Peace and Isolation

Chapters

Ch.2- Threshold Reactions
Ch.3- Contact at Ponyville
Ch.4.1- A Turian among Ponies
Ch.4.2- Country Negotiations
Ch. 4.3- Adorable Xenos (fear them)
Interlude- Imperator Omni-Occulis
Ch. 5.1- Swords and Paramours
Ch. 5.2- Brutes, Marines and Futtershy in between
Chapter 5.3- The Meeting
Bonus Scene- Lyra and the Space Marines
Ch.6.1- How Pinkie Pie "persuaded" Councilor Sparatus
Ch. 6.2- A Green Beginning
The Battle of Appleoosa
Interlude 2- Deus Generis Humani et Luna Deo
Ch. 7.1- A Darkness in the Forest
7.2- A Slice of Life on the Battlefield
7.3 - Geth vs. Orks
Ch. 8.1 - Chaos Rising
Prologue: In the Woods
Ch.1- VIPs, God-Figures and Redemption

Ch.2- Threshold Reactions

Chapter 2: Threshold Reactions

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"Don't you hate it when some gay little song gets stuck in your head? I sure do…" -Anonymous

For those who travel between universes often, you may be able to track when exactly you enter a universe by feeling for the Threshold. For those who don't know, a Threshold is that strange, invisible line or area that marks off one world from another. Passing into a new world, you will experience a psychic broadcast, a Theme that will give you a brief understanding of what you're going into.

Each world has a different one: The Haloverse has Gregorian chanting, marked with images of vast Forerunner constructs. Mass Effect has a strange, ethereal drone, with a long montage of stars and planets. Warhammer is marked with a broad, orchestrate symphony, detailing many scenes of battle and woe. And as for the world of My Little Pony, well…

________________________________________

Each of the four ships that first came to Equestria hit the Threshold at the same time, and each of them going about their daily business, unaware of what was about to transpire.

On the Wrath, Inquisitor Creighton and Captain Lema were discussing contingencies on dealing with the xenos that had taken care of the Emperor. Magos Kriel was chanting in binary to a machine spirit in the engineering room. Lt. Osburran was with his troops, checking if all their weapons were fully operational for the 7th time. Gideon and Numitor were both reviewing the Codex Astartes, to see if there was anything in particular it said about dealing with xenos, and not having to kill them (in the entire history of the Space Marines, they have only worked with other xenos about three times).

The Road Not Taken and the Eternal Judgment went about their routines of keeping their ships running. Alan and Cassius were playing an ancient but still popular card game called "Texas hold 'em". N'tho settled himself by reading an even more ancient book called "Sun Tzu's the Art of War" (A fascinating read for militarily-minded Sanghelli). Overall, kind of boring for all involved.

And on the Normandy, everyone was doing what they always do when they were on long Mass Relay jumps. Miranda checked up with the Illusive Man about what was going on. Jacobs was checking all the weapons. Jack was brooding in the lower decks. Grunt was smashing crap in the garage. Tali was working with the engines. Thane was praying, Samara was meditating. Mordin was studying data from some project he was working on, and Garrus was doing “calibrations”, leaving Shepard to roam the ship, seeing how everyone was doing.

All this was going down when they hit…

________________________________________

A hot air balloon descended from into clouds…

A rainbow-colored streak raced across the sky, heading straight for a quaint, picturesque town…

The balloon landed in the middle of the town. All around it, the locals went about their business. The locals were equines- Ponies, that was the word that struck all their minds- all brightly colored and big-eyed, somehow being the definition of cuteness. Out of the balloon came a purple colored unicorn and a lavender colored dragon-thing. In front of the unicorn was a group of five other ponies…

A rainbow maned, cyan-colored Pegasus, cocky and sure, racing among the clouds…

A pink on pink pony, happy and sweet, inflating bubble gum…

A white unicorn, sparkling and dazzling, standing among a room of mirrors…

An orange pony with an actual Stetson cowboy hat, kicking an apple tree…

A yellow colored Pegasus, looking meek and adorable, giving a rabbit an apple, which it promptly devoured…

The purple unicorn, teleporting out of nowhere, having all the other ponies pose around her. The dragon-lizard thing blew green fire on a scroll, which then flew into a magnificent castle on a mountain. A majestic, regal equine with wings and a horn, opened the scroll, and gazed upon a picture of all the ponies in a group hug.

All the while, a cutesy, girly song was playing, sounding like this:

"My Little Pony, My Little Pony. Ah, ah, ah, ah…

My Little Pony. I used to wonder what Friendship could be,

Until you shared that magic with me;

Big adventure, tons of fun,

A giving heart, faithful and strong,

Sharing kindness, it's an easy feat,

And magic makes it all complete, yeah!

My Little Pony, you know you are my very best friend…"

________________________________________

Collectively, unaware that all the ships saw the same thing, the visitors snapped out of the vision, and all thought the same thought: What the Hell did I just see?

________________________________________

Emperor's Wrath

Date: Unknown M.42 (20 days relative to the ship, unknown to the Materium)

Thought of the day: Blessed is the mind too small for doubt.

The Imperial vessel exited the Warp, opposite side of the system from the Mass Relay. None of the Emperor's men could see it, however, as the windows were all sealed up. They wouldn't have cared, either. They had more pressing matters to attend to.

The leaders on the ship were back in the bridge, discussing what they saw in the vision. The opinion on it was evenly split: some of them thought that it was a work of Chaos, to put them in a false sense of security; others thought that it couldn't be Chaos-based, as something that cute couldn't possibly be made by the evils of the Ruinous Powers (Evil doesn't do cute).

"Whatever that vision was," The Inquisitor finally decided, "Is completely irrelevant now. As I'm sure you all are aware, we have arrived to the Emperor's location. Magos, bring up the holoscreen, please."

The tech-priest loaded into the holoscreen, which brought up footage of the star system. All the leaders looked, and all became confused.

"Inquisitor," Captain Lema asked, "Perhaps I'm looking at this wrong, but does it look like the sun is smaller than the planet?"

"It seems that way, Captain." Creighton responded, still squinting of the hologram. "It also looks like the sun is the same size as moon there."

"Are they… are they actually going around the planet?"

"Again, it looks that way. Unless the Magos here decided to grow a sense of humor."

"I assure you, Inquisitor," Kriel responded, "What you are seeing here is what is out there. Although it doesn't seem logical in the slightest bit."

"Perhaps we've entered a pocket universe in the Warp." This was spoken by Jericho Guiterra, the head Astropath of the Emperor's Wrath. The small, feeble old man had been part of the ship since becoming a Navigator when he turned sixteen. He had a scrawny white goatee, and a blindfold that covered his eye sockets - an unfortunate side effect of looking into the Astronomicon, and binding his soul with the Emperor. As the most experienced psyker onboard, his knowledge of the Warp was without question.

"The laws of the Materium," He continued, gesturing to the hologram (which he could see through his psychic powers), "May not be the same as our own. Thus, stars are smaller, gravity works differently, and things which we would consider impossible are normal day occurrences."

"Indeed." Creighton mused, putting that little bit of information in the back of his mind. But, continuing on, he asked, "Jericho, can you pinpoint where on the planet's surface the Emperor is?"

The Navigator took a step closer to the holoscreen, and pointed to the middle of the central continent. "Around here," He described, "Towards the northern hemisphere. I'm also detecting a few other really powerful psykers there as well. Must be the xeno gods that He mentioned."

He was quiet for a moment, as if deep in thought. "Huh," He grunted, "I'm picking up a lot of minor psyker minds down there. A lot of them. I think… I think there may be an entire race of psykers down there."

Creighton's stomach turned cold. An entire race of psykers? Xenos with their own gods, possibly on par with the Emperor? This was sounding more and more like a new kind of Eldar by the minute, making this job all that much more complicated.

Mendel leaned back in his chair, squeezing the bridge of his nose. "If anyone has any opinions on the matter, I'm more than willing to listen."

Lieutenant Osburran spoke up. "The Emperor didn't say whether or not these gods had physical bodies or avatars. Maybe they aren't a threat to us."

"Furthermore," Captain Gideon put in, "From the images here, it doesn't appear like the xenos are all that advanced. Maybe pre-industrial, at best."

"Indeed," Captain Numitor also said, "All we have to do is demonstrate our superiority, and they'd worship us as gods themselves. Do something like blow up a mountain, fly over their cities, slay their best warriors, something mundane like that."

Mendel smiled. "You know," He declared, "That might actually work. That actually sound like the perfect plan." He turned to the captain. "Lema, I want you to-"

The Inquisitor didn't finish his sentence, as the tech-priest and the psyker became possessed.

One moment, they were listening intently to their comrades, the next they were seizing up, as an unknown force began to take control. The blindfold on Jericho burned away, and the eyes sockets on both he and Kriel started glowing with white orbs. The Space Marines and Guardsman, fearing they had been possessed by daemons, drew their guns and chainswords to dispatch them.

"Do not shoot, but listen, Warriors of Humanity!" The possessed men spoke together, in a voice both musical and powerful. The Astartes, the Guardsman, the Inquisitor- everyone on the bridge- stopped what they did, and looked upon them. Only one person alive could speak with that voice…

Everyone went down to their knees, murmuring "Ave Imperator". His spirit was in their presence, managing to both control a psyker and a tech-priest.

Speaking in a calmer voice now, the Emperor continued, "I have listened to your plans, my children, and I must tell you now; Acting against the xenos in violence and arrogance is the worst possible thing you could do, and something I will not let come to pass. So, I would like to have your word of honor, that you would give the respect and honor to these xenos that you would your brothers."

The men of the Imperium felt intensely conflicted. For thousands and thousands of years, humanity had taught itself to fear and hate the alien, the non-human. In all its history, experiences with the Eldar, Tyranids, Orks and Tau, nothing good ever came from working with xenos. A good alien was a dead alien.

But, more importantly, humanity had also spent thousands and thousands of years learning to worship and obey the Emperor. To some, He was a literal god. To others, He was a hero by the truest definition, keeping mankind alive and together through its darkest hours. If it was decreed that the Emperor wanted something, the Imperium would move the very galaxy to get it.

Thus, each and every one of the crew and passengers onboard gave their oath that they would not kill the xenos unless provoked, and that they would treat them with respect in the Emperor's name. Even the Inquisitor gave his word, although he asked, "But, My Lord, why can't we show them our might? Why can't we just come and get you?"

"I will explain that in due time, Inquisitor Creighton." The Emperor spoke again, "But now, I must enlighten you on what to expect when you come down."

The possessed tech-priest tapped away at the controls of the holoscreen, and the image of the system was replaced by the image of an equine creature from the vision. It was big-eyed, brightly colored, and had a cute, naïve, innocent smile on its face.

"This is a Pony." He continued, "They are the most prolific race on this world, which is called Equestria. There are three variations of this Race: Earth Pony, Pegasus, and Unicorn." The hologram Pony changed with the last two, having wings for the second one, and a horn for the last one.

"This is Princess Celestia and Luna." The image of two horse-like ponies popped up, a tall white one and a smaller dark blue one. They both had wings and horns. "They are both rulers of this world, and the goddesses of the sun and moon. They were the ones who have given me my new body, and to whom I owe an enormous debt to."

"I do not want to cause them or their people any unnecessary trouble. Therefore, when you come to get me, the shuttle you come in will land in a place called the Everfree Forest." A map of the region appeared, and an arrow pointed to a large forest on the eastern side. "This place is considered wild and treacherous to the locals, and will not have a large population to see you."

"When you land, there is a town to the west. It is called Ponyville. In it, you will meet a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle." A purple unicorn with a six-pointed star on its flank appeared. "She is an apprentice of Celestia, and shall be our representative and guide among the locals. And when it is time to collect me, she and the Princesses will bring you to me."

"Go forth, my children. I await your arrival."

And with that, the Emperor released Jericho and Kriel, both visibly awed by the ordeal. The Inquisitor regained some of his composure, and ordered in a shaky voice, "Captain Lema, set a course for 'Equestria'. I think we follow the Emperor's plan from here."

"Indeed, Inquisitor. Indeed…"

________________________________________

UNSC Road not Taken

June 23rd

The people of Halo tried to deal with the vision as best they can. Not an easy thing to do, as they didn't have the least idea on what they experienced. For the most part, everyone, both on the Road not Taken and the Eternal Judgment pretended that they didn't see anything, and continued whatever they were doing.

There was only one indication that the vision happened: Everyone, and I mean everyone, had that earworm of a song stuck in their head. The Grunts would dance to it, the Jackals would whistle it, and the Hunters, Drones and Engineers would hum it in their strange, alien languages.

This led to mixed reactions among the rest of the crew. Some people, like Alan and Cassius, happened to like the song, and would occasionally join in. Others, like N'tho, couldn't stand it, and were slowly being driven mad by it.

"For the love of the Forerunners!" He shouted one night, before they arrived in the system, "Please stop singing that goddamn song!"

"Oh, come on, N'tho," Cassius demurred, "It's not that bad a tune. You're just overreacting."

"I've always thought that suicide has been the coward's way out," He countered, "But after hearing that for 2 days nonstop, I want to take myself to an airlock and launch myself into the void."

"Mah Lil' Pony, Mah Lil' Pony…" Vasquez sang, continuing his irritating rampage. The Sanghelli bellowed in frustration, and started smacking his head with a data pad to smash the song out of his head, much to his comrades' amusement.

Finally, after a longer than anticipated journey through slipspace, the two ships exited out. When they reentered real space, they popped out behind a large planetary mass, presumably a moon. As the ships began to move out of the umbra, most soldiers and staff not busy maintaining the ship went to whatever windows that were available, eager to see their destination.

Alan, Cassius and N'tho went to the hangar, where the doorway was sealed with plasma shielding (a technological gift from the CAR to all new ships), allowing transparency and breathable atmosphere. Slowly, like an excellent cinematic for a video game, the moon fell away, and the full system came into view. What they saw dumbfounded them.

"Why is that star so small?" Cassius asked rhetorically, almost knowing that no one could possibly answer him.

"How can that planet be bigger than its sun?" Vasquez wondered. "N'tho, yah think it might be Forerunner work?"

"Possibly," The Sanghelli mused, "If anyone has the power to do that, it would be them. I can't think of anyone else it could be."

The view was quite spectacular, and warranted them looking for most of half an hour. The planet itself was beautiful; two large continents spanning most of the globe, all different shades of blue and green and brown. No pollution, no development, no signs of destruction. It was a virgin world if ever there was one.

Later that day, all the soldiers onboard both the Road not Taken and the Eternal Judgment were summoned to their respective briefing rooms, getting the low-down on the planet as the ships went into orbit around the planet.

Scans of the planet indicated that there was indeed a civilization down there. Somewhere between medieval and early industrial; Tier 6 civilization, nothing too advanced. Building dimensions pointed to the inhabitants being between three and five feet tall. The only weird thing about this world were the clouds; they hardly ever moved, and when they did it was at a remarkably high speed.

But, more importantly, the position of the Master Chief had been located on the planet. The only caveat to this was that, apparently, he was inside a mountain underneath a castle- How the hell that even happened, no one could guess; probably slipspace related. With the advent of discovering a new race, the rescue and recovery mission had turned into a stealth op and first contact assignment.

Captain Mark Brogan of the Road not Taken and Ship Master Thar 'Valuum of the Eternal Judgment had a brief discussion on how to proceed. It was eventually concluded that, to avoid scaring the locals, the landing squad would land on the outskirts of civilization, by one of the large forests near the castle. And the landing team would be small; 2 Pelicans and a Phantom, carrying a total of 50 troops.

Three squads were selected, including Alan's unit. However, when the Ship Master learned that N'tho and Cassius were also onboard, he made a request that they accompany the humans down to the planet (probably to do some kind of switcheroo on the surface. Ex-Covenant races were still just a bit leery about being around humans too much).

As the two ships began heading for the north pole of the planet, the squads began prepping for the drop. But really, nothing they could do could prepare them for what they were going to experience down there…

________________________________________

SSV Normandy

September 7th, 2285

The reactions to the vision onboard the Normandy were as varied and different as the crew members onboard.

The majority of the crew, having just been experimented on by the Collectors, think it was a latent effect from the experiments, go to Dr. Chakwas for examination (who herself thinks she may not be in the right state of mind either).

Miranda and Dr. Solus, both experienced with mental psychosis, tried to rationalize and explain what they saw, coming up with any number of theories that could explain the vision (most of them involving the Protheans and the Reapers, who were the only other races they knew that dabbled in psychic communication). But nothing they came up with could properly explain the bizarreness of the vision.

Jacobs ignored it, not finding any particular reason to dwell on it. Jack and Grunt, always the more combative and short-minded of the team, quickly drowned out the tune by breaking stuff in the garage. Tali thought it was kind of cute, until she found herself absent-mindedly drawing the ponies while working in Engineering.

Thane and Samara believed it was somehow a message from their respective gods, a sign of great change for the ship, and possibly the galaxy. Matt Shepard, having been at the receiving end of mind-bending visions, tries to analyze it, thinking that it may have some kind of cryptic message hidden in it.

And Garrus…

After receiving the vision, Garrus immediately went back to his cabin. Making sure that no one else was around, he activated his personal computer, and opened his private files; the video files of "My Little Pony", seasons 1-5.

He didn't watch a particular episode, but rather focused on the opening theme, setting it on loop. He watched it about ten times, scrutinizing every detail. After the last loop, he had an epiphany that hit him like a ton of bricks.

The vision he saw was beat-for-beat a copy of the opening sequence of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic."

By the Spirits, He thought, falling back into his chair, looking at his scar with new understanding, What have we gotten ourselves into now?

The next day, the Normandy finally exited out of transit. The receiving Mass Relay, looking just like the one they jumped on, was on the edge of a small, strange star system. From the get-go, they realized this was no ordinary system.

"Uh, Commander," Joker spoke as Shepard approached the bridge, "Is it just me, or is that tiny star going around that planet?"

"That observation is quite correct, Joker." EDI answered, "The planet is about 1.19 times the size of Earth, while that star is about .095% the size of Sol. Although how that doesn't make it a radioactive neutron star, I have no data to explain it."

"Can you pick up anything else about this place?" Shepard asked.

"I've been scanning the planet, Commander. So far, I'm detecting high levels of rare earth materials all over the surface."

"Like what? Palladium? Platinum? Element Zero?"

"All of them and 127 more."

"Seems like we struck pay dirt, Shepard." Joker told him.

"Anything else you can see?"

EDI continued, "Visual scans of the planet indicate there may be some development by an unknown alien civilization. However, I cannot determine how advanced this culture is, as I'm receiving high levels of interference all over the place."

"What kind of interference?"

"I can't identify it. There seems to be high levels of energy saturating the system. I have no data entries that can identify it, although it seems somewhat familiar to electromagnetic disturbances."

Shepard looked out the window, gazing upon this virgin world. So green, so peaceful. Hard to believe that it was on the other side of a Mass Relay with the Collectors. But, if this world was truly untouched, it would fall to Shepard and his crew to make the first contact, and not have it go like the Rachni wars.

"EDI, Joker," Shepard ordered, "Set us on course with that planet. Its time I put my feet back on the ground."

"Aye aye, Commander." Joker replied. The ship's engines kicked on again, and began heading for the strange planet, completely oblivious (as the others were) that they weren't the only ones heading for this globe…

________________________________________

Ponyville, Equestria

3 years A.N.

1 month after Trixie and Gilda's return

Spike, the only dragon in Ponyville -and Twilight's personal assistant- was walking down the street, unaware that he had been marked. He had been sent to the post office to get a package from Baltimare, something that Twilight had ordered for some new spell she was working on. She was still busy working on the preparation for the spell with Trixie -it still baffled him that the show-off unicorn had done a complete 180 on her personality- so she sent the always reliable Spike to go collect.

Not that he minded being a servant boy. He had lived with Twilight Sparkle since she was a filly and he was a hatchling. Hay, she actually hatched him for her entrance exam into Celestia's school, and became the Princess's own protégé. Working for the purple unicorn was always… interesting, but also fulfilling. And with her current circle of friends also being his friends as well, it all worked out.

At this moment, Spike was carrying the box from the post office back to the tree house library that they lived in, when out of nowhere (as she often does), Pinkie Pie showed up.

"Hey there, Spikey Wikey." She said in that singsong voice of hers.

"Oh, hey Pinkie." He returned. It slightly grated him when ponies called him by that nickname. Only one pony -Rarity, his crush since coming into Ponyville- could say it with impunity.

"What'cha got there?" She asked. She walked with him, staying to his right, and glancing up to the sky every now and then.

Spike immediately got suspicious, but told her, "Just getting some mail for Twilight. She's working on some… future-seeing spell or something."

"Another spell," The party pony giggled, "I know that she and Trixie are the Princesses' students, but you'd think they would have a break every now again for a party."

"Pinkie, you think everyone should party all the time."

"Well, am I wrong? Aren't my parties' fun?"

"Sure they are. Its just… well, don't you think you have them a little too often?"

Pinkie's constant smile lowered slightly. "What makes you say that, Spike?"

Spike slowed his pace, thinking on how to put what he wanted to say. "Well, do you remember when you wanted throw an after-party for Gummy the day after you threw his birthday?"

"And everyone was avoiding me, and I got suspicious and thought they didn't like me anymore, and I interrogated you and made you say what I wanted you to say, and went crazy?"

"Uh… yeah?"

"But then it turned out that they weren't avoiding me, but were throwing me a surprise birthday party, and Twilight wrote a friendship report to the Princess about trusting your friends and stuff?"

"You know what, forget I said anything."

"Okie-dokie-lokie. And Spike, watch out for that puddle."

"Wha- AAAAUUGH!"

Unbeknownst to Spike, Pinkie had secretly guided him into the puddle, which just so happened to be underneath a perfectly placed thunder cloud. On top of said cloud, a Pegasus activated the lightning bolt inside, which hit the puddle and gave the dragon a nasty little shock. The box went flying, and Spike dropped to the ground. Fortunately, dragons are pretty durable, and he was only a little singed and shocked.

Gilda and Rainbow Dash poked their heads above the cloud, and with Pinkie, broke into uproarious laughter at another well-played prank. "Oh, boy," The griffon laughed, "You should've seen the look on your face. Freakin' priceless!"

"Totally," Dash chuckled, "You must've gotten 3 feet of air! Perfect timing."

"Yeah, yeah," Spike replied, dusting himself off, "You girls got me g… Oh crap!" The baby dragon looked up, leapt across the puddle, and caught the package midair. When he came back down, he did a cool (if unnecessary) spinning roll, saving the box from harm.

The two ponies and griffon looked at Spike with disbelief, completely surprised to see that little stunt. Usually, the kid was something of a klutz, always dropping stuff everywhere and being the dragon version of Derpy. "Wow, Spike!" Pinkie cried out, "I've never seen you move that fast!"

"Dang, little dude." Dash declared, "I've known you for 3 years, and I've never seen you do anything like that."

Spike looked at the box, then himself, and then the sizable puddle he leapt over. He smiled, proud of his achievement. "Yeah, that was pretty cool."

"I tell ya," Gilda said, "When you finally grow your wings, you should join up with us. The Wonderbolts are much more open with membership nowadays."

"Yeah, well, I'll keep that in mind. In the meantime, I'll see you girls later." He resumed walking to the library. Pinkie was following a short distance behind.

"Hey, Pinkie, where are you going?" Rainbow called out. "I thought we were going to some more pranking today?"

"Later, silly," The earth pony responded, "But we got to go over to Twilight's first."

"…Why?"

"Because the plot demands it, of course."

Gilda looked at her comrade. "It's been a month since I've been here, and she still acts loco. Does she have some condition or something?"

"Sure," Her rainbow-maned compatriot deadpanned, "It's called 'Pinkieism'. There's no known cure. Let's go make sure she doesn't burn something down or randomly break into song."

The griffon shrugged, and flew alongside her friend. Pinkie's randomness was a small price to pay to live in Ponyville.

In the past month, a lot had happened. Firstly, Rainbow Dash got accepted into the Wonderbolts. It was definitely one of the best days they've ever had, seeing her pull off a double Sonic Rainboom for them (even Dashie didn't know how she pulled it off). Now that she had her uniform, she practiced with the team every Tuesday and Thursday.

Secondly, Gilda and Trixie had been welcomed back into the town. They could go to Sugarcube Corner and not get dirty looks, or go to Sweet Apple Acres and not have apples thrown at them. Gilda had even been offered a spot on the local weather team, and Trixie was often seen wandering the town with Twilight Sparkle, fixing any minor disputes or problems.

And thirdly, friendships had been fixed. All the Elements of Harmony had befriended the former outcasts, along with their families and siblings (Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity having extensive families in town). Gilda and RB were back to the way they were before they first separated, and Trixie and Twilight seemed to get along as if they never were former enemies to begin with.

In general, this had been the best month ever for everyone.

They arrived at the library, finding Twilight glaring at the merry pranksters, Spike hiding in the kitchen with the box.

"What in the wide world of Equestria were you girls thinking?" She demanded, looking super pissed off. "Electrocuting Spike like that. That package could've been damaged, or worse, you could've really hurt him. I would've thought that you were all above such things."

The pranksters stood about awkwardly, slightly embarrassed. Gilda looked about the library for Trixie's support, but the azure unicorn was at Fluttershy's cottage to obtain further ingredients for the spell. Still, she tried to calm the situation.

"Aw, come on, Twi," She demurred, "Spike's borderline unbreakable. I've seen how he looks after going through your teleportation spells. Believe me, if he can come out of that only a little singed, he can handle some low voltage shocks."

"Yeah," Dash put in, putting her hoof on Twilight's shoulder, "Besides, you should've seen the way he caught your mail afterwards. It was so cool. If I didn't know better, I'd think that he was a ninja or somethin'."

"Totally," Pinkie practically squeaked with her high-pitched voice, "You haven't been showing any silly kung fu movies, have-"

Pinkie stopped mid-sentence, something she never ever did. The others in the library noticed, and looked at her, slightly perplexed. She had completely froze up, her mouth open for the next word. She stood there for a solid three seconds, not even breathing it seemed.

"Uh, Pinkie?" Rainbow asked, poking her ribs, "Are you-"

The earth pony's eyes rolled up to her skull, and she fell to the side, spazing and twitching like in a seizure.

Now, while the girls were frightened by this sudden turn of events, this had kind of happened before. The twitching was a sign of her Pinkie Sense, a bizarre ability that she had which allowed her to predict the future. This, however, was different. They had never seen it so fully controlling, so strong an attack. It was almost stroke-like in intensity.

"Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed, and the girls rushed to their friend. Spike poked his head out of the kitchen, curious as to what was happening. Remembering from a medical journal about holding down a convulsing pony to keep from hurting themselves, Twilight jumped on Pinkie. However, she forgot it said not to hold a pony down, and was promptly launched to the second floor. The party pony's blue eyes then became wide and fear stricken, as if beholding the most horrific scenes imaginable. She screamed, a scream so loud and bloodcurdling that it could be heard across town, and chilled the listeners to their very core.

Then, just as suddenly as it came, the attack passed, leaving her laying on the floor gasping for breath. She looked at her friends, looking scared and confused, as if not knowing where she was.

"Pinkie Pie," Dash hissed, mind reeling from the chain of events, "What the f$*k was that?"

"A doozy." She returned, sounding forced and dead, rather than her usual, happy and witty way of talking.

"Well, what's going to happen?" Gilda demanded. For her friend to have such a huge (and utterly creepy) burst, it must be something completely unimaginable.

Pinkie got up, shaking her head to banish some particularly bad visuals. Quick as a flash, she was back to her usual, perky self. "Oh, we're getting visitors tomorrow."

"Visitors?" Twilight repeated, rubbing her head as she finally got down the stairs. "What kind of visitors?"

"Offworlders, Twilight. Aliens are coming."

Their eyes went wide for a second, as her words registered to them.

"Wait, we're going to be visited by aliens? Alien-invader-type aliens?"

"No no, they're not here to take over. They're friendly. The aliens are here to get something, something important."

"Aliens are coming?!" Dash exclaimed, "That's so cool! I wonder what type of cool stuff they have, or what they look like."

"Yeah, totally." Gilda gave a nervous laugh, her mind returning to the armor in the glass container, the "Master Chief". Part of her wondered if these aliens were here to collect it. The rest of her, however, wanted to tell Trixie and the Princesses as soon as possible.

"Well, if you're certain the aliens are coming," Twilight said, "I should probably write a letter to the Princess to give her a heads-up."

"Don't worry, she already knows about them."

Twilight looked surprised, but probably should've expected it. After all, the Princesses look over the heavens, so they would know when anything was coming to Equestria. Gilda looked even more nervous, dead certain that these were definitely the aliens for the armor.

"Hang on a second," Spike interrupted, joining in the conversation, "Are these aliens evil? Why were you screaming?"

Pinkie lowered her head, looking both sad and scared. "It wasn't the aliens that made me scream," She whispered, barely audible, "It was what followed the aliens." She squeezed her eyes shut, a stray tear falling down her muzzle. "Hatred. War. Death. Things that nopony should go through…"

For being a library, Twilight's house had never been as quiet as it was that moment…

________________________________________

Canterlot, Equestria

The Silver Tomb

The Goddesses of Day and Night stood around the God of Man, looking at a projection of their star system with worry and apprehension.

Using their magical control of the sun and moon, Celestia and Luna were able to project everything that was under their celestial control. Which meant that they had perfect visuals of the four approaching starships.

"Okay," Celestia began, zooming in the projection to the three unidentified space vessels, "Let's see what these other visitors are."

The projection zoomed in on two vessels, both relatively close to each other, indicating they were part of a fleet perhaps. The largest one was ornate and stylized, tinted a pinkish chrome with a curvy design and extended "neck", aglow with many blue points of light. The smaller ship was stubbier, colored a metallic brown with scattered golden lights, clearly built more for function than form.

"These," Luna spoke, reading the banners on both ships, "Appear to be the… CAR Eternal Judgment and the UNSC Road not Taken." UNSC, Luna thought, That sounds a little familiar.

"And this," Celestia announced, zooming in on the tiny, black and white ship that came from the Object, "Is the SSV Normandy II. Looks pretty small for a spaceship, probably some kind of personal yacht. It certainly doesn't look very threatening, compared to the others."

Perhaps, Adam mused, But we can't judge these newcomers by their ship alone. Fortunately, I have enough power in me to look inside the ships, see what these strangers have. Allow me.

The projection moved back to the long ship, the Eternal Judgment. It became highlighted, as the Emperor began scanning the interior and its passengers. This would take a few moments, leaving the alicorns in silence. Celesta waited patiently, eyes locked on the projection.

Luna, however, had let her mind wander. In particular, her mind returned to memories of old, to when Royal Sisters first created the Silver Tomb…

X)(X)(X

Celestia, Luna and Discord stood in the newly finished chamber, preparations finally wrapped up for the ritual. It had taken many months of laborers toiling and constructing in secrecy, and then many more months of lacing the room with intense magic to get ready. To say they were eager to begin was an understatement.

It had been about 20 years since the children first met with the Emperor, and had taken up the mission of trying to help him. They searched the Canterlot Archives, searching for anything that might solve their puzzle, until the discovered the Enhanced Golem Spell. Basically, it was detailed instructions on how to create an artificial magical being, one capable of holding immense power. Possibly even the sheer mass of the Emperor's Spirit.

Luna stood at the edge of the massive bed, where the ritual's magic would be held. 20 years was a long time for mortals, but for her and her sister and friend, it had only been the span from childhood to adolescence. She was just starting to grow into her long legs and wings, her coat starting to go from the almost indigo color of youth into a darker midnight blue.

She turned to her sister, standing at the left side of the bed. "You ready, Celly?"

"Of course, Luna," Celestia replied, smiling and confidant, "Whenever you are."

She nodded. Luna had always been a little jealous of the sun goddess. Being older, taller, having all the ponies idolize her for raising the sun while her sister was shunned because of the night. Not to mention the always clean white coat and flowing pink mane that she effortlessly flaunted without even trying, making Luna feel…underwhelming in comparison.

"Pardon me, girls," Discord asked, a little annoyed, "Is there any particular reason why I have to be down here? After all, this ritual only required two spell casters."

The Princesses sighed, having to deal with the one boy in the room. Discord was, for all intents and purposes, the ultimate misfit. He was a Draconequus, the dragon equivalent of an alicorn. But while the alicorns were the perfect embodiment of all the best qualities of pony-kind, he was a mutated chimera. He had the body of a pony, wings of a bird and dragon, arms of a lion and eagle, mismatched eyes, horns and teeth, all differently colored and sized, with the attitude of a mischievous prankster and a deadpan snarker.

Obviously, when he was hatched, he didn't stay long among his kind, as his looks, early magical powers and mischievous personality made dragons hate him. Fortunately, Celestia found him hiding in the Royal Gardens, and "adopted" him. Luna found him to be a little irritating herself, but Celly seemed to find him pretty endearing. Which is why, at times when Discord was causing them trouble, Luna let her sister take care of him.

Like now, for instance.

"Discord," Celestia soothed the complaining Draconequus, "We've been over this before. The spell was originally meant for making golems and holding mortal spirits in a body. This is meant for a god. The spell was intended for a pony's small shape. This is for a much larger, more powerful human. And most importantly, the spell was intended for just magical energies. We're working with our magic and Adam's 'Warp magic'. So, since you're the only one of us who even has Warp powers, you are probably the most important part of this ritual."

"I just don't see why I have to help that guy," Discord protested, "He doesn't even like me."

"Nonsense!" Celestia countered, "Of course He likes you. That's why He let you join the ritual."

In all fairness, they were both right. Adam didn't like Discord when He first met him. When Luna made their first introduction, Luna picked up feelings of loathing and disgust, and heard Him say something like "Chaos Daemon". For the most part, they didn't speak to each other, and at times it seemed as if Adam was tempted to just reach out and destroy Discord. But, after many talks with the sisters, He finally decided that Discord wasn't a threat, and may even be somewhat helpful in the future.

This ritual was, if anything, a test of Discord's trustworthiness.

The "Spirit of Disharmony", as he would later be known, sighed, and said, "Fine, I'll help. But only 'cause you asked me so nicely." He smiled at her with that lopsided grin of his, snaggletooth and all. Celestia returned in kind, and the two of them had the strangest look in their eyes.

Why are they looking at each other like that? Luna wondered, looking at the both of them. They couldn't be getting all lovey-dovey or anything, could they? The way they fight all the time? They're like flippin' cats and dogs!

"So," Luna spoke up, breaking the moment, "Uh, are we ready to begin now?"

"Sure thing, Woona," Discord said, using Luna's annoying filly-hood nickname, "Let's get this show on the road. Bring in Skeletor."

Luna began focusing, feeling the local space for His presence.

Adam. Adam, can you hear me?

X)(X)(X

Luna. Equestria to Luna, can you hear us?

The Night Princess snapped out of her reverie, and looked back to her sister and the Emperor.

"Oh, sorry," She apologized, "What were saying?"

I was just about to tell you about the aliens on the Eternal Judgment.

"Oh, yes, of course. What did you find?"

A lot, actually. The ship is definitely xeno. Not a human on the whole thing. Seems pretty Tau-like, though, as they have multiple species running it.

"Can you show us what the aliens look like?"

Definitely. Come, see.

The Princesses then received mental flashes of all the aliens onboard, an image accompanied with a weird, nonsense word that was probably what they called themselves. Names like "Sanghelli", "Jiralhanae", "Uggnoy" and "Kig-Yar", to name a few. They were ugly bastards, too: mandible-mouthed, monkey-looking, squat and blue-skinned, birdlike and wide-eyed - a straight-up freak show, it seemed like.

After showing all the aliens Adam told them, Now I shall scan this Road not Taken, see what they are up to. The projection moved to the stubby brown ship, again highlighted as it was scanned. Luna returned to the memory, but only with half her mind, so to still be aware of what transpired around her…

X)(X)(X

Adam, can you hear me?

Of course, Woona, The Emperor chuckled, I've been right here the whole time.

Luna bit back a giggle. For whatever reason, when Celly or Discord called her that, it irked her. But when Adam said it, she thought it was the sweetest nickname ever.

She looked up at the ceiling, and saw a small orb of blue light hovering above them. This was how He managed to manifest Himself among the Equestrians, projecting an infinitesimal portion of His power across the multiverse.

"There He is, Celly." She announced, pointing to the manifestation.

Celestia looked at the Spirit, and smiled that winning smile of hers. "Are you ready, my friend?"

I'm ready when you are, my dear, The Emperor answered. He then lowered himself to Discord's face, glowing more intensely. The real question, however, is whether you are ready, Discord.

The Draconequus grimaced. "Of course I'm ready, Skeletor." He snapped, standing straighter over the orb. "Would I be here if I wasn't?"

Maybe not, Daemon. But you still haven't given me any reason to trust you yet. I just want to be sure that I don't have my new form corrupted before I even enter.

"How many times must I tell you?!" He shouted, offended at another accusation, "I'm not a Daemon! I wouldn't harm anypony or anything!"

We'll see about that. Remember, I can see everything. And the truth has a way of revealing itself at interesting times.

"Can we PLEASE get on with this?" Celestia snapped, frustrated with the continual bickering.

My apologies, Celestia. Please, proceed.

The alicorns' horns began to glow, encircling many of the intricately carved gems on the bed. These gems -Fire Rubies, sapphires, emeralds of the highest quality- were all carved by the Princesses with magic, shaped into the various bones of the human body. The goddesses arranged them into the shape of a 9-foot skeleton, from the tiniest metacarpal to the skull itself.

As the gem-bones were arranged, Celestia, Discord and Luna infused them with magical and Warp energies, allowing them to retain the spiritual powers of the Human God. Kind of like how engineers work on a USB chip to retain programs on a computer. Except that, for a better comparison, this was like downloading the most advanced and powerful AI program ever into a potato.

The skeleton and the spell, as mentioned earlier, are made to retain huge amounts of energy. However, the Emperor is well known to be the most powerful psyker/ magical entity that ever lived. And, compounded with the little detail that the Golden Throne only needed one psyker a day to function, He gains the powers of 999 psykers each and every day, making him even more powerful.

(In fact, it's often been speculated in the Warhammerverse that, should the Throne fail, and the Emperor die, His Apotheosis would make Him the strongest of all Chaos Gods. And, naturally, the resulting Warp Storm made from that would make the Birth of Slaneesh during the Age of Strife look like a small rainstorm in comparison.)

After about 5 minutes, the bones were properly arranged, and infused with enough energy to stand the strain of holding His Spirit…

X)(X)(X

Ah, here are the humans.

The Princesses looked back at the Emperor, as He finished His scans.

"Other humans?" Luna asked, "Do you think… are they from the same place as the 'Master Chief'?"

One in the same. In fact, both they and the xenos are here for him. Seems that he's quite the heroic figure among them.

"Splendid." Celestia declared, "I'm sure they'll be quite happy with us, when we give him back."

They'll be even happier when they find out he's still alive. Poor fools went on a mission to recover a dead hero, only to find he was only taking a nap.

"Are they dangerous?"

Only if you give them a reason to. They didn't come to fight, and only want to pick up the Spartan. That's what they call him, by the way.

"And what about the Normandy?"

Let me see.

Again, He scanned the ship, and Luna returned to the old ritual…

X)(X)(X

The Emperor's projection, roughly 1/billionth of his total power, tentatively began entering the crystalline skeleton, like a child putting his toes in the water for the first time.

Tendrils of energy came off the Warp orb, slithering into the bones, making them glow with their own illuminations. Magical symbols and markings, made to protect the form from damage, lit up as the spirit energy filled up each vessel. For Adam, it was a strange sensation; although being close to omnipotent and omnipresent in His galaxy, He never had experienced His physical body being two places at the same time.

But He was pleased. This was the first step to saving The Imperium, saving Humanity. It was strange, that the galaxy's ultimate hope resided not with mighty warriors or wise and cunning inquisitors, but a trio of xeno god-children.

When the projection had fully merged into the skeleton, the eye sockets of the skull lit up with golden light. The Emperor gazed upon the alicorns and Draconequus, and with a tone of gratitude, He said, Well done, my friends. I believe that the ritual was a success.

Luna jumped with joy, cheering like a little kid. Discord manifested his trademark cotton-candy-chocolate-rain cloud, partaking in a little snack after doing his part. Celestia just smiled, knowing it was a job well done.

"Thank you, Adam," Celestia returned, "Now, how long will it take to finish the job."

That, my dear, is the big question. You have given me an anchor on which to start depositing my soul. However, it will take some time to finish, considering how much power I have, and how much I keep gaining.

"How long, Adam?" Celestia pressed.

If I were to constantly add energy to this form, as much as I could safely put in without overloading it, I could have it done in… around 3'000 years.

The god children heard this, and just stared at Him.

I know it seems like a long time-

"Three THOUSAND years?!" Discord shouted. "We may be immortal, but we don't like waiting around THAT long, you know!"

Believe you me, Discord, it's longer on my side. While you three have been searching around for that spell for 20 years here, I have been sitting on a chair for 50 years. At that rate, it'll be 11'000 years before I can get out. The machine may not even last that long.

"We understand, Adam," Celestia put in, "It's just…we're only 100 years old ourselves. So, imagining that we'll have to watch over you for that long a time is… well, a little much for comprehend."

I realize that, 'Tia. I'm not being ungrateful, I'm just letting you know what you have to prepare for.

"It's okay, Adam," Luna spoke up, "We'll wait for you to grow your new body. In the meantime, maybe you can help us be better Princesses."

Oh?

"Yeah. You've been alive for, what, forty thousand years? I'm sure you've learned all kinds of things about ruling and leadership. Maybe, to pass the time down here, you can teach us a few tricks."

You know, Luna, that's actually a wonderful idea. Now that I think about it, it's been awhile since I've had someone to talk to about statesmanship that wasn't taking my orders.

The Emperor became silent, directing His next message to Luna alone. This would become the most important thing He ever said, and the most important thing she ever heard.

Between you and me, Luna, that's why I like you more than your sister. You've always been the smart one of the bunch.

Luna blushed quite profusely, getting odd looks from Celly and Discord. That was the nicest thing anyone had ever told her…

X)(X)(X

Luna thought back to that moment, and realized that was moment that started her little crush on the Emperor. Its funny how such a small act of kindness could lead completely changing how you look at a person. He may not have known it, and may still not know it, but Adam had stolen her heart.

She would've told Him ages ago, if given a chance of success. On Equestria, interspecies romances were not unheard of or looked down upon. If a gryphon and a Pegasus wanted to be together, or a dragon and a unicorn, there was really nothing stopping them from doing so. Hell, she was pretty sure that Celestia and Discord had a fling before he got turned to stone.

But, she didn't. It wasn't so much that she didn't think He would accept (although Luna never asked Adam what He thought about Equestrian ways), so much as that she knew His people never would. "Suffer not the xeno to live", and all that. He could push them to not kill all the ponies when they arrived, but He wouldn't make them try to allow intermingling. Luna understood, and suffered in silence.

Adam had just finished His scan of the Normandy, and chuckled.

Ah, this is an interesting one.

"How so?"

A couple of things. It's a ship made by a secretive terrorist group, piloted by a galactic hero. There are a couple xenos onboard, but all serve as the hero's entourage. The ship itself has few weapons, but the crew has weapons all over the place. They have psychic soldiers that aren't psykers, almost like your subjects. But the funniest part is that one of the xenos is a fan of your people.

The sisters exchanged a look. "What do you mean by that?"

I'll have to explain that at a later time. However, the point is that out of all the coming ships, this particular ship is the least threatening.

"So," Celestia asked, "Should I still go through with the plan? Let the other nations know?"

Might as well. You can't keep this thing secret for long. And, more importantly, we should all get ready for when They show up.

"Very well. I'll make a few calls." Celestia teleported out, leaving Luna with the Emperor.

Here's your chance, Luna thought desperately, Tell Him how you feel before it gets too crazy, while you still have a chance!

"So, uh, Adam," She started, having no idea how to say what she wanted.

Yes? The Emperor questioned.

Luna looked into His eyes, the golden orbs now a startling shade of cerulean. She could feel the absolutely immense psychic presence, which made even Chaos Gods think twice before troubling Him. And she noticed, for the first time, the barest hint of a smile, which could teach Celestia a lesson or two.

She saw all this… and completely chickened out.

Covering for herself, she said, "How's your body feeling?"

Adam could tell that that wasn't what she was originally going to say, but decided not to press it. Its feeling wonderful, He answered, I've put enough of my power in here to live again. In a little more than a month, I'll finally be walking.

Luna smiled, and risked putting a hoof on His arm. "I can't wait to see that."

Neither do I.

With that, the Princess took her leave, teleporting out. The Emperor's fingers twitched, almost making a fist. Indeed, He mused, Almost ready…

Ch.3- Contact at Ponyville

Chapter 3: Contact at Ponyville

________________________________________

"If any of you [soldiers] wanted to see an alien up close and personal, today's gonna be your lucky day."- Srgt. Mjr. A.J. Johnson, veteran of Halo 04

Airspace above Equestria

June 24th, 0750 hours

It was just the break of dawn as the three drop ships began their descent. Two UNSC Pelicans and a newly upgraded CAR Phantom entered the atmosphere as a trio of contrails in the morning light. Coming from the east, only a few scattered monsters from the Everfree Forest happened to see them. By the time they approached the edges of civilization, the ships were at low altitude, and had fully engaged their stealth systems. These systems, put in about 2 years ago, fully masked visible and infrared light, as well as muffled any sound made from the engines.

They stopped over a clearing, about 2 kilometers east of the nearest settlement. Hovering at a safe distance near the ground, the three squads got off, setting foot on a new world. The away team was a mixture of all important races from their universe- 18 humans, 10 Uggnoy, 6 Sanghelli, 6 Jiralhanae, 5 Hame'e and 5 Kig-Yar. All the troops were only slightly armed, not wanting to scare away the locals with overwhelming firepower.

Among the teams were Alan, Cassius and N'tho. Vasquez was in the standard issue Mark IV Marine Armor, a suit heavily influenced by the ODSTs, complete with its own minor shield generator. Armed with a M392 DMR and M6G Magnum, he stood as the leader for both squads. His squad would be the one assigned to look for any possible entrance to the mountain, as the Chief's ship may have exited slipspace in a cave.

N'tho bore his specialized Spec. Ops armor. His red and silver suit was all pointed and angular, and his helmet covered his head in a three-pronged mask. But what made it so special was its active camo ability, rendering the user invisible for up to five minutes at a time. Armed with the old Covenant Carbine and the Energy Sword passed down from his ancestors, his squad of Sanghelli would be the forward scouts of the operation, keeping an eye out for any hostiles or friendlies (if there were any of either).

Cassius wore his gold armor, identifying him as the leader of the pack. Armed with a Spike Pistol and a Needle Rifle, he served as the leader for most of the CAR forces. The Grunts, Jackals and Drones, although capable of leading themselves when they had to, usually fell back to the old ways of the Covenant, which mainly involved just obeying the orders of Brutes or Elites, and promptly going crazy when they were killed.

As soon as everyone was on the ground, the Sanghelli troops turned invisible and filtered into the dense, almost jungle-like forest. The Drones took to the skies, hovering just over the treetops for aerial cover. The Brutes, Grunts, humans and Jackals all spread out, and began heading east through the forest, as the shuttle go back to their ships. They were on their own for now, the first humans and aliens on an unknown world.

________________________________________

Sweet Apple Acres, east of Ponyville

1 day after Pinkie's Attack

8:30 A.M.

Applejack stood on the porch of her house, enjoying the morning sun and scent of apples on the wind. Today was going to be a good day; she could feel it in her gut.

She looked over the entirety of her farm, and took pride in having the best apple farm in Equestria. It had actually been confirmed by the Princesses, when she was asked to cater for the Royal Wedding a few months ago. Although most of the accolades went to her, she knew that her harvest wouldn't be so amazing without her friends and family.

The Element of Honesty adjusted her cowboy hat as her brother, Big Macintosh, came outside beside her.

"Ready for another day's work?" She asked the big red stallion.

"Eeyep." He replied. Big Mac wasn't much of a talker.

"Looks like it'll be a bumper crop this year." The orange mare observed.

"Eeyep. Bigger than last year?"

"Much bigger. Ah may need to bring the girls in on this again."

"Can Ah help ya, big sis?" A little voice inquired.

Applejack looked down, and smiled at her little sister, Applebloom. "Sure, sugar cube," She told her, "We're going to need all the help we can get."

"Great," The yellow filly cheered, "Maybe I should bring in Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. That way, one of us can get a cutie mark in apple farming, or somethin'."

AJ shook her head. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, or the "Cutie Mark Crusaders", as they called themselves, were all dead set on discovering their cutie marks, their calling in life. A cutie mark was an image or symbol that appears on a pony's flank around adolescence, indicating their destiny and special talent. Since most fillies their age had already received their cutie marks, they were willing to try anything- even stupid stuff like paragliding or arguing- to get them. It was cute, in an annoying way.

"I'm sure you will, sis," AJ assured her, "In the meantime, we should probably get started on-"

"Oh my gosh," Applebloom cried out, eyes wide in astonishment, "What the Hay are THOSE?!"

Big Mac and AJ looked to where their sister was pointing, and gasped.

Over in one of their apple trees, five giant bug things were eating the fruits of their labor, devouring and collecting apples all over the tree. They were massive, easily the size of a pony, all green and brown and scaly, holding weird circle things that glowed green. They chattered to each other in insect-like screeches and squeals, acting remarkably intelligent.

But most of that didn't register to the Earth ponies. Two things did, though: 1), These were giant bugs, almost like parasprites or changelings, and 2), they were stealing and eating their livelihood. Something they had worked months upon months for absolute quality.

"Git away from mah trees, yah varmints!" Applejack cried out, charging the bugs with her siblings in tow. The insects looked at the fast approaching ponies, seeming quite puzzled. As if they've never seen talking ponies before. When the farmers reached the tree, Applejack and Big Mac went to kicking and bucking the tree, while Applebloom used her tail to throw rocks. The bugs flew into the air, nonplussed by the turn of events.

One of them pointed the metallic circle at them, as if to threaten them. But then another bug, this one painted red, screeched at it, making the bug lower its weapon. The five giant insects flew away, heading for the Everfree Forest, carrying off a hefty payload of apples. AJ wasn't going to let them get away.

"Come on, Big Mac," She said, eyes on the horizon, "Let's go get those rats with wings."

"Eeyep."

"I wanna git 'em, too, sis." Applebloom put in, looking rather excited.

"No, Applebloom," She countermanded, "You have to go git Twilight back in town. Somthin' tells me that these ain't ordinary bugs." While she did want her friends' help, she mainly wanted the little filly away from the farm. Those locusts looked like they could carry her off easily, and she couldn't live with herself if something happened to her.

Applebloom looked at the retreating Drones, and had the same thought go through her head. "Okay," She murmured, and ran off to town. Her older siblings continued galloping across their farm, unknowingly into the away team from the Haloverse…

________________________________________

Location unknown

0840 hours

Getting through the forest was intriguing, to say the least. This world had much in the way of… diverse flora and fauna.

Twice, the team had to stop, as the Sanghelli spotted two different types of mega fauna: One was a Hunter-sized feline creature, with vestigial bat wings and a scorpion's tail. The other was a six-headed lizard creature with no arms, easily the size of a 3-story building. Fortunately, the creatures never noticed the soldiers, and continued about their business.

After about half an hour, the soldiers found themselves out of the forest, and in what appeared to be some kind of orchard. The Drones were assigned to go scout ahead and look for local inhabitants, and quickly flew off. The Elites turned off their active camo, and joined all the other soldiers as they regrouped around the trees.

To Alan, these trees seemed oddly similar to apple trees. Very similar, in fact. Same general size, same shaped fruit, same colored fruit. They even smelled the same, as the scent brought back memories of his childhood farm in Kentucky. He said as much to Cassius and N'tho, who couldn't say anything on the subject because they've never seen an apple tree before.

"Ah tell ya, though," Vasquez continued, "The resemblance is uncanny." He brought out his combat knife, and began to peel the skin off the fruit.

"What're you doing?" Cassius asked, concerned. "You're not going to eat that, are you?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Because, human," N'tho hissed, "We're on an unexplored alien planet, with who knows what kind of biology and chemistry. For all we know, while that fruit may look like an apple, it may be more like a deadly fungus, and will kill you the moment you taste it."

"Oh, bitch please. This planet doesn't have any crazy biology. We're here talking without any hard suits or medical upgrades. This planet is just like a Forerunner installation: all pretty and clean, no health risks."

"Alan-"

Before either of them could stop him, the Sergeant took a bite out of the apple. Instantly, his eyes went wide, he staggered against the tree, and exclaimed "Oh, Holy Crap!" His friends rushed to him, holding him up. "Alan, you okay?" Cassius.

"Oh boy, am I." He groaned. That wasn't just an apple; that was the best damn apple he ever tasted. The sheer sensory overload from that one bite was almost too much. "Dudes, you gotta try this!"

Cassius took a bite, and had the exact same reaction with his apple. Other soldiers, watching this transpire, each took an apple from the trees, and were eating them ecstatically. The only ones not eating were the Grunts (who, being methane breathers, couldn't take off their rebreathers) and the Elites (who had mandible mouths, and were having difficulty biting into the fruit). The Drones returned at this time, carrying a large bag full of apples, which were to be taken back to the ships.

While everyone snacked, N'tho wondered aloud, "You know, this orchard seems to be pretty organized and extensive. You'd think the owners would be drawn to all our commotion."

"Yeah," Alan stated, "Where the hell are the natives?"

"Who're You and what're Y'all doin' on Mah farm?!" A voice demanded, angry and authoritative and completely unexpected. The team of soldiers drew their weapons on instinct, aiming at the source, and were completely dumbfounded at the sight of the aliens.

In front of them were two brightly colored equines, standing between 4 and 5 feet tall. The larger one was bright red in color, with green eyes and an orange mane and tail. The smaller one was a shade of orange, with the same green eyes and blonde-yellow mane and tail. They both had what appeared to be tattoos on their flank (the red one had a sliced apple, and the orange one had a three-apple design), and the little one had a very familiar looking Stetson cowboy hat. And both of them looked mightily pissed off.

From Applejack and Big Mac's perspective, it was like the worst denizens of Tartarus had escaped and raided their farm. At least 50 weird looking monsters were standing in front of her aiming some weird instruments at them. All these creatures were tall (for most ponies), bipedal, and wearing what appeared to be some kind of armor. They looked intimidating, but the Apple family wasn't the type that got scared easy.

So, Applejack repeated herself; "Ah said, What're y'all doin' here?"

A Sanghelli- no one knows who- then exclaimed, "By the Rings, it's a talking pony!" From that, the off-worlders broke out in uproarious laughter. Even the Uggnoy, who weren't much bigger than Applejack herself, joined in. Seeing something that small, that freaking cute, acting all tough and badass, was the funniest thing ever. Naturally, Applejack didn't take to kindly to that.

"Now, what's so darned funny? Its like you've never seen a pony before."

While the soldiers continued to snicker in a way uncharacteristic of them, Vasquez had a two-part realization. One, this unknown alien was somehow speaking reasonably good English. And secondly, what was actually more surprising, was how she spoke.

"Damn," He exclaimed, getting everyone's attention, "That thing is speakin' Mah accent!"

This got the aliens and other troops to stop laughing, and return to being professional. AJ used this moment to get to scold them. "Ah don't know where you fellas come from, but 'round these parts, fellas don't go around taking apples off a tree without asking or paying for 'em."

"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed, the first time he spoke so far.

The visitors looked at the trees, and the apples that they still held, and realized they had been raiding this native's farm. In the history of first contacts, there have been plenty that went better than this. But at least they hadn't shot each other yet, so this was still salvageable.

Vasquez, although not the commanding officer, took charge of the situation. "Ahem," He started, "Our apologies, miss…?"

"Name's Applejack," The orange pony (who definitely sounded feminine) told him, "This is my brother Big Macintosh, and this," She gestured to all the trees, "Is Sweet Apple Acres, home of the best apples in all of Equestria."

"I'll say!" A human called out from the back of the crowd. This was joined by a choir of "Damn straight!" and "Hell yeah!" The CAR operatives gave various grunts and whistles of their own approval. The earth pony looked away and smiled, properly flattered.

"Any way," Alan continued, silencing them, "Miss Applejack, we weren't aware that anyone owned this farm, and we will pay back all the apples we took today."

"Fair enough. Will you make those giant bugs of yours apologize too?"

Vasquez looked at the Drones, who were up one of the trees looking not the least bit guilty or caring. He'd have Cassius talk to them later.

"Sure," He answered, "In the meantime, is there someone nearby that we could talk to? Your leader, perhaps?" Later, Vasquez would say that was the only way he could avoid the cliché "Take me to your leader" trope. At least the ponies hadn't figured out they had weapons on them, yet.

AJ thought for a moment. The Princesses were way up in Canterlot, and she didn't trust Mayor Mare with a sack of beans. Her friend Twilight, however, had a direct line to Celestia, was close by, and was the smartest pony she knew. If anypony knew what to do in this situation, it would be her.

Smiling, she responded, "I know somepony you can talk to…"

________________________________________

Atmosphere above Ponyville

0900 hours

Cmdr. Matt Shepard, Miranda Lawson and Garrus Vakarian were onboard the automated shuttle, making their descent to the new world. It wasn't something necessarily new for the squad, as they had been on distant and undeveloped worlds before. But, still, any away mission held a tiny bit of excitement, the taste of discovery was always heavy in the air.

Scans of the planet had shown to have a breathable atmosphere, so the team didn't have to wear rebreather masks. However, having such a diverse and prolific biosphere probably meant there were lots of potential predators and mega fauna, so they still came fully armored and loaded. If worse came to worse, the team could always shoot and blast their way out of any sticky situation.

When the shuttle finally landed, Shepard looked to his comrades. "Ready?" He asked. "Ready." They both replied.

"Alright. Let's roll."

The shuttle door opened up, and the three fighters exited with guns raised. They got about five steps out before they stopped, utterly shocked by their surroundings.

The shuttle had landed in a forest clearing, relatively close to a small dirt road. What was weird was that the plants- the grass, the trees, even the flowers- all looked strange, almost… cartoony. Nearby, birds were chirping, not in a random manner, but almost as if they were a choir singing a tune. Even the air itself felt happy and carefree, if that was possible.

"Damn," Lawson observed, "Feels like I just walked onto the set of a Disney movie."

"Yeah," Garrus murmured his agreement, "Sure seems that way." He was silently freaking out, as he looked over his surroundings, more and more convinced that this world was the one he and thousands of other people used to see.

Get a hold of yourself, Garrus, He ordered himself, This isn't Equestria! Sure, the sun and moon are the same size, and everything looks almost animated, but that doesn't mean that you're on a kid's show turned real! There has to be a logical explanation to all this.

The Turian's thoughts were interrupted, as Shepard declared, "Well, you don't see that everyday." As the humans stared in wonder, Vakarian looked at the view, and his jaw dropped in amazement.

They reached the end of the forest, and the road had reached the top of a hill. It offered a breath-taking view of the entire region. Off in the distance, a magnificent castle-city resided on the side of a mountain, looking like the cover of a fantasy novel. Further off, floating in the air like an insult to logic and physics, was an entire city made of clouds. Some of them were even spewing rainbows like industrial waste.

Well, that confirms it. Garrus thought. That castle is Canterlot, that cloud city is Cloudsdale, and this world is Equestria. Mentally, he was on the verge of a panic attack and a nerdgasm, but the only sign of change was that he gripped his sniper rifle tighter.

"Huh," Lawson mused, "A castle on a mountain, a floating cloud city. All we need is a fire-breathing dragon or a wizard, and we have ourselves a fantasy world."

Shepard snickered. "Maybe they'll be a knight riding a unicorn further on, off to save a damsel in distress, or toss a ring into a volcano."

"Or a Pegasus breaking the sound barrier." Garrus wondered aloud.

"What was that?" Shepard asked.

"Nothing. We should get going."

The humans nodded, and the squad got moving again. But while Miranda and Matt were scanning the horizon, Garrus kept his eyes on the sky…

________________________________________

Rainbow Dash's house, north of Ponyville

8:55 A.M.

The sun was rising on another beautiful day in Ponyville. Light from Celestia's sun filtered through the window of Dash's house, settling on her face, and waking her from her slumber. Opening her magenta-colored eyes, she stretched and yawned, looking around her room as she tried to remember… something.

Something was supposed to happen today, She thought wearily, But what was it? What was it? She extended her wings, and began flying to the kitchen, when she realized that Gilda was sharing a spot on her bed. She stopped in midair, and tilted her head in confusion. How did that happen? I don't remember drinking or… anything like that happening last night.

Rainbow scratched her head, going over what happened yesterday. After Pinkie's outbreak, Trixie and Gilda sat her and Twilight down, and told them about how the Princesses selected them. A story about meeting in a forest, surviving a starship's crash, finding a suit of armor, and being found by the alicorns. While they trained under their tutelage, Celestia and Luna told them about the universe, and about the existence of aliens. They didn't know for sure, but Gilda felt that these visitors were coming for the armor.

Whatever the case may be, the four of them spent most of the night preparing for dealing with the aliens. They had talked until midnight, when Dash and Gilda finally went home. RD smiled as she finally remembered why the griffon was in her bed; It had rained a few days ago, and the guest room was still leaking. Dash allowed her friend to share the bed, just like they used to back during Flight School. It's actually pretty comfy, liking having a huge feathery pillow.

It was also where all those rumors of being a "filly-fooler", or a lesbian, originated from. It still pissed her off. Just because she had a rainbow mane and tail and was an athletic tomboy didn't mean she went that way (most of the time, anyway). Yeah, Gilda and her had a fling, but she was the only serious one and they didn't even go that far. She had been with just as many stallions -if not more so- than with mares (which is not as many as ponies would think).

She shook her head of those thoughts, and tapped the griffon's side. "Wake up, sleepyhead," Dash teased, "We've got work to do."

Gilda opened her eyes, seeing her favorite Pegasus hovering above her. She smiled, remembering the night before. "Do we have to get up now?" She moaned, "The sun just got up, and this bed of yours is hella comfy."

"I'm not a morning person either," Dash told her, "But we've got a long day ahead of us, and we need to get started."

The griffon stretched herself out, and rolled off the cloud bed. They went to the kitchen, having a small meal while keeping an eye on the sky. About five minutes later, they were both prepped and ready to head out.

They had opened the front door just in time to see a bright black-and-white object come down from the sky, landing out near the Everfree Forest. "Looks like its starting," Gilda announced.

"Was that what you saw?" Dash asked.

"Nope. The ship was much, much bigger, and much louder. I'll check it out."

"No," Rainbow protested, "I'll go. You need to go tell Twilight and Trixie that they've arrived. I can stay high, do a little spying, and be right back by the time you reach them. Besides," She took a pose, "I'm small and blue and the fastest Pegasus alive. They'll never see me or catch me."

Gilda couldn't argue with that logic, but still didn't feel okay with Dash going by herself. But, knowing her, she wouldn't let her come along anyway now. "Just be careful," She cautioned, "I'd hate to see you get hurt, and have to fly you all over town."

"Don't worry," Rainbow laughed, "I'll be fine." Giving her friend a quick peck on her forehead, she flew off, calling out "See you in twenty minutes!" Gilda watched her streak through the sky, and then began flying to Ponyville…

________________________________________

Location unknown

0915 hours

"What the hell is that?" Miranda pointed to a strange blue dot with a rainbow streak, fast approaching the trio. Shepard had a puzzled look on his face. "That's new."

Oh, crap, Garrus thought, Please don't be who I think it is.

The away team had been traveling on the road for a few minutes, observing the surrounding countryside. Although there were a few fences and scattered houses, there hadn't been any sign of intelligent life around. It had occurred to them that maybe most of the inhabitants may have been in town, having a religious service or festival of some kind. This object was the first indication of life they'd seen so far.

"Garrus," Shepard asked, "Can you get a better view of that thing?" The Turian nodded, and drew his sniper rifle out. Getting a bead on the blur, he zoomed in on the incoming projectile.

The high-speed flying object was blue- not sky-blue, but cyan. It was not a missile or a bird, but rather a small equine with wings, flying faster than should be physically possible. The rainbow streak being produced was because of the multicolored mane and tail, somehow staining the air temporarily with its brilliance. The flying creature- a Pegasus, for lack of a better term- looked right back at Garrus with his rifle, allowing him to see its eyes. They were magenta, and held an air of curiosity and confidence that could be felt a mile away.

He lowered his rifle. The only thing he could say was, "Well, fuck me, it's a Pegasus."

"Wait a minute," Shepard questioned, "A Pegasus? How? Look how fast it's going?!"

"It's probably just some kind of local animal with biotic powers." Lawson mused, "Some planets contaminated by Element Zero have creatures gifted with psychic abilities." She watched the creature for a moment, and then thought aloud, "We should grab that one and take it back to the ship. I'm sure that Mordin would love to study it."

"What're you-" Before either Garrus or Matt could finish that statement, Miranda used a Pull on the creature, just as it passed overhead. The Pegasus was surrounded in a bright blue aura, and at breakneck speeds came crashing down behind them. Smacking into a tree, it fell onto the ground with a solid "thunk".

"What're you doing?!" Garrus shouted. "Jesus, Miranda," Shepard barked, "Give us a freaking warning before you do that!"

"Calm down, you two. I just knocked it unconscious. We can call back the shuttle and get off this rock in a couple of minutes."

"Still," Garrus countered, "You shouldn't have done that. This could be one of the native sentients around here for all we know."

"What makes you say that?"

"Check out the markings on its ass." He gestured to the unconscious form with his gun. The Pegasus- indeed, up close it looked like a 4-foot tall flying pony- had a matching pair of rainbow thunderbolts on its flanks. Matt, puzzled, pointed out, "Hey Garrus, those tattoos look a lot like your scar."

"Yeah, I know." By the Spirits, He thought, This HAS to be Rainbow Dash… What if we killed her?

Rainbow was slowly regaining consciousness, emitting a moan of discomfort. The team froze- She should've still been out, having hit that tree at 50 miles per hour minimum. Opening her eyes, she looked at the aliens that attacked her. Two of them looked like weird, hairless monkeys, one in heavy armor and one in some kind of jumpsuit with a flowing mane of some kind. The third alien was a bizarre cross between a bird and a reptile, wearing armor and having small side mandibles and face paint.

The back of her mind realized that this was the first contact between Ponykind and these visitors, and should be handled delicately. But she ignored that part, and instead got mad. "Hey," She shouted at them, "Why'd you hit me?!"

Again, the trio was stunned. The Pegasus spoke- in a rough feminine voice- and it was in English! Or, at least, they all could understand her! How that was possible without an asari mind-meld or translators was beyond any of them. They looked at each other, and Shepard dared to ask, "Can you… understand us?"

