The Descent into Madness

by FenrisianBrony

Planetary Assault

The Dark Eldar fleet hung above the world like an omen of death itself. Every gun on the planet had tried firing during the void battle, and every shot had missed its mark and subsequently been silenced. The Dark Eldar could have attacked at any point during the last three days, everyone on the world knew that, but they weren’t. Bodies rained from the sky every hour, a macabre bombardment that sapped morale faster than any high explosive. Even within the cavern cities, bodies fell, dropped through portals that opened only long enough to deliver their cargo.

Fire Warriors had been found out of place in droves, the front lines around the capital city were sparsely manned at best, many mumblings from the Gue'Vesa about how a bit more discipline for the Fire Warriors would go a long way. Applejack and Aun’Vesa had crushed those thoughts, Aun’Nan volunteering to take up position on the front line instead, sharing the barricades at the entrance to the great cavern. Desertions had slowed since, but not nearly enough. If an attack came now, the defences simply wouldn’t hold.

Then finally, after almost four days of constant terror bombings, the first attacks happened. Silent fiends made of shadow themselves slaughtered whole detachments of backline troops, individuals identified as Harlequins by Juhani and Tar’nek eliminated El’s of all castes, and Jetbikes appeared in every cavern on the planet seemingly at random.

Of course, they had prepared for these eventualities, and the counter-plans were put into motion as soon as the attacks began. Stealth Teams specifically stationed near the rear caught many of the Mandrake warriors in a crossfire, driving them back to their shadowy realm, Kroot Hounds and Krootox were unleashed to drive the Harlequins away, even their skills wavering when faced with packs of slavering beasts which moved almost as fast as they did, and everywhere Jetbikes appeared, Piranha’s and Tetra’s were deployed to duel with them, deadly aerial combat breaking out across the planet.

But the worst had yet to come. The Assault on the front line of the caverns was about to begin, everyone could feel it. Every Tau strategist and their Eldar allies knew that Rainbow would make sure she was in the first assault wave, which meant Applejack would be there as well. They had one chance to blunt this assault, Applejack intended to take it.

***

“All systems reading nominal across the board, internal generators charged and locked,” the Earth Caste Drone buzzed as it flitted around the Equinox battlesuit. “Preparing to disconnect from external power source in three, two, one.”

Applejack let out a gasp as the high capacity cable was disconnected from the battlesuit, the steady stream of warmth that felt like it was emitting from it abruptly stopping as the internal power supply took control.

“Analysing Puretide Engram Chip signal,” the drone continued. “Signal’s reading as nominal, data within should be accessible when needed.”

“Thanks,” Applejack grunted, shaking her head, the battlesuit copying her movements perfectly. “Bloom, we ready?”

“Affirmative, Applejack,” the Battlesuit’s onboard VI had been reprogrammed to respond to the name Bloom and had even had its voice altered to have something equivalent to Applejack’s own drawl. “We’re ready ta defend the Greater Good.”

“Then let’s make it happen,” Applejack grimaced within the suit, the last few connection wires disconnecting from the suit as she dropped onto all fours and broke into a gallop.

The main Earth Caste battlesuit port was in the centre of the city, but Applejack had made sure that her own suit and those of her team were in a mobile port far closer to the frontlines. As she ran, her team joined her, the two XV9 Hazard leaping over obstacles to form up with her, one on each side of her.

“Shas’Vre D'yanoi Prinel, reporting in,” the suit on her left messaged her.

“Shas’Vre Ho'sarn Gras'en, ready Shas’O,” the remaining suit radioed.

“Stick tight ta me, and ta cover. Dark Eldar splinter weapons ain’t a threat ta us, but their dark matter weapons are. Remember, we’re not here ta turn the tide in open conflict, y’all need ta keep the bodyguards off me when we find Rainbow. I’ll engage ‘er, but take shots if ya have ‘em, I’m not so proud that ah have ta be the one ta kill ‘er.”

“Received and understood, Shas’O,” Ho'sarn responded quickly.

“Eta to frontline, two minutes,” D'yanoi added.

