Life in recent days had become very strange for Prince Shining Armor, even by the standards of Equestria.

It was only about a year-and-a-half on from the a truly traumatic wedding, the scars of which still ran deep in Shining Armor and his beloved bride. Then, before the pair had even had time to proper honeymoon, Shining had found himself declared Prince Consort of a kingdom he had only discovered even existed about five minutes before being sent off to impotently provide moral support to the ponies who actually saved it. Then came the stresses and misadventures of helping Cadence rule a realm a thousand years out of its time, trying to integrate the recently liberated population with remnants of the armies, both Equestrian and Sombra-aligned, and introduce them to the strange new world that was modern Equestria. On top of that was his little sister’s ascension to Princess-hood, followed not long after by the unpleasantness most had taken to calling the ‘Sunset Shimmer Incident.’ After that came Tirek’s invasion and the third time within the span of a year that Shining Armor had been rendered utterly useless in the face of a great crisis. This had been followed by the birth of his and Cadence’s daughter, Flurry Heart, and the ensuing Crystalling Crisis. Then, within the last few days, Shining had been informed by mail that his sister had almost died during an alien invasion, and that some of the aliens were now their allies, and furthermore, that he and Cadence were needed for a War Council, something Equestria had not seen in three hundred years.

To the Crystal Prince’s great irritation, none of this proved quite able to prepare him for the madness he faced this day.

“Keep up the advance!” Shining Armor roared, thrusting his armoured hoof forward as rank after rank of ponies marched into battle. He was adorned in semi-stylized purple armour. It was a special suit of old Crystal Empire armour, a suit intended for use by one of Sombra’s favoured supporters, repurposed for Shining Armor. It covered more of his body than his old Royal Guard gear, with plates of crysteel covering most of his body, while an undershirt of chainmail protected his joint. Even his helmet was more concealing than he was used to, sealing his muzzle inside a casing of metal with just the right holes for breathing, speaking, and seeing. His horn jutted out, though it too had been plated. Had he not been surrounded at that moment by a force of his own Crystal Empire soldiers, each of whom wore similar, if less effective, suits of armour, he would have looked utterly out of place in Equestria. Even as it stood, the Crystal Prince and his entourage looked like something out of myth, products of a barbaric era that had no relation to modern Equestrian society.

Shining Armor’s horn glowed bright pink as he reached out with his magic, holding together the shield that was keeping his army alive. He roared to the ponies under his command. “We have to take this bridge!”

As the former Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard, Shining Armor was well-versed in Equestrian military history. He could recite the key battles of his nation’s history, complete with the commanders involved and the disposition of their forces. As Prince of the Crystal Empire it had fallen to him to reorganize the varied units of Crystal and Equestrian army units that had been caught up in the Empire’s disappearance. He knew war as well as anypony of his age could.

It was nothing like the meat grinder before him.

Wave after wave of ponies bravely charged in, though their courage waned with each failed attempt. When Shining and Cadence had read Twilight’s description of the attack on Ponyville, it had sounded like Tartarus itself had been unleashed. It had been almost unbelievable, reading of such raw killing power and so horrible a sight. What he now saw made that description seem almost tame.

Is this what it was like, Twiley? Shining worried, shivering at the very thought.

For a full half-hour Shining Armor had been trying to seize the bridge to Manehatten. It was his role in the hasty plan the War Council had submitted. While Luna led the Night Guard to establish a foothold in the city and a band of those aliens, those ‘Blood Angels,’ whatever that was supposed to mean, secured the Element Bearers. It was one of the rare times Shining Armor deeply envied the wings of the pegasi; it he had been able to fly, he would have been able to join the vanguard and make sure Twiley was safe. As it stood, he had been appointed Field Marshall of the Manehatten Expedition, and thus had to lead the bulk of the relief force.

At that moment, relief was the last thing on Shining Armor’s mind.

The counter-invasion had been a screw-up from the start. One of his top lieutenants, Flash Sentry, had failed to return from his scouting mission, leaving him short a good officer and without any intelligence on the city’s situation. Now he was stuck trying to capture an entrenched bridge with mostly inexperienced soldiers, and Princess Luna was nowhere to be found.

