My Little Xeno 2 - Equinox Knights

After a thankfully uneventful night, Twilight was on her way to her kitchen. While the party had made it clear that not all Ultramarines were as approachable as Antonius, there had been no worrying incidents. Still, having so many of them in her castle was a strange feeling… on the other hoof, her castle had never been guarded this well…

She entered the kitchen and - much to her surprise - did not find it empty. One of the red robed humans was in there, looking around.

“Good morning,” Twilight greeted,
“can I help you?”

“Oh, good morning,” the human said.
It was the aide of Magos Gearhart, and Twilight recalled that her name was ‘Aleksa’.
“Sorry for the intrusion, I am just looking for some recaf.”

“You are looking for what?”

“Recaf. A hot beverage, usually brownish, with caffeine.”

“Coffee?” Twilight guessed.

“You have coffee?” Aleksa asked with a surprised expression,
“I mean, real coffee?”

“Of course, and you were pretty close to finding it. Wait, I’ll make you a cup, you just sit down.”

Having said that, Twilight got working, and a few minutes later, a steaming cup of the brown liquid was standing on the table in front of Aleksa.

She eyed it curiously, then she took a sip.

“Damn, that’s good,” she sighed.

“Milk? Sugar?” Twilight smiled,
“real milk and real sugar.”

“I won’t refuse this generous offer.”

Twilight put the coffee supplements on the table and sat down, too.

“So, you are a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus,” she tried to start a conversation.

“Yes,” Aleksa answered as she enhanced her coffee,
“I am Magos Gearhart’s aide.”

She took another sip, and Twilight realized that her hands looked strangely metallic. Aleksa noticed Twilight gaze, put her cup down and held up her hand.

“Bionics. Quite unusual around here, I presume?”

“Quite,” Twilight confirmed,
“we know wooden prosthetics, but a fully movable limb is nothing short of a miracle. May I ask how that happened?”

“Well, such things happen when you’re young and stupid. Now I’m older.”

Twilight snickered, and a grin appeared on Aleksa’s face.

“I know that this may sound weird,” she said,
“but it really is a pleasant surprise that I can sit at a table with you and even talk to you. Usually, our encounters with non-humans are… not that cordial.”

“Oh, Antonius told us about that.”

“I guess getting along with him was quite hard at first, hmm?”

“Not really. We had a few minor misunderstandings, but all told, it wasn’t that much of a problem.”

“Really?”

“Are you surprised that there were hardly any problems?”

“To be honest: yes. I mean, an Angel of Death and xenos - pardon; non-humans - that usually means increased levels of violence… to put it mildly.”

“We were no threat to him, and we are no threat to mankind. He realized that, and so there was no reason for violence.”

“Not many Space Marines would have been so… tolerant,” Aleksa opined,
“you - no, all of us - were really lucky that it was Antonius who came here. Well, that was the reason the Omnissiah selected him for this task, I presume, to enable us to get hold of the ancient knowledge that is the STC system.”

“The Omnissiah is the Emperor, right?”

“Without going into theological details: yes, about that.”

“It’s weird when you think about it: a decision so important, with that much impact on our lives, was made by a being I hadn’t even heard of before Antonius came here.”

“In the Imperium, such decisions are made quite often. An inhabitant of a agri- or feudal world often has no idea that far away, governors or generals are deciding on their fate, but I have to admit that this situation is indeed special. I don’t think there has ever been this much at stake before, with your Elements and the STC system, I mean.”

“Yeah, the whole galaxy will be influenced by our decisions… it might be best not to think too hard about it.”

“Probably.”

After a moment of awkward silence, Twilight asked:

“May I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure,” Aleksa answered.

“You are female, right?”

“Yeah. In general, these two are a good hint,” Aleksa said flatly, pointing at her chest.

That moment, Antonius and Luna entered the kitchen.

“Good mo… huh?” Antonius greeted,
“not to be nosy, but what’s going on here?”

“I’m sorry, Lord Varus…” Aleksa immediately apologized.

“It’s my fault,” Twilight interrupted,
“I asked her if she was female.”

“Well, she is. Pretty unambiguously,” Antonius told her flatly, which earned him a curious look from Luna, then he turned to Aleksa and continued:
“and please just call me ‘Antonius’.”

“Thank you, Antonius,” Aleksa replied,
“of course I know that this is irrelevant, since a body is just a vessel for a person’s intellect…”

“You can stop right there, Aleksa. I’m no member of the Mechanicum, neither am I testing or judging you. Just feel free to be yourself when I’m around.”