“Let’s hope there’s still a front when we get there,” Applejack growled, pushing her battlesuit to its limits as they sped towards the growing sounds of battle.

***

Rainbow let out a snarl as she leapt through the Webway portal that had been borne to the world by a flight of Raiders, scores of Wyches bursting forth beside her. Gilda was next through the portal, leading her own squad of Bloodbrides into the heart of the Tau defences. It had only been moments, but the first line had been breached in dozens of places, the Tau unable to bring their long range firepower to bear, and the walls being sparsely manned at best.

“Eethron, break through and occupy the backups, I don’t want them shooting more than they already have,” Rainbow roared, digging her claws into the neck seal of a Fireblade, easily slicing through the thin seal and weak flesh beyond. Her weapons were all secured about her person, including a pair of pistols mounted on an upgraded weapon harness strapped to her flanks. It had been a while since she used such a harness, opting to use her Jetbike weapons while she was a Reaver pilot, but now she would be facing battle on the ground, she had opted to take it out again.

“Gilda, Pathfinder squad to your left, silence their markerlights,” Rainbow indicated with a hoof, before sending a stream of splinters into a squad of firewarriors that was trying to fall back. “Ale’ri…”

“You don’t need to give me commands, Succubus,” the Archon retorted, Rainbow catching brief glimpses of the Archons swords separating heads from bodies. “But you may be interested to know about the reinforcements approaching. Three battlesuits, two Hazard class and one unknown. Shall we move to engage?”

“No, that’s not a counter attack, that’s a challenge,” Rainbow grinned, licking the blood off her lips. “Leave them, and get me a Venom, I want the lead pilots head.”

***

Applejack leapt into the air over the rear line tidewall barriers, her shield generator kicking in as a dark lance shot struck out at her being deflected upwards with minimal effort.

“Status report,” Applejack opened her communicator to all Tau frequencies, the Shas’El in charge of this portion of the defences quickly replying.

“Heavy assault on all fronts, Haemonculus forces have broken through to the third line of defence, Wych and Kabal forces are spread across the first and second defensive lines. Fourth and fifth are still secure, but they can’t draw clear lines of fire without risking hitting friendlies.”

“Keep the lines secure and order squad by squad fall backs of Fire Warriors, and a counter attack by Broken Sword capable Auxiliary forces,” Applejack ordered, before landing and rising onto her back legs, aiming at a low flying Raider and firing a flurry of fusion blaster shots at it. At this range, the craft had no chance of dodging, but it did manage to turn on its axis, the shots slamming into its rear and destroying its engines, sending it plummeting towards the ground.

“Shas’O, move!” one of her Hazard suited pilots roared, diving at her as the raiders shock prow slammed into the ground.

The prow narrowly missed Applejack and her teammate, but the remainder of the debris didn’t, peppering Applejack’s battlesuit with chunks of rock and wraithbone. Most bounced harmlessly off her suits thick armour, but a fist sized chunk of rock was not so harmless, smashing into Applejack’s helmet. Warning lights flared into life within the cockpit, Applejack feeling the damage even before Bloom spoke.

“Communications offline, voice projector offline, armour integrity 99.6%, power levels holding at 99.8%.”

“Bloom, find a work around, ah need ta be able ta talk to everyone,” Applejack grunted, pushing herself up, beginning to sign to her teammates that she was ok, before D'yanoi let out a roar, unleashing both of his twin burstcannons into the sky.

“Venom’s incoming, five targets full of Wyches,” D'yanoi called as he fired, the Vipers jinking around the hail of shots.

“Eyes on Rainbow?” Applejack roared, trying to project her voice from inside the battlesuit, but the sound dampening materials that kept her ears safe from the din of battle now was working against her, and her team members didn’t hear. They didn’t have to though, as with a screech, two figures dived from the venoms even as they sped towards the ground.

The first one was big, blasters covering thick armour that would have looked more at home on a cut down Talos Pain Engine, but was still unmistakably a Griffon, Applejack knowing instantly that it was Gilda.