"Well, duh," Dash snarked, "Of course I can understand you. Again, why did you pull me down?"

"Sorry about that," Miranda apologized, "We thought you were some animal."

"Yeah, but I'm not. I'm Rainbow Dash, and I'm a Pegasus."

"Yeah, we can see that." Garrus chuckled. "Rainbow mane, super-speed, 'Dashing' good looks. The name's self-explanatory." His human friends gave him strange looks. His flattery, however, was definitely what was needed to defuse the situation, and it certainly won Dash over.

"Yeah," She mused, striking a pose, "I am pretty awesome. Anyways, I'm no expert in this sci-fi stuff, but I believe I'm supposed to take you to my leader."

"If you'd like." Shepard demurred.

"Right. Well, the Princesses are waaay up in Canterlot, that big castle on the mountain. However, my friend Twilight has a direct line to them, and is right in town. I can take you there, if you want."

"Yeah, that's probably best. Lead the way."

The Pegasus took to the sky, flying slow enough to keep the aliens close by. Shepard, Lawson and Vakarian exchanged looks, and followed her down the road. In more ways than one, this day was getting better and better…

________________________________________

Twilight's Library, Ponyville

9:30 A.M.

Twilight and Trixie sat at the table in the kitchen, going over their notes about aliens over a cup of tea. They were slowly going out of their morning funk, but operating with only 6 hours of sleep can be difficult. But today was definitely the day to push through it, for today was the day that Equestria at large found out it wasn't alone in the universe. Today, they make contact.

"Okay," Twilight spoke, "So remind me again how we're going to communicate with them? For all we know, they could speak some kind of binary telepathically."

"Simple, my dear Twilight," Trixie responded, "We just talk to them as we would with dragons, griffons or other ponies. They must have a language we can understand, as Gilda and I could understand their writing just fine. If worse comes to worse, and they speak in a way we can't replicate or understand, we could just communicate through writing."

"I just want this to go well," The purple mare said, "I really don't like Pinkie's premonition about war coming. Having to deal with the Changeling Invasion during my brother's wedding was more than enough for me."

Trixie took another sip, before asking, "Did Pinkie say when or where the aliens would show?"

"Not really. She only said that they would be here today, and that they were coming here for someone. Probably that suit of armor you two found."

"I sure hope so. I don't know what else it would be."

It was then that Spike came in with their breakfast- daisy bagels and jam, typical Equestrian food. While placing it on the table, Twilight chuckled. "Hey Spike, what happened to that apron I gave you?"

"You mean the pink frilly one with the heart in the middle?" He clarified. "I threw it away. It was waaay too girly for me."

"You gave him a pink apron?" Trixie questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, she did," The dragon continued. "It's not like I don't mind pink, it can be masculine and cool, sometimes. But the frilling, the big heart; It was basically screaming, 'Hey, everypony, I'm Spike and I'm gay.'"

"There's nothing wrong with being a filly-fooler or a colt-cuddler." Trixie protested, casting a sideways glance at the other unicorn in the room. Spike momentarily wondered what that implied.

"True, but there's a difference between being gay and acting gay. I mean, look at Lyra and Bon-Bon. They're not-"

Before the dragon could finish, there was a knocking at the door. The two unicorns looked at him expectantly. He sighed, and walked over to open the door. As he did, a yellow-and-red blur rushed past him into the library. It was Applebloom, looking sweaty and exhausted from running all across town.

"Twilight," The filly called out, "Applejack needs you right now!"

"Why? What happened?"

"There's a bunch of giant insects eating up all our apples! They were huge, Ah tell yuh, HUGE!"

"Easy there, Applebloom," Trixie soothed, "Calm yourself. Now, what did they look like?"

"Well," Applebloom caught her breath, "There was five of 'em, and they're big. As big as you are with your hat. And they were all green with long, skinny arms, and they screeched at each other all funny, and one of them aimed a ring at Applejack, and they were taking our apples-"

"Wait," Trixie interrupted, "It aimed a ring at AJ? Did it fire?"

"No, a bigger one with red wings called to it, and they all flew away. But we should hurry, 'cause AJ and Big Mac went after 'em, and they wanted me to go git Twilight an' you, so-"

Suddenly, the front door was kicked open. Gilda charged in, and hovered above them, panting from the speedy flight. "Twilight," The griffon gasped out, "You gotta come quick! The aliens have arrived in the Everfree Forest!"

Twilight paled, looking more worried and confused. "But- But-" She stammered, "AJ is dealing with the aliens at the farm. There can't be more of them, right?"

Gilda looked dumbstruck. "What do you mean? Dash and I saw a shuttle land in the forest 20 minutes ago."

"Where is Rainbow, anyway?"

"She sent me ahead to come find you, while she went overhead to scout them. Twi, we really need to get going. I don't feel good leaving her on her own."

"Rainbow Dash can handle herself," Applebloom countered, "She's the bestest flyer in Ponyville. But those giant bugs looked mighty dangerous. We really need you at the farm."

Twilight was uncertain as to how to proceed. Should she help Applejack, who had no idea on what's going on; or should she help Rainbow Dash, whose brash and confrontational personality was bound to cause an interstellar incident?

"I…I think we should-" She started, but was interrupted when Pinkie came in from the kitchen. "Hey, guys," Pinkie said, all bubbly and nonchalant, "My Pinkie Sense went off again this morning. The aliens are coming here today."

"Pinkie," Twilight told her, annoyed, "We already know. AJ and Rainbow Dash have already met them."

"Oh, those aliens," The Earth Pony responded, as if remembering something vaguely important, "No, they weren't the ones I was talking about yesterday. Completely different."

The others in the room went "Huh?", a united statement of confusion. The pink mare giggled. "See," She answered, "There's actually three groups of aliens coming here today; One that Trixie and Gilda know about, one that the Princesses know about, and one that's completely unexpected."

"Which is which, though?" Twilight asked. "Are any of them dangerous?"

"Well, they all can be dangerous, but only if you make them so. The first and last ones are already here, so you should deal with them, first."

"What about the third one?"

"They'll be landing by Fluttershy's house, but-"

"FLUTTERSHY?!" They others cried out. It's a well-documented fact that Fluttershy, while being the nicest pony in Ponyville, was also the most introverted, fearful -and, well, shy- pony any of them knew. Hell, half the time the poor girl was afraid of her own shadow, and had shown signs of a backbone only under the most intense of circumstances. The prospect of the little Pegasus having to deal with possibly big scary aliens immediately put the Equestrians on the defensive.

"We've got to go help her!" Twilight declared. "Trixie, Gilda, I want you to-"

"Don't worry, Twilight," Pinkie interrupted, giving her a reassuring smile, "Fluttershy's got this handled. We have other things to worry about…"

________________________________________

1000 hours

Over Everfree Forest

Thought of the day: Weakness is a disease of the body. Despair is a disease of the mind.

The shuttle from the Emperor's Wrath, the Carpe Diem, descended from the sky like a regal bird of prey. The shuttle, besides the roar of the engines outside, was unnaturally quiet, its passengers unnervingly silent.

Normally, when troops were brought down from a ship to a xeno planet, the various soldiers and peoples of the Imperium would be chanting the litanies of warriors, or prayers to the Emperor, to purify their souls for upcoming combat. But this was different. There were no chants for soldiers, for there was to be no fighting. There were no prayers to the Emperor, for soon enough they could be voiced to His face. Without either of these, what was left for them to say?

The squad of 20 Guardsmen talked amongst themselves, wondering if these "ponies" were as peaceful and friendly as their master said they were. The ten-man Assault squad of the Ultramarines checked their weapons once more, even though they weren't to use them for this mission. Magos Kriel fiddled with his plasma pistol, as even the "newer" versions always had to be properly maintained, lest they blow off your hand. Inquisitor Creighton mentally went over his prepared speech and strategy for when he met this "Twilight Sparkle" -For her to be a chosen apprentice of a xeno deity would mean she was formidable both physically and mentally.

They were still in good spirits with the mission. Before they left the ship, the Inquisitor spoke with the Librarian of the Imperial Fists, a powerful psyker and skilled oracle. Through use of visions, the Tarot cards, and the knucklebones (a tradition and a habit of the Sons of Dorn), he ordained that the crew and soldiers were in good graces. In fact, he said that he had never had visions and signs that looked so favorably. The only warning given was this: Beware the Eyes of Madness. Neither of them could figure out what that meant, but trusted that it would be discovered in due time.

After flying for about half an hour, the shuttle finally gave a shudder as it touched down on the alien world. The Imperials got out of their seats as the door opened. As the ramp lowered and the troops filed out, they scanned the surrounding wilderness, and couldn't help but feel… happy.

The forest in itself, while still emanating the sense of feral intensity, had a feel of both beauty and contentedness. The birds in the trees and the animals of the ground called out in nature's music, uncaring or unbothered by the fire-tested warriors in their midst. And furthermore, those individuals who were slightly more in touch with the Warp could feel it, and were in awe in the fact that, at least in this place, felt not only calm, but also joyful. This place, for all intents and purposes, was opposite of their universe in almost every way.

Some of the more devout Guardsmen made the sign of the Aquila over their chest as the group began heading away from the shuttle. While the away team secured the clearing, scanning the forest for anything even slightly threatening, Creighton and Kriel got together, speaking about the strange world.

"Tell me, Magos," The Inquisitor asked, "Does this place look a little… strange to you, or is it just my eyes?"

"I'm afraid I can see it on my sensors as well," The cyborg replied, "The trees, the animals, even the sky looks, well, rather flat. True, everything appears colorful and vibrant, but it all seems akin to a very talented artist's drawings. If you look close enough at that rodent over there, you can clearly see it has an outline."

The Inquisitor looked to where the tech-priest gestured, and saw that indeed a squirrel was staring at them with a thin black line surrounding its body. The sight was only slightly off-putting, as the Inquisitor remembered that they were in a different universe (not to mention that he had seen the vids of worlds consumed by Tyranids and Chaos- nothing is scarier than that).

When it realized that the two aliens were looking back at it, the creature chattered and ran into the underbrush. Although that might have been from the giant armored Space Marine that was walking in its direction.

The Space Marine in question approached the tech priest and inquisitor, and said, "Milords, the perimeter is secure. We can proceed to our destination."

"Very well, Sergeant Longinus," Creighton replied, "The town lies in the west. Let us make haste."

The Astartes nodded, and signaled to his battle-brothers and the Guardsmen, and together, the Imperials made their way through the forest. The animals, all of whom having rudimentary intelligence and a sixth sense for predators, either cleared way for them, or ran away as quickly as possible…

________________________________________

Fluttershy's Cottage

10:30 A.M.

Fluttershy began her day as she usually did, by feeding all the animals under her care. As an animal caretaker, her job (if you could call it that) was to watch over and heal all the woodland critters, and as such they all found her place to be a sanctuary when there was danger afoot in the forest.

So imagine her surprise when dozens of creatures were not only heading to her place, but they were also running past her as well, heading every possible direction except east.

Her teal eyes were marked with confusion, as all the animals ran away without even bothering to talk to her. Not even dragons or hydras made the entire forest flee at one time. "Oh my," She spoke in her low, whispering voice, "I wonder what could've scared them. What do you think, Angel Bunny? Angel?"

Looking for the pet rabbit in question, she saw that he was hiding in his little house, shaking like a leaf. This genuinely worried the meek Pegasus, as usually nothing scared her furry protector. She knew now that she should leave, to go get her friends Twilight and Rainbow, and let them handle it.

But she was not going to leave without her bunny.

Unfortunately, her pet was a complete butt-hole, and had plans of his own.

As soon as Fluttershy reached for the white rabbit, he threw a carrot at her face, and promptly ran between her legs, into the tall grass behind her. "Angel, come back!" she called out, but even if he could respond, he wasn't going to. She couldn't believe what she was seeing; everything she cared for was running away in terror, and there was nothing she could do about it.

She was just on the cusp of tears when she felt it There was a subtle change in the air; a wispy scent of metal, and the feeling of an approaching predator. The Pegasus could a large commotion heading to her, a terrifying thumping sound emanating from the forest. It was akin to the encounter with the Hydra, only many more than one were coming. She saw the trees and bushes rustle, then finally fall out of the way. Fluttershy looked at the new opening, and did all she could not to scream…

________________________________________

Location: East of Ponyville

1040 hours

The walk out of the forest was the easiest task any of the Imperials had undertaken. Clearly, the local fauna recognized true predators when they saw them, and gave them clear passage. What was calculated to be a half-hour sojourner turned into a brisk ten-minute stroll. When they finally got out of the forest, they found a breath-taking sight.

Way out on the horizon, they humans could see a majestic castle on the side of a mountain, with waterfalls pouring out beneath it. In the sky, a veritable cloud city, stylized in what they perceived as Macraggian architecture, was spouting out rainbows and storm clouds. And in the mid-ground of this panorama, looking like a picturesque village from a children's story, was most certainly their destination: Ponyville.

The Guardsmen gazed upon the vista, genuinely awestruck by the beauty of this xeno planet. One of them, Corporal Faber, asked the Inquisitor, "Have you ever seen such a sight before, my lord?"

"I will admit, Corporal," Creighton mused, also looking at the scene, "I have not. But keep your men on guard. When things look their best, that's usually when it's at its worst."

"Of course, sir." The Guardsman said, and returned to his troops. The Inquisitor then turned to his left, and found that the Space Marines had managed to sneak up on him. How they managed to do that when their power armor boots made so much noise was beyond. Naturally, Mendel was too cool a customer to be scared easily.

"See that small cottage over there by the creek?" Longinus asked him, pointing to the small building near them. It was indeed petite and low to the ground, as if trying purposefully to avoid detection. If it weren't for the well-trained eyes of the Astartes, it would've been quite possible that the humans would've walked past it, and never know it was there.

"I do now."

"It seems that there's a Pegasus dwelling here."

"What makes you say that?"

Again, the Ultramarine pointed, and the Inquisitor followed his aim, right to a small, shivering pink and yellow mass. Or rather, a yellow Pegasus with pink hair, cowering in the dirt by a little shack. It risked enough to show its teal-colored eyes, and made an "Eep!" sound when it realized that all the humans were looking at it.

Fluttershy was more scared now than at any time she could remember. Before her was a sizable group of unknown… creatures, neither animal nor monster. The majority of them were tall, walking on two legs, and wore strange clothes to cover their pale skin. The others were taller, and looked more like giant machines. One even had multiple limbs to it, looking like a giant spider, adorned in red robes. But the scariest ones were the ones in blue and gold armor, towering over everything else around them, with helmets that bore an angry snarl.

She knew she had to do something: say hello, cry for help, run away, something. But for the life of her she couldn't move a muscle, and just stared at the stranger. There was an awkward, pregnant silence between them, each waiting for the other's move.

Creighton decided to start. Using a voice of authority, and a speech he had prepared days ago, he declared to the lowly Pegasus, "Greetings, xeno pony! I am Inquisitor Mendel Creighton, and we are the envoy of the Imperium of Man! Fear not, for we come in peace."

The Inquisitor spoke in High Gothic, the language of humanity from his universe, and one which every intelligent race in the galaxy also knew. Fluttershy, however, had never heard of it before, so all she heard was a human with a pointy hat yelling at her in a foreign language. Needless to say, that didn't really build her confidence.

Still, he was talking to her, and that warranted a response. So, Fluttershy spoke in her low voice, "I'm sorry, mister, but I can't understand you. Did I do something wrong?"

She spoke in Pony, the language of Equestria, which was also an almost direct match to 21st century English. The problem was that in the 41st millennium, English is a dead language, and a forgotten one at that. Not to mention the fact that Fluttershy spoke so quietly that a bullfrog's fart could've drowned it out. The Inquisitor couldn't understand, and was unsure of how to proceed.

Fortunately for everyone, there was someone who could.

Now, as stated earlier, English is a dead language. However, it did spawn a bunch of other dialectic children before passing, some of which manage to last on certain worlds, all the way to current times. One of these languages, as fate would have it, was used on a world where Ultramarines were selected from. Longinus's world.

With his heightened senses, he was able to somewhat understand Fluttershy. "Inquisitor," He nudged the man next to him, "She speaks in Ancient Angli."

"And you speak it, sergeant?"

"I can. It's the language of my mother and father."

"Then would you mind speaking to her for us?"

The Space Marine nodded, and approached the Pegasus. Fluttershy saw him coming, and hid behind her mane again. The Astartes went right up to her, and brought himself down to one knee, only a few feet taller than the xeno. He unlatched and removed his helmet, and showed his true face.

Fluttershy risked another look, and saw Longinus without his scary mask. He certainly looked a lot less intimidating without it; His features were that of a man in his prime, clean-shaven with closely cropped hair, a face that seen a great many horrors but still held goodness in his eyes. To her, he had gone from a big mean monster to good, protective guardian.

"Hello, fair creature," He spoke to her in a gentle yet firm voice, "I am Sergeant Longinus of the Ultramarines. What, pray tell, is your name?"

"I'm Fluttershy." She murmured, as she always seemed to do when she talked to strangers.

The Ultramarine had to give the xeno credit; she had spoken so quietly that even he had trouble hearing her. "My apologies," He said, "But my ears aren't as good as they used to be. What did you say your name was?"

The Pegasus looked to the Space Marine, and then to all the humans behind him, and back to the Marine. She realized that this moment, besides the times that she gained her cutie mark and met her friends, was the most important in her entire life. Her friends were depending on her, and she had to be strong for them. So, gathering up all the courage she had in her, she calmed herself, and, standing proudly, told him, "My name is Fluttershy."

"Alright. Fluttershy, my friends and I have come a long way to get someone very important to us. He is with your Princesses, and we desire to talk with them. Do you happen to know a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle?"

"Ooh, yes I do. She's a very good friend of mine. She lives in town."

"Sergeant," The Inquisitor interrupted, "What is that xeno saying?"

The Astartes responded in High Gothic, "She says her name is Fluttershy, and that she's friends' with Twilight."

"Did she say where the unicorn is?"

"It looks like she's still in town."

"Excellent. Let's take the xeno and go into this 'Ponyville.'"

Longinus turned back to the Pegasus, and asked her, "Fluttershy, will you come with us into the town? Your presence may help calm the other inhabitants."

Fluttershy's eyes went wide at that, and she flew up to eye-level with the Astartes. "Oh no," She protested, "You mustn't! You'll scare everypony! Its not everyday we that we have giant armored… whatever it is your friends are, marching in to see us." She paused to think, then continued, "I should go to Ponyville, and bring Twilight here…That is, if that's alright with you. I promise I'll be quick about it, and you can talk to her all you want."

Longinus gazed once more at the Pegasus, as if searching her very soul. Apparently satisfied, he said, "Very well, little xeno. We shall wait for you here while you bring Twilight. But be quick about it, for my fellows and I are not known for patience." Fluttershy gave a small "Eep!", and quickly ran in the direction of town. It momentarily occurred to the Astartes that, for a creature with wings, she didn't seem to use them that often.

The Inquisitor approached Longinus as he rose. "Why'd you let it go?" He asked. "She's going to bring the unicorn to us, so we don't frighten the natives."

"You think it is wise, letting the xeno handle our work?"

"Consider it a test, Inquisitor. We promised the Emperor not to harm the ponies unless provoked. By letting her bring the Princess's student to us, we prevent scaring them, and she demonstrates that this species can be trusted."

"And if she doesn't return?" Mendel pressed, suspicion tingeing his voice.

"Then we go into town, take the apprentice, and kill anyone who gets in our way. And if I'm not mistaken, Lord, but it sounds like you'd prefer that option."

"But you don't?" Creighton sounded incredulous.

"We all swore we wouldn't fight unless we had to. Besides, I'm an Ultramarine, not some Blood Angel or mindless Ork. I can control my impulses, why can't you?"

Ignoring the inquisitor's reaction, Longinus gave a signal to his men (and the Guardsmen as well) to hunker down at the cottage, and wait. The Astartes was going to give the Pegasus about two or so hours to bring Twilight over. Plenty of time, even for the likes of the timid Fluttershy. Any longer than that, and the ponies would swiftly learn why humanity wasn't a race to be trifled with…

Ch.4.1- A Turian among Ponies

Chapter 4: Twilight the Ambassador (Part 1)

"First impressions are always important. Especially when it involves giant aliens with big guns and swords."- Attributed to Pinkie Pie, during the First Contacts

"No, I wasn't intimidated by the ponies at first. I demonstrated my biotics by pulling a supersonic equine out of the sky, and they levitated a few documents. I thought they were relatively weak creatures, honestly. It was only after we spent some time with them that I realized… We biotics have nothing on them."- Miranda Lawson

Outskirts of Ponyville

11:20 A.M.

Ponyville was always known for bringing in strange individuals, but today was definitely a keeper for the history books. Rainbow Dash, two humans and a Turian; This was new, even by recent standards. While the town was usually busy this time of day, it was unnaturally still and quiet. Most of the townsfolk were either staring at the alien visitors, or hiding inside their houses in fear.

"Seems like we're causing quite the stir around here," Lawson observed, as the ponies cleared way around them.

"Nah," Rainbow said, guiding them to the library, "This is standard procedure for them. Crazy stuff happens so often around here, they have some kind of panic drill every other week."

"What kind of crazy stuff?" Shepard asked.

"Oh, you know. Rampaging monsters, spells gone haywire, town getting destroyed. Things like that."

"And this is normal?"

"Normal for me and my friends, yeah."

Matt and Miranda gave each other worried, concerned looks, while Garrus merely nodded his head in assent. Watching the show, he knew that rampaging dragons, parasprite infestations and Chaos-induced madness were common occurrences in this town. Still, the last thing any of them wanted to do was demonstrate their weapons on some pissed-off creature raising hell on the locals.

In the middle of the town, they came to a library built into a tree. Even though the heroes have seen many an amazing sight in their galaxy, seeing something like a literal tree-house was still enough to raise eyebrows. It actually looked a lot like it did on the show, although it held more depth and detail than most of the other buildings they had seen.

"Hey, Twilight!" The Pegasus called out, "I know you're in there! I've got some aliens who want to talk to you!"

The front door opened, and a purple unicorn stuck her head out, looking flustered and uncertain. Holy crap, Garrus thought, Its Twilight Sparkle, the ringleader! I bet the rest of the Mane Six are inside, too .... Wait, shouldn't I record this for everyone back home? He discreetly tapped a few buttons on his Omni-tool, and his recorder silently activating and operating.

Just as he did, a brown-white blur rushed past Twilight, tackling Dash in a mid-air bear hug. "Dash," The griffon chirped, "Thank Celestia your okay!"

"Of course I'm okay, Gilda." Dash protested, breaking off the hug with a blush, "I'm not some blockhead who can't handle herself. These guys aren't that dangerous once you talk to them."

The griffon looked at the team, and they looked back. To the humans, this was an interesting development. These ponies have demonstrated the ability to fly, to build impossible structures out of clouds, and now had demonstrated integration of other species into their society. For a culture that still didn't have electricity or space flight, they had a lot going for them. Should other races decide to uplift them, they could become quite a formidable force.

To the Turian, however, the griffon raised a whole bunch of different questions. This was obviously Gilda, but it wasn't the same Gilda he knew. The Gilda from the show was an arrogant bully in Season 1, and a part of the Elements of Disharmony in Season 3. She never got back with Rainbow Dash, never came back to Ponyville, and certainly never sounded that happy to see someone. To see her now, friends with everyone, in this town, acting like a clingy schoolgirl was vexing, to say the least.

Gilda and Garrus locked eyes. "Who are you guys?" She blurted out.

"I was about to ask you the same thing, lady." The Turian retorted.

"Easy, Garrus," Shepard ordered, "Let's not start a fight here." He looked at the purple pony still by the door, and asked, "Now, are you Twilight?"

"Y-yes," She stammered, but quickly regained her composure. She remembered the speech she had prepared beforehand, and continued, "Yes, my name is Twilight Sparkle. And on behalf of the ponies of Ponyville, the Royal Princesses, and all of Equestria, I welcome you to our world."

Some of the nearby locals stood by and watched this, only slightly aware that this was history in the making. In a nearby café, a green unicorn named Lyra was eating a sandwich when she spotted the humans. She did an actual double-take when she saw them, dumbfounded that these "mythical creatures" were here before her very eyes. "They are real." She whispered in stunned amazement, and she ran off to her house to get a camera. But by the time she came back, they would have already left.

Shepard, realizing this was a formal diplomatic meeting between two civilizations, put on his game face and became all professional. "I am Commander Matt Shepard," He replied, "These are my associates Miranda Lawson and Garrus Vakarian." His compatriots nodded when they were mentioned. "And on behalf of the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council, I thank you for your warm hospitality." He held out his hand, and when Twilight extended her forehoof, he shook it, the first exchange of trust between the two species.

Noticing the growing crowds around them, Twilight asked, "Would you mind talking inside? I feel like we're causing a public scene."

"Of course," Matt gestured, "Lead the way, Twilight."

As they entered the treehouse, the first thing that hit them was the sheer amount of books and scrolls this place had. Granted, it was a library, but most reading and informational material in their galaxy had already been fully transcribed to electronic media, so that most of them hadn't even seen a book since they were kids.

Twilight, not noticing their awe, went straight to the point. "So," She asked, sitting by a table covered in parchments and ink, "Why don't we just start with basic information? Would you mind telling us why you are here?" Gilda and Dash had settled on the upper level to observe, while Spike sat next to the unicorn and took notes.

Shepard took a moment to think about it. Why were they here? Although this world had plenty of rare minerals to power the ship and get upgrades, the Normandy still had plenty onboard. Since this world looked to be in one piece, it clearly never had to deal with the Collectors or the Reapers. However, this planet apparently had abundant sentient life, which could learn so much from the galaxy at large. And, if possible, give just the necessary edge he needed to stop the Reapers.

But that would have to wait for later, after he earned their trust. Collecting himself, he answered, "My crew and I have traveled a long distance after facing a great enemy. Our ship was pretty banged up, and we're looking for a place to land, repair and resupply. We had just landed here to see if there was any intelligent life around." He gestured to the equines before him. "Clearly, there's plenty."

"You were in a battle?" Twilight questioned, concerned. "Who were you fighting? Are they dangerous?"

"They were a race called the Collectors. We had fought them because they were abducting human colonies and experimenting on them. We followed them to their home base, got our people back, and defeated them. Unfortunately, it turned out there was more than one base there, and we had to escape through a nearby Mass Relay. Which, of course, led us to your world, and to you."

Garrus and Miranda noticed that Shepard left out the part about the Reapers, and possibly leading the Collectors to Equestria. They still kept their mouths shut, though. No need to interrupt the Commander during negotiations, after all.

Spike spoke up at this point. "Um, what's a 'mass relay'?"

Miranda came in to answer. "You know that thing in the sky that's not the sun or the moon?"

"You mean the Object?"

"If that's what you call it, yes. That is a Mass Relay. In our galaxy, we use them to travel vast distances in a matter of days. Much of galactic civilization was made from technology based off them."

"Oh, okay. That definitely helps."

"Anyway," Shepard broke back in, "We are looking for a place to possibly set the ship down to do some repairs. Is there anywhere nearby we could land, somewhere a little ways off from town perhaps?"

Immediately, all the locals thought of Applejack's farm, as it had those requirements. However, they all knew the people of the Normandy couldn't be allowed to go there while there was another group of aliens to deal with. There was no way to know how each group would react to each other, and things could quickly go out of control.

However, these visitors still needed a place to land, and they needed to make an effort to help them.

"I'm not sure," Twilight answered, "Let me consult the local map. Trixie!"

Garrus perked up at that name. Wait a minute, He thought, There is NO way that SHE is here. That thieving, lying, manipulative little-

"Hold on, I'm coming Twilight!" A familiar voice called from a back room. A bluish unicorn with a white mane and tail came in, levitating some papers in a magical aura. Shepard and Lawson were surprised, seeing something akin to biotics not used in a combative form. It took all of Vakarian's combat training and restraint not to pull out his pistol.

In Season 1, Trixie Lulamoon was just a magician with ego issues, who then became very popular with the fanboys. However, in Season 3 she became the leader of the Elements of Disharmony, succeeding in taking down both the Crystal Empire and Equestria. In a move that angered many in the fandom, she had even beaten Twilight and Cadence, and tossed them into a bottomless pit (they both survived, but it was a rather dark turn for the show). Out of all the villains from the show, from the minor to the world-threatening, Trixie was the only one that Garrus genuinely didn't like.

What is this, some lame shipping world? Garrus thought. Gilda and Rainbow Dash, Trixie living with Twilight; What next, Celestia and Discord are couple, too?

The ex-showmare laid out a map of Ponyville on the table. The town was actually fairly sized, easily the size of a small human colony. 10'000 ponies, spread over about 10 miles loosely. Besides a local railroad and a few dirt roads, the town itself appeared to be fairly isolated, surrounded by either the Everfree or the Whitetail forests.

"First of all," Trixie started, "We need to know how large your ship is, and see if there is available space anywhere nearby."

After a quick discussion of measurements, the ship was declared to be 375 body-lengths, or meters, long. The only areas large enough to contain the Normandy were AJ's farm, the clearing by Fluttershy's house, and the trail inside the Whitetail Forest. Both Trixie and Twilight convinced Shepard that the forest was the best option ("Oh, you don't want to land on the farm, Applejack is in the middle of harvesting all the apple trees." "No, you don't want to land by Fluttershy, you'll give her a heart attack.")

At noon, Joker finally radioed in, "How are things down there, Commander?"

"Good news, Joker." Shepard responded, as the away team began leaving the library, "We've found a place where we can land. Sending you the coordinates now."

Shepard tapped away at his Omni-tool, sending all the data he had recorded during the meeting up to the ship. EDI, having read through and analyzed all of it within half a second, was quick to point out, "Congratulations, Commander. You have successfully negotiated with sentient pastel equines."

"Wait, what?" Joker asked, "Sentient equines… you mean-"

"Yes, Mr. Moreau, the Commander was talking to actual talking ponies."

There was a silence on the ship's end of the radio. For once in his life, Joker didn't have a snappy comeback.

"Yeah, that's what we've been feeling. Anyway, send the shuttle over to pick us up. We'll give you the full story then. Shepard out."

While they walked out, Rainbow Dash flew over and tapped the Turian's shoulder.

"Hey, where are you guys heading?" Garrus turned, and saw that she seemed genuinely interested.

"Well," Garrus started, "Uh, Ms. Dash, We're-"

"Don't call me 'Ms. Dash'," The Pegasus interrupted, "That's what they call my mother. You can call me Rainbow, or Dash, or RD, I guess."

"Right, Dash. We're heading back to our ship, so we can lead them to that clearing. We'll probably be back in a couple hours."

"Awesome. Maybe when you get back, you can show me some of your cool technology and stuff."

"I wouldn't mind that at all. And maybe you can show me what you can do with those little wings."

"'Little wings'! Ha! I'll have you know that I can clear this sky in ten seconds flat!"

"Oh, that's something I gotta see."

"You're on, uh…"

"The name's Garrus. Garrus Vakarian."

"Garrus, you are so on!"

She spat on her hoof and extended it. The Turian thought for a moment, then opted to spit on his fist and tap the hoof in response. I just brohoofed Rainbow Dash, He thought, Huh. That's something to knock off the bucket list.

The shuttle landed in the town square, gathering a small crowd of observers. The aliens entered the vessel, and with a parting wave, the first arrivals departed for their ship. The ponies watched it go, until it became just a speck in the sky, and then became no more.

Twilight, RD, Gilda and Trixie looked from the shuttle to each other, and Gilda asked, "Okay, what's the plan now?"

It was at this time that Fluttershy finally arrived, huffing and puffing from running the whole way. "Twilight!" She cried, "Twilight, come quick! I really need you right now!" She skidded to a stop in front of the group, looking down at the ground. "Oh, I hope I'm not interrupting," She apologized. "I could come back… No, I'm sorry, but this really can't wait. Twilight, I really need you to come with me."

"Its ok, Fluttershy," Twilight soothed, putting her hoof on her shoulder, "We know that there are aliens here, and that you've talked to them."

"Oh, okay." Fluttershy stammered, unsure how to continue now that everypony knew the important stuff. "Well, they're really big and tall and scary, and they asked for you."

"For me? How do you know?"

"Because, they asked for you by name. 'Twilight Sparkle'."

This, by far, was the most disturbing bit of information given so far. Having aliens was one thing. Having warlike aliens in your hometown was another. Having warlike aliens in your hometown who know who you are, that straight up takes the cake.

Fortunately, the ponies and griffon had come up with plans. Sighing with worried resignation, Twilight laid out what to do next.

"Right, here's what we'll do. Fluttershy, Rainbow and I will go with you to talk with your 'friends'. Trixie, you, Gilda and Spike will go to Applejack with Applebloom, and explain what's going on to her. And when you talk to these other aliens, make sure to take plenty of notes. We've got to know what we're up against."

"Got it." Trixie answered, "And we should meet back here by, say, 4, 4:30?"

"Around then, yes. And when we get back, we relay our findings to the Princess, and wait for her response. Any questions?"

Everyone was quiet, but Twilight continued. "This is big, girls. Bigger than Nightmare Moon, bigger than Discord, bigger than anything we've ever gone up against. Our friends, the Princesses, our very world, it all depends on us doing this thing right. Are we ready for this?"

She was answered by a chorus of "Yeah!" and "You bet!"

"Alright, let's do this, girls!"

With that, the group broke up, gathering up their members, and heading off to an uncertain future…

________________________________________

Back on the Normandy

"Garrus?"

"Yes, Shepard?"

"How is it that you know those ponies?"

The Turian sighed, knowing the time had come to come clean. But at least now everyone would take it seriously, and not laugh at his face.

The shuttle had already landed in the ship, and the away team was heading up to the debriefing room. Lawson had already sent a message to the rest of the team to assemble, and word had already spread around the ship about the world's natives. The general response was half "D'awww!", and half "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Commander, I…" Garrus wondered how exactly to explain the situation beyond "Those little aliens down there are actually characters on an old TV show I watch." Frankly, he was still trying to wrap his mind around it himself.

"Shepard, I don't think I can tell you," He started, "But-"

"What do you mean 'you can't tell me'?" Shepard interrupted as they entered the debriefing room, between Jacob's armory and Mordin's research lab. "We have just discovered a new world, an entirely new species which is completely unknown, and yet somehow you're only a little bit surprised. You even seemed to know that blue one, Rainy Crash."

"Rainbow Dash."

"Exactly. How do you explain that?"

"Shepard, like I said, I can't tell you. But I can show you. When everyone is here, I'll show you."

Shepard nodded, and took his spot at the front of the table. As the team filtered in, Garrus fiddled around on his Omni-tool, making something of a presentation. By the time the last member entered, he was ready.

"Okay," Jack started, sounding pissed off (as she usually was), "Can someone explain to me what this bullshit about 'alien ponies' is about?"

"Yeah," Jacobs put in, "When Joker told me about it, I thought he was just yanking my chain."

"Would you care to explain this, Commander?" Samara asked, maintaining a mask of calm.

"Actually," Shepard answered, "I think Garrus will be the one to answer this. He seems to know all about these people."

"Why?" Tali asked, "Did he meet some back on the Citadel?"

"Not possible." Legion stated, "There are no indications of any kind that this world is capable of space travel."

"Mass relays were both closed." Mordin continued, "Impossible for Collectors or other races to abduct or enslave them."

"So, that would raise the question," Thane concluded, "How would he know?"

Everyone in the room looked at the Turian expectantly. He sighed, and tapped away at the controls. The holo-table in the center of the room came to life, and two different video feeds turned on, divided in a side-by-side. The one on the left was all shaky and blurred, while the right one was crisp and clear and perfect.

Both, however, had what appeared to be a bright blue Pegasus, talking to a purple unicorn and a small lavender dragon. Shepard and Lawson recognized them as the aliens they talked to back on the surface. Everyone else in the room (except Legion and EDI, who were incapable of emotion) raised an eyebrow.

"The footage on the right," Garrus explained, "Is from an old cartoon show called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. This in particular is from Season 2 Episode 23, "It's about Time". The footage on the left, however, is a recording of who I believe are the same ponies, whom we just met on the planet's surface."

They all watched and listened to both videos. They both appeared very similar; same cartoonish looking ponies, same voices, same backgrounds. Many were starting to think this was some really stupid joke… until a very real-looking Shepard came in on the left, and shook the purple mare's hoof.

"Dafuq?" Jack exclaimed. That was a pretty good description on how everyone felt.

"Yeah." Garrus sighed, "Somehow, by going through that mass relay, we ended up in Equestria, the magical land of talking cartoon ponies. These creatures are something I am fortunate enough to know a little about, so I-"

"Hang on a second," Grunt interrupted, "How is it you know about them?"

The Turian was silent for a moment. Then, he spoke, "EDI, define a 'Brony'."

"A Brony is a 21st century term for an adult fan, typically male, of the children's show My Little Pony. It is a combination of the words 'Bro' and 'Pony'. A small but devoted fan base has been in existence for over 150 years."

"Yeah, I'd say that's pretty accurate."

"So, are you a Brony?" Jacobs asked.

Garrus took a breath, and stood proudly. "Yes. Yes I am."

The room was silent for a moment. Then Jack began to snicker. Grunt started to chuckle. Tali tried to hold back a giggle.

"Go ahead and let it out. It's fine."

Most of the team started laughing. To think that Garrus Vakarian, the Archangel of Omega and comrade of Commander Shepard, liked to watch a girl's show about talking horses? Even Thane and Samara were smiling.

"Oh my god, guys," Jack gasped for breath, "You, you like to watch little ponies?! Hahaha, Jesus Christ, guys!"

"Let me guess," Grunt sneered, "Do you have a little toy pony that you play with in your room?"

"HEY!"

Shepard slammed his hand on the table, getting everyone's attention. The laughing stopped as suddenly as it began, bringing themselves back to business.

"Now I know that this little secret of his is a bit strange- In fact I would find it hard to believe myself if it weren't for today. But as unexpected as this was, this is actually a golden opportunity for us."

He looked into the eyes of everyone in the room. "I have been down to the surface, and I've talked to these 'ponies'. I am fully convinced that these are indeed the same characters as from this show. Which means that we have an expert on this world and everything about it, right here."

"But Commander," Jack complained, "Doesn't it bother you that he watches a fucking little girl's show?"

"Only as much as when you say 'shit' and 'fuck' every other word." He countered. Jack merely scowled, not giving his response the dignity of a rebuttal.

Continuing on, Shepard told his comrade, "Yes, this is a rather... interesting development. But it doesn't change anything about him. He's still Garrus, still the Archangel, still the best damn shot I've ever seen. And he's still part of this team."

He looked back at Garrus, his face set in stone. "So, Garrus, if we are to succeed in this venture, you need to to tell us everything you know about 'My Little Pony'. And I do mean Everything."

Garrus nodded, and smiled. "Well," He started, leaning over the table, "If that's what you want, then let's start with the basics..."

Ch.4.2- Country Negotiations

Chapter 4. Twilight the Ambassador (part 2)

________________________________________

"Ah can't say much about the visitors durin' the first days. But Ah can say that the UNSC and the CAR, they were good people. Bein' the Element of Honesty, Ah knew right away that Ah could trust 'em. 'Specially Vasquez. But that's another thing entirely..." - Applejack, on the First Meetings

"Say what you will about the Equestrians, but from Pony to Griffon, Diamond Dog to Dragon, they have a strength and determination seldom seen even among the Three Races. When their world was ravaged around them, they didn't break or bow before the onslaught. They stood strong, and fought back..." - N'tho Vaddum

2:30 p.m.

Sweet Apple Acres

"...Now, it was at this time that he noticed this 'girl scout' was a giant serpent from the Paleolithic era. Then the wind blew off its hat, and it turned out to be none other than the 'Loch Ness Monster'. So mah grandpa shouted, 'Goddamn, Loch Ness Monster, ah ain't gonna give you no tree fiddy! We work hard fo' our money 'round here!'"

Applejack busted up laughing. Vasquez smiled, proud that one of his classic stories was still funny. Even N'tho and Cassius gave a curtesy smile, having heard it many times before.

The Apple family and UNSC-CAR team were getting along swimmingly. While Big Mac and Granny Smith kept the troops occupied, AJ and the three amigos had been "negotiating". Negotiating, leading to friendly discussion, and then to storytelling.

"Whoo-ee!" The orange pony exclaimed, "That sure was a side-splitter. Did that really happen?"

"No," Alan answered, "But it was funny, wasn't it?" He took out a cloth from his pocket, and began cleaning his rifle. "Truth is, most of his funniest stories were either completely made up, or stuff he picked up from others."

"Yeah," Applejack confided, "Ah'm pretty sure most of Granny Smith's stories are made up too. Old folks tend to have rickety memories."

"The bumblebees are in the oven, dear!" The old matriarch called, confusing her alien audience. Big Mac merely shook his head knowingly. AJ lowered her hat with an embarrassed smile. Cassius and Vasquez exchanged a look.

Senile? The Brute mouthed.

Probably. Alan returned, and gave a shrug. It was a rare disease in their time, but everyone still knew what it was. Curiously, in the postwar years, when military tech was opened for civilian use, one of the biggest sellers was AI conversion. Nowadays, when people's bodies began failing, it wasn't uncommon for the rich to have their brains used to make new smart AIs, to operate a space station or starship or whathaveyou. The fact that the AIs only lasted about 9 years didn't seem to register to most.

Applejack looked briefly across the farm, and saw four familiar shapes coming their way. There was Gilda, Spike, Applebloom and... Trixie? The mare was instantly confused and concerned. "Pardon me, fellas," She excused herself, "Ah've got ta talk to some of my friends for a bit."

" Ma'am." Vasquez nodded. The pony took her leave, and the three leaders watched her go. After a moment, the Sanghelli and Jiralhanae looked away, but noticed that their friend had not.

"Alan?" N'tho spoke, poking his human associate.

"Hmm?" Vasquez grunted, as if snapping out of deep thought.

"Are you okay?" Cassius pressed, "You were zoning out for a moment."

"...No Ah wasn't."

"Are you sure?" N'tho countered, "Because it seemed like you were staring at that tattoo on her posterior."

"Ah was only lookin' 'cause its an interesting design. 'Sides, why would they mark their behinds like that anyway? It grabs your attention."

Cassius and N'tho exchanged a look, and then grinned in their own ways.

"What?" Alan demanded, indignant over any possible insult.

"Oh, nothing, human. Nothing at all." They snickered.

While Vasquez tried to defend himself, Applejack confronted the newcomers. "Hey," She demanded, "Where's Twilight?"

"She's with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and the other aliens!" Applebloom declared. The unicorn and the griffon looked around to see if anyone heard outside of the group. Fortunately, all the visitors were preoccupied with their own things.

"What the Hay are yuh talkin' about, Applebloom?"

"We're sorry, AJ," Trixie apologized, "But we may have left you out of the loop."

"Outta what loop? What's goin' on?"

Trixie, Gilda and Spike then gave the abbreviated version of everything that had happened over the past two days, up to Fluttershy's arrival. At the end, AJ merely asked, "So, yuh think these aliens might be like the one yuh found in the forest?"

"Definitely." Trixie said, "Even without ruling out the other groups, these 'humans' look like the Chief the most. So, if anything, we're the most qualified to talk to these guys."

"All the same," Gilda added, "We should be careful with these guys. We don't know what weaponry they have, or how aggressive they are."

"Aw, shoot," AJ demurred, "Ah've been talking to these fellas for hours, and they wouldn't hurt a fly."

As she said that, there was the sound of weapon discharging, and a green orb of energy flew between their faces before splashing onto a tree. The group turned in time to see one of the "Elites" roar at a "Grunt", and kick it a good three feet. The the blue-skinned midget yelped like an abused puppy, and quickly reholstered his plasma pistol.

The new arrivals gave the farm pony a glare. Applejack returned with a "don't blame me" look. The Uggnoy shouted out an apology, -something about a "weapons malfunction"-and returned to his squad. "What was that about not hurting flies?" Spike deadpanned.

"Let's just go talk to whoever's in charge before things head south." AJ led the motley crew back to her new friends, as the three squad leaders wrapped their little "discussion".

"...What's up with you guys, comin' up with crazy ideas like that? Insinuating that Ah was 'ogling' her, like some kinda creeper? Why Ah should-" Vasquez was chastising the aliens. "Alan," Cassius interrupted, "They're coming back."

Alan turned, and seeing the aliens approaching he quickly got back to his seat around the hastily assembled table.

"Guys," Applejack started as they approached the table, "Let me introduce mah friends here. This 'ere is mah sister Applebloom, that's Twilight's assistant Spike, the griffon over there is Gilda, and this unicorn is Twilight's associate, Trixie Lulamoon. Girls, this is Sergeant Alan Vasquez, Squad Master N'tho 'Vaddum and Captian Cassius. They are representatives of the United Nations Space Command and the Combined Allied Republics."

Everyone exchanged greetings, and afterwards Vasquez interrupted, "Beggin' yur pardon, Ms. Applejack, but what happened to Twilight Sparkle? You said that she represented these 'Princesses', and we would be talkin' wit' her."

"Unfortunately," Trixie explained (and lied), "Twilight Sparkle had a previous engagement in Canterlot, and had to leave early this morning. However, I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, am authorized to negotiate on her behalf, and on behalf of the Royal Sisters and Equestria."

Applejack rolled her eyes. While Trixie had shown tremendous improvement on herself, she still had moments when the old Trixie would pop up. Whenever she had to take care of anything important, like get some supplies for Twilight or scare away an insurance salesman, she would bring up her old title and her stage persona would come out. She wasn't nearly as bad as she used to be, but sometimes her habit of falling into third person speech was a little bit weird and annoying.

"So," Gilda butted in, "Why don't we started off with why are you guys here?"

"...We," N'tho began, "We're on a routine expedition, exploring the outer edges of the galaxy-"

"We're lookin' for someone." Alan interrupted.

His friends looked at him liked he kicked a dog over a bridge. "Don't give me that look!" He snapped, "They'll figure it out soon enough anyways. Ah may not be a diplomat, but Ah'm not goin' to start our first contact with another race on a lie."

The Sanghelli sighed and face palmed, mystified at the human's ignorance to negotiation. Cassius leaned forward and confirmed, "Yes, we are looking for someone. A hero among the humans and our kind as well. We tracked him down to this world, but we weren't anticipating meeting any kind of... Local intelligence."

"This hero," Trixie mused, her horn suddenly glowing, "He wouldn't happen to look like this, would he?"

Out of a pocket on her saddle, a scroll wrapped in a blue aura floated out and landed on the table in front of them. The scroll opened up, and an artistic rendition of a Spartan in a cryo pod was drawn onto it.

The space around the table became silent, with only the distant chatter of the other troops disturbing the scene. Spike was the first one to speak.

"Whoa," He declared, standing on tip-toes to get a better view. "What's that thing?"

"'Sierra-117'," Gilda recited, "'Master Chief Petty Officer'. Does that ring any bells, guys?"

The soldiers took a moment to gather their thoughts, and Alan asked them, "Where did you find him?"

Trixie and Gilda barely managed to hold in their surprise. Him? As in their was someone inside the armor? That definitely didn't sound good, especially since the pod and the armor hadn't been touched since it was sealed away in a vault. Even with the pod turned to stone for storage, it had been unplugged for most of a day. There was no telling if the individual was still alive.

Of course, they weren't going to reveal all the facts to them. If there was one thing Luna had taught them about negotiating, it was to keep whatever secret you had until it was useful to reveal it. So, without acknowledging anything, they continued.

"His ship crashed onto our world. Part of it landed in the Everfree Forest, where we were able to retireve it. It was turned to stone for safekeeping, but we will be more than happy to undo that spell and give him back to you."

"That," Vasquez said, "That would be great. Whenever you- Wait a minute, what do you mean 'turned to stone?"

"Exactly what I said," Trixie replied, "The Princesses used magic to turn the Chief into stone to keep him stable, and will be able to turn him back to normal when we're ready to return him."

The soldiers couldn't believe their ears. The Master Chief, hero of the galaxy, could still be living? And they were going to be the ones to bring him back? This mission had gone from a recovery op, to a first contact, to a rescue mission, all in the span of two days.

"That," N'tho informed them, "Would actually be very helpful. If you'd be so kind..."

________________________________________

About two hours later, a letter teleported itself onto Princess Celestia's desk. She heard it land on the oak furniture, and after wrapping up a a conversation with a few ministers, she turned her attention to the magical parchment. She thought it would be from Twilight, either sending a friendship report or a useless warning about the Extra-Equestrians.

What she read was something completely different.

Dear Princess Celestia,

As I'm sure you are aware, Equestria is being visited by otherworldly visitors, three of them landing around Ponyville. As of right now, contact and relations have been established with two such groups, the "Citadel Council" and the "UNSC-CAR". The Citadel people have been dealt with easily enough, only asking for a place to land. Negotiations with them was a snap.

However, the UNSC-CAR are a little bit more... Complicated. These are indeed the aliens who came for the Chief, and are quite eager to bring him back to their worlds. If at all possible, it would be highly recommended to unfreeze him and give him over. We might be able to obtain all kinds of super advanced technology.

Furthermore, the representatives have negotiated with the Apple family to obtain several acres of land to build a few "facilities" (which is probably code for some kind of base). In exchange, they have given us several gifts and concessions, including this medical substance called "biofoam", and a few "nightvision" helmets.

We would certainly like to hear your ruling on this. Please write back to us as soon as possible.

Your loyal subjects,

"The Great and Powerful" Trixie Lulamoon, Gilda of Ravenpoint, Applejack and Spike

The Princess smiled, knowing that the diplomacy classes she taught Trixie and Gilda finally worked out. While Twilight was her most avaricious and knowledgeable pupil, Trixie to her political and business classes like a duck to water. At times, she seemed to know and understand their principles far better than even her most senior advisors, a feat in itself.

Celestia chuckled to herself, realizing that Adam was right... Again. "Better not tell him," She told herself, "Last thing he needs is to have a bigger ego." She kept smiling as she began setting up preparations for a long-distance communication spell. The time for telling the other kingdoms was fast approaching...

________________________________________

1 hour later

Back in Ponyville, Applejack and Vasquez were chatting next to a Pelican, one of the first to come back down. As soon as it was confirmed with the captains, various shuttles and flying vehicles came down, dropping several large buildings and components onto the two vacant fields purchased from the farm. It was rather stunning, how quickly the humans and ex-Covenant were constructing these makeshift bases. The CAR base even looked like it was being formed from light, solidified into a heavy-duty plastic- at least to AJ's mind.

Looking around the farm-turned-military base, the place was abuzz with activity. Spike was talking with N'tho, both discussing the difference between an Elite and a dragon (apparently they look very much alike, from a distance). Trixie and Gilda were having teleconference with the captains of the Judgement and the Road, working out a few more details on the terms and conditions. Cassius and Big Mac were having a strength competition, with Applebloom judging. Cassius punched a tree with a might roar, and half the apples came down. Big Mac bucked his, and all the apples and leaves came off, much to Applebloom's cheers and the Brute's chagrin.

"Hey," The pony started, "Ah want to thank you for being honest with us earlier. Ah can imagine you're goin' to pay for it later."

"It's fine," He shrugged, "Ah'm not an ONI agent, or a high-ranking officer, but Ah know it pays to be upfront with people sometimes. You'd think we'd learn our lessons from the last war."

AJ sat down, sensing a story coming around. Alan gazed out upon the horizon, and explained.

"A few years ago, before Ah was born, mah people and those of mah friends were drawn into a war, one which lasted an entire generation. Billions of people died on both sides, including mah parents. It only ended when both sides realized that their leaders, the Prophets, had tricked them. They told the Sanghelli and Jiralhanae and all others that humanity was a cosmic blight that had to be extinguished, even at the cost of entire planets. In reality, the Prophets knew that humanity was the chosen race of the same beings they worshipped, and ordered our extinction so that they wouldn't lose their power."

"In the end, both humanity and most of the alien races joined together, and quarantined the Prophets and their followers to a distant part of our galaxy. It may be some time before we can all be on perfect terms, but Ah know Ah can trust mah friends over there, and missions like this just go to show that its possible for us to forgive and move on."

Applejack nodded in understanding. Although she couldn't wrap her mind around the concept of billions dying in a war- and, honestly, could anypony really picture it- but she could feel the sincerity in his voice, the genuineness of his tale.

"If you don't mind me askin', miss Applejack," The soldier inquired, " But where did you git that hat? It's very similar to one I had once."

"This ol' thing," she said as she took off her Stetson, "This used to be mah dad's hat. He gave it to me before he and my ma... Moved away." The last part of that statement was ever-so-slightly tinged with sadness, an old scar from her past. The soldier name merely nodded in understanding.

"What about your helmet?" She returned, changing the subject. "Did someone give that to you?"

Vasquez laughed. "Oh no," He chuckled, tapping his helmet with its orange visor and HUD. "This is something they give everyone when they enlist. Its still special, though. I fought in over thirty different battles, on seven different worlds, with this thing. Saved my life more times than I can count."

They stood silent for a moment, holding their headware. Then he asked casually, almost nonchalantly, "Wanna switch?" Applejack looked down at her hat, then at the helmet, and back again. Why not? She thought to herself, You can trust this guy, can't you? Out of all the folks that you were talkin' to, this fella stands out.

So, with a smile, she answered, "Sure, just for a moment." With a quick exchange, Alan was back in his cowboy days, and AJ was an "honorary" UNSC trooper. The pony was surprised that a) everything didn't look orange, and b) the imaginary/holographic words seem to know all kinds of things, from where north was to how many aliens and ponies were around her.

"So," She quipped, striking a sarcastically heroic pose, "How do Ah look?"

"Like you could go fightin' on the frontlines right now." He chuckled. "Me, Ah probably look ridiculous." While his helmet managed to fit on the pony's head almost perfectly, the hat was just a little too small on him, and ended up just barely resting on the top of his head.

"Oh, it's not that bad," She chuckled, "It actually looks good on you. Which is sayin' somethin', 'cause it doesn't look good on anypony but me."

Before the conversation could continue, Spike had ran over to them, and said, "Applejack, we're heading back to Ponyville. Trixie wants you to come along as well."

"Alright. Ah reckon it's goin' to be an important meeting." She turned back to the human. "I'll see you later. Keep your boys out of trouble, you hear me?"

"Yes, ma'am. See you then." With a nod and a minor salute, AJ and her friends trotted out of Sweet Apple Acres. Vasquez returned his attention to organizing the troops as the bases were being constructed, as Celestia's sun began to dip for the horizon...

Ch. 4.3- Adorable Xenos (fear them)

Twilight the Ambassador (part 3)

________________________________________

"Our first days with the ponies were quite vexing. Half of me wanted to smite them for being filthy xenos, while the other half wanted to hug them like a child's toy. Confound the creatures, they drive me to madness." - Attributed to Inquisitor Creighton

"The Astartes have a reputation -a well founded one, that is- of being merciless killers, of having no remorse, no restraint, no heart or soul. That is certainly true, but there's more to them than that. Longinus is a perfect example of a Marine who is the perfect soldier, but who still cared for others. That is why I consider him to be my friend. Because he still has a conscience."- Fluttershy

1345 hours

Fluttershy's cottage

Idly waiting around on a xeno planet was certainly a new thing for the soldiers of the Imperium. It filled them with a strange mixture of fearful apprehension and outright boredom. Even the emotionless Magos had to reguile himself with analyzing environmental data it was gathering. The Inquisitor managed to hide his impatience well, the tapping of his fingers on his leg the only tell of his inner turmoil.

Everyone else seemed fine just patrolling the perimeter or setting up makeshift defenses (it was a commissar’s idea, giving the troops something to do). But Longinus just rested on top of the hill, keeping his eye on the road for the unicorn or the Pegasus. He kept an air of calm stoicism as the hours passed by, his brothers standing by for further orders.

Creighton was regretting having just brought Longinus' squad. I should've taken Captain Numitor, or the Imperial Fists, He thought ruefully. They wouldn't backtalk me so openly. They wouldn't backtalk at all! They know and understand their role on this mission.

Mendel was a relatively new Inquisitor, but he knew it was a bad example for the soldiers for a Marine (especially a mere sergeant) to openly disrespect him, to question his authority in that manner. It made him look weak and incompetent to the others, and gave them ideas on who should lead.

There was a reason why he was leading this mission. All the High Lords of Terra, each representing a massive faction in the Imperium, wanted to be the first group to bring back the Emperor, and bring glory to their Adeptus. The infighting was at such a point for awhile, that it looked like there would be actual killing between them. It was only through the wise council of the Custodes (and the direct intervention of Constantin Valdor himself) that a compromise was made: Each faction would send a representative or squad on the Emperor's Wrath, and share in the glory of the ultimate triumph for Humanity. Because the Inquisition had control or connections with the Ecclesiarchy, Arbites and the Telepathica, Creighton was representing almost half the Imperium.

Any disrespect to him was disrespect to everything the Imperium stood for.

Longinus understood that, but would've said, if asked, that Mendel was overreacting. This wasn't supposed to be about which faction was the greatest, or who followed His Will the most. It was, simply put, the resurrection and restoration of the Emperor. It didn't really matter who reclaimed Him, so much as that He was coming back. After ten thousand years in a state of near death, the Emperor would live again.

Even if it was because of the aid of xenos.

The team had been waiting for about three hours when the Inquisitor's patience finally wore out. "This is it." He sneered. "I'm calling in the other squads. This has taken far too long."

"Calm yourself, Inquisitor." Longinus soothed. "The xeno still has a few more hours. She'll come back before then."

"No!" Mendel protested. "You said two hours would be enough, and it’s been three. The day we're expected to trust xenos is the day the Mechanicus stops obsessing over technology."

"Don't bring me into this." Kriel interrupted. "I'm just here to observe."

"Inquisitor," The Astartes pressed, "We don't need to hunt down Fluttershy or Twilight."

"And why the hell not?"

"Because they're already here." The Marine nodded his head, and Mendel turned around. Sure enough, two pegasai and a purple unicorn were coming down the dirt road.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash paused with Fluttershy when they came upon the top of the hill. Below them, a large group of humans, giants and metal... things had made camp all around Fluttershy's house, turning what was once a peaceful stretch of nature into a pseudo-fortress.

"Whoa." Dash gasped. "Those are a lot of... really big humans."

Twilight's eyes were wide as she looked upon the whole encampment, feeling a little ball of anxiety and fear settle down in her belly. "Fluttershy," Twilight murmured, "Are you sure these guys are friendly?"

"I don't know about all of them," The Pegasus answered, "But Longinus seemed nice enough to me. And he was the only one who spoke that I could understand."

"Which one is Longinus?" Dash asked nervously.

"He's the tall one, talking with the loud one in the pointy hat." Fluttershy explained, pointing to the duo on the hill.

The Space Marine had also been pointing at the ponies, leading to a moment of awkward symmetry. Fluttershy, for her part, smiled and waved, and encouraged her friends to do the same. Longinus and Creighton hesitantly waved back, the whole scene having a feeling of surreality.

Under the watchful eye of the rest of the away team, the two humans and three ponies came together on the top of the hill. Mendel repeated his speech from earlier, this time using the Ultramarine as a translator. "Greetings, Twilight Sparkle. I am Inquisitor Mendel Creighton, and this is Sergeant Longinus of the Ultramarines. We represent the Holy and All-Powerful Imperium of Man, who serves He who rules from Terra. Fear not, for we come in peace."

Again, Twilight was surprised that these huge creatures, these humans knew her name. How, though? Was it possible that the Princesses already contacted them? If so, was this some kind of test on their part? The unicorn's mind raced with all kinds of possibilities, but she still had the presence of mind to bottle that up in the back of her head.

"Well," She said, "Since you already know about me and Equestria, I might as well introduce my friends. This here is Rainbow Dash, I take it you've already met Fluttershy, and on behalf of everypony in Ponyville and Equestria, I welcome you to our world."

She extended a hoof, expecting the Inquisitor to shake it like Shepard had done. It was with a bit of concern that she noticed Mendel was hesitating. You could see it in his eyes that he wanted to touch her as much as drink a bottle of acid. But regardless, he put away his feelings on the subject, and shook the hoof.

The Inquisitor spoke, and Longinus translated, "If having a translator is a problem, I can have Magos Kriel bring over a Lexicon Skull. It’s quicker that way." Longinus shot Mendel a glare, but said nothing. Using the Mechanicus to cut him out as a middleman was to be expected, and thus didn't deserve any serious acknowledgement.

"Oh, it's no problem." Twilight said. "In fact," She said thoughtfully, "I think I have a spell that should solve our little problem." With that ambiguous statement, she closed her eyes, and focused her magic. Her horn began to glow in a purple aura, and sparks were coming off the tip. From the looks of the humans, this was very frightening and alarming.

"Twilight?" Rainbow said worriedly, noticing that all the humans were now looking at them.

"Just a minute, Dash," Twilight answered, "This requires a lot of focus." Her horn glowed brighter, and the pegasai could see the humans were all reaching their weapons. Swords, axes, various sharp objects, and strange elongated machines were all being aimed at them.

"Twilight," Fluttershy spoke up, her fear much more evident, "I really think you should stop."

"One second, Fluttershy!" The unicorn snapped, "I'm almost done!"

At this point, Twilight's horn was as bright as a signal flare, and all the Imperials were dead certain that she was trying to do some kind of sorcery, maybe summon a daemon of some kind. Even Creighton and Longinus were drawing out their massive chainswords.

"Twilight!" Dash shouted, "Please stop! They're not happy at all!"

"Almost there, annnd..."

Poof!

There was a bright flash, and a magic wave that enveloped everyone on Fluttershy's property. Twilight opened her eyes, and saw that they were surrounded by swords and guns, RD standing defiantly in front of her, and Fluttershy cowering behind her. She was somewhat perplexed at the reaction, but with an air of calm that surprised them all, she asked, "Can you hear me now?"

To the Inquisitor's surprise, he found that he could. "What did you do to us, xenos?" He demanded.

"I simply casted a 'universal understanding" spell, so you could talk to us. We're still speaking the same languages, but now we can understand each other's meaning." Twilight noticed that all the humans still looked pissed off. "What did you think I was doing?" She asked.

"Something you would've regretted." Longinus told her. "Don't ever do something like that again without giving us a warning. We may have sworn an oath to not harm you, but that doesn't mean we won't act when we think we're being threatened."

"Oh, um, I'm sorry." Twilight apologized, properly embarrassed. Her pegasai friends sighed with relief, thankful that Twilight's absent-mindedness didn't end up killing them.

"Come," Creighton said to her, "Let us have our palaver in a more private setting." He began walking in the direction of the forest, and Twilight followed. With that, all the other soldiers went back to their duties, leaving Fluttershy, Longinus and Rainbow Dash by themselves.

"Sorry about that." Dash apologized to the giant, "Twilight can be a bit... Careless at times. She really didn't want to scare you guys, and probably didn't even realize what she was doing."

"And I want to thank you for not hurting us." Fluttershy added, no longer huddled in the fetal position. "We really do appreciate it."

"Don't thank us," Longinus told them sternly, "We had given an oath to the Emperor Himself to not harm you xenos. Under normal circumstances, the moment her horn started glowing would've been the moment she died."

He reholstered his bolter gun over his shoulder. "In truth," He continued, "This situation is quite unusual for us. My legion has worked with non-humans only a handful of times, and I personally have never even spoken to an alien until today."

"How would you deal with them before?" Rainbow asked.

"We killed them." Longinus said plainly, simply stating a self-evident fact, like how the Warp is dangerous, or you shouldn't give a chainsword to a village idiot. The flying equines gasped, genuinely shocked on how blatant and nonchalant that statement had been.

"Y-You killed someone?" Fluttershy stuttered, cowering again. "B-But why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you kill them? What did they do to you?"

Why did he kill xenos? That was an interesting question for the Space Marine, one he hadn't thought of before. It was difficult, not because of any moral reason, but because he could think of dozens of legitimate answers. After a moment's thought, he gave them two answers: “Because they threaten my people, and because it’s what I'm made for."

"What do you mean?" Dash questioned, her tone serious. "Haven't you tried reasoning with them?"

"The enemies of man cannot be reasoned with." The Ultramarine informed them. "We have the Eldar who use us as mere shields, the Dark Eldar and their tortuous ways, the Tau who seek to enslave us, the Orks who fight anything that moves, the all-consuming Tyranids, the ancient evils of the Necrons, and our greatest enemy- Chaos- seeks to corrupt and destroy everything good in our galaxy. In short, you’re the only xenos I've met that are even worth bothering to talk to."

The multicolored mare widened her eyes from the surprise. An entire galaxy full of monsters, all out to get you? She was a brave pony, but Dash realized that this place where these humans were from was a very dangerous. She also realized that they were very different from Shepard and his friends, who didn't even mention these foes. Were they from the same place? If not, then where?

"What's more," Longinus continued, "I am an Astartes, a Space Marine. My brothers and I are the greatest warriors in the galaxy. We live war, we breathe war, we are war. Our very purpose of existing is to fight the alien, the heretic, the mutant, and to protect humanity. To do anything else is dereliction of duty."

"So, if your purpose in life is to kill," Dash questioned, a touch of worry in her voice, "Are you here to kill us, then?"

Longinus scowled at the perceived idiocy in that question. "If we were here for that reason, you and everyone you know would already be dead. If my people came here to conquer, it would only take a day, even with your xeno gods."

"Well," Fluttershy finally spoke, "If you're not here to conquer or kill, why are you here?"

________________________________________

"What brings you to our world?" Twilight asked the Inquisitor, as they approached the forest. They were of sufficient distance that no one from either group would be able to hear them.

Under the shade of a tree, Mendel summoned a floating servitude skull, which the Magos had brought on standby. With a snap of his fingers, the skull activated a holo projector, creating an image of a human, clad in golden armor, an actual halo encircling his head.

"This," The Inquisitor answered, "Is why we came. That is our master, the Emperor of Mankind. He has summoned us to this world to retrieve Him, and to bring our Imperium back into glory."

Twilight was at a loss. She had never heard of this "Emperor" fellow, and the Princess had never told her about Him. When she said as much, the human said, "You don't know Him, but your Princesses do. He told us that they made Him a new body, to resurrect Him from His deathly state. In fact, the Emperor mentioned them in quite a positive view, and said that you were their representative."

Twilight couldn't hide her surprise. Celestia and Luna had been talking with an alien god, making him a new body, even mentioning her, and possibly her friends? And all this time, the Princesses never told Twilight, her prized student, whom she entrusted with the highest levels of magical knowledge and wisdom? It was almost a slap in the face.

Inwardly, Mendel was smiling. Judging from the expressive face of the xeno, this was clearly a surprise to her. Even better, she had made the rookie mistake of showing her emotions plainly. Whoever this unicorn was, she was certainly no diplomat.

