• 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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A Cult Divided

Rainbow Dash

“Perfection,” Eethron mused softly, bringing the side of a scalpel up to his mouth and snaking his tongue along the edge, savouring the bitter taste of the crimson liquid, shuddering slightly as he did so. “When you came to me saying that your body was open to me for study…I believe it was the greatest gift I have been given in the past decade. But enough of my talking, I must continue.”

With that, Eethron removed the scalpel from the mouth and began to work once more. Rainbow did not reply to Eethron’s speech in words, instead letting out another raspy scream, her vocal cords rubbing themselves raw as she struggled against the straps that were holding her down. A few strips of leather hung from her mouth, the only remnants of the leather-wrapped stick that Eethron favoured giving to his patients for them to bite down on. Rainbow’s teeth were chipped and splinters laced her tongue from where she had bitten through it.

“As much as it pains me to say this, I do believe I am almost finished,” Eethron sighed, two or his arms working at a blur to sew up the muscles and skin that had been peeled back earlier on. “It is a shame, I rarely get the time to work on such a unique project, the process of turning those who come to me into Wracks or Scourges has become routine after millennia, and even my Grotesques are not as interesting as they once were. But you, you are something that only comes around…maybe thrice in a lifetime.”

“If…you…say…so,” Rainbow rasped. “Is it…is it done?”

“Is it done?” Eethron asked in mock confusion, injecting a cocktail of drugs into Rainbow’s bloodstream. “I am sorry, Rainbow, but I do not know what this ‘it’ is. All I know is that you are finished. Some of my best work I do believe. Now, let me get you up, my drugs should dull any final pain you have, sadly.”

“Please do,” Rainbow nodded as Eethron began to move around her, undoing the straps around her limbs, allowing her to flop onto the floor with a thud, Eethron stepping back as she wretched blood and bile onto the floor.

“Let it all out, I will have someone collect it later,” he purred, before signalling with one of his spiny appendages, a Grotesque bearing a huge, reflective crystal moving towards the pair, placing its load down before Rainbow.

“Well, here you are, Rainbow,” Eethron helped Rainbow to her hooves, standing beside her and placing both hands on her shoulders as if he had just fitted her for a new dress. “What do you think?”

Rainbow gasped slightly as she saw herself for the first time, her eyes quickly darting across the crystal, taking in every inch of her. Scars criss-crossed her frame from where Eethron had cut into her, opening up her hollow bones and pumping lighter than air gases into them. Her wings, once feathery and the same cyan as her fur, were now black and leathery, skin stretched between the bones on her wings like one of Luna’s Thestral guards. Even her spine wasn’t untouched, rows of needles and injectors, each filled with a different coloured ichor were fused to her back, the plungers just waiting to be pressed down with a simple mental command.

All of those paled in comparison to the two biggest changes however. The skin on her face was gone, stripped away down to the skull, only to be replaced with the thinnest nanolayer of matt black wraithbone, reducing the friction she would create when flying to a fraction of what it was before, while giving her a skeletal, gaunt look. But Rainbow was more interested in her forehooves, or rather the Griffon-like claws that had now replaced them.

“It’s amazing what a bit of rewiring your brain and replacing synapsis can do,” Eethron smiled as Rainbow clenched her claws, an action that both felt unbelievably unnatural, and yet also as if she had done it a million times before. “A bit of examining your friend’s brain, my own knowledge of the brain of my kind, and you should feel as if this is completely natural. And…”

Eethron suddenly tightened his grip on Rainbow’s shoulders, heaving back and pitching Rainbow across the room. Rainbow let out a cry of surprise, her anger rising as she used her wings to right herself, skidding backwards on her hooves as she finally came to a halt, her claws clenched into fists.

“What the fuck?!” she roared, preparing to dive at the aged Haemonculus.

“Oh settle down, I was just testing a theory,” Eethron rolled his eyes. “Besides, it appears I was correct. For a quadrupedal species, you are remarkably well balanced, and your brain is…remarkably similar in construction to that of an Eldar. It made rewiring it so much simpler”

“Well balanced? What are you talking…about,” Rainbow trailed off as she looked down at herself, standing on her two hind legs as if she had done so for years. “Eethron, what did you do?”

