Aristocrats, Bureaucrats and Other Criminals

Chapters

Anthropomorphism
No place for a hero to call home
Blood diamond
Broken world
Planetfall
Child of the Omnissiah
Strange friends
The Empress’ finest
Tactical ‘genius’
Imperial revision
Flying safety hazard

Anthropomorphism

The family archive was one of Twilight’s favourite places to be. The cold, dry shelves contained almost everything her family had been able to collect and record over the many years the family had served the Imperium. Compared to other archives found within The Capitol, it was unremarkable, but it was one of the few places she could work in quiet…

“Hey Twilight, we’ve been here all day. When are we going to do something else?”

…For the most part at least.

Twilight sighed. She made a note of where she had got to and made her way over to where Spike was busy sorting the highest shelf. The servo skull was not unusual in the fact it was a floating skull with spindly augmented arms. Such devices filled the skies wherever the Imperium went. Rather, he was unusual in two ways. First was that his skull was that of a dragon, a creature that was, as far as any records showed, nothing but a myth. Secondly, he could talk.

“Stupid old books.”

Sometimes a bit too much. It had taken a fair amount of reassurance and quite a bit more monetary compensation to convince the local Mechanicus not to have him branded as tech-heresy.

“This could all be stored on my memory drive, but no, we have to use stupid heavy books. ‘High risk of warp-based data corruption’ doesn’t even make any sense, I’m still fine. They’re not the one who has to carry this stuff!” Spike continued muttering to himself, completely ignorant that he was interrupting Twilight’s internal thoughts.

“Is everything alright Spike?”

“Gah!” Spike suddenly realised he was being watched. In his surprise, one of the books he was carrying slipped from his grip. Thankfully, before it could hit the ground Twilight caught it in her telekinetic grip.

“Careful Spike, some of these are one-of-a-kind documents!” Twilight lifted the book back up.

Spike glanced at the title of the obnoxiously heavy tome. “They certainly don’t look like anything important. What are we going to do with tithe reports from... Birmingham? Where even is that?” a small speaker in the skull produced a heavily synthesised voice. It sounded surprisingly emotive for what was supposed to be an emotionless machine, and its pitch sounded strangely young.

“I’m sorry, but this is important work. Somepony needs to search through these records, otherwise even more of our history could be lost. Just think of how grateful future Administratum Adepts will be after all this information is properly categorised.”

“If it isn’t tithe reports it’s just another historical record from some old Ecclesiarch, just worded slightly different… how can they possibly be important?”

“Spike, be nice. I’m sure we’ll find something more interesting soon.”

“Unlikely, we’re in the historical section,”

“But there’s so many interesting aspects of history,” Twilight said, picking up a random book. “We could look at the founding of the Primarchs, or what about the history of the Manehattan station. Or if you really want something different, we could even sort through the notes of Starswirl’s psyker disciplines, there’s always something interesting hiding in those!” she added excitedly.

“Attempting to find enthusiasm… Attempt failed.” Spike voice imitated an automated response.

“You’re doing that on purpose,” Twilight grumbled.

“Perhaps,” Spike playfully skimmed over Twilights head.

“What do you think we should do then?”

“Well according to my clock, you have spent 78.5% of the last week studying pre-Empress history. I hear sleeping is quite important for biological creatures. You should just send what you’ve already found and wait to see what the family estate says. Maybe they’ll find somewhere that has records of something other than vague historical summaries.”

“But we haven’t even started to look into the main librarium. Once we get in there we’ve got to find something interesting.” She cantered over to a pile of scrolls and quickly stacked them into neat piles. “I don’t know how anypony could sleep with so much unsorted information. If we don’t do this, it could be lost forever. Or worse, it could be stored inaccurately!”

Spike landed on her head and gave what some could describe as a comforting beep. “The Imperium’s been around since… well I guess that’s what we were trying to work out. But it’s been around as long as anypony can remember. I think you can take a day off.”

Twilight steadied herself, took a deep breath and patted the skull, “But what if I’m missing something? Maybe I could try…” she interrupted herself with a yawn. “Ok, I get it, thanks Spike. Let’s take this one step at a time. Send a message to the family estate with what we have found so far.”

“You got it!” Spike scanned the notes Twilight had put ready.

+++ Processing… Message sent +++

“There! Now we can finish off.”

“I guess…” Twilight sounded disappointed. “We still need to clear up first though.”

Spike left to grab a late-night snack for Twilight while she placed the scattered books and parchments back into the shelves. He eventually returned with a tray of fresh grass, which Twilight idly grazed on while she worked.

Before Twilight could finish her food, she was interrupted by a chime coming from Spike. His auto-quill began writing a message onto a scroll of parchment mounted to where the jaw of his skull used to be.

“Ugh, never stops feeling weird,” Spike shivered

“They got back to us already? See, I told you it was important!” Twilight grabbed the paper before it had even finished being written.

“Hey watch it! You’ll mess up my auto-quill.”

“Apparently some artefacts have been found on the surface of Everfree that are rumoured to be from the Age of Primarchs.” Twilight excitedly trotted on the spot.

Spike looked up to see Twilight already eagerly packing her saddlebags. “Wait, that doesn’t mean you get to skip out on sleeping!”

“I can sleep later, research waits for nopony.”

“How are you going to get there? You don’t own a ship, or even know anypony who could help. We can talk to somepony in the morning.”

“I’ll go ask mum and dad, with all their contacts they should know somepony!”

“In the morning,” Spike repeated, “They’re probably asleep now anyway.”

“Fine... Could I at least prepare some- Hey!” Spike had grabbed her by the tail and was pulling her towards the door.

“Bed, now,”

“My research…”

“Will be here tomorrow,” Spike finished. “I have a battery, I can recharge whenever I want, you can’t.”

“That might not be such a bad idea.”

“Merciful Empress…”

The bright morning light filled the room. A cool breeze and the sound of birdsong drifted through an open window. Outside the family servants and Administratum acolytes ran though the courtyard.

The peaceful ambience was interrupted by Twilight as she rushed into the room excitedly holding a piece of parchment, “Spike grab my saddlebags, we’re going to Everfree!”

“…You didn’t get any sleep last night, did you?” Spike would have looked unamused if he had been capable of making facial expressions.

“Mum told me they know a Rogue Trader who’s based near there at the moment. They’re at the capitol now and we can travel with them,” Twilight continued. “We’ll meet them at the western spaceport and they’ll take us straight there!” She grabbed as many books as she could fit in her saddlebag, as well as her divination equipment. “I think that is everything I need.”

Spike briefly inspected the bag, “Did you pack any clothes?”

“Um.”

“Underwear, toothbrush? Whatever else living things need to, uh, live I guess,” Spike took some clothes out from the dresser and laid them out. “Why do I have to know all this living stuff. I mean I am literally a floating skull. I don’t even need sleep, and apparently I get more than you,” Spike muttered to himself as he began to repack Twilight’s bag.

“Hey, I did get some sleep!”

“More than a few hours?”

“…just about.” Twilight smiled sheepishly. “But imagine, we get to do some proper archaeology, doesn’t that sound exciting?”

Suddenly the outside was plunged into darkness and everything went silent.

“See, I knew something important was about to happen!” Twilight quickly scrambled to her hooves and rushed to the window.

The ponies outside had stopped what they were doing and waited. Some others had come out with hastily lit candles to see what was happening.

“The courtyard lumen broke again,” a voice from outside called out.

“Well don’t just stand there! Go grab a tech-priest,” another replied.

Twilight turned from the window and sullenly walked back to her desk. “Oh, yeah. I forgot that can happen.”

Before long a team of heavily augmented pegasi flew up to the ceiling, recited some psalms and changed the lumen with a new one. With a quick kick to a speaker hidden under bush the peaceful morning ambience returned.

In the time it had taken for the light to be fixed Spike had repacked the bag. He passed it over to Twilight and secured it onto her back.

“You know since we’re going to a planet, we might get to see some real animals.” Spike said.

“Hopefully only from a distance, they could be dangerous.”

Twilight took a last look in the mirror before she left. With a grimace she realised her blindfold had fallen off. Two unnatural black voids stared back. They remained pitch-black no matter how bright a light was shone on them. In some ways she was glad nopony could see what they actually looked like.

She was a psyker, one of the rare few who were capable of harnessing the chaotic maelstrom of the warp itself. Most ponies could siphon the ambient energy of the world for various mundane tasks. It allowed those with wings to fly, and horns to manipulate objects with telekinetic force. Only psykers, however, could fully tap into the powers of the warp itself.

Like many other psykers in the Imperium, she had stood before the Empress. The surge of psychic power had scarred her body and soul, leaving her blind. Over time most of her injuries had healed. Now only a blindfold covered her empty eye sockets. Despite that, her warp powers allowed her to see just as well as any normal pony, often even more.

She shivered uncomfortably and hastily put her blindfold back on.

Spike picked up the piece of parchment Twilight had brought in. “Oh there’s a message in the family cypher, that's strange.”

“How did I miss that? What does it say?”

“It says it’s an excerpt from a document that was recovered from the area.”

“Go on, read it out!” Twilight was bursting with anticipation.

Spike pretended to clear his (non-existent) throat.

“Long ago, when the Empress first lead the mighty crusade into the void beyond, she did not do so alone. Many generals served alongside Her, leading the forces of the Imperium across the void. Foremost amongst them were the Primarchs, the daughters of the Empress, each blessed with unfathomable power and skill. One alone was different.

Nightmare Moon, conquer of a thousand worlds, queen of the Realm of Umbra. Only she would ever be referred to as sister.

For over a millennium she has sequestered herself away in a place long forgotten. She waits for the time the Imperium needs her most. For when she returns, she will bring only death, destruction and eternal night to all that oppose her.”

Spike looked back to Twilight expectantly.

“Does that… Does that mean Nightmare Moon has been found? The Imperium is saved!”

No place for a hero to call home

Twilight made her way out of the family archive with her book-laden saddlebags. Spike dutifully hovered alongside her, carrying all the actual necessities.

They made their way through the busy streets as the artificial sun reached its peak. The gigantic structure had been created many millennia ago, back when the station was still a military vessel as a display of the Empress’s power. The technology used to create it had long since been forgotten. Now, the mechanisms were lovingly maintained by a group of tech-priests under patronage of the Empress herself.

The family archive was part of a complex of buildings that made up the house of Stars estate. Her own ancestors had been tithe collectors, given a contract many centuries ago, and passed down through the generations. As long as they continued their work, the Administratum saw no reason to interfere. The Stars were not one of the mighty old Terran houses, they barely counted as nobility by the standards of The Capitol, though their position still gave them a few… unique privileges.

If Twilight wanted to be pedantic, which she often did, none of the Terran houses could reliably trace their ancestry back to Terra anyway. Though given the extreme circumstances of their exile from the Old Galaxy, it wasn’t exactly a surprise.

The streets were packed with ponies of all types, pilgrims, adepts and servitors, though most gave Twilight a wide berth.

She reached the station and was directed to a train waiting on the platform. The train was over twenty meters tall, towering over much of the surroundings. It was mostly filled with cargo, but some sections had space for passengers.

Giving her home one last look she boarded the train bound for the western spaceport.

Twilight found a quiet cabin and sat by the window. The station was as busy as ever, with paper, ponies and priests travelling in all directions. She watched as a crate with her family’s seal was unloaded and sent back to the estate, no doubt full of tythe reports to be reviewed, filed, and in the case of non-compliance, enforced.

“Do you think we’ll really find Nightmare Moon?” Spike blurted out after dumping his luggage in the corner of the cabin.

“Shh! Spike, if somepony hears us we could have the entire sector following us.” Twilight quickly cast a low-grade sound dampening ward. “That should keep most things out, but we should still be careful.”

