"Worst homework ever." Twilight thought. "Miss Cheerlie's trying to torture me!" Performing a Slaaneshi ritual was at the bottom of the list of things she wanted to do. She wanted only Vinyl to do it with her but the musician insisted bringing Pinkie Pie as well.

So, what was needed? Ponies seemed to lack the 'facilities' that humans had for an easy good time but anything really. Pleasure could be in all places and Twilight didn't have much other than books and lab equipment neither guest would be interested in. She moved all the paraphernalia into the closet should something go wrong and Pinkie Pie eating everyone in the room was a worst case scenario. Twilight was ready though. No sickness, no paralysis, no surprises. Pinkie tried anything and she'd be met with a pair of long fangs to the neck. Now she had to wait for them to arrive and read a section in a book of magic on the wyrdstone Vinyl said she'd bring.

Such a substance is vastly prized, more valuable than gold, and has infinitely many uses. They'd be using pure, solidified Chaos. The entire city of Mordheim was rebuilt around the crater of a wyrdstone asteroid.

Twilight occasionally stole a drink from Kivsin who slept like the dead on his little tattered shirt of a bed, slipping her fangs into the holes left by his old, constricting collar. Three years of sleep deprivation made him a rock. She tried to treat him like a roommate instead of a slave but he just couldn't process kindness and didn't even know the meaning of the word 'free' no matter how crystal clearly Twilight explained it to him. The Dark Elves do a bang up job maintaining order and their sense of servitude.

At last there was a knock at the door and the tunes of Vinyl tinkering with her autotuned voice. Twilight started to make her way to the door and Pinkie Pie's tongue poked through the keyhole. She fiddled around in the mechanisms of the lock until, *click*. So that's how she got in last time to devour Kivsin. The door swung open and they sauntered in with a mortar and pestle, the green stone Vinyl filched from Rarity, and three short straws.

"So glad you guys could make it." Twilight said.

"Shh, shut the fuck up for a second..." Vinyl whispered, putting a hoof to her lips. "You hear that?"

Twilight listened intently but could only hear the muffled bustling of the city beyond the building. "Hear what?"

"That's the sound of warp snuff not being made. I'm gonna fix that." She quickly ran over to the desk and threw all the material across its surface and fumbled through her beer-goggles vision to land the wyrdstone in the mortar and relentlessly pound it with the pestle. Its properties were quite fickle. One could easily bite it in half but it took a bombardment with a metal ramrod just to chip it little by little. She hung her mouth open a little and a whole song, voice, instruments, and effects rushed out in another language. "Fear! Pain! Fill my cup with the essence of souls! Fear! Pain! Your suffering will prolong my days!"

"So... Pinkie Pie". Twilight tried to ride the sinisterly playful air of the song. "Maybe we could start while she's doing that?"

Pinkie remained nervously quiet and spread her tongues across Vinyl's back and shoulders, tasting the lime ice cream unicorn. She bounced to the beat and a square bulge in her stomach rattled with a glassy sound.

"Put the booze right up here." Vinyl said through the pleasurable caressing.

"What are you talking about? I don't have anything." Pinkie played.

"Your rubbing it on me." Vinyl clearly wanted to focus on the stone.

Pinkie sucked her tongues back and her stomach squeezed up the six-pack onto the desk, dripping with drool. Twilight moved closer and Pinkie got up and walked away, pretending to explore the apartment. She loomed over Kivsin and smacked her lips in hunger. Twilight didn't really want to get a work over but her grade hung by a thread. Besides, how bad could pleasure be when they're doing it for each other? She quietly moved behind Pinkie and opened her wings to give her an apologetic hug and as she came down, Pinky snapped around and caught her head in her claw.

"I always wondered how strong this is." she mused with a curious smile. "I use it a lot as a bottle opener but is it like a pair of scissors, only good for making confetti out of a pony's skin?" She squeezed her crabby claw tighter while Twilight tried to bite her but was unable to break the hard shell. She pulled her face closer and her breath tingled Twilight's muzzle "Or how about a shark's jaw? To get out all that red paint and jello in their head." Twilight readied her horn to force Pinkie's claw open. "Hmm... but that's to find out another day." She jerked Twilight's mouth against hers and started slithering her tongues into her mouth.

"It's just part of worship. Don't be afraid." Twilight thought frantically. The tentacles moved into every nook and cranny of her mouth, rolling over teeth and wrapping around her tongue. "What do I do?" She put her forelegs around Pinkie Pie and she did the same. The claw ran down her back, like trying to unzip her skin and pinched her flanks. They shared the same air in each others' lungs, stealing it back and forth. Pinkie Pie watched Twilight's eyes close as she became immersed and carried her to the bed. She rolled them both on and soon parted their lips. Twilight gasped for real air.

"Ooh, sour as ever!" Pinkie canted, licking her lips. She left a sugary, bubblegum taste in Twilight's mouth and when she went to speak, accidentally blew a black bubble. Pinkie was so soft and warm, her coat so smooth, like a blanket knitted by Slaanesh as she slid down Twilight's body and started nibbling her bony hoofs.

"You know you have white chocolate right here? Mm!" She said, licking Twilight's hooves. She leaned up to look. "Don't get up."

She slowly dragged her tongue up Twilight's leg, spending a lot of time at the inside of her haunches where she tensed up and blushed brightly at the sensations. Her leg snapped closed on Pinkie's tongue and she groaned from the pressing on it. She slid her tongue back and forth, in and out of the space between Twilight's leg and torso and Twilight couldn't hold back a moan of pleasure of her own.

"Just let it happen. Don't be embarrassed!" Pinkie said to her smorgasbord of flavors. At Twilight's flank, Pinkie swirled around on it, rubbing her muzzle and wetly kissing it, all the actions the Dark Prince would reward.

She climbed onto the bed, onto Twilight and brought her tongues lapping over her torso, painting her with streaks of black and blue, rubbing their coats together. Twilight tried to relax but memories of the past two treatments she got from Pinkie kept her uneasy. The comfort of her fur and soft body was welcomed and Pinkie put her legs around her, sliding up her body, and kept working Twilight's leg. She tickled under her chin and kissed her cheek, drawing out more enjoyment sighs. She took advantage of the open mouth mouth being open and slipped a couple of tongues in, slithering down her windpipe against her protesting whines. Instead of inflicting burning pain, Pinkie tickled the tissue and her laced saliva made the very act of breathing an experience. Twilight had to return the favors and lightly gnashed her teeth on the tongues, delighting Pinkie Pie as she reached the main course, her horn.

Which angle to come from? The side, straight down? Who cares? The result was always guaranteed excellent. It was already vibrating and humming with some energy and she slapped her mouth over it and got to work. She sucked on it like a straw of the greatest soda in the world while her tongues actively massaged it in her mouth. Twilight had never felt such pleasure before and started to roll and squirm, almost shouting her ecstasy cries. Her wings twitched and flapped erratically. This bottomless drink filled Pinkie's system with feelings she wished would never end. Each time she stopped for a short breath, Sparks and glints of magic fell from her lips.

One more long slurp on the straw and Twilight felt a massive spike in pleasure bordering on painful. Her horn erupted, blasting Pinkie Pie to the ceiling in a brilliant beam and pummeled her in powerful pulses of magic. Twilight was pushed back hard into the bed. Even Vinyl was taken from her task to see.

The climax faded and Pinkie fell onto her, her cheeks sore but appetite satisfied. They both panted and Twilight looked at her with 'what the heck was that!?' frozen on her face.

"Now that's what I call a happy ending!" Vinyl Scratch laughed. "Warpstone's done!"

Twilight was disoriented and stayed in bed while Pinkie stumbled off and eyed the three lines of green dust on the desk.

"I think I'm done. That... that's just enough for one day."

"But it ain't the full experience without the best the warp can offer. You wanna fail your assignment?"

Twilight quickly hobbled over and Vinyl passed her a straw. Pinkie took a few more licks of her horn before the energy was completely gone.

"So what you do is..." Vinyl started, "You put the straw at one end of the line, put nostril over it and breath like you just got shot!"

They all put their straws in position and Vinyl started counting. "One...fuck it!" The dust shot up the tube and Pinkie and Twilight followed. Twilight accidentally forced her nose on the straw and choked slightly on the dust. For the slightest moment it seemed like nothing was happening until Vinyl's voice started to buzz loudly like static and her eyes flushed red. She started a vicious mantra in a deep, sinister voice that was clearly not hers, slouched over in a trance.

"Speak praise to Slaanesh and you shall live forever in the glory of Chaos. Speak them not, and every one of you shall dieeeee...." She buzzed again, as if switching radio channels. "It's a long way to Tipperary! It's a long way to go! It's a long way to Tipperary, to the sweetest mare I know!"

Twilight desperately tried to blow her nose to get the dust out of her system but it was far too late. Her head started to burn and the room twisted and broke apart in a vast cosmos beyond the walls. Pinkie Pie grabbed her in a crushing embrace. As the drug took hold, it felt like Twilight was being hugged by her doll Smarty Pants. She wriggled around and worked her forelegs out to hug her back.

"Twilight..." Pinkie Pie groaned, "I'm so hungry, I gotta eat something. Listen!" She shoved Twilight's face against her stomach. The tentacles inside poked and probed at her face but were separated by Pinkie's skin and the stomach walls. Her stomach roared, making her whole torso ripple and she moaned in pain. "Please please please. You won't melt away like the other people I met, promise! You didn't last time!"

Twilight's brain was fried and the floor felt cold and hard. Pinkie's belly promised softness and warmth. "Al-alright."

Pinkie squealed in delight and flipped Twilight upside down. She thrust her hind legs into her mouth and pulled her in by hoof and claw, groaning at the stretching of her body to accommodate the huge meal. She licked deep between Twilight's flanks, making her shudder and shake with pleasure. Pinkie started to swallow, pinching Twilight's lower body and pulling her up from the floor, into her ravenous maw. She could feel her prey's legs enter her stomach and the tentacles in the cavern twist around the food but there was still the whole upper half to gulp down.

