private Resolve of the Iron Hooves With Maple Bat and The Cerberus

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

Staunch just stared at the veteran, he was ordering him? "Can't do that." he said with challenging look "I have been ordered by your captain to get these ponies to Canterlot, and I have an order from my own captain to not hunt down enemies. Thus your order goes against orders of two ponies, both higher rank than you, meaning that I'm not only not obligated to follow your orders, but I'm also not allowed to." he wasn't finished yet "Besides, you being so capable, you should be able to see that this carriage is full."

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple, put up her hoof up and put her weapon away the guards behind her followed "Apologies... I thought you all were those things from before. However, I can see that you're the ones who said they were here to help. We had come to make sure that you were not the attacks we had dueled off from before. We do try to minimize collateral damage here... Some of your other soldiers already notified that we are not enemies here... but not allies either. If I may have an audiance with the one who is the lead of you all..." Maple requested not seeking more battle.

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"Well, I'm the highest rank present meaning I'm in charge. That means that I'm techni-" The veteran was interrupted by another member of the guard.

This night guard was an earth pony, in a chariot that had come close to the veteran, the earth pony had nocturnal eyes, he wielded quite a bit spear. "I'm her second-in-command So I'm in charge... I'll make sure Luna hears of your... Misunderstanding..." He pushed the veteran forcing him to move along with the others the veteran said some angered words as he flew away. The second-in-command then turned to the back of the chariot and looked sorrily at Staunch "Very sorry about him, Maple's leading style is... different and not everyone agrees with it but I and others see the value of it like me and Princess Luna. What's your name soldier... I wanna reward you for what you did. I've seen very few stay that loyal."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"It would depend on who you are referring to when it comes to the one who leads us. Our Chapter Master is the one who is control of our chapter, I represent as the Captain of the second company, leading every astartes that is under my command, so you would be looking for me in that sense." The Captain replied

His soldiers had not aimed their weapons at the ponies this entire time, but they capable of responding within mere seconds, thus they had no need to show their outside intentions of what they were capable of.

"I must say, you are keeping an impressive composure, but I can see you and your men are not feeling very comfortable to be in presence from one of us, tensive movements of the tails and nervous facial expression give me a clear indicator. That gives me an accurate description of your military as a whole, more lenient and civil towards the soldiers but a serious lack of discipline and morale once the leading figure falls, I know enough about your military now."

"And... presuming by your need of an audience, I can safely say that you wish our aid againts the orks? Unless that is not the case and you are all planning on taking on the orks with your current military, perhaps an outside species that could aid you in that conquest. If that is the reason, I cannot help but quirk an eyebrow at the fact your rulers would be willing to ensure your species demise, sacrifices are pointless if they provide no greater outcome, where the number count of your planet's recruitment population would be around a 5 considering its a single planet, the orks would be a 13 on the scale considering how they are born from spores. Which would render sacrifices among your own military as nothing but a waste."

"But nevertheless, do speak, I am all ear." The captain told her, it was obvious that the Captain was this type of person who would look at what was practical and what would ensure a definitive outcome rather then take big gambles or risk if they could be avoided.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

"I'm Staunch Fidelity sir." Reward? Was loyalty in the Night Guard a problem or why would they want to reward somepony for just following orders? Though who was he to talk, he was standing next to two traitors after all.  "And no need to apologize sir." "I have seen veterans who don't understand how orders work before."  It was good that the second-in-command had appeared, this way Staunch didn't need to worry about informing Maple about her guards.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple took a lot of offense in the assessment of her army, She, however, did not react visibly and she stopped showing any amount of fear she had aside from the occasional sway of her tail that implied uneasiness. She also hit her hoof on the ground and her soldiers straightened up "Be ready if this goes sour..." She told them quietly, it not being heard by those below.

It was not up to Maple on most of the guards training, Luna mostly was in charge and if Maple could be she'd be harsher on them but they were ponies too, just like her and not all of them share her feelings so she eases up on them about training but still does push it heavily.