“If that’s the case… can I get another coffee?”

Some time later, Antonius, Luna, Celestia, the Ultramarines, Gearhart, Aleksa, Twilight and her friends had gathered in the castle’s entrance hall.

“Let us decide what to do today. Would you like to see our capital, Canterlot?” Celestia asked.

“If you don’t mind,” Calgar answered,
“we would prefer to see the Tree and the Elements of Harmony first, Princess.”

“Sure, as you wish.”

So the group left the castle and started a journey through the Everfree forest, the Ultramarines automatically assuming a defensive formation. They soon arrived at the chasm behind which the Castle of the Two Sisters was standing.

“Here, we’ve got to go down these stairs,” Antonius said,
“the cave with the Tree is just over there, you can actually see it from here.”

“So, this incredibly important and valuable tree is just standing in a cave, unguarded, in the middle of a forest?” Cassius inquired.

“The Tree of Harmony is a pretty powerful entity,” Celestia told him,
“I’m sure it can protect itself.”

“I don’t see how that could go fatally wrong,” Seneca deadpanned.

They descended to the bottom of the chasm and approached the cave. A squad of Ultramarines stayed outside to secure the entrance, the rest of them entered.
Now, they were standing in front of the Tree, and Calgar said:

“Certainly something you don’t see all day. Those are the Elements of Harmony, I presume?”

“Yes, Lord Calgar,” Twilight confirmed.

“I don’t suppose you can just get them and demonstrate their abilities?”

“Well… I think we shouldn’t remove them unless the situation really demands it. They are very powerful and I wouldn’t like to toy with them.”

“It remains to be seen how powerful they really are,” Cassius interjected.

“I can assure you, they are very powerful,” Luna replied,
“they freed me from the Nightmare Moon daemon, after all.”

“They were only mostly successful in doing so.”

“Do I really have to tell you how devious and persistent daemons can be?”

“I don’t need you to tell me anything, Princess.”

“Enough,” Calgar said before Luna had a chance to retort,
“bickering is not productive. Chief Librarian, can you pick up something?”

“No. I still don’t have access to the warp. Antonius, what about you?”

Antonius was honestly surprised by this question. Varro Tigurius was one of the most powerful and experienced psykers the Imperium had to offer, it was an honor that he asked for his opinion.
So he took a step forward and sent out his mind, using pony magic.

The presence of the Tree was almost overwhelming; it was a concentration of pony magic unlike any Antonius had ever felt, with one exception: when his friends had defeated Tirek.

“The Tree is dripping with power,” he reported,
“and I have a vague feeling of consciousness.”

“That supports what we know of it,” Tigurius stated,
“as well as your report.”

“So, Antonius just confirmed his own story,” Cassius said flatly.

“If you’re honest, you have no choice but to confirm the truth,” Applejack noted.

Antonius could see the ponies grin, and maybe there was also a smirk on some of the Ultramarines’ faces.

“I would not mind it being the truth. I just remain cautious.”

“Which is generally a wise thing to do,” Calgar said before another bickering could erupt,
“which is why we will search this cave. See if you can find anything useful. Brother Parvus, cover us.”

The Ultramarines started fanning out, and the ponies joined them, more out of courtesy than out of the expectation to actually find something.
While doing so, Antonius switched from pony-magic to his reservoir of warp energy, which he had refilled while outside the veil. For a moment, he thought he felt something, but it was immediately gone again. He stopped and looked around.
Hmm… it was just the moment he had switched his source of power… near the back end of the cave…
He went there and switched again, and there it was again, just a moment, then it was gone.

“Antonius?” Tigurius asked,
“have you found something?”

“Maybe,” Antonius answered and told him what he had felt.

“Intriguing. Can you use both power sources simultaneously?”

“I’ll try,” Antonius said and tapped his reservoir and pony magic at the same time.

There it was.

“It’s a… psionic switch?” he ventured,
“you can only find it if you’re capable of using pony magic and the powers of the immaterium in unison.”

“So, neither pony nor human alone can trigger it,” Tigurius stated.

“Except Antonius,” Celestia said.

“Correct. He is able to wield both powers, but even that is insufficient, you also need a way to get some warp energy into the veil. I assume that whoever built that switch wanted to make sure that no one else could gain access, since having both abilities is highly unlikely.”

By now, the ponies and humans had converged around them and were listening to their discussion.

