Warhammer 40k: The Harmony Crusade

Chapter 8Discoveries"He who allows the alien to live shares in the crime of its existence" - Inquisitor Apollyon, Ordo Xenos

The Imperials, along with Twilight, stood hidden in the dark treeline just a couple of hundred metres from Fluttershy's cottage, keeping out of view of the multiple pegasus guard squads roaming the forest under the command of Princess Luna, who was currently in Manehattan investigating another one of the crashed pods and looking for survivors. Of course, neither the Imperials nor Twilight knew that. Levin watched the skies through his rifle, looking for the golden chariot that would inevitably appear, carrying Princess Celestia to Ponyville.

A quick scan of the village by Levin and Tevlan had shown increased guard presence in and around the settlement, with Royal Guard blocking every road into the town. Twilight had assured the Inquisitor that there was not usually this much Guard activity in Ponyville, even during other times that the Princess had come to visit, even though the Princesses knew nothing of the Imperial presence in Equestria, or so she hoped. Hallaman had to admit he didn't entirely believe the xeno, especially if they had increased Guard numbers to more than usual. It's not like the Guards would be a problem anyway, with their primitive swords and spears. Still, they had to be wary of numbers and the potentially harmful power of the unicorns.

The sun was almost at the half-way point in the sky now, and according to Twilight, the Princess was running late, which apparently, was extremely unlike her. Not like it matters anyway mused the Inquisitor to himself, She'll be dead by the end of the day, and then it won't have mattered if she ran a few minutes late.

Ten minutes later, the signal came in from Levin. The Princess' chariot had come into view, and would be arriving within a few minutes. The chariot was heavily guarded. The Inquisitor turned to the group. "Right everyone, you know the plan, we'll stick with it, keep formation, Cadians in front, Knights bringing up rear. Twilight, you know what to doing?"

"Yep." Twilight replied nervously.

"Good! Form up and let's move!"

Of course, the plan the Imperials knew and the plan Twilight knew were completely different things.

As they started moving to the nearest path, Hallaman dropped behind the Cadians, leaning to the assassins, "Pattern vice, the colour of night. Execute." he whispered.

Levin and Umbra nodded to each other and silently dropped out of the group, making their own way around the treeline into Ponyville. Twilight didn't notice a thing.

Everypony in Ponyville was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Princess. Applejack had brought her trademark apple food, and was finishing setting up tables and chairs in the outside eating area, Rainbow, as promised, had cleared the sky (in ten seconds flat, no less), and Fluttershy was helping Pinkie and Rarity set up the last of the decorations.

A crowd was slowly gathering in front of the podium where the solar diarch would be speaking. Rainbow flew over to Applejack, joining her in the throng.

"Yo AJ, have you seen Twilight at all today?"

"Can't say that ah have. You still looking for her?"

"Yeah, I haven't seen her at all since yesterday afternoon when she asked me to clear the skies for today. She's not even in the library, Spike said she hasn't been back since she went to go find Fluttershy yesterday evening. I've searched everywhere in Ponyville, and she's just not here!" Rainbow exclaimed, grounding her hoof in anger, "It's not like her to go AWOL on us, especially not when the Princess is visiting and she put so much hard work into making everything perfect..."

"Hmm, tell ya what sugarcube, after the visit we'll all go look for Twilight, I do agree with ya, somethin' is wrong, but let's save it till after the Princess leaves." said Applejack, sliding a comforting hoof around Rainbow's withers.

"Yeah...okay. Thanks AJ."

They were interrupted by a loud booming of horns that signalled the arrival of the Princess.

"Here we go!" said Rarity as her, Fluttershy and Pinkie and Applejack and Rainbow in the crowd, "Such a shame Twilight is missing this-"

She was distracted by Pinkie starting to shake erratically, "Ooh, ooh, pinchy knee, pinchy knee, something's bad's going to happen!" she then began violently bouncing on the spot, rapidly inflating, deflating, and her eyes bulged out of their sockets.

"Which one is that!?" exclaimed Rainbow.

"I don't know," replied Pinkie weakly, getting to her hooves, "But it's a doozy alright..."

