Kharn's adventurous exploits in Equestriaby rhysofpeaceChaptersBLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!SKULLS FOR THE SKULLTHRONE!!!!the many faces of DeceptionBLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!There was frantic screaming and a constant flashing of red lights accompanied by the frantic screeching of the Vox caster, built into his helmet, picking up the desperate calls of the imperial guardsmen that were stationed aboard the Dawn's Hammer, Captain Fabien tuned out the frequency that the Guardsmen were using and spoke under his breath "may the Emperor forgive us" his voice was filled with sorrow and regret but it was only a momentary lapse in his usual demeanor. He looked around the bridge of the Dawn's Hammer to see who remained, five tactical marines, an ancient Contemptor dreadnaught known as Darrius armed with a heavy conversion beamer and a contemptor pattern Kheres assault cannon and the Terminator Armour clad Librarian Bramorus, the only survivor of the squad that was sent to destroy the plasma reactors in an attempt to destroy the ship, denying the traitorous scum the spoils that they sought, but as could be seen by his horrendous wounds, they had failed. Through the thick heavy sealed doors of the bridge a harsh guttural voice reverberated throughout the bridge " BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" Captain Fabien thumbed the activation rune on his power sword and held it aloft, his other hand held the plasma pistol that had ended countless live Xenos and traitor alike "FOR THE EMPEROR" the few surviving ultramarines returned the cry as a chainaxe made short work of the supposedly impenetrable blast doors. Kharn stood staring at the pitiful sight before him "IS THIS IT?" he screamed out in rage at the small collection of survivors, Darrius wasted no time in firing the Conversion Beamer at Kharn and the sound of the conversion beamer firing muted the cacophonous blare of bolter fire, Kharn rolled under the hail of fire as it hit what remained of the blast doors completely disintegrating them, Kharn brought up his plasma pistol as the other remaining space marines began to turn to face him ,Darrius' Assault Cannon began to spin as he prepared to fire "DIE TRAITOROUS SCUM" Darrius' Vox caster seemed to struggle with the sheer volume that the ancient dreadnaught was able to produce. Kharn let loose two shots from his plasma pistol, all the while strafing towards the Dreadnaught, each shot found their mark downing two more tactical marines. Kharn was no more then a few meters from the dreadnaught now, he allowed the plasma pistol to magnetically lock onto his armor, behind his mask he smiled, he could feel the presence of his god within him urging him to kill, he wouldn't even need Gorechild for this, he flung the mighty axe towards Captain Fabien who sidestepped ,dodging the axe by centimeters, one of his Battle brothers was not so lucky and found that the hefty chainaxe had embedded itself in his chest. Kharn leaped towards Darrius as the conversion beamer began to hum, Kharn grabbed the hefty weapon and in one swift fluid motion ripped the arm off it's joint, and using the motion to sweep it under the dreadnaughts legs causing it too fall feebly onto its back the Assault cannon firing hopelessly at the ceiling of the ship, he pointed the Beamer at the body of the dreadnaught just as the beam fired. Kharn swung the now useless hunk of metal to the side crushing several navigational screens. Captain Fabien stepped forward signalling for the remaining two tactical marines to stop firing they complied but never dropped their sights from the traitor before them "Kharn" the space marine walked slowly towards the traitor that was now silent and unmoving " I see no reason that such a" he spat the next words out of his mouth as though they were poison "worthy warrior should die at the bark of a bolter" he pulled out his power sword and thumbed the activation rune, he then put a foot on the chest of one of his fallen brethren and spoke a quick prayer to the Emperor as he pulled the axe out "should you have any honor, you-" he was swiftly cut off by a ball of plasma disintegrating his head, Kharn fired a second shot hitting one of the two remaining tactical marines, the last marine standing opened fire as Kharn closed in on Gorechild. He made a straight beeline into the hail of bolter fire dragging the legendary chainaxe along the floor causing a blazing trail of sparks to run behind him. The space marine switched to holding the bolter in one hand and unsheathed his chain sword but before he could activate it Kharn had closed the gap and brought Gorechild upwards, gorily slicing the space marine in twain, the Armour offering no resistance, as though it were butter. Kharn raised his arms and bathed in the shear joy and appraisal that he felt emanating from his patron God, the fight had been long, it had been difficult the only the thing he regretted was the end he turned to look at the trail of death he had etched, he had hoped that the final battle on the bridge would be a magnificent tapestry of gore and violence and yet only one dreadnaught, a single captain and a handful of tacticals were all that he could offer up to Khorne, the sound of a raspy cough laced thick with clotting blood drew Kharn's attention " you whoreson" an injured space marine librarian, leaning