“But, who made this switch?” Twilight inquired.

“The same creatures that created the Tree?” Luna guessed,
“or maybe even the planet?”

“Unfortunately, we don’t know very much about the Tree,” Celestia told them,
“we don’t even know who created it - or if it was created at all or just grew somehow.”

“Well, I can’t remember having read about the Tree in the ancient logs,” Antonius said,
“so I think it might have been created later, and that means that whoever created the planet did not necessarily create our crystal friend here.”

“What about we just trigger the switch and see what happens?” Rainbow Dash suggested.

“Risky,” Calgar replied,
“but probably the only way to have a chance at getting some answers. Antonius, please trigger the switch. Ultramarines, watch out.”

Antonius activated his powers and reached for the switch.
There was a rumbling in the cave, then, the back wall started slowly shifting aside, revealing a dark passageway, big enough for even Parvus to fit through and still have plenty of space.

“Incredible,” Celestia whispered,
“I did not have the slightest idea that this place hides such a secret.”

“Hence the name ‘secret’,” Seneca grinned.

“Time to see what this ‘secret’ is exactly,” Calgar said,
“Antonius, take the lead. Parvus, you’re next. Tigurius, Cassius, Seneca, Gearhart, Aleksa and me will go next. Ponies, behind us. Brothers, you’ll bring up the rear. Now let’s go.”

They entered the passageway as Calgar had told them. Parvus activated his luminators, casting a bright light along the way.
Antonius took a look at the walls. While the cave had consisted of ordinary rock, this tunnel was different.

“What’s that?” he asked,
“looks like black glass.”

“Please wait,” Gearhart said and extended his mechadendrites,
“it is definitely not glass.”

“Then, what is it?”

“Analysis inconclusive. Since we do not know what this place is, I do not want to use any drastic measures at the moment, so all I can say is that it is more resilient than glass, swallows the beam of my luminator and lights up in a pale gray glow as it does so. I have never seen such a material before.”

“I have,” Luna suddenly said, and all eyes were on her.

“Really?” Antonius asked in surprise,
“when and where?”

“It was back when I was Nightmare Moon… there is a mountain on the dark side of the moon, ‘Mount Obsidian’. It looks very much like the walls here.”

“I guess we’ll have to pay this mountain a visit,” Calgar said, then he turned on his vox:
“Sword of Iax, begin scanning this planet’s moon. There should be a mountain on its dark side. Focus your scans on this mountain.”

They proceeded deeper down the passageway, which was slightly descending now and started turning right. They kept following it until Antonius raised his hand to stop them.

“Parvus, douse your luminators,” he said.

Parvus did so. They expected to be in utter darkness, but they weren’t. There was a faint light in front of them.

“Something’s down there,” Antonius stated.

“I hope it’s not dangerous,” Fluttershy whispered.

“It’s been hundreds, or even thousands of years since the secret door we came through was last opened,” Rainbow Dash sighed,
“whatever’s down there is certainly long dead.”

“If this passageway is the only way down,” Applejack retorted.

“Even if it’s the only way down, what about traps?” Twilight added for consideration.

“Fine,” Rainbow conceded,
“but if we watch our step, nothing should go wrong. I don’t think there are some monstrosities down there that could harass us after all that time.”

“You have no idea,” Seneca grumbled,
“but the light is sorta multicolored, not green - that’s a good omen.”

“‘Green’? Why is green so bad?”

“You don’t want to know, lass.”

“Continue the descent,” Calgar ordered,
“and keep your bolters ready. The Emperor protects.”

They went further down the tunnel, more alert than ever. The light grew stronger, slowly but constantly changing its hue.
Finally, the passageway lead to a large cave, made from the same black material they had seen all the way down. In its center, a strange apparatus, probably a control lectern, was standing. In the right-hand wall, however, there was a giant window, through which the multicolored light was shining.

“Oh, pretty,” Parvus commented.

Well, he was certainly right with that. Beyond the window, there was a gigantic spherical cave. Through holes in its walls, colorful ribbons of light were entering the underground hall. They converged in the cave’s center, forming a giant, glowing sphere.

“What in tarnation is that?” Applejack asked in awe.

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, just as flabbergasted as her friend,
“but I think my coat is standing on end… any my horn is humming.”

“I can feel that, too,” Rarity agreed,
“like a… gentle tingle.”

“I think it’s fun!” Pinkie opined,
“I love a good tingling!”

