Harmony at Mind

Chapter 7

Old Times

        Several Months had passed since the arrival of Ahzek Ahriman and his cabal to Equestria. In the time passing, they had regained some health lost in the bitter millenia and were as vivacious as during the legendary days of the Great Crusade. The sun shone as brightly as ever and the moon rose and fell with the almost machine like wiles of the Elements of Harmony.

        It was a warm summer day in Canterlot, at the center of the city in Harmony Plaza, there was a red tent set up. It bore no marks. Inside it was a mahogany table and seated around it were two ponies. One was a midnight blue unicorn with a crescent eye cutie mark, while a lavender alicorn sat on the other side. And there house of cards.

        “Try again, this time, focus on the currents of the Great Ocean, you must be able to draw meaning from the meaningless.” said Ahriman as he built again, a house of cards with immortal precision.

        “All right,” said Twilight as she closed her eyes and again the house fell. Using her magic, she picked up a card midair.

        “Which card?” asked Ahzek.

        “Despoiler, and I thought Emperor’s Throne.” said Twilight, “This is impossible.”

        “It is possible, I tried it it with one of my old students, eventually it worked with him, but he could never finish his training due to a coming war, he is dead. Believe me, it was this hard when I started training, you can’t master this in a couple of days, it takes lifetimes of work, I’ll show you.”

        Ahriman built up a house of cards again, and said, “God-Emperor”, and Twilight knocked the cards over. A card fell onto his hoof, it showed a being towering above an army armored giants, shadowed by a golden figure wreathed in light. Ahriman smiled, “The God-Emperor, it isn’t so hard when you’ve got it , you’ll get it eventually, so have the rest of the day off.”

        As Twilight flew off to Ponyville to see her friends, he picked up his tent and table, setting them in his quarters within the castle. The others had received rooms as well, but the Rubicae had been tasked with training the Equestrian army and were therefore assigned command barracks. He hadn’t spoken to the Rubric Marines in a month, he found them training with their swords  with at least six dozen royal guards watching their inhuman skills in action. Now, they went all about the barracks, some marines were meditating, others were training such as the former.

        Ahriman identified one of the royal guards as Sponson. “Hey, Sponson, how long have they been at that?” he asked.

        “About two weeks, Ahriman, this is some record, it started one day when those two were meditating, all of a sudden they just up swords and began to fight, I’ve seen veteran guards go at it for hours, but for nearly half a month without stopping, that’s a feat.”

        “Well, all of us were super-soldiers, trained from childhood to be near demigod soldiers sent out to conquer the stars, but that’s a tale for another time.” Ahriman said.

        “You need anything, friend?” Sponson asked.

        “Oh, I don’t need anything, thanks for asking though.” he replied.

        Ahriman left the barracks, entering the castle and its marble hallways. Luna had once told him about the caverns beneath the castle, and how the Changelings had once imprisoned Cadence within and Twilight had freed her. It used to be a mine for crystals but now it was said to be haunted by ghosts of those who died during cave-ins. The problem was that it didn’t fit the setting of Equestria, something fit for the Diamond Dog tunnels, or the Griffon Kingdoms, but this was offsetting. As much as he wanted to investigate, Twilight Sparkle, he had to be her mentor and a royal advisor.

        In the passing months he taught Twilight much, but because of the Elements of Harmony, he too, had learned about the magic friendship, now that was a word forgotten in through the ages, no friendships only enemies and slaves, how could Magnus the Red not have noticed Equestria in the Great Ocean. the Horus Heresy could have been prevented.

        The Horus Heresy, Prospero, the starting point came from Magnus, he could have not contacted the Emperor, but then the Heresy would have happened, even though he did, the Heresy did happen. Next chance to prevent the events on Prospero, Magnus could have destroyed Russ’ fleet in orbit, he could have warned his beloved Legion, beloved, a strong word, what love did the Thousand Sons get from Magnus. The answer: none. What love did the Legion get from it’s chief librarian, Ahzek Ahriman, tons, he had saved his legion from mutation, and vowed to restore Prospero to it’s former state, searching the galaxy for answers. Tears came to his helmeted eyes. He had been caught up in his own thoughts to notice he was already in the Canterlot caves. He sat down crying dust in a cave.

