Chapters A week earlier
It’s early morning in Ponyville, the sun is rising the birds are singing and flowers are beginning to bloom. The townsfolk are up bright and early to get to work or get to school. Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia and the element of harmony is in the bathroom in her pyjamas, brushing her teeth and looking in a mirror.
She’s always hated looking in mirrors, she feels uncomfortable and anxious looking at herself. Her face, her body, everything about her feels wrong to her, It’s as if she feels no association with her reflection. Twilight looks away slightly away from the mirror but still able to see herself in the mirror from the corner of her eye. Twilight could get rid of the mirror if she wanted to and she could, but she won’t, she doesn’t really own the building it’s owned by the town council. So if she gets rid of the mirror or damage any property in golden oaks library she might get fined for a lot of money. She could fog the mirror so she won’t see herself however that only works when she’s finished with the shower and she doesn’t know spell that could fog mirrors because non exist.
Twilight finishes brushing her teeth and leaves the bathroom, you’d think the anxiety would be over after that right? anxiety doesn’t just go away it stays with you. It’s not just mirrors that twilight’s uncomfortable around, it’s also her body that makes her feel self conscious. she believe she knows why she feels this way, but isn’t very sure if that’s the reason. There’s a lot of self doubt is in her head that can’t be shifted. And she’s had these feelings since she was fourteen and they have been only getting worse over time.
A familiar voice calls from the kitchen. “Twilight, breakfast is ready!” Spike the dragon shouted Twilight down for the first meal of the day. Twilight got down the stairs and sat down at the table, her breakfast smelt pancakes with eggs and bacon, one of Spikes specialties. When Spike gave twilight her breakfast he noticed how tired and unhappy she is, her hair is a mess her eyes look baggy. “You alright? You don’t look so good.” Said Spike.
“I’m fine spike, just had a bad night is all.” She lied as she began to eat her breakfast
Concerned for his friend Spike says. “Twi you’ve been having a bad night for two weeks now, so please tell me what’s wrong.”
Twilight stops eating, she then sighs calmly and attempts to explain what she’s feeling right now. “Spike I just... I haven’t been having bad nights alright, I’ve been feeling like I’m - uhhh.” She stops speaking to revaluate her sentence, it’s hard to describe what she’s been experiencing recently, especially to a twelve year old dragon like spike. She then continues. “It feels like I’m somehow trapped in a different body, yet the body I’m trapped in is my own. If that makes any sense.”
Spike is confused, he doesn’t understand what Twilight’s going through. He then says to Twilight. “Twi I have no idea what you’re saying, but it sounds like you need professional help. You may want to see a therapist.” Spike then makes another suggestion. “Or you could tell Celestia, she might help your problem.”
Twilight smiles knowing that Spike is trying to help. “I appreciate the thought Spike, but I want to keep this between you and me for now.”
“But why?” Spike questions. “There are ponies out there that can help you. You can’t keep this all bottled up, who knows what mental illness this could cause.”
“I know. I know I need help” Twilight agrees with Spike. Her smile fades away into an unhappy frown, then she continues speaking. “However, if word gets out, if my friends find out, if Celestia finds out, if my mother finds out I... I don’t know if I’ll be accepted as a pony anymore.”
With worry, Spike tries to comfort Twilight by gently placing his clawed hand on Twilights hand. “What makes you think that?” He asks. “You have friends that really care for you; and they would never abandon you. Celestia would want to help you with your troubles. And you parents-” Spike stops himself from finishing that last sentence. “My point is, you don’t need to keep this a secret, there are ponies that really care for you. So please tell someone about this okay.”
Twilights smile came back albeit a little more happier this time. “Okay Spike, I’ll talk to someone, but only when I feel comfortable doing so.”
“Well I’m glad your willing to get help. Now finish your breakfast, Rarity will be coming down any minute now.”
“Oh yeah, almost forgot. Your crush is coming around.” She jokingly said with a smug grin on her face.
For a cold blooded dragon Spikes face turned red very quickly with embarrassment. “S-shut up Twi.” He stuttered a little. “And after I gave you a heart warming speech as well.” Spike pretends to be upset for fun.
“C’mon Spike, I was just messing with you.” She says. “We both know you like Applejack more.” Twilights banters. They both laugh for a bit before they finish their breakfast. Later, Twilight got dressed into her normal outfit she’s currently wearing a pair of trousers and a baggy grey hoodie, nothing too special. She read a book to kill some time before Rarity arrives at Golden Oaks.
About half an hour later there’s a knocking on the door, Twilight puts down her book and opens the door. On the other side is a very beautiful and fashionable unicorn named Rarity. She’s wearing a purple skirt and a cream coloured long sleeved turtle neck sweater, her hair is violet like lavender and it’s the same for her eyes. She seems to be carrying a protective gown bag, it’s most likely has her latest fashion piece. “Good morning Twilight!” Rarity greets with glee.
“Morning Rarity, please come in.” Rarity enters Twilights house.
Spike’s cheeks turn bright red at the sight of Rarity. “H-Hey R-Rarity.” Spike stammers. He then asked rarity. “D-Do you want anything? Glass of water?”
“Why thank you darling, however I’m not going to be here for long.” Rarity told Spike. “Why don’t you go outside and take the day off.” She suggests. Spike looks at Twilight with a childlike expression, Twilight nods her head and lets Spike enjoy his day off. “My, is it just me or is Spike looking a bit ill? His cheeks were red, that’s not natural for a cold blooded creature.”
“No Spikes fine, he’s just a little shy.” Twilight says.
“Shy? Whatever for?” Rarity asks obliviously. “Well never mind that, I’ve brought you the dress I’ve been making for you.” She unzips the bag to reveal a purple dress, it has a pink bow on the skirt and it has a purple star on the chest area. “I thought this would make a wonderful outfit for when we go to your brothers wedding. What do you think?”
Twilight not wanting to hurt her friends feelings responds with this. “It’s nice Rarity really, but could you make me a suit instead? Like a tuxedo, with a tie and everything.”
An awkward silence fills the room for a second. Then Rarity chuckles like she was joking before saying. “Twilight darling. I expected this kind of comment from Rainbow Dash not you of all ponies.”
“Rarity I’m serious.”
“But why, you’ve never had a problem wearing my dresses before.”
Twilight sighs quietly. “I know but I just wanted to wear something different. I can’t wear a dress to every party or special event can’t I?”
Rarity thought about it for a moment and said. “No I suppose you’re right. However I won’t be able to make you a tux before the wedding so this dress will have to do for now.” This make twilight feel a bit disappointed. “But I can make you a tux for the next grand galloping gala, though that is about a year away.”
“But can’t you start working on it now?”
“Sorry Twilight, I have other commissions to work on, so unfortunately I’ll have to book you for next year at the latest.” Rarity explained. “Why do you want to wear a tux anyway? There has to be more to it than wanting to wear something different.” She asked.
Twilight tries to explain to Rarity without telling her the full truth but she starts stumbling over her words. “W-Well, I-I just w-wanted to look more masculine, i-i-in a fashionable way you know.”
Rarity lifts an eyebrow. “Twilight darling, what are you trying to say?” She asks without being judgmental.
“I don’t know, it’s hard to put it into words. Without being frowned upon.” Says Twilight.
Rarity begins to feel concerned for her friend. “What do you mean frowned upon?” she asks politely “Twilight what ever it is you want to tell me just say it, I promise I won’t look down on you.”
Twilight was about to tell Rarity the truth, however her brain just kept asking her ‘What if she’s lying?’ Or ‘What if she’ll tell everyone your secret?’ So Twilight did the only logical thing she could think of and that’s to get Rarity out of the library. “Well it was nice chatting with you Rarity but I have a busy schedule today.” She says to Rarity. She then too Rarity the door and opened the door for her. And before Rarity could say anything, Twilight says to her. “It’s a nice dress and I’ll wear it to the wedding, thank you and bye.” She smiles as she closes the door on Rarity. Twilight slaps her own face and says to herself. “Damn it Twilight, why can’t you just be normal?”
She then looks at the dress left on her table with slight uneasiness, she sighs and says to herself. “It’s only for one day, what can go wrong.”
The wedding day
Everything went wrong. The wedding got invaded by an entire changeling army lead by their queen, they are a new species in Equestria that was discovered two thousand years ago, they were made to infiltrate and kill everything, like a virus. They believe themselves to be rebels fighting against tyranny in the name of their gods. Each changeling has different characteristics: some have three arms and look entirely alien, whilst others can almost pass as a regular pony if they can use spells to change them into a different creature. But no matter the size or intellect of a changeling they all have one thing in common, they hate ponies; and no one knows why.
There are multiple theories as to why, some say that the changelings are ponies that are corrupted by an unknown entity from the stars. Others think that they were created by demonic forces when Discord ruled the land. But regardless everyone agrees that the changelings are dangerous and unrelenting creatures, especially their queen. She is a force to be reckoned, she is a beast made of pure muscle, she has more insect like qualities than the rest of her kind because she’s the oldest changeling in existence. Not much known about her, ancient lore does state that she was defeated by Celestia and Luna at full strength, However it is also noted that she has natural chitin armour around her body that makes even the strongest equestrian weapon shatter. Meaning she is almost indestructible. She wears a tattered cloak that covers the right side of her body, a green chestplate covers her torso that’s made from a bone like material, she also wears an armoured skirt that’s plated and it’s of the same colour and material.
The wedding room has been decimated by her. She has defeated Celestia and Cadence with ease, she has defeated Twilight and her friends, she has defeated all that oppose her. She breaths in the air with satisfaction; and she smiles with an evil grin. “Equestria is mine.” She says to herself. She then looks out of the window to see her kind swarming like a plague of locusts in the air as they attack the city. They’re slaughtering innocent ponies in the streets, Stallions, mares and children. And she is proud. “The gods shall smile upon me on this day, soon they shall come to our world and bring retribution.” Chrysalis smiles with delusion. “You’ve gotten old and weak Celestia, you can’t beat me anymore.” Chrysalis insults Celestia. “Your kind will finally see the true gods in the stars.” She holds Celestia by her hair. “But first things first I must kill a false god.”
Celestia was about to have her head pulled out when all of a sudden a small purple ball of energy hits Chrysalis, it wasn’t powerful blast but it did sting a little. Chrysalis turns to see who hit her and it was a beaten Twilight Sparkle. She looks exhausted, bruised and a little bloody, as if she was fighting all day. “I... I won’t let you lay a finger on her.” She defies the changeling queen. “Take me instead.” Twilight challenges the queen despite how tired she is.
“No Twilight, just run! She’s too powerful!” Celestia warns Twilight before being tossed aside. Twilights friends try to pull her away from Chrysalis but she was too stubborn to budge.
The changeling queen towers over Twilight Sparkle. “You dare defy me little pony?” Chrysalis growls at Twilight. “Do you even know who you’re up against, or what I’m capable off?”
Admittedly Twilight did feel fear at that moment but she tried keep her fear hidden, however Chrysalis can smell Twilights fear. “I do; and I don’t care. I will stop you.” Twilight told Chrysalis. “No, we will stop you.” Twilight corrected herself as she pointed out her friends.
“With the power of friendship?” Chrysalis scoffs before grabbing Twilight by her horn. “If it were so easy.” Chrysalis grips Twilights horn tighter and tighter. Twilight tries to break free from Chrysalis’ grasp but her efforts would be futile, she could feel her horn cracking.
Celestia sees the cruelty that’s happening in front of her, it causes Celestia to tear up a little before shouting. “Chrysalis stop!” Chrysalis stops for a moment to listen to what Celestia has to say. “It’s me you want not her, do what ever you want with me but don’t break Twilights horn!”
Chrysalis scoffs at Celestia. “Oh Tia, you of all ponies should know how cruel I am.” She continues the process of breaking Twilights horn. As the cracks get bigger blood starts to drip down her face, it starts to feel like her brain is being ripped apart from the inside. Applejack and Rainbow Dash try to stop Chrysalis by fighting her but no amount of punching or kicking can even dent her chitin body, so in response Chrysalis just continues breaking the horn with a cold heart. And then a surge of magic bursts out as the horn separates from Twilights head. And as Twilight fell back on the ground everything fades to black.
Next time when Twilight opens her eyes again she was in a different room surrounded by her friends, they were still in Canterlot castle judging by the structure of the room. “Girls she’s coming round!” Pinkie Pie pointed out. Twilight placed her hand on her head and feels an improvised bandage around her forehead covering her broken horn, she has a horrible headache that just makes her injury feel worse. She tries to get back on her feet but Pinkie Pie says to her. “Twi relax, you’ve got an injury.”
“I’m fine Pinkie.” Twilight speaks.
“No you’re not, you almost died!” Applejack scolds Twilight. “Do you have any idea how stupid going against Chrysalis was?”
“She was about to kill Celestia Applejack!” Twilight argues back. “What was I supposed to do? Just stand and watch her kill the Princess of Equestria, my mentor?!”
“There were other ways of going about it Twilight! Ways that wouldn’t get you injured!” Applejack yelled. She then calmed herself down and said. “All I’m saying is you didn’t have to do it alone.”
Twilight sighed, she got herself back on her feet only feeling slightly dizzy when doing so. “I’m sorry, I-I just couldn’t let her kill Celestia, I was just-”
“We understand darling, we all would’ve done it, you however had enough courage to actually stand up to Chrysalis.” Rarity said to Twilight. “Next time if you’re gonna do something crazy like that again, make sure you actually have plan.”
“Alright girls, next time I do something crazy, I’ll let you help me out.” Twilight agreed. “But right now, we have to save Celestia, queen Chrysalis is still going to execute her. She might be doing it right now.”
“She’s not, she’s trying to find us.” Rainbow Dash told her. “After you blacked Chrysalis was about to make sure you never wake up, so we grabbed you and took you to a room where she’d never find us.”
“So she’s hunting me down like a rabid dog? you realise how much worse that sounds?” Asked Twilight. Rainbow was hit with the realisation that Chrysalis might find them soon. “We need a weapon that could kill her, otherwise we’re all good as dead.” Said Twilight.
“Good look with that, she’s entirely indestructible remember? Celestia couldn’t even scratch her!” Rarity mentioned. “And besides we don’t actually need to kill her, we just need to defeat her with the power of friendship.”
“Lets just look around.” Twilight said whilst realising that the elements of harmony won’t work without her and the element of magic. Everybody reluctantly agreed and started scrounging around the room of ancient weapons and artefacts. Swords, hammers, ancient spells and ancient lore; none of what they find can be used to harm the Changeling queen.
And after searching for what seemed like forever, a voice whispered in Twilights ear. “The armour, wear the armour.”
“Fluttershy did you say something?” Twilight asked with confusion. However Twilight notices that Fluttershy is on the other side of the room looking at ancient weapons.
She hears the whisper in her ear again but this time it’s a little more commanding. “The armour! Wear the armour!” Twilight turned again to find no one there, it’s as if a ghost is trying to tell her something. “The armour!” The voice repeated again. The only thing that Twilight can see that in the room that’s armour is the blue and red one in the middle of the room. To Twilight it looks strange, almost other worldly, she has never seen anything like it. No book that has recorded Equestrias history has never described armour like that. But the voices are telling her to use the armour, maybe it might defeat Chrysalis.
“Hey girls!” Twilight called her friends attention. “How about we use that!” She pointed out the strange armour.
Applejack immediately recognised it. “Hey I know that, Applebloom and her friends dug it out a few days ago.” She came over to get a closer look at it. “Apparently there was a dead body in it, but all we found in it was ash and dust. Then again she also said a creepy clown was there too, we found no evidence of a clown being there either.”
“What creepy clown would want this old hunk of junk?” Rainbow Dash questioned.
“I asked the same thing, but she didn’t have an answer.” Applejack replied. She started fiddling with the weapons on the gauntlets with curious intent and asked. “What’s so special about this armour anyway?” As she fiddled with the gauntlet a little more a loud pew sound came from it. Applejack accidently fired the weapon, she looked at what she fired at and it was a vase right next to the entrance. At first it looked like it was completely unharmed, however both sides of the vase fell and shattered on the floor. The vase was sliced cleanly in half. “So who’s gonna wear it?” Applejack asked with a surprised expression.
“I will.” Twilight volunteers
“Don’t be ridiculous Twi, you’re injured. There’s no way you have the strength to move in that armour, in fact I doubt you’ll be able to take on Chrysalis even in that thing. ” Applejack said to Twilight.
“I know, but that’s that’s the risk I’m gonna have to take.” Said Twilight. “So come help me get this thing on.”
Applejack groaned in disbelieve. “You’re pushing yourself Twi, but don’t blame me if you wind up having to go to the hospital.” She reluctantly agrees and helps Twilight get in the armour.
As Twilight Sparkle puts on the armour she notices that it surprisingly fits her almost perfectly, however it’s just a little bit tight around her chest. She moves her arms a bit to test the fit and the first thing she notices is how light the armour is, her arms move as normal with no added weight. The last thing she needs to put on is the Helmet. “Twilight wait, you don’t need to wear the armour.” Rainbow said to Twilight. “We can just defeat them like we normally do. With the power of friendship! Like Rarity said.”
“Yeah, you don’t need dusty armour to stop those meanies.” Pinkie chimed in.
Twilight sighs, she looks like she’s about to cry. She then looks towards her friends and speaks. “But that’s the thing though, we can’t. We’re the elements of harmony: Applejack is honesty, Rainbow is loyalty, Rarity you’re generosity, Fluttershy you’re kindness and Pinkie you’re laughter. And I’m supposed to be the element of magic. How can I be that without magic?” Feeling useless and helpless, Twilight starts to cry. With symphony and compassion all her friends hug Twilight because they really care for her.
“Aww, how sweet.” Chrysalis’ says sarcastically. “This reminds me of better days, days I use to cherish before I was betrayed by those I trusted.” Her poisonous words hurt what little heart that’s left of the queen as if she was spiteful towards her younger self. “But now I know better, the gods of the void smile upon me today. We shall prepare for their arrival once the throne of Canterlot is mine. But you lot could not help but be a nuisance, a thorn in my side. No matter I shall kill you all myself.” Chrysalis unsheathes her blade, her sword is slightly curved, it’s a little wider than her arm and it looks like it’s made from bone. She holds the sword with two arms that were hidden under her cloak, she has three arms! Two on the right and one on the left. It makes her look more like a dangerous predator that’s about to strike down her prey. “Are you prepared to die?” she asks enthusiastically. “Well, are you?!”
“Girls get behind me.” Twilight speaks up. Her friends look at her as if she was crazy, the five friends ignore Twilights order and make a stand against the tyrannical queen of the Changelings. “Girls I said get behind me!” Twilight repeats her command and puts on the helmet.
