• Published 16th Apr 2014
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The Descent into Madness - FenrisianBrony



After almost four years, Rainbow Dash is forced to return to the 41st Millennium, in search of something stolen, and something lost.

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Landing

Rainbow Dash

“This is it,” Rainbow muttered to the others, her helmet communicator transmitting the soft sound across the distance that separated them. Each of the Swooping Pegasi were arranged around her in perfect formation, sitting on their bikes with every muscle tensed up and ready to spring into action. They all knew what lay beyond the next jump, they’d known about it for almost a week now, and yet it still unnerved them, chilling them to the core.

Before them stood a gateway to the Dark City of Commoragh, home of the Dark Eldar, the impossible architecture seeming to stretch on forever before them, and yet if reports were true, this was only a grain of sand compared to the magnitude of what lay beyond.

“Rainbow,” Scootaloo whispered, fighting to keep her nerves in check. “We’re too exposed here, we should pull back.”

“We didn’t come here to chicken out now Scoots,” Rainbow chose her words carefully, knowing that they would get an instant reaction from the young Pegasus, and she was not disappointed.

“Then let’s get moving then,” Scootaloo activated her jetbike and looking round at the others. “What’s the play, Rainbow?”

“Follow my lead,” Rainbow finally spoke after a moment’s deliberation. “Keep quiet unless you absolutely need to talk and pray that they don’t decide to just kill us instantly.”

“And if they do try and kill us instantly?” Spitfire asked.

“Then we don’t play heroes, we scram and devise a new plan.”

With that, Rainbow began to move her jetbike forward, the others following close behind her as they picked up speed, soaring between the dark, jagged spires of the jump gate. “Keep the speed up, less we get looked at before we find the portal the better.”

“Speed is your answer to everything, RD,” Gilda smirked beneath her helmet.

“Radio silence from now,” Rainbow ordered, before banking hard so she was flying on her side, allowing her to pull off an otherwise impossible turn, approaching what looked like a heavily guarded and deactivated gateway. Activating her jetbikes brakes, Rainbow and the other Swooping Pegasi came to an abrupt halt, drawing their weapons as they were almost instantly surrounded by warriors wielding horrendously sized swords.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here then boys?” one asked, this one holding two slightly smaller swords across his shoulders in an X, rather than the one larger ones. “Looks to me like something took a wrong turn. Their mistake.”

“Yours if you move any closer,” Rainbow spat back, dismounting her jetbike and looking directly at the Dark Eldar, drawing Ravenous from her back and resting the sword against the ground. “Incubi?”

“Of the Obsidian Maw,” the leader sneered, his twisted smile obvious even beneath his helmet as he brought one of his own swords down, reversing his grip on it and planting the point on the floor before Rainbow. “Now, explain to me why I shouldn’t gut you here and drink your pain, and that of your friends?”

In an instant his second sword was whipping through the air, stopping an inch away from Rainbow’s neck, scraping softly against the armour. Rainbow could hear the other bristle behind her, as well as the movements of the other Incubi, and without turning knew that each of her friends were in a similar situation to her.

“Your contract, to kill any who try and get through the gate?” Rainbow continued, not reacting to the blade at her neck.

“To guard it from aggressors,” the Incubi corrected, pushing the blade slightly harder, and forcing Rainbow to take a step backwards. “Those who would threaten the kabal of the Barbed Heart.”

“And we threaten it?” Rainbow scoffed. “I think not. If we were a threat, we’d be exchanging blood now, not words. We seek access to the Dark City, we have no quarrel with the Barbed Heart.”

“Yet,” the Incubi removed his sword from Rainbow’s neck, leaving the other still stuck in the ground, before signalling for the rest of his warriors to do the same. “Why should I allow you, whatever you are, to enter?”

Without a word, Rainbow reached a hoof into a pouch on her armour, the sword flying out to her neck once more. Slowly, and deliberately, Rainbow removed the hoof, bringing out a strange spike pyramid and holding it out towards the Incubus.

“I, Rainbow Dash, survivor of the human purge of my world, do present this soul-trap to the Shrine of the Obsidian Maw so secure passage through the gate to Commoragh. A total of one hundred souls.”

Somepony behind her gasped, a quick glance at her helmets readout showing it to be Spitfire, before she felt the soul-trap being lifted from her hoof, the Incubi inspecting it closely, before breathing in deeply, as if sampling what the trap had to offer. Eventually he stopped, chuckling slowly as he placed the soul-trap on a barb cord hanging from his belt.

“Impressive, Rainbow Dash, the Hierarchs will be most…interested to hear of this. Your offering is acceptable, for an Eldar. You though do not share our likeness, yet your armour does, as do your steeds. What are you?”

