For the Empress: A MLP and Warhammer Crossover
Chapter 1: An Apology Overdue
If you're reading this, you might be hoping for a continuation of my other crossover. No such luck I'm afraid, but here's some honest Ponyhammer for you. If I do continue it, it'll be because it gets reviews. Just sayin'.
What happened to the emperor? Why isn't he strong enough to heal his immortal body? Why was the Machine Cult accepted so widely by the Ecclesiarch? This story goes to the heart of that - and where the God-Emperor came from in his quest to untie humanity. But it goes a bit further than that...
You see, those of you who are relatively sharp eyed might have noticed the absence of two legions of marines in the codex. This isn't a GW choice - they were never there. They come directly from a decision from the Emperor himself, after the two Primarchs revealed a slight issue in their current state.
Those who enjoy questioning such things may also wonder why Luna turned dark, and how she achieved such great power.
It is no coincidence, unfortunately, that the Horus Heresy and the Nightmare Moon incident happened at almost the exactly the same time, with a similar time span.
And Luna certainly spent more than 1000 years away from her sister...
Nightmare Night, 15729 AD (After Discord), 42M Aprox.
"I'm so sorry big sister, I've missed you so much!"
Those had been Luna's first words to her sister after she truly returned, without Nightmare Moon clouding her thoughts. Now she had to apologise properly. Her magic had long since returned and begun to act on her body, and she had to be careful not to lapse into Royal Canterlot Voice, which would be dangerous, given the topic she was about to discuss.
"Celestia? Can I come in?"
Luna peered around the door, half praying that her sister wasn't there.
"Of course Luna. What is it?"
"I... I came to apologise. To you."
"To me?" Celestia looked up from a piece of paper in front of her. Luna saw her move another over it. The word 'Heresy' loomed out before it was covered.
"I know I did one of the worst things I could have before, but I have to apologise. I have to try!"
"Luna..." Celestia sighed and laid her head on the desk in front of her.
"I know I shouldn't have listened to Horus, and I should have trusted you, and I know I did something wrong, BUT WE BEG YOUR forgiveness Celestia, I just DEEMED OUR BROTHER TO BE right and-"
"Luna, first of all, you're lapsing back into RCV." Celestia looked sideways at her sister as Luna lowered her head, blushing slightly. "Secondly, I forgive you. Completely. I had been acting like an arse, and that was unacceptable. I completely understand how you could be decieved, and I DON't blame you."
Luna closed her eyes. "You're just saying that..."
"I'm not. Look, I forgave you when I banished you to that horrible place, so don't worry. If it helps, why don't you go to Ponyville for the celebrations? There's candy."
Luna smiled. "Thank you sister. I feel better now. Perhaps I should go in costume myself..."
Celestia smiled. "Why not go as a princess?"
Luna laughed, and with a nod, ran out to find a suitable chariot to mess around with.
Celestia's smile slowly turned to a frown.
"Father, on the other hand..."
A space cruiser galactic east edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, 5729 AD (After Discord), M31 Aprox.
"Damnit!"
The two young men feverently worked at the controls of the small cruiser, no small feat given the size of the ship. Below, in the engine rooms and various holds, a variety of Space Marines, servitors and tech priests worked at the ship, carefully coaxing it to go ever faster through the warp.
"Left three!"
The pair yelled out commands and statistics as they moved from console to console, each of which was directed to groups in the holds. One was wearing black and red, while the other wore white and red. In the middle, a constantly shifting form slowly gained a semblance of humanity.
"Shields stabilising!"
"Engines stabilising!"
"Core temperature reaching safe levels!"
"Hull breaches contained and fixed!"
"Requesting roll call!"
"Sanguine reporting!"
"Horus reporting."
"Cog reporting!"
"Mech reporting."
"Atticus reporting!"
"Tech Priests reporting twenty down!"
"Marines reporting three down!"
"Combat Servitors reporting at under half strength."
"Gun Servitors reporting at around two thirds strength."
"Tech Servitors at one quarter advisable operating level, requesting reserve deployment."
"Request granted." The boy in white flopped down onto a nearby chair. "Horus, get your and Sanguine's arses up here right now."
