Pinkie Pie felt the oddest ticklish, squirming sensation in her belly as she woke, followed by the unmistakable taste of chocolate swilling in her mouth. The murmur of a small stream nearby added to her serenity and relaxation. She put a hoof on her belly, feeling that it was much bigger than expected. She didn’t remember eating anything before sleeping, let alone something that swelled her stomach to such size. It felt amazing, the sheer feeling of fullness. She put a little pressure on her belly as it started to ache.

*Buuuurp* “...Mmm... Much better.”

She rolled onto her side and was surprised to hear her belly shout as it fell with her. She curiously put her ear to her round paunch and heard frightened, muffled talking. She felt it thrash about inside her.

She sat up, trying to manage her rioting insides. “Oh my gosh, what is that!?”

Its panic made Pinkie’s stomach abandon it. It gave a heaving convulsion, stuffing what she’d eaten back up her throat, but it was huge for her esophagus and she immediately choked. Her belly heaved on, forcing the reject up and up until a pair of slime-covered legs popped out her mouth. The mass crushed her windpipe in her neck, breath was impossible. The lightheadedness felt like a sick glee, she almost liked it. She grabbed the legs and yanked hard, bringing the glob out with a wet pop from her lips. It plopped onto the ground and Pinkie clutched her raging stomach.

"Oooh... what did I eat last night?" she moaned. "I haven't felt like this since Applejack helped me make those cupcakes."

The blob twitched, then waved its hooves in the air frivolously. "I'm alive! I won! Oh god, that was one of the worst nights of my life!" it garbled in a familiar voice.

"Won what? D... Doc, is that you?"

He staggered to get up, shook off the muck, and put on a dazed smile. Most of his fur was gone and some of his skin was discolored.

"What the hay were you doing in my stomach?" she asked, a million other questions roaring in her mind.

"You ought to know. You put me there." He picked up a small green stone that fell out with him, bit it in half with a pop of ethereal mist from the stone, and rubbed the inside on his balded hide. Brown fur started growing back. “Ah warpstone. A million and one uses!”

"When...how!? I just woke up and suddenly, bleh."

Whooves tried to remember, making all kinds of inebriated faces.

"Of course! Nopony ever remembers having a psychotic breakdown, paralyzing and using somepony's body for hedonism, cutting themselves open with a beastman's sword, stitching three stomachs onto theirs and putting the victim inside before closing it and falling asleep for an hour and a half! I must say the only part I think I enjoyed was the stargazing, just staring straight up though because I couldn't look anywhere else before you ran off, dragged back three dead beastmen—heaven knows how you killed them—and cut out—"

"I didn't kill anything!" Pinkie burst out, "I would never, ever, ever!"

"Well, whether or not you killed them, they sure didn't show up looking like that."

She looked to where he pointed and immediately turned away, sickened at the sight of three bodies piled together. They had the distorted heads of goats and a bull and legs of the same nature.Their torsos were split wide open, entrails strung around them like streamers. Pinkie vomited up several rocks and the trunk of a bush, yet more debris.

"Yeah, you got hungry after a while, thinking everything was candy, and ran out of those, so stuffed me in to fill in the space."

Pinkie finally noticed a rectangular pattern of fine stitches outlining her entire torso. She felt along the ridges of string, caked in her own dried blood.

"You seem a lot less chipper." he said, watching her frantically inspect the seam.

Even Pinkie Pie couldn’t make light of a drastic incident like this. "Why would I— This is terrible! W... Why do you sound so happy?"

"Ugh! Your breath was like laughing gas and there was a lot of breathing while you used me."

Pinkie exhaled on her hoof and smelled it, producing a joyful buzz in her head and a short bout of giggling.

"Well, um... can we just find everypony? I have no idea where we are."

"Right! they must be wondering where you dragged us off to. I think it was, mmm... that way. Allez—" He tripped over himself and faceplanted.