“I simply replaced part of your frontal lobe with grey matter from my own garden,” Eethron continued to smile as he walked over to Rainbow as she fell back to all fours. “With this you should be able to easily spend an hour on your rear legs, maybe more with adrenaline, your wings and combat drugs in your system.”

“This should be interesting to watch,” Gilda called out wryly as she walked into the room, a pair of Wracks accompanying her. “Eethron, tell your pets that if they keep following me around you’re going to need to reattach their heads.”

“You two, Gilda is a guest of our Covern, do not follow her around like she is our prisoner or you will personally answer to me,” Eethron growled. “Unless of course you wish for my force of Grotesques to grow by two more souls.”

“No, my lord,” one of the Wracks intoned, placing a fist to his chest, before the pair of them quickly turned and left the laboratory.

“You look…different,” Gilda chuckled as she walked towards Rainbow. “I mean I know I’ve said I like scars, but if you’re not careful this may be a little too much, even for me.”

“Like you could ever keep your claws off,” Rainbow shot back with a smirk, before looking at Eethron. “This means a lot to me Eethron, I won’t forget this.”

“You’d be hard pushed, all you need to do to remember is to look at yourself,” Eethron smiled, his lips pulling back into more of a leer than a comforting visage. “And remember, my laboratory is always open to you, free of charge as long as our agreement of my study of you does not change. If other members of your Shadowbolts wish to go under my knife however, we will need to work out some other form of payment.”

“I highly doubt that Spitfire or Lighting will want to come here,” Gilda snorted.

“Nor will Scoots,” Rainbow agreed. “Thank you for the offer, Eethron, I will be sure to keep it in mind.”

“Return to the arena then,” Eethron waved his hands dismissively, a Wrack making its way over to him. “Unlike the crude surgery from humans, you will not require any ‘rest’ to be fully recovered. Now please, my servant will show you out.”

Without another word, Eethron turned and headed further into his lab, occasionally stopping and inspecting the work of some of the other Haemonculi who inhabited the Covern, as Rainbow and Gilda followed the Wrack out of the tower.

“Thanks, G. Not many friends would have put themselves under Eethron’s knife for me,” Rainbow smiled.

“Well I like to think we’re more than friends?” Gilda smirked.

“Fine, fuck buddies then,” Rainbow laughed, before coughing and groaning. “Damn it, my throat feels like a chainsword ripped across it.”

“Screaming for twenty seven hours will do that,” Gilda pointed out. “You need to eat too, I’ll make sure no one disturbs us when we get back to the arena.”

“Good,” Rainbow nodded, flaring her wings experimentally. “I can’t be arsed to face the others without sleep, and food. When we get back get the slaves to bring me something up.”

“Will do,” Gilda nodded, flaring her own wings. “Now, race ya?”

“You’re on,” Rainbow grinned, before flapping her wings hard and heading towards the arena, Gilda hot on her tail.

***

“What did you do?!” Spitfire roared, galloping into the hanger and skidding to a halt just in front of Rainbow, Lightning and Scootaloo following close behind her. “Rainbow?! What the fuck have you done?!”

“Lower your voice, Spitfire,” Rainbow murmured softly, before placing her claw on the top of her Jetbike, closing a panel on it and looking directly at Spitfire and the others.

Predictably the three of them let out a gasp and took a few shocked steps backwards, before Spitfire regained her composure and opened her mouth to roar.

“If you’re going to shout, then I suggest you don’t say anything,” Rainbow pre-empted her.

“Don’t you tell me not to shout!” Spitfire ignored her, rage plastered across her face. “What the fuck have you done to yourself?! Bad enough you act like a monster, now you have to look like one too?!”

“That’s enough,” Gilda roared, flaring her wings menacingly and taking a step forward.

“You best stop moving, bird-brain,” Lightning roared in reply, stepping up to block Gilda.

“ENOUGH!” Rainbow bellowed, her voice louder than any of the others. “All of you!”

Gilda and Lightning paused at Rainbows screech, but continued to glare at each other, both clearly ready to dive at the other if ordered to. Spitfire looked just as coiled while facing Rainbow, only Scootaloo seeming to have not taken a side yet, looking between the four of them in confusion and worry.