“How long are we going to be there? I don’t want to be stuck on some planet for ages.”

“Sorry, this is going to be a big project. We need to get there, survey the area for places of interest, plan the expeditions, then investigate anything they bring back. It’s going to take at least a few months.” Twilight smiled reassuringly.

“Do we at least get to do some exploring ourselves?”

“That’s far too dangerous, and I’m not certified.”

Spike looked glumly at the floor.

“I’ll see if I can find a day we can do something, but we should probably keep to ourselves. We’re not archaeologists.”

Spike poked the edge of the ward to test it, creating a ripple across its surface. “Do you really think she’s there, though?”

“Honestly, I don’t think it would be statistically likely. Although, even if we just find some old relics, it is still one step closer to finding her.”

“Wasn’t there that thing a few thousand years ago? You know, everypony thought she would return on the thousand year anniversary of her disappearance. It’s nearly the five thousand year anniversary. Do you think they just mixed up the numbers?”

“She should have! An entire sector was cut off because of the warp storms back then, there must have been a reason. Something was wrong.”

“Isn’t that normal for Nightmare’s realm? They have those ‘lightless’ stars and ponies who look like they’re made of crystal. I mean the Imperial governor for the subsector even calls himself ‘The King of Shadows’, and has apparently been ruling it since Nightmare first disappeared. I don’t think that counts as normal.”

“Something beyond that. What if I miss some crucial piece of evidence?”

“Hey, all I’m saying is if you have to investigate every odd thing you read in a book once, we’re going to be here forever.”

“Spike, we still need to be diligent.”

The train rumbled as it began to pull away. It weaved its way through tight passageways of worn hab-crete and plasteel. Open space was a luxury on the station after all. Soon the uniform towers of the Administratum gave way to vast artificial maintenance caves. For a time the train ran inside a cavernous water pipe, one of thousands that provide water to the station. Even here, small communities flourished, nestled against the metal banks, trading with the passing ships for goods.

Sometimes the pipe would turn into an aqueduct, overlooking scattered forges on the ground below, all dedicated to producing maintenance parts for the station. Other times the tunnel would pass the base of looming habitation buildings. There was no 'ground level' in the depths of the station. The only constant was that the gravity generators were mostly configured in the same direction.

Twilight saw none of this, however, as she had fallen asleep in the large collection of books she had brought with her. Spike chuckled to himself and went back to watching the world go by.

Eventually the artificial cavern gave way to the almost surreal landscape of open plains and dense forests. The bio-reserve was one of the strangest districts in The Capitol, a piece of Old Equestria itself, painstakingly preserved, and decorated with countless statues and shrines of Primarchs, saints and other important figures.

A light drizzle came down from a thin layer of cloud that sat at the top of the cavern, covering the district in a fine mist, obscuring its full extent. A small stream of ponies still braved the weather, wrapping themselves in long cloaks.

Spike nudged Twilight. “Hey, sleepy head, we’re nearly there.”

“I was just resting my eyes,” Twilight drowsily replied.

Spike laughed “You need to think of a better excuse than that!”

“I guess some sleep was for the best.” Twilight tided the books on the table and joined Spike by the window, “I wonder what the ancient ponies would think of us now?”

“They’d probably just be confused with all the technology. I mean they definitely wouldn’t like me. Remember that research project you did last year? You said they thought skulls and stuff were for evil bad guy stuff!” Spike huffed.

“It’s a good thing we know better now, don’t we?” Twilight smiled and nuzzled Spike.

Blood diamond

With a screech of metal against metal the train pulled into a station at the edge of the bio-reserve. Twilight could make out the docking area behind the station, and just beyond she felt the cold void of space. Only a thin crackling energy field separated the two. She shivered at the feeling before stepping off the train, pulling her hood up to protect herself from the rain, but also to hide her blindfold.

“They said to meet them by the overlook next to the station,” Twilight pointed to the edge of the platform where a small collection of benches and decorations marked the beginning of the long climb down to the docks.

“What would a rogue trader look like anyway?" Spike shielded himself from the rain using the edge of Twilight’s cloak.

“Ornate clothes, might be with a group of equally ornate ponies, probably has a group of guards too. The one we’re looking for is planetborn too, so they should be a bit more… err… stocky. Why, did you see somepony?”

“Nope.”

“I don’t remember that word being part of the official Mechanicus dictionary they taught you?” Twilight smiled.

“I added it myself, currently filed in ‘cool words’.”

A cool breeze blew across the platform. Twilight’s cloak protected her from most of the chill, as she walked to the edge of the station and reared up, resting her forehooves on the railing.

The edge of the station gave an impressive view over the dock. The hustle and bustle was beginning to die down as the day came to a close. The western port was one of the smaller docks on the station, only servicing small inter-system civilian transports, but was still at least two miles from one end to the other.

“I guess we’re early,” said Spike.

“No, according to my schedule they are late.”

“Oh. Do you think that’s their ship?” Spike nodded his head towards one of the smaller transports.

“I don’t think so, it looks like it’s from a local merchant ship to me,” Twilight studied the livery on its side. “The ship we’re looking for is too big to fit in here anyway.”

The two watched in silence as a stream of ponies and machines unloaded its cargo from a newly docked ship. The noise of the train platform slowly dropped as the remaining ponies departed for their destinations until the pair were left in relative silence, the only sound drifting over from the dock.

“That could be the ship. It fits the colour scheme.” Twilight pointed a hoof to a ship floating a small distance out from the docks. The white and gold colours were a stark contrast to the inky black void that surrounded it. “I can’t see the heraldry from this far though.”

“You see awfully well for a blind mare.” A feminine voice and the sound of hooves on metal made Twilight jump. She instinctively clutched her staff and turned to face the sound.

A slender white unicorn wearing an ornate dress approached from the edge of the station. The mare’s purple mane had been carefully styled and she walked with a grace that only somepony wholly used to the artificial gravity could.

Twilight quickly straightened her posture. “Ah… uh… you don’t need to be worried about me. I’m sanctioned.” She held out her staff. It was still raining and the purity seals were dripping with water by this time, thankfully she had had the forethought to waterproof them when she first got them.

The mare studied them for a second before continuing, “I am Duchess-Consort Rarity Belle, vice-captain of the Golden Gryphon, current flagship of the rogue trader house of Blueblood,” she gave a curt bow. “I believe you are in need of passage to Everfree, correct?”

“Oh, you must be the pony my family are working with? I am Twilight Sparkle, pleased to meet you,” she offered a hoof. “I am sorry I didn’t recognise you, I was told the Bluebloods were a planetborn family.”

“He is, I am not. I am his wife, amongst other things,” Rarity reluctantly shook Twilight sodden hoof. She attempted to shake the water off before realising that she would still have to put her hoof back on the equally wet ground.

“Well, I look forward to working with you and your house.” Twilight politely offered.

“Naturally. Now, if you are ready?” Rarity guested towards the docks and started walking.

Twilight quickly trotted to catch up, Spike following behind with the luggage. “I appreciate you letting me travel with you to Everfree. It shouldn't take too long, as I just need to drop down to the planet to catalogue a few things. It shouldn’t take you much of your time," Twilight smiled nervously.

“Where your family is concerned, I can only hope our business is a brief as possible,” Rarity muttered.

“I’m… sorry?”

Rarity sighed. “I did not mean to cause offence. Only, we are very busy at the moment, and I understand you have your own work to do. The sooner this is over, the sooner we can get back to our own work.” It was clear Rarity wasn’t being completely honest, but Twilight didn’t want to press the issue.

They walked the rest of the distance down the steps in silence.

The landing pier was filled with a collection of shuttles, each nearly a hundred meters long, which were being loaded with equally impressively sized crates.

A group of guards, dressed in light blue flack armour worn over navy blue fatigues, stood at the entrance to the pier. The armour was trimmed in gold, though it almost certainly wasn’t real. While most wore shoulder pads with a gryphon, the standard of house Blueblood, some had theirs covered by two black horizontal lines.

“They look more like the Imperial Guard than personal guards to me,” Spike attempted to whisper in Twilight’s ear.

“That’s because we are, silly!” a pink mare bounced out to greet them, apparently unburdened by the equipment she wore. “We’re the Royal Volpone, the noblest regiment in the Imperial Guard!” the mare reared up and bowed dramatically. “Or at least that’s what the captain says.”

Rarity looked unamused. “Lady Twilight, this is Sergeant Pie, one of our many fine soldiers we have as part of the Royal Volpone army.”

“You did say to look out for a spook, and she looks pretty spooky to me! Psyker spooky, not scary spooky,” She stopped for a second to think. “Do you ever wonder why they call you psykers spooks? I mean, you can have those weird mind powers, but that’s not spooky. Maybe the-”

Rarity interrupted Pinkie with a loud cough, giving her an impatient look.

Pinkie laughed awkwardly, “Welcome aboard, hope you enjoy your trip!” she moved out of the way, Rarity rolled her eyes and moved towards the back of the dock.

“Please forgive Sergeant Pie’s comments, she is often a little… overenthusiastic at times. Now, if you could give me a second, I must finish my business here.” Rarity sat herself down by the edge of the pier against one of the crates.

She pulled out a set of papers and started filling them out, though her frown suggested she did not like what she was reading. Twilight shuffled awkwardly, unsure if she should interrupt. Eventually Rarity sighed and put the slate down.

“That’s the emergency resupply form,” Twilight said before Rarity could say anything.

“Excuse me?”

“The form your filling, it’s for emergency resupply in an active warzone. You need form AR4 for normal supplies.”

“I see your family has skills beyond blackmail,” Rarity mused. “I must admit the process is rather confusing. I just picked up a few at random and hoped they would do.”

Ignoring Rarity’s comment, Twilight leafed through the papers, “Let’s see, first you’ll need form AR4/3EF-b, then you need to fill out section 1a to 5f with all necessary details, including a confirmation of your identity. Then in section 6e provide evidence for your need of the equipment. Make sure to include commendation from commissars, if any,” she passed some of the forms to Rarity, then continued without missing a beat. “Are you filling this out on somepony’s behalf?”

“Um, yes?”

“Then you also need to fill out this subsection in 1b-2, as well as provide alternative contact details for the current head of your regiment. Plus, you will need to provide a further set of instructions in case nopony is able to contact you.”

Rarity carefully placed the papers beside her, “We are rather short of thrones at the moment. Is there a way of acquiring supplies without our own personal Administratum division?”

“If your unit is struggling, the Munitorium can provide a sizable stipend,” Twilight offered helpfully. “That would need form… 47117/SKNT. If you can provide sufficient proof, the Munitorium will cover a portion of your expenses to ensure your unit can continue its duty of the eradication of the enemies of humanity.”

“And I suppose if I need more forms, I need to fill in another form?” Rarity said dryly.

“Oh, yes, that’s form D4/001 or if it’s urgent for-”

Rarity held her up her hoof, “I think I get the idea, thank you. No need to go through it here,” Rarity looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else.

I can get Spi-,” Spike shook his head vigorously. “Um, have them printed by one of your auto-scribes.” Twilight smiled awkwardly.

“Thank you, that would be wonderful.” Rarity took a newly printed form and quickly filled it out before passing it to a dockworker to process. “So, if you are ready, we can get going.” She walked to the nearest ship, gesturing for Twilight to follow.

Broken world

Twilight, Spike and Rarity headed to a nearby Alicorn lander, named as the wings had been made to look like a blocky version of an alicorn’s wings. Occasionally they would be dedicated to a specific alicorn as a sign of devotion to a particular saint. This one, however, had no such markings and looked relatively new from what Twilight could tell. She ducked her head as she entered. The interior was a little cramped, but could still comfortably seat six or so ponies. Rarity said something to the pilot, then the lander took off.