The others fared little better. When Twilight woke, she found herself biting into Fluttershy’s bleeding mane. Her startled yelp jerked Fluttershy to wake abruptly and lose herself in the throes of rage.

"Flujerschy, I schwear I jijn joo eet on purpushe!" Twilight shouted through gnarled teeth, teleporting around Fluttershy to avoid her swinging hoof, bristling with what seemed like metallic spikes.

"No! You did! You're trying to take it from me!” Fluttershy pointed a shaking, accusatory hoof at the purple mare. Her face was twisted into a furious beastial snarl. “I'll rip those fangs out of your face and use them to cut out your heart!"

She took another swing at Twilight, but she teleported behind her. Fluttershy ended up shattering a rock, the pieces rocketing all over.

"Vut I joneefen know hwea these cae fruhm!”

"Stop...TALKING LIKE THAT!"

She brought it over again, and again Twilight flashed out of its way. Fluttershy's weaponized hoof planted itself in Applejack's deflated body, resting like a drop of water, a dome with eyes. She was still sleeping, despite the ruckus. Flies from about the area swarmed into her skin. She slowly took shape and stood, coughing up coagulated blood and stumps of cavity-riddled teeth that had been collecting overnight.

"*yawn*... Oh, Ah gotta tell ya’ll the dream ah had. Ah was back home, worki'n on the farm when outta nowhere, somepony hit me with a rock 'n ah didn't feel a thing."

As her inflamed eyes came to focus, she saw Fluttershy, bearing a confused and furious expression, slowly pulling her hoof out of the side of her face. Bits of shredded muscle and skin came off with the barbs. She sighed, but was a little comforted that Fluttershy wasn’t still trying to hit her.

"You're going to try to put me out again?" Fluttershy growled.

"Long as yur finally learni'n who yur friends are, ah won't have to; but ah never wanted to, last time."

"F-friend...maybe. But her..." she pointed to Twilight who backed up at the motion. "She's a liar! Stealer!"

Applejack wrapped a tube around Fluttershy's cascading mane and stuffed it in her mouth. She drank the fluid as it flowed in.

"Whatever this stuff is, it seems ta calm ya down, so... feel'n any better?"

The spikes on her hoof receded inward and she started to cry. Twilight slowly walked over and patted her on the back.

"Eet'sh okay, eet'sh arait. Looksh like hwe founj a hway to conrol eet."

Fluttershy threw her hooves around Twilight, scraping her neck on her teeth. Twilight's abnormal teeth snapped back into line with painful speed.

"I'm s-so s-sorry. I d-didn't mean it." Fluttershy cried.

Rainbow Dash swooped by and landed, looking around confused. "Hey guys, um... where's the Doc, Pinkie... and all the stuff?"

"Where were you? And where's Rarity?" Applejack questioned.

"Rarity's magic must have gone crazy last night and we both woke up at the bottom of the hill. Now when you see her, don't mention the eyes and arm."

"The wuh?"

"Just don't talk about it! We don't want her to blow up from shock."

Rarity crested the hill, gazing around puzzled. Applejack, Twilight and Fluttershy too noticed that nearly all the supplies, the tents, food, even the cart Applejack had been sleeping on, was gone. Few things remained and one new object stood tall. A pole with a poor carving of a scowling moon and a sign under it saying "Yoo dun got looted."

"Spit it out, right now...." Whooves demanded angrily.

Pinkie shook her head, her cheeks puffed up.

"Now!"

She spat out a wad of wood splinters and leaves she'd gathered.

"Come on! I didn't get hurt on the thorn bush yesterday. Why can’t...I..."

Her pupils suddenly dilated, turning her eyes completely black and she started drooling and sweating profusely. She smiled and licked her lips ecstatically.

"Oh, bullocks..." Whooves said.

Before he could try to get away, Pinkie lashed her tongues out, bound up his legs, and pulled him into her lap. She squeezed him so tightly, it felt like they’d suddenly splice together if she held him any harder.