heavily on his Force staff, croaked as he coughed up blood "i shall send you into your beloved, Emperor damned, warp" a trail of ethereal fire leaped forth from Bramorus' fingertips, Kharn made no attempt to dodge the flames "YOUR COWARDLY MAGIC WILL HAVE NO SWAY IN THIS BATTLE SORCERER" Kharn hated all heretical followers of the false god, but none more so then the cowardly psykers. They hid behind their warp spawned powers, but what good were they against his unholy blessing from Khorne. Beneath his helmet Kharn smiled. He'd have to kill this one slowly and ensure that every last drop of blood left it's body. It might just make up for the disappointing battle. SKULLS FOR THE SKULLTHRONE!!!!Twilight was staring at Luna who had somehow managed to enter her home, along with around ten unicorns adorned in the ceremonial armour that was the icon of Luna’s royal guard, and had somehow set up set of complex equipment consisting of vials, tubing and machinery all without alerting Twilight to their presence.“L-Luna?” Twilight stuttered her voice was filled with confusion. Luna, previously engrossed with setting up the strange machine in the centre of the library, turned around to greet the purple mare “Why Twilight Sparkle! It pleases us that you are still awake at this hour” Twilight’s face remained frozen in surprise. “You see, from what our sister has told us, we believed that you would be...” Luna waved a hoof in the air as she thought of a word to use “ecstatic?, Yes that will do, that you would be ecstatic to help us with something that could change the future of Equestria” Luna spread her front hooves out into the air, to emphasize the word Equestria, knocking over a set of vials in the process, one of which was filled with a strange purple mass that writhed within the magically confined vial, Luna and her entire envoy’s eyes widened In horror and their horns became encased in magic as they all attempted to stop the vial filled with the purple mass from hitting the floor. They all let out a collective sigh of relief, bar Luna who maintained a look of worry, as the vial was levitated back onto its rack. “What...what was that?” Twilight’s inquisitiveness broke her state of silent confusion “in due time Twilight, in due time” Luna, now moving a lot more cautiously, walked towards an empty table motioning for twilight to follow her. Upon arriving at the table Luna began levitating a book towards her “tell us, Twilight, what do you know of Starswirl the Bearded’s studies into alternate universes?” “Well...not a lot, I mean I’ve heard the rumours and even then they’re not exactly consistent...” Twilight was interrupted by Luna’s hoof, signalling to her that she should be silent “well then what do these rumours say Twilight?” a look of amusement was plastered upon the princess’ face. Twilight, although she was slightly taken aback by the amusement that the princess seemed to take in her lack of knowledge on the subject, carried on explaining what she knew on the topic “well...supposedly he discovered some kind of spell that allowed a unicorn to separate their mind from their body and...to be honest that’s about as much as I actually know, other than the fact that he supposedly used it to somehow traverse dimensions” “Hmm, so no mention of his books on the subject then?” Luna asked baring a look of mild surprise “we had assumed more information than that had survived the years” “I-I’m sorry princess” “Don’t fret subject, there is no need to apologise, we did not come here for information that we already have...instead” Luna allowed the book, that was held in her magical grasp, to fall onto the table with an audible smack “we would like you to have a look at this.” Twilight immediately turned her gaze towards the cover of the book, as she gazed at the intricate design covering the book she struggled to keep her jaw from hitting the floor, the spine, cover and front of the book seemed to be made from slabs of solid silver etched with detailed imagery of Ponies and numerous other creatures, such as manticores and even primates, however some of the creatures pictured were strange, alien monstrosities with serrated teeth and others held strange ornate weaponry, and amongst all this was the title of the book highlighted with what appeared to be gold “Weird Arcane Rips & Paradoxes” Twilight looked up from the book “What...no...It can’t be?” Twilight kept looking from the book to Luna. “You see, within this book lay’s the magical formula that will allow us to traverse the space between dimensions and thus allow us to see into an alternate dimension” “But why would you want to do that?” Luna looked slightly confused at this question “Why? Twilight we thought you of all ponies would realise that, sometimes, science doesn’t need a reason” Kharn watched the havoc squad as they attached two krak grenades to the outermost part of a dreadclaw drop pod that had locked shut. They were unable to communicate with the occupants so it was assumed that they had fallen victim to the demon possessed vehicle. The havoc squad left the vicinity of the dreadclaw and detonated the grenades. The moment the smoke cleared, the unmistakable shape and colour of five blue Terminators stepped out of the wrecked dreadclaw, their weapons lit up as they opened fire on the chaos marines gathered in the hangar. Kharn merely watched in amusement as