“What I wouldn’t give for that alicorn right now,” he muttered. “Blazing Star, how are we doing?”

Lieutenant Blazing Star, a veteran of the old Equestrian Expeditionary Force who had fought in the siege of the Crystal Palace itself, grimaced as he surveyed the bloodbath. “Poorly, my Prince. We have lost almost a full fourth of our host, and never many were we. The recruits are cowering, and our sergeants are too rare to keep discipline. Save for a miracle, we cannot seize this bridge.”

“Just great,” Shining responded with a grimace of his own. “Hang on Twiley, I’ll get you out somehow.”

“This is a poor situation,” Captain Sturdy Pike noted as he strode up beside his prince. “The aliens were ready for us. We must either make a tactical withdrawal, or change our tactics. A brute-force charge will not break that line, not with so little cover between our lines and their… devices.”

The ‘devices’ of which Pike spoke were, tactically speaking, the worst part of the assault. Autoguns, if Shining remembered the sparse information he had been able to pry from the Blood Angels correctly. Whatever they were they were nasty weapons, able to take down a full grown pony at a range well beyond what most unicorns could manage. Their armour was all but worthless against such weapons; only the shields of the unicorns provided any meaningful defense, and even they were less than entirely reliable. As it stood, Shining Armor’s talent with shields was doing more to keep the army alive than anything else at this point. Ponies on the mainland could recuperate and prepare in relative safety, the volleys of the autoguns kept for now at bay by the purple barrier.

It was not enough, however, to win the battle. Anypony who stepped beyond the barrier was quickly cut down, and Shining would be unable to maintain the quality of the defense if he started trying to move it at any meaningful rate. As it stood, the Equestrians had no way of getting safely across the bridge.

“Pull them back and regroup,” he ordered. It was pointless to continue to throw ponies at that wall of death, and he could no longer bear even the thought.

Shining growled. He was a father, a brother, a husband. He had plenty of mares in his life who at the moment he’d rather be with than be here. He could have been making up for lost time with Flurry Heart, catching up with Twiley, being intimate with Cadence. Instead he was here, trapped in a no-win scenario, with the blood of more ponies on his conscience every minute.

Then came the grumbling roar of alien engines. Shining Armor turned around and saw seven of the strange, smog-blasting crimson metal boxes the Blood Angels used as vehicles. He felt in that moment a strange mixture of relief and anger; relief that reinforcements had arrived, anger that they had taken so long.

Still, with vehicles like that, they might just be able to finally make it across the bridge…

One of the less complicated vehicles rumbled over to Shining’s position. The Crystal Prince turned to his beleaguered army. “Make room for the Blood Angels! Let them through!”

The ponies scampered out of the way of the loud vehicles. Shining Armor stayed put, concentrating as he was on maintaining the shield. The less complicated vehicle rolled to a top next to him, while the other six began forming up near the bridge. The side door on the vehicle next to him swung open, revealing the black-armoured Chaplain, Alessandro.

The Chaplain’s presence did nothing to improve Shining’s mood. During the brief moments he and Cadence had shared before he had to go organize the expedition, the Princess of Love had confided in her husband her impression of the alien. It largely matched Shining’s own; both agreed that this thing was a walking ball of hate encased in strange alien rock. He had no idea why these aliens had come to Equestria, but he knew that it was nothing good.

Alessandro huffed. “Pathetic. You still have not even taken the bridge? Even for a xenos, this is incompetent.”

Shining Armor and his fellows bristled. He snapped at the alien. “How dare you? I’m doing all I can! I don’t have nearly enough pegasi to get around them, and every time we try to march up the bridge they cut us down before we can make it halfway across! Where are Princess Luna and that metal bird of yours? They were supposed to clear a path for us!”

