Author's Note

A quick explanation for returning readers: I decided to separate my original fic into two stories. "Hope in Darkness" is now a totally new fic featuring the travels of Strawberry and her companion in a timeline totally unrelated to this fic. This fic will have a new story not involving either character and will focus primarily on the Mane Six. With that out of the way, please enjoy!

Chapter 1

An eerie howl swept the chambers and corridors of the ship as the warp-engines began their cooldown phase.

As the echoes of the mysterious machines rattled the ship, a grey-clad Astartes reclined in his seat. “Another eventless jump. And there were no breaches in the gellar field during transit?”

“No, lord Harvestus.” muttered the kneeling serf at his feet. Behind his submissive figure, several tech-priests and other chapter serfs labored under flickering, fluorescent utility lights to prepare the ship for operations. Shudders and groans wracked the ship as arcane technological rituals were performed and dormant engines reawakened.

In a movement as swift as a bolter discharge, the Astartes arose from his seat. Dismissing the serf with a slight movement of his hand, he gazed around the bridge of the ship. Despite the low levels of light, he could see every last detail of the room, bustling as it was with chapter serfs, tech priests and several of his fellow Astartes. On the sides of the bridge were large panels of glass infused with virtually indestructible alloys drawn from the Imperium’s countless forge worlds.

Through them, he saw the black, inky miasma of space and felt emotions stirring deep within his chest. Outside of those very panels lay the entirety of the Imperium, as well as the holds and fortresses of its enemies. Within that sea swam many evil and dark creatures of outer space, unknown and unrecorded to the Imperium. His role was to forge his role amongst those serpents and sharks in order to make them know their master.

Pushing those thoughts away for the time being, he strode over to a rectangular metal outcrop in the center of the room, where two of his battle brothers stood in silent contemplation.

“Harvestus,” one of the figures spoke in greeting.

Harvestus nodded. “The venerable Siberion. I hope that the monotony of our travel has not dulled your lust for combat against the enemies of the Emperor.”

Siberion chuckled in a low voice that reverberated across the bridge, filling the recesses of the chamber. “If anything, it has grown tenfold. Boredom is the natural predecessor of battle.”

The third Astartes remained silent, staring at the deactivated data console.

“Redonia, you remain silent. Is something on your mind?” inquired Harvestus.

Redonia uncomfortably rolled his shoulders and clenched his hands, then relaxed them. “There is a feeling I cannot shake. That this will not be a routine cleaning of a xenos world.”

A note of concern flashed in the eyes of Harvestus. “It may be a warning of sorts. Perhaps you should speak to the Librarian.”

As the battle-brothers conversed, two tech-priests labored beneath the data console, their red cloaks shifting and bulging as long,metal arms emerged and retracted from their depths. Finally, the metal rectangle’s surface illuminated with criss-crossing strands of blue light. Redonia immediately reached out and began to weave his fingers through the interface. As he did so, a large, glowing orb appeared in the center of the rectangle, hovering some distance above it. Around it, smaller globes popped into being.

He shifted the smaller globes aside until he reached the one which lay fourth from the star. He cupped his hand around it in a contemplative moment, then twitched his index finger to produce a data display.

A large panel filled with numbers and characters of High Gothic script materialized to the left of the hologram. All of the Astartes present focused on the panel with an immediate, steely focus borne from a mix of curiosity and contempt.

“A xenos world.” uttered Harvestus in a low, emotionless tone. Siberion solemnly placed his hands behind his back and began to walk to the side of the display, his head never turning away from the display. It was a slow, measured walk; the pacing of a predator in consideration of its prey.

“This is it, then: XCFR-41, within the depths of the Halo Stars themselves.” Redonia spoke every word slowly and carefully, as if they were his last.

“Shall we devise a plan for assault?” spoke Siberion eagerly.

Before he could receive a response from his brothers, a sudden silence came over the Astartes. A feeling virtually unknown to soldiers as ancient and experienced in warfare as them had made itself known; the blight of unease.

Though he had not laid eyes on the sudden intruder, he knew his location before he spoke. “Harvestus, Siberion and Redonia”.

His brothers raised their heads to look into the eyes of the figure that towered above the Astartes. He was clad in black robes, every inch of his armor adorned in a dark paint that seemed to absorb the light around it, making it hard to discern the true extent of his physique. In the darkness of the ship’s bridge as it reawakened, his silhouette seemed to almost blend with the surrounding darkness, different angles of it elusively appearing and disappearing.

Harvestus nodded curtly, an informal gesture that disguised his intense discomfort in the presence of the giant. “Speak, Custodian.”

