Chapters In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.
Forty millennia before, Equestria hit an age of technology of extreme power. They were rocketed from a large country to controlling their entire Solar System.
Then, the Warp was discovered. A dimension in between Tarterus and the normal Universe, it was stretched out over the normal universe, revolutionizing space travel. Soon, many other systems were colonized. In the short span of forty years, Equestria became an empire ruling almost the entire Galaxy.
Then, without warning, something happened. Nopony knew what, but the empire was shattered, falling to pieces. Celestia, now hailed as a god, saw the race she looked after begin to crumble, and asked for the aid of the six Elements of Harmony, her niece Cadance, and her friend Discord.
Slowly, they began fixing things. However, in a terrible accident, all but Discord was lost to a Warp Storm. Celestia, devastated, used the genes of her friends and family to create special ponies of both genders, with the same attitudes of the Elements of Harmony and other personalities. These newly forged Space Marines became the focus of the new growing empire. The Imperium.
The Ultramarines, based after Twilight Sparkle, we're surpreme stratagists and magic users.
The White Scars came next, based after Rainbow Dash, we're Loyal and had a love for speed.
The Blood Angels, based after Pinkie Pie, were quite normal, unless gotten into a rage, in which they would kill anything in sight.
The Imperial Fists, based after Rarity, we're generous and would fight were ever they were needed.
The Salamanders, based upon Fluttershy, cared greatly about civilians and others that would be considered "Collateral Damage."
The Space Wolves, based on Applejack, we're strong and tough, and fought for honest relations.
The Alpha Legion was based after Cadance, and was the first to be created. Little is known about the Alpha Legion.
The Chaos Guardians were based after Discord. Containing an oddly large number of magic users and slightly insane ponies, this legion was actually very fitting of Discord.
So, with Discord and Luna as her Lieutenants, Celestia began to retake the galaxy, reuniting the shattered pony kind.
While Luna ruled the great starships that plodded the stars, Discord was leader of the forces on the ground, the great armies confusing and chaotic, just to his liking. Little did either sister realized that Discord had turned his back on them, and had begun talking with the four Ruinous Powers of Chaos; Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh. These powers were even greater then he, and he swore fealty.
When he turned, Discords power caused not only half the Imperiums normal forces to turn on their old masters, but also the Alpha Legion Space Marines as well as his own legion. The newly built Imperium was torn apart by civil war.
At Terra, Holy Earth, Celestia made a plan. With her personal bodyguards she would teleport to Discords ship, which was currently in orbit. She left her sister behind to oversee ground operations.
However, the attack did not go as planned. Celestia's guard was scattered, and she was forced to face Discord alone. Discord, with his own powers backed by that of the Ruinous Powers, was more then a match for Celestia.
It would have ended right then and there if Princess Luna had obeyed orders. She disobeyed her sister, and, at the same time, saved her life. Discord was vanquished, but Celestia was mortally wounded.
However, even mortally wounded, Celestia kept her dominance. The sun of the Sol System glows bright even in the warp, allowing ships to navigate in the treacherous dimension.
Sensing weakness in ponykind, even while the chaos forces were driven into the Eye Of Terror, the fledgling Imperium found itself under siege. And that is how it has been for nearly forty millennia.
The boar-like orks, a numerous race, make up for in quality with quantity and ferocity. Their tough green hide and ability to match whatever the Imperium has to throw at them makes them particularly hard to kill.
The lithe Eldar, otherwise known as Alicorns, are extremely rare, but their ancient eldritch technology and determination toward survival makes them as deadly as they are uncommon.
The forces of Chaos, cruel and evil, still live, waiting for the chance to take revenge against those who caused them harm so long ago.
The biped Tau are a new race, but one with very sophisticated technology. While they wish for peace, the Imperium has a far different agenda then the Tau, causing harsh conflicts.
The changelings, also having spread far and wide, have become a very covert threat, stealing slaves and making daring raids before slipping away.
The disgusting extra-galatical Tyranids come down, ready to consume all life, and will stop at nothing to do so.
The deathless and rising Necrons rise from their tombs, ready to strip the Galaxy of life once again.
These threats are just a few of millions, and life in the Imperium is one for survival.
However, the Imperium has its way of combating these adversaries.
The Imperial Guard, the greatest and numerous armies of the Imperium, fight across its billions of battlefields.
The Imperial Navy, piloting its many starships and making sure the Imperiums armies gets to their battlezones.
The Adeptus Mechanicus, manufacturing many of ponykinds weapons and maintaining the priceless ancient artifacts of the Imperium.
The Ecclesiarchy maintains the worship of Celestia, and brings the Sister of Battle to rage war.
The cruelly efficient Inquisition keep a watchfull eye out for any disobedience.
The Rogue Traders explore unknown reaches and bring back priceless knowledge of undiscovered planets.
Finally, but not the least, is the Space Marines. The Angels of Death. The Adeptus Astartes. Now split into a thousand chapters of a thousand marines each, these superhuman warriors are ponykinds last line of defense, and it's last hope.
It is the 41st Millennium, and there is no peace, no respite.
Only War
Luck and a Battle in Space
The Forever Fire came out of the Warp quickly, as if out of thin air. Not like there was any air in space, but you get the meaning. It hovered then above a lush world of green and blue colors.
On the bridge, Delicious Apple the Fourth, newly proclaimed Rogue Trader, smiled. He was an Earth Pony with the classic Apple Family looks: A red coat, yellow mane, emerald eyes, and apple cutie mark. His first adventure had gone so smoothly so far, and finding the planet below him had been no big problem. It was situated to the Galactic east of Cadia and the Eye of Terror, maybe only a few dozen light years. Hard to tell though, as warp travel tended to be deceptive.
