Warhammer 40K: The Path to Ruin

“Twilight Sparkle dear, please wake up!” a voice called out.

Twilight opened her weary eyes to see a worried Rarity looking down at her while Rainbow Dash hovered above. When she tried to speak, Twilight could only groan in response, she felt like an apple cart crashed into her and backed up again.

“She’s Awake!” said the cyan pegasus, hovering in the air. The sounds of movement helped her focus her thoughts. She sat up and saw Pinkie hopping down the stairs with Spike coming along slowly from behind. Pinkie was as happy as ever, but Twilight could tell that Pinkie was quite worried as the rest of them. Spike on the other hand looked like he was worse for wear, a nasty bruise on his shoulder and neck.

Pinkie zoomed to her in a flash and spoke in a flurry of words. “Ooh! Ooh! Twilight, Twilight, it’s SO good to see you up! When I heard you needed help I came ASAP, which means ‘As Soon As Possible’. Well not exactly 'as soon as possible'. I had to feed Gummy, deliver an order for the Cakes, make myself an afternoon snack, fix my "Pinkie's Super Duper Spinning Whirling Air Machine" after I crashed it. But after I finished adding more balloons, THen I came as quickly as I could and when I got here TheRe were so Many ponies at your place and I got worried that you were having a Party and I forgot about it and then, and then--”

“That’s quite enough dear.” Rarity said, placing a hoof on Pinkie’s mouth, though Pinkie was content to continue speaking despite the physical barrier. She turned to Twilight. “Apparently a horrid ruffian from the hospital escaped and caused all kinds of trouble, and when I heard that you and Applejack got hurt…I nearly fainted.”

“Applejack got hurt?!” Twilight asked.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash answered. “She tried to stop that jerk, but he managed to knock her out. The Apple family is talking care of her now. If it was me, that colt wouldn't see me coming." She threw a one-two hoof combo in the air for emphasis. “He was lucky that I was at Cloudsdale, and I didn’t hear about it until I got back, which reminds me. Pinkie, Why didn’t you hear anything? From what I heard, this guy caused quite the stir in Ponyville, and I figured that you and your Pinkie Senses would’ve caught wind of it.”

“That’s an easy one. I was taking a nap!” Pinkie exclaimed happily. Rarity and Rainbow Dash just looked at her with disbelief before deciding to drop the matter. Spiked moved up to Twilight, both still quite sore from their injuries. "I also heard that Fluttershy was busy trying to calm her animals, but she is currently hiding in her cottage” Pinkie perked.

“I didn’t wake up too long before you and the ponies from the hospital were kind enough to send a medic to check up on the both of us. We were just about to move you to the bed, when you woke up.”

“I need to report this is to the Princess right away.” Twilight rose with trembling legs, only to get caught by her friends.

The room was suddenly filled with brilliant light, and from the door stood a celestial presence with wings flared and a spectral mane flowing in ghostly winds. Princess Celestia folded her wings as she walked down the stairs with grace.

“It’s quite alright Twilight,” the Princess said when she joined their little group. “I’ve received your letter about your discovery of the strange pony, but I couldn’t come by early due to royal business. From what I’ve heard, it was this same pony that caused all the commotion in town.” A look of pitiful sorrow rose in Twilight's eyes.

“I’m so sorry Princess, if I knew he would be this dangerous I would’ve--”

“Twilight Sparkle, you acted with the best of intensions towards a stranger, and I commend you for your kindness. You couldn’t have known that he would’ve been so hostile. You have done well to inform me of your discovery. I blame myself for not being here when you needed me.” Princess Celestia spoke with regret. She moved closer to Twilight and cast a healing spell on her. “Now Twilight can you recount the events that have led to you find this strange pony?”

Gaining her strength back, Twilight stood before the goddess and told her story. How she was star-gazing when she saw a strange ripple in the night sky. the ripple soon became a literal tear in space, in which multi-colored lights danced within. It was quite difficult to focus on it but she could feel the energy pulsing around it. Shortly after the rift appeared, an unidentified object came through a blazing down into the Everfree where it crashed. She even pointed out how surprised that no one else woke to this. Wanting to investigate the site, she immediately headed to the Everfree in the dark of night.