She raised her up and the shifting of her center of gravity brought new sensations.Twilight tucked her wings down as gripping muscles took her up to her neck and a dozen tongues slapped onto her head and dragged her into Pinkie's lips. She looked up as the light of her room disappeared by the closing jaw. Pinkie Pie paused at her horn and slurped at it a little bit more. Just feel her expanded throat a little longer. Twilight giggled with her face pressed at Pinkie's throat but the stomach below growled again and the tentacles gripped tighter. She swallowed again and Twilight kept her legs extended to pre-stretch her stomach and make room as she slid in among the clingy tentacles. They coiled around her limbs but she didn't care, it was finally warm.

Pinkie breathed heavily as her windpipe was closed while she ate. Her belly was happy and so was she. She slouched over her big bubble, rubbing it and feeling the tentacles wrap her meal. She could still taste Twilight with them, an added bonus and they pressed out against Pinkie's fur. Her stomach gurgled and rumbled painfully and a huge pressure move up her throat.

"What's happening?" Twilight's muffled voice asked.

*BUUUUUURRRPP* *hic* "Oh, nothing. Tummy really missed you!"

Pinkie watched her stomach shift and flex as Twilight shifted to a more comfortable position and laid her head back against the wall of muscle, pressing Pinkie's liver. The devourer's lungs pushed down on her head with each breath and Twilight listened to the clockwork of her body. Pinkie hunched over herself and poked her belly to find Twilight's features. Twilight pushed back and stretched her legs, ballooning Pinkie's stomach.

"Oh yeah!" Pinkie moaned and hugged Twilight tightly. Her whole body was filled in absolute rapture.

"You like that?" Twilight said. Her face was frozen in an aching grin and she devised a mutually pleasing treatment.

"More. More!"

Vinyl flopped her upper body left and right, swinging her head around like a possessed meat puppet. A small box of muscle and veins hung out her mouth. It emitted a new song, very mystical and sensual. "Castle of pleasures... fields of desire... gardens of lust... I give you heat of eternal FIRE!"

Twilight let the music carry her motions as she danced in her awkward position, squishing and pulling the tentacles and Pinkie Pie was rapt in the vicious pleasurable stinging. Her stomach started to fill with saliva and stomach acid but Twilight kept her jive. Her tight shell grew round with the fluid instead of conforming to Twilight's shape. It was a soft sack before her now, like squeezing a yoga ball. Twilight rubbed her face against the walls and er horn poked up the skin very far. This one point stung of pleasure and Pinkie squished her skin against it, rubbing it like trying to light a fire with friction. On the inside, the rippling, wet walls enthralled Twilight again. She pushed her head harder against the wall. She had to feel it again.

The tickling, tingling intensified and Pinkie felt the crackles of magic she was working out of Twilight. After sufficient stimulation, on the brink, Pinkie grasped what she made out to be Twilight's head, pulled her back and braced herself. Twilight groaned as the sensation climaxed and her cell was flooded with magic, glowing bright purple from the inside out. Pinkie absorbed the energy and the extra energy forced her to climax also. Her stomach contracted so tightly it looked like Twilight was in a mould. The fluids were forced out and spewed out her mouth. Her tentacles, like a mad assault, tied onto Twilight over every inch of her body, constricting like snakes and quickly forced entrance to her mouth, filling Twilight's stomach and proceeded through her intestines and out her plot. The high left her with no way to react but laugh at being infiltrated inside and out.

The pleasure was almost paralyzing for Pinkie, overwhelming her nerves as her belly absorbed the magic discharge. As it dissipated after a while, she had her tongues run backward into her stomach and pull the uncontrollable tentacles out of Twilight's mouth and guts, where they shouldn't be.

"Oh my gosh." she panted. "You're amazing."

Twilight laid back, her horn pounding with residual pleasure energy the tentacles hungrily wrapped around her for. She looked at her legs and torso and saw nothing but squirming snakes. Her insides were on fire and felt like a tumultuous sea. "Thanks. You to."

Pinkie wiped her mouth, hobbled up and her gorged gut was barely off the floor. She struggled with the extra weight and her wobbling muscles and her legs contended with her stomach for the space under her. Twilight was carried on her side, sloshing around and Pinkie lowered herself onto Kivsin who continued to slumber as the rock he was. Twilight totally forgot the assignment and was totally immersed in gently soothing arms.

"I'd take him in too but I'm just so stuffed!" Pinkie grumbled, disappointed with herself.

Vinyl soon came to. Her songs quieted but something still seemed a little off about her. "Hark! What hast thou done with thine friend?" she asked with a crooked, stupid smile. "Thou hast consumed her once again! Pray tell, hast thou enjoyed it my dear Sparkle?"

"It's amazing in here. So soft and warm. Who knew this felt so good?" The bulges of her pushing hooves poked through the pink cavern.

"And what is this!?" Vinyl gasped at the sixpack. "Diane, perhaps thou wisheth to wash down the aftertaste?"

"Yes Please!"

The white unicorn levitated the pack and it jerked around the air randomly. Her horn crackled and popped like a backfiring car. Pinkie grabbed two floating bottles and swallowed one. Twilight shifted again so her head was upright and out of the way of the esophageal hole and let the bottle slip into her hooves. Quickly after, a stream of alcohol poured in through the same entrance. She bit off the cork and tipped her bottle to her mouth. She coughed in rejection of its burning.

"Not the best draught Berry Punch has come up with but adequate." Vinyl canted and wormed her way under Pinkie's hot belly. Moving against Kivsin, she stroked down the side of his face. Like reflex, he slapped her hoof away. "He reminds me so of my dear Octavia. Her grey fur, so sleek, smooth, tis if Slaanesh blessed her with a coat of his making. Oh the songs she composes, it sets my ears ablaze in harmony. The sounds, the melody. Her soft lips to mine, mine, hers..." She slowly nudged Kivsin's head closer. "All we've been through. She is my bliss. My rock. My love."

Twilight felt Vinyl have her way with him but focused more on drinking the dreck in her hooves. Down to the last drop, the endured it's gagging thickness. She heard and felt Pinkie Pie weeping softly with her stomach convulsing with her sobs.

"You ok Pinkie?" she choked.

Pinkie sniffed and suppressed her sniveling. "N-n-nothing. Just... did the Doc ever tell you where he goes all day? I *sniff* I haven't seen him in weeks."

"He just says 'buisiness'. I don't know." Twilight sounded truly unknowing and rubbed the stomach walls to sooth her shelter. It slowly became active, rolling and grinding at her. Twilight chuckled at the normally deadly situation. "I think your trying to digest me."

Pinkie cuddled her belly, thankful for its occupant. "Mhm. It's my favorite part of getting to know new ponies but they always melt away after a few hours. You didn't though. That's why your my second favorite."

"Second? Who's first?"

"Um, Vinyl." she said slightly nervous.

"I'm innocent... I swear!" Kivsin mumbled. "I didn't take them!" His damaged ear reactively twitched and waved, enticing Pinkie Pie to snatch it with a tongue.

"You know, he tastes like a blueberries." she said.

What was likely a bad idea popped into Twilight's head. She swirled her horn around in the soup of tentacles around her until it was writhing with them. She closed her eyes and charged her horn with the only sleep based spell she could remember under the influence and Pinkie Pie hummed, feeling the energy.

She suddenly felt cold and the wet grinding of Pinkie's stomach was absent. The drug induced pleasure was gone. Sounds of suffering wailing and rattling chains prompted her to open er eyes and she nearly had a heart attack, faced by a mutilated, quivering man. She was sitting in a dark space, a huge cage full of similarly battered people and ponies piled atop one another. Dead captives were fought over and devoured by their starving, bone skinny comrades. The cage reeked of feces, bodily filth and rotting flesh. What terror was Kivsin dreaming? She quickly backed away from the feeding frenzy and threw herself against the door to the cage. Rather than slamming into it, she fell through it, and stumbled to stop her charge. She went back to the cage and put her hoof to one of the bars. It passed right through like a ghost unnoticed.

"Twilight!" Pinkie's voice called from above.

She looked up and saw a small hatch in the high ceiling, no more than a square foot and Pinkie Pie looking down. The mare, on a whim, phased through the floor and floated to the level below, peddling her legs to move away from the writhing cage.

"Where are we?" She asked, frightened.

"In Kivsin's dream I think. I wanted to know more about him but he couldn't remember anything."

"I don't like it here."

"I just want to find out what happened to him. We should look around."

They were apparently aboard some kind of ship as the whole environment rolled up and down and they heard water splashing outside. There were entire rooms and workshops full of heinous, cruel weapons and tools. Spears, curved swords, daggers and small, surgical instruments were sorted neatly for easy access. A black suited man, no, elf by his ears and long face, wide eyed, grinning ear to ear, and snickering childishly to himself entered and gathered many of the sharp, precise instruments. They followed him, believing he must have something to do with the dream.

The ship was full of slaves and captives and the omnipresent screams of those cursed to a fate worse than death. What kind of vessel was this? It was larger than any seaborne vessel they'd ever seen. Twilight's stuck her head through the wall and looked up. A huge iron wall, ranked with spikes and blades stretched up for one hundred feet and tall, spired towers shot up into the dark sky. Noctrals perched on the wall and circled the air, flying between towers and dropping bodies overboard, but which one was her assistant? It dawned on Twilight from her studies, it was a Black Ark, a floating fortress of the Dark Elves and they were at the back, near the captain's quarters, or commander considering the number of occupants the ship could carry. Kivsin said he was a river raider before being turned in but such a giant ship couldn't possibly sail a river.

Pinkie quickly got bored of following the elf. "Twilight he's not doing anything." she whined. "How do we...get... out..."

A huge iron wrought door bordered with wyrdstone crystals loomed on the wall and chains lazily swung, somehow in the still air. A large amount of green and red crystal was arranged in the form of two green, piercing eyes with red irises. The touching of warpstone with rubies produced an ominous purple haze. The sadistic elf hauled the door open and revealed a more terrifying scene. The dark unicorn, the curse upon the Crystal Empire sat in a throne of black crystals with his hateful gaze fixed on a noctral strapped to a table, specially placed in the quarters for amusement from its victims. Druchii warriors stood silently at their side.

Twilight and Pinkie Pie couldn't process King Sombra was here. They saw him be destroyed, saw his shattered remains fly off into the arctic wasteland. How?

"Is it time for pain?" the scrawny elf wheezed.

Sombra nodded. "Theft in the Black Guard shall not stand." he growled.

