"The Lone Korpsman"
A strong wind blew through the secluded meadow. Heavy clouds darkened the sky over the Everfree Forest, where they created a gloomy, foreboding and even threatening atmosphere. The large formation of creatures served only to heighten the tension in the air.
A massive army, possibly the largest and most powerful Equestria had ever seen, stood encamped around the forest in several huge camps that spanned from Ponyville to Ghastly Gorge, all the way to the outskirts of Dodge Junction. Each guardspony, knight, and champion stood firm with weapons at the ready as they focused on the carnage that was soon to come.
Various allied warriors from the world over made up a bulk of the encirclement, trusted allies that the ponies had made over the centuries.
The Crystal Guard Phalanx from the Crystal Empire, Equestria's most trusted allies who were currently ruled by Princess Cadance and former Canterlot-Guard Captain, Prince Shining Armor.
Squadrons of Gryphon Storm-Fliers, who had come to Equestria’s aid from their distant kingdom in the sky, patrolled the air above the Everfree, maintaining air superiority with their pegasus brethren in the Canterlot Royal Guard. Not once did they hesitate when the Princess called for their help.
Zebra Fire Throwers, whose volatile concoctions had decided so many conflicts in the past just by their fear factor alone, stood ready in their heavy crimson robes to burn the forest down if they were so ordered by their masters.
All around the camp, Saddle Arabian Windhorses, whose incredible speed and skill with the spear were regarded as legendary, stood close to the treeline with spears, ready to stop any charging beast attempting to break through the line.
Several free companies of Minotaurs, feared and respected mercenaries hired into the service of the Princesses, provided their skills with the crossbow to give cover from the distance.
With them came a wide selection of siege weapons, from the feared ballistas to even some primitive cannons.
After them came the Canterlot Royal Guard, consisting of Celestia's personal elite troops, the Solar Knights of the Holy Flame, and Luna's personal elite commandos, the Night Guardians.
They were the best Equestria had to offer.
Mares and stallions stood ready to give everything for the defense of the princesses and their country, including their lives, if necessary.
At the front stood the proud Royal Army, the main fighting force.
With sheer numbers and determination they had faced many enemies of Equestria, and more often than not, they had won.
A short distance ahead of the army stood their leaders, the Royal Sisters themselves.
Clad in golden shining armor and encased in an bright radiant aura and armed with an impressive warhammer, the immortal and most powerful being herself, Princess Celestia, stood tall. Next to her was her no less powerful sister, Princess Luna, who herself was vested with dark blue armor and armed with a beautifully crafted longsword.
Both stood together a short distance away from the main army, discussing and planning the next step.
While Celestia's posture showed no fear or uncertainty, her face betrayed her anxiety. In contrast to her sister, Princess Luna stood confident and ready with a small smirk on her face.
A massive army and two powerful and immortal beings, ready to face whatever danger was threatening their world.
At a further distance stood the one they all had come for.
The Korpsman.
His dark, heavy greatcoat, the black boots, the dark gray helmet with a engraved double-headed eagle symbol and the disturbing looking gasmask that covered his entire face gave him an outright terrifying appearance.
Along with the weapon in his hands, a powerful energy-based rifle (though empty and malfunctioning), he still had his trusty bayonet that was affixed beneath the muzzle of his rifle.
Outnumbered, without ammunition and alone, he was still standing there, facing the United Equestrian Army alone.
A few thoughts raced through his mind. How he had got here, his first contact with these strange beings, the abundance of sorcery which apparently many of those horse-like things had and the mobilisation of this world’s army.
He was aware that he wouldn't win against them, nor would he survive, but for him, that was completely irrelevant. As a member of the Death Korps of Krieg, death was a solution, not a punishment. Still standing there, he waited for their move to attack.
After a while in deep thought, Prince Celestia came to an conclusion. She must try again, try to convince this unknown creature to give, to spare the life of many of her subjects and allies. Turning to her sister, she said in a determined tone, “Luna, I will try it again.”
Surprised by her sister’s decision, she asked with uncertainty, ”Sister, are you sure? This creature is dangerous beyond reason. It singlehandedly murdered nearly every beast in the Everfree Forest.”
“I know, Luna. That's why I must try it again. I want to know why...” Celestia stated.