“You call me a monster because of what I’ve done, Spitfire,” Rainbow growled, glaring at her former idol. “The lives I’ve taken? You’ve have not yet seen me a monster, I promise you that. I’ve seen monsters, fought with them on their level. I’ve killed Space Marines, fought against beings of pure evil from the depths of the minds insanity, and you want to know something? This place is worse, by far.”

“You’re worse than anything here!” Spitfire shouted back.

“Why?” rainbow snarled, her anger rising. “Because I’ve killed a few dozen innocents here? Do you forget who we are saving, Spitfire?! The Element of Honesty! Part of the weapons that protect and entire planet from evil! Is that not worth a few hundred lives at least? A thousand?!”

“Rainbow…” Gilda muttered from beside her, but Rainbow was not going to stop now.

“I will kill, as many as it takes to get Applejack back! I am dashing myself against this place to do that, so don’t say I’m not sacrificing anything! The war mask is pushing on my mind every moment I’m here, every time I give into it, it becomes harder to remove! So don’t call me a monster, Spitfire,” she spat the word from her mouth like venom.

“You are a monster,” Spitfire growled.

“GET PUT!” Rainbow roared, before pulling herself up onto her hind legs, spreading her wings to their fullest extent.

Time seemed to slow as realisation dawned on Spitfire’s face that she may have finally pushed too far, as she began to take a step back. Rainbow was already ahead of her however, reaching down for Ravenous, preparing herself to use the monstrous power sword to clear though Spitfire’s neck. Lightning would be next, the blade would find no resistance from her tiny body. Then Scootaloo would be judged, but if she failed she too would be cut down.

She could feel the war mask rushing to the surface of her mind, the wrath of Khaine screaming and bellowing at her to be let free, to punish the defectors and…

“DASH!”

The cry shook Rainbow from her trance-like state, and she shook her head, before looking around to see who had done it, before she felt a hoof knock the sword from her slackened grip. Scootaloo’s eyes were full of fire when Rainbow first looked her way, but soon fell back, the fire giving way to terror as she realised what she had just done.

“Get…get out. I don’t want see either of you the next ten cycles,” Rainbow whispered, her voice barely carrying to Spitfire and Lightning, the pair not needing to be told twice as they galloped for the exit.

“Rainbow, I’m…I’m sorry,” Scootaloo began, before Rainbow dropped to all fours, pulling Scootaloo into a hug.

“Thanks, Scoots, I may have needed that,” Rainbow murmured, before tightening the hug slightly, squeezing Scootaloo’s neck, not tight enough to hurt, but enough to get her point across. “Do not make a habit of standing in my way though, Scoots.”

“I…I won’t, Rainbow,” Scootaloo stammered, gasping as Rainbow released her.

“Good,” Rainbow smiled, looking between Scootaloo and Gilda. “Scoots, check over your bike and weapons, I want you to be sure they’re all ready. Gilda, go get the other riders, make sure they do the same. I sense a raid is long overdue.”

***

Rainbow strode through the open doors to the command room of the arena, her claws clicking softly against the polished obsidian floor, her tail flicking softly from side to side. She was fully clad in her new race suit, the back modified to allow the injectors placed there to not get caught, while a plethora of knives were attached across the rest of her body, all paling slightly in comparison to Ravenous, which she had taken to wearing more regularly now she had the claws to properly wield it.

“Dash,” Ale’ri turned his head to look at her as she approached. “Or is it Rainbow? You have so many names and faces these days it’s hard to keep up. Pegasus, Ygal, pony, Rainbow Dash. I wonder what else you may have lied about.”

“I don’t really care what you think, Ale’ri,” Rainbow said dismissively as she stopped in front of the three Dark Eldar. “You summoned…”

“I do not like being dismissed so easily, pony,” Ale’ri spat.

“Like I said, I don’t really care,” Rainbow reiterated, adding a yawn for emphasis.

“Why you little…” Ale’ri roared, making to draw one of his swords, stopping as Ilithia suddenly drew a knife of her own, holding it over the handle of the sword while pointing her small pistol at Rainbow.

