Interlude 01 - Among the dead

Planet Canterlot
Imperial Palace, Throne of Canterlot

Dead in the center of the Palace of Canterlot, guarded by walls of gold and adamantium, was the most precious and powerful relic of ponykind: the golden throne. Made of gold, lost technologies and spells long forbidden and forgotten, it was the testament of millenia of pony’s intellect and craftsponyship, the culmination of their genius. The throne sat at the top of a thousand-step stair, dominating a room as vast as a town.

On it sat the only being fit for it. The Empress.

For the last ten thousand years, she had been sitting on this throne, unflinching. Her body glowed like a thousand suns from the raw psychic energy pouring out of her, illuminating the whole room, revealing the countless ponies gathered here.

They watched her in awe, with love and devotion as they channeled their power into her. Thousands upon thousands, millions upon millions of ponies, from all ages and creeds, united in one purpose, feeding the magic of their Goddess.

They sacrificed their very life so she could illuminate the Warp, so the voidships of the Imperium could travel safely across the start.

Every few minutes, one of them would die. The lucky ones would be drained so thoroughly they would become a part of the Empress’s essence. Most of them simply collapsed due to thirst, hunger and exhaustion. But ultimately they would have fulfilled their goal and another would be sent in their place. There was a time when this would have made her react. But a few days of this had entirely desensitized her. Millennia had made the scene into less than white noise and background images.

More ponies died every second on countless battlefields to ensure the safety of her empire anyway.

Today was slightly different. The alicorn-goddess was pensive, even more removed from the reality around her, if such a thing was possible. Thoughts of the past had come back to haunt her. Memories of another time when her hooves still walked among the stars, inside mighty vessels, on foreign worlds, on battlegrounds that would be only told of as legends of a forgotten time. Memories of her and her closest soldiers... friends... sisters in battle.

Especially one. One that could once claim those titles more rightly than anypony. Her lips moved, but no sounds came out. They formed two words. “Warmistress... why?”

☀☀☀

From her spot, Celestia could see her worlds burn. She had spread war upon countless planets for the sake of her empire, for the sake of ponykind, and now said empire was torn apart because she could not contain her most efficient weapon.

The deep blue, star-maned alicorn stared her down, her cold eyes seemingly piercing into her soul. Nothing remained of the love she once had for “her Empress". Now only resent, contempt and hatred filled her soul, and they were all pointed toward the white alicorn.

“Why?” whispered Celestia.

“Don’t you dare play ignorant with me Celestia,” snarled the Warmistress. “You brought this on yourself.”

“Why?” she repeated. The hurt was still in her voice as she spoke.

“Stop this charade, ‘Empress’.” The word was filled with all the disdain and hatred the Warmistress could gather. Celestia flinched slightly. It was imperceptible, the barest muscle spasm. But the Warmistress noticed. A smile grew on her face, revealing a fang. “It’s time to die.”

Two pink eyes slowly rose, leaving entire systems consummated by the flames of war, to stare into the turquoise reptilian eyes of the Warmistress.

“Why?” she demanded. There was no more weakness in the voice.

There was a second of silence. For an instant, the Warmistress was once again in front of her Empress. The respect she once had... the admiration, the sheer devotion came back, like a balm on her crushed pride. But she was too far gone. The feeling only made the pain greater when it returned. It only fuelled her rage to even higher levels.

“YOU WANT TO MAKE ME BELIEVE YOU DON’T KNOW?!” she shrieked, powerful waves of energy cracking around her every couple of words. “YOU DARE? YOU BETRAYED US! YOU BETRAYED ME! ALL MY LIFE I SERVED YOU! I SERVED THE IMPERIUM NIGHTS AND DAYS! I GAVE MY LIFE FOR PONYKIND AND WHAT DO I GET? DISGRACE! SHAME! UNGRATEFULNESS! I WAS YOUR MOST LOYAL MARE! AND YOU BETRAYED ME! AND NOW YOU WILL FACE THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS!”

“I never betrayed you... I would never...”

“ENOUGH!” she interrupted. Both mares looked at each other in the eyes. The warmistress’s magic activated and her war hammer, World Crusher, left its maglock to hover at her side. “I know now. You don’t deserve to rule. I will do what you never could. I will conquer the galaxy in the name of the Old Gods and burn any mention of your name from history!” The Warmistress paused, letting the words sink in. “I. Will. Erase. You.” She promised, emphasising each word by kicking her hoof on the ground.

“Don’t...” Celestia pleaded. Her magic was surrounding the handle of her sword but she still refused to unsheathe it. “I do not want to kill you. Stop this folly. There is still a place for you in the Imperium. Stop this madness now!”

“You can’t stop me. You’re weak and a foal. Now die!”

☀☀☀

The screams of a unicorn, consummated by their magic and the call of the Warp, made the Empress snap out of her daydream. Two Equustodes came to get rid of the fuming corpse while another brought their replacement. For a second, Celestia wondered if her lack of focus caused this.

The thought died quicker than it had arisen. She didn’t even care.

Millennia around the dead would do that.

Author's Note

I realised (a bit late) that I did not save the comment under the story... This will be corrected soon, but in the meantime I will use this opportunity to once again thank Krickis and CharCharChan for being inspirations and the best motivators in the world (and honestly if you can, read the words they write for they are extremely good), as well as Hoofclid for his continuous friendship, Deathscar, for being an amazing writer I do not compliment nearly enough (I love your style!) and many other people (Kay, Angel, Rawriestein... you all rock).

Chapter's reading by Krickis available here!