My Little Mantis Warriors: Retribution is Forbidden; Warhammer 40k Fic

by Fulgrim

Chapter 2: My Little Raiders: Pain is Magic

Your greatness,

Is that really how you talk to the leader of the Rising Ninth?

Forgive me your excellence. The creatures the have pierced the Webway, they may be connected with what you seek.

I already know this,

Forgive me again, my lord. The ships are ready to raid. They wait for your sovereign word.

That they do. The Tide rises.

The Tide rises indeed my lord.

+ Equestria, Location: Ponyville, 6:40 PM Terra Time +

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sat at a small restaurant near the library, waiting for their purple alicorn friend to stir from her incessant studying and take a break with them. Three weeks had passed since the experiment, and they hadn't seen or heard from her since.

Spike, however, was keeping the poor princess alive by running for food, supplies, and copious amounts of ice cream for her ever since she had barricaded herself in the library. Dash had asked Spike to take the message to Twilight that they wanted her to take a break and come to dinner with them, but had not heard back from her since. They were sitting expectantly for their friend to round the corner, but their hopes were dashed when they saw he lone figure of Spike panting towards them.

"Hey guys," said a wheezing Spike as he sat down. "Twilight says she's sorry she can't make it, but she's too busy studding about the aliens."

"My, it seems that she's working hard to be gone for so long," said Fluttershy worriedly.

"She just has to drop it. The Princess even said drop it! Why is she working for nothing?" asked Rainbow.

"You know Twilight, she'll study anything. I just hope she doesn't get too worked up."

"If you think she's working hard, look at me! Twilight sent me to get ice cream four times today, and I had to be back in five minuets, five minuets! The ice cream place is on the other side of town. And lets not mention the ink-"

"She just needs to calm down. Take a breather. Those aliens don't have anything with us." The group sat and ate a silent meal. After they were done, the said a few short goodbyes and went on their way.

Spike took the short way back to the Golden Oaks Library, no doubt that Twilight would be needing something soon. When he got back and opened the door, Spike turned around and saw what he thought was a paper tornado. Twilight had stacked papers of reports and speculations about the aliens, but she was running around so fast that she was knocking the giant stacks over.

"SPIKE!" screamed Twilight over the din. "The Princess sent a message with two royal guards, Canterlot is being ATTACKED!"

"We need to leave NOW!" shouted Twilight. Spike was reeling. Canterlot under attack?

"Who is it? Chrysalis?" asked Spike urgently.

"We don't know. Guards are getting the others and taking them to Canterlot already. We need to go NOW." Spike looked around for something he could use, but Twilight was a blur out the door, and Spike ran after her. Two royal guards were landing a small chariot at the front of the door.

"Princess Twilight, get in." they said, and Twilight and Spike got in the back. The guards barely wasted the time for them to get in properly before they took off and sped towards Canterlot. Spike was lurched backward as the chariot took off and took a few minuets to get himself in a sitting position and not in danger of falling out.

In any other circumstance, Spike wold marvel at the sights of Equestria in the sky, but today's current situation set him on edge. Twilight was no better, she was glancing around at the sky and at the ground, nibbling at the edge of her hooves. Spike knew that the aliens were on her mind. She had talked about the possibility of them entering Equestria in the many sleepless nights she spent speculating, but overt hostility never came up too much.

Calm down Spike, its probably the Changlings or something. But even that was a cause for concern. Without the Element Bearers there at the start, or Cadence's and Shining's love, the Changlings might be winning.

As Canterlot came into view, things weren't good, even a mile away from the city. Small objects could be seen flying around and in the city, and small flashes of light indicated fire and explosions. Spike saw the small blips darting around with surprising speed, he had seen things like that back at the wedding.

I guess Chrysalis got bored after all this time. thought Spike smugly. But as they neared closer to the city on the mountain, the things he thought were changlings weren't small like they were, nor were they black. They were a sand-colored brown.

Nor were they unfamiliar to him.

Spike was unprepared to believe that aliens would attack Equestria, but the zooming figures around Canterlot didn't lie.

"They can fly? Without wings?" said the guards as they saw the situation. As they neared the city they veered around one of the mountains to keep themselves out of the sight of the attackers. As the went around the mountain they came across a transport node that was cut through the mountain from the city for transporting goods via pegasi, but today's business was not as usual.