The Black Guard? The most elite of dark elven warriors? Those trained only slightly from infancy and pitted against one another in battles to the death until few remain? They protected the most important assets and figures of their race, formed the final vanguard of Malekith's armies. Noctrals were prized less but those selected at random for the Black Guard were still the best of the best.

"My liege, I have not committed the act! I have only your best interests in mind!" the noctral huffed.

"Then suffer for me."

The mad doctor dipped a scalpel in one of many glasses of toxins and acids and brought it to Kivsin's forehead. Quickly the skin broke and his screams filled the air. The pain bringer reaped almost orgasmic pleasure from the music, carving intricate paths across his face.

Sombra deviated his future torture. "Three days Karond Kar, three weeks Hag Graeth, three years the Witch Elves. He survives, sell him. Wipe him of all memory of his service and incept the position of a lowly corsair raider." A king of few words but they resonated dreadfully in the ears of all present. He levitated a long, thin, wyrdstone crystal and stuck one end in a candle. It fizzled and glowed red at the end and he put the other in his mouth, puffing black smoke and he sat back for the show.

Abruptly, the wyrdsone flame engulfed him and spread across the throne, walls, floor, and guards. Pinkie Pie clutched Twilight tightly like a security blanket as all burned and collapsed in ash and bone. The ashes swirled around them and reformed into an evil city with them on the walls.

Thousands of bodies hung from buildings and towers like sick holiday decorations. They still twitched and squirmed with the spells cast on them, rendering them unable to die on these nooses but still witness hell as long as their necks or the ropes would hold. A body on one of the highest towers finally fell hundreds of feet. It's head hit the ground a full two seconds after the body.

Kivsin was herded across the wall with a noose round his neck. He was covered in many scars but still far fewer than he has now. He fought, struggled and twisted with the knots binding his wings and legs. One soldier lifted him onto the edge of the wall and another securely tied the rope to one of the protrusions.

"Hey! Stop!" Twilight shouted. The soldiers didn't notice. She ran at them but her attempt to wrestle Kivsin away failed. Her limbs still passed through them. They kicked him over and the rope snapped tight. He slammed against the wall and swung left and right. "Kivsin!" Twilight experimented with the dream's physics and she and Pinkie walked down he wall to him. He choked and gagged, robbed of breath but undying, not even passing out.

Through the dark clouds, the sun accelerated it's motion and in seconds it was night, then day again. Kivsin stopped moving. He may as well have been dead but the spells the spells cast on the hanging victims would not grant them that mercy. Three times this cycle repeated and some bodies along the wall fell to their final deaths in spike pits below. Kivsin's neck was permanently elongated three inches. A couple of noctrals swooped by, untied him and carried him off to another ship in the harbor.

Rocks rained from the sky around them, piling up and formed a cave full of slaves, chained together and hammering and picking away at wyrdstone. They were bags of bones, weakly swinging their tools while guards joyfully whipped and beat them. The cavern stretched deep down into pitch blackness. One pony collapsed of starvation, a husk of dry skin. The chaos crystals around him illuminated and the body slowly stood again with a dead look on his face. He slipped his hoof back in the pickaxe holdster and continued working clumsily. Next to him, a man's skeletal body with a mere few ribbons of muscle left raised his pickaxe one last time, froze, shuddered, and fell onto the rocks. His body shattered and bones scattered.

Twilight dreaded that Kivsin was somewhere in the caverns but thank Celestia he was alive. Pinkie sadly failed trying to suck on the crystals she saw as rock candy. Chaos may have been the greatest force of darkness but the Druchii were truly the most wicked. Kivsin's final punishment materialized around them.

A blubbering noctral, covered in his own blood, his guts splayed around him and still connected in his body was surrounded by four bewitching witches. Their seductive, bodies were scantily lined with thin, vine like, metal strips. Their ample breasts cradled in iron braziers. They argued in light, manipulative voices as to who would have at him next. The scene accelerated and slowed at different intervals. Over the course of weeks, dragging him back to the altar day after day, they slowly skinned him. They peeled his hide off whole and took turns using it as a coat, the eye holes as a bra, and the limbs and nose as condoms. Kivsin was left in his tiny cage his bare muscles and entrails left to the elements of the filthy surroundings.

Eventually, one witch hid with the pelt cut the hide's ear in half and the others found it undesirable with this flaw. She had it all to herself for a while but the others found her out and sacrificed her to Khaine by tearing her limb from limb and throwing her parts into great fire pits, billowing thick, black smoke. They brought Kivsin back out, packed his guts back in and stitched the defiled hide back, making sure to cut his real ear in half to match.

Twilight saw enough. She relinquished her energy and found herself in Pinkie's belly again. The warpstone high returned.

"Aw... my little dark trooper." she whispered. "Hey Pinkie." No response. "Peenkay..." she drolled again. SHe poked at Pinkie's spine which resulted in some twitching but no words. Pinkie was fast asleep, her energy redirected to digest her meal. "Catch you when you wake up I guess."

Vinyl rested her head on Kivsin's cheek. "Keep my soul, my sweet Octavia. Take me into your heart. I am yours forevermore."

Were they gone? The skeletons, ghosts, zombies, but not those raised by Nurgle's blights, and the screaming. Oh the screaming that whipped Apple Bloom into a frenzy of terror. She'd seen nurglings make homes among the bloated innards of chosen and champions, and for her there was nowhere else to run to. It was a much tighter fit but she managed to squeeze into a giant corroded hole in Pox's armor where his bloated guts were bulging out. She remained there, even though he now wasn't moving and she saw a number of swords and spears crisscrossing through Pox's torso.

The undead had come up from the ground. She was deep within the warband, too far to see the source of a great purple light and out of the very earth, skeletal arms, swords, and all manner of resurrected warriors sprang up and a chaotic massacre ensued. The Nurglites seemed invincible for a short time as the skeletons' blows caused no true injuries to their already decaying bodies but even this wasn't enough. They could only take so much damage before finally tasting the bitterness of their mortality and succumbing to undead blades.

Apple Bloom's terrified shaking caused hr host's body to rattle as well. She heard the shifting of bodies and bones outside the cavern of entrails, and the weapons, one by one, wiggled until they were loose and slid out.

"Brother.." someone said and kicked Pox. "Get up you lazy slime hound."

Apple Bloom smiled in relief as Pox's moldy lungs swelled and deflated in an annoyed sigh and she slid a little deeper in he as they raised their front.

"Y'all calln' me lazy 'n y'a can't dig me outta there any faster?"

"How long'd it take y'all ta git all a this offa me?"

"Not sure. But we can't leave without you brother." The man cracked a smile full of thick blood and set off to aid his comrades.

The host stood up and his guts shifted heavier than usual. "Apple Bloom, Y'allright?" he asked with great concern. He shoved a hoof into the hole in his abdomen, brown pus oozing out the deeper he pushed. She grabbed it and the sight of her popping out would make the hardest mortal vomit. She dripped with his toxic and contaminated fluids but it was more like taking a bath. His smile was drowned in pus and boils, radiating pestilence and paternal love.

He set her down and she gazed on the foggy field of bodies and bones under high, branchless trees. Nurglite zombies scooped chunks of meat from their Sylvanian counterparts down their throats, even after their stomachs had long since burst and the food fell back out their abdomens. Flies and maggots coated the bodies that were being collected and some got back up after being infested. Bodies were piled so thick, the ground couldn't be seen.

"I almost thought the worst when all those skeletons pinned me down. Looka like all ya got was a spear in the belly." He closed the eyes of a slain warrior who had a look of terror frozen on his face. Their soul was at peace with the Grandfather and Pox ripped his arm off, bit off the biceps and hoofed it to Apple Bloom. "He ain't usin' this no more."

She was almost too disturbed by the myriad dead to eat. Almost. Zombie meat was dry and tough, a lot like jerky. Among the putrid green warriors sifting through the bodies, were cleaner ones, clad in crimson plate. Their helmets bore high steel crests and the mark of Khorne adorned every surface. They had come in aid to the Plague Lord's children.

The most prominent among them rode atop an iron rhinoceros. A skeleton, still futilely clawing at its face was hanging by its horn that had passed harmlessly through it's ribcage. The rider reached down and plucked its skull off. The body it left behind fell apart an clattered to the ground. He studied it for its worthiness to join the many other skulls perched on the spikes of his armor while his mount carried him about, crushing skulls and breaking bones for amusement. She couldn't tell where it was looking due its lack of pupils in its flaming eyes but it suddenly turned toward her and Pox.

He turned her around and put their backs to him. He bowed her head down and remained casually occupied with his meal. Applebloom was scared and scooted a little closer to him. The ground started to shake as the beast drew closer and she heard the rattling of the chains and rings that naturally grew from its body. Its joints produced a powerful machine like grinding that must have been a horror to hear in battle as a juggernaut's charge, while not very fast, was virtually unstoppable because of their weight. What few living nerves she had left picked up a great heat and she shuddered as it breathed heavily against her back, smoke and sparks rushing past. Had she been any more afraid she would have ejected spores in his face, leading to a young demise. It put its muzzle closer to her and whiffed her stench, short and sharp. It did this down her sides and over her head while she desperately tried to ignore him but her sores wept with fear.

It put a claw through the loops in her ribbon, unraveled it and her mane fell over her face in frizzled curtains. How she wanted to get it back but Pox laid his hoof on her shoulder.

"'Skcuse me friend." he said, discontent bubbling up. "Think y'all accident'ly nabbed the ribbon outta this here filly's mane." The pony juggernaut kept walking away. "Ah'd really 'preciate it if you'd give it back." They didn't stop and Pox was driven to show the same devotion to Applebloom as Nurgle does to all his children. He stood up. "Hey!"

The steed and rider paused and turned their heads to him, brimming with anger from being addressed by an inferior.

"Your quarrels aren't worth my time." the rider growled to his mount and dismounted. He landed with the rattle of a hundred years of trophies from his service to Khorne.

"The ribb'n" Pox demanded.

"N'nope." the daemon rumbled. Their voice echoed a fuming anger, also somehow, indifference.

Applebloom knew that sound anywhere and looked on the mechanistic pony, her foalish mind flooded as she recognized his bolted face and short, orange mane. He shifted the front of his torso lower on jacks on the inside of his legs, cocking down one at a time.

