Chapter One - The Scene Is Set
"So, it's broken."
"Not entirely, Colonel. But it will require repairs," said the magos reproachfully. "The Machine Spirit requires attention."
Colonel Aloysius Johnstonne, of the Chaiffen 254th Mechanised, sighed. "How long until it will be ready for transit again? We're cut off from the rest of the fleet in this little backwater system, and the astropaths are about as useful as they usually are - not at all." His tone was exasperated. This wasn't the first incident aboard this ship. He had begun to think that the captain had loaned it to the Munitorum simply to con them into replacing the ailing vessel with something decidedly more functional. But the Geller fields failing? Even the greediest captain wouldn't have taken that risk.
"I do not have that information, colonel. I can only repeat that it will require some time," droned the tech-priest. Just like most of the others he'd encountered, this tech priest seemed to think guessing was a sin against their clockwork Emperor.
"Fine, fine. Just get it done quickly. The crusade fleet needs us." And with that, the colonel left the Mechanicus representative. "Well, that went about as well as I expected," he said to his executive officer, Major Victrus Torian. "We're stuck here for God-Emperor knows how long, and with those astropaths still babbling about the warp being... whatever it is. Who knows what'll happen?"
"Indeed, sir. At least the men aren't lazing about. The extra training could prove useful... well, if the tech-priests repair that thing, at least," said Torian, falling in behind the colonel as he walked towards the bridge.
"Yes, well. If they find out that we're stuck here, we could be in for a bit of a bad show. Is the Commissar ready to deal with that?"
"I am indeed, Colonel," said the commissar as the two came to a t-section in the corridor. Commissar Ramirez Sigismund was a tall fellow, and lean. He wasn't overly muscular, but he wasn't a weakling, either. This was to have been his fourteenth campaign with the regiment, and his grizzled face bore the latest casualty of war - his left eye had been replaced by a bionic after shrapnel had destroyed the biological one. "So, then, my only question is to your plan. We do have one, I take it?"
"Not yet," replied the colonel. "And right now, I don't think there's much point in making one. The astropaths are babbling nonsense, and the Mechanicus aren't giving us a probable repair date." He threw his arms up into the air in annoyance.
"Well then. This might prove to be more difficult than at first appearance."
Twilight Sparkle was breathing rapidly. Something - or someone - was trying to kill her!
There! Something moved out of the corner of her eye, something with too many limbs. She turned.
Nothing. There wa- Behind her!
She turned and looked at her worst nightmare made real. Something loomed over her, with a head without a mouth and tentacles hanging from it. It roared, but where the sound came from, Twilight did not know.
She tried to blast the thing with her magic, but nothing happened. She tried again, and still nothing!
Stretching forth one of its forelimbs that ended in a horrible claw, it picked up the panicking unicorn. "No, no, put me down, you don't want to eat me!" she babbled. "I'm very bad for you, I'll make you sick, I'm not tasty at all! SOMEPONY HELP ME!"
It pulled her up and, at last, she could see the mouth. It was a sharp beak, and the beast brought the unicorn's head up to it. Slowly, Twilight guessed what the beast was doing. It was trying to eat her brain.
"No, no, no! PLEASE, SOMEPONY, HELP ME!"
Twilight was shaken awake by Spike, a baby dragon and her boon companion. "Twilight?" he asked, looking worried. "What happened?"
The unicorn tried to say something, but no words came out. Eventually, she said "It... was horrible." Just remembering that dream shook her to her marrow. Her only relief was that the dream beast wasn't real. Even so, the memory alone was horrifying.
"Another nightmare?" Spike asked. Truth be told, she had been having more nightmares than not the last few days... and she rarely had nightmares anyway.
"Yes. But this one, this one was different." This one she didn't know where the beast came from. In the others, there had been changelings, pretending to be her friends, her family, but... but never this.
"Different?" asked the dragon. "What do you mean, different?"
"I mean different, Spike." She didn't want to tell him exactly what the dream was, even if she understood it herself. "I'm going to write to Princess Celestia. I'll tell you when I'm ready to send it."
Spike sighed at the implicit dismissal, and walked off. It wasn't even dawn yet, and here was Twilight's first letter of the day.
Twilight Sparkle sat down at her desk, and carefully began to compose the letter.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I had a nightmare, one of too many of late. In it, there was a creature I've never seen before, a large thing with six legs, like a giant insect, but horrifying. It stood on two of those legs, and the other four...
This beast, whatever it was, was carnivorous, and had the capacity to block my magic. Do you have any idea what it might be? Do these things only exist in my imagination?
I have a sense of foreboding about this matter, and I hope you can resolve it swiftly.
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
You must come to Canterlot at once. Bring your friends. There is no time to waste. Equestria itself is in danger, and your speed here may be the difference between its safety and its doom.
The princesses are indisposed at this time. If you need to contact Canterlot, send your messages to myself only.
Your brother, Shining Armour
"How long ago was this detected, captain?" barked the colonel in a no-nonsense voice. The last hour had taken a decidedly more exciting tone than previously expected.
