The day Equestria changed forever began, as such events are wont, without much warning. It was, by all accounts, a perfectly normal morning. Celestia raised her sun at the appointed hour, while her beloved sister Luna lowered the moon. In the small, eccentric town of Ponyville, roosters crowed, signalling to all the coming of the dawn. In every house there was a stirring, and soon the day was begun. Fasts were hungrily broken, and within the hour shops across town were open. From Carousel Boutique to the Apple Family Orchards, ponies were soon hard at work. Just a couple short hours later, young fillies and colts were at school, bored out of their minds as the teacher Cheerilee did her best to make multiplication tables interesting to the common foal. Just before lunch, Rainbow Dash accidentally crashed into Fluttershy’s chicken coop, which in turn destroyed the fence. In short order Applejack was called in and the three of them set about trying to repair the damage, amidst various mishaps and disagreements.

It was, in all, a perfectly normal Tuesday. So normal, in fact, that the only hint of what was to come was a strange ripple in the magical field, so faint as to only be detectable by the most powerful and attuned of minds. There were five such minds in all Equestria.
In the cold reaches of the far north was Princess Cadence, who on that day was still in bed, taking a well-deserved rest from the rigours of rule; the Crystal Empire may have been lacking in great danger or controversy, but like all kingdoms it had its fair share of petty court cases and continual need for tax code reform, matters which, given time, will wear on even the staunchest of souls. Thus it was that Cadence would be the last princess to learn of the events to come.

Canterlot was the resting place of two more minds capable of feeling the disturbance, Celestia and Luna. Much like Cadence, Luna was at the time asleep, resting after a long night of calming the fears of frightened young foals. With her dreams now clear of the spectre of the Tantibus, that nightmarish torturer which had until recently been assigned by Luna herself to ensure she never forgot the sins of her past, the rest was peaceful and refreshing. It was, in fact, a rest that in the days to come Luna would reflect upon and find herself longing for.

Despite Luna’s slumber, she would be quickly informed of the events in Ponyville by her elder sister, Celestia. When the ripple came Celestia was quite awake and in full command of her faculties. It was the seventh minute of her fifteen-minute cake break, nestled comfortably between the morning noble’s court and the afternoon commoner’s court. Being a mighty alicorn, Celestia needed little in the way of physical sustenance; magic itself provided for most of her nutrition. However, food did little to hurt her, and over the millennia of her life she had found that some foods, particularly cake and tea, were great comforts. If nothing else, Celestia had found that a few cups of tea every day did wonders for keeping some of her… less wholesome urges in check.

The coming of the magic ripple interrupted the break just as she was about to take a third bite of her delectable snack. It was a strange feeling, cold and wild, almost like the magic of the mad draconequus Discord if one were to remove any hint of humour or personality from it. Celestia’s attention was captured at once, her body freezing and her gaze snapping south as she honed in on the disturbance.

“Your Highness?” one of the Celestial Guards, an aging veteran named Surging Rock, asked. Without even thinking, Celestia used her magic to feel the condition of Surging Rock’s heart, sensing the nervousness he hid so well beneath his iron-hard expression.

“Go wake Luna. There is something we must discuss,” Celestia said, turning her warm visage to Surging Rock long enough for him to nod acknowledgement. As he turned and sped off in the direction of the Lunar Suite, Celestia returned her attention to the disturbance. To her annoyance it had already faded to naught but an echo of its already weak presence. The Solar Alicorn closed her eyes and concentrated, her horn glowing with golden energy as she reached out with her magic. With skills first taught to her by her long-departed father and honed over millennia of life, Celestia investigated what she could of the disturbance.

So weak was the signal that a vague location was all she could find. For a moment Celestia pondered why such a thing would occur there of all places; the Everfree was wild and dangerous, and lacking in useful resources. However…

“The Castle…” Celestia whispered as she opened her eyes. Reaching out with her magic, the Solar Alicorn lifted up ink and paper and pen. “Dear Twilight Sparkle…”
__________

On the edge of Ponyville, there lay a massive crystal castle. Magically constructed by the Tree of Harmony several months earlier, it was the home of the fourth mind which could detect the magical ripple, Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship.

The castle was massive, easily capable of housing a hundred or more ponies within its crystalline walls. However, most of those rooms lay empty and unused. Three were there who lived there, the Princess Twilight Sparkle, her student Starlight Glimmer, and the young dragon Spike. At the time of the ripple, all three were gathered in the castle library. Twilight was busy researching the history of alicorns, hoping to find some hint as to how her newborn niece, Cadence and Shining Armor’s daughter Flurry Heart, could be born with such a status. Starlight did her best to help, though the historical nature of the research left her somewhat handicapped; she was an expert mage, but the distant past was a subject she had paid little attention to in her studies.

