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Another bloody step in Dagger Squadron's grueling journey to the Element of Terror!

This time it's not an Ork...

Chapter 7 is live!

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Dear princess celestia :3

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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I'll bet whoever got the reigns on Kometka lost a finger, at the least ;p

Thank you very much, @whirlwindflux! And thank you @tequilaazide!

And the results are in the for the surprise holiday raffle! Thank you to everyone who entered.

First we have @fishermod's OC Fisher and second we have as nominated by @tequilaazide. @sfaccountant's Kometka!

This is the last post for 2024! Happy New Year!

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Even more Christmas (or just 2024) gifts!

Gears plushie, by Wheatley!

A collection of, I suppose you'd call it self-insert art? She decided to draw her OC running around Ferrous Dominus and making friends with Gear Works XD

From a friend and reader, Snowi!

Gear's relationship with the little zebra is a bit contentious, but he's been on his best behavior lately. A gift from AngryDeathTruck, drawn by Seed3y!

He gets along much better with the mares.

Here's a picture of Gears being cheered(?) by Carmine Thistle, drawn by Inisealga (also known as ArtTartistry). Gifted by Tequila Azide!

And here's a picture of Gears doing a little diagnostic on Easy Peasy, drawn by Chamommile! Gifted by Karl! :D

I am overwhelmed by the love I've been granted from so many people! Artists, readers, and people who just stumble upon me in Discord and like my vibe, I guess 🥲 You're all wonderful! Thank you!

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This year had a wealth of Christmas booty!

Let's start of with Charlot, who included the mysterious Shifty Sights in their holoday drawing!

Next we have a little thank-you sketch from Reina she made me for a Ko-fi donation.

And then an entry from EnderDarkSeyla!

Finally, we have Blazing Stred, who makes me art of Kirby's hideous bare feet every year because we played Smash Bros. once. I love you, man 🥲

Thanks for watching and have a great New Year!

[sfaccountant]

Presenting: HERETIC🔥

The most relevant equine-based industrial metal band this side of the Cicatrix Maledictum, and the only band to have a pony Astartes player who isn't ALSO a drug-addled Slaaneshi!

An art gift from me to some of my online friends, featuring their most freakish pony OCs I could find refs for! From left to right:

Venomous Stray, belonging to Tequila Azide

Gear Works, you know that guy

Snowi, belonging to Snowikpospolity

Easy Peasy, belonging to Karl

and Atin Nyamic, belonging to Ironbuster

Art by Brdt-E!

oh right and the little monster Cornflake, who belongs to AngryDeathTruck

[sfaccountant]

Character Focus: Shifty Sights

Unit type: Dark Mage of Tzeentch

Rank: Shortseer (rank hierarchy ambiguous and non-uniform; possibly a jest)

Species: Unicorn

Psyker rank: Zeta

Cult: Tzeentch

Tactical specialty: Combat caster

Shifty Sights is one of the Dark Mages of Tzeentch, a warband of pony sorcerers that have taken up worship of Tzeentch. Tzeentch is the Chaos god of sorcery as well as change and deception, and like all Chaos gods he struggles to touch Equestrian minds and souls. As of yet his only pony followers are unicorns who willingly gave themselves to him for a promise of great arcane power, which is generally not something most Equestrians are desperate to have. Even these eldritch warriors are quite difficult to contact, as their normal spellcasting does not offer Tzeentch a way into their minds and he cannot enter their thoughts or dreams without some kind of psionic anchor in the material realm.

As one might expect, there is a great deal of mystery around these cult soldiers. No one in the fleet command knows who their organization leadership is or if they’re training new Dark Mages. Even the actual total number of Dark Mages is frustratingly inconstant, with names vanishing from the registrars, changing status, or being assigned to phantom missions that nobody approved. At times Dark Mages are even declared dead and their history archived in the data-looms, only for that information to later vanish and the name appear on another deployment roster. The Iron Warriors would not tolerate such shoddy organization under their direct command, but Princess Luna has thankfully(?) shown much more flexibility (or at least much less concern for detail).

One thing that IS well-known about the Dark Mages is that their initiation rite requires they sacrifice their eyes to Tzeentch in what one can only imagine is a gruesome and terrifying self-mutilation ritual. All Dark Mages are blind, and med-auspex scans confirm that their sockets have been burned clean down to the bone of the orbit. This specific form of willful mutilation is identical across the entire class of sorcerers; although the Dark Mages will not divulge much of the initiation rite, Hierophant Mantis suspects some manner of standardized pact has been negotiated on behalf of the sorcerous warriors and enforced on each of them when taking their mark.