those around him were offered up as sacrifices to Khorne. The Terminators seemed to be moving towards one of the exits dotted around the hangar, unlike the power armour clad chaos space marines they did not have any need to take cover for if their armour couldn’t prevent their death then there was nothing else, outside of the warp, which could. Kharn made no attempt to stop them as they entered one of the many exits and into the corridors of the massive ship, he knew where they would be headed, and he knew where the World Eaters would be setting their ambush. Twilight and Luna stood side by side a complex diagram drawn on the floor; Luna’s envoy of ten unicorn guards each stood at separate terminals each one measuring everything from magical influxes to the heart rate of the two ponies in the center of the room. “Are thou ready Twilight?” Luna asked concern plastered on her face. To say that Twilight was worried would be an understatement; sure she was excited at the thought of being one of the ponies behind the practical application of Starswirl’s theorem on dimensional travel but there was no doubt that she was terrified, and the fact that it was not her who had tested the theorem played on her mind, after all her life was in the hooves of somepony she didn’t know, all it would take is one mispronounced incantation, one squiggly line and that could be the end of Twilight. Twilight inhaled sharply and then exhaled “I guess it’s now or never” the two ponies in the centre of the room closed their eyes as they began to focus on pouring their magical energy into the complex diagram. Two of the five Terminators that had set off from the dreadclaw finally arrived just outside their destination, the engine room. There was no doubt that there would be some form of ambush inside. The Terminator equipped with a power fist nodded to his companion signalling him to be ready. He raised the power fist and, as it became encased in crackling energy, he brought it crashing down into the door. They charged in fully expecting to be engulfed in lasfire, they did not expect to be greeted by the sight of a single chaos warrior fully clad in power armor, bar his left arm, drenched in blood and surrounded by the mutilated bodies of his own kind. Kharn smiled as he felt the presence of the warp envelope the ship, they had entered the warp where the presence of his lord was at its strongest. Twilight couldn’t feel or see anything, that was the first thing she noticed, she panicked had the spell failed? Was she dead? “Twilight calm down, you must keep a level mind here we told you this did we not?” Twilight regained her composure at the presence of Luna’s voice “come Twilight, we must act quickly before the rift we have opened closes” “wait, what if it closes while we’re on the other side? Won’t we be trapped?” “Fear not we would not have brought you along if there was any chance of such a thing occurring, as we pass through the rift we take with us an essence of our world effectively making the rift permanent” Swallowing her fear she followed the sound of Luna’s voice through the darkness and into the space between dimensions. To be continued the many faces of DeceptionTwilight emerged from the darkness and was thrown into a swirling miasma of foreboding energy. She felt as though she was suspended in freefall yet she didn’t appear to be moving in any direction, she was thankful for this as she did not want to find out if this strange, seemingly endless, void had a floor. “Twilight, we must hurry the spell only lasts for a short while” Luna’s voice sounded different, in fact Twilight was certain that the voice she just heard definitely didn’t belong to Luna. Twilight turned to look at where she believed the source of the voice came from and she came face to face with “Trixie?” Trixie stood, suspended in much the same way as twilight, in front of her. she was exactly as Twilight remembered her except partially transparent, Twilight assumed it was part of the spirit walking spell that the notes stated had to be cast to, in the words of Starswirl himself, 'prevent the physical corruption' whatever that meant. “Trixie? who is this Trixie? It’s me, Luna, the princess of the night, I have no idea who this Trixie you speak of is, but I have no doubt that she must be a most brilliant unicorn to be compared to a” Twilight raised a hoof signalling that Trixie should stop talking “okay first of all, I never did say that Trixie was a unicorn and secondly I’m looking right at you Trixie.” Trixie was greatly confused at this she was certain that the illusion spell had worked otherwise how else could she have gotten Twilight to agree with her plan, there was no way it had failed after all she was the great and powerful Trixie, still Twilight seemed certain that she wasn’t Luna Trixie figured she might as well humor her and check to see if the spell had indeed failed, as impossible as it sounded, Trixie looked herself over and said nothing for a short while before saying the only word that came to her mind “Damn it”. The two Terminators didn’t flinch at the sight in front of them, as far they were concerned they now only had to fight one follower of the ruinous powers instead of an entire squad, Kharn stood with his arms raised straight outwards as he felt the full influence of his patron god, a chaos god’s power is at its strongest when within the