Next to him stood a slightly older Pegasus. He had a stripped down Lascarbine on his back and a belt full of grenades. His name was Mane Fire, and he was the commander of all warfare related items on the ship. His coat was blacked from constant battle, with yellowish spots here and their. His mane was was a dark gray, which matched his cruel eyes. His cutie mark was that of an unclipped frag grenade. Most of this was hidden, however, by a full Imperial Guard Cadian uniform.
On Delicious's other side stood a withered old unicorn. Nopony knew his name, but he was the ships Navigator, the Pony who was entrusted to getting the ship though the warp safely. He was nicknamed "Third Eye", for the characteristic that makes all Naviagtors special: A mystical third eye that allowed them to look into the warp. He had a gray-blue coat color, and both his normal eyes were blind white, yet he was definitely not blind. His mane was slightly more gray then his coat. He was a blank flank, oddly enough.
At the helm was an old friend of Delicious, the earth pony Antimatter Serious, an Explorator of the Adeptus Mechanicus. His mechanical eye and staff made him easily recognizable, along with his concealed plasma pistol, a weapon capable of reducing many enemies to ashes. What was left of his skin was a orange, and his mane was a stripped one with a similar orange color and a blood red. His cutie mark, while normally hidden by his Mechanicus robe, was the Forever Fire , for he had been born on the ship.
Next to the door into the bridge was a grim looking griffon. He had black feathers with the normal white head, and had a long-las sniper rifle on his back, a mean looking knife in a holster on his shoulder, and a stub automatic pistol in a belt holster. His name was Norse, and he was ex-storm trooper.
The final pony on the team was another Earth pony by the name of Redneck Flyer, the teams shuttle pilot and medic. She was down in the ships small keel cargo bay prepping a old, 'borrowed' Thunderhawk Gunship. She was a purple color with light pink hair, and had a flower flying in the wind for a cutie mark.
Serious began relaying information in his raspy voice. "It is the the second planet of four in the system, and is the only non-gas giant. Located about 134 kilometers from the planets sun, it has a forty percent oxygen atmosphere, twenty percent carbon dioxide, and forty percent nitrogen, with small traces of other gases. It's surface is forty two percent land and fifty eight percent water. In short, the perfect planet to sustain life. In fact, scanners show no major hostile lifeforms."
Delicious nodded. "Alright. Mane Fire, assemble a squad of troopers, I never trust long range scanners, no offense Serious, and I want to go down there armed."
Mane Fire nodded, but just before he could move, the ship was rocked by an explosion.
Delicious spoke first, barking orders. "Get the void shields up! Open the windows, I want to see who the hell is firing on us!"
Serious began speaking next, in a confused tone. "Sir, the hostile ships only read as one, like there all one ship. But radar shows me five ships."
As the massive steel shutters opened, Delicious realized that his first space combat may very well be his last. The ships were long and lithe, each the size of a light cruiser. He recognized them as Eldar design. Not good. So, he did the most tactful thing he could think of. He called the xenos up on vox.
"Eldar Warships, I kindly request a ceasefire, and I will see what I can do for you without bloodshed."
There was utter silence on the bridge. It was understandable. An ex-noble of the highest stature just called up a hostile xenos force for a chat.
For a moment, that silence continued. Then, the vox crackled and an ethereal voice came over in accented High Gothic.
"Insolent Pony. We simply wish for you to leave the territory of the Red Olen'dsen. If you do not, we will take your lives and wealth."
Delicious bit his lip. "I'm sure we can work something out. I will allow five of you to board WITHOUT any teleportation. I'm sure we can talk this out over some recaf. I simply wish to survey your lands. I promise no harm. I am not Imperial."
Silence. Then, the vox crackled again, and the same voice came over.
"Agreed. We will move in to board."
Suddenly the five ships turned into one as the Eldar Holo-Field dissappeared.
Immediately, Delicious was into tricks. "Charge the lances. On my order, open fire."
The bridge scrambled into action, shouting orders to different sections of the ship.
Serious began counting off. "One hundred kilometers, closing..."
Delicious smiled, his hoof hovering over the vox button.
"Fifty Kilometers..."
Delicious pressed the vox. "Eldar, the situations changed."
"Twenty Five kilometers..."
"How so..?"
"Ten Kilometers!"
"Nothing personal. OPEN FIRE!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the pair of dorsal Titan-Pattern Energy Lances lashed out at the vulnerable Eldar cruiser. Two explosions blossomed against its prow, followed by dozens of other, smaller weapons opening up.
Meanwhile, the Eldar started shouting curses in their own language.
As the second barrage of lances bombarded the vessel, the Eldar ship disappeared into nothing, along with the Eldar commander saying "You'll forever regret this pony."
There was silence on the bridge. Then, the entire bridge crew broke into cheering. For Delcious's first space combat, he did pretty well. Extremely well, in fact.
The vox interrupted the celebration, however. "Cargo bay to captain, this is Redneck. Your ride's primed and ready."
The Thunderhawk gunship was a beast, surely. The words "Through Ice and Fire" were painted white cross the grey hull. Around her was a dozen shuttles filling up with supplies, equipment, and the company-sized force that was the Fire's military.
Besides Third Eye, all of Delicious's group was going in the gunship. The navigator was to stay aboard to make sure someone was in command of the ship who was smart.
Redneck, as soon as the group boarded along with a pair of troopers, she closed the hatch and leapt into the pilots seat. "Ready ladies?" she shouted back sarcastically.
With that, she gunned the engines, and slid into the blackness of space. The gunship was fast, and it entered the atmosphere quickly and without much trouble.
As they touched down, Mane Fire took point, his Lascarbine out and at the ready. Behind him was Delicious, who, with a rare, antique bolt pistol, was well armed. Serious took point after that, his hoof curled around the handle of his plasma pistol. Redneck followed, a naval pump-action shotgun in her hooves and a medkit on a belt. The two troopers walked out and took point around the door. Norse was the last to leave the ship, covering the rest of the group with his gaze down his long las.
