The screen broke into a flurry of static yet again, the transmission between Captain Errithius and Brother Nitheleon strained by their considerable distance between one another. Thousands of miles away the strike force deployed to sabotage the Federation power generators had returned to the space marine temporary command bunker, with severely mixed news. On one hand, the mission was a complete success, and evidently so. The generators were crippled and would take months to fully repair, Federation forces were shaken and their commanders panicked by the blow, pulling the majority of their ground forces back to locations of prime importance; Military outposts, storage depots, airfields and the like. Now was the time to commit to the offensive, to deal the stranglehold against the alien usurpers and tear away at their heart. However such accomplishments were of a tactical and statistical nature, and did little to comfort the captain from the grave news that ate at his heart. Chaplain Tyreth had been severely wounded in the offensive, suffering substantial damaged to his spinal column and several internal organs, seeing him immediately installed within a medical sacophagus and under constant supervision by the sanguinary priest.

"If Unycrios was here it would be our safest option to install Chaplain Tyreth into-" Nitheleon begun.

"You keep Tyreth alive and stable for as long as possible, we can revive him and restore him with the facilities within the Remergence." Errithius interrupted, his voice tense and dry of emotion.

"If he can return in time, I doubt we have more than a couple of days before the chaplains body fails him, Captain." Nitheleon stressed.

"Brother Tyreth is strong, his faith shall hold him for as long as we need him to. Stabilize him, Nitheleon, he can make it...he must."

"Aye, Captain."

The captain slammed him armoured finger down upon the rune key next to the digital display screen, his crippling anger at such dire news reflecting in his actions far more than he should have allowed. He flexed his hand open and closed a couple of times, recomposing himself if but a little before waving away the tech-servitor that bore the console he had just used, it's machinery extending out from the lobotomized once-man's thorax, extending into retractable arms that were bolted to the sides of the console screen, wired dripping from the servitors mouth and nose into rear mounted plugs and lens units fused to the creatures skull. Upon it's dual tank-treads it had instead of legs it spun around shakily and with a robotic senselessness went off to re-couple with the comms-dish array it had been birthed from. Near the array that had been deployed from Remergence alongside a drop pod filled with ammunition and basic field supplies and a single plasma generator to keep all systems well fed with energy. Nearby all this was the captains command squad, a single combat squad, five close combat terminator veterans and the available scout squad. Set apart from his comparatively gigantic kin stood dozens of native military guard, wearing white and blue battle dress adorned with golden armour plate that appeared to have seen better days than this. They clutched at their lengthy rifles and bulky support weapons, and although such tools of battle were vastly outmatched by the performance of the technologically superior Federation weapons, Errithius couldn't help but appreciate the nostalgic design to the firearms along with the humble gold decorations that gave the weapons a oddly imperial look.

Errithius found his pondering had actually reconciled his thoughts mildly, finding himself taking a deep breath before focusing on the mission at hand once more. The scouts would lead the offensive, setting detonation charges throughout federation supply clusters and within unused vehicles as well as setting a series of explosive traps through the streets of the town the gathering overlooked. The town was small, but had wide roads and many small building meaning mobility would be maximized, yet location stability compromisable. Thus had the scouts, marines and local guard been briefed to keep as mobile as possible. The marines would remain active as individual units for as long as they could manage, the scouts working themselves into the local buildings as best as they could while the guard provided covering support for the marines. Errithius had sent pegasi guard as forward scouts to deliver recon, but more importantly, warn Ponyville's population of the inevitable conflict inbound. Unfortunately, a sizable portion of the local population was already dedicated to some insurgency organisation, and had reported to have prepared arms in readiness of the battle to come. Errithius' mind was strangely silent on how he felt about local shopkeepers and tradesmen taking up arms against trained alien soldiers, for as much as the sentiment stirred a sense of admiration for the natives he couldn't help but know how this day might end for many of them.

"Squads Frivitor and Dathes, initiate your offences, hold ground and predetermined positions," The captain ordered over his vox link, "Guard, you move in when those charges are detonated. You know what opportunities to take when they present themselves."