Pox stayed up. "Come on now guy. This doesn't have ta git vahlent."

"E'yep!"

They shoved off and rocked the ground with their accelerating stampede. Pox's throat swelled like a toad, gathering a caustic spray to spew on them. They lowered their head to level their bladed horn. Applebloom jumped between them, throwing caution to the wind, and got skewered on their horn. Pox jumped aside as his concoction would burn even a fellow corpse and drank it back. The juggernaut threw their head left and right as the hitchhiker pivoted around and put her face close to his eye.

"Big Mac?" She shouted, trying to sound over his antagonized growling. "Oh please tell me it's you! It's me, Applebloom!"

He became even more enraged and started running into others to get her off, slamming them aside like a freight train, bashing the hitch hiker against flesh and steel. Bones broke, skin tore, but she held onto his head. Eventually he threw his head back and she flew off. She'd accidentally spit in his eye while talking and he shouted obscenities beyond mortal tongues. He took the time to look at the ribbon tangled in his paw. The hope that he'd see any of his family again was crushed a long time ago. He simply took the ribbon because it reminded him of her but he couldn't fathom he'd find her.

"Big bro?" she came closer again, dragging her stumbling, shattered lower body and hugged him at the back, bracing for any more abuse he may give her. He stared at her for a good long time. Her orange eyes, frayed red mane and a distinct yellow hue in her moldy coat. He reached back and picked her up. He couldn't remember the last time his mouth wasn't in a perpetual frown or when he didn't hate everything in existence.

Applebloom brimmed with glee as he started crying and held her close, accidentally snapping more bones. Her sores wept with joy and she put her legs around his neck. The unending storm ravaging his mind seemed to slowly settle and he almost feared the flourishing calmness. The word to describe such a feeling would invoke nightmares in the most violent of the Blood God's warriors. Peace.

"Lil Applebloom." he cried softly.

The reunion hug only lasted until Applebloom's excrement leaked into the cracks of Big Mac's body and burned harshly. He reluctantly let go and she slipped off, leaving her abdominal skin stuck to his chest. Her rotting innards were exposed, making even her sick at the sight. He peeled it off, threw it over the opening and patted it down to make it stick. His claws accidentally sliced more scars across her body. The ribbon was returned to her and he took great joy in helping her tie it back, even with no skill in manestyling and left her mane mostly uncontained.

"Uh... Applebloom." A scaly, feathered filly muttered fearfully with an ecstatic orange pegasus trailing her. "Who's your friend?"

The storm gathered again and Big Mac growled at her like a beast most foul. She stopped moving closer.

"Sweetiebelle! It's Big Mac!"

Seeing Applebloom speak friendly to the mouthy creature settled him. Sweetiebelle glared at the monster before Scootaloo ran forth and shoved her flank in Applebloom's face, squealing in heavenly delight.

"Look! Look! I got it!" her excitement flooded out as she showed off her mark of undivided. "I can't wait for what I het! Maybe sharp teeth, or bull's horns, or-- wah!"

Big mac grabbed her tail and hung her upside down before his burning eyes. Shaking her plot in another's face probably wasn't a good idea. He retracted his claws into his hoof and put the dark slits to Scootaloo's face.

"No, don't!" His sick sister cried, putting her hooves against him.

He let one slowly forward and poked lightly against Scootaloo's cheek, drawing out a small red trickle and a yelp. He grudgingly dropped her head first and Applebloom caught her with her squishy body.

"Whah'd you do that!?" she asked, the brute.

He observed the concern she had for the orange pegasus and the sad looks she gave him. He pulled back all his hoof blades and gave a tiny apologetic gesture.

"Y'all know this guy?" Pox asked and looked at him skeptically. "Think ya can do whut ya want ta these here fillies? Think all that corny hot stuff'll make ya git away with anythi'n? Where's it now huh? You better keep it bottled up cus Nurgle put Applebloom in mah care."

Big Mac abruptly thumped him across the face, dislodging his jaw. It precariously hung by the skin of his left cheek and acidic bile dripped from his open throat.

"Both y'all stop it!"Applebloom scolded him again. "What's gotten inta you Big Mac?"

He couldn't understand what he was doing wrong. Get offended, kill the offender. No big whoop. Tearing his jaw off was just a start. Pox fixed his jaw back up and maggots formed a living chain to loosely hold it.

"Ammah ashk agin. Ya knaw him?" He garbled.

"He's mah big brother!"

Pox was stumped to how a pony juggernaut, a demonically enchanted war machine, was related to a little pus ball. Big Mac put his claw around her to spite him and wore a smug grin.

"Brothers!" A filthy droll jovially bellowed out, grabbing the attention of all. The leader of the warband, a champion of Nurgle, stood with the Khornate leader. He spoke through a completely closed helmet, sprouting elephantine tusks into the air. Several severed hands hung on his belt. "A great blessing of company has been bestowed upon you all!" He took the commander by the wrist and raised it into the air. "The Brass Beast is with us, the scourge of Mordheim!" The nurglite cheers sounded like a horrid hospital, men and ponies gagging and choking on phlegm laughter. "A maggot feast shall be made this evening in celebration of our victory and his arrival. Gather up the carcases and be joyous in your labors! We march for the Empire's black heart!" The marauders expedited their efforts, coordinating zombies to collect bodies, not eat them.

"Ugh. Hayt tha shitty." Pox grumbled. "Rememver mah firsht tahm in tha Shitadel a Jecay. Chew many people, chew crowded."

Big Mac shoved him aside at his master's whistle. Time to go. He didn't hesitate as every second he wasn't there when called, the beast grew angrier. Applebloom tried to follow but he stopped her as bringing her to the murderous figure could end only one way.

"Ya gonna join us tonight?" she asked, seeking some reassurance.

"E'yep" he said back confidently but uncertain in mind.

Pox put his hoof on Applebloom's back and watched her brother walk away. "Come on. We got work ta do." He snapped to Sweetiebelle "Bird Brain, yer start'n the fire tonight."

After garnering a copious number of corpses or the Brass Beast's patience running out, whichever came first, the warband marched again. The tzeentchinas were gone, eradicated by the backfired spell of a sorcerer in the ambush. Sweetiebelle felt isolated, especially with Pox and other Nurglites being harsh to her. As night drew, they used her as a torch, tying her to a rusty, boil bubbling, halberd very tightly despite Applebloom's and Scootaloo's protests, and forcing her to continuously produce flames. She was exceptionally bright, scaring off the nocturnal beasts that lurked in Sylvania's dark forests. This took a toll on her energy and any time she sputtered out, they spat corrosive saliva at her to perk her up again.

When they set up a crudely fortified camp for the evening, as the undead got active at night, they prepared to celebrate the Beast's coming by arranging cadavers in awkward positions and impaling plague zombies on spears to have them flail and squirm in place. Pox took the exhausted light source down and threw her at a large mound of bodies at the center of camp.

"Light em up." he ordered.

She could barely see through the haze of tiredness and used the last of her strength to spit a dull spark onto one of the body's hair. The oils in it quickly caught and she collapsed, fast asleep. Another warrior scooped her up in his huge, filthy claw and tossed her out of the circle like a bar of soap.

"Y'all can't be calli'n it a night already!" Pox said to Applebloom and Scootaloo as they carried Sweetiebelle to the tent they'd share with him.

"No, we're coming back." Scootaloo shouted back against the growing sounds of diseased dancing and revelry.

"Well hurry it up with Bird Brain. We're gonna summun tha plagebearers soon!"

Scootaloo stayed with her extinguished friend and Applebloom went back to join Pox.

"Why you n everypony bei'n so mean ta Sweetiebelle? She didn't no nuthi'n wrong."

"She chose tha wrong god. Reason enough. Tzeentch dun care bout his followers n they dun do nuthi'n for no one but themselves." He scanned his hoof around at the marauders. They came in all shapes and sizes, even women and children were present but all bore the sickly visage of pestilence happily. "We live for each other. We're all, brothers, sisters, family." He ruffled her mane. "Yer tha most important thing to me right now. Ah won't let that bird brain trick ya inta anythi'n."

"She ain't like that. N whut happen'd ta Undivided? We're all spos'd ta be friends."

He thought long and hard. The Everchosen was coming soon and all of Chaos was to unite under the eight pointed star, united in a common cause, to bring the End Times. A nurgling plodded to them and pulled on Applebloom's tail to get her to join the plague dance. It's claws were coated in the most foul substances to curse the air. Its wickedly childish demeanor brought her to trust it and it scratched them both slightly with its claw. She didn't know why Pox was smiling at the burning that quickly intensified in his leg and her back. Soon they could feel every countless disease and disorder Nurgle gave them.

Arthritis, asthma, yellow fever, rabies, scabies, epilepsy, smallpox, diarrhea, necrosis, and a large cancerous growth, pulsating in unison with her plaque encrusted, pus pumping heart. She could feel the maggots wriggling through her body, gorging on what was in her stomach and passing through the many holes and tears in her flesh. She trembled in pain, unable to gain the control to move but Pox got up, shaking and with a wide smile tearing the skin of his face, showing withered bone and inflamed blood vessels.

The tiny daemon clapped and took his hoof, bringing him into the howling ring.

"Be sure ta join in when ya can move!" He let out a howl like a wolf inside a butter churn with a madman at the handle.

The camp became obscured in a fog of flies and the Khornates were in another part, pouring skulls into a massive cauldron of blood for worship. Applebloom lay facing the dance and it was hours before it ended when the zombies fell apart. The people sat round the fire, tossing more on when it started to die down and told stories, and feasted on the dead. All that succulent flesh. She couldn't resist but her affliction rendered her near motionless, just reaching in vain.

She heard sounds that reminded her of when she found Big Mac, the mechanistic grinding of steel and he picked her up by the back of her neck in his teeth. He carried her to the circle and all went quiet save the droning and buzzing of millions of flies, pinging off his body. He shoved Pox over and took a seat as if the spot was reserved for him and leaned Applebloom against him.

"Somethi'n fer mah sis." he growled.

Smiles consumed the staring marauders and the leader ripped out and tossed the intestines from a dead tzeentchian's body. It still had many of its fluids left, blood and natural liquids that made it taste better. It splatted in front of Applebloom but she didn't have the strength to lift it. Instead, Big Mac forked it with his claws and raised it to her.

