//------------------------------// // The Bigger they are… // Story: Swooping Pegasus // by FenrisianBrony //------------------------------// The ride took almost a full day, and allowed Rainbow some time to her own thoughts. Conversation had faded about half way through the day, with the overall mood of the group of Exodites being dour and, as Pinkie Pie would put it, making them all a big bunch of saddy waddy pants. When Rainbow had asked Elarique why everypony was acting like this she got two things. Firstly, she got a dirty look from Talvan for using the word anypony to describe the Eldar, and secondly she got a very blunt answer from Elarique. “As I said, the swarm numbers in the millions. Including you we only have nine hundred and eighty six Eldar to confront the foe.” He didn’t need to say anymore, the message was clear to Rainbow. They didn’t expect to survive this, and by extension, she wasn’t expected to survive. When this thought hit home, Rainbows stomach had nose-dived and she had begun to sweat. She had come to terms with this now however, if she was to die, she would make sure that it was to protect others, and to make sure that at least some of the Tyranids wouldn’t be coming back to hurt anything else on the planet, or off the planet for that matter. As they rode, Rainbows thoughts drifted back to Equestria, and more importantly, to her six best friends. She had been with the Eldar for over a week now, and her friends would probably still be looking for her, scouring the entire continent to try and find her. She sighed as she thought about how they would be handling it. AJ and Rarity would probably go back to their jobs and probably work themselves stupid trying to think about anything else. Twilight would probably become even more of a recluse in her library, searching for a way that she could find out where Rainbow had gotten to. Fluttershy would probably stay with her animal friends even more, but it was Pinkie that Rainbow worried about even more. The last time anypony had, at least in Pinkie’s mind, abandoned her, she had had a mental breakdown, making friends with inanimate objects, and acting even crazier than usual. Now though, she was likely to go even further off the deep end, especially as Dash had promised that they would meet up after she had finished the competition. *** Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy all looked at each other nervously. The description Dash had given them about what their reactions would be was strikingly accurate, and they didn’t like to think about how much of a wreck they had been for the first year after Rainbow’s disappearance, especially Pinkie. *** Rainbow felt like she had let her friends down, and for the first time since that night all those years ago, when she had discovered that she was the element of loyalty, she felt as if she was not being the best pony she could be, and was majorly leaving them hanging. The day dragged on, and eventually turned into night before group of Eldar reached the line they had, as Elensar had put it, metaphorically drawn in the sand. The line consisted of a small encampment that had been set up by the Eldar who had rode on ahead, and an even smaller defensive line. As they neared it, Rainbow wondered how all the Eldar would fit in the defences, but held her tongue, waiting for Elarique or any other Eldar to say something. She didn’t have to wait long. “Comrades,” Elariques’ voice rang out through his helmet speakers, “This is where we make our stand. I know Eldar do not enjoy fighting a battle on the enemies’ terms, and especially not like this,” he said, gesturing behind him to the trenches, “but today I am afraid we have little option. I will take my squad, as well as three hundred volunteers to man the defences on foot. The rest of you I leave to be my outriders. Stay on your mounts, and strike the enemy when the time is right.” Elarique finished his speech off and let Talvan take the center spotlight. “Current scouting reports indicate that the main swarm will be here within the next 36 hours.” She stated briskly “Get some rest, eat, and pray to Asuryan that our Craftworld brethren will protect the rest of the planet when we are gone.” The group of Eldar started to disperse, with almost exactly three hundred other Eldar staying still, and giving a perceptive nod to Elarique, signalling that they would fight and die by his side when the time came. With a nod back at them, Elarique dismounted, bidding the remaining Eldar to do the same. Talvan and the rest of the squad walk off to the middle of the defences, leaving Rainbow with the remaining Eldar. Expecting to face more prejudice from them like she had been getting from Talvan, she steeled her resolve and turned to face them. Instead of shouts though, there were only murmurs between some of the Eldar who were looking at her. “You.” female Eldar walked forward, at least Rainbow assumed it was a female by the voice, “You are the one who killed the Lictor yes?” She asked briskly. “I, well,” Rainbow stammered, she was still not use to the idea of people praising her for killing, “yeah. I did kill it. So what?” “I just wanted to thank