"Hey, you're alive!” she chimed. “Listen I'm sorry about last night, it was my first time and I wanted to try keep it clean. Not like what those nasty Demonettes I saw do. That's just disgusting."

"And using my face as a flank scratcher was clean?"

"It was experimentation you said, right? So one experiment failed.” She licked broadly across his face. “Did you enjoy last night? I sure did; the fun, the food, and those three nice guys that lent me their stomachs."

"You cut it out of them!"

"Well they're not using them now, are they? Can't let it go to waste."

She turned him upright, let out another tongue and caressed his torso.

"Ok. You've got to be some slaaneshi demon possessing Pinkie or... or some incepted personality."

"Nonononononono. You ever hear the story of the pony who split their personality in two; still the same pony but a whole new side of themselves to explore?"

"Yes. The bad half ruined the original's life. Nearly got himself arrested or killed many times. What, you're gonna try to stop everypony from reaching Altdorf?"

"Oh no, I'm gonna help; but I wanna have fun along the way, especially with you, Doc."

Her jittering motions reduced into a slow swaying and she started emitting intense body heat. Her sweat stung his nose like a concentrated perfume and her tongue's grip tightened.

"This thing between us, I want it to last and mean something."

"I've only known you for a day, and you abused my last night! There's nothing between us! You're just going mad!"

“Oh, I've been there for a while. As far as I'm concerned, it's Hearts and Hooves day every day and you're my very special somepony. Even if you keep going back and forth from tasting like coffee to chocolate." She held him tightly to her body and stroked his back, drooling on his head, and pretending to eat his mane, biting it and pulling lightly with her lips.

"Mmm... I think the taste of coffee'll grow on me."

He was rendered speechless by her chokingly sweet stench and constricting grip, senses overwhelmed by her playful, almost sensual feel-up of his body.

"Oh zog this, I'm outta e're." A bush shrilly said.

A small green-skinned creature, just like the one that nearly spotted them near the farmhouse came strolling out of a bush and started walking away. Pinkie immediately let Whooves drop to the ground and stared at it.

"I don't care 'ow da boss wont'd me ta spy on ya, I ain't gonna wach yoo two go at each uvva' like squigs in mayt'n seezin."

Pinkie snatched the creature up with her tongue and brought it closer, tying up its arms and legs.

"Oh my gosh, a giant gummy bear!" She exclaimed

Whooves struggled for breath as he got up.

"Pinkie, whatever you're going to do just wait a minute." He took a few more breaths of better air. "A goblin? Why were you spying on us?"

"Wot's it to ya, ya git?"

"Doc, are you actually talking to a gummy bear?" Pinkie asked.

"I ain't no furilly beast, lemme go!"

"But candy's made to be eaten and I lost everything I ate a while ago."

The goblin's eyes widened and his cowardly nature came spilling out.

"Oh Gork, pleez don't eat me! I'll tell ya evrythi'n, evrythi'n!"

Whooves looked at Pinkie, staring at the goblin intensely. "No promises, but we'll see what happens. Now why were you spying?"

"Cuz da boss told me to. We was gonna loot ya camp, see, and we saw da pink one sneeki'n off wid you on da ground. Dey looted ya stuff and I went afta ya. Lost ya fer a woil, but fawnd ya agin!"

"You were raiding our camp!? You better not have hurt anypony there!"

"Naw, dat's not da way da Sneeky Gits do dere wurk. Whoy kill peeplz up wen day can stew in dere not havi'n stuff? Corse dere was useless stuff we didn't wont, a map, gold coins. Good luck us'n dat against da WAAAGH!!!"

"The whah?" Pinkie asked.

"No ya drooli'n git, WAAAGH!!! If ya dunno wot a WAAAGH!!! iz den yooz gonna get stomp'd fer sure!"

"Damn it, a WAAAGH!!!?" Whooves muttered darkly. "When does it start?"

"I dunno. Weneva da Warboss n' boyz wants ta start. I got all ya kwestchins, yeah? I dunno nuffin else."