"Well, Yes that's what I desire. I don't know about your formalities but I'm going to follow my own. I speak on behalf of Princess Luna, Guardian of the night." Maple set her weapon down on the edge of the gorge and flew down to the captain that was speaking with her, she flew slowly as to not provoke the soldiers. " While peace is my goal with your kind, What I only want is the knowledge that your kind will not attack my own kind. I only wish that so I may keep my lady's ponies safe. I hope you can find this resolve justified otherwise you and I will have problems." Maple had locked eyes with the captain and her resolve was as clear as a roaring flame seen in them.

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"Well... It's not really me saying sorry or well I mean I am, but it just seemed like... you know you could use a little something. Maple likes to give things out to people, Best give it to someone otherwise it's not used at all. Much too much stuff sitting in the armory." The second-in-command looked up from something he started to write and realized something "Oh formalities, I'm MoonShadow, Nice to meet you Staunch, If another of Maple's men gives trouble to you or any of the day guard let me know as soon as you can, Things have been... Rather tense the last few days." MoonShadow lost eye contact with Staunch watching another pair of guards until Staunch spoke to him again if he did at all.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The space marine Captain was silent for a few moments, until he lifted his gold coloured helmet off his head, revealing a human face with brown hair and a small brown beard. His face showing scars from millennia of battles.

"Seeing as your kind has not done anything as a form of hostility or offensive towards our chapter, I would accept your request, but my word is not law, just like you I am a Captain who serves a higher in command, if all of you where a human colonization, I would be allowed to do this without problems but seeing as none of you are part of the Imperium, it is only by the will of my Chapter Master, and by his degree that this peace siluation could be granted, I have no say in it when it comes to declaring a peace offering that affects the entirety of my chapter."

"Not only that, but we space marines do not represent humanity as a whole, we serve as the defenders of humanity and purge alien, mutant and heretic alike. To get a peaceful solution with the entirety of humanity, that would require your rulers to travel to Holy Terra and discuss it with the Highlords of Terra, but even then, Humanity has a distrustful and distaste againts aliens, seeing as most alien species are hostile all together, then this shouldn't come as a surprise."

"Only way for us to get a peaceful solution without the authority of either my chapter master or the high lords of terra, it would require me to disband the second company of the chapter from the Imperium, becoming Excommunicate Traitors and thus by that extend an enemy of the Imperium, which is the same fate that only a heretic would wish for. So I think you as a Captain yourself see that it would be uttermost lunacy for me to become a traitor just to ally with an alien species that we barely know and won't deliver us anything better then the Imperium has to offer us." The Captain said as he looked into Maple's eyes as his stoic expression had still remained.

"So my current answer is a no on your peace resolve, I will not risk the fate of my battle brothers and chapter alike just for a peace offering that will only lead us to damnation. Those are my formalities, if these are unacceptable by your terms, then that be the case because it goes beyond your or my opinions on the matter, we are both locked in by politics that we do not change, our superiors do."

"Besides, if it comes to such important matters, I rather see your ruler face to face rather then to see one of her officers do the job. That way I can see if the words are genuine and not risk the chance that the message is thwarted by the personal opinions of the messenger, you can never be too careful when it comes to diplomacy." The Captain stated with a frown, he was not going to take any chances.

"I suggest you and your men go along with your orders, whether I and my men are able to aid you againts the orks will be seen, anything could happen on the battlefield." The captain said as he then grabbed his Thunder hammer and started to walk away.

His answer about aiding the Ponies againts the Orks was an indirect Yes, not mobilizing a combined assault just yet, but rather attacking their own accord for when they see that the time is right.

Wich would happen very soon.

