Brother Librarian

Thought for the Day:

There is no greater glory than a lifetime of dutiful service.

Jonah Orion was making his way towards the sounds of work being done. He was actually moderately surprised the mare hadn't passed out from seeing him. His armor was hardly what one would call tame, at least on this strange world. Skulls and other symbols of death are literally the primary component of Astartes Power Armor. Of course, as a Librarian, the primary component of his armor was books and symbols of knowledge, such as a few keys strung on a chain as well as Purity Seals. He was thankful that he had had the foresight to leave his Power Sword and Force Staff in a concealed location near the edge of the property, the ponies would likely have frowned upon the weaponry.

While walking, he more closely observed the property. It seemed in good shape, all things considered, straight rows, bountiful crop, presumably, and a fairly large central structure. This farm was definitely making ends meet, if not exactly thriving. Why, the amount of fruit on the trees alone could feed an Imperial Guard Regiment for quite a while. Jonah had half a mind to taste one of the shiny, red fruits, he knew his Astartes physiology would protect him against any poisons, even if it was incredibly unlikely that the ponies would poison their own crop. However, he decided against a taste test, it would be rude.

As of now, he was acting alone. He had no resources, only his own initiative, intelligence, and strength. Even if the Chapter knew where he was, which was doubtful because he didn't know where he was, he doubted the Chapter would send a task force. He was dead, many had seen him lying bloodied on the battlefield, they would search his corpse out for Gene-seed alone and, when they couldn't find it, chalk it up to Chaos dickery. Therefore, he needed to secure his own resources, his own funding, his own supplies.

He was quite close to the work now, he could tell. A turn around a junction, and the workers were laid before his eyes. 3 ponies (two males and one female), the males were rather large and red while the female was rather small and orange, the eldest male had a hat on and the other had what seemed to be a harness around his neck. The eldest, though Jonah could only barely hazard a guess, seemed to be somewhere just younger than middle aged, as far as his species went, and the other 2 were no more than teenagers, if that. The 3 were obviously engaged in work, though the actual method was slightly surprising. They were just kicking the trees and the apples fell, with little resistance. The blows were hard, obviously, as only the eldest could completely clear an entire tree in one hit, but the younger 2 were keeping up admirably despite their physical limitations. The apples would fall into conveniently placed baskets and despite the random placement of the apples in the trees, most if not all would fall into the baskets set around the base of the tree. The baskets were then emptied into a nearby wagon and set back at the base of another tree.

Jonah announced his presence by clearing his throat politely and all 3 stopped work to look at him.

The eldest asked, "Can Ah help you there, pardner?" while wiping his brow of accumulated sweat.

Jonah again marveled at the dexterity of the pony species, despite their Equine nature.

Jonah gently smiled, the better to appear non-threatening, and spoke with the same tone as he used with Granny Smith, "I inquired as to a job with one Granny Smith, and she directed me here."

"Ah." the elder stallion replied, "You want to hire on as a worker?"

"Yes." a simple reply, though it carried much meaning.

The work-stallion nodded then said, "Name's Macintosh Apple, that there's Mac Jr. and Applejack." he indicated the male and female youngsters respectively who waved in greeting.

"I am Jonah Orion." he politely replied.

Macintosh Apple rubbed his chin in thought and squinted at him, "You wouldn't happen to be that feller that walked through town all bloodied up, would ya?

"Aye, that would be me. Though the blood was mostly not my own, I assure you." Jonah replied.

"It's only been a few days, you sure you should be outta the hospital?" the young orange filly, Applejack, asked loudly.

"I am fine, my injuries are fully healed." Jonah nodded graciously to the filly, "Thank you for your concern."

Macintosh was still rubbing his chin in though, "Oh... I don't know. It don't seem right..."

"Please, you would be helping me more than I you." Jonah insisted.

"Oh alright, we do need the help." he grinned cheekily, "The youngsters ain't quite ready to take over the farm work, if you know what I mean."

The filly yelled out an indignant, "Hey!" but the other male just stood, silently gazing at him, seemingly judging him with his eyes.

Mac Jr. seemed to find what he was looking for, and nodded approvingly.

