Warframe: Equestria

by Urimas Ebonheart

Chapter 18: Resolve

I slowly walk back to mine and Cadence's room in the royal wing of the castle. My mind has been busy thinking of the offer Twily told me. Do I stay Captain of the Guard, or be one of these Tenno like Twilight and her friends? As a Tenno, I'd be able to protect Equestria even better than I currently can, but that will also mean I'll have to take orders from Karn and this... Lotus, and even Celestia is allowing me to join them?

I reach our room and open the door with my magic. I see Cadence laying on the large bed with her left wing in a cast. She looks up from her book and smiles at me.

"Welcome back, honey. You alright?" she asks with a concerned expression.

I can only smile at her. Just her voice alone is enough to make my day better. "Yeah, just a lot on my mind," I reply.

"You want to tell me about it?" she asks as she puts her book on the night stand.

I sit on the bed as I unbutton my uniform and place it in my night stand folded up. "I've been given a choice. Stay as Captain of the Guard, or become something called a Tenno. Like Twily has," I tell her. I've told her about Twilight and the others after I placed Chrysalis in the dungeons. I just left out the Tenno offer part of it though.

"So... You've been asked to join them then?" she asks me.

"Yes, but if I do, I won't be taking orders from the Princesses anymore. What do you think I should do?" I ask her in return.

She leans over and wraps her forelegs around my barrel and hugs me. "It's up to you to decide, but no matter the choice, I'll always love you," she says making me smile. "But if becoming one of these Tenno means you can protect everypony better, then what's really holding you back?" she asks.

She's right. What is holding me back? The guard failed at countering the changelings. Yet, Karn alone managed to push them back. And now a Virus is threatening Equestria and the world, and we're powerless to fight it. I originally joined the guard to protect Equestria. I'll still be able to do it as a Tenno, even if I have to take orders from Karn.

"Thanks, Cadence. I think I know what to do now," I tell her and give her a kiss.

She giggles and leans back, pulling me with her. We both cuddle together and fall asleep.

"Karn? What are you going to do with the gryphons?" Twilight asks me. The sun has already set with the moon rising.

"Simple, I'm going to make them tell me what I want to know. Rainbow, I'll need you to translate for me. Twilight, while I'm interrogating them, can you teach Ordis your language? It would be good to know, so he can understand any signals he picks up," I tell her. I notice the others still practising with their weapons as my Archwings detach and fly over to the Orbiter.

"Sure, I'd be happy to teach Ordis, but how are you going to get the gryphons to talk? They didn't seem very talkative," she asks.

"By using any means necessary," I simply reply.

I walk into the Orbiter to get a few things for the interrogation. I activate my sentinel, then head over to the arsenal and get a Bolto Pistol and a single Ripka.

The Bolto Pistol fires large nail like bolts that can pin a target to another surface.

"What's that?" Rainbow asks and points to the Ripka plate.

I attach it to the back of my Left hand and extend it. It revs up as the small blades and chains spin around it. Rainbow and Twilight jump with a yelp from the sudden noise.

"Whoa! That looks so cool!... What does it do?" Rainbow asks.

"The Ripka is a hand mounted miniature chainsaw that functions just like the Venka Claws as they can extend and retract. It was originally used to cut up scrap metal or cutting through overgrown vegetation," I reply.

Twilight gasps. "You're not planing on using it on the gryphons are you?" she asks with trepidation.

I just look at the Ripka for a few seconds. I then look to Twilight. "If it gets me the info I need, then I will," I say coldly. I hear her whimper slightly. Probably thinking of the results of using it on them. I then fabricate a pack of Healing Canisters so the gryphons wont die from their injuries.

"Twilight. If you want, go home and get some rest. Tomorrow we'll start on everyone's ability training. Or you can start teaching Ordis your language right now," I ask her.

She looks from me to the Orbiter then back to me. "There's nothing I can say to change your mind is there," she asks in a sad tone.

"I'm afraid not, Twilight. I need to know why they were here, who they work for, and what they planned to do with the Extractor," I reply.

She sighs. "Alright, but please... Don't kill them," she asks me.

"Don't worry, I won't. The guards can have them once I'm done. I'll even heal any injuries they might get," I tell her.

"Okay... I'm still wide awake so I'll teach Ordis some Equestrian then," she replies.

"Alright. Ordis, you ready to learn?" I ask him.