“Really Twi…you tried to go into the Everfree in the middle of the night?…” Rainbow Dash interrupted.

“Yeah, not one of my best ideas,” Twilight admitted, sheepishly. She continued her story. By the time she arrived to the entrance of the Everfree, she was having second thoughts. It wasn’t long after entering the forest, she heard something coming out of the woodwork. She was prepared to repel, but upon seeing that something crawling out and collapse, she went up to it and discovered that it was a pony in the strangest of armor, the most notable feature was the green hydra emblem on the pauldron. Discovering that she couldn’t even move the pony, even with magic, she went to the hospital for help, and for two days things were normal until the pony broke out, and the rest is history.

“I’m sorry, Princess, that I wasn’t too clear on the first letter I was kind of a rush.” Twilight said.

“It’s quite alright Twilight, I understand.”

“What should we do?” Twilight asked.

After moment of comedic thinking, Pinkie's ears perked up. “We should throw him a PARTY!” she said lifting her arms in the air as party balloons, confetti, and streamers burst out from behind her. somehow…

Everyone turned to her with disbelief, Rainbow Dash stared displeased.

“Really Pinkie…” Dash sighed. “That crazy pony hurt Twilight, Applejack and who knows who else, and you want to throw him a ParTY?!” she shouted close to Pinkie's face.

Pinkie only giggled and squished RD's face. “Come on Dashie, if we throw him a party maybe he’ll stop being a mean-meanie-grumpy-pants and apologize. After all, no pony can resist a Pinkie Pie Party!”” Pinkie happily hopped in place as she said the last part.

“Pinkie, dear, I highly doubt one like himself would take part in your parties...” Rarity said, trying to reason with Pinkie.

“Well it can’t hurt to ask.” Pinkie said smiling. Rarity decided that it was best not to engage the argument.

“So what should we do now Princess?” Twilight asked.

Princess Celestia looked upon her student. “We won’t force him out of hiding, but I can not risk having him hurt any of my little ponies. I will station a group of guards to watch over Ponyville. You may speak with Gallant Aura if you need anything.”

On cue, Gallant Aura came down the basement steps and bowed before the Princess. Gallant Aura sported a dark tan coat of fur and a fine horn on his head. He stood with a pose that demanded respect from those under him. In contrast to the Canterlot Guards’ gold armor set, he wore a heavy armor set of iron with chain-linked armor covering the joints and neck. He also had a angular visor propped against his horn, allowing everyone to see the scar on his blind left eye, curtsy of a griffon claw from the war.

“Princess, we have set up our camp at the end of the park you ordered, and I have the guards patrolling the town.” Gallant said, his voice sharp and precise.

“Excellent work Gallant Aura. This is my student Twilight Sparkle along with her friends, you will assist them when needed.” said the Princess. “I must go now Twilight, I still have to set the sun for the coming night. All of you rest well.”

“As you wish Princess.” Gallant bowed towards the Princess, and turned to Twilight and her friends. “Unfortunately I can not stay any longer, I must get back the camp and oversee my camp, but feel free to speak to me for assistance.” Gallant said taking his leave.

“So what now?” Dash asked, “We gonna get this jerk and knock some sense in him?” she said bonking her hooves together.

“Rainbow DASH.” Rarity said sternly. “Now is not the time to think going after that no good pony, while our friends in their condition.”

“She’s right.” Twilight said. “It’s going to be night soon and it will be hard to track him, and I have no intention of going in there in the dark with a dangerous pony running in there. A good night’s sleep sounds really good right now after the whole ordeal.”

“Whatever, fine…” Dash flew out the of basement “I’ll see you later.”

“I must be going to.” Rarity said “I have to care of Sweetie Belle and make dinner.”

“See you girls.” Twilight said, waving a hoof. “You going to go too Pinkie?”

“Yeah, somepony needs to throw a Welcome party for her new friends. See you later Twilight.” she said. Pinkie threw down colorful smoke bombs. When the smoke cleared, Pinkie flew her strange flying machine out of the basement.

“See you Twilight” she said over the noise of the machine, waving a hoof.

“Come on Spike, I need to do a little studying before I can go to sleep.” Twilight said.