In return for their sight, a Dark Mage can expect several boons, the least of which is a magically attuned radar to give them basic spatial awareness. While inferior to sight in range and fine detail perception (along with less fine detail perception such as that of color), this radar renders illusions and camouflage useless against them. Unfortunately it has also resulted in several embarrassing incidents, as their unique senses mean they have extreme difficulty reading or interacting with signs, screens, or hololiths.

Shifty explains little of her own history with the cult, but has divulged that her first and pivotal meeting with Tzeentch came in a dream, several nights after she purchased a bizarre glass pyramid from a mysterious human trader. The creature she met at the time offered a warning of an attack by an lethal but dim-witted menace the very next day, but offered no further details. The next morning Shifty managed to evacuate her village to the hills just before a mob of Ork bikers blasted through the settlement at blistering speed, shooting up the walls of their empty homes and looting a few shops before they got bored and left. Having saved the village with the help of the mysterious advice, Shifty sought out the creature once more in her dreams. It showed up, but unfortunately (at least from her perspective), Princess Luna ALSO appeared and immediately drove it off before it could say anything useful. Twice more this happened, until finally Luna spent an evening asleep or indisposed. It was then that she finally learned of the power that the creature – Tzeentch, Chaos God of Change – could offer her, and the price that would be exacted for this boon.

Shifty Sights gave her eyes and promised her soul to her unholy patron, and she was transformed.

Shifty Sights wears a magic cloak and hood for ease of movement and arcane protection. The cloak can be moved and hardened with a thought to become firm and hard as steel, deflecting most melee attacks and small-arms fire. A few millimeters of steel is unfortunately often insufficient protection against the weaponry of the 41st millennium, and while its protective strength can be improved, Shifty prefers other defensive measures. Her tail has mutated, lengthening and shedding its hair, and she grafted an adamantium blade to the spike of bone that emerged at the end. Her legs and torso are wrapped in bandages that tend to bulge and writhe when she is in combat, obscuring the minor mutations that often sprout from her flesh before she can take the time to stabilize it and banish them. Finally there’s her enchanted amulet: the storm crystal. The name is quite descriptive.

Shifty Sights possesses an advanced sense of precognition and has developed (or been gifted) sufficient awareness to use it in the bedlam of warfare. Her mind is almost always processing the future, even when she’s alone and at rest. These visions are highly accurate in their prediction of the immediate future, and become far less reliable and sensible the further in the future she looks. As a result she’s able to dodge the strikes of warriors much faster and more skilled than she is, but if you ask her about your wedding day she’s probably going to see a horrifying (and highly unlikely) vision of the groom being tossed into a volcano. The nature of her precognition is also affected by proximity to certain objects and creatures, like Warp engines or Chrysalis, splitting the future into a kaleidoscope of immediate possibilities that all seem equally likely, and overwhelming her temporal senses. When her future sight becomes useless in this way it instead becomes a terrifying distraction, smothering her thoughts and driving her to inaction.

Shifty is quite proud of her precognition despite these flaws, and frequently uses it for petty purposes like predicting others’ sentences and answering their questions before they speak. Other people tend to find this EXTREMELY annoying, and given her inability to tell the distant future they often dismiss her abilities as a worthless parlor trick.

In combat, however, Shifty Sights is a terror, and unlike many other sorcerous ponies her abilities are well-understood. She is capable of a very rapid short-range teleport called a Blink, allowing her to evade gunfire and close with any enemy with ease. Her storm crystal delivers lightning blasts comparable to plasma shots, and can dispense them as whips, arrows, arcing missiles, or devastating bombs. She possesses an array of other combat spells, from illusory copies to accompany her teleports, coruscating flame-shaping, and paralyzing glyphs, but her first and - usually only - strategy is fast teleports and lightning blasts. When pressed she can also break fully through the veil of protection unicorns enjoy from the Warp, absorbing a degree of power that threatens to swallow her soul and unmake her body. This is obviously very dangerous for a caster who has never seriously dealt with the threat of the Empyrean, but not nearly as dangerous as it is for her enemies as her pyskant power rises substantially and allows her to unleash a whole other tier of magic.

