Vigiilis Noctis

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Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, who by the way never liked her whole name, never thought herself to be a big believer in things like Destiny. After all, if it always existed, a force that guided you towards one specific end, then what was the point of doing your best if you will always end at the same result? Sure, it gave you stability and security, the knowledge that no matter what you did you could always depend on the result for some validity of your life, as in no matter if life expected you to be a simple farmer or grow to become the empress of a whole kingdom, things will always be alright at the end.

No, what Cadence hated was the fact that Destiny was fickle, and in one blink, all of your plans could be broken, torn apart and set aside, just because it wasn’t your destiny to do it, no matter how much you tried. Determinism was not something Cadence dwelled very long in, no matter how interesting it may be as a thought current. Cadence found the notion interesting, but incredibly sad too, since a pony could pour their heart and soul into something, only to find that their efforts were ultimately useless since the beginning.

Why would Princess Cadence think that when Destiny gave her a hoof full of cards that made her win the pot? Because she also knew of one little filly that had been pushed aside by Destiny and it broke her heart to think about her.

Looking upwards into the night sky, Cadence fixed her eyes into a distant point in the starry carpet that was as beautiful as it was inspiring. Since the moment Princess Luna came back, the night has been jaw dropping in terms of sheer beauty, clearly showing that even after a thousand years missing, the Princess of the Night really knew her stuff when it came to matters like making a simply night look like a piece of art.

This night Cadence wasn’t looking at the spectacle, no. She was instead focusing her eyes on a small light in the firmament, one thing that many ponies and creatures of Equus will believe as a moving star of some kind. It was a blinking dot that Cadence memorized well, knowing very well that it was not moving due to the actions of one alicorn. No, it was moving due to its own propulsion, always vigilant since the day they appeared over Canterlot.

All the way up, even beyond the canopy of magical constructed stars, beyond the movement of the Sun and Moon, free of the gravity of Equus, there was a machine of proportions that dwarfed anything any creature on the planet had ever build, with technology that was sometimes even a mystery to those that lived inside of it. The ship was the home of one Sunset Shimmer, once a member of ponykind and also, for a short time, a member of Cadence’s family.

The Pink Princess had never really had much of a family. Sure, she loved the Earth Pony couple that had taken her in, but even before her ascension she had felt a little bit different. It was probably because she was a pegasus back there, or maybe it was Destiny once again at work, pushing her into Canterlot and becoming Princess Celestia’s niece, at least in name.

She didn’t mind it since she loved Celestia as if she was her real aunt and she also got to meet many others that in a way became part of her family. Blueblood may act like a real peacock, especially in front of a camera, but beyond dealing with the occasional gold digger that went after him due to his title, he was a pony she could laugh and talk openly with. There was Raven, Kibitz, Twilight, and Princess Luna who since her return had been able to meet the new members of her family. Sadly, there was one little pony she couldn’t truly form a bond as with others.

Sunset Shimmer had been proud to become a member of Celestia’s family. In fact, Cadence and the hot headed unicorn had never had a problem, what with the redheaded pony thinking that one day Cadence will also be her cousin, but that day never came.

Being the Princess of Love, she was attuned to the many different kinds of expressing love, from the fraternal, lovers, friendship and even filial. That’s why Cadence had been hopeful that Celestia will finally stop being alone, so withdrawn as day went by. It was only after a few years back that Cadence had finally found out the reason behind Celestia’s morose mood as the return of Nightmare Moon came close and it was understandable. It was the return of her corrupted sister and thankfully, thanks to the work of six young brave mares, the Princess of the Moon had been saved, but by that time, the damage had been done.

The little filly that looked at everything with amazement and desire to understand everything in the world had been changed, little by little. It was not entirely Princess Celestia’s fault, but by taking Sunset Shimmer from the orphanage at such young age, it was clear, at least at the time, that she had plans for the young filly. Sadly those plans had nothing to do with giving Sunset Shimmer a family.

As Cadence watched the night sky she remembered the days when Sunset would smile in a carefree fashion, ready to start another day in her tutelage and how that smile little by little changed. Instead of happily asking for more knowledge and spending time with the Princess, Sunset Shimmer simply sat down and looked at Princess Celestia, listening to her lectures without even a smile, only a cold face, like a good little student should do.

Gone were the chats between teacher and student. Gone were the days when she will joke about something or another. They were all exchanged by polite talking and questions about magical texts. Gone was the little filly that dreamed of being part of a family and the only thing remaining was a mare that had become jaded and tired of being leashed by her teacher.

It was clear that when Princess Celestia made Cadence part of her family, but not her, some part of her own decision to become an alicorn steamed from that. After all, maybe if she was an alicorn maybe Celestia will see her worthy of being part of her family. They were only conjectures on her part, sure, but there must have been something that changed Sunset Shimmer so deeply that she preferred leaving the universe all along than remain one more moment in Equestria.

Celestia may look unbreakable as ever, but for ponies that spend time around her, it was clear that what had happened between the Princess and Sunset had deeply affected her, what with changes in her treatment to her next student. Twilight Sparkle’s education was completely different, what with her openly giving affection and her time to her now favorite student. Of course it would be different after all since Twilight has always been loved by her family, while Sunset had never found the love she wanted from her teacher. Of course it would be different when one has a family and the other is an orphan that saw her mother figure as someone who thought of her more like a tool than a daughter, at least that’s how Cadence saw the situation from the times the pink alicorn had with Celestia after the ‘Great Meeting’ as the papers have been calling it.

Cadence was probably one of a group of ponies that were close enough to the Princess to see those rare moments of weakness, when the Princess of Ponykind was gone and the only thing left was a mare, old and with many memories that weighed upon her shoulders.

The return of her old student had broken her mask so fiercely that Celestia was left atop her throne, with no guard or attendant except her closest friends and family. Luna, Cadence and Twilight Sparkle stood around her, surprised to see the state in which Celestia had been left after such a meeting. She had never before seen her weep.

As the train advanced across the night, Cadence watched the far away ship, constantly reminding the denizens in Equus of their presence, that they were here and they will keep constant vigilance on what they did. Many in Equestria had been in awe of their visitors, thinking of them as envoys of a higher entity, almost as if they were protectors of the planet.

Others were scared of what they were perceived as monsters, of course, never aloud and never in front of the strange armored bipeds, well, except for one time when some of the most stupid royals had opened their mouth. Let it be said that Sunset Shimmer hasn’t lost any of her usual fire.

So far, Sunset Shimmer and the other warriors with her had kept to themselves, with only a small piece of land in Equus that they used to grow what they needed alongside minerals that they excavated from the ground and for the most part, they were content to use that or the ship that floated gently in the sky. Cadence wasn’t sure how they did it and was afraid to even ask, considering that Sunset Shimmer was the only one that spoke directly with ponies in general, something about xenos and heretics. Cadence didn’t really want to know what that was all about.

Sadly for her and her husband, they will have to talk with Sunset Shimmer, if she even wanted to meet the Princess of Love considering how frozen the diplomatic talks between Equestria and the representatives of the Imperium of Man were, but Cadence will need their help, what with the return of Sombra.

The young Princess still shuddered remembering the face of those crazed ponies and the look of glee that a revived Sombra had when he simply walked into the courtroom back at the Crystal Empire and named himself its new Emperor. It was a nightmarish day, with loyal soldiers of Equestria dying by the dozens, being ripped apart and in some cases, which Cadence knew that she will remember for years, eaten alive by ponies that looked more like demons than anything else. Frenzied and raving, Sombra’s minions were as corrupted as their leader, who had re-appeared without any warning.

It was a long trip to Canterlot, hours that Cadence usually spends reading notes or documents from the court or a novel of some kind, talking with her husband or drinking and talking with ponies in the train, either from the Crystal Kingdom or ponies that were returning.

Tonight, any of those distractions would be useless. She had just been deposed and had to run away from her home. Her husband was lying in the bed at her side, part of his face hidden beneath thick bandages and Cadence couldn’t wake him, not with how injured he was. It was better if he rested until they arrived at Canterlot and for people to talk. They were all busy, from nurses and everyone that knew first aids, to the soldiers and citizens that were able to run away alongside her.

Cadence couldn’t rest. She couldn’t sleep. The guilt, shame and pain of failing all of her little ponies weighted upon her. Good ponies had died this day and many more were still trapped on the frozen lands that the Crystal Kingdom had now become. Cadence had seen the Crystal Heart, usually so bright and full of magic, turn into a lifeless rock in front of her eyes as they tried one last attempt to repel Sombra’s attack, but it was all in vain. Now, the land she had tried to modernize and bring about new life was now the playground for the reborn monster.

Looking into the sky, Cadence hoped that this calamity would not be the one thing that plunged Equestria and the planet in general into chaos, because at the end of the day, Cadence wasn’t sure if their friends in the sky will help them, or simply take the opportunity to burn the planet to the ground.

She was taken from her thoughts when she heard the door of her private train room be opened. She turned around while carefully gathering magic on the tip of her horn. No matter how secure a place could be, she couldn’t leave her defenses open, not again. After seeing who was entering she sighed, knowing that there was no danger. After all, it was one of the soldiers that had survived the initial massacre.

Emerald Shard was what might be called a veteran in the force. Of course, that was mostly for years working in the army more than any real experience in the field. Cadence had nothing against him, but ponykind in general was not quite prepared for attacks of such magnitude and ferocity, not anymore at least. He was still a loyal soldier, one that had been affected like the rest of the ponies in the train, due to the brutal reality of what war with true evil was.

“You are still awake Princess?” He may be a soldier at heart, but that didn’t mean that Emerald was as rowdy as most citizens thought of the army. Even without wars to fight in, the military branch of Equestria was still disciplined and educated, just like Emerald who always spoke with Cadence with more elegance than most nobles in Canterlot.

“I couldn’t quite sleep. Also, I need to look after Shining, and his injuries are quite severe.”

“Still, you also need to rest. Tomorrow will be a long day, what with the Diarchy, well, what used to be the Diarchy getting together to get the army ready to fight against Sombra. Is that not the mission of this travel?”

“Partially, because we also have injured and civilians that ran away-” At those words Cadence was interrupted by Emerald. If it had been anyone else, or if they had more people in the room, everyone would have been scandalized at the gall of a simple guardsman to interrupt a Princess, but for Cadence, who thought herself as an equal to others, she never got mad. In fact, she always enjoyed a good debate, probably something from her days at High School.

“You did not run away Princess. It was a tactical retreat to save lives and you are right now in search of reinforcements. It was not cowardly what you did. You were only thinking about the citizens of the Crystal Empire.” Emerald, a soldier through and through. Cadence had to smile at the way in which the captain of the castle guard explained her actions, but Cadence knew that she was running away. What good is to have powers that had to do with Love when the enemy was filled with so much rage? Besides, what worked against Chrysalis and the Changelings wouldn’t help a second time, what with Shining hurt. Her husband hasn’t even woke up since they left the Crystal Empire and she was worried, not only about her love, but about the ponies that she couldn’t save and were right now in the middle of terror.

“Call it whatever you want Emerald, I ran away, once more going to my Aunt’s home asking for help and it will be Twilight and her friends who will swoop in to save the day.”

“Excuse me Princess, but you don’t sound so sure of that. Besides, Princess Twilight and the rest of the Elements of Harmony will probably end this crisis.” It was sad to see so much hope in Emerald that Princess Cadence couldn’t tell him that they didn’t have the Elements anymore, that they were back once again on the Tree of Harmony.

“I hope you are right, because if not, then we will have to call for… other reinforcements.” Almost on instinct, Cadence turned to the window. As the empty fields of Equestria’s frontier passed by, her eyes were focused on the ship in the sky.

“Princess, you don’t mean-”

“Sombra has always been a dark wizard, even more than that, he is a darkness-made pony. Who else to destroy something so dark, but someone that had been trained to do that from the beginning?”

“She is more likely to kill us all than to save us, I’m sorry your Highness, but you know what I say is true.”

“I know Emerald, I just… I trust her, as foolish as that may sound.” Cadence still believed that inside of Sunset Shimmer there was still that young happy filly, that she hadn’t been killed by pain and nightmares. She just wished she was right this one time.

-----

Far away from home, in a low orbit around a planet full of green and blue, a young woman stood watching how beautiful and peaceful everything was from so far away. It was bizarre for the woman since it was quite the rare day for her to have time of respite and to think since her life was normally full of chaos and battle every single day.

The life of the Adepta Sororitas was not a quiet one, at least for those that called themselves Battle Sisters. For the rest, the norm was either reading, studying the words of the Emperor and those close to him as if they were religious texts, full of the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Their days were filled sometimes with the search of the heretic, of those that had been corrupted by power or wanted to betray the Emperor in the Golden Throne. Others could maybe find a quiet life becoming nurses of young nobles and teaching them the way of life, quietly manipulating them in the true way of the Imperium. There was no peace for a Sister of Battle.

Since she had appeared on that other world, she had been plunged into a dying universe that was hanging on by a thread, always at the edge of extinction and only the Inquisition, the Guard, the Adeptus Astartes and the Adepta Sororitas stood as shield against the heretics, the chaotic and the mutants, always waiting an opportunity to destroy the Imperium of Man.

It was tiring and every time Sunset was forced into the battlefield she left a piece of herself, not of her body since she was still without scar, something so bizarre considering how many battles she had been a part of. No, she had left parts of her mind, of her soul behind, things that had been part of her, that symbolized the old Sunset, turning her into quite the deadly machine, one that followed the word of the Ecclesiarchy.

Sunset Shimmer wondered if, after all this time, she had truly become the role that she had played since she had been out in the Schola Progenium, the school for those that had lost their parents. It was a good thing that records were so hard to come by in the massive amount of planets that made the Empire, because that allowed Sunset to get by unnoticed, at least until the time came for her to truly shine. Years after that, Sunset wondered if it had been a good idea to be so good at things, because here she was once again, looking at her home and wondering if maybe all the xenophobic rants in the Codex had affected her.

Looking at Celestia after so long, it just made her ache for the time where things were simpler, when she didn’t have to kill others because they didn’t believe what was allowed to believe. Sunset knew that she had it easier than most. After all, she hasn’t been part of any Inquisition mission, and instead, she had always been there to save planets from other faction’s incursions.

Defeating Orks when they invaded the Tavares system, or the Chaos incursion on planet Eterya, those were easy, but this, having to rely on another species, one so different to them after getting lost in the Warp? Sunset felt the words of her teachers in the Schola come to her and saying she shouldn’t trust xenos, but her heritage was still there and knew that following the most extreme parts of the Codex will end with either her team or planet Equus dead. It was a thought that kept her awake at night, or what passed at night in the Lunar-class Cruiser ship.

She had been thinking about options for their ship, how to survive and how to continue living, if either they should search for the Imperium and a way to go back, or should they stay and try to create a new Abbey when someone appeared in her cabin.

She was wearing not the habit of the Sororitas, but the green uniform of the Guardsmen. She looked fresh out of boot camp and Sunset pitied her a little bit, knowing that if they had arrived at their original destination, she would have probably been the first to die in the battlefield.

“Can I help you?” Sunset tried to avoid talking with most guardsmen as she did to her Sisters. The poor soldiers were probably prepared to deal with a crazy Commissar who will kill them if they ever wavered, or just to raise moral. Instead, Sunset decided to take a more hands-on command on them considering she was the one with the higher rank, not to mention that the mere whisper of Inquisition made them all want to throw themselves into the metallic floor and ask to have a merciful death.

“Yes, ah, Miss, I mean, Canoness Shimmer, there is a transmission from planet Equus, I think it is one of their Princesses.” She must be very new considering she didn’t show the usual kind of xenophobia as others. Sunset shuddered to think what kind of troubles she would have if there had been any Space Marine in the ship when it was warped by the, well, Warp. She would probably have more headaches trying to get the different groups on the ship from killing each other.

“Was it the white Princess of the dark one?”

“It was the white one Canoness.”

“Well, that will mean things are serious then, because for what else will she call me? Unless she is asking me to take tea with her, because if that’s the message then I will have to send a negative with help of a few Bolter rounds.” At least crude humor was enough to make the guardsmen relax around her, make them see her as one of them instead of a force that at any moment will declare them heretics and shoot them right there.

Sunset Shimmer may have thought that things were boring right now, but she had no idea of what kinds of trouble she and the rest of the ship will get into, not to mention all the rules that she will break in the next few weeks, at least enough to make most members of the Inquisition fall dead due to shock and consternation.

Author's Notes:

In the dark days of Chaos and Madness, there is only war, but in mids of death and hopelessness, there is a light that still burns; the power of the God Emperor of Mankind. Sadly for Equestria, his words and ideas had been twisted by the chrch after millenia of being in power and those that are not humans can be purged by the Inquisition.

Sunset Shimmer will have a lot of headaches trying to get her Sisters and those in the ships from attacking Equus, not now where they are needed.

Next chapter will see Sunset's past as she remembers her days on 40K and how she fought, bleed and lived alongside her sisters, the Adepta Sororitas.

If you need more information about Warhammer 40K you can ask me and I will try to answer clearly so you can take an idea of the trouble in which Equestria is right now.

Also, and that's mostly something for, you know, if you want; can someone get or make a story cover? I mean, there are amazing Adepta Sororitas art in the web, but no pic of them is good for a BSister of Battle that has red hair, so, you know, if any of you could do that, I will be forever grateful.

Legate

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If there was one aspect of life among humans of the almost endless Imperium of Man that Sunset never conformed to, it was the fact that she just couldn’t get used to the idea of living all her life aboard a ship and continuously make travel across the Warp, taking supplies and soldiers everywhere without ever stepping into a world or seeing a sunrise. Not that she did much of the last one, except when she survived a gruesome battle. Now that she thought about, that usually happened a lot.

It’s not that Sunset detested the idea of flying across the never ending corners of the universe. In fact, every single travel that she did across the Warp had been awe-inspiring by itself, at least even more than any time she had been forced to pray to a god that she wasn’t even sure if it was a god or was the best example of humanity. With the kind of gods that existed in the universe, well, there were worst choices to look up to.

The truth was that she liked traveling in space, never mind the fact that going faster than light meant going through the dimension where literal demons lived and the only thing keeping her safe were the special shields that nobody explained to her how it worked since it apparently was a sacred secret which made absolutely no sense whatsoever. The other thing that kept everyone in the ship safe was apparently that the Emperor’s mind and powers were still working even though his body was now a rotting carcass sitting on top of the Golden Throne, and he used that power to safely guide ships across the Astronomican, the beacon that guided mankind’s ships across the warp.

To say that Sunset was incredibly excited and scared out of her wits the first time she understood that, well, it would be like saying that ponies kind of liked pastries and bright pastel colors, which means that she was close to going bonkers, screaming into the night how such thing could be possible, which in turn would probably have made every single member of the Adepta Sororitas start looking at her as if she was crazy. And of course, if you are crazy then came the Inquisition. Only a couple hours of meditation and hitting the training dummies saved her from making a scene back at the Schola Progenium and make everyone stop trusting her.

She had been 12, maybe, when she had finally began to read about her new world and even though she had been scared witless at the time, as she continued her training the fear went away. Only then her desire to see the kind of place that the Emperor had created started to worm into her brain. She had the chance to do that, even if it became reality in the worst kind of situation possible.

Walking across the metal corridors of what the Gothic Armada considered a pleasant ship to be in, her steps echoed across the walls of steel and whatever else the ships were made of. For a species to be able to fly around and conquer innumerable worlds, the simple fact that making space faring ships could be a complete mystery except for some few groups of people and that some of them were hoarding that knowledge to this day just made her blood boil, a little bit more than usual that is.

While they had some great minds in the Imperium, the simple fact was that technology was revered and also seen as a huge heresy to this day, which tinkled Sunset’s scientific mind in the completely wrong way, not that she was stupid enough to complain aloud back home. She liked being alive and well and not being in the sight of the Inquisition, at least as the defendant.

As she walked, many of the other workers in the ship stood aside, recognizing their de-facto leader since they arrived via warp to this point of the galaxy, or maybe they weren’t even in the galaxy at all and could be lost in another universe. Guards, Navy, Sororitas, Psykers and even Tech-Priests were all about aboard the Lunar-class ship, which simply boggled the mind of the different members of the Imperium of Man since, well, those different people would never be in the same place all at the same time unless it was a huge crisis the size of the Horus Heresy.

The fact that they were all about the same ship was enough to make Sunset’s head throb with an endless headache, and alongside the fact that when they were basically thrown out of the warp half of the people inside the ship had been replaced by another half of people that had nothing to do with their mission was even a worst thing.

Their ship had been ready to drop supplies and a whole platoon of guards and even the Sororitas Order under the direction of Sunset Shimmer into a planet where apparently Tyranids had been found. Now, instead of being on that sector, she and the rest of her group had found out that they were right in front of Equus and completely lost in a universal kind of way. Not only that, since basically every single official and half of the ship’s crew had disappeared at the same time just meant that the problems were only starting.

Instead of veterans and Navy officers, Sunset had found out that a group of Tech-Priests that were about to make a trip to some ruins had suddenly appeared on their ship, much to their own confusion and delight to see what kind of things they could find on the new planet full of strange xenos and strange technology, not that Sunset trusted their little greedy hands. It was no secret across the Inquisition that the Adeptus Mechanicus loved to find new technologies… just so they could hoard them to themselves. If any of them put one foot, finger, or metallic claw out of place, she would personally throw them through a decompressing hatch to see if they could breathe in space.

Others that were also apparently invited by the warp were more Guardsmen than there were initially. Instead of the 50 members that were basically a garrison for a planet, now they had a little close of 150 men and women that didn’t even come from the same group. Sunset already found Imperial Guardsmen that were so new that their armor had been barely been giving to them a day prior to being shipped. She also found probably the worst kind of troops aboard her ship, the damn Death Korps of Krieg. Thankfully, most of those soldiers were currently stationed on Equus in the land that had been given to them by the Diarchy of Equestria.

While most soldiers were the usual rabble that were more likely to die than to be able to take down a single enemy of humanity, Sunset had found that other soldiers about the ship were a little bit more… colorful let’s just say. The suicidal driven soldiers from the death world of Krieg were the only members of the army that were quicker to charge into the enemy that Sunset and for that she was surprised, amused and proud of such bravery.

Of course, it also meant that they tended to die in higher numbers, but that’s how they liked it, thinking of death as a way to redeem themselves from their failure in saving their planet, more or less. To be truthful, Sunset never had much of a chance to speak with the Korps since she never knew if she was talking with the same guy and they tended to have a very short life in the battlefield so she never got the full story out of them. So lo and behold, she had found a group of them inside the ship, currently going bonkers since they haven’t a chance to die gloriously in the name of the Emperor.

Also, and this was quite interesting, some of the guards hailed from another death planet - for completely different reasons than Krieg -, the jungle world of Catachan. For what Sunset had been able to read about the planet, the whole place would make the worst of the Hive World sectors into a paradise planet considering everything in Catachan had evolved with the intention of killing everything else that lived on its surface.

The few warriors of Catachan that now called the Wonder - the Lunar-class cruiser ship that had been spit by the warp into her old dimension - their home were not exactly what she envisioned of an Imperial Unit. While the average soldier in the Imperium used the standard uniform and armor, which must be made out of recycled paper due to how fragile it was to most attacks, but since technology was lost after millennia and most advances could be seen as heretic work, well, it was almost a hopeless cause.

No, Catachan Jungle Warriors did not use armor, in fact, they basically went shirtless all the time and looking more like a miniature Space Marine without armor, that was how big they were. That would be distracting to most female and male soldiers with that disposition due to how completely perfect in terms of anatomy they were, but Sunset sometimes just screamed about the injustice of her training as a Sororitas.

As an Adepta Sororitas, each and every one of Sunset’s Sisters of Battle had been mentally trained to be chaste, cold and completely focused on the cult - ahem, true religion of the God Emperor of Mankind. Sadly, that extremely effective training brought other consequences that Sunset never really understood until later, when as she grew older became so blatant it almost slapped her in the face. Not even once, after all the time she spend working, living and also bathing alongside her Sisters, she had ever even peeked or grew curious about her own and the other’s bodies. Now, back in Equestria, well, she wasn’t a recluse and at least knew about self-pleasure, but as a human in the Imperium of Men, just, nothing. She was as chaste as… well as a nun, which fit perfectly.

Sunset Shimmer, who was now over 30 years old, didn’t have even an ounce of carnal desire left on her perfectly sculpted body. I mean, after battling the servant cultists of Slaanesh in one planet and not even blink once at all the exposed flesh and promises of eternal pleasure, well, it was pretty obvious how pure and chaste she was now. Well, at least it was useful to keep herself centered into the new role she had as the temporary commander of the ship, at least until the guardsmen, the Psykers, the Tech-Priests and the Navy all decided on their new commander. Sunset wasn’t waiting with bated breath on that one.

Once she arrived at the bridge things were pretty much the same as she had seen it the last time, since there were still Navy personnel, or at least the ones that had been left behind due to the Warp Jump. While most technology in the Imperium wasn’t the most advanced one due to the Dark Ages of Technology and most advancements being lost due to chaos and the Warp storms constantly affecting the world, the bridge was strangely modern looking, if one ignored the chandeliers and the whole gothic interior decoration that permeated every single fact of the Gothic Armada. I mean, there is a reason why it was called THE Gothic Armada.

Although most teams in the army could barely get maybe some long range communicators, the ship had one of the most advanced way of communication, which was the video transmitters that they had installed in the bridge. Since their arrival at planet Equus, they left one of the smaller portable transmitters with the royalty of Equestria, much to the distaste of most of the people on the ship, but they all admitted to themselves that it was for the best, at least for now. Besides, they didn’t have to fear of being branded as heretics for having communications with a xeno empire since, well, the people that would usually judge them for that were the ones that DID the negotiations, so, no problem, right?

Right there, in one of the monitors was the one being that brought as many good memories as those she simply wanted to erase from her brain. It was the bright sun of Equestria and its beacon of hope, the great Princess Celestia.

“So, the guards say you have a message for me?” While the relationship between the two had somehow cooled since the days of the redhead’s tutoring, it was still a little too awkward for both considering the last time they had seen each other before Sunset’s jump into the mirror. Still, Sunset had to give it to Celestia because right now she looked as royal as ever.

“Yes, I don’t want to take up your time but Princess Cadence arrived this morning from the Crystal Kingdom with many injured guards. She has been deposed by a returning Sombra.” Okay, that name did caught Sunset’s attention.

“Wait, isn’t that the dark sorcerer that was killed thanks to the artifact that absorbs positive mental energy? Didn’t you blow him up?”

“Indeed, but he has returned. It took both Cadence and Shining Armor by surprise due to Sombra’s quick attack on the crystal Empire. What’s more, and mainly the reason why I call you, is that thanks to the surviving guards and Cadence’s description, well, the only way in which we can describe the ponies working with Sombra is by calling them demons.” Celestia’s words, accompanied by a drawing that when she raised it with her magic made Sunset’s body tense up. Somewhere behind her she heard a gasp and someone saying something about the Emperor’s holy light or something, because what was drawn was not any kind of pony she had seen before, but it was still familiar. The horrible welts and face completely deformed, alongside sharp protuberances growing alongside its body. It looked way too much like a demon spawn.

“I’ll be at Canterlot Castle in a couple of hours,” she simply said, no more words having to be said across the communication as Celestia nodded and the transmitter went dark. Sunset looked around the bridge to see how the guardsmen and navy personnel acted, seeing that none of them were disgusted by the Sister of Battle’s decision to meet a xeno, but worried and angered at what this could mean.

It was Chaos, simple and dark Chaos in action on Equestria, but how? The planet itself was way too cheery and colorful to be the target of a corrupting force like chaos and the Dark Gods. Sunset Shimmer then almost facepalmed knowing full well that things like corruption were nothing new if the story about Nightmare Moon being true and ending up being Princess Celestia’s sister all along, well, then things could very well be true and that was not a comforting thought.

Knowing that every member of her impromptu Order was now looking at her, she simply commanded them to continue operations and monitoring the planet’s surface from orbit. If there was one tactical advantage that Sunset had over every single xeno species in Equestria was her advantage of being able to attack from space at any moment, which probably didn’t sit well with Equestria’s courtroom. Neither with the Elk Union that lived deep in the forest at the east of Equestria, not that any of them gave a shit what those pompous idiots did or thought. They made Sunset remember the Eldar and that was not conducive to the continual existence of the Elk.

“Tell the personnel in the hangar bay to get the Thunderhawk ready and call Chroma and Siivet, they will accompany me into Canterlot.” The guards quickly nodded and began to relay the messages across the ship. Going by drop ship was infinitely safer than going the drop pod route and Sunset detested that way of descending into a planet. More than hate, Sunset had a deep seated disgust with such kind of thing no matter how fast and effective it was to suddenly fall into the enemy forces, but unless one was a member of the Adeptus Astartes, there was very little chance for a normal human being to not arrive with all their parts intact.

“Don’t you want a bigger escorting party Canoness? I mean, it will only be you three,” the Guardsman that had spoken with her previously said, clearly having followed Sunset to the bridge like the good soldier she was. The blonde girl still looked slightly worried, but that was probably because she wasn’t that good yet in hiding her true emotions or she had a very serious problem in regards of her nerves.

Sunset Shimmer looked at her for a full second before continuing advancing as if nothing had happened, clearly enjoying putting the guard even more stressed for some reason, when she suddenly stopped just as the guards had returned to their jobs.

“Now that I think about it, you are right Guardsman, what is your name?”

“Mine? Ah, I’m Felicia Lancaster my, uh, my lady?” she asked, not knowing exactly in what kind of trouble she was getting into.

“Like I said, you are right, I need more people helping… you will travel with us too Guardsman Felicia.” Just seeing the wide eyes full of surprise and trepidation was enough to make Sunset smirk a little bit. It was definitely not good to play that kind of tricks on the people living on the ship, but sometimes Sunset needed to act a little bit less holy all the time or else she would start screaming in rage and nobody would like that.