Macintosh Apple chuckled at his youngest's expense, then turned to Jonah, "I'll admit it, we need a little more help than normally. We've got the largest bumper crop in years... and we're sadly short-hooved at the moment." Macintosh finished his sentence somberly, as though recalling some recent trouble. His ears drooped, his eyes fell to the ground, as did his tail. The younglings followed his example.

After only a moment, Jonah understood. There was little time to dwell on death in the Imperium.

"I see..." Jonah started, "Your wife, and mother, I assume?" he asked, directing his question to both old and young.

"Yeah..." Macintosh sighed sadly, "She passed giving birth to young Applebloom last summer... My darling wife will be missed, but she did give us a great gift before she left us, little Applebloom." Macintosh wiped a tear from his eye, clearly still distraught over the event.

Jonah knew not how long the seasons were on this world, but it was slightly over a year on this world, given harvest time's proclivity for occurring in Fall, on all Imperial worlds.

"I'm afraid I cannot offer much, but I can tell you not to dwell on her death, but rather on her life."

Jonah too had lost brothers, 7 centuries of fighting a constant war will do that to you, and that advice had been told to him shortly after he was advised to take the sorrow of the deaths of brothers and convert it into righteous fury. He did not think the ponies would appreciate the 'righteous fury' advice, but the first could help.

"Thank ya kindly." Macintosh said.

All was silent for a few moments, but was quickly broken by Macintosh moving back to work.

"C'mon y'all, we gotta get back to work. These apples won't buck themselves." he accentuated his statement with a sharp buck to the nearest tree, causing a small avalanche of apples.

The work was incredibly simple: just hit the trees as hard as necessary. Jonah quickly found, to his amusement and the others' silent jealousy, that he didn't need to kick with his back legs. He just reared up and knocked them down with a hard jab. He found his luck sorely tested when he placed the baskets: he never seemed to place them correctly, despite the pointers that Apple family provided. It got to the point where the others would set up baskets for him, to better expedite the harvest.

Over the course of the next 7 hours, Jonah found his stamina only lightly tested. Hard war and training was nothing to the trees and apples. He did, however, learn some things about this world, the Apple family was quite free with information. When asked to reciprocate, it required some falsehoods and half-truths, liberally sprinkled with kernels of truth. Though Applejack was not the only to inquire, she was by far the most inquisitive.

"Where ya from, Jonah?"

"Far away, from a forest called Typhon. I sincerely doubt you've heard of it."

"You talk really fancy, like one of them nobles from Canterlot."

"While I've never met a noble from Canterlot, I can say that I speak only as my brothers have."

"'Brothers'? Sounds more akin to an order of monks than a large family."

"You would be correct in your assumption, you are intelligent for your age young Applejack. How old are you?"

"Ah'm 13! Mac's 15. An pa's like really old!"

"I'm sure I am vastly older than he is."

"No way!"

"Yes, it is true. And Mac Jr. is only 15? He looks much older, considering his size."

"Yep! He's not even full grown, yet! But you're HUGE!!"

"A product of environment, nothing more."

"Your armor looks cool, by the way."

"Thank you, it was a gift as well as a necessary piece of my equipment."

"What, were you a monster hunter?"

"Amongst other things, that title would also apply to my line of work."

"I thought you were a monk!"

"A monk that lived in a dangerous forest; the citizenry needed protection, as did my brothers and the knowledge we collected."

"That must have been one dangerous forest."

"Indeed."

Hours past, conversation were held, apple fell, baskets collected. As all things, work must end eventually.

And as a worker, Jonah was, apparently, entitled to meals with the family. And a place to sleep, if only a blanket. The generosity of these xenos, no, these human constructs, for their architecture was too human for them to be anything else (They had doorknobs, for the Emperor's sake), astounded him. He reasoned that their world and ideology was a product of being far removed from Chaos, or really any other faction in the galaxy. But especially Chaos... and Dark Eldar... and Orks... and Tyranids... and the Imperium... or pretty much every other race.

After the work was done, Jonah had been invited inside for a meal, and Jonah had graciously accepted. The fact that their home was primarily constructed of wood momentarily slipped his mind. While a Blood Raven couldn't forget anything, they could act without thinking.