Pressing his advantage, he continued on, "You should be grateful that the Emperor holds your kind in such esteem. Had it not been for His wise counsel, we would've dealt with you the same as with any other xenos. But I digress."

"My point being, send word to your leaders that we patiently await His release. But know that our patience is not eternal, and it would bode well for you to make haste."

And on that note, he walked off, back to his people, leaving Twilight deeply concerned and vexed.

________________________________________

"Well," Faber sighed, finally getting into his evening rations, "This has been an interesting day."

It was around 1800 hours, based on the local star's position in the sky. Although, as the guardsman thought, since the sun and moon were manipulated by alien deities, who knew if it actually was that time of day, and not some trickery on their part? He merely shook his head, and returned his attention to dinner.

The day had indeed been weird. After the unicorn and Inquisitor finished up their little chat, "Twilight" had returned to pick up her friends. Faber had eavesdropped on the pegasai's conversation with the Astartes, and was somewhat intrigued with how it finished up. After he revealed his purpose to the ponies, he tried to keep them from fear, saying that, as the equine xenos were not warriors, and were somehow acceptable to the Emperor, he and his kin had no reason to harm or threaten them. It struck Faber as strange that the space marine would make an effort to come off as less intimidating, when the whole idea of the Astartes was to create fear in the hearts of their enemies.

Afterwards, Twilight, RD and Fluttershy (who seemed rather friendly with the marine) headed back to the town, to send a report to the Princesses. This left the Imperials to secure and sanctify their makeshift base, and to take down enough of the forest to allow the entire task force to come down. The xenos didn't actually say that they could, but what right did they have to say "No" to them?

Cadius Faber sat outside the circle of his troops, keeping watch with his bionic eye, when a loud whooshing sound came into the air. "Look out below!" A voice cried out, and the guardsman managed to duck just in time to avoid a grayish-blonde blur crashing into him, instead plowing into the log next to him. Before he or any of his comrades could draw their weapons, a Pegasus mare with a bubbles cutie mark and a bag of mail chirped, "Sorry about that. I just don't know what went wrong."

The gray pony got up and shook off some dust. It must've loosened one of its eyes in the process, because they began to move around in different directions. To the humans, it was an odd combination of adorable and disturbing. One of the eyes met with the sergeant, and she turned to fully face him.

"Hi," She peeped, her voice making her sound a little on the slow side, "My name is Derpy Hooves. What's yours?"

"Um... I'm Sgt. Cadius Faber, 12th Cadian Regiment." Faber recited, clearly uncomfortable with talking to her. The other soldiers stood around him, watching the scene unfold.

"Well, Mr. Faber, have you seen a yellow Pegasus around here? I have some mail for her." She stuck her head into the large purse she carried, and came out with a letter in her mouth. The light from the sun was right behind her, casting a halo around the pony. In that moment, the humans all thought the same thing: Huh, what a cute little xeno.

Shaking the heretical thoughts from his head, Faber told her, "I believe she already left with Rainbow and Twilight. They were heading into town, and if you hurry you might catch them." He hoped that the subtle hint would get the little xeno to go away, but it went completely over Derpy's head.

"Aw, nuts." She pouted, sitting down on the log, actually cracking it. "This is the fifth time this week I've missed a delivery. One more time and I'll lose my job." She lowered her head, and her eyes became shiny and tearful. The guardsmen shifted awkwardly, torn between staying cautious and feeling sorry for her.

"Well, uh, Derpy," Faber continued, unsure of what to say, "I'm sure you'll be fine. They only left an hour ago. You can catch them before they get back, so-"

"You don't like me, do you?" That question was filled with such sadness and finality, as if Derpy had been through it a hundred times before. "Everypony thinks I'm stupid or ugly, only having me around to make themselves look better. I hardly have any friends, and now the first space people come to town and you all... all..."

Derpy started crying. Faber and the troopers felt very uncomfortable, nonplussed by how the conversation went south so fast. He felt compelled to console the pony, but was unsure on how to do so, or even if he should. Cadius would reflect later on how the situation was a lot like finding a crying drunk girl at a party and wanting to help her, but not wanting to have to listen to all her emotional baggage that was certain to follow. He sorely wished that a Confessor was there, so that he would have an excuse to not get involved.

But, as fate or the Emperor's Will would have it, he did just the opposite.

"No no," He said, taking a tentative step forward, "We don't...uh, hate you. I'm sure you're a very nice xeno." His troops gave him odd looks, but he merely shrugged.

"R-Really?" Derpy gasped, her eyes now bright and shiny. "You don't mind my eyes?" They started to move on their own accord again, which just added another level or surrealness.

"Um, no?"

"You don't hate my mane?"

"...No?"

"Or the fact that I'm clumsy and almost crashed into you?"

"Not really?"

"So," She asked finally, "Are you saying you like me?"

"Uhh... I guess, but-"

"YAAAYYY!" The Pegasus cheered. She jumped into the air, and wrapped the soldier in a big bear hug.

"Gah!" Cadius shouted, "Get off me, you flying hippo!" The troops began to raise their weapons, but Faber shooed them away.

"Oh, sorry." She let go, and rummaged through her bag again. Cadius only had a moment to think on why this conversation was becoming so bloody bizarre when the gray mare brought out a brown pastry. "Would you like a muffin?"

"...Why would I want a muffin?" Faber asked.

"I always give one of my new friends a muffin. You can't eat one and not be happy. It’s a rule!" Derpy held out the muffin, like it was the Holy Grail.

Still skeptical, Cadius countered, "How do I know that it isn't poisoned?"

She gasped, shocked at such a statement. "Poison a muffin?! Never!" Faber merely held his gaze. After thinking for a moment, Derpy took a bite out of it. "See? It’s safe."

"Now you just took a bite out of it!" Faber was getting to the end of his rope with this nonsense. The xeno turned it around, and countered, "Not this end."

Forcing as much calm and patience as he could muster into his voice, the sergeant said, "If I take the muffin, will you go back to town?"

"Yep." She chirped.

Sighing, the disgruntled guardsman took the muffin, and ate it. For what it was worth, it was rather tasty, and he didn't die. With that, Derpy flew off. "Bye, Mr. Faber."

When she finally crested the hill, the sergeant sighed loudly. The others sighed and laughed. "By the Throne," One soldier swore, "If all the xenos are this frustrating, we may as well commit to the Emperor's Mercy now."

Ignoring the minor blasphemy, Faber grunted, "I've fought every kind of enemy to mankind, from Chaos to Tyranids to Necrons. But there was nothing in our training that would've prepared us for this."

Interlude- Imperator Omni-Occulis

Interlude: Imperator Omni-Occulis

“He stands eternally vigilant against our foes, His wrath upon the wicked steadfast and swift. He smiles upon the righteous, and grants blessings upon the mighty. Evil cowers at His name, and those who know His Truth are never in doubt. If our Emperor is with us, who can stand against us?" -Litany of Faith, 39M.459

"Omnipresent: Being in all places at all times."- Webster's Dictionary

________________________________________

8 P.M.

The Silver Tomb

It is a well known fact that the Emperor knew of everything that happened in his Imperium, from the actions of a single guardsman to the grandiose movements of entire crusades. This ability was granted via the connection to the Astronomicon, which guided humanity through his will. However, this was only what he could do through His old, dead body.

This didn’t hold a flame to what His new one was capable of.

Over the years, and especially after Luna's return, Adam became increasingly aware that His senses were... magnifying. His new form, being almost complete, could not only pick up on activities on the castle, but around the world and even beyond it.

Recently, the Emperor had a reoccurring thought, an idea of sorts. These new forces, the followers of the Chief and Commander Shepard's men, came through their own portals, their own universes. Adam himself was now able to watch both His realm and that of His caretakers. So, why not look into these new worlds?

Deep inside the Tomb, He opened His mind, allowing the power to flow out of Him, letting the senses grow and expand and receive new information. His body clenched together in effort, responding in unison with His mental efforts. After a moment, Adam felt His Mind stretching out to all corners of this new multiverse. The process would've destroyed the soul of a lesser mortal.

Adam took it in stride.

As His mind expanded, multiple scenes played out before him...

________________________________________

Many floors above Him, in the Princess's chambers, Celestia had surrounded herself with five magical mirrors. Each one had an exact copy, which allowed for long distance communication between the various rulers of the races of Equestria. In each, the leaders of the non-pony kingdoms were before her:

Odin Alkala, the All-Father of the Dragon Fiefdoms; Okele Mbembe, Chief-Shaman of the Zebra Tribes; High-Lord Zechariah of Far Reach, King of the Twelve Griffon Kingdoms; Chief Thunder Hoof of the Buffalo Tribes; and Master Redclaws of the Combined Diamond Dog Packs. All were members of the Equestrian Protection Pact.

There had been a time when the changelings were also part of the EPP, but after Chrysalis' act of treachery, they had been quietly forced out. The whole point of the treaty was to be united, to train together and prepare for the day that their world would be threatened. You couldn't have a backstabber in your midst.

"Thank you, my friends," She began, "For meeting with me on such short notice. As I'm sure you are all aware, we've had some rather... abrupt developments."

"Indeed, Princess." Odin spoke, his tremendous size making his words sound like thunder. "All across the globe, my subjects have observed the four lights passing over the night sky."

"I take it that these are the ships hero your 'special guest', then?" Zechariah inquired, stroking his beak.

"One of them is." Celestia answered. "The other three are from different... places."

"Would they have anything to do with the Object?" Thunder Hoof asked. "Or the 'Man of Iron' your apprentices found?"

"Yes, they do." Celestia then gave the leaders a brief rundown of everything that had occurred in the past 24 hours, including the recent letters she had picked up from Trixie and Twilight.

"So," Redclaws concluded, his accent coming off as highly Stalliongrad-ish, "The big question is, should we begin the Dusk Contingency or not?"

The room was silent for a moment. The Dusk Contingency, a plan laid out 1500 years ago, was the EPP's response to alien contact, specifically aggressive contact. While Adam had made it clear that He wouldn't let His people attack, there were no promises that His enemies wouldn't be drawn to their world. The plan required that the entire planet, from the mightiest armies to the lowliest farmer or worker, be mobilized in some way, and to put all efforts into repelling the invaders. It also required, if the need arose, plans that would save whatever populations were left, and destroy Equestria to deny the enemy their world.

"In all honesty, yes." The alicorn answered. "While the visitors who are here now aren't threatening us, we all know of the threats that Adam warned us about. And who knows what other threats these new forces could bring with them."

"Then it is agreed." Okele declared. "All our forces shall be set for Code H-3." (Little known fact: not all zebras talk in rhyme. Only the nobility do so.)

"Before we wrap things up," Odin spoke, "I feel that we should clarify on something: Can we be sure that Adam and His people can be trusted?"

Everyone looked at the dragon, and then at Celestia. The alicorn raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't we?" Adam listened, partially to detect any mental control, and partially to hear their genuine concerns.

"Doesn't it seem a little suspicious that this deity, a being with supposedly cosmic levels of power, couldn't use that power to heal himself? That He had to come to our little world- to you and your sister, mere fillies- and ask you to make a new body for Him? How do we know He didn't just trick us into giving away our location for His armies?"

"Of course He wouldn't do that!" Celestia cried out. "All He has done for us is protect and guide us, while He has been sitting patiently for His body to be completed. All the good things that we have accomplished have either come straight from Adam, or from His council. By Tartarus, this very council was His idea!"

That was mostly true. It was originally His idea to unite all the races of Equestria under one banner, just to make them taken more seriously when they met the Imperium. However, after the Principality was founded, Luna pointed out that the other races may not want to join them. And since warfare was essentially a foreign and forgotten concept amongst them, Celestia believed that a loose alliance between the factions would be the best option.

"And besides that," She continued, "I have seen His heart, and I know what He is like. He wouldn't betray us, it's not in His character."

"That is what you said about Discord." The dragon countered. "And we all know how that turned out."

The room grew deathly quiet and surprisingly cold. Celestia narrowed her eyes at Odin, and her mane and tail began to glow slightly. "Odin," The alicorn growled, taking a few steps towards the mirror, "Let me be perfectly clear. Never, ever say anything bad about Discord again. What happened to him was not his fault, but of our enemy. And the same goes for my sister, and what happened to the Crystal Empire. And it would do you well to remember that lesson."

The dragon had enough grace to look ashen, and muttered, "My apologies, Princess. I meant no offense."

"Now, if no one has any other objections, I hereby declare this meeting adjourned. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must contact Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. There presence will be greatly needed."

With that, each of the mirrors went off, leaving the sun goddess momentarily alone. She lowered her head, blinking her eyes rapidly. Adam understood how she felt. The fall of Discord and Luna was hard on all of them, but Celestia had to pick up the pieces of the kingdom on her own. Having to do so after losing your sister and lover just added salt to the wounds.

Adam wished that He could've given her some solace and comfort on the actions of those days, that what happened was for the best. He couldn't, for this was nothing like what He went through.

At the Battle of Terra, when He fought and killed His son Horus, there was no regret or sadness in the decision. He knew that the monster that He was fighting wasn't His son, but an abomination that wore his skin. Slaying him was a gift to the universe, and putting him out of his misery.

That wasn't the case for His friends. When they were cast down, Discord and Luna were still very much alive, taking a bullet to defeat His enemies. The punishment given was way worse than what was deserved, and out of the many failures He had made in His almost immortal life, this one hurt the most.

Celestia regained her composure, and her horn glowed as she reached out for her niece...

________________________________________

Hundreds of miles away, in the capital city of the Crystal Empire, Cadence and Armor were sleeping in the Royal Suite, completely oblivious to the day's events.

Over the past few days- in fact, since they got married, as it was still their honeymoon- they had been working to free the crystal ponies from the dark magic that King Sombra had put upon them. Work was...tedious and slow, to say the least. In fact, the only major thing that they've achieved is reestablishing Cadence as the rightful ruler of the empire (though the name was deceiving; it wasn't so much an "empire" as a massive city, like New Mombassa, or the Imperial Palace). They both knew that they would need either both Princesses or the Elements of Harmony to break whatever curse was put on them.

Unfortunately, the powers that be decided to derail that little plan.

Cadence, a voice rang through the pink alicorn's mind, Can you hear me?

Immediately, the Goddess of Love awoke from her slumber. Her aunt was calling to her. It must've been important, to wake her at this so late at night (locally, it was about 11 at night).

Yes, Aunt Celly, She replied telepathically, What's happened? Is something wrong?

I'm afraid it soon will, Celestia told her, her voice sounding heavy with sorrow. It's of the utmost imperative that you and your husband return to Canterlot, posthaste.

"WHAT?!" Cadence exclaimed, waking her husband unintentionally. "Why?!"

I'm afraid I can't tell you just yet. The Sun Goddess answered cryptically. I can't trust even mental communication at the moment. At much as it pains me to say this, you have to get out of the city now.

"But Celestia, we're so close to breaking the curse! Can't you send Luna or Twilight here, it'll be a quick fix, I promise!"

"What's going on, love?" Armor asked drowsily, dragging himself out of bed.

Cadence, you must understand-

"I will not abandon my people again!" She shouted. "This is the first time I've slept in days! My spell is all that keeps them safe, and if the Heart of the Crystal Empire isn't found, Equestria is doomed to fall into darkness. Do you want Sombra to win?!"

There was a moment of silence, in which Armor finally gained full consciousness. Then Celestia told both of them, Go to the balcony, and look up. The newlyweds were confused at the request, but did as she asked them. In the night sky, they could see a massive star, half as bright as the moon itself, racing across the sky like a speeding Pegasus.

"What the hay is that?" Shining wondered allowed, following the speeding light.

That is the Emperor's Wrath, Celestia explained, And that is a vessel more than capable of killing everything we love. I'm not forgetting about the crystal ponies; I'm putting the needs of the entire world first.

"But-"

We are talking about every race on Equestria, Cadence! We need you and Armor back now! And if you don't come back, I'll teleport over there and take you home myself!

Cadence was stunned. In all the time that she'd known her, Celestia had only used that tone once before, when confronting Chrysalis. Whatever was going on, it must've been extremely serious. "What about Sombra?" She questioned, "He's still out there, and is still a threat."

You worry about a creature of shadow, a manifestation without substance or mass. Believe me, even when you leave, he won't do anything with the Heart, even if he finds it. And, if worst comes to worst... I know someone that even Sombra fears to trifle with. Come back home, Cadence.

Cadence lowered her head, acknowledging defeat. "Very well, Aunt Celly," She said, "We will be back soon." Armor could feel the sadness in her voice, and nuzzled his wife. "Its okay," He soothed, "We will come back, you'll see. I'm sure Celestia is just expanding the seriousness of the situation."

"I bet." She harrumphed. "And when I get to Canterlot, I'm going to give her a piece of my mind."

Adam had to chuckle at that. The young goddess had spunk, no doubt about it, but she really had no idea what she was in for. He still didn't understand why the older Princesses didn't let her in on their secret about Him. Either way, she would soon find out.

Off in the corner of the room, a shadow pulsed and swirled, before finally fading into nothing. It was so small and brief, Adam almost didn't see it. He would turn His attention to it later.

________________________________________

Meanwhile, in a completely different galaxy, an ancient machine lurked on the other side of the Mass Relay. No, not one machine... many machines.

These synthetics, each the size of a small starship, were quite ancient. Certainly older than He was, possibly older than even the Necrons (although there was no concrete evidence yet to confirm it). But at the same time, they didn't seem nearly as threatening as His enemies, hardly even worth notice under proper circumstances.

They paraded themselves as the ultimate lifeform, the "Harbingers of Ascension", and their purpose in existence was to absorb or destroy all biological life, and it was something they had done for millions of years. These beings, who called themselves "Reapers", were the greatest enemy of Cmdr. Shepard and his universe.

Adam chuckled in spite of Himself. How quaint. He thought, These pseudo-Necrons think they are unbeatable, yet worry themselves over one man? Wait until they see a full-fledged Crusade have at them, and then they shall know true power.

There were three Reapers in the system, circling around a star fortress Shepard called a "Collector Base". Though made of metal, the ancient behemoths spoke on a telepathic level, and He could eavesdrop on their little conversation.

"What happened here, Harbinger?" Spoke the first one. "We prepare to begin our harvest, and already we've lost a base and a new Reaper. How did this happen?"

"It was He who Fights." Spoke the Harbinger, his voice dripping with venom and malice. "He and his followers managed to defeat my best warriors, saving all of his people from ascension. He defies us at every turn."

"'He who Fights'?" Asked the third, "Was it the human from the Citadel, the one who terminated Sovereign?"

"Yes, the one called 'Shepard'. He has gone from a thorn in our sides to a substantial threat."

Adam was impressed by this. The leader of the Normandy fought these abominations, and won? Twice? Even in the Emperor's universe, it was unbelievably rare that one individual could accomplish such great feats, let alone a mere mortal like him. Shepard must've been a person of great will and power, a worthy asset for whichever side he fought for.

"Has he been eliminated?" Asked the first one.

"No, Messenger." Harbinger answered. "He and his team managed to escape through the Escape Relay before my Collectors could catch him."

The third one made a noise that could've passed for an angry growl. "You let him pass through the one Mass Relay we never go through? The one Relay that leads outside the galaxy?"

"Unfortunately, yes I did, Entropy. I will-"

"That is the one Relay that we haven't passed through in millions of years, where we literally know nothing, and you let him go?! Clearly, your time among the organics has weakened your intelligence."

"Do Not think for one moment that I will let him escape! I have already summoned both the remaining indoctrinated Geth and the Collectors to go through and eliminate him. And if all else fails, I will personally go and crush him myself if that is what is necessary!"

"You better, Harbinger. This 'Shepard' has put up more of a fight than many a race. He is not an individual to be underestimated."

"If it comes down to it," Messenger declared, "We will go along with you to eliminate him. Our forces are in the millions, and they can afford to wait a little longer if it means guaranteed success."

"Very well," Harbinger relented, "Then let it be so."

Adam focused His attention elsewhere. He had learned everything He needed from the monsters.

________________________________________

In the realm where the Spartan came from, the galaxy seemed rather... tranquil. Disturbingly so.

Now, the Empyrean was a dimension between dimensions, one that reached out to every world. It was more turbulent in some places than in others, but there was always some activity of some kind, whether by daemons or by mortals. Here though, the Warp appeared like a still, clear mountain lake. You could see for light-years in a given direction without seeing anything.

Adam was about to turn His attention elsewhere, when He felt... a malevolence. A dark entity that had been hiding in the shadows, it seemed. Searching for it, He found it was originating from a small starship, much like the one currently in orbit around Equestria. It struck Him as odd that such a presence should exist in such a barren landscape, so He came in for a closer look.

The ship was... surprisingly corrupted. Greenish-brown growths covered much of the inside and out, and what was once beautiful architecture was a dangerous maze of flesh-covered passageways and necrotized abominations. In the center of the ship was a massive tentacled abomination, a creature He detected having a psychic presence.

Curious, He mused, This monstrosity appears Nurglite in its corruption, but feels more akin to the Tyranids in nature. Secretly, He probed the beast's mind, and found it surprisingly knowledgeable. Whatever this thing was, it had been around in one form or another for thousands and thousands of years, and had brought down a culture almost on par with the Eldar. Adam managed to pick up two names: Forerunner, Flood.

This ancient plague, which called itself a "Gravemind", was deep in a rage, loathing the fact that it was the last remnant of the mighty horde, brought down twice by the "Iron Casket". Indeed, Adam saw that the Master Chief had proven time and again to be the greatest current threat to the Flood, rendering it nearly extinct. But, it knew that as long as one cell of itself existed, it would always come back. The Flood, like the Orks or cockroaches, could never truly be destroyed.

It listened to the various comlinks from the UNSC and the CAR, looking for a new place to spread and survive. Then, it picked up on something; two ships, looking for the Master Chief. Not only did they find him, they discovered... Something more. A world of non-militarized aliens, you say? A world far beyond the reach of the Reclaimers? Well, that's a prime location to rebuild, isn't it?

Slowly, the engines on the ship reactivated, and the ship came back to life. The Flood was on the move, and its destination was Equestria. But as dangerous as the Flood was, Adam knew there was a much, much more sinister force coming His way...

________________________________________

In the depths of the Warp, the Dark Gods raged.

Despite all their well-planned machinations, their continual corruption and eternal combat against the forces of Order, the enemies of Chaos stood fast. And worst yet, their ancient foe, the Anathema, the Corpse Emperor, has begun to stir. A new vessel was being awarded to Him, and He stood ready to wage His war against the Ruinous Powers in person, once more.

The God of War wanted to summon a Black Crusade (possibly led by Eliphas, if necessary), take out both the Emperor and His newfound allies. Khorne had already begun summoning his forces, gaining strength as his followers went and spilt blood in his name.

The God of Change countered, saying that it wasn't possible yet. There was something about that world, something about the equines, that kept all but the most powerful of daemons from breaking through. The magic they used, their Harmonics, was somehow a natural repellant to the Warp. Tezeentch had looked for a way through for many millennia, but had yet to find any meaningful way for an army.

The God of Entropy suggested that an effort be made to corrupt the ponies. Either through mental corruption or through use of agents, if enough of them fall for Chaos, perhaps the natural field could be weakened, and a work-around could be achieved.

The God of Lust silenced the idea, saying that such a plan was unattainable. In order to send in agents or an army, you'd still need a way to get in. And furthermore, Slaneesh wanted their champions to go in, to lay the groundwork for the invasion. Problem was, who could possibly be able to turn these feeble mortals, and still lead the new Black Crusade?

We can.

Two voices spoke up, filled with darkness and hate. The dark gods (and Adam) turned their attention to the speakers, and gazed upon two equine-looking daemons. One absorbed light all around it, and somehow struck Adam as being very, very familiar. The other was smaller, but much more potent.

Hail, lords, The bigger one greeted, I am Khazarni, and this is my associate, Khazukull. We have been to the worlds of the Ponies, and we know how they think. Lord Tezeentch, my king, I know of ways to defeat these false gods that protect the Living Corpse, for I have done it many times, in many different realms.

O She Who Thirsts, The little one cried, her voice filled with agony and ecstasy, My master, nothing would give me more pleasure than to slay those who blasphemy your name, and wear their flesh as a trophy, to gain strength from their deaths. You seek a way into the land of our foes? Talk to the Druchii, the Dark Eldar. They know the workings of the Webway better than anyone in your service. Convince one to find a way into Equestria, and from there, make them open a portal for me and 'Zarni.

Once that's done,Khazarni continued, We can begin showing them your light. We know that you will ask for champions for Khorne and Nurgle, and it just so happens we know two such individuals just perfect for the task. Once that's done, we can open a bigger portal, able to let in daemons, hordes... and your Astartes and Primarchs.

All we ask for, They said in unison, Is your blessing.

The gods expressed their approval in their own ways. On one world, a race on the verge of space flight engaged in nuclear and global wars, spilling its blood on all corners of their planet. On a cardinal world, a high ranking official asked for better luck, and was turned into a chaotic abomination. On an Exodite world, the remaining Eldar were discovered by their darker kin, and were slaughtered in an orgy of masochism and rape. And on a newly conquered Tau world, a plague that mutated flesh and reawakened the dead spread like wildfire, consuming everyone in a matter of hours.

Adam knew all that would follow: Oracles among his sanctioned psykers would see visions of war and death, of Chaos on the move; Various Farseers among the Eldar Craftworlds would see all possible futures being bottlenecked into very few possible futures, their options limited to a growing sense of "do or die"; The Tau, while not connected to the Warp, will have a sense of approaching doom, and will obviously be concerned about that fallen world; and most importantly, besides the plan that He could overhear, He knew the Ruinous Powers would do everything they could to make sure Equestria died (with Him on it).

________________________________________

In Ponyville, everypony had gathered for a rather important town meeting. It had been, beside the Summer Sun Celebration and Discord's Reign, the most significant day in most of their lives. Three different First Contacts with powerful galactic forces, all in the same day?! Who's important now, Canterlot and Cloudsdale elitists?!

The Element-Bearers and their friends were all gathered in the center, discussing what had happened to each of them. It was a general consensus that Shepard's people and the UNSC-CAR were the most trustworthy (though Gilda had some unspoken reservations about Garrus- something was off about that one). The Imperials, however, seemed a little shady, a little scary (Though Fluttershy seemed okay with Longinus, and when Derpy delivered her letter, she said the same for the Guardsmen). Either way they looked at it, they still needed orders and confirmation from Celestia.

Adam considered these other factions. Shepard's team and the "Cerberus" group that worked with him were a weak but interesting bunch. The Commander and his followers were out for the protection and survival of the entire galaxy and its people, while Cerberus seemed to worry about Humanity alone. The UNSC and their xeno friends, on the other hand, were not here for any conflict, and only wanted a peaceful interaction with the equines. However, if these groups were to meet each other -or His soldiers, for that matter- without proper guidance and introduction, it could lead to a very... unnecessarily violent conflict.

If they were all to meet, the conditions would have to be just right.

At around 7:30, all the Ponyvillians all sat down, and awaited Twilight and her friends to make an announcement. Twilight approached the podium, and began, "Thank you for coming, everypony. Now I realize that today has been... a strange one, even by our standards. But, rest assured, we do have the situation under control, and this time there no need to panic and/or run for our lives."

There was a good-humored laugh all around. It was a general rule of hoof that whenever some big event transpires, the locals would automatically panic and run around for their lives. It was something of miracle that nothing significantly bad had happened yet, for they would more than likely be dead.

Twilight continued. "Spike, do you have Celestia's letter?"

"Yes ma'am." The little dragon answered. Shifting through his "pockets", he pulled out the scroll he had received through his magical fire-mail. The unicorn grabbed it with her magic, and opened it in front of her. She read aloud:

My dear citizens of Ponyville,

You have received one of the greatest blessings a species can receive: The knowledge that you are not alone in the universe. To be the first ponies to encounter not one, but three different alien groups, is feat that has never happened before, and most likely will never happen again. Your actions will talked about for generations to come.

I am well informed about each of the visitors, why they are here and what they can do. Fear not, my loyal subjects, for they are not a threat. They do not come for conquest, but for peace, for a retrieval of fallen heroes, and a respite from a battle well-fought. Do not give them a reason to fight, and all shall be well.

However, there is one thing you need to do.

While we know all three groups, they do not know of each other. If they were to meet each other outside of the right circumstances, it would not end well them, and especially not for us. Thus, my one request for you, my subjects, is to make sure they do not see each other. Not until we can arrange a proper introduction under our terms, our conditions, on the hopes of establishing a more... complete peace.

Hold on to the values and truths we have always treasured, my little ponies, and force of darkness and evil shall ever defeat us.

Princess Celestia

The town hall was filled with a solemn silence, upon hearing the words of their Princess. Although many had seen her visit their town on the business of the Element-Bearers, they had never heard a more beautifully put and eloquent statement before. As she finished reading the letter, Twilight paused, and then made a little statement of her own.

"My friends, we know what lies before us. We now know how to proceed, and what we must do. We may not have been prepared for this, but by Celestia, we shall not fail. We shall stand strong, stand brave, and we will Pass! This! Test!"

A riotous cheer rang out, and the ponies clopped in riotous applause. Adam chuckled at the display. While they didn't know the full extent of what they were going to face, He knew they had an inner strength that would not falter. He had been among them long enough to know that these peaceful herbivores were not afraid to fight, to stand up for what was honest and good. Naive as they may be, it was entirely possible that if left on their own, they could develop into a mini civilization that would give the Tau a run for their money.

It occurred to him that the ponies reminded him a lot of Luna (or perhaps it was the other way around). She was naive at times, overly optimistic of the nature of the universe at large. Both Tia and Luna -but more so Tia- believed that their way, the "Way of Harmony", was what would end up saving His galaxy. It did bother Him on how it seemed rather similar the Tau's philosophy of the Greater Good, which ended up corrupting them to fit their needs.

But, at the same time, Luna and her people lived by the rules they set. When they say they're going to help you, they do it. When they make a promise, they keep it. And even though the Princesses have faced many foes in their life, the sisters were always willing to forgive and forget, to move on and rebuild broken bonds.

Simply put, ponies were what Adam wanted His people to have been, in a perfect world.

Speaking of which...

________________________________________

Adam saw Luna gazing at the moon upon her balcony. He knew her well enough to know that it was her place of solitude, where she could go and vent without fearing about eavesdroppers- except for Himself, of course. She seemed remarkably sad, as if finally showing a deep-seated anguish. She held herself low, and her eyes were puffy and red. Had she been crying?

"Oh, Luna," She murmured, the alicorn's voice filled with sorrow, "When are you ever going to pony up and tell him?"

Tell who what? Adam mused.

"Every time an opportunity presents itself, you pass it by as if it were of no consequence. Why? You can't say because it wasn't mutual, because you've never asked him. You can't say that there are no common interests, because you so much about each other."

Is she talking about... a paramour? The language and emotion seemed to be pointing this way. But then that raised all new questions; Who is this individual? Where did Luna meet him or her? And why haven't I been told of this?

She breathed, an almost whimpering sound. "You know you can trust him. He has always been there for you when you needed it. When you came back from your exile, he was the first to welcome you back. When you made your first appearance at Nightmare Night, he was the one to encourage you the meet the populace of Ponyville."

Oh, it must be one her guards. Adam concluded. Tia never phased them out of service. One of them must've gotten ideas to "aid" in her in her reintegration efforts. Whoever this pony is, they must be pretty clueless to not notice her feelings.

"And," She continued, "That first night we went stargazing. Ah, I was almost sure he felt something for me, too." Her eyes went to two constellations on wither side of the moon. "Luna Nike." She quoted. "Imperator Dominatus." Victorious Moon, All-Powerful Emperor. Those were the constellations that Adam and Luna made together. He remembered that night...

________________________________________

1500 B.N.

The dark blue alicorn sat on the balcony, a glowing green orb floating next to her. While the Emperor couldn’t move His body, He was still able to project himself as a ball of energy, which allowed Him to go about wherever the Princesses went. And if anypony ever asked about it, the alicorns could always say that it was a new light-spell they were trying out, and no one would be the wiser.

"Thanks for coming out tonight, Adam," Luna chirped, almost bouncing with excitement. "It always so lonely up here; Celestia sleeping at night, Discord sleeping wit- I mean, sleeping as well."

It’s quite alright, Luna, The Emperor told her, I don't sleep anyway. It’s a luxury I haven't been given in a very long time.

"Yeah, I can imagine."

Not to contradict you, my dear, but in truth, you can't imagine it. Nor would you want to.

There was an awkward pause there. Nothing really brings down a conversation like remembering the friend you’re talking to is a slowly rotting vegetable a universe away.

Quickly changing the conversation, Luna chided, "Want to see something cool?"

Perhaps, Adam retorted, What do you have in mind?

Luna got up in position, striking a dramatic pose, her hoof up and horn up in the air. "Feast your eyes on this."

Her horn began to glow a cosmic blue, no sign of struggling on her face. However, Adam could feel the change of energy in the air, an oversaturation of magical energy surrounding them. He looked up the night sky, and was, for lack of a better term, impressed.

High above them, new stars were appearing below the moon, popping into existence like passing through the evening fog. They twinkled with the freshly discovered vigor of life, dazzling and bright as any star could hope for. Luna's horn grew brighter, a little more effort given. Slowly- but certainly noticeably- the stars began to move.

With the clarity and grace of a true artist, Luna moved the stars, twenty in all, into a new constellation. It reminded Adam of the Constellation Orion, only instead of a shield, the figure had five stars in the shape of a hand or a claw.

Impressive, Princess, Adam complemented. What is that image supposed to be?

Luna blushed. "Its you," She explained shyly, as if it were a big secret, "The right arm is holding your sword, and the left arm is the claw gauntlet thing you showed me. I'm thinking of calling it 'Imperator Dominatus'."

All-Powerful Emperor? Adam laughed. Well, that's certainly very sweet of you, but I don't think anyone- anypony, rather- would know what it’s supposed to look like. None of your kin have seen a human before, so far as I'm aware of.

She harrumphed, which struck the Human God as immensely adorable. "Well," She challenged, "If you think you can do better, why don't you?"

I think I will, if you don't mind.

Luna made a "go ahead" gesture. With a little effort of will, the green orb shifted into the form of the Emperor. It was transparent, like a hologram or a ghost, but His energy was more consolidated. Luna stared at Him, wide-eyed. "Whoa." She gasped.

Impressive, I know.

"I didn't realize that you were, well, so tall."

Indeed, His image was 12 feet in height, twice that of Celestia. The sisters hadn't seen Him in real life, so when they crafted His new body, they only made it a few feet taller than themselves. He was, well, rather intimidating.

Oh, let me fix that. Adam adjusted the illusion, bringing it down to her eye level. Better?

"A smidge, yes. But don't let me interrupt you."

The Emperor turned His attention to the night sky. In His universe, only the most powerful of psykers- particularly the Eldar- had the power to move stars. But in this world, it seemed to be decidedly easier -Luna wasn't more powerful than He was, but if she could move multiple stars with ease, than so could He. While Chaos magic wasn't well suited for constructive purposes, with His new Harmonic powers it wasn't impossible. He held an image in His head, and summoning His might, He raised His arms and the sky began to change.

On the other side of the moon, many stars appeared, shining in different hues of orange and blue and gold. Though the Emperor's image looked strained, the stars actually moved faster than before. The stars, this time numbering around fifty, aligned in a much more intricate, glorious shape. When He finished, the image of a majestic alicorn with a flowing mane was formed. Luna struggled to keep her mouth closed.

Do you like it? Adam said, trying not to sound smug.

"Whoa," Luna gasped, practically speechless. "That looks...looks... beautiful."

Indeed. I think we should call it 'Victorious Moon'.

"'Luna Nike'. That would be... very nice."

They sat there together, admiring their work. The Man and the Alicorn raised the moon together, and the creatures of Equestria admired the new displays given. It would go down in local history as one of the most beautiful nights of the Pre-Nightmare Era.

After an hour, Luna spoke up; "Adam?" He noticed that she had somehow gotten closer to Him, completely without notice. Yes?

"You've told us long ago about how your Empire grew. How your people went about expanding by, well..."

By killing xenos? Luna nodded. He figured this would come up eventually.

And you worry that when my people come, they will enslave or exterminate your people. Luna looked into His eyes and nodded.

You need not worry about it, my dear. Your world will not fall. I won't let them destroy all that you and your sister have accomplished.

"But why?" She asked. "I know you wouldn't lie to us, but why wouldn't you do to us what you've always done?"

That was actually a very good question, one that Adam was ashamed to say He didn't really think about. But, after a moment's thought, He said, Well, there are a couple of reasons.

1) All the xenos that we had exterminated or had been fighting had been a threat to us. They had betrayed our kind during the Age of Strife, leaving us to die had I not interfered. You and your sister, however, haven't even entered the space age yet.

2) Your people have an ability that's very rare in realm, and that is that you repel Chaos, keeping your world pure. In all honesty, you have more to give us than we can give you, and that is beating our greatest enemy.

3) I'm not a Tzeentchite. You have saved me from an eternal unlife. I owe you a debt; A debt I may never be able to pay off, but a debt nonetheless. Regardless of what happens, I will honor that debt.

And 4) Well, I'm not ashamed to say you are the cutest xenos I've ever seen. The universe would be a much sadder place without you.

Luna had nuzzled His hand- a typical sign of affection and friendship among the equines- and He scratched her ear. But the biggest reason, I think, is that you've given me and my kind something we haven't had in thousands of years.

"And what would that be?"

Hope.

________________________________________

Luna had rested her head on the railing, and sniffled. "I just wish I could just say those four words." She whispered. A lone tear ran down her muzzle. Adam was about to reach out and comfort her, somehow, when she spoke again. Saying the four most important words in the history of the new multiverse.

In a voice softer than Fluttershy's whisper, she murmured, "Adam, I love you."

...What?

His ears didn't deceive Him. As far as He knew- which, admittedly, was a lot- there were no ponies ever who had that name. Things started to click then- That moment during the Ceremony, the night of stargazing, the time with the Chief, and a dozen other moments. It was so blatantly obvious. And yet somehow, with all his knowledge, and all His experience with women for thousands of years, the Emperor had remained amazingly dense when it came to Luna.

Ohhhh... He thought, She's had feelings for me. That's...

Uh oh.

My people can't find out. That would be grounds alone to disobey on instinct and kill everyone. Its one thing to work with xenos under my orders. It’s another thing entirely to work with xenos that have attractions with humans. I have to keep this a secret and just let Luna down easy. She may take it hard, but she's strong. She won't hold it against me.

Wait a moment, why is this even an issue? Why should I be concerned about hurting her feelings? She is a friend, nothing more or less. It’s not like I have any feelings for her, do I?

...

Oh frak.

Ch. 5.1- Swords and Paramours

Chapter 7

A week in Paradise (Part One)

Rarity & Spike

"Oh yes, the first week with the Humans and their allies was quite stressful. Trying to keep everyone separated and secret, keeping track of who was from where, learning as much as we could from them, it was all rather strenuous. But the worst part for me? Having to keep my mouth shut when I saw the Imperials' garish outfits- they were positively dreadful…" –Rarity "Unicorn" Belle, Element of Generosity

"I had nothing but good feelings for the 'Ponyville Detachments'. Even before N'tho and I began training, I was just drawn to the way they held themselves, how they kept themselves ready for combat, but were always willing to show kindness and mercy. Perhaps it was a latent effect from my time among the douche-bag teenage dragons, and I still needed a positive male influence or something. Still, it seems rather ironic; I learned what it meant to be a dragon by becoming an Elite…" – Spike, Honorary member of the 'Vaddum Clan

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

+Day 1 of Contact

10:57 A.M.

Carousel Boutique

Everypony in Ponyville had some kind of activity going on that somehow included the visitors. Since they were going to be staying among the equines for some time, the ponies felt that they should show them all the wonderful things that Equestria was about. From giving them various treats and trinkets to full-on guided tours, it seemed like they were trying to spoil the soldiers with their niceness.

Twilight and Trixie went about interviewing and conversing with every high-ranking official among the away teams. Dash and Gilda observed the various technologies, especially those involving flight and space travel. Pinkie brought out the "welcome wagon" for each group (the fact that no one tried to kill her was a blessing in and of itself). AJ and Fluttershy oversaw the construction of the two bases. And good old Rarity was left to do what she wanted to do the most…

Learn about the fashion of advanced aliens. As if anyone expected her to do anything else.

She was in her central office, talking with her first alien guest while Spike worked in the background, tiding up the place from her work last night. She had been in the middle of filling out a particularly large order when Pinkie Pie had come in, babbling on about "aliens" and "robot people" and other such nonsense. She had convinced her to come out to the Town Meeting, where Twilight and Celestia's letter had confirmed Pinkie's words, which then led to Rarity returning home to begin prepping her home for the Extra-Equestrians.

"I must say," She began, drinking some tea, "That it is an absolute privilege to have you in my home, Ms. Lawson."

"The pleasure's all mine." Miranda replied, drinking in turn. Rarity was impressed at the etiquette and grace she displayed with her hands, something rather lacking among the dragons and griffons that she had met so far. "As much as people may downplay it, you can tell a lot about a species and its culture from things like fashion."

"Thank you!" Rarity exclaimed. "Finally, someone appreciates the finer things in life. You would not believe how frustrating it is when most of your friends think that 'dressing up' is simply wearing a hat, or a cape."

"I must admit that for someone like yourself, it must be quite aggravating that almost no one in this town is wearing clothes. No nudity taboos, I take it?"

"Well, I guess you can say that. Most ponies prefer to go 'naked', as you would say. Often times, they only wear clothes for special occasions or if it's necessary for work. So clothes are somewhat of a luxury item, I suppose."

Miranda nodded, as if it were a great revelation. However, she already knew this, as well as any other important bit of information the white unicorn could possibly give her. Last night, Garrus had given them a crash course on this world; what he knew about the locals, how the world worked, anything he could scrounge up on short notice. The Turian even dug up some fanon material- since Gilda and Trixie were back, apparently on everyone's good side, it seemed like this Equestria was non-canon, so a different approach would be needed.

Lawson remembered a rather funny conversation she overheard between Shepard and Vakarian…

("Hey Garrus?" "Yeah?" "I have to ask. You seem to know a lot about this… show. How often do you watch it?" "…You know how I'm always recalibrating the Thanix Cannon?" "Yeah?" "Those engines are a work of art. I've never had to touch them.""…Really? Every single time?" "I can't help it if you happen to walk up when I'm in the middle of an episode every time. It's a good thing you make heavy footsteps, or you would've caught me weeks ago.")

"… Ms. Lawson?" A hoof waved in front of her face.

Miranda came back to attention. "My apologies, Rarity. I was zoning out for a second."

"Yes, well. Anyway, I was asking about what other races you have in your galaxy?"

This led to a conversation to the more than dozen races of the Mass Effect Galaxy, on their cultures and looks, on their interactions with humanity, things like that. As it progressed, Spike would come in occasionally to refill the teapot, bring in some extra treats and such, all the while eavesdropping and taking notes in the kitchen. Being one of the first in Ponyville to meet the aliens, he came early to give the fashionista a debriefing. He also stayed to "help" around the store, partly to keep an eye on her, and partly because he always liked being with his longtime crush.

At one point, the little dragon had cleaned up the table the ladies were using, and when he returned he asked obediently, "Anything else, mi'ladies?"

"That's it for right now." Rarity answered. "Thank you, Spike." She gave him a quick kiss on the top of his head, and the slightly blushing reptile went back to the kitchen.

"That was rather affectionate of you." Miranda observed. Perhaps the fandom was right on this "Sparity" relationship thing.

"Oh, yes," She sighed. "I'm afraid our… relationship is a bit, shall we say, complicated."

"How so, if you don't mind me asking?"

Rarity was silent for a moment, trying to find the right words. "Well- oh, how do I put this? Age and maturity is a rather finicky when it comes to dragons, I suppose. When dragons get a lot of possessions, their greed can rapidly age them to full growth, making them rather destructive. But under normal circumstances, Spike is very wise and mature for his age."

"Speaking of which, how old is he?"

"Uh… twelve." She admitted, almost embarrassed. She quickly amended, "But again, dragon age is different to pony age. He's actually around his teenage years, and from what Twilight tells me it's around this time that his breed starts bonding, in a romantic sense."

Miranda nodded, and gestured for her to continue.

"I've known that Spike has had a crush on me for some time. I received a real good look at his depth during his birthday, when he had an incident with greed and aging. He had turned into a mindless fifty-foot tall monster, and ravaged much of the town, even kidnapping me for his hoard. But, just as things seemed to be at their worst, he saw the gem he had given me some time before, and remembered what was important to him: his friends, his family, and me. He turned back to normal, and confessed his feelings for me."

"Later, he went on a 'journey of self-discovery', to find out what it meant to be a dragon. Of course, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and I had followed, to make sure he didn't get hurt. He became mixed up with some unsavory characters, and at one point they threatened his life. We intervened, and saved him- but more importantly, I realized that not only did he care a lot for me, but I cared for him too."

"We're now in somewhat… complicated situation. Anyone who doesn't know us would say we're really close friends. But it's more than that. We haven't done anything romantic, per se, but he's as close to a colt-friend as I've had in years."

"I believe the term you're looking for is 'Platonic Life-Partners.'"

"Hmm, I suppose so… But what about you? Do you have a special somepony?"

The human chuckled. "Yes, I suppose I do. Commander Shepard and I have an, interesting relationship."

"Oh? Do tell."

She sighed. "Well, for starters, it's not strictly the most monogamous of relationships, if you catch my meaning. Shepard is also… intimate with the Quarian on our ship, Tali Zorah vas Normandy. She had served with him on a prior mission, helped him save the Citadel from Sovereign's rampage. We brought her in because of her technical skills, but Matt may have brought her in for other things as well."

"After awhile, it became somewhat obvious that Shepard and Tali were… very close. Problem was, he was with me still. I'm not sure about relationship norms on this planet, but the galaxy tends to hold monogamy and fidelity rather highly. So, like anyone else would've done, I confronted them."

"But when I did, he didn't get all mad or defensive. Instead, he understood my concerns, and apologized for not coming to me first. Then, Shepard gave this speech about how 'Tali and I both cared for him, he cared for us, so why do we have to choose between us?' Looking back, I'm surprised I didn't call him out on it, slam him into a wall and wash my hands of that player. Hell, I was even expecting Tali to do the same thing."

"But you know what happened? ... We bought it. We bought it hook, line and sinker. From that point on, we somehow both became his women. You can ask anyone from the Normandy about it, and they'll chalk it up to the Commander having 'swag'. Honestly, it's probably true, because if it were anyone else I would never go for it. But it's because it's Shepard that it works. Does that make sense?"

Rarity nodded in understanding- or rather, a form of understanding. Thing was, with the Male-Female ratio at 2:1, monogamy was a rather uncommon thing. But maybe it was a common thing among these distant peoples, and it would be uncouth to criticize their ways. So she merely feigned comprehension and forced sympathy, and after awhile Miranda got a call on her omni-tool, asking her to come back to the ship. Rarity breathed a sigh of relief as the human finally left.

"I dare say that this little chat went well." She complimented herself, rearranging the outfits for the next guest. "Who are we having next?"

Spike reviewed the checklist made the night before. "Let's see. Twilight and Trixie have Tali and Legion, Rainbow and Pinkie have Garrus and Thane, Gilda has Inquisitor Creighton… Oh, here we are; Rarity, we have N'tho."

"N'tho?" The fashionista sounded a bit skeptical on the name.

"I think you'll like him." Spike continued, sounding rather enthusiastic. "He's a Sanghelli. He's tall and has this really cool looking armor, and looks a lot like a dragon. Best of all, he's actually nice to us."

"Well, that's certainly good to hear." The unicorn continued tiding up.

The dragon was quiet for a moment, writhing his hands. He then asked, "Um, Rarity, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, darling."

"Well, all that stuff that you told Miranda, about me? Did you really mean it?"

"Spike, when have I-"

Before she could finish, they both heard a knocking on the door. Rarity sighed. "I'll get it."

Trotting to the door, she opened it, and was greeted with the visage of giant metal monster. It was more than twice her height, adorned in armor of shiny red and silver. On its sides were a two-pronged blue contraption with a line of connecting plasma, and a simple brown stick delicately and intricately designed. Its feet were cloven rather than hoofed, and its hands had two thumbs. Most intimidating of all, it wore a three-pronged helmet, which had held two glowing lights were the eyes should be.

Rarity just stood there, frozen in shock and fear. Spike saw the being in the doorway, and smiled. He waved to it, and called out, "Hey N'tho. Come on in."

"Hello, Spike." The Sanghelli answered in a deep voice. He nodded to the unicorn. "Lady Rarity, I presume?"

She managed to snap herself out of that little spell, and quickly answered, "Why, y-yes, of course. Welcome to Carousel Boutique. How uh, how can I help you?"

"Applejack sent me here." The alien told her promptly. "She said that you would take an interest in my armor and its technology. Or rather, whatever technology I'm allowed to show you that you can understand." He didn't say that condescendingly, and Rarity was thick-skinned enough to not be bothered even if he were.

"Of course, that would be lovely. Please come in."

She gestured a hoof, welcoming him in. The Sanghelli had to duck down a bit to go through the tiny doorway. His head swiveled this way and that, getting a good view of the entire store. For what it was worth, N'tho could see that she held a lot of pride for the job she held. Everything in the building had its own glow or feel, every piece of cloth or art felt vibrant and alive. He could imagine that many a human corporation would pay a fair sum to gain her services.

And amidst this living work of art, Spike stood and watched him. For whatever reason, the dragon had possessed the notion that the Sanghelli was a badass. Whether it was his height, or his armor, or the way he commanded his fellow soldiers, the Elite embodied everything Spike found lacking in himself.

As much as he liked being with his pony friends –both mare and colt- they didn't and couldn't help him understand what it meant to be a dragon. In his life, he had two experiences to what his kind was like; his birthday rampage, and his time with the teen dragons. The first time told him he had to be careful around his friends and material possessions; the other told him that his kind, on average, were a bunch of sadistic, phoenix-aborting, child-abusing Jerkasses.

Both of which went against everything he felt he wanted to be.

The daydream he had when he saved Rarity; that's what he wanted to become. He wanted to be a warrior, noble and strong, dealing out justice to the wicked and saving the innocent. He wanted to embody and protect everything that Twilight and Celestia had taught him to love.

Maybe he could teach him.

N'tho, oblivious to the dragon's thoughts, offered his weapons to him. "Hold on to these." He instructed. "They are very dangerous, and very important to me and my kind. Treat them carefully."

Spike took the blue gun and metal stick as gently as a pair of Fire Rubies, and gazed upon them with the same awe and wonder. The dragon responded with a "Yes, sir," and walked them both off to the backroom.

"Is there anything in particular you wish to look at?" N'tho asked the unicorn.

"Why not start with your helmet?" Rarity answered. "I'm rather curious on how your eyes manage to glow like that."

N'tho nodded, and began unlocking his helmet. When he finished, he placed the helmet on the table, and turned to face her. Rarity, for all her etiquette and control, couldn't hold back the gasp of horror that escaped from her mouth.

It wasn't the yellow snake-eyes that scared her, nor the large scar on the front of his head, or even the lack of ears that disturbed her. It was… it was…

N'tho noticed the fear on the unicorn's face, and tilted his head. "What's wrong?"

"Y-y-your," Rarity stuttered, "W-what h-happened t-to your…"

"Is it my mandibles?"

"Y-yes."

"Does the way they move when I speak terrify you?"

"Yes."

"Do you want me to put my helmet back on?"

"Yes!"

The Sanghelli put the helmet back on, trying not to chuckle. The marshmallow-colored creature's voice kept on getting higher and higher as she cowered and spoke. It was rather cute, in an almost sadistic way.

"I take it that your have a phobia of insects?" He asked as the lights in the helmet came back on.

"I suppose you could say that." She sighed, relived. "My friends and I had to fight off the Changeling Invasion a few months back. It left a few marks on all of us."

While the two of them chatted, Spike was in the backroom, inspecting the bizarre alien weapons. The blue pronged weapon was pretty dangerous-looking; a fly had buzzed by and touched the connecting plasma line, and was promptly vaporized. What peaked the dragon's interest was the strange metal stick.

It was rather basic, when you got down to it. It shone in the color of aged bronze, covered with intricate twirls and spirals. There were two thin strips on either end of it, and a small button in the middle. It was rather large, but he was still able to hold it in one hand. His thumb strayed towards the button, and then-

Whish!

Spike blinked in astonishment. When once there was nothing, there were now twin two-foot blades coming out of the stick. They glowed a mesmerizing electric blue, and arcs of energy silently crackled and arched the span between them. It was then he realized that it wasn't a stick; it was a handle. This was some kind of magical sword, and he was wielding it.

Spike had seen many beautiful images in his young life; Celestia raise the Sun; Luna raise the Moon; a Sonic Rainboom; the Elements of Harmony at work; Rarity fresh out of the spa and Twilight taking a nap. All these things and more, they were beautiful moments, beautiful friends. But this sword, this Blade of Energy, was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

A distant part of his mind wanted him to touch it, but he quickly banished that thought. He reasoned it was probably plasma-based, torching anything that contacted it. Another, far more tantalizing idea came to mind. The baby dragon grinned. He slashed the blade through the air, and it made the most beautiful whoosh sound. Spike giggled. "This is amazing." He began twirling the sword around in his hand, spinning it rapidly. Then he began spinning about, twirling like a dervish, becoming a blur of green and purple and electric blue. The sword became an extension of the dragon, and he felt more powerful than ever before.

He cheered in his head, I am Lord Spike, Destroyer of Evil!

Slash! Crack!

Spike stopped, looking around. The sound came from a nearby table. Apparently, he had accidentally sliced clean through the solid oak furniture, and watched as it fell apart in two halves. The edges were perfectly smooth, not even warm to the touch. This sword was more powerful than he thought.

Behind him, there was a metal shuddering sound as N'tho decloaked himself. "That, Lady Rarity," He spoke to the unicorn in the other room, "Is what I mean by turning invisible." He turned his attention to the little dragon holding his sword. If he had eyebrows, he would've raised them. "What have we here?"

"I'm sorry, N'tho," Spike tried to explain, "I was just looking at your sword and it was so cool and-"

"Okay, why don't you stop swinging the sword while you talk?" The Sanghelli instructed. "It's not your pec- your tail. Just hold onto the button, and flick it." Was I about to call it a "pecker"? He thought. By the Forerunners, I've spent too much time with Vasquez.

The dragon did as he was told, and the blade unlit itself. When the alien gestured to get it back, he was slightly hesitant. The primitive brain inside him kept on screeching that it was his sword now, that he shouldn't give it back. Spike broke through that line of thought, and gave the handle back the strange four-fingered hand.

"I was just demonstrating the invisibility cloak my armor has when I saw you in action." N'tho continued.

"Oh, did you?" Spike was feeling rather embarrassed. He hoped that his new friend wouldn't be too mad at him for his indiscretion.

The Sanghelli was quiet for a moment, thinking of the right thing to say. "Spike," He told the little dragon, "I have been fighting for 75 years. I have seen every kind of soldier there is, and then some. As a Sanghelli, one can spot a true warrior by the way he wields his sword. And I must tell you, little dragon; I have never seen someone take to the sword as quickly as you have."

"Really?" Spike perked up, his tail twitching ever so slightly.

"Certainly." N'tho paused in thought, and continued, "You know, it'll probably be some time before the Chief is brought to us. I myself will have quite a bit of free time. How would you like to train with me?"

"Seriously?" Spike could hardly contain the glee in his voice.

"Sure. It'll be fun. You up for it?"

"Absolutely! That would be awesome!" It was all he could do to not jump for joy.

The Sanghelli chuckled; if only all youngsters on Sanghelios took to training so eagerly nowadays. N'tho wrapped up his business with Rarity, made an appointment with his new "apprentice", and made his departure. Spike felt like a little foal on Hearth's Warming Day, waiting to open his presents. Starting tomorrow, he would learn how to be a warrior. In his mind, he would finally know what it meant to be a dragon.

Ch. 5.2- Brutes, Marines and Futtershy in between

Chapter 7

A week in Paradise-(Part 2)

Fluttershy

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"As an Astartes, one is trained to not to feel any emotion outside of righteous fury. Mercy and Compassion are concepts that are rarely demonstrated or seen, even amongst your battle-brothers. But, as anyone who has ever been around Fluttershy knows, it's almost impossible not to demonstrate these ideals. I had spent my entire life killing, but when I did so in front of her, it was the first time I ever felt shame."- Srgt. Longinus, on his dealings with Fluttershy

"Every race seems to have a special ability or trait. Humans are clever and resilient. Sanghelli are great fighters with a strong moral code. Asari are neutral and bang everyone. Eldar are reserved but powerful. And ponies… well, somehow they've weaponized cuteness. One can resist their charm the same way a snail can go FTL; you can't."- Capt. Cassius

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+Day 3 of Contact

9:55 A.M.

Fluttershy's Cottage/ Forward Base Aquila

Thought of the day: A busy mind is pure mind.

Life was starting to get into a routine, the sense of awe and wonder settling down into a sense of normalcy and acceptance. Much of the base had been (hastily) assembled, and none of the Imperials' daily activities interfered with Fluttershy's lifestyle of peace and calm. Granted, it did take awhile for the meek Pegasus to convince them not to kill every animal that happened to pass by, to reassure them that she could handle any fauna problem, but with great helpings of reasoning, pleading and using the cutest puppy eyes that any of them had ever seen, they acquiesced to her conditions.

The whole situation was still rather disconcerting for the Imperials. Having to work with naive and cute little xenos on a daily basis didn't sit well with some of the more… devout members, especially the Chaplains and Confessors. Even though all of them had sworn to the Emperor to accept the equines, but it would be a lie to say that none of them thought, even for a minute, that perhaps the aliens put some kind of spell on Him, bending Him to their will. And if they were able to achieve that, who knew what else they could do?

But while the higher ups- from the Inquisitor to the Captains to the Chaplains- seemed uneasy about it, everyone else was slowly warming up to the ponies. Since all the animals now avoided the cottage like the plague, so Fluttershy had nothing to do but mingle with the big scary humans. She seemed rather at ease with the giants- even with the Imperial Fists, when they came down- but seemed to be closest with Longinus. And then, of course, there was Faber and Derpy, who had somehow became the comedic duo of the camp.

This leads us to what's happening right now…

"No, Derpy!" The corporal had shouted at the ditzy mare. "I don't want to go meet your boyfriend! I've got more important things to do than make social calls!"

"Hold up, buttercup," The Pegasus countered, flying around the trooper to look him in the eye (not an easy thing, considering her wandering eyes). "First off, the term is 'coltfriend'- we've been over this, words are different here. Secondly, Doctor Whooves is not my coltfriend. He's simply a friend, who happens to be a stallion. And thirdly, I just thought it would be nice if you two met. He always goes on about technology, so maybe he would like you too. Especially with your robot arm."

"Bah!" Faber snarled. "My cybernetics are not for show and tell! I think if I even let you touch it, the Magos would blow a circuit and have me executed! Speaking of which, why don't you just take him? The Mechanicus knows everything there is to know about technology."

"I'm not going to bring that creeper!" Derpy cried out. "He has been asking all kinds of weird questions about 'pony breeding', and watches us like a foal-fiddler. I'll be sent to Tartarus before I let him anywhere near my Dinky and Sparkler!" Many citizens in Ponyville could attest with that; you don't fuck with Derpy's family; as cute as she is, she'll break your legs.

"I wouldn't worry about that, Corporal." Longinus called out, again sneaking up behind them. "He went over to Pinkie Pie's house earlier today. Something about 'understanding the complicated nature of equine xeno genetics'."

"Good luck with that." Fluttershy spoke up. "Not to say anything bad about Pinkie- but, well, I've heard talking to her can be very… confusing."

The Astartes and the Pegasus were always quite a sight. It seemed as of the first day of settlement, some kind of arrangement or understanding was made between them, somehow making them "friends" if rumors and observations were true. The strangest part about it was the now Fluttershy was always riding on the Marine's armor, laying on the shoulder guard like a wolf pelt, almost like she were using him as a personal taxi. People would joke about it, but never to their faces (Guardsmen didn't want to insult a demigod, and the Space Marines were too professional to mind it).

"Hey, Fluttershy," The gray mare chirped, "Have any plans today?"

"Why yes, Derpy," She promptly answered, flying off and landing daintily in the dust. "I actually have to AJ's farm to pick up some supplies. She's always nice enough to grant me a discount, if not completely free."

"Would you mind if I were to come along, Fluttershy?" Longinus inquired. "I haven't been to Sweet Apple Acres yet. The Inquisitor is always on us about 'obtaining intelligence' and 'doing reconnaissance', as if we didn't know how to do our job."

Fluttershy shifted awkwardly, trying to think of a good excuse. "Um," She stammered, "I don't think that's a good idea, Mr. Longinus. Applejack is busy with bucking apples, and she always wants to meet guests personally, so-"

"What about her siblings?" He countered. "I'm sure one of her family members would be able to talk to me."

"Uh, um… I think they're helping her with the harvesting. It's a family activity."

"No matter. I don't have to talk to them. I'll just walk around the property, see what I can see, and leave before anyone is the wiser."

Fluttershy was running out of ideas, save one. She didn't want to lie about her friends, and she felt that AJ wouldn't be happy about it, but they all knew the rules. The humans were not supposed to see each other.

"Okay, Mr. Longinus. I didn't want to tell anyone this, but Applejack and Big Mac are, well, rather shy. They don't always like having unexpected guests coming over. They are okay with me and my friends coming over, but if you showed up, you might startle them."

"And what would be so wrong with that?" The Astartes argued.

Fluttershy whimpered, a truly heartbreaking sound. Everyone near her felt quite uncomfortable. Derpy was very familiar with that sound; whenever the yellow mare made it, she was guaranteed to get what she wanted, not out of manipulation, but because it gives everyone in earshot became crushed with guilt.

Longinus had heard a similar sound come from her before; and even to this day he couldn't believe that the little xeno could affect him so…

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Two days prior

Perimeter of Forward Base Aquila

Howls could be heard piercing the quiet of the night. The Guardsmen and Astartes recalled that it sounded like the lost 13th Company of Space Wolves. Fluttershy told them it was Timberwolves. Quite an intimidating creature, as she described it; twice the size of a pony, made of wood, very hard to kill. What was a nightmare for the ponies was welcome opportunity for the soldiers.

Finally, they get to shoot something.

While the Guardsmen stayed put to maintain the perimeter, the Marines went out for the hunt. The wolves were clever beasts, no doubt- but the Astartes had fought against the likes of Orks and Tyranids, and no animals were smarter then them. It had taken maybe an hour for them to slay over a hundred of them through the forest, a few techmarines and apothecaries taking a few corpses back for study (a living moving creature made only of wood- fascinating).

Towards the end of the night, Longinus had separated from the rest of the squad, looking for any stragglers. He found one. It was in a shallow ditch, growling at… Fluttershy? Indeed, she had snuck out in the night, and was talking to the beast in some weird language. As she spoke, the timberwolf growled louder, and took a few steps closer. The Pegasus retreated, looking very pale.

It was plain to see that the creature meant to kill the pony. That was something he could not allow.

Quick and silent as death, the Astartes rushed to the xenos, drawing his chainsword. Before anyone could even blink, Longinus stabbed the sword through the back of the timberwolf's neck, sending it all the way through the mouth. Pulling the trigger, the chainsword whirred to life, and green ichor splattered the ground and bushes. The blade came out; the body flopped to the ground, dead as a doorknob.

All this happened in about three seconds.

Fluttershy looked aghast, appalled at what she saw. "W-why did you do that?" She asked.

"That beast was going to kill you." Longinus explained, as if stating an obvious fact.

"No she wasn't!" The pony cried out, full of sadness and anger.

Huh?

"She was a mother," She continued, her eyes getting teary. "She was running away from you because you killed her entire pack. She was pregnant with cubs, and was asking me to hide her."

The Marine was quiet, but felt a growing… unease. A strange feeling was welling in him, one he hadn't felt since he was a mortal.

Fluttershy was crying now, tears running down her face. "I was telling her that I would vouch for her, that none of you would harm her while under my protection. She was just a poor, innocent creature, and you just slaughtered her like a heartless monster!"

She flew away, her sobs echoing strangely in the forest. Longinus looked at his sword, then at the body, then back to his sword. He wondered aloud, partly to himself and partly to the Emperor, "What the Hell just happened?"…

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Longinus had doubted that the creature was indeed sentient (and when one of his battle-brothers ate the brains of one timberwolf, they confirmed that indeed they weren't), and thus didn't care that he killed the creature. He would've done it a thousand times if the situation demanded it.

But it wasn't the killing that bothered him. It was the fact that he had shaken Fluttershy so badly.

It had occurred to him that what he had done went against what she stood for. Her talent was working with animals and creatures. She had been implementing that by trying to protect the pregnant monster, when he had come in and slayed her charge without a moment's hesitation.

Longinus wondered what was more discomforting to him; that he had traumatized their xeno host, or that he actually cared what she thought.

Either way, he felt compelled to "apologize" in some manner, or at least explain himself to the poor creature. Longinus had a talk with her, basically saying he was sorry for doing that to her, but that it was part of his duty to take out any potential threats. Fluttershy understood, saying it was her fault for not trying to stop him.

Point being, after that talk, it was an unspoken agreement that the Astartes wouldn't put the Pegasus through that type of trouble again.

So, as Fluttershy whimpered before him, he knew he really didn't have a choice in the matter.

"Fine," He sighed, "If it matters that much to you, I'll stay here then."

"Really?" The Element of Kindness perked up.

"Yes, its fine. You can go on ahead." He didn't have to check out the place now. Besides, if he really wanted to look at the farm, he could always sneak over and do some scouting from the forest and no one would even know he was there.

"Oh, thank you, Longinus." She praised, flying up and wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. It caught him by surprise, and to a bystander it looked like he had grown a yellow and pink beard. She then released him, and flew off down the road. Longinus simply walked off to the landing zone; perhaps he could pick up some new weapons or something.

That left the familiar mailmare and guardsman on the road again.

"You sure you don't want to come along? There'll be muffins."

"Leave me alone, xeno scum!"

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10:55 A.M.

Sweet Apple Acres

There was a clacking sound as two swords collided, again and again. The two combatants warily stared each other down, waiting for a potential weakness to exploit. Asides from an obvious difference, the fighters were –surprisingly- evenly matched. As they were watched, the swordsmen fought with a certain intensity not often seen.

The smaller one would jump around like a Yoda-impersonator, using his natural speed and agility to keep his opponent moving, even jumping over him at times. The larger opponent had much more reach and experience, keeping the challenger at a distance, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

The giant slashed at his opponent, missing as he ducked and weaved. The midget saw his chance, and leapt over his foe. However, the giant had been counting on that, and swiped his feet underneath as he landed. While he was on his back, the giant planted his foot on his chest, and raised his weapon to strike.

