No one could say that the Tech Priests of Mars and those of the Aprior Sector were on the best of terms. Mars creates new technology by searching for lost STCs, Aprior does it by actually trying new things and stealing ideas from Xenos technology. Mars calls them Hereteks, Aprior just smirks and points to the fact that the Emperor himself ordered all plasma weapons to be replaced with Aprior pattern Mk 40s. And when a fucking Primarch asks them for a custom job? Well, lets just say that production on Mars was slowed down for a few days due to the sulking.

"I hope that this will be worth the wait," said Jaghatai Khan, Primarch of the White Scars, "I haven't so much as seen one of these things in 10,000 years."

"You won't be disappointed," said Maestro Mechanicus Severus Gajet of the Knights Inductor, "now come quickly, her machine spirit is very impatient."

Jaghatai frowned slightly, "Her?"

"All things have genders, why wouldn't a spirit?" asked Gajet as they approached a workshop. "Here we are, she's been waiting for you, and you for her I imagine."

Jaghatai whistled as Gajet opened the door, "You imagine, correctly."

What awaited them was what at first glance looked like a Primarch-sized bike with a ramming grill, but the lack of wheels and addition of two jet turbines at the front revealed its true nature as a Jet Bike.

"Allow me to present Celeritas Novum, Lord Khan. If you wish, I could show you her features?"

"Please," Jaghatai replied as he gently twisted the throttle.

"Of course. Celeritas was outfitted with a specific form of combat in mind: charge a squad of infantry, mow them down like wheat, and chase down the survivors."

"You know me well then," said Jaghatai, "I assume that her ramming grill will handle the brunt of that?"

"Her power grill, and these power blades." Gajet pressed a button on the bike's dash, causing a pair of large blades to extend outwards, positioned at the perfect height to cleave an Ork in two at the waist, or decapitate a normal human. "In addition, see these ports here?"

Jaghatai looked at the line of holes at the base of the bike, "They for the exhaust?"

Gajet shook his head, "Flamers, please keep your feet away from them at all times."

Jaghatai's eyes widened, "This thing should be a beast in close quarters, I hope I've got some range to match."

Gajet placed his hand on the trio of gun barrels poking out of the hood, "Two Multi-Meltas directly powered by the engine for increased range to clear any obstacles from your path that you can't run over, and a MkII Gravetic Mass Driver for those special occasions. For defense we've integrated a pair of Iron Halos, one in the windshield and one on the seat-back, and also included a pair of large storage containers and integrated holsters for one rife-sized and two pistol-sized weapons for those unfortunate times when you need to dismount."

Jaghatai mounted Celeritas and nodded in approval, "I originally came to your chapter because you were the only place to get a jet bike period, but after seeing this, I think I'd come here if jet bikes were as commonplace as the were pre-heresy."

Gajet bowed his head slightly, "You honor us. One quick word of warning though?"

"She isn't going to blow up if at the drop of a hat or anything like that right?"

"Of course not," said Gajet, mildly offended, "it's just that machine spirits that hail from Aprior have a tendency to dislike the various rituals of the Cult Mechanicus, and her dislike of wasting time takes that to an extreme. During the testing phase, a brother from your home chapter who was assisting us foolishly started to speak the Litany of Ignition, and she shot out from under him before he was half-finished. In short, she's a warrior, not an altar, and should be treated as such."

"That shouldn't be a problem," said Jaghatai. "By the way, I heard what happened on Azymorum, I'm sorry."

"Bah, my apprentice Ferox is with them, I know he's fine, so they're fine as well. Their armors have dutiful spirits, they'll keep their wearers safe."

In the land of Equestria, one of said spirits was a bit miffed since its wearer was in a situation where it couldn't help, again. At least Darren had painted him in the chapter's formal colors, it always liked bearing them in non-combat situations.

Roland himself was doing his pre-negotiation mental warm ups. He had managed to determine quite a bit about their culture based on his observations, as well as the data Nisus had sent him. They appeared to be somewhat similar to the Aprior sector in a way: peaceful, friendly to their neighbors regardless of race (the actual griffon, not the tank, he had seen outside his cell window had been quite the surprise), but if you pushed them too hard... well lets just say the training he observed in the guard that arrested him made significantly more sense.

While he was uncertain as to why the princesses had been delayed, he took the opportunity to look around. The hall he was in was apparently some form of royal audience chamber. Along the walls were stain-glass windows that were stylized depictions of various events, although he couldn't be sure if they were true or not. After a while they were replaced by windows that more random, that were clearly placeholders for future events. The two most recent ones depicted a clock whose face resembled a map of the world being held up by both a brown regular pony and a purple winged and horned version of the ponies, he made a mental note to find out exactly what they were called, and a large group of youths of multiple races in front of a crest that consisted of a red shield with a young pony in yellow with a cape prancing around, standing over a defeated looking adult unicorn with a shattered dagger next to him, perhaps it depicted a thwarted assassination attempt? If mere children could accomplish such a feat, he found himself both wanting to meet them, and slightly dreading actually doing so.

His attention was diverted when he heard a door open. "Presenting their Highnesses, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Twilight Sparkle," a courtier called out. Roland internally whistled as he saw them come in, at least his wish to see the version with both wings and horn came true, although he didn't expect to see three.