For his part, Spike was nestled in a chair in the corner, his nose buried in the latest issue of Power Ponies.

At the research table, Twilight was mumbling to herself, as she often did. “Hmm… According to this book the last natural alicorn birth was sometime in the Pre-Windigo Era, when Princess, I mean, Celestia and Luna were born to a ‘Queen Stella’ and ‘King Angelus,’” Twilight tapped her hoof on her chin. “Strange, I’ve never heard of them befo-”

Twilight froze as a strange, cold tingle washed over her spine. Starlight Glimmer snapped her attention to her mentor, worry in her eyes.

“Twilight? What’s wrong?” she said, dashing over to the purple alicorn’s side.

The feeling passed, and Twilight shook her head. “Sorry. Just a weird feeling. Did you feel that?”

“Feel what?” Starlight asked. She cocked her head to the side. Concern and a small hint of suspicion filtered into her tone. “Are you alright?”

“You’re sure you didn’t feel anything?” Twilight said, a look both curious and worried creeping into her eyes. “You didn’t feel a cold shiver running right down your spine?”

Starlight took a half-step back. “No, I’m quite sure I didn’t. What’s this about, Twilight?”

“I must have just imagined it…” Twilight’s thought were interrupted by a sudden rustling of paper and a fiery belch.

“Hah! Didn’t burn the paper!” Spike proclaimed triumphantly. He turned to the two ponies staring at him. He chuckled nervously. “Oh, uh, letter from Princess Celestia for you, Twilight.”

Twilight trotted over to her faithful assistant, followed closely by Starlight. The latter said, “I wonder what it’s about.”

Twilight’s horn glowed as she reached out with her magic and opened the scroll, mumbling as she read it. “Well, it seems I wasn’t just imaging things. Prin- Celestia felt it too, and she wants us to investigate it. Starlight, Spike, come on. We’re going to the Everfree Forest.”

Spike sighed. “Why did it have to be the Everfree?”
__________

Deep inside the wilds of the Everfree Forest, reality tore open in a great flash. An indescribable array of colours danced beyond the hole, blocked only by the shadows of strange creatures the likes of which Equestria had never seen. In an instant the hole was gone, leaving only a faint ripple in magic and the strange creatures as proof it had ever occurred.

Black and purple smoke billowed around the newcomers. The ground crunched beneath their feet like glass. Monsters they were; like minotaurs in shape, but by far more horrid.

Thirty-two they numbered, four groups of eight. Their leader, a tall creature with a flat, misshapen face, was most pleased by this. Eight was the number of the gods, and to be blessed with so exact a number boded well for the battle to come. Though some of lesser faith might have ignored such an omen, Krev Gorudon was a Champion of the Word Bearers, a Gene-Son of the great prophet Lorgar. At the foot of the mighty Daemon Primarch, Krev had been taught the mysteries of Chaos, learning the unholy litanies of the Four. Now, after seven hundred years of war, he was honoured to serve under the Dark Apostle Bal Harodon, an ancient Chaos Marine said to have stood by Lorgar’s side at the Battle of Terra ten thousand years ago.

Now he would lead this menagerie to unholy war in the name of the dark gods themselves. What did it matter that he had lost warriors in the teleportation which brought them here? What did it matter that those accursed Blood Angels had slain some of his best servants? He was at least here, on this verdant, untainted world. The soldiers of the False Emperor were far away, and there were none on this world who could hope to defy the will of Chaos. His victory was assured, and with his mission complete, surely ascension would follow. Krev would scour this world and make it a sacrifice to his masters, and in return, surely he would at last be granted the greatest of gifts, to become one of the Warpborn themselves. All he had to do was overpower the ignorant inhabitants of this small, pathetic world, and take from them the great power they possessed.

Krev Goduron smiled cruelly, his torn lips peeling back to reveal his jagged and misshaped fangs. This day is going to be perfect.
______________

On the edge of the Ghastly Gorge, the fifth mind able to detect the ripple sat. Adorned in a simple brown cloak and with grey hair and a grey beard temporarily summoned to his draconic visage, Discord sat on a moss-ridden boulder. He laid one clawed hand on his summoned beard while the other fondled a small, metal baton attached to his belt. With an expression that was at once both grin and grimace, he spoke in a wise, aging voice.

“The Warp? Now that’s a feeling I’ve not felt in a long, long time.”

Then he cackled and disappeared, his insane mind already at work, wondering just what would come next.

Author's Notes:

Hello!
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.
I intend to have the next chapter up within the week.
Criticism welcomed.
For those of you new to the world of Warhammer 40k, feel free to ask for clarification on anything.