One would probably expect a Dark Mage to be aloof, studious, and narcissistic, and Shifty tries to act the stereotype, but she is not any of those things. Despite having more magic strength than normal and a dark, mysterious (and unpopular) religion, she has little care for labyrinthine plots or arcane pursuits beyond what is necessary for her to succeed at a given moment. Although many find her behavior and ego aggravating, she is also quite affectionate and helpful to those who tolerate her. She also loves games, although she has a tendency to cheat.

Like many of the Company’s most powerful mares, Shifty Sights is single, and struggles to find sufficiently open-minded stallions for potential partners. Aside from her mutations and personality, she also suffers the unique temptation to look far forward in time to study her relationship. Inevitably she witnesses something traumatic or infuriating, like her partner betraying her or dying in a bloody ritual, and despite knowing the vision is extremely unlikely it always affects her relationship anyway.

Like so many other of Tzeentch’s sorcerers, she is arguably her own worst enemy.

(Art by CrimmHarmony, Qamar, MinekoO, Avrora's World, Barnnest, and Loom)

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Inquisitor Gholth has captured Twilight Sparkle, but for what purpose? What use can the Imperium have for some winged alien psyker wearing the armor of the Archenemy?

And perhaps most importantly, how did they find her to begin with?

A new chapter of Black Horizons is live!

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A new chapter of Gear in the Machine is out! Will Gear Works be horribly mutilated yet again?!

(yes)

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Scenes from the 38th Company archives!

Ferrous Dominus training grounds (by Val Kenku)

The void mining nexus Ishrem (by BlvckMagic)

Company soldiers enjoying some down time (by Val Kenku)

The Merchant Corp actually has a pretty sweet lounge (by Yuozka)

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The Empress protects.

Don't know any Empress, sorry. Around here we put our faith in POWER ARMOR.

(art by EZ the Pony)

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Sister Sabbatine of the Sacred Rose

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My apologies for the incomplete post yesterday. Tumblr's draft system is highly unintuitive and it just discarded half the post I wrote 🫠

I redid it.

[sfaccountant]

Character Focus: Penumbra Shard

Unit type: Moon Mage

(Note: penal conscript class. Unit is to be under guard at all times)

Rank: Cult Magistra

Species: Unicorn

Psyker rank: Unclear (suspected Beta-rank)

Cult: Lunar Ascendance (defunct/disbanded?)

Tactical Specialty: Close support caster

(Note: Unit is to be deployed to night operations only)

Penumbra Shard - Penny to her friends, and Magistra Shard to her subordinates - is the effective leader of the Moon Mages, or at least the closest thing they have after the secretive cult of Lunar Ascendance was outed and convicted for treason against the Equestrian throne. Like everything else about the order, the hierarchy of the Moon Mages is shrouded in mystery, and much of what has been pried from the Mages through interrogation has been kept secret for one reason or another. At present all Moon Mages have been seized, sentenced, and transferred to the 31st Company fleet for service as combat sorcerers.

Penumbra herself is - probably - the oldest and most powerful of the Moon Mages. She claims to be 30"ish" years old, but this is confirmed as false. Surviving records of her presence date back more than 60 years, and it is suspected that she has significantly slowed or frozen her aging process, not just disguised it.

These records are disputed, however. Like all Moon Mages, there is physical evidence of her upbringing in ordinary Equestrian society, but no corroborating accounts. Penumbra claims to have attended and then taught at the Manehattan Institute of Magic, and was married to Ash Torchlight. None of her would-be peers remember her name or appearance, and her would-be husband disappeared without a trace roughly one year ago.

Penumbra Shard is a perfectly pleasant and ordinary mare at first glance, which sets her apart somewhat from the other Moon Mages. She is not prone to sociopathic dysfunction or violent outbursts and doesn't flinch at exposure to sunlight. She even has an affectionate motherly side toward ponies she feels close to. However, extended interaction inevitably reveals patterns of malicious and deceptive behavior as her facade of normalcy slowly falls apart. Penumbra lies often, and purposefully. She thinks of most other ponies as tiresome dregs she tolerates out of polite obligation, and has a cruel streak that emerges frequently in combat or when she thinks she can get away with harming a pony she dislikes. She is selfish and lecherous (a trifling problem when the subjects of her affection are willing, and a serious one when they're not), and eagerly manipulates others to her advantage or sometimes for her petty amusement.