The first was a large white one, about as tall as an unaugmented human not including the horn. Her mane and tail were an ethereal blend of blue green and pink, that waved on a wind that nothing else could feel. The second was a blue so dark so dark he thought it was royal purple for a few seconds, and slightly smaller than the first. Her mane also waved on its own, but it looked like someone had cut a patch out of the night sky and glued it to her head. The third looked the most unimpressive of the three, about the size of a regular pony and a mane that behaved like actual hair. She was also surrounded by a nebula of paper and writing material in her psychic grip, and a look in her eyes that reminded him of that time the Mechanicus got a hold of an intact Dark Eldar Venom. Another look confirmed her to be the same pony as the one in the clock window, possibly the head of the local Cult Mechanicus equivalent?

"Greetings, I am Princess Celestia," said the white one, "might I ask who you are?"

"Roland Darren, 3rd Company Captain and Master of the Deal of the Adeptus Astartes Chapter Knights Inductor, of the Imperium of Man," Roland said with a half-bow, "a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The purple princess apparently couldn't hold back her inquisitive nature any longer. "What's the Imperium? And the Adeptus Astartes? How did you get here?"

"That may take a while," Roland chuckled. 'Definitely a Mechanicus equivalent.'

Meanwhile, a similar conversation was happening in the Crystal Empire, albeit without the barrage of questions. Fieri was currently providing an overview of the Imperium for Princess Cadance and Shining Armor as well as the Galaxy at large. Irae had elected to remain at the hospital, the rate at which he learned pony physiology was mind-boggling to everyone except his battle-brothers, but they welcomed his help none the less. The other members of his squad were standing by on the off chance that they were needed.

"I must admit, this Imperium sounds quite horrible," said Cadance.

"I have to agree with you ma'am," Fieri replied, "in all my years this planet is the only thing outside the Aprior Sector that I've seen that I'd be proud to call home."

"I assume that you'll be trying to get home," said Shining Armor, "whether or not you're successful, it appears that our place in the universe is no longer as simple as we would wish."

"Your lucky that is was us who made first contact, if you had encountered the Ordos Xenos or the Black Templars," said Fieri, shuddering at the thought of a certain Inquisitor Headsmash the Exterminatus-Happy as the Knights Inductor called him. "Anyway," Fieri said trying to change the subject, "I told you about the Imperium, perhaps you could tell me a few things about your society?"

"I suppose that's fair," said Cadance, "how about we start with when our ancestors turned our planet into a starship?"

Fieri's eyebrow raised, this was going to be quite interesting.

Fluttershy walked through town towards Twilight's library. Normally it would be a relatively stress-free experience, but her companion was drawing a lot of attention. Luckily it wasn't one of the Astartes, as she had learned the larger ones were called, but the robed one. Luckily most of the stares were directed to him and not her, although there was enough residual attention to make her uncomfortable. They had chatted a little on the way to town, before the population density caused her to clam up. While Fluttershy had never heard of the rank of 'Librarian', in a military sense anyway, Mr. Citro Veturius was rather nice.

After a few minutes, they arrived at Twilight's home. While she considered passing the buck to be rude, Fluttershy knew that this was something Twilight was infinitely more qualified to handle. Besides, Twilight and Mr Veturius were both librarians, they might get along. Knocking on the door, she was surprised, as usual, when one of her maids opened the door instead of her or Spike. "Hello Snowcap," at least Fluttershy thought it was Snowcap, "could I maybe talk to Twilight please?"

"Sorry, but the princess went to Canterlot, she should be back tomorrow though," Snowcap replied.

"Oh, okay," Fluttershy said as Citro walked in and started looking at the books. Fluttershy really hoped that Twilight wasn't delayed.

Inanus walked through the desert, Chrysalis dragged behind him on a sled made of scavenged materials from her base and rope from his kit, the rest of said rope was used to secure her, mostly around her mouth. He was a bit surprised that he didn't run into anything else considering the size of the complex he had escaped from. Sapper was standing guard over Chrysalis, happily munching on a bit of goop. Luckily, he had managed to encounter a map room while looking for the way out that showed the location of a (relatively) nearby settlement. Of course Inanus had no idea whether or not said settlement would be friendly, but it was better than nothing.

After a couple of hours of walking, he arrived in an apple orchard that had a large strip running down the middle with no trees at all. 'Probably for carts,' he thought to himself as he navigated himself and his prisoner up the hill towards the town proper. While most Astartes would probably have an aneurysm at the sight of a village populated by xenos, Knights Inductor were significantly more flexible in that regard. After a few seconds of looking around, he noticed a solidly built building with bars for windows, most likely the jail. Before he entered, he noticed several posters mounted beside the door, and chuckled before tearing one down. He entered the building and slapped Chrysalis' wanted poster on the desk of who he assumed was the sheriff.

In response, the sheriff stole a glance at Chrysalis before reaching into his desk and pulling out some paperwork while sliding an inkwell and quill towards him.

Inanus inwardly sighed as he filled out the form, he was hoping for a more interesting reaction, walking through the desert was boring.

Author's Note

The first appearance of Inquisitor Headsmash