"Even khornates have a soft spot!" a heretic shouted.

The circle roared with the voices of welcoming and jokes. Even Pox, whose smile died when Big Mac arrived, felt another coming on.

Twilight gently tapped on the closet door, trying her best to be just loud enough to hear but the occupant still squeaked in fear.

"Fluttershy?" She whispered. A short, curious hum whistled out from inside. "Can we come in?"

"We?"

"Yeah. I have a new friend I want you to meet."

There was a long silence. "Ok."

Twilight slowly opened the door and Kivsin and Fluttershy shared terrified looks, each fearing the other's appearance. Twilight nudged him out of his timid trance.

"H-h-hello." he sounded on the edge of panic.

Fluttershy shuffled away. "Hi."

"So..." Twilight mused, "How are your exercises with the Doctor?"

"They're alright." She answered. Through she was trying not to let out any emotion, she was still clearly melancholy.

"Can you maybe control your anger a bit? Any progress there?"

"A little."

"Think you can go out? First time since we got here."

"Not without the Doctor. I just feel safer with him."

"Well Kivsin has a lot of experience with harsh situations. He'll keep you safe."

He had no idea what Twilight was taking about. In Fluttershy's eyes, he was a nightmarish creature. His scars boasted of his worth. She draped her blanket over herself and cautiously walked out with them. Twilight had to reassure her many times as they reached the exit of the complex.

"Wait." Fluttershy said. She lowered the blanket over her eyes. "Ok."

Twilight and Kivsin guided her into the ghoulish urban noise. She felt so many things bump her and shuddered in trying to keep calm. Her hooves sparked as they hit the cobblestone streets. They walked for several blocks and Fluttershy became more and more unnerved by the sounds of screaming, chopping, and daemonic howls. She put her ears down to the sides of her head but the sound echoed like in a seashell.

"Tw-Tw-Twilight, I wanna go back." she whimpered.

"We're almost there. Just hang in there."

The city's clamor faded as they moved into a more closed space. Fluttershy heard Twilight and someone else whispering and her blanket was slowly pulled off.

"You remember Miss Cheerlie, Fluttershy?"

"Mhm." She still held the blanket over her eyes.

"Well don't be afraid, this is still her. Just put down the sheet."

She slowly lowered her woven shield and was met by a hooded, spike laden pony. Faceless and curious, Cheerlie slowly raised her hoof, startling the beast back. She instead brought a skull and held it up to her. Fluttershy became hypnotically fixed on it, like a dog to a ball, following it and eventually snatching it in her hooves. Like a sacred gem, her gaze was inflexibly fixed on it and she petted it, allowing Cheerlie to study her further. She had almost all the makings of the daemonic steeds but lacked the wide, blocky shoulders, bright, flaming eyes, spikes around her joints and spine, and single bladed horn jutting out from her face. Her steel flesh was hot to the touch. Cheerlie ran her hoof through the bleeding mane, and sampled it.

"Not bad." she chirped. "I want a moment alone with her. In the mean time, go into the back room and practice combat techniques with the other student."

"Kivsin, do you know any fighting moves?" Twilight asked.

"No." he answered sheepishly.

"But you were a soldier, weren't you? There's got to be something you remember."

"N-no... I was less. I was just a pirate but where did I go? What did I do? Did I have friends? These scars..." He looked at his artistic mutilations in trepidation. Every action he committed ached greatly. Merely walking to the veil to the other room brought wincing pain with every step. "The witches..." He started scratching himself feverishly and it felt like there were legions of fire ants under his skin.

Twilight squished his cheeks together. "No you weren't. You were so much more. There's a black guardsman in there somewhere and a sparring session ought to bring him out."

He hung his head down in doubt. Twilight pulled aside the curtain of flesh, eager to see the space beyond and a great steel blade came swooping down, nearly cleaving her in half. It stuck solidly in the wood floor and she wheezed in panic at the sweating, light green unicorn with elegant arms and hands, fighting the polearm up.

"Finally!" Lyra breathed with a tone of finally satisfied impatience. She quickly levitated two chalices, pouring with the ether of souls, brought one to herself and gave the other to Twilight. The green glow around it traded for purple and she suspended it away from herself. Lyra thirstily tipped her head back and poured the soul stuff down. "You're not gonna drink?" she said, staring at the unconsumed cup. She reached for it but it floated further away.

"I might." Twilight stood firm. The memory of the intense chills and inability to defend herself from a ravenous Pinkie Pie kept her from indulging.

"Go ahead." Cheerlie approved. "Those are the souls you brought the other day. You said the fever culminated in something, hallucinations, a light. I want you to work until it happens."

Twilight reluctantly threw the drink down her throat, failing to not smile from it's enchanting taste and texture. Lyra grudgingly returned to swinging the halberd around and laughing with her dexterous gifts. The room was full of weapons that looked like they weren't meant for mortal hands and dark armour of giants on one side and a wide open space for practice on the other. Huge swords, axes, spears, and spiked horseshoes were all on display in this demented candy store.

Which tool to try? Which armour to don? Twilight perused the vast collection as far away from Lyra as possible. She spotted an ensemble similar to Dark Elf armour but shaped for a pony.

"Do you remember this?" She asked, hoping for memories to flood back to Kivsin. They didn't.

She slipped the blade-horned helmet over his head and his yellow eyes vanished in the darkness. It took a while for his weakened body to get used to the weight but there was more to come. Bladed leg greaves, bladed wing guards, almost every component had some razor surface and he looked like a swiss army knife. The Druchii followed their god of murder, Khaela Mensha Khaine, very strictly. Killing, murder, is the rule of law and one must be dressed appropriately to be a law abiding citizen.

Twilight took the only helmet that seemed to fit over her extra horns. It had its own horn bolted on, forming a four armed crest with hers. A steel vest and bristling horseshoes gave her the visage of evil.

"How do I look?" The weight of the suit was already getting to her.

"Like...uh...a High Handed Slayer!" He said cautiously.

Content with her protection, she needed a weapon. Tools of maiming and shredding galore enticed and a mace, trailing in barbed chains, she chose. They kept their distance from the axe crazy pony and stood facing one another.

"Ready?" She said, lazily swinging the mace and raising it up.

"Yes." he gulped.

She cocked the mace up another foot and Lyra watched, anticipating a catastrophe. Kivsin assumed a new stance which gave Twilight the impression he was getting more into it. As she brought the mace down, slightly off as not to actually crush her assistant. He stayed put, not doing anything and the mace crashed into the floor.

Nothing? She tapped the side of his helmet with the mace and he flinched.

"You have pretty sucky aim." Lyra said.

Kivsin took off his helmet. "P-perhaps you would like to try again miss."

Twilight put it back on him. "No. Go organize the shields by color or something. I need to think."

Lyra raised her weapon to throw it at him like a javelin. She started to thrust down but the weapon was forcibly lifted from her hands. She turned around to see where it had gone and hit an iron wall. She looked up, confused by the sound of grinding metal and witnessed a giant iron pegasus chewing up the polearm.

Sparks and blood rained down on her and she backed away in terror. Fluttershy wore a painful smile as she tried to absorb several weapons but had reached her limit. She had several bludgeons protrude from her hooves and scanned around at the potential victims. Kivsin hastily built himself a tiny fort out of shields.

"So who wants to spar with me huh!?" she screeched. The culmination of anger management training with the Doctor wasn't enough. No one came forth and her smile slightly faded. "I don't wan to to kill anypony! Just bash your brains in and smear them acrosshh... ffffrrrrr!" She struggled not to just lash out on them and took it slow. "Eenie... meenie... miney DIE!"

The makeshift morningstar came down toward Twilight and she hastily levitated a shield against her. It was easily pierced and taken away. She brought another and it was also ripped apart. She raised a magic shield, a glowing purple dome and watched Fluttershy's wide smile sink.

"Magic? Magic!? No magic! No magic!" She cried agonizingly and repeatedly struck the dome. "Come out here and die the right way!"

With each blow, a shock of pain rang through Twilight's head and the one strike produced a crack. She watched from within her weakening protector, through a growing spiderweb of cracks, at Lyra who was still backing away. She took a spear and the sweat on her arms burst into flames, slowly consuming the shaft of the spear and burning brightest on the tip. She took a number of deep breaths and swirling, tzeentchian tattoo marks on her arms, painting themselves, lowly illuminated. Even she looked on them with surprise and gained greater confidence. She lunged forward and the spear tip flashed, firing a vicious beam of white flame and exploded on the back of Fluttershy's head.

She fell onto the dome and rolled off with molten steel dripping from where the flame struck. Twilight was about to relinquish the shield but took the lull in pounding to repair it and move away as Fluttershy slowly got back up, beyond rage. Countless small bumps elongated to spikes across her body. Her joints swelled, becoming rectangular and sprawling with thorns and a layer of brass closed up around the mark engraved on her chest. Her hooves grew razoring claws. No one could imagine the raging torrent drowning her conscious as she turned to her attacker, frothing red foam.

Lyra threw away the spear and summoned her energy again, unleashing a wide spray of rainbow flame. It consumed Fluttershy as got closer. Agonizing cries spilled from the firestorm and her orange glowing, sagging face broke through. The weapons she'd taken started to fall out by the fires of change and Lyra knew to keep up the hosing. Fluttershy was severely slowed and little by little she lost mass. She was making progress though to strike Lyra and raised her hooves. All the weapons were sprawled behind her and now her body began to melt, slowly dripping onto the floor. The features of her face became indistinguishable. Her feral cries ground to silence and she slowed to a freeze. She looked like a half melted wax statue and Lyra's nose bled heavily. Her arms ached like hell and the searing tattoos took a long time to dissipate. The stifling smoke slowly cleared and Miss Cheerlie sat, clapping at the curtain. "B minus!"

Lyra was dumbfounded and exhausted. "What? What is this thing!?"

"Twilight's friend. B minus. Take it or leave it." she canted.

Lyra snapped to Twilight, pointing a smoking finger. "You brought this? What were you thinking?"

"I... I thought Miss Cheerlie would help." she mumbled and moved closer to the melted pony, their mouth hanging stretched. She looked into her only visible eye, the other being covered. The capillaries were inflamed and it shook, still with rage.