The next however was what Applejack really cared about however. She was far more muscled than Applejack remembered, and she had always been muscular. Other than that though, she was like a completely different pony. Her wings were like those of a thestral, black and leathery replacing what had once been feathered or, more recently, wraithbone. A series of needles stretched along her back, filled with what Applejack knew where combat drugs of all kinds. Her face had changed, the skin had been removed and replaced with a black material that seemed to be boded directly to her skull. And there were the talons, currently clutches around the huge power sword Ravenous.

Applejack had heard what everyone who had escaped from Commoragh had told her, read every report and even seen the few pictures that Scootaloo had taken with her, but nothing prepared her for the reality, as Rainbow Dash streaked towards her with murder and hatred in her eyes.

***

Rainbow leapt from the Venom before it began to descend towards the trio of battlesuits, Gilda leaping out after her. The three suits had stopped in a clearing between defensive lines, the wreckage of a Raider sticking out of the ground next to them, and had clearly done some damage as sparks jumped from the unique battlesuits helmet.

She had never seen a suit quite like the one she was currently plunging towards. It was quadrupedal, two oversized gauntlets on its rear legs, while it had a fusion blaster and shield generator disk on its front legs. For a moment, Rainbow had a sickening feeling that she was about to cross blades with someone she knew, before she smashed that voice into the ground.

They know you’re looking for her. This is a trick to make you hesitate, make you weak. Rip that suit open and you’ll find a Tau, nothing else. Only they can pilot their battlesuits.

Nodding at the voice, Rainbow let out a scream as she hit the ground, drugs flooding her system as she leapt at the battlesuit, Gilda slamming home into one of the Hazzard suits even as it scythed down three of the Wyches that followed them both.

“I’m going to rip that head off your battlesuit and beat your Ethereal’s to death with it!” Rainbow screeched, swinging her sword in wide arcs around her. To the pilot’s credit, they moved well, avoiding many of the blows altogether and blocking the remaining ones with its energy shield, before surging forward, bullrushing Rainbow.

Taken aback by the uncharacteristic charge by a Tau warrior, Rainbow barely avoided the charge, Ravenous being knocked from her talons as she flapped her wings, spinning to avoid the hail of pulse rounds fired by one remaining Hazzard suit and activating yet another series of drug dispensers, time slowing as she dived back towards the main suit, drawing a pair of knives.

Then for the second time, the battlesuit surprised her. Tiny jets dotted along its sides firing and propelling it backwards onto its rear legs, but instead of falling back to all fours, it stayed upright, towering over Rainbow as its fusion blaster fired, the shot flattening into a blade.

“Looks like it’s a party,” Rainbow grinned, rising to her own hide legs with a flap of her wings and spinning her knives. “All your fancy toys, you can’t win this.”

With a screech, Rainbow lunged at the battlesuit.

***

Applejack couldn’t believe her eyes as Rainbow seemed to dodge rounds at point blank range, moving faster than her eyes could see, Bloom working to keep up and formulate a replay of the feat, even as Applejack was already preparing for close combat, readying her fusion blade and powering on her Onager Hooves.

Rainbow was faster than Applejack, she was more trained, and as Rainbow had said, Applejack’s advantage was fancy toys, but she had to try, swinging her sword forward. Rainbow didn’t even try to block it, weaving out of the way and inside Applejack’s reach, delivering a passing cut that severed a pipeline and set off new alarm bells.

Pushing on, Applejack followed her training, everything Juhani, Tar’nek, Scootaloo, Lightning and Spitfire had taught her rushing to the forefront of her mind. Everything became a weapon, her vector thrusters allowing her to aim kicks at Rainbow that would have broken her in half if they had landed. For her part, Rainbow scored dozens of blows, none of them doing more than cursory damage on their own, but they were slowly beginning to mount up, Applejack getting the feeling that she was being toyed with. More than that feeling however, a pit had opened in her stomach as she reached the final, inevitable conclusion that this fight was building up to.

