How did this get here?
“Humans, once again in Equestria.” Celestia said to Luna as she watched the four space marines with the ponies. They caught glances every now and then, but that was probably the norm if giant 7 foot tall bipedal red things showed up to a Hearth’s Warming Eve celebration. Generally speaking, fear was given from older ponies while foals watched with them with fascination. Mainly their large bodies and vast appetites.
“What are they even here for?” Luna asked. “Sister, these humans are potentially dangerous!”
“They mean no harm...... for now.” Celestia said. “I’d hate to see what they can do if they were just less than indifferent to see us.”
“How have humans managed to survive being so violent and against harmony?” Luna asked. “If I recall correctly, they have been at a state of war for 10,000 years! That’s just crazy!”
“And here we were, when they first landed. We had thought them hostile, and paid dearly. But in the end, they saved Equestria from destruction.”
Celestia and Luna looked at each other, unsure of what lay ahead.
10,000 years of war is crazy? Diomedes thought. 1,000 years of peace is boring.
“Let’s all remember that it is peace that makes us appreciate war.” Cyrus said. “Better to brave the dangers of reality than live in a ignorant bliss. After all, knowledge is power.”
“Guard it well.” Tarkus said eating an entire caramel apple. “I always wondered how this planet went so long without war. Probably must something to do with those elements of harmony. That was the Emperor’s vision. A vision I fear that will take a long time to be met.”
“Did his vision allow xenos to live?” Diomedes brought up his hand still straying to his weapons.
“Don’t think anyone knows.” Tarkus said. “But frankly, considering the treatment xenos gave mankind for the last 10,000 years. It’s fair to say most are our enemies. Suffer not the alien to live. But here, it’s just...... different.”
“The rules that was made by others should never be worshiped.” Cyrus added on. “Only the Emperor. To be a lapdog of someone else’s authority ends unpleasantly.” The last sentence was said with an undertone specifically directed at Diomedes who in turn looked like he wanted to put out the scout marine’s other eye.
“Fighting amongst themselves now.” Luna said watching as Cyrus and Diomedes almost broke into a fist fight. Both were forced apart by Tarkus and Martellus before anything got heated.
“So if I recall correctly, Cyrus is the red-eyed one. Martellus is..... well... he reminds me of a spider.”
“I doubt that’s part of his body.” Celestia said. “Their technology is beyond anything Equestria is capable of.”
“History of over 40,000 years does probably mean they would be advanced.” Luna said. “But who knew they’d be so violent?!”
“Those they meet are violent.” Celestia said. “Has to be, only the unloved hate. I hope we change that. They will be staying for maybe a year.”
Luna shuddered, wondering how many reports ranging from dead ponies to exploded houses
would they receive this year.
Think we’re violent? Clearly someone doesn’t remember Orks pretty well. Tarkus thought. Humans when compared to the greenskins were about as peaceful as sleeping kittens.... kittens of course, that were ready to scratch your eyes out if you as much as bothered them or got in the way.
“Martellus, what’s the local time?” Cyrus asked watching the snow finally fade.
“12:32 AM.” The Techmarine replied. “Snow has stopped. Do me a favor, ask if there’s anywhere we can get regarding the geography, flora and fauna of this planet. In addition, please provide me with any form of historical texts and texts regarding local civilizations.”
“There is the canterlot archives.” Twilight said walking in on the two. “I suggest you go there.” She pointed the way.
By now, most of the celebration had died down. Most ponies sat back in their chairs, foals were hushed into rooms provided by the princesses. A few older ponies stayed up doing whatever business they had.
Walking through the long corridors of Canterlot Castle, Cyrus and Martellus had taken a look around deciding to have a closer look at the Equestrian architecture. Between the absolutely terribly trained royal guard to the poorly built defensive structures. The two weren’t impressed. Rarity and Twilight however, had different opinions.
“Architecture is impressive. At least if you are the type concerned with aesthetics.” Martellus said. “I have detected at least 17 potential faults in case of a siege.”
“Well, it’s not like brutes come and decide to maraude Equestria.” Rarity said. “I do appreciate the glamor and sophistication of this castle!”
“Royal guard organization is worse than a chaos warband.” Cyrus commented watching the lone guard walk by, illuminating the hallway with his horn. “Patrols should be made in groups. Two is good. Three is ideal.”
“Why would we need so many?” Twilight asked. “Sounds a bit unnecessary.”