“I am a Ygal, as are most of those with me, save for the Kar,” Rainbow continued, hardly missing a beat. “A human explorator fleet found our planet and began to cleanse it, very few of us escaped. Us six were rescued by a small band of your kin, Corsairs. We wanted revenge, they wouldn’t allow it, so their souls were the first in the trap, before we headed here.”

“You killed, no, drained, a Corsair?” the Incubi asked, scepticism evident in his voice. “I doubt that, little Ygal, I doubt that very much.”

“Where do you think this came from?” Rainbow shot back, thumping a fist against her armours breastplate. “My kind know how to repurpose technology, even that of the Corsairs. Our equipment comes from them, save for this,” she moved her sword, placing it over her back and showing the pommel and hilt. “This is from a captain of the Blood Ravens.”

The Incubi inspected it for a moment, before nodding, turning his head slowly to inspect every member of the Swooping Pegasi, before turning back to Rainbow. “I will allow your passage Ygal, but make no mistake, killing a Captain of the human Space Marines will not prepare you for what lies beyond.”

“We’ll take our chances,” Rainbow sheathed her sword as she spoke, mounting her jetbike once more as the portal flared into life, the shimmering mucky light filling her with far more dread than the gateways on the craftworld ever had.

As she rose back into the air, the others following her lead, the Incubi took a step backwards, before turning as one, taking up positions in front of the gate once more, standing stock still as Rainbow soared through the portal.

***

Gilda emerged from the portal last, taking almost a full second to take in the situation before her before firing her weapons, joining the dogfight that was already in progress. Spitfire was busy trying to shake off an odd winged dark eldar who was matching her every move, while Scootaloo, Lightning and Wavechill were busy exchanging shots with five more of their number sometimes pursuing their enemies, before being forced to double back as they were turned upon. The only one who was unaccounted for by Gilda was Rainbow, their leader being nowhere to be seen.

With a roar, Gilda gunned the engines of her jetbike, her weapons spitting death as she dived after Spitfire and her pursuer, forcing whatever it was to split its attention, leading to Spitfire quickly and calmly placing a shot between its eyes, the things body going limp as it plummeted towards the spires below.

Gilda’s bike suddenly shuddered as something landed on the back of it, and she instinctively ducked, before throwing the craft into a roll, dislodging the attacker for a second, before they managed to get a foothold on the front of her bike, pulling themselves up and raising a sharp knife above their head. Reaching for her pistol, Gilda began to bring it to bear, before a blur collided with the dark eldar, blood erupting from the cut as Scootaloo soared past, her jetbike high above her. Pausing only to give Gilda the slightest of nods, Scootaloo flapped her wings once more, shooting upwards towards her bike once more.

The rest of the skirmish became a blur of shots and slashes, and more than once Gilda felt shots hit her bike and armour, which by the greatest mercy held strong, protecting her from harm as she continued to cut through the flying creatures. Finally the last one fell, and Gilda turned her attention upwards, the lack of battle noises allowing her to finally pinpoint Rainbow Dash, and the foe she was duelling with.

Every strike Rainbow gave was expertly blocked by her aggressor’s long spear, the winged dark eldar seeming to dance around Rainbow, avoiding everything Rainbow threw at him, using the jetbikes size against her. Gilda snarled, gunning her engines upwards, shooting past the others who were quick to follow her, even as Rainbow’s bike began to lose altitude.

“I’ve got it!” Scootaloo called, breaking off from the assault as she rolled backwards, shooting downwards again before leaping to Rainbow's empty bike. Rainbow herself was still doing battle with the dark eldar, but the dynamic had changed now, and she was on the offensive, every stroke drawing blood, before she finally delivered a decapitating blow, the eldar’s head plummeting towards the ground, followed swiftly by the rest of his body.

Panting slightly, Rainbow drifted back towards her jetbike, groaning as she landed on it, before looking at the others.

“Anyone hurt?”

“No, but your vitals aren’t looking so hot, Rainbow,” Scootaloo hopped off Rainbow’s bike, heading back to her own.

“Yeah, I’ve been through worse,” Rainbow stretched her mechanical leg out, grimacing as she saw the damage that had been done to it. “Probably just painful feedback, but we can’t check it out now, we’re far too exposed. Make for the lower city, we’ll clear out a place to lay low for a while. Spitfire, see any potential spots?”

“A few,” Spitfire nodded, looking away from her sniper scope and over to Rainbow. “We need to talk though Rainbow, I want some answers.”

“Later,” Rainbow replied simply, starting to move forward again, only to have Spitfire swoop in front of her, forcing her to stop.

“Exarch! Answers,” Spitfire shouted, doing away with the radio link for the cry.

“I said later, Aspect Warrior,” Rainbow roared back. “You deserve answers, and you’ll get them, but considering the fact that we were just under attack and could be again at any moment, they will wait. Understand?”

