing dread.

“Melta cutter,” Byron said grimly, moving to the designated area of the explosive. He beckoned for Chrysalis to join him.

“Won’t burning a hole into the bomb trigger the failsafe you mentioned?” Dest asked.

“No. Of course, if I’m wrong I won’t live long enough to be very embarrassed about it.” Chrysalis thrust a servo arm toward the panel, only for him to recoil in alarm. “No! I said the melta cutter! That’s a hypotensine injector!”

“I don’t know which of these gizmos is which,” Chrysalis growled, mimicking Gaela’s voice out of habit. “Just take the one you want and move it into place!”

Byron grabbed the appropriate arm and then pulled it toward the panel. “All right, now activate it on a pulse setting at 30% capacity.”

“I haven’t fully mastered ‘on’ and ‘off’ yet, try to keep your expectations in check,” the changeling retorted.

The melta cutter flashed brightly, and Byron winced before quickly moving the arm’s head along the panel. Nothing exploded, and his confidence visibly improved as he carved a square-shaped molten scar in the bomb’s outer plating.

“You seemed pretty adept with the tools when you were fighting the Genestealers,” Twilight mumbled while Byron worked.

“Fighting is different,” Chrysalis said with a shallow sigh. “I’m not sure if it’s a feature of my modifications or the bodies I’m using, but when I want to break something they react… very naturally. The weapons just seem intuitive and the extra limbs figure out what I want to do on their own. This body WANTS to kill.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Gaela,” Applejack chuckled. Then she groaned, hanging her head. “Gosh, Ah miss her.”

“Okay, stop!” Byron shouted, pulling the melta cutter back. He pulled out his combat knife and started to pry the plating open. “Next I’ll need to complete the bypass circuit and activate the switch. Miss Sparkle, you seem to have the best technical scanner, so please let me know when there’s an energy surge.” He reached for another servo limb and pulled it toward him. “This work is going to be a little more delicate, especially since it looks like the melta cutter damaged the circuit.”

“Just say ‘on’ and ‘off’ and stop wasting your breath explaining the process to us,” Chrysalis sniffed.

“I find it very helpful when he explains it, personally,” Twilight said, “it’s helping me keep calm.”

“I feel less calm the more time we waste time talking while this weapon counts down to our deaths!” the changeling shouted back.

“Uhm, Twilight?” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Yes? Go ahead. No surge yet, Byron,” the Princess replied.

Fluttershy’s helmet was disengaged, and she had the scroll from the fleet clutched in the tiny manipulator claws on her chest. A pen was clenched in the edge of her mouth, and one of the manipulator arms reached up and plucked it out before she continued.

“I thought we could ask Warsmith Solon for help, so I wrote down what was happening as best I could… can you send this to him?”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s a great idea!” Twilight said brightly. “I mean it would have been a great idea when we got here, I seriously doubt we’ll have the time to get the message to him and review the advice before detonation now. But good thinking!”

“Add a note to the message that the exfiltration shuttle can withdraw without us if the Eradicator detonates,” Dest requested. “It will be easily detectable from orbit.”

“Oh… uh… okay,” the pegasus said miserably, putting the pen back in her mouth. After a few seconds of rapid scribbling, the surprisingly dexterous little arms rolled up the paper.

“No surge yet,” Twilight announced while Byron reached for a new servo limb to switch tools. “Fluttershy, is it ready?”

“Yes. Here.” She held the edge of the scroll in her mouth and held it out.

Twilight’s horn started to glow, and after a few seconds the scroll vanished in a pulse of purple light. “Okay! So that… well I don’t think it will come back in enough time to help.”

Then an icon flashed on her display and she gasped. “The energy surge! There it is! The bypass is complete!”

“Okay! Okay. That was a little easier than I remember it being in training,” Byron sighed and pushed the laser welder arm away. His hands were quivering, and sweat was dripping down the side of his head. “Next step. We need to get to the primary conduit. It’s right under this panel above the bypass. Now I think we can be a little rougher with the bypass complete, so-“

Dest reached over, sinking his claws into the designated section of casing. Then he ripped it open, tearing a long strip of metal away. Below the plating was a plasteel sleeve, which had already been slightly scarred by the removal of its protective covering.

“You have approximately one hundred seconds,” Dest said, stepping back again.

Byron gulped, and then quickly started removing the fasteners to the sleeve.

“It’s all right Byron, you’re almost there,” Erin assured him, her voice wavering only a little. “You’re going to do this!”

“Of… Of course. Yes.” The man took a deep breath, and then looked over to Chrysalis again. “I’ll need your help with this. It’s important that we sort through the wires and sever the correct ones. ONLY cut the red wires, you understand? The others will cause a feedback detonation if they’re severed first!”

“Sure. Red wires. Easy,” Chrysalis mumbled while Byron pulled away the sleeve. “… Question: What if there are no red wires?”

“WHAT?!” Twilight yelped, floating over the changeling to stare at the collection of wiring Byron was staring at with a slackened jaw. After a second she disengaged her helmet, tearing it off so that she could get an unobstructed view. “They’re gray! They’re all gray! WHY ARE THEY GRAY?!”

“I d-don’t know! I’ve been doing this b-based on a schemata I saw in a munitorium posting! They’re supposed to be c-c-color-coded!” the deserter stuttered.

