Martellus and I

Chapters

Intro!!!!
Foundations and many Pies
Getting Settled In
Crystals and Servo Skulls

Intro!!!!

Martellus and I

I didn’t want to be in a world full of walking, talking miniature horses. Correction ‘Ponies’. *Sigh*

I look to all sides and see ponies. Roughly 68 of them parading me to some deep dank cell, somewhere deep in the bowels of what I already know is Canterlot. *Sigh*

Better start from the beginning, shouldn’t I? Martellus, you should listen just so you know my backstory too. Also take over motor controls of the body, will you?

Very well.

So it all began at a Warhammer 40k convention…

I wake up to the sound of my, oh so annoying alarm clock. I slam my fist into the top of my alarm clock and into the snooze button. Rubbing my face, I slowly sat up and groaned.

‘Another day at the office.’ I thought.

Then it hit me.

‘The conventions today.’

I leapt out of bed and gave out a whoop of joy. Not bothering to reset the sheets, I ran into the bathroom, stopped, ran back into my room grabbed some light clothing and ran back into the bathroom. I changed, brushed my teeth, mouth washed and flew down the stairs of my 2 story house. Entering the garage, I turned on the light and saw, hung up and ready to be put on, my 2 years’ work, my Techmarine Space Marine suit. Modeled after Martellus’ suit from Dawn of War 2, needless to say, I put a lot work into it. I walked reverently across my garage to the suit, and slowly put it on, savoring each and every step of the process. I stepped up to a mirror, and grinned. (Check story image for appearance. Minus the background of course, along with missing bolter.)

Looking in the mirror with pride, I savored the awesome look of the armor. Complete with mechandrite. I turned to get in my car, detached my mechandrite, put it in the backseat and got in the driver’s seat. Soon, I arrived at the Warhammer Convention. I stepped out of the car and looked up at the banner. On it was a picture of the Emperor of Mankind. Raising his left hand in an ethereal motion, with his flaming sword in the right, I basked in its glory. I turned around and grabbed my mechandrite from the backseat and re-attached it. I slowly entered the convention, boiling with excitement.

5 hours later…

I ate lunch, consisting of my classic, unhealthy as crap, bacon pizza.

‘Bacon; blood clotting heaven!’ I thought.

Finishing my pizza, I got up, put my helmet back on, took the umpteenth picture with another fan and set out to burn a $250 hole in my wallet. Soon I had found 3 books and a poster of the Dawn of war 2 crew. Seeing a food truck standing outside the convention center, selling to-go pizza and hamburgers with fries, I got a sinking feeling.

‘My feelings haven’t been wrong before…’ I thought

Grabbing about 6 boxes of pizza and a dozen boxes of hamburgers, under the excuse I was getting ready for a party and conveniently had time to come to this convention, I set out again to search the stalls. However, one stall intrigued me. Stepping up I saw a multitude of weapons and equipment from many different titles, I began listing them of in my head.

‘Titanfall 1 and 2, Dawn of War, Halo, Call of Duty, Command and conquer, Marvel, DC Comics, War Machine, Hordes, Doom, Resident Evil, Gears of War, Star Wars, Star Trek, Minecraft, Team Fortress 1 and 2, Crysis 1-5, Transformers, they even have Galaga?!?!’ I thought, surprised.

Then my eyes alighted on a bolter just like the one Martellus uses.

‘That would be perfect to complete the look!’ I thought.

Looking for the manager of the stall, I was disappointed to see the stall was empty.

‘Must be off seeing another stall manager…’ I thought in disappointment.

Turning to leave, I was more than a little surprised when I suddenly heard someone say:

“May I help you?”

If a human physically could, I would have jumped to the moon. Whipping around the see the newcomer, I see a guy that looks like he’s the evil merchant from Resident Evil 4.

Creeped out, I didn’t respond, merely narrowing my eyes at him under my helmet.

“See something you like?” He said, waving his hand to point out all the merchandise behind him.

Snapping out of my anger, I decided to respond.

“Yeah, how much for the bolter?” I said pointing.

“Hmm, how about 20 bucks?” He said, taking the bolter off the shelf and putting it off the counter.

Handing him the $20, I take it and suddenly lose control of my muscles. My body locks the safety of the bolter, pulls out the magazine, check it for ammo, is satisfied, slams it back in, and loads a bolter shell into the chamber. Surprised I look down at my body, confused at what just happened. Suddenly, the merchant speaks up.

“Have a nice trip.” He says with an evil smile.

Suddenly a wormhole opens up underneath me. I glare at him and flip him double birds.

“FUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUU- “ I scream as I fall through the portal.

My bag of food, soon gets kicked in with me. Soon after, I pass out.

Martellus crouched behind a large boulder, his mechandrite working on a Tarantula turret, avoiding flying bullets from the Orks currently trying to kill him and his battle brothers. Standing up, he began to return fire with his bolter as the Tarantula turret activated and began acquiring targets. Hearing a the familiar ‘thunk thunk’ of Davian Thule’s massive mechanical feet slamming into the ground, Martellus ducked behind his boulder again. He looked up as the massive dreadnought stormed by, following Captain Diomedes and The Force Commander. Looking yet higher into the sky, he saw Thaddeus and his assault marines flying through the sky and slamming down into the greenskin force. Several of said Orks were launched skyward, and tumbled back down, stunned but laughing maniacally at the joy combat brought them. Soon the familiar and pleasant sound of the Tarantula turret opening fire met Martellus’ ears. Firing once again, the combined sound of his bolter and the Tarantula turret, Tarkus's and Avitus's Devastators and Tactical Marines assorted weapons, as well as the combat ahead of him, made it so that he couldn’t hear the sound of an Ork Wierdboy teleport in behind him. But he somehow heard his belch as the Ork released a Warp Blast. Whipping around as fast as his superhuman muscles could take him, he fired his bolter at said Ork Wierdboy. But it was already too late. The Warp Blast hit him, launching him into the Warp. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness, was the Wierdboy's head exploding from his bolter fire.

I woke up in a tree. Like any human would, I begin to analyze my surroundings. Not much to see other than branches and leaves...

Suddenly, I hear a large amount of snapping, and immediately knows what follows.

"D'aw crap." I said with a sigh.

'Warning: supporting structure is giving out. Weight too immense. Recommended Course of Action: escape fragile terrain and move to safe distance.' I heard a cold, metallic, and strange voice say in my head.

Then the branches gave out. I smash through dozens of the branches as I fell. When I hit the trunk of the tree, I smashed through that too! As I fell into the trunk of the tree, I see around me what I can only assume is a library. I slam into another object that gets crushed instantly, and hit the ground with a groan.

"Ow..." I groan before sitting up, only to be smacked in the face with a large heavy book.

The impact knocked me back to the ground, and I felt the repeated blows of the book slamming into my head.

"GET! OUT! OF! MY! LIBRARY! YOU EVIL CREATURE!" I heard a female voice shout, presumably the one who was smacking me in the face.

'Status Report: assault via book causing no damage. Recommended Course of Action: Disarm assailant. Possibility of assailant being a human is at 67%.' The voice said again.

'Who are you?! Why is there a voice in my head?!?!?' I mentally exclaim.

'Warning: unauthorized presence is in my mind. Plausible Explanation: Some Xenos nearby is using the Warp to corrupt my mind. Course of Action: Repel invader and kill Xenos scum.' It responded.

'YOUR MIND?! THIS IS MY MIND!!!! AND YOU ARE THE INVADER!!!!' I exclaimed back.

'Negative, you are a Xenos mind attacking my own that has to be destroyed with prejudice. Prepare to be eradicated.' It responded once again with an edge of venom.

I immediately felt a presence pushing at my mind, destroying all that I was. We cant have that can we? I used my own mind to push back, putting his efforts at a standstill.

'Warning: Xenos mind resisting. Redoubling efforts.' It spoke.

As I listened to it, it had gained some ground in my mind, and as it said 'redoubling effort,' its strength suddenly doubled, and it blew past all my efforts to stop it until it began to reach my memories, where I managed to halt its progress. The air around me began to gain the scent of a large amount of static electricity. I elected to ignore it to better focus on my attacker. But soon I felt a new presence in my head. Preparing a defense to defend against it as well if necessary, I braced for its attack. But it made a move I did not anticipate, it materialized a visible form in my mind. Its form; a purple unicorn, that seemed oddly familiar. It had a pink stripe in its mane and a 6 pointed star tattoo on its butt.

'What the hell?' I mentally whisper quietly.

'Query: So you have revealed yourself Xenos? Statement: This will only further speed up your eradication in both my mind and the real world.' The other presence said before following suit, making itself a form.

Its form: Martellus from Dawn of War 2: Retribution?!

'What the actual hell?!' I said before making my presence known as well.

As I appeared the Unicorn and Martellus turn to me in surprise. (What I look like will not be disclosed to protect my identity.)

'What are you?' the unicorn said in perfect English.

'Query: You were a human the whole time?' Martellus asked, becoming rigid.

I blink before I say:

'Yes, I was, and I believe Martellus answered your question for you.' I say.

Martellus suddenly sends a massive push into my mind, destroying my defense barrier around my memories and personality. He quickly finds what he is looking for. The Unicorn, takes advantage of the lack of a defensive barrier, and plunges into my memories as well, scanning and learning as much as she can.

I yelp.

'Hey, you weren't invited!!' I shout, and push them from my memories, but Martellus has found exactly what he wanted.

His image suddenly falls to one knee, and bows.

'My humblest apologies; fellow follower of the God Emperor. I apologize for attacking you and allowing a true Xenos mind to desecrate our presence. Statement:' He said rising and turning to the Unicorn, an aura of pure Righteous Fury surrounding him. 'I will rectify this error.'

The Unicorn yelps as Martellus leaps at her, cocking a fist back to presumably smash it through the Unicorn's skulls. Suddenly, it hits me where this unicorn was familiar from. I yelp as well, and leap in front of her. Just as the fist is about to smash into (and almost certainly, through ) the unicorns head, my body falls into the trajectory of the fist. Martellus, seeing this, smashes his fist into whatever ground we have in our collective minds, and yanks his fist back, throwing himself off balance for but a moment before he rights his balance. I fall to the "ground," unharmed. The unicorn, although cowering in absolute terror, is completely unharmed. I stand up and turn to a fuming Martellus, surrounded by an aura of plain, good old and bad old, Fury.

'Query: why did you enter the path of my fist to save a Xeno?' He asks in a remarkably calm tone.

'You will find out shortly my potential good friend.' I say to him in cheerful tone.

I usually reserved this tone for one of 3 things: to calm someone down, to piss someone off, or to say it was okay to enjoy something pertaining to me in some way or another. This time it was the first option. Martellus, although I could tell reluctantly, folded his arms and decided to wait for the time in which I would explain. Nodding once, I turn to The Unicorn.

'You okay Miss Sparkle?' I said as I looked her over for wear and tear.

'How do you-' She begins to say.

'I will explain later, right now we need to get back to the real world. Who knows what's going on out there right now.' I say.

She nods with a suspicious stare and her form dematerializes. I feel her presence leave my mind soon thereafter. I turn to the still fuming space marine. I looked him in the eye and mechanical eye and began to explain our situation to the best of my understanding. He nodded and I sensed him filing all the information I was giving him away for later exploration.

'We cool? Not going to go on a crusade to destroy the ponies are we?' I asked, tentatively.

'Affirmative. Statement: our continued survival on this planet depends on us co-existing with the ponies.' He said with a nod.

I nod as well.

'Good.' I say back.

Our forms dematerialize, and I sense Martellus receding from his attack.

Shifting my attention back to the real world. My eye open and my mechanical eye boots up. I see a library all around us, and I look towards the rooms inhabitants and see Twilight and of course her trusty assistant, Spike. Spike wisely, is hiding behind Twilight.

I sit up. My robotic eye and Martellus immediately begin analyzing the room for cover, tactical firing positions, etc. He is discarding most of them as fast as he can collect them. I get distracted by him and don't realize Twilight is talking until she is shouting in my ear.

"ALIEN VISITOR!!!!!!" She shouts.

"AH, JESUS CHRIST!!! WHAT?!" I shout back, mostly surprised.

She holds a hoof up to her chest and takes a deep breath, closing her eyes as she does so.

"Welcome to Equestria I am-" she begins,

"Twilight Sparkle, and behind you is your number one assistant Spike." I say.

Both of their jaws drop in both awe and shock that I know their names.

"How do you-"

"Know your names? Lets just say I know people."

They do a double take.

"People? NOT ponies?"

I realize my mistake quickly.

"Yeah well some of them are ponies..." I quickly say, and hope that Twilight doesn't realize the blunder I just made.

She gives me a disbelieving look and shrugs. She turns to Spike and whispers so quietly only my sensors and Superhuman hearing could hear what she had to say.

"Spike, go write a letter to Celestia and tell her what happened, don't leave out what I told you about being in his mind."

Spike nods and takes off. We look at each other and size each other up... or down in my case. I am considerably larger than her by at least 7 feet. As we wait, I begin to tap my foot because I was nervous and scared and I don't know how many other emotions.

'Silence your worrying. You sound like an elderly woman. If we must fight than they will find that I am much more Dangerous than I look, despite my ferocious appearance.' Martellus told me.

"Fine. But try not to hurt them, it would send the wrong message. I am going to keep control for now. If things get violent, do whatever you are gonna do to help, savvy?"

"Hurt who? Control? Why would things get violent?" Twilight asks with a slightly darker tone as she says 'Hurt.'

I jump again as I realize my second blunder.

'Statement: You aren't very good with talking in your head are you? Statement: This may prove problematic.'

'Oh be quiet!' I mentally frustratedly shout at him.

"I don't know what you are talking about. Where did this come from!?" I exclaim and point at something random.

She turn to look and I take off. I burst through the door, or rather the wall where the door is and take off at a sprint. Almost immediately, Ponies start screaming. Most run in any direction not facing me or into my path and others run straight into their houses, pulling all sorts of odd knick knacks with them. Fences, door mats, other ponies. As I watch this and continue my sprint from the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria, Martellus decides to butt in.

'I am taking control.' He says.

'What? No! We want to escape, not hurt any pony!' I mentally holler back.

'Engaging combat mode.' He responds, emotionlessly.

Suddenly my view in my robotic eye is washed in red.

'What's happening!?' I holler at him in my panic.

He doesn't respond. Instead he says:

'Combat mode initialized. Taking control of body.'

Suddenly I feel disembodied. Have you ever put your finger in Jell-O? Or syrup? Imagine that feeling all over your body and that's what my senses felt. Or rather 'felt.' I 'watched' and 'listened' as Martellus' mind ran through dozens of calculations a second. He was working so fast, I think he could outdo a super computer. He dodged dozens of citizens, scaring the living daylights out of them, but none were harmed. We almost stepped on one as she fainted dead away in the middle of the road as she saw us coming. But Martellus' Reaction was FAR faster than my own would have been. He deftly leapt over her and another 6 feet in the air as if he was on the freaking moon. Suddenly as we reached the town square, a massive light bloomed in front of us. Martellus was almost blinded by it. Suddenly data began to flow in the form of ones and zeros across our vision.

'Warning: Warp signature detected. Warp magic being transferred into spell known as: Mass Teleportation.' The sensor said.

Martellus averts his eyes and face and takes a step back. Meanwhile I am stuck on what just happened a second before.