        He did not know how long he was weeping in the caves, but a warm touch on one pauldrons brought his face up, it was his Ma! How long ago had he forgotten that face, but now he remembered it, its statuesque shape, and her deep burgundy hair! That old memory faded away in a cloud of dust as he saw the face of Luna looking down upon his wracked form. Dust covered his armor, how could it be!

        “Let me help you up,” said Luna, “What were you doing down here?”

        He got up, “I was going to check out these caves out, you had told me about them, how’d you find me here?”

        “I attended some of your sessions with Twilight, learned a few tricks. I sensed you were in despair here in these caves.” she said.

        “Well, let’s explore these caves,” said Ahriman as he brought up his Heqa staff in one hoof and his bolter in another.

        “I was anticipating that, by the way, your staff is some strange shade of black that messes with one’s mind, I know it’s not natural, but could tell me about that staff.” she asked.

        “This, yes,” Ahriman said as they continued on, “it was my symbol of office as the rank of captain, it also conducts the energies of the Great Ocean so I can unleash it on any foe. How it turned black, now it used to be ivory with blue ribbons affixed to it. There was a psyker in another legion, the Space Wolves, 5th company, I remember his name as Othere Wyrdmake. He betrayed me and attacked Propero along with his Legion and Leman Russ. During the battle of Prospero when the fifteenth and fourth clashed, I began to meditate and in the aether, I found his soul, I wrenched it from his body and knocked some sense into him, and fed him to the void hounds, he died like that. When I returned to the physical realm I found my staff had turned black, as my heart had.”

“You killed a friend who had betrayed you, and fed him to the hounds, I remember something like that happening here, my sister, a thousand years ago, ruled with me in harmony, but she hogged all the glory, I became paranoid day by day, my heart grew black, I received no praise for the night I brought. So I set out to wage civil war against my sister and bring about eternal night. I became Nightmare Moon, using the Elements of Harmony, she imprisoned me on the moon for a thousand years.” Luna explained.

“I see, that’s similar to the Horus Heresy, but there was daemonic possession involved, was there?” he asked.

“No, nothing like that, the Nightmare Moon event was nothing compared to your Horus Heresy, makes me look like a naughty foal.” she said.

They continued on, there were tunnels, some were collapsed. After an hour they upon vaulted chamber, it was massive. There was a spiral on the floor. In the corner in the entrance to another cave, there was a body, it was not a pony, not a changeling, nor a griffon. It was an Astartes! The armor was grey, Ahriman ran over to inspect it. The helmet, it was not of the fourth legion, it was wreathed in gold, with a symbol at the Athanaean cult on it, the Heqa staff by the body meant, no it could not be, Beleq Uthizzar! It could not be the crack in his chest... Magnus. The armor’s paint had faded with the passing millenia. The armor still had its crystal scarab in its chest. So since Uthizzar was here, LUna, and Ahriman were on Prospero! There must have been a portal somewhere here! They were in the reflecting caves below Ocullum Square! The spiral, above it there should be a telescope. And there it was!

“Luna, we’re on Prospero, right now, ten thousand years after the battle of Prospero.” Ahriman said. , “We’re underground in the reflecting caves.”

“Really! My sister and I used to play down in these caves back when we were foals, yes, I remember now, there was a red giant with one eye, he opened a portal and we went through, he never closed it, I remember red armored giants in this room, we even walked in the streets above!”