They were on a small tropical island. In the center was a large Eldar structure, a sort of crescent. It was undoubtfully beautiful, but mysterious at the same time. The sand occasionally gave way to small gems. Serious called them Eldar soul stones. They were perfect crystals, in all different colors.
Delicious was fascinated. He had liked shiny objects, but this... This was truly awing.
That was ruined when the crescent sparkled to life, and it showed its true purpose: Teleportation. They were immediately surrounded by swift Eldar. The Thunderhawk didn't have the angle to shoot properly even if it had gunners.
Leading the Eldar was a stallion with a trio of soul stones in his forehead. "I warned you. I may be a pirate, but I will protect my race's belongings! Pony, leave now!" He lowered a nasty looking pistol strait at Delicious's head...
And fell backwards as a bolt round pierced into him, his shoulder exploding as the bolt's explosive triggered. Delicious managed another three shots off before the Eldar opened up. Thankfully, his group found themselves a cluster of rocks to hide in. Today was just his lucky day.
Meanwhile, the Eldar captain stood back up, a terrible grimace of pain and anger across his face. His shoulder was a bloody mess, but it wasn't his gun hoof, and he continued firing.
Unfortunatly for him, Delicious had been taught well by some of the best sharpshooters in the galaxy. The last four bolts in the clip all hit. One in the heart, one in the hoof, one in the belly, and one in between the eyes. Needless to say, any one of those, besides maybe the hoof one, would have killed the Eldar instantly.
Norse fought with prescision accuracy. He held his pistol in one claw and his knife in the other. The pistol forced two of the Eldar to be wounded, and the knife, throw hard, ended one of those two lives.
Mane Fire and Serious both shot at what looked like critical targets, and both did well.
Redneck was almost laughable, shouting curses and insults more then she did shoot..
However, that just urged the Eldar on to better acts. Unfortunatly for them, Mane Fire had made sure that the rest of the group had been closely watched. A trio of Fury Interceptors streaked across the sky, their payload of missiles turning the portal to dust. They were followed by the half dozen of the shuttles, which landed nearby, disgorging a good twenty troopers.
Delicious smiled his cocky smile. "So, Eldar, I know you as ones not to throw their lives away. So please, lay down your arms, and I will allow you to live."
The Eldar that was probably the lieutenant of the now dead leader shook her head. "You do not understand. We need you to leave! For your sake, so we can defend this planet!"
Delicious blinked. The infamous Eldar logic. "Defend it from what?"
"THEM!" Screamed the Eldar, pointing at the sky.
Delicious had no clue in hell what the shit the thing was. But Mane Fire knew perfectly well. It was a ship, but unlike anything all of them had seen. But it range many bells for Fire. It was a massive crescent, the size of a cruiser. It was black with outlines of green, and already swarmed as fighters prepared to attack.
Mane Fire looked at Delicious, and, for the first time Delicious had know the stern veteran, he was panicked. "Sir, I know what these are! I fought them once before, and they are extremely deadly! We will need the Eldar's help on this one!"
Delicious turned toward him, curious more then scared. "What? What are they?"
Mane Fire uttered a single word that sent shivers down Delicious's spine, and made him consider something up ahead was going to be hard.
"Necrons."
"So wait, what the hell are these things!?" shouted Delicious as he walked toward the bridge of the Fire with the Eldar Lieutenant .
"They are ancient machines, before even my race walked among the stars. They made war with my ancestors, but we drove them away. They slept for eternity, and we thought them gone, but now, in the past few hundred years, they have been coming back. They had supreme technology, and were bent on destroying all life. Once they almost did so, they simply dissappeared. Now, with the galaxy full of life again, there back."
Delicious stopped only to open the bridge door. Immediately, he began barking orders. "Alright! We need to pull everyone off the planet. Prime weapon systems. I want everything we've got to blast them."
The Lieutenant shook her head. "That will do nothing. They are too powerful."
Delicious smirked. "That's what everypony says about Eldar ships. Correct, Xenos?"
The Eldar continued to deny. "Yes, but that thing could tear through a dozen of our ships. Khaine only knows what it could do to yours."
Norse spoke up then, "Well, Xenos, why do you care so much about our ship? If engaging is suicide, then why are you talking to us right now? What are you hiding alien?"
The Lieutenant sighed. "If we could deliver a bomb of some sort, we may be able to disable the ship from inside. To be able to stay correct at a distance, a common Necron would need to be in communication distance of a Necron Lord or the core of a ship. Otherwise, they become confused and must leave to back where they came so they can fight again. To do this, they need personal teleporters of a type to leave to where there IS a centralized command. A common Necron's teleportation system cannot travel outside of a system. If we disable their ship's core, which under dozens of meters of nigh-impenetrable armor, they will be sitting ducks."
Delicious continued to question the Eldar. "And, whats so hard about that? A Starhawk Bomber with a Plasma Torpedo would do nicely."
Serious answered this one for him. "By the nubmer of enemy fighters out there, and if the Eldar is telling the truth about their power, then transporting a plasma torpedo via bomber would have a point-zero-zero-zero-zero-three chance of success. And then, actually damaging the ship would be very difficult. Its shields are extremely powerful."
"Equissh, Antimatter?" asked Mane Fire.
"We have to board her. Deliver the bomb to the center of that ship personally."
Silence filled the bridge. Then, the ship shook violently as a gauss shot took a good chunk out of the ships hull.
Delicious nodded, and a crazy look spread across his face. "Alright, boarding it is! And Eldar, bring some of your guys. You have experience, and I need all I can get. Serious, you stay here, keep the ship safe, and, in case of me not coming back, inform... well... you know who that I will not see her again. Redneck, I need you to drive us in a Shark assault boat to the enemy ship. Norse, can you pilot a Fury Interceptor?"