'I can read binary? I can read binary! That's fucking awesome!'

The light flashed and pulsed once before disappearing. In its wake were dozens of pure white ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns, with golden armor standing there where it once glowed. At their front, was a massive Alicorn with a pink, blue and green mane billowing in an undetectable wind. More data began to flow.

'Warning: Massive Warp power detected. Warning: multiple Warp powers detected.'

Martellus growled at what I knew from the get go was Princess Celestia, Ruler of Equestria (or co-ruler depending on where we got dropped off in the timeline or if we are in some non canon Equestria that doesn't co-inside with the show my little sister forced me to watch with her.) She looks around, at first somehow not noticing the 9 ft. tall Astartes glaring death at her. When she notices me, our sensors can detect her surprise.

"Creature! Who and what are you?" she shouts at me.

'Bryce, take control of vocal pattern and stall. I need time for an escape plan.' Martellus says.

'You got it!'

I address Celestia.

"Little ol me? I'm leaving!"

Then I re-take control of my body and start sprinting in the opposite direction, singing the gingerbread man song.

"Run, Run as fast as you can! You cant catch me! I'm the Gingerbread man!!!"

"After it!" I hear Celestia shout.

Then I hear something that is truly terrifying for my chances of escape, the thunder of hundreds of hooves hitting the ground to give chase. I start running faster. I jinx this way and that, giving the guards a hell of a time catching me. But a chase with this many people chasing, or rather ponies chasing, has to end sometime. I take a sharp turn down an alley and through the fence the ponies erected inside. I come out the other side of the alley and see about a dozen ponies on the ground waiting for me. Then Pegasi arrive, some dash off and come back pushing clouds. Data starts flowing again.

'Warning: Storm clouds detected. Likely outcome: Pegasi intend to weaponize Storm clouds. Recommended Course of Action: disable or kill Storm cloud operators.'

'Martellus? Options!'

'The cogitator is correct. That is the most likely outcome and solution. But it does not account for your moral code. Running will be our best course of action. The cogitator also detected that as we run, we cause large amounts of drag. Perhaps we can use this drag to incapacitate the operators?'

'Great idea!'

I start sprinting towards the grounded ponies. They're massive eyes flare in panic and they throw spears. The spears ricochet harmlessly off my armor. I smash right into their numbers, and like Martellus said, our drag wind launched several of the ponies into the air. I punt another pony into the last 3 guards still standing and they get knocked over like bowling pins. The Pegasi fire their Storm clouds by stomping on them. The lightning hits, but fortunately for me, Chromite is grounded. My armor absorbs the lightning and channels it into the ground harmlessly. I jump and grab the Pegasi operating the Storm clouds and throw them into the other Pegasi. They all fall out of the sky like shot down ducks.

'That didn't turn out according to plan.' I mentally say.

'No plan survive first contact with the enemy. Mission achieved. No pony will be permanently harmed.'

'Great!'

"Halt! In the name of Equestrian Law and Equestria's royalty, I command you to halt!" A Guard pony shouts.

I turn and see about a dozen Unicorns and Earth ponies charging me. I turn back around and sprint in the other direction, shouting back at them:

"GOTTA GO FAST!!!!"

I sprint in the opposite direction, throwing guards ponies around like plushies with my drag wind. Soon however after about half an hour of utterly humiliating the guard and demolishing any effort they put up to impede my progress, I see a forest in the distance.

'That is our safe haven. Quickly, towards it.' Martellus says.

I oblige this request and start sprinting towards it. Suddenly my motion alarm trips. Data starts flowing again.

'Warning: projectile of significant mass detected. Recommended Course of Action: Avoid impact.'

I skid to a halt and Celestia slams down into the ground in front of me.

"This mockery of my royal guard has gone on long enough!" She declares and her horn starts glowing.

More data starts flowing from the cogitator.

'Warning: Warp build up detected. Likely outcome: Energy blasts meant to kill. Recommended Course of Action: incapacitate or kill psyker.'

'Martellus?'

I 'hear' him running calculations and analyzing every angle.

'Our best option is to flee.'

'Agreed.'

As she flares her eyes open to cast her spell, I kick a tremendous amount of dust into her eyes.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" She shouts in pain.

Her hooves shoot to her face to clear the dust out, and I about face and sprint back into the town. After about another 15 minutes of making a mockery of the Guards, so much so that some of the ponies came out of hiding to watch my ridiculous antics utterly confounding any effort the Guard put up to stop me, I arrive back at the town square. I skid to a stop, spinning around to face the guards giving chase. Suddenly a red blanket falls down in front of me. I look up to see a pony standing on a roof, gesturing for me to use it. I nod and give him the thumbs up. Then I pick it up and hold it out like a Spanish Matador. As the ponies rush me, I throw up the blanket into their faces and as they try to gab me through the blanket, the ponies not involved are laughing their asses off. There were even some guards laughing as I whip one in the butt with the blanket.

"TORO!!!!!!!" I holler out as I dodge yet another guard.

"ENOUGH!!!!" Celestia shouts as she appears in a massive blast of light.

She stood there, glaring death at me as her eyes watered from the dust I kicked in her face. She flared her wing outward to make herself look bigger.

"THIS ENDS NOW!!!!!!!!" She shouts in range and fires a spell.

Data on the spell starts flowing.

'Warning: Warp spell known as: Stun, detected. Recommended Course of Action: avoid contact with spell at all costs.'

But sadly it was too late. The spell was traveling too fast for me to dodge it. So I did the only option left for me. I took the shot to the arm. I lost all feeling in my left arm as it took the impact and it fell limply to my side. I look up at her defiantly.

"WHAT!? THAT SHOT SHOULD HAVE PARALYZED 5 MINOTUARS!!! WHAT ARE YOU?!" Celestia shouted in panic.

I grin at my chance.

"The one that got away." I say.

I turn and face a veritable wall of guards ponies. They quickly form a phalanx, with shield facing every direction and spears poking out of the holes. The cogitator starts sending data.

'Warning: Position makes it impossible to disarm or escape without injury to pursuers. Warning: Moral Code will not let us harm subject 'ponies.' Recommended Course of Action: Surrender.'

'Martellus?'

'Unfortunately, if we wish to escape, we must use lethal force. But since you refuse to do so, we must surrender.'

I groan and put my hands in the air in surrender. The guards cheer and Celestia smiles at them. Then the Mane 6 arrive.

"Princess Celestia we came to stop the-" Twilight began to say before she sees me.

"Oh." Twilight says, while the others show various forms of embarrassments.

Then another pony runs into the scene, carrying a satchel with one hoof inside it rummaging around inside it.

"Don't worry everypony! I am here! I can contain... it would seem you have the situation handled." The pony says.

The pony was colored brown with a darker shade of brown for his mane. His mark was a shifting hour glass. I quickly realize that this is the infamous Doctor Whooves or Time Turner depending on who you ask. I get distracted as Martellus begins rummaging around I my memories.

'Oi! What are you looking for? I can just show you it, instead of you having to look for it.' I offer him.

'Negative, I have found it.' He responds in his monotone voice.

In his 'hands' is everything I know of the MLP universe. I jump on his hands and wrap my arm around the file protectively.

'Before you open that, promise me that you wont tell the ponies ANY of the information that is in that file.'

He nods and I release his arm, knowing I wont be able to verbally get him to say it. Suddenly our shields flicker as something impacts them. Snapping my attention back to the real world I see a Guards pony poking at us with a spear.

"Get a move on!" He commands.

I groan and oblige him. Leading the way is Celestia and the mane 6, as well as Doctor Whooves, who keeps sending me a look of both excitement, terror, and fascination. I elect to ignore him while Martellus begins reading up on all the available knowledge on the ponies, the princesses (future and present) and him in particular. Eventually we reach the train station when a problem rises in my mind.

"That train wont be able to hold me."

The ponies jump at my sudden talking as the trip had been completely silent.

"What?" Celestia asks, utterly confused.

"The train wont hold me. The cross beams forming the bottom of the train are FAR too weak to hold a Mechanicus such as I."

Celestia blinks. Doctor Whooves on the other hand, nods as if he already knew that.

"I assure you," She begins to say, with as little anger as possible. "It can hold the heaviest of species on this planet, short of a dragon..."

It was my turn to blink.

"If it can hold them, it can more than likely hold you, despite your unique..." She hesitates as she looks me up and down, "stature."

I shrug and decide it is easier to prove them wrong rather than waste daylight arguing. I step onto the train and fall through the floor. Everyponies jaws drop, except for Doctor Whooves who nods again as if what just happened was exactly what he expected. I climb out of the wreckage and cross my arms.

"Wanna try again?" I ask sarcastically.

She shakes her head negative.

"Fine," She says with an exasperated sigh, "We will teleport."

"Tele-what?'

'Brace for molecular deconstruction.'

Then the spell hits everypony/one and we disappear. The process of molecular deconstruction is extremely painful let me tell you. A lesser man would have passed out, but I was no lesser man. I was an Adeptus Mechanicus. So it felt like someone lit me on fire the whole way there.

Which brings us to now. Congrats if you remained sitting and reading this this long! You might be able to survive the rest of the story! Assuming a Daemon doesn't get you first. Huh? What? Daemon? I said nothing about a Daemon! Your hearing things! Or reading things... whatever!

My vision came back to me in the Canterlot Gardens. The cogitator immediately began to gather tactical data, meanwhile Martellus had finished the MLP data before the teleport, and began to sift through the data he was getting. I stand up, and see the ponies looking at me with various faces and emotions, mostly terror and a little bit of awe.

'Man, these ponies really wear their emotions on their sleeves don't they?' I mentally said to Martellus.

'Affirmative.'

Suddenly we are surrounded by guards again. They prod us forward as Celestia gestured for them to take me towards the castle.

"Get a move on, creature!" One shouts at me as it levitates a spear into my back, meant to prod me forward.

Knowing that there is nothing these guards to do to stop me if I DID make a break for it, I sigh and decide it is easier not to make a scene. I comply and begin to walk towards the Canterlot castle gate. The Guards form up around me while Celestia takes the lead with the mane 6 and Doctor Whooves following closely behind her. As we reach the gate I see another familiar face, Princess Luna.

'Martellus, any frame of reference as to where in the series of the show we are?' I ask him.

'Negative, not enough data to make an accurate guess. Gathered data suggests after the premiere of the show, other data is inconclusive.'

'Thanks. Hold on, if Luna talks all Archaic, we are probably right after the Nightmare Moon incident, right?'

'Data from sub file: MLP Fan fiction, would suggest this.'

'Okay, thanks!'

We continue our march till we reach Luna.

"What hath you brought here, dear sister?" She asked.

'Data gathered suggests immediately after the Nightmare Moon event.'

I look at the guards and see the ones nearest Luna are incredibly skittish.

'I can see it now, thank you.'

'Affirmative.'

Celestia steps towards her and gives her a warm nuzzle.

"It is nice to see you too dear sister." She says with a warm smile.

Luna and Celestia look back at me.

"What in Equus is that?!" Luna exclaims.

" 'That' has a name. The names Bryce/Martellus. And I would shake your hoof, but, as you can guess..." I say with a shake of the dozens of manacles around my massive wrists.

Luna does not respond. Instead, she stares passively at me. I stand awkwardly, not sure what I should be doing. Finally, Celestia breaks the tense silence.

"Guards! Take it to the dungeon. We must prepare for Cadence's Wedding!" She says, clapping her hooves together.

The guards begin prodding me with their spears and I begrudgingly start walking forwards again. After about another 30 minutes of walking, we arrive at the dungeons. The Guards escorting me unceremoniously shove me inside (or rather attempt to) and stand at either side of the bars. Inside the cell is your average everyday stuff; a sink, a toilet much too small for my current size, a bed also much too small, and a barred window with a view of the castle courtyard. I sigh and go over to the bed. I flop down onto it and it collapses from the wall and crushes under my weight like wet tissue paper. The guards rush to the door and as the dust clears, see my unfortunate accident. I groan, more from disappointment than pain.

"Can we get a better bed in here?" I ask them.

They both smile then nod at me before one of them rushes off.

'Wow, these guys are really friendly and nice aren't they?'

'So it would seem. Be on your guard, Chaos may be to blame for our predicament.'

'Chaos is always to blame with you Space Marines, isn't it?'

'It has a higher probability of causing this to us than any other force, phenomenon, relic, or Psyker in any world. And I am an Adeptus Mechanicus, not an Adeptus Astartes.'

'Fine.'

I sit there sullenly, bored out of my mind, for about an hour. The whole time Martellus had been plotting escape routes based on the Data he has acquired from both me and our own short experience. Then I hear a slight buzzing. I look up, surprised at the odd noise.

'Martellus, can you identify the source of this noise?'

'Processing... Likely suspect: Tyranids.'

'I think Tyranids in Equestria would be highly unlikely.'

'Very well, continuing search for likely suspects.'

While he does that, I walk over to the door and knock on the bars to get the guards attention. The bars end up nearly snapping from the slight knock. The guards look up at me in shock.

"Sorry about that, don't know my own strength..." I apologize sheepishly.

They recover from the shock after about 3 minutes of gawping.

"Its okay, we needed to replace the bars anyway. What's wrong prisoner?" The one on the left of the door asks.

"I am hearing this strange buzzing sound, I was wondering if you heard that sound too?"

They look confusedly at each other.

"No..."

'Warning: Unidentified targets entering visual range.'

I bolt over to the window and see a seething black and green mass approaching Canterlot.

'Visual data suggests Necrons, but their energy signatures do not match Necrons. Caution advised.'

'Noted.'

I run back over to the door.

"Do you see that?"

They push open the door, one of them standing in front of me, his spear pointed at me as if to ward me off as the other trots over to the window to take a look. As the guard climbs into the window, there is a tremendous flash and the guard falls out of the window to the floor covering its eyes, screaming in pain. As the flash reaches my eyes, I slam my human eye closed and the biotic eye polarizes to maximum polarization. I make it out alright and so does the other guard but the one in the window is howling in pain.

"Shimmering Aegis!" The Guard in front of me shouts, then rushes to the fallen guard's side.

"GAAAAAH, IM FINE!!! CHECK ON THE PRISONER!!" Shimmering Aegis shouts.

The standing guard turns to me.

"Are you okay? And are you the cause of that flash?"

"Yeah, fine. And you really think that I was the cause of that flash? If I did it, I would be long gone." I reply as I point a thumb over my shoulder to the open door.

"Fine." The guard says before turning to Shimmering Aegis who is just now starting to open her newly bloodshot eyes. "Are you sure your okay? I can go get a medic if you need me to?"

"Yeah, I am fine. Go find out what caused that flash, Dancing Blade."

Dancing Blade nods, then rushes to the door, before the wall explodes in a flash of green fire and smoke. Time suddenly slows as the explosion slowly unfolds before me and launches both Shimmering Aegis and Dancing Blade into the opposing wall. Its as if someone poured syrup over Time itself.

'Tactical Cogitator activated. Bryce, give me control.' Martellus suddenly speaks as the world continues to slowly move around us.

'What, why?'

'Data gathered from your mind suggests that you are unprepared for combat. Granted, you do have my body and its assorted weaponry, but it is likely that if these are indeed Necrons, this battle will be the end of us.'

'True, but if these were Necrons, wouldn't we be already dead?'

