“Augh…” Creed slowly opened his eyes, hardly able to think past the pounding in his skull. He tried to lift himself up off the ground, surprised at how heavy his limbs felt. He tried desperately to find his bearings in the surprisingly lush landscape he found himself in. Though his vision was severely blurred, he could tell this was not a world he’d ever set foot on. The colors surrounding him were painfully intense, brighter than he’d ever seen, as if it were ripped straight from an ancient painting. He realized that his blurred vision was merely a symptom of how bright the world was. As he realized this, he took a pair of shades out of his coat and put them on, suddenly feeling relief. Something wasn’t right, though…. He looked back down at his coat, unable to find his sidearms. He stood up, trying desperately to locate his laspistols. Unable to find them, he thanked the Emperor that he still had his combat knife strapped to his—
“Emperor damn it all…” Creed was completely disarmed. He tried desperately to figure out what’d happened before he’d been knocked unconscious. Though he remembered little, he felt certain that he heard a Techpriest yelling about a Geller Field malfunction. He cursed the Warp, knowing full-well that his journey had been a simple one. He’d have to find some way to contact the fleet and try to get some backup. He looked around yet again, finally adjusting to the strange world he was on. He tried once more to get his bearings, noticing what looked like a town on the horizon. If this world had some form of human civilization, it would certainly have a way to contact the Imperium, assuming it was compliant.
“Ursarkar E. Creed… what a pleasure to see you! I’ve heard wonderful things…”
Looking around quickly, Creed saw that he appeared to be alone. “Show yourself or die!”
“Oh, Creed… don’t be so grim. We both know you’re not armed. But I suppose if you want to see me so badly, who am I to deny you the view?” In a flash of light, Creed was faced with a strange beast, one with a strange, furry face and body, one lion-like arm and another more bird-like, one leg like that of a goat and one green reptilian one, and a long, red, dragon-like tail. It hovered on two mismatched wings, and its head possessed a pair of similarly mismatched horns.
“What heresy is this? What manner of foul Chaos beast are you?”
“Oh, come now… there’s no need for such insults. I am Discord, the spirit of disharmony and the incarnation of the strife of the universe! You should know a thing or two about that!”
“Lies! I am a master in the art of war! I work in accordance with the Emperor’s Will, for the unity of all mankind! You know nothing of what you speak. Learn your place, daemon beast.”
“Such anger in you… I like it. Would you like to play a game?”
“I have no time for games, beast! Had I a weapon to slay you with, we’d not even be speaking! When my men reach this planet, I will show no such mercy on you. You will die like legions that have come before you!”
Discord flew around Creed, sizing the man up. “Well, I guess you’re not the tactical genius I thought you’d been. You’re just an angry little man,” he said with an air of disappointment.
“What do you know of tactics, beast? Do not challenge me, lest you seek swift failure…”
Discord smiled and looked Creed in the eyes. “I’ll take that as consent.” The draconequus disappeared in another flash of light.
Now the beast has an eye for me… No matter… all who challenge me will surely fall. Creed set off towards the town yet again, certain that he would find something to help him combat the daemon. After a couple hours’ hike, Creed reached the outpost. He was surprised at what he found there. The houses were of simple construction, as if they’d been created by hand. By his knowledge, no planet was home to such a civilization. He walked cautiously through the town, noting that it seemed to be abandoned. He wandered into what appeared to be a marketplace. Stands everywhere were adorned with fresh fruits and vegetables, indicating that sometime not long ago, the town was inhabited.
As he reached this conclusion, he heard a shuffling sound behind him. Creed spun on his heels, instinctively reaching for his missing pistols. He adopted a fighting stance, ready to attack whatever had spoken to him. To his surprise, he was confronted by a purple creature that looked not unlike a steed of ancient Terra. It seemed to have a single horn growing out of its head, right between its large eyes.
“Um… Hello there! I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?”
Creed was taken aback. The animal had spoken to him in a dialect of Imperial Gothic that had not been used in untold ages. Perhaps this planet had been visited by humanity some time in the past. Though it sickened him to speak to the creature, he knew that it posed him no harm alone.
“What species of Xenos are you… ‘Twilight Sparkle’?”
“You mean what kind of pony am I? I’m a unicorn, of course.” She looked at him, slightly confused. “What kind of creature are you, for that matter? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything of your kind before…”
“I am a human, of course. How do you have no knowledge of humanity? We are a galaxy-wide empire of billions!”
“Wow! There are more of you out there? And you said you live all over the galaxy? This is amazing! I’m going to have to tell the Princess immediately!”
Creed squinted at the pony. “Though this is… infinitely entertaining… I need to know what kind of weapons your kind has. There is a daemon loosed on this world, and I must destroy it before it gains strength. I have a feeling that this ‘Discord’ could be extremely dangerous.”
“Well, we don’t really have any weapons—wait, did you say Discord? I need to go find Rainbow Dash… get Pinkie to come out, now that I know you won’t hurt us… Rarity…” Twilight ran off in panic, presumably to find the others she spoke of. Creed stood in the town, alone but for a small, long-eared creature that had wandered out brazenly.
“Oh, Angel, you can’t just run up to strangers like tha—“ Another pony had appeared, pink and yellow, flying towards the bunny. She squealed as Creed turned around and looked her in the eyes, cold and emotionless. Creed eyed up the flying one, noting that it was painfully cute. He walked towards it, accepting that he wasn’t going to find any help in this town. He gently pushed the Pegasus out of his way, feeling it shiver as he walked by.