"Today of all days..." muttered Applejack, "This can only go from bad to worse if the Princess is here..."

The boom of bolter fire... the crackle of lasguns... a pony cut in half by a dark figure with an energy sword... the roar of a flamer as burning promethium engulfed it's targets... a power sword cutting towards Celestia's neck- Dammit!

He shot bolt upright on his bed, I should've done it myself, should have known better... he chastised himself as he reached for his armour.

"Soul Shield, Darkstar!" he called, "Get in here now!"

"Yes, lord, what is it?" Two ponies galloped into the room, both bearing the seal of the Royal Secret Service on their chests.

"I need a chariot to Ponyville, now!" he instructed, grabbing his weapons from the closet.

Both stallions looked at each other, "Lord, you know you are not meant to leave-"

"Do you want your Princess to die!?" he shouted, "You are both aware of the threat that has arrived on this world, and I know now I have to deal with it myself! Now get the damn chariot, or so help me, I'll stroll into Canterlot and make my own way there, by which time, Celestia will already be dead!"

"Very well, lord. We shall accompany you." said Darkstar.

"Good! Now let's move!"

Twilight led the Imperials down the dirt path towards Ponyville, towards one of the entrances to the village.

"Twilight, there are guards at that entrance." said Hallaman.

"Don't worry, I can probably get them to let us through. After all, most of the guard know who I am, I am the Princess' student." replied the lavender unicorn.

"Okay, so long as we can meet this 'Princess Celestia' then." grumbled the Inquisitor.

He had not expected so much guard activity around the town, and it was interfering with his plans. However, he was more then capable of improvising if he had to. It came with the job, missions almost never went according to plan.

They strode to the opening, the guards posted there standing wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the sight of the Imperials. Hallaman could tell from their expressions that they had absolutely no experience whatsoever. Twilight stopped them right in front of the guards, who had finally decided to raise their weapons at the aliens. Swords and spears. How quaint chuckled the Inquisitor to himself.

One of them finally had the sense to step forward and speak up. "What is the meaning of this? What are these... things?" he questioned Twilight.

He was trying to sound tough, but Hallaman could tell he was scared shitless. As he should be he smirked.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, the Princess' student and protege", the guard nodded in recognition, "And these beings are aliens who  I believe crashed in the Everfree a couple of nights ago. They wish to see the Princess."

"Do they speak?" the guard asked.

"Yes. Yes we do." said the Inquisitor.

"And you are?" snarled the guard. It took all of the Inquisitor's self-restraint not to pull out his bolt pistol and shoot the filthy xeno right there and then.

"I am Inquisitor Emerson Hallaman of the Holy Inquisition's Ordo Malleus, representing the Imperium Of Man. Twilight is right, we crashed in the forest two nights ago and we simply wish to talk to the Princess about our being on this fine planet of yours until we can secure safe passage home." he replied, trying to sound as friendly as possible.

"Then why are you armed?" the guard asked, pointing a hoof at the Grey Knight's giant weapons. They had no idea what guns were.

"Simply tools, the galaxy can be dangerous sometimes." smiled the Inquisitor, "As such, we must be able to defend ourselves. These men and woman around me are simply peacekeepers. Believe me when we say we want nothing more than to establish peaceful relations with Equestria until we can make our way home"

The guard eyed them suspiciously, "You and your group stay here with the guards, I'll go and speak to the Princess."

Hallaman dropped back to Tevlan, "Send it to everyone's readouts, when we get to the Princess, non-lethal takedowns on the guards when I say so. If we don't, we'll take them out anyway and make our own way there. This is our best chance here and I'm not about to let it go."

"Non-lethal, sir?" he asked.

"Yes, we need to get in close to the Princess and get her first before we kill any other of the filthy xenos. At least that way she may not have prior warning to escape."

"Very well, it is done." whispered the Magos and he instantaneously sent the order to everyone's helmet.

Princess Celestia stepped up to the podium, overlooking the happy, adoring faces of the residents of Ponyville. She smiled and began her speech.

