"What do you think it is?" Tree Hugger asked as she walked up next to Discord. The Spirit of Chaos had been busy fighting, though shaggy fur and dirty scales was all he had to show for it. Though he couldn't stop the undead from rising, he could put them down rather well. They had been growing more powerful and more numerous lately, and his services had been needed. He had been given three interesting battles in the last two days, and that was all that Tree Hugger knew. She had kept out of the conflict, for the most part. In situations where evil was attacking so relentlessly, and ponies were being hurt, she wished that she was more of a fighter. She knew she wasn't, though, and so she had become a nurse for the troops and the misplaced animals.

"Well," Discord said as he rubbed his chin. "It's clearly a golden chain, but what surprises me is that you can see it, too. I tried pointing it out to Shining Armor when it was just mist and he couldn't see a thing."

"I saw its aura sticking out of the ground, and it felt, like, crazy. It kinda made me want to hide under a bed, but instead I just went back to the nurses tents."

"But now it's a chain…" Discord said, thoughtfully. "I've racked my brains for the last hour and I can't imagine what this chain is for. The only thing I can think of is that it's a tether of some sort."

"Can we follow it?" Shining Armor said as he walked up behind Tree Hugger and Discord. He was looking at the chain, trying to follow it with his eyes as it ascended into the sky.

"Wait, you can see it? But earlier, when I showed you…"

"Earlier I couldn't see it. Now, for whatever reason, I can."

"Its aura has strengthened quite a bit," Tree Hugger said. "Perhaps that has to do with its, like, current solid nature."

"So it went from a mist, to a solid chain as it somehow grew stronger," Discord said. "Now others can see it, too. All we need now is to know what it's connected to. That should give us some insight into its purpose."

"I'll have my flyers look into it," Shining Armor said as he replaced his scarred helmet.

"Actually, I think I'd like to check this one out myself. I get the feeling that, wherever this thing leads, we'll find Fluttershy… and the others, of course," Discord said as Shining Armor and Tree Hugger fixed him with questioning looks.

"I want to go with you," Tree Hugger said as she placed a hoof on the chain. "I want to help find our friends."

"Are you sure about that? There's no telling what we'll find. If it's related to that 'Dark Arceus' creature these shades keep rambling about I doubt it'll be safe."

"He's right, Tree Hugger," Shining Armor said. "We took enough casualties reclaiming the territory we lost last week. No offense, but you're not exactly a fighter. I don't want to send a non-combatant into harms way."

"I may not be a fighter, but I can treat the injured. If our friends are up ahead, like, they might be hurt. I can help treat Discord if he gets hurt, too."

"I'm not that easy to hurt, my dear," Discord said, kindly as he moved her away from the chain to stand behind Shining Armor. "I'm touched that you're concerned for me, though."

Discord turned and walked over to the chain. As he placed a hoof upon the first rung, Tree Hugger bit her lower lip and closed her eyes. The sound of Discord walking up the chain rang in her ears as she struggled with her indecisiveness. She looked to Discord, and watched in concern as his aura began to change. Discord's aura was naturally chaotic. Once it had been a puppy chewing a horseshoe, another time it had been a two-headed dolphin playing cards. There was only one shape that it had taken more than once, and that had been a darker tinted rainbow. It took that form now, but with each step his aura grew colder and more violent. After a moment of fighting with herself, she ran to the chain and called out.

"Please, let me come!"

"Why?" Discord said as he turned around to look at her. "There's no reason for you to charge headlong into danger like this. I can tell this chain isn't leading anywhere nice, and you would be much better off if you stayed behind."

"I just feel like I need to come," Tree Hugger said as she watched the violent reds and greens of Discord's aura calm a bit in response to her concern. "Please!"

"Well… what do you think, Princey Poo?"

"I think my name isn't 'Princey Poo'," Shining Armor said, sternly. "But if Ms. Tree Hugger really wants to go with you, I'll allow it. She can keep you in line, hopefully. Just make sure nothing bad happens to her."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," Discord said as he stroked his goatee. He snapped his claws and Tree Hugger suddenly found herself shrunk down, tucked behind one of his scales like a small dog sticking out of a saddlebag. "Now you're safe and sound in my little pocket, where nothing can harm you."