She couldn’t beat Rainbow. Tar’Nek and Juhani had tried, Lightning and Spitfire had tried. They were all far more trained than her, and they’d all lost. Applejack was going to lose this fight, and there was nothing she could do about it except for prolonging the inevitable.

***

Gilda finally got her opening, swinging behind the remaining Hazzard suit and opening up with both her blasters. It was overkill, the suit simply ceasing to exist from the waist up. Turning, she looked towards the ongoing duel between Rainbow and the remaining pilot, before opening her comms to the rest of the force.

“Eethron, Ale’ri, what’s going on?”

“The first three defencive lines have already been over run, the fourth and fifth are in full retreat,” Eethron replied smoothly. “We are sending some forces after them, as well as to Rainbow’s position. We will end this pilot for her.”

“Oh no, no one’s ending this but her,” Gilda chuckled. “Bring something to capture this moment. I think people back in Commoragh will pay handsomely for this spectacle.”

Soon, the battlesuit was the only Tau figure left, Blood Brides, Trueborn and high-ranking Wracks surrounding the duelling pair, while other, less deserving members of the Triumvirate were hunting down stragglers, taking prisoners or simply basking in the pain of the dying. Only those of note could watch this in the flesh.

As they cheered or jeered, the Battlesuit lunged forward, Rainbow avoiding the blow, but an unsuspecting Wrack behind was not so lucky. The plasma blade passed right through his right arm, the Wrack letting out a screech as his limb was severed and cauterised almost instantly, before his screech turned to one of pleasure as the pain wave hit him and those around him. What didn’t kill a Dark Eldar made them stronger, even more so for the Haemonculus covens.

“This spectacle is starting to bore me,” Rainbow snarled as she delivered yet another blow, this time shattering one of the helmet optics. “Shall I end this?”

This last question was directed to the crowd, Rainbow spinning as she spread her talons wide, displaying her oil slicked knives, her muscles bulging beneath her bodysuit. A roar from the crowd was all she needed, and as the battlesuit surged forward once more, she made her move, dropping to the floor as the plasma blade passed through the air she had just been in.

Sliding beneath the suits legs, she grabbed the long since dropped power sword, switching it on with a hiss and the acrid smell of ionising air, before bringing the blade whipping round in a two-talon grip far faster than anything of its size should have been capable of. The battlesuit brought its own blade up, and for the first time it clashed with another weapon. Normally it would have held, but with all the damage it had sustained, the suit was leaking power, and with a pop, the blade phased out of existence, offering Rainbow no more resistance, and allowing her to hack into the head of the Battlesuit.

***

The battlesuit let out a squeal of protest as the powered blade severed the control module in the ‘head’. Many made the mistake of thinking the pilots head was also there, often just before their deaths as the battlesuit could function without it for a short time, and at a greatly limited capacity. This was not one of those times however, Bloom’s voice slowing down to the point where the AI was barely talking before following the blade and fading, all power from the suit finally expended. With a long creak, the suit fell backwards, Applejack wincing as she landed, even the gel-cushioning surrounding her not fully absorbing the blow but doing enough to rip the connection needle free. She briefly remembered the human titan pilot she had helped rescue a lifetime ago, how much damage had been done to him by being disconnected from his machine too quickly, and thanked Celestia that she didn’t have the same problem. Then she remembered where she was, and her thanks turned to curses. Dying quickly would have been a blessing.

She heard a pair of hooves impact the hull, and knew Rainbow was on top of the fallen suit, probably preening before the crowd that had surrounded them. A moment later, the tip of Ravenous slid through the cockpit seal, narrowly missing Applejack as it sliced the door open, overriding the safety locks. With a hiss of depressurising air, the doors flew open, Applejack staring upwards into Rainbow’s face as the Pegasus loomed above her, in the act of reaching down to grab her. Letting out a slow breath, Applejack closed her eyes, waiting for the end to come, and praying it was quick. She had been tortured once before in her life. She hoped that if there was any scrap of Rainbow left, she would at least get a quick death.

Comments

[FleetlordAvatar]

Why must you torture us with cliffhangers!