you,” the Eldar replied smartly, “and to let you know that the majority of the village, while they may not show it, are grateful to you.” With that she turned around and walked back to her squad. The remaining Eldar around her also went back to their conversations and preparations as well, leaving Rainbow alone and slightly stunned at how easily they had stopped hating her. In her still dazed state she slowly hovered over to the rest of Elariques’ squad. “Talvan, you and Egarion will take the left side of our defence, while Dorgolmar, Aranel and Elensar will take the middle. Rainbow and I shall take the right most side, and pray that the squads next to us can hold out as long as we can” Elarique stated. “For now though, get some rest. You will need it." With that the squad returned to their Megadons and began to unroll bedding and cook meals. Rainbow stayed with Elarique in the middle of the defences. “You too Rainbow. You above all other need rest before the battle. Steel yourself against the violence, and do not lose yourself upon the path of the warrior.” Elarique warned. Rainbow didn’t know exactly what he meant by that, but took the words to heart, swearing to ask him more about them if they survived. Slowly Rainbow began to drift back towards the group of Eldar, and eventually fell asleep, her stomach churning at the thought of what tomorrow could bring. *** Seven hours later *** Rainbow was awakened by a loud blast on some sort of horn, and the sound of a primal roar some distance away. Instantly she was on her hooves, checking that the straps on her makeshift armour where still tight, and the rifle she had been given still showed green. Looking up from her preparation, she saw the rest of the Eldar doing much the same thing, either checking their own gear, or helping other to check theirs. Tearing her eyes off the smooth movements some of the Eldar were doing, Rainbow searched for Elarique and the rest of the squad. She finally sighted them already in the trench, and flew over to them. “Rainbow!” Shouted an excited Dorgolmar, “I was afraid you would sleep through this lovely weather we’re having. Remember, there’s a ninety percent chance of death and dismemberment in the air today, with just a small possibility of a slow agonising death. Oh wait, did I say small possibility? I meant a large one. Those things are some difficult to get right, don't you agree?” As Dorgolmar rambled on about how getting the right size of something right in a sentence was harder than spaying a starved Megadon, which drew some really strange looks from everyone in the vicinity, Elarique and Talvan walked over to Rainbow. “I am still not your friend Rainbow” Talvan stated curtly, “but I feel that in light of recent actions against the Lictor, and your willingness to help in a cause that is not your own, that I can at least give you a small chance to prove yourself.” With that, she turned and walked back to Egarion, who was watching the battlefield intently. “You should be honoured.” Elarique said softly, so only Rainbow could hear, “It’s not every day that Talvan apologises for anything, and it is even rarer for her to accept another species as anything more than dirt.” “Thank you.” Rainbow whispered, “I’ll make sure that her trust isn’t…” She started, but was cut off by one loud, animalistic scream from the other side of the battlefield. As the Eldar prepared themselves, Rainbow finally got a view over the lip of the trench and onto the killing ground beyond. What she saw chilled her to the bone. The field that had been empty and barren the night before, was now crawling and heaving like some sort of stormy sea. It wasn’t water though, and Rainbow’s heart seized as she realised that there were hundreds of thousands of creatures there, maybe even millions as the Eldar had predicted. The majority of the creatures looked like the creature that Rainbow had been attacked by on the first day, although some of them had what looked like a version of her rifle instead of claws. Some of the creatures however, towered above the rest of the swarm, huge claws and sword like appendages attached to the end of muscular legs and arms. Rainbow suddenly got the strangest feeling of déjà vu, and suddenly remembered what the creatures reminded her of. Changelings. Even with the lack of wings, these creatures bore a massive resemblance to the Changelings; even the hulking ones looked like the rare behemoths that had been sighted in Canterlot. As Rainbow stared out across the battle field, she saw a large creature step from the swarm. As it walked forward, the rest of the swarm began to move with it, obeying the creatures will without a sound being uttered. At Elariques’ command, rifles were readied at the oncoming swarm, and Rainbow had her first serious feelings of doubt about what she was doing. She crushed those thoughts underhoof quickly though, and got back to the task at hand. She was the Element of Loyalty, and she wouldn’t let fear stop her from helping her friends. The swarm began to close the gap rapidly, the bigger creatures staying nearer the back, while the smaller swarms of creatures began to rush forward, breaking into