//------------------------------//
// Honorable Deaths 
// Story: PonyHammer 40,000: Magic of War | SpiritStorm 
// by Dragon Heart 
//------------------------------//

	Like before, the Pony Marines had many advantages over the Equestrial Guard, but General Studds and his determined troops pushed through the lines of marines, destroyed their war machines, and then finally demolished their stronghold.

Everywhere on the battlefield, Guardponies and Bison were engaging Pony Marines. They struck them down to the ground. Near Poneale's position, artillery shells were striking the earth. More drop pods fell from the sky as Guardponies charged and attacked the remaining Blood Phoenixes who still fought on, despite their inevitable loss.

"We have failed..." said Poneale as his marines continued to be gunned down right in front of him, "... the Empress..." The last line of Pony Marines and Termineightors fell, and the Commander himself was shot to death by hails of lasgun fire.


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The fact that General Vanguard Studds was forced to attack the Pony Marines directly was, to him, merely an unfortunate necessity of the war. Studds had every respect for Force Commander Poneale. After his Equestrial Guard forces had outgunned and overpowered the Blood Phoenixes, he felt great regret that the Commander's life could not have been spared. That, of course, was impossible. No Force Commander would ever flee or surrender while his company fought and died. The few Blood Phoenix Pony Marines, who had been unable to die honorably, were given prompt medical treatment and dispatched to Segmaretum Command. The dead were given all the honors and funeral rights due to their station.

These procedures, however, did not for an instant deter General Studds from installing a company of his Guardponies in the Land of Incarceration, or laying claim to the usable munitions and other equipment left intact. The loss of good Equestrial Pony Marines was regrettable, General Studds reflected, but the charter of his Regiment, and his own personal ambitions had, after all, left him only one course of action.