Spike sighed. “I’ll make some tea…”

Alpha stared out of his cave, watching the silhouette of Ponyville as the moon rose up to the sky, small dots of the pegasi. Even after devouring Night Dart for his memories, the Hunger took over him, much too quickly over something so little. It didn't care though. It demanded to be sated. In his bloodlust, he tore at the corpse and devour its flesh with innate fervour, but it wasn’t enough. The Craving called out louder. After moving through the forest killing any little creature that crossed his path, he soon found a cave up on the mountain side and annihilated a large black bear that dwell there, its blood spattered the walls and its mangled carcass still laying in the corner of the cave where he killed it. He stood at the mouth of the cave, the bear's blood clung to his fur and dried on his lips, his mind felt clearer after the bout.

He can the gentle breeze on his matted fur, the warm rays of the rising moon reach him with unfiltered eyes. Yet he cared little of it, if anything he was annoyed by it all. It constantly remind him that he was without his armor, and without it he felt…incomplete. He must acquire his armor as soon as possible. Once he possess his armor, he can figure out what to do after. He stood and made his way into town once more, walking with purpose.

“Here Twilight” Spike said, pouring another cup of tea for her next to a stack of books. For the last two hours, she have been reading and skimming through each book in search of the answers she sought. However, each one did little to quell her inquiries and if anything only raised more questions for its elusiveness.

“I thought you said that you wanted to get some sleep?” he asked

“I still can’t get my mind over what I saw in the sky that night.” she said, closing yet another book and adding it to a growing pile. "There is a possibly that the stranger and the anomaly are connected."

“I know that it has a mystical properties to it -I felt the surge myself- but none of these books even speak about such strange portals with strange multiple changing lights within them.” she exclaimed, ready to give up.

“Maybe the Canterlot Royal Library will have the answer?” Spike stated. He regret it the moment he said it. Twilight sparked up with zest.

“Spike, you’re a genius! I’ll go to the Canerlot Library, look over their books about mystical portals and find the answer I am looking for!” she said excitedly, rushing over a few things to pack. “Come on Spike, let’s go!”

“But Twilight, Canterlot Library isn’t open this time of the night, and you said that you were going to get some rest.” Spike pled. Twilight, however, was already standing beside an open door.

“I’ll get some rest after I get some answers. To the Royal Library!” Twilight said, taking in a heroic pose before dashing out the door.

“You were better off out-cold…” Spike muttered as he hurried along after her.

“Can you get these papers to Filing, Stacy?”

“No problem, Mr. Whistle” Stacy whispered.

Morning Whistle finally finished writing his report about the incident. When he finally got out of the forest, it took a bit of time to get a team to go with him. When they did find Night Dart, he was horrified at what he saw, a few others lost their lunch.

Night Dart’s remains, which is to best fit the description, was torn to shreds. A large chunk of his neck was ripped, where most of the blood -which was difficult to tell with the giant red mess until on-site autopsy crew came by- flowed out. There were so many lacerations on the face that mostly bone was left on half his face. He could still see the look of horror in Night Dart’s good eye, his other eye was found on a nearby tree. Even one of his limbs was ripped, they didn’t need to look far for that one with the distant sounds of more upchucking.

He regretted leaving him alone to his death. He knew that the Everfree was dangerous, yet he left him there because he was a coward, alone with a terrible killer. He not getting any restful sleep tonight, or any other night for a while. Maybe he’ll stay in his office for a little bit and get some paperwork done…

A few minutes later, he collapsed to sleep.

“He’s really depressed over what happened to Night Dart.” said Stacy Gentlehoof, an intern at the hospital.

“That’s really unfortunate.” said Swirly Pop, a new guard filling in for Night Dart. “What did they ever do with the escapee’s items?”

“I don’t know, but I heard that they’re shipped it to another team in the Canterlot Archives for study yesterday.”

“Is Canterlot that castle in the mountain side?” Swirly asked.

“Yeah that’s Canterlot Castle, home to the Princesses. Canterlot itself is home to a lot of noble and/or rich ponies. A lot of ponies around here know that.” Stacy said, looking at Swirly Pop questionly.

“I was a transfer from Manehattan.” Swirly Pop said. “I never saw Canterlot before ‘til I arrived here.”