"Why does it feel like my back hooves are on a pillow?"

"Because they are, my dear," Discord said, suddenly appearing at her side. She looked at the tiny Discord next to her, mouth agape, and then at the big Discord she was hitching a ride with. "Don't bother trying to explain it, Treesy. We're both the real thing. As for what you're standing on…"

He held his nose and ducked down beneath the scale, bidding Tree Hugger to follow with his free claw. She obliged, and when she emerged from the dive she found herself in a large, white room. She was standing on a comfortable, red cushioned couch next to Discord. Above her was a hole in the ceiling, from which she guessed she had been peering out of. She could see Discord peering at her through the hole as he walked along the golden chain. She looked to her right and saw Discord looking around the room in satisfaction as he began explaining her circumstances.

"This is a little pocket dimension I made a while back," he said, sounding very impressed with himself. "You have a fridge, a comfy couch with some nice plaid blankets, and plenty of food."

He pointed to a brown, wooden door and his face grew serious.

"Keep this in mind, Tree Hugger. If you want to stay with me, that's fine. But if I find myself in trouble, as unlikely as that seems, that door will take you back to Canterlot Castle. If you're going to come along, I insist you follow my instructions and use that door if needed. Understood?"

"Yes," Tree Hugger said, smiling. "I'm just glad I get to go with you. And this place is, like, totally awesome!"

"It is, isn't it?" Discord said, proudly. He grinned for a moment, then his expression turned to confusion as something caught his eye.

"What's wrong?"

"Stick your head out of my pocket and see for yourself," Discord said before disappearing. Tree Hugger rose up on her hind legs and stuck her head out of the hole in the ceiling. Instantly, she was staring out over Discord's scale as she had been before. She felt the couch rise slightly beneath her, lifting her up further so she could have a better vantage point. Below her were Discord's feet, standing on the golden chain. They were so high up she couldn't see the ground. Above them was the darkness of space, but there were no stars.

"What is it?" Tree Hugger asked. "Where did all the stars go? And the Moon and Sun?"

"Look ahead of us," Discord said as he walked along slowly. "The chain ends in nothing."

Sure enough, the chain did end. Half a rung stuck out of the air, seemingly anchored to nothing.

"Space-time is thin, here," Discord said as he reached the final rung. "As for where everything went, I don't think we're in our solar system anymore. Likely, we're not even in our universe."

"What does that mean?"

"It means our planet is being dragged somewhere, my dear. I imagine that's what this chain is for."

He held out a claw and tore a long, jagged gash in the air before him. A blood-red glow shone from inside as Discord put his head through.

"Tree Hugger?" Discord said as he removed his head from the hole.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Remember when I told you that you might need to use that door if things got bad enough?"

"Yes."

"Keep that in mind," he said as he extended the claws on his lion's paw. Tree Hugger felt an invisible wall cover the pocket she was in as Discord followed the chain through the gash in the air.

The hallways of the Imperial Palace were immaculate and beautiful. No less would be allowed for the God Emperor's most sacred temple. Servants who would normally go about their days in reverent quiet now whispered to one another within the halls, doing their best to avoid the harsh gaze of their superiors. They spread rumors and intrigue, sparked by the arrival of the Angels of Death. Two groups of warriors had walked down these halls just this morning, a miracle of timing attributed to the urgency of their mission and the will of the Emperor. With them, they had been ordered to take the best squad under their command.

"What is the purpose of this?" Ragnar Blackmane growled as he looked around the room. His Wolf Guard bared their fangs, mirroring their Jarl's displeasure.

"Calm yourself, Jarl," said the Great Wolf, Logan Grimnar as he stood to attention near a large Aquila banner at the front of the room. "What do you know of our mission, Master Tu'Shan?"

"I know nothing, Master Logan. All I have been told is that this is the will of the Emperor."

"And you, Canoness Brunthilde? It is my understanding that you have been near Terra more than the rest of us, lately."

