Chapter 5
Rarity gasped as Twilight set her broken ribs, the Princess was absolutely horrified at the damage a magically blocked attack could cause.
She couldn't stop replaying that sickening shattering noise in her mind. She was about to help Pinkie when she heard it and turned to see Rarity thrown to the ground by the force of the alien robot's massive glowing fist.
It began aiming its cannon at her to finish her off. That's when Twilight stepped in, it wasn't much longer before the aliens ran. Neighsay wanted to go after them, but Twilight needed to get Rarity to a doctor. Neighsay had tried to argue stopping the aliens was more important, but Rainbow Dash shut him up.
"I set them the best I can, but I'm not as good at healing as Rarity needs. I'm going to teleport her to the Canterlot Hospital Emergency Room, the rest of you need to evacuate Ponyville and-" Twilight paused to process her next sentence and swallow her anxiety. "Prepare for an invasion."
Jerrik was furious. He had known things would be difficult, but he didn't expect a Xenos race that was predominantly Psychic. Even the Eldar couldn't field that many powerful Psykers at once, especially not for a Scouting Party!
The Scarab Occult Sorcerer shuddered to think of what monsters ruled these beings if that was their rank and file. But either way, they needed reinforcements.
Jerrik made his way to the crystalline Castle and met with Ahriman's second in Command. "Brother Ignis, the enemy has encountered us. Their Scouting Party consisted of 4 powerful Psykers and what I can only assume was a Daemonhost."
The TechMarine remained impassive. "Brother Ahriman has encountered the entity he is seeking. No doubt he is bending it to his will as we speak, but he will need more time. Summon the mortals. Order them to besiege the nearby settlement to bog down their forces."
In the void above Equestria, two Battle Barges remained of Ahriman's once great fleet.
The first was the Word of Hermes, Ahriman's personal flagship that had been part of the Thousand Sons since its construction.
The second was the newest ship in Ahriman's Fleet, but arguably held more history.
The ship began its existence as a Battle Barge of the Star Hunters called the Piercer of Heaven. when the Star Hunters Primarch was recovered, and the Legion renamed, the White Scars vessel was refitted with faster sublight engines at the price of slower Warp travel.
This made the ship excellent at ambushing enemy ships before they knew they were under attack...which is exactly why a warband of Night Lords came to covet it 10,000 years later.
Renamed the Screaming Darkness, the warband of Night Lords who conquered the vessel avoided most military targets in favor of weaker prey. Taking most hostage to hunt in the bowels of their own ship.
The stronger prey would be given the 'honor' of serving the Night Lords and would even be allowed to scavenge weapons and armor from butchered PDF forces.
The Night Lords never thought of it, they were the worst of their breed and couldn't fathom mere humans being able to oppose them. Sure, they made it known that if any attempt at rebellion was made, every menial would suffer...but they always voiced their disappointment when none tried.
Then, just over five years ago. The White Scars attempted to reclaim their vessel. The Night Lords won, but less than twenty survived. And their mortal pets had grown adept at avoiding angry Astartes.
Thousands of Vengeful humans seized the opportunity to destroy what remained of their oppressors. First, the frustrated few that went down to the mortal decks to hunt. Their deaths revealed that the menials had the means to rebel, but the wisdom to wait.
If the Night Lords had been more like warriors than murderers, they might've posed a threat worthy of Astartes. But when they realized what was happening, 8 more shrieked their promises of butchery to the rebellious slaves and sprinted to the mortals decks with crackling claws and snarling chainswords.
They saw the lascannon emplacements on the catwalk, none of them saw the mines, none of them realized half the mines were remotely activated after the last Night Lord passed over them, none of them saw the plasma weapons activate behind them.
The last four Night Lords cowed on the bridge. Hundreds died finishing them off, but years of fear, anger, and resentment spurred them on.
Now, the Angel Killers renegade band of mercenaries offered their Battle Barge to the few warbands willing to accept that the newly named Spiteful Darkness belonged to Jeremiah Quinton.
Quinton had been born of that ship. He lost his mother when he was 4, but he didn't cry for her, or run out to save her from the Raptor that skinned her. He swallowed his grief, and turned it to spite.
It was spite that allowed him to survive, it was spite that allowed him to convince the others to swallow their grief and wait. And though he would never speak respectfully of the Emperor in a Traitor's presence, he knew that it was the Emperor's spite that saved Humanity.
It was always spite, not faith. Faith in an Emperor who tried his best, but ultimately failed. Faith in soul sucking parasites who fed on the suffering of their worshippers. In Quinton's eyes, faith was a delicious poison, and spite, a bitter remedy.