Outside Twilight watched as they approached the brilliant white ship she had seen earlier. Now she was closer she realised it looked like a giant piece of marble, trimmed in gold. The flanks of the ship were covered in ornate statues and tall stained-glass windows. Much like the soldiers’ armour, Twilight didn’t think it was genuine. If a rogue trader could afford genuine material he certainly wouldn’t be working with her family.

At eight kilometres from prow to keel and nearly one kilometre abeam it was still dwarfed by the size of The Capitol.

“Too large to be a cruiser, smaller than a battleship, but the configuration is all wrong for a battlecruiser,” Twilight mused to herself.

“It is my honour to introduce you to the Golden Gryphon, one of the few grand cruiser class ships in service in the whole Imperium.” Rarity declared proudly. A slight edge of smugness crept in when she noticed Twilight’s surprise. “Impressive, isn’t it? I was absolutely stunned when I first saw it.”

“But most of the technology needed to make them was lost before the fall of the Old Galaxy. Only a few docks in the whole Imperium can still build them!”

“Well yes, few have been built recently. This one, however, was restored from an old space hulk. Built before the fall of Old Galaxy, if you believe the rumours.”

“Before the fall?” Twilight went wide eyed. “There might be actual documents from the Old Galaxy, we might be able to learn about what happened!”

“I wouldn’t know, I only arrived on its decks recently. If I was to guess it would have already been taken while it was being refurbished. If you must, you can try asking my husband when you meet him.”

“Oh…”

“Regardless of some stuffy history, even if it only has a fraction of its former grandeur, it is still magnitudes better than any planet I have ever seen.”

Twilight thought for a second, “You’re a Voidborn?

“I suppose I am.” Rarity seemed caught off guard by the question. “Given you are from The Capitol I guess you are too? Something we have in common, at least,” her tone lost some of its hostility. She looked out to the molten surface of Old Equestria, “Personally I find it hard to believe the Empress intended for us to roam anything like those balls of filth and disease. What world could be more suited to us than one created by ourselves, after all?”

“I remember meeting a Magos Biologis who theorised that our natural habitat used to be open fields, like in those old legends,” Twilight explained.

“Did they now?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Did we spend our time frolicking in fields eating nothing but grass too?” she flicked her tail in annoyance. “Honestly, sometimes it feels like they think we are nothing more than over-intelligent animals. Unless they want to start treating us like normal ponies, I wouldn’t put much weight into anything they say.”

“I thought it was an interesting theory…”

“I suppose it is. Not that it makes any difference now, though.”

The amount of starting and stopping was beginning to annoy Twilight. By the time she had got comfortable it was time to move again. Rarity led the pair from the landing bay, through a series of lifts and winding corridors. A final lift ride led them into a grand atrium. To Twilight’s surprise she saw an ornate, landscaped garden.

It was lush and well maintained, filled with an impressive variety of flora, with a small stream winding its way through the artificial landscape. Although Twilight noted it only contained species native to Terra, which gave it a familiar, if unexciting quality. Various ponies were milling about, from gardeners tending the plants, to priests and naval officers.

Rarity noticed Twilight’s attention wonder, “Our gardens are simply beautiful, aren’t they? As you are our guest on our humble little ship, please do feel free to visit whilst we travel,” she said almost too sincerely, pointing to a copse of oak trees. “It certainly takes the edge off the endless metal corridors.”

It was impressively spacious for the interior of a ship, with tall, vaulted ceilings. Twilight suspected that the grandeur of the garden was intended to distract ponies from the distinct lack of any other authentic decoration anywhere else. It seemed nopony had had much of an opportunity to redecorate since the ship had been cleansed.

Twilight had just enough time to contemplate how much of a hassle it must be to travel from one end of the ship to the other before they arrived at a pair of guards flanking a large metal door. Unlike the other guards she had seen, these ponies wore thick carapace armour. The trim of their armour was also far more detailed, with elaborate floral patterns rather than the simple gold trim. Both held powerful hot-shot lasguns, easily capable of penetrating space mareine power armour. Personal protection was not something to be stringent with after all. One briefly glanced at Rarity through their helmet as she approached, then gestured them inside with a wing.

Like the rest of the ship the bridge was mostly sparse. The only decorations were some old weapon racks and a few sun-bleached tapestries. A large angular window at the opposite end of the room provided a panoramic view into the void. Cogitators and pict-screens lined the remaining walls, displaying a wealth of information Twilight couldn’t understand.

“Where is everypony?”

“While we’re in friendly territory the captain prefers to work alone, says it’s ‘more authentic’.” Rarity pulled a small vox set from the side of one of the cogitators, “Plus the rest of the crew are a vox call away, so it’s not like it makes much of a difference.”

Rarity turned towards a small corner of the bridge to an area separated by some thin sheets of metal. It had clearly been added as an afterthought, as it cut into what would have been a symmetrical room. They passed through a set of heavy curtains into what appeared to be a makeshift lounge. Most of the metal floor had been covered with fine carpets. Similarly, the walls had been decorated by tapestries similar to the ones on the main bridge. A set of fine sofas with matching tables were positioned in the centre, giving the room a homely feel.

There was a shelf of trinkets and other oddities in the corner, though none seemed to have much value beyond their sentimentality, all from some planet Twilight didn’t recognise. A shoulder pad from the Crystal Angels space Mareine chapter stuck out from the collection. Twilight thought she recognised something about the armour but couldn’t quite place her hoof on it.

“Don’t you have a separate room? This ship looks big enough,” Twilight said.

“Quieter too,” Spike added.

“It was already here when the captain first acquired it, one of this ship’s many quirks, as it turns out. We simply haven’t got around to moving anything yet, although I did take the liberty of doing some redecoration myself. It’s quite the improvement don’t you think? Plus, we have a set of stummers to dampen the sound when we sleep.”

Rarity led them through a second curtained archway into a combination of a bedroom and a study, equally lavish as the previous room. A unicorn stallion with a coat just as white as Rarity’s and a golden blond mane lay asleep on a drawing table, surrounded by various pieces of paper and data-slates. A servo skull hovered nearby, printing out a stream of paper that was slowly burying him in a stream of unread information.

Rarity rolled her eyes and coughed loudly. The stallion made an undignified sound and bolted upright.

“Ah, good, you’re back. I had just had a quick break,” he looked over to Twilight, “And you have found an Astropath, excellent. Perhaps we can finally get going after all,” The unicorn untangled himself from the mess of paper, then held out an augmented forehoof. “I am Prince-Lord-Captain Prince Blueblood. Yes, my name is Prince, it is a family tradition, you see. I am the sixth of my name. It just so happened I was able to gain a title to match!” He grinned widely as he bowed his head. “Rogue trader and professional explorer! It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“I’m afraid she is only coming with us to Everfree,” Rarity called from the bedside. “Part of some arrangement you have with the Stars I’m told.”

Blueblood face dropped at the name. “Ah… the Stars, of course, how could I forget? You always know the best times to arrive.” He hurriedly searched through the pile of paper and eventually pulled out an ornate data-slate, evidently his personal device, if the ostentatious B on the back was any indication. He quickly skimmed through, “Ah, so you are Lady Twilight. Now let’s see… Transportation and protection… Important archaeological work… on pain of what? Well that’s awfully descriptive,” he muttered to himself. “Your family can certainly make a convincing argument. You shan’t find yourself wanting on my ship, I assure you.”

“Thank you, I shouldn’t take much of your time.” Twilight gave a small curtsy.

“Now I wonder what type of artefact would get one of the Stars so exited?” Blueblood mused.

“Oh, it’s nothing much really, just rumours of some old archives. A little personal project of mine.”

“Ah well, that is a shame, I was hoping for a fun little escapade,” he lent in closer. “Particularly if your family happened to be funding it. It seems nopony quite shares my sense of adventure,” Blueblood lamented. “Why, I would have thought anypony would be chomping at the bit to explore the great beyond.”

“Well I imagine if the world was full of fillies with dreams of adventure and bourgeoisie romance you would have an entire company of space Mareines at your command. As it stands, you’ll just have me,” Rarity sighed.

“Perhaps we could get you some Mareine armour then we would have the best of both worlds?” he gave her a playful nip on the ear. “But enough of this, were you able to secure any Astropaths?”

“For some unknown reason, one of the few groups of nobles with ties to the Telipathica seems to dislike us a great deal,” Rarity said in a knowing voice. “They are doing everything in their power to hinder our requests.”

“Are they still? I would have thought they would have found some new target by now, it has been long enough,” Blueblood grumbled.

“It was only eight months ago.”

“I could have sworn it were longer.”

“Wait… are you talking about the gala where that guy-”

“Spike!” Twilight quickly interrupted. “He can be a bit over curious sometimes. Rest assured, our family understands that what happened at the gala was a terrible misunderstanding.”

“I assure you I understood the nature of that situation quite well enough.” Blueblood forcefully stamped his hoof.

Rarity shot Blueblood a pointed glare before turning back to Spike, “You certainly are a strange creature.”

Twilight pulled Spike closer. “He has been approved by the local Magi, any accusation of tech-heresy must be sent to the family representative before they are assessed.”

“Darling, I am merely observing your rather unique… assistant would it be? I have seen many strange pieces of technology over my travels, though rarely anything that is so talkative.”

“Oh, were you a trader before you came here?”

“Of sorts,” Rarity smiled innocently.

“Nonetheless, we have more pressing issues for now.” Blueblood exited the makeshift bedroom, holding the curtain open for Twilight. “For the time being, please make yourself comfortable in our lounge. I will have one of the adjacent rooms cleared for you to stay in before we enter warpspace.”

The bridge was left in relative silence as the ship began to undock from the station. Only the beeping from the cogitator, and the faint sound of machinery, could be heard over the background humming of electronics.

Twilight found a seat near a large window, giving her a good view of her home station. The Great Docklands could be seen in the distance. Hundreds of ships, both military and merchant, were docked on piers that could have been cities in their own right if they had not been part of The Capitol already. Almost everything went through the Docklands. Only those with the right knowledge and connections could use the auxiliary ports.

In stark contrast below was the barren surface of Old Equestria, covered in a mix of grey ash and snow. The dim light of their home star did little to warm its surface. In recent years the planets crust had become increasingly unstable, creating large cracks filled with glowing lava that criss-crossed the surface.

Spike put his metal claw to the glass. “Why don’t we look for you know who on Old Equestria? If that’s where she and the Empress first rediscovered the surviving ponies, surely there’s got to be something there.”

“I doubt it, anything significant was evacuated long before the planet became unstable. The only thing left there is some old ruins from the various civilisations that existed before the Empress. Besides they use the minerals from the unstable tectonics to fuel the forge-temples in The Capitol, so at least it has some use!”

Planetfall

“Throne, that doesn’t look good.” Rainbow’s voice was barely audible over the static. “I’m going to need a bit of help here.”

“On my way,” Rarity unfastened herself from her harness and dusted herself off. “Please excuse me for a moment. Once I have delt with the Sergeant, we can discuss our next steps.” Rarity attempted to remain professional.

“Bring a med-kit too.”

Rarity sighed and pulled out a box from under one of the seats. She wordlessly exited the lander leaving Twilight to her thoughts.

She undid her own harness and dropped her forelegs to the floor. Before she could collect herself, she felt something roll up against her hoof. She looked down and froze. Spike was powered off on the floor. Twilight blood went cold as she picked him up with shaking forehooves, and inspected him for damage.

A small red lumen steadily flicked on and off. “Ok, he’s in standby mode. Just check the system,” Twilight reassured herself. “Don’t worry Spike, I’ll get you back on as soon as possible.”