“Suuna, Trixie would like a hug before we’re all blasted into radioactive goop,” Trixie said, looking up at her assistant sadly.

“Of course, Lady Trixie,” Suuna replied mournfully, putting down the artifact she had been carrying and then leaning down to embrace the magician around her neck. Trixie nuzzled her back, a single tear dripping down into the gorget of her armor.

“Okay, wait! I understand now! These wires are meme-tagged! A Techpriest can read them!” Byron said triumphantly.

“I don’t know what that means,” Chrysalis said.

“I can read them! We’re okay!” Twilight said, sounding profoundly relieved. “The top one is designated 2.0015.67001!”

Byron looked down at the wire, and then back up at the purple pony. “What?”

“It’s 2.00-“

“No, I don’t want you to repeat the useless string of numbers! What does that mean?!” Byron demanded.

“What does… Why are you asking ME?!” Twilight demanded angrily. “This is your bomb!”

“An encoded decimal string doesn’t tell me anything!”

“TWENTY SECONDS, BYRON!!”

“Don’t yell at me, this isn’t my fault!”

Pinkie’s Dreadnought took one awkward, limping step toward Dest, and then the helmet popped open. The Rhino pilot looked up into Pinkie’s eyes, his expression hidden, as always, behind the armored helmet fused to his skull.

“So, uh, looks like Trixie’s getting a hug in before we all die… you want to get in on that too?” Pinkie said with a badly forced smile.

A scream of desperation and anger suddenly came from the trio working on the rad-bomb, and Pinkie ducked back into the Dreadnought as Dest whirled around again.

“Out of my way, idiots!” Chrysalis shouted, shoving Twilight and Byron aside at the same time. A green halo enveloped her as she reached down into the conduit casing, and her metal hand closed around the entire bundle of wires. A puff of steam blasted from her elbow, and Byron squeezed his eyes shut in terror.

“RRRRRRRRAUGH!!” Chrysalis tore out the entire patch of wiring, and a wave of sparks erupted from the hole in the plating.

She held them up triumphantly, glaring down at the sundered machine as if daring it to explode.

Seconds passed while everyone stared at the Changeling Queen, stunned. Eventually her aura dimmed and she tossed away the handful of wires. An annoyed snort came from her mask.

“I told you: breaking things comes naturally to this body,” Chrysalis said dismissively, her breath sounding only slightly labored. “All you need is a little-“

A violet flash lit the room, and every pony and human plus Chrysalis herself screamed and recoiled in terror. The changeling immediately shrunk back to her true body, curling up into a quivering ball on the floor.

Even Dest and Serith had flinched at the sudden burst of light, but they noticed rather quickly that it wasn’t the bomb detonating. A small scroll of parchment dropped onto the edge of the mole rig, and then started to roll into a crack in the scaffolding frame.

“Ah, I see the Warsmith replied,” Serith said, beckoning to the scroll. It promptly lifted up into the air and floated toward him.

“You… You can… read it…” Twilight gasped, her breath heaving and her eye wide while she lay on the mole rig. “Need a minute… for… for heart… to start… beating again…”

Dest plucked the scroll out of the air and then opened it up. It was the same parchment that had been sent initially from the fleet, so it took several seconds to find the new text that had been added since Fluttershy sent it out.

“……… The Warsmith says you can just rip out all the wires after you activate the bypass,” Dest said.

“Really? You’re being serious right now?” Erin asked, leaning against the Eradicator and wiping the sweat from her forehead.

“The instructions include more than that, but yes. That was the most important insight he had to offer.” Dest closed the scroll. “It isn’t obvious based on the schemata, but evidently the safety bypass disables ALL the detonator redundancies. You’re mostly free to disassemble the bomb from that point.”

“Techpriests can be so lazy sometimes,” Serith chided, shaking his head. “Anyway, shall we go? The Imperium will not return soon to determine the fate of the bomb, but they will be observing closely once they determine things have gone awry.”

“Rainbow Dash, go fly up through the rig’s deployment tunnel to confirm it goes all the way to the surface and get some geo-coordinates I can send back to Solon,” Twilight commanded, sounding much more stable now. “Lord Dest, please work with Byron to destroy every piece of this bomb that can safely be torn apart. Chrysalis, when you’re done with your own panic attack – no shame in that, believe me – please turn into something big and help lift the Dreadnought into the deployment tunnel so we can get out of here. Suuna, please make sure the artifact is secure and start heading topside as soon as you and Trixie are ready. This mission – thank Celestia – is OVER.”

---

Ulaisse surface
Rendezvous point beta-4

Erin Whyd squinted into the night sky, watching a group of dark shapes speed through the air. Their blue and black patterning made them very hard to pick out in the darkness, and Erin was surprised and somewhat suspicious to see no engine burn trailing from them. The stars vanished briefly behind the hulls as the craft approached, allowing her to loosely track their path, but she couldn’t really judge their distance.

“Are those imperial craft? I don’t know much about… uh… heretic military vehicles,” the refugee asked as Dest and a few ponies approached behind her.

“I believe those are Tau transports. Devilfish. Or some similar pattern,” the Iron Warrior said, holding a finger to the side of his helmet.

“Tau? Aren’t those aliens?” Erin asked.

