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

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

As there was a silence over the battlefield, the only sound that could be heard was the wind, that was the case until...

8 armoured hulking figures emerged from the bushes, their bolters aimed at the ponies, they were not about to shoot but were very wary of them, willing to attack them if they would even do so much as advance to close to them.

"In the name of the Emperor, state your race and allegiance Xeno's!" The sergeant of the squad seemed to shout at the ponies.

The eye lances of the space marines helmets where giving off a light green glow, while they were standing almost still like statue's, being ready to respond to any wrong move.

 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

The guards naturally reacted by aiming their weapons back towards the newcomers, the defensive line would be able to handle the attack long enough for them to react, The captain handled the speaking "I don't know who or what The Emperor is, or Xenos in that matter!" "But, We are the Solar Guard of Equestria and we serve the Princesses!" "And we'll defend Equestria and its rulers against any and all threads, until our last breaths!" He didn't show any signs of fear. 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple and her troops did the same, aiming at the newcomers. "We mean no harm as long as you mean us no harm." Maple put away her weapon showing a sign of her standing down "I don't know who this emperor is myself nor the term Xenos... We are the race of ponies. As for allegiance... I would say you should call us neutral... Since I'm not sure what exactly you're talking about... We can be allies with you as long as you weren't the ones who sent those green psychopaths to our planet." Maple didn't move for her weapons as she stepped forward about 2 steps only to bring herself into view. She realized if she was just a pony in armor her words didn't hold much value to the few about to shoot at them she bowed slightly. "I am Captain Maple, and I speak for the royal princess Luna. She does not wish violent bloodshed if it can be avoided... So can we have peace?"

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

The space marines were staring at the ponies for a while, none of them answering just yet, but with good reason.

+Peace... They want peace... I would never have expected a Xeno to ask this to a Human, an Astartes no less. Personally, I would have expected them to put up some form of aggressive attack, or at the very least have some form of evasive reaction, but not this type of behaviour, Sergeant, what is our course of action?+ One of the space marines asked through the vox.

+We are space marines! Angels of Death! Not diplomats! We came to kill orcs, not play petty politics!+ One of the other space marines said, who seemed frustrated and annoyed with this turn of events.

+Calm yourself Harvus, I will contact the Captain, he will want to know about this, just stand by and await further orders.+ The sergeant replied back in through the vox.

+This seems rather convenient if you ask me, a bit too convenient... For all we know this could be a trap, where they are trying to lead us into a false sense of security and strike when we let our guard down, that is what I would do when I would be up against 8 of us..+ One of the space marines replied through the vox, who seemed to be one of the more wary but smarter types.

Then in the vox there came the response. +Don't engage unless it is absolutely necessary if they truly claim what they are saying, but don't let it waver your authority, we can't take bold and foolish decisions here, contact me when there are further developments in the situation.+  The Captain replied through the vox.

+Understood Captain.+ The sergeant replied back through the vox.

Tough that these space marines were talking through their voice channel, their conversations through the vox could not be heard outside due to the filters in their helmets and armour.

"Your proposal is something that can be considered in time, should your claims be legitimate, but meanwhile, we will only agree to non-aggressive cease-fire, and won't take any risk among your kind for now." The sergeant proclaimed to Maple, but it was also referring to everypony else.

"But your kind does showed a matter of courage to stand against the orks, we won't be making any official agreements towards any form of alliance yet, but we are here to purge the greenskin menace, so in that sense speaking you do have our aid, but in an indirect one Alien."

Edited December 6, 2017 by Mickey Adaptus

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

The Solar Captain wasn't necessary happy that the newcomers had pretty much ignored him, considering that he was currently in command, but he didn't mention it, but he did speak again. "Cease-fire is only thing we can promise here too, It's not our say who is an ally and who's not, that decision is only for Princesses to make!" "But if you truly are here for 'orks' like you call them, we shouldn't have a problem with each other!" "Now, can I order my troops to continue collecting our fallen guards so we can bury them, or are you going to shoot us if we move!"