"Fine. We're done. Pinkie, please don't actually—"

*crack*

Pinkie twisted it's head sharply and it went limp and silent. She quickly dislocated her jaw, stretched it down, stuffed the goblin down her throat and swallowed it whole.

"Good god, what'd you do!?"

"What? you said you were done asking questions, and I'm not letting good candy go to waste."

"O-ok... Uh... We have to find the girls and get moving further west to avoid the WAAAGH!!!. We set up right next to the World's Edge Mountains and the orks will come a-sweeping down from there."

"Well, I know the way back. You took us waaay off course."

She wrapped him up with her tongue, forcibly rubbed her muzzle to his, and tied him down to her back.

"You really had no idea where you were going." she teased, and ran with him in the opposite direction they came.

A hundred fires burned in the arid mountain air. Squigs growled and bounced around, goblins fled from any squig bigger than them. hundreds of greenskins gathered around the largest building among the huge, crude encampment.

“Ooze da one ta kick da 'umies' arse!?" a strangely dressed ork, carrying a staff of bones and his skull missing at the top, exposing his brain, screamed to an audience of more "ordinary" greenskins.

"Da Orkz!" They shouted in return.

"'Ooze da one ta stomp all da stunties!?”

"Da Orkz!”

“Ooze da one ta ruff up da elfses!?”

"Da Orkz!”

"Ooze da one ooze gonna get da best fight EVAH!?"

"DA ORKZ!!!!"

The greenskins clamored with excitement, swinging their crude swords in the air and throwing about goblins. The weirdboy's brain coursed with green lightning, absorbing the sheer orkiness emitting from the others and he howled at the sensation.

From the tent behind him stormed out the biggest ork of them all, missing an eye. He swung around a huge battleaxe and held it over his head.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!" He roared, sending all the orks into silence and the goblins running in panic.

"Round up all da clanz 'n tribes yooz can find! Da Deff Skullz, Bone Crunchaz, Bad Sunz Boyz, evry one! Tell 'em Grimgor's invited ya all to da biggest fight EVAH! Wen I got back from beat'n dat Kay-oss Warboss Arkayon, I want'd ta make my comeback loud 'n show da hole wurld ooze still not just Warboss, but WarLORD of da greenies! Ta start da WAAAGH!!!, I'm gonna treat yoo all to a 'ead splod'n contest wid my weirdboy usi'n one ah dem new magic Kay-oss ponies!"

A few orks carried in a bound up unicorn, chattering madly and a chaos star branded on their neck. The weirdboy sat on the ground and the unicorn was thrown beside him. They sat and lay for a while, the orkz beating each other's teeth out, using them as money to place bets on how long the unicorn would survive. Eventually the unicorn started to ramble more loudly.

"This p-p-p-pressure, its i-i-in my head, growing, and growing. Oh gods, just take my soul now and save me!"

He thrashed and screamed about more and more wildly as the wierdboy sat quiet, staring at him blankly, until his head split lengthwise, his liquefied brain pouring from his cranium. Grimgor took the weirdboy by the arm, his brain smoking but still cheering himself, and held him up.

"Da WAAAGH!!! is on! Rouuund up Da Boyz!!"

"Damn merchants. Filthy middlemen stealing half the profits of my crops..." The farmer grumbled to himself. "And you. Wasting money on a music box!? We could have spent it on food, seeds for next year."

He brought his fist down on the earth pony's head.

"Ow! We had a better yield this year. I thought we could afford it when you sold off the crops."

"You mean you! Haven't you learned by now that merchants will swindle you of all you have?"

"I...I guess not."

The man pulled a small box with a crank out of his sack.

"Fifteen florins for this?"

He opened it. Half the pins were missing and many of the cylinder bumps were worn smooth.

"And it doesn't even work! Let me tell you, we are not living together, you are stuck living with me. It's my land, my money, and you don't spend a cent outside your pay. Understand?"

"Yeah." the pony replied sadly.