Although a prolific liar and schemer, Penumbra is admittedly not the best at it. She has difficulty planning very far ahead and tends to react poorly when under stress. She also has great difficulty hiding her own emotions, particularly strong distaste or attraction for particular ponies. She could never stand to seduce or even feign mild affection for somepony she disliked, for example. On the other hoof, her desire for Lieutenant Dusk Blade is strong enough that it can easily impede her plans or cause sudden missteps because she's suddenly afraid of his disapproval or frustrated by his rejection.

Penumbra is not known for her temper, but when she does lose her cool her malevolent tendencies causes her to default to violent outbursts. More than once this has utterly ruined a greater plot or hurt somepony she nominally cares for. Despite these problems, Penumbra Shard finds it easier to forget her regrets than correct her behavior.

Like most Moon Mages, Penumbra Shard is largely untested in combat. The 38th Company Iron Warriors respect the power of sorcery but consider it an inferior tactical solution to their war machines, fortifications, and strategic bombardments. They also routinely underestimate the ponies of Equiestria, and unlike certain other equines the Moon Mages do not resent being overlooked. Princess Luna, the Commander of the Lunar Guard, mistrusts the Moon Mages deeply, and as a result they've mostly been confined under Nightwatch tower training other combat mages.

When deployed to combat - assuming, of course, it is during the nighttime - Penumbra boasts a fantastic spread of useful spells: light-bending shadow barriers, freezing explosive bursts, and dark lightning that excites the pain nerves to such a degree that it can immobilize even an Ork through sheer agony. Her most useful spell, however, is the ebon vector.

The ebon vector generates multiple discrete "tendrils" of magic force that emerge from the ground or the body and act with semi-intelligent autonomy. They can bludgeon, twist, ensnare, pierce, or slice the enemy, adapting the exact point of contact as necessary for the task at hand. The tentacles are solid enough to block gunfire and strong enough to crush stone, and can adopt a solid "crystal" state capable of piercing or smashing stronger armored materials.

The spell even has non-combat utility, able to safely restrain creatures, lift objects Penumbra could not possibly move with her own strength, and even lift and propel her for the purposes of evasion or getting around an obstacle. She HATES doing it, though; evidently the magic tendrils are quite uncomfortable to have pressed against you, amd numerous aliens and ponies can attest.

Penumbra doesn't seem especially discouraged by her imposed service to the 38th Company. The Nightmare failed. The rebellion was thwarted. Eternal Night is a grim myth, while enslavement and genocide at the hands of Orks is a constant threat. Her life as a battle thrall and magic drill instructor is a humiliation, but it's a more dignified fate than a long imprisonment in stone or in Canterlot's dungeons. And really, what other fate could she hope for from this war-torn world, with Equestria allied to Chaos and the Nightmare vanquished?

Penumbra Shard isn't telling.

(Art by KlaraPL, Rozmed, Cotton Candy Pone, Fenwaru, Skyren, and SpoopsB)

[sfaccountant]

Character Focus: Penumbra Shard

Unit type: Moon Mage

(Note: penal conscript class. Unit is to be under guard at all times)

Rank: Cult Magistra

Species: Unicorn

Psyker rank: Unclear (suspected Beta-rank)

Cult: Lunar Ascendance (defunct/disbanded?)

Tactical Specialty: Close support caster

(Note: Unit is to be deployed to night operations only)

Penumbra Shard - Penny to her friends, and Magistra Shard to her subordinates - is the effective leader of the Moon Mages, or at least the closest thing they have after the secretive cult of Lunar Ascendance was outed and convicted for treason against the Equestrian throne. Like everything else about the order, the hierarchy of the Moon Mages is shrouded in mystery, and much of what has been pried from the Mages through interrogation has been kept secret for one reason or another. At present all Moon Mages have been seized, sentenced, and transferred to the 31st Company fleet for service as combat sorcerers.

Penumbra herself is - probably - the oldest and most powerful of the Moon Mages. She claims to be 30"ish" years old, but this is confirmed as false. Surviving records of her presence date back more than 60 years, and it is suspected that she has significantly slowed or frozen her aging process, not just disguised it.

