Nightmares
Twilight sat at her kitchen table, wisps of steam curling up past her baggy eyes from the mug of coffee in front of her. Spike walked into the room, yawning as he rubbed sleep from his eyes.
"Mornin' Twi." The baby dragon looked around blearily. "Alexander still not coming out?"
Twilight sighed. "I don't know what to do. He's been locked up in the guest room for a week now, and he won't come out."
"I know." Spike shrugged. "Maybe he just needs some time alone. He was pretty banged up when he got back, remember?"
Twilight stared into her coffee. "I just wish I knew what to do, Spike. I-"
A heavy creaking came from the guestroom stairway, interrupting Twilight. She looked up to see a bedraggled Alexander leaning against the doorframe, a week-old beard covering his haggard face, his clothes rumpled and covered in sweat stains. The unicorn wrinkled her nose at the smelly human. Spike gagged as his cheeks puffed out. Alexander sat down at the table, eyes boring into the wood. Twilight gazed at the human with concern. "Are you okay?"
Alexander gave a long sigh, shaking his head. "No."
"Do...do you want to talk about it?"
"No."
Spike tugged at Twilight's tail. "Aw, leave 'im alone Twi'. You should know guys don't like to talk about our feelings like you girls do." Somehow, that got Alexander to smile for the ghost of a second.
Twilight grumbled for a moment before sighing. "Alexander, I-" She stumbled over her words. "I'm just glad you aren't hurt."
"Thanks."
"Will you be joining the festivities today?"
"Festivities?"
Twilight nodded. "Tonight is Nightmare Night."
"What's Nightmare Night?"
"Pssh. It's only the most awesome night ever!"
Twilight gave a stern look to the baby dragon before turning to Alexander. "Every year, all the ponies in Ponyville dress up in costume and go door to door to get candy." She grinned. "We also get together in the town square for fun and games."
Spike jumped up and down in excitement. "We also get to scare the stuffings out of everypony!"
"Spike!"
Spike scuffed at the floor with a foot. "Well, we do."
Alexander gazed into the distance. Emperor knew it had been awhile since he had had any reason to laugh, or even smile. He just didn't feel like celebrating however. "No, I'm...just not in the mood." He made to head to his room.
Twilight called after him. "Make sure you shower!"
"Yeah, you smell worse than the Cutie Mark Crusaders after they tried pig farming!' Twilight glared at the baby dragon. He shrugged. "What?"
Alexander lay on the bed, staring blankly at the wall. He had been lying listlessly there ever since he had returned that morning, only getting up to address bodily needs. For his whole life, he had had purpose, defending the Imperium from all threats without and within. But now, in the face of his betrayal at the hands of those he had given his life in service to, he was purposeless. He was a rudderless ship set adrift on a vast, stormy sea. He had always known what to do in any given situation, confident his allies would be there with him. But now...he just didn't know. For the longest time, Alexander simply laid there moping as day bled into night.
Screams of terror snapped Alexander out of his funk. Instincts screaming an attack was under way, Alexander leapt to his feet, snagging his helmet and laspistol on his way out the door. Taking the stairs two at a time, he leapt down the last ten, landing in a crouch. Reaching the front door, he kicked it open, laspistol at the ready. Not seeing any ponies in sight, he followed the screaming to the center of town.
He came to a halt as he beheld the colorful ponies, all wearing varieties of just as colorful costumes, bowing before a cloaked and hooded figure. Alexander watched in amazement as the hood was swept back to reveal a striking midnight blue alicorn with a flowing blue mane filled with flickering stars. Alexander heard a pony wearing a fake beard whisper the pony's name. "Princess Luna!" Wait, is that Twilight? Why's she dressed as an ecclesiarch?
"Citizens of Ponyville! We have graced your tiny village with our presence, so that you might behold the real princess of the night! A creature of nightmare is no longer, but instead a pony who desires your love and admiration! Together we shall change this dreadful celebration into a bright and glorious feast!" There was a dramatic flash of lightning.
Holy Emperor on Terra, that's loud! Despite the fact that the helmets worn in the Imperial Guard were designed to suppress sounds above certain decibels, Alexander could still feel his ears ringing. What kind of lungs did that pony have? He missed what exactly was said next as he shook the ringing out of his ears, but whatever had happened, most of the ponies had vacated the square in terror, and the midnight blue alicorn was trotting off in a huff.
Alexander walked up to Twilight. "Twilight, what just happened?"
Twilight turned, delight on her face. "Alexander! You came!"
Alexander nodded. "I heard screaming."
"Man, but do you stink!" Twilight glared at the baby dragon. Spike threw his arms wide. "What?"
Alexander looked at the baby dragon with a frown. He was wearing a...dragon costume. Did he really go as himself? Alexander turned back to Twilight. "So, what happened?"