This place… will be the end of me. He heard a sudden lurching sound as a sign began to fall near him. He dodged out of the way of the billboard, hearing an ethereal laughter as he did. He turned around, barely fast enough to notice a lion-headed monster barreling towards him. He realized what it was, jumping up to avoid a wide sweep of its scorpion-like tail. As the creature tried to recover its balance, Creed deftly jumped on its back, violently grabbing tufts of mane on either side of its head. On a hunch, he spoke to the monster.
“I know what you are, manticore. If you understand what I say, know that I will not hesitate to kill you if you try to hurt me again. Take me to your master, or at least the daemon who sent you.”
The manticore hesitated for a second before heeding to Creed’s demand. It knew the stocky man was telling the truth. Slowly, it took off towards a thick forest near the edge of town, Creed still riding on its back. Creed looked back, noticing a few ponies beginning to poke their heads out of their doors, most likely wondering what was going on in their town.
“What kind of Emperor-forsaken world have I landed on…?”
Creed stormed through the Everfree Forest on the back of the manticore, raising an unholy ruckus as he went. He noticed a light emanating from a large, squat tree. He pulled back on the manticore’s mane, feeling the creature slow down. As they approached the tree, a striped pony-like being stepped out of the door, looking inquisitively at the manticore.
“Who do I hear trotting past, in the forest dark and vast?”
The manticore bowed deeply, showing Creed to the zebra.
“A human now approaches here, threatening all that I hold dear?”
“I am Usarkar Creed. I mean you no harm, creature. I wish only to banish the Chaos beast that calls itself Discord.”
“You may pass by, valiant human. Know, however, what you dabble in. The creature you describe is one of great power. It resides past here, in the forest’s darkest tower.”
“Thank you for your help, Xenos. This will be the hour of the beast’s reckoning.” Creed signaled the manticore to move in the direction the zebra indicated, shaking his head slightly. He hated this situation… never did he think he’d have to collude with a Xenos, even to kill a daemon. Without his weapons, though, he knew he needed all the assistance he could garner. He looked ahead, seeing the tower the zebra had referred to. In a few minute’s time, the odd pair reached the decrepit tower, and Creed dismounted the manticore, which proceeded to lie beside the entrance. Creed stormed into the tower, walking quickly up the winding staircase with his Aquila in hand. The Emperor Protects.
At the top of the tower, Creed saw a strange silhouette facing him. He walked slowly towards the creature, more confident with each step. As he approached it, however, he realized it was nothing but planks nailed together in the shape of the beast. He noticed writing on it, squinting to read it in the moonlight. SURPRISE! What could that even mean--?
A huge explosion rang out from the bottom of the tower, bringing the whole thing down in a terrible cloud of dust. Discord watched the ensuing carnage, laughing as the top of the tower collapsed into the rubble. He teleported on top of the wreckage, digging to find the dead man, until he reached the place Creed should have been. There was no body, but Discord did find the decoy of himself that he’d constructed. He plucked the piece of paper off of it, laughing at his little quip. He noticed writing on the other side. He wondered what it could have been, as he used a blank sheet of paper to make the note. He flipped it over, surprised to find another note written by a human hand.
Turn around and surprise this, bi—
Before Discord could finish reading, he felt himself being crushed by the manticore he’d sent after Creed earlier. He noticed that the thing wasn’t attacking him, just holding him down. He looked past the monster in time to see an Imperator-Class Titan rise from behind a mountain that hadn’t been there an hour previous. Discord thought quickly as he saw the Titan’s Plasma Annihilator preparing to fire at his position. The draconequus teleported into the Titan’s control center, ripping and tearing everything in his reach. Several systems failed and the Titan began to fall to the ground. Discord ripped out through the top of the Titan, standing on it victoriously as it fell. It crashed, and Discord surfed off the massive machine and onto the ground below. Looking around quickly for Creed, he heard a beeping sound at his feet. He looked down in time to see several Psyk-Out grenades wired together. He flew away from them as they detonated, too slow to escape the blast. He felt the entire lower portion of his body turn to stone, leaving only his head free. Discord threw his head back in frustration, cursing the only person he knew was capable of such tactical genius.
Twilight led her entourage into the Everfree Forest. Celestia said that Discord may have gone there after he’d disappeared from the Royal Garden. This, combined with the manticore tracks leading straight to the forest, was all the proof Twilight needed to know that Discord was waiting for them there. She looked up from the path the manticore had torn through the forest, checking up on the other ponies following her. Fluttershy was understandably terrified, with Rainbow Dash trying her hardest to make the shivering pony laugh. Pinkie was being her normal, bouncing self, singing to herself about chocolate rain and annoying the daylights out of Applejack. Rarity was walking beside Twilight, casting an illumination spell, which was barely fighting back the darkness around them. They were all wearing their respective Elements, prepared for the inevitable conflict.
Twilight heard an explosion off in the distance and picked up the pace. “Come on, girls! We can’t let him destroy the forest!”
The other ponies broke off into a trot, with Fluttershy lagging behind the rest of the group. Twilight noticed that the manticore’s path was one she was familiar with, the path to Zecora’s house. As they approached the tree, Zecora opened her door.
“I know that which you come here for, but know that it is a problem no more.”
“Actually, Zecora, we’re here to stop Discord,” Twilight said in a hurry. “I’ll come back later and explain!”
As the six ran past Zecora’s house, she shook her head, knowing that the human would’ve already handled the situation. A few minutes later, she heard an almighty crash, followed soon after by a strange explosion. Soon after, Zecora saw the ponies walking back looking thoroughly confused with a furious, half-petrified Discord in tow.
“My warnings they should always heed… never doubt the man named Creed.”
Creed watched the sight from orbit, silently thanking the strange creatures on the planet for their help.
“Let’s get the hell out of here, Navigator.”
“Yes sir.”
As the battle-barge ripped into the warp, Creed felt almost certain he could hear a pained scream issue out from the planet below.
”CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!”