The Royal Guard nodded, many evidently shaking with nerves, all at least a little wide-eyed with fear, but every last one of them grasping rifles like desperate men. It was desperate men like this, as Errithius knew, that won wars.

"You all have homes and families to reclaim when your duty is done, be sure you are alive to take back what is yours. Let my brothers lead the offensive, grant aid when you can." Errithius said before turning again to his command console.

He flicked activation switches and punched at keys as the small platoon of Royal Guard went on to their destination. He communed with the other squads spread far and wide throughout Equestria, ensuring they had their orders relayed to them with crystal clarity. Each confirmed what had been commanded and one by one set off to their own individual mission. Every last battle brother was deployed, all that Errithius had was about to do battle with a forces thousands of times larger than their own, all that remained was what brethren he had at his own personal command. Five assault terminators, each armed with a thunder hammer from ages past and storm shield handed down from their progenitor chapter. His own personal command squad, minus Tyreth and Nitheleon, stood at the ready also, in them he had trusted his council and life more than a hundred times and had never yet been disappointed or let down, the entire team a well balanced machine of the right skills, qualities and temperaments that made operations as swift and resolute as they could be.

We are all going to die this day The captains' thoughts wavered.

He would have shaken such thoughts clean from his mind on any other occasion. But this wasn't any other occasion, this was the truth plain to see. The marines winning card was orbiting the planets local moon, or had perhaps traveled even further out into the local system. His forces were stretched thin, and although casualties and injuries had been extremely minimal, such was the result from but a single insurgency operation. What would happen from here on out? Would fate favour his schemes? Or would the frigate never return, overwhelmed or outmaneuvered only to be scattered through space, leaving the astartes to their fate. The months would grind on, ammunition would run dry, and the rest was a simple matter of mathematics. A space marine could match almost a hundred times any other soldier from almost any other army in the galaxy, including the federation, but over ten thousand to one?

No! Errithius finalised, We prevail through this. We must. Even if we've awoken to a galaxy without aid coming from beyond, we fight on no matter. I trust my brothers. I trust myself

"Captain, the stormraven is ready." Theocre rumbled from within his terminator armour.

"I know brother." Errithius said plainly, almost sad at gazing upon the road that lay before him.

His group marched off to the aircraft that awaited them just as the last of his brothers and the native guard began their own journey, off to save the world or die trying their best. The aircraft was not designed to accommodate the bulky expanse of terminators, but no other option presented itself to Errithius beyond a day-long hike across mostly open terrain. The ships interior was cramped, and surely the pilot would encounter some uncomfortable feedback while flying, but all was necessary for the success of this mission. All present locked in their flight harnesses and mag-locked their boots to the ground, the crafts engines whining to a roar as the pilot brought the gunship off the ground. The ascent started off shakey, but thankfully smoothed out, everyone within the craft utterly silent and remaining so for the entire journey to the federations' main facility.

All save for one.

"Are you scared, Captain?" Asked Princess Cadence, her soft voice barely audible over the cacophonous roar of the engines.

Errithius did not reply, none of his brothers did. The journey was quiet.

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Oh by the moon, that'd better not be for me Nightmare thought as the slender federal scientist adjusted a glassy, tubular instrument in his or her hands. From the tip of the tube extended and then retracted a series of tiny, almost microscopic needles, rising and falling next to each other like a wave. The device was set down, re-plugged into some equipment console, Nightmare letting herself sigh a little in relief.

"Doctor Unal'Gov is late. Again. Would someone put out a fucking call for that schizophrenic already?!" One of the scientists blurted out, stomping over to another computer terminal, tapping holograms furiously.

"Probably hold up in laboratory K-CC12. He's always there lately. I heard him and some others were working on something big to do with Equestrian magic." Another, but this time female, replied while decontaminating another form of surgical instrument.

"You idiot! There's no such thing as magic, or fairies or goblins! Another letter of illegal vocabulary and I'm reporting you to the reconditioning department!" The first spat back aggressively, the other letting out a contemptuous huff.