“The Stormraven will be further within the city. Did you not listen when we laid out our plans? As for the black xenos, I neither know nor care. And for the bridge, I have seen the soldiers of the Imperial Guard face worse odds and prevail. The only excuse for a failure is xenos cowardice. Those you face are mere cultists…” Alessandro trailed off as he surveyed the far side of the bridge. “By the Emperor, they’ve brought Iron Warriors. Hmph. Mayhaps…”

The Chaplain never finished his sentence. Shining Armor simmered at the alien’s side, furious at the insult to the sacrifices of his ponies.

“’Mayhaps’ what?” Shining asked. “Answer me, Sombra curse you! My sister’s in there, and and she needs my help!”

Alessandro turned back to his vehicle. “Dabriel! I want the tanks in formation to punch through those defenses. Keep the flamestorm cannon in back. Rhinos will pull up the rear.”

A voice boomed from within the vehicle. “As you command, Holy Chaplain!”

Shining raised an eyebrow as Alessandro turned back to him. “Ready your troops, and fall in line behind the Rhinos. We are punching through now. Keep your nerve, and you may yet see this sister of yours again.”

With that Alessandro slipped back into his vehicle, which Shining Armor guessed was one of the ‘Rhinos’ he had mentioned. A strange name, he thought. It looks nothing like one.

“Orders, my Prince?” Blazing Star asked.

Shining sighed. “Like the alien said. Everypony! Form up and prepare to advance! Let the aliens go first, then follow their vehicles! We are taking this bridge!”

There was a slight ripple of weak cheers at the announcement, followed swiftly by the shouts of the remaining sergeants as they tried to restore some semblance of discipline in the ranks. The Blood Angels drove to the bridge, not even slowing to make sure everypony got out of the way. Thankfully, the sergeants had already mostly cleared the path, and the few stragglers quickly dashed to safety. For a moment, the vehicles sat stock still, pumping smoke and rumbling loudly.

Then came a blaring, mechanical cry.

“For Sanguinius and the Emperor! Advance!”

The vehicles rumbled forward. They had formed into two columns, the widest they could manage while still fitting on the bridge. The three ‘Rhinos’ pulled up the rear while the other four vehicles formed a square of sorts and drove on ahead. As they approached Shining’s barrier, he opened a path for them.

The moment he did so, the fusillade resumed.

A storm of alien projectiles burst screaming through the opening. A handful of unfortunate ponies were caught in the barrage, their armour and coats torn apart. The wounded screamed in pain. Some were dragged to safety by their comrades-in-arms. Others, too deep within the fire zone, were abandoned, left to wail for help until an alien projectile punched through something vital or they bled to death. Shining could only watch in horror, trapped as he still was by the shield which protected the rest of the army from a similar fate.

“Faust preserve us…” Sturdy Pike whispered, his words almost lost amidst the roar of the alien’s weapons.

Then came a sight that Shining Armor would never forget in all his life. Twilight’s letter had described the destructive power of the Blood Angels. Just a minute ago, Shining would have said he had faced even worse in his attempt to seize the bridge. Now, seeing this, he understood.

The Blood Angels’ vehicles lumbered forward a few more metres. Projectiles pinged off their armour like seeds flung at a tin can, each shot having the same effect a pebble would have if thrown at a mountain. The treads of the vehicles crawled across the bridge, crushing and mulching the corpses of the fallen. The various tubes and mounted devices that Shining assumed were weapons shifted and aimed at the invaders.

Then the first two vehicles in the crimson wave put the entire invader hurricane to shame.

Though the two booms from the long-barreled weapon seemed to have no effect, the remainder of the weapons more than made up for that lack. Inside of what could not have been more than a couple seconds Shining saw almost aliens die, their strange, hairless bodies reduced to a red mist. A moment later, the second line of vehicles joined the fray.

The tactical side of Shining’s mind noted that the back-right vehicle did not seem to be using all its weapons, its fire reduced to the small turret on its top. Though he could not explain that strange discrepancy, at that moment it hardly mattered.

