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

[Maple Bat 3,568]

" Yes... I'm Her brother... And yes your captain sent me... I'm supposed to keep you safe... From what? I've got no clue but Whatever it is I know we can take care of it!" Woody smiled. The draconequus, Despite being something that legends would lead you to fear, had a very lax aura about him. Something about his presence... Maybe the way he behaved? No matter that wasn't the point at hand "Barracks is pretty safe if I say so! So yea it seems like pretty good place to stay... Ohh! I'll race ya!" Woody flew off quickly hurrying to the Barracks area.

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" I am aware... One of them contacted me recently... For now, they aren't a threat but we need to be wary of them I'm not sure how careful they're going to be around us... " Celestia gave the Captain a firm look thinking about something "Be watchful around them... Do not let them into Canterlot should they seek access... Keep them away from ponies for now... I'm not sure how much we can trust them..."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"Ah, Bright Horn, you have returned, Tell me, what news have you brought us?" A new voice said.

"Master Korphian, the deed has been done, during the attacks of those green beast we have made intriguing discoveries, not only did we discover the current numbers of soldiers that the Solar Guard and the Night Guard have, we have discovered more visitors, huge figures clad in some sort of massive armour, wielding big weapons, almost the size of a pony itself." Bright Horn reported back.

This made Korphian raise an eyebrow.

"Really? Tell me in better detail, what was the colour of their armour, what did their symbol looks like?" Korphian asked

"Hard to tell master... Their armour was dark red coloured and on their shoulder pads was the symbol that looked a dark red blood drop, with black wings around it and a white skull on the front." Bright Horn told as he recalled his memories.

"Interesting, Interesting... And what else did you discover? I know you are not finished, so do speak up." Korphian told his servant.

"Well... Shimmer Flash has fallen... Murdered by the Solar Guard Captain, I did not-"

"He served his purpose, as we will all do in the end, whether someone's time comes early or later, that does not matter, only that we satisfy the gods in the end, what else?" Korphian said as he interrupted him

"Before we left, we overheard that the Night Guard Captain and a detachment of her squad left somewhere, some presumed it was to negotiate with those red-clad things. But master if they were to team up, we would not-" Bright Horn once again was interrupted.

"Team up? Humans distrust aliens to no end, they would only team up in the direst of circumstances, but even then, they wouldn't really have a reason to team up as things are now, by the time it does happen, we have already succeeded. Now, go fetch me my blade, we have something to prepare." Korphian said with a smirk.

"Yes, master." Bright Horn said before he left.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

Staunch was going to describe Bright Horn to Woody and explain a little bit of the situation, but he flew off too quickly to do so. Staunch looked after Woody amused, he was on duty so he wasn't actually going to race Woody, but he did enjoy his positivity, it was really needed. He quickened his steps a little bit, and when he eventually reached the barracks where Woody already was, he looked at him and said in surprisingly casual tone "You won, anyways, you want to know what you're supposed to protect me from?". Staunch's barrack was in other side of the barracks than Bright Horn's, so he was unaware about what happened there.  

The Captain was confused for a second before he got that Celestia was talking about the other aliens, it seems he had forgot to report about them earlier. "I don't mean them your majesty" "Two traitors were uncovered from our ranks." "Their behavior and vocabulary indicate them being part of some cult, and they mentioned Chaos" 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Woody chuckled when Staunch arrived, He'd been waiting outside the barracks for Staunch, sitting above the door, Tail hanging down "Geez you're slow... Anyways... You make a good point. I've got no idea what I'm up against... But really I'm the son of Discord... It'll take a whole lot to bring me down." he said with a hearty chuckled. He obviously felt he was strong enough... for the most part, he was.

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Celestia listened closely to her captain's words getting startled at one word in particular. "Chaos? I will have a word with Discord about this... Or his son... Should I see him first. I doubt he's to betray us... not now. Captain, you are to continue investigations on this and report any findings to me as soon as you know... Understood?" She said it gently but with a subtle amount of anger, directed to Discord.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"Now... we will wait a few hours until it is night time, And remember, spill as much blood as you can, the sacrifice needs sufficient bloodshed and murder for it to work, after all... Only then can our guest can sustain his real form into the material realm. It matters not how you murder, just that you do it, it doesn't even matter if you are the one getting killed, all that matters is the number of deaths that happen.  Preferably do your killing spree's in large crowd's, they are the easiest source for fresh sacrifices." Korphian explained with a smug look on his face.

