Faith, Fire, Steel, and ...Friendship
If the xenos are found to be beneficial to the Imperium, they will be harnessed.
-Blood Bringers doctrine c. 436M35
Prologue
The citizens of Appleloosa looked up in horror as the enormous chunk of metal and stone fell towards the town, but oblivion never came. When they looked up, they saw that the lump had slowed down and altered its path to slam into the nearby desert. They gave a collective sigh of relief, but it was short lived. Then a distant war cry sounded, quiet at first, but getting louder "WWWAAAAAAUUUGGGHHH"
Five days earlier:
007M42
18:45 Throne time
Battle-Barge wrath of Jericho
Lord Commander Johan was in a jovial mood, he had tracked down three different major foes of the chapter - The chaos horde led by Ku'Gath the Plaguefather, who had killed the previous chapter master, Lord Commander Jericho; The splinter of WAAGH Ghazghkull known as the Angel Hunters; and The Necron tomb world Slaneth devastators of the first company. They were still recovering after two-hundred years of steady recruitment and promotion of various neophytes and battle brothers respectively. As he looked over the large strategium built into the center of the bridge, displaying the solar system, Johan saw the formations move across the large digital screen. He turned to the astropath and said in his deep baritone voice. "Tell niner-echo-delta to adjust course by fifteen degrees to the galactic south."
As he watched the screen, one of the many color-coded deltas on the screen began to adjust slowly, so slowly that it was barely perceptible to an unaugmented eye. Fortunately for the Lord Commander, he was a space marine, with all the perks of such changes. He then looked out at the entirety of his chapters’ fighting force, amassed over the past month to bring the might of the emperor to the warring factions, there were other groups too. From their obscure, dark fortresses came a small contingent of Deathwatch, with two five-man kill teams, and a purgation squad - From a mobile Mechanicus task force came twenty divisions of tech guard and three tactical squads of the Iron Hands chapter - Fresh from a recent engagement, a full million-man legion of Death Corps of Kreig arrived. Finally, an enormous legion of the Cadian Imperial Guard had appeared with Lord Castellan Creed at their head.
Looking away from the numerous symbols and signs that played across the strategium in a slightly intoxicating pattern, he turned his attention to the scans of the system. These initial scans showed that it was a single-star system with a small planet, similar in size to holy Terra, with a large moon. Suddenly there was a single blip on the strategium, coming from a mountain range on the planet, quickly growing, and then sending out a finger of energy to the star as a similar blip did this to the moon. They wrapped around the celestial bodies, rapidly accelerating about fifteen degrees ahead, and then they decelerated to their regular pace and then to their regular speed. "Tech Priest, what in the name of the frakking emperor was that?"
"Attempting to determine cause at current juncture. . .cause found. There was a massive psychic emanation on the surface of the planet, seizing hold of the celestial bodies that are present in the solar system and moved them fifteen degrees ahead in their orbit patterns. Oddly enough, this is a geocentric solar system, highly illogical, considering that the star has 56327 times the mass of the planet." The tech priest said in his grating, metallic tone.
"I don't give a frak about the science. Is it dangerous?" The Chapter master shouted, irritated that he was not getting a good enough answer.
"Unknown, could have potential to bring ships out of orbit and slam them into the surface" responded the Tech Priest.
"Then we must investigate when we are done with this war, for with our naval strength will surely be the victor of this space conflict."
At that moment an agitated High Chaplain Garran Sylvus stepped in: "Lord, why are we not bringing the wrath of the emperor to these foul beings." He shouted in his deep, confidant voice, with rage in every word.
"Garran, you must wait, we will let them des-"The chapter master stated in a condescending tone.
"My lord, multiple bogies are en route, ETA ten minutes, they are showing signs of hostility. Shall we engage with all prejudice necessary?" The Tech Priest interrupted in his grating monotone.
"Define nature of the bogies." The now- concerned chapter master inquired.
"Range from fighter to frigate classes of starship in tonnage." The tech priest replied
"Aye, engage with all necessary force. May thine emperor protect." The chapter master ordered in a much less condescending tone as he switched into his battle mentality.
"Roger...First salvos away, impact in one minute...Impact confirmed, targets annihilated."