The second pair of vehicles did not add much firepower. All four spat death from their top-turrets, though Shining saw most of those shots go wide. The new vehicle that used all of its weapons unleashed impressive beams of green light that seemed to disintegrate anything they touched, though it could only fire three times in that volley. The first two simply poured more flashing death down the bridge. With a mixture of amazement and sheer horror, Shining Armor realized that in two volleys, these vehicles had cut down over a fifth of the invaders.

“What manner of beasts have we made common cause with?” Blazing Star asked, voicing the thoughts of everypony in earshot.

“Whatever they are, I’m glad they’re on our side,” Sturdy Pike noted. “I’d hate to be on the receiving end of that.”

Shining Armor stood silent, his heart pounding in his chest. These are the creatures you said came to save you, Twiley?

Three loud booms stole the Crystal Prince’s attention. He watched as a trio of smoke plumes rushed towards the vehicles. Two spiraled out of control and slammed into Shining’s barrier, cracking the purple shield and sending a shudder through the Prince. The third slammed into the long-barreled tank, exploding into an inferno against its hull.

The Blood Angels responded by adding their Rhinos to the next volley. Six more of the top-turrets joined the fray. It was a roar to put dragons to shame, spewing fire and death at the invaders. Just under a score cultists died, another fifth destroyed.

The vehicles were halfway across the bridge by then. Shining turned to his officers and nodded. The time had come.

Sturdy Pike gave the order. “Brace yourselves! When the shield falls, we advance by sections! Ready…”

Shining’s horn ceased glowing and the barrier shattered into dissipating purple shards.

“Forward march!”

The remains of the Manehatten Expedition trotted forward, keeping to cover as best they could to avoid the unending barrage of alien projectiles. Surprisingly few were so much as grazed, considering how the earlier attempts had gone. The aliens had concentrated their fire on the Blood Angels, and so many of them were lost that their storm of projectiles was no longer so dense.

Shining Armor and his officers trotted into the middle of the formation, surrounded by the heavily armoured ponies of the Crystal Army. For the first time that day, Shining felt a spark of hope in his heart. Almost there, Twiley, just hold out a bit longer. I won't fail you this time.

More plumes of smoke rushed towards the Blood Angels’ vehicles. Two of them flew past, exploding harmlessly in the ground where Shining’s army had been but a few minutes before. The third, however, proved far more dangerous.

It slammed into the long-barreled vehicle’s treads, sending molten rubber and hot metal flying through the air. The vehicles halted in its tracks. Most of the vehicles behind it ground to a halt, while the one directly adjacent to it and the one behind that continued on. The other second-row vehicle turned and filed in behind its partner, and the Rhinos slowly fell into a single line behind those. As the vehicles passed their now-immobilized fellow, they parted back into two columns. One of them, the one that had yet to use all its weapons, rushed ahead of the others.
Shining Armor noticed the grey-armoured alien a moment before the immobilized vehicle started blasting them. Already unnerved by the disabling of so powerful a machine as that vehicle, he found himself deeply disturbed at the sight of these new warriors. Even at such a distance, he could make out the eerie similarities between them and the Blood Angels. They were giants among the common aliens who had done so bloody a job of keeping Shining Armor out of Manehatten. They hefted massive weapons in their hands, and seemed impervious to harm; Shining watched in horror as the immobilized vehicle’s barrage left no more than a scratch in their rocky skin.

These are the ‘Chaos Marines?’ Shining thought, his eyes widening with horror. He had to get his sister out of Manehatten as soon as possible.

A moment later, to Shining’s surprise, the Chaos Marines turned and walked away. The Crystal Prince turned his attention to the end of the bridge, and saw way.

The charging vehicle had reached the enemy.

It ploughed through the alien ranks, cutting what remained of their formation in half. At long last, it used its weapons, spewing massive tongues of flame into the aliens. A horrid chorus of blood-curdling screams echoed through the air, chilling Shining Armor and everypony under his command to the bone.

Against the backdrop of a wall of fire, the invaders retreated. It was a disorganized mess, the common invaders simply turning and running, desperate to get as far away from the oncoming Blood Angels as possible. They were a pittance of their former strength, a few dozen where more than a hundred had once held the line. While the common invaders fled, the Chaos Marines made a more ordered escape, slipping away into the alleyways of the city and disappearing from sight.