"Guest? Material Realm? What are you referring to exactly master?" One of the hooded ponies asked.

"The opposite realm of this, which is called the Immaterium, but most call it the warp, is the place where our gods reside, and the place where our emotions and dreams are made manifest, every emotion from hate to fear, all becomes a reality there. A servant of Khorne will be our guest, the deaths that will be performed for the sacrifice to work are the same energies that our guest require to sustain his form into this realm.  Living entities are one thing, but daemons are an entirely another thing. The gods of chaos are powerful beyond comprehension, and in order to spread their influence into our realm, we act as their messengers and followers, while our enemies and victims are their very fuel source." Korphian explained.

"But master... Once the Royal Guard gets wind of where we are located, they will storm our hideout and ruin everything, no matter what kind of reinforcement or help we receive, we cannot compete againts 2 Alicorns and their armies!" Another cloaked pony said, but when he had finished his sentence, he was suddenly killed by one of the other ponies, in the most sadistic but fastest way possible.

"Them? They do nothing but hide behind their armies on their throne's while sipping tea! They are no real threat, because they are too predictable, sending out their armies to confront a challenge that they could deal with themselves. They are the pinnacle of incompetence... The only bigger threats they could send are their stronger individuals that server under them, but even that won't be much of a problem, you see... Equestria's society is weak, the military is weak, their numbers are strong, but it their discipline, they allow fear to be apparent in their command structure, officers living with their families, they allow children to be recruited in their very army, and worst all... Friendship... A term that defines all forms of weakness and cowardice." Khorpian said as his expression morphed into a scowl.

"Where I came from, any signs of cowardice is punishable by death, the rest of ponykind is being oppressed by the concept of this so-called peace, which is another lie from Celestia so she can keep up her corrupt nobility, giving presents and power to those close to her, leaving the rest of her subjects to rot. But soon that will change, we will embody a new leader, someone that will give EVERYONE power. In fact... We shouldn't be just limited to this mudball, we should be conquering the stars! Legions of us marching into the scorches of death aliens as we chant the words of Lorgar."

"I will promise you this fellow follower of chaos when our conquest is complete, we won't just be leading Equestria, we will turn it into our new homeworld, and conquer planets in the name of the dark gods!" Korphian called out, wich the entire room started cheering.

The darkest times of Equestria would soon surface...

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

"I have no doubt about your abilities, and I too could handle myself, but that's not the point." "It doesn't matter how good you are if you don't know who the enemy is." Staunch then proceeded to describe what Bright Horn looked like, before adding "But also keep your eyes open for anypony who acts like they are ready to attack, we can't know if there's more ponies working with him".

 

"Understood your majesty." The Captain didn't think Discord was to blame about the traitors, because though he wasn't most trustworthy creature, he never had seemed like he would want his followers to kill somepony. He started heading out of the throne room, but was stopped by two guards who brought a report about what was found in Bright Horn's barrack, and he looked almost shocked. 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"Sure thing. I'll try to keep an eye on everypony I can. I just hope I see them before they see me." Woody said eyeing each nearby pony, quickly. " We're cool for now... However... That doesn't mean I'm right on my assumptions. Stay cool for now... But I don't think they'll come for you... I don't think they'd have any reason to target you... Then again your guard has no use for me... But again. Maybe I'm wrong." Woody gave a big smile he'd been very back and forth in that one bout of speech. Though it was presumably normal for a draconequus like himself.

 

Maple and her company arrived back in canterlot, on the way back she'd heard of that guard talking himself up further and further. The stallion had done that the entire trip. He had the nerve to continue talking about himself despite being told off once. " If you think you've got what it takes to lead my army... Then you're wrong! You don't think you deserve my position. You EARN IT. You CLEARLY have failed to prove yourself more so than I. Even less than Moonshadow! Clear your head soldier... I want you OFF the field for a week. Use that time to remember your position in this guard." Maple huffed as the guard, walked off Moonshadow had walked up to her "I know... I hated doing that... He is one of our better fighters but we can't risk this anymore."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"And now, you will all participate in a test, to see if you are all worthy enough in the eyes of the chaos gods, follow me, and we shall take it!"  Korphian said as he started walking through the tunnels, his cult following him, which was around 50 ponies, all wearing dark red robes.

