This story is a sequel to Entrenchment
The 38th Company brought many strange and novel things to Equestria.
Technology beyond Canterlot's wildest fantasies. Horrors beyond its bloodiest nightmares.
War, strife, blight, and the dominion of monstrous gods long hidden from the eyes of Equestria's innocent populace.
But the planet known as Centaur III knew the touch of dark magics and evil cults long before the Iron Warriors took their first step upon its soil and constructed their blasphemous idols.
The plot to plunge the world into darkness left many wounds and ancient grudges to fester.
The story of the thestrals, the bat-winged soldiers of the Lunar Guard, is one of misery, bitterness, and betrayal. Their history is little more than desperate quests for power and anticlimactic failures, all mere footnotes now as the survivors quietly return to service under their humbled, purified Princess.
Alas, some scars do not heal.
You reap what you sow.
(Dark humor warning; limited grimdark themes)
(Cover art by MagicStarFriends)
Moar Iron Warriors? SFAccountant knows what the ponies like!
Lol, this is pretty interesting. Look forward to seeing more of it.
A most intriguing start.
You know, it is ironically fitting that the Iron Warriors have a Sexual Harrasement policy JUST for Slaanesh. Funy as fuck too.
First off: KILROY LIVES!
And the rest, interesting, there's always that void about the thestrals and i find is a good thing to expand about them. Reeling back, i remember the bloodborne tribe was taken, maybe they know something? In previous books the company overall grew wary of the many threats that hide in the colorful landscape. So no way they would pass up this one, and still soon but what Dusk really think to do about all of this?
Another adventure in this singular setting, fantastic! And with bat ponies no less, the fun hath been doubled!
DO IT FOR HER
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derpicdn.net/img/view/2021/7/27/2665357.png
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Dusk honestly doesn't know, but he's far more reluctant to strike out and investigate than the others. Hope he gets a choice on the matter!
You killed Kessler offscreen?!?!? The most important Tech clergyperson, who has a longstanding, unresolved rivalry with the main cast, and who constantly shakes up the story, offscreen? Theres's so much potential for growth and.... he's in the servo skull, isn't he?
Also the picture in the authors notes is broken.
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Kessler was killed during the changeling invasion during a detailed fight sequence against a dragon, and had no interactions at all with the main cast. You're probably thinking of Kaelith.
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Dang it, after several years of reliable image hosting, it looks like Imgur is breaking down
It should be fixed now.
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I did indeed get centipede man and the watpsmith confused. My bad. RIP to a real one. I'm looking forward to bat shenanigans!
So, you would think that Dusk Blade would have enough emotional intelligence to realize that he's probably making Twilight feel just as uncomfortable as Penumbra makes him.
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Manliest death in the series
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Dusk doesn't come on to Twilight very aggressively and frequently varies his approach, so the situations aren't so similar.
That said, Dusk is perfectly aware that Twilight detests him and dislikes his continued efforts to woo her, but ultimately he's slightly more invested in his fulfillment than hers
The only positive thing I can say about his efforts is at least he's trying to actually earn Twilight's affection rather than trying to force her in some way.
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No, Kessler died on screen during Entrenchment. Chapter 15. Took out a dragon and saved a pony in the process. You may be thinking of Kaelith?
An interesting start. I forget whether Queen Norn is still around. Is it necessary to unite all six fruits to unlock their full power? Are the nightmares demons, and was Norn's transformation a daemonic possession?
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No, probably but that's spoilers, yes, and no
I did wonder if Dusk's rather harsh opinion of Luna was more widely held or had some origin. She does come off as a bit of a fool but we've seen she's at least a pretty good warrior to the point the Iron Warriors consider her a valuable military asset.
So the opinion of the moon mages is that the Iron Warriors have been corrupted by the goody harmony ponies? That's kind of funny that they can view the actual corrupt daemon worshippers as too harmonious and makes you wonder how harmony magic actually works. They recognize that Chaos is more powerful and that these days the problems of the Galaxy matter more but seem grumpy that they can't focus on vengeance and tyranny of their own.
I'm a little confused why the bat ponies seem intent on concealing their powers; why WOULD the cultists care? Or is this more about Dusk's ability to get everywhere the Dark Mechanicus wants to keep him out and not giving them hints?
