It had been some scant few moments since Gailus had arrived in a most impromptu and improvised fashion to this strange world. Already, he despised the place. Its colors were too bright and happy; the scenery too serene and peaceful. Gone was the world of hate, despair, death, pain, and suffering that the weathered Astarte had come to understand and love. Now, he stood in stark contrast; and felt like a petulant child that had been forced to move to a new town with his family. Ungrateful for the new chance or peace that it brought, as he stomped through the woods fearlessly.

His auspexes and sensors built into his hefty helmet scanned for any potential hostiles; or flora and fauna that might tell where roughly he might be located. At least to hopefully give a general indication of which segmentum he had been so unfortunate to be thrown so violently into. But every creature that was native here, every tree and bush or blade of grass; all of it gave neither hope nor any hint of anything that had been mapped prior to the galactic index of the Imperium.

So I'm stuck on some backwater planet without any hope of regrouping with the Imperium. Great. This was the only thing on the Captain's mind, as he paused at a grove of trees and thickets of brush. He had found himself growing weary, as if he had fought a great battle for days on end without rest. At first, he tried to shrug off the thought. But the longer he lingered here, the more tired he realized he was. Surely, he reckoned, he must've suffered as great a battle as when he had first met Angron aboard the Legion's Flagship. That felt ages ago, compared to his current situation, as he leaned against one of the trees and pondered.

Eventually, he slid down to sit. His huge form making the tree shift just a bit from his sheer bulk and weight. This place seemed a good area to rest. Since no hostile life had been identified previously by his sensors, and the ground and tree was comfortable as he was willing to allow himself. He made the decision to allow his wounded body to take a short time to recuperate. His mind remained alert, though he permitted himself to rest. Several Terran hours passed, as he thought idly on what he would need to do next.

Unfortunately, he wasn't allotted much more time than a mere few hours before the snapping of a twig brought the Astarte to his feet in the blink of an eye. He was already in a combat stance, much to the chagrin of his complaining muscles; his chain axe revved to full life as he scanned the forest around him. At first, he noticed nothing. His sensor arrays detected nothing out of the ordinary. The Captain almost dropped the subject in a dismissive way; until his natural senses of sight, smell, and hearing picked up on the faintest rustling of a bush not but a scant ten feet away.

It was more like only five paces for the lumbering power armored zealot, as he lashed out with his massive gauntlet that was free of his weapon. In a mere second's time, he was yanking from the bush a most strange creature to the Marine's eye. To him, he could only recall such a similar being from his years serving on old Terra itself. Back when he had been a naïve initiate from his home planet. A mere savage warrior's child from a recently conquered state. When he had been conscripted into the Twelfth Legion by his old mentor and friend Sergeant Zafel. His family had once owned one such thing in those ancient times; but this one was odd even in comparison to that animal.

They had called them Equines, or colloquially the more common name of horses. But this thing was very tiny in comparison to those mighty beasts he had once known as a boy. It almost seemed unworthy of even the title, as he shook his head and held the miniature beast at eye level. Far off the ground, it screeched and neighed in his powerful grip. Smacking feebly at his mighty, sturdy power armor without success. It was as colorful and bright as the environment around them; although this horse bore a sky blue shade to its fur. Its mane and tail was a deep ocean blue, and it had golden yellow eyes that were huge and fearful as it stared into his unforgiving helmet lenses. A small horn sprouted from its head, giving further credence to the idea that this was a mutant strand of the original species he was vaguely familiar with.

"What the fuck, are you?" Gailus growled, mostly to himself. He figured the pitiful creature had no concept of language, or any understanding of anything sentient. Much it was, to his surprise, as he heard first an eep of fright before a response in the very same language he had addressed it with.

"I...I'm a Unicorn..." It whispered, hiding its face and peeking out at it between its hooves. Strangely, it had a feminine tone, which confounded the Astarte to no end. "I...I don't have a name."

Immediately after the shock had set in and passed, the Astarte cast the equine to the ground roughly and raised his axe as if to smite the creature. "You vile xeno scum! How dare you pervert humanity's language for your own foul purposes! I should kill you now, were you not worth the effort of cleansing the gore from my axe!"

"I...I..." The tiny Unicorn soon began to well up with tears in its huge eyes. In moments she, if he could consider it a she, began to cry. Weeping as if she had been a badly scolded child.

For a moment's time, he actually felt a rare emotion fill his cold, angered hearts. He felt pity for the small thing; much like he had when he had dealt with, unbeknownst to his shattered mind, the many children from the Hive city prior. The Captain stayed his hand, and growled to himself that he could even feel such an emotion against what he otherwise would slaughter In the Emperor's name. Despite this, he allowed his extremely rare good nature to overtake him for a time, as he sheathed his axe at his waist and crouched down. At the very least minorly bringing him closer to the equine's level.

"Stop crying you pitiful whelp." He ordered, a smidge of anger still penetrating his somewhat more calmed demeanor. "I'm not going to butcher you right now, but if you don't stop crying you'll only hasten your death." He hissed as he observed the tiny horse pause.