[FenrisianBrony]

8729668
Mwuhahahaha :P

I'm planning on getting at least one chapter done on one of my stories per week, but hopefully a bit more.

[Junkoposter]

*notices good quality fic* OwO what's this?

[the other sans]

a macabre bombardment that sapped moral faster than any high explosive
but the first line had been breach in dozens of places
but it did manage to turn on it’s axis
Soon, Applejack was the battlesuit was the only Tau figure left

1. Morale.
2. Breached.
3. Its.
4. In.

8729677 You are such a tease

[FenrisianBrony]

8729710
Well, I try :P

[Bahamuttone]

lines. Forth and

think it should be Fourth

first three defencive lines

defensive

Triumvirate hunting down

either "were hunting" or "hunted"

[FenrisianBrony]

8729799
First and third editted, second is remaining because it's the English way. UK represent :P

Thanks though

[Bahamuttone]

8729806
Hmm I'm quite sure that defencive is not correct
http://grammarist.com/spelling/defence-defense/
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/defence

[FenrisianBrony]

8729815
Huh, what do you know. I take it back then, my Word spellchecker is saying it's correct :P

[SixColoredDeath]

YAY *claps in excitement upon seeing the new chapter of this GREAT story*
Cliffhenger = anticipation for the next part

[Aatxe360]

I was just thinking of this story yesterday. Glad to see it through!

Also, I think you have some of the character titles in the wrong places? One labeled 'Rainbow Dash' talks fro AJ's pov and all that.

[Supreme_Bananas]

Damn, what a cliffhanger ending haha

[FenrisianBrony]

8730272
Will have to look tomorrow :)

[FenrisianBrony]

8730272
Which one?

[Aatxe360]

8730509

The second on....or if those are correct, the first one.

[FenrisianBrony]

8732357
They both look correct to me, Applejack ones because the parts above are Applejack :)

[Aatxe360]

8733776

Oh. Done for parts above. I was thinking it was for the parts below.

[FenrisianBrony]

8736218
Nah, order is text about certain pony
Chapter break that links to that pony

So AJ text
AJ Break
RD Text
RD Break

:)

[Brother Malachai]

0:00:28 "I will die on this planet." I'm sure this is what AJ is hoping for at this moment.

0:23:44 This reminded me of the planning AJ and Company have been working on for so long. :P

[Bazing]

Comes back from a break from the site to this, what a happy day indeed.

[Krozairofequestria]

HATE! I HATE YOU! YOU ARE TO BLAME! I WILL KILL YOU! DAMI..... ARGH NO! NOOOOOOO!
Sorry about this, my wallet got to my PC.
But on to the comment.

Well I reread the first story and got to read this on to this point, didn't even take 5 days ^^.

I must say, for the fact that Rainbow is the one who becomes a monster I actually dislike Spitfire and Lightning more. I mean all they do is hate at RD for the way she become even though it is more or less their fault. I mean, they only bitch about RD becoming a monster, but Rainbow gave them many chances to give her better ideas. But no one ever got one.
And the death of Wavechill, oh how I hate them in this part, first they blame RD and Bitch about how she should have done something. Then She reflects over the situation, sees a reason why it happen (not noticing the damaged wing) and fixes it so she doesn't have to see another team mate die. But what does this two annoying twats do? Bitch about it again. I mean come on, you are in a city of psychopaths, you can't survive on good will and with being nice. Their behavior could get them killed many times because the weak die in this place. And even after Rainbow tries everything to protect them from the king of this place, the biggest fish in the pond, all they can do is bitch about it. I am actually surprised that Rainbow didn't put them down earlier.
And even at this point, they play the "Heroes" but it was Rainbows years long plan that got them the information to find AJ. The worst part of this is, I fear they won't see any kind of "karma is a bitch" for their shitty behavior all the time. Rainbow become a monster and let herself be experimented on to be stron, to protect her team/friends and find AJ, she did more then this two thots together to find AJ.

