MLP / WARHAMMER 40,000 : THE INDOMITOUS CRUSADE

-Canterlot Station-

It was still early dawn, when Celestia stepped out onto her balcony, raising the warm glowing sun into the sky slowly, there she overviewed her former apprentice, and fellow alicorns Twilight Sparkle Board the next train to Ponyville, Accompanied by her lifelong assistant, and brotherly figure Spike, as well as her biological brother Shining Armor, and his daughter Flurry Heart. Despite the concern that Cadence had in regards to her child’s safety, the young alicorns assured her mother she would be perfectly safe.

The group boarded the steam locomotive, along with an honor guard of guards, as it prepared to depart from the station, huffing and puffing its way towards the village. Twilight looked out the window in deep thought as to the fate of her friends, and as to the true nature of these beings, Starlight had come across.

“Twilight?” The General asked. Upon hearing Shining’s voice, she snapped out of her thinking. “You’re still worried about them.” He presumed. She nodded accordingly. “I just can’t shake this feeling in my gut.” She attested. A large clawed palm wrapped around her as she was brought close to Spike. She was surprised that the grasp of his was softer than she’d expected from a dragon. The only real firm abnormality was the band of gold on his ring claw. “I know.” The dragon reassured. “I’m a bit worried myself.” Spike added.

The alicorns laid her head on his shoulder assured that they shared the same feeling of concern. Though out of all the royal party, the young princess seemed to be most excited to not only venture out to Ponyville but to actually to see real-life aliens, alien warriors none the less. Being the daughter of the princess of love, one would think she would follow in her mother’s footsteps.

But as the years went by, Flurry took a far more diverse course than what her parents ever thought she would. She preferred that of a disciplined path of the warrior, preferring to study and be among the soldiers than that of gala evenings, dresses and all the peaceful upbringings of an alicorn. “You really think they’re as big as they say these Space Marines are, daddy?” Flurry asked. Shining armor simply chuckled, along with other soldiers in the same cart. “I think the truth is a bit of a stretch.” He assured. Little did they realize that in several hours, they would find out soon enough just how wrong they were about to be.

-Ponyville-

The rosy dawn shined across the bloodied field of the battle, as ponies began moving the corpses of their fallen foes, all the while, the guards and space marines alike kept a lookout for the party’s eventual return. As they waited though, the citizens of Ponyville began to observe these strange warriors that had come to their aid. Most curious of these ponies were the mentioned elements of harmony. Each of the ponies was intrigued by each of space marine chapters, and their unique heraldry.

Applejack had found herself most fond of the Imperial Fists, who took watch over Sweet Apple Acres, even willing to part some of the fruit they harvested to the sons of Dorn for their effort. “Here, fellas. Help yourselves to some of Ponyville’s finest apples.” The cow mare said. The Imperial Fists looked at the fruits, and examined them, making sure they were safe to eat. They had reason to believe they were poisonous and often proceeded to eat with caution. However, thankfully their gene seeds picked up no abnormalities in the fruit, indicating they were safe to eat. The space marines bit into the fruit, savoring the taste for a more detailed analysis. What most of them neglected to mention was the eerily similar taste of the same fruit that was grown on many agri-worlds, yet these apples were far more delicious.

Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, found the White Scars to be fairly impressive, as far as speed, often spending time with them, and understanding the significance of the scars they bare as indicators of their office. “So those scars are a sign of office?” She asked. “Yes,” Barulatai answered. The Pegasus was both baffled as to why they would personally injure themselves to promote themselves, and fascinated that these guys even did so in the first place. “That’s both weird and cool at the same time.” She stated. “And this Jaghatai Khan sounds like a really fast guy.” The white scar sergeant smirked to hear such a thing come from a xenos. “But…” Rainbow continued “You guys aren’t as fast as any of the wonder bolts. Unless that is you want to prove it.” She challenged boastingly. Thos got his attention. “That a challenge?” He asked. She nodded. “Don’t come crying to us when you lose, little one.” He stated as they brohoofed one another.

Fluttershy and Pinkie had heard a great deal of the harsh conditions the Space Wolves homeworld of Fenris was like, and how their primarch Leman Russ was said to have been raised by a She-Wolf and her pups when he first arrived on the planet. The element of kindness often tended to some of the injured Fenrissian wolves, after showing an impressive display when one of the wolves growled at her. She simply used her trademark glare at the creature, which of course yielded eventually to allow her to tend to its wounds. “I don’t believe it.” Sigfast proclaimed. “All it took was for her to simply glare, and he’s submitting.” “I know, right?” Pinkie asked. “She’s really good at taking care of animals, even things as big as dragons.” She added. “Maybe so,” The space wolf spoke. “But no creature from Fenris can be tamed for long. If you grew up there, you’d understand.”

The guard then noticed moving in the distance, movement of three individuals making their way back from the enemy’s territory. The sound of trumpets sounded as Roboute, Starlight, and Rarity were greeted by the loud applause of the townsfolk, and guards alike. The trio walked down to town hall, where the mayor, and other elements, as well as loyalist captains, waited for their return. Upon approaching the center, Starlight handed the parchment to Mayor Mare, who hands it over to the town archivist. “An end to such a terrible bloody conflict at last.” She relieved. “However did you manage to accomplish the dogs signing a treaty?” She asked. Rarity stepped forward and answered. “We returned what they wanted, and assured them it would not happen again. Let’s just put this behind us and move on.” She suggested. The citizens and Mayor couldn’t take their eyes off of Guilliman. “But…who are these…creatures?” The mayor asked. It was then the Primarch began to speak to every pony before him.