The tech priest said in his usual indifference as thousands of beings both artificial and biological were snuffed out in an instant by the high-yield nuclear warheads that had been fired on his command.
"How long until void shields are up?"
"Over the fleet will be a period of about ten minutes, on this ship, thirty seconds...shields up, weapons systems active."
"Take all energy from warp drives and geller fields and divert to the godsmasher."
"Roger, energy switch complete, godsmasher active."
"Sync with all available ships and initiate combat with the primary enemy fleets, give me ranges."
"We are within the twenty million kilometer range of the godsmasher weapon of the necron fleet."
The Lord Commander pointed to a point on the strategium, marked with a runic symbol, marking it with a red circle and commanded,"Fire the godsmasher at the necron battle cruiser, may thine emperors fire burn them."
"01110010 01101111 01100111 01100101 01110010" The Tech Priest said in the chittering language of binary as he then said into the vox for the godsmasher fire control room "01100110 01101001 01110010 01100101 00001101 00001010"
The godsmasher was a massive conversion beamer weapon mounted in the beak of the snarling eagle figurehead of the thirty-kilometer long wrath of Jericho. As the order went through and the keys turned, the weapon began to light up, racks of advanced circuitry activated and calibrated, and it fired.
The thirty-meter wide beam was a bright beam in the vacuum of space in the system dubbed 'callus' by the cogitator when they entered it. It lanced from the imperial fleet and instantly destroyed the necron ship it hit, slicing it in half. The debris was pulled into the gravity field of the lone planet, estimated time to impact, three days.
Ponyville, Equestria - 6:50 P.M - Ten days since the defeat of king Sombra.
It was a young night as Twilight Sparkle walked out onto a large field. Her assistant, Spike, was lugging a telescope out to what could be described as the best stargazing spot in Ponyville.
"Come on Spike, it is a full moon tonight and I don't want to miss it for the world."
"Could you have gotten a heavier telescope?" Spike gasped as he lugged the thirty kilo telescope out into the center of the field.
"Why yes, but it was out of my price range,” said Twilight
"Are you kid-LOOK AT THAT" Spike shouted as he looked up into the sky and saw a bright beam lance across the night sky.
"That is out of the ordinary!" Twilight exclaimed as she used her magic to grab the telescope and look at the beam.
Through the magically enhanced lens of the telescope she saw the strange thing that had caused the beam
"Huh, that's very peculiar" Twilight said in a mildly concerned tone.
"What?" Spike asked in a tone very similar to Twilight's as he looked up at the now-fading beam of light.
"It looked like a golden eagle was breathing the beam into an obsidian blade with glowing green areas."
"Are you joking?" Spike stated in a deadpan tone as he looked at the now-clear sky.
"Not at all, It was very strange, I could put the image into your mind."
"OK, I guess that would be an interesting sight, but are you sure you aren't hallucinating again."
"Perfectly." Twilight said as her horn started to glow.
"Whoa, that was pretty awesome, shouldn't we tell Celestia about this."
"Yes, you are right, Spike take a letter"...
Faith, Fire, Steel, and ...Friendship
The cogs click into place
Service does not end in death
-Imperial creed
007M42
21:58 (throne time)
The Wrath of Jericho's bridge
Lord Commander Johan had summoned the council of five: the wisest men in the chapter, and his top advisers, to give him insight on the current situation.
There were five of them, each with differing talents.
First came High Chaplain Sylvus, in his black terminator armor, who was the spiritual leader of the chapter.
Next came High Epistolary Micheal Alighieri, his hulking,blue terminator armor was built with a psychic hood in it and had a bit more height due to the ornate tome attached to his back.
Following closely was Captain Robute Draconum of the first company, in a suit of golden artificer armor that could be replaced with terminator suit if he was going on a boarding action.
Next was Master of the Forge Ferrum Malleus, in a deep red suit of highly modified artificer armor with a servo harness mounted to his back
Finally was high sanguinary priest medicinaque milites, no one knew his name, so he went by his role in high Gothic, his pure white terminator suit was detailed with signs of the sanguinary priest hood and on his right arm was a narthecium bristling with needles and bone saws with vials of fluid built into the complex device.
They gathered around the strategium as they conversed with one another.