“It will be more than just necessary some day.” Cyrus said. “It’ll be the thing that stops an assassination, appropriation, sabotage or repels an invasion. In pairs or trios, guards will be more difficult to pick off and sounding an alert will be easier.”
“Pish, posh. Why would anyone want to attack Canterlot?” Rarity said watching the pieces of art on the walls.
“Many reasons.” Martellus said. “First and foremost is the heavy presence of magical artifacts and knowledge here. Keep them under lock and key. Magic is dangerous, but knowledge is power. Guard them well.”
“We’re here!” Twilight said opening the door revealing an extensive library. “The geography section is over there, there’s a large magic section, but I doubt you’ll need that, there’s a section on animals and plants and everything you’ll need.”
“Why do you want it again?” Rarity asked as the two space marines began to scoop out anything potentially useful.
“Our numbers have gone low.” Cyrus said. “While we won many great battles over the past it costed us heavily. It had been 14 years for us, yet only 5 months for you.”
“Yes many great battles were fought and won.” Martellus said remembering the battles he fought with his brothers. “We now need to rebuild our chapter. Our recruiting worlds are limited to only two now after Typhon’s destruction. We however also needed to make use of new training grounds. Typhon was ideal, Calderis is fine, Meridian isn’t a good idea and Aurelia is tainted. However, your planet with it’s diverse climates, animals and plants holds hope for our chapter.”
“That reminds me, when you first came here, there were seven of you. Now there’s three I know, and that Diomedes guy.” Twilight said remembering the last time the blood ravens were here in Equestria. “Did they die?”
“Only some.” Tarkus said walking in. “Avitus turned to chaos. I had to do what needed to be done. The act still weighs heavily on my soul.” Tarkus paused for a moment and sighed. “Killing a close friend is never easy. Even if he was a heretic.”
“That’s horrible!” Rarity said. “Killing friends... it’s just so.... terrible!”
“Betraying them is worse.” Cyrus said. “Avitus sold us out over the his despair. But that wasn’t the worst of it. Thaddeus and another were sent away to die, by Kyras, our former corrupt chapter master. Emperor save them wherever they were. Thule, earlier had been crippled by tyranids, luckily he lives. Jonah perished while fighting Kyras. And Angelos led the charge against Kyras. He was injured badly, but lived. His body was rebuilt, and he emerged as our new chapter master, more powerful than ever. Let none, find any of us wanting.”
“Yet, pockets of the black legion still escape us.” Tarkus said. “We will hunt down any who remain.”
“Worse yet, I fear Abbadon is readying another black crusade.” Cyrus said. “We need to be at full strength soon.”
“What are they talking about?” Rarity whispered to Twilight who could only shrug to give her an answer.
“We’re talking about our daily lives.” Cyrus said. This made Rarity jump as she did not expect the space marine to be able to hear her.
“You... could hear me?”
“I can hear you breathing.” Cyrus said he was about to say something ranging from black crusades to tyranids. Only to be stopped by Martellus who showed him and Tarkus a map.
“So... in the south it is mostly badlands. Many fire-breathing lizards nest here.”
“It’ll take more than dragons for this to be a good place.” Tarkus said. “But I must say, Cyrus, this does look good.”
“And, in the far north, for some reason it snows non-stop.” Martellus pointed at a map. “In the west we have more badlands. And in the east are wastelands.”
“We all have our doubts.” Tarkus said. “But a planet full of pastel colored equines and sunshine seems to probably be a good candidate for training grounds.”
Oh my. Don’t tell me these brutes are going to raise an army here? The thought caused Rarity to clench her teeth wondering how many things are going to explode and how many ponies will have their guts spilled.
“I can train scouts in this place.” Cyrus said. “Locally known as the Everfree forest. Apparently, it is full of many dangerous creatures.”
“Yep, from giant star-furred bears, winged lions with scorpion tails and wooden wolves.” Tarkus joked mirthlessly.
“So.... now that you got planning out of the way....” Twilight said. “I heard you’re staying for one year.....”
“Of course. We must see whether or not if these areas really are suitable for training grounds.” Cyrus said. “Angelos wants zero errors to be made in any planning. A single error could cost the chapter greatly. If it comes to it, we may even as well as walk across the entire planet.”
Cyrus could probably go on, but he had to stop eventually. Eventually came when he found a small lizard walking in and telling the two ponies how late it was. Speaking of which, he hadn’t slept in five days. He too also needed rest. Finding a comfortable area in the library, he laid himself down to rest. He was about to close his eyes until something hit him.