warp, and Kharn was overcome by the bloodlust that came along with it. “Hold steady brother” the terminator armed with a power fist raised his Bolter as he spoke, his battle brother followed suit. All coherent thought that Kharn might have once had was replaced by the eternal, raging bellows of his God demanding that he slay and not stop till there wasn’t a soul left in the universe, and what kind of mortal champion of Khorne would he be if he didn’t comply, Kharn issued an inhuman roar of pure anger which drowned out the gunfire of the terminators bolters. The Air seemed to grow thicker; a strange, barely visible, glow seemed to fill the ship. The walls creaked with a metallic groan as they warped and changed, faces appeared on the walls their faces twisted in eternal anger, humanoid shapes quickly materialised from the very air itself their skin a deep crimson their teeth as sharp as the blood encrusted demonic blades each one carried, a signature of the Bloodletters, they were the demonic foot soldiers of Khorne, drawn to the ship by the mass sacrifice to Khorne as a shark is drawn to blood. “Trixie I just want to go home” Twilight spoke through gritted teeth as Trixie continued to avoid answering any of Twilights questions “so if you could please just help me cancel the spell, and we can talk about this on the comfort of a couch instead of being suspended in midair” there was a trace of anxiety in her voice “oh... you weren’t so hesitant when you believed the Great, Powerful and Deceptive Trixie was the Mare in the Moon” Trixie seemed genuinely hurt at the this realisation. “Of course I wasn’t Trixie, Luna’s an Alicorn, their magic is far greater than any unicorn’s, I assumed that we’d be perfectly safe, now I’m not so sure that I am” Twilight grew angrier by the minute “you know I thought that we might have judged you a bit harshly after the night the Ursa minor attacked, after all you were just a showmare, but now after this? ...I think we were right” Trixie’s eyes widened in shock “that’s right your nothing but” Twilight stopped talking when she realised that Trixie wasn’t looking directly at her she followed her gaze until she saw what it was that had Trixie so frightened. Twilight could only describe it as a large heap of, what appeared to be, metal and it was headed right for the two unicorns “D-d-d-don’t worry Twilight, Trixie is sure that she casted the spirit walking spell perfectly...she thinks” Trixie’s unsure expression did not make Twilight feel any more confident in their situation “I hope you’re right too Trixie” the thing was enormous and at the speed it was traveling at the unicorns would have no chance of avoiding it...even if they knew how to move in this strange place. Twilight was the first to find out that the spell had indeed been successful as she simply passed through the ,metallic thing and into what could only have been a corridor, Trixie soon followed through, Trixie was about to speak but was interrupted by a terrifying roar followed by the unicorns own screaming as both Trixie and Twilight felt an excruciating pain in their heads Trixie began to fade as the spell holding her dissipated whereas Twilight, on the other hand, began to grow more substantial as the spell faded until she was once again of flesh and blood, she fell to her knees, unconscious. The demonic entities that weren’t immediately cut down by bolter fire leapt as a swirling torrent of limbs and blades that sought to rend, tear and maim the enemies of Khorne and so long as there were living creatures in existence there would be no shortage of them. The Terminators realised that they were outnumbered, this fight would be futile but they were space marines and they would die facing the enemy, besides it is what they had volunteered to do their remaining battle brother needed a distraction and by the Emperor they would provide it. Trixie awoke with a gasp, the complex machinery replaced in the library was now replaced with their original form of a pile of rocks and the unicorns that had come in with her while she was under the guise of Luna lay on the floor, dead or alive she didn’t want to know. The strange voice that had plagued her since that Celestia damned night spoke up once more after months of being silent “You did well Trixie” it seemed as though the voice echoed in her mind, she was silent as she looked around for Twilight “Where is she?” there was a hint of worry in her voice, for a while the only reply she had was an echoing chuckle “worry not my mortal Champion, she is safe...for now, I would concern yourself with the second part of my plan if you truly desire the power I can give you” the voice was both kind and threatening at the same time. Trixie lowered her head in a bowing motion “Of course Lord Tzeentch” Tzeentch is known by many titles, including the Changer of the Ways, Master of Fortune, Great Conspirator and Architect of Fate. He is the Great Sorcerer, the god of magic and the master of the mutable stream of destiny and time. Tzeentch is the most weirdly disturbing of all the Chaos Gods. His skin crawls with constantly changing faces that leer at and mock those who look upon him. As mighty Tzeentch speak, these faces repeat his words, often with subtle but important differences of intonation and meaning. There is no end to his scheming for he desires no end. Tzeentch can never achieve an ultimate aim for it would be the end of ambition and hence the end for the Lord of Destiny.