 

Edited December 18, 2017 by Mickey Adaptus

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

That made more sense, though that would never happen in the Solar Guard, but Night Guard seemed to be generally lot more relaxed than Solar Guard was, even their second-in-command talked like a normal pony. Staunch nodded respectfully when MoonShadow introduced himself, "Understood sir." ""Is that all? Can I now return to my duties, sir?" He didn't necessary need MoonShadow's permission to continue on his way, but he asked anyway.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple's face contorted in anger, It was obvious that the captain did not respect HER position enough to see the fact she was only under the Princesses It's not that she wanted Full peace or anything, she just wanted to make sure that no ponies got shot by the newcomers the ponies were facing enough problems as is "Well... I hope you know that if you represent Humanity you're not leaving a good impression... For now, You and your company walk on thin Ice... " Maple turned away from the already leaving captian and returned to her own soldier "Keep an eye on them... I'm not sure that they're trustworthy... they're called Humans... And they're here for thier own reasons... not to help... Pfft, facing Damnation for helping us... Whatever... There's no way that's their honest rules." At this point Maple was speaking to herself, she'd been pacing while doing so at that. She looked up at her soldiers "We return to canterlot. Scout... Deliver a report to canterlot directly to Lady Luna, Preferably. Humans are considered dangerous and should be treated as a potential threat to the safety of all ponies... Thus they should be kept away from canterlot and other pony civilazations until further orders." The smaller bat pony Mare, who's frame and build implied that he wasn't around to fight wrote down what Maple had told her. She folded it up and flew as quick as she could to canterlot.

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"Y... Yea... As you were soldier... If you hear anything else please do tell me as well, Can never be too careful you know... Goodluck to you." Moonshadow was going to wait a minute they were getting close to canterlot after all so no point in wearing the bats that were carrying his chariot out by flying to another pony. The pony wrote something else down before looking forward. "It's getting worse... Maple I fear you only have so long..." He said to himself with a sigh.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The space marine captain looked back for a moment,  he wasn't required to hear what Maple was saying to her soldiers to realise how much they distrusted his chapter, he could just see it at the way they were acting, Maple in particular. But he then turned his head back and started to walk back into the camp, the space marines who had been watching the ponies had never left their position, but watching their every move right now.

But one thing was obvious that the Captain seemed rather unfazed by this entire conversation, he personally did not care much whether there would be a war or peace between his Chapter and the Ponies of Equestria, because should they declare war, he was fully aware that the ponies would not dare to risk major attacks due to the ork problem, all he had to do was play his cards right, it was far from the first time that he had faced such oppisition, only this time he could use the ork problem as an advantage so that his chapter would not be considered the main focus of attack, since the orks where rampaging when it came to attacks, and would constantly launch attacks everywhere.

And should the Orks attacks the Space marines, he could still defend his current base of operations, or even move his camp somewhere else, because he had one big advantage that the ponies didn't have, a mobile camp that he could constantly move when needed, while the ponies had towns, cities, settlements, which technically couldn't be moved due to the buildings and other valuable structures like farms, rivers for water supplies, and he knew it.

But the main factor that was playing here is that Space Marines where not meant as diplomats, but where living weapons, the Imperial Guard, who was the main military of the Imperium would have been easier with negotiations, but even then, the Imperium's distaste and disgust againts other's aliens was a common thing for most humans, aliens like the orks didn't exactly help with lowering humanity's distaste againts aliens overall.

The Captain was waiting to see how things would play out, and he admitted to himself that he actually enjoyed the prospect of this cold war going on, it was atleast something then the usual cases wich where things like only fighting the orks, dealing with Chaos invasions, Eldar trickery and many other things that plagued the Imperium.

This ordeal would test his skills as a war commander, and he liked that.

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The 2 suspicious ponies who were still there in their same place start talking again.

"You head towards the Barracks and keep everypony busy when we return, while I make a b-line straight for the hideout, but make sure to bring a hostage and a possession subject, we exactly have 2 hours, so make it fast once we return to Canterlot." One of the unicorns said to the other, it was apparent that they were going to do something.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

Staunch saluted to Moonshadow before instructing the carriage-pegasi to continue, he noticed Moonshadow talking to himself but didn't hear what he said. 

When he heard the two unicorns start whispering again, he made his best effort to hear them without letting them know that he was listening. Hostage, possession, it was obvious they were up to no good, and because of that Staunch was in a order contradiction. He had been ordered to deliver these ponies to Canterlot, but at the same time, there was clear orders about dealing with suspected, or in this case, pretty much confirmed traitors, and if things went south, delivery-order would be impossible to obey.