“Yes, but so are we,” Rarity answered with a somewhat weary titter. “Not all aliens are so bad, you know!”

“Sure, but the Tau are,” Applejack retorted gruffly.

“Oh. And… that’s why you stole their vehicles?” Erin guessed.

“… It’s complicated,” Rarity sighed while the skimmers slowed and started to descend.

“Easy… Lift it more! Stop trying to drag it against the incline!” Twilight called, hovering above the massive sinkhole in the middle of the clearing.

Chrysalis had transformed into a Maulerfiend siege walker again, and was straining to haul Pinkie’s Dreadnought up out of the tunnel she had climbed. Foul gases belched from the rows of smokestacks on her back and squeals of grinding metal came from her limbs while she pulled the slightly smaller walker out of the ground.

“Urgh! Blast it all! Is the bad leg caught on something again?!” Chrysalis snarled, a blast of steam coming from her metal nostrils. She tugged on the Dreadnought’s power fist, but the pink Contemptor barely moved.

“Hold on, let me check!” Twilight dropped back down into the tunnel, and a bright purple light came from the opening of the deployment pit.

Chrysalis growled wordlessly, although she was happy for the break. She took a moment to dig the heels of her rear legs more firmly into the dirt, and then twisted her long, armor-plated neck around to look behind her. Serith and Trixie were watching from a short distance away, with Suuna sitting on the grass behind them.

“You two can use levitation magic; why aren’t you helping?” the changeling demanded.

“The stress of telekinesis increases exponentially depending on the mass of the target, as I’m sure you’re aware,” Serith drawled. “A Dreadnought is quite beyond my power to lift.”

“Between me, you, and the three horned ponies, we could levitate something this size!” Chrysalis argued.

“Probably, but you’re doing fine,” Trixie said before breaking into a yawn.

Another noxious cloud blasted from the changeling’s smokestacks. “Whose idea was it to have one of the ponies in an assault walker, anyway?”

“It was the pink idiot’s idea. We don’t even know how she moves it,” Serith confessed. “The Warsmith expected to make her an armor suit like the others, but instead she showed up in a Dreadnought.”

“… What?” The glimmering green eyes of the daemon engine narrowed. “She just… appeared with this giant walker suddenly? And you let her have it?”

“It wasn’t this walker, no,” Pinkie suddenly interjected.

Chrysalis had many, many more questions after that, but Twilight suddenly interrupted from below. “Okay, you know what? I’m just going to teleport her the rest of the way. It’s like five meters. Chrysalis, you can let go.”

A purple flash lit the tunnel, and the Contemptor heavy walker vanished and reappeared behind the transformed changeling. Its torso swiveled left and right, and then the helmet visor found the skimmers landing at the edge of the clearing.

“Woo-hoo! That’s our ride outta here!” the Dreadnought lurched forward, almost tripping immediately on its inoperable leg.

Chrysalis glared down at Twilight as the armored alicorn flew up out of the pit and landed next to her. “We could have gotten her out of here a long time ago! Why didn’t you do that sooner?!”

“Because I’m TIRED,” Twilight snapped back, disengaging her helmet and dropping it onto her back, atop the force harmonizer. “Now stop whining and let’s get off this stupid moon.” She began trudging toward the transports.

Chrysalis kept glaring for several seconds, then huffed and shrank back to her real body. She followed Twilight in silence.

Before long, Twilight suddenly cleared her throat. “By the way… I should thank you. For accompanying us, and for helping us. You’re not the easiest ally I’ve had to deal with… but you’re not the hardest, either. I doubt we would have made it without you.”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes, reviewing her words for hints of sarcasm. “Well… I suppose it’s nice having someone in this army of maniacs trying to butter me up for once instead of talking down to me all the time,” Chrysalis sniffed, raising her head higher in the air while her lips curled into a smirk. “If I may say so, you’re not terrible at this little squad leader thing you have going on here, either. It’s honestly a much better use for somepony of your ability rather than lazing about some village acting as Celestia’s errand mare.”

“That’s NOT what I was doing before the Iron Warriors came, but thank you for the compliment,” Twilight replied tightly. “And I’m not buttering you up. I just think it’s important to recognize the difficult work you did, and that you stayed to help us at grave risk to yourself when you could have fled. Especially with the rad-bomb.”

“Bah! I was saving myself; you just happened to be there too,” the Changeling Queen scoffed. “I can’t fly any faster than you can. There was no way I would have been able to escape in time.”

Twilight arched eyebrow. “But Rainbow Dash could. You could have just turned into her and flew outside and she’s the only one who could have even tried to stop you.”

Chrysalis missed a step, almost tripping in the dirt. Her eyes bulged, and her jaw fell open. “……… You’re RIGHT! Blast! I didn’t even think of that!”

Twilight seemed surprised at the admission, but then her expression relaxed into a lazy smile. “Well, you would have been stuck here with no way to contact the transports in orbit without me, so I guess it was worth the risk.”

“I would have been alone and free on a rich world full of clueless Imperial thugs!” Chrysalis said, very nearly tearing up with regret. “I could have replaced or brainwashed the leadership of this place in a week! I could have started a new hive and ruled this moon! Maybe the entire system! My Nemesis Codex was still unlocked too! I can’t believe it never even occurred to me!”