"I have served the Argent Shroud in this sector for the past year, preparing for a Holy Crusade into some recently discovered star systems. My forces are prepared, but it is my understanding that our crusade will be focused elsewhere. I do not know the location, yet. Though I daresay you Astartes will be joining us."

"That explains the fleet orbiting Mars," Tu'Shan said, calmly. "That doesn't explain anything of our mission, however."

"It is as the God Emperor wills. That is all I know, and all that matters."

"Indeed," said the deep, strong voice of a Custodes as the door opened and he entered the room. "The Emperor himself sent for you. Make no mistake concerning the honor that He has bestowed upon you."

The Canoness and her entourage bowed their heads in prayer as they made the Sign of the Aquila over their hearts. Logan and Tu'Shan both felt great swells of pride, as their warriors shared whispers of appreciation and excitement.

"I assume you are here to explain the situation to us, Custodes?" the Great Wolf said, as if talking to one of his pack. Before this meeting, he'd had serious misgivings, but those were erased at the words of the Custodes. His doubts were replaced with excitement, and a renewed feeling of comradery with all those in attendance.

"I will explain but a little," the Custodes said. "I am Logratha, Servant of the Emperor. By his decree, we will be led into the warp to await that which He has foreseen."

"We?" Tu'Shan said, his voice a mixture of confusion and acceptance. "You will be accompanying us? And who will be leading us?"

The Custodes did not answer, though his eyes darted toward the doorway. Even before Tu'Shan had finished his sentence, he had become aware of the sound of heavy footsteps echoing through the hallway. Every Astartes in the room tensed as they heard the movement. The sisters, reacting to the sudden tension in the room, bunched their muscles and tightened their fists even as they continued praying. When the polished wooden doors opened, all but the Custodes gasped in shock.

"I… Father…" Logan Grimnar said, suddenly lost for words as he and his pack knelt before the massive form of their Primarch.

"We have not yet found all of the artifacts, Father," Tu'Shan said as he and his warriors knelt before their Primarch. "We are unworthy."

"You're worthiness is not in question here, my sons," Vulkan said as he stood next to his brother. "Leman and I have been called from our journeys to serve our father in a most important task."

"What you pups are about to hear is of the greatest importance," Leman Russ growled, though there was a kindness in his tone, like that of a wolf directing his children in the art of hunting. "You will take this to your graves, or keep the secret until such a time as we tell you it's alright to speak of it; whichever comes first."

"And you must be one of these 'Sisters of Battle' we've been hearing about," Vulkan said as he walked over to where the Canoness and her guards knelt. "It will be good to fight alongside you. But for now, rise, all of you. We have spoken with our father, and he has told us much. We will share with you the details of this mission, such that you need to know."

"Then we will enter the Immaterium. Once there, we wait."

Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka didn't understand what the bugs were thinking. Their cunning and brutality hadn't really changed. If anything, they had become more brutal as they charged Ork fortifications with reckless abandon, devouring everything in their path without concern for whether they would live long enough to deliver the biomatter to their reclamation pools. Their warriors gave strange screams as they charged, sounding almost like the noises weak hummies made when crying over their dead. Ghazghkull wondered over it, but the fighting was still good so he wasn't complaining. He had continued fighting and leading his boyz, directing the dakka where it was needed.

Then the visions had begun. They were different than any the gods had given him before. They were brutal, full of strange lookin' humies getting' filled with dakka by boyz he had only heard about in legends. There were bugs, deamons, space marines, and strange lookin' animals that put up a fight like he'd never seen before. There were two planets, one that was impossibly large, and another that appeared as a speck in comparison. There was a screaming humie at the center of a sun, floating in an endless void filled only with thousands upon thousands of starships and moon-sized space stations. He saw the gods of chaos dragging their realm along a set path to fill that void. Then, he saw a fleeting image of himself standing atop the corpses of millions of green and blue aliens. He began striding through the endless carnage like the conqueror he was, his boyz at his back as they gave the dakka to everything in sight. That was when he felt the presence of other orkish ships entering the edge of the Octarius Sector. After that, he knew it was time to go.

