Chapter 10: Forbidden Knowledge
Aries still had half a day to look for recruits outside of Cloudesdale, and Rainbow Dash was still looking for Spitfire's belongings, so Twilight decided to head home and relax.
She teleported back to the castle, after confirming that Aries wouldn't need her for anything, and started looking for a nice book to read.
However, her attention was drawn to a book that she hadn't had in mind. It was the journal that she used to communicate with Sunset Shimmer.
She had sent a message regarding Aries and the Imperium as she knew it, wondering if there was any connection between Aries' world and Sunset's. It would appear that Sunset had written a reply.
Twilight opened the glowing book and read the latest entry. I need you to come through the portal...do not tell him what you're doing.
That was odd, did Sunset know something? Only one way to find out.
Elsewhere
Sunset paced back and forth in front of the statue that served as a portal between Equestria and Earth, uncaring of the rain pouring onto her or the fact that she was at Canterlot High during summer break.
Please be wrong, please be wrong, please be wrong, please be wrong...
A purple glow coming from the statue broke her from her thoughts as Twilight entered her world in her human form.
"Twilight." Sunset called, rushing to her friend and giving her a hug in welcome.
"It's good to see you too Sunset, but what's this about?" Twilight asked when the embrace ended.
Sunset's smile disappeared when she remembered what was going on. "He doesn't know that you're here, right?"
"No, he doesn't, but why do you seem afraid of him? He's not that scary." Twilight questioned.
Sunset looked back at the portal, and then looked around, as though afraid that the World Eater was eavesdropping on them from somewhere. "Not here, come with me."
With that, Sunset led Twilight to the street and hailed a taxi. Twilight's delight at the vehicle and it's functions amused Sunset, but it couldn't dispell her fear.
Sunset directed the driver to her apartment and led Twilight into the living room. There, she had several video games laid out to show off. "Okay Twilight, I need you to look at these, and tell me if you recognize the characters on the covers."
Twilight was a little confused, she knew what video games were of course, there was even a local colt who's cutie mark was based on his arcade skills.
Twilight picked up one of the games...and almost threw it when she found the Image of Tirek roaring at her. ut it wasn't at her, it was at a group of humans fighting the giant centaur on the cover of the game: Tirek's Revenge.
She picked up another: Sombra's Shadow, and saw a humanoid King Sombra swinging a scythe at a human knight with a sword and shield.
She picked up another: Hive of Horrors, and saw a human with a weapon similar to Aries' lost bolter unaware that a humanoid Chrysalis was on the ceiling above him.
"I've beaten all of these villains back home...h-how does this world know about them?" Twilight asked.
"They don't, the people who made these games have no idea that these villains are real in another world...but that's not the point." Sunset said before getting up, signaling Twilight to wait where she was, and then returning with a box of...something.
Sunset opened the box and rummaged through it's contents. "...Okay Twilight, does Aries look like..." She pulled something out of the box and showed it to Twilight. "...This."
Twilight forgot how to close her mouth as she realized that the orange and red object in her hand was a tactical marine with Sunset's cutie-mark as it's insignia.
"...Okay, Aries is a game character in this world?" Twilight asked.
Sunset turned pale as she realized that she was right. "Twilight...this game...is not Ogres and Oobliettes...this is Warhammer 40k, the darkest fantasy world."
Twilight suddenly understood why Sunset was so afraid. "So, he's a villain?"
"Technically, no. 40k doesn't have a set villain, everyone is good and bad in their own ways. But the Emperor he's talking about is the kind of ruler that would make you wish to live under Sombra. And Aries is loyal to him above all else." Sunset explained.
"...okay...so, what you're saying is...the proud enforcer of a power-mad tyrant is protecting us from something even worse because...why?" Twilight voiced the million dollar question.
"Because the enemy of my enemy dies second, he figured out that there is a reason that this enemy wants you dead. Speaking of which, you just told me that 'his enemy' is coming for Equestria. Could you be more specific, there's a lot of them." Sunset inquired.
"Umm...Corn?" Twilight said...completely stunned to see Sunset feint as soon as she said it.