Ahriman shot out the telescope with a bolt pistol, it fell out with one burst considering its age. Sunlight came through. Luna flew up. Ahriman used his powers to give himself some wings(yeah, he can do that) and flew up. The sunlight hit his eyes, it stung but his eyes adjusted immediately. There were black shadows, there were people screaming as the first bombs fell from the Hrafnkel, flagship of Russ, the shadows faded away, and so did the screams subside. There was a golden lion not too far from him, the Thousand Lions, this one had survived. He remembered rubbing it for good luck during the battle.

“Hey, Luna, that gold lion statue, if touch it it can bring you good luck, I’m kidding it rubbed it during the battle of Prosper, and look at me ten thousand years later I’m back on the planet’s surface,”

“When I was a foal this place used to be beautiful, with its pyramids and marble streets, its people were so kind to Tia, and me. Now all is dust.” Luna said, tracing circles in the dust.

They walked the wastelands for hours seeing nothing but desolation, not even psychneuin could have survived. Ahriman continued to see the ghosts of Prosper, he could hear missiles, and orders being shouted by the Thousand Sons, and Prospero Spireguard. As soon of one set of shadows disappeared another would appear. He saw former buildings in their glory, the Pyramid of the Apothercarion, Photep, even the site where Canis Vertex fell once more, and the gates where Magnus and Russ had dueled, all of them illusions, most likely sent by Tzeentch.

Luna, she remembered it all, she was playing in a park with her sister, the fact that they alicorns on Prospero, nobody cared, they adorable, people gave them food or played fetch, like a dog. They walked around the streets, people loved them, the red giant, had assigned a warrior to watch over them, his name she did not remember, but he was a great caretaker. Gentlest of the people of Prospero, nobody dared bring harm to the royal sisters as long as he wa with them. Absolutely lovely days on Prospero. One day, they heard thunder in the caves, and screams, the giant told them not to come back it was too dangerous. Now she knew.

The last time she had been on Prospero was when she went to the botanical gardens with her guardian and Tia. The cool winds of Prospero blew on her face. She went there by metro tunnels. There in the botanical guardians, there were various animals such as psychneuin and wolves and great plants used in medicine and assortments of other wonders. When she returned to the caves under Ocullum Square, the thunder began, and the giant, Magnus the Red had told them to leave. The last time she she saw Prospero. She remembered many little details, but the most important thing, she had forgotten, the face of her guardian, she would sell her soul to see him once more.

They kept on walking the desolation, and the further they walked, the more shadows and ghosts they saw, mothers protecting their children from the bombs, Spireguard being culled and the flesh-change, and the wolf-sign. They came upon a sinkhole. It was an old underground facility. An armory for the Thousand Sons. In it was a vaulted door it slid open as a gust of cool air came through. In it was rack after rack of weapons armor, vehicles, everything you would need to make war. The two ponies went through inspecting the weapons, as they went there were hangars full of Thunderhawks untouched by time, why these weren’t deployed, a mystery perhaps in the panic, they were ignored. Relics of a forgotten age.

It was nearly nightfall, they would take shelter here.

“Goodnight Luna.” he said.

She replied the same.

In the morning they awoke with no food. Ahriman opened a hangar door, before them was nothingness. The former ocean of Prospero gone, dried out by the bombardments. They found a Land Speeder still working, its plasma reactor intact. With nothing else to do they flew back to Ocullum Square. They went back through the Reflecting Caves and back to Canterlot. Its was night in Equestria, all the ponies were asleep. Well, Celestia had brought night this time, for Luna was gone, on surface of Prospero with Ahriman.

“Where were you two?” demanded Tia.

“Somewhere secret.” relied Ahriman.

“Oh, then, I’ll leave you two.” she said, leaving the room.

They went to their separate quarters, Luna, went to take up the throne as Ahriman went to his study.

M41 Fenris

It had been ten millenia since they had set foot on this death world. Wolf Lord Bulveye of the Grey Beards returned to his homeworld. Beside, and towering above him was the Wolf King, Leman Russ. They were met by a blizzard, their armor whitened with the snow and the whole thirteenth began their march back to The Fang. Why they did not use the orbital dock: nostalgia. They would have last blood.