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!There was frantic screaming and a constant flashing of red lights accompanied by the frantic screeching of the Vox caster, built into his helmet, picking up the desperate calls of the imperial guardsmen that were stationed aboard the Dawn's Hammer, Captain Fabien tuned out the frequency that the Guardsmen were using and spoke under his breath "may the Emperor forgive us" his voice was filled with sorrow and regret but it was only a momentary lapse in his usual demeanor. He looked around the bridge of the Dawn's Hammer to see who remained, five tactical marines, an ancient Contemptor dreadnaught known as Darrius armed with a heavy conversion beamer and a contemptor pattern Kheres assault cannon and the Terminator Armour clad Librarian Bramorus, the only survivor of the squad that was sent to destroy the plasma reactors in an attempt to destroy the ship, denying the traitorous scum the spoils that they sought, but as could be seen by his horrendous wounds, they had failed. Through the thick heavy sealed doors of the bridge a harsh guttural voice reverberated throughout the bridge " BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" Captain Fabien thumbed the activation rune on his power sword and held it aloft, his other hand held the plasma pistol that had ended countless live Xenos and traitor alike "FOR THE EMPEROR" the few surviving ultramarines returned the cry as a chainaxe made short work of the supposedly impenetrable blast doors. Kharn stood staring at the pitiful sight before him "IS THIS IT?" he screamed out in rage at the small collection of survivors, Darrius wasted no time in firing the Conversion Beamer at Kharn and the sound of the conversion beamer firing muted the cacophonous blare of bolter fire, Kharn rolled under the hail of fire as it hit what remained of the blast doors completely disintegrating them, Kharn brought up his plasma pistol as the other remaining space marines began to turn to face him ,Darrius' Assault Cannon began to spin as he prepared to fire "DIE TRAITOROUS SCUM" Darrius' Vox caster seemed to struggle with the sheer volume that the ancient dreadnaught was able to produce. Kharn let loose two shots from his plasma pistol, all the while strafing towards the Dreadnaught, each shot found their mark downing two more tactical marines. Kharn was no more then a few meters from the dreadnaught now, he allowed the plasma pistol to magnetically lock onto his armor, behind his mask he smiled, he could feel the presence of his god within him urging him to kill, he wouldn't even need Gorechild for this, he flung the mighty axe towards Captain Fabien who sidestepped ,dodging the axe by centimeters, one of his Battle brothers was not so lucky and found that the hefty chainaxe had embedded itself in his chest. Kharn leaped towards Darrius as the conversion beamer began to hum, Kharn grabbed the hefty weapon and in one swift fluid motion ripped the arm off it's joint, and using the motion to sweep it under the dreadnaughts legs causing it too fall feebly onto its back the Assault cannon firing hopelessly at the ceiling of the ship, he pointed the Beamer at the body of the dreadnaught just as the beam fired. Kharn swung the now useless hunk of metal to the side crushing several navigational screens. Captain Fabien stepped forward signalling for the remaining two tactical marines to stop firing they complied but never dropped their sights from the traitor before them "Kharn" the space marine walked slowly towards the traitor that was now silent and unmoving " I see no reason that such a" he spat the next words out of his mouth as though they were poison "worthy warrior should die at the bark of a bolter" he pulled out his power sword and thumbed the activation rune, he then put a foot on the chest of one of his fallen brethren and spoke a quick prayer to the Emperor as he pulled the axe out "should you have any honor, you-" he was swiftly cut off by a ball of plasma disintegrating his head, Kharn fired a second shot hitting one of the two remaining tactical marines, the last marine standing opened fire as Kharn closed in on Gorechild. He made a straight beeline into the hail of bolter fire dragging the legendary chainaxe along the floor causing a blazing trail of sparks to run behind him. The space marine switched to holding the bolter in one hand and unsheathed his chain sword but before he could activate it Kharn had closed the gap and brought Gorechild upwards, gorily slicing the space marine in twain, the Armour offering no resistance, as though it were butter. Kharn raised his arms and bathed in the shear joy and appraisal that he felt emanating from his patron God, the fight had been long, it had been difficult the only the thing he regretted was the end he turned to look at the trail of death he had etched, he had hoped that the final battle on the bridge would be a magnificent tapestry of gore and violence and yet only one dreadnaught, a single captain and a handful of tacticals were all that he could offer up to Khorne, the sound of a raspy cough laced thick with clotting blood drew Kharn's attention " you whoreson" an injured space marine librarian, leaning heavily on his Force staff, croaked as he coughed up blood "i shall send you into your beloved, Emperor damned, warp" a trail of ethereal fire leaped forth from Bramorus' fingertips, Kharn made no attempt to dodge the flames "YOUR COWARDLY MAGIC WILL HAVE NO SWAY IN THIS BATTLE SORCERER" Kharn hated all heretical followers of the false god, but none more so then the cowardly psykers. They hid behind their warp spawned powers, but what good were they against his unholy blessing from Khorne. Beneath his helmet Kharn smiled. He'd have to kill this one slowly and ensure that every last drop of blood left it's body. It might just make up for the disappointing battle.
