//------------------------------//
// Storytime 
// Story: A Guardsman in Equestria 
// by Guardsman_Sparky 
//------------------------------//

	The massive dreadnought stood before Alexander and Daring Do as the pair stared back up at it.  For the longest time nobody spoke.  <Your armor is clearly Imperial in make, but the crests on your armor are clearly not.  And yet, you lack the stench of chaos.  Who are you?>
Alexander saluted the mechanical ancient.  "Alexander Yeager, formally of His Imperial Majesty's Harlech 501st "Thunderbolts" grenadiers, now in the employ of Celestia and Luna of Equestria."
A deep rumbling shook the cavernous temple.  Instinctively reaching for his gun, Alexander relaxed as he realized that the dreadnought's pilot was laughing.  <So, Celestia's still alive and kicking.  And Luna got back from her little vacation on the moon, has she?  Excellent.  I'll finally have someone to talk to about the good old days, instead of yammering on to that blasted parrot who keeps repeating everything I say.>  The giant paused, the mechanical hand of his right arm tapping the spot where a human's chin would be in contemplation.  <Wait, how long ago was that?  That was...three hundred years ago?  Yes, yes that sounds right.>  The dreadnought stomped away towards the exit.  <Well, no time to waste, let's get going shall we?  I've been itching to see Equestria again.  I wonder if they ever solved their Windigo problem?  Perhaps I could persuade Cele-GAK!>  The rambling Space Marine squawked in surprise as he ran smack into a previously unseen black magical barrier.  <Blast!  Those bloody wards are still up.  You there, Yaeger, do me a favor and break that rock you see out there.>  The machine gestured rudely at the stone holding the chaotic rune.
Alexander crossed his arms and glowered at the dreadnought.  "Not until you tell who you are, how you got here, or why there's a chaos rune outside this temple."
The dreadnought chuckled, shaking the room once more.  <My, but you're a bold one.  I am Lurgen Wulfenson, ancient of the Space Wolves' thirteenth company.>  
Noticing his gob smacked expression, Daring poked Alexander in the shoulder.  "Hey, Alex?  What exactly does that mean?"
Swallowing, Alexander surreptitiously began to inch away from the amused Lurgen.  "The Space Wolves' thirteenth company disappeared into the warp centuries ago.  Among the rumors told are that they've either all fallen to chaos or to a curse in their gene-seed that causes a Space Wolf to become a feral beast."
If he was offended by Alexander's words, Lurgen didn't show it.  <Is THAT what they're saying?  Hah, no, though there was a much higher number of the wolfen amongst my company's brothers, we entered the warp for a much different purpose.>
Daring spoke up before Alexander could, much to his annoyance.  "What was that purpose?"
Lurgen's mechanical 'head' turned to regard the mustard yellow explorer.  <I don't remember.>
Alexander picked his jaw up off the floor.  "How can you not remember something that important?"
<I am over five thousand years old!  I'd like to see you remember something from over a millennium ago when you're my age!>  The dreadnought returned to indignantly poking the shimmering black forcefield.  <As for how I arrived here, I cannot remember that either.>
Alexander hiked a thumb out the door.  "You still haven't told us why there's a chaos rune on a rock out there."
<Ah, yes, that.  Has Celestia told you of the war that destroyed the natural order of things in this realm?>  Alexander nodded, and to his surprise, so did Daring Do.  Then again, he probably shouldn't have been, considering she was a professor of history at Canterlot University.  Lurgen nodded.  <Good.  For a lack of anything better to do, I ended up fighting alongside her forces through the War of Darkness, the Discordian perils, and the War of Eternal Night.  All of these events were caused by the forces of Tirek.  Fortunately, Tirek and his ilk were banished to Tartarus at the end of the War of Darkness.  However, like roaches, his followers scattered, hiding across the globe.  It was during the pursuing of one of these groups that I came here.  Unable to defeat me, the heathen cowards lured me in here and trapped me here with that blasted stone.>
Daring gasped.  "You mean, you're the Great Titan of legend?"  The excited mare zipped exuberantly around the temple chamber, loop-de-looping and barrel-rolling in her joy.  Coming to a halt with a surreal screech of rubber, she landed on Lurgen's head.  "Pleaseohpleaseohplease tell me everything!"  