Quinton sat in his command chair hearing the mission briefing of his employers. The Thousand Sons weren't the most humble of the Emperor's favorite mutants, but Ahriman respected Quinton and kept his ship floating. So, he didn't really care if the Angel in a dress wanted him to pick a fight most mortals couldn't win. Most mortals weren't Angel Killers.
A lifetime hiding from Night Lords had given the Void Born mortal a Nostroman-like complexion, and his mercs had a similar style of warfare.
"As long as they don't have future sight, this shouldn't be a problem. I'll see you PlanetSide." Quinton stated. A lifetime of holding in emotions giving him an almost robotic tone.
"At least that fool has some sense." Neighsay sneered as he and Tempest looked over the Royal Guard Creatures that Twilight had teleported to Ponyville while looking after Rarity.
While Neighsay locked horns with his Country's leader on most topics regarding the inclusion of non-Ponies in anything, even he agreed that the inclusion of Dragons and Griffins in the Royal Guard had increased their martial prowess to an almost respectable level.
"Ya know, you should learn to respect your leader. Especially since if we lose, most Alien Overlords don't tolerate your kinda back sass." Tempest groaned.
Neighsay stared a hole through the scarred Unicorn. "I'm not taking advice from you Traitor."
Tempest stomped back as if she had been struck." Hey! I might've made some mistakes, but at least I wasn't duped by a filly!"
Neighsay mirrored her reaction and fired back. "No, you just trusted an evil tyrant over your own species!"
Tempest slammed her forehead against Neighsay's. "YEAH! BECAUSE MY SPECIES WASN'T TRYING TO RESTORE WHAT I LOST!! THEY WERE TOO BUSY TREATING ME LIKE A MONSTER!!!"
Neighsay jumped away. Not because of the Traitor's words, but because Arcane Lightning crackeled from the jagged stump that used to be her horn. "Ah! Mind yourself! Save it for the invaders. You can't deny you're dangerous."
"And you can't deny you're a heartless jerk!" Tempest snorted, though she did restrain her temper to a cold disapproving stare.
"Uh, guys..." A Guardspony called out.
"WHAT!?" The two arguing Unicorns shot back. The fire in their eyes died when the Guardspony hadn't reacted to their frustrations and was staring in slack jawed awe at something in the sky.
The two Unicorns turned their heads just in time to see a swarm of fast, fast flying aircraft bear down on Ponyville and unleash hell. Bombs, missiles, Las and Bolter fire rained down on the town like a furious storm. Neighsay and other Unicorns formed a combined shield and began running for cover.
Twilight's friends had already begun the evacuations, and several villain and monster attacks over the years had given the Ponies of Ponyville a practiced speed, but screams still rang out with the explosions. Providing a sickening harmony to the Song of Slaughter.
Tempest snorted steam from her nostrils as her rage built. She shoved her head out of the protective barrier and screamed her hatred to the attackers, causing a torrent of Arcane Lightning to pour from her shattered horn.
The first machine out flew the climbing attack. A second flew into it, but the machines had evidently been made immune to lightning strikes. Tempest struck a third machine's wing. This time, she detonated an unspent explosive and sent the machine crashing into the nearby Everfree Forest.
That small victory was all she managed before Neighsay pulled her back into the shield. A barrage of explosive bullets peppered the shield and instant later and then... nothing.
The confused guards looked to the skies and confirmed it, the attackers were leaving.
Tempest and Neighsay shared an uneasy look. "That's not the end right?" Neighsay asked.
Tempest shook her head. "I don't think it was even the beginning, it was just a distra-hrrk!"
Quinton knew from their response to the bombing that they were green, but he didn't expect them to lower their shield so quickly. He made them pay with a quick shot to the witch that shot down one of his stolen Valkyrie.
He and the rest of the Angel Killers rappelled down in the treeline while the bombers and gunships kept the enemy's attention. But he knew better than to engage an unknown enemy so quickly.
He alone fired, his silenced slug thrower didn't leave a traceable beam of light, and the shocked screams and shouts concealed him chambering the primitive bolt action weapon. The enemy resumed shielding themselves and braced for an assault that would never come.
A hundred hunters dropped with their leader. Slug throwers and long lasrifles were trained on targets. The first shot would give the illusion of a single foe, the second opportunity to destroy the enemy would be seized by every hunter.
Even if the enemy found proper cover before the hunters could strike again, the dropships were unloading stolen artillery pieces 10 miles away. Quinton was just making sure they couldn't think in the meantime.
Krrk "Artillery standing by. Awaiting targets." Quinton's vox bead crackeled. Quinton would never stop being amazed of the speed at which Night Lord ThunderHawks deposited assets onto the battlefield.