Ponies were strewn about on benches and crates, covered in bloodied bandages and moaning in pain. Nurses and royal guard medics attended those in need, but the sheer amount of wounded was just too much.

Spike tried not to look at the ponies deformities and injuries, but he beheld those who lost limbs, or shook and twitched around as if having a seizure. Unhurt pegasi and royal guards took the less wounded or younger ponies on their backs and flew down to the outlying villages near Canterlot, and guards stood sentry with pikes and crossbows at the ready, twitching at any sudden movements with wide eyes.

They exited, and their chariot was boarded by wounded ponies who were sent away.

"Whats happening? Where's the princess?" asked Twilight to the guards.

"The attack is too sudden, we've almost been wiped out. The Princesses was trapped in the castle and hasn't been able to be freed." Twilight looked over at Spike.

"Spike, you know what we have to do," said Twilight with a serious tone.

"Twilight are you crazy?! You can't go out there! You'll be killed!"

"Spike, if we can get us somewhat closer to the castle, I light be able to teleport us in. Its the only hope we have of saving the princesses." Spike looked at Twilight in sheer terror. Wondering what he could say to keep his closest thing he had to a family alive. But he couldn't saw Twilight, and walked with her out of the dock towards the makeshift barricade erected by the guards. Spike had one more look at safety before they entered the chaos of the city.

As the stepped out into the light, the sight already was horrifying. Brown blurs were the enemy in the sky, screeching sounds accompanying them after each pass. Blood spattered over Canterlot's white architecture brought bile to Spike and Twilights throats. But worse were the corpses. Some were clearly dead, ripped open like a small animal before a timberwolf. Others had almost no noticeable wounds upon them except small red spots on their torsos, the others had faces of horror and pain, their bodies wracked in painful poses and some still twitching, as if alive.

It didn't take long for Spike to vomit today's breakfast all over the pavement. After steadying himself, he followed Twilight as they made their way to the castle. Most of the attacking force was barely seen other than large blurs shrieking and small objects hitting the ground so hard it made holes in the pavement. On the way, Twilight peaked out from a building and saw huddled ponies behind a short barricade, one of them saw Twilight and tried to make a run for it down the road, but one of the blurs slowed just enough for a figure just like the ones seen through the portal to be visible to be on top of some slanted and spiked, thing.

It stopped and turned the object it was in top of towards the fleeing pony, a rod like the weapons used by the other invaders on the bottom of its vehicle. It let out a splintering sound out of the barrel, and razor-sharp spikes shot out at extreme speeds and embedded themselves within the pony. She immediately dropped to the ground in mid-gallop, the puncture wounds spreading across her chest. She let out screams that made the hair on Twilight's neck stand straight up, and shook uncontrollably. She went silent within a few agonized seconds, but her passing left something cold and dark within Twilight and Spike's hearts.

The murderer watched the spectacle, laughing all the while under it's full-face helm. After the pony expired, the creature bolted off as fast as Rainbow Dash could manage.

The pair were able to make their way to the castle with quite a few close calls, but were able to get to the gate, which had been blown open, but no sign of the enemy. War was not native to Equestria, no recent conflict besides the changling attack had actually required violent action. Twilight had studied past pony wars and the way that they were fought, but this enemy had broken into the defenses, killed the defenders, and even breached the castle, but no intruder was inside. It seems like this foe just wanted nothing more than to massacre the defenseless ponies in the city like the one they saw on the road.

It made no sense.

Twilight teleported Spike and herself straight past the ramparts and gate to the main hall. The enemy had indeed been here, as the corpses of castle guard would have the believe. Twilight side-stepped over a few corpses or ponies until she made it to the throne room. She looked at the front of the door to find other corpses among the mix. Bipedal creatures, almost exactly as they had seen them in the portal, were draped over the ponies they had slain, their rod weapon knocked to the side. Their armor was no longer as brown as it used to though, as huge charred black holes in their torsos told Twilight how they died.

So the princesses were alive for some time at least. She looked at the door, no doubt barricaded if there was anypony inside. She thought about ways to get in without being blasted to shreds. After thinking a bit, she lifted her hoof and knocked at the door. Spike nibbled at his claws, expecting the door to open and Twilight to get blasted into the next life.