SKULLS FOR THE SKULLTHRONE!!!!Twilight was staring at Luna who had somehow managed to enter her home, along with around ten unicorns adorned in the ceremonial armour that was the icon of Luna’s royal guard, and had somehow set up set of complex equipment consisting of vials, tubing and machinery all without alerting Twilight to their presence.“L-Luna?” Twilight stuttered her voice was filled with confusion. Luna, previously engrossed with setting up the strange machine in the centre of the library, turned around to greet the purple mare “Why Twilight Sparkle! It pleases us that you are still awake at this hour” Twilight’s face remained frozen in surprise. “You see, from what our sister has told us, we believed that you would be...” Luna waved a hoof in the air as she thought of a word to use “ecstatic?, Yes that will do, that you would be ecstatic to help us with something that could change the future of Equestria” Luna spread her front hooves out into the air, to emphasize the word Equestria, knocking over a set of vials in the process, one of which was filled with a strange purple mass that writhed within the magically confined vial, Luna and her entire envoy’s eyes widened In horror and their horns became encased in magic as they all attempted to stop the vial filled with the purple mass from hitting the floor. They all let out a collective sigh of relief, bar Luna who maintained a look of worry, as the vial was levitated back onto its rack. “What...what was that?” Twilight’s inquisitiveness broke her state of silent confusion “in due time Twilight, in due time” Luna, now moving a lot more cautiously, walked towards an empty table motioning for twilight to follow her. Upon arriving at the table Luna began levitating a book towards her “tell us, Twilight, what do you know of Starswirl the Bearded’s studies into alternate universes?” “Well...not a lot, I mean I’ve heard the rumours and even then they’re not exactly consistent...” Twilight was interrupted by Luna’s hoof, signalling to her that she should be silent “well then what do these rumours say Twilight?” a look of amusement was plastered upon the princess’ face. Twilight, although she was slightly taken aback by the amusement that the princess seemed to take in her lack of knowledge on the subject, carried on explaining what she knew on the topic “well...supposedly he discovered some kind of spell that allowed a unicorn to separate their mind from their body and...to be honest that’s about as much as I actually know, other than the fact that he supposedly used it to somehow traverse dimensions” “Hmm, so no mention of his books on the subject then?” Luna asked baring a look of mild surprise “we had assumed more information than that had survived the years” “I-I’m sorry princess” “Don’t fret subject, there is no need to apologise, we did not come here for information that we already have...instead” Luna allowed the book, that was held in her magical grasp, to fall onto the table with an audible smack “we would like you to have a look at this.” Twilight immediately turned her gaze towards the cover of the book, as she gazed at the intricate design covering the book she struggled to keep her jaw from hitting the floor, the spine, cover and front of the book seemed to be made from slabs of solid silver etched with detailed imagery of Ponies and numerous other creatures, such as manticores and even primates, however some of the creatures pictured were strange, alien monstrosities with serrated teeth and others held strange ornate weaponry, and amongst all this was the title of the book highlighted with what appeared to be gold “Weird Arcane Rips & Paradoxes” Twilight looked up from the book “What...no...It can’t be?” Twilight kept looking from the book to Luna. “You see, within this book lay’s the magical formula that will allow us to traverse the space between dimensions and thus allow us to see into an alternate dimension” “But why would you want to do that?” Luna looked slightly confused at this question “Why? Twilight we thought you of all ponies would realise that, sometimes, science doesn’t need a reason” Kharn watched the havoc squad as they attached two krak grenades to the outermost part of a dreadclaw drop pod that had locked shut. They were unable to communicate with the occupants so it was assumed that they had fallen victim to the demon possessed vehicle. The havoc squad left the vicinity of the dreadclaw and detonated the grenades. The moment the smoke cleared, the unmistakable shape and colour of five blue Terminators stepped out of the wrecked dreadclaw, their weapons lit up as they opened fire on the chaos marines gathered in the hangar. Kharn merely watched in amusement as those around him were offered up as sacrifices to Khorne. The Terminators seemed to be