"Now that we have confirm on the fact that the enemy knows that we are here we should strike them with the full wrath of the Imperium and our souls!" The chaplain said as he stood, his gaze reaching each of the other members of the council.
"Calm yourself, this is not the time for religious wrath, it is the time for logic and strategy." The Chapter Master said with slight frustration in his voice as he corrected his protege, who was thought to be the next chapter master.
Then the venerable librarian said in his deep and penetrating voice "We need to hit them at their weakest point."
"From my calculations, I have found that this would be the most devastating plan." the Techmarine said in his mechanized yet still authoritative voice. He swept his hand across the strategium, mechanical digits moved over the screen and changed several things, then projected paths swept across the screen to show recommended paths for the fleet.
"That path would put half the fleet in jeopardy!" The captain said in a slightly irritated and concerned tone.
"It is not in your place to be concerned about mere guardsmen." The Master of the Forge said in his usual indifferent, robotic tone.
"But that would weaken us in the event of a ground war!" The captain shouted as his ire was raised by his cybernetic equal trying to define what his 'place' was.
"You dare question me, I have logic on my side, what do you have?" The venerable Techmarine said, just a hint of anger rising in his robotic voice.
"STOP IT NOW!" The Librarian said in a voice amplified by a small amount of psychic energy. "Squabbling among ourselves will not solve anything."
"You're correct Epistolary, it is completely illogical to fight our fellows, we have much more pressing matters to attend to." The old Techmarine said in his now-calm, indifferent voice.
"We aren't through, automaton." the still-irritated captain said, he had always had something against the cybernetic officer.
"If you want to have any chance of being the next master of the chapter, you will be." the now fuming chapter master said to the captain. "Proceed, Ferrum."
"We will have this ship at the forefront, by the time we reach the enemy fleet, the Godsmasher will be ready to fire again. Using the Godsmasher we will attack the Ork command ship with all we have and then clean up the leftovers with the rest of the fleet, estimated hostile casualties; 100%, estimated friendly casualties; 10%, well within acceptable parameters." Ferrum Malleus finished as the illustrative lines turned dotted until the order went out to execute the order.
"Is this the best Kill/Death ratio we can get?" The High chaplain asked in his gruff, war-damaged voice.
"Right now, yes." Ferrum replied.
"As we usually do, let's put it to a vote, I say aye on it." The chapter master said looking over to his group of possible successors, thinking that he will make his final choice after this war.
"Aye." the chaplain voted.
"Nay." The first company captain said in a displeased monotone.
"aye" the Techmarine said as he leaned against a nearby wall.
"Looks like I have the telling vote, hmm...I say...AYE" Micheal said in his usual, violent tone.
"I would have voted aye, but it seems that it doesn't matter anymore." Medicinaque Milites said in a slightly displeased monotone.
"So, it is decided, we shall begin maneuvers effective immediately." The chapter master said into the fleet vox, sending the navigation data to the rest of the fleet. "expect to engage in twelve hours."
Canterlot, Equestria
7:00 P.M.
Princess Celestia's bed chambers
"Sister, sister!" Luna shouted as she magically teleported into the room and ran to her sister, who was reading a book with swirls of cosmic dust emblazoned across the cover.
"What is it Luna?, you seem perturbed." Celestia said in her perfect, almost supernatural voice.
"About ten minutes ago, something...something horrible just transpired in my beautiful night sky!"
"What, is it the return of the twin gods!?" Celestia said, now paying a huge amount of attention.
"No, but we felt many, many lights in the void snuffed out, we thought they were the usual traffic we see, just a few aliens lost, and we just move their ship over towards the right place for them, but this time, it seemed like they were there..on...purpose. we haven't seen anything like this, then they attacked each other, and then many of them just vanished, and then a huge number were just...gone, with a huge, pure white beam to indicate it."
"Are you sure?" Celestia said in a now-somber tone.
"As sure as you are wise." Luna said in a almost-frightened tone, she had never seen aliens go to war, and she had only seen her sister like this when Discord had begun to play tricks that left ponies dead, it was the first time the elements had been used in anger, and that same look was on her face now.
"Rally the royal guard, prepare the skyships, lock Canterlot down, and go with Commander Armor to the old castle, and open vault ferrum incudem, it will hold our only hope if ancient history repeats itself.