To their surprise, the door creaked open and a guard poked his spear and head out, and opened the door the whole way when he saw Princess Twilight and Spike. The throne room was more or less the same, the windows had been barricaded and strengthened with magic just as the door had been. Luna and Celestia were sitting on their thrones, their faces bleak and hopeless.

"Star Ray, please refrain from opening the door again, we don't want to make it easier for them to get in here." said Celestia with a blank voice.

"As you with," replied Star Ray.

"Twilight, as you have seen, Canterlot has fallen to what came through that portal. I don't know if it brought them here or what, but I need you to help get the innocents within the city to safety. I know this is putting your life at risk, but your friends have already made it and are being briefed on the situation. They arrived just before the enemy started using their flying boats, so none of them are hurt." Twilight breathed an inner sigh of relief when she heard Celestia say those last words.

She trotted over to a small room and opened the door where she was greeted by the sight of her friends standing in a circle around a map of Canterlot talking to a burly unicorn in armor.

"The refugees we know about are here, here, here, and here," said the burly pony, tapping places on the map with a levitating stick. "The guards have been all but wiped out, and we cannot go out there to rescue them. The princess does not expect you to accept-"

"We'll do it!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Dash! Have you even seen what they've done? We can't go out there, we'll never come back!" replied Rarity.

"We need to try, who knows how long it takes them to realize that we're here and come in?" asked Applejack

"And how long will it take them?" Replied Rainbow.

"Um, I think I'll just, stay here, if you decide to go..." said Fluttershy in her quietest voice ever.

"We won't force you," promised Rarity as Fluttershy sank down a wall.

"Even then guys, how are we gonna do this? They're everywhere."

"Just let me think..." replied Twilight. She wracked her head for ideas. She remembered the rods the aliens had been using. There were a few outside the door. Maybe if they could learn how to use them...

"Got it," said Twilight at last.

Your excellence, the savages have been eliminated.

Good, search the structures. There may be tastier morsels yet.

Yes my lord. Wh-what?

What is the matter sybarite?

M-my lord. A r-report came in from the p-portals on the ships. The w-webway portals are...not working.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT WORKING?

M-my l-lord. T-the p-portals are n-not opening t-the veil. There is n-no sign of m-malfunction but they are u-unresponsive.

If they're not working, than that IS a sign of malfunction is it not?

Y-yes of course my l-lord.

Your insolence disturbs me greatly sybarite. These savages, they have pierced the Webway, and rendered our own portals nonfunctional.

H-how my l-lord.

I cannot know, their technology level is laughable, no more than brute beasts. But the smell of the warp is upon them. No doubt warp-spawned trickery aids them in their society, much less how they accessed the webway.

We must punish them further not to upset the lords of Commorragh.

How a species so crude could fashion such a city on the side of a mountain. If you look past the barbarism, it is almost amazing. Retract my last order. Plant charges at the bottom of the city, have all Raiders and Ravager return to our position with all personnel and to wait for my command to open fire with Dark Lances on the base of the city. This will send a clear message to those who oppose the Rising Ninth.

Yes my lord. What about a base? Where must we go?

Take our troops and captives to that large forest. It will be big enough to shelter our cargo and numbers. Then we will make an example of this planet that few in Commorragh can match. I can almost hear the other Archons begging for at least one of our captives.

Yes my lord.

"Ya think we can use these things?" Asked AJ fumbling with the rod in her hooves. Twilight was having trouble using it too, but she tried to mimic the pose that the aliens made with her hooves and pulled back on a small piece of metal. Rarity jumped a mile after high-velocity splinters ripped through the top of her head.

"Oh, no. My hair.." She moaned. Twilight levitated the gun with her magic and depressed the trigger again, sending splinters into the ceiling.

"Well, we know how the work and what they do," said Twilight as she then instructed them how to use the weapons.

"Only me and Rarity can use this thing efficiently, don't use it while running. If Dash flies than she might have a better chance but You and Pinkie will have to stop and steady yourself when you fire. Twilight noted how the unusual pose of holding the weapon caused one to lose balance and fall onto their muzzle.

"We'll be fine sugarcube, you just worry about yourself." The six went back into the throne room where the princesses were residing.

"We're ready princess." said Twilight, holding her gun at the ready. Celestia and Luna noted the strange weapons but didn't speak.