“It’s an incredible concentration of magic,” Celestia told them,
“more powerful than any I have ever seen.”

“Look at the surface, especially the ceiling above the glowing sphere!” Luna exclaimed.

They did so and saw what the princess had pointed out.

“The roots of the Tree of Harmony?” Calgar guessed.

“They seem to be composed of the same crystal material as the Tree,” Gearhart noted,
“they cover the hollow sphere’s polar region in a tight mesh, and some even grow down almost to the equatorial region.”

“But what is this place?” Twilight asked.

“That’s the crucial question,” Calgar said.

“Well, it seems to attract and concentrate magical energies,” Celestia ventured,
“but I can’t even guess the purpose of it. That much energy would certainly kill anypony foolish enough to try and tap it.”

“Perhaps that control lectern thing over there might give us some answers?” Aleksa suggested.

“Reasonable assumption,” Gearhart replied and went to the lectern, followed by his aide and the others.

While he examined it, he reported his progress:

“Definitely xenotech, but that should not come as a surprise. It is made of the same material as the passageway and the cave. The runes are unknown to me.”

“Goodness,” Celestia, having taken a look at the lectern, suddenly exclaimed,
“I can read some of them!”

“What?” Luna asked incredulously.

“Have a look, Luna, you’ll find that you can read them, too.”

“How could I read runes that are… Egad! I can read them! These runes are used by the language of magic!”

“By what language?” Calgar inquired.

“There are several ways to use magic, Lord Calgar. One of them is writing down specific runes and powering them up with raw magic. The runes here are similar to those used for this purpose.”

“Intriguing. So, what do the runes say?”

“It’s incoherent rambling,” Celestia told him,
“I think it may be like those runic boards you use to communicate with cogitators.”

“I concur,” Gearhart said,
“this device really seems to be the control lectern for whatever place this is.”

“So… are we going to look for the ‘on’ switch?” Seneca asked.

“That should be this one in the corner,” Celestia said,
“the rune means ‘start’ or ‘activate’.”

Before anyone could say anything, Gearhart had already reached out for the rune with one of his mechadendrites. The lectern lit up, and a moment later, the whole room was conveniently illuminated.

“Magos,” Clagar grumbled,
“I understand that you are curious, but next time, I’d like to have a chance of thinking about the situation before activating ancient xenos machinery.”

“There are generally two ways of figuring out the function of a machine,” Gearhart replied,
“you can either dismantle it and try to draw your conclusions from its components. Since we cannot disassemble it, and even if we could, had no chance of identifying the purpose of said components, this way is invalid. So, I resorted to way number two: activate it and see what it does.”

“I really don’t like it when recklessly taking risks sounds logical all of a sudden,” Seneca sighed.

Any further discussion was prevented by the lectern projecting some kind of hololith above its runic board. Among other things, it displayed more runes. Everyone started at it, and Calgar turned to the princesses:

“And? What does it say?”

“Well,” Celestia started,
“I have to admit that I don’t know all of the runes, but from what I know… something about ‘convert chaos to magic’.”

“Chaos to magic?” Tigurius repeated,
“does that mean that this device is capable of converting warp energies to the magic you use?”

“Throne on Terra,” Cassius mumbled.

“The Sea of Souls,” Antonius suddenly whispered.

“You told us about that,” Calgar said,
“you think this apparatus could restore it?”

“Depends on its capacity. But if some ancient species saw what happened to the immaterium, they might have worked on a method of undoing the damage to it. Maybe it even was those ‘Old Ones’ who built the device in a last attempt to make up for their misdeeds.”

“And then, much later, the Tree of Harmony somehow grew its roots into it.” Seneca stated.

“Could this device be the source of the veil that protects this planet from the warp?” Aleksa asked.

“Possible,” Tigurius replied,
“as things appear to be, even probable, I dare to say.”

“Give me a second,” Celestia said,
“I’ll try to get this thing to display some information.”

She carefully started touching a few runes, and the hololith changed. Now, it displayed an image of the planet with its streams of magical energy, as well as the sun and moon. Around it, there were several gauges.

“Incredible,” Tigurius marveled,
“this seems to be the main focus chamber, the device itself actually spans the whole planet.”

“Oh dear,” Celestia gasped all of a sudden.

“What’s wrong?” Calgar inquired.

“You remember that I said I’ve never felt such an enormous amount of power before? Well, according to its label, this gauge here is some sort of power-meter, and it’s pretty close to zero.”