“Oh, thanks for reminding me. Engage Nemesis lock, core configuration alpha-two,” Twilight said.

“Gah! Hey! Why did you do that? I thought we were getting along!” the changeling complained as her core slowed down dramatically.

“We are. We’re getting along so well that you won’t be needing to turn your arm into a plasma cannon anytime soon.”

“That’s not the point! I hate having all that energy restricted! The lock barely leaves me enough to feed! None of the rest of you lunatics have to run around with a muzzle on, so why do I?!”

“Let’s go home, Chrysalis.”

---

Harvest of Steel
Medicae bay 2-7 C

Rarity hissed through clenched teeth as the needle plunged into her flank. She looked up into the mask of glowing green lights and tangled wiring, twisting her face into a grimace while her ears fell flat. She held that glare for several seconds until the needle was finally withdrawn. The Techpriest looming over her chirped something in its bizarre Binaric language and turned away.

“Hey, we almost done here? C’mon, I wanna show Tellis the vid-capture I got taking down the bomber!” Rainbow Dash was excitedly bouncing on a padded table, her wings stretched out wide.

All the ponies of Equinought Squadron were waiting in the medicae room, along with Erin Whyd and Byron Hess. They had been separated from their other allies and also stripped of their power armor and weaponry. Rainbow Dash seemed eager to be released from the room, but the other mares waited patiently with varying degrees of annoyance while they were scanned and jabbed with unnecessarily large syringes.

“I’m afraid you’re under quarantine until everypony is cleared, Miss Dash,” said Claret Heartthrob. The pink unicorn was currently standing next to Twilight and studying the wound on her shoulder. “You still need to have that leg looked at, too. Your battle log says there were shrapnel wounds.”

“It’s fine! Fluttershy took care of it!” Rainbow scoffed.

The other pegasus anxiously shook her head, quietly indicating that she did not agree with Rainbow’s medical assessment.

“We’ll run a magna scan anyway to check for any microshards, Miss Dash. You won’t feel a thing, I promise.” Claret levitated a dataslate next to Twilight’s shoulder and frowned. “As for you, Princess, you’re going to need a little surgery here. This damage is more severe than you suggested, and I’m seeing indications of a contact venom in the muscle tissue.”

Twilight winced. “Really? It didn’t feel that bad…”

“I know, right? Those drugs are AWESOME!” Rainbow laughed.

The doors to the medicae beeped, indicating an override of the quarantine lock. Then they slid open, and Byron and Erin recoiled at the sight of the behemoth Iron Warrior behind them. The ponies’ reactions were more subdued, at least until the fleet’s Warsmith cleared the entrance and a familiar female Techpriest stepped in behind him.

“GAELA!” Twilight said happily, standing up straight.

Pinkie Pie immediately launched herself from one of the observation tables as if to tackle the armored figure. Gaela caught her with her ion blaster arm, the tri-fingers clamping around the pony’s face while the mare’s legs flailed comically.

“Hello,” Gaela said blandly before tossing Pinkie back where she had come from. “No hugs.”

A deep, rumbling chuckle came from Solon as he advanced further into the medicae. “Well, it would sheem you’re all in high shpiritsh! Very good! I wash beginning to think-“

“Warsmith Solon, hello!” Doctor Claret interrupted, her voice pleasant but firm. Solon halted immediately. “You may of course visit whomever you wish in circumvention of standard quarantine protocol, but please maintain a distance of two meters from all patients and minimize exhaust dispersal, as you are a serious infection risk.”

The massive Space Marine immediately planted all of his legs on the deck, and the stream of gas leaking from the smokestacks on his chassis slowed to a bare wisp. Solon leaned back on his chassis and cleared his throat, a noise so horrendous that the refugees cringed.

“Ash I wash shaying… it ish unfortunate that you losht my Thunderhawk on Ulaisshe, and the exfiltration recovered fewer pershonnel than expected, but you made it back in one piece! And with the artifact! Shplendid!” Then he swiveled to face Byron and Erin, who both stiffened at the goliath’s attention. “Greetingsh, refugeesh! I am Warshmith Sholon.”

“That’s ‘Warsmith Solon.’ Hard S.” Rarity corrected before the humans could reply. “Don’t mind his… erm, accent.”

“He is the High Commander of this fleet, and from here on out he is your master. You live or die by his whim alone,” Gaela added darkly. “Introduce yourselves.”

“Erin Whyd,” Erin announced, staring up into the cluster of optics on the side of the Warsmith’s helmet. “Uh… Should I… kneel or something?”

“Oh, don’t bother. Thish won’t take long anyway,” Solon assured her. His servo claw levered forward to point at Byron, and the man flinched. “And you?”

“I’m B-Byron Hess, Lord Warsmith,” Byron announced. “I was an explosives expert with the Imperial military before I deserted and joined the sanctuary… or… joined the… Genestealer cult, rather. Unintentionally!”

“A sapper. Hmph.” Gaela did not look impressed. “Between the Iron Warriors’ siege specialization and the Dark Mechanicus, you won’t find great demand for your technical skills here, Hess. I hope you have others.”

“Naw, he’s all right,” Applejack protested. “When we were starin’ down an Eradicator rad-bomb he was right handy. Saved all of us!”

“An Eradicator?” Gaela asked hesitantly.