"Time."

N'tho looked up. "How long was that?"

"Five minutes, twenty-three seconds," Vasquez informed him, "Twice as long as last time."

"Nice," Spike gasped out. "Uh, N'tho, your foot, could you please-"

"Of course." The Sanghelli lifted his cloven foot, and helped the little dragon up. No need to break the little guy's ribs after a little sparing with fake swords, right?

They were on the edge of the UNSC-CAR encampment, far enough away from the hustle and bustle to not be in the way, but still within the limits set with AJ and Trixie. Since the meeting at Rarity's, Spike had been coming over to learn about fighting from the Sanghelli and his buddies. While many troops thought it strange that the group leaders would accept this little bugger, N'tho saw something in the dragon. When he had been playing with the sword, he was displaying techniques and speed that he himself took years to master. Sure, he was clumsy and his footwork needed some fixing, but Spike had proven himself to be a quick learner.

Besides, Spike could provide a bountiful harvest of Intel on the natives, as he would often ask their opinions on all kinds of things. Alan noted humorously that Spike had taken to N'tho (and vicariously Cassius and himself) much like how the human had taken to his Uncle Billy. Apparently, father-figures were in short supply in Ponyville.

"Nice job, little guy." Alan complimented the dragon, giving him a canteen. "That's almost as long as mah time."

"Thanks." Spike drank greedily. "Still fell for the foot swipe, though."

"Remember to curl up and roll out when you land." N'tho instructed. "You're small and quick, play to your advantages. And keep working on your footwork. There were a few times that you crossed your feet. Even at a distance, I could've rushed in while you were off-balance and taken you."

"Still," Cassius pointed out, "It's rather impressive how quickly you have improved. It's been two days, and you are progressing through techniques that usually take years to understand."

Spike smiled, and tried not to blush. It was rather unbecoming of a warrior.

As they headed over to the makeshift cafeteria, Alan asked, "Hey Spike, what's the deal with those tattoos on all the ponies' rears? Is it some kind of clan marker or somethin'?"

"Oh, those are cutie marks."

"Huh?" The aliens grunted.

Spike tried to think of the best way to explain. Cutie marks were something everyone on Equestria knew about, so it never really had to be explained. "Cutie marks are a representation of a pony's special talent. They get it around adolescence, and it defines what makes each individual unique. It's something that only occurs on its own, and only ponies and zebras get them."

The others nodded, understanding the concept. "So," N'tho questioned, "Trixie's wand and sparkles represent, what, magic?"

"That's what Twilight's mean, actually. Trixie's represents showmanship and stage magic, which is just illusions and stuff."

"'Kay," Vasquez countered, "But Applejack's represents her talent for apple-farming, right?"

"Yep."

"So why does Rarity have a diamond design when she makes outfits?"

Before Spike could answer, the gang heard a commotion coming from a nearby tree house. Apparently, the CMC were trying to explain the very same concept to a pack of Ungguoy. And they weren't getting very much sympathy.

"So let me get this straight." Corporal Digdug, the leader of the Grunts (and obviously the smartest) asked. "You girls spend all your time doing all kinds of dangerous and ridiculous stuff, all in the hopes of getting some magical tattoos and some form of validation?"

"Yep." Scootaloo chirped.

"Darn tootin'." Applebloom exclaimed.

"Absolutely." Sweetie Belle declared.

"… Don't you think that's a bit, I dunno, shallow?" The Grunt questioned.

The fillies scoffed, shocked at such an appalling accusation. "We are not shallow!" Scootaloo shouted. "You won't believe the crap that we go through at school. We get bullied, trolled, get all kinds of injuries looking for new talents- what are you doing with your fingers?"

"It's the galaxy's smallest violin, and it's playing for you."

"Digdug, be nice." One of the Grunts cautioned. "They just childrens. The big sisters, they beat us up if they find out."

"Its okay, Jimjim. Applejack and Rarity are not going to kill us because we set them straight. If anything, they might kill you 'cause you shot at them."

"I no shoot at pony! I shoot at bird! Why no one listen to Jimjim?!"

"That's my point right there, girls. You have no idea how hard it is to be an Ungguoy. We are always the first one into combat, the first one to die, and we never get any credit for it. My father got killed by a Spartan. My brother got eaten by the Flood. My sister's mate got launched out of an airlock on trash day. And for all that we do, none of the other races give us a second glance. So don't come to us to whine about the lack of a magical tat on your ass."

The fillies looked rather sad after their semi-scolding, and trotted away feeling humbled. Jimjim told his commander, "Wasn't that kinda mean?"

"I don't think so. Besides, they'll probably forget about it by tonight. Younglings have short memories. Let's go get some grub, I'm famished."

As the methane-breathers went about their business, Spike turned to N'tho and demanded, "Aren't you going to do something about them?"

"What about you?" His teacher countered. "The fillies are your friends."

"Yeah, but the Grunts as your troops. Isn't it your responsibility to discipline them or something?"

"They didn't say any lies. Their lives are that genuinely crappy, and it's not a bad thing to be humbled once in awhile. And if they were truly crossing the line, you would've felt compelled to intervene. Wouldn't you?"

Spike was about to argue the point, but it occurred to him that the Sanghelli was right; if Digdug was really being a dick, his sense of nobility would've kicked in, and Spike would beat the crap out of him. His hesitation was noticeable, and N'tho made a "there you go" gesture.

Unbeknownst to the others, Cassius was watching an interesting sight. As his friends continued to head to the cafeteria, he told them, "Hey, my Spiker has been acting up lately. I'm heading over to the Workshop, and I'll catch up with you."

"That's cool." Alan said. "We'll see you later."

The others walked off, but the Brute kept his eyes locked. On the other side of the farm was a little yellow Pegasus with pinkish hair, carrying a saddlebag. She had a little skip to her step and was singing a happy little tune, as if to say to the world, "I'm being adorable, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

She was the cutest thing Cassius had ever seen. And she didn't know that she was being followed…

________________________________________

Fluttershy had finally arrived at the farm. She was happy to get out the makeshift camp filled with giant cyborgs and trigger-happy humans. But she certainly didn't expect a full-on military base on AJ's farm, completely filled with humans and multiple alien races. It was definitely a good thing Longinus didn't come along. He would've certainly, as he put it, "Commit holy exterminatus in the name of Gulliman and the Emperor."

She didn't know what "exterminatus" was, but it certainly didn't sound nice.

All the same, it was definitely a good day to be outside. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, even the slight roar of the Pelicans and hum of Phantoms added to the gentle ambience of the moment. She sang a nameless tune, and felt lighter than air as she skipped across the farm. She was wondering where Applejack was when she heard-

"Ay, Sheila, whatcha got there?"

She turned around, and saw that she was being surrounded by a trio of bird-like lizard people. They had creepy red eyes, with tufts of feathers spread about their bodies like a case of rabies. The aliens would twitch their heads and arms this way and that, and were circling her in a rather predatory manner. Overall, they were very frightening.

Fluttershy tried to keep a brave face. "Oh, I'm just here to get some stuff from Applejack. Have you seen her?"

"Orange horsey?" The one who spoke, probably the leader, said. "Nope. Don't know, don't care. She ugly." The creature sounded weird. There was an odd fletching sound to it, like there was two of them. She heard it before with Garrus, but he was always friendly and nice. This one, however, sounded angry, greedy, and strangely… lustful?

This was really starting to head south. Fluttershy started backing away. "Well, uh, okay. I'll just go look for her then, if you don't mind. You all look busy, and I wouldn't-"

"We no busy, Sheila. " The creature hissed, his companions getting closer and closer. "Why not come with us? We show you good time, right boys?" The creatures hissed, looking her up and down, appraising her. One of them was even licking its scaly, disgusting lips.

Before things could get any worse, Fluttershy got herself some backup. Not a mighty Space Marine, but a big ape adorned in golden armor.

The Jiralhanae walked over to them, roaring and swearing in an alien language at the Kig-Yar. The Jackals tried to act all nice and innocent, but their Brute leader wasn't fooled. With a roar and a pointed finger, the Kig-Yar got the point, and with an annoyed and disappointed look walked away.

The Brute grunted, and turned his attention to the Pegasus. "Those Kig-Yar didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Oh no." She told him. She didn't want any trouble because of her. "They were okay. You don't have to worry, they didn't do anything."

"Don't bother flattering them." He snorted. "Those Jackals would've robbed you of everything if they were being nice. You don't want to know what those creeps do when no one is watching them."

"Oh my." Fluttershy didn't think she wanted to know what they were capable of. "In that case, thank you for saving me, mister, um…"

"Cassius. And your name is 'Fluttershy', right?"

"Yes, it is. While we're talking, you wouldn't have happened to see Applejack around, have you?"

"No, but I can help you look around. It's probably better to have an escort you around, lest those Jackals try to make another move. Come with me." He turned and began walking, and the Pegasus followed.

The rest of the day, Cassius and Fluttershy were all over Apple Base, as it would eventually be called. They did eventually find AJ, and got the supplies Fluttershy came for. She also got a full escorted tour, meeting with his friends and commanders, seeing the various weapons and vehicles, the whole nine yards. She even talked a bit to Spike, who was looking more mature and defined every day. Fluttershy, who considered herself an excellent judge of character, found everyone except the Kig-Yar to be really nice and sincere, going about their jobs with a sense of duty and honor she'd rarely seen.

And Cassius… well, Fluttershy thought that he was to these people what Longinus was to the Imperials: Her protector. She would later find out that Jiralhanae had a stereotype of being warmongering, bloodthirsty berserkers. But she found Cassius to be quite the opposite. He was caring, smart, gentle, just a generally nice guy. Like Big Macintosh, only more talkative.

At the end of the day, she said her goodbyes to everyone, and went walking back to her home. As she strolled down the dirt road, she thought, I bet it would be really nice if Cassius and Longinus got to meet each other. They'd have so much to talk-

She stopped in her tracks. She realized that, while Cassius might not have a problem with other visitors, Longinus and his friends most certainly would. He had told Fluttershy of all the times she had gone about slaying filthy xenos, how ponies were, as of right now, the only aliens worth sparing from holy fire. If he met Cassius, or Garrus, or any of the others…

Fluttershy whimpered in the evening quiet. This was getting way too dangerous, too close to home. She couldn't bear to imagine what types of hell could come if things went bad…

Chapter 5.3- The Meeting

Chapter 7

A week in Paradise (part three)

The Meeting

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"Up until the war, the most nerve-raking moment of our lives was that Meeting. Bringing Shepard's team, the UNSC and the Emperor's men into one room, hoping that our mediation and the Princesses' intervention would keep them from blowing themselves up. It scared me, because all the friendship and magic in all of Equestria couldn't control human nature."- Twilight Sparkle

"You can't always get what you want.

But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need."

- Rolling Stones

---------------------------------------------------------

The First Contact happened on a Monday, a day meant for starting a new cycle. The week had been dedicated to establishing a relationship with the aliens, gaining their trust and friendship. And in that respect, they had succeeded.

Then came Friday.

Friday was the day that put it all to the test. The Princesses had made it known that they would introduce everyone to each other. The operation was of the gravest importance, and would require the utmost care and attention to pull it off.

If it went well, it would usher a new age of galactic trust and friendship, crafted out of Equestrian Ideals. If it went bad, it would light a war that would destroy their world, and send the new multiverse into a dark age of hatred, bloodshed and damnation.

No pressure. No pressure at all.

-------------------------------------------------------

Whitetail Forest

1023 hours

The crew of the Normandy went about their business, but Garrus and Shepard were handling some rather important developments.

"The Princesses want to meet us?" Shepard asked. He had expected that these "alicorns" would want to talk to them. What surprised them was that it had taken the better part of a week for them to get around to it. Garrus couldn't help smiling; even though it was agreed by everyone to not give away their secret, the Turian couldn't help the thought of meeting Celestia and Luna for the first time.

"Yep." Rainbow Dash answered, escorted by Gilda. "They had been busy with some foreign affairs in Saddle Arabia, but are really excited to meet you guys."

Gilda merely sat behind her, watching them in a rather brooding fashion. Garrus would notice her looking at him and Shepard, but while she might give an occasional glare, she remained silent. It occurred to the Commander that she was actually doing passable imitation of Jack.

Speaking of which, Shepard was running out of ways to keep her and Grunt occupied. Without drugs, sex or killing, the biotic and the Krogan had been even more short-tempered than usual. Fortunately, the two walking embodiments of death spent most of their time either sparing each other, or taking their aggression out on trees. Problem was, now the forest was running out of trees.

"We'd be honored to meet them." Shepard continued. "As long as I can bring some of my crew."

"Of course," Dash agreed, "You can bring a few guys. Just make sure to be there around six tonight, alright?"

"We'll be there."

As the two fliers went out, Garrus waited until they were out of sight before he gave a rather uncharacteristic giggle. "Damn, Shepard," He practically gloated, "This just keeps getting better and better! We're going to see the Princesses!"

"Uh, Garrus," Shepard put a hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps you can take it down a notch; you're starting to weird me out."

"Sorry, but I can't help it! Its Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the rulers of Equestria. They're as close to actual gods as we are ever going to get."

"So I've been told. I also hear they're pretty fine, if you catch my drift."

"Yeah, they've always been seen as beau-"

He stopped midsentence, and looked at his friend. Shepard arched an eyebrow. Garrus did the same. "You've been checking out the 'Rule 34' stuff, haven't you?"

"Garrus please." Shepard smiled. "But seriously, I just did some peripheral research, and some files had popped up. Not as good as Fornax, but it certainly had its moments."

They shared a laugh at that. Spirits knew that once their galaxy found out about the ponies, it would only be a matter of time before they'd get "marketed", both the old animation and the real thing. Hopefully, the extranet would have the good sense to not bring up "Molestia", and create a horrid galactic incident.

…Hopefully.

"So, Shepard," Garrus asked, "You got a favorite pony yet? Just in general, of course."

"You know, I think Twilight is a PYT. If it weren't for Trixie being so… clingy, I guess you could say, I'd consider working my magic, you know? But hell, nothing wrong with just looking. What about you?"

The Turian pointed to his thunderbolt scar. "Who do you think?"

"Ah. Was she the one flying over the ship the other day, making a sonic blast?"

"Sonic Rainboom, and yes, she did a little show for me and a few of the crew. Had Gilda, Spitfire and the rest of the Wonderbolts doing their thing, and I managed to videotape the whole deal. In exchange, I showed off my marksmanship for them. You should've heard the cheers they gave when I put a hole in a rock at 800 meters."

Shepard nodded. He was quiet for a moment, then asked, "Do you think we should tell them about the show?"

Garrus thought about that. In fact, he had been thinking about it ever since he knew this was Equestria. On one hand, the knowledge the show and fandom had provided was merely background information; stuff that was common knowledge, and wouldn't be a big deal to the ponies of Ponyville. On another hand, the evidence, if not the very idea of them being on a TV show from hundreds of years ago, may be of such a mental shock that it could break down their very sanity.

But, then again, Pinkie Pie probably already knew she was on a show, the way she broke the 4th Wall all the time. If she could handle that knowledge, Garrus knew everypony else could.

So he told Shepard, "I think we can tell them. Just not yet. Let us meet with the royalty, see what needs to be talked about. After that, perhaps we can let them and the Mane Six in the know. Letting someone know their world was made for another world's entertainment can be very… existential, I think…"

In the Whitetail Forest, Dash pulled Gilda off the road to have a little chat.

"Gilda," She started, "Care to tell me what's your problem with Garrus?"

Gilda's first reaction was to say, "I don't have a problem." But the griffon knew better. Rainbow had got better at reading her emotionally, and knew when something was up. Gilda wouldn't pretend that everything was fine, and have a repeat of Pinkie's party.

So instead, the griffon asked, "Why do you trust him?"

That caught the Pegasus off-guard. "What?"

"You heard me." She pointed a claw at her old flame. "Why do you trust him so much? It's only been a week and you've already given him a private show. Heck, you've been talking with Pinkie Pie about having him go pranking with us, and he hasn't even had one of her cupcakes yet. Who says no to a Pinkie cupcake?"

"Hey, we both know why he can't have our food. His body can't digest it, and he could suffer an allergic reaction. Besides, Faber said he didn't want her cupcakes either. Does that mean he's extra dangerous, too?"

"That's not the point, Dash, and you know it!" She shouted.

"Then what is it, Gilda?!" The Pegasus demanded. "Because we can't afford to be suspicious of all the aliens. There has to be one group of nice people. Otherwise, who can we trust?!"

"I just don't want to see you get hurt, you dweeb!" The griffon declared. "Seriously, have you even looked at this guy? He has a scar in the shape of your cutie mark on his arm! Doesn't that bother you even a little bit?!"

Rainbow Dash was quiet. She wanted to peg Gilda's concern to simple jealousy- and in all fairness, it was probably a large component of her complaint- but at the same time, she knew her friend's concern was justified. She had known Garrus for a better part of a week, yet somehow the Turian had demonstrated knowledge of her, her friends and her world that spoke of in-depth experience. How did he know so much about Equestria? She didn't know how, but she needed to address it.

So, Rainbow Dash simply asked, "Gilda, do you trust me?"

Gilda didn't quite follow. "Dash, I-"

"No, stop right there. Don't worry about Garrus. Don't think about the other aliens, don't think about the Princesses, and don't think about our friends. This just between you and me." The Pegasus put a hoof on the griffon's shoulder, standing very close to one of her oldest friends. "Gilda, do you trust me?"

Gilda ran a clawed hand through her rainbow, and leaned close. "Dash," She whispered, "You know I trust with my life."

"Then trust me on this." Rainbow moved her hoof up to the griffon's cheek. "I'm a good judge of character. I know it all seems a bit suspicious, but I've looked into his eyes. I know for a fact that he would never do anything to hurt us. The Imperials may have come for the Emperor, and N'tho's troops may be here for the Chief, but Garrus only wants to help us."

The griffon merely grunted, but still looked into her eyes.

"As I remember," Dash continued, "There once was a time in flight school when I saw a bunch of kids bullying a new student. She wasn't a Pegasus, was all on her own, didn't have a single friend. Everypony I knew said that she was a lost cause, that pegasai couldn't be friends with griffons. But when I looked into your eyes, I knew that there was so much more to you than a big scary bird. You were strong, loyal, smart and beautiful, Gilda; and you still are."

They were awfully close at this point, practically nose to beak. "I'm not wrong about Garrus, 'cause I wasn't wrong about you. You've always trusted me, even when the going got tough; I'm only asking for a little more. Can you do that for me?"

"Always, Dash." Gilda leaned in, hoping to (finally) get back to first base. She was sorely disappointed, when she ended up only getting neck. Dash chuckled with her mischievous grin.

"Easy there, lovebird. You didn't think I'd end up being that easy to get back, did you?"

She jumped into the air, rapidly flying away. "If you want some," She called back, "You're gonna have to catch me before we get back to the Library!"

"Oh, it's on!" Gilda shouted, and immediately flew off for her "prey"…

1135 hours

Apple Base

"The Princesses wanna do what now?" Vasquez demanded. This was an interesting turn of events.

"They want to meet with you up in Ponyville." Trixie told him. "I believe they wanted to speak to you about when the Chief can be given, and possibly trade concessions. You know, minor stuff."

Alan was with his alien friends, and Trixie had brought along Spike, Applejack and Rarity. They all tried to maintain a veil of calm determination and control, but the ponies noticed with increasing alarm that the amount of troops and vehicles that were rolling around. The commanders insisted that this was just the normal level for a garrison- somewhere in the hundreds- and it still wasn't the same amount as the Imperials were bringing in- in the thousands. But it was still rather unnerving that, if things went sour, there would be two armies ready to go and duke it out around them.

"We'll have to bring this up with the Captain and the Shipmaster- they'll want to talk to the Princesses personally." N'tho told them, "But I think we'll be able to make it."

"Excellent. We shall see you then. Come on, girls."

Trixie, Spike and Fluttershy started making their way back down the road, and Cassius and N'tho went back to speak to their troops. But Applejack stayed with Vasquez for a moment, wanting to talk about… something.

AJ and Alan had become rather good friends over the past week, having a similar background in farming and country living. While the commanders could do their deals with Trixie and the ambassadors, Alan and his amigos could always count on the farm pony to give them the honest truth about how things were.

In return, Vasquez was always calm and understanding with whatever she had to tell him. It occurred to the earth pony that this human had been a better listener than most of her friends- certainly better than Rainbow Dash, and almost better than Twilight. They had even spent several evenings together, talking and exchanging stories about their worlds. Needless to say, the rumors of them being a "thing"- along with Cassius and Fluttershy- just kept on growing.

With all that in mind, Alan asked her, "So, is there anything else we should know about?"

Applejack hesitated. She was unwilling to let the secret go just yet, but also unwilling to lie to her friend. So she asked in turn, "Do you like surprises?"

"What?"

"Surprises. Do you like 'em?"

The human shifted uncomfortably. "Can't say ah do. Ah prefer to be in the know about things. What's this all about, AJ?"

"Ah… ah'm not supposed to tell you. All ah can say that it's going to be important, and all ah can ask you is to stay calm, no matter what. Can you promise me that?"

"Yes, ma'am." He answered without hesitation. A rather odd action, in hindsight.

Applejack considered making him pinkie swear, but didn't want to press the issue further than it had to be. "Ah'll see you later, then." She told him, and trotted off with her friends.

Vasquez considered why he was so willing to go along with what the orange alien wanted. Could it really be because… no, of course not. That would be silly.

Sure, humanity still had those old ideas and fantasies involving aliens and whatnot, but those had died down quite a bit when they encountered the real thing. Nobody had ever tried anything with an Elite or a Brute, for the simple reason that such a pairing couldn't work in any possible way. There were rumors of a joint colony between humans and Jackals out there, but that was often put in the same group as the most vile of fetishes.

But then again, when it came to this world and its inhabitants, the old "Captain Kirk impulse", as it had been now called, didn't seem all that strange. Here were a collection of races where you didn't have to worry about having your face eaten off or breathing the same air. Here was a people that had never killed a human before, and would be honest about things without having an ulterior motive.

Course, it did help that Applejack was the cutest damn thing he'd ever seen.

Putting that train of thought aside, Vasquez followed his comrades back to base, looking to get a few volunteers to come along as escorts…

1200 hours

Forward Base Aquila

Thought of the day: Life is the Emperor's currency. Spend it well.

"So," The Inquisitor mused, "Celestia finally wishes to have an audience with us?"

"Yes, she does," Twilight answered, "Along with Princess Luna. They had been talking with your Emperor for some time now, and wish to speak with you about some of the things they covered." Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement, the party pony being uncharecteristically quiet. Kriel and Longinus merely watched them, backing Creighton up even though it was completely unnecessary.

In the five days that the base had been on Fluttershy's property, it had expanded exponentially. As of now, a tenth of the entire army brought along had been deployed, and the first of the armored units were landing as well. How they planned to bring in a Leman Russ tank, let alone the possibility of a Titan, was anyone's guess.

"Would you happen to know what, pray tell, they wish to talk about?"

"I do. But she was implicit that she wanted to speak with you and your associates in person."

Creighton raised an eyebrow. Well played, He thought, Looks like she's finally learning. He had wondered how long it would take the little unicorn to wise up when it came to negotiating. A lesser Inquisitor would've been a little peeved at losing such an advantage, but Mendel was looking forward to having a little competition to work with.

"Fine." He said. "But I am sure your Princess wouldn't mind if I brought a few associates with me?"

"Absolutely." Fluttershy butted in. "So long as Longinus is one of them."

The Space Marine was amused. "And why is that, Fluttershy?"

"Because you hold yourself accountable." She smiled. "And the Princesses have great things about you, and wanted to meet you in person."

Of course, there was more to it than that. Out of everyone from the Wrath, Longinus and Faber were the ones who connected with the ponies the most (although Faber did so unwillingly). Longinus was by far the most reasonable of all the Imperials, and thus would be the one most needed to keep the rest of his people in check.

The Ultramarine turned to the Inquisitor. "Is this acceptable for you, my lord?"

Creighton scowled. He really didn't want the Sergeant to come along. He had somehow become a source of undermining, questioning his methods without doing anything blatantly heretical. He had gone to Captain Numitor about it, but simply told him that he had a mind of his own. "In any case," He had said, "His performance here may be worthy of moving him up to a higher Company."

That grated him. On a mission as important as this, the Inquisitor might be able to get a moderate promotion, while that xeno-sympathizing upstart would get more glory, and maybe even get his own Company.

And now everyone was looking at him to acquiesce this demand. If he did, it would make him look like he was taking orders from aliens. If he didn't, he would be seen displaying a personal prejudice against an up-and-coming Astartes, causing a wedge between him and the troops.

This certainly put him between a rock and a hard place. If it weren't for that yellow xeno, he'd-

Then it hit him. It was right in front of him the whole time, but it wasn't until that moment that it came to him. Twilight isn't the manipulating ringleader here, He thought with a sudden clarity, it's Fluttershy. Ever since they had arrived, that meek little creature had wormed her way into the hearts and minds of honest Imperial troops, pulling at their feeble heartstrings while Twilight made a show of half-assed negotiations. These naive xenos had pulled the old "Eldar switch" without him getting even a slight hint.

Clever girl.

The others were still waiting for him. Maintaining an outer calm, he said, "Of course he can. The commanders of both the Astartes and Guardsmen are coming along, so having one more shouldn't be too inconveniencing."

"Great," Twilight said, "We'll see you then."

The ponies trotted back down the road. Longinus and Creighton exchanged a glance that spoke volumes, before heading back to the camp. Longinus hoped that there wouldn't be any surprises. Mendel hoped- and almost prayed- that something would happen, and he would have a reason to slay these uppity xenos in righteous fury.

1500 hours

Ponyville Town Hall

It struck some ponies as rather ironic that the very place where Nightmare Moon made her grand appearance was the same place where four worlds would come together. The Summer Sun Celebration had been the beginning of Equestria's existence in the minds of humanity hundreds of years ago. Now, this would be the beginning of Equestria's golden age among the stars.

Ten minutes ago, all three groups had separately arrived, entering different sides into individual prepared rooms. Creighton had brought six Astartes (three Imperial Fists and three Ultramarines, including Longinus, Numitor and Gideon), six Guardsmen (including Faber and Lt. Osburran) and the Magos. Captain Brogan and Ship Master 'Valuum brought four humans, four Sanghelli, four Jiralhanae and four Unggoy (each led by Vasquez, N'tho, Cassius and Digdug). Shepard, having the smallest group, brought Garrus, Miranda and Tali.

After awhile, each group was met by Twilight, Applejack or Rainbow respectively. Each of them gave the visitors the same prepared speech; they were indeed going to meet the Princesses, but first they would have to be introduced to someone else. Before they would be let out, each of them had to give a Pinkie Promise to not freak-out. Not knowing the severity of what that promise entailed, but familiar with the custom, each of them went through the actions of the oath.

So now, the time had come for the doors to be opened, and everyone to be let into the Mane Hall. In it, the rest of the Mane Six, Trixie and Gilda were already ready and waiting for them. Now, while nopony was expecting everyone to automatically be friends right off the bat, they were somewhat hopeful that the various aliens would be only surprised, and perhaps willing to talk things out like civilized peoples.

But then again, think of it from the humans' perspective. Here they were, expecting to meet the rulers and deities of this world. Instead, they find themselves looking at supersized humans in armor, a veritable Tau-esque assortment of humans and aliens or a small band of mercenary-looking characters.

So, naturally, everyone there raised their weapons at each other, under the various shouts of "Xenos!", "Hostiles!" or "Holy Shit!" Weapons were locked and loaded, sights were set, and the place was on the edge of becoming a full-on shooting range.

"WAAAIT! DON'T SHOOT!"

Everyone turned to one corner to aim at the crier. It was Fluttershy, hovering between the guns of Longinus and Cassius. Rather ironic, if you think about it, that she would be in the prefect place to stop her two alien friends from blowing themselves up. She was facing the Marine, as it was plain to see that while the Brute couldn't hurt him, he could demolish the xeno.

"Longinus, put down your gun." She spoke soothingly. "These guys aren't here to fight you."

"Fluttershy," The Marine demanded, "Get out of the way."

"You don't have to kill him. He hasn't hurt anyone. He's friendly."

"Doesn't matter. I swore an oath to not harm you or your friends. The oath doesn't go for the filthy xeno behind you. Now I say again, move."

"But he's my friend, Longinus! Can't you leave him alone?!"

"Who are you calling a 'filthy xeno'?" Cassius retorted, ignoring the mare between them. "Run for it, Fluttershy. This guy reeks of religious nutjob. Odds are that guy in the pointy hat made promises of multiple virgins when they all die."

"What did you say to me, you foul alien?!"

While the trio was arguing, Vasquez shouted angrily, "Dammit, AJ, what kinda surprise is this?!"

"Now you know why we kept this secret," she told him, "You were goin' ta freak out when you found out."

"No shit we were goin' ta freak! What the hell, girl. Ah trusted you, and you stabbed me in the back!"

"No, that's not it at all! Ah'd never betray anyone like that!"

While AJ tried to explain, everyone in Shepard's team was glaring at Garrus. He looked back at them, and with complete innocence stated, "I don't know who these guys are."

"How can you not know?" Tali demanded. "You know everything about this place."

"Guys, Fluttershy was never friends with a giant ape or a supersoldier! Equestria never had humans in it outside of fanfics, and it was only ever invaded by changelings."

"So, how do we explain these guys, then?" Miranda pressed.

"Clearly, we aren't the only aliens who came here. This is a bigger deal than I originally thought."

"But how is that possible?" Tali asked. "Shouldn't we have picked them from the sensors?"

"I bet the magical radiation was interfering with them. Even thermal readings were hard to pick up."

Back on the other side of the room, the Inquisitor was feeling rather pleased about being right with these foul xenos. Finally, the Imperials could do what they do best: Purge.

"Clearly," he declared, "These little monsters have betrayed us. As I expected. Seargant, I order you to shoot that monkey, and the pony bitch with him."

Longinus glanced at him, and returned is gaze to the xenos. As much as the order struck him as stupid, he couldn't disobey the Inquisitor. Even if he did, Creighton would just order his Captain to do it, and he would slay him for dereliction of duty. It bothered him that he'd have to kill the ponies too- not because it saddened him, but because in truth he didn't think they broke their part of the deal, that his honor was still on the line with all this.

If anything, it was probably that hairy bastard behind her that told her to lie, manipulating Fluttershy and her friends to do this. A shame, really. He was starting to like this place.

"So be it." Longinus murmured, his finger tightening around the trigger, and-

"STOP THIS MADNESS RIGHT NOW!"

A shout, not so much heard through the ears as through the mind, rang throughout the room, stopping the chaos momentarily as the ponies and soldiers tried to locate it. In the center of the room, an orb of pulsing blue and purple and red manifested itself. Everyone pointed their guns at it as it gave a final pulse of golden light.

In its place, two mighty alicorns stood in its place. The taller one, with her white coat and near-rainbow mane, wore armor of plated bronze and copper. The smaller one, with her dark blue coat and midnight mane, bore armor of silver and steel and chrome. Both sets covered almost all of their body, but neither one wore helmets, and both had their manes and tails tied into tight ponytails. And both held stern looks at the humans and aliens before them.

"Sons of the Emperor," Celestia demanded, "Soldiers of the Mantle, Guardians of the Relay. All of you who are our guests, lower your weapons and listen to reason!"

Everyone was silent, dumbfounded at these new entities. One solider- a Srgt. Connor of the ODSTs- had to be Captain Obvious, and ask, "Are you the Princesses?"

"Yes," Luna answered, "We are."

The ponies in the room kneeled before their monarchs, suitably awed by the aura of power glowing off them. The Haloites and Shepard's team, whether because of the spectacular vision or the pre-conceived reputation of these pseudo-deities, lowered their guns. Even Longinus lowered his.

The rest of the Imperial team, however, did not.

"Princess Celestia," The Inquisitor said, "Princess Luna, you have our thanks for saving our Lord. However, it appears as though your subjects betrayed what little grace they happen to deserve, keeping these heretics and xenos a secret from us."

"Don't be so eager to kill, warmonger." Celestia snapped, using a tone she reserved for a certain Changeling Queen. "I made my subjects stay silent about these others for precisely what you demonstrate now. Your Emperor has told us much about you. You have been trained for thousands of years to 'kill first, ask questions never'. These ponies and these people have no quarrel with you, and seek a fight with no one. You are all our guests, and under the authority given to us by your Emperor, we demand that you lower your weapons."

"Sorry, my little 'princess'," Creighton sneered, "But neither I- nor any of us- take orders from you."

Luna sighed, giving herself a facehoof. "This is just stupid. Clearly, if you won't believe us, maybe you'll believe Him."

Suddenly, her eyes glowed white, and in Royal Canterlot Voice cried out, "ADAM! WE NEED YOU NOW! COME TO US, AND SAVE YOUR KIN BEFORE I SMITE THEM FOR THEIR STUBBORNESS!"

Adam? The others wondered. Who the heck is that guy?

As she did so, one of the more psychically-toned Guardsmen was levitated up into the air, ethereal strains of energy swirling into him. Shepard and his team had seen something similar to this before, and as such were frightened into action.

"Shit!" Shepard called out, "Its Harbinger!" Quick as a flash, the team drew their weapons and fired upon the man. The bullets would've torn through him if Luna hadn't raised a magic shield in front of the man, absorbing them. "What did we just say about shooting?!" She shouted, no longer in the RCV. "I thought you lot were the smart ones here." The team lowered their guns in sight embarrassment, and Luna brought down the shield -as Twilight and Trixie did the same with their own, fearing the richochets may've struck one of the equines.

The process finished, and the soldier came back to the ground. He appeared to be taller, larger, and his eyes glowed as white orbs. To those who didn't know him, this man bore a resemblance to certain individuals from history and myth, from Conan and King Arthur, to St. George and-

"Holy Shit!" Alan exclaimed, pointing at this new being, "Its Jesus!"

"No, I'm not your Jesus." The Emperor told him. "But I was him at one place and time."

He turned to the Princesses, and acknowledged them with a nod. "Celestia, Luna, don't worry about these fellows. I've got this."

"My Lord," Mendel cried out, "Now that you're here, let us smite these disgusting aliens and heretics, before they bring ruin to us all!"

"Silence yourself, you spineless worm!" Adam snapped at the Inquisitor, His host's eyes going from white to a dark gold. "Who do you take me for, some backstabbing Changer of Ways?"

"W-what?" Creighton stammered, taking a few steps back in surprise.

"When I said not to bring harm to the ponies, I meant it. You may have added the part where you could defend yourself, but I knew you wouldn't need such an out. Instead, you would seek a way to squirm your way into a fight, as you are now. I said I owed these xenos my life, and I stand by that debt. Lower your weapons."

"But what of the xenos and heretics?" The Inquisitor asked, incredulous yet fearful.

"What of them?" Adam retorted. "They pose no threat to us, and harbor no ill will outside of what is justified. Of further note, we all have more important things that we all must worry about."

He turned to the middle of the room, and energy manifested itself from his hands as a large orb of energy in the center of the room. There were many "oohs" and "ahhs" at the spectacle, the orb producing small arcs of electricity.

"Behold!" Adam continued. "Our real enemies are fast approaching!"

The orb cleared up, revealing the image of a giant metal squid floating through space. Shepard and his team silently gasped at the visage of Harbinger.

"This monstrosity," The Emperor explained, "This Reaper, has sent his minions to weaken us, and to neutralize the good Commander and his followers before their army can come. While his kind are not powerful by the standards of the Imperium, they make up for it with numbers."

The view expanded beyond Harbinger, to reveal three Reapers, then nine, continuing on until everyone could see an armada of hundreds, if not thousands of the metal behemoths. This, Shepard knew, was the massive Reaper Swarm that had taken down galactic civilization countless times before, and stood ready to do so again.

"This," Adam said darkly, "Is not the only threat that shall befall us. Bearers of the Mantle, I think you are familiar with this one."

The orb then changed to reveal a sight of absolute horror; the inside of a starship, its walls covered in putrid flesh, with tiny crawling zits with legs scurring about the floor. One such creature came across the dead body of a Sanghelli, and dug itself into its chest. Quicker than what is thought physically possible- and to the disgust and horror of the ponies- the corpse mutated and warped into a long-clawed, tentacled-mouthed zombie, screeching out a blood-curdling roar as it came to life.

"This embodiment of undeath, this ever-so-aptly named Flood, has found interest in this world, the current resting place of a certain hero who has beaten it on multiple occasions. Be wary, my children: for while they look like an easy kill, they possess a level of infection and growth that even Nurglites would have trouble replicating. Nothing short of total extermination of this Parasite will save this world, should it reach us."

"And of course," Adam continued, now with a disdainful scowl, "Where would we be without the Ancient Enemy to interfere in our affairs?"

Once more the scene changed, and a vision of the most horrific kind of hell was seen. It was much like Luna's original vision, with its cities of flesh and eternal decadent orgies, of bizarre abominations and endless battlefields. But there was more to it now.

Now, there were new creatures moving about: hordes of mutated and mutilated humans were taking up arms, screeching obscenities and blasphemies against the Emperor. Massive abominations, holding enchanted and possessed weapons, sung praises to their dark gods, and gave commands to the mindless rabble. Here and there, metal giants- not much different from the Astartes in the room- marched with an air of haughty arrogance, their armor covered in mounted skulls and horns.

But most disturbingly of all- high above all of this, watching over it as if they were grand masters- were two distinctly equine creatures. No one could make out who exactly they were, only that they had the unholy mark of chaos glowing behind them, and radiated pure, unadulterated fear and hate to all who saw them.

"Chaos is on the move," The Emperor told them, "Seeking both me and this world. Their numbers are countless, their powers beyond mortal measure, and they will not stop until everyone on this planet is either dead or corrupted."

The orb of visions disapated, and the room was filled with the looks of fear and dread. Outside of the Imperials- who faced stuff like this on an almost daily basis- none of them had experienced or seen anything akin to the sights they saw, especially the ponies. The fact that those monsters, each of them terrifying and nigh-unbeatable on their own, were coming to their peaceful little world, was completely and utterly terrifying.

"What are we going to do?" Twilight demanded, an edge of panic in her voice. "How are we going to stop them all?"

"Well obviously," Osburran said confidently, "The Emperor will use His Divine Powers to smite them all, and leave what little remains for us to exterminate."

"As much as I'd like to," Adam replied, "That will not be possible, at least right away. Although the Silver Tomb is almost finished, I will not be able to participate in any combat for at least another month."

The Imperials were silent, disappointed even. "You were early." He continued. "The warp carried you to me faster than I had anticipated. Although something unexpected should have been anticipated."

Luna's ears flicked. It seemed like an odd choice of words for Him to use, almost as if He were alluding to something...

Captain Brogan then spoke up. "While I'm not sure of the potential danger this "Chaos" and these "Reapers" are capable of," He told them, "My men and I know the voracious and determined nature of the Flood. If they are coming here, this world cannot be saved. The only option we have is to evacuate this world and its inhabitants, glass the planet stop them from getting out."

"You will do no such thing to Equestria!" Celestia shouted, indignant at such a statement.

"It doesn't matter," Adam said. "Anyhwere you go won't be far enough to escape them."

"What are you talking about?"

"You may not have been able to notice, but we all come from completely different worlds. Mass Relays, Slipspace, the warp; they are all distinct modes of travel unique to our galaxies. And let's not even start with all the different nonhumans around here. The gist of the matter is that our three galaxies- our three universes- are now inseprably linked with this little world. And whoever controls it controls the fate of everything else."

"You could do as you suggest, and take the natives back with you to your respective worlds. Maybe even keep both the portal and them a secret. Although you can't keep something that big a secret very long."

He glanced over at Luna for half a second. Again, Luna was puzzled by the choice of words. Is He saying He knows a secret? She thought. What of it? Does He know about how I... Oh buck, He knows!

"Just because you save a species and burn a world, doesn't mean that things won't follow you home. Creatures and monstrosities that have no way to prepare for. Forces at work that will not rest until everything you have worked for falls apart around you."

"So, you can return back your respective homes, tell your superiors, buildup defenses for the inevitable invasions- which, by the way, isn't a bad idea- or you can stay here, call for reinforcements, and hold the line for the multiverse."

"This is something I can only ask of you. Even of my people, the nature of this coming conflict is such that I can only ask of you to stay. Should anyone choose to leave, we will not hold it against you. But know that this fight, this Battle for Equestria, will be the most important fight any of you ever be a part of. So, what say you?"

The Equestrians- both Princess and mortal- looked around the room, searching for the warriors who would stand with them. The room remained silent, as everything that had been said settled in. But unsurprisingly, it was Longinus who spoke up first.

"My Lord," He said, "You have deemed these people, these xenos, to be sanctioned before you. If they are so worthy of your grace, then they are worthy of my bolter and my sword."

Then Cassius stepped forward. "I will stay." He declared. "Its been awhile since I've been in a fight. Might as well stay for something worth fighting for." Fluttershy smiled, her two new friends now going to work together, if only somewhat.

And when one of the Three Amigos- as they would later be known as- joined in, the others had to follow suit. Alan and N'tho joined as well.

N'tho told them, "It would be a shame to have started training such a warrior as Spike, and not see it through."

Alan merely said, "Its about time humanity met an alien race that didn't looked like ass. No offense, N'tho." "None taken."

Garrus stepped forward, and would've done so regardless of Shepard's feelings about it. "Here is a world," He explained, "That's as close to a paradise as can be found still alive. I won't let it fall to the likes of the Reapers, or any other space abomination."

Shepard- and thus the rest of the Normandy's crew- got onboard with this, saying, "If your going to fight the Reapers, you might as well have the team that actually killed one. We're in."

Captain Brogan and Master 'Valuum nodded, and pledged their support. "Betcha Lord Hood and the Arbiter are going to have a field day with this." Mark murmured to his collegue. "Indeed, but not as much as President Klatosus or Admiral Jun." The Sanghelli returned.

All eyes turned back to the Imperials, as if they actually expected any answer besides "Yes." Numitor, Gideon, Osburran, Kriel and even Creighton all stepped forward and kneeled before Him. "We would follow you into the Eye of Terror if that's what you asked of us." Gideon answered for his comrades. "Fighting for you here makes no difference to us."

"Then prepare yourselves," Adam decreed, "For we have but little time before our enemies fall upon us. Call upon your allies, summon your mightiest warriors, and steel your souls. Let this Imperial Alliance stand as a mountain against winds and tides; beaten upon, but unbroken and unbowed."

"Celestia, Luna... I'll see you back in Canterlot."

And with that, Adam released His host, leaving the room in silence. After a moment, Trixie got back up and said, "Well, we better get it, then. We have work to do..."

Bonus Scene- Lyra and the Space Marines

A/N: Over the course of Peace and Isolation, time constraints and chapter development has meant that certain ideas and scenes I couldn't fit in. Thus, "Deleted Scenes" is a repository for any and all scenes that I want conveyed, yet can't find a way to use in the narrative.
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Peace and Isolation: Deleted Scenes #1

Scene 1: Lyra, Space Marines, and Pinkie Pie's party

Between "The Meeting" and "Preparations"
Astartes learn that some aliens idolize humans, and that not all lesbians are Slaneeshites.

Day 2 after Meeting
Town Square, Ponyville

"Its party-time, everypony!" A bright pink mare declared, starting the first ever "Coalition Get-Together". All the ponies had helped Pinkie decorate the town, and most of the troopers from each of the three visiting groups were invited and attending. Humans and aliens showed up, true enough, but there was a tense feel in the air, which was only partially diffused by a pony being present. Even after the rather spectacular events at the town meeting, ranging from the first contacts to the announcement interuniversal war via three cosmic deities, it was just hard for anyone to trust each other right off the bat.

But as Pinkie Pie knew, one couldn't make friends unless one talked to others, and that was why she created this little get-together. She felt as if it were her obligation to make these people, if not happy, than at least tolerating of each other.

She bounced around, going from group to group, listening to the conversations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At one corner, Vasquez was talking to Kriel, discussing the different methods of conscription and augmentation between worlds.

"So your people don't use drafts anymore?" The cyborg inquired, his metal appendages fiddling with a UNSC pistol. "But how do maintain control over the systems?"

"Alot of things, actually." The Kentuckian explained. "First off, our army is strictly voluntary. While the numbers are not as high as they were during wartime, we're still talkin' 'bout a military of billions watching over 20 systems and growing. Human territories are again being run by the UEG, but the politicians have learned their lessons from before the war, an' their discretions and concessions are what keepin' the colonies peaceful and happy. Secondly, outside of an occasional Insurrectionist revolt, Flood outbreak or disturbed Forerunner Shield World, we haven't been in a state of war in more than 15 years. The Battle of Crysis- the one that ah fought in- was the first time in years that the Covenant Remnant risked an attack. And even in all the other cases, its nothing that one ship with a few teams of Spartans or ODSTs. The whole 'buildin' bigger ships' between us and the aliens is mostly for show."

"That is another point of interest." The Magos pressed. "Why do you work alongside the xenos, especially N'tho and Cassius? Did their people not commit exterminatus on blessed human worlds?"

"Well, with those two, I've fought alongside them, and I know I can trust them. With the other aliens in general, humanity had no choice but to get along with them. We had spent a generation fighting each other, and if not for the discovery of the Flood and the Battles of Halo, not only would humanity have died out, but the whole galaxy as well. Besides the further incursions of Flood and Forerunner stations, we were the only neighbors we had, and were both tired of fighting. Through diplomatic efforts, we both made an effort to live in peace, to- if not be friendly- than at least be cordial with each other."

The cyborg had disassembled and reassembled the pistol during the course of the conversation, and had inserted a clip of ammo to finish the task. Alan looked rather uneasy as the metal arms placed the gun in one of the pockets of the AdMech's robe.

"Is my mechanical form troubling you?" The Magos tilted his head in curiosity.

"Yeah. I'll be honest with you, most people from our world aren't really comfortable with full-body augmentation."
"Really? I find that hard to believe. I have observed your unit, and so far I've seen three individuals that have undergone limb augmentation, as well as several others with minor modifications."

Vasquez put down his drink. "Here's the thing, Kriel," The Sergeant explained, the Imperial unknowingly stumbling onto a sensitive subject, "While minor augments that don't replace body parts are fine- enhanced eyesight, hearing, stuff like that- the typical person back home doesn't approve of transhumanism. In particular, people find that replacing body parts for machinery for anything other than medical necessity to be dehumanizing and offensive. Those soldiers over there had lost their limbs in previous fights, but they are 'lifers' in the military, and are willing give up a normal life to keep the galaxy safe."

"But why do the commoners hate machinery?" The Magos was confused. "Don't your people have abundant machine spirits, as your fellows had informed me?"

"That's another thing entirely. Smart AIs are created from human beings, and had been essential to the old war. Augmen-to-phobia came mostly from the Elites. They've always believed that medical treatment and repair was for sissies, and that true warriors keep battle scars and wounds as signs of honor. While that didn't carry over perfectly to humanity, the attitude that modification for nonessential reasons made people 'less than human', and was taking away what made humanity special carried over."

"That's why you don't listen to xenos." The AdMech pointed out. "They know not the way of truth. You see, in our order, we know that by replacing fallible flesh with machinery, we remove any imperfection from us, and become one with the Omnissiah."

Vasquez didn't say anything about that. Religious ideals were always hard to argue against. To be honest, even though everything he had said was true, Alan himself was brought up in religious household himself, and had a thing against getting those kinds of upgrades. Personally, if the moment that he'd need to have robotic limbs would be the same moment he's dead. But rather than saying that and risk offending the tech-priest, he merely took a sip of his punch and nodded...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At another table, Samara and Jacobs were talking with N'tho and Spike by the cake table. They were discussing the rather... interesting biology of the asari.

"So," N'tho spoke, trying to understand what he had been told, "Your race is monogendered, yet you are able to reproduce by 'replicating' a partner's DNA, adding in any changes to the genetic structure?"

"That is an oversimplification," Samara noted, "But yes."
"And you are able to do this by syncing into another person's nervous system?"
"Yes."

The Sanghelli shifted his weight, somehow feeling uncomfortable about this. The thought of some entity joining its nervous system with his for "reproduction" seemed awfully similar to the infectious nature of the Flood. Plus, the concept of a race of long-lived females that bred with everyone and controlled much of the galaxy sounded even more ominous than the old Hierarchs and Prophets. At least no one was stupid enough to consider Prophets to be sexy. If the asari before him was any indication, all asari looked like very beautiful human women. And it seemed like many a Brute and Elite were "dishonoring" themselves with humans these days...

"You need not fear me, Master 'Vaduum," Samara said calmly, "As a Justicar, my code keeps me from throwing body frivolously at any suitor. And as for the rest of my kind, except for one particular... exception, my race doesn't harm its partners in mating."

That didn't change N'tho's opinion much, but it did allow the Sanghelli to relax a little.

"Do you guys form herds?" Spike spoke up, having been silent for much of the conversation.

Everyone looked at him like he was quoting the Koran. "What?" Jacobs tilted his head.

"Do any of you form herds?" The dragon repeated. "Here on Equestria, almost all races mate in groups called 'herds'. While dragons and griffons only breed with one mate, most races here have large groups, about five or six females to every two males. Twilight told me it was because there are so many mares to stallions, it was the only way for mares to get a chance to breed."

The aliens were quiet for a moment, but then Jacobs said, "Well, I don't know about you guys, but none of the races in the Citadel do anything like that."

"Actually," N'tho said, "Quite a few races in the CAR have mating rituals that are very different from human customs." Spike looked at his teacher expectantly, and so he explained, "Among the Sanghelli, its considered a taboo to know who your parents are, especially in the aristocracy. Children are raised on equal grounds, and positions are given based on merit and honor. Odds are my biological father was a exceptionally talented swordsman, as they are allowed to mate with any female they choose. And our children are raised all in the same group, taught by our maternal uncles on the art of war."

The humanoids stood quietly for a moment, while Spike watched his teacher curiously. The MEers were about to say something, but something else caught Pinkie's attention...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the edge of the party, a trio of Marines sat and watched the festivities, while a certain mint green unicorn stepped closer and closer to them from behind. Ultramarines were not like their brethren the Space Wolves, who were known for drinking and cavorting in ways unbecoming of astartes. The sons of Gulliman held themselves up to a higher standard, and kept an eye over the meet & greet, looking for any suspicious behavior.

Longinus was with his battle brother, Legolas, and the Company's Chaplain, Apaulos. While Longinus was accepting of the little xenos, Legolas was merely indifferent, and Apaulos was having a crisis of faith. Here was the Emperor of Mankind, the Lord of the entire Imperium, saying that these adorable yet insufferable xenos were his other chosen people, and that all these other xenos and heretics were to be brothers-in-arms. Surely there was more afoot than this. Why was the God-Emperor tolerant of these aliens, new body or not? Surely he knows they will stab Him in the back the first chance they got?

The green unicorn cleared her throat, although the astartes had known of her presence for quite some time. "Hey, uh, guys," the pony spoke sounding both fearful and... curious?

"Yes, we see you." Legolas answered her. "... Heartstrings, was it?"

"Yes," The xeno answered, "But everypony calls me Lyra."

"Right, Lyra. What is it you want?"

The unicorn looked down at the ground, scratching it with her hoof. "I was just curious," She started nervously, "I've read several books on humans. Most ponies thought that they were a myth until, well, you guys showed up. And having studied them, I've always been curious about one thing."

"Let me guess," Legolas cut her off, "You want to see my hands outside of the gauntlets, don't you?"

Lyra stared at him blankly for a moment, and then laughed. "Oh goodness no." She giggled, " I've known Spike and Gilda long enough to know how hands, claws and talons work. I wanted to see your feet."

All three marines raised their eyebrows at that. "...Why do you want to see our feet?" Longinus asked.

"There's a lot of things I can understand about humans. Using hands, making machines, not having wings or horns or strength yet still being kings of your domain, I can get all of that. What I don't understand is how you guys can walk, run and do all your crazy stuff with feet that look like yours."

"Why don't you go bugger someone else?" Apaulos hissed at the pesky unicorn. "You may not notice it, but we happen to be encased in battle armor. Taking off our boots isn't a practical or ethical task for us."

Lyra looked down, a bit embarrassed. "I'm sorry," She apologized, "I didn't mean to give you any trouble. I just-"

"LYRA!" A voice cried out. From across the hill, a beige/cream colored Earth pony with the ugliest mane any of the marines had ever seen came galloping towards them.

"Bon-Bon?" Lyra was surprised to see the candy maker racing toward them with a worried expression on her face. "What's up?"

"Lyra Heartstrings," Bon-Bon spoke harshly, her eyes narrowed, "Please tell me you're not doing anything to anger the giant soldiers?"

"Me? Course not," The unicorn answered sheepishly, "I'm not the type of pony to irritate others, right?" She glanced pleadingly at the astartes, who offered no such help. She had dug her own hole, she'd dig herself out.

The Earth pony shook her head, but smiled. "Lyra, you shouldn't be messing with these gentlemen. Its not polite to go asking folks why they've got strange cutie marks, or to look at their body parts... Okay, that last part came out wrong." The ponies blushed, while the marines just felt annoyed and confused.

"Oh, right, introductions." Lyra remembered, stepping next to Bon-Bon. "Guys, this is my marefriend, Bon-Bon. She runs the candy shop in town, and is my roommate, also."

A look of realization came across Apaulos' face. "Pardon me," He asked warily, "But did you say that you were her 'marefriend'? As in another female you are... together with?"

"Why yes," Lyra stated proudly, putting a forehoof over the Earth pony's haunches. "We've been a couple for two years now, and they've been the best years of my life." Bob-Bon looked aside, acting bashful and a bit embarrassed.

It took a moment for that intel to settle in the astartes' minds, especially with Apaulos. While it did, several things went through his mind rapidly;
1) These creatures were xenos. Even if they were Sanctioned, that wasn't a good start for them.
2) Homosexuality in the 40kverse was one of the many tools in Slaneesh's arsenal to subdue the righteous. Many Temptresses would appeal to whatever base urges of mortals- whether male, female or whatever- to turn them to the Ruinous Powers.
3) This "couple" just declared themselves to be gay, which in his mind also equated to Slaneeshites. Combine that with all their latent psyker powers, they were an open invitation for daemons to come in and raise hell. Thus, there was only one logical action for the Chaplain...

PURGE THE HERETICS!

Fortunately for the two background ponies, Longinus and Legolas knew what Apaulos was thinking, and acted appropriately. As the Chaplain reached down to grab his sword, the others grabbed his arms, and held him tight. They were close, almost looking like they were in a group hug, but the looks on their faces gave away their true feelings. Lyra wrapped herself around Bon-Bon, angling herself in front of her lover for protection.

"Chaplain!" They shouted in High Gothic, "Stop! Remember our oath to the Emperor!"

"Release me, brothers." Apaulos snarled, his teeth bared, "These xeno cultists would bring the Ruinous Powers upon us with their blasphemous perversions!"

"Look around us, Apaulos!" Legolas hissed, "Does any of this looked tainted? Where are the signs of madness here?"

The Chaplain looked around. The harpist and confectionist were still embracing each other, cowering in fear. Elsewhere, other townsponies, aliens, and various groups of humanity were looking at them with growing concern. Here and there, he could see couples and families among the ponies, some of them with children, some with two mares, even a few with two stallions. Each of them had an aura of "purity", of not having the slightest taint of evil on them.

Apaulos furrowed his brows in confusion, unsure what to make of this. So Legolas spelled it out for him.

"Think about it," The astartes hissed, "If our Lord consider these xenos worthy, wouldn't that mean that these creatures have resistance to chaos, even with their eccentricities?"

The chaplain thought about it, then nodded. "My apologies, brothers." He finally said, his gaze staying low.

"Its not us you should apologize to." Longinus pointed out. The Chaplain looked at the still-cowering mares, who still hadn't moved from their spot. The astartes released Apaulos, and he stepped towards them. Even as they flinched away, the Chaplain took a knee, so he could look them eye to eye.

"My... apologies, ladies." He murmured, the words fumbling out like a foreign language. "I did not understand the nature of your, relationship, wasn't the same as one would be from our world."

Lyra and Bon-Bon looked at each other, and back at the giant. "That's okay, uh, sir." Bon-Bon said warily, not moving from her spot. "No harm, no foul, right?"

"Yeah," Lyra said, "Its all good. Hey, why don't you join us for a drink with the others? I hear Pinkie bought a flank-load of sarsaparilla, straight from Appleoosa." She tried to look hopeful and cheerful, wanting to break the tension between them.

"I think the Codex Astartes has a clause allowing that." The Chaplain acknowledged. None of the Marines mentioned the fact that the clause only applied to drinking with Space Wolves- it didn't matter at the moment anyway.

The ponies began walking to the beverage table back in the center of the party, and the Marines followed suit...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pinkie kept on hopping her way from group to group, making sure everybody and everypony was happy. It did her spirit good to see all these different people getting along, becoming friends, laughing, having a good time. She would often hold parties for no particular reason, but it had been some time since she had a party that was as important as this one.

She came to a stop in front of Twilight and Trixie's table, as they were talking about special stuff.

"Oh, Twilight," Trixie sighed, "Look at this. We've actually got them to get along, I can't believe it."

"I know, Trixie." Twilight returned, leaning against a wall. "Pinkie, I really have to give it to you, this is amazing."

"Yep-yep." Pinkie said happily. "My parties always bring ponies-and people- together. Except that time with Gilda, but we're cool beans now."

It was then that Pinkie, the ever observant pony that she was, noticed how close Trixie was leaning to Twilight, actually resting on her purple friend. And how Twilight's smile seemed a bit bigger than usual. And how gosh-darned cute Trixie and Twilight looked together. And...

Pinkie smiled even more, when she made the realization. Of course the two smartest ponies in Ponyville would feel attracted to each other- who else could they talk to on equal levels?

"So," Pinkie took a seat next to them, "How've you two been doing, ever since you started living together?"

"Indeed we have." Trixie answered, levitating up a drink. "Twilight's library is just full of interesting books and essays, and its nice to have someone to talk to that understands them."

"And I love hearing your stories and travels, Trix." Twilight added, taking a bite out of some cake. "Its amazing to hear firsthand about places I've only ever read about."

"That sounds very nice." Pinkie said, giving a rather coy smile. "And by the way, I just want to let you two know that, well, I'm very happy for the both of you. If you girls ever need somepony to talk to about stuff, I'm always around, you'll always have my support."

"Um, thank you, Pinkie." Twilight said, feeling rather confused about that statement. Trixie quirked an eyebrow as the party pony spronked away to another table.

"Do you think," Trixie asked nervously, "She was implying that we were... together?"

"Um, maybe." Twilight conceded, blushing slightly. "That would be a bit silly, wouldn't it?"

"I don't think so." Trixie put a hoof on Twilight's. "I uh... I think we compliment each other quite well. And I've always wanted to be with somepony who was as good at magic as me, somepony like you. I dunno if you feel the same, but-"

"No no, I don't mind," Twilight said quickly, "I just uh, I need time to think. This seems s bit soon, I think."

"Why yes, of course. Another time."

Twilight trotted away from her, leaving both of them feeling rather vexed.

Author's Note

A/N: And that was my first deleted scene. That took waaaay longer than I thought it would. But, all the same, I'm glad its done. This fic will be updated at a far more infrequent basis than Peace & Isolation, and is meant to be a complementary work to it.

The next scene- Fluttershy's part in the Battle of Appleoosa!

Ch.6.1- How Pinkie Pie "persuaded" Councilor Sparatus

________________________________________

Chapter 8 (part one)

Preparations

________________________________________

"It’s rather frustrating when the very leaders you're supposed to serve don't believe you about a threat. It’s even more galling when you have to bring in four gods, a dozen new races and a pink pony defying reality before they finally listen."

- Cmdr. Shepard, on the Citadel Council

"God bless us everyone.

Will we burn inside the fires of a Thousand Sons, for the sins of our Hand, the sins of our Tongue, the sins of our Father, the sins of our Young?"

-Lynkin Park, "The Catalyst"

________________________________________

Now that everyone- from Imperial to UNSC to Equestrian- was on the same page, preparations began to fortify the world. The captains knew that if anyone were to survive this conflict- this possible three-way invasion of Chaos, Reapers and Flood- everyone would have to bring in their A-Game.

For two of the three worlds, calling in reinforcements was relatively easy. The Emperor was already calling for any possible reinforcements to come. And when the Emperor asks for something, He gets it. The UNSC and CAR hailed their superiors for backup against the three invaders. Upon reviewing the evidence, and after speaking with the various leaders of each race and faction, an armada was assembled to save the new planet. Even without the Flood, both nations knew enough to stop a potential threat before it bore fruit.

So in the end, it came down to Commander Shepard, Hero of the Citadel, to convince the Council and Alliance to send troops.

Turns out, that's easier said than done...

________________________________________

Equestria War: Day 2

Command HQ, Canterlot

1130 hours

Shepard wasn't looking forward to this. His meeting with the Councilors was probably going to go as well as talking to a brick wall, even with Anderson as a member. It had taken them forever just to somewhat recognize the Reapers as a threat, and even then they really didn't believe him enough to start preparing.

The odds of convincing them to send ships and soldiers to a newly discovered world, fight an enemy they didn't believe in, and work with civilizations that only he had met, were somewhere between here and infinity.

But he had to at least make an attempt at it. And if he was going to do it, he would pull out all the stops. Shepard was going to give the Council so much evidence that not only were these people real, but the threats they were to face were real, and the Council would have no choice but to send a their forces. Even if it were a token task force.

In order for this to happen, he needed the Citadel and Systems Alliance to establish diplomatic relations with this newly established "Imperial Alliance." Right after the meeting was done, the various commanders of the ragtag fleet moved to Canterlot, establishing headquarters inside the Royal Palace. Shepard then made the order to take the comlink out of the Normandy, and bring it inside the castle for everyone to use (Although the quantum-entangled link to the Illusive Man remained onboard).

The task was rather difficult, and the Cerberus technicians had to get help from whoever was available. In the spirit of cooperation, various Admech techpriests, Huragok Engineers and unicorn machinists were loaned to finish the job. It was rather fun to watch, giving an insight to the minds of these new-found comrades. The Huragok had this weird knack of disassembling and reassembling everything, but when they were done it ran better than ever, and was much more durable. The techpriests were helpful, but were always going on about "appeasing the machine spirits", and were always chanting in binary or the pseudo-latin of High Gothic. And the unicorns- bless their souls- were very eager to help, but had no experience when it came to high tech equipment, and had to be instructed every step of the way.

In fact, the best pony machinist they had was a brown Earth pony. This particular stallion- called simply "The Doctor", for whatever reason- was Derpy's "special friend", if the rumors were true. But more importantly, he seemed to have an understanding of the Mass Effect technology far better than anyone else, almost better than Tali and Mordin. Whenever he worked on something, he had this weird-looking metal stick with him, which he may or may not use to make things work. He also spoke with an old fashioned British accent -even more odd, considering these equines had human accents sometimes.

Whenever questioned about either of these things, he would just smile and say, "Hopefully you chaps will never need to find out. Oh, and if you see a giant metal plunger shouting 'exterminate!’, let me know about it, right?"

Shepard wanted to write the pony off as a weirdo. But then again, most of the galaxy thought he was a weirdo too.

But back to the present moment, the comlink was finally ready. The holographic projectors were set up, the vid cam was aimed and ready, and the leaders and representatives were all in attendance. The Princesses were planning out their battle strategies in the other room, so the Equestrians were represented by the Element Bearers and their associates. The Three Amigos were also here for the Haloverse, and Longinus represented the Imperium. Each of them had been given a translator chip, so that they could both understand each other.

It all struck him as rather strange and surreal, being surrounded by metahumans, pastel ponies and giant armored aliens. But then again, Shepard worked with a psycho biotic, a former STG operative, a handful of Cerberus agents and a repentant assassin. You would think that he couldn't be surprised by anything anymore.

"Okay, Commander." Joker spoke over the speakers. "We are live and sending. You guys ready out there?"

Shepard scanned the many faces in the room, and each of them gave a nod or affirmative gesture. "We are," He replied, "Patch it through."

"You got it." As the signal connected, Shepard placed himself in front of the camera, so that the Councilors would only see him first. After the better part of a minute, four orange holograms popped up, revealing the forms of a Turian, an Asari, a Salarian and a human. These were the three Councilors that Shepard had saved during the Battle of the Citadel, and Councilor Anderson, Shepard's personal friend.

"Councilors, this is Spectre Matt Shepard reporting," He opened, "Can you read me?"

"We can hear you fine, Commander." Councilor Sparatus answered, his voice lightly touched with disdain. "Have you found any more proof of you 'Reaper threat?’” He used the infamous air quotes, making Shepard's fists clench. If anyone did it at any other time, air quotes were funny. When the Council did it, he wanted to punch someone in the face.

Keeping himself calm, Shepard continued, "No, Councilor. But I do believe you know why I asked to speak with you today, correct?"

"Yes, Commander," Councilor Tevos said, "We know why. We read the reports you sent us and the Alliance yesterday. And, quite frankly, it makes your original story on the Reapers sound almost believable in comparison."

"Quite so, Shepard." Councilor Valern agreed. "You must admit that this is pushing it. A conglomerate of humans and aliens searching for a lost super-soldier? A massive galactic empire looking for a living god? All on a world ripped off from an antique kid's TV show? Even you must admit it sounds like a bad fanfic off the Extranet."

"You know how I feel about this, Commander." Anderson told him. "You know I would be willing to believe what you say, but you must have evidence to back this up."

"Of course, Councilors." Shepard replied. "And that is why I brought the representatives of the Imperial Alliance."

He stepped back and away from the camera, showing all the other representatives in the room. Twilight, Vasquez, Cassius and Longinus stepped forward and presented their case:

"Greetings, Councilors. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am the representative of the Equestrian Protection Pact. It is our desire to establish diplomatic relations with the nations of the Citadel, and if possible, obtain some military aid. I know that this may be asking a lot, but this is not just a matter of my world, but of all worlds, including yours."

"Hello, Councilors. Ah am Gunnery Sergeant Alan Vasquez of the United Nations Space Command. We are here not just for establishing connections, but to also help you. Whether or not you believe in Reapers now ain't important now; 'Cause they're comin', and they aren't the only threat ya'll be facin'."

"Councilors, I am Squad Master N'tho 'Vaddum of the Combined Allied Republics. I am aware that these statements may seem outrageous, but believe me when I tell you that everything we tell you is true. Our galaxy had a galactic threat at one time, and if our giant friend over here is right, he has at least half a dozen of them. Thus, it is not just in 'our' self-interest to protect this world, but 'your' interest as well."