The featuring of evil elements of harmony makes me once again wonder if what's up with the original elements. The implications of their destruction still aren't clear, or even what they were. Is pony magic just another variant of psychic powers? That one shot story implied the ponies were protected from Nurgle by that Eldar goddess but I don't remember if that's canon.
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Dusk's opinion of Luna is very much a personal one; most other bat ponies would have decked him for saying such disgraceful things about the Princess of the Night.
Not because there's a deep philosophical or religious conviction among bat ponies to obey and respect Luna, granted. It's more because she's the only pony with any real power who will treat them well.
The Bloodborne have their own distinct cultural view of her of course, mostly because they've had a matriarch bash them over the head with her opinions for centuries on end.
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It may as well be canon; I'm not going to try to explain how unicorns adopted an anti-Chaos psychic hood :D
The Company would care a lot if it figured out that some bat ponies had special powers. They scooped up hundreds of unicorns for being psykers, made the Elements of Harmony into the Warsmith's personal special ops force, and captured basically the entire changeling race to get cut up and prodded in the labs. If they figure out what Dusk's deal is they're definitely going to exploit it one way or another
Ahhh looks like Penny is the Element of Incel
Nice chapter as always, always happy to see new chaos pony. stuff.
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She thought being a Goth sorceress would get her all the action she could want! Just a tremendous letdown on her part
Ah cool. I guess this might explain why that one Batpony Queen (Empyra?) that we haven't read anything about in some time was so much bigger than her subjects. I haven't gone back to find the chapter yet, but I think that was probably the Bloodborne tribe and she was Lady Norn's descendant.
Good start to a cool concept.
Also, fun little reference to Horus there with Norn clearly being our Abaddon stand in.
Ok, so Dusk is clearly The Element of Shadow.
Neuron is probably Deceit.
Nacht is Terror?
And Gloom might be Pain?
If Carnage is accounted for in Empyra, that would leave the Baticorn as the element of Malice. Unless there's something else going on with that one.
These are my early guesses. I wonder if the Baticorn is straight up feral?
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Nah, Isha isn't protecting the ponies. Not directly. Or at least that's my interpretation.
The overall theme of that story is that the ponies, Centaur 3, and all the other creatures on it are the result of one big freak accident.
Because of Isha's meddling in one of Nurgle's diseases, half the planet died while the other half mutated but survived. And then, after an unspecified number of generations, the surviving half re-mutated and was reborn as something more "purified".
If you accept that story as canon; then Centaur 3 and everything on it is inherently touched by Chaos but it was accidently refined into something less extreme and malefic. The planet and everything on it evolved in an unnatural way and there were never any grand designs for the end result by Isha or Nurgle.
May not have asked for this but at the same time dusk is one of my favorites of this series of stories so I am glad either way
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That was Empyra, and that was the Bloodborne. You're right!
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Genuinely surprised there are any Dusk Blade fans! I hope I don't disappoint you, then!
Poor goth sorceress. If only she was less insistent...
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Never any grand design, but they are their children, going by the one shot. The only fruit of that very much disfuncional and kinda non existent relationship. But still their children.
There's a reason why pony nurgle cultists remain pretty much pony like without spilling innards and the like.
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That reason is mostly vanity and their being new to the cult, honestly.
The hideously twisted Plague Marines who have their intestines falling out and their armor coming apart from the pressure of the tumors beneath it took millennia to get like that. Normal humans that worship Nurgle usually just display a few weird bumps and gross rashes until they get a major mutation.
The more consistent difference is how little Chaos worship affects the minds of ponies. The fevered insanity of Nurgle, the constant rage of Khorne, and the cruel hubris of Tzeentch all have much less grip on their personalities than it does most mortals.
"Second base, that’s all I ask" is the most funniest thing I have ever read in my life, man I am dead 😭😭😭😭🤣🤣🤣🤣
Nice chapter so far! I have a question, will we learn how Gloom Fang got his other pair of eyes in this story or a different story?
Making Dusk play the straight man in the squad is a pretty fun reversal of fortunes compared to his usual shenanigans. I like that the cast was fleshed out to be a pretty diverse kill team in skillets.
I found it interesting that Dusk mused on the Tree of Harmony. I don't think the idea that it or the Elements have any sort of supernatural power has been brought up since they shattered quite a while ago.