Leaving Felicia behind - in a way that made her unable to refuse the order of the Canoness, not that the blonde guard had any hope of surviving the mere fact of refusing the order from someone of the Ordo Hereticus - Sunset made way into her private chambers, something that many other soldiers didn’t have that luxury in the ship, and prepared herself for dropping into the planet, thankfully, this time without being attacked by anti-air shells or flying monsters that were ready to tear down their vehicle. Sunset has had an interesting time in the battlefield.

She have definitely seen her fair share of strange things and was accustomed to rough landings. That was not to say that she wanted one, not in a planet that had been so peaceful. Although, now that Sunset thought about it, maybe Equestria wasn’t as idyllic as she thought when she was still a citizen of it. I mean, they have dark eldritch monsters, creatures of chaos that could wreak havoc on the populace with a snap of its fingers, monsters that wanted power and armies of insect monsters that only wanted to feast upon the citizens of civilized world. Listing those terrors made Sunset realize how similar Equestria and the Imperium were, of course, minus an all-powerful Ecclesiarchy that controlled most aspects of the empire.

Beyond that, the similarities in enemies trying to destroy the place was uncanny, even more so now that there were terrible creatures ready to pounce upon most ponies. Sunset Shimmer would have laughed at the irony of doing her job as someone who stopped the ever-present taint of Chaos on her birth planet, if it weren’t so serious in nature the fact that the whole planet could be consumed by that same darkness in record time if left unchecked.

In her room and without the usual ritualistic process of donning her armor as the Canoness of the Solis Aeterni Order, the redheaded veteran prepared herself for her meeting with the rulers of Equestria. Usually the process took a time since for the most part, several members of the Order were supposed to help the Canoness into her personalized Power Armor. It was a true marvel of technology, one that she itched to be able to further modify, but the simple act of trying to upgrade some kind of technology, or to even think about simplifying the process in which to produce it was not only frowned upon, but it could very well make you look like an heretical for many, even if one was an Adepta Sororitas. As much as it grated Sunset’s mechanical senses, she had left the armor aside for better military expertise and the sufficient knowledge in how to make the best use of her power armor in combat and outside of it.

Unlike the standard versions of the Sororitas’ armor, the Solis Aeterni has gained a new paint coat. Gone was the dark look of the armor, with red and yellow signifying the sun on the banners and the armor becoming red with the cloth turning white with the inside parts yellow. Sunset knew that in a way, the Order had decided to use the color scheme of her hair since for them, it waved proudly the sun that would burn eternally, like the Imperium. There was a part in Sunset’s brain that knew that all that was simply superstition and fanaticism, but, well, that was the bread and butter when you were a Sister of Battle.

While the systems inside the armor paled in comparison to those the Adeptus Astarte had in their own power armors, the very fact that the armor they could wear was millions of times better than the normal guardsman was a huge step forward. Yes, most of the auto-system, well, make that ALL the auto-systems that a Space Marine would have were not present in their armor. Obviously, since all Space Marine chapters made, regulated and upgraded their own variation of the Armor, unlike the one the Sisters used which were made by the Ecclesiarchy apparently, not that Sunset was sure considering how the Church did not mix well with things like technology and the Adeptus Mechanicus. So they ended up having a lighter Armor with no extra systems and no extra power. Still, Sunset loved the armor.

Putting everything together, something that she had done since she became a Sister, Sunset looked around at her rather bare room, now that she had taken every belonging from the previous captain of the ship. Sunset prayed to the Emperor that the man and the rest of the crew was alright before leaving her chambers and moving quickly into the Hangar.

Along the way Felicia, rather expectantly, began to try and explain why it would be better for her to remain on the ship, but Sunset completely ignored the sputtering and babbling guardsman currently following her and totally blaming herself for opening her mouth. Sunset continued to walk in the direction of the Hangar, grateful that they were using one of the most standard issue Cruisers in the Imperium. While not everyone knew how it was made, everyone knew their way around.

She was thinking about the ship because while the ship was not a huge Battleship capable of destroying planets, it was big enough that it had some of the standard equipment that the imperium had, among them a Thunderhawk which worked not only as their main way of transportation from ship to planet, but also the only reasonable way in which to travel around that same planet.

At least The Wonder, now Sunset’s ship in a way, had enough space for the personnel, if a little tight at the beginning, at least until she send several groups into the planet to create a permanent base of operations on land.

Alongside the aforementioned Thunderhawk, which was their main tool to re-enter the atmosphere safely, they also had a couple of other vehicles, most of which had been moved down to the planet’s surface so they had more space for cargo and supplies, which were of utmost importance for the band of lost soldiers of the Emperor.

At the aforementioned Hangar, the surprisingly resistant space vehicle known as Thunderhawk was already prepped to go and close to it Sunset could see two of her Sisters already suited up and waiting for her. The two had been loyal companions of her since she had been inducted into the Sisters of Battle Order, which in itself was something surprising considering they had been together for almost 20 years of combat and survival, almost a miracle on itself for warriors. While it was true that they were not frontline soldiers, it did not mean that they have been safe from war, battle or destruction.

Of the two Sisters of Battle waiting for her, Chroma was the quickest to act, which in itself had been a problem at the beginning, with rash action and not thinking of the repercussion those could bring to the mission. Sunset had to bring her ass back on line numerous times in the past and once she had literally hauled her back when she had been injured. It had been one of the worst situations the Order had been involved with.

Since that battle, Chroma had, well, not exactly changed, but had matured as a warrior and followed Sunset’s command. In the end, Sunset had finally turned her into a great warrior who will finally think before jumping straight into the battle, to the relief of many in the order that were fond of her brash attitude and confidence.

The other, as angelical as Celestine herself probably, was another problem in and of itself at the beginning. You see, while Siivet was generous, pious, humble and benevolent with everyone in her order, she could become quite the hellcat in battle, wielding a heavy Power Maul as if it were nothing. While the two women had reached the rank of Seraphim, an accomplishment on their own, they remained devout to the Solis Aeterni and unlike most Sisters of Battle, or Sororitas in that case, never abandoned Sunset’s side in their order which the redhead was thankful for.

Siivet was probably one of the most zealous members of the Sororitas Sunset had seen when they had become part of the same group several decades ago and that was saying something considering every single Sister of Battle is a zealous of some kind. Only through constant talking, experience fighting and bonding had Sunset been able to diminish that part of her personality, finally gaining some backbone and making her think outside of the guidelines of the Ecclesiarchy.

Sunset didn’t want zealous, martyrs or fanatical warriors among her ranks. Sure, it may be the Sisters of Battle way, but fanatics didn’t survive. She has seen many soldiers, Sisters and even Marines die because they have been stuck on their way of thinking. Instead of finding new ways in which to attack the enemy, everyone preferred to simply scream their loudest and charge directly into the enemy. There were no real tactics, no subterfuge, no ‘cheating’ in the battlefield and Sunset Shimmer have found herself excelling at all of those areas.

“So, what did the big horsie have to say?”

“How do you know it was one of them Chroma?” Sunset said as the four women quickly went into the Thunderhawk.

“Please, it was easy since she is the freaking Princess of this stupid xeno species.”

“Chroma, while they may be xenos, it is not… well, nice to talk about someone that has been offering us their help in that way,” It had taken time… a LOT of time and effort from Sunset to at least battle some of the most rooted xenophobic tendencies of her Chapter. Well, calling it a Chapter would be too big of a word for a mere 30 Sisters that were currently under her command, but considering how different they acted to most other Orders, maybe Chapter would be more precise to explain their band of misfits. Very successful misfits, but misfits all the same.

As she thought about her group and the bizarre circumstances in which they had been thrown into, she couldn’t avoid the thoughts that had been plaguing her since they arrived at Equus, just like the reason why she ran away in the first place and the kind of reception she had had on the other side of the mirror. Those first days lost in an alien world continued to be a nightmare that constantly reminded her in what type of hell she had jumped into.

As the group got into the Thunderhawk, Sunset thought back on those initial days, when she thought she had found a world as technologically advanced as Equestria, with their small haven and simple living, oh how wrong she was back then. Both Chroma and Siivet completely ignored Felicia as they bucked down and got ready for their descent as the green armored woman was as nervous as was possible without going to point where she would vomit due to stress.

The flying machine they were using was clearly not modified with Space Marines in mind, what with being rather standard model with enough space for soldiers to sit down and await their dead as their transport will probably be shot down by enemy batteries. The grey flying box even had enough space left to transport a war machine like a Rhino or maybe even a Chimera… if they were lucky enough to have something with that kind of power around, but nope. They only had a Rhino which had been on the ship to be used as transport for whatever planet it was supposed to give supplies to.

As Sunset got comfortable, something that she was capable of even when there were artillery cannons and sounds of guns and bombs, one of the advantages of becoming a veteran in everything military related, she thought back on the first look that she got of The Imperium as a young little girl, just fresh from screaming at Celestia’s face like the little brat that she had been back there.

It was weird that just one small talk with Celestia, as frozen and awkward as possible it could be, made her go back to the moment everything went beyond her control. No, it had always been her decision to search for more power. Celestia may not have been guiltless in all of this, but Sunset had as much, or even more blame in the destruction of her life in Equestria.

She could even smell the scent of freshly baked bread as she finally recovered her wits after jumping into the mirror. Sunset took a look at her small extremities, finding the way in which her hooves had been transformed into hands with digits, like the bipeds back on Equestria. Her skin was peachy and it seemed that the creatures on the other side of the portal were neither armored, nor where they equipped with fur.

The small girl with a peasant dress spend some time checking her body, noting how small and young she looked, younger that she had been in Equestria, maybe it was another power of the mirror and Sunset was bursting with excitement at what was going on.

Finally turning around from where she had been sitting, she finally noticed what was the portal on the others side, quickly noticing that it was a statue, a big statue of a man wearing armor and with a laurel crown adorning his head. The statue gave her the same kind of aura that statues of Celestia in the royal garden gave her; the same kind of command and charisma, as if it was an eternal caretaker of whatever species controlled this planet. Sunset decided that she hated the man just as much as she hated Celestia.

Just as she was about to truly explore her new surroundings, the sky above her suddenly became even more curious and interesting as something, a monster that seemed to be made of metal of some kind appeared on the sky, followed closely by something that looked like… pods? They were white and Sunset had no idea in what kind of hell she had just got into.

Praeterita

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The Past – First Part/25 years ago

Dark metallic behemoths cluttered the sky in an array of alien design in a way that baffled Sunset Shimmer’s mind. While she may be a pony of knowledge in Equestrian technology, she had only seen small vessels filled with hot air and controlled by top of the line enchanted crystals. She knew that those enchantments weren’t easy for most unicorns so they were usually used by ponies of some power or by rich ponies with more money than common sense.

The few ships that were not under Equestrian control were usually found travelling across the wastelands beyond the land of ponies, which in turn didn’t make those vessels easy to find or safe to be on them. These monsters of grim power were not like those of Equestria. They simply dwarfed them, making them look more like toys that were used by children at carnivals. No, these enormous vessels were clearly made for one thing in particular. They were vessels of war.

As they continued to pour from the sky like an inexhaustible rain of metal, Sunset noticed smaller objects, faster than the titanic ships. These were of different kind, looking like pods and quickly falling into the ground. Even from where Sunset was, she could see that those devices were enormous, big enough to tower over her, so there was only one thing in her mind; What were they transporting? She was one of the smartest ponies in Equestria, her education covered not only the pre-classical period of new magic, but also by herself she had begun to study other aspects of the very dark ages of Equestria, like the military incursions that ponies had after their unification.

Most species would believe that Ponies have always been the friendship obsessed beings that wanted to finish every day with a song and dance, that resolved problems with a kind word and a lesson that could be taught in a child’s book, but that was a lie. The truth, as Sunset found out in her travels to the restricted section of the royal library, was that Ponykind loved to get into a good war every single time they could, from fighting with minotaurs and their maze riddled lands, to the invasions of the Elk-kind for control of most of the new Equestrian land after the Wendigo era.

Ponies’ history had been written with iron and blood, spilling the blood of brother and invader at equal opportunity, so it was Sunset’s thought that, if Celestia ever disappears, Ponykind with enough time would probably devolve into that part of their story. Another thought was that, if ponies ever found something out there that wanted to bring them to their knees, there not much that could stop them except the Princess.

If, by any looks, there were things that could very well do that, it was these monstrosities landing on the planet that just boggled the mind of Sunset, a pony that professed being one of the smartest and most powerful unicorns in Equestria. After watching for several seconds she couldn’t get past the terror and majesty that the ships brought equally on the new human girl. It was literally something out of the world Sunset knew, so alien, so unrecognizable that it stopped her mind from working and thinking what it was that she was seeing.

Her skin crawled with the rumblings of the pod’s landing on the ground, shaking the foundations of every building. Sunset’s sense of smell, as dulled as it could be right now in a new form was hit all at once. Gone were the smells of everyday life and bread, now she was basically punched in the face by the acrid smells of fuel, oil, blood and metal burning. The calm breeze of a few seconds ago had morphed into a wind that warmed her face and at the same time made her shiver. Her long hair blew backwards, being carried by the hot wind of dozens, possibly hundreds of pods landing into the planet.

In every creature there was an instinctual response called Fight or Flight. Due to evolution, ponykind had always been more of the flight than the fight, being smaller than most predators on Equus. While with years, magic research and finally finding peace ponies had become safe, or as safe as they could be, there was still a switch in their brains that told them it was better to run away than to fight. That reaction was something that Sunset had always said that never happened to her, that she was a born fighter and the true heir of Celestia because of that. Right now, watching the falling pods and the ships ready for the inevitable battle, because what else a major conglomeration of ships and troops could mean, kept the young redhead rooted to the ground, frozen in fear, confusion and curiosity.

Never before have she seen something so awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time, but she couldn’t move, she couldn’t utter a word or move a muscle. That’s when the sounds of screams and ponies… whatever the creatures were running around without an idea of what to do. She was suddenly pushed aside by one of those creatures, older than her due to its height and strength. It was the shock and pain of hitting the ground that made Sunset react quickly, standing up and starting to run. It was easy to get that kind of reaction since her body was basically running on auto-pilot. She then stopped, looking backwards, remembering the reason of her travel.

Sunset was no coward, but even she knew that jumping into the mirror was not a good idea. Maybe it was the reason why Princess Celestia had never told her of the world on the other side of the mirror. If that was the reason, then Sunset had made a mistake and she could still fix it! She could still jump back into the portal return and beg forgiveness. She could still fix things!

Then she heard a roar, Sunset’s hopes shattered. It was a roar followed by a literal monster. It was the creature full of teeth, blades and hunger which stopped Sunset from going back home. It was that creature which was quickly running in Sunset’s direction, the thing that made Sunset’s mind break. It was over. It wasn’t fair and it was all her fault. As she watched the creature run at her, mouth open, ready to pounce on her and kill her in an instant, Sunset only could say one phrase.

“I’m so sorry Princess Celestia.” And like that, she waited for her death, because she was a fool that thought she knew everything, because she was a silly filly that had thrown the best thing that could have ever happened to her away, just to die in another world. But death never came, or at least not for Sunset.

It was like a cannon had went off, an explosion that blew apart the head of monster, sending it spiraling, crashing into the ground and its body, now completely devoid of life, rolled until it stopped at Sunset’s feet. The sight of such creature was eye-opening, but what had stopped it was even more amazing. Sunset probably didn’t even reach the knee of the massive armored creature that had appeared as if by magic.

It was like a colossus, with a grey tinted armor with what must be its emblem painted in the front of its armor, a dark shield surrounded by a laurel crown. Whatever it was, it had its head covered by a helmet, making the creature look like a living wall. On its hands, something that must be what caused the hole, almost like a portable cannon. Well, maybe portable for the creature because it dwarfed Sunset. The creature looked up from the monster’s carcass and focused on Sunset, probably, since its eyes were hidden underneath the helmet. Without saying a single word, the creature took a few steps and with its armored hand, he took Sunset’s tiny body and lifted it. Years later, Sunset would lie and say that she was in awe after seeing her first Space Marine, but in truth, she squeaked like a scared mouse in its presence.

“Cassius,” a voice appeared from somewhere, probably a portable communication device, “get the rest of the civilians out of here. There are Tyranids coming close to your position!”

“Yes Chapter Master!” Sunset couldn’t escape. Whatever was happening was even bigger than she could imagine. What were these bipedal creatures? What were those savage monsters that were apparently attacking? Sunset didn’t have time to ask or to know, because the colossus was taking her to what seemed like another ship, this one clearly designed to transport people and that made Sunset act.

“NO! I NEED TO GO BACK TO THE STATUE! I HAVE TO GET BACK!”

“Young child, your love for the Emperor is exemplar. That you want to save it even when you are in danger shows your passion. You have all the makings of a warrior of the Imperium,” Cassius said, completely misunderstanding what the small girl was trying to tell him. As Sunset was escorted into the Thunderhawk, she stole one last look of the statue, and then the door was closed. It was the humming of the engine and the whispers and ramblings of the other people inside the ship that enveloped Sunset as the Thunderhawk began to ascend.

Sunset felt the machine’s movement with no real idea of what to do. She tried to use her magic, to feel the energies inside of her to teleport outside and make one final dash into the portal, hopeful that it was still open. It would be better to face Celestia’s anger and her now homeless situation than to stay in a world as alien as this, but even this failed her.

There was nothing inside. No magic and no teleportation that could take her from this nightmare and as the Thunderhawk left the planet’s orbit, Sunset’s way back home would be completely inaccessible for her. She just hoped years in the future, that no monster like the Tyranids found a way to use that portal and that all of ponykind was free of the darkness that permeated the universe in which Sunset had become a denizen off. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war.

The Past – Second Part/20 years ago

The Schola’s beautiful stained glass windows, helped by the light of the sun, made everything bright and clear. Up in the mountains, the quietness and harmony of the pine tree forest was perfect for a painting, showing to everyone how bountiful the planet was. The building, as old as the Emperor some say, was a bastion and a symbol to the planet, always there to bring relief and always ready to help those that couldn’t save themselves.

The roads of stone were always used by their citizens and by those that had business with the Schola, as it was the most important building in the Capital city of Planet Azar. It was a world that almost seemed so far away from the dangers that were always present in the galaxy, but it was an illusion of sorts.

This was not a world destined to become a never-ending world-wide factory, creator of weapons, armors or vehicles for the inexhaustible forces of the Imperium, nor was a scum riddled monstrosity Hive World, with people constantly searching for whatever they could put into their hungry mouths. This was a world of the Adepta Ministorum, a world where the young with no home went, were the education and the love for the Emperor was instilled.

This was Sunset Shimmer’s new world.

It had been several years since she had been rescued by the Adeptus Astarte, or more colloquially known as Space Marines, the Emperor’s guardians, and had to say goodbye to her ticket back home. She was stranded, with no road back home now that she had not only left the city where the portal was in, but also the planet and most likely the system. She was forever lost amongst an unthinkable number of human beings, just one amongst trillions, and it scared her completely.

She listened to their instructor, a woman that seemed to be older, but who showed with pride her scars after years of service. The Adepta Sororitas were the ones in charge of the Schola alongside Abbots that promised to teach them and prepare them for the future, all of this while never letting the children out of the sight. Sunset, who had been raised among the highest echelons in Equestria’s society, quickly found out that she was not going to get that same kind of life on the other side of the mirror. In fact, it reminded her of the days she spend on the Orphanage. It felt like home.

It was not a school, but a fortress, with 24/7 surveillance, with creepy floating skulls recording everything around them and with the teachers and caretakers monitoring everything and everyone. It was a grim existence, filled with prayer and lessons. Sunset did not think of it as a school, but a prison designed to contain only children and she had seen some of her companions react rather strongly to their new situation.

As orphans, which seemed that all kids were in the Schola, Sunset had already found out the results of rebellious thoughts and desires to be free. A rather petulant child had a been a problem case since they arrived at their new home, screaming at the other children and in general being a brat like most kids Sunset had seen back at Equestria. Mind you, those were usually children of nobles, but in the Schola, there seemed to be a certain conduct that all students had to follow or they would end up like the brat.

For all purposes the girl was not who she was after they brought her back from her *ahem* counseling. She didn’t talk, she didn’t even answer to her name.She only listened to the Abbots and the Sisters like a good little children. She prayed all the time and behaved like the perfect angel of death and Sunset decided to never make a Sister angry after watching the kind of human doll that the girl had become.

It was a harsh life, but she was simply trapped in a kid’s body. She had already survived a tough place. She had become a powerful sorceress and by the Emperor, this was nothing compared to the kind of self-imposed standards she had given herself back on Equestria. It was harsh, but fair in a way, with so many new things to learn, all about her new species.

From philosophy to history, from religious rites to how to properly use a weapon and its maintenance, the school taught apparently everything they needed for their life outside of the Schola. It would have been strange if Sunset hadn’t realized the true purpose of the school. This was not a school where, after spending some years studying, they would go out and start their businesses or join society as a good person. No, it was something even more impressive and in its own way, even more terrifying.

The Schola Progenium was a school that trained the best of the best in the Imperium. This was a mixture of brainwashing and training from hell. The scriptures talking about the Emperor as if he was a god, which Sunset had to give it to them, they made him look amazing in the books she had been given. The redheaded girl could not speak too much about humans and their god when ponykind had been elevating Celestia to being their focus on pony pantheon.

If one pony that could raise and move the moon, sun and stars could be seen as a goddess, then how could a man that guided humanity from his golden throne not be seen as the God of mankind? Even if he was in a state of undead life, he still used his powers to send forth his light through the warp so every ship could reach their destiny.

From a little girl, Sunset grew into a young woman, with year after year becoming harder and harder to remember her days in Equestria as a pony. Every day it was harder to remember how the sun looked like back home when Princess Celestia raised the orb from her room. Every time she woke up, a small part of Sunset was being erased as she studied the history, the rules, the language, the system, the creed and the weapons.

This was a peaceful world in a sense, but the galaxy would never be peaceful, with millions dying defending the worlds of the Imperium of Man, and every single kid that had survived the prison known as Schola Progenium would one day do that too. Sunset knew that sooner or later she would be out of the school and thrown into the dangerous reality that she lived in. She may one day find the planet once more or have a chance to visit it, but she knew that she wouldn’t have the chance if she didn’t survive the Schola. No, scratch that, she had to EXCEL like in everything else in her life.

Every day she threw herself into her studies, knowing that any chance she had to survive depended on it. From studies about philosophy and mathematics, to the history of the Imperium and the sacred texts of the Emperor, Sunset devoured all the information that she could get, while at the same time keeping quiet, so no questions and no talking back. She learned about the Emperor, about Horus and his Heresy, about the Golden Throne and the daily struggle of mankind, with only his light offering peace and salvation.

She had used her mind and energy of a new childhood to become the best version of herself, so much that when she had bested the Drill Abbott and had him on the floor, with her sword on his throat, it didn’t surprise anyone. After all, this was Sunset Shimmer and if there was anything that people knew about Sunset Shimmer was that she didn’t give up and there was no way to stop her.

The Past – Part 3/10 years ago

It was a bitter irony, the fact that Sunset’s days as member of the Adepta Sororitas usually were spent in two different ways; if she was on a planet, she usually spent them reading, praying - or sometimes just making it look as if she was praying - and sometimes tinkering with her equipment, much to the dismay of some Adeptus Mechanicus members, what with her creating new stuff without even praying for six hours to their mechanical god or whatever they believed in.

The other half of her time she was like this, trapped in a dark ship as it plummeted into the ground, a metal box that had been there to take her from her ‘home’ planet back when she was 6 years old. That was a lifetime ago. Now Sunset was an adult, even older than she was back in Equestria. It was all just a blur, just colors and flashes of ponies that she had known back then, of ponies she had talked to or read about. Nothing more, nothing less.

As a Sister of Battle, the militant branch of the Adepta Sororitas, Sunset had been polished into a perfect war machine for the Emperor. The redhead didn’t know how she had survived considering the darkness, the zealotry and xenophobia running rampant across the Imperium of Man. Sunset had an idea that her previous master, Princess Celestia, would be appalled about what she had turned into, just before she got a bolter shell right in between her eyes from one of her companions for being a filthy xeno.

It was hard. Every single day was hard to contain those ideas, knowing that years of training, conditioning and life pummeled the old Sunset Shimmer and turned her into what she was now, but Sunset accepted the change. Here on the Imperium she knew that the old Sunset was a bitch, pure and simple. That little girl always thought that she deserved everything just because she was a little bit more powerful than the others. Pure dumb kid and poor dumb teacher, neither realizing how everything crumbled with them, neither realizing their sins, but here she was, Sister Sunset Shimmer, a daughter of the Emperor and the holy light that protected the innocent from the mutants, the heretics and the xenos. It was now that Sunset Shimmer had finally found herself, in a true sisterhood and with companions that will die and live alongside her no matter what.

The Thunderhawk shook as it began to re-enter orbit on top of planet Miamat in the sub-sector Carolux. The ship may not be the same one, but to Sunset it had a special place in her heart. After all, how could she forget the first time she was taken into the stars, to never come back to being that young girl that thought she could be a princess by throwing a tantrum.

Alongside her, in the darkness of the ship, she saw her sisters, ready to jump right into the thick of things, to do their mission and to ensure the Emperor’s light would always shine. Chroma and Siivet at her right, with their jet packs ready, one with her two bolters and the other with her power maul. At her other side, both Tabitha and Starlight were as focused as always. Sister Tabitha may not look like it, what with her decision of keeping her natural hair color, something that was prevalent among Sunset’s unit, and with the bizarrely colored mohawk always gave her the air of elegant barbarism, if that even made sense. Starlight, well, she was quite the case, renaming herself in honor of her battle master, the one warrior that spoke in behalf of the Emperor. In Sunset’s opinion, it was both creepy and heartwarming in the right combination.

The Thunderhawk finally touched ground as Sunset and the rest of her unit kept hearing bullets and other weapons hit the hard exterior of the ship; it was almost hilarious how these people thought that they could keep attacking with their old weapons and think they could win. Raising a hand Sunset signaled the final preparations, with every single Sister putting their helmets in place and taking their bolters, melta or heavy weapons at the ready.

“We are the Daughters of the Emperor. Make these heretical rebels realize their mistake when they wanted to take control of one of the Imperium planets!” And then, the door went down and they saw the battlefield, with both sides shooting at each other, but it was time to put a stop to the war. “Make them regret their decision!” And as one, they all poured out, bullets ricocheting away from their power armor, bolters tearing apart bodies and melta weapons burning the rebels to a crisp.

The Past – Part 4/Several weeks ago

It wasn’t possible.

There was no way.

In front of her, as every single instrument of the ship tried to make sense of what they were seeing, Sunset saw a very intricate work done millennia ago. It was a thaumatic leylane in which highly compressed vessels of magic that represented stars, a sun and a moon as placed all across the planet to keep a very well regulated system of day and night in place. Nobody knew who put it there, but it had become such a part of their world that nobody wondered what could be beyond their very well controlled planet.

That is, until today.

“Well, what do you know? I’m home.” Sunset didn’t know if she should laugh or cry at this point.

Novam Domum

View Online

Part 1: Lunar-Class Ship Wonder

It was quite a sight for the eyes of anypony who had ever dreamed of watching a spectacle like the one that was in front of every monitor on the ship. This was because nopony, that Sunset had knowledge of, have ever tried to take a look at the magical field created around the planet. After all, the very idea of travelling outside of the planet, let alone leave orbit, was but a mere dream. It was preposterous to think that anypony would be able to do it at all.

Well, Sunset Shimmer could laugh right at their faces for ages because, with irrefutable evidence, she had not only left the planet, she was right now orbiting around it with many members of a military group that will gleefully take up their arms and kill each and every xeno present on planet Equus… and probably execute her for being a secret xenos, so that dulled some of the enjoyment Sunset had for seeing her planet once more.

Whatever she may feel right now for seeing her planet once more, Sunset got back on her role as the leader of one of the most decorated armed groups of the Imperium of Man that wasn’t a Space Marine chapter. Being able to lead a group of crazy zealous maniacs and bring them back in one piece after each missions did require a lot of effort and planning, something that most in the Imperium were woefully deficient on. After all, most of the tactics employed by the average battalions consisted of holding the line until bigger reinforcements could arrive or running directly into the enemy on a death charge. None of those were conducive to a long lifetime of service in Sunset’s opinion.

“Navigator! Get me your captain or any other high ranking officer in the ship! We need a report for whatever could have happened with that jump! And someone get the Astropath of this ship so we can get communications open with the Imperium!” Sunset, with years of experience both in battlefield and as an administrator, had found out that a combination of quick-firing orders and screaming at soldiers always made things get faster and with better results. After all, due to it not many wanted to say no to a very angry Sister of Battle that was looking for ways to get things done and make things effective.

“Sir, I mean, my lady, I mean-” the redheaded warrior would have rolled her eyes at the classic example of a navy member not knowing how to talk with one of her order. While it was normal and even expected to find sisters of the Order Hospitaller, basically the greatest surgeons and medics available on the imperium, the everyday average members of the Imperial Navy never had to deal with the most… bellicose, shall we say, members of the Sororitas.

“It is Canoness Sunset Shimmer.” While most people will relate the rank to one of a high officer among the Sororitas, the truth was that Sunset Shimmer was pretty young and while she was leader of her own order - rather small in comparison with the other orders -, the truth was that the order Sun of Eternity was in itself a splinter order of a splinter order, so in truth, while she was a Canoness, there were others above her that could give her orders.

“Yes Canoness. It’s just that, we couldn’t find any of the officers,” the scared young man said, trying to contain that fear and show a confident façade, which was quite admirable from the young man.