'Analyzing counter-claim... Counter Argument sound. A likely explanation could be the wall shielding us from the majority of the blast.'

'That is possible, but if that were true, then wouldn't the Ponies with us be dead even then?'

'Analyzing counter-argument... Analyzing vitals of entities known as: Ponies... Counter Argument sound. Very well, you may fight this battle, on one condition: if we face a threat too powerful for you alone, I will take control, forcibly if necessary. The Omnissiah will require us to part of the Great Machine in the days to come to combat the enemies of the God Emperor and the Imperium.'

'Sounds good, Put me in coach!' I say with enthusiasm.

'Slang not recognized, processing... Slang deciphered, meaning recognized, deactivating Tactical Cogitator.'

Suddenly, time returns to normal speed. The dust cloud envelopes me and I am temporarily blinded, before my mechanical eye and helmet activate and I can see 7 ponies on the other side of the demolished wall.

'Warning: Culprits for explosion identified. Identifying as: Hostiles. Recommended course of action: PURGE IN THE NAME OF THE GOD EMPEROR FOR ASSAULTING ONE OF HIS ANGELS OF DEATH!!!'

'That is something I can get behind!' I mentally shout in excitement.

I grab my Bolter from my waist than aim it at the nearest one as the dust clears. They come into view and I blink in surprise. It looked like a Pony but it was colored pitch black and had dozens of holes all through its body, Its horn glowed a sickly green, not unlike the color of Nurglites, and it has bright blue insectiod eyes. It had fangs that extended an inch past its lip and their jaws dropped upon sight of me.

"What in the name of Queen Chrysalis is that!?" One exclaims.

"I don't know! But the Queen has commanded us to wipe out this castle and raze it to the ground! KILL IT!" The one who is presumably in charge shouts.

Then they charge, horns glowing the sickly green. I snap my Bolter into position and fire a Bolt, detonating the One in Charge's head. The others continue their suicidal charge, and all but 2 meet the same fate before the close the distance in the tiny room. They both jump into the air and I smash the front of my Bolter through one of their skulls, splattering its blood and its brain matter all over the wall. My other hand shoots up and grabs the other Black Ponies' head and I crush it as if it were an egg in a bad action movie. I clip the Bolter back to my waist and look down at Shimmering Aegis and Dancing Blade. I see them snoozing peacefully with large welts on their heads, resting against the opposite wall of the demolished one. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

'Good, I am glad they didn't have to see that. Probably would have traumatized them.'

'Affirmative.'

I turn and hop out the hole created by the Hostile ponies. I look all around and see dozens of the black ponies.

'Martellus? What should we do?'

'Recommended Course of Action: Purge in the name of the God Emperor.''

I grin and cock my Bolter.

'My pleasure.'

I turn to the nearest Black Ponies and shout:

"FOR THE EMPEROR!!!!!!"

I charge and the slaughter begins.

It has been 3 hours of continuous fighting. I am slaughtering them in droves but their numbers seem infinite.

Much like Tyranids.

You said it buddy.

By now I had made it to the front gate, covered in blood and gore, so much so that I looked like a walking horror show. The Guards at the Gate that weren't occupied trying to contain the Black Ponies (and failing miserably I might add), either fainted dead away or the braver or stupider ones rushed me with their spears. They're spears snapped on my armor and they stared, shocked, at the stumps left. I lean down to their level and look them right in the eyes, intentionally changing the color of my mechanical eye to red. They were quivering with fear, one even wet himself.

"Boo." I said suddenly shooting up to my full height hands above my head comically.

Though, it did the trick. The Guards ran screaming as fast as they could dodging other Guards and Black Ponies alike. I look up at the Gate, then slam my shoulder as hard as I can into it. The beam they undoubtedly had to keep the Gate closed snapped like a twig under my inhuman strength and the Gate shot open, smashing several Black Ponies into green paste. I grab the doors and close them again to keep the rest of the Black Ponies out. Grabbing another beam, I slide it into the brace and make sure the Gate is secure, then start running to the Castle entrance. After destroying several more doors and rescuing Ponies from the Black Ponies I made it to the Throne Room. Looking around, I don't see Celestia or Luna anywhere.

'Hey, Martellus. Do you have Celestia or Luna on Auspex anywhere?' I asked.

'Negative. However, I do detect another powerful source of Warp Energy. And I do detect a smaller Warp power much like Celestia's own power.'

'Great, can you give me a Nav point to get to?'

'Already done.'

Suddenly, I see the symbol of the Aquila over a Blood Raven Red arrow.

'Thanks.'

'Affirmative. I will continue to maintain equipment and provide support through the Cogitator.'

I start sprinting off in that direction and after about half an hour of getting turned around, slaughtering Black Ponies, and rescuing innocent Ponies, I arrive at the door I want.

'Martellus, before I go in there, what can you tell me right now?'

'Nothing I haven't already told you, but remember, our deal is still in effect.'

'Alright. Here we go.'

I raise my leg then kick down the door to see a wedding altar and the room that would go with it. But with a rather disgusting addition, dozens of dark green, gooey pods attached to the walls and roof everywhere and standing in it all, laughing her ass off was Queen Chrysalis herself. Then it hits me.

'Dude! We are at the end of Season 2! This is the Canterlot Wedding Incident when Chrysalis took over Canterlot for all of 15 minutes and was sapping Shining Armor of his Love! As Deus Ex Machina that sounds...'

'Affirmative, analysis is sound. Warning, Queen Chrysalis is about to address us, prepare for battle, hostile body language detected, Auspex detects hostile Warp Energies gathering.'

I fall into a battle position as Chrysalis begins to speak.

"Ah, so you are the Monster that my Hive Mind has been reporting. I do not appreciate you killing my Drones like that. I find it Hard to believe that one being has killed so many of my loyal Soldiers, but here it has happened. What is it you want, Monster?" She asks, giving me a suspicious glare.

I remain silent, instead adjusting the aim of my Bolter.

"SPEAK MONSTER!!!" She shouts.

I remain silent once more. We both remain silent for a while, eyeing each other. I know that she is mulling what she knows about me over, until she speaks again.

"Well, it appears you are nothing more than a mere beast. I shall slay you and mount your skin on my wall." She proclaims.

"I think not Queen." I suddenly say, putting her visibly off guard.

"So it speaks. Then tell me, why have you come?" She asks once more.

"Cant tell you myself, but I do know what I am about to do. And that is stop you."

Chrysalis proceeds to cackle maniacally.

"You think you can defeat me?! HAH!!! I have already bested the most powerful Alicorn in all the land, PRINCESS CELESTIA!!! And I have already done away with Princess Cadence and that meddling Twilight Sparkle!!! What chance have you against me?!"

'What chance do I have against her anyway?' I ask Martellus.

'Scans say that success rate is at 73%... Success likely.'

I grin.

'I like those odds.'

I look up at Chrysalis, and instead of responding to her question, I shout:

"FOR THE EMPEROR!!!"

Then I charge, shoulder lowered to bash into her. She freezes up, obviously expecting me to cower before her. I smash into her like a Freight Train, and she goes flying through a wall. I walk over to the hole then climb into it, looking down at the dust cloud she created upon impact.

"Hi."

I nearly jumped through the roof. Fortunately, Martellus stifled any muscle reaction. I turn to see Doctor Whooves behind me, carrying a sword and covered in green blood and goo, but otherwise none the worse for wear.

"Greetings Adeptus Mechanicus, I am-"

"Doctor Whooves, we know."

"How did you-"

"Know your name? I happen to know someone."

Suddenly his jaw dropped as his eyes bugged out.

"Was it something I said?"

Suddenly, my Auspex began to blare. I spin around and get blasted with a green energy blast, Putting me into a wall with the sheer amount of force behind the blow.

"You think you could defeat me that easily!?! Then you are sadly mistaken!!! I am Queen of the Changelings!!! And I shall not be beaten by a beast like you!!!" Queen Chrysalis proclaims.

Doctor Whooves steps in front of me.

"Then face us." He says, brandishing his sword.

"YOU?! HAH!!! YOU TRULY ARE STUPID IF YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DEFEAT ME!!!"

"I will not fight alone." He says and points to the door as the Elements of Harmony run into the room.

"1 Stallion, 6 Mares, and a monster? You truly believe that-"

I elected not to let her finish that sentence.

"FOR THE EMPEROR!!!"

She looked at me as I charged like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. I barreled into her wrapped my arms around her body and squeezed as hard as I could. But she was quick with her magic and made a formfitting shield around her body. Applying yet more pressure the shield was beginning to crack. She visibly began to panic and put more power into it. As she did, the cracks in the shield were mending just as fast as I was making new ones.

'Martellus! I am gonna need some help here!!!' I exclaimed to him.

'Initializing Mechandrite.'

The Mechandrite mounted to my shoulder suddenly descended its claw and clamped down on the shields around her head. It began to squeeze as well. When that failed to produce a result, its soldering tool activated, cutting into the shield. The shield began to crack rapidly as this new assault began to take its toll. In a desperate gamble, Chrysalis teleported out of my arms and onto the ground before me. I grabbed the Chainsword at my waist, quickly activating it in the same motion, and my Bolter and aimed both at her.

"DIE XENOS FILTH!!!" I exclaimed in righteous fury and charged.

She charged as well and I brought my Chainsword down as she brought her horn up to intercept. The 2 objects clashed and there was a blinding light that not even the maximized polarized eye could fully nullify. After the flash, I was seeing some spots but otherwise unharmed. I turn to look at the other occupants in the room and see Doctor Whooves and the Elements rubbing their eyes to restore their eyesight and Cadence and Shining Armor embracing.

'Warning, finale of the episode approaching.' Martellus said, 'looking' at Cadence and Shining Armor embracing.

'Ready for the big finish, pal?'

'Affirmative.'

I turned once again to Chrysalis to see her gawping at her horn. Or rather, what was left of it. The top half of it was lying on the floor broken and chipped apart in a dozen places from the teeth of the Chainsword's blade. What remained on her head was but a stump.

She looks up at me with pure fury.

"DIE YOU MONSTROSITY!!!" She shouts.

She quickly grabs a sword from a dead royal guard and charges, only for another blast of light to launch her through the hole in the wall behind her that we had created in our duel.

As she flew away, she screamed in pure fury and then disappeared into the distance. The light subsided and I turned to see the entire castle restored, but sadly, the dead still fallen. The Elements of Harmony and the Doctor walked up in front of me.

"We thank you, being from another world. Had it not been for your valiant efforts, we would probably be dead right about now." Twilight said as she bowed.

The other followed suite.

As they bowed, I looked up behind her to see Celestia standing up. Once she is standing at full height, she glares at me, then walks over to Cadence and Shining Armor. She quickly converses with them then starts walking over to us. I step over the ponies bowing before me as I walk up to her.

'Be cautious, her body language suggests that still mad at us.'

'Noted.'

I ready myself to spring as she sizes me up. Then she lets out a heavy sigh.

"Your actions today have proven that you have come here lacking hostile intent. Indeed you even saved countless lives, among both my Royal Guard and the civilian population. I drop all charges against you. You are free. You may live here in Canterlot or in Ponyville. You may decide on your own time. I must tend to the city. Farewell." She says then turns and leaves.

'That was unexpected. Logging that in new file, designated: Pony Behavior.' Martellus remarked.

'You got that right. So, where do you reckon? Canterlot or Ponyville?' I ask him.

'Calculating... Ponyville.'

'Do you have a reason or is it just not to incur further wrath from Celestia?'

'The Timeline found in file: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, suggests that a very large portion of events take place in Ponyville. To better cancel our own affect on the Timeline of this world, I recommend we go to the heart of all activity.'

'... Ponyville it is!'

'You on the other hand just don't want to annoy Celestia.' Martellus remarked.

'What?! Nah man!!! I want to stop the timeline too!'

'My lie detector suggests that is a lie, and my bullshit meter agrees.'

'Shut up!'

I return my focus to the real world and turn to Twilight.

"We would like to live in Ponyville. Can you lead the way?"

She nods.

"Of course, you can live in the library until we give you a proper home. Come on girls!"

The other Element Bearers hand their and Twilight's Element of Harmony to Shining Armor and we all start walking towards the Canterlot Castle Gate.

"What are you anyway?" Twilight suddenly asked.

I groan.

'This is going to be a looooooong walk.'

Martellus 'groans.'

'Affirmative.'

Suddenly, the bag of Pizza and Burgers dropped onto the floor before me. Twilight and I both pause and stare at the bag.

"WELL WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?!" I shout exasperatedly at it.

Author's Note

Hope you guys enjoy!!!! :pinkiehappy: And Yes, I am using the Changelings as cannon fodder to show how utterly overpowered a Space Marine (or Adeptus Mechanicus) is in this world.

Foundations and many Pies

Author's Note

Here is the next installment of Martellus and I! Eagerly awaited on your part, worked hard on, on my part! Sorry that there is not really any action in this one, its pretty much just a transitional episode.
And who might this Mysterious being out in the Badlands be? Perhaps someone we may know? Anyone who can guess gets spoilers for ~~Endgame~~ Chapter 5!
If you see a mistake, do not hesitate to call me out, as I LOVE your feedback guys! Seriously, not even joking, I love it when you guys comment. I want to be a writer someday, and if I dont get help along the way, how am I supposed to be a good one? Anyways, Enjoy, Comment, and may you all follow in the Emperor's Light!

Foundations and many Pies

Martellus is 'pacing' around in our mindscape. I 'watch' him walk back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, for what feels like hours. Finally, I grow bored.

'What's wrong?' I 'ask.'

'This world has no way to produce the materials I need for a proper base of operations! I cannot produce Ferrocrete, I cannot produce Ceramite, I cannot produce Adamantium, or any other material needed to produce Weapons and equipment!' He responds, still pacing.

I can feel his mind meticulously searching for a solution under every metaphorical rock of thought in our collective minds. I 'frown'. I really wished I could help him. I 'sigh'.

'Well, as a Wise Man once said, we should focus on what we can reach. And right now, that means focusing on the base and how to construct that.'

Martellus pauses, his analytical mind momentarily veering off his circuitous cycle to this new task.

'Subject: Pinkie Pie, said she is experienced in creating Concrete. While far less durable than the Ferrocrete I wish to build, it will be an acceptable substitute in the meantime.'

I 'smile'.

'Good! Let's go!'

Our minds exit our collective mindscape and return to our body, which was crouched by the entrance to our Base in progress. We stand and begin to make our way to Ponyville. As we arrive, we find ourselves surrounded by withering stares. Martellus proceeds to ignore them as I look back.

'Looks like Ponies have long memories...' I 'say' with sad disappointment.

Martellus 'nods' and we continue through Ponyville. No ponies move to stop us as we make our way to Sugarcube Corner. As we arrive, I slow us down. The Building is still, lacking any of the movement that would be present if Pinkie Pie were inside. I elect to poke our head in anyways. We glance around and find the building empty.

'Subject: Pinkie Pie, is absent.'

'Aye. We should see if Twilight knows where she is.'

And thus we stand and begin to make our way to the Library. I duck our head inside the door and find Twilight staring intensely at an Apple. She looks up as the Library bell rings.

"Oh, hi there. Who is it right now?" She asks.

"Bryce."

"Hi Bryce. How can I help you?" She asks as she resumes staring intensely at the Apple.

"Have you seen Pinkie Pie? I need her help with something."

Spike appears from upstairs.

