Warhammer 40000: Imperial Guardspony

Chapter Seven

Neither Torch or Flash cared about the Kasr anymore, they just wanted to go home. They had no way home, of course, and would somehow have to escape the city alive. The Imperium's training was very clear about retreat: retreat, you get killed. The only way out was to somehow survive this mission to extraction, something that would likely never come. All of the ponies were still alive, and the four storm troopers had returned to their senses, for the most part. Both had an uneasy feeling that this was going to change, and would do so quickly. The group was in a two-by-seven configuration, moving through the narrow streets and alleys, full of potential ambush points. Their constant fear of ambush was justified mere moments after entering an alleyway.

An extremely loud sound assailed all of their eardrums, causing some of the ponies and all of the humans to fall. Flash and Torch immediately put up their sound-proof barrier spells, and looked for the source of the Blastmaster attack. It was immediately evident that some ponies- and all of the humans- were unable to shield themselves in time, and fell, their eyes and ears bleeding, screaming in agony. Torch found the Noise Marine, perched on one of the rooftops, firing down at them with his sonic weapon. She focused all of her fury into a blast of fire, and in a hellish, fiery explosion, he was gone. They deactivated their barriers then, and focused on their wounded. The commissar knew what to say, even though he could no longer hear.

"Take those that can still hear, leave the rest of us here!" He urged. It was difficult, but when the commissar and the two surviving storm troopers began to push the remaining ponies away, they complied. Half of the ponies were left, three of them had died, as had two of the storm troopers. They left three injured humans and two ponies behind.

Just running through the streets proved dangerous. Their anti-vehicle training came into effect as, after the ponies, without any commander, had stopped to rest in a building's second floor, a Chaos Predator began to roll by. Flash promptly cut it in half with his powerful beam, and the rest of the ponies melted it down with magical blasts of fire and other energies. That small victory had infused the broken ponies with a hint of morale and sense. They'd just taken out something valuable and ancient, the Ruinous Powers wouldn't have a chance to re-stock their Predators any time soon. The ponies began bickering about what they would do next.

"We have to leave the city, we have to leave now!" Tin Kettle was in their group, but had remained unnoticed by the two, who thought it fortunate that he had survived.

"No, we should wait right here, they'll come get us!" Another pony said. Tin gave him a harsh look.

"No human, nopony, is coming for us! We're trapped here! We're going to die if we stay here!"

"I agree. I vote that we head for the spaceport." Flash piped up.

"Good idea. The problem is... we can't fly anything!"

Torch slapped him in the face. "Stop being so negative! We've got to do something!"

"His mare-friend's right, you know." Another pony said. Flash had never thought of Torch that way, not ever. It just wasn't the kind of relationship they had. He laughed about it, despite the grim circumstances. Torch did the same.

"Okay, fine. we'll go to the spaceport. Maybe some human there will help us." Tin said, and they were off again.

Moments of walking in the streets later, they encountered a group of Slaaneshi cultists, armed with wicked blades and crude firearms. The ponies acted with surprising discipline, putting a communal barrier between them and the cultists as they attempted to close the distance to cut them to pieces, then cut them down in droves with their spells. So much death, Torch thought. Flash could not believe just how bad this was. The city was lost, overrun by the Lost and the Damned. Something caught his eye- a fiery streak of something falling from the atmosphere directly above them, then another... and another...

Moments later, the ponies were surprised to see one of the objects impact the ground in an intersection ahead with a great noise. It was an oddly-shaped blue-painted pod. It opened, its numerous doors falling with metallic clangs as it revealed its contents. Ten Space Marines exited the pod, two of them aimed at the ponies for a moment, then lowered their weapons. The ponies rushed toward them. A helmetless, towering figure clad in the power armor of the Space Marines stopped them.

"Halt, xenos! Where is your commissar?"

Tin took a speaker role. "He was wounded by a sonic weapon, he told us to leave him behind."

"Is that so, xeno? How can I trust you?" He revved his chainsword, an obvious threat. Flash spoke up.

"Hey! We're on the same side here. We're both here to kill the enemies of the Imperium!"

"You may be correct, but do you have any idea how many times the Imperium's agents have been decieved by creatures such as you? Have you any idea?"

"You've got to trust us!"

"I don't have any obligation to trust you, xeno. Now, I must know, why are you here?"

"We were sent here to kill demons and Violators, that's all we were told."

"A fool's errand, no doubt. They want nothing more than to be rid of you xenos filth." He turned around, "move out! The sorceror must not be far!"

As the Ultramarines passed, the ponies just stood there, awestruck. The Space Marines had hammered the point home. Staying on the Imperium's roster was almost certainly a death sentence. Flash began to run after the Marines, but Torch stopped him.

"I have an idea. If we help them, maybe they'll help us!" Torch had brilliant ideas sometimes, and this was one of them. Torch beckoned to the others, "come on! We'll help them kill the sorceror, whoever he is!"

The five ponies decided to follow the Marines through the buildings, because simply following behind them would make them noticeable. They stalked, always just behind the Marines, out of sight, until they found their target.