“Oh right, sorry if I came off rude.” She said apologetically. "I've never been to Canterlot myself too."

“It’s quite alright. Now if you don’t mind, I must get back to my rounds.” Swirly Pop smiled, leaving Stacy to her own devices.

Swirly Pop made his way outside some distance away from the hospital.Once he was good distance away from the hospital, He took of the uniform and stashed it in a hole, he may have use for it later. It was a risk to question the mare like that, he almost blew his cover asking about Canterlot. The real Swirl Pop was dead, his body well hidden. At least now Alpha knew where his armor is located.

The local mode of long range transportation was the train station, so he got the late night ticket with the bits that Swirl Pop had on him, and made his way to Canterlot. Unknown to Alpha, Twilight Sparkle was two cars in front of him.

It didn’t take long for him to make his way to Canterlot Castle, however, something concerned him. the castle is the location of his armor and possibly his weapons, but it was also home of their ruler Princess Celestia. However, the mare said that it was home of the “Princesses” meaning that there was more than one powerful being living here. He must find the location of the archives and his armor and take it back, but he must first get inside without alerting the guards that patrolled the area.

His ears picked up the sound of hooves. He slid into the shadows and waited...

“Come on Spike, we’re burning moonlight.” Twilight said quietly, dressed in her black outfit that she wore the last time she snuck in. The Canterlot Gardens is the least guarded so Twilight and Spike were able to sneak through without much trouble.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” he says close behind, dressed in a similar outfit.

“So why did we need to bring some rope? why can't we just teleport in, or come in the same way the first time?” Spike asked.

“I would teleport us in but it seems that they placed a magic barrier to prevent anypony from doing that, and they have increased their security since the last time” She explained.

“Spike, can you use the hook and rope to get to that window?” she asked pointing up.

“I’ll see what I can do.” He said, swinging the hook around before tossing it to the windowsill. The hook flew and landed with a satisfying ‘thunk’.

“Good job Spike, climb the rope and I’ll get myself up with magic.” Twilight instructed.

Spike nodded, “See you up there.”

It took some time to climb the rope but when he reached the top, Twilight had already used her magic on her horn to cut one of the window panes out.

“Spike, I need you to unlock the window for me”

Spike crawled into the small window space unhooked the latch and opened the window. When Twilight jumped inside, He gathered up the rope and closed the window to prevent alerting the guards. Twilight found a table for them to use and collected a few books, while Spike check the halls outside for guards. Spike soon later grabbed a few books himself and sat on the floor near Twilight, leaning his back on a bookshelf as they both read in the moonlight.

Half an hour have pass and they still haven’t found anything. Twilight was getting unnerved as she skimmed scores of books on magic and the supernatural. Spike on the other hand was nodding off to sleep, so use to the comforts of slumber. Twilight hit her hooves on the wooden table causing Spike to jolt up from his sleepy state.

“Twilight, we’re suppose to be quiet” Spike’s eyes gazed around to make sure no pony hear them.

“Argh! None of these books even mention anything close to phenomenon that I saw last night, not even Starswirl the Bearded have any records of it.” Twilight said. “the thing I saw was…dark, powerful. It was like seeing Nightmare Moon for the first time, only a hundred times scarier.”

*De-Thum*

“What was that?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know, go check.” Twilight whispered.

Much to his discomfort, Spike ventured out into the rows of slightly dusty shelves. He trended carefully into the moonlit shadows. As he neared one of the corners of the library, he swore that he saw a moving shadow. He rushed over only to see a fallen book. He picked up the book up for examination. Its skin was made of smooth glistening black scales, on the cover itself was written in golden letters: Liber Chaotica

Strangely it had no author, instead there was a grim steel six point star with a blue eye in the center of it. He shudder at the creepy eye because of how lifelike it seemed. Without opening the book, Spike see that the pages itself was heavily weathered, despite the near-perfect condition of the cover. Seeing as there is no one around, he figured it was best not to go back empty-handed.

“Find anypony?” Twilight asked when Spike returned.

“No, I did find this weird book.” Spike said handing the book over to Twilight.

“The Liber Chaotica.” Twilight read the title. “Weird, there’s no author.”

“That’s what I thought too.” Spike chirped.