“With all due respect Twilight, we’re not letting you do this alone.” Applejack says to Twilight. “We’re not afraid of you Chrysalis!” Applejack says with stubbornness.
“You’re just a big meanie.” Fluttershy shouts, but her timid nature made her shout sound very quiet.
“Yeah what Fluttershy said!” Pinkie says to the queen of changelings.
“I may be a lady, but I’m not afraid of a little roughhousing.” Rarity said. “I just so happen to be a blackbelt in taekwondo.” She strikes a martial arts pose and is ready for the fight of her life.
“We’re not going down without a fight!” Rainbow Dash cracks he knuckles to make herself look tough.
Chrysalis laughs, her face is a mix of contempt and glee, and eyes of one who finds joy in others misery. “Did I not mention that you’re not just facing me? But my entire army as well!” An army of changelings form behind Chrysalis with eyes of anticipation, they’re just waiting for the bloodbath to begin
“That coward, she can’t even fight us on her own.” Rainbow dash says to herself. “So what’s the plan Twilight?” She asks Twilight, there’s no answer. “Twilight?” She tries again, no response.
Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity check if Twilight is alright. However, all they see is her shaking like a pony on a cold winters night. “I can’t move.” Twilight struggled to even speak. “I can’t move my body.” Twilight feels her body being taken over by an unknown entity, she feels her very soul being replaced by another. She tries to take of the helmet but her own body won’t let her, she screams as loud as possible like she’s in pain and is begging for help. Then the screaming suddenly stops abruptly, a deathly aura fills the room, her mind and body are no longer hers. But she is still there somewhere.
The possessed Twilight Sparkle checks their surroundings, they seemed confused when they saw around four different species in the same room as them. However they’re able to tell friend from foe for it’s painfully obvious, because they find themselves surrounded by colourful creature fearing for their lives, whilst a threat armed to the teeth is prepared to strike at any given moment.
“Twilight are you okay?” Rainbow asks with massive concern. Twilights body doesn’t speak, they just ignored Rainbow Dash and started to walk towards the changelings. “Twilight? What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash tried to stop Twilight by pulling her away from the changelings but Twilight shoved her without a care.
“Ha you want to face us alone?!” Chrysalis chuckled and the rest of her army laughed along with her. “Do you have a death wish Twilight Sparkle?!”
Twilights body stops walking and asks a very simple question. “Where am I?” Their voice is completely different, it’s a male voice that’s distorted and echoey, almost alien. Chrysalis is bewildered, she knows that this is Twilight Sparkle but they’re not acting like themselves. “I’ll ask again. Where am I?” The creature repeats itself.
“Twilight Sparkle, has your head injury given you amnesia?” Chrysalis attempts to insult the being once known as Twilight Sparkle. “You’re in Canterlot. The capital of Equestria.”
“Equestria?” The creature questioned. The creature pondered for a moment before coming to the conclusion. “Ah, you mean Equis. I remember now, I died on this planet years ago; and now I’m back in the galaxy of endless war.”
“Stop you insulant rambling pony, you’re in the presence of queen Chrysalis!” A changeling brought the Creatures attention back.
“I’m sorry but does this pathetic worm speak for you?” Twilight questions Chrysalis whilst insulting the changeling the spoke for his queen. “If so you’ve lost the little respect I had for you, if I had any that is.”
“Twilight you’re gonna get yourself killed if you keep talking back to her like that.” Fluttershy warned Twilight timidly.
“Foolish creature, I’m not the one named Twilight, I am Asurmen, The Phoenix king.”
“What? You’re not Twilight Sparkle?” Chrysalis questioned with pure confusion.
“No!” Asurmen yells. “I am your doom.”
At this point Chrysalis is tired of Asurmen, she’s at the point where she just wants to strike him down right there and then. However, there’s just something about him that makes Chrysalis feel something she hasn’t felt in a long time. Fear. It’s hard to explain but Chrysalis can sense that Asurman reeks of death; and opposing him is like a death sentence. “You dare threaten me!”
“Yes. ” Asurmen says “However, You can leave now, and I won’t stop you. I won’t pursue and you’ll never hear from me ever again. But if you truly want this fight, I shall show no mercy and you won’t live to see the end of the day.” Asurmen warns Chrysalis. He does hope that she picks the second option, he needs a warm up after being asleep for ten thousand years.
“I’m no coward! I won’t walk away from a fight!”
“There’s dishonour in walking away from this fight.”
“It doesn’t matter, I will beat you and take over this world in the name of the gods in the void.”
“The gods care not for you. And besides, you already lost as soon as I woke up.” Chrysalis feels insulted; and with blind rage she charges towards Asurmen with speed like hurricane, she was prepared to slay Asurmen with her bone sword but unfortunately she underestimated him.
Asurmen doesn’t flinch or dodge Chrysalis’ attack, but instead he just punches her in the face so hard it breaks the sound barrier. In doing so he sends Chrysalis flying through the walls of Canterlot castle and out of the building. Twilights friends are in a state of shock as if their entire view of their friend has shifted into a sense of fear. It also became painfully obvious to them that this is not Twilight Sparkle. Not anymore.
The changelings however are even more afraid of Asurmen, he just defeated chrysalis, the most powerful changeling alive with a single hit. Asurmen loads his master crafted Shuriken Catapults that are integrated on his vambraces and unsheathes his blade. The changelings prepare for the fight of their lives but they’re hesitant to strike first after what they saw happen to their queen. The changeling horde swarm Asurmen like moths to a flame.
Asurmen is not impressed, but he condones the changelings for their bravery, he runs toward the tide of changelings and fires his Shuriken Catapults. The changelings caught in the firing line have their body parts sliced off by the Catapults such as: arms, legs, the tops of their heads and even their torsos got cut in half; exposing their intestines.
The changelings ignore their dead brethren and trample over their bodies when trying to out number Asurmen, one of them transformed into hulking beast with massive wings, stinger and claws. They’ve become more avian but keeping their bug like appearance. The changeling tries to overpower him with its brute strength, it even knocks Asurmen down for a moment.
However, Asurmen dodges the transformed bugs attacks. He hops on its back and stabs it through the head, while the creature is still alive he drives it into the rest changeling army, squashing any changeling that was in his path. He then continues the slice, dice and shoot his way through the changeling horde like they were made of butter. As The Phoenix Lord fought the changelings, he ultimately begins to change the course of this war. It got to the point where the entire changeling hive saw him as the main threat they had to take down, the changelings outside the castle stopped what they were doing and joined the rest of their brothers and sisters to kill The Phoenix lord.
With the changelings distracted; Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash snuck out of the treasure room with Applejack leading them out. “We’re just going to ignore what just happened?” Rainbow asked Applejack.
“Not now Rainbow, we have bigger things to worry about.” Applejack said as she sneaks around the corner, the others do the same.
“Applejack, Twilight just punched Chrysalis to next year and is currently fighting an entire army by herself. I think that is something we should worry about.” Rainbow argues. “I mean it was awesome but she was screaming at the top of her lungs Applejack, her voice changed into someone else's how are you so calm about this.”
“I’m not calm about this Rainbow.” Applejack says whilst she sneaks around another corner in the hallway. “In fact I’m worried sick. But right now we need to save Celestia, we’ll continue this discussion later.” She gestures the others to follow.
“Applejack this is a topic that can’t be ignored.” Rarity interjects. “But as soon as all of this is dealt with we definitely need to talk about this.”
Applejack groans. “That is exactly what I’ve been saying Rarity, don’t you listen?”
“I know you were but I’m just implying is that you want to sweep this under the rug instead of confronting it.” Rarity says. “Just promise me we’ll talk to Twilight later okay.”
“If it’s even possible.” Applejack mentions. As the group sneaks through the halls, they hear sounds of a battle close by. The sounds can be compared to a frightening thunderstorm but with no lightning. Then out of no where a dragon crashes through the walls with it’s lower body missing, the girls scream with shock before the dragon turns back into a dead changeling. Fluttershy cries with fear because she’s scared with all that’s going on at the moment, it’s enough to scar anybody for life. Pinkie hugs Fluttershy to try and comfort her and keep her quiet.
This place is clearly getting too dangerous so Applejack gestures to the others to pick up haste. Everyone moves as quickly as they possibly can whilst they’re still sneaking, they’re closing in on the entrance to the wedding room where all the guests that were attending the ceremony are being held. They were about to turn around the corner before Applejack says. “Hold it.” She then pokes her head around the corner ever so slightly and notices two heavily armoured changeling guards with spears and shields. “There’s some guards up a head.” Applejack warns the others.
“Well what‘re we gonna do?” Asked Rainbow Dash.
Applejack pondered for a moment, she then commands Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie, go distract the guards.” Pinkie shakes her head as she hugs Fluttershy. Applejack doesn’t know how to respond, she just sees Pinkie Pie holding a stressed out Fluttershy tight. “Oh um, Rarity go distract the guards.” She repeats to Rarity.
“Darling I have a better plan,” Rarity says. “wait here.” She brushes the dirt off her clothes and walks to guards. As Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkie wait, a struggle can be heard where the guards were stationed. Some of the noises were grunts, punches and kicks. “Girls you can come out now” Rarity called. Applejack and the others came over and they saw two changelings laying motionless on the floor, however if you look closely you can see that the guards are still breathing. and Rarity looks like she enjoyed beating them up. “Told you I know Taekwondo.” She says. Honestly it was the least shocking thing that has happened today but it was surprising none the less.
Everyone entered the room, the venue had no changelings in sight. The only things that are in the room are green slime and ponies trapped in green gooey pods. The few ponies in the pods that are recognisable are Princess Cadence, Shining Armour and Celestia. And without hesitation Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity rip the pods open and getting goo everywhere whilst Pinkie sits Fluttershy down and is trying to calm her down and get her out of her state of shock.
Celestia wakes up and coughs out what can be only described as something similar to bile. Rainbow Dash and Applejack assist Celestia to get her back on her feet. “Let us help you your highness.” Applejack says.
“I’ll be fine Applejack.” Celestia reassures the apple farmer. She then looks around the room and sees ruin, this was meant to be the perfect day for her niece and it’s been nothing but destruction. She looks toward her niece and her fiancé coughing out the same bile liquid, she then notices that all of Twilights friends are here except for one. “Where’s Twilight Sparkle?” She asks. “Where is my Student?”
“Uh about that.” Rainbow begins her explanation. “You see-” Suddenly without any warning a changeling disguised as a bugbear is thrown into the room and Asurmen launches himself at the creature and, he swiftly grabs its ugly face and scrapes it on the floor. The bugbear’s brains and blood are spread on the floor and it changes back into a changeling. “She’s uhh, not herself at the moment.” Rainbow Dash chuckles nervously.
Asurmen stares at Celestia for a moment, studying her because of how she stands out from the rest of her species. He gets of the floor and asks her. “Are you the leader of this world?”
“I am Princess Celestia, I am the ruler of Equestria.” Celestia responds to Asurmens question. “Who are you and what have you done with Twilight Sparkle?” She questions Asurmen.
“I know not of Twilight Sparkle.” He says. “But even if I knew them I wouldn’t harm them, if that is what you’re insinuating.”
Most of Twilights friends are either irritated or Annoyed with the Phoenix lord for forgetting about Twilight Sparkle. Rarity shouts at Asurmen with pent up rage. “Liar, you’ve taken over her body like a parasite!”
“Oh her. She’s still here, her soul is trapped in a corner while I’ve taken over.”
“Like a parasite” Rarity Repeats.
“She put on the armour willingly. Even though a lesser creature like her shouldn’t have, in fact I’d say it’s impossible that any creature but an Aeldari can wear this armour.” Asurmen tells everyone. With this revelation in mind Asurmen realises that someone or something has tampered with his gear. Everyone else however is stunned because they may or may not have lost their friend. Then loud footsteps can be heard coming this way, Asurmen gets into a battle stance and prepares for battle. “Enough of this talk about this Twilight, more of these creatures are coming this way, I suggest you get out of here before things get messy.” He warns everyone.
The creature that emerges from the entrance was surprisingly Queen Chrysalis. She’s still holding her two handed bone sword but she’s also caressing the large bruise on her cheek with her third arm. As she enters the room everyone notices that she has a wide smile on her face, she cackles like a maniac and says. “That sheer power from that hit, I’ve not felt a punch like that since princess Luna battled me two thousand years ago. She and her sister were the only ones who could ever defeat me, until you came around.” She gets into her battle stance and prepares for the fight of her life. “It’s nice to shake things up a little.” She growls like an animal. “Show me what you got warrior!” And with the fury of a thousand soldiers both combatants clashed; and they begin to duel.
No longer underestimating the warrior, Chrysalis was the first to strike. She jabbed at Asurmens stomach with her one left arm multiple times with speed and precision before she knocks him on the ground. She then tried to cleave Asurmen but he rolled out of the way, he went to strike Chrysalis through the heart but she quickly threw him out of the window before he could even touch her. Chrysalis scoffed at her opponent and then looks at Celestia and asks. “Is this supposed to be your champion? He barely put up a fight.”
Chrysalis walked towards the broken window to see the corpse of Asurmen on Canterlots grounds. She leaned her head through the broken window and suddenly, the hand of Asurmen grabs the neck of Chrysalis. He used his sword to pierce the walls of the castle when he got thrown out the window so he wouldn’t fall to his death. He then pulled his sword out of the building and both warriors begin to fall.
As they were falling Asurmen punched Chrysalis five times as hard as he could, then Chrysalis grabbed Asurmens arm, headbutted him and threw him to the the streets of Canterlot. Asurmen crashed through twelve buildings all together, some of them probably had ponies in them who were trying to avoid the changelings. However Asurmen does not lick his wounds, he just gets up, grabs his weapon and gets back into the fight.
“You know I’m a bit disappointed, I thought you were a worthy opponent.” Chrysalis insults the Phoenix lord as she hovers in the air.
“I could kill you easily, you’re nothing but a bug that needs exterminating.” Asurmen insults the queen back. “You are just a petty creature that wants to prove to the world that you’re worth something but in reality you’re not.” queen Chrysalis is looking extremely infuriated right now. She’s like a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any moment. “You just couldn’t walk away, not even after I decimated your entire army, it’s like you never really cared for your kind.”
Chrysalis roared with anger and flew towards Asurmen with speed and ferocity, she wanted Asurmens head on her mantle so she aimed to chop his neck clean off. However Asurmen fires his right handed Shuriken catapult and the shot slices Chrysalis’s arm on the left side of her body. And when she got close enough to Asurmen he punched her in the stomach and fired again, the shot doesn’t kill her nor does it remove her lower body. He then throws Chrysalis into the air like a stone, he jumps a thousand metres in the air and stabs her in the chest. Chrysalis screams in agony as she desperately tries to fight back with no luck, then Asurmen throws her back to the ground, doing so forms a small crater on the stone path.
Asurmen lands back on the ground safely and dramatically walks slowly towards the crater that Chrysalis created. Bruised, beaten down; and in her own blood, Chrysalis tries to get back on her feet. As the dust settles she sees the Phoenix lord tower over like an executioner and all she could struggle say is. “W-what...What are you?” She coughs out blood.
He answers her question. “I am your evils returned to you. I am the justice your victims cry out for. The protector of the weak. The light in the darkness. The Hand of Asuryan. I am the avenger.” Asurmen prepares to make the killing blow but then suddenly.
“Twilight Sparkle!!!” A loud commanding voice called his vessels name and. He stops. One inch from ending a threat and he just hesitated. He tried to kill her again, and again, and again but he couldn’t kill Chrysalis. A flying Celestia hovers down to the ground with a look of discontent. “Don’t kill her, she’s not well.”
“Not well? look around you!” Asurmen yells at Celestia with frustration. “This creature as caused so much destruction on your world and you expect me to let her live? She has to die.”
“I know what she has done I’ve had to witness all of it!” Celestia yells back. “But despite everything she has done please let her live.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.”
“I’ve just killed her entire army, you expect me to let her live because that’s what heroes do?”
“Yes.”
“This is ridiculous; and you know it.” Asurmen swung his blade a Chrysalis again in an attempt to finish what he started, he hesitated again. He grabbed Chrysalis by the neck, attempts to strangle her but his body wouldn’t let him. And so instead he threatened her. “Listen; and listen well. I shall let you live, but if I see your face again I will wash my hands with your blood. Are we clear.” Chrysalis nods her head in panic. “Good. Now get out! You coward.” He tossed Chrysalis to the ground and she begins to fly away so she could lick her wounds.
Once she’s out of sight Asurmen felt a pounding headache, he loses control over his hands and they took his helmet off. Twilight Sparkle gasps for air, her heart is racing and her arms are shaking. She looks around and sees her mentor Celestia behind her. She then asks with a heavy heart. “What did I do?” Her body fell limp to the ground and her eyes see nothing but darkness.
two days later
At Ponyville hospital In the middle of the night, Twilight Sparkle wakes up with a sweat. She breaths heavily like she had just woken up from a nightmare. She calms herself down and looks at her surroundings; and she sees that she’s in a hospital bed with wires and tubes sticking out of her. She places her hand on her head and feels her broken horn is all bandaged up.
Right beside her is a heart monitor showing her heart rate and right now it shows that it’s at a normal pace. Also beside her are some flowers and get well cards on the table. Twilight picks up a card and it read. ‘Twilight, hope you get well soon, from Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack. P:S do you want some cake when you get out of the hospital, if so what flavour do you want?’ That letter brought a smile on Twilights face and a tear to her eye.
Twilight wipes away the tear and hers a voice coming from the corner of the room. “So you’re finally awake.” The figure comes out of the shadows and it is a strange creature that’s tall as her, it’s almost transparent like a ghost, it’s wearing a white robe to cover its body, its eyes are shaped like almonds, its hair is long and black; and it has pointy ears.
The sound of Twilights heart monitor beeps faster, she moves further away from the creature but she’s trapped to the confines of her bed. Both the creature and Twilight are face to face, she asks. “Who are you?”
He speaks with a quiet yet commanding voice and says. “I am Asurmen. First of the Phoenix lords; and you are going to explain how you broke free from my control.”
Chapter three - The library
It’s been almost two weeks since Princess Luna set out to find the Library. She should’ve been home by now yet here she is, in the middle of the dessert taking shelter in a small cave to avoid a large sandstorm. She would’ve gotten there a lot sooner if it wasn’t for the storm; and the fact that she’s being followed. What or who she’s being followed by is unknown to her but their intentions were made clear when she saw it had weapons before loosing sight of the creature a few days ago.