A few moments later.
Sunset groaned as she came back to her senses. Twilight had put her on her couch with all the armpillows beneath her, and was now reading the codexes that Sunset had in the same box that held her homemade warband of Thousand Sons that she made around the head canon of her fantasy self leading them to victory against the Emperor and Celestia. (she was still evil when she made them)
"...So, Khorne huh?" Sunset said as she came to terms with the severity of the situation.
"Yeah...Khorne...hopefully he's the only one after us, I already learned more about Slaanesh than I would ever want to...I promise not to Celestia that you sacrificed her to Tzeentch by the way." Twilight joked...but Sunset wasn't laughing.
"...Do you have any idea how many ponies are going to die?" Sunset said with almost no emotion.
"Hopefully none, it's still possible that Princess Luna could keep the Daemons from possessing anypony." Twilight said.
"So what, they can wait for centuries...Aries probably can't." Sunset said.
"Umm, you have plenty of books on Daemons and the Thousand Sons, and a few on the Eldar, but I'm still just as unaware of what you know about Aries as I was when I came here." Twilight pointed out.
"Right, sorry. World Eaters are berserk melee fighters. And if he's one of the younger ones who was recruited to the legion in the later years before the Horus Heresy, then he was probably given the Butcher's Nails: a neural implant that causes extreme pain, but also releases chemicals into his brain that cause pleasure whenever he's fighting. If he goes to long without that fix, the Nails'll drive him mad." Sunset explained.
"Well, Luna described his skill with a chainsword as pretty berserk, but he's a tactical marine, so he's pretty good at keeping his rage in check." Twilight argued.
"Maybe, bit there's a difference between keeping anger in check, and keeping it bottled up. And this isn't the kind of anger that goes away with therapy, telling you what the Nails are doing to him won't make them stop." Sunset counter argued.
"Okay, is there any good news?" Twilight asked, a bit worried.
"Well, from what you told me that he told you, there is a slight chance that might be slightly, or even completely wrong." Sunset replied.
"Uhh, care to explain?" Twilight asked.
"Well, you said that one of his friends was a librarian, that shouldn't be possible, considering the time line. And the Astra Militarum isn't founded until after the Horus Heresy. With these differences in mind, and the fact that Tirek is a demon king, Sombra draws power from a magic ring, and Chrysalis is just an alien bug with the sentience of a wasp, and they all fought against humans, there is the possibility that there are some other differences, but you should act as though there isn't, just to be safe." Sunset pointed out.
"Okay, anything else?" Twilight asked.
"Not that I know off the top of my head, Warhammer 40k is a big franchise, but I'll try to get some books about the 12th legion and the Ruinous Powers so that you know what you're dealing with, but do not, I repeat, NOT let him know about this. I don't want to walk by that statue and suddenly have an angry World Eater jump out screaming 'heresy' at me while he rips me to pieces." Sunset shuddered visibly at the thought.
"Heh heh, you're secret's safe with me, although he probably wouldn't have as big of an argument if you didn't play a traitor legion." Twilight joked.
All of the tension left Sunset as she and Twilight laughed at that. "Fair enough, maybe I should invest in the Blood Ravens."
After that, the two talked a little more before Sunset got another taxi to take Twilight back home.
Twilight arrived in Equestria two hours after she left. Satisfied with her new lead into the mystery of the new conflict brewing, she grabbed a book from a nearby shelf and turned the page...then Aries returned.
"OF ALL THE DISFUNCTIONAL! IRREDEEMABLE! WORTHLESS! PATHETIC EXCUSES FOR MILITARY I HAVE EVER SEEN! CANTERLOT'S ROYAL GUARD MAKES THEM ALL LOOK LIKE CUSTODES!!!"
Author's Note: Okay, so my upupcoming weekend is taken up by alternative plans. So I decided to throw this shorter chapter to kinda explain some of my fuck ups regarding the lore.
So there you have it, Gamer Sunset is my plot device that covers the numerous plot holes that have been pointed out and I can't tell if you're going to be okay with this or declare Exterminatus...let's find out.