Edited December 6, 2017 by The Cerberus

[Maple Bat 3,568]

One of the night guards slow moved towards Maple"Captain Maple... " He whispered to her not moving his eyes off the Marines " Are you sure they are to be trusted... We trusted the last group and they nearly leveled canterlot and they DID level ponyville."

Maple turned her head an whispered to him "Given the state of both guards we can't afford to underestimate an enemy. They say they're here to fight 'Orks' We don't know what those are so maybe they're going to help fight off the other group that attacked." She turned her whole body to face the night guard "Everypony stand down... They're not going to attack as long as we don't." With that, the night guard, reluctantly, stored their weapons. Maple gave the marine's a glance, mostly sizing them up from a distance. Personally, she wasn't intimidated but she knew some of her Guards would be so she didn't want to fight and potentially suffer any number of losses.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"Then that part is settled, and you are free to bury your men, but i would recommend you keep your magic at bay, none of us can be to careful when a Psyker is around." The sergeant replied to the Solar Captain, the voice that came out of the helmet sounded a bit stern, but it was also partly due the fact that his voice came out of his helmet, wich has a bit of a mechanical tone to it.

But what made the Sergeant wary was for the fact that the ponies had magic users among them, which they were very wary of. But what was understandable was that the ponies were not aware that the difference between a Psyker and a Magic user was that, Psykers use their minds to draw powers from the warp, while magic users like unicorns have magic inside of them, and the space marines presumed they where Psykers.

+Keep a close gaze on those who have horns, they are Psykers without a doubt, I had seen one of them use a form of levitation, if only our Librarian was around, he could confirm it for sure.+ One of the marines said through vox.

+Psykers or not, it shouldn't matter to much, we have fire support from multiple directions should something go wrong, besides, they don't know who or what we are, wich means they have no idea what they would be up againts except from mere looks at first glance.+ A other marine reassured him.

Suddenly a flying skull with a red augmention on its eye flew towards the Sergeant, a few red bleeps came from its eye, and it then started to scan the ponies, but not getting closer, a few flashes come to it as it was scanning each individial pony with its lenses.

The flying skull was acting as a scanning and communication drone.

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"Can't promise that." the Captain said "I don't know what Psyker is, but magic is essential part of everything here, so we are going to use it." "Asking us to not use magic is like I would ask you to not use your limbs." None of the unicorns dropped their weapons, which would have happened if they would have stopped using magic, since they were levitating them. When the skull scanned the first pony, others aimed towards it, ready to fire if they saw reason for it, but after it seeming to not harm hem, they tried to ignore it.

"Aright, lower your weapons and continue, we want to get out of here as quickly as possible!" The captain ordered, and the guards slowly continued moving bodies and equipment to the carriages. The defense line kept their position. 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

" I want 2 teams... One team helps the Day guard bury their dead and ours... We need to honor those that have fallen." Maple put a hoof over her chest "The other team needs to search the town with me. We need to locate any that might be hurt or worse..." She drove her spear into the ground. Any on the side closer to the town is with me the other need to help the day guard." With that, the two groups separated and the drone the marines were using never got a good scan of Maple as she moved quickly to the town faster than the rest of her army.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

 

Sortiarius

Planet of the Sorcerers - Daemonworld of the Thousand Sons traitor legion

"The Fenris system burns! The void around the wolfs homeworld seeds with warp fire. We stand now on the precipice of vindication! Vengeance! Justice! At long last!" Came from the Sorcerer known as Ahriman.

"Traitor! Did you think we have forgotten your betrayal Ahriman? Did you believe we would forgive your sins?" One of the other sorcerers called out.

"Enough!" A voice boomed through the room.

It turned out to come from the Primarch Magnus the Red.

"You are all my sons, born of my blood, some loyal and faithful through the ages, some wayward and treacherous, walking their own paths.