He was before their front door, warily eyeing their wooden entrance way. It wasn't like it wasn't wide enough for him to enter, it was the fact that it was made of wood that made him wary. He was lost, he needed connections, he needed, dare he say it, friends to live for very long in this world. Space Marines need allies too, no matter what some of his more arrogant brothers may think. And breaking a home doesn't make you friends or connections quickly.

Macintosh Apple was standing behind him, Jonah had heard him approach. The stallion had graciously taken it upon himself to move the filled wagon into the barn while he sent the children and Jonah inside for food. But he had returned to see Jonah looking at the front door with trepidation.

In an instant, Macintosh knew why, and he laughed.

"Don't worry about your size, friend, that wood's from the Everfree Forest, most of Ponyville is. That stuff grows strong, real strong. It'll hold up to your weight."

Jonah recognized the teasing, and silently hated because of it. Astartes never take teasing well, their egos were usually enough to match their superhuman bodies. Doubly, if not triply, so for the Ultramarines, the arrogant asshats. Their fancy Codex cost them their entire 1st Company, while other chapters that bent if not outright broke the Codex thrived. The Codex is a valuable tome, to be sure, but it also required just a little bit of actual thinking to accompany it. Like how good advice requires a bit of bending to fit varying circumstances. Even the Blood Ravens saw the worth in it, and then ignored it for better options. However, some chapters always ignore it and some even deride it. Like the Angry Marines, who are said to actually wipe with pages of the tome.

Jonah stepped up into the house and put a fraction of his weight on the leg. Unsurprisingly, the wood held. Then, Jonah added more and more until he was evenly distributed, and the wood held, surprisingly. Jonah quickly entered the home with Macintosh directly following him. Macintosh directed him into the dining room, where 3 were currently seated and 1 was gurgling happily in a thankfully restraining chair. All had yet to eat the food, their polite manners demanding that all be seated before the meal started.

Macintosh took his seat at the head of the table, while Jonah took the only other seat. Thankfully, it seemed the chair was also built of sturdy Everfree wood. The table was spread with all manner of food, the scent betraying the vast quantities of apples within.

Once seated, the others quickly dug in, Jonah was left holding his Rosarius and mumbling his prayers under his breath while the others ate. Most Space Marines Chapters do not revere the Emperor as a god, but rather as the greatest of men. He himself had refused the title, despite some wanting to worship him. Many Space Marines upheld that direction, including the Blood Ravens. However, one could still offer prayers even if one simply saw him as the greatest of men, the Emperor was bound to listen. If there was anyone or thing in the entire universe that could claim to be a god, the Emperor was it. He had power in vast amounts, and held the entirety of Chaos back with his mind alone. Nothing else could withstand the entire pantheon of Chaos at once, both sides were constantly battling through the Warp. The Emperor never truly gained ground but he did hold them back. THAT was power, god-like power.

It was when he prayed that Jonah remembered keenly his first experience with the Warp, and the Emperor.

All neophytes are tested for Warp power, and Jonah had tested positive. In the Blood Ravens, and in all Chapters, pyskers are still trained in the normal fashion as all other brothers are. However, hey are not put into the traditional system, but rather trained by other Librarians. In addition to the normal physical training, baby Librarians are taught the ways of the Warp, and how to shield one's mind against daemons.

When in the Warp, one could always 'hear' or 'sense' 2 things. 1. the presence of daemons. 2. the presence of the Emperor.

The daemons were always more noticeable, what with their constant clawing at your mental defenses, but the Emperor was more subtle. Like how one could miss something when there was so much of it, His presence slightly blended into the background. It was always there, it would not change, it became a piece of the Warp. But, if one traced the source all the way back to Holy Terra, one could find the supreme presence of the Emperor there.

The trainees were taught to not to directly reach towards the Emperor, and with good reason.

However, Jonah had decided to try anyway.