The boy in white, who had reported in as Cog, stared at Horus. The Primarch turned Chaos turned good had spent most of his time on the ship so far purging his body of the taint, and was now mostly human. The boy in black, Mech, was grinning and giving Sanguine a thumbs up, which the winged Primarch returned gladly. The past few days had been hell for all of them.
Flashback
Sanguine charged into Horus's throne room, sword ready.
"Ah, Sanguine, so good to see you again."
"Damnit Horus, this isn't you!"
"So what? The rest of you always were jealous at how I got command of the army. Why should you care?"
"Horus, I do care, please stop this! You haven't seen what you've done to Luna!"
"I don't care! Like you don't really care! And neither does father! I'll kill you both!" Horus yelled at the golden figure.
"I won't let you!" Sanguine yelled back, charging at his brother.
"Both of you, stop this!"
The pair turned, as their father, the Emperor, burst through the door. Horus spread his arms and grinned.
"Father, I thought you wouldn't come."
"Horus, please, I can see you aren't yourself, I don't want to hurt you!"
"Tough."
As Horus charged forward to stab his father, Sanguine pulled out his own sword to stab Horus. He flew in front of his father to protect him, drew back his sword to strike as Horus did the same.
The pair stabbed forward, only to find their swords buried straight through their father.
"Heh." The Emperor smiled at Horus. "Guess that didn't work as well as I'd hoped." He gestured to a slight scratch on Horus's armour.
"You..." Horus gaped. "You do care..."
As he desperately pulled the tainted sword out of the Emperor, watching as the immortal began to decay. Sanguine pulled out his sword, sheathing it and desperately trying to inhibit the spread of the rotting. "Help me you idiot!"
As Horus began to focus the few pure parts of his power, he and Sanguine heard a scream from the warp.
"I give you power, and you give me this?"
Horus turned to find a demon manifesting itself in the room behind his throne.
"You worthless retch! I'll destroy you like I destroyed your brothers!"
Horus moved into a defensive stance as a hail of bullets flew into the demon over his shoulder. It screamed and stepped back.
"We've got this jerk covered, now get out to the grand cruiser! The others will deal with the rest!"
Horus turned to Cog and Mech, who were armed with an impressive weapon, with the support of a Dreadnought.
"Go you moron, and get his phylactery while you're at it!"
Horus pulled up Sanguine, and wrenched off an impressive gem from the armour of the rotting corpse, running out past the hunk of metal in the corridor.
"Now then, who wants a piercing?" Mech said, grinning.
End Flashback
Cog looked towards the Emperor, currently trying to regain some part of his body. It was taking a while. "So Horus, do you believe me NOW?"
Cog and Sanguine glared at the larger Primarch, who rested his face in his hands. He looked tired.
"I'm sorry Cog. I should have listened."
"Damn right. I dread to think what we'll do about the legions who haven't repented. And then there's the burocracy, and... Ugh, we've got way too much to do. There's even a chance we'll have to find some of the other Primarchs and save them, good or bad. Now what the hell are we supposed to do?"
"May I make a suggestion?"
The psychic voice was unmistakeable. Even Tzeench's daemons had problems copying it.
"There are two Primarchs who haven't been to the inner sections of the galaxy for a while..."
Cog leaned back. "Celly and Lulu? Is their world even safe?"
"I've been told so. Last I heard they weren't talking much, so..."
Mech struck up a dramatic pose. "Never mind! To their world! To... Uh, what was it called again?" He looked at Horus.
"Equestria."
"To Equestria!" Mech yelled, striking the pose again. Cog shook his head.
"Odd name, isn't it?" He said.
"I've been told it's appropriate." Sanguine said. "Though I dread to think why."
Between times, on the edge of the Equestrian Solar system.
"It can't hold her much longer!" Cog yelled.
Sanguine and Horus were on all fours on the floor, as the systems strange warp radiation forced their bodies into impossible shapes on its way to a definite one. Cog was in a ball underneath one of the consoles next to Mech, who was in a similar position. The pair were using their considerable psychic powers to hold the ship in a fixed direction. The Emperor was in a considerably worse situation, currently trying to aid the surviving crew members and marines who had survived what had proven to be a devastating journey. They were now in various positions around the ship as they and their clothing changed to the solar systems whims.