It's always fun when rational or practical characters need to grapple with prophecy or fate being a real mechanism they must account for.
Wow, the striders are bigger than I thought they were.
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What extra eyes he has the normal number of eyes ha ha ha don't be silly
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I give artists a size reference each time but they see the Strider and immediately think "That's an AT-AT" and want to draw them huge.
Gerworks continu to get no respect, even an strider pilot dont know that he made them.
He is showing a loot more backbone theas days tho.
Hope we will get som flying versions of the stridders soon.
Can you even make a batpony frindly version of them?
Dont know how to handel the ecolocation, mabe some airvents or somthing?
WOAH WOAH WOAH HARLIN! YOU CANT JUST DO THAT, SOMEONE CALL HR. The chaos workspace is supposed to be a safe work environment!
Lads, we're not looking for an ancient evil. We're bringing it/its component beings with us!
Everypony keeps saying they should workshop "baticorn", but no one has. Now that it's on Gear Works' mind, he'll probably come up with the simplest and most mechanically-rational suggestion by himself and register it in the noosphere without telling anyone beforehand; something like thestral + alicorn = thestralicorn, and the others will only find out after their visors tag it and display the designation.
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Hmmmm. Chiropticorn? Chiricorn? Since bats are chiroptera.
May come up with something better later when I have time for more than five minutes on Google.
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S.C.K.A.T.: Secret Chaos-Killing Alicorn Thestral!In Chaos Equestria, taco eats you!
This continues to be fascinating. I'm digging Dusk's character development, too.
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CRAB: Chaos-Resistant Alicorn Bat
🦀🦀🦀
BADASS: Bat Alicorn Defying Authority of Space Scoundrels
WANKER: Weird Alicorn of the Night [Killer] [Equestria-Related]
NACHT: New Anti-Chaos Hegemony Thestral
(Nacht was not happy about this suggestion)
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You guys are doing that thing again where you come up with better ideas than what I already have planned...
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You mean Terrifying Hidden Alicorn Thestrel Targeting Humans In Nightmare's Guise?
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You forgot how it's an Adversary Greatly Aligned with Infinite Night.
Some time later, Solon is reviewing the security recordings from the many eavesdropping devices installed across Ferrous Dominus and comes across the previous conversation. With this new information, he begins weighing his options.
Pros.
+I'd have an army of stable psykers with the natural gift of flight. Estimated Psychic levels at Low-Beta at the very least.
+If Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle are reliable averages, such a force would prove quite flexible and potent.
+The Equines become a far stronger fighting force with (hopefully) a minimal investment of extra resources.
Cons.
-Such a force could really mess with the aesthetics of the 38th Company even more than what the current xeno auxiliaries already do.
-They might be a problem if they decide to turn on the company. Without proper safeguards of course.
-At low estimations, a third of them might develop big enough egos and/or be powerful enough to start expecting me to build them their own suits of powered armor.
-Given past experiences, they would probably pester me just as much as previous individuals to the point I'd relent. (Really need to work on that.)
-The Dark Mechanicus will be far too prideful to assist in the construction and maintenance of such suits. They barely tolerate the ponies as it is.
-It would be just as difficult to convince them to consent to the further acceptance and training of more pony Tech Acolytes to do that work in their place.
-Even with both sources of assistance, most of the work would probably fall on me anyway.
-Based on past experience, maintaining of this new line of wargear would almost certainly deprive me of what little personal time I have left.
Conclusion: Probably not worth it.
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Yes!
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For my part I give you blanket permission to use any ideas that come up in my comments on your stuff, so long as you are okay with me doing a happy dance about it.
On that note, now that I have Googling time: Vespertilio is bat in Latin (High Gothic), and one version of unicorn in latin is monoceros. So Vesperceros? Something like Bat Horn would be what it means, sort of.
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In that case, feel free to use mine as well if the fancy strikes, by all means and hoping this doesn't sound presumptuous. My comments are usually just having fun with a story because I'm enjoying it, but I also get to disregard those odious restraints of plot, theming, and continuity in the process.
First of all… you need to advertise this kind of things better… I noticed it just by chance…
Then… I’m a bit conflicted… it is really nice… but on the other hand it’s the THIRD storyline ongoing…
And … aren’t you trying to make Dusk a POSITIVE character are you? ^^;;;;