The veteran nodded, a confused look coming across his face.
Delicious nodded. "I need you and a squadron to cover our approach. Third Eye..."
The wizened Navigator shook his head. "They project a sort of hole in the warp. i cannot see through it. I would not be of assistance. Anyway, if you want the ship to leave if you die, I will be very important."
Delicious nodded. "Mane, I will need you and me to go in with a squad to the heart of the beast. MOVE OUT!"
...
Thirty Minutes Later...
...
Delicious sat inside of the cramped interior of one of the eight assault boats being launched toward the Necron vessel. He tapped his comm on and gave the briefing right before the launch:
"Alright, all squads. You have each been given a Melta Bomb. You will protect this piece of equipment with your lives. Your objective is to reach the core of the enemy ship and use the bomb to destroy that core. This mission is probably suicide, but we must destroy that core! You have also been tasked with a Melta gun. These weapons are extremely rare, but are not as important as your bomb. Use the gun to destroy enemy targets, for what I hear these enemies are made of metal. Empress protect us, and Luna's Light be your guide.
"Amen."
Delicious looked up at the three Eldar accompanying them. They were amazingly silent. And not as in quiet silent either. They were stock still silent, each with their eyes closed. The only sign they were alive was the silent moving of their lips in prayer.
With that, Delicious looked at the forty-five soldiers otherwise spread out across the compartment. Each were armed with a Las-gun, Las-pistol, a single frag grenade, flak armor, a comlink, and rations enough for several days. Each of the assault boats had another fifty armed in the same way.
Mane Fire was armed much heavier. His Las-Carbine was replaced by an extra Melta gun, a dozen krak grenades, a plasma pistol, and enough ammo for each weapon to keep them firing almost constantly for several hours.
Delicious, however, was the best armed. He was wearing an archaic carapace armor with a weak power field. Even more impressive was his weapons. The first was The Purge of Aracnis , a relatively new power sword. The second was the smallest, but by far the most powerful, was an Inferno Pistol. An extremely rare one hoofed version of Melta weapons, and had the explosive power of its two hoofed counterpart.
Then, the ships launched. Across the comm, Delicious could hear the other ships checking in and the trio of Furys doing the same.
Suddenly, the ship began to rock under fire, and loses already became evident as boat four and six burned to husks, ending one hundred lives, and Fury-Two span out of control, taking one of the Necron fighters with him.
Delicious gripped his gun a little tighter.
Then, out of no where, a pair of lance blasts slammed into the enemy ship, its shields going down, followed by dozens of bright flashes, along with a half dozen long, slender fighters of obvious Eldar design.
An Eldar voice came through, surprising Delicious. "Ponies, this is Farseer Relio of Craftworld Ulthwe, aboard the Wraithship Deo'fri. We are answering a distress call involving the Necrons. We would greatly appreciate any assistance."
Delicious chuckled, then replied. "Farseer, it is good to see you, but we are way ahead of you. Me and my ponies here are boarding the enemy. If you could protect my craft, all the more chance of us succeeding. Although, I would gladly accept you offer. I have a trio of your own with me, some survivors of a previous fight I had, for which i am eternally sorry. Any advice?"
Now it was the Farseer's turn to chuckle. "You are very humble, young one. My advice: Be careful. Necrons are extremely dangerous."
Delicious smiled. "Thank you Farseer. Delicious out."
Just as he said it, they clamped onto the Necron ship, and, as the Las-Burners on the prow started cutting through the thick Necron hull. a cruel, mechanical voice came into the comm.
"Living, prepare to meet your doom. You have meddled in Death in it's Purest Form. You shall die."
Then, the hatch opened, disgorging the forty-five troopers, three extremely calm Eldar, one unhappy Mane Fire, and one spooked Rogue Trader.
It was dark, lit dimly by deep green lights. The place sent creeps down Delicious's back. By comm and other sources, six of the eight boats made it, meaning three hundred troopers in the hull of this evil ship.
Suddenly a scream echoed through the corridors, and they met their first Necron .
It was easily as tall as any of them. It was similar in form to a pony, but all of its features were otherwise completely alien. It's entire body was made of a glistening gray metal. On its chest and forehead was marked with a foreign symbol. It's eyes glowed a cruel green, the same green that lit the corridors. However, of more immediate concern was it's weird green gun on its shoulder and the smoking pile of ash that once was one of the troopers.
Instantly, those in front, having been trained to fight well, went down low,so they and the row behind them could open fire. As several dozen las-bolts struck the creature, it fell from sheer number of shots.
One of the troopers slowly went over to inspect the corpse. As soon as he got within range, the 'corpse' bucked the poor soul, breaking every single one of his ribs, and sending the body crashing into the wall with a sickening CRACK!
Horrified, Delicious, who had moved his way to the front, shot the newly risen Necron in the skull, it melting into nothing as it was super-heated from the pure fusion fire shot out by the Inferno Pistol.
The Necron, damaged beyond repair, disappeared, teleporting to where it could be fixed.
To Delicious and the troopers, it was a relief. Delicious, followed by Mane Fire, the Eldar, and the rest of the group, went forward. Unfortunately for them, their next encounter would be with eight of those same type of Necron, along with what is classified as an 'Immortal', an elite Necron with a MUCH bigger gun.
Delicious blinked. And he might have missed a good portion of the fight.
Mane Fire lowered his Melta gun, and the other trooper with a Melta did the same, when the Eldar engaged.
Two of the Eldar lept forward and opened up with their shruiken catapults. The Lieutenant jumped right into the midst of her foes, and used her glaive to decimate one warrior, and drove it through the chest of the Immortal, then flipped around and lopped the Necrons head clean off.
Still, the Immortal, living up to its name, just picked it's metal skull back up and reattached it to its head. It was then it met the combined fury of two Melta guns and an Inferno Pistol. It wasn't so immortal after that.