The Blood Angels’ vehicles regrouped just beyond the end of the bridge. The back doors on one opened, revealing a band of the alien militia Alessandro had brought with him. The Equestrians halted just short of their alien allies. Shining Armor trotted ahead of the main force, keeping an eye out for Alessandro.

Before he could find a hint of where the alien Chaplain had gone, a sickening smell washed over him. The Crystal Prince stopped dead just a few steps short of the invaders’ abandoned defenses. He fought down nausea at the horror-show his senses were assaulted with.

It had been disgusting enough to hear the invaders burn. Now Shining Armor found himself within a metre of the charred corpses of the fallen. The air reeked of burnt meat, and the ground was black with char. Thankfully, most of the invaders were dead. Horrifyingly, some were not.

“Help, me…” one of the invaders weakly begged, the charred remains of his alien arm twitching in Shining’s direction.

“Faust preserve us,” Blazing Star said, taking a step back. He had fought in the War With Sombra, and had seen many horrible things in his time. But this…

None of them had been prepared for this.

The snap-hiss of superheated air shook the ponies back to reality. Shining saw one of the humans holding a small device in his hand with a smoking barrel. The burned invader had stopped moving, and had a fresh strand of smoke rising from his head.

“Warp take you, heretic,” the human muttered. He turned to his fellow humans. “Police the dead! The Holy Chaplain wants no survivors! Sanders, grab a couple buddies and take a look at the Pred, see if you can get it running again. The rest of you, start fortifying our position!”

Another Rhino opened, allow Alessandro to step out. The black-armoured alien walked over to Shining.

“The bridge is ours,” Alessandro said. “I will be leaving half my militia here. Assign part of your force to assist them. We cannot afford to lose this position.”

“I agree,” Shining replied, fixing his gaze on the Chaplain, doing his best to block out the dozens of charred corpses and the sporadic snap-hisses coming from the humans’ devices. Best to simply slip into ‘soldier mode.’ “Blazing Star, take everypony you need and help the humans anyway you can. Sturdy, dispatch a squad to tell Princess Celestia we’ve taken the bridge and could really use some reinforcements, if we have any.”

The officers nodded and rushed off to accomplish their duties.

Shining Armor sighed. “Hold on, Twiley, I’m almost there.”

Alessandro simply stood, stock silent at Shining’s side. The alien checked his own handheld device, one that had so different a design from the one used by the humans that Shining wondered if they even served the same purpose.

“We cannot delay long,” Alessandro spoke at last. “Half of my battle-brothers are in that city, and I must link up with them.”

“I understand how you feel,” Shining said, surprised at his own statement, yet possessed of little doubt that it was true. He made a quick mental note to have a proper conversation with his wife about the Blood Angels when he got back. “My sister’s in there. I can’t rest until I know she’s safe. I mean, she can take care of herself, but I’m still her big brother, and, well…”

“Ah yes, the 'sister' you mentioned earlier. Who would she be?” Alessandro asked, his tone almost strained.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Shining answered. He allowed himself a slight chuckle, anything to relieve the gnawing tension at having to wait. “What, did she forget to mention me again?”

“A witchmind and a flying psyker from the same family…” Alessandro mumbled, stroking the jaw of his skull-helmet. He shook his head. “Your assistant returns. Comes, we’ve wasted too much time here already.”

Shining nodded his agreement and turned to meet Sturdy Pike.

“Message sent, sir,” he reported. “I take it we are to set off again?”

“Yes,” Shining replied. He turned to the Expedition. “Everypony, make ready! When the Blood Angels roll out, we’re following them!”

At those words, sergeants set about preparing their squads, while officers double-checked their organization. Alessandro returned to his Rhino, and within moments the Blood Angels vehicles, now reduced by a Rhino and the long-barreled vehicle, began blasting out black smog again.

It had taken far too long, and far too many lives, but Shining had finally gotten into Manehatten. Now he just had to find Twilight, rescue all six Element Bearers, and retake the city from a poorly-understood alien force that had decimated his ponies until their new, also alien, allies had arrived.