a full blown gallop that put AJ to shame. Slowly, as if in slow motion, Elarique shouted a single command. Even though she was right next to him, Rainbow couldn’t hear what he had said, her entire world turning silent. She got the idea though, and with the rest of the Eldar, pulled the trigger on her rifle. In a second, the air infront of the trench line was filled with razor sharp disks, that cut through swaths of the Tyranids bearing down upon them. The creatures didn’t seem to even care that hundreds of their number were dying in their charge towards the gun line, and kept coming. Once again, Rainbow aimed down the top of the Shuriken Catapult like Elarique had shown her and pulled the trigger, causing another handful of creatures to fall to the ground, bleeding and dying as they were trampled under the weight of the swarm behind them. Rainbow continued to fire into the swarm, only stopping when she had to change the core of the rifle. She had quickly figured out an efficient way to do this, and was soon reloading at the speed of some of the lesser Eldar around her. She risked a glance to her side, and saw the rest of the squad plunging fire, literally in Dorgolmars’ case, into the ranks of Tyranid drawing ever closer. Even though they had probably lost over a thousand of their own, the swarm continued to advance, and soon, began to fire. A scream came from Rainbow's right, and she turned to see an Eldar near her go down, something burrowing its way into his chest. This was the first casualty of the battle that Rainbow saw, it wouldn’t be the last. Tearing her eyes away from the macabre sight of the dying Eldar, Rainbow resumed firing, calmly taking the life of the Tyranids infront of her. She began to think that the Eldar had been over reacting to this threat. Most of the Eldar weren’t even here, and these creatures were losing hundreds for every one Eldar they killed in return. Things soon changed. Forged by the blood of the lesser creatures of the swarm, the warrior beasts behind them now had a much shorter distance to face the guns than those that came before them, and with a savage roar, leaped over the dying bodies, and swarmed towards the trench line. Rainbow aimed and fired at one of the creatures, which took the impact of the shots to the chest. The shrunkens didn’t even seem to faze it, and it kept running forward, until it was put down by a prolonged burst from Rainbow. A strange feeling of satisfaction started to wash over Rainbow, but she quickly stopped it, reminding herslf she was here to protect, not to enjoy anything. The creatures started to get uncomfortably close to the trench line, and although they were losing some of their number, were still vastly superior in number than the Eldar were. All across the front line, Tyranid and Eldar clashed in a deadly confrontation. Claws ripped heads from shoulders, and point blank shot from Eldar pierced even the thick armour of the creatures now fighting to get into the trench system. Dorgolmar and Aranel fought back to back, the formers weapon, the fire-spitter as Rainbow called it, incinerated all it touched, much to the delight of the Eldar behind it, while Aranel had discarded his rifle in favour of a sword and a familiar pistol. Rainbow ducked as a smaller creature jumped at her from one side of the trench, missing being decapitated by a hairs width, before spinning and unloading half a clip into the creatures back. She turned back around in time to see one of the larger creatures swing its claws at her. Rainbow dived back, holding her weapon out infront of her in an attempt to stop the claws from eviscerating her. She succeeded, but the gun was cut neatly in two, rendering it completely useless. The creature bore down to finish the job, but stopped as a sword erupted from it maw. Elariques quickly withdrew his sword and slashed at another creature, fatally wounding it, before going onto the next creature. All around her, Rainbow saw the bodies of dead creatures, both Eldar and Tyranid. The Stench was almost unbearable, as the venom on the creatures claws caused bodies to rot almost instantly. Rainbow resisted the urge to vomit as she ran over to a dead Eldar. Picking up the sword and pistol of the dead Eldar, she threw herself back into the fray, helping another Eldar take down one of the warrior beasts. As Rainbow finished doing this, she heard a roar from behind her. She turned and saw not one, but three of the largest Tyranid creatures approaching the trench line, moving faster than anything that size should ever be able to move. “CARNIFEX!” shouted an Eldar from somewhere on the battlefield. Rainbow stared in horror as the creatures charged down into the trenches, crushing numerous Eldar in the process, and acting more like wrecking balls than actual warriors. In an instant, Rainbow knew what she could do to help. Taking to the skies, she flew full pelt at the lead Carnifex, turning mid-flight and preparing to buck that thing into next week, while she wasn’t an AJ when it came to bucking, she had momentum on her side, and nothing could match up to that, even Big Mac. Her rear hooves firmly connected with the creatures head.