The Necrons opened fire, gauss flayers killing a seven of the friendly troopers. In retaliation, dozens of Las-bolts, shruiken discs, and Melta flames turned the things to scrap metal.
Delicious sighed in relief. That hadn't looked very good.
...
Three similar combats later
...
Delicious shook his head. They'd lost about two dozen troopers, a single Eldar, and Mane Fire was out of Krak grenades. He had heard nothing from the other groups, which wasn't good. They were all probably dead. Which left them with two Eldar, twenty one troopers, and no backup. And they were out of armor piercing grenades, which forced them to use their Melta guns to open any doors they came across.
As he thought that, big surprise, they came across a large door with a number of markings on it. Mane Fire along with another trooper used their Melta guns to begin burning through the thick metal.
After a silent minute, the doors burned through, and the group poured in, and Delicious's face was all smiles.
The core was a gargantuan sphere suspended in a similarly shaped chamber, and it glowed with ethereal green light. Best of all, it seemed to be unguarded.
As Delicious walked up as close as the platform they were standing on would let them, he had a tingling sensation on the back of his neck. Instantly, he whipped around and shot of a bolt of superheated fusion plasma, catching the partially invisible Wraith in the neck.
Delicious froze. The thing was easily nine feet tall, with a snake-like body. It had razor-sharp claws at the end of each hand, each dagger-like finger a foot long. It's head was that of no pony, but small, spherical, with three menacing green eyes. Delicious knew immediately that, while normal Necrons were alive and sentient, this thing was definitely not. This machine was made only for one thing: killing.
Before any of the rest of the group could react, the Wraith, ignoring its wound, used its sharp tail to dig into one of the troopers chest, and used it's claws to shred another.
However, before it could kill any more, it was brought low by the rest of the group. Delicious quickly planted the bomb, when he realized something important.
"How are are we going to stop the Necrons from disarming the bomb?"
Every soul in the room looked immediately at Delicious.
Mane Fire shook his head. "Really? You didn't think about that important little detail!?"
Delicious shrugged. "I tend to make this stuff up as I go along!"
The Eldar Lieutenant shook her head. "I'll stay here and guard the bomb. Get out of here. You have," she set the bombs timer. "15 minutes before this ship goes to hell."
Delicious nodded. Quickly, he and the remaining group ran. Unfortunately for them, Delicious noticed two things:
They couldn't go back the way they came. Redneck would have pulled the one-use assault boat out and retreated. They had no way to leave.
The second was the dark foreboding figure standing in there path.
For some reason, Delicious knew her gender. "Go. Call for evac at the enemy hanger. I take care of this."
Mane Fire nodded, and he led the squad down another corridor, leaving Delicious and the Necron Princess alone.
Delicious looked the Necron straight in the eye.
"Foolish Living." An obviously feminine voice echoed out of the Necron. "You shall just be another soul to be fed to the C'tan."
Delicious shook his head. "No way. I didn't throw a pie at one of my best friends face's and not have her kill me first."
The Necron shook her head. "None defies the Nightbringers will."
With that, a bolt of green light shot out of the Princess's staff, narrowly missing Delicious. In response, Delicious shot his Inferno Pistol, also missing.
The Necron, with surprising speed and agility, flipped her staff and cut the rare pistol clean in half, causing an explosion that sent both parties flying backwards.
Instantly the Necron was up and on top of Delicious. Delicious, thinking quickly, drove his sword into her gut.
The Necron staggered back. Delicious, thinking he won, stood up and smiled.
He shouldn't have thought so soon.
The hole straight through the Princess's gut began to heal, closing and looking as though it was never there.
Delicious barely had enough time to parry as the Staff of Light came within inches of taking his head off. In response, he jabbed forward, only to be knocked aside by the back of the staff. The Princess responded by swinging at his torso, which Delicious narrowly dodged. He then brought his sword up just in time before the staff drove into his heart.
Then, the surprising happened. As he he swung forward with an attack toward the torso, the staff came down, and broke the Aracnis in half.
Delicious looked the stump that was left of his archaic relic. As he dropped the broken sword, the Necron lunged forward in a coup de grace...
And an explosion ripped through the ship as the Melta bomb detonated. The blast blew the gravity, and sent the lunge of track. Delicious, seeing a last hope, grabbed the staff.
The Apple Family was famous for their physical strength. Add that to the Princess's surprise, Delicious easily ripped the Staff of Light out of the Princess's hooves, and drove the pole-arm into her metal heart. At the same time, he triggered the same lightning bolt shot. The green glow disappeared from the Princess's eyes.
As he floated in the hallway. He heard distant explosions.
Crap.
Quickly, he climbed his way through the floating wreck as it was ripped apart from the inside.
"Captain, this is Redneck. Where are you? I have the Thunderhawk in the enemy hanger with everypony else! The ship is being torn apart! Get down here NOW!"
Delicious hit his own comm. "I'm on my way. Just had to kill something and claim a reward."
As he said it, the hallway behind of him exploded, propelling him forward. Using another explosion, he lunged forward, his Power Field blowing him through a weakened door, carrying him into the hanger. There was the Thunderhawk, with his friends gesturing to him to get in.
Just as he went for it though, he was pulled back by his hind leg. He flipped around, only to see the damaged princess.
He shook his head and drove his new weapon into its skull. The Staff of Light.
Quickly, he launched himself into the Thunderhawk's entrance.
The door closed, and he was safe. Mane Fire nodded when he saw the new addition to the armory. "Good. A new weapon. Although, I wouldn't have minded one of those rifle things."
Delicious shrugged. "Oh well. Redneck, get us out f here!"
"Aye sir."
The gunship shot out of the Necron vessel just as the massive ship was torn apart.
Delicious chuckled. "That was a little too close."
"This is the Eldar Wraithship. Thank you ponies. We would request any of our own returned."