“Yes. We actually needed to have the shape-shifter take your body to generate the tools we needed, incidentally,” Byron said bashfully, scratching the back of his head. “Your, uh, xeno friends here think very highly of you! It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Techpriest.”

Gaela stared at him inscrutably for a few moments. “Are you aware that when disarming an Eradicator you can sever all the wires of-“

“All the wires of the main conduit at once, yes. We know now,” Byron finished with a sigh. Then he yelped as his arm was seized from behind. “Hey! What do you-OW!” A dark-robed cyborg plunged a needle into his arm, the servo clamps over its shoulders holding him in place.

“My apologiesh for the rough welcome,” Solon chuckled, “but the teshtsh are necesshary for reashonsh you are well-acquainted with by now.”

“This is the second time, though! You already took a sample when we arrived!” Byron complained through clenched teeth.

The Techpriest did not provide any explanation, and after several seconds it withdrew the needle. It retreated as soon as it checked the sample, releasing the refugee and scuttling away toward the device in the back.

“Hey, uh, on the topic of tests and such… did ya already do one fer Trixie?” Applejack asked, her ears flipping down. “We got separated as soon as we were aboard.”

“Indeed we have, ash well as Desht, Queen Chryshalish, and Trixie’sh shervant girl,” Solon announced. “They were all clear of xeno infection.”

Rainbow mimed wiping sweat off her brow with her wing. Rarity pressed a hoof to her chest, looking quite relieved.

“That said, they did find some interesting anomalies with the Great and Powerful one,” Claret added, tapping her hoof against a dataslate. “Numerous ruptured blood vessels across her body aside from the open wound in her neck. Irregularities in the optic nerve and a strip of dead tissue in the brain. It looks like she may have endured a stroke. We also found some unidentified residue in the striations of her horn.”

“That sounds… really bad,” Rainbow murmured. “What happened to her? Serith wouldn’t tell us.”

“No idea. He jusht gave me the ruined lump of the pshykant occulush to fix and then took the artifact and left,” Solon grumped.

“Can anyone explain what Lord Serith is and why he seems to be a suit of animated power armor?” Byron asked anxiously.

“No,” Solon replied. Then he addressed the ponies again. “Our forcesh have completed their withdrawal from Ghessheim V. We expect to make Warp entry ash shoon ash we clear the gravity well. Your firsht raid under the 38th Company ish officially complete.”

Rainbow and Pinkie whooped and cheered, jumping up in place. Applejack stomped her hoof against the deck and snorted to join in the celebration. Byron and Erin glanced at each other uncomfortably, wondering about the type of carnage that had been visited upon the hive world while they were escaping the planet’s capital. Twilight seemed more hesitant, and she coughed lightly before speaking up again.

“Assuming, of course, everything checks out with our screening… which it… does, right?” she asked, her ears pinning back anxiously.

Claret Heartthrob looked up from the dataslate with a smile. “Equinought Squadron is clean. Zero signs of genetic corruption.”

The other ponies clearly expected such a judgment, but Twilight let out an almost desperate gasp of relief. Her legs wobbled and she slumped onto her belly. The others stared.

“Were you expecting a different diagnosis?” Gaela asked bluntly.

“No! No, definitely not!” the young Princess shouted a little too loudly. “Um… but it DID occur to me that maybe some of the strange psychic communications I was receiving had a more… insidious origin than I was expecting. But they don’t! Good!”

“Then that just leaves… us,” Erin Whyd said, fighting the quiver in her voice. “What does your machine say?”

Claret looked up at her, and then down at the tablet. She tapped the dataslate with her hoof, and then smiled at her. “You’re clean, Miss Whyd.”

She straightened, her eyes wide. “Really? They never… never got me?”

“Well I know absolutely nothing about your experience on Ulaisse except that you’ve clearly been in close enough proximity to Genestealers to fear genetic corruption, but I can say that your DNA is completely human and quite stable,” Claret explained gently.

“Outstanding!” Byron said. “And me?”

Doctor Claret’s smile vanished as she tilted her head toward the man. One of her eyes was covered by her mane, but the other was filled with pity. She shook her head.

“Wait… What?” Rainbow asked, her ears flipping back.

As the color drained from Byron’s face, the Techpriest at the back blurted something in Binaric Cant. Gaela’s expression didn’t change, but she carefully adjusted her grip on her power axe for more immediate use. The ponies stared at the explosives expert slack-jawed, awaiting further explanation.

“That… No, that’s wrong. It has to be wrong,” Byron said, his hands starting to tremble.

“It’sh not wrong,” Solon assured him. “They took multiple shamplesh and teshted them multiple timesh. The Geneshtealersh have poishoned you, Mishter Hessh. You are of the cult, and for you eshcape wash never posshible.”

“But… when?” Rarity asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “He wasn’t alone at all since we met him, was he?”

“I imagine he wasn’t,” Doctor Claret responded, her voice grim. “It’s difficult to tell the precise age of the Genestealers’ genetic infections, and I am rather new to the entire field of xenobiology in general, but Mister Hess was infected weeks or months ago, not hours.”

Erin stumbled backward, her hand reflexively reaching to her hip for a weapon that wasn’t there.

“But… that… in the… in the chamber, he…” Applejack stumbled over her words, hesitantly pointing a hoof at Byron. “Ya mean he was just FAKIN’ it all this time he was helpin’ us?!”