"Are you sure Sister?" Luna said, now on the verge of panic.
"Yes, begin preparations in ten minutes."
"Aye my sister." Luna said in a now-shocked tone.
Luna stepped out of the chamber and called for Commander Armor, leaving Celestia to her memories.
1,002 Years prior
005 M41
Thousand sons vessel heart of corruption
"unut ferrum joil lkju ghun" Ahriman the sorcerer intoned as he and a ring of chaos psykers were engrossed in their attempt to create a new chaos god to bring down the great spires of the Imperium, the ghostly structures of the Eldar, the crude empires of the orks, and the monolithic slabs of the Necrons.
A single chaos marine of the emperors children legion stepped in and said in a crisp and hateful tone. "Ahriman, the hull has been breached, more salvos are on the way, the Imperial dogs have found us, and now they are attempting to end our holy effort."
Ahriman looked away for just one second from his work, it was enough to release the massive energies they had put into the body of an unfortunate navigator. Black shadows the girth of the leg of an astartes whipped out from the pillar of dark energy that had burst up when the great sorcerer had glanced away.
"by chaos, what have we done!?" the sorcerer said as he stepped away from the pillar of dark lightning.
Then an alluring, yet terrifying voice spoke into his mind as two distinctly different shadows formed from the energy.
"We are Karatchen, the fifth god of chaos, serve us or die." the oddly alluring voice spoke in a pompous tone.
"Did I create you?" the great sorcerer said to the shadows.
"Yes, and you shall give your energy to fuel our growth!" The new twin gods said, tendrils of shadow moving towards the great sorcerer.
"Never you foolish demonspawn, I created you, now serve me insolent child!" Ahriman the sorcerer shouted as he unleashed arcing bolts of lightning into the young god, "or perish".
"Sir, we need to get out of here now!" A minor sorcerer under his command shouted as he ran in.
"It seems that this project has failed, Ironspawn open the pods, drop my creation onto the planet, in two separate places, and you shall be free." Ahriman yelled up to a being on the ceiling made of quicksilver.
"Yes, master." the thing replied in an evil voice that sounded like nails on an iron chalkboard.
"unus ferrok perum!" the sorcerer shouted, opening a portal to a planet in the eye of terror that was occupied by the servants of Tzeench. "I shall return, my son." He said under his breath as the ship began to tear itself apart.
As the ship fragmented apart from the powerful impacts two long trails of exhaust corkscrewed away, one destined for the frozen North, and one for a mid-latitude mountain range.
Crystal Empire: two hours later
King Sombra walked out to investigate the odd thing that had flown down through the sky and slammed into the ground about three kilometers from the edge of the city. He was wearing a thick pure white coat that matched his natural coat, his horn a graceful pure white appendage rising from his forehead and ending in a sharpened point.
"Buck, it's cold out here, this had better be pretty valuable, or it would have been a waste for me to come out here." He said in a highly irritated tone.
"so cold..,help...anyone...please!" A small voice cried out from the direction of the crash
The king picked up the pace and ran to the crash sit, expecting to see one of those newfangled airships that seemed to catch fire or explode at any second.
"Hello, is anypony there?" Sombra shouted as he crested the hill, only to stop mid-stride as he looked down at the strange object embedded in the frozen ground. It was what looked like a black metal egg, with spikes running along the sides.
"What the buck?" The king said in wonder as he walked up to the drop pod, not knowing what it's contents were, he pulled a latch and what looked like a mass of pure darkness streamed out and surrounded him.
A deep, sensual voice spoke right into his ear "I can give you everything.", this prompted him to turn around, seeing nothing but shadow, he shouted out.
"what are you."
"My name is Karatchen, and I can bring you great power, just allow me use of your body, and it shall be yours." The seductive voice whispered.
"How would that happen?" the king said, his horn glowing as he raised a small magical field.
"Just lower the shield, and you shall see." the voice said into the mind of the king.
"Will this 'power' save my people from the plague of mutations we are in?" The now-hopeful king said.
"And more, it will bring your nation to be the biggest superpower in the world." The voice said, growing slightly eager.