She is wearing ancient armour made from the strongest steel and it has a dark tint to it. The leather covers the joins and her legs, she wears metal kneepads and boots, her lower arms are the only parts of her body that remain unprotected, however she does wear steel gloves. Luna’s breastplate has a Siegel in the shape of a crescent moon that looks like a unicorn. Her weapon of choice is a two-handed great sword she calls Wolfblood and she’s strong enough to wield it one-handed.
Luna hasn’t got much further to go however she’s already regretting the journey. Luna feels as if she should go back home, apologise to her sister and do some of Celestias’ duties like she promised, she’s getting far too old for adventuring anyway. No she can’t turn back now she’s so close, She just needs to get past the endless sandstorm, or more commonly known as the sea of clouds. And hopefully survive going through it. These clouds tower beyond the sky and if a Pegasus ever tried to fly over it they would suffocate from lack of oxygen before falling to the depths of this desert storm.
The storm winds are strong enough to rip your flesh from your body, no one can survive if unprepared. Luna took a deep breath and lifted two fingers in the air, her horn glows blue with pure magic and with her two fingers she drew a circle and formed a protective bubble around her. This magical bubble shall shield Luna from the wrath of the sandstorm so she must use full concentration to keep her shield up, if she doesn’t then the sea of clouds will consume her.
Her mighty wings flap as she begins to fly through the sea of clouds. She could barely see anything at all, and if she can see anything it will most likely be skeletons of dead ponies or rotting corpses of those who dared cross the sea. For some reason, despite the warnings, time and time again ponies still attempt to go through the sea of clouds. It’s curiosity that’s killing these ponies, they wish to know what’s beyond this storm. The only ponies who know are Celestia and Luna, they’ve journeyed there before in their prime, and they refuse to tell a single soul.
Eventually Luna and Celestia stopped going, they believed that they no longer needed to go to the library any more because they have learnt enough. But now Luna needs to go there once more if she wants to understand the prophecy. Soon Luna makes it past the storm with minimal effort and dissipates her protective spell. She is now in an area that is covered in long grass and vines the climb small long abandoned building. These are remnants of a long forgotten civilisation that’s been destroyed a millennia ago before the princesses were born.
The buildings are either collapsed or rotting away nothing in between, soon these lands will consume them and any remnants of them will soon be forgotten by this world. Bones litter the land, what ever used to live in Equestria were evidently attacked by an unknown force, because decrepit rusted machines of war and dead golem like creatures with metal claws can be seen with plant life surrounding them. During her childhood whenever Luna would visit she would sketch her surrounding and try to recreate her the structures and war machines, some drawings were better than others but in the end she found it pleasant.
At the edge of this landscape is a giant tree that’s the size of a skyscraper its branches can hold cities, towns and villages. And that is the library. A hollowed out ancient tree that has all knowledge in Equestria and before ponies ever existed on this world. She heads towards the library through these ancient ruins, she walks pass massive machinery and accidently steps a few bones. And as Luna gets closer to the library, she suddenly hears footsteps behind her.
She slowly turns around and sees the creature that was following her, it followed her through the sea of clouds and somehow survived the onslaught of wind and sand. They wears a sandy coloured tattered cloak over its ancient blue armour that has been chipped and damaged over the years. They wear a necklace that holds four purple gems, they also wear a white sun bleached helmet that has a faded yellow and black plume on it. The creature is holding a spear with strange symbols engraved in the metal and a sword that’s being carried on the creatures back, both weapons look like they’ve been well taken care off. As the creature walks closer it’s considerably tall, it’s just around the height of an average sized pony, maybe even a few inches taller.
Not wanting to start a fight with this stranger Luna speaks to it diplomatically. “Greetings stranger. I am Princess Luna, co ruler of Equestria.”
“I know who you are, you was Nightmare moon.” The creature spoke in a condescending tone. Luna clenched her fist, she wanted to punch them right then and there, but she also wants to avoid confrontation so she relaxes and uncurls her fist.
Luna ignore his comment and asks him a question. “Would you be so kindly as to explain how you got pass the sand storm?”
“It’s easy when you’re wearing armour from head to toe.” The creature answers. “Now tell me, have you heard the prophesy too?”
“You mean Phoenix Rising?” Luna assumes. “I thought it was told in secret, I thought this whole place was kept secret?”
“So did I. I thought it was hidden away from you ponies, For centuries I thought I was the only one on this planet who knew of this place.”
Luna is not happy with the way that this creature is talking back to her and insulting her own kind, but alas she need to keep calm. “If we both know the prophecy then we can both look for answers.” Luna tries to convince.
“Forgive me but this doesn’t concern your kind, this is Aeldari responsibility, go home you your marble castle young lady.”
“Young lady? I am six thousand years old.”
“And I am over ten thousand years old. Now move out of my way or face the consequences.”
Luna holds the handle of her sheathed sword preparing for confrontation. “You don’t seem to understand, I’m an Alicorn, one of the most powerful ponies in the world. So I suggest you stop being so arrogant old man.”
“And I’m-” He stops mid sentence. “Was a Dire Avenger, aspect warrior of Kaela Mensha Khaine, the bloody handed god.”
“Those words mean nothing to me.” Luna told the aspect warrior. “Now please, put down your weapon, You do not want this fight.” The two warriors lock eyes with each other, both waiting for one another to make the first move, both know this will end up in a fight. The Dire Avenger slowly unsheathes his sword and is now dual wielding a sword and a spear, Luna does the same. “It doesn’t have to end in bloodshed.”
“No it doesn’t, but then again why should I trust you? You turned to the ruinous powers once what’s stopping you from turning again?”
“I’m not Nightmare moon anymore. You have nothing to fear.” Luna tries to convince the aspect warrior but he has already made up his mind.
The Dire Avenger whispers to himself "War is my master. Death is my mistress." His sword and spear glow blue with arcane energy. Both warriors swiftly swing their weapons at each other with such speed the air around them intensified, Their weapons clashed and sent shockwaves throughout the area.
Luna pushes the warrior back to get enough room to decapitate him, but he backflips away from the sword and he went to strike Luna with the spear. However Luna grabs the spear with her empty hand, pulls him closer and headbutts the warrior. A small crack forms on his helmet but it’s nothing he can’t fix.
With his sword he attempts to strike Luna through her gut but she defends by deflecting the killing blow, then he hits Luna on the head with the handle of his spear, knocking her head to the side giving him chance to do a side flip and hitting Luna on the other side of the head with one kick from each leg. She side of Luna’s cheek is cut and it’s now bleeding.
The warrior quickly strikes his spear through the ground, and with one hand holding the spear he spins like a dancer and tries to hit Luna again, but Luna grabs his legs and throws him onto the ground with full force. She launches herself into the air and dives back down with high speeds aiming to stab the warrior in the chest. Unfortunately the aspect warrior slides out of her way and Luna stabs the dirt instead.
Now with another chance to strike the aspect warrior Jumps over Luna and attempts to slice Luna’s back, but she suddenly turns around and blocks the strike with her great sword. He then uses his spear to try and stab Luna but she grabs it and crushes it easily like a rotten stick. Luna then uses the end of the spear to stab the aspect warriors shoulder, he grunts in pain and get pinned onto the ground. He kicks Luna to push her of him and he pulls the spear blade out of his shoulder before he attacks again by slicing Luna’s arm off but she blocks the attack again, the aspect warrior pulls his sword back to him and when he does he simultaneously make a large cut on Lunas bicep.
Luna roars and swings her sword at the aspect warrior multiple times, he tries to protect himself from the flurry of attacks but they’re just getting faster and faster. Then he parries one of her attacks and tries to chop Lunas torso from the rest of her body but he ultimately fails as Luna grabs the blade with her bare hand an punches the aspect warrior with the hand that’s holding her blade. She punched him so hard that he crashes into an ancient building and it crumbles on top off him.
Believing the fight to be over Luna sheaths her blade and puts direct pressure on the wound that’s on her bicep. This isn’t the worse injury she’s had over her long life so she knows she’ll be fine it just hurts slightly more than it should, it feels like the blade was trying to attack her mind as well as her body, but never the less her mind remains strong. Luna ignores the wound as best as she can and was about to head inside the Library when suddenly, the Dire Avenger climbs out of the rubble. His helmet has cracked even more and his blue armour has chipped even more yet he still looks as if he’s able to fight.
He takes his broken helmet off and throws it onto the ground revealing a sickly pale skinned face with blood covering the right side of his face. His ears are pointy, his eyes are almond shaped and his platinum coloured hair is in a topknot. And he seems really pissed off. He roars out in anger and dashes towards Luna with sword in hand, Luna rushes to her enemy and then their weapons clash once again.
Using her skill with her blade Luna swings her sword in a way where she disarms the aspect warrior. After that she was going to kill him by splitting him in half but the warrior managed to catch her blade before she could do so, the aspect warrior the kicks Luna away and in doing so disarms Luna. He throws Luna’s weapon away and punches her in the gut three times, he uppercuts her and kicks her in the back of her head, causing Luna to fall to the ground.
No Luna isn’t dead but she is very dizzy to the point of unconsciousness, her vision is seeing double. The Dire Avenger slowly walks to his sword and Luna crawls to her great sword, both warriors are tired and out of breath. Once they both grabbed their weapons Luna gets back up and they were about to start fighting again until. “Stop!” Someone yells. Both combatants suddenly stop what they were about to do.
The figure who spoke was none other than a unicorn named Clover the Clever, he is a pony from a by gone era and at first glance he hasn’t aged a day. But then you’ll notice his eyes have gotten cloudy his unnatural prolonged life has caused him to go blind, his fur remains pale green like from his youth but he has plenty of grey hairs. He carefully walks to the warriors as if his bones have gotten brittle and hollow. “You two should be ashamed.” Clover scolds both Princess and Aspect warrior. “How dare you fight in this sacred place, you’re destroying history.”
“Forgive me old friend.” Luna pleads. “I was defending myself from this creature.”
“I was about to slay a servant of Chaos.” The warrior argues
“I am not Nightmare moon!” Luna shouts at the warrior.
“Enough!” Clover commands. “This petty squabble has gone one long enough, you two are acting like children!” He goes up to Luna and says. “Luna you are a princess, I taught you to fight better than this.” He then points at the warrior without looking at him and expresses his anger towards him. “And you, You’re over ten thousand years old. Act like it!”
The warrior then kneels down and says. "I'm sorry Clover, I thought I was protecting you from a threat." He explained “She was corrupted by chaos so I assumed she came here for a reason other than the prophecy.”
“Clover is my oldest friend I would never harm him even if I was corrupted!” Luna yells in the warriors face.
“Please stop arguing the both of you!” Clover sighs like a tired old pony. "I suppose this was also partly my fault." He tells them calmly. "I never even mentioned either of you to each other, no time like the present." He then begins to introduce the two to each other. “Luna this is Balesen, the last Eldar of this world; and Balesen this is Princess Luna co-ruler of Equestria.”
“Balesen?” Luna questions with curiosity in her eyes. “As in one of the seven founders of Equestria? The one who protected his friends from the wendigo's? I thought you were a pony?”
“I only guided them up the mountain, they banished the daemons.” Balesen corrected.
“Yes but they couldn’t have done so without your help.”
“They could’ve, they were very competent. The only thing that was dragging them down was their petty rivalry with one another.” Balesen explains. “No offence my friend.” He says to Clover.
“None taken.” Clover the Clever replies. “Now come inside so I can heal your injuries; and you can tell me about this prophecy you mentioned.”
Inside the candle lit library there are shelves upon shelves of books throughout several floors of this ancient tree, it’s impossible to find a area in this place that isn’t surrounded by books, there are even some piles of books stacked on top of each other on the floor. The books in the library house ancient knowledge and old forgotten lore that even the princesses don’t know or understand, some books are written in dead languages and some were written well over ten thousand years ago. If you wish to find answers you’ll more than likely find it in the library.
Meanwhile Clover is healing both Luna’s an Balesen’s wounds with his magic, Luna doesn't seem all too happy about it. “Honestly my friend I can heal myself just fine.” Luna objects.
“Nonsense, you’re my guest and you’ll be treated as such. Now stop your complaining, I’m almost done.” Clover tells Luna. “What was that Prophecy you mentioned earlier?”
“The Phoenix rises.” Luna Simply said.
“You came all the way over here to tell me that Celestias’ pet is going to die again.” Clover joked.
“No. She means that the Phoenix lord is about to be resurrected.” Balesen clarifies. “And we both know that the answers are in this library.”
“Ahh, I see. Well if you wish to look for answers feel free to look in ‘forgotten age section’, that’s where you’ll most likely find your answers.” Clover tells both Balesen and Luna. “Just let me finish healing Luna and I can guide you there.” His horn glows green and he holds his hand on the large wound on Luna’s arm. The cut closes itself and disappears, there’s no scar to be seen and it looks as if it wasn’t cut at all.
“Thank you.” Says Luna
“You’re welcome. Now please follow me.” Clover instructs the two. They followed Clover the Clever through the library, he takes them up five flights of stairs to the Forgotten age section without much hassle and this section of the library is small compared to the rest because theirs so little information. There’s only one shelf and only a dozen books and a few scrolls, some of it is so old the paper could crumble if you’re not careful. “There isn’t a lot that’s been archived or written about but it’s all I have on this era.”
“It will do.” Balesen said. “I just hope whatever we’re looking for is in here.”
“You and me both.” Luna says to Balesen. “Now lets get started.”
“Right.” Said Clover. “I’ll leave you to it then.” He then leaves the both of them to their business.
They both searched and browsed through the books scrolls trying to find any mention of a prophesy. All they could find are explanations of ancient cultures and traditions, historical events that took place on this world before ponies existed, biology, types magic, mentions of the different seer classes, the warrior path, gods, dead gods and how they were worshipped; and yet nothing on the prophecy that they’ve been told. And they’ve been searching for twelve hours. Twelve hours.
Their eyes are getting sore from all this reading and all for what? Nothing, they were about to give up. That is until a scroll mysteriously dropped from the shelf, both Luna and Balesen read every book and ancient texts in this section and this scroll is obviously newer than the others. Luna picks it up and when she looks through the shelf she saw a figure wearing a black coat and is wearing a mask that has a long nose, pointy ears and a unnatural wide devilish grin on it. The figure didn’t speak, it just lightly chuckled an disappeared into the shadows like it was never here.
Luna felt scared to say the least, first the creature that told her about the prophecy and now this. She now wants to know what they are? And what do they want? But in the meantime she needs to read this scroll. “Found something.” She told Balesen.
“Well open it then.” Balesen says in response. Luna puts the scroll on a table and opens it. The texts say
A Phoenix shall rise and a Phoenix shall fall. It is what I’ve seen in my dreams, it’s what the other Farseers have seen and what I’ve heard from Cegorachs servants. I do not know when this prophecy will come true but from what I’ve seen it might become reality in over a thousand years time, maybe even longer, depending if what I’m seeing is accurate or not.
This is obviously talking about the lost Phoenix lord Asurmen, who disappeared ten thousand years ago and he reunite with the Asuryani and protect us once more. However this prophecy says that a Phoenix shall fall, whether that means that Asurmen shall die or his enemy shall die I do not know, either way a Phoenix lord shall die and it will be a permanent stain that will affect the destiny of this galaxy.
I foreseen who shall don the armour and resurrect the Phoenix king from his slumber. And it is an Exodite, They have a long road ahead of them, one filled with darkness and sorrow. But they can still find the light that is hope at the end of the tunnel. I just wish they can hope before it’s too late.
Sean-Fae, a Farseer of Craftworld Ulthwe.
“This doesn’t answer anything, this just confirms what we already know.” Luna commented. “Whoever the Phoenix is, they have to be an Exodite, whatever that is.” Balesen sighs and doesn’t speak a word. “What do you think Balesen? Balesen? Is there something wrong?” Luna asks. Balesen doesn’t speak, he just gets up and he walks away with the last bit of hope drained from his soul. “Balesen where are you going?”
“Away from this place.” He says to Luna
“Why? You just need to find an Exodite to wear the armour and then-”
“Don’t bother searching for one.” Balesen interrupts. “All the Exodites on this planet are dead. Every. Single. One of them. Those skeletons you saw outside, those are the last physical evidence that there were Exodites on this world. And I had to watch them die!”
“Yet we were told the prophecy. Why would they tell us the prophecy if it isn’t going to come true?” Luna argued
“Because it was a cruel joke made up by the Harlequins!” Balesen argued back. “This was an elaborate joke years in the making for their own amusement!”
“Then why don’t you wear the armour then?!”
“Because I’m not worthy!” Balesen shouted. He then sat down on the floor with his head against the wall of the hollowed out tree; and he took a moment to calm down. He then explains why he isn’t worthy. “I have made so many mistakes in my life, I’ve hurt the people I loved, I abandoned friends, I’m not even supposed to wear my armour anymore because of what I did. And yet I am, wearing what should be forbidden from me. So trust me when I say this, Asurmen isn’t going to be resurrected. Not by me, not by you and not by the Exodites. All hope is lost.”
Luna sighs and sits next to Balesen, she puts her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “I understand, I’ve made those same mistakes. I’ve abandoned friends; and I’ve hurt loved ones due to my anger and frustrations against my sister. But we shouldn’t dwell on the past, we both need to move on.” Luna tells him. “We’ve been told the prophecy for a reason, are you sure there are no Exodites?”
“I am sure, there was no way an Exodite could survive for so long.” He answers with sadness in his heart. But then he remembered something important about the Exodites, something that saves heir souls from she who thirsts. “Unless... Yes maybe it is possible.” He whispers to himself.
“What is it?” Asked Luna
“Luna, do you happen to know what a world shrine is? Or an infinity circuit?” Balesen answers Luna’s question with a question. “Because that’s where we protect our dead, it’s where we store their souls.”
“Where are you going with this?”
“If I am correct, the Exodites could still be alive, where is the largest psychoactive crystal on this planet.”
“Psychoactive what?”
“Crystal. Just tell me where the largest crystal is.”
“That will have to be the Crystal Heart, in the Crystal Empire.”
“And that’s where we’ll find our Exodite.” Balesen smiles for the first time in ages.
Him and Luna both get up and make their way to the exit. Balesen is now full of hope and determination, he feels like nothing can stop him now. Meanwhile Luna is confused she has now idea what Balesen is talking about, yet if it means that the Prophecy will come true then she’ll assist him as best she can.
“Balesen!” Clover called. “A word please.” Balesen goes over to his oldest living friend while Luna waits for him outside. “So you’ve found what you’re looking for?” He asks.
“I have.” Balesen replies. “I finally have the chance to redeem myself.”
Clover pauses for a moment and looks up at Balesen staring with his cloudy eyes, not judging him but rather feeling proud for him, yet also worried for him. “This is good, you’ll find peace at last. But is this truly what you want?”