"I heard similar, I mean not about magic, but about the Z-density project." The third and final scientist added.

"It's all crap, the Z-density project was suspended after the thirty sixth complaint about Unal'Gov was filed. No wonder too, his behaviour has only gotten worse with time." The first huffed as he moved again to a seperate console, this time clicking some form of slab into place into a port on the computers' side.

"Well, that's the thing. We all know about Unal'Gov, everyone's seen him talking to himself and shouting at other operatives, but I heard a security worker muttering something about another scientist who was signed off as unfit to work just yesterday."

"What do you mean?"The female questioned.

"I heard that that guy from the energy conservation department was called down to K-CC12 to look at some 'specialist equipment', to try and help it run better."

"Yeah, so?! So what?!" The first growled.

"So, he never signed back in from his shift in K-CC12. And that's where the security guard comes in, I heard him say something about some guy who had his whole face cut off."

"That's so retarded!" The first scientist laughed as he typed on his console.

"You don't think...that maybe-?" The female started.

"Unal'Gov did it? I don't think so. Could have sworn I heard the guy say something about 'self inflicted'." The third scientist said, his words now strained with a sliver of fear.

"So let me get this straight, some idiot, glorified energy plumber gets called down to a lab decommissioned for two days. He goes in, tinkers around without supervision and probably hits a switch to a live terminal by accident. He has his face poking into a particle field exchanger and the thing rips his face off. And you wanna make a fucking ghost story out of this?"

"I mean...maybe that is how it went." The third said in a hushed tone.

"This is a place of science and reason, not some fucking simulator game development studio focused on cooking up the next fairy tale to enthrall the idiot masses. Now shut up and put a call out to that mumbling maniac!"

N-Nightmare? Luna started, her voice in Nightmare's head shakey and obviously afraid.

I heard, it's fine. I hate to say it, but that pompous busy-body is probably right. Just inconvenient circumstance. The dark mare replied, still squirming and tensing against her restraints.

Like the situation we're in right now? Luna said, her tone a little more even now.

Yeah, okay, I get it. Look, I can get us out, but I need Celestia to stop being so damned wrapped up in her emotions and do something useful, like provide a distraction! Nightmare thought with a heated tone, her glowing blue eyes burning into the helpless, defeated image of Celestia next to her.

A chirping, bleeping sound rang through the room, and presumably the rest of the facility as some form of warning light system activated within the room Nightmare was held in as well as the corridor outside, a harsh red light flickering on and off frantically all around her.

"What in all reality is that?!" The female scientist blurted in fear.

"Attention! The facility security level has been raised to...Scarlet! All occupants must evacuate immedia- Attention! The facility security level has been lowered to...Amber! Localized override verification cleared! Please remain at your stations and continue your work!" The automated announcer droned, her initial alert seemingly having been disturbed by something.

"Dropped to amber?! You've got to be fucking kidding!" The first scientist barked at no one in particular.

"Who could have authorized the override?!" The female said shrilly.

"If I had to guess..."

Before the scientist could finish, a column of soldiers thundered down the hallway next to them, headed towards the facility exterior. Nightmare peered at them as they jogged past, her vision interrupted by the reflective, glossy mask of the lead scientist in the room bending over to come face-to-face with her.

"You better be worth all this trouble you abomination!" He hissed at her through the mirror of his mask, Nightmare only seeing her scornful expression return back to her before her darted away again to continue his work as had been ordered.

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Bolters thundered as the stormraven pulled away from the ground after having deployed her passengers, carrying away with her Princess Cadence to a safer location. Errithius was wasting no time, he needed a keycard now, not after this exchange was over, not as the reached the facilities doors, now. He sprinted forward, his bolter barking death into the chests and faces of a federation trooper at every second. Behind him strode the assault terminators, shields raised, soaking punishing degrees of enemy fire and turret emplacements rained crimson hell into the marines. Between the space of each shield marched one of his command team, their own weapon chattering and zipping deadly bolts of fire into the enemy before them.

"Captain!" Brother Riveth called out over the local vox channel as he fired his weapon.