"She said something about the Legend of the Mirror Pool."

I nod.

"Thanks."

I wave to them and then look at Twilight.

"Good luck with your transmogrification spell."

Then I duck outside.

'Now, if I recall, Pinkie should be in the Everfree right-'

I stop dead in my tracks.

'Wait, this is that episode where she clones herself!'

Martellus takes a moment to search my memories.

'This... can work in our favor. But we must act quickly.'

'Why? what do you have planned?'

'We must find a Pinkie Pie clone. If we can find one, then we will have both the workforce we need and the expertise we need to build our Base.'

'I like where your head is at! Lets do it!'

And with that, we take off towards the Forest.

We arrive just as the Group of Pinkie Pie's exit the Forest.

'Excellent, we have arrived at the most opportune moment.'

Martellus moves towards the group.

"Pinkie Pie!"

The entire group whips their heads towards us at nearly a 180 degree turn.

'That is... unsettling.' I 'say'

"Pinkie Pie, I must speak to you." Martellus continues.

"Which one?!" The entire group asks.

'Quite unsettling...' Martellus remarks.

"The original."

"Okay!" The group responds.

The presumed original makes its way towards me with her trademark grin.

"Okay guys, one 3, break! One..." She says.

My singular eye flares in shock, remembering what happens next.

"No! Wait-"

But the Pinkie Pie army has disappeared already. Pinkie Pie giggles.

"Close enough! What is it Bryce?" She asks.

'It is too late. The damage is done.' Martellus says grimly.

'Aye.'

"Nothing Pinkie Pie, we can talk later." I say.

"Okey-Dokie-Lowkie!" She says and takes off.

'Come, lets wait by the Library, Twilight will need our help to diffuse the situation.'

I 'nod' and begin to make our way towards the Library.

We arrive just as the Angry Mob does too. Twilight is busy trying to talk the crowd down.

'Perhaps we should make an appearance?' Martellus suggests.

'I got this.' I respond.

I duck us out from behind the Library and step up beside Twilight. The crowd all but immediately silences. Twilight's eyes flare in surprise. I gently tap her shoulder and nod my head towards the now silent crowd.

"Please, just give me some time to sort this out! C'mon Spike!" She says and then ducks inside.

I quickly duck inside before she can close the door. She barely notices as she immediately dives into the book shelves. Spike looks up at me.

"What can I do for you Bryce?" He asks.

"I came to help with the situation. You seem to have an infestation of Pinkie Pies."

"Yeah! She said something about a Legend of the Mirror Pond before she took off, got anything on that big guy?" He asks.

"In fact, I dont. But you do." I say and point at a bookshelf.

He looks at me with a quizzical look before he begins searching the bookshelf. Then he finds the hidden compartment and pulls out the book.

"How did you-"

I hold a quieting finger to my helmet as I nod to Twilight. He presents the book to Twilight and she begins looking through it.

"AH! Here it is! And it has the spell that will send the Pinkie Pies back!" She says.

Spike grins.

"Great! Lets go!" He says and begins to move towards the door.

I put out a hand and blocks his progress and nod back at Twilight.

"But there is a catch, we have to find the real Pinkie Pie or we could accidentally send her through the Mirror Pond." She says with a frown.

"Then how do we find the Real Pinkie Pie?" Spike asks.

I see my opportunity and take it.

"Might I suggest a test? A test only the real Pinkie Pie will pass?" I suggest.

Twilight stops.

"That's a great idea! C'mon Spike! Lets go get the others!"

And with that, the duo take off.

'It would appear all we have to do now is wait.' Martellus remarks.

'Indeed, lets head to Sugarcube Corner.'

And with that, we leave the Golden Oaks Library and make our way back to Sugarcube Corner.

We are waiting near the back entrance of Sugarcube Corner as we listen to Pinkie Pie's letter to Princess Celestia. We continue to wait as Twilight and her friends interact with her and she falls asleep. We hear the door close.

'Now, lets give her about 30 minutes. Should be plenty for Pinkie.' I 'say' to Martellus.

Martellus doesn't respond as he sets a timer for 30 minutes in our Cogitator. Martellus begins running over construction plans as I wait and watch the timer. Eventually, the timer hits zero. I take control of our body and duck inside the building and make my way over to her.

"Pinkie, wake up." I gently nudge her.

She remains stubbornly asleep. I click my teeth.

"Mm. Gonna have to resort to extreme measures." I remark and move into the Kitchen.

I search the shelves, Martellus far too distracted with his plans to notice. Then I find the Pepper.

"Perfect."

I carefully exit the Kitchen, then pour some into Pinkie's nose. Then I step back. She inhales sharply, begins to take deep breaths...

'Here it comes...'

Martellus 'looks up'.

And then Pinkie Pie exhales.

'Subject: Pinkie Pie did not awaken. What was the point of this exercise?' He 'asks.'

'Wait for it...'

And then...

"ACHOO!!!!"

Pinkie sneezes so hard she flies out the window and skids into the streets outside. I chuckle.

'I think its safe to say she is up.'

Martellus meanwhile is busy trying to figure out the physics of what he just witnessed. I duck us outside and Pinkie Pie immediately bounces up and latches onto my Cuirass.

"Heya Bryce! How are ya?!" She hollers happily in my face.

I gently extract her from our Cuirass before Martellus can attempt to murder her.

"I'm doing well. I need your help with something." I say.

"Really?! What is it?! Is it gonna be fun?!" She asks as she begins bouncing circles around me.

"It is to my understanding that you are capable of producing Concrete."

"YES SIREE BOB!" She says, continuing to bounce around me.

"Well, I need your help to make some for my Base." I say.

"Okie-Dokie-Lokie!!!" She says and begins to bounce off.

"Base is that way." I say, pointing towards Sweet Apple Acres.

She stops and giggles.

"I knew that! I was just testing you!" She laughs and begins bouncing the right way.

'Testing us?! Why would we not know where our-'

'Dont overthink it.' I 'say', cutting Martellus off.

We follow Pinkie Pie to our Base.

Work began immediately as we arrived. Martellus somehow managed to keep Pinkie Pie focused long enough to get the Base framed. From there, We began layering in the Concrete we made and waited for it to Dry. Pinkie Pie had to exit the Base due to the heat made by its solidification, but Martellus and I barely noticed. Soon, after nearly 12 Hours of working, the Base is complete.

'Excellent! Now we need merely begin construction of STC!' He 'says', about as close to ecstatic as a Techmarine can be.

"Thanks Pinkie! see you around!"

"Okie-Dokie-Lokie!!!" She says happily, then promptly leaps into the bushes and disappears.

Martellus meanwhile is already planning on how to begin building.

'First, we must begin mining. The Materials we need will be deep and hard to access without the proper tools. So we will begin to build the tools we need immediately!' He 'proclaims'.

'That's good. I'm just gonna take a break while you do that.' I 'say'.

'Very well.'

And with that, I let my mind let go of consciousness and drift off the rest.

Meanwhile, out in the Badlands...

It is quiet and still deep within the Badlands. The air is still and no movement can be found on the surface. But then, the Sky begins to light up. If one were near enough to see it, they would bear witness to a fireball plummeting down from the sky as speeds that would be considered beyond terminal velocity. And then, with a mighty 'KRA-KOOM', the fireball smashes into the Badlands. The fireball cools and reveals a massive metal ball of some kind, shaped like a massive rain drop or a Pod. On its still glowing hull is the symbol of a Black Raven with a Blood Droplet on its belly. And then, the odd metal ball opens like a massive flower. and out of the darkness of that metal ball, a towering form stumbles clear and falls into the dirt on his hands and knees. He wears odd Bone White Armor, with Red arms. He clutches at his breast plate as he looks around.

"How am I alive?"

He stands and begins looking over his armor and gear, finding his Power Axe, Narthecium, and Plasma Pistol all where it needs to be. He looks up at the night sky above him.

"I dont recognize these Stars... and where is the Eye of Terror?" He wonders.

He dismisses it and begins to scan for any signals on the planet. He finds only one Imperial Signal.

"A signal? Here?"

He scans it.

"Its one of my Battle-Brothers! Who?"

He scans it again.

"Martellus! if he is here, our Battle-Brothers cant be far!"

And with that, he begins to walk, heading straight for Martellus, determination fueling his every step.

Getting Settled In

Author's Note

LEAVE A COMMENT PEOPLE! I NEED TO KNOW WHERE I CAN GET BETTER AT WRITING SO I CAN MAKE AS MANY PEOPLE HAPPY AS POSSIBLE!!!!
ALSO, EXTREMELY SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG FOR ME TO TYPE THIS CHAPTER OUT!!!!!

Getting Settled In

I was right. It was one of the longest walks I had ever participated in.

I concur with that statement.

There was never anytime to answer any of Twilight's questions, not that I wanted to personally, but a pause in between sentences would have been appreciated.

As we approach the town, I look down at Twilight who is still babbling at me incomprehensible question back to back. I sigh and turn back around, watching the town for any signs of movement. As we start to enter the city proper, I see the dozens of ponies of the city population waiting. I stop.

'Martellus? What is this? And should I start running?'

The Cogitator and Auspex's get to work.

Scanning... Scanning postures... No aggressive stances detected. Scanning for Weapons... no weapons detected. Scanning for Primitive Weapons... none detected. Threat level: minimal. It says.

'I concur with this conclusion. They do not seem hostile, but even if they did attack, our battle plate and strength could overcome all their attacks. Recommended Course of Action: Be wary.'

'You got it.'

At this point Twilight, too deeply engrossed in her own lecture to notice my actions nor the mob of ponies ahead of us, and walks headlong into my legs. With a loud 'CLANG!', she finally notices the blockade of ponies. She grimaces, rubbing her face, and looks up at me. I look down at her and shrug. She rolls her eyes and I feel a prodding at our mind. Martellus and I both bristle and brace to repel a mental attack. When the prodding doesn't get more aggressive, I can feel Martellus' confusion.

'What's wrong?'

'Normally, this is the part where reality itself is torn asunder as Daemons leap from the Warp and massacre every living thing in the system. I am wondering as to why that has not happened yet.'

I 'blink'.

'That's a little dark man.'

'In the 41st millennium, there is only war. It is kill or be killed. And when Chaos is involved, the stakes are upped to your family as well. This is why the Adeptus Astartes and Adeptus Mechanicus teach their disciples to let go of their past ties and devote themselves to protecting the Imperium.'

'Again, dark.'

"What are you guys talking about?"

Both Martellus and I jump, me 'physically'.

'AH! JESUS CHRIST!'

Martellus responds by spawning a Bolter and aiming it at the new occupant of the space. I look at it and see Twilight. I 'Blink.' I cough as if nothing happened.

'Eh hem erm, how did you get into our head again?' I ask her.

Martellus at this point has disarmed and is looking on with interest.

'I engaged Telepathic communication. Didn't you feel me trying to engage the telepathy?'

Martellus and I look at each other.

'Yes? No? Maybe?' I tentatively answer.

Twilight's projection gives me a skeptical look.

'Damn it! Mom always told me I was a horrible lair! Martellus! Help!'

Martellus steps up to my side.

'We were both unaware you were trying to communicate with us. We felt a prodding at our minds and instinctively shielded ourselves from what was trying to enter our minds. We were unaware it was you.'

I jump in front of him to direct her attention back to me.

'Exactly!'

Twilight looks from Martellus to me.

'Your just taking credit for what he said, aren't you?' She asks.

I sigh.

'Yes...'

She rolls her eyes.

'Do you two have any idea what's going on here?' She asks and gestures out to the pony blockade.

We all peek out back into reality and still see the blockade of ponies, firmly in its place. Auspex begin to pick up restless whispers.

'We need to make a move, the population is getting restless. Those who would want to do us harm will no doubt use this time to persuade the crowd to take action against us.'

I nod.

'Aye, they are scared. Auspex can tell us that much. Twilight? Any suggestions?'

She shrugs.

'Wing it?'

Martellus and I look at each other.

'I highly disapprove of this action, but Twilight has deemed it the best course of action. So be it.'

I nod then look at her.

'I'm down!'

She nods and we all exit our collective Mindscape. Twilight's Body and ours begins to stir and the crowd draws silent. All eyes fall upon me and Martellus.

'Here goes nothing huh?'

'Indeed.'

I begin to walk forward and the crowd parts before me and around me, giving me 2 pony lengths of space. The Mane 6 and Doctor Whooves quickly follow, using the bubble I am causing in the crowd as a means to get through. The crowd lasts all the way to Twilight's Library/Home. I look at it and still see the hole where I made my escape. I look down at Twilight and tap her gently so as to get her attention and not harm her with my newfound superhuman strength.

"Still haven't fixed that huh?" I sarcastically ask, gesturing to the me shaped hole.

Twilight glares at me.

"Well you didn't exactly wait patiently for us to fix the wall then chase you, now did you?" She sarcastically answered.

Properly stifled, I look back at the door and squeeze my way through the me shaped hole. The others, Doctor Whooves included, quickly follow inside. As we enter, the crowd begins to form again in a large ring around the library, again in total silence. The others gather around a table and begin to discuss. I am fully capable of hearing them, but I elect to ignore them. Martellus on the other hand hijacks our hearing and Auspex and listens in. I walk around the Library, pulling random books off the shelf and discovering I am incapable of reading now, which is incredibly distressing due to the fact I was an avid reader back home, in fact, I had an entire room of my house which was about the size of the average living room turned into a library of all of my favorite books.

'Martellus? Can you read this?'

I 'feel' him looking at it.

'By the Emperor... have I lost the ability to read?'

'No, it would appear they are using a language other than English or Gothic. We will have to get reading lessons from Twilight.'

'If we do that, we run the risk of, as you would say, being bored to death. Confirm Decision?

'I don't know, lets talk about this later.'

'Affirmative.'

I go back to wandering through the library. Soon, the crowd outside begins to disperse, to the relief of the occupants inside and myself. The others sigh in relief.

'Wow, they were that tense about a crowd?'

'It would appear so. It would appear that crowds like that aren't a regular occurrence.'

'I agree.'

We turn our attention back to the world around us as the others are gathered at a table talking. I honestly couldn't care less what they have to say, it more than likely being about me, so I elect to ignore them. But Martellus on the other hand keeps a close eye on them through the Auspex. I begin to browse the books, occasionally asking Martellus if he can read a Language on a title. I pull out one book with a golden unicorn with a blue eye on it. I open it, flipping through the pages, scanning it with the Cogitators to see if they understand them. They cant so I elect to store the data and the alien symbols of the book in my Cogitator Banks.

'Subject: Twilight Sparkle and Subject: Pinkie Pie, are approaching us.' Martellus says suddenly.

'Oh?'

I turn and Twilight hesitates while Pinkie just keeps hopping towards me with an impossibly big grin. Martellus makes our hand drift towards our Bolter on our hip.

'Stop that! If they were going to hurt us, they would have done it long ago!' I say exasperatedly.

'An open mind is like a fortress, with its gates unbarred and unguarded. Fear not the creatures of the Jungle, but those from the Darkness of your mind.'

I 'Blink.'

'What?'

'She may not seem like a threat, but I have seen noble and powerful Space Marines and the greatest of war machines, felled by even the small Gretchin.'

'Yeah, but those Gretchin intended to do harm. She doesn't.'

"What are you doing?" Pinkie suddenly asks.

I direct my attention back to the real world after I 'jump' from my surprise.