"Boss, we gettin' sum signuls frum outside a' tha system!" said the Mech Boy, Geargutz as he beat on his radio with a wrench. "Dey'z soundin' orky."

"'Corse dey'z orky!" Ghazghkull roared as he fired into a group of Tyranids with his main canon. "Dey'z da Grimmuns, comin' ta get me so'z I can lead 'em ta kill moar hummies n' stuff!"

"Oye, we'z goin' sumewhere's boss?" Ugrak said as he tore open a Tyranid warrior with his Power Klaw.

"Nope, aye's goin' somewhere. You'z an da other boyz iz stayin' behind ta keep killin' da buggies till I gets back."

"You's leavin' da fight? It 'adn't been dat bad lately…"

Ghazghkull hit his commander upside the head and growled.

"I just said I's gonna come back, n' when I do I'll have lots more orks for da fightin'. Da Grimmuns is a super fighty group dats been killin' in other galexies. Gork and Mork said dey'z iz gonna come get me and we'z gonna go kill some hummies n' other stuff in da warp. You'z just keep killin' da bugs 'ere, got it?"

"We gots it, boss," Ugrak said as he rubbed his sore head with his metal gun arm.

"Good, 'cuz I'll be watchin' you. Da gods lets me do it, and I plans ta."

The Warlord turned and grunted heavily as he searched the battlefield for a familiar face. When he found who he was looking for, he roared.

"Oye, Orkimedes! We'z goin' on a trip, you n' I. Getchur tellyporta ready, now! We'z gots sum hummies ta kill and sum stuffs ta loot!"

In the void outside of the galaxy, the Tyranid's main assault force made its approach. The Hive Mind was still in mourning over the loss of the biomass from the strange paradox. It had felt the creation of the alternate universe; the disruption in the flow of space and time created by the arrival of those creatures. It had used warp teleportation, created by deamons crossing over into the paradox, to latch its teleporter worms onto that false reality. Millions of Tyranids had died in the initial invasion, though the Hive Mind had seen the signs of spatial reparations. Its troops had devoured their dead and returned through their teleporter worms to feed their armies before the paradox collapsed. Very little biomass had been lost, save for that which lived within the city.

There were many dangers within the universe. To eat effectively, the Tyranids had to be powerful. Devouring the strange city from the paradox would have given the Tyranids advantages they had never encountered anywhere else. Yet, it had slipped through the grasp of the Hive Mind's fleets. The chance for evolution to aid further feeding had been lost, for a time. The Chaos Gods spoke to one another often since the disappearance of the paradox, and though the Hive Mind cared nothing for their words, it could grasp their intent.

Within the void outside of the galaxy, massive ships began activating organic warp drives. The Tyranids had, on occasion, needed to move in and out of the Warp while traversing other galaxies. Often used for faster-than-light travel when a fleet's Narvhal was damaged or destroyed, they would take to the Formless Wastes when necessary to reach various destinations. Here, on the edge of the Milky Way, the Immaterium was ruled by the Gods of Chaos. To transition into the Warp here was to transition into their midst.

The Hive Mind weighed its choices. For the first time in its existence, it had found a source of biomass so powerful and diverse that hunger was not the only driving force behind its decision. Soon, the choice was made, and the Tyranids responded. Two Hive Fleets transitioned, leaving the void of space on the edge of the galaxy to chase a miraculous food source.

Angron's fury echoed through the Immaterium, as it had ever since the city of strange creatures had left and the amusing paradox their presence had created had been resolved. His hate-filled cries competed with the maddening chatter of the distant Hive Mind as it mourned the loss of the bio-matter within that wonderful city. Tzeentch had found the entire ordeal fascinating. It had been at the forefront of his thoughts ever since they had left. Destiny Slayer and Fateweaver had avoided his presence lately. Unlike Angron, they had been allowed to enter the paradox in body and soul. Their battle with the creature called Korish had tipped them off to their god's treachery, and they had returned to the Warp. Still hoping to gain the power promised them, they had sent two Changelings in their place to test their target's strength. Now they waited in their own chambers for the time Tzeench had foretold; the time when the Gods of Chaos would stretch their domains to encompass a new plane of existence. There, the power of "friendship and love" that the deamons had encountered in the paradox would be ripe for the taking.