"I'm fine, brother! Keep moving!" Errithius barked back, rolling to one side to avoid an incoming missile only to take to a sprint not a second later.

The captain raised his bolter, putting a trio of bolts into the center of the turret that had just targeted him, the machine spitting sparks for a moment before falling limp from its harness. Errithius blasted away another two aliens as he ran, finally squaring up with the giant main doors of the expansive facility, the smooth dark metal gate easily wide and taller enough to let a pair of knights march straight through without any worry at all. Yet they were not his prize, not quite yet, his prize stood between himself and the colossal entryway. A federation officer, his lengthy, blue and yellow coat flapping in the wind as he sprinted as fast as he could away from the charging space marine, had commanded what had looked like over a hundred soldiers which had stood between the marines and the facility. Now he commanded little more than two dozen who had survived the initial offensive, all making a hasty retreat in the face of such fury, clumsily tripping over piles of corpses, ruined weapon emplacements and churned up soil as they sprinted back to the facility walls. The officer had discarded his weapon not two seconds after having taken to sprinting back to the safety of the building behind him, his arms flailing as he ran in a desperate, lopping fashion.

He wasn't nearly fast enough, even on a one-man speeder he might not have made it, but on foot? The captain reached out with his powered glove, the large mechanical construct snatching the comparatively tiny alien from the ground, the officer squealing in fear as his feet thrashed above the ground. Errithius did not stop. The ground beneath him split and churned as he ran at full speed, the marines behind him forsaking their formation in favour of closing the distance between them and their commander. The captain was almost there, almost to the digital console located besides the massive doorway and slung his bolter. His free hand now grabbed at the officer in his vice of a gauntlet, bringing up his belt to see clearly. Attached to the belt swayed and flapped a small, translucent orange card made of some kind of polymer bordered by a metallic frame that seemed to emit a fiery glow across the glassy surface of the device.

A keycard.

Errithius collected his bolter from his hip again, aiming his full tilt sprint right at the oncoming console. A sudden sting of pain. a searing sensation bit into the back of his right knee as a round from an alien weapon caught his armour at a weak point. A small fountain of blood shot from the wound before it was closed, the armour sealing itself up as his body began to heal. The injury through him out of step for a second, but he quickly recovered, his expression tense with anger as he ran, now only second away from the door ahead.

"No! No-no-no! Stop! NO!" The officer screamed as the marine outstretched his power fist, holding the alien out ahead of him as he sped forwards.

With a sickening, cracking, popping sound, the officer was crushed against the doors' external console, Errithius' power fist sending him pounding into the solid metal ahead with the force of a macro-train. There was a whistling bleep as the console read the nearby keycard, the doors resounding with a series of clunks and rattles seconds before they began to grind open slowly. Corpse still in hand, Errithius darted to the left, speeding towards the widening entrance as his brethren gained on his position. Ahead, a squad of aliens filled the breach, blocky rifles readied as they peppered the commander with crimson fire. Slinging his bolter again, Errithius decoupled, primed and tossed a frag grenade from his belt in a single, swift motion, the cylindrical explosive landing in the midst of the aliens, a couple managing only to look down to their feet at the device before it violently detonated with a bass-tone thunderclap. Those closest to the grenade disintegrated almost instantly into clouds of red mist and slivers of organic tissue, those further away made a sad series of blurting and choking sounds as they were sent flying through the air, the shockwave of the grenade pulverizing their insides to liquid. Without missing a beat Errithius thundered forth, stamping through the gory slop of the aliens that hand stood before him to slide sideways through the gates' opening, looking out towards his approaching brothers.

"Come on, faster!" The captain roared as he drew his bolter once more, blasting bolt after bolt to either side of the approaching squads to gun down would-be interlopers.

A couple of seconds later the marines reached the large blast doors, the command squad slipping in first, followed shortly by the bulky terminators. Once the last was through he quickly slammed the officers corpse into the internal security console, the machine bleeping once again as the doors came to a halt and started closing again. Alien fire rattled and sparked off the edges of the doors, some round zipping inside the colossal chamber within to snap off of a nearby wall. Eventual the doors shut closed with a dull thunderous resonance, leaving the marines alone in a very large and very dark room within the facility.

