Darkest Hours in Equestria

The explosion washed a wave of mud and filth over the ramparts of the trench line and she ducked down as another Imperial Guardpony took her place and began to fire back. She wiped the mud from her face as she made sure her lasrifle wasn't jammed from the mud as she checked the las clip before she got up and got back up to the firing line. The air was thick with ozone, las fire, artillery shells, and the shouting and screams of those around her. She didn't remember how long it had been since the rifts had open but she knew what had ensued when they appeared. And as a las bolt sliced through the Guardponies face, splattering her beautiful violent mane with his blood, she couldn't help but slip back into that memory.

**** ****

She slipped the book from where it was as it glowed and vibrated in her hands. She opened it as she read the words that sprung from the pages:

"Dear Twilight,
Well, today we had an interesting conversation with a nerd at the lunch table. He seemed to go on and on about this game he played, Warhammer 40k. Its a violent game and I won't go into detail about it. Anyway, the Dazzlings seem to be getting better from the depression of losing their stones. They seem content on just trying to get by with what few friends they have. Myself and the other girls do our best to try and help them but it seems we only drive them away.
Anyway, I hope its going okay in Equestria. I may decide to come visit if you don't mind me saying so.
Sincerely, Sunset Shimmer."

Twilight smiled at the thought of having Sunset Shimmer coming back to Equestria for a visit, even if it was just a short one. As she thought about what was going to plan for the time Sunset came over, a tall ominous figure walked in. She turned to see the tall, mismatched figure of Discord as he walked to a nearby window and calmly looked out it.

"Waiting for Fluttershy for your little date?" she asked him as she calmly set aside the duplicate journal of Sunset Shimmer as she looked over at Discord with a partial smile on her face. Her violent hair splashed across her face as she blew it back before using a brush to put it back into place.

"Very funny." Discord said as he began to float on thin air as he continued to look outside. "It's not a date. I'm a draconequis and she's a pony. There would be no one in there right mind to place me and Flutter Shy together in such a way. It's just a simple time of relaxation and fun."

"You know, that some people still like to ship you together, right?" Twilight and Discord both jumped at the voice of Pinky Pie as she popped up from nowhere and both looked at each other as Twilight asked, "Um, you mean ponies, right?"

"Nope, I meant people." She beamed as if it was always a good day.

"Okay... Thank you for the insight, Pinky." Discord said hesitantly as he looked back out the window.

Twilight went back to reading a nearby book when she felt a tremble beneath her feet and she sharply looked over at Discord and asked, "Discord?"

He looked back from the window with wide eyes as he shook his head when suddenly, there was an immense explosion and the window imploded as shards of glass lacerated her entire body along with the others in the room and she shouted out, "Discord!" as the sounds of deafening, terrifying explosions caused the ground beneath her hooves to shake and she watched as the beautiful landscape around her become pulverized by unknown spells. Discord bolted up as he grabbed both her and Pinky Pie as he ran from the throne room just as several big, armored ponies in blood-red armor came blitzing through the destroyed window on wings of fire. They had weapons in their hooves that she had never seen and as Discord carried them away, two fired their weapons and huge divots and chunks were blasted from the walls wherever those spells hit.

They burst from the castles beautiful as she watched ponies from Ponyville run from the terrifying ponies that were advancing menacingly through the streets. And just as they passed the center of Ponyville something caused the ground beneath them to violently explode as they all were thrown from their feet and hooves and as Twilight smacked onto the ground, she felt really bad along her flanks. And as she watched some more armored figures, these ones being blue, she couldn't hear what they said before her mind slipped away in unconsciousness.

**** ****

She heard voices, a mixture of calm tones and heated ones, as she tried to regain consciousness. She felt burning and searing pains along her flanks and body but she felt the touch of bandages covering those wounds. As she got her mind back into consciousness, she realized she was on a very uncomfortable bed and as she strained to open her eyes, she at first was looking up at a bright light that hurt her eyes before they readjusted. When they did, she was in a drab, concrete made room and as she looked around, she saw many other ponies around her on similar beddings, IV's and blood bags hanging from poles over them. She looked around her as she looked at herself and she felt realized why she felt bad. Half of her flanks were bandages and though she had no IV or blood bag, she felt something on her hoof and saw that it was another ponies hoof that lay next to he, specifically a stallion. He was pure black, black as the night sky, and his mane was grey. He had no IV or blood bag either but he also wore bandages. He had a scar on his left eye tat made him sinister yet also strikingly beautiful in another. She sat up some more as a voice said, "He risked much trying to save you."

She turned to see a pony in pure white armor, like the ones in blood-red and blue. He sat down next to her as he asked, "Princess Twilight, how does your body feel?"

"Better, I guess... It still hurts though." She said. She looked back at the Stallion. "What happened to him?"

The pony, a stallion by the looks of how his armor was shaped, took out a glass slate and images popped up on it as he said to her, "Steeltrix, Stallion. 18 standard Imperium age. Was found standing over Princess Twilight Sparkles with Tactical Squad Nason with a fallen lasrifle from a nearby Imperial Guardpony. He received some lacerating from Chaos bolters across his right flanks and a blast from a nearby frag grenade sent a shard across his face near his eyes."

The pony looked at her as he said, "Now that you are awake and ready to move, I must have you taken to see your Primarch."

Primarch? She was clueless to what that meant to her, along with the things that had hurt this pony, Steeltrix, in the first place. But as she got up with a slight wobble, she knew that the only way to get answers would to find princess Celestia and ask her what exactly was going on. And as she began to walk out of the building, three ponies in green armor and carrying glinting, metal weapons in their hooves escorted her along as she approached the partially destroyed castle of Canterlot.