"Hail, xenos. I am Sergeant Longinus of the Ultramarines, representing the Holy Imperium of Man. What my fellows have said are indeed true. I have seen the nature of these Reapers, as well as the likes of horrors you cannot even imagine. If you do not fight alongside us now, the fight will come to you. And I know for a fact that none of you will survive such a tribulation."

"Our point is, fair Councilors, that we are in desperate need of your help. We ask that you, in your great wisdom and kindness, send your forces to save us. What say you?"

Everyone was quiet then, waiting for the Council to respond. Before any of them could respond, Sparatus scoffed. "Seriously, Commander?" He sneered. "This was your ace in the hole? Two human actors and a bunch of CG? That unicorn is clearly an animated hologram of some kind, and the alien and giant are obviously animatronic puppets."

"I don't think those are fake, Sparatus." Anderson said. "The unicorn, maybe, but everything else looks legitimate."

"HEY!' Twilight shouted, "I am not fake! Just because I have an outline does not mean I'm not real!"

Tevos and Valern kept quiet, still trying to process the bizarre scene. Four new civilizations? At least two new species? Threats of galactic terror? All they could think to ask was, "Where did you find this place?"

"Well, Councilors, I was rescuing all the abducted colonies that you did nothing about, when we were attacked by Collectors. We had passed through a newly discovered relay, and found this-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Sparatus interrupted. "You opened an undiscovered Mass Relay, and you didn't tell anyone?!"

"My ship was in danger, our escape was blocked. What was I supposed to do?"

"Not risk another Rachni War, for one thing! Honestly, Commander, are you insane? There are reasons why we don't randomly open Relays; so we don't risk meeting up with completely unknown threats, as your friends pointed out for us."

"But you just said that they weren't real." Shepard countered.

"So?" Sparatus snorted. "Just because those are obvious VIs doesn't mean they can't have valid points. So, regardless of the situation, you are not getting any troops, and you'll be lucky if we don't revoke your Spectre status!"

While this argument was happening, Pinkie Pie had snuck up to Twilight. "I don't think they're buying us." She whispered conspiratorially.

"You think?" The unicorn retorted. While she knew that there wasn't a lot of evidence to back up their claims, it stung to have her and her fellow representatives so blatantly ignored was quite disheartening. Not to mention the fact that she was simply regarded as some CG cartoon really irritated her.

At the same time, she understood where the Councilors were coming from. When she first heard of the Pinkie Sense, she thought it was just some superstitious mumbo-jumbo. But then she saw it in action, and it simply confused her into thinking it a strange phenomena. It took prolonged exposure to Pinkie's powers that she began to fully understand what was going on.

That being said, the only way these Councilors would be able to listen is if they were given proof of their sincerity and reality. Undeniable proof. It was then that Twilight had a rather brilliant idea.

"Pinkie," She said, "I need you to do something super-amazing to convince Sparatus that we're real. Can you, I dunno, make a cake appear out of thin air?"

The party pony merely giggled, and said, "Oh, silly Twilight, I've got a much better idea."

"I don't like the way you said that."

Pinkie just smiled. "Just watch." She trotted away from the group, heading for the shadows. Twilight just knew that whatever happened next would either be very helpful or very embarrassing.

At this point, Sparatus had said, "Believe me, Shepard, its going to take something substantial to make me believe these 'ponies' are real."

"Hi there!"

The Councilors turned around in their conference room, and found themselves face to face with a completely pink equine. They remembered seeing that particular creature walking in the background, and were completely dumbfounded. Somehow, this creature had managed to travel thousands of light-years, enter the most secure sections of the Citadel, all in a matter of seconds.

Valern sputtered out, "H-How did you do that? T-That's not physically p-possible!"

The pony just laughed. "Screw the Laws of Physics, I'm Pinkie Pie!"

She then pulled out a platter of cupcakes (apparently from behind her back, which makes as much sense as anything else she did), and gave each of them one. "That's a special one." She said to Sparatus. "It took me forever to find the ingredients for a Turian-friendly cupcake, but I did it."

"I know you find it hard to believe what my friends over there are saying, talking about evil armies and end of civilization. But they are not much harder to believe in than me. You can ask Twilight- I make no sense whatsoever to her- yet I'm very real. All we want from you is just a little help saving our home, protecting our families, our way of life. Isn't that enough to send us just a few ships?"

She could see by the faces of the Councilors that she had moved them, and that they would help if possible. Except Sparatus; He just needed a little extra push.

So then, looking right the Turian, she said, "If you don't, then I'll show up in your bedroom, night after night, and play really loud and obnoxious music until you change your mind."

Everyone watching Sparatus smiled at the look on his face. To the Councilor, the thought of this Eldritch Abomination being in his room, watching him sleep with that deceptively sweet smile, was enough to induce nightmares.

Anderson then said, "I think sending a few fleets and divisions your way shouldn't be too difficult. Admiral Hackett and the 5th Fleet can lead the Citadel forces to the Terminus systems under the guise of 'war games'. Reaching Omega may be dicey, but I believe Ms. T'Loak will understand the gravity of the situation."

"That seems... reasonable." Tevos conceded. "Shall we vote upon it?"

"I think sending an STG team to this new world would not be unwise." Valern agreed. "My vote is yes."

Everyone turned to Sparatus, and he sighed, acknowledging defeat. "The Turian Hierarchy can send in an exploratory fleet, if this is what the Council decides."

"Then we are in agreement." Anderson announced. "The Citadel shall join your cause."

"Yay!" Pinkie shouted, now appearing next to Twilight, as if she never moved. "We'll see you later, then." The signal turned off, and room became silent as the holograms flickered out. Everyone looked at the Earth Pony, observing her like they would a bizarre new kind of animal.

"See?" She gloated. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" She trotted away, humming a happy song, leaving everyone else puzzled and confused. When it comes to dealing with Pinkie Logic, all you get are headaches and no answers...

________________________________________

Meanwhile...

At the gate of Canterlot Castle, the Royal Guard had been augmented with the various troopers of the Halo task force and Imperial ship. Perhaps it was because the Guards were great mediators, or perhaps it was the looming prospecting world-ending combat. Either way, the various Astartes, Guardsmen, ODSTs and various alien troops got along swimmingly.

Upon royal decree, both the Day and Night Guard were up, serving together with the visitors. Since Shining Armor had left to become a Prince, the Captain of the Guard position was divided between the head of the Lunar and Solar Guards- Midnight Blossom and Cloud Skipper, respectively. The main difference between regular pegasai and Lunar Guard were their draconian eyes and wings, signifying their creation via dragon-pony breeding and Luna's magical engineering.

At the moment, Blossom was chatting with Faber and Derpy, while Skipper kept an eye out to the horizon.

"So then this mare," Faber was telling them, gun to his side, "Cloud Kicker, I believe her name was- finally said, 'What do ya say? Wanna bang?'"

The other mares chuckled. Both of them were familiar with the promiscuous pegasus- Derpy had been a marefriend of hers for a few months, and Midnight's family were pegasai nobility, alongside Kicker's family. Both of them knew Cloud's amorous yet genuine nature, and could guess at what would happen next.

"So I told her, 'I'm afraid I must decline your offer. Even putting aside the inter-species blasphemy, xeno, I don't ride village bicycles.'"

The mares busted out laughing, and even the stoic Skipper creaked a smile. After a beat, Derpy then asked, "Mr. Faber, what's a 'village bicycle'?"

Faber gave an awkward laugh. "Well," He explained, "Among non-heretical humans, a 'village bicycle' is a woman who likes to ride as many-"

"Buck, is that Princess Cadence?" Cloud Skipper exclaimed, pointing to the pony couple approaching. Looking up, the pony guards, Guardsman, and many other watchmen observed the royal arrivals, weapons raised and ready. The ponies and griffons, most them good friends with the old Captain, convinced their alien counterparts to lower the guns.

As the Crystal Princess and her husband stopped at the gate, Cloud Skipper hailed, "Hey, Captain- or should I call you Lord, now? What brings you back home?"

The white unicorn called back, "We've been summoned by the Princesses. They said something big was going to happen, and they needed Cadence and I back home."

The Guards looked at their alien coworkers. "That's one way to put it." Skipper murmured.

But Blossom then asked, "But what about the Crystal Empire?"

Cadence answered, "Celestia told me they'd be fine. But I'm going to have a... 'polite conversation' to see if she can change her mind and let me go back."

"Good luck with that." She mumbled. She then gave the order to open the gate and let them in. They were given two escorts- a unicorn and a Sanghelli- and were led to the Command HQ.

As the Royal Couple went down the halls, they took greater notice of the aliens- or rather, the sheer abundance of them. Everywhere they went, there were at least one alien creature for every two ponies. Talking to the unicorn, Shining learned that the majority of them were humans, with a large mixture of other races sprinkled about. All of them had armor, guns, and watched them with interested respect.

Cadence, however, barely even acknowledged them. Her mind was still troubled for having to abandon her people, and was dead set on getting an honest answer from her older relatives. It was their idea to set her up as the returning Crystal Princess, after all.

In HQ, the alicorns were discussing various defense strategies with the other commanders. It had already been decided that the humans and their comrades would do most of the fighting, as they had the most technology and veteran soldiers. Not to say there weren't true warriors among the various peoples of Equestria; it was just that the number of those who properly use guns- and had the mental fortitude to fight an unrelenting foe- were rather limited, somewhere in the hundreds.

Adam's projection had also been in the room, giving valuable advice and information about both Chaos, and the terrain and nature of the planet. Luna was on the other side of the map, working with the commanders of the other races to coordinate with the aliens. Neither of them had spoken to the other since yesterday, but Luna knew better than to press the subject. There were a lot of factors to consider, and Adam was not a person to boldly rush into decisions.

All the same, would it hurt to get a hint? After all that she and her sister had done for Him, couldn't He afford to be upfront and honest with them and the humans? After all, they worshiped the Emperor, His word was law. If Adam said He wanted to be with a sanctified xeno, surely they would understand, wouldn't they?

Either way, that could wait. There was work to be done.

Captain Brogan had been saying, "This land around 'Appleoosa', as it’s called, is a vast, flat desert, which would make it a prime beachhead for any starships. At the same time, though, it’s also suited for tanks, mechs and artillery. On our ship, we have 500 Scorpions, 800 Warthogs, 300 Mantis walkers, 50 Elephants, and two Mammoths. We also have five Fafnir-class 'Battle' mechs, and one AGE-class Jumper- or 'GUNDAM'- mech."

"What's the difference between a 'Battle' mech and a 'GUNDAM' mech?" Celestia asked.

"Simple." The human explained. "Battle mechs have a lot of firepower, but can't fly. GUNDAMs have limited weaponry, but are capable of entering and exiting space." The Princess nodded in understanding.

Shipmaster 'Valuum then stepped up, and said, "We are similarly prepared for such a large-scale vehicular combat. We were fortunate enough to come along with 600 Wraiths, 900 Ghosts, 600 Locusts, 100 Scarabs and one Seraphim."

"What's a Seraphim?"

"It’s like a Scarab, but three times the size. It’s considered a mobile base, and can only be deployed via offloading, whereas Scarabs and Locusts can be airdropped."

He looked up at the Inquisitor and the other commanders. "Now what, pray tell, are you bringing to battle?" He asked, although there was a slight edge of challenge.

Magos Kriel stepped forward, and answered in his monotone voice, "We, xeno, have plenty in the way of heavy weaponry. At our disposal are five Reaver-class Titans, four Stormswords, five Stormlords, three Baneblades, two Malcadors, three Rhinos, and a Leman Russ."

Luna tilted her head slightly. "You brought every type of heavy vehicle with you... just for a recovery mission?"

"We were reclaiming the Omnissiah," The techpriest droned, "All the forces of the Imperium would have come along had it not been for the Emperor's orders. Even so, we brought along all that we could fit inside the Wrath."

"Are these vehicles big?" Brogan questioned.

The Inquisitor smiled, and quipped, "Bigger than yours, boy."

All the grunts and workers, looked at the table, and went about their business, but they all thought the same thing; Creighton subliminally insulted the Captain's manhood. They were fighting words, and a challenge was thrown down.

"Gentlemen, please." Adam warned them. "Now is not the time for petty rivalries or violence. We have bigger things to worry about."

Faster than you can say "Renegade Interrupt", the doors swung open, and a white unicorn and pissed-off pink alicorn barged in. "Celestia," She barked, glaring at the Princess, "You've got some explaining to do!"

Now, it’s not usually in Cadence's nature to go all bitchy on everyone. In fact, that's how Twilight managed to discover Chrysalis was pretending to be her. But now, her anger was justifiable, considering 1) She had to abandon her people to Sombra's clutches, 2) her train broke down in the frozen north, and took two days to fix, 3) was in heat, with all the trouble that brings in, and 4) she always hated being left out of the loop.

And if these aliens and machines were anything to go by, Cadence had been left out of the loop for a very long time.

So the betrayed, tired, hormonal Princess walked up to the other goddesses, ignoring the various hulking figures around her, with half-a-mind to beat the crap out of them.

"You've always talked about protecting your subjects," She said, "Of being as loyal to them as they are to you. Yet when I am trying to save my crystal ponies, you order me back to Canterlot to, what, use love magic on all these alien things?"

The humans and aliens gave her sharp looks as she said that. As if simply being a pink pony wasn't enough for them, she had to be having her time of the month too. It just goes to show that even among a friendly race like the ponies; everyone has their share of assholes.

Celestia, sensing this was going down a bad path, opted to change subjects. "Cadence," She said, "I want you meet an old friend of ours." She gestured to the apparition on the other side of the table. "This is Adam, Emperor of Mankind."

The younger alicorn switched her gaze to the holographic image, and the two deities locked eyes.

"Hello."

"What are you supposed to be, a ghost?"

"...That is not...entirely...inaccurate. I'm actually-"

"This is what you brought me down to see?" Cadence complained. "You wanted to show me the pet ghost you want to get rid of? I'm a Love Goddess, not an exorcist!"

"That 'ghost'," Luna snapped, pointing a hoof at the pink pony's face, "Is the reason Sombra failed to conquer Equestria! He is the reason you had an empire to return to!"

"W-What do you mean?" Cadence stammered, taking a step back- Luna's hoof was just inches from her face.

"While the part of the story where my sister and I destroyed Sombra's body is true, it was Adam who used His powers to stop his black magicks, and sent your people into a pocket of the warp. It was at great personal cost for us all that the crystal ponies and the Crystal Heart were saved. So I think it would behoove you show Him a little respect!"

"Calm yourself, Luna." The Emperor soothed, walking around the table. "It is not her fault that she is ignorant of such knowledge. Your sister and I took steps to keep that part of history secret. But to her point, the Crystal Empire is not being abandoned. It’s just that our forces are spread thin, at the moment, so an evacuation or fortification are somewhat out of the question. When we obtain the forces to do so, the empire will receive them posthaste."

"As for you, Mi Amore Cadenza, you and your husband were summoned as a failsafe precaution."

"And why is that?" Cadence asked.

"Simple. If something happens to me or your aunts, it is imperative that you are taken to safety. For your love magic is the greatest secret weapon against Chaos. If there is any hope of truly defeating our foes, it may just depend on you."

Cadence was... speechless, quite frankly. She hadn't expected that to be the reason why she was brought home, but it was more than enough justification for doing so. So, she simply asked, "Alright, where shall we stay?"

"I know the way." The unicorn guard began leading the Princess to her old chambers. But Shining lingered in the HQ, as he had a burning question.

"Adam- was that your name? Luna said that there was a personal cost for you to save the Empire. What was it?"

"...While I telepathically preformed the ritual to move your city, Luna and Celestia took on Sombra by themselves. He had become a Chaos Sorcerer, and had just enough time to summon a powerful daemon before losing his physical form. This daemon- this abomination of darkness and deceit- led to an atrocity of such magnitude that your world hasn't seen before or since."

"Which means, what, exactly?" Armor pressed.

"Sombra is the reason there is a Nightmare Moon." Luna explained, sorrow and guilt heavy in her voice. "For your people's salvation, I was given damnation upon the stars..."

Author's Note

Midnight Blossom and Cloud Skipper are OCs of Equestria Prevails, a kickass artist on Deviantart. Cloud Kicker's personality (as described here) is from Chengar Quarath, and his fic Life and Times of a Winning Pony.

Gundam belong to Bandai. Mechwarrior belongs to the FASA Corporation and Topps.

Ch. 6.2- A Green Beginning

Chapter 8 (part 2)

Resurrection

"Comparing the Master Chief to an Astartes is like comparing me to a Guardsman. His skill, speed, intelligence and sheer luck puts him far beyond any Marine. I dare say that, if we had a thousand of his kind, the Imperium would be free of enemies within a century." -Captain Longinus, Ultramarines

"Only the strongest will survive.

Meet me in heaven, when we die.

I am the Shadow on the Wall.

I'll be the one to save us all."

- "Blow Me Away", Breaking Benjamin

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So the time had finally come. Fortifications were arisen, armies were mobilized and the makeshift armada was all set. Only one thing was left to obtain. The Ace in the Hole.

Celestia and Luna were really pulling to set Discord free. Adam, however, was not so enthusiastic. Besides the fact that many ponies had negative associations with the Draconequus, the Emperor wanted to keep him in reserve; keeping the big guns safe until a real need arose.

In truth, there was only One individual to summon. The hero of the Haloverse, the Redeemer of Trixie and Gilda. The Iron Casket, The Reclaimer, The Demon. The Greatest Spartan-II in existence.

John-117.

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Day 6 of Equestria War

Canterlot Vaults

The recovered contents of the Forward unto Dawn were finally brought up to light, as its guns, vehicles and technology was being distributed among the various Equestrian armies. All the various militaries of this world had arrived two days before; warbands of griffons, entire clans of Diamond Dogs, and even the mighty Horde, a dragon-led mercenary company filled with minotaurs, buffalo, zebras, and the various other scattered races.

There were, however, two distinct items withheld from the joint coalition. In Vault 046, the alicorns gathered up the blue chip and the Chief's petrified container. With a quick pulse of magic, the Princesses teleported themselves and their collected items to the Road not Taken, which was parked over Canterlot. Apparently, all UNSC and CAR ships were made okay for atmospheric entry...

1130 hours

Docking Bay of Road not Taken

An anxious crowd of spectators, both of crew members and various Alliance soldiers, gathered in the hangar bay, waiting for the arrival of the fabled hero. The equines, Imperials and Spectre team were rather impressed from the stories the troops told them. Saving the galaxy twice? That was a mighty accomplishment, even by Warhammer standards. Not an unbelievable achievement, but still enough to stand out in the crowd.

And the AI Cortana? She had been debated fiercely among the various members of the Admech. Some simply believed her to be an Abominable Intelligence. Others considered her to be some form of machine spirit, like the AI EDI on Shepard's ship. And some- including the Magos- upon learning of her creation, believed her to be the final form of Machine and Man, a true blessing of the Machine God to all humanity. Either way, everyone in the Mechanicus would eagerly watch her for signs of heresy or "rampancy".

When the alicorns reappeared in the hangar bay, many important figures were there waiting for them. Trixie and Gilda had accompanied the Mane Six, with some desire to thank him for all he did in their lives (even if he was asleep during that time). Cassius and N'tho were there, but kept a distance behind Vasquez. Shepard and most of his team were also present, along with Longinus, Faber, Kriel and their associates.

Everyone was here to see the fallen heroes rise.

Quickly, Celestia gave the Cortana chip to a technician before she joined her sister in "unstoning" the cryo pod. The technician then inserted it into a localized hologram stand, where he tapped into the necessary commands to reactivate the hibernating AI. The techpriests were made to keep their distance, but still gave prayers and chants of binary and High Gothic- no harm in invoking the blessings of the Omnissiah.

Deep inside the realm of cyberspace, programs were being reactivated. Streams of data were pouring in, crucial functions waking up to process it. In the span of a few commands and nanoseconds, Cortana had returned to full operational capacity.

A hologram appeared above the projector, displaying a blue-colored female with short hair and fair... assets. Shepard could hear Jack murmur "Nice rack," as well as various "oohs" and "ahhs" from other troops and ponies. Obviously, the ponies were impressed because holograms are cool, whereas everyone else was... well, impressed by the "hologram", shall we say.

Cortana looked around, and herself momentarily disoriented. She was no longer in the derelict Dawn, but in the hangar of a newer ship. Furthermore, she found herself surrounded by various kinds of unidentified human and alien races,as well as the usual ex-Covenant kind. But, as odd as this was, at least she wasn't lost in space, with Chief still frozen and her slowly going rampant.

"This is Cortana-model AI service number CTN 0452-9." She spoke, surveying the onlookers. "What have I missed?"

"A lot, ma'am." The technician said. He tapped in a few commands on the keyboard, which downloaded all important intel from the last 17 years, as well as what had been recently gathered over the past two weeks planetside. This was all processed within three seconds.

"Hmm. I guess you guys have been busy while we took our little nap." She turned to Trixie and Gilda. "Speaking of which, I believe I owe you two thanks for salvaging him, and not tossing me in a garbage bin."

The griffon and unicorn bowed. "It was nothing." Trixie said humbly. "Really, you should thank the Princesses for safekeeping you and the Spartan. They were the ones who turned the pod into stone."

"Good thing, too. After you disconnected him, the pod has only 24 hours before it shuts down. Hopefully, your 'petrification' spells- huh, that sounds weird just saying it- worked, and John should be in fighting shape in no time."

When the the alicorns finished their spell reversal, technicians and mechanics quickly reconnected the pod to a life-monitoring system. All signs read normal, and it appeared as if they were set to wake him up.

"Little bit of advice for the non-humans in the room," Cortana warned, "You may want to step back a bit. Last time an alien came up to Chief after he took a nap, he put a gun in the Arbiter's face."

"Oh, we remember that." Vasquez told her, leaning on a Ghost casually. "The video footage of that, and everythin' else that yuh did back then, have been shown in every classrom and barracks in civilized space. And yes, everyone here has their guns unloaded and safeties on."

"Isn't that a bit redundant?"

"Maybe. But do yuh want to risk him goin' crazy and shootin' someone?"

"It woudn't really matter. He could kill most of you with his bare hands anyway."

Alan shut up after that. There was only so much they could prepare for. The only thing left now was to wake him up, and hope he didn't get damaged...

For the first time in a long time, John was dreaming.

He found himself standing in a vast wasteland, the bodies of humans, aliens and flood stretching out as far as the eye could see. The armor he wore was so drenched in blood that it was no longer green, but a macabre mixture of blue and red and orange. The Spartan wasn't one to let such a sight get to him, but he could sense that there was something very wrong with this place.

Looking up, he found himself looking upon a massive mountain rising from a lake of blood. This mountain, he could see, was actually made of various types of skulls- many of them human, but many more belonging to all kinds of alien bodies, most of them unrecognizable to him. On top of this mountain was a monstrous multi-limbed creature. Its image eluded him somehow, instead taking the forms of the enemies he had fought in his life- Insurrectionists, Elites, Brutes, The Prophet of Regret, even the Gravemind itself.

The monstrous creature gazed down upon the Chief, and smiled. It spoke to him- not through words, but through images and impressions. This entity- which called itself "Khorne"- had observed his long career, and was impressed. It was very rare that he came across a warrior of such caliber and skill.

Khorne tried to entice the Spartan. He gave promises of great power, enough to bring down even the mightiest of foes. The aliens would be humbled, the Flood extinguished, and all humanity would bow before him as the ultimate fighter. All he needed to do was swear his allegiance to the blood god, and the galaxy would be his.

John countered by saying he didn't fight for personal gain. He had only ever fought for others- For humanity, for the UNSC, for his fellow Spartans, for Cortana. He would never sell himself to a freak calling itself God, and he would never betray everything he held dear to him.

The blood god laughed. His bravery was admirable, but his arrogance would soon be eliminated. Upon Khorne drawing his sword, hundreds of gigantic red daemons were summoned, and quickly charged. Chief drew his gun, and calculated how best to escape-

Suddenly, three tremendous bright lights broke into the gloom, blinding the false deity and burning his daemons. John looked up, and gazed upon the figures coming to his rescue. Above the wasteland, two winged unicorns- one light, one dark, both in armor- strode in side-by-side with a giant in golden power armor, swords raised high and lightning streaking from them.

"John," A voice rang out, ringing with power and righteousness, "Awaken from this dream. The lands of the living has need of you once more. Upon your duty to humanity and her allies, upon Earth and her colonies, we summon you. We beg you... Chief, wake up!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Chief, wake up! I need you!"

The Master Chief opened his eyes for the first time in years. In front of him, Cortana was floating above her pedestal, and the cryo room... wasn't the cryo room anymore.

"Cortana," He spoke, his voice hoarse from non-use, "Where are we?"

"We're onboard the Road not Taken." She explained. "The UNSC sent a couple of ships to reclaim us. And when they did, there were some... 'developments'."

"What kind of developments?" He pressed as he opened the manual locks on the pod. "Covenant show up again? Or is the Flood here?"

"Actually, its neither of those. Quite frankly, its so out of left field that I've yet to form an opinion on it."

The pod door opened, and the supersoldier climbed out. "What, exactly?" The AI pointed behind him, and upon turning, Chief saw a menagerie of humans, aliens, supersoliders and... Whatever the hell those equines were. The Spartan tensed up, immediately preparing himself for whatever the aliens had in store for him.

One of the UNSC officers stepped forward. "Chief," He said, "I'm Captain Mark Brogan, commander of this vessel. I know this all may be a bit confusing, but-"

"How long was I out?" John asked, getting straight to the point.

"Its been 18 years for us," He explained, "But for you locally, its been three."

"And how long have we been working with these guys?"

"With the Covenant, since about two years after you went asleep. With everyone else, about a week. Kind of a 'marriage of convenience', to be honest."

The Spartan relaxed, and looked at all the other faces in the crowd. They were appraising him, just as much as he was appraising them. Some- like the equines and the civvie-looking types- didn't look all that skilled, nor particularly threatening. Others- like the cyborgs or the giants- looked more battle-hardned than anyone outside a fellow Spartan. Speaking of which...

"How are the Spartans holding up?" Cortana brought up, practically reading his mind (hell, she spent most of her life inside his head).

Everyone in the room looked at the people of Halo. Appearently, in the past few weeks they had been on Equestria, no one had ever mentioned that there were Spartan programs, or that 117 wasn't the only one around.

"There's more people like him?" Rainbow Dash quipped, having been silent along with everypony else.

"Yes."

"How many?"

"Officially, about a dozen IIs and IIIs, a lot of IVs."

"And unofficially?"

"Unofficially, its none of your buisness."

Dash growled, but remained silent. Good thing, too, as Brogan wasn't sure if he was allowed to reveal the Spartan IV project, let alone Project S-V. After all, the biggest reason brass allowed this mission to begin with was so that ONI could find some way to contribute to the new project.

Turning back to Sierra-117, Brogan explained, "Of the IIs, Fred, Kelly and Linda are still alive. Scientists speculate that Jorge may still live, but nothing has been recovered yet. Of the IIIs, Admiral Jun and Agent 'N-6' are the only ones that are common knowledge."

Chief nodded, somewhat grateful for that knowledge. He had feared for some time that he was the last remaining Spartan in existance, especially after the Battle of the Arc. Knowing that his brothers and sisters-in-arms were still alive gave him a little bit of peace. But since they chose to wake him now, rather than back on Reach or Earth, indicated that they needed him for a mission.

"What's the situation then?" He pressed. "You wouldn't have woken me if you didn't need me."

"Right. And, as fate would have it-"

The Captain was inturrupted by the wail of sirens. "Alert," The announcement warned, "Multiple energy spikes detected. Energy fluctuations recognized as 'Warp exits', reporting 763 events and counting."

Kriel, who was communicating with Captain Lema and psyker Guitierra, gave a metallic sigh. "Well," He reported, "It appears that the war has begun."

"What is it?" Shepard asked. "Chaos?"

"Not that bad."

"Flood?"

"...Think greener."

The Ruinous Powers, for all their devious natures, are beyond clever. Tzeentch, through his own abilities and the visions of the great Kairos Fateweaver, detected the presence of the other worlds, and their respective invaders. The Flood was dangerous, and the Reapers already had a massive army before them.

But neither of them were trickster gods like the Changer of Ways.

If the Chaotic Champions were to succeed in their mission, the "coalition" would have to be distracted and weakened beforehand. While the others certainly fit the bill, Tzeentch wasn't one to hedge bets. He knew just the appropriate distraction.

A race that thrived on war. A race that loved to fight and put boots to asses. A race that, according to one ODST, "...are like a case of herpes; they're irritating as shit, and never go away."

Truly, no one expects the Orks.

In Space

Between the Sun, Moon and Mass Relay

The Ork WAAAGGH! fleet came out of the warp as they always do- eager to kill something. It was a massive fleet, easily in the thousands. Many of its soldiers could proudly claim a lineage going back to the original orks of the Armageddon wars, and were some of the toughest in existence. And they were led by who would later be considered the "Orkiest Ork who ever krump'd a humie".

Warbozz CurbStompa.

Staring out the view-screen, Curbstomp gazed menacingly upon the tiny world, with its strange sun and moon and big 'ole blue gun (It needs moar dakka, He thought).

"Hey boss," A gretchin reported, "Dere's some strange stuff on dat planet."

"Wot kind o' stuff, git?" The Warbozz demanded, cleaning his favorite sword. Slice n' Dice, as he called it, was a Hyperphase blade pried off the cold dead hands of a Necron Overlord, dispatching it after a three-day fight. It represented all his might as a Warbozz, and had taken many lives in his life.

"We's got a humie ship," The gretchin reported nervously, "But we also gotz tre' o'ter ships there too. And the star and moon, dey's goin' 'round da planet."

"Who cares 'bout dat?" The Bozz snapped, pointing his sword at the baby ork. "What's dis ye said 'bout strange ships?"

"I says what I meant, boss. Dere's humies, spacey marines, an' mo' 'unknown' races than we can shake a sword at."

"Oi, you watch yer tone! I can shake me sword at whoever I want!"

CurbStompa looked at the scanning reports, the most advanced piece of tech Orks have on their ships. In orbit, there were four ships; one was Imperial, the others were smaller and different. Planetside, there were humans, astartes, and a dozen or so races the Ork had never seen before. It made him think- as well as an ork can think.

"Oi," He declared, "By Gork and Mork, dees' blightas 'ave nevah been seen by Ork eyes! Do ye kno' wot 'dis means?"

"No, boss."

"It means that dees' po' gits ain't nevah had a propah krumpin', dat's wot. Dem blighters need ta git demselves an edacatin' in fightin', and we Orks are jus' the ones da do it!"

He grabbed a conveniently placed microphone, and declared to the entire fleet, "Oi, we're in luck, boyz! Down there's a planet full o' whiny gits just beggin' fo' a propah krumpin'! And wez jus' the onz ta do it! Why? 'Cause wez da Orkz, an' its wot we do!

WAAAAAAAAGH!"

The roar of "WAAAAAAAAGH!" rang proudly throughout the makeshift fleet, and meteors and dropships rained down upon the alien planet. The Green Tide had just arrived.

Appleoosa, Equestria

Forward Base Bingo

In the San Palomino Desert, most of the Alliance's heavy machinery was spread around the many rapidly established FOBs, manufactured curtesy of the Road and Judgement. The UNSC-CAR forces were augmented by the Imperial Fists, Guardsmen and a commandery of Adepta Sororitas (though they were Order Hospitaller, serving as medics). Some troops were even training the local ponies and buffalo tribes in modern combat, creating militias.

Often times, however, since there was no immediate fighting going on, all groups involved could just get together and shoot the breeze, as was demonstrated here. Towards the edge of the base, two ponies, a dragon and an ODST were talking next to a Pelican.

"Ay, have you guys heard about Daring Do?" One pony- a blue crystal unicorn pony, no less- asked the group, his red cape blowing in the wind. "Word is that Celestia commisioned her and her posse to head north and get the Crystal Heart before things pick up. She's got a whole team of mercs with her, even a diamond dog with magic claws!"

"Are you sure about that, Mixer?" Another unicorn- a dark red one named Burning Heart- countered. "I mean, Daring isn't racist or anything, but you'd think she wouldn't have a dog come along. They aren't very smart, and rather hard to get along with."

"Diamond Dogs aren't bad." Heart's dragoness assistant, Spines, snapped. "My parents came from the City of Fortitude. That place had dragons, diamond dogs, griffons- every nonpony race outside of Equestria. My father told me that the dogs there were the most well-behaved and loyal creatures he ever met. If Do actually does have one of them with her, she'll be in luck."

"Hold on a sec." Lt. Connor, the ODST, interrupted. "What's so important about the 'Crystal Heart'? What does it do?"

"Its a device," Mixer explained, "That's powered by the love and happiness of the crystal ponies, which then spreads it across Equestria, and keeps evil at bay. And having spoken with the Imperials, they have shown great interest in it. Considering the dangers of what we'll be going against, I'm not surprised."

"Yeah, but I don't think you should believe everything they tell you. I mean, their galaxy can't be that horrible, right?"

"Hey," Heart pointed to the sky, "Is that a meteor shower?"

Everyone looked up, and was dumbfounded. Above them, dozens of fiery streaks were racing across the sky, coming down from a flotilla of tinker-toy looking spasceships. A massive fleet, that practically blocked out ths sun.

"Huh, look at that." Connor pulled out his SMG. "Remember this day, folks. War has come to town."

The meteors- which they could see were the size of the modern drop pods- crashed all over the desert, impacting mesas and ravines, smashing apple orchards and bases. One such rock smashed 500 yards away from them, making a small crater.

"Quick, get your weapons!" The unicorns pulled out DMRs (Equestrians were all given basic weapons training), while Spines drew a Covenant Carbine, and all of them aimed at the meteor. On the radio, the UNSC and CAR troops were confused, not knowing the nature of the attack. But on Imperial channels, one warning rang loud and proud:

"Emperor help us, its the Orks!"

From the meteor, dozens of giant, green monsters came rushing out of the crater, wearing little to no armor, armed with everything from guns to robot arms to even swords and axes. Their eyes and faces were permanently set into one of bloodlust.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" A mindbending roar rang out, causing ears to bleed and communications to shut down. All across the desert, the greenskins charged, shooting randomly, slashing randomly, going into a war-orgy as only the Orks can.

Over at the Pelican, the ponies and dragon shot at the horde, aiming for the heads (as they were "trained" to do) while Connor got behind the shuttle's turret gun, and let loose. Training was decent, to say the least- but there's only so much you can do in five days. So, while they aimed for eyes and faces, they often hit the shoulders and chest, or hit the Ork behind them. The machine gun did a number on them, but it took a lot of rounds to bring down even a couple. Plus, they were shooting back, covering for their bretheren with swords.

They had to get out of there, ASAP.

"Spines!" The human called out. "Take the turret!" The dragoness jumped to the gun, and Connor ran back to the cockpit, starting up the engine. Every ODST, like every Spartan-IV, was trained to operate every vehicle in use today, even the mighty Elephant and Mammoth. Good thing, too, as the horde was almost on top of them.

As the "pilot" turned on all the final switches, a stray bolter round went into the craft. It struck the ceiling, causing a panel to fall off and strike Mixer in the head. He could hardly get out a "dammit" before he fell unconsciously to the floor.

"Bastards!" Burning Heart shouted, using his pyromancy to summon a fireball, and launched it at the horde. Surprisingly, it kinda worked, as some of the Orks did catch on fire, and began firing randomly from the pain.

The engines roared, the Pelican lifted off the ground, and the Orks got roasted on afterburners as they took off. Spines shot out a few parting rounds as Heart checked upon the unconscious crystal pony. Connor was picking up distress signals and reports from all over the continent- Appleoosa, Manehattan, Fillydelphia, even Neighagra Falls up north. These "Orks", as the Imperials were calling them, had brought in an invasion fleet well before any other contenders.

"He'll be fine," Heart announced, wrapping Mixer's cape around him like a blanket, "He a small cut, a concussion maybe. He can be treated when we reach Alpha Base."

Spines giggled to herself. She felt positively giddy after firing the heavy machine gun for the first time. Dragons- especially female dragons- love heavy firepower. "It looked like blasting and roasting them did the trick." She gloated. "If somepony could make flaming bolter rounds, I think we'd be set."

"I don't get it. They just rushed at us, ready to kill. No introductions, no announcements, no attempts to talk. Just straight up rush'n slash. What type of creature does that?"

"Don't worry about it, Heart. I'm sure the humans have some fancy weapon or device to stop them."

"We got one better, jack!" Connor declared from the cockpit. "I'm getting word over secure channels- it was all over the airwaves before the invasion started. Sierra-117 is awake, and he's getting deployed!"

"The 'Galactic Savior'?" Spines asked. "Huh. If even half of what you guys told me about him is true, those green guys will be crying for their mamma in no time."

"Let's just hope it works." Heart murmured, watching the desert below become a battlefield. Now, for better or worse, the Great Equestria War was on...

Author's Note

OC Time- Connor the ODST belongs to Ice Assassin Ace. Mixer belongs to Mixer (who's on this site). Burning Heart and Spines the dragoness belong to Lankore.
Recap. Master Chief and Cortana are awake, The Orks have invaded, and the war has begun.
Next update- The Battle of Appleoosa, starring Master Chief, Cmdr. Shepard, most of the Mane Six, and the armies of the coalition against an ork WAAAAGH!
As the saying goes, "Its on like Donkey Kong, jack!"

The Battle of Appleoosa

Chapter 8 (part three)

Battle of Appleoosa
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"This wasn't the first time Appleoosa has been in a fight. But this was the first time we've been in a war. And these 'Orks'... What can be said about them? The buffalo fought for their homeland, and we ponies fought to save our livelihood. Them? Orks kill for fun. If there was an excuse to use the Halo Array on anyone, its them."
- Chief Braeburn, Leader of the Remnant Buffalo Tribes and Governor of New Appleoosa

"No regret for the confidence betrayed.
No more hiding in shadow.
'Cause I won't wait for the debt to be repaid.
Time has come for you."
- "Victimized", Linkin Park
------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ork's assault was quick and brutal- typical of their style. While the Coalition had been preparing for a fight, the majority of the land forces were still stationed in Canterlot, and thus had to scramble. By the time both the army and the navy could be brought to bear, the greenskins had already had ground near Appleoosa, Fillydelphia, and even inside Manehattan.

The four ships were deployed, and its because of them that Equestria withstood the first few weeks. The Wrath, being the most powerful ship, was both the biggest attacker and biggest target. Any Ork craft not dedicated to landing troops on the surface was either trying to blow it up or board it. With most of its complement of troops down below, broadside after broadside was shot, decimating the fleet.

The Taken and the Judgement, being the largest ships the Orks had never fought, were also big targets. But unlike the Imperials, the taskforce had a few tricks up their sleeves. MAC rounds, plasma shots, Shiva missiles, they all went through the ships like a sword through an arm. And when all else failed, they could always go really fast and break the ships in half- The Orks were very impressed by that one.

No Orks gave a crap about the Normandy, as it was clearly "A SHIP FO' WEAK BLIGHTAS!" And that was what kept them alive. Their missiles and lasers couldn't do anything, EDI was useless as Orks don't use computers (even during the fight, no one could believe that Ork-tech worked based on their thoughts), and if an Ork ship locked on to them, the ship would explode. The only thing they had going for them was the Thanix Cannon, which in the first week chalked up 385 kills.
Whenever a ship was blown up, CurbStompa would always say, "THOSE ORKS WERE GITS, ANYWAY. AH DON' WANT THAT SHIP, AH WANT THE GREEN ONE!"

Even with the outstanding job by the fleet, tens of thousands of Orks had made it planetside, and had established the San Palomino Desert as their domain. And it was the job of the Allied Armed Forces to root them out, and send them back to Hell.
The Battle of Appleoosa is historically remembered for three things; The first actual battle of the war,the first deployment of the Battlemechs and GUNDAMS, and the return of the Master Chief...

-------------------------------------------------------------
+Day 4 of Invasion
6:30 A.M.
20 miles north of Appleoosa

The Kodiak was five minutes out from Forward Base Alpha, the only station still secure following the landings. It was escorted by two Pelicans, three Banshees, and an honest-to-Emperor Thunderbolt. Onboard were some of the most important members of the new alliance; all of Shepard's team (minus Legion and Miranda, who were fighting in Manehattan), Capt. Cassius, Srgt. Longinus, all the Element-Bearers (besides Rarity- as she was a seamstress/diplomat with no combat experience, she had nothing to give by going south), Trixie and Gilda, and of course, Sierra-117.

There wasn't much in the way of conversation on the way there.

"So," Shepard started, trying to lighten the atmosphere, "I hear that you made your way through a heavily infested Flood station?"

"Yeah." Chief responded curtly. "High Charity. Did it twice."

"Then you shouldn't have any problem fighting these Orks, then?"

"Doubt it." Cortana quipped over the radio. "Big green monsters, always angry, all the time? Ha. The only difference between them and the Berserker Brutes is that its temporary for the apes... no offense, Cassius."

The Jiralhanae merely shrugged. Mild racism aside, it was still an honor to serve alongside the hero. N'tho and Vasquez were already groundside, and was coming alongside Longinus as "Fluttershy's bodyguards". While reluctant to go fight, her medical knowledge and animal communication would be some benefit.

Gilda and Trixie were adjusting and loading up their MA5B and Avenger machine guns, respectively. G had helped RD learn to shoot the M45 Shotgun, as Trixie had done with Twilight and the M-97 Viper. AJ, on the other hoof, had one of the first-ever saddle-mounted dual Bolters, and was in retro-fitted Cerberus armor. And Fluttershy... well, with a Brute and a Space Marine having her back, a ponified- marine armor and a hoof-mounted energy blade would be all she needed.

That just left Pinkie with a rather... unorthodox weapon.

"Just who's idea was it to give her a chainsword?" Garrus griped, staring concernedly at the party pony and her 4-foot long whirring blade of death. 21st century Earth provided all kinds of legends that followed humanity to the Extranet. Slenderman, Cthulhu, the SCP Foundation- they were but a few, and none were particularly scary, since everyone knew their fakeness. One such creepypasta, however, had troubled the Turian's mind- and to a lesser extant, the Normandy's- ever since this location was confirmed. This story, while not as nasty as Rainbow Factory, Cheerliee's Garden or Sweet Apple Massacre, lasted far longer for its originality and its infamy. If anyone had ever come across the "blasphemous tome" that is Cupcakes, they would know perfectly well why Pinkie Pie and a chainsaw-knife were a bad idea.

"Whatcha worried about, Garry?" Pinkie chirped happily. "I can use this sword just fine. Besides, I've used a chainsaw before."

The alien's eyes bugged out, and his mandibles flexed outward in surprise. "You have?" He asked, a twinge of fear growing inside. "When?"
"A few months ago. Some timberwolves had entered town during Zap Apple Season, sniffing around for foals to eat. With Pound and Pumpkin Cake still acting all rambunctious, I joined Big Mac and a few other townsponies in some hunting. Took out three myself."
"Oh. Right. Of course."
"What? What did you think it was?"
"Umm... I'll have to tell you later."

"We are approaching the drop zone." The pilot announced. "Prepare to disembark."

The sidedoor opened up, and music started playing from the radio. It started as Gregorian chanting, but then progressed into drum beats and strings- an epic song, if ever there was one.

"What's this?" Longinus inquired. "A war tune your people play?"

"In a manner of speaking." Cassius answered. "A few years back, some guys made a docu-drama flic about you, Chief. The movie itself was okay, but it had some of the best music ever written, and its on the playlist of every soldier in Human-CAR space. This one is called Installation 04."

"They made a movie about me?" Chief pondered.
"Yep," Cortana quipped, "And the way people talk about you on the chatlines, you might as well be a cross between Hercules and Jesus."

The Kodiak made its landing, and its escorts took off to make another run. The passengers got off, squeezing their way through the tiny doorway. Outside, Forward Base Alpha was abuzz with activity, as Scorpions and Wraiths were led by Stormlords and Stormswords, veritable swarms of Warthogs and Ghosts followed the Baneblades, and Sanghelli and humans marched alongside ponies and Astartes.

Standing in the middle of this controlled chaos was Celestia, wearing the golden armor from the night of the Meeting. She also had a warhammer the size of a Mongoose on one side, and a Spartan Laser on the other, both levitated by her magic. Her face was hard and stern, though it softened upon seeing her student and her comrades.

"What're you doing here, Princess?" Shepard asked, bearing a Revenant assault gun and Terminus Armor. "Shouldn't you be back in Canterlot with the rest of Command?"

"Cadence is currently managing governmental and military affairs at HQ," The sun goddess explained, "And Luna is with Adam, saying she wanted to discuss some things with Him alone. As for me, my parents taught me that a true leader isn't afraid to fight alongside her troops in battle. And this day, many an Ork shall know the wrath of Star Slayer." The Astartes and Brute nodded in agreement. In both their cultures, Chapter Masters and Chieftains were involved in the actual battle, rather than staying behind and giving orders from base.

"Where do you need us?" Chief asked, scanning the battlefield at the horizon. Reports had come in that Appleoosa itself- which was much bigger than it was 2 years before- had been taken by the aliens, and its ruins had been heavily fortified. Fillydelphia and Manehattan were also under the same occupation, but their urban environments meant that those battlefields would be fought by infantry. Here, cars, tanks and planes were the way to go.

"Follow me." The princess gestured, and the group followed her to the front. All around, troops and civilians all looked and pointed at them. Here was Shepard's force, the Master Chief himself, the Elements of Harmony and their entourage, all following the goddess of Equestria into battle. Fluttershy peeled off the group to work in the triage center- she knew as well as anypony else that her place was not on the battlefield. Tali went over to the garage- she could fight, but she also wanted to better understand these other races' machinery. All others, though, reach edge of the base, where the majority of soldiers were waiting for the order to attack.

The assaulting force was a snapshot of the newly formed Alliance. There were griffons with Lasguns and marines with power-swords. There were Guardsmen being taught how to operate plasma turrets by Elites, and Grunts being given automatic crossbows from unicorns. Dragons, Diamond Dogs and Zebras stood side by side with Hunters and Drones and Skitarii. Soldiers of a multiverse stood ready to take on one of the greatest threats in existence.

And every one of them cheered as their greatest heroes and leaders joined the frontline.

The Mane Five and their escorts stood nervously among the rest of the group. Despite the events of the Wedding, only Gilda and Trixie had any combat training. They hadn't been in a serious fight before, let alone killed a living being. The thought of killing now was very disturbing. They were only able to bring themselves here for two reasons; 1) They needed to fight to save their world, and 2) The Imperials were very repetitive on the fact that Orks were not an intelligent race, but rather an invasive bio-weapon that destroyed everything (like parasprites, only louder).

Celestia gestured to Shepard, who stepped closer to her. "I must take flight," She told him, "And speak to my pegasi and dragon troops. I hear that you are quite an expert in speechcraft. Perhaps you can help us by giving one now?"

"I'll do my best, Princess." He answered. The alicorn leapt up into the air, flying in front of a large formation of airborne troops, leaving the Commander with everyone else.

Shepard turned to face the army before him. He had made a lot of speeches in his day, but this would certainly be the most important... so far. As such, he took a moment to gather himself before he could begin.

"Today," He began, "I stand before an army of people I'd never imagine ever seeing, let alone fighting with. Sanghelli and Jiralhanae, Astartes and Guardsmen, ponies and buffalo. Under any other circumstance, this would be a recipe for disaster, an exercise in betrayal and futility."

"But not this day."

"At any other time, each and every one of us would be at each other's throats, fighting over perceived wrongs and needless semantics."

"But not this day."

He pointed to the Ork Horde. "In front of us, a mindless enemy who only seeks death and bloodshed, who will not listen to reason or be open to peace. They are capable of neither pity nor mercy, and whose sole reason for existing is to slaughter and annihilate."

He then pointed to Appleoosa. "Behind and beyond us, an entire world of peaceful races who have welcomed us, treated us as friends, who fight side by side with us even now. These people, who have done nothing to deserve this save healing a god, and who want nothing more than to live in harmony with all things."

"To some of you, this is your thousandth fight against a common foe. To others, this is your first time in an actual fight. Whether you're a veteran or a rookie, whether you're standing sure or in fear, remember this: You do not stand alone, for we are all brothers and sisters today, and we shall know no fear!"

"Before we do what must be done, I will leave you with this. These ugly green bastards think they can take this world from us." There are disapproving growls from various soldiers along the lines. He continued, his voice now taking a darker tone. "To which I say... Let them try!" The army cheered, defiant against the green tide.

"Onward, to Victory!"

Likewise, Celestia was giving a speech of her own. The soldiers before her were not the typical Guard that ponies saw on a daily basis. No, they were the elite of the elite, taught and trained in the same methods that Guardsmen were. The Emperor, through the actions of the Princesses, created this unit to be as close to an actual PDF as Equestria could pull off. Some of them were given guns from the Dawn, while others used the magic-based shooters that the ponies had created on their own. But most simply used barded melee weapons, holy hand grenades and crossbows- weapons they had trained with their entire lives. These weapons were specifically made to be on-par with that of the Imperium, able to break through any armor and slay any creature. They were the ponies' answer to the darkness of the far future.

"This day," She began, her voice echoing through all available radio channels and to all warriors in the sky, "We fight an abomination, an insult upon all living things."

"Through the Wisdom of His Divine Majesty and Holy Diarchs, We Fight." The Royal Guard chanted.

"They came uninvited from the stars, their sole purpose in existence being to kill and destroy. Our majestic cities, our peaceful villages- stallions, mares, foals- all are fair game to this infestation."

"With the Strength of the Spartans and the Astartes, We Fight."

"We stand alongside the greatest fighters in all existence. Spartans and Astartes, Guardsmen and ODSTs. They have fought the likes of our opponents a thousand times over, spilling their blood to keep us safe."

"With the Courage of the Guardsmen and the ODSTs and the Spectres, We Fight."

"Today, we stand with these men and women, fellow warriors. We do our part to make the multiverse a better place for all."

"With the Friendship of Ponies and Man and the Xenos of all worlds, We Fight."

"We shall join our blades with their guns, our magic with their machines. We shall make the earth quake, and the storms thunder. The sun and stars themselves shall unleash their fury upon them."

"Against The Undead, The Soulless, The Fallen, We Fight."

"Though many of us shall fall saving our home, our sacrifice shall not be in vain. For each one of us that dies, we shall take a thousand of them with us!"

"Into the Eternal Void, We Cry, 'We may get Beaten, but We shall not Bow!'"

"So fight on, my subjects, my people. Send these bastards back to the blasphemous hell that they came from!"

"FOR THE EMPEROR! FOR EQUESTRIA! FOR EARTH AND THE MULTIVERSE! TO VICTORY!"

Together, the cheers of the two combined armies made a roar of such magnitude that it carried miles and miles away, all the way over to the Ork horde. They were, needless to say, not very impressed.

"OI, WOT'S DIS?" A Nob shouted to his troops, glaring across the fields. "DOSE PUNY HUMIES AN' 'ONYS DINK DEY'S A MATCH FO' DA ORKS! BOYZ, IT BE TIME WE GIVEZ DOSE GITS A GOOD KRUMPIN'! WAAAAAGH!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!" The Orks bellowed, charging at the army as a verdant tide of death. Orks are very simple creatures, you see. They only have two modes of fighting, as it is written by Gork and Mork: Hit hard when the enemy isn't looking, and hit harder when they are. That is, they only knew ambushing and Zerg Rushing. And since the town was surrounded, by both land and sky, that left mad charges.

And that's exactly what the Alliance was counting on with Operation Raining Hellfire.

As the WAAAAGH! was filling the desert between their foothold and the Allied lands, up in space, The Road and the Judgement aimed a few of their broadside cannons at the big green dot. Plasma was channeled, slugs were loaded, coordinates were punched in.
"MAC... Away."
"Plasma Cannon... Engaged."

WHAATOOM! WHATOOM-WHATOOM!
WVVVERRRRRRRRRRR!

The allies ducked for cover, as MAC rounds and boiling plasma rained down upon the Orks. Hundreds of greenskins were blown up and burned alive, whether out in the open or in the mild protection of Kroozaz and Speedaz. In some places, the plasma collected at the bottom of the craters, burning them as they unwittingly charged and fell into the pits. In other places, the plasma fell down hills, rolling down and melting the aliens like a pyroclastic flow.

It was a start, but only got a few thousand over a square mile, out of a force of 500K spread over 5 miles. The Horde kept coming, which was why there was Phase Two.

Behind the army, dozens upon dozens of Longswords, Thunderhawks and new-model Phantoms called "Apparitions" came racing in. They raced above the freshly-crafted wasteland, dropping their payloads of hundreds of bombs made of promethium, plasma and high-explosive munitions. The soldiers covered their ears, as a cacophonous roar thundered across the green and red stained desert. More than half again of the Orks were torn apart or atomized from the explosions, their warbikes and buggies burning just as much as the Grot tanks and Kill Krushaz.

At this point, any normal thinking creature would stop charging and run away in defeat. But Orks don't know the meaning of the word, and pressed on even as half of their army was dead. Which meant it was time for Phase Three, the Coup de Grace.

Celestia flew higher into the air, forehooves outstretched, her warhammer floating below her. The sun's light glowed more intensely, making the daylight brighter, forcing everyone to squint. As the sun itself charged up, Celestia closed her eyes, and recited a saying her mother had told her as a filly- something between a spell, a prayer and lullaby;

"Give me the strength of the Rising Sun.
Give me the truth of the words I've sung.
And when the last bells ring, the poor mares sing,
"Bring me to Kingdom Come."

When she opened her eyes again, they were as bright as the sun itself. The brightness of the sun dimmed, as the excess light focused down into a beam, striking the tip of her horn. The beam was then redirected from the horn, blasting outward onto the still approaching horde. The beam was as thin as a scalpel, but had enough intensity to make metal melt and flesh burn. Orks caught in the crossfire were simultaneously bisected and set aflame, and many a vehicle exploded like popcorn. She carved a twelve-pointed star onto the field below her, the ground hit by the beam burning into glass, forming a shape over 4 miles across.

The Orks... stopped. Those puny humies and "punnies" had used massive space-cannons, a massive aerial bombardment, and the power of the sun itself to shrink down their force from half a million down to 10'000, against a force that was 8'000 at the most. It was a demonstration of firepower of such magnitude that greenskins could only fantasize about. In the end, one Gretchin summed up the event perfectly;

"Dat's a lot o' DAKKA!"

Celestia cried out in a voice of a Valkyrie, "Ave Equestria!", and dove into the remnants of Orks, unleashing her righteous fury upon them, alternating between blasting them with her horn, smashing their skulls with Star Slayer, and destroying tanks with the Spartan Laser.

But goddess or not, the soldiers of mankind were not going to be shown up by a mamby-pamby pony princess. With a sound of fury, the army- human, Astartes, Ex-Covenant and Equestrian- unloaded their guns and arrows upon the Orks, giving covering fire as the Marines and melee troops charged at the stunned rabble...

X)(X)(X

Far off, the machines rumbled to life. Smoke billowed out of smokestacks, engines roared, and red eyes glowed with malice and rage. On one arm, a massive chainsaw the size of a tank whirred up. On another, a Soopagun activated, massive amounts of energy coursed through the gun. The four-story tall machines lifted a foot, taking a step upon a pony's farm, crushing it underfoot. The machine blared a horn of unrepentant warlust. The others matched it with their own, an echo of twenty blasts.

The Gargants were coming to play.

X)(X)(X

"RD, watch it!"

"I see 'em, G!"

BOOM! CH-CHINK! BAM! Buddaddadda!

"Nice shot, Dash."

"That was me, featherbrain."

Garrus kept an eye on the two Wonderbolts through his scope, popping a round into any Ork's face that got too close to them. Staying thirty yards behind, he used the Mantis as weapon of choice, already scoring sixty kills. Gilda and Dash weren't doing too bad themselves, having left a trail of headless greenskins behind them. It also meant that the turian would end up spending a bunch of time unintentionally looking at griffon and pegasus buttocks, wrapped up in skintight armor. Garrus wasn't the type of guy to stare at behinds while working- military training, for one, and constant assignments with Shepard's girls, for another- but he was certainly trained and experienced enough to multitask.

Both of them were quite muscular, no doubt. Any race on this race that didn't always use magic -whether they tilled the ground or worked the sky- was naturally toned and fit. Gilda was of course bigger, and had more to go around, as they say. But with Rainbow, there was something about that flank-

"I could watch dat ass all day."

"Whatcha say, Gar?" She asked.

It was then that he realized that he said that particular thought aloud. "Uh," He stammered, trying to think of a cover, "Watch your asses, there's a Nob behind you!"

Indeed, a rather large Ork with robot chainsaw arms had come charging at them, and was quickly filled with lead. Garrus was momentarily embarrassed that a stray thought like that slipped out, and hoped neither of them picked up what he really said. The thing was, they did. Gilda immediately felt a bit pissed, jealous that this strange-looking, "fourth wall aware" alien would want to muscle in on her girl. Dash, however, had already felt a bit attracted to the turian brony, and wondered whether or not he'd be okay with making a herd along with Gilda...

X)(X)(X

High above the field, pilots loaded into their machines. 2 of the mighty Fafnirs had been deployed alongside the scarabs and Seraphim in Manehattan, the remaining three were reserved for just this moment. These machines of war had been given 3 of the most powerful lasers currently available, as well as a pair of massive Gauss guns, capable of blasting into mountains.

The commander of the squad turned on the engine to his mech, and listened to the roar. "Roll call," He announced. "Heimdall Actual, standing by."
"Heimdall-2, standing by."
"Heimdall-5, standing by."

"All systems ready." Juno announced over the speakers. "Prepare for Orbital Drop."

"Remember, boys." The commander turned on his weapons and shielding. " With most of the Imperial Reavers up in Manehattan, our own AGE Gundam. Our targets will be Ork mechs, designation "GARGANTUANS". Intel says there are twenty Omegas in Sector Alpha-457. Aim weapons at the legs and center of mass."

"Team Heimdall," An accented voice came in over the intercom, "Don't think you can have all the fun without me."

"And why would that be, Top Ramen?" Heimdall-2 quipped, using the nickname of the the Gundam pilot.

Sanjaya Rahjaman smirked in his cockpit. "Simple, my friends. You have lasers and guns, but I also have a shield and sword. I am like one of the Rajput of my homeland."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't rub it in. At least it will take more than one shot to take us out."

"Orbital deployment in 3... 2... 1..."

CH-CHUNK CH-CHUNK!

The mechs were shot down to the planet below...

X)(X)(X

"Hostiles incoming!" Matt announced.

"No shit, Shepard!" Jack swore, throwing a singularity, "There's fucking hostiles everywhere!"

"Quit the chatter! Take out the Nob!" Chief emphasised that statement with a burst of fire into an Ork's face.

Shepard's team, alongside Chief, the Elements and the amigos, were right in the middle of the battlefield. Now, the bulk of Halo and ME soldiers would've prefered to shoot them from afar, avoiding close combat. The Imperials, however, told them that the best way to beat the Orks was to attack first and close-up. If anything, it kept them from having the momentum of a WAAAGH! charge.

At least there was enough space between them to allow for reloading. The Marines made sure of that.

Jack and Samara kept the greenskins at bay, launching singularities and pulls left and right, keeping them busy long enough for Thane and Twilight to give a headshot (Twi was apparently a natural at the rifle). Trixie, Shepard and Chief experts of the machine gun, used their speed, training or magic pick apart and slay the monstrous foes. N'tho played it quiet, staying invisible until he was behind an unsuspecting xeno, and either quickly decapitating them in one swipe of the sword, or slicing their knees and letting Vasquez put a shotgun in their mouths.

And that left the team of Longinus, AJ, Cassius and Pinkie to keep much of the horde at bay. And that was exactly what they did.

"This is for Bloomberg, you sons of bitches!" Applejack shouted, barely being heard as her guns went dakkadakkadakka, the axe-wielding barbarians into red-and-green shreds. They would pay for destroying the orchards her family had worked so hard to grow, right down to the last tree. "I'm gonna send y'all to the fires of Tartarus! Ah hear its nice this time o' year!"

At the same time, Cassius and Longinus were back to back, taking out as many talking mushrooms as possible. The Brute would shoot them up with a Spiker gun or a Plasma rifle, while the Ultramarine would do the same with his lasgun and power sword.

"Tell me, xeno," Longinus asked Cassius, keeping his eyes on the enemy, "Were you the one to give Fluttershy that blade?"

"Yeah." The Jiralhanae answered, slashing the Spiker blade across a green throat. "I talked with the salarian guy over at the medbay, and asked him if he could do a miniblade for the ponies. He said yes, and gave Fluttershy the first one."

"Wonderful." The Astartes responded, shooting concentrated light at an opponent's belly. "That's one less thing to worry about."

"Huh. If it weren't for the fact that your people hate xenos," Cassius quipped, "I'd say that you've grown attached to the little pony."

"You know, xeno, you may not be wrong there." The Marine stabbed his sword into an Ork's junk, and went up from there. "The Codex Astartes is very specific about hating all aliens. However, if the Emperor has deemed these creatures worthy of His mercy and care, than so shall I."
"Yeah, she's a cute one." The alien slashed a bladed gun through a green neck. "She may appear to be meek and harmless, but I bet you that she is plenty capable of giving a beatdown."

And then there was Pinkie...

"Hey, green guy," She said to a gretchin, pointing at him, "What's that on your shirt?"

When the tiny Ork looked down, the mare swung the chainsword around, and cut him two clean halves.

"Made ya look!" She giggled, and moved to the next guy. Gosh, She thought to herself, I'm really good at cutting these guys up. And its almost like I enjoy doing this, but why? This isn't very nice, not like a sunday sarsaparilla, with cherries and sugar and sugary goodness. Maybe I should talk to Twilight after this, have her check my head. In the meantime, I have a pretty plasma grenade with that Nob's name on it.

She tossed a glowing blue grenade at the Ork, which landed right on his head. Two nearby gretchins stopped and pointed at him. "Oi, Boss," They said, "Dere be a glowy blue thing on yer head!"

"Wot? Is it a spoider?! Git it o-"

BOOM!

Pinkie cackled at the exploding head, and went back to hacking and slashing...

X)(X)(X

The machines landed just west of the town, about half a klick away from the Ork Titans. The handful of Gargants could see three small, clunky walkers along with a flying, frail-looking machine with a shield and a shoota. Many Orks piloting the giant robots laughed at pathetic those gits looked... until 4 Gargaunts simultaneously exploded from laser and Gauss fire.

"OI!" One of the captains in the machines shouted, ""DEY KILLED KID KNEE! DEM BASTARDS!" The other robots then raised their weapons, and proceeded to blast them. The mechs turned on their shields while the gundam flew overhead. The group continued shooting while the flier kept sniping center of mass with his gun.

The Gargaunts, which had been feared the galaxy over for their power and ferocity, were taken out one by one like a collection of bowling pins. The Fafnirs had lasers capable of destroying mountains, and blasted through the legs and shields like a bullet through an apple. The AGE had a rifle capable of blasting through a bunker for 20 miles away, and its explosive rounds caused extensive damage to the titans. In short, the Orks were getting smashed.

But that's not to say that the Orks weren't capable of fighting back. On the contrary, they were equally kicking the human's asses back. The shields were being whittled down, eventually giving out completely. Heimdall-5 was the first to fall, a lucky shot piercing right through the chest and the pilot inside. It crumpled forward, crashing down with a resounding THUNK!

"Shit!" The commander swore. "Concentrate fire on the bastards with the biggest guns!" Kind of a dumb order, since they all have big guns. Heimdall-2 went shortly after, his legs shot out underneath him. He too fell, but at least the pilot was still alive, so long as he didn't draw attention to himself. Seeing another one of the mechs down, the Gargaunts charge the remaining robot, ignoring their fallen comrades as they stomped on ruined machinery all around them. Heimdall Actual began to backpedal, firing at the advancing robots. But it didn't do him any good, as one Ork titan swung a massive chainsaw arm down at the mech, and cut the Fafnir in half, causing it to explode, taking the Gargaunt with it.

Rahjaman saw this, and having run out of ammo, tossed his gundam's gun at the Ork footsoldiers- crushing them- as he pulled out his robot's energy sword. Unlike the Sanghelli, who use a two-pronged blade, the UNSC used a single long blade design, much like a katana of the samurai age. With a sword on one hand, and a shield in another, he launched himself at the remaining 5 titans. Let us see how these Harijans like a taste of Shiva's Wrath. He thought smugly as he tore into the tin-plated machines.

He smacked the edge of the shield at the head of the machine, using his speed and momentum to decapitate and and send it toppling down. He blocks the shot of another mech, and then cuts it down with a sword half as long as his own gundam. The resulting explosion sent him airborne, but the thrusters on his feet kept upright... up until he hit the chainsaw arm of the largest Gargaunt. The whirring blade took his legs at the knees, and the gundam landed flat on his back behind the titan.

The Ork machine turned around menacingly, its red eyes glowing balefully with unrestrained malice. Its engine roared as it raised its blade for a killing blow. "Oh, this will not be pleasant." Rahjaman stated, waiting for the chainsaw to come down.

THOOM!

A blast of yellow-white energy shot at the titan. Rather than simply exploding, it disintegrated into a large cloud of white-hot ash, blowing away in the wind.

Rahjaman moved the head up, and saw Celestia, her hammer pointing to where the machine was, smoke coming off the top. Holstering it over her back, she cantered over to the fallen gundam, tapping on it. "Pilot," She asked with concern, "Are you alive in there?"

"Yes, ma'am." He thumped back. "Thank you for the save."

"We've secured the western flank." She told him. "Our base is a few miles from here, and we're keeping the Orks at bay. Tread carefully- there's a bunch of squigs running about here."
"But Princess, what of the other titans?"
"What other titans? You and your comrades killed them all."

Indeed, in a somewhat pyrrhic victory, it had taken three Fafnirs and the only gundam of the UNSC to take out over half all the Gargaunts that the Orks had brought with them- and all the ones that were in Appleoosa. Through their sacrifices, the road had been cleared to take the battle into the town, and kick the green bastards out of the desert, and back into space.

Once the titans were broken, the Orks made the choice to withdraw back into town- everyone knows that last stands are where the real action is. The makeshift fortifications were doing a surprisingly good job of holding off the taskforce. In fact, it took an entire day of bombardment and divine blasts to create an opening large enough for Imperial tanks to get through.

The battle became a long and arduous urban conflict, especially after Celestia returned to Canterlot. The UNSC and CAR lost many of their vehicles, while the Guard were still considered the meat shield of the coalition. But after another two whole days, the allies had almost pushed the greenskins out of the town... only to find that most of the townsponies were still running around town for their lives.

Thus, soldiers in Appleoosa had two tasks now; killing Orks, and rescuing any survivors they find...
-----------------------------------------------------------------
+ Day 7
Appleoosan Warzone
2:30 P.M.