"Good. When we get back, you're only getting half your usual feed... Oh Sigmar, my house!"

As the property came into view down the road, the farmhouse was reduced to a pile of rubble, the barn barely standing. A dark, fading cloud hung over and three creatures running around it.

"Damn Chaos!" the farmer cried and drew an old pistol, "A hundred and fifty florins might finally pay off now."

As they got closer, the creatures appeared to be three fillies, searching the debris. Before they could make out the white one, it went into the barn.

"You two!" he called, aiming the pistol as he approached. "You come through that portal?"

"Y-Yeah." The orange pegasus answered quickly, jittering.

"Did you do this?" he pulled back a lever at the back of the stick.

"Nowejustgothere!"

She went back to throwing away pieces of the house.

"Then how did this happen?" he asked, keeping aim.

"Are you sure this is necessary? They're just fillies." his tenant pony said.

"You heard her. They came through a Chaos portal and anything, anything out here could try to kill you, no matter how outwardly benign." He looked at the rotting skin hanging out of the pony's saddlebag. "Where on god's earth did you get that awful thing?"

"Found it hanging on a bush. It might be good fertilizer."

The orange pegasus ignored them and threw back a metal face with a large jaw, landing at the farmer's feet.

"Orks." the farmer sneered at the familiar looking carving and put the pistol at his side.

The yellow filly gasped and ran to the tenant. She snatched the rotted skin, smelled it deeply, and wheezed a putrid black gas.

"Applejack's been here! Do ya know where she is now?"

"Uh...no, and you're going to make yourself sick breathing that."

A scream resonated inside the barn and a plume of fire came bursting through the wall. They all scrambled out of the way.

The farmer aimed at the white unicorn. She was bristling with feather-like scales, legs sprouting many spindly fingers and claws. Short bursts of multicolored fire spouted from several mouths around her body.

"Sweetie Belle, not again!" The orange pegasus scolded. "That's like the millionth time!"

"II'mm nneeww ttoo tthhiiss, ookk!?" she said, three mouths across her head speaking at once, leaking smoke.

"Begone, heretic! Your kind is not welcome here!" the farmer yelled, his aim shaking.

The yellow filly stepped up, "Hey, don't be pointi'n that at my fiend!"

"This thing can't be your friend, it's a monster!"

"It was an accident! Put that down!"

"Regardless, anything so deformed by Chaos must die!"

He started to pull the trigger when something took his arm and turned him away. He was startled at the thing standing where the yellow filly had moments before and put the stick at the decaying filly's chest.

"What are you, vile spawn!?" the farmer cried.

"I'm Applebloom and I said put it DOOOOOOOOWN!"

A dark fluid gushed out of her mouth onto the farmer's face. He pulled the trigger and a hole burst in her chest, skin, muscle, and chunks of her lungs burst out her back. He fell screaming, his hands over his face, steaming and sizzling. Applebloom felt into the hole in her chest. The putrid fluids dripping in hardening and closing it.

The farmer eventually fell silent, his entire head and chest dissolved. The tenant pony frantically scuttled back as the three approached. Applebloom's mouth still spilling acid.

"Well, thanks for at least telli'n us she's not here. Which way do ya think we should go?"

The tenant quickly pointed down the way he and the farmer came, trembling.

"Thanks! Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle let's go!" she said and they ran down the road.

"Man,I'mgonnabethelastonetogetmycutiemark?" Scootaloo moaned, looking at the three necrotic patches on Applebloom and wispy patch of glowing scales on Sweetie Belle.

"DDoonn'tt wwoorryy, yyoouu'll ffiinndd yyoouurr ttaalleenntt ssoonn. HHaavvee hhooppee. bbeessiiddees, yyoouu ttaallkk ffaasstt, tthhaatt'ss ssoommeetthhiinngg."

Applebloom cringed. "Ugh, don't say ‘hope’."

"So, you're trying to say you got a vision last night that they'll come back here?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Rarity hummed positively.