“Yes, Exarch,” Spitfire grumbled, moving her bike back into the V formation they had adopted as they dived towards the ground, or what could be called ground in Commoragh.

If Rainbow and the others had thought that the gateway had been impossibly large, this was on a whole new level. Everywhere Rainbow looked, she could see sprawling piles of spires upon spires, erupting out from each other, seemingly without rhyme or reason. In an odd way, it almost seemed like the entire city looked like a group of sea-urchins, albeit on an unprecedented scale and being far too numerous to ever be able to count.

They continued to dive towards one of the larger nodes, seeing snatches of impossible sights as they went. Hundreds of the winged dark eldar duelled with other jetbikes, or with eldar riding hoverboards, while yet more piloted sleek jets, eclipsing the speed of all those around them as they screamed past. What really drew Rainbow's eyes however, were the stars.

The two massive orbs were suspended in what could possibly be described as the centre of the city, although for all Rainbow knew this could have just as easily been one of the farthest flung corners of the city. Both of the stars were dull and tiny, and Rainbow instantly recognised the similarities between these stars and the star that she had watched die on her last moments on Saim-Hann. The only major difference between these was that while the death of the star in realspace had been beautiful, the majestic end to the life giving orb, the death of these stars was tainted by the lecherous green energy that snaked across their surface, sucking them dry, and further reinforcing the message that hope was something that could not exist for long in the dark streets of Commoragh.

Forcing herself to look away from the stars, Rainbow slammed the brakes of her bike on, pulling a turn that would have torn lesser pilots in half and skimming above a street illuminated by the odd, flickering glow sphere, showing the rubble strewn streets in all their dilapidated glory. The light of the sun barely reached here, and Rainbow suspected that this area existed in near permanent twilight, meaning it was perfect for their goals.

“Stay close,” Rainbow ordered. “Slums are rarely the safest places at the best of times, these are bound to be worst. I want to find somewhere we can defend easily and get some rest while we plan our next move.”

“Roger that,” Wavechill replied. “Got something coming up, looks like a factory of some sort, I think, hard to tell what anything is with this architecture.”

“You heard him then. Gilda, take point and lead us in, slowly and carefully.”

The team fluidly moved into position, Gilda taking the lead as she activated the armoured shroud on the front of her jetbike, protecting her from the worst damage. Getting closer, Gilda brought the bike in to land on one of the struts of the factory, just by the main body of the spire that went straight through the building, or perhaps originated from it, it was impossible to tell which.

“I don’t like this, it’s too quiet,” Lightning muttered.

“Agreed,” Rainbow nodded, dismounting from her bike and approaching one of the doors and pushing it open.

The smell hit her instantly, causing bile to rise up in her throat as she looked at the scene of blood that lay before her. Hundreds of rotting corpses littered the floor of the building, covering it like a carpet. Cages of various shapes and sizes were dotted around the room, while yet more bodies hung from chains, suspended high up in the rafters.

“We…we need to go,” Spitfire wretched as she looked inside, forcing herself not to throw up so as to not have to remove her helmet. The rest of the team looked like they were in similar situations, Scootaloo having failed to hold it in, as well as not being able to get her helmet off in time, sick dribbling through the grille as she finally ripped it off, spluttering out any that was left in her mouth.

“Go where?” Gilda asked, her voice sounding hollow. “Not to sound dour or anything, but we all read the stories, this is probably going to be a common occurrence, especially if we’re in the slums.”

“Are you crazy?” Spitfire hissed, before pointing a hoof at Scootaloo. “She’s just a kid, and you want to stay here?”

“Want has nothing to do with it,” Gilda retorted. “Rainbow’s leg is damaged, we’re tired, we’re in a new and extremely dangerous place, we can’t afford to be picky over places we check out. We should search it and see if it’s defensible.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Spitfire growled, before turning to Rainbow. “Exarch, talk some sense into her, please.”

“Come on Dash,” G cut in before Rainbow could reply. “You know it’s the right choice.”

“Rainbow?” Spitfire asked incredulously when Rainbow sighed and shook her head. “You can’t seriously be…”

“I am,” Rainbow nodded. “Scoots, I want you, Spitfire and Wavechill to stand guard outside, make sure nothing gets through the door. G, Lightning, you two are with me, I want to search this place and make sure there are no surprises.”

Spitfire snorted once, before turning on her hooves and striding out of the room, putting a hoof around Scootaloo as she went and half leading, half dragging, her from the room, the door closing behind them.

“Well she’s in a foul mood,” Gilda observed.

“Yeah, I’ll talk to her,” Rainbow sighed, before drawing her sword. “Come on, let’s check it out.”

***

It wasn’t long before Rainbow and the others returned to where Spitfire was waiting, stepping outside and coughing heavily.

“You still want to be in there?” Spitfire asked as Rainbow spat of globule of spit through her helmets grille.