The small creature looked up at him, trying to wipe away her tears. "Y...You mean it?"

"I don't use words lightly. Do not question my word again." The response left Gailus' possible intentions in the air, as he rose back to his towering height and glared at the miniature pony from behind his helmet. "What are you doing out here? Do you live in this woods? Do you live with others?" He glanced around idly, as if expecting others to potentially be in the vicinity. Fortunately, even his natural senses did not detect any other beings nearby.

"N...No." She answered to him, still afraid as she slowly stood on her small legs and looked up at him. "I'm alone. Been alone since my momma..." There was pain there, as she paused.

Perhaps, he figured, she couldn't even conceptualize what it was like to truly lose family. Mayhaps even not be able to comprehend the concept of death and its permanency in the galaxy. Not to the same extent that he could from his many years of battle-tested wisdom. Not that he cared overmuch, as he returned his attentions to the pony at hand. "So you live here. Where?"

"In an old cave. It's not far from here." She pointed with one of her front hooves, indicating a direction his helmet identified as northwest on his heads up display.

"Take me there. I would prefer a better place to gather myself." He said firmly, grimacing again behind his helmet as the butcher's nails minorly agitated his nervous system at him not fighting or butchering anything lately. Strangely though, he could tell the symptoms were extremely subdued compared to how they had been. Whereas before it would've been almost unbearable; it felt as though this time it was just an annoyance that he could ignore.

"Um..." She almost seemed like she was going to object. But in that split second he also noted how quickly that objection died in her tiny throat. All the better for her, since he had already considered crushing that miniature windpipe were she not willing to comply. "O...Okay. I can do that."

"Good." He nodded faintly, bumping her with his massive armored greave. "Get to moving. I don't like to waste time either."

To her credit, she was fairly quick to scuttle forward in the direction of his objective at hand. He followed with slow, measured strides. Carefully examining his surroundings. This was still very much so unfamiliar land, and he had to maintain constant vigil in case this tiny xeno decided to betray him in any shape or form. If she was genuine, then he wouldn't lay harm to a single hair on her. However, he was prepared to tenderize her with the bottom of his boot if she lied to him or led him to a trap. His caution was not unwarranted, as she suddenly froze up. There was clear, legitimate fear written on her face and her body as he searched around.

He opted not to say a single word, as he allowed his training and instincts to kick in. Letting his armor augment his senses with their superior auspexes. He noted one thing out of normal. A few, small leaves had been disrupted. They had fallen from a nearby tree, and laid at the ground before the small pony. His helmet imperceptibly shifted, taking note of even more that led to the source. A branch here or there that was shifted as if having been weighed down moments before.

Millionth's of seconds passed, and he drew his weapon and took a casual defensive stance as he bellowed out a guttural challenge before throwing the chain axe towards his intended target. The massive blade revving and ripping as it landed next to a branch that just took the weight of the individual who had been watching them. The one who had been following them seemed to have both surprise, and yet not surprise at all. Perhaps more so worth a raise of a brow from this one's perspective, considering that he had intentionally made the choice not to throw his weapon a hair's inch further to the left to ravage this being's body with savage effect.

Instead, he had forced this stalker to reveal themselves, as the branch and axe fell to the ground and cast a massive thump as it struck. The individual, with preternatural grace, landed in a comfortable fashion before the two. Her figure was sleek, and incredibly refined. Tall, and slender, clad in beautifully crafted and jeweled armor that only accentuated every aspect of her body. She stood only a bit shorter than the massive Terminator; but still seemed a toothpick compared to his sheer, armored bulk and muscle mass. Her eyes were bright, dangerous, and manipulative. Her slim face and expression curious, as she shifted her head. Her long, reddish hair billowing behind her. Revealing her pointed ears as she gave a mocking bow to the Astarte.

"I must say, Mon-Keigh, you have incredible aim considering the primitive nature of your parent species." She greeted, her tone almost conveying pure contempt as she looked at Gailus and the insignia on his shoulder guard. "Ah, A World Eater. One of the more barbarous of your desperate kind's attempts to craft super soldiers."

"Stay your sewer in your face, Eldar. Or you'll find that this discourse will go as you believe it to be. Short, bloody, and brutal." He retorted, dancing with her in a verbal duel as he sized her up. "To what end do you have to stalk these woods, Xeno scum?"

By this point, the tiny pony had shifted and run to hide behind one of the Captain's massive greaves as the Eldar gave the tiniest of smiles. "I could ask you the same thing, Mon-Keigh. Though I have not seen your kind on my realm until the Warp spat you out. So, naturally, you have my curiosity piqued."

Gailus crossed his gauntlets in contempt, standing his ground firmly. Ready to charge this upstart Xeno should it be necessary. "I do not stalk wherever I go. I walk with pride as if I am the firstborn master of wherever I step. Unlike you, and your failed species who fell from the light and hide in the shadows of the Galaxy."