Scootalo I can some what understand, she is still young and clings to the weak ways of her world, and with her team there and RD being really soft on her as it looks like, she is some what sheltered from this Universe, so I can excuse her actions at some points. But I would be interested in seeing how she made contacts in the galaxy, it looks like she become a great schemer in this place and would fit in perfectly.

But Rainbow is also at.... ARGH!!!!

YOU ASSHOLE! YOU ARE THE ONE! IT IS YOUR FAULT! I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU IN YOUR SLEE...... ARGH AAAAHHHHH!

Sorry again, my credit card started to strangle me and my wallet got to my PC again. But I think i found a more ....... permanent solution to this problem.

So where was I? A yes Rainbow, why did she look on Saim-Hann? She didn't get answers there the first time.
Why didn't she started to look for the Black Library again? The Guardians would be able to help her better I think. Or take Twilight with her, maybe she could be of use on Saim-Hann, maybe she (as the one who clearly is the more science minded) could have come up with something with all the Eldar Tech at her hooves. But hey, even as a monster she is the Element of Loyalty. She at least didn't forget the reason why she came here.

But I am actually concerned for Gilda.

Gilda is somewhat odd, I mean, ok she always stayed with Rainbow, something of a plus in my book as she never betrayed her. But she also wasn't forced into this world, but changed of her own free will to fit in. And I don't mean like RD did because she was knowing what this universe was like. But I have somewhat the feeling she was a better canidad for a real military unit like the temple, different then Spit or Lightning, who would have better stayed at their joke of a military unit and should just keep making tricks for the people and stay useless in a real fight. But Back to Gilda. She somewhat can fit right in with the dark Eldar, but if I got this right she never went to a Haemonculus to get a boost. Correct me pleas on this if I got this wrong.

I won't say much to AJs part of the story, just because FUCK THE TAU! MECHANICUS RULES!

So on tho your writing. It is fucking amazing, I am lucky to have found this story and I am happy I am enough fan of 40k to try it.
And this fucking cliffhanger!
Hope you keep going. But now it is late, I should really try to get some sleep. See you next chapter.
And my big E protect you from any writers block.

[DarthSonic66]

This is a very well written fanfic.... in isolation. I’d even say that it’s superior to Swooping Pegasus, in that it has a far more focused plot and character arcs, presenting a great conflict of two Ponies and best friends, one who kept the themes of FiM live even in the 41st Millennium and the other thoroughly corrupted by 40k rushing headlong into a climactic confrontation.

But this is not an isolated tale, it’s a SEQUEL. One that thematically clashes something FIERCE with what came before. While not in of itself a bad thing (considering I’m a fan of This Platinum Crown, I’d be a hypocrite if I said this is something that simply can never be done) it does make people feel like they’ve just been baited into an emotional trap. “Hey! Look at this story of a Rainbow Dash being cast into the Grim Darkness of the 41st Millennium, watch how she keeps her soul valorous in spite of it al---- JUST KIDDING SHE’S A DARK ELDAR NOW GRIMDERPGRIMDERPGRIMDERP!!!!!!”

(And of the subject of This Platinum Crown, as much as I love it, it really shouldn’t have sold itself as a direct sequel to Best Night Ever.)

That does bring me to something that really is a weakness in the fic, even when the story is taken in isolation and not as a sequel. A lot of RD’s fall rockets right past Grim Darkness straight into GRIMDERP, which is bizarre seeing as your are usually so good at avoiding this (in the same fic no less). Though honestly I think the issue here is the tool you decided to use to corrupt her. I really would NOT have suggested using the Dark Eldar, as they do not lend themselves to elegant storytelling. I would have used the Necrons or hell, even Chaos as long as it wasn’t Slaneesh.

So yeah, I’ll keep an eye on this fc, and I’m not going to outright condemn it, but consider my enthusiasm dampened.

[DarkPhoenixx]

Merciful Luna! Please say AJ makes it.
And no matter how much I hate to admit it... this AU's Rainbow Dash is not a Best Pony. All other Rainbow Dash's in the multiverse (that I know of and more) are still Best Pony.