It had been a long two days for Cadence and Shining Armour.

Twilight’s letter had been anything but what the Prince and Princess of the Crystal Empire had expected. Monsters from another world burning Ponyville to the ground, creatures so powerful that only the intervention of more aliens ended the slaughter. It was beyond anything Cadence had ever experienced. Her sister-in-law’s story sounded like one of the old epic poems she had found in the dustier sections of the Crystal Library. From almost anypony else, Cadence would have dismissed it as madness. From Twilight…

Cadence could only wish their trains were faster.

In many ways, the worst part was not just the waiting, but the not-knowing. Twilight’s letter had been detailed but rambling, as though she had been distracted and anxious while dictating it. Many parts made no sense to Cadence’s eyes: strange flying minotaurs that had no wings and weighed as much as a small house, alien boxes that spat fire, and all that senseless death… Why? Why would anypony do anything like that?

Then there were the gaps. Where did all these aliens come from? How did they get to Ponyville? Who was this ‘Renato’ Twilight kept talking about?

These questions and more had swirled in Cadence’s mind every waking hour of the train ride. Irritatingly, she had not slept much.

“Princess Cadence?”

Cadence snapped out of her brooding at the sound of Flash Sentry’s voice.

“Yes?” she stammered as she returned to the material world. “What is it?”

“We’re here, Your Majesty,” Flash said.

“Thank you,” Cadence replied as she stumbled to her hooves. She resolved to not let herself fall so deep into brooding again; if she could miss a train stopping, then she might also fail to notice more important details.

Flash simply nodded and walked out of the car. Cadence reached out with her magic and grabbed her bag. She trotted out behind her guard. Without even thinking, her love magic guided her gaze to Shining Armor’s stoic form, his armour gleaming in the light from the windows as he talked to Sir Light Brigade about the state of the Crystal Empire’s skirmishers.

Cadence smiled at the sight of her husband. Considering they had been on a train for two straight days, she had seen precious little of him. Every free hour he had spent with their generals, organizing and mustering the Crystal Army.

Before Cadence had taken three steps into the car, Shining Armor had excused himself from the conversation and was trotting over. He returned his wife’s smile as they nuzzled in greeting.

“Well, we’re here,” he said. “Come on, let’s find out what this is all about.”

“Yes,” Cadence replied. She shivered. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Don’t worry, Cady,” Shining said with a confident smirk. “Everything’s going to be fine. And hey, you’ve been looking for an excuse to visit Twily again, right?”

“Yeah,” Cadence mumbled. She did her best to pretend she believed his façade; it would do the stallion no good to reveal her love magic could detect the simmering fear in his heart like a chef could detect fouled ingredients.

“We’re here!”

Shining and Cadence turned to see Sunburst trot carefully into the car, Flurry Heart nestled securely on his back. Shining laughed.

“I was wondering when you’d show up,” he said as he walked over. He nuzzled Flurry Heart, who cooed in response to the affection. “Was almost worried you’d gotten distracted playing or something.”

“Oh no, it’s just, I’d just gotten Flurry Heart all calmed down and I didn’t want to get her all riled up again, so…”

The conductor shouted for the passengers to disembark, cutting off Sunburst’s explanation. Preceded by some of their guards, Cadence and Shining set hoof in Canterlot for the first time in months. The last time they had come was for a day of celebration.

Cadence distinctly missed that day.

The walk to the castle was somewhat atypical, considering those involved. The guards were silent and stoic as ever. The Royal Family of the Crystal Empire, however, were usually much louder than they were this day. Absent was Cadence and Shining Armor’s usual flirtatious, teasing, joking conversation. Gone was the near-tradition of Shining and Sunburst discussing magical theory and half-jokingly debating whether practical or academic magical study was superior. Even Flurry Heart was strangely quiet on that walk, as though she somehow sensed the weight of the council to come.

The silence was almost maddening, and worst of all for Cadence, it was an open invitation to more brooding.

Thankfully, a chance encounter staved off such dark thoughts.

Roughly halfway to the castle, Cadence and her family encountered the strangest creatures she had ever seen. They varied in height, ranging from some roughly as tall as Cadence herself to one who almost seemed taller than Luna herself. They stood on their hind legs, and had strange forelegs that, especially when combined with their general body structure, distinctly reminded Cadence of minotaurs.

For a moment, the creatures seemed vaguely familiar. It was Shining Armor who first solved that particular puzzle.

“These must be the creatures Twilight mentioned in her letter,” he surmised. “The ‘Space Mariners,’ I think.”