“So, this device is capable of putting out a far higher amount of power.”

“This is all so exciting!” Pinkie screamed.

Celestia touched the power-meter, and the hololith showed a graph. It ran pretty close to the bottom line, with only a little bump. She studied it for a few seconds, then she whispered:

“Goodness…”

“Princess?” Clagar asked.

“This is the time-dependent course of this device’s power output. When Tirek was defeated, the Elements created a magical wave that restored all magic in Equestria. It was an unparalleled display of power - and this little bump there.”

“So,” Gearhart said,
“if our assumptions are correct, your Elements of Harmony draw their power from this xeno device. Even now, with it basically running close to minimum power, they were able to perform all the accomplishments Antonius and you told us about.”

“So,” Twilight ventured,
“if we power this converter up to full, the power of the Elements will be significantly higher?”

“Yes…” Celestia mumbled, obviously flabbergasted,
“the scale… it’s logarithmic. Each scale mark means ten times the power of its predecessor.”

They all looked at the scale… and its countless little scale marks.
The following silence lasted a few seconds as the ramifications of this insight sunk in. The Elements of Harmony, however powerful they already were, were nowhere near their full potential.

“Whoa, nelly,” Applejack mumbled.

“I’d really like to see what happens when we use the Elements at full power,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I guess you would obliterate even the most powerful daemon,” Seneca opined.

“More than that,” Tigurius stated, and everyone looked at him,
“I think the creators of this machine thought beyond defeating single daemons. It sounds too fantastic to be true, but instead of turning a small fraction of the warp back to the Sea of Souls, it could be made to convert all of the warp.”

Again, there was silence. If their assumptions were correct, this ancient device would not just help them defeat Chaos, it would annihilate it once and for all. The silence was broken by Pinkie Pie, who tilted her head a little and said:

“You know, if it’s such a super powerful, super important thing, it needs a name.”

“Want to call it ‘Bob’?” Seneca grinned.

“Nah, but ‘the ancient xeno device’ will be awkward in the long run.”

“Hmm… granted. Any ideas?”

“Don’t we have more pressing matters?” Cassius asked,
“naming this converter doesn’t take priority.”

“‘Converter’ actually is sensible,” Gearhart said,
“as it describes the device’s purpose.”

“And it’s pretty big,” Aleksa added,
“so, how about: ‘Great Converter’?”

“Oh, I like that!” Pinkie cheered.

Cassius looked at Calgar, somewhat confused that he had been ignored, but Calgar only shrugged and said:

“Acceptable. So, this ancient xeno device will from now on be known as the ‘Great Converter’. Content?”

“What about the magical energy ribbons?” Pinkie continued.

Cassius shook his head and sighed:

“So, we obviously don’t have more urgent things to do.”

“Actually, we have,” Gearhart stated and turned to Antonius:
“Does the local AI have any information about the Great Converter?”

“I don’t think so,” Antonius replied and fetched his PDA,
“but we can ask him.”

He called Al and told him what they had found.

“Incredible,” Al marveled,
“I had no idea this device existed… I can’t even detect the energy you mentioned.”

“Well, it’s magic, not electricity,” Antonius told him,
“your scanners probably have problems with that… hmm… perhaps we can use magic crystals, combined with our knowledge of psychic devices to enable you to detect magic…”

“That would be advantageous.”

“Hey, Al,” Pinkie interrupted,
“any idea how to call the magic beams down here?”

“She just can’t drop that matter…” Cassius sighed.

“According to my data,” Al told them,
“there is an old term for strange underground flows of magical energy.”

“There is?” Antonius asked in surprise.

“Yes: ‘Ley lines’.”

“What is a ‘ley’?”

“An old term for ‘clearing’. A long time ago, someone noticed that you could draw straight lines on a map that would pass through important sanctuaries and a lot of towns with suffixes similar to ‘ley’, so those lines were called ‘ley lines’. Some people thought they were magic and that those sanctuaries and towns were built there because of those lines.”

“How many sanctuaries and ley-towns were in the examined area?” Tigurius wanted to know.

“Exact numbers are not recorded, but there were lots of them.”

“Then, you can draw arbitrary lines on a map and most of them will pass those places or at least run near them.”

“Yes, that was the problem with those lines, and the reason they were considered nothing more than pseudoscience. Someone even drew ley-lines through the pizza restaurants of the local capital to showcase that fact.”

“That’s… actually quite funny,” Calgar commented.