Twilight carefully held Spike as she keyed a series of inputs into some small runes set into the roof of his mouth. Technically they were supposed to be unusable to a laypony’s hoof, but her telekinesis worked in a pinch. She held the runes down and waited.

When she was a filly, she had been determined to learn at least the basics of Spike’s maintenance. Despite the Mechanicus reputation for guarding the secrets of the machine closely, childhood curiosity had won out. After a small ‘donation’, one of the tech-priests her family employed begrudgingly taught her some of the basic maintenance litanies.

Finally, a soft chime played and a small slip of paper started printing from the underside of Spike’s mouth. Twilight waited for it to finish before reading.

+++

+++WARNING: TAMPERING WITH THE HOLY MACHINE WITHOUT AUTHORISATION IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH+++

ACQUIRING SYSTEM DIAGNOSTICS…

CORE… OK

NEURAL TISSUE… HEALTHY

MEMORY… OK

POWER… FAIL

WARNING: CURRENT PERSONALITY MATRIX UNLOADED DUE TO LOSS OF POWER

LOCATING RESTORE POINT…

LOCATED [12] PERSONALLITY RESTORE PROFILE(S). LAST BACKUP… 326 SECOND(S) AGO

ASSESSING STABILITY…

ID… INGRAINED

EGO… DEVELOPING

SUPER-EGO… ENFORCED

PROFILE SUITABLE FOR RESTORATION TO APPROPRIATE VESSEL

SUSPENDING FURTHER DIAGNOSTICS. PROVIDE POWER FOR FULL ANALYSIS

RETURNING TO POWER SAVING OPERATIONS

PRESS ANY RUNE TO FINISH

+++

“That’s good… I think. Just need to find a tech-priest,” Twilight took a deep breath. “I’m good, Spike’s ok, everything will be fine.”

“Twilight darling, could you do me a favour?” Rarity shouted from outside. “We are going to be here for a bit longer while I deal with Sergeant Dash.

Twilight carefully put Spike back down on a nearby seat. “Of course, what is it?”

“Check the ship’s vox. It might be damaged, but if you can transmit something it would save us quite a bit of effort.”

“I… I think I can do that.” She flicked a switch and the vox came to life with a burst of static. Twilight settled down next to it, Spike laying close by.

Nearly half an hour had passed since they had landed on Everfree and Twilight hadn’t even left the lander. She watched the dial as the long range vox communicator scanned through the various wavelengths hoping for something to come through. A bright spark from the side of the machine suggested to her it was probably a futile effort.

The sound of static was starting to grate on Twilight’s ears.

The lander’s climate control had been another unfortunate casualty and now only blew lukewarm air around the inside compartment, though as the outside was scoldingly hot, it was still an improvement.

Outside Rarity was tending to an unpleasant gash along the side of Rainbow’s barrel. The landing may have been smoother than expected, but the front of the lander had taken the brunt of the damage and a branch had smashed through the cockpit glass, injuring the pilot.

“Hey I’m getting nervous sitting around here. Whoever shot us down will probably send somepony to look for us,” Rainbow’s voice drifted from outside. She sounded quite well, given the circumstances.

There was a series of frustrated grunts and shuffling. “Will you hold still? This is delicate work.” Rarity did her best to keep the needle still.

“I’ve been to the medicae loads of times and I don’t remember the stitches looking like that.”

“I’m sure my hoofwork will be far sturdier than whatever crude stitching the medicae normally does,” assured Rarity.

“At least they don’t make me feel like I’m some kind of embroidered dress!”

Twilight watched the spectacle from the safety of the interior. The outside was very different to what she had expected. Compared to the sterile recycled air of the station the atmosphere felt so thick it was almost unbreathable. Instead of the ordered sounds of the station, there was no electric hum or metallic clanging. The forest was filled with so many sounds that they overlapped into an indistinguishable mix of noise, which made her feel some kind of instinctive nervousness.

Seeing Rarity had nearly finished helping Rainbow, Twilight thought she might as well brave the outside. She was going to have to at some point anyway. She emptied her saddlebag of the books she had brought and carefully placed Spike inside. Hopefully they could come back here, but she wasn’t going to leave Spike alone.

Rarity called out when she saw Twilight approach “I take it this is your first time on a planet surface?”

“Is the air supposed to be this thick? It feels like I’m in an agri-tunnel.”

“I don’t have the slightest clue. Frankly it is all the more reason we should be leaving as soon as possible.” Rarity pulled out a bottle of pills from the med-kit and a bottle of water and gave it to Twilight. “Here take these, apparently they help with common planetary allergies and illnesses.”

“Thank you.” Twilight took a few of the tablets, and the air became slightly easier to breathe. It almost felt bearable. “So, what is the plan now?”

“First, did you have any luck with our vox?”

Twilight shook her head.

“Then there seems to be few options other than to investigate that tower that shot us down.” “The alternative is wating here. As Sergeant Dash says, we will be found by those who shot us down soon anyway.”

Rainbow returned from the cockpit with a hoof held vox set. “I’ve got this. It’s only good for short range stuff, though. The good news is we can use it whenever somepony gets near, the bad news is they’ll probably be shot at too.”

“So what are we going to do?” Twilight asked, a hint of worry crept into her voice.

Rarity took her pistol from the lander and dusted it off. “Investigate the tower. We might be able to disable the defences. Or we might find a way to communicate with the Golden Gryphon. Either would be useful right now.”

“Won’t it be guarded? We aren’t in a position to be fighting anything.”

“I am certainly not planning on taking them head on! Just a little survey. If there are too many, we reconvene to think of something else. There is no harm in exploring our options.”

Twilight stared into the thick underbrush with uncertainty. “Ok, lead the way.”

“Trust me this is just as unpleasant for me,” Rarity gave a somewhat sympathetic smile. “But now is not the time for trepidation.”

“Right, sorry.” Twilight scurried forward, slipping into file behind Rainbow.

They had barely been walking for five minutes before Twilight realised something. The energy she had felt when she first arrived, it was coming from the tower.

Child of the Omnissiah

The sun was at its height as the group made their way into the dense forest. Twilight was grateful to get out of the open, with the canopy providing a comforting barrier against the cloudless sky. Progress was slow, the undergrowth was thick, and Twilight’s frail body struggled to keep up with the group’s pace over the rough terrain. Thankfully they had found a rough path that cut through the worst of the underbrush, and to Twilight’s relief still provided shelter from the open sky.

Twilight watched as Rainbow hacked her way through the underbrush with a large knife held in her augmented foreleg. “Those are some impressive augments, where did you get them?”

“What, these?” Rainbow tapped her right forehoof. “Yeah, they’re pretty useful. Part of what I got for signing up. Helps me use the dials and stuff.”

“It looked like a lot of the ponies on your ship were augmented too. Is it common practice on your station?

Rainbow seemed confused that that this could even be a question. “I mean, yeah. Have you seen a station where it isn’t? I couldn’t give you a number, but I bet at least half of everypony has at least something, as long as they can afford it, or the place they work for pays for it.”

“That seems awfully generous.”

“Eh…” Rainbow shrugged. “Might be easy to forget when you can just use your weird magic for everything, but you need to be able to hold stuff, and you can’t exactly use your hooves.” Rainbow attempted to pick a stone off the ground with her natural forehoof, which unsurprisingly didn’t move. “I’m not complaining or anything. Just makes you wonder why the tech-priests made everything so fiddly to use.”

“It’s a fascinating thought!” Twilight said through exhausted breaths. “They said that ponies are one of the few creatures of the galaxy that evolved without some form of natural grabbing limb.”

“And that means?” Rainbow suddenly realised that she had invited a history lesson. Unfortunately, she realised too late to stop Twilight, who was ready to take full advantage of an opportunity to talk about her favourite subject.

“It’s considered one of the major proofs of the Empress’ divinity! If all the xenos we found have some form of grabbing limb, then it must be evidence of our inherent superiority. Now a common follow up question is whether the Empress created us in Her own image of perfection. Or, instead, that She found a primitive community of ponies and was so impressed by our inherent superiority, decided to guide us into the stars.”

“What’s with the lecture… Look I’m glad that She uplifted us from eating dirt or whatever we did before She arrived, but I don’t really care about the specifics, especially not right now.”

Rainbow stopped suddenly causing Twilight to bump into her.

Rarity lowered her voice. “What is it, is there something there?”

“I don’t know. What do you think made this?” Rainbow pointed to a trail of flattened and broken plants a few meters ahead of them.

“Definitely something big, you can see it’s trampled most of the bushes. Some of these trees seemed damaged too.” Twilight shook her head again in a vain attempt to stop another insect landing on it.

Rarity pulled out her pistol and loaded it. “Well that is a reassuring thought.”

Twilight felt something at the edge of her senses. “I can feel the ground moving.”

Both Rainbow and Rarity swivelled their ears. Eventually Rarity spoke up, “I am afraid I cannot hear a thing.”

“No not hear, feel.”

“I see. Can you tell if this mysterious creature is going to be a danger of us?”

Twilight tried to move her perception “I can only sense it’s movement. At a guess it is quite big.”

Rarity crouched down and moved towards cover. “I’ll take your word for it. Rainbow, keep an eye out behind us. We do not want to be surrounded.”

Rainbow saluted and flew behind a bush. Twilight awkwardly crouched near to Rarity.

The sound of stomping slowly grew stronger to the point Rarity could hear it. A bush in the distance was trampled down as a sentinel walker burst from the underbrush. The quadrupedal machine stopped abruptly and turned to face the group.

“What the…” Before Rainbow had a chance to finish, the machine crouched down and charged towards the group.

“Shoot the driver,” Rarity yelled out, before quickly ducking back into cover.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but there isn’t any driver in there” Rainbow retorted.

Rarity gawped at the sight. “What foul sorcery is this?”

Rainbow circled the sentinel, trying to fire a few rounds into its exposed cockpit, but the bullets bounced harmlessly of its hull. The sentinel did not move to track Rainbow, seemingly only conducting the most basic combat manoeuvres. Attempting to take advantage of this Rainbow paused to aim a shot. Unfortunately she underestimated how close she was, and was caught out when the power claw lunged for her. She flapped her wings a moment too late as the claw caught the edge of her armour, trapping it in its vice-like grip.

Twilight panicked, she had never been trained how to use her abilities in combat. She focused. The rest of the world faded from her vision until she could only see her target. Arcs of unstable lightning erupted from her staff, striking the flank of the walker, causing the hydraulics to freeze. It tried to turn to face this new threat but one of its legs collapsed causing the machine to fall to the ground.

Rainbow took the opportunity to pull herself free from the power claw, quickly picking up her fallen autogun. “Thanks for the save there. That was close.”

“It’s not destroyed yet” Rarity cried out. The sentinel was shakily standing back up, lightning still sparking across its hull “Rainbow, look out!” But to Twilight’s horror it was charging straight towards her.

The force of the blow knocked her to the ground. She felt an explosion of pain spread across her barrel as she crashed into the ground. She tried to get to her hooves, but she could barely see. One of the feet of the sentinel slowly lifted above her head. She could hear shouting from the others, but a new voice cried out.

“Angel! Stop!" the sentinel immediately stopped in position, its foot still uncomfortably hovering over Twilight. The voice sounded feminine, but was quite clearly coming from an artificial speaker. Twilight limply rolled herself towards the sound to see a red-cloaked tech-priest galloping towards her.

“I’m so sorry. Please tell me Angel didn’t injure you. He can get defensive, and I didn't expect him to run off so far.” Apparently this was normal behaviour.

The mare pulled back her hood. One natural and six, smaller, synthetic eyes stared at Twilight. Much of her face was covered by a rebreather, but her yellow coat could still be seen in places, and her pink mane was clearly synthetic. A pair of tendril-like mechadendrite prosthetics emerged from a hole in the cloak on her back, alongside a shoulder mounted servo-arm, creating a very intimidating presence. A presence that was entirely ruined by the mare’s non-stop apologies.

