The armoured pair walked in silence down the winding halls of the shrine, making their way towards, where ever Jolee was leading her to.
Rainbow looked at Jolee curiously while they walked, the Eldar holding his hand to the side of his helmet, and making barely audible sounds beneath it. She felt like she was being left out of something important, and began to fiddle with her own helmet, intent on finding out what they were talking about. Unfortunately, her actions were for naught, as all she managed to find was a hissing static noises on one of her helmets communications that caused her ears to ring.
Relenting, she opted to just walk in line with Jolee until the Eldar had finished, whatever it was he was trying to do. Eventually, he lowered his hand, and with an almost imperceptible movement, turned his head towards Rainbow.
“The others stand ready to greet us.” He said cryptically.
“And what exactly will I be doing?” Rainbow asked.
“Your final test.” Jolee said bluntly.
“I realised that.” Rainbow said exasperatedly, “I mean what is the final test?”
“That is not for me to say.” Jolee said darkly, “But it will challenge your very core, I can promise you that.”
Shaken by the Eldars answer, Rainbow lapsed back into silence as the pair entered the central room of the shrine. Standing inside were the other members of the shrine, and Jolee quickly jumped over to their side, leaving Rainbow standing on her own on the other side of the room.
"Rainbow Dash." Kaliden boomed, "You stand before the combined might of the temple of the Floating Assault. Ninety eight days ago, you stood before this same collective as nothing more than a physically superior creature, trained by my hand to be faster, stronger and quicker of the mind than that of a normal civilian. Now, you stand before us again, this time trained to be a weapon by the temple as a whole. Today, we will find out if you have truly learnt all we can teach. Tar'nek, if you would please prepare the initiate."
"This will be the culmination of your training." Tar'nek informed her, walking forward a step, before stopping. "In the test, you will be forced to draw on everything you have learnt from us. The targets will no longer be passive, and you will no longer be shooting with simple light. This time, the enemy will be armed with non-lethal, but harmful weapons, as will you. This is no longer a single fire test, but an entire battle scenario."
"You will be separated from your unit, dropped into a combat situation, and expected to survive. More over, you will be expected to act and achieve an unknown objective. Your armour has been configured to deactivate localised areas if you are hit. If you take a hit to your wing, you will not be able to use it, if you take a glancing hit to your helmet, you will lose that. Take a direct hit, and you will fail, do I make myself clear?"
"Perfectly sir." Rainbow shouted, standing to attention.
"Then prove me right Rainbow. Prove that taking you into my temple was not a mistake." Tar'nek said, before a door slid open behind Rainbow. Just next to the door, a small draw slid out.
"Your test awaits Rainbow." Tar'nek said, gesturing towards the door.
Without another word, Rainbow turned in her hooves, and walked towards the door. Reaching the draw that had opened, she peered inside, and saw the weapon she had been using when learning to shoot, as well as four grenade dispensers that would attach onto her armour. Smiling, she pulled the objects out, and slotted them into her armour, before grabbing hold of the rifle and moving off through the door.
As soon as she had crossed the threshold of the door, it slid back down into the niche for it on the floor with an almost in audible hiss.
Continuing down the path, the light continued to fade, and even with her helmets night vision, Rainbow was eventually plunged into darkness. Undeterred, Rainbow continued down the path, until she emerged into a brightly lit field. Looking behind her, she was surprised to see that the tunnel she had walked down was dissolving before her eyes. Putting her hoof up experimentally, she felt nothing, and sighed, her test had begun.
Shouldering her rifle, she hovered just off the ground and set off until she was below the largest concentration on clouds. She could not shake the feeling that she had seen this place before, but pushed it from her kind, and flew through the clouds, allowing herself an unrestricted view of the sky. The sight, chilled her to the bones.
The sky was dominated by a single, massive tendril, with other tiny ones snaking off from it. She had seen such a phenomenon before, and she had hoped to never see it again. She had last seen it on Hannibal, and it was the precursor to a Tyranid force.
Speeding off, she dived back through the clouds, and once again got the feeling that she had seen the landscape before, but decided that the Tyranid attack was more pressing. She still didn't know what her objective was, but she knew her foe. She knew that they would be legion in number, and killing the lesser creatures would not even hinder the swarm. She also knew that a synapse creature would be in charge of the swarm, and hitting that would hurt the swarm.