"Well she's in much better condition now!" Lyra said. She wiped her nose and the blood smelled of kerosene. "Frick this. I'm going home."

"Not yet." Cheerlie halted her. "Pop quiz, tutoring room, now."

"How can we have a quiz after this?" Twilight probed, discarding her sweaty armor. "Fluttershy needs help!"

"Like this. Now."

They left the room and Twilight looked back at Fluttershy and Kivsin who was still quivering in his fortress.

The tutor's room was rather small. Eight desks were arranged on the arrows of a star on the floor. Cheerlie sat herself at a desk at the front of the room and her students took the seats with scrolls on them. She lit a slow burning fuse leading to a small amount of warpstone under their desks. They knew this couldn't be good and wasted no time getting to the first question.

Which cult was indirectly responsible for The Sundering of Ulthuan? No multiple choice? Darn. Twilight answered to the best of her ability, The Cult of Slaanesh. Her thoughts swirled with what was in the other room and by the time her slow progress got half way through, Lyra had already finished and the fuse was just reaching both their desks. She hastily wrote down what she could gather from skimming the questions. Magnus the Pious, Engra Deathsword, The Slayer of Kings, Praag.

The last question struck like a ton of bricks. What was the name of The Lord of the End Times' daemonic steed? She glanced at the teacher who was reviewing Lyra's quiz. The word "was" reassured her and she put down Dorghar. She skittishly left her desk as the fuse neared the powder pile.

"It begins." Cheerlie said with interest and felt her forehead. Very warm. In fact, beads of sweat were gathering. Twilight broke through her stress and noticed an intense chill and slight shivers running through her.

"What begin-" Lyra was interrupted by a couple of loud bangs and the desks they were sitting in being lodged in the ceiling, black smoke scars under them.

Miss Cheerlie Spoke as if two explosions hadn't just happened. "Some kind of reaction Twilight has to consuming souls. You're welcome to stay and watch if you change your mind."

"Only to watch her squirm for bringing that monster and missing a slave at point blank range." Lyra chuckled.

"He used to be a great soldier." Twilight struck back.

"Sure, and the pony I'm having to look after isn't a stuck up, high maintenance lightning rod!" A special thought crossed her mind. "Oh! Can I do the thing!?"

"What thing?" Twilight inquired.

"Watch." she said eagerly.

Lyra curled up two fingers, keeping the pointer and middle fingers extended, one on top of the other and thumb extended up. She pointed to a skull trinket on Cheerlie's desk and after adjusting aim for a second, slammed her thumb down and a fire beam shot from her fingers, exploding the skull completely.

"Oooooohhhh!" she blared, mimicking a horn. "Who needs a pistol now! This is why I serve."

"Now..." Mis Cheerlie said annoyed, swiping the ash off her desk, "...go clean up the other room."

"Why?"

"Because there are several damaged weapons, a half melted juggernaut, and a slave who likely wet himself."

"Guuugh!" Lyra moaned.

The task to clean the arms room was great as the weapons were melted to the floor and Fluttershy remained frozen. Twilight slowly approached Kivsin who had a small puddle under him.

Twilight slowly lifted the shields away and, not knowing what to do, resorted to rocking him like a large baby in her wings and showing him Fluttershy was stopped.

"Just get back to sorting ok?"

He nodded and she put him down.

"I don't think I asked your name yet." she said to Lyra.

She snapped her fingers and produced a blowtorch's flame. "Lyra. You?"

"Twilight Sparkle. Is there anything I can do?"

Sparks erupted from a sword she started cutting off the floor. "I don't know. Cut that loose." She pointed to Fluttershy.

"She's not a thing."

"Whatever."

Luna was startled and jumped back from the balcony at the sound of her sister springing awake in cold sweat in the bedchamber.

"Tia, what is the matter?"

"It's... that dream. This is the second time." she yawned, pressing her forehead with a hoof.

"The day we faced Discord?"

"Yes. The figure in the mirror he was talking to. Do you remember? A great black, winged monster. He applauded us after petrifying Discord. I don't want to recall it, please. Trying to make the moon set again?" Celestia asked , trying to lighten the mood.

"Ah yes..." Luna said shyly. "I feel the two monns of this world." Mannslieb and Moorslieb. "The days here, they happen on their own. What makes time go by without magic?"

She spied one of the Emperor's messenger falcons approaching and stepped aside for it to swoop in and open the scroll on the stand, as was its training. Franz requested their presence at noon to welcome a High Elf expeditionary force and war council. The Elves had a reputation for appearing when and where they wanted without prior notice. They think themselves so high and mighty.

"You might want to get some sleep Luna. You will have to be up again soon." Celestia said.

Luna blew a disgruntled sigh and proceeded to her bed. A steady migraine intensified and she paused to address it.

"Do not despair. The Witch Hunters are scouring this palace for anypony or thing that may have something to do with what happened."

The Sun's light started to create a purple, then orange glow that disappeared in the always present clouds. Once in a while there would be a beam of heavenly light that shone down, but only for a moment. They just followed where the greatest amount of light was piercing the clouds to tell the time of day. Celestia performed her duties and desires around the palace, reading and responding to letters from nobles and lords, aiding the witch hunters who had already found five more noctrals disguised as statues and four even further extreme humans in the the Lunar Cult, a state funded religious branch, and bearing the weight of a heavy ensemble of solar based armour. She didn't understand why such overdone decoration was necessary for her and Luna. Although masterfully crafted, all the sunbeams, embroidered suns, and its hot, stifling interior seemed overplayed until the Emperor explained.

Soft, compassionate rule never worked in the Old World. Sigmar Heldenhammer united the tribes of men into the Empire through fire and sword and ruled until his mysterious "departure", after which he was declared a god. In order to make sure future emperors wielded the same authority, the state declared the emperor was directly chosen by Sigmar though the elections of the Elector Counts of the Empire's many provinces. Order and purity against Chaos is maintained by the church of Sigmar and militarized religious orders. So the princesses must take on a godly visage to instil divine fear and reverence and keep subjects faithful and free of heresy. It was also good exercise, wearing all that armor, builds up muscle strength.

As the afternoon approached, Luna lethargically emerged in a similarly highly decorated shell. The obscured light of day stung her eyes and she explored the palace more. There was always a new room or corridor to discover, some special aspect she never noticed. Gothic architecture was indeed unique but by its very nature, also grim and dark. High, arched ceilings boasted a somewhat disturbing and heroic array of art. In one painting, ponies were fleeing the daemons of Chaos aboard ships, carried by the hand of Sigmar under the waves. They came from an unknown world beyond the coasts and the hideous amalgamations slaughtered them as they disembarked and survivors took behind the armies of the Empire that awaited the onslaught. Franz was on his giant griffon, Deathclaw, at the forefront. The princesses were depicted as gods, descending from the sky, through a break in the dark clouds. Celestia was engulfed in the flames of the sun and Luna surrounded by the evening mist. The daemons nearest them, though in reality incapable of fear, fled in panic.

How all this had to be fabricated. Fear and faith were the only things holding the world together.

Upon turning a corner, Luna saw four soldiers were stationed in front of one door and a witch hunter stepping out for a moment. Muffled cries echoed inside and the hunter was spattered with some blood. The witch hunters are a ruthless force of purity. Uncompromising, fanatical to subtle insanity, and have no qualms about killing innocents. They believe there is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt. The guards knelt as Luna got close and the man stopped stroking his pointed beard, trying to figure out what to do concerning the individual in the room, and bowed his upper body.

"Rise all." Luna said firmly. "May I ask as to the nature of your work, faithful templar?"

"Justice for the mare of the moon your highness." The sheer tone of his voice sounded of piousness.

"We are quite curious to see."

"Of course."

He passed his hand into the room and followed Luna inside. A noctral was clamped to something of a surgical table. A large vice kept his mouth forced open and his cheeks had just begun to tear. All his bloody molars were on another counter and two other figures in doctor's clothing, including beaked masks with herbs at the end were readying their cruel tools for another round at him. Luna was severely off put but kept composure.

"This is the only one we have captured alive." her escort said. "All the others bite a tablet hidden in their mouths or slay themselves by other means."

One doctor maneuvered a gripper far in back of the bat pony's mouth and extracted a tiny green disk. The other removed the clamp and his jaw snapped shut. He agonizingly hummed and was elated to see Luna.

"I have seen the face of god..." he crooned.

"Speak only when spoken to heretic." the hunter scolded. "Do you now confess thy sin and seek salvation in death?"

"I shall not confess for I follow the true faith!" he blasted back and turned to Luna. "Your holiness, I implore thee. Unleash upon these nonbelievers!"

The hunter put both hands on the table and loomed over him. "Her darkness will not serve the vampires."

"She will see how she has been oppressed by the false princess. And when she does, the undead will burn the Empire to the ground."

"Heresy!" the holyman roared and gave the prisoner a solid punch with large brass knuckles. His nose steadily ran bloody and he spat out two more fangs. "Repent, monster! Why have your kind come?"

"You... are not worthy... to hear the brilliance of Manfred Von Carstein." the bleeding creature sputtered.

The hunter reached for one of the three flintlock pistols on his person but his hand was trapped in a blue glow. Luna looked sincerely at the victim.

"Would you speak for us?" she asked with compassion.

He was speechless for a moment as god spoke. "I...I- I... we... want to free you from this lowly state. Free you from under the hoof of Celestia. Nightmare Moon is the true you and the night is destined to rule forever."

Luna became cross. "Nightmare Moon is ours to control and I love my sister. I was being selfish the first time. Everypony requires the balance of night and day or all falls out into disarray." He did not question his deity.

"My lady." a servant said outside. "Celestia awaits you at the carriages. It is time to meet the elves."

Luna left the noctral dismissed and the doctors descended on him. She followed the guide through the halls she'd gotten lost in once or twice. The palace was quite smaller than that of the Emperor but still massive, comparable to the palace in Canterlot. Outside, it was a bastion of stone and steel. Gigantic stained glass windows formed the picture of Sigmar's twin tailed comet, streaking across a solar eclipse.