“Be careful then, Sister,” said Luna.
Celestia nodded with a smile at her sister before charging her horn. A few moments later, a bright white flash flared up, and Celestia disappeared from the spot.
Celestia appeared from a bright white flash a few meters in front of the Korpsman. Despite this, even, he neither moved nor flinched, but stood there completely unaffected.
Fixing her gaze on the Korpsman, she moved a little bit closer towards the grim soldier until she stood a short distance apart from him.
Both beings stared at each other in silence. Only the whistling of the wind could be heard. Upon receiving no reaction from the soldier, she moved a little closer to him and spoke to him with an clear and calm voice. “It doesn't have to end like this.” With no reaction from him, she continued, ”You know you can't win. You are extremely outnumbered and I know that your strange device doesn't work any more. Surrender now and I promise a fair and just process.”
No reaction, no retort, not even a flinch came from the Korpsman.
Celestia slowly grew impatient at his apathy. With a louder and slightly angry tone, she said to him, ”You won't survive this.”
Still no reaction.
“You are going to die if you continue this path. There is no other possible outcome. So please, just give up. There is no reason to waste your own life. Life is too precious to give it up so easily,” she nearly shouted at the end.
For a short moment nothing happened. Then, for the first time since he had been standing there, he slowly shook his head from right to left a few times, outright refusing Celestia’s pleas.
Celestia opened her eyes in surprise, both to the first reaction he gave and his refusal. She just couldn't understand why he would give his own life away so mindlessly.
Growing tired of his indifference and the lack of clear answers, she moved towards him until she was a few centimeters away from his face. She stared for a few moments into the black lenses of his gas mask in an attempt to look through those dark, disturbing-looking holes, only to find absolutely nothing, just darkness. She then leaned a bit closer to him, only to recoil back as a repugnant smell hit her sensitive nose.
Rubbing her nose from the biting smell his uniform exuded, she readjusted her posture and directed her look back to him.
For a short moment she just stared at him before she asked him in a quiet voice, ”Why?”
Yet again nothing came from him.
She had finally had enough of his silence. With a loud, half-desperate and half-angry tone, she shouted at him, ”WHY? WHY DO YOU WANT TO THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY? WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO FIGHT? WHY Can’t you just give up? Why must it end like this? Why can't there be peace?” Her voice grew quieter.
Again no reaction from the Korpsman.
“Just tell me why you continue to fight until death...please,” the Princess nearly begged.
“You want to know, Xeno?” said the Korpsman for the first time since he had landed in this strange world.
Celestia flinched at his sudden voice and shuddered at the cold and monotonous way he spoke. But she nodded for him in response.
The Korpsman raised his right hand to his gasmask. After fidgeting with the mechanisms of his mask, he slowly took it off, releasing some sort of gas, and laid his trusted device on the grass.
Afterwards he reached for his helmet and took it off his head as well, revealing his entire head.
Celestias eye widened in surprise upon seeing his face for the first time. She had expected many things, but definitely not this. His face was not what she expected: instead of being monstrous and hideous as the many rumours told, it was a fairly normal face. Pale skin, two small blue eyes, a small stubby nose, dark blonde hair and a pair of lips. His face would have been normal and even pleasant to look at, if it weren’t for his expression, or more accurately, the lack of it. While his eyes had a beautiful blue, they were also blank without a hint of life in them, like from a doll.
A cold, dead and expressionless face greeted her. A shudder ran through her spine.
Finished with her inspection of his face, she fixed her gaze back on him and waited expectantly for his answers. The Korspman lifted his right to his head and pointed a finger to his right temple.
“If you want to know, then look,” came from the emotionless soldier.
At first Celestia was confused what he meant, but after while it dawned on her: “Mind Reading!” she thought with a surprised expression.
She was unsure about this; reading the mind of an unknown creature could be dangerous, especially one who gave her permission. But she still wanted answers, and she doubted he would simply tell her.
'If he really wanted to kill me he would've done so already, he has had plenty of opportunities...but he didn't. So, he really wants to show me...' she thought, contemplating.
With the last worries at ease, she breached the last small distance between them and neared her head to his. Being so close to him made her slightly nervous, but she wanted the answers, so she charged her horn with the spell and laid it gently on his forehead.