The specter Agron had sent into the paradox had been easily dispatched by the equine creatures. Now he raged against the orks and deamons in his master's domain, covering the realm of Khorne with an endless tide of blood. Khorne was pleased with the slaughter, and called in legions of his mortal armies to die by the Primarch's blade. Tzeentch had discussed the equines with the other gods at length, and they had all come to the same conclusion. This power, while completely alien to them, would be useful. They needed it, and they would have it. If it meant slaughtering a million worlds, they would have it.

The God of Lies looked outside of the Warp, peering into the ether beyond. It had not existed before that city had arrived. At first, all Tzeentch had seen apart from the strange creatures had been the paradox they had made. Tzeentch had stared into that falsehood and admired it. The creatures within it were perfect replicas of the original creatures found within the Materium. Though he had been able to will his daemons into being within the paradox, only those that came through his portals had been his true creations. Empowering his forces had been difficult. There had been another godly force opposing him there, one of equal malice but not of Chaos. If only the strange creatures had arrived in the Warp, the paradox would not have occurred and he would have crushed their city with ease. Six of them had arrived in the true Materium, though their magic had protected them from the foes they met on Cadia. Tzeentch had only observed then, as he sent his servents out to probe their defenses. Now he was certain of his goals. That power, and the key to the Corpse Emperor's destruction, would have been his.

Slaanesh and Nurgle had been disinterested in the city at first. They had been too distracted by their own purposes to focus any attention on God's Breath. Only when the combined effort of Tzeentch and Khorne had failed to claim victory did they take notice. They looked into the paradox and watched as the city was pulled into the strange, new realm of dreams. It had departed, but the dream realm had remained. A long, golden streak was all that was left to mark the passing of God's Breath. Now that golden streak was a chain, and it called to the gods of chaos. The rippling, chaotic blue background of the Dream World had thinned to reveal creatures holding its structure together. In numbers beyond count, these small, strangely shaped, cyclopean beings peered at the dark gods as they sang a song of temptation.

As the song reached out to them, Tzeentch had explained his plans to his fellow gods. If they could capture and corrupt this power of "love and friendship" they could use it against their greatest foe. Tzeentch believed they could take this power to destroy evil and use it to their own ends.

The Corpse Emperor had cast off his love and compassion when he had been forced to kill his son, Horus. In the millennia after he had taken to his Golden Throne, humanity had adopted a widespread attitude of violence, fear and hatred that had caused their decline. That hatred had come as a direct result of their Emperor's victory over Horus, for when a leader loses compassion for his own children, why should he remain compassionate for his people? If a leader has no compassion for his people, and instead sends them to their deaths by the billions every day, why then should those people feel anything but resentment? Love of the Emperor kept his people together, but at the core of the collective human psyche the people resented their Emperor for their fate.

Despite the cathedrals built and hymns sang, despite the shrine worlds dedicated to his honor, the Emperor did not return the love of his people. How could he when he was too busy devouring the souls of thousands of psykers every day just to stay alive? The Emperor's compassion was what had made his people strong, and without it the human race was quickly killing itself. Like children desperate for the attention of a parent, humanity eagerly threw itself into the guns of its enemies, praying that their Emperor would notice their suffering and love them once more. However, for the last ten thousand years, he had taken no notice of them beyond the canon fodder they could provide to his cause.

The gods of chaos knew this all too well. They also knew that, should the Emperor ever choose to embrace his compassion, humanity would once again reach the heights it had fallen from. The Emperor would regain his power, and his subjects would become a great threat once more. Once corrupted, they would use the power of the equines to kill the Emperor's compassion once and for all.

The Gods of Chaos smiled in anticipation of what would come. As one, they reached through their realm into the Dream beyond and took hold of the golden chain. As the Hive Mind sent two of its fleets, more massive and horrible than anything the Milky Way had seen; as brutal Orkish ships of a similar size and terror to the Tyranids transitioned into the Warp; as the Corpse Emperor sent his sons to die in another reality, the Ruinous Powers began to pull on the golden chain.