Staunch made his decision, he choose to deal with the traitors, though it could end up bad for him since they were in full carriage, flying in very high altitude due their destination being on a mountain, but he had decided it was worth the risk, trusting that both of the pegasi pulling it would make right decisions if it came to that. He pulled out his sword and pointed at the two ponies next to him, "I have a reason to believe you have broken your oath and are planning to act against Equestria" "Surrender your weapons or I take them from you." 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple and her platoon started back towards Canterlot. They were walking since not all of the ponies were winged, The only that flew away from the gorge was the messenger that Maple had sent. She wasn't happy about the encounter however she knew that it could've gone a lot worse... She sighed to herself but didn't say anything.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

The unicorns looked at Staunch like he was crazy, but of course, they were trying to hide their true reactions.

"Broking the oath? Planning to act againts Equestria? Have you gone mad? We have been in the Solar Guard for 3 years, serving faithfully under her majesty, and almost got killed againts these green barbarians, giving our lives for Equestria, why would we even consider treason if we would go through all these things?" One of the unicorn's asked Staunch.

"He is right you know, besides, you hold no authority over us, you are a private like us, just because you have been serving longer than us doesn't give you the right to draw assumptions like this and follow up with a disarmament order." The other unicorn told Staunch with a glare.

"We are going to tell the Captain about this, I am sure he wouldn't appreciate that one of his own soldiers is falsely accusing his own fellow guards of his own benefit!"

It was apparent that these 2 Unicorns where keeping up a pretty calm poker face, despite knowing that Staunch had managed to overhear them, they were still acting like his accusations where false.

 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

"No need, I'll be reporting this to him myself" Staunch replied, sounding surprisingly uninterested "I guess it won't bother you to be in surveillance for a while, since you weren't just talking about taking a hostage and possessing somepony." Staunch knew it would be word against word, but he knew his captain and he knew that he would make sure that it will be investigated thoroughly. Sure Staunch too would be investigated regardless of his rather good reputation, but that didn't bother him, after all, he had absolutely nothing to hide.

He still kept the sword pointed at the two ponies, they didn't necessary need to surrender their weapons, but if they even thought about grabbing them, Staunch wasn't afraid to act.
The pegasi pulling the carriage didn't pick a side at this point.

 

Edited December 22, 2017 by The Cerberus

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Woody was wandering the Castle in search for his father. He sighed to himself as he passed the throne room for the 3rd time. " I don't know what's up... But you know what? I don't really care. Whatever is out there can come face me. I don't think it could be that bad. " With that woody starte to again wander the halls however he used his magic to start walking through walls to make it easier to move around the castle. He started to tend to wounded ponies with his mom again, Turning off the spell he was using

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"We will see." Was all that that one of the unicorns said.

They eventually arrived at Canterlot, the 2 unicorns stood up when they had landed, and walked out the carriage.

Out of the unicorn pair, the one named Bright Horn nudged his fellow unicorn, as an indicator, though it was not apparent to the others what it meant, only that it meant something.

"We will see how this little accusation of yours will hold, Bright Horn will be getting the Captain, I am sure that you know in what a tight spot you are now." The unicorn said to Staunch with a mocking voice.

 

Edited December 23, 2017 by Mickey Adaptus

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

"You're not going anywhere." Staunch said still pointing his sword at them, purposely causing some of the close by guards to get curious and to put the word forward "The Captain will come here all by himself.". And just like that after about 5 minutes, The Captain of the Solar guard walked where Staunch and the two other unicorns, and before any of the three unicorns could say anything, he gestured them to keep quiet, and would have shouted 'shut up' if any of them were to open their mouths without permission.

The captain first looked at Staunch "Situation?" "Traitors sir, accusation by me.", the captain muttered something to himself and turned towards the two pegasi who had been pulling the carriage "You?" "Possible whispering before Staunch attempted arrest sir." "That's all we know sir". The Captain then faced all three, "Due limited time I skip the formalities and go straight to questioning." He looked at the two unicorns, "Accused, any attempt to leave or to communicate with each other before I have questioned you will be taken as prove against you, so stay put and keep quiet.", There was quite a lot of guards present, so doing anything unnoticed would be rather hard, "Let's start" The captain cast a small magical barrier around him and Staunch, it was sound proof, keeping the questioning private even in middle of an area full of ponies.  