Cadence let out a relieved sigh. She chuckled. “I guess she was just exaggerating. Thank Celestia, I was so worried.”

The letter had given the impression that the ‘Space Marines’ had been giants, twice the size of a normal pony, with stony red skin and unmoving faces. Twilight’s words had painted a picture of terrifying aliens, beings of monstrous power who could punch through steel and spread fear with their very presence.

These creatures were, to be generous, a far cry from such an image.

They were tall, and the one who could stand eye-to-eye with Luna was unnerving to consider, but they were far from giants. Their skin seemed hairless, but there was nothing stony about it. In fact, it seemed their skin was not terribly tough at all, as they were wearing what looked like some sort of hoofball uniform that only left their foreleg hooves, hands, if Cadence remembered correctly, and their heads exposed. Nor did they seem particularly strong or scary. Their faces were far from unmoving, and were actually surprisingly expressive. That, if anything, was the most unnerving thing about them; Cadence could read their expressions as easily as a pony.

“Hello!” Cadence called out, waving a hoof and smiling. Might as well be nice to the newcomers.

The response she got was the last thing she had expected. There were no words of greeting, not even a mumbled excuse half-explaining why they couldn’t talk. Instead, the gaggle of ‘Space Marines’ turned their heads and sneered at the ponies. At the same time, Cadence felt a sudden wave of utter disgust wash over her. It was the strangest she had ever felt; it was not a furious hate, nor was it a simmering loathing. Those emotions Cadence understood; she did not like them, but she did understand why ponies felt them. Sometimes ponies held grudges against those who wronged them, and other times they allowed jealousy to overcome sense. This hatred, however…

It was like they were glaring at a rat that had just ruined their birthday cake.

The ‘Space Marines’ grumbled to each other in a language Cadence couldn’t quite understand and wandered off.

“What was that about?” Shining Armor asked, half-confused and half on guard.

“I don’t understand…” Cadence said, staring blankly where the ‘Space Marines’ had just been.

“Maybe they were busy?” Sunburst suggested.

Cadence shook her head. “No, that can’t be it. You don’t hate somepony because they interrupted you. And they hated us, hated us like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

“Hated us? Why?” Shining asked. “What did we ever do to them? And how could anypony hate you, except Chr-”

Shining cut himself short of saying her name. Even so many months later, Cadence still had nightmares, still couldn’t bear to hear that name.

“I, I just don’t know…” was all Cadence could muster.

The rest of the walk was even quieter than before.

Eventually they reached the gates of Celestia’s castle and were quickly ushered in by the Solar Guard. Clacks echoed through the marble halls as they walked to the old council room. It was as uneasy a walk as the approach to the castle had been; the Canterlot guards were silent and fidgety, their eyes darting back and forth as though watching for something. Shining Armor and Flash Sentry shared a silent look, communicating in the manner of old comrades. Though Cadence could not understand a whit of what either meant, she could feel the emotions rolling off them. They did not comfort her.

She turned to Sunburst, who was far more obvious with his discomfort. She smiled reassuringly at him.

“Why don’t you take Flurry Heart up to our room? I’m sure she’s tired out from all this travelling,” Cadence said.

Sunburst almost jumped at the breaking of the silence. “Oh! Yes, that’s... a good idea, Princess, thank you.”

Cadence and Shining nuzzled Flurry Heart and kissed her good-bye. Sunburst then took his leave, quickly garnering an escort of Solar Guards.

It was a fortuitous time for his departure, for but a moment later, when Shining and Cadence were but half a hallway from the council room, the silence was broken again.

“Two days!” a deep voice boomed from the council room. “Chaos hangs above us and you make us wait two days to start the council!”

Cadence looked nervously at her husband. “Who’s that? I’ve never heard anypony with a voice like that!”

Shining Armour was silent for a moment, his senses on full alert. He was at that moment in what Cadence called ‘soldier mode,’ his every sense, both mundane and magical, reaching out and searching for any sign of danger. The look in his eye did more to shove a spear of ice into Cadence’s heart than any words ever could.

Whatever was going through the stallion’s mind, he was terrified.

He slipped forward a few steps, definitively taking the lead. With the shrug of a shoulder, he gestured Flash and two guards forward with him, while the rest of the escort fell into a perfect circle around Cadence.

“I don’t know,” Shining finally said, soldier’s instincts overriding any emotion that might have slipped into his words. “But whatever it is, I won’t let it hurt you.”