"Dear residents of Ponyville, my beloved subjects. I thank you all deeply for being here today, and I am honoured that so many of you took the time to set up this wonderful reception for me and to be here for my visit to your prosperous, beautiful town. It's so nice to see all your happy, smiling faces again and I look forward to socialising with all of you again while you catch me up on all the happenings of the past year. But before I end my speech, I have recieved some letters from the ponies of this town regarding the fireballs that crashed in the Everfree Forest yesterday, and I can say that they were just simply small meteors. They are currently being removed by the guard and studied by the top minds in Canterlot, and I can safely say they pose no threat to you or to Equestria as a whole. Thank you and once again, I look forward to speaking to you all at the gathering." she finished smoothly, and stepped off the stage as a round of applause went off.

Hmm, I wonder where Twilight is she wondered, surveying the crowd.

"Princess! Your Highness!" shouted a voice from behind her.

She turned to see a panting guard galloping up to her, bowing as he approached.

"You may stand." said Celestia, "Has something arisen?"

"P- Princess," panted the guard, "Your student, Twilight Sparkle has just showed up at the edge of the town with a group of... things claiming to be aliens and the source of the meteors from the other night!"

Celestia baulked. Her student and the town were in danger.

"How many were there?" she asked urgently.

"About sixteen, your highness."

"Very well... take a few squads and lead them away from the town. After that, get the chariots and take them to Canterlot, and take them to my throne room. I will deal with them when I get there, and make sure to tell a messenger to summon Luna back from Manehattan. Go, now, before the citizens are disturbed. Take Twilight with you, and whatever you do, do NOT provoke them."

"Yes, your majesty." replied the guard before galloping off.

Celestia sighed before turning back to the crowd. She had awaited this day for a long time.

Hallaman looked up as he saw the guard gallop back down the road to them accompanied by several more of the royal guard. He stepped forward, placing his hand of the pommel of his sword under his cape, ready for anything as the ponies surrounded the group.

"The Princess is unavailable to see you at the moment. We are to escort you to Canterlot where you will await her presence in the royal palace. You have no choice in the matter, for it is the will of the Princess."

The ensuing tension could probably not have even been shattered by Kaska's daemonhammer. Twilight was the first to speak.

"Well that sounds reasonable." she stated, "What do you think, Inquisitor?"

Hallaman looked back towards the Imperials and gave a slight nod before turning back to the guards. "That sounds fine." he replied. The guards almost sagged in relief.

It was no surprise that they didn't stand a chance when the Inquisitor drew his power sword and smacked the guard across the head with the hilt, dropping him unconscious to the ground.

The other guards froze in shock for a moment before leveling their weapons at the Imperials.

"What are you doing!?" Twilight screeched as the guards charged.

Justicar Vakarrian was the first to act. He planted his sword firmly in the ground and let it go, before delivering devastating backhands to the two ponies charging him, sending them flying. Had he not been holding back, he would have pulped both of them.

Tarses and Tarrik both spun their halberds and swung them towards the pegasi of the guards, knocking them out with the shafts.

Captain Belknap smacked a unicorn down with the stock of his shotgun as the other Kasrkin repeated the same to other guards with their lasrifles and Roland slammed an earth pony down with a massive punch. The final guard attempted to charge Tevlan, only to recieve a mechanical limb to the face for his troubles. The uncaring techpriest hadn't even moved.

The whole confrontation had lasted six seconds, and already there were more than ten injured unconscious guards surrounding the group.

"Come on." growled Hallaman, grabbing the shocked Twilight by the collar and leading the group into Ponyville to confront the Princess.

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"Why have you come back? And where are the others?" asked Celestia curiously.

"The others?" he gave a wry smile, "Well, let's just say we may not be seeing them for a very long time." he said sadly.

Celestia frowned, "Then why are you here?"

He looked to the night sky as Luna flew down to join her sister.

"Hey Woona." he laughed, ruffling her mane.

"I told you not to call me that!" she exclaimed indignantly.

"Heh, sorry Lu-Lu." he chuckled, turning to face Celestia again.

"Well?" she asked, "It's been more than five years. You said it would be nowhere near finished by now."