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Woody was still busy with the injured and he heard news that more were on the way. He continued for a while until a nurse came up to him " Excuse me... Could I politely ask you to leave... some of the hurt are very nervous with you here... I'm sorry about this but you know how this is..." He nodded to the nurse that old him and he left, He figured he might as well go help for when the other group returned, They were close now at that. He waved to the carriages.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"Sir, these accusations of him hold very little value, I saw him getting hit on the head hard by one of those green brutes, for all we know he is being delusional. For how many years have we served her royal majesty? We-" The unicorn, however, got interrupted by his fellow unicorn friend.

"It is over friend, these weak minded fools do not understand the folly of their beliefs, we are destined to serve better leaders then 2 failures who feed those they like with power and fancy titles while they are leaving their own population to rot... Ponykind will not survive in its weakened and misguided state... It is time for all of us to embody new leaders, who grant power to those who truly deserve it, not by birthrights and having contacts in high places... No, the eight-pointed star shall hang over the banners of today's society that we call Equestria." Bright Horn said with malice.

He knew they were exposed at this point, with all the eyewitnesses, and they had nothing really to back up their words back at that moment, so he had decided to get to action right away.

"So here is a message for your princess... Chaos sends its regards..."  Bright Horn said as his last words before he put a hoof on the shoulder of the other unicorn.

"Go proof yourself worthy brother, it will be like he said, we will get our reward in the end." He said with a growing smile.

The unicorn gave a deep nod, and then suddenly drew his sword, and looked at his target, Staunch, the pony who had ruined their plans, but not all was lost, they were going to get their reward one way or another.

The unicorn teleported behind Staunch and attempted to slash towards Staunch his neck, the move itself was done rather fast.

Bright Horn used this opportunity to jump off the side of the mountain, but while he was descending, he quickly used his teleportation spell, the reason he had jumped down was to increase the distance that he would be capable of teleporting in the lower areas. His exact location was not known now, but he was still somewhere in the city itself.

It was a desperate attempt to make their plan still count.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

The Barrier that The Captain had made around him and Staunch easily stopped the unicorn's sword, and The Captain just gave the unicorn a cold stare before executing him with a swing of his own sword, "So it's this type nutcases again..." He walked past Staunch and spoke up, talking to everyone who could hear him "Bright Horn is now wanted criminal!" "Find him, and bring him alive....or dead!" "And if someone here is with them, consider this as a warning.!" He pointed at the body of the traitor.

The Captain then walked off, but he stopped once to order ponies to go through the traitors' barracks, homes and everything else they can find, he started heading towards the throne room. Meanwhile Staunch shared glances with some other guards, before he too started walking away, situations like these pissed him off, because there was nothing in Equestria that he hated more than disloyalty and lack of respect to one's superiors.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Woody saw the madness start and he rushed down to the action. It was over when he arrived and he looked out at the scene... "Captain? What happened here? Why is one of your own layin on the ground dead?!" He, in reality had no idea what was going on, it didn't help that he was a chaotic entity and one of them did say something about chaos. "Nevermind, I'm here to assist the wounded soldiers should you need me," Woody said with a nod.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Bright Horn was walking through the city of Canterlot, he had gotten rid of his weapons and armour, and he had been forced to use a spell to change his appearance, obviously it was not even close to the method that the changelings used to disguise themselves, all he was capable of doing with this spell was changing his fur, mane and eye colour. He was glad he no longer had a cutie mark, as that could have messed up the disguise.

He was being careful to avoid any soldiers since they were now thoroughly searching for him, including his home and his place in the barracks.

Bright Horn could have actually decided to quietly sneak away before they were going to launch that counter-attack on the orks back then, but his master has told him to join them and report on the situation on how many orks there were, and more specifically the colour and markings of their banners. Bright Horn could not understand why his master was so interested in the details about these brutes, but it was not his place to judge.