“On the contrary. He faked nothing,” Gaela said calmly. Her bionic eye was locked onto the sweating, terrified face of the refugee, casting a greenish pall over his glasses. “His actions were completely genuine. It is the alien’s compulsion that is false, diverting human will and seeding his thoughts with lies. This man’s failure was insufficient vigilance in the tunnels of the underhive, not betrayal of his apparent saviors.” She hefted her axe, and a crackling discharge ran over its edge. “Granted, the penalties for either are quite similar.”

Byron sank to his knees, hugging himself. “It’s not true. It’s not. It can’t be…” be sobbed.

“Okay, wait, maybe… maybe something can be done?” Twilight said, her voice badly strained. “Infected or not, he’s just a human, right? If he can be contained, then maybe we-“

Byron suddenly leapt forward like a coiled spring, jumping at Solon with an object in his hand. The Warsmith was caught completely off-guard, barely having time to recoil.

Gaela was not caught off-guard. The Techpriest intercepted Byron with her shoulder, knocking him back to the deck. The object he was carrying was flung from his grip and started bouncing across the floor.

Twilight’s bionic eye tagged the item immediately. It was very quick to do so once she had a good view, as it had already scanned this particular object before. It was the explosive charge from one of the traps they had encountered on the way to the Patriarch’s lair.

“MELTA BOMB!!” the Princess shrieked, her wings spreading and flapping in a panic. “GET DOWN!!”

Most of the ponies dropped onto their bellies, but Rarity’s horn flashed instead to seize the explosive with magic. The bomb was flung across the room with her telekinesis, directed toward a bulkhead wall as far as possible from the room’s occupants. It detonated just before impact, burning a large hole in the medicae wall.

Byron stuttered incoherently on the floor. One of Gaela’s servo arms reached down and clamped onto his arm, lifting him up while she reared back her axe.

“Techpriesht Gaela. Hold,” Solon commanded.

She froze without a word, keeping her pose with axe ready to strike. Solon approached the infected refugee, looming over him, and then reached down with his hand to lift the man’s chin up. Byron trembled at the touch of the large, oily metal fingers against his jaw and the bright red optics glaring at him, his expression terrified yet resigned.

“Mishter Hessh, you have done me a great shervice by returning my sholdiersh to me shafely. You have alsho delivered to me Ulaisshe’sh artifact. Neither would have been posshible without your aid. For thish I thank you.”

“Warsmith…” Twilight whispered, hanging her head.

“In recognition, I grant you a better death than being incinerated in the bowelsh of thish ship or being disshected by the Dark Mechanicush,” Solon proclaimed before releasing him and stepping back. “Gaela-”

Gaela’s axe descended on a streak of crimson lightning, carving into Byron’s shoulder and tearing completely through the man’s torso. The ponies flinched away from the sight, but Erin watched the execution in steely silence. Claret Heartthrob recoiled in shock. The Techpriest behind her bleated a complaint in Binaric. Solon tilted his head to the side.

“… I wash going to ashk you to reshtrain him on the table sho the medicae could euthanize him,” Solon said with a sigh.

Gaela’s eye widened, and then she flushed and scowled, clearly chastened. It was probably the most expressive face Twilight had ever seen from her and would have been almost cute if not for the gore splashed against her legs and robe.

“I… I apologize, Lord Warsmith!” Gaela said, dropping to one knee in the pooling blood. “In my haste and arrogance, I defied your will! I will accept any punishment!”

“No, it’sh fine. I shupposhe it wash shtill a quick death. Good enough,” Solon said, taking another step back to keep from getting his legs bloody.

“Can I have an apology for the corpse bleeding all over my examination office?” Doctor Claret asked hotly.

“Shut up,” Gaela replied, standing up but not deigning to look at the unicorn.

“Do you have any idea how many safety protocols you’ve violated here?! And it’s xeno-contaminated too!” Claret complained, rearing up to shake a hoof angrily.

The Techpriest biologis behind her sputtered something in Binaric.

“Well then YOU clean it up! You said the gene editing mechanism was unclear! That makes contact an infection risk!” The Techpriest bleated something else, and the unicorn bristled. “I just watched a man get chopped in half for being exposed to alien biohazards, don’t give me that!”

“Lord Warsmith, may I go now?” Erin asked, her eyes looking desperately tired. “I really need to bathe. And probably dry heave.”

“No, you can’t go! This is a quarantine zone!” Claret shouted, pre-empting the fleet’s Commander. A decorative chain was strung from a pair of piercings on the tip and base of her horn, and as the medicae got even more agitated the links started to glow like a heating stovetop. “I have a responsibility to keep you reckless maniacs from spreading contagion over the half of the ship that isn’t already dedicated to the god of plagues, and I would appreciate a little cooperation in this!”

“The primary reason for the quarantine was the risk of xeno infection, which has been neutralized,” Gaela reasoned.

“You ‘neutralized’ it by splattering it all over-HEY!” Claret snapped her head to the side as Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie galloped out of the room through the hole that had been blasted into the wall. “You have NOT been cleared for debriefing! Get back here!”

System exit vector established. All hands prepare for Warp entry, droned a voice from the vox caster. May the Dark Gods ease our passage through the Empyrean and reveal to us our next victims. Iron within! Iron without!