"I guess it would be good, lets do this." The king said, the slight seed of greed in his heart blossoming into an utterly vile flower, he then lowered his shield and the mist surged into his body, turning into animated crystal on the inside and turning his coat a dark grey, his regal mane turning from it's blond color to a pitch black, his ornate crown morphed into a much more sinister form. He rose from the position he had taken when he was undergoing his changes. He opened his eyes, revealing two now-red irises, changed from his usual hazel. The perfect whites had turned a violent shade of green, and they were streaming with almost celestial smoke.
"The...Power...we feel it AND IT IS GOOD!" The now-possessed king shouted out to the world as he sent a bolt of shadow arcing into the sky, creating dark clouds of shadow and turning the snow into black crystal. He then turned his now horrific visage to the kingdom.
"The world needs to see our power." The now-daemonic king said to nopony in particular as he began to change into a cloud of smoke, and then he surged into the sky (think deatheaters from harry potter.) towards the kingdom, and the dominoes began to fall.
About the same time,
Blood Bringers battle barge Bane of Heresy
"My Lord, there was just odd movements from the planet." a chapter serf manning the auspex said to the chapter master, Commander Jericho (currently entombed within a contemptor-pattern dreadnought.).
"Remember, the inquisitor said not to approach the planet under threat of branding of heresy, just let them deal with it." The mighty lord intoned to his underling.
"Yes, My Lord, I shall write it off as dust storms." The now-embarrassed serf said in a quiet tone.
"Inform all formations to begin the journey home in half an hour."
"Yes, My Lord."
The Crystal kingdom walls, forty-five minutes later.
The King slammed into the wall, his body returning to it's regular form as he walked up to a guard on top of the wall.
"BOW DOWN TO ME, MORTAL!" The King shouted with a magically augmented voice as dark crystals spread from every point he stepped on.
"Whatever you are, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE, NOW RETURN TO TARTARUS WHERE YOU BELONG!" The guard shouted as he used his magic to pull out his sword, the long blade burning with a supernatural light.
"Fine, be that way, but prepare to die." The corrupted king said calmly as his horn lit up with dark energy. Suddenly, the dark crystals separated themselves from the ground, and they suddenly Surged through the unfortunate guard so fast that it could not be seen by the naked eye, the guard was reduced to a red mist with small ribbons of metal swirling through the cold air. The King laughed as he tasted the mist of gore on his tongue and inhaled deeply, letting the coppery scent permeate his whole respiratory system.
"What was that...What's that smell?...Oh...sweet Celestia." the guards who charged around a corner were saying as they ran around a corner to investigate the strange sounds they heard, and were shocked to see a monster of shadow and metal standing there, with the aerosol remains of their comrade in front of him.
"Obey your new king, tell the other guards that the Kingdom is...under new management." Sombra said menacingly as he prepared to do another crystal strike on the guards.
"And if we don't?" The lead guard asked, raising his crossbow.
"If you don't, this will happen." Sombra said evenly as the cloud of crystal reduced the leg holding the crossbow to a red mist.
"Bucking Tartarus, why did you do that?" The second guard shouted as he ran to his stricken comrade.
"Because, you need to know the consequences of your actions." The unfazed daemon ruler stated.
"BUT YOU DON'T DO THAT!" The hysterical guard shouted as he watched his comrade bleed out from the wound.
"If all is done here, I must bid you farewell, you know what, you annoy me." The king said, slashing the guard's chest with a large shard of crystal, leaving a lethal wound in the guard, who was now suffering with two pierced lungs and a shredded heart.
He then returned to his smoke form, surging through the streets to his castle, leaving the streets and buildings changed into black quartz crystal. He entered in an explosion of black fog that covered the area around the door, it then coalesced into his evil form, his eyes glowing with malice as he surveyed the room. "Needs more...Darkness." He muttered as he changed the ornate crystal wall into black quartz by running a hoof along it. "This is going to be fun." he stated maniacally as he considered his next move.
So thus began the greatest genocide in Equestria's history, all cities in the crystal kingdom but the capitol were emptied by the new, ruthless shadow guard, and then burned. The ponies were forced to work in the crystal mines, and any member of any race other than earth ponies were offered to either join the shadow guard, a group of demonically possessed soldiers, or die, most died, during the possession.