From atop the hill the palace was situated on, much of Altdorf could be looked on. The buildings grew high above the streets and looked more disheveled, stacked atop one another the further from the palace one looked. Closer, were great complexes, banners fluttering from the roofs, housing the wealthy, lords, and the high ranking of the Empire's huge, semi professional military. The College of Magic, in the distance, slowly emitted a wide array of colored smoke from the students working within and the Cathedral of Sigmar stood as a multi-spired block with its gold dome, always surrounded by the teeming masses seeking hope in an always desperate world. Along with the College of Engineering, and the Emperor's palace, these monoliths dominated the skyline.

Celestia awaited Luna at the bottom of the stairs, a good hundred fifty steps down the hill. Their carriages were mostly enclosed and heavily reinforced against the tainted ones who walked the streets. Where the majority lived was prolific with heretics, and murderous cults, aside from the cults to Sigmar and the princesses the government supported. This made the carriages too heavy to fly. The pullers had their eyes removed and lids sewn shut. The reasoning for this could not possibly make sense and they were guided by forcibly trained pegasus foals in angelic skirts. Fifty elite bodyguards surrounded the convoy in full plated gold painted steel and black iron. They sported a large spike that stuck from their helmets to headbutt foes and a spear or halberd fixed to the side of their suits, pointing straight forward.

In battle, the tactic for earth ponies with fixed polearms was to simply run. Run at the enemy and don't stop till your heart gives out which was usually two seconds after impact with orks or chaos beasts.

"What kind of twisted parade is this sister?" Luna asked.

"I do not know." She was equally distraught. "But they do what must be done. The sooner we set off, the sooner we can leave this in the street."

They entered their respective carriages. Celestia's was very bright and the captains of her bodyguard, Swift Sword and Thunder Fire, were in with her to protect. Luna was much better able to see in the dark and was her carriage dark.

"Could we pull back the thicker veil please."

One of the guards pulled away the more dense curtain and the thinner one was of a material where the occupants could see out but those outside couldn't see in. Once both were settled, the lead guard levitated up an ornate whistle.

"By the left...March!"

The beating thunder of heavy armour rattled the carriages ornaments and the pullers lurched forward. As they descended the hill, the cityscape rose around them and they got a true perspective to the scale of the buildings. The living blocks hid the sun and the only sky was directly above the streets, a straight sliver down the mddle. The pony nobles, few though there were, enjoyed the best their money could buy. The best clothes, and guaranteed the ripest fruits and vegetables where the lower class was at the mercy of silver tongued merchants, so manipulative they could sell paintings to the blind. Mares waved handkerchiefs from windows and there was the murmur of reverent prayer at the carriages' passing.

"Buckle up!" the lead sounded off and the ring of guards shrank and tightened. The sprawls awaited.

Further down, the majority was starved of light. Living blocks, little more than plaster filling the open spaces between wooden skeletons, rose so high and hung so far over the streets, those on the streets might believe they were underground. Only at high noon would the sun be overhead, gracing them for only an hour or two through the clouds. Pegasi tended to live on the roofs, bringing earthbound friends to see the remnants of the sun for free and charging massively for strangers. Huge sewers and gutters ran open, full of foul waste that putrefied the air. A small amount of the stink penetrated the reinforced carriage doors. Crowds grew thick and the guards pushed their way through. They shoved aside or downright killed those that couldn't move in time. They came under attack by a shower of flowers, rice, and mad, insane praise. The princesses couldn't see much beyond the troops and didn't want to.

This went on as long as they were in the equine district and finally caught a break where humans became more ubiquitous. Thy didn't receive the same insane praise but were still bombarded with plants as the allies of Sigmar.

"What happened to the subjects?" Luna sighed sorrowfully to captain Nightshade. She stared out the window at the impoverished thousands. "What happened to the noctrals? They used to be so loyal in Equestria."

"Simple madness milady. They are heretics now, so they must die." he said grimly.

"There is not a one that remains sane?" She pressed again. Nightshade fidgeted a bit. He did not want to suggest god was unknowing but Luna saw through him. "Is there?"

He saw she now wanted an answer. "I... I thought you knew princess."

"Knew what?" she pressured him on.

"The Lunar Cult is rife with them. They are loyal to you, not Nightmare Moon."

Her spirit was lifted to heaven at this. 'We must see them immediately!' she thought. The Emperor beckoned though and her fire was smothered. "Tonight. We must meet them."

"I'll make the arrangements at the headquarters as soon as possible milady." Nightshade acknowledged.

The Emperor's palace was within sight, a bulwark of stone, towers, and imperial calligraphy. Several crocked chimneys jutted up and wood struts supported less important outcroppings and platforms. The gates to a walled off military courtyard were opened to the convoy. Many a parade had been staged there as tens of thousands would march and rapturous music would play before the legion was sent off to die on the frontier.

At least a dozen servants of the Emperor received the caravan at the bottom of the palace's stairs and swiftly opened the carriage doors with gloved hands. A few beams of sunlight shone on the palace, signifying to all below that this was a truly holy place. The princesses hesitated before attempting to climb the extensive stairs in heavy armor but they must. The pegasus foals raised the trailing veils behind them as they ascended. Forty men pulled the giant doors open and they entered with Captain Thunder Fire and Nightshade.

"Sister," Lina started. "...what do you suppose an elf looks like?"

"I suppose they'd be taller than men but I'm really not sure."

Another guide led them through the tall, wide corridors, through the empty throne room, up more dreaded stairs, and before a golden door with a carving of Ghal Maraz with the flames of Sigmar's comet raging down its handle. The guide departed as only those of sufficient title could even touch the passage.

"I suppose we open it ourselves." Celestia said, watching them walk off.

They magically pushed on each flap of the door, great effort it took, and came into the palace's war room. A vast collection of war plans, arms designs and maps. Several generals of men and elves circled a table, talking about the countless battles across the Empire and the Land of Chill. Upon seeing the princesses, the generals stood but only the men saluted. The Emperor was enthroned on the grandest seat and an Archmage, the most powerful of elven wizards sat by him. The thin wrinkles of aging, which took some hundreds of years to start to catch him, lined his solemn face. His beautiful crescent staff lay across his lap. The elves were a few inches taller than men on average, donned in flowing, gleaming silver armour with sharp tipped shoulders. Between the plates were silky cloths and gowns. They all had a conceited, almost contemptuous gaze.

"Thank you for joining us princesses." the Emperor welcomed. "Our talks can now begin." He motioned his hand to two regal benches, side by side in an empty place at the table.

Thunder Fire and Nightshade helped them around, over small piles of books and scrolls. The elves stared at them with some dislike. A horse, royalty? Absurd!

Franz took a look at the seven foot solder by the Archmage. He had long, wide arms and hands, inhuman in size and his suit was decorated in the dragon insignias and emblems that were common in elven culture. The fingers of his segmented gloves tapered to sharp points. He wore a blue silk cloth over his nose and mouth, the rest of his face was blackened in his helmet's shadow, and a blue robe hung down to his ankles under the steel.

The Emperor leaned to the mage and said with great curiosity, "I believed they were far larger than this and did not need such protection."

"He is still quite young." the mage said back, turning his head slightly to him. "But very unique."

"How so? What is his name?" Celestia asked with equal inquisitiveness as Franz.

The mage hesitated whether or not to even talk to the animal. "We renamed him. His old name was far to base." He glanced at Celestia. The indignity. "His name is Thrakian."

Down the soldier's back, his armour rippled and he fidgeted but remained facing the door across the table.

"May we see his face?"

"He is one of his kind. With all due respect, I simply wish you not."

Thrakian looked at the Celestia, interested in the request but respected the mage. She was a slight nervous as he was not staring for a long time at her with unseen eyes.

"If we can begin." the wizard insisted. Thrakian returned his gaze to he door.

"Let's." the Emperor said. The generals lowered again and a dozen imperial scribes readied their quills. "For two thousand and five hundred years since the founding of The Empire by the Sigmar the Divine, men and elves have fought side by side against the unholy darkness." If by 'side by side' he means 'show up whenever they feel like it and leave whenever, even in the middle of battle' then yes. "This day we have in our midst, the rulers of a race, previously unknown to this Old World and delivered to safety by the Almighty. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, we will need your wisdom in these matters as well as the elves."

"We will aid you, holy Emperor, however we can." Celestia nodded.

"It is our first war council in two thousand years but we might still know a thing or two." Luna said heftily.

The mage rolled his eyes skeptically and quickly straightened up again when Karl Franz turned to him.

"The presence of such an esteemed group of the Elves of Ulthuan is an omen of terrible events to transpire. I implore as to your purpose."

He stood and firmly planted his staff on the ground. "The shrine of Asuryan has signaled the Arch Enemy has renewed his bloody march. The second Storm of Chaos is upon us." Instantly, fear could be felt on the air as if Morr, god of death himself entered the room. He released his staff, leaving it standing upright with no support and placed his hand on the map that covered the table in a region far to the northeast, on the very edge of the Old World. "There are few ways south and the Dark Lands are not an option for him due to Orkoid dominance. He will gather the Chaos Dwarfs, ensuring exit from the Northern Wastes and march on Kislev. Khaine knows how long they can hold him. By order of Phoenix King Finubar the Seafarer, we have come to stop him. Our force is forty five thousand strong and encamped fifty miles north of Carroburg. The fate of the Old World hangs by a thread yet again and we are here to save you."

Self importance at its finest. Though the Empire was truly on the verge of defeat in the first storm. The Everchosen had literally backhand slapped Valten, the Exalted of Sigmar across the apocalyptic battlefield and the only thing that saved the world was the ork warboss Grimgor Ironhide, headbutting him in his unholy family jewels. Of course the Empire credits his defeat to their armies and courage.

"Your assistance is indeed appreciated." Franz said somberly.

"It is not all your highness. We have also brought five thousand of the princesses' race as well."

Celestia sprang up. "Is this true? More survived?"

'Unfortunately' the mage thought. "Yes. They call themselves the Crystal Ponies. They were lost in the Warp for some days where the majority perished before reemerging in the province of Lothern. King Finubar provided asylum and in return they would share their skills and magic, especially the crystal heart. It renders their bodies strong as crystal itself and after exposure, when wounded..." He reached under his robe and laid on the table a crystallized pony's lower jaw. "We have done our best to create a prosthetic for their princess Mi Amore Cadenza."

"Princess Cadence is with you?" Celestia's anxiousness was peaking.

"She is. Under escort in the elven district in this city. She did not want to come and I move on."