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t just want the Phoenix lord to come back, you want to go home. And resurrecting the dead won’t bring you home. You need to be forgiven first.” Balesen scoffs. “Don’t act so arrogant with me, you know it’s true.”
“I have spent ten thousand years on this planet, I have seen wars fought, I have seen the birth of empires and their falls. I have spent my life here in penance knowing that I will be alone for millennia. I had lost hope that I’ll ever be found until now.”
“You’re not alone, you have me. Your oldest friend.”
“Yes but you’re not an Eldar.” Balesen says whilst accidently offended his friend. “I’m sorry but you’re dying; and soon I’ll truly be alone, in fact you’re deteriorating as we speak. Your immortality isn’t natural it was forced. Your body can’t handle many more years.”
“I’ll be fine honestly.”
“No you won’t.” Balesen says in concern. He’s scared to even touch him for he might crumble into ash, he holds his hand very gently so it won’t break and asks. “If you were given the chance to redeem yourself, would you?” Clover just sighs and nods sadly. “I’ll visit you again soon I promise.” Balesen leaves his friend alone, he then heads outside where he find Luna waiting for him. “Lets go shall we.”
“Do you wish to travel there now or?” Luna asks
“I travel alone, it keeps my mind at ease so I don’t have to worry for everyone.” He said. “And besides a couple of weeks travel won’t hurt me.”
“Fine but at least let me help you get pass the sea of clouds.” Luna offered. “I broke your helmet, so you’ll most likely die in the storm without my help.”
“Very well.” Balesen accepts Luna’s offer and they both manage to make it pass the storm thanks to her protective bubble. And they both go on their separate ways.
Meanwhile in Canterlot the is setting, the moon is rising; and Celestia is getting worried sick. Luna hasn’t come home yet, she hasn’t been home for almost two weeks. Celestia is thinking of going out there to find her and bring her back home herself, it’s very tempting to do so. She was actually about to don her own armour and go out there to find her, but suddenly sounds of a Pegasus flying at supersonic speeds can be heard entering the castle.
Celestia goes to find the source of the sound only to find an extremely tired Luna. “Luna!” Celestia calls her sisters name in surprise. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine dearest sister, you would not believe the day I had.” Luna speaks to her sister for the first time in almost two weeks. “I came home as fast as I could, don’t make me go this fast again. I feel like my wings are about to fall off.” Luna says whilst wheezing for air.
“You would not believe what happened while you were gone.” Celestia began. “The armour, Twilight Sparkle she wore it and she became an entire different Pony.”
“What do you mean?” Luna asks with her breath finally coming back to her.
“She became someone else, she almost killed Chrysalis.”
“Chrysalis was here.” Luna now feels regret, she felt like she shouldn’t have left Celestia alone. “Were you hurt?”
“I was, but it’s not me you should be worried about, Twilight has lost her horn, she wore the armour, faced off against Chrysalis’s army and won, and now she’s acting strange.” Celestia catches Luna up on recent events. “Ever since she put on that armour she’s been acting strange, she wouldn’t let me destroy the armour.”
Luna wonders if Twilight has become the Phoenix lord, and if so does that mean the prophecy was wrong the whole time, it specifically mentions it has to be an Exodite. “Tia did Twilight happen to mention that her name was Asurmen?”
Celestia simply says “Yes.”
“I must speak to her immediately.”
“No you’re not!” Celestia forbids Luna. “You just came back, and you have to do all my royal duties for about a week first. Then you shall speak to Twilight.”
Luna sighs with an annoyed grunt. “A deal is a deal I suppose.” And she leaves the area of the castle to fulfil her end of the bargain. Celestia goes back to her own room with relief knowing that her sister is safe. She sits down at her table and has a cup of tea.
Yet this is no time to relax, a storm is brewing at the Crystal Empire. Balesen and Luna are not the only ones who need the crystal. A inhuman monster in black power armour who serves the dark gods wants the crystal for himself; and for the despoiler. He is the master of Possession, he is terror incarnate. And he spells doom if he isn’t dealt with. He is coming. The shadow over these lands is coming.
Saim-hann: Ten thousand years ago
Above the now desolate world of Equis lies the Craftworld of Saim-hann, a vast planet sized space craft that houses remnants of the Aeldari species after their empires fall. It is made from a Psycoactive crystal known as wraithbone and it forms the entire ship. It can travel at sublight speeds and entirely avoids using the warp to travel long distances through the Galaxy and they instead use the webway, it’s safer and arguably more efficient. It is heavily defend to the point where regular Aeldari citizens are trained for combat. And it’s only one of many craftworlds.
Each Craftworld has a different culture from the other. Beil-tan has more Aeldari that follow the path of the warrior than any other Craftworld and they fight in more wars. Ulthwe has more seers than other Craftworlds due to its proximity to the eye of terror, However it has practically no aspect warriors so their citizens are trained even harder for combat. And Saim-hann are one of the first Craftworlds to escape the fall and thus have a very similar culture to the Exodites, they place honour higher than anything else unlike the rest of their kin, but they are a prideful Craftworld and this pride has led them to conflict with other Craftworlds. And most of all they have a high number of jet bikes so much so they prefer hit and run tactics, yet that doesn’t mean they’re not tactically flexible.
Yet this is a dark day for Saim-hann, they have lost one of the maiden worlds, They have refugees; and they’ve lost too much of their warriors. So many are dead and so many are injured. The Aeldari on the Craftworld are already prepared to provide medical care to any injured Eldar. And as the shuttle full of Eldar docks itself onto the deck Saim-hann, the Farseer known as Fiacha Tarvil is ready to assist any injured Eldar off the ship, but she needs to get to one of the nearby medical centre as fast as possible. She needs to keep a promise.
Once the doors of the ship open she helps a few injured Exodites and Guardians off the ship and the medics take them off her hands. Once the injured Eldar are in safe hands Fiacha runs to the medical centre as fast as she possibly, She’s running in the direction of the nearest hospital where Laethala is held at, she hopes that Laethala hasn’t succumbed to her injuries and that her baby is healthy. Fiacha knows she isn’t fast enough to get there in time and so she uses her psychic powers to hover herself in the air and move at a faster pace.
Although she isn’t hovering at breakneck speeds she was still fast enough to get to the nearest hospital, Despite being a strong Farseer, Fiacha still has trouble hovering long distances, she hopes that she’s made it in time. The building is made entirely of wraith bone, its decretive halls have runes, symbols and even the god Isha engraved into them; and you can even spot some spirit stones as well. These hospitals are not ran by payed doctors, it is almost run by volunteer work, they do not wished to be payed for Eldar see no use for currency.
One of the Aeldari staff members of this facility comes up to Fiacha. He’s an Exodite from a different world, tribal tattoos cover his face, he wears a red and purple cloak with runes written on it. The doctor asks. ”Do you need any assistance Farseer?”
“Laethala. Where is she? is she safe?” Farseer Fiacha questions.
The doctors face seems saddened all of a sudden, as if something terrible has happened, he gently puts their hand on her shoulder and tells Fiacha some terrible news. “Farseer when you found her and brought her to us she was barely able to breath. The astartes bolter shot straight through her chest and destroyed some vital organs. We’ve managed to keep her stable but we don’t know how long she’ll live for.”
Fiacha is on the verge of crying her eyes out, however she must remain calm and collected, she is a Farseer after all. “And what of her child?” She asks.
“Healthy, and lucky to be alive.” The doctor answers. “And of course we’ve already made sure that the child has been imprinted to a spirit stone. She who thirsts won’t harm them.”
This is good news to the Farseer, yet this is still a very dire situation for she’s about to loose a friend. “May I see her, may I see Laethala?” Fiacha pleads.
“Yes you may. But I warn you Farseer, this is the last time you may ever see her alive.” The doctor warns the Farseer. “So are you sure you wish to see her?” Fiacha nods; and with the decision made the doctor tells the Farseer politely. “Please follow me, I shall lead you to her quarters.”
The Farseer follows the doctor down the decretive halls of the medical centre to the deathbed of Laethala. Her injuries are so grievous and so brutal that it’s impossible for her to survive them, the right side of her torso is missing and she’s only being kept alive by machinery that acts like a lung so she can keep breathing. And not only that but she’s missing part of her heart as well, her body lives long enough because her soul want to, However she won’t live for much longer. Her face remains untouched, she still looks beautiful even on the verge of death, her brunette hair is long but only up to her neck, her eyes are wide awake and aware of the world around her yet they don’t make her look as if she’s in pain anymore.
“Laethala, you have a visitor here to see you.” The doctor announces to Laethala but she doesn’t respond, it becomes clear to Fiacha that her friend is in shock after what has happened to her. The doctor sighs and says. “I shall leave you two alone now,” He then whispers with sadness in their voice to Fiacha. “let us know when she passes.” And walks away.
Fiacha slowly walks towards bed and kneels besides her. She has no idea what to say, sorrow clouds her mind, just seeing her friend in this condition is extremely heart breaking, it feels like something is ripping her insides out when Fiacha looks at her. Given enough courage Fiacha attempted to speak, however Laethala spoke first. “It wasn’t his fault.” Laethala’s voice is calm an soothing. “I know you punished him, but don’t put all the blame on him. We both agreed to meet each other on the planet, we missed each other.”
Fiacha calmly speaks back. “Then you were both reckless, you both should've known that you couldn’t have come to a warzone pregnant. But that’s not why I’m here.”
“Then why are you here Fiacha?” Laethala questions.
“To keep a promise.” Fiacha answered. “And to see a friend one last time.” She carefully held Laethala’s hand and continues speaking. “Remember when the three of us used to be good friends, when we had each others back no matter what. Remember when Balesen confessed his love to you before I could even bring the courage to do so. Remember when we chose our first paths, you chose be a poet and Balesen became a baker before becoming a Dire Avenger.”
“And you became lost on your path, you are truly dedicated to the seer path.” Laethala smiles. “I remember you used to be a trouble maker when you was a child.”
“I know, I just grew up. I had to” Fiacha says. Laethala begins coughing violently and blood spurts out from her mouth. “Please stay for a bit longer, I need you now more than ever.” Fiacha begs her friend.
“You don’t need me, and you know I can’t continue living.”
“What about your child? They need a mother to take care of them.”
“You can always put my soul within a wraith guard.”
“But you won’t be the same.” Tears drip from Fiachas eyes.
“Then Balesen can take care of them.”
Fiacha paused with regret in her heart. “No he won’t.” She begins. “Balesen sacrificed himself for the Craftworld, I doubt he’s even alive at this moment in time.” Laethala feels depressed with this news, she believes her love is dead and now she feels like she can’t continue living even if she survives her injuries. “He says he loves you; and he always will.” Fiacha fulfils her promise.
“I know, and I love him.” Laethala says with tears beginning to form. “Fiacha, we both know I don’t have much time, so I want you to look after my child.”
“But I’m a Farseer I can’t just look after a child.”
“You can, I know you can.” Laethala tells Fiacha before she starts violently coughing again, but this time it’s even worse, she can barely breath. “Just be there for them...please.” She begs before she releases her final breath and her spirit stone glows bright blue.
Fiacha gently takes her friends spirit stone before standing up, she holds the gem in both hands and whispers to it. “I will my friend.” She leaves the room to inform the doctors of Laethala’s passing. She died of her injuries in the end, but it is believed that she died of heartbreak.
Afterwards the Farseer bursts into tears in a private area of this hospital, if she could scream she would but she doesn’t want attract anyone and let them see her in this weakened state. The only one who’s seeing her like this is Laethala’s soul within the spirit stone.
Suddenly sounds of a crying baby can be heard nearby, this causes Fiacha’s eyes to stop tearing up yet she’s still emotional. She wipes the remaining tears dripping from her face and follows the source of the sound. And the sound is coming from the child she promised to take care off, it’s small and precious, it’s covered in a red blanket and it has a spirit stone near it. The child is all alone in the room, not many Eldar can have children due to the reason of there’s not many spirit stones on the Craftworlds, they’re only found on dead Craftwords or even crone worlds consumed by the warp because they’re quite literally Isha’s tears, tears of a god who’s mourning her own children. This fact alone servery limits their population growth.
Fiacha holds the crying child and cradles them to calm down. “Shhhh, I know child. I miss her too.” She comforts the child as best she could. “Don’t worry, I’ll be there for you.” The baby quiets down, and sleeps.
Saim-hann M:41
A young Aeldari warlock on the path of the seer in a peaceful state of mind can be seen meditating in his quarters. The seer in question is named Idrath Tae, they are around two thousand years old and for Eldar it is seen as young. Their eyes are a bright green, they have short light brown hair and they have a large noticeable scar on their left cheek. They’re wearing Red robe with small white shoulder pads, the robe has a golden crest with a spirit stone in the middle of it, in fact they carry a few spirit stones so they can enhance their power, underneath the robes is standard issue guardian armour for some level of protection.
As for weapons Idrath carries a witchblade, a psychically-attuned weapon that a meant for those who walk the path of the spear. This weapon can even cut through toughest of power armours or cleave tanks in half, Idrath also has a regular shuriken pistol for their foes that are too far away. Like any Warlock Idrath has a warhelm by their side, it enhances any psychic powers when they wear it, but they aren’t wearing it now, they’re too busy floating in the air meditating.
Meditating clears their mind and soul and helps them focus their psychic powers, they are at peace. Suddenly an Eldar calmly bursts through Idraths meditating room. “Idrath.” The voice calls and interrupting Idraths peace. The voice was from a Spirit seer known as Maurayar Braie, Idraths partner on the battlefield. “The seer council request your presence.” He informs.
Idrath sighs and says. “Tell them I’m busy, this meditation is important if I’m to achieve great power to my psychic abilities.”
“But Idrath the council requested you specifically, it is significantly more important than this.” Maurayar argues. “It’s about the prophecy.”
He now has Idraths attention, they floats down and goes back on their feet; and turns to the Spirit seer and asks. “What prophecy?”
“I’ll cut to the chase, it’s about the Phoenix lord; and I have no Idea why but the council wish to speak to you about this.” Maurayar tells Idrath. “Now please get to the council.” He commands the Warlock. Idrath scoffs at the idea of visiting the council, but in the end they agreed to see them.
Idrath walks to the councils chamber down the decretive wraith bone hallways and enters the council. The room is fairly large and underneath a glass dome, where you can see countless stars and a million worlds. The council itself are sitting in chairs that look like marble and the chairs are high up so they can look down upon their audience. There are five Farseers and three warlocks, they are the ones who make decisions to insure the Craftworlds survival. Idrath bows before the council because this is what is expected of them.
“Idrath Tae.” The head Farseer speaks. His name is Hrythan Eochyoc, he is the oldest and wisest of Craftworld Saim-hann, however he isn’t as old as Eldrad of Ulthwe. His cloak is covered in all sorts of runes and his warhelm has large antlers on each side of it. “We have summoned you.”
“And I heed your call.” Idrath replies. “Why have you summoned me?” They ask.
“I have foreseen a terrible fate.” The Hrythan Began. “Warriors from the dark city of Commoragh are preparing for an assault on our home that we cannot avoid, it is said this is the start of an ancient prophecy where the Phoenix lord Asurmen rises to defend us.”
“This is good, he has been missing in action for quite some time now.” Idrath says
“I’m not finished Idrath.” The Farseer rebukes them for interrupting, he then continues. “If however, Asurmen falls once more, then Drazhar the master of blades will lead the assault and leave no survivors, only slaves to torture for his dark overlords. It will be the end of Saim-Hann.”
Heeding the warning, Idrath begins to understand why the council has summoned them. “What do you wish for me to do?” The question.
“You have three tasks you must complete on the fallen maiden world of Equis, all of which are equally important.” Hrythan issues out his orders. “First there are still spirit stones on the planet that were lost last time we came to defend it, you must make sure you retrieve all of them. Second, we had a mission to bring back the Craftworld of Altansar, if you are up to the task you shall drag it out of the warp. And finally, you must protect the Phoenix lord no matter what. And make sure he finishes the fight. You can use what ever you need to complete your tasks.”
After Hrythan list all the tasks that they need to accomplish, Idrath nods their head and says. “For the Craftworld.” They then begins to walk away from the council.
“Idrath, one last thing.” Idrath turns and listens to what Hrythan needs to say to them. “You were our last choice to pick for this mission, we only picked you because your family has experience with this planet in the past; and not only that but you need more discipline.” The Farseer warns. “And if you truly wish to be a part of this council you will succeed, because if you fail your mission, all the blood of the innocent will forever stain your hands; and you shall not be missed.”
“I understand, I will not fail.” They said with a hint of nervousness.
“You better not.” Hrythan intimidated Idrath. “Or your life would not be worth living.”
Idrath left the room with a sweat on their brow, they now know the stake of their mission and they mustn't fail. And so they must get prepared for the mission ahead, luckily they have plenty of time before the Craftworld reaches the planet. As Idrath was walking back away from the entrance of the seer council they then bump into Mauraya. “So what did they say?” He asked.
“They wish for me to lead the charge on Equis.” They responds.
Mauraya seems surprised by this and understandably so, the last sighting of the Phoeinx lord Asurmen was spotted there ten thousand years ago. “Equis? That’s where your grandfather died, it’s what caused your grandmother to die.” He reminds Idrath of their families history with the planet. “You’re going there? Are you sure you wish to do this?”
“No I’m not.” They say with honesty. “But who am I to question the council? I must do it to save Saim-hann.” Their discomfort of going to the planet brings them to dark thoughts, it’s like the planet is cursed to all Eldar who even set foot on it. And Idrath feel like they’re going to a graveyard filled with lost souls. However they’re not going to cower away from the planet, they must do it for their Craftworld. “And you are coming with me.” They tell Mauraya.
“Of course, but why?”
“There are spirit stone that are lost on the planet and I’m tasking you as the Spiritseer to find them.” Idrath explains. “But we’ll also need some wraith guard; and maybe a wraithlord.”
“I shall do the necessary ritual, to awaken the constructs. Will that be all.”
“No we’ll also need a wraithseer, preferably my grandmother Fiacha.”
Mauraya sighs sadly. “Again, can’t you let her rest?”
“I need her guidance if we are to win.”
“But her soul refuses to get back in that construct, I think it’s time to let her rest.”
“She has had two hundred years to rest, resurrect her.”
Mauraya grumbles quietly. “Fine, but it will take some time to convince her.”