“What do you mean by that? They couldn’t just disappear like that… could they?” The warp was bizarre and the travel across it was as perilous if not more so. Strange things could always happen. Once Sunset Shimmer left for a mission and after finishing it three months later she took the warp back home, only to find out as she arrived to headquarters that she had been gone for only two days. There were even reports of ships of returning days before they even left for a mission. That’s how crazy warp travelling was.

“We found the captain’s data-slate in the middle of the corridor.” The Navy member gave Sunset the aforementioned slate, its grey metallic body unscratched and green letters of a file shining brightly on its screen, clear proof of how well cared it was. The data-slate was the most standard instrument of information at the Imperium and the higher quality slates being able to transport hundreds, even thousands of files on them. This model was little more than the standard model that most citizens would find, but it was of the highest quality. This was not a tool that would be left forgotten just because, so there was something wrong in all of this.

“Canoness, I have dire news,” another person said entering the bridge, this one wearing the green armor of the Imperial Guard.

“Well, isn’t this day just perfect? What’s the news guard?”

“We cannot find the commissar.” Not that that was bad news. Everyone in the bridge thought something similar at that moment. “But, there is a problem,” the guard said not knowing how to give the news to what they all will see as their leader in the next several days.

“Well, speak up. So far this day has been excellent so why not make it even more so.” Even with years of blood and battle, snark will always remain a part of Sunset Shimmer.

“There are guard platoons that do not belong to our group Canoness. In fact, some of them are from completely different sectors,” Oh, this was just perfect, Sunset knew she was going to have a very big headache due to this.

-----

Part 2: Equestria Kingdom – Canterlot City

Far away from the troubles of the ship, on the planet they were busy orbiting around, there was a small city. Well, not that small since for the last millennia it had been the center of government for ponykind. It was in this city that most of the citizens were already enjoying respite in their dreams as it was time for the moon to do its job in the sky, accompanied by meticulously placed stars to make each and every night special. Thankfully, since the return of the pony in charge of said night sky, many ponies had turned to the skies, with many becoming amateur astrologists and scientist, every day watching the beautiful work of Princess Luna.

Said Princess was right now on her balcony, enjoying the revitalizing cold breeze. After all, being so far up in a mountain brought some of that alpine coldness, just perfect for lovely summer nights as this one. The Princess of the Night was busy checking her work, a tirelessly effort that she enjoyed each and every night. She was back in business you could say, finding both the inspiration and the audience to enjoy her work, something that she only but dreamed when she was younger.

This arduous work was but a joy to Luna, something her sister could never understand. After all, moving the stars and the moon to the right places to make each and every night unique was something that was beyond the older sister’s abilities. Only a true artist like Luna could do something like that and make it look effortless.

Looking at the stars with a look of concentration, Luna found a certain star to be too far right to her liking, so with a small flash of her horn she decided to move it, but it refused. At this the Princess scowled, determined to put the star back on its place. After all, some of those stars were rather temperamental or in a playful mood and will disobey or simply move around, in search of a partner to play with, something that Luna discovered when she was but a small foal so long ago. Determined to get the star under control she found that there was no holding, no centering herself on the strange rebellious star.

Closing her eyes, the younger of the diarchy concentrated her magic, leaving the living world behind, almost as if it were background noise, determined to use all of her ability to sense the problem on the Astral Leylane. It was after all an incredibly old system left in place by those that ruled Equestria since the beginning, of that so long ago, so ancient that Celestia and Luna had no memory or information of that long lost age.

Suddenly, the Princess of the Night opened her eyes, her face a mix of shock, terror and confusion. It was rather rare for Luna to feel any of those three emotions during the night, and unfortunately, those three emotions always resurface when the fate of Equestria itself was in play.

“Lieutenant Fang?” Violet Fang, one of the dark ponies - also called Thestrals by many - under her command, probably the one Princess Luna had the most trust in, immediately appeared from the shadows that dominated the night ruler’s room.

“Yes, your highness?”

“Send someone for my sister and do it discreetly. I have dire news for her.” Violet Fang never asked why or what were those news. He simply nodded and followed his orders for that was his job. Once he left the room, as quietly as he always was, Princess Luna looked upwards, to the star that wasn’t a star. “Seems that Celestia was wrong in this, because we have some visitors from beyond the Astral Leylane.”

It was scary to finally have proof of something beyond their planet, although Luna had to be careful. This could be after all a false alarm and she and her sister could laugh about her mistake in the days to come, but it was truly horrifying to think that there were true aliens right this moment orbiting their planet and spying on them, like in those new novels full of, what was it? Science Fiction? The term was still strange to the alicorn, but she had found some of them truly fascinating, especially those talking about the existence of creatures from other planets, so powerful that they could invade Equus, but that they would die due to the bacteria present. Something told Luna that true aliens will not die in that manner.

She had to wait several minutes, knowing very well that her sister had been quite happy to get her most deserved rest in the hours of darkness after centuries of being the sole guardian of ponykind. These days she went into her private chambers and made full use of her so far neglected bed and pillows, being able to sleep for more than two hours every day. Probably one of many things she was grateful since Luna’s return from her fall of grace. As the diurnal princess arrived at her younger sister room, she looked a little less than the perfect Princess of Ponykind that she tried to be in the day, what with not even wearing her regalia.

“Your guard said you have something important to tell me Luna. Does this have anything to do with any new show for our ponies? I remember that your last meteor shower was quite the success, not to mention that many foals got cutie marks related to your stars that night.”

“I wish this meeting would be as joyful as that one my dear sister, but I have dire news. If what I think is correct, what we know about the universe may be completely shattered.” While her younger sister was known for her theatrics and rather archaic mannerisms from time to time, even when she had been able to reintegrate on modern society, even Celestia was aware that Luna was not known for lying or playing pranks. In fact, most of her humor came in the form of one liners and sarcastic barbs more than pranks.

“Now you are making me nervous Luna. What is it that you found?”

“Look in the sky, between the Chariot and the Centurion, what is it that you see?” She pointed then with one hoof into the starry night and Celestia, thanks to years of practice and star studies quickly found those two constellations, her mind already making a mental picture of how those two constellations were represented in art before blinking and staring for a long time.

“Please tell me that it is a new star you just moved there.”

“Nay sister, this is not my work. In fact, for as much as I try, I have no power over it. It’s movements and presence are but a rogue element in the Astral Leylane, something that we should fix immediately before the whole sky and atmosphere of the planet collapses. But if it is not a problem with the Astral Leylane, then…” Luna stopped talking at that moment, leaving the idea up in the air, unsaid, but still existing in both of the sisters minds. The way in which Celestia looked in confusion and then surprise mixed with horror showed that she understood what was left unsaid.

“You are not saying that there is something out there, right?”

“I’m not sure sister, but there is energy coming from that object. Faint, yes, but that only adds more evidence to the idea. Whatever is out there does not belong to the Astral Leylane. In fact, it is not in the atmosphere, not in the Leylane, but beyond the planet. Still, this is not a mere rock that has become trapped by Equus’ gravitational pull.” Celestia knew her sister was right and she had to imagine what would happen if the star in the sky was in fact a ship from some other planet.

While juvenile books would like to picture aliens in the most bizarre of ways, the truth was that nobody knew what to expect if they were suddenly visited by something from beyond the sky, so while there were some plans already present, the one thing they could do was to keep the knowledge of the mystery dot in the sky a secret. After all, little ponies were prone to panic easily, one of the disadvantages of evolving from simple herbivores with no real predator instincts.

“We need to make preparations, quietly, to not alarm our little ponies, I will quickly make a letter to Princess Twilight. After all, if these aliens are here with the intentions of hurting the citizens of Equestria it will soon find out that we are not defenseless.” It was bold claim. Sadly the two sisters knew how well that could go considering past incursions from their enemies and how the two of them came out of those fights.

-----

Part 3: Lunar-Class Ship Wonder

Contrary to what most people across the galaxy believed about the Astra Militarum, about how they were a single force ready to strike back against the enemies of the empire, the truth was that there was basically no single force. In fact, the forces of the Imperial Guard were as different as the planets from where they came from, so there were hundreds of thousands of differences between battalions. From the uniform, the ideology, the tactics, the names and battle cries, the field operation guidelines, even the missions they took and what they were prepared for varied so much.

Looking at the group of men currently reunited in front of Sunset Shimmer, she couldn’t see a lot of similarities beyond the fact that they were all human. Without the standard green flak armor, the soldiers in the ship used different clothes and insignias. Thankfully they all could speak Low Gothic so communication wasn’t a problem. The issue was the fact that none of them knew what was going on and no regiment in the ship had an officer, so things were pretty hectic.

“Okay, so far we know that after leaving the warp, every single person with ranking simply vanished from the ship.” The various guardsmen nodded at Sunset. Those that knew of the Sororitas were pretty much on their best behavior, having heard of the Sisters of Battle propensity of using flame weapons with those that they marked as heretics. “That means not only that navy members on the ship are all low ranks, but your different regiments are currently without a leader. To make matters worse, people from other regiments and sectors are now in the ship with no idea of how they appeared here.”

“Yes Canoness,” a man that was even taller than Sunset Shimmer said, his chest big and shoulders so wide they made the guardsman look like a mini version of a Space Marine, his dark hair long and unkempt and with what looked like a fang stylized as an earring on his right ear. It was clear that the mountain of a man came from one of hundreds of feral worlds, planets that were savage and barbaric, with barely any technology to speak of, but that due to it they were prepared for almost any mission when they were called into the army.

“Your name and squad soldier? I would like to know about the people trapped with me in unknown space.”

“Krogar Liziant ma’am.”

“At ease soldier, I’m not part of the Militarum.” She tried to keep things informal, even though everyone in the ship was a soldier of some way and capable of killing people without hesitation.

“No, but you are part of Inquisition, so that’s scarier,” Krogar answered back with a full grin on his face showing absolutely no fear or stress, like a true warrior.

“You are technically incorrect. Sisters of Battle are the army of the Ecclesiarchy and while the Ordo Hereticus can call for our help, we are technically our own branch. It’s complicated.” The way in which the Ecclesiarchy and the Ministorum could deal with the mountains of bureaucracy that existed due to the very same existence of the Adepta Sororitas, the branch of the government Sunset belonged to, could give headaches to any man or woman that weren’t educated since birth to the job. Sometimes she wondered how Sebastian Thor thought it was okay to make that convoluted system.

“I’m pretty sure complicated and bureaucracy means the same thing,” a dry voice commented from behind Sunset Shimmer. Navigator Kelsey, a man that seemed made for the role of second on command due to his no-nonsense nature and dry sarcasm, was a young aide in the ship, but he had quickly shown fast thinking and good decision making by organizing this meeting so fast.

“Well, we are squad 76 of the Cobalt 19^th Division,” the tall man said pulling the conversation back to the original line of questions.

“Cobalt… isn’t that planet one that is almost always frozen?” If Sunset could remember well, the planet was in the same sub-sector where her headquarter had been build, back on the Miamat planet. When she had read about planet Cobalt, she was sure that if they had been assimilated into the Empire millennia ago, they would have been by now their own Space Marine chapter, probably rivaling the Space Wolves in savagery and combat prowess. Still, it was good to have soldiers like them on the ship.

“Private McMillan, of the 358^th Cadian Regiment.” Wait, there were soldiers of Cadia in the ship? Considering every single Cadian soldier was prepared to defend the galaxy from the forces of chaos since they had to battle them almost constantly, it was nice to have that kind of power on their side.

The presentations came one after the other, with some squads apparently from the other side of the galaxy, with others completely unknown to Sunset, although considering the sheer amount of human planets, well, it wasn’t that hard to imagine how she could not know every single detail of the Imperium. Also, among them, there seemed to be three other squads that Sunset knew they will give her a headache.

Not only there were Krieg soldiers in the ship, there were also testosterone filled monstrosities from Catachan. The first were all suicidal legions that were known for making trenches and for breaking the spirit of all that fought against them due to never breaking. Sunset had already fought at their sides on a mission that many thought would be as suicidal as the Death Korps of Krieg themselves. The others were from a death planet where even the most innocuous thing was trying to kill you so they were all ready to survive and win in any kind of situation.

“So… you are?”

“I am Aquamarine your holiness, from the 3^rd division of the Miamat forces!” the girl said, looking at Sunset as if it she was the envoy of the Emperor, as if her words were holy edicts of the Golden Throne. Sunset hated when people of that planet started to see the Sisters of Battle as holy symbols, even though in a way they were. How else would they be able to fight back Chaos in that way? After all, only the Grey Knights, the Space Marine chapter specially created to combat Chaos were the only ones with better resistances to chaos than the Sororitas and that was only because their armors had enough upgrades for each of them to be considered holy relics by themselves.

“Well, I have bad news, because not even the Astropath in our ship is incapable of sending any message through the warp and unless we force her to the max, which will likely cause her death. There is no way in which we could communicate with the Imperium. What’s worse is that we are in Space Incognita, a system that doesn’t exist in any chart aboard the ship, so we are either lost in an uncharted part of the galaxy or, well...”

“We are in another galaxy?” Krogar finished for Sunset to which the redhead nodded at how right the man was and how utterly wrong everything was at the same time.

“What’s more, without any way to resupply ourselves, we will need to go down into the strange planet that we found ourselves orbiting. A planet that our instruments say it is inhabited.”

“By humans Canoness?” Aquamarine asked, making Sunset want to curse whoever was responsible for her current situation.

“No, it’s a xeno planet.” And there was no way in which she would tell them about all that she knew of the planet without having to tell them she herself was a native of said planet. She could already see the way in which Sunset Shimmer would be killed for being a filthy xeno and a heretic. This could only end in disaster, she just knew that.

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Part 4: Thunderhawk – The Present

The maneuvers of the heavy flying machine shook Sunset Shimmer from her memories, of things that seemed so long ago and yet the days had barely passed. It was by pure miracle that the redheaded Sister of Battle had been able to survive that long, what with having to keep tempers cool from both sides and not letting their unreal situation scale into full Exterminatus.

Sometimes, it seemed as if ponies were as xenophobic as the worst of the Imperium, what with how most so-called royals in Canterlot looked with disgust at the bipeds that had appeared from the sky. Sunset knew that most ponies from old families in Canterlot even discriminated those that weren’t unicorns like them. Thankfully Celestia - and her sister, was that a surprise when she met her - was as diplomatic as ever, even if their first reunion since her impromptu self-imposed exile wasn’t exactly as smooth as either of them envisioned.

Taking her harness off and stepping into the clean, chill air of the mountain of Canterlot, Sunset Shimmer let old feelings blossom once again, when she was just a little filly with dreams of becoming an important member of the Kingdom. Sadly that girl had been drowned in blood, mud and the ashes of heretics. Of that young filly, nothing remained but the bitter realization that it was all in vain.

Leaving the past behind, Sunset Shimmer began to walk in the direction of the palace as the rest of her entourage kept on with her, Felicia a little bit slower what with finally leaving the ship. The Thunderhawk had landed in one of the biggest garden fields in the palace, with a big open zone that had been converted into an impromptu landing zone. The floor wasn’t a tarmac like the ones Sunset was used to, but it was flat and it would support the weight of the ship.

As she walked she saw several ponies already working, soldiers standing guard and many of the workers busy tending to the garden or battling the dust that could accumulate in the big corridors of the palace. Sunset recognized a couple of them, but of course, none of them recognized Sunset, either because she had been such a brat when she lived in the palace, or because now that she walked on two legs and wore the yellow and white power armor of her order. She was not the same Sunset Shimmer of days past.

It was a testament of the situation that there were already several guards waiting for them, alongside Princess Celestia’s aide Raven. The professionally looking pony was as stoic as always, standing in front of the guards with several documents already on her magical grasp, floating at her side as she slightly adjusted her glasses.

“Everypony is waiting for you in the throne room. Well, except for Prince Shining Armor since he is still in coma,” the pony with her hair in a bun said as the two parties walked into the direction of that said throne room. Sunset would have been able to reach the place with her eyes closed. No matter how long she could have been away from her birth planet, she will always remember that road.

“Were his injuries that serious?” Sunset Shimmer may not have liked the pony before, since he always seemed on guard when she was in the palace, but Sunset didn’t hold it against him. In fact, she was proud of his attitude. Unlike most other ponies, he wasn’t in awe or terrified of her presence, he was a true warrior and made honor to his name. Sadly, Sunset also knew that in a battlefield, guts and honor were not enough to make you survive. You also needed tactics, steel nerves and luck, a lot of it.

“Yes, but he was quickly stabilized after arriving at Canterlot. Right now he is in a magically induced coma until his injuries get better. Thankfully we have many first-hoof testimonies about the attack on the Crystal Kingdom, including several from the guards that engaged against these… creatures. I refuse to call them ponies.” The usually stoic aid made a face of disgust at the thought of the ponies who had clearly been touched by the forces of chaos.

“Good, because whatever or whoever they were, they are gone, forever lost to the taint. Is anybody else in the throne room?”

“Beyond the Princesses? There are several members of the army. Sadly Equestria has been severely demilitarized for years, even when we have suffered invasions and attacks from other creatures.” Sunset never thought that Raven was pro-militaristic, but maybe she was simply pragmatic, what with the stories of chaos creatures like Discord or powerful wizards like Sombra popping up all the time. Sunset tried to think of the Imperium of Man without the Astra Militarum and her mind just couldn’t summon the mental image. It was impossible. After decades of training and battle, Sunset just couldn’t imagine a life without the weight of a bolter in her hand.

“Well, whatever the case may be, this is not going to be nice.” Sunset knew that many ponies saw them as invaders, only waiting for the moment in which they could pounce into Canterlot to sack it, while others saw them as envoys from the stars, here to become the protectors of the planet, but Sunset thought they had been reading way too many comics to trust people that routinely exterminated xeno species like it was a hobby.

The redhead also felt the glare that Chroma was sending her way, silently judging her for having such ‘pleasant’ talk with a filthy xeno. Of all of her Sororitas, Chroma was the most adamant in her hate to everything that was not human, always headstrong and hardheaded that many other orders would have gladly put her on the battlefield to fight and die for the Emperor, but Sunset saw potential in her. She knew she was one of her greatest fighters, she just hoped she could make her see that while they could follow the Emperor, they just didn’t have to follow the Ecclesiarchy to the letter. While the others had been slightly de-programmed, Chroma was too stubborn in her beliefs.

Sunset simply sighed, knowing full well that the next few days will put her to the test, and also knew, very deep inside of her, that they would soon be engulfed into another war. She didn’t need to be a psyker to have that vision, for what other reason would they be sent to Equestria?

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Part 5: Crystal Kingdom, Hell on Equus

His visions were filled with dreams and memories, of running around, playing with his friends and later with his children. After years of nothing but a slave, he had finally won his freedom and could be free to enjoy the new Equestria and all of its advancements and marvels. All of it was just dreams now as the once majestic kingdom now was changed.

Even when they were under the hoof of King Sombra, they didn’t have to suffer. Their minds were too gone in the nightmares and dreams to really feel nothing beyond submission against the tyrant. This time it was different, with red skies constantly swirling and ashes falling into the streets and what remained of their once tall spires. The snow and the eternal ice storm so far north couldn’t even vanquish the fire and madness that had gone through every street and home in the kingdom.

Light Prism couldn’t move his legs and was only capable of keeping his eyes open because his eyelids had been hooked, piercing them and keeping him tied to some kind of metal frame. His whole body being held up by cables and razor-sharp wire that kept his mind on the border between madness and awakening.

Everything was lost in a sea of blood and rage as the creatures poured into the streets, tearing apart any kind of resistance from their fighting forces. He could remember well when his youngest had been pulled from his wife’s hooves, before she had been sliced by one of the monster’s scythe-like appendages. Her blood had mixed with his on his coat, while he could do nothing but scream and cry. Sadly for him, death hasn’t come quickly and instead they have been playing with him. He could only hope that his children were dead right now. Anything would be better than having to be tortured for months.

His eyes scanned his surroundings, watching the different creatures currently in the room. Once he might have tried to do something, scream in rage or curse them, but he was so tired, so broken, it was impossible for him now.

The tyrant Sombra was looking over his kingdom, finally able to regain control of it, but instead of feeling happiness, he could only scowl in rage and impotence as what should have been his victory was nothing more than a mockery to what he used to be. Instead of the leader of a mighty empire, he was nothing more than a puppet dancing amid darkness and ashes. He could almost feel the collar around his neck and the leash being pulled by the woman, or what passed as woman sitting on the throne, HIS throne, while gleefully looking into the adorned ceiling full of paintings and murals.

She was an enigma, something that made Sombra shiver in fear of what she represented, the eternal damnation of his soul and the physical representation of all the misery currently parading across the once mighty empire.

Sombra’s soulless eyes turned from the empty streets of the Crystal Kingdom and looked at his new master. A woman of another species, a biped with long legs and furless smooth skin. Her ruby lips and beautiful blue icy eyes clashed against her black carapace that worked as her armor and the elongated fingers she used as precise scalpels. Her bald head showed countless scars as a crown of thorns made out of shining light adorned her.

The woman’s laughter as she slowly dissected her latest victim was one of the many terrors Sombra had unleashed into Equestria, all because his soul wanted revenge. Well, what was revenge worth if you had single hoofedly doomed your own planet for it? He was only one more tool, not the king. Now, here he was, watching his kingdom become a playground for psychotic demons and agents of chaos.

“What have I done?” if he had been able to cry, he would have done so, but now, he just stood there, watching the never ending pyres light up the eternal darkness surrounding the crystal Empire as Light Prism once more screamed, never finding the sweet release of death.

Bellum

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Every single hall, every single window and every single banner was placed with utmost perfection and care. Every single worker in the castle, from the lowest messenger and maid to the guard and bureaucrats, also members of court - which had no power and the title was a holdover of the all-unicorn monarchy - were all working tirelessly in the center of pony nation, the heart of the biggest nation in the planet. This was Canterlot Castle and it was the home, the blood and the soul of all ponykind. This was the castle that had been built around the sun and her tireless vigil on her little ponies, which Celestia had hated at the time since she felt they were mocking the memory of Princess Luna, but by the time of the descendants of those that had lived the days of the diarchy, well, they simply saw it as the only home of their eternal sun.

Sunset completely hated the place no matter how beautiful it had been made. That was something that had remained the same since she was a little filly. Seriously, who thought that a place filled with antiques and precious artifacts could be a good place to raise a filly? Not that there was much of raising really, what with Princess Celestia treating their learning sessions more like a chore to be repeated ad nauseam.

The truth is that beyond the early days of Sunset’s mentoring days with Princess Celestia, she completely hated the placed. Oh, she had heard about how lucky she was of growing up in the castle, completely surrounded by luxury and bathing in the glory that was Princess Celestia’s light day in and day out. The truth was that she felt more like a dog whose only job was to look presentable to the multiple idiots that called themselves nobles to let them see how well groomed and trained she was, as if to make them see how great Princess Celestia was for taking care of an ugly, dirty orphan and turning her into a productive member of society.

Sunset have had to fight back the urge to use her bolter to place rounds on the middle of every single noble’s head the first meeting she had with Celestia since her return. The feeling hasn’t diminished since then and she was sure that sooner or later Sunset or any of her sisters will gladly re-enact the siege of Silver Shield Castle back at Miamat.

It was probably bizarre to think of a night when Sunset and the rest of her order had helped massacre a whole royal family with nostalgia, but considering their duty as protectors of the true faith and Emperor’s light, well, it could be worse. Besides, the old bastard deserved it after he thought that the Sun of Eternity Order were whores being sent by the neighboring kingdom as a peace offer. Sunset was sad that the man had brutally committed suicide by stabbing himself in the back 40 times and then cut his own head. What a tragedy.

Yes, time had done its job with Sunset Shimmer, alongside the many years she spent under the tutelage of educators like Sister Marian of the Order of the Jubilant Lotus, the order where the Sun of Eternity had come from. The woman was a zealot of the first order, like all Sororitas that had reached her rank among the sisters, but she was also ruthless and efficient, traits that she hammered on Sunset’s head. In a way, even accounting the torture that many around the Imperium could count as ‘training’, the woman was the closest thing Sunset Shimmer had as a true mother. She was ruthless, but strangely comforting, always with sagely advice, but who never hid behind a mask of intrigues and half lies.

But those were simply happy memories. Well, if memories of brutally stomping on monarchies and wannabe conquerors could be called happy in any way, although considering the dimension in which Sunset had been, those were at least tame in comparison with the rest. Now, Sunset Shimmer had to do another job, that of mediator and military adviser in the best way to fight back chaos. Of course, that is if these creatures were indeed chaos and not some kind of crazy, ancient ritual Sombra had prepared in advance. Emperor knows what kind of diabolical things King Sombra had prepared in case of his defeat. The stairs and the enchanted door back at the Crystal Kingdom were proof that the stallion was mad but smart at the same time.

Following the stern royal aide, Sunset entered the prepared room behind Raven, the rest of the guards staying besides the door. Her entourage stood at the ready behind Sunset, knowing full well that the redheaded Sororitas was more than capable of defending herself. The young Felicia, meanwhile, tried to remain as stoic as the Sisters, but only managed to look uncomfortable among members of a species that barely reached her waist.

The young guard, with her rather inconspicuous lasgun at her side, the perennial weapon amongst the guard legions, - jokingly referred to as a flashlight - Felicia wasn’t quite sure what to do or where to stand, until Sunset turned and saw both Chroma and Siivet standing alongside the unicorn guards. At first sight one would be amazed at the kind of stoicism shown by both sides, but Sunset knew that if any of the two sides tried to talk with the other, problems would arise. Sadly, Felicia, finding the whole situation unusual to say the least, ended up accompanying Sunset into the room, quickly trying to find a place where she could stand up and do… guard things I suppose.

The Canoness simply rolled her eyes, a signature reaction of her after years of having to deal with strange situations and even stranger people around her. She left the guard to her antics, knowing full well that she could be useful, if for nothing else than for a sounding board. She was also a member of the Imperial Guard, a woman that would fight and die for the emperor and the planets that made the Imperium, in a couple of hours after reaching the battlefield, but she will fight.

Standing tall behind Sunset Shimmer, she may have looked like any other guard currently residing in their ship or on their developing camp/settlement on the badlands border, but for these ponies, creatures that have never seen the Astra Militarum, the uniform, the equipment and most importantly, the lasgun on her arms would be impressive, just like Sunset’s power armor and blessed bolter at her side.

The lasgun may not be the most powerful of weapons on the field, but its reliability, easy transportation, ammo and repair made it perfect for mass production in the endless pits of metal and fire that made up the domains of the Mechanicus. The planets that made up the bulk of the red robed members of the Mechanicus were technological wonders of the imperium where day in and day out new creations were created and perfected, where ships and weapons that were the backbone of the greatest army in the galaxy were assembled and shipped to the countless battlefields around.

Planet Equus may be a paradise world, a peaceful place that knew nothing about true war and terror, where the creatures living in it knew anything about struggled beyond indecision about what to eat that morning. They knew nothing about the dangers of space and Felicia, as green as she was in terms of combat experience, was better than all of them in that regard. She alone was better trained, better equipped and better used than all of Equestria’s army combined. That’s the reason why she brought her, beyond the fact it was fun to make her squirm due to her nerves.

As they got inside the room, Sunset also had to fight back a snarl due to how stupid everything looked, with walls beautifully decorated in relics of battles past, that no pony alive with the exception of the older princesses even knew about. There were maps of the old days of Equestria, even one that showed the older lands, of the time before the unification, when Equestria was nothing more than warring tribes and towns ready to pounce on each other ready to tear their guts out. Sunset also saw a couple of helmets carefully placed inside a crystal pedestal. They were made out of bronze it seemed, with no ornaments on them except for the brush on top of it. They were old pegasi helmets, from beyond the unification. They probably belonged to Hurricane and Pansy, but who knows with Celestia.

All of these artifacts were mere shadows of what Equestria once was, before the age of the Alicorns and the days of prosperity. Well, seems like those days were finally over since this was not a social visit and instead, everyone reunited here was ready to talk about something much more fun and something that Sunset was more than used to - the complete elimination of the enemy.

In the Canoness’ opinion, the place looked a little too gaudy and in need of better trophies and artifacts. Maybe the head of a long since dead enemy of Equestria or the banners of important legions of the past? But no, let us remember instead how glorious peace is and how better we are for being cute tiny little ponies. Completely wrong reasons to make a room like this if you decided to cut back on your own army. What was it good for? To remember the good old days? Knowing how much Celestia preferred attacking cakes than monsters and demons there was no question that she did as an altar for peace instead of extermination of the dark forces. Well, it seems it came back to bite her in the flank.

Inside the room and calmly discussing the current crisis were the high members of Canterlot Court, a bunch of parasitic beings that were known for lying on soft cushions while draining the gold out of Equestria’s vaults in superfluous objects and vices. They were the most useless branch of the government when Sunset used to live in Equestria and she didn’t expect ponies that were mere decorations and remnants of a long gone age of monarchy that still refused to be vanquished from the halls of Canterlot to be of any real use.

They were leeches that lived out of the taxes on the humble farmer and shopkeeper. If she were left in charge of justice on this planet, she would round up the Guards and do a couple of public mass executions of the so called nobles. Well, probably not, but she has seen that happening and for what she have heard, it really reduced expenses and increased the tithe to the Emperor as if by magic. Not that Sunset would lose a lot of time convincing her troops to do something like that in here.

Shaking her head a little bit at the idea of mass destruction, she had to concentrate once more into what was important right now, instead of calling forth the training and conditioning that she had fought back for most of her life. It was hard, to be a defender of the Emperor and the Imperium and still keep that part of her that had been pony. It was that part which allowed her to become what she was. It helped her think and analyze battles and challenges instead of running into the fray like many others. With what had been happening and if it was true that the planet was about to be engulfed into a chaos Black Crusade, then she needed that part even more. Once she was back in control of herself, Sunset took a look at those that had been reunited by Princess Celestia.