For a moment, nothing happened....
Until Celestia’s eyes shot wide open filled with pure terror, her entire body shaking uncontrollably as if she were being tasered. Her breathing grew more rapid and panicked, and her wings were frozen in fear.
With enormous effort she pulled herself off from the soldier and fell on her rump onto the grass. Still shaking, she couldn't keep it in anymore and vomited on the grass. After vomiting several times and calming down her breath, she returned her gaze to the Korpsman, who still stood there unmoving and unafflicted. The face still cold and dead.
“Now you know,” was the only thing he said to her.
Not longer able to keep her emotion under control, Celestia broke out in tears. What she have seen was beyond anything possible.
She saw the universe he came from, the species he belonged to and his homeworld.
Never in her millenium-old life could she have thought that such a universe could exist, one full of unbearable horrors who preyed daily on innocents, of beings of Chaos that would terrify even Discord, who were even considered tame next to their masters.
Celestia wept as she saw this brutal and unforgiving universe, where only war exists. Anything else that might’ve been had been blasted away.
She saw the Empire he belonged to, the Imperium of Man. She could barely grasp the massiveness of this nation consisting of over one million worlds which housed trillions of the so-called Humans.
She saw the abominations his kind fought against, monstrosities she had not dared to think would exist. Nothing she ever encountered in her long life could ever be compared to those things the humans fought daily.
Besieged from all sides, his kind never gave up. They fought to the last man against enemies far more powerful than themselves. It was something Celestia could only respect.
Then she saw the one being his people worshipped so zealously, the God-Emperor of Man. An immobile rotting corpse on a golden throne to whom thousands were sacrificed every day. At first, Celestia was horrified seeing this, but then she saw his deeds. He who united them from an dark age, freed them from the shackles of the Xenos, the other beings, he who sacrificed his own body for his people, he who was the only light in the never-ending darkness that was the Korpsman’s Universe. And only fanatical faith in the Emperor protected his kind from the Corruption of Chaos.
But then she saw his homeworld, and her tears only increased upon thinking about the images of his home, Krieg, a dead, toxic, radioactive wasteland covered in the ruins of once-proud cities. Hundreds of years ago, their decadent leaders betrayed the Imperium, declaring independence, but the loyal population rebelled against this plan. A brutal civil war broke out, and the leader of the loyalist population declared that if the Emperor could not have their world, then nobody else should have it. And so this leader released terrifying weapons on his own planet and sentenced it to death.
From the ashes of this dead world, the Death Korps of Krieg was born, the regiment that the Korpsman belonged to. Fanatical and fatalistic soldiers who sought to repent for the sins of their forefathers. They had no regard for their own and were ever-eager to give their life for the Emperor. They never retreated, they never surrendered.
Giving up was impossible for them; dying for the Emperor was the only way they could repay the debt their ancestors had caused.
After learning and seeing all of this, Celestia slowly stood up. Still crying, she slowly walked to the unmoving soldier until she was mere centimeters away. She got up on her hind legs and hugged the soldier, whom froze up from the unexpected contact. “I'm so sorry...” she cried silently on his shoulder.
The things he had endured, the brutality he had suffered and the sheer hopelessness he had to see every day of his life saddened her beyond reason. To know she couldn't save him depressed her immensely. Yet while she was in his mind for the short time, she saw that there was still a feeling, living being in there deeply hidden under the brutal training and indoctrination. A man with hopes, dreams and feelings. Despite the horrible conditions he had grown up and lived in, there was still a small spark of humanity inside him.
After a short time Celestia stopped hugging him and got back on her normal posture, her face still sad. The only thing she could gave him now was an honourable death in the battlefield. She looked at him one last time. “I understand now,” she said to him in a sad voice.
The Korpsman nodded at her slightly, acknowledging her decision.
Charging her horn for the last time, Celestia teleported herself back to her sister and the army. Standing back at the her former place she was quickly approached by her sister. “Sister! Are you alright? What happened there?” Luna asked, worried.
Turning to her sister, Celestia said sadly, ”I know now that we can't convince him to surrender, nor can we help him. He's lost, Luna.”
“Lost?” she asked.
“Yes, lost,” Celestia replied. “War is all he knows, Luna, nothing else.”
Her sister nodded slightly at that.