Braeburn was running for his life, looking for any sign of ponies or humans in the ruins of his hometown. He kept his body low, and ran from building to building to avoid detection from the giant green bastards that came from the stars.

They came here no more than a week ago, and they had taken everything he knew to Tartarus. The apple orchards of his family, burnt down. His family and friends, dead or eaten. His home, first turned into a fortress, and now a burned out husk of its former self. The horribly traumatized stallion would've offed himself long ago, were it not for the buffalo girl following him every step of the way.

"Braeburn," Little Strongheart said, trying to catch her breath from all the running, "Where are the soldiers? We've been running for days, and we haven't seen a single one."

"They're out there," The stallion reassured her, scanning the horizon, "We're almost at the edge of town. They must be 'round here, maybe even over the next block."

"How do you know?" She replied, her voice coming out as a whimper. "We've been running around for a week, and haven't seen or heard anything but those damn monsters. They've killed everypony; the sheriff, your cousin Apple Cobbler, even... eve..." Her eyes welled up, thinking of what they did to her father, Chief Thunderhooves.

It had been a long stretch of crazy weeks for the two young leaders. After the "First" Battle of Appleoosa, the two unofficial leaders of town would meet up regularly to discuss issues concerning both races. However, after Discord's short reign, the two of them decided to meet up more often, in a more "casual" manner. Words were exchanged, moments were shared, and the next thing they knew, they were going on dates as the first ever pony-buffalo couple. They had even had her father's blessing on the whole deal.

But then the starships came. Followed by humans and aliens and their bases. And then rocks fell out of the sky, and these giant green monsters took a collective shit on their lives.

After the Orks landed, the Chief and the sheriff organized a quick militia to fight back. Naturally, they didn't last long. The last either of them saw of her father, his skull was on a necklace of a Nob, blathering on about how buffalo and ponies alike were even worse fighters than humans.

She looked like she was about to break down and cry right there, even as Orks could be looking for them outside. Before she could do so, the stallion wrapped her in a comforting hug, and kissed her. "Strongheart," He chided, nuzzling her, "You ah love you, right?"

She looked into his green eyes, and whispered, "Yes."

"And you know... you know that when ah make a promise, ah keep it, right?"

Strongheart, feeling the gentle yet firm embrace of this colt, looking into the green eyes of somepony who had gone through just as much hell as she had, said just a bit louder, "Yes."

"Ah promise you, here and now, that we are gettin' out of this town. We are goin' ta make it to our side, and we'll survive this. And ah promise you that we'll get married, and have children, and never have to worry about Orks ever again." He smiled reassuringly, wiping away a stray tear from her face. "All we have to do is reach the next corner, and take it one step at a time. Can you do that fer me?"

She glanced to the building down the street, and back to Braeburn. Somehow, it didn't look as far away as it was a minute ago. "You bet." She told him, her confidence coming back to her.

"That's my girl." Releasing her, the farmer looked down both ends of the street, and after seeing that they were clear, trotted across to the next building. Strongheart hesitated for the briefest of moments, and then followed suit.

Explosions filled the air as they ran across the street- signs that the Alliance were still pushing deep into the town. Airships passed overhead, shooting missiles and laser shots at the remaining Ork holdouts. But the survivors managed to reach the decrepit-looking saloon without a scratch.

Little did they know that the place was already occupied.

"Freeze!" A voice shouted in the darkness, a gun raising into position. "Identify yourselves!"

Braeburn jumped from the shock, but was relieved at the same time. Orks never spoke before killing- at least, not more than "OI, FOUND YA!" "I'm Braeburn and this is Strongheart," The stallion answered, "We're survivors here in town. Who're you?"

The man stepped out of the shadow, wearing a black and gray suit with a Claymore shotgun. His skin was dark, a good shade darker than most humans the cowpony had seen. "Jacob Taylor, Cerberus Agent." The man answered. "Its a good thing I found you guys. I had been making my way back to base after I got separated from my squad. This place is scheduled to be leveled in about five minutes."

"That's just fine." The buffalo snorted, "I hope they blast every one of those bastards back to hell."

"How far away is the base?" Braeburn asked, being more pragmatic.

"About two klicks out from here. If we hurry, we should be out of the blast zone once we reach the edge of town. Come on."

The man gestured with his gun urging them to follow him as he began heading out the back. The pony and buffalo quickly followed suit, letting the human soldier lead them back to friendly territory. They had to zig-zag through the streets, looking to avoid the heaviest levels of fighting. When a Leman Russ was duking it out with a Squiggoth, they took a turn into a large alley, between the farthest two buildings from town.

"WELL WELL WELL, WOT 'AVE WE 'ERE?" A voice boomed one of the ruined buildings. "A WALKIN' TURD, A 'ONIE, AND A HUMIE!" A massive green Ork stepped out of the shack next to them, his body covered in scars, his left arm replaced with a giant metal claw. He wore a rather ramshackle armor outfit, and around his neck was a chain, which held a buffalo skull at the bottom.

"AN' HE'S A BLACK ONE!" The Nob continued gleefully, "I NEVAH SEEN ONE O' TOSE! WONDER IF YOU KIN PUT UP A PROPAH FIGHT, UNLIKE TE REST OF YA GITS!" He drew a massive Slasha blade, a pillar of metal almost as big as he was. "I TINK ME DECAPITATOR WANTS A LIL TASTE O' YOR BLOOD!"

Jacobs stepped in front of the lovers, and loaded a shell into the shotgun. "If you want a taste of us, you'll have to go through me first. And I don't die easy." Behind him, Strongheart and Braeburn stood at the ready, determined to help their savior. Although they didn't have guns or knives, there was plenty of rubble around, and they were great shots with bucking.

"OOH, YOUSE GOT SOM' FOIGHT IN YA! ME LIKEY!" The Ork swung his blade at the trio, smashing into the ground as they dodged for cover. Jacobs rolled and took a shot at his knee, while Braburn and Strongheart bucked whatever pieces of rock and wood at his face. The Nob took little notice of his knee injury, and swatted the Cerberus soldier into a wall. The Ork turned his attention to the two kickers, and even as a floorboard chipped one of his teeth, he smiled.

"OI, I REMEMBER YOUSE!" He gloated. "YOR TOSE PUNY PONNIES DAT TURD WARBOSS WAS PROTECTIN'! YOU MAY NOT KNO DIS, BUT HE DIED CRYIN' LIKE A LIL GIT! I EVEN GOT TO USE HIS SKULL AS ME NECKLACE! TELL ME, DOES IT MAKE ME LOOK PURDY?"

He moved to stomp on them, crushing them with his size 40 boot. Jacobs, however, had stood back up, and used a biotic Pull on the same damaged knee. The Nob stumbled and fell, almost crashing on the swiftly dodging Appleoosans.

"Get outta here!" He shouted, scrambling to grab his gun, "You're almost at the FOB. You guys can make it!"
"What about you?" Braeburn demanded.
"I've got this bastard covered." He lied, loading another shot into his gun. "You go on, I'll be right behind you."

Jacobs knew better, though. His shotgun was badly damaged, and on its last three shots. He could feel his ribs had been broken, and his ankle had been twisted in the worst possible way. Medi-gel could do a lot of things, but it couldn't fix bones. Outside of his biotics, he knew he had no real way of fighting this behemoth.

But he wasn't going to let him win, either.

Braeburn could see that in his eyes, that he knew he was a goner, and was sacrificing himself so that they could escape. He also knew this was their best chance to get away before the Ork got up. Without a second thought, he grabbed Strongheart, and twisted her onto his back. "Come on," He said, galloping back out the street, "Let's get out of here!"

"But what about him?" She gasped, looking back as the Ork started to get back up.
"Don't worry about them!" He snapped fearfully, " We've got to go, go, go!" He galloped as fast as he could, past the tanks and cars and explosions, away from the fight and closer to safety.

"YOUSE GONNA REGRET DAT!" The Ork snarled, drawing up his sword again.

"Bring it, bitch." Jacobs barked, firing three shots at the beast. The sword, for its part, was big enough to block each shot, but was now riddled with holes and dents. The greenskin looked at his now ruined choppa, and bellowed, "YE STUPID BASTID! I MADE DIS FO' ME BIRFDAY!" He threw the pillar of metal at the man like it was a knife, managing to cut Jacobs' arm before sticking itself into a wall.

He tried to limp away, but the Nob quickly caught up with him. Taylor barely had enough time to manifest a barrier before the Ork swatted through it with the robotic arm. The arm was dented, and sparks were now coming off it, but it was still functional.

"HA, SO YER A PSYSKERS," The Ork chortled, "I FOUGHT WEIRDBOYZ LIKE YOU ON CALEDONIS. DEY PUT A PROPAH FIGHT. YOU? I'VE FOUGHT SQUIGS DAT PUT UP A BETTAH FIGHT DEN YOU!"

Jacobs, now lying battered and broken on the floor, gathered up much energy left in him to use a Pull on the robot arm. Clearly it wasn't attached very well, for it came right off at the shoulder, landing with a loud CLUNK!

Again, the Ork looked at the injury, and ignored it as a minor inconvenience. "HERE'S DA TING 'BOUT US ORKS!" The Nob spoke, slowly stepping to the fallen soldier with the utmost confidence, "YOU KEN BREAK OUR WEAPONZ, TAKE OFF OUR ARMS AND LEGS, BUT WE STILL GONNA KRUMP YA RIGHT PROPAH! WHY? 'CAUSE WEZ DA ORKS, AND ITS WOT WE DO!"

He grabbed the human by the neck, and lifted him close to his ugly, smelly face. "LOOK AT YOU." The Orks sneered, "YUH PUNY LIL GIT! YUR NOTHIN' TA ME! YUR ENTIRE RACE IS NOTHIN' TA ME! EV'RY CRECHAH ON DIS ROCK IS NOTHIN' TA ME!"

Amazingly, the human chuckled, his voice wet with his own blood. The Nob raised an eyebrow. Why was this human laughing at the moment of his proper krumpin? He didn't see the hand reaching to his belt, grabbing a small blue ball.

"That's were you're wrong, butt-munch." He coughed, blood leaking from his mouth. "You're just a talking mushroom, a fungus that can talk big and pull a trigger. You think you know about fighting, but you don't know a damn thing about being a warrior, about fighting for a purpose. You fight for fun, while we fight to save our family, our friends, our civilization, things you couldn't possibly understand. You're an ugly ass monster out of a fairy-tale, but I AM A MAN!" With that, he pressed the button, igniting the plasma grenade, and punched it into the Ork's big red eye.

KA-BOOM!

By the next day, the town of Appleoosa had been taken back. Although it was a burnt out husk of its former beauty, the Orks had opted instead to redeploy back to Manehattan- the fighting was better there anyway. With the town resecured, the majority of the taskforce was also sent to the metropolis, along with the "Heroes of the Alliance".

Braeburn and Strongheart both made it back to the FOB as the airstrike leveled that section of town. Although he knew he had done as Jacobs had wanted him to do, the stallion couldn't help but feel that he failed in helping to protect his family and his world. So, after talking with his now engaged girlfriend and cousins, Braeburn decided to join the Equestrian PDF, eager to prove himself worthy for both Thunderhooves' and Jacobs' sacrifices. Strongheart would stay with the remnants of her tribe, standing in as the last vestige of leadership her people had.

Sanjaya Rahjaman and Heimdall-2, being the only survivors from the Mech Battle, were recovered safely, and sent back to the Road to wait for their robots to be repaired. The machines were fixed within the next few weeks, but by that time, it was a moot point.

The point, in truth, was that the First Battle of Equestria was an Allied Victory, securing the southern flank from any invasion. But what most ponies and people didn't know was that the biggest threat to the world wasn't in a coastal city, a desolate desert or among the stars, but deep within the Everfree Forest...

Deep in the Heart of Darkness (as some humans had dubbed the Everfree), there was an old and ruined castle, which used to be a summer home for the alicorn sisters. About three years ago, it was when the Elements of Harmony were rediscovered, and Princess Luna was exorcised of the daemon Nightmare Moon. The place was made derelict long ago, and it would've remained so for far longer... had fate not intervened.

At the stroke of midnight, a strange ball of pulsating light appeared in the center of the main hall. This light grew in shape and size, until it was the size of a large gate. From then, it glowed a bluish-white, as a long train of tall armored individuals led a group of hooded figures behind them. The armored strangers had tall pointed helmets with a ponytail at the end, and had strange, organic weapons in their hands. They gave the aura of hatred and hunger, as if they desired nothing more than for all living creatures to wither and die beneath them.

The tallest one of them, the leader, made a snarling sound beneath his mask. "What a disgusting place." The alien growled. "Its much too happy for its own good."

"Yes, Archon." A robed figure replied, much shorter than the raiders around him, his robe covered in strange sigils that hurt the eyes of those that looked upon it. "This place is a great blasphemy and offense to the Gods. That is why both Eliphas and Asdrubael Vect instructed us to come here; it is the will of the Ruinous Powers to summon their champions, and bring a Black Crusade upon this world."

"You just stay out of our way, Caiasan," The Kabalite hissed to the Sorcerer, pulling out a Demikliave, "And let us show you why the galaxy fears the tender mercies of the Dark Eldar..."

Author's Note

Good God, this took forever to write. And its not just because its almost 9,000 words, and was the first battle scene I've ever done.

Over the past two months, I've been dealing with getting my old job back, finals for college, getting a girlfriend, *and* applying for a second job. Combine that with starting work on this chapter the first week into the month instead of two weeks before, and you've got a recipe for disaster.

But fortunately, I've got a little help from some kickass guys. As of now, I have an editor (Link01742) and a co-writer (Onefish_twofish), who have taken some of the burden off of me. And although my hours always seem to be in a state of flux, with school done, I can focus my attention back on writing, and keep up a somewhat constant rate of production. Not necessarily a chapter of this* a month, but a chapter of something* a month.

In the meantime, have an awesome summer.

Interlude 2- Deus Generis Humani et Luna Deo

"Non possum amare Luna legio opus meum sunt et inimici nostri sunt est aeterna."
Translation: "I can not love the moon, for my task is eternal, and our enemies are legion."

"Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye."- H. Jackson Brown, Jr
------------------------------------------------------------

Day 5 of the Equestria War
11:45 P.M.
Canterlot Palace, Lunar Suite

Luna sighed as she looked at the stars. Adam had asked if he could join her on the balcony- “for old times sake”, as he put it. Unfortunately, there hadn't been much going apart from an awkward silence every time Luna tried to start a conversation. Deciding to give up for now, she had started looking at the sky, both out of boredom and out of wonder. no matter how many times she saw it, the stars never failed to amaze her with their distant, pinpricks of beauty. She remembered how when Adam told her that every single star could be a beacon of light to another far away race, she laughed at him. Then he showed her. He showed her what it was like to see almost everything, to feel like a hawk, lofty, above all others, ready to dive down and snatch her prey whenever she felt like it.....

She missed those kind of days. To distract herself, she started looking at all the different constellations, making a tweak or two to some of her less favored ones, while Adam brooded in silence. A small nudge to Cepheus, a few more stars to Orion and maybe a slightly longer tail to the plow. Luna had always loved tweaking, constantly making small, tiny improvements over the course of an entire week so that the astronomers guild wouldn't notice. She would often spend whole nights on the roof of the place on her own, just laying there, making the stars just a little bit better, in the hope that somepony might see it. They never did...

But Luna wasn’t bitter. No, that was what led her to her fall to chaos, something she never wanted to repeat. She could still feel it now, promises of power and glory lurking in the back of her mind, leaping forward as soon as she thought of them. The power to make Celestia, Discord, even Adam cower at her feet, while she ruled over all three universes.

With a small ear twitch of irritation, she banished the thoughts to the warp, crushing them with sheer willpower. After her return, Adam had spent most of the year with her, inside a circle of wards checking every single part of her mind, making sure not one shred of the daemon remained. After he was sure she was untainted, he had started giving her lessons on how to repel the stuff of chaos, how to not just ignore the whispers, but to destroy them entirely, if only for a short time. while in thought, her gaze slowly wandered over to a certain pair constellation. “Imperator Dominatus”, and “Luna Nike“. Luna looked closely at them, noticing as Adam started to raise his head again, turning to look at Luna.
Suddenly, things clicked into place. The double speak during the meeting, the awkwardness between them recently. Adam had decided to face it. It was time to talk.

“That’s why you asked to join me here, isn't it?” Luna said, without turning to look at Adam. “You want to talk about my... feelings for you.” Adam just ‘stood’ there, his hologram not saying a word. He may have been a near God, but so was Luna, and he wanted to tread lightly.

“You knew when we revealed to the UNSC and Shepherd’s men that they weren’t alone, didn‘t you?” Luna continued. Adam just stood there for a moment, then tilted his head slightly forward, in a small nod, not daring to look towards her.

Luna’s temper finally snapped. “You know, for a God, you're being awfully quiet considering that you asked if you could join me.” she snarked bitterly.
“I’m not a God.” Adam replied quietly.
“At this point, its rather irrelevant if you think you are or not. You're close enough for me.” Luna said softly.

Adam turned to look at her, face emotionless. “I’m sorry Luna, I can’t be with you, not in that way.”

Luna just sat there for a moment, not moving. “Why?” she asked. “Do you not love me? Do you wish to keep yourself apart from me?”

Adam just sighed. “Luna,” he began, “I’m not quite sure when it started but I’ve loved you for a long time now. I’m not sure where it started, but I realize it now, and I accept it now. Looking back, I remember all sorts of small, almost unnoticeable things, all these little signs that have always deceived me. It feels like one of those old puzzles, impossible to understand until you work it out, then you curse yourself for not realizing it earlier, at how simple it all was... But it won’t work. It can’t work…”

Just as Luna began to reply, Adam cut her off.

“Don’t think that I don’t want to, I wish I could, but do you know what’s happened to those I love, to all my friends in my world? I made twenty sons. My own flesh and blood, both figuratively and literally. Stronger than any man, perfection made flesh, yet each one was their own, unique. I loved them and they loved me."
"The bond of family, after all is a strong one. But chaos took them from me, not once, but twice. They scattered them to the four winds of the galaxy, hid them away beyond even my sight. But I persevered, not letting chaos take them from me forever. I lead a crusade for over a thousand years, reuniting both the galaxy and my sons."
"But chaos would not allow peace. They couldn’t, and they didn’t."
"They corrupted one of my chaplains, a man whose job was to stop this kind of madness. He corrupted Lorgar, who in turn corrupted the rest of my sons, caused a splinter faction of my army and my people to declare war on us, to cause the galaxy to be engulfed in flames. My best friend, my only friend until meeting you, died performing my duty, his body rendered to ashes upon that damn throne.” He pounded his holographic fist into the railing, a distant boom echoing around them.

“Not even his spirit was left. All my sons were either killed, lost or tainted. I killed my champion, my greatest creation, because he left me no choice. Just like Malcador, his soul was torn asunder. And I was left near death. I was dead, I am still dead. For ten thousand years, humanity has been told to hate the mutant, the xeno and the heretic, doing exactly what I was trying to prevent. I feel cursed by the galaxy, to always be blind to the truth until it is made clear to me by actions and failure.“

He leaned forward, looking onto the city beneath them. “It followed me here, you know. Discord is proof enough of that. He felt as though he was living in my shadow. He was the only one of his kind, the only one to have ever been with the 'gift' of psyker power. A unique being, with complete control over raw chaos. Is Chaos not just another word for logic in motion, of change? He could defy entropy if he wanted, remake the universe. And I dwarfed him utterly. Imagine if suddenly a red and black alicorn dropped in from the sky and did your job perfectly. A tragic story, unlimited power, beautiful to all, kind, benevolent, always knowing the right thing to do. Imagine if she started raising and lowering the moon, the sun and the stars. Imagine if the people wanted her to… well, you get the idea.” He stopped, trying to gather his thoughts once more.

“I suppose I couldn’t comprehend anyone being... jealous of me after all that has happened in my long lifetime. But he only saw the gleaming golden figure of perfection, there to make him look like a small child in front of his love. I should have helped him. He stands in stone because of me.”

“No, he does not.” Luna told him. “Do you not remember? You were there when he was petrified, you read his mind. You should know this far better than we do. His actions were not his own, but that of that blasphemous creature, Kairos. He was the one who went on a Chaos spree who destroyed town after town, who incurred our wrath. Discord is guilty of nothing more than practicing a foolish summoning, and of trying to win my sister’s love... when he already had it.”

Luna looked at him, and put a hoof by his hand. “And why does this mean that we can’t be together? Terrible things have happened, but that is a fact of life. Bad things have happened to good people, and you can’t hold yourself responsible for them. Not noticing that other people are about to fall does not mean that it’s your fault. We have discussed this, you and I. We both know that if it wasn’t Lorgar and Horus, it would’ve easily been one of your other sons. The Heresy was going to happen; The only thing that could’ve changed was how far it could’ve gone.”

Adam gave a dry laugh. “Your land and people may repel chaos, but they cannot stop it. It is slow, a whisper in the ear, a subtle push towards the slippery slope of madness. Of course, the payoff for such a small reality becoming engulfed in flames is hardly worth the investment save for one thing.”
“Me“.
“Chaos is afraid of me. It is like the darkness, repelled by light. But lights flicker and burn out. Given enough time they can be swallowed up. Do you remember Sombra? He may have been a dictator- a cold, heartless wretch that deserved nothing more than a painful death- but I doubt he would have sought out that daemon on his own free will. Chaos has followed me here, whether we realize it or not. It has been slowly corrupting this world, changing small parts to it’s own will, causing conflict and pain. No one has been spared. Not even you.”

Luna looked down, ashamed of those old memories. But Adam continued.

“I don’t know if it was because Chaos knew of your love for me, or because you are one of the most powerful beings in this reality, but they ensnared you. Like hooks buried in your mind, slowly tearing you apart until you shattered. Just like Horus, you fell to your desires, innocent at first, corrupted by corruption itself. An army of 10,000 ponies at your command, half the royal guard hurled themselves at their former master, your sister. Ponies love the night and the day equally, yet chaos managed to demonize each in it’s own way. The burning sun, the freezing moon. Old war cries die hard, as they say.“

“Do you know why they choose then to corrupt you Luna? Do you know why they chose that moment in time to curse you with banishment for a thousand years. That was the day where, at the back of my mind, at some minute level, I realized that I cared for you. I didn’t recognize them, but I knew there was something. As I said before, it’s a puzzle, one that only makes sense once it is completed. You, a queen- or a princess as your culture calls it- immune to the sands of time and with the power to move the stars at night- were a mere pawn to chaos. And they weren’t even trying. Chaos is in this world. It drips through the cracks, slowly rising, swallowing all. Do you think that the return of the Nightmare, Discord, Sombra within a few years is bad luck or chance? It’s growing Luna, growing in such a way that it dwarfs all other threats combined. So far, they have been practicing. Small skirmishes, dancing at the edge of reality, but never leaving it. Chaos is coming, my dear. Maybe not tonight, but soon enough."

Luna looked at him, a mask of emotionless covered her true feelings. Feelings of anger, fury, disgust. A goddess does not scare easy. Chaos does not play by the rules... and neither did she.

“Adam, you forget everything that happened that night. Even as the armies of this world fought my followers, you and Celestia fought the daemon in my skin at Castle Everfree. Even as you gave power to my sister, even as the daemon fought against you and gained the upper hoof, I struggled against her control, fighting to gain my body back. Celestia fell, and the Nightmare stood ready to kill her, and even you. I used every bit of strength I had left to break through, to stop her attack and speak. Do you remember what I said?”

Adam nodded keeping himself stoic as he felt the pain of old memories. “You told us to use the Elements on you, while you were still in control. You said... that you’d rather die than let the monster hurt us anymore.”

Luna then continued, “I saw that look in her eyes, the look I know now that you shared with her. You couldn’t believe that I could break through her control. You didn’t believe that I was still alive, and you were going to kill me like you killed Horus. But Celestia couldn’t do it- she wasn't a warrior like you were, she wasn't hardened like she is now- and did the one thing she could think of that would beat the Nightmare... send us to the moon, until a time could come that I could be saved.”

They sat in silence after that. It was a hard time for both of them. Luna would spend the next thousand years left on a barren rock, knowing that the daemon would come back the moment that she could go home. Adam would spend the next thousand years knowing that the one person he ever knew capable of breaking a daemon’s grasp had been banished to an empty world as penance.

“As for Equestria,” She continued, “We are fortified against them. We have both a natural resistance and millennia of preparations. Our magic is dedicated to harmony, the direct opposite to chaos. And haven’t we shown you that love can destroy chaos? Haven’t Twilight and her friends, or Shining Armor and Cadence shown you that the power of love and friendship is the strongest force against disharmony? You even said so yourself, during the Wedding. And even if you are right, why does it matter if we both already feel this way? You told me that chaos feeds off emotions, corrupting them, but the emotions are already there. We can’t stop these emotions, so why refuse them?”

Adam sighed. “Luna, There is one more thing that I forgot to say. My people. The Imperium has been taught for ten thousand years that the Xeno are to be feared, hated, loathed. To be merely shot is a mercy, and anyone engaged in... relationships suffer fates worth the deaths. I may be their ruler, but you can’t expect them to drop ten thousand years of hatred in a few months time. It wouldn’t be fair on them. This may be what we deserve, but its not what we need. “
“Not only that, but one of the main reasons that there have been so few manifestations is because that so much of my people’s lives are devoted to hope and joy in congregation. It may be false hope and joy, but nonetheless, it still exists, and it still has power. They have unknowingly diverted the fuel to schemes, plans and plots that can never be allowed to manifest. If we were to announce our feelings for each other, even if the outcome was merely small grumblings- which I can almost guarantee it won't- the psychic backlash would be enough to kick start another black crusade at a time where our military needs to be the most focused in its ever been. At a time like this, where the fate of the multiverse hangs in the balance, its something that we just can’t risk. I’m sorry Luna. It. Can’t. Work.”

Silence.

Luna just stood there for a moment. Barely moving. Breathing deeply. If one looked closely at the right moment, you might notice a small tear falling from her eye. But then it was gone. Blinked away into oblivion.

“Well, if that is how you feel…” Luna replied, her voice perfectly even, “Then it seems we have no more business here.”

She started to walk off the balcony. “Good night, Adam. You were right by the way. It wouldn’t work.” She didn’t believe a word of what she said. Not a damn one. But if that’s how he wants it, so be it.

And with that, she walked off, shutting the balcony doors behind her. Adam bowed his head as he rested against the railing, feeling the most alone he had in millennia.

Author's Note

This chapter was written by the excellent General onefish, and edited by me. Be sure to give him some props, 'cause the guy is a G.
Also, this Interlude takes place at about the same time as the next chapter, now under the title, "A Darkness in the Forest". Starring Rarity, Spike, and a whole lot of pissed off Dark Eldar.

Ch. 7.1- A Darkness in the Forest

Chapter 9 (Part 1)

A Darkness in the Forest;
Or, Adam and Spike vs. the Dark Eldar
-------------------------------------------------

“You can sound the alarm, you can call all your guards,
You can fence in the yard, you can pull all the cards.
But I won‘t… back… down, oh no;
I won‘t… back… down, oh no.”
-”Won’t Back Down”, Eminem

“That night was the most fun I had in years.”- The Emperor, joking on the subject of the Ponyville Raid

“There’s a reason why our kind won’t go back without an entire army; Dragon Space-Marines. Let me repeat myself here; Dragon Space-Marines. Creatures that breathe fire and live in volcanoes upgraded into the deadliest weapons the Eldar ever face. Need I say more?” -Archon Bardock, sole surviving Kabalite of the Equestria War

-----------------------------------------------

Day 5 of Equestrian War
11:30 P.M.
Outskirts of Ponyville

Despite the war that raged across the planet, the town of Ponyville still slept peacefully under a starry -if explosion-filled- night. It was so tranquil that nopony bothered watching the Everfree Forest. Nopony watched the misty outskirts of the forest, or saw as tall, lanky figures began slowly creep their way out. The tiny village, which was in the center of Alliance-held territory, had no need of protection from Orks, and thus was completely defenseless for when the Dark Eldar came to town.

The cabal of thirty druchii snuck into the shadows of town, one of which noticed a peculiar white rabbit tapping on a nearby window. Faster than the blink of an eye, the vampiric alien drew a small pistol, firing a few monomolecular shurikens into the lapine’s skull. No more Angel Bunny.

“Conserve your ammo, you witless worm!” The leader of the group hissed. “There are Mon-Keighs around here, and we must be silent and swift.”

“I do not take orders from you, Casra Fel.” The soldier snapped back, putting his gun back in its holster. “If I feel a need to kill something, I shall do so. I do as I please, not what the cousin of the Archon of Cimorragh bids.”

“And you shall remember why we are here,” Archon Fel grabbed the rebellious druchii, pulling him close, “Lest I cut off your head and send your soul to Slaneesh. Each and every one of us are being held as collateral by the gods themselves, and if we do not achieve this mission as promised, She Who Thirsts won’t wait until we’re dead to feast on us.”

The corrupted Eldar were silent. Not so long ago, a daemon had entered Cimorragh, the City of their kind. This was none other than Kairos Fateweaver himself, bearing word from the Ruinous Powers. In his strange, cryptic mode of speech, he told the various Archons and Kabals that the gods had a plan set in motion- a plan that, if successful, would guarantee endless pain and suffering for eons to come. This mission, this “Ultimate Crusade”, depended on the druchii helping the cause, as it were.

Now, while these parasites always loved angst and death, many Archons asked the obvious question: Why should they help them? After all, it was Slaneesh that destroyed their people, and was even now feasting on their souls. Kairos laughed, and told them, “Should you refuse, The Prince of Pleasure himself will host his ultimate revelry in this city of yours, and send all his servants to ‘collect his rightful payments’.”

For the first time in many of their nigh-eternal lives, the Fallen knew of fear. With much feigned humility and eagerness, the Archons accepted.

This particular kabal - The Stinging Whip - had been sent to Arcturus Primis, a planet inside the Eye of Terror, to “link up” with a coven of Mon-Keigh sorcerers, a collective of Tzeentchian worshippers who had discovered a ritual that was as close to a Webway Portal as any human had ever achieved (outside the Anathema’s wretched mockery back on Terra). They had been instructed by Eliphas, a mighty Chaos Champion under the Daemon Primarch Lorgar, to accompany the Kabal through the Webway, and to perform a Summoning Ritual once on the fated planet. It was grating for both sides to serve alongside the other, but when the gods ask for something, you disobey at your own risk.

Which brought the Raiders to this moment. They had been sent to this world - this sickeningly sweet, outline-based, wretched Maiden World called “Eq-Westi-Rah”- to kill these creatures called “Po-Neighs”. And to do that, the ritual required a particular kind of Po-Neigh… An Element-Bearer.

And it just so happened that one of the cultist psykers could detect such a being in this quaint little town.

“Do not ruin this for us, Kalahar Gorn.” Casra shoved the offending hunter, his eyes filled with hate. “For if Slaneesh desires to eat us before we die, I’ll make sure you’re the first one he devours.”

Before the whelp could respond, the Kabal could hear a door creaking open. The hunters, their movements being beyond that of any human, made themselves invisible and silent - hiding on the roof, in the trees, by the very walls themselves - as two little Earth fillies came out.

“Don’t be such a scaredy cat, Silver Spoon,” The pink one said, wearing a stupid (and obviously plastic) tiara and a sour look on her muzzle, “There’s nothing out here, obviously.”

“I dunno, Diamond Tiara,” The silver filly whispered, here eyes scanning left and right behind her glasses, “I swear I could’ve heard knocking and voices. Maybe those Orks everyone’s been talking about are here?”

“Don’t be stupid. If there were Orks around here, they wouldn’t just have a handful of guards to protect us. Its probably some poor drunk looking for a place to sleep. Stupid humans, thinking they‘re all that because they came from space.”

As she said that, one of the Kabalites leapt forward, his seven-foot frame landing right in front of the fillies. He blocked out the light from the other buildings in the village, casting an ominous shadow over the pair. They all stared at each other for a moment, waiting for the other to say something.

Tiara was the one to break the silence, scoffing, “See, I told you it was one of those humans. Now, sir, I don’t care which universe you came from, which superhero you go gaga for, or if your ‘Emprah’ is banging both Princesses up the flanks, it doesn't give you the right to go get drunk and wake the entire town up with your shenanigans! Seriously, you humans can be such bastards!”

“Good thing I’m not one, then.” The giant growled. A whip cracked, a head rolled, a crown shattered. No more Diamond Tiara.

Silver Spoon, seeing her one and only friend get decapitated, promptly fainted, landing in the growing pool of blood. The druchii reached down to the unconscious filly, but then the Archon snapped, “Leave it, Kalahar. We have work to do.” He turned to follow the tracking spell, heading to the tall circular building near the middle of town. The rest of the kabal followed, including the petulant Kalahar, muttering, “I’m not a dog.”

Casra knew of Gorn’s thing for younglings. Often times Dark Eldar would have their own fetishes, their victims of choice. Gorn had this thing for robbing innocence before killing them, seeing the look in their eyes, kinky stuff like that. But Casra didn’t care if he liked children, corpses or Tyranid Genestealers; This night, they had a Po-Neigh to find, and a ritual to perform…

* * *

Meanwhile, in Rarity’s Boutique, the alabaster fashionista was going through her nightly rituals under guarded supervision. While her friends had gone off to fight (or at least heal, in Fluttershy’s case), Rarity had decided to stay behind to keep watch over everyone’s siblings and property - namely Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She also wanted to keep an eye on both her shop and the military presence in town, as she knew enough from Equestrian history to fear that these allies may engage in looting.

But of course she was too much of a lady to say such a thing, especially with two such soldiers in her quarters.

“Area’s secure, ma’am,” A human soldier reported - a UNSC marine, if she wasn’t mistaken. He had been assigned to watch over her alongside one of the Kig-Yar Skirmishers during the nights. “You can sleep safely tonight.”

“Why thank you, gentlemen,” Rarity nodded, her magic turning out the last few lights outside her room. “I’ll sleep soundly tonight knowing that I’m under your watchful eyes. Pray tell, how is the war faring?”

“The desert has been secured.” The Jackal told her, his voice so scratchy that it hurt her ears. “The Orks have been contained to the coastal cities. Been digging in there real tight, but we‘ll pry ‘em out.”

“Word over the comm is that the evacuation of the Crystal Empire is underway.” The human continued. “ONI and Inquisitorial operatives are searching for something called ‘The Crystal Heart’, whatever that may be. And last I checked, your friends are still okay.”

“Oh, that’s terrific, darling.” Rarity put in a few curlers in her hair, and trotted off to bed. “I just wish I could be with them right now. Those outfits they have must be getting so… dirty.”

“*cough*cough* bitch *cough*cough*” The human covered his mouth.

“What was that?” Rarity raised an eyebrow.

“You’re a coward.” The Jackal told her, ignoring the glare from his compatriot. “You sit here all pretty in your little ‘fashion house’ while your friends fight with everyone else. Even the yellow wimp is out with the troops, and she’s a bigger pu-”

“Hey, dude, not cool.”

“What?”

“Don’t make fun of Fluttershy. That’s bad karma.”

“But she’s a weakling.”

“Yeah, I know that, but you still shouldn’t say that. ‘Sides, at least she’s mare enough to be out with all the big boys, while little miss priss here stays here and plays dress up.”

Rarity gasped, deeply offended. “How DARE you! Get out of my house, you ruffians, impugning my honor as a lady like that!”

The soldiers made a hasty retreat outside, but Rarity could still hear the Kig-Yar say, “At least none of the females in my race are that stuck-up.”

Oh, I’ve met your females, The unicorn thought angrily, Nothing but a rabble of whores and thieves. At least the humans and Sanghelli have some decorum and decency. The Bearer of Generosity jumped into bed, and tried to force herself into sleep…
…
…
…

Several minutes later, she was awoken by the sounding metal hitting something, and a strange gagging sound. Rarity sat up in bed, her eyes adjusting to the darkness in her home. She could hear the sound of something dragging a heavy object around downstairs, probably messing up her pristine store.

I knew those brutes were looters, She thought angrily, jumping out of bed. I’ll show them what happens when you mess with Rarity Belle Unicorn.

She rushed downstairs, looking around for the intruders. Surprisingly, she couldn’t see anyone down there, in darkness or not. She then heard a knocking at the front door, a violent thumping that sounded like a battering ram.

“Corporal!” She shouted, thinking it was that pesky human, reaching for the door, “If you think you can barge into here in the middle of the night and pillage my house like a common thug, then you have another thing co-”

As she opened the door, the body of the former marine fell in front of her. The head, arms and legs fell off the corpse, spraying blood in every direction, including on Rarity’s alabaster face. She yelped in shock, horrified by what lay in front of her.

She turned to go back to her room, but was blocked by a tall, armor-covered, most horribly disfigured creature she had ever seen. He gave a nasty, disgusting grin, showing all of his horrible fanged teeth.

“’Ello, poppet.” He snarled. Rarity screamed, just before a big bag went over her head, and threw her world into darkness…

* * *

To say all was well in Adam’s mind was to be a very bad - or very stupid - liar. Quite frankly, his little chat with Luna just left him feeling more confused and befuddled than before. He needed to take his mind off the ridiculous mare and his superfluous feelings. Something that warranted his attention more than the pesky Orks to the east.

His mind wandered, sensing around for any strange activity. His focused brushed past the strange anomaly of the Everfree Forest when he felt something… familiar. Something he hoped he wouldn’t feel here for a long time.

Chaos.

Deep in the forest, right in the ruins of Equestria’s original capital, a small covent of cultists had somehow gathered, prepping for a summoning ritual of some kind. He scanned them, and was again puzzled. Every one of them was either a psyker or a mutant, certainly not very strong or brave. There were no warriors here, not even as guards. Strange, as you would think that the Ruinous Powers would give them at least some fighters, if they were coming here to kill him.

It was then that he sensed another, darker presence closer to home. Right in the middle of Ponyville, to be exact. He moved his focus to town, and what he found was a rare, genuine surprise.

The bloody hell?!

On the edge of town, heading back into the forest, was a Kabal of Dark Eldar, one of them carrying a large, struggling sack. He could tell it was a pony by its size, and by the psychic screams of panic it was…

Son of a bitch, not Rarity!

The druchii had taken the worst possible pony for their “fun”. Not only was it a guarantee that the unicorn was going to die in the most painful way imaginable, but when she finally did die, the rest of the Elements of Harmony would be rendered useless. His ‘Ace in the Hole’ would be gone, and Chaos would be free to send in a Black Crusade on a still unprepared world.

He needed to get her back. Alas, his body was too far away, and he was in no shape to move anyway. He had to tell someone in the village, to warn them, and get them to save the Bearer of Generosity before she got BDSM’d to death.

But who? The towns ponies were next to useless, now just a populace of old folks and foals. There weren’t any of his men at Fluttershy Base - That’s what they nicknamed the place now. He couldn’t send one of the CAR or UNSC troopers after Rarity - odds were that they didn’t know what they were up against, or wouldn’t give two shits about the whiny unicorn (she hadn't warmed up to the expeditionary team after the Meeting).

He could always “hack” someone, but in order to work at full ability - which he’d need if he was going to fight a whole Kabal - he had to get them willingly, to accept being a puppet. They’d have to have combat training at minimum, and want to save Rarity more than anything. But who? Who could care for- nay, love - the fair Rarity?
…
…
…
Ohhh. He’ll do just perfectly.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Twilight’s Library, Spike was bored out of his mind as he finished closing up shop. Why was he stuck in this dank old tree-house while everypony else was out fighting big green monsters? It just didn’t seem fair.

On one hand, since Rarity was here, he could justify it to himself that he was “protecting” her. He knew that many of the soldiers ridiculed his love behind their back, saying that she was a coward for not fighting like their friends. But he knew her better than they did; He knew that she had an inner strength beneath that ladylike exterior. Fluttershy was more timid, but she went out to the field hospitals, because that was she felt she’d be most useful at. With Rarity, she felt that she needed to protect everyone’s families, to protect their home in Ponyville - making sure that everypony had a home to come back to. It seemed ridiculous, but this was what she felt she had to do, and Spike was willing to help her any way he could.

On the other hand, he was dying for the chance to show off his new skills. N’tho had said that he had quickly picked up in two weeks what most apprentices take a year or more to learn. All the same, it was his opinion that he was still too small, too young and too inexperienced to go fight, so he - along with Twilight and Trixie - told him to stay put. He did as he was told, sure, but it grated him horribly that he was still being treated like a child, not allowed to fight for Equestria like everyone else.

He put the last broom in the closet, and went upstairs, considering what he should do for the rest of the night. It was past midnight, so he couldn’t go hang with anyone.

Spike…

He had already read all the books in the library, and he had done two hours of required training with the Blade. But at the same time he didn’t want to just head off to bed just yet.

Ohhh Spiiike…

The dragon smiled at a new idea. Perhaps he could check out one of those new “adult” magazines, like Playcolt, or Fornax. He was curious about what a human female looked like…

HARK, YE LICENTIOUS WYRM!

Spike yelped and fell to the floor, clutching his head. If that was a normal voice, that would’ve been loud enough to make him deaf. But it was a psychic signal, and it held enough force to it to feel like an ice cream headache at the base of his skull.

“Gah, what the hell?” He groaned, cradling his head. “Who said that?”

I did, you prepubescent reptile. The voice responded, a lot quieter this time. It held an air of authority and power behind it, and Spike recognized that voice instantly.

“Wait, are you that Emperor guy the Imperials swear by all the time?” He asked.

Of course, young Spike, The god told him, And it is with great urgency that I call upon you.

“What? Why?” The dragon demanded nervously. “Is Ponyville under attack?”

It was under attack, little warrior. Adam corrected. And our foes have taken a captive with them.

“WHAT?!” Spike exclaimed, both fearful and angry. Someone - some foul, disgusting creature from beyond the void - had come into his town, hurt his friends while under his watch? Not only was this an affront to his Dragon Code, but to his honor as a warrior as N’tho had taught him.

It gets a little worse, I’m afraid. Adam continued. These foes are a sight more devious and dangerous than a mere rabble of Orks, and they’ve taken somepony that you value more than most.

Spike then received a vision of these tall, unnaturally thin creatures in bizarre armor making their way through what must’ve been the Everfree Forest. One of them had a large bag over his shoulder, and something inside it was squirming. He could hear the muffled screaming coming from it, and it sounded a lot like-

Spike clenched his fists at the revelation, as fear and fury ran through his veins. Without even a second thought, he ran to his bed in Twilight’s room, and pulled out the hilt for the blade his Sanghelli teacher gave him.

Wait, what are you doing?

“What do you think I’m doing?” Spike snapped. “I’m going to go rescue her. If you’re coming to me for help, that either means that everyone else is dead, or no one is around. I’m the only person around who can kill these monsters and save Rarity, and that’s what I’m going to do!”

Don’t be a fool, young drake. Adam retorted. Those aren’t mindless Orks or some rebel militiamen. Those were Dark Eldar - creatures of great speed, strength and sadism. They are creatures that can hold their own against the astartes, and have no concept of kindness or mercy. If they capture you, they will feed off your soul by raping you to death.

Spike stopped at the bottom of the stairs, the information registering in his mind. He then put the hilt into a “pocket”, and went for the door. “I’m going to save her,” He said with finality, “One way or another. I will not let her suffer that fate, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop me. Not even you.”

Spike took one more step to the door, before he hit what felt like an invisible wall. He glared around angrily, as if to give the unseen deity a piece of his mind. Instead, he heard a good-natured chuckle.

That’s what I was hoping you would say. The Emperor said proudly. You think yourself a warrior for spending some time training under a xeno. But being a warrior requires a state of mind and a set of unbreakable characteristics, like bravery. I always knew you had all the skills you’d need, being a dragon. All you needed was a little refinement. Now you finally have a reason to demonstrate it.

There was a loud THUNK! outside the door, but the voice continued. On your own, even with your training, draconian biology and Me helping you out, you would surely perish. However, I happen to have something out there that just might even our odds.

Spike opened the door, and was graced by the shiny yellow and black radiance of an Imperial Fist Astartes suit. It towered over the little dragon, who stared back at it in awe. “Whoa!” He declared, “You brought a Marine with us?!”

Not quite. The armor was covered in an ethereal glow, as the suit went down to one knee. The breast plate glowed even more intensely as it cracked perfectly down the middle, opening up to reveal no one was inside.

This was an extra suit brought along from the Wrath, He continued, that I have teleported down here for our use. As we speak, I am modifying it so that it shall be easier for the both of us to use.

“But how are you doing all this?” The dragon asked. “The suit weighs like a ton, and the armor’s made of, like, adamantium or something.”

Spike, young drake, I am an all-powerful psyker further powered by the souls of billions of other psykers, able to directly and indirectly affect everything happening within a galaxy-wide civilization. I may be a corpse on a chair, but that does not mean I’m an Invalid. This is easy pickings for me. Now hop in.

Spike didn’t have to be asked twice, and jumped right into the battle suit. The suit closed around him as he got into position. He then noticed that his arms and legs were far too short to reach the limbs, even though he could see that there were grips for longer arms and legs to reach and control. “Are you planning on making me a bit greedy, so I can reach the controls?”

It’s a bit more than that, I’m afraid. I may be able to help you out and even control your body, but in order for you to properly use the suit, you must be “modified”- I must make you the closest thing to a Space Marine that can be done without a surgery.

He paused, considering the words he was about to say very carefully. I will not lie to you, Spike. This will be the worst pain that you’ve ever felt in your life. You will not die - I’ll take the necessary precautions to keep you alive - but you won’t be the same dragon when you come out. The process of becoming an Astartes is one that can’t be taken lightly, and this is something I can’t make you do, only ask.

Spike simply closed his eyes. He sometimes wondered if he was cut out to be a warrior, like other dragons of the past. When he compared himself to the rest of his kind, or even to the humans and aliens that were fighting on his planet, he couldn’t help but think that he was out of his league. Perhaps he was just too small, or too young, or too spoiled by the good life to have what it takes. Maybe it would be better for everyone to just stay at the library, sleeping away his trouble like he had always done. Maybe just send word to the others that Rarity had been taken, and let them handle it.

Perhaps he would’ve done so, had Rarity not been in danger. He truly loved her, just as much as Twilight or Celestia or any of his friends, and he knew that she loved him back. He now had the tools and the opportunity to be a hero- to save his damsel in distress, and prove himself as a dragon and a warrior. He wanted to be a knight in shining armor, and now he had everything he needed - training, a lady in need, a beast to slay, and his own suit of armor. Fate couldn’t be more direct if it smacked him in the ass.

“Do it,” He declared firmly, “I’m ready.”

Trust me, little Spike, you are not.

A blinding pain - an intense, overbearing burning sensation that went down to the molecular level - enveloped the little dragon, enrapturing him mind, body and soul. As the pain consumed his mind, Spike held onto one final thought, his anger in the storm of transformation, and an image of a pearly white unicorn, smiling sweetly at him. I’m coming for you, milady.

On the outside, all Spike could do was scream, as his body began to grow and change, and the astartes armor began running in the direction of the forest…

* * *

Rarity was scared out of her mind. That horrible, disgusting creature tossed her into a sack like a piece of garbage, and thrashed and bashed her as she was taken to an unknown location. They spoke to each other in a harsh yet beautiful language, which sounded like broken glass being dragged across steel.

She did not know how long she was kept in that bag, or how far they had taken her. She feared what would happen when they let her out, and she prayed that help would come soon. If not… well, she did have one ace up her coat, a little trick she used on a band of diamond dogs oh-so-long-ago.

After what seemed like hours, the movement stopped, and Rarity was unceremoniously dumped out of the bag, landing on her back. She cried out in pain, her spine landing on a particularly sharp rock. She looked up around her, and she quickly went silent.

The monsters had brought her to Castle Everfree, where her friends had stood tall and vanquished Nightmare Moon. Now though, an entirely new breed of evil was making residence here. A large altar had been built, surrounded by a collective of hooded human-looking creatures kneeling and praying. More of the tall, armor-clad monsters stood guard at the entrances, watching the arcane ritual with mild disgust.

Behind her, the tallest monster, the one most likely to be the leader, spoke rather loudly, “Here you are, Mon-Keighs - a precious little Po-Neigh, and a Bearer, just as you asked.”

“I have a name, you know.” The fashionista harrumphed. “I’d prefer it if you would show me the respect of calling me ‘Ms. Rarity’, not ‘Po-Neigh’.”

“Shut up, filth.” The leader snarled at her. “Human, let us spill her blood and be done with this ritual. I grow weary of this place.”

“Archon, would you deny us the chance to feed on fresh meat?” One of the creatures challenged the leader.

“Fool, there are more victims that we can harvest, but only one Bearer that we can use. Caiasan, use her as you will.”

One of the hooded figures stepped forward, and grabbed her violently by the mane and tail, taking her to the altar. “Gah!” Rarity yelped, “Put me down, you ruffian! This is no way to treat a lady!”

“Stop whining, wretch.” The cultist hissed back. “We haven’t even done anything to you yet.”

As she was shoved onto the altar, she gathered up all the haughty aloofness she could muster, as she began her “key offensive”. “I am not whining, you fool.” She sneered, “I am complaining. Do you want to hear whining?”

“What are you getting at, you-”

“THIIIIS is WHIIIINNNING!” Rarity whined, putting all her effort in making an annoying screechy voice. “Why did you throw me in that stinky old bag?! It was so dark and nasty and dirty! My hooves are dirty, my mane is a mess, my-”

“Bitch, SHUT UP!” The Archon came up close to the unicorn, and back-handed her. Hard. Instantly, a red handprint grew on her face, and her horn had a hairline fracture running across its length. But more importantly, it made Rarity quiet, as she looked back at the alien with fear-stricken eyes.

“You think you know pain?” He hissed, baring his horrendous teeth. “You think you know fear? What I just gave was a sample - a taste - of what we have in store for you. We are creatures that feed on such things, you see. And your pain, your fear…” He inhaled her scent in a rather disturbing manner, “Yours is the most delicious thing I’ve experienced. And I shall make sure that my Kabal and I shall feed on you for a long, long, long time.”

“Not until we are done with her, I’m afraid.” The cultist interrupted, now brandishing a heavily stylized knife, which glowed with an unnatural malice. Rarity stared in horror as the man brought the knife close to her standing right above her… only to grab her hoof and make a thin cut upon it.

“That’s it?” The Archon snarked, “Just one little cut? I thought you humans would be doing something more… damaging.”

“The ritual itself requires only a few drops of chosen blood.” The cultist explained, squeezing the hoof hard enough to make Rarity squeal to get every drop, dripping it onto the altar. “The rest can be done with a sacrificial animal or volunteer. You can do with her as you wish - consider it a little treat for leading us through the Webway.”

The human gave the pony back to the Archon. He then tossed her over to a group of three warriors. “Take her out to the forest.” He ordered. “And get her ready for harvesting. I want her prepped and unsullied, and Khaine help the fool who touches her before me.”

The three Kabalites did as they were told, and took the screaming and bloody mare with them into the forest. Casra Fel turned back to the cultists and the rest of his Kabal. He would feast on the pony’s soul, no doubt. But first, he would see what manner of daemon they had been so ordered to summon…

* * *

By the time Spike came back to full consciousness, Adam had piloted the machine deep into the forest. He was still foggy on the details, but he could feel that something was…different. He felt taller, for one, as well as a good deal stronger. He was tall enough to see out of the eye holes of the helmet, his neck extending a good deal to see. He could also feel himself carrying what had to be a massive gun, probably a bolter.

“Adam?” He asked a bit groggily, “Where are we?”

We’re approaching Castle Everfree, The god explained, Where the darkness is heaviest. If she anywhere, she will be here.

“Hey, uh, these ‘Dark Eldar?” The dragon asked, remembering why they were here, “You’ve fought them before, haven’t you?”

Oh yes, many times before. It was many, many years ago, but I have fought against them, and I know how dangerous they can be.

Inside, Spike felt his body around with his tail, searching for his sword. On the plus side, he could now feel he had wings, which made him ecstatic in the back of his mind. However, he couldn’t find his sword anywhere inside.

Don’t worry, Adam explained, I took the blade and attached it to the wrist. But with the bolter gun and chain sword, I doubt we’ll need it.

“Wait, where did you get those weapons?”

I brought them along, of course. Now slow down, we’re approaching the camp, and I can hear someone coming.

Spike put force into his legs, and suit came to an abrupt halt. He listened through the helmet - indeed, he could hear footsteps. Footsteps, the sounds of a struggle… and the sounds of Rarity’s muffled screams.

“Rarity!” Spike exclaimed, his voice contained within the metal suit.

Stay back, fool. Adam hissed, taking some control back. We cannot reveal ourselves just yet. He brought the dragon and suit down to a crouch, hiding behind some overgrowth to observe the kidnappers.

Three Kabalites tossed a tied and bound Rarity into a clearing, the unicorn looking all the worse for ware. One of them said, “She looks promising, I tell you what. Let’s start this now, before Fel comes.”

“But the Archon will kill us if we harm her before he comes.” The second said, resting a hand on his sword’s hilt.

“Perhaps,” A third one said, “But we could just tell him we were beset by the natives, and she died in the crossfire. We can still have our fun.”

“Indeed, but what should we do to her?” The second one asked.

“I want to rape her.”

“I want to skin her.”

“I say we eat her. I bet Po’Neigh flesh is delicious.”

As the three argued, Spike forced the suit down to a crouch, and crawled his way to the edge. He took his time, taking it slowly and quietly, avoiding any and all detection. Silently, he pulled out the bolter gun, and lined up a shot for a druchii’s head. He switched it to single shot - he didn’t want to waste ammo if he could help it.

Before he fired his shot, his target declared, “Okay, so here’s what we’re going to do. Sammael, you can rape her. Belial, you can skin her at the same time. When you two are done, all three of us can-”

DAKKA!

The Dark Eldar’s head exploded into so much chunky salsa, coating everyone in the clearing with his brains.

Nice shot. Adam complimented, But I think they’re onto you now.

“Yeah, I know.” Spike acknowledged. “Switching to three-round burst.”

The other two creatures drew their djin blades, and began evading the bursts of fire as Spike stood up, standing as a mighty avenger against the elvish offenders. “Who dares attack the warriors of Cimmoragh?!” One of them challenged, standing over Rarity with a sword held high. “Show yourselves, or we’ll drain the wretch of her blood!”

Spike jumped out of the brush, standing tall in the armor of the Emperor’s Finest. Inside, his teeth were bared, his nostrils smoking, his eyes narrowed to slits. Adam decided now was a perfect time to temper the dragon’s natural rage with a bit of His “Righteous Fury”, making him radiate a supernatural golden glow. “LEAVE HER ALONE, YOU SICK SONS OF BITCHES!” He roared, charging at them with his gun blazing and the chain-sword out and whirring.

This caught both the D. Eldar and Rarity off guard. Space Marines don’t curse, not like that. They held themselves with more uprightness and piety, and wouldn’t go about using such vulgar language. And then there was the fact that this one also cared about the fate of some random xeno, which seemed even more out of character. Rarity, however, could identify that voice right away, despite the distortion from the rage and helmet vox.

“Spike, save me!” She screamed.

“Hold on a sec!” He shouted back, finishing up his clip. “Let me take care of these clowns!”

As the last round fired, Adam spoke again. That was the last one. We didn’t bring any more clips.

“What?” Spike gasped, deactivating the vox for a moment, “Why not? Aren’t these guys dangerous as hell?!”

Yes, but I was aiming to use your stealth skills to sneak in and get her out. We’ve played our hands too quickly. But I think now’s the time to try out a little swordplay.

“I can work with that.” He tossed the bolter gun at one of the Kabalites. The druchii sliced through the gun with ease, but didn't think to also dodge the charging astartes. Spike launched him into a tree, stunning him momentarily. The other alien charged from behind, and the dragon blocked the strike just in time.

Djin blade and Chainsword clashed against each other, dragon and alien circling each other. Spike’s training, when combined with the millennia of the Emperor’s experience and holy rage, easily pressed the advantage against the alien. Sammael, however, was feeling a tingle of fear. He was a great swordsman, and had slain many a marine before. But this one was having at him like his old teachers back when he was a child. Who was this Mon’Keigh?

Belial, the other alien, finally stood up, and attempted to stab him from behind. Adam/Spike, however, sensed his approach, and with the strength of a Dragon Space Marine, leapt high into the air. Sammael narrowly dodged the strike, and slapped his comrade. “Watch your strikes, fool!” He hissed.

“I didn’t know they could fly now!” The other stated defensively. “Where did he even go?”

“Right here!” A voice said from above.

Spike landed behind Belial, cutting through the alien’s head and body. He cleaved him into two neat, vertical halves, which fell in opposite directions.

Sammael saw an opportunity. As Belial’s remains fell, he reached out and kicked the chainsword out of his hand. In the same spinning motion, he swung his sword, and removed the helmet of the Space Marine.

“SPIIIIKE! NOOOOOO!” Rarity wailed. The suit fell down to its knees, headless and defeated. The monster, standing proud over his kill, laughed at her pain.

“Stupid insect!” He sneered at her, turning his full attention to her, “You honestly thought one human would be enough to kill me.”

He began walking to Rarity, the mare trembling in fear. Neither of them noticed the armor began moving, standing back up slowly. Spike’s head raised up out of the neck hole, no longer looking like a baby dragon. His muzzle had extended, canines poking out of his mouth. His scales and spines had turned to darker colors, and looked decidedly sharper. But the biggest difference were the eyes. No longer were his eyes those of a happy-go-lucky kid. Now - being modified into a pseudo-astartes and powered by the Emperor himself - his eyes held a hard, steely glint of a warrior filled with righteous fury.

The alien stepped up to the pony, a devilish grin on his face. “Your faith in humanity is misplaced,” He snarled, his arm reaching for her throat, “For I am immortal, and no Mon’Keigh, mortal or Space Marine, can kill the likes of me.”

WHISH! SLASH!

In the span of one second, Spike had ignited the wrist blade, and sliced the monster’s arm off at the elbow. Sammael screeched with rage and pain, his forearm twitching on the ground while his stump sizzled and smoked. He turned around, only to have two feet of plasma stab into his gut. His strength leaving him, he looked up to see that, instead of the beady angry eyes of a human look upon him, the cold slit eyes of a vengeful lizard stare down at him.

“I am no Mon’Kiegh,” Spike snarled at him, “I am a Dragon.”

The last thing Sammael saw before his soul was consumed by Slaneesh was the beast open his mouth, and spew baleful green fire upon him. And like many of his previous victims, he left the materium screaming like a bitch.

Spike tossed away the burning corpse, and approached his maiden. Disengaging his blade, he gingerly picked her up, and brought her close.

“Rarity,” He asked, “Are you alright?”

“You… you saved me, Spike.” Rarity spoke weakly, hardly more than a whisper.

“You should’ve known I would always come for you, milady.” Their faces got close, practically nose-to-nose.

Spike, Adam warned, The others must’ve heard us, and will likely come in force. We must-

Adam was cutoff, as Spike’s brain was blinded by Rarity’s kiss. The feeling was, in a word, astounding, and was blowing the poor dragon’s mind. What made it awkward was that the Emperor was still connected, and he felt the same thing in a strange, voyeuristic fashion.

Huh, so that’s what its like… that’s surprisingly nice. In fairness, the sensation may have been affected by Spike’s passion, or that Adam had a dry spell longer than most civilizations. Either way, he couldn’t help but think of Luna, and feel guilty.

But he wouldn’t let personal feeling jeopardize this mission, here and now.

Spike, stop it! He ordered. Dutifully, the dragon complied, pulling back before they could go into a makeout session.

“Spike, darling, how did you survive?” Rarity asked, catching her breath. “When that brute cut off your helmet, I thought-”

“I had been craning my neck to see.” Spike explained, extending his neck a bit further. “When I saw the blade coming, I brought my head down before it could get me. I pretended to be dead so I could catch him by surprise, and clearly it worked.”

“But how are you operating this thing? Space Marines are supposed to be huge, and you’re, well…”

We can talk about this later! Adam spoke to both of their minds. But we need to leave, NOW!

“He’s right! Let’s go!” Spike held Rarity close to his chest, and began heading back to Ponyville. The unicorn closed her eyes, and fell asleep, safe in the arms of her protector…

* * *

“Did you hear something?” The Archon asked aloud.

“Dunno,” Kalahar answered, “What did it sound like?”

“There was screaming, then shouting, and a clash of blades and the spraying of blood.”

“Huh, I bet those foolish lackeys of yours started without you. If they know what’s best for themselves, they will put each other to the blade before you collect them.”

“For once, Gorn, I can agree with you. When this ritual is finished, I shall personally feast upon those incompetent cretins.”

As he said this, both of them stared at the strange human ritual like it was a campfire. The altar itself began to glow an unnatural orange, as the cultists began chanting words that made their ears, noses and mouths bleed. A pair of cultists held a mutant slave they had brought along onto the altar, with one of them brandishing a knife against the victim’s throat. Fel observed that as the chant reached a higher pitch, the slab of stone would go from brighter to dimmer.

“Behold, oh mighty Ruinous Powers,” Caiasan intoned, “We offer you the blood of the vile blasphemer, tainted by the lifeblood of the corrupted. We offer you this humble sacrifice, so that we may summon your mighty champions. We pray to you, o gods, so that we may bring forth the channels of Chaos Itself. With this offer of blood, we summon the greatest of daemons, Khazarni and Khazukull!”

The priest slit the mutant’s throat, his lifeblood drenching the altar in a manner that shouldn’t have been possible. When the blood touched the drop of Rarity’s blood, the glow of the altar transferred to the liquid, and floated up into the air. The glowing blood formed a tall, narrow portal, sucking and consuming all matter around it - altar, priests and corpse. Electricity discharged from the construct as it solidified, giving a slight hum of energy, and the portal opened up to the warp itself.

The first thing to come out was a cloud of long, black smoke. This misty stream of gas sparkled like a starry night, floating this way and that as if examining them. The Archon could feel that it looked at them with distaste and loathing. It pulled away from the portal, and began congealing over on the side of the room.

The next thing that leapt out of the portal was… well, hard to describe. It looked like a pile of rotten meat, but it was always changing shape and it burned everyone’s eyes to look right at it. Slowly, the blob began to grow and take shape, growing four long, thin legs which were sharp as spikes. It bore a mane and tail, the hair curled in the shapes of screaming faces within. The body was a disturbing shade of pink, bearing many scars of cuts and burns. And, most tellingly of all, the flank had a design of three black balloons trapped inside the Wheel of Chaos.

“I smell a pedophile.”

The creature - a she, from the sound of her sickly-sweet voice - lifted its head, staring down Khalahar. Its eyes were massive, taking up much of its face. The iris - which was a sickly blue - was almost completely gone, the pupil taking almost as much room as the whites. Fel couldn’t help but think that those were the Eyes of Madness.

“Pedophiles are delicious.”

The monster grinned a nasty, nightmare-straight-out-of-hell grin. She had way more teeth than should’ve been possible, with four long fangs up front. Her teeth were like a wolf - all sharp and pointy - but were also like a shark - each and every tooth was jagged and serrated. For a creature meant to be a pony, the abomination before them was every inch a predator.

“You wouldn’t believe how hungry crossing dimensions can make you.”

Before the Kabalites could even think, the daemon jumped on Khalahar, tearing through armor and skin with ease. Gorn screamed as his intestines were ripped out of him, being devoured before his very eyes. Fel drew his sword, and went to attack the monster.

“Do not interfere, whelp!”

The Archon turned, looking to see who would dare challenge him. This daemon was as different to the monster as night and day. This creature was as black as space, with a flowing mane and tail that sparkled like the night sky. It had a large purple blemish on its flank, with a crescent in the center. Its wings were large and majestic, and the horn was long enough to gore an Ork. But most strikingly of all, the eyes were turquoise, and were vertical slits like a dragon, with the stunning grace of a female.

She was tall and beautiful and deadly as the finest of swords. While she radiated an aura of power and authority, Fel could see in her eyes that she was filled naught but with malice and hate.

“Kneel before your new masters, foals!” An aura grew around her horn, and all the humans and Eldar felt themselves forced to their knees. They struggled against the force, but found themselves paralyzed. The alicorn then directed her attention to the carnivorous pony.

“Khazukull,” She snapped at her compatriot, “Stop wasting our time on that degenerate!” Khazukull groaned in disappointment, but crushed her victim’s skull, and skipped over to the alicorn’s side.

“Now then,” She continued, her voice now smooth as silk, “Which of you hopeless lackeys are in command?” Caiasan and Fel spoke up, and were released from her control.

“I am Khazarni, Chosen of Tzeentch,” The alicorn stated proudly, “And this is my compatriot Khazukull, Chosen of Slaneesh. From now on, you shall take orders from us, or each and every one of you will suffer the same fate as that sack of meat over there. Do I make myself clear?” A blinding pain in the leader’s minds compelled them to answer yes.

“Good.” The dark alicorn sounded positively smug, as she continued, “Our first order of business will be to gather up reinforcements for our little engagement. Druchii, you and your Kabalites will come with me to the Badlands, where we have a certain queen to speak with. Human, your followers shall accompany Khazukull up north, where you will find the Last King of the Crystal Empire. When we finish, we shall reconvene in Ghastly Gorge in a fortnight’s time.”

“Yes, Lady Khazarni.” The cultists and Kabalites answered in unison, cowed by their new leader.

“So then let us depart, my slaves, and make haste. For soon, the Darkness shall last forever!” She gave an evil, dominating laugh, as distant explosions thundered in the forest.

Khazukull nudged a human cultist, and murmured, “Wanna help me cut up that body? If we do it right, we can make enough Eldar cupcakes for everypony.” She gave the mortal a nasty smile, a line of drool dripping from her mouth. “Won’t that be fun?”

And lo, the the first days of The Equestrian Black Crusade had finally come.

7.2- A Slice of Life on the Battlefield

Chapter 9 (part 2)
A Slice of Life on the Battlefield

"Who would think ponies could fight, let alone hold their own against giant space monsters?" - Captain Brogan of Road not Taken

Many historians and remembrancers have pointed out that the Battle of Appleoosa was, when compared to the other battles of the Equestrian War, a rather quick and lackluster affair. And to an extent, they're right. See, even after the expansion, Appleoosa was still a frontier town, and was really small. As such, most orks left, not because they were forced out, but because they wanted a challenge.

And there was no better place to fight than Manehattan.

It was, after all, the closest thing to a metropolis that Equestria had, with a population topping two million. Narrow streets and tall buildings made it a nightmare for vehicles, and gave snipers and infantry a distinct advantage. Guerrilla and urban warfare were the names of the game, whether you were a human, ork or pony caught in the crossfire.