Author's Note:

Boy I hope you readers aren't getting too attached to the new guys.
I had another EZ artwork lined up for this, but unfortunately the intervening months wasn't enough for him to finish. I'll post it in-chapter once it's complete.

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Poor Byron.

One would think, hypothetically, that cybernetic augmentations/adjustments to the brain would have been sufficient to bypass/neutralize any lingering Cult imperatives, but this is chaos after all.

[DnDBrony]

Woooooooooo

[Mix-up]

Damn I was really starting to like him, oh well too bad.

The action was certainly descent and didn't drone on and the bomb par was funny. being a more light chapter I think it was good.

It soo bad to hear about EZ, I should really look him up again.

[SFaccountant]

11280551
The Dark Mechanicus would have been thrilled to experiment on an infected subject to see what they could do, but the Iron Warriors are more... conservative about these sorts of things.

[Mister Morden]

Poor Byron... I knew one of them was likely infected. And his comment on the Melta Bomb is now a Chekov's Gun

Loved this chapter. Kinda worried about the voices Twilight is hearing though.

What is going to happen to Pinkie's Dreadnought? She going to bother Gaela to repair it?

Thank you good Author for this entertaining update!

[Neece]

Poor pone doc, she has to deal with the Bearers

Wasn't this the last Dreadnought in the entire fleet? Pinkie better take better care of this one!

[Gammia the Shapeshifter]

11280551
Genestealer mind control is rather insidious. It is species non-specific, and is able to overcome both warp mutations and the group undermind of the Orks. I can't recall an instance of tech priests being subject to it, but I am pretty sure they aren't immune either. It rewrites the brain to a large extent, and that isn't something that can be gotten rid of without pretty much replacing the whole thing. Which wouldn't really be survival. More servitor conversion.

[N4rwh41]

The cover promised a. Fight between Rariy and a Ssjster for Battle. Where's my Rarity SOB fight SF!!?!

In all seriousness, very good! A lovely fight scene to read, very we corekvraphed!

[SFaccountant]

11280746
Techpriests would be difficult, physically, to infect because the usual means of infection are tracheal implantation and sexual contact. Techpriests are not known for active sex lives and usually have their mouths heavily augmented in ways that would protect them from implantation.
A Genestealer could probably figure it out eventually, but even then the cybernetics would not be affected, so if any of them were recording the incident in some way then the cover is blown.

11280838
Yes I know I'm getting to it hold your unicorns

[Hey its that Pony]

Where the heck was he hiding that melta bomb?
I'm not exactly sure about the size but given the handle that usually comes with them, I've always had the impression that they were fairly bulky.

That was a pretty good fight. I like how you raised the steaks by removing some elements of the squad that would have made it easier for them.

Chrysalis really proved to be the mvp here, even if she wasn't always perfect.

Great chapter but I'm glad there's a little more to the story before we're done.

[Sarraceno]

an unexpected surprise, but a welcomed one. Didn't expected that Byron thing tho, poor fella.

Liked the Governor honestly, straight up no nonsense guy... i feel we'll see more of that guy, doesn't look like the kind of man that gives up easily

[Der Kaiser]

i wasnt expecting that to happen to Byron.

[SFaccountant]

11280891
Military-issue charges are larger, with protective plating and self-contained detonators to be safely carried in a war zone and deployed quickly by hand. This was a smaller scavenged charge used for industrial purposes, with an improvised fuse. He was able to hide it in his jacket that way.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Bahamuttone]

to deploy so many them into open combat,

of them

[Booster Spice]

So the Guard on that moon head down to find out what happened, only to discover a Genestealer Primarch and breeding pool, and their Eradicator Bomb quite happily dissasembled and spread all over the place, with ever stranger reports of small colourfull equines?

In the drinking establishments, guards talk, rumors grow and spread.

Fear and confusion and paranoia slowly spreads.

And still they have no idea what Pinkie and Chrysalis can actually do.

[Sarraceno]

11281366
Bar chatter will rise up to Oblivion levels of aparent nonsense, dread tales of colorful eldritch horrors and sweet looking warlords

[Booster Spice]

11281388

And everyone who makes mention of colourful eldritch horrors gets a complimentary cupcake?

Edit.

This comment posted at exactly Pi local time.

[Sarraceno]

11281397
Delivered by a Pink Demon? I can see it... Aldo a wave of histeria about the heresy of pastries

[RanmaChaos]

Another amazing chapter. Well done!

[Bugsydor]

And here I was, sure that Chrysalis was going to be the infected one.

11280746
The Ciaphas Cain novels had a genestealer-infected techpriest. Xeno-biologis. They couldn't spread the infection directly, but the nids did influence them to experiment on genestealers and make other questionable decisions.

[SFaccountant]

11283798
Wait really
When did you think the Stealers got her?

[Bugsydor]

11284112
The tail strike to the leg from the patriarch. But I don't entirely remember exactly how implantation works (it's been a few years).

[Sarraceno]

11284225
Nah, is a thing in mouths what starts an infection. The tail strike is just a nasty stab wound

[Gammia the Shapeshifter]

11284225
It is called the Genestealer's Kiss for a reason. It is a tongue based ovipositor that infects the target, and it can't be done easily in the middle of combat. So they prefer to get a victim alone and subdued first.