With new conviction, Rainbow set off, checking her weapon to make sure that it was activated. Finally, after a few minutes of speeding through the air, she set eyes on a small swarm of Tyranid hormagaunts, led by a warrior synapse beast. Smiling, she increased her elevation slightly, before pinpointing the Tyranid warrior. Content that she had calculated everything properly, she dived downwards in silence, before firing a single perfectly aimed shot at the creature, killing it instantly, before wheeling around and fleeing, not checking to see the results of her work.
What she saw next interested her, as a pier of smoke rose in the far distance. Deciding that this would be her next port of call, she banked and turned toward it.
Soon after she started, she crested a hill, and for the second time, she felt a chill run down her spine, but this time, it threatened to stop her heart. Instantly, her wings ceased to move, and she plummeted out of the sky, her eyes fixed on the burning ruins of the town in front of her.
On Ponyville.
She plummeted out of the air for a few, heart wrenching seconds, before remembering her training, and forcing her wings to flare. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, and she landed awkwardly on her forelegs. She was met by a sickening crunch from her helmets speakers, and the armour on her right leg locked up, making it unable to move.
Wincing, she pushed herself back to her feet, and stumbled slightly as she found she couldn’t even extend her foreleg so it was in line with the others, leaving it cocked out to the side.
Sighing, she flapped her wings and hovered just off the ground, and sped towards Ponyville.
“Hello?” She called out, her voice wavering. “Twilight? Rarity? Pinkie?”
A roar echoed around the empty ruins, and Rainbow sped off towards it, rounding a corner to see a massive Carnifex crashing through the remains of Twilights Treebary.
Letting out a primal roar, she flapped her wings, moving through the air like a primitive human bullet, before stopping almost instantly and propelling a flurry of grenades into the carnifexes face.
Wasting no time, she took aim, and fired a shot at the wounded beast, piercing one of the vulnerable orbs on its face, before quickly firing another into the exact same spot, sending massive amounts of trauma through its brain, and killing it instantly.
Unfortunately, the roar had alerted more Tyranids, and more began to pour towards her. Taking back to the skies, she flew over the ruins of the library, searching for, well, anything.
She found it.
The inside of the library was covered in blood, and Rainbow saw snatches of purple fur, pink fur, yellow fur, even orange fur, but nothing else that would indicate that anything was living inside.
“I will kill you all!” She screamed, turning and hovering above the wreckage of the library, as more Tyranids flocked into the square.
Rainbow forgot that she had to complete a mission, she forgot that a Tyranid swarm didn’t care for losing small creatures, she even forgot that this was all a training simulation, she, wanted, blood.
Uttering a blood curdling cry, she dived at the swarm. Landing on top of one of the smaller creatures, she transferred her weight, crushing its head, before rolling forward and firing a blistering hail of shots at the swarm.
Her weapon beeped once to indicate it was out of charge, and Rainbow flipped herself backwards, ejecting the power core and slipping another one into the mechanism. Letting fly with another volley of grenades, she cleared out a small space and landed in the swarm again, bringing her rifle up.
The swarm had grown exponentially, and was even now pushing back over the dead. Rainbow finally returned to her senses, and took off once again, speeding towards the town hall.
It was then she saw it, a squat Tyranid organism, its weapon, a long fat barrelled thing, was pointed straight at her. A spasm rippled across its body, and a stream of hissing plasma sped towards her.
Her eyes widened in fear as she desperately tried to dive beneath the shot, but to no avail.
A burning pain, unlike any she had ever felt, slashed through her wing and across her helmet, tearing it from her face.
Her flapping ceased.
She fell, screaming.
She smashed down into the water surrounding the down hall, swallowing a lung full of the water, before managing to push herself to the surface and drag herself back onto the shore.
“Rainbow Dash?” Came a shaky voice from above her.
Pushing her head upwards, she managed to focus her eyes on the speaker, and would have been shocked, if she could bring herself to make more than a pained moan. She was still surprised by the speaker however.
“Quickly, get her inside.” The large pony ordered, and rainbow felt hooves around her forelegs, and she was dragged inside, as a magenta and alabaster shield flickered into life over the town hall.