Delicious nodded. "Of course. We have one of your personnel aboard. Could you teleport her aboard?"
"Yes. Thank You." Quickly, the Eldar in the gunship disappeared.
Delicious opened up the vox. "Antimatter, prime the engines. I don't want to anger the Eldar further. Lets go."
Delicious sat in the Golden Retreat, a bar on the Civilized World of Wraithful. Even though he ordered the most expensive and flavorful alcohol in the establishment, he was still depressed. It had been a month since his last adventure, and he hadn't had a single idea for adventure.
He was wearing a crimson robe that obscured his Apple heritage, along with his bolt pistol. At the table with him was Norse, who was sipping a large recaf, and Redneck, who was conked out after drinking six bottles of whiskey. Third Eye was on board the ship. Antimatter was talking with some of the Tech-Priests at a local factory, and Mane Fire was spending time looking at guns at the cities armory.
As he looked around the bar, he was surprised to see Antimatter walk in.
Delicious stood up. "Serious, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the factory!"
Antimatter shrugged. "Yes, but then I heard about a local legend from some of the Magos."
Delicious instantly perked up. That means possible riches...
Serious noticed his look, and smiled. "Apparently, the Forge World Alexas, full of archeotech artifacts, is a world never set foot on, a forbidden planet to many. And those that do go there, never come back. And, best of all, I've got coordinates."
Delicious lept up. "Well? What are we waiting for!?"
Norse immediately gestured towards Redneck, who was now snoring and her drool was covering the table.
Delicious's smile left his face. A drunk pilot is an uneffective one. Looks like they'd have to call a shuttle.
...
Several hours later.
...
Redneck shook herself awake. Her head was splitting, and she found herself aboard the Fire, in her Quarters with Delicious.
Delicious smiled as he saw her awake. "Well, sleeping beauty awakes."
Redneck shook her head. "What happened?"
"You drank way too much. While you were conked out, we heard some rumors about a lost Forge World. We're en-route now."
Redneck shrugged. "Sorry I drank too much."
With that, the ship lurched out of the warp, and a message came through the vox.
"Captain. You are required on the bridge immediately. We found out why no-pony goes to the planet and lives."\
Delicious looked at Redneck. And so the action begins again.
...
The second Delicious entered the bridge, the ship was shaken by a blast.
"What the hell just hit us!?" Delicious shouted.
"Orks sir. Looks like the greenskins got to the planet first." Serious said.
Indeed, he was right. As Delicious looked out the viewport. he saw dozens of ramshakle ships. He quickly assumed command. "Alright. Prime the lances and prepare to engage. Aim for the enemy Battlecruiser approaching close. Fire on my mark..."
Silence. As the gargantuan ork battlekroozer approached with frightening speed, prepared to ram the far smaller ship, the crew held their breath.
"MARK!" Immediately, lance shot pushed out into the void, nailing the ork ship.
Unfortunately, it was an ork ship. And, though they had a direct hit, it did almost nothing. Ork ships were, if anything, durable.
Delicious shook his head. "All weapons, fire at will! Take that behemoth down!"
Just then, an ork torpedo slammed into one of the two massive lance cannons mounted on the Forever Fire's dorsal ridge, blowing it to smithereens.
Delicious looked at the devistation, and made a quick decision. "Evasive Maneuvers! They'll murder us out here! All repair crew get to work! Get the astropath to send out a distress signal. Say it is on a holy planet of the mechanicus and it is infested with orks! Quickly!"
The bridge flew with activity. And, as though it couldn't get any more interesting, Delicious's informational hologram popped up with something of confusion. Planet-side, something had just landed. It was small, maybe the size of a single pony. However, it was emitting power beyond what Delicious had ever seen. He hadn't even seen that much energy being emitted from a Manufactorium power generator or a battleships fusion reactor, or any other power source he had ever seen.
And weirdest of all, it wasn't glowing with electrical energy, not even psychic energy drawn from the warp.
It was magical energy, the kind you saw only in the most powerful of unicorns or the Empress and Luna.
Something that had not been seen in such vast quantities for Forty-One Millennia.
Magic is Lost, Then Found
Delicious sprinted toward the hanger bay. The Forever Fire was being torn apart by repeated ork volleys. He had tasked it with, as soon as he and his group were away, to retreat to the edge of the system, and wait for his signal.
Just as a good chunk of debris almost flattened our Rogue Trader, he lept into the hanger. There was the Thunderhawk, ready to go, the rest of his group already aboard.
He sprinted in, and Redneck gunned the engines, the doors closing mere seconds before they hit vacuum. The gunship blasted into the void, desperately dodging enemy fire.
Delicious looked around at his friends armaments, to see what they had managed to grab. He himself had his bolt pistol, Staff of Light, and his carapace armor.
Mane Fire was best armed, as usual. He had his las-carbine, combat shotgun, a trio of frag grenades, krak grenade, demolition charge, a trio of auto-pistols, and, finally, a hoof cannon. He was wearing his usual flak suit.
Third eye simply had a long robe and walking stick with the Holy Aquila upon its top, along with a single dueling las-pistol.
Antimatter had several items of importance, but the only things of use was his servo-arm, long red robe, and Plasma pistol.
Norse was armed with his long-las, a customized, rapid-fire hoof cannon, a plasma grenade, his combat knife, and a single long-range vox backpack, capable of reaching the ship at the edge of the system, and a gray suit.
Redneck simply had a Las Pistol and Stun Grenade, along with her flight suit.
All in all; hopefully enough to last them through a planets worth in orks and whatever the mysterious magic source was on the ground.
The ship shook as it entered atmosphere, still begin hit by the occasional lucky ork shot.
Finally, the ship shuddered to a halt, touching down. Delicious took a deep breath.
Redneck began the best briefing she could muster: "Alright, I touched us down four kilometers south of the position of the energy source. Lets get to it before those orks do!"