Both sisters then began to move in position, preparing the signal for the troops to attack. A bright light appeared on both sisters’ horns, shooting up to the sky where it exploded in a bright flash, signaling the army to get ready.
Upon seeing the bright explosion, the Korpsman lifted his weapon up and pointed it against the Equestrians before he began marching towards them in a steady pace.
Princess Luna watched in awe as the lone figure marched towards them, pointing a Knife that was affixed under its strange device. She couldn’t decide if she should feel pity for him or admire his bravery.
As soon as the Korpsman was in range for the bows and crossbows of the Equestrian Army, Princess Celestia raised her right fore hoof ordering her troops to release a rain of arrows and bolts.
The deadly rain cackled down onto him but everything bounced off of his resilient armor.
Celestia ordered waves after waves of the deadly ‘shower’, yet none of them had done any kind of damage or even affected the walking Soldier.
He just continued to march forward, uncaring and unaffected by the ‘showers’ he just had received and all those projectiles who stuck now in the dirt around him.
Seeing that normal weapons are useless against him, Celestia ordered the Unicorns of the Royal Guard from her own and her Sister’s Division to go into fire position.
“Ready your Spells and then fire at will!” Celestia commanded to the Guards Ponies.
The Unicorns formed a long line and each of them began then to charge their horns.
Lights of different colours appeared on their horns, lighting their line up like Holiday lights.
After few seconds of pure concentration the Unicorns fired their spells, illuminating the place in a bright glow of different colours.
The magical created Energy-beams flew with an incredible fast speed, straight to the still walking and uncaring Korpsman. The first few beams hit him directly onto the torso, damaging his armor and leaving burn marks. Even as he registered the damage their -on his own weapon reminding- energy-beams did, he still continued his path to them, smoke appearing on him from the burn marks but emotionally yet still unaffected.
The Unicorns continued their attack, firing continuously without any kind of rest or effectiveness drop.
The Princesses watched in awe at how many Spells the Soldier received and still continued to his path to them, not even the slightest Scream of Pain as beams broke through the armor and torched the flesh underneath.
Soon his once so steady pace began to slow. Smoke ascending from the burned parts of his armor, the smell of burned flesh beginning to spread, causing Princess Luna to vomit on the Ground.
A final last Spell-Beam pierced through the now destroyed armor, hitting him directly into the heart and stopping his already slowing march completely.
A few moments he just stood there without an movement until he dropped his weapon to the ground and fell onto his knees.
Still on his knees, he just stared straight ahead for a few seconds, making neither a movement or a noise before he finally collapsed backwards on the dirt.
The Princesses watched with a mix of relive and sadness the scene happening before them. Celestia saw that the Korpsman was still breathing despite the deadly shot he had received. His chest was still rising up and down but very slowly and even sometimes stopping completely for a few moments.
Princess Celestia decided then to walk towards the dying Soldier with her Sister shortly behind her.
Upon arriving on the gruesome scene, the Princesses took now a closer look at his wounds and barely managed not to empty their stomachs on the spot. The armor nearly completely molten and beneath it, dark burned flesh showed up and a big blood stain showed where his heart would be.
Despite those terrifying wounds, he was still breathing.
Celestia stepped a bit closer and began with her magic to take off his mask, revealing the face of the dying Soldier.
Instead of a sad and pain-twisted expression, the Princesses were greeted with a small smile on his increasingly pale face. His eyes who were usually cold and blank, radiated instead a warm and content gleam. Neither pained moans were heard nor pleas of help were requested, only the sound of his slower becoming breath was heard. He simply lied there, with a dying body and a content expression, awaiting his own death.
Luna was shocked how less value he gave to his own life and how he eagerly welcomed death.
As the World around him grew darker and darker by the seconds and the coldness of death began to enwrap him in the embrace he seeked so long, he turned slighty his head to Celestia and looked straight into her eyes. With a genuine smile on his lips, he whispered a quiet "Thank you..." to her before returning his head towards the sky. The debt that his ancestors had caused now repayed, he could finally now embrace the salvation which the death offered.
With the last few seconds he still had, he recited the his last Litany that every Member of the Death Korps knew:
"In life, war. In death, peace."
"In life, shame. In death, atonement."
Litany of Sacrifice.
End.
