Title: A Foul Light Shines
Author: Karazor
Rating: M
Genre: Sci-fi / Adventure
Status: Complete
Fandom: My Little Pony FiM + Warhammer 40K
Pairings: None at all
Summary: Driven by an intense Warp storm, a Rogue Trader vessel finds itself crippled and stranded above a world no human has ever visited. The natives are friendly; can the visitors say the same? A Warhammer 40k/Friendship is Magic crossover. Yes, really.
Link: A Foul Light Shines

Cannot speak for Warhammer 40K, but the attitudes and actions of the ponies are spot on. Intriguing twist on MLP:FiM canon. No grammar or spelling mistakes. No cliches. Well done and highly recommended - 5/5.

 

Just a bit of a forewarning: my knowledge of Warhammer 40k is picked up second-hand. I've never played the tabletop game, any of the computer RTS games or the latest Space Marine action game. However, I think I have a fair enough grasp of the universe.

I'll put the review I left on FFN here:

To expand on some points in that second paragraph -- yes, Twilight was told of the sacrifices to keep the Emperor "alive," if you want to call it that, and she saw how the marines operate when they killed the behir, but... she didn't seem to have much to comment on it. I'd have thought that she'd be more, I don't know, outraged at how phenomenally fucked up the WH40K-verse is. I don't know, might just be me.

You don't see much of the other ponies outside of Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Not a major complaint, really, but I'd have liked a little more of them included.

Also, I take issue with Celestia and Luna being referred to as gods so much in the fandom. I accepted it in Fallout: Equestria, because they were only really thought of as gods after they... well, you know, after. I guess it fits with the WH40K angle better though.

And I'll reiterate my biggest complaint: that is an incredibly shitty ending, assuming that's how it's supposed to be and how the author's leaving it. Nothing was fucking resolved.

 

I'll second the ending being the fic's biggest problem. It feels really rushed and a touch confusing, not to mention that it leaves far too much hanging. At the very least, it needs an epilogue to tie things up, but I'd really say the last couple chapters would need a serious re-write.

Aside from the ending, it's a decently solid fic for what it does. Sending in Rogue Traders was a nice nod to some of the more obscure lore, and does help maintain actual peaceful contact. The human characters all seem decent, though Seria is the only one who gets much in the way of in-depth development.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash are definitely at center-stage, though the fic is short enough that some of the ponies being out of focus isn't as huge of an issue as it could be.

On the Celestia and Luna as deities issue, I'd say there's an important distinction between saying Celestia and Luna have godlike power and saying that they're actual deities. Drawing a parallel to the God-Emperor of Mankind as the fic did early on isn't a bad example, both are just about immortal, and ridiculously powerful by the normal standards of their species. However, establishing Celestia and Luna as worshiped religious figures really doesn't work.

Not quite sure how to rate it; if not for the ending, I'd probably give it a 5/5, but that ending really drags it down and ruins the whole story. Aside from just being unsatisfying, the ending feels like it's cutting off what could have been a much longer and very interesting story. I would've liked to see the ponies interact with the 40k universe a bit more.