The group charged out of the Thunderhawk, and found they were expected. A trio of Orks were waiting for them.
Orks are very similar to boars: Tusked, big, mean, and pig-like. They had red eyes and green skin, normally tattooed and sometimes cybernetic. On their backs were saddles with pistols and swords, or other weapons.
The orks shouted war cries of 'WAAAGH', before running up to do what they did best: chop ponies up.
They were stopped by Delicious and Norse, smiling, with their close combat weapons drawn.
The first Ork had his head lopped off by the Staff of Light. The second was stabbed several times in the heart by Norse's knife. The third was silenced by a las-carbine shot in-between the eyes from Mane Fire
The group looked at each other, then called Redneck out, and left the Thunderhawk where it was. Hopefully the Orks won't find it and loot it.
They walked quickly through the ruins, but the orks around seemed to be distracted, saying that "Da great weirdboy'z come! We'z doomed!"
Could it be possible that this great unknown being is an ork? Delicious pushed on, when they reached the edge of a gargantuan looted manufactorium. Ork glyphs decorated it, and greasy black smoke poured from dozens of smokestacks. As they came upon it, a massive explosion tore a chunk of the colossal structure apart.
The group looked silently at each other. That had to be what they were looking for.
They booked it into the manufactorium, to only find panicked orks, running away.
Delicious blinked. Orks. Running Away. Those words, in every way shape or form, did not fit. Delicious felt a shiver travel down his spine. Whatever was up ahead had to be scarier then a chaos demon to make orks run.
They ran sprinted the corridors, running into more and more scared orks.
Finally, they came upon the central area of the manufactorium, where hundreds of vehicles of ork manufacture were under construction.
There, at the edge of the balcony they were on overlooking this huge area, was a pony they'd seen only in statues and church mosaics. They'd only seen this pony in the oldest texts, in the oldest histories.
Her eyes glowed white as obscene amounts of magic coursed through her body. Upon her head was a great crown, and both a horn and wings sprouted from her body. Her purple fur matched her multi-colored purple mane.
Thrid Eye was blasted down, the energy too much for his psychicly attuned mind to handle.
The rest of the squad, even Delicious, high noble prince of the apple family, bowed low for the being in front of him.
Princess Twilight Sparkle, she who controlled the time between the other domains. She who was lost before the Great Heresy, and who has been thought dead for four-hundred-hundred years.
Luna ran into the throne room, ignoring the panicked royal guards. "What the hell is happening!?" She shouted.
The Captain of the Guard shrugged. "Its a power surge. I've never seen anything like it, not once in my entire six hundred year career."
Luna looked at the sensors. "Yes, neither have we."
As she looked at the throne as the energy pulse died down, she shook her head. Her sister hadn't moved, not for Forty Thousand years. The massive scars on her chest were still apparent, and Luna worried if Celestia wold EVER recover. Her only thought now though was one thing:
Sister, what is thou thinking?
...
Delicious looked up, only to see Twilight's levitation fail, and she fell to the ground. He ran up to her,to see she had been unconscious through the entire thing. Now her eyes fluttered open. Redneck was right with Delicious, medpack at the ready.
Twilight shook her head. "Where am I? Who are you? And where's the Empress?"
Delicious bit his tongue, and tried to answer to the best of his ways. "Well, your at an old abandoned manufactorium on a ork-held Forge World. My name is Delicious Apple The Third, and I am a Rogue Trader under Her Majesties Royal Service, and these are my friends and companions. As for the Empress......" He trailed off, and looked to the others for support.
Thankfully, Twilight, unknowingly, saved him for the time being. "Urrr, whats a Rogue Trader?"
Delicious sighed in relief. "Well, its a pony who is given freedom and a ship, and allowed to travel the galaxy for treasure and exploration."
Twilight nodded. "So, your an Apple. Delicious the Third? I remember the first, but not the second or third."
Delicious internally chuckled. She wouldn't. The second was born on the 412nd year of the 23rd millennium, and he himself was born on the 974th year of the 41st millennium, twenty five years ago.
Twilight continued. "I had several friends in the Apple family. Applejack was one of them. Where is she?"
Delicious blinked. Now for the hard part. "Well, to be perfectly honest with you, shes..... missing. Along with the rest of your friends."
Twilight bolted upright. "Missing? For how long?"
Delicious bit his tongue so hard it bled just a little. "Well, to be truthful, which is a famous trait in us apples... You have been missing, along with your friends, for almost Forty-one thousand years
...
"Twilight, Twilight, wake up!"
Twilight's eyes slowly racked open, to see Delicious.
Twilight groaned. "So, this isn't some sick dream? What's happened? Just spit it out. I want to know."
Delicious scratched his head. "Well, let's see. After you, your friends, and a princess named Cadence disappeared, the Imperium continued to expand. However... Ah, what was his name, nicknamed the great deceiver, lord of chaos, great betrayer..."
"Discord." Twilight finished with malice. "What he do?"
Delicious continued, "He turned to the gods of chaos, who were even greater then he. He began a civil war. It tore the Imperium apart, and placed Celestia permanently on her thrown. Now, the Imperium just fights to survive. As for you and your friends, none of you have been seen or contacted since. I'm sorry. It must be a terrible lose."
Twilight nodded, trying extremely hard to not let tears enter her eyes. "Well, if I'm an Alicorn, might as well cope with it. I'm going to have to get used to loosing friends. So, before I burst into an emotional water balloon, would somepony mind telling me where we are and why?!"
Delicious nodded, still barely believing. "We're on an old abandoned Forge World, held by Orks. You know what those are?"
Twilight nodded. "A barbaric race of boar-like organisms. They hold this forge world?"
Delicious nodded. "As for why we're here, I'm low on funds, and a Forge World would be worth fortunes. As for why you're here, I have no clue whatsoever."