During this time, most of the heroes fought the green horde, trying to reclaim part of their homeland. It was a time when normal folks became heroes, and heroes became Legends...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 9 of Equestria War
Manehattan, Uptown
8:30 A.M.

Applejack's heart broke as she saw the city from her youth get turned into a ravaged ruin. She remembered walking down these very streets as a filly, looking for her purpose and her cutie mark. She remembered how beautiful it was, how high the towers were. Now look at it; it hadn't even been two weeks, and the city was a dying, wrecked battlefield.

She folded her ears against her head as another building collapsed under artillery fire. Was it her old school? A shopping mall her relatives would take her to? She didn't know, but she knew her childhood was slowly being teared down.

"C'mon, AJ," Vasquez called out, his voice carrying over the radio, "The crash site is on the next block." The farmer nodded, put her mouth over the trigger-bit of her saddle-mounted turret guns, and followed the human and his squad. They snuck around the city, heading to their objective with grim certainty and resolve.

Since the battle started, the allied forces had faced significant losses, and had to consolidate their forces into new squads. Guardsmen, while as a whole still reluctant to join xenos and heretics, were still experts in fighting Orks, and soldiers were being sprinkled around individually. Furthermore, some ponies and other Equestrian races were joining to fill in any gaps left, eager to defend their homeworld. Whether or not they knew how to fight was a different story.

As such, this particular squad was made of AJ, Vasquez, N'tho, 3 marines, and 3 Elite Minors. Derpy served as a resupply runner, showing up with ammo and snacks on occasion. Applejack wondered how such a clumsy mare could avoid being shot, but considered it to be "one of 'dem 'dere miracles".

Anyways, 3 hours ago, an experimental prototype - a Pelican loaded with melta cannons - crashed into an apartment in Ork territory. The mission - rescue any survivors or civvies, destroy the shuttle, and kill any Orks that get in their way. Sounds easy enough, right?

The problem was that the shuttle crashed on the top floor, 18 flights up. And odds are at least one or two Orks were already in the building.

Safely crossing the street, the squad made their way through the lobby and up the stairs (the elevators were busted, and were probably booby-trapped as well). The humans and Sanghelli were making quick work of the stairs, but Applejack began to feel the burn after the first ten floors. Climbing stairs wasn't the same as moving from tree to tree and kicking as hard as she could - it was a lot harder.

"Heavens to Betsy!" She gasped for air, having gone up sixteen flights, "How much farther do we have to go?"

"We're almost there," Vasquez told her, a little bit out of breath himself, "maybe another floor or two."

"Yuh know, it jus' occurred to me." AJ mused aloud, stopping for a breather, "This is where Cousin Rhubarb and Babs Seed used to live."

"Hope they got out in time. This ain't no place for the timid."
"Y'all tellin' me! Babs is just a filly, hasn't even got her cutie mark yet."

"Alan, Applejack!" N'tho called from above, "Come look at this!" The pony and human went up to the rest of the squad, and came across a grisly sight.

Orks had already been here. There were five of their corpses spread amongst torn-up humans and ponies. The entirety of the crashed squad and ponies surviving here had been slaughtered, blood and bullet holes covering the walls. Outside, they could see through a busted wall that an Ork Krooza crashed into the bay, causing many of the streets by the harbor to flood. The room remained silent as the Element of Honesty surveyed the carnage.

A thousand thoughts raced through her head. When she had fought in Appleoosa, she hadn't acknowledged the horrors that were around her. In the farmer's mind, Orks were organic machines, and ponies weren't even touched. But now, she saw the charred, stinking bodies of greenskins, and the half-eaten legs and torsos of those who might've been her childhood friends. She looked at the monstrous display, and felt... empty. She stared blankly at the sight as her mind tried to reconcile what she was seeing to what she knew and believed.

Alan saw this, and placed a hand on her neck. "AJ," He said, "you gonna be ok?"

The Earth Pony blinked, and looked at him. Before she could speak, they heard something moving on the other side of the room. Everyone raised their weapons at the pile of rubble as a large piece of wood moved, revealing a brown filly with red hair and green eyes.

"Applejack," The filly called out, "is that you?"

The pony's ears shot up, and she stepped closer to the rubble. "Babs?" She spoke in confusion.

"Cousin, its so good to see you!" The filly exclaimed, pulling a strap with her mouth. The strap was attached to one of the new models of the Spartan Laser, easily twice her size. "Those big green monsters came in after that shuttle crashed into our apartment. I hid under some rocks while they killed everypony. I'm the only one left."

"Where'd you get that gun?" Vasquez asked.

"I grabbed it off a dead guy, when the monsters were... eating. I've even got a few kills on this thing." She turned the Laser to its side, revealing 4 long scratches.

Before the filly could say anything more, the ceiling collapsed between them, and an Ork Nob landed, a green giant of death. He stood as tall as a Hunter, holding a large metal slab in one hand and a long metal pole in the other. And like every other Ork planetside, he was super pissed-off.

"OI, YOUSE STOOPID HUMIES!" He bellowed, "GIT AWAY FROM ME PLANIE-TING! ITS MINE!"

Immediately everyone started firing at him, as Babs ducked for cover. Plasma and bullets struck the Ork's shield, causing superficial damage to it and him. He stomped forward and swiped at the squad with the shield. While some managed to dodge out of the way, many were hit and sent flying off the edge of the building. An Elite ducked underneath, and drove an energy blade into the Ork's leg. The Nob grabbed him, lifting him to his face.

"CHEETAH, CHEETAH," He snorted, "NOW I'S GONNA EAT YA!"

He then bit onto half of his body, and tore him apart, swallowing him bit by bit. "Applejack, git outta here!" Vasquez ordered, as he tossed a grenade, bouncing of the shield yet still detonating. With his defense ruined, the Nob tossed it into the ship, causing it to fall back out of the building, making a crater down below. Part of the roof came down, pinning N'tho under a cabinet. The human and pony fired upon the Ork, unloading all their rounds on him. When they finished, the Nob stood, bloody but alive.

"DAT IT?" He challenged. "GOOD, MY TURN NOW!"

He stabbed the pole through Alan, getting him center of mass. AJ gasped in horror as he went down to his knees, hands wrapped around the protrusion. The pony stayed stock-still, memories of the past week playing before her eyes. See, the Mane Six had been so gung-ho about killing Orks - an unlikely activity by anyone's expectations - because the Princesses had placed a spell on them to mute the trauma. Killing Orks were no less troubling than killing parasprites, and were treated as such.

But now, someone AJ cared for, had fought with, getting connected to, was severely hurt. The spell stopped working, and she went into shock. The Nob shoved the pole into the floor, pinning the human in place before turning his attention to the pony.

"WHATCHA LOOKIN' AT, GIT?!"

He started walking towards the petrified pony, his long shadow casting itself over the farmer. He reached his massive arm to her, both of them unaware of a whirring sound building behind them. Before the monster could touch her-

BOOM!

A red blast of light shot through the Ork's chest, continueing on out the roof. Both the Nob and AJ were stunned by what happened, a hole instantly appearing center of mass. They heard the whirring sound again, and the Nob turned his head just enough to-

BOOM!

His head was promptly blown off by another blast of light. The decapitated body flopped onto the ground, smoke coming from the holes. AJ and Alan looked over to the corner of the room to see Babs, holding up a smoking Spartan Laser.

"No one hurts my family and gets away with it." The filly declared, her voice hard as stone. "No one."

AJ, now coming out of her stupor, rushed to Alan's side. He was alive and conscious, though the shock seeping in dulled the pain.

"Alan," She said comfortingly, "try not to move. It may've hit somethin'."

"Ah think Ah'm okay," He replied calmly, "It didn't hit anything important. Ah ain't bleedin' too bad, right?" She checked his back. He was bleeding, sure, but not enough to be life-threatening. It would turn out that the pole narrowly missed the vital organs, only slightly scraping his stomach.

"Ah told yuh to run." He chided. "You didn't listen to me. He could've killed yuh."

The pony looked away. "Like Ah was jus' gonna leave you an' my cousin here. You should know somethin' 'bout me, Al. Ah pride meself fer bein' the 'loyalest of friends and most dependable of ponies'. Ah'll never leave someone Ah care fer hangin'; not now, not ever."

The human and pony stared at each other's eyes, and they shared a moment of closeness and intimacy. Not in a physical sense, but in an emotional and spiritual one. It would've been rather touching, if the guy didn't have a pole sticking out of him.

N'tho stood up from the rubble, catching sight of the dead alien and the romantic subplot. He grunted as he made his way to the filly with the giant lasgun, who was also watching abject fascination.

"Are cousin Applejack and that guy special somponies?" She asked him.

"Probably." The Sanghelli answered. "Either way, I owe Cassius a beer now." He glanced over to Babs, and pointed to her butt. "What's that?"

Babs looked behind her, and gasped with joy. On her flank, a design had appeared while they weren't looking. It was a silver ring or sprocket, with the inside all black, except for a bright red dot in the center. Babs ran a hoof over it to make sure it didn't come off. It stayed put.

"Oh my gosh," She shouted, "I got my cutie mark! But what does it mean?"

"Hah, I've seen that before. That's the 'Red Eye Achievement'. Its given to soldiers who manage to get five kills with the Spartan Laser."

The child looked confused. "So my special talent is… blowing Orks up with lasers?"

"Its nothing to sneeze at, youngling. Not many fighters get that award, what with the three second delay between shots. Whoever gets it must have great aim and, more importantly, perfect timing."

"Really?" She brightened up. "So my talent is cool?"

"Sure it is. Its as cool as any other talent others may have. Why don't you help your cousin get our guy out of that pinning predicament, ok?"

The filly rushed off, interrupting a near romantic moment. N'tho went to the edge of the building, looking at all the dead comrades at the ground below. Such a waste of life and talent, carelessly thrown away. But far more were to be wasted in the days and weeks to come...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10:30 A.M.
Alliance Field Hospital
Thought of the Day: Life is what you do with the trials you've overcome.

Fluttershy was doing the one thing she felt she could do to contribute to the war effort; tend to the injured warriors. And if there was one thing Manehattan was making plenty of right now, it was that.

The hospital they were using was full of patients in various states of injury, and short on qualified doctors or medics. There were a couple pony doctors, several Task Force medics, and many Sororitas Hospitallers - a plethora of medical skill and magic - but the sheer scale of those who needed treatment was still overwhelming.

Fluttershy was tending to the wounds of a marine when one of the Hospitallers approached her.

"Oh, hi Sister Audri." She greeted, keeping her eyes down.

"How is the patient?" The Sister of Battle demanded, all business. She had no patience for apprentices or rookies, and the xeno's presence was as tolerated as a case of herpes, Emperor's Blessing or not.

"He's still unconscious." The pony explained. "Internal hemorrhaging of the brain and stomach has gone down, and I just changed his bandages. He should be healed in a few days."

The human looked over the pegasus, and frowned. "You don't have a weapon." She observed. "Why?"

Fluttershy hid her face behind her hair. "I don't like fighting." She explained. "I'm not good with… confrontation. When I get angry, I don't like what I become."

"So?" Audri challenged. "Just because you don't like combat doesn't mean you can avoid it. When the time comes, you need to be ready to defend yourself and others. Its both your duty as a medic, and as an adult in general. Don't be afraid to stand up like a woman, lest you always remain a victim."

Later on, Fluttershy would comment on how, if there are truly greater powers that be, they must have a wonderful sense of ironic timing. Because no sooner had she said that, the wall across the room exploded, and a trio of Orks came in like the Kool-Aid Man.

"KNOCK KNOCK!" The leader shouted.

"WHO DERE?" Another asked.

"ME, I KILL YOU!" The third answered.

They brandished their swords, and began hacking the wounded and nurses alike as reapers harvesting grain. Fluttershy squealed in fear, and ducked behind a table, shivering with fear as she watch the onslaught.

Audri raised a bolter pistol, firing a few shots at the monsters. The leader promptly kicked a bed - patient and all - at her, slamming her onto a table full of scalpels. One of the Orks raised a massive hammer and smashed it down upon her, crushing her and the soldier above her like a tin can. The Sister twitched several times, and then laid still.

Fluttershy stared at the body, and she felt something… click, in the back of her mind. A spark, that grew into a teeny tiny flame.

"You bastards!" A voice called out. An Ork yelped in pain, and looking down saw a brown Earth pony stabbing his leg. It was Filthy Rich, father of the late Diamond Tiara, who had broken his leg while rescuing fillies from an orphanage.

"You big green monsters!" He shouted defiantly. "You killed my daughter!"

"NO I DIDN'T!" The Ork leader defended himself. "BUT I BET THE GIT HAD IT COMIN' SOMEHOW, BY GORK AN' MORK! AND SO DO YOU!"

With that, he lifted the stallion up, and twisted his neck 360 - like he was a pepper grinder for a salad of death. He then tore off the head and tossed it in his mouth, chewing it like pony-flavored gum.

"'EY BOSS," One of them observed, "DAT WAS ODDLY SPECIFICS OF YE! WHY SHOOD WE CARE WOT DEY FINKS WE DO?"

"I DON' LOIK BEIN' A'KUUZED OF DOIN' STUFF I AIN'T DONE! I AIN'T SOM' PUNY HUMIE WHO GOES 'ROUND SAYIN' I'S DONE MOAR TINGS DEN I AC'ULLY DOES! I'S AN ORK, I MAKES' ME OWN HYPE!"

Inside Fluttershy, that little flame was rapidly growing into a roaring fire. This wasn't some dragon hurting her friends, or a cockatrice attacking fillies. This wasn't Discord, or a hydra, or changelings, or any number of threats she's gone up against. This was an abomination that existed for no other purpose but to kill and spread misery. Perhaps in some part of her mind, Fluttershy believed that it was a kindness to the universe to remove Orks from existence, to make the world a better place by killing every last one of them.

But she wasn't thinking of that, first and foremost. Instead, she was filled with righteous fury and rage, a swirling torrent of Emperor-blessed anger that she had never felt before in her life. These bastards had gone into a hospital - a place of healing and care - and had just started killing people left and right. Sister Audri had said she needed to protect what she cared for, and by Celestia, she was going to do just that.

In a moment of time that would become one of the most idolized moments of the war, Fluttershy - the most scaredy-pony in all of Equestria - reached for the Gravity Hammer left by a Brute, and with the supernatural strength that she had always had but rarely used, lifted it up above her head.

"How… Dare… YOU!" She roared, launching herself at the trio. The Orks watched, stunned, as this little creature hefted a massive hammer like it was a stick. With the power and fury rarely seen outside a DBZ Parody or a grimdark fan video, she smashed the hammer onto the leader's head, crushing it with the hammer providing a satisfying Wha-Toom!

As both Orks raised their weapons, Fluttershy kicked one in the face, while swinging the backblade onto the other's head. The blade cut his skull in half, and the body crumpled beneath her. The pegasus swung the hammer back around, smashing him with another Wha-Toom!

The trio now dead, the wounded troops came out of their immediate cover, and saw their former healer standing raging and triumphant, covered in blood and wielding a massive hammer. A veritable pony Valkyrie.

But she wasn't done yet. Not by a long shot. Roaring with triumph and malice, she went out the hole the Orks came from, and blazed a path through the growing horde of greenskins, who had made a breach out of the city. That day, two things were learned.

1) Fluttershy was the strongest pegasus in the world when pushed, swinging a giant hammer and smashing skulls like she was going for a "Whack-An-Ork" record. No other pony - not even Big Mac or Snowflake - could demonstrate the sheer power and grace that she did as she imitated The Mighty Thor.

2) While Orks don't fear death, they do fear dying in an embarrassing manner. Could you imagine being an Ork, and telling Gork and Mork that you were krumped by a little pony with a giant hammer? They would never hear the end of it, and get laughed out of whatever afterlife the Orks believe in.

So the horde did what any "propah" Ork horde would do in that situation… They ran away from her as fast as they could, eager to fight die from something less cutesy and embarrassing. And from that day, Fluttershy would be forever be remember in Ork culture as "Dat Yellow Terrah wit te Big Ole' Smasha".

…

...

Several minutes later, in what used to be the suburbs of the city, several squads of the Taskforce and Imperium were taking a quick break, having just cleared this sector of Orks. They had finished piling all the bodies into one big pile and torched them to prevent spores, and many opted to have a quick meal before moving on. While each race and group kept to themselves, one Jiralhanae and one Astartes were resting by the bonfire by themselves, chatting about what could be considered "religious tactics".

"So," Cassius asked, "Is there anything in the Codex Astartes that deals with bio-hazard threats, like zombies or biophages?"

"Initially, yes," Longinus explained, "But it wasn't very… extensive, you see. During the time of Gullimen, the Plague of Unbelief hadn't happened yet, nor the Tyranids, and such threats were effectively non-existent back in the Primarch's time. However, after the Siege of Macragge, the Librarians and Chaplains have been going over the Codex, and writing new material for new situations, within the confines of what they believe our Father would write himself."

"And how do you feel about the Codex and its rules?" The Brute pressed.

Before the Ultramarine could answer, the ground began to shake, and a rumble could be heard growing closer. Everyone looked at the road, and saw a large band of Orks running down the road… and past them.

"There's the Orks we're looking for." Longinus observed.

"RUN AWAYS! NO ONE SHOULD DIE LIKEZ DAT!" The Orks were crying.

"Come 'ere!" A voice roared, much higher than any Ork could reach. Right behind the mob, a tiny yellow pegasus was swinging a massive hammer, crushing skulls left and right.

"That's... Fluttershy?" Cassius sounded rather confused. "And she's... she's... uh..."

"'And YOU shall know that my name is Fluttershy, as I strike my Vengeance down upon thee!'"

"Did she just quote the Emperor's Scripture, while killing foul xenos?" Longinus said, dumbfounded yet proud.

"Did she just quote Sam' Jackson, while using a Chieftain's Hammer?" Cassius gaped, downright amazed.

"That...is… AWESOME!" They both practically squeed as their little pony friend became a badass as she smacked greenskins around like a boss. They looked at each other and the troops around them, making sure no one else heard their moment of non-machismo.

"That never happened, alien. Understand?"
"What never happened?"
"Exactly. Now, how many hits does that hammer have?"
"Depends. The old models have about twenty hits. The new ones have up to a hundred if fully charged. So..."

They looked down the trail the Orks had come from, and saw several dozen bodies scattered along its length. Odds were, Fluttershy was just about done with the battery, which meant the hammer would also get a lot more heavy without the gravity generator.

"When it gives out, she's going to be surrounded by a horde of pissed-off Orks who now see her as a worthy opponent. They'll tear her apart."

"What are we standing around here for, then?" Longinus demanded. "She'll need us."

The Astartes grabbed a power axe, and the Jiralhanae took a Brute Shot, as well as Armorlock and the Invincibility device. They hopped onto an old Brute Prowler, the Marine taking the driver's seat.

"Wait, do you know how to drive this thing?"
"I'm a Space Marine. Knowing how to use combat vehicles is second nature to me."
"But have you driven a Prowler before?"
"... I'll improvise."
"So no, you haven't?"
"Just shut up and mount the turret."

They zoomed down the road at incredible speeds. The other soldiers watched the entire thing with mild curiosity and surprising nonchalance - this was Equestria, after all, strange shit was bound to happen.

"Should we help them?" A Grunt asked.

"Nah," A guardsman answered, taking a quick smoke, "An astartes and a super-xeno against the wimpiest Orks ever? They'll be fine. 'Sides, we only have a few minutes to eat: does anyone want to get up and get involved with a problem that'll solve itself."

The humans and aliens made noises of agreement to the soldier's wise words.

...

The Orks had made it deep into their own territory, and many Orks were coming to their location, feeling the WAAAGH! tell them about a new opponent. But Fluttershy didn't notice or care about that. She was still hammering away at the pesky aliens, more than willing to keep going until the weapon became useless. And, sure enough…

Wha-Toom!

Wha-pat.

Fluttershy fell to the ground, holding onto a hammer that suddenly became extremely heavy. The pegasus grunted as she tried to lift the hammer, but to no avail. She flopped onto the ground, feeling exhausted as her body ran out of adrenaline and rage.

All around her, Fluttershy saw Orks were surrounding her in the street, watching from the alleys and buildings, tossing carts and vehicles into the ways of escape. They had leery grins on them, seeing a recognized opponent with a revealed weakness. They pulled out swords, axes, DAKKAS, missile launchers, and every conceivable weapon known to Ork kind.

"WELL LOOKIEE 'ERE!" The biggest Ork said, "ITS A TEENY TOINY PONY, ALL ALONE! MEAT'S ON DA MENU, BOYZ!"

The Orks cheered, and made a charge. Fluttershy whimpered, certain that this would be the end. Thankfully, help came from an unlikely source, with a strange theme song from Alan's playlist heralding it.

"America, Fuck yeah!
Coming in to save the day now!
America, Fuck yeah!
Freedom is the only way!"

A Brute Prowler came flying off a hill, manned by a Brute on the gunner seat, and a giant Marine in the driver's seat. Cassius fired away at the mob, as Longinus bailed from the sled, bodyslamming one alien like a professional wrestler. The sled ran over a few too slow to dodge, and Cassius cleared a path for himself with the turret.

"Xeno, get Fluttershy!" Longinus barked, punching through an Ork's skull. The Brute reached her, just as one of the Mechboyz aimed and fired a missile at them. Wrapping up the pony in one arm, the Jiralhanae slammed a fist down to the ground, activating the Armorlock. The shield was just strong enough to protect them from the blast, although it left him without any protection. Thinking fast, Cassius activated the Invincibility device, wrapping himself in a blue-green aura strong enough to withstand the incoming Dakka raining down upon him. He scooped up Fluttershy and ran back to the Prowler, tossing her into the turret seat and leaping to the opposite side, drawing out his Brute Shot. He opened up on the aliens with incendiary/spike combo grenades, blasting his targets with exploding fire while hitting nearby threats with spikes to the face.

Longinus started swinging with his power axe, dismembering and decapitating Orks left and right. He was quickly covering himself in the blood of his enemies, his face scrunched up with contempt, chewing on the sour lemon that was combat.

"EVERYONE, FIRE ON DA BIG UGLY SMURF OVAH 'DERE!" An Ork shouted.

The Ultramarine stopped dead and his tracks. In fact, everyone stopped what they were doing as something happened to his face. Slowly he turned to face the alien who said that - just your average, seven-foot-tall, wielding a three-foot machete, hating-everything-not-himself Ork.

"What did you call me?" Longinus asked, each word and syllable slowly and carefully spoken, as neutral as anyone had ever heard him talk.

"SMURF! I CALLED YAH A SMURF!" The monster explained. "YUR BIG, BLUE AN' A MARY SUE! NO ONE LOIKES YOU! WHATCHA GONNA DO, FOO?"

"Is that so?" The Ultramarine responded, dropping his axe, ignoring the strange rhymeness of the monster. Before anyone could say or do anything otherwise, he shoved both hands deep into the xeno's chest. With a grunt of effort, he stretched and tore the Ork apart, completely divided down the middle. Somewhere in the distance, someone announced, "Fatality!"

"No one. Calls me. A smurf. Ever." The Ultramarine warned. The horde began firing again - bringing out your inner Shao Khan isn't that impressive compared to creatures created to kill all the time. Longinus threw his axe at a Nob's chest, and jumped onto the Prowler as Cassius drove by. They deftly maneuvered around the missiles and bolters, flying over the hill and out of range within a matter of seconds.

"Damn, that was pretty brutal." Cassius observed, driving back to the base.

"He offended me and the Ultramarines." Longinus explained. "I had to do that, its in the Codex."

"It is?"
"Indeed. Chapter three, verse sixteen; 'And should anyone insult or profane you, your brothers or the Legion, it is your solemn duty to insert your gauntlets into the abdomen of the offender, and tear him apart, so that all may know the majesty of your fury.'"
"Really? That sounds, what's the word?... oh, hardcore. And strange too, I guess."

"Um, excuse me," Fluttershy spoke up, still huddled up in the turret seat, "But… did I go… was I crazy for awhile?"

"No, not crazy," The Brute said, grabbing one of her hooves, "You were badass."

"You fought like the Emperor's Finest, Fluttershy. We couldn't be more proud." He grabbed her other hoof in turn.

"Does this… does this make me a killer?" She asked, a tinge of fear and hurt in her voice. The thought of becoming some kind of heartless monster was too much for her to bear.

"Kind of, but that doesn't make you any less of a person to us. You're still the adorable little pony we know, Fluttershy, and no amount of fighting or killing is going to change that."
"You have nothing to be ashamed of, dear. You fought to protect the people you care for, and there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone should aspire to have the strength and courage that you displayed back there."

Fluttershy looked up at her two protectors, and gave a tiny smile. "Does this mean that… that you two are friends?"

The Brute and Space Marine looked at each other, appraising each other one more time. It was strange to think that no more than a few weeks ago, they were holding guns to each other's face. Now here they were, risking their lives for a cute little pony they've become attached to. "I wouldn't go that far." Longinus said. "But, I could consider him a comrade."

How about a battle-brother?"
"Don't push it."

"Okay, I could live with that." He offered his fist to the superhuman, who in turn bumped it with his. Fluttershy's smile grew, as her two protectors became buddies, and they raced back to base in the ruins of the metropolis...

7.3 - Geth vs. Orks

Chapter 9 (Part 3)

Geth vs. Orks

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"I used to think that the Geth were a major threat to the galaxy. After fighting against the horrors of the multiverse, not so much." - Cmdr. Shepard

"Never before in the history of combat has the arrival of a new opponent been more welcomed than when the flashlight heads came to town. They were like a breath of fresh air in an elevator, while the Orks were a rank-ass fart that wouldn't go away." - Chieftain Cassius

The first two weeks between the Coalition and the Orks were quickly settling into a stalemate. While Orks had been concentrated to Manehattan and parts of the Griffon Kingdoms, the Orks had enough numbers to keep their holdings and just whittle the allies down. The allied ships were demolishing the WAAAGH! fleet, but the ships were getting closer and closer in attempts to board them. If even one ship boarded them while troops were down below, it was game over for our valiant heroes.

It was slowly turning into a war of attrition, and one which the Orks were guaranteed to win unless reinforcements showed up. Fortunately, backup did arrive. Unfortunately, it wasn't the backup they were hoping for...

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Day 13 of Equestria War

Onboard the Emperor's Wrath

10:35 A.M.

Despite her prior nausea and vertigo, Twilight Sparkle still felt giddy about being one of the first ponies to ever go into space. She, Trixie and Rarity had been selected by Celestia and Luna to represent the EDP in the latest Alliance meeting. The Princesses would go, but they were talking with Adam and the other Royals on the merits of using the sun and moon to destroy the Ork fleet.

Twilight looked at her fellow unicorns as the shuttle docked in the Imperial Hangar bay. Rarity's horn was still bandaged up from her attack, but had otherwise healed from her trauma, physically speaking. This was actually the first time she had been allowed out of the hospital, and seemed agreeable enough for going to space. She was a bit worried about Spike going into combat (as Twilight was too), but from what they were hearing over the coms, Spike was getting almost as many kills as Chief or Shepard on his own. Clearly he could handle himself.

Trixie, on the other hoof, seemed to be really enjoying herself. She had her full outfit from her first day back in Ponyville, with her hat, cape and vest. She had even brought along an Equestrian Saber, although it was probably for show today. Twilight figured that now she could finally put Luna's training to practice, and be a representative for the Equestrian races. Twilight didn't bring anything with her - she was the Element of Magic, she could handle herself just fine.

Due to the nature of the meeting, the Wrath had parked itself behind the moon, while the Normandy and Task Force ships kept on the Ork Kroozas. The Imperials kept on talking about how crappy the Ork ships were, but every Cerberus worker or UNSC marine just felt that they were plenty awesome enough to destroy these pesky greenskins - a way to say that they were just as kickass as the Emperor's men, even if only in space.

The three unicorns got off the shuttle, and were greeted by Captain Lema and a squad of Servitor guards. Twilight thought that the practice was rather disturbing: Even in death, you were made to keep fighting, as more and more of your body was replaced with machinery.

"Welcome, ladies," The Captain greeted, "The meeting is about to start. If you'll follow me, please." She gestured them down the hall out of the hangar, leading the ponies through the corridors of the massive ship.

Looking to one of the cyborgs in particular, Rarity asked, "Captain, since when have the Mechanicus started using ponies for Servitors?"
"What do you mean?"

Rarity pointed to the shortest of the Servitors, a blue earth pony with a musical note cutie mark and a mini-laser attached to his head. "That pony there? He used to be Noteworthy. He was a musician in Ponyville, and a friend of Lyra, Vinyl and myself. What happened to him?"

"Oh, that." Lema said quickly. "He had been killed in one of the latest Dark Eldar raids, over in Dodge Junction I believe. He survived long enough to reach a hospital, but upon death the AdMechs decided to try their magic on one of you 'blessed xenos', starting with him. So far, it looks promising."

"And who gave them permission to do this?"
"That would be the Emperor and the Princesses. When you run out of soldiers, it helps the living to use the dead."

Rarity gasped. "Princess Celestia would never allow such desecration!"
"You'd be surprised how much influence our Emperor has. And quite frankly, even if they didn't like it, they still trust his judgement, and who're are you to say no? All is fair in love and war, regardless of who you are."

Rarity went quiet after that. These Imperials were a scary lot.

After a few minutes, the captain and ponies arrived to the bridge, where the meeting was being held. The Captains Numitor and Gideon of the Space Marines were there, as well as Lt. Osburran and Magos Kriel, and Inquisitor Creighton. The holograms of Captain Brogan and Shipmaster 'Valuum were also there, looking a great deal more stressed out than the rest. Even Commander Shepard was in attendance, with a hololink attached to the main system that established a link to the quantum entanglement system, giving the Illusive Man his first appearance. All of them were standing around a astromap of the system, with the planet, sun and moon, and all the ships in orbit.

Simply put, it didn't look good. There were still dozens and dozens of Ork ships surrounding the planet, even as the wreckage from the hundreds of busted ships were forming a ring around the globe. None of the ships were running out of fuel or ammo, but they had to take care to all attack at the same time, lest one of them gets isolated and surrounded. And the battle on the ground wasn't doing so well, either: While most of the Orks were focused on the battleground cities, some warbands were starting to raid griffon and dragon territories to find new opponents.

And the biggest problem? While Orks had the ability to create new troops via spores, everyone else had to wait for reinforcements to arrive. While fatalities had remained low so far, the Alliance was beginning to feel the pinch, and the locals were having to fill more and more gaps. But Equestria was overall a very peaceful place, and the members of the Pact weren't up to snuff against creatures born to fight.

This was a war of attrition the Alliance couldn't win. They needed an out.

"I believe that a frontal assault on the the Warboss's ship is still our best option." Captain Brogan stated. "Based on the files you've provided, if the Boss is killed, the WAAAGH! will quickly break up and retreat."

"No." The Inquisitor countered. "The bulk of the fleet is centered around his ship. Attacking it with our limited numbers would be a fool's gambit."

"What about using the sun and moon to smash them?" 'Valuum pointed out. "The Princesses have displayed great control of these celestial bodies, and the Kroozas haven't demonstrated much in the way of maneuverability."

"That's not a good idea." Numitor corrected. "Even if the alicorns were to agree to this - which we can't guarantee - the WAAAGH! still has enough firepower to destroy the sun and moon. Losing either would risk ravaging the planet, or perhaps even destroy the entire system, including both fleets."

"What about these so called 'Elements of Harmony'?" The Illusive Man asked. "Supposedly, these items have the power to exorcise demons and turn gods to stone. Perhaps we could use them to annihilate the fleet. And perhaps we should take a few for ourselves to study, find a way to use them without some useless primitives interfering with us."

"Excuse Me?" Twilight snapped. "And just who are you supposed to be, suggesting something like that?"

"Perhaps I should do some introductions." Shepard spoke up. "Ladies, this is The Illusive Man. He runs Cerberus, and is the guy who funded my mission, my ship, and my resurrection. He is not, however, the guy I take orders from."

"Pleasure to meet you." The hologram said politely. There's something off about this guy, Twilight thought. It wasn't just the weirdly colored eyes, or his voice, or the way he sat in the chair. No, there was a strange aura around that guy, even when he was just a figment of light. Maybe that was the reason why his hologram was off in the corner, while everyone else was giving him space (not out of fear, but out of the sense that people avoid someone with a cold in a crowded room).

"Sir," Shepard said with an edge, "Allow me to introduce you to the Equestrian Envoy: Trixie Lulamoon, personal student of Princess Luna; Rarity Belle, Element-Bearer of Generosity and survivor of a Dark Eldar raid; and Twilight Sparkle, Personal student of Princess Celestia, Element-Bearer of of Magic, and one of the most powerful telekinetics we have."

"Now that we have that out of the way," Trixie said rather angrily, "Let us clear up a couple of things right now. One, we are not some race of mindless creatures with cool abilities for you to study. We are the people everyone here is fighting to protect, the one ace in the hole we all have should something truly horrible go down."

"Two," Rarity continued, "We can't make more Elements. These are magical constructs, thousands of years old. Its not like they just grow on trees, with replacements given in little boxes." Trixie coughed, but Rarity continued. "They can only be used by myself, Twilight and our friends."

"And three," Twilight finished, "the Elements are not tools of destruction. They freed Luna from her oppression, and Discord was petrified. In both cases, the Elements didn't kill or destroy, but purified and imprisoned. We can't use the Elements to destroy an entire fleet. Further, from the files provided by the Inquisitor, the need for the Orks to fight goes down to the genetic level, and would be highly unlikely to work on them. And even if it did, it would only work on their spores which could maybe -maybe- water down their violent behavior. Either way, that won't help our situation now."

"Then what would you have us do, xeno?" Lt. Osburran said, sounding rather annoyed. "Everyday, our forces grow weaker and they grow stronger. We are four ships against 500, and 30'000 soldiers against over 750'000 monsters. Our reinforcements aren't coming for another month. If things don't change soon... we may have to start the Westeros Contingencies."

This raised some eyebrows among the non-Imperials. "What're those?" Shepard asked.

"They are plans recently given to us by the Emperor." Captain Gideon explained. "Should Equestria become undefendable, our new mission will be to evacuate the planet of its populace, and commit Exterminatus on the sun, destroying our enemies. Under plans Stark, Lannister, Baratheon and Targaryen, We are then to make our way back to one of our home galaxies, or failing that, find a suitable system to establish a colony."

"We will know that time has come," Creighton explained, "when the Emperor says the phrase 'Winter is Coming' in the minds of all allied forces."

"Seriously?" Trixie scoffed. "We're already planning on abandoning the planet? I thought you men were the best warriors in your galaxies! Why are you so apt for turning tail like foals?!"

"Oh, you're one to talk!" The Inquisitor challenged. "Its not like your troops are dying left and right fighting for an ungrateful race!"
"No, its not. Its our families that are dying, our brothers and sisters, our friends and lovers. You are losing some soldiers, but we are losing everything!"

"Everyone, calm down!" Twilight ordered. "Arguing with each other won't solve our problems! Now, let's think about things rationally, and-"

"Alert!" Magos Kriel reported. "Abnormal readings being detected from Mass Relay."

"What?!" Everyone exclaimed. The meeting turned its attention to the display in the middle of the room. The Mass Relay was glowing brighter, as the circles around the reactor began spinning faster and faster.

"Commander," EDI reported over the radio, "I'm detecting five hundred fifty-six vessels approaching an exit vector to our location."

"Wonderful," Shepard cheered, "The Citadel finally got off their asses and showed up early for once. Now you guys are going to see what my world is like in action. Not as spectacular as some of your weapons, true, but still -"

"I hate to interrupt, Commander," The Illusive Man informed them, "But Cerberus operatives report that the fleet is still gathering up around Illium."

Shepard paused. A curious expression came across his face as it slowly dawned on him.

"Hold on," Rarity asked with confusion, "If your people are still gathering, then who else would use a Mass Relay?"

Then the ships began popping into existence in front of the Relay. They were long, thin things, with attachments that looked like legs sprouting out. They were forming a veritable swarm of vessels between the allies and the Orks. Everyone was silent, and all ships in orbit stopped what they were doing for that one moment in time.

And all across the comm channels, a strange, electronic chittering filled the airwaves.

"Geth? Here?!" Shepard exclaimed, dumbfounded. "But that's impossible. We converted all the heretic Geth, they should be free. What are they doing?!"

"There must be other heretic Geth bases out here." TIM concluded. "If the Collectors had three bases, the Geth would likely have more as well."

"Heretics, huh?" Creighton thought aloud. "Tell me, are they a tough enemy?"

"Compared to the Orks, perhaps not." Shepard conceded. "But they were a threat in my world, and will certainly complicate things here. We should be okay, though, if we stay out of the way..."

Meanwhile...

Mass Relay jump successful. Destination reached. All platforms and programs operating at maximum capacity. Warning! Anomalies detected.

Scanning... Analyzing... cross-referencing...

Anomaly #1: System consisting of unusually small yellow dwarf star and satellite in orbit around Garden World.

Anomaly #2: Approximately 504 vessels are stationed above Garden World. One SSV Normandy detected.

Initiating contact sequence with other vessels... Greetings. We are Geth. Identify yourselves.

OI! WHOSE ON DIS CHANNEL?! WOTS DA MEENIN' O DIS?!

Repeating contact sequence... We are Geth. Identify yourselves.

WE 'ERD YOU DA FIRST TIME, GIT! DIS BE WARBOZZ CURBSTOMPA, MIGHTIEST O' ALL DE ORKS! WOT'S YO' BUSINESS 'ERE?!

Responding... We seek the termination of SSV Normandy. We have no conflict with you.

WOT? YOU DON' WAN' TA FOIGHT US?!

Negative.

WHY?! YOU TOO GOOD FER US?!

Formulating response... negative.

THEN WHY DON' YE FOIGHT US?!

We did not come for you, Curbstompa, Warboss. We were sent for the Normandy.

I AIN'T 'CURBSTOMPA WARBOZZ'! I'S WARBOZZ CURBSTOMPA!

Move aside, Curbstompa, Warboss. This does not concern you.

ITS! WARBOZZ! CURBSTOMPA! SAY IT WRONG AGAIN, I KRUMP YE GITS LIKE TIN CANS!

Curbstompa, Warbozz, this is your final warning. Move your ships, or -

DAT'S IT! BOYZ, EVERYONE FIRE ON DA NEW GUYZ! SHOW 'EM WHY NO ONE CROSSES WARBOZZ CURBSTOMPA N' LIVES!

...

All at once, Ork ships - followed almost immediately by the Geth - fired upon each other, Dakka and lasers and missiles and mass accelerated rounds flying fast and furious. Within the first 30 seconds, over a hundred ships on both sides had been blown up, adding to the growing field of orbital debris.

"Oh, Shit!" Everyone exclaimed, as the battle started up again.

"Everyone, evasive maneuvers!" Captain Lema quickly ordered. "Let's get some cover!" The other captains quickly gave similar orders to their ships, and together the small flotilla began heading behind the moon.

"Captains," TIM asked quickly, "why are you retreating? Surely you have enough firepower to take out the Geth?"

"Man," The Inquisitor snapped, "there is almost a thousand ships out there fighting each other. We are only four, with most of our troops groundside. Emperor willing, we'll be able to hold onto our territories for Him to resurrect and fight them. Otherwise, it would be prudent to let these 'Geth' take a whack at the Orks, and see what they're made of..."

1 hour later

The Crystal Empire

"This is the best job ever." Spike declared with proud finality, as he snapped his helmet into place.

"I'll admit, Spike," Cortana complimented over the coms, "you look rather impressive."

The dragon couldn't help but smile at that. Here he was, part of a squad with the Master Chief, Legion, Cpl. Faber, Grunt and Jack, along with a dozen others on an assault of an Ork base near the Crystal Empire. Spike himself was no longer a little baby dragon, a sidekick to all his friends and family. He was a dragon astartes, upgraded by the Emperor Himself into an unstoppable warrior of awesomeness. He went through a trial by fire against the likes of the Dark Eldar, and came out a victorious champion. The Orks wouldn't know what hit them.

He was still in the armor from that fateful night, now customized to match his uniqueness. It now shown with green and purple, with trims of gold and black and blue. The helmet had been given a muzzle for his extended jaw, and a tail and wing holes had been added for comfort. Spikes and spines had been added along the back, adding to the draconian look.
His body too had been changed. His body shrank a tad after the fight, but he remained at the same height as a pony - the days of riding Twilight were done. His scales and bone, already strong enough to break rock and survive lava, were now stronger than the adamantium he wore. His teeth were longer, his claws sharper on demand, and he had the strength to fly himself and armor across the battlefield.

The humans had given him a new name; The Salamander - a name shared with massive dragons, and a mighty legion of Space Marines. Can't get a greater compliment than that.

"Everyone ready?" Chief asked. He was answered with a series of "yes", "affirmatives" and "hell yeahs". "Alright, let's move out."

To the tune of Shoot to Thrill, the door to the Pelican they ride in opens up, revealing a cold and snow-covered landscape, with a city of reflective rock just below them. Everyone drew their weapons as anti-aircraft fire shot this way and that, striking some shuttles but mostly missing their mark. The Pelican rapidly descended, stopping a few feet above the ground. The team jumped off, scanning the area for any hostiles, but finding it bare.

"What a quaint little city this is," Cortana mused briefly, before instructing, "The Gargaunt station is a few blocks north of here. Maybe a couple of dozen hostiles manning the place. Can't get a positive reading, though: the magical radiation here is five times the ambient level. Its messing with the sensors and all comlinks. Better stay within range, Chief."

"Everyone, form up." The Spartan ordered. "Legion, head up to the top of those buildings, keep an eye out for us."

"Affirmative." The robot responded, and began running off for the tallest building.

"Faber, Jack, you two stay in the back, hit them hard with your rockets and biotics."

"Emperor willing." The Guardsman confirmed.

"'Bout fucking time I got some action." The convict complained. "I was getting bored being stuck on that damn rust bucket."

"Spike, you and Grunt will be up front with me. Blast anything that crosses your sights."

The Krogan and Dragon pulled out their weapons - a machine gun turret and an Astartes plasma gun, respectively - stepping next to the Spartan with his M739 Light Machine Gun, or "SAW". With everyone in formation, and the robot rapidly reaching his post, the team began heading in the direction of the Ork base.

Crystal ponies were running past the team and out the city. Now that Alliance troops were here ("under authority of Princess Cadence", or so they claimed), their opportunity to escape their former enslavement had arrived, and everypony was fleeing for their lives, Crystal Heart or not. The team let them pass, giving them plenty of room and staying close to the walls.

Legion reached the top of a building just as the team was rounding a corner down the street from the base. The greenskins were arguing amongst themselves about who would get the new Stompa when it was finished, or if Gork was better than Mork, or whatever else it is that Orks fight about. The biggest one of the bunch sat in the middle of everything, wearing a pirate hat while drinking a Bloody Mary - most likely made from actual blood.

"Location reached." The construct announced. "Cover secured. Proceed with caution."

"Roger that." Cortana replied. "Alright boys, you're up."

Chief gave the signal, and the team advanced. Legion fired at the Nob, aiming for the eye. The bullet wasn't enough to blow the head off, but it was small enough to go through the eye and bounce around inside his skull. It also helped that it was an incendiary round, burning the brain as it went along. The Nob spazzed out of his chair, twitching on the ground as he died.

Faber and Jack used their rockets and Warp abilities to take out the sentry towers, causing them to crash into each other, forming an archway above the main entrance. As Orks started realizing what's going on, Chief, Grunt and Spike let loose with their bullets and plasma, taking down several within the first couple seconds.

"Move!" He shouted, and the squad ran forward, shooting their way into the base. Their destination - the giant hangar in the center, where the Mechboyz were building a new Gargaunt. Once inside, they'd use the titan to blow up Ork installations around the city, and then cause a self-destruct sequence. All they had to do was shoot their way through several dozen more giant green monsters with guns and clubs. No problem, right?

It might very well have been, if it hadn't been for the robot interlopers.

Legion was the first to notice, hearing the incoming chatter from the transports. "Alert!" He warned. "Incoming Hostiles detected. IFF transponders register as 'Heretical' Geth."

"Huh? 'Heretical'?" Spike asked aloud as he engaged in a swordfight.

"Yeah, annoying shits." Jack said, making an Ork levitate before shooting it in the face. "Somehow, they thought working with the Reapers would spare them, and they sided with this guy called Saren, and the Reaper Sovereign. They fought humans, there was a huge battle at the Citadel, and we kicked their asses."

"I wouldn't worry about them." Grunt scoffed as he ran out of bullets and began swinging his turret like a hammer. "As long as they don't deploy any Primes or Armatures, we'll be fine."

A spaceship passed overhead, and several drop pods came crashing down around them. From these pods, Geth troopers, several Primes and Juggernauts, and even a massive Armature, emerged with weapons at the ready, chittering in lightspeed binary.

"How 'bout that?" Jack observed. "Speak of the devil, and here he comes."

The Orks, Geth and Alliance soldiers looked at one another, appraising and awaiting their opponent's moves. Things were quiet, as if the city itself were holding its breath. It was just as quikcly broken when one Ork shouted, "YAY! MOAR GITS TA KRUMP!" The other Orks cheered, and charged the puny robots.

"Great, more for me to kill!" Grunt also exclaimed, as he grabbed hold of a Prime and made it shoot into the crowd of machines and aliens. The accelerated pellets tore through the other Geth, but for the more formidable xenos, it did as much damage as paintballs would do to a normal person - it bruised, it drew blood, it stung, but overall it just made them angry. Well, angrier, anyway.

Some of the larger Geth troops were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with their equally sized green counterparts. While Primes and Juggernauts were strong, the Orks were living avatars of power. Metal caved under fists, cooling liquid was spilled as limbs were torn, and flashlights were smashed under boots.

The Armature, however, was much more successful. When it fired its rockets, each shot would get a kill, blasting them apart when it hit dead on. It wasn't very fast though, and that made it a tempting target for an Ork to jump at.

A lesser Nob grabbed hold of one of its legs, pulling on it as if to lift it up. Spike, seeing this, holstered his gun and grabbed the other leg. When asked about it later, he couldn't say why he just didn't shoot them, but he felt his instincts made him grab the machine, and engage in a game of tug-o-war with the alien.

"OI!" The monster shouted. "LET GO A DIS! DIS 'ERE SPOIDER-TING BE MINE!"

"No," Spike countered, "You big green booger! You can't have it!" The dragon reached down inside, fueling his strength with his natural greed and rage.

"LET GO, YA BIG PURPLE LIZARD!"

"SPIKE... WANT!"

"NO, FACECRUSHA WANT!"

The Armature buzzed in binary, basically saying, The hell is this?! Let go of me!

Chief, witnessing this odd sight, rolled behind the Ork, and fired his gun into its knees. Losing all support from his legs, the alien crumpled, and Spike used all his strength to lift the robot and Ork still holding onto it. He began spinning, whirling them around in the air as the monster berated him for cheating. When he reached full speed, he released, and the duo crashed into the crowd of machines and monsters.

"Goddamn!" Jack swore, smashing a Prime into a Nob, "Who pissed in his Wheaties? He's like a combo of Godzilla, Wolverine and a Spartan!"

"You mean Space Marine." Faber corrected.
"No, I meant Spartan. I don't see any yellow or blue 'ass-tard-ees' around here, and Chief has been doing twice what they've done."
"I think the Space Marines would beg to differ. They were made by the Emperor Himself, have had thousands of years of combative training and experience, and have saved the Imperium countless times."
"And how many have done that individually?"

"In fairness," Legion interrupted, shooting a ammo container and making an explosion, "the Imperial Fists and Ultramarines have totaled 4'693 kills, with only 7 casualties. John, Master Chief has made 956..." SPLAT! "957 kills. John, Master Chief, do you have any input for this conversation?"

"I! Don't! Care!" He snapped, punching in the face of a Mechboy. He didn't understand why people had to compare and challenge the combat capabilities of different fighting forces. His fellow Spartans were as different from the Astartes as a knight was to a samurai. Different methods, different enemies, different worlds made comparisons impossible to do quantitatively. Besides, he was sure that if all the Spartan IIs and IIIs got together for a mission, they could be just as successful as any one Legion.

"Heads up, boys and girls," Cortana announced, "we've got a crashing spaceship heading our way."

The team looked up to the sky. A Geth spaceship was indeed incoming - a flaming hole in its center, already starting to break apart. On the plus side, when it lands, it'll destroy the Titan. Along with everything else within a quarter mile.

"I think now would be a good time to leave." Faber observed.

Spike, momentarily snapping out of his rage, spots a Warthog that had been "orkified" - painted red, given spikes and horns, four extra turrets added to the sides for MOAR DAKKA!, stuff like that. "Hey guys, come over here." Spike told them over the coms. "I found a ride. It looks big enough for all of us."

"What about Legion?" Grunt reminded them.

"This unit is far enough away to survive the impact." The Geth agent answered. "You can pick this one up when you reach it."

Not needing any encouragement, the team evaded bullets around them, and reached the car as Spike manned the turret. Grunt, Faber and Jack jumped into the extra seats as the Spartan got into the driver's seat. Chief was starting up the car when he was violently ripped from his spot, dangling up in the air and face to face with the monster whose face he broke.

"WHO DA YOU FINK YOU IS!" It shouted, "OI AIN'T SUM COMMON GRETCHIN TA PUNCH AN' TOSS ASIDE! OI'S AN ORK, AN' OI'M -"

BAM! Ch-chic!

"-dead." John finished, a shotgun extending from his hand into the alien's mouth - now complete with a back entrance. In what must've been less than a second, he had pulled out the shotgun from his back, circling it around in front of him, shoved the gun into its giant mouth - pushing the pump of the gun with its lower jaw - and blasting the back of its head out in a visceral spray. He dropped down to the ground as the Ork fell, casually holstered his gun, and got back in the car, driving away as everyone - Spike included - stared in awe.

"Spartan Time." He told them, saying it like it solved everything.

I could do something like that... I think. Spike thought enviously. The others nodded sagely. A giant armored man with a quickdraw faster than the blink of an eye wasn't the strangest thing they've been through lately.

They drove out of the base, passing by the building Legion was at. The machine jumped off, aiming for the moving car. Spike reached out his arm as far as he could, and the Geth agent grabbed hold just before crashing into the ground. "You're welcome." Spike said happily enough, not expecting the robot to say any gratitude but not demanding it either.

Behind them, the Geth ship crashed into the Gargaunt's hangar, breaking both apart, and causing a chain of explosions along the base and its section of the city. A massive plume of blackened smoke rose into the sky, and bits of metal rained all across the crystal towers.

"At least it took a lot of Orks and Geth with it, thank Celestia." Spike conceded, reclining back in the turret seat.

"Negative." Legion said. "Upon destruction of a platform, Geth automatically get uploaded into a central hub, where they then await reinsertion and redeployment."

"Wait, seriously?" Spike asked, dumbfounded. "We have monsters that make more monsters when they die, and machines that get new bodies when they die. How are we going to fight enemies like that?"

"Simple." Cortana solemnly told them. "Have them fight each other, protect the civilians, and stay out of the way..." No one else said otherwise as they drove out of the city, and into the frozen wastes...

And out there, a column of black smoke watched humorously with red-green eyes, laughing at this interesting twist of fate... and far behind him, a far more menacing laugh could be heard, full of madness and loathing, coming from a grin-stretched mouth with far too many teeth in it...

Author's Note

Author's Note: Yes, the conversation between Jack, Faber and the team is referring to the debates between Spartans and Marines - or more specifically, Spartan-117 and the Marines. Make of it as you will. *shrug*

Also, the whole "Westeros Contingency" thing was written 'round the time, the family and I went through the first two seasons of Game of Thrones, and is related to a couple of alternate worlds posted on the Peace and Isolation Forum. Don't worry though, these aren't going to be a major thing, and probably won't be mentioned storywise again.

Ch. 8.1 - Chaos Rising

Chapter 10 (part 1)
Chaos United

"I feel it deep within, its just beneath the skin,
I must confess that I feel like a monster!
I hate what I've become, the Nightmare's just begun,
I must confess that I feel like a monster!
- Skillet, "Monster"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fall of the Changelings

"Those bastards came on us like a pack of wolves. They tore us limb from limb, slashed us with razor whips, shot us with poison bullets. And those that they didn't kill, they threw into bags and took to the gods know where. But when she came in… that bitch in Princess's clothing… no matter what happened during the Wedding, our Queen didn't deserve the punishment she got…" -Kuno, highest ranking survivor of former Hive Chrysalis

The Hive of Queen Chrysalis
Day 14 of Equestria War

Queen Chrysalis brooded on her throne, pondering her future with the arrival of the star people and the war that followed. It had been several months since the fateful events of the Wedding, and her children were still licking their wounds following the return to the Badlands. Equestria hated her kind, she was kicked out of the Pact, and most importantly in her mind… Shining Armor had scorned her, leaving her for that skank Cadence.

What was she to do now? For all their talk of love and tolerance, the ponies were secretly a spiteful, xenophobic lot. If you betrayed their trust, heaven help you in ever getting it back. Her people were still getting the love they needed to live, but breeding with each other could only provide so much sustenance before it became watered down - changelings couldn't produce enough of the "magical" love to sustain themselves for long, and what little they could tasted like recycled feces. Perhaps she could send some spies into these "hoo-min" groups everypony's been talking about…

There was an explosion off in the distance, echoing around in the tunnels of the hive. The queen perked her head, trying to find the source. "What was that?" She wondered aloud. She got off the throne, just as a drone came into the grand hall.

"My queen!" He shouted, "My queen! Monsters have broken into the Hive! They're killing everyone, there's so much blood! Save us from-"

Another explosion happened at the doorway, blasting a bigger hole and sending the changeling flying and splattering into a wall. Out of the smoke came a trio of strangely armored hominids with strange looking guns, taking a formation around the breach. Chrysalis took a defensive stance, readying her magic for battle.

"My my," A voice sneered, "what a filthy little place you've got here, Bug Girl."

Out of the dust and smoke, a jet black alicorn strode confidently in. She wore armor more appropriate for an astartes than a pony, much of her body covered in spiky and cobalt-colored metal. Her wings had feathers as sharp as blades, and her ethereal mane and tail glittered with a thousand stars and galaxies and nebulas. Her eyes were slit like a lizard, and her toothy, fanged smile stirred a primal fear within the Queen.

"Luna?" Chrysalis gasped, her eyes wide with shock.

"You wish, slut." She fired a blast from her horn, sending the changeling crashing into a wall. Several Druchii peeled away from the observing group, desiring to exact their pleasures on the bug creatures rather than watch what would be an obvious smack down.

Chrysalis tried to stand up, but was stopped by the constricting rings she felt on her legs. With a flick of a foreleg, she was tossed to the other side of the room… and then back again… and then up to the ceiling. The daemon released her hold of the changeling, and she fell some distance before her wings kicked in, keeping her aloft.

She gathered up her power, firing a blast from her crooked horn at the invaders. The Nightmare promptly summoned a shield, and the blast ricocheted off in a random direction. In return, she fired a blast of infernal lightning at the queen, making a direct hit into her abdomen. Stunned, Chrysalis fell, slamming into the ground with a "THUD!"

Slowly, the daemon approached the changeling, as she gasped and squirmed for breath. Chrysalis was now being barraged by a cacophony of psychic screams of pain and fear. Through the hive mind, she could see her children become brutalized by the bastardly Dark Eldar. Some were pinned down and their virtue taken on the spot, while others were brutalized and tortured in manners unimaginable to her.

And for a select few, some of the Druchii had brought along disturbing looking brands - crafted into the shapes of different eight-pointed stars. Upon pressing the burning irons on their flanks, the changelings began to mutate, screaming in pain. Some turned blood red, and their chitin grew into long, serrated spikes. Some turned pink, certain "parts" growing or being added, their flesh turned raw and sensitive. Others turned green, the flesh rotting and melting off their bones, revealing growing pockets of pus and slime. And even more turned yellow, their mutations so random and sporadic that they no longer resembled changelings, but some blasphemous abominations from the depths of Tartarus.

Further out, Chrysalis sensed her children escaping, running into the hills and as far from these monsters as they could. She prayed for them - they may have seen everypony they knew die, but the future of her race depended on their survival.

Khazarni stood over the fallen, bloodied queen, mocking her. "Behold, 'fair queen'. Your empire has been broken, your people scattered, and I - Khazarni, Nightmare Moon, the Tyrant of all Dreams - stand ready for a killing blow. Tell me, where is your love now?"

Chrysalis, while frightened, remained defiant. "You may have beaten me, witch, but you won't be able to stop Shining Armor and Cadence, let alone-"

Nightmare Moon laughed derisively at the changeling. "My my, you must be as stupid as you are ugly, if you think they would help you. After you crashed their wedding, after they told you they wanted nothing to do with you, after you were banished from the Pact? No one trusts your people anymore because of your foolish crush."

Chrysalis tried to get back on her legs, her strength starting to return. "I know he still loves me. He said I was beautiful just the way I was!"

Nightmare threw the Changeling into a wall, ridiculing her defiance. "Then why did you turn into his fiancée?! If changelings are so sexy, why must they take the form of someone else? You insects are not but disgusting vermin, and you are their ruler as the Queen of Whores."

Chrysalis began to cry, but the daemon wouldn't stop. "You are a repulsive, blightful, pathetic little wench, whose lust is only matched by her grotesqueness and her retardation. I'm sure you would've made a wonderful Champion for Slaneesh... but alas, I already have one. Fret not though, my little worm, for I shall have use of you."

Khazarni planted a gloved hoof firmly on her neck, and floated out a piece of what could only be described as filth from a pocket in her armor. "You desire love for power, but no mortal can tolerate your presence, your treachery or your life. But there is one god who would love you in spite of your diseased-looking appearance. He would fill you with the lives of millions of organisms, and endure eons eternal. He would take away your Succubi nature, and teach you to feed on a much more common, much more potent emotion... Despair."

She pressed down harder, making her victim gasp for air. "You will say his name, wretch. If you desire life, you will pledge yourself to him. Give him your soul."

Chrysalis remained quiet, unwilling to bow to her demands.
"Say it."
She shook her head, still resisting.
"Say it!" The changeling shook her head harder. Nightmare Moon, getting fed up with her resistance, pulled out her cursed blade, and hovered it next to the vermin's throat.
"Say it, or I will end you and your pathetic race!"
Her will finally gave out, and the former queen screamed, "Nurgle, save me!"

Nightmare Moon shoved the filth into Chrysalis' mouth, and the changeling quickly began mutating. Her shiny, chitin-like fur turned dull and discolored. Ooze and puss began leaking out of every orifice and cut on her body, and her flesh became covered in cysts and tumors. And finally, her green eyes turned as black as scabs, and her tongue extended out as a long, salivating tentacle.

Khazarni proudly declared, "Behold, my subjects! Here lies the newest Plague Champion - Kazamon, Lady of the Flies!" She laughed triumphantly over the fallen queen, as the Dark Eldar watched the Chosen of Nurgle mutated into her new form.

Did they consider this madness? Were they having second thoughts of serving a monster, working for their old enemy? Perhaps. But they said nothing. Not during the corruption of the changelings too dumb, slow or loyal to leave. Not when they smashed eggs and stomped pupae, erecting signs and monuments to the gods they despised. Not when they marched out of the hive and into the desert, searching for stragglers. Not a word.

The Sound of Winter

"Always remember, foal of the Sun… The Dark King is Coming… With all his Glory, and all his Horror…" - Motto of the Crystal Empire, during the reign of King Sombra

The Crystal Empire
Same Day

The Crystal Empire used to be the heart of Equestria. Back in the early days of the Empire, the Crystal Monarch was considered the noblest and most powerful of leaders, and all tribes and nations idolized the city as the "city on the hill". Some even say its where the Royal Sisters were born, though they've kept mum about it for many millennia.

But that was before the dark times. Before Sombra came to power.

He became enraptured in the dark arts, reading cursed books and scrolls written before the Princesses and their sacred protector, tainting his mind with promises of daemons under his control, and all-powerful gods blessing his armies in battle. He swore allegiance to the dark gods, and for almost a year the North belonged to Sombra's chaos.

That is, until the alicorns and their Divine Boy-Toy got involved.

After Sombra had opened a ritual portal to the warp - in the hopes of gaining enough power to turn Equestria into his personal domain - the duo fought him in pitched battle. The dark unicorn, a sorcerer, not a fighter, promptly got his ass kicked, and had his body turned into an immaterial cloud of smoke. But not before he could banish the Crystal Empire for a thousand years in the warp… and allow one daemon to enter this world, which was the icing on the cake of payback.

And now here he was, the city back in Equestria, his power was coming back, the time had come to finally bring hatred and darkness back to this picture-perfect cesspool. There was only one problem: someone had beaten him to the punch. In the time of his absence, not only had the Pact become a powerhouse, but the alicorns had brought all manner of off-worlders to the planet, and they in turn brought their enemies to play their little wars on his turf.

But not anymore. Today, he was going to show these children why no one, pony, man or otherwise, intruded into the business of Sombra, Sorcerer of Tzeentch.

The ghostly warlock was heading for his old Ritual Dwelling when he felt himself pass through a patch of strange energy. This was confirmed when he slammed into an invisible wall within the patch. He cursed, realizing he had fallen into a ritual circle, and was trapped inside.

"Who dares entrap a Servant of Tzeentch?" He challenged. "Show yourselves, mortals!"

All around him, keeping at least twenty feet away from him, a dozen bipedal figures emerged from the blinding snow. They wore cloaks covered in the markings of Tzeentch, and spoke in tongues not meant for mortal mouths. They shivered in the cold, pathetic mortals interloping in his game, as if they were worthy of the Changer of Ways' attention.

King Sombra stood in the center of the circle, positively livid. "How dare you plot against the master of this realm!" He roared. "Do you know who I am, you dull creatures? I am Sombra, Master and Commander of the North! I, who held my own against the Alicorns! I, who bent the Wendigoes to my will! I, who fought the hordes of Hive Metamorphosis, and gave the Crystal Empire its title! I, who created Ni-"

"I wouldn't be too vocal about that last bit, 'O mighty king'." A robed figure stepped forward, removing the face of a griffon that covered her head. There stood Khazukull, her eyes as big and white as Madness Itself, a leery grin stretching literally ear to ear. She warned cheerfully, "Khazarni doesn't take kindly to schmucks trying to upstage her."

Sombra turned his attention to the stranger before him. The fell creature had made herself a coat of many people - griffons, minotaurs, Orks, ponies, even a Dark Eldar patch. Quite a design, all things said and done. "And who, pray tell, are you, monster?" He asked.

Khazukull giggled, proudly displaying her pointy and serrated teeth. "I am your new boss, Sorcerer." She explained. "The name's Khazukull, but my victims know me as 'Pinkamina', or 'Oh-my-god-please-don't-kill-me-AAAAGGGHHH!' The Ruinous Powers are gonna throw a little party here, and you're one of the guests of honor."

Sombra raised an eyebrow, then smiled. He condensed his form into what used to be his normal body, his blackened coat and reddened horn standing against the blinding white around him. "I always knew that Tzeentch would recognize my genius, and make me his Chosen. Truly there is no better schemer than I on this planet. Now, in order to beat the Prin-"

Khazukull snickered, and interrupted him quickly. "Sorry, Sombrero, but we already have a Tzeentchite Chosen. The daemon you 'created' oh so long ago is the brains of this outfit. And before you ask, we also already have a Champion for Nurgle and Slaneesh. The last one is me, by the way."

The Dark King's eyes went wide, and he backed away from her to the farthest edge of the circle. "No, no no no! I have served My Lord above and beyond any mere sorcerer of their galaxy. I corrupted a goddess and threw a nation into the warp! My mind and my magic are the greatest weapons against the false gods! I cannot acquiesce your request! I can't be a Khornate, I'm better than that!"

The daemon walked through the force field like it wasn't there, and Sombra felt himself get pinned to the snow with her otherworldly powers. "Nonsense!" She chirped, licking her lips vivaciously. "Your gods need you for that fourth spot, and by golly you're gonna FILL IT!"

Khazukull drew a knife hiding in her coat, and brought it to her hoof. "Don't worry, though, you weren't gonna be known for your brains, anyway. I saw how things went down without our intervention, and I gotta say, not that impressive. Buncha roaring, a crystal fetish, a 'scary door' and a shit-ton of stairs, and everypony will think you're the worst villain evers! You mind won't be remembered, but your rage, that sure as sugar will."

She dragged the knife down her foreleg, cutting deep into her flesh, making her squee in delight. Blood poured from the wound, slathering Sombra's face and mouth in red. The blood then promptly caught fire, burning his face. "RAAAAAAARRRRGH!" He screamed in pain.

The daemon cheered the process on. "That's the way, Somby! Know how no one took you for the threat that you are! Remember how your former master, the Changer of Ways, tossed you - his most valued subject - aside like a broken condom! Feel the hate well inside you for all those who wronged you on your quest for power… and let that anger become your strength!"

Sombra began transforming back into his ethereal form, but not in the same way. As he became smoke, the smoke burned, reverting itself into a pillar of fire, expanding outward until it blocked out the sky within the circle. Two red horns grew from the top of his face, and his face became black and charred. His teeth became elongated into massive saber-like fangs, the green of his eyes turned black, and the smoke that escaped the sides became weeping, burning tears of blood.

The Dark King raised his head to the heavens, and roared, "WAAAAARRRRGGHHAAA! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!"

Khazukull proudly held her knife in the air, and declared, "That's the spirit! All hail Khazkhali, the Fire of War! All shall face him and BURN! All shall fear the Chosen of Chaos, and despair unto their DEATH!" She cackled with mad glee as the pillar of fire flew about, roaring its infernal fury to all that could hear. The cultists went to their knees, singing praises to the new Khornate...

Meanwhile, far off in Canterlot, as three Princesses and an Emperor discussed the battles ahead, two psychic tremors could be felt, reverberating throughout the natural fields of the planet. Even with the gestalt field of the WAAAGH!, the sheer spikes of chaos energy was ever so slightly intermixing with the harmonic energy of the planet - generating magical storms, the positive and negative fields manifesting in Everfree-esque events, as the natural law of Equestria was turning on its head.

Adam lifted his hand up, curling it into a fist, testing his dexterity. Approving, he opened his mouth, and for the first time in thousands of years, he spoke aloud.

"Its Time."

Author's Note

Author's Note: That's right. Sombra is a Khornate (didn't see that coming ;) ) And Chrysalis is a Nurglite now (apologies to all the Chrysalis/Changeling fans), and Come next update (god knows when that'll be), Adam shall walk amongst the living. Ave Imperator, bitches!

Next update - Resurrection, or, Valdor's Adventure through the Warp. Starring: Valdor the Custode! Isha the last Eldar Goddess! Kairos Fateweaver, secret troll!
Guest Cameos (paragraph or less) by: Slaneesh, Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, the living Primarchs and Discord the Draconequus!