"Reading. Or at least attempting to. I cant seem to read your language, despite my Cogitators knowing several dozen different languages."

Twilight seems intrigued.

"You cant read Equestrian?" She asks.

"It would appear not." I say, watching her worriedly, knowing this may turn into a lecture.

'What's wrong with a Lecture? Knowledge is power, so guard it well.' Martellus suddenly inputs.

'Yeah, but we can moderate what WE can learn. SHE goes from 0 to 120 in 2 seconds with learning.'

Martellus' form nods. Twilight appears to be saying something.

"- Equestrian is a language that dates back to-"

She is cut off by Applejack shoving a hoof in her mouth.

"Mah apologies. Twilight gets a lil' bit carried away when she gits goin'." Applejack says apologetically, with Twilight glaring angrily at her.

"Its fine. Its fine. Everything is fine!"

"Now, Ah say we git introduced. Ma name is-"

"Applejack. Behind you is Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie, and waiting by the table is Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Time Turner." I say, pointing them out as I go along naming them.

They all seem stunned, but Doctor Whooves nods and smiles.

"How did ya-"

"I know ponies." I interrupt.

Applejack turns around with a suspicious stare and Twilight and Pinkie follow her back to the remains of the table I crushed on arrival.

'They appear to be worried. I am concerned about the outcome of this scenario.' Martellus says.

'It will be fine. Odds are they're next Course of Action will be to give me a tour of Ponyville. Remind me to act surprised about the layout of Ponyville.'

'Very well.'

We watch them a bit longer before Twilight and Doctor Whooves walk over. Twilight begins to speak while Doctor Whooves smiles at me, the satchel from earlier that day still on his back.

"We have talked it over and we believe that a tour of Ponyville is in order." She says, watching me curiously to see my reaction.

In reality I nod, while in my head I do a victory dance. Martellus 'rolls' his eye.

"I'm down."

Twilight smiles while Doctor Whooves nods and keeps smiling.

"Then follow us. We will show you around." Twilight says with a turn.

I follow. Soon we find ourselves walking around outside, Twilight pointing at buildings and giving their history. I am completely tuning her out, just following after and giving the occasional response when she asks for one.

'This town is incredibly boring. ANY Town in the Imperium would have at least 1 siege if it wasn't destroyed outright.' Martellus suddenly says.

'In the Grim Darkness of the far future, there is only Awesome.' I quote.

'I disagree, the Imperium's plight is far from awesome.'

'Its a joke, Martellus. Ever heard of one?' I 'say' with a concerned tone.

'Joke?'

My 'heart' skips a beat.

'You and I need to have a serious talk when this is over man.'

I turn my attention back to the real world to find Twilight talking to me about the fountain in the town square, barely managing to catch the tail end of that discussion.

"And this is City Hall. This is where you can go to solve all of your legal needs." She says, pointing it our.

I look up at it.

'Won't be needing that.'

'Affirmative.'

I nod at it.

"Okay."

And with that, we move on. Soon we arrive at the bridge.

'Ah the bridge. The one I can't cross because I will collapse it.'

'Affirmative.'

I veer off the path and begin to slog through the water. Twilight and Doctor Whooves both stop and watch me.

"What are you doing?" Twilight asks a perplexed look on her face.

"Can't cross the bridge. Too heavy, remember?" I look up at her, standing waist deep in the water.

The perplexed look stays there for a second before a look of dawning realization hits and she face-hoofs.

"Of course! How could I forget! I am so sorry!" She cries.

I wave placatingly at her.

"Its fine. If I was afraid of a little water I wouldn't have agreed to go on this tour."

'Its the things inside the depths we should be scared of.' Martellus suddenly says.

'Stop it!'

Doctor Whooves watches passively with a smile on his face. After Twilight is done face-hoofing, she groans and looks down at me.

"Shall we continue?" She asks with an apologetic smile on her face.

I nod.

"We shall!"

And thus the Tour continues. Soon we return to Twilight's home.

"And that is Ponyville. What did you think?"

I look around and hold up 1 finger.

"One sec."

I shift my attention to Martellus.

'What do you think?'

'Poor Tactical positioning. Completely lacking in fortifications whatsoever. Poor firing lanes. And the only place that can be defended from for any extent of time is the Town hall. An Imperial Guard platoon could take this town with little to no difficulty. If this town were to be attacked, the buildings would all be flattened in half an hour and most of the population, if not all would be slaughtered in the remaining hour. I, however, can fix this. I believe I can settle with this town. But first I need a base of operations to mine, build, and work.'

'Sounds good.'

I nod.

"I can work with this. But I warn you Twilight. This town is going to change very much, very quickly once I am fully settled. Are you sure you want me to stay here?" I ask her, genuinely curious about her response.

She eyes me cautiously.

"Like how?" She asks.

I let Martellus take over. When he speaks, the voice changes noticeably to his voice from the Dawn of War 2 games.

"I am willing to turn this town into a Fortress unlike any ever seen. It will be so powerful, I doubt any army on this planet could take it. It will be a challenge, but the very survival of the Imperium is a challenge I partook in every day. This will be hardly a challenge compared to that. Do you wish this to be true?" He says, looking at her and folding our arms behind our back.

Twilight pales before she seems to mull it over. Even Doctor Whooves smiles cracks.

"Yes? But-" Twilight begins to say.

"Excellent! Building begins immediately. Show me to a spot where I can build a base."

Twilight blinks.

"Wha-"

"Never mind. I shall find it myself." Martellus begins to start walking.

Twilight blinks again before taking off to follow us. Even Doctor Whooves seems frightened by the implications of this.

'You sure this is a good idea? They seem... frightened.'

'They approved of the construction of this base. If anything, they should be enthusiastic.' He said with finality.

'Okay... but it sounded kind of uncertain to me.'

'They approved.' He responds simply.

'Fine.'

Soon we found ourselves on the path to Sweet Apple Acres after walking nearly the entire town again to find a suitable space for the base, despite Twilight's protests. Soon Martellus stops about Halfway down the path, Twilight runs headlong into our legs with a loud 'CLANG!' and an 'ow.' I glance down at her to see her rubbing her head.

'She is fine. Now, this location would be ideal. Allows for minimum arrival time to both Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville in a time of crisis.' Martellus says.

He kneels us down and stabs his hand into the ground. He pulls up a handful of it and scans it with his robotic eye.

'Satisfactory soil levels. This will do well for the base I have planned.' He says, adding a nod.

He lets the soil fall through his fingers and stands. He looks at Twilight who is currently getting fussed over by Doctor Whooves.

"Do you have any tools? Preferably a digger or Drill?" He asks.

Twilight shakes her head, still nursing her new head wound.

Martellus growls.

"The Imperium was built on the hard work of the Mechanicus. It appears a Mechanicus must soil his hands once more to bring another world into His Holy Light." Martellus says before digging.

Twilight and Doctor Whooves watch with fascination as he digs. Soon the hole is 1 foot wide, then its 5 feet wide, then 5 Meters wide! When the hole reaches 15 meters wide, he begins to dig down. It has been an hour and a half and Doctor Whooves and Twilight, despite trying to voice their concerns to Martellus and failing, resign themselves to letting this happen and leave. The whole day goes by and Martellus is still going strong. At this point, he has made a hole in the ground big enough for a Razorback or a Predator Tank to park in. Then he stops and looks at the walls.

'Too small. We need these wider if we wish to have Land Raiders.' He says.

'WOAH! Land Raiders?! Dude, that is a big jump in firepower here!' I say, concerned.

Martellus elects to ignore me and get to work widening the tunnel. Soon enough the tunnel is big enough for one within a half hour.

'Damn, you work fast.'

Martellus shakes his head.

'Not fast enough. At the rate I am working this base will be completed and operational in a year. Much too slow.'

'Any ideas on how to speed this up?'

'Hmmmm...'

As we both continued to think, something triggered the proximity alarm built into Martellus' helmet-board radar.

'What is this?' Martellus says.

We glance up and see 2 forms of ponies at the entrance to the tunnel. Upon closer examination, one is wearing a cowboy hat, the other I can't tell.

'Looks like Applejack to me. But who's that with her?'

'Unknown.'

Applejack steps up.

"Hey! Ya down there!?"

Martellus and I both grimace at the sheer volume of the noise that the shout produced inside the tunnel.

"Yeah! Deafened, but still here!"

Applejack's ears fold down in embarrassment.

"Sorry 'bout that!"

We grimace again.

"How about this, you guys come down here, so we can actually talk without getting deafened?"

There is some mumbling before they begin to make their way down the tunnel. I rip a nearby root out of the wall and use my Servo-tool to ignite it. The forms reveal themselves to be Applejack and Big Macintosh.

'Hm. Was wondering when we would see him.'

'Beginning research.'

Martellus dives into my memories, scanning the files on him as they step up to me. They both look around, surprised at the work I had completed.

"One heck of a tunnel you got here." Applejack says awkwardly.

"Aye. This is gonna be my home. Why are you here? With your Brother no less?" I ask.

Big Mac blinks once in what I assume is surprise. Applejack looks very visibly surprised.

"How do ya-"

"I have my ways." I interrupt.

Applejack blinks, then shakes her head.

"We came ta see if ya wanted any help. Twilight said ya been working on some form of tunnel, so ah thought we should swing by and see if ya needed any help."

I nod and smile.

'See Martellus? They aren't bad Xenos.' I say smugly.

He grumbles a bit.

I look back down at them.

"I would be glad to allow you to help me. Besides, I needed some tools anyways."

Applejack tilts her head.

"Did ya just call us tools?" She asks.

I blink. Then burst out laughing.

"NO! Why would I call you that! You are my assistants! I just need some tools to dig out this tunnel!"

She nods in realization.

"Alright, Big Mac and Ah will be back in a little bit with some tools. Be right back!" She says and exits the tunnel.

After they leave, I exit too and sit down at the base of a tree, leaning against it. It creaks in protest and actually slightly uproots, but holds.

I sigh contently.

'Isnt it nice to take a break?'

Martellus grunts.

Then we settle in to wait. Its been about half an hour now and there is still no sign of Applejack and Big Mac.

'...Think we should eat something while we wait?'

'...Indeed.'

Our hands shoot to our head, then pause.

'Um... how do I get this thing off?'

'Disengaging Helmet.'

There is an audible 'hiss' as the helmet disengages. I take off the helmet and notice I can't see out of my right eye anymore.

'Did you disengage our eye too?'

'Affirmative. Its the only way to remove the helmet.'

For a moment this processes in my brain.

'Not sure if that is cool or disgusting.'

Martellus doesn't respond.

I reach for the bag of food I brought with me and remove a Bacon Cheeseburger.

'Martellus, do you have Bacon Cheeseburgers in the Imperium?'

'Negative, they were proven too unhealthy and led most people who partook in them down the path to Chaos.'

'Then prepare for a whole new world of flavor!'

As we took a bite of the Cheeseburger, I sensed Martellus' mind recoil in pleasured surprise and shock.

'I... was completely unaware something of this extraordinary flavor existed!' Martellus thought to me in childlike joy.

'Aye!' I think back in equal excitement.

'Tell me, what was this blessed food called?' He asks as he begins to devour the rest of the Burger messily, as unto a child with their own first burger.

I 'smile'.

'Bacon Cheeseburger.'

Martellus raises the half finished sandwich to the skies.

"PRAISE BE TO THE MAN WHO INVENTED THE BACON CHEESEBURGER! OMNISSIAH BLESS HIM!" He bellows and continues his frenzied feast.

I merely watch and enjoy the spectacle as an Adeptus Mechanicus tries a Cheeseburger for the first time. I notice Applejack and Big Mac returning with the tools.

'Speaking of Big Macs, the Apples are back.' I think, pointing them out to him.

Martellus looks, quickly scarfs the rest of the burger down and reseals our helmet. He pauses and grabs the bag of food.

'Note to self: Secure the items known as: "Bacon Cheeseburgers" somewhere safe after construction of base is complete.' Martellus thinks to the Cogitators, storing the note for later.

The Apples stop in front of me, toting a Wooden cart behind them and drop the cart. As it impacts the ground, the tools noisily clatter against one another.

Somewhere in the nearby Everfree...

A Timber wolf is sniffing its latest kill with its pack, a mighty Manticore that had wandered into the Pack's territory. Naturally the Timberwolves had to kill it before it attacked any of them or killed any of their food. But a new noise reaches their ears, the sound of clattering metal and wood. They all perk-up and look towards the sound. They believe they hear voices.

They all look at one another, growl, and begin to stalk towards the alien sounds.

I regard the tools as Martellus picks them up and examines them.

'These are decent quality... for Ponies.'

'Affirmative. We are unable to use these tools lest they break.' Martellus 'responds.'

'...You want to tell them or shall I?'

'I am not as well versed in the ways of the Ponies as you. Perhaps you should.'

'...Bugger.'

I turn and look down at them before Martellus can retort at my comment.

"I'm really sorry, but these tools aren't gonna cut it..." I say.

Applejacks face, covered with a look of pride, drops to a look of outrage.

"What do ya mean "They aint gonna cut it"?! Ma Brother and ah went back ta the Farm ta git these for ya and you say they aint good enough!" She retorts.

'Subject: Applejack, seems upset. I don't understand why.' Martellus asks in intrigue.

'I imagine these tools are of sentimental value to her. I bet I just kicked dirt on her pride.' I 'say' in a remorseful tone.

'Explain: Kicked dirt on her pride.' He 'asks'.

'Later.'

"I didn't mean that! I meant that they aren't good enough for me to use!" I say.

Before she can retort or interrupt, I walk over to a log almost the size of my body, pick it up and snap it in my hands. Applejack is left gaping at the show of strength while her brother is left with a mildly surprised look on his normally stoic face. Suddenly, my helmet starts beeping.

'Warning: Unknown beings approaching. They do not appear to be ponies. They are moving to surround us.' Martellus 'says'.

'Got it. How many?' I 'ask'.

'Auspex says at least 17.'

'Then it can only be a pack of Timberwolves. Too many to be anything else.'

I address the Apples.

"We have company. NOT the friendly kind." I say as I begin to shepherd them towards the tunnel.

"What do ya mean 'NOT FRIENDLY'!? Ponies are the nicest folk you'll ever meet!" She exclaims, fighting me at every push.

"You're assuming they are Ponies." I say as I draw my Chainsword.

The 2 Ponies blanch at the massive blade as I rev it up. Theatrically, the Timberwolves choose that exact moment to leap out of the surrounding trees. Applejack yelps at their appearance before blushing in embarrassment, while Big Macintosh's face becomes more stoic than ever.

'Martellus? What are our chances of winning?'

'From what I know of these beasts from the MLP file, 99%.'

'What are our chances of winning WITHOUT the Ponies dying?'

'...56%'

'Shit, anyway we can bring that up?' I 'ask' as the Timberwolves slowly advance.

'If we arm the ponies and put them in the tunnel... 94%.'

'All right!'

"Applejack! Big Macintosh! Arm yourselves and get to the tunnel! I got this!" I say as I drop into a combat-ready stance.

Applejack looks at me incredulously.

"Did ya just ask me to run an hide? Buck no! I aint scared o' no Timberwolf!" She proclaims.

Big Macintosh grunts in agreement.

'43%'

I groan in frustration as the Timberwolves start howling at us, likely taunting me.