Korphian himself was a light grey unicorn with a white man and tale, he looked to be around 65 years old, and his face was covered with strange and ancient text, the written text itself was very small, and lots of text was plastered all over his face like some sort of markings.

As they emerged outside, the other ponies and nobles were very wary and disturbed by all these cloaked and hooded ponies that had suddenly emerged, but started to back away as these hooded ponies suddenly drew their weapons and had sinister grins plastered on their faces.

"Today, we mark the skies with crimson, the sea's with blood, and the tree's with fire, for we are the bearers of the word! Now heed my warnings unbelievers, you have all served under 2 princesses, but let me ask you this, how would think of the prospect that there is something better? Something more promising to follow? Today, all of Equestria will see the first glance of the gods, they gaze upon us with their unholy favour!" Khorpian said out loud like a speech, both to his cult and the surrounding ponies alike, but the speech could be heard all over Canterlot

"And now... It is time, for all of you... To BEAR THEIR MIGHT!" He shouted out, as this was the very sign that all of his followers needed, and so it happened...

The cultist started attacking both civilian and soldier alike, and went through the streets of Canterlot, murdering their victims, burning down their houses, and perform vile rituals.

And it was hard to stop any of us, as all of them were spreading throughout all of Canterlot, making it very hard to track down the source and eliminate all of them, even from Canterlot Castle, the flames could be seen.

It was a tragedy... it was a full-fledged heresy, but not this time not in an Imperial world, but in the very capital city of Equestria itself.

 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

"You don't need to watch everypony you see, just those who look like they could cause problems." Staunch said calmly as he entered his room, though he was just like any guard when it came to his rank, he had been given his own room in the barracks as a reward for his fidelity, "I don't have permission to give you too much information, but you may want to know that I was almost decapitated." Staunch sounded oddly nonchalant about what he said, "So the threat is serious."

 

After taking the full report, the captain turned around and looked at princess Celestia again, "I just got a report your majesty, I think we can leave Discord out of the suspect list." "Apparently, a ritual has taken place in the traitors' barrack, a sacrifice to be exact." "A tied up pony was was found, he's alive but he needs to get some medical care before we can question him." He looked at Celestia with respectful but confident look "And thought Discord can be unpredictable, I don't think he would do something like this."

 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Woody listened intently "Oh ok. Sorry, I guess I took it a bit too literally... And what do you mean when you say "it's serious"? " Woody turned away for a second looking back with a more serious face. "I am serious" Woody had also changed his voice to something more gruff and deeper. He couldn't fake it anymore and he started laughing " Sorry... I guess it's just... I mean It's hard to find anything that's a challenge... So why bother to take it seriously?" Woody had a dumb grin on his face now it was apparent he wasn't thinking of this as a problem.

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Maple had been in canterlot when the attack started " Soldiers! We need to move! Take any armed non-soldiers into custody, Protect non-combatants any that seem involved take in. Lastly... Stay safe and live long." Maple said with a salute "May Luna's light guide you." Maple spun her spear in her hooves flying over to the thick of things, Her landing was rough, she landed on a cultist, and rolled blocking an overhead strike for a pony who had fallen, She swept the fighter off their hooves and hit them with the stick of the spear knocking them out.

Several of Maple's soldiers got into battles as well defending those who were running, but few had gone into the thickest of things with their captain, mostly out of fear. However, for now, Maple's forces would keep the chaos contained within at least a mediumly sized radius.

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" I agree... Discord would be much more... Open about his worship... This is something different. Once that pony recovers send them to me. I want to make sure I hear what happened from them. That... And I want to make sure they're ok." A glare from outside caught Celestia's eye and she looked over at the window seeing a lot of fire in the city below the castle "Well... This is most certainly not Discord... My loyal captain you know what you need to do about that." Celestia told the Captain with a calm nod.  "Bring their leader here... We need to have a chat with them too."