"Yes, Operator," he replies.

With that, me and Rainbow leave the Orbiter and head into the Dojo. "So how are we going to do this?" Rainbow asks.

"I'll bring them both out in the Dojo entrance so they can't escape. The doors only open for those registered into the oracle," I reply. "I'll cover the white gryphon and you cover the black one," I tell her.

"Sure," she says as she extends her Venkas.

"Once they're out, I want you to tell them that if they try to escape, I won't kill them, but I will cut off their legs," I tell her. I hear her gulp as she nodded. "Alright then, here we go," I say and hold out my left hand.

I first reform the black gryphon, where it screams once its fully reformed. Rainbow holds her Venkas by its throat which makes him stop moving in fear. I then reform the white one who also screams.

I grip the Bolto with my right hand and point it at the white one. "Tell them," I say to Rainbow.

"Listen up you two. If you try to escape, Karn here won't kill you, but he will cut off your legs just to stop you," I tell them. Karn then extends that saw blade thing and revs it up, scaring the horse-apples out of the two gryphons. The black gryphon just rapidly nodded while the white gryphon just growled at us.

"Ask them what their names are," Karn tells me.

"Karn want's to know what your names are," I tell the two Gryphons.

"I ain't gonna tell yo..." the white Gryphon says but is cut off by the black one.

"Lamar! My name is Lamar!" the black Gryphon quickly tells me. He's shaking slightly with my claws at his throat

"SHUT UP YA FEATHER HEAD!" the white one yells. Karn's Sentinel makes some noise and points at her. She stops yelling and frowns at Karn.

"The black one says his name is Lamar, but she wont tell us her name," I tell Karn.

Karn looks from me to the white gryphon and points his weapon at her left hind-leg. He pulls the trigger and a large metal crossbow-like bolt with a glowing white tip gets stuck in her thigh. She screams and grasps her leg in pain. Lamar just whimpers.

She breathes heavily for a few seconds then speaks up. "L-Lianna. M-My name's L-Lianna," she says shakily. She tries to lift her leg only to find it pinned to the floor by the bolt. "G-Get this thing outta me!" she yells.

"Her name is Lianna, and she wants that bolt out of her leg," I tell Karn.

"I'll remove it once I have the info I need," he replies. "Now. Ask them who sent them, and what they wanted the Extractor for," he tells me.

"Who sent you here? And what did you want with the Extractor?" I ask the gryphons.

Lamar was about to say something but Lianna stopped him. "Don't you dare say anything!" she tells him. Taking Karn's lead I lift the tip of my left claw and lightly stab Lamar in his right shoulder a few centimetres. He yelps and starts to sob.

"The King sent us! He wants what you've got!" Lamar shouts out.

"SHUT YA CLUCKING BEAK YOU MORON!" Lianna yells at him.

Karn puts his right hoof on Lianna's chest and pins her to the floor with his weapon pointing at her head. He places a finger where his mouth would be and shushes her.

"Lamar says the gryphon King sent them to take anything you have," I tell Karn.

"Really? And what does this... King, want with them?" he asks me.

I turn back to the gryphons. "And what does the King want with his stuff?" I ask them.

Lianna glares at Lamar from under Karn's hoof. "You open your beak one more time and I'll personally rip off your win... *Gurk*!" she threatens him, but is cut off as Karn adds more pressure to her chest.

Maybe I can use this! "Lamar. You tell us what we want to know, and I'll promise you'll not be harmed or sent back to Gryphonia. We'll offer you protection," I offer him and remove the tips of my claws from his shoulder. He looks from me to Karn, then to Lianna.

"D-Don't even *Cough* think about it!" Lianna warns him.

Lamar looks conflicted, but after a few seconds he sighs and looks at me. "Deal," he says quietly.

Lianna growls at him. "Traitor!" she yells and pulls a hidden knife out from her pouch on her right flank. She lunges the knife at Lamar, but is stopped as Karn's saw thing revs up and rips her talon off at the wrist. Lianna screams as her talon drops to the floor and the knife slides away.

Karn quickly rips out the bolt from her leg and injects her with one of those things he saved Luna with. The wounds on her wrist and leg close up and stops bleeding. Karn then slams the bottom of his weapon on her head, knocking her out cold.

He then looks to Lamar, who looks terrified.