Sunset could recognize two of the four present royals around the round table. The Sororitas recognized them for their out of place clothes in a military meeting, what with the gold linings and high collars, the attitude and the sneer present at all times. Of the two she knew, Pearl Collar was probably the one that seemed to have a working brain underneath that mountain she called hair.

The hairdo is a symbol of her family of sorts, from the time of powdered wigs, but instead of being an accessory, members of the Collar line had adopted the hair as their most striking method of recognition inside the clan, with only the highest members being allowed to have their hair done in that particular way. But, Sunset knew that she was effective, cunning and completely ruthless with those that tried to hurt her family and she didn’t expect that part of her to disappear suddenly.

The other, well, he was a member of the Blueblood family and that in itself was a little bit of a toss-up really. Some Bluebloods had been known for their intrigues inside the Court while others were complete drooling morons. There was really no middle ground with the family and the member that had come to the reunion was Mister Blueblood Sr., also known as ‘The True Blood’, a man that had taken their family and had pulled them screaming and whining into the modern age, what with him being the main advocate of train usage for not only travelling, but as method of quickly connecting Equestria’s territory. The stallion was definitely a great business pony and someone with an eye in the future.

Of the other two, well, one had a monocle on his eye and seemed calm and collected with his blue hair and white coat perfectly groomed and with a very classy suit instead of the more garish selections from the others. The last one, well, she was a mystery really and Sunset had never seen the pony before, but if she was here then she must be important in Canterlot.

From the others, Sunset quickly figured out that they were generals of the three different branches of the army. For all of Celestia’s talk of unification of the three tribes and every single book about Heart Warming, Equestria still divided their main forces into the three tribes. The Air Force was of course completely comprised of pegasi, since apparently Equestria still didn’t have a very reliable ship construction to create their own air force branch, unlike the other nations in the planet. The leader of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire, was as fiery as her own name, with her hair making it look as if it was always on fire.

At her side, was the Loremaster, the highest ranking on the Warlock Forces, comprised entirely of unicorns and guided by the perennial Lord Ether Ring with his runic engraved robes and looking as ancient as Sunset remembered. He was a stubborn pony that had dedicated his whole life to the creation of battle worthy spells, which apparently now would be put to the test.

The last member of the military was the General of the Ground Forces, Iron Duke, a mountain of a pony, tall and proud, a pony that saw very little action and that for the most part was known to shout and shout to the guards and their captains, but by the look on his face, he was raring to go into the fray. Sunset just hoped that he was ready to face the true reality of war instead of simply being another glory seeker.

Besides them, in the room and at the head of the table, were four ponies that just by looking at the made something inside Sunset reignite, a part of her that Sunset had thought had been completely squashed with the ruthless training and regime that she had been given for decades. Now, looking at the perfect looking princesses - holding court if you will - made Sunset want to snarl in disgust. It was not only her old hate for alicornhood, but also the part of her that was Sororitas that fought against anything that called themselves royalty and had nothing to do with the Emperor of Mankind.

There were the two sisters, proud and tall, Celestia and Luna, the two sides of a whole, darkness and light together at last. Sunset didn’t have much problem with Luna and Celestia, beyond the whole fact that they called themselves princesses and were, you know, filthy xenos that deserved to be burned into cinder and offered to the eternal flame burning in honor of the Emperor. Nothing major.

At their side, there was a weary and exhausted looking Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and while her eyes still showed the strength of her heart and stubbornness, it was clear that her close encounter with darkness had shaken her to the core. Not to mention that she was probably worried about her husband and the ponies still trapped on the living nightmare that the Crystal Kingdom have probably become by now.

It was the last one, the pony that looked so out of place, with papers and graphs floating around her, with her body exuding stress and who seemed one step away from an anxiety attack. She had heard of her of course, even from back when the pony Sunset Shimmer was still alive. Even now, with her return to Equestria, Sunset had to make that clarification in her head, that the pony was dead and only the Canoness was alive. So she knew very well, that this purple small pony, still untested, still naïve and pure, was one that would be killed immediately if she ever stepped into a real battlefield and Sunset had half a mind to do it right now.

This was what Princess Celestia had replaced her with? This was the mare that had in the end become the perfect little student of the Princess of the Sun? Sunset Shimmer wasn’t sure if she should laugh or cry, not only finding the small purple pony completely out of place, but pathetic in how small she looked, how completely out of place she seemed to be alongside those that were supposed to be her equals. Twilight Sparkle was a mockery to everything the pony Sunset wished to accomplish.

Canoness Sunset Shimmer merely chuckled at how low Equestria must have fallen to take a pony like Twilight and ascend her to the highest honor Equestria had, that of the ruler class of the nation. Still, if that was what Celestia preferred, to have simpering lap dogs that will forever see her as perfect, then so be it.

“We all know why you were summoned this day,” the melodious voice of Princess Celestia started this rather unique reunion, with all previous talk and sound stopping as she began what could probably be the first war council in millennia on Equestria. The Canoness could recite the times Equestria as a whole had gone to war, which fit on one of her hands if she used her fingers. But ponykind as a whole, well, for being a race that had evolved from herbivores and natural prey of basically everything else in the planet, they certainly liked to kill, maul and rape each other before the unification of the tribes.

“I believe it has something to do with what happened on the frozen lands, correct?” the noble pony that Sunset didn’t know the name of spoke first. Her voice was deep and smooth, as if the woman had been born to be a speaker or a singer. Now that Sunset looked at her, the mare did not have the normal air of haughtiness, but instead she held herself with an air of confidence so big that it wouldn’t be a surprise that it intimidated many on the streets and made them run away in fear. She was wearing small glasses that perched on her snout, intelligent eyes that seemed to shine with intelligence and was simply wearing a cravat of the deepest red. Finally, her hair and its color made Sunset think of her sisters of the Order of the Ebon Chalice, due to the noble pony having white pure hair in the most traditional page cut hairstyle of the Sororitas.

“Ebon Chalice is correct, this has to do with the return of Princess Cadence and the ponies that had been displaced from their home in the North,” Wait, what? What did Celestia said? Blinking a couple of times, Sunset cursed internally the fact that from where she was standing she wasn’t capable of seeing the cutie mark of the mare that had spoken.

Seriously? Her name was truly Ebon Chalice? This was bizarre, but what part of the last couple of weeks had not been weird? “I’m afraid that the Crystal Kingdom has fallen at the hands of King Sombra.” At the mention of the name several ponies, those that have heard of that mythical figure reacted with gasps of surprise, which meant that only Ether Ring, Blueblood and Ebon Chalice reacted. The rest simply looked at Celestia with no clue of who she was referring to.

“Before my own fall into the darkness,” a voice continued, this one being the night princess herself, “the Crystal Kingdom was being controlled by a dark sorcerer, the aforementioned Sombra. My sister and I were able to defeat him a millennia ago, but the cunning unicorn had kept safeguards, sending the kingdom a thousand years into the future, when he was finally vanquished by the power of the Crystal Heart, or so we thought,” the princess said, being succinct and clear with her explanation of the ancient history, although, not so ancient for them.

Sunset had never heard of a spell that could do something like that, basically take a whole city and catapult it a thousand years in the future, at least while she had been living in Equestria. But as a Adepta Sororitas, she knew of the dangerous powers of the warp, the plane where impossible became reality and that was home to millions of demons and chaos slaves. The powers of the warp were still mostly undiscovered, but they all knew that the reshaping of space and time were not an uncommon effect of using the energy of that plane.

To make a whole city disappear and appear again? It could be hard to make, but a Demonic Princess or a Primarch? Sure, it could have been done by creatures of their power level.
“When my friends and I helped the crystal ponies remember their past and their traditions, they all united to create a blast powerful enough to shatter the physical form of Sombra; I’m still not quite sure how he could have come back from that,” the studious form of Princess Twilight Sparkle said to those present in the council, but Sunset Shimmer could only roll her eyes.

“Did any of you made sure that Sombra was dead?” Those were the first words Sunset had uttered since entering the room and every pony focused their eyes on tall biped with the resplendent armor and sword on her left side.

“Well, no. I mean, he exploded as if he had been made out of rock, or crystals I suppose, probably a side effect of the way in which he had recovered a physical form.” Okay, that sounded interesting to the side of Sunset that was a researcher. But for now, she was the Canoness, the one responsible for hundreds of lives, maybe even thousands in a battlefield, and she was in need of answers.

“So by your own words, Sombra exploded into several pieces.” At the nod from the princesses, Sunset continued, ready to start the lessons about war 101. “Did any of you try to recover those pieces? After all, aren’t we talking about a pony that was able to not only propel the whole kingdom a millennia into the future, but also survive without a physical body?” Princess Twilight Sparkle raised a hoof into the air as if she was about to answer, but after a second she winced. “By your reaction I will say no, none of you thought of that. That means that there is a very good chance that Sombra could very well survive once more and found some way to create a new body.” Sunset Shimmer was ready to really start her tirade into the foolishness that was leaving dark powers free just because you had destroyed the body. As if just shooting a demon once was enough to cleanse the world of their rotten presence.

“Be it as it may, the fact is that Sombra not only came back, but he did not do it alone,” Celestia interrupted Sunset, knowing full well that once she had her fangs on a prey she was not going to leave it alone. She had been ready to make a whole rant about the proper ways in which to destroy a body entirely. The pages then that had been on Twilight’s magical hold as well as those that Raven had were quickly grabbed by Celestia, who then deposited them on the table. The drawings and reports then completely filled the heavy marble table and the map on the surface couldn’t be seen.

Sunset saw the images first, drawings done only by memory of those that had been able to survive and she knew what she was seeing. Those were bodies, manipulated and tainted by the energies that were found in the Warp. The ponies that they have been time ago didn’t exist. They was gone, their souls consumed by the shadows and the whispers that crawled through their minds and flesh.

Faces disfigured, bodies mangled and transformed into nightmares; blades, mouths and eyes were they shouldn’t exist. Canoness Sunset Shimmer didn’t need the drawings colored to know the color of their skin visible now that the fur had fallen or had been pulled apart by the ponies as they died and were reshaped by the will of chaos. After all, she was no stranger to the effects that the warp had on the material realm.

As the images were seen by everyone, she could hear gasps of surprise from nobles, all except Ebon Chalice, who stood looking at the monsters, not in fear, but disgust, as if they were an affront to her more than a monster to be feared.

“I know this may not be the enemy most of us have experience dealing with, but if these ponies had been affected by a new spell from King Sombra, then we need to be prepared if he decides to attack Equestria too,” Princess Celestia said, calling the attention of the members of the army.

“Equestria hasn’t dealt with something like this in a long time your Highness,” Iron Duke quickly answered back, taking one of the drawings on his hoof, studying it. Maybe to find a weakness on his next enemy? Sunset wasn’t sure. “We mostly deal with bands of minotaurs, slaving Diamond Dogs or the rare group of raiders in our borders, but to fight those that had been our brothers? That is something else.”

“Do we have any idea of how many of these, well, creatures King Sombra has to his disposition?” Ether continued now that they had a slight idea of what they were dealing with.

“None whatsoever. The reports that we have from the guards that survived the initial encounter with them does not mention an idea of how many ponies were transformed, but we do know that the guards were quickly overrun, some say that the monsters acted more like a wave than a charge. With that in mind, we must keep in mind that the initial forces at King Sombra’s control can be in the hundreds,” Yes, at the initial attack, he had hundreds, but by now those could be thousands if they had access to a warp rift or used necromancy to bring those killed into the action, now as mindless members of Sombra’s army.

“Are we sure Sombra will attack? I thought that in the past, he was content with only taking control of the Crystal Kingdom.” Blueblood was not trying to defend Sombra. After all, this was not the first time she had seen someone taking the role of the Nemesis Advocate in Equestria, somepony who tried to look in the other perspective to bring new ideas and thoughts into an important matter.
“Well, he was defeated by Princess Twilight and her friends. I’m not sure he will simply forgive and forget,” the fiery headed leader of the Wonderbolts fired back with her thoughts on the matter and Sunset knew where she was coming from, since megalomaniac tyrants were not really known for the forgiveness, not when they had been killed once.

“She is right. Sombra will not be stop with just the re-conquest of the Crystal Kingdom.” Sunset had everyone’s attention around the room and she had something to say about the matter. “And with the kind of power he is using right now, I can tell you he will not stop with just that piece of ice that he controls now. The chaos that permeates that area now will begin to spread, and with it, his forces will grow, ready to make a full out assault on the rest of the planet, until every single living being is either consumed, or worst, used as playthings for those that held the power of chaos.”

“And how do you know all that? Is this the reason why the Princesses invited you to this council?” Ether’s piercing eyes, not dulled by age or wear looked at her, trying to discern the strange creature that had appeared one day on Equestria, but Sunset was not about to give him access to her inner thoughts. Not now, not ever.

“Because I was trained since I was a young girl to face powers like that, to defend the planets that make the Imperium of Man from creatures like this and this will not be my first time seeing the results of tampering with energies that no mortal should ever be allowed to.” Sunset had been raised in Canterlot, sure, but years of battle, of training, had molded her into something Celestia would never be able to do. It made her a warrior, bringer of the Emperor’s light.

“It is for that very same reason that I asked you to be part of this council Sunset Shimmer. Didn’t you say that you were trained to deal with creatures like these? We need your help, Equestria needs your help… I need your help.” Sunset scowled, glaring at the white alicorn, knowing very well that she was trying to trap her into fighting for her. This was her idea, to make her part of a war that had nothing to do with her or her troops. How like Celestia to manipulate a situation on her favor, all so others will do all her dirty work.

Everyone around the table stood quiet, almost like statues as they saw the human woman glare at their leader, all of them holding their breath, not knowing how this soldier from the stars will react, what she will do and what her answer could be.

None of them knew the exact reasons of the appearance of the human ship on Equus, but they all have seen the images, about the mind-boggling dimensions of the metal structure that ferried the humans across space and were all terrified of that power. Maybe they didn’t know their plans or what would they do, but they could see and feel the power of the woman named Sunset Shimmer and the rest of her armored forces. They have heard the name Sisters of Battle and felt it fit them perfectly.

Equestria was not a land that was new to the forces of darkness, but those were isolated situations. Never in their lifetime have they been part of something quite like this, of open war and war councils. They had the Princesses, but they needed something else, somepony to guide them, or better put, someone to guide Equestria, and Sunset hated that idea.

She will not be used as a pawn by someone she owned no loyalty anymore, she was a Daughter of the Emperor, she was his light and his hammer, not a tool for filthy xenos that could be trampled by chaos and raped for all eternity by Slaanesh if they failed at stopping Sombra, which they will do considering the kind of trouble chaos was on a daily basis back home. She may not know why the fuck chaos have made appearance on this world, but Sunset was not going to send the little troops she had under her new command into the grinder just to save a bunch of xenos and she was about to say that to Celestia with a very well places bullet from the bolter at her back, but there was something that stopped her hand. Sunset’s eyes met those of Cadence, a pony that knew her well.

They have never been friends, not because the pink princess hasn’t tried it, but it was Sunset’s fault that at the time she hasn’t tried to connect with her. Sunset sometimes thought about the young alicorn, at moments when Sunset could give herself that luxury and her image was always followed by guilt and shame. If only, she said to herself those times, if only she had understood that it wasn’t Cadence the one at fault, she never tried to become a princess, she just was and while it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t her fault still.

She tried to imagine a world in which she took Cadence’s hoof in friendship, how things would have gone and she was always met with the thought that maybe, she wouldn’t have made the same mistakes, that maybe, she wouldn’t have been spit in the darkest of worlds.

The redhead closed her eyes and took a deep breath, taking care of her rage before she did something completely stupid, like dooming an entire world into becoming the playthings of powers they did not understand. She was Sunset Shimmer, Canoness of the Sun of Eternity, she was responsible of hundreds of lives, probably even more now, and she was not going to skirt her responsibilities. She was an Adepta Sororitas, a Sister of Battle, and a member of the Inquisition, even though she rarely wore the insignia. It was her duty to fight the forces of darkness.

“Guardsman Felicia.” She didn’t need to turn around to see the blonde soldier stood ramrod straight behind her. “What is our duty?” The words started to flow easily, in a phrase she knew well.

“To serve the Emperor’s will Canoness.” Felicia’s usual voice full of nerves and insecurities banished, falling into her role of Mankind’s protector. Around her, every single pony turned to look at each other, not knowing where this was going.

“What is the Emperor’s will?”

“That we fight and die.” The certainty in Felicia’s voice was palpable, inundating Sunset with her devotion, both in the Emperor and in her Commander. Sunset smiled at the thought of once more going into battle. After all, it had been too long since she had been sent into the battlefield and as cautions as she was, she was still a soldier of the Emperor. Taking her sword from her scabbard every pony took a step backwards without realizing by the sheer ferocity in the Canoness’ face and with one move, she impaled the power sword right into the table, on top of the part of the map representing the Crystal Empire.

“What are we waiting? Let’s go to war.” While the older pair of princesses in the room where very well versed in the art of war and the aggression and rage of it, Princess Twilight Sparkle was sure that the savage grin on Sunset Shimmer’s face will appear many times in her nightmares.

Oculus Tempestatis

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Part 1: Thunderhawk

As amazing as it was to leave the power sword right where it was, Sunset Shimmer only had one replacement on her quarters, so she didn’t have the luxury to just walk away as the powerful weapon remained inserted in the table like some kind of decoration.

Unlike most hand to hand weapons from the Sororitas Orders, Sunset’s weapons weren’t a relic that had been recovered or taken care of for generations. This was a run of the mile power sword created deep in the forges of Charybdis, the red planet home to the Mechanicus in the sub-sector Carolux. Basically, every single weapon, every single bullet and the power armors that they used were all given to them after being created in Charybdis, a partnership that had been in place since the inception of the Adepta in the 35^th millennia.

Now, trapped in another galaxy, or universe probably, it meant that they didn’t have any way to receive new ammunition or siege and heavy equipment. They were trapped with the ammunition that they brought with them or that had appeared in the ship when they came out of the warp. Even if her power sword was standard equipment, she couldn’t leave it behind. What was worst, they didn’t have any relief, any supply or reinforcements beyond ponies that looked like something out of a child’s coloring book.

The memory of Charybdis filled her with the vision of the red sandstorms hitting the surface of the forge planet every day. It was suicidal to walk outside of the fortified mechanical cities that the Mechanicus constructed and where the great machines of war that feed the insatiable thirst for war in the imperium.

The eternal forges of Charybdis were the only thing that kept humanity going in the almost ceaseless battle for survival in the galaxy in that side of the galaxy. Sunset had loved the planet, the way the twin suns of that solar system made their travel across the tinted sky, how the light reflected on the towers of steel and created an almost surreal vision of light and shadows.

Her stay had been brief since she had finished her mission on the planet, and thanks to it her newborn Order could get armed and armored, with some nice toys like Immolators quickly delivered on Miamat. Even better, since the Sun of Eternity did never say no to new toys they were the first ones to get new stuff. Usually, Sororitas Orders will reject the shipment of new weapons to replace old Bolters, but Sunset, being pragmatic to a degree never seen in the sisterhood, always planned ahead on shipments and equipment. This time won’t be any different.

“I need you to send me the exact number of soldiers and the equipment they will have. Also, we need the itinerary of trains and to requisite enough cars and engines to transport all the troops that will be sent to the North,” she started to shout orders left and right as she walked, with ponies making memos and writing the exact orders. Neither Chroma nor Siivet were surprised at the effectiveness in logistics having seen the way in which she worked, with precise intention and always knowing where to make changes or adjust something so everything will fall into place like a puzzle.

It was one of the reasons why Sunset Shimmer had been able to raise on the ranks so quickly, not only because she was a very capable fighter, enough to survive crazy situations like the siege on Mon Kareti in the Krieg campaign of that world, but because she was capable of taking control of a stronghold or battlefield and make sense of the strengths and tactics needed to defeat the opposition.

Chroma and Siivet were still on the Schola, not yet Sororitas when Sunset Shimmer had already vanquished the green skins on planet Critian. They have only heard the stories of Sunset, who after disposing of the Commissar, had taken control of the Sand Dwellers twenty six company, troops that were ready to defend their planet but had almost no chance to survive.

Apparently, the plan of the commissar was to make enough time until incoming Space Marines troops could arrive and exterminate the Orks. Sunset had changed that and after two days of battle, the main force of the invasion had been annihilated. 453 troops, not counting Sororitas troops had survived a full assault of 3000 green skins, including the warboss, the leader of the Orks.

The Ironhawks, the Space marine chapter that were sent to battle, ended up arriving at the right moment, finishing the circle that trapped the Orks in the middle of a killing zone, not being able to move or do anything as bolters, missile launches, grenade, tanks and flamers massacred every single one of them.

Sunset Shimmer’s fame as a tactical genius had been born that day, which only grew with every single battle that by all rights she shouldn’t be able to survive. Of course, since she rarely if ever adopted the strategy that most Commissars or Astarte used - which was to run directly into the enemy while screaming - she always took enemies by surprise when she used artillery and deployment in a manner that made sense. Apparently not even Eldar thought that a human could use tactics like sniping, encircling, flanking and camouflage against them.

Chroma and Siivet had known about Sunset Shimmer and what she had accomplished, so they were ready and proud to be called into her service and her new born Order. They had quickly taken the Carolux system and with the creation of the cathedral and monastery, quickly gained a foothold on the rest of the sub-sector, pulling human planets back into the Imperium fold and taking control of xeno-infested planets after millennia. It was probable that those planets had been lost since the Age of Strife, so it was with great celebration that they were able to defeat green skins and others.

Siivet and Chroma only knew of one bizarre quirk in the Canoness and that was her strange views on working with Xenos. They had battled alongside Eldar against the Necrons in several occasions. Her actions had made it possible for humanity to not only survive, but to thrive in the Carolux system, giving them power, notoriety, honor and contacts that made the Sun of Eternity a force to be reckoned with. Now, they will need that kind of drive to survive the incoming fight.

Leaving the ponies behind, the four humans went through the gardens. Siivet had always found natural places like this something to admire, knowing how hard it was to maintain a garden and make it beautiful. She had grown to love flowers, remembering her days living alongside her family, but that was a lifetime ago. Her mother had died and her father had been lost among the stars alongside his ship. She had been sent to the Schola where she met others from her home planet, but no matter what, she could never forget those days helping her mother take care of their small garden behind their house.

She was already thinking of ways to give some life to their colony when she noticed the face full of disdain in Chroma, knowing very well that she was not enjoying the beauty of the well cared bushes and flower beds.

Chroma was not happy with everything that had been happening and just staying in a place that stank of xenos was enough to put her in a bad mood. The lack of the cross, the gothic architecture and how odiously stupid the xenos known as ‘ponies’ - by the Emperor, even their name was stupid - made her hate everything they have built, and now she was supposed to fight at their side? She will follow their Canoness, who had trained them, saved them from being wiped out, who had fought with them side by side and who always tried to find the wisdom of the Emperor in the stars. That did not mean she was happy with their new mission.

Felicia, on the other hand was amazed of everything around her. She was but a mere guardsman, deployed in numbers on whatever planet they were defending, just to end up dying in mass. That was the destiny she had imagined when she had been conscripted and trained. Up to this day she didn’t know why she was accepted into the army considering how nervous and pathetic she was in comparison with others that had been born to fight, but she was sure that at least she would die in the name of humanity. Oh, what a surprise destiny had for her.

Tossed into unknown space, following a warrior of the caliber of Canoness Sunset Shimmer and her order and now, about to defend a planet from a Chaos incursion, well, it should be enough to send her into one of her panic attacks, but the words of Sunset Shimmer had brought her from there into something greater. She had reminded her of her mission, what was her purpose as a guardsman and she will not let her down.

So, it was like this that the four reached the Thunderhawk, with Sunset still mulling her decision of joining the battle, knowing full well that Celestia will have a plan hidden beneath her attempts of saving the kingdom. She was probably hoping that by having Sunset working alongside her replacement, a pony she wasn’t still sure why it was ascended, the two will soon become friends or something equally stupid like that.

The idiotic princess of the sun probably didn’t understand how precarious was the situation of ponykind, just how easily everything could collapse and not even Sunset Shimmer could save them from the wrath of hundreds of xenophobic warriors.

As the four humans boarded the Thunderhawk, she gave orders to their pilot to take them to their colony; she needed to talk with the members of the Mechanicus that had been left on the surface of the planet and see how everything was going on their side.

“I assume you all have something to say about my decision to enter this war,” Sunset started, grateful of the heavy walls of the drop ship which allowed them to talk freely. At once, Chroma took charge.

“Are we really going to help these stupid xenos? This is not our war!”

“It is always our war when it involves Chaos Chroma, or have you forgiven the fallen legions of what they did?” The eyes of Sunset Shimmer did not contain that peace or quiet intelligence spark that they usually had. Right now, in front of them was the fighter, the commander that with rage and flame eliminated the heretic and the impure on the Imperium. That look of fire made Chroma stop and think of what she was saying.

“What?”

“Like I said, are you right now going to let the forces of the warp do whatever they want on this planet? Instead of a Sun of Eternity, you are a Luna Wolf.” At those words, it looked as if Chroma had been hit in the face with a power fist. She looked flabbergasted, in a mixture of pain, confusion and incredulity. Even Siivet and Felicia were astonished at the kind of attacked Sunset had unleashed upon the other Sister. Luna Wolves, the legion of Horus, to be called like that, it was an offense that could not be let go. Surprisingly, Chroma took a second to calm herself, looking contrite and sufficiently admonished.

“Forgive me Canoness, I forgot myself for a moment. It was not my intention to look like a coward.”

“Nor was mine to make you feel like that, but it was needed. I know you all still have doubts about what we are doing, but I do believe we did not appear here on a whim of luck. I truly believe that we were guided here. We are the hammer of the Emperor and it is our duty to bring the forces of chaos to their knees. After all, which but those that love the Emperor can save others from the darkness that exists in the warp?” Sunset Shimmer have said those words so many times to so many people, that even she had grown to believe them.

“We are the daughters of the Emperor Canoness, where you go we'll follow,” the melodious voice of Siivet cut through the tension that had been created with Chroma’s outburst, saving her friend from the embarrassment of talking against her superior. Felicia was glad because she has heard horrible tales of soldiers speaking like to commanders of commissars and things never ended well at the end of those stories.

Sunset Shimmer had already shown her that she was not like other officers in the Militia, neither did she behave like a Sororitas or Inquisition member that other guards spoke of in the ship or back in training. She was quick to the point, always asking for the information or what had happened, but left most of the micromanaging of the ship and the troops to the different groups that either patrolled the ship or stayed down on the planet. She did create a training program and they practiced different strategies and even hand to hand combat. If Felicia thought that her training as a guard had been arduous, they all now knew how intensive the training of the Sororitas left them all in the dust.

“I know you all will, but I have no desire to simply jump into the demon infested Crystal Kingdom. We will help them, but we won’t win them the war with our sacrifice. If they want to save their planet, they will have to fight and die for it.” The smile on Sunset’s face said it all. She already was planning ahead and they were all nervous about what kind of strange tactics she will unleash on chaos and ponies alike.

As the Thunderhawk rose on the air and transported them to the human colony on Equus, the four tried to relax, knowing that soon they will once more embark into a terrible ordeal. Soon the whole planet will be engulfed in a terrible war and they will have to be quick and decisive, striking the Crystal Empire before the darkness spread across the planet.

-----

Part 2: Ponyville

The flight across the beautiful landscape between Canterlot and Ponyville had become a routine for the newest princess in Equestria. It had taken her a long time until she felt ready to take a fly that was bigger than going to Sugarcube Corner. She still remembered the first time she tried to fly between the two cities and the dangers that represented a simple landing.

After long sessions of flying practice with Fluttershy and Rainbow, she had finally felt capable of landing on her four hooves instead of starting to roll around and hope something solid will stop her. Not that Rainbow had stopped teasing her about her apparently sub-par abilities as a flier. Easy for her to say. She was born with wings after all.

Seeing the balcony of her beloved Golden Oak Library close, Twilight slowly descended and her hooves lightly touched the wooden floor of the balcony, finally landing on her home after being away for a couple of days. Somehow it felt as if she had been gone for months, what with the worry she had about her brother and the terrible news coming from the Crystal Kingdom.

It was with heavy heart that she began to descend the stairs, hearing voices coming from the first floor. There were laughter and soft voices speaking. Twilight recognized those voices and already, some of the weight on her shoulders diminished knowing that her friends were waiting for her downstairs.

At the foot of the stairs, the princess first saw Spike, wearing his favorite apron, one that had been once a source of shame when he wanted to find himself. Now, after maturing a bit after his encounter with grown up dragons, Spike was not ashamed. Instead, he was rather proud of his tastes. Twilight smiled a bit at how much her little assistant had grown these couple of years since they moved to Ponyville.

Walking into the main area of the library, Twilight found all of her friends present, laughing and joking about something new that had happened to one of them. None of them had seen her enter and Twilight took a few seconds to look at all of them. Her life had truly been blessed for having such good friends and she hoped that the next couple of days will see them alright.

“Twilight, my dear, it’s so good that you came back. How’s Canterlot these days?” the posh voice of Rarity took the princess from her ruminations. The Fashionista had one of her dresses on, a number of purple and jewels. It was obvious that it was a new creation that she wanted to show to the others.

“Come on. She probably had more important things to do than looking at dumb dresses all day,” the raspy voice of Rainbow Dash interrupted the unicorn. The fast pegasus had been hovering around the library as she usually did in this impromptu reunions.

“Oh oh, did you bring us any souvenir?”

“Pinkie, she was called for work. She didn’t go to take some days off.” Applejack grabbed Pinkie by her tail before the hyperactive pony began to bounce everywhere. It was fun to watch the usually preppy pink pony, but after a while it gave them a headache.