Lurgen chuckled.  <It would be my pleasure, young mare, if our friend were to let me out.>
Daring giggled as Alexander threw up his hands in defeat and left the temple to destroy the rune.  "Oh, those stuffy neighsayers at the University are going to freak!  They didn't believe you existed, much less weren't a pony."
The forcefield died as Alexander cut the stone neatly in two with his powersword.  Lurgen strode out of the temple, pegasus perched on his head like a hat.  <Finally I can stretch my legs.  AHH, it feels good to be out of that stuffy hole.  Excuse me for a moment.>  Lurgen strode over to the entrance way.  Swinging out his hand, he smashed the column to pieces.  With a crashing roar, the temple collapsed in a heap of rubble.  <There, now that that is out of the way, shall we be going?>





Alexander marched behind Lurgen, the ancient dreadnought walking through the brush and trees like they weren't even there.  Daring sat on his head, listening to the Space Wolf's stories of a time that most had forgotten.  <And that's when Discord tried to turn me into a puppy.  It didn't quite work out the way he wanted.>
"Really?  What happened?"
<I turned into a giant metal timberwolf.  Screamed like a little girl when I pounced on him.>  Alexander chuckled at that.  Lurgen paused in his storytelling, turning to the Sentinel as he stomped through the jungle.  <So, pup, tell us a tale of your exploits.>
"Pardon?"
Daring nodded on Lurgen's head.  "Yeah, we've shared our stories, now it's your turn."
<Quite.  Come now child, tell us of your adventures here on Equus.>
Alexander shook his head in defeat.  "Fine.  Let's see, where to start."
<The beginning would be best.>  
"Ha ha, funny."
"I certainly thought so."
"Well, it started when I came flying out of a warp portal into a tree..."  Alexander began to tell of his arrival.  Daring whistled in admiration at the fight against the manticore.  Lurgen boomed with laughter at Alexander's chase through Canterlot with a Carnifex at his heels, but quickly sobered at the fate of the human's comrade's souls.  
<To be denied entrance into the Allfather's great halls is a terrible fate.>
"Yeah, but it turned out that not all of them died."  He told of how two of his comrades had arrived on Equus two years before him as ponies, and of the besieging of Ponyville by smog and Smooze.  Daring shuddered at the mention of the dark goo, while the ancient dreadnought seemed contemplative.  When Alexander spoke of his mission to Foal Mountain, Daring was livid when the human spoke of the piss-yellow 'doktor' behind the atrocities.
"That bastard!  I always knew he was bad news, but I never believed he would go that far!"
Alexander looked at Daring in suspicion.  "You knew that piss-yellow bastard?"
Daring shook her head vehemently.  "No.  But I know of him.  His name was Edward Richthoofen.  Specialized in studying the equine body and the effects of outside influences.  Creepy guy.  Got kicked out of Canterlot University for unethical experimentation on ponies.  I only met him once, but the way he leered at me, felt like he wanted to dissect me to see what made me tick.  Turns out,"  Daring mused darkly.  "I guess he did."
Alexander lopped off a gnarly tree limb blocking his path with his sword.  "Well, he's dead now.  I doubt he could have survived a building dropping on him and sub-zero temperatures without adequate protection.  He'll only be hurting people in their nightmares now."  Alexander stared into the thick foliage of the jungle.  "Oh look, I think we made it to the river."  Alexander pushed aside a frond, revealing the Neighvarra floating at anchor on the bank.  He looked at the boat, at Lurgen's massive form, then back at the boat.  Shit.  Would the old tub be able to float with Lurgen aboard?  "Um...I think we have a problem."
As it turned out, the Neighvarra was of tougher stuff than Alexander thought.  Although the oaken deck groaned dangerously when it took the dreadnought's considerable weight, the boat was soon on its way down the river.  A long silence was broken by Lurgen.  <You have more to tell, do you not?>
Alexander looked up.  "How'd you know?"  Alexander could have sworn he saw the optics of the dreadnought twinkle.