"And you're ok with the, uh, eyes everywhere and the big arm on your shoulder?"

Rarity hummed unintelligibly for a few seconds and grabbed Rainbow Dash's hoof with the gangly bone arm, shaking it like a greeting.

"Right..." Rainbow Dash took to the air. "Well I'm gonna go not do nothing like everypony else here and actually try to find them."

Rarity pulled her back down and motioned to wait. She held the arm in the air, palm open.

"What, you waiting to catch something?"

"Hey Rarity, Catch!" Pinkie's voice sounded from the bottom of the hill.

Something started screaming and Rarity sat with the arm still up. The screaming quickly grew louder and the Doctor landed square in her palm.

"Oh thank you, Rari- oh, my goodness..."

He was bewildered by the new appendage and a dozen gazing eyes as Rarity put him down.

Twilight held him by the shoulders looking hysterical. "Doctor, we have to go back to Equestria. I remembered those four chaos leaders saying they'd destroy the world if we didn't listen to them, especially Tzeentch! These guys are monsters, juggernauts—"

"Hold on hold on." he interrupted. "Tzeentch threatened you? He's a trickster, a con-god. All four of them have been trying to take over this world for over seven thousand years, and they're not making much progress."

"R-really?"

"Yeah, none of his plans ever work. As soon as one plan fails, he makes sure another picks up on a different course, which means... he knew I'd get you out of there and we're already playing his game."

"I wanna play!" Pinkie said, her pupils shrinking.

"Oh thank goodness you're normal again."

"Was I any different?"

"Where'd you two go, anyhow?" Applejack asked. "Only reason we didn't try to go after ya was cuz Rarity said you'd come back."

"You don't want to know, really."

Pinkie's eyes turned black for a moment, "Are you sure you don't wanna tell her?"

"Yes. Fluttershy, what happened to your neck?" he said, eyeing two dark grey scars.

"We found a way to curb her fits, and she scraped her neck on my teeth." Twilight explained. Two sharp teeth shot down from the top row. "Ow."

Whooves inspected the scratches. The surface underneath was clearly metallic and hot to the touch.

"Fluttershy... do you feel any heaviness, or heat?"

"Not really, just a little stiff at the joints and warm in my chest."

Her breath was sultry, like a fiery wind in his face.

"And did scraping your neck hurt?"

"Not at all, I didn't notice."

He took a piece of a sharp rock and started shaving the fur off her chest, sparks flew off as it hit more metal.

"What are you doing?" Applejack asked.

Whooves kept working. Fluttershy tried to sit still, fearfully anxious of the glowing object he was uncovering.

"Just a second... oh, dear."

He stood back and they all stared at a triangle with two pairs of parallel arms stretching from the top. It was a shaped hole in her chest, her brass heart coursed with brightly glowing fissures, small spurts of fire erupting from it with each beat. Fluttershy quickly panicked, hyperventilating. Her iron lungs forming glowing fractures, all her insides illuminating from the building heat. Smoke and sparks started seeping from her mouth. She snatched away the rock the Doctor used and feverishly shaved herself more. Smoke turned to wisps of fire as her inside glowed orange. Her mane boiled.

Twilight moved to stop her but the Doctor put his hoof out. "No. We should see."

Fluttershy frantically shaved the fur off her legs, back, head, until the rock was ground to dust on her metal skin. By now she was glowing white on the inside and she bellowed pure superheated air. She looked around at her handiwork. Brass ran down her spine and formed her leg joints and wings. The rest of her was heaving, living iron and steel.

"W-w-what's happening to me?" Fluttershy asked, sobbing.

"Have... have you ever heard of a Juggernaut of Khorne?" Whooves asked in a low voice.

She shook her head.

"More chaos mutations. This could be the end of it, or it could be just the beginning. This is exactly why we're going to Altdorf, and we have to move now. There's a WAAAGH!!! coming."

"A whah?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No, a WAAAGH!!!"