The Crystal Prince sighed. It was going to be a long, long day. But no matter what it threw at him, SHining Armor made a promise: he would not fail Twilight again.
_______

Deeper inside the city, chaos ruled the streets. Corpses were strewn about, layers of congealed blood forming in static pools of rot. Some had been nailed to walls in unholy patterns, their bodies forming the profane symbols of Chaos. Fire crackled, consuming the dead and their former homes alike. Not a pane of glass remained unbroken, all shattered either by desperate ponies or blasts from boltshells. Statues had been toppled, and the streams in Central Park ran red. In the centre of the park, a cadre of Word Bearers chanted their foul verses as they meticulously built an altar to Chaos Undivided out of a carefully selected mixture of corpses and still-living, still-screaming ponies.

Further out, the massacre was still ongoing. Khornate Berzerkers ran rampant through the city, offering to their god the only worship he accepted. Chainaxes roared and ponies screamed as they passed. Elsewhere, a band of Plague Marines stumbled along, their fetid boltguns spitting poisoned shells at the fleeing ponies. Taint spread with every step they took, killing any plant they touched and rapidly degrading the corpses of those they slew. Lastly, most horrifically, the Noise Marines set about their abominable hedonisms.

Not that poor, young Starwing knew that at the time. At that particular point in time, the Pegasus filly was far more focused on hiding from the pink horror staring at her.

The thing had burst into her family’s townhouse, carrying a strange, silver tube in its weird, alien hooves. It had fixed the family, already confused and frightened by the commotion from further in-city, with its terrifying, unmoving gaze. Then it spoke, in a sick, high-pitched voice that would follow Starwing to her grave.

“Feel the bass!”

It strummed on its tube, blasting the dinner table apart with a wave of ear-splitting sound. In an instant, Father lunged at the intruder.

“Leave my family alone!” he had roared. Those words were his last.

The intruder simply laughed and strummed its tube again. Through some miracle, Daddy survived the volley, dodging the ensuing swing of its tube and striking the intruder with all his might. The intruder stumbled back, stunned by the force of the blow, but it was to no avail; the thing’s skin was like mountain stone, firm and unyielding.

Starwing’s Mommy took advantage of the opportunity and grabbed the filly.

“Come on! We have to go!” she said, rushing to the stairs.

Starwing caught one last glimpse of her Daddy. She screamed as the intruder grabbed hold of Father.

“Oh, so soft,” the intruder said in a tone that let all who heard it know it was licking its alien lips in perverse delight. “I wonder, what is the music of your breaking bones?”

Starwing was around the corner before she could see what came next. The cracking sounds and deep-toned screams of paint hat followed meant she didn’t have to.

Her Mommy flew down into the basement, leaving the lights off. Moving by memory, she found the broom closet.

“In here,” she told Starwing. “Wait here until Mommy and Daddy come get you, okay? Just stay very still and very quiet. And Starwing, we love you, so very, very much, never forget that, okay? Now be good for Mommy, be quiet.”

Starwing sniffled and reached out for her Mommy. “Please, don’t…”

“Sh!” Mommy hushed the terrified little filly. “Please, be quiet. Just wait here, okay? Mommy’s going to go get… Hide!”

Mommy shut the door, trapping Starwing inside. The Pegasus filly could not see a thing, both from the door in her way and from the darkness of the basement. She could, however, hear quite well.

“Catch the rhythm! Taste the rhythm!” the intruder boomed. The alien sounds of its tube blared, hurting Starwing’s ears. The filly dropped to a laying position, her forehooves covering her ears and her eyes screwing shut. Her wings compressed against her sides, as they always did when she was truly scared. Even with that most foolproof of childhood defenses in place, she still heard her Mommy’s last moments.

Whatever last words Mommy had to say, they were drowned out in the next wave of sound. Mommy tried to scream, only for the sound to be cut short by a wet squish and thud. Then came the steps.