“We’ve got plenty of time, you sort out the wraiths and I’ll get some aspect warriors and guardians.” They both went their separate ways to prepare for the journey. Mauraya went to a part of the Craftworlds infinity circuit where the soul of Faicha lays dormant, he really doesn't want to do this because every time he enters the infinity circuit it gets harder and harder to get out of it. But they need wraith guards if they’re ever going to win the upcoming war. So he places the palm of his hand onto the wraith bone and enters the infinity circuit. His body becomes lifeless and falls to the ground, his soul has left his body.
The inside of the infinity circuit is very peaceful, all Aeldari ancestors are kept in this artificial afterlife so that their souls don’t get eaten by the chaos god who is known as she who thirsts. Each soul has died serving Saim-hann in one way or another, whether they died in battle as they followed the path of the warrior or if they were legendary Farseers of great renown, they all end up in the infinity circuit. Every Aeldari here is at peace, they’re reunited with long lost loved ones, reliving precious memories or even reliving old days of their glory.
Eventually after wondering throughout the infinity circuit Mauraya finds the soul of Fiacha. She is sitting under a tree all alone, she seems happy here yet she doesn’t show it. She’s meditating like she’s searching for someone within the infinity circuit. As Mauraya approaches the soul, Fiacha realises the Spiritseer is close by and she speaks to him. “No, I won’t do it. The Craftworld no longer needs my guidance.”
“That may be so, however it is your grandchild that needs you.” Mauraya speaks back to the soul.
“Then they no longer need my guidance, I have no use to them.” She argues to the Spiritseer. “You should move on and find yourself another Farseer.”
Mauraya tries to think of a way to convince the soul to come fight for the Craftworld once more, and it didn’t take too long to think of a way. “We’re heading to Equis.” Fiacha immediately ceases her meditation. “We figured that you have the most experience with this particular planet; and you can help us with finding all the spirit stones that are scattered on the planet.”
Fiacha paused for a moment and told the Spiritseer. “This will be last fight, after this I am done serving the Craftworld.”
“I make sure this will be your last battle.” The both shook hands, the deal has been made. “Now help me gather the rest and I shall place you in the wraith construct.” Then they both went to search for more Eldar souls to fight for Saim-hann once more.
Meanwhile Idrath went straight to the Dire Avengers shrine of the silvered blade, it is the shrine that their grandfathers served in. Anyone is allowed access to the shrine if they’re on the path of the warrior or are in need of them. The room has many Dire Avengers sparing each other for training, so they are sure that they’re at peak performance at all time, the Exarch watches her warriors fight with honour.
Her name is Avalliath Kien, she is in Idraths opinion the strongest Eldar they’ve ever met on the battlefield, they saw her defeat an Ork warboss single-handedly. She is wearing her armour and helmet, her right arm has a shimmer shield and her weapon of choice is a spear. She notices the warlock enter their shrine and lifts her left arm to signal her troops to cease fighting; and they stop and bow to their opponents.
Avalliath marches to the warlock and knowing what they want asks. “Where’s the fight?”
Idrath responds. “At the lost maiden world of Equis, your Phoenix lord awaits you.”
Equestria
In the town of Ponyville Twilight Sparkle is doing her training, she has been training on the path of the warrior non-stop for a week now; and it’s only getting tougher and tougher. The training wasn’t easy to begin with however Asurmen is trying to push her to her limits and trying to push her boundaries. They’ve been training all day, everyday.
It starts out as marathon at four A.M and she rans thirty two kilometres, and the number keeps getting higher everyday. Then Twilight has a two minute break before she has to start punching trees until her hands bleed or the tree breaks; and it so far always ends up making her hands bleed. Afterwards she has to test her reflexes by running through Ponyville like it’s an obstacle course, and finally Asurmen teaches her how to use his sword, but for now Twilight has to settle for a large stick; and after that she can rest for a while, however they’re not done yet.
Out of breath and sweating tubs full Twilight lays on her bed as the rest of Ponyville enjoy their afternoon. “Asurmen do I have to do this training?” Twilight asked the spectre. “I am barely making any progress.”
Asurmen scoffs at Twilights remark. “Foolish creature, we are doing this because you wish to be in control, So I need to make you strong in and out of my armour, and that means I must break you to your limits.”
“But this type of training is not meant for a pony, I feel like I’m about to die.” Twilight says.
“Good, then you’ll get used to this within a few days.”
“But you keep making it tougher.”
“That’s the point of training, it’s meant to be tough or you’d might as well not even bother.” Asurmen rebukes. “Now do you wish to be an aspect warrior or not.”
“Yes, yes I do. But this is borderline killing me.”
“Sparkle you will not die during the training, I can assure you of that.” He reassures Twilight Sparkle. “You may as well rest for an hour, the next part of the training you won’t like.”
Twilight sighs deeply and asks. “Am I gonna have to go and punch concrete now?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Asurmen disputed. “You’ll do that once you beak a tree with your bare hands. Soon you’ll have to meditate.”
Twilight looks at Asurmen with surprise and then she smirks at him. “That sounds very easy, I just have to sit still and do nothing for an hour.”
“I don’t think you understand Sparkle, being an aspect warrior isn’t just about skill, it is also a state of mind” Asurmen explains. “Their is something my kind call a war mask, it make any Asuryani who wear it split their minds to be able to fight without feelings of remorse or mercy and then put it away when they return to civilian life.”
“So you mean that helmet I have to wear?”
“No, a war mask is not physical it’s phycological. And those who cannot separate themselves from their killer selves become Exarchs. They’re unable to go back to society, they will never take of their war mask; I’m only telling you this so you do not become lost on this path.” His voice becomes slightly more sorrowed by this fact. “I’ve seen many aspect warriors become lost on the path, unable to see their children, brothers, sisters, friends. You mustn’t become lost on the path.”
Twilight sighs. “Thank you for informing me that there’s a chance of becoming more of an outcast to society than I already am” She says sarcastically. “Now will you leave me alone, I need some rest.”
“Understandable, don’t forget to drink plenty of water.” Asurmen reminds Twilight before he disappears. Twilight then closes tries her best to fall asleep, today is going to be a very long day.
Chapter five - The dark city
Commorragh
Within the Eldar webway, locked within its own pocket of reality there lies a city named Commorragh. This city used to be one of the greatest webway port cities before the fall, spires that are over a million miles high tower over the city, some of them can even defy gravity. Several different cities across different areas of the webway combine with Commorragh to form an incomprehensible cluster, but in reality these city's are thousands lightyears apart, yet in Commorragh it’s possible reach these cities on foot. The streets are filled with poverty, tortured souls from all walks of life, and even violence and murder. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
If a human wanted to navigate the city all on their own, they would immediately go insane just from the sheer sight of the city before getting tortured by the nearby Drukhari so they can feast upon their soul. Only a Drukhari or Aeldari can comprehend the madness and navigate the streets, but even then they must avoid skirmishes from small rival Kabals fighting over land or solving petty conflicts with violence.
The only thing you would ever want if you get captured by these depraved, monstrous fiends is death, for it’s better to die than get dragged into Commorragh. You’ll suffer unspeakable tortures, scream beyond agony for weeks, months and even years until you become a vegetable. Unable to speak the only sound coming from your mouth is unclear slurs, but you are most likely begging for death, but you shall not receive it.
Begging for death is extremely absurd in Commorragh, for even if you somehow manage to die you will be resurrected and suffer the same fate over and over again. And until the Drukhari have managed to drain your soul of all life out of you, your flesh will still have some uses, whether you get turned into horrific art displays or even furniture you are sentient throughout the entire process. Death is a commodity that only the very lucky can achieve.
And if you have no use for the Kabals the Wyches of the gladiatorial arenas shall have their fun. Trained at peak performance these Drukhari play with their food so to speak, And from all around Commorragh the Dark Eldar come to witness their performance so that they can have a bite of their victims soul. You better hope you don’t end up fighting the Arenas champion Lelith Hesperax, for she will destroy you in an blur of movement.
You would be lucky to be tortured by the Kabals or fight in the arena with against the Wych cults, the unlucky ones get sent underground where the Haemonculus covens lie, they mould and twist flesh into abominations that are in abysmal pain and have no choice but to serve their evil master. These Haemonculi are well over twenty thousand years old, their extremely frail and and gaunt appearance only confirms this. They’re so old that they’ve began having strange habits like Collecting eyes of a certain species, making their servants skinless so they can use it for leather clothing or torturing their victims with psychological means rather than physical. They are the masters of torture, hopefully you don’t encounter one in the open, it is a very bad omen for things to come.
However these are only some of the horrific atrocities that are committed every single day in the dark city of Commorragh. But for now we shall concentrate on one Archon. His name is Khandhar Fellstrike and he is one of the current Archons of the ‘Kabal of the Black heart’, the largest Kabal in Dark Eldar society. The Kabal is lead by Asdrubael Vect, the current supreme overlord of Commorragh, Khandhar is below him, he may rule a certain portion of the Kabal but he must always follow Vects rule like any other Archon in this Kabal.
Khandhar’s armour is made from wraithbone, but it’s older than the newer more streamlined armour that the Craftworlds wear. The armour is black but it has some dark green highlights, his armour is also inscribed with runes and he wears a cape made from human flesh. His face has red tattoos that look deep claw marks going across his eyes. his hair goes across the right side of his face and it’s a deep blood red. His weapons are an old husk blade that’s been handed down to him from a previous Archon and a Splinter pistol that can fire shards of crystals at enemies.
Right now this Archon is sitting down on his throne and enjoying himself as he plays with a male human slave, tormenting the poor creature with horrific pain. Khandhar cackles like an insane monster and sings to the human. “Eyes without life, maggot-ridden corpses, mountains of skulls. These are a few of my favourite things.” He grabs the human by the neck and points his bade at his chest. “I have very much enjoyed my time with you mon-keigh, bringing suffering to your kind brings a smile to my face.”
“P-please, kill me.” The human begs the monster to end his life.
“Death?” The Archon laughs in response and his laughter quickly turns into rage. “Death?!” He tosses the human to the ground. “You dare plead for death after what we’ve been through?! I am appalled mon-keigh!” He then kicks the human in the stomach with his armoured shoes, the human coughs out some blood before Khandhar’s hand picks grabs his neck and picks him up, not realising he’s strangling the human to death. “You the gall to ask for death. You can’t have it, you shall feel true pain for all of eternity!” He yells as he accidently makes the humans neck concave when he squeezed too hard. The human dies suffocating.
Even though this man got what he wanted in the end, it will be temporary, the Haemonculi can clone the human as many times as the Archon wishes as long as he pays them with souls. Khandhar sits back on his throne and orders. “Send me another play thing! This one seems to be broken!” Just then two Kabalite warriors come in and drag the corpse away and they bring in another human, the Archon smiles with delight.
However his pleasure would soon end as an Incubus storms in the room. Incubi are a mercenary organisation within Drukhari society, they only live to kill, yet they can be hired by anyone as long as they provide the mercenary something to fight and kill. The armour they wear is similar shape and colour to the Kabalite warriors, yet It’s far tougher and lighter, they wear bone coloured helmet with glowing green eyes and four horns on its head. It carries two blades called a Klaivex, it can be combined to form a duel ended blade, they’re both large and powerful. Incubi are the most trusted bodyguards for Archons, they are in a sense aspect warriors that are made to kill other aspect warriors.
“Oh, hello Lysmahr.” Khandhar greets as his good mood dissipates. “What do I owe the pleasure?”
“Permission to leave your side and join the others.” Lysmahr says to the Archon.
“Join the others? Why is something I should know?” He asks with the upmost curiosity.
“It’s my true master, he calls for us. Visions of a Phoenix lord have been plaguing him.”
“You mean Drazhar? That thing doesn’t even speak.” Khandhar remarks. “How would you know that he needs you?”
“He just summons us for the murder to come.” Lysmahr quotes.
“What in Khaines name is this nonsense are you babbling on about?” The Archon questions his bodyguard
“Haven’t you heard the rumours, a Phoenix rises.” He tells Khandhar. “Drazhar has summoned us to fight for him.”
Suprised by this predicament Khandhar smiles menacingly as if he has something planned. “So Phoenix lord is resurrecting and Drazhar wants an army to counter them.”
“Exactly, that is why I must go without any further delay.”
“Very well, but I must join you.”
“Why?”
“I figure I might be of assistance to Drazhar, just let me get my affairs in order and we’ll both go to him.” Khandhar offers his kind assistance. He gets of his throne and leaves the room to prepare for his day of success, he believes that he would be with good graces with Vect if his plan goes of without a hitch.
Khandhar spent the last two hours sorting out his army. He has brought three squads of Kabalite wariors, two squads of wyches, two squads of reaver jetbikes, hellions, scourges, two ravagers, three venoms; and most importantly a means of transport for all his troops once they exit the webway and into real space. And he convinced all of them with the thrill of battle and new slaves to have their way with.
They all march to the large gathering of Incubi, their master Drazhar, master of blades can be seen out in the open. His armour is more ornate in appearance, two gold shoulder pads and knee pads, a bone coloured helmet with six horns, a broken spirit stone on the forehead of the helm and a large red pony tail on the back of it. He carries several cracked spirit stones around his neck and he wields his Executioner's demiklaives which he shall soak with the blood of the Phoenix. He’s meditating in the middle of the streets only so that he can prepare his consciousness for his one on one battle with the Phoenix lord, his Incubi brothers and sisters patiently wait for him to finish his meditation.
One thing the Khandhar noticed is that this is the largest gathering of Incubi he has ever seen, around two thousand Incubi have come to join Drazhar. Two thousand Incubi, that’s more than what the Archon ever imagined. He walked through the crowd of Incubi along with his body guard, it feels like he disturbed a hornets nest because they’re all staring at him. They look as if they want to brutalize him into a mass of pulsating meat, but if anyone of them dared to make a move on him his bodyguard Lysmahr will protect him, or at least he hopes so.
“Drazhar!” Khandhar announces his presence to the master of blades, disturbing his meditation. Drazhar gets up and turns his head towards the Archon slowly, clenching both of his klaives. Khandhar gulps with a sense of fear before he continues. “My humble apologies for disturbing you, but I have come baring gifts, as an offer to your upcoming quest.”
Drazhar relaxes slightly. “I have brought to you an army, to break any and all resistance against your will.” Khandhar informs Drazhar. The Incubi leader takes one step closer before the Archon continues speaking once more. “You can have this army on one small condition. You must help me take down a Craftworld, If my theory is correct I believe those pesky Craftworlders shall defend the Phoenix lord, so I want you to help me to destroy it and bring me good graces with Vect for me.”
After hearing what the Archon has to say Drazhar has come to a decision, he puts himself into a combat stance and prepares for the Archon to do the same. “What is he doing?” Khandhar asks Lysmahr.
“He’s waiting for you to fight him.” Lysmahr answers. “Now unsheathe your blade and fight with honour.” He commands the Archon.
“What? You audacity to order me around?” Khandhar questions his bodyguard. “You’re my bodyguard, you’re supposed to be loyal to me!” Lysmahr pushes him to the ground and he falls face first.
“Get up. And fight.” Lysmahr commanded the Archon. “You have no choice in this.”
Khandhar pushes himself off the ground and grabs his blade, he holds it with both hands and now both combatants circle each other. They both wait for the other to strike first, but no it’ll take two long intense minutes for one of them to swing their blade first. But the fear grew like a virus within Khandhar he knew he was going to die so he might as well try to make the master of blades bleed.
He rushed towards Drazhar and he swings his blade at him, however Drazhar blocks the strike and shatters Khandhar’s blade into hundreds of pieces, Drazhar then uses his other blade to slice the Archons lower half of his body and then stabs him in the chest with force. Drazhar did all of this in under a fraction of a second.
The nearby Incubi and Drukhari cheer and roar with glee, silencing Khandhar’s screams of pain and horror. Drazhar throws the severed torso of Khandhar off his blade, Lysmahr kneels to it and whispers in Khandhar’s ear. “We don’t need your cowardly leadership, we will be taking that army though.”
“P-please kill me.” The Archon begs for mercy.
"No, don’t worry you’ll be cloned the next day, I’ve made sure of it.” Lysmahr says to the dying torso. “But if I was you I’d stay dead.” The life from the torso faded away as the crowd continues to cheer. “We shall make use of your plan, the difference is you won’t take all the glory.” Lysmah speaks to the dead body. Now the army marches to the nearest webway portal that shall lead them to Equestria, they will be in delight over the suffering of this innocent world once they invade.
Back at Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle can be seen meditating outside of Sweet apple orchard, her and Asurmen thought this would be a peaceful place to help her concentrate on learning how to take her war mask on and off. The light breeze on her skin, the the whistling of birds, the smell of fresh air. It’s almost perfect, the only problem is that Twilight can’t seem to get it right.
“Clear your mind Sparkle, concentrate. Your progress is very disappointing.” Asurmen has been badgering Twilight to do better, it doesn’t matter if it was only once in a while, however Asurmen has been nagging at her for the last three hours. “Your mind is slipping again, how are you gong to fight in wars if you can’t even do a simple task?”
“Well maybe I can concentrate better if you stop complaining, ever thought about that?” Twilight snaps back.
“I have seen Eldar put on their war masks on in the middle of battle, you can’t even do it in three hours.” Asurmen points out. “Your clouded with doubt, stress and self hatred. I can feel it, what are you afraid of?” He asks. Twilight tries to avoid the question by ignoring him, yet he’s very persistent. “Twilight if you tell me what’s wrong your mind will become clear and everything will flow more smoothly.”
“I can’t tell you, what if someone hears?” Twilight worries. “What if they tell everyone else about my secret?”
“Sparkle I assure you no one’s around but you and me. So tell me, what are you afraid of?”
Twilight relaxes herself. “I suppose there’s no harm in telling you, seen as you can’t interact with any one but me.” The thought of telling someone brings some weight of her shoulders. “You see I’m, how do I put this? I think I’m-”
Suddenly, Applejack seemingly appeared out of no where. “Howdy.” She said “What are you doin on my farm.”
“Applejack!” Twilight says with shock. “What are you doing here?” With a deadpanned expression Applejack didn’t need to answer the question. “Oh right you live here.” Twilight answers her own question sheepishly. “I-I was just... Meditating.”
“I see... Welp, I’m just gonna leave you to it then.” Applejack leaves Twilight alone.
“Wait.” Twilight tells Applejack. “I haven’t seen you in a week, are you avoiding me?” She asks.
“I’m just busy Twi, a lot of Apples need sorting.”
“You didn’t even visit me at the hospital.” Twilight mentions. “Is this because I was possessed?”
Applejack took a moment to answer, she begrudgingly sat next to Twilight and starts telling her the truth. “Twilight I wanted to come and visit you at the hospital, but after all that ruckus that happened back at Canterlot I just couldn’t. I even wanted to chat to you a few days earlier until I saw you talking to yourself as you were punching a tree.”