"We're going to complete our mission and we'll come straight back and leave. We need everybody to be ready." Celestia nodded silently and unsealed the door and let them pass outside in the world of chaos and destruction.

"The Archon is a idiot and a fool if he thinks he's going to keep us from taking our share in the raid." said a helmeted Kabalite in his native tongue. He and his small group had taken to conveniently forget Archon Armatharn's order and to take what they wanted on the raid. So far, the native brutes had failed to produce any object in their history worthy of a Eldar's attention, but the shackled ponies shuddering in fear next to him showed that any slaves had value. He had taken a looking at the xenos when the raid commenced. Much more colorful and pastel than any xenos he had seen in his long years of raiding. They were more intelligent than other xenos that at least resembled them, he didn't remember mon-keigh horses building cities on the side of mountains.

Very picturesque, very picturesque indeed. Shame they were going to destroy it one day. The Kabal had nothing to gain from destroying the city, but the Archon had told all troops after the raid commenced that the sight of the city falling would be wonderful. He wondered if this had anything to do with the Archon's latest order.

The Kabalite had wandered through the ruins until he made his way to the gates and rampart of the castle that stood higher than any other buildings in the city. The gates were wide open and deserted, blood stains showed where the defense had fallen and had been taken captive. The prospect of looting the largest building in the city was irresistible. He and his companions moving at an unnaturally fast pace for those casually walking, dragging their captives behind them.

The architecture of the castle was flowed and natural, much of the furniture was made of gold and other precious metals. The other Kabalites went to grabbing gilded weapons and spears from walls, examining them. But the other one was looking for bigger bounty, as he surveyed the upper upper balcony, he smiled under his helm as he saw more ponies standing at the top of the stairs, holding splinter rifles with their hooves and levitating them with colored bubbles.

He didn't know if he should laugh or shoot, but the orange one fumbling with a rifle in her hooves sent a barrage of splinter shots into the ceiling. The other Kabalites shouldered their own weapons and shot back at the intruders, barely missing the ponies taking cover behind the railing. The Kabalites were outnumbered and in a poor position for a firefight, but the aliens couldn't pull the trigger effectively, much less shoot accurately at a target.

The floating guns returned fire with much more accuracy, and were able to bring down a arrogant kabalite as he made his way up the stairs. This time he did laugh at the sight of his underling tumbling down the stairs as he shook with spasms. A flash of blue flung down from the balcony and he could just barely see the form of a winged blue pony before he was struck in the helmet so hard it broke. He hit the ground, his head too concussed to act. But not for long, weakness was for petty humans, but before he could rise, he was struck again by the same blue streak. He wondered in his trauma-induced state how a mere pony could move so fast. Similar smacks and the impact of a head on the floor signaled the fall of his comrade.

He could hear the noises of the ponies on the stair come down, and he thought he could hear them speak Imperial Gothic as the came. He had some serious brain-damage.

"Woah, did you guys SEE that? That was AWESOME!" said the blue one.

"Thanks Rainbow, but you could have gotten killed! That was an extremely reckless thing to do." replied the purple one.

"What else Twi? We we're gonna get killed if we didn't do somethin'." said an orange one.

"I don't know about you, but I was having a blast up there." said a hopping pink one who appeared to be holding a splinter rifle with her, hair?

"Well, we got to of those monsters, where's the other one?" asked a white one.

"It's over there, I knocked it out cold." gestured a blue one towards him. As the ponies went towards him, for the first time in his long life, he feared what a creature could do to him.

After the last alien had been disposed of, Rainbow and Pinkie were on the floor looking up at the surviving alien that the found feigning unconsciousness. Rainbow had tied him upside down on the ceiling from a chandelier, but not before Pinkie had painted his sand-brown and grey armor a variety of pinks and rainbow colors and gave his helmet a large clown face complete with a smiley-face in whipped creme.

"That'll teach 'em not to mess with us," said Rainbow Dash. As the others admired their handiwork, Twilight was drawn to the doors by whimpering sounds outside them. When she opened them she was shocked to see ponies shackled to the door. She signaled to her friends and they managed to get all of them unshackled.

"What happened? Are you all ok?" asked Twilight.

"We were in hideouts and safehouses, until those, things, came looking through the buildings, we couldn't do anything to defend ourselves." replied a shell-shocked mare.