"I can't fight these things and protect you at the same time!" I exclaim.

"Ya don't have to! We can take care of ourselves!" She exclaims back.

Big Macintosh grunts in agreements as he grabs a pick-axe and tosses one to her. She catches it. I groan again. We all fail to notice the Timberwolf slowly sneaking up behind her.

"Please get in the tunnel!" I beg her.

"No!" She shouts.

And the Timberwolf takes it chance leaping into the air straight at Applejack. And in the blink of an eye, Martellus is moving, his Auspex already calculating where the Timberwolf will land and where it will be at any given time during its jump. Martellus grabs it by the throat milliseconds before it can close its jaws around Applejacks throat and smashes it into the ground with all the strength common among the Adeptus Astartes. As it impacts the ground, its face still snarling since its brain physically didn't process how fast the tables had turned on it, it explodes into thousands of splinters. All motion stops and Applejack and Big Macintosh openly gape at the show of strength and speed that trumps anything short of a Daemon or a Primarch. Even the Timberwolves stop, openly shocked by what had transpired.

'Damn son! Shit just got real!'

I barely have time to 'say' that before Martellus charges the most densely clustered spot of Timberwolves. They in turn howl and counter-charge. Applejack and Big Macintosh stay put.

'Likelihood of success according to set parameters has reached 64%.'

A Timberwolf leaps to bite our throat but Martellus neatly bisects it with an inhumanly fast strike from his Chainsword. Another darts below the strike to bite at our under arm and finds unyielding Ceramite/Adamantium awaiting its jaws. It yelps in pain and Martellus crushes its skull with a vicious elbow to the face. Another one goes to bite at our stomach but receives a Chainsword through the eye socket. 2 leap past us at the still, unmoving, and vulnerable target present in the Ponies, but 2 blasts from a Bolter to the head solve that issue. The remaining 6 back up and growl at us, tails tucked between their legs. We are covered in some form of sticky green goo.

'Must be the Timberwolves' Blood. Huh! Who knew they HAD blood!' I 'say'.

Suddenly as one, the remaining pack howls and charges. Martellus snaps off 3 shots, all headshots, before he clubs a Timberwolf across the head, smashing its skull and scattering more green goo all over the ground and the Bolter. The 2nd to last one receives a Chainsword to the chest, the Chainsword bursting from its back covered in green goo and spraying it everywhere. The last Timberwolf uses us as a springboard as we are pre-occupied getting the last Timberwolf's carcass off us, and goes for the ponies, both of whom are too petrified to stop it.

"NO!" I boom.

My Servo-arm flashes out, just barely a second before the Timberwolf can get a bite out of Big Mac's face and yanks it back. I grab it by the head and crush its head in my hand. Applejack and Big Mac are both dead still. I drop the carcasses and walk over to examine them, both remain stock still.

'They appear to have gone catatonic.' Martellus says.

'...shit.'

'I can cure this, if you wish it.'

'Of course!'

He stands and walks over to the broken log and rips a branch off of it. Then, using his blow torch, sets it smoking nd waves it beneath their noses. Startled by the smell of smoke, they spring into action.

"FIRE!" Applejack shouts and takes off with a panicked look on her face.

Big Mac has a similarly terrified look on his face and he takes off as well. They charge straight into each other and comically flatten one another. As they thrash on the ground, their minds processing everything that has occurred, I watch them.

'...uh... What now?'

'We wait till they have recuperated.' Martellus simply 'says.'

They throw each other off of themselves and shoot to a standing position, eyes blank. Slowly, both of their eyes track to me. I hold a calming hand out to them and step back a few steps.

"Are you two okay? You aren't hurt?" I ask in as worried a tone as I can manage.

It takes them both a second to process the question.

"Fine..." Applejack says at last.

I huff out a sigh of relief.

"Hey... uh.." Applejack begins.

I kneel down as she walks closer, Big Mac right behind her.

"Thanks for... uh... protectin' us back there." She finishes.

I smile under the helmet and nod.

"Anytime, anywhere." I say simply.

She glances up at me with sheepish awe and looks at the dead Timberwolves.

"Ya sure those things are dead an' gone?" She asks.

I walk over and pick one up by what remains of its neck and shake it.

"Yep, pretty sure." I say with a nod.

She seems a little disgusted by what happened. I sigh.

"Look, I know what happened is a little GRAPHIC, for what usually happens around here with all the sunshine and rainbows and peace, but I had to make a choice. It was them or you 2, and I elected to have my friends live to see tomorrow than see them ripped apart by some twigs with teeth." I say.

'Well said...' Martellus 'says'.

Applejack takes a moment to process what I said.

"Well... I suppose ah was being a lil' bit harsh on ya for saving mah brother and I..." She finally says.

I mentally sigh in relief.

"Ma brother and ah will help ya finish this here tunnel o' yours, on one condition." She says with a hard-look at me.

I perk up, interested.

"Name it." I say, falling to one knee to look her in the eye (or rather as close as I can be.)

"I want ya to NEVER EVER use that there kind o' violence again on a intelligent thing unless absolutely necessary." She says.

'Martellus? Your thoughts?'

'I would disagree to these terms, in the event a catastrophe is about to take place, I would not be able to avert it as readily. This also means that if a threat that could resurface appears, we could not wipe it out before it can return.'

'So you think we should disagree?'

'Negative. Once the base is up and running, I can build non-lethal weapons. Building the base takes priority.'

"We agree to your terms." I say and shake Applejack's hoof, which nearly flattens here due to the immense power behind the simple shake.

I am quick to pick her up and dust her off.

"Sorry, you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, jus' fine. Now then, lets get to work." She says with a determined look on her face, which is mirrored by her brother.

I nod and lead the way down into the tunnel.

It takes another 3 days to complete the chamber which Martellus had begun, even with the help of the Apples. But the chamber is complete and Martellus is ecstatic, or as ecstatic as a Techmarine can be, planning the space out for later builds, like Cogitators, Auspex's, a Vehicle garage, a Forge, you name it. He is even planning to build a Servitor factory!

Applejack swipes off all of the sweat on her head.

"Tha' about do it?" She asks.

"Yep! Thank you both so much for your help. Now if you'll excuse me, I am off to the Market to buy some materials to make this place a bit more roomy." I say.

I turn and am about to walk out when Applejack suddenly says:

"Ya got any bits?"

I stop dead in my tracks.

'Shit! I forgot they're form of money is bits!' I 'say' to Martellus.

'This may prove problematic. Perhaps Applejack knows of another way we can pay them?' He 'says', impassive as ever.

I slowly turn around.

"YEAH, um... I don't have any." I say, embarrassed.

Applejack seems incredulous.

"Ya mean Twilight never told ya about it? Oh, that Twilight, always so caught up she forgets everything! Hard t' think a Mare as smart as her forgets these things so often. Come on!" She says and walks towards the entrance tunnel.

I look back at Big Mac who is standing next to a hole that Martellus had intended to be the beginnings of a forge.

"Coming?"

He simply shakes his head. I nod and follow Applejack.

She is waiting for me at the entrance to the tunnel. At that point, she begins leading me towards Ponyville, blabbering on and on about Twilight's quirks. Fortunately, Martellus had the foresight to silence our Audio Auspex's so we cant hear her.

We soon arrive at Twilight's Tree Library and Applejack goes to knock. As she does this I re-activate our Audio Auspex's.

"Twilight! Its me Applejack! Ah'm comin in!" She shouts through the door and throw it open wide.

I take a knee so I can observe everything happening inside.

'She appears to have fixed her doorway.' Martellus notes.

I glance at it and see the remnants of drying Dry-wall. I magnify the image.

'Looks like she did it about 2 days ago?'

'Indeed.'

"Hey! Big fella! Come on in!" Applejack suddenly shouts.

I glance at the 2 ponies waiting inside, Spike is hiding at the top of the stairs leading to Twilight's and Spike's rooms.

"I cant fit through the door." I simply say.

Applejack seems confused while Twilight mirrors her confusion. Twilight gets it first.

"Dang! I forgot you where so big! We'll just come outside to you!" She says and begins to walk out.

Applejack face-hooves and follows her out. Twilight looks up at my helmet.

"Applejack says you need some Bits?" She inquires.

"Yeah, We want to make some flooring for the base. But I don't have any money to go buy some Ferrocrete." I say.

They both look at me funny.

"What's Ferrocrete?" Twilight asks, a twinkle in her eye at the prospect of learning something new.

'Oh shit... What can of worms did I just open?'

'A can of worms? Subject: Twilight Sparkle is not a worm nor a can, meaning referring to her as a can of worms is illogical.' Martellus 'says'.

'Shut up and answer the ladies question..' I 'say'.

"Ferrocrete is a synthetic compound used as a common building material across the human-settled galaxy. It is composed of a mix of metallic alloys, ceramic polymers and stone of various kinds." Martellus answers Twilight.

She enters a state of deep thought.

"I don't believe we have that... but we DO have Concrete! Sadly not here in Ponyville, but there are Contractors in Canterlot who are willing to do that for you!" She chirps happily.

"I apologize, I don't want to hire a Contractor, I merely need the resources with which to produce and place Ferrocrete, or this, Concrete, of which you speak." Martellus says.

"Well, if you want to make Concrete, I know a Pony who can help you." Twilight says.

"Oh? Pray tell, who could that be?" I ask.

5 minutes later...

"Your kidding, right?" I ask Twilight.

We currently stand in front of Pinkie Pie's home, Sugarcube Corner. She shrugs.

"If anypony in Ponyville knows how to make cement, its her. Trust me, she has done weirder things before. Much weirder..." Twilight says distantly, hoof to her chin.

Applejack nods her affirmation, shivering at something.

"Best be gittin' in there. I'd bet mah hat she is expecting you."

'I'd bet my ass she is expecting me and is well prepared.' I 'say'.

Martellus is busy pouring over all the info I have on Pinkie Pie.

I step up to the door and knock. The door slowly creaks open. I look inside and see nothing but inky blackness where the light of day doesn't reach. Thoroughly creeped out, I look behind me and see the both Twilight AND Applejack are gone, along with the rest of the visible population of Ponyville. Martellus draws our Bolter and Chainsword.

'The Emperor Protects.' I 'say'.

'We shall feel no fear for we are one to be feared.' Martellus responds.

We turn back to the door. Martellus activates our night vision and steps in. As we step in, we don't see anything moving. He activates Heat Vision and suddenly the room is filled with heat signatures.

'What the hell!?' I 'exclaim.'

I barely have time to finish my sentence before there is a massive flash of light and we are blinded.

Crystals and Servo Skulls

Our eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden burst of light. After a moment, everything became bright blobs of color.

'Daemons! Purge the Heretic!' Martellus 'thundered'.

I naturally was shocked.

'Martellus! Wait! No-' I tried to say.

But sadly, Martellus' instincts kicked in. He already had his Bolter and Chainsword in hand and was cracking off potshots with it. The colored blobs dodged out of the way of the flying Bolter shells and the screaming superhuman as we came barreling towards them. Then they began to resolve into the forms of the ponies of Ponyville. Martellus stops dead in our tracks.

'Where are the daemons? The foul shapeless beasts?' He asked me, shamefully and quietly.

'There weren't any. Martellus. Haven't you ever been blinded by a light before?' I asked, genuinely concerned.

He doesn't answer. I quickly take back control of the body, feeling even more concern when Martellus doesn't resist. I sheath our weapons and step back towards the door to assess the damage.

The ponies currently were cowering underneath anything they could get underneath. Several were even hiding behind an angry Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Seeing them, I quickly scan the room for the rest of the Mane 6.

I see Fluttershy hiding behind the counter, where a destroyed banner lies. I look to the left, where various party foods had been sitting on a table, which had all been decimated by a Bolter round. Pinkie Pie sat next to them, weeping as Twilight tried to help her. Rarity I spotted helping Ponies up and out of the building, meanwhile glaring balefully at me.

'And the shit storm only gets worse...' I say to myself.

Looking back at the Banner, I walk over it, ponies fleeing for my path, and pick it up. It said: Welcome To Ponyville Martellus/ Bryce!

My twin hearts drop. Martellus is shell shocked by the seriousness of the situation as well. I look over at Pinkie, and begin to walk over to her. But Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash stop me. I stop dead in my tracks and look around. Everypony had left. I sigh heavily and look down at them.

"Hey, listen, I-" I began to say.

"Not one word there Mistah. Ah asked you ta do one thing, and in return, We get this?" Applejack interrupts, gesturing to the destruction around her.

"But I-"

"Ah said not a word! Or can you not do that either?!" She cuts me off.

I remain silent. She storms over to Pinkie who is still weeping, pawing futilely at the destroyed cake. Rainbow Dash hovers up to my face.

"I knew you were no good. You ever do something like this again, and you'll get what you have coming, buster." She says and flies over to the assembling group around Pinkie.

I look down at Rarity, who says nothing, harrumphs, and walks over to the group. Somehow, the last one stung the most. I turn to leave and look back one more time, hurt in my eyes. Pinkie is still weeping.

"No-nopony has e-ever reacted to-to one of my parties this way!" She blubbers.

My twin hearts pang with guilt again, and I duck out of the door. I begin to trudge back to the base, feeling defeated, and receiving glares and looks of terror all the way to the village bounds. I even receive them well out of the village bounds, up until the point I cant be seen anymore. Martellus and I trudge home in sad silence, contemplating what we had done. When we arrive at the tunnel, I collect a couple of dry stick and make my way down. Martellus remains silent as I build a fire in front of me and light it with the Servo-Tool. Then I sit down, leaning against the wall, staring into the fire. I get to thinking and slowly my anger begins to build.

'I thought the Mechanicus were supposed to be smart.' I snap at Martellus suddenly.

Martellus remains silent.

'The lore goes on and on about you guys build amazing war machines and how these machines could level mountains, destroy planets. But you couldn't even stop yourself when you were blinded by a few stupid tiny horses. Daemons my ass, these things wouldn't hurt a fly.'

I sense Martellus' anger begin to build. Being angry myself, I don't give a crap and continue to push him.

'Hell, if these things attacked us, I am pretty sure you would lose. What do you have to say to that, huh?' I say, 'voice' full of anger.

'You do not understand the things the Imperium had to do to survive.' He says, voice so cold it could freeze a man's heart.

But my heart is heated by rage, and its going to take a little more than that to stop my motor mouth with rage at the helm.

'Oh yeah? Tell me, what don't I understand? That you and the rest of the Mechanicus were too afraid to innovate? You were too scared of a few tinker toys with a few pop guns? Were you too scared to admit that the machine is just as weak as humans are?!' I 'shout' the last sentence.

He remains silent. At this point, any rational human being would stop, seemingly having won the argument, but my Rage beckoned for more. It wanted to drive a seething, scalding sword of hate, anger, and resentment, straight into Martellus' pride for doing something so stupid. My rage boiled over, and I was about to say something really stupid. But suddenly, the clop of hooves is heard coming down the tunnel. Martellus and I stow our rage for the moment to look at the new pony as the approach the fire light. The pony stops just short of the fire light.

"You mind if I sit with you chap?" It asks in a British accent.

I glare before waving him to sit. The pony turns out to be Doctor Whooves. He comes over and plops down right next to me, with a sigh. He looks me over once before staring into the fire with me.

"Fire. Its a beautiful thing. Entrancing. An age old power that every species has known to fear since the beginning of time." He begins.