moving towards one of the exits dotted around the hangar, unlike the power armour clad chaos space marines they did not have any need to take cover for if their armour couldn’t prevent their death then there was nothing else, outside of the warp, which could. Kharn made no attempt to stop them as they entered one of the many exits and into the corridors of the massive ship, he knew where they would be headed, and he knew where the World Eaters would be setting their ambush. Twilight and Luna stood side by side a complex diagram drawn on the floor; Luna’s envoy of ten unicorn guards each stood at separate terminals each one measuring everything from magical influxes to the heart rate of the two ponies in the center of the room. “Are thou ready Twilight?” Luna asked concern plastered on her face. To say that Twilight was worried would be an understatement; sure she was excited at the thought of being one of the ponies behind the practical application of Starswirl’s theorem on dimensional travel but there was no doubt that she was terrified, and the fact that it was not her who had tested the theorem played on her mind, after all her life was in the hooves of somepony she didn’t know, all it would take is one mispronounced incantation, one squiggly line and that could be the end of Twilight. Twilight inhaled sharply and then exhaled “I guess it’s now or never” the two ponies in the centre of the room closed their eyes as they began to focus on pouring their magical energy into the complex diagram. Two of the five Terminators that had set off from the dreadclaw finally arrived just outside their destination, the engine room. There was no doubt that there would be some form of ambush inside. The Terminator equipped with a power fist nodded to his companion signalling him to be ready. He raised the power fist and, as it became encased in crackling energy, he brought it crashing down into the door. They charged in fully expecting to be engulfed in lasfire, they did not expect to be greeted by the sight of a single chaos warrior fully clad in power armor, bar his left arm, drenched in blood and surrounded by the mutilated bodies of his own kind. Kharn smiled as he felt the presence of the warp envelope the ship, they had entered the warp where the presence of his lord was at its strongest. Twilight couldn’t feel or see anything, that was the first thing she noticed, she panicked had the spell failed? Was she dead? “Twilight calm down, you must keep a level mind here we told you this did we not?” Twilight regained her composure at the presence of Luna’s voice “come Twilight, we must act quickly before the rift we have opened closes” “wait, what if it closes while we’re on the other side? Won’t we be trapped?” “Fear not we would not have brought you along if there was any chance of such a thing occurring, as we pass through the rift we take with us an essence of our world effectively making the rift permanent” Swallowing her fear she followed the sound of Luna’s voice through the darkness and into the space between dimensions. To be continued
the many faces of DeceptionTwilight emerged from the darkness and was thrown into a swirling miasma of foreboding energy. She felt as though she was suspended in freefall yet she didn’t appear to be moving in any direction, she was thankful for this as she did not want to find out if this strange, seemingly endless, void had a floor. “Twilight, we must hurry the spell only lasts for a short while” Luna’s voice sounded different, in fact Twilight was certain that the voice she just heard definitely didn’t belong to Luna. Twilight turned to look at where she believed the source of the voice came from and she came face to face with “Trixie?” Trixie stood, suspended in much the same way as twilight, in front of her. she was exactly as Twilight remembered her except partially transparent, Twilight assumed it was part of the spirit walking spell that the notes stated had to be cast to, in the words of Starswirl himself, 'prevent the physical corruption' whatever that meant. “Trixie? who is this Trixie? It’s me, Luna, the princess of the night, I have no idea who this Trixie you speak of is, but I have no doubt that she must be a most brilliant unicorn to be compared to a” Twilight raised a hoof signalling that Trixie should stop talking “okay first of all, I never did say that Trixie was a unicorn and secondly I’m looking right at you Trixie.” Trixie was greatly confused at this she was certain that the illusion spell had worked otherwise how else could she have gotten Twilight to agree with her plan, there was no way it had failed after all she was the great and powerful Trixie, still Twilight seemed certain that she wasn’t Luna Trixie figured she might as well humor her and check to see if the spell had indeed failed, as impossible as it sounded, Trixie looked herself over and said nothing for a short while before saying the only word that came to her mind “Damn it”. The two Terminators didn’t flinch at the sight in front of them, as far they were concerned they now only had to fight one follower of the ruinous powers instead of an entire squad, Kharn stood with his arms raised straight outwards as he felt the full influence of his patron god, a chaos god’s power is at its strongest when within the warp, and Kharn was overcome by the bloodlust that came along with it. “Hold steady