Cadence allowed the words to comfort her. The more academic, logical part of her quite vividly recalled how during every major crisis Equestria had faced, Shining Armour had been rapidly incapacitated. However, the more emotional part of her warmed at the sentiment. Given her role as the Princess of Love, the latter quite easily won out.

With guards and Shining on full alert, they entered the room. The sight they beheld made Cadence’s jaw fall slack.

She knew at once that those she had thought ‘Space Marines’ earlier were nothing of the sort. Whatever those creatures were, they were nothing in the face of these monsters.

There were five of them, giants that could stare Celestia in the eyes. Two seemed to be made of gold, with massive white wings extending from their backs. Another was the colour of blood, broader than most of the five, with a face eerily similar to a diamond dog. The fourth was as broad as the red one, though it was blue and it had a much smaller, fleshier face. The last was a nightmare to behold.

Cadence was frozen with fear. The creature had a bone-white face in the shape of a deformed skull. Its eyes glowed a deep, dark red. A strange, stylized mace hung from its belt. Yet worst of all was its skin, as black as polished coal, just like her.

The Princess of Love could not help but shrink away, those memories rising up. In that moment, Cadence was not in the council room; she was in those caves, lost and alone, with her standing there, laughing, mocking. She was just there and no pony was doing anything…

A firm hoof caressed her shoulder, dragging Cadence back to reality. She leaned into her husband and released her held breath.

“Thanks,” she mumbled.

Shining gave her a warm smile. “You’re safe, Cady, nothing’s going to hurt you here.”

Cadence ceased her trembling, but was far from comforted. Her husband’s touch had always been enough to end the recurring terror of her, but that was not all that frightened her this day. Cadence was the Princess of Love, attuned to the emotions of those around her. Most times she had to actively reach out to sense how a given pony was feeling. In the case of strong emotional states, she simply had to be close enough and the pony’s feelings would be made clear. This monster’s emotions were rolling off it in waves.

What stood before her was a perversion of everything Cadence stood for. It was as though Hatred had been made incarnate. Black waves of disgust emanated from the creature, hating everything, as though life itself, or at least most lives, offended it. Jagged hate lines, foul corruptions of the love lines Cadence was so used to seeing, connected it to every pony in the room, as though somehow this creature hated each of them personally. Strangely, two lines were unique: the line to Luna was the darkest, reminding Cadence of Sombra’s shadowy ghost; and the line to Celestia was a strange mixture of black hate and golden respect. The latter, however, was the strangest Cadence had ever seen; it was almost… forced, like some unknown force demanded that the creature bow before the Solar Alicorn.

Yet none of these facts truly disturbed the Princess of Love. She had faced the pathetic minions of hate before, gazed into the eyes of beings like Sombra, who had not an ounce of feeling save cold loathing for anypony else. She had seen ponies so consumed by anger and hate that they could feel nothing else. This creature’s hatred saddened Cadence, but it was not what scared her.

What scared her was the creature’s love.

Straight glowing lines of pink love linked the creature to its fellows in the room, and out into the city and beyond. They were among the brightest she had ever seen, surpassed only by those between herself, Shining Armour, and Flurry Heart, and of course those which connected Celestia to her subjects. Though one beam seemed almost to equal even those; it was a strange fusion of pink and gold which shot away to a distant place Cadence could not conceive of, to a being of such alien nature and immense power that the Princess of Love simply could not comprehend it.

Never before had Cadence seen anything like this. Only the unloved and the unnatural hate, she remembered; words of a wise pony from an older age. What, then, was this creature before her, which hated so strongly, and yet both loved and was loved? And what was that blaze of black and gold and crimson and blue on the edge of the great line?

Unable to stop herself, she followed the line to its end. Time slowed as her heart raced across unknown stars. Flashes of alien worlds flew by, glimpses of strange creatures and structures moving too quickly to understand. Then she found its end.

Cadence had not words to describe what she saw; unimaginable pain and sorrow, their cool blues pooling only to be shattered by lances of crimson fury and black hate, all against a swirling background of the tarnished gold of broken pride, the pulsating pink of paternal love, and the dull grey-blue of regret and resignation. And in the centre of it all, a single, crying eye.

As Cadence watched, the Eye turned, until its gaze fell on her. There was a creaking, as though jaws which had lain dormant for time beyond her reckoning were moving once again.

It has begun… They return to me… Those I have lost…

The force of the words threw Cadence back to Canterlot. She shook as her mind returned to the waking world. She found Shining Armor’s hoof on her face, and quickly realized he was wiping away tears.