The Custodian raised an arm over the data console, dismissing the current display and summoning other information. “The threat this world poses is beyond the mere Carcharodons. It is beyond the capacity of any individual chapter to deal with. Is that comprehensible to you?”

All three Astartes nodded.

Crossing his arms, the Custodian continued to speak. “Your mission here is simply to conduct a survey of the planet, to see if our deep-space psyker detection units were mistaken in their observations. This is a process that will take time and is absolutely critical to our operations in this sector.”

“The source of these emissions,” he said, gesturing to a data panel, “must be uncovered. If proven correct, this planet contains enough raw psychic energy to potentially spawn a new Eye of Terror.”

“These are things known to us,” spoke Siberion in response. “What value is there in repeating known knowledge?”

“Your chapter was chosen for its speciality in eliminating exotic alien threats,” explained the Custodes. “However, that specialty has bred a bloodlust that is a detriment to more nuanced operations. In repeating myself, I remind you of the importance of biding your time, until it is time to strike.”

“Fine, then.” said Harvestus. “The tech-priests will deploy their long-range, satellite borne detection devices, so that we may know our enemy before we destroy it.”.

The Custodian nodded. “But if you bide your time in lust of battle and slaughter, then have no disappointment in either of your hearts, for both shall come in time.”

*****

A shudder ran down Twilight’s spine.

Crime was a rare occurrence in Equestria. Certainly, there were bizarre incidents involving magical anomalies and beasts of all kinds, but a criminal act was something very out of the ordinary. She racked her mind, trying to find some other way to classify what was in front of her, but she had nothing.

The student had come to her in the middle of the day. She was lounging about and reading a book on some overly complex magical topic when she had heard three sharp hoof knocks at her door half past three in the afternoon. A scraggly unicorn stallion had greeted her, offering a few coins for tutoring in the magical arts. In need of money and having nothing particularly better to do, she obliged.

What about him could have led to this series of events?

Her natural tendency towards questioning what was in front of her was at a loss. Where a stallion had been mere moments ago, there was now a busted window, a shattered table and a very rare missing volume on telekinetic magic. Making a mental note to not take toilet breaks with new students loitering around her library, she set outside into Ponyville.

*****

The day outside was as cold and empty as the spot on her bookshelf where her very valuable copy of Practical and Technical Applications of Telekinetic Magic once lay. She groaned, her hopes of spending a relaxing afternoon surrounded by her books vanishing in her exasperated respiration.

The first few ponies to cross her path were questioned as to the whereabouts of the scraggly stallion, who’s name she had never asked. Finally, a green-coated mare who’s name she still couldn’t remember gave her a name and address. After thanking her, she sat under a nearby tree in a spot where no snow had fallen and began to strategize.

If she approached the house of the scraggly stallion, who’s name was Brimstone, by herself then she may very well be trotting into a criminal den. Thoughts of well-muscled bulls and intimidating, snarling stallions filled her mind. In the midst of these antagonizers was the glowing prize of the book she wanted. First, the large, brown one with the nose ring would charge her.

He wouldn’t be much of a threat, she pondered. While she lacked a size advantage, any number of spells could easily dispatch him. Even if he was some kind of magical bull with the ability to resist her spells, she could easily run him through with her horn. In fact, if he was tall enough, she might even be easily able to bite or kick his-

“TWILIGHT!!”

Twilight whirled around with shock.

Pinkie Pie’s excited expression appeared before her face. “There’s a big, big, BIG problem going on!”

Twilight’s initial surprise transformed into a concerned curiosity. “What do you mean, Pinkie?”

Suddenly, Twilight noticed a small crowd of ponies following Pinkie Pie. “Who are they?”

One of the ponies spoke up, a middle aged earth pony. “My wife has...gone missing.”

Twilight hummed and muttered as she tried to put together an answer. “You’ve, um, told the police right? I mean, why come to-”

A purple pegasus spoke up next. “My brother just disappeared in a flash of light!”

That made Twilight’s ears perk up with surprise. “So, I can guess that all of you have had some kind of, well, problem, with ponies you know just vanishing, right?”

All of the ponies in the crowd nodded in agreement.

“Okay, well I’m very concerned for all of you and everything.” She tried to smile reassuringly, but nopony in the crowd returned the gesture. Cocking an eyebrow, she then asked “But why come to me for help?”

“Well, you get stuff done!” responded a pony in the crowd. “Remember when that dragon was going to kill us all? Or when that demon was going to annihilate our entire reality?” Or when-”

“Okay, I get it.” interrupted Twilight abruptly. It was a rude gesture, but it’s not as if she needed to be reminded or praised for her heroism. After all, she was a student first and a savior of Equestria second.

