Author's Note

Sorry guys, not the end of the month I know, but close enough I think. Also, please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes and notify me, I wanted to get this done as soon as I could. Enjoy the new chapter.

Winter

The Siege Begins

Walls of Stone, Walls of Iron,
Fall Down All the Same,
They May Delay but Never Prevent,
The Hail of Death, and Pain.

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"Fall Back!"

The ancient dreadnought was no longer in the vicinity. It was instead, flying through the sky in pieces. This alone was a demonstration of psychic might that could only be rivaled by the most powerful psykers that the Imperium has to offer. Grimote hailed the ship.

"The dreadnought has fallen. We need supplies a few kilometers back."

"Did I hear you correctly? Have we lost a dreadnought?" Replied an angry tech adept.

Grimote cut him off right then. The Drop pods were hitting the ground with the sound of a titan's footfall. Three hit the ground fairly close to the huddled mass of golden armor. The doors slammed down, and automated turrets on the inside flipped out, and opened fire. The gold seemed to create clouds of shrapnel, as the black and twisted metal flew from the bloody and punctured bodies of the horses. Another two came down, one in the forest below the cliff face, and the other one near the edge, causing it start crumbling.

"Full retreat! Stop firing!" Grimote shouted to his squad-mates. "Help our brothers!"

The squad turned their backs on the dying mass of guards, and hurried to the drop pod on the crumbling ledge. The doors blew outwards, and the cliff started to slide. The five battle-brothers inside jumped out of the tumbling pod and onto the solid cliff. Grimote threw himself onto the ground, and caught the hand of one his brothers. Pulling him up and over the edge, the recently saved astartes commented,

"I think we need a different way down, don't you Captain?"

"I would agree. Now help the others."

The statement was pointless since the last of the five was just now pulling himself up.

"Reinforcements are here, where do you want us?" Said a female pilot over the vox.

"Come and get us, then drop down a few kilometers back in the forest."

"The Emperor protects." She said in farewell.

Isothon switched vox channels to the third squad of five.

"Start clearing a path, and follow the thunderhawks."

"Yes captain." A voice answered.

By this point the ponies had retreated into their castle with the body of their diarch. The turrets had stopped firing, and everyone seemed to be safe. The walls of the palace were black, burning, and melting. The screams of the wounded and dying were audible through the thick stone walls. Grimote contemplated how long this war would be drawn out. The capture of this city was supposed to take two hours maximum, instead they had been repelled, and the enemy retreated into a fortified position. The stalemate could go on until the enemy ran out of food, but this was only one nation, of one species on this planet. If one species was this powerful, what would the others be like? What of the thousands of large dragon-like lizards that also inhabited the planet? What of the humanoid bulls, or the chaos infested creatures in the most inhospitable regions of the planet? The rock was rotting from the inside out, and chaos could have a foot-hold anywhere. His thoughts were cut off by the roaring sound of a shuttle flying towards them at high speeds. It slowed suddenly and turned so an opening was facing them.

"Get in!" A speaker shouted at them.

The marines obliged. And soon they were racing off to the makeshift encampment that was their only presence on the world.

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Twilight Sparkle woke in the forest below the sheer rock face that Canterlot stood upon. Not that she could actually see Canterlot, she was either too far from the capital city, or below a canopy too dense for her to see light. It very much seemed like the latter option was the current problem. The extravagantly decorated carriage was now nothing more than a wreck of burning wood, and heated metal. She couldn't quite remember the crash, nor how long she had been passed out. What was really remarkable though, was the fact that she survived. There was only one surviving pony, and even he would die soon. There was a wooden shard buried in the side of his chest, pinning him the the dirt. It must've missed his heart, because he was alive and screaming. The screaming didn't make sense though, for it was in garbled and guttural speech, and seemed to be filled with pleasure rather than pain. Twilight got closer to examinate, and saw that there was a rune burned into the bottom of a paralyzed hoof.

It was softly glowing like a burning coal, and as soon a she saw it the alicorn sank to her knees, the memories flooding back to her. Pleasure, Secrecy, Plague, and Blood. The planet sized eye entered her head agin, and the corrupted pony screamed in agony.

"Let the galaxy burn!"

"I think I heard something, Do I have permission to search?"

"Yes, brother."

Twilight panicked as she heard the marine trample bushes beneath his armored boots. She looked around for no less then a second, when she saw a dense overgrowth of tall grass. She bolted just before silver skull shoulder pad a appeared from behind a tree. The black giant was slightly shorter than a minotaur warrior, and taller than Celestia by a fair margin. He was carrying one of those lethal machines in his, and had one of the toothed swords attached to his hip.

"Quit your screaming xenos filth!" The marine ordered the dying pony.

"No! Don't kill me!" The corrupted pony laughed sarcastically.

"I am the Emperor's angel of death, not his angel of mercy."

The metal barked twice, and the golden guard was turned into a red pulp. Then there was a mumbling as the marines voice was muffled by his helmet. He started searching the wreckage, and Twilight shook in fear of being found by the ruthless giant. After about three minutes she heard more stomping, and four more marines walked into the clearing.

"Show yourself within the next minute, and we will take you alive! But if you make us search for you, I will personally tear your legs apart with my chainsword, and leave you to bleed and die, alone!"