Should I be worried that I didn't even flinch when he chopped her talon off? I shake my head and look up to Karn. "I made Lamar a deal. He tells us what we want to know and we offer him protection," I tell him.

"Great. I'll have a room built for him to stay in, but right now, I want to know what they wanted my tech for," he replies.

I look back to Lamar and stand back a bit, giving him some space. Though Karn is still pointing his weapon at him. "I'll ask again. What does your King want with his stuff," I ask Lamar.

Lamar looks from Karn to me. "I'm not entirely sure. We were sent to bring back whatever we could get so our engineers could look at them, but I overheard them talking about rearming the army with new types of weapons. I don't know what, but the way they said it, it must be big," he says. "That's all I know! P-Please don't hand me over to the King! He'll kill me for this!" he begs.

I tell Karn what Lamar told me. "So, they're arming up," Karn says in thought. "Ask him if they're planning to attack Equestria," he tells me.

I ask Lamar the same question. "I think so. The King has been meeting with the generals a lot lately, but I'm not sure," he says and shrugs, which causes him to wince at the wound on his shoulder.

I tell Karn what he said. Karn gets another healing thing out and injects it into Lamar's shoulder. He hisses slightly from the jab but sighs as the wound heals.

"Ordis, I need you to fabricate some ferrite cables so I can tie these two up," Karn says. He then looks at me. "Rainbow, go to the Orbiter and bring the cable back. I'll keep an eye on them," he tells me and points to the gryphons.

I nodded and head for the ship.

Over the last half hour I taught Ordis Equestrian, he's a very fast learner. He just asked me to say a word in Orokin and then the same word in Equestrian. So far he's learnt about three-quarters of the Equestrian language.

"Oh. One moment please, Miss Twilight... Yes, Operator," Ordis says. I look over to the table on the right as the mechanical arm starts to make something new.

"What are you making?" I ask him.

"The Operator wants some ferrite cables to tie up the two prisoners," he replies.

"Does that mean he's done interrogating them?" I ask again.

"I believe so. Miss Dash will be by shortly to pick the cables up," he tells me.

I watch with fascination as the cables are made. I'll have to ask Ordis later on how that works. After a few seconds, Rainbow walks in.

"Hey, Twi. How's it going with the lesson?" she asks me.

"Pretty good. He learns very quickly," I reply.

"That's cool. At least this way, he can talk to the Princesses without any of us having to translate for him," Rainbow says.

"That's true. This will also allow Ordis to teach Karn Equestrian," I tell her. "So, how did the interrogation go?" I ask her.

"Erm, okay I guess. We found out what they were doing here and what they wanted the extractor for," she replies.

"And what was it they wanted it for?" I ask again.

"They wanted to make weapons from it to arm their army. Lamar, the black gryphon, told us they might be planing an attack on Equestria," she tells me.

I gasp. "Why would they want to attack us?" I ask. Rainbow just shrugs.

"I dunno, but it can't be good," she says.

"The cables are ready, Miss Dash," Ordis says to Rainbow.

"Sweet. I'll see ya later, Twi!" Rainbow tells me as she grabs the cables and leaves the ship.

"Shall we continue where we left off, Miss Sparkle?" Ordis asks.

I snap out of my thoughts. "Oh, right," I say and sit back down in the middle of the room. "The word for 'somepony' is pronounced..."

I continue to watch over the two gryphons while Rainbow went to get the cable. Lamar is sitting very still and avoiding Eye contact with me. The other gryphon... Lianna I think, is still out cold.

The Dojo's front door opens with Rainbow walking towards me. I take the cables from her and tie Lianna up. I wrap her arms together with her legs. I then tie her wings to her sides tightly. I then remove all of the pouches and check for any more hidden weapons.

I throw her gear to the side, then walk towards Lamar slowly and begin tying him up. I tie his wrists to his ankles, then tie his wings to his sides. I also remove his gear as well. I carefully drag him to a corner and leave him there, I then drag Lianna to another corner, but not as gently.

"I'll keep watch over them till morning. You and the others go get some rest for tomorrows training," I tell Rainbow.

"What about you? Don't you need to sleep?" She asks.

"I do, but I can stay up a few days before needing sleep. I'll be fine," I reply.

She looks at the two gryphons before looking back to me. "Alright, if you say so. See ya in the morning!" she says and walks out to tell the others.

I sit down in the centre of the room and start meditating.