"!" Cog yelled. He couldn't feel his hands, and he could feel his muscular system adapting over a matter of seconds. He'd been chewed by a Gargantuan Squigoth before, and this was much, much worse.
Sanguine was looking at Horus. He couldn't see much of him, but he knew that it would be worse for him, especially since he was only recently saved from the warp, and now it seemed to be enacting its revenge.
Horus felt a being behind the change. It wasn't a choice, like being used as a vessel, but he knew chaos, and this wasn't it. "We're going to be OK!" He yelled, his voice fracturing as he spoke.
Mech screamed as something grew out of his forehead and snapped in a matter of seconds. He may have had bionics put in, but he felt limbs come back, forcing the detailed electronics out of his system. Chaos wouldn't have been that subtle.
Atticus, the dreadnought, felt the metal of his sarcophagus screech as it changed shape. He didn't care much, provided he was still of use.
Down in the engine rooms, Tech Priests, servitors and space marines alike heard the delicate mechanisms that made up the interstellar craft shatter, which would have made them worry about being consumed by the warp had they not already been forced to leave.
Cog felt the terrible psychic presence leave his body as he regained enough composure to look out of the main window. What he saw shocked him to the core, so much that he nearly left the ships integrity to Mech, which could never have survived without his help. "There's a star and moon going around a planet!"
Mech pulled himself out of his hidey hole. Cog glanced towards him, only to find a grey pony with a mane and tail. He also had a broken horn and pair of bats wings. He looked over his shoulder and felt his head. He had an intact horn, and bird wings, but had a white coat and red tail. He also had a tattoo on his flank of the Adeptus Mechanicus symbol. Mech had an inverted one, while Horus and Sanguine, at a glance, had any possible marking covered by their power armour. They seemed to be silvery and gold respectively, with dark blue and red manes. Cog sniggered.
"Fancy."
"Says the winged unicorn." Horus retorted.
"Hey, you've got them to." Cog pointed out. "I wonder if the Marines and Servitors have them as well."
"Some have wings, some have horns, some have neither, but all are different. The servitors all lack either feature, though some have scars, and still have their implants, but the Tech Priests were very distressed."
The four ponies turned to the Emperor. Cog nearly dropped his hold, but a sudden glow from Mech's horn made him pick up his side again. Their horns glowed for a few seconds before petering out as the action became an afterthought.
He was HUGE. Sanguine dwarfed the two smaller ponies in front of him, and Horus was a good inch taller than him, but the Emperor was absolutely giant. His coat was a bright white, and his mane was a vivid green. He had wings and a horn, but seemed quite calm despite the transformation he had undergone.
"Cog, Mech, go check on them. I need you to reassure them that this is no divine punishment of yours."
"What did cause it?" Cog asked, trying out different methods of walking. "A warp storm?"
"Au contraire my little ponies!" A voice yelled. There was the distinct sound of a mariachi band.
"Who are you? Show yourself!" The Emperor yelled, as the five Alicorns formed a defensive circle.
"For who, you may call me almost anything. And I don't think I'll show myself just yet. You see, I want you to play a little game with me."
Horus snorted. "Sure, scum, I'll play your game. What's it worth?"
"Scum? That's not fair now, is it? I haven't done anything to you, have I?"
"You turned us into ponies." Cog pointed bluntly.
"That just stops the warp. No, I want you to play a very simple game. It's called, 'Survive the Ship Crash'."
With a yell, all five ponies began to focus on the ship, as they felt their control on its integrity crushed. Cog grabbed Mech, as Sanguine grabbed Horus and pulled him down. The Emperor ran down into to the engine rooms.
"Damnit!" Cog yelled. The ship screamed defiance at the foreign interference, and as he watched, holo-displays, control panels, and vox-links turned into jelly, fish tanks and all manner of other things. "We've got to help-"
With an unearthly screech, the ship split in time, leaving its inhabitants to various fates as they went hurtling down towards the paradise planet of Equestria.