I continue to glare at the fire, trying to keep my rage in check.

"But there is more than one type of Fire. The Fire of Hate and Anger is one. The Fire of Righteous Fury is another. These Martellus is very familiar with. And they burn within him even to this day." He says with a sideways glance.

Martellus looks at him, turning our head to watch him. The Doctor smiles, seeing he has our attention.

"There are many types of Fires. The Fire of Determination, the Fire of Hope, the Holy Fire. Fire is something every race has been entranced with since the beginning of time. And fire has just as much power to build as it can destroy."

He stands and looks at me.

"Mind taking a walk with me?"

I glare at him for a second, before I stand and stamp the fire out. He smiles and nods before leading us out. He walks straight into the woods, heading for massive trees in the distance. After about half an hour of walking, we arrive at the base of a large copse of Redwood Trees.

"These trees perfectly describe what I seek to teach. Every few years, a Fire has to rage here if these Trees are to survive its seedling years and thrive. It is just as instrumental in getting rid of the weak trees as growing the new. And they're seeds are just as dependent on the fire as the Tree's growth is."

He reaches down and picks up one of the seeds.

"These seeds are so dense, that it takes the raging heat of a fire to crack them open and release the seedling inside." He looks up at us. "But of course you already know this."

He walks up to us and holds the seed out. I pick it up and hold it in my hand.

"This seed is comparable to a hardened heart. Specifically, a heart that has never felt the power of friendship or companionship or Brotherhood. Or one that has felt it and turned away from it. What do either of you have to say about that?" He says, staring intently at us.

Martellus growls, closing his fist around the seed, intent on crushing it.

"Now, that is an acceptable course of action. In fact, it is an entirely logical thing to do. Martellus, you have purged THOUSANDS of hearts, just like this one from your own universe, whether by fire, bolt, or Chainsword, you have the blood of thousands on your hands. But perhaps, there was another way? What if the seed could be cracked, or in this examples case, the heart softened? What if it simply needed to be shown what acceptance was once more? What it was like to be part of a Brotherhood?"

I get the idea, and open our hand. Then I take the Servo-Tool and carve the seed open, and shove it in the ground.

"Ah, and there is the other mind in the mix. The ever-receptive and enigmatic human. Quick to forgive in some cases. Tell me lad, what is your name?" He asks.

"My name is Bryce." I say simply.

"A good name. Means Swift in Celtic if I am not mistaken!" He says with a chuckle.

I chuckle lightly as well and nod.

"Now, back to the discussion at hand. I want to wrap up this story as thus. Sometimes, it takes a catastrophe, to make great and wonderful and beautiful things happen." He says, gesturing up at the Redwood trees towering over us.

I look up at the trees and stare for a moment.

'Martellus?'

'Yes?'

'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so rude earlier. I was just so angry about what happened, that lashing out at you seemed like a good idea.'

'I accept your apology.'

I release muscles I hadn't realized I had been tensing. The Doctor nods.

"Ah. Atta boys. Forgiveness is a good thing. The Fire of Forgiveness can be the most penetrating of all, wearing down even the hardest of hearts and releasing the goodness inside. And coupled with friendship? Amazing things can grow as consequence. Twilight and her group have long learned this lesson. I thought it fair to teach you as well." He says with a content smile.

I nod at him.

"So how did you know there was two of us in here?" I ask, tapping my helmet.

"I have seen how normal Techmarines behave. Normally they are a bit of a social recluse, preferring they're work over people. Isn't that right Martellus?" He asks with a smile.

"Affirmative. But I would like to bring up-"

"Ah ah! You are just as much to blame as the Mechanicus and the rest of your Chapter!"

"You haven't finished answering my question." I interject.

He nods.

"Ah. So you've found me out have you? Well, I have tools, like this one," He says reaching into his satchel. "That can tell me this kind of thing."

And he pulls out the Sonic Screwdriver. My mind reels.

"You mean the fans were RIGHT?! Your an ACTUAL DOCTOR?!" I exclaim.

He nods with a smile.

"Indeed. Though the ponies don't know it yet, so lets keep it on the hush hush." He says with a smile.

I nod.

"Your secret is safe with us." I declare, to which he nods.

"I hope so! If I cant trust my secret to a Blood Raven, I cant trust it with anyone!" He says with a laugh. "Now go! Your missing out on an important part in the timeline. Twilight will need your aid shortly!"

I nod, smack my chest with the sign of the Aquila to salute him and make a dash for the Ponyville.

Doctor Whooves calls something after me.

"Oh! And one more thing! Wait for her at your base! You will see why momentarily!"

I throw a thumbs up over my shoulder and turn to head to base.

10 minutes later...

I slow to a stop as we approach the base. I look towards Ponyville and watch as Twilight's Tree rockets into air before slamming back down.

'OH! This must be the Crystal Empire episodes! Looks like Part 1!' I 'exclaim' to Martellus.

'Beginning research...' Martellus 'says'.

I enter the cave and sit down at the fire pit, relighting it with my Servo-Arm. Then I stare at the fire, lost in thought and mulling over what the Doctor said. I sit and wait for a solid 45 minutes before...

'Subject: Twilight Sparkle and Subject: Spike are approaching.' Martellus alerts.

'About time!' I exclaim exasperatedly and look towards the entrance.

Soon we hear the quiet canter of hooves and Twilight, whispering to Spike about something, comes down the tunnel. I grin as I get a devilish idea and stamp out the fire once more. The room descends into darkness and I hide at the cave entrance, just out of sight as Twilight lights up her horn to light the room.

'I highly disapprove of this action.' Martellus 'says'.

'SHHHHH! You'll ruin my fun!'

"Bryce? Martellus? Where are you?" Twilight says timidly, though it sounds like a shout in this cave.

Twilight nor Spike see me as I creep up behind them. I lean down slowly till I am right between they're heads and whisper:

"I've been waiting for you..."

They both shout in pure terror and pelt out of the room as fast as they can, Spike actively using Twilight as a spring board to escape faster. Meanwhile I am shaking with laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! RUN LITTLE BABIES! RUN!" I shout after them in my best TF2 Heavy impression.

Once they are out I sigh and follow them out. They are across the clearing I selected for my base glaring angrily at me. Which only makes me laugh again.

"HA! That was priceless! 10/10! Would do again!"

Twilight glares balefully at me.

"Oh stop! Its just a joke!" I exclaim exasperatedly.

"You know, you shouldn't do that to ponies." Twilight says with a glare.

"In the famous words of Marneus Calgar: 'I do what I like, and I like what I do.' " I proclaim.

Twilight stares at me dubiously.

"What do you want? Cant you see I was busy sulking in my cave?" I ask sarcastically, crossing my arms, which is surprisingly easy due to the Black Carapace.

She rolls her eyes.

"Princess Celestia has ordered my and my friends to go north and investigate the reappearance of the Crystal Empire, not that you know what that is-"

"I know what the Crystal Empire is." I say simply.

She blinks. Spike leans slightly off her back to look at me, surprised as well.

"How-"

"I have my ways." I cut her off.

She blinks again before rubbing her face.

"You are the most confusing pony I have ever met. Short of Pinkie Pie." She says as the sound of an explosion is heard.

We look towards Ponyville and watch as Pinkie soars above it, looking directly at us.

"Did someone say my name?!" She shouts as at us as she reaches her summit, before disappearing behind the trees again.

All 4 of us do a double take before we continue our conversation.

"I assume Celestia wants us to go with you?" I ask Twilight.

"Yes, that is correct. She explicitly said for you to come with us. I don't know why." She says.

I nod.

"One moment." I say.

I walk over to the corpses of the Timberwolves. Twilight and Spike, seeing them, blanch and they're pupils shrink in terror.

"If you want to know, ask Applejack later." I say simply as I pick one of them up.

I grip it at the neck and pull out my Chainsword.

"Might want to look away for this part kiddos." I say and rev it up.

They blanch more and quickly look away as I saw into its neck, just under the skull. I saw off its head, then saw off the lower part of it head, making sure to leave the jaw intact. I inspect the skull as I hear retching behind us. I look and see poor Spike throwing up behind a tree. Twilight looks up, sees the skull, and joins Spike at the tree, retching.

"Geez, y'all act like you've never seen a Skull before... Oh right, ponies." I say to myself.

'While I do approve of what we are doing with the skull, I would not have done it in front of the Ponies.' Martellus chides.

'Oh stop! You were going to do it WITH REAL SKULLS!' I 'exclaim'.

Martellus begins to make a comeback, but Twilight and Spike are making their way back over.

"That... was the most HORRIFYING thing I have ever seen..." Twilight says quietly.

"Well, I need equipment. And you don't have a Graveyard around here. So this will have to do." I say, shaking the skull.

I clip it to my belt and move to get another head.

"Yeah, we are going to wait for you at the Train Station." Twilight quickly says and dashes away.

I look up at her and watcher her go.

'With how fast she is going, she'd give Dash a run for her money!' I muse.

'Indeed.'

I get to work harvesting another skull, and clip it to my belt next to the other one. I begin to leave before Martellus stops us.

'WAIT. We cannot leave without The Package.'

'Package? What Package?'

Martellus turns, jogs into the Cave and retrieves the bag of food.

'Oh! That package!'

He opens a Bacon Cheeseburger box, takes a long whiff and begins to eat. He gently slings the bag of food up onto his Servo Arm and we begin the trek to the Train Station.

'I hope they reinforced the Train somehow. I would be a bit peeved if I had to walk all the way to the Crystal Empire.'

'Indeed.' Martellus 'says', and somehow it sounds like his mouth is full.

I am at first shocked before I am too lazy to continue pondering this and Martellus walks us to the Train Station. As we arrive, we see Twilight talking with the girls, and I get another devilish idea. I take a skull, put my hand in it and sneak around the train that is waiting, then I sneak up on the Mane 6 and stick the skull into the middle of their group, miming a puppet and shout:

"HOW'S EVERYONE'S DAY!?"

The Mane 6 scream in terror and dash into the trees, behind the train, anywhere that can provide cover. All of them except Pinkie, who is happily bouncing away and smiling at me and my puppet.

"Good one Bryce!" She says.

"Why thank you!" I say and take a bow.

The other Ponies migrate back, grumbling angrily, all except Fluttershy, whom is giving a tree its very own earthquake. I chuckle and approach the tree, reach up, and pull her down like a lost cat. I begin to stroke her head and she calms down.

'I don't know if this is weird or cute...' I 'say'.

'I am having mixed feelings as well...' Martellus 'responds'.

I look at the assembled Ponies who are glaring at me. Pinkie is bouncing around them happily, jabbering away about something no one really knows about.

"Before you chew my ass, know that it was a joke." I say.

"My! How vulgar! That wasn't a joke you brute! That was a horror show!" Rarity exclaims.

The others echo her sentiments. I sigh.

"A good joke is just so under appreciated around here." I say with another sigh.

The trains whistle blows. A pony leans out of the Engine window.

"Ready to go!" He shouts.

"Thanks!" Twilight shouts back, not breaking eye contact with me. "Martellus and Bryce, we will be talking about your behavior later."

The Ponies move onto the Train. I let out a heaving sigh.

"Suck..."

I look down at Fluttershy and notice she has fallen asleep in my arm. I smile.

'Bryce?'

'Yes Martellus?'

'What is this feeling?'

'I do believe my friend that it is joy.'

Martellus goes silent, pondering. I step onto the Train, somehow not falling through the floor, and move to take a seat, all of which surprisingly doesn't collapse underneath me. I settle in as the Train begins to move. I look up and notice Twilight is sitting directly in front of me.

'Shit.'

1 hour of boredom, train riding, and ass chewing later...

I sigh and look outside the window a lot.

'I sigh a lot now.'

'Indeed. I find it an unfitting sound to come forth from and Adeptus Astartes' mouth.'

'Your right, it doesn't sound right through the Vox-Grill.'

'Perhaps we should finish with our work?'

I look down at the project I had begun while I was getting bored. In my hand is an almost finished Servo-Skull, made from the head of the Timberwolf and some spare parts that Martellus had. For some reason he had the part necessary to build 2 Servo-Skull whenever he wanted. Yeah, I don't understand it either, so I am not questioning it.

I look it over and let Martellus finish his work. Soon it is done. Martellus releases it and it floats up into the air. It is lacking all of the ornamental symbols and banners and torches and the like, but it will serve its purpose.

"Servo-Skull #1 online. Awaiting command." It speaks.

The Ponies look up and there is a wave of mixed facial expressions that crosses their faces. Rarity, Applejack, Twilight and Fluttershy seem appalled, while Pinkie Pie is delighted and Rainbow Dash looks about 2 seconds from launching herself at the thing.

"Now, now. Calm down. its just a Servo-Skull." I say, waving at them.

It turns to eye look at them and Fluttershy begins crying.

'Oh shit.'

' 'Oh shit' indeed.'

"Look, it wont hurt anyone, it cant even if I wanted it to. Its sole purpose it to be a Sensor Suite, okay?" I say, waving at them to calm down.

None of them respond, probably not knowing how to in this scenario, but then the Train comes to a stop.

"Everyone off for Crystal Empire!" The Conductor shouts.

The Ponies wordlessly begin to clamber off the train. I stand up at look at Spike, whom is carrying dozens of boxes for Rarity.

'Of course she brought extra clothes...'

'I do not understand, what is the appeal of extra clothing? Is this extra clothing battle garb?' Martellus asks, genuine curiosity lacing his voice.

'One would think which how much she carries. But sadly, this is not the case, she is just a Diva.'

'Diva? I am unfamiliar with this term.'

'I'll tell you later, got to lend Spike a hand.'

I walk over to Spike and take half the load from him. And he groans in happiness, before growling, realizing that he isn't carrying all of Rarity's clothes anymore. He looks up at me.

"Let me carry them." He says with conviction.

"Look, any other day I would be happy to let you show off your macho man muscles to Rarity, but have you seen the weather outside?" I say and gesture to the screaming gales of wind outside.

He grimaces and nods.

"Fair point."

We exit the Train and follow behind the Mane 6. A gust of wind snags a Scarf and Spike drops his bags to catch it while the girls complain about the cold ahead of us. I snag it out of the air and hand it back to him. He smiles up at me as I look forward into the snowstorm.

'And queue Shining Armor.'

Out of the Snowstorm comes Shining Armor, wearing goggles and a mask made of a scarf. Upon seeing Twilight he lowers the scarf and raises his goggles. I look behind us and see the Train chugging away.

'Oh, so that's where the Train went in the show.' I think to myself.

'You claim to have not watched the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic show, yet you seem to have first-hand knowledge, explain.' Martellus demands.

'My little sister made me watch every single episode with her. I found it surprisingly entertaining once I stop choking on all of the Deus Ex Machina of the show.'

'Dues Ex Machina?'

'Another time.' I tell him as Shining Armor approaches with Twilight.

"Hello again! Its great to see you here!" He shouts up at me through the wind.

"Great to be here! But not gonna lie, I am already sick of the cold! Am I right?!" I shout back.

It stirs up the desired reaction.

"Yeah! Come on everyone! We'd better get back before dark!" He shouts.

"Why? What's wrong with the Dark?" Twilight hollers back.

"You don't want to know." Shining says and begins to lead us towards the city.

We continue to walk in the frozen tundra. We march in relative silence, aside from the grunts of effort Spike is making. I keep looking around, expecting Sombra at any second.