But the crimes of the past mean nothing, all paths have let back here, the blade of faith hangs upon Fenris. Together we shall drive it deep into the icy earth of that worthless world!"

"These miserable echoes of Leman Russ will face a legion renewed with arcane might! Conclaves of sorcerers will shatter the fangs battlements, unending hordes of ashed dead Rubrici will harvest every soul within its fallen walls.

"The wolves my lord, they-" A sorcerer tried to ask but was interrupted.

"Will break, Fenris will burn, it seas will boil.

And the dogs of Russ will howl over the blackened bones of their

worlds

funeral

pyre!

"At long last my sons, we will take vengeance for Prospero!

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The space marines did not like the news of magic, hearing that magic was essential to everything on this planet left them very wary of this.

"Magic is essential? That is interesting to note, we will keep our eye out on that." The sergeant said through his helmet, he ordered his men to lower their weapons as well, some did reluctantly, especially with the mention of this much magic use and reliance on it.

"These aliens are only praising the ruinous powers with their witchery, soon we will be walking on a daemon world instead of this because of their excessive use of this so-called *magic*......" one of the space marines muttered.

"Brothers, we move out!" The sergeant called out as the space marines started moving back into the forest, regrouping with their other units.

Edited December 12, 2017 by Mickey Adaptus

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

The ponies watched as the giant creatures went back to the forest before continuing what they were doing. It took some time but eventually the battlefield was cleared from everything that belonged to the ponies and the rescue unit took off, heading towards Canterlot to report to princesses and to bury the fallen. But not everypony returned to Canterlot, the carriage that was carrying Staunch took off towards the direction that Maple had went, they were ordered to follow Maple and her troops in case they found something or somepony who couldn't be transported without carriage.  

[Maple Bat 3,568]

At Canterlot Woodland was taking a break, he had been helping so many ponies and there were still more to help, His mother was working tirelessly aided by his father. Woody was outside in a hallway, He had been taking 5 for 4 minutes when suddenly he felt... something... It started light but it then hit him all at once and he developed a huge headache. He didn't know what the feeling was but it felt disturbing like a shift in chaos energies overwhelming an amount of order... He hurried to the throne room since he thought his father would already know. " Princess... Celestia... We've got a... Problem... I think..."

Celestia happened to be in the room when Woody came in "I know... Things have been particularly bad recently" She was working tirelessly searching for... Something She felt she'd heard of these enemies before but she couldn't place it exactly.

Woody shook his head weakly "No... It's chaos... A lot of it... more than I've ever... GAH!" Woody placed his paws on his horns trying to drown out the energy he felt.

Celestia jumped when he cried out suddenly "What are you..." When she had started that sentence she started to focus and when she did she felt it. "Strange... I feel it but... It feels familiar... I need to find what I'm looking for I know I it'll explain it all!" Little did Celestia know the book she was looking for wasn't around.

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For the most part, the town was empty. Aside from several groups of Stallion who had tried to fight, they were all wounded. "It's a good thing you all came along. Got those monsters away from us before they killed most of us." One of the stallions said to Maple after she had issued orders to hand out their first-aid.

"Not a problem sir." Maple said to him, handing the pony some water in a canteen. "Wish I could explain why they're here. We haven't figured that out yet we only know that they're mindless violence seekers... No chance of peace with them... we've got a war on our hooves... I'd get somewhere safer if you can, Manehatten, Or Canterlot but here isn't safe. Good luck." Maple said as she called up her troops to head back to canterlot

"To you too Captain. Good luck and get these things off our home!" The stallion said before turning to the others asking them to return to their families

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

It was at this time, that something happened, at first it was not very noticeable, but later it became more apparent for her, something was trying to enter Celestia's mind.

Slowly it went into her mind, not entirely, but it was shifting its presence, it was trying to look trough some of her memories,  but made no direct attempts to take control of her mind itself.