“Is everyone okay? What about Cadence and Shining Armor?” the little drake seemed as worried as Twilight was when she received notice of the situation last night, when Celestia’s message had arrived via dragon mail.

“They are alive, but Shining was heavily injured. According to the doctors he will make a full recovery, but he is being maintained in a magic coma until his injuries close.” At those words every single pony and dragon gasped in surprise at the terrible news.

“Oh no, is Cadence alright? What about the Crystal Kingdom?”

“She is alright Fluttershy, they were able to escape to Canterlot. Sadly they lost the city and more than half of the guards there are… lost.” Twilight didn’t want to say the word dead. She didn’t feel comfortable with the idea that so many ponies had lost their life so suddenly.

“Well, what are we waiting? Let’s go there and kick Sombra’s flank once more!”

“Whoa there Lone Ranger, there ain’t no way you can just march there. You heard Twilah, not even Princess Cadence and Shining Armor could stop him this time.”

“The Crystal Kingdom has been occupied by Sombra and I will not recommend you going there by yourselves, so no heroics this time for us. It was decided on the meeting that there will be a full military campaign that will take Crystal Kingdom back.”

“Wait, let me get this right Darling. Are you saying that Equestria is at… well, war?”

“I’m afraid so, yes. In a couple of days Equestria will begin full mobilization into the North.” Twilight hated the idea of her home, her nation walking into the grinder that was full war, but after reading the reports and seeing the portraits of what they were dealing with, Twilight didn’t see another alternative. “We gave up the Elements of Harmony and without them there is no other alternative to defeat Sombra this time.”

“What about the Princesses? I mean, they could defeat Sombra, right?”

“I’m not sure Spike. I mean, sure, there are four of us right now, but last time he sent the Crystal Kingdom a thousand years into the future and that was when Sombra didn’t have an army. Celestia even called Sunset Shimmer for this meeting.”

“Wait, wait, ya mean, ya know.” Applejack pointed with one hoof to the skies, clearly referencing the metallic beast currently in orbit around the planet.

“Whoa, aren’t those humans, like, completely separate from Equestria?” The fast pegasus landed at the sight of Spike placing a plate of cupcakes Pinkie Pie had brought with her, quickly taking a space around the table and taking one of them with her hooves.

“Well, they settled at some distance from my family’s rock farm,” Pinkie said surprising everyone around.

“Pinkie, you never said anything about that.” Twilight was surprised at what the pink pony had said, but at this point she should have been used to something like that with her.

“I didn’t? Well, there’s not much to say. I only know because my sister Maud sent me a letter about humans going back and forth from their ship. Apparently they are settling some distance away from the Pie Rock Farm.”

“Pinkie, what about other ponies? Aren’t they curious about the humans?”

“Not really Twilight. I mean, my family is the only one living that far away. There is nothing in miles and miles around so Maud found it interesting that there was so much movement.” One of the cupcakes disappeared in an instant in Pinkie’s mouth and the hyperactive pony didn’t take long chewing it before going back to the conversation. “I mean, the Pies have been living there for generations and we were the only ones that remained there since, you know. Nothing can grow except jewels so only my great grandpappy stayed and created our rock farm.”

“That is really interesting Pinkie. Maybe I should take a look at how they work on your family’s farm.”

“Ah, Twilah, Ah don’t want to burst yer bubble there but, don’t ya have a war to prepare for?” At the words of Applejack, the young princess almost deflated remembering her obligations as ruler of Equestria.

Ruler, what a joke. The only thing she has done so far is appear in public and wave or simply take notes in a council of war while others took control and planned. Not that Twilight wanted to be close to the battlefield after seeing the injured guards that had been saved from the first attack to the Crystal Kingdom, but it was the lack of power she had as princess of the realm that made her doubt her status.

“You’re right Applejack, I just-”

“Wish all of this never happened?” The soft voice of Fluttershy may have been close to a whisper, but it always brought warmth and no matter what happened, all of her friends stopped what they were doing to pay attention to the pastel yellow pegasus. After all of their adventures and lessons of life, they have begun to pay close attention to Fluttershy and her quiet wisdom mixed with kindness.

“Yes.” Twilight hated to admit this, but it was true. She wished ponies could spend their life without struggle, but the truth of the world was another, constantly testing ponykind and their abilities to survive the feral and deadly parts of the planet and the denizens living in the forsaken prison of Tartarus. “But there is nothing I can do to stop it. Princess Celestia ordered us all to not engage the enemy and that we will go to war against Sombra.”

“Oh darling, I know how you must feel, but it’s not as if we can fly there and shoot a rainbow at our problem like before.” The well-manicured hoof rested on Twilight’s shoulder, giving her some comfort. These would be the days that will test ponykind like no other.

“I know Rarity, I just… I wish there was another way, but all forces have begun mobilization, including new conscription.”

“Uf, it’s a good thing they don’t accept dragons on the army,” Spike joked as he put down a teapot still billowing smoke after being pulled from the library’s stove.

“Ye’re safe of that ye rascal.” AJ slightly rustled Spike’s head scales. “Ah’m not sure what will happen with the farm if we go to war, probably we’ll give some as rations. Is it bad for me to wish Big Mac won’t be called for conscription?”

“Oh, absolutely not, I just imagine if poor Sweetie was called for something similar and I shudder at the thought.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Thankfully dad is too old for the army and I’m not yet a Wonderbolt. If not, I would’ve been already sent as an scout. What about your brother Fluttershy?”

“Wait, Fluttershy? You have a brother?” All the ponies reunited including a young drake looked at their friend in surprise. They knew about some of their families, what with them living in the same town, but Fluttershy and Rainbow were still a mystery.

“Yes. I never talked about it?”

“It’s no surprise. I mean, he is a slimeball.”

“Rainbow, my brother may be a slimeball, but he is still my brother, no matter how obnoxious, arrogant and lazy he may be,” Fluttershy said with as much strength she could in those words which only looked adorable on her.

-----

“Are you Zephyr Breeze?” the young mare asked to the stallion right now leaning over the door frame in what he thought was a winning smile.

“That’s right. Who is looking for me?”

“It has been decided by the new Battle Council of Equestria that ponies with no source of income or work concerning important branches of society, are to be conscripted into the new Equestrian Army forces. Congratulations Mister Breeze, you are now part of the army.”

“Ah, I think you have the wrong person. Zephyr Breeze just moved, he’s now living in Griffonstone,” the mint colored pony lied between his teeth as he slowly began to walk backwards into his parent’s house.

“Now, do not make this process more arduous for you mister Breeze.” As he was about to close the door in front of the young mare and the two guards behind her, the armored ponies grabbed Zephyr and began to haul him away. His screams of fear were simply ignored by all ponies that lived around.

-----

Part 3: Human Colony in Equus

The travel had been fast and without anything special between Canterlot and the outskirts of Equestria. As far as the eye could see, there were mountains in the distance and plains of brown and dust. This was a place that ponies have been calling the Badlands for generations and she knew about them very well.

Somewhere, deep in the deadly desert, there exist creatures that hunt ponies that had been dumb enough to venture into such territory. Creatures like changelings, giant worms, desert manticores, razortalon eagles and many more than preyed upon the unfortunate creatures that made the badland their homes. Thanks to those dumb predators, the camp had some good meat those first few days of creating the camp.

With bolter, flamer and lasgun, predators and creatures quickly understood that there were easier ways to find something to eat. It was harsh life in such a place and every Imperial citizen felt at home at such dangerous place. Well, except for the Cobalt guardsmen since they came from a really cold planet. Sunset knew they will be invaluable in the next fight.

Looking at the new fortifications around the new farms build not too long ago, one of the Mechanicus members of their party began to walk in Sunset’s direction. Well, it was more like shuffling in her direction. Sunset had never quite liked the strange creatures that made the main force of the Mechanicus. They all seemed to untrustworthy, what with their constant operations and exchange of flesh for metal. Not to mention they were shifty and tended to keep things to themselves, but they were needed if their new colony was to be a success.

They had ancient secrets on their hard drives and most importantly, they were the only ones that had the means of making new equipment and ammunition this far away from the Imperium.

“We have been waiting for you Canoness, there have been some changes since the last time you descended upon our new home.” The voice of the Mechanicus member was odd, it had a strange echo, as if it came out of a boom box instead of vocal chords. It was an odd experience to deal with the Mechanicus.

“Give me your report, we need to get everything in order.” The two began their report as the two walked away from the Thunderhawk. Both Chroma and Siivet walked in the direction of the main building. It was not so much a house and more like a big bunker, designed to withstand direct artillery fire. The two Sisters of Battle to meet with the rest of their group while Sunset was busy dealing with the builders in the colony. Felicia simply began to follow Sunset, more or less being her personal guard.

“Yes, the ponies have been excellent beasts of burden. Reminds me of the horses back in Miamat and Tiamat according to the last report in the local populace.” At least Devius Metrat, the Mechanicus in charge of the colony development was from Charybdis, the Forge World close to the headquarters of Sunset’s Order, so the two groups were more or less used to each other’s… eccentricities.

Sunset sometimes did quick repairs on her equipment with just one pray to the Emperor instead of several hours like other orders in the Adepta Sororitas. Meanwhile, the Mechanicus of Charybdis were more into practical and explosive testing than other groups. Since this sometimes ended with new flammable and explosive equipment for Sunset and company, it was all well and good between the two.

“What about our supply situation?”

“Yes, our ability to mass produce enough quantities of bolter ammunition and glorious war machines has been slowed due to the rather ancient industry technology of this planet. Thankfully, the Omnissiah has granted us the perfect place for what we need. This planet, and specifically this zone, is perfect for mining the raw materials needed for our first factory. The assembly line is busy right now creating bolter rounds and autogun ammunition Canoness.” The sheer giddiness in his robotic voice was something that could make lesser soldiers wince due to the sheer strangeness of it.

“What about heavy equipment? Chimeras, Immolators, Leman Russ tanks?”

“Right now we have in operation two Rhinos and a pair of Land Crawlers made with very basic engines working right now on the farm fields. Apparently, those from the Miamat regiment were from farming families and they were quick to work on that menial job.”

“So we only have two tractors and two land carriers, great.”

“Maybe in a week we will have a brand new Immolator if you so wish. Pardon the question Canoness, but is there a reason why you are so interested in our heavy capabilities? Are we perhaps starting the cleansing of this world?”

“Even better, we are about to use our weapons against the forces of the warp. As of today, the Sun of Eternity and our force are going to war against Chaos and demons.” While Devius did not have a mouth in the standard way, she could imagine the bright grin he must have had if there was still a mouth underneath all the steel.

Author's Notes:

I gotta say, I love Rhinos and the Immolator.

Next chapter there will be more characters introduced, preparations for war start, conscriptions are completed and many machines of war created for the Assault of the North.

Also, a mysterious tea party is started, something is awakening in the world of Equus. Will the forces of the Imperum be enough to save the planet and the rest of the galaxy?

One thing that I love is the fact that the Mechanicus and the Sororitas have a rather bizarre relationship, with the two working together in many planets and more often than not the Mechanicus never asking the reason why they sometimes accumulate an enormous quanity of guns and bullets. Since they are completely loyal to the Emperor, nobody asks questions. That's probably the reason why they get along so well with the Black Templar Chapter.

Exercitus

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“They will die.” Her noble and regal figure looked upon her kingdom and her heart wrenched at the idea of that. She could see ponies ready to close their stores and go back to their homes, to see their families and spend time with them and Princess Celestia felt pity and jealousy in same measures.

“Yes, hundreds will probably die in the siege. It is not as simple as an open battle and it has always been tricky to reach the crystal Kingdom. We both know that from experience dear sister.” While the two sisters worked as one in the benefit of the planet and all of its creatures, it was her, the Mistress of Dreams, who cut through Celestia’s doubts and fears with cold reality. It was not one of her official duties, yet still, it was something that the ivory alicorn had missed dearly.

“I wish we could join them in battle.”

“We could. Our presence could bring morale up, but it is risky. Besides, even in the Conquering Age so long ago, neither of us was capable of taking entire armies by ourselves. Just remember the actions of Savage Horn. We may be near immortal sister, but that does not mean we are invincible.” They may have had a prosperous time in Equestria, but war was omnipresent, no matter how old their leaders were.

“You don’t have to remind me of my failures Luna, I still bear marks of them.” The taller princess wanted to put a hoof over her horn, where not but a year ago it had been charred and damaged by a cunning bug. “These days, whatever deity looks down upon us is clearly enjoying rubbing those failures on my face.”

“I suppose you have exchanged the sword for the fork, what with the amount of cake you inhale these days and that has considerably changed your battle senses.” The impish smile on the darker alicorn’s muzzle was met with eyes of resignation and irritation.

“If that was an attempt to make me feel better, I’m sorry sister, but it failed.”

“I guess it was in bad taste, or sweet taste, depending on how you look at it, but jests were always the better way to get your head out of the gloom. As dark as the dawn of a new battle is, that is not the only worry that you have in your mind. Does it relate with the redheaded warrior perhaps?” The wince that she got in response was enough to make Luna know she had hit the bulls eye. In reality, it wasn’t much of a wince, only a slight movement on Celestia’s eyes that may have been too hard to see for other ponies, but for someone that knew Celestia for hundreds of years, it was easy to decipher.

“I suppose you know me too well sister,” she sighed, looking once more into the city at the foot of the castle. It was not Canterlot what she was seeing in fact, but those days when her only companion was a young, wide eyes little filly with a sun for cutie mark.

“Nay, there are many new things about you sister that I find every single day, like the fact you now hold even more guilt, especially concerning your previous student.” At this, Celestia almost got whiplash with how fast she turned around to look at her sister. “Well, the one previous to Twilight Sparkle that is. She seemed to have the most blinding smile when she was a small filly.”

“How?”

“Celestia, you are not particularly good at hiding certain things. For one, it was clear that you knew of Sunset Shimmer even before they arrived at our planet. Second, one of the photos on top of your fireplace has been moved recently, and in it you can clearly see the resemblance between the filly and the human. What could it mean, but the return of a prodigal daughter?”

“Sunset wasn’t… she...” She wasn’t sure what to say about Sunset. “She is not my daughter. She was my student, before she disappeared and-no, before I threw her out that is.” Celestia’s panic at trying to explain herself simply vanished, leaving behind a morose pony, one that still felt the pain of those days.

“Threw her out? Surely she must have done something horrible to deserve that. Did she try to use necromancy or tried to assassinate you? Well, those instances always ended up with the criminal burned to a crisp,” Luna said with a modicum of humor in her voice, as if those times were more like a big joke than a true problem.

“She… she threw a book at me.” At those words Luna’s eyes grew up to a comical degree in sheer confusion.

“Pray tell dear sister, did you just say that Sunset Shimmer threw a book at you and you threw her out of the castle?”

“She was found digging through the forbidden section of the castle’s library; she was looking for a way to become an alicorn. We have been having arguments about her arrogance and I- I lost my patience and ended up sending her away. In the end, Sunset Shimmer overpowered the guards and ran into Star Swirl’s mirror.”

“Alright, that does seem a little too extreme of a reaction. I mean, she could at least go back to her parents or her hometown, but even then, that was… sister?”

“Sunset, she… she didn’t have a family.”

“Come again?”

“She was found in a forest back at Trottingham when she was a baby. The officials there thought that she was left in the wild so she will die.”

“A baby? She was left to die?! I haven’t heard of cases like that since the ages of Discord!”

“Her mother was found, but by then it was too late. Sunset’s mother had gone insane. In the end, she grew up in an orphanage among other dozens of fillies and colts. I made a mistake sister, a big one.”

“So far, what I understand is that you took a young filly from an orphanage and gave her a home.”

“Did I sister? Or just made things worse?” Celestia’s face showed the eternal patience and regal pose as always, but for the smaller alicorn, she could see beyond the mask and catch the anger that was starting to emanate from the imposing princess. “When she was tested for her magical capabilities, something that has become routine these days, she had a surge and that started it all. I deluded myself. The day of your return was close and I… I thought she was the one, at least until-”

“Until her cutie mark appeared?” The small nod from her sister was all the answer she needed. “It would be to be expected, seeing that Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark is etched on the Tree of Harmony’s trunk. Nay, it was born with it on its side, clearly signaling her destiny from the beginning.”

“I… I’m afraid that Sunset knew something was wrong when she showed me her cutie mark after a month under my tutelage. I think she saw my disappointment, but well, I just couldn’t just put her back on the orphanage, could I?”

“I could imagine it now, bringing her back to that place and asking to see if there were any other more suitable little foals. Nay sister, by doing that you would have completely destroyed Sunset Shimmer.”

“But I only made things worse with how I acted. She was a little filly who thought that I… that I would be more than just her teacher and I never saw to her needs, to what she needed. It was so different having a filly that had no one except me than one that could return to their family when the day was over. Sunset may have become haughty, rebellious and tyrannical, but I did nothing to help her. Instead of showing her how to make friends and embrace harmony, I only told her she wasn’t ready yet to become an alicorn.”

“If Cadence was already in Canterlot, she probably desired to become one even more, thinking that if she ascended she could be now worthy of being part of your family?”

“Indeed, but alas, it’s easy to talk about our past mistakes with certainty, but back then, I always told myself I had to prepare for your return and I could make peace with Sunset after we were reunited. Instead, I acted rashly and destroyed what we had but with a few words.”

“She used Star Swirl’s mirror and here she is back again, with a… sizable force at her beck and call. Quite the return of the prodigal student I must say. It would be poetical if it weren’t for the situation,” Luna said with a small smile on her muzzle, picturing the event as a grand epic story, which, if we see it that way, it kind of is, but I’m not sure ponies would be able to stomach the retellings of Sunset’s victories.

“If only that was true. Luna, you saw how Sunset acts. Yes, gone is her superiority and ego, but there is practically nothing of the little filly I once saw as my student. You saw her eyes at the last meeting. If any, I will say her cruelty has been exchanged for bloodthirstiness.”

“Indeed. To be sincere sister, for a moment I thought she would use that impressive weapon of hers to blow your head off, or at least try to. I still wonder what made her change her mind, but at least I’m grateful of that.”

“I pushed her too much I’m afraid, something that I’m particularly good at when it comes to my relationship with Sunset. I failed to take in consideration her new responsibilities and instead treated her as if she was one of our subjects.” She had seen enough of the city, so the rulers of the country retired themselves from the balcony and into the opulent rooms of Princess Celestia. These were not her personal chambers. Instead, this was one where Celestia could sit and drink some tea. After all, the view from that side of the tower was breathtaking.

“She is not a pony anymore and I would probably act the same way if Griffonstone had asked us to attack a neighboring country in their stead. To have their expertise in this crisis will be perfect considering how little we know and the ferocity of those demons. Still, their colony is not part of Equestria. They are more like allies… if even that word can be used.”

“Luna?”

“You can think whatever you want about Sunset Shimmer. She was once your student, but those days are gone. Your student is gone and instead she is a, what was it? A Canoness? She is in charge of hundreds of soldiers that look a little too trigger-happy if Sunset’s actions are anything to come by. But that’s not the important part. Tell me sister, have you ever looked at those humans and how they react with ponies?”

“I… yes sister.”

“I know you like to see the good in everyone, like those nobles you still cuddle too much. Maybe we should send some of them to the frontlines in hopes that they learn something… or get lost among the mayhem. But I digress. No sister, these humans are not the trustworthy creatures you want to see in every creature on Equus. They are soldiers and I won’t find it weird if instead of shooting at the demons they’ll turn around and shoot at our ponies.”

“Luna! You can’t truly think that. We are united against one enemy.”

“Exactly, but what will happen when that enemy doesn’t exist? No, don’t worry, I won’t do anything. After all, the only thing I have are merely conjectures. What I want to make you understand dear sister is that the Sunset Shimmer you knew is gone and I do hope Equestria as a whole will survive her fury.”

-----

Among the humble abodes that littered the untouched corners of Equestria with new inventions, with concrete and stone, with progress of metal, it was the edge of the Everfree Forest which always was the most humble of them all. If there was a place that could be called directly out of a fantasy novel or maybe a postcard, then there was no better place to know than the home of a small butterscotch colored pegasus.

Fluttershy had always found herself at home among critters and trees. It was her place to be, taking care of all manner of living creatures as she walked back and forth on the meadows, swamps and forests. Her life was one that always made many pegasi scratch their heads in confusion, before simply shrugging their shoulders at the bizarre sight of a pegasus that preferred the ground than the skies.

She didn’t mind. After all, this was what she knew was her calling, so she did her job with a smile on her face knowing that all her friends, be it pony or denizens of the forest, were grateful of her duties. These days she even found enjoyment in talking and meeting with other ponies without suffering an anxiety attack like many other times.

That was the case with today, when after taking care of the many little furry friends of her, she was joined by an exhausted looking Twilight Sparkle. Fluttershy had seen her friend tired and with her hair a mess before, and every single time Rarity was the first one to become scared of the looks of the youngest princess, always doing what she could to fix that kind of… mess, to put it nicely.

This time, it was different. Not because she was anxious about not sending a report to Princess Celestia in time, or because there was a damaged book on the newest batch to the library. This time it was much more serious in Fluttershy’s opinion, not that the others weren’t important, but… well, in the other cases, hundreds of ponies lives weren’t in jeopardy.

It took Fluttershy a while before Twilight felt calm enough to start explaining what was going on in her mind. It took a couple of cups of tea before Twilight felt re-invigorated enough to make sense of what was going on in her life.

“I can’t do this Fluttershy.”

“Do what Twilight? I mean, did Princess Celestia ask for your help?”

“NO, this is worse, at least I think so.” The dark coated mare took out what seemed like a scroll from the saddlebags she had brought with herself. For a mere that had the power of an alicorn, she sometimes did things like any normal pony in Equestria. Fluttershy knew that she herself used her wings even more than Twilight and she wasn’t exactly the greatest flier. In fact, she was sure that even with all the training that she did in the past since Twilight arrived at Ponyville, she was a faster flier than Twilight, what with her augmenting her wing power several times over the years thanks to arduous training.

The scroll that was deposited on Fluttershy’s hooves seemed like an official copy, instead of the neat writing that came directly from Princess Celestia’s desk. As the shy mare began to read her eyes began to widen up at what was being depicted on it.

“Oh my, they want you on the field?”

“Yes, but they don’t want me as a fighter or anything like that, instead, I’m just going to be an adviser in logistics!” While it was true that the mare went crazy for anything that had to do with organization - the first time she helped on Winter Wrap Up came to mind - this was something on a completely different scale.

“Wait, but, didn’t the princesses say that we shouldn’t be part of the attack?” And she was more than glad of that fact. Just imagining what could have happened when the creatures of chaos attacked the Crystal Kingdom made her have nightmares the last three days. Barry had been such a dear, always looking after her when she tried to sleep. It beat back the worst of them knowing that he was there to help her every night.

“Read the end.” The butterscotch colored mare went back to the letter and at the bottom and had to gulp in surprise and fear of what was written.

“Orders from the general on the field, Iron Duke and your Holiness Sunset Shimmer? Oh Twilight, but, aren’t you a princess? Can they really order you to go?” if it had been Fluttershy the one they had asked for, she would be right now in her favorite hiding hole… underneath her bed.

“That’s the thing, I don’t have any official role in Equestria’s government, I even receive the same government check since I still live in Golden Oak, not that anypony uses the library. Unlike Cadence and the sisters, I’m just a princess in name and… I’ve been wondering if I’m truly one. Apparently that gives the ponies in charge of the mobilization enough powers to call a fiefless monarch into the field. It least I’m grateful they didn’t just put a lance on my hoof and pushed me into the frontlines. This… this is not like other times, this is so much worse, even when we fought against the changelings or Discord. We still had a chance, but this, this is not something I thought we will see happening.”

Twilight wasn’t a fool. In fact, everypony around her knew very well how powerful and intelligent she was. She has read about Equestria’s past and she even studied lately everything she could about the wars the country had been a part of. Beyond the epic and nationalistic pride usually found in those texts, the alicorn mare understood the cost of many victories and the horror that accompanied those dark days.

The alicorn sisters had already been part of many such endeavors, but her? As much as other ponies saw them as the heroes of ponykind, the fact was that they had never been part of open war, not against those kinds of monsters.

“Speaking about Discord, I hope you don’t mind, but, well, he’s coming today to visit.” The butterscotch mare took Twilight from the darkness of her own thoughts and just as she said that, there was a pop, or maybe it was a snapping and like that, the mismatched chimera known by everypony as Discord appeared from out of nowhere.

“I knew somepony was talking about me, my ears were burning.” And like always, the chaos creature quickly took his ears off and showed them how red hot they had become. Twilight had strangely grown used to the kind of physical comedy Discord used whenever he talked. At this point it was his signature way of doing things. “So, what did I miss?”

“Oh, well, we were talking about the times we faced you Discord and how different this new situation is,” the ever kind pony said as the chimera snapped his fingers and a low stool appeared out of nowhere floating upside down. Quickly Discord also rotated and sat ‘down’.

“Wait. Discord, you are literally chaos, what do you know about the monsters that appeared in Crystal Kingdom?” While Twilight will be the first to tell you she didn’t trust completely on Discord, the fact was that he was the most knowledgeable one among them about chaos itself.

“You Princesses always think that chaos is all the same. Shame on you little filly.” A literal conical hat appeared on top of Twilight’s head with the word SHAME written in it vertically. “Thinking that all kinds of magic have the same rules. If it was like that I’m afraid Equestria would have been destroyed a long time ago.”

“What do you mean by that? By the way, do you want tea Discord?”

“Chamomile is fine my dear Fluttershy.” A bended spoon then appeared on one of Discord’s paws and began to move the tea inside the teacup that Fluttershy prepared for her friend. “These creatures use the name chaos too, but we have nothing in common. I find fun in chaos and try to make things less stuffy and boring, unlike Miss Sunbutt back in Canterlot.” He righted himself and took a long sip of the tea, visually relaxing, as in, his body began to melt before becoming solid once more. “I only sensed them appearing in the north in mass and immediately felt the differences.”

“Oh my, so that means you cannot help us?”

“I’m afraid we are made of different meanings of chaos and not even I know what will happen if I mix my magic with theirs. Not that I want to get close to them. What they understand as chaos is nothing but vulgar savagery.”

“Wait, how can chaos be different? It’s just chaos!”

“I see princess sunshine never really taught you about the powers of chaos and harmony, but if you want a lesson in magic, well, I’m sorry but I’m not the greatest teacher, even though I love the suit.” In a second, Discord was now wearing a tweed jacket and a bowtie. “Although, there is somepony that knows more about that, but I believe she will more likely shoot you than teach you these days. Oh, those days when she terrorized the castle whenever she was in a bad mood. I swear, they were worth a family bag of popcorn.”

“Discord, who are you talking about? Cadence knows as much as I do about Harmony magic, so, Princess Luna?”

“Hold on, Celestia never told you of the other one? How scandalous,” Discord answered back with a heavy Manehattan accent as his clothes changed into a big black wig, shades and a thick blue sweater. “My dear, you ain’t gonna believe it, but you are not the first student of Sunbutt. Oh, the stories I could tell you about them.”

“Did you meet them Discord? But weren’t you turned into stone back then? Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t think that time was good for you.”

“It’s alright my dear. It was a little boring, but never one when Sunset Shimmer was around.”

“Wait, what? Sunset Shimmer?” The look on both ponies’ face was enough to get a chuckle out of Discord who was clearly enjoying the moment. He may have been reformed, but there was no way he will miss a chance to screw up with the elements bearers, except Fluttershy of course.

“Oh yes, she was a firecracker that one. Oh, the times she screamed at Celestia were always the highlight of my day. It’s no wonder those two went their own ways, although I do wonder what kind of world she went into to end up like this. I don’t plan on asking her, of course, since I’m sure she will find a way to hurt me and make it permanent. The changelings sure did learn their lesson when they tried to infiltrate their base.”

“You know about that one?”

“Of course Fluttershy. Although, it’s better if you don’t know the details, considering your own *ahem* constitution. I think I’ll hold onto those stories for now.”

“Hold on, go back to the other one. You knew about Sunset Shimmer and never told me? Princess Celestia knew?!”

“Well, yes, of course. All princesses in Equestria know who Sunset Shimmer is, I suppose they didn’t thought it was important enough for you to know.” As Twilight’s eye began to twitch, there was only a flash of magic as she teleported away, leaving behind the other two inside the house. “Was it something I said?”

-----

The sound of boots stomping the ground, the smell of oil, gunpowder and the ozone that accompanied the lasguns made Sunset smile in remembrance of the many battlefields she had been a part of. It was bizarre for a group of Adepta Sororitas - and even more so for a complete order - to always find themselves in the middle of the action, but due to the bizarre nature behind the birth of the original group maybe it was simply an evolution of uses.

Many Sororitas were usually found across the imperial controlled space in specific missions. Some found home in the many ships of the navy or maybe on specific planets, being in charge of the Schola or strongholds. They were the army branch of the church, but unlike the Imperial Guard or even the Space Marines, they were not full on soldiers.

Sororitas were and will always be the Emperor’s weapon against the heretic, always ready to strike against those that tried to subvert the empire from the inside. That’s how she started; attacking planets that were holding the seed of chaos, doubt and full on heresy in them. But things change, and sometimes it’s the world that changes the most. One mission saw the most change when instead of just rescuing the ecclesiarch members of a planet that had been invaded by Orks, she had turned around and helped the guard not only defend against that menace, but push them back and annihilate them completely.

Since that day, it was apparent that she was better used on the battlefield, in operations that called for specific power to break open the line, or maybe discover new artifacts and information needed for the endless battle for survival.

It was the thick of the fight in which the Sun of Eternity Order made its home. They were a fighting machine and Sunset was ready to let go of the leash this time just so she could wipe out the infant chaotic excursion. She may not have nice memories of the planet that was her original home, but the men that had found themselves in this situation looked up at her as their superior and like hell she was going to let them all down.