“Citizens of Equestria, I am Roboute Guilliman, lord commander of the Imperium of Man, First Lord of Ultramar, son of the Emperor of mankind, and primarch to e Ultramarines legion, and all successor chapters. We have been summoned here, to your village, because your princess’ advisor had sought for help, not only for this battle but for much darker times ahead. We hail from beyond your stars, on worlds much like your own, and others not so much. We have suffered much damage on our way here, and have no means of leaving anytime soon. That is why…we have agreed to aid you the best we can for now and when you need it most.”

The citizens began conversing with each other. Dark times ahead, as in things will only get worse they all asked themselves. Starlight saw the panic in their eyes and had to do something. “But, until then…we celebrate the end of this war.” She stated, followed by the crowd letting out a cheer of triumph as preparations went underway to properly celebrate a victory.

-Later, that evening.-

The town of Ponyville was in a loud uproar of joy and utter celebration, for the end of the conflict had been established with much-appreciated aid from the Astartes, and their Lord Commander. As the townsfolk celebrated this joyous occasion, Starlight, and the others regrouped back at the castle of friendship, to not only thank Roboute personally but also to find a little more about the primarch.

“That was so awesome!!! How you and your guys just came in, and…BAM! Dropping those dogs like a bad habit!” Rainbow shouted. “Yeah!” Pinkie added. “You guys were like all shooty, and stabby! They were like “Aaaah! Help us!” Rarity too felt impressed by Guilliman, not only for being a skilled tactician But also for his diplomatic skills as far as she saw. “The way you handled their leader was rather…impressive.” She stated. “What I said was true.” He said. “It would be a waste of my time and resources to wipe them out.”

Starlight approached the primarch, about to begin a long inquiry about him and his legion. “Guilliman…if you don’t mind me asking…do you suppose…you can tell us a little more about yourself.” She asked. He looked at the map of Equestria, and then back to her. “I will tell you what I will be willing to share…if you too shared information on your world.” He requested. The group turned to one another and nodded in compliance.

After agreeing, the ponies and primarch began explaining to each other the history, the culture, every detail about their empires. The ponies first explained the founding of Equestria, how the three pony breeds united together, how Nightmare moon came to be, and how she was vanquished. That part, in particular, struck a chord with him, reminding him of a much similar time in the dark days of the Imperium. They continued on with how the Elements of harmony came to be, and their adventures since. The primarch processed each detail carefully, and for a majority was rather impressed with these creatures. But he also took heed, for he knew that the enemies and difficulties faced in this world paled in comparison to the dark powers across the galaxy.

For Roboute, he recounted the early days of the Imperium, his early childhood, and eventually becoming the first lord of Ultramar, joining the emperor in The Great Crusade, as well as the dark days of The Horus Heresy. And so on. He also shared with them the current state of the Imperium, a few historic battles in the last ten millennia, and of course sharing his encounters with some of the xenos races, from the Eldar and their craft worlds, to the technologically advancing Tau Empire, the ferocious insect-like Tyranids, the savage brutality of the Orks, and of course the ancient deathless race of androids know as the Necrons.

“This Emperor surely must’ve been a brilliant being. To have lived so long, with so much knowledge…” Starlight speculated. “I never thought that our problems would seem rather small when compared to having whole worlds being eaten by a bunch of space roaches.” Applejack admitted. “Not to mention those Nekocrons.” Fluttershy uttered. “It’s Necrons, Flutters.” Pinkie corrected. “They kind of sound like something I saw a while back…Da Dann Da – Da Dann!” The others looked at her awkwardly. “What?” Pinkie asked. “This Imperium of Man you come from seems rather…” rarity started saying. “Harsh.” “The Galaxy is a harsh place.” Roboute mentioned. “Only the strong are able to prevail. As vulnerable as we may be now, We still have got enough fight in us to hold them back.” “But, why help us?” Applejack asked. “If you guys think we’re just filthy aliens, why not kill us off?” “Because there is no real need to.” Roboute said. “You have not given us any reason to, and even if we did, we would just waste time and resources that should be used for something else.”

Starlight then approached the primarch, wanting to get what was on her mind off her chest. “Which is why...” She started saying “We have agreed to provide you guys with the ruins of the palace as your base of operations. The girls and I thought it’d be a nice little way of saying…thank you.” They all nodded and muttered a bit in compliance. The Primarch could only nod with a smirk on his face.

Just then one of the guards, rushed into the map room with little breath, with news for the elements. “Ladies…Princess Twilight Sparkle and honor guard…has just arrived.” The guard then collapsed from exhaustion, as the girls looked at each other in excitement. “Twilight’s back!” Rainbow cried. Pinkie Pie bounced up and down in excitement as they conversed on how they were going to celebrate. “She’s the one who rules this portion of your kingdom?” Roboute asked. “Yep.” Starlight responded. “She’s the Element of Magic, completing the elements of Harmony as a whole. She’s…well a lot like you in many ways. Very organized, and always has a plan.” “We gotta meet her at the station!” Pinkie exclaimed as she sped out the doorway, followed by the other elements, and of course Guilliman, who also wished to meet this alicorn in person, and hopefully meet the other royals before the coming darkness could arrive if it was at all possible.