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Meanwhile, somewhere in the outskirts of Ghastly gorge, where most of the space marine forces and had setup some sort of encampment there, among those space marines was one in particular.

This space marine had red shoulder pads, but the rest of its armour was clad in a blue colour, and instead of a helmet, it seemed to have an open-faced helmet that was connected with wires to his head, or more particularly, his mind.  It was a space marine Librarian, which is a Psyker/Magic-user of a space marine chapter, and while space marines where very distrustfull of magic users, Librarians where an exception as instead of using the warp for their powers, they instead use their minds, and with that it draws the warp powers to their minds rather then to reality itself, wich made a huge difference.

 

"Dorias, do you sense anything?" The space marine captain asked his Librarian.

"I am sensing a few large presences, 4 of them having an outstanding presence in the warp compared to the regular person, i am identifying one of them now, but as yet i haven't found anything, this will take a while, since this very person seems to have a strong physic presence." The Librarian replied.

 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

Staunch reached Maple and her troops after they were already heading back to Canterlot "Did you find anything?" "Anything that needs to be transported to Canterlot?" He was feeling surprisingly calm considering everything, but he had always been slightly cold personality.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"We should be alright... after all the ponies here want to try to stay here. I was told no pony was killed, however, they could've lied..." Maple told Staunch, it's what she knew after all. "I'm not sure how we're going to keep this up.. Those creatures are strong... It took a lot of us to kill that group of them... It worries me about the other parts of equestria... Perhaps they're only around here however and I'm just paranoid. If you need something to do There are a few of our own that are hurt. Go ask if anyone needs help getting back, those are your orders." Maple told him with a nod, another soldier approched her and handed her some field reports, She rolled her eyes knowing that it was a formality but she was hear so she knew what happened.

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Celestia heard the voice in her head she froze and shook her head looked at Woody "That's not funny. Stop with your magic."

Woody flinched and looked confused " With due respect Princess, I'm not doing anything... I'm not singing... and my headache's breaking my concentration." Woody suddenly realized that this could be a lot worse than it would seem.

Celestia frowned at his response "Then we might have a problem..." She then tried to think to whatever it was  Do we... Have a probelm

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"A problem? That what would highly depend, what are you? A manifestation of physic energy? A strong Psyker? Your presence in the warp shines brighter than anything I have ever encountered, and yet I haven't felt any malice in your mind or taint for that matter, but that doesn't confirm anything yet, for all I know you are a manifestation of Chaos, if you happen to be that last one, then I will not stand idle, as your evil temptations would never sway me away from the light of the God-Emperor." The voice in Celestia's mind spoke.

"Now speak, and I will be the one to judge if your claims are legitimate or full of lies and deceit."

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In Ghastly Gorge there seemed to be lots of activity, drop pods were going through Equestria's atmosphere, the figures of the drop pods could be seen from miles away high in the sky as they crashed into the rockish formation of the gorges. And for good reason, they were mobilizing for an assault on one of the reported ork whereabouts.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

"Yes Ma'am" Staunch said before the carriage he was in took off and they headed towards the injured ponies as ordered, because though Maple technically wasn't his captain, it was Staunch's obligation to follow orders of the highest ranking ally if not instructed otherwise. He noticed the drop pods on the sky, but just assumed that it was more orcs, not that he could have done anything anyways, he didn't have resources or orders .

Edited December 13, 2017 by The Cerberus

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple grit her teeth, her fangs exposed themselves. She faced the guards that had saw it "Those who aren't injured and are willing we've got more to deal with... We can't rest here we must engage them before they get to somewhere populated. Minimize the damage..." A small platoon of Maple's forces divided themselves from the others who were heading back to Canterlot. She looked at them all and smiled as she waved a hoof for them to follow her. It would take the squadron a while to arrive there...