“Is anything broken? I don’t have any medical equipment but I might have something to replace it,” her voice was a highly synthesised, muffled tone. One of the mechadendrites, with what could charitably be called medical equipment attached to it, hovered threateningly close to Twilight’s slightly bleeding foreleg.

Twilight quickly pulled it back. “I’m fine, thank you. Just, uh… let me catch my breath.”

Startled by Twilight’s sudden movement, the tech-priest made a startled “eep” and fell back on her haunches.

“Umm… are you ok?” Twilight wasn’t sure who was more scared, the tech-priest or her. She carefully held out a hoof, though still kept clear of the mechadendrites, which were now hovering defensively around the mare.

“Oh! thank you.” The mare took Twilights hoof and stood back up. There was a strange crackling sound, almost like a cough. “Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve had to use my voice box. There isn’t anypony other than the bandits out here.” It was quite unnerving hearing somepony’s voice come from somewhere other than their mouth.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow exclaimed as she galloped towards them.

“Rainbow? Wha-” Fluttershy was even more surprised to see the captain’s consort approaching her. “Duchess Rarity. What a pleasure to meet you… uh, out here.” She dropped into a deep bow and gestured for Angel to do the same, which he begrudgingly did.

Rarity looked at the mare and Sentinel Powerlifter bowing before her. “Right. Thank you. While I am glad for this little reunion,” Rarity said, her voice somewhere between sarcasm and genuine sincerity, “I do not want to wait around for something more dangerous to find us. We are still stuck on this ghastly planet with no vox.”

“Oh! I have something that might help with that, but we’ll need to walk back to my camp, if that’s ok with you. It’s not far.” Fluttershy suddenly noticed the stitching on Rainbow’s barrel. “Oh no! Were you hurt when you crash landed?

“Oh that? Yeah,” Rainbow eyed Fluttershy’s mechadendrites with some suspicion. “I don’t need any more field treatment, right?”

“No, the stitches are holding well. They look very good quality.”

Rarity gave Rainbow a smug look. Rainbow stuck her tongue out and made a mocking voice under her breath.

“Sergeant, how do you know this pony?” Rarity tried to move conversation on.

“Yeah, when I was in pilot training back on Cloudsdale Station, she was part of the cog-fillies who looked after the planes and stuff. We came over with a couple of friends to the Volpone flotilla a few years back.” Rainbow shot a confused glance at Angel. “Wait how come he didn’t recognise me?”

Angel pretended not to hear and slowly backed away.

“Angel Bunny… you must be more careful. Somepony could get really hurt.” Fluttershy gave him a hard look.

“Bunny?” Rarity stared up at the Sentinel in confusion. She didn’t know what a ‘bunny’ was supposed to look like, but she had imagined them to be, well, smaller. She shook her head and re-joined the conversation, “Regardless of your enthusiastic guard, I see little reason to distrust you. Would you kindly lead the way, time is of the essence.”

“I can also contact my enclave, as I am still attuned to their frequency. I could tell Captain Blueblood about your situation through them, if you want?”

“I think it would be best if this stayed an ‘unofficial’ matter.” Rarity quickly replied. “Not to discredit your offer, but the more ponies hear of this, the more paperwork and other such ghastly things find their way into my life. I am sure you can understand.”

Fluttershy didn’t look like she did at all. “Umm… ok.”

“I don’t think I caught your name, Ms…?”

“Fluttershy, Reclaimator Adept of the Genator order.”

“I am afraid I am not familiar with the Orders of the Mechanicus.”

“It means she does maintenance and tries to fix old stuff,” Rainbow cut in.

Twilight’s ears pricked up at the mention. She checked Spike was still secure and made a note to talk to Fluttershy as soon as she could.

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Rarity offered a hoof. “I see you already know Sergeant Dash,” she continued after Fluttershy shook it, “and this is Lady Twilight. She is our esteemed guest at the moment.”

Fluttershy’s face paled slightly. She turned to face the sentinel. “Angel, while I appreciate you trying to protect me, you can’t go running off on your own. You can apologise to Lady Twilight by helping her get back to our campsite.”

The sentinel reluctantly lowered itself and Twilight gingerly stepped into the cabin.

Strange friends

There wasn’t any time to admire the scenery. Twilight held on for her life as the cabin of the Sentinel shook from side to side while Angel ducked, weaved and sometimes barged straight through the underbrush. It was fortunate she had barely eaten today, her stomach was already threatening to relieve her what little she had eaten.

They passed through a dense patch of leaves into a small clearing where Angel stood tapping his forefoot impatiently as he waited for everypony to catch up. Fluttershy pointed to a wrecked chimera transport nestled against a low cliff edge while she helped Twilight down from Angel. It was covered with enough leaves to be almost invisible against the thicket. The front armour was punched by a large hole, which a bird had now made its home.

While free of overgrowth, the interior didn’t look much better. Piles of electronic scrap filled most of the cabin, with only some tattered cushions for comfort.

Rainbow passed a small data chip to Fluttershy. “I got the location of where we were supposed to be going on this, think you can work out how far off we are? With Angel I bet we’d be able to get back in no time.” She quickly took the most comfortable spot in the room for herself.

Fluttershy plugged the chip into a socket on her neck, her eyes appeared to lose focus for a moment. “It would be about five days by hoof. Angel couldn’t go much faster than that, the undergrowth tires him out a lot. Do you have enough supplies?”

Rarity vaguely pointed at her sodden dress. “Does it look like we packed for a long hike?” She would have emphasised the gesture by showing her empty pockets, but her dress didn’t even have any. “Our supplies are at the base camp where we should have landed.”

“I have my nutrient replicators, but I don’t think that’s… uh… edible to normal ponies, sorry.” Fluttershy pulled a kettle out from one of the piles and set it on a small heat-plate. “I do have some tea if you would like that while I fix your vox?”

“That sounds like a lovely idea.” Rarity paused. “You came out here from Ponyville Station on your own?”

“I brought Angel. He is a very good guard.” she reached out and stroked the front armour of the cockpit with a proud smile.

Rainbow laughed at the sight. “You know, you’re great and all Shy, but you’re never going to convince me that isn’t a bit weird.”

“You said you were originally from Cloudsdale, is that the station with the Sky Dome?” asked Twilight.

“You bet! It’s great, you can wing it for hours and still not reach the other side. You know I broke the sound barrier in that place once during training.”

“You did get kicked out of the Militarum cadets for that though,” Fluttershy pointed out.

“How was I supposed to know the commander would be that precious about a few broken windows?” From Rainbows tone it sounded like it had been a little more than ‘a few’. “But, yeah, that’s how I ended up here. A bunch of ponies came through looking for recruits. They weren’t fussy as long as I had the skills, so obviously I got hired.”

Twilight tapped her chin in thought. “Oh, I remember hearing something about that. Our family helped organise recruitment as part of our arrangement with Blueblood.”

Fluttershy looked at Twilight in surprise. “You’re from the family that led that, and Angel nearly crushed you? Oh, Omnissiah forgive me!”

“Honestly, I am fine. So um, you are from Cloudsdale as well?”

Fluttershy nodded, visibly relaxing at the question. “The Magi were looking for volunteers to go on a mission to help establish an outpost on a new station. It wasn’t too long after Volpone was evacuated and they needed anypony with experience to help them. I was hired with others to help with the fleet’s maintenance.

“I remember when I first heard the captain’s ship had been rescued from a space hulk. It must have been so traumatising for the ship to have been drifting alone for so long.”

“I didn’t think ships could get that lonely.” Twilight sounded surprised.

“Of course they can, they’re just like any machine-creature! All creatures of the Omnissiah need care to keep them happy. Although it was strange, it was like the ship had never seen a pony before. The poor thing must have been terrified. It took us a long time before it even allowed us to commune with it.”

“What is all of this scrap for?” Twilight asked Fluttershy.

“I heard the rumours of lost technology, so I snuck down on one of the shuttles with Angel. It is surely the blessing of the Omnissiah that so much has been preserved.”

Despite the description they still looked like piles of rusted scrap to Twilight.

The kettle began to boil so Fluttershy poured tea for each pony.

The teacups were mercifully clean. They even had the handles that made them hard to hold with hooves, but polite society had decided was essential to the aesthetic. To Twilight’s surprise the tea was rather pleasant, with only a few unidentifiable bits floating in it.

“Um, I have an idea to boost your vox, but I’ll need to borrow it first, if that’s ok with you,” Fluttershy asked.

Rarity gave up trying to pick out the bits from her own cup. “Whatever for? We do need something to be able to communicate.”

“The chimera’s old vox centre might have a few parts that could be used to boost your signal. I think the range should be enough for you to contact captain Blueblood directly.

“Eh, sure, I’ve listened to enough static for one day anyway.” Rainbow passed the vox to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy took the vox and went into the old cabin leaving the rest of the group to their own devices. Twilight quickly hurried after her.

“Hi, sorry. I remember you said you could do maintenance?” Twilight took out Spike and held him up. “Please could you see if you can do something?”

Fluttershy marvelled at the skull. “Oh my, he’s not like any model I’ve seen before.”

“I’m worried he’s hurt, so I would really appreciate it if you could you just give him a quick check. I saved this maintenance report if that helps.”

Fluttershy read the note while simultaneously inspecting Spike with her mechadendrites. After half a minute she put Spike down on the counter. “He just has a loose cable, I’ll get him back to you before we leave.” Fluttershy smiled.

“Please be careful with him.” Twilight watched Spike anxiously.

There was a beat, Fluttershy tapped two of her mechadendrites together nervously. “I… get a bit self-conscious when ponies watch me, would you mind…?”

“Oh, sorry!” Twilight left Fluttershy to her work and returned to the others, who were eating lunch while they waited. Twilight pulled her own fungi bar from her cloak and sat next to them.

Seeing this Rainbow shuffled over to Twilight with a smug grin, “Hey, I hear they sometimes put real ponies in these bars.”

Twilight swallowed, shivering as the dry starch scratched her throat, “That’s just a rumour, besides direct cannibalism is known to cause heavy metal poisoning and other illnesses. That’s why they use them as fertiliser instead.”

Rainbow stopped chewing her bar, “Wait, you mean these things have actual ponies in?!”

“Well technically just nutrients extracted by the fungus," Twilight took another bite from the bar, undeterred. “Recycling is key for maintaining a station of any significant size. The loss of biomass from disposing of them in other ways is considered unacceptable.”

“I don’t know about you, but I remember plenty of sermons about ‘renewal after death’ when I was growing up.” Rarity did her best to hide her smile behind her hoof.

“I thought that was a metaphor!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“If it helps, most bars only have between zero and thirty percent corpse derived mycelia,” Twilight added.

It did not. Rainbow stared blankly at Twilight before placing her bar back in its wrapper, “Not hungry.”

They sat eating the reminder of their food in silence. The awkward mood was interrupted when a strange sound came from Fluttershy’s direction. Spike came rushing out with Fluttershy following after him.

Twilight bolted over. “Spike, You’re ok!”

“Yeah, my memory is a bit fuzzy, but everything seems to be working.” Spike hugged her back.

“You didn’t say he could talk,” Fluttershy sounded bemused.

“Thank you so much!” Twilight hadn’t really listened to what Fluttershy had said and dragged Spike somewhere quiet to check him over.

“I wondered where he had gotten to.” Rarity left the pair to their reunion and went to Fluttershy. “Did you manage to fix the vox?”

Fluttershy nodded and passed the vox over.

“Thank you.” Rarity fiddled with the controls for a few seconds, then spoke, “Golden Gryphon, this is Duchess Rarity Belle can you hear me?”