Quinton laid down his rifle and grabbed of pair of binoculars, its machine spirit connected to that of his most prized munition: a Whirlwind.
He lazed the glowing group of Xenos. Krrk "Target confirmed. Firing for effe-" STOP!! Boomed another voice on the vox channel...that of Ahzek Ahriman himself. There's been a change of plans...
And another Chapter done. And yes, I'm aware that Quinton is the spiritual love child of Commissar Yarrick and Lotarra Sarrin...we need more badass mortals.
Also, Jerrik not fathoming that his new foe's most elite forces were the first ones he encountered will lead to more misunderstandings down the line. 
The name Piercer of Heaven is a Bleach reference:the English translation of Getsuga Tensho.
Now, as much as I absolutely love Jeremiah Quinton as a stand alone character, it occurred to me as I wrote the last paragraph that his inclusion in Ahriman's Warband might make more sense if he a Daemon Prince.
What do y'all think, is Quinton fine the way he is, or should I rewrite this to make him a Daemon Prince?
Other than that, I'll catch you all next time when we see just what went down between Ahriman and the Spirit of Harmony.
Until then...
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I think Celestia has future site right either way awesome chapter wait does pinky sense count as future site
I say stick with the mortal human, his backstory makes sense as to how he got to command a ship and become a renegade and not fall to the lies of the ruinous powers by learning from his former Night Lord masters, it makes sense why he wouldn't fall to chaos for me.
11675102
My rule for Pinkie is her powers only work if it's comical.
11675114
A good limitation but I wonder if that's fully necessary🤔, Pinky's pinky sense the way I saw it in the show only gives a vague warnings that's Pinky has to figure out what they mean for example when pinky tails twitches it means something's going to fall.
pinky knows that because she experienced it before, but when she's facing something she hasn't experienced before it's just a vague warning that Pinky has to interpret what it means
11675129
True. I'll think about it.
11675113
Glad I'm not the only one who saw it that way.
11675137
Glad I'm able to help and I hope tempest ain't dead
11675141
No spoilers.
11675151
Oh I'm going to use that line on you someday
Hey super Saiyan a brief idea just crossed my mind you would call it a theory do you think the planet Equestria would qualify as a minor death world
11705073
Nothing minor about it. Take away the sentient Xenos races and you still have Manticores, Hydras, Cockatrices, Rocs, and more. It's almost Catachan.
Hell, they even have a tree that uses pollen to turn you into another tree. That's some Nurglite shit right there.
11705103
I knew I wasn't going crazy 🤣 I just needed somebody else to confirm it, oh and let's not forget the bees that spit out lightning, the Ursa majors, and those big massive worms
11705105
I've actually been thinking about a fic where Fluttershy gets trapped in Catachan, and it's not much different to her usual day-to-day activities.
11705118
Oh please do that sounds fun and this just feeds into my head Cannon that ponies are much tougher then what other people give them credit for,
11705118
Oh and also I have been thinking about a fanfic where in the old days of Equestria Luna and Celestia and the guard basically how to exterminate monsters
11705103
Hey saiyan, I just realized something which I should have a long time ago, but with how many large creatures are on Equis, Equis must be much bigger than Earth
11727134
Not bigger, just have a higher oxygen intake. The Earth wasn't any bigger when T-Rex roamed the Earth.
11727397
Then how about the Sun and the Moon circling around it,🤔 I always thought they were the same size as ours and since they circle Equestria I always thought the planet was bigger
11727675
Sun and moon are smaller and have no effect on the planet's gravity. Otherwise, every time Twilight had control over them, she'd have ended all life on Equestria.
11727862
Oh okay, but I do have to ask how's the planet not frozen then,if the Sun is smaller
11727878
Close enough to still heat it.
11727933
Yeah that could be the case,🤔or it could be that since Equestria,s sun is magical, it might have the power of a Sun as big as ours just in a smaller package. (the same goes for the moon)
11728352
True. The season 8 finale did demonstrate just how much of Equestria's ecosystem is dependent on magic.
11728634
Yeah, and in the season 6 finale the changing lands were shown to be quite desolate when Chrysalis was in charge, with her magic suppressing throne (that didn't Target changing magic probably by her design). And after our heroes destroyed it, Trixie and starlight come back after some time and find the changeling lands filled with plants.
11728701
Faxx
11728835
I'm starting to think, the reason why we don't see a lot of anti-magic weaponry, it's because it would be too much of an environmental hazard,
11729120
...I should use that.
11729160
I just had an idea or more like a theory, in season 5 in the cutie remark we saw a future where Equestria was desolate, what if that was the future where cozy glow won and since she won all of equestria's magic was gone and the planet started dying,
11729262
Possibly.