As the men continued to jog around the open fields of their base, she saw many of them piling up dozens of boxes, all of them with easy to transport battle rations, ammo and other surprises. The soldiers knew this dance already, or at least they did now considering some of them were still too green, with their only experience the basic training and maybe some exercise with the monsters of the badlands. Sunset hoped that the instructions and training that she had given them the last month was enough.

If there was a small consolation, it was the fact she made sure that the ponies were the ones that made the perfect meat shields as they rushed into the frontline with the humans working as their support in that battlefield. Sunset sighed, knowing very well that planning and execution were two very different beasts and more often than not she ended up having to wing it when she was on the frontline or in scouting missions.

There was in fact, something that made her feel better about their situation, and it was the fact that any of her soldiers were better at combat than most ponies that Equestria had conscripted for this campaign. For what she remembered, Equestria’s forces were volunteers that had gained cutie marks pertaining to the job of being guards or officers, with very few, if any, that decided to become one for desire. Now, Equestria had somewhat of a military force once again due to her talk with Iron Duke about their small forces.

Sunset Shimmer didn’t do it just so ponies will have a big enough force to defeat any enemy they had. It was mostly because the more ponies fought, there was less of a chance that they will need the Imperial Guard to do their job. This was just a small operation in an unimportant planet and she had no desire of leaving her troops in a place like this. She will find a way to leave Equus and go back to Imperium space and she will do it with all of her troops with her. Sunset may not have the thousands of years that Celestia had, but she could recognize one of her plans from miles away and she had no desire of being in the middle of one of hers. She will get out of the planet and if she did it quickly enough she won’t have to kill every single pony on the planet because they were heretics… maybe.

As the caterpillar tracks began to move around, all in the direction of the now completed railroad… well, tracks. The heavily armored vehicles would be key in her plans in the upcoming days and she had no desire of wasting precious fuel in them or their Thunderhawk. It’s true that they had enough supplies for at least another 6 months, but if she could economize all she could, it would be for the best.

“Your holiness, the troops are prepared and everything has been put in storage. Also, the men that will be remaining here in camp to defend it had been posted and given enough supplies,” a man with the uniform of the guard and without helmet said to her showing her a data slate with important information.

As she took from his hand Sunset was grateful that while the armor was strong enough to survive a lot of punishment, it still allowed her a bigger range of motions and didn’t take any agility, so data slates and more delicate equipment were easily used while in full power armor. Taking her eyes from the data slate she began to inspect the man in front of her. After the last several weeks Sunset had been trying to know more of her troops. He had a rather impressive mustache and his black hair was groomed and brushed backwards.

“I see. Well, you did a good job in this then, guard-”

“Blackadder your holiness.”

“From what regiment were you from originally?”

“That is the 436^th regiment of the Brittania troops your holiness.” Well, that explained the accent. Britannia was in another sector, but she had done a mission there just after she had been inducted as a Sister of Battle. They were completely obsessed with honor and the Brittania Knights, as the heavily armored soldiers were known there, were some of the most corrupted, sniveling idiots she had met.

“What did you do to be sent to the frontline? I read the information about the groups we have in the Wonder and yours were being send directly to the Trenches of Vastani.” The planet Vastani had become a horrific battle of attrition, all for a planet that was rich in minerals. The battlefield was riddled with mines, artillery and countless miles of trenches and blood. No wonder Krieg soldiers loved that planet.

“Yes, well, when you have an official that is obsessed with personal honor and the idea of chivalry things tend to get a little… sticky. According to him, it was for the honor of our home planet that we should gallantly sacrifice ourselves in his stead, due to him being too old for that ‘last adventure’, or so he used to say.” Sunset blinked once at how completely calm Blackadder was when explaining his situation.

It was obvious that after the short life expectation of being part of such ruthless battlefield, being sent into another planet didn’t seem so bad, even though they were already being visited by forces of chaos.

“Well, that kind of official that you had would have been the first one that I would have shot if I ever met him. Never liked idiots that wasted troops. No matter, I don’t plan on losing men, nor do I plan on losing.”

“Is that so? Do you then have a cunning plan?”

“Oh, even better than that.” Oh, the wicked smile on Sunset’s face was enough to make Blackadder realize that neither Chaos, nor the ponies would be ready for what she will do in the Siege of the North.

Author's Notes:

After so long I finally finished the episode, but I'm happy with the results, specially with the appearance of Discord since, you know, he is a spirit of chaos; but with the differences betwene both universes it is clear that, although he is mischievous, he is not the extreme that are the gods of chaos in 40k.

Also, one of the disguises he uses is based on an old Saturday Night Live 'Coffee Talk with Linday Richman' since, it is clear how much he loves to referenciate 80s and 90s things in the show.

One last thing, those of you that know british dark humor comedy, may recognize the character that was interacting with soldier and yes, he is a descendant of him. I couldn't resist, I mean, Blackadder can fit so well on the 40k fluff alongside others like Ciaphas. if you don't like him, I won't put him anymore, if not, I have some things planned for him, Felcia and the rest of the Imperial Guards on incoming chapters and the battle itself.

Auxilia

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Part 1: Train into the Battlefield

If the scene outside the window was beautiful, he didn’t even notice. The man known as Edmund Blackadder simply took a seat after walking through the other train carts, his job done and ready to take a breather. It had been simple; just take note of things that they had in storage, the soldiers that were ready, see if everything was where it was supposed to be and that’s it. Not exactly the job that was life altering, but he understood that organization was everything in the battlefield.

Sure, many soldiers would die this day, but it won’t be him. In fact, if everything went right, no human will end up harmed. Yes, they were fighting the forces of chaos and will have to hold the line as hundreds of ponies - he still laughed at those words - gallantly trotted across the frozen lands of the north and into the thick of battle. Why he wasn’t nervous? Because unlike Vastani, instead of going over the trench lines and be mowed down in an instant, this time the Astra Militarum were to hold the back, offer assistance and then spring the trap that their official had developed.

Looking into the data slate with the name and orders for the different units currently on the train, Blackadder let himself smile knowing that, at least this time, things weren’t that out of hand, or at least if you were a member of the Imperium of Man.

“Gentlemen, prepare yourselves, we will reach the North lands’ frontline in exactly a minute, that is if the railroad system in this backwater planet does work as promised,” he said taking a rather old looking pocket watch form the inside of his officer jacket. Captain Blackadder, he liked that title. Since they had no real organization, what with their officials currently lost among the void, at least hopefully, a reorganization of the troops was required and he had been blessed with the luck of not being sent first into the fire.

“Then a minute until we fight for honor and die for the glory of the Emperor against those vile warp sucking monsters of Chaos!” The annoyingly cheerful voice at his side made Edmund wince in annoyance. Sadly not every soldier in the army had self-preservation in mind. Blackadder wasn’t stupid. He knew that any other commissar would have gladly, leave that, gleefully, kill him due to his heretical views on the battlefield, but here, under the guidance of a war tactician of the caliber of Canoness Sunset Shimmer, well, it was not cowardly to plan for victory.

Edmund was not a coward, merely an intellectual that wanted to win without having to lose 80% of his body on the battlefield. Sadly the rest of the universe didn’t share his views and had dealt him a bad hand.

He had come very close to dying already back in Britannia, since his military career had come to an abrupt end and he was stripped of his command, his lands and his title by his brother, becoming in the end a simple peasant and all the horrors that the word carried with. It was set up, he knew that, everyone knew, but nobody would talk in his favor.

Then, as if his planet was mocking him, he was swiftly redrafted by a man with more bravado than mind, something that afflicted half of the known universe and would have died a disgraceful death and buried in a mass grave, unremembered and without honor in Vastani.

“Tell me George, before you left the planet, who did you lend your only brain cell?” One of the worst things about being part of the Astra Militarum, was the fact that they were mostly the cannon fodder of almost every single battle, and so he hoped that this time things would work out different. “If you had a working brain you will know that we are not here to affix bayonets and blindly charge the enemy while dying by the billions. First of all, there are little more than three hundred of us and I’m sure our Holiness will find that distasteful. Second, the ponies are the ones ready to do that for us.”

At his last word, the train quickly decelerated and they could see something in the distance. From their location, they could see light reflecting on the obviously artificial construction of crystal and magic, but now the land was red and black, with thick clouds of ash and miasma engulfing the sky like the rotten void-infested place that the Crystal Kingdom had become.

“Now, let us go into the battlefield with the certainty of achieving victory without falling into such madness, shall we?” With those words he stood up, as the rest of his Britannia troops and members of several other planets that had been united for this siege.

“Are you all ready to die in the name of the Emperor? We are all going to rush the city!” And just as they all had their first taste of the bitter cold of the north, they had the pleasure of having the worst kind of reception, by someone that had clearly lost their mind.

“I was about to ask you if you were mad, but the presence of the trench coat, gas mask and the fact that everything that you are wearing has been dyed bright blinding pink is enough proof of that.” Not to mention the hair that was also spilling from underneath the helmet and mask, bright pink that was completely straight.

“You in charge of these maniacs?” a rather rough looking and big-of-body pony trotted in the direction of Blackadder. “These fellas have been nonstop asking about storming the city.” The pony was one of the biggest Blackadder had seen since they arrived at the planet and although he wasn’t as tall as the description of the monarchs of the backwater planet, he was muscular enough to be an effective meat shield against bullets and fangs.

“First of all, while I command the Britannia forces, the one in charge is Canoness Sunset Shimmer, so if you have any complaints, I suggest you to direct them to her, although I am in the know that she has very little patience in the field. Last time someone bothered her for something menial, the ‘fella’ ended up being used to search for mines… manually.” Then, Blackadder simply ignored the pony and kept on walking in the direction of the newly made trenches.

If there was one thing the ‘quirky’ soldiers from Krieg were known for, were their fortifications and penchant for anything that signified attrition battles, so he wasn’t surprised about the preparations and how much the place already looked like the perfect place to prepare an initiative and be protected at the same time.

“Wait, what? Look, I’m just here to see everything runs smoothly until Princess Twilight arrives. It’s not my job to get involved into any actual fighting!”

“Well then, today is your lucky day and maybe you won’t die in a horrible and gruesome manner if you follow the plan, which includes the Death Korps too. Now, if you all could please stop ‘horsing’ around, maybe we can get this war on track, shall we?”

Part 2: The Frozen Trenches

The worst part of wearing the standard set of armor in the Astra Militarum was the fact that it was basically just for show when it came to stopping anything bigger than simple standard bullet. That meant that things like environmental hazards were not even a second priority. In fact, protection against those things were nonexistent.

Walking on the newly built trenches, made from digging rocks and ice in record time using Krieg troops and some knowledgeable Equestria stone experts, Felicia rubbed her arms to heat herself up. Her cheeks and nose were red due to the cold seeping through the whole place and not even breathing into her gloved hands helped her recover.

Looking around the trench, she watched the ponies already preparing for the first assault, with their shiny armor and medieval style weapons and quickly decided that even her armor was a better choice than that.

Looking at their groomed fur and brushed manes, she had half a mind of skinning one of them just so she could gain a fur coat. Thinking about it made Felicia remember her home and the days she spent hunting with her father. Of course, those animals were simply dokram elks, not ponies that were able to talk. Besides, it would be seen in bad manners to skin one of their recent allies so soon… maybe.

Resigning herself to the cold, Felicia resumed her walk along the trenches. She was nervous, but it was clear she wasn’t as nervous as the ponies that were preparing for the first part of the battle plan, and she thought she was a nervous wreck once she was drafted into the military. Well, it was clear that knowing one would die in the name of the emperor made one more ready to fight than being pacific quadrupeds that had no clue what will be their end.

Maybe that was the reason why she began to walk around instead of taking shelter underneath some of the installed tarps around the camp. She had changed in the last several weeks, no, what had changed was who was commanding them all.

It was not just a sergeant, a captain or a commissar. It was one of the daughters of the Emperor, a Canoness that had been tested by battles so harsh that many couldn’t believe that she and her main unit - those Sisters that had been with her since the beginning - were still alive and ready to fight at a moments notice in the name of the Emperor and his people. As a soldier of the imperium, she had brought with her the knowledge and certainty that the Emperor saw after them and that she would die in his name, protecting everything that the Emperor had created, that is if she ever died considering how good she was in the field.

It was this knowledge, her words, her presence and courage that made Felicia and the others follow Canoness Sunset on this world, on this assault. Felicia may not be that smart, or brave to be sincere, but there was something in the Canoness which resonated within her, as if her words had the light of the Emperor behind them.

She had to see with her own eyes how these ponies prepared themselves, how sure they were of their victory thanks to their own ‘sun goddess’ and she found them wanting. She, a mere soldier among trillions had more courage and conviction than them, so, if she was like this then, how much more amazing was the Canoness? She would have kept on going in her head, but she had to fight back a squeak of surprise as an object flew in front of her.

Quickly looking around to see if anyone had heard her rather humiliating sound, she found one of the many servo-skulls flying right in front of her, one of the sockets blinking red and apparently… pointing somewhere? Looking in that direction Felicia saw that there was a point in the distance. No wonder she didn’t know what was going on considering that the object still seemed so far away.

As it got closer, Felicia could start seeing several dots appearing alongside it, dots that grew bigger until she could see why the servo-skull, a machine that had better things to do than pointing to the sky, had started beeping. It was a chariot pulled by pegasi and Felicia almost rubbed her eyes wondering if what she was seeing was right.

Since arriving at the bizarre planet of Equus (seriously, who names their planet like that), Felicia had been surprised time and time again at the strange things going on. Give her a normal lasgun or even make her ride on top of a Rhino, it would be less weird than seeing two flying horses getting closer as they pulled a golden cart with the smallest princess of the bunch.

Seeing it get closer to the trenches, Felicia turned around at the other side, at the city that was a cesspool of monsters, demons and destruction and was half expecting an artillery strike, maybe some AA fire. Here was one of the highest ranking members of the local society and nothing was happening? Maybe she was just a little paranoid.

As the two white guards landed in front of Felicia, she saw that many of the pony soldiers made some kind of weird bow; it was maybe a bow since Felicia didn’t understand how a horse could bow. Meanwhile, the humans were busy transporting things here and there and didn’t even blink at the new guests.

Only Felicia stood there, watching how the purple winged pony came out of the cart, with a look in her face that was strangely familiar. In fact, it was a look that Felicia saw every single morning in the mirror. It was the look of certain doom and not knowing what will happen next. Felicia would have felt pity and certain camaraderie, if it weren’t for the fact that it was a xenos and that would be heresy.

Part 3: Princess in the Frost

“Thank you gentlecolts, I will be alright from here.” Twilight’s smile, or attempt of a smile was as clear as the snow falling down on the trenches, but the guards that had escorted her didn’t even blink before going once more into the air and starting the long journey back to Canterlot. As she watched them go, Twilight Sparkle felt a little lost. Last time she had seen guards flying away with the golden cart, she had been with Spike and they had just arrived at Ponyville. It felt like a lifetime ago; it was probably a lifetime ago since she had ascended.

Last time, they had been delivered on the best place she had ever known, a place that had truly become her home and where all her precious memories had been made. Now, she had been transported to another place, one so far removed from her home that made her shiver and it was not because of the cold.

The Northern lands were as inhospitable like the last time she had visited the place, with winds that never stopped blowing and snow accumulating everywhere. It was a reminder for Twilight that even with all the advancements in weather control, there were places that will never be tamed.

The last time she had been in this place, her brother and babysitter had been there, ready to defend the crystal ponies alongside the rest of her friends. This time, there were only soldiers ready to march into what could very well be their death and she could do nothing but watch.

It was true that she had been asked - more like forced - to participate in this historical event, the day where ponykind once more marched into war, but Twilight didn’t find this historical or important. It was only madness and she was trapped alongside every single pony. She just wasn’t sure who to blame; the mad pony in the crystal spire, or the mad human that had been once a pony.

She knew the truth now, but she wasn’t sure of what to feel; betrayed maybe? Put aside? Non-important? It was hard to say with so many emotions mixed and no real time to process everything that had happened. That’s why she knew the world was falling into madness.

Around her, soldiers newly conscripted, veterans that had been recalled from Equestria’s borders and ponies that had joined to protect their land, they were all together, moving around, prepared as they stood in the trenches made out of snow and rock. As they saw her, they saw the wings, the appendages that had been glued to her body and quickly bowed down at her, in reverence to an ideal that she was not even close to. She was only a mockery, a forgery of an alicorn and she felt this was a huge joke from destiny.

As they bowed in respect others walked in her direction, creatures that towered over her and truthfully, even before knowing the truth about Sunset Shimmer, the redheaded woman scared her. She had faced dark gods, crazed ponies and monsters without flinching, but this woman was different. It was the presence of a creature that not only had killed, but it was comfortable doing it and that was scary in another level. Is because of her that ponies were trapped in this situation or at least that’s what part of her heart told her.

“Well, her highness is finally here, I believe that will be the last piece before we start the invasion,” The way Sunset looked at her, how she talked, her body language; she may be another species, a biped that had clearly evolved from primates, but she wasn’t one of Princess Celestia’s best students for nothing. Her body was alien and her mannerism as well, but she was capable of seeing the meanings behind them, at least a little bit. Sunset did not look at her with any respect, nor was she that glad to see her and she knew why.

Celestia and she didn’t have the greatest talk after Discord dropped the information bomb on her; it was probably the closest she had been at being mad at the princess, but what she had learned was eye-opener. Was Sunset Shimmer truly helping ponykind due to her real ancestry or was just one last favor for her mentor? She wasn’t sure.

“I received your letter and I am ready to help Equestria in any way I can.” She wanted to show why she had become an alicorn, that she had a responsibility as one of the princesses of the kingdom, even if she herself wasn’t sure if she deserved the wings.

“Alright then, your mission in this battle will be… I’ll tell you in a moment.” Sunset simply turned around at that moment before barking orders to the rest of her people. “Alright everyone, Blackadder, take control of trenches. Also, try to restrain the Krieg Korps. I don’t want them to start the festivities before it is time.”

“Well, seems like I exchanged one trench for another, just instead of the usual mud and vermin I will have to take the ice and horses. Not only that, but I will have to reign in our trigger happy friends. Joy.”

“Keep being that cheery, it will be useful. Chroma, take the other Seraphim and get in position. Siivet, take position with the rest of the squad. What’s the situation with Catachan and the First Fangs?”

“Uh, I’m sure they are in position as well.” Siivet shyly raised a hand, knowing very well how focused their Canoness became when she was about to go into battle.

“Perfect. You, Felicia, congratulations. You are going to be accompanying me in the battle,” Sunset said with her terrifying grin growing the more she thought about what will happen in the battlefield.

“But, I mean, what? Why me?” If anybody asked, she was definitely not whining at that moment.

“Because you were here,” she said laughing at the way in which Felicia basically lost all the self- confidence she had been able to amass the last couple of minutes.

“And me? What will be my part in this battle Sunset Shimmer?” At the world of the purple pony, Sunset’s grin grew even more, which was not a good sign.

“You princess, will stay here and wave around like the nice ornamental princess you are.” The grin and the eyes were a clear indication of how much she enjoyed the words, alongside the baffled and confused looks of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Excuse me, what?”

“Well, isn’t that your only role anyways? It’s a job you are so good at doing from what I’ve heard. Besides, it’s the only thing you are even able to do as princess. Why not do it in front of your adoring ponies?” She then just turned around, leaving Twilight behind as she was trying to recover from the humiliation. After years away, it was nice to finally put the silly little pony back in her place.

“Pardon, my lady.” The distinguished voice of her subordinate made Sunset pay attention to the sister walking on her left. It was a voice she knew very well considering she had become one member of her inner circle, a woman that had been a partner in all the insanity that had become their daily lives as loyal soldiers of the imperium. Her hair had the strange colorations of her birth planet and the sub sector that humans populated in the space controlled by the Empire, but the deep regal purple fit her well.

“Yes Tabitha?” She was not going to make her soldiers quiet down. They were always welcome to comment.

“Not that it wasn’t satisfying to see you put down a dirty xeno, but, was her presence required at all? Or was it only so she could be humiliated? At the least we could use her as a sandbag, not that she has much meat to be useful anyways.”

“Well, it was a little about humiliation and part of a bigger plan that I have. Let us see how that will go on, shall we? It seems things are starting to heat up at last,” The Canoness smirked at the whirling clouds of ash and filth that were starting to move faster on top of the Crystal Kingdom and nightmares were about to be unleashed upon this planet like they have never seen before.

Instead of pristine snowflakes, the air around them started to feel like home to Sunset Shimmer. The air was starting to fill with the tension of the battle and ashes and cinders traveled across the sky instead of the clear snow.

There was the smell of smoke and blood in the air, a smell that filled the ponies with uncertainty, but for the human warriors, it was the beginning of just another Tuesday.

“I suppose this is IT sir,” one of the men said, a tall soldier wearing the Britannia uniform.

“Yes George, we are about to battle the forces of chaos that will gladly tear us apart and do unspeakable things with our orifices. Instead of dying in the middle of mud and barb wire, I suppose we will have to make due with icebergs and snowstorms.”

“Bunch of babies. None of us are going to die, that I can assure you of.” And with those words out of the way, the screaming began, the sky filled with the roar of monstrosities as these began to bloat the sky.

Flying creatures appeared over the skies of what remained of the Crystal Kingdom. Dots were also appearing on the border of the crystal city. Red hooves with no fur stomped on the road until they began to thread the snow that had been piled outside. The roaring husks that had once been citizens now were quickly approaching the direction of the trenches.

“All ponies! Prepare!” The sound of drums started, a barbaric form of communication on a grand battle making most of the humans sneer in derision. As the drum beat began, ponies of all colors readied their weapons. Putting their right front hoof over their chest something appeared. A blue light appeared in all of them, their hooves now armed and protected by runic technology.

Sunset may have been impressed once, what with the technology in Equestria advancing enough to make swords held by pony’s teeth a thing of the past. They were now light based swords hidden in their hooves as a simple bracelet. Instead, she held her Godwyn-De’az Pattern bolter at her side, a faithful companion in many missions and would still work for many more.

And like that, in just a second, ponies in armor took flight, shoot spells or charged at the incoming enemy.

“Well, it’s showtime.” Sunset’s smirk only grew.

Part 4: The Monster in the Spire.

If one saw into the throne room of the Crystal Kingdom, they would see a woman of beautiful proportions leave bloody footprints on the once reflective floor, the wet sounds of blood slapping against the floor and the droplets being consumed by crazed pets as the endless suffering and feasting continued day by day on the returning kingdom.

Her beautiful face contorted in a grin as she felt the hundreds of creatures appearing on the borders. It was like a feast that was just out of reach. It was a maddening and a torture to hold herself instead of jumping out of the window and begin ripping apart every single one of the small pathetic and cute little ponies in the world.

It was such a punishment what her master had done, letting her fester alongside useless toys instead of taking her on the most fantastic travels across the universes. It was punishment and she loved it. Oh, how her master loved her. After all, she gave her such a cute little toy in the form of Sombra.

Master Noche had said it was an ironic punishment to use Sombra, whatever that meant. She only cared about what she could do for her lord, the one that had saved her from the humiliating existence as a mere ‘mutant’ back when she was just human. Now she was even more and she was going to show these toys what kind of monster she was.

She raised a hand, and hundreds of her creations woke up, their bodies full of sutures, eyes and teeth, gnashing and violent, with hunger born out of the darkness. They were ready to follow their orders without asking why, without thinking about the reasons. They just attacked.

Just seeing the abominations going into frenzy made something in Sombra break. He now knew that whatever kind of hell was prepared for him after being defeated the first time was nothing compared to the existence he had been chained to. He was only a little collared toy instead of the monarch he had been born to become.

His beautiful city now lay in ruins, destroyed and sullied with the rest of what once were its citizens. Sombra may not have loved its citizens. After all, what is a plebeian in comparison with a god like him, but they were his and his to command. Now monsters roamed his city and only Faust knew what will be the fate of the world he had once dreamed of conquering.

And like one, all the monsters rose from their pits and blood pools and like a stampede they all rushed the battlefield, a mass of rage and hunger, all in fervor of their master, an animal that will kill or be killed in the frozen wasteland.

The drool falling from their mouth fell into the snow, dirtying it with every step. The wave of flesh and teeth then got to the place Sunset Shimmer wanted them to be and her smile grew, showing a face that most of her sisters had seen before. It was the look she had when she was about to start her plans.

“ARTILLERY! FIRE THE DRAGON BREATH!” The voice was strong, firm and almost jubilant. It was the sign the men and women with gas masks needed. As one, they pulled back white covers, snow being sent everywhere as monsters of metal were finally revealed, long tubes of death, cannons created on the ever burning Forge Worlds of the Imperium. These were the organs of death and destruction.

The human soldiers knew what they were supposed to do, they had been instructed by the Canoness. They prepared the mortars and with one action of a lever, dozens and dozens of objects were thrown into the air, arching over the trenches and over the soldiers rushing into battle, hitting the floor and in one second, the smell of burning material reached their nostrils as the sunless north erupted into light as hundreds of creatures began to burn.

It was a gruesome sight, but there was no pity for these creatures as the wall of fire from the grenades made their rush stop. Sunset arched an eyebrow at this, which was enough information about what was going on. These were not mindless creatures, cannon fodder that Chaos liked to use as shock forces. Somebody had put attention to them to give some sense of intelligence, or at least self-control to not charge blindly into the incineration bombs that they have prepared the last week.

As this happened, across the battlefield, both on land and air the two armies clashed. She had to be sincere, because while most civilian ponies turned around and ran away at the mere sight of a couple of bunnies, when they had a mission or wanted to fight they became a force to be reckoned. After all, they were in general stronger than normal human beings. Sword and spell clashed against the behemoths; blood and death turned the ice of the north into a red paste as the two sides fought and died, all according to plan.

Then she saw it, the beasts of wings were not looking at the pegasi with armor and lance, they were now looking at something else, something in the trenches, something bizarre, something that was out of place from what they were doing. They were not here just for death, they were here for answers and for power and the power in the trenches was out of proportion for beasts like ponies, and something that was beyond the power of the alicorns… it was the power of the end of the day.

Their screeches echoed. Like one they all opened their mouths and let out the sound, a signal to the one in the center of the city, her smile disappearing and instead of the smirk only surprise could be found.

“Father, you never said that a Sunset would find her way here!” The monster of blades and wings screamed as she ran to the barista, forgetting her toys. What was once only fun was now… a trap? An answer? Whatever it was, the fact that Sunset Shimmer was here, when none could be found before did not fare well. “Is this why you told me to come here? Did you know Sunset was here? Well, this make things so much fun!” But just as she was enjoying the new information, something happened. From the other side of the city, a convoy was coming closer, calling for the attention of those still residing in the city. Monsters of no soul heard it coming closer and were ready to jump on it.

Only bullets of a charged weapon were their answers as the man on top of its wagon kept firing, their bodies torn apart by the powerful bullets as it came closer and closer. The train kept on going with the front going through the snow with its special front. Its compartments alone, empty of anyone.

The man on top of the train quickly felt the change in the air, of the chaos and destruction in the city, but also the hair on his neck stood up, the sense of danger appearing and making him take sudden action, jumping from the top of the train as at that moment the city block that was close to the train tracks became rubble as the train and the wagons exploded becoming a ball of fire, killing all creatures that were close to it.

He was sent through the air, spiraling as he was rocked by the force of the explosion until he crashed into the snow. His body was thrown with such force that he began to roll into the piled up snow until at last, he stopped in the middle of it all. Slowly, he stood up, the glimmering lights of the shield around his body catching the light of the flames, the wreckage of the train and the bodies of the monsters being the only witness of such mayhem.

“Geez, shoulda known that a Sunset from 40K would be crazy enough to use this tactic, guess insanity is a common trait among all the Sunsets.” He cracked his back and as he stood on that position, he saw the monsters, creatures of chaos… and at the same time they weren’t. “So… you guys are the reason why this whole town was painted red.” He turned to his sides, but he couldn’t find the weapon he had been holding a moment ago, but just as the creatures were ready to pounce on him, his briefcase appeared from under the snow, opened up and spit a new weapon into his hand. “Well, what do you know? Name’s Architect, what should I get you?” And like that, with explosions, bullets and bombs, the War for the Crystal Empire had begun.

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Part 1: Among the Rubble

Rubble, brick, ice and cinders scattered across the dead remains of a forgotten city. Howling winds of the icy wasteland of the north buffeting against the ruins of buried dreams as the sounds of battle were carried by the frigid wind. The sounds of bullets, screeches and metal clashing, all of it leaving their imprint on this land, one that will not be erased easily, but just as the battle echoed outside of the city, in the streets there was another battle.

The now resting carcass of what could have been in the past a normal pony of Equestria hit the rocky ground of the street, its dark eyes now focusing on nothing as the body finally found peace due to the large hole in the middle of its head, its dark blood congealing in the middle of the snow storm as around it, more creatures rose to battle, each and every one being destroyed by piercing bullets and bombs. But they didn’t stop. They couldn’t. Just like an ancient machine that could only do one single order, these monsters knew only one thing; attack.

Their brains, their whole beings had been repurposed. Every ounce of what they once were, of who they had been in the past, now transformed to be the perfect weapon… or at least that was the idea behind them; the skull blowing up due to a bullet as the body joined the rest of the creature’s corpses in the snow, the roars of many filling the abandoned and torn apart streets of the Crystal Kingdom, ultimately showed that these things were not perfect monsters after all.

The long automatic rifle on his hands kept firing bullet after bullet, the empty casings bouncing harmlessly on the snow as the blood, gunpowder and mayhem continued their incessant party across the nightmarish city. What once were pristine streets now showed signs of chaotic taint, with walls of flesh where crystal or mortar once existed, screaming and suffering a constant echo as bullets kept on going. Then it stopped.

