Fallout Equestria: The Angels of Death

Chapter 2: Taking Stock

"Your Thunderhawk looks like trash, but the Aquila is nonetheless a welcoming sight brothers." Lucia stated as she trotted up to the pried open doors of the downed craft.

"Benjamin, I shall require you to hold still whilst I enhance your armor." Nitronus said, ignoring the ponyfied battle sister.

"Aye my lord." Benjamin replied without a hint of emotion in his voice as he turned around so that he could watch the two younger ponies.

The Chapter Master then walked inside of the crushed craft and began pulling his dead honor guard members out of it. Their armour was in shambles, but their weapons were the true prize, from which he acquired two las-cannons, a lightning claw, and a couple of storm bolters.

"What are you doing?" Lucia questioned as Nitronus knelt down to his fallen brothers and began removing their armour.

"They would wish for us to make use of it, besides, I need to retrieve their gene seeds." he replied, the three raven skulls chained together on his left leg bobbing up and down as if in agreement with him.

"What will you do with their armour?" she asked in response, though mostly intrigued by the ancient skulls.

"You still need armour, and I believe I have enough parts to build suits for all three of you. As for whatever is left...." he looked down to his arm, "I could fashion myself a guard for my bionic arm as I have done with my leg."

"Or you could avoid getting shot up." Tenderhoof chimed in from behind them, Cherry leaning on his side in a loving manner.

"If only that were an option young one, for ye have never experienced true combat unless you witnessed the horrors of the Horus Heresy." Nitronus said with sadness in his voice, "I was lucky to only lose my leg."

Tenderhoof then cringed at the thought of a mighty being such as this Astartes being in a battle of such ferocity that he could be easily killed. Nitronus paid him no mind though as he mounted a las-cannon on Benjamin's shoulder and began attaching it with a few tools from the Thunderhawk.

"Aye, those were dark days for the Imperium my lord. Dark days, where brother turned upon brother and an entire Empire tore itself apart." Benjamin said, casting a glance to Tenderhoof and the others as Nitronus finished bolting the Lascannon to his right shoulder guard.

As the chapter Master synced it's systems to his armour, the Terminator caught a question from the young stallion. "What do you mean, brother turned upon brother?"

"We, as in myself and my lord, are brothers bound by bonds tighter than blood young one", Benjamin answered,"Our entire Chapter is the same, as is the way of all Space Marines; we all are brothers, both in arms and in blood. Back during the Heresy, there were hundreds of thousands of us that fought in Legions. And it was during the Heresy that these Legions turned on one another, those that were Heretics and those who remained Loyal to the Emperor. We fought bloody wars against one another, slew many of ourselves and billions if not trillions of His subjects in battles that raged for weeks on end."

"That's horrible." Cherry said.

"Aye, but such was the way of the Traitors and their Primarchs. We all had no choice but to fight, to protect Humanity from those we called brothers." A static chuckle arose as Nitronus busied himself on enhancing his brothers power fist with a Lightning claw. "Although I was not alive during those dark times, as it happened many millennia before my birth. Although for the millennia I've served, I've done my best to do by that oath and protect Humanity from those Traitors."

All the while, Lucia was ruminating on the words of the Chapter Master and his Honour Guard as she watched Benjamin activate the power field for his Claws and give it a few test swings into the armour of the downed craft.

Nitronus mounted the second las-cannon on Benjamin's left shoulder and began syncing it to his armour, "The heresy ended with the death of four Primarchs, Horus who had started it, and Sanguinius who was slain at the former's hands."

"And the others?" asked Tenderhoof, intrigued by the tale.

"The others who fell were Ferrus Manus of the Iron Hands legion, who was cut down by one he once trusted, the Primarch Fulgrim of the Emperor's Children", answered Nitronus ,"although rumours still persist that he somehow survived the battle."

"The other was the traitor Primarch Konrad Curze of the Night Lords legion. He fell to an assassin, although rumours also tell that he actually wanted to be slain. The Night Haunter, as he was also known, had dark premonitions which slowly drove him mad".

"You say these facts as if you remember those days Chapter Master?" Lucia questioned as she looked him over closer than the last time, taking note that some parts of his armour was of ancient manufacture.

"Istavaan V. At that time I was a tech marine when my Legion, the Raven Guard, was betrayed by the Alpha Legion and our survival was in debt to the White Scars and Salamanders. It was after the heresy I retrained as an Assault marine." Nitronus said in reminiscence as he finished his work on Benjamin's new weapons. He then turned his attention to the armour of his dead honour guard.

"Not as good as what the Master of the Forge can do my lord, but it shall suffice nonetheless." Benjamin proclaimed as he tested his mobility.

"Interesting, but moving back to more current events, what should we watch for against your Chaotic brothers?" Lucia asked as she recognized the MK. 4 Maximus pieces of armour combined with MK. 6 alongside many custom created pieces.

"You can expect to find many unusual things Lucia, many indeed." Nitronus said as he began removing the armour of his fallen comrades.

"Such as slews of Orks, squads of Tau, even other Chaos Marines who shall realize that they had been used as tools by a fellow Warband." Benjamin chimed in.

"Charming." Cherry chimed as she watched Nitronus disassemble a storm bolter and install it into pony shaped armor.

"Not really." Benjamin replied, giving the steel ranger a crooked look.

"Ever heard of sarcasm?" she retorted, spitting her tongue out at him.

"Lucia, your armour and your companion's are complete." Nitronus boomed as he displayed the shining red and bone armours to her, hers with its custom storm bolter split so that it would fire from either side of her barrel.

"A fine specimen brother, would you assist me in putting it on?" she asked as she trotted up to him.

"I shall." was all he said before kneeling down to help the Celestian turned pony as Tenderhoof and Cherry helped each other put theirs on.

The only true recognizable portion of the armour was the Terminator helm that had remained mostly unchanged since it could easily accommodate her pony snout, the Adeptus Sororitas insignia adorned her flanks while a proud Aquila sat upon her chest. The armour was intricate, yet simple, in short it was everything Lucia had hoped for and more as its HUD loaded up and scanners came online.

"Wonderful work Nitronus, absolutely wonderful!" Lucia whinnied, though she hadn't noticed.

Nitronus merely chuckled for a moment before grabbing his Honour Guard's standard out and placing it in the ground between them with his newly armoured bionic arm. Hoisting his shield to his back and mounting it there he began to march with the extra storm bolter attached to his leg. The three ponies and Benjamin noticed that the Chapter Master had begun to move out and followed in silence, as they left the Thunderhawk to forever act as the tomb of those Blood Raptors.