At least, that’s how she liked to see it.

A question suddenly popped up in her head. “Also, would any of you happen to know a male yellow unicorn with a scraggly mane and a book as his cutie mark?”

Her important question was met with blank stares. She sighed and gestured for the small crowd to follow her, then began to set out back to her treehouse. The missing book would have to be a secondary priority; in the end, the well-being and safety of the citizens of Ponyville was far more important than some silly, dusty old-

Okay, so she did really want her book back. But it would have to wait for quite a while…

*****

“Well, we got unicorns jus’ vanishin’ left and right all over town!” Applejack finished the remark with a dramatic slamming of her hooves on the surface of the table.
“I- well, I hope nopony is hurt or...dead...” said Fluttershy in a near whisper.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and snorted. “C’mon Fluttershy, crap like this happens every week! It’s probably some evil wizard kidnapping ponies to turn them into mind slaves, or demons preparing to invade Equestria, or, I dunno, robots! Either way, we’re just gonna find it and kick its ass, like we always do.”

Twilight said nothing as the other ponies bickered, but simply looked at her friends as a thread of anxiety sowed itself into her heart. Even Applejack’s normally calm face was contorted into worry. Rarity nodded solemnly beside her while Rainbow Dash kicked back with her legs on the table and yawned. Fluttershy sat with a hoof on her chin and looked out the window, her blank expression hiding a mountain of worry. Only Pinkie Pie truly looked anything close to happy.

Twilight thought for a moment of how quickly Spike must have had to run around town to pull her friends together for this meeting in her library. If it was only a monster or some kind of magical tyrant coming to attack Ponyville, maybe she wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to get to the bottom of things. Monsters, aliens and magical beasts were something you could conceivably wrap your head around. They were just things to beat and once they had been dealt with, it really took no time for things to just go back to normal.

This had a different, more disturbing flavor to it than the other problems she had faced in her career as one of Equestria’s informal, undeclared heroes. It was more bizarre and personal than anything else she had been forced to deal with. At the same time, it gave her an answer to what had happened to the mysterious culprit from earlier.

Rather than a thief, in a town where crime was such a rarity, it was more likely that the unicorn was a victim of the vanishings. She felt a twinge of regret that she was peeing when she could have been witnessing an unexplained magical anomaly, but such was life.

There was also the personal element of the whole thing. Truly, there was nothing to save her from meeting the same fate as the other unicorns that had simply ceased to exist during the course of their daily activities. All of the reports did seem to show that those who vanished were very weak magic users, some having injuries to their horns that prevented a proper control of magic. That gave her a small measure of comfort.

Twilight looked at the written reports scattered across the round table which her and her friends were seated at. Many of them had been scrawled furiously and quickly by relatives grieving in the absence of their loved ones. Some of the letters had fresh marks from tears on them that had made the ink run down the page and blend together.

She moved her hoof through them slowly, brushing the reports around on the table. While the gesture accomplished nothing, it gave her time to think.

Her mind shifted to her astronomical research. The constellations in the skies far above Equestria weren’t completely accurate. The changes she had observed in them were so small and piddling that they were barely worthy of observation, but they were concerning nonetheless. There was an underlying correlation in the distortions that indicated to her that something was amiss in the ethereal plains beyond her home planet. She would need to observe further in order to pin down the possible sources of the inexplicable changes.

Slowly but surely, a web of explanation began to form in the depths of her mind. Strange disappearances and a sudden change in the constellations couldn’t be mere coincidence, she pondered.

Before she could begin to explain her thoughts to her concerned friends, Spike barged into the room. “Twilight, it’s a letter from Celestia!”

Everypony’s head in the room swiveled around to face him. In his claws was clutched a piece of parchment that had been furiously scrawled upon and hadn’t even been properly sealed. In a moment, it was torn open and its contents read aloud.

“Your presence at the Castle is requested immediately, for a briefing on extremely important matters. Do not concern yourself with transportation. Thank you for your time.”

“Huh,” said Rainbow Dash, “That’s really weird. She usually takes time to explain what mess the evils of the world made for us.” The pegasus scratched the back of her head in confusion. “Or at least leave a signature.”

“And don’t worry about transportation? Whatever could that mean?” asked Rarity with a distinct note of worry in her voice.

Their questions were cleared up as the scroll transformed into a circular, shimmering portal. Through the misty haze that obscured the other side, the six ponies could see the interior of the Canterlot royal castle.

They trotted through the portal one-by-one to whatever fate lay on the other side.