“Oh... you saw that?” Twilight asks awkwardly.
“Yeah, I did.” Applejack said. “I don’t know what happened that day but you seemed had gotten some screws loose afterwards. You’re not normally like this, your a book nerd, the smartest pony I know who doesn’t even like fighting and yet you’re kicking ass and taking names.”
“But ponies change overtime.”
“Yeah, but not overnight.” Applejack sighs. “Be honest with me Twilight, why are you doing this?” She asks. “All this meditating and fighting, you’ve even gained some muscle whilst doing it.”
Twilight hadn’t notice that she’s got some muscle, her biceps look bigger than they did before, she’s even got some abs as well. ‘Woah’ she thought. She looks like Rainbow Dash with the small amount of muscle she’s gained over a week. Yet It’s scary at the same time, there’s no way that a pony can gain this much muscle in a week. She suspects it has something to do with the workout routine she’s been on the past week. Twilight then answers Applejacks question honestly. “I’m doing this because after what Chrysalis did to me, I needed another purpose in life before Celestia tells me I’m no longer her student. Because I can’t do magic anymore.”
“Twilight you know Celestia won’t straight up abandon you.” Says Applejack. “She’s like a mother to you.”
“I have no use for her though, what good am I without magic?” A moment of silence casts down on the two. Applejack doesn’t know how to answer that, right now it’s unknown what Celestia would do. Twilight on the other hand suspects that she might be correct. “Also my soul has merged with the entity in the armour!” Twilight blurts out quickly.
“What?!” Applejack yells in surprise. “He’s here? Sharing your body?!”
“I’m sorry but I needed to get that of my chest. But he isn’t in control, not unless I tell him to.” Twilight reassures Applejack.
“Well next time that thing takes over I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind! He hurt you and Fluttershy!” Applejack takes her aggression out on the entity, Asurmen finds her aggressiveness towards him feeble but understandable. She takes a deep breath to calm down and she apologises to Twilight. “Sorry about that, it’s been a long few weeks for me.”
“Me too Applejack, me too.” Says Twilight. “Could you keep this a secret, I don’t want our friends to worry about this.”
“I will, but you should know I’m terrible at keeping secrets.” They both smile and Applejack finally fulfilled her promise. “Quick question, what’s he like?”
“A pain in my ass.” Twilight and Applejack laugh, Asurmen rolled his eyes.
Later that afternoon Twilight decided to take a break from her training and has a walk down the village, it was relatively peaceful. The sun is setting, children were playing in the streets, ponies were going along with their day and the shops are about to close for the evening. Business as usual it seems, it would be peaceful if Asurmen wasn’t nagging at her about sticking to the training routine.
“You still haven’t completed your meditation, you still don’t know how to put on your war mask.” Asurmen scolds at her, but Twilight ignores him so she doesn’t look as if she’s gone insane in the middle of the street. “Twilight do you wish to be an Aspect warrior or not, if so stick to the routine.”
“No need to be so pessimistic, I’m only having a break.” She told the Asurmen. “Besides we can continue tomorrow.”
Asurmen mumbles to himself before replying. “Fine, but do not get distracted when were training again. That friend of yours doesn’t realise that you’re on a strict schedule.”
Twilight whispered. “She’s my friend, am I not allowed to talk to my friends.”
“Unless she wishes to be an aspect warrior.”
“By Celestia, who hurt you when you were a child?” Twilight mumbles with a sarcastic tone. Both stayed quiet for the rest of the walk, until she bumps into a bat pony, there are three of them and they’re wearing dark purple armour with bits of metallic silver. All tree of them carry spears as their main weapon, strange thing is, they don’t normally come out during daylight, it must be important.
“Twilight Sparkle?” One of them asks if they’re talking to the pony in question.
“Yes I’m Twilight Sparkle, is there something wrong?” Twilight questions the lunar guards.
“It’s princess Luna, she wishes to speak to you at one. It’s of the upmost importance.”
“If Luna wishes to Speak to me, she’s gonna have to wait. I’m on a break.”
She attempts to move past the guards but they stop her from doing so. “I’m sorry ma’am, but you don’t understand. This is urgent.”
“How urgent?” She asks.
“I don’t want to cause panic but it’s the Crystal Empire, she believes it’s in danger.” The bat pony informs. “No if you’d kindly take you to Luna, she’ll tell you the rest.”
Twilight understands what’s going on now, she agrees to follow them. Later that night they reach Canterlot castle and into Princess Luna’s quarters, once Twilight enters she sees Luna on the balcony, she looks tired and scared as if she’d seen a ghost or some other dark entity. The guards shut the door behind Twilight but not before giving her this advice. “Don’t make her angry. I’ve heard enough shouting from her all week.”
She carefully walks toward her and asks. “Luna, are you okay?”
It took a moment for Luna to speak back, and when she did her voice sounded like she was about to yell, but holds back her fear, and anger. “I wish to speak to Asurmen.” Twilights heart started racing. “Don’t worry Twilight, my sister told me everything. But please let me speak to him.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let him control me again.” Twilights voice shudders. “I-I don’t think he can take over without the armour.”
The banister on the balcony cracked as Luna's anger begins to boil. “If you value your life you will do as I say.” Twilight started to sweat and her breath became deeper.
"I'll ask him." Said Twilight.
She was about to ask Asurmen but he answers before she even spoke. "Yes it's possible, though temporary without my armour."
"Good, could you do it now?"
"I shall. Don’t worry I you’ll have complete control again once we leave this room." Asurmen says before phasing into Twilight.
"Well, I'm waiting." Luna raised her voice slightly.
Twilight's purple eyes turned into a bright green, her demeanour suddenly changed from nervous to serious, her body took a deep breath as if it was her first and said. “How did you know our souls were merged?" The voice that came out was deep and confident.
"You learn a lot when you peek into ponies dreams." Luna told him. “I saw you in every single one of Twilights dreams as soon as I came back. You were talking to her in every single one of them.”
“I was preparing her mind for the horrors she has to face.” Asurmen explains. “She wanted to be an aspect warrior and I provide the training for her to become one, you were spying on us.”
“I admit I was spying, only because I wasn’t sure whether you were manipulating her or not.”
“And your conclusion?”
“I’m still unsure, you’re an enigma Asurmen. I can’t tell what your end goal is” Luna says to the possessed Twilight. “But that is not why I called you here, the Crystal Empire is most likely in danger. Something is coming for the crystal heart; and we need to defend it.”
“From what?”
“I’ve been having visions three days ago, visions that were so real I could swear I was harmed during them. The jesters came into my quarters and gave me visions of what is to come, a dark and twisted being is coming. Terror and doom incarnate, a sorcerer of Chaos.”
“Chaos? Now you have my attention. Does this sorcerer have a name?”
“He does.” Luna’s voice shudders as if she’s afraid to speak his name. “The jesters call him... Sombra, the master of possession.”
Author's Note
Drukhari are so edgy I love them😊
This fic is going on hiatus for a while, I’ll continue it once I’ve finish three more chapters for Eternal.
Chapter six - King Sombra part 1
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. “Lost in the vastness of space, the craftworlds float in utter isolation like scattered jewels upon a pall of velvet. Distant from the warmth of sun or planet, their domes gaze into the darkness of empty space. Inner lights glisten like phosphorus through semi-transparent surfaces. Within live survivors of a civilisation abandoned aeons ago amidst terrifying destruction. These are the Aeldari, a race that is all but extinct, last remnants of a people whose mere dreams once overturned worlds and quenched suns.”
Planet Equis: M31
Laethala my love. I don’t know if you’re still alive, but if you are; and If you’re reading this, then these may just be my final words I write, if not... If not, then it’s best to document what I’m seeing right now before my eyes.
We have been fighting the mon-keigh for almost ten months on the world of Equis. The Mon-keigh have sent their ‘space marines’ to fight this battle, and they’re winning. The craftworld of Saim hann has come to assist the Exodites on this planet but the space marines of the World Eaters legion have decimated the majority of them all in the name of their Emperor. That man doesn’t even deserve the title.
Ahh but I’m going off on a tangent now, This fertile land that used to be a paradise teaming with all walks of life is nothing but an ashy waste land. Our fallen kin lay scattered and their decaying bodys may hopefully bring life back to this world if the damage isn’t permanent. What am I saying? The damage is most likely permanent; and if life were to come back, a scar will be left on this beautiful world, a scar that can never be healed. I don’t remember Why we came here in the first place.
I went off on a tangent again didn’t I? Back to the point, we’re making a final stand against the space marines and to hopefully win if its possible, but I doubt it. Never the less, I’ll always love you Laethala. I do hope that I get to see you and our unborn child again, hopefully in better circumstances.
I sigh in worry as I finish writing. “I hope you’re still alive out there Laethala.” I say with concern. I look over the Dire Avenger armour I’m wearing to make sure everything is on properly. The blue armour is similar to the standard issue guardian armour, however this armour is stronger than guardian armour. I have a helmet with a black and yellow crest on the top; and I have a shuriken catapult as my weapon. It’s an elegant weapon that’s designed to lay down a withering stream of fire over a short distance, severely punishing any enemy foolish enough to enter the kill zone.
“Balesen!” Dunvar calls for my attention. Dunvar is also an aspect warrior, he is a Dire Avenger like me but he’s older than me and thus he has experience in battle. “It is time.” He says. I say nothing back to him, I only nod.
I put on my helmet, grabbed my shuriken catapult and followed Dunvar to the rest of the Aeldari force. “I’m prepared for our last stand Dunvar, I will die for this planet.” I tell Dunvar.
Dunvar stops walking. He turns to me and says. “There has been a slight change of plans. We are leaving this planet.” No, this can’t be right. I have to fight for planet; not leave it behind like a mother bird abandoning its children when a predator is nearby. And Laethala may still be on this planet I can’t just abandon her either. “We’ve done what we came here to do Balesen, there shall be no last stand my friend.”
“Why?” I asked. “This planet is home for the Exodites, we promised to save this planet for them we can’t just leave it behind!”
“Look around you Balesen! This planet has gone through hell, there’s no saving it. Even if was possible to save it we’ll all die trying. Best thing we can do now is to save our people.” I can’t argue with him, he’s right. This world is doomed to die; and the mon-keigh have caused all this needless destruction for their Emperor. Damn that man, I damn that man to burn in hell.
Later we get to the Aeldari force. The main bulk of our army is mostly guardians and Exodite civilians. There are plenty of Wraithguards along with a Wraithlord, a squads of Dire Avengers with our Exarch; and Farseer Fiacha Yrath, she is in command of all of us and answers to almost no one; we have to listen to her if we want to live. We wouldn’t have survived for this long if it wasn’t for her leadership.
Farseer Fiacha senses us drawing closer and then she spoke. “There you are! You do realise that you’ve wasted a lot of time writing that letter of yours!”
“Forgive me Farseer.” I said. “I’m just worried about Laethala. She’s been missing for days now and I’m worried she might be dead.” I explain to her.
Fiacha’s mood shifted to be more dour and perhaps saddened. “She’s alive Balesen.” I smile with relief knowing that the love of my life is still alive. “However,” Fiacha continued. “We don’t know if she’ll live for very long.”
“What do you mean?”
“Balesen, haven’t you been told? She is suffering from a mortal wound and she is going through labour.” What? she’s going through labour now? No no no no; not now. And she’s suffering from a mortal wound on top of that? By khaine why now of all times? “Our medics are trying desperately to keep her and the child alive.”
“Where is she?” I express my concern for her whilst holding back my tears. “Where is she?”
“Laethala’s is back at Saim hann, she is safe now. I suggest next time don’t bring a pregnant Eldar to a battlefield!” She says in a condescending tone. “You were lucky that I was there to rescue her from the mon-keigh.”
“Forgive me Farseer!” I pleaded. “I haven’t seen her in months, I had to see her again.”
Fiacha paused for a moment, I notice her clenching her fist trying to hold back her anger. “Remove your helmet; aspect warrior.” She commanded me. I did what I was told and I removed my helmet, and once I did I was met with a hard slap to the face. “You are an irresponsible child!” She said in a cold tone. “She’s pregnant for Kaine's sake!”
“I know, and I’m sorry.” I pleaded again.
“Sorry is not enough Balesen.” She spoke so harshly that I even the exarch was disgraced by my actions. “After all this Balesen, once we get home you are not don this armour ever again, ever! You are a disgrace to the Dire Avengers, and to your own kind.” I feel ashamed with myself, I don’t even think I’m a worthy for Laethala’s child or Laethala’s love. “Speaking of which our transport has arrived.” Fiacha stated.
I looked into the sky and see a red aircraft vehicle that is large enough to take us off this planet. It has sails on the back of the ship and it’s more rounded at the front. I can’t remember the name of the ship, but it’s definitely made by Eldar. It lands on the ground near us and the hatch doors open up, revealing an Eldar.
I would’ve shoved them off as the pilot of this vessel but they’re not. They have a male physique with armour similar to a dire avenger with a black and white crest on their red helmet, but that’s where the similarities end. This ‘Dire Avenger’ has the symbol of Asuryan on their chest, a white tabard between his legs, a red cape and a banner on their back. The red helmet has a white face on it with glowing green eyes. And as for the weapons; he have master crafted shuriken pistols on both arms and a sword. This Eldar looks like a Dire Avenger but they’re not, that’s the mythical Asurmen, the Phoenix lord.
As Asurmen walked onto the decimated land Farseer Fiacha yelled at him. “About time, we sent a distress signal out months ago!”
“And I answered the call, only to find you retreating like cowards!” Asurmen responded. Asurmen’s voice is distorted and echoey it sounds unnatural but it’s clear enough to understand him. “I suggest you ready for battle Farseer. The enemy still needs to be dealt with.”
“Battle? Too late for that, we need to get every Aeldari of this world!”
“Why?” Asurmen scoffed. “The people of this planet can fight for their home, they’re not incapable.”
“I’m not suggesting they’re incapable.” Said Fiacha. “I’m saying they’re the only living Aeldari that’s left on this planet.”
Asurmen turned towards the guardians and Exodites, he analysed them for a moment before saying. “A hundred Eldar remain?” There was a hint of sorrow in his voice. “How could you let the happen?” He questioned Fiacha.
“It was inevitable I’m afraid, we couldn’t avoid this much loss. Even as I foresaw these deaths I couldn’t stop it.”
“Then why in the name of Khaine did you come to this planet in the first place if you knew you was going to loose?!” Asurmen yelled.
“I did it for the sake of our species, not only to save as many Aeldari as possible but to summon a lost Craftworld back from Immaterium.” Fiacha explained to the Asurmen. He seemed to be confused by that justification, there is no Craftworld trapped in the warp.
“Which Craftworld?” He asked curiously.
Fiacha only responded to his question with a single word. “Altansar.” Asurmen wanted to know more so he let Fiacha continue. “Craftworld Altansar has recently been dragged into the Eye of terror, we believed the solution to getting it back out is on this planet. But as you can see our mission was in vain right from the get go.”
Asurmen sighed in fustration. “This day just keeps getting better and better.” Asurmen said sarcastically. “How can it get any worse?” A large explosion can be heard in the distance; in fact a few of them can be heard. And they keep getting closer and closer. Suddenly an artillery shell crashed near the Aeldari force and it detonated.
Pieces of rubble flew as well as shrapnel, the bits of rubble caused little to no injury however the shrapnel killed seven Eldar guardians. Their spirit stones now have their souls in them. “Get these Eldar of this planet Farseer!” Asurmen ordered. “Me and my Dire Avengers will hold these Imperial dogs back!”
“Take the Wraithguard with you, and good luck Phoenix lord.” Said Farseer Fiacha. “You heard the Phoenix lord! Get on that ship!” She instructed both the guardians and the Exodites and one by one each Eldar got aboard the ship. “And can Someone quickly grab those spirit stones?”
“Listen, we need to by some time for the Craftworld to leave this system. So we’re the distraction, none of us are going to make it out alive.” Asurmen said to us. Asurmen then went up to the Exarch that’s in charge and he asked “Exarch is your squad ready?” The Exarch nodded and we readied our weapons with synchronisation. Asurmen turned toward the rest of us. “Now let us face our enemy, you’ll all fight the mon-keigh head on with me.”
“But that’s suicide!” I exclaim out of order. “We may die before we reach the World eaters, how are we even going to hold them back long enough for the others to escape?”
The Phoenix lord unsheathed his blade and said calmly. “Cut of the head of the snake, so the body will wither.” He then charged towards the world eaters force. The other Dire Avengers along with the Wraithguard and Wraithlord follow him without hesitation, I on the other hand stayed back for a moment and looked back toward Fiacha. She is just about getting the last of the Eldar on the ship, she notices me but she refuses to even look me the eyes.
It doesn’t matter though, I only need to say one thing. “Take care Laethala for me!” I yell to her. She still refuses to look at me; However I do see her nod slightly. The doors of the transport ship close and the ship fly’s off into the void of space.
I catch up with the rest of the aspect warriors, we continue to run for some time until Asumen stopped. We hear angered screams mixed in with a hint of unbearable anguish, the World Eaters are charging towards is. “Fire!” Asurmen ordered and we immediately fire our weapons without hesitation. The shuriken catapults fires a burst of one hundred almost microscopic shuriken's. The shuriken's kill the first few world eaters running towards us with their barbaric melee weaponry, their limbs get sliced spewing blood everywhere on the battlefield.
Then Asurmen sends in the Wraithguard, the Wraithguard run at high speeds with ghost axes in hand. They cleave the World Eaters that try to challenge them, they hack off the marines body parts into large chunks of human flesh. They’ve managed to thin the horde of these marines but it’s as if each marine they slay ten more take its place. And then the World Eaters send out their dreadnought.
It’s a large dreadnought with a bulky body, it has a claw for close combat and a gun that has four barrels for the bolt rounds to fire out off. This weapon fires its bolt rounds and these bullets absolutely decimate the wraith guard. The Wraithlord dashes in the fray to distract the dreadnought, both warrior vessels fight with ferocity like two predators fighting over food. The Wraithlord breaks the gun of the dreadnought leaving it without a long range weapon, but the dreadnought bashes its claw against the Wraithbone of the Wraithlord. The Wraithlord staggers and the dreadnought used this opportunity to rip the Warithlords head off its body. The dreadnought crushes the head with its claw in victory.
Even though our squad of Wraithlords are defeated we continue to rapid fire but there’s just too many of them. The space marines eventually manage to swiftly break thorough to our firing line with brute force and sheer will to destroy us. Roaring with rage alone one of the world eaters tried to maim me with his chain axe, I dodged his attack and fired my gun at the space marines neck, this sliced the marines clean head off and the marines body fell limp as its neck continues to pumps blood.