“Where’s Diomedes?!”
The Captain of the Honor guard was found at the highest tower of canterlot castle. He was looking for something. His brothers later found him asking where’s he’s been and bombarding him with endless questions ranging from where he’s been to what is he doing. The reply merely was he was in this tower and had thought he saw something. This was dismissed by Martellus telling him it was a result of hallucinations from not sleeping in days. After a long debate. The captain of the honor guard decided it was time to get some rest. The remainder of the night was spent in the tower.
“They’re up early.” Luna commented as she watched the space marines walking through the hallways. The clock read 6:47 AM.
“They don’t need to sleep as much.” Celestia said. “6 hours for them is considered lazy.”
“Such strict rules.” Luna replied watching the marines hold out their hands in a prayer like manner and begun to utter words.
“Shhhhh.” Celestia hushed. “Their praying. I heard humans can be dangerous if their faith is insulted.”
“Best for us to keep silent.” Luna whispered. After what seemed like hours. (Literally, it took an hour.) The space marines got up from their prayers. The two princesses followed them and watched as they stood around a table to discuss what to do.
“So.... if I may continue without being interrupted.” Diomedes said rolling his eyes. “I said that we continue our way. We were here for finding a good place to train recruits, not to spend a night at some festival.”
“Perfect timing too then.” Martellus said. “Outside temperatures measures at only -7 degrees. It is within safe operation.”
“Unfortunately, getting off this mountain can only be done by transportation by train.” Tarkus said. “The other way will take literally days to complete.”
“I’d rather take a train then.” Cyrus said. “We shouldn’t waste any time. It’s good that a few minutes can save us a few days.”
“I am still not......”
“Being with xenos isn’t easy for any of us.” Cyrus said. “But this is truly the first time in 10,000 years when someone besides the treacherous Eldar or the dishonest Tau agreed to work with us. This planet is also ripe for using as training grounds. I think in all honesty, it’s a good thing Angelos kept this a secret.”
Why would they do that? Luna and Celestia thought. They soon got their answer. It disturbed them greatly.
“Because unless you want this place in ashes.” Tarkus said. “I think we better keep it a secret.:”
“Doesn’t seem like there’s a need.” Diomedes said. “After slaying Kyras, we earned many friends in the Inquisition and... everywhere actually.”
“Now what if those “friends” don’t help us? Then this planet, and us too may be subject to destruction. The only thing that’ll save us is our “friends” in the Inquisition.”
What exactly is the inquisition? Celestia thought. Doesn’t sound pleasant. Seems to be like a group that just kills people for..... I don’t even know.
“Humans, always war hungry.” Luna said. “They kill. Why? For the sake of killing. They truly have been tarnished beyond belief.”
“Then we must do what we can to change that.” Celestia said. She wondered how this would be managed considering the way the human civilization sounded. Brutal, prejudiced and quick to anger. In their arguing.... no one seemed to notice a certain few insectoid like creatures carrying a jeweled chest......
Most of Canterlot elite hadn’t really prepared for much. Most hadn’t gone to the play as they had seen it performed elsewhere by a more “professional” group of actors now they were merely detained by having to cope with the winter. Snow had to be cleaned up, maybe stay at home with a warm fire place. But what no pony.... I mean no pony. Could ever prepare for what happened next.
Three changelings were running. Each of them had a sack which contained who knew what. They were running. Running fast. Probably from a mob of the royal guard.
Now imagine the royal guard. Always looking emotionless, this probably frightened many colts and fillies. But what came next, not even the most frightening of the royal guard could even compare too. Four giants in red, came running up the street with strange devices in their hands. No pony was foolish enough to get in their way as anything that got in their path was simply crushed or run over. Behind them, six ponies followed. Then a contingent of the royal guard and the princesses themselves. The odd parade of many diffrent ponies and creatures was watched with bizarre amusement.
Twilight cursed herself for her own negligence. How could she of not noticed?! The three changelings had slipped into Canterlot Castle! And now they had stolen perhaps Equestria’s most valuable possession. The very elements of harmony themselves! A chase occurred and now here they were, in the streets of canterlot pursuing the changelings. She was suprised to see the space marines stop and talk for a few moments before taking diffrent paths.
“Wait?! Aren’t you....”
“We’re catching them the smart way.” Tarkus said cutting her off before giving chase once again.
The three changelings gave each other grins. From the looks of it, the red giants have given up. Now they ran into a wide street with many vendors who looked onwards shocked at the presence of changelings in Canterlot.