“And there seems to be a bit of magic flowing from the book itself, something I never thought was possible, given of how old this book seem to be.” Twilight said. She spent a few moments to examine the book further, taking note of every corner of it.

Finally she proceeded to open the book and read the first page, written in bloody ink on top the original cover page print.

“To those that found this book, may your Gods have mercy on your souls.”

“I don’t like the sound of that…” Spike worried. “We should put it back.”

“Spike, We came here to learn something, anything, about what I saw three nights ago, and that’s what I plan on doing.” she said.

Twilight skimmed through the book, reading aloud of the dark working of Kaos or best known as Chaos. The chaos that Twilight read was different from Discord’s. Where as Discord mainly causes disorder and confusion, These gods of chaos are horrendous and have hate against one another. Entire pages are dedicated to the unimaginable acts of their followers, each more terrible than the next. Twilight never heard of any of the daemons before and their names alone sent chills.

Every time she read another page, she felt herself become more cold and a growing sense of dread. Spike was not faring any better, he just sat there listening to Twilight as he chewed at his claws. She envy Spike for not having to read the book. The

She flips to one of the pages and --

“Oh DeAR CeLeStia!!” she screamed, falling off her chair.

“What happened?!” Spike asked.

Twilight just pointed at the book in fright. Spike carefully looked at the book from an edge. The picture was a page and a half long, the pigment was old but the color was still there. The image was that of what Twilight saw that night, in greater detail. She can see the daemons stare at her from the book, hundreds upon thousands maws melded within the image seeking to devour the souls of the departed. The image was so detailed that Twilight swore that the daemon maws were trying to get to her. She turned to Spike and saw that he shuddered.

“Man…that’s creepy.” he stated, quickly looking away.

“I think I had enough with this crazy book” Twilight said, quickly closing the dark book. “I should report to Celestia about my findings as soon as possible.”

“But wouldn’t the Princess wonder what you were doing in Canterlot?” Spike asked.

Twilight stopped in her tracks. How will she explain herself to the princess? Will she be disappointed in her intrusion, will Twilight be sent to jail? Will she banished from Equestria or to the Moon?! Oh, the thought of punishment from the princess has Twilight flustered. She paced back and forth, stuck between telling the princess of her finding or avoiding punishment.

Her thoughts were interrupted when bells rang through out the castle. Outside the double door, Twilight and Spike can hear guards running around.

“Intruder in the castle! Get the guards!” Twilight backed away from the doors, fearing that the guards have found her. Instead, the rumbling of hooves upon carpet continued to goes past until the noise died down. Twilight let out a breath that she wasn’t aware of holding. She turned to Spike.

“You know what Spike? I believe this is a good time to leave” Twilight said. Spike just had a look that says ‘You don’t say?…’

Unfortunately the garden is swarming with guards rushing the Canterlot Archives, so they were forced to disrobe the suits and snuck out into the halls, weary of being found.

“Hey You!” Twilight and Spike froze and turned to see a lone female unicorn guard. “What are you doing here?!” she questioned.

“umm…I’m here to talk to the Princess. I have vital information that must reach the Princess.” Twilight said nervously.

“Well I can’t let you go alone. There’s an intruder in the castle and the Guard is on high alert. I can’t take you to the Princess but I can get you someplace safe. Stay close to me” the guard said. Twilight and Spike followed close behind as the female guard led them down corridors

“So what’s your name? I‘m Twilight.” Twilight asked, after several minutes.

“Just call me Katy.” she said, smiling. “Come on we’re almost there.” She trotted ahead of them.

Suddenly a wall and Katy was consumed in a explosion. A shadow emerged from the dust and debris, shouting can be heard from the back of the hole. Spike was knocked out from the blast, and Twilight was still a bit dazed from the shock wave. The figure was dressed in immense sea green armor and a screaming black-faced helmet hung on his side. The figure also held the limp Katy by the throat, clenched between a red maw

When the dust settled moments later, Twilight saw who it was.

“YOU!”

The red pony was covered in blood, most likely not his own. His armor was in a similar state but also held scorch marks and scratches. His eyes was filled with malice and recognition. Within seconds, the red pony was upon Twilight. She didn’t even have time to fear for her life.