“The pair of you will now be silent for the rest of this meeting, unless it is to add something important. Am I understood?” She glared between the pair of them, and when neither spoke, she nodded, putting her weapons away. “Good. I would hate to lose either of you before our raid has even began, especially as we need the Shadowbolts bikes for speed after you failed to secure the aid of the Hellion gangs, Ale’ri. After the raid is concluded, feel free to settle this properly, in my arena, for all the crowds to see.”

“The little pony would find her head separated from her neck before she knew what happened,” Ale’ri sneered.

“Bring it,” Rainbow snarled back, Ale’ri looking as if he was about to move, before Eethron let out a soft cough.

“In the interests of actually moving this forward, I am going stand between you two, and the next who speaks out of line will find their mouths permanently sealed shut.”

“Thank you, Eethron,” Ilithia nodded, before waving her hand dismissively, a hologram of a world appearing between them. “This is Sarutan, a small human world, classified as an ‘agri-world’ in their tongue. There is not a heavy guard presence there, and so it is perfect to refill my arena, and your gardens, Eethron. Indeed there will be more than enough slaves for the entire Triumvent for many cycles to come, but only if you two,” she glared at Rainbow and Ale’ri,” play your part.”

“I will, Ilithia,” Rainbow bowed her head slightly.

“Good,” Ilithia nodded, watching as Ale’ri also nodded his acceptance before continuing.

"Sarutan is not heavily populated, but there are more than enough there for our needs. The planet has only one major hive, and is split into three main farming belts, the primary, secondary and tertiary. Our plan is simple. Stage one, our Mandrake allies will sabotage the secondary and tertiary belts with poison and fire. This will move most of the workers to the primary belt, while many of the guards will move from the primary belt to the destroyed belts, to contain whatever caused the damage. Stage two, our Mandrake allies strike for the last time, ripping the guards apart and making their presence known. This will draw the majority of the warriors out from the hive to engage the Mandrakes, and that is when the rest of us strike. Eethron, you will lead your Covern against the majority of their soldiers, unleash whatever monstrosities sit in your lab upon them and dictate the battle as you see fit. Ale’ri, you will take your Kabal into the Hive itself. I believe I do not need to tell you what you will be doing there.”

“No, you really don’t,” Ale’ri smiled, the savage glee at the slaughter to come clear for all to see.

“Lastly I will drop my Cult from the webway right over the primary belt. We will eliminate the few remaining guards, round up chaff, and transport them back here. Rainbow, your Shadowbolts will deploy with me, but if needed elsewhere you will redeploy. The operation should not take long, and when we are done, half the planet will be scorched, and hundreds of thousands of those who called it home will be in our care.”

“What about the system fleet?” Rainbow asked. “At the very least they’ll have system monitors, maybe even a frigate group. The first thing the humans do when responding to an attack on the planet is to hail the fleet for air support that will make things decidedly harder.”

“As always, your knowledge of mon’keigh tactics is appreciated,” Ilithia nodded, before looking at Eethron. “Eethron, I believe you were working on something for just such an occasion.”

“So kind of you to remember, Succubus,” Eethron simpered. “I have been working on something that will make the planet’s defenders no longer be able to scream to their fleet for help. All their communications will be blocked, and from orbit, the planet will remain looking as pristine as always. It will not be until many, many hours later when the planet fails to check in, the fleet will realise that the world they were charged with protecting has been picked clean.”

“So the only way for the mon’keigh to contact their fleet is to send a ship up directly and give over the message,” Ilithia checked.

“I give you my word, my Succubus,” Eethron bowed.

“Well then, Rainbow? Any ships that manage to take off will be your responsibility. If any are detected you have leave to handle them how you wish without waiting for my orders. If any make orbit, you will know my wrath. Do you understand?”

“I do, Ilithia,” Rainbow nodded solemnly.

“Then I suggest you all go and make final preparations,” Ilithia announced, swiping her hand through the hologram, dismissing it instantly. “Plan your attacks and prepare to deploy. The people of Sarutan has seen their last sunset.”

Author's Note:

Hey everyone, sorry for the frankly massive delay. Uni work and a knee operation got in the way sadly, but hopefully I can get back to writing in a semi-regular fashion soon.

I am also sorry this chapter took longer than I meant to, as I wrote it all out, tried to upload it and it didn't work. Then my laptop crashed, and all my work on the fucking chapter disappeared.

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