I fire my weapon rapidly trying to kill any World Eater I see in sight. Me and the other Dire Avengers continue to fight like this for sometime until the leader of this force of world eaters decided to show his face. This world eater had no shoulder pauldrons or armour covering his arms, he has a face of a barbaric warrior, he has no hair but he does have wires coming out of his head like the rest of his force. His weapon of choice is a crude twohanded chain axe that has the blood of his enemies on its teeth. Asurmen challenges the leader to a duel by pointing his sword at him, the leader sees this and accepts this challenge.
The warlord activates his chain axe and gave out a bloodcurdling scream “For the Emperor!” The World Eaters warlord screams. Both opponents rush towards each other ready to strike, The warlord swings his chain axe across trying to hit the Phoenix lord but Asurmen doges the attack by doing a triple backflip over the warlord. Asurmen landed behind the warlord and strikes his sword though his back, the sword goes straight through the warlords power armour and destroys only one of its hearts.
Asurmen takes his sword out of the warlord but the warlord grabs Asurmen and throws him on the ground. “Dishonourable xenos!” The warlord insults and punches Asurmen in the chest with brute strength. He was about to punch again but Asurmen grabs the warlords hand and breaks his index finger of his hand. The warlord roars in pain.
“Imperial dog!” Asurmen insults back. He then kicks the world eater with both of his legs, this launches the world eater into the air for a moment. He landed face first into the dirt and Asurmen insulted him even further. “You’re like pathetic child, who wants to break everything it sees.” The warlord swiftly gets back on his feet and he wildly swings his chain axe at the Phoenix lord in bloody rage. However Asurmen doges his attacks with elegance, he then fires his shuriken catapult that’s on his arm and it slices the warlords right arm.
Despite having his arm sliced off the warlord still carries on fighting, he now wields his two handed weapon with one hand. Asurmen stabs the warlord in the belly, but the warlord grabs Asurmens arm and headbutts him, Asurmen staggers and the warlord tries to chop his head off with his chain axe. However, the Phoenix lord swiftly bends his back to avoid the chain axe and he then manages to break the warlords weapon by cutting it in half with his sword.
I believed that Asurmen has won this battle when suddenly Asurmen was kicked in the chest and he lands back first against the ground. The warlord grabs Asurmen by the neck with his left hand and breaks it, the Phoenix lords arms fell limp and the warlord drops his lifeless body. But the Phoenix lord died with his weapon in hand.
The Exarch ordered us to retrieve his body but one by one the Dire Avengers died in horrific and brutal ways. Dunvar, my friend got punched through the chest and he died drowning in his blood, others died swiftly and I hope painless. But the Exarch struggled get to the fallen Phoenix lord, he continued to fight whilst surrounded by space marines. he killed twelve marines single-handedly before a world eater ripped his legs from his upper body, spilling the Exarch’s guts everywhere.
My comrades souls now lay in their spirit stones, while I still live; and I’m too terrified to move. I feel useless against this horde, I feel like I’m gonna break down and cry like a coward. I feel the warm barrel of a bolt gun behind my head, the looming marine behind me asked. “Any last words xenos?” It’s the voice of the Warlord that killed Asurmen, but it’s a more calm and collected voice.
“I have a child waiting for me, p-please spare me.” On the brink of tears I plead for mercy like a coward.
“There shall be no mercy for the alien.” But then I hear a rage filled voice form the warlords communicator. “Yes Angron the planet is now taken for the emperor.” He is now speaking to his gene father. “What are you saying, we abandon this planet?” he asks in confusion. “Why are we going to Istvaan three?” The world eater growls to himself whilst I prepare to flee. “Fine we’ll head back, there’s only one last xenos to kill anyway.” I then run whilst he’s distracted I ran as fast as I could, but hear bolter fire screaming towards me. But the only thing that is screaming in my head now is, I’ve failed the Dire Avengers, I’ve failed my Craftworld, I’ve failed Laethala and our child. I have failed!
Equestria: M41
This is Equestria. A feudal world of peace and prosperity, A land of friendship and harmony. A world teaming with life, it is completely different from what it once was. However there is sentient live here with all types of animals, rabbits, birds, and even the insects of this planet have some form of sentience. But one species is the dominant life form on this planet and that species is ponies.
They’re anthropomorphic creatures with hooved feet big enough to keep them balanced on two legs. And human like hands that are meant for grabbing objects and performing tasks that are either complicated or simple. some members of this species have evolved wings for flying, others have evolved horns to indicate they have psychic abilities. But only three extremely powerful ponies have both wings and horns.
In an apple farm near town a called Ponyville, three little fillies are in their treehouse. There’s a Pegasus named Scootaloo, a unicorn named Sweetie Belle, and an earth pony named Applebloom. All three of them are thinking about which cutie mark they’re going to attempt to gain today. “Alright crusaders any of you got any ideas?” Applebloom asked.
“Umm, baking?” Said Sweetie Belle
“But we tried that last weekend remember.” Scootaloo reminded Sweetie Belle
“You know what they say, three times the charm” Sweetie said positively
“It’s been seven times actually, so please try to think outside the box this time.” Scootaloo told Sweetie Belle. “I don’t want to set fire to Mr and Mrs cakes kitchen for the thirteenth time in a row.” The three fillies shudder from being reminded of those ‘incidents.’ The crusaders continue to ponder for a minute or two before Scootaloo blurted out. “Archaeology!”
“What?” Questioned Applebloom. “Scootaloo I thought you weren't into that sort of ‘nerdy’ stuff?”
“Yeah but, remember that girl named Petunia Paleo and how she got her cutie mark by finding flipping dinosaur fossil in her back yard. And not just a small stone with a small bone in it, but a God damn entire pony-saurus!” She said with a lot of interest enthusiasm. “I know Archaeology is not the exact same as palaeontology but I thought we could try something similar.”
“So you want to find weird artefacts in ponies back gardens?” Asked Sweetie Belle.
“Yeah.” Scootaloo replied.
“Okay lets try that.” Said Sweetie Belle
“Then it’s settled.” Applebloom declared
“Cutie mark crusaders archaeologist’s!” All three shout excitedly in unison. The three fillies immediately ran outside and into the barn owned by the Apple family, they took shovels, trowels and some brushes without permission. And they went to dig through random ponies gardens.
Later however, The three crusaders walk back to the Apple farm with used tools in hand. they have dirt covering their clothes, hands and faces. They’re empty handed and full of disappointment, except for Sweetie Belle; she may not of gained her cutie mark but she’s happy that she found an ancient purple gem. “Applejack gonna kill me once she finds out that we destroyed multiple gardens.” Applebloom muttered.
“Same with my aunts.” Scootaloo empathized with Applebloom. “We’re probably gonna get grounded for a month or two.”
“Well on the bright side we now have the chance to get our gardening cutie marks.” Sweetie Belle chimed in.
Scootaloo and Applebloom looked at Sweetie Belle with confusion towards her positive attitude. “Sweetie Belle you do realise that’s going to be our punishment right?” Scootaloo stated.
“Yes but I see this as an absolute win.” Sweetie smiled.
“Whatever let’s just- ahh!” Applebloom was about to say something but she tripped over something, she dropped all the tools in her hands and scraped her knee. “Ow!” She yells in pain.
Sweetie Belle went to pick Applebloom up from the ground “You alright Applebloom?” Asked Sweetie Belle.
“Yeah I’m fine.” She said. “I just tripped.” She stopped and looked at what she tripped over. She tripped over a dirty blue rock that’s covered in dirt. She tapped her hoof on the rock with curious intent, the noise it made an almost silent metallic clang. “Rocks don’t make that sound. Do they?” Applebloom questions herself.
Applebloom picked up her shovel and started to dig. “Applebloom please no more digging I’m tired of digging.” Said Scootaloo. “Lets just go home please.” She begged Applebloom.
“Come on Scoot I think we might’ve found something this time.” Applebloom says as she continues to dig. Sweetie Belle grabs a trowel and starts digging with her friend, Scootaloo groans in frustration and reluctantly helps her friends. As they dig, the rock that Applebloom tripped over is a knee joint that for a set of armoured legs. The fillies filled with curiosity kept on digging.
After twelve minutes of digging the three fillies unearth a strange set of armour. The armour is completely covered in dirt but strangely it doesn’t seem like it has any signs of rust, it neither has any imperfections to it either apart from chipped blue and red paint if you look close enough. It has a sword in hand but it’s almost hard to tell because it had dirt all over it. The armour has a helmet, but the helmet has a face of a strange creature and it has a completely ruined red cloak that’s been ripped to shreds.
“Yes, Yes, YES!” Applebloom cheered with joy. “We finally found something!”
“What about my gem that I found?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“That’s still just as valid even though it’s really small.” Said Applebloom. This made Sweetie Belle feel really cheerful. Applebloom then went up to Scootaloo to ask. “So what do you have to say?”
“Sorry I doubted you.” Scootaloo Apologised to her friend. “No lets see if there’s a dead body in there.” Scootaloo thought morbidly. She quickly went over to the armour and grabbed the helmet with her hands.
“No wait.” Applebloom pleaded to her friend not to take the helmet off, but it was too late. Scootaloo removed the helmet from the body and when she did the crusaders saw a crystallized skull of a creature that’s completely alien to them. The crystallized skeleton crumbled into dust as soon as it was exposed to the surrounding environment.
Creeped out by this the crusaders was gonna run away and leave the armour behind. But then out of nowhere all three crusaders hear a whisper in their ear. “I’m only thirty centimetres from your location!” Whispered the mysterious voice. The children slowly turn and see a tall and lanky creature, it wears a black trench coat, gloves, boots and leggings that have blue and neon pink diamonds on its right. The creature wears a white mask that has a pointy nose, pointy ears and a large smiling grin. “Start running.” it says to the crusaders. The crusaders scream with absolute horror and run away to their homes as fast as possible; leaving the armour and their tools. The entity laughed with joy as it hears the screams of naive children. “Welcome back Phoenix lord, you have a lot to catch up on.” The entity speaks to the seemingly lifeless suit of armour.
Two days later
Canterlot castle, home to Princess Celestia and her younger sister Luna. They’re overseeing preparations for their niece’s wedding, the wedding Princess Cadence and Shining Armour will be in a couple of days and the preparations are almost complete. All that’s left now is cake, the wedding dress and for the quests to arrive. “See Luna this wasn’t so bad was it.” Celestia said to her younger sister however, Luna rolled her eyes and remained silent. “Luna I know you don’t like weddings but this will be the first time you’ll get to meet your niece.”
Luna has been has been complaining all day, she hates weddings; but she hates helping to prepare for a wedding even more. “I know dear sister,” Luna spoke. “but couldn’t I see my niece under better circumstances and not during a wedding celebration.”
“Really Luna I don’t understand why you distain weddings.”
“Oh you wanna know why?” Luna then began to list a few of the things she dislikes about weddings. “They’re expensive, they take too long, everyone puts on a smile whilst also talking behind the bride and grooms back, the dresses are only worn for one day and then immediately placed in a wardrobe to be covered in dust and spider webs. Shall I carry on?”
Celestia scoffs at Luna’s reasons. “Sister I hope you don’t ruin Cadences wedding, this is an important day in her life; and I don’t want you to upset her,”
“Tia you know I won’t ruin this day for her.” Luna commented
Celestia continues. “And I don’t want you to speak ill of her fiancé”
“I wasn’t going to.” Luna said. “Tia I promise I won’t ruin the wedding, I pinkie promise.”
“Thank you Luna.” Celestia thanked her sister. “And I promise it will be over and done with in two days.” Unexpectedly an earth pony named Raven Inkwell enters the room, she looks as if she has some troubling news for the two reigning monarchs. “Ah Raven Inkwell what a pleasant surprise, what brings you here?” Celestia greets her assistant.
“Princess Celestia, Luna; please follow me.” Raven said to both princesses. “We have made a shocking discovery that you need to see.”
“What is it?” asked Celestia
“I’ll explain on the way, now please follow me to the artefact room.” Raven told the princesses. The two monarchs walked along side Raven inkwell as she begins to explain what she has to show them. “Two days ago three fillies unearthed a set of armour near the Apple farm. The Aerologists that were sent to look at it found it strange to say the least.”
“What’s so strange about this armour they found?” Luna questioned.
“It’s strange because it’s not Equestrian origin.” Raven stated. Luna looked a bit confused with that statement but Raven continued. “It’s not even made from steel or iron, it’s light weight but tough as nails, and well. It’s hard to describe, you must see it for yourself.”
Soon the three ponies make it to the artefact room where they have all manner of treasury, from ancient weapons to ancient scrolls almost all of equestrian history regarding the two sisters are stored here. But there’s one artefact that stands out the most in this room and that’s the new addition in the room. It’s the strange armour that the cutie mark crusaders found a couple of days ago. It’s now cleaner than before but it’s still has slightly chipped blue and red paint, the cape has been restored to it’s former glory and it’s clear now that it also has of what looks to be weapons on its arms.
“What is this?” Celestia questioned.
“We don’t know princess, no creature in Equestria wears this type of armour, not even ponies from ancient times.”
Celestia and Raven continue to speak about the armour however, Luna can’t hear her sister speaking. All she can hear is a quiet alien voice in her head that just keeps saying the same words over and over again. “The Rhana Dandra, the Rhana Dandra, the Rhana Dandra.” Those words just echo over and over, it’s almost maddening.
“Luna?” Celestias’ voice calling her name brought her out of her trance. “Are you okay? you look ill.”
“I’m fine sister,” Luna reassured her sister. “I just need to rest.”
Luna left the artefact room and walked towards her chamber, but as she walked down the hallway she felt an ethereal presence loom over her. It made her feel something she has never felt before; and that’s dread. It made her feel anxious, her breathing has increased dramatically and her eyes dart around the room looking for the thing that’s watching her. Once she finally got to her room she tried to get herself to calm down.
She sees a shadowy figure in the corner of her eye, she turns her head and sees an unfamiliar ghostly figure. The creature has a female body type, it has purple and blue diamond shaped markings on the left side of its body, it wears a bright green robe as well as featureless helmet on its head covered by the hood of the robe, bright yellow gloves and it holds a staff in its right hand that has an unsettling smiley face on it.
Luna gathers herself and speaks to the creature with confidence. “Ah! at last you see fit to announce your presence.” She says to the entity.
“The children of Twilight bleed in the void, the stars weep for the murder to come.” The entity spoke with an echoey voice.
Luna gets closer to the Shadowseer and asks “Can you only speak to me in riddles?”
“Chaos bleeds from the Dathedian, death stalks from the dark city. They wish eternal slumber on the sleeping.”
“What are you saying? Speak normally at once creature!” Luna demanded from the creature.
“No!” The Shadowseer cried as it zooms to Luna and grasps her hands on the Princess’ head. “The time is spent! See for yourself! The phoenix is rising! The phoenix is rising! The blades of the dark city clash with the children of Khaela Mensha Khaine, the assassins of the shadowed master meets the hand of Asuryan.” Images from an ancient prophecy flash before Luna’s eyes. Warriors clad in blue armour fight against a dark and depraved militia of sword bound warriors in dark armour whilst a figure wearing the armour that she saw earlier go against their dark master. “A Phoenix will Rise! A Phoenix will rise! A Phoenix will fall! A Phoenix will fall!” The entity disappeared into thin air, it’s laughter can be heard still in the room just for a moment.
Luna sat down on her chair with her hand on her head due to a pounding headache after seeing the prophecy. Suddenly there's a knock on the door. "Luna," it was just Celestia checking in on her sister. "May I come in?" She asks politely.
"You may enter." Luna groans in tired tone of voice. Celestia opens the door and sees her sister suffering with a terrible headache, slowly and carefully Celestia enters the chamber she sits next her sister.
With concern for her little sister Celestia asks. "What's wrong Luna?"
"A prophecy has been told to me dear sister," She begins. "one that is set in stone and cannot be undone for it's already in motion and this prophecy only brings death and ruin. A Phoenix rises."
"Luna what are you talking about?"
"I-I’m, not going to make it to the wedding sister. I need to make a visit to the library."
“The library?” Celestia questions Luna. But Luna got up and began to leave the castle however Celestia intervened and says “No, no no! I forbid you to leave this castle, you promised you’d be at this wedding!”
“I know I promised sister, but the fate of our world might be at risk!” Luna argues back. “War is coming, I know because something just told me, it spoke of a prophecy and I need answers.”
“Then search for the answers in the vaults of the castle so you can still be apart of your nieces important day of her life.”
“That vault doesn’t have the answers I seek.” Luna told her sister. “I’m sorry I-I wish could explain more but this war could happen any day now, so I need to go immediately.”
“Damn it Luna, you just want an excuse to not attend the wedding, just admit you don’t want to go!”
“No I don’t want to go, I’d rather die than attend any wedding. However I had to go to this wedding to finally meet my niece for the first time, you really think I’d want to miss this opportunity? No I didn’t, I would not leave this castle unless it’s important. And this is important.” Luna made her argument clear, she sighed and continues talking. “Tia I have to go the library, because there’s a chance that it has the answers I’m looking for.”
“Fine! You can go!” Celestia gave in. “But do note that once you return to this castle you have to do all my royal duties for a week as punishment.”
“It’s a deal.” Luna agrees and shakes Celestias’ hand. “I’ll see you in a few days.” Then Luna continues to walk down the hallway and shout’s. “Serfs! Prepare my armour!”
As Luna walks away Celestia is a bit upset with this turn of events and can’t help but worry for her younger sister. But that worry soon turned to dread as she felt a cold presence behind her, a hand is placed on her shoulder and something whispered behind her left ear. “A Phoenix rises princess, and your world will burn.” the voice giggled and Celestia turned around to see them but nothing was there. But laughter of twisted humour can be heard throughout the castle.
Twilight Sparkle is scared, she is face to face with a ghost of an alien. An alien with unknown intentions, an alien that might attempt to kill her. Out of fear she slowly grabs the vase holding the flowers and throws it at the ghost, unfortunately the vase phases right through it and smashes against the wall. “There’s no need for such reaction.” The spirit of Asurmen said to Twilight. “I only ask a simple question, one that you shall answer right now. How did you break free from my control?” He asked with sternness.
Twilight Sparkle was about to commune with the entity but then the door burst opened by a security guard. “Alright who’s making that noise!?” The security guard interrogated. He then noticed the cause of the noise which was a broken vase that was shattered against the wall with flowers scattered around the general area. He then sees Twilight Sparkle with a frightend look, like she has just seen a ghost. “Oh you’re awake.” He says with surprise. He then pointed to the shattered vase and asked. “Ma’am did you do this?”