"We'll I guess we don't have to look for them anymore," said Rarity. Twilight listened as the ponies recounted their stories, but she was drawn off when she looked into the distance and saw the alien's boats far out in the sky, aiming at the city. Twilight looked at them with a calculating mind and wondered what their purpose was. She could see them far away from the city, but the possessed powerful and much longer aim projectile weapons than they did. Could it be possible that they were going to shoot the city? The thought about it for a little while and her thoughts went to Canterlot's location. It was on a mountain, therefore, there was no solid ground supporting the city.

Her eyes widened when she realized their intent.

"You need to get out," said Twilight urgently. "You need to fly out, take who you can with you, and you need to do it now."

"Why?"

"No time, all the pegasi need to get ponies on their backs and fly...away, anywhere. NOW!" Shouted Twilight as she ran back to the princesses.

The door was smashed open by Twilight's spell as she and her friends ran into the throne room.

"Princess, we need to leave, I think I know what they're going to do but we need to go. Even if I'm wrong." The princess didn't respond, but swiftly commanded the guard to evacuate.

"You'll have to take your comrades on your backs, its the only way," said Twilight. The rushing ponies broke windows and flew out, some with friends on their backs. As the other ponies and princesses worked out who would be on who's back, the princess walked over to Twilight.

"What did you see? What are they doing?"

"They're flying around the outside of the city, I think that they're going to blow up the-" A large explosion shook the floor and the ponies stumbled.

"That," said Twilight.

My lord, the plasma detonations have gone off.

Yes, this will show those savages that all they build, all they think grand, will crumble.

From the Raider, the plasma detonations were blue-grey mushrooms on the base of the city. Archon Armatharn smiled under his helmet. The assembled fleet of Raiders and Ravagers then opened fire upon the base of the city, their dark lances searing and blasting away what little support the city still had to the mountain.

With a large crumble the furthest points of the city began to fracture and fall off as the city as a whole slowly rumbled down the mountain. As the last of the supports or installments inside the mountain severed themselves from the city, it fell full force towards the ground with the force of an earthquake. The sound of the impact as the broken remains of stone and marble sounded much louder than the initial explosion. Amatharn smiled again as he saw the aftermath, and envisioned how broken the beasts would feel. The fall left dust clouds from the impact up too the mountain, and a few structures inside the mountain were a wreaked ruin, leaving the mountain scarred.

Amatharn waited for the rest of the troops to rejoin the main group before leaving full speed to the large jungle to their back.

Things were going to get really fun, thought Amatharn.

The ponies proceeded to get out of the window when they got the chance and take flight, but what they saw was much worse than what they imagined. Black beams from the aliens hit the bottom of Canterlot, causing the city itself to fall from the mountain. The city itself was crumbling as buildings shattered and the ground broke from the impacts of their weapons.

Dash and Luna narrowly avoided falling rock from the mountain, and AJ and Pinkie had to hold on tight to keep from falling off. As they tried to fly away from the splintering mountain, one of the Royal Guard with another on his back didn't look up as a large rock fell from the mountain above. The rock hit square on the pegasus' neck, impacting his armor and his head falling limp. The unicorn passenger had avoided major damage, but he reached out to Twilight as the guard lost altitude. Twilight veered toward him, trying to catch his hoof, but she was just an inch short. She watched, tears forming in her eyes as he fell screaming towards the crumbling remains of Canterlot.

She looked back to to the direction she was flying. What kind of creature could do this? Thought Twilight as grief clouded her mind.

And a mile away, floating just outside a small forest watching the ponies go, a green drone watched the spectacle of Canterlot's demise with blank lenses.

Comments

[Fulgrim]

Ch. 2 Finally up!

[PegaSeraph]

More!...

[Fulgrim]

6574270
No jade is the color of their armor. That's why its not capitalized.
The Raptors on the other hand are a loyalist chapter that fought on the side of the Imperium during the Badab War.

[PegaSeraph]

6576181Aha, now I understand why I was confused...
I googled *jade raptors* but found nothing

[Fulgrim]

Remember guys, I really want to get this story out there and see what others think about it, so if anyone would be as kind as to mention this to other users who might like it or post it to a review group like Seattle Angels that would be the best thing ever!

[Edguy0009]

I like this.

[Horus Lupercal]

Shame this is dead