These records are disputed, however. Like all Moon Mages, there is physical evidence of her upbringing in ordinary Equestrian society, but no corroborating accounts. Penumbra claims to have attended and then taught at the Manehattan Institute of Magic, and was married to Ash Torchlight. None of her would-be peers remember her name or appearance, and her would-be husband disappeared without a trace roughly one year ago.

Penumbra Shard is a perfectly pleasant and ordinary mare at first glance, which sets her apart somewhat from the other Moon Mages. She is not prone to sociopathic dysfunction or violent outbursts and doesn't flinch at exposure to sunlight. She even has an affectionate motherly side toward ponies she feels close to. However, extended interaction inevitably reveals patterns of malicious and deceptive behavior as her facade of normalcy slowly falls apart. Penumbra lies often, and purposefully. She thinks of most other ponies as tiresome dregs she tolerates out of polite obligation, and has a cruel streak that emerges frequently in combat or when she thinks she can get away with harming a pony she dislikes. She is selfish and lecherous (a trifling problem when the subjects of her affection are willing, and a serious one when they're not), and eagerly manipulates others to her advantage or sometimes for her petty amusement.

Although a prolific liar and schemer, Penumbra is admittedly not the best at it. She has difficulty planning very far ahead and tends to react poorly when under stress. She also has great difficulty hiding her own emotions, particularly strong distaste or attraction for particular ponies. She could never stand to seduce or even feign mild affection for somepony she disliked, for example. On the other hoof, her desire for Lieutenant Dusk Blade is strong enough that it can easily impede her plans or cause sudden missteps because she's suddenly afraid of his disapproval or frustrated by his rejection.

Penumbra is not known for her temper, but when she does lose her cool her malevolent tendencies causes her to default to violent outbursts. More than once this has utterly ruined a greater plot or hurt somepony she nominally cares for. Despite these problems, Penumbra Shard finds it easier to forget her regrets than correct her behavior.

Like most Moon Mages, Penumbra Shard is largely untested in combat. The 38th Company Iron Warriors respect the power of sorcery but consider it an inferior tactical solution to their war machines, fortifications, and strategic bombardments. They also routinely underestimate the ponies of Equestria, and unlike certain other equines the Moon Mages do not resent being overlooked. Princess Luna, the Commander of the Lunar Guard, mistrusts the Moon Mages deeply, and as a result they've mostly been confined under Nightwatch tower training other combat mages.

When deployed to combat - assuming, of course, it is during the nighttime - Penumbra boasts a fantastic spread of useful spells: light-bending shadow barriers, freezing explosive bursts, and dark lightning that excites the pain nerves to such a degree that it can immobilize even an Ork through sheer agony. Her most useful spell, however, is the ebon vector.

The ebon vector generates multiple discrete "tendrils" of magic force that emerge from the ground or the body and act with semi-intelligent autonomy. They can bludgeon, twist, ensnare, pierce, or slice the enemy, adapting the exact point of contact as necessary for the task at hand. The tentacles are solid enough to block gunfire and strong enough to crush stone, and can adopt a solid "crystal" state capable of piercing or smashing stronger armored materials.

The spell even has non-combat utility, able to safely restrain creatures, lift objects Penumbra could not possibly move with her own strength, and even lift and propel her for the purposes of evasion or getting around an obstacle. She HATES doing it, though; evidently the magic tendrils are quite uncomfortable to have pressed against you, as numerous aliens and ponies can attest.

Penumbra doesn't seem especially discouraged by her imposed service to the 38th Company. The Nightmare failed. The rebellion was thwarted. Eternal Night is a grim myth, while enslavement and genocide at the hands of Orks is a constant threat. Her life as a battle thrall and magic drill instructor is a humiliation, but it's a more dignified fate than a long imprisonment in stone or in Canterlot's dungeons. And really, what other fate could she hope for from this war-torn world, with Equestria allied to Chaos and the Nightmare vanquished?

Penumbra Shard isn't telling.

(Art by KlaraPL, Rozmed, Cotton Candy Pone, Fenwaru, Skyren, and SpoopsB)

[sfaccountant]

Dagger Squadron (or at least the more suspicious half of it) continues after a day of rest, but obstacles persist as they pick their way through the Badlands toward their ominous prize. Daemons, Keepers, and treachery join the Orks in challenging the Elements of Destruction.

But of course, they're not the only Lunar Guard in the region...

New Nightwatch chapter is live!

(Empyra portrait by Enderbee)

[sfaccountant]