brother” the terminator armed with a power fist raised his Bolter as he spoke, his battle brother followed suit. All coherent thought that Kharn might have once had was replaced by the eternal, raging bellows of his God demanding that he slay and not stop till there wasn’t a soul left in the universe, and what kind of mortal champion of Khorne would he be if he didn’t comply, Kharn issued an inhuman roar of pure anger which drowned out the gunfire of the terminators bolters. The Air seemed to grow thicker; a strange, barely visible, glow seemed to fill the ship. The walls creaked with a metallic groan as they warped and changed, faces appeared on the walls their faces twisted in eternal anger, humanoid shapes quickly materialised from the very air itself their skin a deep crimson their teeth as sharp as the blood encrusted demonic blades each one carried, a signature of the Bloodletters, they were the demonic foot soldiers of Khorne, drawn to the ship by the mass sacrifice to Khorne as a shark is drawn to blood. “Trixie I just want to go home” Twilight spoke through gritted teeth as Trixie continued to avoid answering any of Twilights questions “so if you could please just help me cancel the spell, and we can talk about this on the comfort of a couch instead of being suspended in midair” there was a trace of anxiety in her voice “oh... you weren’t so hesitant when you believed the Great, Powerful and Deceptive Trixie was the Mare in the Moon” Trixie seemed genuinely hurt at the this realisation. “Of course I wasn’t Trixie, Luna’s an Alicorn, their magic is far greater than any unicorn’s, I assumed that we’d be perfectly safe, now I’m not so sure that I am” Twilight grew angrier by the minute “you know I thought that we might have judged you a bit harshly after the night the Ursa minor attacked, after all you were just a showmare, but now after this? ...I think we were right” Trixie’s eyes widened in shock “that’s right your nothing but” Twilight stopped talking when she realised that Trixie wasn’t looking directly at her she followed her gaze until she saw what it was that had Trixie so frightened. Twilight could only describe it as a large heap of, what appeared to be, metal and it was headed right for the two unicorns “D-d-d-don’t worry Twilight, Trixie is sure that she casted the spirit walking spell perfectly...she thinks” Trixie’s unsure expression did not make Twilight feel any more confident in their situation “I hope you’re right too Trixie” the thing was enormous and at the speed it was traveling at the unicorns would have no chance of avoiding it...even if they knew how to move in this strange place. Twilight was the first to find out that the spell had indeed been successful as she simply passed through the ,metallic thing and into what could only have been a corridor, Trixie soon followed through, Trixie was about to speak but was interrupted by a terrifying roar followed by the unicorns own screaming as both Trixie and Twilight felt an excruciating pain in their heads Trixie began to fade as the spell holding her dissipated whereas Twilight, on the other hand, began to grow more substantial as the spell faded until she was once again of flesh and blood, she fell to her knees, unconscious. The demonic entities that weren’t immediately cut down by bolter fire leapt as a swirling torrent of limbs and blades that sought to rend, tear and maim the enemies of Khorne and so long as there were living creatures in existence there would be no shortage of them. The Terminators realised that they were outnumbered, this fight would be futile but they were space marines and they would die facing the enemy, besides it is what they had volunteered to do their remaining battle brother needed a distraction and by the Emperor they would provide it. Trixie awoke with a gasp, the complex machinery replaced in the library was now replaced with their original form of a pile of rocks and the unicorns that had come in with her while she was under the guise of Luna lay on the floor, dead or alive she didn’t want to know. The strange voice that had plagued her since that Celestia damned night spoke up once more after months of being silent “You did well Trixie” it seemed as though the voice echoed in her mind, she was silent as she looked around for Twilight “Where is she?” there was a hint of worry in her voice, for a while the only reply she had was an echoing chuckle “worry not my mortal Champion, she is safe...for now, I would concern yourself with the second part of my plan if you truly desire the power I can give you” the voice was both kind and threatening at the same time. Trixie lowered her head in a bowing motion “Of course Lord Tzeentch” Tzeentch is known by many titles, including the Changer of the Ways, Master of Fortune, Great Conspirator and Architect of Fate. He is the Great Sorcerer, the god of magic and the master of the mutable stream of destiny and time. Tzeentch is the most weirdly disturbing of all the Chaos Gods. His skin crawls with constantly changing faces that leer at and mock those who look upon him. As mighty Tzeentch speak, these faces repeat his words, often with subtle but important differences of intonation and meaning. There is no end to his scheming for he desires no end. Tzeentch can never achieve an ultimate aim for it would be the end of ambition and hence the end for the Lord of Destiny.