"Hmpf. Never expected a brute like you to ever even be remotely familiar with the concept of my race's history. Normally your kind are far too focused on trying to brutalize those who resist your foolish Emperor's dominion." She gave a small smirk as she could tell this was a sore spot.

"Do not besmirch the honour of my Brothers or our sacred duties to the Imperium, or I will see your head mounted to a spike." He growled, dropping into a combative stance, much to the Eldar's delight.

"I will not fight you, Space Marine. I know that despite my mastery of mobility, your practice in the art of warfare, and stubborn determination could even outmatch my ability to escape your wrath." This small admission seemed to be a disdainful one, as she folded her hands behind her back. "I have no need to harm you, although it is nice to play with your emotions like one might a child."

"There is a difference in playing with my emotions as one might a child, and not understanding the training and indoctrinated hatred I have learned to hone as a means to extinguish your blight from the stars." He scoffed, slowly removing his helmet and causing her to raise a brow once more as he clipped it to his mag-lock at his belt. "Suffer not the Alien, or the Heretic."

"And yet here you are, bantering with one such as I. And that little pony that you've allowed to live thus far. You have become that which your barbarous Legions preach to crusade against." She allowed herself a light chuckle, as she watched the Terminator's expression harden.

"I make it a rule to never strike down children. Innocence deserves preservation." He countered, "As for you however, I prefer not having to beat information out of your frail body. Doesn't make for much conversation when I peel the flesh from your bones to get what I want to know."

"Oh, so very kind hearted. A foolish concept at its core." She spat, "As if your 'grace' is truly from such failed notions as nobility or honour."

"At least I can claim to have some nobility and honour that I follow." Was the last words he spoke, before he took just a moment's time to collect his chain axe and replace his helmet.

Only to find that the Eldar in question had vanished once more. Leaving the forest quiet and normal once more. A single, psychic whisper seemed to echo in his mind, which told him that the Eldar had opened an empathic link to him. "We will meet again Mon-Keigh. Mayhaps your feeble mind can grow on this world and you can see more than just the path of the Warrior."

He shook his helmeted head, dismissing the Eldar's passing final thoughts to him as he turned to the tiny pony hiding behind his greave. "Get your sorry ass to the front. We are done here. lead on."

The small creature began to slowly, in a measured way, venture from the relative safety of his armored might. "Elf lady is scary. She hunts my kind for food." She whispered, in a way making the Marine smile behind his faceplate.

The thought of a Eldar having to resort to their own form of barbarism just to survive was hypocritical at its core. How she could ever call him the primitive being was so satisfying to know she was little different from himself as he began to trudge with her through the forest once more. Nothing more bothered the two on their journey, as his steps quieted the dense noise around into near silence. They eventually emerged into a clearing that held a small hill. Dug deep into that hill and leading down into a cavernous maw was the cave the pony had told of before. It seemed large enough to comfortably fit his immense size.

That thought alone was ideal for him, and he entered the cavern and activated his helmet lights. Illuminating the space he had entered. This was to the astonishment of the pony. "Usually I need to cast a candlelight spell to see here."

"Technology is the greatest advent of Humanity," He replied, mostly indifferent as he examined what the pony had done to the place. "So you are a psyker then? I dislike those types. Mostly for their unpredictability."

"Psyker? What's that? I'm just a unicorn." She tilted her head and looked up at him and tapped the horn sprouted from her head. "I can channel my magic to do things from this."

"A rose by any other name, is still a rose." He says quietly, looking at the small amount of accommodations the unicorn had made for herself.

The cave was laid out with a woven carpeting of grass to create a comfortable floor. Atop that was a tiny bed framed from logs and a makeshift mattress comprised of leaves stuffed into a woven sack. A small pit in the center of the room was cleared of the carpet and surrounded by stones. Ashes and charred remains of branches sat in its centre. A very basic setup, but one that was made with a survivalist mindset. Something the Marine respected, as he crouched, and then sat at the far side of the cave. His helmet trained to watch the entrance. He spoke not to the unicorn, and practically ignored her or any attempt at conversation.

His mind was focused more so on his arrival to this strange planet. Trying to discern how he had arrived. What had happened before to bring him here. And what awaited him in the future. Already he had been surprised, to a minor degree; meeting a new species of seemingly sentient psyker xenos shaped like the equines of yore. Then finding that Eldar lurked on this world as well. Now that was going to make things very interesting in the future; all things considered, he was much more concerned with how that Xeno woman had addressed him. almost as if she were trying to guide him to some better path. These thoughts would swim in his head for hours, as the daylight faded and the outside world became dark. His mediation undisturbed, as he had indeed hoped for. He decided once more though, to rest his mind on but a final thought.

Must I truly suffer the Alien? Or must I ensure their destruction at my hand?

Author's Note

Hello there fine reading audience. I hope you have enjoyed the third chapter in what is my first story here on FIM. If you did, please remember to leave a like and comment your thoughts about the story. Constructive Criticism is always appreciated as it helps me grow as a writer, and I'm always looking for helpful thoughts or tips on how to improve.

Again, hope y'all enjoyed the third of many chapters to come, and may the Emperor Protect!