Twilight sighed. "I guess you have a ship?"
Delicious nodded. "The Forever Fire. And I assume you can teleport us there?"
Twilight shook her head. "It would be too far or otherwise. And I'm exhausted. But you got here somehow, right?".
This time, Redneck answered. "Of course, my lady. However, it's far away. We'll have to fight our way there."
Twilight nodded for the thousandth time. "We're wasting time. Lets go."
They sprinted through the manufactorium halls, and exited. They stopped, however, for they were forced to.
In front of them were several hundred orks, along with several tanks. Our Heroes were stopped dead in their tracks, weapons raised.
In the end, they knew they would never have survived, no matter how well a fight they put up. This especially became apparent as a pair of 'smaller' ork cruisers (smaller as in maybe three kilometers) came in close above them, along with countless crude aircraft.
So, in the end, their luck held.
Third Eye, who had been weakened by his initial meeting with Twilight, stood up straight, and walked out of the protective circle that his friends had formed.
An ork, obviously a warboss, laughed. "Wach ya gonna do, ponnie? You can't do nothing!"
Third Eye shook his head. "No ork, I can't. However, in spite of this, xenos, I will challenge you. One-on-one. You win, you do what you want with my companions. I win, your boys let me and my companions get to our shuttle."
The ork bellowed with laughter. "You got yourself a deal ponnie. Now come on!"
Delicious couldn't believe what he was hearing. Then, he realized what Eye was doing as Twilight let out a gasp.
Twilight retreated to her inner self, throwing up defenses against the warp intruder. Then, a familiar voice hit her. Third Eye's voice. "Twilight, your majesty. Open your defenses. You may not be able to use your powers, but I can."
Just as she let down her defenses, Third Eye began to crackle with power. Bolts of electricity ran across his body, arcing to his staff.
The ork charged. Easily twice the psykers size, it was like being hurtled into a busy road.
With movements that seemed like teleportation mixed with a nothing short of extreme clairvoyance, Third Eye dodged, and hit the ork twice with his staff. Both hits sent the ork reeling, something that seemed impossible from an old pony with a wooden staff.
Third Eye beckoned to the enraged ork. The ork responded with a sprint that would have shattered a battle tank. Third Eye deftly swished his staff, not even dodging. The swish impacted the ork like a mag-train, sending him flying backwards on his back.
The ork quickly got back up, and Third Eye shook his head. The ork, in a deadly temper now, shouted "Ponnie, stop usin' your big stick!"
Third Eye smiled. "Gladly." The staff clattered to the ground.
Delicious felt his jaw fall. Third Eye was venerable, his age unknown to all but himself. Their was no way that that old stallion could possible beat an ork warboss in one-on-one combat unarmed .
The ork charged, his leading hoof a great mechanical claw. Third Eye didn't move.
Delicious, hell, the whole group yelled at him to move. He didn't budge.
The menacing claw came down, aimed to snap Third Eyes neck.
Third Eye calmly raised his hoof, and caught the Power Klaw. All was still for a moment.
The ork, about to explode in anger, screamed "I'm getting sick and tired of this, ponnie!"
Third Eye chuckled, a sound so utterly alien and horrifying that it foreboded what would happen next. He answered "And I too ork."
The ork looked into the eyes of his opponent, and saw not a pony, but something far, far worse.
With all of both his power and Twilights, his super-powered free hoof flew into the ork. The ork disappeared in a blast of crimson vapor. All the onlookers were blasted backward by the explosion. The cruisers were shaken by the turbulence.
After recovering, Delicious looked up at where Third Eye stood. He looked a few years younger and completely untouched by the blast. Stunned orks let the group pass. They reached the shuttle in a stunned silence.
...
Several minutes later, the group was leaving orbit, and the entire ork fleet was on their tail. Redneck shouted a warning.
Delicious swore. "The orks are going to be tough to shake. Any ideas?"
Norse said one. "Yeah, we fight. Redneck, I'm coming up. Head for the ork flagship. I have an idea. Prime weapons."
Norse took the gunners chair, next to Redneck. He was at the controls of all the weapons on the gunship. Not that he needed them.
Redneck looked at the griffon in awe. "What do you think you're doing? You're ordering me to charge an eight-kilometer long, extremely well armed ork ship. In a Thunderhawk. You're mad."
Norse nodded. "How do you think I became a Storm Trooper?"
Twilight walked in, and stood between them. "Wait, we're charging a warship? How well armed? We could be vaporized! We need to retreat, and preferably not die!!!"
Norse shook his head. "Sorry Princess. If you prefer vacuum, the main hatch is the level below us."
Twilight bit her lip. "Fine"
Norse smiled, a rare sight for his battle stricken face. "Good."
The ork warship, massive, started to appear in the viewport. Redneck was sweating. "What do you need me to do?"
"Head for the bridge, if you can find it. Full speed."
The ork cruiser began launching small anti-fighter missiles, which locked on and started following the Thunderhawk. At the same time, the ork admiral hailed them. "Ponnies, surrender now, or die!"
Norse replied in kind. "How about no to both. How about you fall down dead!"
They were extremely close to the ship bow, and in the distance was the massive tower that held the bridge.
The ork replied. "Never ponnie!!! Anyway, why wouldz I?"
They were skimming above ork ship. More and more missiles locked on to them, trailing behind them.
Norse shouted his reply back. "Well, I don't know..."
The bridge had filled up their viewport.
"...maybe because I'M TRAILING MISSILES!!!!"
At the last second, Redneck pulled up, and the dozens of trailing ork missiles slammed with several megatonnes of explosions into the bridge. The tower turned into a fiery fireball, and the Thunderhawk trailed away from the crippled vessel, and launched at full speed away from the greenskin fleet, which was suddenly thrown into bickering at the lose of the ork warlord.
They were safe.