What is an Adeptus Astartes?

BUBOES, PHLEGM, BLOOD AND GUTS!
BOILS, BOGEYS, ROT AND PUS!
BLISTERS, FEVERS, WEEPING SORES!
FROM YOUR WOUNDS THE FESTER POURS!

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The first explosion was deafening. The second struck one of the drivers. After that there were too many to count, but the effect they had was glorious in some kind of sick and twisted way. Flashes of light, sprays of crimson, and tongues of flame all inflicted horrible sensations on her. Then suddenly it stopped. A brilliantly colored flame engulfed everything she could see, but Twilight felt that something was wrong.

"Hail to the Prince of Pleasure! Hail to She Who Thirsts!" A female voice screeched.

Twilight turned to the noise and the flames parted to reveal a vast orgy of every sensation and desire, so large as to cover an entire world. And in a moment it was all ripped apart with a painfully beautiful, shrieking wave of discolored fire.

"Praise to Khorne! Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!"

The roar of a dying man filled her ears. and the flames divided once again, as she turned. She saw a lake of crimson stretching far into the horizon, and a mountain of skulls soaring into a flaming sky. On top of the pile of bones was a heavy brass throne, and an indescribable figure of rage. The flames closed like curtains, and it was silent. She felt something wet spray across her back, an when she turned yet again, there was a blood stained book. It was open to a page that read,

"Do not ask which creature screams in the night. Do not question who waits for you in the shadow. It is my cry that wakes you in the night, and my body that crouches in the shadow. I am Tzeentch and you are the puppet that dances to my tune."

"Blessed be the hand of Nurgh-Leth! Blessed be! Blessed be!"

The stench of rotting bodies, and the sound of the happiest laughter found their way to the princess of magic. She turned once more, and shambling alien carcasses slowly started moving through the flames. Green light filled their eye sockecs as they laughed with a twisted joviality. Then it all went black. Stars pulsed in the background of space, and heat threatened to burn her back. Twilight turned for the final time, and a massive amber eye stared into her soul.

"Let the galaxy burn!" a historic voice thundered.

It echoed through space, and seemed to shake her bones from her flesh as it all faded into nothingness.

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Celestia stumbled to the side, as her sister was thrown into the wall. The closest lines of guards were knocked off of their feet, and even the Marines at the end of the hall flinched from the sheer energy of the blast. Her vision blurred for a second, but she recovered in time to see one more golden shell smashed by a renegade shoulder plate. The older sister turned and rushed towards Luna, and had a feeling similar to being kicked in the stomach as a projectile blackened her armor. She ignored the pain and continued towards her sister, whose face was now visibly mangled by electrical burns. The solar alicorn looked into Luna's eyes as the wounds began to rapidly close, and they both knew what to do. Sparks arced between their horns as the lunar princess stood, and when they finished turning, bolts of jagged blue shot from their horns. Lightening licked at the melting walls, as the fires had refused to die, and the warriors started to move back at an almost inaudible command. The guards, seeing their leaders power, added their own magic to the storm and soon the Marines were outside the door.

"Keep pushing forward ponies! We will drive them from our homes, and families! This affront will not be tolerated!" She cried over the deafening crackle of energy unleashed.

The lightening dismantled the doorway with all the power of a hundred dying beasts, and the scene in front of her was glorious. Five armored giants stood with roaring weapons as electricity filled a perfect blue sky. Dozens of fiery tails marred that wonderful sky, and as one neared the ground it struck out with spears of starving flame. The impact shook the earth, and the doors of the box threw themselves open. A mighty black and silver machine stomped out, its size dwarfing the giants, and its metal feet sounding like drums as they collided with the dirt.

"I have come to to destroy you." It said in a deadpan tone.

One arm made of bound barrels started cycling, and the other, which was strickingly similar to its feet, ignited in jets of searing heat. All around her a metallic tasting crimson mist began to form, and it filled her with the fury of all those who had died that day. The storm of magical energy collapsed in on itself and gathered around her horn as she charged towards the black monstrosity, her movements completely silent compared to the constant roar of the battle. She felt that sensation of pain once again, but this time it seemed to bring her joy instead of misery. She tried to shrug it off, but the towering machine had turned to her, and she felt the full force of its fire power as her magically sealed armor tried to hold off the inevitable. She diverted some of the energy from her horn into a protective shield in the same moment her armor ruptured. She felt crippling pain of gold shards burying themselves in her burning flesh, as the fire finally made its way to her. The shield of pure power weathered the damage, and she spurred herself on faster.

"Only in death does duty end." Its monotone voice boomed.

Celestia remained silent as its flaming hand crashed into the shield, sending the torso of the machine reeling as it recoiled off of the immense power. Its flank exposed in perfect timing, as the magic sliced through its armor like paper, and the power was released. The massive war engine flew from the ground, its plating shearing from its body in twisted strips, and lightening filling the air. Her power expended, and the psychic shield gone, she fell to her knees. Everything started to fade as blinding pain and deafening noise filled her head before it turned black. And for the first time in thousands of years, the planet had once again heard the thunder of war.