After much walking, he had finally reached his destination. And he had been lucky, no one had followed him, and now it was time for him to report...

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

The Captain basically ignored Woody's first question, and for the second sentence, he was going to dismiss it with a vague reply, but he then thought about it. Woody was technically a civilian, and The Captain usually didn't like to involve civilians to the guards business, but Woody could be considered a exception consider who his family was. "Actually, If you want to help, you could look after Staunch for a moment." "There's a wanted criminal on the loose and i have reason to believe he may target Staunch." "And though he can handle himself, extra pair of eyes wouldn't hurt." "He's a green unicorn, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding him." The Captain then continued walking towards the throne room. Staunch had started walking towards where the barracks were. 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Woody noticed that he was ignored at first but he was here to help so he decided to go help, "You can count on me Mr. Captain sir! I'll go keep him safe." Woody spread the yellow wings that didn't match his normal coat. He flew a ways off looking for staunch and landing near him "Hey. I was told to keep you safe... something about you being a target or something. I think you know who I am from before. " Woody said with a nod and slight bow.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Bright Horn stood before his destination and knocked a few times on the door, and a cloaked pony opened the door.

"Password?" The cloaked pony asked him.

Bright Horn leaned closer, whispering the words very quietly.

"Speak the words of Lorgar and you shall live forever in the glory of Chaos. Speak them not and every one of you shall die today."

  The cloaked pony gave a nod "Enter." He said as he stepped aside, and when Bright Horn had entered, the cloaked pony then closed the door tightly behind them, clicking 4 locks back into their handles.

Bright Horn used the stairs that lead down to tunnels that lead under Canterlot itself, and he then started to walk the tunnels, torches where placed among the walls, the flames illuminating in the darkness.

In a nearby room, where his destination was, there was changing going on.

"As the followers of chaos we are one, and we preach the words of Lorgar, his dedication surpasses all, while it fuels the gods of chaos with more power, death to the false emperor, for Khorne we spill blood, for Nurgle we spread his pluages along the wind, For Slaanesh we torment our victims to sate his never-ending lust, For Tzeentch we find the hidden knowledge, and twist the strings of fate itself. For we are chaos undivided, and we shall stand strong."  The chant was performed in perfect unison, and it rang out through the tunnels with lots of choirs.

When the chanting had stopped, Bright Horn entered the chamber, and sat down, waiting for the council to happen.

 

But inside the barracks of Bright horn and his fellow unicorn friend, it was a disturbing side, where they once had resided, it now looked like a murder party had been doing on, blood was everywhere, symbols and text where written all over the walls, in the middle of the room an 8 pointed star had been drawn with blood, in the middle of the circle lay a blade, which still had fresh on blood on it, meaning it had only been used recently. But what was more, that circle itself was not there for just decoration, it was for rituals.

Blood Sacrifices

Inside one of the lockers came muffled screams, because inside there was an earth pony stallion, blindfolded and bound, he had been trapped in there for 8 days and looked messed up.

 

It seemed no one had come in to check that part of the barracks before it seems, which was rather odd.

Edited December 28, 2017 by Mickey Adaptus

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

"Yes, Woody was it?" "You're Captain Maple's brother, right?" Staunch said as he greeted Woody with a nod, "So you were told to watch my back? I assume it was my Captain who told so, so I won't stop you." Though Staunch didn't necessary feel happy that the Captain had told someone to protect him, he did understand the reasoning behind it, and it was nice to have a conversation partner until he was given further orders. "I'm heading to the barracks."

The Captain reached the throne room, he walked in and bowed in front of Celestia "Your majesty, I have concerning news to report." "The green monster may not be our only problem."

Eventually the investigation-unit reached Bright Horn's barracks and after finding the tied up pony, they sent him and few guards to infirmary, and sent two guards to report to the captain, while rest of them investigated the area, writing and drawing notes, and also making sure that nopony enters before the Captain could have a look. 

Edited December 28, 2017 by The Cerberus