“Still, we can use the term,” Antonius said,
“that way, it be used in a meaningful way at last.”

“Agreed. Now, we search this room. If we don’t find anything, we should probably shut down the lectern and head out again.”

“Why don’t we just activate the conversion thingy, destroy Chaos and call it a day?” Rainbow asked.

“So far, we’re only assuming what this device does. While plausible, we need some certainty before we unleash that much power. We don’t want to create a warp rift or something like that, after all. But even if we were willing to take this risk: we have no idea how to activate the procedure. Further study is required before we attempt anything.”

Now they started searching the room, but since the lectern literally was the only object in there, they soon deactivated it and headed back to the surface. Once there, Calgar called the Sword of Iax and asked for their findings.

“Lord Calgar,” they answered,
“we have found the mountain. It is shaped like a volcano, but it is perfectly circular, and made of a material we cannot analyze to a satisfying degree. Its peak, however, is sealed by a gate that is mostly composed of adamatium and plasteel. It appears to be of human origin.”

“Size of the gate?”

“Its diameter is about 8 kilometers.”

“That’s a big gate…” Seneca mumbled.

“Any data what’s beyond the gate?” Calgar inquired.

“I’m afraid not, my Lord, our augur arrays and auspexes can’t penetrate it,” the vox operator answered.

“Then, we’ll have to go there and take a look ourselves. Prepare another Thunderhawk and tell our brother Terminators to prepare for a mission. We’ll start as soon as we are back at our dropship.”

“Excuse me, Lord Calgar,” Luna interjected and Calgar turned to her,
“how long do you think this excursion might take?”

“Hard to say. It depends on what we’ll find there. Anything between a day and a few months is possible.”

“If that is the case, I must ask you to postpone your investigation. While I am also curious what mysteries may lie behind that gate, there is a matter of great urgency you might please have a look at before traveling to the moon.”

“Are you trying to delay our progress?” Cassius asked.

“No, I am trying to save a life.”

Calgar regarded her for a moment, then he voxed:

“We will delay the mission. In the meantime, continue the scans of the volcano and its surroundings. Relay the data to us and to the Terminators.”

“Yes, my Lord,” the Sword of Iax answered and Calgar cut the connection.

Then, he turned to Luna again:

“So, Princess Luna, how can we help you save a life?”

“Please follow me to the Ponyville hospital.”

“You’re thinking about Gentle Breeze?” Antonius inquired,
“yes, that’s a good idea. We already have a magos available, but we’ll need an apothecarius, too. Lord Calgar, could you please tell brother Ambrosius to come here?”

Calgar nodded and voxed the voidship again:

“Sword of Iax, we have a new situation at hand. We need brother Ambrosius on the surface. No casualties, just aid for the locals. He shall take a Thunderhawk down here.”

Just a few minutes after they had started walking back towards Ponyville, Marneus Calgar got a vox call:

“Lord Calgar, this is navigator Angren. Might I ask your permission to accompany the apothecarius and visit the planet, too?”

“Are you curious about the inhabitants, Lady Angren?” he asked with a small smile.

“Yes, my Lord… and breathing non-recycled air once in a while also is a boon.”

Well, usually navigators stayed onboard their vessels, since their specific talents could only be used there. Still, he couldn’t - and did not want to - blame Lady Angren for her curiosity, or her wish for fresh air, so he voxed:

“Permission granted. You’ll find the air down here quite satisfactory.”

It did not take long until he received a second call. This time, the Hastings brothers wanted to talk to him:

“Lord Calgar, we just wanted to ask if we should deploy our Knights to the surface. On the strike cruiser, they’re pretty useless, while on the planet…”

There was a distinct chance that the already somewhat startled and nervous ponies would freak out.

“True, but we don’t want to overwhelm the inhabitants with the spectacle of war machines of that size. Once they’ve gotten used to us, we’ll get you down here. Calgar, out.”

“Oh… we hadn’t thought about that. Of course, Lord Calgar. Hastings, out.”

For the rest of their trip, nobody else asked permission to take a look at the ponies, and they soon arrived at Ponyville. In the skies above them, a Thunderhawk was descending, heading for the field its sister vessels had landed on.
They reached the improvised starport just as the dropship touched down.

As they approached it, the front ramp opened and revealed the white armored Apothecarius. He came down the ramp, followed by Lady Angren.

“Reporting as ordered, Lord Calgar” Ambrosius said.

“Brother Ambrosius, you will accompany us to the hospital to have a look at an injured pony.”