“Yes, I did.” Twilight admitted. “B-but only because I saw a ghost!” Twilight stuttered with panic.
“Ma’am, you probably just woken up from a nightmare; I’m sure it’s nothing.” He tries to comfort Twilight. “Or it could be that head injury making you see things, I don’t know. The doc will check on you in the morning.” He tells Twilight. “Besides there’s no such things as ghosts. Now good night.” He says as he closes the door gently.
Maybe that security guard was right, There’s no such things as ghosts. Twilight begins to relax a bit and tries falling back to sleep, but suddenly a voice told her. “You know he can’t see me right.” Asurmen begins. “Only you can see me and commune with me. Because you wore my armour.”
“I don’t care, you are not real. You are just a figment of my imagination!” Twilight tells Asurmen. “You are a product of my injury, my injury is causing me to see things like you!” She tries to rationalise.
Asurmen give out a light chuckle. “Oh foolish creature, we both know that’s not true.” Twilight tries to ignore him by covering her ears with her pillow. "If I truly was formed by your mind, why is it that you remember the events that took place two days ago? How come I took control of your body? And how were you able to defeat an entire army all on your own?" He questions Twilight. "And these are questions that prove that I'm no mere manifestation of your mind. Now answer my question Twilight Sparkle!" He commands Twilight.
“I’m not answering your question Asurmen because I don’t know the answer!” Twilight tells Asurmen. “Why can’t you just leave me alone? Why are you here? Why can’t you leave me alone?”
Asurmen paused for a moment, just staring at her with a blank expression. “I can’t leave you alone even if I wanted to.” He speaks. “Our souls are linked. When you put on that armour I was supposed to take control permanently with my soul taking over your very own.”
“So you want to take over my body for your own purposes? Why?” Twilight asks with disdain. “What purpose will I serve?”
The ghostly figure looks towards the nearby window and looks at the stars, reminiscing the past before saying. “War.” Twilight looks at the figure with slight discomfort. “You shall be used to protect my species from extinction, we shall protect them from extinction. The fate of my kinds future depends on them fighting enemies that you couldn’t possibly imagine, and if you don’t march to war, it shall come to you like a tidal wave. There is no avoiding it.”
“What if I just don’t put on the armour anymore.”
“It’s too late, the aeldari and the dark gods know that I’m still around, especially she who thirsts.” Asurmen finishes the sentence with scorn. “And as I said our souls are linked, so even without the armour you have some of my skills; and some of my memories.”
“Memories?” Twlight questions with confusion. “I don’t have your memories.”
“Oh really?” He then asks. “Then you wouldn’t happen know the name of my adopted daughter?”
“No I don’t, I wouldn’t know the name of Faraethil... Wait.” Twilight is shocked that she knows the name of Asurmens daughter. “How did I know that?”
“Like I said you have some of my memories and skills. Now do you believe me Sparkle?” Asurmen asks a hypothetical question.
Twilight panics for a moment and says. "Oh sweet Celestia." She puts her hands on her head with a dreadful feeling, her heart monitor starts beeping faster slightly. "How didn't I notice sooner?”
"You were in denial. Not only that but the transfer of memories is very seamless and hard to recognise weather they’re truly yours or not." Asurmen explains. “Now will you become the Phoenix lord? Will you protect my kind?”
Twilight doesn’t speak, it is a lot to take in all at once. First the battle at Canterlot and now this, it just gives Twilight more questions that need answering, questions that she won’t like the answer too. What will happen once she agrees with Asurmen? “I’ll think about it.” She says.
“I suppose that will have to do for now.” Asurmen says. “But I expect a proper answer in the morning. He then begins too look at the stars through the window and notice that the galaxy has changed whilst he was gone, for instance there is a great rift splitting the galaxy in half. If he was still alive his heart would be racing with fear, for he knows that the chaos gods are winning. To distract himself from this revelation he tells Twilight. “You still haven’t answered my first question. How did you break from my control?”
Twilight sighs and answers his question. “I don’t know honestly. Maybe it was sheer willpower that made me break free.”
“Perhaps, or maybe your soul is just as strong as mine. But I can’t say for certain.” Asurmen concludes. “Best that you go back to sleep Sparkle, you’ll need the rest after what you’ve been through.” Twilight then slowly tries falls asleep with a ghost in the room.
Once Twilight fell asleep Asurmen begins to stare at the great rift again and whispers to himself. "So much has changed, what has happened with this galaxy?"
Around seven in the morning Twilight Sparkle slowly opens her eyes, she didn’t get much sleep last night and she’s still a little tired. She rubs her eyes and yawns and sees Asurmen still staring through the window, this confirms that she wasn’t dreaming last night so the entire conversation she had with him last night was real.
“There’s a rift separating the galaxy.” Asurmen speaks knowing that Twilight is awake. “When did that appear?” He asked.
Twilight stretches her arms and answers. “It appeared thirty years ago, before I was even born. Scholars, scientists and philosophers who attempt to study the rift always end up insane to some degree.” Asurmen gazed at her intently, listening to what she’s saying. “Some speak unknown and dead languages, some start rambling about gods and demons whispering in there heads, while others believe this is the beginning of the end times. And we still don’t know what it is or how it appeared, all we know is that it’s dangerous to stare at it for too long.”
“If your kind believes this is the beginning of the end times then why are you so calm about it?” Asurmen questions
“Ponies weren’t calm thirty years when it first appeared, in fact they were terrified.” Twilight explains. “But now ponies are sort of calm about it, but there are ponies that are really scared of it. Why did you want to know about it?”
It took a moment for Asurmen to answer, it was hard to tell how he was feeling due to how stoic he looks however if you look into his eyes you might be able to tell that he’s very afraid. “Twilight, I need to get of this planet as soon as possible. My kind needs me, especially now more than ever.”
“I will gladly take you off this planet if it means you get out of my head.” Said Twilight
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple. My kind is scattered throughout the galaxy like jewels on a pall of velvet, they could be anywhere throughout the galaxy.”
“So how am suppose to get you of this world.”
“There are many ways to attract a craftworld to this location, they either already know I’m alive and they’re coming here right now, or if they have a reason not to come we may have to drag Altansar out of the warp.”
“The warp?” Questioned Twilight
“Most species in the galaxy call it that but it has other names like Hell.”
“You’re joking.”
“If I was joking you’d know, however I am very serious.”
“Well how are we gonna drag this Altanseer person or whatever out of the warp?”
“It’s Altansar and it’s not a person, it’s an entire Craftworld.” Asurmen corrected. “Think of it as a vast, planetoid-sized spacecraft that’s populated by millions of Eldar. And it will be extremely difficult to drag out without attracting daemons or she who thirsts. So I am hoping for the former than the latter.”
“But if what you say is true then isn’t there people in the Craftworld?” Twilight asks. “Don’t you want to save them?”
“I doubt anyone could survive in the warp for so long. And besides even if they were still alive in the immaterium I don’t think we’re able to get them out, because if my species failed to save them the first time we may not be able to do it the second time.”
Twilight sighs with sadness. “So they’re dead then. All of them just gone?”
“They’d be lucky enough to have their minds unscathed than to die in that twisted place. So unfortunately Altansar is most likely a dead and barren Craftworld.”
Both of them stayed silent for a while after that. Twilight lays on her bed doing nothing but wait for the doctor to come; and Asurmen stared out the window looking the innocent world of Equestria as the sun rises. About an hour later a doctor comes in along with Nurse Redheart to check on Twilights health. They run a couple of tests, eye tests, blood tests, and they check if her motor functions are good. Theses tests are there to make sure she has no brain injuries after having her horn ripped off and so far Twilight seems almost perfectly normal to the physicians.
Nurse Redheart and the doctor go out of the room for a moment, most likely to finish writing down their health examination on Twilight. Then Nurse Redheart comes back into the room. “Well miss sparkle the tests are done and the doctor says that you’re well enough to leave the hospital.” She informs Twilight.
“Really? that’s it?” Twilight says in surprise.
“Yeah it seems so, you just need surgery to get a replacement horn but apart from that you’re free to leave when ever you’re ready.” Redhearts says as she carefully removes the heart monitor. She then opens the door to leave Twilights Room, however she notices some ponies nearby. “Looks like you have some visitors here to see you.” She tells Twilight before she leaves the room and allows the ponies to enter the room.
Suddenly a pink blur zooms into the room with speed that could rival Rainbow Dash in a race. “Twilight!” Pinkie Pie screamed happily as she hugged Twilight tightly. “We were so worried about you, I couldn’t stop baking for two days because of how worried I was.” Says Pinkie “By the way have you decided what flavour cake you wanted?”
“It’s nice to see you too Pinkie, but could you not hug so hard? I don’t want to stay in the hospital because of a broken rib.” Twilight told Pinkie Pie nicely.
“Sorry, I just missed you so much!” Pinkie apologised with a smile on her face and she lets go of Twilight
Then Rarity and Rainbow Dash walked in the room. But there’s no sign of Applejack or Fluttershy, there’s something wrong. “Hey guys how are you?” Twilight asked.
“Oh we’re fine darling.” Rarity spoke. “We should be the ones asking you that question.”
“I’m feeling good, the nurse said I’m well enough to go home.”
“That’s great Twi.” Said Rainbow Dash. “Glad you’re feeling better.”
“Thanks Dashie, where’s Applejack and Fluttershy?” Twilight changed the subject.
“Oh Fluttershy isn’t able to make it today.” Pinkie answers. “She’s been seeing a therapist for the last two days, I think it’s because she’s traumatised after what you did to those changeling.”
“What!? Oh no, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t in control over my own body, I didn’t mean to harm her.”
“Darling we know you weren't in control that day.” Said Rarity. “It’s not your fault and you don’t need to apologise, It’s that Asur whatever his name was that needs to apologise.” Asurmen felt offended but he ignored her. “And as for Applejack, she’s was supposed to come and visit you but she say’s that she’s too busy.” Rarity tells Twilight. She seems extremely disappointed with Applejack. Applejack promised that she’d come visit, she’d promised that she would talk to Twilight about what happened. It’s as if she’s avoiding Twilight like the plague, It made Rarity feel sick.
“Well she does live on a farm Rarity, there’s gonna be a lot of chores to do.” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
“I know but that’s not the point.” Said Rarity. “She made a promise that she hasn’t kept.”
“Anyways lets change the subject.” Pinkie chimed to avoid an argument. “Twilight I was gonna throw you a get well soon party, however since you’re feeling better already I’m gonna throw you a glad you’re feeling better party.” Pinkie says excitedly. “That doesn’t roll of the tongue very well, how about a welcome home party instead.”
Twilight giggles with a smile. “That would be great Pinkie.”
Just then Celestia enters the room. Her royal presence causes Twilights friends to bow before her, her royal guards wait outside the room, not letting anypony enter without the princesses permission. While everyone else sees her as this all powerful leader the spectre of Asurmen sees other wise. He thought of her as weak; And why shouldn’t he? She couldn’t even defend her own kingdom let alone herself, it’s not that Asurmen is mad at her for her incompetence, it’s just that he knew she could do better. He can sense that she is a very powerful creature yet she doesn’t use her power to protect her kingdom, It’s as if she’s holding back her own power. “My little ponies, would you kindly leave the room, I wish to speak to Twilight alone.” Celestia orders Twilights friends. They all reluctantly did as they were told.
Once everyone left the room and far enough so they wouldn’t hear the conversation Celestia was about to speak. However out of fear Twilight panics and speaks first. “I’m sorry for what I did, I-I had t-to fight back, I-I had save my brother, my sister in law and you.” She begins to stumble over her own words. “I couldn’t j-j-just stand there and do nn-nothing while everyone I know is suffering.”
“Twilight.” Celestia Tries to speak again but she was interrupted
“I just-just thought that ww-wearing a-a-a suit of armour would help me protect everyone,” Her eyes begin tearing up. “I-I-I’m sorry if I did something wrong j-just don’t punish my friends, they did nothing wrong.”
Celestia suddenly embraces Twilight, holding her tightly with care and affection. “Twilight you did nothing wrong, I’m the one at fault. I shouldn’t have put you in danger in the first place, I should’ve kept you safe.”
“You was the one in danger.” Twilight told Celestia. “I had to stop her from killing you.”
“And stopped her you did. That armour controlled you to do those things, you saved Canterlot and its citizens.” Celestia praised Twilight. “Unfortunately I cannot let you wear that armour again.”
“What!?” Both Twilight and Asurmen say in unison.
“It’s for your own good, you were possessed Twilight by a creature that inhabits the armour. And that creature is too dangerous, what if it possesses someone else and it broke free. I’m going to have to destroy it, it’s the only way.”
“No, if she destroys my armour it will both kill me and you.” Asurmen warns Twilight “Convince her not to.”
Twilight tried to think of something to stop her, but she knew that she may not be able to change Celestias’ mind. The only thing that she could do is tell her the truth. “Celestia please don’t destroy the armour.” Twilight begs.
“I’m sorry Twilight, but you know I’m doing this for you. Why don’t you want me to destroy it?” Celestia asks
“Because I can feel that I’m still connected to the armour, it’s like my soul is part of it now.”
“So you’re saying your soul is trapped in the armour.”
“Not trapped but connected, what I’m saying is if you destroy the armour I’ll die with it.”
What Twilight said made Celestia rethink her plans, it made her feel irritated with the armour because it has been nothing but trouble ever since it was found. “How do you know this?” Celestia questioned with scepticism. “There’s no way you would know without someone telling you.
“I don’t know, I just know. I just feel that the armour and I are connected.” Twilight tells a half-truth.
Celestia sighs. “I suppose I’ll have to find out how to separate your soul from the armour, but that will take months maybe years to figure out.” Asurmen is impressed, he thought he’d have to make Twilight steal the armour but no, she managed to convince of this world. However he also notices that Celestia seems very suspicious of Twilight, as if Celestia knows that she’s not telling the whole truth. Yes she definitely knows somethings off but she won’t say not until she’s absolutely sure.
“So can I keep the armour so I can study it?” Twilight asks
“Normally I would however I think it’s too dangerous for you to be around it.” Celestia expresses her concern. “So for now it shall stay in the Crystal Empire where it will remain.” Asurmen felt anger boil in his veins as he heard those words, but he doesn’t matter, he knows he’ll somehow get it back eventually.
Celestia left the room for a moment and came back with a fresh set of cloths for Twilight to wear. She bought in a t-shirt, a pair of trousers and some underwear. “I suggest you get dress before you leave.” She tells Twilight. “And I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have allowed this to happen to you.” She says with sympathy before she leaves.
Twilight looks at the small pile of clothes in front of her with distain, the reason why is because these clothes are feminine. Tight jeans, pink top, and feminine underwear. if Twilight goes out in them she’ll feel so anxious she might get a heart attack in the middle of the street. And she feels angry, not Celestia; but at herself. She said something earlier, she should’ve told someone, she should’ve done something to avoid this outcome; and that’s all she can hear in her head. But rather than wallow in self pity Twilight reluctantly put on the clothes, she can’t exit the hospital without clothes.
Once she got them on she felt uncomfortable, it’s a good thing she has to wear them once and that’s it. “You look stressed.” Said Asurmen. “Is there something wrong?”
“You wouldn’t understand.” Twillight tells Asurmen
“Try me.”
“Lets just get out as fast as possible.”
Later Twilight got home safe and sound yet she looks depressed and anxious, nothing bad happened to her she just felt like ponies were staring at her and judging her. However that couldn’t be further from the truth, everyone was just worried for her, after all she almost died by the hands of chrysalis and lost her horn in the process. Despite this she’s glad to be home; and now that she’s out of the hospital she can finally see Spike. “Spike I’m home!” She calls for Spike.
Spike hears Twilight calling for him and with a joyful smile comes running up to her and he gives her a hug. “Twilight! Oh thank Celestia you’re alive!” Spike says. “I heard what happened and I thought you died.”
“Spike there’s no need to worry, as you can see I’m still alive.” Twilight comforted spike.
Spike then noticed that Twilight is wearing feminine clothes. He finds it very odd because she doesn’t normally wear these types of clothes, she normally wears hoodies and baggy jeans. “Why are you wearing girly clothes? I thought you hated wearing them?” He questioned.
“Oh um, Celestia gave them to me. She probably assumed that I wear clothes like them.”
“And your horn is missing.” Spike pointed out. Twilight touched her broken horn with slight sorrow, she feels like a major part of herself is missing from her soul. Without her magic she might no longer be Celestias’ student, in fact she could be replaced by someone else but that is very unlikely to happen at this moment in time. “Does it hurt?” Spike asked with concern.
Twilight shakes her head and says. “No, it doesn’t hurt any more.”
“That’s good, but can you still do magic?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t tried, I’m too scared to try.”
“Well it doesn't matter now, I’m just glad you’re alright.” Spike said as he gives Twilight another hug. “So what will you do now that you’re out of the hospital?”
“First I’m gonna get out of these clothes and second I just need time to relax” She told Spike.
“Alright then, you need to relax after what you’ve been through.” And so Twilight went to her bedroom and put on a change of clothes. She is now wearing her t-shirt and hoodie along with baggy trousers, she now feels more comfortable.
While she was up there she started to think about Spike. She almost died two days ago and Spike would’ve never see her again if she did. However thanks to Asurmen she didn’t, in fact she defeated Chrysalis and the changeling army by herself. She was like a predator that day. And so she has finally made her decision.
“Asurmen.” Twilight called quietly.
The sprit of Asurmen appeared before her like a ghost. “Yes Sparkle?”
“What are you really? What is a Phoenix lord?” Twilight asked
“I am an Exarch so ancient I have no home, I wonder from world to world driven by the fires of war. And in times of great desperation I will be there to protect my people.”
“So you’re a hero.”
“Some call me that yes.”
She paused for a second before saying. “I’ll do it.” Asurmen lifts his brow. “I’ll become your Phoenix lord.”
“Then we have a lot of-”
“On one condition, I’m in control. I shall be the one speaking, I shall be the one fighting unless I say so; and if you ever try to take control over me I won’t wear your armour ever again. Are we clear?” Twilight proposed her terms.
“This is acceptable, for now.” Asurmen agrees. “I too have one condition. Do not hesitate, next time you face an enemy you must show no mercy, no pity, no remorse and kill them where they stand. And if you hesitate for one second I shall forcefully remove your soul from your body and replace it with my own.”
With Phoenix kings terms on the table Twilight asks herself ‘Is this really worth it? I’m going to risk loosing my body for a new purpose in life.’ It feels like making a deal with the devil, yet having said that this isn’t the devil. “Okay.” Says Twilight. “I accept the terms and conditions.” She holds her hand out to him and he shakes it.
“Your training begins now Aspect warrior.”