No more bullets in the chamber. Architect watched the green rifle on his hands and instead of changing the magazine, he simply threw the weapon aside as his trusty briefcase threw two small handguns into the air, falling right into his hands and once more began to rain lead, until once more, nothing in the chamber, so he threw them, but instead of bouncing, the two handguns began to shine and then, a powerful explosion sent several monsters into the air, with many others being destroyed by the resulting fireball and shower of shrapnel.

Architect was also rocketed back by the explosion, but most of the damage seemed to be absorbed by the body-encompassing light that could only mean an energy shield. Quickly getting up he had to avoid a huge claw by jumping aside as he quickly kicked the monster right underneath its chin sending it flying backwards.

“Oh geez, all this just for a delivery? I’m gonna have to charge a premium!” As another gun, an orange SMG with a short barrel, once more was thrown into his hands his battle continued, as outside the city, ponies and chaos monsters continued their war. But there was something bizarre. They were behaving… differently? They were not simply rushing like maniacs. Instead, they all acted like one, as if they were simply a collective, all running by a program.

He then felt something, a change in the air as all the chaos constructions looked into the trenches and screamed in rage. Every single monster, ready to tear into its opponents, all for the destruction of harmony.

“Okay, I’ve gotta say, that one was new, usually they just like to growl and do… monster things, not call out for someone and that one is obviously Sunset. Great, just great. It always has something to do with the redhead menace herself!”

Part 2: Trenches, Ice and a lot of Cleansing

“Well, that is interesting,” the soldier looking over the ice and into the battlefield uttered, his lasgun over his shoulder and his own helmet looking rather ridiculous on such a wiry and small body. Unlike most soldiers of the Imperium this one was not exactly a perfect specimen of physical prowess. Sunset knew that even Jacqueline, the shortest of the Catachan warriors that they had on their forces could break Baldrick with just one hand, but well, each soldier was useful for the Imperium of Man, if only as a test dummy.

“And what would that be Baldrick? The fact that we are surrounded by xeno scum that are bravely dying instead of us, or the fact that all these Chaos Servants are screaming as one and it almost sounds like a word?” Blackadder may not have been the bravest of men, but he could definitely be considered a cunning man, even though, that even Baldrick, someone that thought that the universal symbol of danger was a stamp that pirates used to mark their stuff, could see something bizarre on the behavior of those monsters was worrying.

“… They are not creatures of chaos,” the captain of their ragtag bunch of soldiers said, making Blackadder and her closest Sisters turn to her. The Britannia soldier raised an eyebrow, which was the most shocked expression that he had on his repertoire, while the armored women didn’t react at all, probably getting to the same conclusion.

“Excuse me my Lady, but, what do you mean by not creatures of chaos? For what I see they act, look and bleed just like them.”

“The resemblance is skin only,” the elegant warrior Tabitha responded while Sunset assessed the situation and what could change with it. “We have been fighting against those… mockeries of life for quite a while and so, we are attuned to their presence thanks to the gifts from the Emperor as his daughters. These things do look the part darling, but that’s only it.”

“Tabitha is right. Whatever these things are they are not behaving in the same way, but whatever the case, seems that we have company incoming,” The rumbling of the ground and the snow being kicked around did not hide the monsters as they charged across the land, sending pony soldiers flying due to the impact, getting closer into the trenches.

“Well, be as it may be, I don’t think the etymology or xenology difference will do any good considering they are more than ready to tear all of us apart.” Blackadder arched an eyebrow at the savagery in which those monsters tried to rush the distance into the trenches, but just as quickly, a beast simply keeled over, half of its head blown over.

Sunset’s hand was raised, her worn out bolter pistol in her hand smoking due to the heat of the bullet and just like that, Sisters and Imperial soldiers opened fire, unleashing fire and brimstone upon the open field.

From the skies, pegasi backed down from the fight as they saw their human allies unleash a new machine to kill. From the snow, they pulled covers and long thin barrels pointing at the sky also made good on their design, ripping apart the flesh of the flying creatures.

The snow was now a seemingly endless sea of crimson and black, as the world that had been idealized as the home of friendship and cooperation now had been corrupted by the cruel reality of war and survival. As the Princesses back home lamented the end of their subject’s innocence, on the battlefield, another one got a cruel lesson in the reality of what was war.

Princess Twilight Sparkle never noticed the tears running down her face, her mind shattered by the noises, the sounds and vision of ponies and monsters alike dying in the wasteland; what was once untainted by everypony, now would be remembered as the place where this butcher had happened.

She was for all purposes catatonic to everything and everyone. The noise was muted, her thoughts were gone as she watched the massacre. Part of her brain, which was always working no matter what, processed the destruction around her, wondering if this was the plan that Sunset Shimmer had for her, for this to totally break her just so she could take one last revenge against her former teacher.

If that was the true meaning of the redhead’s decision, then she had successfully destroyed everything Celestia had held dear, so she stood amongst the ashes and snow, softly crying for the souls of so many ponies, lost due to this insanity known as war.

“You know what I find hilarious about this whole situation?” The redheaded commander of the forces asked the rest of her entourage as they unleashed lead, casing after casing falling into the frozen ground. Around them, some of the snow had started to melt due to the intense heat coming from autogun and lasgun being used by the humans in the defense of the position.

Around them, both anti-air and artillery did the damage across the wide expanse. Only 300, or almost that amount of soldiers wreaked havoc as the melted snow quickly distorted the trenches around, not that it bothered the Imperial forces, who simply kept firing, dropping the enemy in their reckless charge.

“I’m not quite sure what you would find hilarious in a situation like this your holiness, not with so many teeth and claws ready to pounce on our poor under armored behinds.”

“Don’t be such a spoilsport Blackadder.” The battle grin on Chroma’s face was good enough to understand the pleasure that the warrior had in the middle of the battle as she kept firing her twin guns.

“It’s just that, this whole thing, for all these ponies, this whole situation, all this war must have broken their minds, their innocence utterly robbed by the cruel reality of the universe.” The Canoness simply looked at the datapad on her belt. “But for us it’s just Wednesday 1400 hours. Nothing like screwing over a Xeno species while doing our job to kick Chaos’ ass… or a similar facsimile in this case.”

Far from the main battlefield, but close enough to hear the screams and bullets, someone saw the raising smoke and wondered how something could have gone so wrong with no one to stop it in time. Underneath her silver boot one of the monsters growled aggressively, but with a little bit more pressure the beast simply whined in pain and terror.

“I don’t mind the help on this mission lady, but you are definitely not one of our forces and I’m sure if you were a stowaway in our ship we would have noticed a woman like you, so who are you?” the blonde, tall and completely toned young woman from Catachan said as the rest of her scout forces looked in awe at the ease in which this mysterious woman had destroyed all the demons that had been guarding the left side of the palace entrance.

Jackeline was a proud fighter, one that would go one on one with any creature on her native planet, but even she was amazed at the kind of agility and strength that the seemingly thin woman had shown, something that just didn’t make sense.

It was over in a heartbeat, with every demon falling and staying down at the strikes of the mysterious human-looking woman and Jaqueline meant ‘human-like’ because it wasn’t possible for someone that powerful to be a simple human being, not with that kind of power.

The woman for her part simply smiled, her eyes shining in secret delight behind the silver filigree mask, her long white cloak blowing with the cold biting wind of the snow wastelands.

“Oh my dear, we wouldn’t have time to tell you everything, but there is one thing, a name that came to me in my death and rebirth… call me Madeleine if you will and I’m here because I have to be.” There was after all, something that only she could do, something that she had to receive and a person that was responsible for all this madness, but so far, it was still hiding in the tower, letting her little puppets take the fall instead of her.

“Well, that wasn’t mysterious at all. You better tell us exactly who you are and where are you from or we will fill your body full of autogun rounds!”

“I always forget that you people of the Imperium are so ready to attack everything, but believe me, I am not here to be your enemy, I’m only here to investigate something.” And with that, the woman simply turned around, her long silver coat flowing with the wind behind her, all while she moved in the palace’s direction

Part 3: A creation made out of ash, and a battle that will soon be cinders

“Okay, gotta admit, three prong attacks while pulling the main forces out of the city and then attacking the main focus points with trains full of TNT or whatever the case may be considering you are Imperium and you like blowing things up, was a pretty good idea.” Architect was used to strange ideas, he had them all the time, that’s one of the reasons why he was capable of filling orders from all kinds of dimensions and situations. Case in point, the weapon that he had on his hands at the moment could be considered something out of a horror/slasher movie due to its combination of chainsaw and flamethrower that could make most Space Marines weep in pride and joy. “Insane, but pretty good, no wonder Sunset has got so far in the Imperium.”

“We are pretty sure you are not supposed to be here,” the tall almost barbaric looking man at his side could only utter in confusion at the way the man had simply appeared with his silver briefcase and a bolter pistol on his hand. They were sent as recon for the last part of the mission, but finding most of the enemy forces already dealt with by just one man was quite the surprise.

“We, as in, you mean your whole unit? Well, this is the Crystal Kingdom so I’m pretty sure no human or monsters should be here. Was this part of Sunset Shimmer’s plan all along? You guys get inside the city as they are busy dealing with the ponies outside and then… what? I mean, you are not a force big enough as it is to storm the gates of hell at this moment.”

Everyone on the Cobalt forces were a little surprised and a little in awe at the way in which the man acted, but seeing the attire and the clear insignia of the Imperium on the man’s weapons, well, maybe the Emperor had sent some reinforcements.

“You know of our commander.”

“Oh believe me, in this kind of situation, there is always a Sunset Shimmer in the middle of it. Now, let’s push these things back, I have a delivery to make! For the Emperor!”

And that’s how the two sides of the pincer attack went, but up in the tower, there was another reaction to the quickly decaying condition of the battle. Sombra would have smirked at the clear rage on the woman’s face, but he was a little busy trying to survive the way in which he was being choked with the chain on his neck.

“So the little ponies found themselves their own little savior. Of course it had to be the stupid redhead, it is always one of them!” The bald woman threw the umbrum to the side where he stayed trying to regain his breath. “She must have been sent by one of those two fucking idiots. Father was right, whoever is out there is looking out for us and they have always found a way to put a Sunset right in front of us!” the long nails of the woman were pushing into her palms, piercing them while her blood began to fall into the marble floor, corroding the stone and eating large chunks out of it due to its toxicity.

“You speak of this creature as if it were more dangerous than the princesses or the elements,” Sombra finally was able to utter once he regained control of his voice after being strangled for so long.

“Oh, don’t make me go about this stupid woman, not even back when I was alive she could contain herself, such a fucking nice little girl.” On top of her head, the fiery halo flared with her rage, remembering another of the redheads that she had met while she was still human, before the touch of her Father had shown her the true world. “Now she is here with troops, ready to rescue her city and kill you once more.”

“And you too, don’t forget that these creatures hold power big enough to completely annihilate you.” At those words, the rage simply vanished, being exchanged by a sonorous and raucous laughter coming from the angelic looking woman.

“You think…you think that they are strong enough to beat me?! Oh, that was so good. You think that I should fear them?! Simple stupid ponies?! I do not know where you get these ideas, but they are hilarious! Your elements and the tree are not even capable of reaching Father, what would they even be able to do to me? No, it’s that stupid redheaded woman which will be the problem. There is always a redhead!”

She needed to control her stress, so she took one of her practice dummies, one of the ponies who had been experimented by her; the squelching sounds of the head being crushed by her hand was extremely satisfying alongside the screams of pain, before the pony gurgled and was finally capable of finding peace.

As this was happening up in her tower, back on street level, the few remnants of local resistance were being eliminated quickly at both sides of the city, thanks to the surprising help of two unexpected sources.

And just as the rest of the monsters were ready to charge straight into the lines of ponies into the trenches to take down the group of the redheaded Sister, Sunset unleashed her next part of her attack. With one swift order, from underneath canvas and camouflaged, a monster of a machine was uncovered, an engine that had already been prepped.

“Is everything ready inside this thing?” The Sister in command of everything, Sunset Shimmer, was more than ready to unleash hell upon these creatures and this machine was the most expedient tool she could find with the time she had at her disposal. Thankfully the few members of the Mechanicus she had at hand were ready to take whatever they could get their hands on (and they had many of those) and their design was pretty much what she had been looking for; a battering ram with an engine.

“Everything is ready for your signal, your Holiness,” the young member of the Mechanicus, a young female tech-priest of name Tara was the one that had been allowed to go into the trenches for this part of the operation. Her synthetic voice, still not as reverberating as the older red hooded weirdos that Sunset had at her disposal, was almost clear and human sounding. She still seemed to have many human parts, which was strange for the red robed weirdos, but she wasn’t going to complain when the girl was a lot easier to deal with than other mechanical lunatics.

“Perfect. Chroma, get the Sisters ready. Blackadder, you are in charge of the trenches and somebody grab the princess. I’m pretty sure she won’t like to miss this thing!” With a massive grin on her face she got into one of the carts as the other soldiers obeyed her orders, quickly boarding the carts, without noticing that the one who got Princess Twilight was a pink garbed soldier ready to join the adventure.

The wind picked up as the engine quickly moved the carts across the snow, a plow installed in front of the train cart shoved everything aside, sending many poor souls flying through the air as they tried to stop the momentum of the beast.

It was like this that the battle for the Kingdom was about to reach new heights. This was but the first step in a bigger conflict. It was time for the war to get on track.

Finis

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Part 1: Death Field

It was bloody. It was brutal, and it was something that ponies needed to remember. Many have died or been injured, but they were finally fighting and they were alive because of that. How ironic that while they were being ‘protected’ by their Immortal Princess, they had forgotten this part of themselves and had grown… weak. There was no other way to put it.

Ponies were pacifistic by nature, they said; that they were weak was widely known. They preferred to hug and prance around. That was not true in the past. Were they protected by virtually ageless royalty? Sure, but they needed the present situation to open up their eyes and go back to what they were, a true race of warriors, spell casters and warlords. It was a heritage that they had to win back with steel and aether.

For millennia they had existed as a civilization, surrounded by literal monsters that could tear down a city in minutes, but even then, they survived, they thrived and now… well, they fought for their right to exist on the planet. Of course, it was a lot easier to survive when you had behind you the powerful military arm of an alien species that seemed as ready to tear down these monsters as Equestria’s military branch. While ponies liked sweets and parties, there were still psychopathic bastards in all the militaries of every single freaking species in the multiverse, so a little bit of blood and gore was just what the doctor, or combat medic, ordered to gain back some of their old battle honor.

While many of the troops were fighting and dying in the middle of nowhere for a piece of land that, let’s be honest, was not that important in terms of tactical importance or even financial, they were fighting because well, it was theirs to begin with, even if technically it had been lost for a millennia due to dark unicorn shenanigans; but Celestia dammit, if they had a princess that had been lost for that same amount of time then things like one thousand years was not an excuse to let freaks of nature take possession of your stuff just because.

So they were dying, by the dozens, probably by hundreds if it weren’t for the superior cover of several mobile anti-air artillery Hydra tanks that were used expertly by the soldiers with the most experience in trench warfare in the whole fucking multiverse known as the Death Korps. There was artillery, there was fire and there was carnage, because in the dark grim future, there is only war. It only took a little longer for ponies to know that.

But, I have to give credit where credit is due; even if they were just a backwaters, dirty and horrifying xeno scum species, they were showing courage, they were showing grit, they were showing the honor of the Equestrian Forces, they were - “I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” Oh dear Man Emperor of Mankind, seems like not everyone was born for the battlefield.

This certain Pegasus was seen being used as a ragdoll by a particularly humongous red creature with big teeth and equally big sadism and equally opposite size of brain, as this poor young fellow was being twirled around as if he were a mace or a new dog’s chew toy. That is until the tail simply gave up the fight and the pegasus was launched through the air as the creature was left with only the colorful remains of a tail, just before an autogun round pierced its eye and exploded into gore and brain matter as the bullet laid waste to another monster in the wasteland.

The young soldier, one Zephyr Breeze had been chosen for the unenviable task of defending the land of the free, better known as Equestria. Sadly for this young stallion, the grim reality of it all was that there is no great honor in dying for your or another country. Neither was great honor to be an irredeemable coward that was just wasting space and oxygen, but by the looks of the hound like creatures that had jumped onto him as he landed from his impromptu trip, well, he won’t have to be a coward for very long.

And then.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

No tearing of mortal flesh or defenestration of the material creatures on this world. No, there was something else, something calling them… something more dangerous than them for sure.

Part 2: Know your Enemy

Things didn’t make much sense really, not in the attack. After all, Chaos forces usually didn’t have much sense beyond attacking new worlds and doing despicable, horrific things with fleshy stuff, at least as much as he knew about it since Architect never really did many jobs for the Imperium, at least officially of course.

The higher ups in the Imperium and people in charge in general around that galaxy were more likely to say he was a heretic and try to kill him on the spot, declare him a worthless Mon-Keigh or tried to slave him just to send him into the Flesh Laboratories. The last two situations always ended with their demise… more clientele lost. Oh well.

Even if technically he was a heretic, since he knew what the Emperor really was and where the idea of him being a god came from and considering dear Emps was a little indisposed for the last ten thousand years, things didn’t seem like it would change... Fucking Horus.

Going back to the creatures, well, they didn’t make sense in the way everything felt, with so many generic looking creatures attacking in hordes without any real idea of strategy. They acted more like automated flesh dolls than real forces of chaos. Sure, they were ugly, grotesque and usually had great scythes or mauling appendages, followed by serrated teeth ready to tear and chew everything in sight, but it was something that he already expected from these things. So, maybe Khorne’s creatures? They looked a little like them, but it was still a toss considering the forces of Chaos and the dangers of the Warp.

Following behind the Cobalt 19^th, he had ample time to notice how… left alone the whole place was considering this was supposed to be territory under the occupation of forces from inside the Warp. It was still a solid construction so that was… bizarre? No bleeding pile of flesh, no ripped spines and impaled skulls, no writing, spasming and howling bodies of tortured beings, so, yay?

Even if he hadn’t really toured the ample galaxy that was consumed by nothing but war and death extensively, no matter how profitable that action would be for him and the forces of the Imperium, he knew a little about attacks from Chaos and had some experience helping a group or two of their groups, so this was just ringing so many alarm bells on his head and as they went deeper and deeper into the palace he kept wondering, who really was behind this job?

Why was he summoned exactly into this place? It wasn’t weird to get a job inside one of these strange locations from time to time. After all, his clientele was usually those that had to do dangerous jobs, but not something this secretly.

Still, if this was supposed to be a special delivery inside the palace, he will finish the job and deliver the special item. After all, this was his job… his self-appointed job, but it was a job nonetheless. Taking down monsters like the ones in front of the group was simply a bonus considering how much knowledge he was getting, from their body physiognomy to the way they broke apart with enough bullets, and not even the strong calibers that most Space Marines and Sisters used, these were a little more powerful than the usual ones the Imperium gave to its soldiers, which Architect knew very well that any weapon on his armory was stronger than anything they could pack.

So, strange creatures that were powerful enough to destroy technologically deficient societies, but weak enough to only present an obstacle to warmonger species. This did not seem normal, even for the weird things that kept happening all across the multiverse. It just felt inorganic enough. Still, a job was a job and he was all for helping take down whoever was behind all this.

One more bullet and the group quickly reached the main entrance of the palace, just to see the incoming plowing train leave its mark on the ground as it quickly rammed against the front door and in a shower of snow and debris, the secure and ancient relic made on the first era of the first Empress was no more than a pile of crystals in the path of progression, or just a steel machine of several tons of weight driven by some of the most destructive creations since forever.

“No matter what happens, that woman keeps surprising me. Who else would use a train like a battering ram?!” he exclaimed while kicking one more monster as the snow that the train had kicked upwards came back slowly almost like a winter miracle... if you didn’t take notice of all the blood and viscera around the place.

“Haven’t met the commander for a long time, but I can say that her tactics are effective.”

“Of course Sunset Shimmer is effective, but if there is a problem, there is ALWAYS a Sunset involved in it. I swear, they are a freaking magnet when it comes to stuff like this.” And just like that, the siege of the Crystal Kingdom had skipped some parts of it, like the long siege, but at least they had jumped to the fun part.

Part 3: Inside the Crystal

As the Cobalt members plus one where doing the last sweep outside of the gleaming and towering castle, from the train came out several power armored forces, one masked soldier and a robed woman that held a shell shocked alicorn on her long griping tentacle. It would have been a little comical if Twilight Sparkle wasn’t so completely confused and flabbergasted at the whole situation.

Thankfully, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at things, there was no welcoming group inside the castle. In fact, everything seemed quiet, surprisingly so considering the amount of carnage at the outskirts of the city. Not that there wasn’t inside the castle.

It was grotesque to see what kinds of sadistic and malevolent actions had taken place, with many still rotten bodies of ponies littering the floor, their still crystal like skin looked out of place in the middle of the blood and gore in the floor and the walls.

Bodies hanging from hooks, rotten corpses half eaten that had never been cleaned, maids that had been killed still showed the damage they had suffered before being killed, with many showing blood and marks on their hind legs and crotch and many other horrible things were still proudly shown on this carnival of destruction.

“Chroma, Siivet, check the perimeter, Tabitha and Starlight, hold the front,” The four Sisters quickly took positions and took their places with aplomb and professionalism. This was not their first battle and they had the training and experience to do something like this automatically. Just as she was about to take position and advance, a glaringly pink colored trench coat called her attention as the user was animatedly waving her arm and pointing at herself, “while you stay at my side and… affix bayonet?” The happy squee was high enough that it could have blown windows as the soldier quickly did that and joined Sunset in their first steps into enemy territory.

“Canoness, what about the pony?” Dangling from the metallic claw, Twilight was clearly still trying to process the destruction and savagery of the invasion, while the Tech-priest Tara was obviously recording data to review later if the lights coming from her other metallic appendages was any indication.

“Keep it close, we may still find some use for her in all of this.” And they went, walking across the apparently empty entrance hall. The once polished floors and perfectly maintained glittering walls and pillars were now a rotten hive, with no light bouncing the building, but still, it did not have the feeling of chaos in it. As the armed arm of the Ecclesiarch and trained day and night to combat the heretic and the chaotic forces of the Warp, they were attuned to the call of daemons and the treachery of their lords, but this place, it had no stench of chaos, no whispers of darkness and promises of power, blood and pure debauchery like any other time they purged that cancer form the Imperial worlds.

It was all consuming, but no god of chaos had their hands on this place and that worried Sunset Shimmer. If this had been just Chaos, then no problem, just burn everything onto the ground, but this, well, this was mysterious and Sunset Shimmer hated mysteries. They only led to more trouble to her and the rest of her troops.

Just as their footsteps took them far enough into the depths of the hall, they all were ready for the doors breaking open and the hordes of monsters barreling in their direction.

“Sisters of Battle! Make them pay!” If there haven’t been enough light before, now the flashes and flames were enough to blind others, but not these fighters. As one of the monsters jumped into their direction, their head was completely blown apart, Sunset’s pistol cut it down before it could do anything.

The sound of static was enough to tell the others that their most savage warrior was ready to intercept and guard their flank as Siivet used her monstrous strength to make her Power Hammer swing, catching a creature right on the left side, sending it flying, then readied herself before hitting downwards, cracking the skull of one more. At her side, her companion went into the air with her jetpack. That was her natural element, using her twin automatic guns she rained lead upon the battlefield, moving everywhere, never staying in place for more than a second, as if she had too much energy to keep calm.

There was an unofficial rule among the Adepta Sororitas organization, which said that everything could be solved with the judicious use of fire… which basically meant BURN EVERYTHING. Nobody followed that creed quite like Tabitha who pressed the trigger on her Multi Melta and with the craziest smile on her face, creatures turned into simple ash, being ripped apart by a weapon that could easily disintegrate armored vehicles. Instead, they were cooked into oblivion.

At her side, being used as the vanguard, Starlight Glimmer held her ground as shot after shot was being vomited by the huge weapon on her hands at such ludicrous speed that it simply ripped apart anything and everything on its path, the bodies falling into the floor as they were cut down by the Heavy Bolter as the warrior kept walking ahead, stepping upon one of the monster’s cadaver in her zealous desire to purge these monsters.

Although she was a researcher at heart, or whatever passed as heart on that kind of body, Tara was a fervent defender of the Omnissiah, and as one, she was more than capable of defending herself and those around her from danger and destruction, with great mechanical retribution. It would have been hilarious in any other situation to see the violet and magenta haired cyborg dispatch the monsters around her with plasma and lasgun coming from her metallic claws coming from her back as one of those claws held up a screaming pony princess. What irony. After all, Twilight was being manhandled by her own human version.

From the back of one of the creatures, a blade ripped through the body and splattered guts and blood across the already defiled floor of the castle, letting go of her lasgun as the monster went down with her bayonet, Diane of the Death Korps unstrapped the shovel on her back and with a mighty swing hit another enemy in its head, hearing the satisfying crunch, then turned around and sliced the head with the edge. Taking something from inside of her coat, she threw a grenade and turning around, she raised her fist as if celebrating the explosion of shrapnel and pink glitter destroying the enemies of mankind

Their leader, the Canoness of their Order was also busy. Already a veteran of many campaigns, the redhead shot each enemy in front of her with cold precision, before unsheathing her power sword and in one hit sliced completely in half another. It was bloody, it was carnage, but it was incredibly elegant the way she moved without wasting time or movements. For years she had honed her abilities becoming a killing machine that was unstoppable as fire. Steel and courage took over the battlefield. That was, until all the warriors were sent flying alongside the remaining of the chaos forces.

Then, everything was silent. No creature got up. Instead, whatever enemy was still alive, stopped and simply turned into dust as steps echoed through the hallway, and Sunset then felt it. A presence so dark it made her wince and quickly get up, her bolter ready to destroy whatever was coming before it had a chance to do anything, her sisters at her side, holding the line, preparing themselves to end this battle right now.

Chapter 4: Silver and Blood

As soon as the outline of a creature appeared at the other side of the hall they all unleashed hell upon it, sending dozens of bolter rounds and then… nothing. Every single round stopped in mid air as the figure stepped into the light pouring from the broken windows showing a tall beautiful woman with a shaved head and a flaming halo slowly rotating above it. Her ragged green and yellow robes left nothing to the imagination to the incredibly toned body.

Her crazed eyes and sickening grin basically mocked Sunset and the Sisters as she simply touched one of the floating rounds and it too turned into simple dust, floating away in the stillness of the corrupted castle.

Sunset was surprised at the abilities of what was obviously behind the attack at the Crystal Empire. She must be an incredibly powerful Psyker to have such a defense against their attacks and then, she noticed what she was holding in the other hand, a long chain that connected to a collared pony, but not just anypony, but the dark coated unicorn that had been once the mighty ruler of this land. It looked emaciated, with patches of fur missing and there was obviously something very wrong with the collar on his neck if the wisps of smoke coming from there was any indication.

“When Father told me to have fun in here, I never thought I would be face to face with one of you, sugar,” the woman said, as if she was enjoying the situation. It was obvious which Chaos deity she followed considering the words and the clothes.

“You better return to Slaanesh at this moment and leave this planet alone you monster, before I send you back to the warp in a tinderbox.” The answer that Sunset Shimmer was expecting did not coincide with the reaction of the woman to her words, as she stood looking at Sunset with a face of deep confusion, as if she didn’t understand what was being said.

“Hold on, what are you talking about? Slaanesh? Oh dear, oh dear, I’m pretty sure there has been a horrible misunderstanding of the situation. I do get the idea of those little things called chaos gods by others, but really, taking me for a follower of something so inconsequential, that is not a very nice thing. I’ll have to teach you a lesson, little girl.” As she kept talking, her face was being contorted more and more into a feral grin, just before the woman seemed to have disappeared on the blink of an eye.

The woman’s hand about to close around her neck was the next thing Sunset saw as she somehow had dashed their distance so fast she wasn’t able to see it, her mind made everything look almost in slow motion as around her, the rest of her Sisters had absolutely no time to react as the woman’s fingers were about to close around her neck ready to snap it and then, the woman was sent flying into the air.

As the would-be killer of Sunset Shimmer reoriented herself on the air, the redheaded woman let out a gasp, her body sagging in relief and surprise at what had just happened. How had that creature attacked so fast? But before she could try to get answers, the whole unit noticed what had saved their leader.

Floating in the air, there was an object that clearly was projecting some kind of force field around Sunset Shimmer and it was the most inverosimil source that any of them had ever seen.

“By the Omnissiah… is that a briefcase?” The digitally augmented voice of Tara was the first one to be heard as they all watched with open mouths the object currently floating in mid air and obviously creating the force field, a translucent blue energy bubble currently protecting the Adepta.

“Well, you don’t see this everyday.” As soon as Sunset spoke the shield then disappeared and the briefcase flew back into the entrance of the castle just as the rest of the troops she had sent as scouts appeared, accompanied by a man wearing a long red military coat, who simply grabbed the briefcase with one hand.

“The amount of times I end up helping a Sunset Shimmer these days keep piling up. I should start charging a premium. Seriously, it’s getting ridiculous,” the man said just as the demonic looking woman was assaulted by rapid discharges of auto guns and lasguns.

“What in tarnation is that thing?” the unmistakable voice of the leader of the Catachan troops exclaimed as the shots kept being fired with no real damage to the demon. Everything was being stopped by what could only be her own personal energy shield. As all this was happening, both the Mechanicus tech-priest and the Princess of Friendship kept looking at the creature barely being pinned by the constant barrage of lead and energy beams.

While one of them kept recording all the information with her cybernetic parts, the alicorn instead was in awe at the incredible amount of energy that the demonic woman had in her, but it felt wrong. In a way it reminded Twilight of the first time she used the dark magic required to dispel Sombra’s illusion door the time they were searching for the crystal Heart.