“Hey, Cady, you okay?” he asked, his face lined with concern. “Come on, what’s going on? You haven’t cried about, er, that, in months…”

Cadence shook her head and smiled at Shining. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry. I’ll tell you later.”

Before Shining Armor could press further, Flash Sentry cleared his throat, quickly grabbing the attention of those in the room. “Presenting Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armour of the Crystal Empire.”

Cadence leaned off Shining Armor and husband and wife stood tall and proud side-by-side. The Princess of Love showed no outward sign of discomfort, but she kept a wary glance out of the corner of her eye on the blue creature. It seemed as though the thing was watching her, almost as if it were analyzing her.

“Welcome,” Celestia said, nodding to her niece and nephew-in-law. Though the Solar Alicorn masked her expression well, Cadence could perceive her micro-expressions as easily as she could feel her husband’s love. Celestia was deeply saddened, and very worried. Neither did anything to help Cadence’s tenuous emotional state. Celestia continued. “Now that we are all here, we can begin. Luna?”

The Princess of the Night stepped up, giving a regal nod to her elder sister. “As Princess-General of Equestria, We hereby declare this War Council in session. Codicier Renato, if you would…”

Shining Armor interrupted. “Wait, what’s going on? What are these creatures? And where’s Twily, er, Twilight?”

“Is she alright?” Cadence added, her eyes wide with worry.

“Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony left for Manehatten yesterday, to help General Fogey fortify the city,” Celestia answered. “They are safe.”

“You mean ‘Old’ Fogey?” Shining asked, aghast. “That stallion couldn’t command his way out of a paper bag! Why is he in charge of Manehatten?”

Celestia sighed. “General Fogey is one of our oldest and most experienced commanders…”

“He still uses a phalanx, Celestia,” Shining cut the Princess off. After a moment of consideration, Cadence decided she should he proud that Shining had finally become accustomed to his royal position. “A phalanx!”

“Ahem!” the blue creature said. Everypony in the room turned to look at it, him? Cadence wondered. “I don’t mean to sound like Aless, but we’re not here to bemoan the inadequacies of xenos commanders. Chaos hangs over this world, and we’ve no time for squabbling.”

“Well said,” said a thestral in the lavender armour of Luna’s personal guard. “Too many ponies have died already. I’ll see no more of it.”

“Did you not hear Renato? Chaos has come, xenos,” The black creature made a sound that Cadence was convinced was laughter. When it spoke again, it spat the first word. “Ponyville was but the prologue.”

“Are you doubting our skill?” the thestral snapped, her lips curled in a snarl.

This time it was Luna who cut the argument short. “Silent Knight, leave it be. Alessandro is not the enemy. Renato, if you would give the report?”

The blue one, Renato, nodded and stepped forward.

Cadence was unsure of what to make of this one. Rambling as Twilight's letter had been, her sister-in-law had been very clear that Renato seemed to be a likeable sort, and quite intelligent. Yet here that same Renato was, his love lines showing him to be nothing less than a brother to the hating paradox in, glistening chitin, black armour. And she could swear he had been watching her when she entered the room. The Princess of Love quietly snorted in frustration; nothing about these aliens was making any sense.

“We have no intelligence on the heretics’ numbers,” Renato said, tossing a pad of parchment onto the table. “Nor their current plans. We don’t know why they came here. What we do know is that they have total space superiority, yet have not carried out orbital bombardment, and the identity of their leader. We face the Dark Apostle Bal Harodon, an ancient Chaos Marine of substantial influence and evil.”

“I’m sorry, but we’re still completely lost,” Shining Armor said. “Again, who are they, and what’s going on?”

“Sir, allow me to explain,” a white-coated earth pony said as he stepped forward. Cadence recognized him immediately as Diamond Rough, Shining’s successor as Captain of the Solar Guard. “These are ‘Blood Angels,’ aliens from another world. They helped save Ponyville from being massacred by a second faction of aliens which seems to have some sort of connection to these ones. They are, respectively, the Codicier Renato, Chaplain Alessandro, Veteran Paolo, and the Guards Flavio and Durante.”

Diamond pointed to each ‘Blood Angel’ in turn.

“Ponyville was saved, but there are more of these ‘Chaos Marines’ hiding in the skies of our world, and so we are preparing to defend against them. Is that sufficient, sir?” Diamond finished.

Shining smiled at his old subordinate. “For now. Though I’ll want a full report after this. Twilight’s letter was… a bit muddled.”

“Are we done?” Alessandro asked, his arms crossed. “Good. Now, I would know what forces are available to us.”