"Captain," Riveth begun again with an exasperated tone.

"I know, I know brother. But we have no time." The captain grunted back as he checked his leg wound.

"We'll have even less time if we're dead." Varadoch chimed in with a low tone.

"Do you trust me, brothers?" Errithius asked as he turned to the two veteran marines, his tone strained.

"Of course, Captain. But this place," Varadoch said, turning towards the darkness that stretched before them all, "But this place I don't trust one bit."

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"Attention! The facility securi-Attention! The facility security has been lowered to...Amber!" The automated voice droned for the fifth consecutive time in a row over a fifteen minute period.

"That's does it, I'm out of here!" The third scientist barked as he headed for the door.

"No, you idiot! You could be shot on sight if a Benefactor sees you abandon your station! You'll be labelled a traitor at best!" The first blurted aggressively.

"What is it? D-Do we even know what's happening?!" The female stuttered and cried as she backed into a corner of the room frantically.

The emergency lights continued blinking, the announcements kept on droning, and all the while Nightmare was a millimeter closer to escape as her powerful arms ceaselessly straight at the restraint around her arms, while her bulky thighs pushed her forwards and down, her neck throbbing with strength as the choker around her throat creaked and groaned as she pushed onward to breaking free from it, veins pulsing visibly through her fur as her efforts were pushed to the limit.

I-...I think I heard something behind us break! Luna said with a shard of hope in her still fright-filled voice.

Trying...to...concertrate Nightmare growled back through her own head, thought busy with the feeling of pressure and the pain of constriction.

"Hello...Hello everyone, this is an official announcement. This is Doctor Unal'Gov and I have something very important to tell all of you...They...They say I have to tell you all something very, very important." The fatigued, shakey voice of the alien scientist came the the facilities announcement channel, his tone almost delicate enough for him to actually be whispering.

"I've done...I've done something horri...Something horrible. I just...I just wish I could get the voices out of my h-head! The sounds...so many voices. And they need your voices too...they want all of us...they want...everything. So I had to let them in...I just want the voices to stop...I just want them to...leave me alone!" The doctor grew more desperate with every word, his voice cracking up as he ended in what sounded like floods of tears.

Nightmare had no time for this craziness, she was done with these damned aliens on her damned planet. Anger flooded her veins, frustration and rage pumped through her muscles, and a sickening sound of twisted and tortured metal sung through the lab as Nightmare wrenched free from her containment with a roar of triumph and anger, fists clenched and wings flared. The scientists backed away like skittering insects, the eight and a half foot tall alicorn making them look like children before her.

"F-Fuck this! I'm outta here!" The second scientist yelled before scurrying out the door into the main hallway, Nightmare raising an eyebrow and huffing in amusement as the tiny creature ran for its life.

A moment later she dashed forwards to snatch up the lead scientist in one clawed hand with all the effort a pony would lift up the morning newspaper. The alien hung there a moment squirming before throwing a single, untrained punch into the alicorns' cheek. It must have felt like punching a concrete wall as nightmare's face didn't budge an inch and just stared at the alien in her hand with half-lidded amusement before speaking.

"Now, you're going to release my sister and show us the way out of here." Nightmare demanded with an elegant tone wrapped in complete calm.

"F-fu-gh...yuh...mutahn...freck!" The scientist choked, Nightmare rolling her eyes before crushing the alien's neck in her large hand like a straw, the female screeching in panic as her colleagues body was dropped, hitting the floor like a sack of vegetables.

Nightmare took a couple steps forward towards the panicking alien woman, bending down to bring her snout just a few inches away from the aliens' trembling mask, snorting hot air at it in frustration.

"I really hate repeating my-"

Darkness.

Nothing.

Red.

The entire facility that Nightmare could see around her went as dark as could be dark before the red emergency lights hummed to life. Nothing else was online, no consoles, no lights, no announcer, just the soft red glow coming from above.