There was a short silence. Rarity was about to repeat herself when a high-pitched voice answered. “We hear you loud and mostly clear Duchess. You should know you got Bluey all worried!”

“Oh Throne, how has she heard already?” Rarity muttered to herself. “Sergeant Pie this is personal business, and no concern of the Union.”

“Nuh-uh, boss made it clear the safety of our valued guest is as much of the Union’s concern as it is the captain’s. We are all on standby ready for you to give the word.”

Rarity looked like she wanted to argue the point but decided to drop it, “You will need to wait for a bit, there are air defences in the area that we will need to disable. I’m sending our current location. Wait until we signal the all clear, then head towards this location. You should see the spire when you are close, try to land as close to that as possible.”

“Okie dokie! I’ll keep an ear out.” The transmission ended.

“Of course it had to be her,” Rarity muttered under her breath.

“Who was that?” Twilight asked.

“That was Pinkameana Diane Pie, I believe you briefly met her on the landing bay.”

“She seemed nice enough.”

“It isn’t her I am concerned about. Sergeant Pie is an exceptional soldier, however her boss is part of… Look, our internal affairs shouldn’t matter to you. You will soon be out of this mess, and we can get back to our own work.” Rarity cut Twilight off from further questions by turning to Fluttershy. “Your help in this matter is very much appreciated. if there is anything you need, please do let me know.”

“Thank you, Lady Rarity. Um, I don’t want to burden you, but would you be able to take me back to Ponyville? I could wait for the local Mechanicus enclave to pick me up, but since you happen to be here… If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.” Fluttershy gingerly pawed at the ground.

“Well I am hardly going to leave you out here in this ghastly environment.” Rarity almost seemed offended by the thought.

The Empress’ finest

Twilight gratefully accepted Fluttershy’s offer to ride in Angel’s cabin again, and this time Spike could enjoy it too. She held him close as he took full advantage of the elevated position to watch the scenery.

By mid-afternoon the forest finally gave way to a small patch of grassland, giving a good view of the tower. They found a secluded vantage point near the edge of the clearing to investigate.

Even from this distance it was clear that the building was ancient. It looked like it had once formed part of a perimeter of defensive structures, though whatever the wall had been protecting had collapsed long ago, along with much of the wall itself. Most of what remained was now covered by thick vines, though the structure itself was surprisingly intact. Near the top Twilight could just make out the anti-air battery, slowly scanning the sky for more targets.

Rainbow looked through the scope of her gun, “I guess we’ve got to get up there. Do you think the lift still works?”

“I somehow doubt it,” Rarity lamented.

“It must be by the grace of the Omnissiah that anything works at all.”

Rarity eyed the tower with disdain for her ruined afternoon, “Maybe a bit too graceful for once.”

Fluttershy frowned “The Omnissiah nurtures all machines under Her watch. You can’t blame Her if somepony misuses Her generosity.”

“You know loads about generosity. Ponies just love to give you money, don’t they, Duchess Rarity,” Rainbow sarcastically emphasised the honorific.

“You are already on thin ice Sergeant,” Rarity warned.

Twilight hastily pointed to a collapsed archway flanked by a pair of guards “That uh, looks like the only way in. If we spend some time observing them, maybe we could learn something about their guard patterns.” Twilight hoped distraction would help defuse the situation.

“Whatever, I was just joking,” Rainbow flew up to get a higher vantage point, perching herself on one of the many thick tree branches.

“Just keep an eye on them, we need to look for a way in.” Rarity took her own binoculars out.

They had just settled into position when a muffled crack rang out from somewhere in the overgrowth, followed by another a few seconds later. Twilight tried to see where the shot had come from, but the foliage was too dense. She turned back to the guards to see them both lying dead on the floor. She had the uncomfortable realisation that none of their group blended into the surrounding environment at all.

“How many ponies are there in this so-called abandoned planet?” Rainbow quipped before she ducked into the overgrowth. Rarity did the same, pulling Twilight with her.

A third shot struck the ground near Twilight’s hooves, scattering mud into the air. She stumbled back, but before she could react the vox crackled to life.

“To the ponies intruding on mah and mah sisters’ operation, you got ten seconds to explain yourselves or you’ll be explaining yourself to the Empress.

“Oh Empress, not now. Why are the Astartes here of all places?” Rarity quickly fumbled for the vox. “I am Duchess Rarity Belle of house Blueblood. I am leading a sanctioned expedition. Any attempt to hinder me or my ponies work will be met with the full authority of my house.”

“We’re sanctioned?” Rainbow whispered.

“I assume our dear psyker friend has filled out the necessary documentation for this trip, or we wouldn’t be here.”

“Uh, well I don’t really have anything official, as this is supposed to be off the books.” Twilight nervously rubbed her hooves together.

Rarity stared blankly at Twilight, “So you apparently filled out every form, apart from the one we need to prove we are allowed to be here?”

“Applying for permission is a very public process! If we weren’t careful everypony would know what we’re doing!”

“Of course…” Rarity tapped her hoof.

“Well ain’t this a bit of a conundrum,” The Mareine’s reply interrupted their debate.

“Might I suggest we meet face to face? We wouldn’t want anypony to overhear this vox channel.”

“Stay right there, I’ll be there quicker than a speeding bolt shell,” her tone sounded strangely jovial.

Rarity passed the vox back to Rainbow without a word.

A bulky figure in bright orange carapace armour emerged from the clearing. Quite how she had remained hidden wearing that was beyond Twilight. Despite being as large as a draft horse she crossed the clearing with impressive speed, as normal for an Astartes.

As the mare approached everypony apart from Rarity bowed. Rarity stood with a well-practiced posture of polite neutrality, “Thank you for your time, I assure you I will endeavour to take as little of it as possible. However, I don’t believe you’ve introduced yourself, my lady,” her tone had a slight edge to it.

“Ah am Applejack, scout of the of the Orange Sisterhood.” She almost imperceptibly bowed her head.

“And I am Duchess Rarity Belle of Volpone,” Rarity finally bowed.

“Are ya now?” Applejack tone shifted almost immediately. “Ah could ask what a community of planetary folk are doing so far away from their home system.”

“You know of Volpone?” Rarity raised an eyebrow.

“Know of? Ah was recruited from there.”

“Then I expect you will have heard why the community is currently floating up there and not wherever the old planet of Volpone is,” Rarity pointed a hoof vaguely at the sky.

Applejack flinched at the comment, but returned to a professional stance. “And what exactly are ya doing here?”

“As I told you before, we are on sanctioned business investigating these ruins. There appears to be some bandit activity in the area, so we are simple disabling their defences so the rest of our team can move in.”

“Aint that grand? It turns out Ah also need to be securing this place, so Ah think you need to take a step back fer now.”

“As our goals are aligned, would this not be more efficient with the extra ponypower?” Rarity smiled sweetly.

Applejack thought for a few seconds, “Ah have a duty to mah sisters and to the Empress, but as long as you’re not interfering with those Ah don’t see why we can’t do some good old fashioned combined armed combat. Now where was that sanction you were talking about?”

Rarity shot a brief glare at Twilight, “I would be delighted to show you, but paper is one of those things that is so easily left behind in emergencies.”

“Ah’d say that seems mighty convenient for you.” Applejacks face hardened. “Come to think of it, none of you act like planetary folk, skitterin’ about like yer allergic to the open sky.”

“I see two options; either we can wait for our own forces to get here by hoof in about one or two days, and we will resolve this issue by our family court. Or we can get going now, and save us both the hassle.”

“Or yer lying.”

“Perhaps, but I doubt either of us want to waste time waiting around to find out,” Rarity said bluntly.

“Alright, Ah’ll believe ya. If Ah find you’ve been taking me fer a ride…”

“I assure you I am doing nothing of the sort.”

“Let’s get moving then. Just make sure you and yer…” Applejack eyed Angel cautiously, “…support equipment don’t cause more hindrance than help.” she pulled out her bolt pistol and started to make her way towards the archway, pushing the dead bodies of the guards out of sight of the path as she passed them.

Inside the walls didn’t look much better. Whatever had been here had been almost completely buried by thick layers of grass and moss. It looked like it had once been a courtyard of some kind, but it could just as easily be the roof of a long-buried structure. There were any number of hiding places scattered about the ruins. Twilight tried her best to scan the area with her warp sight, but her exhaustion was starting to make concentration difficult.

“Don’t you think there’ll be more guards around?” Twilights voice felt disconcertingly loud.

Applejack scanned the terrain with her thermal binoculars, “Ah’m not seeing any heat signatures. Didn’t see many others while I was back out there either, so we’d best keep moving while we can. They were probably just a small group of looters passing through.”

They reached a large opening in the side of the tower. The bright late afternoon light made the interior impossible to see into for all but Twilight with her warp sight. They gathered behind a large pile of debris close to the entrance. Angel did his best to hide himself with them, but there was only so much a walker nearly three times the height of a pony could do. Applejack reared up to get a higher view of the interior. Twilight watched as she stood comfortably for nearly a minute before returning to the ground.

“Goodness that looks uncomfortable,” Rarity mused.

Twilight’s ears pricked up. “The Astartes have an implant that allows for enhanced movement in an upright position, I forget its specific name.”

“Upright position? I feel upright enough with my four hooves on the ground, thank you very much.”

“It’s just a figure of speech.”

“The place is empty, get moving.” Applejack was already walking inside.

“Who gave you the authority to be giving orders,” Rarity grumbled to herself as she dusted herself clear of dirt.

“You don’t have any proof of who ya are, nor anything to say you can be here. Yer lucky Ah’m giving ya the time of day.”

“Another one of their implants significantly enhances their hearing,” Twilight added.

Rarity exhaled sharply. “Of course it does.”

The grass slowly gave way to rusted metal as they moved further from the outside light. It wasn’t long until everypony had to activate their own personal lumens so they could see. Angel for his part activated his mounted floodlight that was probably too effective at providing light.

After a short search they reached the base of a set of steps, the height of the stairwell extending far beyond the range of their lumens. Even with the rust the structure looked quite solid.

Rainbow carefully put her weight on the step. When nothing happened, she jumped on it to make sure. “I think this is still good. I don’t think Angel’ll fit though.”

Fluttershy looked at the staircase trying to judge if there was a way it could work but eventually shook her head, “I’m sorry Angel, but you’ll have to wait here for us.”

Angel still tried to angle his frame to fit through with minimal success. He finally gave up and kicked a wall in frustration, creating a bang that echoed through the staircase shaft.

“Shhh, it’s frustrating, I know.” Fluttershy gently patted Angel’s side to calm him down. “You need to be careful, or somepony could hear us.”

“You could keep him company Spike. That way if something happens you can send a message to us.” Twilight offered.

“Hey I don’t want to have to babysit some overblown construction equipment!” Spike objected.

Angel glared at Spike, Spike glared back, neither had any eyes so it was up to interpretation how annoyed they actually were about the idea.

“Spike, be nice. You both could get along if you give it a chance.” Twilight said sternly.

Eventually Spike relented, “Ugh, fine.”

“You play nice too Angel. If I hear you’ve been mean to Spike, I’ll have words with you.” Fluttershy gave Angel a firm look.

Twilight and Fluttershy gave their respective machines a goodbye hug before quickly catching up with the rest of the group.

They began to climb up carefully, only stopping for Applejack to scan ahead. The inside of the buildings were surprisingly intact. The outside plant life didn’t intrude far beyond the outside light, leaving the rusted metal exposed to the air. The sounds of their hoofsteps were uncomfortably loud now they weren’t being damped by the soft plant cover.

By the time they had reached the twentieth floor Twilight realised she had been much more impressed with the scale when she wasn’t having to climb it. “This place would have been vast! I wonder what kind of research they did in here?”