Celestia nodded. “Fancy Pants? If you would.”

Major General Fancy Pants bowed his head in respect before facing the assembled council. “Mm, yes. The Equestrian Army is, to put is lightly, a shambles. We’ve only seven thousand soldiers on active duty, and a mere nine thousand reserves. Of the lot of them maybe a thousand are properly trained, and less than half that number have any real experience.”

Luna stepped forward next. “The combined Royal Guards number almost a thousand ponies, all with the best training and equipment Equestria has.”

Alessandro huffed and walked over to a nearby Solar Guardspony. He rapped his knuckles on the guard’s armour. “Yes, I can see that. By the head of Ferrus Manus, is this actually battle-armour? I assumed it was something ceremonial. This wouldn’t stop a las-beam, let alone a boltshell.”

“Not everyone is clad by Mars, Aless,” Paolo said as he lumbered forward a step. His voice seemed too deep to Cadence; though she could not explain how, she felt an artificial quality in his words. “Though I agree. Princess Luna, we will need to gather the best smiths in your realm. With Cosimo’s help, they should be able to make something better, but what you have now…”

“We do have some old suits, relics from darker times,” Celestia said. “We could bring them back into service, but they wouldn’t armour more than a few hundred at most. We’ll still need to produce new equipment from scratch.”

Shining Armor stepped forward. “Not necessarily. I’ve been building up the Crystal Army for some time now. We have weapons and armour that should at least put our forces on better footing.”

“Just how much time have you invested in this army of yours, Shining Armor?” Celestia asked, her eyes narrowed in what Cadence instantly recognized as her I’m getting very suspicious and do not approve of what I suspect look.

“That does not matter now, sister,” Luna said. She turned to face Shining, smiling. “What matters is how much can be provided for our forces.”

“I have roughly ten thousand ponies under my command,” Shining reported. His chest puffed out with pride. “Veterans from the War With Sombra, transferred elements from the Equestrian Army, and a growing body of volunteers from the Crystal Empire. I’m offering you the excess materiel from my army. Replacement suits, surplus equipment… that sort of stuff.”

One of the golden creatures, Durante, Cadence recalled, walked over to Shining. He flourished with his monstrously large hand while placing the more normal one on Shining’s back. Shining Armor bristled at the sudden contact, but his discipline kicked in before, preventing his more violent training from potentially creating an incident. Nonetheless, he snorted in protest.

“I like this one! Hey, Aless, if we annex this place, can we make him governor? He’d be better than that Paris fellow at Droi Trius,” Durante said. Paolo and Renato joined in Durante’s laughter.

“By the Emperor that man was incompetent,” Renato said, wiping a tear from his eye.

Paolo chuckled. “Couldn’t even bring in tax revenue, let alone his Tithe. Had to man his PDF with out of work actors and couldn’t even create a fake Imperial Guard Regiment to hide the lack of recruits.”

Cadence felt the sudden wave of emotion from Alessandro. It was an almost pure annoyance, tainted by shades of disgust. Yet it also carried a strange hint of wistfulness that Cadence couldn’t quite define. All of it served to only deepen her disturbed confusion about the alien.

“Now is not the time for jokes, brothers,” Alessandro said firmly. He turned to Celestia. “I offer ninety-three able-bodied militia, and twenty of my battle-brothers.”

Shining Armor’s jaw dropped. “One hundred and thirteen? You bring a war to my home, our home, and all you offer us is one hundred and thirteen soldiers?”

“No.” Alessandro stiffened, turned the full force of his glare on Shining. The latter stood firm. “I offer you Space Marines. We are the Emperor’s chosen, and we will not falter.”

Before the discussion could go any further, the doors slammed open to reveal another white-coated pony, with a well-combed golden mane.

“Sorry I’m late,” Prince Blueblood said as he trotted to take a seat at Celestia’s side. “I was… delayed.”

Shining Armor and Cadence simply glared at Celestia. The former voiced both their thoughts.

“Why is Blueblood here?”

Fancy Pants sighed and answered. “He is the duly appointed liaison between the Equestrian Parliament and the Army. They never thought the role would actually be needed. Terribly sorry.”

“Oh, come now, Fancy Pants,” Blueblood said as he double-checked his appearance in a mirror. “Stop being such a wet blanket. I’m a Prince of Equestria. I was born for this.”

Alessandro shifted his glare to the golden-maned stallion. Blueblood shrunk beneath that furious gaze. “Let not the dynast rule, for his issue shall falter in his absence.”