"What's a WAAAGH!!!?"

"Well, orks really like to fight. Just the noise, the action, and thrill of beating the heck out of everything, it's all fun and games to them. Once in a while, they all get together under one leader, a Warboss, and try to destroy the world for laughs. They'll come from the World's Edge Mountains, and look what's right over there."

He pointed to the huge mountain range in the distance.

"But whut do they get from destroy’n the world? Why would they want ‘ta do something that’ll hurt ‘em?" asked Applejack, trying to console Fluttershy.

"If you ever ask an ork about his motivation, he'll do one of two things; beat your skull in, or say 'Cuz orkz iz mayd fer fighti'n 'n winni'n!' and then beat your skull in."

"So nowhere's safe if they go after tha’ whole world?"

"I'm afraid not. The most we can do is find somewhere that can stand against the orks, which is why we're going to Mordheim, the only major Imperial city to be completely ruled by Chaos."

Rainbow Dash tilted her head curiously. "I thought we were trying to avoid Chaos."

"The hordes of Chaos are incredibly strong, and the whole population of Mordheim can take up arms to defend the city. Really, it's the closest, safest place. Do we still have the map?"

"Yeah." Rainbow said.

"Good. We'll have to head further inland and hoof it since most of everything's been stolen. On the way, I'll have to teach you all something."

"We've been over this a thousand times, they will not let your people go." Franz said "Do you not remember the last time you tried to open a portal to Equestria?"

"I know it didn't work—" Celestia started, fixing her horn into the spike on her helmet.

"A Bloodthirster almost came out before you could go in. The ruinous powers want you here, and I'm not going to risk unleashing warp and high water in the Empire so you can get slaughtered. Do you see that there?"

He pointed to a massive siege tower moving closer to the city walls.

"They will use that to take the eastern wall. Our troops must hold the wall long enough for the ground cannons to shoot out the base of the tower. After that, fight like mad."

The palace cannons began firing into the sea of ratmen surrounding the city. Nightmare Moon jumped.

"I'll never get used to the noise of the horrible things."

"Well you'd better, the Empire's full of them." He lowered the visor of his helmet and mounted his griffon. "Have you ever been in battle before?"

"The last time we'd been at war was hundreds of years ago."

"Then the Skaven will be a rude awakening. Try to learn to kill with conviction." He turned around to his knights. "Reiksguard, will you fight with me!?

Clad in gleaming, rippling silver, they returned, "You are our Emperor! We live to die at your side and in the name of Sigmar!" They shouted.

"Then do not keep me waiting! Fight hard and Sigmar fights with us!"

He struck his shield with his hammer, producing an deafening thunder and a jubilant roar echoed through the city at the sound. The griffon took off to the east wall and the knights rode down the palace steps, into the city streets.

Celestia and Nightmare Moon turned to their soldiers, clad in similar armor as the Knights of the Blazing Sun and Knights of Morr. A few seemed to be shivering with fear.

Celestia started, "My brave guards, there is not much that can be said as to our current circumstances but know this. Our lives have been changed forever. As long as we can remember we have all lived in a time of unbridled peace and harmony, but now we must fight for our very survival."

Nightmare Moon stepped forward. "Those things out there, they will not accept peace, they will not negotiate, they only want all of us gone. Most humans still do not see our worth, our power even as we fight alongside them on far off fields. Our people live in fear of this city even in their new homes. What better way to seal friendship with them than right here, defending their capital and fighting alongside their emperor?"

The guards felt nostalgia hearing that long lost word, friendship.

"Franz is almost to the battle, and we must aid him. Show the race of men what we are made of!"

They took off, pegasi guards following, unicorns and earth ponies trailing the Reiksguard.

Franz's intuition was spot on. Not many Skaven were here, duped by their incompetent leader. Amidst the cacophony of swords, cannon and muskets, the Emperor and Celestia held the line while they seemed to lose their third in the smoke. Deathclaw scooped up claw-fulls of ratmen, throwing them across the fields and his rider batted the heathens with his mighty hammer. In a single sting, a stormvermin lost its head.