His face turned expressionless, his eyes betraying his pain. "You're right, it's not, and won't be. Not for a while. Celestia, all I want is a second chance."

"Won't they miss you?"

"I won't be missed. The galaxy is a big place, and I know whatever happens, they will do without me."

"Very well." sighed Celestia, "I suppose we have a lot to talk about."

The crowd parted before them, a sea of scared and terrified faces backing away from either side as the Imperials made their way towards the Princess, still standing near the podium where she had made her speech. Guards came at the group from left, right and centre, only to be knocked back to the floor. Arrows pinged off of the Grey Knight's power armour and some managed to loosely lodge themselves in the Kasrkin's carapace armour, only to be torn out by the Cadian veterans. The Inquisitor was in the centre of the group, dragging Twilight by the psychic dampener around her neck. He spotted a small chariot flying down towards the Princess, pulled by two pegasi.

"Magos, take it down."

The tech-priest levelled his plasma gun with the chariot and fired. The beam of blue superheated plasma struck the side of the chariot, reducing much of it to molten slag and setting the rest on fire. The guards were forced to drop it where it smashed into the ground in an explosion of splintering wood and burning metal.

Around them, ponies screamed and fled the scene, while others stood simply frozen in horror at the monsters that marched before them. Celestia readied herself on the podium, silently panicking as guards surrounded her. This was not how she remembered the Imperium. In her thousands of years, she had never encountered such powerful beings. She had no idea what to do. The crowd of ponies simply looked on in fear, trembling, crying. Entire families flocked from the scene and barricaded their homes. Not that it would do much good.

The Imperials stopped before Celestia, the Kasrkin parting to let Hallaman through. He stepped towards the Princess, throwing Twilight to the mud in front of him. He slammed his foot down on her back and brought out his bolt pistol, aiming at her head, eliciting a cry of pain and terror from the unicorn.

"Twilight!" cried a cyan rainbow-maned pony, flying out of the crowd, "Let go of her you monsters!"

She zoomed towards the Inquisitor, hooves outstretched, only to be met with a swift hook to the face from Trooper Merisier. Several ponies cried out in shock.

"Rainbow!" screamed an orange pony from the crowd, "Y'all are gonna pay for that!"

The pony galloped out of the crowd towards the group. She quickly turned, raised her hind legs and bucked Brother Tarses directly in the thigh with a resounding clang. She let out a cry of pain and tried to hobble away but the unfazed Grey Knight simply brought his halberd up and smashed her down with the pole.

"Applejack!" cried another white pony, who charged out of the crowd, flanked by a pink earth pony and a yellow pegasus.

The white unicorn shot a bolt of blue energy from her horn at Sergeant Roland, knocking him back a few steps. Belknap reacted like lightning, dropping his shotgun and picking her up by the horn. She wailed out in pain. He used his other hand to sieze her by the throat and threw her into the wall of a nearby building. She fell unconscious to the ground.

The yellow pegasus looked up at the Imperials, her eyes burning. "You-" she trembled, her voice filled with rage, "YOU HURT MY FRIENDS, I'LL BE YOUR END!" she screeched, and hurtled towards humans in a blinding flash of speed.

Vakarrian caught her in his free hand. She deflated and uttered a single "eep" before he threw her against the same wall the white unicorn had hit, collapsing the pegasus on top of her.

The pink one was nowhere to be seen.

"You know, you guys are real meanies! Come on, I mean, King Sombra was pretty mean, but you guys are just taking the cake-oooh, do you aliens like cake? I know I do, my favourite-"

The Imperials swung around at the sound of the pony's blabbering, but she wasn't there. In an instant, she was up on Kaska's power pack, "And then I was all like "No silly, of course we're disregarding the end of season three-"

Kaska swung upwards with his hammer, only to hit thin air.

"So then we went on this big adventure to find Applejack after she ran off because she was too ashamed that she didn't win the prize money-" the pink daemon continued from atop Corporal Caughran's helmet, who dived to the ground and let loose a flurry of lasbolts at her previous position, to no avail.

"And that's how Equestria was made!" she finished, stopping right next to Tarrik. He kicked her as hard as he could, sending her flying over the rooftops.