Grinning wolfishly to themselves, the changelings didn’t notice Cyrus on a rooftop with a grenade launcher..................
The explosion had rocked the entire street. Everywhere, ponies scattered and ran away from a large smouldering crater. One of the changelings hadn’t been so lucky. Alone and abandoned by it’s brethren, it tried crawling away. Only to be crushed by Cyrus as he jumped down and landed on it. The sound of a half ton giant crushing a changeling, coupled by it’s scream which much like a pony’s, was very jarring to any onlookers.
Cyrus turned to the street the changelings had taken, he considered taking his sniper rifle, but thought again, that his brothers could probably handle it. Continuing chase, he disappeared from sight.
The turn the changelings had made sent them into a narrow street way with very little obstacles. Turning around, they didn’t see any of the space marines.
But maybe..... maybe.... if they were looking STRAIGHT they would of noticed Martellus with a plasma pistol. Firing a shot, he vaporized the closest changeling, the other one, wisely jumped into a window. Right through several apartment complexes and into a random apartment and out the window. Right into a group of schoolfoals.
“Eeek! A changeling!” Some pony screamed. The changeling bared it’s fangs at them prompting them to freeze in fear until they backed into a corner. The moment it lunged at them, it was swooped up by a large..... hand?
The newcomer was even more fearsome. It was big, it was red and it certainly didn’t like changelings. Picking the changeling up, it raised the changeling over it’s head before slamming it down on it’s knee, breaking it’s back.
The first thing the foals felt was probably fear. It’s not everyday a red giant comes and saves you from getting eaten by changelings. Then probably mystery when they saw two more of the red giants and six ponies just like them. They were getting were each rummaging through sacks containing the elements of harmony! And it wasn’t long before Princess Celestia herself came down. The Princess was looking around a bit concerned while conversing with one of the giants.
“What in the name of the throne are these abominations?!” Cyrus asked. The changelings reminded him of a certain group of aliens.
“Changelings! They can turn into any pony! They tried to rule Equestria before so they can feed off it’s love!” A purple unicorn said.
“And what are they doing here?!”
“Probably trying to do some of that conquering stuff.” Rainbow Dash said. “I totally could've taken them on!”
Her ego is probably larger than Diomedes’. Cyrus thought. He was joined by the rest of his brothers. He was surprised to find aside from the elements of harmony, there was a book. The title of the book had been ripped off. But it’s author was what made him turn pale. Lorgar. Did these aliens try and steal that book? If they did, did chaos already make it's taint here?!
“What is this doing in here?! You got some explaining to do.” Diomedes said holding up the book of Lorgar.
“I.. thought we told the librarian to destroy that book.” Celestia said shaking her head. “One of you had warned us it would cause suffering in Equestria.”
“It will!” Diomedes said slamming his hand on a table for effect. This effectively broke the table. “Now then, how did it get here?!”
“I don’t know......” Celestia said. “All I know is that it was supposed to have been destroyed. And where’s the librarian?!”
Second time that Twilight cursed herself for being an idiot that day. The Librarian wasn’t here! But that begged the question. Where was he? Could it be that he fell to chaos as the humans said he had? And would it be necessary to murder him? Murder was a rare occurrence in Equestria. Only happening in the most extreme of circumstances. But nonetheless, the space marines vowed to hunt down the librarian. This would spark yet another debate. What was more important? Finding suitable recruiting grounds or catching a potentially corrupted alien? The humans continued their debate on the trainride to Ponyville and once again once they arrived.
It would be a nagging subject that followed them for a long time.
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3186457
Thanks!
I am now very happy, especially since you continued the story YOU good sir/ma'am are awesome
Military organizations use a 24 hour clock, not a 12 hour one. :-/
Space marines normally go for weeks without sleep, and their method of "sleeping" is just shutting down one part of the brain and it cycles around until all are properly rested
i don't think 5 days of sleep deprivation is enough to make a space marine hallucinate
Post 1st edition (or was it 2nd?), Space Marines are now 8 feet tall. Guess they didn't think 7 feet was epic enough. God knows they have enough crammed into their bodies for the extra space to be more than welcome.
I can't wait for a daemon to try and eat your face so you learn "why". Bitch.
Actually, they get thirty minutes of the brain cycle-sleepish thing every day.
Dishonest Tau?...DISHONEST TAU?! I NOW HATE CYRUS!
actually jonah survived and ended up as chief librarian