Twilight wasted a brief moment to line up her shot perfectly before her bolt pistol blew the head off the approaching hormagaunt. The unnatural beast's head exploded in a shower of chitin and grey matter as the bolt tore through. Twilight didn't celebrate her victory, however; two more of the monsters were right behind the first. She had been briefed on the swarm tactics of the Tyranids, but she hadn't understood until she entered the field just how damn many of them there were. Each of the space marines in her squad faced more monsters than they had bolts in their guns, and even a single hormagaunt could reduce her to a pile of minced flesh in an instant. Twilight had hoped that her first mission as a Codicier would be relatively easy; she had enjoyed herself at the Ultramare Librarium, learning the history of the Imperium and broadening her potent psychic powers. Instead, she had been assigned to an Ultramare squad and sent to a Tyranid-infested hellhole on the fringes of Imperium space to retrieve 'vital data' before the entire thing was hit by an Exterminatus.
An Ultramare fired on full automatic with her bolter, blowing apart the advancing Tyranids. The corridor was strangely silent for a moment before another wave charged around the corner. Twilight lined up shots with her pistol until the clip ran out, quickly reloading and going back to firing.
"Got it!" the voice of the squad captain sounded out. "Objective completed. Let's carve our way out, fillies!"
The combined firepower of eight bolters and a pistol reduced the Tyranids to a fine paste as the squad moved its way out of the ruined building. Outside, dense cloud cover and ruined buildings made for a bleak landscape; without the navigation tools built into her armor, Twilight would have been lost immediately in the grey, monotone environment. The only color was the silver of the Ultramares themselves; even the Tyranids blended into the scenery.
After a few bursts took out the hormagaunts in the immediate area, the captain paused a moment.
"This way to the Rhino, everypony," she said, putting a mark on Twilight's compass. "Once we get there, we take off and call for evac. Double time! Gallop and don't stop!"
Before she became a Space Marine, Twilight had been unable to do more than a trot for a prolonged period of time. Now, years later, she galloped at a breakneck speed alongside the other Marines, going faster than any normal pony could hope to match. Her pistol floated beside her, caught in her psychic grip and ready to shoot the first Tyranid that showed its ugly face, but nothing appeared in the two minutes it took for the Ultramares to reach the Rhino. The tank was a sight for sore eyes; not only did the bright colors make a welcome relief from the grim scenery, the whole thing was armored enough to prevent most Tyranids from harming anypony inside. The captain ran up to the panel next to the rear door, and with a few presses of her hoof the hatch fell down with a hiss.
"Tundra, you're driving with me," she said. "Everypony else, buckle down and wait for the-"
She was interrupted by a form that peeled itself off of the side of the Rhino. She lifted her bolter to fire, but a long claw scythed through her power armor and neck before she could fire a shot, and she went down with a gurgle. Twilight watched in horror as a half-dozen forms removed themselves from the tank, red and gold fading to the white colors of Tyranids. Her mind identified these things as Lictors moments before her training had her pistol up and firing. The assassins were stealthy and deadly, but not tough; they dissolved under the bolts of her and several of the faster Ultramares.
Around them, the scenery erupted with life. A dozen forms similar to the all-too-familiar hormagaunt, but with grasping hands and weapons rather than the scythes of the numerous warriors, rose and fired down on the Ultramares. Two went down with small holes in their power armor, leaking blood, while other rounds hit the ground and one struck Twilight in the shoulder. The force of the blow knocked her to the ground.
Immediately, her shoulder burned as she felt something writhing inside. These Tyranids were firing fleshborers, which explained the two Ultramares that had fallen so quickly. Twilight, however, found it hard to focus on anything other than the burning pain in her shoulder. The fleshborer burrowed deeper, and Twilight screamed in pain.
There was only one way to remove a fleshborer. If Twilight ignored it, the thing would burrow into her body and eat her alive. Tears running down her face, she brought a shaking pistol up to her shoulder. Gritting her teeth and closing her eyes, she pulled the trigger.
The bolt nearly tore her leg straight off, and Twilight screamed again as her face was sprayed with her blood and her psychic grip imploded, dropping her weapon. Sobbing, she tried to tear away part of her robe with her telekinesis, but the pain was too intense for her to focus. Unable to do anything about the gaping wound, she instead picked up her pistol in her mouth and aimed at the nearest Tyranid. They had ignored her, instead laying down fire on the other Ultramares and preventing them from entering the safety of the Rhino. Counting the Captain, there were now five corpses on the ground; including the mare they had lost on route to their mission, the team was reduced to Twilight herself and three others.
Blinking away tears, she started firing wildly with her pistol. The first two bolts tore into the nearest Tyranid, the third hit one square in the chest and the fourth flew wide as the recoil knocked the weapon from her mouth. The gaunts turned their weapons on her, but in doing so forgot to keep the surviving Ultramares pinned. A single fleshborer hit the ground next to Twilight's head before bolters tore through the exposed Tyranids.
Two Ultramares ran to the Rhino, dragging the dead captain into the tank before moving tot he pilot seats. The third picked up Twilight, hoisting the wounded Librarian onto her back before entering the tank. As a Librarian, Twilight's armor wasn't nearly as heavy as a normal Space Marine's, and the Ultramare easily carried her in. Feeling faint, with the smell of blood filling her nostrils, Twilight vomited over the Ultramare's armor and fell into unconsciousness.
/*\
Staring out the veiwport of the Imperium Warship, Twilight watched the Tyranid-infested world as the first deadly lance of energy struck it, turning the land for miles around it into boiling lava. The planet was under Exterminatus orders, and now that everything that could had been salvaged form it the world was being put to the flame.
The Captain had downloaded the records of the entire planet's defense systems into her armor, and with that information the Imperium would hopefully be able to analyze the way Tyranids attacked planets and begin organizing a defense against planetary invasion. Twilight's first live mission had been a success in the eyes of the Imperium, although a price had been paid. Her leg had been amputated and replaced with a mechanical one; the silvery chrome looked and felt... off, but she could navigate well enough.
As she turned form the viewport and the burning world below her, Twilight heard a whisper in her mind, promising her a whole, untarnished body. She dismissed the voice, ignored it; the price she, and all with psychic powers, payed was the constant voice of temptation that spoke in whispers and promises. Part of her initiation to the Ultramares had involved her sitting in a room with a psychic hood on, amplifying her psychic powers. Not only did it make her more powerful, it made it easier for the demons to speak with her. She had listened to every promise and gift they had to offer and hadn't broken; half-heard whispers were nothing to her.
She trotted down several hallways towards her squad's dorm. She would be reassigned; the entire squad would be cannibalized and used to patch holes in less damaged squads. Until hen, however, she would enjoy the relative peace of an empty squad dorm.
She said relative, because the voices were always there, waiting for her resolve to break enough for them to get through.
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Topic: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic (Read 224876 times)