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My name is Princess Celestia... I'm not a being of Chaos, in fact, I work to keep Chaos under control as best I can... You are not a pony I can only assume since you know not of me. I'm an alicorn, one of 5 that exists as far as we know. Now before I go on... who are you... And who is this emperor you speak of I find him to be almost... familiar...

Woody watched Celestia's expression shift as the conversation carried out he felt the Chaos disturbance going away same with his headache "Princess Celestia?" He asked breaking the silence between them

Celestia snapped back to reality from her trying to remember these things she thought familiar. " Woody... It might be best if you and your father avoid using magic for a few hours... Discord will need to do something magic every few hours to not disappear completely but you are half pony so don't worry about not using magic and just do it for me... Please? "

Woody was needless to say confused but he nodded to her "Yes ma'am, I'll let dad know right away " Woody then left the room but despite not using his magic the large presence of Chaos energy was still something that could be felt same going for his father's energy.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"My name is Domikelus Epitius Dorias, but in low gothic, you may call me by my title as Librarian Epitius. It doesn't surprise me that you recognize that name, as he known throughout the entire galaxy. The Emperor of Mankind is the ruling monarch of humanity, the greatest embodiment of universal Order in the galaxy, and even after his emplacement on the golden throne, he is leading humanity through its darkest hours."

"Not even the Arch-traitor Horus Lupercal could stop the Emperor from protecting those who are faithful to him until the very end."

"It is my pleasure to contact someone such as you Lady Celestia, the children of Sanguinius take it as an honoured privilege."

The Librarian said to her.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

Staunch eventually reached the injured ponies, and after short conversation, ended up taking two of them with him to Canterlot while rest stayed to take cover from somewhere else. The full carriage took off and started heading towards Canterlot. 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

So Epitius, Why are you here? I need to know whether or not I should allow you or anyone with you near my ponies. As long as you mean them no harm I will allow it but if you're going to harm them you will face consequences most dire. I hope you do not mean them harm, because I have to set my people first, as much as it pains me to do so. You... aren't those horrible things that we fought from before are you? Those things that killed some of the castle's servants...  There was a lot of anger in her voice even in her head, She hadn't moved since the voice in her head had appeared she was standing still, with her eyes closed.

----------------------------------------------------

The other platoon of guards that were with staunch where talking about general things. Something, however, stood out to Staunch he heard a veteran talking with a newer recruit, both of them where night guards too "It bothers me that our Captain has the audacity to do something that stupid. She ran in alone to face the enemy without issuing us any orders." The veteran stated.

"But sir, She handled herself well, Plus YOU stood up and started to give us a few orders when she did that and you handled it very well." The recruit replied, trying not to offend him

"You're dang right I did! Perhaps I should ask the princess for the position of captain. I'm much better for it than that rough and tumble pony who thinks she's one of us. She's only the captain because Luna GAVE it to her she did nothing to prove herself as I have done." The Veteran seemed very adamant but the thing was, while in that fight he had given orders there were a lot of ponies that got hurt thanks to said orders, not that staunch would know since the day guard was separate from the night guard during that battle

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"I can assure you that those things you faced inside your castle where Orks, the brutish green skins that thrive on war. We, however, are of the Adeptus Astartes, the Emperor's own space marines, we where pursuing the Ork Warboss Grimskull and his Ork Waaagh in the outer void of space, but it seemed his armies had made planetfall into your planet, we have come to destroy the Warboss and his clan with it."

"While I can say we won't mean any of you harm, I cannot say the same for some of my battle brothers, as we as a species do not see aliens as very thrust worthy, despite that we still have our own methods in how we communicate and deal with situations our own way, but that doesn't mean we could scold our own battle brothers for having an aggressive stance towards other aliens, We space marines have the single purpose of destroying the enemies of mankind, meeting other alien species that are not hostile or pose no treath to humanity are rare, after all... siding with any alien can be punished with being declared a renegade and a heretic."