Celestia tried to telekinetically slow the siege tower. It was engulfed with her golden magic, but kept its trundling pace. The rat ogres at the bottom pulled with superhuman strength. She took a chance, diving on the haulers and pulled up, just in time to spear one in the head with her horn spike and avoid blades. The headless body collapsed, tripping the other pullers and the tower stopped.

She threw the head away and surveyed the area for her sister. The black mare was nowhere to be seen.

The noise... oh the horrible thunder, the screaming, the death...

Luna relinquished her Nightmare Moon visage, shaking in terror as the roaring battle raged above. Each pound of the cannons made her flinch. After a thousand years of silence in the silent lunar atmosphere, the sudden cacophony of blackpowder arms was too much.

“Look at me, I’m in a gutter! I cannot be a coward... come on!” she prodded herself.

She held her ears down and made her way on hoof to the walls, keeping her head low so the dances of death couldn’t be seen. She raised it when she got to a gunnery post, the cannoneers still loading the rounds that would shatter the tower’s base. Luna looked through one of the ports; the tower was moving again with the skaven horde crowded around it, eager to climb and slay the defenders. She breathed deep and put on a hard exterior.

“We must hurry, soldiers! The vermin are almost upon us!”

She aided one of the gun crews in shoving in the powder charge, wad, shot, and prime the gun. Inspired by her presence, the room quickly picked up and soon, the guns were ready.

“Train on the base of the tower!” she commanded. A dozen cannons turned to the wood and iron monolith. Luna knew her heart would leap in fear at the report. “FIRE!”

She heard the beginning of the discharge of the guns, but the sheer volume immediately made her ears ring to the point where she only heard the high-pitched note. The guns lurched back from the massive recoil. Smoke clouded the battery to the point where no one could see a foot ahead of them.

Luna’s expectation held true, her breath was sharply shortened at the boom of the artillery and she swore she was on the verge of a heart attack. Luna’s hearing slowly returned and she heard the Skaven screaming on the other side of the battlements. She looked again through the gun port, through the smoke and ash, to see the tower listing heavily toward the gun battery. Its whole right side wheels were blown off and the exposed inside was full of shattered corpses and flowing blood. the ratmen fled like insects from the tower as its structure moaned, buckled, and collapsed with a thunderous crash.

The gunners burst into cheers and readied for another salvo to plow through the remaining Skaven. Luna felt she had done her part, and left the battery hastily, not pausing to acknowledge the thank you’s of the crews. She felt sick and mentally berated herself for almost abandoning aiding the defense.

“Luna!” her sister called from above. Celestia landed before her with a look of relief that she was alright.

Luna couldn’t tell her she’d fled, even if she mustered herself to come later. She’d work to expunge these fears. “We think our time on the moon has made us a trifle lacking, sister.”

“We’re lucky this wasn’t a larger attack. Did you help the cannoneers?”

“Absolutely.” Luna saw the chance to make herself more pronounced in the effort. “The artillery was loaded more quickly and, as you can see, the Skaven are in utter rout.”

What her sister said still gnawed at Luna’s mind. A bigger attack. But there were already thousands. How many more could there have been; tens, hundreds of thousands?

There was a loud whistling, almost musical, like that of a train, and a large explosion on the other sides of the wall. Luna jolted again in fright. Luckily Celestia was already looking to the noise’s origin and hadn’t seen her fear.

“I think the Divine Right is helping clean up the rest.” Celestia said.

“The steam tank? Yes, probably. I... I will help tend to the wounded further in the city. Good fortune to you for your tasks.” Luna took off, not giving Celestia time to respond. She wanted to get away from the hellish thunder more than anything at that moment.

“Good luck.” Celestia said. She knew Luna couldn't’ hear her as she speedily flew, but it was something to give in response. A congratulations seemed in order for the main battery crew men.