“Bodies are gone,” Rainbow replied, her voice slightly hoarse . “Creative use of melta guns.”

“It’s a start I guess,” Spitfire sighed. “Short term though, I’d really feel better if we could find somewhere not filled with bodies, cages and chains.”

“You’re in the wrong place for that, Spitfire,” Rainbow managed a chuckle. “Bring the bikes inside, we have things to talk about.”

“Yeah, that we do,” Spitfire nodded, climbing onto her jetbike and slowly bringing it through the door, Rainbow waiting until the end before coming in, closing the door behind them.

“Help me move this,” she indicated a heavy metal shelving unit, laden with whips and other torturous devices that Rainbow quickly swept onto the floor.

With a group effort, they managed to push it in front of the door, blocking the entrance and providing them with a small amount of extra security. “We sealed all the other doors a lot more permanently,” Rainbow explained as they pushed. “If they can break down those doors, then they would be able to destroy the walls just as easily.”

“If you say so,” Spitfire nodded, before turning back to Rainbow. “Now, you have some answers for us.”

“I suppose I do,” Rainbow nodded, trotting over to where they had arranged their bikes in a ring formation and sitting down inside it, motioning for the others to do the same. “So? Which questions the biggest? I think I can guess.”

“The soul-trap,” Wavechill spoke first.

“Agreed,” Spitfire nodded. “You said, you said a hundred souls, and the dark eldar…”

“The Incubus,” Rainbow corrected her.

“Fine, the Incubus, he seemed convinced,” Spitfire continued.

“That’s because I didn’t lie,” Rainbow sighed. “I’ve read a lot about the Dark City, both the first time I came here and this time. Everything here runs on souls and backstabbing, where anyone will kill you for nothing more than amusement. If they’d been kabalite warriors we’d have had to fight through them anyway, but they were Incubi, so I could go with my original plan. They wanted a gift, souls. Finding a soul-trap wasn’t that hard actually, one of the dark eldar we killed in the webway had one on them, and getting the souls…”

“I knew that we didn’t search for supplies in the aftermath of that battle by chance,” Spitfire growled.

“In my defence, it was a good place to search, a lot of the guardsmen still had rations and supplies on them,” Rainbow reasoned. “But yes, I went there to fill the trap. I didn’t kill a hundred people to fill it if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I suppose it worked,” Spitfire nodded slowly. “I just…no, I’m sorry for doubting you Rainbow.”

“Don’t be, you’re always free to ask questions, Spitfire.”

“As we’re asking questions, why did you invent the new story?” Scootaloo asked, her face still looking slightly pale.

“Because they needed to think we were strong,” Rainbow shrugged. “If I told them we came from a place called Equestria and we were called ponies, they would have most likely killed us on the spot, the names are hardly intimidating. Even dark eldar don’t want to die, so I spiced up the story, made it seem like we were more dangerous than our names would suggest.”

“Hence the name change?” Gilda guessed. “Ygal and Kra?”

“A bit more intimidating than pony, don’t you think?” Rainbow chuckled. “I could probably have got away with Griffon, but I wasn’t sure. It’s just Draconian.”

“You speak Draconian?” Lightning asked in amazement.

“About seven words, maybe ten at a push,” Rainbow shrugged. “I picked a few things up from Spike, and I disliked having a translator when we went to the Dragon Badlands.”

“So, we’re going to keep using those words?” Wavechill asked.

“I think so,” Rainbow nodded. “Plus try and drop everypony. Use everyone and the like, if you can. Anything that slips up about our less than intimidating nature, especially in beginning, could be very dangerous.”

“Agreed,” Spitfire nodded. “So, what’s our plan of action then, Rainbow?”

“I’m still working on the details, but first we have to learn more about the Dark City,” Rainbow began. “We need to learn where we are, who the All-Seeing Eye are, where they are, and how best to approach them. Plus, as much as it pains me to say this, I believe we’ll need allies, like Nar’bok said. I want to know about any small kabals, cults or the like nearby. Don’t try and approach them, I want reconnaissance only, am I clear?”

“Empire clear,” Wavechill nodded, before moving closer to Rainbow. “First though I want to look at your leg, the rest of you should get some shut eye, Rainbow and I will take first watch.”

“Hey, I thought I was in charge,” Rainbow joked.

“Fix your own leg then,” Wavechill laughed.

“Fine,” Rainbow relented. “What he said, we’ll take two hour shifts, everyone agreed?”

There was a general murmur of approval from the others, before Spitfire, Gilda, Scootaloo and Lightning lay down, removing their bed rolls from their jetbikes, and quickly falling into a much needed rest. Wavechill on the other hand pulled out his tools from his bike, setting about looking over Rainbow's leg, while Rainbow herself held her rifle tightly, her mind racing as she tried to think of a workable plan.

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