“I have no idea and I certainly don’t care, so just unleash everything you have at her!” As Sunset said those words, all soldiers present began to attack the shield, with bolter and melta joining the wave of destruction but with a mighty screech that pushed everyone back due to its power, the woman was once more on the offensive, throwing Sombra’s body ahead of herself, allowing his body to be torn to pieces as she used her clawed hands, ready to maul and cut into pieces every single creature that dared to oppose her.

In a shower of light, two mighty powers crashed against each other as from behind the Catachan regiment, a woman had intercepted the demon, her leg hitting against the clawed hand, sending snow and silver sparks into the air with the force that both hits had.

As soon as it happened, the two opponents disengaged, retreating backwards as the rest of the battlefield were left astonished at the kind of powers that had been shown. Sunset got a good look at the woman and found herself astonished at the strange attire; a full bodied silver armor alongside a long cloak and a silver filigree masquerade finished the strange attire, but in a way, it fitted the woman as a complete antithesis to what they were fighting against.

“Where is your master little puppy? None of you ever get far from Noche’s grasp,” Sunset was sure that everyone else was as confused as she was at this moment considering the last minute’s happenings.

“Wouldn’t you all like to know? My dear Father gave me the tools to have fun this time! it was just my luck that the stupid redhead got involved into all this! Figures Sunset Shimmer would appear on Equestria,” So these two knew each other and somebody named Noche was involved? That seemed like an Umbrum’s name. What was going on and where did this woman come from? Looking at the blonde woman towering over them she just got a raise from her shoulders.

“Ah have no idea who that is Canoness. She just appeared outta nowhere and started to kick ass! Ah thought she was an agent of the Emperor considerin’ she was helpin’ us and all!”

“Is anyone else as confused as I am with all of this? Anyone?” Turning around, all the eyes not currently engaging into furious combat in the middle of the castle looked at the unknown man. “Is that just me then?”

“No, I’m seriously confused too about all of this and it’s not even the kind of confused like when you go to the mess hall and then forget what you were going to the mess hall to begin with,” the rapid fire words spewed from behind the mask, just added to the whole ridiculousness of the situation.

“Yeah, you are definitely Pinkie Pie!”

“Who in the name of Sanguinius are you and what is going on around here?” For all her training and experience keeping calm around the rather eclectic forces of the Imperium and Equestria, this was reaching new levels of insanity.

“Name’s Architect, at your service. If what you need is a new weapon, building or artifact, I am the person you ask for them, and you must be Canoness Sunset Shimmer. As for what is going on here? You would have a better idea considering I’m just here for a delivery, not to get involved in a battle zone! You’ll have better luck asking her!” he said, quickly raising another shield as powerful flames then were expelled in massive quantities from the demon’s mouth.

At the last second the silver armored woman got inside the shield as she rested for a bit. It had been a long time since she had been in combat against a creature as powerful as this.

“I am Madeleine… that is not my real name, but it’s the one that I took for myself and that, well, that used to be a young woman once by the name of Anna Marie LeBeau.”

“Wait wait wait, that thing is Rogue?! What the hell happened to the freaking world!?” Just as Architect finished saying those words, the shield finally broke, sending them backwards.

“I woke up! I was chosen by our Father! I will make this world into a seed for him and I’m going to enjoy destroying you all!” Her claws, her flames, her sight, everything in her was wrong, created and reshaped by a madman with no regard for existence in general. Bullets did nothing, attacks did nothing and while Madeleine was powerful, she was still new to her form. That’s the reason she was here. That’s the reason why Architect was here. That’s why I brought Sunset and the rest of her squad here.

“Cereza! You better pay me in some freaking way because this was one weird project and even worse place!” Throwing his briefcase, this one opened and something was expelled. It was a beautiful silver winged spear and a shield with a butterfly flew through the air. In the blink of the eye, Madeleine held her new weapons as around her, the energy of the artifacts exploded into hundreds of beautiful butterflies, glittering around the desecrated castle, cleansing it of the darkness. “Silver and Sapphire, twin butterflies. What better weapons for you?”

“I told you, the name is Madeleine now, but I must thank you for this beautiful work. Indeed, butterflies do look good on me. After all, what girl would pass on beautiful accessories, am I right?” The shield was obviously one of a kind, because it not only stopped the claw attack, but it did not buckle against the enormous pressure.

“Cereza, Bayonetta, Madeleine, you change names like you change outfits at this point. So, Miss Nun with Guns, I hope you had a plan coming into this place, because the way I see it, this was an even bigger deal than probably all of us thought so.” The armored women were looking at each other, analyzing the situation that they were in, the enemies and… apparently allies that they had.

“There was… a plan. There is a plan still, it just got a little bit more complicated to enact,” the redhead answered, something that Architect knew would happen. After all, the redhead was always in charge everywhere he went.

“Well, I’m all ears, because right now, I’m pretty sure my pay will vanish if things don’t go right. Most artifacts that I have that could deal with the crazy demon girl here... for a little while maybe, well, I’m pretty sure you won’t like the side effects of those things,” he said as the briefcase containing said artifacts zoomed to his side as if it were a robotic pet.

“Usage of any kind of alien technology is a clear offense to the Omnissiah.”

“Not to mention quite a heretical decision of your part darling.”

“Oh, just calm it down, Emps isn’t exactly someone to frown upon that kind of thing, not that he could, sitting down on that throne and all… Fucking Horus. Besides, I’m not from your empire. I’m just a simple merchant trying to help you deal with what is obviously your enemy. I’ll even do it for free, how about that?” The smile on his face and the finger guns pointing at her made Sunset doubt the words of the man in front of her.

“You look a little too gleeful at going after what is obviously an interdimensional monstrosity.”

“Miss Sunset Shimmer, believe me when I say, dealing with things like that is par for the course of what I usually do, just… not on this scale, because I’m sure that’s not the color the sky was just a few minutes ago.” Everyone then looked upwards, as the sky had not only opened, but something bizarre, or at least more bizarre than usual was happening. The wind had stopped, the monsters were quiet and every soldier on the trenches also saw that the eye of the storm did not show the endless sky or the red hues of the end of the day. No, it was worse than everything they had fought so far.

“By the Emperor… is a portal to the warp.” With these words from Canoness Sunset Shimmer, hell poured into Equestria, with what seemed like millions of winged beasts and horribly deformed creatures descending on mass onto the surface.

“Well, hope your plan had a contingency for whatever the hell is happening because I did not see that coming!” As the holocaust made flesh started their descent, every battery, every gun, every mage unleashed lead, explosive and concentrated mana into the heart of the deadly wave of horrors falling into Equus beneath it. In the heart of the city Sunset Shimmer quickly took out her communicator.

“Blackadder, initiate the countdown! Then retreat to the assigned location! We will try to reunite with the main forces as fast as we can! Everybody, move, move, move!” As every single member of the Imperium inside the castle began to run in the direction of the exit.

“Waitwaitwait, what is this plan you are talking about?” Firing a new weapon being dispatched from his trusty briefcase at one of the falling demons, Architect began to run alongside the human soldiers.

“In case we couldn’t defeat the creature in charge of the invasion, the plan was to explode the whole city to cinders to cut the infection in time from the caverns underneath the city! So now, unless you also want to die alongside these monsters, I suggest you run!” While it was true that the crystal caverns underneath Canterlot were much bigger and could contain much more explosive material, the tunnels underneath the frozen lands had been built by Sombra to contain most of his forbidden artifacts and grimoires.

“Yeah well, good choice as a plan B. Sadly I don’t think your bombs will do much with the new portal up top unless you torpedo the planet until it’s glass. Better alternative! Madeleine!”

“A little… busy… here!” With every stab, parry and dodge around the battlefield, it was clear that the silver armored woman was more than a little busy fighting against the once human Rogue in a deadly dance.

“Yeah, I know, tag me in and take these guys out of here!” As if they had enough time to practice the move, Madeleine did a flip backwards as Architect ran in their direction and quickly slided underneath the other woman, quickly tagging the fighter at the moment.

“Hope you have a good idea for what is going on, because unless we deal with the massive invasion at the top, this world is doomed.” The man dodged a clawed hand as the briefcase opened up completely vertically and a rocket was fired from the inside, staggering the corrupted woman and throwing her backwards, leaving them some time for whatever he was planning.

“I have one. Penny, come here, I need the Build artifact!” It wasn’t exactly the name I would have given to a moving briefcase, but I suppose it works as this one quickly dashed up to its owner and from the inside, three things were shot out. In this case, a strange metallic belt and two rectangular bottles. They glowed with eerie energy on the inside, one almost white and the other in deep blue. “Not courtesy of Sento, but I’ve seen his work enough times to try and make myself something similar. Just shake it, push the button on the top and then take everyone out of here.” He put the blue bottle on Madeleine’s hand.

“What about you?”

“I’ll deal with the big ones up top, but whatever the fuck Observer and the rest are working on, it’s clear that they need all the redheads they can get. So take her out of here,” His words were quickly followed by the start of the fight between him and the crazy pseudo angel.

With the bottle on her hand, Madeleine reunited with Sunset and the rest of her soldiers, and with a quick shake of the bottle and the press of the button on top and the sound of what could very well be the release of gas from a bottle, almost like a soda can being opened, all the ones present on the castle disappeared on a flash.

“What’s the point of teleporting when Father’s minions will find them everywhere they go?” A swipe, a punch, both opponents falling back and one of them was smiling from ear to ear.

“They are not running, I don’t want them here for what’s going to happen.” Quickly placing the belt on his waist and shaking the bottle, he inserted it inside the missing place in the middle of the belt.

“Core Ready!” The clear, mechanical voice coming from the inside of the belt could be bizarre for others that weren’t quite used to eccentric and bizarre futuristic belts, but for Architect, it felt almost like home.

“Hope this works.” And just like that, gripping the handle at the right of the belt, which looked oddly like a bottle opener for some reason, he closed the center with a snap. “Henshin,” he turned the handle slightly and the sound of a bottle popping open was heard across the empty castle.

“Rider is O-O-O-OeRROR!” Instead of an armor appearing, arcs of energy ripped across the place, even injuring her this time. He screamed in pain, before trying to control the energy flowing through his body.

“Yeah, this thing still needs a ton of work, but is a good power boost. Penny, activate Gem Bomb, I’ll give you as much time as you need.” And with that, he jumped into the fray, his body receiving as much damage as he was unleashing, hitting, kicking. Both opponents continued their fight as the briefcase settled down.

Inside the miraculous work of science, something was searched for in the staggeringly huge library of weapons and artifacts, before what he ordered was found. The briefcase hissed and opened in the middle as a tubular container was revealed. The middle of the tube opened showing a sickenly green light while inside, a chain reaction was initiated and there was no turning back.

Far away, or very close, since the outside of the known universes was a strange place, a man and a woman were looking at the spectacle form the inside of their home. The man helps himself with dignity and aplomb, his dark rimmed glasses and pinstripe suit were immaculate as he observed the fight on the frozen wasteland. At his side, the woman with multi color hair tapped at something on a holographic keyboard in front of her.

“Relocating Sunset Shimmer and the rest of the fighters, including the ponies, take that as a bonus,” she said with a smirk on her face. While her voice was as raspy as the rest of her multidimensional versions, this particular Rainbow Dash did look quite gorgeous with her exquisitely designed white button up shirt, suit jacket and pencil skirt.

“Make it so they arrive at Canterlot, it would be much easier to take control of the situation there. Also, tell Collector to accompany us then.”

“Not worried about Architect? He may be capable of handling most situations, but we have never encountered a minion of Noche like this before.”

“Whatever the case may be, Architect will do something drastic and out of proportion. He will survive… he always does… you know what? I have a better idea of where to send Sunset Shimmer,” Observer said in his british accent.

Chapter 5: Goodbye Bleeding Heart

With a rumble, with screams of rage and bodies clashing against each other in battle, the strange tube was finally ready; the ignition started and with a tail of smoke, it rose into the sky and across the planet. They could feel it, how the world shook for a second and for those that fought on the ice fields, just before being whisked away by a woman with a silver filigree masquerade, they all saw a second sun appear in the sky.

Everything was destroyed… and finally… silence.

Until hours later, from the ashes and ruins of what was once a city, among the rubble and destruction, a hand broke the surface and with great work, the rest of the body followed suit; bloodied, burned, but most importantly, complete.

“Fucking hell, I’m still alive… goddammit, I’m still alive,” he coughed, before crashing into the ashes of what was once an ancient city, now, only remains. Rubble and ashes were present in what once was an ancient city with its traditions and history. His face still showed the ramifications of what he had unleashed upon the area, but for whatever reason, he was still there, still breathing, still alive...in a way that is.

Everything was silent as he tried to get his body working again, before a sound ruined his relaxation.

“Oh you gotta be kidding me!” From the ashen grounds, a body erupted from its grave. Her body was even more injured than he was, with her right arm missing, only showing a bloody stump. One eye closed and he wasn’t sure if due to all the blood leaking from her body or she was missing that part too.

“You… you are definitely missing several screws up there sugar… I don’t know what you did, but I haven’t felt my head this clear in years. Don’t know if to thank you or kill you right now, but whatever the case may be, I guess this time it is a draw,” and as she spoke a portal, just like those Madeleine and the rest seemed so fond of using, opened behind her and just like that, the War of the North came to an end.

“Great, just great… and who is gonna pay me this time?” At his side, as if listening to him, the strange briefcase, which seemed to only be dirtied by the ash, opened up, showing a certain jeweled heart that had been stashed inside “I guess I just answered myself… does that mean I won the war?”

-----

It was a flash and everything had changed. There was no cold, no screams, no destruction everywhere. The only thing Sunset Shimmer felt was calm, as if she was exactly where she needed to be. It was something she usually felt when her unit was resting back home at their cathedral/headquarters, although, considering they were part of the church it could mean the same thing.

“Did we survive? I think I saw a huge explosion before the world turned into light,” the soft voice of the guardsman at her side made Sunset Shimmer blink several times in surprise, because, believe it or not, Felicia had not only survived the battle, but here she was with Sunset in…

“Oh you gotta be kidding me,” it wasn’t possible, it just couldn’t, because this place had been a constant in all of her scriptures, in every single book, in every single prayer. Right there, in front of Sunset and Felicia was the most incredible vision for any member of the Imperium.

The God Emperor of Mankind, sitting on the Golden Throne, giving life and light to all of the Imperium as his soul guided the endless number of ships across the warp, and he…

“WHAT THE FUCK IS ALL THIS?!” Was… speaking through a text to speech device? What the fuck?

“It… seems like a guardsman and an Adepta Sororitas had just teleported into the throne room, did you do this my lord?” And what do you know? It was a walking bana… *cough* I mean, it was one of the personal protectors of the emperor, a Custodes in bright golden armor, probably the personal caretaker of the Emperor.

Standing up, Sunset was in awe at what was going on. Apparently Architect had been serious about the whole teleporting them away from the battle, but she didn’t think it was that powerful to not only send her to another freaking planet in another freaking universe!

“NOW I REMEMBER, THOSE CHICKS THAT WERE ALL CRAZY ALONGSIDE THE ECCLESIARCHY” Okay, this was weird, since when did the Emperor could talk? Looking at her side, expecting Felicia to be as confused as her, but the girl was in so much awe that it just stood there, looking at the Emperor with her jaw completely open.

“Yes my Lord, but, well, if I’m not wrong, I guess I remember her insignia; I think this must be Canoness Sunset Shimmer my Lord.”

“WHOM? YOU KEEP SAYING NAMES AS IF THEY MEANT SOMETHING TO ME, DO I HAVE TO REMIND YOU THE WHOLE TURNED INTO A FUCKING CORPSE BY MY SON? AREN’T THESE WOMEN AS CRAZY AS THE WHOLE ECCLESIARCHY THING I JUST DISBANDED?”

“I’m sorry, you did what?!”

“Well, yes, apparently we were all wrong about what the Emperor wanted. I guess I’ll explain it to you too. Anyway, my Lord, Sunset Shimmer’s group is not only loyal to you, but they also do a lot of work out there. They brought the Carolux system back into the Imperium and has been a staunch defender against Orks, Necrons and invading Dark Eldar. If I remember correctly from the reports, she has been winning more and more of the Sub-system, allowing Sunset Shimmer and her order, the Eternity Sun, to gain more and more planets in your name.”

“WELL, FINALLY SOMEONE DECIDED TO BE USEFUL, INSTEAD OF BEING ALL JUDGEMENTAL OF EVERYTHING AND GOING ALL CRAZY ON EVERYONE LIKE THE REST OF THE CHURCH, WHY COULDN’T MORE MEMBERS OF THE ECCLESIARCHY COULD FOLLOW MY STEPS?”

“I was… uh… following your example from the crusades my… Lord?” Okay, this was definitely bizarre, here she was talking face to.. skull? With the Emperor himself through the usage of a text to speech device, her life couldn’t get weirder now; and just as she said that, a portal at their side just opened up, but this one was different, it was not full of darkness, rage or the forces of the warp. From it, a very elegant man appeared.

“Sorry to interrupt this conversation, but I’m afraid I was the one who made it possible for all of us to meet. If I could speak with you gentlemen and ladies for a moment, I need to speak to you about a great danger. My name is Observer, it is more of a self-given title really, but I find that the word fits my place in the multiverse.

“There is a great danger that is aiming at everyone and everything in existence. The cannoness and guardsman here are witnesses of this terrible foe and I will need your help… everyone’s help to make sure we all survive.”

Well… if that is not fucking dramatic I don’t know what is.

Ah….

The End… I guess?

At least for now.

Something tells me all this will be important somehow.

Everything starts somewhere

View Online

To say precisely where he was would be… problematic at best since, technically, it’s not so much a place and time as such, not technically. After all, how do you explain something that is in the middle of everything and also the middle of nowhere at the same time without feeling as if you were being a little convoluted and way too weird?

Let’s leave it as an elevator that was connecting doors to a bigger place, also called a mansion. It wasn’t that strange of an elevator really. It didn’t have any sci-fi features like completely clear walls looking into the multicolored and multifaceted place that is the place beyond the multiverse. It was a simple steel rectangle with fluorescent lights on the ceiling and some catchy jazz music coming from somewhere.

It was a classic design, and Architect was in no way ashamed of his decision in creating something like this when he made the house of those that were in charge of keeping everything tidy and in place on the multiverse.

Not his Magnum Opus, but still, he was very happy with the planning and construction of this place. How long has it been? It felt like centuries since he worked on the details of the place. It was a long time for many, but for creatures… “humans” like them, it was still a pretty chill location to plan and just relax at the end of existence, that is when one isn’t suffering the after effects of such a terrible battle.

Several places on his body still felt tender even after healing the most grievous wounds he had received from exploding such a dangerous bomb. Clearly, the crystal bomb was a dangerous artifact that he may have to research deeply into. While not the most dangerous weapon at his disposal, it was still something extremely deadly and it was clear that it could hurt the monsters that had been observed across the multiverse.

As the elevator reached its destination, Architect took a deep breath and tried to ignore the slight pain on his muscles as he quickly disembarked, ready to have a talk with the man that currently resided in this miraculous mansion, just for him to be quickly assaulted by a gorgeous woman with a fiery look on her eyes.

“Well, look what the wasteland dragged in.” While in general, the slightly tanned woman standing was known for being a complete tomboy and someone that either was obsessed with sports or flying, Rainbow Dash was sometimes a surprise. After all, how many of the alternate universes Rainbow Dash prefered to use designer-made business attire, with short pencil skirts, white button-up shirts and elegant jackets, all in a tasteful light blue color?

It was true that many iterations of the same person across the multiverse behaved similarly, but they were never the same person, nor did they have the same tastes and dreams. This woman was proof of that considering how much she looked like a businesswoman instead of someone that wanted to play football for a living.

“Pleasure to see you Rainbow,” he slightly winced as even talking made some of his muscles shout in dismay after the shenanigans on the Crystal Kingdom. For her part, Rainbow simply smiled knowing well what the seemingly young man had done.
It was incredible that someone that seemed to be so normal could survive things that not even great warriors and chosen ones could, but his looks were also a weapon. After all, if he could look like everyone then it meant that he was able to surprise almost everyone.

“At least tell me you got cleaned, because I don’t want you dragging snow, viscera and lord knows what else from the battlefield.”

“Well, I wanted to bring one of the chandeliers from the Crystal Empire castle, sadly everything in the place evaporated.” Quick with an answer, Architect simply shook his arm, letting free several specks of ash that had glued to his red jacket.

As they were about to continue their banter, a sound interrupted them, with the strange briefcase appearing at his side, already skating around before dashing further into the mansion.

“So… new invention?”

“Penny is… an old companion, not even sure if I was the one that created her. Is he in? I need to talk with him.” At those words Rainbow simply rolled her eyes.

“Of course he is, when is he not here? I swear he only goes out when it’s something of epic proportions, like our anniversary.” Following the sharply dressed woman to a more open area, he had time to really enjoy the place. Even if he had constructed the whole thing, the small details of decoration showed the kind of people that lived in it, and that was something he truly enjoyed about all places he visited across the vast amount of worlds around the multiverse.

This room was obviously quite the contrast with most of the floating mansion, with huge windows looking into creation itself, a tall ceiling filled with lights, large fountain made out of reinforced glass and modern tables in a white and black combination making everything seem welcoming, but highly sophisticated, a place where one could lounge and relax, but it had the presence of class and power, the perfect place for people like them considering how involved they were with… well, everything really.

It was with these thoughts that Architect finally sat down across from the man in charge of the huge complex, a man he had known for quite a while and though not the closest allies, there was still loyalty present. There’s a certain camaraderie that develops when two people cooperate for a long time, even if it never evolves into true friendship.

Readjusting the glass, the man only known as The Observer signalled for another cup to the pink haired girl that attended the highly glamorous bar at the other side of the room. Architect never really understood what was the point of the bar at the beginning, but considering the amount of visitors that the place received some times, well, it was nice to have some part that did at least look normal to most people across the multiverse.

What kind of visitors? Well, warriors, gods, demons and more sometimes got lost across the multiverse and time, so sometimes they reunited here, at the center of it all, and with such a gentlemanly host, who wouldn’t find great pleasure in this gorgeous place?

“I assume you have questions about what just happened?” The calm and collected voice of the elegant man always intrigued Architect. It was quite the opposite to the more rambunctious attitude that the builder/warrior had, which was obvious considering how much time each spend on ‘the field’, with most of Observer’s job focused on the set of ‘doors’ that had been created to keep an eye on most situations, while Architect was as much a researcher as he was an adventurer, ready to jump into those same situations with the intention to offer his services as a creator, with useful items and artifacts to those that were trying to become legends on their worlds.

“Well, considering that I was just involved in a war between Sunset Shimmer from 40K and Rogue from the X-Men with very demonic powers, yes, I think I will like an explanation! Thank you Pinkie.” In a way, it was hilarious how easy he could switch between sounding completely pissed off and then be as sweet and polite in just one sentence, but let’s be honest, it was also hilarious.

“No problem, here’s your cappuccino. I’ll be preparing lunch if you want to stay.” The pink haired girl will always be a weird sight to behold, her calm and collected nature contrasting heavily to the vast majority of Pinkies in the multiverse.

“I don’t know. I still have to check if I don’t have any orders left… but considering how hungry I became after having to survive an explosion that destroyed a city, maybe I will stay.”

“Passive aggressiveness is unbecoming of you, and I am sorry that you had to go through all of that. Thank you Pinkie.” While the man with the guns prefered his coffee, tea was more of Observer’s taste, having a cup refilled by the woman in charge of the kitchen. “But it was of great importance to defeat what Rogue had become, not that it seems to have stopped her.”

“No, but at least she seemed to have regained her sanity a bit. Still, it’s so weird to see creatures capable of surviving an explosion that big, or fight with a Queen head on. I thought those women were supposed to be some of the strongest creatures in the multiverse.” He may not be as close to the group known as Queens, but even he had seen the powers they commanded, with Bayonetta, now known as Madeleine, retaining most of her powers from before her change, but also gaining many abilities after her bizarre resurrection.

Not even he knew how they were able to ‘come back’ in that way, but at least he was grateful that they were not trying to create more chaos. Goodness knows that they had enough of that already with all the crazies around that wanted power or just plain chaos.

Sure, it helped that he was one of the people that had the resources to help when it was needed, especially when ‘heroes’ were about to fall, or that he used to hunt creatures too dangerous that could be problematic to others in their home universes. Still, to have a powerful backup like the Queens was not a bad idea, even less so when creatures that survived some of his most powerful weapons were around.

“It is a shame that you couldn’t contain her, but we are all grateful that she was taken out of commision, if only momentarily. Still, the planet was saved, alongside Sunset Shimmer and her troops.”

“Why is it that the crazy redhead is always in the middle of everything?”

“That is a mystery that we haven’t been able to crack, but I do have a hypothesis. I believe that Sunset is, without even realizing it, somewhat of an antidote to whatever is going on around the universes.”

“You mean the crazy dark energy going around? Is that why you made me help the Sunset at the Gungeon? What is she going to do? Besides saving her friends of course.”

“If everything goes well, all of them will be the key to finding an answer against the invasion.”

“Yay, more mysterious nonanswers, just what I love. So are you going to tell me who exactly I’m fighting against now?” It was a heavy topic since he had been almost killed by monsters this time, almost that is, like every single time.

“We know his name, Noche.”

“An Umbrum?

“THE Umbrum, the original one that came from the old lands.”

“But there are no umbrums in any dimension, the only one that still exists in that state is Sombra and he gets his flanks kicked every time. I know, this time I helped.”

“Indeed, but this one did not arrive from any of the classified worlds… he came from outside.”

“Ah… is that even possible?” His confusion was understandable. Not even they knew what was beyond the sea of worlds outside, nor they knew the amount of variations and creations that made the endless universes floating like bubbles. After all, it was supposed to be ‘endless’.

“Who knows? Though none of us do for certain, the ones that know the truth about the multiverse have thought possible that something beyond the infinity could cross over. We always theorized that there were other instances of what happens in this multiverse, that maybe there is something bigger than this.”

“And another and another, an infinite expanse going for all eternity. I got the theory, but if you’re telling me that something arrived from beyond, then why is it here? Just to create chaos? We already have more than enough considering the things that happen around the place on any given day!”

“We still don’t know, but we have a theory that he is looking for something, either a person, or an item that travelled with him. We noticed that there were energy signatures travelling across the sea of the multiverse, but the readings were too fragmented. Whatever sent him over seems to have also affected this energy because we cannot find it, just scant traces.”

“So what? You want me to invent something to help you with it?”

“No need. Featherine is already looking after it, not to mention she is anxious for another tea party.”

“What? Wait… Featherine… that crazy chick from Higurashi? Isn’t she still trying to find a way to kill me permanently?” To say that the ‘crazy chick’ was anyone normal would be a complete lie. After all, how many people had complete control over a story like the Creator Witch.

“You have to admit, her being incapable of changing your story or anything that you are involved with really made her curious… I’m not sure if that is a bad or a good thing. Still, she is a valuable ally and when she is curious she tends to work extra fast.” It was clear that the elegant man was about to say more, but they all felt something, a sensation akin to an insect crawling across their back and arm, a sensation of dread.

Something beyond their space dimmed and was reborn, as if an eye had blinked and had been lost, like a soul and power that could only be found by those that were lost and had been found.

“Well… that wasn’t normal.” It was obvious that he had only said that to lighten the mood, not that it helped them or changed the dire situation.

“Indeed, this is everything besides normal. Whatever that was, I’m sure we will find the cause very soon.” And as they were trying to make sense of the situation, they both received grave news. It started with a message, as both men looked at the device on the Architect’s hands that had received it.

“That’s weird… I don’t recognize this signal… come to this world, I will need your help… Well, that isn’t ominous.” But as he finished reading, someone else had an urgent mission.

“Observer, we have a situation,” the elegant Rainbow Dash said with a seriousness that for many who weren’t used to this version of the rainbow haired woman will be shocked.

“And that one is?”

“A Sunset Shimmer has retained her memories after her world was reset.” It would have been comical to see the two grown men stay petrified at those strange words, but these two men were not normal, nor the situation they were in.

“Okay… uh, correct me if I’m wrong,” began the younger looking of the two. The man with a thousand and one weapons was flabbergasted, but he carried on with his usual humour, “I was under the impression that after a reset, nobody in that dimension could remember anything of what had happened. That’s why it’s called a reset!”

“it is as you said… so something like this happening… Well, it is a first. Guess we both have something to do about this, right?” And as Observer said those words, Architect, the man with the long jacket nodded before disappearing with the use of his bottle, following the coordinates on his message, right into a dark forest. into the entrance of a world that would change the destiny of many and will bring light to those without hope. You may know this place.

Perhaps you've seen the place, maybe in a dream.

A murky, forgotten land.

A place where souls may mend their ailing mind.

They will lose everything… over… and over… and over… again

... once Branded.

The symbol of the curse.

The symbol of humanity

An augur of darkness, an augur of constant despair.

The past. The present. The future. The very light that shines upon all.

None will have meaning, and nobody will even care.

By then, he'll be something other than human.

But then… he has always been something different.

An existence… that goes beyond… gods and demons.

A thing that feeds on souls. On dreams. On monsters

They may be Hollow.

But him… he is more… The one who builds is more.

And she… she is more… the redheaded woman is more.

Long ago, in a walled off land, far to the north, a great king built a great kingdom.

I believe they called it Drangleic.

Perhaps you're familiar.

No, how could you be.

You are just human… trapped beyond your screen.

Not knowing what it means to be cursed.

But one day, you will stand before its decrepit gate.

Without really knowing why…

Like a moth drawn to a flame.

Your wings will burn in anguish.

Time after time.

For that is your fate.

The fate of the cursed.

And this.

This is their beginning.

Their end.

Adepta Sororitas: The Tale of Canoness Sunset Shimmer

by ratedoni

Vigiilis Noctis

Legate

Praeterita

Novam Domum

Bellum

Oculus Tempestatis

Exercitus

Auxilia

Obside

Finis

Everything starts somewhere