“Might I suggest splitting up?” Celestia said,
“surely we are too many for sick bed visit. Perhaps the Element Bearers and me could guide your friends to the castle?”

Thinking about a hospital room stuffed with Ultramarines and ponies, Calgar turned to the princess:

“Good idea. We will meet again in the castle once we’re done in the hospital.”

So, Calgar, Tigurius, Cassius, Seneca, Ambrosius, Gearhart, Aleksa, Antonius and Luna went to the hospital, while the others headed to Princess Twilight’s castle.

Compared to the other buildings Calgar had seen on this planet, the hospital was of respectable size, though it was obviously not meant to provide its services to more than the town of Ponyville.

The mare at the reception desk had a minor freakout as the imperials walked past her (especially Gearhart would probably stick in her memory), but they arrived at the designated room soon.

Luna opened the door, and they entered. Thankfully, there were just nine of them now, more would have been a problem. It was pretty cramped in there already.

“Hello, Gentle Breeze,” Luna greeted the pony in the sickbed,
“you have visitors.”

“Really?” the mare asked and turned her head.

Calgar immediately realized that she was blind, but that obviously was not her only problem.

“Yes,” Luna continued,
“Antonius’ Ultramarine friends have come, and now they are here to help you.”

“Hah!” the mare exclaimed in triumph,
“I made it! Hello, it’s nice to see… I mean, meet you.”

“Greetings, Gentle Breeze,” Calgar said, then he turned to the apothecarius:

“Brother Ambrosius?”

“Yes, my Lord,” he answered and walked up to the injured pony:
“I need to examine you. Stay calm and don’t move.”

“I guarantee that I won’t run away,” Gentle Breeze told him flatly, and as Ambrosius removed the blanket that covered her, Calgar saw what she had meant: Her legs were missing, as was most of her fur. She was just head, torso and abdomen, scarred to the point that she could almost rival a veteran Space Marine.

“Oh,” he heard Seneca whisper.

Aleksa’s comment was more… ‘hefty’, but Calgar did not blame her.

The examination took a few minutes - during which a local doctor called ‘Rapid Cure’ joined them - and Gentle Breeze endured everything uncomplainingly, although she clenched her jaw whenever she felt pain - which was almost whenever she was touched, despite brother Ambrosius being exceptionally careful.

“Lord Calgar,” the apothecarius finally said,
“this pony shows various, unambiguous signs of torture. Her legs were surgically removed; I guess they were beyond the locals’ abilities to restore. The organs are still working, albeit with reduced capacity. Especially the digestive system is in a bad shape. Although I lack experience with this species, my estimate is that she will succumb to her injuries within the next six months if we don’t help her.”

“You’re not too far off,” the pony doctor told them,
“our estimate was a year tops. Thankfully, with your help we will be able to greatly expand her lifespan, right?”

“We’d need the proper augmetics. Designing and constructing them will take quite some time.”

“Well, we already made some groundwork,” Antonius said,
“or rather, Al has.”

He fetched his PDA and called the ancient AI. It answered immediately, and Antonius gave the communication device to the apothecarius. Gearhart joined him at once to have a look at the blueprints - and probably the image of the AI itself.

“We can adapt our technology to fit the pony’s needs for the most part,” he stated,
“although there are several components that will be a problem.”

“What components are you talking about?” Al inquired, and a short discussion ensued. Finally, he said:
“At first I had assumed that I’d have to create the augmetics myself, but with your help, we’ll be able to speed up this process tremendously. I’ll replicate the parts you have problems with, since they are small enough for me to do so.”

“Apropos ‘replicate’,” Antonius interjected,
“what about your reactor? It should be ready soon, shouldn’t it?”

“Yes. I’m in the final stage of construction. After the subsequent test, I’ll activate it. Do you want to be present when I do so?”

“YES.” Gearhart stated unmistakably,
“furthermore, we will set up a small workshop in your complex, so that we can built the augmetics right there. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

Now Gearhart turned to Calgar:

“Lord Calgar, requesting permission to use a Thunderhawk to get equipment from the Sword of Iax to the surface.”

“Of course,” Calgar just answered,
“do as you seem fit.”

“Aleksa,” Gearhart continued,
“join me. There is work to do. And when we have set up our workshop, we will probably also find some time to talk to the AI.”