The Eastern Fringe is far from the Emperor, in fact the Litany of Fury has a mobile repeater station for the Astronomicon to boost the faint signal in the East. During one of his meditation sessions, he reached his mind towards Terra and towards the Astronomicon. The distance involved showed his potential, any other stretched so thin would have been possessed almost instantly. Perhaps it was miracle from the Emperor, or some stroke of luck, but Jonah's presence in the Warp made it all the way to Holy Terra.

He didn't remember much after that. But, he knew for certainty that his soul was taken in by the Astronomicon. The heat, the pain, the fear of a thousand thousand psykers awash in that furnace of souls... There was a reason that only the Emperor could focus the Astronomicon, that reason being it was so vastly powerful. Now, despite his photographic memory, he forgot much. He might have been awash in that hell for hours, minutes, days... time held little meaning in the Warp.

However, he distinctly remembered the ending of that torture he brought upon himself...

The pain had been all that he felt, but all at once he felt a kind, warm psychic embrace, not boiling lead hot as it was before. The embrace cut him off from the pain of that hell-scape, the Astronomicon.

He remembered the mental equivalent of a pat on the shoulder, and a small, proud smile.

"Please allow me to shoulder this burden, Jonah." the essence had said, quietly, gently, and with much love, "I do not believe you are quite ready to handle the Astronomicon yet, it is just out of your capabilities at the moment." the essence was amused, but held a deep sorrow. Jonah had also detected trace amounts of pride.

Jonah had wept like a babe. It was the first time, and the last time, Jonah had ever cried tears of joy.

For the spirit, the essence that had directly spoken to him...

...Was undoubtedly the Emperor of Mankind, himself.

The punishment for almost killing himself and releasing a small horde of daemons had been substantial, but it was very well worth it. The Librarians could see how much the event had influenced him, how important it was to him. The Emperor's light is very dim indeed in the dark forests of Typhon, and Jonah had not seen evidence of the Emperor there. But actually meeting the man through the Warp? That was a powerful experience. From then on, his faith in the Emperor of Mankind was absolute, not as a god, but as the greatest of men and the immortal protector of the Imperium.

The silence at the table is what roused him from his thoughts. He looked up to see the Apple family looking at him, even young Applebloom.

"I'm sorry there Brother. We didn't mean to go and disrespect your beliefs." Macintosh said, pointing to the tightly clutched Rosarius.

Jonah was slightly disappointed. He knew it was silly to presume that the ponies even knew of the Emperor, much less worship the man. While he himself was not a member of the Imperial Cult, he was always more comfortable around those who did believe. Partly because those who didn't believe were heretics trying to kill him, but that's beside the point.

"No, there was no disrespect. Your beliefs are not mine." Jonah assured him, "I was done with my prayers anyway." Jonah started to put away the Rosarius.

"...You wouldn't terribly mind blessing the meal, would you?" Macintosh hesitantly asked.

Jonah froze in his movement and, after a moment of though, moved the Rosarius back upwards to bless the table.

"I am no Chaplain." Jonah said, "But a simple prayer to the God-Emperor would suffice."

These ponies were, by their very nature, not very religious. However, due to their less than industrialized nature, they were also quite superstitious. Which was similar enough to religion to count, especially among some of the more primitive humans. Jonah did not believe that the Emperor was a god, but the Emperor was sufficiently omniscient that prayers were actually effective, whether or not you actually believe in His godhood.

Jonah brought the Rosarius back to his lips and whispered the requested prayers over it. It is said that each Rosarius has a special connection to the Emperor, and it is by faith that its Conversion Field is charged. Coincidentally, the field is also charge by an electrical charge in the Rosarius. Though, it is to be noted that especially fervent and holy persons wearing a Rosarius seem to receive greater protection.

The family thanked him for the prayers, and the meal began in earnest. The food tasted sweet, and was very good. Especially by Space Marine standards, even they receive terrible rations during campaigns. The Battle Barges and Fortress Monasteries have much better food, but shipping a hot meal to a battlefield is a little outlandish, even with the various teleporters that the Blood Ravens have acquired throughout the years.

After much food, and quite a bit of dessert for Jonah, he was led to a guest room where he fell into a dreamless sleep.

Such is the norm for Blood Ravens, they cannot dream at all. It's a mutation in their Gene-seed.