They moved to an alien beat, the difference between one step and the other divergent by a time almost insignificant, too little to describe, but enough to confuse the filly’s senses. Each step felt simply wrong on an instinctual level, so close to normal and yet so glaringly not. They came closer with every passing second, closer, and closer, and louder, and louder, until they came to a stop just outside the broom closet.

Starwing whispered a really, really quiet prayer. “Please, Celestia, help me.”

The intruder cackled. “Come out, come out, wherever you are…”

Then the door to the broom closet swung open. Starwing kept her eyes firmly shut, hoping against hope that if she couldn’t see it, than it wouldn’t be able to see her.

“Well, well, well, what-o-what do we have here?” the intruder sang, its voice carrying a strange mechanical twang, like somepony speaking in an old movie. “A little-little one. Oh, and such a pretty-bitty little colour you are! I always loved dark blue! And don’t you just have the cutest little pink eyes! Oh, the things I can do with those…”

Childhood curiosity overpowering her fear for a brief moment, Starwing slowly opened her eyes, a decision she would immediately regret.

The thing was staring at her through its unmoving face, its horrid yellow eyes staring right at her. Pale pinkish light emanated from the silver tube, bathing the nearby part of the room enough that Starwing could clearly make out the intruder. Then intruded had kneeled down just in front of her. Its unnatural hooves reached up and touched the side of its head. Then, to Starwing’s horror, the intruder removed its own head, revealing a second head inside, one even more terrifying than the first.

The intruder’s new head was a hideous thing, flat and utterly furless. It was a pale, lifeless grey, like the cleaning water at a Filly Scouts camp, or like a thin layer of snow on top of a grey street. Innumerable scars and pockmarks laced its face, making it almost look more like a rock than anything alive. A small hunk of flesh was missing from the side of its upper lip, making it look as though it was always scowling. At the centre of the horror show were two beady eyes, as black as coal and ablaze with a strange emotion Starwing could not understand.

The intruder stretched out it dry, blue tongue and slowly licked its ruined lips. “Oh yes, you’ll be just perfect…”

It reached for Starwing with its rough, pockmarked pink hoof, a gleam of something utterly unholy in its eyes. Something moved in the shadows, a pounding on the stone floor. The intruder lunged. Hot blood splattered across the filly’s face.

Starwing did the only thing she could: she screamed.

Author's Notes:

Comments and criticisms are most welcome.

And now for stats:

Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire 90 points

Shining Armor: WS5 BS4 S4 T3 W2 I4 A2 Ld10 Sv4+/5++
Unit Type: Infantry
Unit Composition: 1 (unique)
Wargear: Armour of the Crystal Prince, Unicorn Horn
Special Rules: Master of Shield Spells, Fearless, Independent Character, Psyker Mastery Level 2
Shining Armor may generate powers from the Biomancy, Telekinesis, or Equestrian disciplines.

Master of Shield Spells: one per turn, Shining Armor can elect to forgo any other actions for that turn including generating psychic powers, shooting attacks, or close combat attacks. If he does so, then he may attempt to generate a Shield Spell during the Psychic Phase. He must make a Leadership test. If he fails, nothing happens and Shining Armor cannot take anymore actions that turn. If he passes, he and any squad he is attached to gain a 4+ Invulnerable Save until the controlling player’s next Psychic Phase. If Shining Armor has not moved this turn, then he may extend the Shield to 1d3 other friendly squads within 12” of him or his attached squad.

Wargear:

Unicorn Horn: 24” S4 AP- Assault 2

Armour of the Crystal Prince: this unique relic was recovered from Sombra’s arsenal after the return of the Crystal Empire. Originally intended to protect an unknown individual known only as the “Crystal Prince,” it was given to Shining Armor after Cadence ascended the Crystal Throne. It grants the bearer a 4+ Armour Save and a 5+ Invulnerable Save.
___

Please note that I have not finished designing the Equestrian Psychic Discipline. I’ll post it in the first chapter after I get it done. Advice on what powers I should include would be most appreciated.

And as always, criticism and suggestions on the homebrew rules are very much so appreciated.