Applejack stopped looking through her scope and looked over to Twilight. “How’d you work that out? Looks more like an old military outpost to me.”

“Oh not this part. I found records that suggest that there was a complex that covered much of the old surface. I would guess this was one of the outer guard walls.”

“That’s funny ‘cause last Ah heard information about this planet was confidential. Mind enlightening me as to how exactly you came across it,” Applejacks forehoof was far closer to her bolt pistol than Twilight felt safe with.

“Uh, we keep a record for the expected tithe of every planet our house has monitored. It contains a record of known structures and… uhh other useful information,” Twilight smiled awkwardly and slowly backed away.

“Fer a planet that’s been abandoned fer thousands of years?”

Twilight nodded, “It’s good to have complete records, just in case.”

Rarity looked around at the dense forest and rusted metal corridors, the two blending to the point where she wasn’t sure where one transitioned to the other. “I can’t imagine they’ll be particularly accurate anymore.”

“We’ll update them!”

The rest of the journey to the top was an unnervingly quiet one. The final room looked like it had been a small aircraft hangar. There were signs of recent activity, some small patches had been cleared and a few odd pieces of rubbish scattered about, but still nothing alive.

“The rest of them must have cleared out,” Rainbow sounded somewhat disappointed.

“Complete waste of mah time.” Applejack muttered.

“Disappointed this didn’t turn out to be something more dramatic?” Rainbow said with a smirk.

“This is how most of our deployments go if Ah’m honest, ya just don’t hear about them. It aint the type of stuff ponies want to read about. If there aint any action there aint much point writing about it.”

The hanger door had rusted shut long ago. Thankfully there was a small maintenance door to the side. Outside they were now far above the treeline, probably at the highest point for miles. Without the trees to block it the wind blew with a force that some would call refreshing, but to Twilight was just unpleasantly strong.

A trail of cables led to a spot where the vines had been cleared from part of the wall revealing a battered cogitator.

“That looks like the control for the defences. Give me a few minutes to commune with the spirit.” Fluttershy hurried over to the cogitatior.

Twilight looked out to the vast open sky, then to the long drop to the ground, “I think I’ll stay inside. I can keep watch while you work.”

“I will contact Corporal Pie and let her know we will be ready shortly.” Rarity was not eager to wait outside either.

Twilight did her best to try to relax, but the sound of the howling wind outside did little to calm her nerves. Even beyond that she could still feel the indistinct background energy, which, while not outwardly malicious, still frustratingly blocked any attempt to divine a source.

Applejack and Rainbow checked for a suitable landing spot while they stood guard.

Fluttershy soon returned from outside, “The machine spirit can finally rest.”

“I guess we just go back down and wait then.” Rainbow shrugged.

With their eyes now adjusted to the bright outside they stumbled back into the darkness, back towards the staircase.

Rainbow awkwardly bumped into the pony in front of her. “Give me a second to let my eyes adjust.”

Twilight let the rest of the group pass through, slipping in behind them.

As they rounded the corner to the stairwell, they saw a light that had not been there before illuminating the entrance. Three ponies stood at the top holding crude autoguns.

Applejack was the first to react, quickly drawing her bolt pistol, “Halt! Put down yer weapons or you will answer to the Empress.”

The lead mare just smiled, “Let’s not do anything we both know you might regret.”

Small spots of light started to fill the room as more ponies emerged from the corridors. Behind was still the open air of the landing pad, though the extreme drop meant that only the two with wings had any chance of escaping that way. “I don’t think you are in any position to make demands.”

Tactical ‘genius’

The air in the room was tense. Twilight did a quick scan of all the ponies, nearly twenty from what she could see, mostly armed with crude autoguns. Both groups held their breath in anticipation, except for Fluttershy who had had her lungs replaced with augments.

“Ya got a lot of nerve to try hold me up,” Applejack sneered.

The lead bandit didn’t seem intimidated. “You might be a Marine, but right now you’re not wearing a helmet. I reckon a bullet to the head works well enough, even against your thick head. Plus, your friends here aren’t nearly as bullet-proof.”

“We aint friends.”

“Aren’t your kind supposed to be ‘protectors’?”

The stalemate was broken by the roar of jet engines approaching the building, shaking the walls and loosening dirt from the ceiling as it passed.

“Those your reinforcements, eh?” the leader of the bandits stood confidently at the other end of the room. “Hoof that vox over, I’ll be talking terms to them.”

Twilight looked at Rarity. Rarity gestured her head towards the leader and nodded. Twilight took the vox and carefully levitated it over to the mare.

About half-way across the room the vox crackled to life, “Knock, knock!” Pinkie’s tone was as upbeat as when they last talked.

“Give me that,” the leader snatched the vox out of the air. “Unless you’re here to negotiate, you can scram.”

“Lady Rarity your accent seems different.” There was a pause from the other side of the vox. “That’s fun, somepony different to play the game with! Now, you need to say ‘who’s there’.”

“Who do you think you are? I don’t care ‘who’s there’, we’ve got enough guns to turn anypony that comes in here into a fine mist. And then well shoot your friends. Got it?”

“You’re not very good at this. Just say ‘who’s there’!”

Pinkie was clearly trying to delay while she planned… something. The rest of them were in no position to fight, and they were all incredibly exposed. If anypony started shooting right now it was guaranteed at least one of them would be hit, probably much worse.

As the indeterminant bickering continued, Twilight realised that despite hearing the Valkyrie fly away, she could still hear the sound of an engine, and it was getting louder.

There was an almighty bang as the door and part of the wall crashed into the room, sending dust and debris into the air. The room erupted with the sound of gunfire as the bandits blindly fired through the dust, hoping to catch whatever was on the other side. Twilight hugged the floor as the bullets passed uncomfortably close to where she had just been standing.

After what felt like hours, but was probably only seconds, the gunfire began to calm. As the dust settled, she was surprised to see a Chimera armoured personnel carrier reversing into the centre of the room, providing much needed cover. Each of the six hull-mounted lasguns were pointing at a different target. The turret slowly rotated towards the bandit leader. A small nameplate on the back of the vehicle read ‘Ex Machina’.

“Frakking hell. Everypony, SCATTER!” the leader shouted as she dived for an exit.

The room descended into chaos once again. Twilight scrambled for cover behind the Chimera. To her relief, most of the rest of the group had already done the same. Rainbow had taken the opportunity to return fire, catching one of the ponies as they retreated.

To Twilights horror one of the bandits had managed to sneak around the side. She focused a ball of energy and released it towards the bandit as they fired at her. It was clumsy, but the force of her telekinetic push caused the shot to go wide. The bullets impacted the side of the Chimera, alerting the crew inside of a new target. With deadly precision one of the mounted las gun fired, and the attacker crumpled down the ground, dead.

The rest of the fighting was mercifully short as the remining bandits fled through whatever exit they could find.

Once the sound of the fleeing bandits faded, the group only had a fleeting moment of quiet before Applejack uttered a stream of expletives. “Why, in the name of the Empress’s holy mane is that,” she pointed a hoof to the Chimaera, “up here?”

“I flew it in of course!” Pinkie happily replied as she exited her Chimera. “Well I guess the pilot flew me, but I drove from the landing pad to here!”

The explanation did not seem to help Applejack, “In what world was that necessary!? Ya could have just fallen through the whole building.”

“Technically that’s a fair point. They don’t normally design buildings so you can drive chimeras in them. You have to be careful to only drive in the right spot, otherwise everything falls down, and that’s no fun,” Pinkie continued, seemingly undeterred by the other’s confusion.

“Empress, give me strength.” Rarity breathed. “For those who have not yet been acquainted,” she looked at Applejack flatly. “That is Corporal Pinkameana Diane Pie and her personal Chimera, part of our reserve militia.”

“At least she looks like she’s from Volpone,” Applejack muttered to herself. “But if it’s all the same mah work is done, so if ya can just finish whatever this is, Ah can get back to work. Mah sisters’ll be waiting.”

“By all means do not feel the need to wait on our behalf.” Rarity tried not to sound too pleased. “Corporal Pie, could you vox whoever brought you in to come pick us up?”

“The landing pad might be a teeny bit more fragile than it used to be too.” Pinkie smiled sheepishly. “And a few more holes. You’ll be fine unless you’re scared of heights.”

“I, uh, don’t want to be rude, but Angel and Spike are still downstairs. They can’t get up here and I need to check if they’re ok.” Fluttershy spoke up. “And I really don’t like heights,” she quietly added.

“Good luck trying to land anywhere else down there. It’s either full of debris or too steep to land on, even for me! Everywhere else is just forest.” Rainbow called over from where she was lounging on the Chimera.

“I could use the dozer blade on the Chimera to clear a spot, shouldn’t take more than an hour.” Pinkie said.

Rainbow sat up. “Hey, that could work, but how are we supposed to get it down there?”

“It can survive a bit of a drop. So if I call the pilot to pick me up from here, they can drop my chimera down on the ground to clear a spot for everypony else.” We just need to get close enough then…” Pinkie mimicked an object dramatically falling to the ground.

“If you think that will work, then by all means try. I will be waiting downstairs.” Rarity turned to leave, but was stopped by Applejack.

“Hold yer horses, Ah’m not done with ya yet.”

Rarity groaned. “What do you want now?”

“For ya to prove who you say ya are. Ya could say Ah’m a mite bit suspicious about how some voidborn Ah’ve never heard of got to rule a bunch of planetfolk.”

“For the record I am consort to Prince Blueblood,” Rarity said through gritted teeth. “And I have already told you, we lost most of our paperwork when we first arrived here. If you want it you will have to wait.”

“Good thing for you, now this little thing is sorted, Ah’ve got a bunch of time on mah hooves.”

“Fine, I will bring it down on the first lander.”

“Ah’m glad to hear it.”

When she was certain Applejack was out of earshot Rarity grabbed Twilight by her collar and dragged her to one side. “When that lander arrives I sincerely hope you have at least something to show her.”

“Uhh… let me think.” Twilight shuffled awkwardly. “Maybe have Captain Blueblood explain the situation. He is the legitimate ruler of Volpone, so unless she really intends to take us to the… Arbeters? I don’t know if they have jurisdiction over the Mareines? Maybe the-”

Rarity held up her hoof to stop Twilight from rambling further. “That should do. If we leave in enough of a hurry after that, she won’t have time to ask any more questions.”

Travelling down the stairs was much easier, and a soft late afternoon breeze had cooled much of the midday heat. The bandits didn’t attempt to make a second appearance, and a scan by the Valkyrie hadn’t revealed anypony else in the area. They were finally alone, without fear of being caught out.

It would have been peaceful had there not been a Valkyrie hovering close to the ground between lumps of twisted metal. Pinkie’s Chimera was strapped securely to its underside as the pilot tried to get as close to the ground as possible.

“That’s about as good as your going to get.” Rainbow yelled into the vox.

There was a loud clunk as the mag-locks released. The Chimera crashed into the ground with a sound far louder than Twilight had expected. With the weight suddenly removed the Valkyrie rose up into the sky, kicking up a large cloud of dust and debris.

There was a pause as they waited for the dust to settle. After about thirty seconds the dust parted to reveal… nothing.

“Guys, where’s the Chimera?” Rainbow quicky flew over to investigate.

“Err, there’s a hole!” Fluttershy pointed a hoof.

“Oh Empress, I am never getting off this planet!” Rarity buried her head in her hooves.

“I’m ok!” Pinkie’s voice sounded like it had high interference through the vox.

Rarity begrudgingly pulled out her vox to respond, “Where are you?”

“In a hole.”

“Very funny.” Rarity grunted in frustration. “Just tell me what you can see.”