<I know when someone has a battle tale to tell.  So, what else have you been up to here?>
"Why do you care?"
<Fate has a funny way of bringing people together.  Why, I do not know.  But the skeins of fate are woven thick around you, child.  Even one such as I without the second sight can see that.  Therefore, I wish to learn more about you.  So, what other adventures have you not told me about?>
Alexander stared at the reclining dreadnought before sighing.  "Just one.  Last fall, accidents just started happening around Ponyville, for no apparent reason.  Limbers cut on transit wagons, sabotaged construction cranes, collapsing balconies, all these things started happening out of the blue.  My comrades and I found evidence of sabotage.  I sent word to Celestia and she sent me a squad of royal guards.  Ponyville was having a rally to celebrate a local vigilante and we decided to use the event to flush out the saboteur.  It worked.  The saboteur blew up a local bakery and we caught him.  Right before he killed himself, though, he said something...disturbing."  Alexander rubbed his temples under his loosely worn helmet.  "'The four horses shall ride again.'  After two months of searching, we still haven't been able to find any references to these 'four horses.'"
Lurgen was still.  Alexander thought that maybe the dreadnought had fallen asleep.  He had begun to debate internally whether or not space marines even needed sleep when the dreadnought spoke.  <The Four Horses of the Apocalypse are the doom of this realm.  They are the counterparts to our own realm's chaos gods.>
"Wait.  This realm?  Our realm?  What are you talking about?"  Alexander stared at the Space Marine in confusion.
<Many, many years ago, my company visited Terra, ancient Earth.  I was but a pup then, barely come into my own as a Wolf.  From orbit, the stars above the throne of the Allfather were beautiful.  I have never forgotten them.  Then, I came here.  The first night, I looked to the stars, and they were the same.  Equus is Terra, but not His Terra.>
Alexander's head spun.  "How is that possible?"
<I do not know.  But a Wolf Shaman once described the warp to me as a vast sea, with each and every realm an island.  If one can find a way to travel the waters, one can get to the other side of the island faster.  However, traveling from one island to another purposefully is next to impossible.  And each and every island is surrounded by their own species of predator.  Thus was the nature of the warp described to me.>
"But...How...?"  Alexander tried to wrap his brain around what the ancient was telling him.  If that was true, he'd never need fear being discovered by the Imperium, something that had haunted his dreams for months, but the implications that he'd never be able to see home again either was staggering.  He opened his mouth to speak, but a metal finger wagging in his face interrupted him.
<Come now, let us not speak of things that we cannot change or fight.  Let us speak instead of our foe.  As I said, the Four Horses are this realm's counterparts to the gods of chaos.  As the name implies, their numbers are four.>  Lurgen held up a metal digit.  <First is War.  A daemon in pegasus form that wishes to see the world drown in blood.>  Another finger rises.  <Second is Famine.  Where an earth pony can cultivate even the most dead ground, Famine's passing causes crops to whither and die and for livestock to go barren.  Pestilence is next, where this Unicorn treads, disease and plague soon follow.>  Lurgen's fingers closed into a fist, crushing a crate in his grip.  <But the worst of all is the avatar of Death.  The fell dragon Tirek.  Tirek is the worst of the Four Horses.  For him, simple death is not enough.  No.  Before he or his followers kill, they must first bring their victim to despair.  For to them, despair represents the death of hope, a most sweet thing for the dragon.  The death of love, of happiness, of contentment, of trust, of friendship.  These are all things that strengthen him.  It was he who cast the spell that destroyed nature's balance before being cast down into Tartarus.  Should he and the rest of the Four Horses be freed, I doubt Equus would survive so intact again.>
Alexander turned to look at the sea as the Neighvarra reached the ocean.  Such power.  How could one man, even one with such powerful allies as his, stand against such evil?  The writings of a famous Inquisitor came to his mind.  One may resist the touch of chaos, if one girds them self with the Armour of Contempt.  Alexander swore that he would not rest until the last of the Horses' bloody minions had been found.  But first, he needed to find a cargo ship back to Equestria, one that could take Lurgen's weight and mass.