The Inquisitor simply stared strangely and shook his head before turning his attention back to the Princess. He brought up his power sword and pointed it at her, singling her out. He kept his bolt pistol pointing at Twilight. The guards around Celestia tensed. "Princess Celestia! I am an Inquisitor Emerson Hallaman, agent of the Ordo Malleus of the Emperor's Holy Inquisition and leader of Inquisitorial Taskforce KS:17-68!"

Suddenly there was a gunshot and two black blurs leaped from the roofs of nearby houses. They landed among the guards surrounding Celestia and unleashed their fury, knocking the guards of the way and soldifying into the discernible figures of Levin and Umbra, the former suddenly having his Exitus Pistol pressed hard against Celestia's head while the latter holding her blade to her throat. The majority of the crowd had broken down now or ran away, knowing there was nothing left between the creatures and their Princess.

"For crimes against the Imperium Of Man and the Emperor, by my authority as an Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus, we demand that you submit now, and hand over all authority and control of your land and people, for it is the will of the Emperor that all xenos like you be eradicated from the galaxy! Relinquish now, and I may be merciful! What will it be, xeno!?"

Celestia ignored him, reaching her mind out to Twilight's, who was still under the Inquisitor's boot. She didn't dare move, for the blade and gun pressed to her neck and head.

Twilight? she called, Can you hear me?

Twilight's eyes widened, Princess, is that you? Her voice was faint, weak.

Twilight, what's wrong? Are you hurt?

N-No, it's this collar around my neck. It's suppressing my magic, I can't move.

Celestia paused for a second.

Twilight, my faithful student, I want to ask you now, before anything else happens, for your forgiveness. Know that I never meant to hurt you, and that I should have told you sooner. I realise that mistake now. I'll see you again Twilight, I promise, and I'm sorry.

Of course, Princess. I understand.

Thank you, my student.

Celestia broke the link and raised her attention back to the Inquisitor.

"I accept your terms, Inquisitor" she spoke, "I and my sister shall step down."

"No Princess don't-" screamed Twilight, but she was cut off.

An explosion of blinding golden light burst outwards from the Princess' horn, throwing the two assassins off and through the wall of nearby buildings, their armour burnt and damaged.

In less than a second, she refined the energy into a tighter, narrower shining beam firing straight at the Imperials. They didn't have time to react, not even the Astartes.

The beam engulfed the group, bombarding their minds with sheer psychic energy. The Inquisitor, astropath and Twilight were the first to black out, their psycho-sensitive minds collapsing under the pressure. The Kasrkin and the Magos dropped their weapons and fell to the ground, screaming and clutching their heads. The Grey Knights stood firm, bracing themselves against the attack. They clenched their teeth under their helmets, unable to move due to the battle their minds were fighting.

Soon, the tech-priest and the Cadians fell unconscious under the pain, and Celestia refined her beam again so it was only impacting the Knights. They fell to their knees, almost unable to handle the psychic energy being directed at them. Warning runes flashed on the insides of their eyes, notifying them of imminent black-out.

Celestia increased the power again, and the beam was now shining with the blinding intensity of her sun, even she had to close her eyes. She cut off the power and opened her eyes. What she saw shocked her.

The Grey Knights slowly rose from their knees, steam rising from their bodies and the psychic sigils inscribed on their armour glowing white-hot as their servos and power packs screamed to bring them to their feet.

Justicar Vakarrian slowly raised his sword at her. "Wrong move, xeno bitch." he growled, "Squad, open fire!"

Celestia barely had time to raise a shield before a torrent of storm bolter fire hit her like a train. She staggered backwards on the podium, pouring all her magic into the shield. A roar of an Incinerator joined the bolters as Anvar fired a geyser of burning promethium at Celestia, the heat nearly singeing her coat as the flames impacted her barrier.

"Grey Knights, keep firing! For the Emperor!" shouted Vakarrian as he lowered his smoking storm bolter. He grabbed the psyk-out grenade from his belt and pulled the pin.

"Block this, witch!" he snarled as he hurled it at Celestia.