“Who are you quoting?” Cadence asked before her mind could stifle her tongue. She didn’t know how, but somehow, those words were familiar, like something she had heard in a distant dream.

“Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines, in the Codex Astartes,” Alessandro answered. “One of the passages which the High Lords prefer to ignore.”

Renato groaned. “Aless, none of them will understand a word of that. Can we get on with the council? Chaos could strike at any moment.”

“A wise suggestion,” Celestia said. She rose from her seat and approached the table. “Word has been sent to our allies of our predicament. The Gryphon Empire and Saddle Arabia should stand with us, if no pony else. Both nations are famed for the strength of their armies, far more than Equestria is. Tell me, Chaplain Alessandro, assuming our armies cannot defeat the invaders, do you believe they can at least buy enough time for reinforcements?”

A puff of green flame cut off any answer Alessandro may have had. Celestia’s horn glowed with power as she instinctively grabbed the parchment. She cracked the seal and unrolled it. She gasped.

“Celestia, what is it?” Cadence, the first to visibly react, asked.

Luna was but a moment slower. “Aye, sister, what news troubles you so? What does this letter say?”

Alessandro turned to Durante and nodded. "Prepare the Stormraven."

The golden-armoured Space Marine bowed his head in return and gestured for his fellow warriors to leave the room. Though she knew not what the letter said, their reactions told her they, at least, had some inkling of what it portended, and whatever it was they thought was coming was very much so not good.

Celestia gulped and turned to the council, fear in her eyes.

“It’s from Twilight,” she said. Lances of cold fear shot through Cadence’s heart. “It says, ‘help.’”
______

Thousands of kilometres above Equus, a similar council had taken place aboard the Spires of Monarchia. Bal Harodon had gathered his Champions and the Iron Warrior Endas, and together they had fashioned a cruel plan of action. It had taken hours of debate, but after much grueling discussion and several threats of death by torture, but just an hour earlier, they had finished.

With his conclave finally dissolved, Bal Harodon retreated to his personal sanctum in the deepest bowels of the Spires of Monarchia. It was a dark place, its only source of light a single candle lit by the power of the Empyrean. Since entering the Stillpoint, the candle had grown to be all but extinguished.

Bal walked up to the writhing monstrosity chained to the ancient wall. He smiled, the expression somewhere between cruel and some facsimile of grandfatherly affection.

“How are we doing today?” he asked.

The abomination roared in response, its ragged, leathery wings straining against their bonds and its ceramite claws snatching at air in a pointless gesture of impotent rage.

Bal chuckled warmly. A sudden melancholy ended his humour. This monster had been Krev’s last gift before he died. Bal was determined to make the best of it.

The Dark Apostle lowered his gaze to the large tray just a metre from him. He trod over, his ancient armour creaking with every movement. The tray was covered in all manner of torture tools and syringes. It was a collection only slightly younger than Bal himself. Ever since Lorgar had revealed the truth of Chaos to his Legion, Bal had been collecting these. After perusing his options, he selected one of his personal favourites. It was a purple syringe, a gift from Fabius Bile, offered as reward for Bal’s gift of live Imperial Fists captured in some system Bal had long since forgotten.

“Now, what is next on the list?” Bal asked himself. He pulled out a piece of blood-stained parchment. To human eyes it would have been almost illegible, especially in the dim light of the dying warp-candle. To Bal’s genhanced gaze, it might as well have been printed by a Mechanicus typewriter. He thumbed his way down the list until he came to the first unchecked item. “Ah yes, we need to strengthen those wings of yours. Wouldn’t want you tearing them off trying to flying, now would we?”

Bal filled the syringe with a sick, pulsating green goo. He then drew an eight-pronged flaying knife and turned to the chained abomination.

Without a word, Bal tore into the creature. It screamed in agony as the knife’s poisons shot through its corrupted vitae. Tattered skin and hunks of meat fell to the ground, followed by a rain of blackened blood. With a path to the abomination’s second heart firmly carved, Bal thrust the syringe in and compressed.

The screams that followed were enough to chill the spines of every non-Astartes on the cruiser.

Bal removed the syringe quickly, his hand just narrowly escaping the hole before the creature’s flesh closed back over it. He looked at the list again.

“Now, what’s next?” Bal said as he reached for a new tool.

The creature's screams would last for hours to come.

Author's Notes:

Alright, that should be enough exposition for now. Next time: "Drop Pods Over Manehatten."
The "only the unloved and the unnatural hate" quote is from Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator." I forget if I've paraphrased i a bit or not.