"We contacted you as soon as we detected it, Colonel," said the ship's captain soothingly. "We thought it was xenos, and, well... you're the one in charge there..."
"You're right. It is indeed Xenos. And one of the most dangerous types. Tech-priest! How long until the Gellar fields are working?"
"The rites of the Machine God cannot be hurri-" began the tech priest reprovingly, before being interrupted by the colonel.
"Captain! How long will the ship's supplies last us?" he snapped. He knew that he wouldn't like this answer.
"Barely a month. We'll have to put down for supplies," the captain replied.
"Then that leaves us one choice. Where is the nearest planet?" This regiment was no-where near the size they'd require, but if they couldn't escape, there was little else they could do.
"We're orbiting it now, colonel. There's only one planet in this system," answered the captain. "Why?"
"Make ready to land down there. Everything. Even this ship, captain." He held up his hands to stifle the predicted debate. "Yes, I know, this ship wasn't intended to land in atmosphere. But it won't survive the rest of the xenos arriving either, and I want as much material intact as we can get. We may already be dead, gentlemen, but if we cannot escape this threat then I'm damned if I won't take as many of them with me. Are we clear?" Fortunately, the commissar had had the good grace to accompany him to the meeting, and the slight loosening of his sidearm was enough to silence any debate before it even started.
"Very well then," continued Colonel Johnstonne. "Within the hour, I want the deepest scan of the system as possible. If we must put down, then before we land, I want as full a sweep of the planet as possible. And we may as well make sure as much personnel are landed as possible before we try touching down, hmm?"
There was no further debate, and each went off to their duties. Even without the xenos, this was going to be a bumpy ride, though Johnstonne, and he cursed silently. By the Emperor, not them.
"What on earth could your brother want us for, Twilight?" was Rarity's rhetorical question as the ponies and the dragon made their way to the train station. She knew as well as the other ponies did that Twilight Sparkle didn't know any more than they did. Not that that had helped when Twilight had woken them up before the sun had risen. Only Spike had noticed as well as Twilight that it was past the dawn hour already.
"Rarity, nopony here likes the situation any more than you do, but Twilight don't know any more than we do," said Applejack. "We're just going to have to wait until we get to Shining Armour and ask him ourselves."
"Yes... It's just that this doesn't make any sense. Why would the Captain of the Royal Guard need our help?" Rarity persisted. "Whatever could we be doing?"
"Well, obviously, he wants the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria," said Rainbow Dash. "The rest of you are just to keep him and the Princesses company." There was a collective rolling of eyes at the cyan pegasus' boasting. "...what?"
"Look, it doesn't matter why he wanted us yet," said Twilight Sparkle quickly. "All that matters is that we get there as quickly as possible. Then we can ask him."
"Yes, I suppose that is the best idea at the moment, darling," said Rarity, in a tone that indicated it was anything but. "Anyway, while we're traveling, Fluttershy, I have some new outfits for you to try."
There was no response from the butter-yellow mare, and Rarity turned to her - only to realise that the pegasus wasn't there. "Twilight, you did remember to talk to Fluttershy about this, didn't you?" she asked.
"Yes, of course I did. I wrote it down in my list of things I had to do. Number 1 - make a new list. Number 2 - Get supplies for more lists. Number 3 - Collect the girls to go to Canterlot. Number 4 - Go back and get Fluttershy again." Twilight looks ready to continue on for some time, but even she can feel the change in the atmosphere. "...what?"
"We can't go to Canterlot without Fluttershy," said Applejack. "I reckon one of us'll have to go back and get her."
"Fine," said Rainbow Dash. "I'll do it. You just get onto the train, I'll be there with Fluttershy before it leaves."
"That sounds like a good idea," says Twilight. "Alright. Let's do it." The other ponies nodded, and they split up, Rainbow Dash heading to Fluttershy's house, while Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the ponies continued heading towards the train.
"Well? What is it?" asked the colonel. The last hour had proven his fear correct - the xenos fleet was too large, and too near, to escape now. As they had made preparations to land, the atmosphere was getting heated.
"We've spotted buildings, sir. They... Well, they appear to be human, or very near-human," reported the master of the aether. "But we haven't detected any human life forms. A lot of livestock, though - it bears great resemblances to horses."
"Well, where are they? There's got to be a communications relay down there."
"That's just it, sir. We've got no communications. No radio, no vox, hell, not even smoke signals. But they're there, sir."
"What? How do you know?" asked the colonel. "You can't detect signals, can you?"
"No, but there is industry down there. We've spotted low-level lighter-than-air craft. But no life forms other than the livestock. It's as if they all just... Vanished."
"Hmmm. This may be worse than we feared. Have you identified their probable head of government's location?"
"Somewhat, sir, but this is mostly guesswork. We can put you down there," confirmed the bridge officer.
"Good." He turned to his commissar. "Looks like I'll have an opportunity to get some fieldwork in again. I'll take two squads, and report back when we've found out what happened."
"Very well, sir."