The Emperor added his input on the WAAAGH!!! and the mage warned the Chaos horde may subjugate them, adding the boyz of the WAAAGH!!! to their already colossal legions. The deliberations consisted of the human marshals from all different provinces, Middenland, Ostermark, and many others, shuffling figures around on the map, forming strategic plans to wither the hordes and the elves scolding them for incompetent strategies. Which was superior though? The engineering and gunpowder technologies of The Empire, their marriage culminating in the Steam Tank, or the skill and experience of the elves who had spent seven thousand years battling Chaos? Thunder Fire and Nightshade tried to make their input but were almost completely dismissed and were only heeded when Luna joined them. Franz advised Celestia to prepare for a campaign across the Empire to rally support and call back Shining Armor from Ostermark to Castle Reikguard. She went further, saying he should be able to see his wife again.

Thrakian suddenly stiffened and grunted in pain as the back of his armor jumped up.

"Breath." the Archmage said sternly.

He slowly inhaled and exhaled. the bulges sank down and thin green smoke streamed out from under his bandana. "I felt it again teacher." His voice was young for his size, almost childish. "Another surge of Chaos energy. Southeast, far away."

"Twilight, Twilight focus!" Miss Cheerlie demanded, slapping her across the face. Drinking the soul was finally bearing results, painful results. Her body was pale as a ghost and radiated burning heat, boiling off her sweat as she shivered and was extremely out of it. "What do you see?"

Every feature of the room started sagging, melting. The corpses laughed and screamed and performed depraved acts, macabre dances, tearing each other limb from limb, and clawing at Twilight's body. The twisted faces grew out of the walls, cackling and howling. She hunched over, coughing violently and sprays of blood splattered onto scrolls and the floor. The thirst was overwhelming and she tried to bite the nonexistent corpses ripping her apart. Her insides felt frozen solid even with her temperature quickly rising.

Memorable heavy footsteps and a blowing wind around the corner drained whatever blood was left in her. The dead retreated as Archaon came around. Twilight backed up until she hit the wall but was too dizzy to notice to obstruction.

"What is it!?" Cheerlie shouted. No response, just more 'No! No! Get away!'

"She explode yet?" Lyra called out from the training room.

"Almost."

Like a show she couldn't miss, Lyra rushed in and was eager to see Twilight lose her mind. Archaon looked far different. A bronze helmet with void black eyes and a piercing eye in the forehead, titanic horns and armour of black and red trim. He drew his sword, the Slayer of Kings. Within it was bound the soul of Khorne's greatest Bloodletter, U'zhul the Skulltaker.

"Stand."

She instinctively stood, feeling like she remembered the blade from somewhere. She had once only been waist height compared to him but now she could look him straight in the eyes. He tapped the sword on her in different areas and she showed him her mutated features. Extra horns that had been receding with her worsening condition, furless hooves, blood red eyes, and the Eternally Burning Mark of Chaos on her face, shifting to her flank and devouring the stars of her cutiemark. His thunderous chuckling sent her reeling again and her suffering peaked.

Her fur and skin smoked and hissed. Soon, it burned off in cinders, cracking piece by piece and her mane rose, waving like flames, then she burst. A brilliant orb of flame erupted from her, vaporizing the aberration and the remnants of her bloody hide were plastered to the walls and floor. Lyra manipulated the flames to avoid Miss Cheerlie and herself and was disappointed there was still a pony sitting there. A huffing, bright yellow pony, blood trickling from her mouth. Twilight's mane and tail were an angry flame, her whole body emitted a campfire's light and warmth. She felt oddly fantastic and outrageously thirsty. The taste of her own black blood was sickening and thirst was absolutely overwhelming. She sprang to Fluttershy and her bleeding mane for sustenance but it was dry, having been boiled clean.

"Yeah about her..." Lyra nervously shrugged.

Twilight pushed Lyra aside, her mind quickly deteriorating. "Blood. Blood! BLOOD!... BLOOD!!" She blew the front door open and gazed upon the buffet of blood and souls, hundreds of denizens with their delusions of grandeur. She threw herself into the crowd and clasped her jaws onto the first body they found, draining them to a husk in a second. This disturbance did not go unnoticed and the crowd immediately fell apart into a frenzied free for all of maiming, killing, rape, and pillage. Even Lyra and Miss Cheerlie joined in the slaughter, one firing her fire pistol hand and the other whipping chains and chanting to the dark gods for many kills.

Five, six, seven, eleven, it was not enough. The blood craving only got worse and Twilight started a spell to finally satiate her hunger. What happened next could only be described as a horrific storm of lightning and thunder, striking all those in a wide area around her, replacing their bodies with a red mist settling on piles of clothes, armour and ashes. Metal fixtures sparked and exploded as the lightning struck them, fried bodies lay strewn about the street and the blood flowed to her through the cracks and fissures. It flooded into her, enough to satisfy a khornate champion for at least eleven minutes. The last drops fed her and she spied, not the barbecued corpses, but the hundreds of souls, sweet, sweet souls. The calmed circle around her closed quickly as more rioters rushed to the fight and she hastily gathered all she could, many dozens and stole back to Cheerlie's hovel.

Animalistically she fed on mouthfuls of the orderves, gulping down several at a time. The screaming of their souls rang like music, bells that produced the finest melody. When all were consumed, she finally relaxed. Her hoofsteps stopped branding the floor as she cooled and spun around, trying to look at the plume of fire where her tail used to be and patted her head to find her mane. She found none, only more flames. What happened? this question played a million times in her thoughts.

"Daemonkind." Miss Cheerlie said fascinated with her transformation. She supported Lyra as she bled and one of her deformed feet was cut wide open. Twilight looked at Cheerlie with a million question look. "I feel it from you, see it in you. No wonder your soul was already dark."

"What are you talking about?"

Miss Cheerlie let go of Lyra, leaving her to stumble and trip into the classroom and scatter scrolls. "This is the true you. The energy of the Gods given form."

"That's not right. It just a side effect." Twilight refused. "I've never done anything to hurt anypony when I was normal. This is all just Chaos trying to drive me crazy!"

"Aren't we all already? Who was it you saw?"

"Archaon."

Cheerlie was distraught as Twilight went on. The capture of her and her friends, being in His presence, how she didn't want to be part of his madness, all piled on stress.

"Now I just want to go home."

The smell of fungus filled the air from an unknown source. Miss Cheerlie recognized the stench and brusquely picked up Twilight. "Can you fly?"

"N-no." She sniveled.

Cheerlie slapped her again. "Get it together. Have the slave teach you. Never thought I would say something like that. Get Fluttershy back to normal and throw weapons at her whether she wants it or not."

"What was with making her angry before?" Twilight rebuked. "You said you would help her."

"I have. It is her duty to Khorne to kill, to spill blood for him. She's better that way and we'll need her that way to fight."

"Fight who?"

"The WAAAGH!!!"

"They're here?" Twilight asked fearfully.

"They will be, soon. Enrage Fluttershy anyway you can."

Is she kidding? Make Fluttershy berserk again. If she was though, it would be a huge advantage in the coming battle.

The half melted shell was still fixed on the wall. Drops of blood fell from her eyes and she moaned through her sealed mouth in utter remorse. Twilight quietly came behind her and looked up the wall of arms and armor. She tilted Fluttershy back with her magic, snapping and ripping up floorboards stuck to the juggernaut's legs. She squeaked in fright and Twilight, to the one who hated being mad, thrust her face into the wall. The crash felled some articles from the and Fluttershy wailed "Why?" Twilight did it again, harder, whispering "sorry" each time. Fluttershy started rumbling and holding back her despair, something that had to be broken. The dent in the wall got deeper and larger and more objects rained down. Fluttershy's body started reforming with her ballooning rage and absorbed the metal gear into her.

The last pound ripped through the wall and her head was stuck inside. The equipment splashed into her like water and the final daemonic features came in. A massive blade grew, replacing her nose and she cut her head free. Twice her original size, she faced Twilight who thought "Now what?"

"Now who are you?" Fluttershy thundered. She extended chains from her claw and snapped them at Twilight, ensnaring and pulling her up before her smoking, smile torn face. She dropped Twilight into her lap and held her there with the other claw, grinding the palm back and forth on her head and pulling her skin. Bashing her face in didn't just break her in the prefered way but it was better than having Twilight's skin peeled off and body chopped up. Fluttershy's pupils were shrunk to pinpricks and her teeth were spiky and spinning, a meat grinder. The warmth of Twilight's fire brought her into a nurturing embrace and Fluttershy petted her like she would Angel but her hard paw made it oh so painful. Dare Twilight speak and risk angering the beast with herself in its grasp? No. "No monsters here. I've never felt SO RELAXED!" she screamed. Her eye twitched.

Miss Cheerlie came in and facehoofed at them. "Fluttershy, could you put her down please?" Her smile died and she dropped her flaming pet on the floor. "Twilight, take the slave onto the roof and give him this." Twilight caught a soul and held Kivsin who was cowering again. A black cloud engulfed them and they imploded. Cheerlie looked back to Fluttershy. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Take me back to the apartment?" 'Please oh please oh please.'

"No. Do you have anything that makes you angry, a pet peeve?"

"Not Peeve but I had a bunny, Angel. The only thing wrong he ever did was when I tried to get him to eat lunch but he wanted this big salad. I did my best but I was missing just one piece." Growling snuck into her voice. "A single cherry. This little, insignificant part and he wouldn't eat it." She put on a deep frown and her eye spasmed, looking off in all different directions. Angrier and angrier she became. "Does it really make a difference? Just because this one little red dot isn't there, you get to just throw the whole thing away and make me do it over? 'Oh look at me. I'm Angel. I rule this house and own Fluttershy, the only thing keeping me protected from the monsters in the Everfree Forest. I always get what I want and if I don't, I can just bitch slap her to do it again!' Who cares if there isn't a cherry!? It's still a huge salad you fickle fucking RAT!"

Hearing Vinyl lambast Octavia many times taught her some "anger release" words.

"At a girl'" Miss Cheerlie thought. "Remember everything."

Author's Notes:

Build ramps of the bodies of your comrades to reach the ramparts. Fill the moat with our corpses. Bring down the walls with the weight of the dead. - Arbaal the Undefeated