Twilight seemed unsure. "Well, Princess Luna came to visit, but everypony is terrified of her."
Alexander scoffed. "Seriously? She scared them? Pfft." Alexander lifted an eyebrow. "I don't see it. What's so scary about her?"
"Because she's Nightmare Moon!"
"Spike!" Twilight glared at the purple dragon. "She is not Nightmare Moon anymore! I saw the Elements of Harmony change her back to good! But it seems like she's having some trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years."
Alexander blinked. "Wait. What?" He stared at Twilight in confusion. "Change her back to good? What does that even mean?" Twilight quickly gave Alexander a quick rundown on the Mare in the Moon legend and the events of the previous year's Summer Sun Celebration. Alexander was deeply disturbed. "That sounds very much like a demonic possession." He gazed off to where the princess of the night had disappeared. "But, if you say the taint has been purged, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt for now. Trust, however, is something that'll have to be earned." Alexander sighed. "I trust you'll keep her out of trouble?" Twilight nodded. "Good."
"I'll see you later. Come on Spike!" Twilight galloped off after the princess, spike in tow. Alexander shook his head. "I hope she's right. Demons are not to be trifled with." Alexander pulled a worn photo from his thigh pocket, gazing at it with sad nostalgia. "We learned that the hard way, didn't we Mikael?"
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This just keeps getting better.
I like rhis i want moar
If that guardsmen does not shower soon, Nurgle will visit him in his sleep.
2662561 *pfffffchchchchchch*
2675693 finally, somepony who rationalizes why he does what he does instead of asking why he is doing that.
2675907 i think discord is tzeentch, or at least the MLP universe's version of him
2676098 R. Lee Ermey? Really? Huh.
i hadn't been going for that. what are the odds.
2675693 I'm gonna have to reply to this reply in peices:
'What he observed was three tiny, defenseless creatures speaking Low Gothic' - Dead ponies. Chaos marines speak low gothic, even tau, orks and daemons can speak a degree of low gothic. This fact would give a guardsman no reason not to blow away what he would consider a filthy alien.
'Now the Inquisition is the only part of the Imperium that won't tolerate any alien, so he assumed that they were at least neutral.' - Unfortunately, wrong. The inquisition is one of the more alien tolerating departments of the imperium (aside from the Ordos xenos). Inquisitors are always willing to ally with tau, eldar and even orks if it means killing daemons. And being neutral has done little to save the 100 or so other alien races that presented no threat to the imperium, yet the guard blew them up anyway.
'He assumes that they are some little known ally of the Imperium.' - Once again, guard are horribly ill-informed and have often attacked allied aliens. It can even go as far as guard units attacking space marines as they have never heard of or seen a space marine before.
All in all this makes a great AU fic, but it just doesn't fall into how the guardsman would actually react in 40k terms. As far as the bog-standard guardsman is concerned if it doesn't look like the reflection in the nearest mirror it needs to die.
2675693 Now that I think about it, you are correct in the manticore part. BUT, I would like to state that I think Alexander should be a tinsy weensy bit more reactive to the situation. I know guardsmen are literally told that they are supposed to fight and almost definitely die, but meh. I guess I was just caught up in the moment. Thanks anyways!
I am loving the discussions my fic has brought on. It gives me a lot to think about and consider. On another note, I am looking for choice imperial curses of the caliber used by Littlepip from Fallout Equestria. please post them in the comments for my blog if you have any to share.
2676340
Forgive me for not being too familiar with the forces of Man. As you can see, I'm more of a Chaos (and Tau) fellow myself.
You make good points, but they were unfortunately rendered moot when it was established that there's something different about Alexander. Despite holding onto his heretical views, he has evaded summary execution, exterminatus, and even an Inquisition ambush. Let's not forget that he has access to information that no Guardsman should know, and all of his fallen comrades are forced to continue their existence until they accomplish something involving him; those are not the signs of a typical Guardsman. I'm quite certain this separates him from the "Bog-standard Guardsman."
Even still, my stronger, final argument still stands. The Guard aren't well known for being exceptionally loyal. After all, why would the Imperium allow Guardsmen to be executed on little more than a hunch if there weren't very real threats of heresy? Even if there was nothing special about Alexander, heretics do occasionally live long enough to slip through the cracks and join the enemy.
2676118
You did say "The Gunny," and although that's a nickname for all Gunnery Sergeants, it has come to pretty much mean THE Gunny. Not to mention that he speaks like a drill instructor, and who has the final word on all things drill?
Exactly. I hope you can understand why I thought that Ermey was a little more than implied.
2677874 Again, finally somepony realizes that Alex is not your standard issue guardsman!
2677874
I would guess he was once a Inquisitor, or simply a disgraced high level soldier that...