[SFaccountant]

11284225
Ah, I see. Yeah, that might have seemed a bit suspicious, but it was just an ordinary stab wound. Maybe a little nerve poison too

[BurningSkies]

11280865
TIL that jeans robbing is an STI.

On the topic of infection...

“Warsmith Solon, hello!” Doctor Claret interrupted, her voice pleasant but firm. Solon halted immediately. “You may of course visit whomever you wish in circumvention of standard quarantine protocol, but please maintain a distance of two meters from all patients and minimize exhaust dispersal, as you are a serious infection risk.”

>please maintain a distance of two meters from all patients
of course
>you are a serious infection risk
The risk being him infecting everyone else with Nurgle?

[SFaccountant]

11289800
Insofar as "Nurgle" is a shorthand for the many infectious diseases Solon carries in his person, yes.
The rust-eater virus is especially hazardous to open wounds; not something you want in a surgical office!

[BurningSkies]

11290119
Is the rust-eater virus especially dangerous around open wounds since it targets compounds with iron bonded to oxygen, and that's how red blood cells transport oxygen around the body, meaning that the virus targets red blood cells?

[Sarraceno]

11290161
well... that's quite an in deep possibility.... i root for rusted scalpels.... nobody wants a shot of tetanus

[SFaccountant]

11290161
(Taking extensive notes)
... Yes! Yes. That's precisely why.

[ABitterPill]

Well I'm sorry that Byron didn't survive. It's too bad he was infected. Perhaps we'll get to see more of Erin around at least.

I get the feeling we'll be seeing more of Claret, and so will Equinought squadron (probably becoming their designated doctor). If they keep ignoring her though, I get the feeling she'll become far scarier than anything they may encounter on the surface.

oh! Now that they're off world and back on the Harvest, perhaps now Twilight and the Harvest of Steel can finally socialize some around a game of Battlefleet Gothic.

I also had a thought about Serith's situation. If Serith is a suit of empty armor... why doesn't Solon just "upgrade" him some. He's got all that room inside of him, so those joints could be reinforced and Solon could also add some new types of gadgets, including psychic-compatible wargear. At the very least it should keep him from being knocked apart so frequently, something I think at the very least he would be extremely happy about. Or as happy as Serith gets at least...

I am curious to see the long-term consequences of Trixie's possession now that they're not in a life or death combat situation. They'll have time to observe things now.

Also the artifact. I hope we end up seeing more of it, especially after all the trouble it just caused, and if that daemon that possessed Trixie is still around it or not.

Chrysalis got to go out and play. I wonder if she regrets it any.

Also I have an idea. A really really dumb idea. Pinkie Pie is going to give her dreadnought walker a wig that matches her own mane. From there she will be able to store/retrieve more munitions for her dreadnought's cannon in the future. Her dreadnought will simply need to reach up and pull the ammo out. Something sure to make the dark mechanicus blow servos and cogitators over the insanity of it all.

Thank you for the update!

[SFaccountant]

11302921
Serith could indeed become far more powerful if he let Solon build his armor from the ground-up to accommodate his condition, and Serith has surely considered it and loathes the idea. It's similar to why he doesn't get his consciousness placed in a Dreadnought or other mechanical horror. He resents the abilities Solon has given him with the phyllactery and psykant occulus because they've become essential to his power and he doesn't understand them; The idea of becoming a war machine with a sorcerous will riding along to enhance it repulses him, no matter the personal advantage it would grant him in combat.

[ABitterPill]

11304669

Honestly, I hadn't considered him moving his consciousness to a war machine or other construct. Never even occurred to me. Just enhancing his own existing armor. Though I had thought he had a better understanding of the psykant occulus than he apparently does, but I'm guessing that's Solon's genius baffling even the master sorcerer.

If nothing else, perhaps he'll let Solon reinforce his armor's joints at least. Constantly getting blown apart cannot be good for Serith's pride either. Unless he can figure out some way to enhance it on his own. The artifact, perhaps? Sorry, just theorycrafting here.

[Sarraceno]

11302921
A small pointer, dunno if the author will follow up with this snipet of lore, but allegedly an exorcized being who survives, case in point Trixie, becomes almost impossible to be possessed again but for the most powerful of daemons, although leaves traces of its presence, some even beneficial...
Trixie follows unknowingly her brand of the eightfold path...

[ABitterPill]

11311943

Interesting info and certainly a possibility. My only thought is that normal lore doesn't necessarily apply to ponies, since they seem to do things their own way. We're not even sure who/what the daemon that possessed Trixie was at this point either.

[Thezearcher]

I love this series so much and it always holds my attention perfectly but I still await the mane six's fall to chaos... Slowly but surely they will fall...

[PonyofEntropy]

Great update.

[renny]

Very fantastic story

[Arzoo]

11412597

To be fair, while their firepower and durability are utterly absurd for a kill team, they're usually up against either small armies or equally overpowered monsters.

[Wydril]

Grim business, but that's how 40k goes. Twilight seems to be picking up squad leading pretty quickly. I wonder how much is from her, and how much is from the cogitator that replaced her missing gray matter. She's noted as becoming focused and confident when combat happens, even when distracted or panicking beforehand.

[SyberSqueegy]

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