"What?" Nightmare murmured to herself before she suddenly heard a deep, frantic inhaling sound coming from the scientist before her.

The aliens' scream was like nothing, like it shouldn't even exist, nothing should ever have any reason to scream that loud. Nightmare recoiled, hands over ears as the creature before her twisted and shook in apparent agony. Then Nightmare saw it...she felt it...something was wrong.

Something had go so, so wrong.

A shockwave washed over her, over everything. It felt horrible, like hot oil being poured over her, like even single hair of her body was being tugged at. Her limbs ached, her eyes clenched and throat grunted as what could only be described as a complete magical violation took place all around Nightmare. But this wasn't magic, this wasn't even dark magic. The air around her was protesting, squealing in torture just as Nightmare cried out fro a reason she couldn't actually wrap her head around as she clutched at her own skull. The magic in the air steadied after what felt like days of being assaulted from every angle by every sense she had. The air stank...yet it didn't...but the stench was there, like burning flesh and bad water, but she couldn't smell it through her nostrils, more like she could feel it worm its' way into the very sense in her brain. She opened her eyes to see the same sight as earlier, the alien scientist still screaming, her voice now ragged, her throat undoubtedly shredded and bleeding. Nightmare let go of her head and took a second to collect herself as best as she could, until something happened that drew her into a deep shock.

The glossy, metallic mask of the aliens' decontamination suit had previously been a single, smooth area, but now was twisting and warping before her very eyes. It took on strange bubbly, uneven shapes like it was alive, stretching, warping and convulsing. Then it occurred to her, the answer revealed itself as an visceral, insulting display as two, four, then five holes appeared in the glossy surface of the mask, the substance wasn't alive, it was melting. The macabre image of the females' skull broke through the metallic liquid of the mask she wore, the plastic-like material hissing and smoking as it stretched and burnt into her features, flesh sloughing away as the mask boiled her alive. Her single long scream turned to a series of short, snapping, choking screams as her hands flew up, tearing away the molten mask and the remains of her face indiscriminately. Her screaming stopped in places, choked out by a snorting, gurgling sound before liquid viscera ejected itself from her skeletal, lipless mouth. Her half molten eyes swelled unevenly in their sockets, growing to the size of tennis balls before popping with an almost comedicaly loud sound. Her body weakened before finally toppling backwards, gore fountaining out the front of her mostly melted mask as she twitched on the floor, mangled insides still squirting from the holes in her skull.

Nightmare was frozen.

The world had fallen away.

This was beyond chaos, beyond madness. Nothing like this should exist, it just couldn't.

She didn't even have the capacity to turn or flinch as a hand snatched at her bicep, tugging her off to one side.

"We have to go, now!" Celestia spat, just as mortified as Nightmare but having just enough of her mind left to herself to take action.

Nightmare was beginning to collect herself, starting to remember what was happening, where she was, who she was. Celestia didn't nearly have the strength to actually budge Nightmare, but she allowed herself to be pulled away from the terrible sight before her. She caught a glimpse at Celestia restraining cage before they both ran out the laboratory doors. The construct wasn't damaged in any way, no broken cables or twisted metal, meaning the shockwave the had disabled the facilities power must have disabled Celestias' cage as well.

They were running now, but Nightmare didn't feel like she was running, like how one runs in the middle of a nightmare, as if she ran atop the slickest ice that made each stride slide her forward an inch at a time. She could now hear noises, a chorus of voices that screamed and screamed like a cacophony of raw agony and violence. Gunshots could be heard, frantic and finding little purchase, the screaming and snapping of magna rounds coming from everywhere, down every corridor. And over it wall something was speaking, another voice. No, an army of voices. They sung together, some clumsily out of time, all of them rasping and coughing like they came from a collection of woken corpses. She shouldn't have been hearing this, this was wrong, the voices were whispering and screaming at the same time, and she surely couldn't be hearing anything over the ever growing bombardment of screams that came from all around.

But she could hear it.

She could hear all of them singing together, over and over.