***
“She is coming round.” A pony grunted, as Rainbow finally came back to the world of the waking.
“Rainbow Dash.” The same pony from before said with a hint of happiness.
“Princess Celestia.” Rainbow grunted.
“What is going on Rainbow?” She asked frantically, as rainbow managed to get back to her hooves and looked around the inside of the town hall.
The entire town hall was packed with ponies, a few were from Ponyville, but most of them were guards, many of whom were bleeding, or, dead. The entire room was filled with the cries of the wounded, as they screamed for medical attention, that Rainbow could already see would not come of time, even if it could get to the Town Hall. In front of her, stood the form of Celestia and Luna, and slightly behind them, Captain Shining Armour. All three of the ponies looked scarred from fighting, and all of their faces were stained with tears.
“Where have you been?!” Shining Armour shouted, pushing past the princesses. “The elements of harmony were useless without you!”
“Captain. Restrain yourself.” Luna ordered, before looking down at Rainbow. “Who are they? You are wearing armour of non-equestrian design, and fight like a pony possessed. You know who they are.”
“Tyranids. Monsters.” Rainbow said with a hiss. She had completely forgotten that this was a simulation by now, and was fuming in anger. “My friends? Are they…”
“Yes.” Luna said, tears rolling down her muzzle.
“You need to leave the town.” Rainbow said with a growl. “Find somewhere to hide, and survive.”
“You do not order the princesses or my guard Rainbow.” Shining Armour grunted.
“Yes I do. Now do it!” She screamed, pushing Shining over with strength she did not know she possessed.
“Rainbow Dash clearly has more experience in this matter.” Celestia said, loudly, so the entire room could hear her. “We will heed her advice, and move to the mountains of Gryphomry.”
“You will lead us there Rainbow.” Luna proclaimed.
“Prepare to move out then.” Rainbow said.
“What of the wounded.”
“They will slow us down. Leave them.” She said, before stopping. When had she got so heartless?”
Without waiting to hear protests, she walked outside and checked her rifle, fully charged. Good. She looked out of the shield and saw swarming Tyranids getting closer.
“Go. Now.” She screamed as the others ran out of the building.
The shield dropped, and everything went to hell. The swarm surged forward, pressing at the guards, who were killed almost instantly. Rainbow turned, and saw the swarm advancing on the fleeing civilians. Growling, she attempted to take flight, but was met with a flaring pain from her wing, and remembered the shot. She did however, manage to locate something that made her heart lift slightly. A Tyranid organism, unlike any she had seen before. It stood taller than even the carnifexes, and wielded two swords that crackled with unnatural energy.
Knowing what she had to do, she charged forward, pushing her way through the swarm. With a scream, she managed to move her wing, and gritting her teeth against the intense pain, and moved faster towards the Hive Tyrant, taking off from the ground slightly and unleashing everything she had, Grenades, lasers, everything.
The Hive Tyrant roared, but didn’t fall, and Rainbow brought her rifle round, holding it in one hoof while drawing a knife with the other, before plunging its blade into the creatures’ eye.
Now, the creature fell, and rainbow saw the psychic shockwave spread out across the swarm.
Falling from the creature, she landed awkwardly on her leg, and stumbled slightly. Briefly, she caught sight of Celestia and Luna, staring back in horror at the pulsating horde, before they turned to lead the remaining civilians away. Rainbow however, would not receive such a fate, as the swarm turned inwards, lost to the baser instincts of the creatures, who were now searching for the target that posed the most threat.
Unfortunately for Rainbow, that was her.
She brought her rifle up, but found it batted from her hooves. Just managing to avoid the claw of one creature, she made to pick the knife up, when a burning pain swept through her chest. Shakily, she looked down, and saw a claw protruding from her it.
That was the final straw, and the swarm swept over her. Briefly, she had a final view of the Equestrian sky, before it was blocked out by Tyranid bodies.
Rainbow screamed in pain as claw after claw pierced her body, before finally, she felt life fleeing from her body.
“Well done Rainbow.” Came the deep voice of Tar’nek, who advanced towards her, clapping slowly.
Rainbow looked around, stunned by the disappearances of everything she had seen a moment ago, before her head hit the floor, and she passed out.