Post

Sanctuary Point wrote:

The bullets pinged off the Trojan’s chassis as Spitfire’s metallic visage managed to convey a look of disdain. “Worse monsters than you have tried and yet I still stand.” She swept the autocannons across the field before her, the HEAP rounds eviscerating the pegasi as the shells tore through armour and flesh. Then with speed that belied her incredible weight, she came to face the enemy sergeant and hooked her 2-tonne hoof into him, launching him into the air and shattering everything in his body. Another sweep of the autocannons battered against the spider mech’s shields though Spitfire saw the damage quickly heal itself as the final scream of some damned soul being torn apart pushed against Spitfire’s own. Zealous indignation flared within the Trojan as she circled around the Devastotron, a roll of her shoulders ejecting a shell from the twin-linked autocannons and venting the plasma cannon to safer temperatures. “Tell me, Heretic. What daemon did you make a pact with to power your metal monstrosity? It’s far too clean to be one of the Poxbringer’s and not fleshy enough for the Whore. Your words are too learned for the Slaughter so that just leaves the Trickster. How many innocents have you murder in the pursuit of power, how many more will it take before you think you’re satisfied?”

Inside the temple, the priests and the dogs had reduced themselves to just one combatant each with the rest of their dead and wounded covering the floor. Sonorous Pontification panted as he eyed the last of the xenos, the size of it indicating it was probably one of the betas. The dog growled at him, a dozen nicks and scrapes covering him as the near misses piled up, for he had no rosarius-granted invulnerability like those of the cloth who would march out with the armies of the Diarchy. The old stallion managed to give as good as he got though, half the dead dogs had been killed by his power maul with flattened heads and crushed torsos as evidence though something had damaged his maul, the graviton field now took longer to cycle through and maxed out at half strength. Still five-hundred times the force would atomise anything that wasn’t power armour or better. The dog stepped closer, the shotgun in its hands just a club after a deflected strike had crushed the action and made it impossible to fire. “Ye’ll nae walk out of here alive, Xeno, Sisters as my witness.” Sonorous hefted the maul into batting position, daring the hound to try and rush him.

"'HERETIC'? WE MAKE PACTS WITH NOPONY!", Flam's amplified voice replied as the Devastotron sent half a dozen enslaved souls to test the Trojan's defenses. Three of them were cut down by the autocannons before they could reach the cybernetic war machine, the surviving three swirling around Spitfire and probing her defenses for any sing of weakness. "THE NAMES OF THE WEAK SPIRITS YOU SO FEAR ARE MEANINGLESS TO US. WE ARE FOLLOWERS OF THE OLD MASTERS, THOSE OF GREAT POWER WHO CAME BEFORE US AND PAVED THE WAY FOR OUR SUPREMACY. YOU WILL FIND THAT YOUR SUPERSTITIOUS PRAYERS ARE USELESS AGAINST US!"

The spider-walker fired a barrage of incendiary missiles from a rack positioned where its massive aft section met its forward section. The missiles arced upwards before making a syncronized turn towards Spitfire. The Trojan responded by launching a bright miniature sun from its plasma cannon. Only Flim's quick reflexes saved Devastotron from a direct hit as the walker jumped aside just before impact, the plasma projectile striking the ground instead in a bright blue explosion hot enough to turn the soil into glass.

"IMPRESSIVE, BUT THAT WON'T SAVE YOU!" Flam's voice taunted as the Devastotron stabilized itself with its massive hind legs and locked its main cannon on Spitfire. "YOU'VE BEEN AN AMUSING DISTRACTION, BUT WE HAVE A MISSION TO ACCOMPLISH, YOU KNOW. IT'S TIME TO PUT YOU TO SLEEP, COURTESY OF THE FLIM FLAM BROTHERS!"

The main cannon discharged.

*

Inside the temple, the Diamond Dog eyed Sonorous Pontification with aggressive caution, circling him like one of the legendary Wolves of prehistoric of Equestria, before the Equus Sapiens had split into the Three Kinds and subjugated their ancient predators.

"Ssssstupid sstupid Pony!" it snarled. "Its friends are dead, soon it be dead too! Why fight, Pony? The Sisters will not save it! No one will save it! I'll rip its throat soon enough. Heh. Make it watch as I tear out its heart! How does it like that, huh? Huh?!"

Despite its obvious thirst for Equine blood, the Diamond Dog was neither suicidal nor suicidally overconfident. It had seen what Sonorous' power maul had done to its packmates and knew that it was a deadly threat, able to instantly kill practically anything it hit. The Dog would have to either get rid of the maul or find a way to make Sonorous waste a swing, giving the Dog an opening to lunge at the priest... Or it could try to take him out from afar.

The Dog made a few false charges on all fours, stopping just shy of the maul's reach. On the third attempt, it stood up on its hind legs and tossed the useless shotgun away, instead retrieving a pair of throwing knives from the utility belt it wore across its chest. Letting out a sound that was somehwere between a growl and a chuckle, it threw the knives, aiming for Sonorous' throat.

Sanctuary Point wrote:

“We’ve faced off against worse threats, heathen but I’ll be sure to put a bolt through your skull before I go down.” Steel Heart made a show of fixing his jacket as the light caught the handle of his pistol. “The Sisters have guided us for over five thousand years and by Their Will, They’ll lead us for five thousand more. I pity you for losing your version of the God Empress and the Eternal Crusader but I despise what you’ve chosen to replace them. Failed racial teachings and soul-twisting occultism, you were always doomed to fall. At least with us fellow Equines, the population will live on while some other foul Xeno species would exterminate all of you.”

Firecracker wouldn’t get a chance to retort as Soothing Brook returned at that moment with the data slate along with a few other tools. “Well, glad to see you haven’t gotten yourself killed in the time I was away.” She directed Steel Heart to stand over by the bed while she filled out Firecracker’s information. “Now then, let’s begin the examination.” She donned an eyepiece and started to poke and prod the red unicorn, typing in additional details as she found them into the slate.

Forcing himself to tear his gaze away from the Steel Heart's pistol, Firecracker complied reluctantly and allowed himself to be examined. There was little else he could do for now other than to play along, hoping for miracle that would allow him to escape.

The examination revealed nothing unusual whatsoever. Firecracker was a Unicorn stallion in his mid-twenties, in excellent physical shape (especially for somepony who'd spent the last six months aboard ESS Twilight Star with only very limited artificial gravity) and with slightly above average magical potential. He had suffered a number of minor injuries over the past couple of days, having been beaten, electrocuted and hit on the head. He had minor frostbite on the tips of his ears, likely acquired during the failed march towards the Crystal Empire. But none of his injuries were serious, and he'd probably be completely healed by a couple of days of good rest.

Most importantly, absolutely nothing explained why he had been unaffected by the mystery wave, unlike the majority of the Penal Legionnaires.