To her credit, the grenade bounced off the barrier before exploding, releasing strobes of negatively-charged psychic lightning. They connected with Celestia's horn, causing her shield to flicker.

"Cease fire!" the Justicar called as the barrier died and Celestia collapsed on the podium, her vision darkening. He brought up his sword and motioned to the rest of his squad to follow him. They moved towards the figure of the Princess.

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Pink petals fell from the trees in the small garden where the humans and the Princesses were gathered.

"We should be going soon." said the wizened old figure in the brown cloak, hunched over his burning staff, "No doubt the enemy are approaching. The Knights-Errant grow impatient."

"I agree, old friend." replied the giant in the golden armour, "The final preparations still have yet to be made. Has there been any word from Dorn?"

"The defences are almost complete. The Imperial Fists eagerley await our return. Chief Custode Valdor is getting anxious. No doubt he'll send someone after us if we don't return soon." said the giant clad in white, a huge curved sword hanging by his side.

"Then we best be off." said the old man.

The giant in gold turned to Celestia. "It has been a pleasure finally meeting you, Princesses. Are you sure you are up to the task we have asked of you? Know that you can change your mind at any time."

"No." said Celestia, determination evident in her voice, "Your plight is too great for us to ignore. We can, and shall do it!"

"Agreed!" Luna joined in fervently.

"Thank you, the both of you. You have no idea how much this means to us. And I promise to you that one day, at least one of us shall return. Until then, farewell." said the giant in black.

And with that, the humans left the garden, leaving the Princesses standing there.

"Did we do the right thing, Luna? What will become of Equus?"

"Who knows sister? Only time will tell."

"ENOUGH!" a voice shouted from nowhere, and suddenly the ground in the middle of the Grey Knights exploded in an eruption of dirt and cobble. They were sent flying in all directions, crashing through walls or sprawling into the dirt.

Out of the resulting dust cloud emerged a giant, clad entirely in pitch black power armour, a rare tri-headed power whip clenched in his right hand and an ancient Phobos-pattern bolter in his left. "YOU WILL STAND DOWN, MARINES!" he boomed, taking up a combat stance, his power whip crackling.

The Grey Knights did no such thing. Vakarrian was the first to act, drawing his sword and charging at the giant, firing his storm bolter.

The mysterious figure rolled out of the way and swung his whip, one of the heads wrapping around the Justicar's arm, throwing his aim off and sending a hail of bolt rounds harmlessly into the sky. His left arm trapped, Vakarrian sliced his sword downwards at the closing giant. The man deftly side-stepped out of the way and holstered his bolter, giving a hard tug to his whip. Vakarrian stumbled forward under the giant's immense strength and received a devastating punch to the face, denting his helmet and knocking him out cold.

The rest of the Grey Knights sprinted at him, their weapons drawn. The figure reacted to Brother Anvar first, smashing the Incinerator out of his grasp before the Knight could bring the lethal weapon to bear. He turned and blocked a blow from Tarrik before lashing out with his whip, causing both Tarrik and Tarses to stumble back. He swung round and in a scream of armour servos, performed a roundhouse kick on Anvar's head, crushing the marine to the ground.

He pulled back his whip as he dodged a hammer blow from Kaska, taking advantage of the Knight's exposed torso to deliver a massive punch, sending Kaska sprawling back, just like the Justicar had done on the Hammer's Retribution.

Tarses followed up with a swing of his halberd, but the giant leapt back out of reach, coiling his power whip around the shaft of the halberd and pulling, ripping the weapon from Tarses' grip. He then used his shoulder to ram Tarses to the ground.

Tarrik raised his storm bolter and began to fire. The giant rolled to evade the deadly rounds and drew his bolter, firing a single bolt at the Grey Knight's arm, throwing his aim off and leaving a bad dent where it had impacted. The man charged and tackled Tarrik to the ground, ripping off his helmet. The giant pinned him with his immense strength, he couldn't move.

The giant looked at him through the glowing red lenses of his helmet.

"Nevermore, son of the Sigillite," the giant whispered, as he reached towards Tarrik's head, "Nevermore."