So, here's a quickie for you: What music do Berserkers listen to before going into battle?

They listen to KoRn. :trollestia:

Prologue: In the Woods

"This may be our birthplace, but we can't stay in the cradle forever."- Werner von Braun

________________________________________

Prologue: In the Woods

"As long as there is one man left to fight, and as long as our Emperor lives,

we shall not go quietly into the abyss…"

- Remembrancer Valernus, M.40. 891

"I can't believe he's dead." "Were it so easy."

- Lord Hood and the Arbiter, on the "death" of Spartan-117, end of "Halo 3"

People have trouble understanding the mechanics of the multiverse. Understandable, considering how complex one universe can be on its own.

A common misconception is the vastness of it. Since the average universe is in itself pretty empty, the Average Joe would believe the same thing applies to the multiverse: Large, large stretches of nothing between worlds. It's rather quite the opposite. The multiverse is jam-packed with different worlds, all bumping into each other like a mosh pit in a rave.

Likewise, people think a wormhole is like a long tunnel connecting world-to-world. But, really, it's more like a little hole drilled between the walls of two or more universes. And, considering the permeable nature of the walls, these "portals" pop up as randomly as they please.

This is what led to the creation of the mini-multiverse that we live in today.

It started a long time ago, in the year 3'000 B.N. (Before Nightmare Moon), or 30'000 A.D. In one of the human galaxies, the Emperor of Mankind had been mortally wounded during the Battle of Terra in the Horus Heresy, and His body was preserved and entombed on the Golden Throne. With His powers of Farsight, the Emperor saw the 10'000 years of slow decay that would befall Him and His people, the Imperium of Man. He could see every crime and defeat that would slowly destroy everything He had worked His almost eternal life for. And He was willing to do anything to avoid it.

So, He sent out a psychic broadcast, desperately asking anyone (or anything) that was willing to help, to free Him from His prison.

Who could've possibly thought that an answer would be given by two young god-children, just ascended to the throne themselves?

At this time, these young goddesses, Princesses Celestia and Luna, had just come into power in Equestria. These beings were alicorns, God-beings of the Ponies, undisputedly the kindest race in the multiverse.

They received the cryptic telepathic message from the Emperor; A galaxy torn by war, a species on the path to extinction, a God entombed and desperate to save them. Their hearts went out to Him, and they told Him they'd help.

After a long discussion, the sisters agreed on a solution: If they couldn't go and heal His old body, they'd make Him a new one on their world. Over the next several thousand years, the Princesses worked with the Emperor to make a new body, letting portions of his soul transfer over to "The Silver Tomb".

In exchange, the Emperor counseled the sisters on Statesmanship: Uniting all three races of the Ponies, imprisoning Discord rather than killing him, and even the thousand-year banishment of Luna when she was possessed by Nightmare Moon. And its was a combination of His psyker power and Celestia's magic that freed Nightmare/Luna, and got the new Elements of Harmony together.

However, not everything strange that happened here was His doing. 500 B.N. -or 983 A.D., if that's where you're from- a strange object appeared outside the star system, an object we now know as a "Mass Relay". Astronomers noticed it, and asked Celestia about it. The Princess went to the Emperor, and He couldn't identify it as Necron or Eldar make, the oldest races from His universe. When it didn't pose a threat, most ponies forgot about it.

Everything else happened as recorded on the now controversial "TV show" history of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". Everything, of course, until the second month after the Nightmare, when a discredited unicorn and a rejected griffon met up in a forest, and found something that would change their lives (and everyone else's) forever…

________________________________________

"She'll learn her lesson someday."

- Twilight Sparkle, after Trixie ran out of Ponyville, during "Boast Busters"

Everfree forest, Equestria

2 months after Elements found

11:45 P.M. (local time)

The once "Great and Powerful" Trixie ran through the forest, tears of embarrassment and shame going down her face.

It had only been 20 minutes since the Ursa Minor destroyed her mobile home, and the town rejected her. Only 20 minutes since that little purple unicorn saved the village, and proved conclusively (at least to Trixie, but probably to everypony else) that she was the best magician.

That she was… better than her.

She may not have known it, but Twilight Sparkle had shamed the blue unicorn, broke all shreds of ego, confidence, maybe even self-worth. It may seem a bit overdramatic, but if Trixie was anything (besides arrogant), it was dramatic. How else does a unicorn make a living as a stage magician without a little showmanship?

Her run came down to a canter, then to a full stop. She sat down on a stump, her breath coming in moaning sobs. She cursed those stupid boy unicorns -Who names their kids "Snips" and "Snails"? she thought angrily- who wanted to see her vanquish an Ursa Major. She cursed all those dumb mares, who thought they were better than her, and ended up losing every challenge presented.

But when it came to Twilight, Trixie found that she couldn't curse her. Out of all the ponies, she was the only one who didn't challenge Trixie. She didn't think she was better. She didn't want to beat her. She may have even felt sorry for her. And with that thought, the tears came back harder than ever.

After what seemed like a long time, Trixie calmed down just enough to hear someone else crying. She looked around with bleary eyes, and walked in the direction of the sobbing.

In a nearby clearing, in the same state of woe that Trixie was just in, was a brown-and-white griffon.

Trixie couldn't know from a few feet away, and maybe it was normal for griffons, but this one in particular seemed pretty butch. A somewhat deep, rugged (yet still feminine) voice, large and muscular, boyish feather-do, all pointed to it being a male. But from what Trixie remembered from biology class long ago, only females had the white head, hence being butch.

Not that it mattered, for in this moment Trixie had sympathy for her as well. She didn't know her story, but clearly she had been through just as much crap as she had. Although she didn't know what compelled her, Trixie came to within 5 feet of the griffon, and asked, "Hey, what happened to you?"

The griffon looked up with reddened, yellow eyes, and saw the very azure unicorn wearing a purple star-covered cape and wizard hat, her face tear-streaked like her. They held eye contact for a beat, and the griffon asked in turn, "Did Pinkie Pie send you?"

"Who?" Trixie thought she had heard that name in town, but it didn't ring a bell.

"What about Rainbow Dash? Did she send you to talk to me?" The griffon sounded a little more hopeful then.

"You mean the arrogant blue Pegasus back in town?"

"Uh-huh."

Trixie sighed, and took a seat on a rock next to the stump. "She definitely didn't send me. Nor did any of her friends, not that they would want to, after what I did."

The griffon cocked her head, as if to get a better look at the unicorn. "What did you do?"

"You know I asked you first."

The griffon sighed, then sniffed, and started her tale.

"Oh, I had just come into this lame-o town, looking for my old friend from flight school. I was thinking, 'Hey Gilda, it would be totally awesome to spend some time reminiscing and catching up with Rainbow Dash.' I go there, spend the night at her place, talking to the wee hours of the morning, have the best time I've had in years. But, lo and behold, she has other friends."

"This one in particular- Pinkie Pie, I think- just really, really annoyed the hell out of me, trying to get in on our time. I let her know in no uncertain terms that while I was there, it would just be RD and me. Looking back, I probably could've handled it better. Even so, I kept my eye on her from then on."

"When she threw me a party, I was a bit suspicious, which, now looking back, was my downfall. Me being me, I had to go and do everything that would make me look cool, and by doing so had a whole bunch pranks go off on me. Naturally, I got pissed off, blamed that pink pony for everything. The hell of it was that all those pranks were set by Rainbow."

"She got mad at me, for calling her new friends uncool, and said that she… didn't want me around anymore. And stupid, stuck-up me, I couldn't bring myself to apologize, so I called her a 'flip-flopper' and 'uncool', and ran out. So now, I'm out here, in a forest, with no friends or family, only having myself to blame."

Gilda had held her composure up until the last part. When she paused, her voice creaked, the tears came. By the time she finished, she was fully back into weeping. Trixie reached out and patted the griffon's wings, the only thing she could do. "Hey, hey," She comforted, "It's not all that bad."

Gilda stood up, indignant. "How?" She demanded, towering over the unicorn. "How is it 'Not that bad'?!"

"You lost a friend," Trixie countered, "But at least you had friends to begin with. I didn't."

Gilda again cocked her head, confused yet curious. Trixie, in turn, lowered hers. "I didn't have friends, just fans." She continued, telling her recent ordeal.

"I'm what you call a 'stage magician', arguably one of the best. The 'Great and Powerful' Trixie, I called myself. I traveled about, making a living going town to town, doing amazing tricks and pyrotechnics. I had everything I needed… until I came to Ponyville."

"In town, I already had something of a fan base, with these two stupid unicorn guys and other ponies. However, this group of mares had the idea that I was being a stuck-up showoff (which, honestly, I was). Naturally, I was offended, and I challenged them to beat me."

"An orange Earth pony did a couple of rope tricks, and I tied her up. Your pal Rainbow Dash did a couple of stunts, and I ended up spinning her into a tornado. This white unicorn manifested a beautiful dress out of nowhere, and I turned her hair green (that was pretty funny, actually). All the while, this little baby dragon was trying to convince this purple unicorn - Twilight Sparkle, I believe- to challenge and beat me. But every time I gave her the invitation, she'd back down and run away."

"I was on top of the world… until the Ursa Minor showed up."

"See, I made up this story about how I saved a town from an Ursa Major, to make myself look even more powerful than I actually was. Those dumb unicorns I mentioned earlier wanted to see me do it again, so they went to a cave and brought it into town. I tried to beat it the best way I could: tie it up, make a small thunderstorm to electrocute it, stuff like that. All it did was annoy it. I was certain we were all dead there."

"Then, out of nowhere, Twilight showed up. She was doing spells I've never seen before: causing wind to break reeds to make music, breaking a water tower and filling it with milk, and levitating both it and the Ursa Minor back into the forest. I saw her true power, and I realized that it was a good thing she never challenged me; there was no way I could've beaten her."

"Well, during the battle, the monster destroyed my house, shown me to be a fraud, and revealed who the best unicorn was. I knew the townsfolk were going to chase me out of town anyway, so I made one last boastful insult before making my getaway."

"So now, I'm here, sitting in a forest, no home, no way of supporting myself, telling my woes to you. The thing is, I may be mad at a lot of ponies -those colts, the mares, the townsfolk - Hay, even myself - But I can't be mad at Twilight. Out of all of them, she was the only modest one. The only one…who felt…sorry for me."

She held her composure longer than Gilda did, but her tears began falling halfway through the story, and at the end, her voice was nothing more than a hoarse squeak. Gilda wasn't very good with handling other people's emotions -hence her situation- but she understood Trixie's plight. She sighed, and mused, "Life's not easy for any of us, it seems."

The two of them sat in silence, listening to night sounds of the forests and a distant but growing roar far away. Gilda broke the silence. "You know what we should do?" She asked, to which Trixie could only shake her head. "Tomorrow, we should go back into town, and apologize to everypony about what we've done."

"Huh?" Trixie asked, confused. She didn't actually think that going back into town would be a good idea, did she?

"I know we've both done some stuff to make 'em all mad, but I've known ponies to be pretty forgiving about stuff like this. If we go back, and are genuinely sorry about what we've done, they'll take us back. It's as easy as one, two-"

She didn't finish, for the distant roar became much, much louder. Looking around, their eyes were drawn to the sky. Their jaws dropped to the ground at the sight. In the night sky, as bright as Luna's moon, was a shooting star; a bright red comet streaking across the dark abyss.

What made it different than other comets seen before was that they could hear it. The roar was a cross between the sound of the ocean, a mighty dragon, and a constant, unending explosion. It streaked across the western horizon, heading to the distant seas in a slow, gentle motion.

"Whoa, that's pretty damn cool. Have you ever seen anything like that?"

"The Great and Powerful Trix- I mean, I have never seen anything like that. I don't think anyone but the Princesses have."

As the two outcasts watched, a new development appeared. The comet began breaking apart, turning into a huddled mass of starry debris. They could hear a distant boom, indicating an explosion of some kind. But then they saw the strangest part: one bit of debris wasn't heading with the rest of the crowd. It had turned away, and steadily got brighter.

They realized in terror that the object was heading straight for them. Paralyzed by the wonder and fear, they held their spots as the thing got brighter and closer, and the air got warmer all around them. The distant roar became an unbearable blare, making them cover their ears as the thing entered the atmosphere.

Just before the object got to them, the griffon had enough mind to jump onto the unicorn, and hide behind the stump and rock. The burning object flew overhead, extremely loud and incredibly close. The air around them turned briefly into a furnace, actually singing their coats and clothes.

A hundred yards away, the thing landed with a mighty boom, felt just as much as heard. It dug into the ground, digging a trench that went most of a mile before stopping next to a rocky outcropping. The outside metal was so hot from re-entry that parts of the forest actually caught on fire.

The griffon and unicorn huddled in the shelter for most of a minute, before risking a glance up to see if they were still alive. Indeed they were in prefect shape, minus the slight singeing of manes and feathers. They chuckled nervously as they realized they just survived… whatever the hell that was.

They also realized quickly that Gilda was still over Trixie in a very suggestive position. They got off each other, again with the nervous laughter. Trixie was grateful no one saw that awkward moment. Gilda thought back as how this wasn't the first time she'd been over a pony like that.

"What the hay was that?" Trixie finally asked, as she looked down the trench to the fallen hulk.

"Don't know. Let's go find out."

Together, the two outcasts walked to the wreckage, past the burning trees and the ground-turned-to-glass.

The object itself was a completely metallic structure, easily bigger than any building in Ponyville. It may have been originally rectangular, but the re-entry took off all the pointy parts of it, making it well-rounded. A large, gaping hole opened a section, allowing the pair to enter.

A small generator must've still been running, as occasional sparks and emergency lights were still flickering on and off. It gave the place a further unnatural, creepy vibe- not that it didn't have one already. The wreck had landed almost level, but walking the corridors was still uphill and difficult. When the lights finally gave out, Trixie activated a light spell with her horn, leading the way into the center of the wreck.

After wandering around for a couple of minutes, the pair entered a large room labeled Cryo Storage.

"Why would they need a room for crying?" The Griffon asked aloud. "What are they, a bunch of big babies?"

"I don't think the makers of this were babies." Trixie said, matter-of-fact in light of this discovery. "'Cryo' is a scientific word for ice, or cold. We must be in something like a freezer or something." She pointed to one of the several drab containers around a central podium thingy. "It might have some food or stuff inside. Check it out."

It sounded like an order to Gilda, but Trixie herself went to the container. The front of the giant box was made of some kind of glass, but was heavily covered in dust and soot, so she couldn't see more than a vague shape inside.

She stood on her hind hooves, her full four-foot frame reaching out and wiping off the dust. Looking inside, she let out a small gasp of surprise.

The container held a massive suit of green and black armor, the chest plate at eye level to the mare. She wiped off more dust, and with Gilda's help she got a full picture of the suit. The thing would've stood around seven feet tall, and was bipedal. The suit looked like it was made for someone strong and athletic, based on its general shape. The whole suit, although battle-scarred, appeared seamless and perfect.

The one eerie thing about it was the helmet. It had an orange glass plate covering its face, completely polarized so you couldn't see inside. But when the girls looked at it, though, they felt like there was something (or someone) looking back at them.

"What is this thing?" Gilda asked, awestruck and a little fearful. This thing, for some reason, was one of the few things in the world that actually intimidated her.

Trixie looked around the storage unit, and found what looked like a control panel. She read aloud some of the specifics.

" 'Sierra-117, Master Chief Petty Officer. Status: Inactive, all conditions normal. Emergency Beacon activated. Date: Aug. 19, 2553.' Huh, I wonder what it all means?"

"Do you know anyone that can figure this out?"

"Not sure. The Princesses, maybe. Perhaps we could send one of them a message about this, if they don't already know."

"Maybe we could take this thing to 'em."

Trixie smiled, an idea growing in her head. "Yeah. And you know what? By us making this discovery, the Princesses will have to give us a bunch of honors and money and stuff for it. We'll be national heroes!"

Gilda laughed. "I like the sound of that!"

________________________________________

Over the next several days, the unicorn and the griffon set about salvaging the wreck. Gilda would collect all the trinkets and objects inside, and Trixie would categorize and catalogue them from least to most interesting. They worked feverishly, certain that this job would be their path to redemption and fame.

Every now and then, they would go to the main road, checking in on the wider world. One passing traveler told them that a massive comet that had crashed in the western sea, causing a large and destructive tidal wave. The pair figured it was from the large bulk of the wreck.

They also heard of all the adventures held in Ponyville, and had pangs of jealousy and regret. They didn't want to admit it, but they still wanted to be there, with their friends and ponies that rejected them. It was why they worked so hard; So they could be worthy of forgiveness.

On the fourth night, they attempted to get the container out. While fiddling to loosen it, two things happened. First, a small blue chip ejected itself from the central pedestal. Secondly, the computer warned them about not messing with the pod, as it may malfunction and fail, "terminating" the contents.

The pair took the chip -as it could've been important- and ignored the warning. Surely there was nothing alive in that thing. It was just a suit of armor, nothing more.

Unscrewing the thing from the floor, they began the long process of getting it off the wreck. Trixie used a lot of her power to levitate the object in the air, while Gilda flew and guided it through the corridors and rooms. The container had the maneuverability of a rock on fixed wheels, and bumped into a wall every 30 seconds.

After 2 long and laborious hours, the outcasts finally got out with their prize. "Damn," Gilda declared, "This thing is frickin' heavy." "I swear," Trixie hissed, "The Princesses better pay out for this stuff."

"Pay out for what, my little pony?" A voice inquired. The griffon and unicorn looked up, and were immediately on their knees in instant respect and watered-down fear.

Princess Luna, Goddess of the Night and co-ruler of Equestria, had arrived unnoticed and unannounced. She still hadn't obtained any staff or guards, but that allowed her to go anywhere she wanted with stealth and silence. Like the undiscovered crash site of an alien ship, for example.

Luna was tall; not as tall as her older sister Celestia, but still head and shoulders above the common herd. Her coat of midnight blue blended perfectly with the darkness around her, and her mane and tail blew gently in the cosmic wind, sparkling like the nighttime sky. Her teal eyes looked upon the scene with amused curiosity, and a gentle smile was on her face.

She didn't look imposing or all-powerful, but she didn't have to. The events with Nightmare Moon were still prevalent and fresh in the minds of Equestrians.

"P-P-Princess," Trixie stammered, "What're y-you doing h-here?"

"Oh," Luna said casually, walking towards them, "We are here to see what may have been left here from the comet a few nights before. We are quite sure thou hast seen it. Everypony in Equestria did."

She did a once-over of all the stuff they had collected. It was quite extensive. Luna's smile grew a little. "It doth seem that thou hast been busy, hasn't thee?"

"Why, yes we have, Princess." Gilda answered, a little put off that Luna was talking in some old, archaic dialect of Equish. "We've been… studying the wreckage, to see if there would be anything worth - I mean- worthy of you or your sister's interest."

"There may be something," Luna mused, still looking over everything, "There may be something." Mentally, she had already written them off as losers and charlatans (at least, that's what Celestia had informed her about them from Twilight's letters). Furthermore, the technology here, although probably quite advanced and helpful, wasn't what Equestria needed right now, and would probably go in one of Canterlot's basements, along with any other weird and bizarre thing that ended up on this world. Kind of a waste, really, but as the Emperor told them many years ago, Keep your subjects in ignorant bliss while you can, for once you leave the cradle your world, they'll never know true peace again.

Then her eyes fell upon the giant container. She had walked passed the still kneeling duo, and gazed upon the figure inside. There was something familiar about it. Bipedal, athletic-looking, encased in armor…

Encased in armor?!

The goddess's eyes went wide with recognition and surprise. Although she couldn't be sure about it just yet, one phrase popped into her head, echoing around like in a deep cave.

Space Marine. There's a Space Marine in Equestria.

She looked back at the wannabe treasure hunters, who were about to get up. Luna didn't give them a chance, as she made her eyes glow and used her Royal Canterlot Voice.

"TRIXIE LULAMOON AND GILDA OF RAVENPOINT!" She shouted, sending the girls back to cowering. She didn't want to do this, but she needed to give the importance of what she had to say. Using her wings, she held herself high in the air above them, and her horn summoned a mini thunderstorm for dramatic effect.

"Y-yes, your majesty?" Trixie whimpered. Why was she yelling at them? Had she gone evil again?

"YOU HAVE DONE A GREAT SERVICE TO YOUR PRINCESSES AND YOUR NATION! THIS PARTICULAR ITEM HOLDS CONSIDERABLE IMPORTANCE TO ME AND MY SISTER! BUT BEFORE WE CAN TAKE THIS RELIC, WE MUST GO TO CANTERLOT TO OBTAIN SECURITY FOR PROPER ESCORT!"
"THERFORE, WE ARE ENTRUSTING THEE FOR WATCHING OVER ALL THESE COLLECTIVE ITEMS UNTIL WE RETURN! THOU CAN WATCH OVER AND PROTECT THESE TRINKETS, CAN'T THOU?"

"Um… yes?"

"EXCELLENT. WE SHALL RETURN ON THE 'MORROW! FARE THEE WELL!"

Then, with a bright flash of light, the Princess of the Night teleported back to Canterlot, leaving Gilda and Trixie scared and befuddled.

Early in the morning, as Celestia was raising the sun, Luna came to her and told her sister of the discovery in the forest. Realizing the implications, the sun goddess gathered a group of royal guards to go secure the sight. Luna went with them, watching over the whole operation, while Celestia had to take a quick detour to Ponyville.

She was supposed to have a party in her honor there, but because of the unforeseen developments in the forest (and local issues with a parasprite infestation), she convinced Twilight Sparkle and her friends that she had to go to Fillydelphia for something. The parasprites that entered the site were quickly atomized by Luna's night-magic. Loathsome creatures, parasprites were; they ate everything and were quite disgusting, like locusts.

When Celestia finally got to the site, everything was already collected. The Princesses used a substantial teleportation spell to take all the items, guards and local outcasts back to the capital. Later on, the wreckage was blown apart and buried, so nopony would ever find out.

________________________________________

The next day, while Trixie and Gilda stayed in a royal suite, Celestia and Luna took the container (which they had also turned into stone, keeping it frozen just in case the human inside was still alive), and teleported themselves to the lowest level of the castle's basement. This level hadn't been used in over a thousand years (by mortals), and was only known to the Princesses. This level, if it were properly named, would be called "The Silver Tomb".

The three of them appeared in its largest room, the most important by far.

In the middle of the room was a massive bed, lined with magic-saturated, life-giving silver. It was 12 feet by 6 feet, big enough for a dozen ponies (or both the sisters). But it didn't hold any pony.

Lying in the bed, surrounded by a golden aura, was a 9-foot tall giant of a man. Most of his body was covered in a white cloak, but his face and hands, which weren't covered, would've been called absolutely perfect. The only flaw he had were his eyes: they hadn't been finished yet, and glowed with a brilliant golden light.

Here lay the unfinished body of the God-Emperor of Mankind.

Greetings, 'Tia and Luna, The god said telepathically, His body not operational yet. I see that you've brought me a guest today.

The sisters smiled, always happy to be with their oldest friend, impressed everyday by His developing visage and form. Celestia was probably the tallest pony in Equestria (around 6 feet at the top of her head, 7 feet with her horn), yet she always felt small when near Him. Whatever bright aura that she could manifest around her was nothing to what the constant golden light He made. And while their magic was usually more complicated and intricate, He had enough power and experience to do everything they've ever done a thousand times over.

Yet He had never once been boastful, arrogant or hard to be around. He never raised His voice to them, and handled even the most painful parts of their work with grace and patience. He seemed to have the nicest, kindest personality they've ever known. The very definition of good, as it were.

"Indeed we have, Adam." Celestia told Him, referring to the Emperor's birth-name (He was their friend, not their leader. Why would they call Him their Emperor?), "I was hoping you'd be able to identify him for us, if you'd be so kind."

The Princess of the Sun levitated the pod to within the Emperor's eyesight, and held it there. They could feel the other god look upon it, going through His massive memory banks. After a minute, the Emperor's response was both satisfied and unfulfilled, confused and curious.

Hmm.

"Doest thou recognize him, Adam?" Luna inquired, still used to talking in the old Equestrian dialect. Being stuck on the moon for a thousand years does that.

I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with this one. He apologized. I can say that, while human, this man is neither Imperial Guard nor Adeptus Astartes.

The sisters exchanged a surprised look. Usually their old friend had an answer for everything. He had been alive for almost 50'000 years, after all. Why was He drawing a blank now? "Are you sure he's not a newer variation or something?" Celestia couldn't think of anything else to say.

I admit, there are some similarities. The color scheme is akin to the Guard, and the armor is along parallel lines with the Marines. However, Guardsmen don't wear full body suits, and this one doesn't have the proper musculature for any Legion. Not to mention the armor itself has more circuitry in it than anything outside a tech-priest. Remember, I'm still fully aware of all operations of my Imperium, and I'd recognize him as Inquisition work or a Forge-world prototype.

"Of course. We've never doubted thy word on th…your people." Luna caught herself from saying "thy" twice. Again, she's learning. And, if anything, it was Adam's idea to try learning the modern vernacular, as complicated as it was.

Pray tell, where did you find this one?

"In the partial wreckage of that starship we told you about." Celestia put in. Adam observed over the millennia that Celestia always had to appear right or knowledgeable, even if that occasionally meant showing-up her sister. Must be a sibling thing, Adam mused inwardly, so they couldn't hear Him. He wouldn't know about that, as He was an only child; His spirit was created in 8'000 B.C., when the souls of humanity's last shamans had combined in the Warp to form one eternal guardian for Mankind. That doesn't really leave much room for siblings or family.

Returning to the conversation, Adam continued,Ah, yes. Quite interesting. I'm surprised he managed to survive the crash, even with suspended animation. He must be quite the lucky one, almost like a Space Marine.

"I'd say. Destiny has definitely marked this one."

Also, what is the date of this warrior?

"The container said the year 2553."

Strange. We didn't have Cryo storage or full body armor like this way back then. He was quiet for a second, and then continued, You know, I'm not sensing any residual magic or Warp energy on him. I don't think he's from either of our universes.

"You mean he's another Outsider? Like the Object beyond the moon?"

Quite so, although I'm not sure that he is from same world as that thing. I believe it's quite possible that we may have become some sort of magnet for the multiverse, collecting all kinds of lost things.

"Regardless, you wouldn't mind if we placed him with you here, would you?"

Not at all. It gets quite lonely down here sometimes. This was accompanied by a chuckle, which all three gods joined in. Gods in general are used to loneliness, and learn to make due with any companionship they can find in their immortal years.

One more thing, The Emperor continued, Who were the ones to find this man?

"T'was Gilda of Ravenpoint and Trixie Lulamoon," Luna answered, "Two outcasts from the town of Ponyville."

Celestia remained silent. Brooding, pouty silent, not nothing-to-say-on-the-subject silent.

Something troubling you, 'Tia? The Emperor inquired. He always called her by her pet name, rather than her full name or "Celly", as her sister did.

"These two have had… interesting interactions with my star pupil and the Elements of Harmony."

Have they, now? Somehow, the Emperor found this quite intriguing.

"Yes," Celestia answered hesitantly. "The Griffon had almost broken their friendship, and the unicorn had harassed them and almost destroyed the town. And when I came in to collect the unit here, they were arrogant enough to ask for a reward."

Mortals are like that, sometimes. Although you always gave me the impression that most of your people were beyond that.
"In fairness," Luna put in, "They did seem repentant, and also wanted to apologize to the girls afterward, if given the chance."

Fine. Do they have any talents?

The Princesses were unsure why their old friend was taking an interest in these two. "Gilda is one of the fastest flyers in the world, and Trixie does have quite a bit of magical talent. She said she used to be a stage magician or something like that."

Again, the Emperor was quiet, contemplating. After a moment, he told them his idea. When he finished, Celestia deadpanned, "You're joking, right?"

I rarely joke, 'Tia. You know that.

She sighed. "I guess I can see the logic in your plan. I'm just not sure if Twilight and her friends will be happy about it."

They don't need to know about it. Not until everything is done and ready.

Celestia began building power for a teleportation spell. "I'll make the necessary arrangements, then."

Of course. Please keep me posted.

The room got brighter as the spell began to activate, an aura growing around the sisters.

Oh, and Luna.

The Goddess of the Night looked back at the God of Humanity.

It's good to have you back.

Perhaps it was the growing light, but He could've sworn Luna's cheeks became a little red.

"It's… good to be back, Adam." She smiled and sounded like the little filly he first met thousands of years ago.

In a bright flash, the Princesses were gone, leaving the Emperor with the frozen warrior.

Well, Luna was acting a little strange there. He thought humorously, chuckling to himself.I wonder if she… No, she wouldn't. We've known each other since she was a child. I'm practically a father to her. She wouldn't be-

Before He could dwell further on the subject, He received the battle reports of Medusa V back on Terra. He returned His massive soul's attention to this, and went back to work on the chair.

________________________________________
The plan, simply put, was to reward the outcasts.

First, they were made to never speak of what they found. National Security reasons, they understood. Couldn't give away top secrets to spies and stuff, right?

Second, they were given a house in Canterlot, and a pension for "Aiding the Princesses" (AKA hush money, to not brag to everypony they meet).

Third, because of their talents, they were entered into the elite groups to learn and train. Gilda trained with the Wonderbolts, the best fliers in Equestria. Trixie went under Luna's tutelage, learning all the finer points of Illusion and Conjuration (Night Magic).

Finally, they were not allowed to talk or interact with Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash or their friends. Steps were taken to ensure this; RD was never accepted into the Wonderbolts, even when she could pull off a Sonic Rainboom on demand (as Gilda was an honorary member), Twilight hardly ever saw Celestia or Luna (as they were teaching Trixie), and neither of the duo were allowed to go to the Grand Galloping Gala or any other major social event (all the Mane Six went to the Gala, and Rarity was in Canterlot often, selling her various clothing lines).

For almost two years, even after the Discord Incident, Trixie and Gilda didn't leave Canterlot. They trained and worked, waiting for the day they could go back to Ponyville. They continued to hear of their exploits of the Elements, and felt regret eat away at them for missing out on the action.

One day, They promised, We will go back. We will make amends, we will redeem ourselves. One day, we shall be forgiven.

What they didn't know, however, was that the day they would go back to Ponyville would be the day their world would start changing forever…

Ch.1- VIPs, God-Figures and Redemption

Chapter 1: VIPs, Deities and Redemption

________________________________________

"In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future, there is only War…" -WH40K Intro

Year M.42.001 (11'000 years after Horus Heresy)

Solar System, Imperium of Man

Above Holy Terra, onboard Emperor's Wrath (Dreadnaught)

Thought of the day: From the smallest point of Light, Hope springs forth.

Miles below, in the mountain range once called the Himalayas, was the Imperial Palace, heart of the Imperium. In the depths of the Palace was the Golden Throne, which held the physical remains of the Emperor, Heart of all Humanity. While the body decayed, and the machine began to falter, His soul stayed trapped in His mortal form to guide mankind through its darkest hours.

Or so it was thought.

But now Inquisitor Creighton and every Astropath in the galaxy knew otherwise.

Approximately one Terran week ago, the Emperor broadcasted a message through the Astronomicon, which was sent out to every Astropath and Astral Choir, onboard every ship in the Imperium. The message was this:

Children of Humanity, do not be afraid. This is your Emperor speaking. Hear my words and take heed, for I bring news of great joy for all Mankind.

While my body on Terra has fallen to Entropy, I have found a way to avoid my eventual death. In the 10'000 years that I have been imprisoned, I have made contact with the Gods of a race of xenos unlike any I've ever experienced. These beings- who have reached out to me not with deceit or malice, but with peace and friendship- have helped me create a new body for me to inhabit.

And now, my body is almost ready.

I am requesting one ship -one ship, not an entire fleet, as you will want to do- to come and pick me up in my new form. The coordinates and path through the Immaterium are being given to every Astral Choir receiving this message. I await your arrival, Children of Mankind.

Now, Inquisitor Mendel Creighton, along with everyone else in the Inquisition, originally believed that it was a hoax; a lie by Tezeentch, the Chaos God of Magic, to lead humanity into a false hope. The one thing that proved that theory wrong was this: Every Single Astropath in the Galaxy had the same message, sent via the Astronomicon. Only the Emperor himself could do something like that, on that magnitude.

When the message was proven to be genuine, this led to another problem: Every available starship was volunteering to find the God-Emperor. Creighton sighed and rubbed his head, remembering the process of selecting this particular ship out of the thousands that offered. He'd rather fight off a horde of Orks than go through that again.

The Inquisitor stood about 5'9, with gray hair and dark green eyes. He wore the typical uniform for an Inquisitor Xeno, which always involved having a cape and a small adamantium sword. He had served in the Inquisition for many years, and it was his excellent record dealing with unconventional alien threats that made him perfect for the job.

After looking out the starboard window one last time, he decided to make his way to the bridge. He walked past several miles of long, winding corridors of the massive ship, past various servitor machines and slave workers who constantly maintain the ship, and past several tech-priests and soldiers who kept the workers under command.

In time, he entered the bridge, where every other VIP onboard was. There was the master of the vessel, Capt. Andromeda Lema, who was a veteran of Medusa V. Her graying hair and wrinkled face proudly held her 104 years of service (and, having been part of the Rogue Traders, she didn't have to be fused to the control chair to keep the ship running). Over by the control panels was Magos Kriel, the ship's representative of the Ordo Mechanicus. As with most senior members of his order, the cyborg was now more machine than man, bearing his new form in honor of the Omnissiah and the tech god.

Conversing in a corner were the three military leaders of the mission: Lieutenant Konrad Osburran of the Imperial Guardsmen (12th Cadian Regiment), Captain Gideon of the Imperial Fists (5th Company), and Captain Numitor of the Ultramarines (8th Reserve Company). Although all of them had the feel of veterans, the Space Marines stood above the crowd both figuratively (hundreds of years of fighting) and literally (standing 8-feet tall). While the Emperor didn't ask for escorts, no one would dare collect Him undefended. So, a small taskforce was made, with a regiment of Guardsmen, and 2 Companies from the most elite Space Marine Legions, to go along for the pickup.

"Captain Lema," The Inquisitor addressed as he entered,"What is the status of the ship?"

"Everything," Lema replied, "Is at 100% efficiency, Inquisitor. The Astral Choir is ready and eager to begin our quest."

"The machine spirits," Magos Kriel droned in his robot voice, "Are satisfied and content, and have all systems ready."

"The 12th Cadian Regiment," Lt. Konrad announced, "Have readied their souls for this."

"The Sons of Dorn and Gulliman," Declared Gideon, speaking of the Imperial Fists and Ultramarines respectively, "Are prepared for receiving our Emperor."

"Excellent," Creighton said, "Then let us depart." He sat down in one of the command chairs, very much reminding everyone who was in charge (the Inquisition are basically given as much political authority as needed for anything, below only the Emperor Himself). "Onward and out, for the Emperor."

"For the Emperor!" The shout rang out throughout the ship, as the Warp engines began to activate. Slowly, the dreadnaught moved out of orbit, moving in the direction of deep space. Reality itself began to ripple around the ship, as it began to enter the Immaterium.

The engines built up, reaching the required level to break through to the Warp. Then, a large jagged rip of pinkish light tore in front of the starship. The Emperor's Wrath passed right into it, steady as you please. When the whole thing entered, the rip in space closed back up again.

And so began the ship's journey through the Warp, the Realm of Chaos. For in the Warhammer-verse, to go anywhere (even the supposed "heaven" in which the Emperor was), you had to go through Hell first…

________________________________________

"Sir, (I'm) finishing this fight." -John-117, "Halo 2"

"'They say that 'Spartans never die'. If only that were true."

-Dr. Katharine Halsey, Creator of the Spartan IIs

June 17, 2570 A.D.

E. Eridani, over Reach

UNSC Road not Taken (Marathon-class Frigate)

The atmosphere onboard was both excited and restrained. All crewmembers were eager to embark upon what was arguably the most important mission since the end of the war: The Retrieval of the Master Chief.

For Master Sergeant Alan Vasquez, the whole damn situation seemed to reek of Cosmic Irony.

18 years ago, on the very planet the Road not Taken was over, Humanity (and the Spartans) fought one of the last great battles of the Human-Covenant War. Humanity lost, and the Spartan was taken with the Pillar of Autumn, making a blind jump to the Halo. That set up a chain of events leading to the Battle of New Mombasa, the Covenant Civil War, the Battle of the Arc, and the Eradication of the Flood. The Master Chief was lost, left behind in the back half of the Forward unto Dawn when the last Ring activated. His sacrifice saved the galaxy, and they could only honor him in memory.

Until now.

About two months ago, listening outposts at the edge of UNSC space picked up on an emergency distress beacon. A beacon listed as the Forward unto Dawn.

Finally, the mortal remains of the Master Chief were located.

The only catch was that it was apparently in one of the most distant and dangerous sections of the galaxy: A place called "The Tempest". Dangerously close to the galactic core, awfully close to the Covenant Remnant, loads of Slipspace anomalies to tear ships to pieces. No problem, right?

So now, from the place where Spartans began, an expedition was being prepared to get the greatest (and last) of them back home.

Somehow, the situation felt a little like déjà vu to Vasquez, even though he hadn't been serving during the war. Hell, He thought, We even got the same aliens coming along.

That was the one last caveat to this mission: This wasn't a human-only venture.

Upon the discovery of the Chief, the Combined Allied Republics (CAR), the political organization for all the Covenant Separatist races, offered one of their ships to tag along. A token of goodwill, to honor the human who saved and freed them from the lies of the Prophets. Figuring it would help better relations, the brass of the UNSC accepted.

So, that was why the Road not Taken was in orbit along with the CAR cruiser Eternal Judgment. And also why Vasquez was eating and chit-chatting with an old Sanghelli comrade in the ship's cafeteria, along with all the other human, Jiralhanae, Unggoy and Kig-Yar troops and envoys.

"Ah, Alan my friend," The Elite, Commander N'tho Vaddum reminisced, "Remember that little skirmish we had on Crysis a few years back?"

"Yeah," Vasquez returned in his southern drawl, "And Ah had to save you from that Berserk Brute?"

"As I recall," N'tho countered, "You just took my kill, and I had to save you from being devoured by that swarm of Yame'e."

"Nuh-uh. Those Drones were a bunch of putas."

"'Yeah-huh'. There were thirty of them, and you had been needled in the arm."

"That was just a flesh wound."

"Wasn't what the medic said. It was the first time I saw a human vomit and not have it be alcohol-related."

A Brute Captain sitting next to them laughed boisterously. "You two both forget," The Jiralhanae boasted, "I saved both of you when I blew that Infected Megalekgolo up with my cannons."

"Yeah, yeah, Cassius," Vasquez conceded, "You had your moment in the limelight. We all did."

Alan, Cassius and N'tho had all met up 5 years ago on planet Caldari. The Jiralhanae world -one of the few Brute planets that left the Covenant- was attacked and infected by the Covenant Remnant and the Flood, and the civvies had to be evacuated. During the battle, the three of them developed an uncommon friendship (at least in this day and age), and were looking forward to having another mission together.

Alan was only 9 years old when the Covenant was finally broken, and was part of the first generation that knew of aliens, but not of war. Raised on one of the few farms still left in the old state of Kentucky, he was raised as right as could be done in a postwar, futuristic setting. He stood 6'1, had yellow-brown eyes, and if he hadn't shaved his head would've had auburn hair. His face looked nice, except for a long scar on the left side of his face, given to him when a spike grenade gave him a quick peck.

N'tho and Cassius were fellow commanders in the CAR, and had worked together even back during the days of the old order. They had the good fortune to be in one of the few multi-species units that, when the Schism occurred, didn't collapse and kill each other. As the military got reformed afterward, they got promotions (N'tho got his red armor, became a Squad Leader; Cassius got gold armor, became a Captain), but they kept in touch. Point being, they were cool with humans and their style, and had no issue fraternizing with one. Somehow, the three of them made the perfect team, actually single-handedly held off a Flood Horde for 2 hours, long enough to get that FOB on Crysis evacuated, and make them decorated soldiers.

"So," Cassius asked after they finished eating, "Does anyone know where exactly the Chief is at?"

"Last I checked," N'tho answered, "He appeared to be responding either next to or inside a Slipspace anomaly."

"Wait," Vasquez interrupted, "Wait, we're goin' into a Slipspace anomaly? A freakin' tear in space-time, with no guarantee of gettin' in or gettin' out?"

"When you put it that way, it sounds slightly less dangerous than visiting a Halo Ring."

"Hey, Ah just wanna go back to Earth when we're done, is all."

"I know. You always say how lovely it is this time of year. I would like to see it one day, too."

"Likewise," Cassius put in, "You humans have the best booze I've ever drank. What was that drink you gave us after Crysis, from your hometown?"

"Jack Daniels?"

"Yes, yes, Daniels. Best I've ever had."

"Attention, crew and passengers." A feminine voice interrupted over the intercom (the ship's A.I., Juno). "We are preparing to make a slipspace jump in approximately 5 minutes. Please report to your designated cabins."

"Wort!" N'tho spat, "The hangar is on the other side of the ship. We'll never make it back in time."

"No worries," Vasquez told them, "The two guys for mah cabin caught some local disease on Reach, so they couldn't come. You could take their spots."

The aliens exchanged a look. "You sure that's a good idea?" N'tho commented. "It's a five-day trip."

"If you can sprint a mile through windin' corridors in under five minutes, be mah guest."

"Four minutes, thirty seconds." People around them began leaving, heading to their cabins. N'tho and Cassius were still uncertain. Vasquez sweetened the deal.

"Ah still have that old bottle and some flip music."

Cassius perked up. N'tho sighed, acknowledging defeat. Booze and modern rock seemed to be the way to win over most races, these days.

"Very well, human. Lead the way."

Four minutes later, while the three amigos began their first night of the cruise, the engines of the frigate turned to 100%, activating the Slipspace engine. In cadence with the CAR cruiser, they entered slipspace in dual orbs of bright light.

As they passed from one dimension to another, N'tho sighed inwardly, looking forward to a week of a tiny (for an Elite) bed, loud music, and drunken singing. But that's was what friends were for, right?

________________________________________

"They called it a suicide mission. We proved them wrong." -Cmdr. Shepard, on the mission to the Omega 4 Relay.

September 4th, 2285

Galactic Center, near destroyed Collector Base

(Normandy, Cerberus vessel)

It seemed that no matter how hard Matt Shepard tried, the universe kept on piling on the shit.

The Mission in itself went off without a hitch: No one died, the "baby" human Reaper was destroyed, and the Collector base was purged of life. The crew had saved the galaxy once again, and was about to head back home.

Then they discovered the two other Collector bases.

And then the starfighters showed up.

So now, here he was again; ship under attack, crew in mortal danger, light-years from any possible help. Just like the first time he died.

He definitely didn't want to go through that again.

"Joker!" He shouted to the pilot over the radio, "Get us the hell outta here!" Shepard and his team had just got back on the ship, and he was trying to get up to the CIC. The fact that the ship kept shaking violently from the hits on the shields didn't help at all.

"I'm trying, Commander!" Joker snapped, "But those fighters are everywhere, and there's more junk here than an Omega junkyard!"

"The Mass Relay we came here on has been blocked." EDI, the ship's AI, put in. "However, there appears to be another Relay on approach."

"I take it that it hasn't been opened before?" Shepard asked as he boarded the elevator.

"This is beyond the Omega 4 Relay. Everything is new and unopened."

"Can we reach it?"

"If we don't get blown apart, then yes."

"Then go for it."

"Don't have to tell me twice." Joker quipped, and began angling the ship to the Mass Relay. Concerns about breaking Citadel law would have to wait. The Normandy nimbly maneuvered around debris of destroyed ships and rocks, evading their attackers. When objects became too big, the Thanix cannon fired, blowing it apart.

The elevator opened up, and Shepard dashed across the CIC, to the front where Joker was. All the crew, who had just been rescued from the Collectors only a few hours ago, had gone back to the rhythm of work as if nothing happened, a testament to their skill and bravery. He reached the cockpit as Joker and EDI were busy tapping away at controls, blowing away smaller bits of debris.

Shepard looked out the window, and gazed upon the approaching Mass Relay. It was in many ways similar to the Omega 4 Relay: Larger than most, surrounded by wreckage, kinda foreboding, that kind of stuff. The only difference was that the Element Zero core on Omega glowed orange, while this one was pink (still different, as most Relays were blue).

"Starting our run," Joker reported, "Launching in ten seconds."

The ship was almost at the Relay. One last swarm of fighters had come right on their tail.

"Five seconds!"

A pinkish string of energy had reached out and encompassed the ship. The fighters launched their missiles simultaneously, hoping to destroy it before it got away.

"Launching now!"

With a mighty "pitchoo!" the Normandy was launched at FTL speeds to its unknown destination. The missiles passed by too late, exploding impotently on space junk.

Those on the Normandy breathed a sigh of relief, avoiding death for the umpteenth time. Shepard, however, had other concerns.

"EDI, when are we going to reach our new destination?"

"Calculations put us at around three days, give or take an hour."

"Great," Shepard said, "It'll give us time to repair and heal up."

"Yeah, sure." Joker deadpanned. "Never mind the fact that the Collectors are right behind us, and we have no idea where we're going."

"Wouldn't be the first time we've been without a paddle."

Joker shook his head in resignation.

Shepard then went back to the elevator. He was going to check up on the rest of the team before retiring to his cabin.

Everyone was well and accounted for. Mordin was in his lab, analyzing all the new data gathered from the base. Jacobs was repairing and rearming all their weapons and equipment. Thane and Samara were both praying to their respective gods, giving thanks. Miranda and Tali were more than friendly, looking forward to another good night with Shepard, now that the mission was complete. Grunt and Jack were both "chilling" in the garage, having done most of the action. Legion stayed in the AI room, repairing any computer damage that may have occurred. And Garrus…

Shepard's Turian friend was in the med bay, fixing a broken arm. He took a nasty shot from a Collector beam gun, but fortunately didn't lose his hand. He seemed in good enough spirits when Shepard came in.

"If I didn't know better, Garrus," Shepard told him, "I'd think you were going out collecting scars on purpose."

"Yeah," The alien retorted, "Scars make everyone look 20% cooler. But you already knew that." He was referring to the facial scars that Shepard had the first few weeks after being brought back from Project Lazarus and later lost (which was good, because it looked like he had a red spider web glued to his face).

Garrus, however, had an interesting design to his scar. By a byproduct of beam shot, medi-gel and stitches, it looked like a cloud and lightning bolt combo. Hell, some weird chemical reaction in the lightning bolt made it turn into a red-blue-yellow rainbow on his skin. Shepard had never seen anything like it, but it seemed kinda cool (in a girly kind of way).

"You know, if you want, we do have some cosmetic tools onboard. We can get rid of it for you."

"No, don't do that!" Garrus replied rather quickly. "I like it. It reminds me of… an old friend."

The way he hesitated made Shepard a tad suspicious, but just as quickly he wrote it off. Probably an old comrade or flame, something irrelevant now.

"Well, hang in there, buddy." He patted his friend's shoulder. "We're not out of this, yet."

Shepard left, heading back to his cabin to get some rest. Dr. Chakwas went to work on some of the other patients, those who received damage while in their pods. While they were busy, Garrus looked at his scar one more time.

He had been telling most of the truth when he said it reminded him of a "friend". His friend was an idol of his, and wasn't actually real.

The scar on his arm was the cutie mark of Rainbow Dash. Garrus would know that because he liked the old My Little Pony show, and was a secret Brony. Being the only Turian Brony in existence was his little secret, and it was a secret he was going to keep forever, if he had to.

He reclined himself into his medical bed, expecting a quick nap, but getting into a deep sleep…

________________________________________

"We can always fix the hole in the roof, but not the one you left in our hearts."

-Fluttershy to Applejack, during "The Last Roundup"

Ponyville, Equestria

+2 years, 11 months A.N.

1 month after "Canterlot Wedding"

The Mane Six waited at the train station, eagerly awaiting the next arrival.

Earlier in the day, Spike had received a letter signed by both Princesses, telling all of them that two VIPs were coming to town, and they were to greet them when they arrived. The mares couldn't say no, and Pinkie Pie never turned down an opportunity to have a welcoming party.

"So," Rainbow Dash asked aloud, lounging on a cloud she snagged for the wait, "Any ideas on who to expect?"

"I hope its Shining Armor and Cadence." Twilight Sparkle said, referring to her brother and sister-in-law. "I've been meaning to catch up with them for awhile."

"It could be Fancy Pants," Rarity put in, talking about her friend from Canterlot. "He always wanted to come see a 'rustic locale' like Ponyville."

"Could be some kinda dignitary," Applejack mused, "A fancy noble from a faraway land."

"I just hope they're nice." Fluttershy whispered in her quiet voice.

"I already know who it is." Pinkie Pie declared.

"You do?" The girls asked, surprised.

"Yep. My Pinkie Sense went off today. It told me that two old friends were showing up."

"Who?" They pressed.

"Not tellin'. But I think you'll be happy about it."

As she said that, the train pulled into station, letting loose a cloud of steam as it came to a stop. All watched and waited expectantly as the doors opened. And all (except Pinkie) were surprised by who came out.

An azure unicorn and a griffon walked out of the cabin. The griffon had the blue jumpsuit and goggles of the Wonderbolts, though her goggles were put up to show her eyes. The unicorn still had her old cape and hat, but now also had a star-covered vest too. They both had nervous, shy smiles, and were slouching, as if to make themselves look smaller.

"Hello, Twilight Sparkle." Said Trixie Lulamoon, apprentice of Princess Luna.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash." Said Gilda of Ravenpoint, newest member of the Wonderbolts.

The Mane Six were silent, most of them not believing what they were seeing. Surely these two weren't showing their faces around here again, after what they did? The nerve of them!

Pinkie broke the silence. "Trixie! Gilda! How've you girls been?" She rushed them and grabbed them into a big bear hug. The duo could hardly breathe.

"Hey…Pinkie…can't…breathe!" Gilda gasped out.

"Oh, sorry." The party pony broke off the hug. The others, seeing that their friend had accepted them, approached cautiously.

"So, uh, gals," Applejack started, unsure where to begin, "What brings y'all back to town?"

"A lot of things, actually." Trixie answered. "But first and foremost, we wanted to apologize to all of you for what we did. AJ, I want to start with you, and how I'm sorry I tied you up in that rope trick."

The farm-mare winced at the memory, but said, "Its okay. Nothin' hurt but mah pride."

The ex-magician then turned to the white unicorn with the diamond cutie mark. "Rarity, I'm sorry for turning your hair into a green mess. Blue is your natural color."

The fashionista, ever the lady, returned, "Apology accepted, dear. Nice outfit, by the way."

"Oh, thank you." A small but genuine smile grew on her face. This was going as well as she hoped it would be. She looked to the cyan-colored Pegasus. "Dash, I'm sorry for putting you in that mini-tornado."

Rainbow, still looking at Gilda and her outfit, only responded with, "Yeah, sure."

Finally, she approached Twilight, her opposite. "I believe I owe the biggest apology to you, Twilight Sparkle. For causing so much trouble to you, the town, everypony. Had I known that Celestia's apprentice was living here, I certainly would've been more… well, modest, to say the least."

The purple unicorn was silent for a moment, looking Trixie up and down, analyzing her. Then she stated, "You're Princess Luna's new student, aren't you?"

"Why, yes." Trixie replied, the smile coming back to her. "She's been teaching me for about two years now."

"I figured as much." Twilight gave her own sweet smile, one that Trixie had wanted to see for quite some time. "Celestia kept on mentioning that Luna had one, but would never say who."

She took a step closer to her formal rival, looking her eye-to-eye. "Well, if the Princesses trust you, and you've truly learned your lesson, then I'll be the first one to welcome you back, Trixie."

"Thank you, Twilight." Trixie rushed up and hugged her former competitor. After a moment, realizing that the others were watching, she quickly released, blushing. "You don't know how much that means to me."

She looked to Gilda, signaling her to do her part. The griffon stepped forward, clearing her throat. She started with Fluttershy, who was avoiding eye contact and had her back to a wall. Gilda lowered her head below the yellow Pegasus, and spoke in a quiet voice, so not to frighten her unduly.

"I think," She spoke softly, "I owe you the biggest apology, Fluttershy. I'm sorry for snapping at you like I did, and making you cry. That was completely uncool and wrong of me."

Fluttershy looked down at the griffon, and saw the sincerity in her eyes and voice. "Its okay," The Pegasus whispered back, allowing brief eye contact, "I forgive you, Gilda."

Gilda smiled, but expected as much. Out of all the ponies, Fluttershy was always the quickest one to forgive (at least, that what she had heard from all the news and rumors that she picked up). She was about to move to Pinkie when she jumped up beside her.

"Gilda," The pink Earth pony spoke in her cheery voice, "You don't have to say anything to me. I can see that you're not a mean meanie-pants anymore, so we can be friends."

"Really?"

"Sure, as long as you let me throw you and Trixie a party." The griffon hesitated, remembering what happened last time Pinkie threw a party for her.

"No pranks this time?" She asked uncertainly.

"No pranks."

"Okay then, I don't see why not."

Pinkie Pie squealed, and ran off to go get ready. That left Gilda with Rainbow Dash, who was still staring at her.

"Rainbow, I-" She started.

"When did you join the Wonderbolts?" The cyan Pegasus interrupted, miffed because she had tried to get in for years, and hadn't been accepted.

"I've been training with them for awhile." Gilda answered. "The Princesses pulled a few strings, made me a trainee. I was accepted last week, in fact."

"Huh." Dash grunted, unsure to either be happy for her or jealous of her success.

"I got a free shot for you."

"What?" RD didn't quite catch that.

"I spoke with Soarin and Spitfire after the Wedding. They were impressed that you could do a Sonic Rainboom on demand now. I let them know that you wanted to be a Wonderbolt since you were a filly, and they've already set up an appointment for this Thursday."

Rainbow gasped, taking a step back. She couldn't believe what she just said. "You… you got me in?"

"Basically." The griffon turned away, but her blushing cheeks still showed. "It wouldn't be right if I were on the team without my best friend."

Dashie froze, and that she felt that familiar sharp pang in her chest.

"I know I did some things to you and your other friends, some really regretful things. Your friendship means a lot to me, but I shouldn't have been possessive of you, or jealous with your new friends. I really am sorry, and I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me."

Gilda held out her clawed hand. RD stood still, looking at her face and hand. She batted it away, but now with her playful smile back. "Strangers shake hoofs. Come here." She rushed up and hugged her old friend, hiding her face in the feathers so on one could see her tearing eyes.

Gilda returned the embrace, her own eyes stinging. She had wanted this back for so long, to be together with her Pegasus. And it felt so right to be back, too. This time, she wouldn't keep any fake, "cool" façade. If it was good with Dash, it was good with Gilda.

After that tender moment, arrangements were made for their housing. Trixie, being a fellow student, would be allowed to live in the Library, along with Twilight. Rainbow Dash still had an extra room in her cloud house, which Gilda stayed in last time she was in town. The unicorns would spend that night exchanging spells and techniques, learned from their respective teachers. The flyers would spend theirs catching up on old and new adventures, as well as training tips for the Pegasus's test. From there, the week went as well as any of them could hope for…

________________________________________

Up in Canterlot Palace, Princess Luna had finally managed to escape the ever-present bureaucrats and petitioners, finding rest in her private chambers. She had been making an effort to be more active in affairs after the Wedding, but there had to be spots where you draw the line.

The dark alicorn settled down in her bed, feeling a little ashamed about that incident. Her city had been invaded, her sister beaten by the Changeling Queen, the Elements defeated. Her people needed her, and where was she?

Having Trixie and Gilda doing research in the tunnels while she flirted with Adam.

Granted, "officially" she was down there to help track the Emperor's Wrath, and to learn how to navigate the Warp. But really, it was an excuse to have some alone time with Him.

It had worked so well, until Adam asked where Celestia was.

"Oh," She said nonchalantly, "She's heading Cadence's wedding. She has it under control."

Cadence? He asked, confused. Your 2nd niece, the pink alicorn?

"Yes, why do you ask?"

She and Twilight Sparkle are beneath us right now.

"What?!"

Apparently, Chrysalis the Changeling had replaced Cadence, and tossed her into the caverns below. While Adam listened, He learned of her plans, and felt the gathering army approach.

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" She complained.

I figured you already knew. You two are this world's gods, and you're both outside. You could see them coming. All I have is what I see in this room, what you show me, and what I can feel with my senses. Besides, I still can't get out of this bed. How could I help you anyway?

The changelings had already taken over at this point, so Luna stayed with the Human god as He gave a blow-by-blow account of what was going down. He gave vigorous detail when Shining Armor and Cadence used love magic to beat the changelings. Later on, He would say this would be very important, but not saying why. When things went back to normal, Luna excused herself and went to the party.

When asked where she was, she simply told them that she was fighting changeling attack in the caverns. Fortunately, she rarely lied, and most took what she said at face value.

But that was last month. Chrysalis was banished, Cadence and Armor were on their honeymoon, and Gilda and Trixie have finally returned to Ponyville. All was well in the world, and she could finally rest.

Luna closed her eyes, and let herself fall into Dreamland…

________________________________________

Luna dreamed her most common dream; The dream she had throughout her lunar exile, and the one she had when Discord came back: She dreamed of her early years with Adam. In particular, when they first met.

It began right after she gained her cutie mark, just having ascended the throne with her sister. Being a goddess of the night and the stars, she was given techniques on how to explore the universe in spirit. It was also a good way to avoid Celly when she wouldn't drop a subject, or was being annoying.

On one particular night, Luna wanted to see how far out she could go. In her astral wanderings, she discovered what appeared to be a hole in space. Being a curious filly, she decided to go through it. Exiting the other side was like entering a dark, foreboding jungle, or a stormy cosmic sea. She could hide herself from all the beings in this new universe, so she was in no danger. But all the same, Luna wouldn't forget the horrors she saw:

Arcane, obscene geometries that twisted reality on a whim. Castles and cities of diseased flesh, inhabited by grotesque creatures. Vast, unending orgies that fed a ravenous, androgynous god. And, most prominently, a huge, boiling lake of blood, surrounding an island made of skulls.

Each God of the Four Regions emitted an emotion that felt almost poisonous to the alicorn; Betrayal, Despair, Lust, Rage; emotions of such foreignness and intensity that she almost didn't recognize them. It was almost too much for her little mind to handle.

The only reason she pressed on was that she was drawn to the one bit of light in this abyss.

Luna deduced that this was somewhere in the middle of this new universe, as everything seemed to circle around it like a flock of vultures. From a distance, she could hear a strange, psychic chanting emanating from the light. Although it was bright, the filly could still see what was in it.

And it was almost as bad as all the other visions she had seen.

In the light was a massive golden throne, tubes running from it into a glowing vortex. On this throne was a weird creature she'd never seen before: bipedal, encased in armor, a small and squarish head. This entity- male, by her guess- had ice gray eyes, a long black mane, and an actual golden halo around his head. Luna would've found him quite good-looking, under different circumstances.

As it was, the being's face was marred, twisted in the screaming of pain and anguish.

This person was bound to his chair, struggling but unable to break free. His eyes were locked onto the vortex, where the chanting was coming from. Luna followed his gaze.

She saw dozens, hundreds, a thousand creatures, similar to the one on the Throne, tossing themselves into the vortex. They were consumed, turned into pure energy, which went through the tubes and powered the throne. The machine in the throne hummed with an eerie, mechanical delight.

Now Luna knew why this God-thing was screaming. His people were being sacrificed to keep him alive.

The alicorn child looked up, and realized that this god was looking right at her. Somehow, He had broken through her illusions, and was staring directly into her eyes. She had never felt more bare and… more naked, in her entire life.

Then, in a voice that was both melodious and thunderous like the mightiest storm, the God asked her: What are you?

Her nerves finally reached the breaking point. Luna fled, half-running and half-flying, across the vast horrors, out the space hole, and back into her own body. She hid under her bed, crying and shaking for the rest of the night and most of the next day. She only came out when Celestia and Discord (still a hatchling, without most of his future powers) came in to check on her, so she could raise the Moon again.

After performing her royal duties, Luna told her sister and friend of the vision she saw. They were equally frightened and intrigued by this new universe, but because her state, all agreed never to go through that hole again.

Of course, that didn't stop anything from that side from coming through.

A few weeks passed, and Luna recovered from her trauma. Indeed, she actually felt stronger after the ordeal. The thing is about ponies, they turn out to be quite resilient mentally- there isn't much that could traumatize them permanently. One night, when she regained her mental fortitude, she decided to go into astral form again.

Fortunately, she didn't have to go into it this time.

As she began preparing herself, she heard a strange mental voice calling to her. Hello? Can you hear me?

Luna looked around her chambers, unsure if Discord or her sister were pulling a trick on her. Who's that? Who's there?

Fear not, young one, The voice continued, and sounding calm, soothing… and somehow familiar. I mean you no harm. I just wish to speak with you.

Who are you, stranger?

I was the one you saw on the Golden Throne.

The little alicorn froze, the vision coming back to her. It baffled her that someone who was in that much pain could sound so calm now. She tried to regain her mental composure as she spoke: W-what are you, then?

Those people you saw are called humans. I am their Emperor.

What happened to you? Why do they slaughter themselves for you?

The Emperor answered with old sorrow and guilt. That story is long and full of sadness, little one. I would prefer, if you wish, to learn a little about you and your people.

Luna felt a little hesitant about talking to this "Emperor", but she had been raised to act like a lady, which included being cordial and polite to strangers.

Well, sir, my name is Princess Luna, and I am an alicorn, a Goddess of the Night.

An alicorn? The Emperor asked, What, pray tell, is that?

Oh, we're God-Ponies; We look like winged unicorns.

Ponies? He sounded a bit skeptical.

Yes. You know; Earth ponies, Pegasus ponies, Unicorn ponies. You've seen them before, right?

Can you show me?

From then on, the conversation turned visual. Luna showed Him images of the pony races, their abilities and achievements, their culture. She showed Him the other races of Equestria- dragons, griffons, zebras, etc.- and much of her understanding of magic. The Emperor (who wanted her to call Him "Adam") would occasionally send images back, showing His equivalent in His knowledge (Luna actually laughed when she saw His images of a "pony" and a "unicorn", looking all stupid and dumpy).

This continued on for some time, until Celestia came in, unknowingly interrupting their long-distance conversation.

"Luna," Celestia asked, concerned, "You have been staring at the Moon for two hours now. Are you well?"

"Yes, sister," Luna responded, "I have been having a lovely conversation with my new friend, Adam."

"Adam?" The Sun Goddess was confused. Her sister was too old for imaginary friends, but there was nopony around.

"Adam, can you speak to my sister as well?"

Greetings, Princess Celestia.

Celestia had the same reaction Luna did, much to the Emperor's amusement. The white alicorn was quickly brought up to speed on their conversation, and for her part actually handled it very well.

At the end, Celestia asked, So, Adam, why have you decided to contact us?

I come to you two now, as I hope that perhaps you may be able to help me.

Help you how? The sisters asked.

The Emperor then began to show them His plight.

He showed Himself many years ago; tall, mighty and fit, leading His soldiers and people across the galaxy, giving them room to grow and prosper.

He showed Himself among His children; the Primarchs, each a demi-god unto themselves, taking their Legions to fight in their Father's Name.

He showed the Ruinous Powers- those monstrous visions that Luna saw- corrupting His favorite sons, turning them into their slaves, causing heresy and civil war.

He showed the Battle of Terra, where the fate of humanity was in the balance.

He showed the slaying of Sanguinius, His mortal wounding, and the Ultimate Death of Horus.

He showed the fillies His entombment on the Golden Throne, and the 1000 psykers a day necessary to keep Him alive.

And then they saw all that followed; the stagnation, the constant war, the rise of Chaos, the Necrons, the Tyranids. Humanity was slowly heading on its way to extinction, just like the Eldar. All because of His failures.

When He stopped, the alicorns didn't realize they were crying. It was so sad, so horrible, to live in a universe so grim. So dark. So hopeless.

Oh, Adam, Luna finally asked, choked-up and teary-eyed, How can we help you? How can we stop that future from coming to pass?

The only way, The Emperor answered, That my people can be saved is if I can come back and save them. At the moment, I can only lead them in spirit, for my body is broken and dead. Therefore, I ask you, if it's within your power, to find a way to heal and restore my body.

It was a tall order, that one. Full body restoration and resurrection was no small task, even for alicorns. And over long, galactic distances… downright impossible. Luna was about to respond…

X)(X)(X

The dream sequence stopped, as the Emperor broke through it like Pinkie Pie breaks the Fourth Wall. They were no longer in Luna's chambers, but in the vastness of space around Equestria. And Luna was no longer a filly, but a full-grown mare, wise and strong.

Luna, Adam announced, There has been a rather massive development.

What is it, Adam? Luna asked, unsure of whether His entering of dreams was a good thing or not (for her, at least).

Come and see, my dear. The Emperor gestured outward, and the Night Goddess looked around.

Far off to the "North", where the space hole was, a massive, gothic vessel was fast approaching. This ship was surrounded by daemonic, monstrous entities, trying to find a way inside it.

That was the Emperor's Wrath, the ship coming for Him.

I don't see what the problem is. Luna told him.

Look around you, Luna.

Luna turned to her right, to where the "object" was. Looking out, she saw a strange blue object, coming even faster than the Wrath.

What is that? Now she was confused and concerned, unknowingly backing up to Adam.

I honestly don't know, He admitted. It's not like anything I've ever seen.

What do you mean?

It's not using Warp, Webway, or any other FTL method I know of. But its definitely not one of mine.

Luna frowned, a little scared. She then glanced to her left, around the Emperor, and jumped a foot into the air, squeaking in fear.

Two more ships- or at least, ship-like shapes- were approaching too. The thing was, she could barely see them. They were invisible, save for when they passed by stars and refracted the light. It almost seemed like they were beneath space itself, and what she was seeing was the ships going under the stars, like rats going under a carpet.

Adam, look! Luna pointed to the bulgy blurs. The Emperor looked over, and complimented, Good eyes, Princess. I was only ever able to sense them, but you could see them right away. And before you ask, no, they're not mine either.

What does this mean? Luna felt a chill run down her spine, fear starting to wrap itself around her mind. Adam, seeing her deteriorating condition, put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, in front of her wings.

It means a great many things, Luna. The Emperor admitted. But one thing is undoubtedly true. I hope your world enjoyed its peace and isolation, because all of that has come to an end…

________________________________________

Luna awoke from her dream, still feeling Adam's hand and the spike of fear. She turned herself to face the window of the night sky. Three new stars had appeared while she had slept.

She shuddered, despite the summer heat. Her oldest friend was right. Whether she liked it or not, starting tomorrow, the world as she had known it would end…