'Where is he? I know he is out there.'

'Auspex's pick up nothing. Sending Servo-Skull.'

The Servo-Skull detaches from our belt and begins to float into the air. No one notices. I look around again and see nothing. Suddenly there is an alert.

'Martellus, help?'

He opens to alert to see visual footage from the Servo-Skull. It shows a mass approaching us from the rear at 300 meters and closing.

'There he is.'

I look around and see we are in the same place where the Ponies saw him in the show.

'Right on queue.'

I drop the clothes I was holding and turn to look at the horizon behind us, drawing my Bolter and Chainsword. The Ponies are unaware until Spike shouts about the clothes.

"Hey! Those are Rarity's clothes!" He shouts.

I don't respond.

'200 meters and closing.'

"Hey! I was talking to you! Pick those up!" Spike shouts at my back.

I raise my Bolter and the ponies finally realize what is happening as I level it on the horizon.

'50 meters and closing.'

I am starting to See Sombra's massive shadowy form. And then he has closed the distance.

"RUN!" Shining Armor and I both shout simultaneously.

The Ponies immediately take off running, but I stand my ground and fire off a trio of bolts at Sombra's eyes. They pass through without causing damage.

"SHIT!" I shout and turn tail and run after them.

I am rapidly eating up ground behind them, but Sombra is just as fast as me, and likewise, is eating up ground.

'Shit, gotta slow him down somehow.'

I look ahead and notice we are almost to the shield surrounding the Crystal Empire. Shining, seeing this, stops and makes a stand.

'Right on queue.'

I skid to a stop next to him and begin cracking off shots. He begins to power up a spell and fires a beam of energy at Sombra. The energy passes through just as easily as my Bolts do. Sombra begins to fall on us as Shining charges another blast. I rev my Chainsword as my Servo-Skull hovers close.

"FOR THE EMPEROR!!!" I thunder and suddenly, we are covered in black.

'Martellus, any damage?' I ask as we look around.

I can barely make out the light of the Servo-Skull next to me.

'Negative, we are undamaged.

I peer around and hear the pained shout of Shining to my right. I rush to him and the cloud disappears. Not bothering to check him over, I sprint for the bubble and look over my shoulder at Sombra. He glares after me, laughing maniacally.

"SOON, THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE SHALL BE MINE ONCE MORE!" He booms.

"WELL YOU CAN BITE MY SHINY METAL ASS!!!" I thunder back at him.

He roars angrily at my defiance and rushes me again, but I made it to the bubble and I lose sight of him through the sudden flash of color.

I appear on the other side of the bubble where the Mane 6 are looking around in awe and worry.

"Girls!" I shout to them and put Shining Armor down.

They rush over and examine Shining Armor as he stands up. We all see the black crystals on Shining Armor's Horn.

"Shining! Your horn!" Twilight exclaims.

He looks up at his horn and tries to power it. He fails as the black crystal block his progress. He looks back at us, stoic.

"Nevermind me, I have to get you to the palace, Cadence needs you." he says and begins to lead us to the massive crystal palace in the distance.

We have reached the Throne Room, where Cadence is waiting for us. Upon seeing Twilight they both shout in joy and rush to each other. They do their little rhyme, which causes my stomach to roll.

'I really do not like that song.'

'Affirmative, it is slightly irksome.'

We watch as they talk, completely aware of what is about to happen next.

"A Research Paper!" Twilight suddenly shouts.

'And that's our queue to make ourselves scarce before the singing begins.' I 'say' to Martellus.

'Agreed.'

We spin on a foot and quickly walk out before Twilight can leave with her friends and begin singing. I make my way out of the castle and into the surrounding city. I look around at all of the depressed Crystal Ponies.

'Damn, they look borderline suicidal depressed!'

'In the Imperium, suicide is frowned upon due to its cowardice.' Martellus proclaims.

'Yeah, I don't like it either. For lots of reasons really, but in other news before I depress myself to the same level as the Crystal Ponies, am I the only one that has noticed that we haven't reloaded our Bolter ONCE in our time here? Or changed out the Promethium Cells in our Chainsword?'

Martellus pauses, reaches down and unhooks the Bolter as we sit on a Crystal bench in front of the Crystal Library, which Twilight will be arriving at in a little while. Our Servo-Skull floats up beside us and stares at us.

'Indeed. Even I cant remember doing either of those activities. The Standard Bolter Clip contains 30 Bolt rounds. And doing calculations..... We have expended at least 15 clips worth of rounds in the battle for Canterlot alone. Our Chainsword should have run out of fuel long ago as well.'

He pulls out the clip and we peer inside it.

'HOLY SHIT!!!'

'By the Emperor on Terra! This cannot be!'

What greets us on the inside of the Bolt clip is an empty void, going off into black infinity. We drop the Bolt clip.

'This defies every law of physics known to Mankind!' He proclaims.

I sense the sheer amount of surprise and terror this is causing him.

'Bro! Do you know what this means!?' I 'ask' excitedly.

'What in the Emperor's Holy and Sanctified Name could it mean!?' He 'asks', terror uncommon to an Astartes lacing his 'voice'.

'We have an infinite clip!' I answer excitedly.

'That is impossible! All known laws of the Universe make this impossible!' He exclaims.

'But do you know what THAT implies!?'

'By the Emperor, spit it out already!'

'We aren't bound by the laws of the universe anymore! And you know what isn't bound by the laws of physics?! Video-game characters!'

'ARE YOU IMPLYING WE ARE FAKE AS WELL?!' He 'booms'.

'On the contrary, our body is very real, but we may have powers akin to this bodies' Video-Game counterpart!'

'I AM THIS BODIES' COUNTERPART! THIS BODY IS MINE!!!'

'Hold on, I want to try something.'

I reach out with my mind and picture the form of a Tarantula Turret in front of me. And suddenly, one plummets from the sky and lands in front of me! I suddenly lose control of our body as the Servo-Arm drops the food, and our body leans forward to start working on powering up the turret.

'Martellus! Stop it!'

'I am not in control!'

Our body stands back up as the turret comes online.

'...What just happened?'

'By the Emperor's Holy Name, I do not know.'

We sit down as Martellus mulls over what happened. The Mane 6 begin to approach. They see me and stop chattering. As they approach, I de-activate the Tarantula turret remotely so they don't get turned into mulch by 75. Caliber, High Explosive, Diamantine tipped, rocket propelled shells. The Ponies trot up to me, Rainbow Dash and Applejack eyeing the Tarantula turret warily.

"What's wrong?" Fluttershy mumbles to me, attentive to emotions as she always is.

"Just a little shocked is all. I'll be fine, Martellus might not be." I mumble back to her.

She is about to say more, but is cut off as Twilight squeals.

"OHMYGOSH! Look at that Library!" She Screams and joy and rushes the door.

Her friends follow. I stand, and 'pat' Martellus on his 'back' in an effort to re-assure him. He doesn't respond as I walk the body into the library. I turn to the Tarantula Turret, then I elect to self-destruct it so no one asks any questions. It detonates and leaves no damage on anything surrounding it. I elect to not mention this to Martellus, who is having trouble coping as it is.

We enter the library and have the conversation from the show with the Librarian. She of course cant help us and we begin searching the library. I engage in a race to find the book, having what it looked like from the show committed to memory. And of course, since I am a cheater, I use my Servo-Skull to help me look. Eventually, Twilight finds it first.

'Dang, I wanted to find it first.'

I recall my Servo-Skull and come down from a higher level of the library to her. She has already read the part about the fair and the Crystal Heart.

"Girls! I know what to do." Twilight proclaims and rushes out the Library, barreling past me.

The others follow her to go set up the fair. Meanwhile, I leave to begin prepping for the battle with Sombra.

I move throughout the Crystal Empire, setting up Tarantula Turrets of both the Heavy Bolter and Missile Launcher Variant. As I walk and drop Turrets, the Townsponies seem to be all but absent.

'Huh, I wonder where all of the Ponies are?'

Martellus doesn't respond, worrying me. Rather than spark his ire, I send out the Servo-Skull in a Patrol Pattern to investigate. As it travels away, I set up a micro-screen in my HUD to monitor its progress and whereabouts. Soon, it returns, reporting that all inhabitants spotted where either heading towards the Fair. Thus true preparations began.

As, I work quickly on setting up one of the Tarantula Turrets, I notice one of the Crystal Ponies is watching me with an almost depressed look on his face. I stand as the Turret comes online.

"Something wrong?" I ask him.

He shrugs. Then sighs.

"Well, why dont you head to the fair? I hear lots of ponies are having fun there."

The pony sighs before trudging away. But I still sense a dark cloud. I turn my attention inward and sense something wrong with Martellus.

'What's wrong buddy?'

Martellus is silent for a moment.

'Is my whole life a lie? The Imperium of Man? The Blood Ravens? Is it all fake? Is it all made up for the sick entertainment of some random people you call Britian? Is it all just a 'Money Pit' for some other Britian People to profit off of?!'

I pause, shocked that this was the kind of thing that shook a Space Marine.

'Oof. That is one hell of a question. One that I cant answer. But personally? I believe that the Universe you call home is all too real. For me, I personally believe that the imagination is a window into other worlds. Your own easy likely seen and recreated in human pop culture back in my world. It's a crackpot theory, but it's something to think about.'
Martellus is silent, but the dark cloud dissipates. I notice we are near the Castle.

"Let's go check on the girls, see what they are up to."

Martellus says nothing. I turn us and begin walking towards the castle. As we approach, we find Applejack nervously guarding a tarp over what is no doubt the fake Crystal Heart. I sneak up behind her. I grin and take a deep breath, then in my best Smoke impression:

"What's in the Canister?"

She leaps five feet in the air, screaming. She plummets down with a 'SMACK'. Meanwhile, I am dying.

"OHMYGOSH!!! That was the best!!!" I guffaw.

She grumbles angrily. I stop laughing and pat her on the back.

"Alright, I'm sorry. I was just trying to have a good laugh. Now, I already know what's under the Tarp. So, where is Twilight?"

Applejack's eyes flare in surprise.

"How do ya know that?!" She asks, shocked.

"I have my ways. Where is she?"

She grumbles.

"She's looking for you know what."

I nod.

"In the Castle I presume?"

She nods in turn. A Crystal Pony walks up to the Tarp, curious. With but a thought, my Servo-Arm bars her progress. She looks up at me with terror.

"Hands off the Merchandise."

She nods in abject terror and cowers away. I turn back to Applejack.

"Thanks for the advice. I will find her."

I turn and begin walking to the Castle steps. I send my Servo-Skull ahead with but a thought. It finds her as she unlocks the secret staircase.

'Damn, missed the fun part. Well, at least I can 1v1 Sombra!'

I change course and arrive at the Balcony. I watch Cadence as she struggles to maintain the shield around the Crystal Empire. Shining Armor does his level best to support her. I march up and look out into the Shield, watching it flicker and Sombra lurk just outside.

'I would kill for a Void Shield Generator right now.'

'We do not have the necessary resources to build a Void Shield Generator.' Martellus suddenly says.

'I know, idly wishing.'

'Heresy grows from idleness.'

Shining Armor walks up behind us.

"Is there anything you can do to help her?" He asks, desperation in his voice.

We sadly shake our head.

"I have done all I can. But magic is not my forte. I am no psyker." Martellus says.

He grimaces and goes back to comforting her as the mob forms beneath us. Minutes later the other Mane six come careening into the Balcony. Applejack and Rarity wave placatingly at the crowd whilst Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy worry over Cadence. Rainbow Dash stares at the distance with me. She looks up at me as the shield flickers.

"You scared big guy?"

I scoff.

"I am an Adeptus Astartes, one of the Emperor's Angels of Death. I know no fear, for I am fear incarnate."

Rainbow Dash nods, a confused look on her face.

Suddenly, the Shield fails. Sombra streams inside. I pull out my Bolter.

"IN THE EMPEROR'S NAME!"

The Targeting Auspex springs to life. I aim for the massive gaseous head. I pull the trigger and simultaneously trigger all of the Tarantula Turrets set up all around the Crystal Empire. They all hammer Heavy Bolter Shells and Missiles into Sombra, who roars in outrage as the explosive shells and warheads pockmark his form. He slams into the grounds and Dark Crystal destroy most of my Turrets.

"Damn." I say with a grimace.

I leap off the Balcony, still firing.

"SOMBRA! YOU FUCKING AIRHEAD! I'M OVER HERE!!!"

His head rises again and roars as he sees me. He barrels towards me, and just as he is about to impact me, Spike appears bearing the Crystal Heart. He looks up with horror. He goes flying off towards Spike.

"Hey! I'm not done with you!!!"

I fire after him but he outdistances my Bolter. I sprint after him, but watch as Spike falls, Cadence rescues him, and they restore the Crystal Heart. I pause as the shock wave builds. The Cogitator beeps angrily.

Brace for shockwave.

I hunker down as the shockwave explodes out from the Heart. It washes over the city, blasting Sombra to pieces and reversing his evil spell. And as my Vision is restored, I glance down at myself to find...

I have not changed.

"Oh thank goodness. I do not want to be Crystallized!"

Martellus 'nods.'

I look around and then make my way to the castle, where the girls are celebrating. I smile, then enter the room. The girls dont even notice. Spike notices though. He rushes over.

"Hey, thanks for keeping me covered out there guys."

I nod.

"No problem."

The girls begin to leave, fawning over their crystalline form. Spike looks at me.

"Why aren't you all shiny too?"

I look at my arms, then shrug.

"Dont know."

Spike shrugs, then we return home.

I arrive back at the base and take a deep breath.

"Yep, still smells like mildew." I say with a chuckle.

Martellus was quiet all the way home.

'What's on your mind bud?'

He takes a moment to respond.

'What if I can never return to the Chapter? What if I can never return home?'

I 'nod.'

'Both good questions. But I have a better question. What would you do if you could?'

Martellus is silent.

'I find it unlikely that even the Blood Ravens can protect you from the Inquisition for the Heresy you have committed here. But, maybe if you bring this planet into Imperial Rule, you might be able to go home?'
Martellus is silent still.

'Well, I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Let's eat a Burger!'

I can practically feel our combined mouth begin salivating.

'Indeed.'

Author's Note

I hope everyone who reads this enjoys this new installment of Martellus and I! If anyone has questions, leave a comment. If anyone sees a mistake I could fix to make the story better, leave a comment. If anyone has an issue with this chapter, leave a comment. If you want to leave a suggestion for more Techmarine Shenanigans, leave a comment or PM me. If you just want to leave a comment, leave a comment! Seriously, leave a comment for any reason. I will read it and respond.
I love it especially when people leave likes and comments for me, it tells me people (or ponies,) want to see more of this. And dislikes are just as appreciated! But if you leave a dislike, I implore you to tell me why, so I can fix it and make it better.
Also, we finally get to see a bit of the timeline from MLP:FiM! I intend to follow the timeline from here. However, it of course will be affected by what Bryce and Martellus build. For example, it will be considerably easier to defeat Tirek when he comes if they build something like an Imperial Knight or a Titan! But that's my plan, if you don't like that, you know what to do already!
And also, to clear things up, Martellus will have the same abilities that he does in the Dawn of War 2: Retribution campaign and the same powers as the Techmarine in the Dawn of War 2 Multiplayer.
But as always, remember: Knowledge is Power, so guard it well.