What is an Adeptus Astartes?

WARNING!

BY ORDER OF THE EMPEROR'S HOLY INQUISITION

THE FOLLOWING CONTENT HAS BEEN CLASSIFIED AS

HERESY!

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Ask not whence the thunder comes.

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"I was in Canterlot when it happened." Twilight said in the darkness of the bunker.

"How did you manage to survive?" Asked Rarity with a gasp.

"Because she is a princess, silly!" Exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

Good old Pinkie. Always happy, even in the darkest situations.

"It had been too cloudy to see the sky for weeks then, and I should have known that the princesses were hiding things."

"Ah can't believe the princesses would even think of hidin' the truth." Applejack said with accusation.

No one said anything to defend them.

"I was having dinner with the Celestia at the time."

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Five metallic objects fell from the clouds in a burning wreath of flame.

"Princess, what are those?" Twilight asked from the table, pointing at the window.

Celestia looked, and suddenly her expression darkened. She stood, and walked to the window where she could get a better look. Her face darkened even more with tears starting to well in her eyes.

"Twilight, run to Ponyville and get the others to safety." She spoke as if there was a knot in her throat.

"I don't understand, Princess."

"There should be a trap door in the basement of the library. Scan the room with magic and you should see it. Go Twilight. Go now." The solar alicorn said in all seriousness.

"What is happening?" The princess of magic asked, completely shocked at her mentor's sudden mood change.

"Guards, take her to carriage and bring her to Ponyville." Ordered the ruler.

The guards did as she asked while Twilight trundled along in overwhelming surprise. They passed through the castle largely unseen, as it was completely empty. She soon discovered that everyone had gone outside to get a better look at the spectacle as the guards had to shove through the crowd to get to the carriage platform. The problem was that the falling objects were getting closer. And after a few seconds, they hit. In a tight radius a shockwave was sent out that knocked ponies off of their feet. The red glow faded, and they seemed to be tall boxes. Tapered at one end and big enough to fit several ponies side by side. Everyone stopped and stared, even the guards. And after what seemed like an eternity there were exactly twenty small bangs and the four doors of each box hurled themselves into the dirt. When the dust settled five monstrous black giants walked out of the boxes.

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Pieces of seemingly decorative armor flew from stands around the hallway and assembled themselves into a suit around Celestia as she ran threw the corridor. Her sister needed to know that time was up. The aliens had arrived in a massive ship that Luna had seen on a trip to the moon. It was covered in barrels and lances that seemed to be weapons of some sort. The sisters had immediately clouded the skies and tried to detect if anyone aboard could receive telepathic messages. Oddly enough a group of the people in the ship could receive their words and they arranged a meeting on the moon. They creatures were monstrous and were a full two feet taller than the sister maybe more, and they weren't even considering peace. They had a fanatical love for someone they call the Emperor, a stereotypical God-King if she had ever heard of one, and that they would kill them all in his name. Ever since they had been biding their time, trying to make a solution. It seems they were too late.

"Luna! Luna wake up!" She yelled while hammering on the door.

The door flew open and her sister yelled, "What do you want!" not noticing her armor.

"They have come, get your armor. We must protect our nation." The sun princess said solemnly, and her sister obeyed without question.

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The massive creatures stood on two legs, easily twice as tall as a normal pony with two arms holding large blocks of metal with thick barrels drilled into them. Strapped to their sides were what seemed to be swords with metal teeth instead of a blade. And all five seemed to be wearing heavy armor. It looked like black pottery with silver metal trim around each plate, on the left shoulder there was a seemingly random color, and on the right there was what looked to be a huge silver skull. attached to the shoulder plates were long fluttering papers sealed to the plates with wax. Things were written in a language she recognized as latin, but some of the words weren't quite right. The moved into a V shaped formation with thundering footsteps and stopped as what Twilight assumed was the leader said something.

"They aren't attacking. New course of action?" The deep, slightly metallic, and decidedly male voice asked to no one.

Aren't attacking? Why would we attack them? Twilight thought to herself as she noticed the guards tugging at her.

"Yes sir." Said the leader.

Twilight was moving now, and a carriage was waiting for her.

"Marines!" He yelled.

"Yes sir!" The rest replied.

Twilight was surprised to find that there were no female voices.

"Suffer not the alien to live!" The leader cried.

No sooner than he had finished saying that, the blocks of metal became alive with light and sound. The roar was deafening and Twilight ran as innocent ponies turned into a unifying red mist. The metal seemed to kick in the hands of the so-called marines as the citizens of Canterlot chocked on the remains of their friends before joining the repulsive cloud. And once they realized that no one was fighting back they put down the hunks of metal that had caused such a brutal massacre, and before she could even think about the possibilities of what they would do next, the pitch black giant pulled out their swords and the teeth came to a horrifying artificial life. They started to spin so fast that they finished the gaps in the blades, and the ponies that had the horrible fate of meeting them were ripped and rended into crimson gore and viscera. She was all but thrown into the carriage as it took off and she watched as the guards tried to telekinetically tear apart the armor of a marine.

"Psyker!" It shouted.

He picked up his metal block and in the next second the only things left of the two guards, were charred golden shells.