"As much as it sounds bitter to swallow for others, the Inquisition keeps a watchful eye on those who falter in the light of the Emperor.   While our battle brothers will restrain themselves and not do anything rash, I would like to suggest you keep your subjects restrained as well when it comes to this matter, you can expect conflicts when one of your own subjects acts with casuality towards one of us and runs his mouth with things that could break one of our edicts or our honour, but if you require more information or want to discuss things on the matter, our Captain is the one you should seek, he is chosen for more then his experience on the battlefield, he has a strong sense of politics as well." The Librarian explained.

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During said conversations where Staunch was near, a conversation was going on between 2 Solar guards, or it was rather a whispering conversation, as they were talking pretty quiet. Both of them where Unicorns

"Meet me at the barracks when the sun has gone under, our *master* said that we should have plenty of opportunities to gain our reward." One of the unicorns said.

"Good plan Bright Horn, we shall get the praise that we deserve, not by guard duty, but by a far greater purpose!" The other unicorn said, only for his partner to smack him in the face.

"Be quiet you buffoon! Do you want anypony to hear us?!" The unicorn hissed back.

 

Edited December 15, 2017 by Mickey Adaptus

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

Though it really wasn't any of Staunch's business, he listened the night guards talking about Maple, a proud veteran, he had seen them in Solar guard too, they never seem to understand how becoming a Captain works. Staunch would have wanted to put some sense in the veteran's head, but he rather not get involved with Night Guard's problems, but maybe he could mention about this to Maple when he saw him, because guard had to respect their captain, even if they didn't agree with all of their decisions. Though something caught Staunch ear in the veteran's words, 'thinks she's one of us', he knew that Maple was daughter of Discord and Fluttershy, thus not being a normal batpony, but she was a batpony nevertheless. He now knew that he had to tell Maple what he heard, sure it wasn't his obligation, but he figured that due the exceptional situation, he would be allowed to help the allied force.

Staunch's ears picked up another conversation, it was the two injured ponies that were in the carriage with him (since they are flying), he didn't hear the conversation word to word, but he got enough to know that he needed to report to the Captain as the first thing when he got back to Canterlot. He acted like he hadn't noticed anything, but he was processing what he had heard, these ponies were traitors, and whatever it was they were planning, it would cause trouble, so he had to tell the Captain about it. 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Very well... If you keep your people in line I'll keep mine. There's no reason for senseless violence between us. Since we share a goal... I will soon I just need to find something first.  Celestia used her magic to force the Librarian out of her mind "This has become increasingly difficult... But we can persevere..."

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Maple and Her squadron cautiously approached Gastly gorge looking out at all the pods that had crashed down into it. Maple started down into it, angered. "Hello? " She shouted into the gorge "I know people were in those... Reveal yourselves and I'll show mercy, otherwise we won't hesitate to engage you! " Maple unholstered her weapon and the other ponies followed her example.

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The veteran was still caught up in his own ego, He ordered some of the recruits to prep their equipment and he flew up to Staunch still barking orders. "... And you. I'll need to come with us as we hunt down the remaining enemy. If anyone gets hurt we'll need that." After saying that to him he called the other up. "We land at the next town. And will search for them from there."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"That would be most unfortunate, we have the manpower to topple down your own strike force 30 times over. I suppose you would prefer a now less aggressive approach on your part?" The space marine Captain said he was standing atop one of the big stone hills, his thunder hammer being held upside down on the ground, the hammer part resting on the stone.

It was then that lots of space marines started to show themselves,  around 30,  most wielding standard bolters, but some wielding heavy bolters, indicating that those where Devastators.  But among the lower places were also hidden scouts, some armed with bolters and sniper rifles.  While the closer ones were equipped with combat shotguns, evidently being used against orks who would dare to come to close.

"I suggest you and your men reconsider your actions and explain your purpose of being here. However, judging by your overall company and your words, I can already assume you were intending to attack, at the very least apprehend us, am I correct?" The Captain said to her, gazing at the ponies with a stoic expression.