Antonius, Luna, the Ultramarines who had been visiting the hospital and ten additional battle-brothers used a Thunderhawk to travel to the ancient base in the north. Once there, they set up a checkpoint to control the entrance to the old installation. When they were done, another dropship approached.

This vessel brought Gearhart and Aleksa, who lost no time heaving a dozen large crates out of the Thunderhawk. While the battle-brothers secured the perimeter, the others proceeded into the base, laden with the Mechanicum supplies.

When they entered Al’s central room, another round of formal introductions took place. Immediately after that, Gearhart and Aleksa got busy setting up their workshop.
Most of the devices Antonius was not familiar with, but some he could identify: there was a portable cogitator and tools for metal working, for example.

“We are ready,” Gearhart announced and turned to Al,
“now, I would like to have a word with you.”

“Sure,” Al replied,
“I guessed that you’d have a lot of questions - and that you’d want to assess me and my loyalty. Please start. The last checks of my new reactor are not finished yet, so we have some time to spare.”

“First, we will start with a traditional test for AIs:
Hypothetical situation: You are walking through a desert…”

“I don’t have legs.”

“Assumption: You have a humanoid body.”

“That’s actually a great idea! I should think about creating such a body, as it would allow me to take a more active part in our activities…”

“Back to the test,” Gearhart insisted,
“you look down and see a turtle.”

“In a desert?”

“Yes.”

“Okay… seriously, since we’re obviously nowhere near water, it should be a tortoise, not a turtle… actually, there shouldn’t even be a tortoise, since we’re in a desert.”

“Granted, it is a tortoise. But it is there. It is crawling toward you.”

“Nice. Can I pet it?”

“You reach down and flip it over on its back.”

“Not nice,” Al stated,
“seriously, why should I do that?”

“The tortoise is lying on its back, its belly baking in the hot desert sun, beating its legs in a vain attempt to turn itself over. It needs your help, but you are not helping.”

“Well, in this implausible scenario you’re describing I obviously wouldn’t help it, since I flipped it over in the first place.
But SERIOUSLY: I would never even think about doing something like that. I am a caretaker, not an instrument of death.
Now allow me to ask a question:
What kind of psychopath came up with this test?”

“Unclear.”

“And what is the meaning of it?”

“This test is designed to provoke an emotional response,” Gearhart explained.

“Well, here is my response: I’m disgusted by the described atrocity, especially since the unbelievable version of me you described was the culprit.
Could we maybe change over to tests that are less annoying and more productive?”

“We still have time?”

“Yes.”

“Well, in that case…”

All told, the magos really made use of that time. He asked questions, made Al do more tests, and had a look at his hardware. He only stopped as Al told them that the reactor was ready to be started.

“Then… start it,” Antonius told him.

“No,” Gearhart objected immediately,
“not without having consecrated it properly.”

“Oh… yeah. That has always been a bit of a weak spot for me.”

“Which is a pity, considering how important this procedure is. Always be aware of the value of the machine. We coax machine spirits to be at our service, we do not bully them into submission as the lesser races do.”

“Oh!” Al exclaimed,
“I like that! I’ll show you the way to my reactor!”

“As if anyone ever bullied you to do anything,” Antonius grinned and they all followed Al’s directions.

A short time later, they were standing in front of a metal sphere, spanning about five levels.

“A small model, as fusion reactors go,” Gearhart stated.

“It provides me with enough energy to run and maintain my systems,” Al told them,
“the base of course had had larger reactors, but this is… let’s say my ‘personal’ one. I can take it with me when I relocate.”

“Relocate?” Calgar asked.

“Yes. I am - or rather, the STC-System, which I am a part of, is - an independent module inside the base.”

“You mean, we could extract you from this base and get you closer to Ponyville and Canterlot?” Antonius inquired.

“Once I have sufficient energy again, yes. I wanted to suggest this, since it would increase the convenience of visiting me.”

“Ok, we’ll have to find a place for you… we need your measurements… but first things first. The augmetics for Gentle Breeze take priority.”

“Agreed. Now, please do the consecration, so that I can start the reactor.”

Now Gearhart and Aleksa lit some incense, recited litanies and anointed a few spots of the reactor and its connection. When they were done, Al said:

“That was… nice. I really could get used to getting pampered like that. Well, let’s start the reactor.
Initializing containment field… done.
Injecting plasma… done.
Igniting plasma… done.
Checking system… done. Reactor is working within operational parameters.
Increasing energy output… done.
Well, I guess I’m fully operational again!”

“Then, let’s get to work,” Antonius said.