“I don’t know, it’s all old, damp and rusty. Might look a bit like the stuff we saw in the tower, though.”

Twilight tried to extend her senses into the hole. “Why would there be a basement here? This is supposed to be outside… Wait this whole complex must have been one single building! The hills could even be remnants of hive spires.”

“A tremendous theory that you will investigate later, no doubt. However, the light is starting to fade. We must find some way to retrieve the Corporal’s vehicle... Again.” Rarity added with annoyance.

“There’s something else.”

“What now, esteemed Lady Twilight?” Rarity shot back.

“There’s, uh, some background energy in the air. I can sense where it’s coming from.”

“The hole?”

Twilight nodded.

Imperial revision

For thousands of years the Imperium of Man ruled the galaxy. Vast armies fought innumerable enemies across uncounted worlds. No foe was beyond our wrath, no world beyond our reach.

Now that galaxy is lost, broken in half by an infernal crimson scar.

Only (one group of survivors is known to have escaped), a lone fleet led by the saviour Empress Herself. She and Her righteous followers travelled with a single purpose: to keep the spirit of humanity alive.

By Her grace she discovered a single planet, long lost to the light of the Imperium. A planet of ponies.

Far beyond the edge of the galaxy, nestled within the greater Magellanic Sister, this single planet had survived, protected by some unknown force.

The Empress was overjoyed to have found Her kind. But upon arriving She was saddened to see that they worshipped strange gods, and upheld misguided ideals. Years of isolation had led them to have forgotten their true heritage. The Empress sought to correct that.

She uplifted not only our souls, but granted us the technology that had once conquered a galaxy, so we may begin our destiny anew. She created my sisters and I to lead the vast Legions of the Adeptus Astartes, with the aid of the re-founded Adeptus Mechanicas.

Today, there are few that remember the time we took our first few steps into the void, not with fear, but a burning desire to reclaim what we lost. I remember the day the Empress declared a new Imperium to a crowd of cheering ponies and our history was rewritten.

Eventually one system became ten, then a hundred, then thousands. Terra had been lost, but the Imperium lived on. In time, pieces of the old world drifted into the edge of our realm, technology was recovered, and fragments of our past pieced together. And yet no living soul has ever been found amongst the wreckage.

Even the destruction wrought during Her ascension did not dampen our fervour.

Yet triumph begat tragedy, and tragedy begat stagnation. It has been many millennia since that day, and we are no closer to the time we may step foot into our home galaxy again.

Perhaps some twisted being has laid claim to Holy Terra itself, basking in a legacy that was never truly theirs.

Only one truth remains: we are the last light of humanity, as whatever the fate of the old galaxy, it is a home for ponies no longer.

-Phoenicia Phoenix, Primarch of the Empress’ Children Legion

Flying safety hazard

It had been nearly a week since they had left the Capitol system and they had finally entered back into realspace. Twilight had spent most of the journey re-reading the books she had brought with her, though she eventually had to resort to reading books from Blueblood’s own archive. Thankfully it had been more than enough to keep herself distracted from the unknowable whispers that crept into the back of her mind, as they unfortunately tended to do when in warpspace.

The warp was a dangerous place for the unprepared, even looking at it was enough to drive anypony mad. Now that it was safe for the window shutters to open, she had returned to the large window at the front of the ship’s bridge to watch their approach to Everfree.

A faint pale green dot in the distance slowly grew to reveal Everfree’s verdant green surface. Most of the surface was covered in vivid green plant life, only a few scattered seas and mountains broke the monotony.

As the planet grew to fill the whole window a small flotilla of ships, clustered around a ramshackle station, came into view. Great chains ran between the ships, binding them to the station. The station itself sat in the centre of a massive lux net, which seemed to be providing power to much of the station.

A handful of military ships hovered nearby, though as they drew closer Twilight noticed that nearly every ship was damaged in some way. Some were only covered in scorch marks, others had dented frames. The broadside of one of the larger ships was nothing more than twisted metal and broken gun barrels.

“It looks a lot like home. Just smaller and more damaged,” Spike observed.

“This is probably what The Capitol looked like early in its lifespan.”

“Behold! The Splendour of the Blueblood house” Blueblood announced from where he was behind the ships wheel, grinning widely. He pulled out a vox, “This is Captain Blueblood to all vassal ships. Rotate your port side to face me.”

A crackling voice answered, “Acknowledged Golden Gryphon, moving now.” A pause, “It’s good to see you back Captain.”

Rarity shook her head and gave a faint smile. Twilight turned back to the window to watch the ships manoeuvre. To her surprise, despite the damage, the ship slowly rotated, showing the undamaged port side.

“There. can’t have these small details diminishing the grandeur of my arrival.”

“Now let’s see what we have here…” Blueblood pulled up a flickering hologram of Everfree. he tapped the coordinates of the landing area on a keypad and the image filled with a wall of annotated information. “I see it is nearly evening down there. I assume you would like to wait until morning?”

“Yes, of course. I don’t think there is too much of a rush.” Twilight paused for a moment. “I think.”

“Very well. I will be busy supervising the unloading of the cargo by that time, so I will be unable to join you. If I do not keep a close eye on things, cargo seems to become ‘missing’ a bit too frequently you see.”

“I suppose that means it falls to me to escort you to the surface, I will send a message to our pilot. But first,” Rarity pulled a small data chip out of a port in her cogitator. “Spike, was it? I have a little gift for you.” She held it out for him. “This should synchronise your chronometer with the local time.”

“Thank you.” Spike plugged it into himself, and a rapid series of chimes started playing. “OK, everything is synced. I really hope I don’t have to do that too often.”

“The meeting time is stored on there too. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get some rest. I will see you both tomorrow.” Rarity gave them a small bow and slipped inside the bedroom.

“I suppose I should do that too.” Twilight laughed nervously as Spike gave her a knowing look.

Blueblood returned to the wheel of the ship with a relaxed confidence. “Do not let me keep you. Although I would certainly like to hear if you find anything interesting.”

“Haven’t you explored it yet?”

“With all this travelling I’ve barely had the time! Not that its much of a loss, the planet is relatively barren, mineralogically speaking of course, there is no shortage of flora. As for relics and such, I hear the Mechanicus enclave may have sent a few ponies down, but I haven’t heard news of anything significant.”

“You should have plenty of time once I finish my work.”

“One can certainly hope.”

Twilight watched the surface of Everfree in silence for a few minutes then excused herself soon after.

The next morning Twilight and Spike had arrived at the landing bay five minutes early, ready to go. Twilight had been ready nearly an hour ago, but Spike had insisted arriving that early would be too weird.

In the corner they could see the same Alicorn lander they had arrived in. Twilight paced around it looking for an obvious entrance. “Spike, do you know how to open this?”

“Not really, but I can try communing with the machine spirit. That might work.”

Spike began tapping the keypad. He emitted a harsh metallic screeching, grating Twilight’s ears. Like many of the Mechanicus’s constructs Spike was capable of speaking binaric, though for anyone outside the organization it may well have been random, very unpleasant, noise.

The console beeped. He tapped the keypad a few more times but was only rewarded by a series of harsh beeps.

“Twilight, it’s mocking me,” Spike huffed.

Twilight briefly contemplated how she could scold a keypad, “It’s ok Spike, thanks for trying. We’ll just wait for Lady Rarity to arrive.”

“Where’s the pilot? Shouldn’t they be able to open it?”

“Rarity will probably get them when she’s finished. No harm in a little waiting, right?” Twilight sat herself down and idly cleaned her staff, making sure each purity seal was still legible.

Despite Twilight’s reassurance Spike soon got bored and flew around the lander looking for something interesting. After about a minute Spike few back into view.

“I found the pilot.”

“Oh, good, are they going to let us in?” Twilight gave the skull a quick pat.

“She is currently asleep in the cockpit.”

“Ah, maybe we should wake her up before Rarity arrives.” Twilight stood up and moved towards the cockpit.

As she made her way around the back of the lander, she suddenly got the feeling she was being watched. Before she had time to think the turbines roared into life, blasting a jet of high-speed air directly into her face. She was blown back, as she struggled to keep her balance. Thankfully the effect was mercifully short, and the engines slowed to idling.

Spike rushed out, but upon seeing that the only damage was a bad hairdo, relaxed and took a pict of her predicament instead. “I think the pilot is awake.” He said, before adding, “That look doesn’t suit you.”

Twilight glared at Spike, who despite lacking any way to outwardly emote, was almost certainly smugly smiling back at her.

The cockpit opened revealing a blue pegasus with short rainbow hair.

“Haha, I got you good there, if you didn’t have that cloak on, the look on your face would’ve been priceless.”

Twilight turned to face her, though her blindfold had fallen off, exposing her empty eye sockets.

The colour instantly drained from the pilot’s face, “Um… I…”

“Squadron Sergeant Rainbow Dash. What, in the name of the Empress, do you think you’re doing?!” Rarity exclaimed as she galloped across the landing bay. “I’m so sorry Lady Twilight, you must forgive the Sergeant, she normally reserves her little pranks for new recruits.”

“You didn’t say we were transporting some Empress forsaken w-” Rainbow caught herself and whispered to Rarity, “You didn’t say anything about a witch!”

Twilight could still hear what she was saying.

“I told you we were transporting somepony of high importance. Which, in case you forgot, means no pranks.”

“It’s fine.” Twilight tried to catch her breath. “Nopony was hurt. Let’s just get down to the planet so I can get to work.”

“An excellent idea. I assure you our pilot will receive a reminder of the proper conduct later,” Rarity all but dragged Rainbow back into the cockpit. “Now would you kindly take us to the base camp as fast as you can?”

Rainbow seemed to calm down, though her wings didn’t entirely relax. “You got it boss, I know a great shortcut!”

The lander shook as it descended into the atmosphere. Apparently Everfree had once been a barren desert. For whatever reason the terraforming equipment was abandoned, along with the rest of the system, leaving the flora to spiral out of control. Now the planet had become one massive forest, the poles were covered in dense woodlands and the equatorial lowlands were one, giant decaying swamp. The thicket had defied any major attempt to clear it.

Only small seas and vast river chains broke up the otherwise pure green surface, almost like the fractured surface of Old Equestria, except they were filled with water rather than lava, and they were curved rather than jagged. They were also much less distinct. They didn’t look that similar Twilight realised, but there had to be a reason to connect Nightmare Moon to here, so she had resorted to symbolism.

The lander weaved its way between mountaintops. In the valleys, the thick canopy was occasionally pierced by broken spires and ruined towers.

Something entered the peripheral of Twilight’s warp sight. She almost missed it over the cacophony of the lander, but something at the surface was radiating warp energy. She scanned the horizon to look for the source just in time to see something flash on the surface.

The interior was suddenly lit with a deep red glow followed by the sound of metal shearing. The lander lurched to the side and Twilight felt her stomach go light.

“Pilot, what’s happening?”

“The left wing’s been hit. I can land it, but it’s going to be a bit bumpy.” A soft chime sounded and a small symbol of a belt lit up. “Safety first,” Rainbow added, somewhat grimly.

Rarity briefly looked as if she was considering the benefits of a violent crash landing.

The canopy quickly approached.

The lander clipped a tree as they dipped below the treeline, twisting the lander so Twilight’s window was now facing forwards. It was lucky the lander didn’t rely on aerodynamics to stay airborne. With a roar, the landing thrusters activated as the ship touched down with an uncomfortably loud thud, sliding across the muddy ground.

Twilight carefully pulled herself back upright in her seat and collected her thoughts. She braced for something else to happen, for something to explode, or somepony to start shooting, but nothing did. The atmosphere outside was almost peaceful as the engines turned off. She even thought she could hear real birdsong.

They were stuck in the middle of an endless forest though.